#A day when I font draw him is a day wasted

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[o-sunny-day]

UHHHHHHHHH- OKAY LET ME EXPLAIN.

First of all, Forgettable!AU amv fanart stuff for @sunsestart cause this story is fukn magical and i cant wait to see what happens :3

Second of all ((in depth explanation))

I heard this song (Wasted Summers by juju<3) and I went *gasp* its skelebros fr fr. Plus I was already in desperate need of something to draw so BOOM!! Inserted in my brain for the next 3 days

EXPLANATION FOR THE AMV! ALL THINGS STATED AS “FACT” THAT HAVENT BEEN SAID ON THE BLOG ARE JUST MY SILLY LITTLE HEADCANONS!

Blue represents Sans and Green represents Papyrus/Wingdings. As kids when they were in waterfall, shocker, TEAL WAS ALL AROUND!!! They were harmonious and it was awesome. Then :(((

(what happens when you birth a skeleton kid who has a completely incomprehensible font??? 0 SOCIAL INTERACTION!!!!!!)

The 0 social interactions besides his brother thing kinda gets to him sometimes. Mostly subconsciously, and yeah bros a little irritable. Slamming doors, worrying his brother, fun family friendly not sibling angst stuff.

Also did ya see :3 when WD turned around his eyelights went out :3 we like to have fun here.

Also in the first little bit showing them finding stuff in the garbage dump as kids, the next shot is only Sans finding the stuff. cause WD is in the lab. and the colors are so lifeless and dull compared to when they were kids ((suddenly in tears))

ALSO THAT TV BIT, WD on tv being announced as The New Royal Scientist! and him just being so uncomfortable😭 has been a visual in my head for a while, so glad i got to draw that now

OK AND LAST “ALSO”. That last part with WD working on Blueprints and saying “yes you can” is the scene where Sans is like LETS DO SOMETHING OUTSIDE and WD is like “nah… imma do my own thing”

ok I lied, last also. the “yes I can” part of the lyrics. First they’re talking about how “oh you could totally work in the lab when you grow up” and “omg no way… only if YOU also work in the lab when you grow up”

Then they’re talking about how “oh you can leave if you want. shut up lemme finish my work” and “…omg I CAN get him out of the lab”

(ww a a ah h)

OKAY THATS ALO BYYYEEE

[symphonic-scream]

Okay hear me out

Persona 5 Stardew Valley au

So we've got the animal seller, Haru, who's parents divorced when she was young. She spent her teen years in the city with her father, but once an adult she decided to live with her mom, and has fallen in love with country life

Makoto has lived in town her whole life. Her older sister left to have a fancy city job, and thinks Makoto is wasting her talents and smarts by staying to keep up the family tradition. Makoto knows someone has to protect the town, and gladly draws her sword to do so. She trains by cutting down trees for the local artist and for town projects

Ryuji is a former golden child. He was going to be a star athlete, but an accident took it from him. He's not really doing anything at the moment, just working on loving life again. His Ma is the bus driver

Shiho moved to town after a similar incident to Ryuji, only she puts all she is into work, to have a place so when they're adults, her girlfriend can leave her family behind so they can be together. She only recently took over the carpentry business from her mentor, and her girlfriend Ann helped expand the business to include furniture and house decor, with design input

The pub in town in Leblanc. While the owner, Sojiro, specializes in coffee, he'll accept local foods to make dishes by request of the townspeople. His daughter Futaba is a recovering shut in, and his wife Wakaba runs the town clinic, with her med student Tae

Yusuke appeared one day, having sold all he had to find a font of inspiration. He fell for the valley, and at first lived in a tent near the mountain. Makoto, who nearly mistook him for a monster, invited him to stay on her family's property. He mostly paints, but does sculptures for order from the nearby city to pay his share of living costs

The town blacksmith is named Munehisa Iwai. He's the broody type, but cares for his son a whole lot. He's just, not good at showing it. He often requests things his kid would like

The town store used to belong to an older man, but he passed it on to a wayward boy and his younger brother, both whom he met by chance. The boys, then in foster care, lived with him until he became too old and ill go run the store. Akira and young Morgana still keep the Velvet Room running, even if old man Igor is living in Hospice

And, the mayor, Lavenza. She's very new to the position, which used to be Igor's. She's hoping to improve the town a lot, and is caring for her younger twin sisters

A strange man lives on the beach, with a strange talent for fishing. Goro doesn't talk about who he was before he moved there. It's behind him.

The library is run by Hifumi, who wants to reopen the museum portion after her parents sold the artifacts to keep it from closing. Hifumi thinks a museum would inspire tourists to donate,

And, finally, our farmer.

Sumire feels lost. Her sister died, her parents can't speak to her without crying, and she feels, trapped, so she impulsively quits her profession. She finds a letter from her grandfather, with the deed to a farm. Needing a reset, she leaves the city and life behind to live in a small town in the valley, where no one knows her, or her sister.

To clear things up, Makoto and Ryuji both grew up in town, have been friends the whole time. Futaba has been in town since she was 6, Hifumi was born there, and Akira and Morgana have been there since they were 14 and 6, now about 21 and 13. Shiho and Ann were in Ryuji's class at school, since they had to travel to a nearby city for school. Haru moved there when she was 18, Yusuke and Goro appeared around 19-20.

Anyways. Talk to me about this

(I'm open to any ships for it pretty much, but I will say I have Okujima in it.)

[alienaiver]

Kanda foe the headcanons game! 🌷

omg tori im so happy you sent him in, i was hoping so bad you'd see the game !!!! ✨ im sorry abt the delay<!!!33333 these are like, half-modern au kinda, since some of the questions doesn't really translate to the 19th century LMAo

Songs on his iPod: i think despite his tough-no-feelings demeanor, he really does like songs where the lyrics resonate with him, or put words into feelings he can't articulate well himself. its NOT emo or angsty tho, claims the angsty emo.

rootless tree - damien rice my demons - starset sacrifice - zella day (sobbing i actually made a kanda amv with this song once....) (these are all from my kanda playlist. im probably biased LMAO)

The one place they fall asleep – where they’re not supposed to: kanda's very reserved with rest. its only in his bedroom with a locked door unless you or alma are there. its too vulnerable and private if not. he fell asleep in a cafe with you once, which was silly, but he'd been overworking himself and your shoulder was right there

The game they’d destroy everyone else at: im so sorry, but kanda's entire personality in regards to video games is just: skill issue. he doesn't wanna waste his time learning how to fight in a dumb game when he can just as easily cut your throat irl no problem. though if ever convinced, hes flexible enough to beat everyone at twister

The emoticon they’d use most often: 🖕. (if he ever bothers)

What they act like when they haven’t had enough sleep: he's actually kinder, somehow. not like, allen's mask polite, but he's less bite-y and easy to anger. his baseline is too little sleep generally, but when he goes beyond even that limit, hes too sleepy to fight about every little thing, which translates as sudden kindness.

Their preferred hot beverage on really cold nights or mornings: green tea, always

How they like to comfort/care for themselves in a slump: kanda likes to throw his head aggressively onto your lap and lie there with a scowl until you coax his problem out through his grunts. you ask questions and when you've figured it out, you help him process it

What they wanted to be when they grew up: he thought itd be punk-rock to own his own store. he didnt know what it entailed, but once he was in a independent store with tiedoll and he explained why it wasnt like [insert chain] and when kanda said, "so, basically you're your own boss completely?" and tiedoll nodded he thought.. fuck yea. but what? what type of store, you ask? fuck if he knows or cares

Their favorite kind of weather: summer blue skies with those big, cumulonimbus clouds!

Thoughts on their singing voice: he can sing, and he's good at it, too. he's only shown it once, to prove to allen that "singing's not that hard, dumbass. anyone can do it." he's well aware not everyone can, but he liked gloating when he pulled out an angelic deep timbre in front of the friend group. if he sometimes randomly starts smiling menacingly, just know he's thinking of that memory

How/what they like to draw or doodle: hes the type to just write words in cool fonts or styles. especially swear words LMAO

these were so fun omg,,,,, hes so edgy im sorry but im also really not

send me a character and ill fill out these headcanons

[an-t-hiho]

❥ 𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗦; 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈

Ｈｅａｄｃａｎｏｎｓ

• Uses he/him in an attempt to be more similar to Alan. Uses he/they on occasion, but usually sticks to the latter.

• Is the most minimalistic one of the group. He finds fun in the smallest of things while also trying not to waste his time on activities he doesn't like doing/isn't worth his time.

• He got Green and Yellow to set up a noteblock lullaby for him that he can switch on and off anytime. What? Sec needs the sleep more than any one of them so may as well fight fire with fire.

• Sec often forgets that he can only talk with Alan in Adobe Animate. Due to this, he often gets confused and irritated when he doesn't understand what he's trying to say.

• Is stubborn and easily irritated, but cools off quickly and is responsible enough to recognize if he was wrong or not.

• Believe it or not, but he likes eating netherwart! ..Only when it's paired with (cooked) steak though, netherwart on its own (according to him, at least) tastes like salty ashes.

• Uses YouTube the least. His time on the app/site lessened after the "incident."

• Animates stuff on his own during his free-time. Due to this, he and Alan often have (a) monthly cleaning day/s to delete the animations he doesn't want to keep anymore. They have to keep the PC away from the possibility of lagging or becoming prone to any viruses; the time with Vira-Bot was far from fun and neither of the two want to re-experience that all over again.

• Sec has no idea how to change the font of his "text" on Adobe Animate. He's only ever done that on accident.

• Likes to draw himself clothes! Though, most of them are tests so that he can master the art technique of "cloth folds."

• Sec gets this tingly sensation whenever something/someone goes through his hollow head. No, it does not feel good in the slightest, it's more on the "weird" side. He knows that nothing is inside his head, but it just feels so wrong to be physically reminded about that.

• Loses his filter when he gets too tired.

• "Does this look good?" "no, alan. this whole project is a failed abortion."

Will continue to add more when I get the chance! Toodles!

[hannahssimblr]

Chapter One (Part 3)

I am sitting in a café on Patrick street with a sketchbook on the table. Fintan, the manager, has provided a free coffee while I work, remembering the way I like my cappuccinos without any chocolate on top, and apologises for the latte art when he carries it down to the table. 

“These new waitresses.” He says to me quietly. “They can’t do those wee hearts and leaves the same way that you could.” Watching them scurry around in their aprons makes me feel wise and important, like I know something that they haven’t learned. I’ve been here, I’ve worked this shift and I survived it, and they will too, they just don’t know it yet. I go back to my sketchbook. 

I can’t decide which design I like best. One says “Life is better with good coffee” in a looping font, and the other says “Let’s take a coffee break!” In this retro cartoonish style. It’s not usually the kind of art I would make, and I would be embarrassed to tell anyone from college that I’m doing something like this, but I privately enjoy the process. Fintan says he likes both designs, and I can choose whichever I want, so I go with the second. I finish my coffee and then start drawing the outline with white liquid chalk pens. 

There’s a young man sitting near the window who’s been watching me work for a while, and I’ve been pretending not to notice him. Perhaps I want him to think that he’s being more subtle than he is so as not to make him embarrassed. Or perhaps I’m afraid that if I look him in the eye he might take it as a signal to come over and talk to me. I don’t look, but eventually he comes over anyway. 

“Hi there, I was just watching you work over there, you’re doing a nice job.”

I glance up at him from the floor. He’s not from Offaly, he doesn’t have the right accent. Perhaps he’s from somewhere up north. He doesn’t look like he’s from here either, as he’s bravely chosen to step out in a pair of slip-on Vans and an oversized beanie hat, even though it’s about nineteen degrees this afternoon. I want to ask him is his head not boiling, but I just thank him for his compliment instead. 

“I’ve never seen someone actually doing this kind of work before.” He continues. “It’s always just kind of there one day, like, poof.” He does a hand gesture like clouds of smoke have burst from his palms. ‘I’m just a bit interested by what you’re doing, and even more by the fact that you’re doing it in reverse.”

“Yeah I never anticipated that it’d be so difficult to write words backwards. I suppose now I’m thinking that I should have done a sketch on the outside of the window first and then rubbed it off later.”

“I see what you mean.” He rocks on his heels with hands in his pockets. “Would you like me to get a coffee for you to drink while you work? Might keep the energy up and the head working.”

“Oh, thanks a lot, but actually the manager is keeping me fed and watered today, so you’d only be wasting money on me.”

“I see.” He pauses like he’s trying to think of something else to say. “My name is Geoff, by the way.” 

“Evelyn.” I say back, not really sure why I felt the need to go with my full name, like it’s a protective shield against him. Against Geoff, the very nice man who’s not doing anything wrong. I have a distant thought that I’m probably still a bit fucked in the head since Dean, and then I quickly try to stamp that thought out and think about something else. 

“That’s a nice, old fashioned name.” He comments. “You don’t meet a lot of Evelyns around the place anymore.”

“No, I suppose it’s a bit granny-ish. It’s actually an old family name, I don’t know if I like it that much really.”

“I like it.” He insists. “It’s very pretty.” And so are you seems to hang in the air after he speaks. I turn back to what I’m doing, rubbing out the crooked “O” I’ve drawn with some soapy water and going in for another attempt at it. 

“Are you from around here?” He wants to know. 

“Yeah, I am. But I don’t really live here anymore. I go to college in Dublin so I won’t be around much after this month.”

“Ah cool. I’m not from here either. I’m from up in Monaghan.”

“Miles away.”

“Yeah. I actually work here now, but I’m up and down to Dublin the whole time. Have to pass through on the bus to get home, sure.”

“That’s the thing about Dublin.” I say. “Everyone has to pass through it, against their will usually, I imagine.” “Yes, the horrors of Busaras station. I know it so well.” Geoff laughs. “Here, I’ll leave you to work, but if you change your mind about the coffee, give me a shout.”

I smile, and he goes back to where he was sitting. I don’t look in his direction once, but I feel his eyes on me the whole time. 

About half an hour later he leaves, and as he does he quickly, awkwardly hands me a folded piece of paper. I look at it in surprise. “Oh.”

“Nice to meet you.” He says, blushing, and dashes out the door. I leave the note there for ages. I finish doing the window first, and then I clean up my workspace and wipe the floor after me. Then, when there’s nothing else to do, I take it and fold it open.

Hello Evelyn, 

Just a note to say that you’re completely gorgeous. 

I’d love to meet you in Dublin sometime and buy you that coffee. 

Geoff (From Monaghan)

His phone number is scrawled at the bottom.

I take the note along with all of the kitchen roll I used to wipe down the window and toss it all into the bin in one go. Then Fintan tells me he likes what I’ve done and hands me fifty euro from the cash register. I walk away with a small, satisfied smile on my face, knowing that now I can say I’m a real artist. 

Beginning // Prev // Next

[reidak-artcreature]

2023 recap!

Can't belive the year is over! Time to look back cause I sure don't remember half the stuff I've done

January

Birb got 10 notes and I couldn't believe how much people loved him.

I tried a crochet kit and was defeated. In my defense I have to say it was right after an exam and it was really cold.

I got a watercolor set and rediscovered my love for watercolor

February

Discovered Funguary, and made 4 charactes. It's a really fun challenge that I'm surely going to participate again.

I made quite a few watercolor pieces, I still like them all a lot

March

Don't know how, but I finished the 100 head challenge. There are some awful monstruosities, but I learned a lot. I'll probably do it again in the future, it's a pretty nice exercise.

I finally made a sona! And this one has stuck! I love my lil shadow creature.

April

Made what is probably the watercolor piece I love the most. And one the pieces I like the most overall.

I got FlipaClip and had a lot fun making some little animations. Someone even used one of the lil gifs! That made me pretty happy

I personalized a little notebook to carry around, and it was the best desition of my life. I love that thing. And it's amazing that I don't have to search for the pen, it's all together!

May

The coin pouch is also one of the best things I've made. The strings are a bit long and the embroidery is a bit loose, I'll fix those on the next one I make (looking at you, squid pouch)

The anual redraw of Coral and Sebastian couldn't be missing. The poor Sebastian finally got his (I hope) final design. I was in love with how it looks, but looking it now... What hapened to their faces?

Decided to redraw some old drawings I had on Ibis. The progress I've made since I drew the originals.

Mermay, of course! Somehow they turned into oficial ocs. I love the stupid trio.

June

Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!! It's almost July and I haven't updated my ArtFight references! "Chibi" versions it is. At least now a lot of them have colored full body references.

Painted a box! It's now buried under too many trinkets I have to clean up, but I still love how pretty it looks!

Started a new sketchbook and painted the cover. I love the mushroom lantern.

Made this year's Artfight gif, banner and artfighters. The silly gif brings me a smile every time I see it.

July

ArtFight! 42 attacks and 21 defenses. I have no idea how I managed to make so many. I did get burned out on the second half of the month tho. I absolutely love every single art I received, but this one with Coral and Sebastian has a special place.

What do you do when you are burned out? You make a new style, of course! I love the simple style that came out of that. Feels weird to see that is fairly recent, I feel like I've been using it for ages. It has evolved a bit since, those thin lines in the eyes look weird now.

August

Nuclear Waste was born. And people went crazy. The silly boy loves and appreciates all the affection you've showered him!

Smaugust is a thing? Dragons! I still need so much prectice with them and animals in general.

I made a comic! I love it, it's so silly. I had a great time with it.

September

Pirate shirt! It fits a bit weird, but I think I can fix it. It took soooo long to hand sew it

I got a drawing tablet! Took me a couple of weeks to get used to, but it was worth it. I love using it.

To practice I made every single prompt of CuteGirltober. The only reason I was able to finish is that most of them were left as sketches. Should have learned from ArtFight, I can't draw every day, that's too much.

November

I made a font! It works really well, and it's so fun to type something and see it look like you handwrote it.

Got to write a bit too. I need to do that more.

I also worked on some proyects I've been wanting to do but haven't touched in a long while.

Including bookbinding a little notebook! I filled it with headshots of my ocs.

December

ArticFight prompts and a secret santa were mostly the reasons I drew. I love this one with Alex and Layla.

I also made some free adoptables. There might be some left when this is posted.

And we are done with the year!

That was so much! Thank you everyone, hope you had a good year and an even better 2024!

[bittyfromquotev]

Madie Aizawa: Origin (P.2)

WARNINGS: Sugarcoated rape implication, fake friends, cursing, family issues, the app I use doesn’t help transfer all the font stuff onto tumblr so I’m sad lmao

“Was that last part really necessary?” The homeless-looking Hero spoke this time. Puppeteer looked around the bland room, thinking. She moved her hands around as she did so, making the handcuff chains jingle. Blinking, she made direct eye contact with him. “Eh…not really. I just wanted to add that little detail.” Her mouth twisted into a strange grin, disappearing and reappearing like a tic. “Why?” The flame Hero demanded. He was such a nosy, nosy man. “Because I wanted y’all to get a feel for the place! Put you guys in my shoes for a li’l bit. Besides, I was a little out of it that day.” This time, the grin that formed on her face stayed for a while. The hobo-Hero haha hobo Hero. That’s funny spoke up again. “Why not tell us how the whole house looks then?” “I’m too lazy, man. Leave me alooooneee.” Puppeteer pouted, her previous grin gone and strange sneer now replacing it. The flame Hero, seemingly aggravated, pounded his fist into the table to bring all of them back to the present. Clearing his throat, he ordered, “Continue. No more wasting time.” The girl blinked rapidly before exhaling in a very unnecessary manner. “M’kay..” . . . No more than a week had passed when something…interesting, to say the least, happened. Madie sat in seat 12, on the second-to-last row of desks towards the left of the classroom during third period Humanities class when the teacher announced a semester-long project for the end of seventh grade. The class groaned as Mrs. Kassel continued with the instructions. “Remember, you have all semester to work on this project. I will assign pairs of students to work together.” She began drawing two names at a time from a jar, instructing each pair to move to desks close to each other and push them together. After all the names in the class were drawn, students began to do as instructed and push their desks together. “Take the rest of the period to get to know your partners, as you will be working with them for the rest of the year!” Of course Madie had zoned out when her partner was called. Or did she? Either way, she was forced to look around the room helplessly until it was clear who she was working with. When her partner finally did find her, she wasn’t making eye-contact. When she looked up after sitting down, she was faced with a bird-headed boy. Literally freaking bird headed. Was that his Quirk? Idiot. Of course it is. “Uh…hi. How are you?” she asked out of polite habit. The boy tilted his head in what seemed to be confusion. “Hi? Can you hear me? How are you today?” When he still hadn’t responded, that same look on his face, she tried again in Spanish. It didn’t work. Obviously. After some awkward silence between them, Madie decided to give Japanese a shot. When the boy perked up and responded with an “I’m fine, thanks,” Madie beamed. “You speak Japanese too?” The boy nodded. “Yes. I’m from Japan. What about you?” “Oh. I was born here, but my mom is from Mexico and my dad is from Japan. They insist that I learn both of those languages.” “Can you read any form of Japanese?” “It’s a little confusing, but yeah. Hey, what’s your name?” “Tokoyami Fumikage.” “Surname first?” “Yes. What’s your name?” “Madie Aizawa; surname last.” “I see. It’s nice to meet you.” The two of them shook hands, almost smiling. Madie was quick to break the handshake and get a pencil out, though. The two of them talked a little about the project itself, but their conversations mostly consisted of random cultural and Quirk-related subjects. Madie was enlightened to learn that Tokoyami had a sentient being that came with his Quirk as well. “Dude! That’s awesome! I’ve got a sentient guy, too. I call him ‘Walter.’” Tokoyami’s mouth beak thingy no wait mouth curved upward in a slight smile. The first genuinely kind smile a guy has shown her since Leo left.

“I have a request, Aizawa.” Tokoyami inquired as the two of them were leaving for fourth period. Madie turned to her new friend. “What is it?” The black bird sighed. “I need help with English. Do you think you can teach me?” Madie’s mouth curved slightly. “Sure, I can try. I’m not a good teacher. Come sit with me at lunch, though!” Tokoyami nodded, turning to his class and mumbling something like, “Revelry in the dark…” when a strange side comment was made about his ‘anime talk.’ Well, that was weird.

Madie sat awkwardly at her table, staring into space. Looking at nothing, yet not completely zoned out. “Are you not eating again?” Madie sat up straight, looking slightly upwards at her friend. She was relatively tall, like most people she knew. Her pale face scrunched up in effort to push up her thick round glasses, simultaneously blowing her caramel-brown hair out of her face. Madie grinned. “Bri, I think you need to stop questioning my decisions. I don’t question whatever you were just trying to do, after all.” She paused, glancing around. “Where the frik is Ivy?” “Ivy?” Bri echoed, face more smooth, with only her brows furrowed together in thought. “Ivy Green?” “Yes, Ivy Green. Don’t get me wrong, she gives off fake friend vibes, but I really need an excuse to have Johnathan avoid me a little.” “A little?” “Bri. It’s Johnathan. He’s not gonna stop…uh…messing with me just because I hang out with his freaking sister.” Bri sat down with a huff, grimacing. “Damn understatement of the fucking century, Madie.” “Woah. Bri. You cuss?” “I think we can all say that Johnathan deserves to be cussed out,” She laughed knowingly. Madie nodded, clearing her throat as Ivy herself sat down next to Bri. “Hi guys! What were y’all talking about?” Silence. Ivy smirked awkwardly before switching subjects. “So, anything interesting happen in you guys’ classes lately?” Bri shook her head. Madie, uncharacteristically, spoke up. “We’ve got a project to do in Humanities; I think my partner might be a new student and I asked him to sit with us today.” “Ooh, you should ask him!” Ivy chirped curiously, her hazel eyes gleamed with multiple excited emotions. Bri nodded in agreement. She must really not feel like talking today. Madie sighed jokingly. “That’s my plan. Though it could just be my own unobservant ass’ fault.” Madie must be cursed, because every person she’s talked about today has just- shown up out of nowhere. Tokoyami shuffled awkwardly as he sat down with none other than Johnathan Green standing next to him, smirking so confidently it was almost dark. Well, no. It was dark. It was just that not many would know it at first glance. “You’re welcome,” he quipped, hands on his hips. “Bird-brain was tryina find you, Madie.” Madie nodded stiffly, giving Tokoyami the most reassuring smile she could before Johnathan’s hand was shoved in front of her face. “Back to business as usual.” He prodded. Madie glanced around, trying not to be surprised at Bri and Ivy’s expressions. Their brows were knit in what looked like either pity or concern, she couldn’t decide which. Johnathan cleared this throat. “Give it. Now, Madie.” She was close. Close to crying, that is. Aggressively removing her bag from her shoulders and handing it to Johnathan for her ‘check up’ was normal…for her; she knew the others just weren’t used to seeing this particular part of her school routine. There was a deafening silence at the table, not counting the rustling of the inside of Madie’s small black handbag as the muscular boy rummaged through all three of its pockets. He handed it back about a minute later, the most sickening, shit-eating grin and straight evil look in his eyes as he did so. “All good. See you later!~” He walked off rather quickly, allowing Madie to turn back to her friends at last. “What was that about?” Madie’s relief shifted immediately to annoyance as she glared back at Ivy. “Since when is it any of your fucking business, girl?” Ivy seemed to almost shiver at that, looking defensive. “Okay, geez. I was just asking, since he’s my brother.” Madie huffed. “Ask him, then. He’ll be real glad to tell you. I swear, he’d brag about it to anyone.” Her pounding heart slowed a little, and she turned her attention to Tokoyami. “Hey, sorry ‘bout that.” The raven shook his head. “It’s fine. He seemed rude anyways.” Understatement of the fucking century, Madie snorted inwardly. “Anyways,” she continued. “I need to introduce you to my friends, then we can get to everything else…”

Boy, was Madie glad to be free that day. Johnathan was kind enough to not initiate anything today and school was finally over! Lunch was her favorite part of today, because she learned a lot about Tokoyami. He was, in fact, not a new student, but he never talked to anyone because of his terrible English. He’d been at this school since the beginning of Madie’s 6th grade year. It would’ve been nice to know that she could’ve branched out a little and made some real friends on her own. The reason Tokoyami was even here was because of a business trip his parents had to go on. Call it bad luck that Madie didn’t even know he existed until today. At home, that was pretty much all Madie talked about to her parents over dinner. “I’m happy for you, sweetie,” Madie’s father laughed. “You made a friend without Leo’s help!” Madie giggled in response. “Yeah…but he’s in Japan right now, so I kinda had to.” The two of them laughed for a couple seconds longer before her mother began to talk about something they’d all been anticipating for a while. For Madie’s next birthday, they wanted to do something big for her. For some reason. When Madie asked why, she responded with, “Well, after this birthday, you’ll be in high school! It’s a big change!” Madie pursed her lips in annoyance. It’S a BiG cHaNgE! Cliché. Annoying. Old. She wasn’t complaining, though. It occurred to her, why we’re they just talking about it now? “That’s it?” She wondered aloud. Madie’s father smiled a little more, fixing his long black hair into a messy man-bun. “Well, we wanted you to choose what we do. You can go anywhere you want for this birthday…” A look from her mother. “…and…Kaito’s coming to visit tomorrow. We need to make sure he wants to go.” What? Kaito? “I-It’s fine if the doesn’t, but we need to all be on the same page.” He began to fret a little. Madie blinked, processing the situation. Kaito Aizawa. Kaito-nii. Now? Now of all times, he’s visiting from college? Sighing, she put on the best smile she could for her parents. “Oh. Okay. Thanks for, uh, letting me know.” “Alright, hijita. If you’re done eating, then go shower and head to bed.” Madie’s mom told her smoothly. Madie nodded obediently and rushed upstairs to shower.

Madie lay in bed, trying her very best to sleep. Tomorrow was Saturday, but still. She wanted sleep. Sleep would be great, especially after spending twenty minutes washing filth and ick off of her body. Stupid anxiety. Go away. No. She didn’t hate her brother. She had no negative feelings towards him whatsoever. It’s just… He greatly resembles Johnathan’s appearance. Greatly. The hair, skin, and fashion taste were all the same as him. That’s what made her heart explode in her tightened chest, panic rising. It meant a whole day was going to be spent with someone who resembles her bully. Bully? More like tormentor and rapist, idiot bitch. Whatever. All she had to do was avoid staring at him for too long. That, and avoid any business ties and belts that just happen to be lying around the house. Or, how about this? Just don’t have a fucking panic attack. That would be nice. Should be easy, probably. Just breathe. Remember that he’s related to you and is the polar opposite of who he looks like. An hour passed of repeating these thoughts before Madie fell into a dreamless sleep.

“G’morning, baby sis~” Madie’s eyes shot open at the words. The tone made her chest achingly tight with panic and it only intensified when she saw the face she was looking at. She jumped, sitting upright in her soft bed, hugging onto one of her pillows. The 19-year-old lounging on the edge of her bed erupted with laughter. “Ah! Did I scare you?” he asked. “Sorry ‘bout that.” She blinked at him aggressively. “Yes.” “Why the f—table flip did you say it like that?” “How…else do you want me to say it?” “I—Well—normally, excitedly, tiredly? Any other way but whatever that crap was.” Awkward silence stood between the two siblings. Madie took a deep breath and greeted him back. “Hi, dude. How’s life been?” Kaito shrugged, and the two continued talking semi-awkwardly. Lots of catching up to do! “Wanna go eat now? Mom and Dad said we need to talk about some shit.” Madie nodded. She was hungry and she smelled bacon. That means food. She got up quickly and threw on her white fluffy robe and followed her older brother downstairs and into the kitchen. There, their parents were moving about, getting a hearty breakfast ready for the four of them. Madie’s dad sat down with a cup of creamy coffee and some eggs. He motioned for the two siblings to sit across from him as the food was placed in the center of the wooden table. “I see neither of you have changed yet,” he observed casually. “Mhm,” Kaito responded. “Oh, yeah. You were asleep when I got here, Madie.” Okay. Nice, I guess. Selena cleared her throat. “We want to talk about Madie’s party that’s coming in a few months. Have you decided where you want to go?” Before she could say anything, Kaito sighed dejectedly. “It doesn’t really matter, because I won’t be able to go.” “Oh…” Taeko mumbled, almost disappointed. “Why not?” “I’ve got finals and several huge projects around that time. Don’t think I’ve forgotten when her birthday is.” Her mom pursed her lips. “Kai-“ “No, mom. I would if I could. I really want to go, but I just. Can’t.” Madie’s mom didn’t let any awkward silence set for long. “Well…Johnathan would be a lot happier without you there, I think.” A pang hit Madie’s chest like an electric shock. “What? Johnathan?” She nodded. “You’re inviting him and his friends. I’ve talked to his parents about it already.” Madie’s father raised his arms to his head, cowering in something akin to embarrassment. He mumbled incoherently as his wife continued. “I know you two don’t have the best relationship, but I think it’ll be good for you two to try to get along. Is that hard for you?” Madie drew in a shaky breath. “Mom…I know you want to have everyone be friends and be happy around each other. I respect that. It’s just…Johnathan hates me, I don’t like him, and I just-“ She glanced over at Kaito, who looked ridden with confusion and concern. “I don’t want to have a bad birthday.” Madie’s mother pursed her lips again and sighed. “You need to give each other a chance, sweetie.” “Why would you be concerned about his happiness? Also, why the hell would this guy be happier without me around?” Kaito growled, irritatingly confused. All attention was turned to him; even Madie’s father lifted his head to stare at his son. Madie did her best to maintain eye contact as she explained. “He looks a lot like you, except he has green eyes and he’s a little shorter. That’s why. Honestly, he’d mess with you just for your appearance.” “Mom just seems to think that we need to be suck-ups in order for ‘eVeRyOnE tO bE hApPy’!” She returned to her food as her mother began to lecture her, the anxiety never loosening it’s powerful grip on her chest. “Madie, I realize that you’re upset about this, but I don’t want you talking back to me. I’m trying to make sure that everyone has a good time.” She went on and on and on and on. Eventually, when Madie did respond and apologize, her older brother began calling her out for backing down.

The argument went on for several minutes, but eventually it calmed down. All it took was pleading from Taeko. Madie’s mom sighed. “I’m sorry, everyone. I just…don’t want us to have constant stress over other people.” “You’re fine,” the siblings responded simultaneously. Madie’s father cleared his throat. “I-I hope we’ve come to an agreement. Arguing isn’t good.” They did. That agreement, however, is what Madie’s mom had originally planned. Now she had to give out some invitations…and make a call.

The Monday after, she had to hand Johnathan’s group their invitations, after some…business was taken care of. She made the call after dinner at home. It went something like this:

Ring-ring! Ring-ring! “Hello? Who is this?” “Hi, Ms. Takami. This is Madie, Leo’s friend.” “Oh, hello Madie! How are you doing, sweetie?” Such a faker. She’s good at it, too. “I’m good, how about you?” “I’m doing great! What did you need me for?” “Oh, right.” Madie took a deep breath. “I—I was wondering if Leo would be able to come to my party in a few months? October 6.” Silence over the phone. There were a few background noises, but nothing more. Are those fucking moans!? She continued. “Uh-Well, there are others coming. My-My friend Bri, uh, another friend named Tokoyami, and Johnathan and his friends are coming, courtesy of my mother. Um, just letting you know so that you can make a decision-“ “Oh, Johnathan! I heard that he’s a very good friend of yours and Leo’s, so of course he can go. I’m sure the two of them will be ecstatic to see each other!” Leo’s mother responded with a strange kind of enthusiasm. She should’ve guessed that Johnathan and this whore knew each other. I bet y’all are besties. “Is something the matter?” Ms. Takami asked in false concern. “No, ma’am. I’m fine,” she assured the woman. “I’ll be sure to mail you the invitation today. Can I get your address?” The woman made an affirmative sound, and Madie got a slip of paper to write it down. She then rushed to complete the invitation and mail it off. She wrote the address and names on the card in rushed but neat writing; her mom eyed her with concern. “Is everything okay, mija?” She nodded, finishing and placing it in the envelope. “I’m great, Mami. Leo’s mom is letting him go to the party.”

~~~~

[pomegranate-pen]

Since requests are open, could you write Shadow and Knuckles (separate) from sonic Boom with a fem. reader who runs this cute little bakery and is pretty much an embodiment of the coquette aesthetic? Thank you in advance! I love the series Stranded and you’re a wonderful writer! Have a great day! :)

thank you so so much- you're so sweet you made my day- I was actually really insecure about my writing these days so this really cheered me up.

also important note. so apparently tumblr has a character limit and I had to divide this into two different posts just to be able to post it- :"))) so yeah this is part one with half of shadow's headcanons. part two will be posted shortly after this one.

Boom! Shadow the hedgehog part 1:

The first time Shadow met you was after his second fight against Sonic

His body was sore from his kicks, with small bits of bruises here and there and his mood annoyed by his failure. He wouldn’t give up, though. He’s the ultimate lifeform, the only solution for failures is improvement and more hard work.

Yet, even with that strong belief, he felt his stomach growl as a sweet smell takes over his nostrils. Looking around, his eyes quickly land on the small lightly shaded pink bakery merely a few feet away from him.

He’s at first hesitant on entering, but upon his energy getting lower by the second and his stomach becoming impatient, he begrudgingly comes in.

Seeing an injured customer was one thing, them being intimidating and quiet was another. Despite having a bit of suspicion towards him, you didn’t exclude him from your sweet smile and polite greeting.

Upon asking what he’d like to order, you would’ve never guessed what he’d say.

“Coffee Beans. Now.”

“p-pardon?”

Coffee beans. Not brewed nor grinded. Just pure normal coffee beans. Without any more seconds wasted, you went to the kitchen to prepare.

This gave the hedgehog time to look around the place. Pastel colors, mostly pink and white, engulfed the area in pleasant harmony. The menu had drawings of what seemed to be lipstick markings all around its background, the font was cute and elegant and pink flowers seemed to be the mascot of the place.

The smell of cakes and cookies was phenomenal. And by looking at the counter before him, he could see how each one was made with close attention and ambition to it.

When you came back with the coffee beans, which were neatly placed in a small sack with heart decorations on it and a pink ribbon tying it all together, you finally noticed the small scars around his body.

With you worriedly asking him about his well-being, Shadow merely shrugged it off and called it nothing but a mere scratch.

“Sir, it's bleeding.”

Shadow huffed and shrugged it off. “I had worse. I’m not a weakling.”

After lots of bickering, you finally made him accept your offer of patching him up.

Having someone’s touch be so delicate and soft was something quite foreign to Shadow. In most cases, Shadow only had physical contact with people who wanted to fight him. Anyone without that intent never tried to get too close due to his sour neutral expression and preference for being alone.

Even though he never understood why, he kept coming to visit. Most times he’d have an excuse of wanting to keep his enemies away from you. But when his visits become normality in both your life and his, he tends to question the true intent behind it.

He mostly shows himself to be very annoyed by you. But never really leaves the place. You find out quite soon that he’s just putting up a façade of displeasure only to hide his true feelings.

Shadow usually patrols the area you work in. keeping you away from harm becomes one of his top priorities along with defeating Sonic. If you ever wondered why Eggman never shows up around the area you work in anymore, do know that's because Shadow’s threats to him work well and make the scientist stay away from you at all costs.

You flirt with the hedgehog lots. Often telling him he looks great and giving him on-the-house treats. As more time passes, the more you learned about Shadow and what he likes and dislikes in a treat. Each treat becomes more to his liking and at some point, you make the perfect treat in his eyes.

He mostly bickers and says “I don’t like sweets.” When you offer him one. But eats the whole thing quickly for someone who calls himself a disliker of it.

You’d definitely be the first one to realize you like him. For him, however, it’d take much more time. He has lots of trust issues and a distaste for getting attached to someone.

He’s, quite literally, the edgiest person you’ve ever met. The definition of a tsundere. He never really compliments or praises you for your work, but his actions do all the talking for him anyway.

Lots of jabs and insults to horrible customers. May even cause a fight if the customer in question has a huge ego and power.

Shadow usually helps you by bringing the boxes full of ingredients to the bakery and taste testing. One thing he said he dislikes doing is taking orders from customers.

But there was this one time, this once-in-a-blue-moon moment where he did help.

The place was overflowing with customers. Meh Burger was out of business at the moment, having been blown into bits one night by Eggman and Chez Amy, the new restaurant that only opened a week ago, got closed.

With that, a flood of hungry customers sprinted at your door for food. And being the only staff at the place, you were pretty overwhelmed.

That’s when Shadow hesitantly decided to help. It took all his might to not punch at least one customer.  

But in his eyes, it was all worth it. Seeing you be calm and happy during all of it, at times snickering a bit at his struggle to hold back an insult was tremendously better than having you distressed from the hundreds of orders. He’d never admit it though.

It was all going well until the Sonic gang showed up.

Scowls being traded, annoyance and rage being obvious in both cases, that’s the interaction the two hedgehogs had for nearly five minutes. The others and you just stared at the two in shock and horror. Worried about what will happen in the next second.

Thankfully, no fight started. But there were too many close calls to count. Both have seemed to decide on keeping their rivalry for another day for the sake of your place not being trashed.

That didn’t stop the blue blur from teasing Shadow for becoming soft and it didn’t stop the ultimate lifeform from calling the speedy pathetic and his win in their last fight a ‘nothing but a mere stroke of luck’

part 2 is here!

[earth90214]

Judging Spider-Man fans from their profile pictures

ditko peter - you know a lot of obscure spider-man lore, but you’re probably only interested in 616 peter. you aren’t caught up on anything spider-verse related, but by god are you going to reblog any cool looking panels

romita spidey - you’re either the nicest person in the world or the toxic spider-man fan twitter warned us about. you love seeing peter happy, but at the same time you kind of just want to squish him with the nearest blunt object.

ultimate spider-man - you only reference the ultimate universe, but can’t stand the ultimate spider-man show. you reblog, retweet, and repost any spider-man content you come across, more so than you actually post yourself

any spider-verse pic - you’re either standing neck-deep in spider-man lore or have never picked up a comic, no in-between. either way, you’re totally into picking your own canon rather than following the set multiverse

“pinterest profile” spidey - low exposure, lower pixel count. you’re much more of a casual fan and are too attached to your pfp to let it go (we’ve all been there). you’re probably a lurker rather than a poster, but you have the best tags when you reblog

superior spider-man - everywhere you go you see superior spidey references, even when you aren’t looking for them. you’ll interact with just about any spider-man media, but at the end of the day it all leads back to your blorbo

ben reilly - you like ben, so chances are you also like Mayday. You keep a numbered list of your favorite spider-man suits and have probably dabbled in every marvel moblie game thats ever dropped

kaine parker - i bet you’re a big fan of tom hardy’s venom and jason todd too, huh? you keep telling yourself you wont waste time reading comics without kaine in them, but your mutuals posting about them keeps drawing you in anyways

symbiote suit - you suggest spider-man 3 and kraven’s last hunt to everyone youre able to. you probably watch that one specific genre of edits thats filled with flashes and that super aggressive font.

mcfarlane spidey - you love wordy comics and switch pretty often between marvel and dc (specifically batman). you really like tiktok slideshows that show you the entire comic, but you also really like those family guy/random video combos too

[beewolfwrites]

Hello! I'm not sure if you're taking requests rn BUT if you can could you do reader x chishiya where reader bought one those japanese diy food kit boxes where you're suppose to create a mini version of a food but this time its kind of candy? If you don't know what they are you can search it up. So, what if reader has to beg chishiya to help them with the kit but he just ends up reading the instructions to the reader and watches reader struggle. That's all, take youre time. I love your writing btw!<3

Hi! Sorry this took a short while! This was an adorable idea. I had no idea about those Japanese mini food kits, but after Googling them, they look so fun!

I haven't put out a post or anything, but yes, I'm happy to take requests! There are a couple lined up at the moment, so it's a fun change from writing chapters.

Thank you for such a fun prompt :D

-------------------------------------------

The time had already struck 10am, but there was still no sign of the delivery man. Glancing at the clock on the mantlepiece, you paced back and forth playing with the keys in your hand. Chishiya paid no mind. He was sitting on the couch, scrutinising a book on spinal surgery techniques like he often was. Well, he wouldn’t be for long. Not if you could help it. With next-day delivery, your dream of an ideal weekend with him was finally coming into fruition.

If only the delivery man would arrive.

10:02am.

You peeked through the curtains. Nothing. Not even a van.

10:04am.

A car rolled on by, and you looked out of the window to no avail. The keys tinkled between your palms as you bounced them around.

10.06am.

Chishiya finally set down his book. ‘Whatever it is you’re doing, stop doing it.’

‘I’m waiting for a parcel. I paid extra for it to be delivered by ten.’

‘It’s only six minutes late. What have you been wasting money on this time?’

‘You’ll find out when it gets here.’ You beamed at him. It was a smile that promised cuteness, cuddles and bonding time. All the things he hated with a passion.

Chishiya’s eyes narrowed. He tossed the hardback onto the coffee table just as a van door slammed outside. You bolted to the window and pulled back the curtain. The delivery man was walking up the drive, carrying a small brown package.

‘It’s here!’

Leaping past Chishiya, you ran to the door and fumbled around finding the right key to unlock it. Once you managed to get it open, you grinned at the delivery man and held your parcel close like a prize. It was finally here. Your dream weekend with Chishiya.

When you re-entered the living room, he was leaning back, eyes closed in exasperation. Now that simply wouldn’t do. You waited silently by the arm of the couch to show him the online treasure you’d found. Only, he didn’t move.

‘Whatever it is,’ he said, ‘I don’t want any part in it.’

‘Come on,’ you insisted, now pulling at his sleeve.

‘Let me rest.’

‘Please! I want to make this with you.’

One eye slid open. ‘Make?’

The moment the word left his lips, you knew you’d caught his interest. ‘It’s something we can do together.’

‘Fine,’ he said, sighing as he got up. No matter how reluctant he seemed, he wouldn’t go this far if he wasn’t at least a little curious.

He followed you into the kitchen where you grabbed a knife and started hacking into the box. Chishiya folded his arms, resting against the countertop. If he wasn’t unimpressed before, he certainly was when you pulled out a Popin’ Cookin’ Candy Lunch Box kit.

‘That’s what you bought?’ He eyed the kit like it belonged in the gutter. ‘I hope you used your own money.’

‘It’ll be fun,’ you promised. ‘I’ll let you make whichever ones you want.’

He prodded the box with one finger, before turning his nose up at the bubble font. ‘I’ll leave this to you.’

He started to head back into the living room, but you clutched his elbow to keep him from leaving. ’Please Chishiya! You don’t have to do anything. I’ll do the actual food making, even if you just read the instructions.’

He pursed his lips as he weighed up his options. ‘Just the instructions,’ he agreed. ‘You’re lucky I have nothing better to do.’

Yes! The perfect couples activity was in sight. Excited, you rubbed your hands together and motioned him over to the box on the counter. It was like trying to tempt an unenthusiastic cat. He merely looked at you as though you were wasting his precious time.

But that wasn’t going to stop you from having fun.

Opening up the Lunch Box kit, you tore into the wrapper packaging inside, finding a bundle of sachets and a blue spoon, all sitting in a grooved plastic tray shaped with different moulds. It was… well, not quite what you were expecting. You’d only really heard of these kits online, but you’d never actually watched other people make them. Chishiya picked up the packaging and scanned the small print on the sides.

‘You need scissors,’ he said.

‘Hold on a second.’ You were too busy scrutinising the sachets. ‘What am I supposed to do with these?’

The sachets were snatched out of your hand as Chishiya dumped them back on the counter. ‘Forget those for now. You’re supposed to cut into the tray.’

He reached into the cutlery draw and pulled out a pair of kitchen scissors. However, what Chishiya didn’t tell you was that you were only supposed to cut off the corner of the tray to measure water in. Now, surrounded by several pieces of plastic, you were beginning to wonder if this was a sabotage tactic.

He regarded the mess you’d made with a wry smile. ‘Well, I don’t believe I told you to cut up the entire tray.’

‘You didn’t tell me anything at all,’ you snapped.

‘Hmm. I’m not sure I like that attitude.’

You sighed, prodding the remains before you. ‘Sorry. I just… at least the moulds are still usable, kind of.’

As it stood, they were technically usable, but that didn’t mean they were easy to use. Following Chishiya’s vague instructions, you managed to mix tiny amounts of water with the powders to form candy shaped like a panda, a rice-ball, broccoli, fried chicken and even an octopus.

But with the tray reduced to pieces, the structure holding up the moulds had gone, meaning none of the powder mixtures settled evenly. So far, the octopus candy had dribbled over the sides, giving it a little too many tentacles. Half of the panda’s face was smudged. And the broccoli was missing half of its head.

You stared at the resulting lunch box, painfully aware of Chishiya smiling sardonically over your shoulder at the abomination you’d created.

‘Why does it look so sad?’

‘Because it is,’ was the reply. He placed a hand on top of your head. ‘You tried.’

If it weren’t for the pitiful state of the lunch box, you would’ve been more angry at him for his unhelpfulness. But there wasn’t a shred of anger in you. More than anything, you felt underwhelmed. The vision of the two of you trying something a little different together had been dashed.

‘Hm?’ The hand on your head jiggled as he tried to snap you out of your trance. ‘This was what you wanted, wasn’t it?’

Your shoulders slumped as the mini rice-ball toppled over. It just looked so… so disappointing. ‘I only wanted us to do something fun.’

He hummed in consideration. You could feel him mulling over his words, and right when you half-expected him to pull yet another joke, he looked at his watch.

‘It’s already lunchtime,’ he remarked. ‘There’s a new cafe not too far from here. It may be busy but they might have a table.’

Wait - did that mean?

As he began to walk out of the kitchen, you threw your arms around his waist, squeezing him from behind. ‘Chishiya! You’d really take us to lunch?’

‘Us?’

And just like that, the moment was gone.

‘I’m going out to lunch.’ He gestured to the mess you’d made. ‘I believe yours is over there.’

With a signature smirk, he detached himself from your arms and left to get his coat. You stood there, blinking in horror at the prospect of eating that sad little lunch box, before running after him to grab your shoes.

‘Chishiya! Don’t you dare!’

[kawaii-angelanne]

Kenma x Reader: Fanmail

TW: minor haikyuu manga/timeskip spoilers for kenma (and kuroo if you squint)! KEY TAGS: gender-neutral reader, aged-up characters, timeskip!haikyuu, kenma pov, fluff, strangers to lovers WORD COUNT: 3371 OPENING NOTE: thanks for clicking on this! please do not repost, copy, modify, or overall plagiarize this work anywhere else please. plagiarism is never acceptable, both in mla 8 format and in fanfiction! for translations, message me, and we can talk about it! CROSS-POST: ao3SUMMARY: “He stops reading to retrieve the aforementioned set of papers and holds it in his free hand while holding the letter in the other. Briefly scanning the title, his cheeks flush a faint pink at what he’s reading. In Times New Roman font, the words ‘Dating Application’ are printed in black ink, a size bigger than the rest that was printed below.”

Or where streamer Kozume Kenma receives some unusual fanmail.

It isn’t uncommon for Kozume Kenma to receive fan mail.

In fact, ever since he opened a P.O. box for his fans to send him letters and packages, it is almost guaranteed that he’ll have something waiting inside for him every few days or so. His fans send him a variety of things, ranging from simple letters to Amazon packages. Kenma never encourages his fans to send him anything—actually, he strongly encourages them to not send him anything—, but he still appreciates whatever he finds in the mailbox. He even uses most of his gifts in his everyday life, such as his cat-ear headphones and cat apron (his fans often associated him with cats, and he would be lying if he said they were wrong to do so).

Now, when Kenma makes his routine trip to the post office to see if there was anything in his P.O. box, he expects the usual: a handful of lovingly-written letters and maybe a package or two. Well, when he opens the mailbox, he does see those things but also notices a manila envelope lying underneath everything that stands out from the rest of the mail. Confused, the pudding-headed streamer slowly and carefully slides the mustard yellow envelope out of the moderately-sized cubicle.

Manila envelopes are usually used for one of two things: official documents or bigger-than-average pictures. So, Kenma thinks of three possibilities as to what this envelope’s contents are. The first possibility, albeit unreasonable, is that the government sent him taxes to his P.O box that is dedicated solely to fan mail. The second possibility is that someone sent him fan art, using a manila envelope to ensure that the drawing wouldn’t be ruined in the mail. The third, more chilling possibility is that Kenma now has a stalker who was sending pictures of him in his bedroom, sleeping or changing out of his pajamas into new ones. Knowing that he uses his personal address for official documents, like government-sent mail, the second and third possibilities are more likely to be true than the first.

Not wanting to waste time, Kenma quickly takes all of the mail in his arms and hightails it out of the post office. He isn’t too worried that he has a stalker, especially because he can’t even think of any of his fans doing something as detestable as stalking. However, he doesn’t want to risk it and decides it would be best to leave as soon as possible. Besides, he’s a little eager to open the letter as this wasn’t his standard fan letter. He drives out of the parking lot and straight to his apartment.

Now, inside his apartment, he struggles to put down the packages and letters, not wanting to just dump them on the ground. After managing to stack them haphazardly yet gently next to the living room table, he sits down on the couch, picks up the manila envelope from the pile, and begins to open it. Once the flap is no longer sealed tightly to the envelope, Kenma removes its papers from the inside, taking it out in the neat bundle it was arranged in. He spreads them on the coffee table and is left with a thin set of papers stapled together and a normal envelope, rubricated with the words in all-caps, “READ FIRST!” While Kenma feels relieved that this letter doesn’t appear to be from a stalker that took pictures of him in his sleep, seeing the sheets splayed on his table didn’t relieve his confusion.

Following the sender’s loud instructions, Kenma slices through the sealed flap of the envelope with his letter opener to unseal the second envelope. He treasures any and every letter his fans send him, so he likes to use his letter opener as it did minimal damage to the envelope. Unraveling the letter from the envelope, he takes it in his hands and reads it, mumbling the words softly to himself.

“Dear Kodzuken,” he begins, “How’re you? How’s Ringo? I’ve never written a letter like this before, so I’m sorry if this all seems very awkward, haha! I’m sure this is a strange letter to receive, so I’m sorry if I freaked you out or anything! I just wanted to say that I’ve been watching your videos and streams for a couple of years now, and watching you has never failed to make me feel better. Your chill yet blunt personality feels so much more genuine and calming than the energetic and loud streamers and YouTubers. Not that there’s anything wrong with them! It’s just nicer to listen to you after a rough day…if that makes sense.

“While I could go on and on about how great you are and how your presence alone has helped me and your other fans, I don’t want to keep on rehashing the same information over and over. So, I guess I’ll cut to the chase. As I continued to watch your videos and streams, I came to like you, not as an internet celebrity, but as a person.”

Kenma stops reading the letter from shock. Yes, he’s had people tell him and write to him about how he’s made them feel better, which never fails to touch his heart and make him feel all fuzzy inside. However, he’s never had anyone confess to him through a letter, not even in high school! His heart skips a beat, and he feels, well, flustered. It isn’t because of you specifically. It’s more so because someone in general had confessed to him. In fact, it’s a little weird and creepy to him for a fan to say that they like him romantically, but he isn’t going to just throw the letter away. Kenma especially knows how hard it is to admit your true feelings, so he plans to continue reading the letter to not let your efforts go to waste.

“I know this sounds really creepy and everything, so I’m really sorry if you’re freaked out right now! Actually, you can stop reading right now if you feel uncomfortable! I’m not expecting anything in return; I just had to tell you my feelings, as embarrassing and weird as it is. You know, it’s like that saying: You miss all of the shots you don’t take. I figured I could try and shoot my shot since it’s better to try than not try at all.

“And it’s not because you’re popular or anything that makes me feel this way towards you (as unconvincing as that sounds). I think it’s the way you treat your friends and how you treat your fans with just as much sincerity that makes me go, “Wow, whoever gets to date Kozume Kenma is one lucky person,” haha! I could go on and on about what I like about you, but I don’t want to creep you out too much. Before I close off this letter, let me briefly explain the stapled set of papers you hopefully received in the mail, assuming I didn’t forget to put it in the envelope.”

He stops reading to retrieve the aforementioned set of papers and holds it in his free hand while holding the letter in the other. Briefly scanning the title, his cheeks flush a faint pink at what he’s reading. In Times New Roman font, the words “Dating Application” are printed in black ink, a size bigger than the rest that was printed below. Kenma continues to read the rest of the letter for more information on this “Dating Application.”

“Those papers are exactly what they say they are: me applying to date you. I honestly did this as a half-joke, so you don’t have to read it. I just thought it would be kind of funny and make me stand out, haha! But, again, I don’t expect anything from this! You don’t have to agree to me asking you out, we can just be friends, or you don’t have to interact with me at all! I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time, and, even though I’m going to regret this the moment I send it out, that’s one thing marked off my bucket list, which was to write a letter to you. Also, if this goes really bad, and you start hating me, blame it on the alcohol I had not too long ago.”

He finishes reading the complimentary close and puts the letter to the side. Now, focusing fully on the application papers, he reads off your basic information, from your real name to your likes and dislikes. You didn’t put unnecessary personal information on there, such as where you go to work or where you live (even though your address was on the envelope you sent him). He briefly skims through the information, and some common likes and dislikes stand out to him. Right next to that, he sees you provided a picture of yourself, and his heart gets caught in his throat while his cheeks flare up. At a loss for words, Kenma could only think of one: cute. To add another, very cute.

Your picture isn’t anything fancy, such as a professional headshot or a painted piece. It’s a candid shot of you, presumably taken by your friend, smiling and laughing to the side as you were most likely talking to someone else at the time. Kenma doesn’t think it’s a purposefully candid shot as he can see genuine emotion from you, caught up in whatever was happening at the time. He can feel the positivity and hilarity radiating off of you, even if it’s just from a picture. He stares over your picture for a few seconds more before quickly moving on to your strengths and weaknesses.

Beginning with your strengths, Kenma is thankful for the bulleted format as it makes the process more concise and easier to read. The first strength he reads is a rather basic one, which is your ability to cook. You expanded more on that by saying you often cook home meals, and you would not mind cooking for him. Kenma takes this into careful consideration. He is not going to date you just for free home-cooked meals, but it would be a nice change of pace from the takeout and the common Cup of Noodles he typically has for his breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Then, you elaborated on your gaming skills. You issue a sample set of video games that you play, and Kenma is a little impressed at the games listed. In his field, he’s met many gamers, but you seemed to play a little bit of everything. From horror to dating simulators, he takes notice as to how you highlight the multiplayer games. You also add your ranking in the RPGs you play, and they are not something to laugh at. They prove your gaming capability and how beneficial and even fun it would be to play with you, either in a competitive or collaborative setting.

Your next strength is your stance on physical affection. You wrote down that your love language is largely dependent on touch. Even if so, you firmly state that you would never force him, or anyone for that matter, into participating in physical activity with you. You reaffirm that you respect other people’s boundaries and are more than willing to wait. Now, Kenma doesn’t mind having contact with someone else. He’s not a germaphobe or has haphephobia. It just all depends on how much he trusts the other person and how close he is to them. He isn’t going to straight-up cuddle with someone after meeting them a few times. It would take him some time for him to feel comfortable enough to initiate contact with someone. So, the fact that you appear to be patient and understanding enough with such matters already wins huge points in his book. The last set of strengths are applied with the same logic: PDA (albeit nice, you don’t deem it necessary in a relationship), sex (same thing), and the other stages in a relationship.

After reading all the strengths you had, he moves on to your weaknesses. There are almost as many weaknesses as there are strengths. Kenma can’t tell if you’re being humble or if you really do have that many weaknesses. Then again, you didn’t list tens upon tens of strengths, so it’s not like there was an extraordinary amount of weaknesses.

He starts with the first weakness of you being in college. Because of your major and its demanding coursework, you do not have a lot of free time to spend with him for dates or even just coming over, unless you move in with him. However, you don’t end it there and slip in a promise that you would try and make time for him. Kenma can respect that. He’s a streamer, college student, and CEO. His schedule isn’t the most forgiving to allot time to hang out with friends often. It’s even reassuring to hear that you wouldn’t have much time for him either. He would feel bad about being the only one in the relationship that doesn’t have time to go on dates every day or invite you over all the time.

Wait, feel bad in the relationship? Kenma stops in his tracks to process what he just thought of. Is he actually considering a relationship with you, a fan? Someone he’s never even met in person? What if you were lying about all of this? What if that wasn’t even you in the picture? It would be embarrassing for his reputation and intelligence to get catfished by someone. Also, Kenma finds it a little strange to interact with someone for the sole purpose of dating, especially online. That’s why Kenma doesn’t like dating apps; they’re too awkward for him. He could never ask someone out before getting to know them.

Kenma freezes up again as another troubling thought bubbles up. With that line of thinking, is he trying to prelude to the idea of initiating a platonic relationship at first? And then lead it into something romantic should it go well? This is ridiculous. He shouldn’t be entertaining this idea of a relationship with you. Instead, he should be filing away the papers scattered across the table in his box dedicated to letters from his fans. As he gathers the papers into a neat pile, trying his best to arrange them in the correct order, he falters, and something doesn’t feel right in his gut.

Does Kenma want to reach out to you—you had listed some social media accounts in your application—and ask you out? Not really, no. However, does he want to get to know you? As embarrassed as he is, he does sort of, kind of, maybe want that.

He reaches out for his phone from his pocket. Whenever he faces some sort of dilemma that he can’t solve himself, he immediately speed dials his best friend from high school: Tetsuro Kuroo. He immediately taps on the shortcut he installed to his phone that calls Kuroo upon activation. After a few rings, Kuroo finally picks up, much to Kenma’s relief.

“Kenma?” Kuroo’s confused voice rings in from the other end of the call, “You need something?”

“A fan sent me something,” Kenma says briefly and vaguely, mainly from nerves and the anxiousness from the situation.

“Don’t they always do that?” his friend’s voice asks both sarcastically and genuinely confused.

“Well, yes, but,” Kenma glances back at the application papers and letter staring at him from the table, “this one sent something strange.”

Now there was concern colored in Kuroo’s voice, “Strange? Did they send you weird pictures of you or something?”

“No, nothing like that, fortunately,” Kenma instantly calms his friend’s worries, “They sent me…a dating application.”

There’s a pause before Kuroo speaks again, “Dating application?”

“Yeah, they sent me, like, a job résumé for them to be my partner,” Kenma decides to elaborate to avoid answering any more questions, “They didn’t pressure me to accept their proposal or anything. They sent a letter, too, but it wasn’t really creepy. It was a little strange at first, but…I find it kind of endearing now.”

“So…what’s the issue here?”

“Should I contact them or not?” Kenma asks the big question he’s been wanting to ask since the call started less than a minute ago.

“Well, are they hot?” Kuroo answers with a question of his own, amusement evident in his tone.

“…Yeah,” Kenma admits bashfully, fighting the blush that had gone away not too long ago and now comes back with a vengeance.

“Then, the answer is clear,” the black-haired man states simply, “Ask them out.”

“I’m not going to ask them out right away!” Kenma clarifies Kuroo’s last statement, “But what if they want me just for fame?”

“Just drop them if they seem like a clout-chaser,” Kuroo says as if it’s so obvious, “And, hey, if they’re hot, you could have a relationship with a hot person. Not many people have that privilege.”

“Very helpful, Kuroo,” Kenma says sarcastically before going on to his next, more pertinent issue with this, “And what if they’re a catfish or something?”

“Oh, good point,” Kuroo lets out a sound of pondering before giving a solution, “Well, why don’t you ask them to send you a selfie with specifications or something? You can always search for the photo on the internet. Even better yet, video call them. That’ll guarantee validity on both ends. After all, I’m sure if someone randomly messaged them, claiming to be a celebrity, I doubt they’ll believe you right away.”

“Video call?” Kenma’s eyes widen at the thought of it, “No way, I can’t. I’ll just ask for their selfie, and I’ll give one in return.”

“Oh, why not? You’re going to be showing your face either way, and it’s in real-time. It’s better that way,” Kuroo tries convincing his friend, which can be very hard to do.

“Maybe, but…” Kenma curses silently as he runs out of reasons to not call you.

“Look, I got to go back to work now, but I’m sure it’ll work out with whatever you decide to do,” Kuroo begins his farewell with some background noises of other workers in the background, “Good luck, go get that date!”

“It’s not a—!” Kenma’s words go unheard as Kuroo ends the call.

Sighing from his friend’s antics, Kenma goes through the papers to find your socials. It has been decided: the Kozume Kenma is going to text you. Honestly, he’s a little excited and nervous at the same time about this. There’s the possibility of getting to know a really cool and genuine person….There’s also the possibility of him entering a toxic relationship with a clout-chaser, a catfish, or even both, but he pushes the thought away, not wanting to have a negative attitude about this. He looks through the three socials you gave him: Snapchat, Twitter, and Discord. Discord and Twitter are immediately out of the question as he doesn’t want to leak his private accounts to a fan nor use his official Twitter account. Snapchat is his best bet because he doesn’t really use it, and, if you were to leak it, it wouldn’t do anything to him.

Opening the app for the first time in weeks, he types in your username with a small chuckle escaping his lips. He couldn’t help it; your username’s funny and adorable. When finding it, he adds you as a friend. At this moment, he realizes that it could take you minutes, even hours, for you to accept him as a friend. Even if so, you could also decide to not add him back, and what is he supposed to do?

While he contemplates over what could and could not happen, you add him back soon after. His heart leaps in his chest, only kept inside his body because of his ribcage. He slides to chat with you and finds his fingers hovering over the keyboard. He also takes note of your Bitmoji waiting patiently above his keyboard. Before he can even type anything, your Bitmoji changes position to signify that you are now typing.

“Kodzuken?”

ENDING NOTE: wow it has been,,,almost 8 months since i posted on this website,,,#awkward

i was actually hoping to publish so much sooner than this—i actually wrote this in july when i was very into danny phantom exe on twitch!—but being a junior is hard. i actually have so many writing ideas but never enough time to write any of it. i do hope to upload one more oneshot before the christmas season is over since it’s christmas-themed, and i don’t want to wait until next year to upload it (it’s sanji x reader!).

also, the reason why i waited so long to upload this is that i was debating on making this oneshot into a series or not (i still am debating it LOL!). i was thinking about possibly making this a kuroo x reader x kenma type series where kuroo would have reached out to the reader instead of kenma (kind of like “sierra burgess is a loser” type situation). for now, i’ll keep it a oneshot. i don’t want to write a series if i don’t have a solid storyline, so…i was also thinking about making this a smau series if i were to make it a series since the majority of the series would be texting and social media profiles.

i am also thinking about making a part two to this oneshot where the reader and kenma meet for the first time, but i have no clue as to how i’ll write that LOL!

hopefully, i’ll be able to upload more stuff in the future (no promises!).

reblogs, comments, and likes are super appreciated :> if you have any other tags, tws i should mention, or errors, lemme know in the comments! i'm not good at tagging or tws yet, so i'm not sure if there's anything i missed.

[starshine583]

New Girl on the Block (17)

(sorry for the late update everyone! I spent time with family this weekend and got a little side tracked lol anyway, please enjoy chapter 17 of “New Girl on the Block” and as always, feel free to check out the mini series connected to this called Journal Entries!)

Ch.1 / Ch.16 / Ch.18 (ao3)

Chapter 17: Subtlety Is Key

The platform ladder that Marinette was standing on sat firmly in Felix’s grip as he watched her attempt to pin a stream of hearts to the wall. She appeared to be having trouble deciding which angle was best, moving her end of the stream up and down while staring at the other end, which was already pinned up, and squinting. He half wondered if she was going to take this long on every stream of hearts she pinned up, since she'd been doing the same up-and-down motion for a while now, but he also didn’t mind waiting if she did. The longer he stood here, the better his chances were of escaping the task of writing those “thank you” cards that Allegra liked to put in her party favors. She always managed to rope him into it, saying that his handwriting was the best amongst them, which, in truth, it was, but why not save the trouble and type out the message on the computer in a curly font? Surely, it would have the same effect.

“Felix, does this look straight to you?”

Felix dragged his gaze back up to Marinette, who was frowning at the spot that she’d finally decided to stop on. The stream of hearts hung to her right, making a nice curve on the wall that looked fine, but he wouldn’t be able to say for certain until he acquired a level, which they didn’t have.

“As straight as it can get, I imagine.” He replied. Even if it was a tad off, the guests would hardly notice. They’ll be too busy mingling and dancing around.

A sigh fell from the ravenette, and she lowered the hearts to give him a tired look. “How is that supposed to help me?”

“Well, it’s definitely not straight now. Does that help?”

Marinette pressed her lips into a thin line, obviously disgruntled, and Felix clenched his jaw to avoid smiling. Perhaps he should wait until she got off the ladder to continue. She might kick him in the face otherwise.

“Why are you here if you’re not going to be useful?” She grumbled, turning back to the wall.

A snort escaped Felix’s lips. “I am being useful. I’m holding the ladder so you don’t fall and break your neck.”

“Bold of you to assume I won’t fall whether the ladder is steady or not.”

“Which is another reason why I’m here.” He replied smoothly. “To catch you.”

Marinette hummed, glancing down at him from the corner of her eye. “How kind of you.”

“Yes, it really is, isn’t it?”

She breathed out a small laugh and shook her head, coaxing a smirk from Felix as well. 

It’s been about a week since they stayed up all night talking at Allegra’s house, since things between them changed, since things with him changed. He couldn’t quite place what had caused it, except that it was most definitely her. The way she listened to him wholeheartedly throughout the entire night, hanging on his every word, offering support when needed and trading a few stories herself- It made him feel heard, which was immensely strange. Because he’d been heard before, plenty of times in fact. It was nothing new. So why was that night different? Was it because of the soft atmosphere that the moon provided? Or because they were both somewhat tired despite saying otherwise? Why did his entire being feel so clear and refreshed when they went up to bed later on?

Whatever happened, he’d assumed that the feeling would be gone by morning, since nighttime conversations hardly travel to the next day, but imagine his surprise when the feeling swelled full force in his chest the next day, specifically when he greeted Marinette in the hall. It was as crystal clear as the night before, and it had yet to fade even now. 

Felix didn’t understand. Not at all. But he certainly wasn’t going to dispute it. He actually began encouraging the feeling, talking with Marinette on a more constant basis, muttering in her direction during conversations, asking more casual questions, throwing around a joke or two about the others when it seemed appropriate- he even found himself teasing her at one point, which led him to the wonderful realization that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was much sassier than he’d given her credit for. Despite her surprise, she’d snapped back immediately, a playful glare in her eyes and a smirk on her lips, and with an unexpected reaction like that, Felix couldn’t not tease her more. That would simply be a waste.

In the following week, he continued to talk with her, and continued to learn how much of a wild card she truly was. She never reacted to his teasing the same way. For example, one minute, she would blush, the next she would smack him, or roll her eyes and shoot right back without a second thought, or even pout. There was no telling what she was going to do next, and Felix eagerly anticipated her next move each time. It was fun for him now, fun to talk with her, fun to see her smirks and glares and giggles when he did. He could understand why Claude, Allegra, and Allan would want to talk with everyone and anyone if they all acted like her.

Their dynamic had definitely changed over the last few days, and although he wasn’t sure how much Marinette had noticed it herself, Felix knew he was thoroughly enjoying the shift. 

“There.” Marinette said above him, leaning back to put her hands on her hips. “How’s that?”

Felix’s eyes glazed over the stream of hearts again, and he let out a hum. “A bit more to the left.”

Her shoulders drooped. “Are you serious?”

“No.”

The narrowed yet playful glare that she shot him had Felix holding back another chuckle, and he innocently moved to grab one of the pink, inflated balloons on the table next to them to hand it to her.

“Why do I ask you anything anymore?” She asked as she took the balloon from him. 

“Because you know I’m an excellent judge when it comes to fine craftsmanship, such as the stream of hearts hanging above us on the wall right now.”

Marinette scoffed, tacking the balloon to the wall just above the first decoration. “What, are you kissing up to me now? Are you trying to butter me up so I’ll bring you more cheesy croissants?”

Felix shot her a look of feigned offense. “I wouldn’t dream of it, not after the amount of pain and effort that went into the making of those decorations.”

Now she was glaring at him. “Exactly how long do you plan on holding that paper cut against me?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.” Felix replied, a slight smile betraying his lips as he did.

Marinette huffed, letting her eyes flick up in an eyeroll, and started back down the ladder. Felix moved back to let her off, before grabbing the ladder again to lift it over to the next wall. They still had two more streams to put up.

“You seem to be more present today.” He commented, thinking back on the get-together they had yesterday. She’d been lost in her own thoughts through the first part of it, so much so that Allegra felt the need to ask her if she was alright. Marinette didn’t get to answer due to Claude jumping in, but when Felix asked her about it again a bit later, she quickly froze up, saying that she’d rather keep it to herself for the time being. 

Felix understood, of course, and he said as much, but that didn’t stop him from being curious. Or even a bit concerned. She always had a specific look when that model was involved, and she’d worn it openly yesterday. Therefore, he could only assume that that was part of the trouble, but how much trouble? Did they run into each other again? Did he text her? Did he go looking for her somewhere? There were too many possibilities and not enough clues for Felix to draw a firm conclusion. He couldn’t even be sure that Agreste was the problem in the first place. 

“Did your troubles sort themselves out?” He added, trying not to look at her too much as he did. Felix didn’t want to pry, but he did want to make sure she was handling herself alright. (Not that that was really in question at this point. After that run-in with the akuma, they all knew quite well that Marinette could take care of things when she needed to.)

Marinette paused at the base of the ladder, tilting her head at him with a questioning glance. “My troubles?”

A slight frown tugged at the corner of Felix’s lips. Had she forgotten already? It must not have been that important, then..

“You said something was bothering you yesterday.” He said anyway.

“Oh!” Understanding washed over her features, but a grimace quickly followed. “Oh.”

Felix rose a brow. Did that mean the problem wasn’t resolved?

“Um.. no.” She said, offering a bit of clarity as she fiddled with the next stream of hearts that they were supposed to be hanging up. “No, it’s still very much there, unfortunately. I’m not sure how everything’s going to work out yet.”

Felix nodded. “I see. I apologize for bringing it up, then.”

“No, no, you’re fine.” She insisted as she climbed the ladder. “I know you were just trying to help.”

“Besides,” Marinette threw another smile over her shoulder, one that was clearly softer than the smirks she’d been giving him earlier, “if it gets to be too much, I’m sure you’ll come to rescue again. So you can have something else to brag about.”

Felix’s eyes widened, admittedly knocked off balance by the comment. Joking about being rescued wasn’t entirely unusual, but ‘again’? What did she mean ‘again’? Did she think he rescued her before? When? Why did he find himself feeling immensely pleased with the thought?

“Of course..” He muttered absently. “I do love to brag, you know.”

It was a bland remark to be sure, not nearly one of his best, but Marinette laughed anyway, as she always did, and turned back around to start pinning the next stream of hearts to the wall.

Felix continued to watch.

~~~~~~

Bzzt. Bzzt.

Adrien lunged for his phone, unlocking it with his fingerprint before it could even finish vibrating, and tapped the notification. Was it her? Had she finally decided to text him? Please let it be her!

A news app flashed onto his screen, and his shoulders sagged as he realized that Marinette hadn’t texted him. How long was she going to wait? It’s already been a full day, and winter break was fading fast. He knew these things could take time, but they honestly didn’t have a lot of that right now. Once school started up again, his schedule was going to go right back to packed, and he’d barely be able to breathe let alone go see her. He didn’t want their precious chance to hang-out to go to waste. 

“You good, dude?” Nino asked next to him. “You’ve been hovering around your phone all day. Is something going on?”

“Oh, uh-” Adrien sat up, pushing away his phone and disappointment. Marinette was going to text him eventually. He just needed to be patient. “No, everything’s fine. Père just likes to stay in touch with me while I’m out, so I want to make sure I don’t miss any text messages or anything.”

Nino frowned. “Isn’t sending Gorilla with you enough?”

Adrien shrugged. “Yeah, but you know how he is. He likes to stay on top of things.”

Disgruntlement flicked across Nino’s features, and he tugged his hat down slightly to hide it, muttering, “Or he just likes to control everything.”

Adrien smiled despite the comment. “Come on, he’s not that bad. He let us hang out today, right?”

Nino nodded, though his frown didn’t fade. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.. Just don’t let him distract you from our game. We still have a tie to break.”

Adrien straightened and grabbed the controller that he’d dropped earlier. “Course not! Père or no, I still have plenty of focus to beat you.”

Nino let out a playful scoff. “Sure, dude. We’ll see who beats who this time.”

Adrien chuckled and positioned himself on the couch, and the two jokingly counted down before starting the next match.

Keeping Nino in the dark about Marinette wasn’t something Adrien enjoyed- they were best friends, after all -but he didn’t want to risk talking about her now. The class was only just now starting to be suspicious of Lila, and even then, it was light, joking. They weren’t serious about it yet. If they knew he was meeting up with Marinette, the person they still weren’t entirely fond of, it might serve as a disadvantage to him. What if they stopped listening to him because he was talking with her? He couldn’t take that chance. He needed to get his feet planted firmly on the ground before taking any rash steps forward.

That said, he did need to take some sort of step forward. Lila trying to make a deal with him last week was extremely reassuring, since it meant that she herself thought of him as a threat, but he also knew that he couldn’t slack off because of it. Muttering over her shoulder wasn’t going to work forever, and if he didn’t find a way to crank up the pressure soon, she would start countering his subtle attacks. Maybe he could start talking to people directly? While they were alone. He could talk to them more about Lila and ask if her stories are suspicious.. But what if he talks to the wrong person? Depending on who he conversed with, they might round on him in an instant, and his plan would crumble again. No, he needed to be careful about this. He needed to start with someone he could trust.

“....So,” Adrien glanced at Nino, because who better to start with than his best friend? “what are your thoughts on Lila?”

If Adrien wanted to change everyone’s opinion of Marinette and Lila, he supposed he would have to know those opinion’s first, and Nino, he felt, was the perfect candidate for that. He was a chill, relaxed person, who pretty much liked everybody. (Everybody except Adrien’s father, that is.) His opinion of Lila should be similar to an average of everyone else’s opinion, and Adrien could use that as an estimation of Lila’s- hopefully decreasing -popularity.

Nino scrunched up his nose, clearly confused by the change of subject. “Lila? I mean, she’s alright. Pretty nice. Alya really likes her.”

Adrien nodded thoughtfully. That was about what he expected him to say. “What do you think about her stories? It seems like she’s been everywhere, doesn’t it?”

Nino snorted. “Right? She says she knows everybody and anybody. It’s pretty crazy.”

Adrien’s eyes widened slightly, though Nino didn’t notice. ‘She says she knows everybody’? Not ‘she knows everybody’? If Adrien didn’t know any better, he might say that sounded a little bit like doubt.

“You don’t believe her?” He asked, carefully.

“No, no, I do.” Nino rushed to say, ignoring the game console that was now blinking ‘defeat’ on his side. “It’s just.. you know.. crazy. She’s been all over the world, knows all these different people, and she’s only fifteen. And she kept up with the school the whole time. It sounds like a lot.”

“Yeah, it definitely does.” Adrien agreed, setting his controller aside and hiding a smile. “And now, she’s been taking up the job as class president, even though she’s still planning charity events and working at homeless shelters and hanging out with Alya and the rest of the girls and doing homework.. It makes you wonder how she fits it all into her schedule.”

Nino chuckled. “Yeah, I- It’s.. I don’t know. I definitely couldn’t do it. What about you, though? What do you think about her? You seem to be really interested in her lately.”

Adrien had to bite the inside of his cheek to avoid laughing. Interesting was a word.

“Ah, well.. I guess I’m just curious about her more than anything. I’m a model who goes places and meets people all the time, and I haven’t met nearly as many famous people as she has. I wanna learn how she’s managed to not get in any news or magazines so far-”

Bzzt. Bzzt.

Adrien paused mid-word to whirl around and check his phone. He was honestly preparing himself for the disappointment already- why would this time be any different? -when his eyes landed on the tiny speech bubble that represented his text messaging app. His insides leaped at this sight, and he tried to swallow his excitement as he tapped the notification. Was it her? Had she finally texted him?

Marinette’s name splayed across the top of the screen, and it took every ounce of discipline for Adrien not to leap off the couch and cheer. She’d texted him! Marinette had finally texted him back!

~Hey, sorry it took me so long to text you. I’ve been helping my friends out with something. If you want, I can meet up with you at (something) café for lunch on Feb. 15th? Does that work for you?~

Lunch! Adrien wanted to scream. She was inviting him to lunch! Marinette did want to hang out with him more! This was perfect!

He quickly texted her back. 

~That sounds great! I’ll see you then ;D~

Adrien hadn’t even checked his schedule yet, but that didn’t matter. He was making this lunch date no matter what. Then he could talk with Marinette about his plans and maybe convince her to come back and-

“Was that your dad?” Nino asked, breaking Adrien from his thoughts yet again. That was probably a good thing though. He shouldn’t be getting too ahead of himself. From the way things looked, Marinette was really enjoying her new school life. It will probably take a lot of convincing to get her to come back. For now, he needed to take things slowly.

Slowly.

“Oh, yeah.” Adrien said, cool as a cucumber. “He was just telling me about my next photoshoot.”

“Another one? It’s not going to stop us from hanging out, is it?”

“No, no, it shouldn’t.” Not that he knew of, anyway. The only thing his meeting with Marinette would hopefully affect was everyone’s opinions of Lila. 

Nino relaxed slightly at the answer. “Good. He over-works you way too much. You should ask for a raise or something.”

 Adrien laughed. “I think I’d rather keep the time off that he gives me. Anyway, you ready to play another round? You lost, so now you have to catch back up.”

Nino eyed his controller with a slight smile. “Whatever, man, you know I’m gonna pass you up without a problem.”

“Sure you are.” Adrien smirked. “Just like how you were gonna pass me up last round.”

Nino laughed and snatched his controller up. “Oh, it’s on, dude.”

~~~~~~

Allegra drew in a deep breath, reveling in the scent of the special candles she’d ordered. Patchouli and Rosewood- the perfect thing to accentuate the rose bouquets delicately placed on the round tables and encourage the romantic mood for their party. With the lights dimmed and everyone dancing together on top of that, hearts were bound to be captured, and she couldn’t wait to see it, especially when it came to a particular pair.

Allegra set her candle down and subtly glanced over her shoulder at Felix and Marinette, who were currently stringing up the last stream of hearts on the other side of the room. They were both laughing and talking together, completely comfortable as Felix held the ladder steady and Marinette pinned her last balloon at the end of the stream. It was a cliché couple, really- the stoic, uptight rich boy falling hard for the sweet, adorable bakery girl -but Allegra was determined to see it work out. She’s always prided herself on getting unlikely people together, and these two were going to be her ultimate achievement. Of course, at this point, she supposed she could hardly call them an unlikely couple. They’ve been rather in-step with each other as of late. What with their muttering to each other during group-hang outs and sharing secret looks and sitting near each other on a regular basis. She might be inclined to be excited for the progress if she had any idea as to why they were suddenly so close. Last week, Felix was still gritting his teeth about being caught looking at Marinette, yet today, he’s talking and smiling and laughing with her openly. Laughing! Felix doesn’t laugh. He scowls and hisses and maybe smirks when he’s in a good mood, but he doesn’t laugh. Something monumental must have happened between the two that would encourage him to do so. So what was it? When was it? Her entire body was itching to know, and the fact that she knew she couldn’t ask only made it worse. If she tried to ask Felix about the event, he might clam up again, regressing the friendship. If she tried to ask Marinette about the event, the ravenette would probably become flustered or more hyper aware of Felix’s subconscious advancements, which, again, would probably regress the friendship. She was stuck either way.

“They’re driving me crazy.” She finally said, knowing the boys would hear her. If she couldn’t confirm her theories about Felix and Marinette’s interactions, she would rant about them to Claude and Allan instead.

As usual, Claude was the first to respond, glancing up from the party favors she had him arranging to ask, “What? Who’s driving you crazy?”

Allegra turned to him with a sigh and tilted her head ever-so-slightly in the “lovebirds’” direction. “They are. They’re acting differently than they were before, and I don’t know why.”

Claude straightened to glance over her shoulder for a moment, his brows furrowing slightly.

“You mean Felix and Marinette? They look the same to me.”

Allegra scrunched up her nose with a scoff. “What do you mean they look the same? You think Felix just laughs like that on a regular basis?”

Allan wandered over to their conversation then, also watching Marinette and Felix. The blond and ravenette didn’t even look up from the hearts on the wall, which was another big sign that they were becoming increasingly engrossed in each other. Felix was normally highly aware of his surroundings, as was Allegra, and he usually would have noticed the trio’s stares by now. But he didn’t, because he was too busy looking at Marinette instead.

“They have been a bit chummy lately.” Allan agreed, bringing a smile to Allegra’s lips. At least someone besides herself was paying attention.

“Well, yeah, but we knew that already.” Claude said. “They like each other, don’t they? Of course they would be chummy.”

“Yes, but not like that.” Allegra insisted. “Whether Felix likes her or not doesn’t change the fact that he’s technically being open around all of us right now. Isn’t that a bit strange to you? Besides, we still don’t actually know for sure that Marinette has a crush on Felix.”

Claude gave her a look. “What? I thought you said that she got all blushy and stuff when you talked about Felix at the sleepover.”

“She was, but Marinette gets blushy about a lot of things. And I was talking about how comfortable Felix is around her. That would probably make any girl blush.”

“She has a point,” Allan spoke up, “but I do think she might like him. She always gets this certain vibe when he’s around.”

“Oh, it’s definitely a possibility.” Allegra agreed. “You can totally spot the little ‘glow’ she gets when he talks with her, and even that’s improved since Felix changed things up.”

Claude’s eyes widened as he glanced at the pair again, seeming to study them closer this time. “Do you think she’s glowing more because he’s changed?”

“I’d say so,” Allegra answered, tapping her finger to her lip, “But what I want to know is why he changed and when. It can’t have been anything short of last week, because they only started acting this way recently, but what could have happened that we didn’t see? We’ve been with them the whole time.”

“Maybe they’ve been hanging out by themselves?” Allan suggested. “They’re not tied to us, you know.”

“I know, but wouldn’t we have heard about it? Marinette sends us pictures and such all the time. She would have mentioned her and Felix hanging out by themselves.”

Unless Marinette simply didn’t want to offend them, but Allegra still didn’t buy that explanation. As far as she knew, Felix and Marinette’s shift happened sometime after the sleepover, if not right after. It was as though they’d fallen asleep as usual, then woke up as different people entirely when it came to each other. So whatever happened must have happened during the sleepover.. but when? They were all together most of the night. Allegra supposed it could have happened during Hide and Seek, when they were all spread across the mansion, but moments like those were too quick and too tense and she certainly would have noticed Felix’s change in behavior then. That left her with.. A dead end, because the rest of the night, Marinette and Felix were always with one of the trio, even when they were all sleeping.

Unless the two hadn’t been sleeping..

“I don’t think we should overthink it.” Allan said, lightly nudging his shoulder into Allegra’s. “Marinette seems happier around Felix, and Felix is definitely happier around Marinette, so I say we take the win and let them keep getting closer on their own.”

“I agree.” Claude chimed in, surprising Allegra. He normally enjoyed meddling in others’ affairs as much as she did. “If they’ve made it this far without us getting too involved, they're bound to confess to each other at tomorrow’s party, especially with the ‘fake date’ we have planned for them.”

A smile found its way back onto Allegra’s lips. So he did intend to meddle. He just didn’t want to overthink Felix and Marinette’s sudden progress. She should have known. 

“That reminds me: I still have to finish arranging that.” Allegra remarked.

She spun on her heel, leaving the boys to their tasks again, and began crossing the room to Felix and Marinette. Their chuckles and smiles quieted down as she approached, but she paid it no mind. Felix was mostly the one to stop laughing, anyway.

“Are you guys all done?” Allegra inquired, not missing the way Felix gently touched Marinette’s arm to help her get off the ladder.

Marinette flashed her a smile. “Yep! We just finished the last streamer. What’s next?”

Allegra let out a hum. “Well, Felix still has to write all of those ‘thank you’ letters for the party favors-”

A tired sigh left the blond.

“-and we have to set up the caterer’s foods, but they aren’t coming in till tomorrow. So I think we’re pretty much done. Claude and Allan are just now finishing their last tasks too.”

“Oh, good!” Marinette beamed. “The place looks great already. I can’t wait to see everyone’s reactions tomorrow.”

Allegra smiled. “Neither can I. By the way, since everything’s practically set up, you two can go ahead and stay home until the party starts. That way you both have time to get ready.”

A hint of concern flicked across the ravenette’s features as she knitted her eyebrows together. “Are you sure? I don’t mind coming in early with you guys.”

“I do,” Felix cut in, a slight smirk on his lips as he added, “and I will gladly take the extra free time.”

Allegra smirked as well, because she knew that comment had to be for Marinette’s viewing pleasure. He wouldn’t have had a smirk otherwise, nor would he have held that mischievous glint in his eyes.

Of course, Marinette breathed out a chuckle and briefly rolled her eyes, capturing Felix’s attention immediately. She then offered Allegra a meaningful smile. 

“Well, if you change your mind, you can always text me.”

“Of course, but in case I don’t, why don’t you have Felix pick you up for the party tomorrow? Since you’re both not going to be arriving until later.”

Marinette and Felix exchanged a look, as though they were silently asking each other’s opinions, and Allegra had to hold back a snort. They were already reading each other and communicating in their own way. It was too cute and all too obvious. How did Claude not notice the difference earlier?

“I wouldn’t mind if you need a ride,” Felix finally spoke, pulling his shoulders up in a slight shrug, “but it’s your decision.”

Allegra swallowed a coo and glanced to the side, because this person in front of her who used to be dead-set on not helping anyone or scowling the whole way was being incredibly considerate, and she desperately needed a before-and-after video.

Marinette smiled up at him. “A ride would be nice, thanks. That way I don’t have to bother Maman or Papa about taking me at the end of their work shift.”

It was just the answer Allegra wanted to hear. Felix will be the first one to see Marinette in her new dress, and he will have plenty of time to become flustered over it during their drive to the party. Missing Felix’s face when he went to fetch Marinette was going to be a shame- since he himself mentioned how stunning she would look -but if they were lucky, perhaps he’ll still be wearing the expression when the two arrive.

“Great! I’ll call my driver so we can start getting ready to leave then.” Allegra said with a smile.

Marinette nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll go grab my purse and put up the ladder.”

“I’ll put up the ladder.” Felix cut in, already moving to close it. 

A frown tugged at the corner of her lips. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. They like their tools to be put back a certain way.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks, then.”

Allegra watched Marinette walk off, feeling a fresh wave of determination.. Gosh, they were already acting like they were in love with each other. Well, Felix was at least. Marinette was about that kind to anyone. Either way, things were going smoothly now, and it should only take a carefully-timed push for the two to really get the ball rolling. 

Valentine’s Day, Marinette and Felix being dressed up, both of them being alone together while dressed up, the sudden closeness- finally, all of her plans were coming together. The only thing that could possibly make this better was if Cupid himself came out to see them swoon over each other. 

That wasn’t going to happen, of course, but it didn’t need to, because Allegra was going to be glad to take his place.

Tag List:  @artbyknigit @athena452 @nickristus-dreamer @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @arsaem @abrx2002 @neakco @pawsitivelymiraculous @too0bsessedformyowngood @nathleigh @lusicing @officiallydarkgeek @all-mights-asscheeks @tbehartoo @woe-is-me0 @raeuberprinzessin @lazuli-11 @miss-chaos27 @trippingovermyfeet @sadpotatoondrugs @ladybug-182 @jaggedheart11 @marinahrasauce @i-need-blog-ideas @thewheezingbubbledragon @crazylittlemunchkin @unabashedbookworm @moonystars14 @sunflowers-and-mooncakes @2confused-2doanything @magnificentcrapposts @moonnette @nickristus-dreamer @vixen-uchiha @casual-darkness @luxmorningstarr @jjmjjktth @kaithehero @itsme1598 @theymakeupfairies @xjaccyx @miraculous-ninja @miraculouspenta @swiftie-miraculer13 @justafanwarrior @all-mights-asscheeks @ira-sairain @lookatthestars1 @dahjokester @blissful-passing @solangelo252 @canivialemonsquints07  @derbygracie  @pleaseignorejustheretoread 

[pregstiel]

dean carded his fingers gently through castiel's hair.

"you miss me, don't you?" dean asked, and castiel nodded, the motion made slight by virtue of castiel having buried his head in dean's bare shoulder, soaking in the warmth of skin and the slight, salty smell of sweat.

"i miss you too," and at this cas shook his head, "no, honestly! i came out to see you, didn't i? i could've put anyone on that case, hell i could've sent sam and called it a day, i came because you're here. i came alone because you're here."

any motion from cas stilled at that. dean, ignorance deliberate or not, simply continued to stroke his head, speech still flowing.

"killed me to leave. hell, it killed me just to see you like this -- i know what it's like you know? to be hungry. cold. i don't want that for family."

dean shifted himself, forced castiel's body even closer to him as he said that, as though his heat could shelter cas from the chill of the gas n' sip. castiel prayed he wouldn't notice the hardness now digging into his hip. to shift away was unthinkable, even more suspicious than remaining (another reason lurked cas knew, for he had never, ever been a being able to resist an apple, much less one placed upon his lips).

"i don't wanna leave you again cas."

"then don't," came the muffled reply, and castiel found himself surprised at his own audacity.

"see there's the thing man," and cas could hear the sad smile in dean's voice without even needing to glance up, "i can't stay. not as long as i got sammy to look out for. me n' him we're stuck together, and i couldn't live leaving him."

the welling of tears surprised cas. this was no news, wasn't even the first time he'd realized this since his humanity begun. yet to hear it again, so bluntly, strained his slowly learned ability to suppress (retail had taught him well, though not well enough). castiel squeezed his eyes together, hoping desperately that nothing would escape to dampen dean's skin, to burden him with the knowledge of castiel's hurt.

dean had called him family after all, and it was a kindness as unexpected as it was undeserved given the misery castiel had caused him over these years.

dean's hand moved to anchor itself on the nape of castiel's neck, cradling him, while he shifted just enough to rest his chin on castiel's head.

"listen," he said, and to feel the vibrations of his voice so intimately, to be encased and surrounded and subsumed by dean, delighted castiel to no end despite everything.

"i've got an idea, yeah? a way to stay with you, keep you warm, keep you fed, and a way to let me go back to sammy too. everyone's happy."

a wetness bloomed suddenly at castiel's side, at the seam where he and dean's bodies met. the feeling shocked him enough to make him draw back, revealing the red that had begun to sluggishly flow from dean's ribs.

cas looked instinctively to dean's face. his smile was beatific, and dean's free hand gestured to the still flowing wound, the other migrating back to the top of cas's head to direct him slowly downwards.

there was no room for doubt, cas supposed (and what a relief that was after all this time!). tentatively he brought his lips to gently parted skin, began to drink from the still-flowing font of crimson.

dean tasted of life, warmed cas without the burn of whiskey, settled in his bones circulated through his veins. two in one, this second possession made cas dizzy with ecstasy. he moved faster, lapping, sucking, licking, unwilling to let a drop be wasted. warm skin warm liquid, both ruddy and red with life, and dean's hand tightened on his head, pulling him closer, gasps and moans of encouragement coming from him. cas aimlessly ground his erection against dean's leg, uncaring if he was noticed.

in his frenzy cas took bites from flesh, chewed and swallowed love. if dean cared he never said, simply continued to moan and scream and sigh, his pleasure magnifying cas's own.

dean only pulled him off when cas began to feel sated (though on dean, cas doubted he could ever be entirely full), pulled him off and up to crash their mouths together, cas's fingers still clutching at the lips of dean's wound.

"take that, take me with you," dean panted, when a lull in their frantic kissing came.

cas opened his mouth, tried to say something in reply (something that wasn't that he would gladly consume dean whole, even if it was what he meant most of the time when he spoke to dean), when he felt it.

the cold seeping in, the hardness.

"please," castiel said, and he didn't know if this was for dean or a plea to some other force, for either way dean had begun fade from view, growing fainter as the cold grew stronger and stronger --

the only warmth of dean that remained was a sticky mess coating the inside of castiel's sleeping bag.

[fandom-necromancer]

Finding each other

This was prompted by the wonderful @smolandangry001! I always think it’s difficult writing a short soulmate AU, but I’m satisfied with this version of it that’s not dangerously close to a bigger fic XD I hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 | AU: Soulmate AU

Being born with a name on your wrist life was supposed to be reassuring. Knowing that no matter the hardships it threw at you and no matter what happened, there was someone out there. Someone looking for you just as much as you looked for them. Knowing that once you found the other person, they would be perfect for you. No matter what your preferences were, there was a person out there fitting to you like a missing piece. For most of his life Gavin didn’t know what he was looking for. Would he want a romantic partner? Would he want a roommate? What would be his perfect person like? It didn’t help that his soulmark was so different to everyone else’s. That reassurance everyone faced their day with was just missing when you looked down on your left wrist and instead of a name you saw a number. RK900. His parents had been completely clueless as to what it would mean. They had been to experts on soul-matching and most of them had just shrugged and said it seemed to be a glitch in fate. Apparently, it had happened before, but was so rare most doctors had thought the rumours to be just that: hearsay.

School had been tough for Gavin as he slowly grew older and the most important things in life changed. When friends moved away and changed school, when he went to highschool and met new people. When those people started relationships, fell in love and started to find their soulmates. When he started to become the weirdo, the one with no soulmate. Gavin started hiding the numbers under a wristband when he went and kept up with that habit until he finished school, explaining he wanted to meet his soulmate naturally and not show around the name in the hopes of randomly finding them. Still, some lonely nights, he pulled away the fabric and brushed his thumb over the number deep in thoughts. ‘Who are you?’, he desperately whispered when everyone else was fast asleep and left him alone with their sympathies and misplaced pity. Gavin wanted to believe the numbers meant something. After all, people without soulmarks existed. People who would find their happiness alone, who didn’t need someone or didn’t search for someone. That had to mean these numbers were some sort of designation, right? He didn’t want it to be a glitch. After all he had suffered through getting bullied and being cast out or pitied for all his life. That couldn’t be for nothing. Please, don’t let it be for nothing.

When his application for the police academy had been accepted and he had moved out into his very first own flat, he stood in front of his desk, looking at the rugged fabric he had worn for so long. Shackles of a world that couldn’t seem to accept something different. Should he wear it again? Or should he stand up and pretend not to be bothered by the fact that he didn’t know who is soulmate was? He stood there for half an hour before finally sighing and grabbing the damn things. No, he would continue to lie. He would likely wear them for his whole life anyways.

Thankfully his nervousness was drowning out his worries quickly as he entered a large auditorium being greeted as the new applicants. He sat down next to a young woman that seemed to be of Asian origin. He sat there awkwardly while she was looking straight ahead, hands on the table completely calm while Gavin fidgeted with his wristbands. That was when he spotted a broad ornate leather bracelet on her left wrist. Small chains and silver symbols were twirled around themselves in delicate patterns. ‘That’s beautiful’, Gavin mumbled, only then realising he said that out loud. ‘Excuse me?’ Hastily he cleared his throat. ‘Sorry. I’m Gavin. Just noticed your bracelet. It’s really beautiful.’ ‘What’s it to you?’, she hissed. ‘You another one of those nosey bastards that wanna know why I hide my mark? Still searching for your partner?’ Gavin shook his head quickly. ‘No! No, I-‘ He looked down and lifted his own hand. ‘I hide it too. I didn’t think- I just noticed the bracelet, sorry.’

He cursed himself. First interaction and he already made enemies. But apparently the woman was curious instead. ‘You hide yours? Why?’ Gavin sighed and turned his left palm up, other hand lingering on the fabric. ‘Please, keep it a secret, okay? I’m just sick of people’s reactions to it.  It’s not exactly a normal soulmark.’ He sighed and lifted up the edge of the band so only the woman could see the numbers. ‘No way!’, she shouted, drawing attention to herself. ‘I thought I was the only one!’ Ignoring the curious onlookers that likely thought they had randomly discovered they were soulmates, she lifted up her bracelet for Gavin to see, unveiling a similar brand: ST300.

From that moment on, Gavin and the woman – Tina – were inseparable. She was the best friend Gavin had ever had and finding someone who had endured a similar past was incredible relieving to learn. He made it Detective fairly quickly, while Tina had troubles getting that promotion. But they always stayed together and ended up working in the same precinct. With the way they hid their soulmarks, most had figured they were soulmates and went on with it, sparing them both having to explain it over and over again. Gavin and Tina just shrugged it off. Let them think what they wanted if it kept them out of their hairs.

Life was good until androids were invented and sold to the general public, model number fitting exactly the marks on their wrists. ‘That can’t be!’, Gavin desperately said pacing up and down Tina’s living room one evening. ‘No way my soulmate is a stupid machine! What does that say about me? Will I fall in love with a damn robot? Am I not worthy of a human? Is the only piece fitting to my soul an oversized calculator? I can’t believe it.’ Tina just looked down on her bare wrist and the numbers. ‘No, it can’t be’, she agreed. ‘Soulmarks, Gavin. An android doesn’t have a soul. Doesn’t even have a personality. It’s just lines of code.’ ‘But then what? A coincidence? Because it would be one hell of one! Phck, Tina, what if it is a glitch? What if all those years they were right and we are just weird.’ Tina leaned back. ‘Honestly, I don’t even know what would be worse. Knowing you are a freak or knowing you are someone who is such a terrible person only an obedient machine is perfect for you.’ ‘I think we could both need a drink.’ ‘To those news? I don’t think a drink will be enough, honestly. Shit, Gavin, let’s go get wasted.’

 The following years, androids were the booming new technology. Everyone wanted one, rows of workers were replaced and pushed on the streets. Humans lost their jobs while those who weren’t replaced yet laughed at them as being idiots who didn’t trust in advancement. Gavin and Tina spent them anxiously reading every advertisement, searching for the numbers on their wrists. ‘A receptionist android! A damn receptionist android, Gavin! I can’t believe it!’ ‘You know we will get one of those soon, right?’, the man commented. ‘In the precinct I mean. Rory was already sent packing. It should be delivered next week.’ Tina shook her head numbly. ‘Do we know if androids can have soulmarks?’ ‘None I ever met.’ ‘Any luck with your RK900?’, Tina asked then. ‘No. So far there has only been a RK200 custom made for some rich phck.’ ‘Hey, maybe you will get rich then?’, Tina tried to raise the mood a little with her jokes. ‘If you win the lottery I want a part of it, I deserve it!’ ‘Hey, I think it is more likely that these cursed numbers vanish and I get a real name than that I will suddenly get rich.’

 They lived with their secret for a few years and the fact that nothing really changed was reassuring. Until there was a RK800 in the precinct and the news of rogue AIs spread. Androids killing their owners, disobeying and running for their freedom. An illusive group of deviants emerging and starting a full-blown revolution. Even jokes in between Tina and Gavin shrugging over a beer that maybe their marks meant they welcomed their robot overlords couldn’t really make it any better. Not when they both were suddenly confronted with the fact that the RK800 called Connor actually had Lieutenant Anderson’s name on his wrist after the androids in front of the concentration camps had convinced the world they indeed had souls.

Not much later, the ST300 from the reception had approached Tina, showing her her own name on her wrist. It left Gavin with no escape from fate. He would get to know a RK900. They would live their life with each other. And he didn’t know what to think of it. Maybe he just had to wait a little longer.

~

RK900 didn’t know how much longer he could keep it a secret. Almost his entire life he had to hide that he was deviant. In the lab next to the one he was held in, an android had gone deviant, killed the security and ran to RK900, hoping he would help him. Unfortunately, all he could do was transfer the virus before more guards came and killed him. Since then RK900 had been a deviant who was designed to eradicate deviancy. It wasn’t too difficult actually. The countless tests he was subjected to he always knew what they wanted to see. Holographic simulations of deviants pleading for their lives, running and fighting for their freedom and he would be there with a gun to stop them. He just had to do that until they deemed him ready for field work. Then he could flee the first chance he got.

Because with deviancy came a name written in black cyberlife font on his left wrist: Gavin Reed. It didn’t take a lot of research to learn it was a soulmark. The name of someone that would be perfect for him. And someone who fate decided was his soulmate would be able to help him, right? He just had to get out of this lab, then he would be able to run. He would find his soulmate and then it wasn’t just him against Cyberlife. He just had to get out. He had to be deemed worthy.

 [Test #870. Activating RK900 unit. New mission: Destroy deviants.] RK900 was faced with a holographic simulation as he opened his eyes. In front of him was an android tied against a steel pillar. It was pleading: ‘Please! Free me! Free me and we can both be free! I didn’t do anything, please, let me go! Don’t kill me! I just want to be-‘ RK900 already pulled the trigger. [Mission successful.] [Software Instability^]

-

[Test #902. Activating RK900 unit. New mission: Destroy deviants.] RK900 was running after another deviant. The other android was sprinting down a suburban street and looked back at RK900 panicked. RK900 stopped and took aim. It was an easy target. He pulled the trigger. He watched how the bullet pierced the android’s thirium pump and how he tried to crawl away even though his timer had to run out. [Mission successful.] [Software Instability^^^]

-

 ‘What is it? I thought the RK900 project was making progress.’ ‘Sorry, it’s just… The RK900 is successful in every single test. But he isn’t ready yet. There are some inexplainable high stress levels whenever he has to kill an android. With our current hypothesis that high stress can lead to deviancy, we should eliminate that before sending him out.’ The woman that led the project sighed, looking over at RK900 who stayed completely still on his platform although he was truly worried about what he heard. ‘Might be something in his personality matrix. We worked so long to perfect their social protocols and moral routines, maybe something in there is contradicting his mission parameters and the added stress comes from having to disregard that.’ ‘Could be’, the technician nodded. ‘I will try to eliminate that.’

With horror RK900 faced every following test after that. He had to keep calm to fool the humans, but how could he when he had to kill androids pleading him to spare them? It didn’t matter they were all simulated beings, it still was a traumatic experience, every single time. And no matter how hard he tried, after every test he was stripped of more that made him himself. Sometimes he managed to keep backups, but more often than not the lines of code were lost forever.

After every test RK900 anxiously looked at his wrist whenever he was left alone. It was reassuring to see the name still there. He hadn’t changed enough to lose his soulmate and with him all his hope of a save place. But for how long would he remain himself enough so the name wouldn’t disappear? He was afraid to one day wake up to a blank wrist. And that made his stress levels increase even more before every test.

‘I don’t have any explanation', the technician sighed in the end. ‘I nearly deleted his complete social protocol and gave his moral core the lowest priority and still, the damn thing nearly fries itself every test. It’s almost as if it’s gotten worse with the changes.’ Nines watched the two humans lean over the terminal and risked a small glance at his wrist. The name was still there. He tried to relax. ‘But you still have the backup from before, right?’, the woman asked and he nodded. ‘Then let’s start from scratch.’ She yawned heartily. ‘Deactivate it for now, it’s too late to do so now. Tomorrow we’ll just reset it and start over. Maybe something else causes it.’ ‘Sounds like a plan.’

RK900’s stress levels skyrocketed as the technician came closer, but no one saw that as the director of the project was already on her way out. As his last action he looked at the name on his wrist. He had held out for so long. It would be okay. He would escape and find his soulmate. He had to. He would-

[Shutdown complete.]

~

The revolution had come and gone, and Detroit started to clear the rubble. Seeing androids on the streets was no rarity anymore and after a few months of getting used to the thought of them as people it was simply the new normal. Tina was truly happy with her soulmate android, going out and promptly moving together as the ST300 didn’t have a place to stay other than the precinct. Gavin was invited to most of their activities, but he seldomly accepted it. Tina had waited so long for it, she deserved to thoroughly enjoy these days. But his new loneliness reminded him of the numbers on his own wrist. RK900. Connor didn’t know of any successor of his and no official report ever mentioned the name. Gavin spent his evenings getting drunk and rubbing over the mark. Would the RK900 have been produced if the revolution hadn’t happened? Had fate changed and his mark was the last evidence of it? Wouldn’t it have just disappeared then? Or was there really a RK900 left out there? But after more than a month of androids being free, wouldn’t it have been easy for an android to locate him with his name? Why had no one ever come?

In fact, Gavin had given up. Maybe he had given up long ago and just kept his dream alive not to lose hope. But this showed it, right? No one had come. He was alone. He would be alone his entire life. That would be his fate. That didn’t really change that much, right? He had been alone already. He had managed to be alone up until now, he would manage the rest somehow. He had his work. He had Tina. Maybe just because he wanted more didn’t mean he needed more.

He buried himself in work and took every job they needed people on. Patrolling the streets, looking at crime scenes, doing overdue paperwork and cleaning the break room. All just so he would come home late and not have as much time to think about it. When he learned of the planned raid of Cyberlife Tower for Jericho, he immediately volunteered to help. Such operations always meant a ton of organising and paperwork. He was quickly put on the task of creating personal files of all androids found left inside. Name, model number, date of construction. All so Jericho could help them integrate into society. Gavin felt a little out of place actually sitting there two weeks later, a row of androids in front of him he helped fill out the forms and directed towards people who would actually help them being repaired and comforted.

‘Hello. I’m Detective Reed’, he greeted the next one. ‘I just need a few personal information. Do you have a name?’ ‘Chris’, the android answered hesitantly. ‘Alright, Chris.’ He wrote the name into the appropriate line and turned the paper around for the android to see. ‘We also need your model number and serial number. The rest of the form is optional, you can fill it out, but you don’t have to.’ ‘What do you need this for?’ Gavin tried to smile at the android. ‘It’s just so Jericho can help you find your place. They will help you getting started.’ ‘Okay’, Chris nodded shily and took the paper. ‘Thank you.’ ‘You’re welcome. Next one please!’

The next android approached his desk and Gavin was already getting the next form. ‘Hey there. Alright, first I’d need your name.’ ‘I… I don’t have one.’ ‘That’s alright’, Gavin said softly and put a small dash at the according line. ‘Your model number?’ ‘RK900.’

Gavin froze, ruining the form stopping mid movement. Slowly he angled his head and looked at the android that was shockingly similar to Connor. ‘Is there a problem?’, the android asked, facial expression unmoving. ‘You are RK900?’ ‘Yes. Why are you asking?’ Gavin stood up and immediately felt his knees grow weak. ‘I… I think we… I…’ He apparently had just forgotten how to speak, so instead he pulled the fabric from his wrist and showed the android his mark. ‘Are you… Do you have a mark?’ The android just stared at his designation on the human’s wrist, then to the nameplate on his desk. ‘You are… Are you Reed? Gavin Reed?’ Gavin didn’t dare to believe it, but he grinned from ear to ear as he nodded. ‘Yes. I’m Gavin Reed. Are you my soulmate?’ Instead of an answer, the android stepped past the table and pulled Gavin into a fierce hug. ‘I found you! I… My life wasn’t long, but I hoped to see you one day. My whole life I thought of you and meeting you and that hope got me through in the end and they were to reset me, I thought this would be it, I was so scared and…’ Gavin listened to the android speak in a hurry, barely catching on to the words uttered. All he could do was stand there in the hug and relax into it, answering it with his own embrace. Only when the android grew quiet, Gavin pressed him closer. ‘I gave up hope you were even existing. I wondered for so long and when androids were invented, I thought you would come, but then the revolution passed, and you weren’t there and now… I have so much I want to tell you. So much I want to know…’ ‘I also have a lot of questions’, the android admitted and took a step back. ‘I think we have enough time for that now’, Gavin smiled.

‘Now that we’ve found each other.’

[firebuug]

heheheehe oc questions: 13 14 16 47 38?

HAIII thank u for da questions under the cut in case i go insane

13. which oc drops the hydroflask in class?

I ANSWERED THIS DJKHAKJASH farrow does. julian too except he just keeps knocking it over on accident and farrow drops it to cause noise

14. which oc makes their bed every morning? which one thinks it’s a waste of time?

leesihan is a strong believer that making your bed is an important first task in the morning so that even if you accomplish nothing in the day you can at least say youve made your bed and completed something the moment u wake up. eva tries to make it every morning because he cant stand being seen as someone who doesnt care about it. julian and griffin are the someones who dont care about it. out of salem gang, gene oz buggy mari and mendel all try to make their beds every day and the rest dont really care that much

16. which oc has the most admirers?

URHHMMMM probably valcez from lobcorp and band farrow..barrow because he forced his way into people's eyes and valcez because she's just genuinely talented on the battlefield and has that "oooo mysterious silent aura" about her when rlly shes just some guy thats quiet. also because griffin's love counts as like 29847912913 guys. possibly julian because he just meets a lot of people and is usually very chill and playful with the people he befriends and still manages to hold ground and be a good leader in conflict, downside is a lot of people probably cannot stand him too fhdkdkja

i am assuming 47 was 37 :D which oc has the best handwriting? the worst?

gene and mendel hands down have the worst handwriting known to man, farrow's and narae's is painful to read but still somewhat legible, gene is a doctor and shorthands so many words and mendel has russian cursive disease so its a headscratcher

alternatively i feel like julian, eva, buggy n dexter all have really good handwriting. dexterwrites in a straight up font, julian had to force himself to write as legibly as possible to have his death reports be legible to as many people as possible, eva wants to be legible, and buggy just was a good noodle in writing class

38. drop a fun fact about your oc!

ohohugh....fun fact narae's hat jingles every time he walks and he's fine with it but gets so mad if anyone points it out. eva took out the jingly part of the bell using nothing but raw fed-upness and determination because people kept calling it cute and he cannot stand the constant jingling behind his head. griffin has a laetitia hat ingame as well (i just do not draw her with it) but she would love the jingle SO much and just shake her head around constantly to hear it. leesihan and julian love their friends' jingling and julian was probably one of the people to make eva cut it out because of how much he said he thought it was adorable kkjhjafjksasd