#But I reeeaaallly hope she still likes me | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

chefrat · 4 years ago

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Liar, Liar, Pants on fire

pairings: Cheater!Oikawa X Reader, Iwaizumi X Reader

type: im not sure, first date??

word-count: 3.9k

warnings: cursing, mentions of cheating

A/N: I haven't been sleeping well so I’m reeeaaallly tired but here's something thats really bad written but I felt like I should post to not lose the habit so yea :////// I hope its ok, I could of definitely ended it better and maybe I’ll rewrite it one day but I just felt like finishing it in one night when while I’m my worst. Stuff at home have also not been at all pretty, lots of arguing that have nothing to do with me. oh im so tired :((( I really wish it was easy to sleep

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You weren’t sure of what you were going to say or even do but the way Oikawa’s eyes widened and the way his hand pushed her off was enough to let you know he was being unfaithful. But your decision had been final on leaving him weeks ago. One might think you were jumping to conclusions but when you noticed them walking together, hand in hand for the last couple of minutes it was enough to let you know what was going on. Not only that but not only were they giggling to each other, sharing loving pecks but just the way the both were standing so close told so much about their relationship. Iwaizumi was also kind enough to let you know a while ago, he knew telling you would be like betraying his best friend but he couldn’t hold back knowing that it was all wrong. To be honest, you couldn’t help but feel relief about the cheating taking Iwaizumi by surprise. You were thinking of ways to lay it on Oikawa, trying to figure out ways to end things with the setter but none of it ever felt right.

“How long has he been… you know?” Iwaizumi sighed, shifting on the bench you both shared.

“I don’t know. I figured it out just a week ago, thought I’d tell you before it could go any longer.” He looked over at you, it was obvious he cared about you. He has always cared about you, thats what friends do. Care for each other. Though, some people could say he cared a little bit too much.

“Thank you…it’s ok. I’ll talk to him, stuff happens.” You shrugged your shoulders but Iwaizumi sat in silence, waiting. He was waiting to comfort you if you cried, or even hold you if all you needed was just a hug. That’s how he always received you, with open arms and a shoulder to cry on.

“Why aren’t you upset? Don’t tell me you’re going to forgive that shit for brains boyfriend of yours. Please, You deserve way better.” His hand went to grab yours and you let his warmth come in contact with your own freezing hand. Iwaizumi’s grip on your hand never easing, begging you with his touch to not go back to his best friend.

“God, no. It’s just… you know how sometimes you lose feelings for someone and you can’t really explain it. Don’t get me wrong, sure it hurts and I still care deeply for him but romantically. Romantically my feelings changed, Iwa.”

“It’s not what it looks like.” Oikawa grinned, trying to save face, he took long strides towards you. You frowned, shaking your head at him making him stop on his tracks. “I know what it is. Just don’t make a scene, please. We can talk later.” He was confused, maybe even a little mad that you had asked him to not make a scene. He could only watch you walk away as his other girlfriend stood a few feet away, waiting until the coast was clear. The way she grabbed onto his arm to take his attention away made his stomach twist. Oikawa couldn’t help but feel sick, the wave of nausea hitting him harder and harder each step you took away from him. “I’m gonna go home, I’ll call you later.” She looked at him confused, not wanting to leave him just yet. Especially not now when he’s feeling so vulnerable after seeing you.

It had been a week after Oikawa had been caught with his second girlfriend by you and just a few days after having a talk with him. The both of you were mature about it, talking through your problems and even forgiving him but breaking up in the process. You still shared the same friends, the same class, and the same best friend. Iwaizumi thanked you mentally for not saying anything to Oikawa about him coming to you and letting you know about his unfaithfulness. The three of you still tried to at least save the friendship, even if it felt pretty awkward to Oikawa. He couldn’t help but just feel like there was something wrong, the way you dismissed it all, it almost felt like you were eager to break up with him. Eager to get away from him so fast.

Your laugh took him out of his train of thoughts, he looked over to you sitting next to a sweating Iwaizumi. His own sweat rolled down his back. You would always stay back during their practice, thats how close the three of you were.

Lately it seemed like you were only close to one of them though. He couldn’t blame you, he practically ruined all sorts of relationships with you. Even his own friend had way more courage to call him out on his bullshit. The way you reacted towards the cheating, it just didn’t make him feel good. At all. Was he being an asshole if he expected you to at least cry, maybe yell at him or even try to argue? ‘Just don’t make a scene, please’ maybe he did want to make a scene. He couldn’t do that to you, right? Unfortunately, word got out own how the relationship ended and it was already enough humiliation for the both of you. Making a scene would just make it all types of worse.

Oikawa made it towards where the both of you sat, his cocky grin on display. It faltered once he took in the conversation between his best friend and ex-girlfriend. “I’ll walk you home then.” Iwaizumi said, pinching the skin on your elbow making you swat his hand away with a giggle. Walking home was usually Oikawa’s doing, especially while he was your boyfriend. So why now were you asking Iwaizumi, or did he offer?

The conversation died down once he took his seat next to his best friend without saying a word. It almost felt like you guys were purposely excluding him from your guys conversation or even keeping secrets with each other. He couldn’t help but feel paranoid by the way you both acted alone and around him. Even though he had no right to feel jealous, he just couldn’t help himself.

“You’re walking her home? I thought we were going to hangout after practice.” Oikawa frowned towards his friend, making him tense in his seat. “Sorry, it just gets really dark nowadays. I can’t have her walking home alone.”

He smiled, letting his own personal feelings get the best of him. “I’ll come with you guys then!”

And it went on like that for a while. Always including himself and sometimes even receiving annoyed looks from his own best friend. Oikawa wasn’t dumb, he knew there was at least a little something happening with the both of you but he was in no place to say anything. Or at least thats how Iwaizumi thought of it. Trying to get close to your best friends ex-girlfriend sounds horrible but when he cheats on her, it cancels out the horribleness of it, right? The only way Iwaizumi could get closer to you without Oikawa butting in was with late night talks. It was something the both of you looked forward to. Sometimes he’d be way too tired to keep up conversation but he would fight through it for you.

“So, what do you say? Do you want to?” Iwaizumi asked, laying on his back. He held his phone up to his ear while he used his other hand to rub his neck, massaging out a sore area from practice.

You giggled nervously, laying on your back as well on your bed and staring up at your ceiling. Your heart thumping against your ribcage almost as if it would jump out. He made you nervous, but a good nervous. The type of feelings you once had for Oikawa, but a little more stronger, and a whole lot more honest. “I’d love to.”

It sounded as if something fell through the phone, probably something he had hanging up that didn’t hold on anymore but instead it was a very excited Iwaizumi who had rushed off of their bed, and accidentally kicking his nightstand sending his clock flying off in the process. He hissed at the pain he felt on his foot but also silently cheered hearing you agree to his date for the upcoming weekend. “Are you okay?” You giggled again making him blush. “Yea, sorry. I just got a little too excited.” Again with the butterflies, you smiled.

“Be careful, I want you in one piece for when we finally go out.” He blushed even harder at your words, you really did have a strong affect on him. Iwaizumi’s phone started to vibrate from an incoming call, he pulled his phone from his ear and mumbling a quick ‘give me a second’ to you as he went to go check the caller id.

He frowned, Oikawa.

“Can I call you back? Oikawa’s calling me right now…” The brunette could hear you sigh. Oikawa seemed to have a sixth sense for whenever Iwaizumi tried to spend some time with you alone, even through a phone call.

“Ok, be safe and goodni-“

“No, I changed my mind. He can wait, I rather talk to you.” Iwaizumi said, cutting you off. If only he could see you now, a smile on your face and blushing. The conversation continued on even when Oikawa wouldn’t quit on calling but all Iwaizumi could do was send him to voicemail. Six times to voicemail and he still couldn’t get the hint that he was busy. But he was too focused on you to care about what Oikawa was so desperate to talk to him about.

He couldn’t help but feel happy whenever you would talk about your day even though he had mostly spent half of it with you. Even more happy when you kept reminding him about the date and trying your best to get information out of him on where he was going to take you. You felt warmth in your chest when you got to hear him stammer with his own words whenever you knew you made him nervous with your questions.

“Is he still calling you? Maybe you should answer him.” It could have been an emergency or maybe it was just him being annoying Iwaizumi thought, but he knew he should at least see what was wrong.

“Yea, I will. I’m sorry, I’ll see you tomorrow?” He sighed, still not ready to let go of the lovely conversation the both of you were having.

“Yes. Goodnight, I hope you sleep well. ” You gave him a final giggle before ending the call making his heart thump just a little harder.

Iwaizumi slumped on his bed with a groan, dialing Oikawa to check up on him. It didn’t take long for him to pick up, two rings and he could already hear the sigh of relief leave his best friend. “Iwaaa~, you had me so worried. What was so important that kept you away from me for so long? Hmm?” He couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty, he could’ve of at least sent him a message about how he wouldn’t be able to answer the phone for a while. Or was the guilt from spending the last two or so hours talking to his best friends ex-girlfriend and asking her on a date.

“Sorry, got caught up with something. What’s up?” He looked over to his nightstand to check the time on his clock but soon realized it was on the floor. The memory coming back and making him smile.

“Oh nothing, I was just wondering…you wouldn’t lie to me right?” And the pleasure was over, he tensed hearing the question but why? It’s not as if you were cheating on Oikawa when in reality it was him who did the cheating.

“Of course not. What are you thinking so much about thats got you asking stuff like that?” Oikawa sighed, biting his lip and staring off to his ceiling.

“Does she ever say anything about me? I know the both of you are close so I’m just wondering. She wasn’t even crying when she saw me with (gf name), do you know what she told me that night? ‘don’t make a scene’. Can you believe that?” Iwaizumi furrowed his brows, bothered by the way his friend was acting so childishly. Why was he so determined to see you hurt, was he that desperate to make you cry?

“Oikawa, just drop it. You cheated, you’re the bad guy in this situation and you still ended up with the girl you cheated on your own girlfriend with! Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe the reason why she wasn’t so hurt by it was because she was already over you?” Seconds passed of pure silence. The only thing Iwaizumi could hear was his friends steady breathing. His brow twitched anxiously, awaiting for an answer. “Did she tell you that?” He rolled his eyes, gripping his phone.

“She didn’t have to.” He mumbled making him receive a scoff from Oikawa.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Oikawa grumbled, annoyed at his unsupportive friend but again, he was just asking for too much from him.

“It means that you should really be thankful that she values your friendship that she overlooked you cheating on her and that you should really just drop it. Please.” Silence again. He reached over towards where his clock was at on the ground, picking it up and placing it back on his nightstand. “I guess you’re right. I just can’t help but wonder. She was my girlfriend for a while, the least she could do is cry a little.”

“Why are you such a dick?” Oikawa choked on his spit, getting caught off guard by the question.

“Excuse me? Iwa, where’s this behavior coming from… did she actually cry? Like only with you?” Iwaizumi huffed in annoyance, the red button tempting him to end the call.

“I don’t know, I’m just really tired from practice. See you tomorrow, k?”

“But Iwa-“ And with that he ended the call, readying himself for bed and to face Oikawa tomorrow. But he smiled, thinking about how he was going to see you too. The way you were able to flip his whole mood and instantly put a smile on him, he really did like you. Iwaizumi looked down to his vibrating phone, it was Oikawa again. The guilt came back, it wasn’t for hanging up on him but more on always crushing on his best friends ex girlfriend.

Oikawa groaned into his pillow, frustrated and feeling as if both of his closest friends were shutting him. He didn’t know who else to go to or ask. You weren’t exactly friends with anyone, you kept your circle small and usually never vented to anyone but Iwaizumi. The vibration he felt on his bed made him snatch his phone with an unexplainable speed, hoping it was you or even Iwa with some answers. Instead it was his girlfriend wishing him a goodnight but Oikawa didn’t even bother to read the whole message.

It was Sunday and Iwaizumi was still in the shower after getting in just about an hour ago. The date wouldn’t be until later in the evening and it was only morning but his anxiety ended up getting to him. Urging him to start getting ready at such early hours. You couldn’t help but do the same thing, thrashing your room and scattering clothes everywhere that you pulled from your closet while trying to find the best outfit for Iwaizumi.

He could hear his phone buzzing again making him pull the curtain back slightly to check the caller id. It was Oikawa again but too bad Iwaizumi was too busy scrubbing his body clean for the fifth time. Anyways, it was Sunday and just around eleven in the morning, he would understand if Iwaizumi just said he slept in and missed his calls. But the buzzing wouldn’t stop, Iwa grumbled while turning the water off and hearing his own mom knocking on the door, asking him if he was okay.

Iwa was quick to dry himself, he sat on his bed watching the clock on his nightstand. Why was time going by so slow? Normally he was a patient man but he was just way too eager to hangout with you. He’d do anything to make time speed up just a little. For you, you wished you had gotten up earlier. You still couldn’t decide on what to wear, your room a whole mess and you still hadn’t showered. Until when you finally decided on something simple, nothing that wasn’t too much nor too relaxed. But you couldn’t help but frown, Iwa never gave you a hint on where he was going to take you or even told you if it was going to be cold or not. With a groan, you neatly folded your outfit and put it on a spot on your bed before practically running to the bathroom to shower even though you still had over five hours to get ready.

He slowly dressed to be able to pass some time starting with his socks, and so on with a pair of fresh gym shorts and black t-shirt. Iwa decided on wearing casual clothing and not his chosen outfit until it was time for him to go so there wouldn’t be a way for him to get it dirty in away way and ruin it. Glancing at the clock, he laid on his bed. It was just around noon, almost hitting one. With a sigh, he picked up his phone and scrolling through his socials to pass time. He turned on his tv and let it run as background noise to keep him at least a bit distracted. Not before putting an alarm for an hour before walking to your house so he could properly get dressed.

You huffed trying to get your eyeliner done, even just the minimum to at least show him that you were trying. With a steady hand you were able to complete the left eye. Smiling, you looked at yourself in the mirror. ‘Ok, I think it looks okay-ish enough�� you though to yourself, looking down to your phone and seeing the time being four, almost time for your date with Iwaizumi. The pink chapstick stained your lips just a tad bit while it worked as a hydrator as well, just a little something you wanted to add. Your phone vibrated with a notification, it was Iwaizumi. You couldn’t help the smile that the name on the screen brought to your face. The tip of your finger swiped the notification and reading it to yourself out loud. “Hi, If you're by any chance ready would it be ok to go pick you up now? No pressure xx.” You weren’t the only one eager, it helped you feel more at ease. Your fingers typing up a response were unfortunately interrupted from another message notification, this time from Oikawa but you simply ignored it, not even bothering to read what he had to say, much more focused on going on your first date with Iwaizumi.

Hearing you giggle made Iwaizumi’s cheeks tint to a shade of light pink, he was outside your door and holding a bouquet of flowers that unintentionally matched with your outfit. It was simply pure kismet. “Are those for me?” He couldn’t ignore the sparkling look in your eyes when you asked so he just smiled, handing them to you. “Pretty flowers for a pretty girl.” It was now your turn for your cheeks to flush at his compliment. You happily accepted them, excusing yourself for a minute to place them in an empty vase and then returning to him, closing the door behind you in the process.

The both of you walked hand in hand toward a small coffee shop that the both of you were familiar with. “I still have somewhere else I wanna take you, not just for coffee.” He said with a smile and a squeeze to your hand.

“Ohh where else then?” You pressed, trying to get it out him.

“It’s a surprise, don’t worry about it.” Iwa looked over to you the smile still standing proudly on his face. Just happy to be with you after so long.

You couldn’t help but smile, finally seeing to where he was taking you. It was the most recent restaurant that had opened up in your area, he was taking you out to dinner. Perfect timing as well, you did start to feel a little hungry after the small cup of coffee you had just about an hour ago. “I know it’s not much but I know how much you like Italian and well-“ You quickly cut him off with a kiss on the cheek making him look down at you in surprise. He felt the warmth in his chest start up again, you were just too cute.

“Going anywhere to eat with you is already a perfect date, but the Italian food is for sure a plus.” Still having his hand in yours, you made sure to keep walking even while he still was a little shocked from the peck on the cheek. You giggled, pulling him closer to you by the hand. “What? Want another one?” Iwaizumi only nodded but this time taking charge as he gently placed his free hand on your cheek and pressing a soft kiss to your lips. He couldn’t help the smile that broke out on his face, contagious enough to cause you to smile too. You teasingly let your wet tongue swipe against his bottom lip making him pull away with a furious blush.

“Easy now.” Iwa mumbled, readjusting his posture and scanning the not-so-busy street to see if any creep had been lingering for too long. Just something to distract him from his first kiss with you because he was sure that he wouldn’t be able to hold back on the kissing if you tried the tongue trick again.

You laughed at his words but continued on into the restaurant. A very warm atmosphere came over the both of you, you really did enjoy his company. He made you happy, the way he holds your hand and the way he would look into your eye. It was definitely worth it to wait for the weekend. Iwaizumi thought so too, he would make it his personal goal to show just how much he cared about you and to do way better than Oikawa ever could. Even though that was his closest friend, he still could not let it slide on how trashy he was for being a cheater. The both of you were greeted by a wonderful waiter, following quickly behind them to the table nearest to a corner, somewhere more secluded but not so much.

Dinner passed by fast but neither of you could bring up what the both of you were dreading, the end of the date. Instead you kept him distracted with memories you shared with him from school, making him smile every time you would get way into detail. He loved hearing you talk about certain memories you had of him, things he had kept to himself thinking that no one would remember and that surprised him when you had a perfect memory. The guilty feeling in him slowly dying out with every little conversation you had with him. But it soon returned when he received a message notification from Oikawa.

‘How’s the date with (Y/n)? I thought you said you wouldn’t lie to me, Iwa…”

(not edited)

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mhdiaries · 4 years ago

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Wave 1 Draculaura Diary

4♥July

Another great day to be alive... okay technically it’s a great day to be undead but it’s still a great day and I’m going to enjoy it.

15♥July

It rained today which means I didn’t have to wear so much sunscreen when I went out for a walk. It’s also nice for my garden. Mmmm fresh tomatoes, carrots and lettuce. Count Fabulous loves it too - not the vegetables but all the bugs they attract, it’s like a bug buffet for a bat.

21♥July

Father “surprised” me by buying my school clothes this year. I love my father but you’d think after 1,599 years he’d realize there’s more to fashion than whalebone corsets and black velvet lined hooded capes. At least he left the tags on everything this year so I can return it all for something splashed with a little color. I reeeaaallly hope he didn’t bite the clerks this time. That’s sooo gross and embarrassing.

26♥July

We got new human neighbors today which I thought was a little strange cause my father is kind of intimidating to humans... and monsters too actually, but it doesn’t seem to bother Mrs. Jekyll, and her son Jackson Jekyll who is my age... well, I mean technically he’s really not but we’re going to be in the same class. When he gets moved in I’m going to give him the entire lowdown on Monster High.

7♥August

I took a casketberry pie over to the Jekyll’s today as a haunted house warming gift and Jackson answered the door. Wow! He is scary cute and really sweet. I got bats in my stomach an ghost bumps just standing there talking to him. I don’t know what it is but there’s something a little mysterious about him.... I like it!

15♥August

Clawdeen Wolf came over yesterday. We were supposed to be going through my closets to collect some of my out of date fashion and give them away to Ghoul Will. It also gave me a chance to give some of them away to Clawdeen. She has a big family and I have almost 1600 years of clothing - it would be selfish of me not to share with my best friend. Clawdeen has a lot of pride though and so I had to combine the two. After we pulled out a bunch we cranked the music and started trying outfits. We had such a good time that it woke father up. What a grump! Anyway, I can’t believe chain mail was ever in style. It’s so 15th century. Of course Clawdeen looked fabulous in it.

17♥August

Jackson came over tonight to return my pie plate. Father got to the door before I could and totally went all Transylvania on him. “Good evening. Vat can I do for you?”

I was like “Oh no!” but then Jackson asked to borrow a hammer cause he needed to drive a stake into something. It flustered my dad so much I think he turned a shade whiter. Then Jackson said, “Gotcha!” and my dad regained his composure, barely. “Draculaura you have a visitor!” Later on I heard father muttering something about Jackson being more than he appears to be. I don’t know about that but he is sweet, funny, cute and not afraid of my father! Perfect!

23♥August

I went to The Maul with Clawdeen Wolf today to exchange some of the new school clothes father got me. We met Mrs. Stein and her new daughter Frankie Stein while we were there. Frankie is going to be in our class at Monster High and her mother was taking her back-to-school shopping. Mrs. Stein is really, really sweet but her fashion sense is well... not really current. Anyway, we were able to rescue Frankie for a couple of hours and show her the best of what this century’s fashions had to offer. We had a great time and Frankie Stein is definitely built for fashion. I think Clawdeen might have even been a little jealous... I also suggested that Frankie should try out for the fearleading squad! She was really excited about that and I think we’re all going to be great friends.

24♥August

Cleo de Nile was unhappy with me because I had to miss fearleading practice this morning =( but Count Fabulous got another mothball and I had to take him to the vet. I scolded him for being such a pig but he looked so miserable I couldn’t be mad at him for long. If he’s not going to be a vegetarian he should at least stick to eating something smaller like gnats or mosquitoes.

25♥August

So my Sweet 1600 birthday is coming up soon which I’m really looking forward to but it also means something I am not looking forward to and this is having “The Talk” with my father. We do this every year around my birthday and it usually bums me out for at least a couple of days. “The Talk” goes like this, “Draculaura I have been extremely tolerant of your keeping daytime hours, our friendship with that pack of mangy werewolves and your insistence on being happy. But I believe it is imperative that you return to your roots and give this ridiculous idea that a vampire can be a vegetarian. It is unnatural, un-monster like and I think it is time you return to what you once were.” Then he stands there with his arms crossed looking very serious.

I used to get mad and tell him that it was my life and I could choose to live it however I wanted to, which caused an even bigger fight, but then I started just giving him a kiss on the cheek and big hug which totally disarms him and he doesn’t bring it up for another year. My father is the most scary cool monster ever and I know it’s hard on him, but being my own monster makes me happy and I’m never going back to the way I used to be.

29♥August

Jackson Jekyll asked if I wanted to go for a walk with him today which was totally creeperific until he asked me to bite him! I thought he was just kidding but he was totally serious. When I asked him why, he said it was because he didn’t want to be the only human at Monster High and that if he were a vampire he would fit in and we could hang out. He was so sweet about it but I told him why I became a vegetarian and how that meant I couldn’t possibly bite him. I could tell he was disappointed but I told him just because he was human didn’t mean he wouldn’t fit in or that we couldn’t hang out. That seemed to make him feel a little better but I don’t think he’s giving up on the idea of me biting him.

1♥September

I just finished working on a newsletter for V.A.M.P. which stands for Vampires Advocating Meatless Proteins. I put in some recipes, a short story and some poetry. I think it’s a great organization although I’m the only member so far. I even gave a copy to father who circled some spelling errors and gave it back to me. Well, at least he read it close enough to find mistakes!

5♥September

Clawdeen Wolf’s family always has an end of the summer boo-b-que and they always invite me even though, in the past, our families haven’t always gotten along but since Clawdeen and I are like best monster friends forever I always get invited. Of course they are all like total carnivores so I usually bring my own food. At least they don’t tease me... too much... about the tofu dogs and veggie burgers I bring =). This year I invited Jackson Jekyll to go with me and I think he had a good time although Clawdeen has a really big family and they can be pretty rowdy when they’re all together.

6♥September

As much fun as I had at the cook out yesterday, it was still a sign that summer is ending and school is about to start. I mean I don’t dislike school and I love seeing all my friends every day but there’s nothing like summer time and the freedom of just being able to do whatever I want whenever I want to.

#monster high #monster high diary #draculaura #wave 1

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annalycheee · 4 years ago

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episode 191

SAFE HOUSE BABY, WHOOOOO!

- Oh that’s bound to attract some visitors. Definitely. 10/10 artwork too.

- Remi just looks over like, “explain”

- Arlo who immediately knows how Remi will react and straight up, “Nope.”

- Why am I laughing so much?

- I miss their friendship though :(

- I’d already sort of predicted that people would talk a lot about their falling out, since they’re literally known for being friends. I really hope her bullying doesn’t increase because of this, or she ends up like Claire.

- Tell me this book is available at Barnes & Noble.

- Is this supposed to be a reference to the fact that John has hit rock bottom, or maybe their friendship has?

- bonus: uwu chan ref has been spotted

- This whole thing with John is really getting to her. I’m serious, she hasn’t gotten much support from anyone else since she doesn’t have any other close friends but it’s obvious that the loss of friendship has hit both of them hard.

- Y-yeah Blyke, stop gossiping so much

- Crippl John stans are probably crying at the flasback because it’s so nice seeing him genuinely care about justice without yelling and screaming his head off at nothing.

- Shows how much of an impact he had on Seraphina.

- Okay but Remi’s face, I just -🥺

- I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT I WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO STOPPED AND READ THAT.

- I love ya Rems, but Isen’s right. Who’s gonna read that? Also, it looks pretty boring so it wouldn’t really catch my eye on a buletin board.

- I love this trio so much.

- The Arlo humor today has me on the floor rolling. And Seraphina just part of it too, uru you’re really spoiling the Arlo stans

- okay I know that’s super cringe but I lowkey love this

- Isen is way more excited than I’d expect, considering he wasn’t even into the club previously. Whatever, more wholesome content.

- I live for Blyke and Isen’s snarky comments at each other.

- Isen’s gonna need some cream for that burn

- I love them so much. I’m glad Arlo’s finally getting some care, even if it’s small, because he’s really making some strides in his development and the other characters are acknowledging it.

- Arlooooooo LMAOOO

- He’s been King for a pretty long time, he needs a vacation or something. Maybe he can kick back, join some clubs, find a hobby, I mean, he’s got tons of free time now

since he doesn’t have anymore king stuff

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Seraphina, like John, is still hurt over their ex-friendship

Arlo has free time now and plans on putting it to use by doing some research on EMBER and Seraphina’s ability loss

The Safe House is going to launch reeeaaallly soon, and I’m so excited

John is definitely going to take counter measures

#unordinary #episode 191 #review #happy birthday arlo

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cbk1000 · 5 years ago

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Bit of a work rant. Sadly, it is not of the ‘so I think my trash boss might possibly be fucking her daughter’s boyfriend’ variety, so you do not need to sit down (though you are certainly welcome to do so). This is just me being irritated about people not pulling their weight.

So, a little relevant information: I work with a team of three people. Right now we’re handling a merge project, which means we go through and look at duplicate pairs of patients to determine whether or not they’re true duplicates, or if they were marked as such in error. Sometimes it’s really two totally different people, sometimes it’s just that we don’t have enough information to merge the charts. If, however, all the demographics match and we determine that both charts are in fact the same person, then we have to merge them, which is a whole long, fairly complex process across multiple systems; I’m not going to get into it, because you really don’t need to know how we do it, and unless you use the specific programs we do, it’s not going to make sense anyway. We have a quota we’re expected to meet, which is 10 merges in a day, and 40 uniques (uniques meaning we’ve determined the charts don’t match, and then we have to mark them as unique records). This is absolutely, totally doable; I complete way more uniques in a day (I’m not sure how many, because we can’t really track that the way we do our merges), and I average about 13 or so merges, but 14 isn’t unusual, and I’ve done as many as 15. I have been doing this for about a month and a half, to give you some context; one of the other women I work with (the one who actually trained me) has been doing it for about three years, and the other woman at least a year or so. Needless to say, they are both a lot more advanced (or should be) than me.

Both of these women work mostly from home. My trainer does come in sometimes for the socialisation and also to walk me through some more complex stuff that she needs to show me (she’s taking time off in a few weeks or so because her daughter is having twins, and so she’s been training me to take over her work lists), but mostly we talk via IM or sometimes on the phone. The other woman never comes in, unless we have a meeting.

When my co-worker was training me, she made some comments that made it clear that she was pretty frustrated with our other teammate because she doesn’t do nearly the amount of work that she should; she’s also really slow about getting back to someone if they have a question about something work-related, and she makes a lot of mistakes. On training days, we were actually doing quite a few more merges than her. We were really cracking along pretty good considering the fact that I was being talked through everything, but she still should have been able to outpace us. Once they let me free in the wilds to do merging on my own without someone sitting next to me holding my hand, I was pretty much right from the get-go meeting and even exceeding our daily expected quota. The lady who trained me made a couple of remarks about how it was nice to have someone who did as much work as her. Also, I’ll mention that in the first couple of weeks, I caught a couple of mistakes this other lady had made--pretty big ones. Also to the second power, my trainer has been doing audits on all our work for the last few weeks or so, and she’s caught several other issues with this lady’s merges, and says that it’s pretty typical of her to make fairly serious mistakes. I don’t know what her percentage of accuracy is, but I’m going to bet it’s not great, because from what I’ve observed over the last few weeks, three merges a day seems to be a pretty typical number for her; today it looks like she only did two. So probably in a week she’s doing close to what I do in a day, and messing up on several of them. I suspect the work from home aspect might be somewhat contributing to this; my co-worker said she was more productive when she actually worked in the office (I don’t know if she was excessively productive, or just not as bad, and it sounds like she probably still made quite a few mistakes). So I don’t know what she’s doing, but she has to be taking advantage of the fact that she’s working from home to screw around. Otherwise I can’t fathom how you could do so little, or why she seems to be away from her computer so often.

Fast forward to Tuesday: my trainer comes in to show me how to make up a worksheet that she emails out daily. We also sit and catch up a bit (I like her a lot; not only is she a good co-worker in the sense that she’s super helpful and gets a shit ton of work done, she takes the piss out of me a bit, and I like that in a person). She goes to talk to our boss about some issues that cropped up while she was out of the office (our manager has been on vacation for the past couple of weeks) that she wasn’t trained to deal with, and comes back to let me know what our manager said. The merge project is enough under control that our manager wants one person to handle the daily worklists: our co-worker. She wants me and my trainer to start training on some aspects of the actual billing cycle (she actually was going to start me on it this week, but apparently they were having a big issue and it wasn’t a good time to start training someone new, so I’m supposed to start on it next week). So we’re not really going to be merging anymore; however, neither of us want to forget how to do it, so we decided we should handle the audits so we’re still familiar with the process, which she’s fine with.

I told my trainer that I hoped this other girl picked up the pace a LOT if she’s the only one doing it, because while it is possible for one person to handle the worklists at this point...it’s not if they’re going at her pace. (I should mention that we have several daily worklists we pull from; we split up pairs alphabetically. These are the lists that need to be complete daily, and then if you’re done early, which I always am, and I know my trainer always is, then you go to another historical worklist that has literally thousands of patients on it. So there’s still plenty of work for three people, but that last worklist isn’t a priority; the daily ones are what we really need to focus on, and one person could easily handle those in a day.) My trainer said she hadn’t wanted to be negative because the manager doesn’t like that, but she did tell her that our co-worker’s work output isn’t quite what it should be, especially if she’s going to be taking over. So the manager is going to talk to her about taking over the merge project while my trainer and I move onto other things, and I’m curious how that will go; my trainer said she’s not going to like having to do it on her own.

Our manager later stopped by and talked to me about it all as well, and said that she wants me doing some posting stuff because they’re behind, and also because she thinks that it’ll suit me, because it’s a lot of information getting thrown at you at once, and it’s fast-paced. (I already have a reputation at the office for picking stuff up very quickly, so now people expect me to actually...do things. Bleargh.) She said she wants this co-worker on merges because she seems to really like working from home, and that environment sort of suits her (and it does in a way--she’s a big homebody and not very social, and clearly very shy; she seems like a perfectly nice girl, but full disclosure, incompetence reeeaaallly annoys me, so I’m a little soured on her already). I didn’t mention that it doesn’t suit her actual work output, because I don’t want to be That Bitch already about a co-worker, and I’m not going to be working on the same project as her for very much longer anyway. But today on my drive home I was thinking about how much it agitated me that she only did two merges today. My boss pulled me away to work on some other stuff for the rest of the day around 10:30 this morning, and I had already done seven damn merges. SHE DID TWO. IN ONE ENTIRE DAY. WTF ARE YOU DOING??? It’s giving me flashbacks to school when you had to do group projects and there’s always that one fucking asshole that doesn’t do fucking shit but you all get the same grade anyway.

Anyway, this was way too long for me to essentially be like, “Lol my co-worker doesn’t do jack shit but other than that shit’s good at work”, but you guys know how I be.

#personal #work

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stripestheboar · 8 years ago

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Stagnant Decay Chapter 2

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When Sans had first gotten a grasp on where he was, the world had terrified him. Humans were everywhere. They mingled with monsters he remembered sweeping away years ago. They all looked at him oddly and spoke muffled words he couldn't hear. Everything was just too cloudy. He'll admit: he had panicked a few times and caused a few accidents, but it's not like he couldn't help himself. Free EXP was just walking around everywhere, but with this many humans, he couldn't afford to be so reckless. However, he couldn't control himself during these times. Usually Papyrus would be here to help and comfort him, as he always did. But Papyrus was gone.

"Maggie, let's go! Come on!" Fuku called, running to catch up with Blaine. "Okay okay, hold on!" the young Vulkin called after her, trying her hardest to keep up with the two. It wasn't exactly fair that Blaine had a skateboard and Maggie was about half both of their sizes, but damn it if she didn't at least try. She had four legs and a whole lot of determination, but it still wasn't enough. While she was able to gain a bit of ground, she had to stop at the crosswalk once traffic started up again. She swore when she realized that her friends had made it over just in time. She tried to peer over the rushing cars to see if her friends were waiting for her, but to no avail. She was going to wait it out, but the movie was going to start in five minutes. She had no time. Maybe there was a way to get there faster? That's when a familiar blue and gray caught her eyes. "Hmm? Oh! Sans!" she called over, running to the hooded frame of the skeleton. She didn't know the skeleton too well, but he had once given her a shortcut to school as an add-on to a pretty expensive hotdog (50G if you could believe it). Sans was turned away from her, in his usual jacket and shorts as always with his arms crossed in a stiff manner. This time, he had his gray hood over his skull. He seemed to jolt slightly when he heard his name called and briskly began to walk away. Maggie frowned at this, but just shrugged it off and walked after him. "Sans, hey, can I ask for a reeeaaallly big favor?" she panted, already tired from all that running. Sans didn't answer. She just took it as him listening. "Okay, so I need to get to the cinema, but the movie starts in five minutes," she began to explain. "You know a shortcut, right? You always know a shortcut. It's just the theater down the block. Can you help me out? I'll buy another hotdog! Heck, I'll buy you a movie ticket if you want! I just need to get there! I-.... Sans?" About halfway through her little speech, she stopped when Sans entered an alleyway. She was a bit confused when she saw the dead end, but that's when she realized it must be another one of his shortcuts. She ran in after him, but was forced to halt once again upon seeing him stop as well. "Sans?" she huffed, bewildered by the monster's strange behavior. "Sans, are you feeling okay?" she asked, trotting up in front of him and facing him. Sans had his head tilted downwards to where the shadows of the alley and his hood covered his skull, though she could still see that grin he was so well-know for. His hands slowly rose to embrace himself, the bones in his hands tightly clutching his arms. It was something you would see scared or deeply troubled monsters and humans do. Those who had arms, of course, which was something the Vulkin knew all too well. A shudder seemed to overtake him, something that Maggie didn't think skinless skeletons really did; however, the sudden movement did cause her to realize that something was falling from Sans' coat. It was particles, floating through the air like flour or something of the like. It was a very fine substance, and after a quick, more detailed look at Sans' jacket, she realized what the thin, easily breathable, deathly gray powder was. This wasn't Sans. This wasn't Sans at all. She began to finally feel the raw evil power, almost pungent in the air with its aura. What had she gotten herself into? Maggie's eyes began to well with fear as she slowly started to back away further into the alley, watching Sans' every move. She finally noticed the now sporadic movements he made, as well the way he seemed to get closer to her with each time she looked away, even if she was blinking. "Sans, stay back," she warned, already beginning to feel her magma begin to bubble up inside her, getting ready to erupt at the slightest sound. "I'm warning you! I don't want to hurt you! Don't make me, okay?" She heard the low chuckle coming from Sans. Oh god, that laugh sounded so unnatural, almost as unnatural as the way Sans' already wide smile seemed to only be getting bigger and bigger by the second. Another shudder tore through the skeleton, and he took another step forward, getting closer to the backing-up Maggie. That's when Sans began to lift his skull some, his sockets coming up to look at the young, too young, Vulkin. That expression. That expression terrified her. It was something she could only hope to see in her deepest nightmares. She felt her hope go out the window as her magic died down with fear. She backed up more, but she quickly hit the brick wall of a dead end. Sans was blocking the way, and he was only getting closer. Out of pure instinct, she let out a scream, just she saw the sharp bones spear up from the ground.

Papyrus hummed to himself happily as he made his way home, the bags of varying pasta noodles and other ingredients hanging taut from his ulnas. He had to admit, while it was a beautiful day outside, Papyrus didn't particularly feel all too sunny. It felt weird, just wandering the town of mostly humans without his brother there to crack a few one-liners. Sans hadn't accompanied him on the trip this time, saying something about needing to catch up with a friend. Papyrus knew it had something to do with the phone calls Sans had been getting, which were getting more and more frequent. He was constantly stopping in the middle of conversations to start a new one on his phone. And then it would be off to Grillby's for a few rounds of ketchup. It was quite annoying, if Papyrus was to be honest, but it was also quite worrying. What was keeping Sans away? Papyrus looked up at the sun, taking a moment to admire it. It seemed to be in the middle of the sky, not too late for a quick stop by someplace to maybe greet a few former residents of the Underground. Muffet's was always a good place to stop by, and her spiders sure did seem to like him, but Sans had asked him to stop going there after coming back with pretty much no money each time. He felt that visiting Onionsan at the beach would be a fun time, but after the little sinking incident a few months back, he was rather hesitant now. So why not the always best choice: Frisk and their family? Miss Toriel was always happy to have him, and Frisk just loved telling him all about school, as well as listening to him talk about his daily life. Of course, he could also go see Undyne and Aphys and possibly get to see Mettaton, but they have been strangely busy over the past few days. It would make sense, though, with the both of them performing their royal duties and such (not-so-royal for Undyne, seeing as the Guard had merged with the human’s police force into just being two different units).

So it was settled then: Papyrus would go out to see his bestest friends, Frisk. He pulled to the outer edge of the sidewalk, leaning against a building as he took out his phone and searched for the human’s number in his large library of five numbers.

Just as Papyrus had found Frisk’s number, he heard a scream pierce the air over the sound of passing cars. He blinked his sockets in surprise and looked up at the direction the cry, which was quickly cut short by a sound he couldn’t quite describe. It was a mix between tearing and stone breaking, and then a sudden silence. His Royal Guard in-training instincts kicked in, and seeing as the sidewalk was almost empty save for a sleeping Knight Knight on a bench, he went to investigate.

Papyrus put his phone away and rounded the corner, nearly dropping his bags at who he saw. It was his brother, Sans, standing with his back facing him and his hood up. Papyrus was rather surprised, as Sans had said he would be at Grillby’s for the rest of the evening. What was he doing in such a dingy alley like this? He hesitantly set the bags on his arms down, approaching his brother. “Brother? What are you doing here in such an unsanitary place?” he spoke, approaching Sans from behind.

Sans suddenly jolted as if being touched with a fire poker, spinning around at a faster speed than Papyrus even thought possible for him. The smaller skeleton raised a hand, as if he was about to summon an attack, but he seemed to catch himself. Strange; Sans hadn’t used an attack on anyone in years. This immediately worried the younger brother, who took a step back in surprise upon seeing how Sans so harshly readied his magic. There was anger in those movements. Hate and fear and desperation, and so much of them at that. Papyrus’ soul grew heavy from it. But that wasn’t all that was wrong with Sans.

With the exception of having his hood up, everything about Sans just seemed wrong. His hand was kept frozen in the air, his fingers twitching, almost uncontrolled. The jacket he usually wore was strangely faded and even a bit worn, with a couple of tears and stains visible in the fabric. He was wearing white shirt as well, something that tipped Papyrus off as being extremely wrong, as Sans had left wearing a red shirt with a terrible pun as its print. However, what really knocked hard on the skeleton’s skull was Sans’ face. That awful, petrifying look that Papyrus had never thought he’d ever see on his older brother. His eye sockets were wide open, the eyelights inside almost pinpricks. Speaking of the eyelights, those were fairly unnatural looking as well. The right socket had the glowing white light ringed with red, almost the same color as the scarf that was currently draped around the taller one’s cervical vertebrae. The left socket had the same blue that Papyrus was used to seeing within their magic and during some of Sans’ more unpleasant moments. Around the blue iris, though, was another red ring.

And that expression. Several emotions were clearly spread across Sans’ face: fear, anger, panic, confusion, and desperation. But Papyrus saw something that disturbed him. Something that he never wanted to see on Sans again.

Sans looked tired. He looked so tired, and it wasn’t the kind his own brother had before a long nap; it seemed as if his brother- no, not-brother- hadn’t slept in months. The way the tops of his sockets sagged, unable to move any higher, and how his eyelights moved in a slow and lethargic fashion; he looked to be just tired and confused. He even seemed to have trouble-

“Papyrus?”

Papyrus’ train of thought was suddenly broken when his not-brother spoke. It had surprised him so much, as his voice sounded so unnatural;it was so rough, as if Sans had not spoken in many years. But why had he said his name so suddenly?

“P-Papyrus?” the Sans repeated. There was his name again. “Sans? Are you…. are you okay?” he replied, despite already knowing that whoever this monster was, it wasn’t his Sans.

“Papyrus, is that you?” this other version of his brother spoke, sounding so shaky, as though one wrong word would dust him on the spot. The skeleton in question was frozen to where he stood, not knowing what to do. Without waiting for an answer, his not-brother began to approach him, his steps seeming to be so heavy and dragging that you would have thought he had large weights tied to his tibias. Papyrus found that the ability to run away had returned to him, but he didn’t turn around. He couldn’t. Not when this Sans looked so troubled and distressed.

The twitchy Sans stopped in front of the taller monster, looking up at him with constricted lights and shaking bones. He reached forward, his phalanges stretching to grab hold of something on Papyrus, or perhaps just hoping to touch Papyrus himself. However, the hand stopped just before they could make contact, beginning to shake as if it was scared of what would happen if contact was indeed made. So the hand was dropped, leaving the false Sans to just stare up at Papyrus from behind heavy sockets.

The two stood in complete silence, a silence that drowned out the rushing of the cars outside of the alley. Papyrus needed to break the silence, for this Sans didn’t seem all too like his brother, and not in the good way. He noticed the smaller skeleton’s lights shift down to Papyrus’ scarf, staring at it as if it was some crown jewel. And that’s when it hit him like a ton of bricks. He now knew why this Sans shook the way he did, and why his movements were so slow and lethargic, why he wore his hood over his skull, or even why he was so sporadic in his movements: Sans was cold.

It all made sense now. Of course, the colored eyelights still needed to be explained, but he would ask about that later. It was rather cold out, and being dressed in casual clothing fitting the weather, Papyrus was happy to lend over an article of warmth. Seeing as Sans already had on a jacket, he didn’t remove his own light coat, but instead slid his red scarf off from around his vertebrae. He honestly felt a bit silly now, thinking that his own bone and marrow brother was some odd imposter. His imagination really did get the best of him sometimes. “Here you go, brother!” Papyrus cheered, his jovial tone of voice returning as he reached down and slipped the scarf around the older’s cervical vertebrae, making sure it was secure. “You won’t have to feel cold anymore.” Sans immediately jolted at the contact and his rose about a fraction of an inch, but the other hand quickly grabbed that arm and held it down, as if restraining himself.

Sans stared up at Papyrus, sockets now wide in shock and disbelief. However, his expression quickly melted into one that seemed to convey joy, but contained a large amount of sadness. He looked ready to cry, but no tears fell. “Oh my god,” he heard Sans whisper. “It’s you. It’s really you. Oh god, you’re back.” Papyrus was taken aback when he suddenly had his waist embraced by his brother. “Back? What do you-?”

“I’m sorry,” was what cut Papyrus off. Sans pulled away for only a moment, but it was just to tug Papyrus down to his level to embrace him once again. “I’m so sorry,” Sans repeated, his voice cracking. He sounded so close to sobs, but nothing fell. “Oh god, I’m so sorry. I-I know…. I know you must…. I didn’t want to- oh god, you’re really back.” Sentences were started but never finished. Sobs were choked back, but never released. Sans just kept whispering how sorry he was. How Papyrus had finally come back.

Papyrus stared forward, his mind reeling. He had been right: this was no Sans of his. Or, at least, this wasn’t the Sans he knew and loved. This one just seemed so lost. He seemed broken. Papyrus’ arm slowly rose to wrap around him and return the embrace. The Sans jolted at his touch, but ended up just hugging him tighter. Papyrus continued to stare forward at the cold, stone ground in front of him.

There was a pile of gray dust, spread carelessly over the gray concrete, almost blending in had it not been for the fact that some much of it was gathered into one spot. Circling around the dust jutted out large bones, all angled inwardly. They had such sharp, jagged points, clearly summoned with the intention to hurt. The strangest part was that all the bones were a distinct purple shade, almost like a lilac. Such a soft color shouldn't be speckled with sprays of a dead gray. He had never seen magic like that. It was unknown to him. As much as his mind tried to deny what the powder was, the bones only confirmed his belief.

His thoughts dominating over the sound of Sans’ cries, morbid curiosity got the best of Papyrus. He slowly rubbed his gloved hands over the back of Sans’ jacket, getting a few good strokes in before shakily lifting his hand to peek at the palm. The entire palm and inner fingers of the red gloved were covered in a gray dusty powder. Sans was absolutely covered in it, hence the fade of the clothing.

Sans was covered in dust.

Papyrus’ mind went blank for a moment, every fiber in his being screaming for him to get away from the monster he was embracing, but he just couldn’t.

Sans wouldn’t stop mumbling his apologies. He sounded so broken.

Papyrus gave a slow nod to the apologies, wrapping his arms tighter around Sans.

#Undertale #Dusttale #Sans #Papyrus #Dusttale Sans #Vulkin #Stagnant Decay #Dark Stuff #Coonfics #Fanfiction

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eikatsukiyomi · 8 years ago

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Marinette, Twice Exposed

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Chapter 2: Marinette’s Other Secret

After eating dinner, Adrien returned to his room with the full intention of working on homework and maybe taking a shower in the hour of spare time he had until 7:25. He ended up staring at the books and paper on his desk for 5 minutes before giving up and flinging himself back onto his bed, where he remained for next thirty minutes, mind buzzing with nerves. When his phone went off, he was pretty sure he had a very mild heart attack. Pressing a hand to his chest in an attempt to calm his pounding heart, he rolled over and got to his feet.

“...Plagg?” Adrien called hesitantly. “It’s...it’s time to go.”

“And my Camembert?” answered Plagg’s voice from Adrien’s trash can.

Adrien sighed heavily. Feeling so nervous for so long got tiring after a while.

“Right here,” he replied tonelessly, digging out his last piece of cheese.

Plagg promptly came whizzing over and snatched the cheese out his hand, digging into it with gusto. Adrien gave him 30 seconds before...

“Plagg, transform me!”

And with that, he climbed out through one of his many bedroom windows, and took off into the fading light.

Somehow, in the 5-minute run to Tom and Sabine’s Patisserie, he was able to outrun a lot of his anxiety. In the rush of running, leaping, and propelling himself across the rooftops, he was able to blow off a lot of steam he hadn’t realized he had been holding in. He was still nervous, to be sure, but it was a nervous excitement; he held on tight to the hope that, once the shock had been gotten over with, he and Ladybug (Marinette, he reminded himself. Marinette, my partner.) could take this accidental revelation and turn it into an opportunity to grow closer...as classmates, as partners, as friends...they had come through far too much together to be torn apart over an accident like this.

Nothing could keep me from being there for her, he silently promised. I’ll always have your back, my lady, no matter what!

Taking a deep, steadying breath, he leapt down and sprinted across the street before leaping into the air again, touching down atop a lamppost before springing even higher to finally land on the Dupain-Chengs’ rooftop balcony. Panting slightly, heart pounding (not from the run over; his suit granted him superhuman levels of strength and endurance), he slowly approached the trapdoor, crouched down to sit cat-like on all fours, and eyed it hesitantly.

Is it weird that I’m so nervous? he wondered. I’ve wanted to tell Ladybug who I am, and know who she is, for so long…I was so in love, I wanted to know everything about her...and I wanted her to want to know everything about me. I wonder if she was ever as curious as I was...she never said much about how she felt about it, only reminded me that nobody--not even us--could know who we are. It wasn’t because she wasn’t as little to do with me as possible--THAT I’ve always known--so she must have just been trying to be safe and smart. So, then...if it weren’t for the need for secrecy, would she not have minded telling each other everything…?

Somehow, this thought gave him a little extra courage. Maybe, when they got over the initial shock, this could be an enormous burden lifted off their shoulders.

We’ll grow closer getting through this, he promised silently. You’d want the same thing, too, right, my lady?

He finally managed a brief smile. He gulped, and gently knocked on the hatch.

Marinette rolled back in her chair and stretched with a groan. Her shoulders and upper back were feeling a little stiff from hunching over an essay-in-progress for over an hour. In the last 5 minutes, she had done nothing but stare blankly at her tablet, so she figured she’d be better off taking a break and then switching subjects.

She stood up and stretched again, and decided to change into pajamas.

Then maybe I’ll go downstairs and grab a snack, she thought.

She was just slipping her arms into the sleeves of her pajama top when the sound of knocking suddenly broke the silence. Marinette shrieked in surprise, getting her head caught in her shirt. (Outside, Chat Noir winced sheepishly, hearing her shriek from below easily with his enhanced hearing.) The knocking had come from the trapdoor to the balcony above, not the one leading downstairs from her room.

“Omigod, what was that?!” she squeaked. “Another supervillain?! But why here?! And why knock?!”

“I don’t know!” whispered Tikki from next to Marinette’s vanity. “Be careful, but try to figure out who it might be; if you transform now, they might figure out your identity if they know you live here!”

Another set of knocks, identical to the first. The knocks didn’t sound impatient, or aggressive; it was very similar to the knocks she might hear on her other trapdoor before her parents popped their heads in (when they knocked, anyway). But nobody should have been on the roof this late, and she knew her parents hadn’t gone up there.

She struggled with her shirt until she managed to free her head and pull it down properly. The trapdoor was locked, but if it was a supervillain, it wouldn’t slow them down much. She slowly backed her way towards the trapdoor leading downstairs, in case she needed to run for it, and tried to think of her options.

Knock knock knock knock knock. A third set of knocks. Then, a hesitant voice calling through the door, too soft and muffled to make out.

“Who is it?” Marinette called back. She was proud of herself for not sounding scared.

A pause. Then…

“...Marinette?”

Marinette’s stomach lurched and her heart stuttered at the familiar voice. Chat Noir gave himself a mental slap on both cheeks; his voice had come out softer and a lot less confident than he had wanted it to.

Marinette’s brain was swirling in panic and confusion.

...Adrien?! There’s no way…! ADRIEN?! WHY THE HECK IS HE ON MY BALCONY?! HOW DID HE GET UP THERE?! WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING?!

“Marinette? It’s...it’s Chat Noir. Um, can I come in?”

Marinette’s brewing panic attack screeched to a halt.

...wait, what? Oh...yeah, I guess that is Chat Noir’s voice...but he sounds...off.

“Uh, yeah, just a minute!” she called.

She climbed up the stairs to her bed and reached up to unlock the latch. Still not knowing what to think about the situation, she nevertheless pushed the door open and stood up to peek outside.

There he was, sitting cat-like by the hatch and smiling in greeting at her in a curiously tight, fixed manner, like he was nervous about something.

“Uh, hey, Chat Noir! What’s up?” Marinette greeted cheerfully, trying to seem excited to see him. As far as he knew, she was but an ordinary girl who had merely gotten caught up in a few sticky situations involving supervillains...and on at least one of those occasions, she was pretty sure he had convinced himself that he had greatly impressed her with his superhero skills-with-a-z.

“Hey!” he answered with an awkward wave. “Uh, I was wondering if you and I could...have a little chat?” He cocked his head to one size, seemingly in an attempt to look charmingly more cat-like. “I need to tell you something important. May I come in?”

“Oh! Sure, absolutely!” she chirped back. “Come on in! I’ll get out of your way here…” She ducked down and descended the stairs, wracking her brains to think of why he might have come here.

He hasn’t interacted with me as Marinette in a while, and I haven’t been caught in a tight spot as Marinette in a while, either. What could he possibly have to talk to me about?

She sat herself in her computer chair as Chat Noir dropped down onto her bed and descended the stairs after her. She realized a split-second later her mistake, and stood up again.

“Wait! Don’t--!”

It was a split-second too late: Chat Noir had already come down and turned around.

“What?” he started to ask. “What’s the--?”

He trailed off. Something on the wall to his left had caught his eye, and now his eyes were slowly roaming around the wall as if he was in a trance, taking in the sight of many, many photos of a very, very familiar model, all over the wall.

That is...definitely me. Those are very definitely photos of me, Adrien Agreste...on Marinette’s wall...I am all over Marinette’s bedroom wall…

Marinette was frozen, her eyes bugging out and her jaw gaping open in horror.

Oh god, he’s seen them… she thought. Someone please kill me…

There was a moment of absolute silence as both Chat Noir and Marinette tried to get their brains back online.

Marinette has photos of me ALL OVER HER WALL...Why does Marinette have photos of me all over her wall? What am I supposed to do with this information? I don’t know what to think AT ALL! What does it MEAN?!

Chat Noir recovered first; somehow, he was able to force a coherent sentence out of his mouth, and sound somewhat calm and collected:

“So...you’re a...fan?”

Marinette blinked, and then finally seemed to come unstuck. Her eyes followed his gaze and darted around, taking in all the pictures of Adrien that still had Chat Noir somewhat spellbound, and then came back to rest on Chat Noir again. When she failed to respond right away, he finally tore his gaze away from the wall to look back at her.

“Uh...no? I mean, yes? I mean, no!” she babbled, waving her hands in front of her in panic. “No no no no no! It’s not what it looks like!”

Somehow, miraculously, Chat Noir managed to raise one eyebrow and smirk dubiously at her.

“Reeeaaallly?” he drawled. He relaxed his posture and stood with his hands on his hips. “And, what do you think it looks like, little princess?”

“Um…!” With her eyes still bugging out, Marinette was clearly wracking her brains for a response, and...was she blushing? “Like...like an obsession? With Adrien Agreste? Because that’s totally not what it is! I’m not obsessed! I just...I’m really into fashion? And I want to become a fashion designer? And Gabriel Agreste is kind of my idol? Because he’s, like, the greatest fashion designer in the world? And Adrien Agreste is his son? And he models for his label? So I...just use the pictures for inspiration?!”

“I mean,” Chat Noir began, glancing pointedly around at all of the pictures of himself. “Looking at all of these, you’d think Adrien Agreste was the only model for the whole company, but I’m preeeeeetty sure having only one model advertise the entire label by modeling only young men’s fashion wouldn’t be a very good business model. What about women’s fashion? All those beautiful dresses for red carpet events and high-class social gatherings? They’d be ignoring their biggest demographic! And you’d be missing out on all of that inspiration!”

Marinette’s sheepish grin seemed frozen on her face, and, if possible, her eyes seemed to get even bigger. And yes, she was definitely blushing.

Oh my god, this is so bad…! Marinette thought. I do NOT want Chat Noir of all people learning about my secret crush on Adrien! I don’t think he’d be able to resist teasing me...he wouldn’t be trying to be mean about it, but it’s none of his business and it’s EMBARRASSING!!

“Well…!” she floundered. “He’s...he’s also my class and he’s in my friend? I mean he’s my friend and he’s in my class!” Where was I even gonna go with this?! “So…! So…!”

“Sooo…?” Chat Noir echoed, leaning forward in interest.

I have no idea what to think! he thought. I mean, if this was anyone else, I’d just assume it was a celebrity crush, but if that’s what it was, Marinette would have been fawning all over me like so many other girls did when I first started school. But it never seemed to be a big deal to her…

But then…why does she act so weird around me? he wondered, baffled. I really wanna know…

He hadn’t forgotten why he had come here in the first place, but he just couldn’t bring himself to let this go until after they talked about their secret identities. He needed to know everything!

“Aww, come on, Marinette!” he began, grinning. “There’s no shame in crushing on handsome young celebrities! It’s part of being a teenager!”

“You’re a teenager, too!” Marinette retorted, gesturing toward him incredulously with both hands. “And, not to further inflate your ego, but you’re a celebrity, too, and you’ll notice I don’t have pictures of you all over my room!”

Ah, but you do! Chat Noir just snickered at this; the irony was just priceless.

“Stop laughing!” Marinette growled, stomping her foot. She crossed her arms and scowled at him. “Why do you care who I like, anyway? It has nothing to do with you...unless…” Her entire posture suddenly relaxed, and she suddenly stared at him like she had never seen him or even heard of him before. “You’re...jealous? No, don’t tell me…!” She stood up straighter and crossed her arms against, now smirking smugly at him with one eyebrow raised (It was so distinctly, unmistakably Ladybug that it made his stomach do a giddy backflip). Still obviously teasing him, she held one hand to her chest dramatically. “Aww, Chat Noir, I’m sorry, but my heart already belongs to someone else...”

“So I’ve noticed!” Chat Noir said, looking pointedly up at the pictures again. He held his chin in his hand thoughtfully, giving his own face an evaluating look-over. “I don’t blame you, he looks like quite the dreamboat!”

Marinette’s expression changed from smug to grouchy again faster than a traffic light. Screwing her eyes shut, she took a deep breath, and then resumed scowling at him. She looked about ready to launch into a lecture.

“Okay, now look!” Marinette began. “Yes, he’s famous! Yes, he’s handsome! But that is not why I like him!

“He’s super-smart, and super-talented: he fences, he plays basketball, he plays piano, he speaks Chinese, and gets really good grades in school in addition to modeling! And even though Adrien comes from a rich family and he’s in every fashion magazine in Paris, he’s always so modest and polite; he never rubs in anyone’s faces, and he’s so, so nice to everyone! He gets along with everyone in my class, and he’s always thinking of other people, and…uh...”

Marinette’s rave trailed off as her brow relaxed and her eyes gradually fell to stare at the floor.

Her shoulders hunched inward shyly and she started fidgeting, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot and tapping her index fingers together under her chin. Chat Noir stared at her in stunned silence, his mouth slightly open. He didn’t think he had ever seen her blush so much...not as Ladybug, certainly, and he couldn’t remember noticing Marinette blush like that before, either…

But maybe she had been. Maybe she had been blushing all the time, like the way he did whenever he met Ladybug’s gaze without a mask to disguise his face. Maybe he just hadn’t noticed...or hadn’t understood what it all meant: all of her blushing, her stammering, and her fidgeting and flailing…

Marinette continued, now speaking softly as if to herself:

“...I thought he would be just like this other girl in my class--she’s the daughter of the mayor and she’s spoiled and selfish and an absolute pest--just because he was rich and famous…I thought he was putting gum on my seat when he was actually just trying to take it off. It turned out he had never been to school before, and didn’t know how to make friends, but even though he didn’t even know if I believed him, he gave me his umbrella because it was raining…”

She smiled wistfully.

“There was something about how kind and sincere he was to me that just…” She trailed off and shook her head as if coming out of a daze. She sighed, and then looked up at him, her eyes bright with conviction. “We’ve been friends since then--at least, I like to think so--but whenever I try to ask him out, my mind goes blank, and I start stuttering like crazy, and end up making a fool of myself. And he’s still always nice to me, even though I can’t seem to put together a complete sentence around him...so, yeah, I’ll admit I’m...that I…” She heaved a deep sigh. “That I’m in love with him. But it’s not a celebrity crush. I just can’t help but admire how amazing he looks in pictures anyway.”

“Huh…” Chat Noir murmured, still staring at her, as if he was seeing her for the first time. He felt slightly dizzy, barely able to comprehend what he was hearing.

All this time, Marinette...liked me? Adrien me? And I’ve been in love with Ladybug, all this time...but Ladybug is Marinette, so then…

...we’ve both been in love, chasing after each other this whole time…?

He keep staring at Marinette, his eyes roving over her face, and drowning in her blue eyes. She looked back at him, now clearly baffled at the intensity of his gaze.

Why is he looking at me like that? Marinette thought. She was mystified by his expression, which she had never seen on his face before. He looked as if he were hypnotized...hypnotized by her. And it almost seemed to draw her in...what was he thinking? She wanted--needed--to know…

Then, slowly...a smile bloomed on Chat Noir’s face. It was like watching the sun rise behind his mask. His eyes never left her...and she couldn’t look away, either.

Chat Noir didn’t have words to even describe to himself what he was feeling...it just felt like his heart was inflating and floating upward like a hot air balloon. And then, his eyes flickered down and caught sight of her lips: glossy, pink, and soft and plush-looking like a fresh flower petal. And when, just for a second, he wished he could kiss those lips...it hit him, all at once, and it felt like Ladybug’s hands had reached inside and squeezed his heart between them.

I love this girl... he thought. I’ve loved her since the day we met...but back then, I only knew her as my crazy-amazing partner, Ladybug. We made such a great team from the get-go, I never doubted that were made for each other! And now, I know that she’s also one of first, and closest, friends...instead of knowing two separate girls, each from different sides of my life, I actually know one girl twice as well as I thought I did, across both identities...and I think...I think I love her all the more for it. Who else could possibly be the more perfect girl for Ladybug to be, besides Marinette? I wouldn’t have it any other way.

A gentle chuckle escaped him, and it just grew from there: soon, he laughing like he hadn’t laughed in long time. His cheeks felt sore, and there was a lump of unshed happy tears in his throat.

Marinette was completely lost.

“Why are you laughing?!” she demanded, scowling again. “Is my secret crush funny to you somehow? Humph! As if you’re some kind of love-guru…” She backed up and seated herself in her computer chair, crossed her arms, and pouted at him. Unfortunately for her, she was still glowing bright red with embarrassment, and she couldn’t seem hold eye contact with Chat Noir for more than 2 seconds at a time.

“This is damaging to my self-esteem…” she growled. “I hope you know.”

Chat Noir struggled to catch his breath, but he felt positively giddy with joy.

“I--I’m--! Ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha! I’m sorry, Ma--ha-ha-ha-ha-ha--! Sorry, Marinette! I’m not--!” He giggled, wheezing slightly now. He held up a hand. “I’m not laughing at you!” he gasped, hugging himself around the middle with his other arm. “I’m just…” His laughter was finally wearing off, sounding more like panting after running a marathon. He blinked away the happy tears budding at the corners of his eyes and looked at her apologetically. “I’m just really, really happy…”

Marinette’s face relaxed and she blinked at him in confusion.

“You’re...happy? Why?” she asked. “And...wait, why did come see me in the first place? What did you want to talk to me about in the first place?”

He took a few more deep, regulating breaths, and finally stood up straight again.

“Well...it’s gonna be a long story, and…” he glanced at the round window over her desk. “I probably won’t even be able to cover everything if I’m gonna let you get your sleep. And…” He took another deep breath. “Everything’s gonna change for both of us from here on out, but I’m hoping it’ll be for the better, once we get used to it all.”

“Wha...what do you mean?” Marinette asked softly. She suddenly became aware of her heart pounding nervously.

I have no idea what to expect... she thought. What could he possibly mean by, “Everything’s gonna change for both of us”? He’s still smiling, so it can’t really be bad news, at least, right?

“All I can do is just explain,” he answered, shrugging. “Are you...you okay to hear me out?”

“Uh...yeah…” she answered. “I think so...”

“Okay…” Here goes… he thought.

“So…” he began slowly, carefully trying to formulate his story in his head. “You, uh...remember Windfall, the supervillain that made money rain all over campus earlier today? And there were a ton of police and emergency crew everywhere because so many people tried to collect the money instead of evacuate? And the press sent in, like, four helicopters?”

“Uh…yeah, yeah, of course!” she said, grinning nervously. “That was my school, and I, uh, was in class at the time, so I had to evacuate with everyone! It was...really noisy and chaotic and...just crazy! I-it was a good thing you and Ladybug got there so quickly before things could get even crazier!”

Now that he knew she was fabricating part of her story on the spot the way he had to do so many times, it seemed so obvious. He sincerely hoped he sounded more convincing than she did when he had to come up with an excuse for his absence.

“Right…” he said slowly. “Well, when it was all over and...Ladybug and I left the scene, I had to turn around to avoid letting the helicopters see me. I was worried they would try to follow me for extra footage, and then they might see me detransform. So I lost them, but…” He pressed his lips together anxiously. “I accidentally ended up following you and, long-story-short, I accidentally saw you detransform and walk out right in front of the car I was hiding behind,” he forced out through his nervously-clenched teeth.

Marinette’s face had gone completely blank, with her eyes bugging out and practically threatening to pop out of her head. She could have been an extremely well-made and dressed mannequin.

“...so, I guess I know you a lot more now, my lady,” he said, grinning nervously. He hoped he had succeeded in not sounding worried or upset. He really didn’t want her to panic.

Good news was, she wasn’t...not yet, anyway. Bad news? It looked like he had broken her.

“Uh...you still with me, Marinette?” he asked brightly, leaning forward to stare at her. “Ladybug?”

Movement! Her right eye twitched.

...he saw me… Marinette felt like her brain had been downgraded to a dial-up connection to her ears. ...he saw me detransform...he saw me...he knows...he saw me...he knows…

“...Laaaaaaadybuuuuuuug…” he called quietly in a sing-song voice. “Yoo-hoo! Buginette? Bugiboo? My lovely little love-bug?”

Marinette finally snapped out of her daze and gave herself a shake.

“Ugh, okay! Okay…” She took a deep breath, looking just a little unhinged. “So...now you know...um...what happens now?” She managed to refocus her eyes and look him in the face again. She was gently worrying on her bottom lip, which distracted him for a brief moment...it drew his attention to her lips, so adorably pink and soft-looking...but he knew nibbling your own lips lead to chapped lips (which, as a model, he couldn’t afford to get, of course), so he slowly...very slowly...reached out and very softly stroked his clawed thumb over her lip, causing her to reflexively part and relax her mouth. She stared at him with wide, shining eyes, surprised and in awe of his unexpected tenderness.

“Well, you deserved to know as soon as possible, and I didn’t know when I would see you next as Ladybug,” he explained, his voice low and barely more than a whisper (the sight of her gazing at him with such intensity was so mesmerizing). “But…” He forced himself to stand up straight to give her more space. “I also figured it was only fair to...tell you who I am, too, if you want to know…” He put his hands behind his back in an attempt to look as modest and harmless as possible.

“You...you would tell me who you are? But…” She appeared to consider her next words, glancing at the floor.

This feels so surreal...is this really happening? She thought. I understand everything he’s said so far, but at the same time, I feel like I barely understand what’s going on...Should I be freaking out more? Is is all this...really okay…?

“Are you...really okay with...with me being me?” she finally asked. “I mean…” She grimaced at Chat Noir nervously. “I know I don’t...act the same way when I’m Ladybug as I do when I’m just Marinette…”

“I think it would be weirder if you were!” Chat Noir said brightly, shaking his head with a grin. “Ladybug has to fight supervillains and rescue civilians, and Marinette has to worry about school and friends and family; they’re two totally different sides of your life! I’m the same way, you know,” he admitted, scratching the back of his head a little shyly. “I can’t act the way I do as Chat Noir in my normal life...I have too many responsibilities...too many people with too many expectations for me that I have to live up to…” Though he was still smiling at her, Marinette thought she could hear a hint of sadness in his voice with this last admission.

It sounds like his normal life is...really demanding, even stifling and stressful...I don’t think I could have guessed that, from how carefree and...playful he is, she mused. I guess, if I’m being honest with myself...it makes me curious. If it only makes sense now to share our secret identities with each other, I think I’d actually...really like to get to know Chat Noir better. Even if he gets on my nerves sometimes, I’m so glad to have him as my partner. He’s actually...a pretty great guy under all those bad puns…

She smiled at him, feeling a little bashful, and nervous, but hopeful.

“I’m...glad being my partner makes you happy,” she said softly. “I know I’m happy to have you around.”

Chat Noir wasn’t prepared for that; his eyes widened, and his mouth gaped ever-so-slightly. He was truly touched, and it didn’t even occur to him to keep it from showing on his face. He beamed at her, his eyes shining gratefully. He stepped forward, and got down on his knees in front of her.

“Thank you…” he murmured. “You don’t know how much it means to me to hear you say that, my lady.”

From her perch on her computer chair, she looked down at him in surprise. His gaze was so tender, filled with so much raw adoration that it almost took her breath away. She smiled at him and leaned forward.

“I should have said it more often,” she said. “I...didn’t want to fuel your ego, because it seemed so big already, but now I know how wrong I was to think that...you deserve to know how much I appreciate you.”

If she keeps saying things like this, I’m gonna cry! he thought. He was seized with the urge to gather her up in his arms and kiss her until the sun came up again, but he resisted by the skin of his teeth. It was only right to let her know who he was, and how he felt about her, before requesting a kiss from her.

“In that case,” he said. “You deserve to know that meeting you, and becoming Chat Noir to fight by your side changed my life in a way nothing else ever could. This past year and some months since we first fought Stoneheart together...it’s been the happiest time of my life.”

“Oh, Kitty…” Marinette came down from her chair to sit on her knees on the floor with him, and him into a hug. Chat Noir instinctively wrapped his arms around her and laid his head gently on top of hers. He felt like there was a big knot made up of his emotions squeezing his heart and tugging it up his throat. It felt wrong to try to push it back down, to try to keep it from escaping him, after keeping it barely concealed inside himself for so long...

“Will you tell me?” Marinette whispered. “I want to know…”

His breath hitched, and there was the tell-tale sound of a sniffle from his nose. It was too much...she was too much. She was welcoming him literally with open arms, drawing him in where he would be helpless, and never want to leave…He almost forgot what she had just said in the rush of emotion finally bursting out of him.

“I love you…” he whimpered into her hair. “From the day I met you…! You have no idea…! I just...didn’t know how to…!”

He heard Marinette gasp softly, then felt her squeeze him tighter.

“...even now?” she whispered.

“More than ever…” he croaked. “You have always been amazing, my lady; both with and without the mask. I was just too blind to see for the longest time that you were one person...not two.”

They sat there on their knees, holding each other for a moment. When Marinette relaxed her hold slightly, he let them both pull back so they could look at each other again. He could feel partially-fallen tear tracks drying on his cheeks, but he wasn’t ashamed in the slightest. Marinette was looking back at him with tender eyes and a tender smile, but also in wonder…

“Do I know you in real life, too?” she asked, looking deep into his eyes.

He nodded eagerly, rubbing one of his eyes with the heel of his right hand and giving a big long sniff in an attempt to clear his nose.

“Oh, geez...” she muttered, looking down at her knees. “That makes me a lot more nervous! But…” She looked back up at him. “But I guess, in a way it means that much more to know who you were all this time. I just…” He saw her glance at her pictures of him, and he was pretty sure he could guess what her worry was. “I...I would hate to make things...awkward between us because of…uh...”

“Hey…” He reached out to gently press his left palm against her right cheek and turn her face back to face him. He cradled her face in both of his hands, and his heart sang when she relaxed her neck. “You don’t have to worry. If you can learn to love this side of me as much as you love the awkward boy who gave you his umbrella, then I’ll be the happiest, luckiest cat in Paris.”

“What do you--” She cut herself off and stared at him in disbelief. No way...I heard that wrong somehow...there’s no way…!

Chat Noir took a deep, steadying breath.

“Plagg...detransform me.”

Marinette squinted in the brief crackle of green sparks and black particles that enveloped him as his suit disappeared and Plagg came flying out of his ring. Marinette’s eyes popped open like a frog being squeezed too hard, and she gawked at him like he had sprouted fur and whiskers.

“Hi…” he whispered gently, still holding her face in his now-bare hands. “Um...sorry I’ve been such an oblivious idiot. I always thought I’d recognize you anywhere, but it looks like love made us both blind!”

Marinette slowly reached up to press a hand to one of his, her eyes never leaving his, as if to check to see if he was real.

“...Adrien…?” she whispered. Is this really happening?

He beamed at her and nodded again. (His cheeks were sore from smiling at her.)

“...and yours,” he whispered back. “If you’ll have me, my lady...”

He paused, and then, slowly, and gently, he drew her face forward ever so subtly...and he leaned forward until he was able to touch his forehead to hers. He heard her soft, shaky intake of breath (and if at any point she had stopped blushing since he last noticed, she was definitely blushing again, now), but she didn’t move, except to press her hand more firmly against his. Her eyes widened ever-so-slightly, and her eyelids fluttered slightly.

I...I want this to be real…I’ve never seen Adrien look at me like this...like I’m the moon and stars. But, he’s Chat Noir...which means he’s always looked at me like this...just not while I was looking. I just didn’t catch him at it...just like he never caught me gazing at him longingly because he wasn’t looking at the right time...

Maybe this should be a lot more nerve-wracking and awkward...but I just feel really…floaty (Is “floaty” a word?). And…

Her eyes, which had been slowly exploring and admiring his face, came to rest on his lips, still smiling blindingly at her.

I feel like I’m gonna faint thinking about it, but...I really, really wanna kiss him...

Adrien instinctively zeroed-in on the split-second flicker of her gaze to the lower-half of his face. The sight made his heart jump, and it felt like the sign he had been yearning to see since the day he fell for her.

“...Marinette?” he murmured.

Jerking out of her daze, Marinette blinked rapidly at him, but by some miracle didn’t freak out and burst the happy bubble they were in.

“...Hm?” It was the only sound she could managed, but it was enough.

Adrien swallowed nervously.

“May I...may I kiss you?”

Oh, god, yes, please…! Dream or no dream, I have to kiss you…!

Her chin trembled, but she held his gaze and nodded. Adrien’s heart stuttered in giddy anticipation and threatened to jump into his throat as he guided her face towards him, tilting his head to meet her.

Their lips met gently, and a little uncertainly, but Adrien died a dozen blissful little deaths inside from how soft her lips felt against his. For the record, even if it had been the most awkward first kiss ever performed, Adrien would still have found it magical, because this was the girl he was hopelessly in love with, and he was kissing her at last!

They pulled away gently after only a second or two--it apparently took practice to make a kiss last longer (despite what romance movies would have him believe)--but it was a second or two of delightful little shivers shooting up their spines and fluttering heartbeats. Then, just as Adrien was about to open his eyes, Marinette cupped his face in her hands and pulled his face closer, and started kissing him again! There was no hesitation this time, only sheer joy and loving warmth in the passionate way she was firmly pressing her lips to his. Adrien sighed audibly and instantly responded to her with equal fervor, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer. Marinette made a tiny little hum of happiness against his lips, and he almost fainted from the sheer wonder of the moment.

When they finally parted (anywhere from 3-6 seconds later; Adrien couldn’t have kept track with his brain overheating and running at 30% efficiency), he heard them both gasp very softly for breath, and his lips tingled from the little puff of air from between Marinette’s barely-parted lips. Still holding her in his arms, he felt it when a shiver went up her spine. He leaned back just enough to be able to see her face again, and another little whoosh of air escaped him at the sight of her cheeks glowing pink and her eyes half-lidded and shining as she stared back up at him. She looked exactly like he felt: like she had just found the secret to everlasting happiness, and almost couldn’t believe she wasn’t dreaming.

Next Chapter >

#my fanfiction #miraculous ladybug #marichat #adrienette #marinette twice exposed

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hello-people10-blog · 7 years ago

Photo

I told ya’ll that he grew up to be handsome.

and he’s a very a good boyfriend to his love X3

I’m going to make character sheets of all my characters eventually but I still need a lot of development to do before I do that just so that everything I have there is solid. Like I have some stuff already but I just don’t feel completely satisfied with it yet.

I would actually REEEAAALLLY appreciate it if you guys, especially those who have characters and/or stories your own, could maybe help me out with developing my characters AND/OR my story if possible. My older sister has helped me out TREMENDOUSLY but she gets busy with school stuff so she can’t help me all that much.

Well if you read this far thank you for actually reading this XD and I hope you enjoy the drawing.

#this boi is so handsome #can't develop for shit #plz help this poor child #lol what is development #that isn't in my vocabulary

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intellectualth0t · 8 years ago

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January 7, 2017

My first week back at school has finally reached an end. For some incredibly strange reason, I woke up in a great mood Monday morning. Arriving back to school after a long break- actually even 2-day weekends too- is upsetting. I wake up groggy, anxious & unhappy. I have no idea what it was though because as much as I was dreading the end of the break, I was also happy to be back at school... Hmm, interesting. As most of you probably already know (assuming that if you read this, you follow me on Twitter), I made of of those little positivity-jar-things. You know, where every day you write one good thing about your day on a slip of paper, fold it and put in in the jar to add to a collection that you can dump out, unravel, and read through at the end of the year in order to look back & reflect on the great moments you experienced. I'm not sure how long the idea of those jar things has been around, I'm not sure how many people have actually committed to writing 365 great things on tiny pieces of paper. Either way, I think it's a great idea. I got a new pair of shoes Sunday My friend Kait gave me her extra chicken nuggets at lunch on Monday The sunset looked really pretty on Tuesday Dance team officers had a very productive, successful practice on Thursday I got my driver's license Friday (yesterday) This year, I'm taking note of everything positive- big or small- and using it to my advantage. I'm learning to appreciate everything that comes my way. So many times this week, I've had the chance to have a bad day, or have my day ruined my something petty and small. Unlike most chances, I didn't take these. I'd say I had a great week. It's Saturday, 9:00 pm as I write this. I'm babysitting a 16-month old boy while his parents are at a Spurs game. I've been working with this family for around a month now. Along with being a great couple themselves, I absolutely adore this baby. Babies have always made me anxious. I could never stand to be around small, messy, fragile humans with little to no communication abilities. But this baby is really chill. He never cries, never screams or makes loud noises, never slobbers, never throws his food, never fidgets or has spastic tantrums. I can definitely say that I enjoy this job. Along with the ample amount of money I get payed, I'm learning the valuable lessons of taking care of a small child (which I hopefully won't actually put to use of my own for another 7-8 years. But hey, it's not bad to start learning early.) The baby's asleep & his parents won't be back for another 2 or so hours. They [parents] have given me access/privilege to watch their TV- which I have done in the past- however I'm not in a tv-watching mood right now. Starting a blog & aiming to keep up with it has made me in a mood to write almost 24/7. I've brought along with me a bluetooth-keyboard in order to type out on my phone (so my hand doesn't get cramped up with the compressed, phone-sized keyboard). Along with summarizing my week, I wanted to mention what my Saturday consisted of (aside from babysitting in the evening). Today was definitely eventful. Not too eventful, but I definitely did a lot. I did the right thing. As much as I'd love to elaborate of the definition of the "right thing", I'll have to keep it short and simple- almost anonymous- for now. I'm not going to give too much away, just because it happened to recently. But I'll still go forth and vent a lil about it. Will I turn this into a more elaborate, detailed story in the future? Quite possibly. I returned a favor, as well as a physical object. A good month ago, I was given a hoodie from someone who was very special to me. Time passes. Life happens. Before I knew it, I wasn't really special to this person anymore. I could have easily hoarded the hoodie away in my closet forever. Or even worse, thrown it away or donated it to a thrift store. But this person that the hoodie originally belonged to- it was their favorite. That's why they let me have it in the first place. I really, truly, treasured the hoodie, as well as the gesture behind it. But I also treasure the person who gave it to me, no matter the outcome of what we had. Out of respect, I gave it back to them This was the right thing I did. I folded it nicely (crumpling it up into a wadded ball made it look like dirty laundry, which seemed a little disrespectful to me) before placing it in a brown paper grocery bag that I had written their name on with sharpie. I slipped in a handwritten note- a brief and semi-emotional explanation of why i was returning it. After placing it in the passenger's seat of my mom's SUV (which I'm borrowing while she's out of town visiting family), I opened my "this is my emo playlist" playlist on Spotify (1. I wanted to force myself to be emotional over this person one last time. 2. yes, I have a playlist by that name) and drove off- this is the first place I independently, solitarily drove once I finally earned my license. On another note, driving is reeeaaallly fun Anyways. I arrived at their house in the midst The 1975's "Robbers". I parked the car along the sidewalk and clutched the paper bag as I took a few anxious breaths. "I'll give him one more time We'll give you one more fight Said one more lie Will I know you" The majority of my anxiety came from the fear of them happening to see me step up their driveway & place the bag on their front porch- which luckily did not happen. However I still scurried down the driveway back to my car, tripping over myself in the process. I shut the door and before turning on the car and driving off for one last time, I breathed deeply again. Well, this was it. My heart was racing. My head was pounding. I almost felt like crying, but I couldn't feel any trace of tears forming in my eyes. "Now if you never shoot, you'll never know And if you never eat, you'll never grow" I found myself on the highway eventually belting out Tame Impala's "Yes I'm Changing" as the playlist streamed on. "I felt the strangest emotion, but it wasn't hate" Ironically, I was feeling strange emotions- none of which were hate, or even sadness, or regret, or anything too negative. As I said, I did the right thing. And I was relieved, for the most part. The rest of my independent-driver adventure consisted of binge shopping at Target and Bath & Body Works (which I don't feel guilty about at all- Target has a section of affordable makeup and BBW was having a 75%-off sale). I was satisfied, with my purchases and with the accomplishment of doing the "right thing" As I have reached the end of summarizing my day, I would like to say thank you for reading (if you actually took the time to read all of this lmao). Whoever you are, I hope you're having a great day/week/life :) -mariah P.S- Shoutout to Noelle & Nick, the coolest internet-friends ever. Happy Birthday Y'all!!!!

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mhdiaries · 4 years ago

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Diary of Draculaura

Volume one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine... and three quarters

4♥July

Another great day to be alive... okay technically it’s a great day to be undead but it’s still a great day and I’m going to enjoy it.

15♥July

21♥July

26♥July

7♥August

15♥August

17♥August

Jackson came over tonight to return my pie plate. Father got to the door before I could and totally went all Transylvania on him. “Good evening. Vat can I do for you?”

23♥August

24♥August

25♥August

29♥August

1♥September

5♥September

6♥September

#monster high #monster high diary #draculaura #wave 1 #text post

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