#...huh i guess i did still have some opinions left

[earthnashes]

SOOOOOOOO. Arcane season 2, huh? Now that a couple of days have passed for me to marinate I think I'm ready to share my thoughts on the season. This WILL contain spoilers though so if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend watching for yourself first!

So! Overall, as a standalone season I feel like there are things Arcane excelled at and things that have lost its way a bit. For starters and easily the best part of the show: it's visuals. I've heard some complaints about how much the show cost but like. Brother. When I think of super expensive shows, THIS is what I think it should look like. At no point did I question the budget because it's made abundantly clear every penny is used to best use it could possibly get. And it resulted in what I've been calling a modern greek statue: a marvel, an incredible tapestry of just about every art medium you can think of woven into something so beyond anything I've seen in animation I have a hard time finding the appropriate words to express exactly how much I'm taken by it. This is a clear example of what art IS man and jesus christ. It's mindblowing. I can't praise the show enough for that, like it's literally the best looking thing I've ever seen in media.

Same with the sound design and music, particularly in the battle scenes. Something about the energy behind the sounds, like the clacking of Vi's gloves as shes revving up for a punch, or the reverb of metal clashing, the sound of how blows connect. Even the little things, like the distinct difference between footsteps, or the glitch-like sound that spiders in the backround before shimmer or the arcane is utilized? Like CHEF'S KISS BRO. God almighty it tickles a part in my head.

Just the visuals and sound design is fuckin tasty bro. A solid 1000000000/10

So now Characters. Season 2 managed to take the existing characters and really built off of what was already there. In my opinion the characters, particularly the main players, received additional depth and evolution in a way that made sense in the long run, and the conclusions they reached in their arcs felt like a correct conclusion. However, it's how they got there and how fast they get there being one of my complaints.

For starters: the love triangle between Jinx, Vi, and Caitlyn. I didn't appreciate how, for the most part, it felt like it took a backseat in this season when it was one of the driving forces of season 1. It's not JUST them though: the relationships of every character kinda fell away to the wayside for the sake of getting through as much of the plot as possible, but we're on these three right now so:

-I feel like a PROPER recouncil between Vi and Jinx was sorely needed. There were hints to it, particularly in Act 2, but we were kinda left guessing and having to fill the majority of the gaps ourselves. One of Vi's driving factors as a character is her relationship with Jinx/Powder; her unable to accept that she's changed in her absence. Act 2 opened the door in allowing Vi to learn about Jinx as she is and come to terms that, even if she's changed, she's still her sister and there's a chance to bridge that gap. Vice versa to Jinx, particularly because of Isha's presence; I have to assume by becoming an older sister herself, she begins to get an understanding of Vi she previously lacked and that really could've been a stronger catalyst in her recounciling with her. Had the sisters actually got more on-screen time together and really let the hope between them breath, I feel like the ending would've had a much stronger impact.

-Cait/Vi, as much as I enjoy the pairing, felt a little too disjointed. Act 1 was the strongest showcase of their relationship; a sudden escalation driven by mutual grief and attraction and genuine care only to be torn apart immediately after because of Cait's blind rage. Cinema. Beautiful. But immediately after, we don't really see either character work off that much in my opinion. Vi does have a spiral that was very well shown, though I do wish we saw more of Pit Vi and her descent.

As far as Cait goes I would've preferred seeing her spiraling in her own way; with how the third episode of Act 1 ended, I felt like the show was gearing up to showcase how much she allows her hunt for vengeance cloud her mind and take over her life, to do things her mother would have not approved of. Like bro she was so SURE she wouldn't miss (immediately after missing every shot she took up to that point) that she was willing to potentially kill a child for it. Ain't no way she wasn't constantly frothing at the mouth for some time, wallowing in Vi's apparent "betrayal" and in the grief of her mother's death. I DO like how she is seen questioning her actions but it just feels like a tiny snapshot. Had they continued with showing her questioning what, exactly, the hell she's doing (while continuing to go on with her reign), then seeing not just Vi but also how her actions has widened the rift between Piltover and Zaun, her finally being able to break herself off would've felt more weighty.

"What are you shooting for, young Kiramman?" Grayson once asked. I can't help but feel like that line could have had some very strong carry-through into this season; not only giving a proper callback to Grayson as Cait's mentor(?) but also cement Cait's inner turmoil between blinded by revenge, but growing to dislike what she's turned into to get it.

And the sex scene. Particularly WHERE the sex scene occurred, immediately after Jinx heavily implied offing herself to "break the cycle". Vi isn't stupid. I felt like it was extremely clear what Jinx was alluding to, and it seemed like Vi understood that with how she asked "What are you gonna do?" She sounded terrified and desperate. She has SEEN Jinx be suicidal in this season first hand, was all but directly asked by Jinx to put her out of her misery herself. You're telling me she immediately bones the shit outta Cait right after Jinx scampers off and seems to forget it?? I dunno man. :/ I wouldn't remove the fuckfest, but in my opinion there were better places to put it.

And overall in terms of the characters as a whole, there was just too many gaps and too little time. Vander felt like he was underutilized, particularly his clear fight in trying to get a hold of his humanity; could've really used him to push the running theme of people can change, but they're still the same person at their very core.

Heimerdinger got shafted I feel like. He had such a strong impact in S1, only for his death to be... well. Forgotten.

Mel's storyline was way too fucking short. Love the powers she got but they ultimately felt unearned; I feel like we could've spent way more time on her learning to control it to some extent. Her whole shtick in being cunning and one step ahead of everyone (much like her mother) could've played a stronger part here too, particularly because I don't remember the Black Rose being explained much, so it would've been nice to see Mel put her strengths into play to find out for herself and give her a more active role in her ability to fight back.

Ambessa was anticlimactic and I didn't appreciate how she ultimately perished. I wanted her to die, don't get me wrong, but the war in general felt waaaaay too short and her death too easy. I appreciate they didn't go full evil with her, and made her an embodiment of Singe's quote of "doing horrendous things in the name of love", but it kinda felt like her initial plot of using hextech to fight the Black Rose (I could be wrong here but that is what it felt like she ultimately wanted) kinda got... forgotten?

Victor's progression is the only one that felt mostly natural in it's pacing. But again, with how unstoppable his robot pawns were, I felt like they really robbed the final battle of any significant weight to it; Zaun and Piltover, fighting as one against a common enemy. One of the biggest payoffs in the show... felt underwheming and, again, unearned.

And the new characters didn't really get much chance to do much of anything. Loris felt like an important parallel to Vander given how many times he was shown to look and sorta act like him. I felt like he had a bigger role to fill but just ended up bodied. Maddie, at least, had somethin interesting goin on but I feel like she could've been made more impactful in her betrayal.

Overall, a mid 5/10. It wasn't terrible, but it definitely needed more time to really flesh everything out.

And finally, the plot. I personally really enjoyed the overall plot and it's opposing themes to season 1. Whereas s1 felt like "love is undoing" and veered into tragedy, s2 felt like "love is healing" and veered into hope; the sisters learning to accept one another, Vi and Cait mending the rift between each other, Victor and Jayce finding their way back to one another. Isha giving Jinx purpose and a new perspective on life, Vander returning and, even if briefly, managing to regain his humanity for his daughters, the list goes on. It's such a beautiful contrast to season 1, but that is part of why I strongly feel like Arcane NEEDED one more season.

Season 2 was too focused on getting as much story out as possible that it didn't allow the characters themselves to push it forward, and it was weakened for it. Had there been three seasons, Act 1 and Act 2 could have been the entirety of season 2, and Act 3 could have been the whole of a season 3, where we get to see the total climax of everything that occurred. Given the rumors of there being a strong interest for an animated movie (and I have a theory that it might be to continue the story of Arcane in some way), that might help with some of the contingencies if it's true, but that's only if the movie actually comes to fruition.

As it currently stands, my biggest critique of Season 2 was switching focus on making the plot drive the story, when instead it really should've continued the trend from Season 1 in letting the characters drives the story forward.

_______

My meds is beginning to kick in and I'm getting drowsy from it so I'll leave it here for now! TLDR: Arcane Season 2 was mostly good. I have my fair bit of complaints and thoughts on how I'd personally structure everything, but a a whole, pretty good! It's one of those shows where I would personally recommend everyone watch from start to finish to at least experience it in its entirety yourself.

Season 2 Rating: 7.5/10

[a-commas-a-pause]

Was doing some cursory research about low concentration salicylic as an over-the-counter acne treatment (been having a flare-up, likely due to a combo of stress and shifting environmental factors, and since I'm a terrible skin picker I'm trying to find ways to avoid giving myself scarring without needing to visit a doctor) and as I was scrolling through the Wikipedia page I learned from the epidemiology section that acne apparently affects women slightly more than men:

...and I don't know why, but this really struck me.

I guess I grew up with the belief, picked up from the culture and media around me, that acne was this "greasy teenage boy" problem, in some way inherently unfeminine. I didn't really think boys got it more than girls, I figured that was a stereotype, but I kind of assumed the stats were pretty much equal. And back when I still thought I was a girl, I felt worse about my own acne, since it felt like yet another way I was performing girl/womanhood incorrectly.

Finding out it's actually slightly more common in (cis) women is throwing me for a loop, even though it rightly shouldn't be - that's a very neutral and harmless fact! But you never see acne treated as just a feature of a teenage girl's face, it's always something awful that needs to be fixed (never mind that in real life, you often can't "fix" acne completely, can only manage it). That's not to say it's treated as something positive in boys either - usually boys with acne are also treated as undesirable, be that a loveable nerd or just a creepy loser - but I'm not sure I've ever even seen a girl character with even moderate acne (like I had at that age, though it certainly felt severe at the time) on screen.

I took isotretinoin for my acne in school, which is a pretty powerful medication that is highly effective at stopping acne but also comes with some serious risks - I had to take regular blood tests when I was on it to make sure it wasn't killing my liver. Due to my (mentioned before on this blog, lol) massive phobia of all things medical and spiky, I fainted for every single one of these. On top of that, it increased my already very high (I'm about as white as you can get) sensitivity to sun, so I couldn't go out even on cloudy days without suncream. And it causes birth defects, so they kept making me take supervised pregnancy tests "just in case" for months, until I changed dermatologists and the new one was like "what? why? no, you don't have to do those, just sign a thing saying you're not sexually active and it's not our fault if you're lying about that and you're chill".

It was a Lot, is what I'm saying.

Isotretinoin isn't the first port of call for treating acne - my GP tried several topical solutions and two different kinds of antibiotics (one of which I was allergic to, which naturally, me being me, I discovered by fainting about it. Again. in music class, this time) before finally referring me to the dermatologist who was allowed to prescribe me The Serious Drugs. Moreover, I stand by my decision! I wasn't pressured into taking it by family or friends, I was allowed to make my own choices, and going through all that rigmarole was absolutely my choice.

...I might even have taken the same choice if I'd lived in a society without all this weird stuff around acne, to be honest. As mentioned at the top of the post, I have a skin picking problem and acne not only doesn't help with that, it was causing me actual pain.

But also. I don't know. The societal stuff didn't help at all. My dermatologist suggested at the time that insecurity about my acne might be contributing to my chronic neck and upper back pain, of all things (much like the acne, something that started in my teens but hasn't stopped since I left them), since it might be making it harder for me to stand up straight with confidence. I laughed the idea off at the time, but now... I don't know. It could certainly have been a contributing factor.

I wish I had a call to action here, but I don't really know what can be done about this, especially not at the individual level. This is a societal gender discrimination issue, and I guess an ableism issue as well? I wouldn't normally call my acne a disability, but it is certainly a medical condition, and it does affect my life (and acne can certainly be the basis of unconscious discrimination, though I'm very grateful that that hasn't been something I've faced personally). If anyone has any more productive suggestions, feel free to add them onto this post. And I guess, put characters with acne in your stories? Including women, and including adults! 5% is one in twenty. One in every twenty 40+ year old women (according to that cited study, anyway, which I can't currently verify because my institutional access is fucking broken again) still "have problems" with acne. That might be worth representing.

[mandoalorian]

save a horse, ride a cowboy

pairing: Joel Miller x F!Reader

masterlist

warnings: EXPLICIT, no minors. m!masturbation, exhibitionism, voyeurism to some extent, riding, unprotected p in v. both so so touch starved. joel has a lot to teach the reader.

notes: 1000 notes on my last post— thank you. I haven’t written in a long time and get quite anxious to post new fics, but when the response is that great, how could I not? You make me feel way more confident with my writing and encourage me to post more often. I hope to soon get to a place where I can start accepting requests again and writing what you want me to.

Joel didn’t like you— that much was clear. He hadn’t spoken a word to you since daybreak, when he left Tess at the QZ to deal with ‘unfinished business’ and promised her to deliver you to the outskirts of Boston without Fedra knowing. It was a difficult journey with the soldiers scouting the area on every corner, but after around six hours of travelling on foot, you and Joel had reached the border of Cornwall, Canada, which is exactly where you needed to be.

Unbeknownst to Joel, you wanted to be in Canada because that’s where your parents were. Or so, where you last heard they were. You’d do anything to reunite with them and make sure they were safe but you weren’t exactly good with a gun and you weren’t a particularly fast runner either. You needed someone like Joel to smuggle you out of the Quarantine Zone. He was your protector.

“You haven’t said a word to me all day,” you acknowledged when you couldn’t sleep that night. You lay next to Joel in your own sleeping bag, framed by a roaring fire and underneath tall, forested shelter. “Why?”

Joel huffed out a sigh and rolled over onto his back, now looking up at the starry night sky.

He didn’t reply.

You gave him a few minutes and tried to gather your thoughts, hoping he’d eventually cave and tell you why he’d hated you all this time. Had you done something wrong? You didn’t think so. Hell, you’d only met him earlier in the day. You’d hardly had enough of an influence on him to hate you. You liked to think of yourself as big and strong and apathetic in regards to people’s opinion of you. In the world that you lived in, you couldn’t afford to give a damn. And yet, you did. You couldn’t help it, it was just who you were. You got anxious about it if you thought about it too long and so you would desperately try and find a distraction or think of something else to focus on. The trees— the stars— the fire— Joel.

He was the epitome of ‘grumpy old man’. You briefly wondered if he was this grumpy before the apocalypse. Why was he so highly strung? Sure, life wasn’t exactly good or easy for him— but it wasn’t good or easy for anyone.

“I didn’t tell you why I wanted to go to Canada,” you said slowly, figuring that if you could open up to the man, then maybe he could at least offer you a few words back. “My parents are there. I think they are anyway. My father sent a letter over to the QZ months ago but I only just got it on Tuesday. I don’t know if they’re still there but I need to check. My mom is sick and I just… need to be with them… and I couldn’t go alone. I wouldn’t last two seconds out there with infected. So I guess, what I’m trying to say is, tha—“

“Okay.” Joel cut you off abruptly. He didn’t want your ‘thank you’s’ or your tokens of gratitude. He was doing a job and he was only here to get paid.

“Where are you from?” you asked him quietly. He shuffled but didn’t reply, and so you were prompted to follow on further. “You got an accent. Southern, there’s no doubting that. Tennessee…—?”

“Texas.” Joel corrected and you smiled to yourself. He may have been a man of few words but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let you think he was from Tennessee.

“Texas huh?” you beamed brightly. Joel didn’t move his head, but he looked over to you and noticed your grin. “So you’re like, a cowboy.”

You giggled playfully and nudged his arm, but he only grunted and closed his eyes.

“You ever ride a horse?” you asked him.

“You’re annoying,” Joel sighed, rubbing his temples, but he supposed that— if he had to be honest with himself— he was somewhat amused by your plentiful questions. “But yeah. I’ve rode a horse.”

“I always wanted to ride a horse, but I don’t think I’d be any good at it,” you admitted sheepishly. “No co-ordination.”

“It’s all in the hips.” Joel explained and his interest in horses took you by surprise. This was the most he talked all day.

You pursed your lips together fighting back another smile. There was no denying the rush of blood that flushed to your cheeks as you felt them heat up over the thought of the Cowboy riding his horse. But then you remembered how he’d also just expressed his irritation with you and your abundance of pointless questions and you felt your heart drop in your chest slightly. A pang of guilt.

You told yourself that it was okay— no big deal— and it didn’t matter if he found you annoying. No, it didn’t matter that the extremely attractive Texan man who hadn’t uttered a single word to you all day, found you annoying.

You’d been so lonely recently. So lonely. You’d kill for a friend. A partner. Someone. And perhaps it was your fault for getting your hopes up when you met Joel. You figured that maybe you could finally have someone in your life who liked you back for you, and didn’t want to use you or hurt you in some kind of unexpected way.

“I— I don’t mean to be annoying, y’know. I just— I’m sorry,” you murmured, rolling over onto your side and facing the other way from Joel. “Uhm— good night.”

Joel wasn’t a heartless monster. He wasn’t as cold and calculating as he let off to be, but he sure as hell wasn’t innocent and pure-of-heart either. He was a broken shell of a man simply trying to get by, and the way he saw it, he couldn’t afford the time or effort to make friendships or have partners or even anything more than an acquaintance. It just wasn’t on his radar.

And although he was certainly taken aback with how beautiful you were, he just couldn’t bring himself to do anything he wouldn’t do with any other piece of cargo. This was a delivery, after all. A smuggle run. And he had to be professional about it.

But you were so— so beautiful. During the hours of hiking you and Joel did through the fields and forests, he often lagged behind you and consciously allowed you to take the lead when he thought it was safe to do so. Really though, he just liked to take a few seconds to admire you when you weren’t looking. You were funny and smart and although you couldn’t aim a gun to save your life, you might’ve been able to charm a Clicker away from you if you tried hard enough.

Joel enjoyed listening to you babble on, despite displaying no signs or signals to show that he had any interest in you. He couldn’t do that because he didn’t want to lead you on or give you the wrong impression. He really did like you, but if he dared to open his mouth, Joel was certain he’d slip up and say the wrong thing or embarrass himself. And so to him, it was better to not say anything at all. However, his heart would warm when you would get bored along the way and start humming— and eventually singing. You were in no way melidous, but still, you weren’t trying to be. Joel wondered what it would be like in another universe where your lives weren’t constantly at stake. Maybe then he’d grow the courage to actually have a decent conversation with you.

But this wasn’t another universe. This was reality and Joel had lost all hope in humankind a long time ago. Joel allowed himself to get lost in his own thoughts for a long time and by the time he’d snapped out of it, you were already fast asleep next to him, emitting light snores. He watched you, watched as your chest rose and fell with every breath. You looked so peaceful.

Truth was, Joel wasn’t entirely sure he could fall asleep here next to you. There was no way of telling if this forest was safe. Certainly he found it difficult to imagine there’d be signs of infected around but people? That was certainly plausible. Making sure his rifle was close enough to grab in case of an emergency, Joel took another glance towards you.

So goddamn pretty.

Joel didn’t know when, but at some point in the night, he’d gotten hard. Probably because he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off you all night. He felt like such a creep for watching you sleep, but even under the pearly white stars and the sunset orange embers bouncing from the campfire, you were still the most beautiful thing he’d ever saw. And he wanted you.

Now, Joel probably wasn’t as touch-starved as you were, but still, it had been a helluva long time since he last got laid. Without drawing his gaze away from you, he reached his hand down into his sleeping bag and dipped it into his boxer shorts began to pump at his already throbbing manhood. His eyes snapped shut at the shock of the thrill which raced through his body. There was something so erotic about doing this outside, with you laying next to him, unbeknownst to it all. Stifling a groan, with his free hand Joel gathered the material of his sleeping bag and squeezed it with pleasure.

The coarseness, roughness, of his hands was never ideal, but he had no trouble imagining the softness of yours. Your hands were a lot smaller than his, and your fingers were a lot thinner, and as he stroked his cock, his toes curled at the thought of you in between his legs, playing with him.

He hissed your name through his teeth as he begin to feel a knot tie in his lower stomach, indicating that he was close. God, he’d only been at himself for a few minutes and he was going crazy for you. You stirred slightly at the mention of your name but Joel wasn’t paying attention anymore. Now his eyes were shut and his entire body was tensed up as his hand movements became faster. He guessed it wouldn’t be so bad if he finished quick because the longer he touched himself, the more chance you’d wake up and discover him.

But for some reason, that only stirred Joel on even more. Of course, he wasn’t trying to wake you up, but there came a point where he was so enveloped in his own lustfilled thoughts, he didn’t even notice you whisper his name softly through the night.

“Joel?”

Briefly, Joel registered the sound of your voice but he thought nothing of it. So deep in thought— he was close. He moaned your name back.

You stilled, your eyes widening when your gaze dropped to his crotch and you noticed the movements of his hands underneath the thin material of the sleeping bag.

“Oh… Joel.” you mumbled, feeling your pussy clench around nothing as you nimbly slipped out of your sleeping bag and quietly crawled over to him.

He still hadn’t noticed you, but between the tinnitus in his right ear and being so lost in his own thoughts, you couldn’t blame him. On your knees and by his side, you placed the palm of your hand on his chest and fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, alerting him immediately.

His movements stopped and his eyes snapped open in horror, only to be met by your wide smirk.

“Hey cowboy,” you teased, unbuttoning the first few buttons of his shirt.

“Shit.” Joel cursed, looking away from you. “I— you shouldn’t have saw me— I’m—“

You hushed him by placing a soft, chase kiss upon his lips. Joel froze and softened under you, completely feeling at ease under your touch. It has been years since he had been kissed. You hovered over him, finding his gaze in the dark before pressing a harder, more intimate kiss to his lips. Joel moaned underneath you and brought out his hand from under the sleeping bag, releasing his cock and bringing it to cradle the back of your head.

“Let’s get you out of here,” you giggled, unzipping Joel’s sleeping bag and bringing yours next to his, giving you both some kind of barrier between the grassy ground.

Joel’s belt was already undone and the zipper of his jeans pulled down.

Still beaming, you straddled Joel, positioning yourself over his lap and continued unbuttoning his shirt before before peeling it off his torso and discarding it into the corner.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Joel asked softly and his tone of voice took you by surprise.

“If I didn’t want to be doing this, I wouldn’t be grinding on you already, cowboy,” you giggled, thrusting your hips over the material of his jeans and getting a feel for his bulge.

Joel swallowed and nodded his head in agreement. Hastily, he brought his hands to your waist and guided you over his hips. You tossed back your head and let out a moan.

“Oh, I need you.” you whimpered, bringing Joel’s hands to your breasts and letting him feel the hard pebbles of your nipples under your t-shirt.

Growing impatient, Joel tugged on your shirt and you let him pull it off your body. He then smoothly unclipped your bra and let it fall off, before using his large, rough hands to cup and fondle your breasts.

“Joel,” you gasped, pushing back onto his legs and taking the hem off his jeans in your grip. “I need you,” you repeated. “Need you inside of me.”

Joel choked out a wanton groan at your words and nodded his head again. You took his signal as confirmation that he wanted this too, and tugged down his denim along with his underwear.

You removed your own pants and then sunk down ontop of him, sighing an air of relief when you felt the skin on skin contact. Joel adjusted himself and gave you a questioning look.

“I’m ready.” you whispered and leaned down, pressing your chest against Joel’s. Joel pushed himself inside of you and you tensed up, digging your nails into his shoulders as you adjusted to him. He was so big and thick, and yet he felt like he fit inside you perfectly. Like he was made for you.

Joel slowly thrusted upwards and into you, stretching you out. When you felt comfortable enough, you sat upright and rested your hands on his tummy.

“Show me how to ride, cowboy,” You urged. “You said earlier, it’s all in the hips? Show me.”

Joel looked up at you with wide eyes and extended his arms around you. He held onto you, and you felt like putty under his grip.

“Show me what you got, girl.” The handsome man demanded, his voice having dropped an octave.

You began to roll your hips over him, and Joel squeezed his eyes shut. “That feel good for you?” you taunted, letting a giggle escape your lips. Joel wordlessly nodded.

“Try— try circle your hips.” Joel requested, and immediately you changed your movements. You’d do anything to please him. You felt yourself get increasingly wet, making it easier and more comfortable to move freely. “That’s good.” he praised under his breaths.

“This is how you ride?” you enquired, raising an eyebrow as you continued to circle your hips.

“This is how you learn,” Joel corrected. “It’s all a process, baby girl. You go straight into the ridin’, you’ll get hurt.”

Joel leaned forward and pressed himself into you, the curve of his cock hitting you in just the right spot, You held onto him, gripping onto the broad of his back and this time, Joel kissed you. He yearned for your lips— for your affection. He dragged his tongue along your collarbone and planted sloppy kisses up your neck, along your jaw, and finally to your mouth. He slid his tongue along your lower lip, begging for entry, which you quickly granted him, and started to make out with you.

“Joel,” you whispered against his lips, and he pulled off you, allowing you to speak. “I need more.”

“Think you’re ready for your next lesson?” he quizzed, pressing his nose against yours.

“Mhm.” you replied. “Teach me.”

Joel leaned back again and brought his hands down to your hips. “I want you to bounce on my cock sweet girl, show me what you can do.”

You grinned with excitement and began to move yourself up and down, grinding on his cock so you could feel every ridge and vein against your walls.

You felt yourself clench around him, indicating that you were close.

“Shit, like this I won’t last long.” Joel admitted bashfully, his cheeks flushing pink.

“Me neither,” you replied, and began to speed up your movements. “Joel— please. Please cum inside of me.”

Joel panted, bringing his hands up to massage your tits. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, yes, oh— please.” you begged him. “Please cowboy.”

With those two words, Joel spurted ropes of his warm seed inside of you, painting your walls a milky white. Feeling him fill you, you clenched one last time around his cock and let a blinding hot light envelope you as you rode out your own high.

You rolled off the man and laid next to him, catching your breath. “How was that? Did I pass the test?” you nudged him playfully.

Joel let out a laugh and you felt your heart flutter at the sound of him displaying genuine happiness. “You passed the test,” he chuckled. “But— there’s still plenty more for you to learn.”

“Well,” you shrugged. “You do make a pretty good teacher.”

Joel wrapped his arm around you and pulled you into his chest. “Sun will rise in a few hours, you should go back to sleep.” he hummed into your hair, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

You closed your eyes, still in sheer bliss, and smiled.

You couldn’t believe that just a few hours earlier, you were so sure that Joel hated you.

You’d never been so wrong.

——— Taglist: ———

(I’m working on rebuilding a brand new taglist ever since returning to Tumblr. Let me know if you want to be added!)

@pedrosprincess

[yelenasdiary]

OK OK OK I have a request go with me here. What about Florence with an insecure reader but she’s plus size she’s insecure about like sitting on Florence’s lap (and face 😗) so maybe like a fluffy smut or something idk I just haven’t been feeling to good about my body these days. You 100% don’t have to do this. Ok love you bye!!!!😘

Why Me?

Pairing: Florence Pugh x Plus Size! Reader

Summary: Flo helps you cope when your mind gets the better of you.

Angst, Fluff

Warnings: Body image issues, Mentions of Depression & Cyber Bullying| 1.3K

AC: I hope you enjoy this, I didn’t include any smut or suggestive themes as I simply do not do that when writing celebrity x reader so I hope what I have written is still somewhat what you were looking for x

Dating a celebrity wasn't easy, especially when you never thought you were built for the spotlight of any kind. Birthdays were usually small just to keep the attention off you as much as possible and you never liked it much when people would make a fuss about your achievements. You were shy, but it was one of the many things Florence, your girlfriend, loved about you. 

Florence absolutely loves showing you off. At family events, she was always seen proudly holding your hand or having an arm wrapped around your waist. It took a long time for her to get you to say yes to attending a red-carpet event with her. Florence had this way of making you smile and laugh when you didn't know you needed it the most, it was like she was always one step ahead of your insecurities and thoughts. 

But not everything was rainbows and butterflies. The world can be cruel, not matter how big or small you are, people are always going to express their opinions and it was one of the biggest things that Florence quickly noticed that was affecting you. Whenever the paparazzi snapped photos of you and Florence hand in hand walking the streets of LA or the rare chance that caught you kissing in a busy café in London, there were always comments. 

Harsh and cruel comments directed mostly to you, comments on your body, weight and how people couldn't understand why Florence was with you. Most of the time you were able to avoid seeing them or ignored them whenever you did see them but being human, they got to you sometimes. You've struggled with thoughts about yourself for a while and it never helped when your depression would side with those thoughts. Florence hated the comments, and she would know when you had read some. 

"What's on your mind darling?" Florence's raspy voice brought your attention back to earth as you looked up from the plate of food in front of you. "Huh? Oh, sorry" you quickly collected yourself, "I'm just a little tired, I think I might be coming down with something" you added. Florence tilted her head slightly to the right, "don't give me that" she said knowing you weren't being truthful with her. 

You sighed, placing the silver fork beside the plate of untouched food, you knew there was no hope in lying to her. She studied your body language while you racked your brain to form the words you wanted to say but not wanting to upset your girlfriend. "I guess, I just" you started, avoiding eye contact with the blonde knowing full well that if you looked into her big green eyes that the tears you felt trying their best to build would break. Florence reached over the table and gently placed her hand on top of your left, "it's okay baby, take your time" she assured you. 

A moment of silence was shared between the two of you before you finally broke it and spoke the thoughts that had been circling your mind for the last few days. "Why me?" You asked, "I mean, you could have anybody in the world, I mean that literally. You could have somebody who isn't….well…. me" you spoke, your eyes dropping to your lap. 

Florence rose from her seat and walked over to you and kneeled, taking your hands into hers. "Look at me darling, please" she spoke. Slowly, you lifted your head up, looking at her with tears building up, "where is this coming from?" She asked, her thumbs brushing gently over your knuckles. A tear streamed down your right cheek when you saw nothing but love and concern from your partner, "I guess" you paused for a moment, "I feel so ugly" you said, "sometimes I think everybody is right, you can do a lot better than me" you added as more tears streamed down your cheeks. 

Without hesitation, Florence stood up and wrapped her arms around you, pulling you close to her and placing a kiss on the top of your head. "Oh darling" she said softly. She didn't need to know how this all started, she noticed recently how you were slowly hiding yourself away from those around you, avoiding going out to lunch with Florence, afraid of what more people would say. She hated it so much that people could be so cruel and not think about what their words could do to another human. She gently rubbed your back, letting you break down in her arms. You were tired and she knew that. 

She kneeled down in front of you again, wiping the tears from your cheeks, "I don't want anybody else, I don't need anybody else" she assured you, "You don't see yourself the way I see you, all those strangers don't see you the way I see you, they don't see the beautiful soul that makes my day better every morning, they don't see how hard working you are. You care so, so much about every single person around you, you make sure that everybody feels seen and included and it's something I love about you, but it also makes me wonder why you don't treat yourself with the same kindness. 

You are the most beautiful person I have ever met; I am so lucky that you picked me. I am so lucky to love you. I love that I get to wake up next to you every morning and coming home to you is all I look forward to each day. Darling, nobody is perfect but you are perfect to me and I know that sounds cliché but I wouldn't have you any other way. I just want you to be happy" she said, ever breaking eye contact with you. She brushed a lock of hair behind your ear, "how about this weekend you and I take a trip, wherever you want to go. We'll take some time away from everything and just enjoy our time" she suggested. 

You nodded, loving the idea of not having to worry about your insecurities. Although they didn't go away completely but Florence always had a magic way of making you forget about them. 

----

The sun kissed the top of the lake that you looked over, sitting on Florence's lap while she traced random shapes and patterns on your back. Like the sun, her presence and comfort brought a sense of warmth to you. Nothing else mattered in this moment but spending it with the one person you loved and adored so much. The weekend had only started, you and Florence had booked out a lake house for the weekend to enjoy, arriving in the early hours of the morning Florence still was able to cook up an amazing breakfast which the two of you enjoyed on the porch overlooking the lake. 

"It's so beautiful here" you commented as your eyes traced over the mountains that overlooked the lake. Florence smiled softly, "it is, isn't it" she replied. Although she didn't care much for the view of the lake but more the soft smile that you wore proudly. She placed a kiss on your cheek which only made you blush at her unexpected affection. 

"Thank you" you said as you looked over your shoulder at Florence, "I'm sorry that my mind gets the better of me sometimes" you added. 

"Oh darling, you don't need to apologise nor thank me" she smiled before leaning up and kissing your lips gently, "just promise me that when you start to feel down again, you talk to me. I am always here for you, my love. I'd drop everything just to see you smile, never forget that" she added before you kissed her once more, smiling against her lips before you pulled away. 

"I love you" you whispered to her.

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[blippymilk]

Do You Have Something to Tell Me?

Veneer x GN!Reader

Summary: You’re a normal teen in Mount Rageous, and the biggest Veneer fan known to man. Everybody that knows you knows it too. Unfortunately it’s highly unlikely to date the celebrity of your dreams…unintentionally.

A/N: I’m working on the request but I’ve had this for a bit so I finished it today and uploaded it for the time being.Also please forgive me if I use a certain amount of pronouns. With other content I’ve made before I’ve usually made female reader content so if I say she, as in referring to you please forgive me.

Happy New Years 🥳🎉

“Seriously (____)?” one of your friends side eyed you as as you burst out in giggles in response. You had invited your two best friends over (Liliana and Romar) for your annual two night sleepovers, and currently you were killing time by watching Veneer and Velvet’s (mostly Veneer) latest concert footage. Well not really killing time according to you, it was a way of life.

“You seriously brought us over here to watch you drool over Veneer?” Liliana continued as your giggling came to a halt. “I did not invite you over here for that. Especially since I am watching Veneer AND Velvet, get it straight guys.” You replied as Romar got up and came over to your bed where you were watching on your MacBook. “Sweetie you literally zoomed in on him and cropped his sister out…” you started kicking your feet and giggling again. “This is insane, I’ve never met anyone with such an obsession over anybody ever. You don’t even pay your boyfriend this much attention.” Liliana said and Romar agreed. “Who?” You said still staring at the screen as your friends both leaned back and cocked an eyebrow at you. “Oh, Jalen…him…right.” You sighed closing your laptop.

It was silent for a while before anyone spoke again. “How about we do our favorite activity to do when we’re all together?” Romar asked as you and Liliana perked up. “SHOPPING!” You all shouted in unison.

________________________________________________________

“Let’s do a challenge guys.” You said to your friends as you all entered the Mount Rageous Mall. “Let’s put outfits together with a budget, a timer, and a person to customize.” You said as your friends agreed. “Bet. But where will we get the details from?” Liliana asked. “A generator or something.” Romar grabbed his phone and typed in a few things. The results ended up being: a budget of 35$, 40 minutes, and Romar got you, you got Liliana, and Liliana got Romar.

“On a count of three…” Liliana started, suddenly both of you almost fell over with the quick take off of Romar running through the mall. “HEY! WE’RE NOT done y-yet…and he’s gone.” She said as you both simultaneously face palmed and took off two different directions.

Your first stop was a store that was highly underrated in your opinion. It had great and reasonably priced outfits and none of your friends knew about it (yes you were gatekeeping but who cares). You ran all up and down the store for something Liliana might like. ‘Her favorite color is green, that’s a start’ you thought. You finally found a green top in her size and were now looking for some bottoms. You looked at the timer ‘32 minutes left’. You had to hurry and find some bottoms because more people started to enter the store. ‘Huh, guess this store’s not too underrated anymo-” your thoughts were cut short as you noticed someone running at the same pace towards you, and quite literally collided with them.

‘Sh*t that hurt’. The person you collided into let out a sort of high pitched “OW” that was very dramatic and dragged out. He almost sounded like…no. You sat up planning to apologize to the person, hoping it would roll over and you could be on your way. After all you only had 29 minutes left to checkout then hit up the accessory store.

“I’m sorr-”

“Ow, what the hell’s wrong with you?”

That shut you up real quick. What weren’t about to do was apologize to a blockhead. There was something weird about the way he responded. His high pitched voice had deepened when he came to his senses. “Excuse me?” You said standing up as he did too. The guy had a purple hoodie on covering his hair, but left some strands of it hanging, which was green. He had on glasses covering his eyes, pale white skin, and purple lipstick. He almost reminded of someone but you couldn’t put your finger on it.

“You should watch where you’re going next time.” The boy said dusting himself off. Now you were getting angry and the guy stuttered a bit. “Wait that’s not what I-” “Who do you think you are?” You blurted out.

“I was just saying…”

“Well maybe if you’d stop running your mouth every three seconds, your future altercations could be less painful.” And with that you grabbed your items off the floor, and made your way to the checkout leaving the boy stunned.

________________________________________________________

After hitting up the accessory store you and your friends had planned to meet up in the food court. “I seriously think I won this, like no joke.” Romar said. “Absolutely not it was me!” Liliana said shaking him. “I don’t know Lili, the outfit I picked out for you was kinda cute.” You said as you three went back and forth.

“Y’all are exhausting and I’m hungry, let’s eat.” Romar said and the disagreement was over as you three frantically traced the smells in the food court. Once in line you told your friends about the interaction with the rude guy you’d met in the store you went to. “Girl I woulda beat his as*” Lili said getting rowdy. “Uh we don’t condone violence over here mam.” Romar laughed as you two chuckled.

Once you ordered Romar offered to wait for everyone’s food and Lili took a phone call. You decided to sit down at a empty table and scroll through social media to kill time. You had scrolled endlessly for a few minutes before a Veneer edit popped up on your for you page. You stopped and watched it again, and again, and again, and maybe another time.

It’s only when a sudden voice snapped you out of your daydream, “Hey.” You jumped quickly and looked where the voice was coming from. It was that rude dude from the store earlier behind you. Rolling your eyes you quickly got up to leave but he stopped you, “Wait please don’t go.” He said. ‘He thinks I’m really gonna stay after the way he was talking to me earlier’ you thought, but you did stay.

You looked up at him waiting for him to speak again, you also noticed him eyeing your phone. The Veneer edit was still on repeat. ‘How embarrassing’ you turned your phone off and laughed nervously. You wondered if he had been behind you when you had the edit on loop, or if you were almost drooling or flustered at all.

“What is it?” You asked him as he turned his attention back to you. “Oh right um,” he sat down in the chair across from you, “I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I don’t usually act that way I actually felt really bad.” He said as you eyed him, like you were scanning him. “I’m so serious, like what I was saying I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. I have a lot of things to think about right now and I guess I didn’t think too hard on how to approach the situation.” He continued. You “scanned” him even more, he seemed sincere.

Suddenly your face softened and you could to tell his worry dropped a little too. “It’s ok I get it, I’m sorry for not hearing you out I was just in a rush.” He smiled a bit at this. “So what’s your name?” He asked. “I’m (____). What about you?” You asked. “Oh I’m V-Victor.” He said almost as if he was thinking too hard. “Nice to meet you Victor.” “You too.” “So do you live around here?” You two were in such deep conversation you didn’t see your friends staring you and this boy down until the had to frantically wave at you. You let them know you’d be there soon with your face and they took off somewhere in a hurry. Actually a couple people did, there was a little crowd forming at the front of the mall.

“What’s going on?” You said looking at the front, mid conversation. Victor looked almost panicked for a moment but calmed his face. “Not sure but I think I have to get going.” He said grabbing his bags. “Ok I get it, do you mind if I ask you one more thing though?” you asked. “Hit me.” He replied. “Why are you wearing glasses, can I see your eyes before you go?” You chuckled as he did the same. “Not this time, maybe another time.” He smiled at you, grabbed his last bag, and just like that he was gone.

‘Another time?’ You thought. He’s gotta be stupid there’s like a one in a thousand chance you’ll ever run into him again at Mount Rageous. You looked down at your phone and on top of it laid a piece of paper. You opened it to find a note: “Call me sometime? ;)” with a phone number under it and Victor’s name. He was quick with it.

Was he flirting with you? Why else would he put a winky face. ‘Little does he know, I’m loyal to my boyfriend’ you thought. “And my future husband Veneer.” You thought out loud before quickly closing your mouth and hoping nobody heard you. That’s when you realized more than half of the people at the food court was gone.

Suddenly Lili came up to you and grabbed your hand, “Come on come on! (Name) you will not believe what’s happening!” She sqeauled. “What? Just tell me!” You shouted while she dragged you to the front of the mall. “No you have to see it for yourself.” She said. “Nope,” you stopped and pulled your arm back, “I won’t go until you tell me what it is.” You tried being stubborn and it was working, Lili’s eye twitched a bit. “Fine! You wanna know so bad, it’s Velvet!” She sqeauled loosing her composer. “Velvet? As in-” “THE Velvet! Superstar and sibling to your man Veneer yes!” But you had only heard up to the Veneer part because you took off.

[sena-shi]

SAGAU but with Scheming Creator!Reader Imposter AU

PT. 1

*ੈ✩‧₊˚⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

You were going about your day as usual when you decided to read some SAGAU Imposter AU fanfictions on the internet. The plot does not provide you with as much satisfaction as you would want, and the readers' ability to exact revenge seems too — in your opinion, quite lacking.

On the other hand, you consistently maintain a nonchalant attitude about it. You are still going to go ahead and read it, then continue scrolling until you discover another fanfiction.

A retribution in the form of exile? You probably won't find this interesting. Taking your newfound powers and using it to wipe them off as payback? That is quite thrilling; however, wouldn't it be preferable to make them regret and bear the sins of killing their one and only creator for the rest of their lives?

The shame and remorse that would slowly consume everything within them until there was nothing left.

The vivid memory of them using the blessings that you bestowed upon them to dishonour your divine existence is particularly satisfying.

The effort that you put into everything to get them to the position that they are in right now.

The memories that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives of how they used everything you blessed them with to get rid of you. 

The SAGAU AU fanfictions you've been reading have somewhat convinced you that the characters in the game can actually hear your voice, so occasionally you open the app, play the game, and talk to each character as if you think they can hear you.

The characters with the most heartbreakingly repetitive lines would receive your highest praise and reassurance.

You would hear Zhongli speak his infamous voice line, “Osmanthus wine tastes the same as I remember, but where are those who share the memory?”

And you would always reply with, “If the universe permits it, I would be delighted to share a drink with you and listen all about the wonderful times you and your loved ones have had together over the years.” In the warmest, and gentlest voice you could muster.

It's possible that you've gone insane because those are only fanfictions, yet you still find amusement on doing it.

And then, all of a sudden, it was as if the heavens had listened to your thoughts and made the decision to send you to the world of your creations, directly in front of the divine statue they had sculpted just for you.

Specifically designed with you in both heart and mind. The very statue that they would bow down to and pay respect to, something that they would look upon with reverence in their eyes.

You, the one who brought them into existence. You, the one who gave them life. You, their one and only creator.

Who would have the audacity to imitate the appearance of our Diving Creator and to step foot on the sacred ground!

Our Goddess was right; now that she has chosen to descend to our humble plane, a great number of people will attempt to copy her and steal her divination while her body is still adjusting to the conditions of our realm.

“Ah,” A sound like a gentle whisper was coming from your mouth. You did not move from where you were seated on the ground, keeping your attention fixed on the floor below you, which featured the most exquisite carvings you had ever seen. A smirk grew on your lips as you tried to stifle the chuckle; perhaps it was a maniacal laughter that was threatening to break forth. Fortunately for their sanity, they were spared the trauma of seeing it.

The fake, as one could have anticipated, displays an excessive amount of caution.

You were familiar with those lines. Where they would straight out deem you as fake. Imposter AU, huh? Then you guess that there’s no need to negotiate. After all, all of them will act like rabid dogs and probably decapitate you.

You slowly lifted your head, revealing long, wavy, glittering white hair that had fallen to the ground and was streaming down your back. The color of your hair was the most pristine that any human being could ever hope to witness. And your eyes. If one were to stare into them, they would be as dark as the abyss, and upon doing so, they would reveal the universe that is contained inside themselves. It appears to be a reflection of the night sky, where stars would shine brightly in honor of the one who nurtures the world, one whom they would always protect and one whom they would always look after.

As their attention was drawn to your face, those who were entrusted with the responsibility of guarding the sacred grounds began to tense up. The eye that had the most loving gaze was staring at them, as though the person they suspected of being an imposter is connected with them.

The imposter observed them in a manner like to that of a mother observing her children.

Despite their threats, they saw how you continued to lovingly glance at them with a hint of curiosity, perhaps wondering why they are so hostile to you.

Seeing them come to a complete halt makes you feel amused, but you keep up the act as if you are a compassionate and forgiving divine entity. However, at the bottom of your heart, you secretly wish for them to be ashamed by the way in which they regarded you as a fake.

Are you too vicious with your thoughts? Maybe.

Are you meant to ignore all of it simply because they are completely devoted to you?

Then why aren't they able to recognize that the imposter, who you believe was probably seated on the throne and bearing the title of God of the Gods, is the one who is being deceitful?

Is it because of your appearance?

You maintained your position on the ground, staying perfectly still as you watched them patiently while keeping your amusement well veiled in your eyes.

The only thing that can be seen by them is a stunning woman who is smiling warmly in answer to their presence. Simply the fact that the woman was watching them caused them to increase the pressure they applied to the grips of their spears and swords.

The wind that was not intended to enter the enclosed place unexpectedly caressed their bodies as if it were talking to them—

Do not hurt our Creator.

The grounds trembled, as if enthusiastic and pleased to be blessed with your presence, that their Creator was willing to dirty their feet to step on the land. The grounds were evidently happy that their Creator was willing to bless them with your presence.

It's not even an exaggeration to say that the entire Teyvat, the first child of the Creator, is likely experiencing an incredible amount of joy just from recognizing your divinity.

The big and broad doors swung open with a bang, and the glances that your beloved and wonderful acolytes gave you as they heard that someone was copying their dear God seared deep holes into your skull. In all honesty, you would prefer to stay and witness how they will act from that point on.

My, my… You thought. Have their IQs decreased dramatically in the span of a single night as a direct result of the arrival of the real fake?

The holy grounds are far too little for a game of "hide and seek," despite how much you love to have fun playing with them. You can't wait to discover how they will deal with someone they have identified as an imposter like yourself. You are patient, and you will embrace everything they will give you.

You would counteract any evil intended for you with acts of kindness. You, in turn, wish they wouldn't let you down as the shame destroys them from the inside out.

After all, it's hard to see a mother being the source of any kind of harm to her children.

If they wish to hurt you, then so be it.

You wonder.

Who will kill you first?

Them?

Or yourself?

You heard them running after you as you escaped the place, which you didn't find particularly difficult. Your lips formed an unconscious sneer as you ran, not too fast, and not too slow. You want them to catch up to you so that everyone may play together.

And perhaps, if they decide to give you the performance you want to witness, you would forgive as any other benevolent being would.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

[caelesblues]

across the universe (part 1)

⋆｡°✩ what it's like to love a member of the astral express, even when you're universes apart ⋆｡°✩

c.w./t.w. fluff with bits of angst, lowercase intended, intense word vomit

word count: 2,750

characters: welt yang, himeko, dan heng

gn!reader, title is inspired by "across the universe" by baek yerin, notes at the end.

part 2 (with march 7th, stelle, and caelus)

“why are you still with him? he left you didn’t he? he’s probably never going to come back anyways, so why are you still waiting?”

“how are you sure that he's not cheating on you out there? i mean you said it yourself, he’s traveling to different planets, who’s to say he’s not fooling around every now and then.”

“you’re wasting your time by staying with him, just break up with him and move on already. you’re not even sure if he’ll still love you after all these time away from one another.”

life really does like to throw curveballs at you every now and then huh? you would have never thought your relationship with welt would become conversation fodder for anyone, and you could’ve never predicted that they’d be bold enough as to outright say to your face their unwarranted opinions and remarks. but you can’t necessarily blame them as well, seeing as how such an upstanding man as welt yang just suddenly upped and left to join a group of intergalactic adventurers to go on, as they would say, a “trailblazing expedition” across the starry plains. 

okay so maybe it wasn’t as sudden as you make it out to be (like he just disappeared into thin air one day), but it was news enough for everyone else as well that at some point people were questioning your relationship with him.

at first people would just extend a sympathetic pat on the back or say some comforting words when welt just left, it then morphed into others skirting around the topic of him and your relationship for fear that they might upset you when a considerable time has passed since he first left, and now they’re outright questioning your loyalty to him when it’s been years since everyone had seen him last. 

it truly fascinated you how they once looked at you with concern and pity as if to say “you poor thing, left all alone”, but now their gazes lock onto you with a look of incredulousness as if to communicate “what is wrong with you, you’re waiting for nothing”. 

but all this talk just proves to you how the general public don’t really know either of you properly, and how other people’s views of your relationship will never really mean anything. while to others welt might seem like such a cold and distant (no pun intended) lover ever since he left to pursue adventures across the galaxy, it could not be further from the truth of who he really is as your lover. the thing about a man such as welt is that he is a stable and reliable presence in your life, that second guessing has no room in your love for one another. 

even across the universe this aspect of him and your relationship did not change the slightest, in fact your relationship just got stronger through the challenges you’ve faced together brought about by your unique circumstance. sure communicating with each other when you’re so far apart is quite the herculean feat (especially when he finds himself in missions, in which he can become virtually uncontactable sometimes), but welt will always find a way to send you a heads up of his current situation and will either message or call you once he finds an opportunity to do so. 

he seems to have a knack for knowing when you’re suddenly doubting yourself and where you stand in his life, and so he does his best to constantly remind you of just how important you are to him and that this distance between you can never overpower the overwhelming love he has for you. welt is always making time for you even when he is considerably busier, even finding ways to include you in his adventures, be it through pictures, videos, or taking you on a virtual tour on their current stop. 

that’s why you pay no mind to the naysayers trying to chip away at your resolve, doing their best to plant seeds of doubt and mistrust in your relationship with welt. they’ll never know of the numerous ways you’ve both cultivated a routine with one another to accommodate your (incredibly) long distance relationship, will never be privy to how you’ve learned to better trust one another at such a crucial turning point in your lives, the ways you’ve managed problems along the way, and how incredibly in love you both still are. 

what others say don’t matter to the both of you, what’s important is even with the universe itself separating you both, you can always count on each other. 

space is cold, both the great big universe out there and the spaces beside you that himeko used to occupy. you guess this is to be expected, after all himeko has always exuded such an incredible sense of warmth about her. Ever since you both were kids she had radiated even amongst her peers- alway getting high remarks, easily making friends, showcasing her myriad of talents, getting recognition after recognition; it always felt like a person such as herself would be an untouchable figure, but still had enough grace to mingle amongst the common folk.

admittedly this is how you felt when you first met her when you were kids, but the closer you two became the more you understood that while himeko is undoubtedly someone who is always destined for greatness, at her very core she is just someone who has a heart of gold. 

ever since then you’ve stuck by her side, the once distant admiration for the girl you held in high regards had slowly but surely blossomed into an unfathomable affection reserved solely for her. and so it left you completely in shock when you learned that himeko, a person so incredibly bright, warm, and loved by all, had harbored a crush on you as well. it was kind of hard to fathom what aspects of you she finds desirable in any way, but just as you found comfort in her, himeko also found warmth and solace in you too. 

after the confession everything just fell into place, and the rest was history as they say. you both became each other’s beacon of light, warding off the coldness and darkness the world likes to throw at the both of you from time to time. since becoming himeko’s lover, you have had the privilege to see all kinds of sides to her that the public doesn’t necessarily have the chance to witness, and being there for her during one of her life’s biggest projects-reviving the astral express.

day in and day out you can be found helping her fix the train, from simply handing her tools to getting yourself all tangled up in numerous wires. along the way you’d both started to learn more about the express, and you’d witness there and then the determination that grew on himeko’s face-you knew that once the train was up and running again, she’d take for the stars just like akivili and the nameless did once. 

just as you were excited for when the express would be in commission again, you were just as nervous to what it meant for the both of you. you and himeko knew that no one could stop her from leaving, not even you (as if you would ever in the first place, really). and so all you could really do from then on was countdown the days until she inevitably had to leave, savoring the moments of warmth you’d still get to relish in while she’s still here with you.

 days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years-it took a long while, but the astral express was finally ready to go. the day of her departure is as clear as ever, watching alongside everyone else as himeko commandeered the train into finally take off for the great unknown, replaying the last face to face conversation you’d have with her for a while,

(“so uh….this is goodbye then huh?”

“i guess it is, but i’ll come back someday”

“will you though? and for how long will you be gone?”

“I don’t really know myself, you can’t really be too definitive with things like this”

“i know. i’ll miss you a lot though”

“i’ll miss you too. hey let’s promise each other to always keep in contact no matter what, ok? that way we'd still have each other even if i’m docked on some planet far away.”

“of course, i gotta make sure you don’t forget about me”

“and i have to make sure that even when i’m gone, you won’t find someone else to replace me”

“i could never”).

a lot of time has gone by since then but you both have kept true to your words of still making time for one another, and as the years have passed you and himeko have cultivated a routine-one that ensures that at least you still get to spend time with one another, even if just through virtual means. and it’s through these moments that you realize that no matter how far himeko may be nor how long you’ve gone without her by your side, she still radiates the same warmth you’ve always loved about her. 

the fear you initially had of how himeko would go cold on you once she leaves, gradually dissipated when she showed you how utterly devoted she still is, how she never changed amidst the ever growing spatial distance between the both of you. you can still feel her happiness for you when you recount  all the things you’ve achieved, how she’s always lending a sympathetic ear to your rants though she may be busy, the words of comfort through your times of need, and most especially how you still consider each other as home. 

it’s through all these kinds of moments that you realize your fear was unfounded, that no matter where she is, your himeko will always be someone you can always find peace in. and that for her, she knows that somewhere out there she will always have a home to come back, a home in the shape of you. so while the spaces beside you that she once occupied have now gone cold, the love you hold for one another continues to blaze stronger than ever. 

“hey, are you still awake?”

“i was just about to go to sleep actually.”

“oh…i’ll just call some other time then.”

“it’s ok, i don’t mind. besides i know you need me right now anyways”

“i don’t want to keep you up though”

“hey, what did i tell you again when you get nightmares?”

“....that i should never hesitate to call you.”

“exactly. ok, so tell me what happened?”

conversations like those are a very common occurrence for you and dan heng. though he keeps on insisting that you didn’t always have to pick up his calls, or that he’s just repeating the same stories over and over again, you shut him down quickly and thoroughly by assuring him that asking for comfort will never be too much for you. 

see it was never like this initially, that man always had an aversion to seeking out help from others when he needed it, and you were the one dan heng was always hiding his woes from. for as long as you have both known one another, he had always put up a wall of having to be strong even when he’s so clearly falling apart at the seams. well maybe to you it’s clear as day but for a majority of the people he encounters, dan heng is simply just an impenetrable wall of aloofness. 

getting to that point wasn’t an easy task to conquer, it had taken years of knowing and staying by each other to even get to that point. even then there were still times wherein dan heng would withdraw from you entirely, ranging from a few hours to a few days-but by and by, you’d still be there waiting for him patiently and he’d come to you when he finally felt ready to.

this slow but gradual strengthening of bond and trust instilled a confidence in you, that no matter what you’d be able to weather whatever storm may come your way…but things took a rockier turn once he left the luofu, bringing you both back to the days wherein he simply could not be reached. It was already difficult to get a hold of the man in person, but it significantly became harder once he started his starfaring journey with the express. 

messages being left on read, calls not being picked up, being stood up on planned video call dates, taking hours if not days to respond-these were things that consistently happened once dan heng became on the run, and you greatly understood why these things are happening in the first place anyway because a lot of the time there are just things out of both of your controls (very distant intergalactic communication being wonky, the different time zones dan heng finds himself in, work that impedes a lot of efforts to connect, etc). 

sure it was frustrating to deal with something like that when you never really had to in the past, but what really got under your skin was how you felt he started to drift away the more time he spent away. It disturbed you immensely bearing witness to conversations get shorter and shorter, the once comfortable silence now becoming painful pinpricks that can only be remedied once either of you leaves the call, and how you’ve now once again stood outside his walls. 

it was essentially being abandoned again, but this time it felt even more painful knowing that you can’t even confront him as easily as you did once. you were losing your mind as the days passed, trying your best to remedy the situation you’ve both found yourselves in, but it was nigh impossible with a man as adamant in running away like dan heng. the more he fortified his walls the more you were losing hope in being able to fix your relationship, hoping that the next day will at least bring about some good in any way. 

it wasn’t really until one day, after they recently completed another expedition that you got dan heng finally opening up to you. detailing how that particular experience made him realize that he was losing you for quite some time now,

(“the couple i met there….they reminded me of us”

“hm? how?”

“they were also going through a tough time, at least the one i talked to said so”

“....do you think we’re going through a rough patch right now?”

“i know we are”)

and thus that entire night was spent talking, remedying, and mending the relationship from the brink of fully collapsing. reminding the man you love that no matter where you both may be he can always turn to you for anything, that the universe itself will never be strong enough to deter you away from him. dan heng also assured you that he’s not going anywhere, even if he gave the opposite impression. that you can also rely on him when you need him, and that he’ll do better from now on. 

the days and nights of worrying were undone by his simple action of finally reaching out, of finally letting his walls down for you again. a full night spent reassuring one another, learning how to better trust each other, and finding ways to better navigate your unique relationship. and that’s the thing with loving dan heng, that there will inevitably be downs to accompany the moments of highs, but you two will always find a way to solve the problems you face. though at times it may feel like either one of you is slipping away, one of you will always be able to pull the other back from completely disappearing. that nothing is ever too great for the both of you to face, because you’d always find your way back to each other. 

“you ok now?”

“yeah, thank you for listening to me.”

“of course, i’ll always be here for you.”

“i seriously didn’t ruin your sleep?”

“nope”

“well, if you say so.”

“you feel like you can go back to sleep now?”

“yeah, all that talking made me sleepy to be honest”

“good, good. well i’ll also go to sleep now then.”

“good night, i love you”

“night night, and i love you too”

FINALLY IT'S HERE! this blog is not abandoned, i was just working on this one piece for such a long time T_T not only was i busy with other irl things, this work gave me such a hard time since i restarted this so many times already ಢ‸ಢ

this is such a word vomit and i'm not so sure with the formatting (looking at it makes me want to ndaoindawn), i might change it later on. anyways part 2 with the rest of the members will be posted shortly.

i hope this at the very least decent huhuhu. likes, reblogs, and comments are highly appreciated!

caelesblues @ 2023 | do not steal, copy, plagiarize, or repost on any other platform

[five-rivers]

Cracked Clay Cup Chapter 4

Phic Phight Phic! @greatbigolhampuckjustforme

“Ughh,” said Danny, falling onto Clockwork’s couch.  

Yes.  Danny.  Despite Jazz lying to him a lot, the name had grown on him.  She wasn’t bad.  Just.  Bad at lying.  And sort of… constantly suspicious.  And definitely not his mother.  He was pretty sure she cared about him.  No one who didn’t care about him would push schoolwork that hard.  

Unless she’d been trying to harvest his brain.  

Yeah, he’d sort of decided that wasn’t what was going on by the end of the second day.  It was still kind of fun to say.  Jazz’s face had made some very funny movements when he brought it up.  It was kind of… endearing.  Yeah.  

“Hello, Daniel,” said Clockwork.  “I take it you had a good time with Miss Jasmine.”

“It was… A time.  I think she did know me before.  She had a lot of funny stories from when I was a kid.  And she had a really nice bedroom for me.  They do their own decorating, right?”

“They acquired and furnished the homes you will be staying in from their own resources, but they may have hired decorators.”

“Okay.  She had very strong opinions about schoolwork.”

“You will find that many of your potential guardians have strong feelings regarding your education.”

“Great,” said Danny.  He rubbed his face.  “Now what?  Do I just jump right into the next one, or do I get, like, a grace period or something?”

“You can take as long to recover from your experience as you’d like.”  He sounded amused.  “You don’t need to push yourself.”

“Mhm,” said Danny.  He stared up at the ceiling.  “Can I see the list again?”

Clockwork set the folder gently down on his lap.  

“Thanks,” said Danny, opening the folder.  “I was thinking about going to the other extreme this time around.  The oldest.  Which page are they?”

“Green,” said Clockwork.  

Danny looked up.  Clockwork’s tone had seemed… off.  But his expression wasn’t any different.  What Danny could see of it, anyway.  He’d turned slightly away, so he only saw the edge of his face.  

He looked back at the manilla folder and the green piece of paper.  

“So,” he said, “ do you know this… Oculus and Orbis?  Those are kind of weird names.  Maybe not too weird for ghosts, though.  Oculus and Orbis.  Eye… and also eye.  Wow.  Wonder if I’m going from someone who wants to steal my brains to someone who wants to steal my eyes.”

“They won’t try to steal your eyes.”

That sounded unconvincing in the extreme.  

“Are you sure?”

“Relatively so.”  That actually sounded rather threatening.  Danny gave him another look, but, again, he seemed fine.  Mostly fine.  

“So…  Married couple.  That’s different.  Maybe they’ll be more like grandparents?  Interests… Coloring.  I guess they mean, like, adult coloring books?  That’s pretty cool, I didn’t mind drawing at Jazz’s.  Watching…  I think they must have left something off here, it just says watching.  Watching… Sunsets?  TV?  Movies?”

“You will have to wait and see,” said Clockwork as he adjusted a painting on the wall.  It was of something generic and pastoral, but it was nice.  

“And… ew.  Astrology.  Do they really like astrology?”

“I can only refer you back to the information sheet.”

“Okay,” said Danny.  “Fortune telling isn’t real, right?”

“It depends on your point of view.”

“You can time travel, right?”

“That is within my powerset, yes.”

“Huh,” said Danny.  “So, you could see the future.”

“I could,” said Clockwork.  “To some degree.”

“So, you already know who I will pick.”

“Not exactly,” said Clockwork.  “Time follows a somewhat more complicated path than that of an arrow.”

“An arrow’s path doesn’t have to be simple, anyway.  It bends, because of gravity.  Unless you’re in space.”

“Indeed.  Have you eaten dinner?”

“Not yet,” said Danny.  “But shouldn’t you already know that?”

“It is polite to ask.”

.

Danny laid awake in bed.  He missed the stars in the bedroom he had at Jazz’s.  The blankets were comfier here, though.  And there were more pillows.  Tradeoffs.  He still hadn’t asked Clockwork if he’d done his own decorating.  

Yeah.  It wasn’t at all bad here.  But he wondered if he had, maybe, acted too quickly with leaving Jazz.  

It was a little too late to doubt his decision, though.  He couldn't undo it.  Not without Clockwork cooperating.  He didn't really want to undo it, anyway.  There were all the other people to visit and figure out and whatever.  

Hopefully, by the end, he'd be able to figure out enough to understand himself. 

He held his hand up over his head, fingers splayed, and tried to reach for the spark of transformation that Jazz swore up and down existed.  Nothing happened.

He sighed and rolled over in bed.  He'd think about it in the morning.  Or never.  Never sounded good. 

.

Danny bounced down the stairs two at a time.  “Breakfast?” he asked, hopefully.  

“Potatoes o'brien with gravy and eggs,” said Clockwork.  “I must confess, I’m surprised you aren’t flying down the stairs.”

“Haven’t really figured it out properly yet,” said Danny, throwing himself into a chair.  “I kept trying at Jazz’s, but I kept running into the walls and ceiling and stuff.  And where would I fly to, anyway?”

“I see,” said Clockwork, sounding vaguely amused.  

“Not what you expected of me, huh?”

“Not particularly.”

“Well, that’s just what happens when you erase someone’s memory and throw them into weird situations with redheads that are a little too obsessed with brain surgery.”

Clockwork’s answering hum was definitely amused.

“Would you like juice with your breakfast?”

“Do you have hot chocolate?” asked Danny.  “With whipped cream?”

“I do,” said Clockwork.  “Would you like some?”

“Please.”

Clockwork pulled an enameled teakettle from one of the cabinets and set it on the stovetop.  The enamel was purple, of course.  

“Are you still set on visiting Oculus and Orbis next?”

“I mean, I’d have to visit them eventually, anyway, right?  That’s the rule, isn’t it?”

“Technically speaking, no.  If you feel a strong enough connection with one of the candidates, you can forgo meeting the rest of them.”

“Wow,” said Danny.  “You really don’t like them.”

“I do not want my feelings to influence you.”

“That’s not a denial.”

Clockwork set the plate down in front of Danny.  “I do not want my feelings to influence you, negative or positive.”

“Sure,” said Danny.  He started to shove food in his mouth.  “So, Jazz told me something weird when I was over there.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.  Something about me being half ghost.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Yes?  Yes?  You mean that’s a real thing?”

“To some degree, yes,” said Clockwork.

“What does that mean?”

“You have a variety of extremely rare abilities,” said Clockwork.  “Whether those are the results of being half ghost, part human, a superb but singular transformation ability, or something else… That is a matter for debate.”

“Okay, so, transformation.  How?”

“Alas, for all that I can see, I cannot see into your mind.  I do not know how your transformations felt to you, nor how you accomplished them.”

“Oh,” said Danny, pushing around a stray piece of egg on his plate.  That was unhelpful, but he supposed it made sense.  “There’s not anything going on like, um, you’re keeping me from transforming on purpose?  Like how you said you’ve changed my appearance.”

“No,” said Clockwork.  

“Okay,” said Danny.  He scraped together the last of the potatoes.  “I’m going to go get ready before I go.  I’m still going to Oculus and Orbis.”

“Mm,” said Clockwork.  

Yeah, Danny could definitely tell Clockwork didn’t like those two.  This would probably be short, compared to his stay with Jazz.  He went upstairs and brushed his teeth before changing.  Jazz had gotten on his case about that more than once.  

What to wear today… hm…  He flipped through his closet.  Hm.  How about the skirt…  It was a nice silvery green.  And what to go on top?  That jacket was about the same length as the shirt.  And, hm, he didn’t feel like going pants-less… Or stockings.  Maybe capris?  He could do capris.  Those were cool.  Then he could show off the socks Jazz had given him.  

Were those here?  He looked through the sock drawer.  They were.  Huh.  

He really wished Jazz had been honest with him.  He really did.  And maybe a little bit less crazy about school.  Because he was absolutely sure that what she’d had him doing was over and above what schools would do.  

He pulled on his solar system socks.  

Okay.  He was ready.  

He went downstairs.  “I’m ready.”

“I see that,” said Clockwork.  “Your socks are very nice.”

“Oh, thanks!”  

Clockwork tilted his staff to the side and a portal formed.  “As before, press the button when you are ready to return.”

Danny nodded and stepped through.  Once the blue rush of the portal cleared from his ears and eyes, he found himself in a massive marble foyer.  Circular decorations in black and gold were inset in the stone.  Waiting in the center, holding on to each other’s elbows, were the strangest couple Danny had ever seen.  

Well, they were the only couple Danny had ever seen.  They were tall, robed in rich fabrics trimmed in gold and black.  Their skin was a textured, vivid green, and they were totally bald.  Well.  They were wearing wigs, but they were very obviously wigs.  One wig was blonde and long, the other was silver and short.  Both of them covered their eyes.  One was also wearing a long skirt and delicate jewelry.  The other wore bulky jewelry, gloves, and some sort of black sheath over its tail.  

“Phantom,” they said, simultaneously, spreading their arms wide. 

“My dear,” said the one in the skirt in a surprisingly high-pitched voice, “it is so good to see you again.”

“You haven’t had any problems with the riff-raff harassing us with this ludicrous custody dispute, have you, son?” asked the other, in a surprisingly low-pitched voice.  

“No?” said Danny, dodging a hug.  “I haven’t had any trouble.”

“Excellent news!  But now you’re back with us,” said the deep-voiced and vaguely masculine one.  “So you don’t need to worry about it anymore.  All our worries are over.  From now on, we have all our days ahead of us, full of joy and light!”

Danny… was pretty sure that last sentence didn’t make sense.  

“Yes, yes,” said the higher-pitched one.  “We will care for you now and forever.  Your days will be filled with the luxury you so richly deserve.”

“Luxury, huh?”

“Of course, love,” said the high-pitched one.  “Luxury, beyond the dreams of the masses.  Not your dreams, of course.”

“Um,” said Danny.  

“The best foods, the best clothes, the best games–  Everything those other fools would deny you!”

Danny had the distinct sense he was being bribed.  

“Okay,” he said, “but, um, what are your names?”

They looked at each other.  “I am Oculus,” said the low-pitched one.  

“I am Orbis,” said the high-pitched one.  

“Right,” said Danny.  “And who is Phantom?  Is that some kind of ghost pet name?”

“It is your name,” said Orbis.  

“Oh,” said Danny.

“Did Clockwork not tell you?”

“He told me my name is Daniel.”

“Hm,” said Orbis.  

“Hm,” said Oculus.  “Be that as it may, your name is most certainly Phantom.  You have no other.”

Yeah.  Danny wasn’t buying that.  

“Okay,” he said, out loud.  “So, um, how do I know you guys?”

“Well,” said Orbis, sniffing slightly, “we rescued you from those awful ghost hunters, didn’t we?  They treated you so terribly, we couldn’t help but intervene, and then, well, we fell in love with you.  Who couldn’t?”  They started laughing.  The laughter went on for… a while.  

Danny smiled tightly and nodded.  

“But enough of that!” said Oculus.  “We must give you the grand tour!  Show you all the things that are now, and will forever be, yours!”

What followed was a lengthy hike through an absolutely enormous, almost castle-like mansion.  There was so much stuff.  So many things.  Toys, furniture, games, computers, decorations, flowers, perfumes, food.  It was dizzying.  

“And,” said Oculus, gesturing grandly at a set of rooms larger than Jazz’s entire place, “these are your rooms!  There’s an ensuite - with a pool of course - and your favorite video games, and we can’t forget your mini-kitchen, completely stocked–”

Danny sort of tuned them out as they went down the list of things in the rooms, eyes sliding over various accouterments and accommodations.  It was all very nice.  But it was also, somehow, empty.  

Well, the stuff was cool.  He didn’t understand what was going on with the people, but… He could stay here a few days.  

.

Danny wandered the frankly enormous house, looking for his supposed guardians.  He was pretty sure it was in the middle of afternoon, and he had yet to see them.  This, he thought, was not conducive to actually getting to know them.  

So, he was searching as methodically as he could, given the nonsensical layout.  There was a swimming pool in the middle of a ring of kitchens, for goodness sake.  There was a library in the basement.  

But finally, he did it.  

“Uh,” said Danny.  He was pretty sure this one was Orbis.  Long haired wig, light jewelry.  Yep.  “Orbis?”

They didn’t turn around.  

“Orbis?” he repeated.  He came close me.  “Excuse me?  Orbis?”  He tapped their shoulder.  They jumped about a foot.  

“Goodness, child!  Why didn’t you say something if you wanted my attention.”

“I… did,” said Danny.  “Are you not Orbis?”

“I,” said the ghost.  “Yes.”

The other ghost glided into the room.  “Did I hear someone calling me?” they asked.  They were dressed identically to the first.  

Danny looked between the two of them as they started gesturing emphatically at each other.  He knew that ghosts could be weird, and there were a number of different lifestyles that could result in… whatever this was… but he sort of didn’t think that was what was going on.  Actually, he didn’t–  Were these ghosts shorter than they were yesterday?  He hadn’t been paying all that much attention to their dimensions…

The gesture battle they were having, as if they thought he couldn’t see them, was definitely suspicious.  Was there a ghost version of sign language?

Yeah, this was escalating.  He edged closer to the arguing ghosts.  He was about to do something that could be considered socially crass, but…

His hand flashed out and grabbed the wig of the nearest ghost.  He pulled it loose.

Without the wig, the ghost was completely bald.  They were also obviously one-eyed.  They turned to stare at him, that one, huge, eye wide and alarmed.  

Now, Danny didn’t remember all that much, but he knew who the Observants were.  

“Yeah,” he said, grabbing the pocketwatch.  “I’m out.”

[emmawithtwoms]

The history of magic classroom

@wolfstarmicrofic day 9, 988 words

The history of magic classroom has always been, in Sirius’ eyes (and all of Hogwarts’ really), the best place to take undisturbed naps. Professor Binn’s voice always acted as white noise for the tired students, and the extremely boring class was always taught in the early mornings, lulling all of the pupils, who still hadn’t managed to rub the sleep out of their eyes, back into the dream’s realms. 

Well, all of the students, except for one. 

Remus Lupin was, quite possibly, the only boy in all of Hogwarts to not only manage to stay awake during Binn’s lessons, but to actually enjoy them, taking notes and gladly sharing them with the rest of the class, also helping younger students revising and giving many free (and actually interesting) lessons for whoever was in need. Not even Lily Evans, classified swot, could bring herself to enjoy that class, but to Remus, it was one of the most interesting lesson in Hogwarts, managing to stay top of his class every year. 

That’s why that particular Tuesday morning was exceptionally grimm for poor Remus. You see, not only January’s full moon came on a Saturday night, not only it came the night of his anniversary with his incredible, stunning and fabulous boyfriend (his words, although Remus totally agreed), making him too weak to properly celebrate (with a date and very through snogging session, in his mind), but the moon was also a bad one, leaving him bedridden for the following couple of days, impeding him from participating to his favourite classroom. 

Therefore, the pout on his lips and his grumbling while alone in the infirmary were totally understandable, even if not shared by his friends. And that’s how Sirius found him at the end of the school day: reading a (very boring, in Sirius’ opinion) book about the goblin revolution that they were studying in class, with a very prominent crease on his eyebrows given by his frown (Sirius believed that the frown hadn’t left his brows sinvìce that morning, when mrs. Pomfrey forbid him to leave the infirmary). 

“Moonyyy, you know you shouldn’t frown, it will give you wrinkles.”

Sirius proceeded to smooth the wrinkles on his forehead with his thumb, followed by his lips. He clearly saw all of Remus’s tension leave his body, making him melt against his boyfriend’s affections. 

“Hey pads, how was the school day?”

Sirius took his hand and started playing with his fingers, as he often did when talking to him. 

“It was fine, I managed to charm Snivellus’ chair so that he got stuck to it during Charms, and Mulciber got detention for causing an explosion during potions, it was brilliant”

“And I guess you had nothing to with the sudden blowing of his cauldron”

“Actually, my dearest Moony, I did not, even if I wished it was my doing. No, I think this time it was Evans and the girls, getting revenge after hearing that prick bad mouthing some muggleborns. You know, those girl can actually be pretty scary, when they put their minds into it”

“Oh yeah, tell me about it, we just gotta be thankful that they decided to be our friends, otherwise we would be screwed.”

“And all thanks to you, my Moonage daydream, you charmed our way into their hearts, opening the door for us to sweep through and settle into their lives”

“Huh, seems like I’m quite the charmer then, is that what I did with you? ”

“Don’t be ridiculous, my bright Natural Satellite. Nope, you stole my heart right away and never gave it back, you little thief.”

“Well, lucky me, now I have the most precious treasure in the world in my hands, and I don’t really plan of giving it back”

At that he squeezed Sirius’ hand, looking at him and blushing, like the romantic sap he is. 

“Oh Moony, my Moony, all those books really taught how to enchant me with your words, did they?” 

Remus couldn’t answer, because he was swept in a kiss by Sirius, and well, let’s just say that when Sirius Black kisses and holds you like you’re the most important thing in the world, there is not much else that your brain can concentrate on, for Remus, it was just SirusSiriusSiriusSiriusSirius. 

But then Sirius suddenly broke the kiss, (quite rudely, if you ask Remus). 

“Oh, I almost forgot, I’m meant to give you something!”

And he started rustling in his bag, looking for said something 

“There!”

Sirius handed Remus a little pile of parchment, that was neatly stored in his bag

“What is this, love?”

And he started scanning them, ignoring the puddle that Sirius became hearing the pet name. 

“It’s just today’s note, I wouldn’t want my favourite swot to lose his precious class time”

And there, in Remus’ hand, neatly written with a perfect posh cursive, were the notes for the whole day, not only of the subjects that Sirius actually enjoyed, like Charms, but also of...

“You didn’t!!! You actually stayed awake during History of Magic to take notes for me???” 

The notes were neatly written, clearly taken with the only purpose to be gifted to Remus, seeing the amount of messages, hearts, “I love you”s, and doodles that Sirius left in the margins for him. 

Now, this might not seem like a big deal for many, but to Remus, the fact that Sirius not only stayed awake during a class that he hated, but actually put in the effort taking notes just to gift them to Remus, without even using them for himself, was the most heartwarming gift he could have gotten post moon. 

“Oh, you beautiful, beautiful man, how did I manage to deserve something so special like you?”

“It’s quite simple, my stunning Night Howler: you were trapped by my insanely good looks, my charm, my flashing grin, my amazing personality,  my ass…” 

“Sirius”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up and kiss me”

And kiss him he did. 

[haddonfieldwhore]

cold mornings - leon kennedy

leon kennedy x reader

warnings: none i think, just fluff💕🧸 (short)

as you slowly woke up from your sleeping state, your hand instinctively reached over the to space next to you, only to find it empty. the sheets were still warm where your boyfriend, leon, usually slept, meaning he hadn’t left the bed that long ago. you rolled over onto your stomach, burying your face in the pillow that still smelt of leon’s shampoo. you sighed happily, even as the chilly morning air tried to touch your bare legs. having slept in just an old t-shirt of leon’s, your wrapped your arms around yourself as you sat up, shivering as your feet touched the cold hardwood floor.

the sun was just beginning to rise as you walked out of leon’s bedroom and down the hallway, looking for the blond agent. you found him in the kitchen, his hair tousled and messy from sleep, wearing a faded R.P.D hoodie, so worn that the logo was almost invisible. even with the slight bags under his eyes, you couldn’t imagine leon looking any cuter than he did right now, as he fiddled with the coffee maker that he never could seem to get working right.

“why don’t you just by a new one?” you asked, and leon jumped slightly, seemingly not having heard you walk up behind him. “sorry baby, i didn’t mean to scare you.”

“it’s okay,” he sighed, pulling you into his arms, and you happily accepted the warmth he gave off. “i’ll figure this thing out eventually.” you smiled to yourself as with no more than two presses of a button, you got the machine working. “huh, i guess that’s why i keep you around,” leon teased, pulling back to kiss you on the forehead, his arms still around you resting on your lower back. you tugged at the fabric of the old hoodie, pulling his lips down to meet yours in a soft kiss. he was smiling when you pulled back.

“i hope that’s not the only reason,” you replied playfully, and he laughed lightly.

“no, i also love you a little bit.”

“a little bit?” you asked. raising an eyebrow.

“ok.. a lot,” he smiled, kissing you again. the coffee finished dripping into the pot and leon passed you your favourite mug. you poured the coffee in before adding some creamer, and pulled leon by his hand towards the couch once he had gotten his coffee as well. leon sat down and let you crawl into his lap, your legs over his as your back rested against the armrest. he pulled a plush blanket over both of you, quickly warming you up and protecting you from the cold air.

“thanks,” you hummed, snuggling into him, carefully as not to spill the coffee cup that you held in your lap.

“i wish every morning could be like this,” leon mumbled, thinking out loud. you smiled in agreement.

“that means i’d have to spend the night more often,” you replied.

“my apartment is closer to your work anyway, it’s more practical for you to stay here.” he enthused; he was right, his apartment was 15 minutes closer to your work than yours was. “plus the added bonus of i get to spend more time with you like this,” he beamed, kissing your neck innocently. you had to admit, you enjoyed falling asleep next to leon. considering his line of work, the two of you didn’t always get to spend time just relaxing and enjoying each others company. you had to cherish these moments, and any excuse to have more of them was welcome in both your opinions.

“that definitely is a bonus. and i sleep better knowing i have you to protect me,” you admitted. you could see something- maybe guilt- flash in leon’s eyes, before he forced a smile.

“are you kidding? you’re here to protect me,” he chuckled, and you hit his chest gently. nuzzling your head into the crook of his neck, leon held you tighter, tracing little shapes on your bare leg under the blanket.

you could definitely get used to more mornings like this.

[fernhelm]

opinions on the black sister relationships? i love your character posts sm!

i’m blowing you a kiss!

i love thinking about them…sorry this took so long, i was busy lounging and watching killing eve. i might type up something about the dynamic between the three of them, but i broke them down into pairs here.

bella & cissa ♛

i made a webweave here that basically sums up my thoughts on bellacissa. i do think cissa thinks she’s a fanatic and completely bonkers, but she’d defend her anyway. narcissa appreciates that in their patriarchal fucked up family, bella is carving her own path—she isn’t docile or ladylike at all. so cissa takes some vicious pleasure in how unleashed bella is. conversely, bellatrix has a deep-seeded jealousy FOR narcissa, who is at least able to play the part of the perfect pure blood woman in a way bellatrix never could. my vision is that druella has contempt for bella but pays a lot of attention to narcissa. once druella is dead, bella sees narcissa as both her baby and her mother in a way, and she resents both. but i won’t get into bella here she deserves her own post.

bella & andy ♞

the hardest relationship for me is bella and andy. my belief is that these two are one year apart in age, like irish twins. we know from dh that they’re basically identical. I think they were pitted against each other a lot. they both end up teaching each other how conditional someone caring for you can be. it’s obvious that andy leaving really wounds bella (as evidenced by the ferocity with which she wants to kill ted and tonks), so there is a degree of power andy hold over her emotionally. bella is both the terrorist and the protector in the home. she goes after both her sisters, but it’s with the ultimate goal of making them strong enough to face anything that’s thrown at them…andy doesn’t want to change her or save her—she knows all the dark, evil parts of her and grapples with all the times bella showed her tenderness or turned her rage against someone else for her sake. i think they can read each other’s body language perfectly, but don’t understand each other’s minds at all. once they’re older they fight all the time, verbally if not with magic, and it would start with bella making some pointed jabs to get her attention and andy curating a biting response without looking up from her magazine and just like that they’re dueling. but once it’s over and they’re panting on the floor, bella would kick her leg and they’d smirk at each other a bit. or one of them would storm out. i do think that andy did bella’s hair for every event they attended between the ages of 8 and 16. huh, i guess i have more to say about them than i thought i did.

andy & cissa ♝

narcissa spends years stepping in the footprints andy has left behind. before she figures out who she is, she’s just a ghost of andy. she learns all her best defenses from her. i don’t think andy feels very bad about leaving her behind. i don’t think she’d try to convince narcissa to go with her either. she would miss her so much, but she’d grieve her like she’s dead. i don’t see her as a person who holds on to a lot of regrets. and she’s in love! she wants to run away and forget every bad thing that ever happened to her! is that a crime? narcissa thinks it is. growing up andy was her strongest ally, and she takes it as the ultimate betrayal when she leaves. similarly to regulus, she looks down on andy and maligns her whenever her name comes up, but it’s a cover up for how hurt she is. andy knows all the reasons that narcissa thinks she’s trapped in the life she leads, but she still thinks ‘if you want out, get out.’

daughters 1, 2, 3 ♙

fairy tales often follow a 1 2 3 format because it’s easy to remember a moral lesson tied up with a bow when it comes in a set of three (three billy goats, beauty and the beast, the peverell brothers). it goes bad bad good. so it’s super interesting that the ostensibly “good” one, andy, is the middle child. she is bookended by two death eater sisters. which raises the question: what went wrong (or right) with her? and for the others too—narcissa in canon is primarily draco’s mother, but giving her andromeda AND bellatrix as sisters raises all kinds of questions about her upbringing and interpersonal relationships. bellatrix chases and scolds narcissa at the beginning of half-blood prince, and she’s not particularly scary at all. the terrifying evil bitch who killed sirius calls her sister cissy? three sisters who mean vastly different things to harry, but we never get the three of them in a room, so so much is left to the imagination. lots to play with. good things come in threes!

[bucky-fricking-barnes]

Reckless

Title: Reckless

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Word Count: 3.7k

Warnings: Fluff

Summary: Y/N goes on a date with Steve Rogers and, unbeknownst to him, comes to the conclusion that he’s a very gentlemanly, albeit very boring, person. However, she decides to give him a second chance before she forms her final opinion of him.

A/N: Thank you for reading and supporting me! I hope you enjoy this quick little story about our lovely Steve. Dividers are by @firefly-graphics

“So how did the date go?”

You have your head propped up with a hand under your chin, so you simply sigh and try to keep your expression neutral as you search for the words. If this were a video or phone call, your friend wouldn’t be able to read you so easily, but you know that she’s caught on already when she winces across the table from you.

“That bad, huh?” Sophia asks.

Shaking your head, you sigh again and gesture vaguely with your free hand. “It was fine. It was good, I guess. I didn’t have a bad time. It’s just…”

“What? He wasn’t a creep, was he? I thought you said he was nice!” She leans in, almost knocking her drink over as she reaches across the table for one of your fries.

“No, no, he was nice. That’s just it, though. He was just nice.”

She chews, humming around the fries as you drop your arm and finish off the rest of your drink to occupy yourself. You don’t want to say anything too specific since you know his life is already so public, so you pick up your fork again and move some of the food around on your plate. At that, Sophia raises an eyebrow, then swallows and takes a sip.

“So… Are you gonna go out with him again?”

The waitress comes by to refill your water and you both offer her polite smiles and murmur thank yous, which gives you time to consider your answer. Steve had been a nice date—an almost perfect one, at that—but that was all you could say about your time with him. Sure, he checked all the boxes. On paper, he was the perfect match for you, but in reality, there was no spark, and you’d found him fairly boring. You feel a little bad calling Steve Rogers boring, of all people, but you can’t lie to yourself about it, no matter how great a person he is.

“I don’t know. Maybe? It feels rude to judge whether I like someone or not after only one date, since everyone’s nervous on first dates, and he was really nice…” You trail off, tilting your head from side to side with a grimace. “I don’t know.”

Sophia arranges her dishes so they’re easy to collect. “Well, you don’t have to make a decision right away. I mean, it’s not like he’s asked you out again so soon already, right?” Her smile fades into a gasp of disbelief when you don’t agree, and she smacks her hand on the table. “Already? Man, this guy moves fast!”

You nod. You’d been just as surprised as she is. You hadn’t known what to say when Steve had texted you this morning, so you’d just left the message on read. Thankfully, the dating app would never tell him that, but you still felt bad about not responding right away. Hopefully, he just thought you were busy at work.

“Already. He wants to go out again tonight,” you tell her. You wince again and fall back against the booth, crossing your arms. “Am I crazy if I tell him no?”

“No! Absolutely not, you can totally tell him no. You don’t have to go out with him if you don’t want to. You’re not obligated to go on a second date with him either,” Sophia reminds you.

Your phone buzzes in your pocket and you dig it out, glancing briefly at the screen to make sure it’s not important. And it’s not, really, because it’s a message from Steve telling you that he won’t be offended if you decline his offer to take you out for dinner. The twinge of guilt you felt earlier is more like a stab now.

“How can someone so boring be so sweet?” you whine, more rhetorically than anything, but Sophia jumps on the question.

“Is that Steve?” 

Nodding, you shove the phone back into your pocket. “Yeah. I don’t know, I’ll probably tell him yes. One more perfectly boring date can’t hurt..” You shake your head a little. “I’ll let you know what I decide to do.”

Your friend smiles and slides out of the booth, taking her bag with her. You do the same and wait for her to be ready before you walk beside her to the diner’s exit. After a quick hug, the two of you part ways and you head back to your apartment.

That night, there’s a knock at your door precisely at six o’clock, exactly when Steve said he’d be there. You sigh a little, expecting just as much, and you smooth out your dress. It’s one you haven’t worn in a long while, but you’re hoping it will inspire a reaction from him. At this point, any reaction besides the politest one would be a welcome change.

You open the door and smile when Steve meets your eyes. He smiles back, small and polite. He’s dressed well, in jeans and a white shirt, with a navy jacket over his shoulders. It’s infinitely more casual than the button-up and khakis he’d worn to your first date earlier this week, and it’s a good sign.

“Hi, Y/N. I hope I’m not early?” he asks, though you both know he’s not.

“No, it’s alright. I just need to get my shoes on. Come on in?” You step out of the doorway and gesture for him to enter. Once he’s inside, you shut the door and turn, only to find him inches closer than he was before. You inhale sharply and meet his gaze, then look down at the singular flower in his hand.

“For you,” he says. “I was afraid a bouquet would get damaged on the ride here.” He glances down at your dress and clears his throat. “I think it would probably be better if you changed into pants, too.”

You blink. “Pants? Why? What’s wrong with my dress?” This wasn’t the response or reaction you’d been hoping for. You step back a little, suddenly self-conscious about your choice in outfit.

Steve looks a bit sheepish as he hands you the flower and steps back to give you more space to breathe. “Yes. I rode my… bike.”

Raising your eyebrows, you glance over at your closed curtains. The window faces out into the street, where you know from experience most people park if they’re only staying for a short time.

“Your bike,” you repeat. He nods, and you carefully step around him to go look out the window. There is, in fact, a motorcycle parked in one of the spots. The light from the lamps reflects off the shining black and silver metal, and you let the curtain fall back into place with a quiet laugh. It seems that Steve Rogers could truly be the daredevil that some of the internet prospects him to be.

When you turn, Steve is still standing by your front door. The golden glow from the lamp by your couch casts a shadow behind him, making him seem taller and darker, but he watches you with such trepidation that he doesn’t seem as intimidating as you know he does to some. 

“It’s a Harley,” he tells you.

You smile a little. “Gotcha. I guess I’ll go change, then. Just give me a minute?”

Steve nods and you hurry to your room to change into a different outfit. In a moment of panic, you drop the flower into a half-finished glass of water on your nightstand. You don’t want to make Steve stand awkwardly in your living room any longer than you have to. 

With very little time to spare, you quickly change into jeans and one of your favorite tops, then head back into the living room. Steve has moved to look at your shelves, inspecting your photos, books, and knick-knacks in silence. He’s got his hands in his pockets and you watch for a second as he stands so relaxed in a foreign space.

“I’m ready if you are,” you finally say, stepping further into the room.

He turns and nods, then glances back at one of the photos. “Where was this taken?”

Frowning, you move closer so you can see, and then you smile a little. “That was back in college, at some restaurant near campus. It was this little local place that my friends and I used to go to. I think that was after one of their trivia nights.”

“You like trivia?” he asks, and you shrug.

“I’m not very great at it. Probably not as good as you—you’ve had a lot more time to study up.” Inwardly, you cringe. Steve probably doesn’t like to be reminded of his past.

There’s a beat where you and Steve stare at each other, and then he smiles at you. “That’s what Clint keeps telling me. He’s been trying to convince me to join his team. Maybe I’ll take him up on it the next time he offers.”

“That sounds like it would be fun,” you reply, nodding.

“Are you ready to go?”

You nod again and grab your things, sticking your phone into your pocket before following him out. He opens the door for you and pauses so you can check that it’s locked once you’re in the hallway, and then you let him lead you down to the motorcycle parked out front.

It’s even bigger than you’d thought. You hesitate at the curb, and Steve smiles encouragingly when he holds out the helmet he’s clearly brought for you.

“I promise to drive safely,” he says.

“Do you not normally?”

He ducks his head at that, smiling a little more. “Some of my friends tend to say I’m a little reckless.”

“Reckless?” you scoff. “I wouldn’t have pinned you as someone who’s reckless after the other night. I figured you’d be the exact opposite.”

You take the helmet and carefully fit it onto your head, then drop your hands when Steve steps closer to check that it’s secure. He buckles the strap underneath your chin.

“Well, I’m not great at first impressions. I was nervous. I don’t spend a lot of time eating dinner with pretty girls.”

Cheeks warm at the compliment, you laugh and follow him over to the bike. He climbs on first. You straddle the bike behind him once he’s holding it straight, then carefully slip your arms around his waist.

“Is this okay?” you ask.

“It’s great. You’re doing great, Y/N. Make sure you hold on tight, okay?”

“Can I ask where we’re going?”

He glances over his shoulder as he starts the bike. “Brooklyn!”

The engine is too loud for you to ask any more questions, so you simply tighten your grip around his (very firm) waist and tuck your head against his shoulder as he backs the bike out of the spot and then onto the street. There’s little traffic and not a single red light, but as he maneuvers you to wherever in Brooklyn you’re headed, he still swerves around and between the cars and trucks. It’s exhilarating, and a little wild, and by the time you arrive, your heart is pumping and you’re smiling from ear to ear. Once he’s parked, Steve looks back over his shoulder at you, then laughs as you detach yourself from him.

“That was fun!” you tell him as you carefully climb off. Your legs are a little unsteady, and he quickly holds out a hand to help you regain your balance.

“Good, I’m glad. We have to walk a little from here, is that okay?” Steve asks. He climbs off the bike, but you don’t fail to notice that he doesn’t release you from his grip. Not that you mind. His hair is ruffled from the wind, and though you’re sure that yours is too, you can’t bring yourself to fix it. You’re not so worried about being so perfect when he’s relaxed like this, unlike last time.

“That’s fine, yeah. Where exactly are we going? Besides Brooklyn, that is.”

You and Steve start walking, with him on the outside. He keeps hold of your hand as he explains, “It’s an old diner. It’s not one that I grew up going to, but it’s authentic enough that it feels like it.” He pauses and glances over at you. “I know it’s kinda cheesy to go to a retro diner for a date, but—”

“I love it,” you interrupt before he can say anything otherwise. “It sounds like fun. Do they have a jukebox? I don’t think I’ve used one of those in forever!”

Your hands swing between you slightly as you walk, and Steve glances over, smiling. “If they don’t, I’ll keep that in mind for our next date. If you want to go out again, that is,” he quickly adds, the smile faltering.

Unabashed, you squeeze his hand with a grin. “So far, so good, Steve.”

The rest of the walk to the dinner is filled with conversation, and though you still talk at the table, you realize that he’s more comfortable talking when he’s moving. His hands are constantly fidgeting, as if he has too much energy for his body, and when you’re finally done eating and the bill has been paid, you glance out the diner’s windows.

“Is there a place we can go for a walk around here? It’s nice out, and I don’t think I’m ready to go home yet,” you say.

Steve seems a little surprised, but pleased, and he nods as he slides out of the booth. You do the same, waving at the employees behind the long painted counter as you leave.

“There’s a park about a block that way,” Steve says. He points further down the street. “It’s got a trail that goes around it. I’ve run there a few times.”

“Wanna race?” you ask, grinning. You’re full from the meal, but you’ve been wondering just how fast and strong he really is since you first started talking. He certainly eats like an athlete, and you’ve seen pictures and videos of some of the things he’s done. You just want to know what it’s like when he uses his abilities for fun instead of work.

“Really?”

You take off without another word. Behind you, Steve laughs. Your shoes aren’t made for running, and neither is the rest of your outfit, but you give it your best effort. It’s not a surprise when Steve passes you only seconds later. His figure quickly becomes miniature, but you see him stop at the corner to wait for you before crossing the street.

“You weren’t even going full speed, were you?” you pant once you reach the park. He’s grinning wide in the light from the lamps, standing tall while you’re bent over with your hands on your knees. “And you stopped!”

Steve laughs. He’s not even slightly winded. “You wanted to race!”

“What happened to polite, chivalrous Steve from the first date? Would you have let me win if I’d asked then?”

He laughs again, nodding, and leans against the lamp as you swallow thickly and try to catch your breath. “Probably. Like I said, you made me nervous.”

“Do I still make you nervous?” you ask. You start walking again, heading down the paved trail that loops around the park. 

Steve falls into step beside you, his hands in his pockets. “A little. I don’t normally go out on dates. I only had the app because I lost a bet with Natasha.”

You raise an eyebrow and glance at him as the two of you move out of a biker’s way. “Natasha? Like, Black Widow?”

“That’s the one.”

“What was the bet?” you ask him. You’re nearing a playground, and it’s dark enough that it’s empty except for a couple pigeons, but there’s a mother walking with a stroller up ahead.

He ducks his head and rubs the back of his neck with one hand, smiling sheepishly. “I bet her that I could do more handsprings in a row than her.”

You stop and gape at him, and there’s a definite pink tint to his cheeks, even in the dim park lighting. “You’re kidding me. Are you serious, Steve? She’s like, the queen of gymnastics. She could probably go to the Olympics!”

“Probably,” he agrees, laughing. “It was a stupid bet.”

The two of you resume walking again, weaving around the stroller mom, and Steve puts his arm out to block you when you almost walk into a biker you don’t see. You give him a grateful smile and fall into comfortable silence as you walk, but there’s a question nagging at you from the back of your mind, so much so that you can’t ignore it.

“So how many handsprings did you end up doing?” you finally blurt out.

He chuckles. “Not as many as her.”

“What a political answer,” you tease. “Really, how many?”

There’s silence, and you nudge his arm with yours, stopping beside a tree. He looks at you and you raise your eyebrows expectantly.

“Two,” he sighs, and you have to cover your mouth when you snort. He gives you a scathing look, but it’s only a farce because his smile peeks through a minute later.

“I’m sorry, but I was expecting something a little more… heroic than two,” you tell him.

Steve rolls his eyes. “I’m better at other things,” he says.

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

He starts walking and you catch up, taking a few extra steps until you’re beside him again. His hand bumps against yours and you look down, then smile as you lace your fingers with his.

“Pull ups, push ups,” he lists. “Painting, piano.”

You glance over at him, surprised. You hadn’t suspected something so artistic.

“You paint and play piano?” you ask. He nods and you smile wider. “That’s so cool. Maybe you can show me one of your paintings sometime? Or hear you play?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

The rest of your walk around the park and back to his motorcycle is easy and comfortable, and you hold hands the entire time. You talk about everything, from work and your family to the practical jokes he and Bucky had pulled on Bucky’s younger sister back in the 30’s and 40’s. He gives you his jacket when you’re heading back in the direction of the diner, after you shiver. You protest, but he insists, and the jacket wrapped around you is much too warm and comforting for you to truly argue. By the time you reach his Harley, it’s been an hour and you still feel like you could keep going. 

Steve’s driving is a bit tamer on the way back to your apartment. There are more stop lights, too, and you take those moments to rest your chin on his shoulder and ask him questions or point out things you see. You have to yell, but he nods and smiles along, and when you’re finally parked outside your apartment building again, he recaps his comments and thoughts for you as he helps you off the bike once more. Your balance is better the second time, but Steve still holds your hand until you’re steady, and you hope he doesn’t notice how giddy it makes you.

“I had a really good time tonight,” you say as you arrive at your door. Carefully, you pull your arms from the sleeves of his jacket and hand it to him, then dig out your keys. You fiddle with them as he slips on the jacket again, shrugging his shoulders until it’s firmly in place. 

“Me too. I’d like to see you again, if that’s okay,” Steve replies, and you smile wide.

“I’d like that too.”

There’s a moment of silence where you stare at each other, and you look away first. You want to kiss him, but you know that as much as he’d surprised you tonight, Steve was still raised in a different time. He might not be comfortable kissing you so quickly, and you don’t want to push him.

“Can I kiss you?” he asks, so suddenly that you jump a little.

You blink, looking up from your keys. “What?”

He seems to take that as a sign of disinterest because he smiles politely and steps back a half step, the tips of his ears rosy in the dim hallway light. “Never mind. Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Wait, no,” you quickly say, stepping forward to regain his attention. “You just surprised me. Yes, you can kiss me.”

He smiles a little wider and closes the distance between you even more. His hand rests on your side, warm and solid as he leans in to press a chaste kiss against your lips. It’s sweet, and he somehow tastes like peppermint, though you’re sure he hasn’t been chewing gum.

A bit bashful, you rest your hand on his chest for a second after you pull away. You’re smiling like a fool but you can’t help it—Steve has proven himself over and over tonight, and he makes you feel like nothing could ever go wrong while he’s around. You’re close enough that you can smell his cologne, and you close your eyes for a second as you take a deep breath. Whatever it is, it’s warm and sweet, like coffee with cinnamon, and it makes you want to curl up against him forever. 

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he murmurs.

You meet his gaze and slide your hand down, then away. “Goodnight, Steve. Let me know when you get home, okay?”

He nods and watches as you unlock your apartment, then open the door and step inside. You give him one last look and one last smile before closing the door. Silently, you stand in the entry area and listen as he heads back down the stairs. Once you’re certain he’s far enough away that he won’t hear, you let out a little laugh before darting across your living room to peek out the window. He’s climbing onto his bike when you pull the curtains back, and after the bike roars to life, he tilts his head back and gives you a little salute, a small smile curling on his lips. You wave back, grinning, and then Steve is pulling away, racing down the street towards his home.

Thank you for reading! If you liked this, please consider reblogging my work so that others can enjoy it too.

I do not consent to have my work posted, translated, or published to any third party site or app. If anyone sees my work anywhere other than my personal tumblr, Patreon, or ao3 accounts, it has been reposted without my permission.

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Forever: @aya-fay

Steve Rogers: @lipstickandvibranium​ @delicatecapnerd

[isappuccino]

hey babe :3 u said reqs r open so i hv an idea!! make like a fic w gunwook n its highschool volleyball au where u both r the captains of the boys n girls teams idk how to explain it.. also do u think miumuras is a good username for my blog cs im gna change it once my smau is overrr

this ask is so old, omg im so sorry!

f!vbcap!reader x vbcap!rival!gunwook . fluff . no tw . rlly rlly cringe...

"gunwook." you say as you look up at him. "yn." he replies smiling, making fun of your seriousness. it really wasn't a big deal in his opinion, all he did was steal your court. "this is our court, we were here first." you state, trying to focus on his eyes and not the obvious smirk on his face, "yet you all left to get ice cream. meaning free opportunity, so i took it." he says, leaning down to get closer to your face.. you flinch away, scrunching your face up in the process. "bullshit. we booked this court a week ago! i'm getting coach." gunwooks smirk fades as he grabs your hand stopping you from walking away, "don't. fine, we'll give you the court, but only for today. don't keep expecting me to be nice." you scoff, watching him walk away 'what is he? some villian?' "alright, girls! on the court!" you hear your coach call out.

you walked out of the school, looking up at the heavy rain. quietly, you curse at yourself for not bringing an umbrella. "fuck. guess i'll have to run" you huff, annoyed since you're still sore from practice. "need help?" you hear from behind you. turning around you're face to face with the captain of the boys volleyball team, and your worst enemy. gunwook. 'great. just my luck.' you turn back around, rolling your eyes. "no. gunwook. i dont need your help." taking off your backpack you carry it above you as you step out into the pouring rain. "holy shit! its fucking cold!" you scream out, hearing giggles behind you, "do you need help now?" gunwook says, walking next to you with his umbrella dawning only above him. torturing you seemed like his favorite hobby. "oh fuck off dude. i dont wanna play today." you yell, walking faster than him.

it had been 10 minutes since you left the school, slowly hating how far away your home is from the school. weirdly enough, gunwook was still next to you walking with his umbrellla. you had passed by many people, staring at the two of you wondering why one of you was drenched in water, while the other remained dry. "fuck! fine I need your help!" you screamed in a last effort. the rain had gotten even worse. "okay!" gunwook said, instantly pushing himself closer to you. "feel better now, sweetheart?" gunwook smirks, "whatever, shut up and walk." you say shoving his side. you cant lie, his presence had been comforting. "say, do you really walk this far? everyday?" he asks, you nod before answering him. "i live this far, idiot." he laughs, looking down. "you're really pretty." he says randomly, a blush creeping on both your faces causes an awkward tension. "... you too." 'FUCK!' "you too?? can't even say thank you, huh?" he smirks, "shut up, i'll take that back too." yeah, maybe his presence wasn't so bad.

[simplydannie]

Veneer wakes up to find his sister gone… Only thing she left behind was a note. To keep the feeling of loneliness from building up, Veneer takes comfort in the company of the Trolls. All seem happy… except for Branch.

Part 2

Veneer,

Sorry for just leaving you like this. I know you’re hoping the Trolls can help us…. Maybe they can… but I need to figure some stuff out on my own. I just really need to figure who I am, and so do you. I changed you and I’m sorry. I didn’t want to tell you because I KNOW you would follow me. Not this time Veneer. I’ll be back, I don’t know when. Just stay out of trouble. Don’t do anything stupid. And PLEASE make some friends! Again, DO NOT FOLLOW ME! I’ll see when I see you.

- Velvet

Veneer awoke to find his sister’s room empty. She had gone and taken all her things. He didn’t know how long he cried for. First their parents, and now his sister has ran off to who knows where. He was alone… he was truly alone.

She couldn’t have gone back to Rageous…there was nothing for them there. If she went back they wouldn’t accept her on top… she’d go back to lower parts of Rageous…. Should he go after her? Should he drop everything and follow her? But she said not too? He felt so unsure.

The next couple of days after her disappearance he spent clinging to the Trolls. He was afraid to be alone, afraid dark thoughts would seep through. Floyd was more than happy to have Veneer around…

Floyd,

Don’t leave Veneer alone for too long. Keep an eye on him.

-Velvet

That’s all she had written him. Floyd wondered what she had met by that…So he kept him close. Slowly most of the Trolls accepted him, Poppy, Viva, and most of his brothers…Branch wasn’t to easily convinced.

Branch stared in jealousy one day as Floyd and Veneer talked during their stay in Bergentown, a big goofy smile on the Rageouns face. Veneer began to dress more normal, well normal for a Rageoun….

“Looks like Bitty B has a GIANT admirer.” John Dory chimed in.

“What?” Branch asked.

“The kid. He follows you around like no tomorrow! He really looks up to you.” JD smiled.

“Yeah! And I don’t know why! I guess “leave me alone, go away” means “let’s hang out” in his language.” Branch scoffed.

“Come on, give the kid a break…. He’s alone right now is. Who knows where Velvet went too.” John said.

“Probably to go steal more Trolls…. I don’t trust them. It’s sad how they have Floyd at the palm of their hands still.” Branch said as he glared at Veneer. He continued to frown on how well Floyd got along with him…. Floyd was his brother, not Veneers. Branch couldn’t take it anymore, he walked away…. He needed some space…. He needed to take a walk.

Branch made his way towards the gates that lead outside and followed a path.

As he walked he felt the ground shake slightly.

“What the heck?” He murmured.

“Branch!” Branch heard a voice… he grunted and rolled his eyes. Oh no, Branch growled. He ignored Veneers call as he approached… he kept walking.

“Hey wait! For something so small, you walk fast.” Once he caught up Veneer had no problem keeping up with Branch. They walked in silence for a moment.

“Where are you going?” Veneer asked.

“Forward.” Branch responded. Veneer giggled.

“Duh! But like where?” He asked again.

“Just forward Veneer.” Branches patience began wearing thin.

“Okay.” Veneer said. More silence…

“Hey! I did some, uh, lyrics. Silly huh? Would you like to take a look at them? I want your opinion. Oh! Maybe Brozone can use them for your next album! Cool right! Hey maybe you think I can help out? I can be your lighting and sound technician! Do you guys have machines for that in my size? Anyways…” Veneer kept rambling on. He was nervous, Veneer always rambled when he was nervous. He kept talking and talking that he didn’t see Branch ticking like a fuse bomb….

TICK. TICK.

“DUDE SHUT UP!” Branch yelled. Veneer stopped in his tracks, staring at Branch confused. “Can you not get the hint! You’re annoying Veneer! I don’t know why you keep following me around! I don’t trust you, I don’t trust your sister. You kidnapped my brother and nearly killed him! I never wanted you guys here, I DONT want to be your friend! I’ll NEVER forgive you! Can’t you understand why maybe your sister left! Maybe she couldn’t stand you! Because I definitely can’t right now!” Branch yelled staring up at Veneer. His breathing was hard as his anger fused…. The Rageoun was silent… Branch could see tears beginning to form in Veneers eyes. A lumped formed in Veneers throat…he wanted to say something… but he felt that whatever he would say wouldn’t matter. Veneer knew now how Branch really felt about him now, how everyone probably did. Maybe he was right? Velvet left because she couldn’t stand him…. No one ever did. He swallowed the lump in his throat and turned around. Hugging himself, Veneer walked away.

Branch just stared after him until he disappeared from his line of view. His anger began to go away. It was then Branch realized what he had said to Veneer…. Guilt began to settle in. No! Branch thought to himself… he wasn’t going to feel sorry. Kid or not, what Veneer did was unforgivable…Branch continued walking the opposite direction….. his mind was set… but his heart was still telling him that he shouldn’t have done that, he shouldn’t have said those things….

Branch didn’t know how fragile Veneer really was.

[evony256]

SPOILERS FOR DRDT CHAPTER 2 EPISODE 13

TW: SUICIDE

I just wanted to share my thoughts on the episode too since I've seen a lot of people do that

By the way I had to watch this like 7 hours after it was released and I have not scrolled through Tumblr yet so I might bring up stuff that have already been discussed. Also all of these notes were written down while I was watching the episode so yeah

-Levi just moved up so much on my kin list it's insane like omg…

- This was one bad day for Acevi fans, huh. I guess the Xanvid came at a price

-Whit I can now see why David told you to shut up I like you but that was bad 💀 (he was probably left affected by how David reacted in episode 12 and is either really uncomfortable or somewhat intimidated by David now)

-Nah nah nah that's definitely not Teruko's secret so I'm gonna start theorizing now. Teruko might have most of the secrets. It's not like they belong to her, but if you think back to episode 8 she said that she doesn't know which secret is hers because so many things have happened in her life. She probably said that she got the family secret because she thought that was the most likely one. Hu's secret might also be accurate to her considering the fact that, in episode 4, she told Arei that failed suicide attempts are painful, hinting at the fact that she might have tried to kill herself at some point (also backed up by the fact that, in episode 3, she says "why save my life if you're just going to ruin it afterwards?" when talking about her medical debt). The idea that she has most (if not all, but I doubt that) of the secrets might tie in with the killing game secret since it says "How could I even select what secret to be your motive?". The wording here is very ambiguous since it could be interpreted as "secrets about your life" or "secrets that are on the board", like the ones that the other cast members have, the latter being something that I bet that nobody in the fandom thought about until this episode. Anyway theory over back to saying stupid shit

-AREI ILYSM YOU ARE MAKING ME CRY YET FEEL HAPPY THAT'S WHY YOU'RE MY FAVORITEEEEE 😭😭😭

-SHE GOT NEW SPRITES TOO SHE IS SO PRETTY

-I MADE AN AUDIBLE GASP NOISE WHEN THAT CG WITH EDEN SHOWED UP HOLY SHIT!!!! I think she might have hurt or killed the girl she kissed? Unless she killed Arei, which is still a posibility, or Levi lied about his secret for Eden’s sake (idea which could contribute to the "Eden killer Levi accomplice" theory), though Charles would have also needed to lie for Eden since he had her secret. Also, if we're going with Eden remorseless murderer theory, in my opinion, it wouldn't make sense for Eden to be a remorseless killer after what Arei said about her making a mistake "that she couldn't take back" (showing that she probably felt remorse for what she did). Also also this is a good time for me to bring up the note with "Eden's motive" that Charles gave to Teruko. That note could be proof of whether or not Eden really does have the girl kisser secret and I want to mention that the note could be anything since we only have Charles' word to rely on. I really hope we get to see what it says because it's been making me more suspicious of Charles (I personally think that Charles is somewhat suspicious so I might make a post about it soon even though there isn't much proper evidence to say that he has something to do with the killing game, there's still a couple of questionable things about what he's done/said). Okay yap session number two over

-Arei moved up even more on my kin list how is that even possible…. I also love how her voice changed so much in this episode. Even in prior episodes, her voice seemed so cheerful and energetic, yet in this one, it's much calmer. Showing that she truly is feeling relieved that there are other bad people in the world like her and that she might have a chance to redeem herself if so. God damnit Mokaui (Arei's VA) did such a good job with all of her voice lines she needs to be credited more

-THE AREI CG I AM CRYING AREI YOU ARE EVERYTHING TO ME ILYSM I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE BONUS EPISODE AFTER THIS

-They're finally talking about the murder method this is a new evolution for humanity

-Monotv causally breaking the forth wall, now we can blame it on the cast that they were talking about the secrets for an entire year because they didn't watch the Chapter 2 recap

-YESSS FINALLY A MINIGAME I’VE MISSED THESE SO MUCHHHH

-Ooh so that's what the broken handles meant also that Veronika art is so pretty

-I wonder why they would want to break her neck though, it doesn't seem like it would help with the murder at all, but maybe the killer was trying to cause confusion

-This is proving a theory that I've had for a while. If Arei was hung from the ceiling of the playground, then that could be tied in with the broken lights and the movie screening room above the playground. How would they be able to get her into the playground from the movie screening room though…

-J 💀 (that's all I’ve got to say literally)

-That's a lot of very precise information Whit I can understand Veronika but why would you know all that. Care to share something with the class?

-The text animations in the debate are so unique like the question marks with Rose and the one that circles around the top of Levi’s head those look so cool. Also getting to hear a lot of characters talk in a row feels amazing. It gives them a lot of depth showing the contrast between those characters’ tones of voice.

-Also there goes my screening room theory damn

-Everyone just roasting Teruko again is the best thing out of this episode /j

-We got puppy Whit 10/10 episode

-Also THREE CGS AND TWO MINIGANES IN ONE EPISODE??? DRDTDEV YOU HAVE BEEN COOKING 🔥🔥🔥 YOU CAN STOP NOW THE KITCHEN IS ON FIRE (IN THE GOOD WAY). YOU MADE AN ENTIRE BUFFET. THIS IS AN ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT YOU CAN STOP NOW-

-Ooooo she's talking about Ace's attempted murder

-(Probably) Nico and Ace focused episode next week Nico and Ace fans are gonna be eating good

Overall, this might be my favourite episode so far. Not like I had a favourite episode before but still this was SO good

Also I just checked my Tumblr notifications why are there 50 like oh my lord 💀

[owl-with-a-pen]

“You still haven’t signed those?”

Kara lifted her head from the pizza box she was currently nose deep inside of, a garlic knot already hanging from her mouth. “Hm, wha--?”

Alex was stood on the other side of her apartment. She had been on her way to get more wine – that was what she’d promised, at least - although now she was eyeing a pile of documents on Kara’s dining table with a firm glare. She folded her arms expectantly. “Those. Cat’s contracts? You’ve been glancing over at them for hours.”

The garlic knot fell back onto Kara’s plate in an instant. She laughed weakly, shaking her head. “Pfft, no, no, I haven’t.”

“Uh, yes you have,” Alex said, grabbing another bottle from the kitchen counter before returning to the sofa, collapsing onto crossed legs at her sister’s side. She took a slice of pizza from the box, draping it over a napkin.

The whole while, Kara watched on forlornly. Alex rolled her eyes. “C’mon, I go away for a week-long honeymoon, and I come back to Miss Doom and Gloom over here? What happened?”

Kara’s stomach clenched. She briefly considered super-speeding her way out of the room just to avoid the conversation, but that would’ve only proved Alex’s point, and made her absolutely unbearable for the next few days at least. “Alright,” she said finally, offering a weak shrug. “I—I just haven’t made my mind up yet, is all.”

“That’s all?” Alex leant back, narrowing her eyes. “Kara, this is your dream position. And back under Cat’s leadership? It’s like the stars have aligned, tell me you don’t have cold feet about that!”

“I—I don’t!” Kara screwed her eyes shut. “Ah - it’s complicated.”

Alex tipped her head forward patiently. “Well, go on then.”

“Alex—”

“Tell me!”

Kara glared at her sister, snatching a slice of pizza from the box, nearly inhaling it in one bite. She slowed just enough to swallow around her words. “Cat told me something at the wedding that really jarred me,” she admitted, “and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. I talked to Lena about it and I—I truly thought I’d made my mind up.” She winced, setting down her plate. “So, uh, Cat knows. About me. About—Supergirl.”

Alex blinked.

Kara blinked back. “Could you try to look more shocked?”

“Oh, I am,” Alex said, nodding along. “This is totally my shocked face, you’ve seen it before, right? Like when you told me that Mon-El had a crush on you?”

Kara hit her playfully. “Was it really that obvious?”

Alex snorted, taking a bite of her own pizza. “She’s Cat Grant, I mean, really, what the hell doesn’t she know?”

“Well, I didn’t know, and that’s not the point.” Kara groaned, folding her arms over her knees. “I told her that I was struggling with playing the part of Kara Danvers and Supergirl, so she said why don’t I just… stop… playing them?” She looked up at Alex innocently, biting her lip.

Alex stared at her. “You’re serious,” she said flatly, before raising her voice, “you’re really serious? Kara—I mean… it’d change things. A lot of things.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Everyone would know who you were.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you ready for that?”

“I don’t know,” Kara said softly, drawing her legs in closer. “Would it be amazing to just get to be me, without hiding parts of myself from people, or putting strains on relationships? I mean, yes… it would. But would those relationships also change because people knew about the whole… Supergirl… thing?”

“You’ve had plenty of friends who haven’t changed their opinions of you because of that,” Alex countered, her brows drawn with uncertainty.

“And some that pretty significantly did.” Kara’s smile felt way too strained. She pursed her lips instead, closing her eyes. “I think about William sometimes. Everything I didn’t tell him. He was right there in the centre of everything Super Friend and I just left him in the dark.”

“He was a civilian; if he’d known…”

“What?” Kara asked sharply, lifting her head. “He could’ve been hurt?”

Alex flinched. “That’s not what I—”

“I know,” Kara said, shaking her head. “I guess… no matter what I tell people, if they want to be in that part of my life or not, it’s their choice, not mine. I’ve put people in danger by holding parts of myself hostage, but at least as Kara Danvers, no one has put a target on my back. People are safer around me.”

“You said it yourself,” Alex said, “it’s their choice, not yours.”

“Is it selfish to be scared of that?” Kara asked, hating the whine in her own voice. She swallowed, trying to rid of it. “That maybe some people won’t want to be a part of my life anymore?”

“Oh, Kara,” Alex said gently, taking her sister’s knee. “I’d say just about anyone would be scared of the same thing.” She looked away thoughtfully, clearing her throat. “Okay, so, let’s think positives. If you really want to entertain this, you gotta mark things on both sides of the list, right?”

Kara sniffed, nodding her head. It was a pretty loaded question for a Danvers sisters’ movie night, but she’d opened this can of worms herself, and she wasn’t about to back down. Instead, she let Alex’s encouragement spur her forward, considering her options lucidly. “Well,” she started, “there’s the obvious stuff. No more pretending I know anything about the horrors of prescription glasses expenses, or making up excuses for running out on other commitments. I wouldn’t need you or anyone else to lie on my behalf anymore, and I-I could be honest with people.”

“Okay,” Alex nodded, “and--?”

Kara blew out a breath, lifting a hand in an awkward half shrug. “And—it’d probably make me a more efficient hero. I bet Brainy could pull up the math on that, but it’s got to cut the time it takes to reach an active threat in at least half, right?”

“Okay, so practical, too,” Alex agreed. “But what about you, Kara?”

Kara frowned. “Me?”

“How do you feel about it?”

Kara felt her face begin to warm. “I—I thought we were doing pros and cons.”

Alex patted her sister’s leg knowingly. “Sure. Tell me how you feel, we’ll decide if that’s a pro or a con.”

Kara shoved the last of her pizza crust into her mouth, reaching for another slice and coming up empty. Since when had that happened? She grabbed her wine glass instead, draining it in one gulp. Not that human-grade alcohol would do anything for her, but at least it spared her precious time to think of an answer.

“Well…” she said, “I feel… scared.”

“You can do better than that,” Alex said. “What else?”

Kara pulled a face, squirming on the cushions. “Excited? A little? Maybe? But… but mostly I feel uncertain.” That wasn’t all of it. She knew there was more, but articulating it suddenly felt harder to achieve than holding up a whole building. She looked at Alex again, the unending patience in her eyes, and tried to let herself relax.

She could do this.

Kara sighed, clenching an arm around her chest. “This world has only ever known me as Kara Danvers or Supergirl, but if I tell the world who I really am… I lose those identities. I become… me. Kara Zor-El, an alien from a fallen world who was so terrified of finding a place here. Who didn’t understand your cultures or the nuances of your language. Who was stuck learning pre-school level chemistry but couldn’t ace my way towards skipping a grade without rousing unwanted attention. And even that wasn’t me, it was what this world made me, by being so different from what I’d known. I was meeker at first, then I was angrier and now I’m…”

“You’re… what?”

Kara shrugged. “I don’t know,” she admitted lamely. “That’s the problem, the uncertainty. I don’t know who that person is anymore, AIex, I don’t even know how to be her. To be alien and a superhero and to be honest about those sides of myself with the whole planet.” She laughed humourlessly. “How can I be honest about that if I don’t even know who that person is… who I am?”

Alex’s expression was so gentle. “Kara…”

“I stopped praying,” Kara said impulsively, nearly choking on her words. “When I first got here, I used to do it every night and then when I lost Mon-El…” She swallowed hard, feeling her eyes begin to burn. “My father… guided us through prayer while we were trapped in the Phantom Zone, too. But since then, I…” She trailed off, wiping quickly at her face with the heel of her hand.

“You miss him,” Alex said softly.

“With my whole heart.” Kara clutched at her centre, balling her hand into a tight fist. She felt more tears roll down her cheeks. “My mother, too. And I-I wish I’d been there with him when Brainy had taken him home. I know how happy he was to go back – to see her. I don’t know, maybe that was when the struggle started, with Nyxly taking over my life, invading my thoughts and feelings, and I realised how empty I really was. I just thought it was the Phantom Zone, that it’d take time to feel like myself again. But when Cat told me I could be both Supergirl and Kara… it scared me. Because, if I feel like half of myself already, will trying to smash those two parts of my life together really make me whole?”

“You’ve got grease all over your face,” Alex said with a sad smile. She took a napkin from the coffee table and swiped at Kara’s jaw, catching a few wayward tears in the process. Her eyes were shining.  “Do you remember all those years ago,” she murmured, “when I turned up to your apartment and you were just soaking wet with that big glowing smile on your face?” She squeezed her sister’s chin.

“Oh, I remember,” Kara said with a watery laugh, swatting her away.

“I was so scared for you back then, Kara,” Alex continued seriously, “I’d been protecting you my whole life and suddenly – suddenly you were the one protecting me. And you were reckless and so damn innocent, and I kept thinking to myself, one of these days, she’s going to see the world for what it really is, and it’s going to get her killed.” Alex shook her head, moisture catching in her lashes. “But you’re the one that changed my perspective. You made me realise that there was a reason to hope for the best, to see the positive in every situation. I blew up on you that first night because I was scared for you, for what a change like that would mean, for how the world might perceive you. But now I know that whatever you decide, you will be ready for it.”

“I could have come clean to the world that same night,” Kara croaked. She sniffed again. “I could have lived my whole life from that point onward as myself. No cape. No alter-ego. But I… I loved my human life. And it kept people safe. And maybe, even then, I wasn’t sure I would’ve known what to do if the world started treating Kara Danvers differently. Because I love her, too.”

“You can still be her,” Alex said, taking Kara’s hand. “You’ll always be her. Just, you’ll be more, too.”

“Right.” Kara’s lips trembled. She curled her fingers against her sister’s palm, watching Alex’s hand as it closed tightly around hers.

They didn’t speak for a while, and so Kara listened to the steady rhythm of Alex’s heart, one of the few sounds that was guaranteed to keep her grounded. Right now, it proved to her that her sister wasn’t angry or stressed by anything she’d told her tonight. She really did believe in her to make the choice that felt right for herself.

Kara only wished it was as easy as Alex made it out to be.

The truth was, she was still terrified. And, through that fear, she yearned suddenly for the insight she’d once been offered in droves as a child.

“What are you thinking?” Alex prompted into the silence.

Kara sighed shakily, stifling her next breath. “I’m thinking… this is all happening so fast.” She glanced skyward. “And, honestly? I-I just want to see my parents.”

Alex’s hand tightened around her. “As in—go to Argo?”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Kara said, nearly to herself. “When I first put this cape on, all I had of my mother was a necklace and a hologram that I couldn’t even touch. And my father—only memories. Now—now I have a chance to share this choice with them both. I need a fresh perspective, somewhere I don’t have to be Supergirl or Kara Danvers for a little while. Maybe that’s the first step to figuring out the rest of who I am.”

Kara couldn’t ignore the way Alex deflated at that.

“Hey, hey, and,” Kara said confidently, drawing her sister’s hand towards her. “I would really like it if you came with me, Alex.”

Alex’s eyes popped wide open at that. “Wait—really? I could go with you? Really?”

“Of course!” Kara laughed. “You’re my family! I want to experience this with you. I-I don’t think I could make this choice without you, actually.”

“Well, that’s for sure.” Alex snorted, but the tears in her eyes quickly spilled free. “Oh my god—I  mean, I guess I don’t officially start at the DEO until next week. Not that J’onn would mind but—oh, what sort of climate is Argo? What do I pack?”

Kara rolled her eyes. “Alex.”

“Right.” Alex shook her head. “Sorry. I don’t go to space often.” She was still grinning. “I’d be honoured to go with you. We’ll figure this out, Kara. Danvers sisters’ style.”

Kara smiled just as brightly, throwing herself into her sister’s arms so enthusiastically that they nearly ended up in a heap on the ground.

It didn’t matter, though, because for the first time since that phone call, she finally felt a little more certain on where she was headed next.