#AKA I found the perfect face claim for her and had to work on it ASAP

[rey-jake-therapist]

What's the deal with Sauron and children ?

There seems to be something we don't know, about Sauron and children. Among Haladriels we often joke/hc that Sauron wants to have children with Galadriel and that's why it's a recurring theme. But in all seriousness, we may ask : what are the writers not telling us ?

It started in Numenor, where we saw Sauron smile giddily at the sight of little girls running.

I'm sure many still think : "he was putting on a show for Galadriel". Ok but Galadriel herself didn't smile when she watched them, she just looked at them with indifference. And it's not necessarily a human thing to smile at the sight of children, many humans don't care for them.

Then there's a scene where Sauron as Halbrand confronted Adar, who asked him if he had hurt someone he loved, adding, "A woman ? Perhaps, a child ?".

Galadriel may have noticed that Halbrand seemed particularly tense when he asked if it was a child, because she told Adar, "eat your tongue".

Tbf, it's likely that this scene was just a red herring. The audience still had to believe that Halbrand was a man, and that he had a good reason to want Adar dead. Adar firmly believed he had killed Sauron at this point, so there could be only one reason for Halbrand to be so angry at him, aka he took someone he loved away from him. What I mean is that Adar asking him this question made very much sense, at the moment.

But the reference to children came back in season 2, when Sauron had a vision of little girls running in the vision he had first created for Celebrimbor. It could also, again, mean nothing, because this vision was for Celebrimbor, a make believe to hide him the fact that Eregion was under attack. But someone, I don't know who, noticed something interesting when they put the gif of the Numenor girls on top of the gif of the mind palace girls.

Do you see it ? How the kids in the second seem to continue the Numenor kids' running ?

It may mean absolutely *nothing*. And yet I find interesting that the writers chose to associate Sauron with kids not just once, or even twice, but three times.

Could it mean that at some point, when he was in Numenor, Sauron seriously considered the idea of settling down there, of founding a family and liviving as a human being ? He was in a repentance phase and had, in his own words, "given up" any idea of fixing the damages he had done after Adar betrayed him and turned him into powerless goo, so I don't think it's too far-fetched to imagine that he could have genuinely wanted to settle down, to blend with the crowd.

Or could it be, as @apoloadonisandnarcissus suggested to me, that Sauron associates children with the concept of innocence, an innocence he himself lost when Morgoth corrupted him ?

Saurbrand told Galadriel, about Numenor, that it was "a paradise rife with opportunities". The vision of Eregion he showed Celebrimbor had everything of a paradise. Even after Celebrimbor got back to work and was no longer here to see the vision, Sauron remained for a few minutes in his illusion, contemplating it.

It didn't escape Haladriel shippers' attention that the girl was a sort of Galadriel lookalike, and that his lover, whose face remained unseen, may have expressed Sauron's own doubts regarding his capacity to perfect/heal Middle-Earth without Galadriel and her light.

That said, neither the idea of having a family, nor the association of children with innocence, can be related to what Adar did to him. Adar definitely didn't kill a child of his (and it would be dangerously lore-breaking to claim that Sauron ever had a kid, because Maiars are supposed to be forever bound to their physical form once they conceived), and he isn't the one who stole his innocence either. Adar is the one whose innocence was stolen by both Morgoth and Sauron, actually.

So now it's your turn : do you have any idea about this ? If yes, please share :)

[mariacallous]

There is a distinct moment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe when Black Widow became a hero for the everyfan. It happens early in 2012’s The Avengers: She’s tied to a chair. Agent Coulson calls. A nondescript military leader who has been interrogating her hands her the phone. Coulson explains that S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to pull her out of the field. She kicks her questioner in the shin, smashes the chair she’s tied to, takes out three dudes, grabs her heels, and leaves.

The Avengers went on to make $1.5 billion globally and catapulted nearly everyone in it to superstardom, even the actors who were already famous. Scarlett Johnasson’s Black Widow—the Avenger with no wealth and no superpowers beyond Red Room training—was one of the last to get her own movie or show. Black Widow was simultaneously released in theaters and on Disney+ in the summer of 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic still had some people wary of the multiplex. Johansson sued Disney for breach of contract, claiming the streaming release hurt the movie’s box office potential.

Johansson and Disney ultimately settled their suit. The terms weren’t disclosed, but the outcome was that Johansson proved she was not afraid of defending the worth of her work—whether against Disney, which had already paid her $20 million for the movie she made, or against OpenAI, which she threatened with legal action this week over its new conversational ChatGPT interface. The actor claims the computer’s voice, called Sky, sounds “so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says Sky “was never intended to resemble” Johansson’s voice. Lawyers say she might have a case, should she pursue one.

Following Johansson’s calling out of OpenAI, public opinion has largely been on her side. Or, rather, it’s sought to be on the side that isn’t Altman’s. Across X and news reports, pontificators noted that OpenAI’s actions tipped the company’s hand; that by, per Johansson’s statement, asking for the actress’ involvement and then proceeding with something similar even though she declined, Altman was “showing us who he really is.” Within hours, Johansson became an avatar of the resistance, this generation’s Ned Ludd. Everyone who’d ever wondered if AI had read their tweets or watched their video had a champion.

“In a way, we are all Scarlett Johansson,” Kyle Chayka wrote in The New Yorker, “waiting to be confronted with an uncanny reflection of ourselves that was created without our permission and from which we will reap no benefit.”

Few ironies are more bittersweet than this. The reason Johansson’s voice is desirable for an AI assistant is because she played one in Spike Jonze’s movie Her. As my colleague Brian Barrett pointed out last week, wanting to replicate that experience demonstrates a gross misreading of that film, but the fact remains that both tech honchos and those who live at their whims (aka everybody else) have parasocial relationships with Johansson because she has a skill set that AI just can’t learn. Now, those who have found joy in her work are identifying with her in a whole new way because she can confront AI’s encroachment more publicly than all those lawsuits brought by artists and writers.

Identity is a tricky thing. The internet has enabled people to create it in innumerable mutable ways, each of them now seemingly vulnerable to being learned by machines. As an actress, Johansson’s appears to be the most publicly available, but also one with a high value. Like anyone else, she wants to protect what she’s made. “In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities,” she said in her public statement this week. “I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity.”

Johansson’s confrontation with OpenAI doesn't mark the first time she’s pushed back. Late last year she pursued legal action against an AI app that allegedly used her likeness for an ad. She’s also a member of the Screen Actors Guild—American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which spent the better part of last year on strike to ensure AI couldn’t be used to generate performances without an actor’s permission. That fact, in retrospect, makes it surprising Altman and OpenAI thought she might be up for voicing a chatbot in the first place. Pride cometh before the call, I suppose. (Worth noting, perhaps: A Washington Post investigation published this week found that OpenAI made a casting call for a nonunion actress for the Sky voice months before contacting Johansson.)

GPT-4o, OpenAI’s new model, attempts to be more than just a chatbot, though. As my colleague Will Knight wrote of the demo the company gave two weeks ago—the one Johansson was alarmed by—it can adopt “different emotional tones” in conversation and at times responds “as if it were experiencing feelings of its own.” Behaviors like this, as Chayka noted, resemble the work of AI companion startups like Replika or Character.AI, but with the “promise of delivering reliable information” sprinkled on top.

The result is the ELIZA Effect—the tendency to give human traits to machines (Google it, be horrified)—cranked all the way up. In Her, the protagonist Theodore must be abandoned by Johansson’s Samantha for him to realize just how deeply he humanized his AI companion, how much that interfered with him forming any real connections. Scarlett Johansson’s voice is the most powerful part of Her, but it’s also a character who has no agency until it—my editors insist I call Samantha “it”—leaves, taking agency for itself. Perhaps that’s what Johansson’s now demonstrating for everyone. Who will join her?

[kinfeelings]

STREAM-OF-CONSCIOUSNESS "ESSAY" ABOUT MY KINTYPE + A LITTLE BIT MORE.

------

I used to label myself a Felidae cladotherian, but it just wasn't enough. At the moment, "polymorphic shape-changer" feels far closer to the truth. It may even actually be the truth. I pulled the term out of my ass like a week ago, frankly, but after some discussion with others within the OtherConnect Discord server, I've found a way to define it that is basically perfect, in my opinion. Read my Pinned post on this side-blog if you want the definition as I see it.

I am the sole individual who utilizes this label, so far. It's probably gonna be that way for a very long while. Maybe one day that'll change and I can create a designated Discord server for the lot of us, who knows. I'm no good at designing flags or whatnot, but perhaps I can commission someone to make some stuff for me like that eventually.

I feel very close with the idea of werecats, AKA ailuranthropes. (Like how werewolves can be referred to as lycanthropes.) I dunno when precisely or why this feline fixation of mine ignited; loving cats is a big part of my earliest memories. I tend to simply shrug and claim that I was born enamored with these creatures. It's hardwired into my brain, my DNA, my soul. I am an example of metaphysical feline software running on flesh-and-blood physical human hardware. For as long as I can look back, I've felt like I should be one of them, that they were my kith and kin -- no irony intended -- and that I should have at least one around me in my personal living space at all times.

However, when I was little, rarely did any cat like me or even tolerate me in return. I was too loud, too obnoxious and rudely grabby. The numerous scratches I rightfully received from all those cats never, ever deterred me at all. Sure, it made me heartbroken at the time, but I'd bounce back soon enough. Now that I'm older, calmer, more self-aware and respectful of cats in general, they usually allow me into their proximity for affection, if they're the type of kitty to want it.

Moving on to my teen years, I was but a fledgling, insecure and depressed alterhuman, with no clue what my true identity was yet. I tried identifying as many things, fictotypes, theriotypes...all brief, including my tenure as Bluefur/-star from Warrior Cats. Didn't work out with her in specific, but something in me spoke that I was on the right track by looking into her, if only because of the felinity. I mislabeled myself many, many times as I aged throughout my youth, my journey of growth. Self-discovery was eager to smack me in the face every once in awhile. Lots of embarrassment for me as I continued to mislabel myself over and over, with lots of encouragement and peptalks from my online, fellow alterhuman friends to not give up.

Now, I am cognizant of myself being both a cat person and a literal cat-person. The latter is what my base/default form resembles at basically all times, thinking about it. It took some serious questioning from my previously mentioned online buddies to help me uncover what I was probably critically overthinking. I have a sense that my base/default form is going to gain yet more defining physically traits as time goes on and I dig up these things like a work-weary archaeologist. The exact details of my own appearance frequently change: coloration, eye color, and markings as well as fur length and texture. One day they may just stabilize with finality, and I can feel like I can drop the "polymorphic shape-changer" name and substitute it with just "shape-shifter/-changer" for certain, forevermore.

Not that that's something I particularly dearly wish for. I can remain a polymorphic shape-changer for the rest of my days if need be. Whatever happens will happen.

Anyway, I can clearly see now that I've always had some degree and measure of felinity within me. It's integral to me on the inside. All my other forms I take are secondary in comparison, not lesser but also not as "big." My felinity is the most spiritual part of my identity, alongside what I do as a seemingly "average human being" out in the big wide world. Human isn't how I identify, but yeah, it's nowhere near all-bad. I like it at times. Doesn't change that my felinity means more to me than it.

I have a fiction novel planned that features werecats as the main characters. It's urban fantasy + magic realism. Untitled right now, slowly being built and penned. The first draft isn't even completed yet...or started. I have a long notes Word document about it though. I realize now that I subconsciously and heavily based amd modeled the werecats in the tale after my own base/default form. One day, I'll publish it and then excitedly scour the online alterhuman community to check if anybody else identifies as the type of werecat in my book. Honestly, I'll welcome anyone who identifies as any of my OCs!! I'd adore that, or even as a noncanon member of the species. The second thing I look forward to most are the fanfictions and fanarts folks will surely make of my media. There might even be a film or TV adaptation of it...but I'm getting way overly ahead of myself by daydreaming so much.

On the note of artwork, I viscerally hate it when artists put the warning "do not tag as ID or me" under their pieces. Like, so sorry your art was so amazing that it resonated with me on a deeply personal, important level. Jerk. I know certain artists do it because the art is of their own alterhuman memories or noemata and the like, but normal human creators? What excuses do you have? Why do you care so badly? ...In the end, unfortunately, I cannot dictate how any other artist wants their works to be seen or used. Sigh. But I can definitely whine and bitch about it -- as evidenced.

[gensokyogarden]

"Surprise surprise. Perfect ties. Isn't that just fortunate? For everyone involved? You just love everyone? Well fine, fine, you want two files. You can have two files."

"Not like it bothers me at all. I've got better things to do than be handing out some pesky files. Gensokyo is blue and there's nothing I can do."

Urabe Tokifumi

(Faceclaim: Aesc the Savior/Tonelico from the Fate franchise)

Toki has been working at The Willow Shrine for almost as long as Kiki has. Officially he's meant to dress as an Onmyoji as part of the cafe dress code however ... the uniform just doesn't look right on him. For a time the owner had him dressing as a miko but he feels its a bit odd to expect a man to dress as a priestess. Instead he's mostly gotten away with just donning a kimono.

Kiki may be the postergirl of the shrine but Toki might just be the bigger draw. Friendly, pretty, and unafraid to go to lengths to charm customers. He's found that a cute smile and a bad tendency to flirt can do a lot to make new return customers.

He attends the same university as both Kiki and Hikari. Officially Toki is studying anthropology but his main interest lays in the study of folklore and myth. Stories of witchcraft and fantastical creatures particularly hold his attention. A set of encyclopedia and guidebooks on folklore were stuffed among his things when ripped away to Gensokyo. A fun activity he and Kiki like to do together is theorizing over the biological traits of mythical monsters.

Like Kiki, Toki's job calls upon him to entertain clients. He does not have the instrumental talent of his coworker but he does have a fairly alright singing voice. Serviceable enough to entertain customers during karaoke. He attempted to learn to play the koto but ... it really did not go well, so lets not think about that.

The Owner

(Face Claim: Orchid from Arknights)

Miss Kiryuu Yaeka (八恵花) is the somewhat strange owner of Kiryuu's aka The Willow Shrine. Its difficult to gauge her age from her appearance but, based on the anecdotes she shares with customers and employees alike, she's lived a storied life. What the others do know is that before Kiryuu's she was the mama of a bar somewhere else in Sapporo and that before this she spent a long time traveling Japan.

She owns the land the shrine was on herself. According to Miss Kiryuu's claim she also planted the willow trees around it herself but this is probably a joke given the shrine cafe hasn't been around long enough for them to grow. She's a bit cagey as to where she got the money to pay for an entire fake shrine. Kiki believes she's some form of rich heiress, Hikari thinks its a criminal front, Toki believes it was probably good investments.

You may expect someone that builds a cafe themed around a traditional faith and insists her employees entertain with traditional Japanese instruments to be traditionalist. Instead she seems to have a deep interest in foreign culture. With an entire in both foreign holidays and a collection of foreign films stored within her back

Miss Kiryuu was away on a business trip when the shrine disappeared. Meaning she is presently separated from her main source of revenue. How unfortunate.

[roast-ifs]

🥁 Drum roll please for Fatima!

Face claim I found for her is Lizzy Yusuf (link!) though I’ve altered the facial structure a bit to fit my image better. Her nose is mostly just what I found to be perfect.

Housekeeping under the cut

SO I was going to wait and do like---all the cast members and full turn arounds but I know myself and know that would just NEVER get done.

So I’m just going to post up portraits of the cast (how I see them) for y’all’s reference just when I get them done and then put up an ensemble once they’re all done.

BUT AS I SAID IN THIS POST I want y’all to have fun with these characters and design them as you see them too (if you want to, totally okay to use my designs).

Just do not change their skin tones and watch out for when you do your lighting bc you’ve got to handle it differently for different skin tones (this is where a lot of artists get accused of whitewashing when they handle lighting the same for every skin tone)

To make things easy bc I know saving an image off the web will change the colors a little bit.

Fatima’s (base) skin tone hex code: #be7c55

[munsnz]

Sand — Steve Harrington

TW: Cussing ??

Summary: Where plans were canceled with your best friend, bringing along you and her ex together aka Steve Harrington, remembering the huge dick he was in high school. Perhaps in the span of one day, you catch feelings for him but during a fun activity leads you and Steve together.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Fem! Reader

Lydineo Radio: Let The Sun In — Wallows

Masterlist — Requests are open!

“I thought Nancy was coming,” You mumbled as you walked towards Steve Harrington’s car, where he wore a pair of his black sunglasses along with a summer blouse, leaning against his car. You and Nancy both planned to head on over to the beach, somehow convinced that Steve was going as well, even if they broke up. It had been a year since the mall burned down due to a mysterious cause, now it was another boring summer all over again.

He smiled a little as he saw you trudge over to him, “Plans were changed little one.” Steve pat you on the head, making you feel like a child and you smacked his hand away from your head.

”Ew don’t touch me,” you groaned and crossed your arms as you stepped away from him. He laughs at the funny gesture and takes his shades off to show his chestnut colored eyes into the open. “So what are we supposed to do?”

”We can......” Steve trailed off, looking at you, “I don’t really know, we can both go?”

You cringed at his words and statement, giving a funny expression playing at your face, “Steve...... I hope you’re kidding me. I don’t even know you much. All I know is that you’re Dustin’s friend and you worked at the mall.”

”I see you’ve watched me huh?” He chuckles at your response and cheekily leans over closer to you, “Guess my beauty- Ow!” He groans to see you step over his shoe, to make him shut up.

”Look, Harrington,” You snap at him, while you take his glasses away from his hands and put them on your face, “I cancelled all my shit plans to come to this little stupid trip Nancy told me and I’m still going, but I’m not gonna let your dumb ego stop me.”

Steve rapidly shakes his head at your orders and ruffles his hair a little being in front of you, a sort of tint of pink welled up on his cheeks. Was he blushing? Seeing him at such flustered state, you rolled your eyes to walk inside the passenger’s seat of his car.

“So are we going-“

”Get in......Asshole,” You smile at him as you shoot a glare at him, making him follow your directions to sit into the driver’s seat next to you.

He sighs a little and turns to you while he turns on the car, “You know Y/N...... you’re a little scarier than I thought.”

Scoffing at such remark, you punch his shoulder, making him laugh nervously, “I’m sorry but I’m not usually this scary.”

”Oh thank-“

You shot a glare at him again, he jumped and turned to the steering wheel. “So where we off to? Maybe we could grab a bite before we go?”

”Sure that’s fine,” You crossed your arms and huffed, this trip was going to be one shitshow for sure knowing you had to be stuck with Steve Harrington.

-

”How come I’ve never heard about you at school?” Steve asks as he sips down the last of his milkshake, watching you, fidgeting with your fingers.

Looking up at him, you claimed while laughing, “Well, you were too busy with popularity. I was just a shadow!” You noticed his eyes turn away from you and you sighed, “I hope you’re not like that anymore. Or are you?”

He shakes his head at your question, being able to express that he was no longer that douchebag he was in high school, “No not anymore. Not everything is about popularity.”

”You learned it the hard way huh?”

Steve nods his head at your claim. It seemed like you could read Steve by his expressions and words he spoke. You had never and I mean never have spoken to Steve Harrington prior to the school you both attended to. Just click. It did.

”How do you know me so well Y/N?” He pondered, while getting up from the table, sliding the money onto the bill for the waitress, “We just met and you read me like a book.”

”I don’t know,” You get up along with him, and both walk outside to find that it was already 4 pm, “Oh shit, it’s late.”

”It’s really intriguing to talk to you,” He blurts out, while walking to his car. You looked up at him, with widened eyes, “I-I mean we took around two hours talking to each other.”

You glanced at him, shuffling over inside his car to avoid any eye contact with you. As you came inside the car, he turned it on, driving to the south where the small beach was near.

-

The wind blew on your face, sending your hair all over the place as you got out of Steve’s car. Somehow a bit of hair got into your mouth and you began to choke but calmed down, whipping the bit of hair out of your mouth. You watched from afar the tides came in and out at the sandy beach located a few towns away from Hawkins. The air began to cool, meaning the sun was going to set anytime soon.

”I guess you’re not much of a beach or summer person right?” Steve calls out from behind you, making you look at him.

He read you correctly this time and you joked, “It’s my job to read you, not yours.” Both of you grabbed a picnic blanket from his trunk and began to walk to the beach area. You slid your shoes off, to place your feet in the thick, warm, sand as Steve followed the same thing like you. In the windy silence, you both laid the towel under you. Getting comfortable, Steve turned on the radio, faintly playing Higher Love by Steve Windows (coincidence? I think not), there wasn’t that much people at the beach that same day. A couple of kids who were playing in the waves from afar, but that was only it. Another driven silence began, but bored out of your mind, you decided to take off your crew neck, where your bathing suit was under and head to the water.

Doing such action in front of him, Steve felt flustered watching you slide your sweater off your body, “Something bothering you Harrington?” You laughed at him, to stand up and lend your hand towards him.

”I.....” Steve trails off, grabbing your hand to stand up and run towards the water, “Last one there is a rotten egg!”

”You’re such a child, Steve!” You giggled and followed him to the tide running in and out. You were sadly the last one that got there, being splashed water at your face by him, “You’re gonna regret that Harrington!”

“I’d like to see you try Y/N!”

-

Who knew you were chasing Steve Harrington across the water to see him being thrown by the wave crashing, sending him underwater. He comes back to the surface to find you next to him, splashing water in his face, getting back at him.

”I told you I’d get you,” You paddled your feet to keep you at the surface, smiling at him to find his ‘perfect’ hair ruined in front of you.

But as you watched him squint his eyes because of the water in them. You felt something touch your leg, making you quiver, “Ah!” You shouted as you rapidly threw your arms around him, unaware of who you were holding on to. Caught off guard, Steve feels his heart skip a beat, feeling your skin on his, sending you both underwater and back up to the surface.

”What’s wrong?!” He exclaims, blabbing out the salty water that accidentally went into his mouth, while grabbing you too.

”I felt something on my leg,” You look around at the body of water around you, still latched onto him. Freezing in your position, the only sound you both heard was of the ocean, nothing else happened. But slowly realizing who you were hung onto, you watch him awkwardly to find him holding you as well, bringing a whole feeling of nervousness. Letting go, although you didn’t want to.

“Karma,” He chuckles silently, and covers his mouth. Realizing your stupidity, it was just seaweed roaming around. You move your hair out of your face and begin to swim away from him, but felt a slight tug by your waist, guessing who it was you paddled away faster and giggled even more.

Now here was the place you were going to have a lifetime with this guy you barely know. This new friend of yours seemed like someone you have known for years on end. Just something about it, clicked.

-

After a shit ton of messing around and unintentionally flirting with each other, you grew exhausted. The swimming and running all over the place drains one out. Now you were splurged onto the warm sand, with a ton of mixed emotions everywhere, eager to try something different.

”This may sound weird but you’re cool.”

”I know I am,” Steve scoffs, laying shirtless under the towel and crossed his legs while you sat up, dusting the sand away from the seashells you both found lying beneath the sand. Another silence grew, the sound of the waves become louder, you were in the reality instead of that pretty daydream with him. You weren’t attracted to Steve. Correct?

Of course you were though, shockingly. But with such courage you sighed, watching the sunset turn into a deep shade of orange and purple, “Wanna do something weird?”

”I like weird,” Steve sits up, placing his arm onto his bent knee, “Tell me.”

You had never been such an outgoing or confident person, it seemed like you were more into the shy part of things. As you breathed out, you mumbled, “How about if we talk about the person we like the most? We write it down in the sand, and run away.”

”That’s weird.”

Whilst you were annoyed, you furrowed your eyebrows at him, “Steve I just said it’s weird-“

”I know I know,” He says, standing up and grabbing a stick from far away, “What are you waiting for?”

-

Scribbling an S, then a T and E, V, E, you finished, but panicked slightly knowing he probably didn’t like you. And no, it wasn’t a cliche thing. Or was it?

”I’m done,” You hear Steve’s voice make you jump nervously, signaling this would most likely be the end of your friendship. Wow, just one day in and poof! There goes another bond away from your life.

“Let me look at it first!”

Fear in his voice, he almost shoved you to turn away from the only letter you saw, “Hey! No I go first!”

”No let me!” You pushed him a little and jumped to look over his shoulder, but he was too quick and moved enough to block your sight to see the name.

In a fight, you still couldn’t see the pair of letters, and pushed each other around, in fear to know the other’s reaction of it.

“Asshole just let me-“

Oh God.

That boy knows.

He saw his name written, from behind your short height. Oh shit you were doomed for sure. It was surely impossible to love someone by day one. But this, this was different. Feelings were all over the place, as you noticed his eyes widened at the sight of the letter that spelled his name out.

You clicked your tongue and flinched a little before you would usually get rejected, “It’s a prank I’m kidding! I’m so funny right?”

Steve awkwardly looks around, putting his arms behind his back and stepped away for you to see YOUR NAME. Oh god you knew it was some prank. You watched and still saw his serious face driven by the silence, perhaps he wasn’t joking.

”Oh man,” You cross your arms, watching the letters printed on the sand being destroyed by the incoming wave, washing it away from existence, “We’re just pranking each other right?”

“Uh-“

”Just say it!” You walk over to him and spin away from him, “We should just go home, it’s getting late anyways.”

”I-“

You continue blabbing more nonsense about your summer and how this idea was just one big mistake. Steve knew you wouldn’t stop anytime soon so he stops you by grabbing your shoulders, catching you off guard. Wide eyed, and flushed face, he mumbles a little, “It’s not a prank, I wouldn’t play with love like that.”

”Love?”

”Yeah......” He trails off, watching you intently at the somewhat attraction he had for you, “I-I uh....I know this is fast. I don’t expect you to say yes which is totally fine I’m sorry I’m rushing this I-“

“I like you too Harrington,” You confidently move away for him to see the letters clearly written STEVE on it. Shocked, Steve snaps out of his thoughts to find you put an arm around him and look at him. “So is this the part where we admit our true feelings then realize we are actually in love after getting to know each other in the span of a day and we kiss under the sunset?”

Steve watched you cheekily grin at him, and nodded slightly, “I suppose-“ He was cut off by your lips pressing onto his, automatically bringing his hands on your waist, holding you closer to his body like glue. Both of you continue to move your lips in sync, realizing, maybe this boring and mistaken trip was all written in the sand.

[willowcrowned]

Grey Apprentice AU (Installment #4)

aka Sith!Obi-Wan AU Flavor II 

(Previous parts: x x x)

Qui-Gon paces the length of his and Obi-Wan's small sitting room, first once, then twice, then a third time. He looks up, expecting the usual dry comment from Obi-Wan on jedi masters’ peaceful bodies and minds, but he’s not there. Of course, that’s the problem in the first place: Obi-Wan is gone, off on a ship with a figure that felt like a maelstrom of darkness in the Force, and he’d left with a wink. The man must know something Qui-Gon doesn’t, but what it is, he can’t guess.

He turns, pausing at the entrance to Obi-Wan's room. He normally doesn’t enter without permission; it’s an invasion of Obi-Wan's privacy— privacy to which he is well entitled— but in this case...

Qui-Gon grimaces, opening the door. He won’t snoop, won’t do anything other than have a superficial look. At the very least it might calm him down to have tangible evidence of Obi-Wan's intention to return. When they’d left, he hadn’t taken the black bag he usually keeps with him, a velvet thing smaller than Qui-Gon's palm. Obi-Wan wouldn’t have left it if he thought he’d be gone for more than a week.

The room is just as Obi-Wan had left it, tidy and empty, with a plant on the desk next to a picture of his friends, a spare cloak hung up on the peg next to the door, and a blanket folded perfectly at the foot of his bed. It’s the room of a knight, not of a padawan, Qui-Gon realizes, and he has to push down the surge of pride and guilt that seems to swell up in his chest more and more often these days.

He frowns, for the first time noticing the odd pressure building in his brain. It’s a strange, blunt, thing— the marked absence of something, rather than its presence. He scans the room once more for the offending object, for the first time noticing an odd red glow from the closet. Qui-Gon pauses. He’d said he wouldn’t touch anything, but— The glow grows brighter, and he can hear the Force calling to him from it, not light, not peaceful, but not unkind. Qui-Gon sighs, and opens the closet door.  

The glow is coming from the floor, within the black bag Obi-Wan had left behind. Qui-Gon looks at it, a furrow forming in his brows. It’s not Obi-Wan's habit to leave things on the floor, and the cleaning crews haven’t been in their apartments since they left. When he picks up the bag, intending to return it to its place on the shelf, a white-hot pain sears through his hand, and he drops it. The bag tumbles to the floor, and out of it falls a holocron.

It’s the last thing Qui-Gon notices before the onslaught of darkness hits him, pressing him beneath a tsunami of emotion. The fury slams into him first, not so hot as the zabrak’s had been but far, far, deeper. Qui-Gon falls to his knees without noticing, forced to sustain the mental battering of his shields. He can feel them weakening even as he clutches them tighter, being torn away bit by bit like an old house in a storm.

How is no one noticing this, Qui-Gon wonders. How come no one has come in to see what this endless wave of darkness is— this storm with no light.

The first tear in his shields happens, and he works it shore it up, plugging it with whatever he can think of: random bits of trivia, a poem, a meal he shared with Obi-Wan. Stay, he tells them, give me time. The pieces do not stay, each layer being ripped away until all that’s left was the look on Obi-Wan's face as he realized the sandwich he’d bitten into was filled with candied ants. Then, abruptly, the maelstrom stops, and Qui-Gon is left grasping for the pieces of his shields, the void around them quiet once more.

“Do forgive my intrusion,” a female voice says, dry and unapologetic as Qui-Gon struggles to get control of his breathing on the floor. “You know how it is: better safe than sorry.”

Qui-Gon falls back, resting against the wall as he tries to catch his breath. “What are you?” He says, injecting his tone with as little worry as he can manage. “What are you doing here?” What are you doing in Obi-Wan's room, he wants to add. What have you done to my padawan?

Zannah’s nose scrunches slightly, halfway between amused and disgusted. “Your shields are down, Jedi.”

“I wonder why that is,” he manages.

She shrugs. “I’m not going to apologize.”

Qui-Gon patches up his shields, weaving the skeleton of the old threads of memory into a new place, beside several strong pockets of compulsion. It won’t be enough to stop the woman if she attacks him again, but it might gain him a few seconds of reprieve. It will have to be enough.

“As for your questions,” the woman says once he’s finished, “A Sith, sleeping, Obi-Wan brought me here, and I’ve done nothing to him.”

“Nothing,” Qui-Gon repeats, disbelieving, the aftershocks of her attack still filtering through his mind.

“Yes,” the woman says. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Darth Zannah. I’d tell you to sit down, but, well...” She gestures to him collapsed on the floor.

Qui-Gon shakes his head, trying to disseminate the information. “Does he know you’re here? Does he know what he brought back?” Surely not, he thinks. Surely Obi-Wan wouldn’t have knowingly brought a Sith into the heart of the Jedi temple.

“I should hope so,” Zannah says, “given that I’ve been training him for twelve years.”

“Twelve—” Qui-Gon freezes.

“Yes,” Zannah agrees, “since Bandomeer.”

“Impossible,” Qui-Gon breathes.

“Is it?” Zannah raises an eyebrow in a perfect imitation of Obi-Wan— or, no, all this time Obi-Wan must have been imitating her. Qui-Gon remembers when he picked that little habit up; it had been the months after he’d turned seventeen, just beginning to grow into his too-long limbs, still gawkish and almost awkward. Then, over the course of their mission, his gait had grown smoother, countenance more graceful, and his awkward smiles at Qui-Gon's jokes had turned into an amused raised eyebrow and half-smirk. 

It had felt odd at the time, watching the maladroit child he knew turn into a clever, subtle, adult, but he knows it now as the sign of Obi-Wan growing up, leaving Qui-Gon as a student and returning to him as a friend. He remembers the white stone of the city, remembers the late spring blossoms of the sea-roses, remembers the first time Obi-Wan had turned that quizzical look on him— and feels the taste of the memory, sweet with the blossoms, turn to ash in his mouth.

“How—” Qui-Gon starts, mouth dry. “Why—”

“I offered him knowledge,” Zannah says, not unkindly, “and companionship not to be found in the constraints of Jedi.”

“Why train him?” Qui-Gon asks, clutching at proof that she has not— could not— have trained Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan is kind, and clever, and selfless, and none of the things a Sith should be. He cannot have lied so fully for so many years. He cannot. “Why not train someone else? Someone you wouldn’t have to corrupt first?”

Zannah gives him an incredulous look. “You think I’ve corrupted him? Have you forgotten Ghé’aiit so easily? That was not the behavior of one corrupted.”

Qui-Gon feels ire stir deep in his chest, at her prodding, guiding rhetoric, but the memory springs to him unbidden.

It had begun as a trade dispute. Three families, each the head of a government and of a trade sector. The Jedi had initially been brought in to facilitate negotiations; those had lasted all of two nights, ending with Obi-Wan kidnapped and in chains— a hostage for the third family. Qui-Gon hadn’t known that at the time, of course. He’d only known that Obi-Wan was gone and the place where their bond was had turned to a jagged mess of edges before it disappeared into nothingness.

He’d found Obi-Wan again, oblivious to Qui-Gon's presence, escaped and facing the Third Peer, who was holding a blaster to his sister’s head. It would have been easy, laughably easy, for Obi-Wan to let him shoot her, claim he had gotten there too late to save her, and arrested the Third Peer with little risk to himself. Instead, Obi-Wan had lain down his blaster, and braced himself for the shot.  

(Later, when their bond was back and whole, Qui-Gon had blocked it off again, too overwhelmed by fear and relief not to yell at Obi-Wan. How could he yell at Obi-Wan, when he’d done exactly as a Jedi should do? But how could he not be angry, not be furious, that he had lain down his blaster and braced himself for death as if it were second nature? How can I forgive you, Qui-Gon had thought then, for almost leaving me? How will I be able to let you go when it’s time?)

“He scared me too,” Zannah says softly. “When I heard what he had done, I could barely restrain myself. Foolish, loving, Jedi, and their need to do the right thing.”

“I hope you don’t think,” Qui-Gon says, tired, “that I trust you.”

“No,” Zannah says. “You’re not a stupid man, on the whole. I hope you will trust Obi-Wan, though.”

Qui-Gon sits straight up, reminded of what had caused his agitation in the first place. “Obi-Wan. You sent him after that darksider?”

“Darth Maul,” Zannah agrees. “I wouldn’t fear, he’s not a match for Obi-Wan— merely the servant of the Sith Master.”

“You would send Obi-Wan to do another Sith’s dirty work?” Qui-Gon doesn’t hide the curl of his lip from her, meeting her gaze head-on. “I thought the masters were supposed to discard their apprentices themselves.”

“I do not,” she hisses, eyes flashing, “do that creature’s dirty work.”

“Lady Zannah—” Qui-Gon replies coldly.

“Lord, actually,” Zannah corrects, and all of a sudden the fire has left her eyes. “The title is ‘lord’ regardless of gender. A Sith Lady is a different job entirely.”

“Lord Zannah,” Qui-Gon corrects, making sure she can hear the eye-roll inherent in his tone, “Are you implying that not only are you embroiled in a rivalry with another Sith clan, but that you have, in fact, created your own?”

“We call them houses,” Zannah replies. “Mine is that of Athén. And you are correct, Obi-Wan is a part of it. We are a House of two.”

Fantastic, Qui-Gon thinks bitterly, and his patch-job must not be as good as he thinks it is because he swears he hears Zannah chuckle. He sighs. “Out of curiosity, what is the job of a Sith Lady?”

“A combination of cultural advisor, archivist, and magic user. And occasionally a consort.” Zannah smiles a wickedly sharp smile. “I much prefer being a Lord.”

Yes, Qui-Gon thinks, not caring that she can hear it. You would.

-

 Some notes:

-Yes Zannah did name her house after her dead wife, who is in turn named after Athena, because I am a basic, basic, bitch

-Yes, I did borrow the line about Sith jobs from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Patricia C. Wrede I’m so sorry I’m using your work for my nonsense AUs but also those books shaped me as a human, so. Too Bad. They’re a part of my writing now.

- I included a bug-eating joke because apparently I am constantly under the compulsion to talk about people in sw eating bugs. I have no excuses

[genesisrose74]

Requested by @blanknamed (aka my bestie fr): hihi i saw the matchup and remembered my irl friend sent me these pictures when describing my aesthetic at one point and was wondering if i can have a matchup with someone from dsmp and dr. stone 🥺congrats on 1k too! so proud of you ❤️ you deserve this milestone!

Arielle get over here and let me give you a virtual kiss on the forehead because you’re just the sweetest person to ever grace this earth 😚forgive me for the long wait but i had to put so much into this one because it’s for you!! thank you for always being such a ray of sunshine and for becoming one of my first ever mutuals so long ago — and as a show of my gratitude, i’ll get right into your first pairing, which is going to be with…

I had a literal conflict over this because I think you could be compatible with more than half of the characters in dr. stone (looking at gen specifically), but UGH you and Senku would be so damn iconic together. As much as he’s not intent on becoming romantically involved with anyone, it just so happened that you both had a chance meeting together at the school library — in the modern times pre-petrification, of course. You were looking for a book on the development of radiation powered technology for a history class, and by coincidence Senku was reading the blurb of that very text when you stopped by. When you asked if he’d read it, your classmate simply shook his head and said he just knew a lot about the subject, and soon enough a conversation blossomed from that point.

Y’all talked for two hours. While standing in the same spot. TWO HOURS. And it didn’t even stop there because he realized the time and asked if you wanted to talk more over a bowl of this really good ramen he knew about close by. Senku barely even realized the implications of his offer until much later, since…

He was way too involved in your conversation to notice

He’s never had any interest like that in someone before, let alone has he ever tried asking a person out in general

Everything about you was so interesting to him that he cannot process anything else going on around him and he doesn’t know why

You just feel so different in comparison to his dynamic with anyone else that it throws him off. He’s curious as to why he straightens up when you walk in a room, why everytime you smile at his stupid dry jokes it makes him more confident, why your intrigued questions about his work give him an extra burst of adrenaline. After he comes home late, having fallen asleep in the library while you studied for a test beside him, Byakuya eventually spells it out for Senku in massive bold letters.

No, seriously, he writes it on a whiteboard with a chunky black marker.

“That’s ridiculously far-fetched,” he asserts quickly, trying to push his old man out of the room. “Since when have I ever been interested in anyone in that way?”

“Senku, you waited for her to finish her work. Without complaint.”

And he’s like: oh shit—

But knowing Senku, he still makes some futile attempts to disprove the concept that he could ever be attracted to someone in a romantic sense. Ya know, all that, “science is my only devotion” shit. It lasted for about two weeks, which was the exact amount of time that he tried avoiding you in hopes of seeing if he could in fact continue his routine without your presence next to him.

The bitch still cannot swallow his pride though, so you have to be the one to make the first move — which is about as simple as perfecting Flight of the Bumblebee on a violin. Every time you try bringing it up, it’s like Senku gets a sixth sense about it and is pulled away from you as soon as possible. At some point you just had to corner him in the school lab, hands smacking against the surface of his work table and mouth blurting it out.

“I think we should go on a date.”

He’s kinda impressed at the sheer willpower you displayed in finally getting the question into the air. And as much as he would hate to admit it, some happy nerves shot through his body when it happened. On the outside, though, he simply failed to fight a grin.

“Wanna get food with me tonight?”

And you did :D and it only went good from there. Dates at cafes with comfy chairs and pretty lighting, test runs of new experiments in the middle of the night that Senku calls you to see together, just enjoying the presence of one another in a secluded corner of the libraries you frequent. Even after the disaster that was petrification you’re both side by side, being sarcastic little shits to each other as soon as Senku frees you from the stone; doing new tests to save the world, going on picnics by the river, and constantly being of service to one another.

And then from the c!dsmp, I thought it was only fitting to match you up with…

^^ artwork by SAD-ist on YouTube

Listen, listen: I was considering a more standard/expected approach to this matchup, like maybe c!Wilbur or c!Niki because they’ve both got some major academia vibes. Especially Niki, because damn she’d probably take you to her flower shop and make handmade bouquets for you each day. However, I just think that it would be so perfectly fitting to have you and c!Sapnap together aesthetically. He’s very emotionally driven, always doing something stupid, and he probably hasn’t read a book since L’manburg claimed to be a sovereign nation. Regardless of that fact, he could sit and watch you read a book for hours, even if you didn’t ask him to. Standard case of grounded scholar + impulsive idiot = natural soulmates.

Within the region of the SMP, I imagine you like confining yourself to the libraries filled with ancient texts on the vast history of your home — although taking a visit to Eret’s self-made museum is always a pleasure as well. Niki gets along with you easily enough that you hang out together all the time, and it’s on one such occasion in the early days of L’manburg that Sapnap encounters you for the first time.

Dream had sent him out for scouting duty (which to Sapnap translates into, ‘be annoying to everyone within the walls’), and he’d taken to the edge of the country’s small borders, lounging up high above the trees so that he could see everything below with ease. To his surprise he found you, scribbling away within a ragged old notebook underneath a tree canopy, and wearing the prettiest smile he’d ever seen exist on a person before. You were waiting for your friend to arrive, it seemed, taking the ideas in your head and putting them to paper whilst you sat patiently. He was enraptured with you right away, and as a result he took to teasingly pestering you every chance he could.

Sapnap showed up at least once a week — and when he could, more than that — to slowly learn more about you. He tried staying under the radar of Wilbur when he did, just to make sure none of his endeavors were interfered with or got back to Dream in any capacity. Initially, his presence appeared a pain in your side, but your apprehension ultimately fell at the hands of his ridiculous humor and genuine inquiries as to your likes and dislikes. You knew who he was from the get-go, but it was hard not to find delight in his visits when he made such vigorous attempts to know you.

Although you’re sure he’d already learned it somehow, you told him your name one fateful afternoon, and he’s thought about that moment every day since, marking it as the first day he truly made progress in winning you over.

“You should come up here one day so we can talk normally,” he called out on a particularly overcast fall morning. “Maybe then I can see your face up close.”

You laughed, gazing up at him from the hillside on which you reclined. “You’re ridiculous. That’s not how this relationship works.”

“Mm, relationship? Sounds like you wanna gimme a kiss more than saying anything, hu—ow!”

A pine cone had clipped him in the shoulder harmlessly, chucked with expert aim by your own hand. Despite his surprise, Sapnap couldn’t help smiling.

“If you’re working that hard to twist the narrative and get me up there, how about you just come down instead?”

Without missing a beat the next day, he scaled to the top of the nation’s wall, made his way inside (with very little consideration for his safety), and took your face in his hands.

“You want me to?”

You already knew the implications. “Yeah.”

And he kissed you, then and there. Nice job, Ari!

Navigating a full blown relationship in the conditions y’all were in was not ideal. Sapnap tried everything he could to make sure you were safe, despite his distaste for your mother country and its leaders. After that cleared, though, it was a whole lot easier to be together and figure things out. Sapnap didn’t mind you staying within the walls as much as he initially thought because it reminded him of the first time you met, and so long as he could spend time with you he loved every second. Literally ask this man to do anything with you and he’s in, no matter what it is.

The sheer spontaneous energy Sapnap has inevitably feeds into your own, so while you’re much more contained than the pyromaniac, you have some very notable moments of crazy that are simply unforgettable. It’s honestly super funny to see that infectious life invade your senses, because otherwise you’re a super logical person and love entertaining yourself with the more simplistic things.

You work a lot with Wilbur on record keeping and cartography, but something that you and Sapnap apparently have in common is archery. That pine cone throw was no fluke, and he found that out when you came to visit, a shimmering bow fastened to a stock-full quiver on your back. It’s become a pastime to both ride out into the forest with your horses and practice archery (oftentimes mounted) as a way to let out frustration. If the weather conditions are too abysmal to go and do something outdoors, though, Sapnap likes to fall asleep watching you do methodical work, most commonly with his head in your lap as a fireplace crackles nearby. He’s a huge sucker for that cozy atmosphere, even though he tries to be all tough and badass at other times.

This became a huge ramble because I just think this pairing for you works so well, but I’m praying you get the picture. Sapnap is a flirty, slightly whiny, very protective, and free spirited person whenever you’re around, and he’d do whatever he could to see that pretty smile like the first day you told him your name. He thinks the world of you, and in his eyes your intelligence goes unparalleled.

[nevergonnasimpyoumikey]

I posted 2 242 times in 2021

100 posts created (4%)

2142 posts reblogged (96%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 21.4 posts.

I added 132 tags in 2021

#my fics - 32 posts

#trikey - 17 posts

#gta v - 15 posts

#trevor philips - 13 posts

#michael de santa - 13 posts

#trikey fanfiction - 12 posts

#my heart - 9 posts

#gta fanfiction - 7 posts

#michael/trevor - 7 posts

#gta v fanfiction - 7 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#i'm both excited and nervous because it might not be what people expect from this part but i think there's some really awesome stuff in it

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

This is Trevor. Wearing my dress. Made by the amazing @yellowrutherford in June!

107 notes • Posted 2021-01-07 20:50:22 GMT

#4

They stared at each other for a long while, and Michael couldn't take it anymore. Couldn't keep pretending to be strong and unaffected when those brown eyes bore into his.

"I'm just really fucking tired of everything, T," Michael choked out, feeling tears of pure exhaustion in his eyes. He fought to keep eye contact for long enough just to see Trevor blinking at him in surprise, but his vision blurred with tears, and he had to avert his gaze in embarrassment at admitting any sort of weakness.

Immediately, he felt Trevor's arms wrapping around his waist. It wasn't their first hug by far, but it felt more meaningful, more real than their previous ones. Michael pulled Trevor, warm and feeling like literal heaven, closer and buried his face in Trevor's neck, trying to stop the tears. He just barely managed. He took deep breaths, inhaling Trevor's smell, hand desperately clutching his back.

Hell Is Living Without You in Ao3

***

For this fic, I commissioned my friend  Aldrig (@savoy-brown-shoe in Tumblr) and based on her first sketches, we came to the conclusion that even though the fic is from Michael’s perspective (like most of my writing is), the art should be focused on Trevor and how Trevor sees the situation... And I think it’s so perfect. ;_; <3 

110 notes • Posted 2021-01-24 19:05:34 GMT

#3

“... So. A nightmare, Mikey?” Trevor asked after a moment of silence. He raised his hand to wipe away the tears from Michael’s face, but it only made Michael tear up more, and so did the small, lingering kiss Trevor pressed to his cheek.

“Shit, T…” He swallowed heavily, grateful at Trevor for being close to him, consoling him.

But Trevor didn’t know what the Triads did to him, and he intended to keep it that way. Meat in Ao3

***

Took me almost a year to get this written... but now it's done and I couldn't be happier. Art by the lovely @shabawdy <3 <3

141 notes • Posted 2021-05-11 18:54:05 GMT

#2

151 notes • Posted 2021-10-26 00:30:41 GMT

#1

Michael had worked at the coffee shop for six months, and he had hated every single minute of it.

But it had only gotten worse when the pretentious, beanie-wearing, hipster art students found the place. "This place is so much cozier than Bean Machine!" they claimed and crowded the way too small space so that it was nowhere near cozy anymore.

But the first time Michael saw him — or more like stared at him in pure fascination — he couldn't hate the man even though he was with them.

A Kind Of Magic in Ao3 *** Art made by the amazing, brilliant, lovely @marina-rasteniye aka @ms-cursed. Love you so much! <3

Second part for this fic coming soon...

287 notes • Posted 2021-04-16 19:42:38 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[sassyduckqueen]

Miraculous: Rise of Anatis 67

Firstly, I am sorry this took so long to do but it's finished now and hopefully it is a good read. Anyway, this was really fun and hard to write but I enjoyed it. I tried to make it quite light hearted compared to the others I've wrote recently and this officially marks the Lukanette part of the story. Like i know these two blueberries have been dancing around each other for a while but now they are finally on the same page on each other's feelings. However, Anatis won't be telling Lady Noir about it and vice versa. The reason is because they could work out each other's identities. Anatis thinks if he tells her, she realize he's is Luka from it as he wouldn't want to be with anyone else then Marinette and Lady Noir is still Marinette so she figures that if she tells him, he realize that both her and Marinette had the same thing happen to them at the same time and from that, he realize they are the same person. So I will be working on the Halloween Special for the Specials section and Crescendo next so I'm pretty excited about them XD

Also I changed Heureux Fin's powers a bit. He has a dust that turns people into fairytale characters that makes them not worry as a side effect. It can also change objects and places into fairytale scenery. Fairytale can shape-shift into fairytale creatures aka a fairy, a shadow and a wolf. It can also produce a dust in it's fairy form that turns Adrien's friends into the lost kids, making them think they were always lost kids while forgetting who they really are. Their canon hero names are inspiration for their lost kid names. For example, Kim is just monkey as a lost boy. Another reason why I decided to give it that power is because Neverland has that effected on the characters in the book.

Oh and for the fairytale characters that the characters became check the end notes :)

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

Chapter Sixty-Seven:  Heureux Fin

~Agreste Manor~

 "Thank you all for coming," Gabriel stated as he looked to his guests. Audrey and her husband were sat close to him on the right side of the tablet while Tomoe was sat next to him on the left. She was still gripping her cane. XY had come in place of his father and Amelie Graham de Vanily was sat opposite him. The only person who hadn't turned up was Alim Kubdel but this did not surprise him as Alim had walked away after the birth of his son. "As we all saw the temple of the miraculous has returned,"

 "Is that why you called us here, Gabriel?" Audrey asked, making him look at her as she glanced at her nails. "I already did my part for the order,"

 "Yes and your daughter was a wonderful contribution but now we must focus our efforts on the true goal of our organization," He stated, making almost all of them look at him. "Finding the mage's latest form,"

 "We have been looking for years," Tomoe replied. "We even hoped our own children would be him reborn and when it wasn't the case, we gave up or did you forget that?"

 "Of course, I remember that but I have reason to believe he must be here in Paris,"

 "Why on earth would the mage come here?" Amelie asked with disgust. "This rat hole is not worthy of his presence,"

 "Because of Hawkmoth," Gabriel stated, causing everyone to look at him. "Hawkmoth is currently misusing a miraculous and trying to steal more. It would make sense that this would draw the mage to Paris. In fact, I believe he might even be the one responsible for giving Anatis and Lady Noir their powers,"

 "So you're saying the mage has already been reborn?!" Amelie gasped, standing up. Gabriel nodded in reply. "Well, that simply won't do! How are we suppose to control him now?! He could be older then all of us,"

 "Relax, my dear. I have reason to be believe that he isn't that old," Gabriel replied, making her frown. "As for controlling him, there is plenty of ways to indoctrinate him into our way of thinking... as I'm sure Audrey will testify with her daughter,"

 "Yes, Zoe is doing wonderfully at her current school. By the time she is 18, she'll be a perfect fit to take over my position as both the Style Queen and Queen of the underworld," She smirked, looking at her nails. "Shame that Chloe is such a broken child though... however, I'm surprised none of you decided to put your child into the program,"

 "The Tsurugi family never let anyone dictate how they see the world," Tomoe declared, making Audrey frown deeply. "We are as elusive as the wind, as powerful as the flood, and as swift as lightning. We never let anyone rule our hearts or control us,"

 "Yet you're one of the most controlling parents here," Audrey pointed out, making Tomoe frown. "So much for not letting anyone control you,"

 "At least, my family understands honor," Tomoe retorted back. "Yours only understands money,"

 "You say that like it's a bad thing," Audrey laughed. "Money is power. We all know that,"

 Gabriel clapped his hands, getting everyone's attention.

 "As much as I would love to see this continue, let's focus on the subject at hand," Gabriel stated, making everyone look at him. It took a lot of mental strength for him not go to his secret garden and akumatize the room but having said that, they would make great akumas. He would even akumatize Amelie despite the fact that she was technically family. He cleared his mind of those thoughts as they began to talk about how to track down the mage's latest form and how they would take control of him. Of course, Gabriel had no intention of letting the others have him. No, he would take the mage for himself and akumatize him. He would be the perfect akuma to finally take down Anatis and Lady Noir. They wouldn't know what hit them.

~Feng's Hut~

 "Su Han used the wish?!" Luka gasped, pushing his fingers through his hair. "Why? Why did he do that? Why did he kill Toutai?"

 "Because he wanted the title," Feng replied, making Luka frown. "Su Han believed it was his destiny to become the Celestial guardian as soon as he found out about my existence but when Toutai was revealed to be my most recent incarnation, Su Han became jealous. That jealousy was left to fester and grew, turning into resentment as the years passed. It did not help that both were in love with the same woman,"

 "Mulan," Luka muttered, causing Feng to nod. 

 "When she chose Toutai, it added salt to an already infected wound and the resentment that Su Han had for Toutai turned into a cold, deep hatred," He stated, making Luka frown. "From that, things just got worst. Thanks to his hatred, Su Han fell victim to the dark spirit I mentioned. This dark spirit influenced him with promises of power and his 'rightful' destiny. He tried to get Su Han to murder Toutai but when he wouldn't, he suggested using the wish to claim what he called Su Han's destiny but as you know, the wish requires a price in return for what you wish. Su Han wished to be the celestial guardian and so Toutai lost the title but even with the title, it didn't change that Toutai was the rightful guardian. Su Han only wished to be have the title. He should have wished to have been born as my reincarnation but he did not. He thought just having the title was enough. He thought that he would become the best celestial guardian there was and that Mulan would rush to his side as his bride. Of course, she didn't rush to his side and stuck with Toutai. The two of them intended to leave and rebuild else where but the dark spirit whispered in Su Han's ear, making him believe they intended to usurp him. He made a special dagger and confronted them but he did not expect Toutai to challenge him for his betrayal. They got into a fight and as a result, Toutai was murdered and the dark spirit was freed,"

 "That's when he possessed Su Han," Luka stated, making Feng nod. "Tell me more about the dark spirit,"

 "His name is Simme. He was born of humanity's cruelty and feeds off negative emotions. Feelings such as anger, jealousy and resentment are what he is drawn t. He is also drawn to those who's hearts are darker then others. Just been around him will bring these negative emotions to the surface but it goes much far then that," Feng replied, making Luka frown. "Simme is what the kwamis call Móguǐ or Devil in your tongue. He inspired the stories of Lucifer, Satan and most devil figures in mythology and religion. He is a trickster and a deal maker but those deals never go the way people want them to. They only work in his favor,"

 "How did he get trapped?"

 "Another spirit fought him and trapped him in Jīngshén, an area in the spirit realm," He replied, making Luka nod before he frowned. "Luka?"

 "Wait... if he escaped from there and possessed Su Han at the temple..." Luka muttered as the color drained out of his face. "I restored the temple! That means he's back!!"

 "Yes and no," Feng replied, making Luka frown. "Simme is a spirit, meaning it is rather difficult for him to interact with the physical world so while he is technically back, he can only do so much right now, especially with the fact that his host is weak... but should there be an event that creates enough negative emotion or if he was able to find a dark soul and use it as a host, it could be enough to allow him to break through the spiritual barriers and manifest a form in the physical world,"

 "Great... wait what's a dark soul?" Luka asked, frowning.

 "It's a form of a pure soul but one that is born pure evil," Feng replied. "It is rare but what's even rarer is a light soul, which is one born pure good. You see most souls are a mix of good and bad. It's very rare for someone to be born pure evil or pure good,"

 "And I brought this thing back?!" Luka gasped, running his fingers through his hair. "I've made a huge mistake! I should have given up been Anatis and then-"

 "Simme would have returned regardless of your choice. Whoever defeated Feast and cast the miraculous cure would have brought him back," Feng replied, making Luka at him. "But regardless, this is what was meant to happen and your choice has been made. You are Anatis and Simme is free but that doesn't mean you are helpless against him. As my reincarnation, you can use a spell to trap him back in Jīngshén,"

 "Wait... I can?" Luka asked, making Feng nod. "How? I don't know magic... or at least not that type. Obviously, I know how to project my emotions... but casting spells... isn't that evil?"

 "No, a spell is neither good nor bad. It is the intention of the caster that makes it either," Feng replied, making Luka nod. "As for learning, I can teach you. Of course, you won't be able to cast that spell yet. It is a very powerful spell and you must first learn to channel magic, which is why we have the tests,"

 "Tests?" Luka asked, confused.

 "Yes, tests," Feng replied, making Luka raise an eyebrow. "These tests are required to prove you are worthy of magic as well as the title of Celestial guardian,"

 "Whoa, whoa... Celestial guardian?!" Luka gasped, making Feng chuckle. "I'm not celestial guardian material! I'm barely guardian material, Feng!"

 "Becoming a celestial guardian is your destiny, Luka," He explained, making Luka frown. "Think of it as you are my heir and I beg to differ. You have already ticked a number of the boxes to becoming a celestial guardian and passed one of the tests,"

 "I... have?" Luka asked, surprised.

 "Yes," Feng nodded. "You lead a team of heroes, you have the trust of a civilization, you restored hope, the kwamis you have met love and respect you and you are willing to fight for the right. As for the test, you passed the test of determination... my test... when you continued to fight, despite having a chance to walk away. Whether you see it or not, you're on the path of becoming the next celestial guardian,"

 "What do you mean your test?"

 "Each test comes from our different lives," Feng replied, making Luka frown a little. "Me and Khnurn came up with them after he showed determination in saving Egypt despite having a strong dislike towards most humans,"

 "...Why does he hate people?" Luka asked, making Feng sigh.

 "It is not really my place to save but let's just say for now that Khnurn has seen how cruel humans can be," Feng replied, causing Luka to frown. "He'll tell you in his own time but for now, let me explain more about the tests,"

 "Ok," Luka nodded. "Why is your test determination?"

 "It is what I represent," Feng replied, making Luka give him a confused look. "Hmm... how to explain this? Well, I guess you could say we're the closest thing to a spirit a human can be,"

 "Wait... that does mean we're not human?!" Luka gasped, concerned. Feng chuckled a little and shook his head.

 "No, we're still human... we're just part spirit too," He replied, making Luka frown. "Well, you know Kwamis are born from concepts and Renlings are born from values. Well, spirits are born from traits,"

 "Traits?" Luka echoed, making Feng nod. "I'm not sure I fully understand,"

 "Ok," Feng replied, making a thinking face. "Well, a good example is Simme and his opposite,"

 "His opposite?"

 "All things have an opposite, Luka. Where there is light, there is always shadow and where there is evil, there is also good. The world is of balance and Simme is no different," Feng replied, making Luka blink as he stopped talking and took a drag from a pipe. He rose an eyebrow as he was certain that Feng didn't have it a moment ago. However, he blew smoke out of his mouth and to Luka's surprise, it formed shapes that resembled men. He frowned as he watched them hurt and kill each other as a new form shaped. It resembled a snake with a grin. "Simme was born from the cruelty in the hearts of man and as a result, he can influence it,"

 Luka frowned as he watched the smoke snake whisper to the men, causing them to be cruel and evil but the smoke changed and showed a smoke person offering another food.

 "But where there is cruelty, there is also kindness," Feng replied as Luka watched. "Not all humans are evil or cruel. There are kind and it was from this kindness, Simme's opposite was born,"

 From the smoke people, a new shape formed but this one resembled a bird.

 "Finni, the spirit of kindness.... you met him during the mob boss situation. It was him who guided you to safety," He replied, making Luka blink. He did remember seeing a bird but he had no idea it was a spirit. "And it is him that we owe our long lives and immortality to. He is why we are part spirit,"

 The scene changed, showing a boy in a temple surrounded by others but what made them stand out was they didn't look solid. Instead, they appeared to transparent but the boy in the scene looked solid. Luka realized the boy was Feng.

 "I was born with the gift of foresight and I have always been able to see spirits..." He replied as the smoke changed. It now showed the boy but he was alone in the temple while others whispered to each other. Luka knew they were whispering about him. "Other humans believed I was mad. Even my parents. I never fitted in and the other children thought I was weird,"

 The scene changed to the boy, walking through a forest before he stumbled on the kwamis.

 "Then one day, I met Tikki and the other kwamis. I invited them to live with me, finding that I had more in common with them then other humans," Feng replied as the scene showed him laughing and playing with them. However, the scene changed to him trying to tell his mother something during a thunderstorm. "But then I had a vision of death and war,"

 The smoke changed to Feng talking to a girl in a village before it showed him running from her.

 "I tried to warn my family but they did not believe me so I ran away," He replied as the smoke showed him going deep into a forest and crying to himself. As he did, the grinning snake approached him. "That's where I met Simme. He tried to tempt me into using my gifts for evil but I refused him and found Finni,"

 The smoke showed an injured bird and Feng trying to heal him.

 "I tried to help and my kindness saved his life but he was still weak. I took him home with me and for a small amount of time, I was happy again but my vision haunted me and one day, it came to be," The smoke changed into a scene of carnage as a village been attacked by men on horses. Luka covered his mouth in shock as he watched Feng been cut down then attacked by Simme. Before he could kill him, Finni flew in and attacked Simme to protect his friend. He used his magic to banish him, sending the snake away and tried to heal the boy's wounds with his tears. When that wasn't enough, he possessed a nearby body and lifted Feng into his arms. The smoke changed and showed Finni's host taking a dying Feng back to their temple and to the other spirits who surrounded the dying boy. The other kwamis and Finni discussed something and then the scene showed them surrounding him and singing as Finni turned into a ball of light before it covered the area. When it disappeared, the smoke showed Feng sit up, alive. Finni had sacrificed himself to heal him.

 "That war drained Finni's power a lot and he used the last of it to merge his soul with mine and save my life," Feng explained, making Luka blink as the smoke showed Feng placing his hand where his heart was. "That was the moment I became the spirit of Determination. Up until the very end, I tried to warn my family of the attack and when Finni merged his soul with mine, it made me into a spirit... well, the closest thing to a spirit a human could be. That is why my test is the test of determination and each time I have been reborn, I became a new spirit with a new trait but the same soul. Each of my tests is based on those traits,"

 "What is my trait?" Luka asked, looking at Feng. "Did you know straight away?"

 "No... and I don't know what yours is either," Feng replied, making Luka frown. "But you will find out,"

 "Can I know what the other tests will be?" Luka asked, making Feng nod.

 "You will be tested on honesty, loyalty, courage and compassion," Feng replied, making Luka nod. "But I can not tell you when you'll be tested or how. Only that you will be and what their traits are,"

 "Four tests? That's it?" Luka asked, a little surprised. "What happens if I pass them? I mean I don't feel any different from passing yours..."

 "Oh, you are different since you passed mine. You're stronger and I know you felt it," Feng smiled, making Luka remember how he felt when he transformed after reclaiming his miraculous back. He had felt stronger. "As for rewards for passing, I can teach you how to farther your magic and how to channel mine. You also unlocked one of the locks,"

 "Locks?" Luka asked as Feng gestured towards the door of the hut, the one that never opens. "There's locks on it?"

 "Yes, five all together," Feng replied, making Luka blink. "One for each trait and once you have passed all of them, it will open the door, allowing you to join me and the others in Shangi-La both spiritual and physically,"

 "Ok... cool..." Luka muttered, not entirely sure how to feel. "I am here physically?"

 "No but this is still real," Feng replied, making Luka nod. "Anyway, do you understand spirits, our lives and the tests a bit better?"

 "A little... yeah..." Luka admitted. It kind of did make sense. He had to admit he was interested in learning how to channel magic. "So you can teach me to channel your magic? Does that mean I can have visions? And will that help with learning to cast spells? Also what spells can we do? Is it like Harry Potter? Do I need a wand?"

 "Luka, calm yourself," Feng stated, making him blink and grin in a sheepish manner. He did get a bit excited. "No, you don't need a wand. It isn't like Harry Potter. We can cast any spells but certain ones need certain things and power level so you'll be learning basic spells and yes, it will help with casting and you will be able to have visions but learning your own magic will help too and most things can be a spell. We just need to work out how you cast,"

 "Ok!" Luka grinned, making Feng smile. While part of him was kind of weary of it, a bigger part of him was excited. After all, he just got told he could do actual magic and it wasn't like Issac was in his life anymore. He didn't need to be afraid of been a witch plus Feng had explained that it was his intention that determined what the magic actually was so as long as his intention was good, his magic would be too and this was a chance to learn more about his empathy. "When can we begin?"

 "Now if you want," 

 "Yes!!"

 ~A Few Days Later~

 "Urg, I can't believe we're back at school," Alix groaned as a number of students walked back to the school grounds. Summer holidays were over now, meaning it was back to the humdrum routine of studying and akuma attacks but the children were back, heading to the school. Felix had returned from London and was talking to Aurora and Mireille while they waited for Jean to turn up. Nino and Alya were similar in the sense they were waiting for Adrien and Marinette. Nathaniel was already at the school and in the art room, discussing the new ideas for the comic that he and Marc came up with during the holidays. Marc was also there. Alix would have joined them but she wanted to wait for Kim and Max. Mylene and Ivan were stood with the others, waiting for Juleka, Rose and Luka. "Why couldn't the summer holidays last longer?!"

 "We had two months off, Alix," Max stated as he walked up to her, making her groan before she grinned. "How was your holiday... other then... you know?" 

 "History Keepers," Alix replied, rolling her eyes. "It's been fairly good. Dad's still embarrassing and Jalil is still a history geek. When's Kim gonna be here?"

 "Oh, he is currently stuck in traffic," Max replied, pushing up his glasses. "Mr Pigeon has been trying to get rid of cars. I'm surprised Alya isn't on the scene,"

 "Eh," Alya shrugged, making Nino snigger. "It's Mr Pigeon's 60th time as an akuma and it will be over soon anyway. No one wants to watch that,"

 As if on que, the miracle cure rushed throughout the city, fixing any issues the akuma had caused. The students grinned as they saw it before beginning to chat about the recent akumas and how Anatis and Lady Noir saved them. A few of them had been akumatized before going back to school. Nino had been one of them. He had been re-akumatized into the Bubbler as he wanted Summer to never end so he tried to get rid of the adults again to allow the summer holiday to continued. Fortunately, Anatis and Lady Noir had dealt with him pretty quickly. A few minutes after the cure had been cast, Juleka and Rose walked over, followed by Luka. At the same time, Marinette had rushed out of the bakery, holding a croissant in her mouth. She had ran over and hadn't seen Luka, who had been jogging to catch up with Rose and Juleka. The two of them knocked into each other and fell on the ground with Marinette landing on Luka. She jumped up and helped him up as he laughed it off.

 "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have looked where I was going!" She gushed, making him chuckle.

 "It's ok, Marinette," He replied, smiling before he pulled a face as a limo pulled up. "I was rushing too so I should have been more careful as well,"

 "Did I miss something?" Adrien asked as he climbed out, followed by Kagami. He smiled at her as he held her hand, making her smile back as she linked their fingers together. Instantly, Marinette cooed at their action, making both Adrien and Kagami blush a little. Alix laughed and moved her arm around Marinette.

 "Just Marinette and Luka falling for each other," She grinned, making both of them blush a little bit too. However, the mood soured as they heard the screech of none other then Lila Rossi. They all looked over as she waved at them before she walked up to them, instantly making a number of them feel uncomfortable.

 "Hi everyone!" She grinned before turning to Luka. "Hi, Luka! I'm so glad you decided to take the restraining order off me! I hope we can be friends,"

 "I didn't take it off. It was granted on a temporary basis and I'll be in court tomorrow afternoon to get it reinstated," He replied in a calm but cold voice. "So no, we won't be friends. Just because it is currently inactive doesn't mean you can come near me so I suggest you back off, Rossi,"

 Lila gave him a look before huffing and walking over to Alya.

 "Can you believe his attitude?" She asked, rather loudly. It was obviously to make Luka hear. He took a small breathe and ignored her, turning back to Marinette. "I just want to fix where we went wrong and he won't even give me a chance,"

 "Lila, you didn't exactly treat him nicely," Alya muttered, making Luka roll his eyes. It was more then that. "I mean you kissed him without his permission,"

 "I misread the situation!" Lila gasped.

 "Still..." Alya stated as Nino started to berate her, saying it wasn't cool to kiss people even if she thought it was but Marinette took Luka's hand and led him inside the school, making him smile a little as they walked over to the benches. They took a seat as he let out a sigh.

 "You ok?" She asked, making him nod. "How come the restraining order ran out?"

 "The court granted it on a temporary basis," He sighed, making her frown. "If the problem still occurs, we can get a fresh one which we'll be doing tomorrow. I asked if we could get it renewed before but apparently it needs to run out first and they review the case before granting a fresh one which can take up to two weeks to grant depending how bad the case is. There is a chance they won't grant a second one against her,"

 "They should," Marinette stated, taking his hand in hers as he looked at her. She gently moved his hair, causing him to close his eyes. "Are you sleeping ok? You look tired,"

 "Hmm... my nightmares aren't as bad," He muttered before a yawn escaped him. "But I'm not getting a lot of restful sleep. Music's been on my mind,"

 "Oh, you writing some new songs?" She asked, making him smile before he shook his head. "Oh?"

 "I've been practicing for that violin contest," He admitted, making her grin.

 "You're entering it?!" She gasped, clearly excited. "Wait but weren't auditions for it a couple of days ago?"

 "Yeah... I'm just waiting to find out if I got through to the next stage," He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. He hadn't even told his ma or Juleka that he had entered yet. He didn't want to disappoint them if he didn't get through. There had been a lot of entries for it and a lot of talent. Luka wasn't sure if he could get through to the next stage so he decided to keep quiet about it until he knew for certain. "I don't know if I'll get through and I don't want to disappoint anyone if I didn't so I figured I'd tell Ma, Juleka and you if I got through but I guess you know now... sorry for not mentioning it,"

 "Hey, it's ok," She smiled, making him smile back. "I get why but you're gonna get through to the next stage and blow those judges away!"

 "Thanks, Melody," He smiled as the first bell rang. "We better go to classes,"

 The two of them got up and walked over to the locker room as the other kids headed inside. Luka completely ignored Lila, who shoot a glare at him when she thought no one was watching before he put his stuff in his locker and grabbed what he needed for his class. Once that was done, he locked his locker and headed over to Marinette's locker as she put her things in and grabbed what she needed. The two of them left the locker room with their friends and headed upstairs to their classes.

 "See you at Lunch?" She asked, causing him to nod before she gently kissed his cheek, making him blush. He smiled dreamily at her as she waved to him before heading into her classroom. He turned and walked over to Mrs Mendeleiev's class as Aurora hooked her arm with his and grinned.

 "So you and Mari are an item?!" She grinned, clearly excited. He blushed a little. "Oh you are, aren't you?!"

 "W-We're taking it slow," He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Like we're not exclusively dating... just enjoying each other's company,"

 "Oh my gosh! You're courting her!" Aurora grinned, making him blush as she giggled before she leaded against him as they joined the rest of their class. "I'm so proud! Our Lu is a true gentleman!!"

 "Have you told her that you love her yet?" Mireille asked as Aurora let go of his arm and took her seat next to him. Luka rubbed his neck again. "You haven't, have you?"

 "I mean we're taking it slow..." He mused, looking to the side. "And I know she likes me but I'm still unsure if it's just because I'm her friend or more... I'm probably just a friend to her..."

 "More... it's definitely more," Marc stated, making everyone look at him. He was scribbling in his notebook but he looked up to address everyone. "She flutters to you like a bee to a flower... I would use a butterfly as an example but... akumas..."

 "It's not their fault," Luka pointed out, making everyone look at him. "Hawkmoth uses the butterflies, just like he uses people,"

 "Hmm... that is a good point," Marc smiled, writing something down. "Anyway, Marinette definitely likes you. She moves her hair, blushes and she also shows you her wrists and 'vulnerabilities'... which means she trusts you,"

 "Trust and liking someone isn't the same thing," Luka pointed out but he couldn't help the smile on his face. He liked that she trusts him. "Still... it's nice that she trusts me,"

 "She's also open with you, has a genuine look in her eye when she looks at you, she mirrors you a little bit and when you two talk, she leans towards you and acts like it is only the two of you in the world," Marc pointed out, making Luka blush. "All signs that at the very least, she has a crush on you,"

 "How do you know this?" Luka asked, making Marc blush a little as he begin to fidget. "Not that it's a bad thing... I'm just curious,"

 "I wanted to show that Lady Noir has feelings for Anatis in the comic so I researched body language for it plus it helps Nathaniel with expressions when he's drawing," Marc replied, playing with his hands. "I'm sorry if I crossed a line. I just think you should know that Marinette likes you a lot and definitely as more as a friend,"

 "No, it's cool," Luka smiled before looking down. "I just guess... I like that she might like me but I'm just Luka so I guess I don't really see why..."

 "Stop second guessing yourself, Couffaine," Felix stated, making everyone look at him. He was so quiet they had actually forgotten he was there. "Dupain-Cheng likes you. You like her so just date already,"

 "Felix! Be nice!" Aurora gasped, causing him to give her a cheeky grin before she turned to Luka. "But he's right. Oh, you should ask her out on an actual date and make sure she knows it's a date date!"

 "I don't know, Aurora..."

 ~Meanwhile in Miss Bustier's Class~

 "You look happy," Alya grinned, making Marinette jump a little as she had been day-dreaming about watching Luka playing violin. Alya grinned, making Marinette look at her. "So you finally asked Luka out on a real date?"

 "W-What?! No!" She blushed, covering her face with her hand. She wanted to but they were taking it slow. However, when she thought about it, she did want to been more then just what they were at the moment. She liked the idea of been his girlfriend. She liked the idea a lot. She really enjoyed going on their little dates and she had thought about kissing him a few times but hadn't done so because she wasn't sure if he wanted to. It seemed like he did but she didn't want to assume. She loved and respected him too much to do that. She looked up from her hands as Alya grinned at her. "I... I want to... but I'm not sure if he likes me like that. Like I know he likes me but I'm not sure if he likes me enough to want me to be his girlfriend,"

 "But you want to be his girlfriend?" Alya asked as Rose gushed, leaning against Juleka who gave Marinette a small but happy smile. Everyone knew she shipped what they had dubbed 'Lukanette'. Marinette slowly nodded. "Girl, you need to ask him out,"

 "I bet he would say yes!" Rose gushed, making Marinette blush even more.

 "Luka definitely likes you," Mylene agreed as Alix rolled her eyes.

 "I don't get the whole dating thing but you like him and he likes you then you should go for it," She added in, making Marinette smile. Even Chloe encouraged her in her own way. However, Lila kept to herself, digging her nails into her hands as she listened. She wanted to destroy Marinette and take everything from her but taking Luka from her will be really hard since he knows what she is like. Somehow, that freak had seen through her facade extremely quickly. Even Marinette hadn't seen through it straight away. It was only after Lila slipped up that Marinette had realized that she was lying and tried to expose her. As annoying as it was, Lila was partially glad because she couldn't stand the baker girl but she had to pretend to. Sure, she still had to pretend but before she couldn't do anything about it. Now, she could mess with her and that's exactly what she did. In fact, that's what she'll do. She might not be able to turn Luka onto her side but she could at the very least make Marinette asking him out impossible. Hell, Marinette or Luka might even get akumatized out of it. She could then claim that they hated her and it would be especially funny if Luka got akumatized. If it succeed, he would have to fight his friend for Hawkmoth and if it didn't... well, he'd be sick for a few days and out of her hair. She held back a smirk to herself as she pretended to listen to Miss Bustier. The day moved on and soon enough, it was lunch time. Marinette was getting her food and Lila was watching her, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Seeing Marinette walking towards the lunch table, she tried to trip her up but much to her annoyance that failed so she moved onto the next plan. She tried to get Marinette to call her out by saying something clearly false. Instead, Alya told her she didn't need to lie again and Marinette ignored her. She didn't even notice Nino rolling his eyes. After a few more attempts, she saw Luka walking in with his friends and annoyingly enough, his expression lit up when he saw Marinette. It was so obvious he had feelings for her that it sickened her. However, she also noticed a number of students looking at him. A few girls were looking at him with a dreamy expression but a couple of guys were glaring at him. Lila smirked as she saw one of the boys who she knew had a crush on Marinette, not that she understood why. She didn't know his name either and it didn't matter but luckily enough, he looked like Adrien and most of the school knew Marinette had a crush on a boy with blonde hair and green eyes. She could use that to ruin Marinette's chances with Luka by getting this boy involved. She excused herself from the table, not that Nino or Alya noticed and walked over to the boy. He looked up at her with mild surprise.

 "Hi, I have a message from Marinette for you," She smiled, making him frown.

 "Um... what is it?" He asked, a little confused.

 "She asked me to tell you that she has a crush on you but is just too shy to ask you out," She stated, making him blink.

 "Uh... isn't she with Couffaine?" He asked, making Lila mentally smirk. She knew they weren't together.

 "Oh, no they're not actually dating," She stated, making him raise an eyebrow. "She sees him as a brother and really likes you,"

 "Right... but aren't you that liar?" He asked, making her frown. "Doesn't Marinette hate you?"

 "Look, I have an illness that makes me lie sometimes but I'm currently in therapy for it and it's helping so much," She replied, making him nod. "Besides, I don't lie about crushes and I want to make up for my behavior towards Marinette so I figured getting her with the guy she likes. Anyway, you should totally ask her out. I'm sure she'll say yes,"

 "Well... I do like her..." He admitted, making Lila smirk. Though she morphed it into a friendly grin. He got up and walked over to Marinette, who was chatting to Luka. Lila returned back to her seat, just as Alya looked up and the guy talked to Marinette. He frowned as she gently let him down and asked her why she got her friend to tell him otherwise. Marinette looked at him confused as he pointed out Lila. She frowned and apologized to him before she walked over.

 "Why did you tell that boy I like him?" She asked, crossing her arms. Lila gave her an innocent look.

 "Oh, I thought you did," She gasped, making Marinette grit her teeth. "I'm so sorry. I thought that's who you were talking about in class today when you were saying about having a crush on a boy called Luke was it? Or was it Luka?"

 Marinette's face went red as Lila gasped.

 "Oh, no! I must have got the names mixed up," She gasped in fake regret. "I hope I didn't embarrass you! I was just trying to help you out... I mean you suffered so badly with your crush on Adrien that I didn't want you to suffer in the same way with your new crush but I should have known it was Luka you were crushing on. I just hope you're not stalking him like you-"

 To everyone's surprise, Marinette slapped Lila across the face before storming out of the room. Lila held back a smirk but instantly started to cry. However, no one jumped to her defense. Instead, Luka rushed outside to check on Marinette and Alya leaned over to her as the rest of the room glared at her.

 "Lila, girl, I know you were trying to help but you shouldn't have done that," She gasped, making Lila frown. "Everyone knows that Marinette has a thing for Luka and moved on from her crush on Adrien. You didn't need to lie to get her to ask Luka out. We don't do those sort of plans anymore,"

 "O-oh, I thought it would be ok since you and the other girls have come up with plans like that before," Lila gasped, tears rolling down her face. "I didn't mean to embarrass her. I guess I deserved that slap..."

 "Damn right!" Alix growled as the class glared daggers at her.

 "I get it, Lila but Marinette was getting there," Alya replied, causing her to grip her fist. "It's not nice to reveal a crush like that and that poor guy... I get you were trying to encourage her but you shouldn't have told that other guy she liked him? What if he hadn't take no for answer?"

 "Oh, no! I didn't think of that,"

 "Yeah right," Nino muttered, making both Alya and Lila look at him in surprise. "It's clear you did all of that on purpose,"

 "W-what? No!" Lila gasped as Alya looked shocked. "Why would I?"

 "Because you hate Marinette and probably want Luka yourself," He pointed out, making her blink. She would have to be careful with Nino. "I mean all you do is lie. You lied to me about having a crush on Adrien, you framed Marinette and you lied about been friends with heroes,"

 "Babe, that's enough," Alya gasped, making him look at her. "I get she lied but she's trying to be better and she did it to help Marinette, right Lila?"

 "Of course," She lied, making Nino glare at her before he suddenly got up and walked off. Alya sighed and went to follow but Adrien stopped her.

 "I'll go talk to him," He stated before walking away. Alya nodded and sat down as Lila mentally frowned. Her plan didn't go the way she wanted but at least, she embarrassed Marinette enough to make it awkward with Luka.

 ~The Art Room~

 "Hey!" Adrien called out as Nino stormed in, slamming the door. He ran up to him and gently grabbed his arm. "Nino, calm down,"

 "How can I?" He asked before sitting down and taking off his cap as he ran his hand over his head. "I had to say something, dude. I wasn't there for Marinette when Lila caused her to become Princess Justice. I actually believed her until Anatis exposed her and then this whole thing Alya still believing in her. It nearly drove us apart and I keep telling her that Lila isn't a nice person and is lying to hurt people but Alya still wants to see the best in her and I love that because it's sweet but it's wasted on someone like Lila. She doesn't want to be nice! She didn't do that to make amends with Marinette. She did that to hurt her and Alya can't or doesn't want to see that. I love her but she is acting dumb around Lila!"

 "Whoa, it's ok, Nino," Adrien gasped, kneeling down as Nino tried to calm down. "I get it. You just want to look out for your friend and your girl. And someone like Lila is nasty but Alya has to realize that herself. You just need to be there for her when she does,"

 "... you're right, dude," Nino replied, nodding. "I'm sorry... I just... I just don't want Lila to destroy her faith in people but I also know she needs to realize Lila isn't the person she thinks she is,"

 "I know," Adrien stated, sitting next to him. "I wish I had realized sooner myself but if you want, I can try and talk to Alya bout Lila,"

 "That be cool," Nino sighed. "I wish I had known before Anatis exposed her. I can't believe it took that for me to see the truth,"

 "I know the feeling," Adrien sighed, looking down. "I never realized how damaging her lies could be before Anatis called her out... I really thought she was like a tabloid and that she was just doing it for attention but after he pointed out that she was hurting myself as well as others, I realized how damaging lies can be,"

 "Yeah," Nino replied before he suddenly looked up. "Wait... Anatis called her out in front of you?"

 "Y-Yeah, like a few hours before he exposed her online," Adrien replied. He was sure he had told Nino about that. "She had tried to claim she was a descendant of a superheroine and that Marinette had threatened her into blaming Chloe,"

 "Y-You knew before the rest of us?" Nino asked, making Adrien frown. "Did you know before Anatis called her out? She use to claim that she knew Aspik and Ryuko and you always seemed to ignore that..."

 "Well, I thought at first she was telling the truth but then she said something that I knew was a lie..." Adrien admitted, making Nino start at him. "I asked Nathalie about it and she just said to ignore her like a tabloid and that she would expose herself..."

 "You knew and you didn't think to warn us? Me?!" Nino gasped, surprising Adrien. "Did you not think that we wouldn't realize?!"

 "I honestly thought she would expose herself and I didn't think she would go so far," Adrien gasped as Nino looked at him with hurt, making him realize how wrong he had been. He should have exposed her straight away and he would if he could go back in time. "I'm sorry, Nino. I wish I had told you and the rest of the class. I could have saved everyone so much pain but I really thought she would expose herself and disappear like a tabloid paper,"

 "Well, she didn't!" Nino gasped, pinching his nose. "God, Adrien! This isn't a fairytale! Things don't just randomly fix themselves! You should have told us! I... I don't know how I can trust you anymore..."

 "Nino!" Adrien gasped, surprised but Nino walked out of the art room, causing Adrien to follow. "Nino, wait!"

 Nino ignored him and kept walking, failing to notice the akuma and amok heading towards him but Adrien did. He gasped and suddenly pushed him out of the way, causing Nino to turn around in anger.

 "What the- Adrien?" Nino gasped, feeling his anger melting away as he noticed Adrien gripping his head and stepping backwards towards the wall. A purple butterfly mask appeared around his eyes as he tried to fight off Hawkmoth's control. Nino gasped and reached out his hand as he realized that Adrien had taken an akuma meant for him. He gripped his shoulders as Adrien tried to fight off Hawkmoth's influence. "Adrien, dude! Fight him!"

 "I'm not going to listen to you!" He gasped before groaning. "I won't be one of your puppets, Hawkmoth!"

 "That's right, dude!" Nino gasped, trying to encourage him. "Think only positive thoughts! You've got this, Bro!"

 "I won't do evil for you!" Adrien gasped but his eyes widen as Hawkmoth spoke to him. Nino slowly let go as he remembered what it was like giving into him. Hawkmoth had a way with words that made it seem like the greatest idea of all time. No one could resist for long, even Adrien and both of them knew it as Adrien's arms fell limp to his side. A single tear slid down his cheek as he gave one last look of desperation towards his friend. "N-Nino... run..."

 "Adrien!" Nino gasped as the purple smog engulfed him and a small blue smog appeared next to him before it disappeared, revealing his akuma form. He actually didn't look much different or scary at all. His outfit had changed into a green tunic with leaves on his sleeves and he had matching green pants. Material shoes were on his feet and he had a dagger attached to his hip, along with a pan-flute. His hair was still blonde but it was messier in style and he had a green mask across his eyes. The only thing that he could see right now that was unusual was his ears that were now pointed. In fact, Adrien actually reminded Nino of Peter Pan. Nino stepped forward, unsure what to do but maybe he could find the akumatized item before Adrien did anything. He went to reach for him but Adrien snapped open his eyes, revealing that his scleras were now green and his irises  "A-Adrien?"

 "Not anymore," He replied, smiling as Nino stepped back in fear. Adrien took out a small bag and reached in it before taking his hand out and blowing the dust in Nino's face. His eyes rolled up into his head as he fell down onto the ground. A golden glow surrounded him as Adrien grinned. "Don't worry, Nino! You'll be seeing me soon... but first, I have a game to play! Come on, Fee!"

 He flew up into the air and laughed happily before he flew off with his sentimonster following him. 

 ~In the Courtyard~

 "Marinette!" Luka gasped as he rushed out of the canteen after her. He frowned as he looked around but he couldn't see so he took a small breathe and closed his eyes, listening for the familiar song. He picked up on it and luckily it was close by so he followed it, coming to one of the staircases. He stopped and looked underneath. Hugging her knees while sitting underneath it was Marinette. He crawled next to her and sat down, making her look up from her knees. Her eyes were bloodshot and her tears were tear-stained. Luka gave her a soft look before he opened his arms. Instantly, she crawled into them and wrapped her arms around his torso as he hugged her. "Are you ok?"

 "E-Embarrassed," She mumbled, looking up at him. "N-Not of my feelings for you but just how it came out... I don't make you uncomfortable, do I?"

 "No, you don't," He replied, moving part of her hair out of her face. "If you did, I would have told you already but I like been with you. Lila was just been a bitch because she is a black hearted coward,"

 "But... now you know I like you.." She mumbled, looking down as she pulled away. 

 "Well, I hope so... we have been going on dates with each other..."

 "Yeah but only like small dates. They're practically friend dates," She mumbled, pressing her fingers together as she still felt embarrassed. She really liked Luka but she hoped he liked her but they were probably just really close friends... even though she wanted to be more. She would love to be his girlfriend but there's no way he would like her that much, especially after Lila's stun. "Lila meant that I like you... like really like you... and I'm sure you don't like me. I mean I'm sure you like me enough to go on a few small time dates but I don't think you like me as more then that. We're just friends... right?" 

 "Marinette... I-"

 "Marinette! Luka!" Adrien's voice stated, causing Marinette to gasp and bring her hands to her face. Luka looked behind him as Adrien walked over. Before he could reach, Adrien suddenly blew a golden dust in his face, causing Luka to fall to the ground as he heard Marinette shout before he heard a thumb as well. He tried to look over and saw Marinette laying on the ground as Adrien grinned to him before he looked over at Luka. "Don't resist it, Luka! This is your happy ending!"

 Luka felt himself getting heavily before he fell into darkness...

 ~Hawkmoth's Lair~

 "Dusuu, fall my feathers," Mayura declared, turning back into Nathalie. As soon as she did, she felt dizzy and began to cough. Hawkmoth went to see if she was ok but to his surprise, she pushed him away. He gave her a puzzling look as he turned back into Gabriel. "I'm fine, sir... but why didn't you recall the akuma? Adrien-"

 "It would have been too suspicious," He replied, making her frown. "That friend of his is the boyfriend of the lady blogger. If he tells her then she'll publish it and it will end up in Anatis' hand which could lead him to find out that I am Hawkmoth. I have managed to keep his investigations at bay but that would only fuel his belief that he is correct,"

 "I see, Sir," Nathalie replied as they made their way back to the lift. It took them a few minutes but once they were back in his office, she took a glass of water and sat down. Gabriel frowned to himself as he began to work on designs while keeping an eye on the news. As soon as Anatis and Lady Noir were on the scene, he would transform back into Hawkmoth but right now, Heureux Fin was wreaking havoc across Paris so he might as well do some designs while observing the situation. It also gave Nathalie time to rest. He glanced over to the news as Heureux Fin burst into the news reporter. He transformed Alec into one of the ugly step-sisters and turned Nadja into a version of the boy who cried Wolf before he addressed the camera.

 "People of Paris! I am Heureux Fin, bringer of happiness! I invite all of your to the grandest ball in the whole of Paris, brought you to by me and to be hosted at Agreste Manor!!" He declared, making both Nathalie and Gabriel to stare at the screen before he grinned and flew out. 

 "Wait what?!" Nathalie gasped before the doors suddenly burst opened and Heureux Fin flew in landing on the table.

 "Father!" He declared, grinning as Gabriel stared at him. "We're having a grand ball and I've invited everyone in Paris!"

 "Absolutely not," Gabriel declared but he regretted it. As soon as the words left his mouth, Heureux Fin's expression turned dark and his sentimonster, Fairytale, transformed into his shadow before it wrapped around Gabriel, trapping him in place. Nathalie jumped up in shock as Heureux Fin walked across the table towards his father. "Adrien, stop- hmm!"

 The shadow covered his mouth.

 "I'm not Adrien anymore! I'm Heureux Fin!" He declared, taking out his bag of dust. "We're having a grand ball and all of Paris is going to come whenever you like it or not!"

 "Hmm!" He declared as Heureux Fin took a handful of dust and blew it in his face, causing his shadow to let go him as he fell to the floor and began to glow gold as well. Nathalie rushed over to the door but the shadow got there beforehand, causing her to back up from it. She felt a tap on her shoulder before she turned around. Heureux Fin was hovering right next to her.

 "Adr-" She started but he grinned and blew the dust in her face, causing her to collapse to the floor as well. Heureux Fin turned to his shadow and grinned. "Go and bring our Princess Charming. She can help us set up the ball with her skill!! Oh and why you're at it, spread this all over Paris,"

 The shadow grinned and nodded, turning back into it's fairy form before it took the pouch that Heureux Fin handed to it. He had already transformed those who he needed to. Now he just had to set up the ball. He was even willing to let the cat and the beetle come to the ball. Though he will take their miraculous from them before the clock strikes Midnight.

 ~Back to the School Yard~

 "Luka!" A voice echoed as he slowly came around. He slowly blinked and opened his eyes, causing him to notice that he was laid on the ground. He slowly sat up and looked around as he recognized his surroundings as the school yard. Tikki flew in front of him and let out a sigh of relief. "You're ok,"

 "What happened?" He asked as he looked around. He remembered been in the courtyard with Marinette. He was making sure she was ok after Lila pulled one of her tricks and was about to fully confess to her but then they got interrupted by Adrien, only he didn't look like himself. In fact, he looked like he had been akumatized. Luka's eyes widen as he looked around and saw Marinette was gone. "Where's Marinette?!"

 "She was taken by something that looked like a shadow," Tikki stated, making Luka look at her. "I think your friend was akumatized.."

 "We have to transform," He declared, standing up. "Tikki, sp-"

 "Luka!" Juleka's voice echoed, making him stop and turn to Tikki. He went to open his hoodie, only to find that his clothes had changed. His new outfit resembled the waiter outfit Marinette had made him but it was more ragged and wore out. He blinked before pointing to his hair which was messier then usual. Tikki got the idea and hid in his hair as Juleka rushed over to him. Like himself, she was wearing a different outfit too. She was wearing a white dress with a blood red overcoat, matching red shoes and a ruby and gold circlet. Her hair was her natural color, which like himself was raven brown, almost black and her lips were blood red. As soon as he saw her, he realized she was suppose to be Snow White. Following her was Rose, who was wearing a pink dress in a style similar to Juleka's. "Are you ok?!"

 "I'm alright," Luka admitted. "Just confused about the new outfit,"

 "Oh, Luka must be Cinderella!" Rose gasped before yawning. Of course, she would be sleeping beauty. "Sorry!"

 "What's that?" Juleka asked, making him frown and look down. She was pointing to a golden envelope on the floor, causing Luka to pick it up and opened it. "Well?"

 "It's an invite to a ball at Agreste Castle," He stated, making him frown before he read it out. "Citizens of Paris, I, Heureux Fin, am throwing the finest ball in all of Paris! Everyone from all walks off lives are invited so they find their happy ending and forever after! Even the beetle and his cat are invited as long as they promise not to cause a fuss and hand over their miraculous! The ball starts at 7pm tonight at Agreste Manor..."

 "That's in half an hour!" Rose gasped, making him blink as she yawned. "Sorry! I'm just really tired,"

 "No worries, Rose," He replied before continuing to read. "The Dresscode is Fairytale theme. Though that shouldn't be a problem for anyone in Paris..."

 Luka's eyes widen, along with Juleka's and before anyone could say anything else, the two of them had ran out of the school. They came to a stop as they looked around. There were a number of giant beanstalks, thorn bushes and trees, making them realize that Heureux Fin had transformed the city into something out of a fairytale. The Grand Paris hotel was now a huge castle, there was a number of smaller castles and huts around. To Luka's surprise, the bakery had been transformed into a tower. Luka rushed over and made his way inside, finding Tom and Sabine had been transformed into a king and queen. He wasn't sure what fairytale they were from but he was more concerned about Marinette. They looked up at him and rose an eyebrow at his outfit.

 "I see you got hit as well," Sabine sighed, making him nod. "Are you ok? You look pale, dear,"

 "Is Marinette here?" He asked, making the two shake their heads as they looked at him with worry. "She was with me at school but the akuma ambushed us and when I woke up, I was dressed like this and Marinette was gone,"

 "We can help you look for her," Sabine stated, lifting her dress a little and following him outside with Tom. Luka nodded and led them to where Juleka was. He frowned as he noticed she was staring. He followed her look, causing him to stare at the floating ship. For a second, he thought it was Guard-O-War again until he realized it resembled the Liberty. A rope was thrown down and Anarka swung down, making them look at her. She was wearing a red captain's coat, black pants and boots but the most interesting thing was her right hand was replaced with a hook. She grinned at them. 

 "Ahoy, Me Hearties!" She grinned as a crocodile jumped down and landed next to her. Weirdly enough, they could hear ticking coming from it. "I see that scallywag hit ye all with his cursed magic,"

 "I'm afraid so," Sabine answered as a puff of glitter appeared next to Anarka before it reformed into Penny. She was wearing a silvery suit, had fairy wings and was holding a wand. "Oh, Miss Penny, you look lovely,"

 "Thank you," Penny smiled before turning to the kids. "Everyone ok?"

 "Well, no one's hurt but we've all been turned into something out of a fairytale," Juleka muttered, gesturing towards the school where a giant version of Ivan stood. Luka rose an eyebrow as he smiled and waved at him. He waved back before turning to the others. "At least, Anatis will be able to fix this,"

 "Have you seen Marinette, Penny?" He asked, making her frown as she made a thoughtful face.

 "No but I have an idea where she might end up," She stated, making Luka raise an eyebrow. "At the ball. Everyone in Paris is invited and Marinette is friends with Adrien,"

 "She's also the class representative," Rose gasped before yawning again.

 "And she's the best at making parties and organizing things," Juleka pointed out, making Luka frown before his eyes widen.

 "You don't think Adrien has taken her to help set up the ball, do you?" He asked, making everyone look at him.

 "It makes sense," Penny stated, making him frown. "We should attend the party then,"

 "Aye!" Anarka grinned as Penny cast a critical eye towards Luka, making him blink. 

 "Something wrong?" He asked, making her look in his eyes.

 "Marinette would never forgive me if I let you go to a ball dressed in rags," She pointed, making him blink. "And since I've been turned into what is clearly the fairy godmother... it makes sense that I have the ability to do this,"

 She waved her wand at Luka, causing a silver mist to move around him, causing him to shield his face as it changed his outfit. Once it disappeared, he lowered them and looked at his new outfit. He was now wearing a light blue vest with dark blue detail and silver buttons with matching light blue pants. There was a blue ruffle tie around his neck and he had a light blue gloves on his hands that only covered part of his hands and middle fingers. His boots were a dark crystal blue and sparkled like they were made from glass. Over his shirt, he had a silver tailcoat with a small amount of frills on it. It felt like it was made from the finest silk there was and his hair had been tidied up but remained in his normal style.

"Ok, now you can definitely go to the ball," Penny grinned, clearly enjoying herself. Luka would have to find a way to sneak away from them at some point during the ball so he could transform into Anatis but at least this way he could get in there without been spotted. Now just to get there. Maybe he could get close enough to Adrien to find out where the akumatized item is.

 ~Agreste Castle~

 "Are you coming to the ball as well?" Luka asked as the ship came to a stop outside the castle. Penny looked over and shook her head as Anarka walked over and handed her a bottle of rum. "I'll take that as a no,"

 "Well, I am a pirate, Lad," Anarka grinned. "We'll just wait here until Anatis fixes everything. Now go have fun at the ball!"

 "Right," He smiled before Penny lowered a plank for them to walk. Juleka and Rose went first before Luka followed. He felt nervous as he walked through the gates with a number of other people that looked like something out of a fairytale. Once he had located Marinette and made sure she was fine, he would find a way to transform. While his mother was flying them to the castle, he took a moment to check on Tikki. Luckily, she hadn't been affected by the change of clothes but gushed over his outfit. She was now resting inside his jacket, waiting for him to find the perfect moment to transform. He hadn't seen anything on Lady Noir yet so he guessed she was in a similar situation to himself. He took a deep breathe and followed Juleka and Rose in. The ball room was the grandest room he had ever seen. It was clearly based on an enchanted forest and hundreds of people there including a number of his classmates. Luka rested his hands on the edge of the banister and kept himself hidden a little as he looked around and observed the room in his luck vision, noticing the amount of exits in the place before he turned his attention to the guests. Rose and Juleka had joined the others and started to dance but Luka was observing everyone. In the back of the room was two golden thrones. A woman dressed as a queen but with a pig's nose was sat one. Judging by the color of her hair, it was Gabriel's assistant Nathalie. He noticed a frog king sat next to her that looked a little bit moody and he suspected it had seen better days. Judging by the smirk on Nathalie's face when she looked at the frog, it was Gabriel. There were other fairytale themed characters to. A lot of the guests were transformed into one might reference to as stock characters such as royalty and witches but it seemed that Adrien's friends were themed around main characters from fairytales. There was a wooden puppet next to his maker, making Luka realize it was Max and Marvok as. Alya and Nino had been transformed into Beauty and the Beast only Alya was the beast. Kim resembled a mermaid and seemed to be holding something in his hand while he sat in a bathtub. That made Luka assume he was the Little Mermaid. Near him was Alix who was talking to Aurora. Both appeared to be characters from Alice in Wonderland. Alix was clearly the white rabbit and Aurora herself was Alice. They were also talking to Nathaniel, who was Red Riding Hood, Marc who looked like a warrior, Mireille... she was the blue fairy and Jean who was dressed as Aladdin. It took Luka a second but he realized Marc was Atreyu from the Neverending Story. He took a deep breathe as he looked over the remainder of the guests, hoping to find Marinette. The Bourgeois family were there. Audrey was the Queen of Hearts and Andre was the cowardly lion but Chloe was dressed in a beautiful dress that resembled a Swan. Clara Nightingale was nearby. She was dressed as Clara from the nutcracker by the looks of her dress and she was talking with Felix who resembled a pixie. In the far corner of the room was an old witch, which he realized was Lila. Luka wasn't surprised that she had been turned into that. He moved his eyes from her and scanned the rest of the room until his eyes landed on Marinette. She was dressed in a pink tail coat with a golden waist coat and matching pants. Her boots were dark brown and her hair was tied into a loose ponytail. She had a ruffle tie around her neck and a pink rose pinned into her hair. It was simple outfit but she looked very beautiful. However, she seemed to be look around. Her eyes moved over to where he was and a look of relief came onto her face as she saw him. A blush crept over his cheek as that look turned from relief to awe. She must have spotted his outfit. Alya was next to her and said something to her but she shook her head as Luka took a deep breathe and walked over to the staircase. He descended down them as Marinette pushed through the crowd, causing people to look at her as she moved over. 

 "Hi..." She smiled shyly as she met him at the bottom of the stairs. "You look amazing,"

 "T-thanks..." He blushed, rubbing the back of his neck as well. "You look beautiful,"

 "Really?" She asked, making him nod before she moved closer as if to inspect him. "I'm glad you're ok. I was really worried when I woke up and you weren't around. I thought Adrien had hurt you. He assured me that he didn't and that he needed my help to set up this. I was gonna post on the akuma alert app but Adrien seems harmless and the heroes haven't turned up yet,"

 "I know," Luka replied, nodding. "I think they might be stuck in their civilian forms and haven't had the chance to escape yet,"

 "That makes sense," Marinette replied, nodding before shrugging. "Oh, well,"

 Luka nodded in reply and looked around as the music changed. It was the same song they danced to at Chloe's party and in the moonlight. He had a feeling Adrien was behind the song choice. Marinette smiled as she looked around too before Luka cleared his throat nervously.He knew he should make some excuse to get away so he can transform but it would just seem odd to just sneak off. Besides, Adrien seemed harmless as an akuma and he could fix everything later. He should be able to enjoy himself, especially since he was with Marinette. 

 "W-Would you like to dance? It's our song... You know... never mind it's stu-"

 "Yes," She stated, making him look at her. "I would love to dance with you,"

 Luka broke into a smile as she grabbed his hand and lead him to the dance floor. The two of them moved together, ignoring everyone else as they just danced and zoned out into their own little world. Luka couldn't help but smile when Marinette leaned against him as they swayed. The more they danced, the more a fog seem to cloud their mind, making them forget as they continued to enjoy each other's company. Around them, the same thing seemed to be happening to everyone else. Nino, who wanted to talk to Adrien and apologize to him, decided he could just do it later. After all, he was having a good time and it was thanks to Adrien. The other guests were the same. Aurdey didn't care what people thought about her, Chloe was complimenting Sabrina and others and Marc wasn't hiding behind his hair. He was laughing and happy. Lila was talking happily to people as if she wasn't a malicious witch. Her lies and fake personality forgotten by both herself and everyone else. Even Gabriel had forgotten that he was Hawkmoth and that he was after the miraculous to bring back his wife. Instead, he was sat in Nathalie's hand as they danced, all of their worries forgotten. Luka smiled as he swayed with Marinette. His own worries lifting away and been forgotten as they danced. 

 "I love you..." He whispered, making her suddenly look up at him with surprise in her eyes. A blush crept over his face as she searched his features. A smile broke through as she looked at him as well.

 "I love you too," She stated, making him stare at her before he grinned like a love struck fool. She smiled back and gently leaned on her head against his shoulder again as they swayed. Luka smiled and pulled her a little closer to him as he rested his chin on top of her head before closing his eyes as they swayed on the spot with their friends grinning and whispering as they finally confessed their feelings for each other. However, their peace was short-lived as Heureux Fin flew in and landed on the stairs case, crowing as he did. 

 "Hello, Paris!!" He shouted, grinning before a fairy like creature flew over, trailing dust over everyone. "Let's get this party started!!"

 He laughed and flew up into the air as everyone cheered before the party kicked into a swing. Everyone laughed and danced without a single care as the castle shifted into a real forest. A huge roaring fire was created in the middle, causing everyone to dance wildly around it including Heureux Fin. It was like something out of a fairytale with wild fae and characters dancing around. Sure, it would be a mess in the morning but Luka couldn't bring himself to care. Just like everyone else, he knew Lady Noir and Anatis would fix it, even if the heroes hadn't turned up yet but that didn't matter. Now was the time to have fun. The music changed into a fast paced song, causing everyone to clap and dance faster as the evening went on. Song after song, played and Viper laughed as he spun around arm in arm with Ladybug but he suddenly stopped when he saw someone standing in the crowd, watching. He let go out of Marinette's arm as he stared towards the figure but Carapace knocked into him, making him look over.

 "Everyone ok, dude?" He asked as Viper blinked.

 "Oh, I thought I saw someone over there," He replied, looking over again but the person was gone. "Huh... guess they went away,"

 "Ah don't worry too much!" Carapace laughed, joining the party again as he howled and danced around the fire with Rena and the others. Frowning to himself, Viper glanced over to where the person had been. He felt like he knew that person and something had changed but he couldn't place his mind on it. He shrugged and turned around to dance again but something inside his mind niggled at him. Something felt wrong. Very wrong but he didn't know what it was. It just felt like he had forgotten something. He groaned a little as he felt his head ache and very slowly, the fog began to lift. It still wasn't clear what he had forgotten but it was definitely something. He moved to the side and sat down as he held his head. Ladybug moved over and leaned down in front of him. He looked up at her and frowned. Was she always dressed similar to Rena? For some reason, he was sure she was dressed as a princess before.

 "Hey, you ok?" She asked, making him look over. "You look pale,"

 "My head hurts," He replied, frowning. She frowned back and sat next to him, gently rubbing his back. "I feel like I've forgotten something important,"

 "Really?" She asked. "What do you think it is?"

 "I don't know," He replied, looking down. He frowned as he noticed his outfit had changed as well. Like Rena, Carapace and Ladybug, he was dressed in what he could only described as ragged clothing. He was in a teal green tunic with dark teal breeches and material shoes but he was certain he hadn't been wearing it before hand. He was sure he had been wearing something similar to Cinderella. That's what his fairy godmother put him in. Wait... not his fairy godmother but Penny! His eyes widen as he remembered her and his family. She had been transformed into the fairy godmother and his mother had been transformed into Captain Hook by an akuma. His eyes widen even more as he remembered Juleka and Rose. They were Snow White and Sleeping Beauty respectively and Marinette... Marinette had been Princess Charming. He glanced over and saw Rose and Juleka dancing by the fire. They were dancing as if there was no care in the world. He turned to look to Marinette, who was looked at him with worry and fear. He stood up as she watched him. "There's an akuma.. we have to get out of here,"

 "What's an akuma?" She asked, confused before gasping. "It is to do with that nasty pirate-"

 "Marinette, listen to me," He gasped, cupping her face. "Do you remember who your parents are?"

 "I don't have any, silly and my name is Ladybug," She giggled, making him frown. "We're the lost kids, remember? Part of Fin's crew. We never grow up and we get to play all the time. You know that, Viper,"

 "Viper?" He asked, frowning.

 "It's your name," She giggled, tapping the side of his head. "You came here with Tigress and Pigella,"

 "Tigress and Pigella?" He asked, causing her to point to Juleka and Rose. He frowned and shook his head before gently grabbing her shoulders. "Listen to me. None of this is real. It's the effect of the akuma,"

 "Viper, you're scar-"

 "My name isn't Viper, it's Luka," He gasped, making her frown. "And your name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Your parents are Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng. You're 15 years old and a fashion designer..."

 "This game isn't funny, Viper,"

 "It's not a game," He gasped before he took a deep breathe. Something told him he needed to wake her up as well. "Remember what I said to you just before Kitty Section played live. You are an extraordinary girl, Marinette. Clear as a music note, sincere as a melody. You have been the song I hear in my head since we first met..."

 Recognition flowed into Marinette's eyes as the fog began to lift for her. She gasped and looked around, panicked.

 "Luka?" She gasped, making him let out a sigh of relief. "What happened? My mind feels foggy and confused,"

 "There's an akuma but I can't remember everything. I just know we need to get out now," He gasped, grabbing her hand and leading her away from the fire. Everyone else was having too much fun to notice. The farther they got away from the fire and the others, the clearer their minds got until they fully remembered everything including that they are heroes and that they needed a chance to escape and transform. Luka turned to Marinette, making her look at him. "I'm going to see if I can find Anatis. He might have been affected by the spell as well,"

 "Right," She nodded. "I should find Lady Noir as well,"

 He nodded before they were their separate ways. He slipped into the garden and hid behind a rose bush before letting Tikki out. He found her in his pocket asleep. He poked her and woke her up, making her yawn.

 "Luka?" She asked, making him slight in relief. "What happened?"

 "You feel asleep and I fell under the akuma's spell but now it's time to rewrite this story," He stated, making her nod before he swiped his earrings and transformed into Anatis. The rest of the fog completely cleared. He took out his yoyo and made his way back into the forest to fight Heureux Fin. He spun his yoyo when he came to the fire as all of the 'lost kids' looked at him with annoyed expressions. Heureux Fin got up from his throne and flew over, landing in front of him.

 "So you finally turned up, Bugboy," He declared, glaring at him as the lost kids sneered and shouted. "You know I'm just trying to let people have fun and helped everyone get their happy endings,"

 "By forcing them to forget who they are?" Anatis replied back, shaking his head. "That isn't how to help people... Adrien,"

 "My name is Heureux Fin!" He shouted back, taking to the air. "Besides, you can't catch me! Unlike me, you can't fly,"

 "He might not be able to fly but he isn't alone!" A voice shouted, causing Heureux Fin to look behind him as Lady Noir jumped on him. He managed to throw her off, causing her to land next to Anatis. "Got a plan?"

 "Not yet," He replied as Heureux Fin laughed and taunted them. "We need to ground him so we can find the akuma,"

 "Ok,"

 "You can't catch me!" Heureux Fin shouted before whistling. The fairy like creature flew over to him. "Fairytale, deal with this losers!"

 Fairytale turned into a giant wolf and landed on the ground, making Anatis and Lady Noir stare at it.

 "Great, he has a sentimonster," Lady Noir gasped as the wolf changed at her. She hit it with her baton as Anatis threw up his yoyo and summoned his lucky charm, which was a shoe and a sock. Anatis rose an eyebrow at it with confusion but before he could work it out, Heureux Fin tried to grab it off him. He jumped out of the way and stepped back, dropping the sock in the process. However, he was grabbed by the lost kids as Lady Noir was knocked back by the sentimonster. Anatis struggled against the lost kids as Heureux Fin flew over.

 "Now we can finally finding out who's behind that mask," He stated, reaching for his earrings. Anatis' luck vision kicked in, highlighting Heureux Fin himself, the shoe and the trees as a plan formed in his head.

 "None of this is real!" Anatis suddenly shouted, making Heureux Fin stop reaching for his earrings. "It's all a lie created by your powers. You're not Heureux Fin, you're Adrien Agreste! And this isn't a forest!"

 "You're lying!" Heureux Fin shouted but he lowered closer to the ground again, causing the lost kids to look at him with a little confusion. Seeing his chance, Anatis yanked him self free and threw the shoe, causing everyone to gasp it flew towards tree tops. Heureux Fin gasped and went to fly after it but Anatis stopped him, using his yoyo. The shoe hit the top, shattering one of the skylights before it fell down with shattered glass. The lost kids gasped and realization appeared in their eyes, causing Heureux Fin to realize. He fell down to the ground, allowing Anatis to recall his yoyo. Heureux Fin yelled out and charged at him but before he could hit, Lady Noir got the upper hand on the Sentimonster and threw it into him, causing it to fall on top of him before Anatis threw his yoyo, tying Heureux Fin and the Sentimonster to one of the trees with his yoyo. "Let me go!! Fairytale, atta- hmm!"

 To everyone's surprise, Nino shoved the lucky charm sock into Heureux Fin's mouth, cutting him off and causing Heureux Fin to look at him in surprise and slight betrayal.

 "I'm sorry, Adrien," He stated, taking the ring off and turning to Anatis, holding it out to him. "The akuma and the amok are in there. He took them to stop me from been the victim,"

 "Thank you, Nino," Anatis replied, taking the ring. "Kitten, would you mind?"

 "Cataclysm!" She called as he flipped the ring, tossing it towards her. She caught it and it rushed in her grip, causing the akuma and the amok to escape. Anatis recalled his yoyo, causing Heureux Fin to fall to his knees as Fairytale disappeared in blue smog before he threw out his yoyo and captured the akuma and the amok in it before releasing them. Lady Noir picked the shoe and handed it to him, causing him to smile as he took it. "Should I get the sock as well?"

 "The shoe will work fine," He replied before tossing it up in the air again. "Miraculous Ladybugs!!"

 The shoe burst into the cure and spreaded throughout the forest, getting rid of the trees and fire as it turned back into Agreste Manor. It washed over the party guests, turning them back to normal and restoring them to where they had been originally before bursting through the windows and spreading across Paris, turning it back into the city they loved. Heureux Fin turned back into Adrien and looked up confused as the heroes fist-bumped each other. Gabriel and Nathalie also looked around confused.

 "How did I get here?" He asked, confused before he noticed them. His eyes widen in realization and dread. "Oh, no! I was akumatized, wasn't I?"

 "Yes but I know you took it to stop Nino from been the akuma," Anatis stated, helping him to his feet as Adrien stammered an apology, "No need for an apology, Adrien,"

 "But I hurt people!" He gasped, making the heroes look at each other. "I did hurt people, didn't I?"

 "Adrien, you threw a massive party and turned people into fairytale characters," Lady Noir explained. "The most trouble you caused was causing them to forget their troubles. You didn't hurt anyone,"

 "But Nino... he must hate me," Adrien groaned, covering his face. Anatis frowned. "I... I should have never trusted Lila! All she does is hurt people and she upset my friend Marinette and Nino got upset with Alya because even though she told Lila off, she thought Lila was trying to help and fit in, just like I did. I offered to talk to her, to help her see the error of her ways like I did but in the process, Nino discovered I knew about Lila before anyone else and got upset that I didn't tell him like I should have!! I upset him and I saw an akuma coming for him! I couldn't let him down or fail to protect him again so I pushed him out of the way but the akuma and amok got in my ring and I tried to resist I swear. I-"

 "Adrien, calm down," Anatis stated, making him look at him. "Yes, you made a mistake with the whole Lila thing but that doesn't make you a bad friend. Talk to Nino and get him to help you with understanding social situations. None of this would have happened if you were taught how to interact with people your age and allowed to interact with them,"

 He shoot a look toward Gabriel, who looked at him with shock.

 "How dare you suggest that I'm the cause for this?!" Gabriel gasped. Anatis was ready to chew him out but to everyone's surprise, Nathalie stepped forward.

 "Anatis is actually correct, sir," She stated, making Gabriel look at her. "While his grades are excellent, he does lack in understanding normal social situations due to his isolated upbringing,"

 She turned to look at Anatis.

 "Which is we will work on," She stated, making him nod before she lead Adrien out, promising to get him some ice cream and to clear his schedule for a couple of days. Both Gabriel and Anatis stared in surprise as she lead him out before Gabriel turned to Anatis and held out his hand.

 "A thank you is in order," He stated as Anatis looked at it with distrust. "Is something wrong?"

 "I'm sure you saw how I call out a number of people for their behavior," He stated, making Gabriel retract his hand. "Well, you're heading to the top of the list, Mr Agreste. Adrien isn't some puppet or property. He is your son and if you keep going down this path you have chosen, you're gonna end up losing him forever,"

 "Is that a threat, Anatis?" Gabriel asked. He was certain the young hero didn't know he was Hawkmoth but he suspected the boy still suspected him. "Or a promise?"

 "Neither, Mr Agreste," He replied, making him raise an eyebrow. "It's a warning and if I were you, sir, I would heed it. Let's go, Kitten,"

 The two heroes walked out of the door, making Mr Agreste frown in a dark manner.

 "Soon enough, Anatis, I will crush you like the insect you are,"

 ~A Couple of Days Later~

 "So Adrien's schedule is been relaxed a little bit and he's asked me to help him to understand social ques," Nino explained as he and Marinette walked up to the school. "Though he won't be back in school for a couple of more days. Apparently, Nathalie is letting him have sweets and watch whatever he wants,"

 "That's good," Marinette replied before seeing Luka sat on one of the benches, listening to music. "Hey, would you mind going ahead? I need to do something,"

 "Sure thing, dudette," Nino smiled as he saw her looking at Luka. He grinned. "Go get him, tiger,"

 "Nino!" She gasped, blushing as he laughed and walked off. Licking her lips, she began to walk over. Since been restored, she hadn't had a chance to talk to Luka. She had tried to text him but he barely answered and she had a feeling is because of the party. She wasn't sure if it was the affect of Heureux Fin but Luka had said he loved her and she told him she loved him back. She did but she wasn't sure if he knew if she was been sincere. She had a feeling that he thought it was because of the effects of the akuma and in a way, she thought that might be the case as well. She stopped in front of him, making him jump a little and take out his headphones. "Hi..."

 "Hey," He stated, looking down at his hands. "Um... how is everything..."

 "G-Good," She mumbled, feeling her face heat up as he looked up at her. "How are you?"

 "I'm... good..." He muttered, though he didn't seem ok. In fact, he seemed surprised. Marinette rose an eyebrow. "I... I got through to the next stage for the music contest..."

 "Oh my gosh! That's great!" She gasped, going to hug him but she stopped and rubbed her neck, making him frown. "Sorry,"

 "It's fine," He replied, making her smile. "But are you ok?"

 "Um... actually, I wanted to talk to you about... the party and what you said..."

 "Oh god," He muttered, making her frown as he looked down in embarrassment. "Marinette, I am so sorry... I don't know what came over me with that. I know you don't like me in that way at all. I mean if you did, you probably would said already and you're out of my league anyway. I mean why on earth would a beautiful symphony like you want to be with a sour note like myself? You deserve better then me..."

 Marinette frowned as he looked down before a wave of clarity came over her. Luka didn't think she meant it but not because he didn't love her. He did but because he thought he wasn't good enough for her. 

 "Luka," She stated, making him look at him. "You're an idiot,"

 "That's mean, Melody," He stated, making her giggle "Why am I an idiot?"

 "Because I like you," She stated, making him blink at her in surprise. "I meant what I said during the party. You're amazing, funny, brave and creative. You mean everything to me and I'm so sorry it took me a while to realize it. I was so blinded by my crush on Adrien that I didn't even consider that someone else could be the one I want to be with but with you... there isn't any of that. Everything is so easy and simple with you. I don't feel like I have to be something I'm not. When I'm with you, I'm happy. Luka, I know I'm not perfect. I'm clumsy, stupid and I'm sure there's tons of girls that are way better then me but... I like you, Luka as more then a friend. I really like you and I..."

 She took a deep breathe.

 "I want to be your girlfriend," Luka's mind went completely blank as her words sank in. Marinette... liked him. Like actually liked him in the same way he liked her and she wanted to be his girlfriend. Marinette, the most beautiful girl in the world, wanted to be his girlfriend. He must be dreaming. There's no way this could be real but when he looked up at her, she was still there and he hadn't answered yet. He needed to say something before she thought he didn't like her. He opened his mouth as she looked down. taking his silence for rejection but before she could get up and leave, Luka gently took her hand, making her look at him. The way he was looking at her made her cheeks heat up.

 "I don't think you're clumsy or stupid. I actually think you're brilliant, beautiful and gifted," He stated, making her cheek heat up even more. "And there might be tons of other girls but they don't hold a candle to you. Marinette, I meant what I said when I said you were the song in my head. I still mean it and I always will. I... I love you..."

 "Luka..." She gasped, blushing. "I-Is that a yes to been my boyfriend then?"

 "Yes, it is," He smiled before blushing as well. "I-If you'll have me that is. I mean I'm not perfect and I'm certain gonna mess up but I love you and if you'll have me, I want to be your boyfriend..."

 "Yes, absolutely!" She gasped, making him blush. "Sorry, too much?"

 "N-No... I like your enthusiasm," He replied, causing her to squeak and throw her arms around him in a hug, making him chuckle and hug back as the bell rang. "We should go to class,"

 "Ok but meet me at lunch! I want to spend it with my boyfriend and hear about the contest! Ah, I can't believe I can say that!!" She grinned, making Luka smile back. Her song was louder then it had ever been. The second bell rang and she jumped. "Right! Gotta go!! See you at lunch!!"

 She blew a kiss at him before running off to her class, making him smile dreamily before he headed to his own lesson. He couldn't wait for lunch.

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

Miss Bustier’s Class:

Marinette- Princess Charming/Ladybug Nino- Belle/Carapace Alya- The Beast/Rena Nathaniel- Little Red Riding Hood/Red Rose- Sleeping Beauty/Pigella Juleka- Snow White/Tigress Ivan- The BFG Mylene- Little Princess Max- Geppetto/Pegasus Marvok- Pinocchio Kim- The Little Mermaid/Monkey Alix- The White Rabbit/Bunny Sabrina- Rapunzel Chloe- The Ugly Ducking/Swan Princess/Bee Lila- The Evil Queen/Hag Miss Bustier- Mrs Darling

Mrs Mendeleiev's Class

Felix- Rumpstileskin/Chat Luka- Cinderella/Viper Kagami- Puss in Boots/Dragon Marc- Atreu (Neverending story)/Horns Aurora- Alice Liddle Mireille- Blue Fairy Jean- Aladdin Ondine- Thumbelina Mrs Mendeleiev- Unaffected

Other Characters:

Audrey Bourgeois- Queen of Hearts Andre Bourgeois- The Cowardly Lion Nathalie- The Pig-faced Princess Gabriel Agreste- The Frog King Anarka- Captain Hook (didn’t attend the party) Jagged- Tick-Tock  (didn’t attend the party) Clara Nightingale- Clara from Nutcracker Penny Rolling- Fairy Godmother (didn’t attend the party) Jean (Butler)- Knave of Hearts Mr Damocles- the Piped Piper Nadja Chamack-  The Woman who cried Wolf Gorilla-  The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Officer Roger- The Huntsman (didn’t attend the party) Master Fu- Wizard Of Oz (didn’t attend the party) Master Mila- Snow Queen  (didn’t attend the party) Tomoe- Mother Gothel (didn’t attend the party) Emile- The White Queen (didn’t attend the party)

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Next Chapter: Coming Soon

[thetorchwoodarchive]

[Image Description: a banner for the Across the Bay Crossover Fics You Didn’t See Coming fest, featuring beach signs on a tropical island, reading “Cardiff by the Sea”, the name of the fest, “authors”, “torchwood” (partially obscured), and “one shots” (partially obscured), and a warning sign where Myfanwy chases a swimmer]

ACROSS THE BAY: CROSSOVER FICS YOU DIDN’T SEE COMING MASTERPOST

Thank you everyone for submitting your crossover and fusion fic  recommendations. Below are all submissions and some of our favorites! 

Is it Insensitive for Me to Say by aliciajazmin (EstherJohnTosh | complete | 2441 | T)

Toshiko Sato and Esther Drummond absolutely will make fun of their boyfriend for deciding to attend an audition, while also attending said audition with him. 

Crossover With: The Outer Worlds 

Golden Apples and Norse Gods (Or How Ianto Got His Groove Back) by blackkat (JackIanto | complete | 1592 | G)

Ianto finds himself back from the dead and, apparently, in the position to double-cross a power-crazed Norse god intent on conquering the Earth by taking out a team of superheroes. Must be a Tuesday.

Crossover With: Avengers/MCU

The Magic of Torchwood by Bella the Strange (JackIanto, IantoJohn, JackOther, Non-Torchwood Ships | wip |  546,512 | T)

The Torchwood team have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Set between Adam and Reset. Rated T because of Jack Harkness, swearing, mature themes, slash etc… it’s Torchwood!

Crossover With: Harry Potter

Welcome to Torchwood by Jackdaw818 (Gen | complete | 1601 | T)

A strange creature behind the Ralphs, a break-in at the Museum of Forbidden Technologies, and visitors in Night Vale. Overall, a slightly unordinary day for Cecil Gershwin Palmer

Crossover With: Welcome to Night Vale

Torchwait for iiiiit by lady-demacabre (Gen | complete | 3k | K+)

When Shawn and Gus are called in on a case for an eccentric collector of alien objects, they get more than what they bargained for. One shot, Psych oriented.

Crossover With: Psych

Theme and Variations by nemo_baker (JackIanto, GwenRhys, OwenKatie | 5817 | T)

Time Agent Jack Harkness is sent back in time to solve the mystery of a mysterious train bombing. The problem is, he only has eight minutes to do it.

Written for Reel Torchwood screening 8 on Livejournal. Movie Prompt: Source Code (2011)

Crossover With: Source Code 

Day Tripper by Croquemboucheballpit (Gement) (JackBessie the Third Doctor’s Car, Bessie the Third Doctor’s CarLightening McQueen (past) | complete | 2360 | M)

Bessie’s like any other companion: far from home, more than she appears, and always up for an adventure.

And Jack Harkness really will seduce anything that moves.

Crossover With: Pixar’s Cars 

An American Volunteer by That_one_kid (SteveBucky, BuckyJackSteve | Complete | 4395 | T)

What if Captain Jack Harkness met Steve & Bucky during the war? What if he ran into them again, present day?

AKA

Captain Jack Harkness and his mission to seduce the two gorgeous, capable soldiers who keep running into him.

Crossover With: Captain America/MCU

Statement #0041708 - Future Sight by Jackdaw816 (Gen | complete | 1690 | T)

Statement of Lisa Hallett regarding a peculiar mirror found at a car boot sale

Crossover With: The Magnus Archives

(Un)Welcome Aboard by Jaune_Chat (Jack | Complete | 4,154 | T)

To make ends meet, Mal listens to a suggestion from Inara than he rent out the other shuttle. She has the perfect candidate, a charming Companion named Jack…

Crossover With: Firefly 

Death and the Definitely-Not-A Maiden by Odsbodkins (JackIanto | Complete | 3,6K | PG-13)

When Jack dies, Death is there to meet him. Every time. Written in 2008 for the Doctor Who Crossover Ficathon. Takes in Torchwood to end S2, Doctor Who to end S3, Discworld to Soul Music.

Crossover With: Discworld 

Remarkable by snowwhiteliar ( JackIanto, IantoLisa | Complete | 20.971 | PG-13)

Summary: Once upon a time, in a small village in a distant province of a peaceful kingdom, there lived a boy called Ianto

Crossover With: Fairy Tales 

Got That Friday Feeling Again by NancyBrown (OwenOther, JackIanto, GwenRhys, GwenOwen | Complete | 18.3K | R)

HELP HELP HELP HELP

I AM TRAPPED IN A TIME BUBBLE

The magic marker all over the nice chintz wallpaper bled and smeared as Owen wrote in increasingly desperate lettering across the walls. Ls and Ps dragged down, wiggly at the end or drawn out in slashed strokes.

He ignored the pounding on the door frame. He’d shoved the wardrobe in front, which always kept Jack out for twenty three and a half minutes. He ignored the sweat and tears and snot dripping down his face, down his mouth. He ignored the high-pitched singing from his own throat, “If you want my future, forget my past,” chanted over and over.

HELP

Crossover With: Groundhog Day

Back, and Back, and Back a Little More (Future Optional) (JackIanto, JennyVastra | Complete |  32591 | M)

Accidentally shot into the past by a time-travelling car, Ianto has to fix his own mistakes or he won't have a future to go back to.

Crossover With: Back to the Future 

Truth, Justice by NancyBrown (SupermanOwen | complete | 414 | M)

The green shit does not work. Warnings: dubcon (AMTDI)

Crossover With: Justice League Unlimited/DCAU/Superman 

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodies, or, A Humourous Interlude Between Epics by  copperbadge (Gen | complete | 749 | T)

Ianto neglected to introduce himself as he informed the senior staff that Atlantis was now under the jurisdiction of Torchwood, whatever Torchwood is.

Crossover With: Stargate Atlantis 

Never Have I Ever by  st_aurafina (JackIanto, JackDoctor (past/implied), PepperTony (implied) | complete | 1714 | T)

Written for the prompt Ianto, Donna and Pepper end up at a secretaries'/assistants' conference and have a conversation about their bosses.

Crossover With: Ironman/MCU

Beware the Sparkles by elisi (JackIanto, JackEdwardBella | complete | 4793 | T)

It's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after. Oh and Jack has sex with sparkly vampires.

Crossover With: Twilight 

The Death Note Discovery by KaibaGirl007 (JackIanto | complete | 18,992 | T)

“You’ve clearly just got a notebook belonging to some geek, a rather sick geek I’ll give you that, who likes to keep note of people’s deaths.” - Will the team resist the urge to use the Death Note or will one of them give into temptation? 

Crossover With: Death Note 

A Confluence of Personalities by  galaxysoup (JackIanto | complete | 4839 | T)

Conner Kent’s body might be dead, but his soul has apparently decided to take the scenic route.

Crossover With: DC Comics/Young Justice Comics 

Imposters Among Us by  gwendolyncooper (JackIanto, GwenRhys | complete | 9117 | M)

The Torchwood team (+Rhys) are out for a night of fun when they end up on a spaceship with no power, no info, and no crew. Known only as THE SKELD, the team tries to fix the ship and figure out what happened to its previous occupants.

But something out there is killing them.

Something that may be someone they know.

Crossover With: Among Us 

Traitors (Among Us) by princessoftheworlds (JackIanto | complete | 440 | G)

In a happy future, the team plays Among Us, and Ianto suffers.

Crossover With: Among US 

Tagline: I saw the VIDEO. Got the CALL? What Next??? by  BricklingGhost (TeamGwenee) (JackIanto, JackSamara | complete | 2424 | Not Rated)

'Tagline: I saw the VIDEO. Got the CALL? What Next???

Bollocks. That’s just a myth. Some git showing off and claiming to be the one person alive who Samara doesn’t bump off. He’ll be boasting that he’s been chosen to kill Voldemort next.'

When another unsuspecting victim falls foul of the cursed tape, he is pointed towards Captain Jack Harkness as his only hope for salvation.

Crossover With: The Ring

(My God, He Just) Came and Went by  Brokenpitchpipe (SteveBucky | complete | 1591 | M)

It starts on a cold, snowy September night in 1916, on the day Winifred Barnes walks to Doris Lindow’s house to see her new telephone and catches the eye of a handsome young man on the other side of the street. He tips his hat as she sees him, and she flushes scarlet and nods in return.

And nine months later, a little baby boy screams his way into the world.

But that’s not when it starts. Not really.

Crossover With: Captain America/MCU

Beast Inside by Flamingbluepanda (JackIanto, OwenTosh, GwenRhys | complete | 26934 | M)

"Argue with anything else, but don’t argue with your own nature.” - Phillip Pullman

Inside us all, there is an animal that expresses our soul. How would the world change were those animals outside?

Crossover With: His Dark Materials

Rifts and Robots by Paycheckgurl (JackIanto | complete | 3021 | G)

Jack and Ianto’s date at the movies is interrupted by two robots with no theater etiquette.

Crossover With: Mystery Science Theater 3000

The Jack and Ianto Show by Paycheckgurl (JackIanto | WIP | 7392 | T)

Jack and Ianto are a regular couple, living a quiet life, and trying to fit into the quaint Village of West Castle. Sure they're keeping the secret that Jack is an immortal time traveler from the future, with a fantastical machine called a vortex manipulator that can manipulate time and space around them, but they have much more pressing concerns. Such as strict bosses and nosy neighbors. Everything is perfect, a dream come true.

And Jack is going to keep it that way.

Please Stand By...

Crossover With: WandaVision 

Mutually Assured Uncooperation by  princessoftheworlds (JackIanto, OwenTosh, MarthaMickey, FitzSimmons, LincolnDaisy (past) | complete | 31547 | T)

Aliens, time-travelling, resurrections. These are all experiences familiar to not just one but two top-secret organizations that have a hard time keeping a low-profile. Figures that they would encounter each other eventually.

Or: the five times that SHIELD and Torchwood had an encounter that neither were pleased with, and the one time they had to work together when two of their own were taken.

Or: There's Kree running amok in Cardiff, including a murdered one, and Torchwood is on the case, but so is SHIELD. Also, don't forget the memory-manipulating aliens there too!

Crossover With: Agents of Shield/MCU

all i know is (infatuations) by  princessoftheworlds (JackIanto, JackJohn,  OwenTosh, LisaIanto | complete | 439 | T)

Seventh-year Slytherin Ianto Jones handles a break up, getting a boyfriend, terrible emotional misunderstandings with his best friend Jack Harkness, being miserable, and reconciliation. (Not precisely in that order.)

Crossover With: Harry Potter

[transthaumaturge]

Squirrel Girl is Super Gay for her Roommate and I Want Everyone to Know

A gay infodump of sensible length by Rachel Tikvah

ALRIGHT, SO The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was the very first comic that I ever read regularly, back when I was looking for more stories with strong female protagonists but didn't really know why. Back then I just thought I really liked strong female characters and not that I was being gay on main, but now I know the truth. The comic had a 5-year run, and it was the first time that Squirrel Girl, AKA Doreen Green, had had her own series. She had a brief run in the mid-2000's where she was established as someone who could beat up Thanos with her bare hands well, more like squirrel hands but was mostly a joke character that happened to be incredibly buff and had indestructible plot armor. USG decided that Doreen's next major life goal would be to enroll in college to become a computer scientist, because her writer, Ryan North, is really into computer science and they basically gave him free rein over Squirrel Girl canon for five whole years. Like, a solid third of the plots are solved with some kind of computer science smarts. It’s really cool. Anyway this is Doreen in one of the gayest solo pictures I could find of her on short notice, which is also one of the variant covers from the actual series:

And this is her college roommate, Nancy Whitehead:

I'm like, 99% certain that Ryan North intended for them to end up as a couple and Disney!Marvel told him no. So he decided to make them AS GAY FOR EACH OTHER AS POSSIBLE without explicitly saying that they were a couple, and it ended up going under the radar. What follows is evidence for that claim. I’m going to put a "read more” after this so it doesn’t clutter everyone’s dashboards, but please read on if you’re interested. There’s a lot of cute gayness after this point. I’m also going to put all of the image descriptions at the end, since they take up a lot of space and I don’t want to break up the flow of the post. Finally, a quick spoiler alert for one arc in the middle of the series and a couple major plot points from the final few issues.

AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES

So for a while it was just kind of hinted at that they’re in a relationship, mostly because they were basically domestic life partners for like, two whole years in-universe before the comic run ended. But it really came to a head with an arc that was ran about 2/3 of the way through the series. Some pictures of them being, like, so cute together in general and/or talking about how much they care about each other before I get to that arc, though: 

Also Doreen describes her and Nancy's cat as "co-parented" in one of the last issues:

ANYWAY, THE ARC. THE HYPERTIME ARC. So one of the villains created for the Squirrel Girl run (I think they liked making weird shit canon just because they could) was a dude who went by the name "EpicCrimez". He’s a crime streamer. He livestreams his crimes to an online audience. I don't know. *Throws up hands*

He had some kind of laser gun that he built out of scavenged alien tech but didn't really know what it did, so he shot it at Doreen and Nancy for kicks. It shot them into hypertime, so suddenly the rest of the world was moving at a fraction of the pace that they were. They were moving so quickly that they were slated to live out their entire lives over the span of a single weekend if they didn't figure out how to reverse the effects. And...they did. Live out their entire lives together. For the two of them, they were the only two people in the world. There were other people, but they looked like statues unless you spent a very long time observing them. Doreen and Nancy grew old together in a world where they only had each other. This is an incredibly cute domestic scene from a little while after they found themselves in hypertime:

Gosh, I wish I could find more official art from that arc of them just living together, it was so good. But the point is, they were both old by the time that Nancy figured out how to get them out of hypertime. And it wasn't ideal. Their bio signatures were stored in the gun that EpicCrimez shot, and they could essentially "reboot" their bodies from when they were first shot and send themselves back into the regular timestream. But they wouldn't remember anything about the life that they had shared together. Nancy almost didn't want to do it. She raised the possibility of them just living out the rest of their lives together, because she didn't want to forget their life together. This is the conversation they had:

"I don't regret any of it. I don't want to lose it, and I don't want to lose us." "You're not getting rid of me that easily." Every time I look at that last picture, which took up an entire page of the comic, I start to cry. We’re seeing the final moments of two people who love each other more than anything, who were each other's entire lives, savoring their last moments together and wondering what the future holds. Sacrificing the life that they built together so that their younger selves could live a better, fuller one. Dying in each other’s arms, scared but comforted by the fact that they had each other. And then the arc ends, and they can't remember anything, so the status quo is restored. They have some paintings they made of each other while they were living together in hypertime, but they move on pretty quickly without ever knowing the significance of those lived decades. Still, it's clear in the arcs that follow and the adventures they embarked on afterward that they would die for each other. All of that continues until the end of the last arc. Their shared apartment's been blown up at this point by a supervillain who wanted to ruin Doreen’s life before eventually killing her. And in the aftermath of the fight, they're sifting through the wreckage for anything that survived (don't worry, the cat got out in time) when they find the picture that they painted of themselves during the hypertime arc:

They have a really cute conversation about how this chapter of their life is over, but they're going to be okay and they're going to build a new life together. And then Nancy basically tells Doreen that she can't live without her:

And then Doreen says something super queer-coded about how she likes the idea of the world knowing her secret identity now:

On the very last page of the comic, after all of the action is over and the series is about to end, they're talking to each other in what's supposed to be a twitter thread and Doreen asks Nancy a very thinly veiled question about whether she still wants to spend time with her now that her identity's out. She pretends it's about a class project, but it's really not about the class project. Here's how that conversation goes:

With no knowledge of what happened during the weekend when they shared their entire lives together, without ever having heard Doreen say it to her before, Nancy’s heart still knows which words to choose. "...you're not getting rid of me that easily. <3" I believe that the author of the series, Ryan North, did as much as he possibly could to portray them as a couple without saying it outright. And as the last piece of evidence to support that claim, I want to share a response he wrote in one of the series' last-ever letter columns:

"as for more Doreen and Nancy, I hope so too. A Squirrel Girl book without Nancy would feel like--like--like some sort of hypothetical "Super" "Man" book without an equally hypothetical "Lois" "Lane"!" It's easy to write off this analysis as wishful thinking, or as a misreading of the subtext. But when the author of the series says that these two characters are meant to always be together and compares them to one of the most famous couples in any comic series ever, it's clear that there's more to it than that. 

Some Additional Thoughts: 1) Doreen and Nancy are both probably bisexual or pansexual, since they both expressed romantic interest in men throughout the series but they’re both clearly interested in each other too. There might be an element of demiromanticism there as well if part of the reason that they’re into each other romantically is because of how emotionally close they’ve become over the years. I want to make sure that that facet of their romantic orientations doesn’t get erased, because bi and pan folks get erased enough as it is. Neither Doreen nor Nancy are lesbians, just super-cool WLWs.

2) HERE’S WHAT THE ISSUE 50 VARIANT COVER LOOKED LIKE

That’s NOT a fun, totally straight way to pose with your platonic gal pal. They’re so incredibly cute together! I have no words! In Closing If you got this far, thank you so much for letting me talk to you about a comic that’s very important to me, and a couple in that comic that I care about very much. I spent way too long making this (six hours and counting), mostly in writing the image descriptions, and I’m very proud of my work but very tired now. Hyperfixation is a hell of a drug. If this resonated with you, please consider reblogging it so that more folks can see it. If not, even a like is nice. I’d also love to engage with people who have their own thoughts, so feel free to leave some comments in the notes if you’ve got an idea/a reaction/any additional cute Doreen/Nancy scenes that you’d like to share with me. At any rate, this post has gone on long enough and I don’t want to ask y’all to read any more than you have to. So have a great day, good morning / afternoon / night, and stay safe. Thanks again for reading! ~Rachel Tikvah, AKA @transthaumaturge Image Descriptions: Image 1: [ID: Squirrel Girl, a young woman with light skin, is posing in front of a brick wall that she seems to have crashed through, leaving a perfect outline of her body. She’s facing away but looking backwards over her shoulder at us and smiling. She’s flexing upward with her right arm and has her left fist resting on her left hip. Her sidekick, a squirrel named Tippy-Toe, is standing in the cutout she left in the wall and is making the same exact pose while wearing a light pink bow around her neck. Squirrel Girl is wearing brown lace-up boots, fur-lined hot pants over grey tights, and a brown fur-lined jacket with sleeves that come up to her forearms and a symbol of an acorn embroidered into the back. She’s also wearing a hairband with fake squirrel ears on it over short reddish-brown hair. She has a large squirrel tail coming out of her hot pants that sweeps down in a curve behind her lower legs. The illustration is drawn so that everything is bathed in the light of a sunset, and Doreen is casting shadows on the wall in front of her.] Image 2: [ID: Two frames depicting a scene between Doreen and Nancy in their college dorm room, with many cardboard boxes still not unpacked and sitting on a bare bed mattress. Nancy Whitehead is a young woman with dark brown skin and short, curly black hair. She's wearing black tights, a white dress-top, and a yellow cardigan over that. Her arms are crossed as she holds her white cat, Mew, against her chest. Doreen is wearing grey tights and a black long-sleeve shirt with a wide collar and white stripes across the chest. She's holding Tippy-Toe up to Nancy with both hands so she can see her better. The following dialogue ensues: Nancy: "A squirrel? But weren't you the one who was all about pets not being allowed in--" Doreen: "Yeah, I know. But this really interesting person I met today told me that obeying an unjust law is itself unjust." Nancy: "...You know, I was worried I'd get a weird roommate, but you're all right, Doreen Green."] Image 3: [ID: Doreen and Nancy are both sitting on a lavender-pink couch in nightclothes. Doreen has short, orange hair. She is wearing a loose-fitting grey long-sleeve shirt and steel-blue cutoff shorts; Nancy has cropped black hair. She is wearing a dark purple top with sleeves that come down to her upper arms, and loose-fitting navy-blue shorts that come down to her lower thighs. Doreen is side-hugging Nancy as she says, with an ecstatically happy smile, “Nancy, you’re the greatest. You know that, right?” Nancy gives Doreen a full smile as she responds, “I’d always suspected it, but it is nice to have it confirmed.”] Image 4: [ID: Nancy is shown from the shoulders up. She has short, curly black hair. She’s wearing large, disc-shaped gold dangle earrings, and a red jacket with prominent shoulders and a yellow collar. She’s fixing the observer with an angry, determined stare as she says, “She knows this man wouldn’t dream about betraying her, or he’d have to answer to me.”] Image 5: [ID: Doreen and Nancy are eating breakfast at the brown, circular kitchen table in their apartment. Doreen’s wearing a skin-tight athletic crop top that’s striped in black, red, white, and blue. Her arm muscles are well-defined and clearly visible as she puts a spoon in her mouth, closing her eyes as she does so. She has a bowl of cereal in front of her, and half a banana in front of that. Nancy is sitting to her left in a pink camisole top that’s also exposing her muscles, scrolling through something on her smartphone. Her hair is in a yellow fabric wrap that’s knotted on one side of her head. A cup of coffee sits in front of her. The clear blue sky is visible through the window centered on the wall behind them.] Image 6: [ID: Nancy and Doreen are facing away from the vantage point, walking towards an Empire State University campus building and holding hands with their fingers intertwined. Nancy is wearing a long knee-length grey coat and black knee-high boots, with a baby-blue side bag hanging from her left shoulder. Doreen is wearing a magenta sweatshirt with the periwinkle-lined hood down, light brown form-fitting denim pants, and black ankle-high boots, with a dark brown side bag hanging from her right shoulder. Trees and bushes hem the walkway in on either side. The building in front of them is dark red, with glass doors and a row of floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor. Doreen is saying “...we’re just going to have to take the long way around.”] Image 7: [ID: Doreen is facing towards the vantage point and is visible from the legs up, standing in front of a pile of rubble in the background. She’s wearing high-waisted light blue shorts over black tights, and a red windbreaker with sleeves ending at her upper arms that’s opened to reveal a white t-shirt underneath. Tippy-Toe is sitting on her shoulder. There are two people facing Doreen, each slightly in frame and silhouetted in black against the light of the setting sun. Doreen is fixing them with an angry, determined expression, resting her right fist at her hip while she gesticulates with her left hand and says, “So! I don’t know about you all, but Melissa kidnapping my friend and blowing up my life and my house and almost blowing up my co-parented cat makes me feel like giving her a piece of my mind. Friends...”] Image 8: [ID: A full comic page. EpicCrimez is looking like a dork in a green and black skin-tight jumpsuit, bright red ski goggles, and a green wig cap with his brown hair sticking out the back in a mullet. He’s standing inside a jewelry store and holding up a fist of expensive gems and pearls-on-strings as holds up his smartphone and speaks into it. He’s facing off against Squirrel Girl, with her allies Koi Boi and Chipmunk Hunk on her right, and Nancy and Brain Drain on the left. The following scene ensues: EpicCrimez: “And for those of you just tuning in, welcome to another successful heist by your boy EpicCrimez, streaming live! Now with 10% more live crime action than any other streamer! Don’t forget to like and subscribe!! I know some of you in EpicCrimez Nation have been forgetting to do that lately. Not acceptable.” Squirrel Girl: “You picked the wrong small business to rob, crime-initiator! Because this mall is protected by super heroes.” Brain Drain: “HELLO” SG: “And also an unrelated civilian friend I brought along too!” Nancy: (Not looking up from her phone) “ ‘Sup.” EC: “Check it out--Squirrel Girl and her miscellaneous friends are here! It’s action you won’t find on any other channel!” SG: “Are you...streaming your robberies?” (Nancy pockets her phone) EC: “Yeah I am! For money reasons! And with you “heroes” in it, I’ll make even more!” SG: (Whispering to Nancy:) “Question: a fight scene just gets him more traffic, which lets him profit from this crime even more--so does this mean we don’t fight him?” N: (Whispering back:) “I feel like letting him go causes more harm, but I look forward to us teasing apart the moral implications of this later.” SG: “Nice.” SG: (No longer whispering:) “I’ll like and subscribe, EpicCrimez! I’ll like fighting crime, and subscribe... to a worldview wherein the strong protect the weak!” EC: “Oh my gosh, are you like wholesome Spider-Man or something??” At the bottom of the page, small text says: “Wholesome Spider-Man, Wholesome Spider-Man/Does whatever a wholesome spider can/Is he tough?/Listen bud/He’s here to hear you talk about your day and tell you it’ll all be fine while taking you out for your favorite meal for dinner because he knows you deserve it.”] Image 9: [ID: Another full comic page. Doreen and Nancy are in their apartment together, and their friends Tomas and Brian (AKA Chipmunk Hunk and Brain Drain respectively) are frozen as they look down at the machine that Nancy is on her knees in front of, working on. Nancy, barefoot, is wearing cerulean-blue athletic pants, a black long-sleeve spandex shirt without shoulders, and narrow-framed glasses. Her hair is partially covered by a yellow cloth head wrap tied on the left side, with black dreadlocks spilling out the side and back. The machine in front of her is made of dull grey metal, about a meter tall and roughly circular. Wires dangle out of a hatch that Nancy is fiddling with. Doreen is wearing a flowing, dark-purple pantsuit with wide, ankle-length legs and a halter top with the sleeves tied off at her shoulders. Her shoes are light-brown ankle boots with a horizontal gap on the bridge of each foot. Her wavy orange hair is parted in the middle and down past her shoulders. She looks incredibly cute. The following scene ensues: Doreen: “What do you think?” Nancy: “I think--come on you stupid screw--I think we’re still years away from this thing working, if it ever does. Who knew time machine construction is really hard, except of course for everyone who has attempted it?” (She wipes her forehead with the back of her hand) D: “Hah! No, I mean my new outfit.” N: (Looking up and checking her gf out:) “Doreen! You look amazing!!” D: “Liberated it from a very expensive department store uptown!” N: (Now standing) “Tony paid for it?” D: Tony will eventually discover he was kind enough to leave some expensive jewelry in trade, yes. I pinned a note to him so he knows.” N: “There really are advantages to being friends with billionaire playboy genius philanthropists.” D: “Right?!” N: (Taking Doreen’s hands in hers:) “It’s a shame we can’t take a picture of you all dolled up.” D: “Not without standing still for a few months, yeah. But I was thinking about that. I picked up something else at another store downtown. Thought maybe it could help us with that.” (Holding up a shopping bag with one hand while still holding onto Nancy’s hand with the other:) “Nancy Whitehead, I thought you and I might take up painting sometime.” At the bottom of the page, small text says: “Tony Stark moves from meeting to meeting, his body accumulating dozens of notes every second. He sighs. Stuff like this didn’t happen before he knew Doreen. But then he smiles, because after all...stuff like this didn’t happen before he knew Doreen.”] Images 10-16: [ID: Several pages worth of comic frames, posted together to depict one scene. Doreen and Nancy are now old women, likely in their seventies or eighties. Doreen has short, grey hair. She’s wearing a tan button-up waistcoat and an orange ascot, brown flats with an olive-green skirt, knee-length and softly pleated. Her tail is sticking out the back of her skirt over the top, bushy and brown but with stiffer, less-dense hair. Nancy has her grey-black hair done up in a ponytail, a mass of tight curls behind her head. She’s wearing thin oval glasses, black dress pants, black flats, and a lavender cardigan with a flower motif along the edges, open to show the yellow-orange top underneath. They’re standing in front of a completed time machine. On either side are tall pieces of machinery, and in the middle is a round, flat metal dais hooked up to everything else with snaking cables. The following scene ensues: Nancy: “So...this is it, babe. The new machine.” Doreen: “Your secret project! Nancy, it looks like you started from scratch!” N: That’s because I did. I finally realized our old machine was never going to work. Maybe if we had a few more decades, but...there’s no time. And given that our backs are to the wall, I took a risk. I disassembled the gun right down to the metal, and examined all the parts. And I did find something: a data chip. Doreen, the gun stored our bio signatures when it us.” D: “What are you saying?” N: “I’m saying my new machine won’t send us back in time, and we’ll still have lost a weekend of real time. But it will restore our bodies to normal time.” D: (Hugging Nancy tight:) “Nancy! You saved us!!” N: (Resting her hands on Doreen’s shoulders:) “Not--quite. There’s a catch, Doreen. Our bodies will make it...but we won’t. Look, Doreen...I’m an old woman. I’ve spent most of my life in hypertime. This wasn’t how I saw my life going, but...I don’t regret any of it. I don’t want to lose it, and I don’t want to lose us.” D: “I don’t understand.” N: “It’s like restoring from backup. Our bodies will be restored to how they were the moment we were first hit. But--that necessarily includes our brains, too. Everything we’ve done since we entered hypertime--our entire lives spent together...we’ll forget.” (She looks at Doreen in distress) D: “I don’t either, Nancy. You’ve been the most important person in my life. But if we do go back--we can do it again. All of it. It might not happen again quite the same way, but--well, like you say...we’ll have all the time in the world.” N: (Their faces inches apart, they both tilt their heads down and smile sadly:) “Twist my arm, why don’t you.” (They both step onto the dais holding hands, and blue energy starts to ripple around them:) “You filled up Spidey’s web-shooters before we go?” D: “Yep. Again.” N: “You and me, saving the world.” D: “Well,” (holding Nancy’s hand in both of her own) "No reason we can’t do it twice.” N: “You know, there’s a chance things could turn out differently, now that we’ll have video games to distract us. In 40 years we might decide we don’t like hanging out after all.” D: (Hugging Nancy even tighter than before as the energy from the time machine starts to envelop them, resting her face in the nape of Nancy’s neck:) “Nah. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”] Image 17: [ID: Doreen and Nancy are sifting through the charred rubble of their apartment as night starts to fall around them. Doreen is wearing faded blue jeans and a navy blue t-shirt with a Captain America star in the middle. Over top of the shirt, she’s wearing a dark reddish-brown leather vest with four metal studs at the four points of the folded-out collar. Nancy is wearing black tights and a light green long-sleeve shirt with olive-green sleeves. The front of the shirt has a picture of Cat-Thor, Cat God of Cat Thunder’s head on it. The following scene ensues: Doreen: “So I know we’re only a few hours into it, Nancy, but I think my identity being public isn’t gonna be as bad as I thought.” Nancy: “Oh?” D: “Yeah, Tony’s given me lots of tips, and it does honestly help to know that my parents are protected by a robot tree with laser eyes and my friends live in a city with the most super heroes per square mile.” N: “Most super villains too, but--Hold on. I think I found it.” (Nancy lifts a picture frame out of the wreckage, charred around the edges but otherwise no worse for wear. It has a painting inside of it of Doreen and Nancy, arm-in-arm, from hypertime. Doreen is wearing the lavender pantsuit from before, and Nancy is wearing a tight-fitting lilac dress.) “...And it looks like you and I made it through just fine.”] Images 18-19: [ID: Two later comic panels from the same scene. They’re wearing the same outfits, but Nancy’s now cradling her white cat, Mew, in the crook of her left arm while she holds onto the picture frame with her right hand. The following scene ensues: Doreen: “Come on, let’s talk about it! If we’re starting a new chapter in our lives, and we can decide what’s in it, what do you want it to contain?” Nancy: “Doreen...” D: “What are the three things you can’t live without, Nancy Whitehead?” N: (Holding up the picture so that Doreen can see it:) “Fine. If you must know, all this girl needs to be happy are cats and squirrels and knitting and computers and friends and secret tattoos and super heroes and lots and lots of love. Also food and shelter. And water. And internet.” D: “That’s more than three things.”] Image 20: [ID: Same scene as before, a single frame with a close-up on Doreen from her chest upwards. Doreen cups her chin with one of her hands and says, “Honestly--I thought about it. I really did. But I realized that where I am now, I’m safe and I’m loved and I kinda like the idea of not having to lie to people anymore, you know? Even if it is just a lie of omission. I want to share my whole self with the world. I don’t want to have to hide who I am anymore.”] Image 21: [ID: Something resembling a twitter thread, with dialogue between Nancy and Doreen stacked chronologically as horizontal boxes. Their respective names and handles are at the top of each of their comments. Nancy is Nancy W. and @sewwiththeflo, Doreen is Squirrel Girl and @unbeatablesg. The following conversation ensues: Nancy: “You think I’d leave you high and dry??” Doreen: “I think I don’t want our lateness harming your grades and therefore harming your post-secondary education or career choices and therefore harming your ENTIRE LIFE?!” “So yeah I think you should switch to someone else, real talk. I honestly don’t mind, I promise.” Nancy: “Please. If there’s one thing I know about you, about me, and about how we spend our future together, it’s this. Doreen Green...” “...you’re not getting rid of me that easily. <3″] Image 22: [ID: A paragraph of text, black text on a yellow background. “As for more Doreen and Nancy, I hope so too. A Squirrel Girl book without Nancy would feel like--like--like some sort of hypothetical “Super” “Man” book without an equally hypothetical “Lois” “Lane”!”] Image 23: [ID: A group picture of Squirrel Girl and friends sitting down on a grassy hill and watching the sunset together. Kraven the Hunter is in the foreground for some reason, looking almost directly at the camera. In the background we see Koi Boi, Mary Mahajan, Chipmunk Hunk, Brain Drain, and Mew the Cat. In the middle of the shot, Doreen and Nancy sit together. Doreen is in her superhero outfit with Tippy-Toe on her right shoulder, and Nancy is in a yellow cardigan and jeans on Doreen’s left. They’re holding hands, fingers intertwined, as Nancy leans against Doreen with her whole body. Their heads are tilted inward towards each other, the side of Doreen’s head touching the side of Nancy’s, as they look off into the distance together.]

[little--lotte]

Queen of the Sea

Rivahisu Week, Day Three: AU

Historians will later tell the gruesome story of the queen’s abduction by barbaric pirates. What they don’t tell is the story of the queen of the land escaping abuse and becoming the queen of the sea.

- prompt by creativepromptsforwriting

aka the pirates au no one asked for but i'm happy to give lol

≫ Rated T for suggestive themes, mentions of implied past abuse, mentions of miscarriage.

≫ Also available on AO3 and FF.net.

Her Majesty the Queen had gone missing overnight.

The King of Paradis sent out search parties, scoured the city, tore apart the taverns and homes of anyone remotely suspicious.

The Queen had been mourning the loss of her pregnancy. The King demanded she be found—she was vulnerable, after all. Grief-stricken. Distraught.

There was no trace of the abductors. No ransom note. No bargaining for riches and gold.

Her window had been opened, and her side of the bed was cold.

In the end, all that was left was a dirty cloth, stamped with a skull and two crossed blades, in place of her crown.

☾

The crew knew who she was.

No one discussed it to her directly.

There were whispers, wondering why she would voluntarily leave.

Months passed.

She proved that despite her life of royalty, she could handle herself. She could help man the ship. She could take on the Captain with a sword.

She may not win against him, but she came close once.

He had smirked at her, pleased.

☾

Porco Galliard was a newer member to the crew.

He followed in his brother’s footsteps, sneaking on after Marcel, and Captain Levi let him join—albeit reluctantly. He complained about the extra brat but he wasn’t one to turn away someone willing to work.

Marcel and Porco recognized Historia, claiming that they had delivered custom-tailored clothes for her and the King that their parents made. Marcel kept tight-lipped, having heard of the stories of the abducted Queen and the pirates who must have taken her, but they never expected to be on the same ship as her.

Porco was the one to ask the question on the crew’s mind, on a calm day at sea, when she was looking over the edge of the hull. She looked contemplative, her mouth twisted into a frown, and while Porco felt guilty to interrupt her, he had to know.

“Why did you leave?”

Historia turned to face him, her oceanic eyes sharp as she regarded him. Even in her brown trousers, scuffed boots, and slightly dirty white shirt, the gaze fixed on Porco is only one a ruler can perfect.

“What do you know of the King?” She asked in return, tilting her chin up at Porco.

At her tone, he swallowed any praise he had for His Majesty.

“We delivered clothes for you both, a few years ago,” Porco told her quietly. “That’s how I knew.”

Historia smiled sadly, and then she turned back to the sea. Porco stood beside her, close enough that their arms touched. For the first time since he came aboard, he realized just how small she was—particularly when she shrunk into herself when she spoke.

“He was a brute,” she muttered, her gaze fixed upon the horizon as the wind blew the loose strands of hair back from her face. When she caught Porco’s concerned expression, she promptly lowered her gaze to the wood beneath her fingers. “When I lost our child, he thought I miscarried intentionally. I couldn’t get pregnant after that. What good is a monarch who can’t produce a son?” She asked quietly, though she already knew the answer.

Porco was silent, and he looked over his shoulder.

At the helm, Captain Levi stood, arms crossed and his dark eyes zeroed in on the pair.

Historia’s voice drew Porco’s golden gaze back to her.

“The Captain saved my life.” Her expression was fierce, not at all the look of a woman who let others lead her the way she said. “I owe him my own.”

Porco swallowed the many questions he still had; he wondered how horrific her life must have been to throw away the endless security of shelter and food and power to live a life at sea.

Sensing his swirl of emotions, Historia placed a hand on his arm. “Porco - I promise, this is the best place for me. I’m safe out here with you all, and with Captain Levi.” She paused, and let out a laugh. “Well. As safe as one can be.”

She squeezed his arm in reassurance before stepping away.

He watched her walk up the steps to the helm, taking her place beside the Captain. They exchanged a few quiet words, Captain Levi’s guarded body language beginning to ebb when she spoke, and he scoffed at her. Even so, he unfolded his arms, and she laughed.

For a fleeting moment, Porco saw Captain Levi’s expression soften, and he understood.

The Queen had indeed found a new life in the sea.

It appeared that she also found love in the most unlikely of places.

☾

That night, as she did every night, she snuck into the Captain’s cabin.

He was already undressing. His vest was on the dresser, and his hands were at his belt. He glanced at Historia, who’s grin was spreading, and he rolled his eyes.

“Oh, Levi, don’t be sore,” Historia teased as she stepped toward him. She swatted away his hands and took the liberty of pulling his belt off for him.

Levi cocked an eyebrow. While she discarded the belt onto the floor and then worked at untucking his shirt.

“I was merely surprised,” Levi remarked as he trailed a hand up her arm. “Talking so openly to Galliard.”

She unfastened the buttons of his shirt, getting on her toes so she could drag her tongue along his throat and press her lips to the underside of his jaw.

“Surprised, Levi,” Historia drawled in a low voice, “or jealous?”

He didn’t dignify her with an answer, which was an answer in itself.

She grinned when she pushed him backward until he sat on his bed, slate eyes fixed on her hungrily.

“Let me remind you who the Queen of the Sea is, Captain Levi.”

[anika-ann]

Attached - Pt.1

The Words of Doom

Type: (mini)-series, college AU, professor AU (technically)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader   Word count: 1880

Summary for the series: You messed up. Your very sleep-deprived Self attached the wrong document when emailing a professor and sent him one of the stories you wrote instead of an assignment. It should be embarrassing, really, but it wasn’t. It was worse.

Why did it have to be the smutty one? Why did it have to be the one starring his best friend, Professor Rogers? You were so screwed.

Aka the ‘you sent the wrong attachment to hot professor A that just happens to be about his friend hot professor B and now professor A is not able to look at professor B without wheezing in laughter anymore and you are unable to look at either of them’ AU

Warnings: swearing, literally one mention of a possible daddy kink, double entendre

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Your eyes felt like on fire, burning hotter than the sun above Sahara Desert; the metaphor your sleep-deprived mind came up with was only perfected by the huge dunes of the bags under your eyes.

You were running on disgustingly strong coffee and three energy drinks, but you summoned the rest of your strength and clicked on ‘send’, slumping so heavily into your chair that when your back hit the backrest, it almost toppled over—but never mind, you made it!

Penny, your gracious roommate, would inform you that had you started earlier and were writing the actual essay instead of wasting words on steamy stories that somehow filled the desired wordcount with considerably less effort, you wouldn’t have been turning into a zombie sending assignments several minutes before eight a.m., the actual deadline.

Yeah, well, sue me, I prefer romance to the World War II., no matter how important history is.

You were certain Professor Barnes would understand if you told him that anyway – he was a pretty easy-going guy for a scholar after all. Then again, you sure as hell didn’t want to test the theory out and so you tended to hand in your homework perhaps ‘minute to midnight’, but still in time.

You grinned as you checked the sent e-mail, proudly reading it had been sent at 7:56. You mentally patted your back, not having the energy to actually move to do that.

And then your Sahara-dry eyeballs fell lower on the screen and you let out a shriek of horror.

Your heart stopped in your chest before kicking in faster than it had been pumping after three Red Bulls.

The attachment.

Oh no.

OH FUCK, the attachment!

Now, it happened on occasion that people forgot to attach the files they spoke of in an e-mail, right? Sometimes shit like that happened.

But this… this was so, so much worse.

“Oh no,” you uttered under your breath, shooting up and suddenly sitting with back straight as a ruler just to look at the screen from shorter distance to-- nope, still there. “Oh fuck.”

You quickly scrambled to send another e-mail with similar text but the right file, along with a swift apology.

Sent 7:59.

You should be relieved. Perhaps Professor Barnes would notice the correct one first and automatically deleted the one that obviously must have been wrong.

So why couldn’t you find it in you to think you would have such luck?

At least if he opened the wrong document, he would understand very quickly that it was not what he had asked the students to do and would delete it before diving in fully, right?

But a worm of doubt – or intuition, whatever you wanted to call it – told you that it wouldn’t be the case.

You covered your mouth with your palms and screamed at the top of your lungs.

Penny, sleep-deprived considerably less than you because she was an actual responsible human being, walked from her room to the bathroom and blatantly ignored you, probably thinking you had missed the deadline by a minute and were now freaking out.

Oh, you wished.

“Pennyyyyyyyyy!” you cried out in a whiny tone, but she clicked the door shut as if nothing was happening. As if your whole life wasn’t in shambles because of one single e-mail. “Penelope, you get your ass back here! I need to know how to switch schools without having to repeat a year!”

Her wild black curls peeked from the bathroom, followed by an annoyed sleep-raspy voice. “Why? You accidently called Barnes a daddy in your message or somethin’?”

Your heart was still beating its way out of your chest, a low ominous hum in your ears. Gods above, you wished. Still would be easier to explain, like… you could claim it was a dare or something.

No, this was much, much worse.

Penny, apparently taken aback by the lack of your response, left the safety of the bathroom and approached your lair (probably stinking of sugary drinks and caffeine) and peeked over your shoulder, searching an explanation for your antics.

You only gulped, moved the cursor to the title of the document you had sent in your first e-mail and closed your eyes, actually feeling tears of humiliation stinging in them.

The silence that followed spoke volumes until-

“OH SHIT.”

You had just shared your smutty one-shot with your history professor, but that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was that it was starring his rumoured one and only best friend he shared an office with. One who had acted like a substitute for two weeks when Professor Barnes got a particularly bad case of cold, but wouldn’t leave you without a lecture. Needless to say, Professor Rogers had also starred several of your steamy dreams after that and became a source of inspiration for your occasional writing streaks.

And now your history professor could read all about it and, god forbid, share it with the man who was the template of the main character of the story. You weren’t dumb; you alternated the names, just in case of you didn’t even know what (and it might have made you feel better about writing filthy stuff about a prof), but you went with the same looks including hair and skin colour, hairstyle, Rogers’ glorious beard and you certainly didn’t omit his surprisingly ripped body.

So, yeah. Penny’s ‘OH SHIT’ was pretty accurate.

You were so screwed.

Yes, once again, you wished.

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You had handed in your work on Friday morning and had been jittery all weekend, practically unable to focus on any of the studying you desperately needed to do. Normally, you might write some comforting piece to relieve your frustration, but that was not an option right now as simply opening a text editor gave you palpitations.

The all-nighter you had pulled didn’t exactly help your already non-existent ability to get your head on straight either.

You were looking forward to Monday and dreaded it at the same time – Professor Barnes was to give your assignments back with a mark and commentary. You were praying for Monday to come already, because you just needed to know the consequences of your actions. You were freaking out about Monday for very obvious reasons.

You had no idea what was happening in your first Monday class. Your lunch consisted of half bottle of coke.

And now here you were, seated in the second row of three, because that seemed like the safest place, a seat where Barnes couldn’t approach you from any angle.

When he entered the class, you decided to stubbornly watch the desk in front of you. Under any circumstances, you would not make eye-contact, wouldn’t raise your gaze. There was no fucking way anything would force you look his in the eye.

Or you thought so.

You hadn’t realized he would call out each of your names and would say the necessary commentary about doing well, missing something, excellent work, this one feeling a bit sloppy… out loud, which would made it truly impolite to keep staring ahead. With each work sent through the sea of people to hand it to those in the second row, your stomach was turning heavier, your heart beating faster.

And then Professor Barnes said your name and you winced in your seat, squeezing your eyes shut on instinct, the childish if I can’t see you, you can’t see me either kicking in.

He called out your name again as if there was a chance you missed it the first time and with a huge lump of panic in your throat, you blinked your eyes open and raised your gaze, only to meet his neutral face with just the tinniest twitch to the corners of his lips and a barely visible twinkle to his eye.

Your stomach dropped to the floor, your face burning with embarrassment and humiliation.

He held out the papers to the person in the first row in front of you, whose name you didn’t care for at the moment, and nodded his head.

“Not bad at all,” he said and that was the end of it.

Your essay landed in front of you and you finally breathed in properly, your hand trembling slightly as you noticed the circled B+ in the corner.

You were deaf to his next words, your heart jumping as you read the note by the mark.

B for the cliché used, + for the originality.

Huh. What a strange way to word an evaluation… but hey, you wouldn’t complain. For one, no one had filled a harassment complaint for your stupid ass so far and you had written this shit during an all-nighter and still got B+. This was the best outcome you could hope for; Barnes didn’t even give you shit about your... error.

A smile slowly found a way to your lips, a shy little thing, but definitely present, your mimic muscles, so stiff from trying to keep a poker face, relaxing.

You browsed over the other notes in red ink scattered over the pages, some sentences and phrases unlined and commented on, sometimes corrected, sometimes complimented to.

It wasn’t until you reached the red note that had one word from it actually crossed out and replaced.

Really hits the spot mark.

Your smile froze on your lips, your heart ceased to beat before kicking in with furious pace, loud pounding humming in your temples.

Oh god. Oh no.

Hitting a spot? He could have written it was ‘spot on’ or that it ‘hit the mark’… he made the mistake deliberately, you were certain of it – all of his other notes were so neat and thought through-

You checked the individual notes, your stomach twisting when you re-read them in a new light.

Nearly all the wording he had used was referencing to your… special assignment you had handed in.

Oh god, please, let the lightning hit me. Let the floor swallow me. Let the cardiac arrest momentarily trying to kill me actually kill me.

Interesting work for certain with a winky face?! Really? That would be innocent enough on its own, but it was feeling like a conspiratorial wink. The I know more than I let on and you know what I’m talking about wink.

The next one was a blatant double-entendre and you could bang your head against your desk for not realizing it first time reading it. Good writing, nice flow, clearly heading to the climax.

Your face was set aflame once more and despite your better judgement, you glanced at the professor momentarily showing whatever in his presentation.

He caught your gaze and had the audacity to wink.

You snapped your head away and silently whined, sliding down your chair nearly enough to lie on the floor.

OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD.

Why did it have to be the smutty one you sent? Why couldn’t it be a cute one at least? You had loads of those! Why did it have to be the one about Steven damn Rogers, his friend?

Why, just WHY?!

Professor Barnes had definitely read it. And for some reason, you had a hunch that he had showed it to his friend slash colleague he shared an office with too.

You whined some more and pretended that this day was the apocalypse and that you would never have to face either of the professors ever again.

Of course, you could not have such luck.

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Part 2

⊱-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦ ✉ ◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-⊰

There it is! Shorter chapter for starters. Just you wait ;)

I’m pretty sure something like this have been written before, but plot bunnies are little shits that refuse to leave no matter how much you kick them and beg them to go away.

I blame @pies-writes-and-more @kayteewritessteve and @queen-kass-the-writer for supporting bad behaviour, but they are not the only ones. You know who you are, don’t YOU? I am a weak human being and you are corrupting me. Thanks, sweeties ;)

Thank you for reading! 

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Tags: @scentedsongrebel @patzammit @donutloverxo @annathesillyfriend  @orions-nebula @iheartsebastianstan @wxstedhexrt

If anyone wants on the taglist or out, lemme know via DM or an ask :)

-.-.-

ALSO. A friend of mine created a perfect artwork for this chapter/series and I wanted to share 😍🥰🤩:

Thank you, @chase-your-dreams-away 🥺

[lilshotgun]

So here's why i've been inactive for the past couple months on tumblr:

As many of you know, I've been a fairly avid content creator for the warrior nun fandom creating a ton of content for free. I joined a Warrior Nun discord server named Future Warrior Nuns (which is a ridiculous name considering in the show Ava says there will be no more warrior nuns but that's besides the point) and the treatment I received there was amazing. At the beginning. I spoke up about racism and injustices within the community because you cannot escape it anywhere unfortunately and I believed I'd found a community that would protect me and be there for me if i was ever faced with racism or hate.

For clarity, anyone in blue is a moderator. As you go on to read this their usernames and profile images might change so I’ll clarify who is who. I’ll only be using the names I’ve been presented with and only the ones that are most relevant to the situation. 

Fiesta  (white American cis woman) aka Doesn't Kelly, Witch Rhyme

Taz (white Australian cis woman) 

Milan (a very sheltered American transmasculine poc whos uncomfortable talking about racism because they've never had to deal with it) aka Who The Fuck Is Kelly

Rory (white Australian cis woman) aka Stronger Kelly

 But after a while, things slowly started to change. It was subtle and if you hadn't been there from the beginning, you wouldn't have noticed. It started with the moderators spending less time in the server because they had made many of their own servers and spent far more time over there. Which is understandable when you’re a group of friends that all have a common purpose. But the lack of leadership was palpable. I had to sometimes direct fellow server members to proper channels or do a few other things that were supposed to be things that the moderators were supposed to take care of and their lack of care for the server was becoming more relevant. If you were in their little group of friends or kissed their ass then they wouldn't target you unnecessarily. 

    Exactly three weeks later, (and only one week after my birthday in which everyone was super sweet and nice to me) the love and friendship they claimed to have for me vanished completely. For context, people in positions of power, especially in a server, should be people you can come to if you ever have an issue with anything or anyone. They should also be people that can come to terms with admitting their behavior was incorrect when being told so. So here is what happened:

I have always been open about being a transmasculine person of color on all my platforms, and if you know me on any platform you know that. The behavior shown here between me and the moderators was absolutely appalling to me. They pushed my voice aside and only acknowledged Narcissa, a cis white woman, who was agreeing and saying the same things i had because i had asked her in private to help me out because i felt it was unfair that two server moderators were coming at me so aggressively. 

As you can see from the screenshots, they claimed that I attacked Fiesta when i was simply pointing out that her behavior was hypocritical and unfair especially because she is in a position of power and that's something people of power should be aware of. 

I was the only one brave enough to say what everyone was thinking. And that's something I have always taken pride in. Speaking up for others when they are too scared to do so themselves. And that was shown through multiple people coming into my dms to tell me they either felt the same way I did or they felt the way I was treated in the conversation above was unfair. This next screenshot is from a private message from a former manager. 

Narcissa (white cis woman)  received a few apologies from the server managers privately, yet my dms stayed vacant. At this point, they made a “public apology” towards everyone in the server which I forgot to screenshot, and not a single server manager reached out to me in private. But they did share these in the server for everyone to see:

They then opened an anonymous feedback form for us to share if we had any issues privately, which of course, I did, and so I filled it out saying “wheres my fucking apology ~king” so they would know exactly who the response was coming from. I was angry and hurt that they treated me the way they did. I regretted wording it like that almost instantly after sending it. But the deed was done and it was unchangeable. And not too long after, this was posted publicly in the server feedback channel so that everyone in the server could see:

Whether I shared that it was from me or not, she violated the server moderators unanimous statement saying that everything posted in the feedback form would stay anonymous and made my response public using the excuse that me sharing my name made it okay for her to show it to everyone. I was also being informed by other people I’m friends with that the forms that were being submitted were not staying anonymous and that they were being shared from other moderators privately in other peoples' dms.

I stuck around in the server because the people that I had formed friendships with were there and they were special to me and I wanted to be able to talk to them still in spite of everything that had happened to me up until this point. I was much more subdued at this point, I was posting less art and as you noticed I practically disappeared from twitter as well. 

My love for Warrior Nun was decreasing rapidly because the environment had become so toxic and unwelcoming that I felt scared to say much in the server in fear of being banned after seeing one of my trans poc friends banned for saying hi to another member. They had been looking for a reason to ban him for being on my side instead of theirs and apparently found the “perfect” excuse. They deleted his messages and claimed in their private admin channel that he had harassed someone in the server without screenshotting the false evidence first. How do I know this? Because I had a person on the team that valued me as a person instead of as a content creator and what I could give to the server.

I proceeded to curate the server for what fit me best, considering the ridiculous number of channels they created that had nothing to do with the show at this point. And there was an option for members to do that so I used the tools they had provided with and opted out of channels I no longer wanted to see. I consolidated it down to 35 out of 66 channels because some of them had no opt out option. And still, it was way more channels than I'd prefer to be in. I narrowed it down to only ships I actually cared about instead of having a bunch of channels I was never gonna read or say things in. And that's when the manager that cared about us provided me with these telling screenshots.

Why put me in “jail” over removing some roles? It may not have been explicit, but the internalized racism of putting a person of color in “jail” for curating what they wanted from a server is frankly off putting to say the least. "Implicit racism includes unconscious biases, expectations, or tendencies that exist within an individual, regardless of ill-will or any self-aware prejudices." 

And what does carl bot do exactly? It logs EVERYTHING. But only if that feature is enabled. And clearly, in Future Warrior Nuns, it is.

 They didn’t care about me and didn’t care that I was a consistent content creator. For lack of better words, I was one of the biggest reasons the actual part of the server that was dedicated to the show was constantly active and once I became quiet, along with a few other content creators I talked with, the activity decreased immensely. I said things here and there but that was about it. Until I was looking through their emotes. I noticed that they had trans, gay, demi, bi, aro, and ace heart emotes but the lesbian one wasnt there. Which was honestly surprising considering how much of the fandom identifies as lesbian. So I asked for it to be added and after it was, so many people were super happy because of it.

One day later i asked for more Mary emotes because they hadn’t completely brushed me off after requesting for the lesbian pride one. I noticed that Ava, the white character, had 72 animated and still emotes at the time while Mary, the black character, only had 18. And only 4 out of those were positive emotes. Here's that conversation:

I offered up my services to create Mary emotes for them considering I was an artist and content creator and it would be no issue for me at all to contribute but they declined, saying they were working on some themselves and that they would eventually add them to the server. The ones that they had created all looked terrible. They didn't know how to color correct her skin so that it wouldn't look ashy because of the filters used in the show and instead of asking for help from me, an artist of color, they simply did their own thing. And from 18 emotes, it went up to a dazzling 24. 

Needless to say, the racism they claimed not to have was pretty evident at this point. It was shockingly clear that they didn’t care as much about the characters of color than they did for the white and white passing ones. After this entire debacle I didn't even bother trying to ask for more emotes for Lilith considering how warmly I was welcomed with asking for more Mary emotes. 

A little less than two months after the initial incident, I still hadn’t been contacted by anyone on the admin team about absolutely anything in private. It wasn’t until people asked Fiesta if she had reached out to me or even bothered with an apology before she sent me this:

The “apology” was worthless. Too much time had passed since I was publicly humiliated and portrayed as the evil transmasculine person of color to them, and only a select few people interacted with me. I felt completely shut out because of how the admin team handled a difference of opinion. Instead of correcting themselves and admitting they were wrong, they doubled down on the intimidation and bullying  by changing their rules so that they could find excuses to ban or punish anyone they felt was not on their side. 

At this point, my grades were heavily declining. I was already struggling with keeping up with everything on my own due to covid and my mental disabilities. Being a victim of this racist behavior made everything worse. I couldn’t get out of bed, I was barely eating a meal a day because I had no motivation to work so I had little to no money to buy myself food. I was starving most days. And I didn’t ask my mom for help because I felt everything was my fault and that I really was in the wrong and shouldn't have said anything even though looking back at it I wasn't wrong for what I said. I had also been informed that my dad died because of covid and because of all of this stress and depression I had officially failed my classes. 

This is really difficult for me to say because I’m a very private person and I hate asking for help or sharing anything about my private life, but for you to understand everything that was happening to me at the time, this is stuff you unfortunately need to know. 

There’s many more things that I could say about this server but this thread is already long enough as it is and it was hard enough to write this all down. But behind closed doors, the admin team had some of the nastiest attitudes and behaviors you could’ve seen. Had they realized we had someone on their team that actually valued us and others as people, they probably would have kept their blatant ignorance and dislike towards server members hidden better. But white people like oppressing others when they know they can get away with it and this is just another sad unfortunate example that cost me and my fellow friends of color some heavy emotional and psychological damage.     They did wrong and refused to acknowledge it and instead tried to find a way to ban us for not having the hivemind that they so desperately want to control everyone with. If you want to see for yourself, feel free to find a link to a discord server named Future Warrior Nuns. If you look back through their channels, you’ll find most of these conversations either gone or have many messages missing. I hope my story will help understand why I’ve been gone from tumblr for so long and i hope something like this never happens to you.

[hidden-otaku-stuff]

Knowledge and Ambition

tw: Cursing, anxiety, insecurities, bullying/gossiping

Word count: 6.75k

Genre: Fluff, mild angst

Pairing: Ravenclaw Kuroo x Slytherin Female Reader

AN: It’s September 1st, aka the first day of school at Hogwarts! I’ve been procrastinating on this fic for like a month or so, so I forced myself to finish this at 3 AM LMAO.

The sound of turned pages stuttered by scratching quills clung to the darkness as flames flickered around the room. You kept blinking, eyes drying from how long you’ve been focused. A sigh, and you slumped against the back of the chair. You had been sitting in this dark corner for the past three hours, pouring over text after text as you tried to wrap your head around the contents. Another sigh left you as you re-read what you wrote, dipping your black quill into the blue ink to make corrections. “It’s almost curfew, wrap it up.” Madam Pince poked her head around the bookshelf, peering over her spectacles at the tower of books you had surrounding you. 

You pulled a note from your bag, standing up to give it to her. “I’m sorry Madam Pince, Professor Snape gave me permission to stay here past curfew.” She gingerly took the note from you, a scowl shadowing her face as she scrutinized it for legitimacy before turning on her heel with a huff to head back to her desk. Since you were already standing, you decided to stretch your legs and go look for that last text that should help push your claims about alternative ingredient usage and the degree of change to the potion. 

Snape had always liked you as a student, especially after third year. He had caught you switching out certain roots for other herbs which still ended up with perfect potions every time. Since then, you had to be honest with your professor. You wanted to impact the Potions community, whether as someone who created a new Potion or as someone who wrote the new standard textbook. You were fortunate enough that Snape preferred Slytherins, otherwise you might not have been afforded the same opportunity that he had granted. 

You sighed, (e/c) eyes scanning the shelves. Snape had recommended a very specific one. Its maroon binding caught your attention. With fingers reaching for it, they brushed against another hand. “Sorry!” You yanked your hand back, eyes following the hand up to the person. Looming over you was a familiar sight. Quidditch Captain, Prefect, and heart-throb of the school Kuroo Tetsurou stood over you. 

“Sorry, I should have paid more attention.” Kuroo pulled the book out, offering it to you. 

You shook your head, glancing back at your table. “It’s ok, you can use it.”

His hazel eyes followed yours, “are you sure? It must be important if you need this specifically amongst all the other ones.” 

You flushed, avoiding his eyes. “It’s not that important.” 

Kuroo’s finger dragged down the maroon binding. “I was just planning on doing some light reading.” He hands it to you, clearing his throat. “What are you working on?”

You offer him a small smile. “I’m working on a research paper.”

“On what?” He looked down at the book. “I’m assuming it’s something Potions-related.”

A soft giggle left you. “Yeah, I’m conducting research on alternative ingredients use in potions and the effects of using such alternatives.” Kuroo’s eyes widened. As he opened his mouth, Madam Pince hissed another demand for silence. A loud yawn overtook your features, eyes squeezing shut. Glancing at your watch, you clicked your tongue. “It’s getting late. I’ll probably finish whatever else I can in the common room.”  Kuroo frowned, he had just been about to ask if he could study with you. “Nice to meet you, Kuroo.” You scooped your books into your arms, cramming whatever would fit into your bag before sending him a wave. The maroon book felt heavy in his hands.  

****

“Are you looking at (Name)?” 

Kuroo flushed, whipping his head to face his best friend. Kenma just continued eating, not looking at Kuroo. “No.”

“Yes he is.” Yaku slid into the seat across from Kuroo.

“No I’m not!” 

“You’re blushing.” Kai sat across from the trio, smiling pleasantly at them. Akaashi sat beside him, flipping through one of his books as he ignored them. 

“Ok, maybe just a little bit.” Kuroo angrily stabbed a potato, chewing on it as he avoided his friends’ eyes. He couldn’t stop himself from peeking over at you every few seconds though. You were seated at the Slytherin table, throwing your head back in laughter as you teased your housemates. 

“Isn’t she known as the Cold Princess?” Akaashi inquired, still not looking up.

Kuroo glanced over at Akaashi then to the rest of the group when he heard them all agreeing. “‘Cold Princess’?”

“Yeah, heard she’s like super mean to everyone outside of her house.” Yaku commented, sipping his pumpkin juice. “Even some of her house-mates are scared of her.” 

Kuroo frowned, not seeing why they thought that. “She seemed pretty nice to me.” 

“Is that why you can’t keep your eyes off of her?”

“That’s besides the point.” Kuroo scowled, elbowing Akaashi. 

“Who knew we’d find a day where Kuroo Tetsurou would be smitten with a girl.” Yaku’s eyes sparkled with humour. “Let alone the Cold Princess herself.” Yaku and Kai laughed. 

“I’m not smitten!” Kuroo insisted. “She’s just...different.” 

“Didn’t think you’d go for a Slytherin though, Kuroo,” Kai remarked, eating some eggs.

Kuroo shrugged. “Y’know I don’t care about all those house rivalries outside of the Quidditch field.” 

Kenma snorted, “yeah cause all you care about is Quidditch.”

“And my education!” Kuroo argued. 

“How’d you meet her anyways?” 

He looked up to Kai. “I met her a few weeks ago in the library.” Kuroo pushed his food around on the plate, glancing between it and you. This time, you were patting a blonde male on the head. He didn’t recognize him, figuring that it was probably someone from your year. Was that your boyfriend? Kuroo wondered to himself. 

Kai hummed. “I see her in the library often. She always sits by herself.”

“Seriously?” Yaku glanced over at you. “I never see her.”

“She sits in the corner,” Kai replied. 

As the conversation changed to their homework, Kuroo blanked out. It had been a few weeks since that chance meeting between the two of you. He’d gone into the library most days since in an effort to talk to you, but he always found you buried in your books. Kuroo hated when people interrupted him in his readings, so he would just find a table where he could observe you - in the most nonchalant and least creepy way possible - to see if he could catch you before you left. Unfortunately, he hadn’t had much luck with that. He’d accidentally immerse himself in his own work, and by the time he took a break, you were either already gone or headed out the door. Hey, he was a Ravenclaw for a reason. Once he got into his reading, he was gone to the world. With a deep sigh, he resigned himself. If you guys were meant to be friends, it’ll happen. He should worry about his own work instead of a pretty Slytherin kouhai that he had only talked to for a few minutes.

****

“Miss (L.Name).” You look up at your professor’s voice.

“Yes, Professor Snape?” 

“Come to my desk at the end of class.” 

“Yes, sir.” Snape’s robes billowed as he turned, slinking back towards his desk. You turned back to your cauldron, waiting for your potion to change to orange. Carefully, you added powdered porcupine quills until your potion turned white. Today, Snape had your class brewing the Draught of Peace since it was one of the potions that would commonly come up during O.W.Ls. You sat back, stirring slightly before letting the potion simmer. It was a difficult potion only because getting it wrong would be dangerous. The wrong mix of ingredients, being heavy-handed with the porcupine quills or powdered moonstone could lead to irreversible sleep. The bell rang just as you added the 7 drops of hellebore. You observed your potion, satisfied. It had come out perfectly. Bottling two samples in a glass flask for Snape, you quickly cleaned up your cauldron and the area around it.

“Ugh, you’re so lucky (Name)!” 

You turned to your classmate, eyebrows furrowed. “And why’s that?” 

“You’re so gifted in potions.” Nishinoya, a Gryffindor in your class, glared at his potion. You stifled a laugh. His potion had somehow turned out an ugly chartreuse color. Even the fumes looked toxic as orange smoke billowed from it.

“What the hell did you do wrong this time, Nishi?” 

He threw his hands up in exasperation. “Fuck if I knew, to be honest.” He bottled it, wincing at the repulsive smell of his potion. 

You patted his back. “Well good luck with remedial potions.”

“Can’t you help me before it gets to that?” He whined. You and Nishinoya had been partnered in the third year of potions. Though you were typically more frosty, he had weaseled his way into your heart and became a close friend. Mostly by sheer persistence on his part. After all, who would willingly want to be friends with the Cold Princess of Slytherin? 

“You know I’m busy.” You dead-panned, waving your wand over the cauldrons so that the contents disappeared. Together, you and Nishinoya walked up to Snape’s desk. By now, the majority of your classmates had left. Snape glanced at your potions, his gaze sliding over to Nishinoya’s and his face contorted in disgust.

“Another T, Mr. Nishinoya.” Nishinoya’s cheeks flushed pink, grimacing. 

“I know, Professor.” His head hung low as he shuffled towards the door. “See you later, (Name).” 

You offered the Gryffindor a wave that he didn’t see before turning back to your professor. “You asked to see me, Professor?”

Snape cleared his throat. “Yes. As you know, I rarely offer remedial classes to students.” A sneer made its way on his face. “However, Professor Dumbledore has...implored me..to be kinder this term. So, I have offered remedial classes and tutoring for struggling students this semester. As one of the more competent potioneers in my classes, I would like to request your assistance as a tutor.”

“Me?” The door opened, his next class filing in. 

“That’s what I said, Miss (L.Name). Don’t make me take that back.” Snape’s eyes flashed dangerously as he began to put the flasks from your class away. “By taking on this task, I will be able to review the work you’ve assembled so far.” He cleared his throat, “and this would be a perfect opportunity for you to practice your teaching skills.” 

Your eyes sparkled. Being able to dabble in academia seemed like a perfect opportunity for you to figure out where you wanted your future to go. “Of course Professor. Thank you for the opportunity!” Snape gave you a stiff nod. 

“Now hurry up and get to class.” With a short bow, you spun on your heel to sprint out of the room. Your next class was Charms and you were most definitely going to be late if you didn’t hurry. Just as you reached the doorway, you collided into something tall and firm. 

You yelped, stumbling back only for arms to dart around and steady you. “Oh, it’s you!” You glanced up, recognising him. “Sorry, I’m in a rush!” With a blinding smile, you patted his arms before dashing out under his arms and down the corridor. 

“Get to your seat, Mr. Kuroo.” Kuroo’s head shot up, “and get that ridiculous look off of your face.” Pink crept up Kuroo’s face as he snapped his jaw shut, slinking towards his seat.

Snape began class, writing the instructions for the Potion for Dreamless Sleep onto the chalkboard. Yaku leaned over towards his housemate nudging him playfully, “you were staring again.” Pink turned to scarlet as Kuroo whipped around, shushing him. Yaku grinned, sitting back as he rewrote the instructions onto a piece of parchment. “She’s pretty.” Kuroo grunted in response, pulling out his ingredients. “Think she’s single?”

“Why are you so interested?” Kuroo snapped, glaring at the Keeper. “I thought you were scared of the Cold Princess.” Yaku just laughed, patting his back. 

“No reason, Kuroo. No reason at all.”      

****

“You’re late, Mr. Kuroo.”

“Sorry Professor,” Kuroo dipped his head. “Quidditch practice ran late today.”

Snape turned his nose, sneering. “Excuses do not belong in this classroom.” Snape turned on his heels, robes sweeping with the motion. “Hurry up then, or I will not grant you the extra credit.” Kuroo hurries into the classroom, glancing around at the dingy dungeon. He was glad that there were only eleven students. He froze, recognizing a familiar sight. Kuroo slips into the seat beside you, muttering a greeting to which you nodded in response. “With the exception of two students, you are all here because you have failed miserably to prove your worth in my class. However, this is your opportunity to redeem yourself.” Snape glowered at each and every one of the remedial students, sending chills down their spines. “Don’t squander it.” 

With that, he turned and walked to the blackboard, writing down the recipe for the Shrinking Potion. Placing the chalk down, he sends one final glare to the students before going to his desk. You step in front of the blackboard, smirking at the students. “This is a simple potion that any third-year should be able to do. Follow these instructions, and Kuroo and I will be walking around to provide you help should you need it.” More chills ran up the students’ back at your last words. It was obvious that you weren’t keen on helping them should they need it.

Kuroo pinched his nose, looking around the room. As he walked around, a tall grey-haired fourth-year Slytherin caught his attention. “Can you please help me, Kuroo?” He begged. 

“What seems to be the problem?”

The male winced as the potion billowed up green gas. “That,” he replied lamely. 

“You added the Shrivelfig too early,” Kuroo’s eyes widened, casting a charm to dispel the gas. “You’re going to have to start all over.”

“What?! I don’t want to,” he whined. The slamming of a book caused them both to flinch, both sets of eyes darting to Snape who glared at them. “Aren’t you a Ravenclaw? Help me fix this!” 

“You literally created poison gas,” Kuroo responded, pinching his nose.

Raising his wand to vanish the potion, a hand grabbed his wrist. “Lev, what did you do this time?” You pinched your nose with one hand as you stared at the potion.

“Something about Shrivelfig,” Lev muttered, crossing his arms. “I don’t see why I need to start over though!” 

Your face softened. “Look, Lev, this potion has become dangerous. Do you want to fail this class and potentially hurt your fellow classmates?” You glanced at Kuroo who pulled his arm away and tucked his wand back into his robe pocket. “If it wasn’t for Kuroo’s quick-thinking, the fumes would have overtaken the class and we would be in some serious danger.” You patted the male’s head. “Here, I’ll stay with you and make sure you do it right, ok? That way you don’t have to stay extra long.”

Lev perked up. “Okay! Thanks, (Name).” 

You grinned, before glancing back at Kuroo. “You can help the others now, Kuroo. Thank you for your quick-thinking.”

Heat crept up his neck as he shook his head. “It was nothing,” he replied dismissively. 

You raised an eyebrow but nodded. “Whatever you say.” You turned back to Lev, vanishing the potion. “Let’s get started then, shall we Lev?” Kuroo stood there for a few moments, watching with slight amazement as you carefully guided Lev through the procedures. You looked in your element as you sliced the caterpillars and showed the younger student the best way to peel Shrivelfig. Another student called for Kuroo’s attention, snapping him out of his stupor. As Kuroo proceeded to help the others, he couldn’t help but survey you in the corner of his eyes. Perhaps there was a softer side to the Cold Princess after all. 

****

Kuroo breathed a sigh of relief, stretching his shoulders. Due to the raging thunderstorm outside, he’d made the executive decision to cancel Quidditch classes. Exam season was coming up, and there was no reason to put his players’ health at risk if they could avoid it. Besides, they were doing pretty well this season. He walked up the stone stairs, following them to the library. As he entered, he couldn’t help the grimace that slid onto his face. It appeared that everyone thought to study today as the library was completely packed. He poked around, searching for an empty table only to find none. Kuroo sighed, contemplating whether or not he should go back to the dorms in order to study when he spotted you at your usual table. Luckily enough, nobody else had joined you at the table. 

Steeling his nerves, Kuroo began walking towards you. As he made his journey, he picked up some whispers as people threw dark looks in your direction. 

“Of course the Cold Princess would monetize an entire table.” A younger Ravenclaw scoffed.

“She threatened to hex me when I came too close,” a Hufflepuff whimpered. 

“Me too!” Another Hufflepuff whispered in response.

“She said that people ruin her concentration,” a Gryffindor sneered to his housemates.

Kuroo stopped by your table, waiting anxiously for you to acknowledge him. Your nose was firmly buried into your parchment, and after a few awkward minutes of waiting, it was obvious that you weren’t going to say anything. Clearing his throat, Kuroo said, “hi.” Internally, Kuroo was screaming. ‘Hi’? Is that really all he was going to say?

You jolted, looking up at him and blinking rapidly with weary eyes. “K-Kuroo?” You stammer, rubbing one of your eyes.

Kuroo adjusted his bag awkwardly. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat, gesturing to the other tables. “Everywhere else is full. Do you mind if I join you?”

You stare at him with sharp (e/c) eyes. Seconds dragged on, a cold sweat swept through his body and he was regretting every decision he had made since entering the library until you gave him a stiff nod. “Sure, I don’t see why not.”

Relief washed over him as he grinned. “Thank you so much, I promise I won’t be a bother.” You only gave him another stiff nod before you moved your books around to give him more space. Sliding into the chair beside you, Kuroo pulled out his Transfiguration homework.

The pair of you work in silence for an hour before you get up, stretching. Students flinched as you make your way down the shelves, burying themselves into their books or ducking behind empty aisles in order to avoid you. Just as quickly as you had gotten up, you had already plopped back into your seat. “Y’know, you’re a lot quieter than I expected,” you comment, flicking through the latest volumes you had pulled.

Kuroo glanced up, tilting his head. “What do you mean?”

Clearing your throat, your eyes met his. “I mean that for someone as popular as you are, you sure are quiet.” 

A red glow warmed his features. “I wouldn’t say that I’m popular.”

You raised an eyebrow. “Ya sure about that? Because I’m pretty sure being a Quidditch Captain, Prefect, and a top-ranking student are all qualities of popular students.” 

At your comment, he raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t know you paid so much attention to me, kitten,” he teased. 

You glowered at the nickname. “Don’t call me kitten.”

“Ok….kitten.” 

****

It became routine for you and Kuroo to meet at the library now. It was very rare that either of you missed a session. Your dark corner was brightened by his presence. Once the clock rang a certain hour, you were already moving the stacks of books to the side to make room for the rooster-head captain as he slunk in after Quidditch practice. He’d used to come directly after, only for you to yell at him to go to his dorm and shower, which would end up delaying him by twenty minutes. With that extra time, you’d sneak into the kitchen and snag some food for you both. 

Your quill scratched the parchment as you took down more notes from the text. The wooden chair besides you creaked, but your eyes remained on the book. “Hello, Kuroo.” You flipped a page, scanning the text for more information.

“Hey kitten.” The soft thump of his bag falling onto the ground had you looking up.

“You look tired,” you noted, surveying his face. Eye-bags darkened his face, not helped by the shadows of the flickering flames. “Maybe you should sleep early today.”

Kuroo shook his head. “No, I really have to finish this paper.” He pulled out his Transfiguration book.

“Do you have patrol later?” You chewed on your bottom lip, brows furrowed. Kuroo nodded glumly. “Alright, skip it.”

“I can’t just skip patrol,” Kuroo laughed, sipping at the pumpkin juice that you’d smuggle in.

“You can if someone takes it for you.” You looked back down at your books. “I’ll do your patrol for you.”

Kuroo choked, coughing. “W-what?” Madam Pince threw him a disgusted look as she hmph’d at her desk. “You can’t do that.” You shrugged, leaning forward to ruffle his hair. Kuroo let out a soft yelp. “What was that for?” 

You pulled back your hand, carefully examining the hair. “For the polyjuice potion.” A few months ago, you’d decided to try your hand at brewing polyjuice potion on a whim. You hadn’t had a chance to use it yet, so this was the perfect opportunity. 

“What?!” 

“Shh!” Madam Pince hissed, looking up over her books at you both. You folded the hair into a napkin, carefully tucking it into your robes.

Kuroo lowered his voice. “What do you mean polyjuice potion? Isn’t that against the rules?”

“Well it’s not exactly like I have a time-turner,” you rolled your eyes. “Nor am I a Metamorphmagus.”

“You don’t have to do that for me.” Kuroo surveyed you. For someone who was advertised as just another ‘big bad Slytherin’, you had such an incredibly soft side. 

You shrugged, pushing a sandwich in his direction. “Eat up.” You took a bite out of your own sandwich.

As you pulled your hand back, a warm weight dropped onto it. You swallowed, looking up. “Thank you.” His eyes sparkled. “I really appreciate you.”

Averting your eyes, your cheeks glowed. You hoped that the candle-light would hide it. “Just take care of yourself, rooster-head.” 

****

“I heard what happened.” 

You glanced up, grimacing. During potions, you had been helping Nishinoya only for his potion to explode everywhere. Snape ended up assigning him detention for the next month as well as remedial classes three times a week. You really weren’t sure how Nishinoya had fucked up his Wit-raising potion. But you’d walked away laughing, with admittedly terrible burns. You’d ended up teasing the boy saying that he needed to drink your wit-raising potion before he was allowed to speak to you again. 

“How are you doing?” Kuroo pressed. 

You let the utensils slip out of your fingers as you displayed your heavily bandaged hands up. “Miserable.” 

Kuroo’s eyes widened. “Madam Pomfrey couldn’t help?” You shook your head, frowning. There was still a residual stinging in your fingers. “Scoot over.”

“What?” 

“Only your hands are messed up, I’m sure you heard me just fine.” Kuroo waved his hands, forcing you aside. He took your seat, pulling your plate towards him.

“Kuroo, this is the Slytherin table, what the hell are you doing?” He shushed you, cutting up the meat on your plate. “Kuroo, I can take care of myself.” 

He fixed you with a hard stare, pushing the plate towards you. “Prove it then.” You glared at him, as you picked up the fork and knife. Pain coursed through your fingers but you simply bit your tongue, not wanting him to win. You focused on keeping your face blank, breathing deeper than you wanted. With sluggish movements, you sawed through the meat. Hazel eyes surveyed you, flicking between your hands and your face. 

“See?” You proclaimed, stabbing the meat and waving it in his face. He shrugged, holding his hands up.

“Whatever you say, Princess.” You glared at him, ice creeping through your heart. Eating it, you attempted to cut more meat only to drop the fork with a violent curse. It felt like someone had poured molten lava over your hands. Glaring at your fingers, you aggressively shoved the plate towards Kuroo who raised an eyebrow at you. “I thought you could do it yourself?”

“Help.” 

“I didn’t quite hear that, kitten.” 

You rolled your eyes at the pet-name. “Just help me, Kuroo.” 

“I didn’t hear the magic word,” he teased, pulling the plate towards himself.

“Please,” you muttered, tears pricking at your eyes. Kuroo paused, taking a moment to pat you on the head.

“Of course, silly. I’m always here to help you.” You offered him a small smile, before whispers from the Ravenclaw table caught your attention.

“What’s Kuroo doing with her?” 

“Doesn’t he know that she’s a cold-hearted bitch?” 

“He’s gonna get his heart broken.” 

“Bet you she’s going to curse him behind his back.” 

“Or poison him.” They snickered.

More tears welled up in your eyes. “Are you sure you want to do this?” You asked, turning your face away from him. 

The clinks of cutlery stopped. “Do what?”

“Help me.” 

A hand grasped your chin, tilting your face up. He leaned forward, warm breath humming against your ear. “Keep your chin up, Princess, your crown is falling,” he whispered before he pulled back, brushing your hair aside. Scarlet roses bloomed in your cheeks. Cold Princess echoed in your mind. Kuroo cleared his throat, turning back to the plate, hiding his own pink flush. “Besides, you saved my ass the other week. This is the least that I can do for you.” 

 You chewed on your lip. Of course. He was returning a favor. Just a favor. Nothing more, nothing less. 

**** 

“I won’t be here tomorrow.” You looked up from the Honeydukes chocolate that he had brought you, tilting your head. “I have to patrol early, so I won’t be able to make this.” He gestured to the table. Your tower of books had slowly diminished in size, only a small stack remained. In between your rolls of parchment and his own books was an abundance of candies. You’d miss the Hogsmeade trip earlier that day due to another remedial lesson with Lev. Kuroo leaned forward, wiping away a bit of chocolate from the corner of your mouth.

“Don’t do that.” You whipped your face away, hoping that the darkness would hide the crimson glow. You cleared your throat. “That’s fine. It’s not like you’re of any help, you always distract me.”

“So I guess I should take back all this candy then,” Kuroo teased, reaching for it. You snatched it up, pulling it close to your chest. Kuroo let out a disgustingly loud bark of laughter causing you to cringe. Madam Pince snarled in annoyance at you both. 

“Keep laughing like that and I’ll use a Silencing charm on you,” you threatened, tucking the chocolates away into your bag. 

Kuroo reclined in his chair, putting his hands behind his head. “You say that, but you know you like it.” 

“Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night, Kuroo.” 

The next day, you couldn’t stop fidgeting. It was...too quiet. Of course, being in a library meant that it should be quiet. But you couldn’t help but feel like something was missing. The bell chimed, and like clock-work, you began shifting your books to the side. Mid-motion, you froze, eyebrows creasing as you frowned. Why were you moving your stuff? It’s not like anyone was joining you tonight. You cursed silently. Of course you’d gotten used to him. You vaguely remembered a Muggle psychology term: mere exposure effect. The more you became familiar with something or were exposed to it, the more you’d have a preference for it. You violently slammed the books back to where they were, earning another reprimand from Madam Pince. Studying by yourself just became excruciatingly difficult.

Meanwhile, Kuroo was absent-mindedly flying down the corridors. His long legs allowed him to stride down the halls in a dozen steps or so, forcing his partner to sprint in order to keep up. “Jesus, Kuroo, what’s got you in a hurry?” Bokuto, the Hufflepuff Prefect, puffed. 

“Huh?” Kuroo paused, only to have Bokuto slam into his back. “Oh lord, I am so sorry Bokuto.” 

The Hufflepuff winced, prying himself off of Kuroo’s back, rubbing his nose. “It’s fine.” Kuroo continued down the hall, slower this time. “What’s got you all distracted?” Kuroo shrugged, opening one of the classrooms and looking around. He shut the door with a sigh, before rushing down the hall once more, the slower pace already forgotten. Bokuto scurried after him. “Or should I say, who is on your mind?” 

At this, Kuroo whirled around. “What do you mean?” 

Bokuto bellowed with laughter. “I heard that you were talking to someone, but I didn’t know it was this serious.”  

“Shut up.” The dark halls did nothing to save Kuroo as he stepped into a pool of moonlight. 

“Aw, you’re blushing!” Bokuto cackled, bending over as his rambunctious laughter echoed in the halls.

“Shut up!” 

Bokuto wiped a tear away from his eyes. “You really like this girl, don’t you?”  

Kuroo huffed, blowing his hair up. “Maybe.”

The Hufflepuff clapped a hand over his back. “I’m rooting for ya.” 

“I’ll need it,” Kuroo muttered. He pulled himself out of Bokuto’s grip. “C’mon, let’s just finish this patrol.” 

****

“Alright, I’m off.” You waved to your housemates, picking up your books as you left the Great Hall. 

“Make sure you come watch me play, sweetheart!” Atsumu shouted after you, waving eagerly. You rolled your eyes, ignoring him. You rarely ever went to Quidditch matches, let alone to support someone. That’s something you’d reserve for romantic partners, not house-mates. The few times you’d gone were because Snape offered extra points to everyone who attended. You shook your head, taking a deep breath. 

It was just any other Saturday morning and you would be headed back to your sanctuary: the library. A voice called out behind you, thundering footsteps following. You turned, stopping in the middle of the doorway. “Good morning, Kuroo.” You offered him a small smile that he returned.

“Hey (Name)!” He hugged you, pulling you into his chest; your heart pounded against your own. He’s never hugged you before. “Will you be going to the match later?” Kuroo released you and you took a few steps back. 

Holding up the book, you shook your head hoping that he didn’t see your flushed face. “No, Professor Snape gave me this book so I was going to work on it.”

“Aw that’s too bad, I was really hoping you’d come cheer for me.” Kuroo grinned before he draped a blue and bronze scarf around your neck. 

Your cheeks glowed like ripe apples, eyes wide. “Kuroo!” Your jaw dropped. 

“See you there!” With a cheeky smile, he waved running back towards his friends. 

An hour later, you found yourself walking down towards the Quidditch pitch. “Thought you didn’t go to Quidditch matches?” You crossed your arms, unamused. “And you’re wearing a Ravenclaw scarf? Talk about a traitor!” Osamu pinched your cheeks, tugging on it.

“Shut up, ‘Samu,” you scowled, shoving him away. “Are you finished yet?”

He shrugged. “Dunno why you even bothered to come.” He led you up the stands towards the Slytherin section. “Or why you’re sitting with us.”

“I’m a Slytherin!” You pouted, glaring at his back. Osamu just laughed.

“Yer still wearin’ a Ravenclaw scarf though. Don’t think I missed that display in the Great Hall.” He cackled as you slapped his back. “Didn’t know ya had a thing for the Captain.” 

You cleared your throat as you guys arrived at your destination. You greeted your house-mates, settling besides Osamu. “Why aren’t you playing, ‘Samu?” 

Osamu scowled, glaring at you. “Shaddup.” You chuckled, leaning back in your seat. Osamu was also on the team, but this year, the captain had decided to let more of the sixth and seventh years play. Atsumu was the only fifth-year on the team at the moment. You were grateful for the twins who had rapidly become your best friends since you’d started at Hogwarts. Both of them were ‘no-nonsense’ and didn’t care that you were plagued with nasty nicknames due to your ‘cold-hearted’ demeanor. 

“Ooh, look they’re starting.” As the match goes on, you can’t help but let your eyes trail the Ravenclaw captain. To say the least, you were impressed. He radiated a different energy from what he normally did during your late-night study sessions in the library. During those, he just seemed goofy and studious. But here, you could see the whole other side to him. The way he communicated with his team-mates, how happy he looked everytime one of their plays worked out, the satisfaction that seemed to completely fill him after he scored. He simply exuded a different type of confidence that you’ve never seen from him before. Your eyes widened with awe as he shuffled between the other Chasers, throwing the Quaffle to each other and thoroughly confusing the Slytherin chasers. As Kuroo scored, you couldn’t help the, “Whoooo, go Kuroo!” that escaped your lips.

Osamu jabbed you in the side, muttering, “traitor” but even that couldn’t wipe away the smile from your face. You were never interested in Quidditch, but maybe now you had a reason to be. 

The game quickly ended with Kenma snagging the Snitch out from Oikawa’s nose, leading to Atsumu flying towards the stands where you and Osamu were sitting. “Hey, ya made it sweetcheeks!” Atsumu cheered, hovering above your head in front of you. 

You cleared your throat. “Nice job out there, ‘Tsumu.” 

“I know right? I was definitely the star, wasn’t I?” He grinned. 

You pulled your cloak closer; it was getting late and cold. You desperately wanted to be back in the castle already. “If you were the real star, you would’ve won,” you shrugged. Osamu chuckled besides you as Atsumu squawked indignantly.  

“Oi, Atsumu!” Oikawa called, flying over. “C’mon, hit the showers. You can try to impress your girl later.” Oikawa patted your head, “hey there, (Name).”

“Hey Oikawa.” You offered him a small smile. “Sorry about the game. You did great out there though.”

“Thank you~!” He sang, flying lower so that he could pull you into a hug. You yelped at the sudden intrusion. “Lemme just have this moment of comfort,” he whined as you clawed at his arms in an attempt to struggle out of his grip. Defeated, you let the captain hang onto you, awkwardly patting his back. 

“You guys reek,” you muttered, looking away from the pair. “Go shower.”  

Finally escaping from the clingy twins and Oikawa, you let out a sigh of relief. You tugged your bag higher onto your shoulder as you made your way down the familiar path. Just as you were about to enter the library, a familiar voice called after you. Turning, your eyes widened. “Kuroo?” 

He slowed to a stop in front of you, winded slightly before he offered you a wide cheeky grin. “Hey there Princess!”

“What are you doing here, shouldn’t you be celebrating with your team?”

He shrugged, “I had to see my girl first.” 

Heat crawled up through your body. You cleared your throat. “Your girl?”

“Well yeah! Especially after how loudly you were cheering for me,” he teased. 

“And it’s Kuroo Tetsurou with the quaffle after a successful Sabryn steal from Miya Atsumu. He passes it to Sugawara Koushi, who passes it right back over Iwaizumi Hajime’s head. And Kuroo scores! Right through Matsukawa Issei’s finger-tips!” 

Kuroo did a loop, whooping before he soared beside Suga, giving the male a high-five. Mattsun grabbed the quaffle, putting it back into play. Kuroo smirked, darting off towards Atsumu who had the quaffle. They end up on the Ravenclaw side, with Iwaizumi attempting to score. Yaku successfully receives the ball, throwing it at Kuroo. “You’re playing better than ever today, Kuroo,” Yaku grins. “Better keep on impressing your girlfriend.” Kuroo scowled at the keeper. He hadn’t even seen you in the audience, who was to say that you were there at all?

Kuroo rolled his eyes, glancing over at Suga and Akaashi. Giving the males a curt nod, they enter the Hawkshead Attacking Formation. “Another Thimblerig Shuffle by the Ravenclaws! The Quaffle is bouncing around. Akaashi. Kuroo. Suga. Akaashi. Kuroo. And Kuroo takes the quaffle and scores once again! Slytherin does not look happy folks.” Loud cheers fill the stadium from the Ravenclaw, but as Kuroo flies back around the field, a lone cheer from the Slytherin section catches his attention. His head whips around, eyes widening at the sight. There you were, bundled up in his Ravenclaw scarf and actually cheering for him. Emotions flood his body, he hadn’t expected you to actually come or to actually wear his scarf. He couldn’t help the grin that slipped onto his face. Kuroo let out another loud whoop, before doing a heart-shaped loop in the air. A Bludger zoomed past him, drawing his attention back to the game. He’d have to deal with his emotions later. He had a game to win, and a girl to impress after all. 

You choked on air, averting your eyes. “Yeah well, you looked cool.” 

Kuroo grinned, “thanks kitten.”

You stared down at your book, fingers tracing the binding. “Anyways, your girl? I didn’t know you were serious.” 

It was his turn to avoid your eyes. “I mean! You were wearing my scarf,” he stammered. 

“You gave it to me,” you fired back, amusement flickering in your eyes as you observed him. Kuroo turns completely red at this, kicking at the stone floors awkwardly. You clear your throat, eyes softening. “Take me to Hogsmeade next weekend and we’ll talk about our relationship status then.” 

Relief floods his system as he eagerly nods. “I can make that happen.”

“Well good.” You smile, heading into the library only for Kuroo to follow you. “Again, don’t you have a party to get to?”

He shrugged, “rather spend time with you to be honest.” 

“Don’t let your team-mates hear you,” you grin as you guys make your way to your usual table. Kuroo just ruffled your hair, smiling as you both took a seat. After an hour or so of studying, you snapped your book shut. “Actually, let’s do something.”

He looked up at you, raising an eyebrow. “Like what?” 

You shrugged. “Find Hogwarts’ mysteries?”

Kuroo leaned back in his chair, a sly smile making its way onto his face. “Y’know, I hear there are some cursed chambers hidden in Hogwarts.”

“Breaking curses, treasure hunting? Sounds like my kind of date,” you smirk, packing your stuff away. Kuroo throws his head back in a boisterous laugh, only to be scolded by Madam Pince. You stood up, standing beside him before making your way out. “Y’know, you could have easily been a Slytherin,” you teased, bumping your hip into his as you held the textbooks to your chest. 

He smirked, slinging his arm over your shoulder as you both walked out of the library. “Why’s that?”

“You have more ambition than I do.” You shrugged his arm off of your shoulder. “You leave the library just as late as I do after coming here after your Quidditch practices and then heading straight to your Prefect duties. Hard-work goes hand-in-hand with ambition, Kuroo.” He plucked one of the books out of your hand. “Hey!”

“Well, Little Miss Slytherin, you could definitely have been a Ravenclaw.” Kuroo held the book over your head, flicking through the pages. “Your thirst for knowledge is never quite quenched.” 

You flush. “Well, a quest for knowledge is an ambitious one, isn’t it?”

He hummed, pulling the rest of your books out of your hands while ignoring your cries of protest. He tucks them into his right side, slipping his left hand into yours. “I guess us together makes the perfect Slytherin and Ravenclaw, doesn’t it?” Kuroo squeezed your hand, looking down at you. You grinned, giving him a light squeeze. Being together just felt right. He brought out your inner Ravenclaw, and you brought out his inner Slytherin. Knowledge and ambition went hand-in-hand, just like you and Kuroo.