#(a bit late but too much food and too many people to greet these days)

[saiyanandproud]

"New Year's Eve is a pretty arbitrary concept. People and cultures have different preferences about it, and the Time Patrol has to keep track of them when categorising missions."

"Anywho, happy new year to those who celebrate it today!"

[luna-eclipse2000]

You wearing someone else’s cologne (but it’s actually just one they don’t wear)

Ft: Eren, Armin, Jean, Levi, and Hanji

Some suggestive themes so MDNI

Eren

- You come out of your shared bedroom and walk past Eren

- He instantly smells the cologne and sees red

- He prefers musky smells, so why on earth do you smell like that?

- He grabs your wrist. Not too hard, but hard enough for you to turn around and ask him what’s wrong

- “Whose cologne is that?”

- You are instantly confused

- “Don’t play dumb, (Y/N). Whose cologne is that?”

- “Eren. I bought this for you for your birthday.”

- He instantly feels embarrassed

- “Oh… Sorry…”

- “But I do like how jealous you got over it.” You say, wrapping your arms around his waist

- “What can I say, sweetie?” Eren says. “I don’t like the thought of anyone else getting to touch you.”

- “You’re the only one who would do it right anyway.” You say

- He instantly throws you over his shoulder to show you just how right you are

Armin

- Armin always waits for you to get up before he leaves for work

- He’s never been late and he loves seeing your face in the morning

- But today he had to go in super early thanks to a batch of new people who need to be trained

- He was absolutely heart broken having to leave without getting his goodbye kiss

- But then he had an idea so he eagerly texts you

- “Hey, how about we meet up for lunch at your favourite restaurant? It can be my apology for not being able to see you this morning.”

- He anxiously waits for you at the restaurant, the food already ordered since the wait staff already know your orders by heart

- When you enter the restaurant, his eyes light up, as do yours

- “(Y/N)!” He says happily as he gets up from his seat to greet you

- “Armin! How’s your day going?”

- “It’s going good, how about yours?” He asks

- “It just got better.” You answer and then give him a kiss

- When he pulls away to give you a hug, he smells it

- The faintest smell of cypress, vetiver and black teakwood

- He feels his heart drop a bit

- You never wear this kind of smell so it’s definitely not yours

- Then whose is it?

- He pulls away and hides his worry extremely well

- You never know when he’s upset until he physically can’t hold his emotions in anymore

- You’ve always told him to tell you how he feels but he hates making you worry over him

- This is slightly different, though

- If he expresses his worry, he’ll be practically accusing you of cheating on him and saying that he doesn’t trust you

- You can tell that sometimes wrong though because he’s not really engaging in the conversation. Just nodding his head and giving short responses

- But at this point you know he’s not going to tell you the truth until he can’t handle it anymore

- He gets home before you and starts pacing through the whole house, not able to sit still

- He never got the same kind of attention from people that Eren or Mikasa did so he’s still pretty insecure

- No matter how many times you tell him how much you love him, how pretty he is, how happy he makes you, there’s still a voice in the back of his mind telling him that you’re lying

- So when he hears the door open, he finally freezes

- He wants to run to you and give you all his love

- But he also wants to confront you about the cologne

- “Armin, there you are.” Your voice says from behind him. “I’ve been calling your name for a few minutes.”

- “Are you… seeing someone else?” He finally asks

- “What? Armin, what gave you that idea?”

- He turns around to face you and you finally see the anxiety in his eyes

- “I could smell that cologne on you.” He tells you, playing with his fingers nervously. “I’ve never smelt it before. I know I’m not very tall, or confident, or handsome, or even funny. So I get it if you want to see other people.”

- You smile sadly. All that lack of attention really messed up his confidence

- You’ve seen photos of him and his friends from high school, which he was absolutely humiliated about

- He had glasses, a decent amount of acne, and would wear a lot of anime shirts

- To say he was a nerd would be an understatement, but you thought he was cute

- So you walk up to him and gently cup his cheeks

- “Armin, my darling. The cologne is yours.”

- He’s absolutely stunned. He would’ve remembered if he had something that like that

- “Mikasa got it for you for your birthday. You didn’t want to hurt her feelings so you just put it in the drawer and forgot about it. I’d never cheat on you. I love you too much to do that to you.”

- He looks down feeling embarrassed that he ever thought you’d do something so cruel

- “I’m sorry.” He apologizes. “I never should’ve-“

- “Hey, no.” You say softly. “You never wore this before so it makes sense that you didn’t think it was yours. Now how about we go downstairs, put on a movie, and cuddle for a while. Does that sound good?”

- He nods with a small smile on his face. “I love you.”

- “I love you more than you know.”

Jean

- He comes home from work before you and decides to make your favourite food for dinner

- But first, he needs to take a shower

- He heads upstairs to your shared bedroom and smells something… different

- It smells like smoke, but with a hint of sage and sandalwood

- He wonders if you got him a new soap

- But if so, why can he smell it when he’s not in the shower?

- He shakes his head, wondering if he’s going crazy and heads into the washroom to take his shower

- It isn’t until he gets out and heads to the dresser to get a new set of night clothes that he finds the culprit behind the smell

- A bottle of cologne that seems to have a few squirts taken out of it

- He picks it up and looks at the brand

- It’s expensive and definitely not his

- His mind starts racing

- There’s no way you’re cheating on him

- You’d never do that

- You probably bought this for him because you thought it smelt good

- But then why isn’t it full?

- He decides to confront you about it when you get home

- He quickly gets dressed, grabs the bottle and heads downstairs so he can start cooking

- If you are cheating, he’s gonna cook you a meal so damn good you’ll instantly regret your decision

- Then he’ll probably remind you why you’ve stayed with him for all these years after your finished begging for his forgiveness

- He’ll make you beg even more

- He plates the food and sets it up at the table and sits down

- About five minutes later, you walk through the door and instantly smell your favourite food

- Ever since Jean made it, no one else’s has even compared

- “Mm, something smells good, Jean!” You say as you walk into the dining room and see him waiting for you.

- “You like smells?” He asks

- You just give him a confused look in response

- He then puts the cologne on the table rather dramatically, like he just found your secret stash of drugs

- “So… You wanna explain why I found some random cologne in our room?”

- You blink a few times. “Excuse me?”

- “Don’t play dumb, baby.” He says. “I can even smell it on you from here. Whose damn cologne is this?”

- “Ok first, let’s stop with the cop attitude. You’ve been watching way too much NCIS.” You say. “And that cologne was a gift from your mother when you got promoted.”

- Heat spreads across his face when he realizes that he’s been jealous of himself for over an hour

- “Oh… Well… I’ve never smelled it before, so why isn’t it still full?”

- “Because you wore it twice before exiling it to the back of the draw.” You explain.

- Jean clears his throat. “Well then… Never mind, I guess.”

Levi

- He’s checking everyone’s cleaning job when he comes to you

- You smell different

- But it couldn’t be you

- You don’t have anything that smells like bourbon

- And he doesn’t drink

- It could be the cadet your cleaning with

- So he walks up to you and takes a sniff

- Yup, that’s definitely you

- “Oi.” He says, looking over at the cadet. “Get lost.”

- “Yes, sir!” The cadet complies and quickly leaves, bringing the broom with him

- “What is it, Levi?” You ask

- “Why do you smell like that?” He asks

- “Like what?” You ask. “I took a shower this morning.”

- “You smell like bourbon.” He says. “So whose cologne is that?”

- “You’re not serious, right?” You asks. “Levi. This cologne has sat on your bathroom counter for months!”

- “Oh…”

- You start laughing

- “Tch.” He clicks his tongue. “You get to clean the stables now, too.”

- “Wha-? Why?!”

- “Because you laughed at me, brat.”

Hanji

- “Hey, Han!” You exclaim as you walk into their lab. “Whatcha doing?”

- “Working.” They answer absentmindedly as they swirl the liquid in their beaker

- You walk up to Hanji and peer over their shoulder

- The smell of vanilla and patchouli practically smacks Hanji in the face, causing them to immediately look away from their work

- “I know you’re working, silly.” You say. “But what are-?”

- You get cut off by Hanji very audibly sniffing the shirt you’re wearing

- High key sounds like a dog when they smell something new

- “Whose cologne is this?” Hanji asks. “Are mine not nice enough to wear?”

- “Huh?” You say, clearly a little confused

- Hanji then realizes that the shirt you’re wearing isn’t one of yours. It’s a big too big. “And whose shirt is this?”

- “Hanji Zoe.” You smirk. “Are you getting jealous?”

- Hanji removes their glasses and places them on top of their head

- They grip your waist and pull you in close to them

- So close that you can smell their body wash

- “Don’t toy with me, love.” They say lowly. “Who. Do those. Belong to. Don’t make me punish you.”

- You blush a bit, but want to see how far you can take this

- Hanji doesn’t get jealous like this often so you want to have a little fun

- “What will you do if I don’t tell you?”

- “I’ll make sure whoever is trying to take you from me knows that you’re mine.” Hanji answers. “I’ll mark every bit of your skin, and I’ll make sure you scream my name.”

- You wrap your arms around Hanji’s neck

- “Han. This is your shirt.”

- The look of surprise and confusion on their face is adorable

- “This is also your cologne.” You explain further. “I spilled dirty water on my top, so I found this at the bottom of your closet. And because I didn’t want to smell gross, I grabbed the first bottle I could find.“

- “Oh…” Hanji says simply. They start looking anywhere but at your face out of embarrassment.

- “You can keep your promise of punishing me if you want.” You say. “But you’ll need to make up for thinking I’d want to smell like anyone but you.”

- “Fine by me.” Hanji says. “I just gotta finish this experiment, then I’m all yours.”

- They turn back to their work, but you quickly spin them back around in their chair

- “Part of your punishment is not getting to finish… if you catch my drift.”

[charlesf1leclerc]

Summary- one day your whole world turns upside down and where will your lives go from here 

Warnings- teenagers, smut , alcohol mentions, not thoroughly proof read ( so let me know if any major errors )

A/N- please note this story is only for entertainment and not in anyway linked to what real life people mentioned in this story may do or how they may act! 

SERIES MASTERLIST

9 months prior- 13th of November Lando’s birthday 

Lando’s house was buzzing who knew someone could have this many friends. I guess someone whose house is big enough to fit the whole year level will invite the whole year level.  But this was a bit extreme for only a 17th birthday. 

I didn’t really want to be here but in order to not get bullied and love a normal teenage life I had to experience the fun sometimes so here I was surrounded by a bunch of people I don’t like at a snobby boys birthday.

I don’t drink but there had to be some form of non alcoholic drink in this house so I escaped to the kitchen to look. As I stood in front of the open fridge I felt a presence beside me and then I saw him.

“ you good rummaging through my fridge “ 

“ maybe if you put some actual drinks out not just pure alcohol I wouldn’t have to”

“ you’re at a party sweetheart” he laughed

“I’m 17” I snapped

“Me too” he grinned 

“ none of use are allowed to be drinking and if we are drinking you should have a parental note”

“Ok now you have really brought the mood down”

“ why are you talking to me anyway lando? ” I sighed

“ just doing what I’m supposed to greeting my guests and stopping them from going through my stuff” Lando closed the fridge door and turned to the kitchen counter pouring liquid from a clear jug into a red solo cup.Before he walked over and handed it out to me 

“ what’s that?”

“ trust me, its lemonade” I take the cup and sniff it. It’s actually lemonade.

“ I didn’t forget about people like you” he smiled before walking away and going back to his friends

The night continued after my encounter with Lando Norris. My friends gossiped on the couches outside, we ate lots of food, danced, of course took the famous mirror selfies that would be posted on instagram later and the main event the cake.

The party was winding down and not many people were left anymore, I had to wait for Mad’s to finish her partying before leaving and she was having way too much fun with a particular person to be leaving anytime soon. So her I was sat on the couch in Lando’s living room.

“ your still here , abit pat your bed time I thought” and he was back , this time sitting next to me.

“ I have to wait for my friends otherwise yes I would be in bed” I kept my eyes straight ahead

“ well want to pass the time then” I looked at him confused

“ with what?” I asked

He simply just picked up the Nintendo controller and handed it to me 

“Mario?” He suggested 

“ what is it with you and your karting don’t you ever do anything else?” Still I did take the controller, I didn’t have anything better to do.

“ no I don’t “ he turned the TV on and started up the game. I was not nearly as professional as him, he took Mario kart very seriously but never the less it was still actually really fun, I didn’t know he could be so easy to be around.

I would say we had been playing for a good 30mins before I got bored of Mario Kart because Lando could never got bored of it.

“ what should we do now” he asked. He wasn’t tired? He wasn’t done spending time with me?

“ How about I go find my friend cause it’s getting really late” I laughed 

“ how about I kiss you” my eyebrows shot up, what. Say something , do something.

My ears must be deceiving me because there is no way he just said that to me.

“W-What?” I breathed out

“ you heard me”

“ did I? “ I asked softly

“ you did , I know you did and I also know you didn’t laugh and walk away”

Why didn’t I walk away, maybe I wanted to kiss him, maybe I wanted him to kiss me….

Ok I want him to kiss me!

I just lean in and somehow our lips are touching. They are also doing a lot more than touching, I’m actually kissing Lando Norris.

His left hand comes up to grab my jaw and pull me closer and my arms wrap around his shoulders. There’s no way this is actually happening someone better pinch me because it’s getting to good.

Then he stops. 

“ come to my room” no NO NO walk away this cannot be good. 

But I don’t want to walk away.

“ Or do you like everyone looking at us” he continues. It’s only then that I realise we are still in the living room and even if there is only a handful of guests left it still makes me feel awkward.

“ ok” is all I whisper out before he grabs my hand and takes my upstairs.

His room was surprisingly clean and neat, although it was still cluttered with karting posters , trophies and helmets. It was actually a nice room to be in.

Lando shut the door behind us before turning back around to me

“I’m gonna kiss you again “ he smiled

And I let him. Let’s just say I was about to let him do a lot of things. 

I ended up laying in the middle of his double bed in nothing but my bra and underwear as he hovered over me.

“ you sure this is what you want?” He tucked abit of hair behind my head.

“ I’ve never done this before” I replied

“ that’s why I want you to be sure” he didn’t want to push me and I respected that

“ I’m sure, positive , this is what I want”

He only smiled and then leant down catching my lips before trailing down my body.

This is what I wanted, who knows what would happen after this but I know that this is where I wanted to be and who I wanted to be with.

A/N- just so you know I won’t be going to hard with any sexual or smut scenes until both characters turn 18 which in the story isn’t that far away! But when I do put out more smut scenes please note you can feel free to skip past them as the story can still make sense if you skip them. Anyway hope your enjoying

taglist: comment below to be added

@barcelonaloverf1life@harrysdimple05@hc-dutch@formula1mount@itsbwokenln4 @phantomxoxo @dorothea47 @emmaweasley @joannamuns9n @alexisquinnlee-bc @g3org1al33 @ladyoflynx

[ladykailitha]

A Gentle Bloom

I don't know where this came from but I think I lost the plot a little bit at the end there. But enjoy.

~

Eddie walks into Family Video and immediately Steve smiles. He can't help but smile back. He comes up to the counter where Steve is filing returns.

"Hey there, big boy," Eddie teases, "did you know you smile every time I come in?"

Steve blushes and ducks his head, shaking. "I didn't."

"Sure do."

Steve chews on the bottom of his lip. "Do you want me to stop?"

"Nah..." Eddie says brightly. "It's a nice change of pace from what the rest of the town does."

Steve smiles even brighter. "Then I'll make sure to smile even more now when I see."

"You do that," Eddie says deeply serious and fond.

Steve busies himself with work while Eddie walks the aisles making commentary to see how long it takes for Steve to laugh. It never takes long, so tries to see how many times he can make him laugh instead.

Total? About seven before he accidentally makes a rude comment with some old bitch right around the corner and has to stop. Steve admonishes him in the moment but after she's gone, tells him he thought it was funny, too.

~

The warm smiles Eddie gets from Steve are enough to power him through even the worst days. It's like drinking a cup of hot chocolate all at once on a cold winter's day.

It's on a warm June day when everyone is over at Steve's for a party when the edge of the knife they've been balancing on finally tips over. Eddie works late so he arrives most of the way into dinner which was hot dogs and hamburgers grilled up on the back porch next to the pool.

There's this old swinging deck love seat nestled in the woods a little bit a way from the house. It's still on the property and Eddie stops there for a smoke before joining the party.

Wayne spots him. Because of course he does. He comes over and sits next to him on the swing.

"You do know that boy is sweet on you, right?" Wayne says jutting his chin at the man of the hour who is happily chatting with El and Lucas about something.

"Whatever you say, old man," Eddie says shaking his head and then taking another drag of his cigarette. It's not that he doesn't believe him. Not really. He's just too tired to think about it right now.

Wayne chuckles. "I'll show you."

"Show me what?" Eddie asks and then shakes his head again.

Wayne gets up and Eddie can hear the exchange.

"Hey, Steve," Wayne greets.

"Hey, you enjoying yourself?" Steve asks brightly.

"Sure am," he says warmly. "Eddie's here."

Instantly Steve perks up and looks around.

"He's just feeling a bit tired and not ready to join the party yet, if you wanted to say hi." He points the direction of the swing. "He's right there."

Steve looks over at him and smiles. "I know how that goes. Take as much food as you want." He pats Wayne on the arm and heads in toward Eddie.

Eddie can't help but smile at the boy as he comes over to sit down.

"Rough day at work?" Steve asks gently, putting his arm over the back of the swing.

Eddie just shakes his head. "Just long." He looks out at all the people having fun. "So what's the deal with the shindig? It seemed pretty important that everybody be here."

Steve blushes and pulls something out his back pocket and hunches over the piece of paper in his hands.

"What's that then?"

Steve straightens and clears his throat. "Would you help with my speech? I wrote some of it down so didn't forget stuff. Robin says it makes me sound like a dork, but because I am, it works. But I'm still not sure."

Eddie softens. "Sure, Stevie. Wha'cha got?"

"Thank you all for coming to--"

Eddie holds up his hand. "I'm gonna stop you there. This isn't a business meeting or telling people you're dying. Unless you are dying?"

Steve shakes his head and digs out a pen from his front pocket. He scratches out the first line. "I've always been the kind guy to rip off a bandaid instead of little by little, so you're wondering why you weren't told first, the only ones I've told are Robin..." he continues and sticks out his tongue as he writes and talks at the same time, "and Eddie because they help me write it..."

Eddie smiles at him. "I like that. Doesn't hurt anyone's feelings."

Steve looks up at him and gives him the biggest smile yet. Eddie melts a little bit more.

"So the truth is that I'm bisexual," Steve continues looking back down at the page and misses Eddie's stunned reaction. "It doesn't mean I have both male and female parts despite what it sounds like."

Eddie barely manages to stifle his giggle but as Steve grins too, he figures it's a deliberate joke and let's it slide.

"It means I like boys and girls," Steve says after a brief pause and a sigh. "It also doesn't mean that it changes my previous relationships in anyway. I'm not half gay and half straight. And while I recently figured it out, I've been this way for awhile. I didn't know that other people didn't have crushes on both actors and actresses. On pop princesses and rock gods."

"Yeah..." Eddie says drawing out the word, "that should have been a pretty clear indication you liking both, pretty boy."

Steve blushes and clears his throat. "And even though I've never kissed a boy or anything like that, doesn't mean it's only thet--throg--the--"

Eddie looks over his shoulder. "Theoretical," he says sounding it out for him. "It means you don't have the practice so it doesn't count. Or at least it does in this context."

Steve nods. "That's basically the end of it anyway. I just say I'm going to be dating guys and girls now and to not freak out when I do."

Eddie scoots closer to Steve on the swing. "Do you want it to be practical?"

"Huh?" he asks, that slightly vacant expression on his face that he gets when he's really confused.

So Eddie cups his face and kisses his lips gently.

"Oh."

"Would you like to have a boyfriend before going in there and reading your lovely little letter to all your friends?" Eddie breathed, still cupping his cheek.

"Yeah," Steve breathes and they kissing again.

~

Steve's nearing the end of the speech and Eddie is so close to giggling that Robin keeps glaring at him and mouthing the words, "I know what you are, Eddie Munson."

It's not helping keeping the giggles in, if he's honest.

"And I had this big paragraph with a lot of big words about how I never kissed a boy but that it didn't mean I didn't know if I really liked boys or not, but I don't need that anymore."

Max raised her hand. "Before you get all giddy about your boyfriend and steamroll over the bisexuality part, can we talk about that for a minute?"

Steve shoves the paper back in his pocket and says, "Shoot."

"You say it's not 50/50 but what does that mean exactly?" she asks.

"Oh, good question," he says proudly and she blushes. "So for me at least, it's mostly girls with some guys. But it can be anything from that one member of the same sex and then the rest is opposite sex and vice versa. And everything in between."

"How did you know you liked boys?" El asks, tilting her head in that way she does.

"The things I was feeling for girls," Steve explains, "the butterflies around certain boys, the blushing, the wanting to be around them all the time, or in the case of actors wanting to meet them not because I thought they were cool but because I wanted them to sweep me off my feet. Does that help?"

"But both?" Mike asks. "I don't understand. You say it feels the same so how did you not know?"

"Ah."

"Because liking your own gender is scary," Robin says from her perch behind Steve. "And so you might think it's something else. Jealousy, envy, or even just think you want to be them. It's same if you only gay, too."

They all look at her wide-eyed. "Oh, I guess this is my coming out party, too. Hi, I'm gay!"

Steve turns around a gives her a high five.

"If it'll help," Eddie says, "We can do a heads up seven up type deal. Only Steve will see, but if you feel attraction to girls, raise your hand, if you feel attraction to boys raise your hand and he figure what to say easier. Erica you don't have to participate if you don't want to."

She makes a face. "Boys are gross, but in a cootie way."

Steve nods.

"I'd feel more comfortable if it wasn't just Steve," Nancy says, arms folded across her chest.

"Robin or Eddie?" Steve asks, "because everyone knows what they are and won't judge."

They vote and it's Eddie, so Robin goes to sit with the rest of them so she take part too.

"Girls," Steve calls out and gets a head count. Five. And the ones he expected on that one.

"Boys," he calls out next. There are four, just not the four he was expecting. The surprise squirms a little as if they can feel Steve's gaze.

And one exception.

"Huh," he says. "That was certainly interesting. There is one who answered both and another that answered neither."

Dustin wrinkles his nose. "How can you not like either boys or girls?"

Joyce actually raised her hand. "I can answer that, I know I wasn't supposed to peek, but I kinda did," she winces bobbing her head back and forth. "Anyway. There are people who no matter who just aren't able to experience attraction that way. They don't what causes it, but they think it might just be like being gay."

"Can they still fall in love?" Will asks shyly. And Steve knows that Will knows who the exception was.

Joyce's expression softens. "Of course they can."

"Liking your own sex," Steve says, "is fine and good. And if you like both, that's fine too. But you get to chose your coming out when and to who. Just like I did. And if you need advice, you come to any of us privately."

Eddie and Steve share a look. They know the three who over the next couple weeks would be coming to Steve for advice. Will. El. Mike.

"So," Steve says clapping his hands together, "if there aren't any other questions. As of..." he looks at his watch, "twenty-seven minutes ago, Eddie and I are dating."

Eddie takes his hand and kisses it as the entire room explodes. Mostly in congratulations but some dismay. Like Mike.

But in the end they are all happy for them. Mike will come around.

He always does.

[cupidysm]

Vegan Pizza

Just a fic I wrote to practice my fluff writing! edit: I’m so happy so many people enjoyed it!

Steven Grant x gn!shy!reader || masterlist ||

summary: (I gotta practice fluff writing) As Steven makes his way back to his flat after being stood up, he runs into his neighbor who helps him find comfort in a warm meal.

content: fluff, making out, awkwardness (but like in an endearing way? I hope)

word count: 1,218

Steven Grant naturally thought bad luck was simply drawn to him. However, the day he landed a date with his co-worker, Dylan, he thought his luck has finally turned around.

Until she didn’t show up.

Steven was a good neighbor. Always greeting you with a smile or a quick “Good morning.” No matter how late he was for work. Now that you were thinking about it, he was kind of cute.

Alright fine, you were enamored.

His big brown eyes, his tooth aching smile, and it didn’t matter how loose fitting his clothes were you could see the traces of muscle through his wide necked shirts. But looks didn’t matter anyways. It was simply being himself that drew you in.

You found yourself returning home later than usual from a busy day at work, and just as you’re about to enter the door to your flat you hear the steps of someone heading up the stairs.

“Bloody chocolates.” Steven mumbled as he slumped up the steps to his floor.

You didn’t mean to be eavesdropping, but earlier that week you had heard him bragging to another neighbor about a date he landed. You’d be lying to yourself if you didn’t say you were the slightest bit jealous, but Steven had a love life too and it wasn’t like he’d wait forever for you to get over your worries and ask him out.

You turned to Steven with a smile. “Hey Steven! How was your date?”

Steven doesn’t recall ever mentioning it to you, but then again he doesn’t remember much now days between his life and his dreams.

“Oh, hi. Yeah…it didn’t go well. She stood me up.” He mumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Your heart twinged with excitement, but was quickly replaced with sympathy at his downcast expression. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that Steven.”

“All I wanted was a bloody dinner with someone to spend time with.” He sighs. “Not get stood up.”

The words slip from your mouth before you can even go over them in your head.

“Wellifyou’restillhungrymaybeyou’dwanttocomeoverandhavesomethingtoeat…” you realize how fast you’re speaking and are able to slow your brain down. “I’m making a pizza..? It’s vegan.”

The first time Steven had mentioned he was vegan you immediately bought a vegan pizza, that way when you did have the excuse to ask him on a date you’d be prepared. Apparently now was that time.

His face lights up slightly at the mention of a meal. “That sounds great! Yeah…I’d like that.” He smiles.

He follows you into your flat and sits down while you take out the frozen pizza.

“I’m surprised you actually had something vegan. Most people think vegan food tastes strange.”

You laughed. “Not me.”

That was a lie. You made one a while back and weren’t entirely fond of it, but if this ended well you’d be happy to eat as many vegan pizzas if it meant you’d get to have more times like this one.

“I remember you mentioned you being vegan a while back so I thought I’d buy it.” You immediately winced at your words. You don’t know how long back he had mentioned this, but you think it was pretty far back. He was definitely gonna think you were weird for remembering something as minuscule as that.

“Yeah, that’s right, I… I am. You remember that?” He asked clearly shocked.

Shit. He did think you were weird.

“Thanks, I… no one really takes the time to listen… or care.”

You’re lucky your turned away from him as you load the pizza in the oven so he won’t see your blush.

“It’s no biggie.” You smile.

The rest of the night you chat between each other. Steven’s once dismal night took a flip from simply spending time with someone as lovely as you. When the pizza is ready, the both of you eat your pizza happily.

“This is good. I still can’t believe you remembered I was vegan.” He smiles.

“It’s really not that big of a deal.” Your face is definitely visibly red.

“It’s big to me. No one really remembers something like that about me.” He chuckles as he looks up at you with his big eyes.

You could’ve kissed him right there with the way he was looking at you. His mouth full of pizza making his cheeks puff out in such an adorable way.

“Bloody hell. must sound desperate, don’t I?” He looks off embarrassed. This time he’s the one blushing.

“No, no ‘course not.” You smile with a giggle.

He flushed again slightly before speaking out.

“You’re… you’re very pretty.” His voice trails off as he looks down at his plate embarrassed.

Your jaw practically falls off. “What?”

“You are very pretty.” His eyes glance up at you before staring locked on your eyes. “Really… beautiful.” His voice trails off.

“Did I say that out loud?” He picks his head up in a panic, his face turning beet red.

You stand up quickly. “I, uh… bathroom-“ You sprint in the direction of your bathroom before shutting the door.

You lean yourself against the wall, your beating so fast you think it might fly out of your chest. You eventually realize you just left him alone and put yourself in an even more awkward situation, so you decide to open the door.

You jump back in surprise and see Steven standing there awkwardly.

“I… er,” he fiddles with his hands. “Did I say something wrong? I- I mean you really are beautiful, and oh bollocks, I ruined it didn’t I.” He stammers out quickly.

You quickly cover his mouth with your hands in order to shut him up.

“Steven, stop it. Stop that.”

His eyes widened when you covered his mouth, a bit shocked.

“What— did I say something wrong?” He asked, his voice muffled.

“No- no of course not.” You squeeze your eyes shut to overwhelmed.

“God, if you keep saying stuff like that I won’t be able to stop myself from kissing you and I like you way too much for me to ruin it.”

He was utterly gobsmacked, his eyes wide as you spoke.

Finally, he managed to respond.

“Are—”

He lifts your hands from his mouth.

“Are you saying you… want to kiss me right now?”

You quickly cover your face.

"And it's such terrible timing too! I- I mean your date just stood you up!" You stammer out.

"I don't care if you kiss me right now. I— uh, I wouldn’t mind…" He said, almost breathless. "This�� we, I…"

He couldn't find words— so instead he showed it.

His lips pressed against yours softly, just enough so I’d you were uncomfortable you had the space to pull away, but there was no way you were going to now.

A soft whimper left his lips as you pressed yourself further into him. He slid his hands around your waist, until he eventually pulled back to let the two of you breath.

“That was good.” Is all he manages. “That was very good.”

You can’t help but giggle and eventually he can’t either. He laughs alongside you, arms still entangled in eachother.

“…Could I take you on a date. A real one. No getting stood up?” His eyes sparkling with hope.

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

[bahrtofane]

prompt 9 trope 3 w clingy trent please

- "Stay, please?" - Fake Relationship

Word count - 1.1k+

Watch it - reader loses mind bc trent is sweet and nice what's new 

Trent but youre whole relationship is based on a lie you can't fall back on now. 

Lets paint the picture, yeah?

Mutual friend's wedding, dear old Sammy is getting married. The both of you have been invited. You haven seen Trent in a minute so you both figure you might as well go together. Cut down on carbon emissions and what not. Besides you didn't want to deal with driving in your heels and Trent wanted the company. Sweet and simple.

He picks you up right on time (he looks lovely in a suit), the ride there is filled with catching up and teasing words before you slip into a comfortable silence. He holds the door for you when you get there, and walk in looking more like a couple than the damn married couple. You do your rounds, greeting your friends when you get there before heading off to your assigned seats next to each other. You enjoy the light snacks before heading off to mingle, saying your congrats to the bride and groom. 

Your friend's grandmother comes over smiling at both of you, calling you such a cute couple. She says the next wedding better be yours. She looks so happy, hands over her heart and reminiscing about her late husband and how much you and Trent remind her of her youth.

And what are you supposed to do to crush a little old woman's dream? No. 

Instead Trent wraps an arm around your waist, bringing you close and telling her she'd be the first to get invited. 

Little did you know that everyone and their mother was watching the no more than minute long interaction go down and here you are. You can't tell your friend you lied to her grandma on her wedding day what a horrid person you are. 

Instead you and Trent agree to go along with it, fake it for a bit and then announce a mutual break up. 

Easy peasy right? Wrong !! If only you didn't have heart eyes with him to begin with. What a cruel fate you've been served. 

Each and every time he smiles and pecks your cheek in front of friends you want to scream and tell him to just date for real already. But no you can't, you won't, dont. Whatever. 

You have to live off of the quick kisses that never meet your lips and the touches that he never truly means. He's an absolute menace when it comes to physical touch. Unable to keep his hands off of you. Even when you're out of sight. He still clings to you. Hands in the back of your jeans, in the buckles and loops of your pants pulling you closer. Whenever he finds himself at your home he's always so reluctant to leave. Staying over probably many more times than needed. And it only makes your head spin.

You're doomed. Completely and utterly doomed. 

Today you're sitting at a dinner with the same group of friends at the back of a fancy restaurant while you fight your floor-length gown from riding up in your seat. Trent sits next to you. Of course he does. 

You got here together yet again. It's to make things easier to say in the back of your mind. Yeah. Not because you've gotten used to him driving you about. 

The conversations around you eventually dull to nothing more but lingering comments as plates of food finish and checks come around. 

Not a bad night you suppose.

Sammy pipes up as everyone is gathering their things, “so when's the wedding?” eyebrows wiggling. 

You wave her off, “oh I don't know we haven't really talked about that yet.”

Trent gives a nod, tucking his dress shirt neatly into the waistband of his pants,”I've been too busy with everything.”

People give sympathetic nods and you quickly shove your purse back into your bag. You say goodbye to everyone and slip an arm into Trents as you walk back to the garage. He's still a gentleman even out of sight. Holding your dress up for you as you make your way up curbs. 

“Can't believe they're asking for a wedding.” you huff. 

Trent shrugs, “could be worse.” pulling you closer against him.

You sigh,"I suppose so.”

“You look pretty.” he smiles, leading the way back to his car

“Thank you,” you turn your head away from him. Afraid he’ll catch on to just how much his words fluster you.

You reach his car soon enough, arm slipping from his grasp as he leans to open the door. You slip inside without much of a fuss. Neither of you speak for a moment when you're both buckled up. 

He sighs, putting his car into drive and heading out of the garage. Almost fighting with the ticket (it refuses to scan) and zooming out before he pops a blood vessel.

He hands you his phone and you put in your address while watching the city streets bleed by into the night. It feels good out, so you lower your window all the way down, sticking a hand out.

He smiles, mimicking you and humming softly under his breath.

“Oh shit.” you exclaim.

“What?”

“I think I left my jacket at your place. I can stop by tomorrow to get it ?”

“Nah, we’ll just stop by. Add it as a stop.”

“You sure ?” you bite your lip. Afraid of overstepping. 

“I'm sure,” he nods. 

You do so. And before you know it both of you step out onto his driveway and duck inside. You forget just how expansive the place is. Jeez.

You find the jacket tossed on his couch and you tuck it into your arm. 

“I'll see you then?” you try, voice soft. Will there be a next time 

"Stay, please," Trent's voice interrupts the heavy silence, his eyes pleading with you as if begging for a moment's respite from the chaos swirling around you.

You turn to him, feeling the weight of his words pressing against your chest. "I can't," you murmur, voice thick. "Not like this."

His expression falls, picking at his nails as you try not to feel like a bitch. 

“Then, stay but not like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean like-fuck,” he scratches the back of his neck, “i dont wanna just keep pretending anymore.”

You blink. “Trent I'm not following.”

“You're so dense I want to date you and you date me for realI.” he raises his hands in exasperation. 

You blink again, hard. Unable to process anything. 

“Please say something-'' you shut him up with a swift kiss. Pawing against his dress shirt and pressing him against you. 

“Is that a good answer?” you look away, toying with the buttons around his collar. 

“Yup!” he chirps, “perfect so perfect so amazing.” melting into your touch and chasing for your lips. 

Maybe that wedding will happen after all. 

[uftopia]

posting a bit of an old rivals duo au i had years ago that i never really shared or drew publicly, but i finally wrote up a summary of what i have last night and would like to share (currently unfinished and needs polishing) i would love to start drawing it so this is just context

vvv

dream (birth name DayDream and referred to as Day) is the heir to the throne, of (unnamed kingdom/essempi). his older brother is foolish. foolish is a knight in training, hence why he won’t be king next.

for context, most people in this kingdom are fairy hybrids, some with feathery wings, some with classic wings, some like butterfly wings. in each wing category, there are preferred attributes to wings and different classes. the royal family mostly contains thick, feathery wings embroidered with magic in each feather.

day was born weak, and his wings hadn’t grown beyond age 10. they’re small, underdeveloped, and slightly patchy. he can’t fly nor hover, and the townsfolk are biased against that- who is this boy and why does he have the right to be king, when there are so many others who have gorgeous working wings? foolish is the kindest to him alongside his friends sylvee, sapnap, and george (unspoken crush lol)

(his mother was written to be puffy but that and whether the fact that she’s alive is subject to change. his father is dead.)

daydream has never wanted to be king, let alone part of the family. the kingdom hates him, disrespects him, and he finds himself unliked by some of his family members both across seas and across the hall. as pretty and lavish as his life is- he is often overwhelmed and wishes of nothing more than to be invisible. this makes the down dislike him more, calling his behavior ungrateful and selfish. his unease grows by the day. he gains new garments to wear to coronation day. he doesn’t try them on prior.

during his coronation day, after being crowned king, a big ball was held late into the night. a toast was made, gifts were given, and day offered an incredibly short speech.

foolish makes his rounds, insisting on his duties as a guard, and day gets to invite his “lower class” friends, sap and george. getting into the trouble that they do, used to making the most out of nothing, the catering table is flipped and sets off a chain reaction of multiple lights and various things breaking. expensive items and statues are now either broken or unpleasant to look at, and with day’s growing uneasiness, he flees, leaving sapnap and george to fend for themselves in the mess.

because of the commotion, he leaves unnoticed for now, grabbing a “go bag” he packed in his room months ago, and slips on a cloak and scarf to protect his identity.

here is where he begins to meet techno. day (now disliking his name) finds an “abandoned” potato farm, accompanied by a charming house in an open field. there are also apple trees and carrot patches.

day spends the rest of the night settling down and going to sleep in the bed he found, and wakes up to try and tend to the garden. he tries to farm and pluck food from the ground to eat, attempting to replace it and plant as he goes along- but growing up where servants did everything for you, he doesn’t really understand much of it. he starts to break down halfway into the day and sits covered in his cloak, shaking and crying- because what was he thinking, running away like this? he can’t survive, he won’t survive, but he most certainly cannot turn back now.

he makes the shift to dream, his preferred name.

a piglin, who he would learn is technoblade, greets him from behind and scares dream shitless, but he just comments, “i’ve been watching you mess up my farm for way too long, you’re doing this all wrong,” and begins to fix the mess dream made. he explains what he’s doing and why, and replants the potatoes. he invites dream in to eat.

they begin to live together and know each other, dream can’t bring himself to leave and techno doesn’t want to ask. after a bit techno does reveal he knows there’s a lost prince/king, and that dream is him. the conversation goes something like this:

“so, did you ever get a crown?”

“i uh- aah what?”

“you’re not very good at hiding it, being the king. your clothing has the royal sigil on them. you go by ‘dream’, assumingely from daydream. you also don’t seem to know a thing about farming, and don’t think i don’t recognize that jewelry, dude.”

“i don’t…” he cowers.

“i’m not gonna turn you in, i don’t care at all, but i figured we’d get that out there before shit goes down.”

“i thought you were kind of disconnected from that… talk?”

“i’m more connected than you know.”

there’s a couple of neighboring kingdoms that are looking for dream for the ransom money, but none are too concerned when foolish is there, a person more fit to be king. dream eventually decides to go on the run, away from techno to keep him out of trouble- after all, he’s learned to farm and sustain himself. techno stops him before he can go far by himself, “we’re a team. friends, even” dream teases him for that.

they travel, learning even more about each other, such as dream showing his pitiful wings, his relationship with george, his friendship with sapnap, how he was treated and why he did what he did- and the secrets of any royal castle you’ll go in. techno nods along like he doesn’t know.

but techno reveals he was incredibly connected to royalty, in a friendly familial way. he wasn’t related by any means, but his dear friend was king. a crow, with gorgeous green getups and a wingspan that seemed to weigh him down. he had a son with blonde hair, aged 13 years.

he was assigned knight to this kid, protecting him, but he might as well have been a babysitter. he played non stop, and they both enjoyed the casualness of it all, both swearing off of the formalities around each other. tommy hated the fanciness of it all, the rules, boundaries, lack of risk, being the heir.

dream understood.

techno explains that he was so bright and curious, he wanted his freedom more than anything. alongside this techno had begun to train him on how to use swords, bows, potions, and the soil: he believed tommy could make it on his own.

so when tommy set out one day with nothing but the weapons and clothes on his back, techno turned his back to the king, his friend, and let him go.

tommy is presumed dead. techno never forgave himself for that, that boy was like his brother- having grown up with him from age 6. techno was banished from the kingdom and immediately fired, his life spared on the basis of phil not being strong enough to kill another beloved person he knew.

techno enjoys helping dream to an unhealthy amount because of the circumstances. he feels as though if he let dream go that initial meeting, he too may have suffered the same fate by technos allowance. he and tommy are too similar in his mind to let it go.

at this point sapnap and george have fled prison and managed to make it out of the kingdom without getting caught. george, though not well off, is gifted in magic, and manages to follow dreams trail using enchantments. let me tell you they are fucking UPSET at dream for leaving them. this essentially becomes manhunt 2.0.

dream and techno enjoy being on the road together even if dream feels like he’s holding techno back. they don’t even know where they’re running to, but to them it’s the journey not the destination.

(thoughts i had but was unsure about, when furthering the story)

dream eventually gets caught again and taken back to the castle with snfs help, maybe the king title is revoked from him?? but imagine him locked up kind of like in rapunzels tower, unable to really leave bc his wings are disabled. the kingdom didn’t like him before, and now they CERTAINLY don’t

[i9messi]

Romance revealed — Pedri González

You try to keep your relationship secret but after driving Pedri everywhere because of his injury, fans discover that you are his girlfriend.

Word count — 877

pedri's masterlist

"Come on, amor."

"Where are we going?" your boyfriend asked, grabbing his jacket and following you without hesitation.

"To get food and drive around."

Pedri was momentarily injured and you were in charge of driving. It wasn’t something you’d mind doing, because before his injury, your boyfriend had done the same for you. You enjoyed driving aimlessly and listening to music in the car while holding hands. So now that he was injured, you liked to return the same favor he had done for you so many times.

You had been dating for over a year now, but the only ones who knew were your own families and closest friends. It wasn’t like you were embarrassed to tell the truth, you had simply never been the kind of person who liked others to talk about your life. Pedri was a famous footballer and also had an audience that could be a bit intimidating for you. Still, lately it was getting hard to avoid the people and trying to keep the relationship secret, because while you were taking him to his friends' house or going out somewhere, you always felt like there was someone watching.

After driving for a while, you parked at a fast food place. You listened to some music and talked about everything a little while you filled your bellies with junk food. Food that normally Pedri could not eat as much, but since he had not been playing, he allowed himself to break his diet a little.

"You’ve got ketchup on your lip." Pedri said to you and when you tried to take it off, he laughed.

"Let me help you."

Pedri approached you and after removing the ketchup stain from your face, he left a kiss on your lips. That kiss started a lot of new kisses, a complete kissing session in the car. It was easy to lose your head when your boyfriend kissed you like that.

"I like kissing you. I think we should do this more often." he smiled at you.

"What? To kiss in cars, in dark and hidden spots? You’re sassy, Pedri."

He laughed.

"Go out more often, kiss each other without being afraid of what others will say."

You looked at him and nodded, you thought so too. However, everything was too complicated and you were afraid that people would turn against you. You weren’t a famous person or a celebrity, you were an ordinary person who was in love with a footballer.

"I like to take things slow, anyways." Pedri added, understanding your position.

"It’s a matter of time before someone realizes the truth, I don’t think we can hide it for much longer. Tomorrow is Ferran’s birthday and..."

Pedri took his hand to the head. "Ferran’s birthday! We didn’t buy him anything."

You had also completely forgotten about the gift. You still had a few hours until the birthday party, so the next day both of you drove to a store. However, when you left the store you saw that there were people with their cell phones and many of them were fans who had Pedri’s jersey and wanted his autograph. You walked quietly and walked away from the crowd, luckily for you, people were focused on your boyfriend and nobody saw you there.

You went to the parking lot alone, feeling a little lonely. You walked to your car and got in it, minutes later Pedri appeared, completely alone.

"Done, are you alright?" your boyfriend asked you, attentive to your answer.

You nodded your head and started driving. He was holding your hand while you drove.

"I missed you."

"I missed you more, Pepi."

Both went to the party of Ferran Torres, Pedri’s friend and Barça’s teammate. The two of you were invited and after some thought, you decided to go together. You usually went separately, each in his car and then you met at the party. However, you drove carefully to Ferran’s place and once you arrived, you greeted the birthday boy.

The party was fun. When it came to an end you again drove to Pedri’s house. As you were leaving Ferran’s house, you saw that there were some fans who had their cell phones and were recording you. You looked at each other.

"Diablos."

Pedri seemed worried for you. "Babe, are you okay?"

"I’m fine."

You arrived to Pedri’s house and you both saw social media. The pictures had just come out everywhere, there were many rumors that you were Pedri’s partner. You looked at each other silently.

"I’ve got you, I swear. Nothing’s going to happen to you when I'm here. I can go out and clear things up, amor. I don’t want this to make you feel bad. You are the most important and valuable person to me, I want your happiness."

You had the most loving and caring boyfriend and you knew it. You held his hand and sat on his lap, while he cradled you in his arms. Pedri’s hugs were comforting.

"It's fine, Pepi. I can live with this, we’ll get through this."

"Are you sure you're ready to take this step?"

"I’m ready as long as I’m by your side."

"I love you, so, so much. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me."

[onpointedfeetandbrokendreams]

Day 5 - Painland Week

Day 5 of Painland Week 2024: August 5th - August 11th by @painlandweek

I wanted to post the final day in time because it was the first fic I wrote for this event, but I do have 5 and 6 as well so I guess I'll still share them even if a bit late!

Prompt: Case Fic

Tags:  Post-canon, Established Relationship

TW: None

--

For all intents and purposes, Crystal was part of London’s supernatural community. Even before meeting Edwin and Charles she had some ghosts as friends, and obviously there was the whole dating a demon business. But she was surprised to find out that there were several gathering spots that other psychics and beings in general used to exchange information, trade, or generally hang out together.

What didn’t surprise her at all was that Charles loved going there, while Edwin looked like he would rather spend the evening stabbing his own arm with an iron knife.

“I just don’t see the point, if someone has a case for us to solve, they would know where to find us, otherwise we have no reason to talk to them.”

“We don’t have to think about work all the time, do we?” replied Charles, not without a fond smile on his face. Few things had changed between the two of them since they got officially together, at least in public - she didn’t want to think about what they did after she left in the evening, and luckily they never talked about it - except that they were both more relaxed, and sometimes they got lost in each other’s eyes.

She cleared her throat. “So we are going?”

Edwin grimaced, like he had just bitten something incredibly sour. “Fine.”

They had a new client, a young witch called Noora, who said random objects had started to disappear from her shop. She believed someone or something was trying to get her to close because they didn’t trust her, even if she had stopped practising magic for that exact reason, afraid that the power would eventually corrupt her like it happened to many witches. She had seemed honest enough, someone who just wanted to do some good selling herbs and artefacts, plus she had offered an open tab to collect ingredients as payment, which was too good an opportunity to pass on. So after doing some background checks on her - which had become mandatory after the ‘Case of the Asshole Jocks’ (as Crystal called it) in Port Townsend - they decided to accept.

They arrived at what looked like an ordinary pub, with some arcade games in one corner, darts and pools in another, and a counter, with separated menus for humans, vampires, and even ghosts.

“There is food that ghosts can eat?” Crystal asked, looking around curiously.

“It is mostly potions with mild effects,” Edwin explained, “they simulate the intoxication of alcohol, or other nonsense.”

Behind his back, Charles winked at her.

When the surprise faded, she started noticing something else, the barman had greeted them politely, but everyone else seemed to keep their distance from them, it was almost like they were scared of something. She tried to ignore the odd feeling for a while, but it was clear that it was not just an impression.

“Why are people afraid of us? Did something happen?” She asked, looking between the other two to study their faces.

“It’s a very funny story,” replied Charles, laughing, while Edwin grimaced.

“Please, Charles, there is no need to talk about this. I assure you it is nothing, Crystal, let us remain focused on the case.”

She was not deterred in the slightest by his patronising tone, she kept her gaze fixed on Charles until he relented.

“They are scared of Edwin,” Charles said in a lower voice.

“What? Why?”

For how much she and Edwin bickered, she knew he would never hurt anyone.

“It is not extremely common for a soul to escape Hell,” Edwin explained matter-of-factly, “and, as you well know, I have never exactly hidden the fact. There are many who think I somehow made a deal with Lucifer herself.”

“And it’s not only that,” continued Charles, “most of the incantations and rituals he uses shouldn’t be possible for a ghost because they require too much spiritual energy, so they don’t know exactly what he is capable of.” 

He said it proudly, and of course Crystal was impressed as well, but it was also a bit sad. From what she had gathered of Edwin’s life, he had been a bit isolated from his peers back then, and it seemed he still was, even if for different reasons. It was no wonder he didn’t like to come to these places.

“Maybe you should talk to some of them, if they get to know the real you, they will know you are actually a real softie.”

If looks could kill, Crystal’s head would surely have exploded in that moment. “I am NOT a softie.”

Charles was laughing so hard tears collected at the corner of his eyes. “You kind of are, love.”

She decided to go talk to some other people after that, wanting to give them some space. She had some basic self-preservation instinct after all.

Some people knew about Noora’s shop, but none of them seemed to have heard of the random disappearances, so it was a bit of a bust. She returned to the table Charles had claimed for them to figure out their next step, and she was still recounting what she had gathered, when someone approached them. Crystal wasn’t sure what kind of creature they were, but there was something about them that made her skin crawl.

“I’ve heard you talking about the witch,” they said, pronouncing the last word like it was a slur.

“Yes, we are trying to solve a mystery that occurred in her shop,” explained Edwin.

“You shouldn’t mess with her, she is a liar. I bet she gave you the ‘I’m just a good witch who stopped practising’ speech.”

Crystal noticed that every other being in the pub had stopped what they were doing to listen to the exchange. 

She had a sudden idea:

“Do you know who he is,” she said, pointing at Edwin and ignoring Charles’ panicked look of warning, “what he could do to you if you are involved in an act of discrimination against a poor girl who just wants to run a shop?”

“You shouldn’t believe everything you hear. Do you really think someone like him could escape Hell?” The way they snarled, almost made it seem like-

“You are a demon,” Edwin said, before she could reach that same conclusion.

The demon’s eyes glinted. “And what if I am, pretty boy?”

“Oi, leave him alone,” interjected Charles, moving in front of Edwin with his cricket bat ready.

“That witch is mine, you hear me, stay out of my way. I have great plans for her and her shop.”

Edwin started muttering something in Latin, probably a banishment spell, but he was startled by another patron binding him with a golden rope.

“Stop!” Crystal yelled at the ghost who cast the spell. “Don’t you see what this demon is doing? We are just trying to help!”

The distraction was enough to allow the demon to transform their hands in long claws and lock them around Charles’ throat.

“Charles!” Crystal and Edwin shouted at the same time, before Edwin turned to the ghost who was still binding him.

“I swear I mean no harm to any of you, but I can’t lose him, please let me go, allow me to save him.”

The tone of his voice tore Crystal’s heart in two. She knew they could handle the demon, but there were too many people there and if they started going against them, things might become dangerous. Other customers were approaching, looking between Edwin and the demon to decide which side to take.

“Edwin, I’m sorry,” she said. Then her eyes turned white and she sent a flow of images through everyone else’s minds, memories of Edwin saving her from a misery wraith, preventing her from drinking poison, she was careful to only choose moments that were not too personal, that he might feel uncomfortable sharing. “I know you’ve heard rumours, but I tell you we are just here to help!”

Charles didn’t technically need to breathe, but the claws scraping at his throat were making the skin black, grey smoke pouring from the cuts. He was desperately trying to swing his bat at them and hitting only empty space, the arms moving in every direction, disappearing and forming again without ever releasing their hold.

The moment the ghost retracted the binding spell, Edwin raised his hands and started the banishment incantation again. His eyes looked like they were on fire.

Other people recognized the type of spell he was casting and tried to help by confining the demon, until a red portal finally appeared to swallow them.

Edwin collapsed on a table from the exertion.

“Edwin!” Charles yelled in a raspy voice, moving to his side in an instant. “Love, are you okay? You shouldn’t have done that, I would have found a weakness in those stupid liquid arms and freed myself on my own.”

Edwin managed a smile. “No version of this where I didn’t protect you.”

“I hate you when you use that against me.”

“Sure you do,” Edwin replied, turning around to hug him, the relief evident in both their faces. 

While the two continued whispering reassurances and promising - again, as if it were needed - eternal devotion to one another, Crystal tried to explain what happened and apologised for using her psychic powers to the others still gathered around them.

“I am sorry for trying to stop you friend, I hope it didn’t cause too much damage,” the ghost said.

Finally, Edwin moved back, only a little flustered by the public display of affection. “What is important is that you freed me in time.”

“Still, I am sorry. I should know better than to listen to gossip like this.”

“Well, I guess the case is closed. We should still check the shop in case there is some of the demon’s magic left.” He said, more to himself than the others, but he did nod at Crystal and he looked more grateful than murderous, so she allowed a sigh of relief. She didn’t think she would get away from the scolding so easily this time.

[rascalentertainments]

Wish Granted 🌟👩🏾🎶 (Wish Reimagined)

Chapter 2: Into the Woods

Chapter 1

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As the trees closed behind him, Flazino slowly followed the well worn path into a small community, featuring many homes that were surrounded by nature. No magic was required or allowed here, for everything was built or crafted by hand from the ground up.

(Look how beautiful these look! They would've looked so good in 2D! I haven't really seen a whole lot of art for the Hamlet concept, so for extra reference, imagine the homes looking similar to Pacha's village)

The abundance and depth of the trees in the Uncharted Forest kept the people of this haven safe from the eyes of Magnifico. Those who realized his true intentions with their wishes fled here, where they could live in peace and save their families from a terrible fate.

Although it was late into the night, the people here were wide awake in preparation for their own ceremony. Which is exactly each month the young apprentice would take his monthly trip here.

He was greeted by an old man who was holding a mandolin and a warm smile on his face. "Young Flazino! You're just in time, the ceremony will be beginning soon."

No sooner had the boy dismounted from the horse, he was caught in a tight hug by the old man. Though he was smaller than other residents, his heart was as big as the forest itself. Flazino couldn't help but smile back as he returned the hug.

"It's good to see you again too, Sabino." He said with a laugh. He took the bags off his back and started unpacking the supplies from it: Extra clothes, seeds to grow fruits and vegetables, food he was able to sneak away from the day's meals and a few toys for the children there.

"Sorry its not as much as usual. I've been having this strange feeling I'm being watched recently, so I didn't have time to get more..." Flazino sighed.

Sabino shook his head. "That's alright, lad. Every little bit helps. You've done so much for us this past year. We can't ask for a better friend." he patted the boy on the shoulder. "Come now, you can at least stay, have some food and chat for a while before you go."

He called over two other men to gather the supplies. "Alan, Howard, would you mind taking these and passing them to others?" The men did as instructed and Flazino followed Sabino a little further into the woods where right in the center of it, people were gathered around each other while most of them held bright colored ribbons in their hands.

Flazino knew very well what was happening. Just as the rulers of Rosas had a wish ceremony at the end of each month, the people of the Hamlet had an event of their very own. In order to keep their remaining wishes from Magnifico, each resident that turned 18 or older in that month would write their greatest wishes on ribbons and tie them to an old olive tree on top of a hill. In hopes that one day they will come true, without the fear of them being broken by the King.

An older woman announced that it was clear to travel to the tree, that there were no signs of spies or guards of Rosas near. She led the young people up the hill.

As the two of them began to follow the group, Sabino heard a small, but loud, "Baaa! Baaaa!" 🐐

He looked down and saw a baby goat rubbing his head against his leg and it looked up at the old man with a smile.

"Oh! Valentino! Nice to see you too!" Sabino said with a laugh as he picked up the goat and rubbed his head. "I bet you're as excited as me, hehe."

"There you are! How many times have I told you not run off like that without me? You could've gotten hurt." A concerned voice came from the distance. It came from a teen girl, with a worried yet annoyed look on her face as she approached. It seems like her pet did this a lot.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Asha." He waved a dismissive hand at her. "He's just excited. Just like me. Isn't that that right?" Sabino said as he nuzzled the goat's nose. "Baaa!" Valentino said in agreement.

Asha gently took Valentino in her arms and (finally) greeted Flazino. "Good to see you again, Flaz. I hope that our 'favorite' rulers are treating you well." she said with a hint of sarcasm.

Sabino joined the group, presumably to have a bit of a music session with his musician friends at the top. They all shared a love for music and found kinship with each other through their passions, so it was understood.

Flazino rolled his eyes and smirked at Asha. "Oh yeah. Being a sorcerers' apprentice is great! I run errands, invite some newcomers to their possible doom, Feed a deadly feline that literally wants to bite the hand that feeds him and oh yeah, try to write another song about how great the king is!" He said the last part with fake enthusiasm. "You know he made me a write a part that said: '♬ I let you live here for free, and I don't even charge you rent!♬' ?"

Asha raised an eyebrow hearing this. "Um, isn't that the same thing?" she asked.

"THAT'S WHAT I SAID TO HIM!" Flazino exclaimed and put his arms out in exasperation.

Asha couldn't help but laugh. Given that the guy had to deal with two royal pains and their spoiled exotic pet everyday, he had to vent to somebody, and Asha was always there to listen. He's helped keep the Hamlet safe for two years, he's at least earned it. Not to mention he tries to learn to use some of Amaya's potions in secret.

Asha herself ventured regularly in her dairy. She was completely fed up with hiding from the people that ruined their lives. As a child, she did see the world with wonder, but as she grew older, Asha started to see the world outside the Hamlet a bit more harshly. She just wanted one day see the world again without fearing for her family's safety. Asha had seen the cruelty of Maginifico. When his false sincerity was gone....he was a monster.

While the two of them (and Valentino) chatted and exchanged information on Rosas, Sabino and about ten people made their way up to the hill.

(We see in a faraway shot that Sabino is actually making his way ahead faster than some of his friends in excitement, telling them jokingly to pick up their pace, only for him to have to slow down himself, out of breath.)

It was a little long, but once they saw that tree adorned with ribbons as colorful as their wishes, it was always worth it.

As each individual tied their ribbon to the tree, they looked to the stars shining brightly above them if only they could hear the wishes in their hearts. There were days that it hurt to even put them out there. It was a high chance that they never get granted, but they had to try, right?

One older man was left in line, but as he looked at tree, he started to have doubts. What if it never came true? Was it even a dream worth keeping? He took a few steps back and apologized to the old woman. "I'm sorry, Germaine. I'm...just not ready." He said, with a touch of sadness in his voice.

The woman shook her head. "No need to apologize, Manuel. You can make your wish whenever you're truly ready." She said as she patted him on the shoulder.

The man nodded and proceeded back down the hill, passing by the other wishers. Sabino quickly gave him a comforting hug. "Don't be ashamed of your wish. Its a beautiful one." He whispered to Manuel.

This gave the man a bit of comfort, but he failed to realize that the ribbon he placed in his pocket earlier was now gone. Once the others had begun to return to the bottom, Sabino stayed back and quickly put the ribbon in his own pocket. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself, "Hehehehe! *cough cough cough* ahem..." Luckily no one saw that...

Not long after, the young apprentice knew it was time to leave. He was given the requested mushrooms, said his goodbyes and gave Achilles the signal to depart. The tree entrance once again opened to let Flazino out, he waved goodbye to his Hamlet friends and watched as the trees closed behind him.

The horse took off in a dash once more leaving the Hamlet behind. However, he wasn't quite alone. We then see a closeup on a patch of open bushes, with a pair of glowing green feline eyes peering through, watching the boy leave. A devious smile appeared below it, then the face disappears into the black.

As some time passes, we see how the people hear take care of each other and live their lives. A few of them are washing clothes in a nearby river, others are making their own flour, and later bread. Both the men and women tend to a large field, where they plant seeds of various fruits and vegetables. Many of these end up producing large harvests for the people.

(Seriously, these concepts arts are GORGEOUS. And I've read a lot of Art books, but Wish's is on a new level!)

Another scene passes and Asha is seen reading to a group of kids, as they listened in wonder about a magical fairy that loved to help others in need.

"So the fairy used his magic to bring the whole town joy. No need was seen as too big or small to grant. Each and every person was special to him."

One little girl asks "Did the fairy ever find someone he loved?"

Asha chuckled. "Of course he did." She turned the page where the glowing fairy was dancing with a human girl under the moon. "While he was pretty loud and carefree, she was quiet and kept to herself. They were very different from each other, but they fell in love all the same."

The montage then cuts to the inside of Asha's family cottage, her mother Sakina had just finished making a couple new clothes for their neighbor's young sons. "Asha, I'll be back soon to give Hans these clothes. And Saba...?"

Sabino was in his chair snoring away, when he was startled by Sakina's question. "Huh? What? Where am I?" He looked around in supposed confusion.

Sakina raised in eyebrow. She loved Sabino, but there were times he tried to be sly, especially with Asha. "Don't get into any foolishness." she warned.

Sabino let out a loud yawn that woke Valentino up, who actually was sleeping by his feet. "Oh, fine. Fine. I'll keep an eye on the girl. "Riiiiight after my nap." he said in a groggy tone. He slowly leaned back in his chair and back to snoring.

Sakina took a moment, sighed and proceeded put the door.

Ten seconds later, Sabino opened one eye and made sure the overbearing mother was gone. Once the coast was clear, he leaped to his feet and grabbed his mandolin. Valentino followed the old man curiously as he proceeded to find Asha.

"Well, goodnight Saba." his granddaughter yawned as she started heading upstairs. She stops once she hears her saba's voice behind her.

"Asha, would you mind coming with me before we turn in for the night? I'd like to show you something important..."

Little did Asha know that her life would soon change forever, thanks to one wish of her own....

Chapter 3

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Woo-hoo! Chapter 2 is done! I wanted to wait until I finally finish "Kingdom of Wishes", so now with that read though complete, I've gone back to writing this little story/movie! This one was a little shorter, but I was able to find lots of wonderful concept art pictures from not only Wish, but also other Disney films! I even found some perfect horseback scenes added them to Chapter 1, if you'd like to check it out!

The thing I wanted to show here is that while Sabino does have wisdom, he's a cheeky old man. 😆 I actually based him off of the grandmother from Mulan, so he has that extra kick to him. We haven't really had a fun elderly man character in Disney since "UP", and I wanted to bring the fun from past elder characters into this. In the actual film, Sabino did feel like a character and I liked Victor Garber voicing him, but we never get any time towards him. His whole character was done dirty, and he's just nearly cut from the film until the very end. Disney cut out HIS OWN SONG. The ENTIRE reason the plot even started, the reason Asha wanted to get the wishes back, and THEY CUT IT OUT. FOR PETE'S SAKE, MAN—

For this story, Saba's in his 80's but acts like a kid sometimes, and just wants Asha to have that same spirit again, since she lost the fun part of herself after her father died. She can still be kind, but her positive outlook is practically non-existent.

Also, a fun bit I came up with is that everyone else in the Hamlet is named after a Disney music composer, from the past and present. Even better, Lin Manuel's name is mentioned in the deleted scene, so it fit right in!

And for those who are wondering, yes, Star will be appearing soon! In chapter 3 we're gonna go back to our favorite royal pains, see more of Asha and her family so they can be fleshed out some more and then our sparkling boy is going to appear. Plus, I really wanted to start off with only a little humor since the story is more serious at this point. But then when Star comes in, he's gonna bring in a lot more fun and joy to the table. Plus, this is the first time I'm writing a fantasy based story here. I usually write sci-fi and/or superhero stories, so I pray I'm doing this right. 😅

I love to hear your comments, so make as many as you want, and I'll see you guys in chapter 3!

Thanks for reading!

@annymation @signed-sapphire @oh-shtars @kenihewa @chillwildwave @tumblingdownthefoxden @wings-of-sapphire @emptyblog7 @lazytitans-world @mythartist21 @kstarsart @uva124 @spectator-zee @emillyverse

[thoughtsonhurtandcomfort]

Shun the Light - Ch 15 - The Bunker

Slow Burn | Refuge | Decision | Mend | Hunger | Thin Mints | The Garden | Philip | Moments | Full Moon pt 1 | Full Moon pt 2 | Tend | Absolution | The Talk | Scars |

Author's Notes: Consider....vampirism and lycanthropy as disability? If you take a less fantastical and more naturalistic look, both are changes to the mind and body that make existing in a society difficult. Just something I've been thinking about.

Some more bonding, some #justvampirethings, some full moon dread. Thanks to everyone who has read this far. <3

Content Warnings: werewolf whumpee, vampire whumpee + caretaker, not much else just some angst, dread, mentions of blood

----

Sometimes, when he wakes at dusk, Dante forgets that he isn't alone in the house.

Dante learned early on that being mostly-dead is pretty hard on the body. Many of the systems that keep people alive also keep them comfortable, and so he has built habits to deal with the discomforts.

His throat is always parched, so he keeps a little cup of blood by the bed to get moving. His body is stiff from sleeping very still, so he does stretches.

And then there's thermoregulation, or the lack thereof. On cold days his skin becomes tingling, oversensitive, even numb, and in the summer he frequently suffers from heat exhaustion. Both make hunting difficult, so on mild days he stocks up on blood for his fridge, and he keeps his bedroom at a consistent temperature year round.

After his stretches he exits his bedroom wearing Philip's old silk robe and slippers, grabs a jar of blood from the fridge - calling it a 'cup of Joe' like Mr. Townsend used to - and settles into his chair for an evening gameshow.

That is usually when he remembers he has a guest, in the form of Matteo sprawled on the couch with the remote control already in his hand.

Tonight he is there as expected...but something is off. Matteo is sitting at one corner of the couch with his arms around himself, staring straight ahead. When Dante greets him he barely reacts.

"Matteo?"

"Mm."

"What's wrong?"

"Just a few days left."

As if to prove his point, the waxing moon peeks out from behind a cloud. Dante pulls the curtain shut.

"It never gets easier," Matteo says softly. "I get so anxious that I can barely eat or sleep, which only makes things worse..."

It's been hard to shake the memory of seeing Matteo's violent transformation, he can't imagine living it.

"I can make you do both of those things," Dante offers, realizing too late how creepy it sounds.

Matteo only smiles, though it doesn't reach his eyes. "Thanks."

"Do you want to see the shelter? Maybe that will help."

"Yeah, sure. Why not."

-

It's a bit like opening a time capsule. The bunker hasn't been touched since the 1960s, everything exactly the way Mr. Townsend left it the last time he went down to check expiration dates.

Against one wall is a shelf stacked with supplies, books, canned food and water, a radio and a box of ammunition. Cot-style beds line the other two walls, one a bunk bed and the other a single.

"Only three beds?"

Dante shrugs. "They didn't like me and dad that much. So, what do you think?"

Matteo steps inside and looks around. "We should probably remove anything that isn't attached...the wolf will just wreck it all anyway. You'll find me covered in canned peaches in the morning."

"Those probably need to go anyway. Okay, we can do that. What else?"

"I guess that's all." he still seems uncertain.

"Matteo..." Dante joins him in the small room. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"No, it's not that. This is a good idea. I can't hurt anyone here. It's this or chain me out back like a dog."

The resignation in Matteo's voice is all too familiar. In his early days of vampirism Dante had tried to find ways to still be part of the world, spending time in bars and 24-hour diners, taking long drives at night, he even tried taking a night shift in a stockroom. But eventually fear won - fear of sunlight, fear of discovery, fear of hurting someone or being hurt. It drove him into the shadows, and there he has remained.

"I had a dog once. He slept at the end of my bed."

The new information pulls Matteo from the brink of despair.

"Yeah? What was his name?"

"Porco. It means pig. It started as an insult when we found him as a stray. He would eat anything and everything. But I got attached to him and dad was bad at saying no if something made me happy. He always said joy was in short supply and we should stock up whenever we could."

Matteo smiles in this warm, endearing way that Dante finds impossible to look away from. Sometimes he tries to smile back but it's as if the muscles of his face have forgotten how.

They get to work moving everything out of the bunker until only the beds and shelves, which are fixed to the concrete walls, remain.

When they're finished it looks much more like what it really is - a prison. But Matteo seems less apprehensive. Maybe just knowing what to expect is enough.

"Dante?" he says as they ascend the stairs back toward rooms with windows and light.

"Yes?"

"Thank you. You didn't have to do any of this."

They reach the first floor hallway. Dante pushes the door shut with his foot and turns to look at him.

"You saved my life, remember?"

Matteo huffs. "I think you made up for that a while ago. This is...more than I have any right to ask for. If there's anything I can do..."

"I really don't mind. You're - "

...can he call him a friend? An acquaintance? Is this thing between them just a series of favors, an exchange of small kindnesses the world has not been so quick to give? A rescue for a rescue. A warm bed for some company. A sip of blood for relief from pain.

"...you're nice to have around," he finishes carefully. It seems a safe enough statement. Neither coming on too strong nor dismissing just how big a change Matteo has brought to his dull life, if only for a little while.

There is that smile again - and then Matteo's arms are around his neck in a tight hug.

"I like being around," he says quickly, shyly.

It's over too soon and Dante is left with the lingering warmth, watching Matteo disappear into the living room and wishing he'd had the nerve to hug back.

[yakuzacanons]

Greetings! Ishin! Request time! Having a secret date night during Tanabata festival with Okita Soji, Nagakura Shinpachi and, if possible, Todo Heisuke 🌸 🎐 🍡 Thank you!

Oooo Ishin time. I had to do some research on the festival first as I didn't know much about it and it was quite fascinating. Headcanons below da cut, thanks again for ur patience while I recover from da sickness.

Okita Soji (Majima Goro)

Out of all the Shinsengumi, Okita is the king of sneaking out. Also the king of sneaking people in, honestly. It doesn't matter how many times he does it, he gets a kick out it each time. It's baffling that he doesn't ever get caught given how giggly it all makes him.

Okita would rather die than miss out on a festival date, especially a secret one when he's actually supposed to be at Shinsengumi headquarters sleeping like a respectable commanding officer. He practically came flying over the fence, his coat fluttering in the wind and his eye wild with anticipation.

He intends to make the most of the night with you so you guys will be doing a little bit of everything. Okita's the kind of guy who wants to drink in the sights, sounds, and smells. No carnival game is too childish for him to try, no drink shall be turned down.

He pretends to not care here nor there about the wish writing tradition but secretly he actually does hope his wish comes true. Type of guy to make a big deal out of making sure you don't see what wish he writes only to turn around and immediately say something like "So whaddya write on your wish?".

Okita's energy during the festival is bursting, almost fox-like. He's eager to do it all but he's by no means rushing you. You'll return to the outskirts of the Shinsengumi headquarters before daybreak, your stomach and heart equally full. He'll give you a swift kiss before bounding over the wall and slipping away into the morning.

Nagakura Shinpachi (Saejima Taiga)

Unlike his sworn brother, he's not one for dramatically scaling the walls. He'll simply slip out of a side door during a changing of the guard. His movements and initial greetings are nearly silent but the further the two of you get from the headquarters and the closer you get to the festival, he becomes more lively.

Nagakura is quite reverent of festivals and never forgets any of the traditions. If you've never been before, he's the perfect guide and will make sure you have the best experience. What he enjoys most is just the feeling of being in the crowd, just another normal guy in the festival and not a Shinsengumi officer on duty.

He has his own kind of rhythm during the festival: first a bite to eat and a drink, then a couple of games, and once he's a little more sober, wish writing. His pace is easy going but steady, his smile laidback but sincere.

During wish writing, it's quite adorable to see the hulking silhouette of Nagakura hunched over a small piece of paper, writing intently. The two of you will hang your wishes from the bamboo tree with smiles on your faces.

Always a gentleman, Nagakura will walk you home before heading back to headquarters. He'll press a tender kiss against your forehead before turning away and walking briskly back to headquarters, the rising sun starting to shine against his back.

Todo Heisuke (Tianyou Zhao)

By the time you arrive at the Shinsengumi headquarter, Todo is already standing outside leaning against a wall, casually waiting. It's not that you're late; he was just excited to see you and slipped out early to wait for you. He greets you with a casual wave and smile.

Out of all the boys, he dresses the most festively. His outfit was carefully selected a few days in advance, but he wouldn't actually admit that he was THAT excited about it. He blends in perfectly with the colorful decorations.

Always a sucker for a tasty meal, Todo's first and primary goal is to get something tasty from a food stall. He loves nothing more than sharing a special meal with you. It's all his treat, of course. He shows love with food.

Will participate in carnival games if asked but mostly likes to sit back and watch the chaos of the young kids playing. His vibe is the most chill and the least chaotic. He treats the wish writing tradition with great reverence, saying things like "We get one wish, so let's make it count, okay?".

He'd walk you home, taking the long route back as he wants to spend as much time with you as possible and he doesn't really want the night to end. He leaves you with a kiss on the cheek and a tight hug, waiting to make sure you get inside okay. If you look out your window, you'll see him waving goodbye with a smile on his face before turning and walking away with a spring in his step.

[bubbles-for-all-of-us]

I wanna run my fingers through joels hair sooo bad,,, and maybe braid a tiny little section of it too :((

Mkay so this is just little moments of what playing with Joel's hair might look like.

Let's walk through the day....

Mornings. Not that you get to spend many of them together because Joel usually takes morning patrol so he could be with his little family by the evening because family dinner is a MUST. So most of the time you already wake up to an empty bed. Unless you stir awake while Joel is getting dressed. Looking at him with sleepy eyes. He would cross the room at the sound of you moving. "Go back to sleep, gorgeous", Joel would lean in to kiss you softly. You would hum in response, cupping his cheeks before moving your fingers to run through his still messy curls in an attempt to make it slightly more tamed because we all know he ain't wasting his time on fixing it himself.

But if Joel gets to sleep in and you two wake up together then it's endless cuddles till Ellie runs through the door and jumps onto the bed. Joel is there snuggling closer into your chest. You're lazily moving your fingers through his hair. Making sure to massage his scalp. And he's just melting into your embrace. Not a single worry on his mind. God, forbid if you were to stop. A five-year-old temper tantrum times ten. No, but you would get a very dissatisfied look from Joel. Follow by a huff as he moves to search for your palm before moving it to his hair. He's been so touch starved to the point where he just needs this. This is what fuels him. What makes him feel safe.

Throughout the day you rarely see each other. Joel is on patrols or helping out Tommy with whatever he might need. You are there helping out in the vegetable gardens and making sure the food in the hall is ready in time and that it's delicious. When people rush in for lunch you are there twirling like a fairy. Well, that's what Joel calls you. Sprinkling so much love into everyone's plate, making sure to share a smile with everyone.

"Saved any for me?", Joel would ask teasingly when he arrives a bit later than usual. You turn to him instantly, leaning over the counter so you could kiss him hello as you rush into the kitchen. Of course, Joel's meal is slightly different. Well call this unfair and all that but you are there taking care of your old man. So a little bit of extra something won't hurt anyone.

You sit with him while he eats. Lost in a casual conversation as you both talk through your days so far or what you'd like to have for dinner at home. Your head is resting on your cheek as you look at your lover fondly. Once in a while reaching out to pull at his curls. Not that they need shaping but you just can't help it. Your hand just moves closer to the salt and pepper glory.

If you can squeeze in a little five minutes of cuddles before you both need to go you best believe you are there straddling Joel's waste as he hugs you. Both tucked away in a further corner of the hall. You just soak up each other's presence. Joel is running his hand up and down your back while your fingers graze the back of his neck. Running up his scalp at times. There's not much talking in moments like this. There's no need. Your bodies speak the language for both of you.

Evenings are heavenly and taken very seriously by the Millers. You usually are the first to return then in runs Ellie. She's mostly very eager to help you cook. And with all the helping she had become quite a cook herself. Plus it's so nice to just spend some extra mother-daughter quality time together. You talk about anything and everything. Laughing amongst each other.

When Joel returns home the house always smells delightful. Making him stop by the door and savor the moment. Both the smell that makes it that extra cozier and then the laughter and chatter that fills the space. Ellie greets him with a hug that's mostly always followed by her pushing Joel out of the kitchen because he's already five minutes late and you are supposed to go eat. If he's lucky he manages to slip past the girl and reach you for a quick kiss before Ellie drags him away.

It's the after-dinner sofa cuddles that are mostly filled with you playing with both Joel's and Ellie's hair. The fire is burning in the fireplace. The two of them are cracking jokes among themselves. You get to hold them both while they try to push one another off the sofa. Heart feeling as full as ever. Ellie falls asleep in no time even if she is a firm advocate that she's not tired whatsoever. Joel is getting her up to bed, tucking her in and all before he goes back downstairs to you. Plopping down on the sofa, practically laying on top of you.

"Returned for your head scratches?", you tease him playfully. "You're making it seem that it's all I want", he argues back but his hands are already holding onto your hips tightly as he nestles himself into the crook of your neck, "Yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry just 24/7", but you love it. Love to have him this way. Love the fact that it's you and that he lets you in like that. So you do what you do best. Move your fingers through Joel's hair. At times pull at the root gently or twirl the curls between your fingers. Enjoying the weight of Joel's body on top of yours.

[callmeroygbiv]

I played crutchie in newsies, here are some of the things that happened

- the refuge was constantly referred to as "little boy jail." "I wish you were in king of new york" "can't, little boy jail." "yeah when i got rolled onstage for letter from the refuge-" "HAHA, LITTLE BOY JAIL!" 

- an ensemble member came up with the hypothetical question "if you were starving and had no food, would you eat crutchie's leg?" he then proceeded to ask every single cast member this question. I now know which newsies would eat crutchie's leg and could provide a list if asked. jack kelly would he told me HIMSELF. 

- someone accidentally called me crunchy instead of crutchie. various variations of that nickname ensued, my personal favorite being "cankle" 

- somebody put me on the spot and asked me to name my crutch. I panicked and said pickles. 

- jack kelly himself greeted me every rehearsal by pointing at me and saying "bum leg." what a wonderful friend. 

- the theatre we performed at had a covered area outside that could be accessed from backstage. this area had a sign over the door that said "area of refuge." three different people asked me to pose under it and took a picture of me. 

- our director had us practice the prologue together with her to guide us exactly two times, the first was in a practice room the size of a closet (i knocked a framed photo off the wall and my director and i blamed our jack immediately) and the second was in the theatre bathroom like ten minutes before the opening show (jack had to hold a mini piano so our director could play the notes for us. he looked very silly.)

- we had a medda wig that we didn't end up using. it was blonde and very long and jack put it on after the closing show. i begged him to sing hopelessly devoted to you. he didn't. :(

- Jack Kelly got sick the day before the show. It set off a chain reaction of understudies. our directors pumped so many concoctions and vitamins into him. he looked deathly ill and was sitting in the corner breathing through this crazy miracle cure device that looked So Scary but he magically got better it was beautiful.

- we aren't cowards like disney so when crutchie returns from the refuge jack and crutchie have a Big Hug and like five minutes before the closing show our director came up to me and was like “yeah i was thinking we should probably cut that, i don't know why they would hug like that, its almost a little weird.” and i was like “oh no i play crutchie like he’s gay don’t i”  (I did and it was a little bit on purpose) so i thought that she told our jack too, but she didn't. i was fully prepared to give him a fistbump and he almost knocked me over with the hug.

- "care to let this young man’s artististry shine a light into your closed doors?” -our pulitzer three times

- stress dreams. everyone had them. in mine i forgot to climb onto the scaffolding during the overture AND i forgot to bring my crutch onstage. our director had a stress dream that our jack showed up really late to rehearsal in a three piece suit.

 - sprace was canon. that's it. they called each other stage boyfriend offstage.

- entire cast swayed our arms back and forth during something to believe in. sometimes we turned on our phone lights like it was a concert.

- one time our davey lost his voice and wasn't singing during rehearsal so his understudy, who also plays race, was running back and forth between doing a weird voiceover over davey’s shoulder for all his singing parts and doing all his race parts. he was darting across the stage for the entirety of seize the day it was great. 

 - "And all the newsies run up the stairs, across the scaffolding, and down the other set of stairs and offstage.” “Ms Sarah I only have one working leg.”

- up until tech week we didn't have our newsies banner newspapers for once and for all, so during rehearsals for that number we got out the giant bin of stuffed animals. the number just was so much more beautiful when it was performed by a bunch of angry looking teenagers holding small stuffed animals. like ten of them were frogs (or supposed to be frogs. vaguely frog shaped.)

[wri0thesley]

Cat dad anon here: ironically by the the time you posted my response I got sick again lol funny how that works (I’m not mad btw i thought it was just funny because i forgot i sent that originally)

I would like to add to this with genshin WOMEN as cat moms.

Arlecchino is technically a cat dad literally because she has Lynette and Lyney. But also those two have snuck in many a stray into the hearth to keep as their own. Ironically enough many end up becoming hers in the classic: dad who didn’t want cat ends up being cat’s favorite. Well she sees no reason to fight it now, it makes the kids happy to have the cat even if it seems to prefer her. Rest assured that kitty will be well cared for not just because it has a bunch of orphans caring for it but because Arlecchino makes sure it only eats the most delectable of fish.

Jean is probably the one who gets a emotional support cat. A gift from Lisa perhaps? A affectionate little fluff ball that lingers around her helping her feel more at ease. Its been trained to bump her with its head whenever she gets too tense or stressed in order to indicate its time to relax and give the kitty some pets. It helps immensely as if she stays up too late the cat will simply lay ontop of her work forcing her to turn in for the night.

Another is Undoubtedly Chlorine. Awaiting her each day is a cat waiting by the door to greet her by immediately begging for food. A very loud kitty maybe a siamese as its miles more chatty than she herself is.

Ningguang possesses a common breed of cat surprisingly. Not s luxurious breed at all but rather a simple black cat. (Fun fact black cats were originally thought of as good luck) but this cat isn’t not at all poised or graceful. Infact its quite troublesome. It seems to be mischievous on purpose. If it is hungry then you will know from the sudden sounds of pottery falling. Since then most pots are reinforced to not be knockable. But the cat is a plump bastard because the staff struggled to calm it. Still even with its mischievous nature is Ningguang quite content with the creature. She sleeps with them cuddled by her as she used to cuddle cats while she lived on the streets for warmth. In fact the very cat she owns was picked out because it resembled her stray cat friend who passed long ago. Which is also why she will not even entertain the idea of replacing it and glares at anyone who suggests it. Her kitty is her respite from her stress as she can now spoil her little friend.

Beidous cats would be different. As she is a captain it actually would make sense to have cats onboard. Infact its a common. Ship cats are good for mice management but that also means they may not be as affectionate as they’re more wild like. More busy below decks stalking the mice. But beidou’s cats are a bit different. They proudly display to her their bounties so she’ll reward them with much love and affection. Plus there’s her pal kazuha who is canonically a cat magnet. Those cat lives better lives than some people!

And of course Lisa. Lisa definitely seems like she’d end up attracting other cats than actually having one of her own. Like if Kaeya has a kitty then it may find Lisa swaying it to her side with promise of quality naps and treats. Or if Jean is out on business she is the cat babysitter who will be lounging with the kitty enjoying a nice nap. Eventually she’d end up attracting a permanent cat who snuck into the library during a storm. She let the guy stay in of course but even after weeks have passed does it refuse to leave. Its more of the library’s cat but she is the librarian. She playfully gave it the title of her assistant as it likes to sit at her desk with her paperwork displayed like its actually doing buisness. It even has its own Favonious collar labeling it as a official employee of the Knights. The cat seems to Mimic Lisa alot. It follows her to greet and check on jean and play with Jean’s own kitty cat. But it doesn’t like going outside where its more noisy. It would rather nap on the sunlight coming through the window.

CAT MOMS . . . be still my heart. and oh no anon i'm sorry to hear that; i am sending you soup and hoping if you have a kitty of your own it is providing the healing snuggles and purrs that you deserve!

lisa's library cat is making me feel so soft; i adore her and the thought of walking into the library to see her snoozing behind the desk with the cats of the rest of the knights of favonius deciding she's a lovely pillow and a perfect napping spot . . . sigh.

navia definitely has a plump spoilt kitty who is dressed in the finest of clothes; she can't resist giving it a sweet treat now and then, and everyone in poisson knows that the cat with the lovely ornate collar belongs to their demoiselle and as such gives the cat a freshly caught fish or a bit of chicken or too many pets and loves!

miko is very fond of cats because they're just as tricky as she is; they tend to follow her around - but her favourite is a sleek black cat who sits, mostly, off to one side. it follows her but it doesn't want fusses or too many pets; it follows her to the shrine, to the publishing house . . . she's named it 'ei'.

[anonymouse1312437]

A little heartbreak

This is not going to be everyone's cup of tea.  

Pairing: Pedro Pascal & Plus-sized fem Reader  

Minor use of y/n other than once. 

Summary: 

From the moment you met he couldn't stop thinking about you and how beautiful you were to him.  

Warning:  

Some fluff, bullying, name calling, fat shaming, age gap, heartbreak, just overall sadness, insecurities, vulgar language.  

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The day we met was nothing special.  At least it wasn't supposed to be. I was just trying to make myself feel better. My best friend cancelled our girl's day again and I am starting to feel like she is avoiding me. I guess whatever.  

I can still do what she and I were going to do. Right? I mean I could use a pick me up. Work has sucked here lately. I left my apartment in a pair of dark blue jeans and an oversized Lakers shirt. I normally wear a 3x to at least feel comfortable in my skin, but this shirt is in a 5xI, and it just makes me feel smaller. It also covers my apron belly, so I feel a tad less embarrassed in my skin. I didn't need my car yet, so I left it in my parking garage. I don't want someone using my parking space if I am just going to come right back. It doesn't matter that it's labeled for my apartment people still help themselves and I am not the person who will complain and then get their car towed. You never know what kind of day someone had and if it was a bad day, I don't want to make it worse.  

I walked down to the little diner across the road where my bestie and I here supposed to meet and walked in and was greeted by an older woman named Maria. She was the sweetest person in this part of California. 

"Hey kiddo, are you supposed to be joining Sammy and Kathy?" Maria asked. What does she mean? I looked around and spotted my best friend with one of our coworkers who constantly told me to lose weight because I took up too much space at the office. She has made me cry too many times.  

"Oh no, you know what Maria, I think I came here at the wrong time. Sorry. I hope you have a good day." I said and smiled at her. 

"Good, that means there will be food for the rest of us since she is leaving. Better hold on to something. You know the ground shakes when she walks." Kathy said loudly to Sammy. I guess she isn't really my best friend, is she? She laughed at what Kathy said. Maybe they have always been friends and I was just naive. 

I left the little diner quickly. Maybe just a coffee then. I just want to go home. I should just do that and hide from the embarrassment that I am. Someone was walking in my direction, but I didn’t really think much of it. I tried getting over to one side of the sidewalk, but it didn’t really make much of a difference. I felt their shoulder ram into me, and it almost knocked me over.  

“Watch it fatass.” I heard the man say. I felt the tears almost escape from my eyes. I just looked down as more people passed me with their own conversations with other people. I tried to keep my head down as I made my way over to Starbucks and stepped inside. As I entered the door someone was exiting and stepping into me spilling their very cold coffee all over me and themselves.  

“Oh shit, I am so sorry.” He said.  

“No that was all my fault. I didn’t see you coming out. Can I buy you a new one and make up for that?” I asked.  

“No really it was all my fault I was playing on my phone when I was headed out the door. It’s really okay but, are you okay?” He asked, peering down at me. He was taller than me, but I tried to focus my eyes on the ground. I still had tears brimming in my eyes and I was ready to bawl my eyes out. I should have just gone home.  

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I said quickly, trying to keep my voice from sounding like it was cracking.  

“Are you sure? You don’t really look fine?” He tried asking again.  

“I said I’m fine, okay?” I said snapping a little. “You know what I’m sorry for snapping a little bit. I really have had a rough morning and that’s not your fault.” I said.  

“Please let me replace your coffee. That would make me feel better and maybe even pace for your dry cleaning.” I have yet to see this person.  

“Alright I’ll let you get me a coffee. But I don’t need any dry cleaning. It looks like we shop at the same store.” He chuckled. I finally scanned my eyes upwards and saw he had on a purple Lakers shirt. Oh nice. I continued to straighten my posture and looked at him and made eye contact. Oh, my goodness. It’s Pedro Pascal. I motioned for him to get in line behind the crowd and he smiled at me.  

“So, what do you normally get?” He asked me. “And also, what’s your name?” He added. 

“My name is Y/N and I normally just get an iced coffee with like six to eight shots of espresso. Depends on if I got any sleep in the past day or so.” I said smiling.  

“It's about the same thing I get.’ He said.  

“So, what’s got your day going the way it is?” He asked me.  

“Oh, you don’t want to hear about my day it will bore you.” I said, trying to avoid talking about anything. Crying is embarrassing all on its own. I would rather not cry in front of people on top of it.  

“Oh, I have a little time. I do have to wait for them to make the coffee again after we order.” He said. He was nice in person. Everything I read about him was true. He was nice. Then again, I didn’t really read much about him he just came up on my TikTok a bunch.  

“I mean alright, I guess. My best friend cancelled on me for what seems like the billionth time on our girl's day. I figured since I haven’t had the best work week that I would still go about the day like we had planned, and it normally starts at the diner across the way. Well, when I walked in, she was already there sitting with someone who constantly picks on me at work. That girl decided to make some comments that hurt my feelings and well I left and came here. Someone bumped into me and through an insult my way and that also hurt my feelings but, I think it’s because I am already having a rough day.” I said. The tears started to brim my eyes again and I started to blink to try and keep it from being noticeable and I proceeded to look down towards my feet. God why am I really talking about this right now? He doesn’t want to hear about my problems.  

“She doesn’t seem like much of a friend then if I am being honest with you. Maybe you cared more about your friendship than she did. If that’s the case, then you don’t want someone like her in your life. Also, the ones that are the loudest with their harsh words are the ones that have a lot of insecurities they can’t talk about with anyone. People who bully others have nothing better to do with their time and have no one to tell them to be nicer.” Pedro said to me.  

We proceeded to walk up to the barista who looked at the spill on both of our shirts and his empty cup and smiled.  

“Did you need a remake Mr. Pascal?” She said. She was a pretty woman. Black hair on half of her head and neon green on the other. Black winged eyeliner and shimmery black lipstick. She was so thin. She was almost perfect.  

“Yes please. It spilled on the two of us.” He smiled at her and handed her his cup. She threw the cup away and smiled at him.  

“Absolutely. What can I get for you ma’am?” She asked me. She made me feel so old calling me ma’am and we are probably close in age if not the same age as one another.  

“I want the same thing as him just a little less ice than normal please?” I said and offered her a smile. I don’t look like her. Just brown hair. It falls just past my shoulders. There was a slight red hue to it due to how I die it. I mix my natural pigment with a red violet so it can give my hair some depth. It also brings my curl pattern to life if I choose to leave my curls intact as normal and not curl it with my straightener. I have fair skin that in the summer tans nicely if I let it. I normally don’t like to show my skin if I can avoid it. I really don’t like going out of the house if I can avoid that too. I had curves in the right places. Like my boobs were bigger than the average size. I wear an F cup bra and I have a round butt and my waist is small, but my stomach is large. It is like an apron draped partially over my crotch and my thighs are large and in charge. I have cellulite all over my thighs and ass. My calves are large too and I am short and sometimes that makes things worse. I hate shopping for clothes in the stores because I can never find my size. The more I think about it the more I want to run home and ditch the coffee I just ordered.  

“Alright your total is $14.98. Will this be cash or card?” The barista asked.  

“Cash.” I said and handed her a twenty-dollar bill and walked away.  

“Oh, ma’am your change.” She hollered in the direction I walked in.  

“Oh, it’s okay you can keep the change for your tip jar or the next person I will leave that up to you.” I responded. She smiled and mouthed thank you towards me and moved onto the next person in line.  

“That was nice of you. For someone who has had a bad day you sure try to avoid making someone else’s day bad.” Pedro pointed out.  

“You never know what the start of a good day for someone can be. You also don’t know what the person could be thinking or if they already had a bad day. Even if it’s just the beginning, why add to it by making it worse with a bad attitude. It can be a bad day or a bad moment. It’s what you make of it. I don’t want to be someone’s reason for snapping if I can avoid it.” I said. I smiled at the fact that it was something a close friend taught me before they ended their life. I have lived by their words since they left. I don’t want to be the reason someone cries or screams or has a breaking moment.  

“That’s beautiful. You seem wise beyond your years.” He said. “How old are you if you don’t mind me asking?” He asked.  

“I am twenty-five but, I have been told I am an old soul by everyone in my life. Anyone I have ever encountered that has taken a moment to speak to me points it out.” I smile at all the memories it brings up. I was so proud every time someone said that to me.   “Mr. Pascal and friend. Your gasoline is ready.” The barista said and started to laugh. Pedro laughed a bit at her comment. He started moving towards the coffee and because there were a lot of people already waiting at the to-go counter I didn’t move. I was trying to wait to be able to go up there by myself but, I saw he grabbed both drinks. He made his way back towards me and handed me my cup with a smile.  

“Here. I will save you the trip over there. The people around here are like vultures when it comes to their coffee.” He smiled. He has such a beautiful smile.  

“I do have to go I am a bit late for something but, any chance you would be willing to chat later?” He said to me. I must have looked shocked because he laughed a little.  

“Only if that’s okay. I don’t want to disturb you if you have more stuff going on.” He said.  

“Yeah, sorry just processing, I guess. Here I can give you, my number if you want.” I said and he smiled and unlocked his phone that never left his hand. He opened his contacts and added a contact with my name to it. I told him his number and he called my phone, and it rang and had the Scooby Doo theme song playing. He smiled at the song playing and when I took my phone out of my pocket he hung up.  

“That way you know which one is my number. Also don’t hate me for this but, I don’t really enjoy texting so I will probably be calling you versus texting.” He said with a smile and then left. I didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye.  

◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇♡◇ Before the incident:   

We have been hanging out every chance we get since we met that day at Starbucks. He has meant the world to me since that day. He was the main reason I didn’t go home and cry the rest of that day. He is also the only reason I don’t talk to Sammy anymore. He was right when he said if she was willing to hang out with that person that was willing to hurt my feelings that it is not a friendship I should be keeping.  He became a stand in best friend since my friendship with her ended.  I heard my phone ringing, and I ran to my phone to answer it. He got his own personal ringtone thanks to The Kingsman Circle movie and how it’s trending right now, and it drives him crazy. I know better than to let him go to voicemail because he leaves the longest most drawn-out messages just to make sure I know he has not forgotten about me. It’s honestly the sweetest thing ever.  

“Hey.” I said. Short and to the point smooth. Nothing like having the biggest crush on him but never saying anything because it would be a mistake to do so.  

“Hey beautiful. How is your day so far?” He asked. He started that a couple months after we started talking and I never bothered to tell him not to. Truth be told I love it when he does it. It doesn’t creep me out like it does other people if it were to happen.  

“It’s going good so far. I am just having another free day today. Nothing special. Just watching movies.” I said. I lost my job a week ago but, haven’t told him. I tried to stand up for myself since Kathy kept making jokes about my weight and when I did, Kathy and Sammy spun out a story saying I was threatening to hurt them by sitting on them. They are assholes. I don’t mind not working for that company anymore. They suck. They lie to all of their consumers. It has been a few months of talking to Pedro and I knew he would be hurt by me not telling him when it happened. I also know he would have tried to help me in whatever way he could and I didn’t want that either. I didn’t want him to think I needed him despite how stupid that sounds.  

“I am back at home if you wanted to hang out together. I mean we don’t have to but you know I get bored alone.” He said. How was it even possible that he was alone? I just don’t understand it.  

“Yeah I could hang out for a little bit. I have nothing else to do.” I said.  

“Great! I’ll come get you. I want to get a coffee anyway.” He said. I could almost hear his smile through the phone.  

“Sounds good. I will see you soon.” I said. As soon as I heard the phone call drop I decided to get dressed. I mean I could stay how I am dressed right now. I normally get as dolled up as I can for him without doing a whole bunch so it’s not obvious. Yet, I bet if I showed up like this he might think I’m more comfortable with him which is true because I am but I worry I will never look good enough. Who the hell am I kidding I will never be enough for anyone especially him. The only boyfriend I had dumped me because he said I just kept getting bigger. Everyone else just used me and from time to time that was okay cause I needed to scratch an itch but realistically I want more than that. Fuck it. I’m just going like this. Grey sweatpants and a black oversized t-shirt. My hair was in a messy bun and it looked okay with the natural texture still in it. I didn’t have any makeup on and I didn’t look horrible but it wasn’t my best look. I had my black ankle socks on already so I grabbed my converse out of the shoe rack in the hallway and put them on. I made sure to grab my wallet and phone and headed down to the coffee shop. He still hasn’t really seen my apartment so when he said he wanted coffee anyway its because that’s where he has picked me up anytime we have been able to hang out which was only a handful of times since he was busy..  

Right as I entered into the coffee shop I saw a group of people around Pedro all taking pictures with him. It was really sweet of him that he didn’t want to say no to anyone. Yet, I bet it gets tiring.  

“Alright, you have a good one.” He said to the last person you took a photo with and walked over to me. He held out his hand with a large coffee that was made the same way he had his made. He remembered I drink the same thing as him. It’s been a little bit since I have even ordered coffee.  

“Hello beautiful, you look great. You finally took after me and decided to be more relaxed. It looks good on you.” He smiled and laughed a little. I grabbed the coffee from him and smiled.  

“Yeah I didn’t want to get all dolled up today. Thank you for the coffee. How much do I owe you?” I asked.  

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” He said. We started to walk out of the coffee shop together and I followed him over to the parking lot. I spotted his Audi and I just was dumbfounded by how amazing this car was. I could never own anything this expensive. Especially now with no job. He walked over to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for me. Once I was sitting in the car he closed the door and I buckled up while he got into the driver’s side.  

“What’s the plan today?” I asked. Normally we find things to do outside of our personal places. We don’t ask to go to each other’s place. It’s about privacy for him and for me it saves me from having to explain why I barely have anything.  

“I figured we could hang out at my place today. Finally show you around. If your okay with that.” He said. I was really glad I wasn’t drinking the coffee right now because I am pretty sure I would have choked. There is no way I’m really about to see the inside of his place.  

“Yeah that’s fine.” I said and smiled towards him. He had his phone connected to his car and I saw the amount of notifications he had and how many unopened text messages he had as well.   

“You really should open your texts and respond to them you know. Someone out there is probably worried about you.” I said and giggled.  

"I do answer my messages but, I don't text. I really hate texting. I would rather call and talk on the phone." He said.  

"I can see that. I am mentally noting if I ever need help to not send you a text because it will go unnoticed." I laughed and so did he. He was only about twenty minutes away from the coffee shop before he pulled into a rather large house. Oh my god. This was amazing.  

He pulled into the garage and got out of the car and walked over to the passenger side door and helped me out. He walked to the garage door with me close behind him. When we stepped inside I was stunned at how pretty it was. 

"Did you decorate your place or did someone else do it?" I asked.  

"I did it but my sisters and best friend Sarah helped. Why do you like it or hate it?” He asked. 

"You can't be seriously asking me that. It's so beautiful in here." I said as i continued to move around and look at all the space. His phone started to ring while I was in awe of his place. 

"Give me one minute this might be important." He said. He walked into a room and closed the door. I couldn't help myself I started to walk around and found myself in the kitchen. It was huge. The counter space alone was as big as my apartment.  

"Hey, I see you found the kitchen." He said from behind me. I immediately felt awful Of course the fat girl found the kitchen.  

“Yeah sorry. I just can't get over how beautiful it is." I said. 

"Thank you. So, small problem. Well not really a problem for me but, I don't know if it will be a problem for you." He started to say. I just waited for him to spit it out. 

"Like I said this is not a problem for me. However, some paparazzi saw us hang out a few times and decided to take a few pictures and I guess someone took one today when you were getting into my car and they made some article or post or whatever where it speculates that you and I are dating.  That you are some mystery girlfriend. This does not bother me but, if it bothers you I can find a way to get whatever it is taken down." He said.  

I am not really sure what to say. I don't really know how to feel about it either. 

"I guess if it doesn't bother you then it doesn't bother me." I said even though that's not entirely true. I don't want it to just be someone speculating. I want it to be true but that would never happen. the wouldn't want someone like me. Especially not with him being famous. I would just bring him down. He needs someone fit and in shape and I will never be that.  

"Are you okay?" He asked. 

“Yeah I am fine. Like I said as long as it doesn’t bother you then it doesn’t bother me.” I smiled at him.  

“Alright good. Let’s go watch a movie or something.” He said and also smiled at me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the living room with him with our coffee’s in our hands. He put on some random movie to fill the background with that way when we talked or took a break from talking we could try and guess what part of the movie we were on. I want to say this is some kind of comedy.  

“Tell me something about you that I don’t know please. You like to hide yourself away and not open up. I have opened up a lot to you.” He said.  

“Well, I’m not an exciting person in the slightest. I mainly read and crochet. I like to watch the same TV show over and over again because it brings me comfort when I know what’s going to happen next. I’m sure that’s weird bur, I don’t like surprises and I rarely like things that are new happening.” I said. Now would also be the right time to throw out that I don’t have a job anymore. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw it was a call from an unrecognized phone number. I have yet to mention to him that I wrote up a script and pitched it to a director to see if they would want anything to do with it. I have been waiting on a call from them to see if they wanted to move forward with it.  

“Hey hold in Pedro. I have to take this.” I said. I felt awful but I can’t miss the phone call. I clicked answer on the phone and brought it up to me ear. 

♤♤phone call♤♤ 

“Hello.” I said 

“HI, yes is this y/n?’ I heard a male voice say.  

“Yes it is may I ask who is calling?” I asked.  

“Yes, my name is Toddy the director you met. I just wanted to let you know after discussing over with some peers that we would like to move forward with what you wrote. We do have some creative input of that’s okay but, we would like to send over a contract for you to view and that will also have your compensation details included in it and once you have a look over it we can go further in discussing any potential changes. Okay?” He said.  

Oh my god. This just really happened. Oh my god this is amazing!  

“Absolutely. If you can send it through my email that would be awesome or I can pick up the contract. What ever works best for you.” I said.  

“I will send it over via email and will look forward to your call in a couple of days. I just need to hear something back within forty-eight hours. Have a good day.” He said and then the phone call ended.  

I took the phone away from my ear and I had the biggest smile on my face but tears were in my eyes. I never thought this would happen. I am a writer. I never thought in a million years I could write something that would actually be turned into something.  

“Oh no, are you okay?” Pedro asked and moved closer to me. He put his hand on my knee and patiently waited for a response.  

“Yeah I am better than okay. I just, uhm I guess here’s a fun detail. I got fired a week ago from my job. Kathy and Sammy made up a lie saying I threatened to squish them by sitting on them when I tried to stand up for myself since they kept making fat jokes about me. I was having a rough week.” I said but he cut me off.  

“Oh no. You can’t let them fire you over them being bullies. You need to take this above whoever fired you.” He said. His face was getting a little red.  

“No, wait. That was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I have been writing something over some time and I finally had a chance to finish it. I just met with a director and offered him what I wrote. That was the call I just had. They liked it. They really liked it and are sending me a contract for it. I just wrote a movie. Toddy is going to direct it. He is part of the horror movie franchise. I’m so happy. These are happy tears and I mean I’m just really happy.” I said wiping the tears from my eyes.  

“Oh my god that’s amazing. I still think you should go down to the company and raise some hell but wow that’s amazing. Really.” He said. He pulled me into a hug. He hugged me tightly and I hugged him back. I really loved his hugs.  

“Then we should celebrate! Let’s go to dinner and have a night out!” He said.  

“Oh we don’t have to do that.” I said. I didn’t want to spur on anymore media for him. I am sure being seen with me was only hurting him. I am not the best looking and I am big and I think he should spend more time with someone thinner and prettier. As well as someone who is around his age. He wouldn’t want me.  

“I want to take you out. This is a big deal. At least I think it is.” He said smiling.  

“Come on let’s go. It doesn’t have to be anywhere fancy. Lets just grab a bite to eat and afterwards we can go from there. Okay?” He said. I can’t say no to his handsome face.  

“Fine but, nothing fancy and I buy my own food.” I said.  

“No, it’s my treat. Don’t fight with me on that.” He said and stood up and reached out for my hand. I grabbed his hand and stood up. We weren’t even here for very long.  

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The beginning of the end:   

We made it back into his garage and into his Audi. I didn’t want to ask where we were going but I also wasn’t the hungriest either. I didn’t think about anything other than I wanted him to not be affected by me or how I looked. I didn’t want to hurt his image. I took my phone out of my pocket and started to open Instagram. I wonder what people were even saying to the photos that were supposedly out there. I searched up Pedro’s Instagram name and looked at all the recent stuff scrolling down until I found the picture with me in it. I clicked on the image and all of the comments were coming up.  

Comments:  “He can’t be into her. Look at her.”  “He wouldn’t actually be into someone that size.”  “She must have something against him and is blackmailing him to be around.”  “He wouldn’t date someone fat. That’s not his type.”  “Too young and too ugly. He can and will find someone better.”  

“I used to work with her, he will get bored.”  “She must have something great between her legs because she is hard to look at.”  “Why is this happening?!? Pedro you can do better!”  

“He went from good looking women to this. What is she even wearing? Walmart branded clothes?”  

“She looks like she can’t find the right size.”   

I felt the tears brim my eyes. I knew it. I wasn’t great for his image. There was nasty comment after nasty comment. I can’t do this. I can’t be the person that brings down his image. I won’t be that person.  

“You know what Pedro, I am not feeling all the great do you mind just dropping me off at my apartment?” I asked.   “Oh, yeah that’s fine.” He said but, sounded a bit defeated.   “Where exactly am I going? I normally pick you up from the coffee shop.” He asked.  

“You can drop me off there its not a far walk.” I said hoping he wouldn’t press to much.  

“If you are not feeling good then you shouldn’t be walking. I really don’t mind.” He said.  

“Okay, uhm just park in the same parking garage. I live in the apartment that connects to it. I normally park my car on the third floor because there is a door on the third floor that takes me right to my apartment.” I said.  

“Okay.” He said. He followed my instructions. I tried to open my door to escape when we were next to the elevator, but he grabbed my arm.  

“Which car is yours?” He asked. I pointed over to the PT Cruiser that most of the paint had faded away. There was an open parking spot that was next to my car that belonged to me. He ended up parking next to me and turned his car off. This wasn’t going to go well for me.  

“Can I walk you to your apartment?” He asked.  

“I suppose. It’s nothing to exciting.” I said hoping that he was not going to want an invite in. It wasn’t a mess but, again, I have no real furniture.  

We both got out of the car, and he walked next to me and waited for me to guide him inside. I felt his hand brush against mine and I felt a sense of chills creep through me. Then I felt his hand grab mine and I just wanted to burst into tears then. I didn’t want to just walk away from this friendship. I know I have too though.  

I walked him over to my door and unlocked it. He walked right into my place and looked around.    

“This is a nice place.” He said. I know he is full of crap because this place is crap. However, it’s cheap and it’s a place of my own.  

“Can I tell you something?” He asked. I nodded and waited for his response.  

“I might have a thing for you.” He said. I just looked at him confused.  

“A thing for me?” I repeated back to him.  

“Yeah, I am enjoying my time with you.” He said and stepped closer to me removing the gap we had from between us. He put his left hand on my right cheek and brushed some of the loose hair away from my face.  

“I mean I really enjoy my time with you. I want to spend more time with you if that’s okay.” He said and leaned down towards me and closed his eyes. I wanted him to kiss me. He shouldn’t though. I felt his lips brush against mine and I leaned forward and into him. He kissed me and I in return kissed him back. His lips were so soft. I could kiss him forever. No, I can’t do this. He can’t really want me, can he? I need to pull away. I can’t pull away though. I want this. I want to be selfish and let this happen. I felt his left hand slide down my right arm and rest on the right side of my waist and he began to pull me closer to him. Oh my god I just want to melt into him. His right hand came up to the left side of my neck and pulled me closer to him. I was already as close as I could get. He slid his tongue against the bottom of my lip, and I felt my knees start to buckle. Cave. Just cave and give in to the want. Give into the desire right now. It’s going to be okay. You can walk away afterwards. It’s just going to hurt more and that’s okay.  

The kiss continued to get deeper, and I fed into the cave. I gave into the desire of what I wanted. It’s going to be okay. I started to back up without pulling away from him and managed to walk us into my bedroom. He started to play with the bottom of my shirt, and I realized what I was forgetting. He can’t take off my clothes. I can’t cave. I don’t want him to see. I don’t want him to notice what's going on. Fuck I hate this. I wanted this so bad. I pulled away from the kiss and sat on my bed with my hands covering my face.  

“I am sorry. I can’t do this. I want this don’t get me wrong but, I can’t do this.” I said. I started to feel the depression sink in.  

“I am sorry I didn’t mean to pressure you or make you feel pressured. I am so sorry.” He said rushing the words out. He reached for my arm and squeezed it. I felt his hand tighten slightly more. I felt the jolt of pain reach the top of my arm. It was an old scar but, it still hurt.  

“What’s this?” He asked and looked at my arm. I wasn’t wearing long sleeves but, unless you know what to look for you can barely see the scar. He pulled my arm towards him and noticed all the scars on my arm. All the slashes on them. All the deep cuts that once existed there on the surface of my skin.  

“Are there fresh one’s?” He asked. Lie. Lie to him.  

“No, there are not.” I said. I lied. I just lied to the person I haven’t needed to lie to.  

“I don’t believe you. Why are you lying to me? Why do you do it?” He asked and I could see the tears in his eyes.  

“I don’t have a good answer for you. Nothing is fresh as of this week but, some days the depression just gets too bad to deal with and I look for an out. I just want away from the depressing thoughts so I give myself I reason to cry. A feeling outside of sadness to focus on. The pain makes the sadness go away for a moment.” I said. I had tears in my eyes.   “I can’t do this Pedro. I can’t do this with you. I so badly want to be your friend and hang out but, I can’t anymore. I don’t want to be the person that hurts your image and I am already starting to be that person. Please leave.” I said. I dropped my eyes to the floor I couldn’t look at him.  

“No, I want to be your friend and you want to be mine. You are not hurting my image what makes you think that?” He asked.  

“I looked on Instagram and found a photo of us and I just see hundreds of comments pointing out the obvious. You shouldn’t be seen with me. You are going to hurt your image hanging out with the fat and ugly girl. I am far to insecure for any of that.” I said still refusing to look at him.  

“Stop it. You are not fat and you sure as hell are not ugly. People are going to be mean. It’s just unfortunate nature that they are mean but, you are not mean. You are so kind and beautiful. You are sweet and I thought you were just overall happy but, I want to be there for you the way you are for me.” He said.   “Pedro please go.” I said. It’s the only thing I can say as the tears fall from my eyes.  

“This is ridiculous. Just think about this, okay?” He said. He got up from my bed and walked himself out of my place. I followed him and locked the door. I am not going anywhere right now. I probably won't leave my house at all next week.  

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The problem: 

After he left, he started to send me text messages telling me how important our friendship was to him. That he didn’t want to lose me as a friend, and it broke me. I just fell back into my bed and cried my eyes out until I was too tired to cry anymore, and I fell asleep. I ignored my phone when I woke up and got onto my email and saw the contract the producer sent me and just signed it and sent it back over to him. He wanted to start a month from now, so I had enough to survive financially for a little while thankfully. I was in no rush to get a job. I heard my phone go off all day switching between phone calls and text messages from Pedro. I didn’t answer any of them. I let the week go by without responding to him before I opened Instagram again and saw the trending image of him and I were going around popped up.  

Comments:  

“She could stand to skip a few meals.” 

“She needs to quit eating her weight in food.”  “Pedro deserves better.”  “He would never.”  

“He deserves better.”  

“Too ugly and too fat.”  “If he wanted a pet elephant, he should have just said that.” 

I closed Instagram quickly. I can’t do this. Everyone is so mean. I don’t have anyone. The one person I do have deserves better. I walked over to my frfridge and pulled put the bottle of wine and uncorked it. I started to drink it from the bottle and walked back over to my bed. I sat on the bed and cried nonstop. I started to reach for my blade in my nightstand when I heard a loud knock on my door.  

“Hey, you weren’t answering me so I had to come see that you were alright.” Pedro yelled through the door.  

“I just need to see that you are physically okay. You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to but, I have to know your alright. Please.” He said. I pulled my hand away from my end table and started to cry more. I am not okay. I want him in my life but, I don’t want to hurt him. I walked over to the door and opened it. He pushed my door all the way open and stepped inside and shut the door behind him. I continued to just cry and show him I was hurting.  

He reached out to me and pulled me in for a hug.  

“Its alright. Everything is going to be alright. Shh. Its going to be alright.” He pulled away and started to look all over my front and back of my body. He looked all over my arms and then pulled me against him for another hug. He squeezed me a little harder.  

“You didn’t hurt yourself.” He said. He squeezed a little more. “Oh thank you. Thank you for not hurting yourself. It’s all going to be okay.” He said. He kissed the top of my head.  

“No its not. I haven’t seen one half decent comment in that photo that’s trending. Everyone’s right it doesn’t matter how it comes off. They are all right. You deserve better. It doesn’t matter what you think. All your fans think you deserve better and I agree.” I said attempting to dry off some of my face where the tears had already started to stain.  

He pulled away from me and started to help dry the tears off.  

“It doesn’t matter what they think of you. It just matters what you know. You know that I think your beautiful. You know I love spending time with you. You know how amazing you are. You know how big your heart is. I love that about you.” He said. He knows how to say the right things.  

“Pedro, you can’t say all the right things like that. This would never work. I’m too insecure to do any of this. I could never be okay with the hate this would bring me. I would never survive the amount of comments being thrown at me. I don’t like the attention on me whether it’s good or bad. I just can’t do it. I’m sorry.” I said. The tears kept falling.  

“I’m so sorry. I want to be everything that you want me to be but I can’t. I’m disgusting. I can’t do that to you. I can’t be the person that drags your image down. Not a chance in hell. Please go Pedro. Please go and don’t come back. Please can you do that for me? Because I can’t do this. I know I will eventually fall hard for you. Harder than I already have and I can’t do that to you.” I said. The tears won’t stop. I feel like I’m drowning. He let me go and stepped away from me shaking his head. He slowly turned around and headed for the door. He left. He walked out of the door like I asked and he left. Fuck this just broke me. It hurt more than I thought it would.  

The aftermath: (a year and a half later)  

“So Pedro we haven’t seen you with your girlfriend in over a year. How is that going?” The interviewer asked.  

“Actually she and I never dated. I never got to be so lucky to date her.” He said as the picture of the two of us together popped up on the screen.  

“Oh why do you say that? You two look lovely together.” The interviewer said.  

“Life gets to complicated when someone is in the spotlight. We don’t actually talk anymore either but, I know she is doing well. I’m very proud of her.” Pedro said.  

He's proud of me?  

“Oh really? What for?” The interviewer asked.  

“Well when we mutually stopped talking and walked away she ended up pitching an idea to a director and they took it and produced a movie she wrote. Since then she has written three movies and released a book. I have watched every single movie that came out with her name attached and read her book and she seems to be doing an amazing job.” Pedro said.  

“It sounds like it. It sounds like she was special to you Pedro.’ The interviewer said.  

“She was, she still is.” Pedro said with his eyes getting glossy.  

“Almost seems like you loved her.” The interviewer chuckled a little.  

“I did. I fell in love with her hard. All it took was the first time we met and we bumped into each other and my iced coffee poured out on the both of us. She insisted to buy my coffee and she ended up ordering the same thing as me. It took a while for me to admit to myself that I loved her but once I did I just wanted to be around her all the time.” Pedro said looking a bit sad.  

“I’m sorry. That’s awful. It almost seems like maybe it wasn’t so mutual of you two separating at all.” The interviewer continued.  

“No it was. I mean it was for her. Everyone was picking at her online. She was already insecure about some stuff but with all the negative comments about her looks well with what you would think would make her tear herself down she wasn’t thinking about that. She was thinking her being around me was going to somehow ruin or affect my image. I told her that wasn’t going to happen but she kept pointing out the comments and how rude people were being and she didn’t so much care what they said about her but she cared that it was going to affect me or how it would affect me. In a way she wanted to walk away as a way to protect me in her eyes.” Pedro said.  

“Anyway enough about that. Can we get on a happier subject please.” Pedro said and started to rub his legs and then crossed his left leg over his right.  

Oh my god. No please. Can I just message him. I wonder if his number is the same. This is an interview from a week ago. I’m going to see if he still has the same phone number. I open up my contacts and scroll down to his name. I hit the call button and hold the phone to my ear. I hear the dial tone and someone answered the phone.  

“Hey this is Tiffany on Pedro’s phone. Who is this?” It was a female. She sounded amazing. Who was she?  

“Hello?” She said into the phone again.  

“Hey baby who is it?” I heard Pedro say in the background. He found someone. He is with someone else. I pulled the phone away from my ear and hung up with tears in my eyes. I waited too long. I should have just called a year ago.  

Pedro’s POV:  

“Hey should was that?” I asked Tiffany.  

“I don’t know they didn’t say anything.” Tiffany said. I grabbed my phone from her and looked at the call log. It was Y/N. She called me. She really called me. I clicked on her name and hit call.  

“I’m sorry the phone you are trying to reach does not have a voicemail set up yet. Goodbye.” The phone message played and hung up. It didn’t even ring. It just went right to voicemail. Either her phone is off or she ignored the call. I want to see her.  

“Tiffany I hate to do this but, that girl I was talking about on that interview just called and I want to go see her. Can we reschedule?” I asked.  

“Yeah, that’s fine. Go get your girl.” Tiffany said. She has become a good friend of mine since y/n left. I walked out of Tiffany’s place and got into my car. I made the familiar drive to her apartment. I think she still lives here at least I hope she still lives here. I pulled into the parking garage and went up to the third floor and saw her car parked in the spot it was the last time I was here. I parked next to her car and ran towards her apartment. I knocked on the door and waited. I heard some shuffling around in the apartment and waited a few moments before knocking again.  

“y/n are you here?” I asked through the door. I heard shuffling again but, no one came to the door.  

“y/n are you okay?” I asked again. I heard another round of shuffling before the door clicked open and I was met with her beautiful eyes. They were red and puffy and looked like she had been crying. She looked so different from the last time I had seen her. She lost a lot of weight. Her hair has thinned.  

“Pedro?” She said and her voice sounded hoarse.  

“What’s wrong?” I asked. She looked exhausted and weak.  

“I think I need help.” She said. No. Please no. Not this.  

“What happened?” I asked.  

“I got sick awhile ago and the doctors had me taking some medication and I am not feeling so good.” She said. Oh okay. That’s not where I thought this was going.  

“Okay come on. Let’s get you to the hospital.” I said and pulled her towards me. I closed her door and walked her over towards my car and helped her get in. It took forty five minutes because of the traffic but I took her straight to emergency and because of how critical she looked they took her back right away. I was told I had to wait until testing was done before I could go back with her. It was two hours before a nurse confronted me.  

“Pedro pascal?” the nurse said.  

“Yes that’s me.” I said waiting for her to take me to y/n.  

“I am so sorry for your loss Mr. Pascal.” The nurse said and I almost fell to the ground. What?  

“Your friend. She was pretty sick. She had surgery about a year ago to assist with losing weight and even though it went well something ruptured inside moments ago and she fell septic. She past away. I’m so sorry for your loss.” She did what? Why would she do something like that? On top if that she did it alone.  

“Would you like to see her?” the nurse asked.  

“Yes, please.” I said. I followed the nurse to the room. She was in. I walked over to the side of the bed and leaned over and kissed the top of your head.  

“Y/n, I’m so sorry you went through all of that on your own. I’m sorry that you passed by yourself. I love you. I wish I was the one that answered the phone. I love you so much. I wish you were still here with me. I should have fought harder to stay in your life. I shouldn’t have left and I should have came rushing back. I’m sorry.” I choked on the words as the tears came out. She is gone. I’ll never get to see her again. I know her moms number. I think I should call her.  

I picked up my phone and opened my contacts and scrolled to her moms name. I clicked on make call and I heard the phone ring.   

“Hello?” A woman’s voice came on the phone.  

“Hello ma’am, my name is Pedro and I am a friend of y/n’s. I know you two weren’t on the best of terms but, I wanted to let you that she past away today. She became septic after a surgery she had and she is no longer with us. I’m sorry for your loss.” I said hoping to sound like I was okay.  

“Thank you for letting me know. I guess I will see her in hell. I told her to make better decisions and quit acting gay or being bisexual or what ever the hell she was.” The woman said. I was too stunned to say anything so I just hung up. What the hell was the matter with her? I don’t understand.