#But if I do

[omentu5]

[fandomfaeofveryfewf4cks]

Goldenheart fanfic below the break

No smut, but there's a lot of flirty banter and like, one curse word. And a sword fight. But it's a cute duel between knight boyfriends. (With maybe a little a lot of foreshadowing for the movie thrown in)

No idea how long this is other than it's definitely a lot longer than I thought it would be. Anyway. Hope you enjoy this fic of Bal and Amby letting off some steam the night before the knighting ceremony. :)

In the face of adversity, I am by your side

Thwack! Thwack! Thud. Thud. Thwack!

Then, there were the thousands of people in this kingdom that would be watching the knighting ceremony tomorrow. Watching HIM. At least half of those people fiercely believing that he doesn't belong there and is better off back in the ditch he came from.

The training dummy had seen better days, but it took each hit like a pro as Ballister attacked it with thoroughly-practiced precision and a passionate power that's been keeping him going all his life. It is the fire inside him that kept him fighting for what he believed in. In the face of being sneered at for being a poor kid on the street who could barely afford food, let alone the luxurious baths that all the rich folk seemed to think was a necessity if you wanted to receive any sort of empathy.

As well as in the face of the knights and knights in training, his peers, when they let their pride get in the way of seeing him as a useful part of the team when he proved to be more skilled than them.

He's going to have to face a good number of them tomorrow. He's been told about all the things he will have to do in the ceremony and knows them by heart. Ride in formation up to the bottom of the stairs. Stand straight. You will be second to step before the queen, and when you do, you will wait for her to address you first and thank her. Kneel and present your sword to her. After she nods for you to stand, take your sword and stand on your mark to the side.

Swordfighting will not come into this ceremony. No one will draw a sword on anyone.

Still, a large part of the kingdom doesn't agree with that. And it's hard to feel worthy of defending a people when so many of them are telling you you aren't. So he comes out here.

But Balister is still out here in the empty training yard, fighting a dummy. It helps him clear his mind and feel less anxious when he is actively working hard to achieve his goals. The precise marks hitting the dummy in the exact spots he's been hitting it in for years, leaving prominent marks, some scattered and faded from when he was starting out. From where he began.

He really has come a long way.

Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.

He tries his godamn hardest to prove himself.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

And does his best to ignore all the condescending and sometimes ruthless words and actions that have been thrown his way.

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

And knows he'll never truly feel like he deserves to be here!

CLANG!!!

Ballister takes some heavy breaths as he looks at the person behind the sword that has just blocked his own.

He sees blond hair framing a kind, smiling face, and brown eyes looking at him with more love than Balister had ever known before in his life.

There's also some concern.

"Bal. What are you doing?"

Ballister feels heat behind his eyes that had started well before Abrosius stopped him. He lowers his sword and Ambrosius does the same.

"I was just-" he pauses. He wants to make an excuse about how he was just training so he'll sleep better before tomorrow. And while that isn't totally untrue, they both know there's more to this and he doesn't like lying in general, especially to Ambrosius.

"I needed to vent a bit."

"Vent via sword?" Ambrosius draws out the word "sword" with a little lilt in his voice, and tilts his head as he twists his mouth and blinks at Ballister in that silly way that almost always gets at least a chuckle out of him.

He manages to tilt the side of his mouth up in a half smile for a second, still breathing somewhat heavily.

"Yeah, vent via sword."

Ambrosius does a small frown. "You could've come found me you know?"

"You had that fitting for the last touches of your armor for tomorrow and-

"And I would've gladly ditched it to be with you, especially if you needed me." Ambrosius brought his hand to gently hold Balister's face. That, combined with his earnest look, made it easy for Ballister to lean into his hand, both to seek comfort, and maybe hide a bit of his embarrassment as he blushed. Not that he really needs to hide from Ambrosius, but there are some habits Ballister is going to need a long time to break if he ever does at all. He's gotten pretty good at appearing confident, but feeling confident is still a struggle for him. Even though it's a little easier around Ambrosius.

Everything is easier when he's with Ambrosius.

"Besides, do you really think I need more glitz and glamor on that heavy ass armor? Honestly, this face is all I need to be the charming golden boy everybody loves."

Ballister does smile and scoff at that. "First of all, language." Ambrosius rolls his eyes and shakes his head with a dramatic sigh, which only makes Bal smile more. "And second of all, that armor IS pretty eyecatching. A little extra blitz does goes a long way." His hands are around Ambrosius' waist now. Ambrosius' other hand comes up to Ballister's chest. He leans in to whisper barely half an inch away from his lips, "and I wouldn’t be so cocky about the face thing."

Ambrosius gasps, trying not to let the sound turn into laughter." He pushes Bal. They let go of each other, but don't make any more space between them.

"You like my face. You know you do."

Ballister pretends to make a thinking face. "Hmmm, I don't know about that."

Ambrosius steps back and taps his sword saying "well, in that case, I may have to challenge you to a duel, Sir Boldheart." He smirks and wiggles his eyebrows at him.

Balister tries and fails not to smile as he says "are you sure about that. I've beaten you sooo many times before. What makes you think you'll win this time?"

"I have a secret weapon up my sleeve," Ambrosius declares dramatically. "But if you're too scared..." He smiles knowingly.

Ballister's eyes light up with the challenge. He takes a stance.

They circle each other slowly at first. A good couple feet of space between them. Their swords meet flirtatiously a few times before Ballister moves in.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Ambrosius is backed up a few paces. He turns from Ballister to come at him from a slightly different angle and-

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Ballister meets each blow without moving from his spot. He smiles. Ambrosius narrows his eyes and crinkles his nose jokingly. "Oh, I'm Ballister, and I'm as unmovable as a rock." Their swords continue meeting as Ballister responds. "It's not my fault that you're as unable to stand still as a dancer."

Ambrosius laughs. He does an extra twirl as he brings his leg up to hit him square in the chest. Ballister takes a single step back.

"Not as immovable as you thought then, huh." "Well, if anyone was going to move me, it would be you." Ambrosius stops and turns pink at the sudden sincerity. Ballister takes the chance to swing his sword carefully over Ambrosius' head. His blond curls swooping down from the air as it goes past before popping right back up. Ambrosius looks up in surprise before frowning at him. He raises a single eyebrow that gets a small snicker out of Ballister. Ambrosius goes back in and they continue their playful duel. Each of them put slightly more effort in until Ballister has Ambrosius pushed up against the dummy. Ambrosius tries to wriggle away but can't.

"Give in?" Ballister asks.

Ambrosius pauses before glancing down at his lips. "Nah." And kisses Balister hard enough to knock him just enough off his stance to be able to step back and push Ballister to the ground. They're swords ditched in the fall to avoid any accidents. Ambrosius lands on top of him and sits up, pinning him down. He says triumphantly, "I told you I had a secret weapon."

Ballister shifts a bit then responds with a smirk, "do you now?" Quick as a flash, Ambrosius finds himself flipped onto his back. Ballister leans close enough for their noses to brush and says, "Funnily enough, I do as well," Then quickly stands up and grabs his sword before Ambrosius can flip them again. He points the sword in the general direction of Ambrosius, who is lying on the ground in shock.

"I think this means I win then, yeah?"

Ambrosius lowers his head tiredly and laughs. "Yeah, Bal. I think you definitely win."

Ballister goes over and holds out his hand. Ambrosius takes it and helps himself up with ease before looking Ballister in the eyes. There really is so much love in them. Ballister can hardly believe it.

But then, he really should by now. They've known each other since they were kids and even with the media painting them as rivals, even with nearly everyone else in Ambrosius' life telling him to be someone who, in a world that makes sense to them, would never associate with Bal... Even with all the things making it harder for Ambrosius to love Ballister, he loves him anyway. And, though it wasn't nearly as strong then, he has loved Ballister pretty much since they met. And Ballister has loved Ambrosius just as much.

Ballister has always had his own fire to keep him going. Keeping him fighting. But when Ambrosius became his best friend, he started to think maybe he doesn't have to keep that fire going alone. Now, he knows he doesn't. Even if he still forgets it sometimes, Ambrosius is always there and will always love him. And that makes the fire burn brighter than ever.

"Feeling better?" Ambrosius asks.

Ballister looks at his boyfriend and feels how the abundance of love in his chest has made his anxiety about the ceremony incredibly smaller.

"Yes, I do. Thank you."

"ANY time, Bal." He brings ballister closer to lean their foreheads against one another's.

"I'll always be here for you. I love you."

"I love you too."

They let themselves stay in the comfort of each other's love for the other for a moment. Their breathing slows to an even pace after being heightened in the fight.

Ambrosius leans away. "Wanna get tacos?"

They get tacos to-go for once and giggle as they hold hands all the way up to their secret spot high in the castle. They sit shoulder to shoulder as they start unwrapping their tacos and settle in to watch the sunset together.

Both of them are still nervous about tomorrow. They each have mountains of expectations that will be pressing that much more heavily into their shoulders as the eyes of thousands bear down on them. But they will take on the challenge together.

As Ambrosius leans into him, Ballister looks at the bright pink hues in the sky and thinks to himself with a surprising amount of certainty, "Whatever happens tomorrow, I know I'm not alone."

[aboutiroh]

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

As me and my mom left the pub today, there was a fancy ass car (that looked like a funeral car tbh) pulling up where the driver, who was dressed in a whole ass waistcoat, jumped out and opened the doors for the two passengers which like, genuinely what the fuck?

Like, this pub used to be half pub, half Wacky Warehouse and it's the Wacky Warehouse where the staff had to get bolt cutters out to get the door open when I got stuck in the toilet stall at my uncle's birthday meal. Like to give you a reference for how fancy it is round here.

Anyway, once we drive off, we end up behind him and as my mom's about to pull into a car park that's got a McDonald's and a B&M and like a Heron, like that kind of place, Mr Fancy-Funeral-Car indicates he's turning in there too.

Even more fascinating than outside the pub. As we were driving, we were talking about what the situation is. My mom reckons he works at a funeral home and he's dropping his mates off at the pub and that he has to open the door for them because the backdoors have child-locks because, to quote, "well, they don't want anyone getting out." Meanwhile, I'm working with the assumption that it's like a fancy version of Uber.

And so when he turns into the car park, we're both like "who the fuck could he be picking up here?", especially as he drives towards McDonald's. Like now our assumptions are: 1) someone fancy is sitting in McDonalds, 2) someone bad with money is sitting in McDonalds, or 3) he's going to McDonalds before picking his mates up again.

This is a mystery and we are hooked, but first we have to grab some stuff from B&M, which again, indicates the general income level of people round here. We're buying ravioli and noodles in B&M; this is not an area where people have personal drivers.

Once we're done in B&M, all thoughts of Funeral Car Fancypants have left my brain because I have been reminded of the whole Quite Disabled™ Thing.

But then as we're driving past, we see him leaving McDonalds with a coffee in his hand and suddenly I'm on tenterhooks again, and me and my mom are like cooking at this point, just making up this entire backstory for this guy.

And so by the time we get home, we've basically invented a blorbo who inherited a block paving business from his dad but by stroke of luck won the lottery and decided to hire a butler to cater for all of his wants and needs, but hasn't bought a new house with the money because he's a hustle grind bro who has either invested it all in the stock market and/or cryptocurrency which means he only has a butler (and doesn't really know what a butler is meant to do) and his butler lives in a spare room. He has had his house renovated though so he has an obnoxiously large conservatory, and one of those baths that's up like three or four steps. He also has like the car equivalent of a figurehead for his Tesla, which he never drives by the by, that he is constantly replacing because it's constantly being stolen because he is not going to park his Tesla in his garage, no sir, this is a status symbol, it is on the drive. Also he looks like Steve from across the road. No matter who you are, he looks like Steve from across the road to you.

[fantasybooktournament]

let me know your feelings!!

[propertyofkylar]

must confess for vday fic i am considering cucking kylar.

[uglypastels]

What do you do when you're reading a book and enjoying it and want to finish it but also want to start another book like right now?

[aro-laurance-zvahl]

What are your lose thoughts on what you want to do with Nana/KC in your rewrite?

Thank you for asking! Also thank you anon who also asked totally coincidentally.

So to start, I’m unsure what I wanna do with her name cause obviously Kawaii-Chan is just. No. And I’m not really sold on Nana, so for now I’m just calling her KC!

Instead of KC being just this. One Maid (+Dolls) Maid Cafe I’ve decided she’s instead going to be working at her family’s tavern/inn.

It’s placed around the same location as her maid cafe in canon, in the area of Scaleswind and the Neopolitans and probably other various smaller villages. It’s been run by her family for generations. So of course she’s not the only one working there, her parents are of course and so are a handful of siblings and cousins.

The place is also very magically run. Whole family has a little something in their blood and they all use it to help out the weary travelers and keep the place running. I’ve decided to expand KC’s magic to be not just giving dolls life, but instead being able to animate all sorts of objects.

This magic actually leads to her feeling a bit like the tavern maid. There’s always a mess to be cleaned and she animates the mops and brooms and rags to do it and if there’s too many she’ll pick one up do it herself because she hates to leave a job unfinished. However in the moments where there isn’t a mess, she can do what she Truly wants use her magic for.

Perform.

She will sit lovingly crafted, perhaps by a grandparent or something I’m not sure, dolls on the stage, and she will bring them to life. They’ll dance, put on silent plays, do fun tricks. She finds them to be the easiest for her to animate, most likely because of how they were made to move but they just fill with life so much more easily and vibrantly.

When she was like 14 she had actually ran away to O’Khasis because of this love. Ran away would be a strong word for it though, everyone knew and they checked on her whenever someone was there for supplies and loyal patrons would find her just to cheer on her street performances. It’s honestly probably a bit of family thing to branch off for a while, have some time to discover themselves and such.

Anyway she was doing great! Until a little witchling around her age started doing their own things on her turf. And so, a rivalry was born! That rivalry is eventually what leads to her and the witch getting kicked out, but they just make fun of O’Khasis together as they walk away from it. No hard feelings had, but KC decides it’s probably time to stay home for a bit longer.

And so that’s where Aphmau finds her a few years later, perhaps not a busy night so she’s able to see a doll lead show and chat with their director after a long day of travel.

[taco-bee]

I MIGHT GET A FERRET

IDK YET BUT I HAVE THIS FUNNY IDEA FOR ITS NAME

Ramen - chosen by me

? - Middle name WHICH WILL BE CHOSEN BY YALL :D

Garret the ferret - Chosen by my freind

Make it as stupid and memey as you can jtshrmshndahfms

[flusterfluff]

Just browsing Twitter for a bit and- Ho’oly shit

[icallhimjoey]

https://www.tumblr.com/icallhimjoey/725915022756331520/youve-ruined-all-other-fanfic-for-me-no-one-else?source=share

What they said. When I say that I literally miss Mark and Poppy I'm not even joking. I actually miss them like they were friends of mine 😭

If you ever saw fit to let us visit them again I would forever be in your debt

[tsireyqs]

failed my sociology exam

[noodleshark]

like this post or do something if you’re following me and you ship rcg x pretender

[wilds-ponytail]

wouldn’t it be so funny if i just straight up quit my job

[maitanii]

I probably won't have kids in the future. But I pick up two kids from school twice a week, and the girl (3yo) always comes running when she sees me, hugs my legs and tells me "pretty, i missed you!". And, well.