#Cid Highwind x you

[multi-fandom-imagine]

Final Fantasy Boys || Type’s Of Kisses ||

A/n: Look I just wanted to write something with my favorite final Fantasy Boys. Let me know if you have a character you’d like to see.

Dizzy Kiss:

When you spin in circles and then try to kiss your partner.

::Cloud Strife::

Watching you spin in circles, Cloud wasn’t sure if he should be amused or concerned. He didn’t want you to hurt yourself yet you looked so happy doing it. Once you stopped your spinning, you stumbled for a moment.

Your eyes glossy as they tried to focus, looking for the tall blond.

“Cloud?”

“I’m right here.”

Following his voice, you nearly tripped falling into his arms as a giggle escaped your lips as you stood on your toes. Cloud didn’t get a chance to respond due to you finally kissing him. Once you broke the kiss you pressed face into his chest. “I have a headache now.”

Sighing, Cloud easily lifted you on his arms to carry you off to the shared room. “You could have just kiss me, you didn’t need to go through the theatrics.”

“Hmp.”

::Clive Rosfield::

“Love please be careful.”

Clive took a hesitant step forward, he had no clue what brought this on. He was trying to figure out while you would do something like this until he heard Cid chuckling.

“Did you put them up to this?”

“Was just a harmless little bet…see they’re fine.” Cid nodded his head both men turned their attention to where you stopped spinning. Stumbling forward you nearly fell on your ass as Clive caught you in his arms, a little giggle escaping your lips.

“Are you alright love?”

Nodding your head you beamed up at the man as you gave him a quick kiss. “Much better now that I can kiss you.”

Shaking his head, Clive helped you to your feet as he bent down to give you another kiss. “I will do anything to make you feel better love.”

Scoffing, Cid rolled his eyes as he turned away from you both. He rather not stick around for whatever was about to happen next.

+•+

Bambi Kiss:

When you lick your partner's cheek.

::Cidolfus Telamon::

“Cid? Can I try something?”

Putting down his pen, Cid flexed his fingers as he gave you a grin. “You can try anything on me love.”

Scoffing, your cheeks burned for a moment as you quickly adverted your gaze. “God you’re such a pervert.”

“You weren’t sayin that when you were moaning on my desk.”

Cheeks still burning you going to give him a sweet kiss, something nice but now. Shaking your head you sauntered over to the man only to lick his cheek.

“Hey!”

Humming you smiled clasping your hands behind your back. “It’s a Bambi kiss! It means I love you.”

Wiping his cheek, Cid pushed away from his desk. His eyes darkening as he made his way towards you, giving you a grin. “Not very fair you getting left out now is it love.”

“Cid no!”

A squeal escaped your lips feeling his tongue against your cheek. “Ugh.”

::Cid Highwind::

Cid loved it when you fell asleep on his lap, it felt good, felt nice. He knew he was lucky to have you in his life, he next expected to get this chance at happiness.

Biting back his own yawn, he let his fingers run down your back as you started to stir awake. Blinking a few times you then gave the man a sleepy smile, your hand reaching up to run across his cheek.

“Hello sleeping beauty.”

Giving you a wink, a light scoff escaped your lips as you sat up. “Hmp.”

“What are you gonna-.” Though his voice was cut off feeling you run your tongue against his cheek, once down you then settled back into his arms.

“What the hell was that?”

Shrugging your shoulders you nuzzled into his chest more. “A Bambi kiss.”

+•+

Tiger Kiss:

When you jump on your partner's back and surprise them with a kiss.

::Vincent Valentine::

Vincent sensed you miles away, it was cute with you trying to be sneaky and all. He would honestly do anything to just see you happy though he stumbled forward as you jumped upon his back. Turning his head a small smile formed on his lips only to feel your own against his.

Returning the kiss, he couldn’t help but chuckle as you nuzzled your cheek against his own. “You are getting better.”

Sighing, you tightened your hood against his neck as you let your cheek rest against his own. “That’s sweet of you to say Vincent but I know I need more work.” You muttered.

“Nonsense, I did enjoy the kiss by the way.” He muttered glancing up at you.

Grinning you gave his cheek a quick kiss. “Then I will happily give you more!”

“I will be ready.”

::Noctis Lucis Caelum::

It was a normal day, Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto had decided to visit you and Noctis since the Honeymoon was over. It was good seeing his three companions again though if Noctis were to be honest he would much rather spend another night in your arms then work.

The three men were rather distracted, Noctis engaging in a deep conversation with Gladiolus and Ignis. It was Prompto that noticed you. Your much smaller form darting to each column in the room.

“Uh guys….”

“Not now Prompto!”Gladiolus waved him off as you drew closer and closer.

“But.”

Though his eyes went wide as you launched your body at your husbands back. Noctis almost collapsing as Ignis stopped his fall.

Giggles were escaping your lips as your arms wove around his neck. Kissing him, you felt him return the kiss,his beard tickling your skin.

“Surprise.”

Letting out a soft sigh, Noctis glanced up at you. Your smile was infectious, he found himself unable to pull away from your gaze. “It was a lovely surprise, I can not wait for more.” He muttered grasping your hand gently kissing it a small kiss.

Cheeks burning, you sighed closing your eyes slumping against his back. “Then I will be happy to keep this up my King.”

“Then I am I lucky man.”

[sephirthoughts]

First Soldier

it's a double entendre i'm hilarious shut up

this is a glennseph one-shot i've been threatening to post for a while but didn't get around to. it's extremely explicit and sephiroth is a teenager so obligatory disclaimer ahoy:

ALL CHARACTERS HAVE REACHED SEXUAL MATURITY AND ARE ABOVE THE LEGAL AGE OF CONSENT IN THEIR COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN

fucking fight me you little puritan fucks

SUMMARY: big dumb puppy glenn pets the hissy little kitty but instead of getting clawed, the hissy little kitty rubs against him and purrs NOTE: did everyone know glenn is only 23 during first soldier? twenty-fucking-three!!! he must have the cid highwind premature weathered old man gene cause damn TAGS: sephiroth x glenn lodbrok, sephglenn, cute smut, fluffy smut, no plot, pwp, etc. WARNINGS: dead dove, don't like don't read, grown-folks content, no minors allowed, minors DNI, etc.

“Out here, the only way to survive is to kill them before they kill you,” he said, forcing back the tears that were burning in his eyes. 

Glenn advanced on him. Towering and almost menacing, it seemed, to the teenaged boy. Sephiroth steeled himself. He didn’t want to hurt Glenn, but he was at his breaking point, and if the man wanted to make this physical, he’d regret—

All of a sudden, Glenn’s arms encircled him, and he found himself being squeezed tightly, with his face buried in a big, broad chest.

His senses were flooded by Glenn’s earthy, masculine scent and the firm pressure of his arms, holding Sephiroth against the sturdy, solid warmth of his body.

Sephiroth crashed to desktop, like one of those old computer programs, in the SOLDIER testing center.

He wasn’t that ignorant. He’d seen people hug one another, before. It was just that no one had ever done it to him. No one would have dared to invade the little monster’s personal space, except Professor Hojo. And Hojo only touched him to test his pain thresholds.

On the heels of his initial bewilderment, his indignation flared up, white-hot. Physical touch was a method of pacifying infants and children, who were too young to respond to reason.

Did Glenn think of him as a brainless infant, that needed that kind of soothing? Was this another demonstration of disrespect, because of his age and inexperience?

The man’s next words thoroughly defused the boy’s rising anger, though. 

“You’re right,” Glenn said. His deep voice vibrated in his chest, and tickled Sephiroth’s ear. “Out here it’s life or death.”

When the man released him, he was in a daze, hardly able to process what had happened. All he wanted to do was to grab hold of him and bury himself in his warmth and his scent and never, ever let go.

No. That was something a baby would do. Sephiroth had been very clearly instructed that he was to conduct himself with the dignity incumbent upon him as a man, a SOLDIER, and Shinra’s representative in the field.

“But Sephiroth, you don’t have anything to prove,” Glenn continued. “We know how strong you are. Maybe you could show some compassion. I know you’ve got it in you.”

He clenched his teeth and fought it as hard as he could, but a tear escaped down his cheek. It was unseen by the others, however, because Glenn was standing between them, like a shield.

“I’m not a cyborg.”

Those arms enfolded him again, a gently crushing pressure on his tense-up body. Glenn’s voice was hoarse, with uncharacteristic emotion. “I know. I’m really sorry I said that.”

“I…I never wanted to be…” he mumbled, into Glenn’s coat, trailing off before finishing his sentence, because he was still trying not to cry.

“I know. I know,” Glenn said, then gave a strangled sounding grunt, as the boy’s arms constricted around him, like steel pythons. “Seph could you—hngh. Can’t…breathe.”

“Oh. S—sorry,” Sephiroth said, hastily letting go. “I forgot how fragile you are.”

He’d meant that in complete earnest, but Matt and Lucia burst out laughing, like it was the best joke of all time. Their laughter made Sephiroth feel warm and pleased, and he laughed as well. Glenn snarled and scowled and stomped around a little, but he wasn’t really angry, and no one was afraid of him, anyway. 

The team was in better spirits, when they sat by the campfire, that evening. Sephiroth had his jacket off, so Lucia could patch up his gunshot wound. He didn’t want to tell her it was unnecessary and he’d be good as new before he went to bed, so he just politely accepted her help.

Meanwhile, his sleeveless, black thermal left little of his leanly muscled torso to the imagination, and both Glenn and Matt commented admiringly on his physique.

“When I was your age, I was a scrawny little fucker,” Glenn reminisced. “Had a growth spurt around seventeen. Shot up like a tree. What about you, Matt? You have your growth spurt, yet?”

“Oh, you’re so funny,” Matt returned, tossing a bit of biscuit at him. “I’d rather have brains than brawn, anyway.”

“I never met a problem I can’t punch my way out of, professor smartass,” Glenn said, puffing his chest out.

Sephiroth was eyeing the large man enviously. “The professor says I’ll grow very quickly, in the next several years. I wonder if I’ll ever be as tall as you.”

“Even if you’re not, there’s nothin’ wrong with that. I’m a pretty big dude.”

“Mm-hm, with a mouth to match,” Lucia interjected, at which Matt laughed. “Alright, I did my best,” she said, closing the med kit. “Not pretty, but your healing factor is so fast. You’ll probably be good as new by morning.”

“Thank you, Ms. Lucia,” Sephiroth replied, earning a ruffle of his hair from the young woman.

“Anything for a handsome gentleman, like you,” Lucia smiled. “I’m gonna turn in. Don’t keep the commander up all night, Glenn.”

“Yeah, yeah, I won’t,” Glenn said waving her away.

“Goodnight, Ms. Lucia,” Sephiroth said politely.

“Night fellas.” 

When she’d gone off to her tent, Glenn bumped Sephiroth with his shoulder and gave him a knowing wink, and Matt chuckled over the rim of his canteen. Glenn looking at him like that made Sephiroth’s cheeks flush, which just made the two older men laugh even harder. 

This was the third or fourth time something like this had occurred. He wasn’t actually sure what their raillery meant, but he knew it had to do with Lucia, and that he was supposed to understand, somehow.

He didn’t want to be called a cyborg, again, so he usually kept his mouth shut and just let them have their joke (well, Glenn’s joke. Matt only ever laughed along). But Glenn hugging him, earlier, and apologizing for the cyborg comment emboldened him, this time. 

“Why do you two laugh and look at me that way, when I talk to Ms. Lucia?” he asked. 

Glenn squinted an eye. “What, you really don’t know? Young man your age?”

“Don’t know what?” Sephiroth asked, looking back and forth between them.

“That’s my cue to turn in,” Matt said, getting up from his spot, across the fire. “You two have a nice talk.”

“Well, Seph, my friend, it’s like this,” Glenn said sagely, throwing an arm around the boy’s shoulders, as Matt retreated. “There’s birds, you know? And bees. And those all have…something to do with spring. Spring is the time for, uh. Well, when two people—”

“I know about sexual reproduction, Glenn,” Sephiroth said flatly. “My education has been very thorough. What does that have to do with you teasing me about Ms. Lucia?”

Glenn withdrew his arm and scratched his head, awkwardly. “Ah, well. You’re a healthy young man, ya know? And she’s a very pretty girl.”

“Is she?”

“Sure. You don’t think she’s pretty?”

“It would be inappropriate for me to judge my teammates, based on appearance.”

“Yeah, of course. But for real, though. Don’t you like her?”

Sephiroth considered this gravely. “Ms. Lucia is a strong and competent person, and she goes out of her way to be kind to me. I suppose I like her, yes.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Glenn said, shaking his head. “I mean like…the kind of ‘like’ where you want her to hold your hand.”

Sephiroth looked down at his hands, then up at Glenn, perplexed. “Hold my hand? For what reason?”

“Just…hold it. Like, the way people do, when they like each other. You know?”

“I don’t know.”

“Uh. Wow. How the hell do I explain this.”

“Why don’t you just show me what you mean,” Sephiroth suggested.

“W—well, I…ok. Just to show ya.” Glenn crossed his wrist over Sephiroth’s on the smooth log, between them, and pressed his palm to his, then laced their fingers together. “See? Like that. Nothin’ to it.”

Sephiroth found himself unable to reply. His mouth had gone suddenly dry, and he could judge how pink his face probably was by how hot his cheeks felt. He kept his head down and nodded faintly.

When he felt Glenn’s grip begin to loosen, he unconsciously tightened his own. Glenn stiffened. But he didn’t pull his hand away. Neither did Sephiroth. Several long beats passed. 

By then, it was far too late to pretend it was an accident. They were both too embarrassed to look at one another, though, so they just sat silently like that, hand in hand, staring at the low-burning embers of the fire. 

Sephiroth’s body was outwardly calm, but his mind was racing, frantically attempting to explain this sensation to himself. It was a completely new and alien feeling, this holding hands. It seemed like a pointless gesture, but there were all sorts of unexpected physiological reactions attached to it. Mostly turbid and confusing emotions, along with a heavy dose of shame, at reacting so strongly to something so trivial. He didn’t hate it, though. 

After a while, he dared a sidelong glance at Glenn. “What else do people do, when they like each other?”

Even in profile, by firelight, he could see the color in Glenn’s cheeks. “Well, they, uh. They hug and uh…k—kiss. Things like that.”

Sephiroth looked down at their interlaced fingers, and seemed to have realized something. His blue-green eyes widened. “You hugged me. And you’re holding my hand.” 

“Uh—ahem. Mm-hm.”

“Do you want to kiss me?”

“Do you…want me to?”’

“I don’t know.” Sephiroth frowned thoughtfully. “I liked when you hugged me, and I like holding hands. I think…yes. I’d like for you to kiss me.”

Glenn glanced down at Sephiroth then quickly away. 

“Fuck,” he muttered, passing a hand over his forehead. “Fuck it. I’m already goin’ to hell, why not punch an express ticket.”

Releasing Sephiroth’s hand, he coiled his arm about his waist and leaned close, tilted his head slightly, then ever so gently pressed his smooth, firm lips to Sephiroth’s. 

Sephiroth’s heart lurched and ran ragged. Reflexively, he reached out and grabbed Glenn’s collar. He didn’t know what else to do 

“Open your mouth a little,” Glenn whispered, breath warm against his lips. His low, rough voice sent goosebumps up the back of Sephiroth’s neck. “Just follow my lead. Try to do what I do.”

Sephiroth let his jaw slacken and Glenn’s lips pushed his apart. When Glenn’s tongue slid forward into his mouth, he was too stunned to respond, for a full ten seconds, then he recalled Glenn saying he should follow his lead.

Sephiroth pushed his tongue forward and tried to mimic Glenn’s actions. It was clumsy and awkward, but when his tongue crossed the barrier of his teeth, and touched Glenn’s, he couldn’t help giving a soft little groan. Glenn hummed in his throat and pulled him closer. 

Sephiroth’s ears were burning hot and his stomach was doing dizzy flip-flops, like he was coming down with a fever and an inner-ear infection, and yet…this was the best thing he had ever felt. The best thing he’d ever imagined feeling. He wanted to do this and nothing else, from now on. 

He learned extremely quickly, and before long, his tongue went from tentative and uncertain, to hungry and demanding, pushing forward and chasing Glenn’s. 

“Whoa, slow down there, cowboy,” Glenn said breathlessly, pulling back to look at him. “Anything past this, and I’m in serious shit. Actually, if you decide to tell anyone, I’m in serious shit, anyway.”

The boy’s catlike pupils were blown wide and round, in his blue-green irises. “Why would I tell anyone? Come back, I want to kiss more.”

“Probably ain’t a good idea to do this out here, in the open.” 

“Where?”

Glenn glanced around and then stood up, jerking his head toward the little clearing, where he had his tent, a dozen meters away. Sephiroth nodded and followed. 

Inside the tent, they took off their boots and coats, and Glenn spread out his sleeping bag, so they could both lie on it. Sephiroth hardly gave him time to lie down before he was pulling and tugging at his clothes.

“Hang on,” Glenn said. “Couple things. I got more experience than you, but that doesn’t mean I know everything. You gotta tell me to stop, the minute you don’t like something, ok? I won’t be mad or anything, you just gotta say it.”

“I promise,” Sephiroth replied solemnly. “I’ll tell you as soon as I don’t like it.”

Then Glenn took the boy in his arms, tangling their bodies together, while their tongues caressed, sloppy and urgent, till they were both flushed hot and panting. Glenn peeled off his thermal undershirt, then helped Sephiroth pull his off, over his head. 

When he compared his smooth, slender, milk-white chest to Glenn’s—hairy, suntanned, and heavily muscled—he wanted to reach out and touch it. 

As if he’d read his mind, Glenn grabbed Sephiroth’s hand and put it on his chest. “Go ahead and touch me. I don’t bite.”

Sephiroth hesitated, then gave free rein to his curiosity, playing with Glenn’s curly, golden-blonde chest hair, cupping his big pectoral muscles, and sliding his hands up and down his solid torso. He liked the ridges of his abdominal muscles, and the trail of hair leading down from his navel into his waistband.

When he noticed the big, oblong bulge of Glenn’s penis, through his trousers, he blushed crimson and looked quickly away, which made Glenn chuckle. Not liking to be laughed at, Sephiroth set his jaw defiantly and put his hand on the bulge, squeezing it through the fabric.

Glenn laid his hand overtop of Sephiroth's and slid it up and down the thick shaft. To his astonishment, his own responded, beginning to swell and thicken inside his tight underwear.

Sephiroth had never had a reaction to any person’s body, male or female. He’d only ever felt something happening down there, when he was required to give semen samples, in the lab. 

The device used to collect the samples induced erection and stimulated him to ejaculation, without his participation. This was the first time he’d become erect on his own, aside from the normal, autonomic erections, when he’d first wake in the morning.

Those didn’t feel like this. Those he ignored and they went away, usually before he’d finished brushing his teeth. This was like an itch but deeper and more maddening. His penis was rigid and aching, and he could feel a wet spot forming in his underwear. He had to force back the urge to push it against Glenn, while they laid together, kissing and groping each other’s bodies. 

Glenn saved him the trouble, when he grabbed his ass and rocked his pelvis, grinding his much bigger shaft against Sephiroth’s. 

“Hm—ah,” Sephiroth panted. “I want…I want…”

Glenn’s breath was hot and wet on his ear. “Tell me what you want.” 

“I don’t know how to say it.”

“You want to fuck?”

Sephiroth’s body tensed with mild panic. “W—what? What do you—how can we…we’re both men.”  

“Sorry, that wasn’t nice of me,” Glenn said, grinning sheepishly. “I was just messing around. I kind of wanted to see your reaction.”

Silver eyebrows lowered and pouting lips were pursed. “No, you wanted to gauge my reaction, without committing to anything. Now, tell me what you mean. Can two men really…do that, together?”

So deftly hoisted by his own petard, Glenn was at a loss, and became embarrassed. “Uh…um. Well, yeah.”

“How?”

“There’s a lot of ways. You can use your hands or your mouths, or—” 

“Mouths?” Sephiroth said, incredulous.

“Yep. You can even put it in the, uh. The back.”

“In the…” Sephiroth’s eyes went wide. “But why?”

“Because sex feels good? Why else?”

Sephiroth was thunderstruck. He’d only been taught about copulation between a male and female, so far as it related to reproduction. He’d never imagined that men would want to do this, with one another, when it served no biological purpose. No. He couldn’t see it. Glenn must be messing with him again. 

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Are you suggesting that it feels good, to have an erect penis inserted into your anus?”

“If it didn’t, millions of guys wouldn’t do it.”

“But it’s so small,” Sephiroth argued. “How does it…go in?”

“Lube and patience,” Glenn said flippantly, then cleared his throat. “It’s not that complicated. It’s very…stretchy, down there. You use a lot of lubrication and you put your fingers inside, first, to loosen it up. Once it’s stretched out and slippery, you can…you know. Go in.”

“And that feels good?” 

“I mean, it hurts, if you’re not careful. Especially the first time. But yeah.”

“How?”

“There’s a shitload of nerves back there. Plus, the um. The guy’s dick rubs against your prostate, inside. It feels good, and you can even come that way.”

“Come?”

“E—ejaculate.”

This was an overload of information, for Sephiroth. The whole thing was too bizarre to imagine. Except that he suddenly did imagine it. Glenn on top of him, pushing his big, hard penis—wait, Glenn said dick, so he should say it that way—pushing his big, hard dick into him.

His head got hot suddenly, and his own dick throbbed with desire. He laid both hands on his cheeks, to cool off his overheated face, while he processed all of this. 

After a few minutes, Glenn nudged him. “Seph? You ok?”

“Hm?”

“You ok? You zoned out.”

“I—I’m ok. This is a lot to think about.”

“I didn’t mean to freak you out. I had no idea you didn’t know this stuff. You said you’d had sex-ed, before.”

“I did, as related to biological reproduction. No one ever told me the…other things.”

Glenn looked awkward. “Ah.”

“Have you done it?”

“Huh? Done which?”

“Have you had sex with another man?”

“Well, yeah. I’m gay, so…”

“Gay?”

“Homosexual. That means I only have those feelings for men, and I don’t like women that way.”

“Oh.” Sephiroth frowned thoughtfully.

“What’s that look? What are you thinking about, now?”

“I think I’m also gay.” 

“Oh yeah?” Glenn smirked.

Sephiroth nodded. “I tried to imagine doing the things I’ve done with you, tonight, with a woman, and the idea was repulsive. But I liked doing them with you. So, I must be gay.”

“I guess…I can’t argue with your logic. It just, uh. It seems a little quick for you to make such a big decision.”

“No, I’m sure,” Sephiroth said firmly. “I’m gay. I want to have sex with other men, and not women.”

“Well, um. Congratulations on your self-discovery.”

“Glenn, I want to have sex with you. The way you said. I want you to put your dick in—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on. You just went from virgin who’s never even heard of being gay, to full-on put your dick in me mode, in ten seconds, flat. That’s way too fast, Seph.”

“How long did you wait, to have sex? After you realized you were gay?” Sephiroth challenged.

Glenn’s face went a little pink. “I’m not a good example. I was a rebellious kid and I lost my virginity pretty young.”

“How old were you?”

“Fourteen.”

“I’m fifteen. Why can you decide what you want, at fourteen, but I can’t at fifteen?”

“It’s not that, it’s…there’s more to sex than just the mechanics. It’s complicated.”

“Oh. I see.” Sephiroth lowered his head dejectedly. “It’s that you don’t want to do it with me.”

“No, no—don’t get all sad like that. You’re…fuck. You’re so gorgeous I can hardly believe you’re real. But you’re still just a kid. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Sephiroth lifted his chin, haughtily. “You couldn’t hurt me, even if you did want to. I’m many times stronger than you.”

“Yeah, I know you are,” Glenn chuckled.

“So?”

“So…what?”

“So do it, with me.”

Glenn wavered, but he knew he was already a lost cause. Here was the most beautiful creature he'd ever laid eyes on in all his twenty-three years, basically begging him for it. He was in no way equipped to handle this kind of temptation.

After some admittedly muddle-headed self justification, he grabbed the med kit and dug out a tube of surgical lubricant.

“Ok. Ok. I'm ready. Let's do it.”

“Shouldn't we take off the rest of our clothes, first?” Sephiroth pointed out.

“...”

The process of two people undressing in a one-person tent was awkward and unsexy, and the less said about it, the better. One way or another, they managed to get naked together.

Glenn felt like he was drunk or dreaming, mind sluggish and hazy with lust, kissing his way down this silky, seraphic body, pushing apart a pair of slender thighs.

“Hold your legs up, for me.”

Sephiroth pulled his knees up, making a face. “I feel stupid, in this position.”

“You don’t look stupid,” Glenn murmured, as he slicked his fingers with the surgical lube. “You look amazing. You’re so fucking beautiful.”

Sephiroth grimaced and shifted uncomfortably, as Glenn’s finger pushed slowly in, through the resistant ring of muscle. It didn’t hurt, per se, but it didn’t feel very good, either. Glenn took his dick in his other hand. Sephiroth gasped and jolted, as his hot mouth closed around the head. 

“G—Glenn!” he sputtered. “What are you…ha...ah!”

His protests unraveled into incoherent jumble, as Glenn took him all the way to the back of his throat. His big, calloused finger was still sliding in and out, and when it started pressing on something inside, Sephiroth had to bite into his forearm, to stifle his moans. It was like hot bolts of aching lightning, pulsing through his gut, into his balls, whenever Glenn’s finger prodded him there.

Glenn pulled off to look up at him, but he kept stroking it with his hand. His dick was leaking so much clear fluid, that it ran down Glenns knuckles. When he pushed a second finger inside, sephiroth choked and went quiet, but Glenn felt his insides clamping down tightly on his fingers.

“That’s it, baby, give it to me,” he breathed, watching the boy’s face, with heavy lidded eyes. “Good boy.”

“Hngh—ungh! Glenn! F—fuck!” Sephiroth’s first curse word came tumbling out of his mouth, as the aching tension wound to a peak and snapped. His narrow hips jerked and his dick convulsed, spurting viscous, milky-white, all over Glenn’s hand, as well as Sephiroth’s stomach and chest. His insides squeezed and contracted on Glenn’s fingers, as he massaged him through the spasms, milking out every drop. 

Glenn was so hard by now, the head of his dick looked swollen and purple, and ropy veins stood out all over the thick shaft. His balls were heavy and tight, high up against the base, aching for release. He squeezed out some more lubricant slicked it, generously. 

“Seph, I’m gonna put it in, now. Ok?”

“Mn…mm-hm.” Sephiroth nodded. 

With one hand on the back of the boy’s thigh, Glenn guided his dick with the other, to press the big, blunt head to the tautly puckered, pale-pink hole. Goddess, even lubed and stretched, the kid was as tight as a drum. Glenn pushed harder against the resistance and the head suddenly popped through. 

“Ah! It h—it hurts!” Sephiroth sputtered, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. 

“I know. I’m sorry, baby,” Glenn hummed. “Just breathe and focus on relaxing. If you stay tensed up, it’ll hurt more.”

“O—ok,” the boy sniffled.

He was looking up at him with those big, beautiful eyes, half-lidded and pink around the rims, his lips wet and parted, and tears trickling down his temples. It took all of Glenn’s self-control not to plunge in even more vigorously.

With heroic resolve, he breathed slowly and forced himself to be patient. Easing in just a little at a time, paying attention to the boy’s whimpers and groans, watching his face screw up with pain, and relax again. His pale chest heaving, with his ragged breaths. The divine, velvety heat inside him, slowly, ever so gradually accepting his cock. 

“That’s it,” he said hoarsely. “I’m all the way inside. You took it all.”

Sephiroth craned his neck to look at where their bodies were joined. Where Glenn's big, ruddy tree-trunk was stuck into his slender, white ass. His cheeks and chest were flushed pink and his body was trembling, perspiration beading on his forehead. 

“D—don’t move yet,” he stammered. “I’m not ready.”

“I won’t. Just breathe, baby.”

Glenn laid over him, kissing his lips and smoothing his hair back. Sephiroth’s muscles began to slacken, as his body acclimated to penetration, and his breathing became more normal. Keeping his pelvis flush against his ass, Glenn began to rock his hips gently, letting the boy get used to feeling a dick inside him, without the stress of him thrusting.

Glenn withdrew a little and pushed back in. “That feel ok?”

“Mm…ah. More. Give me more,” the boy slurred out, arching his spine.

Looking him steadily in the eye, Glenn began to slide out and rock back in, at a slow, gentle pace, pushing his achingly hard dick into the most divine body he’d ever touched. The boy’s velvety-hot hole resisted tightly as he pushed in, and sucked deliciously when he pulled out, till he was dizzy and euphoric, drunk on the absolute exquisite pleasure of fucking this angelic boy. 

A bizarre, aggressive instinct surged suddenly, inside him. He wanted to nail Sephiroth down, split him open, fuck him so hard he’d cry and beg for mercy. He wanted to pump him full of his seed, till it swelled his belly and came out of his mouth and nose. He’d never felt such a violent urge to dominate and possess any other partner.

He heard sephiroth whimpering and realized he’d been fucking him harder than he intended to. But even after he was aware of it, he found he couldn’t do anything about it. It was like he was possessed, by some beast in rut. 

“Sorry, Seph,” he rasped. “I c—I can’t stop.” 

He pushed his knees up to his armpits and laid into him, with ruthless energy. Sephiroth’s wet-kitten mewls only made Glenn’s burning desire blaze up even hotter. He held him down and kept thrusting, harder and harder, digging into him with his furiously hard cock, like he was trying to kill them both. 

His heart was thudding like a jackhammer and his muscles were on fire, sweat pouring down his chest and dripping from his chin, but he couldn’t come. He felt his dick swelling, getting harder and hotter, and his balls ached, so full and tight they felt like overripe melons, as they slapped heavily against the boy’s ass, but something was denying him release, holding him on the bleeding edge of orgasm.

He groaned, as the tension wound and twisted to impossible tautness in his gut. “I need to—I need to come! Please! Let me come!!”

He didn’t know who he was pleading to. The boy wasn’t stopping him, he was the one being brutally hammered by a maniac. 

“Do it,” Sephiroth panted. “C—come inside me.”

The pressure exploded like a bomb. 

“Haaa! Fuck! Ffffuuuck!” Glenn bit hard into Sephiroth’s neck, to muffle his hoarse cries, as his balls unloaded the longest, most excruciating, soul-drainingly intense orgasm of his life. He came so hard, he saw stars, feeling each individual spasm, as his dick forcefully expelled long, aching bursts of slippery-hot seed, filling the boy up and spilling out, around his shaft. Still, he kept thrusting convulsively, fucking every last drop into this perfect hole.

Half out of his senses, shaking and drenched with sweat, he collapsed on top of Sephiroth and immediately blacked out. 

—

“Glenn…” a voice said, from somewhere far above his head. 

“Hm?” he grunted, without opening his eyes. 

“Glenn,” it called again, clearer and louder. “Glenn!”

Oh, shit, it was Lucia’s voice! Lucia was going to find him and Sephiroth!

Glenn sat bolt-upright, in a panic, disoriented and temporarily blinded by the sunlight pouring in through the putty-colored canvas of his tent.

Wait…huh? He blinked blearily around, as his eyes adjusted. He was alone, in his sleeping bag, and Sephiroth was nowhere to be seen.

“Glenn!” Lucia shouted. “Wake up, asshole!”

“I’m up, I’m up,” he called back, in his gravelly, sleep-rough voice. “Quit yelling, will ya?”

“If you answered the first ten times, I wouldn’t have to,” she retorted, giving the canvas a slap. “Hurry up and get dressed. Sephiroth caught some fish for breakfast.”

“Sephiroth can fish?”

She didn’t hear him, or more likely, didn’t care to deal with him anymore, and her footsteps went crunching away. Meanwhile, Glenn was searching his tent and person for evidence of nighttime activities, but there was none to be found. He was fully clothed, and his boots were neatly placed just inside the tent flap. His underwear, however, were soaked. 

He got up and wriggled out of his pants, then peeled off the sticky undergarment. Holy shit. He never came this much, even when he was conscious. He was almost impressed. 

That confirmed it, then. It was all a dream. He hadn’t  lost his goddamn mind and fucked his teenaged commander till he passed out, last night.

Relief so potent he nearly teared up washed over him. At the same time, there was a tiny pinprick of bitterness, in it. A faint feeling of loss, he couldn’t quite quantify. He ignored it and shook himself back to reality.

How fucking wild was that? He’d never had such an intense and vivid dream, in his life, sexual or otherwise. He could still taste the boy on his tongue and smell his warm, musky scent. He could still hear his whimpering moans, when he—oops, shit.

He stopped thinking about that immediately, and used some pre-packaged bathing cloths, to clean himself up, before hastily getting dressed and heading over to the campfire. 

Matt and Lucia were seated on the driftwood logs, drinking coffee from tin mugs, and Sephiroth was tending to some fat, juicy fish, he’d skewered on sticks, and was cooking over the fire.

“Morning, Glenn,” the boy greeted cheerfully. “Hungry?”

“Hell yeah. Smells delicious,” Glenn said, rubbing his hands together eagerly. “You caught all these?”

“Mn,” Sephiroth nodded. “I was up early, so I thought I’d take care of breakfast.”

“Well now, that’s downright decent of you. Hey, can I get some of that coffee?”

“Kettle’s right there,” Matt said. “It’s just instant packets, from the MREs.”

“How early did you get up, anyway, Sephiroth?” Lucia asked, offhandedly, as she passed Glenn a mug. “I was out at sunrise, to report in, but I didn’t see you, anywhere.”

Glenn felt an ominous prickle on the back of his neck, but Sephiroth answered naturally, without a hint of anything off, in his manner.

“I went out before that. Fishing is easiest just before dawn and just after sunset,” he explained, turning the sizzling skewers over the coals. “Fish have poor eyesight, but strong shadows can scare them away. Plus, most of the insects they prey upon are crepuscular.”

“Well, that explains why I never catch anything,” Lucia grumbled. “Who wants to be out fishing at the crack of dawn?”

“You’ll never be a pro-angler, with that attitude,” Glenn chided. 

“There goes your fallback career,” Matt put in.

When the fish were done, Sephiroth handed them out, as-is, since the skewers obviated the need for plates or flatware. Then he took his own and sat beside Glenn on the log.

Glenn couldn’t help leaning back a little and surreptitiously inspecting the boy’s neck. In the dream, he had bit the kid hard enough that there’d be bruises for weeks, but it was smooth and white, and there was no hint of a mark.

“What are you looking at?” Sephiroth frowned (guess he hadn’t been as subtle as he thought). “Is there an insect on me?”

“Hm? Oh—uh. I thought there was but…it was nothing,” Glenn said awkwardly. “Thanks for the fish. Really, really good.”

“I wanted to do something, to thank you all for being so patient with me. Breakfast is the least I could do.”

Matt and Lucia chimed in with their accolades, and Sephiroth practically beamed, unable to conceal how pleased all the praise made him.

“Oh, and Glenn, I wanted to especially thank you, for last night.”

Glenn choked on his bite of fish. “W—uh. For—for last…for what?”

“Our conversation. It was very educational, so thank you.”

“R—right. No problem,” Glenn said miserably.

When breakfast was over, the group dispersed, to pack up their gear. Glenn was relieved to have a minute alone, to get himself together. He was so worked up, his head was spinning. He really had to stop eating whatever weird fruit he happened to find, on this island. These intense dreams were not good for his stress levels. 

He was rolling up his sleeping bag, when he froze, and his face drained of color. There, on his pillow, was a single, long, silver hair.

THE AUTHOR HAS SOMETHING TO SAY

was it a dream or not?? you tell me!

[cosmichorrorsarestillnicerthanme]

Tifa Lockhart X Dragoon!Reader

This was part of collection of requests from inconsistentlyinterested

Also, I apologize in advance for the egregious Iron Maiden reference and focus on the combat.

NOW! YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND!!!

The Buster Sword clashed with your Supercharger Lance, creating a storm of sparks between both you and Cloud while you and him sparred with The Highwind behind the both of you, docked on the ground for the group to take a bit of a break and for Cid to do a critical bit of maintenance on it with the semi-reluctant help of Vincent and the others.

Off to the side, Barett, Red, Tifa, and Aerith were in the middle of preparing food for the group that was kindly provided by You, Cloud, and Yuffie.

Speaking of Yuffie, the little thief was also hanging around the cooking group, though she was mostly pestering them with questions while trying to sneak bites of the ingredients, especially the dough Barret was making for the Cookies Marlene had always loved and the special dish Tifa was making with the help of Aerith who was chopping the vegetables that would serve as the sides and Red who was serving as the flame while he took a nap.

Alas, Yuffie’s attempts to get into either were thwarted by Barret lightly flicking her on the head or Tifa slapping her hand with a set of tongs.

This was an important dish for Tifa after all, and after being slapped on the hand for the twelfth time, Yuffie decided to ask her a few questions in order to distract her.

They were, of course, ineffective at distracting her.

However, the answers she gave most definitely did distract Yuffie.

Especially when she asked “Where did you guys even find someone who can go toe to toe with a SOLDIER like Cloud?”

Barret let out a groan and Aerith let out a chuckle as Tifa got a glint in her eye.

“Now why’d you have to go and ask something like that?” Barret groaned

“Well then Yuffie, if you must know, our resident Lancer kind of just… walked into Seventh Heaven one day from the desert, massive lance and all, before ordering a cup of clean water, a burger of whatever would be easiest to make, some kebabs and a single cookie.

“Wait a minute… isn’t that what you guys are cooking right now?” Yuffie asked, enraptured by the story.

“Correct, Tifa here has a question she wants to ask, but that's neither here nor there, I want to hear about their… What did Cloud call it? Supercharger Lance and Powerslave Engine?” Aerith asked as she continued to clean the vegetables, cut them, place them on sticks, and then grill the kebabs.

This is when Barrett decided to pipe up.

“I’ll admit, I don’t know all that much about it, just that it was a part of some sort of experiment involving using summoning Materia to power weaponry. Hell, up until we met that crazy fool I thought it was just some bedtime story to be told to anyone who got too uppity with Shin Ra, that they would ship you off somewhere and have you use one of those ticking time bombs on a stick against anyone they didn’t like. Yet there is one of those weapons right over there, apparently it isn’t as much of a myth as I thought.”

“Ooh! What was that experiment called!?” Yuffie asked, completely invested now.

“If memory serves, Project Dragoon. And let me tell you, I can definitely see why after the first time I saw that lance really go into action!” Barrett stated before beginning to recount the tale of the Airbuster.

“We had our backs to the wall, some mean bastard of a Robot was sicced on us by Shinra himself-” Barrett stated as the entire group, even the sleeping Red said in unison.

“May he burn in hell eternally.”

“-It wasn’t looking pretty, not because we couldn’t handle the bot but because we were running out of time on our bomb. Then the Dragoon there decided to pull out that limit break of theirs.” Barret stated, his memory returning to that moment which would forever be something he would remember.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Retracting heat shields, activating turbines, injecting fuel… LIMIT BREAK: POWERSLAVE SUPERCHARGER!!!” you shouted as you raised your lance which was beginning to hum and spin as the blackened and soot covered metal slid open in places, revealing a blood red materia crystal about the size of Barrett's shoulder within that let out an infernal heat upon the battlefield.

Then… it began to scream like a banshee, the moisture in the air vaporizing, the materia flaring to life and your lance beginning to spin faster and faster, as if it was getting up to the right speed for something, like an engine readying for take off.

Little did they know, that was an accurate descriptor of what was about to happen.

You grabbed the Supercharger Lance tight in your hands as the revolutions of the metal finally came up to speed and then… you were gone

BOOM!

The arm of the robot flew off as you cratered into the metal wall before pushing off and disappearing.

BOOM!

The second arm was destroyed and you appeared on the catwalk before vanishing.

BOOM!

Its lower right half exploded and you appeared behind it.

BOOM

Its lower left was gone in a flash and you were in the sky behind Barrett, Cloud, and Tifa.

Then finally.

BOOM!

A molten hole appeared in the core of the mechanical monster, you directly behind it, Lance glowing red and melting the metal catwalk just from being in contact with it.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT AND WHY DIDN’T YOU DO IT SOONER!!!” Barrett shouted in equal parts amazement and frustration.

“A Powerslave engine?” Cloud muttered to himself in shock.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“After that, all hell broke loose and we lost track of Cloud, not to mention we had to carry that crazy idiot and their damn near flaming lance back to Seventh Heaven.” Barrett muttered irritatedly.

“After that came the whole Don Corneo debacle.” Aerith chimed in.

“Who is-” Yuffie began before Barrett, Tifa, and Aerith all shouted in unison.

“NO!”

“Alright, alright, alright jeez!” Yuffie quietly muttered before asking “What happened next?

“Next… the plate fell…” Tifa mournfully stated as her mind wandered back to just after, when everyone brought her back up, both to save Aerith and to show Shin Ra they wouldn’t die so easily.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Well then… better get ready old man… CAUSE AVALANCHE IS COMING FOR YOUR ASS!!!” Barrett shouted, raising his gun to the tower.

“We’ll be taking Aerith off your hands as well!” Cloud shouted as he took his sword and pointed it at the tower just like Barrett and his gun.

You smirked as you picked up your Lance and followed suit, offering your hand to Tifa who took it and was pulled up as you shouted “You're gonna be paying from out of the grave to fix all of this! Aerith, Sector Seven, The Slums, all of it!”

After a moment, Tifa followed everyone else's lead and raised her closed fist at the tower and shouted “Mako, The Planet, The People, ALL OF IT!!! WE REFUSE TO BE YOUR TOOLS ANY LONGER!!!”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

After that, they spent the next hour or so parroting back their adventures and all the hijinks that took place during them.

And over that Time, Yuffie noticed something, whenever Tifa would talk about you, she would get a certain look in her eye, her face would start to turn a tad pink around the cheeks and she would always say things in a certain way… if Yuffie had to describe it, she would call it an admiring tone.

Then, finally, after dinner when Tifa asked you to come somewhere private with her and then the two of you returned, hand in hand looking extremely happy it hit the ninja.

The reason Tifa went through making this meal.

The reason she would talk so fondly about when you had her back or she had yours.

The reason she held you in high regard as a person, and a fighter.

It was because Tifa Lockhart had a crush.

A crush she just acted on.

[cid-loving-hours]

*taps mic* hi hello is this thing on

In a couple weeks I wanna host an event for Cid Highwind Loving Hours TM which is gonna be a week long event celebrating the man the myth the dragoon, Cid Highwind. If people wanna interpret that as Valenwind, sick, if people wanna have it be Cid x Whoever, sick, if people wanna make it a general team hang out or just a solo shot of the man? Sick. Cid Highwind deserves some love

If you tag me (@ cid-loving-hours) I will reblog your post! Can be fanart, screenshots, fanfics, drabbles, whatever!

The event is tentatively going to take place August 12-18th!! (I don't like setting plans out months in advance cuz then I forgot or blow them out of proportion and get stressed lol)

[stormsbourne]

Top five final fantasy characters recruited after the first act finishes

this is interesting because it makes me piece out when the end of act 1 is for various final fantasies. here are some thoughts in no particular order:

yuffie kisaragi, specifically the remake/rebirth version. I was never one of those people who despised yuffie (though I did always find .... yufficent?? vinfie??? vincent x yuffie nonsensical), but the remake did a number on this girl. she is unironically among my favorites. I love her. she joins maybe a good third of the way into rebirth, in addition to not being in remake at all outside of the dlc. you really get a sense of her bitterness about wutai (specifically this game's version of wutai), her loyalty to her home, and even her materia-grubbing nonsense is dialed up in a fun way. she's also very funny and very adorable. chocobo, choco choco chocobo, I'm on a chocobo, you're on a chocobo! also loved all the "team babies" sidequests with her and red interacting.

joshua rosfield. now listen. sure. technically there is no party in ff16, something that did honestly really let me down, but you can see the outline of what could have been and he is a party member in all but name. perhaps even THE party member. he is up to his own shit the entire game, extremely sweet and gentle and smart as a whip, the way he is the person directly acting to keep clive from finding him too soon? it's damn good

kain highwind. alright. listen again. sure this guy starts with you. he leaves immediately. he rejoins and then leaves again and the second time, I believe it's stated/implied (it's been a long time since I played ff4) that his time with you was effectively as a mole/spy. and then when he really rejoins you for real-reals you can tell he feels like absolute shit and wishes he was dead. he truly despises that his possessive jealousy (of both cecil and rosa I would argue) was used as a weapon against those very same people. this leads to some pure shenanigans in the sequel from what I understand, but this guy is so fucking ashamed. peak dog wandering behind the party with his tail ALL the way between his legs

auron. tbh I still feel this is a somewhat cringe pick but I like the guy. you get the sense, after you know what all is going on, of the way he's seen his worldview dismantled to give way to the sacrificial cycle of spira. when he finally lets himself truly go to the farplane at the end you can almost feel his satisfaction. also he's forever mourning his two dead boyfriends (one is not dead but IS stuck as a giant kaiju whale so.) and he gives the pre-yunalesca speech which I feel is a major turning point for a TON of the cast and obviously the plot in general

celes .... I think my feelings on her have cooled a lot since I haven't played ff6 in a long, long time, but it's very fun that she gets to be the party leader in the last bit of the game, rushed and mistranslated as it is. I also think it's just genuinely quite fun to have the enemy defector as a party member. see above ponderings on kain, but celes isn't a dog with her tail between her legs, she's determined to make things right and less than able to compromise

some misc notes

rebirth cait sith almost makes this list. he's so fucking good. he joins later than yuffie and you not only get a sense of this guy as a cartoon mascot fortunetelling cat, but also about the sheer grimace.jpg going on with reeve behind the scenes. he's so emotive, he seems to have a genuine personality and worldview, and also, reeve always needed more attention to really sell him. the bit with reeve photoshopping the poster is so good. I trust that The End Of Rebirth is going to make this guy/cat reevaluate his life and decide firmly that team avalanche is the name to back.

I've also got high hopes for what remake pt 3 is going to do for cid and vincent. cid especially needs it. vincent, like yuffie, is a victim of deadline and money cutting his presence down significantly, but cid? cid has a pretty nasty legacy of beating his live-in non-wife and drinking all the time. he's already on good ground in rebirth and I'm interested to see what the game does with him.

did you know how many ffs acquire the entire party before the end of act 1? not to mention how hard the acts often are to define! I'd argue end of act 1 for ff8 is the edea parade and everybody is already there! where do you put the act break in ff10? (the blitz game imo, which means auron technically counts as act 1, but .... ??? what about the canyon where a gajillion people die including the gay crusaders? or macalania??) does act 1 of ff7 end when you leave midgar? when you get the tiny bronco? when aerith dies? is act 1 of ff6 where the world of ruin starts or?? (I'd argue the doma poisoning because that is very noticeably when shit gets Real but)

I did not allow myself to put ff14 because it's extremely complicated but the answer for that one is g'raha tia. obviously. come on

or alisaie. shit. how can I choose

[ffxvficrec]

by R4inbows_H4t In the middle of summer, you and Olette have decided to move somewhere else for your guy's last year of being a junior. Or. A story about different game characters just enjoying and living life as a teenager. (Disclaimer: the characters being tagged are not the only characters that will appear in the story. AO3 please you tag cap.) Words: 3334, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game) , Kingdom Hearts (Video Games) , 崩坏3rd | Honkai Impact 3rd (Video Game) , 崩坏：星穹铁道 | Honkai: Star Rail (Video Game) , 未定事件簿 | Tears of Themis (Video Game) , Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game) , Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth (Video Games 2020-2024) , Final Fantasy VIII , Final Fantasy X , Final Fantasy X-2 , Final Fantasy XV Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings , No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/F , F/M , Gen , M/M , Multi Characters: Olette (Kingdom Hearts) , Hayner (Kingdom Hearts) , Pence (Kingdom Hearts) , Trailblazer (Honkai: Star Rail) , Traveler (Genshin Impact) , Sora (Kingdom Hearts) , Riku (Kingdom Hearts) , Kairi (Kingdom Hearts) , Kiana Kaslana | K-423 , Bronya Zaychik (Honkai Impact 3rd) , Raiden Mei (Honkai Impact 3rd) , Luke Pearce , Zuo Ran | Artem Wing , Mo Yi | Vyn Richter , Lu Jinghe | Marius von Hagen , Main Character | Qiangwei | Rosa (Tears of Themis) , Cloud Strife , Tifa Lockhart , Aerith Gainsborough , Ace Trappola , Deuce Spade , Jack Howl , Epel Felmier , Riddle Rosehearts , Trey Clover , Leona Kingscholar , Ruggie Bucchi , Azul Ashengrotto , Vil Schoenheit , Rook Hunt , Kalim Al-Asim , Jamil Viper , Idia Shroud , Ortho Shroud , Malleus Draconia , Lilia Vanrouge , Squall Leonhart , Rinoa Heartilly , Cid Highwind , Tidus (Kingdom Hearts) , Wakka (Final Fantasy X Series) , Rikku (Final Fantasy X Series) , Yuna (Final Fantasy X Series) , Noctis Lucis Caelum , Lunafreya Nox Fleuret , Prompto Argentum Relationships: Kong | Aether (Genshin Impact) & Reader , Ying | Lumine (Genshin Impact) & Reader , Sora (Kingdom Hearts) & Reader , Sora (Kingdom Hearts)/Reader , Hayner/Olette (Kingdom Hearts) Additional Tags: Crack , Crack Crossover , Fluff and Crack , Humor , Attempt at Humor , Crossover , Fluff , Slice of Life , Alternate Universe - High School , Alternate Universe - No Powers , Eventual Romance , Kairi Appreciation (Kingdom Hearts) , Song: Are You Bored Yet? (Wallows ft. Clairo)

[mctives]

ROLEPLAY HISTORY — the rules are simple! post characters you'd like to roleplay as, have roleplayed as, and might bring back. then tag ten people to do the same (if you can't think of ten, just write down however many you can and tag that number of people).

current muses :

Stu Macher (@mctives)

Sidney Prescott (@killcdhim)

Richie Tozier (@ycwza)

Mike Schmidt/Afton (@goodjobsport)

Kaz Brekker (@averrse - hiatus)

Inej Ghafa (@withaknife - hiatus)

Teddy Monrose (OC - @lessluck)

Mouse Woltjer (OC - @lessluck)

Remy Lennox (OC - @lessluck)

Nora Monrose (OC - @lessluck)

Randy Meeks (@aranostra)

Dewey Riliey (@aranostra)

Ash Williams (@aranostra)

Cheryl Williams (@aranostra)

Dennis Rafikin (@aranostra)

Brian Green (@aranostra)

Armand (@aranostra)

Louis de Pointe du Lac (@aranostra)

Jesse Walsh (@aranostra)

Daniel Matthews (@aranostra)

John Kramer (@aranostra)

William Afton (@aranostra)

Henry Emily (@aranostra)

Brian Thomas (@aranostra)

Tim Wright (@aranostra)

Alex Kralie (@aranostra)

Jessica Locke (@aranostra)

Evan Meyers (@aranostra)

Beverly Marsh (@aranostra)

Stan Uris (@aranostra)

Bill Denbrough (@aranostra)

Eddie Kasprack (@aranostra)

Mike Hanlon (@aranostra)

Audra Denbrough (@aranostra)

a few private muses

want to write :

I feel like I have enough probably.

have written :

Sam Kirk

S'chn T'gai Sarek

A bunch of other Star Trek muses

Daniel Jackson

Rodney McKay

A bunch of other Stargate muses

A bunch of Grishaverse muses

Kefka Palazzo

Cid Highwind

A few other Final Fantasy Muses

Norman Bates (Psycho 1-4)

Mary Loomis (Psycho 2)

Scott Summers

Kurt Wagner

Remy LeBeau

A few other X-Men muses

Steff McKee

would write again :

I definitely want to write Steff again but idk who i would write him with

Norman and Mary... I keep thinking of adding them to my multi.

Might consider my Final Fantasy or X-Men muses again someday

tagged by : stolen from @fawnworked

tagging : whoever would like to

[toggle1-mrfipp]

Opera Omnia Burst Theme 4/?

In the first three posts I covered all the songs that were used for characters tht were able to receive their respective BTs, as well as put up my own suggestions for ones that had not gotten them. The rest of these posts will be more or less self-indulgence on my part as I list characters that could have gotten into the game, as well as songs that might have been used for them.

Final Fantasy I Matoya: Matoya's Cave

Final Fantasy II Gordon: Dungeon Josef: Escape! Ricard Highwind: Ancient Castle

Final Fantasy III Sara Altney: Jinn, the Fire Cid Haze: Sailing Enterprise Aria Bennet: Aria, Maiden of the Water Doga: Let Me Know the Truth Unnei: Let Me Know the Truth (Remake) Luneth: Boss 2 (Remake) Arc: Dungeon (Remake) Refia: Battle 1 (Remake) Ingus: Forbidden Land Eureka

Final Fantasy IV Tellah: Tower of Zot Cid Pollendina: Hey, Cid! Zemus: Final Battle (Pixel Remaster) Scarmiglione: Battle with the Four Fiends (Pixel Remaster) Cagnazzo: Battle with the Four Fiends (Dissidia) Barbariccia: Battle with the Four Fiends (FFXIV) Luca: Dancing Calcabrina Harley: Edward's Harp Gekkou: Battle 1 (Pixel Remaster) Izayoi: Mount Ordeals Tsukinowa: Into the Darkness (Pixel Remaster) Zangetsu: Battle 2 (Pixel Remaster) Maenad: The Eidolons Shackled

Final Fantasy V Ghido: Library of the Ancients Boko: Go, Boko Go! Enuo: The Decisive Battle Final Fantasy VI Umaro: Umaro's Theme Gogo: Gogo's Theme Banon: The Returners Ultros: Grand Finale Ghost: Phantom Train

Final Fantasy VII Red XIII: Red XIII's Theme Tseng: Shinra's Full Scale Assault Elena: Hurry Up! Hojo: J-E-N-O-V-A Loz: Beyond the Wasteland Yazoo: Battle in the Forgotten City Genesis Rhapsody: The SOLDIER Way Nero the Sable: Fight Tune: Messenger of the Dark Rosso the Crimson: Fight Tune: Crimson Impact Azul the Cerulean: Fight Tune: Killing One Another Elfe: Theme of Elfe Roche: Ignition Flame

Final Fantasy VIII Ward Zabac: Silence and Motion Kiros Seagill: Ride On Edea Kramer: FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC Adel: Lunatic Pandora

Final Fantasy IX: Blank: Vamo'alla Flamenco Marcus: Sword of Fury Lani: Battle 1 Mikoto: Bran Bal, The Soulless Village Black Waltz No 3: Battle 2 Thorn and Zorn: Jesters of the Moon Garland: Master of Time

Final Fantasy X Rikku: Start or YRP, Fight No. 1 depending how her kit is built Gunner Yuna: YRP, Fight No. 3 Yunalesca: Challenge Leblanc: Let Me Blow You A Kiss Logos: Infiltration! Leblanc's Hideout! Ormi: Anything Goes For Leblanc! Baralai: New Yevon Gippal: Machima Faction Nooj: Youth League Lenne: 1000 Words (FFX2 Mix) Shuyin: Their Resting Place

Final Fantasy XI Zeid: Fury Volker: Battle Theme Star Sibyl: Heaven's Tower Semih Lafihna: Battle 2 Ajido-Marujido: Battle in the Dungeon 2 Trion I d'Oraguille: Battle in the Dungeon Curilla V Mercu: Ronfaure Maat: Tough Battle Shadow Lord: Awakening Aldo: Battle 3 Gilgamesh: Battle in the Dungeon 3 Ulmia: Onslaught Tenzen: Isle of the Gods Naja Salaheem: Mercenaries' Delight Luzaf: Black Coffin Razfhad: Hellriders Cait Sith: On This Blade Lady Lilith: Goddess Divine Larzos: Kindred Cry Morimor: Steel Sings, Blades Dance Teodor: Monstrosity Balamor: Clouds Over Ulbuka

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[freyayuki]

Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia D4RE to Defy Event Part 4

The fourth Dare to Defy event, D4RE to Defy, just started in the Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia (DFFOO) mobile game. This is a global original event that features 7 Shinryu (level 300) or higher quests.

Introduction

If you use a char on 1 Dare to Defy quest, then you can’t use them anymore on the other fights in this event.

You can’t bring a friend support to these fights. Each quest needs to be Perfected (meaning get the score and all the other mission requirements on the same run) in order to get all the rewards.

The bosses featured on these quests are the same as the ones that have recently shown up in the game.

And, as mentioned in the game:

Completing a D4RE to Defy quest will complete the original Shinryu quest for the original event.

Completing a D4RE to Defy quest with the original event’s featured FR character in the party will also clear the corresponding mission for the original event.

*You must have the original Shinryu quest from the original event unlocked and available for this to take effect.

*Certain quests not applicable.

Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII

My Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII (#ad) is Level 90 and Crystal Level 90. His 15cp, 35cp, Ex, LD, FR, and BT are fully MLB. His Ex is at Ex+ 3/3 or Purple. His Burst weapon has been upgraded to BT+ 3/3 or Green.

Seph’s currently equipped with a Level 5 of 5 Greatsword Ultima Weapon. His High Armor’s been upgraded to Blue. All of his Summon Boards, Character Enhancement Boards, and Force Enhancements have been completed. He has his Bloom Stone.

Sephi has 3 Attack 108 with Max Brave 330 Artifacts and 3 Attack 108 with One-Winged Angel Boost★★ (Raises INT BRV, MAX BRV, ATK, DEF by 5% if HP is MAX at start of last wave) Artifacts.

Sephiroth is equipped with the following real A Spheres:

Edgar Roni Figaro’s (from Final Fantasy VI) Debuff Power

Increases BRV damage dealt by 10% while an enemy is debuffed

Cloud Strife’s (from Final Fantasy VII) Critical Power

Raises BRV damage dealt with critical hits by 10%

Vayne Carudas Solidor’s (from Final Fantasy XII) Broken Power

When attacking target afflicted with Break: • Increases BRV damage dealt by 10%

Also currently have 3 Green Crystal passives unlocked: Crystal Passive A5, Crystal Passive U1, and Crystal Passive A1. As a Green Crystal char, Sephiroth has access to these passives.

Sephiroth is a physical, non-elemental DPS. He can inflict enemies with a gold-framed debuff called Cellular Erosion. This debuff “increases BRV damage taken; effects certain amount of BRV damage”. Seph also lowers the speed of all the enemies via an aura.

D4RE to Defy IV Shinryu Quest

Also known as D4RE to Defy IV. This fight has 1 wave with 2 enemies, the Eagle Guns.

This fight is the same as the Invaders Intersecting Wills Shinryu quest. Clearing D4Re to Defy IV will also complete the Invaders Intersecting Wills Shinryu quest if the latter is available and unlocked.

And if I bring either Sephiroth or Aranea Highwind from Final Fantasy XV to D4Re to Defy IV, the time-limited mission that wants me to clear the Invaders Intersecting Wills Shinryu quest with either of the aforementioned chars in the party and without bringing in a friend support will also be automatically cleared.

Already unlocked the Invaders Intersecting Wills Shinryu quest but haven’t cleared said fight yet.

Wanted to just focus on clearing D4Re to Defy IV so I won’t have to bother doing the same fight twice just to get all the missions and rewards and such.

So for this fight, my team was Sephiroth, Sherlotta from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, and Dorgann Klauser from Final Fantasy V with Ifrit as my summon.

My Calls were Cid Raines’s from Final Fantasy XIII, Rydia’s from Final Fantasy IV, and Seymour Guado’s from Final Fantasy X.

My Sherlotta and Dorgann are as fully built as my Sephiroth except Dorgann unfortunately doesn’t have his own Burst weapon yet. He also doesn’t have access to his Force Board and Force Echoes yet.

Dorgann is currently equipped with my Level 5 of 5 Sword Ultima Weapon while Sherlotta has my Level 5 of 5 Special or Unique Ultima Weapon. Dorgann is a Green Crystal char so he also has access to the 3 Green Crystal passives I’ve unlocked so far.

Sephiroth is boosted for this fight so got to start the battle with my force gauge already charged to 10%.

When the battle started, started preparing for when my force gauge was fully charged by having everyone activate or refresh their bufffs and such. Used Seymour’s Call to debuff and delay the enemies.

Used Rydia’s LD Call to give my chars a buff that will let them evade 3 attacks. This buff has no duration and will only disappear once a char has successfully evaded 3 attacks.

Had Dorgann use his Additional Ability. Had Sherlotta spam her instant turn rate moves to speed up the charging of my force gauge. When my force gauge was nearing 100% already, had Sherlotta end her turn.

On Sephiroth’s turn, had him use his Additional Ability then activated his BT+ finisher, Heaven’s Light, already. One of the effects of this is that it will set the BRV of all enemies to 1 for 8 turns.

This has really good synergy with Dorgann because he will automatically attack and deal damage to the enemies every time they’re broken.

On Sherlotta’s next turn, had her finish fully charging my force gauge then had her use her Additional Ability and BT+ finisher.

The force gauge of the enemies soon hit 100%. Their force attack just dealt AoE BRV damage.

On Sephiroth’s next turn, had him activate his FR, Black Conflict, already. This canceled the force time of the Eagle Guns.

The conditions for increasing the HP damage bonus of Sephiroth’s FR are as follows:

+40%whenever a char attacks a debuffed enemy on their own turn

+40% whenever a char takes a turn while level-based buff or special effect active

The buff from Rydia’s LD Call is level-based. So even if a char doesn’t have their own level-based buff or special effect, they can still increase the HP damage bonus of Sephiroth’s FR by 80% each turn as long as they have Rydia’s LD buff.

Anyway, IIRC, had Sherlotta and Sephiroth use their Force Echoes.

Either Dorgann or Sherlotta got an extra turn so when I went into Sephiroth’s Burst+ phase, only have 6 turns of force time left. 

By then the HP damage bonus was at 778% and the bosses were down to 62% and 66% HP.

Thanks to Raines’s LD Call, Sephiroth was able to initiate launches every time he moved. Sherlotta’s BT+ effect made sure the party always had max brave to dump during these launches.

Dorgann also attacked and dealt damage every time Sephiroth moved thanks to the enemies being constantly broken.

So by the time I only have 3 turns of force time left, the enemies were down to 33% and 19% HP. The HP damage bonus was at 999%.

Sephiroth has 4 turns of Burst+ phase time left. Had him use his Octaslash skill. This took the bosses down to 9% and 12% HP.

After that, had Sephiroth use Scintilla, his LD ability. This finished off the Eagle Guns already but since a BT+ mode can’t end until a char uses their Burst+ finisher, only one boss died while the remaining one was left with 1% HP.

So right after Sephiroth used Heaven’s Light, his finishing Burst+ move, the battle ended.

Got the score and all the other mission requirements, which also got me the Perfect.

It was only turn 14. Didn’t even get to use my summon. This fight was pretty easy. The bosses didn’t even get a turn. LOL. This team did really well.

Conclusion

So, what about you? Which chars did you use to complete these Shinryu quests? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below or by reblogging or replying to this post.

Notes:

screenshots are from my Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia game account

[princess-of-the-corner]

Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Recap: Traverse Town (First Visit)

Before I begin, I should mention something I forgot: Before the J-pop opening, Sora says the following words: "I've been having these weird thoughts lately. Like, is any of this for real, or not?"

That actually has nothing to do with the plot of the first game, but that opening statement gets a callback later in the series.

The story opens with Donald and Goofy watching a star blink out as they walk through the First District of Traverse Town. They rush off, with Pluto walking off to a side alley. Goofy tries to alert Donald to this, but Donald waves him off, and the two of them don't see Pluto again until after the Final Boss as a result.

Pluto then finds Sora's sleeping body, licks his face, and then pounces on his chest to wake him up. His purpose in the story fulfilled, Pluto vanishes from the plot for the rest of the game, never to be seen again until after the credits roll.

Sora wakes up, and the player has a choice:

Exit the alley and trigger a cutscene that will further the plot.

Climb some crates and skip the cutscene, going straight for the door to the Second District, and softlock the game by skipping past the point in the story where Sora gains the ability to leave Traverse Town, dooming him to forever wander the streets.

Assuming you picked option 1, the game proceeds as normal, with Sora realizing that he's in another world. The NPC's explain that Traverse Town is a refuge for people who've lost their homes, with one getting cagey when asked where she came from (warning Sora not to ask that question, as nobody likes to think or talk about what happened that brought them here). He also sees a Moogle (multiple games in the Final Fantasy series). He eventually enters the accessory shop, where he meets Cid Highwind (Final Fantasy VII), who explains what Traverse Town is, and while he hasn't heard of Sora's friends, he does offer to let him stay if he can't find a home, while warning him not to get lost. Traverse Town is (allegedly) a big and dangerous place.

At this point, the man blocking the entrance to the Second District steps aside, and Sora can now walk straight in.

Upon arrival, Sora watches a man be condemned to a fate worse than death as he loses his heart, his body disappears, and his heart transforms into a monster similar to the ones that destroyed his homeworld. This one wearing armor, and bearing an emblem depicting a black heart with a thorny, red x wrapped around it, the Soldiers are slightly stronger than the Shadows he's familiar with.

In the manga, he instead watched a monster rip out a prostitute's heart and smash it to pieces.

(I should mention I'm talking about a metaphysical, cartoon heart, not a blood pumping organ. That's why this game is rated E and not M.)

And what's worse? There are other monsters like it, in addition the Shadows Sora's familiar with.

He fights his way through the Second District, ducking in and out of buildings, just barely missing Donald and Goofy as they search for Leon.

The Shadows disapate into darkness on death, while the Soldiers release their hearts into the sky when he strikes them down.

Sora stumbles upon the home of Pongo and Perdita (101 Dalmations) whose 99 puppies were scattered across the cosmos when their homeworld was destroyed. This is a sidequest, and you can find trios of Dalmation Puppies in certain chests throughout the game.

He eventually returns to the First District, only to find that it's also deserted and overrun with these abominations.

He takes shelter in the Accessory shop, but Cid's not there.

When he exits back out to the First District, he comes face to face with Squall Leonheart (Final Fantasy VIII). He explains that the Heartless will keep going after him as long as he has the Keyblade, and demands that Sora hand it over.

Sora refuses, and Squall takes out his Gunblade (surprisingly not part Firearm, the trigger just activates it's ultimate form), and decides he'll take it by force.

It doesn't matter if you win or lose this fight, as the outcome is the same either way. Either Sora passes out from exhaustion after weakening Squall, or Squall will successfully knock him out.

Either way, Yuffie Kisaragi (Final Fantasy VII), teases Squall for losing his touch, given that he didn't immediately wipe the floor with a 14 year old. Squall reminds her that he goes by Leon these days, and notes that things are MUCH worse than they originally thought.

Meanwhile, on a distant world, a Final Mix exclusive cutscene plays as Riku wakes up among rising waterfalls. Realizing he's alone, he calls out to Sora and Kairi, but the lines aren't voiced due to Sora's Japanese and English VA's voices dropping. (Sora does not have any dialogue in either of the new, silent cutscenes, rendering this decision pointless) as Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty) watches on.

Donald and Goofy keep looking for the "Key" in the Second District, where the former is startled by Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy VII) when she grabs their attention to ask if they're looking for the King.

Sora wakes up in a hotel room to find Kairi watching over him. She explains that the Heartless were after him because the Keyblade is the only thing that can put them down for good (future games reveal that a Heartless slain by any other weapon will eventually regenerate). In order to keep the Heartless from tracking him, they had to separate him from the Keyblade. Sora's just glad that Kairi's okay, confusing Kairi, who's actually the great ninja Yuffie (who has never even heard of Kairi before). Maybe Leon should've held back a little more?

Regardless, they fill in Sora on what's going on while Aerith does the same for Donald and Goofy in the other room.

The Heartless are born from the darkness in people's hearts, and all hearts have at least a little darkness in them. Heartless are drawn to and feed off of that darkness. To that end, they steal hearts, both to eat and to reproduce. Every Heartless used to be a person. A man named Ansem tried to study them, and even wrote a report, but both he and his research were lost in the destruction of his homeworld with the pages of Ansem's report being scattered to many worlds.

The Keyblade isn't just a magical weapon though, it's also a magic key that can open any lock (or lock it back up). After Leon and Yuffie teach him how to use the unlocking feature (which does come in handy later), they get attacked by Heartless.

Sora's thrown into the alleyway behind the hotel before he can meet up with Donald and Goofy (the former getting flattened by the door when Leon storms into the neighboring room to warn Aerith), and Leon instructs him not to bother with the small fry, they need to take out the leader.

Sora fights his way to the Third District while the Final Fantasy characters secure the First District.

By the time Sora arrives in the Third District, Donald and Goofy get into a scuffle with a Soldier on a nearby balcony. It somehow blows them up (in spite of not having any explosive attacks), and they immediately land on Sora, noticing that he has the Keyblade.

The ground rises to box the trio in, with Soldiers emerging from the Darkness to surround them, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy fight their first battle as a team.

As soon as the last Soldier falls, a metal tunic, two boots, two gauntlets, and a helmet rain from the sky. They form together into the gigantic Guard Armor, the leader of this Heartless invasion (marked with the same Emblem as the soldiers).

After taking out the hands and feet, Sora, Donald, and Goofy finish off the main body, with the gigantic Heartless releasing its immense heart as it fades away.

Sora wonders what to do, since he still has no idea where his friends are. Donald suggest that they might find them while looking for the King, but privately admits to Goofy that he doesn't actually believe that, they just need the Keyblade, and whatever gets Sora to come with them...

Leon, however, points out that if Sora's friends aren't in Traverse Town, traveling with Donald and Goofy would be his best chance of finding them.

And so, Sora agrees, but Donald and Goofy set the condition of "no sad face" because they claim that their ship runs on happy faces. (the manga takes this literally).

The three officially introduce themselves to each other, with Goofy declaring that they're a team.

With a cry of "All for one and one for all!" (before the Three Musketeers movie, might I add) they set out on their adventure.

Meanwhile, some Disney Villains framed in shadow watch a magical projection of this whole scene, with Maleficent quieting the argument that breaks out while wondering if Sora will conquer the darkness, or if the darkness will instead conquer him.

Donald teaches Sora how to use Fire Magic, Jiminy looks forward to recording the whole adventure in his Journal, and the trio heads for either the World Exit in the First District or a Save Point. No matter where they go, they pass by a Trinity Mark, learn Trinity Jump, and head to the World Map.

There, they have an option of two worlds to go to, and the next recap shall chronicle their trip to Wonderland.

-

Love the note on how 'this is an E rated game!' after you mention the manga version has a prostitute apparently????

[decerterus]

Ok so in a Cindy/Aranea relationship I love the idea of Aranea being the spider crusher however consider these options also. 1. Cindy makes Aranea cup & paper them outside - cackling as she taunts them in their glass prison? Ok fine sugar  but murder? Absolutely no way ma’am, that dog will not hunt.  2. Aranea will scoop them with a long handled item while she calls the poor creature names and tosses them out the window but Cindy will grab them in her begloved hand and gently set it on the back step telling it to git on outta here because she grew up and lives in a bug-heavy environment.  3. Cindy does whatever the Eos/Six equivalent of crossing herself is then chases it with the bug spray - Aranea takes his job and one shots them every time.  4. Aranea splats them with her hand without thinking/reflexively and gets a forehead kiss for being a hero while Cindy helps her get the legs and goo off her palm.  5. The heavy metallic clattering of Cindy throwing miscellaneous shop items at a bug until Aranea comes and stomps with her big boots on thank you for you time

[yuurivoice]

How about comfort characters? Idk if anon said confront on purpose but I'm curious now

G’raha Tia from Final Fantasy XIV made me astral project recently and I was so touched and inspired I wrote the first bit of prose I’ve written in a long time to quench my thirst for feels and angst with a little 1k mini fic. He’s a very good boy.

Zack Fair from Final Fantasy VII was a big one for me back in the day.

Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop and Vash from Trigun fall into a very similar box for me.

I know this is ridiculous but my boy Howell is a comfort character for me. I just really love him a lot and he’s always on my mind.

Alucard Tepes. Because of course.

There’s the Book I’ve Never Written in my head that has a character I adore very much. He’s the protagonist’s uncle and father figure. On the surface he’s kind of a lackadaisical tinkerer, like if you threw Cid Highwind and Uncle Iroh into a pot of steampunk x high fantasy stew. At heart, he’s a broken man who even after years of hard work for the good of his people, lives in the shadow of his dead brother. He’s raised that man’s son, is looked down upon by his country because he lived and his brother did not, and worst yet, he got cucked by his brother and had to raise their lovechild. Over time he’s changed and adapted, but I can look at him and see that I made him when I needed dad shaped comfort, which I couldn’t get from my own. I love him so much, I sometimes wonder if the story isn’t about the protagonist at all, but about this man. He’s definitely one of the best characters in the story. The Big Thing happens and protag is exiled, and uncle is powerless to do anything, and in time they eventually find themselves on opposing sides of a brewing conflict. Protag gathers old allies who were heroes alongside his father and uncle, and they tell him all about the history his uncle kept from him, the fact that his father was actually a crazy bastard and whatnot. They reunite and it’s not totally unlike some of the vibes in the Al/Seth story, of being willing to put your faith in someone, forgive them, bring them back home. I could never settle on a name for the uncle character, but thinking of him and his story never fails to bring a smile to my face. 

[placesyoucallhome]

What if there was an FFVIIR x FFXIV event where you could get Barret, Tifa, Aerith, Vincent, Cid, and Cloud glamour with an additional bonus of a Red XIII and Cait Sith wind up toy and to top it all off, a mini Highwind Multipassanger mount?

You know, I'm actually really surprised we didn't get an event with ff7r? I was honestly expecting one, though, with a little more clarity on just how much we have no gd idea what they're doing with it, I can see them holding off until the final section of the game maybe, even though that's probably like.... 6 years off or more. So. Okay actually, might make more sense for them to run an event with part 2 and then rerun it with the next parts?? But this is SE so who knows what they might allow. But nier got a crossover so honestly anything goes.

There is a Cait Sith minion, though the cloud glams we have are from the movie. I don't think they would give us ALL of the glams, but I can see maybe an Aerith, and maybe a Vincent glam set, the character design in ff7 was way more simple and grounded weirdly enough, mostly due to needing clarity on those lego esque early 3d models. I think Aerith and Vincent would be the most flashy and iconic, and we already have cloud outfits. Or literally any of their hair's tbh. Oh, or Sephiroth's outfit actually, that would fit well too.

God, Highwind as a mount would be.... fucking massive holy shit are you kidding me? It'd be the gd whale all over again. Could see it as a multi-person mount, but it'd probably be like the Lunar Whale and you won't be able to see anyone on it :c Is it bad that I could see them doing something fucky like making Red XIII or Cait Sith a mount?

.... on second thought, please give me Barret's arm as a machinist weapon???

[final-fantasy-imagines]

Original request: From that cliché prompts list: Cid and 16? Thank you so much! (requested by: anon)

Prompt: 16. I need a date for this wedding.

A/N: Thank you for your request! This is the first time I wrote a drabble for Cid, so I really hope you like it. Have fun reading!

It‘s a date – Cid Highwind x reader

“Damn it,” you mumbled to yourself when you pulled the ivory colored envelope out of your mailbox. You knew exactly what this was; one of your closest friends, Aerith, had been raving about the event for about one and a half years by now, and you couldn’t say that you were excited about it.

It was an invitation to a wedding, Aerith’s and Zack’s wedding to be precise, and while you were incredibly happy for both of them, you couldn’t really look forward to the wedding because you knew that you couldn’t show up alone if you didn’t want anyone to play matchmaker. Aerith, and after some unsuccessful attempts Tifa too, had tried to set you up countless times. She always said that it made her feel bad to be so happy with Zack while you still had to spend your days on your own most of the time. It didn’t matter how often you told her that being single really wasn’t a problem for you – Aerith simply wouldn’t listen.

And now this. You wanted to attend the wedding, that was beyond all question, but you had no idea who you could bring along without making it too obvious that it was just a make-shift solution. Of course you could ask Biggs or maybe even Cloud to accompany you but, in all honesty, Aerith would never believe that you were actually dating one of them.

You were chewing on your lower lip as you thought about the whole situation. The easiest solution would be to attend the wedding alone but you didn’t want Aerith to feel like she needed to find a date for you on her special day, so that wasn’t really an acceptable option.

Maybe you could ask Cid to be your date, even though you could already feel your face heat up just by thinking about it. You weren’t particularly close, hanging out with each other occasionally but oddly enough, you quite enjoyed his company and often found yourself wondering if you actually developed a crush on him or if you just missed him because he always managed to brighten your mood.

The infamous Cid Highwind. You couldn’t help but smile when you thought about him. Yes, he often cursed like a sailor and had the annoying habit to smoke almost non-stop but you knew that he was loyal and good-hearted, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. So, if you asked him nicely, he probably would agree to accompany you to Aerith’s wedding.

Well. At least you hoped so.

*

Cid stared at you with wide eyes. “What the f-”

“You heard me the first time,” you interrupted him softly and even managed to put on a smile. “I want you to be my date for the wedding because I can’t show up alone without having Aerith or Tifa trying to set me up. You’re invited, aren’t you?”

“Err – yes.”

Your smile grew a bit wider. “So what’s the problem? Like, we don’t have to make out or something like that; I just need your help to avoid the usual matchmaking because it’s starting to annoy me like hell.”

He remained silent for a few moments, and you sighed deeply. “Come on, it’s really not that big of a deal,” you tried to persuade him, fluttering your eyelashes, even though you knew exactly that it probably wouldn’t help much. Cid could be as stubborn as a mule. “Please?”

Cid huffed and rolled his eyes but you knew him well enough to realize that he wasn’t averse to accept your suggestion. He would do almost anything to help his friends out, even if it meant that he had to accompany you to a damn wedding.

“Okay.”

“What?” Dumbfounded, you looked at him, not quite realizing that he had just agreed to be your date for the wedding. “Did you really-”

“Yes,” he cut in, rolling his eyes again but this time, he actually had a big grin on his face. Before you even knew what he was doing, he had already wrapped his arm around your shoulders to pull you into a bone-crushing hug. “It’s a date.”

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 20

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 10,096

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

Turns out once you've smooched a guy on the nose, things like holding his hand and other such minor displays of affection no longer seem so daunting.

Sure, even as I reached for his hand now, some small amount of mental self-cheerleading was still required in order to work myself up to it. And okay, the tiny flutter in my chest when my fingers brushed against his almost had me pulling back faster than you could say 'emotion-phobia.' But I didn't. And hey, this was way more than I could have brought myself to do even just a few short days ago. This was kind of huge for me, so I think I'd earned the right to take a little pride in my headway so far. Who knew, I just might pull off my half of this whole pretend dating deal yet.

Lea glanced down at my touch. Then he grinned, pulling my hand up to press a soft kiss to the back of it before setting it back down on the dinner table, his thumb trailing light circles along my knuckles. Picking right back up where he'd left off in the conversation, he said, "Oh yeah, GUMMI ships got all sorts of badass tech going on now, the likes of which would put both Star Trek and Star Wars to shame. Super, ultra, mega-laser cannons, impenetrable force fields, swarms of nanobots that can repair any and all damage just like that," he snapped his fingers. Lea then planted an elbow on the table and leaned forward to add in a conspiratorial whisper, "They even have defense systems in the form of giant, exploding space duckies."

Saïx gave him a flat look from where he sat on the other side of the table from us. "Not true."

"Sure it is!" Lea chirped, straightening back up in his chair. "I mean, how else are they gonna fight all those aliens out there?"

Propping my cheek in my free palm, I cocked an eyebrow at him as I felt an upward tug at one corner of my lips. "Aliens? As in little green men?"

"No, no, that'd just be silly," he waved off with a scoff. "As in lil shadow men. Creepy bastards with big, yellow eyes and twitchy antennae." Still holding my hand, he brought both of his own up to either side of his head, miming said antennae with his index fingers.

Closing his eyes, Saïx gave a low sigh into his wine glass. "Also not true."

Lea shrugged, "Oh sure, they're not all like that. There was that blue one they found over in Hawaii, what was its code name again… Experiment 626? Yeah, the government got that one covered up real fast. And don't even get me started on the total dreadnought that is Schwarzgeist lurking out there somewhere in the night sky that absolutely obliterated the USS Endymion."

"The sheer amount of not true you are spouting off right now is positively staggering," Saïx deadpanned, eyelids drooping as he dabbed his napkin to his mouth. "You really need to stop staying up late every night reading all those conspiracy theories out there on the internet."

Lips curling into an evil smirk, Lea said, "But how else am I gonna royally piss you off so much?"

That earned him a small scowl from his brother.

This was basically it. The whole evening in a nutshell from the moment I'd stepped foot into Lea's apartment. Like me, it seemed that Saïx was not much of a talker, at least not amongst strangers. Unlike me however, it appeared to have less to do with social anxiety and more like he just plain wasn't a fan of the whole talking thing and so only did it when he deemed it absolutely necessary. Which I could totally respect. It was just that between the two of us, it had a tendency to leave a bit of a void in the conversation every now and then. Luckily, it was void that Lea was only too happy to fill.

Saïx had been the one to cook dinner. It seemed that that was part of the breakdown of chores in their living arrangement: he usually handled supper while breakfast was Lea's job. Saïx and I had already emptied our plates by now while Lea was still working on his, seeing as how he was otherwise preoccupied with talking a mile a minute. The meal had been a very nice chicken bruschetta pasta paired with a red wine from a fancy looking bottle. The latter I'd thought to be a bit of an odd choice, as I didn't picture Lea being much of a wine drinker. But there he was, sipping away at it, pinkie raised as he did so for an added bit of flair. I guess he just wasn't picky and would drink whatever was put in front of him. I, on the other hand, had decided not to partake. Would rather keep a clear head during this bit of subterfuge we were playing out in front of Saïx.

The point was, there was wine. And wine equaled a wine tipsy Lea. And a wine tipsy Lea, as I was discovering, equaled a chatty Lea. The boy was already chatty to begin with, but this was an all new level. This was chatty on steroids. Needless to say, he was having no trouble whatsoever keeping the conversation rolling.

"Why are we even discussing the GUMMI space program again?" Saïx asked in his bored monotone.

Lea drove his fork down into his pasta, twirling it around. "You know you're always a total slut for outer space, man. The moon and constellations and all that crap is your jam."

"Yes, but our guest," he gestured towards me, "might not find the topic nearly so interesting."

Trailing a finger along the rim of my still full wine glass, I said, "Actually, I've been fascinated by the research their lead mechanical scientist Cid Highwind has been doing in the field of warping technology. With his help, it might not be long before our ships can travel to other solar systems."

Both men just blinked silently at me for a moment.

What? So I liked to keep up on current events by reading a news article every now and again online. It really was not a big deal.

Saïx was the one to speak up first. "Yes. It's said Highwind is hoping to have a working prototype in less than five years."

Do my eyes deceive me? Was that the hint of a smile ghosting over Saïx's mouth?

Oh wow, I think I'd managed to score some points.

...not that it mattered, of course. Since this was only a fake relationship, after all, so getting in the brother's good graces didn't really mean all that much to me. Not one bit. Nope.

Nuzzling his nose to my ear, Lea beamed, "Hell yeah! My baby knows shit!"

"More than you do at least," Saïx sniffed blandly.

Expression relaxing into a sly grin now, he shot back, "I know enough to know about an astral sea monster whose sheer mass is gargantuan enough to blot out the very sun, the terror of the cosmos, eater of spacecrafts and destroyer of worlds, the dreaded galactic space whale," he paused for dramatic effect before splaying a hand out before him as he intoned in hushed reverence, "...Monstro."

Saïx grumbled under his breath and facepalmed.

"By my count, that's the eighth time he's done that tonight," Lea stage whispered to me. "Just five more and I'll have beat my all-time record."

I gave a low hum of amusement. "I suppose it's important to have goals in life."

He snorted, returning his attention to his food as he scooped a forkful into his mouth. I noticed that he'd incidentally stained one side of his lips in the process and I had a brief flashback to a familiar scene of Sora and Kairi. Of the pair of them sitting in the food court and Kairi kissing away a similarly located blotch on her boyfriend. Now that right there had been a seriously advanced dating technique and one I was in no way ready to try out myself. You kidding me? I was still very much a beginner here and the very idea of trying to pull off such a maneuver already had my ears turning pink. That said, a newbie like me still had some options, especially with my newfound ability to make the first move and actually touch my (fake) boyfriend without completely spazzing out.

I tucked in my lower lip, hesitating briefly as my pulse thudded a little more loudly against my eardrums. But then I slowly lifted my hand.

Lea visibly stiffened as he felt my thumb brush at the corner of his mouth, wiping the smudge away. As I began to retract my arm however, he dropped his fork to snatch my wrist and stop me. I arched an eyebrow at him. He smiled back with hooded eyes. Then he gently tugged my thumb up to his lips and licked the sauce off it.

Breath hitching, I yanked my hand free of his grasp. His smile just turned smug as he winked at me.

Apparently, Wine Tipsy Lea had even less boundaries than usual.

As I wiped my thumb with a napkin and ducked my head to hide my boiling cheeks, I heard Saïx mutter, "One has to wonder what a woman of your obvious intelligence and sophistication even sees in an asinine clown such as my brother."

"Well let me think about it," Lea's eyes danced as he folded his hands together, steepling his index fingers so the joined tips touched his mouth. "Perhaps it's my devilish charm and debonair good looks?"

"Oh come now," he said cooly with another sip of his wine, "if you're going to be making things up, you should attempt to make them at least halfway credible."

"He makes me laugh," I suddenly heard myself saying. As both pairs of eyes turned towards me, I immediately felt self-conscious. I mean seriously, what a stupid, cliché thing to say. But that didn't make it any less true, any less… meaningful. I wasn't someone who laughed a lot. In fact, before I'd run out on my wedding, I could probably count the number of times I'd laughed in the last year on one hand.

Fidgeting with my fingers, I pushed forward, "He's sweet… and thoughtful. And genuine. He's not afraid to be himself. And because of that, I find it easier to be… myself... around him." Another thing that did not come easy to me.

As Lea slipped an arm around my shoulders so he could pull me closer and plant a swift peck to my temple, Saïx gave a soft harrumph, "Well, I guess there's no accounting for taste."

"Psst, Saïx," Lea lowered his voice, bending forward over the table and cupping a hand to his mouth. "The moon landing was faked."

With a heavy sigh through his nose, he merely rose from his chair and started gathering the plates and silverware together. As he reached for mine, I protested, "No, that's okay, I can take care of it."

"You're the guest," he said simply as he swiped it up in one smooth motion.

"Best not argue, otherwise he might unleash his berserker wrath on you," Lea sniggered to me. However, when Saïx next took his plate away (still with food on it), he snapped, "Hey! I wasn't done with that!"

"Then you should have eaten faster," he responded dryly.

He stuck his tongue out at him. "Oh yeah? Well the earth is flat." As Saïx turned towards the kitchen, the plates stacked in his hand "accidentally" smacked into Lea's forehead, forcing a small grunt out of him.

I hid a grin behind my hand as Lea pressed his fingertips to the fresh sore spot with a soft tch. Then he downed the rest of his wine as he stood up himself, gathering the other glasses between his fingers on one hand while balling up napkins together in the other. He looked at me, face brightening, "Why don'tcha go on and take a seat in the living room. I'll join ya after I finish helping Saïx clean up."

"Alright," I nodded. He used a hand (the one stuffed full of napkins) to pull my seat out as I stood and gave him a tiny smile before moving past him. Reaching the blue sofa, I moved some of its mismatched pillows to clear a space and took a seat on the far end, tugging the hem of my dress down to cover my knees as I listened to the sound of running water and clinking dishware coming from the kitchen.

I didn't have to wait long before the boys were rejoining me. Lea came bounding over first, plopping himself unceremoniously down onto the couch with me.

Leaving one whole cushion space between us.

I furrowed my brow over at him. However, I did not have to wonder for long at his unexpected seating choice.

For next thing I knew, he'd flopped over onto his side and was using my lap as a makeshift pillow.

My eyes widened and I jolted, one hand going to my chest. His cheek nestled against my leg as one hand went to my knee, his thumb tracing lightly along its top curve over the fabric. "Mmm… you're comfy!" he sighed contentedly.

It was official. Wine Tipsy Lea had absolutely zero boundaries.

Halfway into taking a seat into a maroon armchair to our right, Saïx stopped. Then he straightened back up to his full height with a tired, drawn-out huff. "Perhaps some coffee would be in order."

I gradually relaxed, my eyes crinkling as I glanced down at Lea with a resigned smile. He was like a kitten cuddling into my lap. A really big kitten. I half expected him to start purring. "Perhaps that might be for the best," I murmured in agreement.

My eyes lifted long enough to follow Saïx as he made his way back over towards their kitchen, long blue hair swaying behind him as he went. When I looked back down, I realized with a tiny start that one of my hands had taken it upon itself to start lightly stroking Lea's hair.

Huh. How did that cheeky little devil get there?

I should stop.

But it was just so very... soft. Softer than I remembered. So soft that it felt like I was doing something wrong, something… forbidden by daring to touch it.

...okay, I really, really needed to stop.

...ten seconds. Just ten more measly, innocent seconds, then I'd stop.

There was a low, pleased hum in Lea's throat as my fingers continued to slowly run through his fiery locks. Then he rolled over onto his back, capturing my hand with his to press a gentle kiss into my palm. It tickled and my heart stuttered as I felt a familiar heat creeping up my neck. He... did know Saïx was no longer nearby to witness this little production he was putting on... right? Then again, maybe Lea was too far gone by now to realize his brother had left the room and so was still on boyfriend autopilot. Cradling my hand to his chest just over his heart, his other came up to start fiddling with the end of my braid from where it hung forward over my shoulder as he grinned up at me. "Wanna know?"

My head tipped to one side, "...know what?"

"You said what you see in me, so now it's my turn. Wanna know what I see in you?"

I blinked at him. Then my eyes briefly flicked over to Saïx just beyond the island counter where he was filling a coffee maker with water. Could he hear us all the way over there? Hopefully… this might be good for show. With a low snort, I planted my elbow on the armrest next to me, propping my cheek against my knuckles as I dropped my gaze back to Lea. "Sure, why not? Go for it."

This should be good.

His grin twitched wider. "You're kooky."

...well I certainly wasn't disappointed.

Though that wasn't quite the word I would have expected out of him. In fact, not the word I would have ever expected out of anyone when used to describe me.

One of my eyebrows quirked. "I'm… kooky?"

He nodded, "Mm-hm! Most people don't know it, but it's there. Way, way deep down in here," he tapped a finger to a spot just below my collarbone before going back to toying with my braid. "Ya try to keep it hidden. Don't like people seeing that side of you for some reason. But I've caught glimpses of it. I like it. Makes me feel like I'm in on a secret no one else is. And you're fun. Hella smart, too. And so goddamn pretty."

"That so?" I muttered, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.

Wine Tipsy Lea was laying it on a bit thick.

Still… I was smiling despite myself.

"And that. Right there," he tapped a finger to my lips. "Your smile is gorgeous. Was the first thing about you that had me head over heels. I love being the one to put it there. Love being the one that can make you laugh."

Did I say a bit thick? Try instead a lot thick. Too thick. Like two metric tons too thick. Jeez, perhaps I'd be better off hoping Saïx couldn't actually hear all this. Even he might think it a bit too much to be believable.

Lea's eyes softened as he continued to stare up at me, his hand shifting over from my mouth to lightly graze his curled fingers against my cheek, leaving tiny tingles in their wake. "...I wish we were real."

Insert record screech.

E-E-Excuse me?!

My heart stopped. Like legit full on stopped. There were at least three full seconds there where if a medical examiner had checked my pulse, they would have probably declared me dead.

Lea froze, his whole body locking up. His eyes grew round and his face blanched, his expression now a perfect mirror of what I imagined my own must have looked like in that exact moment as he seemingly and immediately realized his mistake.

Now I definitely hoped Saïx couldn't overhear us! There seemed to be no reaction from over in the kitchen beyond the sound of water beginning to boil. Which was good. Maybe our cover wasn't blown and-

...and so not the point right now! The point was… was…

Ex-friggin'-scuse me?!

Wish we were real? What did that even mean? Real what? Did he mean that he wanted… that he wished he and I… that we were a… an actual, honest to god coupl-

No! No, I must have misheard. Yeah, that had to be it! He hadn't said… er… what I thought he'd said. No, what he'd probably actually said was, uh… was he wished we were… seals. Yeah, that's probably what it was! Seals were neat! And… and cute! I wouldn't blame him for wanting to be one, especially in his less than totally sober state! Or… or… he could have said that he… he fished… for Neil. Who was Neil, one might wonder? Got me! But you know what? Good for Lea, helping his ol' pal Neil out with fishing like that. Nice guy, that Lea. Such a giver, such a-

"TORS!" Lea suddenly shouted, practically making me jump out of my skin as he shot up off my lap and scooted all the way over to sit at the opposite end of the couch. He had a hand clasped over his nose and mouth, doing a poor job of hiding his reddened (wine flushed?) face. "Realtors! I wish we were realtors, is what I was trying to say!" he hastily clarified, shooting a weak chuckle my way.

I stared at him blankly.

Wha…? Realtors…?

Apparently, he wasn't done. "Yeah! You know, one of those power couples you hear about all the time! Partners in everything, from romance to real estate! That's some real lovey-dovey crap right there, don'tcha think? The epitome of passion! The sappiest dream to ever sap! The-"

"What inanity are you babbling on about now?" Saïx returned, causing me for the second time in as many minutes to nearly die of cardiac arrest. He was carrying two steaming mugs, one in each hand.

"Nothing! Not a damn thing! Nope! Total nonsense!" Lea said quickly, snatching up one of the cups and rapidly blowing on the coffee a couple times before knocking back the whole thing in one go. He pulled the cup away from his lips with a wince, probably suffering from a tongue that was now at least mildly burnt. Then he plastered on a grin, "You know how I get when I'm lost in the sauce, man. I start rambling off total bullshit that I don't even mean. Never. Mm-mm, nope, not one bit! Every word of it? Total garbage. Yup! Heh…"

I flinched back from the second warm mug that was suddenly being offered me. I'd barely had a chance to hold up my hand and shake my head before Lea was grabbing that one too, handling this one with smaller, more cautious sips.

...realtors.

Huh.

Okay, sure, why not?

Not like it was any crazier than any of the other explanations I'd come up with myself. Especially when you considered Lea was more than a little buzzed. People said nonsensical things all the time while under the influence. I'd know, I'd seen Anna in a state of three sheets to the wind on more than one occasion. You should have heard half the things she'd blathered on about at the time… adventures through magical winter wonderlands, talking snowmen, singing rock people, whole castles made of-

Shoot, Saïx was talking to me. Or rather, had been talking to me for a while and now seemed to be expecting some sort of reply. Still a little rattled, I scrounged together a flimsy but polite smile, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

One thin eyebrow arched ever so slightly at me as he cradled a fuming mug between his hands. Apparently he'd gone back at some point to get one for himself as well. "...I heard you were present during one of my sleepwalking episodes a couple weeks back. I hope I didn't give you too much of a fright."

"Oh! No! No, it's-" I got distracted as I felt Lea gingerly inching back over to sit beside me. Probably trying to salvage some semblance of the relationship pretense. However, his affections had become somewhat subdued, restricted now to only resting an arm along the sofa cushions behind my head and his knee brushing against mine as he continued to nurse the coffee. Regathering my train of thought, I tried again, "It's, uh… it's alright. Not your fault. Nor was I bothered by it at all. Just had to stay out of your way, is all."

"Still I-"

"Ya know what?" Lea suddenly piped up, plonking the now empty mug down onto the coffee table right next to the first one. "Sorry guys, but I think we gotta call it an early night! I'm beat! And I mean woof! Dog-tired!"

My eyebrows knit together as I glanced over at him. "...but you just chugged two full cups of coffee."

...what are you doing, you fool, shut up! He was probably trying to rescue us by putting a merciful end to what, as of the last five minutes, had officially become one royal disaster of an evening!

He bat a hand through the air, "That? Please, that was just to help sober my drunk ass up! Trust me, caffeine doesn't do jackshit to me when it comes to staying awake."

Saïx's mouth had settled into a flat line as his green gaze shifted back and forth between Lea and me. "Very well," he said finally, closing his eyes as he raised his cup to his lips, "I presume my noise canceling headphones will be a necessity while I work tonight."

I frowned. "Noise canceling…?"

Lea cleared his throat and gave a sheepish chuckle while scratching a spot behind his ear. "He, uh… thinks you're spending the night."

"Oh…" I said slowly before his words had a chance to fully sink in. Then they did. "Oh!" I repeated more loudly, eyes widening as I rocketed up to my feet, "You mean sex!"

...what the actual frick, mouth?!

"Which is a thing!" Apparently, I was only getting started. Panic mode was in full effect now. "A thing d-dating couples do! Which… which we are! Dating, that is. And a couple! Can't, uh… can't forget that part." Dear lord, where's a gag when you need one? "Which, I don't know w-why you would. Because clearly we're a couple. Yup! That's us!" Yeesh, at least when Lea had been yammering off nonsense, he'd had wine coursing through his veins. What was my excuse? "A couple! A couple who, ah…" Oh no. "...who have, er…" Don't you say it. Don't you dare say it. "...who have sex!"

I winced.

Just shoot me. Shoot me now.

"Oh yeah, lots and lots of it!" Oh great. There was more. "All the time! In all s-sorts of, um… places. My room. His room. Oh look," I pointed both my hands towards Lea's door, "there's his room now!" Make an excuse to leave. Any excuse. " I think we'll go in there now and make with all the sex!" Not that excuse! Pause, followed by tiny, nervous laughter from me. "Yup."

Then before I knew it, I'd bolted into said room, door crashing shut behind me. I pressed my back to it, clutching both hands to my mouth as I hyperventilated and trembled, eyes huge and unblinking as I stared off into space, registering absolutely zilch of what was in front of me now.

What.

Did.

I.

Just.

Do?!

You know what, cheeks? I won't even try and stop you this time. You go right on ahead and blush your nonexistent little hearts out. Fry my face to a friggin' crisp, for all I care. I won't judge. You have every right after… that. Whatever the heck that even was just now!

Oh gosh, had I really just gone on and on about, hrm… intimate relations? In front of Lea's brother? That... had to be... the most spectacular case of anxiety-induced word vomit to date from me yet! What was wrong with me? Who does that? No, seriously, I demand answers this instant, what in the everliving-

A soft knock at the door made me yelp and jump away, whipping around to face it, heart trying to jackhammer its way out of my chest. I was greeted by my own frazzled reflection staring back at me from the full-length mirror hanging there. My face could have been mistaken for a ripe, oversized tomato.

"...El?" Lea's muffled voice came through from the other side. "You might've, uh… kinda forgot something."

A crease formed between my eyebrows. Forgot something? No, I don't think so. I glanced down at myself, hands patting over my dress. Phone in pocket? Check. Shoes on feet? Check. No purse, I hadn't used one tonight. No coat, I'd thought it too warm out for it. My gaze settled on the door once more, eyes scrunching. "What did I forget?"

"...me?"

Oh.

Fudge.

After that, ah… stirring speech I'd just given out there a moment ago, it would certainly help drive the point home if I had him in here with me, wouldn't it?

After all, it took two to, ahem... tango.

As I reached a hand towards the doorknob, I realized I hadn't even locked it. Lea must have only been knocking to be considerate. A consideration I greatly appreciated, especially when you take into account that this was in fact his room that I'd taken sanctuary in. Taking a deep breath and expelling it slowly in one last ditch effort to calm my nerves, my still shaking fingers closed around the knob and twisted.

I cracked the door ajar about an inch, just barely enough for me to peek one eye through. Arms crossed and one shoulder propped against the doorframe, Lea tilted his head with a tiny smile, "Hey."

My gaze fell to my feet for a moment before flicking back up to meet his. "...hi."

"Can I come in?"

I hesitated for another heartbeat then nodded, pulling the door open further and taking a couple steps back. He turned his head to one side, calling out a quick, "Night, man!" to Saïx before walking in and closing the door.

Ah, awkward silence. Ye hath returned. Never could stay away from me for long, could you?

"So…" I hugged myself and decided to get into a staring contest with the floor. "...think he likes me?"

Lea snerked, folding one arm behind his back, hand hooking his opposite elbow as he leaned back against the mirror hanging from his door. "You kidding? He adores you. Practically ready to call ya sister-in-law."

I attempted a smile. It came across as more of a grimace. "Even after I was… all…"

"...smooth and cool as a cucumber?" he supplied, his voice chipper. "Absolutely! And you said you couldn't lie," he teased. "You handled that one like a total pro!"

...oh. Wow, he was right. Not about the "pro" part, obviously, but that I had lied. For the first time since this whole charade started, I'd told a straight out, bald-faced lie. It had been a monumental failure, to be sure, but hey… we all had to start somewhere. Guess I had to take my silver linings wherever I could.

"Gah, I should have just made up some sort of… of excuse or something." I started pacing slowly, eyes still downcast as I brought one hand up to chew on my thumbnail. "Said I couldn't stay because I had an opening shift tomorrow."

He shook his head, "Saïx knows you work at the mall with me, so he also knows I woulda happily driven ya over from here, even at the crack of dawn."

Frowning, I tried again, "Well then, I could have said that… ah! That you had an early test tomorrow so I shouldn't be keeping you up late!"

"Nah, he knows me too well," he smirked, waggling his eyebrows. "Knows I'd never let a lil thing like that stop me."

I blinked. Then I buried my face in my hands with a groan. "Oh god, I can never face him again. Not after that." Dragging my palms down to peek out between my fingers, I grumbled, "I'm guessing it's safe to assume he's retracted his 'woman of obvious intelligence and sophistication' comment." Ha. Showed what Saïx knew.

Shrugging one shoulder, he laughed, "I wouldn't worry 'bout it too much. Just another side of your kookiness that I mentioned earlier. 'Sides, he knows what a nervous, jumpy creature you are."

Up quirked one eyebrow. "...he does?"

"Well, he does now."

...fair point.

One that did not make me feel better.

"And look at the bright side," Lea continued. "It's good this happened here rather than in front of your folks! Now you'll be better prepared to handle it the next time it comes up."

My lips twisted sourly, "I guess so." As bad as this already was, it would have spelled utter disaster if that little freakout had occurred during the upcoming weekend with my parents. We're talking one epic catastrophe here, like meteor-taking-out-the-dinosaurs kind of catastrophe. Then again, I didn't particularly see this exact set of circumstances arising while I was around my family. Still… best to be on the safe side. I wrinkled my brow, "Better prepared… how?"

"Ah, well…" he pursed his lips to one side, tapping a finger against his other arm. "For starters… and I'm just spitballing here, but next time you could maybe just, ya know… not say the word sex repeatedly? If at all? I'm thinking this is 'less is more' kinda situation."

"...good call."

"Heh," he paused, rubbing his shoulder. "So... looks like we're bunkmates."

I lowered my gaze once more and brought my curled fingers up to my mouth, covering my deepening frown. "Yeah… looks like…"

I wish we were real.

Gah, why was I still even thinking about that?! Lea had already explained it, hadn't he? Realtors. The word he had actually said, had been in the middle of saying, was realtors. It was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just the ramblings of a guy who'd had a little too much to drink. Why was I still stuck on this?

My face must have been an open book. "Listen, I… meant what I said earlier," he spoke abruptly and my eyes darted up to lock on his. He averted his gaze and scratched his cheek, "You can't take anything I say too seriously when I've been drinking. Often my brain is just stringing random words together and spitting out the first arbitrary bullshit it can come up with. Like a toddler that's just learned to talk, regurgitating words it doesn't even understand just cuz it heard it from someone else at some point. Half the time, the things I say when I'm liquored up don't even make any sense." His eyes settled on me once more, this time accompanied by a weak smile. "So just don't be too… concerned about any gibberish that came blurting outta my stupid drunk mouth, 'kay? And you won't hear another peep of it tonight. Those two coffees are kicking in fast, so I'm much more clear headed now."

I tugged at my braid before folding my arms tightly together once more. "...okay."

And now onward to Act 1, Scene 2 of the award-winning and critically acclaimed musical: Awkward Silence.

"I have a lizard!"

My head rocked back at Lea's sudden declaration out of nowhere, both eyebrows shooting up my forehead. "...a lizard?"

He nodded eagerly, grinning big now. "Yeah! Wanna see? Come take a look!" He moved off to his left towards one corner of the room and for the first time I realized that there was a large glass terrarium situated on a long, low table in that spot. Lea squatted down next to it, waving me over to join him. I obliged and when I got close enough, he took hold of my hand and tugged me down into a crouch beside him. He squinted into the enclosure for a second, scanning all the rocks and plants inside before, "Ah-ha!" He pointed, tapping his finger against the glass, "There he is!"

And indeed, there he was, curled up inside a small, hollowed out log and blinking back at us. He was a tiny thing, all big eyes and blue skin except for the purple markings running down his back. "Oh wow," I slowly smiled, "you really do have a lizard. Why didn't you say anything last time I was here?"

"Cuz 'come into my bedroom so I can introduce you to my lizard' sounds a lil sketch, don'tcha think?" he chuckled, waggling his pointer finger up and down at his pet in greeting.

A soft snort. "Yeah, that might have earned you a dubious look." The critter crawled out into the open now, giving us a curious look. "Can I hold him?"

Lea flashed some dimple, "Course!" Straightening up, he moved the terrarium's lamps to one side before sliding out the lid and reaching inside, mumbling, "C'mere, Bruni." Picking the reptile up, he then offered him to me, "Now, the lil guy's usually shy at first but warms up quick and can be a bit of a flirt."

I stood as well, holding one hand out. Bruni cautiously put one stubby-toed foot on my fingers, eyeing me warily before fully walking the rest of the way into my palm. He was small enough to fit perfectly in it. Then he cocked his head up at me. I cocked mine back then hummed a low laugh, stroking a finger along the top of his head. That seemed to be all it took to win him over, for he then bellyflopped into a cuddle against my palm before rolling over onto his back.

"Bit of a flirt indeed," I murmured, rubbing his tummy with my fingertip. "What kind is he?"

"Salamander. Which, I know, technically not a lizard. But feels simpler most of the time just telling people that's what he is." He fell silent for a second, eyes crinkling as he watched us. Then he walked past me, saying, "Hey, welcome to my room by the way!"

I turned to face him and for the first time got a real good look at the place. If I had to pick one word to describe it, that word would be pandemonium.

Clothes were strewn about everywhere, covering floor and furniture alike - pretty much anywhere conceivable besides actually inside a dresser. Bookshelves stacked high with no rhyme or reason, textbooks next to movie DVDs (from action thriller to cornball classics) next to game CD cases next to vinyl records. Walls and ceiling plastered with posters, mostly of classic rock bands, but there was the occasional renegade: one here in which a dangerous looking man posed with an Assassin's Creed logo across the bottom, another one there depicting a grim reaper character dual-wielding sickles that looked to be from another video game of some sort. A queen-sized bed with black and red sheets buried beneath a mess of paper and more textbooks, along with a closed laptop and his shoulder bag tossed carelessly on top of it all.

And that was just barely scratching the chaotic surface. Needless to say, it was a lot to take in.

"Pardon the mess," he gave a rueful chuckle, scrambling to snatch clothes up off the carpet here and there to chuck into the laundry basket residing in his open closet, just under a black, full-length coat hanging from the rung in there. "Wasn't expecting any overnight visitors."

"It's, uh…" So many adjectives, so little time. As I searched for a word, I felt Bruni crawling up my sleeve. I kept an eye on him to make sure he didn't slip, but otherwise let him do his own thing. At last, I settled on, "...big."

"Yup! I got the masters! Comes complete with its own bathroom and everything," he jerked a thumb towards a second closed door on the other side of the room. By now, Bruni had found his way onto my shoulder and was snuggling into the crook of my neck. My fingers came up to pet along his spine. Narrowing his eyes on the salamander, Lea went on, "Surprisingly, Saïx prefers the smaller, cozier room. He's a minimalist, so not like he needs all that much space anyhow. Which works out for me, especially since I used to, er… heh, shall we say, host more sleepovers?"

I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth, but whatever I'd been about to say was forever lost.

For that's when Bruni did it.

He took the plunge.

Straight down into the neckline of my dress.

I yelped, arms crossing over my bosom. Lea's eyes widened, "Motherfu-" He lunged forward, hands outstretched before him like he had every intention of going down in there after Bruni. Then Lea froze, seemed to think better of it and instead folded his arms together, shoving his hands into his armpits as he looked away. "You, uh…" he cleared his throat, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye, "...you okay?"

"Yeah. Just tickles a bit," I wrinkled my nose, trying not to squirm as I felt the little guy climbing around against my chest. Thankfully, it wasn't long before he moved over to start making his way down my sleeve. I gave my arm a gentle shake to help speed his progress along and eventually he came tumbling out into my palm.

"Sorry 'bout that," Lea scooped him back out of my hand into his, using the other to ruffle his hair with a tiny, bashful smile. "I know I said he was a flirt, but he's never been this brazenly forward before."

Shaking my head with a snerk, I said, "It's fine, really. Don't worry about it."

Walking back over to the terrarium, he turned a scowl onto the salamander. "And what do you have to say for yourself, young man?" Bruni just answered with a lizard grin, flicking his tongue out to lick his own eyeball. "Smug lil shit," Lea grumbled, setting him back down inside his home.

One corner of my lips twitching up, I turned to take another look around his room. Despite Lea's hasty tidying up, his carpet was still a disaster zone of shirts and other garments. As I began to carefully navigate it, I asked, "So how are we doing this?"

"Doing…?" I could hear the frown in his voice.

I looked back at him. "Sleeping arrangements?"

"Oh! That's easy!" Having now set the lid and lamps back into their rightful places, Lea walked towards me with his grin resurfacing. "You get the bed, I'll take the floor."

My eyelids drooped. "You can't sleep on the floor, that's ridiculous. It's your room."

"Exactly!" he started clearing the papers up off his comforter, gathering them all together and tucking them away inside one of the textbooks. "It's my room, so I'll sleep wherever I want in it! And tonight, the floor's looking pretty damn good!"

I huffed. "Enough with the chivalry already. I'll sleep on the floor."

He picked up his laptop and made his way over to a large mound of clothes. Oh wait. There was a desk hiding under there, or so I realized as soon as he started shoving all the shirts and whatnot aside. Placing the laptop down on top of it, he then shrugged back at me, "Hey, if that'll make ya happy, more power to ya. Doesn't change the fact that I will not be taking my siesta in that bed tonight."

A low harrumph in my throat. "Fine."

"Fine," he agreed, now opposite the bed from me as he hung his bag from a wall hook there. Then he squinted one eye at me, "So it's settled then. We're both sleeping on the floor. Like the couple of rational, mature, grown-ass adults that we are. While the perfectly good bed goes to waste. Cuz that makes total sense."

I shot him a deadpan look. "Alright, fine then. Bruni gets the bed."

He slapped his forehead, dragging his hand down his face with an exasperated laugh. "C'mon, El, will you just take the bed please? I won't be able to fall asleep if I know you're just curled up on the floor."

"Sounds like not my problem," I crossed my arms with a smirk. Oh-ho, that's right. I could be stubborn when I wanted to be.

"Woman! Just take the freaking bed before I throw you in the damn thing!" both his hands gestured in mild annoyance at said bed.

Scoffing, I turned my head to one side. "Please, it's the twenty-first century, your neanderthal tactics won't work on me."

Green eyes flashing, he said in a low, even voice, "They will if I make good on 'em."

My gaze narrowed on him now. "You wouldn't dare."

He bent forward, fists planted on the mattress as he gave me a tiny glare across it. "Wanna bet?"

My legs turned traitor and defected, sitting me down on the bed so quick, you would have missed the motion if you'd blinked.

"There now," his face immediately lit up like the first rays of sunlight at dawn. "Was that so hard?"

I made a little hmph in my throat, tucking my legs beside me as I smoothed my dress over my knees with as much dignity as I could muster. "I'll have you know that I chose of my own free will to take the bed tonight and it had nothing to do with any thinly veiled threats that may or may not have been made on your part." I unzipped my ankle boots, letting them fall to the carpet below with a couple of heavy thuds. "I mean, I am the guest after all, it's only proper etiquette that I sleep in the bed. I'm just making sure you're adequately performing your role as the host."

A soft snerk came from his nose as he kicked off his own shoes and spread his arms wide to give me a mock bow, "Well, thank you, Miss Manners, I dunno what I'd ever do without you."

"You're welcome," I sniffed lightly. It was nice of him to let me have this. I then felt the bed quake beneath me as Lea flopped down beside me, stretching out comfortably and cushioning his head with his arms. I blinked down at him. "...I'm sorry, did that conversation just end differently than I thought it did?"

He raised an eyebrow at me, "Hm?"

"Thought you were taking the floor."

"I am, but that's not until lights out. Right now, we're just chilling!" he beamed. But then his expression relaxed and he propped himself up slightly on his elbows, cocking his head at me. "This is okay, right?"

"Er…" I glanced away, gnawing on my bottom lip.

Yeesh, I seriously needed to grow up. This wasn't a big deal. Like, at all. So what if we were sitting in the same bed? Nothing to freak out about. I mean, sure, I'd never shared a bed with a guy before, not even my ex. Come to think of it, I'd never even been in a boy's bedroom before. But hey, there was a first time for everything. This would be fine. I would be fine.

"...yeah, it's okay," I finally responded. He frowned, not looking convinced. I put on my best brave smile and managed a tiny laugh, "Really, it's fine." Or at least it would be once we stopped talking about it. Wanting to move the conversation along to something else, I searched my brain for a new topic. "So… you and Saïx…" I drew my knees up, hugging them to my chest, "...do you always mess with each other like that?"

"Oh yeah, all the time," he chuckled, settling back down into his pillow and folding one arm back behind his head. "Nothing says you care like making the other person's life a constant living hell!"

Settling my chin down onto my knees, I snorted. "Remind me never to let you care about me."

"Too late!" he chirped. My eyeroll belied the tiny cartwheel my stomach was doing. "'Sides, all siblings are like that. I'm sure you and Anna have terrorized the crap outta each other more times than you can even count."

"Well yeah," I turned my head to look over at him, resting my ear to my legs instead, "but that was way back when we were children. We grew out of it a long time ago."

Lea grinned cheekily, "Oh really? I seem to recall a certain someone chasing her sister 'round the living room trying to straight up murder her dead not hardly more than a week ago."

Wow, had that really only been just last week? It felt like eons ago by this point. A soft noise of contempt huffed out through my nose, "Don't exaggerate. I didn't try to murder her."

"How did it go again? ...ah, I believe your exact words to her were, and I quote, 'dip you in liquid nitrogen, snap every frozen limb off your body one by one, and then I'll kill you.' That about sum it up?"

I pursed my lips to the right, "...there were extenuating circumstances."

"Heh," he stared up at the ceiling, "if ya say so."

I lifted my head back up, my arms loosening somewhat around my legs as I considered my next words carefully. "About Saïx… can I ask what happened?" Lea glanced back at me quizzically and I clarified, "I mean with…" I tapped a finger to the bridge of my nose.

"Oh, his scar?" he rolled over onto his side towards me, bracing his head in one hand. "Old battle wound from our time in the foster system. Same shithead who let us two numbskull brats play with a chainsaw. Negligent and abusive. Real winning combo there, huh?"

"You mean a foster parent did that to him? On purpose? That's terrible," I breathed, looking horrified.

"S'okay," he gave a one-shouldered shrug, then smirked wickedly. "I retaliated by burning his house down."

My eyes widened, "Did you really?"

Lea sighed, "Unfortunately, no, but not for lack of trying. Only managed to set a bed ablaze and blacken a few curtains before the fire department showed up."

I stared at him blankly. "I am just... simply amazed that you survived long enough to make it to adulthood. Either of you."

He blew out an amused pft through his teeth. "Yeah, Saïx and I were definitely prime candidates for the Darwin Awards growing up. Told ya, we were lil hellions forged straight from the fiery pits of El Diablo. Hey, speaking of Ol' Bullseye over there..." he trailed off as he suddenly sat himself up.

"Bullseye?" I asked, arching an eyebrow his way while watching him fold his legs beneath himself so he could stand on his knees atop the mattress.

"Ya know. Mr. X-Marks-The-Spot," he tacked on by way of explanation, abruptly shoulder-slamming into the wall behind us just above his pillows and making me jolt.

...the heck?

"...you mean Saïx?" I furrowed my brow, wincing as he followed it up by crashing his elbow against the wall next. "Aren't those nicknames a bit… mean?" My question was punctuated with another loud thump.

Seriously, what on earth…?.

"Nah, he likes it." Whack! "Knows they're terms of endearment." Bang! "Only from me though. Anyone else ever even so much as thought about calling him anything like that, I'd make sure next time they turned up would be in a bodybag." Whump! "'Sides, you should hear half the shit he calls me, especially when he's royally ticked." Thwack! "This one time, he-"

"Wait. Hold it. Stop," I held up my hands, eyes flicking back and forth between him and the wall. "...what exactly is it that you are doing?"

"Huh?" he stilled, blinking at me a couple times. "Oh this?" his shoulder rammed into the surface once more. "This is the wall I share with Saïx's room."

...well okay then, sure, that totally and one hundred percent cleared up my utter confusion and lack of comprehension.

Not.

"Alright," I said, stretching the word out. "And so…?"

"So he's come to expect a certain level of enthusiasm on my part whenever I'm entertaining a lady friend," Lea winked and clicked his tongue before once again striking the wall.

"Oh?" I frowned down at my hands. Then it clicked with another louder, "Oh!" Followed by a slower, more quiet, "Oh…" Cheeks warming now, I looked back over at him, "You mean you… that is, against the wall, you've… oh." A pause while my eyes shifted about in my awkwardness. "But wouldn't the headboard get in the-" I stopped, glancing back over my shoulder and answering my own question. "Oh… oh, I see. No headboard. Got it. How very, er..." I cleared my throat and ducked my head to my knees, muffling into them, "...very practical."

I heard him snerk as the beating the wall was taking continued. "You're funny when you're flustered, ya know that?"

My face cranked up the heat dial even further and I scowled.

If you listened closely, the signs of a very steady, very distinct rhythm to the pounding could be heard beginning to take shape.

...I needed to stop listening so closely.

My eyebrows knit together as I then remembered something. "Wait… didn't Saïx say something about noise canceling headphones?"

"Well yeah, so he's not hearing any of this, but he can still see whenever any of the crap on his shelves or any framed pictures or anything else that might be up against his side o' the wall shakes from the impact," he shrugged, halting to puff out a noisy breath and wipe his forehead with the back of his hand. Apparently, he was working up a sweat. Then he grinned brightly, "This is actually kinda fun! Wanna have a go at it?"

I shot him a flat look. "...I think I'm good, thanks."

"You sure?" Another slam. "It's actually pretty satisfying. One might even say cathartic. Got any pent-up aggression you gotta work out?" And another, this one taking the form of a punch. He immediately regretted that one, eliciting a pained hiss as he shook out his now reddening fingers.

"Yeah, no," I rapidly shook my head, "no pent-up aggression here. Fresh out." Insert weak chuckle at my lame joke that was neither funny nor an actual joke.

"Suit yourself," he laughed, smacking the wall hard with an open palm this time. Then his back snapped straight and his face lit up, "Oh yeah! Before I forget…" he pivoted to his left, reaching into his messenger bag he'd hung up earlier and rooting around in it.

I snorted, "Done already?"

"Just giving that wall a breather," he said, not looking up from his searching. "We've found some other surface to bear the brunt of all our lovemaking for now, but we'll probably be back to this one later."

Oh gosh. Way to go, mouth, you just had to ask, didn't you? Just when my cheeks had begun settling down too.

"Ah! Found it!" he triumphantly pulled something out of the bag. Flopping back down to once more lay flat on the bed beside me, he held it out towards me, "Pour vous, ma petite amie jolie."

I squinted at the booklet in his hand. Or more precisely, a catalog. "Twilight University?" I read the bold lettering as I reached out to take it, staring at the image on the cover of a handful of young adults gathered around in a small circle of desks and looking photogenically excited about education.

"Yup! It's the course listings for next semester at my college. Lookie here," he opened the booklet up, leaving it propped in my hands as he started thumbing through it quickly. "Ah, there!" he stopped on a page, resting his head on my shoulder as he pointed to one of several listings that had been circled here. "They offer a few different introductory drama classes ya might be interested in."

I blinked down at the catalog as vague memories of a conversation I'd had with Lea last time I was here to help him study started coming back to me. "...you remembered?" I asked quietly.

"'Course!" I could feel his cheek pull into a smile against my shoulder. "It seemed important to you, so how could I forget?"

Honestly? I myself had forgotten. But to be fair, I had had a lot on my mind the past couple weeks, what with suddenly having a boyfriend now (pretend or otherwise), trying to figure out how to make a proper show of being a girlfriend, and stressing out over the all too soon to come visit with my parents. Frankly, my life had been turned upside down as of late and had become the very definition of insanity. There had just quite simply been no time to think about childhood fantasies of singing and performing in musicals.

But I guess… right here, right now in Lea's room, I had a bit of a reprieve. I mean, it's not like there was anything exactly pressing at this very moment, nothing that couldn't wait until tomorrow at least. I suppose I had a few seconds I could spare to entertain the thought. It couldn't hurt anything…

"...so where is Twilight University exactly?" I stretched my legs out to lay flat on the mattress, crossing my ankles and resting the open booklet down in my lap. "Is it close to my apartment?"

He hummed low in thought. "Probably a bit too far if you're on foot. But maybe we could carpool there. And hey," he lifted his head to glance over at me, "I still got a free elective course or two that I need to take. I could enroll in the class with ya!"

I felt a grin tugging at one corner of my lips as I looked back down at the catalog, absently trailing my fingers down one of the circled paragraphs. "I think I'd like that…"

"Yeah?" he asked softly and for a second I thought I might have sensed him leaning in a little closer. But it must have just been in my head, for now he was pulling away to flop over onto his back on his side of the bed once again, making a small cough into his fist. "I, uh… talked to my friends too. The ones who run the local community theater. You're in luck! They're between shows at the moment and are actually gonna be holding auditions soon for their next one. Sometime this week, I think. It's a musical too!"

"Really?" I returned my gaze to him, closing the booklet but using a finger to hold the page. A sigh then escaped me as I worried my bottom lip between my teeth, "I don't know… I doubt I'm ready for anything like that."

Lea shook his head with a chuckle, "Ready for what? Just to talk to 'em? It's not like you actually hafta audition or anything. Nah, you can just head down, meet them, get some deets… maybe find out the where and the when so you can go and just watch other people tryout, ya know? Just get a feel for it, if you want."

He made a good point. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious. I could go and just ask some questions, that's all. Surely, there would be no harm in that. "Maybe…"

"Well if you do decide you wanna drop in for a lil chat with them, their day job is over at Halloween Town in the mall. They should both be on the clock there around noon tomorrow. Ask for Jack or Sally and just tell 'em I sent ya," he jabbed a thumb into his chest with a big grin, "got it memorized?"

"Jack or Sally… okay," I nodded, responding with a small smile of my own. "I might do that. Thanks, Lea."

"Always happy to be of service! Now," he hopped up off the bed and made his way over to one of his shelves that was pure anarchy incarnate, "whaddya think? You up for a movie?"

The corners of my eyes crinkled and I set the catalog aside on the nightstand. "I could be. What are the options?"

He rubbed his chin, scrutinizing the mess crammed into the rack before pulling out a couple DVD cases, one from the top shelf and the other from somewhere in the middle. He held them up in either hand for me, "I'm thinking either Sixteen Candles or The Labyrinth. Thoughts?"

I looked between the two choices. Then my eyes scanned about the room and I frowned. "I'm thinking it's going to be hard to watch either of them without a TV."

"Without a-?" he blinked a couple times, looking over to his right. Then he sighed, "Hang on a sec," as he tossed the movies down onto the foot of the bed and made his way over to another towering pile of clothes against the wall directly across the room from his bed. "Watch and be amazed as I make a flat screen appear outta thin air in three… two…" he whipped the garments aside with a flourish, revealing the television beneath, "Ta-da!"

"Ah," I gave a polite clap and settled more comfortably down into his pillows, "I stand corrected. Though who needs movies when we have your amazing wizardry to keep us entertained?"

He scratched the back of his head, "Heh, it'd be a short magic show. 'Fraid I just got the one trick up my sleeve."

"Too bad." I paused, eyeing the DVD cases. "Make it a double feature?"

He snapped his fingers and snatched them both back up.

"Girl after my own heart. Pure genius."

Author's Note: Ah, yet another classic cliché for the books: our couple encounters one room, one bed for the night xD Also, fun fact: I started out this chapter stumped for what they should be talking about over dinner. Then I asked my bestie, who simply said: "gummi ships." And I just laughed it off at first, all "naw, that wouldn't make sense for this AU." But then it churned in my mind for a few minutes and I was like "wait… no… I think I can make this work…" And thus the Global Union for Multigalactic Mobility Investigation aka GUMMI Space Program aka NASA rip-off was born xD And further thus, Lea being an alien conspiracy-nut JUST for the sake of pissing of his space-loving half-bro was born xP Anyhoo! For those of you who haven't seen Frozen 2 yet (for shame, it's SO good, I demand you go out and watch it THIS INSTANT), Bruni the salamander is from that! He's a fire spirit in the movie with legit fire powers, so I got excited to give the fire boi a fire lizard for a pet! Also, maybe you can start to see the inklings of actual plot starting to sneak back into this story xD Slowly, we'll get back on course, but not before at least one more hijinks-y misadventure takes place… hehehe…

What does the next chapter hold in store for out couple? What new challenges could their budding fake relationship face? Is Elsa really going to pursue any sort of acting class or community theater? Will Lea ever follow his realtor aspirations he seemed so passionate about? Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

[absolutelynoct]

Chapters: 17/? Fandom: Final Fantasy XV, FFXV - Fandom Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Prompto Argentum, Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia, Ravus Nox Fleuret/Noctis Lucis Caelum, Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia, Prompto Argentum & Cor Leonis, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Gladiolus Amicitia & Iris Amicitia, Noctis Lucis Caelum & Regis Lucis Caelum, Clarus Amicitia & Cor Leonis & Regis Lucis Caelum, Aulea Lucis Caelum/Regis Lucis Caelum, Ardyn Izunia/Cor Leonis Characters: Gladiolus Amicitia, Gladiolus & Iris Amicitia's Mother, Clarus Amicitia, Iris Amicitia, Prompto Argentum, Cor Leonis, Verstael Besithia, The Argentums, Noctis Lucis Caelum, Regis Lucis Caelum, Aulea Lucis Caelum, Ignis Scientia, Ignis Scientia's Uncle, Ignis Scientia's Mother, Ignis Scientia's Father, Ravus Nox Fleuret, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, Lunafreya & Ravus Nox Fleuret's Parents, Cid Sophiar, Aranea Highwind, Cindy Aurum, Loqi Tummelt, Iedolas Aldercapt Additional Tags: IgNoct, promptio, gladio x prompto, gladiolus amicitia x prompto argentum, ignis scientia x noctis lucis caelum, Ignis x noctis, noctis x ravus, noctis lucis caelum x ravus nox fleuret, Muteness, selective mutism, Selectively mute, Childhood Trauma, modern prince, Childhood Abuse, recovery from abuse, Toxic Relationships, Mildly Dubious Consent, Friends to Lovers, Found Family, Music, Singing, Guitar, High School, High School AU, Alternate Universe, Dad!Cor, papa!Cor, Overprotective Parents, Healing, Friendship, Toxicity, Trauma, mental health, Manipulation, recovery from toxic relationships, Pining, Mutual Pining, More tags to be added, no non-con between main ships, Gay, Teens, Teenager, Modern Royalty, modern prince AU, Angst, Asexuality, pansexuality, Bisexuality, sex repulsed, Mental Illness, PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Anxiety, Therapy Dog, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Slow Burn, Unrequited Love, Explicit Sexual Content, Sex, Gay Sex, Anal Sex, Anal, Anal Fingering, explicit rating due to sex not trauma, Past Drug Use, Minor Character Death, Parental Issues Summary:

Prompto has suffered through emotional and physical abuse at the hands of his biological father and adoptive parents, the Argentums, until Cor Leonis takes him in and formally adopts him. Finally in a safe space, Prompto can start to recover from the years of abuse, but one of the lasting effects is selective mutism, rendering him unable to speak in anxiety-invoking situations. Encouraged by the king of Lucis, Regis, Cor decides that it's time to send Prompto to the private school in Insomnia to learn how to interact with others his age. Meanwhile, Noctis is the prince of Lucis, thoroughly spoiled after an accident that left him scarred, both physically and emotionally. Like Prompto he is selectively mute, although he is further along in his recovery than Prompto is. His father doesn't mind that his son is pansexual, especially when Noctis reveals that he is dating prince Ravus of Tenebrae. However, Noctis quickly realizes that he is in over his head and may need help to get out before he ends up more wounded than before. A modern prince/high school AU that focuses on recovery from trauma and found family!

I’m so honored that this fic seems to be resonating with some people! I love the promptio ship that I wish more people loved it too. Thank you to all those who have read it so far! Chapter 18 will be updating tomorrow!!!