#Ace and his adorable short people who can climb him like a tree

[enjomo-arch]

he sighs in 7'1"

[writerofthecourt]

memories of what could have been

pairing: miya atsumu x reader

summary: seeing you in the stands, atsumu couldn’t help but think back on how your relationship got to this point

warning: inarizaki vs. karasuno spoilers, time skip spoilers

a/n: this was supposed to be short and sweet…what happened?? i’m sorry for any missed editing mistakes. inspired by this song by ito kashitaro. please give it a listen to after you’re done reading, it is such a good song!

The audience watched in nervous silence, waiting with bated breath as Atsumu stepped up to the line and prepared for his serve. The game had dwindled down to its final set, leaving both teams exhausted and sore from the constant rallies and unforgiving plays. If Atsumu could land a service ace now, it would mean the end of the game and victory for his team.

Looking at his teammates, Hinata and Bokuto both smiled at him encouragingly, while Sakusa’s glare told him not to mess up. Looking up to the stands, Atsumu found you in the sea of people, your lips curved into a radiant smile as you shot him a reassuring thumbs up.

Finding strength in the people around him, Atsumu released a shaky breath before tossing the ball up into the air, jumping after it to launch it into the opponent’s side of the court.

“Can I play?” a tiny voice asked from behind him.

Catching the ball that Osamu had just received, Atsumu turned around and raised a condescending eyebrow at you, his eyes scanning you with disdain and disinterest as you stared back at him with anticipation.

“No way,” he scoffed. “This isn’t a game for scrubs like ya.”

“That’s not very nice,” you replied, a frown now present on your face. “My ma told me that ya should be kind and share with everyone.”

“Yeah? And my ma told me not to talk with strangers,” Atsumu made a shoo-ing motion with his hands, “now go and play in the sandbox with the rest of the scrubs.”

Scrunching your nose in frustration, you stomped off towards the swing set where you had been previously occupying your time. “Jerk…”

Smirking in victory, Atsumu returned to receiving the ball back and forth with Osamu, letting out a gasp of surprise when the ball bounced off of his arm and went flying towards your direction.

“Oi, watch out!” Atsumu shouted to warn you.

Turning around, you quickly surveyed the ball before taking off into a running start. Jumping up into the air, you perfectly spiked the ball back to Atsumu, hitting him in the face as you gracefully landed on your feet.

“Wow,” you drawled out sarcastically with a smirk. “Sorry, my hand slipped.”

Osamu, who had been quiet up until this point, let out an uncontrollable laugh as Atsumu continued to groan on the ground, his face now red from where the volleyball had smacked him.

That was how you met Miya Atsumu.

The classroom was filled with hushed excitement as everyone anxiously waited in their seats for the lunch bell to ring. Today was Valentine’s Day, and all the students were once again ready to celebrate and revel in the traditions of the romantic holiday.

As soon as the bell rang, various female students ran up to Atsumu’s desk, showering him in a variety of wrapped and decorated chocolate confections. Despite only being second years, the Miya twins were the talk of their junior high, as their superior looks and athleticism made them the envy and desire of the student population, whether they wanted to be or not.

Looking over his large pile of gifts, Atsumu glanced at his brother from across the classroom, finding some sort of comfort in how Osamu also seemed to be struggling with his own horde of adoring fans.

“Atsumu-kun, please accept my chocolates.”

“I worked really hard on these, so please accept my feelings, Atsumu-san!”

“Atsumu-kun, are ya going out with anybody right now?”

“Oh, shuddup!” Atsumu snapped as he stood up from his desk, causing everyone to stare at him with surprise and fear. “I just wanna go out and play volleyball, but none of ya will let me leave!”

The girls around Atsumu’s desk quickly shrank back, some shuffling their feet in awkwardness, while others hid behind their friends.

“Yer a real jerk, y’know that?” Osamu sighed, shaking his head at his brother’s lack of tact.

“What did’ja say, ‘Samu? Say it to my face!”

Noticing movement from the door, Atsumu saw the top of your head peeking out from behind the door frame, your body obstructed from view due to the large number of female students standing outside of the classroom.

“Oi, [Y/N],” Atsumu called out, causing you to jump in surprise. “Come play volleyball with me and ‘Samu.”

“Uhh, sure,” you agreed nervously as some of the other girls began to glare at you. “I have something I gotta do first. I’ll see ya out on the field.”

“Sounds good!”

Turning around, you scurried down the hallway and rushed back into your classroom, hiding your box of chocolates away in the depths of your school bag.

Your friend, who sat in the desk behind you, raised an eyebrow at your suspicious behaviour. “I thought ya were gonna go confess to Atsumu-san? Ya said that’cha worked all night on those chocolates.”

“Haha, yeah. I’m chickening out,” you shamefully admitted, rubbing the back of your neck. “He was a little busy…”

“Figures,” your friend scoffed, rolling her eyes at your cowardice.

“Yeah. Good thing I bought those extra store bought chocolates, right?” you chuckled, trying to ease the pain. “Now it won’t be awkward if I only give ‘Samu his chocolates.”

Your friend sighed before shaking her head in pity. “I don’t know why ya fell for that idiot in the first place.”

“Yeah, me too,” you whispered, remembering all of the effort you had put into your chocolates the night before.

At the simple age of fourteen, you experienced your first heartbreak.

It was a tough pill to swallow, but it was the truth. Nobody expected a powerhouse team like Inarizaki to lose in their first match of the Spring High National Tournament, but Karasuno was an incredible team, managing to secure the victory after a tremendous three set game.

Days following the tournament, a sombre atmosphere could still be felt lingering in the halls of Inarizaki High. The third year volleyball club members were now retired, turning to focus their attention on studying and entrance exams instead. They would still occasionally show up to practice and mentor their first and second years, but it was clear that their time in their beloved club was over. Everyone was heartbroken, but no one was more upset about the team’s loss than one blond setter.

“Hey,” you greeted Osamu as he opened the front door. “How are ya holdin’ up?”

“Fine,” Osamu replied with a shrug. “Definitely a lot better than ‘Tsumu.”

You nodded solemnly, entering the quiet house and exchanging your outdoor shoes for a pair of house slippers. “Are yer parents not home?”

“Visiting family,” Osamu answered plainly, tearing open a bag of chips to snack on them. “Want some?”

Shaking your head, you politely declined his offer. After a moment of silence, you shuffled your feet and glanced up the staircase. “I’m gonna go check up on him.”

As you began to climb the stairs, Osamu called out your name, making you turn back to look at him. “Thanks. For being there when I can’t.”

You smiled, nodding to Osamu before letting your feet carry you through the familiar hallways of the Miya household. Soon, you reached your destination, stopping right in front of the twins’ bedroom door.

Gently knocking on the door, you alerted Atsumu of your presence. “‘Tsumu? It’s me. I’m coming in, okay?”

Hearing a grunt of acknowledgement, you entered the room before softly closing the door behind you. Shaking your head, you sighed at all of the clothes and manga books messily strewn about the room. Typical teenage boys.

There, securely wrapped in his blanket from head to toe, Atsumu lay on his bed, his back facing towards you as he stared off at the wall in complete silence.

“Hey,” you greeted softly, taking a seat next to him on the bed. “‘Samu says that yer not holdin’ up too well. Are ya okay?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Atsumu mumbled, his nose stuffy and voice grating as if he had been previously crying.

“It’s okay if ya don’t want to talk about it,” you conceded, bringing a hand up to brush through Atsumu’s messy blond locks.

After a few minutes of silence, sniffles could be heard echoing throughout the room as Atsumu tried his best to muffle his cries into his pillow. With a melancholic smile, you continued to rake your fingers through Atsumu’s hair, staring out at the window to bask in the glow of the setting sun.

“Everything will be okay, ‘Tsumu,” you gently whispered. “You’ll be okay…”

Outside of the room, Osamu smiled as he heard your comforting words to Atsumu. He felt content knowing that the blond would be just fine now that you were here.

“Ahhh, I can’t believe we’re done!” you shouted in excitement, your eyes gleaming as you admired the piece of paper you had sacrificed three years of your life to obtain.

“Yer so loud,” Osamu grimaced as he stood to your left. Though, he also broke out into a smile once he saw how the happy expression on your face never wavered.

Graduation was both a joyous and scary occasion, as students now set off on their own paths towards an undecided future. Although nothing was certain, you weren’t scared. You were ready to take on whatever life threw at you.

“Hey, Osamu, come take a picture with us!” a couple of guys from the baseball club requested, shaking their phones for emphasis.

Shrugging his shoulders, Osamu left your side as you waited for Atsumu to finish his conversation with a couple of his female fans.

After snapping a quick photo with them, Atsumu waved his fans goodbye and walked over to stand next to you underneath one of the school’s cherry blossom trees.

“God, they’re so annoying. ‘Miya-san, yer so cool. We’re gonna miss ya so much!’” Atsumu poorly imitated, his voice rising to an absurdly high pitch in an effort to mimic their voices.

“Yer awful!” you laughed, shoving his shoulder once he was within arm’s reach.

“Yeah, yeah. Tell me something I don’t know,” he smirked before glancing around. “Where’s ‘Samu?”

“Pictures,” you said, pointing to Osamu and a group of boys off in the distance.

“Ughhhh,” Astumu groaned, glaring at his brother with impatience.

As the two of you waited for Osamu to be done, a comfortable silence enveloped you and Atsumu. The hushed chatter of other students could be still heard as they all ran around, saying goodbye to one another and wishing each other good luck for the future. You looked up to the sky and smiled, admiring how the cherry blossoms danced with the gentle breeze of spring.

“I’ve been in love with ya since junior high, did’ja y’know that?” you asked, grinning once you saw the look of absolute shock painted on Atsumu’s handsome face.

“W-what-” Atsumu sputtered, not knowing what to say in response to your confession.

“Calm down, ya look like yer gonna choke or something,” you chuckled.

“Why are ya telling me this now?” Atsumu asked seriously, staring at you with a look that you couldn’t quite decipher.

Shrugging your shoulders, you answered Atsumu’s question. “Why not? It doesn’t change anything. Yer still gonna be moving to Osaka to try out for the MSBY Black Jackals, ‘Samu’s gonna be studying here, and I’m heading off to Tokyo. I just wanted to get this off my chest after all these years.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Atsumu reluctantly looked away, “I don’t feel the same way about you.”

“I know,” you said as you took a hold of his hand, ignoring how he seemed to flinch at your touch. “A part of me kinda hoped that you’d return my feelings and move with me to Tokyo, but that’s just a far-fetched dream. Besides, I’d never want to make you choose between me and volleyball.”

“[Y/N], I’m sorry-”

“Will you stop it!” you playfully snapped, rolling your eyes at the Miya Atsumu’s sudden shyness. “It’s fine. I’ve come to terms with my feelings a long time ago. No matter what, at the end of the day, I’ll still love both you and ‘Samu all the same.”

Hearing your parents call out your name, you turned to where they stood as they signalled for you to meet them at the car parked a couple of blocks down the street.

“Okay!” you confirmed as you waved to them. Turning back to Atsumu, you planted a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth, surprising him as you shot him one last smile. “Goodbye for now, ‘Tsumu. I’ll see ya when I see ya.”

Atsumu could do nothing but stare as you ran off towards Osamu, interrupting the photo-taking as you hugged the ex-wing spiker before kissing him on the cheek and bidding him your farewells. The other guys around Osamu all whistled and hollered, but he just rolled his eyes at their lighthearted teasing.

Returning your hug, Osamu kissed the top of your head, saying his goodbyes to you as well before whispering something only you could hear. Both of your eyes drifted to Atsumu before you nodded your head and separated from the grey haired Miya. Waving to Osamu and Atsumu one last time, you ran off to catch up with your parents.

As Atsumu watched you leave, the blond clenched his fist tightly around his shirt, right where his heart would be. An indescribable feeling began to settle in his chest, and he couldn’t help but feel as if he would regret it for the rest of his life if he didn’t chase after you.

Nevertheless, Atsumu’s feet remained firmly planted on the ground.

“Miya-san, you are one of the rising stars in the world of volleyball right now. Looking at your career up until this point, I can easily understand why so many new players see you as a figure of inspiration,” the interviewer complimented, a professional and polite smile on her face as she held up her microphone. “Tell me, is there anyone that inspires you to work hard and continue to do your best?”

“That’s a tough question,” Atsumu replied, sending the interviewer and camera a charismatic smile. “Well, if I had to choose…”

Looking back on his life, the first person that came to Atsumu’s mind was you. Like a lantern shining in the darkest of nights, your smiling face was the first one to appear in the setter’s head.

Suddenly, memories of you all came flooding back to him, especially that one fateful day underneath the cherry blossom tree where you had confessed your feelings to him.

“Uh, Miya-san?” the interviewer asked, snapping him out of his daze. “Are you all right?”

“Um, yeah, sorry. It’s been a long day,” he chuckled, earning a laugh from the interviewer as well. “Sorry, what was the question again?”

The interviewer only smiled as she repeated her question.

“Yer going on a date?!” Atsumu screeched, pulling at his hair as if he had just heard the worst news ever. He was currently on a Facetime call with you and Osamu, with your phone aimed towards your closet as you shifted through and appraised different outfits with the twins.

“Uh, yeah, that’s what I said,” you confirmed, rolling your eyes at blond’s overreaction. “Now, which shirt looks better, the yellow one or the white one.”

“I personally like the white one,” Osamu replied, quickly glancing up from his laptop before resuming his essay.

“Since when? With who?” Atsumu interrogated, glaring suspiciously at you through the phone screen.

“A guy from my Intro to Biology class. He seems really nice, so I accepted his offer,” you explained with exasperation. “It’s just coffee, ‘Tsumu.”

“Just coffee?!” the blond asked hysterically. “This is Tokyo we’re talking about! We all know how sketchy those city boys are!”

“‘Tsumu, it’s just one date,” you sighed, no longer having the energy to deal with him. “Listen, if it goes poorly, I’ll block his number and never interact with him ever again. Deal?”

“Fine,” Atsumu relented, grumbling something under his breath that you couldn’t quite pick up. “But call me or ‘Samu as soon as you get home! If I don’t hear from ya by the end of the night, I’m going to Tokyo myself!”

“I’ll be fine, ‘Tsumu,” you chuckled before glancing at the time. “Okay, I gotta go. We’re meeting up soon. See ya, guys!”

“Bye.” “Be safe!”

Hanging up the call, Atsumu let his head fall back onto the couch, his fists shaking with frustration. He didn’t like you, at least not in that way. So why did he feel jealousy and disappointment burning away at his chest when you had announced to him and Osamu that you were going on a date?

Thinking back to graduation day, Atsumu couldn’t help but wonder if he truly did feel nothing for you back then. In any case, he couldn’t deny that the thought of you now stirred up something within his heart.

He hated himself for it, but he hoped that your date was a total disaster. That he’d be there to comfort you and rekindle whatever feelings you had for him back in high school.

Unfortunately, Atsumu never got his chance.

As the ball flew through the air, the opponent’s libero made a desperate dive to reach it. Unfortunately, his efforts were not enough, as the ball landed just out of his arm’s reach, so close, yet so far away from being stopped.

The whistle sounded, declaring the end of the game as the crowd erupted into both cheers of happiness and groans of disappointment. Atsumu’s teammates all ran up to quickly hug him, with Hinata and Bokuto being the first ones to reach the tired setter. Sakusa looked at the three of them with disgust, but he still sent Atsumu a small smile, telling him that he did good.

Atsumu laughed as Bokuto kept slapping him on the back, while Hinata congratulated him for his amazing serve. Looking up to the stands one more time, Atsumu chuckled as you sent him a beautiful smile and an enthusiastic wave of both hands, the shine of your wedding band reflecting off of the stadium lights.

“Y-yer gettin’ married?”

“Yeah! Isn’t this great, ‘Tsumu?”

“Y-yeah! This is wonderful, [Y/N]. I wish ya nothing but all the happiness in the world…”

Turning to your husband beside you, you began to excitedly talk about all the amazing players and the various highlights of the game. Your husband must have said something funny because you started to laugh, kissing him on his cheek before leaning into his chest with a hug.

Atsumu turned away from the happy couple, half-listening to the praises of his teammates. He had never once regretted his decision in pursuing volleyball, but he couldn’t help but think back to that fateful spring day.

If he had accepted your feelings back then, would he be the one that you were hugging right now? The one that got to see your dazzling smile and hear the twinkle of your laughter every morning?

Atsumu loved volleyball, but he also loved you.

He was just too late in realizing this fact.

fun fact: osamu was originally going to end up with [y/n], but i liked the idea of them remaining as friends a lot better. [y/n]’s husband is a canon haikyuu character, so if anyone can guess who he is, i’ll write you a request

EDIT: an anon has correctly guessed that it was konoha

[tooweirdforyou]

Hi Syd! First I want to say that your Valentine’s Day Event seems very cute and fun! May I please have a memory with Ace from the Heart category? Can the heart memory be just all-around fluffy and sweet? I don’t know exactly what I want but I would definitely like at least a hug in there if you don’t mind.

My name is Ki (Key) and I’m a short and chubby woman (with an hourglass figure). I’m generally quiet until you get to know me then I’m very loud and sarcastic. My laugh, in particular, is very unique. I laugh until I cry, it can be very loud, and I passed out at least twice from laughter. People say I’m very bubbly and my smile never fails to brighten the room. I love listening to music and learning about different places/cultures. I love history and want to work in a museum after graduating from college. My love languages are physical touch and quality time. I absolutely adore hugs or being held in general and I love playing with people’s hair. Oh, and I’m practically allergic to all of nature: trees, flowers, grass, etc.

I hope that’s enough. Thank you so much and I hope you have a great day! ^^

Thank you, hun! I’m glad you do! And yes, this was plenty, thank you. You as well! :D Here is your special Heart Memory with Portgas D. Ace!

CATEGORY : Heart

CHARACTER : Portgas D. Ace

IT’S a weekend, Sunday.

Ki is home alone, in her room, at her desk, studying what seems to be an ancient history book. She was studying to be a historian after all.

Gentle classical music is playing in the background as she reads in peace, a soft smile displaying on her lips as she sat calmly.

Distracted by the book, it nearly scares her when a pair of arms wrap themselves around her from behind, and a soft kiss is pressed to her temple. The person was hugging her and nuzzling their face into the crook of her neck lovingly.

“Up so late, baby? You should go to sleep.” It’s the voice of her freckled boyfriend, Ace, who had just come home from his brothers’ place. His voice is laced with exhaustion and sleepiness.

“Hey, Ace. I wanted to wait for you. Did you have fun at your brothers’?” Ki’s angelic voice speaks over the music, bringing a tired smile to Ace’s face. “I did.. I was going to sleep there but I wouldn’t be able to sleep without my baby.. come on.”

Nudging her to the bed, Ki only giggles and smiles her usual smile, bringing warmth and a sense of love into Ace’s chest at the sight. “Alright, alright.”

Making sure to save her page, she closed the history book and turned off the music, following Ace to their shared bed, muttering a quiet joking comment under her breath. “So needy.”

“Not needy, just feeling cuddly.” Ace defends, climbing into bed and was quick to pull Ki towards him and his chest. Ki is facing Ace’s chest.

His legs wrap around hers and arms over her torso before pulling the covers up. “Good night, Ki.” He whispers with his chin on top of your head, his fingers running itself through her soft hair as he shut his eyes.

The warm smile on both of their faces turns invisible one the lights are turned off and are in each other’s love and care. “Good night, Ace..”

-

Remember, feel free to ask for more once I posted yours! So sorry this is taking longer, it’s just that there is so much and I’m writing so much more than I should be 😅 the length is so uneven for everyone too.

And I’ll be making Drabbles, short scenarios or headcannons, based on what I’m given and what I can think of. Please don’t be upset for what I give you. Hope you enjoy. :)

Valentine’s Event

[marveldeliversusps]

Prompt: New Hobby

Thanks for the prompt and political advocacy, @queenoftherandomword​! Hope you like it!

Prompt: Looks like somone has a new hobby

Pairing: Stucky, shrunkyclunks, background Sam/Nat

Rating: M

Art by @inflomora-art​. I’m obsessed with this pic. 

Steve heard a knock and rushed to the door. It was around three PM and his postal worker, Bucky, would be dropping off the mail soon. On days when he wasn’t too busy, Bucky would stick around and chat with Steve for a few minutes. Those were the best days.

Mailman Bucky was beyond hot. He had a cleft chin with a bit of softness under it, wrinkles from smiling and sparkling grey eyes. He was so beautiful he even made the dumb postal worker hat look good.

When Steve pulled the door open, he found Natasha standing there expectantly. He tried to close the door but she put her foot inside the house. He set his shoulder against the door so she could push her way in.

“Nice to see you, Steve.”

Steve took a steadying breath in. He loved Natasha and looked forward to being around her. Since he’d retired from the superhero business and given the shield to Sam, time with Nat had been in short supply. However, she was perceptive and insatiably curious. If she was around when Bucky arrived, she’d sniff out Steve’s secret crush right away. Or find the numerous unopened boxes in his bedroom that he didn’t want to explain.

“Natasha,” he said.

“That’s all?”

Steve held tight onto the door. A moment of confusion or indecision would be just enough for her to elbow her way inside. This is why he needed more non-spy friends.

“Nice to see you, as always.”

Natasha rolled her eyes so dramatically her eyelashes fluttered. “What you mean to say is I’m sorry that I stood you and Sam up for our lunch date at Hot Lips pizza today, and that you two had to wait for forty-five minutes, and I can’t believe I didn’t respond to your text messages.”

Steve closed his eyes in embarrassment. “I totally forgot. I’m sorry, Nat.”

“It’s alright, Steve,” Natasha said, brushing non-existent lint from Steve’s shoulder. “I know you have other commitments. Maybe we could hang out now?”

Steve did want to spend time with her, just not for another hour when there was no risk of her meeting Bucky. Since getting together, Sam and Natasha were both happier, more fluid and less locked into decades-long patterns, but it certainly made Steve’s life more difficult. Their attempts at teasing him or caretaking were coordinated and ruthless. Loving, but ruthless.

“Now’s not a good time,” Steve said. “How about Friday you and Sam come over for a movie night?”

Natasha smiled sweetly, all her deadly angles covered by softness. She squeezed Steve’s hand gently, then dug her fingers into his wrist, making him yelp and stumble backward. As soon as Steve faltered, she charged inside and started looking around the living room. When Steve subtly positioned himself between her and the stairs to his bedroom, Natasha clocked his actions immediately. She slipped past his outstretched hands and hustled upstairs.

“Goddammit, Nat!”

Once she entered Steve’s bedroom, Natasha stopped abruptly and looked at all the unopened boxes lining the walls. “Huh.”

Steve nearly slammed into her back in his rush to beat her to the bedroom and had to grab onto the doorframe to stop himself. Natasha tilted her head to the side as if she was trying to solve a puzzle.

“What were you expecting?” Steve said.

Natasha’s brows furrowed. “I don’t know. A hot man or woman. A sex dungeon. Porn. Not a million boxes from…” she picked one up and squinted at it. “REI? What the hell, Steve?”

Steve opened and closed his mouth, not quite ready to tell the truth. The first package had been an actual order, a new pair of running shoes from an outdoor store he discovered. But then when Bucky had delivered them, REI (Recreation Equipment Inc) was apparently his favorite store, and it had given them something to chat about.

Steve had taken to buying gear from there once a week and planned his schedule to be home with the packages arrived, just so he could talk with Bucky. He’d even been working up the courage to suggest a hike together.

“I checked all the rooms downstairs,” Sam said out of nowhere.

Steve’s shoulders slumped. Of course, Sam and Natasha would be working together. They never went on ops alone anymore. Not since she was captured by AIM, and Sam leveled three blocks of downtown Mobile, Alabama to save her.

Steve should have never suggested Nat ask Sam out. Or introduced them. Or joined the Avengers.  

“Nice to see you,” Steve quipped.

Sam winked at him, the cheeky asshole. He knew Steve couldn’t stay mad at him long. “Not my fault,” Sam said, as he walked into the room. “You ditched us. And if you had just told Tasha what you were hiding--”

“I can have secrets,” Steve said petulantly.

Meanwhile, Natasha was walking around the room and shaking boxes. They all had the REI logo on the side: Sustainable Gear Built to Last. She retrieved a knife from her boot, ripped open a box and pulled out a 9.8mm Dry-Core climbing rope. It was bright yellow with red x’s on it, and Steve had picked it because he liked the design. “Is this for an outside sex dungeon?”

“Stop thinking everything is about sex!” Steve snapped. Sam raised an eyebrow at him, and Steve immediately felt bad. Before he could apologize to Natasha, she waived him off. Sam sat down on Steve’s bed and pulled out his own knife. He never used to have a million knives on him, probably Natasha’s influence.

“Do people know Captain America sneaks into people’s houses with knives?” Steve said.

Sam shrugged and carefully opened a package. “People don’t know a damn thing about me I don’t want them to know, because my girlfriend is a badass.”

A paranoid badass, Steve thought. But he had the self-preservation to keep that to himself.

Sam pulled out a Lavender Harness with yellow daisies stitched to the side. “Petzl Luna Harness,” he read off the side. “Steve, this is a woman’s harness.”

Steve crossed his arms, because he had aced his Women’s Studies class, thank you very much. “All the harnesses for women were pink and had flowers on them, and I thought that was very gender essentialist of them, so I bought it for myself in protest.”

“I’m sure they heard you loud and clear,” Sam said dryly.

They slowly unpacked all of Steve’s packages: another harness, two more ropes, a crash pad, carabiners, and several metal things Steve didn’t know the name of. After each item, Natasha looked at Steve expectantly, and he steadily denied that it was for a sex dungeon.

Next came a Marmot 1 person tent, that Steve would have to curl up in sideways to fit, a backpack, and a head lamp. He had more things he needed, but he wanted to spread the orders out.

“Why didn’t you open any of this stuff?” Sam said.

Exhausted with their questions, Steve flopped dramatically onto the floor, and he didn’t need to look up to know Sam and Natasha were doing synchronized eye rolls. “I don’t know how to use it yet!” Most of it he’d selected because he liked the colors or the philosophy of the companies. He had no idea if all the gear even all worked together. “It’s outdoor gear because my mailman likes to rock climb, and he’s hot, and I want to climb him like a tree.”

Natasha grinned triumphantly, and proclaimed, “So this is about sex!”

Steve didn’t respond, just slowly banged his head on the floor. Maybe if he blacked out they would leave him alone.

“Well, well,” Sam said.

“Don’t do that,” Steve snapped.  

“Looks like someone has a new hobby.”

Natasha leaned against Sam and giggled. It was so damn cute that Steve couldn’t decide if he wanted to wrap them in Christmas paper or throw them outside.

He almost missed the knock at the door.

“Steve,” Bucky called in. “Your door was left open. Just wanted to make sure everything’s okay.”

Steve shot an annoyed look at Sam who grinned unrepentantly. “Barton’s watching the entrance.” Steve should've guessed that, too. He half expected them to turn into a throuple any day now.

Natasha ignored them again, moving lightning fast to charge downstairs.

“Steve,” Bucky called again. “Hi,” he said, presumably when he saw Natasha. “Just checking in. I have a package for Steve.”

“I’m sure you do,” Natasha said meaningfully as she took the box from Bucky.

Steve made a racket in his haste to prevent Natasha from saying anything more embarrassing and landed at the door framing breathing heavily with a wild look in his eyes. Natasha, naturally, looked calm and composed.

“You must be Bucky,” Natasha said, extending her dainty hand. “Steve can’t stop talking about you.”

Steve’s cheeks immediately flamed hot, and the only saving grace was that Bucky’s cheeks pinked up adorably, too.

“Oh.” Bucky didn't elaborate further even though Steve really, really wanted him to. Was that a good oh or a bad oh? An oh or an /oh/?

Before Steve could follow up, Sam came up behind him and clapped an arm on his shoulder.

“Captain America!” Bucky exclaimed when he saw Sam. Oh no, no no no no, Steve thought. “You’re my hero! I mean, I’m an adult so not like hero hero, but it’s. Whew. It’s an honor.”

Sam grinned that warm, gap toothed smile that made old ladies weak in the knees, and he shook Bucky’s hand. “Nice to meet you. Did you serve?”

Bucky nodded, shrugging his shoulders shyly. “Yeah, two tours and all that, and you know, the post office is the number one employer of vets, so I’m here doing this. Helps to have the arm.” He pointed at his black and gold prosthetic.  Thanks for promoting that program by the way.”

Steve didn’t pout, but his inner toddler was stamping his foot. He only got a few minutes to talk to Bucky each week, and Sam was hogging all his time.

Natasha had magicked some popcorn out of nowhere, there hadn’t been any in Steve’s cupboard, and was obnoxiously monching it and watching the three of them. Knowing her, she’d probably known all of this was going to happen and brought the popcorn along as a prop.

“I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Bucky said to Sam, “but could I get a picture?”

Sam nodded, turning to Steve with a shit eating grin. “Steve, would you mind taking a pic of us?”

Steve took Bucky’s camera. He stepped on Sam’s foot while he arranged them for the photo, because he had called dibs on Bucky, and Sam already had Natasha. “You know . . . I’ve been retired for a while.” Because if Sam could play the Captain America card, so could he. Bucky had never brought it up, so perhaps he hadn’t recognized him.

Bucky smiled softly. “I know, Steve.”

Oh, well. That was a different thing entirely. Bucky had known who Steve was all along and had never made him feel uncomfortable about it. Steve smiled back at him and took the picture.

Once they were done, Natasha leaned toward Bucky. “Tell me, Bucky, how long have you and Steve been getting to know one another.”

Steve was 100% sure that was her code for sex dungeon activities, which, what in the hell did she and Sam get up to in their free time? Nevermind, he didn’t want to know.

They didn’t call Steve the greatest strategist of his time for nothing. He subtly scooted over, forcing Natasha to lean back.

“We’ve only recently become friends,” Steve said. The blood rushed to his cheeks again when he realized what he’d said. Bucky probably had to be friendly with everyone while he was working, that didn’t mean he and Steve were friends. “I mean, I think we are.”

The sides of Bucky’s eyes crinkled adorably as he grinned. “Yeah, we’re friends, Steve.” He paused and glanced at Sam and Natasha before settling back on Steve. “Actually,” Bucky rubbed the back of his neck, making his terrible round hat fall forward. He righted it quickly and said, “I was wondering if you’d like to go climbing this Saturday. I could show you the cool spots with not too many people, and--”

“Steve doesn’t know how to climb,” Natasha said around another mouthful of popcorn. “You should take me and Sam along to teach him. And Clint, too. Maybe Tony would want to come.”

By the grace of all that was good and holy, Sam had mercy and pulled Natasha away from the door whispering, “Stop cockblocking my best friend.”

Once Nat and Sam were out of earshot, Steve met Bucky’s eyes and grimaced. “I was looking for new hobbies, and when I ordered shoes you brought up climbing, and like an idiot I said I liked it too. because you are so handsome, and my brain turned into mush, and then I just didn’t want to stop talking to you.”

“I know,” Bucky said interrupting Steve’s rambling. His eyes sparkled as he grinned. “You once called a grigri a carabiner.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“Exactly.” Bucky stepped closer, his expression turning mischievous. Steve could never, ever let him and Natasha become friends. “Wanna go on a date with me?” He was so close now, Steve could pick out the flecks of silver and black in his grey eyes.

Steve got lost staring until he realized Bucky had been waiting too long for a response. He didn’t seem to mind, his smile only getting wider.

“I really do want to learn to rock climb,” Steve blurted out to stop himself from saying something ridiculous like, please fuck me in your uniform.

Bucky tilted his chin back and laughed, mesmerizing Steve with the movement of his throat.

“How about we do both?” Bucky said, laughter dying down as he scooted closer.

Steve leaned down and said, “I’d like that,” against Bucky’s lips, the moment before they kissed. Distantly, he heard the sounds of Natasha and Sam cheering, but he blocked them out in favor of gripping Bucky’s hip and pulling their bodies flush against one another.

“The man has to work,” Sam called out. “Don’t get freaky and delay the mail.”

Bucky pulled back and patted Steve’s shoulder. “See you soon, Stevie.”

After he left, Steve collapsed on the couch next to Sam, heady with the experience, until a sudden realization left him cold.

“I forgot to get his number.”

Sam waved him off, and pointed at the kitchen where Nat was rifling through Steve’s cabinets. “Don’t worry. Tasha has it already.”

Steve groaned. Of course she did. And if by some chance she didn’t, Steve could always order another box from REI.

---

Learn more about Marvel Delivers USPS here! 

[whatsyourdamage-veronica]

When The World Ends, What Comes Next?

He’s like fire, Veronica thinks, at some point in their relationship-after Chandler, after they’ve killed the queen bee of Westerburg High (and possibly the entire town of Sherwood), but not by much. She pushes the thoughts of what they’ve done out of her mind, and smiles as she thinks of the way he warms her from the inside out. 

She doesn’t think, then, that he could burn her. She knows playing with fire ends up in burns, but she thinks they’re different. They smolder slowly, she thinks, a fire to last a lifetime. Not the kind of fire that destroys, the kind of fire that warms.

They’re on her bed, her parents asleep across the hallway, tangled up in each other and just enjoying each other’s company. JD’s lips are against her skin, her lips and shoulder and collarbone, and every time he presses a gentle kiss where he’s murmuring words of love and admiration, Veronica feels like he’s touching her with a live wire. It makes her stomach swoop in the best way, and she thinks she’d give almost anything to just stay like this forever. 

She’ll think back on that and realize that even then, maybe she should have seen that their relationship was like a firework; burning brilliantly across the sky before it exploded and disappeared. 

~~

In the short weeks before Heather and Heather lure Veronica to the graveyard in the middle of the night, she spends almost all her free time with him, and she feels like she couldn’t be happier.

Heather Duke has tried to take over the role Heather Chandler used to fill, and Veronica can’t deny the pang of guilt and sorrow she feels when she walks into the lunchroom and sees green and yellow, but no red. Duke hasn’t quite dared to reclaim the color yet. 

She starts skipping lunch, instead finding hidden corners of empty classrooms or the school gym or even the library, on slower days, and spends her lunch break with JD. Sometimes they talk, but most of the time she doesn’t get a word in before his lips are on hers, and she melts into his kiss, forgetting everything she had to say. She’s learned how to bite her lip to keep the gasps and moans hidden as his mouth and his hands roam her body, learned how and where to touch him to make him speed up, make him claim her even more thoroughly. She’s lost count of the times she’s had to pull her blazer up just enough to hide the hickeys he leaves, but he’s always careful not to leave them on her neck, just her collarbones and decolletage. 

She tells her mother she’s joined a book club that meets after school and she’ll be coming home late after school. Her mother smiles and tells her that’s great, she’s glad to see Veronica getting out and about again, she’d been so withdrawn after poor Heather’s suicide. Veronica doesn’t know what to say, so she just bites the inside of her cheek and nods an agreement. 

It’s not entirely a lie, she thinks as she lays with her head on JD’s lap in the park, under a tree, dappled sunlight highlighting his hair and cheekbones and lips as he reads from his old, worn copy of Baudelaire’s poems. Most days, she gets tired of it after two or three poems, and she pushes the book aside as she climbs into his lap and loses herself in his touch again. Some days, she’s content just to listen to his voice. 

Sometimes she looks at him and marvels that he can love her so much and so completely. He’s not exactly the type she would have thought would be romantic and sweet, but he tells her he’d do anything for her, he whispers his love for her against her lips and across her body and between her legs, and she revels in it. She revels in the fact that she’s the one to bring the Baudelaire-quoting badass to his knees if she asks him, that she’s the one he’s chosen to adore. She’s special; out of all the women he’s met, he tells her, he hasn't loved any until her, and she loves that. She loves him. 

In hindsight, she realizes that wasn’t healthy. She realizes she shouldn’t have let him make her his entire world. It’s his fault for planning to murder two people in cold blood (she still counts Chandler as an accident, because she can’t quite bring herself to acknowledge that he knew, after what she’d said, that the drain cleaner would kill her) and planning to blow up a school, but it’s her fault too, for not walking away from him the first time he put her up on the pedestal she’d so enjoyed at first. 

It’s addictive, she thinks, to be worshiped. To be treated like a goddess, an angel, a queen. And she was barely seventeen. She didn’t know better. 

It doesn’t really help ease the guilt.

~~

Veronica isn’t stupid. 

Her grades are near perfect. She aces her tests. She’s smart, her IQ is high, she’s the model student. 

She knew all along that there was no such thing as tranquilizer bullets. She knew, she knows, and she chose to ignore it. Chose to believe the man who said he worshiped her, who promised with what she now sees was a sickly sweet smile that he’d make her problems go away. That Kurt and Ram would never hurt her again. She chose to think it’s because they’d be too humiliated to mess with her. 

Sometimes she wonders in the dead of night, when she wakes from nightmares of red scrunchies and white briefs and black trenchcoats, if she’d really wanted to kill them. She must have, she reasons, because otherwise she would have said no, would have insisted on another way. 

She knows she can’t chalk it all up to the half truths and twisted lies JD managed to plant in her mind, can’t blame it all on him. She’s guilty too, she’s got the blood of four people on her hands, and she’ll never be clean of that. 

She knows she couldn’t have saved him. She knows he was the perfect storm, ready to implode. Knows the day his mother died, a part of him died too, a part of him he’d never be able to get back.

She knows losing that part of him had irreparably damaged him. That part of him could never be filled with anything else, no matter how much she’d loved him. Maybe at one point, that wasn’t true, but he was too far gone by the time she’d met him. 

Love doesn’t fix things, she knows. But on the days she can’t get out of bed, the days she just cries or stares at the wall, the days her mother casts her worried glances as she brings food Veronica doesn’t touch, she wishes with everything she has, everything she is, that it could. She wishes he was here, wishes she had known how to fix him, wishes she could go back and stop his mother from walking into that building. 

Sometimes, in her dreams, he’s there. They’re back in the park, his lips forming the words of a poem she can’t quite hear. She always interrupts, always tells him she loves him, always tells him how much she wishes she could have saved him, how much she wishes she could have been enough.

He frowns at her, a beautiful figment of her imagination, and tells her he loves her too, but what does she mean? He’s not gone. He’s right here. And she’s always enough. 

She always wakes from those dreams with tears on her face. 

~~

She thinks about the scene in the boiler room a lot. It’s almost constantly on her mind the first few weeks after his death.

She remembers the way she’d looked into his eyes and realized the boy she’d loved, the boy who held her close after her nightmares had started, the boy who kissed her sweet and slow and read her French poems, was gone. He’d snapped, lost his mind, finally been driven to a final act of desperation in the war his life had become. It doesn’t make anything okay, doesn’t disarm the bomb or unpoison Heather Chandler or unshoot Kurt and Ram or unwrite the suicide notes, but Veronica pleads with him anyway. Even as he points his gun at her head, even as she has to focus on her breathing in order to keep herself calm and not break into sobs, she asks him to come with her, to disable the bomb, to just forget it all and choose her again. 

She feels her heart break all over again every time she remembers the fierce snarl on his face, the way he’d ignored her stretched out hand, the way he’d cocked the gun, his finger on the trigger. She feels her stomach twist as she remembers the way she’d stared down the barrel of the gun and thought she might die, right then and there, and then the school would go up in flames. 

She remembers all too vividly her hands on his, their bodies intertwined again in a very different dance, the way she’d desperately wished she could just get the gun from him and maybe then he’d see sense, maybe then he’d come back. She remembers the way her heart had stopped when she felt the gun kick and heard it fire, remembers the way it had kicked into overdrive as she’d pressed her hands to her own stomach, expecting to feel blood, remembers tasting copper and fear on her tongue as he gazed at her in shock for a long second before he fell. 

She tries not to remember the way he’d caressed her face on the football field, the way she’d flinched away from his touch as she felt his bloody hand leave a red print on her cheek, the way his eyes had been so, so sad as he’d stumbled backwards with the bomb (a Norwegian, she remembers it being called, on that sick, dark day she’d had no choice but to break up with the boy she’d thought would be the love of her life) clutched to his chest. 

She can’t help but remember the way her heart dropped and her stomach swooped sickeningly as he smiled at her for the last time. Her love, her JD, her sweet, too-broken boy, bloodied and bruised and broken on the outside now like he’d been on the inside for as long as she’d known him. He smiled at her, and she felt a sob wrench itself from her chest. 

By the time she’d realized she wanted to die with him, by the time she’d made up her mind that if he deserves to die then so does she, the countdown is too short for her to reach him before the bomb explodes. 

~~

Life goes on, because it has to, but Veronica can’t. 

She graduates high school but she doesn’t choose a college. She can’t. She knows she wouldn’t be able to focus, knows she’d fail her classes. She gets a job, moves into her own tiny apartment, drags herself through day after repetitive day. 

After work, as she sits at her table and picks at the food she’d barely had the energy to make, she sees the ones she’d killed. Heather, still in her red floral silk robe, tongue blue and hair gathered in her red scrunchie, seems to realize that Veronica will break if she’s pushed too far, and mostly stays quiet. She just sits across the table, eyeing Veronica resentfully as Veronica tries her hardest to ignore her. 

Kurt and Ram aren’t quite so considerate, but they were far less close to Veronica when they were alive, so she finds it easier to ignore them. And though they antagonize her, even they know better than to needle her about JD, because if she ceases to exist, they might too, and she thinks they enjoy her pain too much to risk it. 

She doesn’t see JD at all. She doesn’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. She misses him desperately, but the other three bear the marks of how they died, and she doesn’t want to see JD’s form if it’s broken and battered, singed and smoky. She doesn’t know what a person looks like after they’ve exploded, doesn’t want to know. 

She tells herself things will get better. Hopes with everything she has that they will. Doesn’t quite believe her own words.

Some days the only thing that keeps her going is the knowledge that wherever he is, if he’s anywhere, JD wouldn’t want her to die. She remembers the brokenness of his voice as he fell to his knees in front of what he thought was her dead body, remembers the tears in his voice even if she didn’t see the tears in his eyes, the way she knew he’d thought she left him just like everyone else. She thinks she has to make up for that somehow. She doesn’t owe him anything, she knows, but she wants to do everything she can to clean the slate, to make up for the hurt she’s caused.

She can’t not go on. She has to at least try and do some good in the world. She just can’t, not yet, not until she’s sure she won’t crumble to pieces at any given moment.

She starts with a plan. She’s not going to go to an Ivy League school anymore. She was a completely different person when she made those plans. She finds a community college, in Columbus, one she can do mostly online classes for in the beginning, and slowly starts with taking a few credits at a time. It wears her out some days, but she pushes herself through.

And as she does, she feels her broken parts, her jagged edges, her shattered heart start to mend. It isn’t much. She still wakes up screaming in the middle of the night, still has days she can’t get out of bed, still has to pause sometimes to take deep breaths at work so she doesn’t cry. But those things get less frequent as she finds other things to focus on.

Heather and Kurt and Ram have faded away, disappearing slowly as she learned how to move on and cope with the things she’s done and the losses she’s suffered. Even on the days she’s alone and broken and wishing for company, she doesn’t miss them at all.

She doesn’t declare a major for a long time. It takes her years to admit to herself what she’s known she wants to do from the second she realized how bad JD’s home life was, since she’d seen what it had done to him. But the day she turns in her papers declaring her intent to become a social worker and a counselor, she feels a huge weight lift off her chest.

~~

That night, she has a dream she hasn’t had in a long time. Her head is on JD’s lap again, his fingers idly stroking through her hair as he recites a poem from memory. She can’t quite hear him, but she knows the poem is one of love and adoration, just like they used to be. 

She starts to sit up, starts to apologize, starts to tell him she loves him just like she always does, but this dream breaks from the way her dreams usually go. He smiles down at her, fingers still tangled in her hair, and her breath catches in her chest as she sees the boy she’d loved in his eyes, the boy she could have happily spent a lifetime with, the boy whose love for her wouldn’t be obsessive or all-consuming or unhealthy.

He leans down and kisses her forehead, murmuring words of thanks and love and apology. She feels tears welling up, reaches up to caress his cheek, taking a shuddering breath at how warm and solid and real his skin feels under her fingers. 

“Veronica,” he says quietly, pressing a gentle kiss to her hairline, “thank you.”

“Thank you for what?” she replies, sitting up straight to look him in the eyes. “I killed you.”

He smiles softly at her, shaking his head. 

“You didn’t,” he says. “That was all me. I pushed you and pushed you until you didn’t have a choice. And I’m sorry for that. But you...you tried to save me. Even after everything I’d done. Even though I hurt you, over and over, you didn’t hate me.”

“I could never,” she chokes out, feeling her heart break all over again. “I love you so much.”

“I know,” he replies, cupping her cheek. She closes her eyes and nestles into his palm. It feels so real, and if it’s a dream, she doesn’t want to wake up. “I know, Veronica. And I love you too. And I know what you’re doing, what you’re becoming, and it means so much to me.”

She loses the battle, feels tears begin to fall, and he gives her the saddest smile she’s ever seen him wear.

“JD, I can’t-”

“Shh,” he interrupts. “You can. You have, and you are, and you will. I’m gone. I know you know that. I can’t undo that. Neither can you. So the only way to go is forward. You’re doing that, you know. Every day. But Ronnie...you have to let me go.”

“No,” she whimpers, tries to reach out to hold him, but he grabs her wrists and holds her hands together in front of her.

“Yes,” he says calmly. “Veronica, I loved you as much as I could. But we both know it wouldn’t have worked, in the end. You couldn’t have fixed me. You couldn’t have saved me, no matter how hard you tried. It’s time to stop beating yourself up about it. I don’t know if you even realize it, but you’re dragging me around, keeping the memory of me too close, and you have to let go.”

She breaks down, harsh sobs filling the peaceful air, and he reaches out to pull her close. She buries her face in his chest and cries, mourning all the things she’d refused to acknowledge for years. The nights together they’ll never have, the rings they’ll never wear, the children who will never run around and play in the yard and make a mess of the house. 

After a while, when her tears have subsided and her breath has calmed, as she listens to the steady pounding of his heart, he nestles his chin on the top of her head and sighs.

“I know you don’t want to,” he says softly. “I know it hurts. I don’t want you to either. But we both know it’s what you need to do. Veronica, if there’s an afterlife past this, I promise I’ll be right here to go there with you.”

She nods, cheek still pressed against his chest for a moment before he moves a gentle hand under her chin and pulls her up to look him in the eyes again.

“I love you,” he whispers. “I love you so much. Live a good life, Veronica Sawyer. I know you will. You’ll make a difference in this world, and even if it’s only for individual people, it will mean so much. And when it’s all over, just imagine me, and I’ll be there.”

“I love you too,” she says, pressing her forehead to his. “I’ll never stop loving you. I’ll miss you so much.”

He leans forward and presses his lips gently to hers. She kisses him back, soft and slow, with tears in her eyes again.

She wakes with tears on her cheeks, alone in her bed, and lets herself cry. She knows that with the morning sun, she’ll take a deep breath and let him go, like taking off a heavy coat she’s been wearing for far too long.

But just for tonight, she’ll finish letting herself mourn.

~~~

The years pass quickly. Veronica Sawyer graduates at the top of her class, gets her masters in social work, and immediately begins working in Texas. She knows the reason she chose that state, she acknowledges it, and then she lets it go and moves on with the work she’s chosen.

She sees things she wishes she hadn’t. Terrible things, terrible people, terrified children. And she fights her hardest to save every single one she can. If she can save even one child from ending up like JD, she thinks, she’ll consider it a success.

She becomes the most beloved social worker in most of the state. She’s called in for the most desperate cases, the children who are broken and exhausted and won’t talk to or work with anyone else. She knows she might not be able to save them. She knows she won’t ever be able to completely heal someone, that feeling pain and loss and terror leaves a scar. She’s got scars too, and she didn’t go through anything even close to what these children have. 

She might not ever understand. She knows that. She sees JD in their eyes; broken, bruised, battered. She knows that they need help, they need love, they need things she can’t give them. But she tries her best to help them see that life isn’t a battle, that they don’t have to live in a war zone. She goes to court and fights tooth and nail, she goes to the homes of prospective foster parents and makes sure everything is how it’s supposed to be, and she makes sure the children she helps know that she’s there for them no matter what.

She eventually does get married, but she never gives birth to children of her own. She adopts two, not children she works with but the most troubled cases from other places, ones that everyone says they can’t handle. She does her best to parent them from a place of love, even when it’s hard. She thinks they turn out all right; one of her children becomes a lawyer, one becomes an artist, and she thinks she couldn’t love either of them more. She becomes a grandmother a little late in life, but she finds she doesn’t mind. 

Her spouse passes first, in a tragic car accident. She’s crushed, and spends weeks trying not to fall into the same depression she did after high school. This time, though, she has children and grandchildren to help, and help they do. 

~~

Eventually, she gets sick. Pneumonia, the doctors say as she lays in a hospital bed for days at a time. There are days she can barely breathe on her own. Complication after complication keeps throwing wrenches into her healing process.

On her worst days, she sees a shadow at the edge of her vision. She knows who it is, and she knows it’s not time yet. 

She thinks it’s terribly ironic that he’ll end up being her angel of death. 

The day comes, weeks later, when she knows she can’t fight it anymore. They send her home on hospice, and she feels nothing but relief. 

Her children and grandchildren gather around. She tells them all how very much she loves them, and how much good they’re doing in the world. How much good they still have yet to do. She holds their hands and whispers words of love and praise and goodbye.

In the early morning hours, she feels her heart falter, and she knows it’s time. She closes her eyes and imagines JD in front of her, as perfect and young as the day they met. He appears slowly, sunlight in his hair, and she stands carefully, smiling at him. 

“Hello, Veronica,” he says with a smile. She takes a step towards him, and behind her, her bed fades away, replaced with the perfect green field she used to see in her dreams. 

She doesn’t say anything, just launches herself into his arms, tears in her eyes as he catches her and cradles her close. 

“Oh, I missed you, my love,” she whispers, and he presses a kiss to the top of her head. 

“I missed you too,” he says. “Oh, Veronica, you are...amazing. I’m so proud of you. Everything you did, everything you were.”

She pulls back to kiss him, sees her hand on his face, and stops in wonder. It’s smooth, free of the wrinkles and lines she’d gathered throughout her lifetime. She moves one hand to touch her face, finding the same thing. She’s young again, she realizes, and lets out a happy laugh.

“I’m staying this time,” she breathes, and he beams at her. She doesn’t let him answer before she’s grabbing his face and kissing him hard, pouring all the love and longing from the years into the kiss. He pulls her close as he returns her kiss with the same fervor.

When she pulls away, he chuckles and takes her hand.

“You’re staying,” he echoes, twining his fingers with hers. “C’mon, should we figure out what’s on the other side of this field?”

She laughs, moving her hand to loop her arm through his and resting her head against his arm as they begin to walk.

“With you,” she says, “I’d go anywhere.”

[dangandidlyronpaimgines]

hi! hope your days gone well

Shuichi Saihara

Oh god you were so cute someone help this flustered bi boy

Honestly he doesn’t do much for winter, he just keeps inside and bundles himself up with blankets

But since dating you, he’s been dragged outside every chance you get

And honestly he’s grown to like the cold

(Though you teaching how to ski was not the funnest.. He was just worried is all!)

(And oh god let’s not even talk about ice climbing)

And when Christmas comes along of course he gets dragged for the ride

He didn’t use to celebrate it much before, since it was only him and his uncle

But after Hope’s Peak and dating you he, well he starts taking the holiday more seriously

(Then again he kind of has to since you’re such a huge lover of Christmas)

He practically gets forced to watch every Christmas movie and learns how to make gingerbread cookies

Though he doesn’t mind, honestly it’s rather cute to see you so fired up

If you get him a homemade sweater or jacket he will melt

Kokichi Ouma

He’s always stealing your coats, like always

Your coats are just more comfy after all!

Kokichi is already a huge Christmas fan so with the two of you combined you practically force the whole class into the holiday spirits

(Mistletoe and tacky Christmas sweaters everywhere)

He does make a face whenever you make him try traditional Eskimo dishes

(Seriously blubber?? Eww!!)

As soon as snow hits, prepare for snowball fights

(Literally Kokichi will do a snowball fight anytime and anywhere)

He thinks it’s fun to wind you up by sending you screenshots of people who think climate change isn’t real

Your ranting is so hilarious to him!!

But while Winter is fun he likes watching you suffer during summer

Poor you can’t handle the summer heat and often try to keep shut in with the ac and a couple of fans running

And while he still drags you out he understands if it gets too hot for you to handle

(He still wants to go to the beach with you though, even if you have to carry like four mini fans to keep yourself cool)

Rantaro Amami

Honestly this a man willing to try anything once

He doesn’t mind trying some weird traditional food, hell the fact that you would take the time to make him something makes him want to try it

And what do you know he ends up really enjoying some of it

He already knows how to ski and ice climb, and you two often go out to do these activities together

Sometimes it becomes a competition like who can ski to the bottom faster

Whenever Christmas comes around you two throw a huge party at his place (which is like a mansion)

I’m talking a huge Christmas tree, homemade dinner spread, decorations everywhere, the whole nine yards

If you ever need to travel you know he’s going to be right by your side (he loves traveling after all)

He happily listens to you babble about well anything really

You just look so cute when you’re really serious about something

Gonta Gokuhara

Gonta finds you adorable!

It’s like you’re in a little cocoon with all of the coats you wear!

While Gonta has never skied or ice climbed before he’s willing to try!

(Turns out he’s good at climbing… skiing on the other hand was pretty much a disaster)

He can have a surprisingly long conversation with you about climatology

(Hey he already knows what climates are good for bugs and things like that)

When you find out he’s never celebrated Christmas before, oh god it’s chaos

You’re showing him every Christmas tradition there is and he loves it

His favorite Christmas movie ends up being the Muppet’s Christmas Carol

(And it becomes a tradition to have a movie marathon every Christmas from now on)

(Also.. you know Gonta would get presents for all of his bug friends)

If you find a Christmas sweater that could fit him he would almost never take it off

(He will literally cry if he accidentally tears it or something)

Ryoma Hoshi

He doesn’t really get how you could wear all of those layers and not get overheated but hey you do you

While he doesn’t ski, he is a terror during snowball fights

(Like seriously he could nail anyone with a snowball, only you are safe from his skills)

Isn’t really a Christmas fan but hey if it makes you happy

(He isn’t dressing as a Christmas elf though, no matter how much you beg him)

He does wear a santa hat instead of his usual beanie(?) during the holidays though

(But don’t expect him to wear a Christmas sweater)

He doesn’t mind helping you cook some of your country’s traditional food from time to time

He isn’t one to turn away from a home cooked meal after all, no matter how strange it could be

Though if you ever invite him to visit your home.. He’s going have to be bundled up in at least a dozen coats

He gets cold rather easily due to his small size after all

Kiibo

You can’t tell me Kiibo doesn’t love Christmas

Like he is wearing cheesy Christmas sweaters during the whole month of December and you eagerly follow his lead

(Though if you or anyone else tie a mistletoe to his ahoge he will crash)

He doesn’t feel cold in the first place and can’t really do most winter sports

(He’s too heavy for skiing or ice skating and not strong enough for ice climbing)

But he’s happy just to watch you have fun!

And you two could always build snowmen together or just walk around in the snow!

He’s really curious to hear about your traditions and how your people lived

Humans were really adaptable to live out in a constantly frozen environment!

While he can’t eat food.. He likes watching you make it!

(Though he does internally sulk that he can’t try it)

He doesn’t quite understand why you struggle so  much during summer but he does get a fan application installed to help you out!

Korekiyo Shinguji

He loves hearing you talk about your culture and traditions

It makes his eyes light up to hear your point of view on many things

He also loves trying your traditional dishes, it’s so fascinating after all to see what a culture considers food that others may not

He makes sure to pay back the favor by making you some traditional Japanese dishes as well

While he can’t skii, he’s a surprisingly good ice skater

He would love to visit your hometown, though expect him to try and talk to everyone he meets about their thoughts and views on life

(You can’t judge a culture from just one person after all)

He understands and has read about Christmas traditions but he hasn’t really done much during Christmas

Though once he realizes how big it is to you, he will happily play along

However he would much rather to celebrate Christmas with only you then having a big party

Kaito Momota

Kaito is the kind of guy who tries to wear shorts during winter

(You literally have to for him to put on an actually winter jacket)

He loves playing out in the snow though and will constantly drag you outside to play in the snow

Another big Christmas fan here

Like he would love to go out and chop down his own Christmas tree with you and spend weeks decorating your place

Honestly he isn’t the best at cooking or baking though.. So he’ll leave that to you!

(Watch out he might try to steal some cookie dough)

While he can’t ski.. He can snowboard!

Prepare for tons of races

While he’s a bit weirded out by some of your cooking.. He’s willing to try it at least once!

After all he’s the Luminary of the Stars!! He wouldn’t shy away from some weird food!!

[ottermoone]

Tribute to Gwydion, Cat of cats

I lost my best friend two days ago. His name was Gwydion, and he was a few months shy of 12.

I was there the day he was born, in early 2007, when my neighbor knocked on our door and told us excitedly that her 2 cats were having kittens. I was 11 years old, in the 5th grade.

We hadn't initially expected to adopt a kitten, but the last litter of kittens had included a few white kittens, and my mother wanted another white cat, as we had lost an older white kitty who we'd both been very close to a couple years before. So we headed down and sat with a group of people, and watched the newborn kittens finally nuzzle up to their moms, a black cat named Hemy, and a tortoiseshell named Patches. Patches had a couple white kittens in her litter, and my mother asked the neighbor if we could adopt one of them when they were old enough.

5 or 6 weeks later, my mother came back up to our apartment with a small kitten. He was all white, except for his tail, which was orange and striped. I was told that he was only going to explore our apartment for a little bit before going back downstairs to his mom. I watched him run around excitedly, playing with my two other cats (Hercules and Persephone--both who hissed at him), and we laid out a shoebox filled with litter in case he needed to go, since he was so small we were afraid he'd get stuck in the regular litter box. He eventually used it, and squeezed out the tiniest and stinkiest poo I'd ever seen. I still remember it. My mother eventually took him back down to the neighbors', and a week or 2 later, he came to live with us permanently.

I didn't get to name him--my mother liked to give me the illusion of "choosing a name," which she'd then immediately reject before telling me what we were naming the animal. She initially told me we were going to name him Cernunnos, because she wanted a Celtic name for the cat, because of his coloring (white animals were considered sacred in Celtic mythology, apparently). She eventually rejected that name ("It sounds too much like 'Sir' ... Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad...") and settled on Gwydion instead. It took me a full week before I was able to remember and pronounce his name (Gwid-ee-in).

My mother was an abusive hoarder, and we lived in poverty, so in the apartment we were living in at the time, we slept next to each other on a queen-sized memory foam mattress pad in the middle of the living room floor, surrounded by trash and clothes and other junk. So the first night we brought Gwydion home, he did what all kittens do and started pouncing on anything that moved underneath a blanket. Unfortunately, when we tried to sleep, that ended up being our toes. After a half hour of him pouncing on our toes, my mother got impatient and told me to lock him up in another room for the night.

He began crying almost immediately, and when I was sure my mother had fallen asleep (as I knew I'd get in trouble otherwise), I went back in and grabbed him, took him back to the mattress pad with me, and laid him on my chest. I pet him gently and constantly until he fell asleep there, and then finally fell asleep myself. When I woke up the next morning, he was still there, and we were inseparable forever after. Every night after that, he'd come and lay on my neck or my chest, purring and kneading.

Over the next year, he got more orange coloring in his fur, and my mother gave him less attention (I think because he wasn't the pure white cat she had wanted, and also because she was jealous of the bond we shared), until it was plainly obvious that he was my cat.

We both suffered extremely abusive and impoverished conditions together over the years that I won't delve into here. But throughout those years, wherever we were living, and whether he was mainly an indoor or outdoor cat at the time, every night, he'd come to where I was sleeping, cuddle up next to me or on my chest, and stay there until I fell asleep.

For several years, he and my other cat, Hercules, were forced by my mother to be locked in my tiny room, day in and day out, never being allowed out, unless they happened to slip out when the bedroom door opened, and then ran outside (as the front door was almost always open due to broken AC). In those years, he learned what crying meant, and eventually, when I'd start crying, he'd immediately be there, forcing his way into my arms or onto my chest, kneading and purring until I stopped crying and fell asleep.

There was a day where I had basically made up my mind to kill myself. I was almost 13, and had laid in bed all day, from the time I woke up until after night time, with blackout curtains drawn. I hadn't eaten anything, and it felt like time didn't exist. It was the emptiest I can ever remember feeling. I just lay there, feeling nothing. Eventually, after hours of thinking about the quickest and easiest way to die, my mind settled on drinking bleach. As I started to sit up, getting ready to walk out of my room, he was suddenly on my lap from out of nowhere, crawling up my chest, kneading and purring. As if he knew. Looking back now, I realize he had been laying next to me the entire time, but I had been so out of it that I hadn't noticed. At that moment, all feeling came rushing back, and I began crying, horrified at what I'd almost done. I hugged him and cried some more until I fell asleep.

We moved again after a few years, this time into government housing, and he was allowed to roam the apartment or go outside as often as he wanted. Still, every night without fail, when I laid down, he'd be there next to me.

A few days after my 18th birthday, I secretly brought all my important belongings to school with me, and moved in with my boyfriend. I hadn't been able to get Gwydion out because I hadn't wanted to raise my mother's suspicions before I left--we had stopped letting him outside as often because I didn't want him to get hurt. I had planned on it for weeks, though--my boyfriend had planned to show up that morning with a cat carrier as I quietly slipped him out the door and into my boyfriend's waiting car. But the night before, I realized my mother would notice if he were suddenly gone all day, and that it might hurt my chances of getting out, and if I couldn't get out, I couldn't ever get Gwydion out. So I let my boyfriend know not to come pick him up. It was one of the hardest decisions I ever made.

Those few months without him at night were rough, and I felt so guilty. But eventually, a few months later, my mother was evicted, and she asked me to take him and Hercules or they would be going to the pound. My boyfriend was super sweet and helped me pick them up, as well as necessary cat supplies, and thus began Gwydion's second life. He was 7 years old.

Gwydion had always been sweet to me, but he'd never been fixed, and he'd also been through abuse and lived outside part time, so he wasn't very sweet to other people. He also liked to spray. One of the first things we did was get him fixed and vaccinated. He immediately stopped spraying, and within a few short months, he was cuddling with my boyfriend as well.

For the first time, I was able to spoil him. He was able to walk and climb anywhere he wanted, he had multiple places to lay, he had access to a constant supply of food that never ran out, he had AC, he had a clean litter box, he had his best friend Hercules, he had two people doting on him, he didn't have fleas, and once every week, on Friday night, he'd get canned food. It took a little time, but eventually, he relaxed fully and began to enjoy himself, and he became an even more amazing cat, if that's even possible. He stopped laying on my chest every night, but that's mainly because he could come and lay on my chest or my boyfriend's chest at any time of the day he wanted. He would sometimes lay right on top of both of us at night though, which wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but it was still sweet.

Hercules was put to sleep a few years later, in November of 2016. Gwydion didn't eat for 3 days, and so I eventually took him to the vet, and they induced his appetite. Thankfully he ate after that, but he was very stand-offish for the next few months.

Around the same time, we got a new kitten from the nearby shelter, who we named Crono. At first, Gwydion cuddled with Crono, but after Hercules' passing, he began to growl and hiss at Crono, and eventually, Crono learned to leave him alone. Feeling bad that Crono had no one to play with, we eventually got a 3rd cat from the same shelter, an 8 month old kitten, who we named Noctis. Noctis and Crono became immediate best friends, and within a month, Gwydion began being his old self again too, grooming the other two and even playing with them at times.

We moved a few months later, this time into a bigger apartment with a backyard and multiple windows, and we got a cat tree. Gwydion had always loved sunbathing, and so he loved this apartment. He could walk almost anywhere in the apartment and have access to a window. He also continued playing with the other two for a little while, which meant he gained a little muscle and evened out to a healthy weight. He was so happy I swear he glowed.

Unfortunately, a few months ago, he started losing weight rapidly, even though he was eating more. For reasons I don't want to explain here, including the fact that he was no longer cleaning himself, I realized a few days ago that this was it, and to keep going just because I adored him would be selfish of me. In my teens, I had seen multiple animals die without the benefit of euthanasia. I couldn't bear the thought of him having to go through that, and I realized he was getting close. So I made the hardest decision I've ever made, and chose to help him go.

My boyfriend and I were able to get a vet to visit us, as he'd always hated car trips. He got to spend his last day sun bathing, getting his favorite canned food, and his favorite treats. He spent his last hour cuddling on my lap. He was too tired and weak to lay up on my chest. I pet him gently and constantly as he lay there, and he passed quietly as I stroked him and told him I loved him.

It still doesn't feel entirely real. The moments when it does, the pain cuts deeper than a hot knife. I will be honest--I don't believe in an afterlife. I wish I did. Because then I might get some solace from the "Rainbow Bridge" poem, or the multitude of pictures assuring me that he's in heaven now, watching over me. But I will never see him again. He is gone. He'll never come up to me again, kneading and purring and booping my face. I'll never hear his sassy little voice again. It's going to take a long time to fully process. But I do know this: if angels were real, he'd be one. I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for him. I wouldn't know the meaning of unconditional love, and I wouldn't be who I am or where I am now without having had the honor of having him in my life. So no matter the pain that continues to come in waves as reality settles over me, I will never regret bringing that little kitten with the stinky poop, who pounced on my toes while I tried to sleep, home.

I love you so much, baby boy. I am glad you existed at the same time as I did. I will carry the memory of you with me for as long as I live.

One of our first nights together.

Stuck in my room together. One of the few times he wore a collar. He tore it off not long after this picture was taken.

After he moved in with me and my boyfriend. Very relaxed and carefree

Pretty boy ❤️

Arm hugging and purring like crazy

Gwydion and Hercules: best friends

Part 2

Cuddling with one of our rats, Rosa

Cuddling with Crono when he was a kitten

The last picture taken, a week ago: cuddling with Noctis.

.

.

.

Rest in peace, baby kitty.

[aurulenthuntsman]

-- aurulentHuntsman [AH] 8egan pestering decastichAmazifier [DA] at 17:38 --

AH: Greetings, Kavi! ~}==>

DA: o hey

AH: How are you faring this fine afternoon? ~}==>

DA: lmao uh like ngl im p much blastd

DA: so i mean its a thong

DA: 8thing

DA: wow

DA: charasistic typos

DA: fuckin noice

AH: Hmm???????? ~}==>

AH: It seems a little early in the day for drinking! ~}==>

DA: hey listen

DA: friend

DA: man

DA: len me ur ear

DA: consider this

DA: concept: its night in at least 5 places rn

AH: A fair point... Time is relative! ~}==>

AH: And perhaps that is a social construct that we put too much weight into ~}==>

AH: But traditionally, early drinking is something of a red flag... ~}==>

AH: I beg your pardon if I'm being presumptuous, but is everything alright? ~}==>

DA: uh lol i mean hello no

DA: well yeh but no

DA: idk its complicated

DA: so

DA: shrugmojis

DA: jus think about me like the fun winemom on Facebook

DA: or like those old sitcoms where its funny

DA: and not a issue like yah kids w/e

DA: u n your bottlerockets and blowin up hotdogs in microwaves

DA: i'll go get my xanex and gin

DA: laughtrack

DA: or Karen

DA: you saucy bagel u

DA: fuckin #relatable #classic #same #mood

AH: I see... So, if it's purely recreational, then the fun would only be doubled with company, correct? ~}==>

DA: oh uh....... yah gimme

DA: 45 mins

AH: Certainly! ~}==>

AURYHN: *exactly 45 minutes later, there's a little CLUNK at his window... followed by another a few seconds later.* ~}==>

KAVI: *Shitpissufck now he's gotta... he's gotta... SHOWER. And clean up. He can't be a mess anymore that's enough of that. He got all gross and pathetic on Nellie and he doesn't think he can take looking like a goddamn fool in front of another one of his friends. He quickly got showered and stumbled about his room. Now he only SLIGHTLY smells like vodka. NICE.*

KAVI: *Jumps at the window clunk.... o fuq. He goes to the window and opens it*

AURYHN: *on the ground, waving up at him with a big stupid grin on his face* ~}==>

KAVI: *WOW that's far.... also he's a smiley guy.... lays right against this window sill... Leans and lays, sliding down to chinhands at him..... casually* hhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeyyyyy *calls while sliding*

AURYHN: ... HELLO, KAVI ~}==>

AURYHN: If you would please stand aside so I can climb in through your window, that would be much appreciated! ~}==>

KAVI: o

KAVI: yah

KAVI: *flumps back.... but at least he didn't see that*

AURYHN: *scurries up the tree like he had the night he slept over until he's swoocing through the window, landing gracefully on the other side.* I've arrived! ~}==>

KAVI: *Stays right here on the floor... WHY? HE DOESN'T KNOW..... but his leg is on the wall*

KAVI: *peace sign* sup

KAVI: hey

KAVI: ur sup

KAVI: is was up

KAVI: for me at least

KAVI: wbu

AURYHN: *stands over him, hands on hips, for a moment... before he drops down next to him with his feet propped against the wall as well.* Oh, you know! Exploring the city and what not ~}==>

KAVI: *Hello mountainous man tiddies, oh, hello the whole Auryhn* o... yeah sounds fun

KAVI: still gogogoin

KAVI: none naps n shit

KAVI: s'not good

AURYHN: *chuckles a little, turning his head towards him* I've managed to find time for sleep in my busy schedule... At your behest ~}==>

KAVI: *grins a lil* hah really? well damn... good yeah

KAVI: that's good, i'm glad you r

AURYHN: It was sound advice! After all... Early to bed, early to rise... Makes a man strong, wealthy and wise ~}==>

AURYHN: *grins cheesily some more, but then looks back up at the ceiling... not without a little side eye, though* I do hope you're exercising similarly healthy habits... ~}==>

KAVI: ............. *Feels the side eyeing and sweats mildly* i mean

KAVI: lol

KAVI: so

KAVI: i can

KAVI: i have some off dayz

KAVI: zzzz

KAVI: ss

AURYHN: Ah ha, so you are having an off day! ~}==>

KAVI: ...... *oh gdi* uhhhh

KAVI: alternattitvely.....

KAVI: what the fuck are on days even???????

AURYHN: Kavi, PLEASE ~}==>

AURYHN: You must know, I don't fuss over others often... ~}==>

AURYHN: I only wish to know if you're alright ~}==>

AURYHN: And if you aren't... then I would like to offer you comfort in whatever way would best help you ~}==>

AURYHN: You're my friend! And a very important one ~}==>

KAVI: *Makes a face... why does everyone have to be so supportive... why can't he just be sad and miserable and he kinda feels like shit for just dancing around it when Auryhn DOES give a shit. Even still it makes him sad to talk about and just the friendfection and the sad feels his face gets a little red.. sighs*

KAVI: *rubs his face up so he doesn't start crying again. So he just.... rubs the tears back in his eyes with his palms. Ace strats* me and.. Den, broke up. guess i'm bein a pissbaby about it idk w/e w/e

AURYHN: *oh... now he feels bad prying so much, but maybe he would have felt bad no matter what kavi said. he only knows this wasn't what he expected to hear, and he gazes at the other boy sympathetically* Oh... I... am sorry to hear that ~}==>

AURYHN: Kavi... It's only natural to feel so hurt over something like that, isn't it? ~}==>

AURYHN: *offers him a hand to hold* I certainly can't blame you ~}==>

KAVI: *Looks at the hand then at Auryhn, his brain still going way faster than his mouth can currently keep up but he looks incredulous? And definitely teary* how can u be so sure? how, how do you know i didn't fuck everything up? i can fuggin blame me easy,

KAVI: gee Kavi, maybe you can't shut the hell up about how goddamn gay you are for p much everyone??

KAVI: or maybe ya try so fuckin hard for the approval of others that you backflip off the fuckin deepend as far as people close to u are concerned

KAVI: oh, oh, here maybe you just plain weren't fuckin good enough to handle anyone on an intimate level because you're too wrapped up in your own shit to connect really?

KAVI: or just that you THINK relationships can fix anything and everything and that's myth goddamn busted because look at you!

KAVI: you can definitely blame me, i can blame me and it's deeper than that and why the fuck does anyone GIVE a shit for a fakeass dumbass when they just DON'T. KNOW. *And he's being hysterical... nice. Good job. Just. Gurgles and puts his hands back over his face, get back in there tears. Maybe it was for the best Auryhn kept seeing him like this. An Ass. His final form* i'm, fuck

KAVI: i'm sorry i, ffffffuugghhhh *gibberish and just rolls over, good bye forever*

AURYHN: *stares at him stunned for a good long moment. he doesn't have that much experience dealing with high emotion coming from other people... but listening to all this, he did understand one thing: how it felt to be critical of yourself, the need to always be impressive, the self preservation... he knew those pressures, even if he always denied them. seeing how they effected someone he cared so deeply

AURYHN: for, it sure put things into perspective for him.* ~}==>

AURYHN: Perhaps I don't know you quite as well as I think I do... As well as I would like to ~}==>

AURYHN: *flexes the hand kavi didn't take, deciding to place it on his shoulder* 8ut I have seen your compassion... When you treat me with kindness, do you mean to say it's out of selfishness? I dou8t that very much ~}==>

AURYHN: If you've made mist8kes, that's all that they are! You are not defined soley 8y your worst moments... Nor are you defined soley 8y your 8est ~}==>

AURYHN: I only mean to say... You should allow yourself this heart8r8k, Kavi ~}==>

KAVI: *While he tries to hide his shame and cry lowkey. super lowkey like... no one would suspect. He listens to Auryhn's words. Quietly sniffing and trying to keep his breathing even. They made sense.... which was good but he also didn't feel like he deserved those kind words. Like he's dropping this plate of Hot Mess(tm) that's his own damn self and no one is backing up with their hands in the air*

KAVI: ....why're u so nice..

AURYHN: *scoffs* You know, not many people would agree that I am... I know that for a F8CT... ~}==>

AURYHN: *sighs* But it is easy to be kind to someone who has been kind to you, I believe ~}==>

KAVI: *that's so.. cheesy but also.. it helps. He loves cheese. Sniffs again and wipes his hands on his shirt, trying to calm down* cheddar... pure... 100% milk gdi, ugh... i'm so gross rn

KAVI: you came here for a good time and now idk ur nice you probably don't feel attacked rn

KAVI: it's like playing the floor is lava and we're laying in this shit right now

KAVI: because we're on the floor

KAVI: no imagination required on that part

AURYHN: *snorts* Then what are we doing on the floor? Allow me to rescue you from a fiery demise! ~}==>

AURYHN: *rolls to sit before scooping up kavi with no real warning* I used to play "the floor is lava" when I was a wriggler ~}==>

AURYHN: And I would pretend to be a wise dragon sentinel in my castle upon a volcanic mountain! ~}==>

AURYHN: Which I later went on to insist upon a hive of my own... Though I could not find a volcano, the snowy Avalon mountains suited me just fine ~}==>

AURYHN: *carries kavi over to his plush pile and sets him down. there. he's safe here.* ~}==>

KAVI: *Oh he got scooped. His face is all red from the crying as he looks up at Auryhn while he talks and walks with him. The story is a cute one, he breathes out a short laugh then looks away. Not now dokis gdi* wow... hah

KAVI: yeah they, they did you good *sniff* that's pretty cute tho

AURYHN: *kneels in front of the pile, grinning at him* A young Auryhn would disagree... It was quite a noble pursuit ~}==>

AURYHN: But present Auryhn has the insight to agree that, yes, it was rather adorable... ~}==>

AURYHN: Also, are you comfortable? ~}==>

KAVI: its cute and noble lol he'd have to deal with it *settles back in all this gd plushness*

KAVI: also

KAVI: hell yes

AURYHN: Excellent! ~}==>

AURYHN: Would you like anything else? A blanket, perhaps? A pair of strong arms to cry into? ~}==>

AURYHN: *FLEXES* ~}==>

KAVI: .....

KAVI: yes

KAVI: *lifts arms*

AURYHN: *here he comes, leaning in for the snuggles. welcome to his STRONG embrace.* ~}==>

KAVI: *This is a nice embrace..... He cuddles into it. Nice.... :'S :') :'S *

AURYHN: *squeezes him close, resting his cheek against his head. the closeness makes his face flare with heat, but... that's hardly appropriate right now! he ignores it as best he can.* There there... ~}==>

KAVI: .....*SNRK*

KAVI: where is my broom?

KAVI: where are my pets

KAVI: i need my awkward distant pets

AURYHN: Your broom???????? I thought you were a wizard, not a witch ~}==>

AURYHN: *LAUGHS. he might not get the Reference, but he thinks he's hilarious...* I can provide you with sincere, close range pets, however ~}==>

AURYHN: *rubs at his back* ~}==>

KAVI: lol i'll take those..... and also i'll show you memes later *snuggles into him*

AURYHN: Memes, hmm? Well, I look forward to it... ~}==>

AURYHN: *rumbles a little in his chest. he tries not to chirr much, but... now seems like a good time to break out the comforting bug sounds.* ~}==>

AURYHN: For now, you relax ~}==>

KAVI: you'll regret it... but we're makin it happen *laughs softly and cuddles up here against these bug noises... he does like him some bug noises...* kk i'll do that

KAVI: you're cozy

KAVI: great cuddlemate

KAVI: a plus plus smiley face

KAVI: and thanks lol

AURYHN: You're welcome, Kavi... You're welcome for my comforting embrace... ~}==>

AURYHN: *gentle snickering, but he's starting to get relaxed enough to nap himself...* ~}==>