#AND LIKE HELLO?????????? BELLS ART IS PERFECT FOR IT

[starrystevie]

where the spirit meets the bones

written by @starrystevie with art by @paintedpatroclus for the steddie big bang.

releasing in october 2023; full excerpt under read more

after finding out that his father passed away and that the munson family home in townsend, tennessee is now uncle wayne's, eddie munson makes his way back to the little house nestled on the out skirts of the appalachian mountains. he brings along someone to help with the heavy lifting, to help carry boxes and clean out the junk the house has accumulated over the years. in walks steve harrington with his hands and arms open and ready to do much more than just the heavy lifting. together, the two work through eddie's grief and anger, acceptance and closure. it's all wrapped up in a family house in the mountains of east tennessee. it's where eddie learns how to let go, how to let people in, and how to live as free as the winds blowing through the overgrown weeds. and if it means seeing steve trying to catch crawdads in the sunshine and seeing the stars twinkling in his eyes in the moonlight, then eddie's happy to be along for the ride.

The moment Eddie peeled his eyes open only to get blinded by the morning sun, he knew it was going to be a shitty day.

His head was pounding. The vodka (and tequila and beer and gin) from last night’s festivities made it feel like he had been hit by a truck and then possibly re-run over by said truck. His arms were as heavy as lead and his stomach was rolling, bile churning around looking for a new place to call home.

Eddie pushed himself out of bed as quickly as his spinning head would allow to bend over the trash can by his dresser, pushing the contents in it down so whatever he got out of his system wouldn’t overflow. After hours of emptying his stomach (it was in fact, only a few seconds), he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, and grimaced at the sour taste it left behind. It took more energy than he wanted to exert, but he brought himself to sit against his bed, eyes closed against the bright sunlight and took in deep, steadying breaths.

Hangovers had never been his friend. He always felt like such a baby whenever he had one because they drained him, debilitating and humiliating. 

Water, he needed water. Even if he was going to throw it all back up after chugging it down, his body was too dehydrated to function. With a groan, Eddie pulled his feet under him and braced his arms on the side of his bed to push himself off the ground. He had to stand there for a few seconds to regain his balance before walking sluggishly to the door of his room. 

The kitchen in their new trailer was close but not close enough that it didn’t wear him down just to make it the few steps. Eddie’s eyes were closed as he shuffled along the floor, his socks shifting uncomfortably and causing the toe line to get stuck under his toes. There were more serious problems at hand though, so he pushed that gross feeling to the side to focus on opening a cabinet with as little noise as possible. 

Eddie wanted to dunk his head under the running tap as soon as he turned it on. His eyes felt like they were covered in gunk and he had definitely been too sweaty for too long last night as his hair was now all tangled at the base of his neck. He settled for filling up his cup instead of showering in the kitchen sink and took a large gulp, downing the cup and pulling away to gasp for breath. He filled the cup up once more with the intention to chug it down but a fresh wave of nausea had him groaning. 

“Long night?”

Wayne’s voice broke through the silence and had Eddie jumping out of his skin. With a shout, he brought his hand up to cover his chest where he could feel his heart thumping quickly under his palm.

“What the fuck, Wayne?” Eddie breathed out, closing his eyes with a sigh. His uncle chuckled in response. 

“Sorry, kid. Didn’t think I’d scare ya that bad.” 

The trailer fell into a tense silence as Eddie tried to catch his breath and calm his beating heart. Wayne was sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter smoking a cigarette, the ashtray next to him full, scribbling something into a notepad in front of him. He huffed, crossed something out more times than was probably necessary and then continued writing. 

Eddie took a smaller sip of his water once the fear from being jump scared had settled and he remembered just how thirsty he was. A glance at the clock told him it wasn’t even 9 in the morning. “Shouldn’t you still be at work?” 

Wayne grunted in response, puffed at the cigarette that was at the side of his mouth, didn’t even bother looking up from the legal pad as he continued writing. 

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then,” Eddie muttered under his breath as he turned around to find the medicine cabinet over the sink. Tylenol was very much needed if he had any hope of fighting off the day long headache he was already sporting. 

The sound of Wayne ripping off a sheet of paper and crumpling it in his hands was harsh against Eddie’s ears in the otherwise quiet room, causing him to wince and whine like a toddler. 

“Okay, I’m going back to bed for at least 8 more hours so I’ll see-”

“Eddie, wait.” 

Wayne’s voice stopped him in his tracks where he had already started his way back to his bed to be a zombie for the rest of the day. Eddie turned around and saw his uncle run a hand down his face before stubbing out his cigarette and pulling out another. He motioned with a hand to have them both come sit on the couch. 

“I gotta talk to you, bud,” he continued as he stood up slowly from his stool to sit down on the couch. 

This wasn’t normal. Sure, they talked whenever they were both magically home at the same time about easy things, the weather, work, what parts they needed to fix up Wayne’s junker truck. But the way Wayne looked made Eddie apprehensive. It made his stomach turn with nerves rather than with the lingering nausea of his hangover. 

“It’s not you, it’s me?” Eddie joked, forcing a laugh onto the end of the sentence to try and make the tension in the room dissipate. He stayed where he was, pressed against the doorframe to his bedroom, thumbnail running over the hard plastic of the cup still in his hand. 

Wayne rolled his eyes before leveling Eddie with an unamused stare. “Just come sit down.” 

He wanted to do the exact opposite of that. His head was still throbbing and his stomach was too unsettled to do anything but gurgle at him, he wanted to brush his teeth to get the grime off them and crawl back into bed to get his limbs feeling normal again. The last thing Eddie wanted to do was have a talk with his uncle. 

The last time they had ‘a talk’ was when he was 15 and he got condoms thrown in his lap with a gruff, “you better stay safe out there, ain't no extra room in here for any babies,” and Eddie didn’t have the heart to tell him he hadn’t even kissed anyone yet. 

Still, he found himself shuffling back across the floor, his sock catching on a stray nailhead sticking up from the carpet tack strip for a brief moment. Eddie flopped onto the couch in a less than graceful way, pressing his back against the arm and bringing his legs up to sit criss-cross on the cushion. 

“Now,” Wayne started with a sigh. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, his arm that was slung across the top of the couch picking at an errant thread. “I know you ain’t feeling too hot and I’m sorry about that, but I gotta tell you this before the day goes on much longer.” 

Eddie’s mind went a million directions. Wayne lost his job, he’s kicking Eddie out, he’s got some weird lung disease from breathing in fumes at the plant, they have to-

“It’s about your dad.”

They hadn’t talked about Eddies’ parents in a long time, there hadn’t really been a need to. His mom had passed away when he was young, the copious drugs in her system causing her heart to stop. And his dad was in prison with 20 years for grand theft auto. It was why Eddie lived with Wayne in the first place; after his brother went to jail, CPS moved him to his closest relative which meant Eddie was going to Hawkins. 

Eddie stilled, felt his head slowly tilt to the side like a dog hearing a whistle. “So I have a feeling I am not awake enough or like… sober enough for this conversation.” 

“Yeah, probably not.” Wayne replied with a sharp gust of air through his nose, nodded his head slowly. “Do you wanna wait until you can get some more rest?” 

“Fuck no,” Eddie said with a shake of his head, feeling his brain sloshing around in his skull and man, he really was too hungover for this. “You’ve got me all intrigued now.”

His uncle nodded again with understanding and he took in a deep breath. “It’s hard to tell ya, kid, but he… uhh. He got the pneumonia or something and it wasn’t clearing up and he-”

Wayne took in another deep breath. Eddie knew he wasn’t awake enough for this.

“They found him in his bunk this morning. Guess he just didn’t wake up.”

All Eddie could do was nod. He felt his eyebrows furrow in for the briefest of seconds before flattening back out. His limbs suddenly felt lighter than they ever had, like he was floating up off their scratchy couch, weightless. His head was still foggy from the liquor that he had shot the night before but everything was a bit clearer now.

“So umm,” he bit at the inside of his lip for a moment, eyes flickering back up to meet Wayne’s. He didn’t even realize he had been staring off into space. Didn’t know how long he had been tapped out of the conversation. “What do we…?”

What did he even want to ask? He didn’t know where to start. 

Logically, there were things to figure out. He was sure they had to get his… body, right? Have a funeral or something. Fuck, how do you plan a funeral for someone you don’t really even know? He was an orphan now, and wasn’t that just a trip to think about. Orphaned at 22… was it even considered orphaned at that point? Or was that just being an adult with no parents left? It’s not like he expected some grand reunion with his dad when his time was served but he didn’t know the last he talked to him let alone saw him and-

“Eddie, breath.” 

He brought his vision back into focus, looked at Wayne’s watery eyes and felt the wetness in his own. He didn’t realize he said that all out loud.  

“I don’t know what to do.”

Wayne’s face pulled up in a show of compassion before mellowing into what Eddie thought was supposed to look comforting. He gave him a small smile, one corner of his mouth pulling up and crinkling the side of his face. 

“Tell you the truth, I don’t really know either bud.” Wayne brought up a hand and pet at Eddie’s knee once, twice, letting the silence of the new trailer without its clangs and groans of the old one wash over them. “I’ll give you some time to think.”

Eddie wanted to be 5 years old again. He wanted to scrunch up his nose and curl his fists and stomp on the ground to get his anger out. He wanted to sit at the edge of his mom’s bed and feel the well-worn quilt she loved so much under his fingers. He wanted to go back in time and figure out why his life had to be such shit before he even had a chance to have a life. 

It was easy to blame it all on Gary Munson and if he was gone, who could Eddie blame now?

[jobean12-blog]

Love in Bloom

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader (Plant!Dad!Bucky)

Word Count: 2,863

Summary: You and Bucky have the best coffee date then meet up at the Farmer's Market. Every minute you spend with him makes you fall harder.

Author's Note: More plant!dad!bucky for you! I'm so excited that you all liked meeting him so much! I'm having a lot of fun with him! You can read the first story HERE! And please check out @nalonzooo art to see how amazing it is! 😍Thank you all so much for reading! Much love always! ❤️❤️❤️Divider by the lovely @firefly-graphics thank you Daisy! 🥰

PS If you'd like to see the shirt Bucky is wearing you can HERE and the two plant pots, ONE and TWO. 🥰💕

Warnings: plant talk, Alpine fluffs, sweet and soft fluffs all around :)

You and Bucky have been texting every day since you met at the garden center, silly plant memes and pictures of Alpine filling up the lines between sweet words and soft flirting.

You couldn’t wait to see him for coffee today.  

The bell above the door dings as you enter and your eyes search for him. He’s standing at the counter, a large black backpack slung over his shoulders and a bouquet of flowers in one hand. He’s not wearing his hat today and his long hair is pulled back into a low bun with several strands sticking out.

When he spots you he smiles wide and waves you over.

“Hiya doll,” he says when you get close. “You look beautiful.”

You preen under his sweet words and kiss his cheek hello. “Hi Bucky.”

At the sound of your voice, Bucky’s backpack starts to move and Alpine’s white furry head peeks out between the open zipper.

“ALPINE!” you squeal, rubbing his head.

“He would have been very upset if I showed up without him,” Bucky laughs. “You can take him out if ya want.”

You reach down and gather up the cat, carefully lifting him out until he’s in your arms. You coo and gush over him while Bucky waits for your coffees.

The barista sets them down with a smile.

“Oh…shit,” Bucky mutters, finally tearing his eyes away from you when the coffee arrives. “Uh…I almost forgot,” he continues, holding out the bouquet of flowers. “These are for you.”

You take them with your free hand and bring them to your nose, inhaling the sweet fragrance.

“They’re so beautiful Bucky! Thank you!”

He grabs your coffees and starts toward a small empty table in the back. “You’re welcome doll. I got them at the Farmer’s Market in Union Square this morning.”

“You picked them out?” you ask, softly fingering the petals of the different blooms.

“Yeah,” he answers, looking both proud and slightly shy at the same time. “I like makin’ bouquets but I don’t really get the chance much.”

Bucky puts the coffees down and pulls your chair out for you. 

“Well, it’s perfect,” you tell him as you sit, setting the flowers down on the extra seat. “Thank you!”

Alpine promptly curls up in your lap, his tail swishing contentedly back and forth as you pet him.

Bucky sits next to you and unhooks the front strap of his backpack before slinging it off.

You stare at his chest.

“Oh my god,” you giggle.

“What?” he asks. “Did I drop some of my breakfast on my shirt?”

His worried eyes shoot down and he pulls his shirt away from his body, studying it closely.

“That shirt is so cute!”

He sighs in relief and lifts his eyes with a chuckle. “Yeah, I couldn’t resist.”

You press your hand to the soft fabric to smooth it out, poking the spot where the cat sits on the shelf in between all the plants. The feel of his hard chest beneath your fingertips has you pulling your bottom lip between your teeth and it takes all of your willpower to drag your hand away.

“I love it,” you whisper. “It feels soft too.”

“It’s really comfortable,” he agrees. “I’m glad you like it. I didn’t even realize I put it on. Sometimes I wonder if all the plant and cat stuff is a bit much…”

“No way,” you interject. “What’s not to love about plants and cats?”

You sip your coffee and eye him over the rim of the cup.

“You get it,” he says, the corner of his eyes crinkling with his smile.

“Mmm,” you hum, “this is so good. I can’t believe I’ve never been here!”

“This place is great,” he agrees, “and they allow cats!”

After some yummy sips and comfortable silence he asks, “so how’s Spidey? Still alive I hope?”

“Thankfully still alive,” you giggle. “But I still don’t know the best spot to keep him and how often to water him and if I should repot him? If I kill another plant I’m not sure my confidence will recover…”

You laugh but the look on your face must say it all.

“You’re not going to kill him doll!” he assures you before launching into a barrage of questions and information.

You’re long done with your coffee and scones by the time you both feel satisfied that you have enough starter plant knowledge to keep Spidey thriving.

“When he gets too big for his pot I can’t wait to pick a new one out! They have so many cute ones on Etsy!”

Bucky drops his head with a playful scoff. “Don’t even get me started on Etsy. I have two new pots on the way right now.”

“Lemme see!” you squeak, smacking him in the arm in excitement.

He feigns pain and rubs the spot. “Ouch.”

“Oh please,” you tease. “You’re like solid muscle. There is no way that hurt.”

You squeeze his bicep and he instinctively flexes.

“Well now you’re just showing off,” you tell him, “and if you don’t stop I’m going to feel you up in the coffee shop.”

He goes still, his eyes laser focused on you before they drop to your lips when your tongue darts out to wet them.

“I’m sorry,” you mutter, feeling your skin heat with embarrassment. “I would never…”

“Doll,” he says, stopping you. “It’s fine. More than fine actually. I have zero problem with you touching me.”

“Oh.”

His eyes wander over your face before he leans in a little closer.

“That’s good,” you whisper, getting a good whiff of him, clean and spicy.

“Here are your blueberry muffins to go!” the barista says as she sets down the boxes.

You and Bucky move apart quickly, clearly startled out of the heat of the moment.

“Thanks,” you say, giving the barista a small smile.

When you take out your wallet he stops you with a warm hand over yours. “I got it doll.”

“But you already got the coffee and scones,” you explain.

“And I’ve got the muffins too,” he says.

“Thank you.”

He leans in and gives you a soft kiss at the corner of your mouth, his lips lingering for a moment longer than necessary and your skin tingles.

“Thank you,” he whispers before pulling out his phone.

He scrolls around for a few seconds before turning his screen around so you can see it. There’s a picture of a white pot with a cat shaped face, the cat’s expression sweet and serene.

“So I got that one anddddd this one,” he says, scrolling again to a picture of another white cat planter, except this time it has four little legs.

“I love them,” you say. “They’re perfect and almost as cute as Alpine!”

Once you’re outside in the sunshine and back to some form of reality you reluctantly hand over Alpine.

“Guess I have to give him back huh?” you joke.

“Well,” Bucky begins, rubbing the back of his neck. “We’re going to be at the Farmer’s Market again tomorrow morning. If you’re around you could join us?”

“I do need to stock up on fruits and vegetables,” you muse. “I’ll be there, just text me a time later.”

Thankfully Sunday morning comes quickly and you’re out the door in record time, strolling down West 17th street in the sunshine.

When you don’t see Buck you start to amble around the stalls, picking through various fruits and admiring the jarred jams.

“That one is really good.”

The deep and familiar voice makes you smile before you even turn around and when you do you see Bucky standing there with his backpack against his chest and Alpine’s head sticking out.

“Hey you two!”

He quickly but carefully swings the bag to his shoulder and wraps his free arm around your waist, pulling you toward his chest for a sweet kiss on the cheek.

His hair is down today, brushing his shoulder and you have a strong urge to take one of the strands hanging in his face and twirl it around your finger.

Instead, you reach up and tuck it behind his ear, your eyes studying his face while you lean into him.

“I also have that in fig and raspberry flavor.”

“I think she’s talking to you,” Bucky says with a smirk.

“Huh?” you mumble, still staring at him.

He delicately takes your chin between his fingers and turns your head toward the stall.

“OH!” you squeak. “I’m so sorry…I was just saying hello and um…right. Did you say fig and raspberry?”

The vendor nods with a knowing smile.

“That’s great. I love figs. I’ll take one!”

You slip from Bucky’s arms and finish the transaction, taking your nicely packaged jam and walking toward the next stall, still feeling a bit awkward.

When you stop at the sunflower stall Bucky says, “I’ve always wanted to grow these but I don’t really have anywhere to do it.”

“They get really tall right?”

“Yeah, taller than me,” he says with a laugh. “I have to do more research.”

“They’re beautiful! Have you ever been to a farm to see them. It’s amazing!”

“I haven’t yet but I’d really like to do that,” he admits.

“We can go together…if you want?”

“How about you let me take you on a proper date first then we’ll go out to the farm and pick sunflowers.”

“I love that plan.”

Even though you’re still standing beside the stall and there are people walking by and around you, it seems as if it all fades away as Bucky steps closer and his fingertips graze your arm, his touch sending a shiver down your spine.

He whispers your name, his eyes falling to your lips just before Alpine’s paw shoots between your faces and bats away a loose piece of Bucky’s hair.

“Alpine!” Bucky chides. “Watch it buddy!”

You cover your mouth but can’t stop your eruption of giggles as you watch Alpine continue to try and bat Bucky in the face.

“Told you he was a menace!” Bucky says with a pointed look at Alpine who simply meows with a blink.

“Aw but who could be mad at that face?” you coo, scratching under Alpine’s chin.

“ME!” Bucky practically pouts. “I’m mad!”

A smile tugs at the corner of his lips and after a moment of silence you both start laughing again.

“Come on,” Bucky says as he slings his arm around your shoulder. “Let’s buy some food!”

By the time you’re done perusing and purchasing it’s almost lunch time.

“I’m starving,” Bucky says as he rubs his stomach.

Your eyes fall to the action just as his shirt rides up and you catch a glimpse of his taut skin lined with a dark trail of hair that disappears into his jeans.

With a hard swallow you avert your eyes and mumble, “me too!”

“Wanna get some lunch doll?”

“What was that?” you ask, lifting your eyes to find him watching you intently.

“Do you want to grab a bite? It’s lunch time.”

“Shit, already! I’m supposed to meet my best friend for lunch at one!”

“It’s only a little after twelve, don’t worry,” he assures you with a smile but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

“I’d invite you to come along but it’s our girl time,” you explain, looking disappointed yourself.

“Nope, I get it doll. That’s important time but let me at least walk you back to your place.”

“I’d like that.”

He adjusts Alpine and his backpack then takes your bag from you, switching hands so his free one is swinging next to yours.

Every so often your fingers brush as you walk and finally he hooks his pinky through yours, gauging your reaction. When you smile and tighten your grip he entwines all his fingers with yours, brushing his thumb over your knuckles.

You walk back to your apartment hand in hand.

“I can’t believe I didn’t buy any flowers or plants today,” Bucky states, looking surprised as he holds the door of your building open for you.

“Oh my gosh, you didn’t!”

“It’s your fault,” he teases. “You’re a distraction.”

You press your teeth into your bottom lip and shrug demurely before turning and heading up the steps.

“Thankfully I’m only on the second floor…this is me.”

You point to the door on the left and start to fish for your keys. Once you have the door open you tell him to come in so you can take your bag and show him Spidey.

He approves of your placement and also Spidey’s overall health and you clap your hands together happily.

Your phone dings and you grab it, quickly reading a text from Nat.

“Thank goodness she finally picked a place to eat,” you laugh.

“Me and Alpine will have to pick some pizza up on the way home,” he says with a wink.

You stand only a few inches apart, staring at each other.

“Well, I guess…” you start.

“Thanks for meeting…” he begins at the same time.

You both drop your heads and laugh.

“I had the best time Bucky. I wish we could have had lunch too…”

“Nah don’t worry, it’s ok doll. I mean I do too. I would have loved to spend the rest of the day with you but you have plans. I understand.”

He turns and starts toward the door.

“Don’t forget to say goodbye to Alpine. He’ll bitch the whole way home if you don’t.”

As if on cue Alpine’s two white ears perk up and he pops his head out of Bucky’s open backpack.

“Bye handsome,” you croon. “Be good and I’ll see you soon.”

“He’s not coming on our dinner date next week,” Bucky chimes in. “I don’t want him stepping on my toes again.”

“Awwww,” you say with feigned sadness. “I’ll miss him!”

When Bucky’s standing in your doorway he turns to face you again and licks his lips.

“Text me when you get home?” he asks, his tone unsure.

“I will,” you say with a soft smile.

“Have fun doll!”

You both stand there staring at each other again and you finally take a step closer, your eyes focused on his before they drop to his lips.

“Bye Bucky.”

You practically invite him to kiss you, pressing yourself against him as you lean up. You lay your palms on his chest and feel his muscles flex beneath you. He dips his head, his lips brushing your cheek before he gives you a quick peck in the same spot and turns on his heel.

You try to hide your disappointment with a smile but the corners of his mouth turn down as he backs up.

“See you soon,” he says quietly.

“See you soon,” you reply as you start to shut the door.

With a wave you shut it softly and let out an exhale as you deflate.

You’re not even two steps away when you hear a knock. Your stomach erupts in butterflies as you twirl around and swing the door open, staring at Bucky on the other side.

“That’s not at all how I wanted to say goodbye,” he murmurs before he steps back inside your apartment, shuts the door and spins you against it.

You realize there’s nowhere to go as you find yourself pressed to the door; Bucky’s hard body lined up with yours.

The first thing you feel is the strength of his metal hand as it wraps around your arm and his other clasping the nape of your neck as he drags you closer and covers your mouth with his.

You make a throaty sound you can’t control and cling to him, the smell of him, the feel of his hands holding you to him, it’s all overwhelming in the best way. His hand at your neck tightens every so slightly and he groans, the sound skimming across your skin like electricity.

He deepens the kiss, demanding more and it’s enough to steal your breath. Your hands dive into his hair and you moan into his mouth again, unable to stop it as his hand on your arm slips behind you and traces the curve of your spine.

With a muttered curse he breaks the kiss, pulling back only an inch to look into your eyes. His blue eyes are dark, his long lashes lowered as he traces his tongue over his swollen lips.

“Bucky?” you whisper.

He closes his eyes, resting his forehead to yours.

“I’m sorry if that was…”

“It was perfect,” you whisper.

His eyes open and he lifts his head, reluctantly putting some space between you.

“Perfect,” he repeats.

He still looks like he wants to kiss you again and again as his eyes wash over you and his expression looks pained.

Your phone dings again.

“Nat,” you state, not taking your eyes off him.

He wavers, leaning toward you before he mutters, “fuck,” and runs a hand through his hair. “Right. Lunch.”

“I’ll talk to you later doll,” he says.

“Ok,” you manage, willing your body to keep holding you upright.

He gives you a slow and sexy smile before turning and walking down the steps.

@book-dragon-13 @randomfandompenguin @hiddles-rose @goldylions @sebstanwhore @kmc1989

[tired-teacher-blog]

Characters : Tattoo artist Aizawa/ Florist fem reader

Featuring : Eri/ Hizashi Yamada/ Nemuri Kayama/ Oboro Shirakumo/ Emi Fukukado

Warnings and Genre : Fluff/ Romance/ Smut and Angst in future chapters/ Multi Chaptered Story

Summary : In a desperate attempt to get closer to the tattoo artist dominating every speck of your brain, you decide to pay him a visit one evening as a client seeking his service. This encounter will prove to be the beginning of something much bigger between you two, but will this new found passion be enough to stand against the difficulties your future holds?

Notes : Loosely inspired by this/ Art below is by the wonderful @/ael-draw who gifted me this gorgeous piece.

Masterlist|Second Masterlist|Third Masterlist

Chapter Count : Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 • Part 6 • Part 7 • Part 8 • Part 9 • Part 10 • Part 11 • Part 12

_ "Thank you, have a lovely day." you bid the young couple goodbye and watch as they walk out of your shop, arm in arm while the girl held her beautifully wrapped present of lilies and dahlias to her chest.

A sight such as this one used to fill you with warmth and give you desire to work harder in order to see more of the happiness and love-filled-eyes of the people carrying the blooms for themselves or their loved ones.

Used to..

Yes used to, because as of recent, a sight such as this one has become no more than a reminder of your strained, so called "relationship" with the man you allowed yourself to fall head over heels in love with, and you hate yourself for that.

You hate yourself for not taking into account the possibility of his past coming back to hunt you both, you hate yourself for selfishly thinking that you could perhaps replace Eri's mother one of these days, and you especially hate yourself for not admitting the depth of your feelings when you had the chance, because truthfully, that would be the last thing he'd want to hear right now, it would only confuse and make things even harder than they already are for him.

You sigh heavily and look up at the ceiling, a snide smile curves your lips as you start thinking about the irony of it all.

You've always imagined the moment when you would finally say the words "I love you" to him, it was supposed to be perfect, just as you pictured, perhaps after one of your dates when he drops you off and kisses you goodnight, but instead of watching him walk back to his car, you would pull him by the arm and claim his lips again, deeper this time, catching him off guard and taking control, then -and only then- would you mouthe the words into the kiss before finally pulling back and watching the blinding smile illuminating his face as he whispers them back.

_ "Huh, that would have been beautiful but.." but truth be told, you no longer imagine that blinding smile, nor hear him whisper the words back, if anything, all you can see is hopelessness and sorrow on a shell of what that man used to be, because that's all what's left of him.

You pick up your phone and check your recent conversation to see if he has replied to your unanswered messages when you were lost in thought, but alas, he has not..

The decision is yours to make, you can either keep clinging to him and to your false hope of having things back to normal, or you can just let go and walk away so he could probably have another shot at happiness.

Both answers are nothing less than a death sentence to you, so maybe you should consider what's best for him and Eri instead.

You put down your phone and almost wince at the sight of your tattoo, as memories of how it came to be comes rushing back like a hurricane, it's what started it all, a once source of joy that is now but a painful reminder.

The little bells hanging at the entrance ring when swayed by the opening door of your shop, bringing you back to your senses as you prepare to greet your new customer, "hello and welco.." but the rest of the word gets stuck in your throat when you recognize the newcomer.

_ "Hello." It's her.

_ "Oh, Ms Fukukado.." what is she doing here again? 

She offers you a smile and closes the door after herself before stepping inside, it has been a while since you last saw her which was during that fateful evening at your boyfriend's place, as a matter of fact, you haven't seen much of him either ever since, but that's beside the point..

_ "Can we talk? I know you're busy so it doesn't have to be now," she's only a few steps away from you now, her elegant presence is as overwhelming as ever, "but here is my number, you can give me a call whenever you get a chance and we'll meet for a coffee, please, it's important." and with that she waves you goodbye and vanishes just as quickly as she has appeared, leaving you standing stiffly in your spot, eyes wide open and lips slightly parted as you held her business card with a shaky hand, wondering if that really happened or if it was just a figment of your imagination..

_ "Hey beautiful."

Oh he's finally calling after more than a week of avoiding you, and hearing his soothing voice almost brings tears to your eyes.

_ "Hi.. Shouta, how are you?" you would actually like to curse at him, to yell and reprimand him for ignoring you the way he's been doing for days, but you cannot find it in yourself to do so, all the agony and confusion are now washed away with a simple greeting he mouthed from the other end of the phone.

_ "I've been terrible without you," he lets out a sigh, and you can almost imagine the tilt of his head on whatever surface he must be leaning against right now, "I'm sorry for everything, you were caught in the middle of what's happening and had to suffer through it all."

It's true, completely and utterly true, you feel powerless and shackled by the whole ordeal, like a caged animal..

_ "No don't say that, I'm totally fine I promise," oh the lies..

He remains quiet for a while, the only thing you could hear from his end is the sound of his deep breath, and you wonder if maybe he has caught your bluff.

_ "I want to see you tonight, can I visit you after work?" and he finally speaks again.

Your eyes widen at his request, it's what you've been waiting for in what seemed like forever, to the point that it ceased sounding possible, but now that it's finally happening, something is compelling you to refuse.

Perhaps you're afraid that seeing him again, will only make parting ways all that harder, and maybe it's because of the woman staring at you from across the table as you spoke to him, "can I.. call you later? I'm a little busy right now, I'm really sorry."

You instantly regret the answer as soon as you speak it, granted, it's more than he has done for your sake lately, but you still hate the way you worded it.

It has never been this way between you two, so maybe this is actually another sign that your time together should come to an end..

_ "Yes of course I don't mind, please take your time, we'll talk later." you cannot see his face, but you can clearly feel the pain in his voice, and with those last words of his, the line finally goes dead.

_ "It's him I see," she scoffs before crossing her legs and leaning more comfortably against her chair, "I appreciate you not telling him that you came to see me."

_ "Yeah, it's not a problem, but you still haven't told me what this is about." your heart is racing in extreme restlessness, no matter what she has to say, it can never be in your favor.

_ "I think you know what I want." she places her cup of coffee on its saucer with a loud clink.

_ "You want me to disappear from Shouta and Eri's life." you comment knowingly and watch as she slowly nods in agreement.

_ "Everyday I spend away from them is torture, do you have any idea how painful it is to watch your child grow from afar? To see the only man you've ever truly loved with another woman?"

It's strange, she doesn't seem as smug and derisive as she usually is, because right now, the look in her eye is almost.. pained?

_ "I'm sorry, but you're the one who abandoned both of them and disappeared without a trace, that was your decision not mine, so why do I have to suffer the consequences? Eri is your daughter and that's something that will never change, but Shouta.." you choke on your words and stop yourself before bursting in tears, you cannot understand your reaction because what she asked of you is exactly what you've been already considering, but only now has it finally sunk in, that that's probably where you're headed, and it's terrifying.

"I know I'm asking too much, but please understand that this is my child and her father for we're talking about, isn't it fair for us three to be together? If not for me and Shouta then at least for Eri, she deserves to have both her parents around."

It's a compelling point that you've been running away from for a while, but maybe it is time for you to face the reality and do what you must.

The woman in front of you seems sincere with her intentions, she came back to right her wrongs so what gives you the power to deny her that?

_"You're right, I will back off I promise."

To be continued..

[lanawinterscigarettes]

can you pleaseplease write a friends to lovers with jennifer check x female reader? i love ur writing btw 🙏🙏

ofc I can! and thank you so so much, that's so sweet of you to say 🥰🥰 this is meant to be a part two to a previous jen fic I wrote, practice makes perfect, so I recommend reading that one first if you want

Perfect Your Craft (Jennifer Check x fem reader)

Warnings: friends to lovers, kissing happens a lot here (both casual/platonic and romantic), sapphic/wlw yearning, slightly vulgar/salty language, slowburn (kind of but not really cause idk how to write that), brief implied mistreatment by Jen's past boyfriends

You couldn't get over the kiss you and Jennifer had shared. While you were quite certain that it was meant to be just that, a kiss and nothing more, the feelings you already held for her in your heart were starting to grow and blossom like a garden after a rainstorm.

Part of you was under the assumption that it would just be a one time thing, but you should've known better.

"Come over to my house after school so we can practice," she had murmured in your ear as soon as the bell rang to signal class was over.

A shiver went down your spine at her words, knowing exactly what she meant when she said practice. Practice makes perfect, right? So if the two of you wanted to get good enough to kiss your future boyfriends, you needed to practice on each other first.

But that was part of the problem. You didn't want a boyfriend, you wanted her. You wanted Jennifer.

Of course she could never know, because how do you tell your best friend since forever about the massive crush you have on her? You don't, that's how.

Especially not when you're both from Devil's Kettle, one of the smallest towns ever. She'd laugh right in your face for liking girls, let alone daring to have a crush on her of all people.

It was all you could think about for the rest of the day, even after you'd gotten to her house. You were so caught up in your quiet longing that you almost missed what she'd said.

"Okay, we should probably get to work on learning how to use tongue." The dumbstruck look on your face at her words caused her to let out an amused laugh. "Oh my God, you look ridiculous."

"Tongue? Tongue?" You questioned in disbelief, unable to wrap your head around the notion.

Jennifer rolled her eyes, now becoming less amused and more annoyed with how long it was taking you to digest her comment. "Yes, tongue. Plenty of guys use tongue when they kiss, so you'll want to learn how to use it, too. Trust me, it's for the best."

You tried not to make a face of displeasure as she mentioned the way guys liked to kiss. It was hard enough trying to handle the idea of her kissing you like that, you certainly didn't need the image of her experiencing it with guys firsthand.

"If you insist," you finally muttered in agreement, to which she merely grinned at in excitement.

"Great. You know, you're really gonna need to learn how to 'perfect your craft' in the subtle art of kissing if you want to score a date by the time prom season rolls around, or whatever it is that you dorks say."

The only date I want is you, you couldn't help but think automatically as you envisioned what prom would even look like for you. You'd obviously go with her, but not as a real date, more as a substitute if you weren't able to find a guy to go with.

She'd have no doubt finding one, meaning you'd most likely be third-wheeling her the whole time. As much as you wanted to feel bad at the thought of potentially spoiling her fun, imagining the look on her date's face as you spent the entire evening glued to her side was priceless. Talk about getting cockblocked.

Then again, she didn't seem like someone who'd be entirely against the idea of a threesome, so maybe you wouldn't cling to her so tightly after all.

"Hello, earth calling. What's your home planet like on Mars where you've disappeared off to?" Jennifer's sarcastic voice cut through your thoughts, bringing you back down to reality.

It wasn't prom season yet, neither of you had dates, and you were both sitting on her bed about to practice kissing each other for when the time came that you'd need it. Perfect your craft, or whatever it was that she said.

"Sorry, I was just... thinking about stuff." What a weak excuse. She had to know you were lying, but for once she didn't push you for info. Probably only because she figured you were imagining some kind of boring "nerd thing", as she'd say.

"Guys like it if you're a tease, but don't do it too much or it'll only piss them off. Unless you're into that," she added with a cheeky smirk.

You bit back the immediate urge to blurt out the word "gross" at her advice.

"The most important thing to remember is how you move your lips. You're not just smashing them together with someone else's the same way you did when you played Barbies growing up, you want to try to fit them together perfectly, almost like a really sexy puzzle."

A sexy puzzle? Sometimes her comments made you wonder what you even saw in her in the first place.

"Like this." She moved closer to you on the bed so she could demonstrate. You stayed completely still as she kissed you, indeed moving her lips along yours as if they were made for each other.

"See? It's not so hard once you get the hang of it," she said once she'd pulled away, absentmindedly playing with her hair as she leaned back. "Now you try."

Oh, great. She expected you to initiate a kiss. It was awkward enough for you when she was the one who was doing it, but now you had to.

"Um, okay." You cleared your throat as you slowly shifted over to where she was. Closing your eyes, you leaned in and attempted to kiss her the same way she'd done to you.

She let you take the lead this time, allowing you to kiss her for as long as you wanted to. And once you'd started, it was hard to stop. Even though your lips were only touching hers for a minute or so, it felt like hours.

When you finally pulled away, you felt your face heating up as you realized just how eager you must've seemed to be kissing her for so long. "How- how was that?" You asked nervously as you tried your best to act natural, hoping she wouldn't notice just how affected you were by the kiss.

"That was great. I'm jealous of whoever gets to date you," she teased while giving you a playful shove.

Laughing awkwardly, you decided to play along. "Y- yeah, sure." It was hard for you to imagine wanting to kiss anyone else besides her, let alone date.

Jennifer casually checked her nails as she asked her next question. "You're not currently dating anyone, though, right?" If you didn't know any better, you would've thought that she sounded jealous, but there was no way. She was just overly protective, that was all.

"Uh, no. None of the guys at school really seem to interest me that much," you admitted as you watched her, always finding yourself mesmerized with even the smallest things that she did.

"Good, because let me tell you a lot of the guys at school are either jerks or creeps. Believe me, I know from experience."

It broke your heart to think about her getting mistreated by anyone, let alone by some random guy that she was seeing. "That's awful, Jen. You shouldn't have to go through that." You tenatively reached your hand out to rest on top of yours, half expecting her to scoff and pull it away, like she usually did.

This time, though, she simply allowed it, she voice uncharacteristically soft when spoke. "Yeah, I guess."

You thought about saying something else in order to help comfort her, but you weren't sure what. Eventually you just blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"I could treat you so much better than they could." You didn't know where this sudden burst of confidence came from, but deep down in your heart you knew it to be true. You knew you could treat her so much better than any guy she'd ever hooked up with before in the past.

Her gaze instantly shot up to meet yours the second those words left your mouth. You'd never seen Jennifer look so shocked before, if ever. "What?"

"I- I-" And just like that, your devil-may-care attitude disappeared just as soon as it came. "I- I don't know what I'm saying. I'm just being stupid." You turned away from her as you withdrew your hand, feeling embarrassed.

"No, hey, don't say that." She gently grabbed your shoulder and pulled you back in her direction, placing her hand under your chin so you couldn't look away. "I think we should try that, actually."

"Wh- What?" This time it was your turn to be shocked. You hesitantly met her eyes, which for once lacked their usual mocking glint. They didn't look bitter and mean, only soft and genuine.

"You're really nice, and you really care about me, and you're a really great kisser. If I was going to date anybody here and actually plan on sticking around instead of just bailing the morning after, it would be you." She admitted in a quiet voice, averting her gaze from yours as she spoke.

"Promise?" Your voice came out in a hushed whisper, and while you might've seemed to be frozen in a state of disbelief she knew she couldn't blame you for thinking that. Jennifer wasn't really one for commitment, but that was with other people who she never really cared about. That wasn't ever with you.

"Yeah, I promise." Her eyes flickered back up to meet yours, the both of you holding your breath as you waited for the other to make a move. Time seemed to stand still when you finally decided to lean in and give her a kiss, something you'd done so many times before- but this time felt different. It felt passionate, and full of love, and real.

She kissed you until she lost her breath, the two of you panting from lack of oxygen. "I love you. Like, really, really love you."

Your heart soared at her words, the blossoming love you felt within you growing more and more the longer you spent this moment with her. "I love you too, Jen. I really, really do."

A giggle of delight escaped from her at your words, and she quickly pulled you down onto the bed next to her. "I'm so glad you're my girlfriend now. I'll never, ever let you go."

You'd never seen her look so happy, and it made you proud of yourself for being the one to make her feel that way. Cuddling up close, you wrapped your arms around her and let out a sigh of content. "Me, either."

End notes: this was longer than I meant it to be but I didn't want to rush the plot so 🤷‍♂️

Likes < reblogs | comments are greatly appreciated | requests are currently open

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[sashaasreads]

Love n' London

Harry Styles x Fem Reader

A/N Apologies for the delay! I’ve been busy, but I’m finally getting to upload again. Still no smut—I’m working on finding the right approach to write it without it feeling awkward. Thanks for your patience!

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Y/n grew up dreaming of living in London. Ever since she was a child, the city had fascinated her its vibrant art scene, the music, the historic architecture, and the countless little cafes. So, after graduating from art school, she packed her things and moved to the city, full of ambition and excitement.

She found a job as a curator’s assistant in a small gallery in Soho. It was the perfect job, really she spent her days surrounded by paintings and sculptures, getting to know local artists, and learning how to put together exhibitions. It wasn’t glamorous, but Lena loved it.

One grey October afternoon, y/n was at her usual spot in the gallery. She had just finished adjusting a painting, making sure it was perfectly aligned, when the bell over the door chimed, signaling a visitor. She glanced up to see a figure in the doorway, his frame silhouetted against the dim light outside. He was tall, with a tousled head of curls peeking out from under a beanie, a coat draped over his shoulders.

As he stepped inside, Y/n’s heart skipped a beat. The face beneath those curls was unmistakable Harry Styles, the singer she had admired for years. She had seen him in interviews, photos, and music videos, but nothing compared to seeing him in person.

Harry caught her looking and gave a small, shy smile. She blushed, quickly looking away, pretending to adjust her clipboard. But Harry approached her, offering a charming, friendly "Hello."

Y/n stammered out a greeting, her cheeks flushed as she tried to act calm. "Can I help you with something?"

“Actually,” he said with a little laugh, “I’m here to see some art, but I’d love a guide if you’re available.”

It turned out Harry was in town with a few days off between tour stops and had been wandering through London, exploring its art scene. Y/n walked him through the gallery, explaining each piece. She was passionate about her work, and he seemed genuinely interested, asking her thoughtful questions. They talked about art, music, and their favorite places in London.

After their tour, Harry surprised her by inviting her to a late lunch at a small café nearby. Still in shock, she accepted, and they spent the afternoon laughing and talking as though they’d known each other for years. Y/n found herself opening up to him in a way she rarely did, talking about her dreams, her childhood, and the strange mix of fear and excitement she felt about living in London.

Over the next few weeks, they continued to meet. Harry would drop by the gallery whenever he was free, sometimes bringing coffee or flowers. They would spend hours talking, sharing stories, and discovering new corners of the city together. Y/n soon realized that Harry, for all his fame and glamour, was remarkably down to earth. He seemed genuinely fascinated by her, by her art, by her life. And she, in turn, found herself falling deeper each day.

One crisp evening in November, after a quiet dinner in a little Italian restaurant tucked away in a side street, they found themselves walking along the Thames. The lights of London sparkled on the water, casting soft, dancing reflections. They walked in comfortable silence, fingers occasionally brushing against each other’s.

Harry stopped, turning to face her. His green eyes held a softness that took her breath away.

“y/n ,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “This might sound crazy, but I feel like I’ve known you forever.”

Y/n felt her heart pounding. She wanted to say something, but words seemed too small to capture what she felt. So she simply reached out, taking his hand in hers, and they stood there, the world fading away around them.

As the weeks turned into months, Harry’s tours took him to different cities, but he and y/n stayed in touch, talking late into the night, sharing stories, and sending each other songs and sketches. The distance was hard, but their bond only seemed to grow stronger with time.

Whenever he was back in London, they would pick up right where they left off. They explored every hidden gem in the city together, from art galleries and vintage bookstores to secret gardens and rooftop views. Harry introduced her to his world, taking her backstage at his concerts, letting her experience the thrill and energy of his performances. y/n introduced him to hers, taking him to underground art shows and showing him her latest work.

Their love story was a quiet, steady thing, like the pulse of the city itself. They were each other’s inspiration. Y/n's paintings became infused with new colors and emotions, and Harry’s songs took on a deeper, more soulful tone. She was his muse, and he was hers.

One rainy evening, a few years after they’d first met, Harry surprised her with a visit to the gallery. He was holding an umbrella and looked every bit as dashing as the day she’d first seen him. She was setting up a new exhibit and hadn’t expected him to come. But there he was, standing there with that familiar smile, his eyes shining.

“Harry!” She ran over, and he pulled her into his arms, holding her close.

“I’ve got a surprise for you,” he said, his voice warm and full of excitement. He led her outside and down the street, and before she knew it, they were at a small, empty theater. Inside, a grand piano stood on the dimly lit stage.

He sat down at the piano, motioning for her to sit beside him. Then, he began to play. It was a song she’d never heard before, gentle, heartfelt, each note weaving a story of love, devotion, and all the golden moments they’d shared.

When he finished, he looked at her, his face softened with vulnerability. “I wrote this for you, y/n. You’ve changed my life in ways I can’t put into words.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she took his hand, squeezing it. They didn’t need to say anything; the silence between them spoke louder than words ever could.

That night, in that quiet, empty theater, with only the faint glow of city lights around them, they knew they had found something rare, something lasting. The kind of love that was more than a moment it was a lifetime, etched in songs and sketches, laughter and quiet glances, memories, and dreams.

In each other, they had found a piece of themselves they never knew was missing a love that was as deep as the city they both called home.

[garmrheim]

🎄Santaphale Au collection🎄

Hello! ive had this in my draft forever now and its DUE TIME to make this and post it since ive gotten questions about the au and while i make art theres amazing other creators that has helped built it up in the sandbox and while i make art theres (as of now) three fics from the same universe posted on Ao3 that follows Aziraphale and Crowley in different points in their life. ------

For those that are wondering- the short introduction to it is that the Santaphale universe began over on discord with a handfull of friends that banded together to spin up an elaborate and extensive story featuring Crowley (she/they) around her late 30s in the beginning of the story and down the line she stops aging around her late 40s/early 50s and becomes immortal along with Aziraphale (he/him) , who (looks to be) around 50. He is of half human/elfin nature that makes him a cryptid of his own right with the power he weilds as The Spirit of Hope Through Darkness, Guardian of Childhood Wishes, the God of Winter Gifts, king of the northern elves, also called Sinterklaas or Santa Clause (Thank you salt for that perfect row of titles ) They met on a Christmas night when Aziraphale visits Crowley’s home while delivering presents and after a passionate night, departs after giving her a silver bell with summoning magic to ring if she wants to see him again. Crowley goes to bed, then wakes up thinking it was all a dream til she meets a familiar face a few months later and cue a lovely romance! They later come to live in the North Pole for the second half of every year, and eventually they end up having a small bunch kids that they love and adore and the art and fic follows this entire journey and so much more.

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This will be updated if and when new stuff is added just because i like having it all in one place and id like if you that are introduced to the au with my art has a way to get more! as of right now (december 2024) theres 3 fics published that belongs to this au and i will post their links and information below! i can highly recommend it as they are made by two of the most talented people i know and dear friends that im so happy to share this Santaphale sandbox with along with all the pals in our server hello! i adore you too! Any art that relates to Santaphale that ive done can be found on Bluesky now since i moved completely from twitter. its over on my Family oriented acc called VanadisHeim (that IS 18+ because theres also adult content there) the occasional Santaphale can also be found on my main account called GarmrHeim and any additional art made by my fellow cocreators that is published will also be added here! ✨ Have fun and enjoy! 🎄✨

''Silver bells'' @vaguely-demonic (Vaguelydemonic on Ao3) silver bells (5938 words) by vaguelydemonic Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Good Omens (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens) Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Magic, First Meetings, Crush at First Sight, She/Her and They/Them Pronouns for Crowley (Good Omens), She/Her Pronouns for Crowley (Good Omens), They/Them Pronouns for Crowley (Good Omens), He/Him Pronouns For Aziraphale (Good Omens), Aziraphale (Good Omens) as Santa Claus, Bottom Crowley (Good Omens), Santa Kink, Cunnilingus, Vaginal Fingering, Crowley Has A Vulva (Good Omens), Aziraphale Has a Penis (Good Omens), Squirting and Vaginal Ejaculation, Coming Untouched, Coming In Pants, Mildly Dubious Consent, (previous tag clarified in author's note!), Crowley is vision impaired, Oral Sex, Christmas Smut Summary: It was Christmastime in the city and Mx. Antonia J. Crowley had resigned herself to yet another Christmas spent alone. Like everyone else, all she wanted was to live in a fairy tale world where she could just have her deepest desire purely because she wanted it: a nice big house somewhere quiet and far from the city, a partner to live out her days with, a happy family that loved her as much as she loved them. She'd come to the conclusion many, many failed relationships ago that what she wanted simply wasn't in the cards for her. Instead, her Christmas plans would once again be her, her ragged tabletop tree with a single ornament, and a bottle of wine to help her find sleep… Until there arose such a clatter and Crowley stirred from the sofa to see what was the matter. With a welcome so calm, collected, and pleasant, Crowley finds someone there in her living room, seeking to deliver a present. ------------------------------------------------- '' A Gift to us both '' @definitionsfading (Blackeyedblonde on ao3)

a gift to us both (7376 words) by blackeyedblonde Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens) Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Magic, Christmas, Aziraphale (Good Omens) as Santa Claus, Christmas Smut, Established Relationship, Developing Relationship, Domestic, He/Him Pronouns For Aziraphale (Good Omens), She/Her Pronouns for Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale Has a Penis (Good Omens), Crowley Has A Vulva (Good Omens), Age Difference, Romance, Kissing, Cunnilingus, Oral Sex, Penis In Vagina Sex, Breeding, Impregnation, Knotting, Crying, Confessions, Come Inflation, Mating Press, Pet Names, Tenderness, Aziraphale Has a Large Penis (Good Omens), Size Difference, Bearded Aziraphale (Good Omens), Babymaking, Soulmates, POV Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), Femme Crowley (Good Omens), Lingerie, Fluff and Smut, Ineffable Spouses, Cervix Penetration, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Sex Magic

Summary: “When you say Christmas ‘wish,’ does that mean a five thousand pound gift voucher to the Liberty store in London, or something more in the abstract?” Crowley asks, lightly tweaking the curl of Aziraphale’s mustache. “I need to know the technical parameters of what you’re offering, here.” Aziraphale hums around a little laugh but goes quiet for a few moments to consider the seriousness of what he’s proposing. “You are a passionate person with a good heart and boundless optimism despite the struggles you’ve faced in your life,” he says, stating it matter-of-factly because he considers it to be true. “I’m an unusual figure in the position to grant wishes where I’m able, whether they be material or miraculous. But I suppose what I wanted to hear, if you’d indulge me, was something closer to your heart’s most ardent desire.” Crowley opens her mouth and then closes it again. Azirapahle watches the line of her slender throat as she swallows. “You’re yanking my chain,” she says, laughing as she shakes her head. “Taking the full piss.” “I can assure you I’m not,” Aziraphale says. ______________________________________________________

''Merry&Bright'' @vaguely-demonic (Vaguelydemonic on Ao3)

merry & bright (6814 words) by vaguelydemonic Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Good Omens (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens) Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens), Original Child(ren) of Aziraphale and Crowley (Good Omens) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Magic, Aziraphale (Good Omens) as Santa Claus, Established Relationship, He/Him Pronouns For Aziraphale (Good Omens), She/Her Pronouns for Crowley (Good Omens), They/Them Pronouns for Crowley (Good Omens), Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), Ineffable Spouses, Childbirth, Mild Blood, Bodily Fluids, it's childbirth okay there's gonna be some amniotic fluid, Pregnancy, Chestfeeding, Breastfeeding, Premature Birth, Less than ideal birthing conditions, Christmas, Christmas Party, Family Fluff, ineffable parents, Pregnant Crowley (Good Omens) Summary: When Aziraphale returned to the North Pole at the end of another successful run of delivering toys to the children of the world, the comfort of home was calling his name. A fire crackling away in the hearth. The promise of his beautiful family coming together for their grand holiday celebration later that evening. Crowley waiting sleepily for his late night return so he could slip into bed beside her and rest his palm over her belly, where their newest baby was nearly ready to join them. Truly, there was nothing more he could ever ask to come home to. Crowley and the baby had other ideas. Aziraphale had spent all night delivering gifts to others. It was Crowley's turn to deliver their own Christmas gift, away in a manger.

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TO BE CONTINUED ✨

🎅🤶 👦👧👩🧒🧒👧👧🧒 🎄🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌���

[hannahssimblr]

Seven on the button, and the doorbell rings. I hear it from the garden as I empty the contents on the lawn mower into the bin, grass stains on my new shoes, sweat on my brow. Dad comes to the back door. 

“Bell,” he says. 

“Is it someone for me?”

“I assume so. A young woman.” 

“Didn’t you let her in?”

“No. I spotted her from my office window.”

I scoff. He’s so weird. Why wouldn’t he just answer? I wipe the grass from my hands onto the sides of my shorts, kick my dirty shoes off on the patio, and head down the hallway to the sounds of Ivy plonking on the piano. 

It’s Evie, in her usual denim shorts and a thin green cardigan, hair straight and shiny and wearing a shy smile. Despite seeming slightly frazzled, she looks so nice, like she’s put in effort, unlike me, all grass stains, sweat, and hair that is no doubt sticking up at some wild angle. I run my fingers through it. 

“Oh, hi,” I say. “I didn’t think you’d come so early. I… still have to shower.”

“Oh, God, sorry, am I the first one here?”

“Yeah, but come in, anyway. My sister is just practising for her piano lessons. She hasn’t played all summer.” I roll my eyes as the door clicks behind us. “In case you can’t tell. She’s a bit shite.”

Evie doesn’t respond, but looks around her with those big green eyes taking in her surroundings, skating up the panelled walls to the Georgian coving, the ceiling roses around the lights, all restored, faithful to the original house. It occurs to me to wonder, for the first time, what her home looks like, and the differences between our upbringings that didn’t matter an ounce on our little escapist slice of the beach.

“Do you want tea or something?”

She nods, and I take her through to the kitchen. There, she perches on a stool at the island and rests her elbows, trying not to be so obvious to her gawking. This time, she takes in the kitchen, this bespoke, perfect show-house-like kitchen with all of its integrated appliances, the state-of-the-art hob that’s barely used, the skinny cupboard made specifically for all the herbs and spices that still have the plastic wrap on them. It’s nice, sure, it’s like something from a magazine, but I would prefer this was the type of house that had magnets on the fridge door instead. 

“I’m sorry I’m early,” Evie says with a rueful smile. “I thought you said seven.”

I drop a tea bag into a mug for her. “Yeah, I said seven in the text, but I suppose I should have been more specific.”

“More specific about…?”

“That seven doesn’t actually mean seven, you know? That it means, like, sometime after eight.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you expected me to decode your text.”

I laugh. The misunderstanding was my fault, really, and if I’d thought about it for even a minute, I would have known that Evie, a girl who likely doesn’t go to a lot of parties, wouldn’t know the procedure. I don’t mind that she’s here at all. I am happy to see her, but the fact that she is in my house at the same time as my family is awkward. Every time I hear someone moving about in another room, all my muscles tense up. I cannot bear for her to meet them, and be able to make some kind of judgement about who I truly am through the encounter, or worse, expose herself to their judgement and scrutiny. 

As though on cue, my mother’s heels clack through the hallway, increasing in volume until all I can do is mentally prepare myself for her entrance. I curse under my breath while I fill Evie’s cup with boiling water. 

In freshly pressed trousers, she strides into the room. All jangling keys, and an air of busyness about her, so self-absorbed that it takes a moment for her to realise we have a guest. She stops dead, and surveys Evie in dull surprise. She’s like some kind of wild, feline predator, and witnessing her interactions with people who don’t yet know her ways is excruciating. 

“Oh, hello.”

“Mom, this is my friend Evie. Evie, this is my mom,” I say. 

Evie fidgets in her seat. “Hello missus Turner,” she says, and it’s so polite that I squirm.

Mom lets out a short, percussive laugh. “Oh, no, darling. It’s just Colette. Are you one of those girls from the Holy Faith school?”

“No, actually, I’m not. I’m from Tullamore, in Offaly.” 

Mom’s eyes glaze over so immediately and obviously that I cringe. 

Pulling the tea bag out, I clarify, “She’s one of my friends from holiday.”

“Ah, Shane’s sister.”

Evie picks the mug from the counter and cradles it in her hands. “No, um… No, I’m not.”

“Ah.” She’s already rifling through her handbag. “Jude, have you seen my reading glasses? I haven’t been able to find them all afternoon.”

“Did you check the office?”

“Why would they be in there?”

“I’m just asking, did you check?”

She huffs. “Why would you suggest the office? Why on earth would I have left them there?”

“Because this is your house, and you can go into any of the rooms you like. Sorry if that’s an outrageous suggestion.”

“You know I’m never in there.”

“Well, maybe dad mistook them for his and took them in. I don’t know.”

Evie stares into her mug. I am aware of the atmosphere we’re generating here, my mom and I, but it’s hard not to descend into this childish bickering every time we speak to each other lately. Even seeing her ignites this rage in me, as she is a reminder of the injustices thrust upon me, and every time I see her smug face, I think about the position she has put me in. Dad too, obviously, but I mercifully don’t have to see him outside of occasional mealtimes, and whenever someone makes a noise that disturbs him.

Eventually, mom struts out of the room and flings open the door to the living room, curtly calling on Ivy to get ready to leave, and I thank God. I won’t relax until they do. 

“How’s your tea?” I ask Evie, and she responds with a grateful smile. “It’s lovely, thank you.” I know she’s lying. I don’t know how the nuances of creating drinks I don’t enjoy. There are rules about the correct amount of milk, and how long to brew the tea bag. Maybe I shouldn’t have bashed it around in the cup with such vigour, as though transferring some of my contaminated energy into it. I wonder if she can taste it. 

“That’s good,” I say, and we lapse into a long silence.

Beginning // Prev // Next

Corresponding LG Chapter

[prince-rowan-of-the-forest]

|| A Swallow's Symphony in Spring ||

!! This fanfiction is rated mature!!!! Please heed the warnings and read at your own risk !!

Hello all!! Welcome to my masterpost for this years @tss-storytime !!! I'm so, so excited to share this one with you all! This idea has been in the works for a whole long while now.

Hugeee shout out to @ax3-e0ns for the absolutely BEAUTIFUL ART they've done for my fic <3 which you can find here:

Also huge thanks to @the-princey-pie for all your help with worldbuilding, character design and the fic title itself. Thank you to @sleepy-nova-tea for being an amazing cheerleader and brainstorm buddy and @greymillieattheball for your awesome beta reading <33 I couldn't have done this without you guys!!!!

----

Roman, Prince of Hirundia, and now heir to the throne after the tragic death of his older twin was perfect. He stood up straight, he did as his mother commanded and he said everything that they wanted to hear. Roman was not suffering, because Princes do not suffer. At least not in the eyes of their kingdom. 

A revolution brews in the back alleys and streets while Roman remains unaware, a new Royal guard joins their force as Roman’s personal guard and despite their first impressions he warms up to Virgil quickly, and despite everything, Virgil seems to like him too - but when everything falls apart and the palace is seized by the people, what was Roman supposed to do with the fact that he was in love with a traitor?

----

----

Warnings:

Abuse (physical and psychological), minor animal abuse, controlling/manipulative parents, past malnourishment/talk about starvation, past major character death, past parental death, nightmares. Violence/murder (non-graphic). Unsympathetic OCs, alcohol, 'off screen' execution, depression, ptsd.

This fic does end happily.

Pairings: Romantic Prinxiety, background QPR Loceit, romantic Remile and Thomas/Nico

Word Count: 57,851

----

+ Chapter 1 - Come Wander Quietly +

+ Chapter 2 - And Listen to the Wind +

+ Chapter 3 - Hear the Trumbling in the Stone +

+ Chapter 4 - And Watch the Swallows as they Fly +

+ Chapter 5 - Strike Confusion from your Soul +

+ Chapter 6 - In The Night +

+ Chapter 7 - Come Here and Listen to the Sky +

+ Chapter 8 - Come Walking High +

+ Chapter 9 - Above the Rolling of the sea +

+ Chapter 10 - And will the Swallows Come Again? +

+ Chapter 11 - The Calling of a Hundred Thousand Voices +

+ Chapter 12 - While the Swallows Roam Alone +

+ Chapter 13 - Do you Hear the Angry Bells Ringing in the Night? +

+ Chapter 14 - Do you Hear the Swallows When They've Flown? +

+ Chapter 15 - There is no Sorrow like the Murmur of Their Wings +

+ Chapter 16 - There is no Choir Like Their Song +

+ Chapter 17 - Will Some Loving Ease Your Pain? +

+ Chapter 18 - The Breezes Blow the Petals from your Hand +

+ Epilogue - There is no Power like the Freedom of Their Flight

+

Chapter titles taken from 'Swallow Song' by Joan Beaz

----

Tags: @full-of-roman-angst-trash @your-local-random-dino @cutebisexualmess @glacierreblogs @roseianxiety @bella-bugatti-frogetti-baguetti @scalesfeathersnfur @oatmeal-stans-the-trash-rat @littlerat2 ( if anyone wants to be added, let me know!)

[auliisflower]

TAKE ALL THE LOVE

you’ll be safe in my romance, babe

JANIS IMI’IKE X GN!READER

so this isn’t even a request but i fucking love this song (also i’m writing this instead of studying for my exams but its wtvr)

Y/n had never really been interested in getting in to a relationship. Well, not until her.

Janis Imi’ike

Oh god. Y/n could talk about her for days on end. How she would ink little drawings on her hands when she got bored in History class. Or even the little stickers of eyes and random doodles she had in her locker.

She was something else. And Y/n was intrigued, to a point that even their friends had noticed something different about them. Because how could you not notice someone like her? Janis was smart, funny, incredibly gorgeous, talented, artsy, did she mention gorgeous?

Y/n wasn’t technically a nobody at school. They were a part of the debate club, the book club, Hell, they were even a class representative in the student council. But the feeling that they couldn’t shake off was why did they feel like Janis was the only one who didn’t know they existed at school?

Y/n was pining, hard. Which is weird because they haven’t even made a move on Janis yet. “This is so stupid” Y/n thought.

Fuck it.

Highschool will eventually end anyway, what’s the harm in trying to hit up your hot crush? Y/n decided that they’ll introduce themselves to Janis tomorrow. A bold moment for them, surprisingly. But you gotta work for what you want, right?

Doomsday had already come too soon, Y/n strutted into school heading straight for homeroom to wait for lunch. Y/n and Janis had only ever shared two classes. History and Art. Well today, unfortunately, they had no classes together. So lunch it is.

As soon as the bell rang students flooded the hallways to go to the cafeteria. “Are we really doing this?” Y/n thought, “Yes, stupid. Don’t be a wuss” they argued with themselves as their hands fiddled with their headphone wires.

The cafeteria was packed with students, as per usual. Y/n heard their name being called over at the designated “model student table” which was a bunch of crappy, rich douchebags who only ever got as far as their daddy’s money would take them.

“Hey, Keira” Y/n greeted the Student Council President. Keira nodded in response, “So I was wondering if you could come over to my house after school today?” She questioned Y/n. “I just need some help with that annoying Calculus assignment Mrs. Norbury gave us.” She continued when Y/n hadn’t uttered a word in response.

“Oh.” Y/n squeaked out. “Sure.” They replied shortly, not wanting to waste anytime on talking with someone who only wanted them for their brains.

“Thanks love!” Keira winked at Y/n who uncomfortably shuffled around on their feet. Y/n nodded back to Keira as to end their conversation.

Do you ever get that feeling where you know someone’s watching you but you can’t pinpoint who? Yeah, that’s what Y/n was feeling as their conversation with Keira Oliver ended.

Y/n glanced around the cafeteria full of hungry teens and their eyes landed on the “Art Freaks Table”

Janis.

Y/n’s eyes locked with her big brown eyes for a second before she hurriedly looked over to Damian who she was sitting with. Janis laughed awkwardly and Damian stared at her weird.

Huh.

Cute.

Y/n walked over to their table and stood infront of Janis. Was she blushing? Or was the room just crowded?

“Hi!” Y/n grinned at her. “Oh, um-“ Janis muttered out. “Janis, right?” Y/n continued, smiling sweetly at the shorter girl. Y/n could hear someone clear their throat and immediately greeted Damian. “And Damian, hello.”

“Hi, Y/n, what brings you to the art freaks? What’s a goody-two-shoes like you doing here?” Janis finally got her act together, putting up a cold façade because there’s no way this perfect of a person would come up to her without malicious intent.

Damian shot Janis a “I like them, don’t be rude” look. Y/n cleared their throat and answered “Nothing much, I just wanted to say I really liked your art piece at the convention last Friday night!” Y/n grinned at her.

“Oh. Well, um, thank you!” Janis blushed at the them. Damn they was even prettier up close. “Well, I was wondering if you could maybe help me out with a piece I was doing for our art class. I know you’re the best in art, so I figured you were the right person to ask” Y/n laughed nervously

“Shit, shit, shit, oh my fucking god” they thought internally.

“Oh that thing where we have to do a portrait of self reflection? I’m totally down!” Janis replied to Y/n, her cheeks reddening at how Y/n’s eyes lit up at the response.

“Oh really? Cool! So, um, I’ll just see you after school? Is that okay?” Y/n asked carefully.

“Absolutely! I’ll see you soon, Y/n” Janis grinned up at them. God they were so cute. Y/n smiled sheepishly and replied “Thanks, Janis” carefully brushing their hand lightly against Janis’ on the lunch table.

As they walked away, Janis let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding. “So you and that hottie, huh?” Damian giggled at her.

“Dude, shut up!” Janis smacked him lightly on the shoulder.

Keep me guessing but don’t keep me waiting for us.

(Hello gays so there will be a part two to this so don’t worry guys!!!! I just have like no motivation rn but I swear I’m trying my best forgive me rn plz)

[lualuabestningdungie]

Our hearts | C. Yeonjun

Genre: fluff, sunshine x grumpy trope

Pairing: sunshine!reader x grumpy!yeonjun

Warnings: Yeonjun might ignore reader for a short time and might be kinda mean, mentions of death, car crash, not proofread, might contain grammar mistakes, English is not my first language.

Word count: 3k

Lua’s note: Hi hi! Since a lot of people seem to like Warm up| Taehyun x reader, I decided to write more of this grumpy x sunshine trope !! So here you have a Yeonjun one :)

Everyone turned to look at you when the teacher assigned you to be partners with him.

Everyone tried to avoid him because he avoided everyone.

He was always alone and never cared in talking to anyone or making friends. It was just him. He always had a mysterious aura with him making him intimidating. Some people said that when they tried to talk to him he would just stare at them without saying them as if he was waiting for them to leave him alone.

You tried to stay positive and ignore all those things people said. You were known for being friendly and kind to everyone. You tried to be friends with everyone so no one would feel alone or excluded. So you thought it wouldn’t be hard with him.

After your teacher assigned all partners, you went to sit on the empty chair in front of his and turned to face him.

“Hi! I’m yn!” You gave him a bright smile expecting he would return it, but he didn’t even glance at you. His eyes were glued to his notebook in which he was drawing something. “You like to draw? Are you in the art club?”

He sighed and stopped moving his pencil, he looked up at you and sighed. Was he doing what everyone said he did? Look at you until you leave? Maybe. But we’re you going to do it? No.

“You’re not going to talk, huh? It’s okay! You don’t have to if you don’t want to! I don’t want you to feel pressured.” You smiled at him. “Let’s check the assignment.”

He was taken aback by this, “why didn’t she leave?” He thought. After thinking for a few seconds he took out his book to check the assignment.

“Okay, so we need to make some research about these two topics. We can work on them together so we have less work.”

“I’ll work on this one, you do the other one.” He responded dryly.

“Oh, are you sure? We can do it together so it can be easier-“ you started talking but he interrupted.

“Yes, I am sure.” He said and returned his sight to his book.

“Okay then.” You sighed.

Class ended and you went to meet with your friends in the school’s courtyard.

“I’m sure you can ask Mr. Lee to change partners with someone.” Your friend Chaewon said.

“I don’t know Chae, I don’t really mind him being my partner.” You tried to stay positive. You only wanted to finish your assignment and get a good grade.

“Are you sure? He’s really mean…” your other friend, Yunjin, said. “You have a sensitive heart, if he hurts you I’ll punch him in the face.”

“I don’t have a sensitive heart, and don’t punch him?” You said smiling. “I can manage, okay?”

You continued having lunch with your friends until the bell rang and you went to your next class.

The school day ended and you were walking home. You normally took the bus, but today the weather was perfect for a walk so you decided to take it.

In your way home you saw your childhood’s park. You spent hours in there playing in the swings with your brother and neighbors, you smiled at the memory. You sat on a bench and admired the view, it was cloudy and the city was covered in fog, but you enjoyed it.

You saw someone walking towards another bench that was close to a tree. You realized it was Yeonjun, so you decided to say hello.

“Hi Yeonjun!” You said loudly so he could hear you from his bench. You waved and smiled enthusiastically.

He rolled his eyes and let out a sarcastic smile. You obviously noticed it but you still went to sit beside him.

“Do you come here often? I love this park! I used to come here when I was a kid.” You said once you sat down.

He simply nodded. “I guess I like it.”

“That’s great! Were you on your way home?” You asked with the same enthusiastic tone.

“Why do you ask so many questions? It’s none of your business.” He sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Well I thought it would be nice to talk about something, you know? Since we are friends now!” You smiled at him. You were a little hurt at his comment but it didn’t stop you.

“Friends? We just met today, when did I even agreed to be friends with you?” He said in a serious tone.

“Well, i thought that we could be friends since we are partners-“ he interrupted you.

“We’re partners. Not friends.” He said coldly.

“Oh… it’s okay” you were now hurt. You looked down at your feet.

He stood up and left you there.

Your heart ached a little. You were only trying to be friendly. Was I to intense? I shouldn’t have asked him so many questions… I just wanted to talk to him. I didn’t want to force him into being friends with me..

You usually never overthink about your personality. But now you were questioning everything about it. You thought that maybe you pressured people into being friends with you when they really didn’t want to.

When you got home you greeted your mom and went to your room. You started to work in your homework and other assignments you had. But you couldn’t stop thinking about what he said.

No one had ever told you something like that. But you tried to understand that not everyone wants to be friends.

Days passed and you went to the bus station early one morning and took the bus. Once you arrived to school you saw your friends leaning against their lockers so you walked towards them.

“Hey guys.” You greeted them. You didn’t want them to notice your gloominess, but they’re your best friends, of course they noticed.

“Hey love, you look weird…” Yunjin said looking at you with a worried expression.

“Wow, thanks Jen…” you chuckled.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” You smacked your arm playfully. “You just don’t look like yourself. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. I’m just tired.” You said while putting your head on Chaewon’s shoulder.

“You didn’t sleep last night?” She asked and placed her arm around your shoulders.

“Not really… I was overthinking all night, I couldn’t sleep well.”

“What has you so worried, love?” Yunjin said and you closed your eyes and sighed.

“Do you think I’m intense sometimes? Do you think I force people I to being my friends?” You lowered your gaze and your friends looked at you surprised.

“Yn, what are you talking about? Of course you’re not!” Chaewon said pulling you into a hug.

“Why are you saying that? It was him right? He told you those things?” Yunjin said getting angry but you shook your head.

“No, no. I just thought about it I guess…” you said trying to come up with an excuse.

“But you never think about that! You e said it yourself.” Chaewon added.

“Well, there’s always a first time…”

Your friends looked at each other worriedly. They knew this was about Yeonjun, and they were going to find a way to help you.

You were heading to the library, were Yeonjun normally passed his breaks. He didn’t asked you to meet him there, but you needed to finish your assignment.

When you entered the library you saw him and other two guys standing in front of him, which was weird. You walked closer to where they were to listen what they were talking about. You realized the two guys were the school bullies. They normally didn’t pick up on Yeonjun, but this time they did.

“What? You don’t talk or something?” One of them said scoffing. Yeonjun only stared at the notebook in front of him without saying anything.

One of the guys took his notebook and looked at his drawings. Yeonjun stood up quickly and tried to take his notebook back.

“Give it back you idiot.” Yeonjun said angrily.

“Oh so now you’re talking. There must be something in here you don’t want us to see, right?” He smirked and looked at the pages.

“What’s this? Isn’t this yn?” Both of them stared at the notebook. “You like her or something? Or are you just a stalker?”

Your eyes widened. Did he drew me? Well that didn’t matter now. You needed to help him. He might not be your favorite person right now, but they were bothering him. You walked to were they were and stood beside the two guys.

“Hey, what are you doing?” You said looking at them. “I think that’s not yours, don’t you know it’s rude to take other people’s stuff without their consent?” Before they could answer you took the notebook out of their hands and gave it back to Yeonjun.

“Oh, yn… he’s your friend now?” One of them said and looked at you with a smile. “Did you know that this guy over here has a drawing of you?” Yeonjun’s cheeks turned red and lowered his gaze.

“Hmm… I didn’t know that, but I’m sure the drawings are really good, Yeonjun’s a very good artist.” You said looking over at Yeonjun. “You can leave now, we have an assignment to finish and you’re waisting our time.” You waved goodbye and gave the two of them a sarcastic smile.

The two guys left annoyed by your comment. You turned to see Yeonjun packing his things.

“Where are you going?” You said confused.

“I’m leaving, I can’t be here anymore.” He said without looking at you.

“But they’re gone! They won’t bother you anymore.” You tried to make him stay but he had already packed all his stuff.

“You didn’t have to stand up for me, I could’ve done it myself. You’re only going to make it worse.” Yeonjun finally looked at you. He had an angry expression, and you could sense his cold attitude.

“I only wanted to help-“ you started but he interrupted you.

“I don’t need your help, I don’t need you. Stop looking for me.” He left the library and you stood there. Your heart hurt again and you took your bag again and left too.

When classes ended you decided to walk home instead of taking the bus, you needed time to think. You put on your headphones and started walking.

Your thoughts were as loud as the music, so it was hard to hear your surroundings. You continued walking, you waited for your turn to cross the street.

You were in the middle of the road and you didn’t notice what was happening until you feel an arm pulling you backwards and falling into the ground. In front of you, a bus drove past you at very high speed making you gasp.

You looked behind you and saw Yeonjun still holding your arm. Your heart skipped a beat. You were still recovering from what jsut happened, you basically saw your whole life before your eyes for a second. Your mind was fuzzy and you couldn't hear anything, it was like everything was a blur.

Suddenly, Yeonjun pulled you up by the arm and you woke up from your trance. He was looking at you with a worried expression but his words were loud as he pulled you to the sidewalk.

"Are you crazy? Why did you cross the street before the light turned red! You could've died!" He was talking angrily, but his eyes were filling with tears. You were still schocked with what happened, I almost died...

You didn't answer, you moved closer to him and hugged him. He stiffened with your touch but he didn't move. He let you hug him, but he didn't hug you back. You started sobbing and his heart softened. If soemthing like this wouldn't have happened, you would definitely wouldn't be hugging him, not after what happened in the library. But he saved you. He could've just let you, but he didn't. And he had his reasons.

Tears fell from Yeonjun's eyes as he remembered how his best friend died in a car accident while walking in the street. His heart ached at the memory of this. He couln't do anything to save his best friend, but he was able to save you.

"Thank you, Yeonjun..." You sniffed as you pulled away from the hug. He looked down at you. His eyes were puffy and his cheeks were tear-stained like yours.

"Please be careful..." He said quietly as a tear fell down from his eye. He looked away and moved back. He was going to start walking away but you stopped him.

"Do you mind if I... walk with you?" You were ready to receive a 'no' as an answer, but you still tried. He nodded in response and you walked to his side.

You walked in silence. Both of you were immersed in your own thoughts. You arrived to the park were you saw Yeonjun a few days ago. The both of you sat on a bench and stared into space.

"I'm sorry." The silence was interrupted by Yeonjun's voice. You turned to look at him. "I know you were trying to be nice, I'm sorry for what I said. You're not annoying at all." You were surprised by his words. "You remind me a lot of someone... someone I lost a few years ago. They were like you. Always smiling and willing to help others." He fidgeted with his hands, and took a deep breath. "My best friend died in a car accident a few years ago... I saw everything and I couldn't do anything to help. It has been haunting me ever since...and today I saw you there and I..." His voice broke and teard filled his eyes again. He had never opened to anyone like this. "I had to do something..." Yeonjun knew he didn't need to give explanations about his past, but for some reason he felt like he needed to tell you.

"Yeonjun...I'm very sorry." Your heart broke with what he told you. You weren't sure what to do or what to say. "Thank you for telling me this... and don't worry about what happened today at the library. It's okay..." You looked at him and your gaze softened.

"It's not. I'm sorry, I don't like being like this, but I can't help it. I'm afraid of being close to someone again. I don't think I would be able to handle losing someone again..." Yeonjun sighed and you nodded.

"I get it. But don't be sorry about it. It's not your fault. And if you need someone to talk to, I'll be here for you. I know we just met a few days ago, but I want to help you. I don't want you to go through this alone. So please, let me be there for you." You reached for his hand to comfort him. He looked at your hand holding his and then looked at you.

He nodded. "Thank you, yn."

After that day, Yeonjun and you started getting closer. You told your friends what happened and they understood and supported the idea of you getting closer to Yeonjun.

You did finish your assignment and passed it whit an A.

Every afternoon, Yeonjun and you spent time together at the park. Some days you places a blanket on the grass and sat with him to talk, other days you layed on the grass to see the clouds until the sky got dark and you could see the stars. Other days you were at your house sitting on the floor of your living room with Yeonjun teaching you how to draw.

You got to know him better, and it made you really happy that he opened up more and started looking more happy. He didn’t ignore people anymore and he started talking more. You loved it when he smiled, he still was a little cold but not with you.

Yeonjun felt free when he was with you. He could be himself with you. He felt how his heart healed every time he was near you. He loved to listen to you talk, he could do it for hours.

Everyone else was surprised when they saw you two together talking normally and laughing. They said that you saved him from being serious and cold. A lot of rumors started spreading, but you didn’t care. All you cared about was being with him.

You didn’t noticed when you started falling for him. It was a spring day and the both of you were watching a movie in your house.

“I love this character so much, they’re amazing.” You said with your eyes glued to the screen pointing at the character.

“Oh yeah, they’re cool. I like them too… but you know who else I like?” You turned to look at him waiting for him to continue. “You.” He smiled and turned back to the screen leaving you very surprised, but you took this chance to respond.

“Funny thing you mention that, I actually like you too.” Yeonjun’s eyes widened, he was definitely not expecting that. You smiled and continued watching the movie.

That day, your hearts were tied together.

—

[spicyicetea]

To change a thief’s heart

Yandere Persona 5 X Reader

Chapter 1: What a nice coffee

Art by Anastasiya Osichkina

Warning: This story is a yandere x reader story and will contain obsessive, violent and inappropriate behaviour. This story will eventually contain NSFW and various kinks, decently large age gaps and potentially triggering themes so please only read at your own discretion. MDNI

I took the final sip of the warm coffee/tea as the bell above the door jingled. The soft thudding of shoes filled the shop as I placed the cup down and fished around in my bag for my wallet. The cup was almost completely refilled by the time I had placed the cup back on the saucer.

“Ah, you’re back, and you brought your friends. Don’t make a mess or bother the customers alright?” A voice said as I looked to the door at the group of people in uniform.

“Oh? I had no idea you knew people who went to Shujin. You should’ve told me Sojiro, you know I’ve been looking into the Kamoshida incident…” I mumbled puffing my cheeks out.

He just chuckled as he turned to face the group in the doorway. With a flick of the wrist he motioned them in and they gathered around the counter. A girl with pale blonde pigtails messed with her hair before looking at Sojiro.

“Is this your girlfriend mr Sakura?”

I coughed on my coffee and spun to look at them. He laughed, taking the now spilt coffee away from me. After patting my back a few times he put the cloth he had been cleaning with down.

“No, this is Miss Y/N, she’s an… old friend of mine.”

“Hey! I’m not that old Sojiro,” I laughed, standing up from the stool I was on. Fixing my hair, dusting off my sweater vest while smiling at the group. I offered my hand to the central black haired person. “Hello, my name is F/N L/N, I take it you’re the one staying upstairs.”

“Uh, how did you-“

Sojiro interrupted the boy with a hearty chuckle.

“She’s always been like that, people used to think she’s psychic when she first started getting coffee here.”

“So you come here often? I’ve never seen you here before…” The girl questioned.

“Oh, I’ve been away on business. I’m a detective investigating the strange mind breaking incidents. Recently I’ve heard about those Phantom thieves and I think their recent acts are similar and potentially their methods could be linked to the mind breaks.”

“Wait! You for real believe they’re behind it?!”

“No, but I do believe learning their methods could help understand who is abusing this strange phenomenon to murder people.”

“So do you think that the Phantom thieves are… just?” The black haired one said.

I smiled as I slung my bag over my shoulder. “I think those who can view mementos should use their powers for good. So yes, I think they are.” I say before leaving, not missing the shocked face the boy had.

As I left I turned as the black haired person held a boon I had been reading to me. I thanked him and bowed before he said it was unnecessary. He seemed to be holding something back so I just smiled and ran a hand through my hair.

“Your name is Akira, correct?”

His eyes widened and he just nodded.

“I won’t ask you upfront, I know even if you had the answer I suspected you wouldn’t answer truthfully. But, I think I could help you… but I’d need something in return. You were involved in the Kamoshida incident, correct?”

“Do you want to use me for information? Like an interrogation?”

“No, it’s just… my boss is putting pressure on me to find the phantom thieves… he wants them arrested.”

“You want my help to find them?”

“… His name is Akihiro Junpei, he treats the station and all of his colleagues as slaves. He believes that place is his Mansion and we’re just his servants.”

His phone buzzed and he looked at it with wide eyes. Bingo, a perfect hit. I spun on my heel and walked off. It’s going to be fun playing cat and mouse with the phantom thieves.

[brokeitwiththepowerofmathamatics]

Fanfic - Ghost of the Cards

This was written for a "back to school" fic challenge on a DP server I'm in. It was beta read by HeroineofTime!

For the challenge, we had to write a fic that was around going back to school, and had to include in some way homework, detention, backpack, friends, and bells.

(ao3 here) (ff.net here)

Danny knew that Dash and the A-Listers would probably try to find some way to make his life miserable, but he had to admit this was actually kind of funny.

Danny huffed as he ran up to the school doors. Yes, he could have just flown in using his ghost powers while invisible, then pop out of one of the bathroom stalls or something, but after the summer vacation, and the multitude of close calls of almost being caught by… well… everyone… (no Jazz, he was not being careless because he wanted to be caught and freed from the burden of secrecy) he decided not to risk using his powers at school today.

In retrospect, that didn't help anything.

Danny walked through the school doors, he was greeted by the sight of one of the lunchroom tables laid out in the school entryway. Star and Paulina were sitting at the table, greeting all the students as they came in, and handing out little boxes.

Danny resolved himself to ignore it, but he didn't get a chance to.

"Hey! Fenton!" Star called out. Danny sighed and walked over. Star glanced over at Paulina and the two of them started giggling.

Danny already had a bad feeling but now it was worse. "Hey, Star," he greeted.

"Hello!" Star said, sitting up straight. Her posture was perfect, not leaning in any friendly manner, but she wasn’t leaning away like she normally would. (At least, while people could see her) "Here! Take this!" she said, handing him one of the boxes. Her voice was oddly chipper for a typical interaction with him. "The art club kept meeting over the summer, and we came up with something fun! The teachers are all helping out with this!"

"Uh… thanks? What is it?" Danny asked, tilting the box over in his hands. It was a cardboard box that was printed to look like the outside of Casper High, with a large ‘TCG’ floating over the school's name. There was also a piece of masking tape on the back, that Danny noticed wasn't on the others.

This box had been marked for him.

"It's a card game! You should know all about those!"

Danny sighed. "Not really? Look, I know I'm a nerd, but I like video games and space." Danny shook the box around. "Card games haven't been my thing."

Star rolled her eyes. "Whatever, look, I gotta keep handing these out." She looked past him and raised her hand. "Kwan! Over here!"

Where Kwan was, Dash soon followed, so Danny dashed away.

Danny checked where his locker was supposed to be, before running up the stairs to the top floor. Fighting the urge to pump a fist as he did so. Not only was it the top floor, but it was close to a janitor closet, and in a dead end part of the school. Not many people would be coming by here unless it was specifically to drop stuff at their locker, or go to the history teacher's room that was on the other side of the wall.

And more importantly, Sam and Tucker were apparently next to him as well.

Thank Clockwork for small mercies.

"You're welcome," Tucker said as he took a stack of cards from Sam.

"Don't mention it, I don't want to see it, I don't want to hear about them, and the moment I’m allowed to get my hands around Paulina’s little neck I’ll-"

Danny jogged up and interrupted their conversation. "Whoa, what's going on?" he asked. He couldn’t help but be proud of himself, this was about as far as you could get from the school entrance, and despite jogging the whole way, he wasn’t out of breath at all. Apparently, the early morning jogs with Sam were actually helping.

Sam whirled toward Danny, and then zero'd in on the box in his hands. "It's that stupid card game that Star and Paulina started.” she spat, pointing at it with about as much hate as she had for the pink dresses her mother kept buying her. “They started with- hey wait, Danny, don't-"

But, Danny kept opening the box. "I just want to see what the big deal is." He opened the box as Sam stammered. She opened and closed her mouth multiple times before giving up and biting down on a knuckle.

The box contained several booster packs of cards, each wrapped up in foil, and a booklet that was probably the game rules. In all honesty, Danny was impressed. He wasn't a connoisseur of playing cards or anything, but this seemed very much like the cards he'd see at the big box stores.

Danny tore up the first pack and looked at the cards. He frowned when he saw the first card that greeted him was a picture of Dash. It was a picture of his bully at what was probably last year's homecoming football game, with two golden stars above it. Underneath the picture were two boxes, one with a red sword along with a 5, and another with a blue shield with an 8. At the bottom of the card was a big box saying, "Teamplayer, for every other card on the field with the text teamplayer on, this card gains 1 power and 1 toughness."

Danny rolled his eyes and flipped through the cards. Obviously the reason why this box was marked wasn't because he was supposed to see Dash's ugly mug. Sam continued to stare nervously as Danny went through the cards.

Danny paused on another card, this one wasn’t a photo, but a drawn art piece of Ember. Instead of the stars, there was a green letter ‘G’ above the picture. Ember had a 10 for the sword, and the shield had a 10 as well.

At the bottom of her card was a similar box as Dash’s card. “Leader, when this card is played, take a card from your hand and put it in one of the lanes next to this card. It must follow normal summoning rules.”

Danny huffed. “Ember would hate this card, she doesn’t do duets.” The comment got a laugh out of Tucker but Sam continued to look nervous. She wouldn’t be worried if it was a ghost (other than him) being upset, that meant this wasn’t what had gotten under her skin. So, Danny continued flipping through the cards.

Then he found it.

It was a picture of him, looking panicked. Danny recognized it as around one of the times Skulker really had it out for him from last year during prom. His card was lacking any of the stars, but it also had a big fat 0 next to the power and toughness stats.

The only saving grace to his card was the bottom text, which Danny read aloud. "Moving on, when this card dies, play another card."

The hall was silent for a moment as Danny processed what he was seeing. Sam reached out carefully towards Danny, almost like she was afraid he'd break down in front of him.

Danny couldn't take it anymore.

He started laughing. Full blown laughs, the ugly ones that made you wheeze cause you weren't able to breath properly.

"Danny?" Sam asked, bewildered.

"Oh my gosh, this is perfect!" Danny got out before gasping for air. "I can't believe- oh my god- they did- I can't- I can't breathe, oh my god I can't breathe! I'm laughing too hard!"

"Okay, Danny, seriously…" Sam said, folding her arms and tapping her foot against the ground. "This isn't funny."

Danny took several big gulps full of air. "Sam, it's really funny." Sam continued to glare and Danny leaned forward and whispered. "Sam, my card's power is going ghost." He frowned. "Wait, do you think-"

"That the A-Lister's know?" Tucker interrupted, shuffling his cards around, "Nah, if they did, Dash would be worshiping the ground you walk on, not talking about how he can't wait to see your face when you see your card."

"I think he's gonna be pretty disappointed."

Sam huffed and leaned against the lockers. "You're both taking this pretty well considering the school is basically systematically bullying Danny." She turned toward Danny and her eyebrows rose slightly. "I'm gonna be honest. I'm not okay with this. I'm not. I know you're saying it's funny, but Danny… the school made a card that said your only purpose is to die… That's really messed up."

Danny shrugged and checked that no one was coming down the hall before shoving his hand through his locker door and hanging up his backpack. "I mean, they're not wrong."

"Danny!"

Danny turned to face Sam. "Sam, I'm a straight D student… I'm also the-" Danny checked the hall again and still didn't see anyone coming around the corner, "-the local super hero. Literally, my superpower is to die on command. It's really exactly wrong... Also, where is everyone else? School starts in like… thirty minutes doesn't it?"

Sam's eyes narrowed and she turned toward Tucker, Tucker however was laughing. "Jazz moved your clocks ahead so you'd make it on time. We got like an hour and half."

"What! I can't believe she'd do that!" Danny paused then shrugged. "Well, actually I can and I think that's worse."

Sam reached over and pulled on Danny's arm. "I'm not letting this drop," she said, holding eye contact with Danny and holding onto his wrist. Her grip was surprisingly tight, and her arm was shaking slightly. "It's not okay that the school did this, you know? You're allowed to be mad about it."

"I'm not though! Sam, I really don't care."

"Well, fine, but I do… I'm not okay with them doing this. I'm gonna tear the school a new one," she said, grabbing Danny's arm with her other hand. "When I get home, I'm talking to my grandma and I'm finding the best lawyer I can and then Mr. Lancer can kiss every bonus he'd ever get goodb-"

Danny sighed and put a hand on Sam's shoulder, interrupting her litigious rant. "Sam, aren't you the one always telling me not to worry about what other people think?" His hand slid from the top of her shoulder as he ran his hand up and down her arm, trying to get her to calm down.

Sam shook her head, though she leaned into his touch. "This is very different, and you know it,” she whispered.

"Hey, guys?" Tucker interrupted from his spot on the floor. "I hate to end this tender moment, but it gets better." Tucker waved the booklet around in front of Danny and Danny snatched it out of his hands.

Danny read for a few moments before his eyes went wide. "Oh… oh!"

Tucker smiled and started nodding. "You're seeing it too, aren't you?"

"Dude, there's no way-"

"I read the whole thing back to back, yeah, no, it's EXACTLY what you're thinking it is!"

Sam frowned. "What on earth are you guys-"

"Danny!" The trio turned around to see Jazz marching up to them. "Danny, did you-" She froze as she saw the rule book in Danny's hands. "Oh, you opened the pack, didn't you?"

Danny waved the cards around. "Yeah, I did. Why?"

Jazz frowned and straightened her back. "Cause I did too, and I got one of your cards."

Danny perked up. "Really? Can I have it?"

Jazz took a step back, and folded her arms across her chest. "Uhh…" She glanced up at Sam who walked over to Jazz's side. "No?" it shouldn't have sounded like a question, but it definitely did.

"He's already seen it," Sam groaned. "I'm telling him he can be mad about it-"

"Guys, guys, listen, my card's power is dying. It's objectively hilarious."

Jazz glared at Danny. "No, the card is… I mean… it's…" Jazz's righteous anger slowly fizzled out as she stammered, unsure of exactly what she was saying. Obviously she knew the implications of what the card was saying, but she didn't want to say it herself.

"Wait, wait…" Danny interrupted, shaking his hands about in the air. Before he pointed at Jazz and raised his voice. "You moved my clocks forward! I could have been sleeping!"

Jazz rolled her eyes. "You'll be thankful since you can actually get your textbooks because you got here on time." She huffed and ran a hand through her hair. "Danny, I really don't think you're getting how serious this is."

This time it was Danny's turn to roll his eyes. "The A-Listers made a stupid card game, tried to make a joke about me being useless, accidentally made a joke that is so accurate that probably every single one of us has wondered if the secret is out." At that, everyone else suddenly refused to make eye contact.

"I mean…" Tucker began scratching under his beret.

Sam coughed. "Paulina for all her faults is pretty observant."

Jazz huffed. "It's better than what this actually is."

Danny just raised an eyebrow at them and folded his arms. The silence stretched for a moment before Sam walked up to Danny. "Danny, you're my best friend. Sorry Tuck, no offense."

"Some taken," Tucker responded cheerfully.

"And because you're my best friend, I don't care if you are or aren't bothered by the stupid card. 'Cause I am. The school told my best friend he was worthless, and I'm not okay with that. Maybe they didn't mean that, maybe it just slipped through. But that's what this looks like to me, and probably looks like to all the kids in the school."

"Except for all the card nerds," Tucker chimed in.

"What?" Jazz asked, turning towards Tucker. "Why?"

Instead of an answer, the four of them jumped as screams came from down the stairs. The four exchanged glances before running down the stairs. They followed the screams and fleeing students back towards the school entrance, where almost everyone was fleeing from a terrifying ghost.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"

Terrifying if you hadn't been paying attention the entirety of last year, that is.

Five students groaned, Tucker, Sam, and Jazz all turned to see that Valerie had appeared. The four of them froze as one, realizing they were not as alone as they thought they were, and they started to think about how to get the others to leave so that one of the two ghost hunters here could fight the ghost in peace.

Except Danny was not having it.

"For the love of fudge and Clockwork!" Danny shouted, marching towards the Box Ghost. He snatched up one of the card boxes as he marched toward the floating annoyance. "You, Box Ghost. I have a box here, a shiny cardboard box. I give you this, you leave. Okay?"

The Box Ghost floated closer to Danny. "That is indeed a splendid box most shiny…" The Box Ghost mused as he rubbed his chin. Inspecting the box for blemishes and appropriate squareness.

Danny reached up and grabbed the Box Ghost by his shirt, pulling him down to eye level. He then whispered to him, "If you don't take the box and make like a ghost and disappear, then the next time Phantom sees you, he's gonna shove his fist so far down your throat you'll be tasting rubber for the rest of your afterlife.” The Box Ghost’s eyes widened, perhaps sensing that Danny was very much serious. He snatched the box out of Danny’s hands before floating back out of reach. “HA HA, the BOX GHOST accepts your tribute! He shall now go far away and uncover the secrets of your mysterious cardboard-!”

“We get it,” Danny growled.

The Box Ghost jumped back about three feet, before shouting, “BEWARE!” as a final farewell, and then flying through the walls.

Danny huffed and wiped his hands on his jeans before turning back towards his friends. He took two steps before he heard someone say, “Fenton?”

Danny turned to see Star peeking at him from behind an overturned table, apparently that was the source of the spilled boxes that Danny had picked from. Good to see that the training from the last year or so had stuck when dealing with ghosts. Danny reached down and picked up a couple of the boxes. Of the three he grabbed, one had masking tape on the back of it, like the one that had been given to him.

Danny juggled the boxes around to get a free hand to lift the table back upright. “I don’t know why you two are freaking out, it’s just the Box Ghost…” At their incredulous looks and Jazz clearing her throat behind him, Danny coughed and quickly added, “I mean… even I’ve stopped running from the Box Ghost over the summer.”

Star and Paulina looked at each other as Danny put the boxes down, though the marked box he kept. He ran his fingers over the masking tape and then gave a pointed look at each of them. Paulina looked at the box then at Danny, before recognition lit up in her eye. It was replaced a moment later as she realized that he knew what that meant. Her eyes widened and she glanced at Danny’s friends. Tucker and Valerie were picking up boxes, but Sam and Jazz were steadfastly not.

If looks could shoot ectoblasts, Paulina and Star would have gone ghost right there.

Paulina took a step back as Star held out a hand for the box, giving him her nicest, warmest, and fakest smile. “Well, thanks, Fenton!”

Danny pulled back and said, “I’m keeping this one.”

Star’s smile dropped just slightly. “Oh? But you already got one?”

Danny tapped on the masking tape with his index finger. “It’s got my card in it, doesn’t it?” At that Star’s smile dropped and her eyes went wide. Danny turned around and started walking away. He walked over to where Valerie, Jazz, Tucker, and Sam were all talking. “Hey, Valerie!” Danny greeted.

Valerie shifted uncomfortably. Glancing between him and the others.“Hey, Danny,” she greeted back hesitantly. Before he could ask what was bothering her, she barreled on. “What’s that about your card?”

Jazz turned toward Danny as he started tearing into the box. “The school made that card game, and everyone has a card.” She explained. “The A-Listers used the opportunity to try and bully Danny.”

“What?” Valerie gasped.

“Sweet!” Danny exclaimed after tearing open the packs. “I got two of mine!” He held them up in victory, but Valerie snatched them out of his hand. “Hey! Give me those! I fought a ghost for them!”

Valerie scoffed. “Yeah, right. Anyone with a brain can deal with the Box Ghost.”

“Which explains why the A-Listers were hiding from him.”

Valerie did not continue the quippy back and forth, instead her jaw dropped as she read the card. “Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”

“I don’t make a habit of lying,” Sam lied. Lying was second nature to all of them at this point, though Danny would admit he still wasn’t good at thinking on his feet. “The card’s only purpose is to get on the field and die.”

Danny snatched the cards back. “Guys, you’re making it out to be so much worse than it is.”

Valerie whirled on Danny. “Danny! This is awful! Look, I’ve looked past a lot of Star and Paulina’s stuff, but this is bad…”

Danny shuffled through the cards. “Guys, seriously drop it. I’m sure the A-Lister’s weren’t thinking, cause if they were they wouldn’t have made my card so strong.”

Everyone except for Tucker, who had actually read the rule book, looked at each other confused and managed to ask, “What?”

Then the doors of the building got thrown open. Some people screamed and dove for cover, others started running without thinking, while a few others turned to look at the new threat.

Maddie Fenton walked into the school building with fire and fury behind her. Her eyes sweeped the entrance hallway before falling on Jazz and Danny. She marched over to them, and Danny immediately went ramrod straight as he recognized just how pissed she was. He hadn’ seen her this mad since he had broken the vase she had bought.

(In his defense, it was haunted.)

“Jazz, sweetie,” she began, her voice icy cold. “May I see what you were calling about?”

Jazz produced one of the cards and handed it over to her mother. “Yeah, I got one right here.”

Danny opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better of it as he saw the look on his mother’s face. She growled and turned. “Come along kids, I’m going to have a talk with the school principal, right now.”

No longer in his mom’s sight, Danny found his voice, though his feet followed after her like a duckling. “Mom, please, listen to me. This is not that big of a deal!”

“I think I’ll be the judge of that, sweetie.”

“No, seriously!” Danny turned to Jazz as his mom marched through the school halls. “Jazz, please back me up!”

Jazz sighed and gave him a look like he should know better. “Danny, I’m the one who called her over this.”

Danny tried to argue his case with both of them, but made no progress. It wasn’t much longer before Danny was running a hand down his face as his Mom towered over Principal Ishiyama. “I would like to speak to whoever was in charge of the school’s card game.”

The principal looked behind her at Danny (who was mouthing an apology) and Jazz (who was trying to develop ghost powers to immolate someone with her brain) before meeting her gaze. “Uh… is there a problem?”

“Yes,” Maddie stated. “The teacher?”

“Well, the card game was made by the school’s art club so-”

“The art club has a supervisor. Who. Is. It.” There was no inflection in her words, Danny had heard her speak kinder to the ghosts she had captured.

The principal wavered for a moment before reaching over to her phone. She pressed a few buttons before the school’s P.A system turned on. “Would Mr. Lancer please come to the principal’s office immediately?”

“Sit, children.” Maddie ordered, and Danny and Jazz jumped into the chairs that were set across from the desk.

Once they were sitting, Danny frowned and noticed something. “Uh… should we leave a chair for Mr. Lancer?”

Maddie didn’t break eye contact with the principal. “No.”

They sat in an awkward quiet with Maddie glaring at Principal Ishiyama the entire time before Mr. Lancer stepped into the office. “You wanted to see me?” He asked, “I’m still setting up for class, so-”

Maddie turned toward him. Slowly and insidiously, Danny wouldn’t have been surprised if he heard the sounds of hinges creaking as her head carefully and measuredly turned toward his teacher. “You were in charge of the school’s card game?”

“Uhh, in a manner of speaking? I was just supervising, ensuring the students weren’t misusing school property, or fielding questions.” Lancer answered as he walked over toward the principal’s side. By the looks on their faces, neither knew what this was about.

“Hm,” Maddie vocalized, and Danny winced. That was not a sound of acknowledgement, but the sound of you-have-done-exactly-as-I-expected-you-would-and-now-I’m-disappointed-in-you which was a lot of information given in a single syllable but he was quite familiar with it. “And just how were the card’s strength and health determined?”

“Well, the rules are using power and toughness, but a card’s power was how many clubs and after school activities a student was in, while toughness was a base of 5, with an additional 1 for every grade of B or 2 for A, and a loss of 1 for every detention that a student had.”

The principal leaned forward and cut in. “Ms. Fenton-”

“Doctor,” Maddie corrected, and both Danny and Jazz winced. Their mother usually didn’t care about her title, stating she was a mother and wife first and foremost. She only insisted on being called doctor when she wanted to make a point.

It obviously threw Ishiyama for a loop. She cleared her throat and continued. “Dr. Fenton, perhaps you should explain what exactly-”

“Ms. Ishiyama, were you aware that Mr. Lancer here allowed the school to produce a card that implied my son had no benefit? That all he could do was die?”

Mr. Lancer’s eyes widened. “Excuse me! That is-”

Maddie refused to look in his direction. Instead holding up a hand to cut him off. “And that my son’s special ability is called moving on.”

At this point, Danny jumped up. “Hold on, can I get a say in this?” Danny waved his hands and stood next to the principal, who was beginning to turn pale. “Mom, that’s an inside joke of the school. You know I’ve had to go to the bathroom a lot ever since the accident, so when I have to interrupt class to, Mr. Lancer will give me permission and then say, ‘Moving on’. I know it looks bad, but it’s just an inside joke of the school.”

Mr. Lancer raised an eyebrow. “Thank you, Mr. Fenton, I-”

Maddie whirled on him. “Shall I also point out that you are also exposing students’ grades to everyone as well? You must have shared them if the cards are a reflection of their grades.”

Mr. Lancer folded his arms. “I did not, the students asked for a formula for making the numbers, and I ran it myself. The students don’t know anyone’s grades.”

“Yet, you have my son having a zero for his health?” Maddie snapped.

“Even if he had turned in all his homework with 100% grades, which everyone in this room knows he has not, with the number of detentions he has received the last year, he’d still be at a zero.” Mr. Lancer said, shooting Danny a look.

Maddie slammed her hands on principal Ishiyama’s desk. “Do not blame my son for this!”

The principal raised her hands. “Dr. Fenton, I acknowledge that we have done you and your family a major disservice. Even if it was an inside joke, the context is important,” she said, shooting Mr. Lancer a withering glare. “Dare I say, our English teacher should be more than aware of something like that.”

Jazz cleared her throat. “May I ask a question?”

Maddie leaned back and answered for everyone. “Go ahead, sweetie…” even as Danny was shaking his head no.

“Mr. Lancer, did you have any inkling of what was going on?”

“Excuse me?” He said brow furrowing.

“Were you or were not aware that it was very likely that the A-Listers, Star, Paulina, Dash, and Kwan were using this as an opportunity to bully my little brother?”

Mr. Lancer opened his mouth to respond before taking a moment to clear his throat and respond. “I did not know that they were intending to do this, no.”

Maddie frowned and Ishiyama let out a sigh of relief. But Jazz continued, “But did you suspect it? Did you have reason to believe that they were going to do this?”

Lancer was quiet and didn’t answer, instead he chewed on his lip for a moment.

It was a moment too long, and Maddie turned to the principal. “I want him fired.”

“I’m sure we can come to an agreement that doesn’t-”

“He’s either fired, or Fentonworks stops funding the school repairs and anti-ghost tech.”

Danny put his fingers to his lips and blew a shrill whistle. “Okay! Okay! No! Mom!” Danny clapped his hands in front of his chest before pointing at her with them. “They can’t fire Mr. Lancer, the school already is having enough trouble finding new teachers because they’re quitting the moment they hear about ghost attacks. Not only that, but if you stop helping the school, the school is gonna have to shut down!”

“Daniel,” Maddie started, her voice deceptively calm and collected. “If this school is not a safe space for my children, then it can burn for all I care.”

“OOooookay!” Danny shouted, holding up his hands. “I understand you’re upset, but-”

“Daniel. I get upset when your father eats more than his share of the mashed potatoes. I get upset when my experiments get ruined by ghost attacks. I get upset when you kids forget to do your chores.

“I am not upset. I am furious.”

“But I’m not,” Danny groaned, pointing at himself. “Look, I know what the card looks like, seriously, I do. Everyone is telling me to be mad about it, but…” He trailed off as he looked out the door and he ran to the door. “Hey! Hey! Mikey! Yeah, come over here real quick.”

He led the quiet nerd into the office and then closed the door behind him. “Okay, this is gonna be quick. You got the school game, right?”

Mikey adjusted his glasses. “Uh, yes, Star gave me a box this morning when I walked in.”

“Right, okay. You read the rule book right?”

“Of course! Front to back three times! I wouldn’t be a proud member of the game club if I didn’t!”

“How many Danny Fenton cards do you have?”

“I’ve gotten my hands on ten so far.”

“How much would I need to pay you in order to get you to give me those cards?”

“If Paulina came in here and asked for a date in exchange, I still wouldn’t give them up. You can pry them from my cold dead and nerdy hands.”

“No, seriously. I think I got like forty bucks in my pocket-”

“No.”

“Thank you, that is all.”

The principal frowned and watched as Danny pushed Mikey out the door and closed it again. “What was the point of that?”

Danny took a deep breath. “Mr. Lancer… do you have a deck?” At his teacher’s nod, Danny then asked a question. “You have several of my cards in your deck, don’t you?”

Mr. Lancer threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t. The art club wouldn’t let us cheat and build our decks with the cards we wanted. We had to draft them.”

“The point?” Maddie said huffing.

Danny sighed. “Yes, Dash, Star, Paulina and Kwan… I’m not sold on Kwan here, all tried to bully me by making a bad card. They failed so so hard.” Danny blinked. “In all honesty? The card is very accurate. The card game is about fighting ghosts. So, obviously I’m the most intelligent person in the deck, the moment ghosts show up, I’m outta there.”

“Into the graveyard,” Jazz snipped.

Danny rolled his eyes. “Fine, how about this? They can release a new rule book, one where the graveyard is called the discard pile instead?”

Maddie pursed her lips. “Danny, you’re really insistent this doesn’t change. Why?”

“Because I’m not gonna be happy if I don’t get to beat my bully at literally his own game.” The school bell rang and Danny started inching his way to the door. “Okay, Mom? You can hash it out with the principal, but no asking for Mr. Lancer to be fired, no threatening the school, and definitely no changing my card's effects? Okay? Please?” Danny thought for a moment and then tacked on, “I love you?” The fact that sounded like a question probably didn’t help his chances in getting her to calm down.

Maddie sighed and looked toward the ceiling. “Alright, alright.” She stood up. “I will let Principal Ishiyama here discuss with Mr. Lancer what they should do, but tomorrow I will be back. This time, with my husband as well. And I assure you, he won’t be as calm as me.”

The threat definitely worked, as both of them paled as they thought about what a rampaging Jack Fenton would be like.

The Fentons left the room together, and Maddie handed Jazz back the card. “I really don’t like this.” She said, though she didn’t seem surprised when Danny snatched the card from Jazz and put it in his pocket. “But you… seem to know what you’re doing?”

“The only request I have is that Jazz records it when Dash realizes how dumb he is.” Danny turned and then started running back down the hall. “Gotta get to class! I’ll see you guys later!”

Danny ran back to his locker, put the cards in his pocket away, and then ran to class. He turned the corner before a hand grabbed his shirt and slammed him into a locker. “Heard you went crying to mommy, Fenturd.”

“Dash, we have got to stop meeting like this.” Danny said, rolling his eyes. “And for the record, I didn’t. You pissed off Jazz, who then called my mom. I tried to tell her it was not a big deal.”

Dash hesitated, trying to slot the square peg into the round hole. Danny could practically see the thoughts slip out of his head before he got mad again. “Well, I guess I gotta crush ya before your mom ruins the fun. Lunch time, bring a deck.”

“See you then!” Danny saluted. His hand fell back to his side and he looked down. “Dash… aren’t you gonna put me down?”

“I’m thinking about it.”

“Well, I know this is gonna be hard, but can you think faster? I want to be on time to class for a change.”

A few moments later, Danny phased his way out of the locker he had been stuffed into. He sighed and brushed off shirt. “Man, I really hope I start taking more after my dad soon. I would love to not fit in lockers anymore.”

***

Lunch time came around, and Danny walked in with his head held high. Mikey might not have traded his cards for a date with Paulina, but Phantom signing the Phantom card (which was a 10/10 by the way, with both Teamplayer and Leader keywords) was worth the trade.

It seemed like the entire school was there waiting for this fight. Danny walked down an aisle flanked by students on either side of him that closed around him as he approached Dash sitting at a lunch table.

Danny stopped at the tablet. “Seriously, did you really pick the table furthest from the door? Are you sure you’re not one of the drama kids?” He turned toward Star, who was actually looking pretty uncomfortable. “Star, you’ve been in the school plays right? You should totally try to get Dash to join in this year, looks like he’d have fun with it.”

Star didn’t answer; instead she stepped behind Kwan, who looked a little sick, and Paulina, who was shifting around as the entire school stared at them.

“It’s time to duel, Fenton.” Dash said, slamming his palm against the table.

Danny rolled his eyes. “Alright alright, if you’re that ready to lose” he said, sitting down at the table. Danny took his deck out and started shuffling it. It wasn’t much to shuffle; the deck size was only twenty cards after all.

Dash frowned, but then drew his starting hand. “Good, I’m ready. As the cool one, I’m going first.” He smiled at Danny. “Okay, for my first card, I’m playing Danny Fenton!” He threw the card on the table, “Oh, whoops! He died.” He laughed and Danny looked over at the other A-Listers who were taking a slight step back.

“Well, moving on,” Dash chuckled. “I get to play another card. So I play Mikey! A 3/10 with supporter!”

“Ooh, look at you, already talking like a card gamer!” Danny crowed.

“Shut it, Fenton! I’m not a nerd like you!” He folded his arms. “It’s your turn now. I can’t attack on the first turn.”

Danny nodded and raised an eyebrow. “Did you remember to draw at the end of your turn?” Dash quietly reached over and refilled his hand before Danny made a show of thinking. “Hmm… which card, which card…” He tapped his chin and then shouted. “Ah! I know!” He put a card down in front of Dash’s card. “I play Danny Fenton!” He paused. “Oh shit! I died! Oh well. Anyways.”

Dash blinked. “You really used your stupid card?”

“Hey, it’s my turn still! Jeez, I can still do something awesome!” Danny thought for a moment longer. “Oh, okay, let’s try this! I play Danny Fenton!” Dash’s brow furrowed as Danny continued. “Oh shit, I died again! I hope it was a quick one! Like maybe my neck snapped. I’d hate for it to be a slow one.” The rest of the A Listers took another step back and tried to blend into the crowd as Danny made a big deal of his card dying. “It’s okay, thanks to moving on, I get another shot! Umm… Okay, okay, I got it. I play Danny Fenton!”

Dash scoffed. “You really put three of your cards in your stupid deck?”

Danny laughed. “Three? No. Dash, my deck uses fifteen of them!”

Dash looked around, seeing confusion on most of the nearby students. “Wait, wait, you really used half your deck for your dumb worthless card?”

Danny stared at Dash for a moment. “Okay, Dash, you wanna repeat that in your head and see where you went wrong?” Dash froze like a deer in headlights before Danny sighed. “Okay, I’m pretty sure your card is bunk because wow are you bad at math. That’s not half my deck, that’s three quarters.”

“Why?”

“Tucker, please explain to the man.”

Tucker stepped out of the crowd holding up the rule book. “Cards are broken down into four categories, zero star cards, one star cards, two star cards, and ghost cards. In order to play a one star card in a lane, that lane must already have a zero star card in it. In order to play a two star card, there must already be a one star card in that lane already. Ghost cards require a total of three stars worth of cards in the lane. For every card in the graveyard, the number of stars needed for a ghost card to be summoned is reduced by one by removing those cards from play.”

Danny pointed at the three Danny Fenton cards in his graveyard. “I needed fifteen to ensure my draw chances are good enough. Which they obviously are. Oh, and by the way… moving on. You know her, you love her, let us hear you scream her name-”

“Please don’t.” Sam called out from the sidelines.

“It’s Ember McLain!” Danny shouted as he put down an Ember card slightly to the right of the Mikey card. “Ember has the Leader keyword, which lets me put down another card. So let’s hear it for her backup singer, Danny Fenton!” he said, putting down his card again. “Oh, shit, she killed him! That bastard! Oh well… moving on.” Danny held up his hand. “Now, I only got one card left, so I have to play it, it’s Danny Fenton!”

Danny paused as he put down his card. “Okay, so I’m hoping you’re seeing where this is going.”

Dash stood up. “Hold on, you’re out of cards!”

“Tucker?”

“In a situation where you are asked to play a card but don’t have any in hand, then you draw another card.”

“So, I draw and let’s see, am I feeling lucky? Dash, can you do math? What are the chances of me drawing a Danny Fenton card? Come on, I know you can do it.”

“Fuck you!” Dash shouted, beginning to move around the table.

“What’s the matter, Dash?” Valerie called out. “Can’t win a card game?”

“A card game you helped make?” Sam jeered.

Dash froze, and Danny took the opportunity to draw. “Yes! I indeed drew a Danny Fenton card! So, let’s continue…” Danny flipped through his deck, drawing his card multiple times, before finally he drew a different card.

“Sorry Mikey!” Danny shouted, “You’re about to get stepped on by Ember!”

“Awesome!”

Danny pinched the brow of his nose. “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that. Alright, Ember’s card doesn’t actually play a card, it’s using special wording so I guess that’s it.” He snapped his finger. “Oh, wait! It isn’t! I attack! Ember steps on Mikey, removing him, and then Ember swings and hits you in the face.” Danny smiled and leaned back. “Now it’s your turn.”

Dash stared down at the table, which hadn’t had his Mikey card removed yet. But it didn’t matter, because he couldn’t beat Danny. Danny had, on his first turn, effectively defeated Dash. The game wasn’t over, and it wouldn’t be for a while. It’d take multiple turns for Danny to win the game. But anything Dash could play would be immediately doomed to be crushed under Danny’s ghost team.

The rest of this game would be Dash getting wailed on as Danny chunked his health over the course of several turns, with the entire school watching.

Dash scoffed. “It’s a stupid game anyways,” he said, turning around and pushing his way through the crowd.

Danny stood up and grabbed Dash’s deck and waved it up in the air. “Wait, wait, Dash! Don’t you want your deck?” Dash predictably didn’t respond. Danny scoffed as Sam and Tucker approached him. “Yeah, that tracks,” he said, grabbing the hand Dash had left on the table.

“So, did Dash fill his deck with A Listers?” Tucker asked.

“Well, let’s see…” Danny said, flipping through Dash’s deck. He continued until he came across one card. “Oh come on!”

“What’s wrong?” Sam asked, looking over his shoulder.

Danny held out the card that was bothering him. “There’s an Inviso-Bill card!”

Sam gave Danny an unamused glance. “Really? You’re bothered by that, more than the fact that Dash set up a card that you instantly die?”

“Well, yeah!” Danny said, “My name’s not Inviso-Bill!”

“What do you mean your name?”

Danny turned toward the speaker. And as Star stared at him confused, he realized that he had completely forgotten people were watching. “What? I didn’t say that. I said his name isn’t Inviso-Bill.”

“Wait…” Valerie said, stepping forward, pushing a finger into his chest. “Is that what you meant by your superpower is to die on command?”

Danny turned toward Sam, who was the best liar out of them. “I don’t know what she’s talking about, do you?”

Valerie folded her arms. “My locker is just around the corner of the hallway where your locker is. I heard you say that.”

“And my cards! Phantom was asking for them earlier!”

Star gasped. “Wait wait wait, is THAT why you’re not scared of the Box Ghost?”

“...Uh oh…”

[ruh--roh-raggy]

Heart of Wires (Sundrop/Moondrop x DCA!OC Piper)

Hello hello! Welcome to something new and different from me!!! This is my first time writing Sundrop, this is also my first time making an OC! It is with my greatest pleasure that I introduce you to Piper Belle Healy! This whole fic is going to be slow burn, super tooth rottingly sweet fluff. I'm just enamored by these big Bois, I wanna hold their hands and kiss them on the cheek. SO THATS WHAT IM GUNNA DO!! I hope you enjoy! Please let me know if you'd like to be added to the tag list!

WARNINGS: None

You can find my Masterlist here!

Word Count: 3,985

Part 2

“Good morning!” The chipper blond welcomed her with a gapped tooth smile as she sang her greeting. “Piper, right?” The red head nodded in confirmation. “Perfect. I'm Meredith, everyone calls me Merry, I'm gonna be the one showing you around the Pizzaplex!” She motions for Piper to follow her, pushing through the turnstiles with ease before walking into the main lobby. “I’ll give you a more thorough run down after your shift, they never listen when I tell them to have you come tour the place beforehand.” She sighs, stepping onto an escalator and casually leaning up against the railing. “You’re going to be in the daycare, so you’ll be working with Sundrop. It should be pretty easy; arts and crafts, making sure the kids don't hurt themselves, nap time, nothing too crazy. Sun can walk you through it, anything you need, just ask him.”

“Some interesting nicknames around here.” She remarks with a lopsided smile. “Merry and Sun.”

“Oh, Sundrop is his real name!” She responds with a laugh. “I take it you haven't gotten to meet any of the animatronics yet?” Merry gives her an excited glance.

“No, I've seen the posters and stuff, pictures of them in the office when I went in for my interview, things like that, but I haven't, uh, met them?” She says giving the taller blond a look of confusion. ‘Why would I have to introduce myself to a robot?’ She thinks, quickly shaking the thought as she rushes to keep up. She approached a set of large, wooden double doors, the gold handles glistening in the low lighting. She holds the door open for her with a smile, motioning for Piper to walk in ahead of her. Piper fidgets with the sleeves of her sweater, looking around the room to see shoe cubbies and hangers for coats and bags about halfway up the wall. The faded paint was covered in drawings of kids standing next to who you were assuming to be the daycare animatronics. Both of them are tall and slender, one with a sun shaped head, the other a moon. The sun wore yellow and red striped pants that billowed loosely down his legs, you noticed most of the kids had drawn what must have been bells on his wrists and ankles. The moon was dressed similarly, only his pants had white stars against a dark blue background, a matching sleep cap sitting atop his head. She smiled, breathing out a soft laugh as she ran her finger over the waxy artwork.

“We could take the stairs, but the slide’s faster.” Piper jumps as Merry suddenly starts talking. She chuckles seeing the shorter woman’s expression, pointing to a tube that must have led down to the daycare.

“Slide it is.” Piper giggles in response. Merry grabs onto the railing above the slide, jumping slightly before flinging herself down the plastic tunnel. Piper hears the clatter of plastic below before Merry calls for her to come down. She excitedly hops into the slide, unable to stop herself from smiling as she rushes downwards. She yelps slightly as the slide abruptly ends and she’s flung into the waiting ball pit below.

“Sunny! I’ve got a new friend for you to meet!” Merry cups her hands around her mouth as she calls out in the massive playroom.

“A new friend? Oh, how exciting!” Piper hears a voice call from above. Her eyes widen as she sees a large clown with a sun shaped head spin out onto a platform overlooking the daycare. In one swift motion he dove from the platform and into the ballpit, mere feet in front of her. Piper scrambled to find solid ground, hoisting herself up onto the rubber mat covered floor, her foot slipping on one of the yellow pool noodle covered edges. Two sets of articulate robotic fingers wrap around the foam in front of her before the robot hoists himself up to his full height, she scrambles backwards, screaming as she bumps into Merry.

“It’s alright! Piper, this is who you’re working with!” She drops down to her side, shaking her slightly in an attempt to break her out of her panic. She froze, her chest heaving as she watched the golden points whirl around his face.

“You said he was an animatronic!” She exclaims, motioning rapidly to the human-esque figure in front of her.

“He is!” She exclaims. “The technology for him is very advanced, it’s something the owners have been perfecting their entire lives.” She explains with a smile. She looks between the animatronic and the nearly shaking girl in front of her. “Sundrop, this is Piper, she’s the new daycare attendant.” He stands there for a moment. His unreadable expression makes her heart race.

“New daycare attendant, hm?” He suddenly speaks, his voice was so expressive, if she wasn't so terrified of his monstrously tall stature Piper would've been amazed. He slinks closer to her, kneeling down to bring his face directly in front of hers. “I’ll warn you now, the daycare isn’t a place for amateurs.” She furrowed her brows at him.

“I’ll have you know I’m wonderful with children.” She sits up, he jolts back as she suddenly gets close to him. “I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t make assumptions about me considering you just met me a few seconds ago.” He seemed a bit taken aback at her sudden change in demeanor. Just a moment ago she looked so timid and scared, but now she looked like she was ready to bite his head off.

“I’ll let your work speak for you then.” He stands, grabbing her gently by the wrist and hoisting her up with him.

“Sun, play nice, she’s the best resume that’s applied for the daycare in a long time. Who knows, maybe you might even like her.” She smiles and winks at him. She turns to Piper, “I’ll swing back by here at lunchtime, I’ll help you find your way to the cafeteria.” She offers happily. “And don’t let him make you nervous, he’s a drama queen anyways.” She teases, making Piper giggle.

“I wonder why? It’s not like my programming was originally meant for the theater or anything.” He responds sarcastically.

“Show her around the daycare, give her a run down of the schedule, don’t kill each other.” She counts out the tasks on her fingers. “Think both of you can handle that?” They both nod. She gives both of them a wave over her shoulder as she heads off to get ready for her shift.

“So, we start off with free play.” He motions for her to follow him as he prattles on about the schedule for the day. He shows her where all the craft supplies are, where to find the adult-only tools like sharp scissors and permanent markers. He explained that during naptime is when she would meet Moondrop, “let him handle putting the kids down, he doesn’t like it when someone interrupts his system.” He explains. “Other than that, if you’ve worked with kids before, you should know what you’re doing already.” He sighs, obviously expecting her to fail from the start.

“I think I can handle it, don’t worry.” She squeaks with mock confidence, trying to find some way to change the animatronics tune towards her. “Sundrop?” He turns to her. “I’m really looking forward to working with you, I’m sure I can learn a lot.” She noticed how the whirrs and pings of his internal mechanisms grew slightly louder at her compliment. His eyes flicker over her face for a moment.

“Thank you, Piper.”

Piper watches as child after child comes down the slide into the Superstar Daycare. “Friends, if I could interrupt your playtime for just one moment, I have an important announcement to make!” She was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the screams and laughter of the children died down, Sun easily able to catch their attention. “Some of you might have noticed there's a new face around the Daycare today. I would like to introduce all of you to Miss Piper.” There was a chorus of small hello's and hi’s from the group. She jump as Sun suddenly claps his hands together, telling them all they could go back to playing. He strides up to her, her eyes trailing up his long thin frame as he stretches farther above her than anyone she had ever met. She guessed that Sun stood somewhere around 7 feet tall, compared to her short stature he looked nothing short of a gigantic. “Go grab the markers from the supply closet, I'll take care of pulling out the tables and chairs.”

“You know it wouldn’t kill you to say please.” Piper huffs before turning on her heels and hurrying off to get set up for drawing time. Sun can’t help but watch her retreat. Out of all of his time in the Pizzaplex he had never met anyone like her, staff member or otherwise. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind, that was apparent from the small little quips she had spit out at him. Granted, he knew he had a tendency to be a bit harsh towards new hires, but that was only because almost everyone they sent him was incompetent. It's not that Sundrop was mean, he was just a perfectionist. The Daycare Attendants he has worked with in the past didn't care about the kids like he did, they didn't have the same passion for the glitter covered stick figures they would be presented with. But there was something different about Piper. Sun saw how you immediately stopped when one of the kids ran up to you, stooping down to scoop the small boy up in her arms to head in the direction he was pointing in. A ball had gotten stuck in one of the rungs on the play place, too high for any of the kids to reach safely. He watched as she maneuvered herself carefully up the brightly colored structure, wiggling the ball loose before climbing back down. She hands the ball over to the boy, giving him a high five and praising him for asking for help. She smiles as the boy runs off to play with his friends. Her eyes meet Sun’s, causing her to freeze. She lets out a sigh of relief, smiling softly as he offers her a subtle thumbs up. Sun walks away, going to set up the tables for the next activity.

“What do we have here?” A voice purrs in Sun’s head.

“There's a new Daycare Attendant.” Sun mutters quietly out loud.

The voice groans, “another one? They keep sending us these stupid humans-”

“I thought the same thing. But she seems… different.” He explains, sliding the tables across the floor.

“So that's what woke me up.” He lets out a raspy chuckle. “I guess I’ll have to see what she’s like in a couple hours.” The warmth in the back of Sun's head dissipates as his counterpart returns to sleep.

“Sundrop?” He's snapped from his thoughts by her melodic voice. He turns to find Piper standing there with multiple bins of art supplies stacked in her arms. “I have all the crayons, markers, glitter, stickers, glue sticks, and stamps.” He smiles as he listens to her list off everything he would have grabbed. “I'm having some trouble finding the paper.” She admits bashfully.

“Here, let me take these.” The cold tips of his metal fingers brush against hers as he takes the stack of containers from her. He spreads them out across the tables before turning back to her. “Let’s go look for that paper.” She was a bit shocked by his response, she was waiting for him to start yelling at her. He didn't seem too keen on working with someone new, her not being able to complete such a simple task should've set him off. She follows him into the supply closet, he lets out a soft hum as he scans over the shelves. “Here we go.” He pulls out a pack of paper and hands it to her. It appeared to be at the back of one of the very top shelves, a place she couldn't have reached if she tried. “I'll make sure to get all the paper moved down to where you can get it.” He states simply before walking back out into the daycare, leaving Piper to watch him duck out of the closet in a state of confusion. He had seemed to completely change from the animatronic she had met earlier this morning, and she couldn't figure out just what exactly had spurred the sudden shift. She got everything set up for drawing time; separating the stack of paper into smaller piles to make it easier for all the kids to share, opening all the containers and removing a couple markers that had been left uncapped and had dried out. You heard the excited screams and talking of the kids as they ran over to draw. Sun had a child in either arm, a third clung to his leg as he moved in your direction.

“Miss Piper?” Her attention was caught by a girl with strawberry blond pigtails as she tugged on her sleeve.

“Hi honey, what’s your name?” She asks cheerily, kneeling down to be closer to the girl's eye level.

“Haley.” She responds with a huge smile, her two front teeth missing.

“It’s nice to meet you Haley, what’s up?” She looks bashfully over at Sundrop before her eyes immediately dart back to Piper.

“Do you think you could help me draw a picture for Mr. Sun?” She holds out the orange crayon she had clutched in her fist. “I want to make something for him but he’s really hard to draw.”

“Of course I can.” Piper smiles brightly at her, letting out a soft chuckle at her excited expression. Haley grabs Piper by the hand, tugging her back to where she was sitting, telling all of her friends that Piper would help them make pictures for Mr. Sun. She couldn't help but smile as her time was filled with giving high fives to all the excited kids as they showed off their drawings to her, drawing a quick Sundrop head for the kids to color, and being asked a million questions about her bright colored jewelry and fun outfit. Little did she know, the whole time Sun was keeping a close eye on her, absolutely delighted by what he saw.

“How’s everyone doing over here?”

“Sunny!”

“Mr. Sun!”

“Sundrop!” Piper looks over her shoulder to see the large animatronic had made his way over to where she was working.

“Is it okay if I sit here Miss Piper?” He asks with a smile, motioning to the chair next to her. He noticed how some of the kids must have placed stickers on her cheeks, her freckles laced with sparkly stars and neon smiley faces.

“Sure, Sundrop.” She smiles sweetly at him. He crouches into the comically small chair, his knees pressed to his chest.

“Miss Piper’s been helping us draw you Mr. Sun.” Haley exclaims, giggling when the animatronic gives her an amazed expression.

“Really? You all wanted to draw me?” They all clamored over to him, wanting to show off their pictures, most of them drawings of Sundrop holding hands with that child, ‘best friends’ scrawled across the bottom in messy script. “These are so wonderful!” He leans in closer to the group, they all copy his motions with wide eyes, waiting eagerly to see what he would say to them. “How about next you guys draw some pictures of Miss Piper?” They all silently agree before hurriedly turning back to their papers and crayons. He leans back in his chair. “I'll have to admit Piper, you're doing an amazing job.” She found heat settling behind her cheeks at the compliment, her eyes darting over to meet his glowing white ones.

“Thank you, Sundrop.” She smiles shyly.

“You can call me Sun, less of a mouthful.” He chuckles. “If Moon likes you you'll have passed your trial run.” There was a slight teasing tone in his voice.

“Well, lets hope for the best then.” She smiles at him.

She was grateful for nap time once it rolled around, with so many kids it was hard to find a moment to catch her breath. “Go pick your spot.” She shoos off a small boy into the other room, dimming the lights as they all settle in. She softly shuts the door, tucking herself away in a corner so she wouldn't get in Moon’s way. She wondered why she hadn't seen any sign of the animatronic all day. Her eyes immediately drifted to Sun as he stepped in the room, as he shut the door you watch his face spin around, all of the points surrounding his head getting tucked away as a sleep cap appeared. She blinked, the gold and red stripes on his pants suddenly turning to stars.

“You must be this new Daycare Attendant I heard about.” His voice was much raspier than Sun’s, he turned to face Piper, a noticeable difference in his face from the animatronic that had just stepped in the room in front of her. The moon on his face was much more prominent, the other side of his face being blacked out save for his glowing white eye. She was amazed at the complexities of their system, not to mention the immediate difference she noticed in their personalities, if she hadn’t just seen the change in front of her she wouldn't have believed this was the same animatronic. “You just sit back here, I’ll make this quick… and try to stay awake.” He chuckles before slinking off into the dark room. She heard the soft gasps and calls for Moon that he gently shushed, patting each child's head that greeted him as he made his way to the center of the room. The soft sounds of a music box beginning to chime filled the room, a tapestry of stars slowly rotated around the ceiling. Almost like magic Piper noticed the kids near her fall asleep one by one, every one of them in the room asleep by the time his song ended. She found herself yawning, pushing her round, wire framed glasses onto the top of her head as she wiped her eyes. She stretched, her spine letting out a soft pop as she pulled her arms over her head. Her eyes fluttered open, her hand immediately clapping over her mouth to suppress the scream that had welled up in her throat. Moondrop’s face was mere inches away from her own, he studied her closely, slowly crawling around her with almost spider like movements.

“I'm assuming you must be Moon?” She whispers nervously, his gaze didn't feel as judgemental as when she first met Sun, but he still made her nervous nonetheless. He offers her a small nod in response. “I’m Piper.”

“Sun seems very impressed with you Miss Piper.” He coos softly. “I do have to say you're definitely a lot prettier than the usual Daycare Attendants they send us.” He chuckles at her flustered expression. He runs a finger over one of the star stickers on her cheek. “The kids seem to like you too, that’s good.” He carefully maneuvers around her, propping himself up against the wall at her side. “How are you enjoying your first day?”

“It’s been good, definitely not what I was expecting.” She giggles, Moon felt a strange pang in his chest at the sight of her smile. She looks out over the group of sleeping children. “You know, that?” She makes a vague motion to the room. “Very impressive.”

“I have a bit of a talent.” He chuckles in response.

“Do you only come out for nap time?” He was a bit surprised by the genuine curiosity in her tone.

“I can only come out when the lights are off.” He explains. “Nap time, sleepovers, Sun and I switch off after hours.” She sat and quietly chatted with Moon for the rest of nap time, Piper found herself a bit sad to see him go.

“It was wonderful getting to know you.” She smiles softly at him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Piper.” The lights gradually grew brighter as nap time came to an end. The sleepy yawns of kids and soft giggles of them talking amongst themselves filled the room.

“Well, good morning!” Sun greets the kids cheerfully as they head back out into the main play area. She timidly makes her way up to his side, feeling a bit awkward standing next to the tall robot. “I take it everything went well with Moon?” She could tell by the softness his expression held that he already knew the answer to that.

“I hope so.” She smiles at him. “I don't want either of you to think I'm an amateur.” She mocks his assumption from the morning with a wink, making him chuckle.

“You definitely proved you're not an amateur Piper.” His hand gently comes to rest on the top of her head. Piper feels a blush spread across her cheeks as he pats the spot between her messy, copper space buns. “I'm sure they're all hungry, let's get them set up for snack time.”

“He hasn't been giving you a rough time, has he?” Merry asks as she hands you a tray.

“No, I've actually been having a lot of fun working with him.” She admits with a small shrug and a bashful smile.

“What about Moondrop?” She follows up.

“He was also wonderful.” You reassure her.

“I'm impressed.” She mumbles as she starts to grab things to eat. “The last three people they hired had already been run off by now.” She chuckles. “I guess they did end up liking you after all.”

“I can't get over how much personality they have.” Piper smiles excitedly.

“I mean, they might as well be people with how complex of a machine they are. They're fully articulate, their AI lets them experience emotion, they're pretty much just like us without the internal organs.” They both pay for their lunches and sit down. “So, now that you've spent a couple hours with them, do you think you’re going to keep the job?” She seemed almost nervous as she asked her.

“Oh, absolutely!” Piper beams. She hurries through her lunch, exchanging goodbye’s with Merry before she heads back to the daycare. So she wouldn't cause a disruption she decided to take the stairs down to the main play area.

“Welcome back.” Sun smiles at her as she approaches. The rest of the day flew by as Piper got dragged off by a small group of kids to go play. She couldn't help but laugh as she caught sight of a girl wearing pastel pink fairy wings riding around on Sundrop’s shoulders, pretending like she was flying. Slowly your group became smaller and smaller as parents arrived to pick up their children, before you knew it you and Sun were alone, cleaning up the disaster left behind. “I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot this morning.” He suddenly apologizes, nervously tapping the curled golden toe of his shoe on the floor.

“It’s okay, from what Merry told me they threw in some real pieces of work before me.” She giggles in response. “We can always try again tomorrow.” He pauses, straightening up to look at her.

“Piper?” She hums softly, her blue eyes landing on him. Sun felt the words catch in his throat for a second. He takes a few steps closer to her, retrieving a yellow sun sticker from the booklet he kept in his pocket. He presses it to the apple of her cheek, her soft warm skin squishing under his finger as she smiles at his action. “Welcome to the team.”

Tag List: @yellowbunnydreams @twelvelevens

[kristannafever]

Big Sky Ranch - 15

Kristanna Modern AU Rated: Explicit WC: 3404

Chapter Index

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

Anna was nervous about meeting Mr. Weadick’s daughter.  The old man had been extra surly all afternoon.  At least the dinner he’d requested, the Beef Stroganoff dish she’d done for him on her first day, was an easy one.

Weadick was in the great room, pacing back and forth in front of the large stone fireplace while Anna was in the kitchen.  Everything was ready and prepped to begin when the guests arrived.  She let herself daydream a bit since there wasn’t much to do until she was set to start cooking.

It was ten minutes after they were set to arrive before the bell finally rang.  Anna went to the door, straightening her apron and her ponytail as she did so.  Pausing, she pulled in a deep, settling breath, then opened the door.

She smiled at them.  “Good evening.”

Weadick’s daughter, Alyssa, was statuesque.  Her long brunette locks fell over her shoulders in thick waves.  She was dressed in a tight midnight-blue, knee length dress that hugged her generous curves, with matching colour stiletto heels.  Her make up was bold, with smoky eyes and red lipstick. 

She furrowed her brows at Anna.  “Who are you?”

“Alyssa,” came a warning from the down the main hall.  Mr. Weadick strode up to them, his face hard.  “This is, Anna.  My new cook.”

Alyssa’s face morphed into a huge grin.  “Hello, Daddy.”  She clicked forward on her heels and pulled her father into a hug.

Her husband followed her in, barely glancing in Anna’s direction.  He was almost a perfect match to his wife; tall, brunette and dressed in a sharp charcoal grey suit with shiny black wingtip shoes.

He went up to Mr. Weadick and stuck out his hand.  “Art, nice to see you again.”

“Dale,” Weadick replied in a somewhat unpleasant tone.

Anna waited until Mr. Weadick threw her a glance.  She knew his first name was Arthur, Kristoff and the boys all told her, but she hadn’t known he went by Art.  Not that would serve her any use, she would always address him formally. 

“Can I get anyone some cocktails?” she asked the group when he gave her the signal with his eyes.

“Sauvignon Blanc,” Alyssa demanded, then turned to walk into the great room.

Her husband, Dale, looked at her as if he was bored.  “Negroni.  Plenty of ice.”

Anna nodded and looked to Mr. Weadick.  “My usual, please,” he said, enunciating the last word that his guests didn’t seem to know.

She went past the kitchen where a wet bar sat off the wide main hallway.  Mr. Weadick had already given her a heads up on what they were going to ask for and she had prepped it all.  She made the drinks quickly and set them on a tray.  After carefully balancing it on her right hand, she grabbed a stack of cocktail napkins and went to the great room.

Working quickly, she set the drinks on the coffee table in front of the three people who were talking about something that Alyssa and Dale did for work.  After the rather cool reception she’d received from the two, she didn’t have much of a desire to listen to what was being said.

As instructed by Mr. Weadick, Anna went to begin dinner straight away, breaking only to peek in the room to see if anyone needed a refill on their drinks.  The first time she checked, Alyssa’s glass was almost empty, and Anna rushed to grab the chilled bottle of wine and refilled it.  Dale was drinking his cocktail slowly and Mr. Weadick already told her he would have his refill when dinner began.

Anna had the table set and when the food was done, she lined it all up with the serving dishes and went to announce that dinner was ready.  She went back to the lavish dining room and waited as the three people filtered in and took their seats.

Mr. Weadick sat at the head and his daughter and son-in law lined up on the side of the table to his left.  Anna was ready for when Alyssa sat down and asked if she would like some more wine as her glass was empty again.  She nodded, and Anna tipped the bottle into her glass and poured.

“Let’s get down to business, Daddy,” Alyssa started as soon as Anna went over to the cart to place the serving dishes on the table, starting with Mr. Weadick.

“Can we dish in first?” he asked tiredly, and reached for the buttered egg noodles Anna had just set down.

Alyssa looked down at the food he was putting on his plate and her eye snapped into the back of her head.  “Ugh, Beef Stroganoff again?”

Mr. Weadick’s face turned down into a frown and he kept dishing in, then passed the dish to Alyssa without a word.

“You know what you should try, Art,” Dale said, “Butter Chicken on rice.  It’s delicious.”

Alyssa’s eyes went wide.  “Oh yes, it is fantastic.  There is a place we order from all the time that has the best Indian food.”

Mr. Weadick said nothing as he scooped some of the stroganoff onto his noodles.

“Or maybe next time we can just bring some sushi?” Dale added, looking like he thought himself the most helpful guy in the room. 

“Pretty much anything is better than this old recipe.”  His wife sneered, putting a measly portion of noodles on her plate and skipping the meat entirely.

Anna set the bowl of salad and the garlic rolls next to Mr. Weadick and took her leave of the room to grab him the refill on his drink.  She was just about back to the table with a fresh glass when she heard Alyssa’s harsh whispers from just outside the entrance to the dining room.

“… young.  Seriously, Dad, what are you doing with her?”

“She is my cook, Alyssa.”

“Right, like that’s all she does.”

“There is absolutely nothing going on.  She lives with her boyfriend on the ranch, now drop it!” he said, sounding exasperated and on the verge of real anger.

“In one of the ranch houses?”  She cackled, her husband joining her.  “I’m sure a pretty little thing like her has already gone through all those men.”

Anna wasn’t sure what to do.  Her face was burning with embarrassment and anger, and she couldn’t keep loitering just outside the door.  Mr. Weadick would be wondering about his drink.

“What kind of place are you running here, Art?” Dale asked him.

“Not that anyone here needs defending, but she’s living with the fellow who’s in the cabin if you really must know all the details.  They are in a serious relationship and there is no such tomfoolery like that going on on my ranch!”

Anna used her free hand to wave her hand in front of her face to cool it.  Mr. Weadick was letting more anger into his tone now, making her increasingly nervous.

“Why do you let him stay there anyway?” Alyssa sneered.  “You were supposed to tear that place down.  That’s a prime spot for the estate lots with the creek running through it.”

“Because he took the time to fix that place up himself,” Mr. Weadick answered.

“Why?”

“Because he cares, Alyssa.  He cares more about this ranch and its history than you do.  Now if you want to get down to business, drop it!”

Anna waited for them to start talking about their business then walked brisky into the room like she’d been hurrying.  “Apologies on your refill, Mr. Weadick.”  She set the glass down and picked up his empty one.  “I had to run down to the cellar to grab a new bottle.”

Mr. Weadick looked quickly up at her.  He knew damn well she had only opened the bottle that evening for the nip he had before his daughter arrived.  Anna didn’t want to lie to him though by pretending she hadn’t heard.  She felt like it would bite her in the ass if she did, and she really did love her job.

“Can I get anyone else anything?” Anna asked the other two people at the table.

They both silently waived her off and Anna hurried back to the kitchen.

-----

They cleared out back to the great room as Anna cleaned up the last of the items from the dinner table.  Anytime she was in the room during serving, the conversation was tense.  She tried her best not to eavesdrop, but it was hard not to listen to three people argue as she cleared their dinner plates. 

Mostly it was about breaking up the ranch, half of the entire thing to start with, and selling that portion as estate lots.  The back and forth went on right up until the very end of dinner when Mr. Weadick shut the discussions down and asked his daughter a very pointed question.

“You’re never having kids, are you, Alyssa?”

She’d scowled at him and crossed her arms.  “Hell no.  I already had my tubes tied.”

Mr. Weadick had looked surprised and saddened by that news.  Then he dropped the conversation and Alyssa launched into how much money they could make with estate lots again.  Anna left quickly and returned with the plates of pie that she was very proud of, refilled the water glasses, then hid in the kitchen until they moved their conversation to the great room.

When the dishwasher was full, Anna set it to run then went about washing all the large serving dishes.  She was just finished drying the last of them when she heard Mr. Weadick saying goodbye to them at the front door.

She was putting all the dishes back in the cupboard when he walked slowly into the kitchen.  He sat at the island and looked at her.  “I apologize, Anna, for what you overheard.”

“It’s okay, Mr. Weadick.”  She walked around the island and stood across it from him. 

“Her behavior is getting worse.  She is pressuring hard for me to sell.  She doesn’t care at all how long it’s been in our family.”

“What will you do?” Anna asked tentatively, unsure how much she should press.

His mouth turned into a firm line.  “Deal with it.”  He nodded once to himself, stood, and left the room.

Anna was a little nervous with such a terse reply.  She would not ask him about it again.  She looked around the kitchen to make sure all the dishes were dealt with, then added the apron and kitchen towels she’d used that day into a hamper in the corner of the large walk-in pantry to clean later.  Then she let herself out the kitchen door and locked it with a key she’d been given for when the evening was finished.

She hurried to her car and drove quickly to the cabin, anticipation eating away at her to see Kristoff again.  They’d all eaten their supper together with the other hands like usual, only a little earlier since they knew Anna had to work, and she was appreciative of the offer.  She did find herself a little peckish now however, having worked all evening.

It was no surprise that Kristoff was sitting in one of the chairs on the deck of the cabin as she pulled up, her headlights illuminated his wonderful smile.  He set his guitar down and stood when Anna got out of her car and walked up the steps.

“How was it?” he asked and pulled her into a hug.

“Oh my God,” she said, exasperated.  “That is a story.  But first, I need my fix.”

She wrapped her hands tight around his neck to lift herself up to kiss him.  Halfway there, he grabbed her waist and brought her lips the rest of the way to his.

*****

Anna was sitting back against his chest on the couch as they listened to country music playing quietly from the radio in the kitchen.  It was some local station playing new country songs that he liked.  While Sven was all about the satellite radio, Kristoff didn’t mind the commercial breaks on the local FM too much to bother with getting it himself.

They were nibbling on a bowl of chips in her lap while she filled him in on the awkward dinner.  Kristoff also found it interesting that he’d asked Anna about if her and Kristoff were thinking about having kids.  He knew the old man wished he had a grandkid to leave the ranch to.  He’d said as much one night when it was just him, Buck and Sven, on one of the rare times he came to have a drink with the ranch hands. 

“So, circling back to that weird conversation I had with him,” Anna said, “to clarify, you do want to get married.  Right?”

He chuckled, Anna bobbing up and down against his chest.  “Of course, I do.”

She twisted her torso sideways from where she was sitting between his legs and placed a kiss on his chin.  “Good.  Me too.”

“What kind of wedding would you want?  Some fancy do?”

“Maybe once,” she answered, her voice holding a touch of sadness.  “Not anymore.  The person I used to be…”  She shook her head.  “I’ve changed, Kristoff.  And all of it for the better.  I love life here.  I love working with you on this ranch.  I love the town and the foothills and the backdrop of the mountains.  Do you know what my life was like in the city before I came out here?”

“No.”  He had been curious, only he didn’t want to bring it up for fear that it would trigger some more anger in him if she mentioned again about being mistreated by her ex.  Apparently, he hadn’t worked on toning down his intense protectiveness.

“I’d wake up at seven, make breakfast, serve breakfast, clean up from breakfast, walk three blocks to the office, change into my heels, work nine to five chained to my desk, come home, make dinner, clean up from dinner, run on the treadmill, have one or two hours of leisure time, then go to bed.”

“That sounds awful,” Kristoff said, and he meant it.

She laughed halfheartedly.  “It was, Kristoff.  It was.  I didn’t realize how much of a hamster in a wheel I had become.  Not only that, I let my ex control a lot of my life.”

His body tensed involuntarily, and Anna put her hand on the side of his thigh, snuggling her back further against him.  “I’m going to say this once, Kristoff, so I can get it off my chest and we can never have to think about it ever again.”

He relaxed his body as best he could and sighed.  “Okay.”

“I let my ex control our lives, because I thought that’s what success meant.  Does that make sense?”

He shook his head.  “No, I’m sorry.  I don’t understand.”

“When you live a life like that, success looks a certain way.  It’s the work promotions, and the house, and the car, and the fancy dinner parties where everyone brags about how great their lives are.  It’s flaunting your accomplishments for everyone to see.”

“Ah,” he said, finally understanding what she was getting at. 

“The thing is, that was not the success in life I was looking for.  I didn’t realize that until I had a pregnancy scare.”

Kristoff pulled in a steadying breath, knowing this was going to be difficult for him to hear but that Anna needed to get it out.

“I was four days late, which is rare for me.  I told my ex I was going to take a pregnancy test, and he was livid.  He wouldn’t even talk to me.  He blamed me for forgetting to take my birth control pills, which I told him I didn’t, then stormed out of the apartment.  After that I marched down to a pharmacy and got myself every brand of test they had, and they all came up negative.   He disappeared for that entire weekend, ignoring all my calls and messages that I was not, in fact, pregnant.  And I even got my period the next day, so I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I wasn’t.”

“Fuckin’ piece of fuckin’ shit,” Kristoff muttered unable to help himself.

Anna chuckled lightly.  “He definitely is.  When he got back on Sunday night, he apologized and said he was sacred and that he’d just freaked out.  I was still mad, so things were a little tense, and we didn’t talk much.  Then a couple of days later when he was supposed to be out at a work luncheon, I came home on my break to get more tampons for my work stash and found him in bed with another woman.”

He let out a frustrated sigh but held his mouth.

“After I confronted him, I found out he’d been cheating the whole time we were together.  Some bimbo that worked in an office a floor down from ours, who was also cheating on her husband.  Who knows how many times they fucked each other in that building.”

The corner of Kristoff’s lip turned up in a smile, despite her story.  He liked it when she cursed, and she was doing it a lot more often since she was hanging out with all the guys.

“Anyway,” Anna continued, “I moved out to my own tiny little apartment and found a new job.  Then I just gave up on life for a bit and came home every day to watch TV and eat ice cream.   It went on way too long.  Then one day, there was this commercial for supporting local dairy farms, of all things, and I decided to hell with the city.  I am going to move to a small town and make a go at it.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.  If you don’t know already, I am rather impulsive at times.”

He chuckled.  “I did pick up on that actually.”

She giggled halfheartedly, then heaved a heavy sigh.  “I wasn’t sure what to think when I first got here.  I took a couple days to orient myself to the town then went looking for work.  Those first few days though… I did a lot of thinking.  And I realized something I should have picked up on immediately.”

“What was that?” he asked, when she paused.

“If I had been pregnant, my ex would have absolutely asked me to end it.”

“Jesus…”

She was nodding against his chest.  “I know.  We never actually had that conversation, but part of me just knew he would never want kids.  He loves his lavish lifestyle too much.  If I hadn’t texted him and left voicemails when he disappeared that weekend to tell him that I absolutely wasn’t pregnant, he would have come in and told me he wanted me to terminate it.”

Anna pulled in a shaky breath and Kristoff knew right away that she was on the verge of tears.  He was about to move to get up and comfort her, when she pulled off his chest and put the leg that had been stretched out along the sofa with his onto the floor to turn around and face him.

She looked at him with glassy eyes. “And I was just naïve enough to not even consider that before the scare.  I should have, because I have always wanted kids.  I could have saved myself a lot of time and pain.”

His heart broke for her in that moment, realizing why she’d asked him that particular ‘deal breaker’ question.  It was all starting to make sense now, the reason she did the things that she did.  “I’m so sorry, Anna,” he whispered. 

She smiled at him, wiping a tear from her cheek.  “It’s okay, because none of that matters now.  And everything turned out amazing for me, obviously.  I… just wanted you to know.”

He nodded.  “I understand.”

Her eyes flicked to the wall clock he had near his kitchen table, then back to his.  “We should head to bed.  I’m beat, and we have to work tomorrow.”

He was beat too, and anytime he could crawl into bed and hold Anna against him, was more than welcome in his book.  He nodded, and pulled her in for a soft and gentle kiss before they got up and went to the bedroom.

---

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

[clartidk123]

Roast this WIP, i will definetely not have a mental breakdown due to self steem issues. (But really, please at least try to remain positive, im in a really bad place right now.)

Gregory looked down at his brand new stolen Freddy sneakers. Sure, they were stolen, but at least they were fashionable. And they served to distract him from the iminent akwardness he was going to suffer.

It had been three week since him and Tony had last seen eachother. He tried to talk with Ellis, but he was probably not going to talk to him anymore. After all, nobody was going to talk to a murderer. It wasnt his fault, right? He was being controled. But why did he go into this mess?

Focus Gregory. He looked at the sneakers, then at the school’s doors, then at the small classroom he used to go with his. Friends.

He took a deep breath, and continued walking to it.

Then he saw him. Tony was talking with Ellis and some other people. Gregory knew he probably made a report on how he was almost killed by Freddy Fazbear himself, sure, nobody would believe it, but the thought of someone knowing the terrible things he did as Doctor Rabbit was. UnBEARable. God why was he joking now?

He tried to walk past them unoticed, but Ellis saw him.

“If it isnt Doctor Rabbit himself. I am really dissappointed in you man.”

Gregory watched in terror as Tony turned around to see him. “Hello.”

Tony didnt say anything, and just turned around again. To be fair, if Gregory was Tony, he also wouldnt trust him.

Ellis approached. “Look Rabs, Tony wont talk to you ever. You tried to kill him!”

“I know! But i wasnt me!”

Ellis gave a chuckle. “Yeah. Tony told me how you talked and knew everything about us while you were that way.”

“Please, believe me Boots! I wasnt myself. I wasnt Greg! I wasnt real!”

“Tony said you were. And i believe in my best friend, not in a murderer.”  

Gregory was going to becom a willingly murderer if Ellis and Tony continued that way. “He said first im a murderer, how do you know it isnt a lie?”

“Stop trying to playing smart Rabs.”

“Stop. Calling. Me. That.”

“Oh what? You are going to try to kill me again, Mister Redemption Arc?”

Ghregory’s eyes widened, and looked at Tony after he said that. “You really dont believe me right? You really believe i really tried to kill you?”

“Am i not right?”

“Yeah, you are right but...”

“So you admit it.”  

“Stop interrupting me! You dont let anyone talk to you! Everyone needs to be just like the way its perfect to you!”

Ellis looked at Tony, and vice versa, like he was saying that was true. It was time to strike.

“But, look. You are perfect for me. So let me try to be perfect to you.”

The other two continued looking at eachother.

“Look Tony, i think Rab is talking something true and...”

“No.”

Before Gregory could say anything else, the bell rang. He watched powerless as Tony and Ellis walked away from him. He just stood there. He looked at his stolen sneakers again. Freddy was his favorite character, and he was right when he thinked that maybe it would bring him some comfort.

He looked back at the now empty corridor. Crap. He was probably late now. He raced to his classroom, and tried to ignore the person staring at him.

He tried to pay attention to the most boring class in the world, but really, every class that wasnt art and technology related wasnt a big interest to him. So he kept doodling on his notebook.

“Gregory!”

Gregory snapped back momentarily to reality after the teacher called him out. “Yes Mister?”

“Stop doodling your little fantasies and start paying attention.”

Gregory gave a weak nod. He kept thinking about it, and the murders. Now not even Tony and Ellis liked him.

He looked around to see Ellis spinning his pencil, and Tony being completely absorved by the task. Gregory just stared at them until Ellis looked shocked as he looked at him back. Gregory awkwardly waved at him, which made Ellis look at the window. Gosh they really hated him right?

Gregory looked back at the black board, and let a small sigh out. He was probably going to the Pizzaplex after school, after all, he needed to distract himself, and he really didnt have anywhere else to go.

Ellis was probably going to be there, and Gregory couldnt manage to talk to him right now. He just wanted to live a good life, but he was as just bad as that rabbit man from the games.

But alas, he had to do something.

[starfoundnight]

Yakuza boss!sukuna x chubby reader

This is my first post so please don't be too harsh about my writing. I am just doing this for fun and I can't promise the grammer will be perfect. I hope you enjoy what you read :)

Summary: you own a small cat cafe in such a bad area of town. The building was cheap so that is why you brought it. You installed sound proof to block out the noises. Sukuna heard about this tiny calm cat cafe and thought he should have a look at it, since he runs this part of town.

You heard the bell ring letting you know that someone came into the building. "Hello! Welcome to the cat cafe!" You look up to see a tall man taking off his coat and putting it on the hanger. He walks upto the counter and stares into your eyes, he looks a bit...disgusted? You look down at the counter and wipe your uniform to try and distract you.

"Aren't you gonna ask for my order?" His low voice sends shivers down your spine by your surprise. You look back upto him "I'm sorry for not asking sir, excuse me. Would you like to drink anything?" You push a small drink menu towards him on the counter "This is all you have?" You nod your head "yes sir, it's a bi-" "I'll have a black coffee then." You get a bit irritated "im sorry sir but you shouldn't interrupt a person talking. If you continue such a bad behavior I will have to ask you to leave." He looks into your eyes with a bit of anger and you look straight back standing your ground.

"A black coffee please." He repeats himself "that's much better! would you like to buy a sweet?" He looks at all the sweets "which ever one is your favorite, ill get it" you smile cheerfully "okay sir just sit down and please enjoy the cats company!" He walks away and sits down on the fluffy rug waiting for cats to approach him.

"Here is your black coffee and the sweet is for free!" You hand him his drink and a chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and melted chocolate ontop with whip cream and a small cup of hot chocolate with a small cat foam art on it "if you can finish the sweet dessert that is" you hear him scoff a bit but then you see no cats have approached him "would you like me to help you with the cats coming closer?" You say a bit sheep-ish noticing his intimidating stare.

"Sukuna."

"Pardon?"

"Call me sukuna, not sir."

"Oh ok! Well then you can call me y/n!nice to know who you are sukuna!" You say cheerfully feeling a lot of weight come off your shoulders. "I love... black cats y/n" you look upto him seeing that he was staring at one of the black cats. "I'll go grab a black kitten for you" you walk away to the back and come back with a black kitten in your arms.

"Okay, be gentle with her sukuna she's just a week old..." you can see the scars on his hands as he holds it out but you also notice that his hands are really big as well. "I promise to be gentle with her" you gently put the kitten in his hands "would you like to name her?" He looks upto you a bit surprised "well I haven't came up with a name for her yet and she seems to love you more than she loves me" "I'll name her...uhmmm...blackie" you laugh at the name he gave the kitten and you couldn't stop laughing for a few minutes "I love the name!"

A few hours pass by and notice it's time to close the Cafe "This has been such a fun day with you today sukuna but it's time for me to close the Cafe down and let the cats sleep with their kittens, oh, here's my number!" You write your number on his hand and give him a tight hug good bye while the cats walked around his leg to say good bye too. He hands you a envelope "open it when you close the Cafe okay?" You nod to his request and thank him for the day together and hope to see eachother soon.

Sorry it's short but I hope you enjoyed! I will carry this own but right now I'm just so tired and I wanna post this to just read later.