#we love a good old fluffy pigeon around here

[the-drawing-bird]

Oh no! The pigeon is melting

[c-e-d-dreamer]

I Was Enchanted To Meet You: Part Two

A/N: Fluffy Disney shenanigans continue for these two lovely idiots in honor of @elucienweekofficial ;) Also, I just need everyone to pretend that Nesta and Elain aren't technically sisters, okay? Just for the sake of this fic! Nothing to see here.... anyways! Hope everyone enjoys :)

Read on AO3 // Chapter Masterlist // Previous Part // Next Part

Elain

The sun’s rays spill in around Elain and gently tug her away from sleep’s warm embrace. Slowly but surely, she blinks her eyes open, stretching her arms above her head until she feels that satisfying pull in her muscles and shoulders. She smacks her lips together and sits up, but it takes her a few moments to fully recognize where she is.

She half expects to wake up in her bed back in her cottage, for Pip and her other forest friends to greet her before they enjoy a nice breakfast together, but then it all comes flooding back to her. The old woman. The wishing well. Climbing out of the hole in the ground into this strange world. The memories flash across Elain’s mind until her chest starts to constrict and heave, until her stomach flips over itself and she has to squeeze her eyes shut against the onslaught.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Elain exhales out all of those memories, all of those negative thoughts. She simply doesn’t have time for that. Cassian is coming to rescue her, to take her back home to Andalasia, so there’s simply no point. It’s important to focus on the positive instead. Like the very nice family that showed her kindness last night and allowed her to sleep in their lovely home.

Well, mostly lovely.

Elain can’t help but wrinkle her nose as she eyes the space around her, the empty food cartons, the crumbs, the dirty dishes she can spy piled up in the kitchen. This place most definitely needs a good thorough scrub, and she supposes the least she can do as a guest here is help with that. It will be the perfect way for her to pay the Vanserras back for their kindness.

With a decided nod, Elain pushes up from the sofa and stands up. She steps over to the window, having to put a bit of force behind it before it slides up and opens. With a satisfied hum, Elain leans out, cupping a hand to her mouth and singing a tune that floats away on the morning breeze. When the echo of her voice finally fades, she steps back and waits, excited to see what forest friends this strange world has that can help her.

That excitement morphs into pure bewilderment, though, when the creatures that answer her call arrive. Rats. Pigeons. Raccoons. Bugs. They’re certainly not the types of friends Elain is used to back in her forest, and it takes all her willpower to keep her face neutral, not to give away the bile that’s started to tickle the back of her throat.

“I suppose it’s always good to make new friends,” Elain forces herself to say aloud, but now that she’s said it, she lets the truth of those words fill her with new found determination. She lifts the skirts of her dress up and ties them off so they’ll be out of her way and claps her hands together. “Right. Let’s get to work and make this place sparkle as it should.”

As Elain starts to sing her favorite happy, working song, all of her new friends get to work. They start to gather up the trash and sweep up the crumbs in the living room, clearly having everything under control, so Elain skips into the kitchen. She fills the sink with warm, soapy water and digs out a pair of bright yellow gloves from the cabinet beneath. While she continues to hum and sing, she gives each dish a thorough scrub until she can practically see her own smiling reflection blinking back at her in the porcelain.

“And here we are,” Elain says, handing each dish to a raccoon to wipe dry before one of the pigeons flies the dishes to the correct cupboard to be put away.

When the dishes are finished, Elain leaves her friends to finish wiping down the countertops and mopping the floor, and instead, she picks up a feather duster and heads back into the living room, the floor thankfully now visible. She dusts off each of the lamps on the side tables and continues toward the mantle, but her movements pause as she takes in the neat line of picture frames.

The first photo appears to be Willow as a baby, perhaps even just a few days old. She’s swaddled tightly in a bundle of white blankets, just her face and rounded pink cheeks peeking out. Lucien has her cradled in his arms and close to his chest, his smile wide as he peers down at his daughter rather than the camera. Even though she can’t fully see his eyes in the photo, Elain can still see the joy, the love glimmering in that captured gaze, the emotions frozen forever in time.

The second photo seems to have been taken at some sort of beach. Willow is a few years older than in the first, perched happily on her father’s shoulders. Her smile is wide, showing off a mismatched smile of growing teeth. A pair of sunglasses hides Lucien’s eyes from view, but Elain can’t help but notice that his smile seems a bit softer in this photo, almost more cautious.

The third photo is just Willow, proudly holding a small chalkboard, colorful looping letters declaring it her first day of school. But the final photo seems to be the most recent. It appears to be some sort of formal affair, judging by the attire of the both of them. Like the previous two photos, Willow’s face is bright and happy, but it’s Lucien’s face that really draws Elain’s attention. He looks almost… reserved. Resigned. Even as he smiles softly with his daughter in his arms, there’s something almost sad about it.

It both warms her heart and leaves her chest aching to stare at all these photos. To see such a happy, little family, and yet, at the same time, seeing a man close himself off through the years and through the photos. Seeing a man who clearly no longer sees all the beauty and wonder and love that the world has to offer. Even this strange one.

An alarmed squeak to her right finally pulls Elain away from the photos. She looks over to find that one of the rat’s tails has been sucked up into the vacuum cleaner. Elain lets out a quiet gasp, and sets her feather duster down, rushing to the small creature's aid.

“Here, let me help you,” Elain exclaims, reaching down to gently pull the rat’s tail free. “There. Much better, huh?”

The rat gives another squeak, this one a happy confirmation, and then it goes scampering off to continue cleaning. Elain smiles as she glances around the room, watching as the rats continue to wipe down the windows with their tails until they shine, as the pigeons finish straightening out the books and magazines on the coffee table.

“This place is already looking so much better,” Elain praises her new friends as she stands up, earning a cacophony of cheers and chirps.

With the pigeons’ encouragement at her back, Elain is guided into another room in the apartment, a large bath taking up most of the space in the center of the room. One of the raccoons scampers forward and turns the nobs until water spills from above the bath, the heat of it filling the whole room with steam.

For a moment, Elain is completely enraptured by this completely new and strange contraception of this world, but then the pigeons begin to tug the pins and ties from her hair, carefully pulling apart her updo with their beaks. Elain reaches her own hands up to help, her fingers making quick work of the tangles until her hair falls down along her shoulders and back.

Her friends help her with the buttons and stays of her dress next, until it falls away in a bundle of white fabric at her feet. Elain steps fully out of the dress and toward the spray of water, holding her hand out tentatively. A sigh of delight pulls its way from deep within her chest at the warmth that spills across her fingers, and humming to herself, Elain steps gingerly into the white basin and under the spray of water, allowing that steady stream to work out every knot, to wash away everything from the previous day.

~ * * * ~

Lucien

“Daddy! Daddy, wake up!”

Lucien groans softly and buries his face deeper into his pillow. His alarm for the day hasn’t gone off just yet, which means he still has a few more moments of blissful sleep. A few more moments to cling to that sleepy relaxation blanketing his limbs and sinking down to his bones. A few more moments to keep grasp of the dream he was having, even as the tendrils of it slip through his fingers like smoke.

“Daddy, come on. You have to see this.”

Slowly, Lucien opens his eyes. He reaches a hand up to push his hair out of the way and comes face to face with another head of bright, red hair. Willow blinks down at him, her eyes wide, and still clad in her pajamas from the night before. Her little hands are pressed to his shoulder, fingers digging into the tee he wore to bed, and when he doesn’t move fast enough, she gives him another shake.

“What is it?” Lucien asks, his voice mumbled and still sleep addled, as he sits up in the bed.

“It’s kind of hard to explain,” Willow offers vaguely, grabbing onto Lucien’s arm and tugging. “You’re just going to have to see for yourself.”

Lucien allows his daughter to tug him up, and he clambers off of the bed. Still clasping his hand tightly in hers, Willow leads them out of his bedroom and down the hallway of their apartment. When they finally reach the living room, Lucien swears he must still be dreaming. He has to be. Because there is simply no other explanation for the sight before him.

Rats. Pigeons. Raccoons. His entire apartment is covered in vermin. They run across the hardwood floors, climb up over the coffee table, and if Lucien peers into the kitchen, he can even see them on the countertops. He feels like he’s going to be sick. The sight has bile swirling ominously in his gut, and it takes all of Lucien’s willpower to swallow down his gag. How did they even get inside? Is the whole floor infested or just their apartment?

“What do we do?” Willow asks, tearing Lucien away from his spiraling thoughts.

“We’ve got to get them out of here,” Lucien declares, jumping into action.

He stretches his arms out wide as he moves through the living room, trying to herd the pigeons toward the open windows as best he can. Most of the birds squawk but fly away in the direction he intends, but for those that don’t, Lucien merely grabs them with his hands and all but flings them out the window.

“What should I do with these?”

Lucien looks over at the question only to find Willow holding the tails of four rats in her hands. The sight has his stomach turning even more than it already has. He doesn’t even want to begin to think about all the potential germs his daughter could get from that simple touch. He’s going to have to scrub them both down thoroughly after this.

“Don’t touch them,” Lucien chastises her, rushing forward to yank open their front door. “Just throw them out. Throw them outside.”

Thankfully, Willow does as he requests, practically tossing the rats out of their apartment and into the hallway. He instructs Willow to stay by the door while he moves back into the living room. He crouches down and waves his hands low to the ground, pushing all the remaining critters into a large clump and encouraging them toward the door.

When the last of the vermin is over the threshold, Lucien slams the front door closed, daring to slide the lock into place for extra good measure. He leans against the wood and lets out a relieved sigh, his heart rate finally slowing back down to a normal rate, as his eyes scan across the space, double checking no other creatures are hiding anywhere.

“Come on,” Lucien says to Willow leading her into the kitchen.

He grabs the little stool they keep there for her and sets it down in front of the sink. He then turns on the water as hot as he can stand, encouraging Willow to hold her hands under the spray when she climbs up onto her stool. He squeezes a generous amount of soap into both their hands, scrubbing hard until Lucien is sure he can no longer feel the remnants of holding those pigeons or touching those rats.

“What a crazy morning,” Willow giggles, shaking the water from her hands.

“Crazy is an understatement,” Lucien mutters, shaking his head.

He still can’t quite wrap his mind around the way his world has turned upside down in less than twenty four hours. One night and it’s as if the rug has been pulled clean from beneath his feet, leaving him stumbling and confused. Before, he had felt so comfortable in his routine. He woke up, got Willow ready for school. He went to work and trudged through his case files. And on the weekends, he would get a babysitter, so he and Nesta could have a date night.

It was easy. It was steady. And sure, Vassa would tease him relentlessly for being boring, for already being an eighty year old man, for lacking in the wonders of romance as she said, but if there’s one thing that Lucien knows first hand, it’s that romance is a load of bullshit. It’s nothing like the books or the movies. There’s nothing whirlwind or worthwhile about it. All it leads to is disappointment and heartbreak.

And he was perfectly okay with that, to be without it, with the quiet reliability of his life.

And now he’s catching crazy women who fall off billboards? And letting them stay the night? And waking up to an infested apartment? It’s madness.

Lucien's swirling thoughts do bring him crashing back to the one thing currently missing in action for this strange morning: Elain. While he and Willow dry their hands, Lucien’s eyes dance back toward the living room, but there’s no sign of her. Even the blanket that Lucien had draped over her the previous night is now neatly folded away.

Lucien starts to half wonder if he actually imagined the whole previous night, but the sound of humming drifts through the apartment, prickling his ears. Leaving Willow in the kitchen, he goes investigating through the apartment. He follows that lilting, gentle melody, like a siren song leading him blindingly but willingly, until he reaches the bathroom. The door is closed, but over the sound of that humming, Lucien thinks he can hear the shower running.

“Elain?” Lucien calls out, knocking on the door before tentatively pushing it open.

Just as Lucien steps inside the bathroom, the shower curtain is yanked back, Elain stepping out like some sort of goddess of steam. The honeyed strands of her hair now hang loose around her shoulders and down her back, the light spilling into the bathroom sparking against the curls until they look almost like spun gold. The heat of the shower has left her skin dappled in pink, the constellation of freckles across the apples of her cheeks more prominent beneath the color, and especially when Elain smiles widely in greeting.

“Good morning, Lucien,” Elain offers brightly, stepping out of the shower and accepting the towel that two pigeons wrap around her. “I was just enjoying your magic waterfall room.”

“My… magic wat…” Lucien splutters, letting out a sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Mother, help me.”

“Where does the water come from?”

Lucien lets out a near hysterical laugh, dropping his hand back to his side and settling Elain with a bland look. “The pipes.”

“And where do the pipes get it from?” Elain asks earnestly, like she didn’t pick up on or didn’t care for Lucien’s dry tone or sarcasm.

“You can’t be serious,” Lucien mutters, more to himself than to Elain.

Completely unperturbed and unbothered, Elain steps over to the bathroom sink. The remnants of the shower steam still cover the mirror hanging above it, blocking the view, and she tilts her head and frowns at it, even as her hands still reach up to fiddle with her hair.

“Here,” Lucien offers, stepping to the other side of the bathroom to grab an extra towel.

“Oh, don’t worry. My new friends can take care of it.”

Elain cups a hand to her mouth and starts to sing just as Lucien sidles up beside her, reaching up to wipe the towel against the mirror and clear the steam away. Seemingly in response, more pigeons come flying into the room, knocking into Lucien’s arm and the back of his head. As if that’s not enough, more rats go scurrying across the bathroom floor and over Lucien’s feet.

Lucien lets out a shout in alarm, stumbling backwards in a desperate attempt to get away from the vermin now invading his bathroom. His arms flail with the movement, accidentally knocking into Elain and throwing her equally off balance. Lucien curls his arms around her waist, hoping to at least keep her from a disastrous spill, but it just sends them both spinning out of the bathroom and tumbling to the floor of the hallway.

A pained grunt pulls its way free from Lucien’s chest as he lands hard on his back, his elbows and tailbone already flaring in protest at the harsh landing. Elain lands right on top of him with a quiet squeak, still clad in just a towel. Even through the sleep pants and tee that Lucien is wearing, he can feel everywhere her body is pressed against his, and Lucien closes his eyes and sighs, praying to the Mother, the Cauldron, and any other deity that might be listening to give him strength.

“Are you kidding me?”

Lucien freezes at the sound of that voice, his whole body locking up with tension until he swears he can hear his blood pounding in his ears. His eyes snap open, and he turns his head, his worst fears confirmed when he sees Nesta standing in the doorway of their front door. Her blue gray eyes spark with icy rage, that narrowed gaze flitting between Lucien and Elain like she’s unsure whom to direct all her wrath at.

“Nesta, it’s not what it looks—”

“It’s not?” Nesta cuts him off, her tone clipped and cold. “Then who’s this?”

“I’m Elain,” Elain answers for him, clambering up to her feet and stepping toward Nesta with her hand outstretched in greeting. “I stayed the night last night.”

Nesta scoffs, turning her ire back on Lucien. “Did she, now? Wow. And here I thought you were such a great guy that I never stayed the night. I thought it’s so sweet that he cares so much about his daughter. Didn’t realize this was the real reason.”

“Nesta, please,” Lucien protests, pushing forward past Elain and to the door, to Nesta. “It’s really not like that. It’s just that last night, we were—”

“I don’t care, Lucien,” Nesta snaps. She shakes her head and adjusts the strap of her bag on her shoulder, turning away from the apartment, but Lucien catches her wrist before she can leave.

“Please don’t leave. You were going to take Willow to school, remember? So, the two of you can have grown up girl bonding time.”

“Why? So you can have grown up girl bonding time?” Nesta pulls her arm free from his grasp, lowering her voice to a whisper, so Willow doesn’t overhear. “Fuck you.”

With that, Nesta stalks away down the hallway and toward the elevators, leaving Lucien gaping like a fish after her. He lets out a frustrated groan, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes. This is truly the worst morning he thinks he’s had in years. How could this happen? How could everything just be crumbling chaos all around him? He glances back to Willow and Elain, both still standing in the front entryway awkwardly, and hesitates for only a moment before rushing out the door. He runs down the hallway, hoping beyond hope that he’ll get lucky.

“Nesta, wait!” Lucien calls out, when he reaches the elevators, just in time to watch the doors close on Nesta’s still annoyed face.

Lucien stares at the elevator doors, at the numbers above as they tick down and down. He’s not sure if this is meant to be a sign, if the Fates are just laughing in his face at this point, but if there’s one thing Lucien does know, it’s that he’s never helping a random stranger ever again. No matter how pretty they are.

—

Updated Taglist (let me know if you’d like to be added): @moodymelanist @nesquik-arccheron @sv0430 @talkfantasytome @bookstantrash @eirini-thaleia @ubigaia @fromthelibraryofemilyj @luivagr-blog​ @lifeisntafantasy @superspiritfestival @hiimheresworld @marigold-morelli @sweet-pea1 @emeriethevalkyriegirl​ @pyxxie @dustjacketmusings @hallway5 @dongjunma @glowing-stick-generation @melonsfantasyworld​ @isterofimias @goddess-aelin @melphss @theladystardust @a-trifling-matter @blueunoias​ @kookskoocie​​ @unlikelypersonalknight1 @blurredlamplight @hereforthenessian @skaixo @jmoonjones @burningsnowleopard @whyisaravenlike-awritingdesk @ofduskanddreams @rarephloxes @thelovelymadone

[bumblebeescribbles]

Juniper Wall Day 2 Part 1 ☀️🌸 Spring 4 🌸☀️ Word count: 3.032

Previous part ❀ Next part

The next day, Elari awoke, bleary and sore. Their mouth felt full of cotton, and their eyes were crusted in the corner. It hurt to focus.

When a door slammed shut, they startled, clambering to their feet. The old house creaked as she walked about, a little nervous at the sudden realization of not having a host nearby. 

On the table sat a letter. Anise's handwriting was scratchy, and some letters were not fully closed.  

I'll be asleep until the evening, but I'd love to hang out with you when I get up! (:

A small plate of muffins made Elari's stomach growl, and she all but swallowed a couple before wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand. There was only so much she could stare at before she felt that awkward gnawing after standing in a house she didn't know with a person she just met yesterday asleep.

She supposed Botan had already headed out. Which made the biting feeling worse as they winced. With both siblings out, there wasn't really anyone she knew. With a huff, she forced down that thought.

Outside, she was met with a better viewpoint of the town. Mostly log houses, they all circled the center of town, where a large fountain sat. A bronze statue depicting a tall elven woman stood as its figurehead, hand on the scabbard of her sword, staring off into the wilderness that surrounded Juniper Wall. A couple of villagers were milling about outside, chatting with each other and laughing.  

Elari peered closer to the fountain, spotting an old plaque. Before she could pick out what it read, something landed on her head. Something heavy.

"Pixie, get down, don't bother this poor person!" With a coo, the weight disappeared, and Elari turned around to see a green-scaled naga slithering closer. The edges of her scales were tinged gray, and there were heavy lines around her mouth and eyes. Bright orange eyes fell on Elari, the smile lines appearing.  

"My apologies, dear. Pixie loves meeting new folks, don't you, my sweet girl?" She scratched the chin of one of the fluffiest brown and white spotted pigeons Elari had ever seen.

Elari rubbed the back of her neck. "It's alright, she didn't hurt me. I've uh...never seen a pigeon that looked like her before."

The naga laughed, tipping her head back and almost sending Pixie tumbling to the ground. "She's a different kind of gal, aren'tcha? A beauty, huh?"  

Elari kept their mouth closed; they wouldn't call that fluffy thing beautiful, but that definitely seemed like one of those things you just didn't say. "I got her when I was traveling around. Hasn't left my side since then." A wistful look softened her face before she snapped back to Elari. "But I'm sure you didn't come here to listen to me rambling away; I don't think I've seen you around here." A casual interest crossed her expression, as she leaned in closer, and the light purple cloak she wore rustled. "Ashni.”

"Elari. I'm Elari."

Elari caught the spark of interest that lit up her eyes. "Is that so... You wouldn't happen to be Dura's child, would you?" Ashni asked.

"I got a letter from her,” she said, “asking if I could come down to visit her.” The words died on their tongue.

Ashni sighed, placing a hand on her cheek. "My apologies that your reason to visit Juniper Wall wasn't a more positive one. Dura was a good soul." Again, that wistful look.

Hope made Elari glance up. "Did you know her that well?"

Ashni seemed to wrestle with something, her eyebrows contorting. "In a way, yes," she replied. "Dura and I were close, although the time we spent together wasn't long."

"Then, do you know why she—what I mean is, why was Juniper Wall her choice?" It came out of their mouth in a rush, desperate to finally get some answers. "She just left without saying anything. I didn't really hear from her a lot." With a sudden flush of embarrassment, they bit down the rest of their words. Were they really just unloading everything on this random stranger? A couple villagers had stopped to listen to the conversation that grew louder and louder. Elari ducked her head, wishing she had her cloak to pull the hood up.

But Ashni just smiled at them, with gentle and soft eyes that made Elari's throat tighten. "How about this. I don't want to make this a public thing,” the naga said slowly, “but I also don't want to avoid your questions. I have to go do some chores around my coffee shop, why don't you come with me, and I'll answer some of your questions?”

At Elari’s pinched expression, she added, “It's closed right now, so you won't need to worry about everyone gossiping." They're good folk, but you know how the rumor mill can start. Seem fair?" Pixie cooed, copying Ashni’s head tilt.

Elari hesitated. It was one thing to agree to meet up with a random stranger and potentially room with them (they had this whole process in mind right before the storm happened, steps they could take in case Anise turned out to be someone they couldn't trust), it was another to go into a shop with a stranger and help them with a store closed. But they still had their dagger in their pocket, and worst came to worst, they felt the warmth of their magic curling at their fingertips.

Ashni tried to continue the conversation as they traipsed back to her shop, but Elari struggled to pay attention and give more than one-word answers. Her head was on a constant swivel, as she soaked in Juniper Wall.  

What she first thought of the place turned out to be incorrect. Creeping vines sun themselves as they cling to the houses, and with old and creaking porches with all shades of the rainbow, Elari felt a little pang in the back of her throat; they all looked well-worn. She assumed that neighbors would come by with trays of food when you were sick, saying that they accidentally made extra food, but everyone would know that it hadn't been an accident.  

In the city, there wasn't really a chance to meet your neighbors; especially being so close to the Adventurers' Guild, there was such a constant stream of people coming and going, you learned to not get too close to folks, since they'd probably be gone the next day. Folks were awfully bad at keeping in touch.

"Here we are," Ashni said, opening the door. A sign proclaimed See is for Coffee, with the name forming from the steam of a purple coffee cup below it. A singular and bright orange eye embossed on the purple cup seemed to follow them as they entered.  Something about the name sparked a thought in Elari’s mind, but it disappeared before she could grab ahold of it.

It was a small place. Wooden circular tables and chairs with mismatched pillows dominated most of the space. A small counter sat next to an even smaller display case. The handwritten signs of what pastries they had toppled over and the trays were still crumb-flecked.  

As soon as Ashni followed Elari's eyes to the trays, the grin disappeared. "I told him to-" She messaged her forehead, squeezing her eyes, before the glower vanished as she clapped her hands. "Alright, so after I clean the trays, we can chat."

"I can help," Elari offered, tying her hair up, "I work at the tavern; I'm used to this kind of stuff."

Even though she got the feeling that the folks here just did stuff for each other for the sake of it, Ashni lit up, beaming down at her. "I won't say no to that. Pixie, go relax." She pointed to a rather beaten wooden box in the corner with a small hole in it.

"An utter nuisance," Ashni commented with affection once the pigeon had settled, before leading Elari into the kitchen with the trays. The kitchen had low-hanging cupboards, easy for Ashni to reach, with a potted ivy curling happily around the top of the cupboards.

As Elari helped her wash the trays, she hesitated. All that excitement from learning someone who knew her mother now lay curdled in her mouth.

Thankfully, Ashni seemed to pick up on her tumultuous thoughts and began, "So. Your mother." It felt like she was back in school, watching an old professor start a lecture they were particularly excited about.

They turned to look at her expectantly, nodding. "How did you know her?"

"How much do you know about your mother's adventures?"

Elari shrugged. "Not much," she said, staring off into space, "My dad always stopped her before she could finish any of her stories." Ashni snorted but merely gestured for her to continue. It felt like Elari was missing out on a joke. "Mom didn't want to give out too much information about her other companions." They paused. "Something about pissing off a lich and wanting to protect their identities when the party disbanded."

A thought occurred to her, and she glanced at Ashni, her eyes narrowing. "I do remember her mentioning a seer they needed to rescue-"

"To find Azdok, yes." Ashni stared at the tray she was drying, her mouth pinching. "I didn't know that I was sending them there—" She shook her head, hissing. "That's beside the point." 

Turning to Elari, she forced a chuckle. "But yes, I am that seer that helped them find the same lich."

For a couple moments, Elari stared at her. This was the all-powerful seer her mother gushed about? There was a mythological being in her head that she had conjured from listening to all the stories; how this seer could wield magic that sang in the air as she snipped and resewed time and reality back together, how everyone from across the entire land came to see her with problems that seemingly no one could decipher.

"How'd you get to Juniper Wall?"

Ashni's eyes widened, but before Elari could take her words back, the naga let out a howl of a laugh, her tail curling. "Out of all the questions, that's the one you're curious about?" Her tongue flicked out, eyes squinting.

Flushing, Elari handed the tray to her roughly. "My mom couldn't stop talking about you. Why're you here?" They gestured at the shop, eyebrows furrowing. "You can reshape time and space, and you're at a coffee shop?"

"Is that so bad?" Her pitying look hurt more than if she had yelled. “I’m happy here.” She stared out through the serving hatch, her eyes unfocused. “I think it was the same for Dura.”

Ashni rubbed the back of her neck, hissing again and snapping her eyes at Elari. "Your mother, after she came back from the mission, disappeared. I hadn’t heard anything from her for a long time. And then, out of the blue, I get a letter from her.” Her smile was so soft that it made Elari glance down, embarrassed to have even had the audacity to look.  

“She said that she needed to talk to someone who was with everyone.” Her expression soured, and she gripped the tray. “I don’t think she ever got over losing Duster, let alone when—” She froze. Face contorting, she grabbed her neck. Gurgling noises escaped her mouth.

As Elari dropped the tray, shattering it, wings beat through the air, and Pixie shoved her way through the door. The pigeon grunted low in her throat, settling near Ashni while she gasped. Elari lunged at the naga, her eyes burning sun-hot as she called upon her magic. A wisp of invisible to the normal eye, black smoke curled from Ashni's mouth to her lungs, where it squeezed. "Ashni?"

The naga waved her away, bending over to cough, as she heaved for air. "It's fine, I'm fine," she wheezed, her expression still pinched. Elari hovered around her, the magic disappearing.

When she recovered, Ashni stood straighter, eyes narrowed, hissing with every deep breath. She let Pixie settle on her shoulder, the pigeon nibbling at her neck, still grunting. She took the cup of water Elari offered her with a quiet 'thank-you'.  

"I'm alright," she began, voice scratchy, "just a side effect; your mother was serious about keeping her party members' names a secret."

Elari sat on a stool, gripping the edges with her fingers. "The fight against Azdok was that serious, huh?" Names were important to anyone, but to a lich who had lost theirs in their rebirth, it was disgusting to let someone who still clung to their name let live after they had the audacity to invade a lich’s lair.

Ashni stared at the cup, tracing the rim with her finger. In the afternoon sun, she looked much older, the rays tracing every ridge and valley on her lined face. Finally, she met Elari's eyes. "Yes." After a beat, she added, "I think that's why she decided to stay here. She wasn't able to"—she paused, choosing her words carefully—"keep in touch with any of the others. The other two vanished. But she found me."

With a shake of their head, Elari hugged themself. "Look, I don't want to diminish your relationship—" She ground her teeth, squeezing herself harder. Why was it hard to say anything? "My mom loved the adventure, before she headed off to go take down Azdok, she would always have this starry look in her eyes when she told me all her adventures. She wouldn't just settle down here." Elari gestured nebulously outside the window.

"What's so bad about here?"

"Well, it's y'know..." Trying to avoid looking at Ashni's cocked eyebrow, Elari finished, "Quiet."

A simple "hm" came from the naga. After what felt like a century, she set the cup down and went about cleaning up the broken tray from the ground. It was like Elari had failed a test. She stayed silent while she helped Ashni clean.

“I don’t want to force you to do something you don’t want to,” Ashni began after they cleaned up the shattered pieces.

“I’m sensing a but.”

“But, I want you to give this place a chance.” She turned to face Elari, gesturing around out the window as she said, “There was something about Juniper Wall your mother enjoyed. In part, because she may well have been lonely and wanted someone who knew what she went through.”  

She slithered closer and placed a hand on Elari’s shoulder. Standing at her full height, they had to raise their head to look Ashni in the eyes. “I’m tasked with beautifying the town’s community garden. I’d be more than happy to show you around, point out your mother’s favorite spots. If you help me.”

Elari kept quiet, tipping her head to the side. The idea of sitting around until Anise woke up just twiddling their thumbs sounded exhausting. At least she’d be able to do something.  Hells to it. There wasn’t anything they could do about it, might as well accept.

Ashni’s face lit up, her crow’s feet crinkling. “Wonderful,” she cried, startling Pixie when she clapped her hands, “I think we can start right now.”

“Wait, like, right now, right now?”

Shaking a finger at Elari, Ashni said, “Well, we haven’t got all day. Besides, you’re here. Might as well get it started. Why don’t you follow me; I won’t be opening up the shop today, it’s Laundry Day.”

Without wanting to open a potential can of worms as to why it sounded like it was capitalized (do all small villages have these weird holidays?), Elari trailed after the naga. The weird invisible smoke didn’t seem to have left any physical marks, but Ashni winced every now and then as she called out greeting after greeting when they stepped outside. Other than curious looks, none of the townsfolk stopped to chat with Elari.

Ashni stretched her arms out, once she came to a stop. “Here we are. This is where everyone grows everything and anything; we all have our plots of land.” She fondly patted the worn and warm russet brown fence surrounding the garden. “I’m in charge of making sure the spots outside of the garden look good too.”

After a beat: “Do you know anything about gardening?”

Elari waggled her hand up and down with a bit of a grimace. “Honestly, my dad’s more of the green thumb in our family. I get by fine.”

Out of seemingly nowhere, Ashni pulled out and handed them a couple seed packets. “It took me a while, but I was able to find these. What a coincidence that you decided to show up the day after I got them.”

Almost numbly, Elari glanced up at the older woman. “These are my mom’s.” Written in a familiar cursive scrawl that was so used to cramming a paragraph of information in a postscript were simple labels of “hyacinths” and "peonies.”.

“She was fond of the community garden,” Ashni replied, her tone sad. “This month was hers to be the caretaker.”

Her throat thick with sudden emotion, Elari rubbed the back of her hand against her mouth. To just do something. “I’m not good with these kinds of plants.” They quickly continued after seeing the naga’s face fall, “But I’ll try my best.”

And although Ashni swore up and down that there was no pressure to make the best garden anyone had seen, a tautness grew in Elari’s chest. It was one thing to listen to stories of her mother living in Juniper Wall, another to hold onto something her mother looked forward to using in the future, something she never got to see.

Elari rubbed the edges of the seed packages between her fingers, before turning to Ashni. “Do you have a shovel?”

The sun scorched Elari’s bare arms as they dug, their sweat slicking their grasp. Confusion and sadness clawed at her throat, unaware as she was of whether her eyes stung from sweat or tears. But it was good to move, it felt right to dig, to work.

Even if Ashni had to stop them from digging too much.

Notes:

Weather: Sunny

Do your Best!! (asking about why her mom decided to stay in the village) - Strong hit

Make a promise (Grow the flowers around the community garden) - 4 boxes

Do your Best!! (tending to the flowers) - Weak hit

[eggrestes]

ladrien fic recs!

there are SO MANY amazing ladrien fics i cant possibly cover them all but here are a few!

(all the ratings used are ao3 ratings)

((this is a very long post!))

FLUFF

Of Ivy and Sunlight by cyanise [ T, 1509 words, 1/1 ]

When Adrien takes to wandering the streets of Paris in ungodly hours, Ladybug has no choice but to keep an eye on him. Still, things are bound to get a little out of hand between two overloaded teenagers with a lot of love and not enough self-control. 

a lovely post-chat blanc fic :’) it has a great flow and is just soft and so sweet and it’s just perfect. gosh i cannot really say more other than read it!!! also almost all of their other stuff is also ladrien so do check it out!

This can't be happening by PlaPla [ T,  6,467 words, 1/2 ]

Ladybug is unsure whether accompanying Adrien to a gala as his not-date is the best or worst thing that has ever happened to her. But when their table mates turn out to be none other than her long time friends Alya and Nino and with Adrien acting weirder and weirder she finds herself with bigger worries than an unrequited crush.

a djwifi/ladrien double date? hit me up! i love identity shenanigans, ball dancing, ladrien, and djwifi and this is a perfect mix for me. i know it’s incomplete but it doesn’t end in a cliff-hanger really, the part 2 is just a promise of more so it doesn’t feel incomplete! PlaPla also has a short oneshot of ladrien going for a motorcycle ride.

Falling again by emsylcatac [ M,  4,506 words, 2 Works ]

They had been dancing around each other for a while now, and while fifteen year old Adrien would have been ecstatic at the idea of dating Ladybug in secret, twenty-two year old Adrien knew better. But Ladybug wasn’t making it easy. It was like… she, too, was falling for him. And that surprisingly enough, she didn’t mind.

* * *

Or Adrien trying (and failing) to keep things professional between him and Ladybug when the two of them partner up for a mission. Older AU

things are a little steamy~ here (don’t worry, it’s only implied it’s very mild and closer to a T rating than the M) but it’s a great mature take on their dynamics! emsy has more ladrien one-shots in her collection of one-shots!

i'd love to go on a date with you by sae_what  [ G,  6,480 words, 1/1 ]

Once it had been falsely announced throughout Paris that Adrien and Ladybug are in a relationship, Ladybug pays him a visit to turn him down gently.

Only, she doesn’t. And instead, she has a formal dinner date. With Adrien. At 8 pm. Tonight.

LADYBUG IN A SUIT!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaa. okay but for real it’s so sweet and also??? they are on a date!!! a rooftop date!! (too man exclamation marks oops)

Always Welcome by  chatonne-rousse [ T, 1,683 words, 1/1 ]

Ladybug knows that Adrien's window is always open for her to swing by and stop in, whether for video games or a chat or, like tonight, for soft kisses and sweet nothings.

He loves these visits. His girlfriend is always welcome. Always. (Especially for kisses.)

Written for Ladrien June, day 8: bluebell eyes.

established relationship, pre-reveal ladrien. there is something very home-y about this fic and it’s all about the comfort and quiet that i adore about it!

Five Times Gabriel Agreste Caught Ladybug in His Son’s Bedroom (and the One Time He Caught Chat Noir) by agrestenoir [ T,  1,923 words, 1/1]

Gabriel Agreste keeps finding Ladybug in his son's bedroom. As a super villain and father, this will not stand.

this crack fic is... honestly so hilarious. it’s all through gabrie-i-am-trying-to-parent-and-failing-a-lot-agreste’s POV so it is so much ridiculous! 

an uncurtain discovery by  Missnoodles [ T, 4,684 words, 1/1 ]

When he returns from school on Wednesday afternoon, Adrien discovers the darkness in his own home. He struggles to come to terms with it. To his utter mortification and delight, Ladybug is nearby to rescue him.

(He does not discover that his father is supervillain. That will happen on a different Wednesday.)

Adrien is being a cat and gets tangled in the curtains on his window and it’s utterly ridiculous. all the bug and the cat tendencies make it funnier and adrien’s inner monologue is just a cherry on top!

secret valentine by a_miiraculer [ T,  12,245 words, 1/1 ]

this is the moment that we will come alive brace yourself for love sweet love, secret love

If Adrien had known that getting himself stuck in a tree would end like this, he would've gotten himself stuck sooner.

A drabble series.

i just,,,, don’t have words for how much i love it! it’s ridiculous, it’s cute, it’s funny, it’s whole-some and just ladrien. the writer also has a M rated multi-chapter ladrien kissing (no the M is very much real here) and a heroic adrien and ladybug one-shot too! 

Those Benevolent Stars by peachcitt [ G,  23,696 words, 3/3 ]

“Will you come back?”

She looked up at the deep blue sky, as if she could somehow find the answer there. “I shouldn’t,” she said, shaking her head and looking back at him. But the stars were still there, caught in her eyes, and Adrien persisted.

“But will you?”

or

adrien meets his soulmate, a thief who calls herself ladybug. he falls for her, but she seems determined to maintain a space between them.

oh my god this au.... just no words!! it’s poetry and it’s tender and it’s about the yearning and just!!! perfect :’). Her current ongoing ladrien june fic is also akin to this (and the fic i linked before it) so do check it out too! (literally check out all of their works it’s so beautiful)

Flowers on the Window Sill by LNC [ G,  2,144 words, 1/1 ]

The first time Ladybug saw him, really saw him, the universe stopped.

this fic feels like poetry and it’s so lovely. LNC is always short and direct but it always hits right in the feels while also being hilarious. Her  other ladrien works are just as good and i highly recommend going through them because it fulfills all of the ladrien needs (along with Reiaji)

whatever a sun will always sing is you by komorebirei [ T,  32,980 words, 37/37 ]

“I didn't think you'd actually... do anything," Adrien admitted, cheeks prickling with warmth. "I-I mean, I never expected... I didn't know you watched my interviews.” That definitely wasn’t how he'd imagined confessing to Ladybug.

“Of course I do!” Ladybug squeaked. “Uhh, that is…” She looked down at her hands, nervously turning her yo-yo over, over and over. “Maybe you’re not the only one with a crush.”

(After an unexpected confession, Ladybug and Adrien start dating in secret. A progressive character- and relationship-study quilted from drabbles, with the intention of digging treasure out of the cove that is Ladrien. Written using kashimalin-fanfiction's kiss writing prompts from Tumblr.)

it does such an excellent job at exploring this dynamic along with the characters. it’s such a sweet fic, each chapter short and fun!

ANGST

whose woods these are (I think I know.) by  Reiaji [ T,  105,000 words, 25/25 ]

Four years after his future turns to cinders, Adrien is a servant in the house he was meant to inherit. Disowned by his father and abused by his stepmother, his days are filled with drudgery until he meets a masked huntress in the forest behind his father's chateau.

As his friendship with Ladybug turns to first love, he dreams of a future spent at her side.

Then, on the eve of the Princess's masquerade, he meets his guardian—and is granted a wish.

[Ladrien Cinderella AU]

Warnings: Child abuse, Graphic depiction of violence

this is absolutely gorgeous. it has so many troupes and so many amazing character arc and great build up and everything just flows so well. it left me in awe for weeks and i just. want to experience reading it for the first time again. look at this gorgeous art inspired by this! {and you have to read  leonard bernstein too because LETTERS and LADRIEN and YEARNING}

i would do it again (oh, a thousand times) by bugabisous [ T, 2,266 words, 1/1 ]

Knowing you can bring someone back doesn’t mean you’re free of the pain of seeing them disappear before your eyes. He can’t imagine he’ll be able to look at her directly without replaying every horrifying moment when he felt her slip away in a puff of smoke.

When it happens once again, he already knows he’ll be trying again. He just can’t give up.

it expands on adrien’s feelings in the episode desperada (my beloved <3) and it is just ouch. such great angst, such great potential. the kind of tragedy that it offers is unusual for ml (it gets only rivaled by chat blanc tbh). to rival this angst bugabisous also has a fluffy one-shot :)

when the world gets too heavy (put it on my back) by Taliax [ T, 4,720 words, 1/1 ]

Chat Noir isn't allowed to cry over his father. But even when he's just Adrien, Ladybug won't abandon him.

Hawkmoth reveal hurt/comfort + Ladrien

the plagg and adrien bond written is just perfect, and oh this hits right in the feels :’) it hurts all in the right way. tali also has so many other ladrien works in all genres too

By Your Side by omniousunflower [ T, 4,361 words, 1/1 ]

(Angry and alone, Adrien waits on top of the Eiffel Tower for his lady.)

“So, how did my kitty get stranded up here?” Ladybug asks.

Groaning, Adrien pulls his knees toward his chest and presses his face against them. “Because he’s stupid and impulsive.”

“Chasing pigeons, then?”

“No.” Shame burns in Adrien’s veins, white-hot now that Ladybug is here to witness his stupidity. “I threw my Miraculous, and Plagg wouldn’t get it for me.”

post-hawkmoth defeat, and adrien is not doing well at all. i am cheating because it is post reveal, pre relationship but it’s still ladrien. this fic is a roller coater of emotions, starting from a slightly crack scenario to a cute, awkward, hopeful ending.  More Than You Know is another of sunny’s angsty ladrien work!

Breaking The Rules (AKA The Ladrien Fistfight) by ThisKwamiNeeds_aNap [ T, 8,714 words, 1/1 ]

Marinette may or may not be dying, but she’s still going to do her best to fix every single problem in the world. She’s not expecting Adrien to be the one who tries to stop her. (Takes place immediately after Kwami Buster)

Warnings: panic attack, broken bones, PTSD. please read the tags!

*slaps this fic* this fic can fit in so much angst. it just?? left me in PAIN oof. it says ‘ladrien fistfight’ on the lid but nooo there is marinette is just having a freak out and it’s all so much??!! and it’s not just marinette there is adrien too and chloe and alya and- wow it’s amazing. love it so much it fills up my angst needs :’)

so that’s it for now! my personal commentary isn’t impressive nor does it do justice to the fic but i still hope you read a few of these!! happy reading!!

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Chapter 2: Glimmer of Dawn

Narrated by Loen.

Narrator: About how long ago was it? I don’t remember clearly, maybe in the last two years.

Narrator: On my way to Lodden, I stopped by a Pigeon town for a few days to find some commissions and make some money.

Narrator: This town was small, of course. I wouldn’t get any major tasks.

Narrator: However, the locals were enthusiastic, waking up early in the morning, and were happy to accept me.

Narrator: The white quilt was washed and hung on the clothesline. The morning dew shone brightly on the leaves of vegetables and fruits.

Narrator: In the vineyard not far away, the shelves full of sweet fruits were neatly organized.

Narrator: The owner got up early and saw a new face. He clapped his hands in surprised and his beard trembled as he laughed.

Mayor: A guest! Welcome!

Mayor: Guests coming from afar or returning travelers, they all deserve a party!

Narrator: In the melodious music, the girls danced hand in hand wearing fluffy skirts, and the young men cheered to the beat of the drums.

Narrator: I was dancing with lovely girls and drinking one glass of wine after another.

Narrator: While drinking heavily, I was invited by enthusiastic residents to stay for the night.

Narrator: In the house where I stayed, there were a hostess and a boy. The hostess was a good cook and there was always wine in the house.

Narrator: The boy had a sister who worked as a very young model in Lodden.

Narrator: Every morning, I woke up to this...

Hostess: Mok! Get up!

Hostess: You won’t sleep on time or get up in the morning. Let’s see what happens if you play video games again!

Hostess: Why don’t you say hello to your brother?

Hostess: Your room is a mess. Clean it up in an hour!

Hostess: You’re always outside all the time! What are you doing staying inside?!

Narrator: Her voice was loud, almost deafening.

Narrator: Little Mok was annoyed. Every time he was nagged by his mother, he would come to me and talk in the same tone.

Mok: Boring, this town is so boring...

Mok: Plus... Mom isn’t being reasonable!

Loen: My mother used to scold me when I was a child. Loen, why don’t you do your homework? Loen, have you spent your allowance again?

Loen: Although she wasn’t as loud as your mother. Um...

Narrator: Putting aside the basket of grapes, Mok and I lay outside the vineyard to take a break.

Narrator: The boy’s eyes lit up when he saw the map next to my hand.

Mok: Loen, you’re going to Lodden, right?

Loen: Yeah.

Mok: My sister is there, too! Do you think I can join you and become a mercenary?

Loen: Sure, what can you do?

Mok: I’m only 13 years old, but I’m a good fighter! Let me show you my punches! For world peace!

Narrator: Before he finished, Little Mok was pulled back by his mother, who heard him.

Mok’s Mom: You can’t pick grapes, but you’re here messing with Loen... For world peace? You sure do like that, huh!

Mok: Mom! I mean it! I’m going to Lodden, too!

Mok’s Mom: Pick the grapes first!

Loen: How can we save the world if you can’t even pick grapes?

Narrator: I smiled, stood up, stretched, and went to pick some grapes.

Choose either “A very loving family” or “A bickering family.”

If “loving,” ...

You: What a lovely family.

Narrator: Yeah, I stayed here for three days, and I didn’t want to leave.

If “bickering,” ...

You: What a noisy family.

Narrator: Yeah, but it feels good, right?

--

Narrator: Three days later, I set out with a heavy pack filled with scones made by Mok’s mother, fruits, and new clothes.

Narrator: But ever since I left town, I always felt like someone was following me.

Narrator: I yawned and went into a bakery, walked around, and as expected, caught Little Mok at the door.

Narrator: He ran away from home with a simple pack.

Mok: Loen! Let me go!

Loen: It’s dangerous. I can’t protect you.

Mok: I don’t need your protection! I can protect myself!

Loen: You’ll be starving if you don’t get a job.

Mok: I’ll be fine!

Loen: ...Oh, yeah?

Narrator: I looked at Little Mok skeptically.

Mok: Loen, I brought some wine from home. Look!

Narrator: The red, mellow liquid shone and looked delicious in the sun.

Loen: ...

Narrator: I took the wine without thinking.

Narrator: Little Mok jumped with excitement.

Mok: Finally, I don’t have to listen to my mother nagging or be scolded anymore. Aah! My life is about to begin!

Choose either “That’s not good, is it?” or “You were bribed with a bottle of wine?”

If “not good,” ...

You: It’s not good to let Mok leave home like this, right?

Narrator: I’m a mercenary. I get paid to do things, right?

If “bribed,” ...

You: Did I see you actually get bribed by a bottle of wine?

Narrator: Don’t look at me like that. If you’ve tasted this, you’d understand!

--

Narrator: I was going to take Mok for a walk around Lodden then bring him home.

Narrator: Until then, I needed to find a way to tell his mother about it.

Narrator: What? You didn’t expect I could be mature, too?

Choose either “Didn’t expect that” or “I thought you really were going to...”

If “expect,” ...

You: I really didn’t expect this from you.

Narrator: It seems that you know too little about me.

If “going to,” ...

You: I thought you were really going to help Little Mok run away from home!

Narrator: I’m a mature, kind, rational mercenary.

--

Narrator: It was still daytime, and I wasn’t drunk yet.

Narrator: But when I opened the package that Mok’s mother had prepared, I found money and a handwritten letter.

Mok’s Mom: If Mok follows you, please take him to Lodden.

Mok’s Mom: This kid, I knew what he was going to do with a single glance. He thought he had a great plan, didn’t he?

Mok’s Mom: The entrustment fee is in the envelope, and I don’t know if it’s enough. Anyway, please, Loen.

Mok’s Mom: When you get to Lodden, please leave Mok with his sister Serena and tell them I’ll always be here when they want to come home.

Narrator: Our truck staggered along the road, and the soft light of the stars and moon fell on Little Mok’s face.

Narrator: The next morning, when daylight broke, the truck stopped by the side of the road and the driver was resting.

Narrator: After sitting in the car all night, I got up and stretched.

Narrator: Little Mok, who used to stay in bed, even sat up rubbing his eyes.

Loen: You awake?

Mok: Uh-huh...

Narrator: The glimmer of dawn shone on his blond hair and covered it in a warm and soft color.

Mok: Why didn’t anyone wake me up...?

Narrator: Little Mok muttered to himself.

Narrator: He furrowed his eyebrows and tears fell from his eyes.

Narrator: He seemed to realize that he had left home.

Loen: You want to go back? It’s not too late.

Narrator: Mok thought for a moment and gritted his teeth.

Mok: I’m not going back.

Narrator: I patted his head and threw him my coat.

Loen: Let’s get going.

Mok: Okay.

Narrator: Mok held back his tears, jumped out of the truck, put on his own coat, and caught up to me.

Narrator: The sun rose from the horizon, warm light embracing all things, like the hands of a mother soothing her young kid.

Narrator: It was the most beautiful dawn I’ve ever seen.

Chapter 1

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

[ravs6709]

Home With You- Sevade

@arre-rider-of-pyrxe so, here we go. This was the oneshot I said I was writing.

It's another snapshot kinda thing that starts off post WoS. A lot of timeskips. There are mentions of unfamiliar names, but those are just ocs. Most of them aren't important. It's primarily fluffy, but there is a brief scene of a panic attack. If I wrote that part poorly, please let me know! I'll try and fix it!

Anyways, here we go! 4k words!

•~•~•~•~•~•

For a while, Sev had thought that he would never be able to return here. Hillsbridge, the place he had lived for the early years of his life. The place his parents had defended with their lives, and the place that he had helped destroy.

"We're going to fix it, remember that," Kade said from in front of him. "We told each other that we're going to help rebuild it. And that's what matters. Now... you're squeezing too much!"

Sev loosed his grip around Kade's waist, not realizing that he'd been holding on so tightly. They were on top of Kade's phoenix at the moment- Luxuna. In some ways, Sev was never going to be used to being on a phoenix, so high in the air. But he trusted both his boyfriend and Luxuna to hold him, and save him if something were to happen.

With a flap of their wings- red tipped with both gold and purple, signifying that the phoenix didn't fit in the binary of being male or female- they landed on the outskirts of Hillsbridge.

While the damage looked awful from above, it looked even worse up close. All of the materials that had been burned during the attack were still there, and not much looked like it could be salvaged.

"You want to go make our meal while I start sorting through all this stuff?" Sev asked.

The flight to Hillsbridge had taken several hours from the Eyrie, and while they were able to pack some food, not much could be carried for long. While Sev did know how to cook, he usually wasn't required to, since the bondservants were normally in charge of that.

"Okay. You can keep Luxuna with you. I'll be by the centre."

He nodded, before turning to the phoenix. Delicately, he reached out to them with his magic- which despite some recent practice, wasn't strong at all.

Will you help me move the severely charred wood into a pile?

They squawked. What made you think I wouldn't?

Sev gave them a smile, not wanting to use up the energy he would need to be lifting wood. He didn't have much experience in any of this, and it was just the three of them, so he knew that it would be difficult. But after Veronyka was crowned Queen, and Tristan became Commander of the Phoenix Riders, the Riders were given a position that would require for them to stay by Aura Nova.

Sev knew that Kade had enjoyed his time with the other Riders. He'd even tried to convince Kade to stay with them, because look at him, he had his freedom and a phoenix meanwhile Sev was still just a weak animage without a phoenix.

Kade had cut him off with a kiss, and then explained how Sev wasn't just a nobody, but a hero. And that even if he was just a nobody, he still mattered to him more than any status would. And that he never really wanted to be a noble, but wanted to just live in a small home for the rest of his life.

At that point, Sev had never really considered his future. He'd been working for the Empire as a soldier, then spied on them pretending to be a soldier, and all of the stress he'd been under never really gave him time to think. All he knew that the time was that he wanted to spend his future with Kade.

His body moved on its own, sorting through the wood idly as he wore a dopey smile. Even if the rebuilding process would take a long time, it didn't matter, because he was with Kade.

He remembered some of what Veronyka and Tristan had told them when they said that they were going to Hillsbridge to make repairs. Apparently the two of them had gone to Vayle and the other settlements when there was that attack on the Eyrie. They explained some of the basic steps, and gave advice.

The first house didn't look too bad compared to the others. He had to climb and get rid of the loose pieces from whatever was left of the roof, before it would fall on someone. But other than that, the house had remained intact and he moved aside all the irreparable materials.

A few hours later, and Sev was exhausted. Despite the help that he got from Luxuna, they only managed to clear out two houses. By then, the scent of whatever Kade was cooking was prominent in the air, even drawing the phoenix's attention.

"Empire food is good," Sev said while chewing. "But your food is better."

"Sev, don't choke." Was all Kade said, but he was smiling.

Neither of them really talked for too long after that, as Sev was still tired. It wasn't a depressing silence, especially with the squawks of Luxuna as they devoured a few pieces of candied ginger.

After that, the both of them continued working. It felt a little easier with Kade at his side, whether it was extra arms, or just his mere presence. They were able to clear out one more house before they set up to sleep.

When he woke the next morning, he noticed that Kade wasn't around. For a moment, he panicked, but noticed that Luxuna was also gone. They probably went out for a fly. After a few minutes, he saw a red blur in the blue skies, coming closer until it landed on the ground.

"I didn't think you'd wake up until a little later," Kade apologized, as he starting taking off his saddle. "Sorry if I worried you."

"It's fine," Sev said. "You probably needed that fly, with everything that's happened."

In these past two years, a lot had happened. Sev had been forced to become a soldier for the Empire, he'd met Kade and was forced to aid in Ilithya's rebellion, then spied on the Empire as a soldier, and had continued to do so until all of them- not just Sev and Kade, but Tristan and the others too- were safe.

Kade nodded. "Do we start now?"

This time, they started the day off early, so they managed to get more work done. By the end of the day, most of the loose wood had been cleared from the houses, though there was still a lot of ash that had lingered from the fires.

"Do you want to try flying on Luxuna?" Kade asked him, while they were setting up their little camp for the night. "I mean, this time by yourself?"

Sev blinked. While he knew the phoenix decently well, he'd never actually rode on them without Kade being with him.

As if noticing his hesitation, Kade continued. "Or I could join you, but this time you sit at the front."

That sounded like a better and safer idea. He smiled and agreed. Minutes later, they were on top of Luxuna. Everything felt so different, for one, he didn't have anyone to grab on to.

"The reins, Sev," Kade told him, guiding his hands towards them.

When they took off, he was confused as to what to do. But they seemed to understand that much, flying low and slow, wings spread wide.

"Kade, what now?"

"Try communicating with them. Our bondmates usually know what we're thinking, but it's always best to communicate with them. Besides, it'd be practice."

He wasn't wrong. Simple tasks that normal animages did as easy as breathing took effort from Sev. But that was what happened when he neglected his gift, had actively suppressed it. And Kade had been in charge of the messenger pigeons in the past. But he reached out anyway. It took small steps in order to get better.

Where are you taking us? He asked.

Where do you want to go?

Back to Hillsbridge, please.

He hadn't realized it at the time, but they had flown a decent while. By the time they got back, they would be resting.

•~•~•~•~•~•

They'd manage to take off all the extra wood off the homes, and got to work on surviving the floor. The action was so minor, but something about being there made everything spin. The smell and feel of ash on the floorboards, everything about this reminded him of the attack. He could hear the sound of soldiers, him among them, setting the flames to bur-

"Sev. Can you hear me? Sev?" The voice was so soothing, a shelter within a raging storm, a small light within the darkness.

"It will be alright, we're fixing it, remember."

We're fixing it. But it wouldn't have needed to be fixed in the first place if he had done a better job.

"H- hold me," he whispered, not knowing whether he was heard or not.

Warm arms wrapped around him gently, a hand rubbing circles across his back.

"Sev, tell me what you see outside, anything."

He opened his eyes, seeing that Kade was right in front of him.

"You."

He smiled. "Yes, tell me something else."

He turned around. "This house. The sky. I see Luxuna. There's grass."

Kade's amber eyes gleamed. "Okay, tell me some things you hear."

"Your voice. The wind. Luxuna flapping their wings and squawking."

He had to list more things, each thing requiring more effort. Then he was breathing, slow breaths that cleared his mind. Kade hugged him, and Sev buried his face into the crook of his neck.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"Those were some hard times. It's to not feel okay. Just know that I'll be there."

•~•~•~•~•~•

They went back to scrubbing, but Kade had made sure to distract him with conversations. It was clear that he was a little out of his comfort zone, but Sev couldn't help but love him more for his dedication. They were cut off though by the sound of wings flapping.

"Anders? Latham? What are you two doing here?" Kade asked when the two new phoenixes had landed.

On top of them were two boys- men? Sev couldn't recall how old they were- one with dark hair and a bright smile, the other blond and also smiling, but it didn't quite look as cheerful. Sev had met the two a few times, but hadn't remembered much about either of them. All he knew was from what Kade had told him, such as Latham's resentment for Veronyka, which had eventually gotten better.

"One of Veronyka's first orders was that a bunch of us were to spread out and help rebuild some of the settlements," Anders explained. "We also remembered that you two were here, and figured you'd need the help."

"It was tough in Vayle, when there were six of us and the villagers. You're gonna grow old before you finish all this," Latham added. "We're not here for long, just to help speed up the process."

•~•~•~•~•~•

With four people, everything had gone by so much faster. Anders and Latham had experience, which only made things easier. They quickly managed to clean out the ash and soot that clung to the floorboards, now leaving the actual rebuilding process to be done.

With three phoenixes, Kade and the other two would fly out further, chopping down larger trees that normally wouldn't be able to be used due to the distance.

Still, it was tough. They had the wood needed to repair the homes, but they had to make sure that they were sturdy and would be able to handle the occasional rainfall. It was even more tedious than taking down the loose pieces.

The extra company also made things livelier, especially since they were the two most talkative out of everyone in Tristan's patrol. There were jokes and singing and once there were even drinks. The last time he was drunk, he was still trying to keep his feelings for Kade hidden, so this time, his supposed lack of filter had been emphasized, much to his embarrassment later on.

After three weeks, Anders and Latham had left. Xane- Latham's bondmate had gotten a message from Rex that it was time to go back to the capital. They wouldn't be able to stay and rebuild forever, not when there was so much going on in Aura Nova itself.

Veronyka had likely had the Riders go out to do repair work partially because that was just the type of thing that she would do, and also as a way to gain trust from those who had been suffering all their lives. Having the trust from both people of Pyra and all around would make things better for her reputation.

Each day was tiring, but at the end of the day, Sev felt proud at the small amount of progress that they would be able to make. Afterwards, they would go for another short fly on Luxuna. One time, he let go of the reins, and it felt almost freeing.

"I think... I think I want to try by myself this time," he said one day.

"Go ahead, try."

He climbed on to the saddle, and held the reins gently.

Don't drop me. He told them.

Really? You think I'd drop you? Even if I did, Kade would be angry. They replied, and Sev could imagine them rolling their eyes.

He smiled at that. You know what to do, then.

Luxuna began to take to the skies. They flew their usual route, a relatively short circle before heading back. With the wind flowing at his face, Sev felt nice up there. He understood why Kade would come up here every morning. The rest of the world would feel so insignificant, no other problems existed up there. When they landed, he was smiling, and Kade looked at him with a fond expression.

"I did it," he said, feeling like a little child.

"Yeah, you did."

And then Kade gave him a kiss, and it made him feel all mushy inside. No matter how many times they'd kissed, he would never get used to the warm feeling.

•~•~•~•~•~•

Days and nights had passed by, and Sev was beginning to lose track of the time. It was a routine every day, but it was helpful. The both of them needed this routine after everything.

The next break came when a few people came in. They looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't recall where. They introduced themselves, and said that they had lived in Hillsbridge before that final attack, but had always wanted to return. They offered to help with the rebuilding process, so once again, they had more people.

•~•~•~•~•

"Your full name is Sevro, right?" A woman- Ameliya asked him one day.

"Yes, why?"

"Were you the son of Alys and Sevono Lastlight?"

It'd been a while since he had heard the name of his parents.

"I never knew them personally," she continued. "My mother said she knew them. And that she knew you too, so I was curious to see what you were like. You helped Queen Veronyka a lot, I heard. I think your parents would be proud of you."

"Thank you," he told her. "That means a lot." It really did.

•~•~•~•~•~•

Most of them had worked on the houses, but Ameliya and one of the others had decided to work on the farming instead. After all, Hillsbridge had been known for their farming community. Getting a farm set up would also take a long time, since everything had to grow.

But each day that passed was more progress. The more houses that were set up, the more people that began to move in. Some were people who had been there before, others new to the city and its history. They were still a relatively small group, but larger than before.

But their efforts were paying off, and Sev was able to recognize a few people. Whether from the attack or before, he wasn't sure, but he still recognized them.

•~•~•~•~•~•

"Ameliya, you said that your sibling was a jeweler, right?" Sev asked when there was no one else around.

She nodded. "Yes. What do you need from them?"

Sev looked away, feeling his skin flush. "A ring."

Understanding flashed in her brown eyes. "Oh, I see. Do you know how large his fingers is?"

He looked at his own hand. "Larger than mine?"

She laughed. "I'll figure it out."

•~•~•~•~•~•

"Look at everyone Sev," Kade said beside him. "It hasn't felt this lively since before everything. Almost like the older times."

"Yes," he agreed. "We've come so far. It feels just like home."

"This is our home," Kade reminded him. "You and Hillsbridge, this is our home."

Sev smiled at him. This would have been a really nice time to ask the question, but the band wasn't finished yet. He'd have to ask Ameliya about it.

He also remembered some of what Kade had told him about his past. How he didn't have a home, how Hillsbridge had been the first place he'd felt so welcomed.

"It'll always be our home," Sev promised. "We've got our memories from before, and we'll make new ones."

•~•~•~•~•~•

Ever since Sev had received the ring- it was surprisingly cheap, but Ameliya's sibling insisted that he had a discount for all of his efforts- he'd been fidgeting with the box in his pocket.

"I've been thinking about the future," Kade said abruptly.

"What about it?" He asked, hoping that his eagerness wouldn't show too much. He had to consciously stop himself from reaching into his pocket, or Kade would end up noticing.

"I've wanted a daughter for a long time," he admitted. "But I was thinking that I want to raise more than one child. Something similar to what your parents had done."

"You want to give children a home, just like you had," Sev guessed.

Kade nodded sheepishly. "What do you think about it?"

"I think... I think I like that idea."

This was the perfect time. Don't back out now. He told himself, reaching for the box.

"Kade," he murmured. "A lot has happened in these two years. The biggest being that I met you. I was lost and angry and selfish, but you taught me how to be a hero. You've been with me for this long, as both a friend and lover, and I hope that you continue to stay with me for longer." They were both sitting next to each other, but still, he kneeled anyway. He was pleased at Kade's flustered expression. He took it as encouragement and took the box out and opened it.

"Kade, will you marry me?"

The smile that broke out was the most precious thing that he had ever seen.

"Of course, Sev." He extended his hand, and Sev put the ring on it.

Then they kissed, sitting on a hill underneath the moonlight, occasionally illuminating reds and golds from the phoenix soaring above them.

•~•~•~•~•~•

They started extending their house in order to create the orphanage. It didn't take too long, but then they had to make sure there was enough beds and other basic necessities.

They had made some of the wedding plans, and were finally going to go through with them.

"Veronyka, Tristan, the other riders, Hestia," Kade listed. "Am I missing anyone else?"

Sev shrugged. "I don't think so."

Most of the other people that they had met had either died, or they were unsure as to where they would be now. But the people invited were those that they were closest to.

The two of them had briefly left Hillsbridge to visit Aura Nova. They both knew that Veronyka would be busy, which was why they wanted to schedule a date that suited her. When they had arrived, Veronyka was beaming, and was even happier to know that they planned to get married.

"In Hillsbridge, right?"

They both nodded.

"We'll be there. I think I can manage to be away for a few days, next month."

That was the agreed date.

•~•~•~•~•~•

When the wedding day had come, Sev was both nervous and at ease at the same time. Because this was it, he would pledge his life to Kade's, and Kade's to him. They would be partners for life.

Tristan and a few of his friends had stayed with him, just to make sure that he was doing okay. Their presence did help, along with Hestia who acted as his mother during the ceremony.

The ceremony itself wasn't that huge, despite the company that was there. They stated their vows, pledged their eternal loyalty to each other, and then they were married. There was dancing and phoenix lightshows, but after everything, it was just the two of them- Luxuna gave them the privacy that they needed.

•~•~•~•~•~•

Two weeks after that, Sev and Kade opened their orphanage. The first child had arrived quite quickly, but it wasn't surprising, since many people had died.

It was a little girl named Adarra, with light hair and dull brown eyes. She hardly ever smiled. The both of them understood that this would take time, that it would never be easy, but it seemed like Kade took it a little more personally.

"She's usually quiet, but she ended up snapping at me. What do I do?" Kade whispered, clinging on to Sev's hand. "Do you think that we're good parents?"

He hadn't sounded so unsure in a while, and he was usually the one who was reasonable. But now wasn't the case.

"She's lost a lot. And this is our first time. We're going to get better, and she's going to trust us," Sev promised. "We'll show her that we truly care for her. We can't give up on her now. That would break her."

He nodded slightly. "I think you're right."

It took a while, but Adarra finally warmed up to them. They'd realized that she wasn't comfortable speaking in general, so they instead worked out ways to communicate non-verbally. It worked out, and before they knew it, she was starting to smile.

Another kid named Robyn had them approached them, but they were a lot different. Adarra was reserved, but they were energetic. Robyn spoke a lot. Sev and Kade had to adjust to this, learning about the different ways that people react, the different ways that they would display their emotions.

The two of them were exhausting, but when they interacted with each other, smiling, both Sev and Kade knew that they didn't want any future that was different than this one.

•~•~•~•~•~•

Sev nearly stumbled out of the orphanage door. Kade was about to give the kids breakfast, but Lidiya had decided that it was a good idea to run off, so Sev had to look for her.

"Lidiya!" He called out.

When there was no answer, he ran around, looking to see if the little girl was running around Hillsbridge. But after no sign of her, he ran back inside to find Kade. Said man was busy fussing with their hair of one of the children.

"Kade, help, I can't find our child."

Kade turned to face him really fast. "What do you mean you can't find our child? You lost Lidiya?"

Before Sev could reply to that question, he was interrupted by yelling.

"I'm on the roof! But now I'm stuck!"

Kade took a deep breath. "Sev, I'm leaving you here with the children. Do not lose them. I'll be right back."

"That's rude!" He replied.

Lidiya was brought back a few minutes later, and the children were giggling at Sev.

"Kade, they won't be able to take me seriously anymore! This is embarrassing!"

Kade rolled his eyes but smiled. "Well next time, don't lose the child."

•~•~•~•~•~•

Because this is a different Fandom, its a different taglist. So no taglist yet.

But if you want to join, just let me know!

[cutegirlmayra]

How do you think Amy and the others would feel after Unleashed if they didn’t know where Sonic was, and he just came back after them knowing he was gone for days?

Prompt:

Professor Pickle stared out his window, the orange sky beginning to wane down into its final rest into the night. Before that, the clouds had been stretched like thinned out cotton, speckled with little grey holes that let the sunlight in from the previous rainstorm.

Amy was flipping through a book, but sighed heavily and placed it down after a few more skims of her eyes and the tips of her fingers against their flimsy pages.

“Water damage.” Professor Pinkle’s voice was one of fact, but had a little grain in them that he cleared out with a few gruffs. Digging deep to get the sound right, he finally spoke a bit more within the norm for him, “He’s been gone an awful while...”

“That’s normal for Sonic.” Amy’s usual cheeriness must have been masked over by the gloomy weather, but as she gently set the book aside, she smiled lightly to him and placed her hands delicately in front of her on the table she was sitting at. “He’s probably taking in the sights, enjoying them more now that the planet’s been saved.”

“Ah, does he usually just... up and fancies himself out without telling anyone about his... eccentric journeyings?” He seemed tied up on the idea, but Amy just tried to put together what he had said.

“Umm...” She politely looked away and up towards the ceiling, her mouth forming a pursed line before nodding to him, thinking she might have understood him this time. “Yep! Sonic loves to run! So it’s often hard to tell where he goes. Still, I try not to worry too much. Don’t fret too much about Sonic, he’s a free spirit! After all...” she hopped down from the table and glided her hand across the books of his shelf, opening her mouth to smile wider at the legends and lores they all contained.

“Wow...” she removed her hand a moment to look the whole room over, “Can you imagine? What if every mythological story is true? Whew! Sonic would have his hands full for sure.” she held her hands behind her back, tilting her body in an energetic and young, feminine way as once again--the old professor’s eye caught that mask of her true emotions.

“You’re very real... when you wish to be.” The Professor mused, “And so are legends. They all stem from some fable of truth.” he nodded his head, turning to the skies again. “That fox friend of yours... Ohh... the names not coming to mind...”

“Tails?” Amy thought it strange that he wouldn’t remember that signature feature of his. She turned around and tilted her head back, child-like, but with a sense of innocence as she walked over to the window to look up at him.

“Ah, that’s the one! He’s out there flying about and looking for the ol’sport, right?” He seemed excited to say it, “Makes an old professor wonder... what’s the logic in you not going about to do the same, hmm?” He waited a moment... before taking a peek at her reaction. “Hmm...?” he noticed her sudden glum appearance and turned more fully to her, his eyebrows arching a bit in concern. “Don’t particularly like the rain, dear?”

“It’s not that.” Amy lightly rubbed her hands against the windowsill. “I’d be running with all my heart through the puddles to find him... but...”

“Ah, the legendary word.” Professor Pickle nodded his head and straightened up from leaning over to speak with her. “Say all the more you want, but ‘But’ is a strong, connecting word. Makes me think you have tried before, and again, and again... and finally, discouragement has uprooted that wonderful spirit of adventure in you... and kept you nicely by my side, eh?” He had such a ... way... with words.

Amy’s ears bent back slightly, and she looked away from Professor Pickle.

“Do you... Do you think he purposefully doesn’t come back... sometimes?” Amy felt a bit of her heart sink at admitting her awful doubts. She had pushed them away for so many years... “It’s only when one of us goes after him out of worry and not seeing him for so long... that we ever see him at all.”

“Ah, thus is the life of one called, ‘the blue blur’, eh? An illusionary fallacy of a man and friend, when really, the true underlining of a fable book, no?” He gestured back to his stories. “If one is truly real to their feelings, then they’ll comply. But!” He raised a finger up, happy to express some wisdom to the girl in yet another use of the legendary word he had previously described--”He is very much real, and your worth to him shouldn’t be crippling on the edifice of what is real or not real. Sonic... must be opened like a book on mythology... and then he is real within you and your emotions.” Professor Pickle was a true wizard, one with a line that could combobulate a mixture of confusion with priceless words faster than a puzzling riddle.

“So..?” Amy squinted her eyes, trying to figure it out, but hinting to the kind professor that she couldn’t quite follow that this time.

He laughed, seeing her struggles, and placed a hand encouragingly on her shoulder, “I’m sure he’ll either return, or he’s waiting for you... dear girl.” He gently then turned her towards the door, as her eyes widened at what he was implying. “Go to him... he probably misses your enthusiastic smile... I hear he’s quite fond of it... along with chocolate supreme, or something or other.” He stood like a posh Englishman then, proud to see the girl off. “Take care, now. And I wouldn’t mind it if you stopped for some delectable sandwiches. Pick me one up, will you? You know the kind I like.” he hmm’d his joy at the thought. “Oh yes, quite tasty after the smell of fresh rain, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I would.” Amy breathed out, unable to hide this time her true love and wish to see her blue hero again. “I’ll check up on Sonic, and I’ll find him!” her usual pep was returned to her, and he smiled to see it through his hairy, elderly brows.

“Hmm... yes... not a ‘But’ in that fine sentence. A good statement, really.” he watched her head out, dashing through the puddles in a true, bright expression of youth and joy. “Ah, the grandeur of youth.” He went on, walking up to the open door and seeing the sunset, “I do hope she remembered a coat... or at least an umbrella. Brr... best shut the windows, then.” He slowly... softly... closed the door.

Amy had traveled quite a ways from Spagonia, now racing through the cobbled city of Apotos, as her footfalls splashed up to scare the pigeons off their roosted spires of the extraordinary architecture.

The glimmer of the puddles only radiated her feelings of excitement. She paused only once to look around, her quills swishing freely as she did so, before feeling the wind brisk them forward and turning that very direction.

“Ah!” she gave out an surprised sound, but one that knew exactly what the wind was saying. “Found him!” she took off, experienced in this sort of routine, before skidding to a halt at an ice cream vendor’s cart.

“One sundae supreme, sir!” the man bellowed out happily, “Though it’s getting awfully chilly, sure you want one?”

“It’s for a friend.” Sonic’s voice rang through the streets and straight to her heart.

Tails’s plane flew overhead, and Sonic looked around the man’s tarped covering and excitedly looked back to him again, “Make that two, please!” He held up two fingers as the man just laughed, making another. “Extra on those chocolate flakes.”

“Comin’ up!”

Sonic waited as he watched the progress, but by this time, Amy had already waved out a hand and called out his name, “Sonic!!”

“Huh?” Sonic turned, his hand on his hip swayed up in a leisurely greeting, but his eyes glistened with the falling sun as he saw his friend, delighted to see her. “Thought you’d show up sooner.” he admitted.

Her heart skipped a beat.

“You... you were waiting for me?”

“Uh-huh.” He nodded, “Figured you and Tails would be worried about me, sorry about that.” He scratched behind his head, looking down. “I... had some thoughts and things I needed to take care of. I’m buying these in honor of a good friend.” He watched the man hand out the newest creation he had compiled together as Sonic gave him a thankful nod and gestured one to Amy. “On the house! Or so he says.” Sonic laughed, “My treat, basically.”

Amy lovingly was touched, and took the treat. “Thank you.. Sonic! Hehe!” she licked the vanilla part and placed a hand to her cheek, “Emm~ My favorite! Light and fluffy!”

“Thought so.” Sonic gave her a thumbs up, “Now, how to get Tails down here to say the same.” Sonic teased, looking up at Tails flying about and waving. He gestured that he was landing, and arched his biplane far off into the distance.

Amy and Sonic watched both him and the sun set over the city and hills... finally resting over the ocean... before blipping out of sight entirely.

“...For Chip.” Sonic raised his hand towards the fading light, that then completely disappeared, as though high-fiving it... one last time.

He lowered his hand and then looked to Amy, “Good?” he noticed it melting as she stared at the scene and then him.

“Huh..? O-oh!” she quickly began to try and lick it up as Sonic laughed at her vain attempts.

“We should catch Tails,” He raised the other ice cream up to the night sky, “After all, now that I’m not some big Gaia monster, I can’t just stretch my arm out and hand him it. Plus, I’d like to see the look on his face when I asked the vendor for extra chips on his.” He smiled brightly, gesturing back to the ice cream man as he leaned on his cart and closed his eyes, smiling back.

It was so pleasant... the ice cream so rich.

And Sonic’s smile...

“How are you feeling... about all this?” Amy wondered out loud, as Sonic also seemed to take a moment to think about it, tapping his foot to the ground and slightly crossing his arms, gazing to the cobble streets.

“Well,... I’m used to this form, so I guess it won’t be that hard to get used to again.” He looked back up at her, and to reassure her, bounced a little as he swung a fist upward, “Guess I’ll just stick to what’s true and blue!”

Amy giggled at his antics, then followed suit, startling him as she took his hand.

“H-huh?” He watched her take the lead, eating her ice cream. “What’s this all about?” He seemed surprised, but then looked a bit awkward, “What are you feeling...” he seemed to shy back, and she just pulled him forward.

“Hmm? Oh, just that I don’t want you taking off without me!” she looked back after licking her lips as though this was nothing new, “Come on! Tails will definitely want to hear all about this one, and you know me, never a dull moment in your stories, I’ve gotta hear everything!” as is her normal way of showing affection, she charged forward, dragging him behind.

“Wha-ah-ah!” He stumbled after her, trying to not lose balance and drop Tails’s ice cream.

“We were all so worried about you... I’m glad I found you.” She kept her head forward, “And that... you feel like yourself, but maybe missing what you lost... just a little bit... we’ll try and help the best we can with that,... Sonic... You can rely and depend on us.”

Her words of comfort made him look to her again, and as his eyes adjusted to the new, but fast-pacing darkness that covered the land... he held her hand just the tiniest bit tighter... but no transformation this time.

He had been missing Chip, but also missing his friends, as well...

He loosened his grip on her hand after a moment, as though accepting that he wouldn’t become the Werehog again, and nodded to her statement.

“Sorry.”

“We’ll always worry about you! So don’t sweat it! Just know, that we’re always waiting for you to come back safely!” she looked over her shoulder, happy to be with him, and then walked quickly while she ate towards where Tails had landed, a while away... but a pleasant stroll through the city never hurt anybody...

Apotos’s was brimming with night life fancies, like lights and soft music playing on the streets...

Tails’s plane’s propeller slowly spun as he dismounted it and excitedly ran over to Sonic after checking that everything was a safe landing.

“Sonic..! Oh? For me?” Tails waited to take the ice cream, but looked about ready to take it, looking for a signal from Sonic.

Sonic had let go of Amy’s hand a while ago, which made her puff up her cheek, but she was happy he put up with it for so long anyway that regardless, she was still pretty happy to be with him.

She swayed her body as Sonic nodded and handed the treat over to his friend, smiling. “All yours, buddy!”

“Wow, thanks!” Tails excitedly took it, “Woah! So many chips!”

Sonic folded his arms, basking in the look Tails gave off. “Knew you’d love it.” He gave him an iconic wink and thumbs up, bouncing it in the air a moment.

Amy carefully held her ice cream, half-way eaten, in her hands. “Ooohh... isn’t there something special about mine too, Sonic? Something I like?”

Tails was hurriedly devouring his Ice cream with enthusiastic licks, he must have been hungry, as Sonic turned to Amy and nodded too.

“Extra whip, extra cream, and a whole lot more strawberries.” he winked, “You said, ‘light and fluffy’ before, right?”

His kindness and consideration made her blush as she hid behind the delicacy. “Hehehe~ You remembered~”

“I don’t forget a true friend.” He looked back to Tails, “But I sure do miss them...” and then up to the sparkling night sky again. “Man, I forgot how fast it changes from day to night...” he marveled a moment, solemnly.

“How could you forget?!” Tails exclaimed, “Anyway, what happened?” His face had some ‘leftovers’ on it and Amy--scoldingly--pointed it out in mime. “Oh! S-sorry...” He cleaned himself up as Sonic chuckled to himself.

“Well... it’s a long story.”

Amy saw him look straight ahead, and the sudden sorrow that matched her gloom from before.

In empathy, she smiled, “I’d love to hear a good story.” she remembered the Professor’s words, and as Sonic turned to answer her, she held up her ice cream to him with a finger sticking out, protesting, “And no ‘But’s! ‘But’s ruin the story!” she chimed, moving the ice cream out from hiding her face and wagging her finger as though Sonic from his earlier years.

Tails let out a silly, young boy laugh at her impersonation, and Sonic just lowered his eyes and shrugged openly at it.

“Guess I have no choice.” He mused, and began to retell his amazing adventure as a Werehog while the two enjoyed Chip’s last treat...

What they didn’t know... was that it was sprinkled with the chocolate Chip had loved... so much...

[mayrubyy]

Clouded (m)

➻ Pairing - Chanyeol x Reader  

➻ Genre - Angst

➻ Word Count - 4.4k

➻ Rating - (M) |  Masterlist  |  Status - Ongoing

Warning! this contains mature and angst themes. (don't worry nobody's going to die) but please don’t read if you’re not comfortable with the said themes and if you’re under 18.

also, I want to thank @yeoldotcom for being a sweetheart and helping me out whilst working on this series. Go show Zee some love! ♡

☾ Part One

Every time he hooked his arm around and told you ‘love wasn’t real’ you believed it. He was right─ love cannot be real and so you agreed. Until you realized how wrong all of this was. He didn’t believe in love and neither did you. Yet, every time his lips pressed into yours, it gave you the kind of rush nobody else could. Even when your heart was broken, he was there to help you heal and piece it back together. So much for mending it until he earned the privilege to shred it back to pieces again. His crooked smile before he left you without a trace, his words gnawing at your heart like venom seeping through you, slowly killing every fiber of your fragile being.

He warned you and it was true.

Love was never easy with Park Chanyeol─ it was nothing but a clouded mess of emotions, mercilessly fogging up your heart and your mind in the worst possible ways with no escape.

And turns out, it wasn’t real all along, just like he had told you from the very beginning.

“How conflicting,” you gasped under your breath, digging your balled fists into the large pockets of your–his–hoodie. Oversized and fluffy, its purpose was to keep you warm in this cloudy and damp hour, not remind you of him. 

“Get out of my head. Ugh.“ 

If you earned a penny every time he crossed your mind, you wouldn’t be standing here sulking like a pigeon. Do pigeons sulk? They do look paranoid but they are very adaptable, aren’t they? They could be working undercover for all we know, you however, were struggling. 

Your best friend was taking too long to return with your drinks. Should have helped yourself, you chew on your bottom lip as you cross your arms to fight the cold weather and its thoughts that were sweeping around you. It was him who was eager and bent upon stopping by 7-Eleven, a major excuse to catch, in his words ‘a quick glimpse’ of his crush who worked there. Moreover, the word ‘crush’ in your head, wasn’t so uplifting. 

Rainy days like these, oddly enough, resonated with things you strongly felt about. Your emotions gusting through the wind and your feelings like raindrops dripping down the foggy panes. The thumping of your heart was loud against your chest and your eyes were on the ground watching the stream of rainwater gushing and coursing down the road against the sidewalk. If anything, you wished the pain got washed away along with it.

Was it comforting? In some ways, yes, maybe because it felt like nature knew you, that perhaps it was genuinely listening to you, unlike the rest. The silent wailing within you was hopelessly awaiting its turn to expose itself– making you believe it came in the form of thunder. 

The thunderstorm was your ultimate white noise, the one you relied on, always doing a good job at drowning your incessant thoughts away, down into an abyssal corner within your waning threshold, the one you thought you created for your own good, a space where you held the darkest of your secrets, all perfectly sealed in one place. 

You had your flaws, it wasn’t like you could declare them to the world. Nobody cares anyway, right? So, what were you before this? It got rubbed into your face plenty of times. “Things aren’t always what they seem”. The same old warnings. “You can never let your guard down”. 

Bullshit. 

The idea of falling in love, as dreamy as it may sound, very well was planted somewhere in the back of your head that had its own untold glitches. As you grew up, you came to realize the world wasn’t innocent. After the many heartbreaks you’ve seen your friends have and especially after dealing with one yourself– love was starting to fade from view, like a toxin that needs to be labeled with several warnings everywhere. 

It was delusional enough to fancy that on a warm summer’s day, conversely, you were going to be head over heels for that certain someone. Things like that happen only in fairy tales for crying out loud, not in real life. But merely being aware isn’t always enough, either. It’s never enough to be quite honest.

The pain and hurt would come for you sooner or later in life. It was universal. 

Sure you were aware but, him? You couldn’t tell if you were cynically chuckling to yourself for believing you were never going to fuck up or quietly bawling your eyes out trying to erase him from your mind as you stood by yourself on the pavement in the heavy rain. 

At first, it was painful, gnawing at your heart like it was going to kill you. Now? It was more or less a kind that ripples, warning you subliminally, floating beyond your spectrum of understanding. There’s this uncertain feeling like you’re not able to decide. Isn’t that what everyone’s been warning you about? 

This awful disease called love? 

You lift your heels up, balancing your frail body on your toes out of boredom or rather to give yourself a break from all the incoherent babbling in your head that won’t stop. 

“Sorry for taking long”. 

His voice brings you back on your feet. “Watch your step, Y/N. You don’t want to slip and fall into those puddles,” he added, concern floating in his eyes as he hands you a steaming cup of coffee.

“That would be painful and..embarrassing”.

It wasn’t like you were clumsy or anything. Embarrassing is fine but pain? What could possibly hurt more than having the person you loved unconditionally to desolate you like this? Definitely not the cold hard ground. 

“Ah don’t worry about it, Kyungsoo,” your voice came out unusually hoarse, considering you hadn’t been speaking much lately, the scratchy tone didn’t surprise you. 

Clearing your throat you watch him waving back at his crush in the store. His cheeks had turned a warm shade of pink and his face was gleamingly radiant, unlike the gloomy weather. His glasses were attracting steam from the coffee– fogging his vision and making him take them off to wipe the condensed frame with a sigh. Your best friend was adorable, you know, the dorky kind of adorable. 

You were glad to have him around. To help you out of this wrenching lovesick of a voyage, being the emotional klutz you were, he kept you from straying away and suffering all by yourself and he never really seemed to be complaining. Kyungsoo offered you all the support you needed but inevitably, it didn’t fill the empty space that lingered in the depths of your heart, a certain space that desperately longed for someone. 

A space that could never be replaced. 

The warmth from your own cup begins to seep through your palms, bringing the rim to your lips, you take a whiff of the beverage and for a moment, you halt your breathing, the strong aroma infused with caffeine wafts through your nose, implacably threatening to burst open the floodgates you’d so struggled to seal. 

The clouded memory of him returning to you.

“Isn’t this your fifth one?!”.

“I need to finish this song,” mumbling in his husky voice he makes a plea, “please”. 

His long fingers busily tapping keys, going back and forth between using the mouse and adjusting something on the audio mixer. His composure was unswerving as he glided on his chair from one instrument to the other. 

For a brief second, he had his tongue out, wetting his lips, eyes unwaveringly fixed on the screen. You couldn’t help taking your eyes off him as he swallowed, watching his adam’s apple bob slightly. Swiveling in your direction, you hear him rasp, “just one more”. He was drumming his knees now, giving you his signature puppy look, amusing you more. 

“You might get a heart attack silly,” a soft chuckle erupts from you. “Too much caffeine is never good, Yeol”. Your eyes scan the freezer and you’re baffled by the amount of Iced Americano(s) all perfectly lined and stocked in his mini-fridge. God, he’s addicted. He simply couldn’t get enough of it, could he? You can see why. This probably answered your question to his hyperactive self and the plausible conclusion to why he keeps rushing to pee every odd god wilding hour. 

Maybe a second has passed, you’re not sure, you peer back to his side and all you see is him casually springing up from his chair, towards you. There’s nothing but silence except for your own muffled breathing and he’s dangerously closing the gap, squishing you to a corner. You feel his hoodie press into your soft arms, his knee scraping against the bare of your thigh as he helps himself through the door and reaches for his favorite drink in the fridge.

“You were saying?” he quips while his hand slithers from between your arm and your waist, amorously in fact, for a straw in a holder that was on the shelf behind you. A quiet yelp falls from your lips as his hand caresses its way back out and the next thing you know, he’s looking into your eyes, popping the straw in and saying, “sip it”. 

“Come on”.

The tip of the straw was now aligned to your lips and his knee pressing into your inner thigh wasn’t helping the tension that was compellingly building between you two. “Has the sugar gotten to your head, Park?” you pierce your eyes back into his. Except, he doesn’t budge, his lips conceitedly curl into a smirk instead. Seeming utterly unfazed, hovering his huge self over you, he leans closer.

“I believe I said,” with his gaze undeteringly much sharper than before, he repeats himself, “sip”. 

Fuck, he was rude. 

Who was he to order you around like this anyway? He was many things– a giant baby? a fluffy human? an incredibly talented man? His collection of Rilakkumas and his Nick Wilde sheets screaming furry for fuck’s sake. 

Chanyeol was all things but your boyfriend. 

“What if I don’t?” you chirp prodding your finger into his chest. Proving him wrong that you weren’t the only one affected by the proximity. Looking down at you, watching you wantonly drag your finger down his torso, he quirks an eyebrow.

“Playing, are we?”.

What exactly was he getting at? He was the one towering over you. He was the one forcing the cold metal straw against your lips. He was the one further pushing himself into you, practically pinning you against the shelf. All you did was a small nudge and look at him go. 

“Look who’s talking,” you taunt as your palms land on him, smoothing over his chest. Feeling his chiseled frame through the hoodie you bite your lip, quite wishing it was off so you could feel the real stuff that was hiding underneath the fabric instead. You were quick to run your fingers up his broad shoulders, maybe he liked your ministration a little too much. Maybe it helped him release all the stiffness he procured from spending all night in his studio.

“Fuck, do that again–,” a string of hissing and groaning followed. Chanyeol was definitely liking the digging of your thumbs into the blades of his shoulders. Resting your fingers around his nape, you ran them up, feeling his hair brushing against them faintly before trailing back down. You then began drawing circles with the ends of your thumb into the crevices above his collarbone earning another satisfied groan from him. 

The look on his face was so captivating, his head was flung back and the strong desire to want to kiss him was slowly creeping up your mind. Should have just listened to him and sipped the goddamned coffee. You were now more than intrigued with how exposed his neck was to you. Why did he have to be so attractive? You were so enraptured by him like he had cast some enchanting spell on you. You knew you had to take your hands off him otherwise–

“Hmm?”. 

Mayhaps, he sensed the tensing of your fingers on his skin. There was a pout adorning his face and his brows were cutely furrowed. What exactly was this man? How could he switch from looking extremely hot mere seconds ago to now of a soft baby wolf? Who was the furry now? You or him? 

Ugh. 

Exasperated, you shake your head. “If you’re done,” you huff, quickly drawing your hands away from him, “let me through”. 

“What?”.

“I thought you liked when I was like this,” the victorious glint in Chanyeol’s eyes was nothing short of cocky. His right hand was slowly skimming along your waist and his thumb was fervently stroking its way up to a certain spot on your body, the one he knew too well that made you writhe under his touch, the one that was below your rib. 

“That’s not what I–,” before you could protest, in a blur, the stupid drink in his hand was gone, tossed aside and his large frame was engulfing you, pulling you into his huge arms.

How long had it been that you were confined like this? 

If only he had given you the chance to calculate which he obviously didn’t. 

His lips eagerly crash into yours without any warning– allowing you to taste traces of coffee in his mouth as his tongue languidly rolled against yours.  At first, you were not exactly sure if you were liking it or hating it. Heck, you’d be wrong if you said if he was bad at kissing. He wasn’t lying when you first met him and he jokingly raved about how his expertise was kissing, that you won’t ever come across a better kisser than him who walked this earth.  

What a cocky loser Park Chanyeol was. 

The studio was small and the sloppy sounds from your messy but incredible snogging session had left you both needy. You were still pinned against the shelf, your hands clutching onto his hoodie, your bottom lip between his teeth and his expensive rolex grazing against your thigh, cold on your skin as he gripped onto it tightly. His other hand was around your face, holding it on one side, thumb sensually sweeping over your cheekbone. 

Godfuckingdamnnit. 

Why was it so difficult to push him away? 

“Chanyeol,” you let out a stifled moan against his swollen lips. You hoped he would listen, you wish he did, he was fiercely leaving kisses down your neck and along your collarbone, the sensation sending you into a euphoric swirl as he began nibbling on your delicate skin, leaving traces of pink in his wake. 

He was so eager and so erratic, with his hot breath fanning against your ear, he teases you. “I drive you crazy, don’t I?” his voice was rough and so tantalizingly deep, he was right. He was driving you crazy, maybe furious even. “Tell me Y/N– ”, before he could continue the sudden ringing of his doorbell startles you both. Hesitantly he detaches himself from you, pausing before tilting his head to the sound like a puppy. 

Who could it be at this hour of noon? 

He looked slightly annoyed but unbothered like he wasn’t intent on ever receiving the door because he was more absorbed on you right now. Lowering his eyes back on you, his intense gaze softens as he returns to cup your face for a small peck before another bell goes off. 

Geez. 

This time Chanyeol groans, kicking the shelf as he clumsily pulls himself away from you, the jerking causing one of his action figures of Luffy to tumble and crash straight onto your head. Ouch. Fuck, did it hurt. He drags his feet to attend the intruder who ruined his moment with you. Checking through the security cam he realizes it’s Taehyung. 

“What the fuck is he doing here?!”.

“Shit! I completely forgot!” you storm out of the studio cursing and towards the bedroom looking for your jeans. God knows where Chanyeol threw it during your heated moment with him last night. “Taehyung’s here to pick me up”. You tell him nearly out of breath as you rapidly start throwing your clothes on.  

Hearing you from the room, quickly enough, Chanyeol’s expression turns dry, he looked so displeased hearing the other’s name fall from your lips. “I’m telling him to go home,” sullen with downcast eyes, he mumbles ruffling his fingers through his pink tousled hair.  

“Why don’t you stay?” It was odd hearing him say that, especially for someone who didn’t believe in love, everything he ever says has always been a complex puzzle to you. Something you struggled to piece together. You watch him stand firmly in front of the cam like he was ready to knock the teeth out of Taehyung if heard him press the bell one more time. Hearing you sigh loudly, he pauses, momentarily pursing his lips as he watches you pull your jeans up. 

You really wished you could stay but you had to go. 

“Yeol, you promised,” you remind him as you fix your hair and tuck your shirt into your jeans. This was the part you didn’t like dealing with. To look at him like this – to come to terms with whatever that was going on between the two of you. 

“I know,” he walks towards you, his hand scratching the back of his neck and this time, though his tone was soft, it was laced with so much need, it made it even harder for you to swallow. “We promised”. Looking down at you he wraps his hands around your waist, slowly pulling you closer to him, he presses his forehead against yours as he tries to coax you, “but, I want you to stay”. 

“Please”.

You feel his lips ghost over yours and there were so many parts of you screaming, telling you to stay but you know you couldn’t, not like this, not after the many arguments you’ve had with him. It may have seemed like things were going pretty smoothly up until now but quite frankly, they weren’t. You had been pushing it aside for months now and it had reached the point where you knew it had to stop. It did not matter if it was for better or for worse.  

Never had you both confessed what you truly felt for each other. It was more like a let’s comfort each other thing than being in love or dating and all of this was strange. It was strange to have fallen for the wrong person, strange to have found comfort in someone who wasn’t willing to take it any further. You were so vain about love, right? You thought you knew better but here you were.  

‘On a rainy day, you can come to me and I’ll make you pancakes–you know if you’re hungry and all but when the sun’s out again and shining, our rainy night filled with all this cozy stuff will come to an end. You cool with that?’. 

That’s what he told you. That it wouldn’t be anything more than this. That there would be no strings attached. That’s what the promise was about.

And tonight? It was probably just another rainy night for him. Like it was last night. The sun would soon be back up and you’d have to part again. You were okay with this in the beginning but now? It was bothering you, fostering you that you couldn’t have him like you truly and hopelessly wanted to. He would ask you to stay one more night and then what? Tell you to leave? No. He didn’t do that. He would just disappear until it starts raining again. Until you go knocking and begging at his door. Sometimes he’s quick to invite you in but sometimes.. 

He never answers the door.

In his words, ‘love is all make-believe’ and illusive and you rolled with it at first having thought that you wouldn’t ever fall this deep but never had you been so wrong in all your life. Out of all the people you had to fall for Park Chanyeol. The one who had the same belief as you about love. Someone so rigid, someone who wouldn’t surrender to the idea of commitment. 

It was exhausting to keep arguing with him and endure an endless torment when he would disappear every time you brought the matter of what if there’s more to us. And now, you weren’t going to let it happen again, not anymore. You reached the point where you’ve had just about enough of these vexing whirl of emotions. 

“Chanyeol, please listen to me,” with a clutch on your heart you struggle to remind him of the promise you made to each other, “if I stay, we’re only going to fuck things up”. If only he would listen, this was the thing about him, he only made things harder for you, never easy.  

“Y/N…”.

“I’m not asking you to stay forever”, it wasn’t helping that he was squeezing the side of your arm, his words, however, as bad as it may sound, were squeezing your heart. You were fine moments ago inside the studio. Why does he have to make everything so personal and so complicated when you’d both already figured it out by now that you weren’t meant for each other. 

“Stay the night,” he had crossed the line. He softly began peppering kisses on your neck, “please”, repeating himself word after word, “just for tonight”. 

You’ve lost count of how many times you’d given in. But, it was the way he touched you, kissed you and spoke so sweetly to you, his sweet lies always pulling you back towards him, like you were being dragged deeper into the lion’s den. He wasn’t bad or anything of that sort, he just had many flaws- like the ‘awful disease called love’. 

“Come stargazing with me,” he plants a kiss to your forehead, lacing his fingers with your own, “please?”. 

You knew it was a terrible idea. The aftermath would be beyond your control. Perhaps, it already had slipped out of your hands when you agreed to stay last night alone and now you were being pulled onto the loop being completely aware that the elastic might snap at any moment and hurt the both of you. Yet, you’re allowing it to let it slip again. 

“For the last time, Yeol”. 

With a heavy heart, you bury your head into his chest, letting him consume your meek frame completely.  

“Only for tonight”.

How exactly did you get yourself into this mess? What could have possibly gone so wrong that you were stuck in this rut? 

It was so clear in the back of your head, big red flags everywhere. Maybe you should have simply stayed away from the perpetual matters of love. But, isn’t running away from it solely what brought you here? Where you least wanted to be in the first place. 

Why couldn’t Chanyeol understand this? It also didn’t help that he would get extremely territorial and upset whenever you crossed paths with Taehyung. You hadn’t planned for any of this, it was like you were being hauled deliberately, by some dark cruel force, something you couldn’t keep a leash on. 

Was it your luck or simply your fate? 

You should have known better when you both first made the ‘fuck love’ pact. Acting like you did was definitely not helping where all of this was going.

“Yeol,” you call his name softly, trying to wake him up from his slumber. You could have easily left him, without having to worry about the argument that would eventually follow but that was worse than acknowledging and telling him the truth. Avoiding the situation wasn’t going to fix the trouble you two were so unawarely brewing. 

“Babe, wake up,” combing through his pink locks, you kiss him on the cheek, “don’t you want to go stargazing?”. He looked beautiful, his eyelids were puffy, tired from spending all night working in the studio. You didn’t want to wake him up but you couldn’t stay much longer either. You watch him slowly stir, turning his large body to your side. He takes your arm into his own, hugging them and nuzzling his face against your hand. He was purring like a kitten, his sleepy groans making your heart swoon. “Wake up, baby wolf,” you pat his face to which he smiles with his eyes still closed, being the sneaky little pupper he is. 

“Want me to leave?” drawing your hand away from his strong grip, you push yourself off the bed, instantly, before you could get off, he was pulling you back into his body and his arms began tangling around you as he buried his nose cozily into your neck, his breath fanning against your skin, hugging you closely from behind. 

“Who said you could leave?” he rasps in your ear, the tone in his voice making you shiver. You never understood what this boy was. He was so clingy but also so unforgivably cold. You thought you could predict his movements yet, he was so unpredictable. He would behave one minute like he’s cool with it but the next second he’s already changing his mind. 

Not a few hours ago he was this furious, an out of control asshole, raging telling Taehyung to fuck off. You had to make several calls and apologize for Chanyeol’s irrational behavior. You knew why he was so mad at Taehyung but it had already been settled and he didn’t have to act so tough. 

Now? He was being this cuddly giant, hugging you and completely wrapping you in his warmth. 

Talk about being possessive. Something was definitely wrong with him but you weren’t really complaining. He was flawed, sure. But these things about him, they were what drew you towards him and as much as you hated admitting the truth, Chanyeol made your heart flutter. You were falling for him, harder than you could have ever imagined and this is why you had to remember the promise. This is why you couldn’t stay. You both had to accept that, the truth was and is always going to be bitter.

Much bitter than what you both deemed of love to be.

A/N - alright this took forever and unfortunately I couldn’t squeeze in the original almost- 8k words yikes because Tumblr keeps glitching. Part one of Clouded is finally out and I’m not sure how I feel? I’m excited but also very nervous? If you’ve read the prologue and the snippets you might have an idea of what’s going to happen later. There’s a lot more coming and I promise it’s going to be an emotional roller coaster. Things are going to go down and y/n is going to suffer I’m sorry ahsjskk. Thank you so much for waiting for Clouded and for taking your time to read it 😭 I hope you’ll enjoy this series! ♡

☾ Clouded Masterlist ✧

Taglist ♡ - @littleflowercrown13 @wifechungha @rashidamesrur 

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged too! ♡

[spiderman-homecomeme]

lovely weather (for a sleigh ride together)

my secret santa present for @scoliatrash! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, my dear!! I hope you enjoy all the fluffy, cheesy goodness!! Have an amazing day! <3

@spideychellesecretsanta​

“Remind me again–and this is in no way me saying that I don’t wanna go–but… why exactly are we doing this?”

Peter shifts slightly under MJ’s gaze from the passenger seat, the car suddenly feeling approximately a thousand degrees hotter. He chuckles, then clears his throat, his hands flexing against the still-cold steering wheel, hoping he doesn’t seem as nervous as he feels. 

But keeping his eyes trained to the winding roads in front of them, drumming his thumbs at ten and two, he finally glances over. 

“…Because.”

Yup. 

Totally inconspicuous.

He’s never acted more naturally in his life. 

Her expression falls as she fixes him with a deadpan stare. 

A light laugh bubbles up out of him all on it’s own. “Because….” He repeats himself, voice trailing off, mentally scrambling to find anything that wasn’t the real reason for this two-and-a-half hour journey into the country. “I thought it would be fun!” He finally spits out, though he doesn’t relax just yet. From the corner of his eye, he can see MJ staring, sizing him up, calculating. 

For some reason–gee, wonder what it could be–he feels compelled to just keep talking. “Plus! You said you’d never been on a sleigh ride before–like a real one, with jingles bells and everything–so, I thought, well, we absolutely had to fix that.”

Which wasn’t technically a lie. Peter thought a ride in a how-ever-many-horse open sleigh was something everyone had to experience at least once in their life. Sitting bundled up with loved ones in the back of the sleigh, the cold winter wind biting at your cheeks and nose, oh-so-festive ringing of the sleigh bells, the horses’ hooves in the snow–it was something you just couldn’t experience the same way without getting out of the city. 

Ben and May had taken him once, a long time ago, when he was just a kid. They hadn’t done it again, being as even just an hour ride can cost more the Parker’s could afford, but it’s a memory that always brings a fuzzy warmth to his chest. It’s something that he’ll always treasure, something that he’ll always be grateful for. 

But, sound as all that was, it wasn’t the real reason. 

No, the real reason was currently in a tiny black velvet box nestled deep in his pocket. 

MJ didn’t need to know that. 

But it wasn’t as if his proposal was going to be a surprise by any means. For months, even years now, they’d talked about marriage. There was a whole timeline and everything. Year four into the relationship, they moved in together, and now it had been nearly a year and a half of that. Engagement, they’d decided, would come towards the end of undergrad. Then, there would be another two-ish years of wedding planning before the big event would actually take place. 

Obviously, this wasn’t a strict timeline by any means; in fact, it acted as more of a guideline, something they could loosely follow. They’d already broken it once, moving in together six months after they’d originally planned to, so an engagement just before their last semester starts was still in the ballpark.

Now, MJ had expressed before that he didn’t have to propose at all, that she would be perfectly fine with just going out to buy a ring together, posting on instagram or something, and calling it good. 

But, on the other hand she also knew that Peter would want to do something more… well, grand.

Which she was also perfectly fine with. 

All that mattered to her was being engaged to Peter. Why, where, or how that happened? She couldn’t care less. 

Even then, however, as much as she loved and sometimes tolerated Peter, there were still some rules. 

But…

Peter was willing to chance it. More than willing. In fact, this was the type of proposal he knows for a fact that she’d be 100% okay with, even with the conditions.

One, MJ loves animals. All animals. Each and every one. There’s not a dog, cat, hamster, guinea pig, bird, lizard, or bug she didn’t like, or that didn’t like her.  

“They’re better than people,” she’d once said, holding her grandmother’s wild-eyed tabby in her arms, the normally overly grumbly cat purring contentedly. She just had a way with the world’s furry, feathery, and scaly friends--something he’d seen all those years ago with the terrifying pigeons in Venice. 

Two, and this was important, this would not technically be in public, or in front of her family, two of the only conditions MJ had set for this. 

No crowds.

No getting down on one knee at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Or any major holiday for that matter.

Or her birthday. 

No ifs, ands, or buts.

And it--this proposal, right here, today--was neither of those things. The only audience they’d have being the one driving the sleigh, a lovely old man (a one Mr. Matthews) that Peter briefly talked on the phone with about this whole thing. Sure the older fellow was excited about the prospect of a young love, a new engagement, but it was clear that this wasn’t really something he was going to lose his mind about. 

“Hmm.” He hears her hum quietly as she angles her body forward, though she doesn’t seem to accept his answer, and rightly so. 

It’s odd; he fully expects her to keep poking at him, to ask him why he’s being so weird or, “weirder than normal,” even though she probably has an inkling as to why he’s acting so strange. 

And honestly, at this point, he’s almost 60% sure she knows exactly what’s going on. 

Oh well.

But surprisingly, she doesn’t grill him for the rest of the drive. Instead, they sit in a comfortable (well, at least she’s comfortable) silence, just enjoying the beauty of the emerging country around them, thankful for the cleared roads as the snow falls peacefully outside. 

Though, as beautiful as it is, that ring in his pocket is making him feel like his stomach is about to fall right out of his ass.

He almost–almost–relaxes when he sees the rustic wooden sign at the top of the hill, knowing that soon he’ll be able to get out of the car. But then, when they actually pull in and park, when they actually step out into the cold winter air again, that feeling comes right back. It annoyingly stays when they enter the main building to check in, when Mr. Matthews leads them to the stables and to the sleigh lead by two large brown horses

He almost doesn’t hear the driver telling them the mares’ names over the sound of his own heartbeat thumping in his ears. 

“Meet Juniper and Peanut,” the old man says, warmth in his tone as he moves to adjust the sleigh bells on the collars. 

“Oh my God, they’re so fuzzy…” MJ, in awe at the massive animals, mutters under her breath, close to Peter’s ear. 

“Yeah…” Peter agrees, his voice breathy, as he scratches the back of his neck. 

Without any prompt from either her boyfriend or their driver, Michelle walks up to the animals, hand carefully held out as she allows the two horses to smell her first. 

“Now, Juni here is a bit more of a grump. Bit more aloof. But Peanut, she loves pets. And treats. More than anything.”

Michelle huffs out in slight amusement, nodding once in understanding, though not looking away from the two horses. 

Juniper sniffs once before glancing away, her curiosity gone almost immediately and replaced with moderate disinterest, while Peanut revels in the attention, pushing her nose into MJ’s outstretched hand.

And again, Peter just about forgets why he’s so nervous, becoming too distracted by the soft smile on his girlfriend’s face, the way that expression breaks into a toothy grin when the other, more emotionally distant mare starts to gently nudge her arm for the same attention. 

Though that brief moment of internal calm is shattered by Mr. Matthews ushering them into the back of the sleigh. 

“You know, I’ve actually never been around horses before?” MJ asks as they climb into their seats, the driver reaching back to hand them a thick wool blanket for the ride. 

“Really?” Peter asks, the knot in his stomach still ever present. 

Mr. Matthews urges the horses onward and into the snow with a soft click and a flick of the reins.

MJ nods, scratching at her eyes. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure my last experience with them was that cartoon horse movie Matt Damon was in, like, forever ago.”

Peter’s brows crinkle in slight confusion and faint recognition. 

She answers her own unasked question before he can even open his mouth to speak. “Spirit.” She snaps her fingers “That’s the one.”

In spite of his nerves, he can’t help but laugh at that, though he can’t help but notice that slight chatter of her teeth when she speaks as they ride out into the farm. 

“You cold?” He asks, maybe a little bit dumbly.

She shakes her head. “Nuh uh.” A shiver. “This weather is just lovely.”

He chuckles lightly, and wordlessly, he scoots closer to her, taking her hand in his and interlocking their gloved fingers together, his heart soaring at the comforting warmth that comes from just how grand it feels. 

While it is the perfect weather for a two-horse sleigh, the winter chilled air nipping at his face, his cheeks, his nose, turning them a shade of red (one that he knows Michelle would probably tell him was “cute”)... it almost would have been too much for him. 

But again, there was a reason they were here, and besides, with MJ... 

He wasn’t gonna let this cold bother him. 

He gets this uncontrollable, dumb grin on his face, and he snuggles closer to her. 

“Lovely with you.”

To that, she fakes a gag, sniffling slightly as she tries to pull her hand away from his. “Ugh, gross.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll stop. I’ll stop,” he gives the empty promise, throwing her a sly wink before squeezing her hand. 

A few beats of a peaceful quiet pass, the only sounds being the ringing of the bells and the crunch of snow. The snow falls around them in delicate, fluffy flakes, the stray ones being caught in his girlfriend’s curls. 

She leans her head against his, and he can almost feel her soft smile as he leans right back. 

“Is it okay if I sing a carol, or something?” Peter asks, the humor in his tone earning him a light smack on the arm. 

MJ sits back up, her glare almost menacing, save for the twitch of a barely amused smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She opens her mouth to speak, but is suddenly overcome, her eyes screwing shut, with a powerful--

“ACHOO!”

Peter nearly jumps. “Bless you?”

“Thanks.” MJ clears her throat, sniffling again. 

And it’s amazing that Peter hadn’t noticed in the nearly ten minutes they’d been in the sleigh; the whites of her eyes were almost entirely red, the bags under them slightly puffy. “You good?” He asks.

“Yeah!” MJ lies. “Yeah! I’m good. Just... some.... uh, sniffles. I guess.” She sneezes into the crook of her arm again. “Or, I don’t know, maybe it’s a minor allergic reaction to something. It’s fine.”

Peter wracked his brain for what that allergy could be; it wasn’t nuts, that he definitely knew, being one, that she didn’t have a history with that, and two, they hadn’t eaten anything of the sort. Dogs and cats were out of the question... so was... basically everything else... but...

The loud whinny of one of the mares cuts through his little internal monologue. 

Ah ha!

“Are you allergic to horses?”

MJ’s lips quirk into a quick frown and she shrugs, sniffling again. “Maybe?”

“Can you be allergic to horses?”

“You can be allergic to anything.”

Very true. 

And just like that, the guilt hits him like a train, seeing MJ suddenly looking so incredibly miserable and tired, sounding so congested, all because of his big, stupid, grand plan of proposing on what was supposed to be a romantic sleigh ride. 

“Don’t you dare apologize,” MJ cuts in before he can even think so say anything.

He opens his mouth to speak, dumbfounded. 

She continues. “It’s fine!” Sniffle. Sneeze. “It’s honestly fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Peter’s quiet for a moment, offering a silent, conceding nod.

His brow furrows in thought as he bites at the inside of his lip; he can’t in good conscience keep her out here just so he can carry out this little fairytale proposal he’d had thought out for so many months. It wouldn’t be right. She didn’t need him asking her to spend the rest of her life with him; she needed to go home, take some benadryl, maybe have some herbal tea, and get in bed. 

Another day, perhaps.

“Do you wanna go back?” He finally asks, defeated. 

She starts to shake her head before he even finishes that question, clearing her scratchy, barb-wire throat. “No! This was what…. 200 dollars? We’re not going back just because I can’t handle a little horse dander.”

“...Are you sure?”

“Yes.” She grabs his hand again, pulling him back to her. “Now, calm down, Mother Hen, I’ll be okay.”

It takes some major coaxing on MJ’s part, but Peter does eventually come around, his worried, fleeing glances finally stopping after a few more minutes of dashing through the snow. For a moment, he thinks that maybe the plan, the entire day, hasn’t been ruined at all. Maybe this could all still work. 

It’s all so enchanting, and they both seem to forget about the funny little allergies that came out of nowhere. They brace themselves as the sleigh nears the top of a small hill, and Mr. Matthews throws a playful warning over his shoulder. The couple laughs again, holding each other tight as the horses pick up speed on the way down, the wind whistling right past them, snowflakes covering their faces. The shimmering snow around them is nearly blinding, a stark contrast to the deep green of the surrounding trees. 

Peter hears Mr. Matthews’ “Giddy-up!” followed by Michelle’s joyful, exhilarated holler as they descend another small slope; his heart nearly bursts at the wide, uninhibited smile plastered on her face. 

When they come upon a clearing, and the horses slow to a gentle walk, Peter knows, right then and there, that it’s time. That this is right. Allergies be damned.

Oh, good God. 

“MJ,” he says without even giving it another thought, immediately turning to face her, his expression serious. 

He swallows as she waits for him to speak, eyes slightly wide. “What’s up?”

This was a lot easier said than done…

Clearing his throat, he briefly looks down at their joined hands. “MJ,” he says again.

“Yes?” Her head tilts a fraction as she glances from side to side, growing more and more confused by his strange behavior by the second. 

“I--” He sighs, finally keeping his gaze on hers, willing himself to just keep going. 

He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous. It wasn’t as if she would actually say, “no.” Again, this was something they’d talked about for months and months. This was something they both knew that the other wanted. 

He knew how she felt about him, and vice versa. 

So what was he so damn scared of? What was it that was making him feel like that terrified, hormonal teenage kid all over again?

When he looks up at her, though, and his eyes meet her red puffy ones, and he sees the way she’s looking at him (albeit, she’s still a little confused, but it’s a loving confused), he finds that maybe it’s not so scary. 

“MJ, I--I love you. A lot.”

She snorts. “And I love you. A lot.”

Her eyes widen as he gets down from his seat and on one knee, something that doesn’t seem to comfortable in the back of the sleigh. 

His gaze never leaves hers as he continues. “You’re my best friend in the whole world, and I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. And--”

He’s cut off with another big sneeze. 

“Sorry! Sorry!” She hastily says, waving him on to continue.

Peter chuckles. “It’s fine. I know this kind of thing didn’t really matter to you--how it happens or when or whatever… Like we could have just done this in our kitchen and we’d be happy but--” He laughs at himself, shaking his head. “But you, uh, kinda gave me free rein on this so--”

One of his hands goes to his pocket, smile never leaving his face as he grabs…

Nothing.

Nothing in the right pocket. 

Instantly, his brows pinch together in confusion, lips twisting into a frown as he feels around the pocket again. 

MJ seems to have been holding her breath this whole time, staring down at him with a quizzical quirk of her brow. 

Peter looks up at her, smiling sheepishly with a nervous chuckle. “Uh, hold on.”

He checks the left pocket. 

Nothing.

That little velvet box, the one with the very expensive engagement ring, had somehow fallen out of his coat.

It was there earlier! He was sure of it! He held it in the car just before they’d left! Where could it have gone?

“Everything good?” He hears MJ’s voice cut through his panicked, scrambling mind. 

“Uh… No, not really.” His voice might be a little too calm, or at least trying to be. “I was, uh, going to propose... But… I think I lost the ring?”

MJ only nods, lips pressed together in a thin line, though she doesn’t seem upset or disappointed. 

“I had it… in my pocket. In the car! And when we got in the sleigh, I’m… I’m sure of it. Oh, God…” He moves to sit next to her, burying his head in his hands. “I’m so sorry, MJ. I had this whole plan… and the ring… it was so pretty and cool… and I was gonna propose--”

“Let’s find it then,” MJ suggests calmly, putting an arm around him. 

“I’m so sorry, Em…”

“Don’t be sorry,” she sniffs. “It’s okay. We’ll find it!”

Peter wants to believe her, he really does, but he can’t help but feel like losing this ring was just a sign that his original plan was, well, the wrong one. 

He knows in the end that it doesn’t matter how they get engaged, that they don’t need a ring or a pretty proposal. 

But he can’t help, even knowing that his damn Parker luck might have reared it’s stupid head again, but feel that surprising defeat slam him right in the chest at something failing so spectacularly. That something could have gone so incredibly wrong. 

“Okay,” he mutters under his breath, leaning into her comforting touch. 

Mr. Matthews was an absolute saint, taking an alternate route back to the farm, ending the ride early so that they could look for the ring. He had his farm hands and employees practically turn the property inside out, looking through the fields, the barn, the very trail they were on. 

But they were all coming up empty. 

No one could have stolen it; Peter may have been a dumbass, but he would have known if he had been pickpocketed. 

Soon, early in the evening, the sun begins to fall, the sky darkening, forcing the diligent search to end. 

Honestly, though, of all the ways this could have possibly gone wrong, having to comb an entire 200 acre farm for a small rock on a piece of white gold was not something he’d drawn up in his millions of disaster scenarios. 

Peter waits in the car as Michelle continues talking to Mr. Matthews and the other workers. He can’t help but bang his head against the steering wheel, sighing to himself, muttering what an absolute idiot he was. 

And his hand are absolutely freezing from digging through all the snow.

He’s not sure he’s ever felt more dumb. 

Scratch that.

After he see that flash of velvet under his car seat, after he reaches down and finds that damn box with the ring safe inside under his car seat--

Then he’s never felt more dumb. 

Oh no. 

It had fallen out of his pocket. 

In the car. 

Under his car seat.

He stays in stunned silence as MJ gets back in the car, waving at the kind farmers before shutting her door. 

She immediately feels his tension, noticing his silence. “What?”

He wordlessly holds the box out to her before going back to his head on the steering wheel, only just resting it this time. 

“Oh…” Is her only response as she takes the box from him, opening it slowly. Her breath catches in her throat at the ring before her; instead of a crisp, white diamond, it looks like a smoky white sapphire, the gray color shining prettily in the moonlight. 

He still doesn’t speak though, his defeat too strong. 

“You found it!” She offers, though he gives nothing but a quiet “yep,” in response. 

“In the car?”

He nods. 

A beat passes. 

“You want me to go tell them you found it in those trees over there?”

Finally, that earns her the minuscule quirk of a smile. He nods again, not moving from the steering wheel. 

She leaves without another question, ring box in hand, only to return moments later, Peter paying no attention to the blast of cold coming into the car as she gets back in. 

He honestly, truly, cannot believe that this happened. 

And now, he’s just embarrassed. 

A heavy silence falls over the car once again, and Peter has to wrestle with the urge to just smack himself on the head. He wants to go home, but can’t find it in himself to even start the damn car. 

“Hey.”

He hears her voice, encouraging him to look up at her. He does, finding her holding the open ring box out to him, a slight tilt to her head, her lips pulled back in a warm, playful smirk. She sniffles, rubbing at her eyes with her free hand, before looking at him again. 

He’s almost confused, about to ask what she’s doing, but she doesn’t give him the chance. 

“Marry me?” She asks, holding the ring out further to him.

Truly, it’s a wonder to him how MJ can make him smile, make him laugh, make him happy, no matter how stressed or upset he is. 

“Of course.”

She offers him the box, and he takes it with another chuckle, taking the ring from inside and placing it gently on her finger. 

“Oh wait,” She pulls her hand back, snorting awkwardly. “I was supposed to put it on yours right?”

And the grin that stretches across his face is uncontrollable as he closes his eyes, shaking his head at himself. 

He really does love her. 

So damn much. 

With that, a ring on her finger and his spirits brightened once again, as the snow falls gently on the windows, the soft gusts of wind quietly howling outside the car, he pulls her into a warm, loving kiss. 

Lovely weather, indeed.

[asheewrites]

Doctor Visiting - Paris - pt 4

The angel sat there and flipped between the pages of the menu, tapping her finger, or smiling at the words in front of her.

She was distracted enough to let Asmodeus think. These ‘terms and conditions’ for him did not truly limit him. He could do as he pleased and Raphael would… simply refuse him if he ‘got somewhere’.

… but playfulness and teasing was… actively encouraged and possibly engaged with.

Easy to work with. Especially since ‘getting somewhere’ would be defined by him.

Hah.

A rather lenient ‘code of conduct’. By comparison of past ones – if he got one.

 “It’s an impressive menu, sir. It’s a hard choice. Any recommendations?” She smiled sweetly. And spoke French. Seamlessly.

The waiter was pleased. Strings of French explanation falling from his tongue. Different glacing techniques, which salad was in season and how it complimented the truffles, differently ripened oils for dressing. The wild Salmon has a direct route from the ocean to their restaurant, their preparation will remove all fishbones, no need to break any eye contact.

“Very nice, I’d be happy to try it a-“ here she send a glance to Asmodeus, stuck with that for a second, then continued towards the waiter: “- all, but I think meat was an option?”

It did not curb his enthusiasm when he switched tracks and offered her the ‘Foie gras’, ‘Couilles de mouton’ and ‘Ris de veau’, along with stomach and feet and tongue of various animals as well as snails, including the different kinds of preparation.

After two minutes of talk she chewed on her lip and started asking about sauces and preparation techniques. As she asked for the roasting temperature, Asmodeus laughed: “I’d be delighted to eat your second choice, you are free to taste”

Her face lit up immediately. And the order came to: “Tapenade canapés, Jambon persillé, a cheese platter, Couilles de mouton, Le Gigot D'Agneau Pascal, a bottle of still water and… a white wine?”

She looked over to him and he chuckled and agreed: “Sure, we’ll be satisfied with your choice of vintage and origin, thank you”

“Thank you very much. If available, I’d love to peruse the dessert menu. Err... later”

The waiter scribbled and nodded and smiled and informed them their salads would arrive soon and… disappeared.

Raphael sat there. And closed the menu: “Thank you! I mean… I suppose you tried all this already and you know what tasted good, so… thank you for letting me try out something that you might not like and-oh” her face fell. “… I… should have asked”

“Raphael, it’s fine. I offered. But… you didn’t order any fish, is there-” The angel carefully avoided looking at him. Light topic of conversation. Right. “-well, thank you. So, the meat… do you… know what you ordered?”

She perked up: “Oh. Is that about the lamb? I think even Christi-“

“Testicles. You ordered testicles, Raphael.”

Excitedly the angel, nods and reports: “Yes! It’s very rare to have them on the menu. Even though it should be very interesting, since the texture should be different, especially if they ‘sauté’ – whatever that is – them in slices and marinate t before, because muscles are fascinating to work with. I wonder f the semen got drained or stocked in them. The high protein would be interesting. And I do wonder how that tastes, so… yeah, I did order them.“

‘I could help you figure out the taste.‘

It took a moment fight his every instinct. Sometimes, you have to consider your audience, even with the most imperative quips. Instead, he said: “I suppose the lamb will be my course, then,” since he rarely heard someone that excited about eating testicles, so.

“Then it’s decided. I got the three starters that can be the… most weird. So… maybe you get something interesting as well? I avoided cheese, mostly, because it’s rotten milk, but… they make the strangest things taste good. But then again… they have to eat, don’t they? Merci!” Their salad and water arrived. The waiter apparently didn’t have that many customers.

“We are in France, the cheese is actually delicious. The producers of the cheese make it an experience though.” Asmodeus watched Raphael’s eyes light up. This was easy…

“Really?” She bit into a small tomato, distracted for a second (“Crunchy”), before her attention returned to him.

“Mmmhmh, you can find all manner of farms offering tours in the French countryside. You get to pet the animals, see where to cheese is stored so it ripens… you get the full experience in the department of smell… it’s worth a look. And, of course, you get to taste the cheese”

She looked like she will disappear this instance.

“Another time, I can take y-“

“Yesplease”

He had to laugh at that: “I can also give you a map with the best farms and you can go explore on your own? If you are that eager”

“Oh. No, I can’t. I’m not allowed to meet the… err… civilians without a companion. Not yet. I didn’t get the true ‘field agent’-education yet. It’s a thing. Apparently. Figured it only recently. So. Besides. It’s more fun with company,” she looks to the side, “If the company has time and feels like cheese. In this case. Of course. Or feels like anything else and wants to change the destination,” she half-shrugged.

Huh. Well. Not all demons could go to Earth either. But an archangel? Huh.

Asmodeus tilted his head: “… you’d go anywhere with me, wouldn’t you?”

“Oh, definitely. I mean… as long as it isn’t against any other rule. I don’t think it will ever be boring.”

It made his eyebrows raise. The answer left an odd feeling. And he decided not to comment. Instead: “Well, I couldn’t make myself out to be boring now, could I? But… thinking about it... You never rode a rollercoaster - you… haven’t even seen Disneyland. You weren’t in the Royal Albert Hall. You never visited Tokyo in its entirety. India in settled regions were off the table, too. What… did you do up to now… you… probably poked some of the most venomous creatures on the planet in Australia And visited some of the hottest – got you there - and coldest places… cold… Iceland… you probably never saw the penis museum either,” he snickered.

“Nope!” She finished her salad with a flourish. “But I’ve heard of it and it’s terribly amusing to me. Definitely worth a visit… but… I have to admit… the hot springs are more of a draw for me… it’s in the middle of snowy fields! It must be amazing” She laughs. “And you get to roll around in the snow to dry yourself. Afterwards off to a tiny wooden hut with a fireplace, a huge fluffy carpet to lay on and be buried in a heap of blankets, cocooning until your immune system – and, lets be honest, any blood circulation and muscles, too – boot up again .  And… well, yeah. Iceland. Probably very cool. With all the museums, too” She scratched the back of her head and looked sheepish.

Someone dreams… elaborately.

“Paris does have the Louvre on the menu of museums as well,” he pointed out, already expecting the sparkle in her eyes. ‘Mostly European history mirrored in art’, something from every century, she listed works she had to see there, mostly birds. Maybe she can look at the original flute and figure how they made it sound like an actual bird. She started to get off topic with symbolisms of birds and how they can safe most old paintings for her, since the meaning is almost always something positive… and she likes crows, thank you very much.

He could have interrupted her, but he had a salad to eat. And she was excited. About old art. When he inserted the fact that he had known some of the artists, she stopped dead in her tracks. And stared. And actually needled him about it. That the one he had picked to tell her about was Raphael might have something to do with it.

The little excursion ended with the ‘Sistine Madonna’ and the tiny angels on the bottom line. Which, the angel Raphael pointed out, were terribly cramped and unhealthy-looking, but he possibly only had dead birds to look at anyway.

It gave Asmodeus pause, just for a moment, looking out at the very much living pigeons outside, and said: “… you think they could get that cramped?”

“Err… no. No, of course not. It’s a simple misalignment, he… didn’t put much thought in the connection between bone structures and the wings, so… it looks wrong to me, but I suppose if you don’t see the natural shape of… pigeon wings every day, it’s not that strange. Thank you very much!” She nodded at the waiter, who took away the salad plate and replaced it by the various appetizers.

This certainly was one way to answer, but it wasn’t exactly what he wanted. He watched her sniff every piece of the selection and said: “… but you said cramped, so it didn’t look too unnatural? It could happen?” Wing injuries weren’t… something he ever wanted to pay much attention to.

She looked towards the ceiling, frowned and then shrugged: “Maybe. Depends on the structure of the wing. What kind of bird is sampled. Very unlikely. Haven’t seen it yet. And I’ve seen some… unpleasant misalignments of feathers. Recently, too.” She cut off a piece of the canapé, the taste test resulted in an excited squeal. “This is good!” She stabbed the second half of it and reached over the table towards Asmodeus: “Try! It’s GREAT”

His eyebrows rose and his eyes wandered from her excited face to the canapé. Standard, really. But he laughed. And leaned forward to pull the piece off with his teeth.

Raphael watched him chew with excitement. And… the verdict… was that it was a normal, if done well, canapé. He still said: “The goat cheese does compliment the fruit very well.”

It made her smile and she continued to sample, occasionally succumbing to the urge to feed him. Apparently that was a thing Raphael just… did. And he couldn’t help a smile.

“I… am glad you enjoy, but… recent feather misalignments?” It seemed… off.

She looked up with the fork still sticking out of her mouth, chewing slowly. After she swallowed, the answer was: “Well. Ahm… you… did show up at the clinic, recently. And apparently that… resulted in an uptick of customers from… your side - apparent approval from you and all – and… well… I am the only one treating wings. I can’t give anyone else the guilt of having caused a wing injury. So… I see an influx of field agents that didn’t dare ask anyone else for a long time, so… there is a bit of damage. So… for me it’s recent. For them? Months… years… who knows?” Again she shrugged. “It’s an offer open to anyone, if you want to spread the information? No one deserves damaged wings. But it’s… hard to actually ask, in some cases. The clinic is judgement-free, just know that the appointment is always at least a week later. And one can cancel or not show up to an appointment, no judgement there, either” She frowned and wrinkled her nose. “… this sounded like a sales pitch. But well, I mean it. Spread the word, maybe? Proper treatment needs a partner, and not anyone has that”

And then her attention returned to the cheese platter.

Ah. So… that’s how… that worked.

He nibbled at the piece of cheese held in front of his nose. A non-smelly piece. Mh.

[sapphicsaro]

morgan + anya, five years

@vicapuleti requested: “Morgan and I guess 5year old Anya ? You knew this one was coming 😍”

apparently i can’t write a fluffy story about two five year olds lol, so here’s some angst with hints of fluff about our two favorite ballerinas. feat. hints of bucky and sam!

-------

“How do you spell it?”

“N-A-T-A…S?”

“Mhmm.”

“S-H-A. Natasha?”

“Good,” Clint replied, both hands on the steering wheel of his truck, eyes on the road ahead.

“Next one, papa!”

“Let’s go back to Russian, okay? You want to be ready for later.”

“Okay,” Anya fiddled with her small bear, and glanced at her father. “Should I start?”

“Yes, pigeon, lemme hear it.”

“Okay, um…Самолёт построим сами (We build an airplane)…Uh, Понесёмся над лесами (We'll soar above the forests), Понесёмся над лесами (We'll soar above the forests)…Um…”

“А потом (And then)…”

“Oh yeah! А потом вернёмся к маме (And then we'll come back to mama)!”

Clint smiled, “Good job, pidgey.”

Anya giggled, “Are we almost there, papa?”

“Actually, we are,” He answered, pulling the truck into the long driveway of the cabin. “Are you excited?”

“Yeah, I miss Morgan.”

“I’m sure she missed you too, baby.” Clint got up to the oh-so familiar cabin, parking close to the entrance. He hopped out of the car, slamming the door shut, before heading to the rear passenger door to get Anya. When he opened the door, she had already unbuckled her seatbelt and was smiling at him widely.

“I did it all by myself, papa.”

Clint shook his head, “Oh my gosh, you’re practically an adult…” She giggled. “C’mon, sweetie,” He held his arms out and she reached for him, letting him pick her up and place her on the grass. He grabbed her tiny backpack from the back seat, and slammed the door behind him. “Ready?” he held his hand out to her.

She grabbed it tightly, “да (Yes)!”

Hand in hand, the daddy-daughter duo made their way up the porch steps to the front door of the cabin.

“Can I please ring the bell?”

Clint smiled at his little girl; her hair went from strawberry-blonde as a baby to a deep red like her mother’s. It was loosely braided as requested by her this morning. Her eyes were a soft green, and every time Clint sweared they were exactly like Natasha’s. Her outfit today was all picked out by herself and she had on a tiny gray jumpsuit with her favorite light up sneakers.

How could he ever say no to her cute little face?

“Go ahead, baby.”

She let go of his hand and went on her tiptoes, pressing the button to hear the ringing in the home. Anya went back to her father’s side, grabbing his hand again before the door opened.

“Is that little Anya?”

“Aunt Pepper!”

Pepper laughed, bending down so Anya could leap into her arms for a big hug. “I swear, I see you every couple months but you just keep growing!”

Anya, with her arms still around her aunt’s neck, giggled. “I grew one more inch!”

“Wow! You did? I’m so proud!” Pepper pulled away from Anya, pushing a loose strand behind her ear, “Well, little ballerina, Morgan is in her room…Think you can go up and say ‘hi’?”

Anya nodded excitingly, “Mhmm!”

Pepper stood up, releasing the five year old from her hands, “Okay, be careful on the stairs!”

Anya zoomed past and made it to the stairs, looking back at her aunt and father before carefully taking the stairs one at a time. How disciplined.

“Hi, Pepper,” Clint gave her a small hug, the glitter backpack still clenched in his hands.

“Hey, Clint. So glad you guys made it.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

——

Anya made her way to the bedroom down the hall, knocking softly on the door, “Morgan?”

The door flung open to reveal five year old Morgan Stark, dressed up in a flowy yellow dress covered in little daisies. Her short hair was pulled back with a matching headband and she had on white sandals to go with the floral ensemble.

“Anya!” Morgan jumped into the redhead’s arms, “Come here! I have to show you what I got!”

The two little ones went into the pink bedroom, where Morgan’s toys were all neatly tucked away. “Close your eyes!” Morgan said as she grabbed Anya’s hands and put them up to her face.

“Okay…” Anya wasn’t one for surprises. Maybe that was hereditary.

She heard some shuffling around before Morgan shouted, “Open!”

Anya placed her hands by here side, opening her eyes to see a frilly pink tutu in her friend’s hands. “Mommy signed me up for ballet! I’m going to be just like you!”

Anya smiled, “Really?”

Morgan nodded, “Yep! I’m still doing tap. But now, I’m in ballet too!”

“I can help you with the first steps so you can know them before you go to your first class!”

A soft knock at the door caught their attention. “Hey, ballerinas, we don’t want to be late. You got an hour to eat and finish up your cards,” Pepper said.

Morgan ran to her bookshelf, grabbing her box of crayons and construction paper, “I’m ready!” She ran past her mother out of her bedroom.

“Slow on the stairs, remember, Morgan?”

“Yes, mommy!” She took the stairs one by one, her tiny sandals clacking on the wood.

Anya didn’t move from her spot in the bedroom, instead her eyes stayed locked to a spot the ground. Pepper looked at her, she knew Anya was much quieter than Morgan, but something seemed off. “Honey, are you okay?”

The redhead shrugged, “Yeah.”

Pepper walked closer to her “niece” and knelt down in front of her. “What’s wrong?”

Anya chewed at her bottom lip, a trait she definitely inherited from her mother. “I’m just nervous.”

“There’s nothing to worry about, sweetheart. It’s going to be so nice today. I promise.” Anya nodded slowly, still looking down at the floor in front of her instead of at her aunt. “C’mon, I got a peanut butter sandwich with your name all over it.” Pepper held out her hand and Anya took it, smiling slightly, as they headed downstairs.

Clint was at the kitchen table, sitting across from Morgan who was excitingly telling him a story. “He did what?”

“Jackson pulled my hair! But I told the teacher on him and he couldn’t go to recess,” she told him, spreading out her colored paper and emptying her crayons. “Miranda said that he’s mean to me because he likes me, but I think that is dumb.”

Clint laughed, “It is dumb.”

“Is this the Jackson story, again?” Pepper asked, letting go of Anya’s hand and heading into the kitchen.

“Yes!”

Anya slowly walked over to her father, looking up at him with her big green eyes. Clint smiled, and bent down to give her a kiss, “You gonna make a card with Morgan?” Anya nodded, still hesitating. “Come here,” he picked her up and made his way over to the other side of the table, placing his daughter down in the chair next to the brunette. “What color card would you like to do?”

Anya thought for a second, “Red?”

“I’m doing red too!” Morgan shouted, holding up her paper.

Clint smiled, “Red’s a good color for them. Here, give me your paper and I’ll fold them.” The two girls obliged and he returned their sheets, ready for them to decorate.

The two sat and colored away, Morgan taking up most of the conversation while Anya sat quietly alongside her. Clint was throughly entertained, as was Pepper. After the loss of their spouses, an unlikely friendship formed between the two single parents. They both felt alone, overwhelmed, and broken after losing the love of their lives, and no one quite had a shared experience like the two of them.

Tony and Nat were much more similar than anyone would care to admit. They were both stubborn as hell, would risk their lives for a mission, and never heard the word ‘no’. Clint and Pepper had many similar qualities as well, as they were the more domesticated ones in the relationship.

When their loves died, the two felt alone.

But, at Tony’s funeral, little Anya Romanoff-Barton gave Morgan H. Stark a hug, telling her that “her daddy was up in the sky and was watching over her, just like mama was.” And the rest was history.

The two girls became inseparable, ultimately making Clint and Pepper closer, too.

So, every three months, one of the pairs would make a trip to visit the other. It helped keep the adults from cooping up in their home and never leaving, which was really easy to want to do after you lost your spouse. It also helped keep the Avengers family together, even though most of them were split apart to do their own things.

However, almost all of the Avengers made time for the girls. Clint couldn’t speak for Pepper, but he had someone over almost every other week, checking up on him and playing with Anya.

Last week, Sam and Bucky were in town, an unlikely pair to want to visit a five year old. But they immediately transformed into goofy uncles, playing tag and making Anya laugh with their failed attempts to copy her gymnastic moves. Anya would whisper to Bucky in Russian when Sam wasn’t looking and he would flashback to seeing young Natasha, except Anya was free from the confines of the Red Room.

The visits helped keep Clint from falling back into his depression. The dusted were brought back, but his wife could never return. After he would tuck Anya in every night, he would lay in his bed and begin to cry, as it felt empty without Natasha. He needed help. As did Pepper.

So here they are, reconvening again, two single parents of two little ballerinas.

Today was not like the other visits, though. Today was a year after the dusted returned, and Thanos was destroyed. This also meant it was a year since the loss of Tony and Nat.

It was a particularly difficult time for Pepper and Clint, but when you’re a parent, you have to find a way to get through the sadness to take care of your child. Both parents already had to do the difficult task of telling their child that their mom/dad had died, which was not a one time thing when your child was young. 

Anya would ask about her mother all the time, and it pained Clint to think about her, as he always flashed back to her hand slipping from his and her lifeless body at the bottom of the cliff.

But, his therapist told him to think of her smile first. Think of her smiling on the porch bench, baby Anya in her arms. Think of her smiling when they finished their mission in Lagos and flopped on the bed, laughing about how quickly they completed their assignment. Think of her smiling on their flight in space; how mesmerized she was by the universe around her. Think of that instead. Don’t think about what happened when they landed. No, remember her hands entwined in his while they laid in the hospital bed, eyes never leaving their teeny newborn sleeping in the plastic basinet.

That’s the Natasha he has to remember.

So when Anya asks about “mama”, he tells her about the good times, and how much she loved her “маленький (little one)”. He tells her about her bear, the first stuffed animal Natasha picked out for her baby because it reminded her of Budapest, where she saw the same one in the window of the village shops. He tells her about the arrow necklace, which she had left in her locked jewelry box, something Bruce had miraculously rescued after their building was ambushed. It was too big on Anya, but she still wore it every day, never taking it off.  

And for Natasha, he enrolled their child in ballet and gymnastics, and kept up her Russian lessons. Anya enjoyed them, always telling her dance teachers and gymnastics instructors that she was going to be just like her “mama”.

Clint hoped so. Clint hoped to god she would have her mother’s determination and heart. She already looked so much like her, why would she need anything from him? 

“Papa, can you please check my card?”

Anya handed him the folded construction paper, the outside decorated with a “⧗”. Clint traced his fingers over the symbol, memories of its owner flooding back to him. He swallowed the lump in his throat, opening the card to reveal a stick figure drawing of Anya and her mother holding hands.

Fuck.

“It’s beautiful, sweetheart.”

Anya smiled, “Can you check my spelling?”

Clint chuckled, “Of course, baby.”

And there it was was, scribbled across the red paper: “Dear mama”.

God. 

It broke his heart. His eyes welled with tears, but he continued reading:

Dear mama, I miss you! Papa does too. I wish I could see you, but papa says you’re in heaven. I hope you can see me from up there. I’m sending lots of hugs and kisses! Я люблю тебя (I love you), Anya

Sure, her handwriting wasn’t the best, but she had been practicing writing this card for the past couple of months and Clint thought it was the best thing he had ever seen. “It’s absolutely perfect.”

Anya smiled as Clint handed her the card back, and she finally took a bite out of her sandwich.

“Mommy, is mine good?” Morgan asked.

There were tears rolling down Pepper’s cheeks as she held her daughter’s card, a beautifully done Iron Man helmet on the outside with the inside containing another drawing (this one showed Morgan and Tony, each holding a cheeseburger), and a small note that ended with “I love you 3000!”

“It’s wonderful, sweetie. Daddy will love it,” Pepper said through her tears.

Clint checked his watch, “Uh, Pep, it’s 1:30, should we get going?”

“Shoot! C’mon girls! Anya, you can bring your sandwich in the car, Morgan, put the crayons away.”

The four of them made their way outside and into Pepper’s car, strapping each of their kids into a car seat. Clint offered to drive, and Pepper gladly took him up on it. 

The drive was lengthy, and the two adults were stuck with listening to Disney music on a loop. Morgan loudly sang her heart out, Pepper encouraging her fun, while Anya sat and listened, playing with her bear and checking her card over and over again. Clint swore he could see her mumbling her Russian poem under her breath, but he stayed focused on the road.

When they got there, the music turned off and Morgan calmed down. 

Seeing the graveyard made Anya curl up into her carseat. She hadn’t been here before. When her mother had her funeral, she was at Morgan’s cabin, where they did Uncle Tony’s service too. It was a shared funeral, and her father spoke about her mom, calling her “Natasha”. Anya was sad, missing her mama, but everyone around her tried to make her feel better, telling stories of “the Black Widow” and how awesome she was.

Anya missed her a lot. Anya missed hugging her mama. She missed seeing her come home from a mission really late at night to sneak her a kiss goodnight. She missed helping mama make dinner. She missed family movie night. She missed their secret midnight snacks, usually sneaking chocolates into their mouths before heading back to bed. She missed doing ballet and gymnastics with her. She missed everything.

When Anya met Morgan, it helped a lot.

Morgan talked about how much she missed her dad, and it was very similar to how Anya felt. They bonded quickly, and even though they only saw each other every three months for the past year, the two were inseparable. Morgan asked her mom if she could FaceTime Anya, and Pepper would let her, hearing the two girls giggle through the phone.

The graveyard, as eerie as it may seem, was very pretty.

Clint parked the car nearest to the headstones they were looking for. They were close to each other, with no one in between, and a constant amount of flowers laying by their names. Fans would visit regularly, thanking the two for saving the dusted, but Clint and Pepper made sure their family would be the only visitors right now.

“You ready girls?”

They both looked scared, sad, and uneasy.

Pepper took off her seatbelt, turning back to face the girls, “Hey, there’s no need to be worried. Nothing scary is here, it’s just us. We’re going to talk to your daddy and your mom, read them your pretty cards, and then spend some time here with them. We will be with you the entire time, okay?”

Anya nodded, while Morgan answered, “Okay mommy. Let’s go.”

The adults got out of the car, unbuckled their daughters, and grabbed their hands.

Clint and Anya went to the right, while Pepper and Morgan went to the left.

Morgan ran right up to the headstone coated in Iron Man memorabilia, and sat crossed-legged in front of it. Pepper knelt down, before taking a seat on the grass next to her daughter, who immediately began talking and showing off her card.

Anya wasn’t as excited as Morgan; in fact she was extremely worried. But, Clint knelt down, gave her a big kiss on the cheek and touched her arrow pendant. “When mama got nervous, she would play with that arrow right there. It was a reminder that I was always there with her, even I wasn’t physically there. Now, it’s a symbol of both of us. Mama is always with you, including right now. Don’t be scared, baby, it’s just us, your family.”

Anya nodded and slowly walked over to the headstone decorated with flowers, cards, and small notes. It wasn’t nearly as covered as Tony’s, but it definitely had more heartfelt notes written for the woman who gave her life for all of the dusted. She sat down, much like Morgan, and fiddled with her bear.

“Привет, мама (Hello, Mama).”

Clint sat down next to his little girl, turning to the headstone, “Hey, sweetheart.”

Anya looked at the headstone, “Natasha…”

“Remember, that’s mama’s name,” Clint said, resting a hand on his daughter’s back. “N-A-T-A-S-H-A.”

“I like it.”

“Me too,” he smiled back at her, giving her a small kiss on her head.

“I made you this, Mama. I drew us, and wrote you a little note. You can read it later though. Papa checked my spelling.” Clint let out a little laugh; Anya placed the homemade card on the headstone.

Anya turned to her father, “Can I talk to mama alone for a second?”

Clint nodded, “Of course, pigeon.” He stood up and walked back to the car, leaning against it as he watched his little one. He peeked a glance over at Pepper and Morgan, who were giggling and snuggling as they talked to Tony’s headstone.

Anya continued to play with the bear in her hands, unsure of what to say, before her eyes welled with tears and she said, “I miss you. I miss you a lot, mama. I don’t know why you had to go. Papa said you saved me, and Kate, and a lot of other people, but I want you back...Is that bad?”

Anya wiped a tear from her cheek, “I don’t know what heaven is like, but I hope you have a place to dance and do gymnastics. And there’s lots of chocolate.” 

She paused, “Mama, I remember the poem you would tell me before bed; Papa helped me. My Russian isn’t as good, but I’ll say it to you. I hope it helps you feel better up there, like how it helped me feel better before bed. Oh yeah! Here’s my bear too, you can hold him while I do it, okay, mama?”

She placed the bear gently on the headstone, next to the card, “Самолёт построим сами (We build an airplane), Понесёмся над лесами (We'll soar above the forests), Понесёмся над лесами (We'll soar above the forests). А потом вернёмся к маме (And then we'll come back to mama).”

Anya placed a hand on the headstone, “I love you, mama. I hope I can see you soon.”

——

author’s note: wow i’m an asshole, but who doesn’t love angst? also, pepper/clint is a friendship i love a lot, okay? plus, morgan and anya would be polar opposites, but they definitely would be best friends. let me know your thoughts about this heartbreaking chapter that i’ll probably go to hell for, along with your head canons about clint and pepper or morgan and anya (or even the other avengers visiting anya bc that's so cute tbh)

[rosecolouredsecrets]

The night time air was cool and quiet. The only sound was the occasional chirp and hoot from a bird somewhere. Rosewood’s courtyard was cast in a deep blue light, fireflies sparking around the rosebushes every so often. Lola’s legs dangled from her bedroom window, her eyes sparkling brighter than the stars as she stared thoughtfully at the sky. It was a clear night. Not a cloud was in sight. Lola blinked at the moon; its sharp curves shone wide and bright in a way that made Lola feel nostalgic and sleepy.

She took in a deep breath of the air and allowed herself to relax. This was her happy place. What could possibly make this any better? She wondered, swinging her legs a little. Then it hit her. She leaned from the window back into her room and opened the top drawer of her bedside table, took out a chocolate muffin, and a tiny, yellow notebook. She winced as her hand brushed against an object she had tried to forget, but had been to fond of to throw out. A wave of old memories filled her brain.

Lola shook the sadness from her head and took a bite of her muffin, sketching the moon. An hour later, the clock struck 1am. She lifted her sketches in comparison to the moon and yawned. Not quite… she considered the sketches. It’s missing something, but what? Lola chewed the end of her pencil and stared intently at the moon.

It twitched.

She froze and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Tiredness is playing tricks on me, isn’t it? She rubbed her eyes and stared at it again in doubt. The moon twitched, and twisted upside down until it looked like a grin. Two, all-knowing, turquoise eyes blinked open above it. Lola gasped and stared with her mouth wide open in disbelief.

‘Good morning,’ a voice purred. Lola folded her arms and turned away, pouting in childish defiance. The Cheshire cat twirled in the air, revealing his bright pink, fluffy stripes from his invisibility. He glided gracefully to eye-level with Lola and rested his head on his chin, his tail flicking cockily behind him. ‘What, no ‘how-do-you-do’ for me this fine day?’ He asked humorously. Lola did not find anything about this situation funny. She had been having a lovely time, and now it was ruined by a ghost from her past. She glanced at him and shifted her body away from his direction, crossing her legs to make a point. The Cheshire cat chuckled and floated onto his back, wafting his tail into Lola’s face. She couldn’t help it. Her lip twitched and bubbles began to pop inside her stomach as an involuntary smile plastered her face. ‘Stop that!’ She giggled, waving him away. His tail was still so soft. It made her fingers prick with memory and sadness.

Lola remembered herself and cleared her throat. ‘What do you want?’ The Cheshire cat rolled onto his belly and leaned his head on one hand, examining the claws of the other. ‘I thought I’d drop in, see how you were,’ his eyes shone with something secretive that made Lola sit up straighter and tug on a bit of her hair. ‘Maybe you could play me a song…’ he teased. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. ‘No, I haven’t… it’s…’ her heart thudded loudly, ‘it’s been so long.’ she couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice and it made her want to cry. Why was he here, after all these years? There hadn’t been one single letter, gift, carrier pigeon, or anything to let her know he still cared. Well, Cheshire’s always been like that. He never showed that he cared Lola thought bitterly as tears pricked at her eyes. She squeezed her skirt in her hands, willing herself not to cry. The Cheshire cat sat up and padded the air, like a housecat trying to get comfortable. He was still grinning from ear to ear. ‘My dear lollipop, you know how I feel about apologies; however, I should tell you I’ve truly come here to redeem myself,’ he bowed and rolled the ‘r’ as he said ‘redeem’. Lola sniffed and pulled her knees up to her chest. ‘Come on, lollipop, remember how we used to be?’ he drifted over to her and rested on her shoulders. Lola could smell his inviting scent of strawberry ice cream and lavender. It made her feel dizzy as she conflicted her old feelings and the hurt he had caused her. The soft purring in her ear made her frown dissipate and she let go of her dress. The Cheshire cat came round to face her again. ‘I was wondering if you’d like to dance.’ He purred whimsically, making his pink stripes flash different colours.

Lola smiled and wiped her nose on her arm. Maybe one dance can’t hurt? Something at the back of her mind told her she was wrong, but The Cheshire cat had a way with her. She swung her legs into her room and rushed to the top drawer, pulling out two pairs of tap shoes, and the object she had avoided for so long, but had been too attached to throw away. She clasped the kazoo tightly in her hand and stepped out of the window onto The Cheshire cats back. His body squished under her weight into the proportions of a book and he flew them down into the middle of the courtyard. They stood side by side. ‘A one, a two, a one, two, three,’ They began to tap to music only they could hear, twisting perfectly in time with each other, creating an enchanting melody of taps that echoed into the still night air. The fireflies seemed to bounce to their beat, flying faster and faster in a whirl around them. Lola giggled, feeling dreamy and content. It felt so right for them to finally be dancing together again, but something dark tugged at the back of Lola’s mind, trying to remind her of something. Or warn her.

‘Play the kazoo!’ The Cheshire cat called to her over their tapping, bringing her out of her thoughts. She blew the melody she had tried to forget for so many years. It was haunting and beautiful. The fireflies responded by speeding up in a whir of excitement, whizzing around and around the both of them until they were but a blur. Lola didn’t think anything of it. She just kept tap dancing to the wii soundtrack she was playing on her kazoo, so enraptured in the sounds and feeling of nostalgia that she didn’t notice The Cheshire Cat twist his hands in odd movements, or the bright white light open up over her, and the things that began to crawl out of them in disturbing and distorted jolts.

She played, and tapped, and twirled until she realised she was unable to stop. Panic formed a knot in her stomach and she looked about for The Cheshire cat as she danced. When she finally saw him – and everything around him - she paled. Her brain was yelling, clawing, screaming at her, calling her a fool, begging her to run as fast as she could, but she had been hypnotised. Tears streamed down her eyes as she blew the melody. Instead of running, her feet tapped to the Nintendo tune. The Cheshire cat drifted to eye-level with her. His grin was menacing, his fur a multi-coloured flash of lies and evil. Lola’s feet ached and her breath was running out. A weight of guilt and horror planted her shoulders and she felt cold sweat drip down her back. Slowly, her vision blurred and began to fade. ‘Good night,’ The Cheshire cat purred in a sickly-sweet voice as Lola lost consciousness.

[onsgiftexchange]

This is for Sav ( @awildsavvy )! I hope that you enjoy it :)  __________________

“WE HAVE TO JUMP!”

“ARE YOU CRAZY!?”

  The yells could barely be heard over the loud explosions, which were seemingly endless, along with the very insistent alarm that was blaring loudly. The next explosion was close enough that they stumbled, almost knocked off of their feet from the force of it. 

  “We can make it! I know we can!” The blonde male urged. The female that was with him looked away, uncertain. “Mika I don’t –” She wasn’t able to finish her sentence, because the man - Mika - had already grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up. They were rapidly declining, the burning helicopter approaching the ground faster and faster, steadily gaining speed. 

  “Come on, come on…” the male mumbled, oblivious to the obvious fright on the girl’s face. Her lilac hair - which had originally been pulled back into a tight bun - was flying everywhere, wind whipping it back and forth.  Now. Mika thought as he watched the sandy clearing draw nearer. Without a second thought, he jumped out of the helicopter, holding on tightly to the girl in his arms. 

  There was a moment in which the only thing he could hear was the roaring of the wind in his ears, and the only thing he could feel was a sudden weightlessness, before he crashed into the sandy dune. The impact ripped the girl from his arms, causing them both to go rolling in the hot, grainy sand with grunts and moans. 

  Before Mika could even think to get up, the helicopter crashed and erupted. The two figures were flung backwards like ragdolls, unable to move their limbs properly as the shockwave hit them. This time when he hit the ground, everything went black. 

  Regaining consciousness was not fun. His limbs felt heavy, his mind sluggish and all he could hear was this damn ringing noise that seemed to get louder and louder until his mind couldn’t take it anymore. He opened his eyes slowly, squinting against the harsh light of the hot sun. A giant mushroom cloud had formed over the sight of the crash, and all he could smell was ash and fire. If he looked closely enough, he could see pieces of the helicopter that appeared to be ablaze. 

  He somehow managed to drag himself into a kneeling position and slowly wiped some sweat off of his forehead, but when he pulled his hand back, instead of clear liquid, his hand was covered in smeared blood. He looked down at his body, ignoring the headache that exploded in his mind from that simple movement. 

  Bruises had already started to form on his arms and what little he could see from the tears of his military uniform. Then he was struck by a single, sudden thought:

  Shinoa.

  Immediately he shot up, and staggered from the pain that erupted in his head. His body shook and his legs threatened to buckle beneath him, but after a moment he held steady. He looked around, but didn’t see the girl anywhere near him. “SHINOA!”

  He couldn’t hear his shout. The ringing noise had gone away by now, but in its place was complete silence. He could feel blood trickling out of his ears and grimaced, hoping that his hearing wasn’t irreparably damaged, however unlikely it was. He stumbled forward, calling out Shinoa’s name over and over but didn’t receive a reply. Either she wasn’t able to hear either, or… or… he didn’t want to think about it. 

  Eventually, finally, he saw her. Shinoa’s tiny form was completely limp, but noticeable, in the sand. He ran over to her and collapsed next to her, lifting her upper body into his arms. There were noticeable cuts on her face and arms, and a giant bruise on her forehead, but other than that she didn’t seem any worse than Mika himself. Blood was trickling out of her ears as well. The only difference between them was that she was unconscious while he wasn’t. He shook her helplessly. “Shinoa. Shinoa. Shinoa!”

  She jolted and took a deep, rattling breath. Her eyes were wild and looked everywhere before finally settling on Mika. Her lips moved. Mika still couldn’t hear her, but he could see what she said. “Mika?”

  He nodded rapidly and pulled her closer, burying his face in her shoulder. She smelled like blood and sweat, and her hair was tickling his face, but at that moment he couldn’t care less. She was alive, that’s all that mattered. He pulled away when she placed a hand on his arm, looking down at her. At that moment he wasn’t quite sure how he felt. Love, fear, relief, anger, anguish, happiness… somehow it was all there. We survived. Was all he could think, then a darker thought hit him. But for how long? 

  They were in enemy territory, alone, no weapons on them with explosions raging around them. Their mission had failed, and now they were stuck here. He had no idea if his previous transmissions calling for help had gone through, because as the helicopter fell all he could hear was static. 

  Shinoa seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because her jaw was set and her eyes focusing on a spot left to Mika, looking pensive and worried. She looked back up at Mika and he gave her a small nod. I understand. 

  He let her go and she slowly sat up on her own. They stared at each other for a moment, before Shinoa grabbed him by the cheeks and pulled him into a hard kiss. So many emotions went through that simple touch of the lips. Love, relief… it was palpable, and by the time she pulled away he wanted to cry. 

  His hearing was starting to come back now, and even though the sounds of explosions were muffled, they were still there. “We have to go,” he said eventually. “Can you stand?” 

  Shinoa frowned, and nodded. Mika didn’t miss the wince as she did so. Shakily, she started to rise to her feet, only to collapse back down with a cry of pain. Mika cursed and quickly caught her, worry rushing through his body. She didn’t seem to notice as he gripped her tightly, her eyes were far-away and she looked dazed. “Shinoa? Hey, look at me,” he slapped her cheek gently, and she seemed to snap out of it. “Mika?” 

  “Yeah, okay, walking isn’t a good idea… here, let me…” he went to pick her up, but his weight could barely support him, much less holding an extra 39 kilograms, and the two of them went down again with groans of pain. 

  “A-Alright… we… we’ll just… we can…” he was at a loss. Neither of them could walk. They were both hurt. Help likely wasn’t coming, and Shinoa… Shinoa was already looking at him with a sort of sad acceptance. Acceptance of their fate. 

  “Talk to me?” She requested, eyes never leaving his. Distract me so I don’t have to think about anything other than you before we die, was left unsaid, but they were both thinking it in their heads. Mika stared at her for a moment, before nodding slowly. “Okay uh… what… what do you want to talk about?” 

  “… Us.”

  ___________________________________

  “Fight me!”

  “Would you stop telling everyone to fight you?” Mika rolled his eyes, sucking on his lollipop as they walked to school. 

  The purple haired gremlin next to him seemed to puff with indignation. “My height doesn’t affect my ability to snap your neck or gouge out your eyes!”

  At that the blond laughed loudly, scaring away some pigeons who’d been on the ground looking for breadcrumbs nearby. The old lady on the bench who’d been feeding them shot him a dirty look. “You can’t even reach my neck!”

  “Uhhh do you really wanna test me, Hyakuya? Because there’s a fuckton of step ladders at our school and I’m not afraid to get on one of those to punch your stupidly pretty face.” 

  That had Mika stopping, causing her to crash into him. “Pretty?” He rose an eyebrow. Shinoa froze for a moment, as though she hadn’t meant to say that, before laughing. “Alright yeah, you’re pretty. Everyone knows it.” 

  “What? I’m not.” 

  This time it was Shinoa who rolled her eyes. “Oh I’m sorry, you’re not pretty. You’re super manly and butch.” 

  Mika frowned at that, starting the walk back to school with Shinoa prancing beside him. Pretty? 

  She thinks I’m pretty?

  _____________________________________

  “Come on, Mika, you’ll enjoy it!”

  “I won’t. I really won’t. Yuu-chan, please don’t make me go to this stupid party.” 

  Yuu rolled his eyes. “Don’t be such a baby, Mika. Besides, I want you to meet my… uh…” 

  “Aunt?”

  “She is NOT my aunt!” Yuu fumed, and Mika laughed. “I just want to prove to you how annoying she is,” Yuu continued in a whine, “come on, please?” 

  Mika sighed, but there was a small smile on his lips. “Alright Yuu-chan, anything for you.” 

  Yuu had to be exaggerating about how bad Shinoa was. Yuu was a drama queen after all, everything set him off and he was always coming up with wild stories when it was usually something simple. There was no way Shinoa was as bad as Yuu made her out to be. Right?

  … He was right. She wasn’t as bad as Yuu made her out to be. She was worse. The first thing that the drunken girl had done was fling herself onto Mika when he walked through the door. “I’ve decided that you will be my princess from now on,” she stated, not even saying hi. Even Yuu looked horrified. 

  “Ummm… but I’m a guy?” Maybe she thought he was a girl? It unfortunately wouldn’t be the first time someone made that mistake after all. However, Shinoa didn’t seem to care what he had to say, because she simply pet his fluffy hair like he was a cat, then his face. “Shhhhhhh. Princess.” 

  Mika gave Yuu a bewildered look, who - although still looking horrified - also was starting to look pretty amused. Mika narrowed his eyes at his best friend. Traitor. 

  “Well, I’ll leave you two to get to know each other~” Yuu said, before swiftly leaving to go mingle with the rest of the party. 

  “Yuu-chan wait –” 

  “Oh good he’s gone,” Shinoa removed herself from him, all traces of her former drunkenness gone. She beamed at his bewildered face. “Name’s Hiiragi Shinoa.” 

  “U-Uh… Hyakuya Mikaela.” 

  “Oh I know who you are, Mika,” Shinoa said. “Yuu talks about you all the time. And… the others.” 

  By the others, he assumed she meant the rest of the Hyakuya’s, who’d died when the orphanage burnt down. He tried to ignore the pang of sadness. “Does he?” 

  “Yuuup,” she popped the ‘p’. “I’m sure he talks about how absolutely stunning and perfect I am all the time~?”

  “Uh…” he thought back on all of the numerous rants and complaints Yuu had about her. “Something like that, yeah.”

  “So, Mika, want a drink?” She asked bluntly, and he scratched the back of his neck, debating. He’d never drank alcohol before, and Krul would skin him alive if she found out, but it might be the only way to deal with this party…

  “Sure.” 

  By the end of the night, Yuu found the two making out on the couch. 

  Mika would never forget the scream and the “Oh god my eyes!” that came from Yuu that night.

  ___________________________________________

  “Starbucks is amazing,” Shinoa moaned, drinking some more of the coffee she’d ordered. They’d just sat down in the newest addition to their town, when someone behind Shinoa caught Mika’s eye. “Look behind you,” he murmured. “But don’t be obvious.” 

  Shinoa, in typical Shinoa fashion, immediately WHIPPED around and practically shouted, “Where!?” 

  For fucks sake. 

  He’d been hoping not to attract the attention of Ferid, the person he was trying to warn Shinoa to stay away from. However, the silver-haired male - along with every other goddamn customer in the store INCLUDING THE BARISTAS - all turned to stare at them. Ferid’s face brightened upon seeing Mika, and the blond let his head fall onto the table. Just kill me now. 

“Mika-chan!”

Mika glared as the male came running over. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” the tall male said, looking positively ecstatic. 

  “You saw me,” Mika said bluntly. “Bye.” 

  “Eh? That’s not a very nice way to talk to your step-father…” 

  “You’re not my step-father.” Krul and Ferid had been divorced for almost two years now - thank God, Ferid was horrible to both of them - but in his mindset he seemed intent on it being “oh we just took a break, we’ll get back together soon” instead of “we’re totally done”. 

  “Ahaha so rude, Mika-chan~”

  “Don’t call me that.” 

  Shinoa was starting to look concerned. “Um…” 

  “Oho~ Does Mika-chan have a girlfriend?”

  “Okay, we’re going,” Mika said, getting off of his stool. Before he could grab Shinoa and leave, however, Ferid snatched his arm in a bruising grip that made Mika flinch out of instinct. “I’m not done talking to you,” Ferid growled, a complete 180 from his previous, happy demeanor. And then he wondered why Krul left him.

  “Hey!” They both turned around to see Shinoa standing. “The only person allowed to touch my boyfriend is me,” she said sweetly. Then, before either of them could even blink, she kicked Ferid so hard in the balls that he went tumbling to the ground. Mika stared at him, along with everyone else, mouth hanging open in shock as the older man groaned in pain. 

  Not seeming to notice, she stepped over him and laced her arm in Mika’s and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Now we can go.” 

  That was probably the moment Mika fell in love with her. 

____________________________________

  By the time they were done exchanging some of their memories, the two were laughing, for a moment forgetting about all of the death and destruction around them. Forgetting about how soon enough they would be the ones to die, if not by an enemy then by the heat, or dehydration, or hunger, or all three. Forgetting for a moment about how these might be their last goodbyes. How they will never be able to see their friends again.

  They forgot until they heard a helicopter. Until they looked up. Until they saw Yuu, Mitsuba, Yoichi and Kimizuki jumping out of it. Until they were being fussed over and carried into the helicopter, where Yoichi and Mitsuba immediately got to work with their med skills, patching the two fallen soldiers up. 

  They forgot that a few minutes ago, they had given up. 

[angelioangeles]

So, I started the day with my community walk, I went around our barangay’s area and the started taking snapshots of the surrounding areas. It was quite the hot day actually, but then again if there’s a will, then there’s a way. First off, I went to one of the nearest local learning private institution in our area namely CASECHOM School a.k.a. Catholic Servants of Christ Commission School. It was actually my first school in nursery, but I only spent a year there as a nursery student and then I transferred to another school as I grow up.

The entrance to the local cooperative store in our community. Welcome !

Me standing at the table watching them as they unwrap everything they bought from the marketplace.

After going to my first school, I went to our local cooperative store together with my aunt which is seen in almost all other photos with me, and then we conversed a little with our friends there at the store while they are arranging the early market haul for the store ( inventory ), I was busy looking around and then I eventually took some snapshots of them in the work area and then we left them to do their job there.

A small bakery and sari-sari store located just beside the chapel of our barangay.

The commerce in our barangay is actually good if I do say so myself, there are lots of sellers, and esteemed tricycle drivers that produced fine college graduates in our community. The totality of the population in our area actually relies heavily on the good commerce for their living; especially the tricycle drivers in our community.

People nowadays only know how to either build mounds of trash, have them collected by the garbage men or either have them burned in their backyards. They don’t seem to know the environmental impacts that it may actually bring the planet if they continue to do such things for countless more years to come.

What should be done is to awaken every single individual to the truth of this world which is that there will no longer be a world if all of us keeps on doing such things that may drastically affect not just the community but ultimately the world itself. But what better way can we even thing of doing when the people themselves who preach are also the ones who do such kinds of things to the environment?

A photo I took in the morning that shows how dangerously close this compost is to some wirings; the compost is about to actually be burned. 

Just look at that jollibee sunbathing while a green halloween pumpkin settles in the shade with some other plastic toy, never to be used to play again.

My former Senior High School teachers also building a Christmas Tree with ft. my aunt. >-<

A picture of my juniors from Sulivan National High School building a Christmas Tree from plastic bottles. ;-)

Nevertheless, we shouldn’t give up on those ideals for we are the only ones who can make our environment and even ourselves prosper. Because the end justifies the means; let us all make a stand on the idea that the world will prosper more if we will be idiots no more. We should really practice proper segregation and recycle materials more often as seen in this picture above which they are about to build a christmas tree.

After some time, proper segregation has finally been present in the school itself, I was actually so proud when I saw that there was actually something like this when I came back and it’s actually a very good improvement.

Our house is pretty old but it gets by and it’s been very sturdy in my 19 years of existence.

After we’ve walked in the community, me and my aunt decided to go home first and then take a few snapshots before we head to the barangay hall for some interview.

A photo of me, my aunt and our esteemed and ever loving Barangay Secretary, Ms. Ma. Belinda D.C. Palad. She was actually the one who greeted us before we had the interview because she is actually a friend and we really like her so much and she is also very strict in days when she’s educating students in the community. But at the end of the day she is a kind person with nothing but kindness and success for the community in mind.

These photos are actually showing the wires or metal wires used as fencing, but they are indeed dangerous because lots of people walk the roadside and may actually trip and fall in these fences and injure themselves.

After gracefully walking around our barangay, I also noticed the fact that there are multiple areas in the community which needs to be addressed quickly as they could cause harm to our surroundings. These areas are especially hazardous as it may or may already have injured or caused harm to the citizens of the community; however, the individuals around the community are already aware of this fact and they never really care until they themselves feel the consequences of their actions. Note that these areas are actually located near the area of living for certain individuals and establishments that is actually considered as a market by individuals that rely on them.

Moving on, not all areas in the community itself are hazardous, there are also those places which are certainly an eye candy for most people including me. These places may offer relief to people during unexpected times and actually plays a major part in the lives of almost every individual in the community. The first establishment to be mentioned is Sulivan National High School or simply SNHS is a seasoned school that withstood many calamities over the years and is also the school which I graduated Senior High School from.

Another place that actually helps people is the rice fields in our town, with roughly some hundred meters wide in certain areas, it is a prime spot for people to evacuate from when an earthquake strikes as there are no falling trees or anything that may potentially injure the evacuating people of the community.

The newly painted Sulivan Chapel, it’s so bright during a sunny day.

A beautiful reminder that we shouldn’t forget the Ten Commandments.

Lastly, is the Sulivan Chapel which is also an established piece of history and landmark in our community which like SNHS is also very old but very sturdy; it is a place of worship and devotion with some very good memories to be remembered for the whole community.

They’re just so adoooorablee oh my goooooshhh !!!!! ( Please forgive me for using those words .... THEY’RE JUST SO CUUUTE !!!!!!! )

As the people in the community differ from each other, it is apparent that every individual’s household includes not just every family member, but also some of our furry, feathery and fluffy friends namely dogs, chickens, pigeons and pigs including many more. I for one love my beautiful pigeons because they are actually a very big part of my childhood back when my mom was still around, so that’s that. All I can really say is that I just love them so much to the point where I’ll gladly put them on my bed to cuddle with me after they take a bath and yes, pigeons do take baths, and that’s a fact and I love their look when they do so.

Wow, I just noticed that we’re actually wearing Red, Blue, and Yellow .... what a cute coincidence. >-< Mr. Antonio B. Puno (Red) - Mr. Marty v. Dela Cruz (Blue) and me Dion Angeles (Yellow).

Now for the main part or the highlight of this blog, I’ve had the chance to talk to our barangay or community’s BDRRMC ( Barangay Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council ) and BADAC ( Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council ) Focal Person namely Mr. Antonio B. Puno or simply Mr. Puno as we locals call him together with our friend and co-chair regarding the matter Mr. Marty V. Dela Cruz which is also an active member of the barangay council as a Counselor, Communication and Budget officer in charge of managing and allocating some of the barangay’s budget for BDRRMC and BADAC.

Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council Organizational Chart.

Barangay Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Organizational Chart.

Our talk was actually fruitful and it may raise a few eyebrows at some point because of some disappointments in the barangay, but all’s well that ends well. Now, addressing the fact about the Barangay’s Hazard identification, Mr. Marty was the first one to talk after I asked what calamities may actually affect our community saying that we aren’t near the ocean, nor are we near volcanoes, so basically the only thing that may actually pose a threat to our barangay is the occasional typhoons cyclones, earthquakes and fires; he also stated that ever since last year 2018, there hasn’t really been any case of fire in our community, the only issues that has been met by the community is said to only be the occasional typhoons which blew some things here and there, but hasn’t really destroyed citizen properties and livelihood in the community.

Barangay spot and risk map which indicates the level of hazard an area may encounter during calamities, the lighter the color the less the affected areas and the darker the color the more the area is affected.

After asking another question as to what kind of hazards or dangers approached the community and actually devastated the areas in which we live in it’s Mr. Puno’s turn and then he said that in the totality of the years in which we’ve actually been living in Sulivan, there is only the massive typhoons and the rising flood water that actually caused harm to the properties of the people in the community and the neighboring areas; it is also apparent in the community that there are actually no properties which are  built using light materials to the point where even a magnitude 5 earthquake did nothing in our community, also to add is the fact that the houses in our area are built separately and with a very wide margin from each other as our community is actually spacious that it was actually mentioned that when a fire should actually occur, then there’s actually only the affected house or area in which the fire would spread and nothing more will be extinguished by the flames; another thing that was mentioned by Mr. Marty during our discussion is the fact that since the year 2001, there has been only 1 case of fire in the community with no fatalities.

On the other hand on the topic concerning the awareness or alert on which the community relies on when a certain calamity or danger may approach they both said that the BDRRMC is in direct contact with the DRRM or the NDRRMO which in turn provides advance information regarding the approaching calamities or danger in the community or the region itself, it is also mentioned that the only major cause for alarm may actually be the destruction of the Angat dam that can actually cause a massive flood in the community or in our community itself, the advanced update of the information in the barangay actually saved the community actually helped the people evade the harmful effects of the calamity or danger. Another thing is the fact that the renovation of the waterways and the drainages around our community which is a very big advancement for the community as it reduced the harmful possibilities of flooding and some other dangers that may arise from the said cause.

On the other hand, should moments like these arise then the community is ready and one of the best possible places which is assured by the municipality that can withstand the effects of the calamity is the school or Sulivan National High School which will not only serve as an institution for learning, but also a place for comfort and security in times of hardiness.

Another thing is the pinpointing or the speculation of the most affected areas around the community in times of or during calamities, it is said by Mr. Marty and Mr. Puno that the low lying areas in the community such as that near the waterways located in the vicinity are the prime locations for hazards or danger around the community itself. Now for the issue as to how or what hinders the community’s advancements, Mr. Puno’s response was the fact that the main issue to be addressed which is almost as vulgar as it may be is the fact that drugs are involved; drugs are actually one of the main problems of the community as they may entirely affect the community itself and with the help of his other organization BADAC, they are taking into action and helping those who are in need of assistance including the rehabilitation of certain individuals which are affected by drugs and so on; Mr. Marty also mentioned the domino effect of the drugs in the community which may potentially lead to a certain family’s poverty because of the influence of drugs and what makes it more of a headache is that the community members are actually tight-lipped about the matter of drugs because some of their family members are actually involved and that makes it worse for the community and the officers in-charge of the issue itself and mind you, that being a drug free community is not an easy task for officials because it is a threat to the peace and order of the community itself.

Mr. Marty also mentioned that in another 15 to 20 years or so, then our interview would actually be totally different in terms of the scope of our population in the barangay. Now, for the community’s readiness and awareness, it is actually similar to our NSTP orientation in terms of the trainings which includes basic life support that includes first aid and the BRS or the ( Barangay Rescue Service ).

A service and emergency vehicle is also present in the barangay hall which is readily available in the barangay which is open for use for every individual in the community.

While all has been said and done, the key factor which contributes greatly to the success of the barangay’s ordinances and regulations is the teamwork that is present in the community and its officials.

Please do note that the individuals whom I interviewed are actually camera shy even though it doesn’t look that way, but then again I was able to have someone assist me with the opportunity to take a photo.

Thank You and Peace out !

[wistfulcynic]

CSJJ Day 11: Finding The Altar Epilogue: Destination London

A little addendum to Finding The Altar, which I wrote late last year. I had a request to write Emma and Killian’s trip to London, and what could be better for @csjanuaryjoy than a New Year's honeymoon to one of my favourite cities in the world? This is a straight-up London tourist brochure, and I'm not even sorry. It's also sweet and fluffy and super short, like candy floss on a shortbread biscuit. Grab a cuppa and enjoy! 

BTW if you haven’t read FTA, you can find it here, or if you don’t want to bother just know that this is author!Killian and deputy!Emma, just married and expecting a baby, taking a trip to London together at the New Year. 

@resident-of-storybrooke @kmomof4 @teamhook @jennjenn615 @let-it-raines @wellhellotragic @deathbycaptainswan @tiganasummertree

Destination London: 

London was everything Emma had hoped it would be. Crowded, noisy, grey, dirty, but full of unexpected corners and surprising crannies, quirky and weird and just so ridiculously British. Suddenly she understood Killian a lot better. 

They did all the touristy things: Blocking foot traffic on Westminster Bridge to get a photo of themselves in front of Big Ben, Emma rolling her eyes as Killian explained that the clock tower was just a clock tower and that it was actually the bell that was called Big Ben; taking a tour of Westminster Abbey and dawdling through Poet’s Corner, marvelling at all the famous names commemorated there; dodging the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, Emma barely resisting the desire to pout because she was too old and too pregnant to climb up on the lions’ backs; shopping in Covent Garden; gaping at the Crown Jewels the Tower; taking a million photographs from the top of the London Eye. They walked hand-in-hand along Southbank, grazing from the food trucks there before taking a river taxi to Greenwich where Killian excitedly took Emma thorough the National Maritime Museum and the Old Royal Naval College, only wincing slightly when she lit up in recognition. 

“Oh, yeah, this was in that Thor movie!” she cried, grabbing his arm.

“Indeed,” he replied, with a long-suffering sigh. “Shall we go see the Greenwich Meridian?”

Their trip coincided with the release of Killian’s third novel, which had turned out just as well as Emma had predicted and suddenly launched him from a glowingly-reviewed but lightly-read novelist into a bestselling one. His agent scrambled to take advantage of this surge in popularity by arranging book signings and other appearances in London, waving away his protests that he was “on my bleeding honeymoon, mate,” and aided and abetted by an Emma who was so proud of her husband that she thought she might burst with it, and wanted to show him off. Eventually he agreed, on the condition that he be allowed to choose the bookstores where he did the signings. 

“London has some amazing bookstores,” he told Emma as they lay curled around each other one evening, her head on his chest, his hand caressing her rounded belly. “Bookstores and tea rooms, that’s what I love about this city. There’s no such thing as a decent cup of tea in the States.”

“We dumped it all in Boston harbour that one time,” Emma deadpanned.  

“Bookstores and tea rooms,” continued Killian as though she hadn’t spoken, “And pubs. We should go on a pub crawl.” 

“You know the rugrat won’t let me drink.” 

“You can still enjoy the atmosphere, which is most of the fun anyway. I’ll plan us a route. Through Wapping and along the river, I think, that’s where I used to live and there are some great old places there. We can start at the Mayflower.” 

“The Mayflower? Like the ship?”

“Exactly like the ship.” 

When they got off the Tube at Rotherhithe, Emma was astounded. With its quiet streets lined with brown brick buildings opening onto the riverfront, it showed another facet of London entirely. Of course she knew from her experience living in New York that large cities were basically a collection of neighbourhoods, each with its own personality and style, yet for some reason the relative peace of this little corner of east London came as a surprise.  

So did the Mayflower pub. 

“This is great!” Emma exclaimed, taking in the view of the river from the small wooden balcony at the back of the upstairs room. “Are all pubs like this?”

“Not in the least,” smiled Killian. “Many of them are dank shitholes, if we’re honest. But the good ones can be amazing.” 

After the Mayflower, they took the Overground train across the Thames to Wapping, walking hand-in-hand through more brown brick streets to Turner’s Old Star, with its spacious and charming outdoor beer garden, then on to the Town of Ramsgate, another riverside establishment with a stunning outdoor deck and riverside view. From there they walked along the riverfront path to the Prospect of Whitby, Emma’s favourite pub yet. She found its dim, dark wood and flagstone interior charmingly quaint, and its iteration of the now familiar outdoor deck with sweeping view of the river enhanced by the addition of a gibbet and noose. 

“Used for hanging pirates,” said Killian, gesturing with his pint. 

“Really?”

“Aye, primarily, though there were others. In the case of the pirates, legend says the bodies were left there to hang until three tides had washed over their heads.” 

“Damn.” 

“The hazards of a pirate’s life, darling.” 

They ended their day by taking a taxi to Limehouse and The Grapes pub, where they ate fish and chips then as they were leaving shook the hand of Sir Ian McKellen, who co-owned the place. 

“I can’t believe we met Gandalf,” gushed Emma as they cuddled in the taxi on their way back to their AirBnB in Belgravia. 

“What honeymoon would be complete without it?” joked Killian. 

“Today was really fun,” said Emma. “I loved all the pubs, I can see why you miss them living in Storybrooke.” 

“Storybrooke has other attractions,” said Killian, smiling at her, his eyes warm with love. “London’s great but it’s not my home, not anymore. My home is wherever you are.” 

New Year’s Eve found Emma and Killian dressed to the nines and mingling with London’s literati on the opulent balcony of the Royal Penthouse of the Corinthia Hotel, on the north bank of the Thames. It was pretty much the last place Emma would have predicted she’d be if she’d been asked a few weeks ago about her New Year’s plans, but she wasn’t about to argue. The penthouse was taken every year by the London branch of Killian’s publisher for the New Year’s Eve party they threw for their top authors, and the fact that they thought highly enough of Killian’s new book to invite him to the party that year made her proud enough to burst. Or cry. But that could just be the pregnancy hormones. 

Killian’s agent, a nervous, bustling little man called Smee, shared her pride, though his seemed to be focused slightly more on his own foresight in backing Killian through the less-than-stellar sales of his first two books and the vindication of his third one’s bestselling status. 

“I always knew you’d hit on the right formula eventually,” he blustered as Killian smiled indulgently and Emma ground her teeth, wishing the little man would stop patting himself on the back and let her enjoy the New Year countdown and fireworks with her husband. “It’s not easy to find that delicate balance between artistry and popular appeal, but I always knew that with a little encouragement you could— is that Ben Aaronovich? I’ll be right back.” He thrust his empty champagne glass into Emma’s hand and hurried off in pursuit of the author of the popular Rivers of London book series. 

“Ugh,” said Emma, turning to deposit the glass on the tray of a passing waiter and resisting the urge to wipe her hands on her dress. “He’s a bit of a rat, isn’t he?”

“Aye, that he is. But he truly did stick by me for a number of years, so I’m prepared to overlook it. That said, I think we should disappear before he comes back.” Killian grabbed Emma’s hand and pulled her away into the crowd. 

The Royal Penthouse’s balcony offered a sweeping view of the Thames, similar to the ones they’d seen at the pubs but considerably swankier, and neither Emma nor Killian could imagine a better place to stand for the countdown and fireworks display. As the London Eye lit up and the assembled crowds below began to chant the descending numbers, Killian wrapped his arms around his wife, resting his chin on her shoulder and entwining their fingers together over the swell of their child growing inside her. When the last number was called and the noise of cheers and fireworks erupted around them, he turned his head and kissed her, tasting the sharp bite of the club soda and lime she’d been drinking mixed with the familiar precious flavour that was uniquely her. He thought about all they had to look forward to: the birth of their baby, his burgeoning career, settling in to their married life together, and felt such a surge of happiness and contentment that it brought tears to his eyes. 

“Happy New Year, my love,” he murmured against her lips, feeling her answering smile before he kissed her again. “I have a feeling it’s going to be our best one yet.”  

(Some friends and I did this pub crawl a few years ago, and I *highly* recommend it!)

[itsmarianstories]

🎄Another cheesy Christmas Story🎄

[Jungkook x Reader]

Secret Santa Present Part 2

For @pineapple-panini19

A Story about how that Christmas, which was supposed to be sad and lonely turned out to be the best of them all.

Word count: 7.465

Moodboard 

(A/N: So here it finally is! Oh my god, I’m so nervous lmao. I hope you’ll like it!! Feel free to be brutally honest with me tho and tell me if I messed up somehow... )

You took a deep breath, letting the fresh, cold air filling your lungs. It felt good after spending so much time in that stuffy bar. You enjoyed your job in the karaoke bar but it was exhausting and especially at this time of the year, because somehow everyone was in singing mood before Christmas. However, it was your last shift for this year and you weren’t sure if you should be happy about it or not.

For a few moments you just stood outside the bar and enjoyed the view. It was late in the evening, the sun has long went down but the moon was now shining proudly. The city was already decorated, fairy lights everywhere and in all different colours. It smelled sugary, probably from the Christmas market that was just a few blocks away.

“Right, only a week left.” You whispered, your breath causing a small cloud to form in the cold night air. Usually you were so excited about Christmas, looking forward to the holidays. This year however, your mood was a little bummed. It’s the first year you spend Christmas away from your family and most of your friends and celebrating Christmas alone is definitely not the same. You have moved to a different city to attend your dream university but you didn't live her for very long yet and didn't know many people here.

You sighed deeply before starting to stomp through the snow to the subway station. While waiting for your train to arrive you saw a group of friends a few feet away from you, they were joking around and laughing loudly. It made you feel even more lonely so you pulled your phone out of your pocket deciding to call you best friend.

“Hey Y/N! What’s up?” He greeted, sounding a bit out of breath.

“Ah nothing really, I just thought I’d see how you are doing. I miss you, Tae.” You admitted.

“Aww, I miss you too! I promise after Christmas I’ll come and visit you.” He said. You heard a bark in the distance.

“Are you out with Tannie?” You asked, whishing you could cuddle that small, fluffy noodle again.

“Yeah we are Christmas shopping! I just got you your gift!” He sounded excited and you smiled sadly. Your best friend was just as enthusiastic about Christmas as you.

“You don’t have to.”

“I know but I want to.” You knew he would say that. You already have a present for him too.

“Ah sorry Y/N, Tannie is trying to catch a pigeon. I gotta go! I'll see you soon, we’ll celebrate new year together okay? I purple you!” He said. You chuckled.

“Alright, bye Tae. See you soon!” You said and the call ended. You put your phone down with another sigh just as the train arrived. The group of friends got in too and you couldn’t help but watch them, listening to their Christmas plans. You pulled your hood up and sniffled a little, feeling stupid for getting so emotional over such a thing. But honestly you couldn’t help it, you missed your family and your friends and wanted to spend Christmas with them, not all alone in a city where you barely know anyone. But living alone is expensive and you have bills to pay, flying back home is not in the budget.

You pulled your knees against your chest and rested your head on them. The train was almost empty, most people already at home at this time. So when someone suddenly flopped down in front of you, you were fairly surprised. There were a lot of free seats after all. You looked up at the boy in front of you, probably around your age, dressed in black. He looked a bit suspicious but his face was soft and his smile gentle.

“Are you okay?” He asked, big round eyes staring back at you.

“Uh... what?” You asked confused.

“I mean you are crying in the subway, alone in the middle of the night that’s... concerning.” You brought a hand up to your face, feeling that it is indeed wet.

“Oh,” You whispered, wondering when that happened. The boy in front of you crooked his head to the side and you blushed under his stare.

“ Uhm thank you, I guess but I’m fine...It’s just... Christmas.” You poorly explained.

“You don’t like Christmas?” He asked.

“I love Christmas.” Now he looked greatly confused and his face was so cute that you couldn’t help but giggle a little, wiping away the tears from your cheeks with your sleeve.

“I just moved here and don’t know many people yet. It just makes me miss my family.” You added, wondering why you are even telling him all this.

“I’m Jeongguk.” He smiled, holding out his hand for you to take.

“Y/N" You said, shaking his hand.

“Now you know one person more.” You noticed how his nose scrunched up and his eyes crinkled while he smiled, exposing a pair of bunny teeth. His face changed when he remembered something, turning to dig in his bag and pulling out a box full of Christmas cookies.

“Here,” He offered you and wow they were some good looking cookies. Since you weren’t really in Christmas mood you didn’t bother baking some, you didn’t even decorate your apartment. But tasting some couldn’t be bad so you picked up a cookie and hummed while eating it.

“Did you make those?” You asked curious but the boy shook his head.

“Nah, I can’t bake, I’d burn down my whole kitchen. I got them from a woman whose kid is coming to my class.” He admitted, sheepish but fond no less.

“What kind of class?” You wanted to know, shamelessly getting another cookie.

“Dance, hip hop to be precise. We prepared a small Christmas performance and showed it to the parents tonight.”

“Wow, a dancer huh.” You said impressed while imagining a bunch of kids doing hip hop. It sounded adorable. The boy blushed a little at your comment and nodded. Then the train became slower and as you looked up you saw that it was your station, feeling slightly bummed that you had to leave now.

“That’s my station.” You and Jeongguk said at the same time, staring at each other in surprise before sharing a giggle.

“Well, what a coincidence huh?” You said suddenly becoming shy.

“Do you live close?” He asked, while you two made your way out of the subway station. The cold air hitting you even more now, after spending time in the heated train.

“A few blocks from here.” You answered.

“Do you know that Christmas cafe near the kindergarten? Like two blocks from here.” You shrugged.

“To be honest, I kind of avoided everything christmas-ish until now.” You admitted.

“Oh that’s a pity, you should go there. Maybe it would lighten your mood. They have really good drinks and always play those cringy Christmas songs that you kind of hate but listen to every year all over again, just for the sake of it.” He told you, a sparkle in his eyes.

“Sounds beautiful.” You chuckled, feeling lighter than you have in days. “Maybe I should go there.”

“You know,” he cleared his throat “maybe, if you’d like, I could. I mean I know we don’t really know each other and this is probably weird and you can totally say no I just thought, if you’d like, maybe you’d feel better not going alone and like I know I’m not your family but-" You chuckled at his obviously nervous rambling.

“Jeongguk,” you interrupted him. He looked down at you, almost a head taller than you.

“I’d love to go with you. Show me that cafe.” You said, amazed at where all that confidence suddenly came from. He smiled at you brightly, his face dimly lit by the street lanterns and decorations. Wow, he is really pretty.

“Okay! I mean not now it’s probably closed uhm... like tomorrow? Or...”

“Why don’t you give me your number? Then we can go whenever it fits.” You said, screaming internally at your boldness.

“Sure!” Jeongguk pulled out his phone. You two switched phones and typed in your numbers before handing them back.

“Thank you.” He said.

“No thank you! Really.” You said back, snatching another cookie. You two stopped at a corner, your ways parting here.

“Tell that mom, those cookies are really great.” He nodded.

“I will and you’re very welcome! I’ll text you!” He said as you two started to walk apart from each other, backwards though. It was cheesy, but come on. It’s Christmas, a bit cheesieness is allowed!

Once he was out of sight you pulled your phone out and called Tae, screaming in his ear when he picked up and telling him everything.

Christmas suddenly didn’t seem so bad anymore.

 The next morning you woke up, feeling more motivated than ever. You decided to go to the grocery store to get everything you needed to bake. It was time to crawl out of the whole that was called 'self-pity', so you got out of bed, connected your phone to the Bluetooth speakers and blasted your favourite Christmas songs, humming along while getting ready.

You were already out your door when you checked your messages. You couldn’t help but smile when you saw the new message.

Jeongguk

Good morning :)

I hope you feel better today!

 You quickly typed out a response before putting your phone away and heading to your favourite grocery store. The way was a little longer but it was an old family business and the grandma, still working there was super nice and always gave you candy.

You enter the shop, slowly pacing through the aisles. You observe the different items, searching for the ones you need so you don’t really pay attention to your surroundings. That is until you bump into something.

Or someone.

You hear a gasped “Oof!” and turn to apologize but your words get stuck in your throat when you see who you just ran over. You feel your face heating up while the taller breaks out in a full on bunny smile.

“Now would you look at this coincidence!” Jeongguk exclaimed.

“Ah- I-I'm sorry.” You say, mind still running slow due to the surprise. Like, what are even the chances.

“No need to apologize.” Jeongguk smiled. “I’m happy to see you again.” He said and you kind of just stare at him because WHAT DID HE SAY??? You blink at him and a few seconds pass, suddenly you realize that a) you still haven’t said anything in return and b) a light rosy colour is forming on the boys cheeks.

“S-Sorry,” He suddenly added, rubbing the back of his neck “that was probably inappropriate considering we don't really know each other.” He seemed so shy and you just had to coo at how cute he is.

“No, no, no, I'm sorry, I was just really surprised.” You quickly said, shaking your head a little. “I'm happy to see you again too.” Another few moments of silence settled over you as you stared at each other until Jeongguk cleared his throat.

“Oh uhm, do you still wanna go to that cafe? Today?” He asked. You nodded, maybe a bit too eager but he beamed back at you so you didn’t think it came of weird.

“I'd love to go but do you have time later in the afternoon? I actually wanted to bake first.” You explained sheepishly and chuckled at the sudden spark in the boys eyes.

“Christmas cookies?” He asked, sounding like an excited child.

“Yeah, you wanna come and help?” The question slipped out without you even thinking about it. You just invited a stranger into your apartment, what the fuck.

“Are you not afraid I could be a serial killer or something?” Jeongguk chuckled.

“I don't think a serial killer would say that.” You giggled, although he kind of had a point.

“Or I’m saying that to gain your trust.” The taller answered back.

“You really don't help yourself right now.” You laughed and watched amused how Jeongguk blushed again.

“N-No, I mean yes! I mean I’d love to help you!”

 So that’s how you both started to finally work off your shopping list, getting all the ingredients (the nice grandma winked at you when you were paying for the stuff) and walked back to your apartment. You felt a little bad that Jeongguk carried all the bags (it weren’t that many but still) but on the other hand he was the one who insisted so you really couldn’t do anything except accept the kind gesture.

You became a bit nervous once the two of you reached your flat.

“So I didn’t really expect any guests, so please don’t judge the messy state of my apartment.” You warned before pushing the door open. Jeongguk chuckled.

“Every girl says that but in the end its all tidy anyway.”

“'Every girl', huh? How many are we talking here?” You teased, watching as he blushed again. He’s so cute when he’s flustered.

“Ah! No, no  that’s not how I meant it. I’m not... I mean it’s just a saying I guess? Uhm...” Really you could only laugh while entering.

You were just glad that you cleaned the kitchen this morning, since you knew you’d need it. The both of you took off your shoes and coats before you showed Jeongguk the way to your kitchen. The latter put the bags down on the kitchen isle and you started to unpack everything.

“Hey! Wanna listen to some music?” You asked, figuring that it would help ceasing awkward silence moments.

“Sure.” Your guest answered while washing his hands. You smirked a little as you played the first song. It didn’t even take five seconds and Jeongguk was staring at you, unamused.

“Seriously?” He said, but laughing anyway.

“It’s a good song!” You argued sarcastically.

“It was. But it has died ten years ago, please let it rest in peace.” You laughed at his reply and sighed exaggerated.

“Fine!” You finally agreed and skipped 'Last Christmas'.

Soon later you had your hands deep in a bowl of dough.

“Hey!” You complained as Jeongguk reached out to sneak a bit of dough for the fifth time now.

“Your intentions were that all along, weren’t they?” You accused and he only smirked while putting the dough in his mouth.

“Maybe?” You took a bit of flour and threw it in his face. Jeongguk laughed, breathed in a bit of flour and started coughing.

“Oh that screams for revenge!” He said. You let out a scream while trying to run away but he was quicker than you and wrapped his arms around your middle, holding you in place while dipping is finger into the Nutella glass and smearing it on your cheek and nose.

“You bully!” You pouted but it only made him laugh more as he let you go to observe his masterpiece.

“Do I look tasty at least?” You joked and he smirked again, licking the Nutella from his finger.

“Very.” He agreed.

Three hours later and you have four boxes full of Christmas cookies.

“Well damn.” You breathed while staring at the product.

“I'm never gonna eat so many cookies, I think we went a bit overboard.” You thought out loud. Jeongguk reached out for a cookie and munched it happily.

“Nah, don’t worry, I’ll help you eat them all.” He assured and you couldn’t help but laugh. Something about this boy made you feel so light. You weren’t sure what exactly it was.

“Okay, I think we deserve a break now. You wanna show me that cafe now?” You asked and watched how Jeongguks eyes began to sparkle.

“Absolutely! Let’s go!”

So you two quickly washed up, got dressed and went outside again.

“Come this way.” Jeongguk said and took your hand to pull you along. However, he didn’t let go. You looked down at your hands and felt a blush creeping up on your cheeks. You wondered if it was okay to lace your fingers but decided against it because well, you were shy after all. Anyways the two of you continued to hold hands all the way to the cafe and only let go once you got inside, to open your jackets and out off the too warm things.

The cafe was actually pretty big but it was so heavily decorated that it looked cozy. Instead of chairs there were small couches and armchairs around coffee tables. Everywhere were candy canes and mistletoes, Christmas balls and other typical nick-nacks. There was a heavy sweet scent in the air of gingerbread and chocolate. People were sitting around, chatting happily and sipping on their beverages and everything radiated an atmosphere that screamed relaxation.

Jeongguk led you to the counter where a girl, dressed up as Christmas fairy asked for your orders.

“One Chilli-Chocolate latte for me, please.” Jeongguk said and turned to look at you. You were looking at the board trying to decide what you’d like but there were so many crazy drinks that you just went with a classic one.

“Uh... one pumpkin spiced latte.” You said and heard Jeongguk snort beside you.

“How boring.” He teased and you stabbed him with your elbow.

“There were too many drinks, I was overwhelmed okay let me live.” You tried to defend yourself but he just laughed harder before pulling out his wallet once the barista came back with your drinks.

“That makes 3,20$ each.” She said and you wanted to grab your own wallet but once you had it Jeongguk had already paid for the both of you.

“Why did you do that?” You asked as you two went to grab a seat.

“Do what?” He asked back, sitting down on one of the couches.

“Pay for my drink.”

“Well I invited you, of course I’m gonna pay.” He said.

“You didn’t have to.”

“I know but I wanted to.” He smiled and you suddenly realized that he kind of resembled a bunny.

You spend about two hours in the cafe just talking about random shit and getting to know each other. You found out that you both liked Marvel movies, he told you about his fear of microwaves and pouted when you laughed for five minutes.

In the end you set a plan to meet again tomorrow for a marvel movie marathon. At your place since there were four boxes of cookies to be eaten. Out side of the cafe you hugged as goodbye and you couldn’t help but notice how strong and safe his arms felt and how he smelled kind if sweat and flowery. It was an untypical scent for men but you enjoyed it no less.

In the evening you were still looking forward to the movie date but when you woke up the next morning you suddenly became really, really nervous. You started cleaning up you entire flat before taking a shower and continuing to change outfits like five times.

“Fuck Y/N get your shit together.” You mumbled to yourself and took a deep breath. It’s not like you two officially named it a date basically it’s just two friends hanging out but somehow that was doing little to calm you.

When it finally knocked on your door you jumped slightly before going to open it. Jeongguk had a bright smile on his face and immediately went in for a hug again. It took you by surprise but you hugged him back anyway and suddenly all your nervousness was gone and all you felt was a deep contentment.

“Hey,” Jeongguk murmured in your ear, causing a shiver to run down your spine.

“Hi,” You said back, your voice a bit breathy as you tried not to speak too loud.

“Come in.” You said as you two pulled apart. Jeongguk took off his shoes and for some reason it made you happy that he came in sweatpants. You felt like it would make the day more intimate. Jeongguk seemed to think the same since he pouted once his eyes had made their way up and down your body.

“You are over dressed.” He stated. You looked down at the black skinny jeans and cream coloured sweater you were wearing and blushed.

“Ah sorry, I had to do some... things before you came.” You lied and quickly turned around so he wouldn’t catch you.

“You can make yourself at home, I’ll change real quick.” You said and ran back to your bedroom.

“Fuck,” you hissed under your breath as you closed the door behind you and went to your closet. Since you didn’t really have much time to think about what you wanted to wear you just pulled out your favourite pair of fluffy pants. They were light blue and had little snowflakes  on them and they were super soft so you guessed it would be fine.

Jeongguk was already seated on the couch once you came back and looked up to you.

“That’s better.” He grinned. You rolled your eyes at him and went to the kitchen to get the cookies as well as some other snacks and drink. The way Jeongguk immediately went for the snacks made you chuckle while you turned on the TV. You two randomly watched one movie after the other, slowly scooping closer each movie until you sat sides pressed together. Jeongguk had a hand on your thigh, his finger redrawing the patterns of the snowflakes. You giggled maybe a bit too often whenever Jeongguk imitated one of the actors and spoke along the lines and Jeongguk laughed whenever you shared one of the unnecessary facts you knew about the movie. For example, how Robert Downey Jr hid snacks all over the set so he could eat while shooting the scenes and the director couldn’t stop him from doing so, so he just let him at one point. Jeongguk threw his head back when you told him that and claimed that he loved Iron man even more now.

The day passed way too quick and at around five pm you turned off the TV. Jeongguk put his arms over his head and stretched.

“Ah, I’m getting old.” He joked as his back cracked a bit.

“You are an idiot.” You giggled and Jeongguk smiled back at you.

“Hey wanna get out and grab some real food? As much as I love your cookies, they are bad for my diet.” He offered and you grinned with raised eyebrows.

“Why are you on a diet?” You asked amused.

“Hey! These muscles don’t come from nothing!” He defended himself.

“What muscles? You are wearing baggy clothes all the time, why do you need muscles?” You teased, not expecting what would happen now. Jeongguk pulled up his hoodie, revealing his abs.

“I’m not having these for the moments where I’m wearing clothes.” He grinned and you choked on your own saliva.

“What the fuck!” You screeched, throwing pillows at him. “Jeon Jeongguk, are you an exhibitionist?” The boy only laughed, put his hoodie back down and pulled you up from the couch.

“Come on, I’m hungry!” He said.

“Wait I gotta change first.” You said but he shook his head.

“I can’t change either, we’ll go like that.”

“What?” You gasped, looking at your snuggle pants. “No way in hell, I’m not going out like this. Your pants at least don’t look like pyjamas.” Jeongguk grinned.

“Come on~ don’t be a part pooper. It’s already dark anyway and we are not going to some fine restaurant. We’ll just get some take out somewhere.” You fake pouted, pretending to be offended.

“What? You are not taking me out to a fine restaurant?” Jeongguk smiled.

“Don’t get me wrong, I definitely would but I’d prefer to wear real clothes for that.” You made a grimace.

“Why don’t you go without clothes? You like to show off your oh so great muscles anyway.” You teased.

“Okay,” He said calmly and moved to pull his sweater over his head. You screeched a bit, hitting him on his arm and chest.

“Oh my god! Stop it you dumbass!” He laughed again, taking your hand and pulling you to the door.

“Come on,” He urged again “It’s gonna be fun!”

“It’s gonna be embarrassing, that’s it!” You whined but followed anyway. The two of you put back on your shoes, wrapped yourselves up in coats and scarfs before leaving. You stole Jeongguks bucket hat and pulled it deep into your face. Not like anyone would recognize you but still...

You went to a small fast food shop and got a load of greasy stuff. You couldn’t help but snort at Jeongguks order.

“What happened to your diet?” You asked and he grinned back.

“I think letting it slip this once will be fine.”

The staff giving you your food grins at you after seeing your outfits and you couldn’t help but blush..

“You two are a cute couple.” He said and you blushed even more.

“Thanks!” Jeongguk said proudly and you almost choked.

“Why didn’t you correct him?” You asked shyly, once outside. Jeongguk shrugged.

“I don’t know, it doesn’t really matter.” He said before his eyes widened.

“Or did it bother you? Oh my god do you have a boyfriend?” You couldn’t help but laugh, his expression was too funny.

“No, it didn’t bother me and I don’t have a boyfriend. I was just... curious.” You said after finishing to laugh.

“Oh, okay,” Jeongguk smiled “then this should be fine, right?” He asked, taking your hand. You blushed again.

“You smooth fucker.” You mumbled, but didn’t protest or pull away, instead your fingers intertwined as you walked back to your apartment.

It was relatively silent from then on, but in a comfortable way. The two of you walking together, both lost in their own worlds but still connected. It felt intimate in a very innocent way and you enjoyed it so much. You couldn’t help but wonder what Jeongguks deal was after all. Why was he bothering spending so much time with you? Was he actually interested in more than just friends or was he just being nice? Was he feeling pity since he found you crying in the subway? The thought made you feel uncomfortable. You didn’t like being pitied and especially not by someone you consider your friend... or even more?

You were back at your apartment sooner than expected, for you were so lost in thought the way just seemed to fly by. After eating the greasy food Jeongguk yawned and smiled softly.

“Thank you for having me for so long.” He said and you snorted a bit.

“Thank you for keeping me company.” You corrected and it was followed by a few more silent seconds in which you two just stared at each other.

“I should probably go.” Jeongguk muttered and got up. You nodded and followed him to the entrance of your flat.

“Thank you, really. I had a lot of fun today.” You said and he grinned again.

“We didn’t even do anything.” He countered but you only shrugged. Jeongguk took a step towards you, once he had his shoes on, and wrapped his arms around you. You closed your eyes and relished in the blissful moment, enjoying how save and warm you felt.

“I don’t know if this is too soon or I don’t know... inappropriate but...” He started and pulled back looking down at you, you returned his gaze curiously, amused over the blush on his cheeks.

“Since I know you don’t really have plans on Christmas I wanted to ask if you’d like to spend it with me and my friends? Don’t worry it’s only like seven people including you and me and we are not really doing much. Just eating a lot and lazing around.” He explained. You didn’t know what to say. Of course the offer was really thoughtful and you’d like to spend Christmas with Jeongguk, but you two still don’t know each other that well and meeting his friends seems... like a couple thing to do. Especially on Christmas.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to answer right away, just think about it, okay?” Jeongguk continued when you stared at him like a deer in the spotlight. You nodded.

“Great! I’ll text you tomorrow, goodnight!” And then Jeongguk was out of the door, before you had the chance to say anything else.

“...goodnight.” You whispered back, although it was way too late.

You made yourself ready for bed all the while thinking about Jeongguks proposal. You were tempted to say yes but... was it really okay? You don’t know any of them, what if they don’t like you? What if they think you are weird or intrusive for just joining on them? You’d ruin their and Jeongguks Christmas and you really don’t want that. What if it’s gonna be awkward the whole evening? It could also ruin your friendship with Jeongguk are you ready to risk that?

You decide to sleep about it for a night and text Jeongguk in the morning.

 Jeongguk

Good morning :)

Well fuck, you think as you read the two words over and over again. Even the night couldn’t help you find the right answer and now you sit in your living room trying to figure out what to do. Unfortunately you don’t have a lot of time for that figuring out, since Christmas is tomorrow and you probably can’t wait till last minute to decide.

You

Good morning

Hope you slept well

You answer simply to buy yourself some time. You did not expect for Jeongguk to answer right away.

Jeongguk

Ah well a bit like a stone with all that grease in my stomach haha

But I have no regrets

You can’t help but smile at that. Damn, you really want to go see him on Christmas but... can you?

You

Hey uhm... were you serious last night? About the Christmas thing?

Jeongguk

Of course, why? Did you think about it?

You take a deep breath. Communication is key, right?

You

Yeah I did but I’m still not sure

Are you sure it’s okay for your friends? What if they won’t like me?

Jeongguk

Of course I’m sure, I wouldn’t have offered if I weren’t

I don’t want you to feel pressured tho so if it makes you uncomfortable just say no I understand :)

“Goddamn why is he so cute?” You mumble, while typing away on your phone.

You

It’s not that... but Christmas is like... pretty serious? In a way? And idk if it’s okay for me to just... intrude...

You watch as Jeongguk starts typing, stops, starts again, stops another time and starts again. It takes like five minutes until you finally get a message. Five minutes in which you start to get really anxious for some reason.

Jeongguk

I think you misunderstood... I’m not asking you to come out of pity or politeness...

I genuinely want you to be there and meet my friends.

And don’t worry about them! I... lowkey talk about you to them... like a bit...and they said they want to meet you. Actually it was one of them who had the idea to invite you...

You stare at your phone for what felt like hours. Is this real? Suddenly a big wave of excitement hits you and you jump up from the couch.

You

Oh... that is... surpising

And lowkey really cute

Thank you.

I’d be honoured to come if you are sure it’s okay... :)

Jeongguk

GREAT!!! Okay okay it’s at my friends apartment but don’t worry I’ll pick you up at around 4 pm, that works?

You

Works fine

Should I bring anything?

Jeongguk

Nah, my friends are lame so really we’ll just have dinner and laze around. Maybe play a few games, it’s totally chill...

You bit down in your lip. For you it was not lame at all, you couldn’t wait to go. Of course you were still nervous about meeting them but you really wanted to go.

 The next day you woke up super early, since the excitement was sitting in your bones. You made a quick tour through the town but not for too long since it was really packed and then took your time getting ready. Jeongguk said you didn’t have to bring anything but that didn’t feel right so you put a few of your cookies into a box as well as other small things.

It knocked at exactly 4:04 pm and you opened the door maybe a bit too eager.

“Merry Christmas!” Jeongguk yelled as soon as he saw you, a bright smile on his face. He was dressed in normal black jeans and a cringy Christmas sweater and you wondered how it was possible that he still looked so stunning.

“Yeah,” you smiled “merry Christmas.”

“What is that?” He asked looking at your bag.

“Oh just, you know, girl stuff.” He raised his eyebrows but didn’t comment any further. Instead he pulled you in a hug again.

“Alright, let’s go.” He then said and pulled you out. It seemed like you weren’t the only one who was excited. You two took an uber to get there but the drive only took like twenty minutes anyway. The apartment building you were standing in front of was...

“Is this a joke?” You gasped “Is your friend the president or something?” Jeongguk chuckled.

“He’s actually my cousin and no he’s not the president. But he’s a pretty successful fashion designer.” The boy explained, taking your hand and pulling you inside. You blushed as the security guys stared at you two but Jeongguk didn’t seem fazed at all.

“Okay so we will be eight, by the way, the girlfriend of my cousin came too. But she’s cool, so don’t worry.” He said as you two stepped into the elevator. Suddenly the nervousness came crushing back down over you and you gulped, tightly grabbing Jeongguks hand.

“Hey, you really don’t have to worry.”  Jeongguk smiled softly and you nodded as Jeongguk lead you towards the apartment. Why does this feel like you are meeting your boyfriends parents?

“By the way,” Jeongguk said and knocked on the door. He leaned in a bit and whispered into your ear “You look really pretty tonight.”

The door opened and you were a flustered mess, wow this is just great.

“Kookoo! Merry Christmas, my dear little cousin!” A tall, handsome man exclaimed and pulled Jeongguk into a tight hug.

“Merry Christmas, Jinnie!” The younger laughed a small blush tainting his cheeks.

“And this must be your friend.” The man said turning towards you. You wondered why he emphasized the word 'friend' so much. Jeongguk blushed a little more.

“Ah yes, thats's-"

“I'm Y/N. Nice to meet you!” You introduced yourself and shook his hand.

“The pleasure is all mine! I'm Seokjin, please come in!” Seokjin said and stepped aside to let you in. The apartment was huge and beautiful and everything was decorated and smelled like food and it was all just so christmasy that you felt a little overwhelmed. You didn’t expect to have any of that this year.

When you came into the living room you found that everyone was already there. A girl tall and lithe, she wore normal blue jeans and a black sweater but she still looked like a model, with silky black hair. She happily jumped over and slung her arms around Seokjin.

“Hey, you must be Jeonggukies new friend! I’m so glad to meet you, I'm Sunmi.”

“Ah hi, nice to meet you too. Actually, nice to meet you all. I'm Y/N.” You said in the room since there were four other people sitting on the couches and armchairs. There was this couple on the couch with one really tall man who had dimples as deep as the universe and a really small one next to him who had his hands on the tallers thighs and a smug look on his face. The smaller one had black hair and heavy rings on his fingers that made them look even smaller. Then there was another couple with a guy with red hair who beamed like the sun and another who seemed to overshadow that light with his grumpy face.

“Oh my god, hi! Our Jeonggukie is finally bringing someone over and then it’s such a pretty one!” The one with the red hair yelled and jumped up from his place next to the grumpy one who jumped a little.

“I'm Hoseok but you can just call me Hobi!” He said, wearing a stupid Christmas sweater as well.

“This is my Yoongi, he might look a little grumpy right now but that’s only because he couldn’t nap this afternoon, he’ll get around.” Hoseok continued and you waved a little, unsure about what to do.

“I'm Jimin and I can’t wait to tell you all the embarrassing stories about our little Jeonggukie!” The smaller one with the black hair said.

“Jimin!” Jeongguk complained and you couldn’t suppress the giggle.

“Hi! I'm Namjoon. Merry Christmas.” The tall one said. Jimin sat down next to him again and snuggled into his side.

“Okay,” Seokjin said, clapping his hands “the dinner should be ready soon. So let’s go to the dining table.”

It was amazing how Jeongguks friends managed to include you as if you were a part of them and it filled you with a warm and fuzzy goo whenever you looked at Jeongguk and saw the sparkle and fondness in his eyes when he talked to or laughed with his friends. You could almost feel how much he adores them and they adored him. Jeongguk was the youngest and it was obvious how the others enjoyed to baby him. However that didn’t stop them from teasing him.

After the dinner you went back to the living room to exchange presents and you felt a bit nervous again since, well, for obvious reasons. At first you watched how the others gifted each other and how they fell in each others arms to thank them. They were a family and it felt so intimate that you almost felt bad for intruding. Even Yoongi, who you first thought was a bit cold-hearted, turned out to be super soft. He laughed over Jeongguks silly jokes and Hoseoks smiles and he squealed at Hoseoks present, falling into his boyfriends arms and kissing him.

You waited for everyone to calm down again and settle on the couches before you pulled out the little gift you got for Jeongguk. You didn’t want to make a big deal out of it but you felt like you needed at least something, since he really made your Christmas this year.

“Uhm,” You made nervously pulling on his arm for he was sitting next to you. He looked over and saw the present and his eyes widened.

“What...” He whispered

“It’s really just something small but-" Jeongguk grabbed your hand and pulled you off the couch. He brought you back to the entrance and for a moment you thought you did something wrong but then he searched in the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a little present as well.

“Oh my god.” You mumbled, not expecting this at all. The two of you exchanged the presents.

“It’s really not much, it’s just... You know, I was feeling really down this years Christmas and I never would have thought that it could possibly turn out like this! I’m just really grateful that I met you and that you kind of stuck around I guess and so I wanted to do something in return.” You rambled, a little ashamed but Jeongguk smiled so softly that you couldn’t stop yourself.

“Thank you,” He whispered “but you really didn’t have to. I’m glad that we met, too and that my awkward ass actually managed to talk to you without looking like a complete fool.” You felt suddenly so shy so you just looked down.

“Open it!” You urged and watched how he unwrapped the present. As soon as he had opened it he threw his head back and laughed.

“Oh my, really?” He giggled at the Iron Man hoodie.

“I’m sorry, I had to.” You smiled sheepishly.

“What do you mean? I love it!” He assured, hugging you again.

“Okay, now open yours.” He then said, pulling back. You did as said and gasped as you opened the little box.

“Jeongguk what the fuck?” You whisper yelled and took the small bracelet out.

“I don’t know, it reminded me of you.” He said gently. It was a fine, silver bracelet with a shimmering, tear shaped pearl on it.

“It’s beautiful.” You awed and took it out.

“Wasn’t that super expensive? It’s too much.” You pouted.

“Nah, it wasn’t expensive don’t worry. I want you to have it.” He said, took it out of your hand and put it around your wrist.

“Thank you so much!” You exclaimed and hugged him too, kissing his cheek. His skin was so soft and his scent lulled you in. It was a blissful evening and you wished it would last forever. Jeongguk put his head on yours and you felt him gulp.

“I really like you, Y/N.” He murmured. You froze a bit, your fists clawing in his sweater.

“You... you like me?” You asked dumbly, not sure if you heard correctly. Jeongguk chuckled, tightening his hug.

“Yeah, I do. How could you not notice?” He said rhetorically.

“I don’t know, I just...”

“Will you go on a date with me?” He blurted out and you gasped, pulling back to look him in the eye.

“Really?”

“Why would I joke about this?” He pouted, sounding a little offended and it just made him even cuter.

“Oh my god!” You screeched excitedly. “Of course, I will, you idiot!” He laughed and pulled you in again and suddenly you felt his lips on your own.

“Oh fuck! Oh shit! I’m so sorry, oh my god!” He exclaimed letting you go.

“That was totally too soon and a dickmove. It’s just I wanted to do this for a while now and, and I’m really-"  

You cut him off by pressing your lips against his again. It felt so right that you couldn’t bring yourself to stress over it now. His lips were so soft and tasted sweet from the dessert and you wondered how this Christmas, that was supposed to be so sad and lonely turned out to be the best of them all.

          - A few days later -

“Oh my god, Tae!” You screamed, running over the platform.

“Y/N!” Tae screamed back and dropped his luggage to catch you as you crushed into his chest.

“I missed you so much!” You cried, tears pooling in your eyes.

“Aigoo sweetie, don’t cry! I missed you too!” Tae said and you giggled as you looked up.

“Shut up, you big softie! You are crying yourself!” He rubbed at his eyes with a big grin on his face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Tae said. “Christmas was not the same without you! Anyway, show me that mysterious boy of yours!” A new sparkle appeared in his eyes.

“You are unbelievable!” You rolled your eyes but turned around anyway to discretely point at Jeongguk. He was standing at the staircase of the platform, waiting for them. God, he looked so good in his leather jacket and white tee, a black cap on his head.

“That one.”

“Oh my god, the one in black? With the leather jacket and thighs as big as my head?” You nodded giggling.

“What the fuck, Y/N! He looks like some idol, how did you score him? Tell me your secret!”

“I have actually no idea.” You laughed as Tae picked up his bags again and wrapped his free arm around your shoulders.

“Introduce us, I need to check if he’s a good one.” Your best friend insisted and you rolled your eyes again.

“Ggukie!” You called to catch his attention. The boy looked up immediately but frowned at Tae, once he noticed the arm wrapped around you.

“This is Taehyung, Tae this is Jeongguk.” The two stared at each other for a while.

“Marvel or DC?” Tae asked.

“Marvel.” Jeongguk answered quickly.

“Milk first or cereal first?”

“Milk.” Taes jaw dropped.

“What? Are you serious? Babe, you gotta dumb him, there’s no way he’s a human.” Tae said shaking his head. You poked him in the side with your elbow.

“Oh my god, shut up and leave him alone! Let’s go and eat something instead.” You said, leading them out.

“Fried chicken!” They both yelled at the same time and you giggled. Oh yeah, they’d get along just fine.