#<- this is a tag for whenever i get rambly which. applies here i think

[shokupanda]

gonna start posting shitty doodles as updates so i wont just go back to dying again. anywho this means an actual drawing will be on like. monday or tuesday or after. if you see me post before that then itll probably mean i actively didnt do something i was supposed to. whoops

[steveseddie]

with a cold breeze

rating: t | cw: none apply | word count: 4,281

tags: eddie munson lives, didn't know they were dating, getting together, first kiss, fluff and hurt/comfort

for the @steddielovemonth prompt: “love is giving him your sweater even if it makes you cold” by @stevesbipanic

a/n: this is my first time writing a prompt for this event and it was so much fun! also this ended up longer than i thought but. enjoy 🩷

click here to read on ao3

***

In Eddie’s defense, he shouldn’t have been expected to bring a jacket. Not when Steve didn’t tell him where they were going or when he sent Eddie spiraling into a pit of pining by showing up at his doorstep with a white shirt tucked into a pair of tight blue jeans and a black jacket thrown on top, looking like he stepped out of Eddie’s dreams.

Now that he thinks about it, Steve might’ve told him to grab a jacket, but Eddie was too busy picking his jaw off the floor to listen to him.

When he stepped out of the trailer and followed Steve to his car, Eddie felt a light chill in the air, but since he assumed Steve was taking them to the movies or for dinner at that diner he likes, he figured the flannel he was wearing over his Metallica singlet would be enough to withstand it. 

Eddie doesn’t know exactly when this became a thing they did- Steve picking him up and taking him to dinner or a movie or ice cream or roller skating. 

(That last one was Eddie’s least favorite one because he spent half the time they were there falling on his ass. Or maybe it wasn’t, because the other half was spent holding on to Steve’s hand as he guided Eddie around the rink and helped him keep his balance.)

Eddie still can’t help but feel surprised whenever Steve turns up at his door, even if it happens multiple times a week these days. He knows this is what friends do, but maybe it’s still just a little hard to believe that he’s friends with Steve Harrington. 

(“You make it sound like I’m some kind of celebrity, man,” Steve said the first time Eddie voiced his shock about him wanting to spend time with Eddie. 

“Dude, you are the king of Hawkins! You are a celebrity!” Eddie said, dramatically shaking Steve’s shoulders which earned him a mighty eye roll and a playful shove. “And celebrities don’t want to spend time with freaks like me.”

Steve’s face softened at that, he bumped Eddie’s shoulder with his. “Well, this one does.”)

Eddie knows Steve is being genuine every time he says he wants to hang out, but a part of him always expects Steve to get tired of him and ditch Eddie, and start taking a nice pretty girl on these outings instead. 

(“Dates, they’re dates,” Max deadpanned after hearing Eddie ramble about Steve for roughly ten minutes straight. She’d clocked Eddie’s feelings for Steve right away when he came back from the roller rink with his backside bruised, but still with a dopey smile on his face to Max waiting for him at the steps of his trailer. “Steve Harrington is taking you out on dates!” 

“He’s not, they’re not dates,” Eddie said with a firm shake of his head. 

“Dude, Lucas literally took me to the roller rink last week.” 

“Aw, cute. Did he hold your hand?” 

“I held his, I skate, remember? And for a jock, he’s got terrible balance,” she says, lips twitching into a little smile. “Not as bad as yours though.” 

“Hey!”)

Even if Max insists on calling them dates, Eddie won’t. He can’t. He knows Steve doesn’t see them that way so he can’t do it either, not if he wants to protect his heart. 

So he ignores that Steve opens the door to his car for him like he would if this was a real date and he ignores that he lets Eddie pick the music or that he keeps a few of Eddie’s tapes in his car for him to choose from, even if they’re not at all what he likes, and he ignores the way he keeps glancing at Eddie at stop signs or red lights with a sweet little smile that makes his stomach swoop like when he went through the gate to the Upside Down did, only better. 

Or he tries to ignore it, at least.

“Soooo where are we going?” Eddie asks, contorting himself so he can sit cross-legged in Steve’s passenger seat after picking the music for the ride. 

Steve bops his head to the beginning of a Dio song and Eddie can’t help but feel proud. 

“It’s a surprise,” he says. 

Eddie groans. “Is this surprise also going to end up with me not being able to sit properly for a week?” He only realizes how that sounds when Steve’s head snaps to him, eyebrows high on his forehead. God. “You know cause I kept falling on my ass at the roller rink, not because- uh.” 

He doesn’t know how to finish the sentence, but luckily Steve spares him. With a soft laugh, he says, “Don’t worry, you won’t have trouble sitting after tonight.” Then Steve smirks, the little shit. “From falling on your ass- or some other reason.” 

Eddie flushes bright red.

He lowers the window and shivers when the cold air hits his face, but the wind helps cool down his flushed cheeks so he leaves it open. He notices that instead of driving them downtown, Steve is driving them further out. 

“I’m not gonna have trouble sitting ‘cause you’re luring me into the woods to murder me? Is that it?”

“And why would I want to murder you?” Steve asks, pinching the bridge of his nose like entertaining Eddie’s nonsense causes him physical pain. 

The wind blows Eddie’s hair away from his face. “Maybe you’re jealous of my luscious hair.” He hopes the wind makes him look like one of those cover shoots on the magazines that he sees at the store, but realistically, he knows he probably looks like a dog sticking his head out the window. “My naturally beautiful hair that doesn’t need any Farrah Fawcett spray.” 

Steve narrows his eyes at Eddie. “That little shit told you!” 

Eddie grins. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do. Dustin told you, didn’t he?” 

“I won’t reveal my sources,” he says, pretending to zip up his lips. 

“You don’t have to, you dork. Dustin is the only one I told.” He pauses, thinking. “Maybe I am committing murder tonight.”

“Mine?”

“Henderson’s. And then yours so the secret dies with you.” He glances at Eddie with a smile. “And maybe because I am a little jealous of your beautiful hair.” His voice is a little too soft to sound like a joke.

Eddie gives him a shy smile and then flicks his hair over his shoulder with a dramatic flare. Steve laughs, head thrown back, as they drive past the Leaving Hawkins sign. 

***

Steve drives them to the top of a hill just outside of Hawkins. 

Eddie’s first thought when Steve parks his car next to a little forest is that maybe he’s actually planning to murder him tonight. 

His second thought comes when Steve opens Eddie’s door and a gust of wind hits Eddie, making him realize that no, his flannel won’t be enough. He’s going to freeze his ass off so even if Steve doesn’t murder him, Eddie will die anyway. 

His third thought comes when Steve takes hold of his wrist and drags him out of the car and towards a cliff overlooking most of Hawkins.

Eddie voices that thought with an appreciative whistle.

“Holy shit, that’s a killer view.”

“Right?” Steve asks with a grin. His fingers are still wrapped around Eddie’s wrist and he can feel the way he’s bouncing excitedly from one foot to the other. 

“Yeah, wow. You wouldn’t think that Hawkins is a shit town from up here,” Eddie says, taking in not only the night lights, but the stars above them too, shining brighter than Eddie has ever seen them.

“Yeah, it almost looks normal, no monsters or alternate dimensions.”

“No hordes of angry town people who want to burn you at the stake.” 

Steve gives Eddie’s wrist a comforting squeeze. He glances at the ground. “No shitty parents calling you a disappointment and an embarrassment,” he says, voice barely above a whisper. 

Eddie frowns. He shakes his hand until Steve loosens his hold, but before he can retreat it into his pocket because he thinks Eddie is trying to get him to let go, he tangles his fingers loosely with Steve’s. “They came back tonight?” 

Steve stares down at their hands, his thumb rubs over one of Eddie’s rings. “Yeah, and they managed to pick a fight within five minutes of walking through the door. Must be some kind of record.”

Eddie squeezes his hand. “I’m sorry, Steve.” 

With a sigh, Steve finally looks up. “It’s not your fault, and besides-” He smiles at Eddie. “I didn’t bring you here to talk about them.” 

Eddie narrows his eyes at him. “What did you bring me here for?” 

Steve’s smile turns into a grin, he drops Eddie’s hand and starts walking backward toward the car. “Wait here.” 

“You better not be abandoning me to die here!” 

He gets no reply. Eddie squints at him as he rummages through the trunk of his car but it’s a little hard to see clearly in the dark. He wraps his arms around himself while he waits, feeling colder by the second, and resists the urge to ask Steve if he has an extra jacket lying around. It’ll send him into Mother Hen mode and he’ll start fussing about Eddie catching something and probably scold him for not bringing his own jacket. 

So he acts as nonchalant as possible about the cold when Steve comes back, hiding something behind his back that Eddie can’t see. 

“I didn’t bring you here to murder you or abandon you. I brought you here to have a picnic with me.” As he says this, he shows Eddie what he was holding behind his back- a checkered blanket and a goddamn picnic basket. 

Eddie blinks dumbly at the two items and then at Steve, mouth gaping like a fish. “A picnic?” 

Steve nods a little shyly. “Um yeah, is that okay?” 

Eddie lets out a disbelieving laugh. A fucking picnic under the stars- oh, Max is going to have a field trip teasing Eddie about this one!

He realizes that Steve might be taking his reaction the wrong way when he starts to fidget so Eddie wipes the surprise from his face and grins at Steve. “Depends on what you packed in there, big boy.” 

A high-pitched laughter tumbles out of Steve’s lips and even with just the moonlight he can see his cheeks tint pink. “Well, do you like grilled cheese?”

***

Eddie makes grabby hands at the basket. Once Steve spreads the blanket on the ground, he flops down and starts digging through the contents.

There’s grilled cheese wrapped in tin foil paper, two bags of chips, two sodas, and a big serving of pie. Eddie’s mouth waters. 

“So,” Steve asks, wrapping his arms around his knees. “What do you think?” 

“I think,” Eddie pauses, thinking. “That I don’t care if you murder me as long as you let me eat this first.” 

“You’re so annoying,” Steve snorts, rolling his eyes.

“If I’m so annoying,” Eddie says, neatly arranging the food between them on the blanket, or as best as he can on the uneven ground. “Then why did you go through all this trouble for little ol’ me?”

Steve bites the inside of his cheek. He looks like he wants to say something, but then changes his mind, only to part his lips again. The look in his eyes betrays nothing, no matter how much Eddie tries to read it. Despite the cold, Eddie’s hands start to sweat a little. 

But then Steve shakes his head and looks down, picking up his grilled cheese. When he looks back at Eddie again, his eyes are soft, crinkling at the corners, but whatever he saw in them before is now gone. “Let’s eat before it gets cold, okay?”

After the first bite, Eddie discovers that Steve must be some kind of grilled cheese genius. When he tells Steve this, he waves it off with a shy smile, but he seems pleased. 

They talk in between bites of food, or in Eddie’s case, through mouthfuls of melted cheese. The whole time, Eddie tries to ignore the chill in the air, but every gust of wind reminds him he’s only wearing a singlet under a very thin flannel and neither does much to protect him from the cold. Still, he does his best to hide his shivering from Steve, but it’s a little hard to do when Steve won’t take his eyes off of him for some reason.

Right now, he’s staring almost unblinkingly at Eddie with his legs crossed at the ankles and his arms wrapped around his knees, a soft smile painted on his lips as Eddie tells him how excited he and the kids are about the next Hellfire meeting. 

“You’re always excited about your nerdy game,” Steve smirks. 

“Fair, but this time it’s different because the kids finally convinced Max to play!” 

Steve’s eyebrows shoot up his forehead. “How did they manage that?”

“Well, they didn’t convince her so much as they tricked her into it.” 

“Yeah, that makes more sense.” 

“But! It doesn’t matter cause she’s going to love it so much she’ll beg to join again! I’ve been working on her character sheet to make it perfect for her and I got her this cool set of dice- red dice, of course, cause her character will be called Ruby. Ruby the Rebel.”

Steve’s smile turns impossibly softer at Eddie’s excited rambling. “That sounds just as cool as her. What kind of- uh like, what’s her-”

“Class?” Eddie asks, stomach swooping a little at Steve trying to remember things about their nerdy game so he can ask Eddie. Steve nods. “Oh, she’s a-” He cuts himself off when a cool breeze stirs beneath his flannel and he shivers with a curse. “Jesus H. Christ!” 

Steve startles and his head whips in different directions, looking out for danger. “What?” 

“Sorry, nothing! It’s just really cold! Sorry!” 

Steve relaxes, then frowns. Narrowed eyes travel over Eddie’s body. “Wait, where’s your jacket?” 

“Uh.”

“Did you leave it in the car?” 

“More like, left it at home?” Steve’s face turns pinched. “You didn’t tell me where we were going, I didn’t know I would need a jacket!” 

“Yes, you did, I told you to bring one!” Steve says, exasperated. 

Oh. So Steve did tell him to bring a jacket. Huh. 

“Here,” Steve says and then starts shrugging off his jacket. 

“What are you doing?” 

“I’m giving you my jacket, obviously.” He removes it completely and Eddie gives himself a second to commit to memory just how tight Steve’s white shirt is. It’s also thin. Eddie shakes his head. 

“But you’ll be cold.” 

“I won’t.” He shrugs. “I run hot.”

“You’re hot,” Eddie says and realizes too late that his brain-to-mouth filter must’ve been damaged by the cold. “I mean you look hot, like you don’t look cold.”

Steve bites down on a grin. “Take the jacket before you catch something, Eds.” 

“O-kay, mom Steve.” He accepts the jacket, and when he puts it on, he can’t help but sigh happily. It’s warm from Steve’s body heat. It also smells just like him. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Steve smiles. “Now, what were you saying?” He asks and it takes Eddie a minute to remember what they were talking about, distracted as he is by Steve’s warmth and smell surrounding him.

***

“Do you ever think about leaving Hawkins?” 

Eddie jerks his head back, out of the basket where he was looking for the forks that Steve packed for the pie. “Uh, like, every day of my life, man.” 

“Because of Vecna?”

“No, long before that.” Eddie finds the fork. Singular. “You only packed one, Stevie, but I can just use my fingers.” He wiggles them and Steve shakes his head. 

“We can share,” he says. Alarms go off in Eddie’s head at the thought of passing the fork back and forth between them, sharing the slice of pie. He hasn’t been to that many dates in his life, but sharing dessert sounds a lot like a date thing.

“Sure,” he says, shrugging casually. Steve takes the first bite and hands it to Eddie. “Anyway, yeah. I always knew I wanted to leave. Knowing that there’s an alternate dimension at our feet that could pop up the next monster at any second only made the urge stronger, but. Gotta graduate first.”

“Where will you go? When you graduate?” 

“I don’t know. Some big city with a cool music scene, maybe. I can join a band that’s actually going somewhere.” He snorts. “No offense to Corroded Coffin.” 

Steve chuckles. “I’ve always thought you belong in some big city.”

“Yeah?” Eddie asks with an arched eyebrow.

“Yeah, dude, you’ve always seemed- I don’t know, too big for Hawkins,” he says with an awed tone. Eddie’s throat feels dry, he skips the next bite of pie, giving it back to Steve. “Like you should be somewhere with people as loud and talented and great as you.”

Eddie swallows thickly. His eyes haven’t left Steve’s face, but Steve isn’t looking at him, instead he’s staring ahead at Hawkins or maybe like he’s trying to see even further than that. Eddie’s glad he’s not looking at him, he doesn’t even know what his face is doing right now, listening to Steve talk about him like that, there’s probably hearts in his eyes or something.

“I- I’ve always wanted to go to New York,” Eddie says to break the silence. Steve hums like he thinks it’s a good idea. “What about you, Steve? Do you think about leaving?”

“Sometimes. I- I’ve actually been saving up money to go to college. Nothing prestigious like Nance or Robin, just community college maybe.”

“That’s great, Steve,” Eddie says.

“But I don’t think I can leave until I know it’s over, you know? The Upside Down, especially if the kids are still going to be here.”

“Yeah, I’ve thought about that. Kinda makes you want to steal another RV, pack them all up and leave Hawkins for good.”

Steve meets his eyes finally. He smiles. “Yeah, exactly.”

“I think we could do it,” Eddie says, entertaining the thought for a moment. 

“You don’t think we’d end up in jail? For grand theft auto and kidnapping children?”

“Shh, let a guy dream, Harrington.”

“Okay, okay,” Steve says, holding up his hands in defense. “You know I haven’t told anyone about saving up for college. Just you.”

“Not even Buckley?”

Steve shakes his head. “I already failed once trying to get in. I don’t want anyone to know that I’ve failed again. I don’t want to disappoint anyone.”

Eddie thinks about what Steve said when they got here, about the fight with his parents, about them calling Steve a disappointment. “You could never disappoint me. Or Buckley or the kids. We all worship the ground you walk on, King Steve.”

“Shut up,” Steve says with a lighthearted shove to Eddie’s shoulder. “You don’t.”

“We do! Because we know just how good and badass you are, and whoever can’t see that is a butthead.”

“Are you calling my parents buttheads?” Steve asks with a barely concealed snort. 

“That’s exactly what I’m doing!” He puts his hands around his mouth and yells. “The Harringtons are buttheads!”

Steve breaks into giggles, falling back against the blanket, squirming with laughter. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Yeah, but you love it,” Eddie says without thinking, and watches as something flashes across Steve’s face.

Before he can backtrack or brush it off as a joke, Steve sits up again, his jaw set with determination. 

“The fight with my parents was because of you,” he says. And okay, that’s not what Eddie was expecting. 

“Me?”

“They came home just as I was packing this up.” He gestures at the picnic basket. “I didn’t hear them come in until they came into the kitchen. They thought I was doing all of this for a girl so they started going off about me wasting my life and everything that they worked so hard to give me just to go on dates and work at a goddamn video store. They told me that it didn’t matter how much I tried, this girl was going to realize I was a failure and leave me. I don’t know what made me more angry- what they were saying about me or that they were talking about you like they knew you.” Steve pauses and takes a deep breath. “So I snapped and I told them I wasn’t packing all of that for a girl, that I was doing it for you. A guy. And that you would never leave me because I work at a video store or because our dates consist of grilled cheese sandwiches and roller skating and babysitting kids. And I guess that was a little presumptuous of me since we never really agreed that these were dates and I don’t even know if you-”

“Yes,” Eddie says when he finally finds his voice. He lost it somewhere around Steve calling this, and all the things they’ve been doing together for weeks, dates.

Steve blinks, his lips press together like he’s trying to stop himself from smiling, from getting ahead of himself. “You don’t know what I was going to say.”

Eddie rolls his eyes. “What were you going to say?”

“That I don’t even know if you feel the same way I feel for you.”

“Yes.” Eddie repeats. “Holy fuck, Steve, yes I do.”

Steve stops trying to hide his smile. He beams at Eddie. “Yeah? You’re crazy about me too?”

Eddie whines low in his throat. “Steve.”

Steve pushes himself to his knees and then he closes the distance between them by crawling towards Eddie. “Are you?”

“Yes.”

“You can’t stop thinking about me and you want to listen to me talk all day about nerdy shit too?” Steve asks, crowding against Eddie until he has no choice but to lean back until he’s lying down on the blanket and Steve is hovering over him. 

“Sports shit but yeah, yes.”

Steve leans down until his lips are right next to Eddie’s ear. “You want to kiss me too?” Eddie shivers, and this time, it’s not because of the cold. He’s never felt warmer in his entire life. 

“Yes,” he says. “Please, Steve.”

Steve closes the distance between them and crashes his lips against Eddie’s, kissing him hard and desperately, drawing a whimper out of him. Eddie kisses back with just as much enthusiasm, his hands coming up to grip Steve’s waist, his shoulders, his arms. 

His freezing arms. 

“Christ, Steve!”

“What? What?” Steve asks, pulling back just enough so that Eddie can see his face- flushed with parted, swollen lips and blown pupils. 

And oh. Yeah. Eddie needs to see Steve looking like this again soon. Preferably when he’s not freezing to death. 

“You’re freezing, man. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I was a little busy,” Steve smirks. 

Eddie shakes his head. “I’m giving you your jacket back,” he says, squirming as he tries to shrug off the jacket with Steve still on top of him. 

“No, Eds-” 

“Then we’re going to the car.”

“But I can’t kiss you like this in the car,” Steve pouts and the sight of a pouty Steve because he wants to straddle Eddie and kiss him stupid shouldn’t make him consider staying out here in the cold, but it does. Just for a moment. 

“You can, if we climb in the backseat, baby,” Eddie says with a sly grin. 

Steve’s eyes widen, his eyes flick to the car and then to Eddie’s lips and Eddie sees the moment he makes a decision. “Yeah, okay. Maybe I am a little cold. Let’s go.”

They pick up the trash and the blanket in record time, even while stealing short, giggly kisses. 

“I can’t believe we’ve been on so many dates and you haven’t even asked me out once!” Eddie says, balling up the tin foil paper and throwing it at Steve’s face. He throws his head back with a groan. “I can’t believe Max was right!” 

Steve raises an eyebrow. “You talk to Max about me? Your fifteen-year-old neighbor?” 

Eddie arches an eyebrow right back. “Oh, so you don’t talk to Dustin, your fifteen-year-old best friend about me?” 

“Of course I do,” Steve sniggers. “He’s the one who told me you can’t roller skate to save your life.”

“Then why did you take me to the roller rink?” Eddie asks with an undignified squeak, feeling the phantom pain of his many falls.

“So I could do this-” Steve takes hold of Eddie’s hands, tangling their fingers together, “-all night.” 

Eddie flushes, looking down at their hands with a smile. “That was a good plan, I’ll give you that.” 

He rubs his thumb over Eddie’s knuckles. “I have more where that came from.” 

The touch makes Eddie’s insides flutter, he pulls a strand of hair across his face with his free hand, but Steve can probably still see his red cheeks. “Yeah?” 

“Mhm,” Steve hums. He crowds against Eddie until his back hits the car, pinning him against it. “And I can show you. If you agree to go on a date with me.” Steve’s free hand plays with the lapel of his jacket on Eddie. “Officially, I mean.” 

Eddie grins. “I thought you’d never ask,” he says, pressing a quick kiss to the corner of Steve’s mouth. 

Then he’s dragging him into the backseat, and for the rest of the night, neither of them feels cold again.

[unrestrained-balderdash-art-blog]

Going on a Riddler fanart break

I'm having a break from posting Riddler fanart to Tumblr. The backlog will still be posted on Cara and Instagram (both @ tbalderdash), and if the break is long enough for it to catch up I will post things made during the break on there before Tumblr. I will still be posting bird art here. I will still post fanart for other fandoms here if I make any (I am currently undecided about non-Riddler DC). The break will be for at least a month. I will probably come back when the OCD medication has kicked in for a bit. Thank you for all of the support on the last post. I don't want to take a break, but I have to for my mental health.

"Organised" ramble about reasoning (this is heavily influenced by neurodivergence/mental illness and I am not trying to sound like an entitled/ungrateful twat. I don't want to guilt trip anyone, please don't feel guilty):

The Timezone Curse: Tumblr has a reverse-chronological dashboard. I am British. I live earlier than the majority of the userbase. I have no idea what time to post things so they don't get buried. Recently I've tried to stop waiting for the exact right minute to post things, as it doesn't stop them from flopping.

Likes vs Reblogs, (and OCD?): I will preface this and say: a lot of this is my brain's fault. Since Likes don't do anything to spread things, my brain gets upset when things keep getting Liked without Reblogged. Unless it is from a bird fan on the fanart, better artist, or irl friend, Likes mean nothing to me. I know this is silly and irrational, but I can't help it and this is the main reason why my brain is suffering posting fanart. I hope medication will fix my feelings. Additionally, OCD brain keeps trying to find a reason: Am I dislikable? Is my art bad? Does it have no appeal? Is it aphobia? Did I do something cancellable without knowing and now everyone hates me? I (think I) know the answer is people just don't use this website that way, but my brain is never sure. This is why I don't have the problem on the other websites, every like helps the algorithm and actually means something in my brain

The combination of the Timezone Curse and lack of reblogs means my art often gets barely any reach (or reach my brain deems meaningful). I desperately want to feel like part of the Riddler fandom community. Unfortunately, due to Tumblr making me suffer (overwhelmed by compulsive need to scroll entire dash, repulsed aroace, and simple posts being able to make me ruminate unpleasantly for a long time) I find it very hard to follow new blogs or connect with people on this site. I love birds, but I need Riddler interaction. I can't look at much fandom on other sites, as they have barely any/no tag filtering, which means I will suffer if I look for him.

Why it's just fanart and not birds affected by this: I started off as a fanartist with no expectation to get big with birds, so I had a que sera sera attitude and I post them whenever they're ready, I didn't expect to get big. I am more fulfilled when it comes to the bird interest (more community interaction + every day can have different birds out there + people in my real life are interested in birds). Additionally, the bird art spreads a lot more (due to bird blogs reblogging). Bird art is my "job" art (it is where I plan to make money from) whereas Riddler is where my passion lies the most (I still love the birds but I have many other ways of interacting with them without needing art). This means I get more emotionally invested in the Riddler art than the bird art

Is art becoming a compulsion? This applies to the birds as well, but since they're "job art" it doesn't matter too much. I keep being worried about not posting enough Riddler art, and feelings of social media sometimes overshadow the joy of creating - I keep thinking about posting, rather than doing. I get too anxious to make art that is "unpostable" (eg: self-insert and him hugging), especially due to the fact I'm trying to get more professional. I feel like there's more I want to expand on this but it's been too long and I'm tired. This break might help me do more high-quality art instead of having to churn it out out of fear of everyone forgetting me.

Sorry for all the text. I don't know if I've explained everything very well but it's been an hour and usually if I post something after 8 it fails, which I don't usually want to worry about but it's a bit important for an announcement like this

[ancientbygone]

intro post

Copper, 19 years old, it/its pronouns (he/him acceptable; no they/them). made this side blog as a contained space for my own Sleep Token art and ramblings and such first and foremost, as well as others' Sleep Token posts i like.

if you want to support me, consider donating or purchasing from the store: https://ko-fi.com/copper_sands prints are available at https://ko-fi.com/s/622c53b51c

DNI:

the basics (racist/queerphobic/etc), including zionists

unmasking the band members

if you romanticize/glorify incest, zoophilia, sexual depictions of children, etc. (fictional or not, either way it's block on sight)

if you use, support, or in any way condone any use of generative AI (images, music, text, anything at all)

strictly/mostly NSFW blogs (if it's just occasional NSFW content that's chill)

taglist & more info under the cut:

notes:

DO NOT REPOST MY ART. if you wanna use it for non-commercial means, ask for permission & if allowed, credit me when used. if you wanna use it for commercial means, fuck right off.

my native language isn't english. if i fuck it up i fuck it up.

i do not ship the band members themselves or their stage personas and i find it uncomfortable in general (for myself). i know i listed RPF in my dni but i feel the need to elaborate that for the sake of personal taste, it applies to their stage presence, too.

adding onto the previous point, whenever i talk about the vessels in terms of lore/adjacent, i am talking about them as characters. always. this blog is not for speculating on their private lives, and if you do so, you will be blocked.

i'd prefer not to discuss any of the sexual connotations in the lyrics for my own comfort. i know they exist, i just prefer not to think about them for my own interpretations.

i would appreciate people not leaving NSFW comments on my art, especially the more emotionally heavy stuff, thank you very much! if you really Have to say something, please do it in a separate post or just in a place where i'm unlikely to see it.

even if i might tag my writing as "theories", they aren't necessarily intended as such. if anything, i'm telling a story of my own based on the lyrics. if you try to claim there is one correct interpretation and it's yours, you're getting blocked.

adding onto the previous point (x2), a lot of the time i interpret the lyrics in tandem with my personal life experiences. it will absolutely get a little too real here. if the subject matter is too heavy, it will be tagged with #[subject] and #[subject] tw.

let me know if you want/need me to tag anything specific! either in an ask or in my DMs. don't hesitate to reach out about that :]

in addition to everything, i will be posting about my Sleep Token D&D AU, which is as simple as it sounds and also not at all. it's also very removed from my "main canon" or most of the band IRL, so it's really just me (& @mapleborealis !) fucking around. also, unlike the "main canon", they are a polycule and all kiss with tongue /hj

blog tags (WIP):

organization:

#bygone art - my own art

#bygone talks - my ramblings & the more disconnected bits of writing/theorizing

#bygone writes - the more coherent writing/theorizing

#bygone lore - everything related to my version of the lore of Sleep Token, be it art, writing, or anything else

#bygone silly - my memes

#bygone shows - any post of mine related to a personal Sleep Token ritual experience (pics, rambling, etc)

#bygone footage - images/videos/etc of the band, mine or not (credited as much as possible)

#bygone beloved - posts i particularly like and want to archive, mine or otherwise

#bygone off topic - things vaguely related to sleep token or not related at all

#others' [___] - a post of any variety listed above, just made by someone else

d&d au:

#sleep token dnd and #dnd au - general au tags

#dnd au vessel/ii/iii/iv/etc. - character-specific d&d au posts

little clarifying moments:

#espera - tag for vesselettes (hopefully no maskless posts; won't call them vesselettes either)

#sleep token him - separate tag for whatever Vessel and Sleep were pre-Sundowning. you can glimpse more on that in my posts about it.

#sparrowverse (thank you @fivewholeminutes for the name) - everything related to the lore of a timeline alternate to my main lore in which each vessel of Sleep has to kill the one before them to assume their place. outlined in my fanfic "kill the sparrow". there isn't much to it right now but there might be more trust

[causenessus]

OMG NEVER FEEL SORRY ABOUT NOT RESPONDING RIGHT AWAY!!! I totally get it, some days are just like that!!!! I’m literally just here to yap at you so respond whenever you feel like! Don’t feel obligated to respond at all because you don’t owe me anything!!! <3333

Slowly but surely I’m making my way through the depression room lol. My mom wants to turn my room into a guest bedroom and the basement into my new room so it needs to be cleaned by the end of the year. So hopefully more surely than slowly lol- OMG GOOD JOB!!!! I LOVE THE FEELING OF ACCOMPLISHMENT FROM FINISHING SOMETHING WELL!!!!

NESS YOU CAN’T JUST TELL PPL YOU’RE PROUD OF THEM- I WILL START CRYING 😭😭😭😭😭😭🫶🏻

Worry not! I am not stressing about senior year!!! I’ve already decided where I’m going to college just waiting for the applications to allow me to apply for fall of 2025 (I’m going on vacation summer 2025 and thus will not be able to start- it is a cruise in case you’re curious 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ my graduation present if you will) BAHAHA!!! Definitely what happened! I smash so many holes in walls/j

(HOW DID YOU KNOW I HAD A COOKIE HEAD??? WHO TOLD YOU???/lh)

Good news! We did not take senior photos! And yes my hair appointment went very well 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ I now have purple and pink hair (split into like four sections and it’s like alternating so pink in front and purple in back on one side and the opposite on the other side) THE ORANGEY PINK WAS NOT PRETTY. DO NOT LET IT FOOL YOU. It was like bad blonde orange and like salmon pink- not good it looked really bad and washed me out bcs cookie anon has a complexion that rivals Casper the ghost.

AHFJWJCJSJ I WILL SEND SO MANY ASKS. YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’VE STARTED. I LOVE YAPPING AND APPRECIATE THAT YOU YAP JUST AS MUCH IN YOUR REPLY!!!! <3333

I too think about Suna a lot, just a weekly basis (love notes Suna gets like three-four times a week. Regular/Timeskip Suna only gets like twice a week if he’s lucky. The rest of the time is spent thinking about that one Osamu manga panel 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨)

I can see it now; Atsumu did something (took the Mac n cheese from Y/N’s apartment for his own selfish Mac n cheese midnight snacks) and Y/N of course goes to complain to Suna who laughs at her and then tells Osamu- In which case, Bakery Anon will become evil 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ anything for Osamu (+ Love Notes! Y/N…Suna is there but Y/N <3) so we put chiles in the icing of cupcakes and give them to Atsumu. Tada! Self Shipping During the week hours-

Okay! I think I found the fic so RAMBLE TIME.

NAH Y/N IS SO REAL FOR THE “I mean he wasn’t hot before” BUT THEN HE GETS COVERED IN BLOOD AND PATHETIC. REAL REAL REAL. AND THEN SUNA SENDING THE PHOTO. I’M NOT ENTIRELY CONVINCED HE DIDN’T PURPOSEFULLY TRY TO RECEIVE WITH HIS FACE TO SEND THE PHOTO TO HER.

ALL OF YOUR TAGS ARE SO REAL. I ALSO HAVE VERG NON PG THINGS TO SAY ABOUT HIM. JWJFJWJDJSJ

Okay back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I read your little about me and I agree. Oikawa is also very important to me. I could write an essay on him and why he’s such a Human character. and why he’s perfect to be like a 1-1 with Kageyama but also be his own thing separately- this is not a ramble about him though so 🧍🏻‍♀️

OKAY YAPPING DONE. CLOCKING OUT.

For the people who made it this far and see this: YOU GUYS ARE WORTHY OF LOVE. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise, you deserve to be loved and not be a secret. You deserve food, your body needs it to function. You deserve water, it’s very important. It helps with headaches, make sure to get sleep. I know it’s difficult (I have insomnia so I get it) but routines help even if just a little bit. Remember to rest and that you deserve a little break. And if no one else tells you today. I LOVE YOU <3

For Ness: I LOVE YOU <333 YOUR WRITING MAKES ME FERAL. (If you can’t tell). I can’t wait to continue yapping with you, yap sessions >>>> you ALSO deserve a break. If you don’t feel like writing then we’ll be here after your break. Remember to have fun and take care of yourself. Drink water and eat food! I know it’s easy to forget but as long as you eat some sustenance! Good job!!!!

-sincerely bakery anon 🍪

BAKERY ANON THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PATIENCE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH :(( AND PLEASE COME IN HERE AND YAP WHENEVER!! like even if i haven't answered a previous ask DON'T BE AFRAID TO SEND ANOTHER ONE!! I WILL GET TO THEM ALL EVENTUALLY I LOVE READING YOUR ASKS AND WHATEVER YOU TALK ABOUT!! I LOVE IT ALL <3

AND AA!!! GOOD JOB TO YOU TOO!! i would come there and help you clean out your room if i could </33 I AM THERE WITH YOU IN SPIRIT!!! AND I HOPE IF YOU MOVE INTO THE BASEMENT IT'S NICER!! i feel like basements are always kind of nice bc they have more room and privacy?? but that's just me!!

AND I'M GLAD YOU'RE NOT STRESSING ABOUT SENIOR YEAR!! have as much fun as possible <3 like i had friends who went crazy and were taking ap bio and ap chem and ap calc BUT I WAS LIVING MY BEST LIFE WITH THE BARE MINIMUM REQUIRED CLASSES AND CONCURRENT ENROLLMENT CLASSES!! i'm glad you've already got where you plan to go and everything planned out!! good luck with your applications <3 AND HAVE SO MUCH FUN ON YOUR CRUISE AAAA THAT SOUNDS AWESOME!! (personally i'm terrified of the water BUT I HOPE YOU HAVE FUN!! THAT'S SUCH A COOL GRADUATION GIFT AND YOU TOTALLY DESERVE IT <3 PLEASE DO CHECK IN LIKE NEXT MAY OR WHENVER ABOUT YOUR CRUISE/AFTER YOU GO ON IT AND HOW IT IS!! [and ofc pls check in again before that as well <3 i love hearing from you <3])

AND I'M GLAD YOU WERE ABLE TO?? MOVE YOUR SENIOR PHOTOS OR THEY AT LEAST DID NOT HAPPEN BEFORE YOU GOT YOUR HAIR REDONE!! and OMG THE PURPLE PINK SOUNDS SO COOL!! i just saw someone on instagram today who like half their bangs were bleached sort of platinum-gray-white and the top of her hair was the same color but then the sort of undercut/layers were her natural dark hair color AND IT LOOKED SO COOL!!! (but i don't think my asian hair would let me do that color unfortunately </333) AND DW ABOUT THE ORANGE PINK COLORS 😭 i remember my sister tried to dye some of her hair purple but (once again blaming it on asian hair) it literally just died and turned some type of medusa/ursala green-grayish color it was so bad 😭😭 BUT AA THE RED AND PURPLE NOW SOUNDS SO GOOD!!

REGULAR/TIMESKIP SUNA ONLY GETS TWICE A WEEK IF HE'S LUCKY 😭😭😭😭 LMAOO THAT MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD AND OMG i think i was driving yesterday and i thought about that one really cute osamu timeskip panel where he puts on the jersey and like looks back at the camera to match atsumu on a tv screen also wearing a jersey <33 LIKE OMG HE'S SO CUTE (i shouldn't think about that while driving tho like...i was definitely distracted ahem...ANYWAY)

YES OMG BAKERY ANON JOIN THE SELF SHIPPING HOURS!! you and love notes osamu and me and love notes suna <33 it's perfect!! it's so so cute <33 imagine u and osamu like coming up to atsumu being like "tsumu!! we made u mac n cheese because we know how much u love it <3" (you guys made it with orange juice 💀) AND SUNA AND YN ARE BOTH RECORDING FROM BEHIND A WALL </3 ik u guys just set up the most foul pranks ever!! (but atsumu def deserves them <3)

AND OMG NO I THINK SUNA DEF TOOK THAT RECEIVE TO THE FACE ON PURPOSE AND LIKE IMAGINING HIS LITTLE SMIRK WITH THE BLOOD COMING OUT OF HIS NOSE HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I NEED TO GO REREAD THAT FIC OMG

and omg yes oikawa is so so important to me <33 i just ranted about that in my answer to mango anon's ask 😭😭 BUT HE'S SO HUMAN AND HE DESERVES THE ENTIRE WORLD!! HE DESERVES SO MUCH LOVE AND TO BE REASSURED HE IS ENOUGH AS HE IS AND THAT HE'S SO SO AMAZING AND THE BEST PERSON IN THE WORLD AND <333 i think i've said this somewhere here before but like every few months or so i have this one friend who also watches hq who is a very firm kageyama stan and maintains "oikawa tried to abuse him!!" he's bad!!! and me (very firm oikawa stan) am like "OKAY?? HE ABUSED HIS MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAMMATES?? they both changed oikawa is NOT a bad person yap yap yap!!!" (sorry i def turned this into a ramble about him 🧍‍♀️)

EVERYONE LISTEN TO WHAT BAKERY ANON IS SAYING!!! YOU ARE SO IMPORTANT AND LOVED <3 MAKE SURE TO EAT AND DRINK LOTS OF WATER <3 TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES!! (and that goes for you too bakery anon!!! <3)

and thank you for your sweet reminder bakery anon!! i'm so glad you enjoy my writing <33 that makes me so so happy to hear genuinely it means the world and really fulfils my motivation!! i will make sure to take a break if i feel like i need it and thank you so much i love u <33 I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN I LOVE THESE YAP SESSIONS!!)

[theromaboo]

Tagged by: @gooseberry--fool

Relationship status: I'm single.

Favourite colour: My favourite colour is red, but other colours are pretty, too.

Song stuck in head: Il Coccodrillo come fa? (it's a banger)

Last song I listened to: As Long As You Love Me (my mom was listening to it so I listened to it with her)

Three favorite foods: This is really hard but I think my three favourite foods are durian, sushi, and pasta. Which is an incredibly diverse selection actually.

Last thing I googled: Britannicus allergy to horses (OH MY FRICKING GOD EVERYONE KEEPS THINKING THAT HE WAS ALLERGIC TO HORSES BUT THAT LITERALLY CAME FROM A HISTORICAL FICTION NOVEL AND ISN'T TRUE AT ALL!! I was just checking again to try and look more into it, but there's nothing to look into)

Dream trip: Rome *sighs in longing*

Anything I want right now: To get all of the Masters of Rome books (I haven't read it but I now want to after reading that one LiveJournal post)

Tagging: 10 people???? That's one big number. I'm tagging @the-little-fox-in-the-box because he's funny and I always aspire to be as funny as him. @alienmythologist because they're cool and asked about my cringe fanfiction idea and was supportive. @doobydoobydoowau because I remember when we talked about my Ides of March party. @athelstan-anglecyning because they are a nice person and excellent writer (you may know me from AO3). @emperornero because I remember that comic he drew with Britannicus and Britannicus is my blorbo. @odysseus09 because I know him in real life and he is cool. @incitacitus because she seems cool and has a hecking awesome username (so fun to say! And also definitely inspired by the name of Caligula's horse). @spinogreen0iq because he's a very hardworking artist and I think of him whenever I want to draw. @ashavah because she seems cool and she likes ancient Rome and so do I (though that basically applies to 90% of the people here). And @nysus-temple because she likes Vergil a normal amount and so do I (I reread all the AO3 fics about Vergil at least 50 times because of how starved I am for Vergil content. I'm learning Italian so I could read a few Vergil fics in their original language). Oh yeah she also did a lot of ramblings about history and stuff and I look up to her because of that.

WHAT? QUID? I made it to 10 people!? That's amazing. And I still have a few more people I want to honor.

@echo-dream because xhe reblogged my post about bread day that I spent a LOT OF TIME AND ENERGY ON and in the tags, xhe said "here for the bread day discourse" which made me laugh and made the hour I spent writing that worth it.

Also @lone-rhapsodist because they seem cool and they also reblogged my less detailed bread day post on May 2 (which was one of the acceptable days).

(Btw, if you want to know the acceptable days to celebrate bread day, they are April 17, April 19 (if you ignore the whole Julian Calendar/Gregorian Calendar thing), and May 2. But NOT April 7. Not in your lifetime. Check my long-ass bread day post for the details why)

Tagged by: @serpentandthreads

Rules: Tag 10 people you want to know better!

Relationship Status: Married

Favorite Color: Crimson Red

Song Stuck in Head: "Wait for Me" - Hadestown

Last Song I Listened To: "Waiting on the Sky to Change" - STARSET, Break Benjamin, and Judge & Jury

Three Favorite Foods: Sushi, Breakfast, & Candy

Last Thing I Googled: ... USB slave kit. My old laptop died completely and I needed to save the hard drive.

Dream Trip: Japan.

Anything I Want Right Now: Tens of thousands of dollars to pay off my medical bills and student loans.

Tagging: @hyacinthuspetals, @life-in-the-garden, @maceofpentacles, @lotusfeather-and-bone, @delphijackdaw, @jasper-pagan-witch

[olderthannetfic]

I don't like leading with this but because it's relevant to what I'm about to say: I'm a black person living in a majority white Western European country.

I've got some disjointed thoughts I'd like to share Re: The Racism Warning Discussion

I can kind of understand why people might want a warning for racism, as I definitely appreciate whenever authors think to tag even period/canon-typical bigotry in the freeform tags. It's nice to be able to filter for it or at least know what you're getting into, and a warning option might make people more likely to not forget to tag it. The thing is though, the main reason why I like to see bigotry tagged is that it shows me that the author is aware of it being bigotry. My experiences with actual bigotry in fandom (and real life) have for the most part been with people who weren't self-aware, who were just saying/doing/writing what they actually seemed to think and saw as normal and acceptable and therefore wouldn't be using such a warning anyways. It's like how an extremely violent Non-Con story that's properly tagged (including Chose Not To Use Warings) is a lot less disturbing than a story involving """gentle""" coercive rape that the author (not the narrator) insists is actually consensual sex. The latter still happens in mainstream media today, so I don't know how we should be able to expect random fanfic writers to "solve racism im fandom" (? This seems to be the goal of some of the request for warnings for various things, but maybe I'm misreading the intent there) like this.

If there was to be a warning like that I honestly would prefer a more general warning for Bigotry, as I don't see why racism should be warned for, but not other types of bigotry (and as a black european my first question would be whether xenophobia would be included in a "Racism" warning, because while it's not the same thing it's still just as big a problem).

One thing I often see pop up in these discussions is complaints about US-centrism. In most cases I agree, as I have seen many bizarre attempts to apply US social politics and cultural norms to other countries without recognizing that they are not the same. It's both annoying, patronizing and harmful. However, in my day to day life I also see a lot of (white) people in the country I live in call every attempt at a discussion about racism here "US cultural imperialism" and "not applicable to our culture". So I just want to add that just because the unaffected part of a population of a country doesn't recognize something as being bigoted yet, doesn't mean the people affected by it don't see it as such (and haven't tried to communicate this, maybe even for decades already). So in a few cases—again, not all, just some—the "US-centrism" complaints can come off as excuses for why one should not have to reexamine their own biases.

To end on a positive note, can I just mention again that I really appreciate authors who tag for bigotry, even of the canon-typical variety? I like to read fiction as an escape from reality and it's just nice to be able to go onto a story knowing the author is (or is at least trying to be) considerate and aware. Honestly, this is another area where people who create are about or including dark topics are often safer to engage with than those who are obsessed with everything being (seeming) "pure". Looking through other fandoms on AO3 I realized that almost all of the authors for my favorite ship (which is canonically extremely dark and violent) are amazing at tagging. The perfect balance between being as brief as possible and giving a comprehensive overview of what to expect, even managing to be tongue-in-cheek without doing tumblr style tag rambling. Just *chef's kiss*

--

This seems to be the goal of some of the request for warnings for various things, but maybe I'm misreading the intent there) like this.

I think quite a lot are this and a few seem like "I want license to yell at people".

as a black european my first question would be whether xenophobia would be included in a "Racism" warning, because while it's not the same thing it's still just as big a problem

Yeah, a lot of the discussion is pretty US-centric, and if a warning ever does get added, I hope there's some thought put into how to make this work for a highly international user base.

But you make an excellent point about "US-centrism" complaints as a smoke screen as well.

[foggylikemyvision]

𝓪 𝓷𝓮𝔀 𝓹𝓸𝓼𝓽 𝓲𝓼 𝓸𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓫𝓾𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓽𝓲𝓷...

ok so this is a collapsing blog and there is no set schedule.. at all.. so like ill get things out pretty quick but only if i have motivation. asks will be answered quite fast or not at all! here are some things you need to know.

hello!! my name is mod fog, or just foggy, if you please!

this blog is written by a minor! please keep that in mind when interacting with me!

ghost-centered blog! lots of spooky forests and ghosts and little sprite themes.

rot: a oneshot.

tale: a story of multiple parts.

thought: headcanons.

argument: angst.

cuddles: fluff.

bulletin: a notice or announcement

It is important to note that if you just send in a ramble (I.E, 'thinking about... [thoughts]', I'll probably just write whatever comes to mind about this! If you want something specific, please state that this is a request and that you want one of the above. if you aren't picky, great! you can omit the specifics (a rot, thought, argument, etc) I will not write tales for requests if specifically requested, unless I myself want to do so.

sometimes i forget to tag my works... pls lmk if im missing my signature :(

what I write for:

FNAF: Security Breach, Undertale, Deltarune, Genshin Impact, HSR, BNHA, SPOP, RE8, SDV (Stardew Valley) Bachelorettes, The Amazing Digital Circus, KNY, Degrees of Lewdity [DOL] (female LIs only). If I know the fandom, I might accept the request. no promises.

what I refuse to write:

Child x Readers or Child!Reader x Character unless specified as platonic. Also. No SDV Bachelors I am THE man hating lesbian and flat out cannot find them engaging.

please keep in mind that while, yes, i am open to writing smut, i'd prefer it to be for fandoms such as DOL or RE8, which are already mature fandoms. Genshin is pushing it. All of my more mature works will be tagged with a smut tag.

short system:

posted whenever the hell I want :) usually around 200-300 words, more or less. consists mostly of drabbles, angst, and anything in between! not strictly any fandom.

other things:

Requests are currently closed (on account of asks being closed). Anything sent in at this time will not received. (probably)

Asks are currently closed. Ask me anything! Within reason!!

no works are beta'd

psst!! anons are welcome!! you can even do shit like uhmm specific anons!! gimme an emoji and it will then be you!!

masterlist coming maybe ? idk ?

If you send in a request for a male or male aligned character, please note that your request being accepted is 50/50 and depends on the character. exceptions apply. (a good way to tell is if you've seen me write for them before! i.e, venti!)

[littledrummeraussie]

Omg you’re doing requests with the prompts 🥺 if so, could it be Angst 24 & 36. Fluff 50 & 40 . If not feel free to ignore this! I’m just curious to see what you’ll do with them! ❤️

Thank you sweetie for the prompts! I hope you don’t mind me making this into a part of my on-going mini series! And since many of you wanted to see what is the relationship between these two - well, here’s a little taste. ❤️ 

Warnings: mentions of abuse in a past relationship. angst.

Also, you can still drop me prompts if you feel like it.

- - - - -

glitter & crimson masterlist | story tag | part 1 | part 2

- - - - -

ANGST – 24. “Let me go.”

ANGST – 36. “They warned me about this.” “About what?” “You.”

FLUFF – 40. “Why are you scared of loving?”

FLUFF – 50. “Stay.”

- - - - -

“Stay.”

Ashton’s eyes were still closed as he mumbled against the pillow, but his arm around you tightened just a little, letting you know that he did wake when you wanted to get out of his embrace. He fell asleep once the painkillers kicked in, but not before he curled a tattooed arm around your waist, pulling you close to his body while keeping some space between the two of you. Your sleep was fitful, dreams and memories keeping you awake while he slumbered next to you, and after a few hours you couldn’t stay in bed, wanting to find something else to focus on until you couldn’t keep your eyes open anymore.

“Didn’t want to wake you,” you sighed, settling back against your pillow and lightly brushing a stray curl away from his forehead.

“You’re a terrible sleeper,” Ashton finally opened his eyes, sleepy gaze finding yours in the grey of the room.

“It’s just… my head is full. Can’t switch it off.”

“What’s keeping you awake?” he mirrored your movements, slowly stroking the hair behind your ear, fingers cupping your cheek.

“They warned me about this,” you whispered, hand covering his bruised one on your face.

“About what?” Ashton furrowed his eyebrows and you let out another quiet sigh.

“You.”

*

The last hour had been a blur as you pulled clothes out of drawers and closets, throwing everything you could fit into the bags on the bed. You didn’t dare look into the mirror, not after what happened in the kitchen with your boyfriend. The loud banging of the closing door let you know that he left the house and that’s when you found yourself in your shared bedroom, packing everything that belonged to you. Tonight was the last straw and you couldn’t stay for another minute if you didn’t have to.

You let your eyes wander over the place one last time as you shut the front door, throwing the key into the mailbox – you knew you’re never coming back again. You hauled up your bags and started to walk down the street, the tears freely running down your cheeks as you left everything behind. You had nowhere to go; all your friends lived on the other side of the country, and you kicked the curb as you scolded yourself – your own foolish choices made you end up in this situation, and now you had nothing.

“Hey, you’re okay there?”

The guy you just passed stopped in his track and turned after you, his voice soft but questioning as you picked up the pace. You didn’t want to talk to anyone. You didn’t want anyone to see the mess you were now. A mumbled ‘I’m fine’ left your lips, pulling your jacket tighter, hoping he will get your message loud and clear.

A moment passed then you heard footstep coming after you, the heavy boots thumping on the pavement as he quickly caught up with you, fingers curling around your arm and pulling you back to him.

“Let me go,” your voice sounded more panicked than protesting, and at that he finally pulled away.

“I’m sorry, I just– what happened to your face?”

You felt fresh tears streaming down your face as he tilted your chin up towards him, examining you in the light of the streetlamp. He looked handsome and dangerous but soft around the edges as he took in the purpling bruise on your cheek and the split on your bottom lip, gaze turning concerned as his eyes finally found yours.

“Who did this to you?” he let go of you when he saw how disturbed you are and you wrapped your arms around your chest, hiccupping and brushing away your tears.

“Boyfriend… I mean, ex boyfr– I don’t know who he is, not anymore.”

“Do you have anywhere to stay? I could drop you off, I see you packed everything,” he nodded towards your bags, but you quickly shook your head.

“Thanks, but… I’m sure you have better things to do. And I don’t want to be rude, but you’re a stranger – who knows what you’re capable of…” you took a step back and he let out a small chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Good point. But you look like someone who needs a bit of a company and a place to stay, away from that asshole. I have a friend who could take you in for a little time, even though you are just as much a stranger as I am.”

“And why would you do that? There’s no way you don’t want something in return,” you winced as you bit into your bottom lip.

“I don’t know, I just can’t let you stay out like this in this state,” he groaned, running his fingers through his hair. “It’s my conscious or something. Like if I go away now and you spend the night on the streets and something happens…”

“God, you’re so weird,” you sighed, hauling up your bag on your shoulder. “I’m gonna regret saying yes to you.”

“You won’t, I promise,” he reached for your other bag to sling it over his back, holding his hand out for you. “By the way, I’m Ashton.”

“Y/N,” you let him shake your hand before he nodded down the road.

“Nice to meet you. My car is parked just there, if you would be so kind and follow me.”

“And where are you taking me?” you trailed after him, still not sure if you were doing the right thing.

“Somewhere safe,” Ashton gave you an encouraging smile, and you felt your lips pull at the corners when he threw you a wink.

*

“What stray did you bring here again?” the girl was gorgeous and definitely pissed as Ashton ushered you into the apartment.

“Come on Mali, be nice,” he scoffed, putting your bag down in the hallway. “She needs a place to stay, just for a little while.”

“What about your place?” she quirked an eyebrow at Ashton, hands on her hips. “Or did you forget your latest one there and you don’t want them to meet each other?”

“I’m sorry, it’s just… gonna take a minute,” he gave you an apologetic look before he pulled Mali into another room and started to ramble in a hushed voice.

You could barely make out his words, but you caught a few of them anyway – ex-boyfriend, bruises, abuse. Mali kept mostly quiet, hissing whenever Ashton’s voice got louder. They were going back and forth for a few minutes before finally they came back, and he curled an arm around your shoulder.

“You can stay with Mali as long as you need it,” he lightly squeezed your arm, giving a pointed look to the blonde who just rolled her eyes. “And I will stop by tomorrow to check on you. How does that sound?”

“Like something she’s not excited about,” you nodded towards the girl who at that started laughing.

“Get out of here, Irwin,” he shooed Ashton away from you and out of the door. “I’ll take care of her. You go and fuck up someone else’s life now, okay?”

“Love you Mali, you’re the best!” he threw her a kiss and Mali pointed a finger gun at him, shooting him and closing the door, but not before he could wave at you one last time. “Bye, Y/N! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Let’s get you settled, shall we?”

Mali turned out to be an angel. She made up the guestroom for you and sent you away to take a shower, during which she made you some dinner. Before you could turn in for the night, tired from all the things that happened in the last few hours, she came in to tend to the bruises on your face, checking them before applying some antiseptics on your lips and the small cuts you didn’t see before.

“So… how do you know Ashton?” you finally asked, and she chuckled, shaking her head.

“He’s my brother’s best friend. Annoying little shit, but he grows on you. Can’t say no to a pretty girl in distress. Or well, girls in general.”

“I really didn’t want to disturb you, I’m sorry,” you mumbled but she just shook her head again.

“We’ve all been there,” she squeezed your hand, giving you a smile. “And none of us deserved it. If you needed do get out of there, well… then you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to. And just so you know, Ashton is very protective of his own. You’ll probably become one of them if you stick around long enough. Just– don’t fall for him.”

“I don’t think that’s on the plate,” you pointed at your own cheek. “Kinda not in the mood for guys now.”

“It’s just a friendly warning,” Mali patted you knee before standing up. “He’s a nice guy. But it’s better to be his friend than anything else. You’ll never see him with the same girl twice. That’s his style: charming, but dangerous.”

*

Ashton sighed but didn’t pull back, hand still cupping your cheek as he lay beside you. A year has passed since the night he found you on the street, broken and bruised after the way your ex-boyfriend treated you. And while the two of you became close friends, you always made sure not to catch feelings for the guy who was only referred to as a womanizer around the neighbourhood. Or so you’ve told yourself.

“That’s typical Mali,” he scoffed lightly, running his fingers through his hair.

“It doesn’t really matter,” you shrugged, sitting up on the bed and pulling your knees to your chest.

“It does to me,” he pushed himself up and sat cross-legged in front of you. “Y/N… hey, look at me.”

“Don’t tell me again, please,” you whispered, trying to be as small as possible. “Please just… don’t.”

“Tell you what? That I love you?” he squeezed your knee, a slight hurt in his voice. “I’m not gonna take it back – I love you. I just don’t know why are you scared of loving me?”

“You know, Ashton. You know why I can’t.”

- - - - -

taglist.

drop me a message if you want to be added/deleted!

@mymindwide @loveroflrh @sadistmichael @notinthesameguey @babylonashton @talkfastromance4 @dead-and-golden @fuckyeah5sostakemehome @karajaynetoday  @myfavfanficsever @myloverboyash @suchalonelysunflower @sexgodashton @rebelwith0utacause @creampiecashton @irwinkitten @allthestarsandthemoon @castaway-cashton @spicylftv @wontlastimokwiththat @luckyduckydoo @sunshineeashton @2fangirl4u @talkfastdrummer @pastelbabygirl19 @istantommoandtpwk @perfectlieirwin @thesweetness-irwin-archive @c-a-l-m-hood @youngblood199456 @tiannaxox2 @caffeinecalum @fanficsandotherthings @melanindarling @bubblegum18

[chaotic-bells]

I was tagged by @imbellarosa and @justalarryblog 😊 thank you! And sorry for the delay and rambling lol

my check in tag

This is a bit long... so I’ll just add the break not to bother people with my ramblings. 

1. Why did you choose your url? I created tumblr because of a fanfic, and I've been reading them since I was 11. And I will always love fanfic. Fanfic is the answer to all life's problems and bad canons. I can't imagine living in the world where I don't have fanfic to continue a world I love or to fix issues in a world that was promising, or just to wait until the next bit of canon came out. You have to imagine I started reading fanfic when there were only 2 Harry Potter books available and I was waiting for the translation of the third one (that came out end of 2000, and yes I was reading fics by then). So yeah... I wanted something related to fanfics, and I really am terrible about online identities. Probably should've used something more creative, but oh well. I like it well enough now, it is one that applies to all fandoms I love.

2. Any side-blogs? If you have them, name them and why you have them. Yes, I have @randomsideposts as my attempt to create a tag system and save my favorite posts. I failed. I also have @kenshin-and-maki for my cats, and a third unnamed one as sort of a journal/vent blog, for those times I just need to write stuff down and I don't want to keep things to myself. No one follows me and that's the way I like it. It's kind of dark.

3. How long have you been on tumblr? A year and a half only lol a baby by Tumblr standards.

4: Do you have a queue tag? Me? Organization? What? Jokes aside, I don't really like queueing stuff. I'm either here or I'm not. I'll schedule a post for a random future time, just so I don't forget the post, but a time I know I'll be online to interact with it/the reactions to it. I do that when (for example) Louis posts and I see posts that are not related to that that I'd like to reblog, but not right at that moment.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place? Because of a cute Larry fic where Louis and Harry become mutuals without knowing they're the other one. I liked the dynamic they described of how Tumblr worked and I wanted to see if it really was like that, because my previous experiences with Tumblr were... confusing enough that I didn't stick around for more than 20 minutes.

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp? It's Louis and Liam, who are definitely my favorites. Don't get me wrong, I love all the boys, but Liam and Louis (and their friendship) are just really special to me. And this pic is just... so cute. Also, @whatagreatproblemtohave and @evilovesyou demanded either me or @promisethatillnevertell change our profile picture, and that we should duel to see who would keep it because it was getting confusing lol (it was one of the outtakes of the House of Solo photoshoot). I would never fight Lou so I changed it. And I love it because it has my two boys 😁💕

7. Why did you choose your header? Because the livestream was so awesome and even if it's blurry i like it. Also, I never use the desktop version of Tumblr so it's probably a mess, but I like what I see on my mobile so it'll stay.

8. Whats your post with the most notes? Probably my Youtube comments about Louis? I know it has over 1k notes, which... wow.  Also, my little wistful post about keeping the livestream format after lockdown did ok too.

9. How many mutuals do you have? No clue, but I love them all.

10. How many followers do you have? 900 or so.

11. How many people do you follow? 654 blogs

12. Have you ever made a shitpost? Who hasn't?

13. How often do you use tumblr a day? No clue, dozens of times. I won't scroll too far down, just enough to distract me for a couple minutes while I'm waiting for something to load or if my brain needs a break from work.

14. Did you once have a fight/argument with another blog once? Who won? I've argued before with a Liam blog at the end of the LP Show 2, but it was a misunderstanding, I didn't express myself the way I wanted to. Pretty sure a bunch of Liam blogs have me blocked because of it still. Other than that, I'm pretty peaceful, and I really try to just stay out of drama.

15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog” posts? I hate them. It is a passive aggressive way of someone thinking their opinion is better than yours, usually has a comment like "if you don't reblog you don't care about this" or "I don't care if it doesn't fit my blog asthetic, I'll reblog it anyway". Congrats? Do you want a star for it? I'll reblog it if I think it has important information, despite these annoying comments, but only once. If it's a post I've seen multiple times, then everyone saw it multiple times.

16. Do you like tag games? Love them, but recently I've been a bit lax. Once you start saving them in your drafts, it snowballs into unmanageable levels.

17. Do you like ask games? I love them, but whenever I reblog one I only get 1 or 2 asks. :(

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous? I... don't really care enough about that to keep track lol

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual? Yes, but I won't put them on the spot

20. Tags? I don’t know if you’ve done this before, so feel free to ignore it? As usual @promisethatillnevertell @whatagreatproblemtohave @technicallysideacc @maybe-i-missyou @vintageumbroshirt @thedevilinmybrain @beckydoesthings

[nobodies-png]

Hi can I get a uhhhh

Xeonort...being a big bro to Sora and Riku in a happy au where nothing goes wrong...With a side of fries and a diet coke

GRABS YOU AND SQUISHES YOU LIKE A DOG TOY

YOU BROUGHT ME BACK HERE, THIS IS YOUR FAULT !!!

So anyway, hello, hello ! I’ve been thinking about KH again now that union cross is about to end - and also about how fucked up it is that xenahort is from destiny islands like sir couldn’t you just stay THERE

Let’s sit down for a second, ignore the actual timeline along with the canon story and pretend that a young Xenahort just stayed in Destiny Islands and became the cool older brother figure that Sora and Riku just like to follow around. You know what, Kairi isn’t even supposed to be here if Xenahort stays but fuck it, she’s here too. It’s our AU, we make up the rules. This is just like the “Xenahort is everyone’s grandpa and KH is just their D&D game” AU except everyone is baby and with a side of found family trope. 

Xenahort often complains about Destiny Islands being too small for him, ironically enough he spends most of his days awat from the mainland to continue his personal research in the little shack by the smaller island. This is where Sora, Riku and Kairi find him most of the time and they have no problem barging in to keep him company and annoy him with endless questions. Just picture a very moody teenage Xenahort being followed by three absolute rays of sunshine that barely reach his waist. Just do it, imagine it. Okay, good, moving on - 

Kairi was most likely the first one to approach him, since Riku and Sora were too busy daring each other to do it. And Xenahort probably ignored them for days until they finally got on his nerves, but the three just REALLY wanna know what he’s working on ! Kids will be kids, yknow. So he indulges them and explains his theories about the different worlds and his goal to travel between them, lowkey hoping that they get bored and leave him alone but surprisingly, they don’t ! In fact, they want to know even more ! And god fucking knows Xenahort loves to ramble and have long winded monologues, so he’s pretty excited about having his own little students. 

They often talk about what kind of world they’d like to visit and all the endless possibilities - Riku is the one who talks the most during these sessions, often cutting Sora and Kairi to explain that “a world made entirely out of candy would probably rot in a few weeks” or all the rations they’d need to survive the trip, trying to apply logic to everything. Like, aight Riku we get it you’re smart. Sora on the other hand likes to talk about all the different people and creatures they could befriend - and gets really sad whenever Riku reminds him that the language barriers would prevent him from befriending people so easily. Kairi focuses more on the environment - the food, the flora and all the fun trinkets and gifts she can bring home for their other friends. It’s very refreshing for Xenahort, who was so obsessed with making his plans work that he forgot about the fun and exciting part of researching. 

Speaking of other friends, Tidus, Wakka and Selphie sometimes drop by, but only when the Destiny Trio insist - Selphie and Tidus are highkey intimidated by Xenahort because he looks like a mean teen, but Wakka just doesn’t like to think or hear about the universe when he can focus on his homeland. Tidus also likes to tag along whenever homework piles up and they can ask Xenahort for help. Hell, he probably builds their science projects too, but with a surprise to ruin everything at the end so the kids know better than to make him do all the work - like one of those volcanos but it erupts glitter all over the place or some shit.

Still, Xenahort is a teen and like most teens, he’s got his moments of intense angst. He might propose very complex questions to the Destiny Trio out the blue, about leaving everything behind, never to return to the islands, for the sake of research and so on. Riku never answers, since he somewhat feels the same, Kairi and Sora however, insist that he can always come back. But yeah, sometimes the trio also get really angry at Xenahort because he refuses to play with them, on account of being “too old for baby games”.

Xenahort also strikes me as a guy who’d pretend not to know the trio on the main island, if only to save some face around his classmates and other friends - but Sora’s mom totally invites him over for lunch and shit and practically treats him like her own son. Which is super weird because it messes Xenahort’s mysterious and slightly condescending vibe. Yeah this is just that entire “Good Guys adopt Antagonist and Antagonist must deal with casual affection and friendship” TV trope, don’t look at me.

Sora, Riku and Kairi would grow up to be the curious adventurers they’ve always been in canon, but instead of being motivated to leave due to insatisfaction, they’d be thrilled to explore the universe out of pure curiosity for the unknown. And they wouldn’t build a shitty raft with like 3 fucking coconuts, not on Xenahort’s watch. 

For the bonus angst idea, just imagine that one day the Destiny Trio arrive at the island to play with Xenahort, but he’s nowhere to be found. He doesn’t show up the next day either, nor the day after. They can’t even find him on his house. No one knows where he is. Not even his own family.  And weeks pass, as if he had never existed in the first place. Sora, Riku and Kairi wonder if Xenahort actually managed to leave Destiny Islands - but he would never leave without them. Would he?

[unsaid-stardust]

Used to This

Words: 2,228

Pairing: Julie x Luke 

Summary: Set between episode 3 and 4, Luke’s curiosity about Julie’s dream box only grows leading the pair to grow even closer. 

Author’s note: I have risen from the black room where Alex has been crying for 25 years to write fics! I’m hoping for it to stay that way!  Tell me what you think! 💜

tagging: @littledancersun  @sunsetcurves @sevenseashigh (Nicolette I tagged the wrong acc first sdklfhadfh)

After the week Julie had, she was happy to be able to finally relax She couldn't wait to get home, take a shower, and just lie down in her bed. Meeting the boys was exhausting in itself, how would you handle being introduced to 3 fairly attractive teenage boys who happened to live in your garage? But, then she started performing again. And while that was exciting and exhilarating, it was exhausting all the same. 

Finally entering her room, Julie let out a sigh of relief as she belly-flopped onto her bed. Big mistake, she thought to herself, because she definitely was not getting up. She smiled into her pillow, hugging it as she closed her eyes. This was dangerous. It was only 8:30 pm. She should not be able to fall asleep this early. Or..she could just-

Julie suddenly shivered. She opened her eyes and immediately sat up. That could only mean one thing. She scanned her room and quickly found him by her bookshelf. Luke. She may feel like she was half-asleep, but she didn't need to be wide awake in order to know what he was over there for. 

"Luke! What did I tell you about my room?!" Julie shouted as she edged closer to him. Luke hissed through his teeth, putting his arms up in defense and shaking his head. 

"I'm sorry, but I told you the other day! I can't stop thinking about the box!" He protested. Julie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. 

"But I told you what was in it! Shouldn't that satisfy your curiosity? Besides we have rules now!" Julie answered. Luke looked down at the ground then and Julie felt like she had just kicked a puppy. 

"You're right. I'm sorry. It's just, after being cooped up in wherever we were for 25 years, it's nice to finally be able to go wherever I want to. But, that doesn't mean I can go wherever I want. I'm sorry," He explained. Julie wanted to stay mad at him. After all, wasn't she supposed to? He was a ghost living in her house taking up her space and breaking her rules. It wasn't like she was supposed to be used to this sort of thing. She had a right to be mad about his presence. But, she couldn't. She couldn't stay mad. Not after that explanation he just gave. 

"It's ok, I get it. Just, I need my personal space as much as you need yours. But, I guess it's no harm if you come in here-" Julie was cut off by the sound of Luke's cheer.

"Only! You can't touch anything. Got it?" Julie questioned. 

"But what-" Luke began to protest. Julie raised an eyebrow and pointed a guilty finger towards him. 

"Got it?" She repeated. Luke rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat. 

"Got it," He caved, crossing his heart and putting his hands up in defense. Julie shook her head. Usually, what people say after they cross their heart is "cross my heart and hope to die" but Luke, that didn't apply to him since he was already a ghost. If Flynn had done something like that, Julie would've called her out on it, but she didn't think it was necessary to do that to Luke, especially since he's still getting used to this whole being-a-ghost thing. 

"I was going to say, though, it's not like I can pick much up anyway. We already told you earlier, it takes a lot for us to do something like that," He explained as he looked at the box on the shelf. Julie noticed that at a glance, he would seem perfectly fine. But, she was beginning to know him. He held a lot of secrets. She guessed that most ghosts would, I mean, that's why they were ghosts in the first place, right? Some unfinished business or whatever? She didn't know what kind of secrets they were, but she knew that there was a lot more to him. And she could see it in his eyes. He was sad. And Julie had the urge to make him feel better. And she knew what might help, at least, for the meanwhile. 

Julie sighed and moved to grab her dream box off of her shelf. Julie ignored the weird feeling in her stomach that she got when she saw Luke's face light up like he was a kid in a candy store. She moved it to her bed where she then sat cross-legged and Luke sat with one knee bent on the edge of the bed, his other leg hanging down the side. Julie placed the box in front of her lap and opened it. Luke peered over it intently and Julie tried to fight back the wave of sadness that came over her. The very first item inside of the box, was a pair of backstage passes--To Trevor Wilson's concert. She moved quickly to remove them for Luke's sake. 

"Sorry. I'll just-"

"No, it's okay. It makes you happy. That's what the box is for, right?" Luke questioned. Julie nodded slowly in response. 

"Yeah. Back when Carrie and me were friends we uh, we went to her dad's comeback concert and my mom came with. It was my first time backstage and it was kind of when I realized I really wanted to play music like that," Julie explained. Luke smiled.

"So, we really did introduce you to music, huh?" He inquired with a smirk. Julie rolled her eyes as she shook her head. 

"I said rock music. Don't get too cocky now," Julie responded. Luke let out a chuckle before biting his lip. Julie forced herself to focus on the box. She thought that if she let herself look at his lips for too long, she would write a million songs about them. Which wouldn't be the end of the world, you know, if we wasn't an actual ghost. 

"Ooh, what's this?" Luke pointed to Julie's old Tamagotchi. She couldn't help, but laugh. 

"This?" She asked as she held it up. Luke nodded, curiosity showing in his smile. 

"It's a Tamagotchi. It was really annoying when I had it, but my mom got it for me on my 7th birthday and now it makes me smile thinking back on how my mom would remind me to take care of it. Not a lot of people had them, they were kind of retro at my age, but my mom loved it when she was in college," Julie rambled. She looked towards Luke's direction to see that he completely and utterly lost. She forgot sometimes that the boys were from a different time period and that they missed out on so much. Not just with friends and family, but with the ages. The boys would literally love YouTube. Being able to watch live concerts whenever you wanted to? That's right up their alley. Julie made a mental note that she should show them how to view that some time. They'd go nuts. Maybe they'd like the Tamagotchi too. Wait. Do ghost band-boys like Tamagotchis? Well, only one way to figure out. She set it aside to let Luke know that the boys were allowed to mess around with it. 

Luke didn't seem to captivated by it as he his eyes shifted focus on the pieces of paper crumbled beneath a few other miscellaneous objects. Julie should've known he would've picked up on that. 

"Song lyrics?" He questioned, not really needing the answer. Julie sighed. She forgot she had put those back in the box the other day. She nodded. 

"I thought you said they weren't in there anymore?" Luke continued, his voice quiet. Julie shrugged. 

"They weren't. But I, uh-I decided to put them back in. Now that I'm singing and playing again, the lyrics don't hurt as much," She explained, not allowing herself to look at Luke in the eyes, but she could see him nod in understanding. He always did seem to get her. She sighed. She wasn't planning on showing him these lyrics anytime soon, but it just felt--right. She moved some of the other items out of the way and retrieved the pieces of paper from the bottom of the box. Carefully, she unfolded them, and she was suddenly very aware of how close Luke was to her, unaware of when he moved to sit next to her.

"I was um, I was working on this one with my mom before she died," Julie started before she opened her mouth again to sing. 

"Cause everything is rushing in fast. Keep going on, never look back. And it's one, two,, three, four times" She sang. Julie took the leap of faith and looked at Luke for his reaction. She couldn't even put it in words if she tried, but she liked the way it made her feel. 

"That was all that we were able to get to. It's still missing something in the pre-chorus though, but I could never bring myself to finish it," Julie explained. Luke visibly swallowed. 

"That's um that's really amazing already. But...Can I...I uh kind of heard this melody in my head as you were singing. Do you mind...if-if I..." Luke trailed off, unsure if he was overstepping boundaries. Julie felt her lips part. Showing these lyrics to Luke was one thing, one vulnerable enough thing, but having him finish them? That was something else. And she didn't know what it was. But something inside of her told her it was ok. That maybe, her mom had wanted her to finish these lyrics with someone else. And she was ok with it being Luke. More than ok. Julie nodded slowly signaling him to go on. 

"And it's one, two, three, four times that I'll try for one more night. Light a fire in my eyes, I'm going out of my mind," he sang. Julie pursed her lips, her mind running a mile a minute and yet, her mouth unable to move. Something inside of her, though, gave her the power to respond. 

"I like that. A lot. That's exactly what was missing from it before. What if we um, what if we then went into a chorus that went something like...whatever happens, even If I'm the last standing, i'ma stand tall, i'ma stand tall," She sang. Luke smiled the biggest smile that Julie had ever seen. 

"Yeah yeah, and then we could go like..." Luke buzzed with lyric ideas as Julie reached to grab a notebook and pen and suddenly, they were spitballing words and melodies back and fourth until morning. It wasn't until the sun began to shine through her window that she realized what time it was. Julie snapped out the creativity whirlwind that she and Luke had been in. 

"Morning? What no, no, no, it can't be morning! I was just about to go to bed," Julie exclaimed as she stood up from her bed. 

"Julie, relax that was only like 10 minutes ago. It's not like we stayed up all night," Luke stated. Julie crossed her arms. 

"That's not how that works! It was dark when we started writing lyrics and now it's not which means we did stay up all night!" Julie responded. Luke shook his head, still not seeming to understand Julie's dilemma. 

"But, we don't need sleep. When I'm with Reggie and Alex, we have so much energy that we could probably win a marathon and win. And trust me, that says a lot, Alex can't run if his life depended on it. Oh, wait. I can't use that phrase anymore can I?" Luke rambled. Julie rolled her eyes. 

"Yes, but I'm not a ghost so I need sleep, so you, out, now!" Julie demanded. Luke's jaw dropped before he began to protest. 

"But you said-" He moved towards her with a victimized finger. 

"Out!" Julie repeated. Luke sighed and put his hands out in defeat. 

"Fine!" He yelled before blipping out. Julie sighed with relief as she grabbed a hold of her covers to climb into bed; her tiredness from last night creeping its way back. She closed her eyes, hoping to get 1 or 2 hours of sleep before her dad starts to wonder where she is, a smile painting across her lips the night with Luke replayed in her mind. Julie never thought that she would get used to ghosts appearing and disappearing in her presence whenever they wanted to. And she didn't think that she had wanted to. But, maybe it wasn't all that bad. Especially when one of said ghosts can write lyrics and know your soul without you having to say a word and possessed your mind when they weren't around. It was weird to say, heck, everything about this was weird, but she liked what she had with Lu-the band. And she wouldn't change anything at all.

"Sorry, I forgot this. Goodnight, uh morning, don't let the bed bugs bite," Luke blipped in briefly, grabbing the Tamagotchi from the dream box, causing Julie to sit up in her bed. Except maybe that. She shook her head with a smile before laying back down. Her Tamagotchi was definitely going to be dead when she woke up. And that? That she wasn't ok with. 

[burgerkang000]

Email for better love lives

I HAVE A NAME FOR THIS ONE YAAAAAY

im doing the read more thing, cuz u know scrolling ugh

@beyoncesdragon @aixy-hpsa (if anyone else wanna be tagged, let me know!!!)

This is a Yunho fic!

enjoy?

You met San at a compulsory public speaking class, where only you both had to attend for grades; it was filled with nerds who came voluntarily. And your bond begin with bored out glances at each other and loud sighs exchanged. And after that you guys hung out a lot, went to get coffee while doing homework, caught rides with each other, and waved whenever your paths crossed.

You met Yunho when San wanted you to meet his friends that he wouldn’t stop talking about, which made you slightly jealous; you yearned for a bond like that. You pushed that thought away, nothing good comes with jealousy. And while San and his friends would go about their own business, you would stick to the side-lines, not knowing what to say or do, even though they try their best to include you.

Yunho would be the one to keep you company, actively telling you about his day and attentively listen when you were asked about yours. He would also help you study and take you out to grab coffee when San would be too busy.

Anyone would be a fool to not fall for Yunho, with his smile that make his eyes crinkle at the corners, teeth on display, fluffy hair. Who wouldn’t fall for him, at least you could keep it inside, and no one had to know.

“Look at Yunho in this picture, he looks so handsome” San shows you the pictures from your quick break before the exams to the arcade. You take a glance, damn. You know that the moment you open your mouth, you’re screwed.

“Hmm”

“I don’t like it when you’re vague” 

“Yes Yunho is cute” That’s all you plan on saying anyways, but you had to panic, because what if San thinks you’re not commenting on it too much and picks up that you’re crushing on Yunho? Ok, so you were overthinking.

“Too cute that it’s impossible he exists, I mean I see him every day but it’s not like I believe he’s real, there is a limit to being cute and all. I mean a recreation of a Greek god- I mean he should be a Greek God himself-”

You were cut short by San’s exploding laughter and as you voice your confusion to him, he still laughs until you violently shake him-

“Yah! Why are you laughing?”

He finally calms down enough to tell you-

“Just say you have a crush on him”

You open your mouth to deny-

“Admit it~” He says scrolling through his phone again.

You huff out, San was your best (read: only) friend, it wouldn’t hurt to tell him, so you nod the tiniest bit, and San grins from ear to ear.

“I mean, I didn’t see it coming, but when you started rambling off like that, it was obvious.”

You sigh.

“You tell this to anyone, I will personally murder you”

“Sure sure”

And after that, he thankfully let you change the topic.

 .

.

.

Ever since then, whenever you’d meet Yunho, right after that, you’d whip out your phone to text San; something vague like-

“He’s wearing a red sweater”

“He dyed his hair blue!”

“Kill me”

And then you’d go home and text San about how a person; a human, cannot simply be so beautiful, and ramble off about him.

 .

.

 .

“But sir, I don’t have an email” You tell the professor, who has just asked to submit your assignment by mail.

“Don’t whine to me, and make one, is there a student your age without email? How do you have social media accounts?”

“I don’t have them” you reply

“Just make one, it’s extremely useful, and won’t take much of your time” He said, in a brushing off manner, guess he doesn’t believe you.

You nod and sigh as you leave to the next class. If you can’t whine to your professor, you can whine to Yunho. Who listens to the whole thing like the god damn angel he is, and as you open your phone to create one, he gently coaxes it out of your hand, asks you if it’s okay if he creates one for you instead and when you nod he turns his attention to the phone, while you’re just dumbly staring at your hand, where Yunho’s hand made contact with yours.

“Look, I sent my self a mail using yours, lets chat on mail for a while, you can get used to it” He says, you nod, and talk for a while, and then Yunho had to go. You wave at him while he leaves and you text San.

“What’s your mail?”

And when you finally get it, you send him a mail.

URGENT: JEONG YUNHO TOUCHED MY HAND, I REPEAT JEONG YUNHO TOUCHED MY HAND, MOM COME PICK ME UP PLEASE.

I MEAN HE WAS FABULOUS TODAY TO, IF IT WASN’T OBVIOUS; HIS HAIR WAS SO SOFT I CLIKED A PIC, LOOK:

[Image attached]

DO ME A FAVOUR, WHEN I DIE, SIT ON THE VERY SAME CHAIR HE’S SITTING ON, LOOK AT THE SAME DEIRECTION HE’S LOOKING AT AND BURY ME THERE, WHILE YOUR AT IT PRINT THIS ON MY GRAVESTONE.

WHEN I DIE PLEASE TELL HIM I LOVE HIM IN THE OTHER WAY.

BYEBYE

Later that day you get a reply from San saying that you’re too dramatic and an email from Yunho, which you didn’t think much about the time. He was the one who wanted to talk in mail, so you open it and-

And you realise you accidently send it to him too.

*cue freak out*

“So I must have send it to him too-” San blinks at you for a while and then-

Laughs at your face saying random things like

“This is gold”

“Nonononono”

“Never in my life- never”

At this point, you think he’s just spewing English vines that he’s been watching a bit too much to be considered healthy. And now you’re overcome with sadness, and as soon as he notices, he starts apologising and you bow you head, you think you look like a rag doll, and then cry. And san runs circles on you back, occasionally tucking strands of hair behind you ear and wait till you finish.

After a good while of snot- running type of crying, puffy eyes and ringing ears, you start to ramble, a habit that got you here in the first place.

“I don’t think I’m ready for rejection, I mean I was perfectly fine watching him from the side-lines. Heck I would watch him get married and I’d probably say nothing, like I’m not dying inside, proceed to get married, I’m crying tears of happiness-”

“What makes you so sure that he’s going to reject you?”

“I don’t know ok? But this isn’t a movie, he sees me as a friend and I had to go and catch feelings for him.”

San sighs.

“So, what’re you going to do now?”

 .

.

.

It was hard, but you finally managed to blackmail San to help you avoid Yunho situations.

“And how long do you plan to do this?”

“Until my plane ticket and Visa to Alaska are approved and I change my name to Veronica Fall”

He looks at you, and the look speaks for itself, you’re being dramatic. You raise your arms in mock surrender and flop on top of the bed.

“Tomorrow everyone is hanging out, Yunho will be there, you coming?”

You pointedly grin at his cheeky expression, and he mimics the way you had surrendered just a few moments ago.

 .

.

.

You stare at the response you had given to all the missed calls from Yunho.

I’m busy

Sorry, I was showering

I’m going to be busy for a while.

And you watch as the three dots move, and then stop and then move again, you feel as if your heartbeat moves along with those dots, stopping when it disappears, and then finally a response.

We need to talk, I gave you your time, and it’s not fair.

You feel like this is a new side of Yunho you haven’t seen, an assertive one. And you realise, just because you’re a coward, doesn’t mean that you can leave Yunho in the dark, even though you have fears of Yunho leaving you, getting awkward; deep down, you know, that Yunho, he’d never treat your feelings as something useless. And that makes you feel more in love.

And who knows unrequited love may not be so bad, maybe, just maybe; for Yunho it might not be so bad.

Fine

After sending the last text, you get up to clean the place, take out boxes littered about, and books and papers all lying about that you haven’t cared to put away. You do the dishes, and tie your hair into a pony, you’re distracting yourself from the real problem of facing him, for now you let yourself do it; later, you can scream at yourself.

And a right when you reach for the broomstick that you had tucked in deep behind the storage room; you hear a knock at your door.

You don’t think much about it, until you open the door. Low and behold; Yunho was standing at the doorway, a determined look on his face and he walks past you into the house.

You can’t help but think; geez, come on in. But you’re just salty.

And he opens his phone and shows it at your face, too close to read, practically in between your eyes, its touching your nose too. And you’re the dramatic one.

“Explain; explain this email, that was, I figure, supposed to be sent to San, explain why you’ve been avoiding me and my calls, and wherever I go right after I replied to this, I’m not going or letting you go until you do.”

And his voice cracks at the end bit, but you don’t notice, you’re in a bubble of thinking; thinking how to phrase this, just overthinking; maybe.

And moments which feel like hours pass, and you decide to do this the ripping off the band aid way. But it turned out more like the ramble it off way

“I like you? No, no that came out wrong… I love you? Yes, I’m pretty sure I love you, and don’t worry I know you’re not into me that way-”

And you don’t know what really happened; there was a hand on your face, right under your nose, and he was right in front of you.

“Sometimes, everything you say is nonsense.” He breathes, you open your mouth to respond, and he applies more pressure with his palm, to keep you quiet. You can’t help but think of the way your lips mouthed at his palm, not the time; not the time at all.

And then he continues.

“You don’t know how relieved I am to hear that, the moment I got that email, it took me a few minutes to understand, but when I did, I already pictured our five adopted cats, not gonna lie”

Your eyes widen in shock, did he just indirectly say he like you back, in the form of cats? This is why you fell for him in the first place.

“Did I creep you out? I must have creeped you out, forget I said that.”

And you laugh behind his palm, and he slowly removes it, moves it to your shoulder, drags it down the length of your arm, and interlocks it with your hand, a sweet smile on his face, the contagious one, so it’s only law that you smile back, teeth and all, since you can’t hold it back.

“We should go on a date.”

“That; we must.”

.

.

.

You were on one of your many dates, too wind up in each other to not notice the others who also wanted to hang out with you, you totally kept the news from San; you and Yunho are in this together, so he needs to also be comfortable with telling San, after a lot of thinking, you both settle on letting them find out, which may take years to get in their daft heads, but for now, you both have put fate in them.

 .

.

.

San caught on way too quickly, the moment you enter the café and sit down, he says-

“So you’re not moving to Alaska? Or is your husband; Yunho moving with you?”

You blush and look down-

“Look, I can explain-”

And he breaks into a wide grin,

“I’m happy for ya”

.

.

.

You and Yunho were scrolling through many of the messages you have send to San; the ones fawning over Yunho, as much as he likes to get you flustered, he himself also gets flustered, so it’s a win-win situation.

“They haven’t caught on yet” you suddenly say.

It’s true, other than San none of them have caught on yet that you both have been dating, and that’s kind of weird, since it’s been almost a whole year.

But it’s not like you’re gonna sit them down and tell them. You and Yunho have a better plan.

Well you have a better plan.

“-and they walk in on us!”

“…..”

“Or not?”

“No”

You end up inviting them over for dinner, and as they take their first bites, you happily chirp in that you’re dating and Yunho adds that you’re moving in with, leaving everyone to choke on their food, except San, who had a cocky expression, which soon turned into a choking fit, who’s cocky now?

And Wooyoung looks up, and goes “Wait, you’re serious” and continues choking, this time on nothing.

 .

.

.

[theblogthatdoesanimethings]

Hii! First of all I love your stories!!!! And second!!! I’m so happy that you write about Eyeshield 21. I hope you still do lol. Can I request how a relationship would be with Kazuki Jumonji & Shun Kakei. They’re absolutely amazing.

Thank u for readin. Hope u have a nice day!!💚

Eyeshield 21!: Scenario 

Prompt: What Dating the Boys Would Look Like 

Jumonji: A relationship with Jumonji would be simple and relatively normal. He’s the type of person who enjoys spending his life doing things he likes do to and he tends to indulge in his desires easily. As a result, most of the relationship with him would be spent relaxing around and doing simple things like watching television, reading magazines, etc. He’d bring his partner out to eat at fast food places and the occasional restaurant on special days. If his partner was into romance, he’d try to be romantic during dates, however, he might get easily embarrassed by such actions. He’s pretty emotionally expressive and doesn’t struggle to talk about his emotions to his partner, especially concerning the issues he has with his father. He feels safe and secure with his partner to the point where he allows himself to be vulnerable. He’s not big on PDA, but he does like to hold his partners hand or have his arm around their waist just to feel them there and let other people know that he’s with them. In private, he’s still a bit embarrassed by it (as most teenage boys are), but he’s more willing. He genuinely enjoys football, and it would make him really happy to see his partner supporting him on the sidelines and helping out the team he’s on. He’d love to look out into the stands and see them wearing his jersey number. His two best friends (Togano & Kuroki) are important to him and his partner would have to get along with them. He hangs out with them often, and he’d include his partner in those hangouts and they’d spend time together reading manga and just talking. The relationship is simple, but still fun

Kakei: A relationship with Kakei would be a bit hard because of his focus on football. He devotes a lot of his time to the sport and doesn’t seem to think about other things during his free time, however, if he does have a partner that would change a bit. He’d try to clear up his schedule and would take his partner out to places he knows they like. He thinks about what his partner wants more than what he wants. His favourite thing to do is just stay in each others company as they lounge in his living room. He’s not very good at expressing his emotions physically, but he’s good at expressing them verbally. Kakei has a way with words and I think he’s emotionally secure, which means communication isn’t a problem in the relationship. However, he does get embarrassed easily as seen by his interactions with Mizumachi in the manga. Since he gets embarrassed easily, he isn’t a big fan of PDA, and tries to stay away from that. In private he might be a bit reserved during the beginning part of the relationship, but he slowly eases into it and gets used to acts of physical affection. As mentioned earlier, football is important to him and he loves the sport more than most things. He’d love it if his partner could support him in the stands or act as the team manager where they can directly support him. Other than that, it means a lot to him knowing that his partner is there for him throughout it all. His teammates are important to him and he’d need his partner to get along with them (especially Mizumachi). He’d especially love it if they could keep Mizumachi under control. There isn’t a lot of adventure in the relationship, but it’s comfortable 

Patrick “Panther” Spencer: A relationship with Patrick would be very fun and a little bit hectic at times. He’s full of energy and would love to bring his partner to places that let him burn out his energy (amusement parks, laser tag, etc.). Other than going out, he does like to bring you over to his house to meet his grandmother and eat her cooking together. He’d watch television and lounge around on the rare days where he feels like having a relaxing day. He does try to do romantic dates, but it isn’t something he particularly enjoys. If his partner is really into the cliche, he’d suck it up and bring them to nice restaurants and give them flowers every date. He’s emotionally expressive and he doesn’t struggle to communicate at all. He’s open about his feelings and trusts his partner enough to discuss the hardships he’s faced in his life. He doesn’t have a problem with PDA, and might a bit clingy sometimes. He likes to have his partner near him and have a part of him touching them whenever he can. In private, the same thing applies. Football is important to him and it’s been his dream since he was young, which means his partner has to support his dreams. He’d love it if they help him out with practice and are there in the stands to cheer him on and offer him support even in the private confines of their homes. He talks often about making it pro and rambles about what he’ll do with the money he makes when he’s pro (he includes what he expects their life to be like too). The most important person in Patrick’s life is his grandmother, and his partner must be approved by his grandmother or else he’d struggle to stay with them. He’d love it if his partner hung out with his grandmother when he’s off pursuing his football career. The relationship with him is cute and sweet 

Thank you for the compliments, they do mean a lot. I included Patrick here because of your other request. I hope you enjoy this

-theloveproductofhetalia

[jawritter]

Promised

Chapter 1

**Series Warnings!! ** ABO dynamics! Smut, unprotected smut, knotting, claiming, mating, heat, rut, language, overly protective Jensen, age gap! 19-year-old reader, 41-year-old Jensen, virgin reader, loss of virginity, sort of an arranged marriage, hint at possible mob type settings.

Story Description:

In a world where your presentation can be a blessing or a curse, a newly presented Omega will come face to face with the harsh reality of Alphas, Omegas, and pack alliances that are expected to be upheld with the union of your two families…

Pairing: Reader x OFC!Sister, Reader x Father, Mentions of Reader x Mother.

Word Count: 1600 

A/N: Pt.1!!! Please don’t copy my stuff! Feedback is welcomed! If you want to be added to the series tag list, or just my tag list in general let me know! Cross-posted on Wattpad! Hope you enjoy it!! This is my first ABO series so be nice lmao!

"Y/n! Hurry up we're going to be late! You know Daddy hates it when we're late!" Jessica, your older sister, called from the bottom of the stairs.  It was your 19th birthday, and even though he knew how much you hated big parties and gatherings he insisted on throwing a big fancy dinner party.

People from your family were already filling the house, you could hear their voice wafting up the stairs, and into your room where you were applying your last touches to your makeup. 

"I'm coming!" you yell back down at her. 

You were unsure exactly how you could be late to a party that was being thrown at your own house, but you let it go knowing that it would do you no good to argue with her.

Jessica was much like your father. She was all business all the time. Jessica was the oldest of your sisters. There were three of you in total. Jessica, your middle sister Ashley, and yourself. Both sisters had already presented as Betas at the age of 16, much to your mother's relief, and your father's distress.

See in the world you lived it, your presentation ruled your very destiny. It determined what your entire life would be and consist of, or at least it did when you belonged to one of the oldest packs in the state of Texas. The Y/L/N's had been around since the very beginning. The bloodline kept alive by arranged marriages, and strong Alpha leaders like your father that did everything in their power to protect the pack. Even if it meant marrying off one of the daughters from the Pack Leader's family to the even older pack that was located in Dallas, Texas.

The Ackles.

The Ackles had been around as long as there was a record of Alpha pack leaders. They could trace their bloodline back almost to the time of Christ. Their pack, along with your father's pack, had been in an alliance from the turn of the century. Every leading family was to present a daughter or son Omega as a gift to the next Leader of the Ackles pack in order to keep the alliance between the two families alive. This was a tradition that carried on for centuries. It went off without a hitch. 

Until now...

When your mother gave birth to the three of you, they were assumed that at least one of you would present as an Omega. Both your sisters so far had presented as Beta, leaving only you. For some reason at 18, you still had not presented, nor had you started to have monthly cycles as Betas did, still, they assumed that you would also be Beta.

This presented quite a problem for your family. The other pack elders were going to give you until you were 21 to present. If by that time you presented as nothing you would be classified as a Beta, and your father would be demoted from the leader of the pack, and his younger brother, your uncle David, would be deemed as the new pack leader. At that point, one of your cousins would be given as tribute to the Ackles’ pack.

Because of the presentation problem, things between the families of late had been a little tense, to say the least. Most of the Ackles men by now had already found their Omega's and mated. Only two males from what you were told had presented as Alphas from Alan's children. Jensen, and his brother Josh.

Josh, had met his true mate, something that until it happened both packs thought was a myth. He was married and mated happily, forfeiting the throne as it were of the Ackles clan.

That left Jensen. 

The much older Alpha chose to wait it out. Not finding an Omega on his own, he told his father as long as he let him pursue a career in the film industry, that he'd wait for the tribute, whenever it chose to come. Jensen was now 41 years old, and that scared the hell out of you. The thought that you might be married off to someone who was literally old enough to be your father was utterly terrifying.

Alan agreed to let his son pursue his career as long as when you, or whoever was presented he was to drop everything and come to mate, to carry on the bloodlines. He agreed, and now you, him, and the other family members from both clans waited.

When you still hadn't presented by 18, things got a little heated between your dad and Alan. 

Alan accused your mother of cheating on your father, because she was an Omega and had come from a pure bloodline, and your father was a pure-blood alpha male, that came from a long line of Alphas... Why where you all seemingly Beta?

Descending the stars your mind a thousand miles away from the party tonight. You contemplated again why you still hadn't presented. Your father and your family were running out of time. Everything in this family hinged on you.

"It’s about damn time," your sister said, grabbing you by the arm and pulling you off to the side. "We, or rather you got a problem," she whispered to you urgently.

"What?" you asked confused, only God knew what your father had gotten you into now, but seeing as this dinner party was thrown together last minute, and very lavishly, you assumed he had something up his sleeves. Apparently, you were right.

"Alan will be here tonight... And so will Jensen," she said, giving you a moment to process what she was telling you.

"What do you mean?" 

You could literally feel the color draining from your face. 

"I thought I didn't have to come face to face with Jensen until I presented as an Omega," you said, trying to swallow the giant lump that was now in your throat as you were on the edge of panic.

"Well, under normal ceremonial circumstances you wouldn't have to, but we're running out of time, the council said that they would wait until you where 21, but Alan is getting impatient. Jensen isn't getting any younger, and Alan is getting tired of waiting for his prized son to be mated. Since Josh found his true mate, Alan and his family had been doing some research, and it turns out that if you get within the same proximity of your true mate, then it can jumpstart your heat..."

Stoping her stammering by throwing your hand up in the air you looked at her like she had popped out a third head. 

"Wait. What do you mean 'true mate', that's a one in a million shot, and Jensen and I have never even seen each other. I'm not sure this will work." you say, wanting to run back up to your room and lock the door. "How do they know that he's my true mate?" you asked her looking at her suspiciously.

"Well, there is this blood test that can be done, they contacted the clinic, and it turns out that you do have some of the same markers in your blood as Jensen's even though you still haven't even presented yet, which makes the theory that the two of you could possibly be true mates possible. So they decided to try and get the two of you in the same room, just to see what happens."

You sort of wonder in the back of your mind if you were as pale looking as you felt.

"No pressure then, huh?" you asked sarcastically.

"Don't worry Y/N, dad won't let anything happen to you, both Dad and Alan will be present during the whole introduction. Jensen is said to be a very nice, well-mannered man, he's not going to hurt you." Jessica assured you as you both began to move through the crowd that was walking around the house, making your way to the big double french doors that lead out to the garden area of the house where the main dinner party was being held.

"Jessica, what if he doesn't like what he sees? What if I don't present? What if he doesn't trigger my heat? What if I'm beta like you and Ashley?" you ramble, but she shushes you, trying to keep you calm.

"If you're really his true mate he will love you no matter what happens tonight. You've seen Josh and his wife, try not to worry. If this doesn't work you are off the hook, as far as what will happen to the family don't worry. We will figure it out. The pack isn't going to kick us out. Now our mother, on the other hand, may have to answer some question if ALL of her children turn out Beta, but we're off the hook to live our own lives at that point. That isn't so bad is it?" she asked as you made your way over to where you could see your father and your uncle David waiting for you.

"No, that really doesn't sound that bad," you say, thinking about all your Beta and even Omega friends that got to be control of their own lives because they didn't belong to a large pack that had the alliance to uphold. It was a nice thought to think that maybe you could find someone your age, and fall in love like on all the movies and things you had seen over the years, but could you be that lucky? Will that ever happen for you? Or where you destined to be tied to an Alpha you didn't even know that was twice your age?

Tag List:

@deanwanddamons​ @imabitch4jensen​

Series Tag List:

@onethirstyunicorn​

[not-majestic-bluenicorn]

Crescent || Chapter 12

Fandom(s): ATEEZ

AU: Treasure Hunters

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Relationship: Everyone x Everyone, Established Hongjoong x Yunho

Language: English

Status: Ongoing

Chapter WC: 8,446

Warnings: Character Death, Stabbing, Fighting, Blood, Aliens, War, Funerals, Kidnapping, Attempted Kidnapping, Mentions of Child Abuse / Child Work, Explosions, Murder Attempt, Robbery, Homeless/Runaway Character, Torture, Mentions of Slavery more will be added.

Chapter Warnings: Fighting, Blood, Injuries, Mentions of slavery.

Summary:

"The slaves are escaping!" Yelled a man as he turned the corner and saw Seonghwa going up the stairs. At that moment, Seonghwa ran forward and threw all of his weight against the man. He was not going to be dragged back down into the hold.

AO3

<< Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Next Chapter >>

Tagged: @angel0taiyo​

It took them about a full day to prepare for everything, and with every passing second, Hongjoong became more and more tense. He wished to just hurry in and save the hostages, but he had to keep the well-being of his crew in mind. They couldn't just jump into battle like that, they had to prepare. As far as he knew, Mingi and Yeosang were making the last few checks to the bomb Mingi had prepared under Yeosang and Jongho's instruction. 

Jongho had opted to help save the hostages, since it would probably be easier if Mingi and Yeosang moved by themselves with their guard, since Jongho wasn't really necessary after he had helped determine the attributes of the ship's engine. Hongjoong didn't really want him to participate in the raid, worried about his mental health, but Jongho had been very firm in his decision. 

All that was left was to wait until they were at the perfect distance to use warp speed. So Hongjoong was waiting in his quarters, nervously opening and closing his brother's compass. He had never been nervous to lead a team into battle before. Why was he nervous now? Maybe it was because he had come to care a lot about them, because there was never supposed to be any danger but now he was pulling them into it.

He was used to leading soldiers, but now his team was made of so much more than just that. Some of these people didn't even have any sort of military training. Was this the right decision? He knew it was worth risking his life to save the people in the slave trading ship, but was it right to risk the lives of his crew as well? He knew his soldiers would follow him no matter what, he was their prince after all, but what about those who had no idea about his real self?

Yunho walked in right at that moment, and Hongjoong opened and closed his compass one more time. It was almost like he had sensed Hongjoong's nervousness. And to be fair, the captain wouldn't find it weird if his lover had actually sensed something about his attitude. Yunho walked up to him and softly pushed the compass back into Hongjoong's coat pocket, offering his hands instead. Hongjoong squeezed them softly and sighed, comforted by Yunho's presence.

"I don't think I've ever seen my General so nervous before battle," Yunho said, making Hongjoong smile.

"Well, we are doing something illegal after all," Hongjoong chuckled, breathing out slowly.

"I'm pretty sure that's not what worries you," Yunho huffed. "Even as a prince, you've never been quite worried about doing a couple of illegal things."

"I've never done something illegal," Hongjoong frowned.

"You know, except aiding a serial robber to run away from the law, I'm sure you've done nothing illegal," Yunho smirked. Hongjoong shook his head, pouting slightly.

"That's different though, it doesn't apply..." Hongjoong insisted, although he couldn't quite explain why to Yunho.

"Why?" Yunho tilted his head. "Is it because of this Wooyoung guy?" Hongjoong's eyes widened in surprise and Yunho nodded, knowing that he had hit the nail on the head.

"Did you hear me talking about it with Mingi?" Hongjoong asked, remembering that Yunho had been lying next to him at that moment.

"Not all of it, I was pretty asleep still, but I did hear some of the conversation," Yunho nodded. "You don't have to explain it to me now though, I can see you're troubled and you don't know much yourself."

"I really don't..." Hongjoong sighed. "I wish I knew more."

"Aside from that, what is truly worrying you about this fight?" Yunho returned to their previous topic. "I truly have never seen you like this before a battle."

"I'm just scared someone will be injured for my selfish wishes," Hongjoong sighed even more deeply this time. "Not everyone here has fighting experience, I'm throwing them to the wolves."

"You're doing no such thing," Yunho assured him. "It's not selfish to want to help people, you don't even know the specific person that Wooyoung is looking for in that ship, you heard slaves and jumped into action." Hongjoong sighed again and nodded, knowing Yunho was right.

"What about you? How do you feel about the whole ordeal?" Hongjoong looked into Yunho's eyes. "Are you scared?"

"Of course I'm not," Yunho smiled. "Sure, it's not a great memory to relive, but I have you and the crew fighting by my side, I've nothing to be scared of."

"I'd never let something like that happen to you again," Hongjoong smiled back, "thank you for trusting me on this one."

"I want to save them as much as you," Yunho noted. "Gotta share the joy of being rescued by the royal family."

Hongjoong chuckled heartily at Yunho's joke; he felt so much better after speaking to him. He realized that he owed a sense of security to the crew, precisely because some of them didn't know how to fight. They were already willing to help him, so Hongjoong was responsible for making them feel safe and confident that they could pull it off. They saw him as a leader, so he needed to be one. And Hongjoong was certain now that he could do it.

--

Mingi had already checked the preparations of the bomb five times. Saying he was nervous wasn't nearly enough to express how he was feeling, after all, he knew nothing but the life he had led in his community. In his community, everyone was close to each other and they all saw for the youngsters and cared for their elderly, the sole idea of fighting slave traders had never crossed Mingi's mind.

He couldn't stop shaking, repeating in hushed whispers what Jongho had taught him about The Sailfish's engine hours before. He didn't really need to memorize it, because Yeosang would be there to guide him, but it gave him something to hold onto. Just as he has begun to check the bomb for the sixth time, Yeosang arrives and sits next to him on the floor, stopping Mingi right before he begins.

"I think you've checked it enough times," Yeosang commented.

There was no malice in his voice, but Mingi still felt like he was being reprimanded. He was quick to whisper an apology as he retrieved his hands from the bomb and held them on his lap, pulling and letting go of the fabric of his pants several times. Yeosang observed him for a few silent seconds before smiling softly and looking at Mingi.

"What is worrying you?" Yeosang asked, placing a hand softly over Mingi's right hand.

"Do I seem worried?" Mingi asked with a bit of sarcasm, but his voice came out strangled, and he immediately regretted it. "Sorry, you're right, I'm really nervous right now."

"But why?" Yeosang repeated. "Maybe I can help you ease your worries."

"Well, I've never been in a fight before, I don't know how to fight," Mingi mumbled. "I'm scared of not knowing what to do. Plus, my leg is basically useless, you saw what happened when we were running together in your home planet, I couldn't keep up and I put you in danger when I fell, and-"

"Mingi, breathe..." Yeosang stopped him from rambling on, since he was starting to make little sense. "Okay, let's see... First of all, you're not going to fight, you're going to strategically plant a bomb inside a ship and blow it up, which is your expertise!" He smiled, while Mingi stared perplexed at him.

"Second, your leg is not useless, it helps you walk doesn't it?" Yeosang continued and Mingi nodded slowly. "Third, you got the story wrong, you didn't put me in danger, I put you in danger, since those people wouldn't have chased us if I had kept my hands to myself."

"But-"

"No buts," Yeosang raised a finger. "Your fear of getting hurt during the battle is completely valid, but don't forget our mission isn't to fight, no one wants you to fight, they want you to do what you're best at." Yeosang smiled again, squeezing Mingi's hand. "Plus, I'll be with you the whole time, I'm not the best fighter, but I won't let anything happen to you. I'll protect you, it's a promise."

Mingi stared at Yeosang for the longest time, unable to know what to say. How was someone supposed to reply to such a statement, anyway? He looked away and nodded, softly pulling his hand away so Yeosang couldn't notice how his palms had begun sweating or how fast his pulse was under his skin. If Yeosang did notice, he didn't say anything, and just let go of Mingi without complaint.

--

Seonghwa struggled to wake up. It had become increasingly more difficult to awaken or stay awake as he was starved by the ship's crew and beat up every other day. The crew had taken him as some sort of punching bag in which to vent their frustrations. Seonghwa was in pain all the time and he was so exhausted his sleep had become dreamless, taking Wooyoung's comforting presence away from him.

Sometimes, another of the hostages would offer him rests of their dinner whenever their captors weren't looking. But the food had become scarce in the last few days, and it was difficult to count the pass of time as the meals became less frequent. Seonghwa still clung to the hope of Wooyoung's words, believing someone would come to save them.

He was still trying to fully wake up and sit on the floor when he heard a commotion upstairs. He didn’t fully process it until the other captives began screaming, huddling together in fear of the unknown. This time, Seonghwa succeeded in forcing himself to sit up, and finally understood that something was happening up in the deck. With his hands chained behind his back, he struggled until he was able to push himself to his knees and then finally stood up.

Dizziness overcame him for a moment and he closed his eyes, taking deep breaths until it passed. He knew that if he fell back down, he would most likely not get to stand up again, and he wanted to know what was going on. Ignoring the screams and cries of fear from the other captives, he approached the door to the hold.

It had been left open and unguarded, as whatever was happening out there seemed to require the attention of all the guards. He painstakingly made his way up to the deck. The sound became louder the more he walked, until it was very clear that there was a fight going on upstairs. Wooyoung was real, and he hadn't lied, someone was going to save them all.

Just as he made his way to another floor, he heard footsteps running towards him. He stopped in the middle of the stairs and took a deep breath. His heart was beating fast, and he mentally prepared himself to fight for his life and for his freedom. At the very least, he could hope that they found him soon and helped him, because he didn't know for how much longer he would be able to go on.

"The slaves are escaping!" Yelled a man as he turned the corner and saw Seonghwa going up the stairs. At that moment, Seonghwa ran forward and threw all of his weight against the man. He was not going to be dragged back down into the hold.

--

The combination of their surprise apparition with the mock explosives Mingi had prepared were enough to take The Sailfish by surprise. The Crescent stopped slightly above The Sailfish and they quickly jumped on deck one after another. The captain of the enemy ship was quick to sound the alarm and order his men to attack, but their surprise attack was enough to give the rescue team a good head start before they could be stopped.

"Go!" Hongjoong's order was simple, but his crew didn't need more.

He saw through the corner of his eye as Jaeyoung, the soldier appointed to protect Mingi and Yeosang, escorted them towards their objective, and then he had to focus on the battle. They had agreed that, if possible, there should be no victims in order to protect the crew, but Hongjoong had insisted that they should do whatever it took to make it back to The Crescent.

Hongjoong deflected a sword that came his way and quickly advanced, thrusting his sword forward and cutting the man on his side before kicking him away. He could feel Yunho standing next to him as he fought his own battle, offering him protection at the same time. Hongjoong's eyes scanned the deck quickly as often as he could, paying attention to the status of his crew members. He was ready to jump in front of a blade if it meant protecting them.

A fast movement in the corner of his eye alerted him of an incoming attack, and he guarded just in time, stopping a sword centimetres away from his face. Hongjoong grunted as he pushed forward with his own sword. The man pulled away and tried to thrust towards him again, but Hongjoong was faster as he hit the man's hilt with a quick flick of his wrist, disarming him. His sword transformed into a baton and he knocked the man unconscious with a clean hit.

He gave a quick look around and noticed San finishing a fight with another slave trader, not noticing that his back was uncovered and someone was approaching him from behind. Hongjoong ran quickly towards him, not even giving Yunho the opportunity to stop him. He activated the shield on his forearm protector right before jumping in front of the blade, stopping it in time.

"You're unguarded!" Hongjoong yelled at San as he pushed his shield forward. He pressed a button on his forearm twice, causing the shield to disappear and reappear right after, trapping the blade within it. Hongjoong quickly threw his arm to the side and snapped the enemy's blade in half, before hitting him with the hilt of his own sword on the side of his head and knocking him out.

San stared at him in disbelief, and Hongjoong turned to look at him, putting his guard down for a few seconds. San only had a moment to react as he saw someone running towards Hongjoong from behind him. He realized at that moment that he didn't want to kill Hongjoong, nor did he want to let him die, so San pushed him aside and thrusted his sword forward, stabbing the enemy right as he's getting to them.

Hongjoong stared at him and San stared back, breathing hard. It was a terrible moment to realize that he now cared about his mission, but not in the way he should. After Wooyoung's visit to his dreams, he had been terrified, thinking his superiors had found out; he had told himself everyday that he needed to finish it off. He should have let Hongjoong die at that moment. But now he realized he just couldn't, because he was starting to care.

"Watch out!" Yunho yelled and San and Hongjoong turned at the same time, just in time to see a throwing knife bury itself in an enemy's arm as he dropped to the floor in pain, less than a meter away from them. "Stop daydreaming, we're in the middle of a fight!"

"That was amazing San, you just saved my life," Hongjoong said, putting a hand on San's shoulder. "Thank you." 

San cursed softly under his breath as he felt a soft blush spread on his face and neck. This was truly a terrible time to realize he cared. Still, he couldn't get distracted now if he didn't want to die, so he joined Hongjoong and pushed through the battle. He would have to work his feelings out later.

--

"You little piece of shit," the slave trader grumbled as he sat on top of Seonghwa, using his hands to choke him.

Seonghwa felt so weak he didn't have the energy to do anything. He was trying so hard to not pass out, but with his hands tied behind his back, he couldn't even fight to push the man away. He shouldn't have jumped against him, it had been a stupid choice, and now he was going to die and ruin Wooyoung's efforts.

"Get off!" He heard an unfamiliar voice yell, and suddenly the weight on top of him disappeared.

He began taking big gulps of air, desperately trying to bring oxygen to his lungs as he coughed and trashed around. Someone helped him to sit up and guided him through breathing until he managed to calm down. He looked up and saw a young, black haired man sitting next to him. The man was looking at him with worry, but Seonghwa wanted to scream in joy. He was safe.

"Here, the keys," a woman said as she gave the man a set of keys.

The man sat behind him and worked the keys until he managed to unlock Seonghwa's handcuffs. Seonghwa sighed in relief as he brought his arms forward. Moving hurt so much that a few tears sprung to his eyes as he gently massaged his shoulders, trying to make it a little better. 

"Are you alone?" The woman asked.

"There's more down in the hold," Seonghwa muttered, voice rough from what had happened earlier.

"I'll stay with him, go look for the others," the man that had saved him gave the keys to the woman and the rest of the crew disappeared downstairs. "Are you okay?"

"Better than I've been in days," Seonghwa sighed, closing his eyes. "Who are you? Did Wooyoung send you?"

The man's face changed when Seonghwa mentioned Wooyoung, showcasing a mix of surprise and tenseness. Seonghwa guessed he was right about the assumption, and that was everything he needed to know. He wished he could see Wooyoung right then, and thank him for giving him hope and fulfilling his promise.

"My name is Jongho," the man answered, still looking surprised. "I guess Wooyoung sent us, I don't know all of the details, to be fair."

"Thank you for saving me," Seonghwa smiled the best he could. He knew he looked terrible and was dirty and bruised, but he was thankful that Jongho wasn't pulling away and instead offered to support him.

"Don't thank me," Jongho smiled back and helped him stand up. "Let's get you out of here."

--

Yeosang guided Mingi and Jaeyoong through the ship, as he was the most familiar with its structure. They had gone in with the rescue team but had taken different parts early in their trip to the depths of the ship and now they were alone. They could hear the sounds of the battle, but they became less and less apparent the deeper they made it in, until it sounded more like a restless murmur than a fight.

Mingi was gripping the bag which carried the explosive like his life depended on it, which it kind of did. He was extremely nervous about getting things wrong. For obvious reasons, they hadn't been able to test the explosive, and he just didn't have enough confidence to trust that his calculations were correct.  For now, he just focused on following Yeosang and tried his best to ignore his worries.

After a few minutes of walking deeper and deeper into the ship, stopping every time they heard suspicious noises and checking around corners, they made it into the engine room. Jaeyoong forced the door open and they quickly made it inside, leaving the door open for a quick escape. They would focus on installing the bomb and activating it. Then they would have to run back to the deck.

Of course, the point of it was to make the explosion their big, dramatic exit. Everyone else needed to time their part of the mission correctly to be able to get out of the ship in time. The explosion wasn't just a way to render the ship useless and prevent the slave traders from following them, but also the distraction they needed to be able to get out. As Mingi thought about it, the pressure he felt increased, and he began to sweat.

"Don't be nervous," Yeosang said next to him, startling him out of it.

"Huh?" Mingi asked, voice shaky.

"Don't be nervous, everything is going to go as planned, I promise," Yeosang repeated, patting Mingi's back. "Here, we gotta install the bombs, we got this."

Mingi nodded and took a deep breath before setting to work. Yeosang had drawn a diagram with Jongho's help on how they had to install the bomb. He calmly guided Mingi through all of the key places as Mingi did what he knew best and set the bomb. Yeosang couldn't help but notice how amazing it was to see Mingi focused on doing something he had confidence in, because as soon as he began to work, his insecurities vanished and he made quick work of the explosives.

Soon enough, Mingi was done and he stood up to admire his work. He felt a thrill run through his spine as he came to the realization of how important his job for that mission was, and he felt proud, because he knew he was doing it right. They checked everything once again to make sure it was all in place, and then Mingi activated the bomb.

"Let's go, we have seven minutes to get to the deck," Mingi said.

Yeosang guided them back towards the main deck. This time they walked faster and a little more carelessly, assuming everyone would be up on the deck trying to fight back the invasion. They encountered the last few members of the rescue team taking the hostages out to the deck and helped them make it to The Crescent as Hongjoong and the fight team pushed back the crew of The Sailfish.

"Move quickly!" Hongjoong ordered, not even looking at them as he pulled a man back from his shirt and stopped him from reaching towards the crew.

They had left someone on board The Crescent so that they could level the ship and make it easy for them to cross. The crew helped the prisoners board the ship and then boarded after them. Yeosang nervously checked his clock as the seconds ticked down to the seven minute mark. Hongjoong ordered the retreat and all of the soldiers began returning to the ship as the front line kept the enemy at bay while they waited for the explosives to go off and give them an opening.

In just a moment, there was the loud sound of an explosion and The Sailfish shook, throwing everyone off their feet. Hongjoong and the rest took that as their signal and they quickly got up and retreated to The Crescent. The crew of The Sailfish was confused and lost from the explosion, which gave them the perfect opportunity to blast off into space, successfully completing the rescue.

There was no time for celebration as they began tending to wounded. Hongjoong quickly checked those who had been in the front line with him; there were some minor injuries here and there, but they had basically made it out unscratched. He went to each member of his crew personally to check on them, and then made sure everyone was gathered at the main deck to give them instructions.

"Okay, I want the crew members to help me take our guests to the infirmary, we must perform an immediate health check to see they're not suffering any complications," Hongjoong instructed. "We don't have enough medical personnel on board, so if you know first aid then please help perform it until we can give them proper attention.

"Once we're sure they're okay, we'll take them to eat a proper meal and get them new clothes, understood?" Hongjoong asked, and everyone shouted their affirmations. "I want to thank everyone for the amazing job you did back there! This wouldn't have been possible without this amazing crew, thank you." Hongjoong bowed deeply, and the crew cheered. 

Even those who hadn't been certain at first felt happy about having helped. Hongjoong felt relieved knowing he had been able to save everyone and still bring his crew back to the ship practically unscathed. He knew they wouldn’t be able to get away with things so easily, but for now, he needed to make sure they were all okay. He would push his worries aside and deal with things as they came, there was nothing else he could do.

--

Once they had taken care of the wounded, and made sure everyone was alright, Jongho went looking for Mingi. He wanted to show him who Seonghwa was, since so far it seemed like only he and Mingi knew his name, and he could only bet Mingi would be worried. He found Mingi sitting by himself by the deck, just looking at everything else unfold in the ship. He seemed tired, and he wondered how his side of the mission had gone.

Jongho sat next to Mingi after making his presence known. Mingi fidgeted a little before smiling and looking at Jongho. He still looked somewhat shaken and nervous, and he guessed it must have been really hard for him to carry out the mission. Jongho smiled and wrapped one arm around Mingi's shoulders, pulling him into a half-embrace that was meant to be reassuring and almost congratulatory.

"Are you alright?" Jongho asked after a little while.

"Yeah, I guess I'm a little bit shaken," Mingi chuckled. "It was quite the experience."

"You did amazing though," Jongho smiled, "it blew up just as planned. You helped us get out of there."

"I wouldn't have been able to do it without your help," Mingi said. "Your guidance about the ship's build helped a lot."

"Or my help, you know," Yeosang said, startling both of them out of the hug. They hadn't seen him coming. "But like, I understand my contributions weren't as great." He said with feigned indifference sitting right next to Mingi who had suddenly grown tense.

"O-Of course not," Mingi rushed to say, "I wouldn't have been able to do it if you hadn't been there, I-"

"Mingi, I know," Yeosang smiled, stopping him with a simple gesture. "I was just kidding, I'm sorry."

"Oh..." Mingi nodded, understanding. 

They settled into a comfortable silence, just observing the rest of the crew move around the deck. No one came to tell them anything, everyone deserved to take their own little breaks here and there, and so they were left to their own devices. Eventually, Mingi fell asleep between the other two, snoring softly here and there. 

Jongho pushed his head on top of his shoulder so he could get a little more comfortable. Yeosang observed this and smiled, bringing his legs close to his chest and leaning his head on his knees so he would be able to look at both Mingi and Jongho. He couldn't help but smile when he saw Mingi's sleeping face, so peaceful. Jongho was just looking forward, quietly thinking to himself.

"I think I'm really fortunate," Yeosang mumbled.

"Why do you say so?" Jongho asked. He tried his best not to move much so he wouldn't disturb Mingi.

"Because I'm here, with you, and not back on my planet," Yeosang was still observing both of them. His eyes scanned the bridge of Mingi's nose and the way his eyes fluttered as he dreamed of something. Then they moved towards Jongho, appreciating his side profile.

"You mean here with the crew or...?" Jongho left the open question, a sudden feeling of uncertainty settling in his chest.

"Both," Yeosang said. "Of course I'm grateful to the crew, Captain Hongjoong especially, for taking me in and saving me back there in Tebos." Yeosang raised his head and stretched his arms. "But I'm mostly thankful for being here with you and Mingi, the two of you were the first ones to believe in me and step up for me, so I'm thankful."

Jongho hummed softly in acknowledgment, not knowing what to reply to that, although he knew Yeosang wasn't expecting any sort of reply. They stayed in silence for a few more minutes before Yeosang stood up. For a moment, Jongho thought he would leave and felt like reaching out to stop him. Instead, Yeosang sat next to him.

"Lend me your shoulder," he said, mimicking Mingi's pose.

"Suit yourself," Jongho replied, letting him lean on his left shoulder and fall asleep. And just like that he realized he had forgotten to tell Mingi about Seonghwa, but he guessed that could just wait.

--

"Okay Hongjoong, you can drop the act," Yunho told him once they were in the privacy of the main quarters.

Hongjoong immediately slumped on a chair and groaned. He made quick work of his coat and shirt, taking them off and dropping them on the floor. His coat was dark, so the blood hadn't been evident, but the white shirt he had been wearing underneath was caked with it. At some point during the fight, one of those bastards had cut his side. He had managed to keep collected all throughout the fight, but of course Yunho had noticed.

"Honestly, I can't believe you decided to check on everyone else first while you were bleeding out," Yunho huffed, bringing another chair to sit next to him and begin checking the wound.

Yunho had taken a first aid kit from the infirmary during Hongjoong's mandatory visit to check on everyone else, since he knew his boyfriend wouldn't like to be treated in public. Hongjoong just grumbled something as he looked at the wound. It was very superficial, and the bleeding made it look worse than it really was, but it did hurt like hell.

"You're lucky this isn't worse, because it could've been." Yunho continued reprimanding him as he grabbed a wet towel and began wiping the blood to make it easier to treat the wound. "You know, your hero complex might be fatal one day."

"You always tell me this," Hongjoong complained, taking deep breaths to avoid yelling because the treatment hurt. 

"Because you never listen," Yunho smiled. "But well, I probably wouldn't have fallen in love with you if you weren't so stupidly reckless."

"Can you stop insulting me? I'm wounded!" Hongjoong pouted. Yunho leaned in to kiss his little pout before grabbing the salt water solution and cleaning the wound. "Fuck that hurts," Hongjoong dragged the s, trying to keep himself from swatting Yunho away.

"Patience, I'm almost done..." Yunho carefully cleaned all of the wound before gently drying the area off and grabbing the bandages. "Please stand up."

Hongjoong stood up as ordered and Yunho began to carefully bandage him. The wound was relatively long, but not wide enough to require stitching, nor was it deep enough that they should worry, so a simple bandaging should suffice. It would hurt for a while while it healed, but Hongjoong didn't need a wound to complain about things anyway, so Yunho guessed it wouldn't make much of a difference.

"There we go, done." Yunho patted the bandages softly, on the side opposite to the wound.

The captain quickly draped his arms around Yunho's shoulders and buried his face in his chest, pouting and letting out fake sniffles. Yunho chuckled softly and carefully wrapped his arms around Hongjoong, mindful of his injury. Hongjoong looked up at him and pouted his lips, asking for kisses. Yunho gladly complied.

"Are you alright?" Hongjoong asked, paying attention to Yunho's expressions.

"Yes, nothing but some minor bruises," Yunho nodded. "They'll heal quickly enough."

Hongjoong nodded before going quiet. His mind was still in the battle, thinking about San's actions when he had saved him. Hongjoong had seen him make the decision in that split second, almost like San hadn't been certain about saving him, but when he had, it was almost like something had changed in San. Hongjoong couldn't stop thinking about him, he was worried.

"What is worrying you?" Yunho asked after observing him for a few seconds.

"San," Hongjoong replied with no hesitation, biting his lower lip. "He's been acting a bit strange."

"Go check on him, then." Yunho said, disentangling Hongjoong from himself.

"But I'm spending time with you right now," Hongjoong muttered, only half convinced.

"You're not going to pay proper attention to me unless you go check on him, I know you." Yunho softly flickered his forehead. "Besides, I agree, he's been acting a bit weird, so go check on him."

"Fine, only because you insisted," Hongjoong yielded, giving Yunho one last kiss before leaving the quarters.

It took him a while to find San. He looked for him in the crew's quarters as well as in the infirmary and the dining room, but couldn't find him anywhere. Eventually he ended up looking throughout the whole ship, until he found him sitting on the hold's floor cleaning his own wounds. Hongjoong sat in front of him and grabbed a wet towel, folding it to help wipe his wounds.

"What are you doing?" San asked, stopping as Hongjoong began wiping a wound on the calf of his right leg.

"Helping you tend to your wounds," Hongjoong said simply.

"How did you find me?" San asked again, still frozen in place.

"By looking for you, how else?" Hongjoong scoffed, putting the towel again and grabbing some cottons to wipe the wound with the salt water solution. 

"But why?" San insisted, a little defensive.

"You ask too many questions, did you know?" Hongjoong gave him a warning look. "I just wanted to check on you, I'm your captain, I worry."

"Right..." San finally gave in, not wanting to upset Hongjoong. He went back to cleaning a superficial cut on his left arm.

He wasn't that wounded and didn't really need help. He had taken care of worse injuries all by himself before, they had trained him for that after all. He knew how to take care of the worst of injuries, and had helped tend to the people they had rescued before finding a quiet place for himself. He didn't need Hongjoong's help, but it felt nice to have it.

San didn't complain while Hongjoong cleaned and covered his wounds with gauze. He didn't say a thing and just acted compliant until the other was satisfied with his work. Hongjoong's first aid was very clean and precise, and San could tell it wasn't the first time he did something like that. He wondered what horrors had Hongjoong seen in war, if they were too different to the ones he had encountered himself.

"What's up with you these days?" Hongjoong asked once he was done, giving no sign that he was planning to leave.

"What do you mean?" San asked, immediately becoming defensive and giving himself away. Hongjoong was right, something was wrong with him those days, but he couldn't just tell him, could he?

"Well, you yelled at me the other day, and you seem very agitated these days," Honjoong listed out, lifting fingers as if he was counting. "It does make you look a little less cold but you're still pretty much unapproachable.”

San sighed, it was impossible for him to deny that he was acting weird. But how was he supposed to explain to Hongjoong that San had been sent to kill him by a mysterious man and that now he couldn't do it because he had started developing some sort of feelings. He wasn't supposed to feel, not for his victims at least. That was not how he had been built, how he had been trained.

"I just have a lot in my mind these days," San explained. "It's not something you should worry about."

"I won't pressure you into telling me if you don't want to," Hongjoong explained, "but you can't stop me from worrying, you're part of my crew, my family."

"You really don't make things easier, you know?" San groaned, wanting to smash his head against the wall and end with his difficulties. 

"Yunho tells me that often," Hongjoong chuckled.

"Well, your boyfriend is right," San huffed. "Why haven't you told the rest of the crew about it, by the way? It's not like you're doing a great job at keeping it secret."

"Well on one side, there was the bet," Hongjoong said, reminding him about the bet they had made on who would ask them first. "But also because we keep our relationship in line when it comes to work, sure we display affection sometimes, but I'm still his boss."

"Isn't that hard?" San asked, resting his head on his hands over his knees.

"Sometimes," Honjoong nodded, "he's a very devoted person. Sometimes he forgets we're equals, and I have to remind him he doesn't have to die for me, you know?"

San nodded, although he didn't actually understand what it meant, wanting to die for someone. He wondered if he ever would. He had been taught to seduce, to pretend, to act out feelings, but he had never learned about what it was to actually feel it. With all he had done, he probably didn't deserve it anyway.

"You're fortunate to have each other," San mumbled, surprising himself with his words, but still getting them out. "I'm kind of envious."

"Don't be," Hongjoong smiled. "One day you'll find someone like that for you, you're a good person San."

His heart skipped a beat and he hid his face in his hands. He wasn't deserving of those words, but Hongjoong didn't know, so he wanted to be selfish and let himself bask in them, just for a moment. He heard Hongjoong stand up and pat his clothes to get rid of the dust. He felt a warm hand pat his hair softly and looked up just for a second, breathless.

"I gotta go check up with our guests to make sure they're doing fine," Hongjoong explained. "See you later."

San watched him march away and cursed Hongjoong in silence, for making everything more difficult for him.

--

Seonghwa felt so much better after he had been given proper water and food. The shower had taken away all of the dirt and sweat that had settled onto his skin, and the clothes he had been given felt soft and comforting on him. He had been tended to and all his injuries were now bandaged. He did have one broken rib that had already begun to heal, and he guessed he hadn't noticed because he was always in pain.

He had been given a bed in the infirmary along with other victims that were in more drastic conditions like him. He watched as the rest of the ex-captives walked into the infirmary to receive indications from the Captain. Seonghwa had been itching to have a personal talk with Captain Hongjoong, wondering if he also knew about Wooyoung and if he had been the recipient of his cry of help, but he hadn't had the opportunity yet.

"Thank you for being patient and reuniting here with me, I'll be brief." Hongjoong said once he had gotten everyone's attention. "We unfortunately can't return you each individually to your homes, so what we're planning to do is arrive at a commercial planet and help you contact your embassies there so they can guide you home.

"We think a commercial planet would be best since they have the most embassies available," Hongjoong explained, "We're also looking into contacting a non-profit organization that will make things easier with the lack of documentation, so you'll be protected in case something goes wrong."

"We should anchor somewhere in a few days." Yunho added. "For now, just focus on getting your strength back. We also have an intergalactic communication device available, if you would like to try to contact your families."

Seonghwa felt panic. Sure, the plan sounded great for people that wanted to go back home, but he didn't want to return to his family. Despite all that had happened, he didn't want to go back to feeling useless and like a dead-weight all the time. Plus, there was Wooyoung. Seonghwa needed to find him and his best shot was to stay with these people that were somehow connected to the Somnum as well. He couldn't go home.

"Wait, please!" Seonghwa called them.

His voice was still hoarse, but Hongjoong and Yunho heard him and approached him, stopping him from standing up and following them. Seonghwa was still feeling weak, and standing up would have probably been a bad idea. Hongjoong and Yunho looked at him in confusion, not really knowing who he was or what he wanted from them.

"I can't go home," Seonghwa said quickly, trying to explain himself now that he had gotten their attention. "I can't go back there, please don't send me back." He almost begged. Hongjoong and Yunho exchanged a look of confusion.

"Why not?" Yunho asked, looking at Seonghwa suspiciously.

"It's just-" Seonghwa struggled with the words, nor really wanting to tell them what had happened to him back at home. "There's no place for me if I go back."

"Then, would you like us to drop you off somewhere? I'm sure that can be arranged." Hongjoong added, trying to placate Seonghwa, who seemed desperate.

"Can I stay with you?" Seonghwa was quick to ask. He wouldn't be able to find Wooyoung otherwise, since he seemed to be connected to this ship. He needed to stay. "I'll make myself useful. I'm very good with numbers and I have a lot of connections, I can get you deals for anything you need to buy." It wasn't a lie. His father didn't want him to inherit the family business, but that didn't mean Seonghwa hadn't learnt about it.

"Wait a second," Yunho said before pulling Hongjoong aside.

Seonghwa observed them talk, desperate to be accepted into the ship. He didn't want to go home and the slave traders had stolen all his stuff, so he didn't have anything to continue a journey by himself if they didn't let him stay. Still, he knew he was suspicious, since he didn't have anything to prove his identity anymore. Yunho and Hongjoong finished talking and approached him again.

"Okay, you can stay," Hongjoong said. "But we still need to get back your paperwork and identifications, so you're gonna have to help us with that." Seonghwa nodded enthusiastically, relieved that it had worked.

"Thank you so much," Seonghwa sighed, finally feeling like he could rest.

"What's your name, lad?" Hongjoong asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Seonghwa, Captain." He replied firmly, leaving his last name behind.

"Well, welcome to The Crescent, Seonghwa."

--

San paced around the hold bitterly, mentally preparing himself for the scolding he was going to get. It had been a while since he had last contacted his boss, and he still didn't have good news about the mission he was supposed to be doing. In fact, he only had bad news about it, but of course he couldn't tell his boss that. Despite everything, San was still trying to get out of it alive.

"Hello, code CS-710-28. I assume by your expression that you don't have good news." His boss said as soon as San opened the communication channel.

"My apologies, sir." San said, head down. He knew his apologies were no good, but there was nothing else he could say.

"Right," his boss scoffed. "What was it this time, then? Why haven't you finished it off?"

"We got into a fight with another ship, they were a lot more so I was busy fighting," San explained, "I tried to force him to be uncovered, but Yunho is always by his side, it was impossible." San sighed, the lies flowing out easily like water. "I believe he was injured, but since we're back on the ship he must be getting treated right now."

"You're fucking useless, code CS-710-28." His boss laughed, and San just fixed his eyes on the ground, hopping this would be done quickly. "I'm disappointed in you. You better hurry up with your mission and come back, the Black Room will be waiting for you."

The transmission cut off and San let out a long sigh. He leaned against a wall and let himself slide against it until he was sitting on the floor. Everything was becoming worse and worse for him, now even if he returned victorious, there was a punishment waiting for him. His body shook involuntarily as he remembered the Black Room, and the times he had been in it before.

The Black Room was just like its name promised: a small, squared room with every inch painted in the darkest black he had ever seen. It was cold and dark. It felt like being entombed but with enough space to move and breathe. It was impossible to tell up from down or left from right when you were trapped in it; time didn't pass but it felt like an eternity all the same. San hated the Black Room with all of his being, and he didn't want to go back there.

But as things were, he also didn't want to fulfill his mission. In fact, he didn't want to be part of it at all anymore. Who could seriously want Hongjoong dead? He was the kindest and most selfless person San had ever met. Hongjoong didn't deserve to die, didn't deserve to have an invisible price tag over his head. The thing was that if San didn't carry out the mission, someone else would, and they probably wouldn't hesitate like him. He needed to do something.

He needed to discover who was behind all of this.

--

Wooyoung had been waiting nervously for who knows how long, hoping someone would go to sleep soon so he could visit them and see how Seonghwa was doing. He waited until he couldn't wait anymore, and then tried to go to sleep. Wooyoung tried to visit Seonghwa's dreams first, and although he could feel him sleeping, Seonghwa was so exhausted that he wasn't dreaming, and Wooyoung couldn't reach him.

He decided to try with Mingi instead, who knew who Seonghwa was. It didn't take him long to find Mingi, already used to visiting him in dreams. When he appeared, Mingi greeted him with a warm smile, and Wooyoung immediately ran to hug him, happy to see that he was all in once piece. Mingi received him with open arms, albeit a little confused and embarrassed for the sudden display of affection.

"I was so worried!" Wooyoung exclaimed, hugging Mingi tight. "I knew everything would go well but I was still so nervous that my visions had maybe failed me, or something."

"We're fine!" Mingi was quick to reassure him. "Sure, there were a few injuries, but we all returned safe and sound, and we rescued all of the slaves."

"I'm so glad," Wooyoung sighed, relieved, still very much clinging to Mingi. "Have you seen Seonghwa yet, is he okay?"

"Actually..." Mingi's voice lowered. He had completely forgotten to look for Seonghwa because he had spent his time with Jongho and Yeosang instead, how embarrassing! "I still don't know who he is?" Wooyoung looked at him in surprise.

"Why not?" With how curious Mingi had been about everything Wooyoung had told him, he had expected him to go looking for Seonghwa already.

"Well..." Mingi tried to think of a lie, something he could say to evade the answer. "I was distracted with someone- I mean! Something! I was distracted with something else!"

"Let me guess, Yeosang and Jongho?" Wooyoung grinned, enjoying the way Mingi's neck and face turned all red.

"This is unfair!" Mingi complained. "Why did you ask if you knew already?"

"I didn't!" Wooyoung laughed. "You just confirmed it for me. I was guessing based on your dreams and my visions."

"Ugh." Mingi frowned. "I hate you." Yet, his arms were still wrapped around Wooyoung's middle.

"Sure, sure." Wooyoung smiled. "There's nothing bad with it, you know?"

Mingi just shrugged, not really wanting to talk about his potential crush on two of his crew members who probably didn't think as highly of him. He was content with their friendship, even if it was quite hard to be around them without his heart feeling like it was going to explode like one of his bombs. He could take it, though.

"I saw what you did in one of my visions, by the way," Wooyoung continued, this time his voice wasn't teasing, it was sincere. "I'm really thankful that you listened to me when I asked you to rescue Seonghwa. Thank you for being brave and telling Hongjoong, and thank you for getting into that ship and blowing it up."

"I didn't do much..." Mingi shrugged, a little embarrassed.

"You did a lot, they wouldn't have been able to get out without your help," Wooyoung smiled. "You were so cool back there too, installing the bomb and taking care that you all got out in time."

"Stop," Mingi blushed once again. "It's embarrassing when you say it like this."

"Like this how?" Wooyoung tilted his head. "All close and personal?"

Mingi let out a little unintentional squeak as he felt Wooyoung's arms tighten around his neck. Wooyoung let out a hearty laugh before standing on the tips of his toes and pressing a soft kiss to Mingi's cheek. Mingi squeaked again and took a step back, tripping. They never hit the floor, and instead just hovered softly a few feet from the floor. Mingi looked around and saw they were floating, and immediately turned to look at Wooyoung.

"Are you doing this?" He asked, hesitant.

"Yeah," Wooyoung nodded.

He was still holding onto Mingi, arms around his neck. The position had brought their faces closer, and they couldn't help but just stare at each other, hearts racing. Mingi couldn't remember ever being so close to someone, to the point that he could feel Wooyoung's breath like a ghost on the skin of his chin.

"I think..." Wooyoung breathed out, eyes briefly glancing at Mingi's lips before darting back up. "I should go now."

Wooyoung didn't give Mingi time to protest. He disappeared, leaving Mingi with arms held up where he had been hugging Wooyoung's back. He was still floating, looking up at nothing as his heart pounded fast inside his chest. Mingi was certain he was going to lose his head if he kept collecting crushes like he was picking flowers out in the field.