#[guy who has totally not spent way too long going back and forth on this topic] but idk that's just my two cents

[bethrnoora]

realistically I don't think silverlance would have been all that good if they made it when they were planning to because idk. it just feels like such a specific concept and hard to execute on in film format. but I still would have eaten that shit up. I still would at present honestly

[princesachicana]

𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 pt.2

a/n: it's finally here!! how long has it been?! first things first i want to say thank you to everyone who's been rooting for this fic!! I honestly hit a huge writers block and had no motivation to write!! but all the sweet messages from people saying they enjoyed my work has made me so happy!!! SO ONCE AGAIN THANK U AND I HOPE U ENJOY!! I tried my EXTRA HARDEST SO I HOPE THIS GIVES U THE CLOSURE YALL WANTED I LOVE YOU SM! ALSO THIS IS NOT PROOF READ SO PLEASE EXCUSE ANY MISTAKES!! I JUST WANTED TO FINALLY POST FOR U GUYS!!

It took a lot out of you not to stay in bed the next morning. The softness of your bed wrapped around your body gives you some sort of comfort. But of course, staying in bed would only make you feel worse. At least if you got up it would be easier to fake happiness. To no surprise, your phone was flooded with missed calls and texts from both Steven and Belly. Of course, you only responded to belly telling her that you'll explain your reasoning for ditching your "date" with Steven later.

Why did Steven even bother leaving you so many texts last night? If you were such a bother to him? Annoying. That's what he thinks you are. And what if you never heard those disgusting things he said about you? and went on the date with him? Would he just continue to lead you on?

Steven: waiting for you by the pool.

Steven: ur late

Steven: u look pretty even though i can't even see you. pls im starving

Steven: is belly holding you hostage?

Steven: it's been 18 minutes cmon.

Steven: the guys are going to laugh at me for being stood up I'm getting nervous.

Steven: did something happen are you okay?

Steven: belly is worried as well lmk.

You laughed at the messages blinking back angry tears that threatened to fall. Gosh! he was so fake. You could only imagine how relieved he must have been to not hang out with you.

Belly: have funnnn

Belly: no funny business!!

Belly: wait where did you go?!

Belly: Steven keeps pacing back and forth waiting for u

Belly: what’s going on?

Belly: just let us know ur okay

Belly: y/n ??!?!??

Y/n: hey, something came up last night sorry I had you worried. can u come over?

Belly arrived 20 minutes later. You spent the time together watching reruns of your favorite Disney show. “Do you want to talk about it?” Belly asked after a while, noticing something was bothering you.

“I overheard the guys talking about me last night.” You fiddled with the throw blanket that was on your lap. “At first it was just them teasing Steven about our date or whatever.” You took a deep breath upset that you felt like crying. “But Steven only agreed to hang out with me…” You paused blinking back tears. Belly moved closer immediately pulling you into a hug. “He only agreed to hang out with me…so I could stop annoying him! I honestly don’t know what I did wrong?” You pulled away from belly’s arms wiping your tears that had fallen.

“Maybe I was too forward? but I just wanted to see if he felt the same way…it was dumb.” You shrugged. Belly shook her head “Nope my brother is a fucking idiot!” she stood up taking your hand in hers and pulling you up. “I won’t let you mope around all day because of him!” You sighed “I don’t even have a choice do I?” Belly laughed shaking her head. “What do you say we go to the boardwalk? Taylor’s coming in today too” she smirked.

“And maybe someone would be happy to see you I don’t know” she whispered with a grin. “What are you talking about?” You questioned. “Well you know Xavier..the one that works the lemonade stand?” You nodded your head yes. “Well, he totally has the hots for you.” You cringed at her word choice. “He does not!” You laughed. “Oh, he does! you were too busy ogling my brother last summer you didn’t notice him ogling you.” she poked your side teasingly.

“Now let’s go!”

~

“Stay still before I poke your eye out” Taylor groans finishing up your eyeliner. You were now at the Fisher’s beach house getting ready to go down to the boardwalk. You laugh pulling away “I think that’s enough…if you make my eyeliner any thicker I’d cry!” Taylor playfully pushes your head away. “Sorryyyyy i want to make Xavier fall to his knees when he sees you!” You frown when she brings that name up. Sure, Xavier was a nice guy…and he was cute…but he wasn’t Steven.

You’d always imagined Steven being your first everything. First kiss, first date, first time. It was something you’d dreamt of all this time.

“Yeah…im going to get a snack before we head out do y’all want anything?” You ask heading towards the door. Both girls gave you a sympathetic smile shaking their heads no.

As you reached the kitchen you stopped in your tracks. Steven turned from looking into the fridge. You made eye contact for about 5 seconds before you beelined for the cabinets. “Hey,” Steven broke the silence as you pulled out a granola bar. You felt the warmth of his stare and turned finding him now leaning against the counter. “Hey…” you whispered looking anywhere but his face. “So you gonna tell me what happened last night?” Steven crossed his arms around his chest.

“Just didn’t feel up for it anymore ..” You shrugged nonchalantly. “That’s it?” Steven scoffed. “Yeah…that’s it” you whispered about to walk away. “What’s going on? I’m like so confused right now.” Steven gently gripped your arm. “Nothing just forget it…it’s not like you wanted to go anyways.” you rolled your eyes. “And what makes you think that?” He muttered eyes scouring your face for the truth. “Um, I don’t know let’s see …you quite literally ignored me this entire week!” You responded sarcastically.

“I didn’t mean to. I had a lot of shit on my mind alright?” Steven uttered softly. It almost felt genuine. The words he spoke just last night almost became liquid. “Yeah like what?” You whispered eventually looking into his eyes. “You can tell me..” You spoke gently stepping into him closer. No matter how much he’s hurt you. Steven would always make you melt. “Nothing let’s just forget about it…he pulled away opening up the fridge once again.”

It was like a switch was flipped. How he went right back to that cold shoulder he had been giving you all week. “You're a fucking asshole” You spewed, already ready to walk out of the kitchen. “Where are you going?” He abruptly spoke again. “The boardwalk…you know? so I won’t annoy you here.” With that, you left a confused and remorseful Steven behind.

~

“Hey, look y/n why don’t you go get a lemonade?” Belly suggested with an eyebrow raise. Shit. you were hoping they forgot about that. “Guys I don’t feel up for this..” You pouted looking between both Taylor and Belly. “Noooo go talk to him! you look hot as fuck.” Taylor gently grabbed your face giving you a mini pep talk.

“What if Xavier wants to hang out..I cant just ditch you guys?!?” You were stalling and they knew it. “We’ll be here waiting for you” Belly smiled. “Just try to have fun alright? But hey if you don’t really want to do it …we’ll back off” She narrowed her eyes at Taylor. “No…I’ll go” You laughed giving both of them a hug “Thank you guys.i really appreciate this.” You’d definitely still be moping around in your room about Steven if it wasn’t for Belly and Taylor. They both wished you luck as you headed straight for the lemonade stand.

As soon as he spotted you. The biggest smile spread across his face. “y/n? damn, it’s been so long” Xavier greeted you with a hug. “It’s only been a year!” You playfully ruffled his curly hair that sat atop his head. “That’s way too long…I enjoy seeing pretty girls year-round.” He spoke smoothly, he definitely knew how to talk to girls. “Shut up” You laughed pushing him away with not that much force.

“I have an hour lunch break…you up for arcade games?”

~

“So…you seeing anyone?” Xavier asked as he ate a scoop of his mint chocolate chip ice cream. You thought about it for a moment. Technically no you weren’t seeing anyone. But you knew you were still hung up on Steven. A day at the boardwalk with Xavier wouldn’t change that. “It’s complicated…I guess” Xavier sighed “I've been there…it’s rough” You nodded you were curious as to what he meant but you didn’t want to be nosey.

“Hey, look they have street fighter..” Xavier smirked. “Want to go a couple of rounds?” You nodded immediately pulling him towards the game. “Mhhm loser buys the winner a funnel cake!” You suggested with a chuckle. “Ouuu im so down y/n” Xavier squeezed your hand that held his quickly striding towards the arcade game.

Just two more steps, Just two more steps and you’d be fine. The rowdy yelling completely threw you off. You stopped in place looking behind you where the voices were coming from. You had no time to move out of the way, no time to prevent this from happening.No time to stop the trio of boys that you knew all too well. Suddenly a body collided with Xavier, the force immediately making your intertwined hands lose. “Dude, what the fuck?” Xavier groaned. It was then that you snapped back into reality. Eyes wide when you noticed Xavier’s ice cream now all over his shirt.

“What’s up? how are we doing?” That voice full of humor made you scoff. Steven stood tall a smile on his face. You hated that it kind of made your heart flutter. “Steven, what is your problem?” You gestured towards Xavier’s now ice cream stained shirt. “He’ll be fine y/n it’ll wash out.” Steven laughed, but once he noticed you didn’t find this funny at all he frowned. “I’m sorry man, I just came over to say what’s up..” You ignored Steven’s apology not believing he meant it. “Hey want me to help you get cleaned up?” You asked Xavier voice full of concern.

“No.I got it…I’ll see y’all later.” Xavier spoke nonchalantly as he walked away. When he was out of eyesight you brushed past steven heading out the door.

“Y/n” Steven immediately followed behind you. His long legs make it easier for him to catch up with you. “You embarrassed me” You stopped outside the arcade, letting him pull you to the side. “Embarrassed? sorry to interrupt your little date” Steven scoffed. “It's not a date we were just hanging out, why do you care?” You groaned running your hands down your face. “Maybe because just yesterday you were supposed to hang out with me?” Steven spoke definitively.

“Oh my god, just earlier you agreed to forget about it,” you said with an eye roll. “It was dumb, stop acting like you care just go home Steven I did you a favor.” He shook his head “What are you talking about right now?” Steven pulled you in closer, one of his hands placed on your waist. The other coming to the side of your face, willing you to look at him.

“I heard you.i heard everything,” you spoke up voice hoarse. Steven’s heart carried pain at the tears that stood brimming in your eyes. The realization was clear when he made the connection. “And you know..who cares what Jeremiah and Conrad think! what hurt the most was you.” You shrieked. You hated that you were crying in front of him. You hated that when he hauled you against his chest you felt secure.

“I'm sorry baby... I'm sorry” Steven sounded voice vulnerable. Leaving kisses atop your head. “Why would you say that?” you sobbed breaking down in front of the boy who caused it. “I didn't mean any of it” Steven brought your face between his hands once again. “But you said it..it still fucking hurts Steven.”

You wiped your face getting prepared to pull away and walk back home.

“Wait, please let me talk to you.” Steven begged. “okay” you replied being prepared to cry all over again. “My head has been all fucked up..and that isn't an excuse I know” Steven looked down as if he couldn't construct the next words. “Please don't shut me out.” you pleaded gently. “I want you...i have all this time.” Steve confessed for the first time.

“—And I didn't want to fuck anything up we've..been so close all our lives if I ever messed that up I would never forgive myself.” It's as if you were dreaming, the boy you loved stood in front of you disclosing his feelings for you. “And what? this whole week of you acting cold towards me, were you trying to avoid your feelings?” Steven bobbed his head “Yes, if I lied to myself it would make lying to everyone else easier because the fucking truth is I want you so bad” You didn't tell him but at that moment you forgave him.

“And you called me the annoying one?” You giggled pushing on his chest gently. “Right now we could have been making out on the beach….but noo you had to be a brooding boy” Steven tickled your side, causing you to squirm in his arms. “Yeah, my fault can I kiss you now? been practically wanting to my whole life.” Steven threw his head back fake pouting setting one hand over his chest. You figured you'd throw his words right back at him. “You're so desperately desperate”

Steven smirked “Yeah for you? I am” Those words welcomed a whole lot of beautiful feelings. At that moment is when Steven bent down bringing his lips down onto your own. As your lips moved together, butterflies erupted in your belly. You smiled against his lips when you both needed a breath. “Hey, by the way, your not off the hook.. I'm still sort of pissed at you.” You declared pointing a finger into his chest.

“Yeah, I figured” He laughed wrapping his arms even tighter around you. “How about I make it up to you this whole week? I'm taking you out on dates…ill even get on my knees if I have to. I'm going to follow you around like a puppy.” Steven rambled on. You laughed out loud covering your mouth with your hands. “Oh, it's funny?” Steven raised an eyebrow suggestively. “Yeah, you're such a loser.” You joked.

Before Steven could respond you tugged him into another kiss. Perhaps everything wasn't one hundred percent fixed. But you and Steven were finally here together. You and Steven were finally in each other's arms that's all that mattered. You’d figure out the rest together.

tags 🤍: @gillybear17 @snowsharkk @tesssastle @conradsupporterr @alyssa-cabrera @eranthisphiny @xoxoloverb @lostaurorax @lanisdreams @alexzluvz @lalaland-notfound @liltimmyst @unsaidjaelineose @buckys2thicc @lilygreennn @t8lzw @medusaslilsister @1-800-stilinski @yazmi710 @j-brielmalfoy @ashcannotwrite @colbysbrocks @exonct07 @multilover19 @mimisparkle12

@littlefreaksatellite @vintagebitc @lexi-2004 @melllinaa @xcallmetaniax @brizzlessizzler @haroldpotterson @livinginaglasspalace @delicatekidpeanut @queenanababy

@drinkawinchester @sarahbutnot @salvatoremikaelson54 @furiouscopsherduniversity @marrigold-2002 @angeliquelunasstuff @mariaelizabeth21-blog1 @daphnen21 @ietss @imanaforever @itsreynasworld @she-is-a-happy-girl @joeybandthings

@kateisintrouble @stvrdustalexx @fictionisjustbetter @whezzy223

@conradssupporterr @clubmeredith13 @fatduck45 @trampstampz @fangirl-kimora

@just-let-me-fangirl-in-peace @reenfluffmarshmallow @kaz-mf-brekker

@yazmunson @bookg1rl @hockey-lover86

@just-a-pink-lady @moo-b1tch

[willowhistle]

how season 4 of tvd should have gone (klaroline edition):

- caroline breaks up with tyler near the start of the season like the writers should’ve done

- she partly blames klaus for their breakup (rome wasn’t built in a day okay)

- but then after having the best date w him at the miss mystic thing in exchange for a hybrid she starts to warm up to him (+ the date didn’t end when it did, instead of going to talk to stefan straight away after, she comes home late because she spent most of the evening sat talking with klaus - and she’ll totally deny it - but she was so caught up in talking to him that she barely realised everyone from the event was long gone and they were still sat on that bench together) he totally offers to drop her off home like the gentleman he is btw but she says no and decides she’s spent enough time w klaus for the day

- cue confused and conflicted caroline

- tyler and hayley still try and kill klaus w the hybrid plot but caroline isn’t involved bc she’s not w tyler anymore. oh and klaus kills hayley instead of making the stupidest decision of his life

- klaroline still have their spat though before going to find bonnie and the 12 witches and that whole “you’re in need of comfort” scene plays out the same too bc they wouldn’t be klaroline without the back and forth arguing and conflicting feelings and denial

- but when the gilberts kill kol and trap klaus inside of the house, caroline’s a lot more gentle about it

- but klaus still ends up biting her bc despite the fact they’re not together tyler would still probably care about her to some degree and he’d ofc be running his mouth so klaus would feel like he’d have to get back at him

- and i could never want to get rid of the scene where he chooses her over revenge against tyler (and realises how important caroline is to him)

- that all plays out as normal but instead of her leaving the next day as if nothing happened i’d like to think she stays w klaus until the barrier is lifted. he’s definitely shocked by that decision (and so is she tbh but her bleeding heart is making the choice on that one and despite her head telling her to go leave and help her friends who hate the guy she’s currently sat with, she can’t help listening to her heart that’s demanding she stay sat with him)

- and they both totally start out rlly snarky with each other bc they have issues let’s be honest. but she eases up and becomes a lot softer when he first mentions kol to her since his death.

- and he becomes a lot softer every time he looks at her bloodied shirt from where he staked her bc while he’s not one to feel guilt or regret, caroline manages to bring out these new feelings within him

- and by the time the barrier is lifted they both feel a lot more calm. they practically melted into the other’s presence. and they know a lot more about each other. like caroline could now list 10 historical figures that klaus has met and how his encounters w them ended (some a bit bloody). and klaus could tell you all the things caroline enjoys about being a vampire (bc she finally admitted that she prefers herself this way after a gentle nudge from klaus) - although he could probably tell you that before their conversation

- but life gets in the way again and caroline goes to deal w her friends (who question her endlessly about where she’s been but don’t actually care about the answer beyond annoyance at her bc they’re busy discussing what they’re gonna do next about the cure)

- but if caroline finds herself not running away the next time she’s alone at the grill and klaus goes up to her, she can’t blame anything except for this weird longing she has to talk to him or just spend time with him.

- so she does

- klaus 100% goes home all giddy and blushing after spending time w caroline for something that’s not a distraction, or a plot, or life or death, but just them two and nothing else in between.

- caroline on the other hand goes home expecting to freak out and feel angry with herself or disappointed but struggles to bc how could she when she feels so light and relaxed for the first time in ages (if she’s really being honest with herself, for the first time since she spent the day with klaus at the miss mystic event)

- cue caroline not putting up w as much of non humanity elena’s BS because she has klaus whispering in her ear half the time to not just sit there and take it. and that it’s not her issue to worry about elena to the point of coddling or treat her as something fragile.

- when silas gets in klaus’ head most of that goes the same. i mean they’d probably be a lot more friendly w each other (?) but they’d still have that big argument w the whole “don’t turn your back on me” bc again it’s a big point for klaroline in my mind

- but it definitely ends a lot different in my head (with a kiss, or a make out session bc all that tension and then relief at none of the pain being real has to go somewhere)

- the clean up would be a tad more awkward after bc caroline would NOT want to address the kissing, but she doesn’t immediately run out on him after which says tons

- him thanking her having more longing eye contact than it did in the show (somehow), and caroline’s reaction to the “friends, then?” line from klaus having a MUCH more different meaning. bc they’d just done something far beyond friendly. but she’s not going to be the first to address it… yet

[eldritch-spouse]

[Dorem asks below]

Exactly as planned. (*steeples fingers*)

If you can crush a soul into the shape of a bagel without making it splinter into a trillion pieces, and possibly lose your hands in the process, consider Dorem quite impressed. But generally, no, Dorem doesn't eat. He's been powering himself through excess souls for a long while now. Perhaps, if he's bored enough, he'll claw the flesh off the lower part of his face so he can taste something again.

Just as it's not recommended that you stare into his eyes for too long, it's also ill-advised to place your hand in the vacuum space of his split torso. You may grasp his bones, he does have sensory input from them, but massages aren't very effective, no.

He's very confused by your sexual advances. What went wrong in humanity's evolution, that you would look at a harbinger of death, a collector of souls, and lust for him? Your bravery is amusing. If you're so determined, then reach for it, show him what a depraved mess your species has become.

[Ahh, that's very flattering, thenk. ////]

It's funny you say that, I spent so much time going back and forth on this guy (especially regarding coloration) that I ended up totally unmotivated by end. I was close to not even showing him and starting from scratch because I just wasn't feeling it. I'm glad he hits the spot though!

I'll need to warm up to him.

I've thought of a couple possibilities. Of course, this can only happen after the initial stages of lore I have for him.

One such case is that you're going to die soon. For some reason or another. Maybe you know it, maybe you don't, but you're fated to perish not too far from the present. During his time on Earth, Dorem finds himself almost instinctively approaching those who are ready to die. He's not exactly meant for "field work" such as this, but some primal directive tells him to harness the soul of those who are very close to parting. It's likely he finds you before you find him. He'll watch you from the shadows of your own home, waiting. Nornally, Dorem would just touch you, pluck the self right out of your husk, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. You seemed innocent, or perhaps he was just amused by you, eitherway, the monster decided to wait until you died naturally.

Except, in all that time that he spends watching you, Dorem grows attached, grows selfish, enough so that when the moment of your death comes and he's left hovering over your corpse, holding it, he becomes disturbed. Death has never frightened or bothered him. In fact, death is his life, his work. It is as natural as the air you breathe. So why does your death feel wrong? Distressing? Dorem pushes the newly released soul gently back into your being.

You return with a cut-off shriek, the air in your lungs frozen while you take in the sight of him. Similarly, Dorem himself freezes like a statue at the realization that he's enamored... Better get used to his oppressive, shiver-inducing touch, because it's all you'll be feeling now.

Alternatively, I like to picture a goofier scenario where you're part of one of the few cults spread around Earth who worship the so-fabled ruler of the undead. Those cults are probably a tad cringy, full of undead, cheesy goth types and edgelords- Dorem's disgusted honestly, but your persistence to go out of your way to bug him, the genuine admiration your eyes, the way you claim to be in servitude of him. It gets in his head, scratches an itch or two. Well, if you so charmingly proclaim to want to serve him in life and death, then maybe he should test you.

[myechoecho]

Rewatching W: Two Worlds

Episode 13 is definitely the weakest episode so far. It's not a bad episode, but a good chunk feels like filler. Quite a bit of time is spent on Yeon Joo's dream of their life would be like after everything was settled. Which is cute, but it goes on too long. Luckily, once that done the rest is stronger.

I adored seeing Yeon Joo and Cheol together in the most normal way, at least for them. No under extreme duress or stress, no fear of disappearing, not in jail, not dying etc. Just a regular couple.

That's not to stay there are not some worries for them still as Cheol is going back and forth from the comic to the real world to tie up all the loose ends. It really says a lot about Cheol about how he's handling his estate.

Of course, as soon as Cheol says everything will be okay as long as there is no variable you know there is going to be a variable.

One of my favourite scenes in the whole episode is the meeting between Cheol and the Professor. The looks between Cheol and Yeon Joo are amazing. Cheol, being a natural shit disturber, absolutely trolls the Professor the entire time but in particular when he gives him his card from comic.

Cheol arrives in the comic but now he is the one who is summoning people to real world and that he may have unknowingly summoned others.

Cue Yeon Joo's "father" waking up in the real world. There was something incredible how the Real Culprit went from playing the weak/confused Sung Moo to back to himself once he realized Cheol was not there. He turned on dime, and in one sentence Yeon Joo knew that it was not her father. Kim Eui Sung deserves praise because he's so good in this how and portrays two completely different characters.

Real Culprit brings Yeon Joo to the comic world and now has complete control of Sung Moo. He gets him to help him and destroy the tablet. He's also blackmailing the assemblyman. Cheol is jumping back and forth between worlds, and beats up the assemblyman to find out where he sent the Real Culprit. This has the unintended effect of beginning the assemblyman's awakening.

What's really amazing to me is how committed to his set up the Real Culprit is. At no point does he deviate or think of taking a hobby or what he would do without Cheol. He cannot see beyond that or how it would lead to his own demise. He does generally seem to have some self preservation, but it's more to finish his task. It's likely because he has nothing else but that set up. Cheol has his set up but he also had other interests - shooting, computers, catching bad guys, his friends, his company. He's just a more rounded character so he was able to think outside the setup. Plus he has Yeon Joo.

Yeon Joon is shot and it's so awful that Cheol cannot get there in time. He was wisked away from the comic and finds out that happens through reading. He WILLS himself back to the comic. While Cheol is able to kill the Real Culprit it's at a huge cost. Not only because of Yeon Joo, but that's not really who Cheol is. This is not important, but how did their cars crash head on at high velocity and no air bags deployed?

Not sure how Yeon Joo gets back to the real world, but Cheol finds out where she went and to her, totally ignoring that he is injured. I love the parallel of the rings. We see Cheol in the back of the police care and they focus on his bloody hand and the ring. Later, at the hospital we see Yeon Joo's limp, bloody hand with the ring. The rings are one of their connectors.

Next episode is a world of pain.

[wafflebloggies]

the long con - part 1/7

a Don't Feed The Muse crossover story. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

*

The con was coming to an end.

DIGIVID, the largest annual convention for digital content creators in the Southern United States. Three days of booths, networking, merch, watchathons, speeches, special previews, presentations, weird food, crowded spaces, fun.

Fun in theory, anyway. For Mark Mayhew, it had been three days of a brand new kind of purgatory. Unavoidable, self-inflicted, endless.

“...honestly, we couldn’t choose, so like for our first video we just put all our favourite movies into a picker thing and it turns out Watchmen came out the exact same year as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and I know, they’re totally different movies, but then we were like, wait, there’s some parallels here...”

Mark was certain by now that the con had been a terrible idea. True, if he’d had the time all over again, there were several big, pressing reasons why he would still have made the same choice, but only a couple of them were fit to explain to anybody else. Even if he’d known how frankly- miserable- it was going to turn out to be, he probably still would have chosen to go, but knowing this didn’t make it feel like any less of a mistake, or change the fact that he would have given almost anything, right now, to not be stuck in the middle of it.

“...and the whole ship metaphor they cut from the movie, and like, Flint’s invention basically has the same thematic purpose as Veidt’s EDBE? We kept saying ‘eeby-deeby,’ it took us like, twenty takes…”

It was almost incredible to him, as he stood in silence, how alone it was possible to feel in such a big crowd. The main convention hall was hot, airless, busy. Even though some people were already packing up, here at the end of the third day, plenty of bodies still shuttled back and forth in clogged little streams whenever they found the space to move, elbow to elbow between the double rows of human backs shutting out the tables, the crowded booths. It was easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer press of people, the talk and the noise. If Mark had only walked in alone, twenty minutes ago, and spent the time silently trying to make his way from one side of the massive space to the other, he would already have been more than a little agitated, ready to leave.

“...and he has all these shell companies, like all these theatres that play alien invasion movies all the time, to subconsciously prepare people? And when you look at Meatballs, you’re actually getting lowkey bombarded with fast-food imagery the whole time right up to when he turns on the machine...”

Mark had been in the hall for hours, and he was done. Currently, he was standing in a small pocket of space in a very nicely put-together booth belonging to a fairly well-known ASMR channel, watching a conversation happen right in front of him that he had about as much share in as an exiled Martian had in a conversation backstage at NASA. Yes, he’d started this conversation, he’d introduced himself, he’d started to steer the topic in a useful direction… and then Anthony had happened. Anthony Williams had turned up with his big, friendly grin and his busted paper carrier bag full of leaflets and merch which had been shedding everywhere since Friday and his completely distracting, distracted self, and now…

“...actually the biggest audio problem we have is my cat, Blaze, when we film at my house she’s got a real thing for the fluffy boom whatever on the mic, she wants to kill that thing on sight, right Mark?”

“Yeah,” said Mark, in the same way a corpse will twitch if you electrocute it. Anthony, who was too into the conversation to notice his friend’s thousand-yard-stare, carried right on going.

“Yeah, so we have to shut her in my parents’ room, but then I feel so bad, and she yells so loud in there it picks up on the video! So we usually record at Mark’s, but with our Parasite video...”

And so on. And on.

Not that the ASMR guys seemed to mind. People always seemed to open up and respond to Anthony quicker and with far more warmth than they did with Mark alone, which added another layer of frustration to the silent, invisible war he was fighting against himself. If Anthony could only have understood, and been focused, if Anthony could have been trying like he had been, these last three days, they might have found a sponsor already.

A sponsor, a partner, a collab, anything, anything to make the whole weekend feel worthwhile, instead of a painful waste of time.

Mark could tell that these guys had lost focus completely. One of them was still chatting quite happily with Anthony about God alone knew what, relaxed and disengaged, and the other was already moving away, eyes on a new bunch of visitors. There was no way Mark could steer this back the right way again now. Even though, at the bottom of his heart, he’d known it was a lost cause before Anthony had joined them, the tide of bitterness ebbed higher as he listened to the conversation wander so far wide of the point.

He must have looked distant enough for a party of people trying to use the booth as a short-cut to mistake him for an unconnected bystander, because as he stood there they pushed gently between him and Anthony, widening the gap as they passed through. On impulse, he went with it, let them nudge him and his whole parcel of garbage feelings to the side, let the general stream of the crowd push him out of the booth.

Without waiting to see if Anthony had noticed, he started shoving his way towards the main exit at a quicker pace. It was a relief to just move, without Anthony winding along just behind him, getting distracted at an average rate of once every four booths. Through the whole weekend, every time Mark was just trying to get from A to B, every time Anthony spotted something which made him want to stop and take a closer look, he would reach forwards and pat Mark on the back of his right shoulder. By this point, three days in, the feeling was starting to evoke a kind of Pavlovian response in Mark, knowing that every time he felt that light touch he would have to stop and stand and wait, getting hotter and more squashed and more impatient by the second, until Anthony was done, and by now just the feeling of Anthony’s hand on his shoulder had become a button that hiked his blood pressure, his heart, his temper.

By all appearances, Anthony had enjoyed the weekend a great deal. He got on with everyone he met, he was absolutely down for talking with new people on a vast range of subjects (with absolutely no practical application towards growing the channel whatsoever) and with his usual unbounded enthusiasm he seemed happy to keep going for as long as the con lasted.

Which wouldn’t be for that much longer. The hall was crowded now, sure, but already not as bad as it had been on the previous two days. Mark could see stalls and tables beginning to clear as their owners began to pack away. Pressing towards the main door, he had a sharp and ghastly vision of the convention hall as a vast interconnected series of nodes, bright and promising, each shutting down and turning black and dead as he touched them, came into contact, even approached them at all. Each booth, each prospect, each point of hope-

(nobody is going to want to work with you.)

He couldn’t feel normal, he couldn’t relax for a second, when on the one side the enormous thundercloud of dread loomed and on the other… something nobody here could understand, something he barely understood, something that lurked at the bottom of his stomach like a squishy leaden bowling-ball, the part of him that whispered that he really was just torturing himself for no reason, because what he had been granted out of the blue was, could be, his miracle. That it had been pointless coming here at all, that he was wasting time, wasting precious time not just ditching any other blighted and unreliable possibility and reaching for it with grateful hands-

“Mark!”

Unaware up until that moment that he’d stopped dead in the heaving crowd, Mark started and looked back as Anthony shouldered through the general stream of people, a small, willowy splotch of red flannel and concern. He felt Anthony’s hand on his shoulder again, guiding, steering him forwards and sharply left into a faster-moving stream of people that quickly swallowed them both and spat them out on the other side of the main doors. He wasn’t even aware of how much he’d just wanted the fresher air outside the hall until they were out in the gigantic hub of a lobby, the atmosphere so much lighter and cooler just from the fewer bodies and the bigger space, the vaulted metal-and-glass ceiling lined with great sheets of striped tarpaulins like a vast circus tent, shaded against the fading July sun.

He gulped several big breaths, realised his eyes were watering from the heat in them, the blur of colours and the crazy nimbus around each far-distant light, and angrily dragged his glasses from his face, looking down to clean them on his T-shirt as Anthony arrived by his side.

“Hey, you just dis- are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” said Mark, putting on his usual wry, flat, deadpan tone with difficulty, like a familiar sweater that suddenly felt too small. “You sure you’re done? You didn’t have any more hilarious cat stories to tell them? ‘Cause you all seemed to be getting on great.”

“Uh… yeah? They seemed like cool guys.” Anthony never usually minded Mark’s sarcasm, but finding the sharp end of it directed so pointedly towards himself clearly threw him. He shrugged, uncomfortably.

Good, thought Mark. Be uncomfortable. The thought wormed sharp and slimy through the back of his head, and it left him feeling ashamed. He didn’t want Anthony to be miserable just because he was, as if making Anthony feel awkward or hurt could make him feel any better about himself. He wasn’t that shitty a friend.

At least, he didn’t want to be.

Anthony looked down, shuffling through his bulging paper bag full of garbage, the thing he’d been stuffing every sheet, pamphlet, sticker and card he’d collected the whole weekend into as if it was as big as a lending library. He pulled out a couple of stickers from the top. “Here, they gave us a couple of these.”

Mark took the stickers. They were the window-clinger kind, for cars. He didn’t want to put any stickers on his car. They would be a pain in the ass to peel off, if-

(when)

-he had to sell it.

“Thanks, Anthony. Using my car to advertise someone else’s YouTube channel instead of our own, that’s a really proactive move there. Real four-D chess strats.”

“I, um… I just thought they’d look neat.”

“Yeah,” sighed Mark. “I know. Come on, let’s go find somewhere to sit.”

*

Even though it was getting towards evening, there weren’t too many people in the food court seating area, and half of the kiosks still had their metal hatches pulled down. At a long, near-empty table, sticky and spotted from a day of crumbs and wipe-downs, Mark dropped into a chair across from Anthony, always easy to spot in his bright red-check flannel, who was already halfway down a container of loaded chilli wedges.

He shrugged his backpack into the darkness under his feet and back-kicked it under his chair, and set his styrofoam carton on the table. Following the trend of the whole weekend, he hadn’t had as much luck with the food options as Anthony, whose potato wedges looked pretty good, apart from the whole ‘drenched in meat’ thing. His vegetarian lasagna looked like a slab of undercooked doormat in half an inch of thin red soup.

There were no real quiet places anywhere in the hall, but the food court was at least a little quieter, only a couple of other people at this table, eating alone. Mark tried to let himself relax, as much as he could, forcing himself to untense joint by joint as if his skeleton was an IKEA diagram strictly controlled by his mind, but only got about as far as his elbows before giving up.

Anthony grinned at him. Mark attempted to smile back, didn’t point out that he had a speck of chilli cheese on the tip of his nose, and ate a couple of bites of lasagna. The best that could be said about it was that it held no surprises- it tasted exactly how it looked. His phone buzzed, and he checked it hurriedly, trying to look preoccupied enough to dodge any conversation, to at least catch ten minutes worth of peace and silence while they ate.

He got maybe two minutes, because by then Anthony had wolfed down enough chilli to have taken the edge off his appetite, and wanted to talk.

“What happened back there, anyway? I just looked round and you were gone.”

Mark shrugged. “They weren’t going to give us anything,” he said. “Before you came over, I managed to give them our card, but really, I could just kind of tell they weren’t going to bite, so, like…”

With some trouble, he could make himself see that what had just happened wasn’t Anthony’s fault. He had known those guys weren’t interested, just like all the others. He’d known it in his gut before Anthony had even shown up, and with just a little distance he could see that clearly and admit it, and know that it wasn’t fair for him to put the blame on Anthony at all-

“Wait, that’s why you were talking to them?”

-for almost five seconds.

“Yes,” said Mark, trying to keep his voice, down, for all that it mattered. “Yes, Anthony, that is why I was trying to talk to them, before you-”

“But they’re nothing to do with our channel!” Anthony looked genuinely confused. “They do 3D print projects, they do that ASMR printing thing-”

“I know, what they do, Anthony,” said Mark, barbing every comma as if it was a physical thing, something pointy he could flick against Anthony’s forehead. “It doesn’t matter, they get two hundred K views per video, we could do something-”

“Come on, Mark,” Anthony drooped back in his chair, rubbing his face, obliterating the chilli cheese with his palm and pushing his curly mop of hair out of the way. His legs slid forwards on the tiles and his heels bumped into Mark’s toes. Mark pulled back and tucked his legs under his chair like a curling bug, hooking both feet tightly around its front legs. “You’ve been doing this the whole weekend, the mobile game people, the wallet people, the deodorant people, the freaking- weird pillow things people-”

“You think we can just wait for someone to come to us? That’s not how it works-”

“This isn’t how it works, Mark,” said Anthony. Now he leaned forwards, pushing his chilli to the side, all earnestness, his freckly face an open book urging Mark to hear him. “I’m just being realistic. We’re a really small channel, we don’t need sponsorships, it’s okay if none of these guys want to work with us yet. Maybe if we get bigger it’ll happen, fine, but you can’t force it, you’re just making-”

“When are we going to get bigger, Anthony? When? How long? When is our first sponsor going to come along and ask us? Another six months?”

“Maybe-”

“A year? Two years? I don’t have-”

“Maybe not at all!”

“-I don’t have that kind of time!”

Mark had almost yelled over his friend, but he’d heard him perfectly well. Although he knew exactly what Anthony meant, although it was only echoing his own thoughts, the words still stopped him dead.

“Maybe never,” said Anthony, quieter. “Look, you know I love our stuff, I love the channel, I’d love it if it got as big as those ASMR guys one day, are you kidding? But I’d be fine if we never got any more subscribers than we already have, I’d do it if we got like three views a video. It’s just supposed to be for fun, Mark! Remember the first time we uploaded and we got like, twenty views? We got pizza to celebrate!”

“That’s… that was different.” Mark did remember, and the memory made his throat tighten and his eyes prickle. It didn’t feel like a long time ago. The summer they started the channel, leapt into making videos as soon as term ended. That summer, back when his dad was only normal-crazy, back when Theo’s acceptance letter was stuck right on the front of the fridge all month, back when the thing that sucked the most in the world was the prospect of having to miss the second half of summer for some stupid family cruise.

That summer. Before everything went to shit.

Anthony pushed a finger against the smeary tabletop, drawing a big invisible circle, tapping a small dot next to it. “We have to think of it like, there’s hundreds and thousands of people here who have a channel, and you know it’s only a tiny, tiny percent of a percent that ever get big enough to get sponsorships and stuff. You know that. We were never doing this for sponsorships. I mean, I’m not, and- we’re on the same page, right? This is like when you wanted to do that video reading negative comments-”

“Okay, that? That stuff works. People love hate-comment videos. We’d easily get twice as many views as our last video, and we wouldn’t even have to write a script-”

“We don’t even get hate-comments- we’ve had like, one! Even if we did get a bunch for some reason, why would we even want to focus on that shit?” That’s just going to make it seem like we don’t care about the people leaving us good comments, and then we’d just look like assholes!”

“We don’t have to wait for real ones.I could make some fake accounts, or- or something. Who cares what we look like-”

“I do,” said Anthony. “And so do you, Mark.”

He sat back, as if he’d made a really good point, and gave Mark his best knowing look, which made him look about as sly and full of deep psychological understanding as a first-grader’s spelling primer.

“I know you, and I know the channel means way too much to you, for you to really want to screw it up like that just for a bunch of views.”

(It’s not about what I WANT!!)

In the real world, where screaming at the top of one’s lungs is unacceptable mealtime behaviour, Mark swallowed and looked down at his lasagna.

“It’s not like that’s why we’re here,” said Anthony. “This was just supposed to be fun. I mean… it was supposed to be.”

His tone of voice made Mark look up, quickly. Anthony was still watching him, and he looked worried. Not just worried, but uncertain, sympathetic. Mark felt his stomach lurch. He knew that look, because he’d found himself on the receiving end of it a lot lately, from a lot of different people, all for mostly the same reason. He hated it. He hated the pity, the pointlessness of it, the unwanted obligation of knowing someone felt bad for him when he never asked them to, wouldn’t ask them to, because they couldn’t do a single thing to help. Seeing it in Anthony’s guileless hazel eyes was worse than seeing it in the face of a stranger, because-

(he could help he just doesn’t want to)

-it cut deeper, somehow. Mark shut his eyes hard for a second. Hard white light, clean surfaces, the pervasive smell of disinfectants and sickness and waiting, and the voice, thin and drowsy and blurry with sleep and painkillers, but the same, the same well-loved voice-

(It sounds great, honey. You two go have a good time. You’ll have fun.)

“Sure,” said Mark, to his lasagna. “Fun.”

There was a short silence. Anthony clearly wanted to say more, probably to the same purpose, but he knew Mark well enough to recognize when he was being shut down. He shifted uncertainly in his seat, picking at a bit of cracked decal on the front of his t-shirt. Mark picked up his spork again.

“You know,” he said, casually, drawing small deliberate lines across the top layer of his gross lasagna, just like someone might do when they were absolutely unbothered and totally not trying to force the issue, absolutely not so wound up to the point that their usual sharp, smooth-running voice was fracturing into bits and pieces of sentences like grammatical shrapnel, “if you ever felt like- you were kind of done with this whole thing, with the- the channel, I’d completely understand. It’s been a... stressful weekend, right? It hasn’t really worked out like we wanted it to, and I can tell you’re not really into it, I... I wouldn’t be mad.”

He coughed, poking holes in the lasagna like he was trying to seed a miniature lawn. He hadn’t even eaten three bites, but it felt like it was stuck in a big ball in his throat.

“If- if you were feeling like, ‘You know what, I’m over this stupid YouTube thing, but I don’t want to disappoint Mark!’ I’d get it. Really, you wouldn’t be disappointing me, or- letting anybody down, I’d be- I’d be fine with just- running it on my own.”

He looked up, barely daring to hope. “If that’s how you were feeling... you could hundred-percent just tell me.”

Anthony leaned across the table, putting a hand on Mark’s arm, stopping the nervous movement of the spork mid-jab. His face was encouraging, wholly sincere.

“Mark,” he said, with serious emphasis, “I love our channel. I’m never going to be ‘done.’ I’ve got you, buddy. You don’t have to worry about me- I am never gonna just leave you to do it on your own. Okay?”

Mark looked at him, helplessly. Anthony smiled, his beautiful Anthony smile, nothing but sunshine and freckles, a smudge of chilli cheese and a total absence of doubt. He squeezed Mark’s arm, gently.

“We’ve had a long day,” he said. “I’m gonna go back to the room, get some packing done. Take your time, okay?”

And with that, and another quick, reassuring grin, he grabbed his raggedy paper bag and the rest of his chilli, and was gone.

Mark sat there for a little while as if he’d been hit with something heavy around the back of the head, looking at the place where Anthony had been. After a moment or two, he screwed his eyes very tightly shut, jabbed his spork into his lasagna so it stuck there like an upright little sail, put his face down in his hands and made a noise like a high, muffled nearly-silent scream.

[gachagon]

Oh wow! It's cool that you're doing drabbles. Good luck! As for my request: could I ask for an Isagi/Bachira fanfic with one of them proposing to the other after winning the World Cup? I think it would be really cute

This idea at first seemed really hard for me since I've never written proposal fics before, but the more I thought about it the more ideas I had. And soon I had way more words then planned on the document lol. This was very fun to write, and I had a lot of back and forth over who I thought would propose first. I originally was going to have Bachira propose because I thought it would be cute, but I realistically think Isagi would ask the question first now. Now the only question I have is who's last name would they pick?

anyways pls enjoy this fic! 2k words just for you lol

Words: 2k

Pairing: BachiSagi

Isagi Yoichi has won the World Cup on japanese soil, though the one thing on his mind during the after party is to see other half and talk with him. He scans the bar for Bachira, until he gets a short message from him, saying he has a surprise for him. Unbeknownst to Bachira, Isagi has his own present to give, one that he has been hiding for many years since they've known each other.

Isagi’s blood was on fire. He couldn’t quite get a grasp on what he just did, though he was vaguely aware that he had scored at least. The game felt so long, and yet so short at the same time. Before he knew it, he was being lifted up high on the shoulders of his teammates. They were congratulating him, ruffling his hair, practically throwing him around in their excitement. Yet now that he was so high up off the ground, his eyes scanned the crowd of people in the stadium. They roved in search of one specific person until he saw a familiar gold gaze locked onto him, an ecstatic expression on Bachira’s face. 

It was then that everything came into clarity, all at once the roaring of the stadium, the announcer’s booming voices over the intercom, his teammates' praises of him. And with the noise came the sudden realization of what had actually just happened. 

Holy shit, we won…A grin spread across his face then and he joined in on the shouting. Isagi had played countless games before, had spent years in the Blue Lock program, and when he finally graduated and was picked to play in the Japanese National Team like he always dreamed, he had set his sights on witnessing this moment first hand. And at the age of 21, he had finally managed to do it. He had won the World Cup for Japan. And on Japanese soil, no doubt. 

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Drink’s practically crowded the table at the bar, in fact Isagi was certain that nobody had even ordered food. His team was so excited to start celebrating that they had carried him all the way there, or dragged him along by his arm to start the party.  

“Isagi, get over here, you gotta try this!” Raichi and a few of the others had seemingly ordered a large cacophony of drinks that Isagi couldn’t even begin to name. 

He shook his head, “No, no…Thanks, but I think I’ll stick to regular sake instead…” It was the only thing he was really used to and he didn’t want to be totally wasted on the night of his big win. 

“You guys are pigs, you know that…Just cause he won doesn’t mean you can trash the place…” Chigiri’s annoyed tone spoke from behind. He had a disgusted look on his face as he eyed the crowded tables full of forgotten drinks. 

“Ah, let ‘em be. This is a big day for everyone, they’re gonna drink themselves to sleep tonight.” Kunigami said with a lazy smile. 

“Don’t encourage them, Rensuke…” Chigiri sighed. 

“If they make too much of a mess, I’ll clean it up. I just hope the staff don’t get sick of us…” Kunigami eyed the poor bar attendants who had been busy making drinks for just about everyone in the team and their friends who had tagged along. It would be a busy night for all of them, certainly. 

Isagi also looked around, as he noticed that there was someone who had yet to show up to the party. 

“Hey…where’s Bachira?” Isagi asked. In truth, he had been looking for Bachira all night since they had corralled him into this bar, but he hadn’t seen him anywhere. For some reason, he was suspiciously absent from the party. Isagi felt a small pit form in his stomach, a sense of disappointment he wasn’t used to when it came to Bachira. 

“I texted him a while ago, but I don’t know if he ever responded.” Chigiri said.  

Isagi’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he immediately took it out. 

Monster: Hey! Come outside! On the balcony! 

Monster: I have a present! 

Isagi’s head shot up and he looked to where the bar’s balcony was. Outside, Bachira waved at him from the window with a smile on his face. “I’m going to the balcony. See you guys later! Oh, and please don’t put any more on my tab…I don’t think my wallet can take it anymore…” He quickly left the others to party without him, and slipped outside into the cool night air. 

Bachira grabbed Isagi’s arm and dragged him out of sight of the big balcony window. “Ah, hey Bachira, where are we going?” Isagi asked. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to say hi to him, or hug him. 

“No time for questions, just keep moving! It’ll be totally worth it, I promise!” Bachira said as he continued to pull Isagi along. He followed close behind, smiling. 

Soon, Isagi found himself in a pretty familiar place. The lampposts and signs were a dead giveaway, but once they stood in front of the fenced in soccer field Isagi was certain of where they were. 

“Is this…Ichinan’s old field?” It looked a bit different after all those years, but the more he looked around, the more he was certain of it. 

“Yeah, but that’s not the surprise.” Bachira said. He turned Isagi around fully, and then pointed up. “That is.” 

Isagi was left speechless. Normally, the Ichinan field would sit directly behind his old school and he remembered how he would always have to rush to practice from one side of the building, to the other. Yet what greeted him now on the side of the building was a mural that was not there before, one that showed him in his jersey and a ball beneath his feet in the middle of play. It covered the entire side of the building, and was unmistakably a portrait of Isagi playing on the field. 

“I…This is…” He didn’t know what to really say. “This wasn’t done…today? Was it?” It couldn’t have been, such work would take a month at least. Bachira scoffed.

“Of course not. We started working on it a while back when you were in France.” Bachira answered. “We had to work quickly too! We wanted it to be done in time for the World Cup, you know, as a present for when you won.” 

Isagi choked out a laugh, as he felt tears brim his eyelashes. “And what if I had lost, huh?” 

“Eh, we’d come up with some reason. And making it to the World Cup is still a huge deal!” Bachira nudged him. 

“Who’s this ‘we’ you keep mentioning…?” Isagi couldn’t imagine Bachira painting it all by himself, though it wouldn’t have surprised him if Bachira tried anyways. He’s amazing like that…Isagi thought as he glanced at Bachira. 

“Me and Mom, obviously. She was really happy to do this, when I brought it up to her. This is her biggest mural yet, you know.” Bachira sighed. “I’m not that good at art, but I learn quick. See, I did the grass there beneath your feet!” 

“Oh really? What else did you paint…” Isagi and Bachira walked up to the mural, and the two spent a while as they went over all the small details. Bachira and Yu, his mother, had split most of the work pretty evenly. Bachira got to paint the grass, and the ball, and his mother spent time painting Isagi’s jersey and his cleats. 

Bachira was really proud to have done Isagi’s face. “Wow, it looks just like me.” Isagi said in a wondrous tone. 

“My mom kept having trouble with it, because she kind of hasn’t seen you in a while…” Bachira chuckled. “Great thing I’ve got such an amazing memory, huh? I couldn’t forget your face if I tried.” 

Isagi laughed alongside him, as he stared up at the mural. His gaze landed on Bachira’s again and they looked into each other's eyes for a moment. “This is incredible, Meguru.” Isagi said with a soft smile. “You’re incredible.” 

Bachira looked away just then, as he blushed in that familiar way that Isagi loved. “Geez, this is supposed to be a gift for you, you know…” Bachira said. 

Isagi laughed, “Yeah I know. Thank you…” Isagi felt an indescribable warmth fill his heart the more he continued to look into Bachira’s amber eyes, and soon he leaned towards Bachira and pressed his lips against his. They had shared many kisses before, in secret mostly so that there could be no scandal involving rivals on different teams. Though this kiss was sweeter somehow, and was different from the casual affection they had grown to show one another over the course of their relationship. 

Isagi placed his forehead against Bachira’s with a content smile on his face. “I love you.” Isagi had also said this many times before, but it also sounded sweeter than normally. 

Bachira threw his arms around Isagi’s neck in a tight hug, “I love you, too! I’m glad you liked your present, at least…for some reason I felt really nervous when we were planning it, but eventually I got the hang of it as you can see!” 

“Meguru.” 

“And let me tell you, learning to paint in like a month is no easy task, even for me. My mom had quite the work cut out for her when she handed me those brushes, but it all turned out perfectly in the end!” Bachira rambled on. 

“Meguru…” Isagi said again with a chuckle. He always does this when he’s happy…

“I’m thinking maybe I could even paint more murals in the future, of course when I’m on break. I can’t give up my soccer career to be an artist that’d just be ridiculous-” 

“Will you marry me, Bachira Meguru?” Isagi could perfectly see the moment when Bachira’s brain caught up to what he heard. His eyes widened as he looked at Isagi, who had that same content smile on his face. 

“What…?” 

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If you’ll have me, anyways.” Isagi shrugged as if it was the most normal response to anything. As if he hadn’t asked Bachira something absolutely insane. 

Bachira seemed to short circuit for a moment, before he began to speak again. “I…But we’ve only been dating for 3 years now!” He exclaimed. Isagi’s head tilted to the side, “Oh? Really? It seemed so much longer to me.” he said. “Besides, I’ve loved you for more than 3 years. You know that, right?” Isagi could recall exactly the moment he had fallen in love with Bachira Meguru. It hadn’t happened 3 paltry years ago, or even 5. He hadn’t even noticed he’d fallen for Bachira until he was ripped away from him during the Second Selection, all those years ago when they were all so new to Blue Lock. 

Bachira searched Isagi’s eyes, “But what about soccer! You’re going to give up playing or what? We can’t married so soon-” 

“That’s fine. I can wait.” Isagi said. “I’ll wait for as long as I have to. Even if it means waiting for you to win your own World Cup!” He laughed at Bachira’s shocked face. Bachira babbled as if trying to find some other excuse for why this couldn’t possibly happen. “We’ve spent so long trying to catch up to each other…I guess waiting isn’t normal for us, huh?” Isagi commented, and this finally made Bachira break out of his haze. 

“You would wait for me…? Really?” Bachira’s voice was so small then, tinged with a vulnerability that Isagi hadn’t heard before. 

“As long as it takes.” He answered. 

Bachira smiled, as tears beaded along his eyes. “Then yes, Yoichi. I will marry you! Maybe not…right now, though. In a year or two, perhaps. Or when I win my own World Cup…” 

Isagi smiled wider and kissed Bachira again, though he couldn’t fight off the pure joy that radiated throughout him in that moment. It was a fire that was hotter than the one he felt when he had one earlier that afternoon. Did I really win the World Cup just a few hours ago…? It felt like it had already happened a lifetime ago. 

The longer he pressed his lips to Bachira’s, the more he couldn’t believe today happened. In his eyes, he had achieved the impossible twice in an evening. 

[kinomiakai]

I spent some time reflecting on this past year of writing, so here's the breakdown and a bunch of my thoughts, haha. It's been a really busy year!! You can tell where my life got a little more chaotic, in both good and bad ways - I had to skip some pieces of some months, but I did all I could to anticipate or make up for those pieces as they came. I did some more rambling about my thoughts on the things I wrote (and there's links to everything there, too) -I'll put that under a read more, because it got pretty long. Regardless, I just want to say that if you've read anything of mine this year, thank you. A big, big thank you.

The big WIPs:

The Forest (original) - 49,200 words - Okay I'm just linking to my big list of writing so you can read the summaries without patreon telling you to go away, but this is my original fic featuring Braith, Fern, Fae & Lola, a human, an elf, a fairy and another human. It's wlw & mlm and it's full of warm and colourful things and maybe some healing trauma because let's face it. What else do I write. Full word count is currently at 161,688 so far!

Two is a Crowd (sns fanfic) - 53,965 - my big canonverse introspective healing trauma fun times fiasco. Full word count is currently at 91,209 so far and yes. Yes it is slow burn.

The One-offs:

Winter (Fake)ation (original) - 9,635 words - I'm linking to the list of fics again but it's just under The Forest. This one is nsfw & fun & involves an exhausted & overworked Felix being taken on the closest thing to a vacation he can go by his very sweet best friend. She builds a beach in his room. It doesn't work. They go out. They meet Arlo. It's all mlm from there!

Irreversible (sns fanfic) - 2,136 words - I wrote this one for the my one, my only zine and it was really fun!! I haven't been in a lot of zines so it felt like a really big moment for me :)

SNS Month: 38,383 words - I'm linking to the collection here! It has all of them.

tied up and fallen loose - 2505 words - did you expect me to pick the bondage prompt? I didn't, but here it was! nsfw, obviously. the heat after battle - 2,177 words - who said all my fantasy writing has to have 10k words of worldbuilding backstory before we get to the good stuff. who said that. Nsfw!!

Fear. - 4,841 words - Sasuke always has to go through it, poor guy. like he hasn't been psychologically messed with enough. (I still think this was one of my favourites but I think it's because I like exploring and messing with conciousness vs. subconciousness) keeping busy - 4,483 words - Sasuke's gone & Naruto needs a million things to get his mind off of that.

Meet Your Match! - 7,010 words - a modern au, roommate au, collage au!!! It feels like it's been so long! with a fun little Valentines twist.

beds and lack thereof - 3,542 words - Naruto decides they're living together and Sasuke cannot figure out what the hell that means or if the idiot even knows what he's doing or why

how not to fix your sleep schedule - 3,739 words - a cute little imagining of the boys' life on a cabin by the ocean.

I’ve been gone a week. - 2,147 words - letters!! fun letters back & forth between the boys that ask you to picture what happened in between them :) this was a fun writing challenge. to possess; to have; as belonging to one - 2,514 words - this one was fun. Sasuke's back & he isn't going to let Naruto dodge questions anymore.

in nightmare and in health - 5,425 words - another soulmate AU, a bit more sad though! Cathartic, maybe?? It's a sort of reincarnation AU & does involve description of major character death in a past life.

Aaaand that brings our total word count to: 153,319! Which is a lot more than I expected, if I'm honest. It really felt like a scramble to find the time at a lot of points of this year. But I'm relieved to see I still managed to write quite a lot. A few years back I would never think about hitting these kinds of numbers, haha. I don't want to take that for granted, so I'll ride it out as long as it lasts.

If you've read this much, you are so sweet, thank you for indulging me :) I appreciate you. I hope the new year treats you well, and I'll keep writing to try to be part of that for as long as I can.

[pyriteplates]

Pwease tell us more about the GiroDoro AU

Omg I'm sooo glad you asked 😍 please forgive me for being cringe from here on out because I'm sort of crazy about these guys

SO BASICALLY. These guys. Oooh they're so in love... Childhood sweethearts... They get together when they're like. Early teenagers. (I go back and forth on exact ages depending on the day) and they stay that way because. Duhh.

They go through life get jobs and whatever (this is actually not whatever. I would need a separate post to talk about how crazy insane the "whatever" portion of this post is because Zeroro is soo effing complicated and this affects his relationships in a major way) and then YAAY they get assigned to the same platoon ^-^ lucky them!

Except NOT so lucky them ): because RIGHT BEFORE THEY GET TO PEKOPON Giroro decides it would be really cool to "take a break" to focus on the invasion. Bad move no one clapped 👎 he has his own issues about his work-life balance so he thinks it's totally normal. He also runs on the assumption that Zeroro will understand that this is only in title and Giroro's not ACTUALLY breaking up with him. Zeroro is very stupid and emotionally constipated tho (they both are) so umm yeah that's not communicated at all.

Zeroro's like "oooh okay. Cool (: no worries haha. Yeah that's alright." but it's NOT ALRIGHT and he gets all depressed over it because literally who wouldn't?? they arrive on Pekopon, everyone's separated, normal canon stuff. Zeroro becomes Dororo etc etc.

That's the basic gist of the Plot without making this post too long, obviously a bunch of shit happens AFTER they get to Pekopon but that's a LOT and won't fit into one post.

I begrudgingly call this an AU because I did end up eventually adding things OUTSIDE of the girodoro-verse like changing parts of the timeline and altering other characters but that's all boring 🙄🙄 no one wants to hear about Keroro's epic quest to dismantle the Keronian government from the inside

REST ASSURED in the end everyone gets their happy ending.. I'm not that cruel as much as I would like to be. Also I'm so serious I will talk about this ANYTIME I will answer any questions no matter how vague with multiple paragraphs if I can because I've spent the last 2 years thinking about this 😭😭

[aspenmissing]

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚒𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝 (𝙿𝚝 𝟸)

The Holy Knight walks closer to the group.

"This power," Diane says.

"Yeah, there's no doubt about it," Y/N says.

"Holy Knight, aren't you?" Meliodas adds.

"Gilthunder..." Elizabeth says "Gilthunder, is that you?!" He looks her dead in the eye "What are you up to? Why are you doing this?" Meliodas and Y/N look to Elizabeth.

"You know this guy?" Meliodas asks.

"Yes. Since I was a little girl. When he was my father's attendant. And aid to the king and the son of the Holy Knights grandmaster, he was always at the palace" Elizabeth explains "So I kinda grew up with him"

"The son of the grandmaster, huh?" Y/N says, sharing a look with Meliodas. He smiles before looking at Gilthunder.

"Hey, wait a minute, are you, Little Gil?!" He says.

"That's where I remember you!"

"What you two know him too?"

"Sure, we even gave him lessons occasionally when we find ourselves at the royal palace," Meliodas says.

"Wow, you've grown up," Y/N says "Then again it has been 10 years since we've seen ya"

"If you two have the time to prattle along in this matter, it might be better spent trying to escape those bonds"

"Hey, this lightning is familiar," Hawk says.

"I know what you mean," Meliodas says "When a certain someone blocked up Vanya's water supply and then tried to blow the village away..."

"That was you, wasn't it" Y/N finishes.

"Sir Meliodas! Lady Y/N! That can't be" Elizabeth says, looking at the two "You're wrong! Gilthunder wouldn't-" Elizabeth stops after seeing Gilthunders eyes. She steps back "No"

"These can't hold me," Diane says, pulling her hands apart but doing nothing.

"That's useless," Gil says, tightening the lightning around Diane.

"Diane, just save it. Don't bother" Y/N says.

"Y/N..." A sword is placed between Meliodas and Y/N.

"Do you know why the Holy Knights are after the heads of the Eight Deadly Sins?" Gil asks.

"Not really"

"Nope"

"Half of them are seeking revenge and total eradication of the rebel order that plotted to overthrow the kingdom" Gil answers "The other half want to do glorious battle, and vanquish the legendary warrior to prove their strength" Meliodas and Y/N turn their heads to look at Gil.

"And which half are you in?" Meliodas asks.

"Both of them. Now, I want more"

"Is that so?" Y/N asks. Gil furrows his eyebrows.

"Yes. To avenge the death of my father, Zaratras, Holy Knights grandmaster" Gil says "And to show that I am even greater than he, the most powerful Holy Knight ever known. Killing you two will prove that"

"So you under the impression that we're the ones who murdered your father," Y/N asks, gesturing her head to Meliodas "Is that it?"

"Are you saying your not?"

"No idea" Meliodas answers "See, the thing is we don't remember stuff from back then"

"Captain? Lieutenant?" Diane mutters.

"Sir Meliodas? Lady Y/N?"

"The last thing we remember is all of us being summoned to the old castle on the edge of town," Y/N says.

--10 Years Ago--(Italics=Flashbacks)(Normal=Present)

The Deadly Sins are walking down a long hallway, wearing their Holy Knight armour. Y/N and Meliodas lead the way, the rest walking behind them. Meliodas, Y/N and Diane have their helmets off.

"We were hoping to get in a few drinks to celebrate the founding of the Kingdom" Meliodas explains.

"You've never needed an excuse to knock them back and forth?" King? (I think) says.

"Guess your right," Meliodas says.

"Sounded like the grandmaster has something important to discuss," Merlin says.

"Maybe he's gonna give us a special reward for excellent handling that business that troll queen"

"Well, it's all the same to me. Let's get scolded then go celebrate" Meliodas says.

"With some ale" Y/N adds.

"You expecting a dressing down?" Ban says. They reach the end, Meliodas and Y/N open the big doors.

"Hey, we're here" Meliodas and Y/N gasp at the sight "Grandmaster" The grandmaster is suspended into the air, swords and weapons sticking out of him.

"That's brutal" Gowther? (I think) says.

"He's a pincushion" Diane.

"Who would do this?" King asks.

"A sick and vile creature," Y/N says.

"More importantly, why did they target the leader of the Holy Knights?" Merlin asks.

"Your right" Ban agrees "The grandmaster is the linchpin of the kingdom's defence, he's practically a war god"

"Whoever killed him is a traitor and must be plotting to overthrow Liones," Y/N says.

"And they knew precisely what his loss would mean," Diane says. King turns around, followed by Y/N and Meliodas.

"I sense something," He says. Y/N and Meliodas run to the window to see a bunch of Holy Knights and soldiers waiting.

"What the-," Y/N says "We're surrounded by every knight in the kingdom!" The rest come over to look.

"There's too many of them out there to count," Diane says "What are they planning to" She's cut off by the room shaking.

"Damn, they've started their attack," Ban says.

"We'll figure it out!" Meliodas says "But for now, let's split up" Y/N nods.

"We'll meet up later" Y/N adds.

"Understood," Ban says and they all scatter, leaving Meliodas and Y/N.

"Captain...Y/N... I'm sorry"

"Those words were the last thing we remember. The rest is blank" Y/N says.

"Then the next thing we know we were lying down in a cellar somewhere. That's when we met Hawk" Meliodas finishes.

"I knew it! You weren't the ones who killed the grandmaster were you" Elizabeth says.

"That makes no difference to me," Gil says, his sword still between the Captain and Second in Command.

"What are you saying?"

"Rebels and traitors who plotted to overthrow the kingdom," Gil says, looking at the two sins with hatred "That's all you are"

"Enough! You must stop this!" Elizabeth shouts "Didn't you hear what they just told you! They aren't the ones who murdered him! Don't you understand!?" Gil turns to face Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth," He says "The kingdom wants you taken into protective custody. But...I haven't the slightest interest in that" Gil moves the sword away and points it to Elizabeth "Alive or dead is all the same" Elizabeth steps back "To me, you are no more than a grain of sand on the road that is being travelled" Elizabeth's bonds break "Go away. The Sins and I have unfinished business" Elizabeth doesn't move before running to stand in front of the three sins.

"I won't let you hurt these people," She says. Hawk wines, crawling next to Gil's feet.

"It's over for me. I feel numb like I've been electrocuted" Suddenly, Gil kicks Hawk and he flies into the forest.

"Hawk no!" Elizabeth shouts, running after him, leaving Gil with the Sins.

"Now that we have dispensed that interruption" Gil walks towards them.

"Are you sure about this?" Y/N asks. "In the old days, you were never able to beat us. Remember"

"But that was a long time ago" Gil bends down to their height "I am now more powerful than any of the Eight Deadly Sins"

"I don't know, maybe your right," Meliodas says "But you could be wrong" Gil stands up straight.

"Then we should find out," Gil says "First I will release your bonds"

"Well, I appreciate that but I got it," Y/N says, extending her arms to break the bonds, Meliodas and Diane following.

"Couldn've escaped whenever we felt like it," Meliodas says.

"Just know if I felt like it, I could annihilate you instantly"

"Hmm, kinda doubt that"

"I shall use my sword to kill you two," Gil says. Meliodas and Y/N just smile at him.

"Then right back at ya big guy, only she doesn't have a sword." Meliodas and Y/N look up at Diane.

"I've been needing some training," Y/N says, taking off her jacket and placing it beside Diane.

"Don't interfere, all right Diane?" Meliodas says. Diane puts her hands on her hips.

"Aw, you two get all the fun," Diane says.

"Don't want to risk my defeating you three at once?" Gil says, getting into a fighting position. Meliodas steps forward, placing his foot next to Gil's.

"Can't you tell when your elders trying to be nice?" Meliodas asks. Both Gil and Meliodas get their swords, clashing them together. Meliodas pushes Gil back "Like I said, right back at ya. Remember that"

"And I told you," Gil says to Meliodas "You'll be dead" Gil slices his sword at Meliodas, who flips over, missing it barely "Come on!" Gilthunder keeps swiping his sword at Meliodas, only for him to keep flipping. They go back until Meliodas lands on a big rock. Y/N appears behind him.

"Gotta admit, you've improved over the years," She says.

"Yet you two still believe you're superior to me," Gil says, he pushes off towards the two sins but his sword is caught by Y/N's arms, the sleeves of her shirt rips to reveal two steel protectors on her arms, which are positioned in an X shape (Sorta like Wonder Woman). Meliodas's sword is also pushing against Gilthunder's sword. They struggle "I can sense it, you two are beginning to feel a little fear creeping in"

"Are we?" Meliodas says, smiling? The rock beneath then suddenly breaks and they are suspended in the air. They continue to fight in the air. Meliodas and Y/N are pushing to the ground.

"Well, your persistent" Y/N says. Gilthunder comes at them and pushes them into a rock, causing smoke to appear. They see a lightning strike coming their way and get's ready to hit it back until Gil appears beside them. He hits them into the air.

"To slow," Gilthunder says. Y/N sees his plan and quickly pushes herself in front of Meliodas, poofing into her wolf form to catch the blade in her jaw. A loud explosion is heard.

Elizabeth is running through the forest until she hears a loud bang. She stops and turns.

"Sir Meliodas, Lady Y/N"

The smoke clears as both Meliodas and Y/N are on the ground, Y/N in her human form, laying on her stomach with her head on its side, eyes closed, unmoving. Blood trails down her chin. One of her metal arm protectors have been destroyed and said arm has a ragged wound down it. Meliodas looks over to his second in command before he begins laughing, sitting up.

"I can't believe that you've gotten this powerful," He says, as he stands up.

"Seems like Y/N is the first to go. Don't worry, I'll bring the others down with you two soon enough" Gil says, appearing behind Meliodas and slashing him down his shoulder. Blood pours out as he lands face-first on the ground. Sword crashing against the ground.

"Captain? Lieutenant?" Diane says, surprised across her face, looking down at her fallen friends. Both unmoving. Gilthunder nudges Y/N's leg with his foot, only for it to limply fall back to its original position.

"Y/N, the Eight Deadly Sins', Wolf Sin Death. Dead" He announces, with a slight smirk "How ironic" He looks over to Meliodas, who's laying face down not far from the girl. Gil turns Meliodas over, his eyes closed "Meliodas, the Eight Deadly Sins', Dragon Sin of Wrath. Do you have any last words?" He asks. Meliodas opens his eyes, looking up at his executor.

"The sins, what happened to them?" Meliodas asks, his voice hoarse "You must have heard something right. Where have the other ones gone" Gilthunder puts his sword back in his sheath?

"Very well, I'll tell you. For the remaining five, three are still unaccounted for. But two of them have already been dealt with" Gilthunder gives Y/N a side glance "Three, if counting the Wolf Sin" He looks back to Meliodas "The Fox Sin of Greed is being kept under tight guard at Baste Prison. The Grizzly Sin of Sloth is already dead and is interred in the Necropolis. But you needn't worry. I'll make certain they all join you and Y/N shortly"

"Thank you..." Meliodas breaths out, closing his eyes. Before both, his and Y/N's eyes shoot open.

"Awesome!" They say in unison. They kick their legs up and push themselves up, landing side by side. They turn their heads to look at Gilthunder.

"Little Gil," Y/N says, smile upon her face. Gilthunder stares at the two, his face emotionless.

[prof-peach]

if fans wanted to include peach in stuff they write, would that be okay? and how would they write peach's personality? aside from "FIGHT ME" anyway, i think that much is a given lol. i only really write the anime characters 'cause that's what i know, but it sounds like it'd be kinda fun to try making a version of ash that fits into this blog's universe! nerf'd Obviously, but i think she'd probably appreciate how hands-on he gets when training his pokemon!

Ok, I get a lot of these messages, and I often hear folks wanting to throw peach into their stories and comics and writings, and I will always simply ask that if it’s published online publicly, to be linked to it so I can snoop and enjoy the content too. If someone asks about her in your work, let them know about the blog I guess? But literally I love that people take this stuff, these characters and stories, and make new stuff with it. No ones making money off my work here? So where’s the issue? Go for it buddy, knock yourself out, I’m all for it.

For you, and all the others out there who want to add peach, and other characters to your world building, I will give you a detailed rundown of the main lot, and how they behave, what they do, how they function. You can use that, use bits, or use none of it, I do not mind at all. If you’re creating something, you’re in control, not me.

So, peach doesn’t actually fight people as much as you’d think. She’s very aware most cannot and do not want to do that, and so she likes to keep to herself with regards to that aspect of her life, she doesn’t ask to spar with people, or even bring it up at all, but people ask her all the time, even if they clearly would lose or become hurt should she miscalculate during the fight. She looks at people like they usually create problems, and often has a somewhat reserved nature to other humans. You have to work quite hard to get anything more than formalities out of her. She will dead-pan handle people with blunt and very to-the-point statements, aid whenever possible, but very quickly get back to handling the Pokemon she so carefully tends. Her focus is clear, she’s all about hard work, her very small select family, and the Pokemon.

Her brutal, loud and brash personality only comes out with friends, family, difficult humans, OR any Pokemon. She will joke and laugh and play with Pokemon, but clam up around humans, maintaining tight body language and generally will be a little cold by regular standards. She does however have some weaknesses in this emotionless shield she puts up. When peach was young she was always angry, which swung so fast to sadness, back and forth. Her teenage years it just got worse and worse, it was crippling at points. She is to this day, full of fire and rage, even sadness, but now she has learnt to control it, to use it. When she sees that in others, it’s familiar, and she is pushed to drop the front, and be very real with the person. Underdogs I suppose, people who get bad reps, but deserve the same as everyone else. She can’t ignore it.

Once you start to pry open her personality, you’ll find she’s a lot more laid back and fun than originally appeared, you just have to work hard to find that side of her. She will meme reference, can’t dance to save her life, loves her coffee, and can be caught in quiet contemplation while gardening. This hobby is her calmest, and often is why she can stay so level headed when her quiet rage boils up again. Without time outside she will become grouchy, a little snippy, and lethargic. Will not go in the ocean for any reason other than life or death, is fine with ponds and rivers, or water at wading height. Likes the rain.

With regards to her training others, they usually have to tolerate her somewhat strict nature. She is a little....unforgiving, holds a grudge if you make a lot of mistakes, and has no tolerance for ignorance in the age of information that we all live in. In previous posts I’ve mentioned she’s only recently selected two students, after many years of testing kids who want to learn from her. Hundred tried out, only two have ever been approved. How she teaches is very fast paced, be prepared to get some scrapes and bruises, she will test your physical and emotional tolerances with intense tasks, carefully watching students like a hawk. Bad posture in your stance? She’ll be the first to tell you to sort it out. Not hearing your Pokemon partner? Right, now you spend the day without using words trying to communicate, let’s see how you like not being listened to.

This is a woman who has spent her life saying very little, and watching everything, she watches Pokemon and can see an issue from a mile off, and in battles, her observations are why she can react fast, and chose effective strategy to avoid damage and achieve results. Don’t let her body fool you, her strongest asset is analysing, watching, planning. Those skills have over the years transferred to people too. As a student, mistakes don’t go unnoticed with this professor.

Her methods are harsh but fair, and should you prove yourself, she will protect you with her life.

Because of her disinterest in kids and lots of noise, she does pass the training of students on to the other staff members whenever possible. Grey takes on the lions share of battle lessons, he is far calmer, more open and friendly, with patience for people, and an empathy that peach sometimes struggles to have. When you go through a lot of harsh training, and difficult events, it’s hard to change how you feel or think, with peach, well, she’s been through it. Most do not come out the other end in one piece, but she did, and it made her strong. You may think I mean strong like buff and big, and yeah sure she is, but I mean it mentally more than anything. Peach will not quit. She has learnt to destroy the boundaries that stop people getting hurt, gone is the fear that freezes you in your tracks, that feeling that you’ll pass out if you go one more step. She’s learnt to ignore it.

This means she’s a little forgetful at how it is to be normal, to be vulnerable and soft and squishy like students so usually are.

She has her issues, but for the most part, visitors get a laugh, a smile, a calm assertive confidence, and facts. She will indulge those who have genuine interest, or show a connection with nature, an understanding of the balance that needs to be struck for everyone to live well together.

Despite her many flaws, she’s fiercely protective, and will go above and beyond to defend the island, it’s staff, the Pokemon and the visitors. Injustice is her biggest gripe, along with littering, and she doesn’t stand by quietly if something happens that seems unfair.

You will not see her without Valka, her vulpix, close by. That Pokemon doesn’t like to be touched by strangers, at all, and will run the second someone comes at her with that intent. Peach will scold you for pushing yourself onto her, should you persistently try to get close to pet Val. They are in sync, if peach is sad, Val is sad, if Val is stressed, peach is stressed, and so on. They are inherently connected, it’s just been that long, the psychic bridge between them has been built, and reinforced over the years.

The only other Pokemon who follows her so endlessly is Booker, a teddiursa who’s pretty rough looking. He quietly trots behind, grouchy and stoic, they fight closely together a lot. He lost his mom a long time ago to poachers, and peach took him in, and changed her whole life for him. Not many people know, but Booker was the reason she left the rangers, changed career, and got so strong. Will tolerate people petting him but isn’t keen at all, grumbles a lot and tries to move away.

You may also need to know about the others, for the sake of writing, she here a few more bits that may be important to you, or others wanting to do this.

Grey is very tall, very burly, composed, tells bad dad jokes, is a bit of a goof if allowed to be. If he sees a pun, he’ll say it. Can’t help himself. Very nice guy to work with, good at keeping people calm and grounded. Pokemon are drawn to him like a moth to a flame, he gives off warm energy, and has inhuman amounts of patience. If you wrong his family however, he will snap back.

He grew up in the city, loves to swim and hike and cycle, can snowboard, is really sporty. A total brain box with held items, and boosting stats. He will explore many paths, to make sure visitors and students get the information they need, in a way that can be remembered and retained for later. Is a huge guy, but will get on the floor to play with a tiny Pokemon. Treats big “meaner” looking species like babies, very good with all pokemon.

His free time is spent either tinkering, swimming, or trimming his bonsai trees. This guy stares at screens a lot, so appreciates time away from them. Peach built him his own little greenhouse for his trees and tools, which he keeps clean and loves dearly.

His methods as a teacher are built around fun and games, he makes hard work easier to do by distracting trainers from the difficult bits, and focusing in on something more interesting or compelling.

His most commonly seen Pokemon would be a houndoom, Saxon, old battle veteran, retired now to herding and being a good boy. Very gentle, loves a pet.

Pari, now a fully fledged nurse, often oversees the labs front desk and pokecentre features, such as healing pokemon, and informing trainers who come to visit. Her skills with eggs and hatchlings is high, she’s great with younger Pokemon, and hands out good advice to trainers a lot. She’s not a fighter, never was, but can find any file, any study, any book, and any refrence you may need. A true bookworm, loves her romance novels, chat shows and upbeat celebrity gossip mags. Will cry at a lot of stuff, be it sad or happy.

She’s got a seriously upbeat personality, but if caught off guard or shocked, she gets a little flustered. Too much chaos will overwhelm her, but usually she’s on top of things. The years spent on the island have made her better at maintaining composure in emergencies. With lots of siblings, she’s very competent with others, and has a good ability to disarm cagey people with her jolly nature. Because of this, she can sometimes gain information from trainers that some of the more harsh professors may not have access to. Charming is a word for it.

Her partners are an eevee, and a happiny. They are quite sweet and well adjusted, the eevee gets a bit bouncy if you get it too excited.

[lostinwildflowers]

WAIT, RACH CAN I REQUEST SOMETHING? ❤️❤️❤️ you totally do not have to write this if you don’t want to, and take as much time as you need, but could I request a Levi fic where the reader has a deaf best friend, so she knows sign language and one day her friend (who is a civilian) comes to visit squad leader reader for a bit. Neither of them know that Levi knows sign language (idc if he knew it prior or if he got curious about their convos and taught himself) so when they are taking care of the horses that night, the friend starts teasing the reader about her love of Levi and he’s there to see it so he confronts them and confesses his love as well? Like I said, feel free to ignore this, it won’t hurt my feelings! Zero stress! I hope you’re doing well, love, you are the absolute best and I will never get over your amazing writing!! 😘❤️❤️❤️❤️ ALSO I LOVE YOU!!

~Wolfy 🐺

Going Through the Motions

Levi Ackerman x Reader

Summary: You have grown up knowing sign language because of your deaf best friend. You haven't seen her in a long time, so the two of you catch up at the stables, where she teases you about a certain captain. What if he can read your hands, and motions something back?

Word Count: 1.2K

Warnings: deaf! best friend, Levi and Reader both know sign language(duh), otherwise FLUFF(like it needs a warning XD)

A/N: HERE YOU GO WOLFY!!! Sorry if took me forever to get too, but the inspo hit me so I took a hold of it! Thank you for sending a request in :3 MWAH MWAH -Birch<3

Sometimes it pays off to be well educated based on those you surround yourself with. In your case, you had a best friend who was deaf and could only communicate through sign language.

Your friend, Marney, had lost her hearing when you were both young, and so you went to her sign language lessons with her, that way you would still be able to talk to her. You both eventually became fluent in signing, but you didn’t have much need for it when you enlisted in the Scouts.

You hadn’t seen her for a year or so because of the constant missions and trainings you were doing in the Scout Regiment. You worked hard every morning and evening, strengthening your body to make it fit to be a soldier’s.

You had to be at your peak when being a member of Levi’s squad, you were the last wave and you needed to be ready. Throughout all of your hardwork and dedication, you had grown quite fond and close to the captain.

Some nights you would bring him tea after a grueling day of practice, and he would simply sit quietly in your presence before uttering a thank you under his breath. Your friendship was a silent and well-respected one, as most people were too afraid of the Ackerman to even attempt at befriending him.

But you saw Levi for exactly who he was: a man. A man who had been through a lot in his life, and all he wanted to do was rest.

And that’s exactly what everyone was doing. It had been a few long weeks of training and then big missions, so Erwin was giving everyone a week off to settle down and get some rest. Thus, it was perfect timing for your friend to come visit, and you were more than ecstatic to see her.

Your friend was a civilian, so it took her a day to ride out to where the Scouts trained, so you were eagerly waiting for her arrival while briefly going over some of your signs just to refresh your mind.

You can hear horses approaching from in front of you, and you look up to be met with two Scouts being accompanied by a third horse with Marney on top. You jump up and rush over to her, holding her horse’s reins while she hopped down from the gelding’s back.

“Y/n! It’s so great to see you!” she signs eagerly to you before pulling you into a tight hug. You wrap your arms around her the best you can while trying to not let go of the reins, and after a few seconds you pull back and sign, “Marney, I’ve missed you so much!”

The two of you sign back and forth as you guide Marney to the stables, slowly catching up on all of the time spent away from each other.

“What do you mean you’re engaged?” you sign excitedly to Marney, your mouth falling open as you look at the ring on her left hand. Marney just smiles and laughs at you before signing back, “Enough about me! Tell me more about this captain you’ve been writing to me about.”

You playfully roll your eyes as you brush Marney’s horse, fighting down heat in your cheeks as you turn away from her. She playfully bumps your hip and wiggles her eyebrows at you, one again prompting you to answer.

You groan and then sign back, “Okay, yes! I like Levi, but he’s not in a place to be in a relationship right now. The Scouts have been really busy recently, and besides...”

You take a deep breath as you sigh and the shrug before continuing, “There’s no place for love on a battlefield.”

Marney just looks at you unimpressed for a second, her lips pursed in an unamsed fashion before she moves to the otherside of the buckskin colored horse to brush his mane. You try to calm the butterflies in your stomach, but you flinch whenever you hear movement from outside of the stables.

In the doorway, you see a lean figure leaning against the wall, and your heart beats in your chest a little harder as you salute him and call, “Good evening, Captain Levi! I was helping my-”

“At ease, Y/n. I’ve been here for long enough,” Levi states, eyes low and dark from the night outside, and you swallow thickly at the meaning of his words.

Marney moves next to you as she sees a shadow flicker in the candle light, suddenly spotting Levi walking toward you. She glances at him once before signing, “Is this the guy you’ve been writing to me about? Captain Levi?”

As you go to respond, Levi’s hands begin to moving into familiar patterns that you knew all too well as he signs back to Marney, “Captain Levi Ackerman at your service. You should go find your cabin for the night. Y/n and I will clean up here.”

You freeze as Marney’s eyes widen at Levi’s hands, but nods to the captain and begins to make her way out of the barn and toward the rest of the barracks. You can feel your hands clenching around the brush in your hand as Levi continues to make his way up to you.

Your mouth falls open and closed a few times as you glance from Levi’s hands and back to his face, your heart starting to pick up it’s rhythm with nerves. Levi stops in front of you, softly illuminated by the glow from the lamp as he lifts his hands up so the two of you can see them.

“I like you,” the sign comes, simple and accurate, and you gasp as the brush slips out of your fingers and crashes into the ground. You blink in shock a few times as you feel your cheeks warm again and you stutter out, “Y-you like me? Even after I made a fool out of myself?!”

Levi just huffs lightly, the faintest orangey-pink blush on his cheeks as he grumbles, “I do, and I’m surprised that it’s taken you this long to find out.”

You glance away, embarrassed by your oblviiousness. You shuffle on your feet for a moment before asking shyly, “How do you even know sign language? If you don’t mind me asking, that is...”

Levi is quiet for a moment before he turns his head nonchalantly toward the horse and states, “There was a solider here a few years ago who was deaf in one ear. He worked hard and was kind, and it was easiest to sign to him, so he taught me.”

You nod shakily before quickly reaching down to grab the brush. You motion to the horse behind you and ask, “Would you like to help me clean this guy up?”

Levi nods before cracking a slight smirk and chides, “Yeah, that way you can tell me more about what you said in those letters.”

It was a bit of a rocky and unplanned start to your relationship, but going through the motions before getting truly comfortable with each other wasn’t a bad beginning.

Tag list: @xxdragonwriterxx @tejxswini @mysterystarz @mortedeveles @vs-redemption @kal0psi-a @gin-no-g @starstruckkittensweets @kitacharm @babieweeb @shirari @animated-moon @mitzwinchester @anlian-aishang @deludedimagines

[freddie-weaselbee]

Someone Blue//F.W.

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Fem!Reader 

Warnings: Slight language, angst, a lot of confusion, fluffy ending

Summary: Fred spots a familiar face at his brother’s wedding, and has a sinking suspicion about why she’s acting so upset during this time of celebration. 

Prompts: Enemies to Lovers (kind of) and Weddings with the dialogue prompts “you look like you need a hug” and “did you need something?”

Word Count: 3.2k

A/N: Day 1 of @theweasleyslut‘s 2k writing challenge 

Angelina looked absolutely ethereal, skin glowing in the shimmering lights as she glided across the grass as if it was a ballroom floor. Her white dress was slightly stained, mostly from when her now husband tackled her to the ground after their first kiss as a married couple, and yet it only made her seem all the more angelic. 

George’s feet seemed to never touch the ground. He was moving at record speeds, prancing and hopping and skipping around the dance floor, dragging his wife along with him. It was the most joyful Fred had ever seen him. 

Not when they left Hogwarts, not when they opened their shop, not even when Angelina said yes to the proposal could have compared to the happiness on George’s face. Nor Angelina’s. They were in a pure state of bliss. 

The rest of the wedding-goers seemed to match their energy. Fred couldn’t go anywhere without being bombarded with drunken laughs and horrid dancing, and the occasional congratulations or two from some tipsy guests who didn’t know that the man they were talking to wasn’t the groom. 

All in all, it was an amazing night. The field behind the burrow had become a traditional wedding venue for the growing Weasley children, so far hosting Bill, Percy, Ron, and now George’s days to remember. The tents and lights were all set up as they were with Bill and Fleur’s wedding, except this time there was no risk of Death Eaters ruining the event. Hopefully. 

However, while making his way around to talk to (and flirt with) the guests, Fred happened to notice one person who did not fit the overzealous tone. Well, he didn’t really happen to notice. Rather he’d been staring at her throughout the entire night, watching her somber mood break through her happy façade. Not that he’d ever admit that to anyone. 

You were standing by yourself, but you weren’t secluded from the action. Rather, you were right in the middle of things, on the very edge of the dance floor, staring out at the masses of bodies swinging their partners around. Your arms were crossed over your chest, a defensive position that Fred had seen so many times in you before. 

He turned away and tried to ignore it. It wasn’t any of his business if you were upset. The two of you were barely even friends anymore. You had cut him out of your life so many years ago and never looked back. To this day, Fred still didn’t know why, and it killed him. 

He wanted to walk away. To go the other direction toward a beautiful guest wearing a flowing red dress, hair done up perfectly. The stranger would be the smart choice. A fun way to spend the evening, dancing around and snogging under moonlit trees. But, against his better judgement, Fred’s heart wouldn't let him leave. 

Sighing, Fred lifted his feet and made his way in the other direction, to the girl who couldn’t care less about him. 

You stood unmoving, except for a subtle sway to the music. People brushed by you, but you paid them no mind. You were too focused on something else. As Fred drew nearer, he was able to follow your line of sight to the people in question. The newlyweds. 

Fred bristled before softening slightly. Of course. This must be about George. Back at Hogwarts, Fred was positive you had the biggest crush on his brother. You were always tagging along with their jokes, even when they got you into huge trouble. You definitely spent more time alone with George than Fred, sharing whispers and stares at the expense of the older twin. He could never get George to break and tell him what you two talked about. George even took you to the Yule Ball in your 6th year. You had never looked as radiant as you did that night, except for maybe this moment. Fred wished he had asked you to dance at the ball, but he never worked up the courage to. He didn’t want you to internally grimace at the thought of dancing with the “lesser” Weasley twin when George was right there. 

In his recollection of memories, Fred hadn’t noticed how close he had gotten to you, and how you were no longer gazing at the couple dancing. You were now staring at him. 

“Did you need something?”

Fred was shaken out of his imagination, met with an annoyed glare but soft smile coming from you. His surprise was immediately replaced with his signature cocky grin, leaning his hand onto one of the wedding tables while keeping his gaze on you. Unfortunately, his hand accidentally dipped into a wine glass, but he quickly pulled it out and hoped you didn’t notice. You did. 

“Well, that’s not a very nice way to greet one of your oldest friends, now is it?” Fred wiped his wine-covered hand on his suit pants and slipped it into his pocket, pretending to be unbothered by his previous mistake. 

You turned your eyes away from him, once again gluing them to the dance floor. “I think it’s fitting, seeing as how you were creepily staring at me for about 5 minutes before I said something.”

Fred’s ears grew pink at the accusation. “I, umm, I didn’t realize it was that long. Or that you noticed. Sorry.” He bashfully rubbed the back of his neck, pretending to glance around at other guests who might interest him more. 

“You still haven’t answered me.”

Fred cocked his head to the side in question. 

“Why’d you come over here? Was there something you needed?”

“Ah, yes well,” Fred began smoothly, “I saw this darling beauty from across the tent and I just could not take my eyes off of her--”

“Fred,” you interrupted. You were looking at him again, your gaze piercing through him, forcing him to tell you the truth, to tell you everything about him. His fears, his hopes and dreams, what he had for breakfast this morning. He wanted to tell you it all. 

“The truth, please.”

Clearing his throat, and his mind of whatever thoughts just plagued him, Fred decided to be honest. You deserved that much. 

“You look like you need a hug,” he said, shrugging nonchalantly. 

Evidently, those were not the words you were expecting to hear. You were prepared with about a dozen quips to say in response to whatever cocky joke Fred was about to make. But he didn’t, and nothing could have prepared you for what he did say. 

“I--I need a what?”

“Sorry, have you lost your hearing or was I not loud enough? It’s definitely not the second; you’ve told me on numerous occasions that I have the biggest mouth of anyone you know.”

There it was. But it still made you giggle, relaxing and gravitating closer to your companion. 

“I heard you,” you said, “just wasn’t expecting that from you, I guess.”

Fred took a half step closer, visibly glad when you didn’t move away. “Wasn’t expecting me to have noticed your behavior, or wasn’t expecting me to care if I did?”

It took you a few seconds to respond. “Both.”

He let out a sound of understanding before you both averted your eyes, looking straight ahead. Occasionally, Fred would try to look at you using his peripheral vision, and you would do the same. It became a kind of game--just an awkward back and forth between two people who used to be so close, and were now so far apart.

You game ended when one of the wedding guests decided to clink their glass, beginning a chorus of high pitched chimes to echo throughout the room. You watched as George turned to find Angelina, running to her to give her a kiss so full of love and passion that it took everything Fred had not to shout out a joke and ruin the moment. He could do that next time. 

He noticed you stiffen at the kiss, presumably because it was just another reminder of what you couldn’t have. George. 

“You know, I always wanted to be a Weasley.”

Fred was surprised that you had spoken to him, and even more surprised about the turn the conversation had taken. 

“I grew up with you guys,” you continued, not waiting for Fred to respond. “Molly was like my second mother, even though she always liked Hermione and Harry a bit more than me.”

“Join the club,” said Fred, causing you to laugh loudly, a sound he hadn’t heard from you in ages. Godric, how he had missed it.

“It’s just…” you trailed off, not knowing if you wanted to be open with Fred, someone you hadn’t spoken to in years. Chances were, you wouldn’t keep in touch much after the wedding, so you might as well. What was there to lose? “It’s just...seeing Angelina, one of my best friends, dance around, wearing that ring, getting to be an actual Weasley. It’s...it’s making me a wee bit jealous.”

Fred watched you fidget with a bracelet on your wrist and decided to push his luck just a bit more. “And you’re wishing that it could be you wearing the ring, married to a certain Weasley gentleman?”

The shock was evident in your expression. “No, no, it’s not--I mean I never…” Sighing, you decided to come clean. “Yeah, I’ve maybe been harboring feelings for a certain twin for, oh I don’t know, my entire life. No biggie though, it’s totally fine that he never asked me out.”

The ginger beside you threw an arm around your shoulder, handing you a glass of wine in the process. “Drink. It makes everything better.”

You glared at him, but took the glass anyways, chugging it down in a few large gulps. “Another, please,” you demanded, and Fred obliged. 

You started to ease into Fred’s side, as soft and comforting as you remembered it to be, before realizing exactly what it was you were doing. “Fred, can I ask you something?”

“‘Course. You can ask me anything.” The absolute last thing Fred wanted to be doing at the moment was talking about your undying love for his twin brother, at his wedding no less, but he didn’t want to leave you alone. Not seeing you for so long had had a harsher effect on him than he thought, and he didn’t want to leave your side. 

Taking a deep breath and gathering your courage, you asked him the question that had been plaguing your mind for years. The one that ate you from the inside out and kept you tossing and turning at night. The reason you had to separate yourself from your love in the first place. “Why am I not good enough?”

Your voice broke a tiny bit, but a lot less than you had been expecting. A tear did happen to slip out, and Fred quickly wiped it away, his fingertip resting on your cheek for a moment too long. 

“Y/N, love, come here.” Fred pulled you into that hug he had talked about earlier, holding you closely to his chest. If he thought you were going to appreciate the gesture, he was wrong. You pushed him away softly, refusing to let any more tears fall. 

“I’m serious, Fred. W-Why am I not good enough? I’ve made it clear for years and yet...nothing. And not even a simple rejection. I could’ve handled that, y’know. If I got a simple no, I could’ve handled it and moved on. But I never did, and it’s killing me. Why am I not good enough?”

It killed Fred to see you this upset, and it hurt him even more to see that the anger was directed at him and not at George. It was his brother that broke your heart after all, not him. “You are good enough!” Fred said, with enough truth and force that a little part of you believed it. “You’re, you’re too good! You’ve been by our side from the beginning and haven’t left it since. Well, we haven’t seen you in years, but that’s probably because of--”

You nodded, confirming what he thought. Your heartbreak had driven you away. 

“But other than that,” he continued, “you’ve been like my third arm. Any guy would be crazy to give you up, you know that?”

 A tiny smile grew on your face, but was gone as soon as it had arrived. “The timing...the timing was just all wrong, wasn’t it?” you asked. 

Fred nodded, watching his brother and his wife greet guests and take pictures that were sure to be on the mantle in the burrow as soon as the wedding was over. “Yeah, I guess so. The prick should’ve asked you out sooner.”

“Oh I agree wholeheartedly, he is a prick,” you said, poking his arm, a gesture that slightly confused him. “So, I’m guessing there’s no chance of anything happening now? No sliver of hope that maybe this could work out?”

He hated that he would be the one to crush your dreams, but he couldn’t let you keep living in false hope. “Well,” he said, “the wedding bands are on and they both said ‘I do.’ Kind of hard to come back from that. I’m sorry.”

You froze, now more befuddled than you had been all night. “I...what?”

Before Fred could say anything you reached to grab his left hand, checking his ring finger for something you knew wasn’t there, but you had to be sure. 

“Wedding bands? What in the world do you--” Realization hit you like a brick, and you wanted to slap yourself. Or Fred. Either one. But preferably the latter. 

“Frederick, my dear love, who do you think we have been talking about this whole time?” you asked, voice genuine but also teasing. 

Fred didn’t know what you all of a sudden found so amusing, but he was already doubting himself and he didn’t want you to make fun of him for whatever he had done wrong. 

“Umm, well you said a Weasley, and then you said a Weasley twin. So I thought the answer was obvious.”

“Say it,” you demanded. “Who have we been talking about? Who am I in love with after years of unrequited feelings?”

He felt like he was walking into a trap, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. He hesitated for a few seconds before your searing gaze forced him to answer. “George. We’re talking about my brother George.”

No sooner had his words left his mouth than your hand came up to slap his head. “You idiot! Are you serious right now?”

Fred stood flabbergasted, racking his brain for who else you could have been talking about. George was a Weasley twin. You said you were in love with a Weasley twin. Who else was there?

“It’s you, you big oaf!”

Oh. OH! There were two Weasley twins, and he was one of them. Which meant…

“You’re in love with me?!”

By this point, heads were turned to watch the scene and people were not-so-subtly whispering to their partners. 

You dragged a still surprised Fred through the crowd and out of the tents, finding a secluded enough area where you could talk. 

Fred’s brain had still not been caught up. “It’s me? You’re in love with me? But, but what about George?”

You furrowed your brow, wondering how Fred could have so easily mistaken your feelings for him as those for another. “What about George?”

“You’re in love with him!”

“I most definitely am not!”

“The Yule Ball!” he spat out. “You went to the Yule Ball with him when we were 16!”

“Yes,” you said calmly, “and you went with Angelina, but I don’t see you two getting married. We went as friends and I talked to him about you the entire night. In fact, most of the time when we hung out I was talking about you. Made him swear not to tell though. I was never good about expressing my feelings.”

Fred put a hand to his head, a growing throb threatening to overtake his senses. “But why were you so sad tonight? You wanted to marry George!”

“No,” you said patiently. “I was sad because Angelina and George’s relationship worked out the way I was wishing one between you and I had. They fell in love during school, dated a few years later, and now she’s a part of your family. I wasn’t wishing it was just me out there with your brother. I was wishing that it was our wedding.”

You blushed heavily and buried your face in your hands, embarrassed by your bluntness about your feelings. “Oh, Godric, I shouldn’t have said that, now it’s more awkward. I, umm, I should probably get going.”

Fred grabbed your wrist before you could leave, pulling you into his chest. His eyes were wide, mouth hanging slightly ajar as he gazed down at your muddled expression. 

“It’s me. I’m the one you love.”

He said it as more of a declaration rather than a question, but you could tell that he needed confirmation. 

“Of course, Freddie,” you said. “It’s always been you.”

His hand wasted no time in going to the back of your head, pulling your face into his and melding your lips together in your first kiss with Fred Weasley. After the shock wore off, you were hastily kissing him back, hoping against all hope that he wouldn’t pull back and proclaim what a stupid mistake this all was. But he never did. You kissed and kissed and kissed until you were the one who had to pull back in order to catch your breath. 

It took you both a few seconds to realize what had just happened, and for the first time you both were at a loss for words. “That was, umm…” you mumbled, trying to think of what to say. 

“I love you too.”

Fred’s words were rushed out of his mouth, voice deep ragged. “I mean, when you said it was me, not George, that you loved. I, well, I love you too. Always have. Guess I just thought that you had a thing for George and I had no chance. Pretty silly of me, huh?”

“Downright stupid of you,” you replied, giggling as he pushed you away with a bashful smile gracing his lips. 

“So,” he said quietly, inching closer to you once again, “is there a chance of anything happening now?” Fred repeated the words you had said earlier, making you smile wider than you had all night. 

“Depends,” you said. “Are you gonna get the courage to ask me out?”

Fred waited for a moment before answering. “How about,” he said, offering his arm out for you to link with yours, “we have that dance we never got at the Yule Ball. And then that date we never got after, and then that relationship we never got as well. Oh! And then that wedding, and then a dog, maybe a few kids, a big house in the country--”

“Woahhh, slow down buddy, you haven’t ever properly asked me!”

You took his arm and made your way back to where the music continued to blare and festivities raged on. 

“Y/N, love, may I have this dance?”

You pushed a strand of hair from his face, ruffling it up a little to give it that signature Fred Weasley style. 

“Of course, Freddie. And every dance after that.”

Tag List:

@famdomhideout @amourtentiaa

[youare-mysonshine]

heavy || bucky barnes

Summary: reader’s mental health has been taking a decline and bucky is there.

Requested: No

Pairing: TFATWS Bucky Barnes x reader

Warnings: talks of mental health, depression, anxiety, angst, cussing.

Word Count: 3.2K

A/N: Hey guys, I’m back I guess lmao. I’ve really been struggling with my mental health lately and I guess I kinda just wanted to put it into words, something productive? And I’ve been feeling our angsty emo boy bucky barnes. Most of you might’ve followed me for my Oscar fics but I kinda wanna branch out and I thought this would be a good time to do so. Anyways, I know that some of you have inboxed me or messaged me and I haven’t responded and I’m sorry. But I just want you all to know that if you’re struggling, I’m always here to talk. About anything, always. So, I hope you enjoy this. I might’ve cried while writing this lmao and I also might’ve ended it on such an awkward place but, i’m still getting used to writing again. (Flashbacks are in italics)

————

Bucky didn’t miss the dark circles under your eyes. He didn’t miss the way you sort of slouched as you approached him. He didn’t miss the way that your smile didn’t really meet your eyes.

“Hey,” You said in a breathless voice. “Sorry, I’m late. I got held up.” You said as you took a seat across from him in the booth. Held up. It was better than telling him that you were thinking of just not showing up at all. In the end, you knew that you couldn’t do that. You couldn’t just blow off your new friend who you had so enjoyed spending time with. So, in a rush, you got dressed and made your way to the small, quiet diner that you two had taken to frequenting together. Bucky Barnes was an enigma if you’d ever met one. The way that you had met was rather.. cliche and something straight from a story.

You had been trying to lay off of the caffeine for a while, realizing that you had nearly gone through an entire packet of 32 k-pods that you had just purchased. You realized that you might’ve had a problem. You had been going pretty strong with staying away from caffeine for the time being, until you passed by a coffee shop and got a whiff of coffee. You just couldn’t help yourself; you bought a cup of coffee. It was when you were walking down the street, holding the cup of coffee in one hand, looking down, that you didn’t see someone walking right in your path. You had collided into what seemed like a solid wall and the impact had caused you to squeeze the cup of coffee in surprise, the warm liquid burning your hand, staining your clothes and the other person. You had realized it was another person you had crashed into when you heard them let out a low cuss.

Bucky’s grumpy self had been fully prepared to tell you off for crashing into him, having just left his therapist’s office, but when you looked up at him with those bright eyes of yours, a million apologies spilling from your lips a mile a minute, he swallowed whatever harsh words had nearly sprung forth. He had apologized as well; both of you had been at fault. Bucky had been going over his session with Dr. Raynor that morning, completely lost in his own mind, and you had your eyes trained on the ground, something that was a bad habit of yours. The shock of realizing you had bumped into a man, a really really handsome man with the brightest blue eyes you had ever seen, had made you temporarily forget that you had practically scorched your hand with the coffee, and that you had gotten it on him as well.

“I’m so, so sorry.” You said once again, quickly averting your eyes from the handsome stranger’s face. Instead you focused on the smushed cup in your hand and the stains on his leather jacket. It just made you feel even terrible. “I, I can pay for you to get your jacket cleaned, if you want. Really. I wasn’t paying attention and I just, for whatever reason, squished my cup and.. I’m sorry.” You said, kind of breathlessly.

“It’s.. it’s alright.” His voice was like the coffee that you had been drinking. Smooth and rich. It was deep, something that reverberated deep in your chest and had your stomach fluttering with butterflies. “I wasn’t paying attention either. Really, it’s fine. And don’t worry about my jacket. No harm, no foul.” He said. “You should, uh, you should take care of that hand. Hope you didn’t burn yourself too bad.” He gestured to your hand, still clutching the cup, with one of his own gloved hands.

“Oh, I’ll be fine. It wasn’t that hot. Thank you, though. And again, I’m really, really sorry.” Sparing one, seemingly, last glance at the handsome stranger, you side stepped him and began to walk away, tossing the empty cup of coffee in a trash can on the sidewalk. But you didn’t get very far because that deep voice called out to you, halting you in your tracks.

“Can I buy you another cup of coffee?” Bucky’s mouth had opened and spoken the words long before his brain could even catch up. He didn’t know why he had asked you that, but something in his gut was just telling him too.

“What?” A look of total bewilderment had crossed your face and he had seen it.

“I just, well I thought that, since I bumped into you, I could make it up to you by buying you a new cup of coffee. If you wanted, I mean. You don’t have to say yes if you don’t want to. I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable or anything.” Bucky clarified, hand stuffed in his pocket, waiting for your answer. For a few seconds, you simply stood there, unsure of what to say because surely this wasn’t happening? The last time that you had gone out with a guy was.. well, shit, you didn’t even remember the last time. The little voice in the back of your head, that anxious, paranoid little voice, was telling you not to go off with a stranger. You’d watched too many episodes of Criminal Minds and other true crime shows and documentaries to know that situations like this never turned out well. However, you didn’t get a bad feeling from this particular man. He seemed just as awkward and slightly frazzled as you felt. So you agreed.

“I’m Bucky, by the way.”

“Y/N.”

That had happened about two months ago. Ever since then, you and Bucky had formed a strong friendship. Your first time getting coffee with him had been awkward, as were the next few times that you had seen one another. But things got easier. Becoming friends was easy. You kind of fell into this routine, almost as if you two had known each other your whole lives. That was why Bucky telling you who he really was had been terrifying for him. He carried around guilt and shame and just contempt for everything he’d done. Everything The Winter Soldier represented, and when he told you, he figured that you would think the same. He had asked you meet him at the diner that had now become your spot and and you remember how he nervously wrung his gloved hands together. You remember when you asked him what was wrong and he didn’t verbally respond but he took off his gloves; the right one first and then the left, revealing a shiny black metal hand, golden lines intricately placed.

He told you then. Maybe he didn’t tell you everything but he told you who he was and he had braced himself for you to get up and storm out. Or, to yell at him and tell him how much of a monster he was. But, it never came. Instead, you reached out and placed your hand on top his. Not his real hand, but the metal one. You didn’t say anything. You just gave him that smile that was quickly becoming his favorite. Sometimes, silence spoke a thousand words. To Bucky, you had become kind of a respite for him. Even in the late nights or mornings when he woke up after a nightmare. Or after a particularly hard session with Dr. Raynor. He had closed himself off from other people except you.

Bucky might not have known it, but he gave you the same level of comfort as you gave him. You found yourself craving his presence. Every time you were around him, you couldn’t help but to smile or laugh. In the time that you spent together, your mind was clear and free from all your worries. It all evaporated into thin air. Your mind, usually so active with all sorts of thoughts and worries, could finally rest when you were with Bucky. You could sleep. You could get up in the morning without that stress and anxiety drowning you. It was okay. It was great.

Until it wasn’t.

“No problem, doll.” He said, gloved hands clasped under the table on his lap. “I already ordered. Got your usual. Hope that was alright.” He added, to which you nodded absentmindedly.

“Yeah, yeah. That’s fine. Thanks Buck.” You said, mustering up a half hearted smile that didn’t reach your eyes. It was like even smiling drained the energy from you. You were exhausted. Not even just physically but mentally and emotionally. You had been having such good days for a while now, since meeting Bucky. You felt like maybe you would finally be alright but.. this feeling of hopelessness, the feeling that nothing was quite right, it was heavy. It weighed you down. It suffocated you. You wanted to be alone, but you also couldn’t stand to be alone because when you were alone, you were just stuck in your head and being in your head was the absolute worst place to be.

The intrusive thoughts had started. They told you that you would do nothing but weigh Bucky down. That he didn’t need someone like you in his life, someone with clear problems of their own, when he was going to therapy trying to better himself. Even if it had been mandatory for him to go. You wanted to push him away, save him from yourself, but you also couldn’t stand the thought of losing him.

Bucky noticed the shift in you. Normally when you two met up, whether it was at the diner or anywhere else, you would usually talk his ear off. Not that he minded, he was content to just sit back and listen to you. Sometimes, you’d tell him about a new book that you had started reading. You had just started reading the fifth Harry Potter book and you were trying to get him to read them. You’d tell him about your day. You’d ask him how his day went, how it went with Dr. Raynor, though you never pushed for more information. You always let him share if he was comfortable with it and he appreciated that. Sometimes you teased him for being such an old man.

The food came soon after you had arrived and sure enough, Bucky had ordered your usual. It sent a pang through your heart when you realized that he had memorized your order, down to the extra syrup and whipped cream on the pancakes. Bucky always liked to make fun of you for ordering the same thing when you came to the diner. No matter what time it was, you always ordered the pancakes with extra syrup and extra whip cream, with the strawberries on the side. Secretly, though he found it adorable.

Today, you had barely even taken more than a few bites and that was what really let Bucky know that something wasn’t right. You kept your head down, eyes on the pancakes and you cut them up, bringing a few up to your mouth and chewing slowly, but you mostly just moved them around your plate with the fork in your hand. Bucky himself had barely taken only a few bites of the food he’d ordered for himself, but it wasn’t for lack of appetite, it was because of the growing concern. His bright blue eyes were now a stormy grey, kind of like the clouds that you see during a heavy storm. His brows were furrowed, giving him an appearance almost as if he were angry.

“You alright, Y/N? You’ve barely eaten your food and normally you finish before I do.” He attempted to joke, to bring about that smile that seemed to always fill him with warmth. He half expected you to look up at him with that cheeky little smile, a mischievous look in your eyes and say “You know, I would be offended by that, but I know why you eat so slow, Buck. I completely understand. You don’t want your dentures to fall out.” But it never came.

You don’t know what it was. Bucky asking you if you were alright or if it was simply all the pressure of just.. everything, finally breaking, but you could feel the hot tears in your eyes. They blurred your vision until you couldn’t really see the plate of the pancakes in focus. The dam had finally come apart and you couldn’t hold it in anymore. You set the fork down and buried your face in your hands, your shoulders lightly shaking as you began to cry. All Bucky could do was stare for a few seconds, alarm written all over his face. Alarm and distress because he had no idea what just happened and if he had done something to upset you.

“Woah woah, hey. Sweetheart, hey. What’s wrong?” In seconds, Bucky was out of his side of the booth and scooting in beside you. You felt the comfort of his warmth, you felt his arm tentatively, almost hesitantly, slide around your shoulders and anchor you to him. You shook your head, attempting to calm down, to stop the tears but the more you tried, the more they seemed to come.

“I-I’m sorry, Bucky.. I.. I’m sorry.. I-I’m fine. Really.” You said, sniffling. It was apparent to you both that you were not alright and he really just wanted to get to the bottom of it. Or at least attempt to comfort you. But doing that in the middle of a diner with other people around wasn’t ideal.

“Hey, my apartment is only a short walk away. Come on, let’s get you out of here and somewhere more quiet.” You didn’t protest. You just nodded and slid out of the booth after he did. Bucky took out his wallet and placed a few bills on the table, paying for the uneaten food, and then quickly led you out of the establishment. He kept his hand on you, almost like an anchor. Whether it was to reassure you or himself, he didn’t know and you didn’t mind either. It was probably the only thing that kept you from retreating inside of your mind and giving in to the panic that so desperately wanted out.

You didn’t even realize that you had reached his apartment until he had led you up the stairs and you were standing behind him as he unlocked the door. He allowed you to step in first and then quickly followed behind you, shutting the door as he did so. You didn’t really get the chance to take in his apartment because he had ushered you to sit on his couch while he knelt in front of you.

“Alright, you’re scarin’ me here, doll. What’s wrong? Did someone hurt you?” The sheer look of concern and slight panic in his face and those pretty eyes of his made the waterworks come back again. You shook your head, your face scrunched up in anguish. Hot bullet tears fell from your eyes and left a wet path in their wake down your cheeks. Bucky wasn’t one to pry; he hated it when people tried to pry into his life and he didn’t do it to you, but he couldn’t stand the sight of seeing you cry. He couldn’t stand the sight of your once bright eyes and cheery smile just.. gone. You eyes were sad and your lips were pulled into a frown. “Talk to me, baby.” He practically pleaded.

“I just.. I don’t.. I don’t know how to explain it, Buck.” You cried. “I-I.. I just feel like..” You let out a frustrated cry when you couldn’t find the right words but Bucky was patient. He reached a hand up, cupping your cheek and wiping away the tears that kept falling. “I don’t feel.. happy. Everyday I wake up and I just, I feel fine for like a few seconds and then everything just comes crashing down on me. I can’t ever stop thinking. I can’t sleep at night. I’m tired. I’m tired of feeling like this, Bucky. And I feel fucking crazy. Sometimes I feel like you don’t even really like me. I feel.. hopeless, like nothing is ever going to be okay. I might feel okay for a few seconds but then it just goes away.” You explained, though you were sure that you probably sounded like a raving and ranting lunatic. “Before I met you, I liked being alone but I also hated it because when I was alone, I would just overthink and overthink and overthink about every fucking thing. If it wasn’t one thing it was another just giving me such bad anxiety and.. I don’t know what to do anymore, Bucky. I’m just tired of feeling like this. Feeling like nothing is ever going to be okay, like I’m never going to be okay. I just feel.. alone.”

His heart was well and truly broken. In the two months that he’d known you, he hadn’t known how badly you had struggled with your mental health. He hadn’t known the war that you fought within your mind, and how bad it had become. You were such saving grace for Bucky; you saved him from the wars inside of his mind. The constant feeling of guilt that he fought with on a daily basis, and now.. he just wanted to do the same for you. He wanted to shoulder some of the pain that you carried, the pain that seemed to be weighing you down. Both of his hands now cupped your cheeks so delicately, as if you were the most precious thing in the world to him. His blue eyes were shining, looking at you with not pity, but something like.. understanding. If anyone knew what you were feeling, it was Bucky.

“You’re not alone.” His smooth and rich voice was so soft, so gentle that it brought on a new set of tears. “You’re not alone, sweetheart. Not anymore. You know why? Cause you got me.” He said. “I know what it’s like to feel hopeless. To feel stuck in your head. To feel like nothing is ever gonna get better. I felt like that in Wakanda. Sometimes.. sometimes, we need help. And I know I’m not one to be talking considering that I don’t really like talking to my therapist or even going,” That roused the smallest of smiles from you. “I’m here. You know that, right? I’m here. You got me and I’m not going anywhere. I promise. I don’t care if you have a million bad days. I don’t care if you feel like you’re bothering me. I’ll be there every time.” You two have gradually gravitated close to one another until your foreheads were pressed together. Bucky was still knelt in front of you on the couch, his hands still holding your cheeks. Your eyes were closed and you could feel his warm breath fanning your face. The tears had stopped falling but you were still sniffling softly. “You’ve helped me. Even if you don’t know it. You’ve helped me.” He was whispering. There was no one but you two in his apartment but he was still whispering the words meant for only you to hear. “Now, let me help you. Please.”

“Okay. I trust you, Bucky.”

[doctorstethoscope]

Birthday Boy || Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader

just a little something something for Thomas Gibson’s birthday and @ssahotchswife Soft Hotch Saturday! 

contains: food consumption, hiking, ocean/swimming

wc: 1.3k

You had always been big on birthdays, particularly for the people you cared about. You’d decided as a teenager that anything good was worth making great, and anything worth celebrating might as well be worth a parade. So when your boyfriend Aaron’s birthday was rolling around, you were prepared to pull out all the stops.

You’re sitting on the couch together, some baseball game on in the background while you toddle away on your laptop, about to buy tickets to a whiskey distillery tour for him, Rossi, Derek and Spencer when he stops you. 

“Sweetheart, I love that you want to plan all of this for me, but I don’t really do birthdays. I’d really rather treat it just like any other day if that’s alright with you.” he’d stopped you.

“What do you mean? You made brunch and winery reservations for me and the girls on my birthday. I came home to a candlelit dinner and you and Jack made me a cake.” You argued. 

“You love birthdays, and you deserved a special birthday, so I made sure you had one. I knew you’d want one.” He had explained as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

  “You deserve a special birthday too.” You countered. 

“And I’ll have one, with you, and Jack, and probably one of his soccer games and a trip through the McDonald’s drive through before he falls asleep afterwards. And it will be everything I wanted because I spent it with the people that I love.” He had told you simply, and you melted, even if it did go against everything you believed in not to plan every second of the day out to a tee. But of course, you couldn’t do nothing. 

Which is how you found yourself awake before Aaron on his birthday, wrapped in his arms and trying not to buzz with excitement so you could let him sleep. Eventually, he stirs, and you press a kiss to his lips before he can even open his eyes. 

“Happy birthday, my love.” you whispered as sunlight filtered in through the blinds.

“Good morning,” he responds, in that raspy voice he has right when he wakes up.

“Can I get you a cup of coffee?” You ask, and he shakes his head. 

“I just want to hold you for a little bit longer,” he requests. 

“Well I guess, since it’s your birthday,” you teased him with a smirk and he smiled as he pulled you into his side. You threw your leg over both of his, bringing a hand to his chest and stroking your thumb back and forth against his sternum. 

You stay that way for a long while, simply basking in the comfort of one another’s company, before you speak up. 

“So, I know you said you wanted to treat today just like any other day… but I did plan a few things, just in case. I couldn’t let the most amazing man’s birthday pass without doing anything. I kept it simple-- just the three of us, but it’s totally up to you.” You assured him. 

Aaron let out a little laugh at your statement. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to go without planning anything.” He sits up, pulling you into his lap and wrapping his arms around you. “What’s on the docket?” He asks with a smile.

“Well, I was looking into a hike on Chincoteague Island, and then I thought maybe we could check out the lighthouse and beach. I found a couple easy hikes that Jack should be able to make with pretty summits.” 

“That sounds perfect, sweetheart. Thank you,” he said, leaning down to kiss you. Your phone buzzed, and you hopped off of his lap. He looked at you, surprised and a little betrayed. 

“Also, I ordered your favorite donuts for breakfast. They’re here. Don’t move,” you explained, dashing to the front door to pay the delivery driver and coming back a few moments later with coffee, a donut, and Jack in tow. 

“Happy birthday daddy!” Jack exclaimed, climbing up towards his father. 

“Thank you, buddy,” he said, smoothing his hand through his son’s hair as you handed him his breakfast. “Did you hear about what we’re going to do today?” he asks.

Jack shakes his head and looks over at you, knowing that you are the master of all things party and celebration prep, and you laugh. 

“I thought we might take Daddy on a hike and then go to the beach, does that sound fun Jack?” 

He nods enthusiastically, and you lead him back to his bedroom to get dressed for the day.  It takes some time, but eventually, the three of you are all packed up and make it out the door towards Chincoteague. The day is thankfully, not too hot while still being warm and sunny. The hike you’d picked was the perfect length for Jack, long enough to have a beautiful view at the summit, but not so long that he was too tired to appreciate it. 

The three of you were sitting at the summit enjoying the view when Aaron spoke up. “I’m glad you suggested this.” 

“I thought you might be,” you smiled, leaning over and pecking his cheek with a smile. 

“Thanks for wanting to celebrate me even though I’m a grumpy old man,” he joked, wrapping an arm around your shoulders.

You shook your head. “You’re not grumpy or old. You’re a compassionate, intelligent, loving father and boyfriend, and if I had it my way I’d celebrate you every day.” 

He leaned over and kissed the top of your head. “Well, you’re saying this before you have to ice my knees tomorrow. You might change your mind.” He jokes, and you give him a playful shove.

“Says the guy who still racks up more points than the twenty year old recruits during the FBI physical.” 

You sit for a little while longer, letting Jack take pictures with your cell phone to show his friends at school on Monday, and then you make your way back down the mountain, and back to the car so you can head to the beach. 

After the hike, you were more than ready to cool off, but you were shocked by how cold the water was when you ran with Jack and Aaron into the ocean. You tried to turn around and run back out, but Aaron wrapped both arms around your waist and lifted you up, much to Jack’s delight. 

“What do you think bud? Should I drop her?” Aaron teased his son. 

“Yes!!” He squealed.

“Jack!!” You pleaded, smiling. “You have to save me, not help daddy!!”

“Come on, Jack. It’s dad’s birthday. Don’t you think I should dunk her?”

“Yes, yes yes!” Jack exclaimed, already splashing you. 

Aaron, the smug bastard, winked at you before dropping you into the salty water. You gasped as you felt your skin form goosebumps from head to toe.

“You’re going to pay for that Hotchner!” You promised as you emerged from the water, jumping onto his back and dunking his head into the cold water. 

“Me next!” Jack requested, laughing uncontrollably. “Me! Me, me please!” he asked, and you obliged him, taking him in your arms and dunking his head in the water, careful to keep his face dry so he didn’t get water into his lungs. He squealed and you lifted him back up, mirroring his smile. 

You all romp around in the water for a little while longer, and then Jack decides to make a sandcastle while you and Aaron sit further back in beach chairs. 

“Jack’s having a ball,” you remark, seeing his face light up as he upends a bucket of sand to form a tower. 

“Me, too.” Aaron agrees, and you smile. 

“See, birthdays aren’t all that bad.” You tease him. 

“No, not when you’re around,” he agreed, taking your hand in his and kissing it. Now, he’d just have to buy a ring and get you to stick around for all of them.  

[flashflashhundredyarddash]

Shove You Out the Door

Jaime regretted not letting the Reach invasion happen.

The day started out fine. He spent two hours stressing over what to wear to the movies before he covered up his shirt with the same blue hoodie that he wore all the time anyways. When he showed up 20 minutes early for their noon showing Bart was already there, wearing shorts in deference to the early summer Texas heat, and Jaime had the very unchill thought of legs sjdjfnee and Khaji Da offered to eliminate The Impulse, even though Bart had been Kid Flash for two years already. Bart spotted him and quickly latched onto Jaime's arm, pulling him into the theater and chattering away about whatever sci-fi movie Bart had picked out.

They went to a diner afterwards, and when Jaime blew his straw wrapper at Bart he laughed in delight. When Bart got up to go collect 50 more straws and sat back down he slid into the booth next to Jaime, and Jaime panicked because oh god, are they on a date? Jaime meant for it to be a date and then had freaked and not actually said anything to confirm it was a date so technically they were just hanging out and Bart was fiddling with the woven bracelet that Milagro had made for him that he wore everywhere because actually Milagro was his best friend now, sorry Jaime-

Then Booster Gold sat in the booth across from them.

Jaime didn’t realize it was Booster Gold at first, so he cleared his throat and said, “This table is a little occupied,” and Bart blew a straw wrapper into the side of his face.

The man who had so rudely sat at their table and interrupted their maybe-date opened his mouth before Bart interrupted him. “Hi Booster Gold,” Bart said.

Booster Gold closed his mouth. “It’s just Michael right now, actually,” he said. His blond curly hair was dark at the roots and when he smiled Jaime felt awe at how white his teeth were.

“Can we… help you?” Jaime asked, because he wasn’t sure why a random member of the Justice League decided to look for one or both of them. He had the thought that maybe he was actually an alien or shape-shifter and was coming to kidnap them or kill them or something, but then dismissed that thought because that was stupid, and also why would an alien disguise itself as Booster Gold to come kill them?

“Actually, I was hoping I could help you,” Michael said with his perfect, shiny teeth. He spread his hands out and magnanimously stated, “I have decided to offer my esteemed superheroing services and mentor the new Blue Beetle.”

He glanced back and forth between Bart and Jaime.

“Which one of you is Blue Beetle?” he asked.

Jaime choked on his drink.

“Me,” Bart said, immediately, “I’m Blue Beetle and I definitely need your superheroing services.”

Jaime put his hand over Bart’s mouth and very pointedly did not react when Bart licked his palm. Bart could never understand the pains of being an older brother.

“I’m Blue Beetle,” Jaime said.

“You’re both Blue Beetle?” Michael asked.

“Yes!” Bart shrieked.

“No!” Jaime said.

“This mentoring thing is already so complicated,” Michael sighed.

“Look,” Jaime said, wiping his hand off on Bart’s shirt, “it’s not that I don’t appreciate the offer, but I’m a little confused. I don’t think our skill sets are really… compatible.”

“I get it,” Michael said. “You’re the Blue Beetle and I’m a time traveler from the future. On the surface we have nothing in common.”

“Wow,” Bart said, “You’re from the future? What’s that like? Has the world been invaded by crazy bug aliens?”

“What?”

“Ignore him. Like I said, I appreciate the offer, but I feel like I’ve got this handled. Besides…” Jaime couldn’t help the bit of hurt that bled into his voice, “why didn’t you ever show up when I first got the scarab? I could have used a mentor back then.”

Michael sighed again and rested his face on his hand. “I don’t know. When Ted died, I just… I just didn’t cope well, I guess. He’d been my best friend for so long and… yeah, you didn’t deserve to have to deal with that, kid.”

“Wait, you actually knew Ted Kord?” Jaime said, leaning forward.

“Yes?” Michael said. He reached for a chain around his neck and pulled at it to reveal the ring that had been tucked into his shirt.

“Oh shit,” Jaime said. “I’m sorry, man.”

Michael waved him off. “Yeah, yeah, grieving widow. But anyways, I’m cool now, I did the whole therapy thing, and since I was married to the last Blue Beetle, I figure that makes you my, like, step-protege or something.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Jaime said.

“Oh man, if you had showed up last week we would’ve gotten you something for Father’s Day,” Bart said, “Like a custom shirt that says world’s #1 guy who was married to the guy who was actually supposed to be my boyfriend’s mentor. World’s #1 replacement mentor.”

Jaime abruptly turned to look at Bart. “Boyfriend?” Jaime squeaked.

Bart squinted his eyes at him. “Have we not been dating for two months?”

“Should I go?” Michael asked.

“I thought maybe we were dating but I wasn’t sure? I do want to date you but I wasn’t sure if you wanted to date me.”

Bart huffed out a laugh. “You are so dumb. I don’t share food with just anyone. Also I already have my prom dress picked out so you just need to get a red tie.”

“I have a red tie!” Michael shouted, making them both jump. “I have like five hundred ties. Boom! You’ve just been mentored.” He pointed at the basket of fries in front of Jaime. “Are you going to eat those?”

Jaime slid the fries over to Bart.

“Oh my god,” Bart said, sounding a little choked up, “I love you so much. I will even let you eat some of these.”

“Am I nailing this boyfriend thing so far?” Jaime asked.

“Oh, totally, babe.”

Jaime nodded to himself. He was totally nailing this boyfriend thing.

“Ah, young love,” Michael said, getting up. He patted his pockets for a minute and then stopped. “I was going to pay, because I’m a mentor now, but I don’t know where my wallet is.”

“Don’t you own a quarter of Kord Industries or something?” Bart said.

“So! I’ll see you around, Blue, Blue’s boyfriend. Maybe you could help me out on a patrol or something. That’s what Green Arrow does with his kids, I think.”

“Sure, man,” Jaime said, deciding to throw him a bone. “See you around.”

Michael smiled brightly and then scribbled his number onto a napkin before leaving the diner, the bell tinkling behind him.

“Oh my gosh, did you see-” Bart started.

“His teeth!” Jaime finished.

Bart nodded aggressively, his auburn hair flopping. “I have never seen a man with more beautiful teeth. Well, except maybe yours.”

“You’ve got a pretty nice smile, too.” Jaime said, and reminded himself Bart couldn’t hear the way his heart fell out of its rhythm for a second.

“Yeah,” Bart said, leaning in, “Maybe we should compare notes.”