#BOMBARDING YOU WITH FANARTS DAY THREE | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

whiteqnn · 3 years ago

Text

PURE [5] - Corpse Husband x Fem!Reader

A/N: It’s been a while.

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

PURE [5]

“Did you guys find anybody?” Felix’s voice sounded out when the man repeated the same question for what seemed like the third time since he joined the call. The number of players showed 7 of them, which meant that they were still missing three people. Sure, they could start the game now, but it would be way more enjoyable and funny with a full lobby.

“Yeah, Toast will be here any moment. “Sykkuno replied right away. “He just texted me; he should join us in a few.”

“Cool. Anyone else?”

“I think Corpse was also supposed to join us, right? Not sure though why he isn’t here yet.”

“Oh, yeah, Corpse will be here soon too!” Jack suddenly chimed in with an explanation. “He said he needed to take care of something first, but he’ll be here before we start.”

“Great. But that means we’re still one person short.” Felix hummed when Toast’s little astronaut appeared in the lobby “Hey Toast."

“Hey man.”

“Do you have anyone coming?”

“I’m afraid not. I asked MrBeast, but he’s busy, so...”

“Well then, we can just start when Corpse is here, and maybe we’ll find someone in the meantime?” Dave suggested, earning a few hums of approval from the other players.

“Yeah, I think that’s the best option...” Jack agreed. But then his voice blared out in everyone’s headphones with excitement. “Ha! Corpse is bringing someone!”

“Who?”

“I dunno, he just texted me he has one coming and that’s all.”

“Hm, all right. Let’s wait then.”

***

Corpse fidgeted with his phone, glancing between its screen and the chat in his stream. People were already asking countless questions, but rather than answering them, he was waiting for Y/N to call him. He was nervous - the girl still hadn’t commented on his request.

The idea to invite her to the lobby wasn’t spontaneous. In fact, he’d been thinking about it for quite some time now, but never found the courage to actually ask if she would like to join them for the game.

It’s been almost a month now since that memorable phone call. A month since Y/N last played with her friends; a month since she considerably reduced her social media usage.

Sure, she was still active on her youtube channel, but not as much as before the whole haters situation. No matter how hard she tried to just ignore them and simply continue her career, she just couldn’t. There were still these nagging thoughts at the back of her mind, reminding her of all those people and their comments, their messages. It seemed like a good idea to take a short break and sort everything out.

Her fans understood it. They were obviously sad that her videos weren’t as frequent as before, but everyone knew what the situation looked like and that Y/N needed some time for herself.

Her audience knew it, and so did her friends. Especially Corpse.

The man kept his word and talked to the girl whenever she wanted to. Which, in the end, was almost everyday. Although at the beginning their conversations mostly focused on her current problem and dealing with it, their topics broadened over the time.

At one point though, Y/N started worrying that maybe she’s annoying him with her so frequent calls. She thought that she shouldn’t bother him that much - even if talking to him was what really helped her cope with her problems. He already had enough on his plate, and sharing her own concerns with him suddenly seemed like a very selfish thing to do.

But she quickly realized how wrong she was for thinking like that. When one day she didn’t call, figuring out that she should stop troubling him with her own issues, she was very surprised when Corpse reached out to her himself. He expressed how worried he got when she didn’t call, and when she explained what was the reason, he spent the next fifteen minutes lecturing her that she should never think she’s bothering him.

From that day on, they talked every single day. And they talked about almost everything.

Corpse enjoyed their late night-talks more than anything. He liked to listen to Y/N talk about the things she finds exciting, her hobbies, and her dreams. Hell, she could talk about what she ate for breakfast, and he would still listen with interest.

And even though they haven’t seen each other in person, even though she still hasn’t seen his face, they managed to get really close during those past weeks. For an outside observer (who also didn’t have access to Twitter) they would seem like a couple of very good friends.

But not for Corpse.

He couldn’t pinpoint when exactly did it happen. They were talking one evening and Y/N was telling him about the TV series she had finished watching recently. He listened intently and watched as her facial expressions changed from excited to frustrated, as she was enumerating everything she liked and disliked about the series finale.

And then he suddenly got this weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, and simply couldn’t take his eyes off her.

He tried to play it off and act as if nothing changed, but he couldn’t stop his heart from doing backflips whenever she laughed at one of his dumb jokes or called him partner. It was still a running joke between them and among the group of their friends, but there was something in the way she said it that made him instantly smile like an idiot.

He also started paying more attention to the hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. #PartnersInCrime was still rather popular, even though it was a month since anyone last used this phrase on stream. Corpse also found out that #Y/Nforthebride was trending for some time; he even managed to stumble across a few fanarts.

There was this urge to send them to Y/N, but he was too nervous that it would make things awkward between them... After all, he didn’t know how she felt about that whole shipping thing.

That’s why he decided to just leave things between them as they are, and be happy that he’s at least her friend.

Corpse nearly jumped out of his skin, when he was brought back to reality by the sound of an upcoming FaceTime call. Y/N’s photo appeared on his screen, her smiley face which he had assigned as her contact photo. His lips corners curled up in a smile almost unwittingly.

“Hey Y/N/N” he said after answering the call.

“Hi Corpse” she smiled softly upon hearing his voice. Although the screen on her side was dark, she didn’t mind not seeing Corpse’s face. She respected his wish to remain faceless and enjoyed their conversations anyway.

“Whatcha doin’?”

“Just editing the new video. I guess I’ll upload it in the morning... but I’m not sure yet.”

“Well let me know then, I wanna be the first one to see it.”

“Sure thing, Corpse” she chuckled, lowering her gaze bashfully. Corpse just looked at her face for a moment, unable to stop smiling to himself. Then he remembered why they were talking in the first place.

“So... have you seen my text?” Y/N sighed at his question but nodded her head slowly. “And what do you think?”

“I don’t know, Corpse...” she ran a hand through her hair in a nervous gesture. “...if that’s a good idea, I mean.”

“Well, it’s been a while. No pressure though, if you don’t wanna play then it’s totally fine.” he quickly clarified. “I just thought it would be fun if you joined us, even if just for a moment. I’m sure everyone would go crazy.”

Her smile widened slightly at his words, but she still didn’t look convinced. Sure, it was tempting to join them. She wanted to do it each time Sean or Felix bombarded her with messages and codes to the lobby, both inviting her to join the group in the game. But then she remembered how people reacted to her appearance in their streams... and suddenly it didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore.

“We’re gonna play on Polus...” he added after a moment when she still didn’t say anything. “That one map with the planetary base... there’s a lava pit, y’know. Just saying...”

She laughed wholeheartedly at his words, remembering their last game when Corpse jumped into the lava for her.

“Sykkuno’s gonna be there as well” Corpse continued. “And I promise I won’t kill you this time.”

“Even if I’m the last player alive?” she joked.

“Even then, Y/N.”

Corpse stifled a laugh, as she cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes slightly as if trying to spot him in the darkness.

“Are you streaming, Corpse?” she then asked.

“Not yet. I’m gonna start the stream as soon as you say yes, though.”

“Oh c’mon” she laughed at his words “That’s emotional blackmail!”

“Maybe. Is it working?” he asked.

Y/N let out a heavy breath and ran a hand down her face. Corpse watched in anticipation as she seemed to have some internal battle with herself. He hoped that she’s gonna agree, he really missed playing with her.

“All right, then.” she suddenly said, and his breath hitched in his throat. “I’m gonna stay for a few rounds I guess...”

“Wait, really?” he asked, a smile on his face only widening.

“Well, yeah, partner.” she replied, which made his cheeks go warm “Your imposter techniques haven’t been very effective lately... Someone needs to help you out, or you’re gonna lose your title of the king of the Imposters.”

“Oh, is that’s how it is now?” he laughed in fake shock. “I wouldn’t have to worry about losing the title if my accomplice hadn’t left me all alone!”

“All right, all right.” she giggled at his accusations. “Your accomplice is on her way to support you.”

Corpse smiled even wider at the sound of her laughter. Her eyes shined with happiness when she was giggling, which only brought out their E/C color. The fact that his stupid babbling was the reason for her smile was making him feel extremely proud of himself.

“But just so you know... I still have no idea how this map works, so I’m afraid I’m gonna need you to guide me around it...”

“Y’know you could as well just say you want to hang out with me...”

“Corpse!” she laughed, her cheeks blushing in embarrassment.

“Just kidding Y/N” he chuckled at her reaction. “Of course I’m gonna guide you, don’t worry.”

“Okay then...” she said after a moment, looking at the screen again. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. Will you send me the code, please?”

“Sure I will, Y/N”

“Okay. See you later, partner” she smiled brightly.

“See you, partner.”

When Y/N ended the call, Corpse let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He sighed in relief and ran a hand through his hair, before moving to sit behind his desk.

It was only after he started the stream that he realized he was blushing. Not only because Y/N would join them, but because there was also another thing he wanted to ask her about, but didn’t find the courage to yet...

***

By the time Y/N turned on her computer and started the game, Corpse has already sent her the code, and there was a Discord invite waiting for her as well. She bit her lip nervously as her heartbeat quickened.

Was she nervous? As hell.

She did everything she could to avoid being in unnecessary spotlight since she started receiving those hate messages. Perhaps escaping the problem wasn’t the best solution, but it definitely was a comfortable one. People wouldn’t have a reason to hate on her if she disappeared.

But then she couldn’t say no to Corpse. And truth to be said - she really missed playing with her friends. From what she’d seen on Twitter, the lobby would be filled with those she’d already played with, so she wasn’t that nervous before the game. What she was nervous about though, was how people would react.

Accepting Corpse’s request was something she did due to the sudden rush of courage. And now there was no coming back.

She knew Corpse would understand if she changed her mind... but she heard how excited he was when she had agreed. She couldn’t do it to him.

So, once she’d taken a deep breath and put her headphones on, Y/N accepted the invite and braced herself for the inevitable chaos that was bound to take place in the call. She decided to wait with joining the lobby though - at least until they realize she’s with them.

“..the fuck you’re talking about?!” Felix’s voice was the first thing she heard, which made her roll her eyes with a smile. “It’s not my fault I sound like that! At least I don’t have a liar voice like Rae!”

“HEY!” the girl yelled “I don’t have a liar voice!”

“You do, you’re using it even now!” Jack argued, much to Rae’s dismay.

“What is going on here” Corpse’s deep voice sounded out suddenly.

“Oh, you’re here! Finally” Sykkuno immediately welcomed him with his always happy voice.

“Yeah, sorry that I’m late guys.”

“No worries, man” Pewdiepie spoke up again. “We were just talking about playing the voice card and that you’re basically the only one who can do it.”

“Not fair at all!” Rae chimed in, making Corpse chuckle.

“The voice card...” he hummed after a moment, before adding. “I wouldn’t really say I’m the only one though...”

“Well who else then? Everyone else either starts laughing or have a liar voice” Dave asked, and Rae scoffed at the last words.

“Well what about my guest?”

Y/N inhaled sharply, realizing that now she should probably reveal herself.

“Oh, right! Who you’re bringing man?” Sean asked with curiosity.

That’s when Y/N typed in the game code, and her white astronaut appeared in the lobby.

“Wait, who’s- HOLY SHIT” Sean all but yelled, when realization hit him. Y/N laughed loudly at his reaction, and her voice only seemed to prove to everyone that she really was there.

“KIDDO WHAT THE FUCK” Felix reflected Jack’s response, yelling over his friend.

“Oh my god, hi!”

“What a surprise!” Y/N managed to catch Sykkuno’s words. “It’s so amazing to have you here, Y/N/N!”

“As I live and breathe.” another voice spoke up, and Toast’s little astronaut came face to face with her white bean. “My lifelong nemesis. Back here snap my neck again, huh?”

“Yeah, happy to hear you too, Toast” Y/N giggled at his words, then she adressed the whole group. “Hi guys.”

“Okay I did not expect that in the slightest” Sean laughed happily “You’re here kiddo!”

“I am” she smiled from ear to ear, even though they couldn’t see her.

“Wait- Corpse, is that the thing you had to take care of?” her best friend asked Corpse with suspicious voice.

“Well...” he trailed off and cleared his throat, making everyone laugh.

“That’s so great Y/N! We missed you so much!” Rae thundered over the bickering of the boys. “The game hasn’t been the same without you...”

“Agreed. I suddenly stopped dying.” Toast commented, making her roll her eyes with a laugh.

“I don’t know if I should be happy or fucking scared right now.” Felix laughed nervously. “With Corpse and Y/N? We’re fucked now, guys.”

“I promise I’ll go easy on you, I haven’t played in so long I think I forgot all my strategies...”

“Yeah, sure.” Toast’s forever suspicious voice made her smile wider. “Just don’t kill me in the first roung, okay? I won’t vote you off just stay the fuck away from me you little murderer.”

“Okay, I promise I won’t kill you...”

She couldn’t stop herself from laughing, and the smile remained on her face even when they started the game. It only seemed to widen, when she saw the sign Imposter on her screen.

Only to giggle hysterically when she realized that Toast was the other imposter...

And so the game went on with Y/N and Toast cooperating like perfect serial killers. Corpse did as he promised and guided her through the map, both of them being closely followed by Sykkuno. Because of that she’d just sabotage the map most of the time to give Toast opportunities to kill their friends, but eventually managed to sneak out when her two fellow crewmates were doing their tasks. It just so happen that Pewds was walking past her, and she might’ve accidentally snapped his neck...

“Goddamnit! I knew it! I fucking knew it was you!” Sean yelled once the game was over and Y/N saw the sign VICTORY on her screen, her small character standing next to Toast’s one. He was ejected at some point because Poki managed to walk in on him killing Rae, but Y/N remained undetected until the very end. Perhaps the fact that Corpse was one of the two crewmates who were left alive had something to do wtih it...

“That was rude” Pewds said in a whiny voice, clearly referring to their encounter which led to his death. “I was just happily walking around, doing my tasks like a good crewmate, and then boom! Y/N happened”

“I would say I’m sorry... but I’m really not” she laughed, making Felix gasp in shock.

“That’s what happens when you work with Toast!”

“Good game, Y/N. That was amazing” the man in question said appreciatively.

“Will you finally forgive me for killing you that one time if I say that being imposters with you was cool?” she laughed nervously.

“Actually... Yeah, I guess we can bury the hatchet now. AND we should team up more in the future.”

“Great!”

“Excuse me, what?” Corpse’s voice made the whole lobby laugh. “I don’t remember us cancelling our partnership, Y/N.”

“Corpse...”

“Are you trying to steal my accomplice from me Toast?”

“Well she’s a great partner in crime after all...” Toast deliberately used the phrase, making Corpse gasp.

“Hey! She’s my partner! Find yourself your own, Toast” Corpse joked, making Y/N laugh bashfully, her cheeks warming up at his words.

“Yeah yeah, I remember, don’t worry man. No one’s gonna take your partner in crime away from you...” Toast’s teasing voice made them all laugh, Corpse and Y/N included.

For the next few rounds Y/N played as a crewmate, running around the map with either Corpse or Sykkuno and doing her tasks. During meetings they joked and laughed, and for a moment, she stopped thinking about what people watching her friend’s streams might think about her presence. After all, there was at least a small chance that they didn’t think about it at all, and simply enjoyed watching their favoirte youtubers. Just as she enjoyed playing with her friends.

Oh, and by the way, Corpse kept his promise and didn’t kill her even when she was the last player alive...

It was soon time when everyone started slowly leaving the lobby, having played for over three hours. Y/N also said her goodbyes to the others and promised that she’d join them to play a game called Raft next week.

When she turned her computer off and threw herself on her bed, Y/N immediately grabbed her phone to call Corpse. He answered right away.

“Well hello, partner...” she rolled her eyes with a smile when he accented the last word. “Or should I say, traitor, instead?”

“Corpse... you know I would never betray you...”

“Well how can I be so sure, now that I know how cool it is to be imposters with Toast?” she knew he was joking, she could almost hear the smile in his voice.

“Not nearly as cool as it is with you, Corpse” Y/N grinned from ear to ear when Corpse scoffed.

“I spare your life so many times and that’s what I get in return? You cheat on me with Toast?” he said in disbelief “I’m disappointed, Y/N, I really am.”

“I would never!” she laughed through her words, even though her cheeks were now red because of Corpse’s words. “You’re the best partner in crime, Corpse, I wouldn’t trade you for anyone else!”

Not only in the game, she thought.

“Hmm, alright. Let’s say I believe you.” he said after a moment of thinking.

“I mean it, Corpse...” Y/N said after calming down from her laughter. “I... I really wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me? For what?” he asked, genuinely surprised.

“Well, first of all for inviting me to today’s game... I really had lots of fun, it was great to play and talk with the others. And I wouldn’t be in the lobby if not for you...” Y/N mumbled, before verbalizing her previous thoughts. “And I also wanted to thank you for just... you know... being my friend. My real life partner in crime. I just wanted you to know I’m really glad I met you...”

Corpse was silent for a good few moments, and Y/N started panicking that maybe she said something wrong, or maybe he found her spontaneous confession funny, or worse, dumb. She was almost ready to somehow laugh it all off, when his voice cut her off.

“Thank you, Y/N. It really means a lot to me too.” he sounded like he had some troubles with speaking, which made Y/N furrow her brows in worry.

“Is everything okay, Corpse?”

“Yeah, I...” he stuttered, then laughed nervously. “I just didn’t expect that and... yeah. It’s not something I hear on a daily basis, especially from someone like you.”

Someone like me?

“But what you said... it’s mutual.” he said after a moment, and Y/N couldn’t stop herself from grinning like an idiot. “You’re the best partner in crime I could ask for. And not only in the game.”

She could as well just pass out there and there...

“So uhm... there was one thing I wanted to ask you...”

“Yeah?”

“I was wondering if maybe... you know, if you’d have some time... and if you’d want to of course... would you maybe like to visit me here in San Diego?”

Yeah, passing out seems like a good idea.

***

This is not the last part.

TAG LIST:

@golden-chan @pillowjj @afuckingunicornn @love-and-virtues @ignooynim @crapimahuman @hannahjsworld @laugh-like-the-moon @fallengoddess772 @kingric03 @dolphinpink310 @paigeyisme @bunnychano3o @dxrtygxrl28 @z-nyx @baby-iyania @trashygeek @qmalley @yn-dreamlife @queenshadow142003 @daughterofsmokeandbone23 @my-little-art-world99 @yoongi-holland @rinarecommends @psychoticunicornsblog @goldensunshinestyle @unstableye @pastelvixenbeauty @weallneednamjesus @benakenalove @corpsesimpp @xenos-sonex @jellicorn05 @must-be-a-weasley-92 @keijikunn @infinitely-kate @thisshitisfuckingdifficult @summerbbygirl @mygirlviolet @eat-your-veggies @evans-dejong @jeffxx @weepingdonuthumancookie @myinnergayistakingover @i-love-scott-mccall @thecanterburywitch @annshit @blood-of-fandoms @namjoons-crabssss @guadu-chan @harleyharleycrow @stormyskys13 @soft4kei @ukai-hoe @that-chick212 @campcampie @cookiewhoree @ukiyolixx @princess-skate @newtaholic-staygold @unknown-and-invisible @cherry-piee @marvelenthusiast3000 @apples-of-february @lovelybrit @wineandionysus @faepetersen @vincent-stargogh @idalinette @ggsmashgg @browneyespinkhair @uwucorpse @fluffylittellama-blog @yoshigguk @queentorresstuff @becihadshawn @winged-reader @x3musicismylife @musubipost @missdox @honeyames @dark-o-room @izthefangirl @l0verl0ser @laurenfangirlsout @asianfrustration13 @hopelessfluff @sacrifice-me-please @stopicouldhaavedroppedmycrossant @sleepingalaska @strangenerdsstuff @otakuartist05 @blossom-702 @astream-ofconsciousness @mythicalamphitrite @infinitelycharmed23 @ s1utforfictionalcharacters @ abrokenlink @ lestrangeesme @laazullii @ avesagittarius @ smiithys @zenx2003 @vintagexparker @write-from-the-heart @goalexis123 @ trrcelovesyou @rebloggingeverything @homosexualjohnwayne @xprettyqueenx @just-a-stan @tenebrisirae

#corpse husband #corpse imagines #corpse x reader #corpse husband imagine #corpse husband x reader #youtubers x reader #imagine

827 notes · View notes

tiburion · 4 years ago

Text

Some Megastar AU ramblings

If you saw my fanarts there are two things I love to draw: Megastar with a trine of sparklings and Misfire being one of them, my brain then started to wander and kind of created an headcanon around this family and then per usual a little bit of angst was added to the mix.

Before the start of the war Megatron, in his late gladiator days when he was still gathering together allies for the insurrection, took Starscream as his conjunx (an allaince between Kaon and Vos maybe? idk I like this trope in fanfictions). Some years later the war on Cybertron started, around that time they had the trine of sparklings: Astrum, Redstorm and Flyhigh ( Starscream admonished Megatron that “if he ended up carrying this one he would have carried the next”).

Since the war didn’t seemed to end anytime soon resulting in more and more devastation on both sides, Megatron pressed Starscream to let the sparklings away from Kaon for a more safe Vos. Starscream, after a priod of reluctance, accepted and sent the sparklings away.

Eventually even Vos got bombarded by an Autobot raid. Once they managed to arrive to the half destroyed city of the seekers only two now sparkless shells welcome the warlord and his conjunx between the ruins. Starscream, furious with Megatron, flew away and desappeared for days.

This blow left a huge scar in their relationship.

We arrive now in the post war era with a not-so-warlord-anymore Megatron, emperor perpetua Starscream (I don’t care how, it’s my jam and no one will take it away from me) and a big bumb magenta jet with his group of outcasts named Misfire.

Misfire truly is the one sparkling whose body wasn’t found all that time ago between the ruins of Vos, his brain was actually damaged during the attack resulting in a partial memory loss and the malfunction in his aim module. As a sparkling he was passed from place to place during the war and also got the name “Misfire” till grown up he joined the Decepticons only to later end up with the Scavangers (Will there ever be a family reunion? Yes. Will it be a mess? Absolutely!)

On Cybertron, Starscream and Megatron slowly, REALLY slowly manage to re-establish their torn relationship. Years later they have another sparkling (cuz Megs still remembered the promise Star made him take all those years ago when they had the first three) even tho there is a clash at the beginning since Starscream doesn’t want it due to it bringing back old pains and worst memories of those they lost.

BUT since there had been enough angst and I want at least an happy ending they keep the little glitch that ends up being a triple changer.

I don’t know what I’ll do with this thing, but at 100% I’ll do some fanarts out of it.

#transformers #megastar

127 notes · View notes

what-even-is-thiss · 6 years ago

Text

I’m gonna just put a bunch of my opinions about the series and fandom that I’ve been too afraid to share out of fear of being called out and bombarded with anon hate and lectured at in one place because I’m feeling upset and reckless.

Patton and Logan give off an extremely similar vibe and I have no idea why people think Patton is shorter for some reason. And you can throw observations about camera angles at me all day. I still stand by this. They look identical and at times are hard to tell apart and I still don’t care about camera angles.

Virgil can be horrible at times and there’s still parts of him that are awful.

Patton scares the crap out of me sometimes and his sugary sweet attitude often feels fake. He reminds me of the type of person who will smile in your face and then passive aggressively start to tear your ego to pieces once he has you in a false sense of security.

Romantic and sexual shipping of the sides grosses me out to no end. Yeah, yeah, I’m all for people doing what they want but come on. You have to admit from a certain point of view it’s kind of like identical twins dating each other. I’m not gonna stop anybody from doing it or shame anybody but that’s what it looks like from my perspective. Selfcest. Yes, I used that term. I stand by it.

And that being said, it’s sometimes hard to find good platonic content.

I can’t get past the selfcest thing when I’m reading aus. Even if they’re not related in the au.

I don’t like the part of the episode where Thomas looks at the camera and happily states what the message of the video is.

I don’t like it when people seem to want the sides to cuss so bad. I am a person that doesn’t cuss much and people wanting Thomas to say the f word so much makes me feel awful. Because that’s what happens to you when you’re a person that doesn’t cuss. You just become a joke.

I don’t like moxiety all that much. I feel like there’s a lot of potential for both parties to get severely hurt and it stresses me out. It can still be a good ship but it’s never been one of my favorites.

Deceit has his uses and he’s a character even if he is a villain and I’m tired of people treating him as a trigger warning. They can just block his character tag if he upsets them so much.

You can’t protect yourself from all the content and opinions you don’t like. Part of the reason I get so confused and upset when people tell me they don’t want me to criticize or that they don’t like me picking stuff apart is that I am constantly bombarded with romantic material all of the time. People make fanart of kissing. One time I accidentally ran into porn drawn of the sides and three months later I’m still a little shook. They add romantic headcanons to my posts and comments about sexual feelings when those things make me super, incredibly uncomfortable at times but I say nothing about them for the most part even when I have to take a minute because something upset me a lot. It just really feels like sometimes that people just aren’t paying me the same courtesy. If people want to interpret my fics in a romantic way even though I write platonically I let them. If Someone adds a romantic headcanon to my post I let them. If someone bursts my bubble more often than not I’ll leave them alone. And this stuff happens every day to me. But I ignore it because I see that as the polite thing to do and I’m okay with people having harmless fun. But then I think I’m having harmless fun and suddenly... I’m the bad guy. The one ruining fun and somehow thinking he’s smarter than everyone else when that wasn’t my intention at all. And I don’t want anyone that reads this to ever stop making the romantic shipping content they love or never comment anything romantic or sexual on my posts. Even if it bothers me a little I’m honored you saw some value in it. If you criticize it nicely I’m honored I sparked something in you that made you want to reply. It confuses me so much when it feels like I’m not being payed the same courtesy. It feels like I’m being held to a different standard because the way I view the world seems to be in the minority here. It beats me down and I think I’m a patient person. I think I am. But when this has all been going on for this long I don’t know when I’ll snap. I’m gonna try and continue to be forgiving because that’s what I value. That’s what my morals tell me to do. But it’s getting harder. And I don’t want it to get harder. I love this place so much. It’s become where I meet friends and write in my spare time. I don’t ever wanna lose it. But this place also doesn’t seem to understand the ways I express my love and interprets it as hate. And then I don’t know what to do.

#roman said a thing #ok to reblog #if you really want to

177 notes · View notes

littlemisssquiggles · 7 years ago

Text

@tomecko reblogged your post and added:

Personally, I prefer the idea of Oscar’s birthday being well apart from Ruby’s, essentially making them only 1.5 years apart in age. Story-wise, this would likely mean that Oscar’s birthday is fast approaching, since Ruby should have turned 16 right around the fall of Beacon (at least, I assume so, since fall leaves were very prominent in the final episodes of Volume 3). I love the thought of Oscar not mentioning his upcoming birthday to anyone, figuring that these people he’s only just met won’t care. But someone (Ruby maybe *coughcough*) manages to drag it out of him, and the older kids make a huge fuss and throw him a party and Oscar gets to feel like he’s really a part of this new family. (I also love the idea of Oz himself outing Oscar’s birthday… one of the times he’s in control, he just nonchalantly mentions ‘Oh, his birthday’s in four days, do something for it, will you?’)

Squiggles Answers:

@tomecko Y’know your musing just gave me a cute thought. Do you know that thing that friends or family sometimes do for a loved one’s birthday as little joke? Y’know the thing where they would give the birthday recipient something equivalent to the age they were turning? Like for example, if someone is turning thirteen then their friends might jokily opt to give them thirteen hugs or something to that means in honour of their ‘special’ day.

I remember back in my secondary school days when my classmates would joke about giving their friends slaps or pinches for their birthday. It’s...an odd joking tradition but you get the idea that I’m coming from, more or less right?

Imagine...Oscar’s birthday is coming up and the gang finds out; probably in the way that you described where Oscar is feeling uneasy about disclosing his birthday to the group but Ozpin kinda lets the beans slip, encouraging everyone to give Oscar a birthday where he feels loved and well welcomed onto the team. So the gang do just that. For the precious farm boy’s special day, not only does he get the usual b-day works with a thrown party with lots of cake and presents; but for the most of the day, everyone just smothers Oscar with lots of birthday kisses. So since he’s turning fifteen, Oscar gets a total of fifteen kisses for his birthday. So the birthday farm child is just bombarded left and right him with kisses from his teammates---some on the forehead, some on the nose; most on the cheeks because let’s just face it. Who wouldn’t wanna kiss them adorable freckly cheeks? Though the kisses were all mostly innocent; that didn’t stop the poor precious farm child from becoming a complete flustered puddle of blushes from the whole experience. Such love for the bean.

I’m laughing at this idea cause I’m just picturing everyone giving Oscar birthday smooches in their own way. Like for example, I’d imagine Nora would probably blindside Oscar with a booping kiss on the nose. Qrow might do the bird dad thing and kiss three of his fingers before poking Oscar in the forehead. Giving him the gift of wisdom as he would put it. Y’know wackiness like that.

Then there’s Ruby Rose who just goes all in and straight up lays one big wet one right on the lips; pilfering the boy’s first kiss (not that he didn’t mind). I know this is just a ridiculous idea and most of it might not make sense but...I oddly kinda like it. Not canon-worthy but could work as a cute fanfic or fanart of some sorts. Never know. Just tossing it out there.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)

#tomecko #squiggle answers #squiggle answers:rwby #oscar pine #rwby rosegarden #ruby rose

25 notes · View notes

sunwukong-stoaway-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Oh shit, 3AM, time for a hot take on the FNDM from the perspective of someone who’s drifted in and out of it for years now. And yeah, spoilers, it involves Sun, the Bees, and experience therein.

We do need a few things set for the record before I dive further in. First, there is indeed a difference between normal Bee fans and flat out Wasps. Y’know, the psychopathic harassing jerks. There is also a segment of the Blacksun fndm that is more than happy to be as harassment heavy and take things too damn far. The problem in judging which is bigger is that you’ll only ever see the size of whatever groups you happen to be in contact with, which means if you’re a normal fan of one side, you’re likely to only see the hate-filled opposite side. And if you’re removed, then it’s a roll of the dice whether you see Wasps or... whatever the BlackSun equivalent is. And whichever side is bigger, they both still exist, which is the main problem. Now let’s take a stroll down memory lane and acknowledge a few things.

First and foremost. The Bees as a ship only exists as it does because people were throwing the first characters on screen at each other and held to them. This was true of Ruby and Weiss after the Red and White trailers, then true of Blake and Yang after the Black and Yellow trailers. We didn’t know anything about any of these characters, (in fact it completely flipped Ruby and Weiss’ personality traits, making Ruby a cool and aloof sniper chick and Weiss a soft melting princess) but the ships were already cemented and beloved by the community.

This kept going into the first season proper. Sure, we had alternate blends of ships, like Ladybug, Freezerburn, and Monochrome. Even Enabler, Ruby/Yang if anyone remembers that incestuous ship, before it was burnt to the ground by canon. But Whiterose/The Bees were the biggest game in town. Seemed to be backed by the canon too, to an extent. All the characters introduced were paired off and sent on their way, including JNPR, but this didn’t stop FNDM from laughing and enjoying themselves. (One particularly popular joke during the Jaune Arc was snickering that Yang and Blake were doing the do offscreen instead of running for help, for instance.) It didn’t matter Yang and Blake didn’t have a single conversation that didn’t end in Blake snubbing Yang and Yang writing Blake off as a “lost cause,” they were the pairing and nobody else was around, so, that was canon. And then episode 15 rolled around.

Everything broke down with episode 15, though not all at once. It introduced Sun and Penny, and FNDM wasn’t entirely sure what to do with them. Some, like myself, found the new characters and their dynamics fun and interesting. Some, on the other hand, declared immediately that Sun was a rapist/stalker/murderer/assassin of the White Fang, sometimes all at once. Some people had been a little bored of Jaune by this point but Sun was the first morally good character the FNDM declared a monster, and to this day, has received the roughest ‘welcome.’ And, among the accusations, the declaration that Sun was nothing but a genderbend of Yang for a hetero ship. And so the tensions began to mount.

Bear in mind, up until this point the Bees had grown to be the de facto biggest ship in the FNDM. Nothing against Ruby, Weiss, or Whiterose, but Blake and Yang were the most mature/adult of the team, and consequently, got the most attention, desire, fanart, et cetra. Now here comes the first character to make contact with Blake in a definitively different fashion and connect with her. Without question, they saw Sun as a threat and an excuse to attack the show for not giving them the Bees. Hell, it’s no surprise they even shipped him with Penny (Optimal Primates) for a time, just because they debuted the same episode, to try and get him ‘away’ from Blake in the fandom’s eyes. The response to Sun by these proto-Wasps, otherwise known as ‘the entirety of the Bees at the time’ was swift, overwhelming, and nothing short of cruel. Especially when they started harassing Sun RPers, those who defended him, liked him, and so on. People who drew those first few pieces of Blacksun art were flat out attacked and screamed at to shut down their channels. (Similar attacks started appearing at this time too at artists for other pairings, noticeably Ladybug.) And for a time, that oppressive and painful atmosphere was reality.

Then, I put up a post pointing out how little canon the Bees actually had, and compared it to Blacksun. In V1? This was an overwhelming difference. I outright called the Bees a “Ghost ship,” a ship that had absolutely no basis in canon yet sailed anyway... And attacked others. Needless to say, this was not taken well by the proto-wasps.

It didn’t matter that I actively shipped Whiterose, passively Ladybug, and eventually Nuts & Dolts. It didn’t matter if what I said was true, that the emperor had no clothes (or canon.) All that mattered to these people was slamming me down and declaring me to the world a homophobic monster for not shipping their ship. To do everything in their power to break my spirit, break my connections with people, and break any place I had in this fledgling FNDM of comfort. All for their blatantly bullshit moral highground arguments.

This went on for a good three weeks after that first post. Round the clock attacks, harassment, and vile displays of power. It really did break me, all things considered. That much negativity drove me into a deep depression, to the point I could barely leave my dorm room in university for food, let alone class. I’m still hesitant to use the term for fear of it’s overused impression, but this made the Bees ship into a full on trigger for me. Triggering every emotion of fear, depression, and anxiety that constant bombardment thrust upon me around the clock. To an extent, it still is such a trigger, and so I can admit without issue I’m biased.

Thankfully, it did all have a silver lining. I became a lightning rod of hate, but the heavy atmosphere was broken. Bees no longer were unchallenged rulers of the FNDM, and people legit began to call out the behavior of these proto-wasps as full on bullying, or at least stopped acting like the Bees were canon. There was room to move forward now. But... of course, it didn’t stop there.

V2 rolled around. On the one hand we got Yang and Blake having the first dance, as well as actually having a real conversation on screen and developing some kind of unique bond, flimsy as it may be to some. (Seriously, Blake’s having severe overwrought depression and anxiety over Adam and the White Fang, Yang makes it about her. Yeah, that can show solidarity for the cause, but it does little to assuage Blake’s issues. I do see it as a good scene, but it’s still not a great relationship.) On the other hand, we were confirmed halfway through the year, and thanks to Sun/Neptune being cut from that last part of the Paladin fight, Blake had to be the one to ask what Yang’s Semblance was. ...Yeah. Half a year of being partners. And she doesn’t canonically know yet what Yang’s Semblance is. Hell of a partnership, yeah?

And on the other side of the coin. Sun and Blake had their full on dance, came to it as a date, and it included Yang stepping aside to give Blake to Sun. This on top of meeting Sun’s team for the first time and solidifying his place as being right there with RWBY and JNPR. ...And to counterbalance, we got Neptune. Seriously. Wasps had Neptune pegged as Sun’s “actual girlfriend” from the second his name was dropped. Then the design came in, they declared Neptune FtM trans, and that Sun was dating him. I mean, clearly, right? Then Neptune actually showed up, he turned out to be the most aggressively straight-showing guy on the show yet, and the FNDM HATED him for it. Pitched him into the same bin as Sun right then and there, while shouting they’d be a better couple than the alternatives. (This also ended up, for the first time, generating enmity from Monochrome shippers for Sun. Before, Blacksun and MC shippers were effectively “ship and let ship” considering both had suffered under the Bees, but since that stranglehold had been broken after V1. Now Neptune came to town and fucked that peace up too.) Seriously. Just like the Bees, Seamonkeys only exists as a ship because the FNDM slammed the characters together without a clue what they were even like. Same as with Optimal Primates, remember?

Overall, V2 ended up being more or less like the aftermath of V1 the whole way through. Salty and bitter Wasps bickering and yelling about Sun even being in the same frame as Blake, trying to reaffirm their position, while everyone else just relaxed, some bitched about Jaune existing, and others enjoying the moment. ...Then V3 happened.

V3 was a powderkeg of moments for both Blacksun and the Bees. From the fingerguns/blushing/”dork” scene, to Blake tearfully holding Yang’s... one remaining hand, to the questions of where Blake was going after the ending. And consequently, the ship-to-ship combat had grown once again. Things like editing the fingerguns scene into a gif of Weiss proposing to Blake, or conspiracy theories that Sun was a mole for the WF hiding in plain sight, or just generally arguing back and forth over how important Blake holding Yang’s hand and Sun’s poppy love song were. The thing was, by V3, enough new fans of the series drawn in to all the Bee fanart that didn’t have the Wasp mentality existed to properly differentiate between the two groups. And consequently, some would-be Bee fans were surprised when their open appreciation for the pair was met with negativity and disdain by those who were used to liking the Bees being associated with far worse. The Wasps still existed, without question, but their presence muddied the waters and turned what was once a straight-forward fandom war into messy, vile person-to-person conflict, with bystanders dragged into the fighting. This, to my knowledge, is where the wasp-equivalent of Blacksun fans ended up coming to be, unable to differentiate between the Wasps that they hated and the Bee fans that they shouldn’t. In short, V3 was the most divisive and painful of the seasons for this warfare.

As we approach the modern day it should be noted that the longer the show runs, the less and less these ship-to-ship combats make an impact on the FNDM as a whole. This is a good thing, realistically, but it comes from an unfortunate division in the FNDM in general, with camps splitting off into effective echo chambers, and generally only interacting to spit hatred at each other.

V4 was easily the single lowest point for all of the Bees. With Blake and Yang canonically split apart, and Sun hanging around Blake full time as her only traveling partner, the Bees had effectively nothing to do but sigh and hope for a reunion soon. The Wasps, on the other hand, eagerly took to instead tearing into Sun’s character again, this time jumping on the questionable decision to shadow Blake and keep her safe, and characterizing it as flat out stalking... even without full knowledge of the situation. The Wasps just painted the scene as “Sun has spent months following Blake in a coat,” and a large part of the fandom picked it up in turn. Then, as a follow-up act, decided to screw with Sun a different way and ship him with, of all people, Kali, or Blake’s mom. Yeah, it was creepy and fetishism, and had no purpose other than to break Kali’s implicit acceptance of Sun as a partner for Blake into bizarre OOC lust. It’s telling that there was far and away more porn and pure shipping for Sun/Kali than Ghira/Kali for a while, despite the Bees laughing to themselves that “of course YANG would be accepted by Ghira, unlike Sun~.” Legit, Sun/Kali was just another attempt at slamming Sun together with the nearest character that wasn’t Blake. Just like Penny. Just like Neptune. But, V4 was the volume of personal growth and discovery for each of the main cast... And consequently, this journey down each of their four paths was panned by many “rwde” fans for not having the inter-team connections they wanted. Funny how the volume most about each member of RWBY and their personal stories gets panned as the one least about them. Whatever. All of this led to V5, however, and where we are now.

And where we are now is... Right back to how we were in V3. With giddy Bees squealing over Yang and Blake exchanging eye contact and words, while Wasps re-characterize Sun’s connection to Blake (including pushing her back to the team that she ran away from because it was time to reconnect and he knew that) as “pushing Blake to be with Yang.” It’s kind of absurd, right? Well... That’s what this FNDM war has been to me. Just absurd.

I’ve watched wasps shout down Micheal Jones because they don’t like Sun being close to Blake. I’ve seen wasps countless times call out RT as queerbaiting for not giving them the Bees right fucking then. I’ve heard directly from Wasps that it doesn’t matter to (the ones I talked to) whether any other LGBTQA+ people/ships/focuses appear or are naturally featured in the show, unless the Bees are made canon, they believe RT lied to them.

And that astounds me. RT did not lie to you. Either you were lied to by fans from that Trailer era, the original proto-wasps, or you lied to yourself. You were told the lie that the Bees were canon, had to be canon, needed to be canon or something was wrong. That Sun is a monster. That you are owed anything. Hard fucking stop.

So where does all this leave us? ...Hopefully, understanding that this fighting has been going on for far too long, and is over far too little. I want anyone in the FNDM who has ever been affected by the ship wars to read this, to share this with others with similar experiences, on either side of it. Because ultimately, I’m only on one side, and I’d love for Bees to give their take on all this. To get both sides to come to an agreement to ship-and-let-ship, to put to rest the anger and frustration and fear of the other side that fueled Wasps and, perhaps, myself for so long.

This shit’s gone on long enough.

#ooc #rwby #fndm #shipping #I truly hope this goes over well.

24 notes · View notes

moonraccoon-exe · 7 years ago

Note

I would adore you forever and ever if you wrote a fic about that baker!Ignis and florist!Gladio AU or just a tiny snippet of it, or just one sentence (a reeeeaaally long sentence~) i think we all need it >////u////

When I saw your entry I was flailing all over the place because YES, aaah, that AU is so cute!! I’ve been dying to answer this >w

Anon speaks about this pretty fanart that I shared some time ago. Check it out, it’s great!

I honestly have no idea what to write, though, hahaha, so we’ll see how it blossoms as I write it.

[[Adding a Read More line at some point]]

The Baker Across the Street/A Flower for a Muffin

Florist!Gladiolus Amicitia/Baker!Ignis Scientia

The Baker’s Manor. Quite a charming name for a bakery shop, Gladio had to admit. It was, however, a small place nowhere close to being any visually impressive. Perhaps that was what made it so charming; a tiny place calling itself something as big. A small, humble castle is still a castle, he guessed.

It appeared some time after Gladio and his sister, Iris, started running their own flower shop. The space of the bakery had been empty and closed, and gave the essence of abandoned. But now, half a year after the opening of the Iridae Flower Shop, The Baker’s Manor stood stunningly clean and warm-looking across the street, literally across it, one establishment face-to-face to the other.

It was small, sure, but only a glance to it made anyone want to enter and get something. Painted outside as if it was made out of red bricks, the red and soft subtle-golden stripes of the awning, and the pretty letters of the name. Not to talk about the display window; cupcakes that looked as if taken out of an art book, perfectly round cookies with almost a symmetrical perfection, brilliant cakes with unusual forms, and endless shapes of bread, and bread and more and more bread. Warm. Crunchy-looking. Golden. Always freshly taken out of the oven.

Everything, from the outside to the bread, looked gorgeous. It gave off the essence of effortless elegance, natural beauty, warmth, and shelter.

Like its owner.

The first time that Gladio saw him, he had thought it was only a worker or some random guy walking by. Gladio had been carrying boxes with new flowers from the car to the store when he looked across the street; a guy, slender and tall but smaller than Gladio, hair of such a light shade of brown it was almost blond, glasses, and a certain air of melancholy to himself, carrying a box on his own, stopping at the door of the abandoned establishment, and opening it.

Gladio stood outside the Iridae Flower Shop just watching. Nobody so young could be the owner; him, twenty three, had not had enough money for the shop on his own (it had been thanks to his dad that they could open the shop, to be sincere). And this guy was…what? Nineteen? With such a young beauty to himself, those androgynous and pretty eyebrows, and that cuteness, manly, of course, but still cuteness…impossible to tell.

The guy did not come back out, so Gladio shrugged it off, believing maybe that he was the son or helper of the real owner.

But as the months went by, nobody else appeared to work except the same brown-haired guy that had yet never once looked his way. And, with those few months, Gladio learned that this was not only a worker or son of someone; this guy, as young, as terribly cute, was the owner. Or, if he wasn’t, at least he had been in charge of opening very early everyday and attend to everything, and close late at night. And Gladio had the sensation that maybe he, too, was in charge of baking…

Whoever that was, he was a mystery.

And Gladio could not take the mind off him.

The first time that they made eye contact had been an accident…of sorts.

The smell that made it out of the bakery either early in the morning or at random points of random days was terribly cruel to the Amicitia siblings, what with the legendary appetite they had (an Amicitia thing, their father used to say). Being literally across the street from the bakery made the smell fly all the way towards the Flower Shop and into it; there was no escape, and not even the powerful smell of nature and recently watered flowers could drown all that wonderfully baked bread being taken from an oven.

One day, while Gladio was in the middle of inventory check, the smell invaded. It was ridiculously early in the morning, and he had gone for the sake of paperwork before the hour of opening. He had never thought he would be distracted by the baker’s work; it was like the wonderful smell were a pair of ethereal and invisible hands that, once having Gladio’s nose and mind under control, caressed his face and seduced him to the outside, nose up in the air and silly smile on the face, eyes closed.

Once outside, Gladio sniffled a bit more into the air, filled his lungs with the smell, and let out a satisfied sigh, opening the eyes.

And he found him there, outside the bakery, watching him.

The guy was looking at him with an expression Gladio could not name. It was the kind of looks that people always gave him when they first saw him, and were impressed by his height and body complexion. He was used to those looks, so the baker’s was nothing new or particular, but it caused something inside him to ache in a very pretty way he had not experimented before. It made him nervous and…happy.

Gladio stared back at him, and he had no idea how long both gave each other confused eyes, like both were entirely different creatures and did not know how to react in front of each other; if run away with fear, or approach and say Hi, or simply do thing.

When the guy quickly glanced down at Gladio’s hand and back up to his eyes, the florist blinked and looked down, bringing his own hand up, only then noticing he was holding a rose. Must have had it in hand before the smell hypnotized him out of his store.

He looked at the flower and back up at the baker. And the only thing in his head was to say Hello, and explain why he was holding a flower while standing there doing nothing. He had a speech prepared, he had it…but as soon as he tried to speak, he found out he had gone mute, and the only thing he could do was to raise the flower a little, point with a finger above his shoulder back to the Flower Shop, and nervously grin at the guy.

And the guy smiled back.

Gladio, a little nervous, reacted by somehow waving, even though it was more like showing his palm for one second to the other than actually gesturing.

And the guy waved back.

Or tried to; as soon as he lifted his hand, he brought it back down, looked away, and proceeded to take a glove off. Gladio blinked with curiosity and feeling suddenly slapped in the face: the guy was wearing oven mitts.

He was more than the owner, he was the baker too…

Gladio felt a smile curving his lips, unable to blink or to take the eyes off the guy. He looked flustered and very embarrassed; he looked maybe even a bit uncomfortable about having waved with a gloved hand, as if embarrassed of exposing his role as baker, what with the way he was now staring away and lifting his now free palm at the florist.

He’s the baker.

That’s so cool…

Gladio felt an impulse to hurry his way over to the guy and ask him ‘Are you the baker!?’ like it was not obvious enough already, and then bombard him with endless questions; ‘That’s so cool, how do you do it?’ ‘It all smells fantastic, think I could buy something?’, ‘Everything looks and smells so nice, you must be fantastic at what you do, that’s so cool’, ‘Since when do you bake?’, ‘Are you the owner too?’, ‘Aren’t you too young? How old are you?’

What is your name?

But all that his body did was to offer a happy grin that seemed to make the guy forget about his previous embarrassment, smile at him, and return to the inside of the bakery shop. Gladio was waving again even though the guy had already disappeared, and he looked at the door as if expecting him to walk back out again. A few seconds later, he looked down at the rose he held, and smiled at it as well.

Who are you…?

Gladio sometimes glanced over at the bakery shop. It was not overcrowded, ever, but it was not a failure either. Sometimes he caught little glimpses of the baker inside, going places, re-decorating the display window, attending the counter. But it was all fleeting looks.

He considered many times to go and buy something just as an excuse to say Hi, but…he found himself unable to do so. Something stopped him. Every time he put a foot in the direction of the bakery shop, he stopped and returned over his steps, not understanding why.

One day, the landlord of the space that was used for the flower shop stormed in yelling something about the rent. That month had not been particularly low on sales (the flower shop, if not an overcrowded, popular place, was a success nonetheless), but the Amicitia siblings had used some of the money to pay for medical attention for their dad (who worked as bodyguard to a now old friend of his, and had been injured in an assault). Of course, the landlord did not care where the money had gone, except it had not gone to his wallet.

And so, yelling about the rent and the time he would wait for the Amicitia to pay before kicking them out, the landlord exited, with Gladiolus both indirectly threatening and directly promising to have the money sometime soon.

And, to his disgrace, the baker was outside, listening and watching.

Gladio did not realize until he was turning to go back into his own shop. Stunning like always, elegant like always, in a dress shirt and suspenders. Down on his ankles in front of his chalkboard sign, holding a piece of chalk, watching the landlord leave on his car. And then turning to look at Gladio.

The florist felt embarrassed; public arguments are already embarrassing enough and he felt disgusted by people who did that…to have become one of those in front of the (oh so darn cute, so darn skilled, and oh gods, so gorgeous) baker….

Gladio looked away and felt his face become red in embarrassment, but he found it rude to just ignore the baker. He watched the man go back up on his feet and clean his hands on a handkerchief he took from a pocket of his pants, still staring at Gladio. The florist shrugged a shoulder and gave him a forced smile that almost seemed to say “Sucks, doesn’t it?”. The baker tilted the head very subtly, like a curious bird. Gladio watched the baker look at the flower shop, back at the florist, his chalkboard sign, and then push his glasses over his nose, only to offer the bow of the head as some silent ‘Goodbye’ and return into the bakery.

Gladio, feeling blue, contained a sigh in the chest. What a horrible day. He looked at the sign; ‘New cupcakes; flower themed. Only $7′.

With the smell of the oven invading at an unusual hour that evening, Gladio returned into his shop, and thought about something new that could bring some extra people to the shop for the rest of the month…

The following day, people kept coming into the Iridae Flower Shop all day, one after the other, one right after the next one, one after that one, and one more behind. Only a few ordered something like a bouquet or an arragement, but the rest of the costumers, the great majority, only asked for one flower or two. It was not strange to sell one flower (it was the most common of sales), but this was starting to turn suspicious; never, not even back in February or December, had they had these many costumers in only one day.

By afternoon, and while Iris attended more people, Gladio counted the money backstore; they had earned the same money they tended to make in five days, in only that one. This was fantastic, sure, but also suspicious and odd. What on Eos or the city had caused all these people to appear out of nowhere…?

Only then, after all day, Gladio thought about simply looking where one of the costumers headed. He exited the backstore and went past the counter, telling Iris he would be back in a minute, and walked behind a guy that was exiting with his recently bought flower in hand.

He did not need to look any further; the guy crossed the street straight to the bakery shop. Where a small crowd of people who had just bought a flower minutes ago stood outside, waiting their turn.

Gladio blinked, confused, staring at the people gathered both outside and inside the bakery shop. Not understanding, he looked at the chalkboard sign from the previous day. and found the text had changed; instead of the simple decoration, there were vines drawn on the borders, with a few flowers on them. And the text…

‘A flower for a muffin!’, it read in big, and smaller below: ‘Bring us a flower, and we give you a muffin for free in return.’

Gladio blinked at it, eyes wide. His only reaction was to look up at the bakery; inside, the mysterious guy kept coming and going, always with a soft smile, receiving flowers and giving muffins in return.

What the hell is going on?

Before he could rush to the bakery, Iris called for him inside, and he had to return to help with the sales. And, only as he worked, it hit him on the head like a brick: of course, the landlord’s outrage from the previous evening. He had yelled about kicking them out of they didn’t pay for the rent, and Gladio had yelled back promising to have enough for it soon. And the guy had heard. And had seen. The Amicitia were not short on money, but the baker did not know that. No context besides the little part of the argument he must have heard must have made him think…

Astrals above.

He’s doing it for us.

Gladio could not stop smiling during the rest of the work day. He had thought multiple times on sending a costumer to give his thanks to the baker for him, but had decided not to.

He would do it himself.

Finally, after months of staring from across the street, Gladio would go and say Hello to that mysterious man.

On the little breaks he had between costumers, Gladio looked around in the shop for a flower, one that the guy could like. Did he even like flowers? What sort of flowers? Well, he looked elegant and formal and pretty and the air around him was as warm as the bread he baked…maybe a red and elegant flower. Red for the warmth that emanated from the man, elegant for his body language, stunning for his looks…and beautiful, for his actions. His kindness. Oh, his dear heart, still a mystery, but apparently so, so beautiful.

‘A rose. Like the first time we looked at each other. It could be meaningful…’

‘But, isn’t it too cliché? What if he thinks I’m asking him out? Well, I do like him that way, but I don’t want to look creepy, we’ve never spoken….’

Even though he thought about it during the rest of the evening and part of the night, hesitating and having a shy side of him he had no idea existed, he ended up picking the rose.

He and Iris closed the flower shop after making sure to put the money in the small safe and ordering the place, radiant of happiness, Gladio playfully half-hugging and stroking Iris’ head, only to be playfully punched back. He had offered to take Iris home, then return to thank the baker, but his sister had been faster; earlier that day, she had texted friends of her, and it wasn’t long before one of them arrived on bike. Promising to be at her friend’s for a few hours before dad could pick her up, she waved bye and wished him ‘luck with Mysterious Baker’.

Gladio could not help a little smile and a soft blush while waving back; oh, Iris. She was definitely giving him this privacy on purpose. It was fantastic, to have such an understanding sister, but it was a bit embarrassing to have her know his feelings.

Arming himself with all the courage he could gather, Gladio fidgeted a bit with the rose in his hands and crossed the street. It had been a while since the bakery had closed as well, and the sign was there. A bit shy of waiting outside and looking like a creep, Gladio recklessly decided to simply walk in. When he pushed the door he found it was open (thank the Astrals), and the little bells ringed above his head.

“My apologies, but we are…”

His voice.

His voice sounds like his bread smells; warm, delicious, wonderful…hypnotizing.

Gladio stopped in his place as soon as he heard the baker speaking; whatever he had expected, nothing had prepared him for that voice. The baker was just behind the counter, putting on a blazer (possibly getting prepared to leave the store), and had turned when he heard the little bells. But he, too, shut his words midways when his eyes found Gladio standing there.

Gladio tried to do something, but he could just smile at the baker. It took the guy a while; he kept the eyes slightly wide on Gladio as if shocked, and, as if he had recognized him from another life, or as if he had been expecting that visit except not knowing when, the baker offered a smile that almost felt…excited.

“It’s you” the baker greeted, a bit awkwardly. A nervous hand moved up so he used a gloved finger (normal gloves instead of his mitts) to gently scratch under his jaw, and his eyes went away again. “I mean…” he looked back at Gladio, still smiling. “How may I…help you?”

“Uhm…” Gladio looked away for a moment. “I hope I’m not a bother, I know you’re closed but…”

“No, it’s fine” the guy reassured, looking again at him and continuing to adjust his blazer. “How may I help you?”

“Ah, no, I mean-” Gladio approached the counter, and he felt an entire zoo in his stomach when the guy went through it so there were no barriers in between. He felt his face become red and his heart pounded loud in his chest. ‘Calm, Gladio, it’s going to be okay, just be sincere...’ “I wanted…your sign today. Wow. It brought a lot of people to the flower shop.”

“My costumers are quite lucky” the baker said, calmly. “What a good coincidence they had a flower shop right across the street.”

“What a good coincidence, yeah” Gladio agreed on the obvious lie, and smiled.

The guy smiled back at him. It took them some moments before both went shy in front of each other; the baker looked away, arms crossing, while Gladio, keeping the hands behind himself, looked down and had a foot toying with the floor. Gods, he had never been shy about confessing feelings, not since he was like fifteen, why and how could this baker make him feel so desperately nervous?

“Say, I’m…” the florist started after a moment. He paused. “I’m…very grateful. Seriously, it was awesome on your side to do that.”

“I didn’t do it for you” the baker said and stared away, a hand moving up to push his glasses. Gladio watched his cheeks become red, and he could not help a wide smile and a melting heart at the sight. “I just..thought my shop needed some decoration inside. Flowers will add a pretty look to it, so it was an excuse for my costumers to bring me a wide variety.”

Gladio chuckled and grinned at him. The baker smiled in return, and both went quiet again for some moments.

“Excuse me…” the baker said after a while, not looking more nor less confident than Gladio, just as nervous and shy as him. “I am afraid you haven’t given me your name.”

“Well…I only have one” Gladio replied, smiling. “If I give it to you, I’ll be left with nothing.”

“I could give you mine in exchange, then.”

The florist felt the butterflies in his stomach all going crazy inside him, and for a moment he thought they would make it explode inside him. Gods, this was flirting but in a way he had never experienced before. For once, while his words did not hesitate, he felt shy and excited and nervous and gods, I like him so much. He and the baker shared a little smile again.

“Gladiolus” the florist said lowly. “Like the flower.”

“Gladiolus….”

Oh gods. It was his name, in the voice of this strange and beautiful creature. In that wonderful voice of bread and warmth. Never before had it sounded like that. Never before had it felt so good to hear his name.

“It’s an honor, Gladiolus-Like-the-Flower” the baker said with a tiny bow of the head. “I’m Ignis.”

Ignis. Ignis. Gladio blinked softly and contained a breath in the chest. Ignis. the name tasted so good in his head. Like warm, freshly made bread. Better than that. Ignis.

“Ignis…” Gladio said in a murmur, tasting the sound of it, tasting every syllable for the first time. He saw the baker react almost the same than him, containing an exhale in his chest. “Well…Since I’m Gladio-like-the-flower and I own a flower shop, I’m just going to assume Ignis who runs a bakery must be a muffin.”

Curiously, the failed attempt of a joke did earn a little laugh from the bak-…from Ignis. It was short and he seemed to have reacted more to the fact that Gladio tried to joke rather than the joke itself. The florist smiled and waited some moments. Ignis offered no answer, but kept smiling at him.

“Say, Ignis…if you wanted flowers” Gladio started with a smile, more confident now, “why didn’t you cross the street? I’ve got a flower shop right there, you know.”

The baker grinned at him and put the head down.

“If I’m sincere…I’ve wanted to go for a while now, but…I felt a little shy to do it.”

“Shy?” Gladio asked. “Why so?”

“I didn’t want you or the little miss to think me a creep for buying so many flowers” the baker excused himself. “Apologies.”

Gladio shook the head.

“I can’t complain that you have never come to my store, because I hadn’t come to yours either. I…I felt shy, too. Way too shy” the florist said, and his smile widened. “Pretty ridiculous, isn’t it? Someone my size and looks, you’d expect a fearless and charming man, not a guy that’s too shy to cross the street and say Hi.”

“I don’t know” Ignis smiled at him, “you seem….you seem pretty charming to me…” the baker looked away and shrugged a shoulder. “Shy, sure, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t charming. If I….if I may say so, of course. I don’t mean to offend you if I’m being too direct…”

Gladio’s smile had faded as soon as the baker had called him ‘Charming’. He did but look at the smaller man in front of him, a bit flustered, but not afraid of looking at the florist to the eyes. Gladio smiled back.

“That’s a compliment” Gladio said. “Of course it doesn’t offend me.”

Both looked at each other and widened their smiles. It took a moment before Gladio looked down first, trying to think on what to say.

“Uhm…Ignis…I wanted…” he stopped to swallow. “…sure, I was shy to come earlier. But, I saw your announce of today and I couldn’t resist anymore. I had to come here and…”

Said that, he finally brought his hand from slightly behind himself up to the height of his chest, holding the rose. Ignis looked at it and his smile faded. Gladio watched him stare at the flower for more moments before looking up at him. Green. His eyes were green.

Gladio smiled.

“A flower” he quoted in a murmur, and brought the rose closer to Ignis, “for a muffin.”

Ignis stared at him a little longer. Gladio only smiled in return, until the baker stared away with a happy if tiny chuckle, hands reaching up a bit fearfully. Soon, Ignis looked at the rose and, with slightly trembling hands, he accepted it, his hands touching Gladio’s in the process. When their hands came in contact, they caressed a little more than necessary as Gladio’s went away.

Ignis held the rose and admired it in silence.

“I…cut off all the thorns, so…don’t worry about holding it” Gladio said, a hand going up to caress at his neck, face flushed red. Ignis looked at him and blinked, a little puzzled, before his eyes scanned the flower. Not a single thorn, indeed.

This man had taken his time to cut the thorns off. To give it to him.

He didn’t just pick any random flower…

Ignis smiled at the rose.

“While I do thank you, I’m afraid I’ve run out of muffins today…”

“What a shame” Gladio said. “I’ll have to come back tomorrow, then.”

“Or I can go give it to you tomorrow, Gladiolus” the baker offered, looking up at him. “That way you could show me some of your flowers. Like the one you’re named after. Maybe I can buy one of those.”

“That sounds great” Gladio murmured, unable to take his eyes off the baker’s. Both stayed quiet, sharing a glance. Not knowing when, the distance between them had gotten reduced to some inches in between. Both realized, but none backed away. “I can show you all our flowers. Any you want. The ones you like. That is…if…if you like flowers…”

“It depends on which flower we’re talking about” the baker replied in a murmur as well, holding the rose between them and glancing back at it for only a moment. “Roses…I like those. Very much.”

Said that, the baker got slightly closer again, until the chests were almost pressed one against the other. They looked at each other’s eyes for another while, in silence, smiling.

“Ignis” Gladio called lowly. “Thank you for today. It was…so nice of you. It was…” he stopped to sigh. “You’re…” yet another silence. “I’m…I feel…” Ignis smiled at him a little amused, and so the florist smiled back. There was a pause. “Ignis” he whispered now. “May I…kiss you?”

Ignis said nothing. But he nodded. The florist smiled at him and still took his time before starting to lean down. Both closed the eyes, and Gladio continued to reach closer, closer…

And, suddenly, his lips found something humid and with different texture to the expected one of skin.

When Gladio opened the eyes and looked down, he found his lips pressed to the rose, placed right between his mouth and Ignis’.

“I’m sorry” the baker said with a small laugh. “I got nervous.”

Gladio laughed lowly with him.

“We don’t have to if you don’t-”

“I want” the baker said, firm. “I just…you’re kind of…you make me feel…” he cleared his throat. “I was nervous. But I want it. Please…” he paused, and his voice went low again. “…please…continue.”

The baker blinked at him, chest swelling and palms tickling, while the florist grabbed his chin; it was a gentle touch, a soft caress. Careful, trembling fingers under his chin, lifting his head so, oh so carefully. Soon enough, Gladio closed the eyes and leaned down. Once he was close, Ignis closed the eyes and only waited.

It was soft, and shy on both sides. Their lips rubbed at first, nervous, before coming in touch. They stayed pressed together with no movement; only the touch was enough to have both tensing and relaxing at the same time, nervous and calm, eager and peaceful, all at once.

When they broke apart, Ignis realized he had rested his hands on the florist’s chest, holding the rose, while Gladio kept the hand under his chin. They looked at each other in total silence and needed no words for a while, only a little smile.

“…you feel like flowers” Ignis said after a small while, but he did not step back from Gladio. His free hand went up for it to syly use a few fingertips to ghost at Gladio’s lips, and the florist let him explore.

“And you, like a muffin” Gladio replied, his hand letting go of the baker’s chin to move down and get a hold of his arm. “Soft and warm.”

Ignis smiled at him, and pressed himself closer to Gladio once more, allowing the florist to wrap his strong arms around his waist. Feeling oddly safe in the arms of a man he was just meeting, Ignis smiled and let him rest their foreheads on each other.

“I was aware I would receive a lot of flowers” Ignis whispered to him. “I just didn’t think it would bring the prettiest one of the Gladioli to me.”

“You’ve got a pretty way with words, you know?” the florist said. “You’re talking flowers, and I called you Muffin.”

That earned yet another small laugh from the baker, and had him wrapping his arms around Gladio’s neck. The florist smiled, nonetheless, and hugged Ignis closer, feeling him get on his tiptoes for their mouths to ghost each other.

“Definitely the most charming.”

With the rose in a hand, Ignis finished wrapping the arms around his flower, and pressed their lips together again, while Gladio returned the kiss, hugging him close.

The gods have mercy on me, he thought as they kissed, he tastes just like his bread smells.

Funny, he thought, how love appears when one stops looking for it. In unexpected places. In unexpected people.

In the baker across the street.

#this had like so much plot added #the bakery used to be an old books bookstore #run by iggy's grandpa #who DIED #so that's why it was abandoned for a while #until iggy opened the bakery #also iris and gladio saved up for the flower shop #since she was a kid and he was a teen #and even htough they saved lots it's nowhere close to open a shop #so it was clarus who was like #moved and proud of his kids' hard work and faith and consistency #and decided to give them the required money #also i had many more scenes #gladio leaving flowers for iggy at his chalkboard sign during nights so he finds them in the mornings #iggy responding with the 'a flower for a muffin'#gladio offering to drive iggy home cause he looks exhausted after his store was overcrowded all day #rly it's just an excuse to drop him home #spend more time together #also get it #a flower for a muffin #as in #gladio is the flower #and he's gifting himself to iggy #who is the muffin #why am i like this #why can i not write a 1000 words fic #why must i go novel sized #gladnis #fanfic #fluff

17 notes · View notes