#Do you really think that some straight guy came up with those pyramids all by himself?

[ioletia]

If only modern Egypt wasn't such a bigoted shit hole, I would really like to go there and visit some of the natural and ancient wonders. But, since I'm an unapologetic fag, I would be murdered by the religiously intolerant that run the place. Which is a shame, because reenacting Death on the Nile while actually on the Nile would be the literal high point of my life. And I'm talking about the Peter Ustinov version of Death on the Nile, the one with Maggie Smith, Bette Davis, and Angela Lansbury! Not that cheap and stupid shit that Fox pumped out a few years ago that turned a slow burn murder mystery into a fucking action film.

[smutty-ki113r]

🌐Discord🌐||

Comfort one-shot reader x creepy pastas (Slenderman, Jeff, Toby, E.J, BEN, Sally, Masky, Hoodie, Jane and L.J.)

Inspired by: The living tombstone

You woke to excessive yelling, turning over and pushing the pillow over your face groaning. The voice got louder and you felt a pair of hands shake you awake, throwing the pillow at them you found that it was Toby. He let out an abrupt gasp and continued to jump around the hotel room. You understood why he was so excited, it was the first day of your trip to Disney world after all.

I know it seems unconventional but you had managed to convince slender to let you guys go. Obviously it was on Halloween weekend, the only time they could go into the parks without being questioned for their looks. That day you would all be going to Epcot.

Masky was probably the most excited about that park even though he had an expressionless face on the ride there. He had been so against going, at least it seemed like it. But you saw him putting ciggarates in a fanny pack when getting ready to leave.

Smiling fondly at the memory you got up and dressed. After breakfast you all drove to the park, seeing the Halloween decorations in orange and black with the shapes of Mickey Mouse. You groaned at the bickering going on in the third row of seats with Jeff and E.J, who was trying to convince Jeff to leave his knife in the car.

“They’ll stop you at security” you called back to him.

“I can hide it” he protested.

“Jeff they have literal metal detectors” E.J rebutted.

“What if I put it in my pants” he said smartly.

“NO” you yelled. After a death glare and a small tug of war between him and E.J he left it. He walked at the back of the group, slumping with his hands in his hoodie pocket. At the entrance the whole crowd was met with “oohs” and compliments about your “costumes”.

There was so much to do, but Hoodie (secretly Masky too) and BEN wanted to go to Spaceship earth. They were all so amazed on how there was a ride inside of the Epcot ball.

“It’s an XXL golf ball” BEN kept saying, convinced that there was nothing inside. There wasn’t much wait but since you were all a big crowd it took a bit to get in. Slender had the hardest time getting in the cart, he had to crouch excessively to fit. You rode with BEN, who was really excited at first because he thought there was going to be a drop but it turned out bore him. He thought it was going too slow, and so he had the bright idea to tamper with the manuals. “Time to spice things up” he said rubbing his hands maliciously. At one point all the carts started spinning, he lifted his hands and “wheeed”. You could hear Sally yelling from the back with Slender holding her in the seat since there was no restraints. At the end he scolded Ben, rushing him out of there as the cast members apologized for the inexplicable inconvenience.

He came out of there with a proud grin, cackling as he pointed out the dumbfounded face E.J made in the picture and the one with Jeff with his tongue out. The smiling killer joined him, watching Toby spin from the dizziness- it was pretty funny though.

Slender admired the late October scenery until Sally pulled him into a stand and graced him with a Mickey Mouse hat. Jeff was yet another unfortunate victim of Sally’s plan, wearing the mickey ears that had a pastel veil. BEN was throwing fits of giggles at this, but you knew Jeff was fucking insecure so you put on ears along with Sally.

The first country you stopped at was Mexico, where you went inside the pyramid. Jeff traded his ears for a big Mexican hat, Ben too. They played with the maracas while Toby, Sally and Hoodie went into the glass shop. It was a recipe for disaster, but you followed regardless. Sally tried on every. Single. Princess crown while Toby looked at the glass pieces a bit too closely. He started ticking while holding one, even though the sign said not to touch them. It flew across the store and collided with a whole other shelf, all of them broke and he started apologizing furiously as Slender messed the employees’ mind to make him forget about the accident.

He had to pull Toby out of the store and drag him to the boat ride, you patted him on the back daringly as he had the guiltiest look. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea for slender to go on the boat ride, he was far too tall and had to bend his knees to look like a grasshopper while Sally smiled and sung along with the cartoon characters. When you got off you could hear Slender mumbling something about his back.

Norway didn’t have much to do but Sally begged to go on the Elsa ride, Hoodie accompanied her happily. Toby as well, but he was really enthusiastic about the songs- he knew all of them. Him and Sally harmonized during the chorus for “let it go”. Since there were a shit ton of little kids there L.J was about to combust. Surprisingly he stayed super silent with occasional grumbles, making mental notes for when he got out of the park. He had to ditch the group to shop for Candy, which he found in China.

Jane was absolutely fascinated with the Zodiac garden there, watching the beautiful plants in the morning sun. Masky tried to relax by watching the show inside the pavillion but Toby caught up to him. He really couldn’t sit still and Masky had to scold him for sitting on the rail he wasn’t supposed to sit on. After, you found E.J playing with Sally with the marionettes and BEN with a cup of Boba. He seemed to be enjoying it- a lot. It was the funniest thing to watch him suck up all the tapioca stuck in the ice, his cheeks got super red and you couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

Jeff was gladly giving Toby his Mickey Mouse ears. In the afternoon you moved to Italy, where L.J was getting complimented for his “stilts”. There wasn’t much to do in Germany or America so you guys went to Japan. Laughing Jack was a lost cause, going straight for the candy while Jeff was mesmerized by the samurai swords. He was looking around to see if he could steal one, but how in the world would he hide that- definitely not in his pants. You caught on quick.

“Just ONE” he pleaded with you as you pulled him away from the glass. “Don’t do this to meeee” he screeched at you like a starved man asking for food.

Trying to throw hands and hit you while you grasped onto his hoodie. You managed to bring him with you as you walked out of the store. Passing by Masky who was trying to get away from Toby- he was fanning masky with those big fans. Jeff sat sourly as you ordered food, a stressed Masky came soon after. He was glad to have some quiet from the ruckus outside, enjoying a meal with you. When he was done he went outside to have a smoke from his fanny pack.

Going back to the store with Jeff on a tight leash AWAY from the swords you found Sally playing with the plushies and L.J taking packs and packs of candy. You stood and stared at him as he loaded up on the strawberry gummies. “What?” He deadpanned as a few fell down from his pile. You just laughed and helped him hold some of them, putting them in your backpack and walking out of the store because- y’all are criminals, and you steal.

It was now late afternoon, and you only had a few countries left to complete the full round of the park. Toby got lost in France, you all spent about twenty minutes looking for him and apparently Slender too who disappeared soon after. Then out of some room came one of them.

“where where you?” Jane asked.

Slender stepped forward “at the show, there were some magnificent castles and I think I’ll have to visit. Maybe even take ideas for house redecoration” he nodded.

Then out of nowhere appeared a cast member holding the hand of one shaking Toby, whose eyes were puffy and cheeks red. “Did you lose this little boy” she asked slender, he shook his head yes and gave a sigh.

The lady was in absolute awe of the group, especially daddy dilf slender. “How IS it that you see through that mask” she mused, taking slender’s head in her hands even though he was super tall. Her mouth was open as she pulled him super close to observe his (non-existent) face. BEN was snickering and you looked back and forth to see slender pretty flustered at the lady’s proximity.

“Leave him alone” Jane smacked BEN behind his head and took him by the ear. You followed them to the U.K. She threw him in one of the phone booths and held the door so he couldn’t escape. You could hear him complain from inside “let me outttt” he said muffled. Jeff caught up and went into the one on the opposite side, playing with the buttons on the dial. When Slender came back he took out a Camera to snap pictures of BEN and Jeff. You stood to the side while he did, obviously both of them didn’t notice. They were pretty candid and when they saw what was happening they ran out of there, only to have their spaces replaced with Sally and E.J, who had to pose with her for the picture.

The sun was starting to set and you guys only had a couple things left to do, one of which Jeff almost exploded in wait for. He wanted to try test track so bad, the line was gruesome and he tapped his foot impatiently in wait. BEN kept tampering with the car parts on display, making doors open and lights flash in boredom. Toby waited outside with Slender because he had anxiety around going too fast in a car and possibly reliving trauma. Jeff, on the other hand, was so excited when it was finally time to go on. He let you sit next to him in the front with BEN in the back. The ride was entertaining sure but the best part was probably Jeff’s face at the end. The car went so fast that Jeff’s cheeks were pushed back with the wind, stretching out his carved smile and flapping as he waved his hands in the air.

Then when it ended he wanted to steal one of the cars from the display.

“I can turn it on and take the safety off” BEN tuned in cheekily.

“Yessss” Jeff said with a fist pump, “which one should we get?” He asked.

“The red one” BEN decided.

“Guys nonononon” you tried complaining but they were dedicated.

“Stop complaining” BEN said, distracting you while Jeff snuck up on you from behind. Covering your mouth with his hand and restraining your arms with another “This is for not letting me take that knife”.

Picking you up and throwing you in the backseat of the car before revving the engine. With tears of joy in your eyes you saw Slender appear in the rear mirror of the car, tendrils waving around in fury. If BEN wasn’t dead yet he would definetly be now, Jeff turned paler than usual. Thank goodness he saw what was going on. They were about to drive off in one of those Toyotas- forget about mass murder, they were about to commit grand theft auto.

Next was the Nemo ride, but BEN was absolutely petrified of being near water so he waited outside with Slender-who very much could not fit in that shell car as much as he tried. Sally really liked it, she went with Toby and you went with Jane. Masky and Hoodie went together. Needless to say all of you enjoyed it very much, and the aquarium after was great too. Jane sat where she could watch the Dolphins and you could hear Toby and Sally’s footsteps running around from tank to tank.

“Do you think Slender will let me take a shark home?” He asked Masky, who told him no. But when they were outside Toby went straight to Slender. “Can I take a pet home?” He pleaded. Slender gave him a strict no but Toby continued to beg, “how about a seahorse?”, “not even a starfish?”. He got shot down but quickly recovered when you guys went to Soarin.

All of them- they loved flying. Even through it was just a ride, it was exhilarating. Passing through the sea and waterfalls, even the castles where Slender would have smiled at (if he had a mouth). Toby yelled like a mother fucker the whole time, luckily Masky was sitting next to you and hoodie- away from earshot. Jeff got the bad end of his shouting, making a face like he was about to murder poor Toby. But the brunette was so distracted by the lights and scenery he didn’t notice. E.J was pretty fascinated too, the height scared him a bit- he was used to being on the ground. Then you all shared some food from the cafeteria and went outside to watch the light show from Canada.

It was such a nice moment, with the sun already set and a hazy glow lingering in the air. You took a deep breath in, the ambiance felt like something unreal. The Epcot ball was illuminated by purplish lights in the background and across the lake you could see all the countries monuments lined with white lights. Slender had Sally on his shoulders so she could take in the view. It made you so happy to be with all of them in an instance like this. You looked back to find L.J eating his candy. With BEN and Hoodie next to you, Masky was leaning on the railing with his elbows next to E.J. and Toby was about to fall asleep. He got pretty startled when the fireworks started, but Sally’s eyes lit up with happiness. She cheered as you watched the group, it was such a kindling time with them. You couldn’t wait for the next day of the trip.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S5 Ep 18: A Series of Ecological Disasters

Booting up ye old Yugioh, booting up a new aesthetic playlist to type to. (today’s playlist is webcore, which would feel like such a damn fake aesthetic, if it weren’t that every single one of these -core aesthetics are pretty damn fake and everyone knows it.)

Anyway, it’s been so long that, I’ll be honest, I thought I booted up the wrong episode:

I usually skip the anime intro, but I try to watch it once each arc, cuz the intros change, and this arc was like “screw it, here’s all the other villains, just pretend this arc isn’t happening.” They had Pegasus, they had Marik, they have Bakura (who is kind of in this shot as well, you can see him phasing in there.) And like...I guess they’re hiding the villain of this arc or something because that was it. Alexander the Great got just nixed from this villain list and that’s a shame.

Just a real weird choice, but since apparently this arc didn’t air in Japan they probably had to outsource this anime intro and whatever studio in charge of it just cobbled together stuff from every other season and then a couple of shots of capsule stuff.

Speaking of capsule stuff: get a load of how many freakin lines the animators have to deal with every time they draw Grandpa.

Bro saw this and was like “oh yeah, this is a Shonen Jump” and yeah. The hair does give those vibes. We got a good look at what Vegeta would look like if he really let himself go.

(read more under the cut)

Sorry, my playlist started playing a song where every single line of the song is “Adrien Brody” and it took me like a few minutes to realize I was listening to “Brodyquest” completely seriously.

Damn it, webcore, don’t betray me like this.

Anyway, this arc does something super surprising: Yugi actually hugs somebody and doesn’t look like he’s going to pass out standing up.

It is pretty fitting that the good Yugi hug would go to Grandpa.

And, as night falls, Joey Wheeler has gotten hungry, and there is nothing to eat but his new best friend and spirit animal, baby dragon. Unfortunately he shares life points with the dragon, and I think if you eat it that just instakills you.

And directly underneath him--since this world is like 100 feet wide and things just conveniently happen--Tea has told everyone that they needed to stop worrying about Joey. Which is a lot coming from Tea, because her worrying about Yugi/Yami getting hurt is most of what occupies her headspace in this series.

But even Tea was like, screw Joey, I guess.

Who kinda just falls directly into them upside down, and shows us what Joey’s hair looks like when it’s sticking straight up.

For reals, admire how long Joey Wheeler’s hair is. If Tea were upside down, she would have the same length of hair.

Also speaking of Vegeta, I am low key concerned that Joey has what appears to be a significant amount of male pattern balding going on for a teenager.

Apparently getting set on fire many, many times did have an effect on Joey, and this massive pompadour he wears is a combover. Poor baby.

Holy crap, if this is what card stress and getting killed multiple times did to Joey Wheeler, can you imagine what’s going on under Seto’s bangs? That’s probably why his bangs ride so low, Seto likely wears a freakin toupee.

Guys, Joey’s gonna lose his hair at 25 at this rate. Those locks just aren’t long for this world. Poor baby.

After Joey rejoins the party, he immediately eats all of their food. Not sure why they can’t just have Baby Dragon eat like...whatever Baby Dragon naturally eats...and then transform that into shared Joey Wheeler life points, but it’s not clear exactly how much of a life-connection they have with their Yugioh monsters. Not like it matters because Joey Wheeler is default starving all the time anyway.

Tristan has decided we should start laying blame, I guess because Duke Devlin isn’t here anymore to be the local kill joy. This doesn’t seem to be important at any point, and most of the characters are just ignoring Tristan because like...once you’re in the haunted game in a haunted tomb in a random part of India--it’s kind of moot to argue about who’s fault that is, youknow?

Joey reminds us that he found this quest item in a treasure chest under a secret waterfall. No one says “that was convenient that you landed there after getting chased through a ravine by man-eating birds after you got your dragon from when you got your crotch injury from getting spliced by that tree.”

Which is when Tea says “Wait! We haven’t had a plot thing happen in like 4 seconds! Wait!”

Hey what degree of “I don’t trust nature” do you have to be to assume that all the flowers are trying to eat you?

Like what level of anxiety is Tea where she not only is like “pretty sure the flowers are going to destroy us?” but also...she’s correct? Like she’s not wrong.

They set the dog flowers on fire, but unlike the Jungle Book this doesn’t solve any problems (which apparently got taken off the Disney+ kid’s menu so...yet again, I make a Disney reference in these recaps that future generations will not understand because so much of the Disney library has been banned from the vault. It’s almost like Disney should let go of that copyright they held on for like a hundred years, because what they’re holding on to is only going to get more racist with time. But nah. Gotta hold on with their greedy mickey mouse gloves.)

So instead of using fire, Tristan used his monster to electrocute the air (?) and blind the dogs. Wisely, the animators quickly jumped to this other scene so we wouldn’t have to analyze why it’s suddenly daytime or why that plan would even work.

Joey and Tristan do a lot of buddy buddy stuff this arc. Usually we see a lot of Joey and Yugi’s bottomless friendship, but we don’t get this much Tristan/Joey love. So shippers rejoice, these two seem to have several coordinated dances and songs...and I’d say that teens don’t typically do that, but I went to summer camp, there are situational places where teens will sing the entire vacation and make coordinated dances.

Weirdly, since Joey and Tristan share so much time together, this also means Tea and Yugi actually sit next to eachother for a lot of this arc, almost as if they were a couple. Mind you, they’re chaperoned closely by Grandpa, but youknow...that’s a different energy than I’m used to seeing.

That and like, they can’t have Tea dance with them because last time she did a dance, it was like a DDR fight and she elbowed some guy like it was a fisticuffs situation. Like there was some sort of dance war going on behind the scenes of Yugioh’s card war, and it came up once and I guess Tea resolved it and the dance fights haven’t come back since.

Overall, if they did a dance with Tea, they would get kneed in the face, so that’s probably why they insist on doing cancans as a duet and not a trio.

After Joey and Tristan freak out over having no food, Tea decides to just start eating in front of them.

and like...didn’t Joey eat that food yesterday? Like last night? The short term memory loss on all these fools.

Immediately after this we realize something weird in the water. That’s right, it’s a massive head.

Yugi seems to have forgotten they lit this turtle on fire and electrocuted the entire sky the night before. Not that it mattered.

There were like...nesting birds on those trees on that island. What the hell? They just killed so MANY of those man-eating dogs that are flowers.

Seriously are land turtles allowed to just...dive underwater for long periods of time? How does that ecosystem even work? It’s like...That’s wild to think about.

Inside the temple, they have to fight a genie or something.

In case you were wondering, the only reason Tea and Grandpa got iced is because they were the closest to the door. The two who were actually standing out of harms way were the closest to harm the whole time.

Bro tells me this is also what will happen to you if you are in the front or the back of the party while playing Cthulu D&D

Anyway, Pharaoh decides to disclose that his big problem of feeling guilty all the time and taking all the blame, which he did all of last season...is still a huge problem he will probably never tackle.

Straight up, don’t be fooled by my caps, everyone else has completely forgotten about Alex, who is still running around that temple up there. They haven’t even asked Grandpa “hey is this your protege? Is this your mentee you never told us about?” Nah. They already forgot. 

How wild is it that Pharaoh thinks this is all his fault when he was the only one who was like “YUGI IT’S A TRAP DON’T GO IN THE- well...OK I guess we’re doing this, fine.” Is he upset he didn’t take control from Yugi and walk back to the plane? Because that’s the only way he could even be partially responsible, He was the only guy who was like “I see the end from the beginning on this y’all, and it’s the massive pyramid in India.”

Speaking of forgetting, they came across this language Pharaoh has decided to have nothing to do with.

This was actually a riddle and it was like...it was a riddle, sure, I guess.

And so Joey Wheeler does not hallucinate his dead wife from a previous incarnation and get on the back of his Baby Dragon to sail away into the sunset. Instead they’re just gonna walk.

Too bad Tea’s orb covered in wings only seems to hover a bit. Every single wing on that weird orb is absolutely useless.

And then Pharaoh’s pokemon is just a fire--which is hard to sit on--and Celtic Guardian...who would allow it, sure, but probably doesn’t fly (I think. He might fly)

And then Tristan’s Pokemon kinda seems like if you sit on it, you will get electrocuted. It can probably fly though. It’s very round. Seems like an anime thing that the more round your mascot character is, the more likely it can at least bounce a good distance.

So, next time, I’m just going to assume that we are going to do even more camping. And youknow, if you told me exactly HOW MUCH CAMPING was in this card game show with super future tech, I would not have believed you. But like...a lot of this series is set in the woods right? Like a lot a lot? I have grown to appreciate the woods.

Anyway, as always, if you just got here, this is a link to read these in chrono order:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

See you next time!

[searchingwardrobes]

Not the Type - 6/8

Finally! A new update :) Sorry for the delay, but the muse has been fickle as of late. In this chapter, Emma has her first competition of the season, and it's psyching her out. Will Killian be her encouragement, or will she push him away in the midst of it all? This chapter includes another iconic scene from the movie, when Torrance dances around her room to Cliff's song. I wanted to use the actual lyrics to the song, but in looking at it, there were a few lines that bothered me. One literally says "I'd bring you flowers every day just to roll you in the hay." And then there's a constant refrain that says "I'll make you mine." Those lines just don't seem to jive for me with Killian's character when in canon he specifically tells David that he doesn't see Emma as loot and tells Emma that he will win her heart, but not through any trickery. We know he isn't the kind of guy to give a woman flowers in order to manipulate her into sleeping with him. We also know how much agency means to him, so I didn't think telling Emma in song "I'll make you mine" fit either. Anyways, that's a long way of explaining that the lyrics are 99% like the ones in the movie, minus those two parts.

Massive thanks to my beta, @hookedonapirate who takes my confusing sentences and makes them sound purty ;) You’re the best! And thanks also to the @captainswanmoviemarathon​ for putting together this event and being massively supportive and patient. 

Summary: Emma Swan first notices him in the stands at the Friday night football game. She can tell right away Killian Jones is not the football type. Then again, she’s not the cheerleader type either, but here she is with pom poms. Life hasn’t ever gone the way Emma planned. Lately, that’s actually been a good thing. Maybe Killian Jones is a good thing, too.

My loose Captain Swan AU of the movie Bring it On

Rated: T

Also on Ao3

Tagging: @kmomof4  @snowbellewells @whimsicallyenchantedrose @xhookswenchx @teamhook @let-it-raines @winterbythesea @spartanguard @shireness-says @superchocovian @thesschesthair @resident-of-storybrooke @vvbooklady1256 @hookedonapirate @ultraluckycatnd @hollyethecurious @welllpthisishappening @wellhellotragic @bethacaciakay @optomisticgirl @lfh1226-linda @ilovemesomekillianjones @ekr032-blog-blog @itsfabianadocarmo @profdanglaisstuff @thisonesatellite @winterbaby89 @tiganasummertree @xsajx @jennjenn615 @zaharadessert @stahlop @scientificapricot @thislassishooked @kday426 @ultraluckycatnd @carpedzem @ohmakemeahercules @branlovestowrite @delirious-latenight-laughs @jennjenn615 @snidgetsafan @lassluna​

The room was thick with hair spray, and Emma and the rest of the Storybrooke Knights Cheerleaders were sucking on orange slices. Except for Ruby who was touching up her blood red lipstick in front of one of the mirrors propped up on the classroom’s smart board. 

“I think they’re red enough already, Ruby,” Coach Ava remarked as she sprayed more Aquanet all over her daughter’s hair. MM was having to wear a hair extension so she didn’t look out of place with their “hair” theme, and Coach was paranoid it was going to go flying across the gym floor during their routine. Emma wasn’t sure hairspray worked that way, but she wasn’t about to say so. 

Ruby smacked her lips together with a loud pop. “The redder the better, I say. I want them to see my smile.”

She turned to the rest of the group and flashed a toothy grin. They all laughed, and Belle grimaced. 

“More like a predator about to devour her prey.”

Ruby winked at Belle and growled, resulting in more laughter. Coach Ava rolled her eyes as she capped the hairspray. “Just don’t get it all over your teeth, okay Lucas?”

“No worries, Coach, it’s that long-lasting stuff that isn’t supposed to come off.”

“So why did you need fifty coats?” Tiana quipped.

They were all still laughing when a woman wearing a t-shirt that read, East Maybrook Invitational and holding an ipad poked her head into the classroom. “Storybrooke High in the hole!”

The girls all stood, gathering up their things, tossing orange peels into the trash bins and giving their hair and make up one last glance in the mirror. They followed the woman in the official t-shirt down two hallways to East Maybrook High’s cafeteria where cheer mats had been set up in the same configuration as on the performance floor. The girls took their places as if they were really performing, and marked out the routine while Coach Ava counted out the beats. If something went wrong with the music, they would have to keep going. They only pantomimed doing the stunts, however, not wanting to risk a last minute injury. 

After running through the routine, a nervous silence fell among them. Some girls stretched, others did a few jumps, or even a back handspring. Anything to handle their nervous energy. Emma bounced on the balls of her feet, heart pounding in her chest more than usual. A phone call had followed the letter: someone from the UK cheer staff would be in the stands today. 

And she still hadn’t told her friends about it.

“Storybrooke High on deck!” 

The girls gave each other nervous glances and clasped hands in little groups as they followed the woman out of the cafeteria doors. Emma had Ruby on her left and Mary Margaret on her right, their arms threaded together. For once, Ruby was quiet. 

As they neared the gym, the girls could hear the familiar sounds of competition: loud music, an announcer's voice, shouts as the audience cheered for the cheerleaders for once. It made the adrenaline pump even harder. It usually was at this moment that Emma went into her competitive “zone” where everything around her went fuzzy and her mind became laser focused on the routine and what she had to do. Today, however, she felt like she was on sensory overload, unable to turn off all the sights, sounds, and smells around her. 

Before she could even process everything, Storybrooke was being announced to the crowd. Emma ran out onto the floor with a huge smile, cheers, and fist pumps for the crowd, but it felt like she was outside of herself, watching. She took her place on the floor, standing in prep, her arms straight at her sides and her head down. Her fists were clenched, and she tried to control the nervous tremors coursing through her as she waited for their music to start. 

A synth-pop remix of “Hair” from the Broadway musical started to play, and the Storybrooke Knights whipped their ponytails as they started their back handspring/back tuck peel-offs. Coach Ava always said that the music needed to appeal to every generation represented in the judge’s panel as well as the crowd, and as Emma flawlessly landed her tumbling pass to roaring applause, she saw the two boomer judges smiling and bopping to the music. 

She reprimanded herself for looking at the judges as she jogged across the floor for her next tumbling pass. Nevertheless, she scanned the crowd just before she started her pass, wondering where that UK recruiter was. It was the most difficult pass in the entire routine: a back handspring into an arabian, then a double whip into a full twisting double back. She hesitated, stumbling, before getting started because of her distraction, and by the time she did her second whip, she had a sinking feeling. Sure enough, when she landed her double back, she was way out of bounds. She didn’t need the loud buzzer from the line judge to alert her to the fact. She gritted her teeth in frustration, but then remembered to fake a smile as she got into the dance formation. Her face ached from her forced smile as she swung her hips to the rhythm of “Whip My Hair.”

Emma’s next mistake came in the squad’s first pyramid. It felt like she had a weight attached to her ankle, and she couldn’t lift her leg as high as she normally did to connect to Mary Margaret’s stunt group to her left. She almost lost her balance completely, but Ruby compensated and saved it. Mary Margaret didn’t falter either, thank God. Emma was practically shaking as she went into the twist up stunt - her nemesis in this routine. Kelly Rowland singing “Crown” as Emma popped up, her hand grasping her ponytail, helped her power through, as cheesy as it sounded. 

Despite the mistakes Emma was berating herself for, the crowd was going crazy for the combination of the theme, the music, and the cool tricks. By the end, the entire gymnasium was on its feet with thunderous applause. Emma ended the routine seated on the mat, back to the audience with her head flung back. Since she saw them all upside down, she couldn’t pick out her family or anyone in Kentucky blue. 

Ruby yanked Emma to her feet, screaming loud enough to shatter her eardrums. Mary Margaret and Ariel sandwiched her in a hug, and then they were swept away by the rest of their ecstatic teammates. 

“Amazing job, girls!” Coach Ava praised, gathering them in a big, squirming, awkward group hug. “Mary Margaret didn’t even lose her hair!’’

They all laughed giddily, except for Emma. Her mind was reeling. “I went out of bounds,” she confessed.

Coach Ava waved off her words. “It’s our first competition. It’s normal for there to be kinks to work out. Let’s not worry about that until the next practice, though. For now, let’s just celebrate a solid opening for the season.”

Her teammates seemed to all be in agreement, and so did the judges, awarding The Storybrooke Knights with a third place finish. It wasn’t their best opening - that had been last year’s first place trophy to kick off the season - but making the top three was the goal of every top squad right out of the gate. Even the UK recruiter had congratulated her on a solid routine.

“I could see the nerves a bit,” she told Emma, her smile kind and reassuring, “but the level of tumbling skill you possess is rare. Top five I’ve seen so far, no doubt about it. We’ll definitely be in touch.”

Emma, however, couldn’t shake the feeling of failure that clung to her. 

“I’m blown away, Swan, that was amazing!”

Emma was in Killian’s arms before she could even register that he’d rushed out of the bleachers and onto the floor to greet her. He brushed a kiss to her cheek and deposited a bouquet of white daisies into her arms. 

“It wasn’t amazing,” Emma whispered, staring down at the white flowers. 

“Come now, don’t be modest.” Killian’s grin conveyed giddy pride in her which she found inexplicably annoying. 

“I stepped out of bounds on my big tumbling pass, I almost took down our first pyramid, and I was shaky on every single stunt!”

Killian’s eyes narrowed. “Your team doesn’t seem put out with you.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “They’re being nice. If we hadn’t placed, it would have been a different story. It would have all been my fault.”

“Whatever happened to the whole we win as a team, we fail as a team thing?”

“My team relies on me keeping my head on straight!” Her voice had risen, and she slashed the air with the bouquet of flowers. White petals fluttered to the gym floor. 

Killian cocked his head and studied her. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“Nothing!”

“It’s something, Swan.” 

He stepped forward, reaching for her, but she stepped out of his reach. 

“I just let everyone down, but no one will be straight with me. Why can’t you all just admit I screwed up today?”

Killian shook his head. “I don’t think you’re seeing things clearly. I saw an amazingly talented athlete today, Swan. You were amazing.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. Of course you’d say that. You’re a high school guy. You’ll say anything you have to to get in a cheerleader’s panties.”

Killian’s eyes widened and his head jerked back as if she’d slapped him. “You really think so little of me?”

She tilted her chin. “I’m no fool. Did you think tonight would be the night? Show up to my little competition, compliment me, throw in some flowers, and I’d spread my legs for you?”

Killian backed away, his jaw clenching, nostrils flaring. “I’m going to assume you don’t mean any of that, Emma, so I’m walking away before either of us can say anything we might regret.”

“Fine!” she yelled as he turned and walked toward the gym doors. “Walk away! That’s what every guy does when a girl won’t put out.” She threw the flowers at his retreating form. She watched the white petals swirl through the air and the green stems hit the parquet floor with a soft swish and crinkle of cellophane wrapper. 

“Emma!”

She whirled around to see Ruth standing there, frown upon her face and her brow furrowed. David stood next to her, his arms crossed in disapproval. Nearby a cluster of her teammates stared as if she’d morphed into some mythological creature with two heads. Her face burned as she realized how loudly she’d yelled at her boyfriend. 

Probably ex-boyfriend now. 

Humiliated, she turned and fled, fingers pressed to her flaming cheeks. 

*********************************************

“Go away,” Emma muttered into her pillow.

“What if I were Mom with a plate of brownies?”

Emma grabbed a teddy bear, clutching two tiny red pom poms (a gift from Ruth after last year’s state championship win), and smacked her brother in the head with it. She glared at him through one eye, the rest of her face still smashed into the pillow. 

“I knew it was you because you crashed down on my bed hard enough to catapult me out the window. Ruth’s more subtle.”

David just laughed as he rubbed at his cheek where the bear had met his face. 

“Go away,” she repeated, turning her face fully into the pillow again.

“You left your phone downstairs.”

“So?”

“So, you have like fifty text messages and thirty missed calls.”

Emma rolled over, still clutching her pillow to her chest. “Well, he’s persistent, I’ll give him that.”

“It wasn’t just Killian. Your entire team is worried about you.”

“Because I choked?”

“Because you're delusional,” David shot back with equal parts humor and frustration. “You didn’t choke. You didn’t let any of us down. You didn’t give a lousy performance, or any of a thousand other ridiculous claims you’ve made in the past few hours.”

Emma turned to look at her brother. “I made mistakes, David.”

He shrugged. “Who doesn’t? It was one competition, Emma, not the Olympics. It wasn’t even the state championships or regionals. One. Competition. At some tiny high school in the middle of nowhere, Maine.”

Emma groaned as she pushed herself up to the headboard and let her head drop to David’s shoulder. He put his arm around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. 

“Why didn’t you tell me about Kentucky?”

Emma sighed. When the recruiter had called, she insisted on speaking to Ruth as well. Emma should have known she would spill the beans to her son, especially after Emma acted like a complete lunatic. 

Yes, a delusional lunatic. Her brother wasn’t wrong. 

“I don’t know, it was just . . . a lot to process. And a lot rides on this. I mean, there aren’t any football recruiters looking at you, which means college is gonna be expensive, Mr. Quarterback. If my tuition is taken care of, Ruth can just worry about you.”

“I could get other scholarships.”

“You’re a white, middle class male. You aren't getting any other scholarships.”

He chuckled and poked her in the ribs. “Regardless of all that, Mom just wants what’s best for you. We’ll figure out college and the money and all that, but we’ll do it together. That’s what a family does. Okay?”

This family thing was still new for Emma, so she just nodded in agreement against David’s shoulder. 

“But speaking of Killian,” David said, waving her phone in front of her face, “some of these calls and texts are from him. He sent you a video, too. Then called me and pretty much begged me to get you to watch it, so just give him that much, okay? So he’ll leave me alone?”

Emma rolled her eyes as she took the phone. David could protest all he wanted, but she knew about the little bromance he had with her boyfriend. 

She waited until her brother went downstairs before she sat cross-legged in the center of her bed and pulled up the video from Killian. She gnawed on her bottom lip nervously before pressing “play.” 

And there Killian was, on the tiny screen, smiling like they’d never had a fight. Emma’s lips pulled up into a grin of her own. He was also holding his guitar in his lap and fidgeting.

“Hi, Emma,” he said with a nervous little wave. “You’ve been ignoring all my calls and texts, so I decided to pull out the big guns. I was gonna give this to you as a gift for like Valentine’s Day or something, but  . . . you know . . . desperate times call for desperate measures.”

He cleared his throat and shifted again, and Emma blinked back tears. She’d never seen him at such a loss for words. 

“I wrote you a song,’ he continued, “so, I’ll just shut up and sing it already.”

Emma gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as he began to strum his electric. It started 

out as a kind of slow, cheeky punk rock ballad.

Oh, Emma, I don’t get your cheerleading squad, but I love your pom-poms. I'd feed you bon-bons all night.

Then it transitioned into a full on rock song, and Killian began to shred on his guitar. He was really good, and the song had Emma bobbing her head to the music. 

1,2,3,4. Yeah, you got me to feel all those butterflies inside. In your locker I would hide. The truth, it's only you I see, and you're just what I need. I'll bring you flowers all the time in hopes that you’ll be mine. Well I'm feelin' fine, I'm right on time. I hope I’ll win your heart.

When he transitioned into the chorus, Emma leapt up from her bed. She propped her phone on her nightstand and began to dance around the room to Killian’s song.

And you're just what I need. And you're just what I need. Not everything works as it seems. Is that so hard to believe? So I went down to the record store. Picked my head up off the floor. The truth, it's only you I see. And you're just what I need. And if it's my world that you fear, let me make this very clear. Well I'm feelin' fine, I'm right on time. I hope I’ll win your heart. And you're just what I need.

The chorus repeated a couple more times, and Emma danced around her room like she hadn’t in a long time. She even grabbed an old pair of pom poms she’d gotten as a joke at the squad’s white elephant Christmas party. They were those enormous pom poms cheerleaders used to wave in the long ago days of letter sweaters and megaphones. They made a fun swishing sound as she bounced around the room to Killian’s song. 

A song he’d written for her! A song about her! If she wasn’t so giddy and happy, she would burst into tears. 

When the song ended, Emma collapsed onto her bed, panting from her ridiculous dance party and grinning ear to ear. She rolled over and grabbed her phone. She texted rapidly, her fingers trembling. 

I watched your song. 

Did you like it? 

I LOVED it!

Good. I meant every word. 

I’m sorry. 

I know. 

[shhhlikeme]

hii! i saw you’re a new writer and your style is frickin awesome!! could you write a tanaka x black reader who’s also a cheerleader on a lvl 4 team and it’s his first time seeing her compete?!?! please and thank you!

Tanaka Seeing His All-Star Cheerleader GF Compete For The First Time! (Fluff)

———————————

A/N: Thank you for resending this🥺🤍🤍🤍 of COURSE! Let’s go on a trip to the should-have-happened 2020 Cheerleading Worlds:

———————————

“Babe!!! I’m so excited to see you!!!” Your boyfriend exclaimed into the phone. You had to hold the phone a few centimetres away from your ear because his voice was just so loud when he was excited.

“Me too, baby. We are about to start warming up soon. Did you find a spot to sit? You’re not too far back, are you? Because you can buy a pair of binoculars-“

“NO NEED! Second row, baby.”

You gasped, surprised. “What?? But you came a bit late, didn’t you? Those seats would have been taken for hours!”

“Are you questioning the powers of your boyfriend, Y/N?! All we had to do was make our way to the front audience and before you knew it two seats just opened up—“

We. Oh, right.

You remembered that Tanaka had brought his best friend Noya to Florida with him for the Cheerleading Worlds. Being well aware of how your bf and his friend are together , you immediately understood how they were able to find two seats in the front.

“Now I get it. Nishinoya bothered the other girls so much they relocated...” You had seen it first-hand at outdoor concerts with Nishi and Tanaka. Nishinoya has become even more girl crazy since his friend got off the market, he really wanted a girlfriend so he could go on double dates with you two instead of feeling like the perpetual third wheel.

“Huh? What matters is that we got a spot, Y/N!” Called a distant voice that you knew was Noya’s.

You rolled your eyes even though they couldn’t see it.

“Babe, I’m so glad you came, you know that right? Thank you so much!!” Your heart swelled every time you thought about the fact that your man literally booked a surprise trip to Florida from Japan to see you at the biggest competition in your entire life! You found out he was here last night—in a hotel far away because they were all booked up for worlds—But, he was here nonetheless. He didn’t want to shock you at the actual competition in case it altered your mind.

“I told you I’d be there!” He said.

“Yes but I didn’t believe you!! It’s a 15-hour flight!”

“That’s exactly why I brought my Noya with me! We had a blast on the flight. I just can’t wait to see you compete!” Your boyfriend quieted then, and you could hear the smile in voice when he said, “Plus, Noya wanted to be here for [YBF/N aka Your Best Friends Name].”

Noya shouted: ‘shut up, Tanaka!” in the distance and you laughed.

This is the first time that your cheer gym has ever qualified for Worlds and when your team had been given an invitation the lot of you cried for a week straight. Your boyfriend had sent you a singing telegram in celebration. It was hilarious and you loved him for it.

“That silly crush still going strong, huh Yuu?”

There were sounds of bustling in the phone then you heard Yuu loud and clear.

���It’s not silly Y/N. I’ll tell you that for the last time!”

“Tanaka told me you just asked out the hotel receptionist last night!!!”

“Because YBF/N-chan rejects me every day! I gotta make her jealous somehow!”

You heard rustling again and and an ‘Ow!’ from Noya before your boyfriends comforting voice entered the phone speaker again.

“Babe. Don’t let Noya drag you into their drama again. I need you to focus on your cheer comp. You kill it out there. Tell them if they drop you they’re gonna hear from me and blow me a kiss if you can.”

You blushed. You felt so insanely happy every time he encouraged you because he knew you so well and he was the best at it. You literally adored the man.

After speaking a little longer, your loving goodbyes and hanging up, Tanaka left to get snacks for himself and Noya while Noya held their seats

Ryu loved junk food and he loved his girlfriend so today was a perfect day

He knew It was a great idea to surprise you in Florida for the most important day of your life because he wanted you to know that nothing was more special to him than your happiness

On the way to Worlds from the hotel, Tanaka had annoyed Yuu to no end because he had tried to empty out the gift shop in search for an after-competition present for you

Noya swatted everything out of his hands, telling him that you were not on your death bed so the ‘get well soon’ teddybear was a no no & that he’d look lame with it

Not caring but kind of listening, Tanaka settled on picking up a bouquet of yellow roses for you because that was your uniform colour and he got your favourite candy.

Noya rolled his eyes but deep down he was so happy that his best friend had found the greatest love the two of them had ever seen

Seeing Y/N and Tanaka together made Yuu actually want to feel the kind of love his best friend felt for you and stop being such a player.

He had seen how much Tanaka had changed since meeting you, and it was incredible that his high-spirited best friend even had more notches to ascend

After retrieving the snacks, Tanaka returned to the stands and handed Nishinoya’s his order

They watched about 4 other teams perform before the announcer announced your team as next!!!

Tanaka cheered so loudly like a proud father

Nishinoya like a proud uncle

Your team ran on stage and you were holding hands with your best friend while waving to the audience

when you caught sight of your buzz cut baby in the crowd you pointed to him and blew him a big kiss

He pointed to his shirt with a huge smile and you could see that he was wearing a white t-shirt with your face on it in a cheer selfie

Omg lol

Honestly, Did you expect anything less?

Tanaka’s heart soared when you pointed him out, though he would never admit it, and his cheeks were hurting from smiling so wide!!!

He had never seen you perform not once before and he couldn’t wait to see you in your element!

When the lights shut off the libero and wing spiker started chanting your name in unison and whooping like they do while watching NFL.

Tanaka’s heart was beating through his chest because he was so nervous for you! Cheerleading was nothing like volleyball— while his volleyball team had 3 sets and over an hour to win a game, his beautiful girlfriend only had 2 minutes to leave everything on the floor that’s she and her team had been practicing months for and then it was all over.

Ryūnosuke watched as your team got into position.

His eyes glued themselves to you in a dance position to the far right

Since videotaping at the Cheerleading Worlds was strictly prohibited, he had practiced not blinking staring competitions with Noya last night so he wouldn’t miss a second of your performance!

He stood on his toes as to not let you out of his sight. He wanted to see your big ponytail all the way down to your toes. The whole nine yards.

Noya tried standing on the chair but he got hissed at so he jumped back down lol

Tanaka cheered one last time when he saw you take one last deep breath

“Game Time, Y/N! YOU GOT THIS BABE”

In a beat, the up-beat loud music started and you were going.

Tanaka was in awe of you and the incredible sport

Everything went so fast he was sure if he tried he’d have a heart attack from working to hard

He saw you whip your body backwards in series of difficult flips

He watched you jump into your bases hands and get tossed so high in the air that his heart stopped

He watched you stand tall in the air with only one guy holding you up while holding your toes beside your ear flexibly (partner stunts)

He watched the team move into a triangle and jump all at once hearing the crowd go:

“Hit! Hit! Hit! Hit! Pull!”

Then, he watched your team make a human pyramid! But it was so much more elaborate than the 3-person one he’d seen on tv shows:

What Tanaka expected:

Vs. What Tanaka saw:

Finally, he got to watch you in his favourite part: the sassy high energy dance at the end

Tanaka was flabbergasted because he never knew you were so much of an athlete (no offence meant, that’s what most people think before they witness competitive cheerleading)

When your team finished he cheered so loudly for you and so did Nishi

The energy in the crowd was unbelievable!!!

You looked out of breath and beautiful standing in your end position

To Tanaka, Cheerleading looked harder than volleyball!

And more dangerous.

It was like watching a Cirque de Soleil performance if it was on steroids and fast forwarded.....he loved it!!!

Tanaka wanted to run on stage when your team finished but he kept his cool and waited

After the comp and award ceremony (your team didn’t place) Tanaka was the first to run and pick you up into his arms in a big bear hug

He told you how proud he was of you and squeezed you and kissed your cheek

Even though you were sad, you couldn’t help but giggle in his embrace

All of your teammates were jealous of how cute you two were and how amazing your bf was to come all the way to America just to see you

Especially when Noya handed Tanaka who handed you the beautiful yellow roses and candy he bought for you

Everyone wished they had a boyfriend like yours as you took cute pictures together (some with Ryu kissing your cheek, giving you a piggy back, and the two of you kissing)

All pic credits go to Nishinoya who takes it way too seriously but you love him anyway

Tanaka explained to you how awesome you guys did and it literally made you forget about your loss and just smile

It was important you were happy because that meant you could enjoy the rest of the Florida trip with your best boy !!

Even Noya had a pretty great happily ever after on this trip because YBF/N was so impressed by the shirt he made with her face on it.

Go big or go home was definitely your bf’s best friend’s speciality and your best friend actually agreed to go on a date with him after seeing it

Ryu gave his Libero a thumbs up before leaning down to kiss you

He held you lovingly in his strong arms

All in all, you were ecstatic to have your man at your competition and Ryu was even happier than you to be there.

[sunshinesukuna]

lemon detergent

pairing: tsukishima x reader

tw: fighting, injuries (bruises), light swearing

wc: 1.7k

genre: angst to fluff

ayyy catch me plagiarizig my own work. eh, miya atsumu can rot anyways. im sorry if this is bad, i haven’t given you guys writing for over a week and my people-pleasing ass rushed to give you guys some content ahhhhh. éñÿwâÿś, enjoy <333

Three strikes and you’re out. For each of you, so technically that was six strikes, but the two of you never debated the technicalities of it. Not like you had time to, with a hectic schedule as third-year students and athletes. Him chucking volleyballs into the air, and you chucking yourself up in the air in the wondrous sport known as cheerleading.

He’s already waiting for you in your usual spot behind the gym. God forbid anyone see the two of you together unless it was a life-or-death situation. Hinata would grow at least a feet before that would ever happen. At least that was easy when you were dating someone like him. Being in different classes, different teams, houses on the opposite sides of town. You wondered when you would actually be close to him both emotionally, and physically.

Now that you’re closer, you can smell him for real. The tang of lemon detergent that his mom loves and clean sweat can only mean it’s Tsukishima. You stand in front of him wordlessly, eyes expectant for something. Well, something other than the forlorn look in his eyes that he’s giving you. 

“I don’t think I can come to your house after school tomorrow,” he says. There it is. You were totally expecting that this would come at some point during the year, but you didn’t expect it to come this soon. You’re still disappointed anyways. 

“It’s the third time you’ve bailed out on me this week alone, Kei,” you complain. He puts a finger to his lips at the sound of your quickly rising voice. “I barely see you at school outside of the gym!” 

“And I told you, I’m practicing. It’s not like I’m cheating or anything.” Certainly feels like you are, you want to say. But it’s best if you keep those words in the back of your head.

“For what? Nationals aren’t for two more months!” He breaks eye contact with you, opting to stare at the tree at the edge of the road. 

"Practice makes perfect.” 

“But you shouldn’t overwork yourself this much! Even I take breaks from cheerleading every now and then to come to support you at your games!” 

“(Y/N), I think you’re misjudging how important the Interhigh is to Karasuno. If we lose—”

“I know how important the match is, Kei. But there’s a difference between giving it your all and giving it too much.” You pause, taking a long breath. “Even cheerleaders don’t break our backs trying to reach new heights.”

Tsukishima sighs before putting his hands back into his pocket. He furrows his eyebrows.

“What would you know about it? Cheerleading isn’t a real sport anyway.”

Words cut deep like knives. Tsukishima’s don’t. They hit you like a bag of bricks all at once. 

The pang in your chest isn’t just from his words, it’s from his indifference. His eyes giving you that blank stare as he brushes off everything important to you. His hands staying still in his pockets as he talks to you, like you’re not even worthy of his attention. 

“What?”

And thus the standoff begins. 

First is the lunch line. You think waiting for food while hungry is hard? Try waiting for food when you’re hungry and have Tsukishima Kei looming over behind you. You’re about to plant your feet down in the floor when you’re finished, waiting for him to finish up, but you remember that you have no one to wait for.

So you briskly pick up your tray and move to a table where you spot some of your friends from cheer sitting. His eyes twitch at your figure walking so easily away from him. But it’s not like you would notice.  

Second is the hallway. Your heart clenches a bit when you spot Yamaguchi around the corner, because you know who’s going to be next to him. You can already smell the lemon detergent from here. 

His eyes burn through his glasses when you walk by. The usual glance and smile is thrown out in exchange for… nothing. Your eyes look straight forward at the end of the hall, where your classroom is. Frustration rolls off of him in waves so intense you can practically smell them, like a disruption in his lemon detergent-scented aura.

No matter, that means it’s working, right? He’ll fess up sooner enough.

But what was it again? Three strikes and you’re out.  The third strike comes later at practice.

You really should have thought this out even further. The damaged piping in the gym the cheerleading team usually used meant that they had to share with someone. And who else to share a gym with than the Karasuno Men’s Volleyball Team?

So here you are, stuck at one side of the gym while you can feel Tsukishima’s eyes on you from the other side. The routine starts off well. The first stunts all hit, with none of the same wobblings that was there in the first few weeks of learning it. 

And there it was. The throw was already crooked from the beginning. If you couldn’t reach the other flyer’s hand, then you were done for. In a last attempt to save the pyramid, you flung out your legs, trying to land on your feet.

Bad move. 

Your knee landed on something— but it wasn’t your teammates’ hands that were ready to catch you. A spike of pain shot up your foot. Suddenly the world was a blur as skin-coloured blobs that could only be your teammates rushed to help you. The lights above were reduced to sparkles that were just too bright. 

The buzzing in your ears was enough to block out the sounds coming in, but you could hear snippets of conversation here and there. 

“Was that (Y/N)?” 

“She landed on her knee!” 

“It looks bruised….”

On your knee, eh. So that was why the fire was all concentrated on your patella. The sweat on your hands wouldn’t let you regain your balance. You slump down with your back to the floor, hands over your face to block out what little pain you could, but the faucet of liquid fire trickled down your knee to no end. 

“May I help?” someone asked in a low baritone voice. You assumed that your coach said yes because you felt yourself being lifted in the air off the mat. The nape of your neck was wet, either from your sweat or this person’s. 

This person was strong too. They walked briskly and easily across the halls of Karasuno, even with a body in their hands. But their heart rate was abnormally fast. They probably had been exercising. 

You dare to open your eyes. All you see are pools of purple and white, obscured by the residual tears in your eyes. It could be anyone. But as your senses focused, hints olive and green came into the image. Your sense of smell was also starting to refocus as well. Lemon detergent, deodorant, and rubber.

Lemon detergent…

You opened your eyes as widely as you could. It was Tsukishima. Face unmoving and eyes showing no sign of emotion, but anyone could feel a sense of emergency with his rushed steps and the way he clicked his tongue anytime anyone stood in his way. 

The scent of sharp disinfectants replaced the lemon detergent as you were put down on a soft bed. You winced at the new position you were put in, your weight crashing down on your lower body yet again.

“It hurts...” you squeak out, every word another rope squeezing your chest flush out of air. 

“It does. It hurts like a bitch, doesn’t it?”

That’s enough to set your heart at ease, if only a little. No sappy words to shoo away the pain by pretending it isn’t real, just a concise confirmation that what you’re feeling is real. And somehow, that’s just enough.

Tsukishima works quickly and quietly, adjusting the ice packs where needed. Whenever you wince or gasp in pain, he’s quick to rub a long, lanky finger over the purple parts of the bruise that doesn’t have ice covering it. It still hurts like a bitch, but at least the pain is only physical.

The emotional ones are just beginning to heal. 

The 10 by 10 room is sealed — door locked, windows bolted — but it still feels like the two of you are in front of a gargantuan stage, packed to the brim with people watching you. Or is it just because the only audience you have are one another?

“I’m sorry for saying cheerleading wasn’t a sport,” he mutters. Your hearing has started to sharpen again by now. 

“What?” 

“I’m sorry for brushing off your advice, and belittling something you love,” he says again, Tsukishima’s tone much clearer now. His words ring like a gong in your head.

The throbbing in your knee seems to lessen with every word he says. The longer he talks, the more the fire in your feet seem to subside. Were those his words going to your head, or the gentle massages he was giving your knees as he talked?

“You don’t have to accept my apology. I can wait until you do. But… I know I did something wrong. And I intend to fix it.” 

“I’ll accept your apology,” you say. On several conditions.” 

His head perks up, eager to hear what you’ll have him do in order to restore things back to the way they were. Scratch that, in order to make things better. Like hell he’ll ignore you again if it leads to something like this.

“What are they?” Tsukishima.

“I know you’re practicing really hard and all that, but can you spend some more time with me?” you ask. “You don’t have to spend that much time, just… enough so it actually feels like we’re dating?”

“Weren’t we already?” 

“You know what I mean.”

Tsukishima takes a long breath. He stays silent for a long time, the only noise in the room the sound of ice against ice as he moves to take another icepack for your knee. 

“Alright. Anything else?”

The idea you have is silly. But it couldn’t hurt to give it a try. What’s the worse that could happen?

“Buy me some of the detergent you use.” 

[petersasteria]

The Forces of Nature || Ch.10

Pairing: Peter Parker x Superhero!Reader

Summary: “There’s this kid out there that can control the wind or something. I think she’s a great addition to the team. Let’s recruit her.”

SERIES MASTERLIST  ||  PP MASTERLIST

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"Step five. Let her know you're Spider-Man. I don't know how, but she'll have to know." Peter muttered to himself as he silently read step five that was on the recruiting method which was pinned on the bulletin board in his room above his desk. For the next three days since Friday night, a.k.a the night he did step four, he had been reading and re-reading step five over and over.

After all, telling Y/N that he was Spider-Man was different and he had never done it before. Ned, aunt May, and MJ found out and figured it out on their own. "At this point, Y/N may have already figured out." Peter told himself, but he immediately shook his head.

However, it was impossible for Y/N to figure out because she and him weren't really close before. Therefore, Y/N has never really paid attention to Peter. Y/N may have picked up a few of MJ's traits here and there, but she never got MJ's way of observing. Again, Peter asked Scott for help when he took a break from patrolling on a Monday afternoon.

"Hey, what's up, Petey?" Scott smiled as he answered the phone. He munched on some chips while watching television. Peter scrunched up his face because it sounded like some weird ASMR mukbang video on YouTube.

"Yeah, hi. I need your help again." Peter said as he lifted his mask until his mouth so that he could speak properly and so that he could be understood.

Scott put his phone away from his ear and looked at Luis and grinned, "Hey dude, guess what."

"What?" Luis smiled.

"I'm talking to Spider-Man on the phone!" Scott bragged. "We're, like, besties now. He asks me for help. Like, I'm so honored! So, so honored."

If Peter didn't have any steps to be followed or if he weren't recruiting anyone, he would've laughed at Scott. But now, he didn't. He was desperate for help. He didn't know what to do.

"Um, Mr. Lang? You still there?" Peter asked.

Scott quickly pressed the phone on his ear again and said, "Yeah! And don't call me Mr. Lang. I sound old or whatever. Call me Scotty!"

"That sounds kind of weird." Peter admitted. "I'll, uh, I'll call you Scott instead."

"Sure thing, spider-bro!" Scott said excitedly as he looked at Luis, who gave him two thumbs ups. "Anyway, what did you need help with?"

"I don't know how to tell Y/N that I'm Spider-Man." Peter said in a hushed voice, afraid that someone might hear him despite sitting on the rooftop.

Scott nodded and hummed, "Well, I don't know what to say. I guess, just ease your way through it before actually telling her."

"How?" Peter questioned.

"I don't know." Scott shrugged. "Drop hints for a few days or something and when the time is right, just say it. Tell her."

"Scott, that's genius!" Peter grinned. "Thank you!"

"No problem, Spidey!" Scott chuckled. "I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Okay. Bye! Tha-"

Scott hung up and put his phone on the coffee table. Luis was shocked, "I can't believe you hung up on Spider-Man."

"I mean, I have to act chill, you know? I don't want to let him know that I'm freaking out!" Scott shrieked. "Like, he called ME!"

"Yeah, that's awesome!" Luis laughed and gave Scott a high five. Meanwhile, Peter was already planning on what hints to drop before telling Y/N about his secret.

-

Tuesday

Today's the first day that Peter would showcase his spider powers to Y/N. He didn't know which skill to show first. Although, that question was already answered when Y/N walked in school pushing a very very big box full of different items.

Peter jogged up to her and he said, "Good morning, Y/N!"

She gave him a sweet smile as she wiped her sweat with the back of her hand. She mumbled a small 'good morning' before pushing the big heavy box again.

"Allow me." Peter stopped her as he picked up the big heavy box with ease. Y/N looked at him in shock.

"Peter, oh my god." Y/N said. "Where the hell were you when I needed you? We literally live near each other."

"Sorry about that." Peter said as the two of them walked to her locker. "I woke up late and I went straight here. I was surprised that I got here first and when you entered the school with a big heavy box, I figured out why."

Y/N chuckled and opened her locker. Peter looked down at the loosely closed box and was able to take a peek at the things inside it. Peter furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and looked at Y/N, "Um, what's all this, anyway? Are you running away or something?" He joked.

"No!" Y/N laughed and shook her head. "Those are all the old things from my community theater. I figured I could take it and bring it here and donate it to the theater club. Plus, the glee club need props too."

Peter nodded and pursed his lips, "Right, right. I forgot that you joined all of the clubs."

"Not all. I didn't join the cheer squad." Y/N smiled politely before closing her locker.

"Why didn't you?" Peter asked. In his opinion, not that anyone was asking, she would be a perfect fit in the cheer squad.

"I didn't want to risk my power for memory." Y/N whispered. "I can't touch the ground directly, remember? What if I'm on the bottom of the pyramid and the rocks start forming some memory on the field or something? I can't risk that. No one else knows about my powers except for you and Eunice."

'And the Avengers.' Peter thought. He nodded and said, "Yeah, that's understandable. Anyway, do we head off to the auditorium first before going to class? Or do we take this big ol' box with us to history?"

"Auditorium, please." Y/N smiled.

"Lead the way, Barbra Streisand." Peter chuckled as they walked together.

"You know Barbra Streisand?" She asked with a laugh.

"Of course, I do! I mean, not personally, but I do know her. I've seen her movie with Seth Rogen and her carpool karaoke with James Corden."

"That rhymed! Are you a rapper now?" Y/N laughed.

"Who knows?" Peter shrugged. "Maybe I'm the next Eminem." He joked.

The pair arrived at the auditorium and she made sure they placed the box on stage in the middle for the theater club moderator to see. Y/N pulled out a paper from her backpack and wrote down: My community theater decided to get rid of our old props. I figured I should donate them here instead of throwing it away. Sincerely, Y/N Y/L/N.

Y/N looked through her bag and pouted when she realized that she didn't have any tape or anything that could stick. Peter saw this and remembered that he put some leftover web fluid in a container in his backpack.

"I, uh, I have something sticky." Peter blurted out as he quickly looked inside his backpack for the container.

"Pete, you're my friend and all, but that sounded wrong." Y/N giggled. Peter's face flushed red, but didn't pay attention to it as he handed her the container. It was in an old Elmer's glue container.

Y/N thanked him before squeezing out the 'glue' at the back of the paper. Her face lit up when she didn't see the typical white color of the glue. She was surprised that it was transparent. "Okay, tell me where you shop for school supplies. This transparent glue is my new everything!" She said as she gave back the 'glue' and pasted the paper on the front side of the box.

"Uh, I didn't buy it. I actually made them." Peter said, which wasn't a lie. He really did make it, it just wasn't glue, that's all.

Y/N nodded. She was impressed. She grabbed her backpack and said, "Can you make me some?"

"Sure!"

The pair walked out of the auditorium in silence and the silence continued on even when they reached the classroom. It wasn't an awkward silence like before. It was comfortable.

"Peter?" She called his attention as they sat down in their respective seats.

"Hm?" He hummed.

"Thanks for carrying the box. If I had known you were that strong, I would've called you before I left my apartment." Y/N chuckled.

"No problem." Peter smiled. "I'm really glad I could help. Helping people is a part of me." He hinted, as if his super strength and web fluid weren't enough hints.

"You know, Spider-Man is like that." Y/N smiled. "That's why I admire him so much. I just wish I could know who he is."

"I know right? Same here." Flash said from behind her. Y/N and Peter turned to look at him as Flash shrugged.

Flash looked at Peter and nodded at him, "'Sup, dickwad?"

Peter gave him a thumbs up before he and Y/N turned around to wait for the teacher.

-

Wednesday

Y/N came to school that day wearing the most early 2000's look ever. She also wore pink as an homage to the most famous Mean Girls quote, "on Wednesdays, we wear pink". She wore a slightly fitted, long sleeved, pink shirt with a pink skirt and heels. She was dressed as Karen Smith. MJ, Ned, and Peter were surprised with her outfit.

"What's with the Mean Girls get up?" Ned asked with an amused smile on his face.

"Ned's right." MJ said as she looked at Y/N up and down. "I've never seen you wear pink before, but you actually look good in it."

Peter nodded, "Yeah, I agree."

"No mean remarks, Peter?" MJ asked and eyed him suspiciously. Peter just shook his head before he smiled at Y/N, who smiled back at him.

Later that day during lunch, Y/N was walking to her seat when she slipped on the floor. With Peter's enhanced reflexes, he immediately caught Y/N before she fell and he was able to catch her tray and her food.

Y/N gasped and she looked at Peter with wide eyes, "How did you do that?! You're so cool!"

Peter shrugged as he set down the tray before helping Y/N sit down so that she wouldn't slip again. MJ and Ned looked at each other because both of them knew that Peter was up to something and they had to corner him and ask him about it.

When the day ended, Y/N had to go to the auditorium for theater club. Finding Peter alone by his locker, Ned and MJ immediately cornered Peter. When Peter turned around, he was surprised to see MJ and Ned.

"Um... hey guys." Peter said.

"You're being really obvious, Peter." Ned said.

MJ nodded, "Yeah. I thought you being Spider-Man was supposed to be a secret. Why are you being obvious?"

Peter sighed. There was no choice but to come clean, "I need to drop hints about my powers to tell her that I'm Spider-Man."

"Why do you need to tell her?" MJ asked.

Peter opened his mouth to say something, but he immediately closed it. MJ didn't know about Y/N's powers and it wasn't his secret to tell. As much as his feelings were complicated towards Y/N, he would never tell her secret to anyone else. He wouldn't do that to anyone, even Flash Thompson. Thankfully, he thought of a quick cover up.

"Because I want her to know. We're friends after all." Peter reasoned.

-

Thursday

When Peter arrived at Y/N's apartment to pick her up like he did every morning, it was announced that classes were cancelled because of the storm.

"Peter, why don't you stay here for a while? You and Y/N can hang out here while I go to work." Eunice offered.

Y/N smiled, "Yeah, Pete! We can bake or something."

Peter shrugged, "I suppose I could stay." He pulled out his phone to text aunt May that he'd be staying at Y/N's apartment until it was safe to go out.

Eunice eventually went to work an hour later and the two teens were doing different things. Peter made himself comfortable in the couch as he watched Mean Girls. Y/N was busy in the kitchen as she cooked brunch for the two of them.

The two of them didn't know or didn't notice that it was all domestic at that moment. They failed to notice that they both looked good together. At one point, Peter paused the movie and stood up to stretch. He walked to the kitchen and watched her.

"You could've told me that you were cooking. I could've helped you." Peter said. He grabbed plates and set the table. It was the least he could do.

"Nonsense! You're a guest, Peter." Y/N smiled. "I'm done, anyway." She brought the food to the table and sat down. Peter sat down across from her and they ate in comfortable silence.

"This is really good." Peter said as he broke the quiet ambiance of the dining area. She grinned and thanked him.

"I have to tell you something, Y/N." Peter gulped. He figured it was time to tell her. They were alone together and neither of them could walk out due to the storm.

"What is it?"

Peter took a deep breath and said, "I'm Spider-Man."

Y/N stared at him and smiled, "That's cute, Pete. I'm Spider-Man too. Anyone can wear a mask."

"No, no, no. I mean it, Y/N." Peter sighed. "I really am Spider-Man."

"How am I supposed to believe you, Peter?" She raised an eyebrow.

"One, because I believed you when you told me about your powers. Two, I lowkey showed you." Peter said.

"I used my super strength to pick up the heavy box, I used my web fluid for your paper and told you it was glue, I told you that I loved helping people-"

"Helping people isn't a power, Peter. It's a choice and the web fluid thing sounds wrong."

"I also used my enhanced reflexes and agility to catch you when you slipped at the cafeteria. I'm Spider-Man." Peter added. Y/N stared at him and said nothing. "Please say something, Y/N."

Y/N blinked a few times and cleared her throat, "Well, thanks for telling me. I'm just mostly embarrassed because you know about my big crush on Spider-Man and YOU ARE Spider-Man."

"Oh, right." Peter blushed. "I forgot about that."

"And please continue to forget about it." Y/N chuckled lightly. "Anyway, let's talk about something else. What's it like being the friendly neighborhood hero?"

"Oh, you have no idea how hard it is. But I love my job." Peter said.

The rest of the day was spent with Peter talking about his patrolling stories and Y/N showing off her powers and Peter also showing Y/N his wall-crawling ability. He even showed her his web-shooters.

"I can show you my web-shooters!" Peter said excitedly.

"You know, no matter what you call it, it really sounds wrong." Y/N laughed. "It's like you're going to show me your penis or something."

"I never thought I'd hear you say 'penis'." Peter looked at her.

She shrugged, "What can I say? I'm surprising."

"That's true." Peter nodded in agreement as they smiled at each other.

* * * *

sorry it took a long long time x

𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @myblueleatherbag @harryismysunflower @buckys-little-hoe @justanothermarvelmaniac @itstaskeen @sandystoriess @heeeyitskay @slytherin-chaser @quaksonhehe @yaya4302 @lil-mellow-bunbun @starlight-starks @swiftmind​ @alex-stancati @sovereignparker​

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @marvelousell​ @justasmisunderstoodasloki​ @rubberducky-jrr​ @petersholland​ @osterfieldnholland​ @miraclesoflove​ @god-knows-what-am-i-doing​ @perspectiveparker​ @hollands-weasley​ @itstaskeen​ @call-me-baby-gir1​ @the-panwitch​ @iamaunicorn4704​ @chloecreatesfictions​ @holland-styles​ @halfblood-princess-505​ @spidey-reids-2003​ @herbatkazmiloscia @whatthefuckimbisexual​

[13dead-ends]

Train Ride

Young Henry Cavill x Reader

Summary: You’ve known Henry for years and after high school you decide to go on a trip of a lifetime. Your longtime crush on him only gets worse as the trip goes on.

Word Count: 4531

Warnings: smut, unprotected sex (please wear a condom, folks), oral/face riding, swearing, teeth rotting fluff at the end, 

A/N: So my first smut is here! It’s shortish, but I liked it, Also @hellcaster901​ said it was good so I posted. This fic literally came from a picture of Henry Cavill I sent to her. Thanks for encouraging me to post anything and everything! 

Enjoy!! <3

I stared at Henry in as he ran down the beach into the water. His back muscles glinted in the sun as he came back up, hair wet and trunks clinging to his thighs. I swallowed, adjusting my position in the beach chair, the umbrella keeping me from frying completely. While my skin had burned plenty of times on this trip, Henry’s had only gotten golden brown. Only a burn every now and then on his nose and cheeks. I sighed. Why do I notice every little detail about Henry? I shook my head and went back to my book; staring was starting to get creepy. I couldn’t really focus on it though, the heat, and the waves, and other things distracted me. Henry’s my best friend. We’ve known each other since middle school and decided to go backpacking a few years after we graduated high school. We were on country four now. The Bahamas had treated us nicely, but it was our last day here. We had decided on America next, we would fly to New York and spend a few days there, then travel the country by train or bus. We were kind of winging it a little, but it was nice. Especially with him.

I had fallen head over heels for him in 11th grade. When we were younger I didn’t see him as more than a friend, but when came back from living with his uncle that summer, something hit me. More like punched me in the gut. I don’t know what it was or why, but here I am, almost three years later and still feeling butterflies from just him looking at me. I shut my book, I had reread the same paragraph a thousand times. I set it on my towel and sunk in my chair, soaking in the heat, and shutting my eyes.

“Y/N,” Henry had walked up so quietly that I jumped when he spoke. “You should get in, it’s perfect.” I opened my eyes, and there was Henry still out in the sun, drying off. I tried to calm my heart down a little with a breath.

“I will, I’m just enjoying the heat for a little.”

“Did you put on sunscreen?” Henry had not let the fact that I had turned lobster red in Egypt go. I had forgot to put on sunscreen when we went to the pyramids. He teased me, but he also liked to check in on me.

“Yes, mom.” He chuckled and it was like music to my ears. “Did you?” I pulled my sunglasses down and stared at him.

“Yes, ma’am.” He plopped down on the towel next to me, getting a water out of the cooler. Before opening it he pressed the cold thing on my thigh and I yelped, flinching away.

“Fuck off,” but I was laughing. He handed the bottle to me and got out another one. I drank a long swig and stared at his Adam’s apple as he swallowed.

“Any places in America that are a must-see?” He leaned back, laying on the towel, his abs flexed under his skin.

“New Orleans, that’s for sure. I’m also dragging you to a broadway show in New York.” I had gotten tickets to A show I thought we’d both like.

“Fine, but you’re bungee jumping with me.” I pursed my lips, jumping off a bridge did not seem like fun, but then I imagined doing it with Henry, and it didn’t seem too bad. “I want to see the Grand Canyon.”

“Me too. I want to go to Denver too.”

“You wanna buy weed don’t you?” He laughed out loud.

“Yes I do! And there’s nothing wrong with that.” I laughed. We discussed possible destinations and then he dragged me into the water. It was nice, though the salt stung my eyes. It was fun to be with him.

 …

 I rubbed my eyes as I walked behind Henry as we filed off the plane it was a long flight, but we made it. I was just exhausted. We were taking the rest of the day to rest, our Air BnB sounded like heaven right now. Henry was almost to the flight attendants at the door of the plane. I noticed the two ladies who had ran the flight whispering as we approached.

“Thank you, ladies,” Henry said as he passed, and they grinned and told him to have a good day and safe travels. When he was off, and I was walking past them I only got a thank you for flying with us. I scoffed a little and rolled my eyes. I stepped off the plane and moved up, so I was side by side with Henry.

“As soon as we get there I’m sleeping.” I still felt my eyes droop with tiredness.

“Did you sleep on the plane?” Henry had slept through most of the flight. I couldn’t sleep on planes.

“Nope,” I sighed.

“Well, you sleep, I’ll get some food and things for the next few days.”

“Okay, sounds good.” We went through the motions of customs and airport craziness, then took a cab to the place. It was still daylight, but as soon as I saw my room, I was out.

The next day we went around the city and did touristy things. I got a good picture of Henry looking out onto Times Square without him knowing. He looked so good with his curly hair, grown out a little longer than usual and skin glowing from the Bahama sun. I smiled at him as he took in all the signs and logos flashing on the screens.

“When’s the show?” I was pulled out of my trance as he turned back around to face me.

“Tonight, at seven.” He nodded. “We can go eat and just go straight there.” We ate a small bar we found and then went to the show. Us only bringing what was necessary we didn’t have fancy clothes to wear. I had a sundress and Henry honestly just wore a nicer looking T-shirt and pants. We didn’t care anyways.

“My lady,”Henry held out his arm for me as I got out of the cab. I took it and stood. In front of me was the Broadway theatre and I grinned.

“Oh my god, Henry I’m so excited.” He chuckled.

“It’d better be good.” He teased.

“I hope you like it, I tried to pick something we’d both like.” He nodded, pulling me closer to his side as people walked past.

“I’m sure I will. Shall we?” He led me up the steps and to our seats. They weren’t the best, but I still couldn’t wait. As the lights went down and the show started, I felt Henry’s eyes on me. I turned to him and he was staring at me.

“What?” I tilted my head at him.

“Nothing, just watch the show.” I squinted at him and turned back to the stage. The show was amazing, cheesy broadway songs were already stuck in my head as the curtains closed for intermission. Henry and I went out to have a drink before it started back up again.

“Please tell me you like it a little bit?” I nudged Henry as I sipped on my wine. Already feeling the usual warmth alcohol gave me.

“I like it but stop worrying about me. This was really for you anyways.”

“I know but I want you to have fun too.”

“I am.” He looked at me. “This is the best trip anyone could ask for.” I grinned and hugged his neck. He squeezed my waist, his strong hands sending shivers down my spine.

“I’m so glad we did this.” I muttered only for him to hear.

After the show, I was tipsy, and we decided to just walk back to our place. It had cooled down and it felt nice on my hot skin. I always got like this when I drank. Henry on the other hand held his drink well and walked beside me, looking beautiful in the street lamps.

“Okay now you’re staring at me.” I turned to look straight ahead, and he chuckled.

“I think we have a staring problem.” I joked, but I knew I did. “We’re just that beautiful.” He was that beautiful. “I mean I do but look at you.” I punched his shoulder, which hurt me more that it did him.

“Shut up, as if you didn’t notice those guys staring at you on the plane.”

“What guys?” Henry wasn’t looking at me when he spoke.

“They were a few isles down and I could feel them looking at us, well you.” I blinked.

“I didn’t see them.”

“I did, they were like vultures.” I glanced at him, but his face was blank. I was too busy noticing those flight attendants to notice those guys. “I can’t believe you didn’t see them.” I shrugged.

“Maybe I was distracted,” I mumbled.

“Don’t mumble like that.” He shook his head. “You sounded like you did in middle school.”

“We agreed we wouldn’t talk about middle school me.” I laughed.

“I’ve just been thinking about when we first met and how we are now. It’s so different.” I wrapped an arm around him, well not really around him he was so big now.

“Don’t get sappy on me now Cavill.” I squeezed him.

“No, I’m just glad, that we’re still friends. Seriously.” I swallowed but pushed a smile onto my lips.

“So am I, Henry.” I really was, I couldn’t live without him in my life, so if that had to be as his friend then I was okay with that, but I would still love him. I let my arm fall back to my side. “Ha, remember that time you asked Kim out in tenth grade.”  He rolled his eyes and pursed his lips together. “You’re telling me I mumbled, she couldn’t hear a word.”

“I swear, little girl.” He grabbed my waist and I screamed, the nickname ringing in my ears. He lifted me off my feet and threw me over his shoulder.

“Henry, I’m wearing a dress you prick.” He held my skirt down, His arm right under my ass.

“I won’t let anyone see.” He chuckled and I huffed, arms swinging down. I did have a nice view of his butt from here.

“You were so nervous though.” He squeezed my thigh hard. “It’s okay, it was cute.” His grip lessened, but it was still holding me in place.

“At least I had you there to comfort me after rejection.”

“You gotta put me down if I you want me here for future rejection.” I don’t think he’d ever have a rejection again. He wasn’t that 16 year old anymore. He set me back down but kept his hands on my waist.

“And I you. Just like I was there for the Jacob break up.” My face dropped, and I shoved him. We walked back to the apartment teasing each other and when we got back, I pretty much passed out.

 . . .

  I swallowed at the tiny train compartment. It was close quarters for the two of us. Henry was towering over me as he shoved our bags in the top compartment above the small couch that would eventually turn into the bed. His chest was brushing up against mine, my neck felt hot and I turned my face to the side so my nose wouldn’t brush his shirt.

“There,” He shut the compartment and smiled down at me. “I’m excited.” I cleared my throat and sat down on the couch, Henry plopping down with me.

“Me too, it’s just smaller than I thought.” He just shrugged, looking out the window at the city.

“This train stops almost every day, and there’s a lounge to go to. We don’t have to be in here the entire ride.” I nodded.

“I know, but you work out too much and you’re gonna suffocate me when we sleep.” I almost choked at the thought. We were sharing a bed. I hadn’t shared a bed with Henry since we were kids. I stared at my feet.

“Is that how I get rid of you?” I kicked him. “Stop hitting me when you don’t have a comeback.”

“Stop teasing me and I’ll stop hitting you.” He leaned forward our noses almost touching.

“Never, love.” I may as well be putty. I’d let this man tease me all he wanted if it meant being with him. I moved back before I could do something stupid. Henry blinked once and leaned back as well. The train started moving and Henry got us some snacks and drinks from the restaurant car. I could breathe for a second when he was gone. I rested my head on the back of the chair. He was gonna kill me. I chewed on my lip. The worst part was that the only person I wanted to get advice from was the one I was freaking out about in the first place. I leaned forward my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. I rubbed my temples and tried to relax.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Henry came back inside, and the room got smaller.

“Nothing,” I sat up, flipping my hair back. “I think I’m tired.” Henry sat down and rubbed my back.

“I bet,” His hand stayed on my back. “We can put the bed down now; we both could use some sleep.” I swallowed, that was the opposite of what I wanted, well not really, but I couldn’t handle that yet.

“Well, if you’re not tired, we can leave it up, so it doesn’t take up so much space.”

“No, I’m tired too. We can just eat and take a nap for the ride.” He handed me a bowl of grapes.

“Okay,” We ate, and Henry told me about this game he got for his laptop, but I was trying not to have a panic attack, staring into my grapes, disassociating a little.

“Alright, you’re zoning out.” Henry was waving a hand in my face. “Time for sleep.” Henry managed to get the cushions in the right spots and made the pillows fluffy and ready for us.

“Get in,” I looked at him, but crawled into the blanket, it wasn’t the most comfortable, but I did feel sleep start to tug at my brain as I laid my head down. Henry came in next to me, his side brushing mine. He barely fit without me being squished against the wall. I couldn’t help but giggle at his awkward movements in the bed. He was just so big.

“Shut up,” Then my giggles stopped as he slid his arm around my waist, pulling my back flush against his chest. I felt like I couldn’t catch my breathe. “I think this is the best way we fit.” His voice was right at my ear and goosebumps rose down my arms. “Relax, Y/N. It’s just me.” He squeezed me once.

“Sorry,” I pressed my warm cheek into the pillow.

 When I woke up it was dark in the train, the curtains were closed, but a small bit of light peaked out from underneath. I wasn’t turned towards the wall anymore, my nose brushed Henry’s chest as he breathed deeply. He smelled like cologne and nostalgia. I shut my eyes again and pressed my face into his chest. He was asleep, so who cares? A gravelly ‘hmm’ made my heart lurch.

“Someone’s cuddly,” Henry’s voice was low and close. My heart started beating fast I looked up at him. “Hey, there she is.” He smiled at me and my legs felt like jello. He furrowed his brows at me.

“Henry, I-“ I cleared my throat, not knowing what came over me. He brushed my hair out of my face and my stomach flipped.

“What?” He kept his hand on my cheek, his blue eyes glinting in the dim light. “Tell me, please.” I pulled myself up and just kissed him. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for him to push me away, but instead he pulled me closer. I let out a gasp and he just pressed into me harder. His tongue made its way in my mouth and I hooked a leg around his hip. “Finally,” He growled as he moved his mouth to my neck.

“Finally?” I titled my head back, breathless, but he stopped.

“Yes, finally. I’ve wanted you for so long, Y/N.” He continued kissing my neck and slid his hand down my side, landing on my breast, he kneaded it and I moaned out. “You’ve just been too distracted to notice.” He finished but wouldn’t let me respond by kissing my mouth again. I gripped his T-shirt, pulling him even closer.

“I wanted you too.” I sounded airy and out of breath as I spoke, he kissed me all over my face.

“That’s music to my ears.” He started peeling my top off, but a loud rap came at the door. We froze in place, the top covering my face.

“Dinner’s ready in the dining car.” An attendant called. I rolled my eyes.

“Alright, thank you.” Henry replied and when we heard the footsteps fade away, he ripped the shirt of the rest of the way. “Do you mind if we miss dinner?”

“No,” I moaned out as he kissed my collar, making his way down to my breast. “Henry,” I moaned his name as he unhooked my bra and let his lips surround my nipple. I threaded my fingers through his hair, feeling tingles shoot over my skin from his lips. I pulled him back up and kissed him, holding his cheeks so he wouldn’t pull away. I never wanted him to go away. He wrapped his big arms around me, enclosing me inside. He grunted when I pulled his hair.

“Take your shirt off,” I pulled my hand out of his hair to tug at his sleeve. He immediately tugged it off and I ran my hands down his chest. He groaned.

“Fuck,” He held my waist, his fingers digging into my skin, then suddenly one of them dipped down into my shorts and he grabbed my ass, hard. I gasped in his mouth, and he grinned. He pulled me closer and I felt his bulge press against the inside of my thigh, and I quivered. He felt so big already and his pants weren’t even off. He pushed his other hand under my waist band and pushed the shorts down, he let me kick them off and then rolled over on top of me. My chest heaved, I felt hot, and Henry’s lips looked red and swollen. He was propped up on his hands, his knees pressing into my thighs. He stared down at me, only in my panties now. I wanted to look away from his blue eyes, but they almost glittered in what little light we had. “God, so beautiful.” He brushed a finger down my side and goosebumps rose in his wake.

“So are you.” I mumbled, his eyes shut, and he had a smile playing on his lips.

“Don’t mumble.” He was stern, but his hand brushing down my cheek made me smile. He leaned down and kissed me, his hands held my waist down as I tried to arch my back.

“Henry,” I whined, letting my hands slid down to his waistband. “Please get these off.” He smirked, but pushed the clothing off, his erection on full display. He was huge.

“Now you,” He hooked a finger in my panties and pulled them off. “I swear, I’m gonna-“ He stopped.

“What?” He looked me up and down. “Henry, you’re taking too long.” I tried pulling him back to me, but he stopped me.

“I’m trying to decide how I want you.” I bit my lip his words sending shocks through me, and then he grabbed my waist flipping us over. Now I was straddling him and my hands were on his chest, my hair hung over our faces. He tucked it behind my ear and kissed me, but not for very long. He grabbed my waist tightly and moved me slowly up so that my pussy was over his face.

“Fuck, Henry,” I rested my elbow on the wall of the train. Was Henry about to eat me out? Like this? On a fucking train.”

“Is this okay, baby?” He rubbed the back of my thighs gently.

“Yes, yes. Very okay.” I sounded like a child, but he just laughed, the air hitting my core.

“You’re already so wet. Is that all for me?” I could only moan back. “What a good girl.”

“Henry, can you please-“ I was cut off by his mouth on my pussy. I covered my mouth to keep from the entire train from hearing me.

“Is that what you wanted?” He whispered, then went back to kissing and licking me. My legs were quivering, Henry’s hands were doing most of the work holding me up. “God, you taste so good.” I whimpered under my hand.

“Henry,” I felt like I was gonna burst. “I think I-“ His mouth stopped and he pushed me back and his cock slid through my folds. I moaned out and he grunted. I fell over, my forehead on his chest.

“Fuck, I want to feel you.” Henry growled in my ear.

“Please, I want to feel you too.” I kissed his chest, feeling sticky with sweat.

“So many pleases, what a polite girl.” His hand slid down between us and he positioned the tip of his cock at my entrance. I took a shaky breath. “Are you ready baby?”

“Yes,” My eyes closed as I felt his head push into me. “Fuck, oh my god-“ I was a mess above him, but as he entered into me fully he pushed me up, so I was sitting on him.

“Fucking hell, Y/N.” I must’ve looked insane, but he smirked up at me. He gripped my hips and started moving them for me. He was so large that every new movement made him brush a new part of me. I was going to snap. “Yes, there you go.” He grunted and groaned as he fucked me and it only added more pleasure. I loved hearing him. He picked up the pace, thrusting into me now. I arched my back.

“Please make me cum, Henry,” I was out of breath as I spoke, my chest heaved for air.

“God, yes, baby girl. Cum for me.” That was all I needed; bliss washed over me as a came. My legs pressed into Henry and my hands fisted over the blankets. “Good girl,” I collapse over him, my body flopping over his. He locked his arms around me, our skin pressing together, and he thrusted up into me until he came inside me. I whimpered at the overwhelming feeling having only just come down. He grunted in my ear as he fell over the edge, the sound sending tingles through me. We were panting together, my face pushed into his neck. He released me from his arms, and then pulled me off of him. I shivered as I felt the emptiness without him.

“You okay, sweet girl?” He ran his fingers through my hair, and I nuzzled closer.

“Yeah, I am.” I whispered. He moved me off him and kissed me.

“Let’s clean you up, okay?” I could only nod, feeling too tired to do much else. He got a towel and wiped away his mess for me, and then started kissing me. Fluttery little kisses up my stomach, in between my breasts. I giggled as he reached my neck. He threw the towel on the floor and kissed my lips. I looped my arms around his neck, smiling into his mouth. “Why didn’t I do this sooner?” He pulled away and laid beside me, pulling me to his side. His kissed the top of my head.

“Why didn’t we do this sooner?” I drew circles in his chest and the sweat on my body started to cool.

“I tried to give you hints.” He chuckled. “I literally invited you to kiss me earlier.” I smacked his chest and sat up, feeling goosebumps rise, it was getting chilly. “Hey, where are you going?” I crawled over Henry, my knees on one side and my hands on the other. I picked up his shirt from the ground and pulled it on. I barely had my head through the hole before Henry pulled me back to his chest.

“I’m completely oblivious.” I scoffed. I was too distracted by him to notice him. His arms were around me tight. I wrapped my arms around his waist, and he pulled up the blankets.

“It’s okay, you finally figured it out.”

 I woke up in the big spoon position with Henry. I grinned so hard my cheeks hurt. He liked me too. He wanted me too. I pressed my nose into his back, wrapping my legs around him, resembling a koala bear. His large hand slid over my arm grabbing my hand.

“Hey baby,” His voice was low with sleep.

“Good morning.” I replied. He turned around to face me, he was smiling, and his eyes looked extra blue. He wrapped me up in his arms around me and I kissed his lips. We were making out like teenagers for a while and then my stomach growled.

“Shit, we missed dinner.” Henry chuckled.

“Shall we get breakfast then?” Henry sat up and opened the curtains. I squinted at the bright sun. The train hadn’t stopped the entire night.

“Can we bring it back here?” I wanted it just to be me and him for a while, and I’m pretty sure I’d be waddling down the train car. I laid on my back, hands over my stomach, watching the scenery go by.

“How about I just go get it? You can stay in my shirt a little longer.” He kissed my nose and got dressed and went out. When his footsteps were gone I squealed into my pillow. Part of me thought it was all a dream, but he was here and didn’t reject me. The rest of this trip would be completely different. It wasn’t long before he came back with a pile of food. We didn’t bother putting the bed away, we were sitting on it and cuddling anyway. When the train started to slow down, we had finished eating and Henry had gotten his laptop out and I got dressed. He wanted to show me how to play some game. He was sitting against the wall and I was in between his legs, the laptop on my lap. His arms reach around me to show me how to use the keys.

“Henry you know I’m not good at these.” He chuckled.

“I know, it’s just fun seeing you try.” I rolled my eyes.

“Where are we again?” I looked out the window as the train stopped. Henry shut his laptop, setting it aside and getting out of bed.

“Let’s go find out.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room.

[emmelineparker308]

Father Dearest Part-1

Fandom: Harry Potter: Golden Trio Era

Pairing: Harry Potter x reader

Summary: Your third year at Hogwarts is about to start and with it come a lot of new changes. Harry, your best friend and crush, is in trouble from some man named Sirius Black. You try desperatly to keep Harry safe but what happens when you find out some heartbreaking, mind shattering information about your father? 

Warnings: none really.

A/N: This series has been a long time in the making I truly hope you guys enjoy it!!!

The train station was filled with family members trying to squeeze in their last goodbyes. Mothers wiped their eyes as they waved off their eleven-year-olds to their first year at Hogwarts. While many fathers watched on proudly as their child boarded the train. You never really knew what that felt like, to have a mum and dad that loved and cared for you. Well that’s not all true, you did have someone you looked up to, he cared for you and loved you, but never did he allow you to call him dad. He was always to be called Moony. You didn’t really understand why he made you do this, once you tried to wring the answer out of him and he said that it was out of respect to your father. Out of respect to Moony you dropped the subject, but you didn’t agree with him. Your scum parents left you, abandoned you in an alleyway when you were a year old. Moony had been more of a parent than those monsters would ever be in your mind.

“(Y/N),” Harry exclaimed while enveloping you in a hug. If it was possible, he got even more handsome than the last time you saw him. He smelled like vanilla and pine cones, a scent you tried to drink in before he let go of you. “Come on Ron and Hermione are waiting,” he said while taking your luggage and dragging you to a carriage. To your surprise, none other than R. J. Lupin, your Moony, was sleeping in the carriage you were at. You didn’t react though, he had asked you not to reveal that you were his adopted daughter to any of the students. Something about the students thinking that you’ll get special treatment.

“(Y/N),” Hermione rushed to your side and tackled you in a hug. “Thank heavens you’re here. I can’t take another minute of being the only girl in this carriage.” You chuckled at her statement and moved on to hug Ron.

“How was Egypt Ron?” you questioned. When it came time to share stories of the summer holiday Ron was usually quiet since his family tended to stay put whereas Hermione had some great tales of vacationing abroad.

 “It was bloody brilliant,” he started but was quickly cut off by Harry.

 “If you lot don’t mind,” he went over to inspect the sleeping Moony, “You think he’s really asleep?”

 “Seems to be” you answered, eyeing your crush’s actions with worry.

 “There’s something I’ve got to tell you,” he said while firmly shutting the carriage door.

“So, let me get this straight,” Ron tried to stay calm while summarizing the information that Harry just told you. “Sirius Black escaped Azkaban, and is now after you? Why?”

“I don’t know,” Harry responded. “Your dad seems to think it’s because I stopped Voldemort and he wants revenge for that.”

Ron shuddered at the name, like usual. “Whatever the reason maybe Harry,” you started, “You simply cannot risk doing anything stupid.”

“Why do you just assume that I’m going to do something stupid?” he laughed, you were relieved that even in the midst of this you were able to make him smile. 

“Because I know you Mr. Potter,” you joined in on his laughter and soon you all started talking about your summer holidays.

“You should have seen the place, it was bloody brilliant. Bill told us all sorts of stories about wizards in Egypt aiding them in building the pyramids,” Ron recounted his stories from Egypt while showing you the article the Daily Prophet did on them.

“That’s so exciting, Ron. Did you get to sneak in and see any of the tombs?” you asked curiously. Ronald always reminded you of a puppy, a puppy that was never really given the attention it deserved.

“I wish. Fred, George, and I tried to, but Percy told on us to Mum. And well you know the rest,” he answered the disappointment still fresh in his mind.

“What about you Harry? Did the Dursley’s treat you fairly?” You were always sad when the end of term came. Not only because it meant leaving Hogwarts but also because it meant that Harry was going to live with the Dursley’s. You would have happily had him live with you if it weren’t for Moony’s furry little problem.

“Oh, it went just the same as usual. Expect this time I blew up Uncle Vernon’s sister,” Harry said calmly.

“Yeah, (Y/N). Not only that but he left their house in the middle of the night, it was lucky that he called the Knight Bus. The Minister of Magic, himself pardoned him,” Hermione explained. She constantly played the role of your mother; at times you would join in but most of the time she was on her own.

“Wait, you blew up your aunt? That’s hilarious. I bet it put the fear of God in those Dursleys. Reckon they won’t be messing with you any-“ before you could finish your sentence the train came to a jolting halt.

“Why are we stopping? We can’t nearly be there yet?” Hermione stated while trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

“I see something moving out there,” Ron whimpered. Suddenly, everything went dark. Harry who was seated next to you instinctively wrapped his arms around you.

“Does anyone else feel cold?” you shuddered as your teeth started chattering. The cold wasn’t the only thing that went wrong, you felt really, really sad. All of the happiness that you had a second ago was gone, replaced with the sadness you tried to keep at bay ever since you could remember. All you could focus on were your parents, and how they didn’t want you. How they left their own baby in an alleyway. How they could have walked away from you, who was surely crying your little heart out. How they threw you out like the garbage you were.

Something dark was floating outside your carriage, to your eyes it just looked like someone was making a tattered old robe float in midair. It was only as the thing used it long, slender, skeleton hand to open the door to your carriage that you realized that it was some sort of creature. Without even knowing anything about the creature in front of you, you could tell that it was evil. It seemed to be searching around for something, for someone, but as soon as it turned to you, it came closer. Harry seeing this and wanting to protect you, pushed you to the floor. You didn’t understand what was happening, the creature was gliding ever so close to Harry, who you noticed seemed to be lightly seizing. It all happened so quickly but all you saw was a bright white light and the creature leaving the carriage. You had a second to compose yourself before you noticed that Harry was lying unconscious.

“Harry!”

[ilguna]

Metanoia - Chapter One (f.o)

Summary: you will be crowned victor of the 75th hunger games.

Word Count; 4.9k

Warnings; swearing

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

This might be it. This might just be the first time you’re feeling emotion that doesn’t belong to yourself. And all you can say about it is: it’s completely awful. It’s nothing close to what your mother had told you about. Right now, it feels like you’re a prisoner in your own body, and you’re not being allowed to feel for yourself.

Whoever your soulmate is, they’re obviously empathetic to the point that it’s crippling. Imagine being this grief-ridden on reaping day. You can’t fathom the idea that any regular person would feel this bad for people. So there’s really a couple of things that might be going on. 

One, your soulmate is a friend of a victor, and they’re worried that their favorite person is going to get pulled to go back inside. Two, they’re family of a victor and it’s the same thing. Three, it’s an empathetic person--which you can’t stand. Or four, it’s a victor themself.

No matter the way it goes, their emotion is cancelling out yours. You don’t want to be full of sorrow, you know for a fact that somewhere deep in your body, you’re absolutely bubbling with excitement. You’ve been looking forward to today ever since the games were announced in the winter.

Today is the day.

And yet, you can’t pull yourself out of bed. You’ve been staring at the white ceiling for at least an hour now, setting yourself back. It’s like all the enthusiasm has been drained from your body, and you’re actually regretting your decision.

A slight shiver runs through your body at that thought. You draw the line there, you’re not going to regret anything. 

Pushing yourself up, you slide out of the silk bed sheets before you can change your mind and go back to laziness. You don’t bother fixing the blankets, not really caring for the fact that they’re in disarray. You never make the bed, and you won’t start on it today either. It’s a tactic of stalling, and there’s no reason for you to.

Before the shower, you decide on picking out the dress. Something gold and glittery, which is just about the entire wardrobe. You didn’t actually buy any of these dresses, they were all given as a gift from your stylists or Capitol citizens when you spent your summer after the games, inside of the Capitol.

You pick out a floor-length dress that’s a mix between black and gold. Two set colors that you can match easily. You kick out the heels that are also black and somewhat glittery. They don’t have the actual heel part to them, but they are engineered to look like it, and they’re pretty easy to walk in. They’re always your go-to when it comes to special things like this. 

The dress is only a little bit poofy, and it’s on the lower half. Either way, it goes down to the floor, and there should be no chance of anyone seeing your feet to know that you’re reusing another pair of shoes. There’s a v-neck plunge, but it doesn’t show much skin, you still look pretty modest. In the back, it’s open.

It’s definitely a dress you could find yourself wearing during the interviews with Caesar. Or a dress you would have worn after your first tribute had won the hunger games. You’ve only mentored twice, and both of them came out alive. After that, the job was handed onto them since they were the more recent victors.

All your jewelry resides on the white vanity, but you don’t bother picking those out. You toss the dress over the back of the chair, and move the shoes nearby so it won’t be a hunt. After that, you go ahead and get into the bathroom to take your shower.

You scrub your entire body clean, even though you know that you’ll be washed again inside of the Capitol about a dozen times. You do the basics to your hair, and when you get out, you’re putting product after product in so it’s ready when you do finally come around to it.

You pull on your undergarments, skipping your dress as you head downstairs for breakfast. There’s no shame in going downstairs half-naked. There’s no one else here to call you out on it.

You hit the bottom of the stairs, and while you’re navigating through the living room to get to the kitchen, you pause in the open doorway, a little surprised to see who’s sitting on the white loveseat.

Tanith is flipping through one of those books that are on the bookshelf for pure decoration. From here, you recognize the pink cover like you received the book yesterday, when it’s been years. A gift from your then-district representative, the cover reads in nice script writing, ‘how to get used to your new wealth’. Written by some asshole inside of the Capitol.

“Riveting.” Tanith looks up from the book, eyes landing on you. But she freezes, “God--I’m sorry--”

She covers her eyes, and you can’t help to laugh, “Really?”

You walk past her, heading into the kitchen. You dig through the fridge, pulling out some fresh fruits that you’d bought yesterday from the store. On top of that, you pull out a few eggs too, pop bread into the toaster, spray some cooking butter onto the pan so the eggs won’t stick, and work away.

“I should have knocked instead of walking inside.” She says, “That’s my fault.”

You shrug, “I have no shame, not after my time in the Capitol.”

“I expect not.” you can hear the light scraping of the stool against the tile floor, “You really want to go back inside?”

After the games had been announced, all the victors in the district had gathered together to have their own little meeting. Cipher the people who didn’t want to go back in, and make the ones who did, known. The old were automatically ruled out either way, whether they wanted to go inside or not, they’re too delusional. Old age has rotten their brains, some can’t think straight anymore.

There had been a good handful of people that wanted to go back inside. The only problem was that everyone wanted to do it based on capabilities again. To keep you guys on top of the pyramid as usual. You can’t send in someone who would die off immediately. Thus, a competition started.

As time went on, people were slowly weaned out. Based off of strength, fighting capabilities, who still knew the edible plants, the medical knowledge. If you were able to still present well, with the cute dresses, the white smiles, the charming personalities.

It brought it down to only a couple of you. Sorcha, an older woman in her forties who’s fit even after all these years. She’s arrogant--even more than you--and mean. She’s self-driven, disregards most of the people that come across her. She started off as a Capitol favorite, but now they see her as a total bitch.

Daleka, in her thirties and a very skilled fighter. She won her games by being completely ruthless. Her personality is likable, the Capitol complained when she stopped visiting and mentoring all together. Has a wife and a kid she adopted from the foster care place.

You, of course. Only twenty-five, still seen as somewhat fresh off of the arena. Nine years may seem like a long time to others, but not to you. Along that time, other districts have won too. Like Annie from four and Johanna from seven, and your most recently hated, Katniss and Peeta from twelve. 

But that doesn’t take away from the fact that you’re one of the top three for the most recent out of the arena. First would be Zavian, next would be Tanith, and then it would be you. Everything is still very fresh in your mind, since you were the one that had mentored both Zavian and Tanith. What you’re saying is, you’re a perfect candidate.

Anyway, the final girl that had wanted to go in was Enobaria. A Capitol favorite, like most of you are. Fierce, confident. She got her teeth filed to be sharp because of her signature win of ripping a tribute’s throat out. Fun to be around, nowhere near bubbly like some people think.

And for the boys, the list was quite large, and you wouldn’t be able to name all of them on one hand. The whole point of this is, there could only be one girl and one boy sent in. Therefore, the competition narrowed it down for everyone, as the challenges progressively got harder.

For boys, Brutus won. Tall, bald, muscular. He’s in his forties, but he looks to be about late thirties instead. He’s cocky, a complete pain in the ass, and he would be difficult to fight. But he’s an ally that you can’t deny wouldn’t be good to have at your side.

And for girls, you won it. You practically blew Sorcha and Daleka out of the water. Enobaria was much more difficult to shake, though. She’d obviously continued studying even after her games. You might have been a softie back in the academy, but you were a quick learner, and all of it stuck like it’d been glued with superglue. 

The volunteer is yours to have. And if you chose to back out, there would be no harm in it. That’s why Enobaria is there, she’s the backup in case you were to choose to do something like that. However, you didn’t fight tooth and nail with a bunch of bullies just to quit it. You want that win.

“Yes,” you answer Tanith’s question, “I do. Afraid I won’t win?”

She snorts, “Hardly. I’m afraid that you’ll be a murder machine.”

You look over your shoulder at her, “Have you eaten yet?” 

“No,” she says, and with that, you serve her the eggs, toast and berries. After that, you slide her the butter for her toast, “Thank you.”

As you go back to cook your own breakfast, you smile down at it, “Obviously you haven’t watched my games.”

“I was fifteen.” she objects, “I watched them. What I mean, is that I’m afraid you’ll become a murdering machine again.”

“That’s what all the victors are, not just me. Look back at anyone’s games from this district and you’ll see that.” you pop a strawberry into your mouth, “And it’s not like there’s much to lose, either.”

“This big old house?” she proposes, “Me?”

Tanith has uncomfortably clung onto you like a parental figure. She came straight from the foster care herself, an orphan. Academy took her when she turned eight, because obviously no one would miss her. She was just as deadly as you were, when she turned seventeen. You hand picked her yourself, even though there were ‘better candidates’ for it.

She’s your first winner, like how Zavian is your second. You were sure to keep him out of the same games with Tanith, knowing that it would screw the whole system. You’re fond of them equally, but unlike Zavian--who was eager to get away from you as fast as possible--Tanith has stuck around.

Take today as one of the many examples.

“I like how the house was your first priority to say.”

“You speak about this place like it’s a home base.” she reasons, “You seem to like it more than me, what can I say?”

You go ahead and plate all of your food, turning off the stove but leaving the pan. If you put it under water so soon, the metal will warp from the temperature change, and ruin it. It won’t sit right ever again.

You stand opposite of Tanith, leaning against the counter as you eat, “I wouldn’t say I like it more than you, that seems like an overstatement.” you decide to change the conversation, bored of this one, “Should I be worried about anyone else coming to visit?”

“Enobaria was.” Tanith says, picking at her egg, “She wanted to come and be the one to harass you about volunteering. I told her that I’d take the blow.”

“Smart girl.” you say, stabbing your fork into your egg, walking as the yolk runs out, and straight to your toast. The berries are long gone, “Well, I guess she’ll find out when I volunteer.”

“What’s the point of it, anyway?” she asks, “I mean, you have everything you could have wanted, right?”

“You and I don’t think the same.” you say, “You remind me of myself, back when I was on my victory tour.”

She gives you a confused look, “Is that compliment?”

“I’m more or less calling you humble.”

“Thanks…”

“And mushy, you’re an overthinker. You like the simple things, you won and now you’re done, right? You’re not bothered by the fact that you’re just another face, another name among this crowd of victors.” you take your time eating between sentences, “Me, on the other hand--who would give up the opportunity to be a living legend?”

She hums, nodding a little bit, not knowing what to say. It’s a rhetorical question, there’s a ton of people that have passed on this. But the idea is way too tempting. Possibly double the cash, and you literally get put into the books for not surviving once, but twice? The Capitol citizens love you now, wait until later.

You finish your breakfast quickly, taking your and Tanith’s plate as you move over to the sink, running water over them. Next, you go ahead and place the pan in there too.

“I’ve got to get ready, are you sticking around?”

“I should report back to Enobaria.” Tanith says, you can hear the chair again, “I could come back later with Emi, if you want.”

“Whatever.” you say, heading towards the staircase, “Don’t worry about me too much, kid. I’m unbreakable so far.”

“So far.” She echos.

There’s no goodbye as you go up. By now, your hair is pretty dry. In the bathroom attached to your bedroom, you go ahead and get ready now. You brush your hair, blow dry only a little bit, and then straighten. When you’re done with that, you curl and hairspray.

By the time you’ve moved onto makeup, Tanith is back with Emi already. Emi is older than the both of you, but she has more experience when it comes to some things. She picks out the jewelry for you, and does some of the harder parts of your makeup. The both of them work together to get you into the dress, and then help with the shoes too.

Standing in front of the floor-length mirror, you double check everything, asking yourself if this is what you want. With a few more turns, you decide that you’re going to get praise for the outfit choice. The Capitol will be impressed with how dressed up you got for it. Others might see it as some joke.

You have about thirty minutes before the reaping, which is when you go to leave the house. It isn’t until you’ve stopped at the door, when you realize that you’re missing some sort of token. You tilt your head from side to side, trying to remember what you wore in your first games.

A necklace, wasn’t it? Given to you by your then-boyfriend. He later broke up with you because of your performance inside of the games, which he wasn’t expecting at all in the slightest. Because of this, you kept the necklace as a reminder, it’s tortuous, and you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing it now.

“What are you waiting for?” Emi finally asks.

“I need a token.” you tell her, still staring at the staircase, distracted.

“Earrings, necklace, bracelet…” Emi urges slightly, “Ring?”

“No.” you tell her, “Wait--yes for the necklace.”

Your hand finds it, already dangling around your neck. Another gift, Tanith. Some souvenir she had gotten from the Capitol during her visit after she won. This will please her.

“Never mind, it’s on me.”

You leave the house, closing the door with a slam, since it’s a bit shifty when it comes to closing. After that, you wait at the bottom of the steps with the other two, watching as people come out of their houses, one by one. In no time, you’re all walking towards the stage in one big herd.

“Not everyone can visit you, but I definitely will.” Tanith says, “In the departing room, I mean.”

“Sweet.” you look over all the district people who dressed up nicely, despite the fact that they’re not going to be the ones going in. You catch the attention of a few people because of your out. You wonder if they know deep down that it’s because you’re going to volunteer.

“Zavian even agreed too. It was supposed to be a surprise but I know how you feel about them.”

It’s like showing up uninvited. Like her being inside of your house without any prior warning. You guess that’s somewhat your fault too, since you hadn’t talked to anyone yesterday. You were too amped up about today. It’s funny to you, that you were allowed to feel excited yesterday, but so unmotivated today.

Maybe your soulmate was full of anxiety this morning.

“Wanna know something cool?” you ask Tanith.

“Sure.” She looks over at you, but you’re still staring off at everyone you pass.

“I think I actually do have a soulmate.” 

Tanith gasps, covering her mouth. You look over at her, confused by the reaction, until you realize that it was genuine excitement, “Really? That’s good news! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

You shrug, “Didn’t see it as important. Haven’t heard anything from them in a long time, so I thought they were as good as dead.”

“It’s good news.” Tanith looks happy for you, “I wish I’d come across mine already.”

She looks down at her wrist, running her finger over the words.

“You’ve got plenty of time.” you tell her.

“Says you. You were so worried about it.” Tanith says, and before you can object, she adds: “Come on, admit it already.”

You give an exasperated sigh, “I suppose.”

She smiles a bit.

Tanith helps you up the staircase to the stage, which almost looks brand new. It isn’t though, it’s just pristine clean. Unlike the other districts, two is highly loved. Which means that the entire district is rich, except for a select few who were born in the poorer part of the district to begin with.

It just means that everything looks nice. The stage is white, it hardly had dirty footprints. You watch as some comes across with a broom to brush off the dirt after everyone has stepped onto the stage.

District Two is practically a second Capitol.

This year, no one sits in chairs. The girls stand on the right, in the back stand the tallest, and the front stand the shortest. You’re fairly tall, you’re able to see over most people’s heads. Most of the girls in the district manage to be short anyway, it was just the genes that you inherited that allowed you to be tall.

You’re given an easy escape route, the same as Enobaria as a backup. If your name is called, no one is allowed to volunteer over you. However, if you don’t volunteer fast enough, then that leaves it up to grabs. There’s a whole list of people that are dying to be able to go back inside.

Two people sit in chairs, waiting for everyone to file in and get comfortable below the stage. The first is the governor, a woman you’re not that fond of. She got on your nerves back when you had won your games. Back then, you were taking a lot of trips to the Capitol to have work done on your body. She was getting irritated about it.

The second person that sits next to the governor, is the district representative. A short man with loud opinions. He’s one of those people that you wouldn’t mind being thrown inside of the arena with. He’d likely be torn apart like the tributes are a pack of wolves. 

He thinks of you guys as used tissues. There’s been a couple of times when you’ve gotten in his face because of what he said. Nearly shredded him right then and there in front of a few peacekeepers and tributes. If people think you’re scary normally, then they haven’t seen you angry.

It’s a disappointment that he is the district rep. You wish he would jump off a cliff and die. 

Once everyone is in their respective places, the governor gives her speech that she gives every year. It’s the one about the dark days, a required speech. In the group of girls, you whisper the words in harmony. After she wraps it up, the rep moves forward.

His name is Theo, a boring name. Unbearably common and simple. You thought the Capitol people were supposed to be extravagant. This man is a disappointment in more than one way, it turns out.

“Happy hunger games!” His voice is what you’d like to also describe as ‘average’. Not deep, not high pitched. Average, “Let’s start with ladies first, shall we?”

As if it’s a question any of you are allowed to answer. You know someone in this group--mainly Sorcha--is dying to yell back ‘actually no, we shall not’ just to see his reaction. Forget the tributes being seen as monkeys, the Capitol people’s reactions are just as entertaining.

He sticks his white-gloved hand into the bowl, spinning his finger around while he puckers his face. He’s likely thinking, ‘Which one looks the most presentable?’

‘It doesn’t matter!’ you want to yell back, ‘I’m volunteering either way!’

It’s building up unnecessary tension. You scowl, eyes glued to his hand as he finally picks a damn slip of paper. He pulls it out, his suit sleeve nearly clipping the mouth of the bowl, and goes back over to the expensive microphone. He pulls off the black tape, and reads over the name.

“Tanith Nuova!” he smiles widely, looking over towards the girl section.

How funny, your own tribute getting called out. It’s a sign. If you didn’t have your mind made up before, you do now.

“I volunteer!” your voice rings out, no one is surprised.

You slide out of the section of girls, along the way, Tanith holds out her hand, and you slap it for a high-five. A small smirk appears over your face as you gracefully go to where you need to stand. One look at the choir of girls, and you can see that you’re nowhere near out of place with how you’re dressed. Plenty of people look like they’re also ready to head back to the Capitol.

Theo doesn’t look too thrilled, his face puckers again as he heads to the microphone, “(Y/n) Rosecelli for our girl.”

He moves over to the boys now, doing the exact same thing that he did the first time. You glare at him out of annoyance. You manage to catch the eyes of Brutus to see he’s shifting on his feet, clearly fed up with this too.

Theo finally gets to the point of it, “Cobalt Struyk--”

He barely gets out the last name when Brutus’ voice overpowers him, “I volunteer.”

Brutus comes over, standing in front of the boys bowl. Theo, scowling and hinting at the beginning of a temper tantrum, motions to the two of you, not even bothering to introduce Brutus.

You hold your hand out for Brutus, and he gives you a smirk as he takes it. Once you have a hold of each other, you turn towards the cameras, holding up your intertwined fingers, a giant grin on the both of your faces.

Two volunteers, it’s unsurprising to the entire nation. They’re expecting volunteers, but they definitely weren’t anticipating those who would step forward.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our tributes for the Quarter Quell!” Theo says after he managed to pull himself together. He skips the bit about shaking hands, and the two of you are then escorted off of the stage.

You begin in the direction of the departing room, noticing how the peacekeepers follow you and Brutus tightly. By the time you get to the building, Tanith and Zavian are already there, in your room.

“What’s with them being so stuffy?” you ask once the door shuts behind you.

“I heard a few districts are getting out of hand.” Zavian leans on the arm of the couch, “I guess it’s better safe than sorry.”

Another reason why you don’t like that Katniss girl, look at the mess she’s made of everything. It was fine before she came along, fucked up the process. Should’ve gotten over the fact that both of them couldn’t win. It’s not like Peeta was a use anyway. Like you’ve said before, deadweight on her fragile, little girl shoulders.

“Well, this is goodbye.” Zavian says, “Thanks for mentoring me.”

Tanith elbows him, giving him a glare, “You could at least be a little sympathetic, douchebag.”

He raises his eyebrows, “That’s a new one, what else are you gonna call me?”

For a second, they’re staring at each other. And then, Tanith grabs her arm like it’s going to detach itself. You watch in awe as she holds it out, looking down at the words.

“Oh, this is unbelievable.” Tanith now looks like her arm can detach, “I’ve been paired with a moron.”

Zavian doesn’t look that phased, taking one look at his arm, and then shrugging. Almost like nothing that went on in front of you, actually happened, he looks at you again, “Good luck in there, you’ll need it. Twenty-three people to fend off? May the odds be ever in your favor.”

Tanith isn’t very good at brushing it off, but she knows her time is limited. She comes over, holding her arms out like a child. You hug her, for her own sake and squeeze her tightly.

“Will you actually use the necklace as a token?” she asks.

“Well, I need something.” you say, “It’s better than nothing.”

“I’ll be rooting for you.” She pulls away, “Thank you for being the greatest person, ever.”

“Cheesy, she hates it.” Zavian comments, laughing a little to himself, “Look at the look on her face.”

Tanith pretends not to hear him, “I know she’s not fond of affection but--” she backs away entirely, “--you should know that a lot of the victors do like you. Truly. Sorcha and a few of the other’s won’t say it, but they love you. We all do.”

You give her a smile, “Thanks.”

“I’ll send anything that you need.” she says, “Make plenty of allies. Be ruthless.”

She’s quoting you. Those are the exact words you said to her last, before she was off to the hovercraft. It’s funny how they’ve stuck with her this long. They must echo inside of her mind like an empty chamber.

“I will, I promise.” you take in a deep breath.

The doors open, “Time’s up, time for the train.”

You look over the two people that decided to visit you, and you open your arms one last time. Tanith comes over willingly, and it takes Zavian a moment before he realizes that it’s extended to him too.

“You two are my pride and joys. Two of my biggest achievements, really. I’ll be back soon, and then you guys can praise me all you want.”

“Get off of me.” Zavian laughs, pushing away now.

“Bye.” you tell them firmly, before turning around and heading towards the peacekeepers.

One of them presses their hand to your lower back, guiding you to the car where Theo and Brutus await. Theo goes in first, since he’s royalty. Next is you, and Brutus nearly weighs the entire car down when he steps inside.

Theo begins muttering about something, you’re not entirely sure if you’re supposed to be listening or not. You want to tell him to shut up, but Brutus beats you to it. Theo glares, you can see him mouth the word ‘ungrateful’ and then stares out of the window for the rest of the time.

When the ride is over, you purposely hold onto Brutus, making him wait, “Open the door for us, Theo.”

He looks over like you just insulted his mother, “Huh?”

“I said, open the door for us. This is our spotlight, after all.” you motion, “Go ahead, before the peacekeepers do it first.”

Brutus is smiling, and he pushes Theo towards the door forcefully. Theo doesn’t like this in the slightest, popping open the door, and holding it open for you and Brutus. Brutus lets you go first, and you step out of the car carefully, holding onto your dress.

Out of the car now, Theo leads you up to the train station. Around you guys are a bunch of peacekeepers still, getting you up to the platform, and then taking on an automatic position behind you guys.

You take your time, waving with a smile at the thought of the fact that the next time you’ll be here, you’re going to be a two-timed victor.

–

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[stillness-in-green]

Spinaraki Week Level 2, Day Three: Folklore | Memory

For the folklore prompt, a yokai AU.  For the memory prompt...  Well, let’s just say that this is probably not going to make much sense if you haven’t seen Sarazanmai.

Spinner dies, but he doesn’t.  He’s empty, but he isn’t. He wants to connect, but he mustn’t.

(With apologies to Sakaki Deidoro, who probably didn’t deserve to be turned into a kappa zombie anymore than the ones in the show did.)

———–      ———–      ———–      ———–

“Sure I know him,” the man in the bird mask slurs, leaning back from them with a loose shrug.  “Think there’d be a guy in this uniform who doesn’t?”  

The air stinks of booze; there’s an open bottle in the man’s hand as he lifts it, a pointing finger drawing figure eights in the air, wobbling between Shigaraki and Spinner.  Spinner to Shigaraki, back and forth, Shigaraki to Spinner.  An invisible line of connection.

“Who’s askin’, that’s the real question.”  The man giggles, then hiccups at the end of it.

Spinner can’t feel it much in this form, but you don’t get involved in the sorts of things this would-be tengu is involved in if there isn’t something you want, or someone you love. He doesn’t even need to glance at Shigaraki to know this is their next target.

“No beginning, no ending, no connection,” he pronounces.

“We’ll open a door,” Shigaraki echoes, and sluggish alarm registers in bird-mask’s slackening mouth as Spinner pulls out the gun.

“Is it desire?” Shigaraki asks.  Around them, the humming of the machines changes pitch.  Bird-mask glances around wildly, hearing them for the first time.

“Or is it love?” Spinner asks, the word tasting like the flesh of an overripe plum on his tongue, cloying, too sweet.

“Let’s extract it and find out.”

The lights from the extraction chamber rise—focus—flash.

The sound of drumming drowns out the gunshot.

-

“How was it?” Toga asks, floating down from above to coil her arms around Shigaraki’s shoulders when they make it back to the hideout.

Shigaraki huffs.  “Just another one for the machine, same as always.”

“Usso…” The pout is audible in her voice.  Then she looks back over her shoulder at Spinner, her eyes glowing yellow as Shigaraki walks them both into the shadows. White fangs flash in her grin.  “Did you have fun today?”

He can’t not hear a mocking edge.  He tells himself it’s just how otters are, even their criminals.

“Like Shigaraki said,” he grunts.  “It was the same as always.”

She sighs, wistful as a fading flower.  “I’m sure we’ll find a lover someday.  Maybe that one’s boss?  Oh, I’m sure he’ll be otterly delicious.”

Shigaraki just snorts again, and in Spinner’s chest, his hollow heart aches.  Again.

-

“I’ve never met a kappa with such an empty heart,” the otter in the white lab coat says the first time Spinner wakes up on his table.  “How otterly fascinating.”

Spinner looks up at him, vaguely surprised that he survived the fall of the kingdom, but somehow not at all surprised that, having survived, his luck has landed him here.

“I am Chief Science Otticer Ujiko,” the otter introduces himself, and extends one fat paw towards him. “And I think there’s someone you should meet.  Someone who can help you understand.”

“Understand what?” Spinner whispers.  The lights above him are so bright, electric white and so much colder than any lamp or lantern from home.

“That those connections you kappa prize so dearly—are poison.  Usso…”

-

Shigaraki plays video games when they’re not out hunting for desire energy.  He’s unreasonably good at them, hands flying over controllers he never does more than glance at, instead staring fixedly at the TV screen.  He doesn’t seem to care what it reflects back at him, as long there’s some goal he can point his avatar at instead.  Preferably a bloody one.

Before the empire found him, Spinner had never touched a video game—or, really, much of any kind of human tech.  A stray talking children’s toy lost in the tall grass of a riverbank.  A drowned radio carried downstream by the currents until it wedged up against a rock in the riverbed and sat there leaking acrid mercury from its battery compartment into the water around it.

Shigaraki doesn’t comment when he comes back from an appointment with Ujiko and finds Spinner fumbling through an early level on one of his games, though the sound of the door opening startles Spinner badly enough to send the character onscreen careening into a bottomless pit.

Instead, he just takes the controller out of Spinner’s hands, navigates the jump for him when the character regenerates, and hands the controller back.  Then he drops onto the other end of the ragged couch and watches Spinner play.

“…Man, you really suck at this.”

-

They dance, ballroom-style, a thing Spinner only ever saw from a distance, frozen in human art.  He should be terrible at it, and maybe he is, but the music seems to guide his feet all the same.  Or maybe it’s Shigaraki, the emptiness at the bottom of his heart so very, very easy to follow.

-

“Why do you do this?” Spinner asks Shigaraki, not long after their first meeting.  “You aren’t one of them, are you?”

They’re staking out a local yakuza spot from a few buildings over, watching cars come and go.  In the dark, Shigaraki’s eyes could pass for normal.

“Why do you this?” Shigaraki echoes, not even looking at him.  “You aren’t one of them.”

“Because—”  Spinner can’t finish the sentence.  Shigaraki may not be an otter, but that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be consequences for saying, Because of you.

“Connections,” Shigaraki says, “are bullshit.”  

His white hair stirs on the breeze from the open window.  

In the distance, Spinner can smell the river.

-

All For One strokes back Shigaraki’s hair, his grin a pale crescent against the black nimbus obscuring the rest of his features.  Shigaraki’s head twitches to the side but he doesn’t otherwise move, neither to lean in nor pull away when the Emperor of Darkness bows his head to whisper into his ward’s ear.

Whispering poison, maybe.

Spinner, waiting at the other end of the basement with Toga, watches the two of them, and wonders.

The otters want to destroy the circle, or so Shigaraki and Ujiko say.  Spinner doesn’t know why—the otters use desire energy just like kappa do, and destroying the circle of all will make it just as inaccessible to them as it would become to kappa.

There must be something they aren’t saying, not that anyone’s going to tell him what that might be.

He watches Shigaraki and All For One, and he thinks about pyramids.

-

Shigaraki hates.  He hates humans, hates kappa, hates otters, hates the circle.  He breathes it, swims in it like it's his own river of life.  It drips off his words, flows through his veins, powers his heart like a turbine.  When they dance, Shigaraki’s eyes never leave his, gaze boring straight through Spinner, as if he’s trying to dig his way into Spinner’s skull with his stare alone, the two of them carried fully by the intensity of his emotions.

Shigaraki leads—across the factory floor, up the escalator, out onto the broad balcony that overlooks the city, the thousands of city lights that shape themselves to the curves of the river.  He leads until the very end, where he pulls himself in close, guides Spinner’s hand to his chest, and splays himself out over Spinner’s arm as Spinner’s claws slip beneath his skin to pull his heart out of his thin white chest.

Spinner draws the organ—ember-red, ember-hot—to his mouth, breathing in the energy of it in shuddering gasps. Ujiko’s implant in Spinner’s chest gives an answering tremble and groans back to life, an uneven pulse that isn’t quite a heartbeat.

And so he’s ready to go for another however-long before they do this again.  A few days, maybe a bit over a week.  He could go longer without, probably, but the machines are always hungry.

Spinner is too.  Laying limp and lax in his hold, Shigaraki’s eyes flutter, his cheeks flushed, a thin whine audible beneath his breathing. Still, his lips are pulled up in a small, tight, fierce grin.

Spinner’s teeth itch. If he sank them into the hot lump of flesh clutched in his taut fingers, would he know why Shigaraki can smile like that?  How he can feel things so strongly and still want to throw it away?

I want to connect, whispers a dangerous, treacherous voice in his mind as he eases Shigaraki’s heart back into place, averting his eyes.  But I’m afraid.

-

Where Shigaraki came from. How he fell in with the otters.  Why he wants to destroy the circle—the sarazanmai could tell him.  The sarazanmai reveals everything.

There are a thousand problems with that, starting with the fact that Spinner is pretty sure that you can’t even perform sarazanmai with a human, and, whatever All For One and Ujiko have done to him over the years, it doesn’t change the fact that Shigaraki is a human.

Spinner turns over in his bed, limbs splaying out every which way.  It’s stiflingly hot in the hideout, both because it’s summer and because of the concentration of desire energy below the building.  He sits abruptly, tank top clinging to his skin, then gets up to open a window.  

Air moves over his face, a laggard breeze that still draws out a soft sigh of relief.  He looks out over the city, breathing in the smoke and the exhaust, the taint of sweaty humanity clinging to every corner of the place.  Beneath it all, he can still smell the river.

…The prince could turn Shigaraki into a kappa.  He’s done it before, or so the stories go, in very desperate times.  He’d have no reason to grant a wish like that anyway, not for a bedraggled, unconnected outcast like Spinner; he’d probably cough up a thousand brass plates before he’d even think about it.

Not that it matters anyway. The prince is dead, lost when the kingdom fell.  Shigaraki’s human, and human he’ll stay, brimming with the kind of raw emotional potency that has drawn youkai towards humans since before humans had even developed a word for connection.

There’s the shirikodama.  The thought arrives in his head so perfectly formed that Spinner looks over his shoulder, suddenly paranoid that Ujiko or Toga appeared to plant it there.  But Toga’s off running around with Twice tonight, and Ujiko never leaves the bowels of the processing plant.

Spinner shivers.

He has never swallowed a human’s desire, not even to hold it in his gullet long enough to deliver it to the prince like the noble delicacy it is.  He could, though.  The city is built on water; they cross streams and rills and offshoots multiple times every day.  It would be so easy to pull Shigaraki into one and let it carry them to the river, let its cool waters soothe away the fever of his hatred, if only for a little while.

Spinner would rest their foreheads together, pull Shigaraki close, and—and extract his desire, drink it down there in the river of life, and with no prince to surrender it to, it would just be his, only his.  All of Shigaraki’s memories, all of his emotions, the very soul of him, made one with Spinner forever.

And maybe he’d be safe there, safe and connected, no matter what becomes of the circle...

…He’s gotten hard.  Fuck.

Spinner makes his way back to bed, but it’s a long while before he gets to sleep.

-

In the morning, there’s a second game controller sitting on the floor, green next to the usual red, their cords winding around each other in a loose spiral.  Spinner stares down at it, then lets his eyes track up to the sound of the low laugh from the rafters.  Shigaraki looks back down at him, his form limned in red light.

“Spinner, I thought of another way for us to connect.”  The delivery is a bit too high, but the voice is Shigaraki’s.  The cajoling lilt of the cadence, though, is otter through and through.

“Knock it off, Toga,” he grits out past clenched teeth.

If the red glow didn’t give her away, the way her eyes flash gold would.  She winks at him, waves, and disappears, laugh lingering behind her.

The real Shigaraki comes out of his room a minute later, still half-asleep, and almost walks into Spinner before he catches himself.  Unselfconscious, he elbows Spinner out of the way and looks down at the—gift? Test?  Spinner hasn’t decided yet.

“Toga?” he asks, voice rough.

Spinner swallows and nods, hyper-aware of Shigaraki’s warmth, and stutter of his own heartbeat, and the grumble of bio-engine below.

Shigaraki exhales, a sharp gust that ruffles his bangs.  “Figures.”

“I can return it,” Spinner offers, which is stupid, really.  It’s not like he knows where Toga got it.  It might not have even come from a regular store; she sees Ujiko just as often as the rest of them, and he always has some new project he’s wanting to test.

But Shigaraki’s already wandering off towards the kitchen.

It’s another day, and there’s plenty of desire waiting to be found.

[feverinfeveroutfic]

chapter thirty-six: pink orange red

“he draws his horses; pretend your anger, and draws his horses, being chosen also.” -”pink orange red”, cocteau twins

On a cold morning in the middle of November, Sam rolled over onto her side and strove to fall back asleep. The memory of standing out in the rain and mourning over Cliff still hung fresh in her memory. This was the third morning this week that she had woken up early because she swore she still felt him next to her. She still felt his memory within her arm's reach, right there, nestled right next to her in the safety of her bed.

She opened her eyes and lay her hand on the spot of the mattress next to her, even though there was no way someone of his stature would lay there next to her. He was right there. He was right next to her. And yet he couldn't feel her again. She couldn't feel him again. She woke up alone for the umpteenth time and she had no idea as to how to rectify it.

Anthrax had already left for Europe with Metal Church, and she had to look over the schedule again to find that Metallica had gone off out west for a little bit before they were whisked across the Pacific. Even though he promised her that she could call him at any given time as she so wished, she had no idea how to get in touch with Joey. It was a cold, blustery day there in New York City, and albeit the weekend right before Thanksgiving: she could go back out West to visit her parents, but that would only mean a couple of days there in Reno before she had to fly on back that Sunday.

Even though it was only for another week and a half before they came back to North America and played there in Poughkeepsie and New York City with the Cherry Suicides, it could not feel more of like an eternity. Those next ten days stretched into the form of ten years without having her friends there.

She rolled onto her back and gazed up at the gray ceiling. She had everything and then with a flick of a wrist, she was back to square one. Back in bed in her own home. It would be four days alone for all she knew, unless Aurora and Marla weren't doing anything then. Four days alone and yet she wondered about the slight wish she had cast for herself. Some time alone to think about everything; some time to herself and no one else.

Indeed, as she thought more about it, she realized she hadn't had much time to herself until after she returned home from school or anywhere else, and even then it was only for a brief time. Four days alone and she could make it work for herself.

Sam sighed through her nose and lay her arms upon the top of the blanket. The question then was what to do in those four days.

All the art she had made up to that point was for someone else, be it Frank and Charlie or for a class. She very rarely cracked into her own private journal for herself. All buried under the weight of class and the very friendships she wished for and held dearly.

Four days alone and she could do it with that journal.

It felt as though she hadn't ridden in a car for a thousand years, even though she and Joey drove to Oswego together. If nothing, she could take the bus to the upstate area. But on the other hand, she wouldn't have her tour guide with her. She could wander about somewhere upstate, but then came the whole deal of taking a bus there in the first place. There was so much to do and yet so much she couldn't do.

Four days alone and there was so much to do between now and then.

She glanced down at her waist: she had lost a little weight in that she didn't seem so round with the blankets wrapped around her, but she also wished for Cliff's touch. She had cried all of her tears for him and yet she still wished for his presence. She wished for a presence. Someone to touch her, to understand her, to be the best friend that he never could be.

She knew the sun was about to come up within mere seconds: a brand new day and a brand new week, and one for herself no less. Nothing better to do than to make herself a cup of brew and go out walking before the snows came in.

Aurora had given her a string of dates to clock in and she knew that had to have been her last day before the Thanksgiving break. At least it was a mere part of the day rather than the whole thing. She would relish in every moment alone.

And yet she couldn't help but wonder about her parents. So far away from home and yet she knew she had to be there in New York. Her one true home. Her parents fought for her, every step of the way because she knew she would blossom on the East Coast. But every blossom wilted and withered and fell from the trees by the time the summer rolled around, and they were long gone come the winter time. She began to wonder about Christmas break with her parents: Chrismas break and without a man by her side.

Add to this, she also couldn't believe how easy it was for her to get into school, in that she barely made a waitlist of any sort. As far as she knew, even Marla and Belinda had been waitlisted before they were accepted in themselves. It almost felt too easy to get into that school. In fact, she closed her eyes again and thought back to those first few weeks when she submitted her things to her counselor Bill, and she started to wonder about him, and if he had a hand in other things, not just the admissions office. So many questions and yet so little time to ruminate over it all.

Sam opened her eyes and she gazed up at the ceiling once again, that time when the first glimmers of gray sunlighht appeared up above her. Today was a work day: she had to get up at some point. Get up, get dressed, and tuck her journal under her coat if in the off chance of her having a moment alone that day.

She took her cup of coffee with her on the subway ride down to the building itself, and all the while she wore that black hat Cliff had given her. She paired it with her long black winter coat and heavy black leather boots. If it snowed, she would stand out anywhere in New York: as black as the East River at night during a hefty rain.

She emerged from the cold subway station with the cup of coffee still in hand and her purse over her shoulder, and protected by the heavy and warm safety of her coat. The rain was upon her, if not the snow. With her free hand, she held onto the crown of her hat as she hurried up the sidewalk. Aurora's car was nowhere to be seen.

“Don't tell me I'm opening today,” she said aloud and out of breath.

A break in the clouds and she was met with a sliver of sunlight as she reached the front door. She pushed it open as if someone had already been there, and she recognized Eric's long fine black hair on the other side of the front room.

“Hey,” she greeted him.

“Hey,” he retorted; right next to him was Greg.

“Hey, girlie,” he followed up.

“Wow, I wasn't expecting to see you guys here,” she declared as she closed the door behind her. “It's Sunday.”

“Aurora wanted us to come in and do some paper work,” Greg explained as he took a seat in the chair against the wall. “Although to be fair we weren't expecting to see you here, either. Given it's Sunday and whatnot.”

“And we're gonna be here for a while, too,” Eric added. “It's just the nature of things at the moment.”

“It's a work day for me—it's only part time but still.” She then stopped right in her tracks. “Wait a minute, you guys are getting ready to record, aren't you?” Eric had a twinkle in his eye and Greg nodded his head. Sam then brought the cup of coffee to her mouth for a sip against the cold.

“Just about,” Eric replied as he took his seat there next Greg, “—I'm technically the one who founded the band so if nothing else, I have to be here myself. Greg is just here so he sees that he gets his money.”

“Dyin' to get our money,” Greg said as he tilted his head back and brought his hands to his chest.

“By the way, do you guys have a manager at all?” she asked Eric. “I was thinking about that a couple of weeks ago—given I'm the first member of fan club and everything.”

“A manager? No, not yet. The Zazulas are the ones overlooking us at the moment.”

A brief silence fell over that room.

“Kind of like the counselors at school,” she noted in a soft voice, and she took another sip of coffee.

“And if it's something important like that, you'd have to balance out that with school,” Greg pointed out.

“I've done it before,” Sam assured him with a raise of her finger.

“Well, if nothing, you gotta at least sit in with us, though,” Eric insisted. “I really wanna see you and I really want you to hear what we've got on deck. Louie and Chuck do, too. I think Alex does, too—given you're Cliff's girl and everything. He's back home right now so I don't know what to say about him.”

“I mean, she did do it with Stormtroopers,” Greg pointed out.

“I did it with Stormtroopers, yeah,” she recalled with a shrug of her shoulders, “and I'm part time with the label and assistant to Aurora, too. I could in fact sit in if you wish.”

“We go in New Year's Eve,” Eric added with a nibble of his lip. “New Year's Eve under the name 'Legacy.' I hope, anyways.”

“If I'm not there, what would happen?” she asked them.

“We'd be sad and be like 'where's our girl?' for the better part of a week,” he said with a straight face.

“Where are you guys gonna be?” she asked him.

“Pyramid Sound—out in Ithaca. We can take you out there right now if you'd like.”

“Nah, I have things to do,” she assured him, and then she snapped her fingers. “Wait a minute—I have Thanksgiving off. That's coming up here in this next week. You still gonna be here?”

Eric and Greg glanced at each other.

“We'll try,” the former vowed, “what’s your schedule like this week?”

“I have half a day Tuesday.”

“How ‘bout then?”

“Sounds good. As long as I don’t have anything important, of course.”

“We’ll get ya back home,” he vowed with a wink, and she extended her hand to him. His hand was warm and dry, but his fingers were rough from the incessant guitar playing. The door behind her swung open, and the three of them turned their attention to Aurora, who had a big grin on her face.

“What you all smiles for?” Greg asked her with a little shake of his head.

“Come on in, Marla!” she called back, and Marla stepped inside from the cold and the gray. The violet had gone and in its place was a bright neon orange at the crown of her head. But as her hair extended to her shoulders, the orange melded into a rich cherry red and bright hot pink. Every step about the floor it looked as though her hair changed colors from orange to red to pink, one right after the other as if her hair was comprised of watercolor. Sam, Eric, and Greg gaped at the sight of the hair and how it seemed to flow about.

“Wow!” Sam declared.

“Beautiful, isn't it?” said Aurora with a twinkle in her eye. “I helped out with it because it was tricky to get right, especially the red part of it.”

“I call it 'pink lemonade',” Marla added as she lifted her hair out from under her shirt collar: the pink and red near the bottom seemed to move about like waves. “I wanted to do it for the Cherry Suicides' show this upcoming week.”

“Oh, yeah, that's right! It's this week!”

“Providence and then upstate in Poughkeepsie.”

“We really gotta be here now, Greg,” Eric proclaimed right behind Sam and Aurora.

“For sure, Eric. Seeing a bunch of punk chicks with Metallica after a week of a great feast. And we owe li'l Sam here a ride out to Ithaca—”

Sam paid no attention to Greg's waxing lyrical given Marla's hair had given her some sort of awakening right before school started and then ended again for a bit. Some time alone but she knew it was going to be worth it, especially with hair like that.

She couldn't hardly focus on her work that day given she kept on thinking about her rendezvous with Eric and Greg in the next room, and also her seeing the Cherry Suicides with Metallica. How exciting it must have been for Zelda in particular. Sam was so distracted by the whole thing that she spent her entire lunch break with the journal in hand.

She thought back to Zelda and that day in her apartment when Aurora broke the news to her. They were coming home to Providence, and Sam couldn't help but laugh at it. She thought about that full bodied painting of Joey on canvas and how it was still in the back seat of his car. There was another thing she had to do: a better, more finessed rendition of Joey in the buff. But that thought led her back to Zelda.

Their name was the Cherry Suicides, and they were dark and fast but incredibly girlish at the same time, almost like black cherries. They owed so much to Wendy O. Williams and yet they moved in a whole other direction altogether.

She brought the pencil to the paper and she sketched out Zelda's head first. All the inexplicable struggle with graphite and correctly shading everything was about to pay off with her short bob of dark hair. A little oval shaped face and deep seductive eyes, and then she followed it up with her lanky drummer's body and a myriad of cherries around her. Given she only had the one pencil to work with, Sam shaded in the cherries with the side of the graphite, but it was somewhat difficult given she kept the journal close to her chest. She drew it for herself and no one else.

But she still signed her initials at the very bottom of the page.

She kept it all firmly in mind as she went off to school for the next two days, and by the middle of the day on Tuesday, she wondered if Eric and Greg knew where she lived courtesy of the label or Aurora, or if she had to walk on up there after her last class. Indeed, she stepped out of that front building and she was alone there on the sidewalk. Not a cloud in the sky but a walk nonetheless and with her hand upon the crown of her hat as well.

Sam strolled inside and there was Eric and Greg congregated around Aurora, who had the clipboard in hand once again.

“—so I'll get that squared away for you guys once you get out there to Ithaca,” she was saying, and she turned around at the sight of her best friend in the door. “There she is!”

“Little Sam I am!” Eric declared. “You ready to go?”

“Let's move on out, boys,” she said as she fixed the brim of her hat.

“And remember if you guys need anything, call me back at my place or down at Montana,” Aurora continued.

“Will do,” Eric told her with a shake of her hand, and the two of them doubled back to the door and put on their sunglasses in unison.

“We're the men in black,” Sam decreed as she led them back outside.

“Hell yeah,” said Greg. Eric led them back to his rental car, which was parked up at the corner, right in front of Aurora's car.

“Shotgun,” Sam declared.

“Damn it!” Greg scoffed, and Eric laughed out loud as he took out his keys and climbed in first.

“Her and Alex, man,” Greg added.

“Alex always calls shotgun?” Sam asked them as she followed suit into the front passenger seat.

“Oh, he's terrible with that,” Eric replied. “Whenever we played out at clubs back in the Golden State, he made it a nervous tic of sorts. Sometimes he'll slip it in mid conversation—like we'll be walking to our car and he'll be in the middle of saying something and he'll slip in the word 'shotgun' in.”

“I remember the first time he did that, Louie looked at him like he just slipped in a foreign word or something,” Greg recalled as he shut the back door. Sam slid her book bag down between her legs. She could only assume that it was for the rest of that day and that they would get her home soon enough.

Indeed, when they got on the road, she took out her journal from the inside and returned to that drawing of Zelda. It needed something: it was the start of a new chapter for her and thus she needed to add something more to it. She gazed out the window at the scraggly trees that lined the highway and she thought about Joey. She wondered how he was doing while on tour and if he was staying away from all the booze and brutal partying.

Next to the shaded cherries on the left side of the page, Sam doodled a glass soda bottle. She had hope that Joey would turn his attention to singing and staying sober with things like soda for the duration of that tour. Clean and sober, like a bottle of soda. The cherries only made the doodle more appropriate.

She hadn't drawn glass much before, but she had seen it in person many times: that little bit of shine on the curvature of the bottle as well as the neck.

Right in between the bottle and the cherries, she got to work on a little rose, in honor of Rosita. And once she had finished the basic sketching, she ran the pencil over it all again to make their shadows richer and darker.

She lifted her gaze again to the dark forest outside of the car. Even though she was in the car with Eric and Greg, she was still technically alone. She sat in a car with two men she didn't really know very well and she was drawing right next to them to boot. She was alone with her thoughts. A few leaves still clung to the dark branches of all the trees, and each one of them were as orange as Marla's hair to contrast with the cold gray in the sky.

Soon the signs for Ithaca emerged from the scraggly, damp shrubs and the memory of the Stormtroopers of Death tour returned to her.

“I came out here with Joey last summer,” she said. “Took me out this way just so I could take a shower.”

“Context?” Greg asked her with a clearing of his throat.

“Touring with Stormtroopers and none of us had showered in days, and I finally couldn't take it anymore and Joey and I drove to his parents' house just for that.”

“Ohhhh, shit,” Eric groaned.

“Damn, that's rough,” Greg joined in, “kinda metal, though. You went from one place to another just for a shower and hung out with the Stormtroopers.”

Sam moved over to the right side of the paper and Eric took a glimpse over at her.

“Amazed you can draw while you're in the car,” he admitted. “I try to do that and I get dizzy almost immediately.”

“I feel the drive to create, you know?” she said as she kept her eyes on the cherries to the right of Zelda. “I want to make something in Cliff's wake, too. He did the same thing after his brother died after all.”

“That he did,” he replied in a thoughtful tone.

They fell back into silence and that gave her more time to finish the drawing. That one drawing just for herself, and she had ran the pencil over her initials once again by the time they rolled into that first intersection in Ithaca. She opened the journal even more across her lap for Eric and Greg to see. The former gaped at it and for so long that he kept the car in place there for almost too long.

“Holy shit,” he said as he lunged forward to the fuel station on the corner. Sam lifted up the journal so Greg himself could see it from the back seat.

“That's fucking beautiful,” he remarked.

“You ought to show that to Alex when you see him again—he's bit of an art kid,” Eric told her as he returned to the street.

“Oh, yeah, that's right!” She thought about that leaf of rice paper back in her apartment, still there in the safe place of her drawer. “What is with these heavy metal guys and a love of the arts,” Sam chuckled. “Lars is an art guy, Charlie's an art guy, and now I find out Alex is one, too.”

“You're a lot like us,” Eric replied, nonplussed. “We're dark and pissed off—there's something about you that's dark and pissed off. Aurora told me where the studio is—I just forget—oh, wait, there it is.”

It was a small brick building tucked back in the trees, with a little narrow walkway up to the front door that resembled to the walkway at school, and it stood a bit away from the actual road, and Eric told her it would serve as the perfect spot for them to get as loud as they could.

“Just so long as there's no one else in there with us,” Greg pointed out. “Come in here around New Year's and totally raise some hell.”

Sam lingered near the car, and she peered up at the dark trees. The one next to her still had a pair of leave on the lowest branch: a single dark red leaf next to a yellow one. She thought of Cliff and the yellow tulips back home, still strong and stout against all odds.

Within time, Eric and Greg drove her back to the Bronx, and by that time, night had fallen and she wished to make more art in Cliff's honor. Art for herself as well as him. She had a whole day to herself with nothing to think about and no one to spend it with, and thus she sat down with the journal and her colored pencils.

She thought about those thirty one ink drawings she had made the year before in honor of Spreading the Disease, except these were to honor herself and Cliff. All the colors, and all the dark graphite. Herself with Cliff. Their arms around each other's love and their lips pressed upon each other: nothing too much and nothing too intense, and yet making them took a great deal out of her. And that night, she went off to bed and fell asleep by the time her head hit the pillow.

She had cried out all her tears for him but drawing herself with him was what buried the coffin under the earth. By Sunday and her realization that she was to witness Zelda in front of a real crowd of people, she closed the journal and lay it on her desk. Its final resting place.

The show itself in Providence took place the next day while Sam was at school, but Marla insisted on going because the next day was Thanksgiving.

“We've got to—it's home coming for the Cherries,” she had said, and thus the two of them plus Belinda climbed into Charlie's car and they made the two hour drive to Providence once school let out. Every time Marla flipped her hair back, all the colors shimmered and waved about as if her hair was made of titanium. There was no way Zelda could miss them out in that big crowd.

And a big crowd it was: the four of them congregated off to the side, right next to the stage, and they watched the four girls roar forth in front of two thousand people. A band that had been playing in clubs were finally able to stretch their wings and let their sound ring out.

“This is the type of show they needed to play,” Belinda declared in a voice barely loud enough for Sam and Marla to hear.

They closed out their set with “Day of the Dead” and Sam thought about that night three weeks before. She closed her eyes and let the music guide her way. Cliff's arms. Cliff's safety and the extent of his heart. But alas, she couldn't.

She finally put him to bed. Zelda slammed the cymbals one last time and the crowd before them erupted.

“Thank you, Providence!” Morgan shouted into the microphone. “We love our home!”

The four of them ducked off stage, and Marla clapped over her head once Zelda appeared with a wide euphoric grin on her face.

“Oh, my god, that was insane!” she shrieked as she picked up a full water bottle from a table next to the wall. She pushed her black hair back and she let Rosita pour the cold water over her hot forehead. “That's what I'm talking about!”

To think they were on the brink of disbanding and giving it all up, and they performed as though their lives depended on it. Even though she was hot and sweaty, Sam still threw her arms around her and held her close. And she stayed there with them as they watched Metallica, Sam's first time seeing them with Jason.

It seemed hard to believe, even implausible, to think that those three men had already experienced so much in such a short amount of time, much like how she did herself. But in that year alone, they had put out a brand new record and embarked on a huge tour, plus James shattered his arm, and then they lost their brother from another mother. And yet, here they were, in all their glory. Five years into the whole adventure and yet they had come such a long way.

At one point, Jason nodded over at her with a little smirk on his face. His curled bangs kissed his brow, and she could make out the little twinkle in his eye. She nodded at him as he played along: not even a few weeks into the fold, and he was already a good hard part of it.

“We're back, baby,” she whispered: the faintest of whispers such that the surrounding crowd couldn't hear her, but she knew Cliff could, even when she finally put him to bed.

[kittykatzpaws]

The Annelid Spa. Upscale, selective, nearly impossible to get booked into unless you had the right contacts. Luckily for Kolt, being a superhero gave you those sorts of connections. One mention of his name had the receptionist clearing the day’s salon schedule to book him in for a treatment. He felt a little bad, having left the booking until the last minute. He was due for a public appearance the next day. A big, important ceremony where he had to be looking his best. Normally, he’d just go to the cheap place down the street that he’d been going to for years, but the last fur treatment he’d gotten from them left him itching for days, and that just wouldn’t do for such a big event.

 He arrived at the spa just after lunch. He had never actually seen the building up close, but it was as impressive as one would expect from such a high-end spa. The building was shaped like a pyramid, covered in reflective panelling that made it look like it was glowing. It was amazing. It looked, Kolt thought with a laugh, almost like a supervillain’s lair. But instead of being on some secluded island or inside a volcano, it was just nestled between two normal brick buildings in the middle of the city.

Kolt pushed open the heavy doors and walked inside, admiring how sleek and new everything looked. It seemed to be all white walls and shiny floors and gleaming metal doors. A woman sat behind the reception desk, typing away at a futuristic looking computer. Even her outfit seemed to match the rest of the building. A starched white dress and matching gloves. She glanced up at Kolt for a moment when he walked in, finishing up what she was typing before rolling her chair back to the middle of the reception desk and waving him forward.

“Mr. Lasser. We’re pleased you could join us today. We were very happy when you called to book your appointment. Such a well-known hero deserves only the best treatment, and that’s what we offer here.” The woman spoke with an even, measured tone.

Kolt smiled, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Oh, well the place I usually go to sort of didn’t work out. I think I’m allergic to something in their fur treatment.”

“We’ve been hearing that from new clients a lot recently. It makes me wonder if other places are trying to cut costs with cheaper products. I can assure you that everything we use here is of the finest quality.” She gave a polite smile and stood. “Would you like to get straight to the treatment, or would you like to enjoy some of our other facilities first? We have a wonderful sauna and a simply lovely sun room for meditation.”

Kolt considered the sauna for a moment, but shook his head. As nice as the place was, he didn’t want to be there for too long. He still had a few things to prepare before the ceremony the next day. “Just the salon, thanks.”

“Very good. Right this way, please.” The receptionist took a step towards one of the metal doors before pausing. “Ah, we have a very strict policy about technology. I’ll need to ask you to hand over your cell phone, watch, and any other items of technology you may have.”

Kolt hesitated, glancing at his watch. He didn’t like leaving it behind. The suit inside of it was his last line of defence. “You can’t make an exception?” He asked, hopefully.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Lasser.” The receptionist gave a regretful shake of her head. “But I promise you, they’ll be kept perfectly safe, and will be returned to you as soon as you’re ready to leave.”

Kolt sighed. It was unlikely anything bad would happen during a couple of hours at a spa, so he supposed he could part with it. It wasn’t easy, but he took off his watch and fished his phone from his pocket, handing them both over to the receptionist. She took out a key, unlocking a drawer in the desk and placing the items gently inside before locking it again. At least they were safe, Kolt reassured himself. And he would get them back soon.

“This way.” The receptionist gestured for Kolt to follow her, pushing open one of the large metal doors. “The treatment room is at the very back of the spa, so I’m afraid we’ll have to go through a few of the other rooms to get there. Please try to remain quiet so you don’t disturb any of the other guests.”

She led him through a second metal door and into a large tiled room. On either side were large pools full of mud. Kolt could see a couple of people relaxing in the mud baths, covered in the substance. The next room she led him through seemed to be for massages. There was a man faced down on a massage bed, getting his shoulders rubbed by a woman in an identical uniform to the receptionist. His tail was swishing softly in delight as he was massaged. Kolt lingered for just a moment, thinking about how nice a massage would be. The receptionist continued her quick strides, so Kolt had to jog for a moment to catch up to her, following her through the next set of doors.

She led him through a few more rooms. One had walls covered in stained glass, and people meditating under the multicoloured reflections. Another had soft gongs going off, in different tones and intervals, and Kolt thought he remembered reading something about “sound bathing” in the brochure for the place. After going through a few more rooms, they finally reached the treatment room. It was large and slightly cold, with a shiny black chair in the middle. The sides of the chair were raised up, looking as though his body would slot perfectly into it. Around the chair were counters and cabinets, presumably full of products and tools for treating his fur. The receptionist left him with brief instructions to strip and wait for the salon specialist. Kolt did as he was told, piling his clothes onto a chair in the corner. He waited for a few, awkward minutes before the doors opened once more and a new woman stepped inside. She was dressed identically to the rest of the staff, and had an equally professional demeanour.

“Mr. Lasser. If you wouldn’t mind getting into the chair?” She gestured to the black chair. “We’ll start with a quick inspection and brush, then move on to shampoo to make everything soft, and finally drying.”

Kolt did as he was told, his body fitting perfectly into the chair. It felt as though it were made for him. The woman’s gloved fingers sifted through his fur slowly, making soft notes about the texture and feel under her breath. When she was finally satisfied, she walked over to one of the cabinets. Kolt watched her search the drawer full of brushes to find the right type for his fur before returning triumphantly with one in hand. One side of it had long metal claws to untangle the longest parts of his fur. The other side had softer bristles made for the rest of his fur.

The woman began her work, starting at the top of his head and working her way down methodically. Kolt let himself relax into the feeling, the tips of the brush lightly scratching at his scalp in a soothing way. He generally thought of himself as a pretty hygienic guy, but she brushed parts of him he’d never even thought about. The crease where his ears met his head, the underside of his jaw, the backs of his knees. She also got places he typically struggled to reach. She had him sit up so she could brush his whole back, paying extra attention to the middle where his arms couldn’t quite reach. It felt nice.

“I’m going to tip the chair back now.” The woman warned him so the sudden change didn’t scare him. “It turns into a sort of tub that I can fill with water so we can wash your fur.”

Kolt nodded, thankful for the warning. He felt himself tipping back as the chair moved, his legs coming up until the whole chair was flat. He understood now why the sides came up so high. She would be able to fill it with water without splashing it all over the floor. She took his hand lightly, running some warm water over it and asking if the temperature was alright for him. He nodded and she left the nozzle in the tub with him, filling it slowly as she went to get the shampoo.

He closed his eyes when she returned, not wanting to get shampoo in them. He could feel the bubbles forming around him as she poured the shampoo into the water. He could smell it on the steam rising from the bath, slightly spiced with a faint chemical undertone. It felt nice in his fur, her fingers massaging it into him. This was his favourite part about going to salons. The warm water and the gentle attention were always a nice way to relax. Especially when something big and important like the ceremony was coming up.

As he laid in the bath, the chemicals in the shampoo slowly sank into his skin. He felt lethargic, sluggish. It wasn’t abnormal for him to get tired during a salon visit, so he thought nothing of it. But his thoughts slowed to a crawl. He let the woman move his limbs where she needed to, unable to muster up the energy to move himself. Not that he needed to. She was doing such a good job getting him nice and clean for the ceremony. Really, all he needed to do was let the feeling of tiredness wash over him and leave her to her job.

It felt like it was all over too soon. She finished working the shampoo into his fur and rinsing away the excess. He was clean, and all that was left was for him to be dried, and then the lovely spa visit would be over. The thought sunk in slowly, his eyes opening slightly when a shadow passed over them. She had pulled down what looked like some sort of vent, and it began to gently blow warm air towards him. He felt similar vents open in the chair itself, warming and drying him from both sides. The chemicals from the shampoo were still working through his system, keeping him slow and tired.

“Before we finish, there’s someone who wants to pay you a visit. She has a complimentary service to offer you.” The woman spoke, her words taking their time to penetrate the chemical fog that was swirling in Kolt’s brain.

He didn’t fully understand what she had said until there was a new face peering down at him. The woman was elegant and beautiful, and the grin on her face was one of triumph. She looked… familiar. Kolt tried to remember where he’d seen her before. He blinked up at her, brows furrowed as he sifted slowly through his memories. She looked a lot like one of the supervillains he was working to stop, but he couldn’t quite recall a name. Was that her? The thought didn’t bother him so much as confuse him. Was she a supervillain? Why was she running a spa if she was?

“Well, I had a whole monologue prepared for this moment, but it seems like it would be wasted on you in this state.” The woman gave an exaggerated sigh of disappointment. “I suppose I’ll just go right into it then. The worm?”

She held her gloved hand out and the woman who had been washing Kolt’s fur handed her a pair of forceps. Pinched between them was something that looked akin to a slug or a fat worm. Kolt’s brain was still whirring uselessly, trying to catch up to what was happening. There was a supervillain here, running a spa, and holding a worm? He couldn’t figure out how it all connected in his head. It was a little frustrating. He was usually so good at working these sorts of things out.

He watched as the woman moved the forceps closer to his ear, the worm wriggling as though desperate to escape. He should probably move. That was his most coherent thought. But he wasn’t entirely sure how to do it. While he considered this, he felt the slimy head of the worm press against his ear. It was large. He could feel it stretching his ear canal, squirming as it tried to burrow into his ear to reach his brain. That wasn’t good. He wanted to do something to stop it, but he couldn’t think clearly enough to know what to do. Maybe his super suit could help? He just barely got up the energy to pat uselessly at his wrist, wondering why his watch wasn’t there. He remembered, as the worm wriggled farther into his ear, that he’d been told to take it off. That wasn’t good either.

The woman released the worm from the forceps once it was lodged halfway into Kolt’s ear. The worm writhed its way in, slimy and thick. It disappeared into his ear, and Kolt could feel it deep inside of him, working towards his brain. The fleshy creature filled his head, and his eye twitched slightly at the feeling of it nudging at his brain. He could feel it wriggling around in his head, searching for the perfect spot to make its home. The woman was talking to him again, probably unable to help herself from explaining her evil plan, but Kolt couldn’t focus. The wet, fleshy creature was deep inside his brain, and he could feel it burrowing deep into his memory centre, making itself at home there. His vision went fuzzy as it latched on, becoming an integral part of the memory centre of his brain.

Over the course of a few minutes, the worm managed to meld itself completely into his brain. It was, for all intents and purposes, his new memory centre. It couldn’t be removed without doing permanent damage. Not that Kolt would remember it was in there for long enough to try to remove it anyway. Already, it was working hard to take over his memories and make him forget it was there at all. Its bloated, slimy body dug deep into his brain, and Kolt could feel his whole body responding to it as its tail slithered past various parts of his brain to join the rest of its body in taking over his memories. His fingers twitched when it passed the part responsible for his movement. He babbled incoherently as it burrowed past his speech centre. With every writhing motion, his head felt fuller, like the tube of flesh was filling his whole skull.

It was almost a melting feeling in his head, sending tingles to the back of his scalp. He could feel the worm melding with his brain, its synapses hijacking his own to take over. All he could see was blurry colours, the gleaming white of the room, the shining metal of the vents still drying him with warm air, the crimson grin of his captor. He could feel the worm start to work, sending little shocks of information into his brain. His memories of the worm began to slip away, leaving nothing more than a slightly odd, pulsing feeling in the back of his head. He remembered the woman with the forceps, but he couldn’t remember what they held. Or where it had gone. Was it part of the treatment? Why was the woman there, anyway? Then, his memories of the villainous woman with the forceps began to disappear as well. Someone had walked into the room, but he couldn’t remember who. Perhaps just another worker, there to check up on the treatment? And then he didn’t even remember the interruption at all. Just the brushing, the bath, the warm fans drying him. The worm pulsed inside of his brain, leaving him wondering at the feeling. It drew out all his memories of the supervillain, replacing them with a perfectly normal day at the spa. A normal, if not a bit nicer than his usual salon experiences, brush and wash, and now a thorough drying. Nothing for him to worry about.

Kolt could feel the strength come back to him somewhat, as though he were just waking up from a deep sleep. The chemicals from the shampoo had run their course. Though, as far as Kolt was concerned, he’d only been tired because of the soothing feeling of having his fur washed. His vision refocused as the vent was lifted and the tub turned back into a chair. He looked around and saw the woman who had done his treatment, smiling at him. They were alone. He wasn’t sure why that was something he noticed. Of course they were alone, she’d been the only one to help with his treatment. And, come to think of it, she had done an amazing job. His fur felt softer than it had in years.

“I hope you had a nice time.” The woman said politely.

Kolt no longer felt the worm pulsing in his head, but it was certainly there, working exactly as it had been trained to. The woman had been so nice, Kolt thought to himself, and she’d done such a good job. He should definitely tip her, quite generously. He grabbed his clothes, searching his pockets for his wallet. He paused for a moment to dress before opening his wallet. He’d set aside a few banknotes to tip her with, but now that he thought back on his memories of the treatment, she’d done so much for him. She’d done such a good job and it had been such a pleasant experience. He pulled out a much larger wad of bills, handing them over to her with a smile.

“You did a great job, my fur feels amazing!” He praised.

The woman smiled, counting out the bills. “My boss will be pleased to hear it.”

She led Kolt back through the rooms and out to the reception area. The receptionist smiled at them both, asking how the treatment went. They both assured her that it had gone very well, and she seemed pleased. She pulled out her key, unlocking the drawer in her desk and pulling out Kolt’s belongings. She handed over his phone, watch, and usb stick. Kolt took them gratefully, putting his watch back on his wrist and pocketing the other two items. The worm slithered deeper into his brain, stopping him from wondering about the usb. Of course it was his, why else would the woman have given it to him?

 The ceremony went off without a hitch, and Kolt even got quite a few compliments. He’d definitely have to go back to that spa some time, it had been a lovely experience. But that would have to wait. For now he had work to do at the base. The days after the ceremony were busy ones. There was a lot to do, and Kolt had already taken two days off, between his spa day and the ceremony. He didn’t have time for anything even close to a break for a few days afterwards. When he finally did, he found himself standing in the hallway, feeling like there was a thought nagging in the back of his mind.

He’d forgotten to do something important. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was, but there was something he needed to do. His hand strayed absentmindedly to his pocket, fiddling with the usb drive. He froze. That’s what it was! He rubbed his forehead, feeling ridiculous for having forgotten. He made his way to the nearest computer room, plugging the usb into the port. How could he have forgotten to do this? It was very important! He couldn’t… quite remember why it was important. But it needed to be done.

He watched words fill up the screen, walking him through what he needed to do. He tapped away at the keys, doing what he was told. Once it was done, a message flashed onto the screen, letting him know he could take out the stick. He pulled it out, disposing of it discreetly. He stopped and blinked. What had he just been doing? He remembered standing in the hallway, and now he was at a computer. He looked at the computer, but it seemed to be running like normal. Why had he gone in there? He thought about it for a moment longer before deciding he’d probably just gone in to check that he’d updated the files after his last mission. He sat down at the computer and checked, confirming that he had. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten walking into the room, he must have been really tired. He stretched and yawned, heading off for a well-earned nap.

⚜ Commission Me ⚜

[snarkwrites]

sprung spring | found you | jacob black [m]

PROMPTS USED:

“You’re kinda small. It’s cute.” + Height Difference Kisses Where One Person Has To Bend Down And The Other Is On Their Tippy Toes + Suck + Being dared to kiss + against a wall/door -

NOTES:

Hey, look... Years ago, I actually STARTED writing in the Twilight fandom. I feel like things have come full circle now, kinda? Idk.. Anyway, just wanted everyone to know that this takes place AFTER the series. Jacob is grown up here. So is the OC omega/imprint. If people bother me enough I miiight be tempted to sit down and come up with an actual story for these two, idek... Enjoy the filth. I blame the recent announcement of the Midnight Sun movie / book... Anyway, yeah.

Oh yeah and just so you know... I kinda took imprinting and alpha x omega bonds and mashed them together. So the oc here is not only Jacob’s imprint but she is also his omega. 

PAIRING:

Jacob Black [ alpha ] x ofc, Lily [ omega ] 

WARNINGS:

Uhh... the usual stuff that goes with a/o.. Meeting a guy at a bar and hooking up. Protected sex, for once -yeah, that’s right, you heard it here guys and dolls, Ash FINALLY remembered that condoms exist.. Biting.

Writer does NOT agree or disagree with hooking up casually. Writer says to make up your own mind about these things. Alcohol warning, btw.

TAGGING:

@micolegg​ - just because | @kyleoreillysknee​ - they’re the only person on my Twilight tag list. If you want to be on any of my taglists, once again, go [here] otherwise, you will not be getting tagged.

( nobody @ me. I had to use this gif. I had to. )

“Okay, if you’re really over the jerk, I dare you to kiss the next guy who walks through the door.” 

Lily scoffed at her best friend’s dare and rolled her eyes, picking at her nails. “No, I believe I’ll pass. Knowing my craptastic luck, it’ll be one of those creepy Cullens or Nelson’s ass.” 

Cassandra’s gaze was fixed intently on the doors that lead into the crowded sports bar and she let out a low whistle. “I mean, if you wanna pass on that, by all means.” she gestured to where Jacob Black stood, tugging off a weathered brown leather jacket to toss at an empty booth. She nudged Lily again so that she’d look up and see the man for herself.

Lily swore sharply and finally tore her gaze off of her phone. “What the hell--” her sentence died on her lips and she swallowed down a baseball sized lump in her throat, blinking. Raising a hand to rub her eyes when blinking didn’t just make him disappear.

“Jacob?” her voice came almost whisper quiet, eyes fixed on him intently. She shook her head, it had to be some kind of hallucination. Jacob had been in Canada since a few weeks before Bella’s wedding. And every letter he sent home to Billy suggested that Canada is where he intended to stay. Or that’s the last thing her father told her when she bothered to ask last month.

So why come back now, she found herself wondering. She didn’t even realize that she’d started to move towards him until she bumped into Jessica’s back, muttering a distracted and quick apology, shoving past her until she caught up to Jacob Black.

Jacob was distracted; entranced by the warm and heavy sweetness of the vanilla scent he’d followed into the bar. Brown eyes darted around and his fists clenched at his sides as he tried to keep himself pulled together. For a split second, he thought he caught sight of Lily, an old neighbor, but when he tried to focus, see if it was really her, she was gone. 

“I’m here, might as well grab a drink.” Jacob mused to himself as he glanced around again, turning and preparing to walk back to the booth he’d left his jacket in. The scent of vanilla permeated the air around him heavily and he felt his skin tightening, his blood almost boiling. His vision started to tunnel and when he turned around fully, he found himself body to body with Lily.

“Jacob, hi.” Lily bit her lip and stared up at him, reaching up to toy with the end of soft long jet black locks. He let his hair grow back, Lily thought to herself distractedly, thank God. She quickly snatched back her hand when she realized what she’d done.

Her feet felt rooted to the floor. Why wasn’t she moving?

She wasn’t the same stammering little mess she’d been back then, damn it. Suddenly, Cassandra’s dare came rushing back and Lily took a deep breath, her eyes locking intently on kissable lips. 

“Fuck it. Yolo.” Lily muttered quietly, molding herself against Jacob, raising to tippy toe, tugging his mouth closer to her own as he bent down to make up for the difference in height. Rough hands dug into her lower back, lifting her off the floor slightly as his mouth crashed against her mouth. Her fingers tangled in his hair, tugging at it so that the kiss deepened and his hand moved up her back, fingers catching in a long jet black braid, raking through it until it tumbled loose down her back. His tongue trailed over the outline of her lips and when she rubbed against him just a little, he groaned, the taste of rum filling his mouth as he deepened the kiss to a point where he knew she had to be getting dizzy and he could feel their breathing sync up, almost as if they were breathing for each other.

The kiss broke, the pair springing apart as Lily took a few deep breaths and raised her hand, smoothing it over her hair, pushing shaggy bangs out of her eyes. Jacob’s mouth opened and closed and his hand raised, dragging through his hair. All he could do was stare at her as everything he’d seen and the scent of her bombarded his brain and dominated every single part of his thoughts. He chuckled, rubbing his chin. “Hi, Lily. So, uh… is this how you greet everyone?”

“No, no.” the word tumbled out, making him laugh, making him flash her that bright and cocky grin of his. When she blurted out what transpired before he walked in, she wanted to kick herself, adding quickly to the end of her explanation, “But I wasn’t gonna do it til Cassandra got me to look up and I saw you walk in. Shit. Fuck. You know what? I’m gonna take this as my cue and go.”

Lily turned abruptly, already halfway back across the bar by the time Jacob processed what she’d basically just admitted. He was on his feet again, shoving through the crowd, deep brown eyes darting around all over as his nose honed in on the scent of her. He found her easily, sitting in the back in a booth with a group of two or three other girls he remembered from La Push High.

He cleared his throat and the girls all surrounding his imprint shared a look and stood abruptly after doing so, making a hasty retreat.

Lily lightly beat her head against the tabletop. “I swear to God, I just want to disappear right now, Cass. He has to think I’m still a huge dork.”

“Actually, no.” Jacob spoke up as he slid into the booth bench beside her, an arm going around the back of it. 

Lily raised her head reluctantly, her cheeks almost an angry red as she stared at him a few seconds. That intense heat was lingering in the air all over again and the spicy scent of him pierced her nostrils as she felt her skin tightening all over again.

The urge to straddle his lap took over before she could stop it and she didn’t even realize that every single dirty little thing on her mind was being broadcast directly to his until he leaned in close and chuckled against the shell of her ear, “Are you okay? You look like you’re burning up right now.”

“I,uhh.”

It clicked into place what was happening and she crossed her legs, clenching them tight beneath the table.  Oh naturally, he’s my Alpha and I make an entire ass of myself… 

Jacob’s gaze shifted to her hands and the way they were almost white knuckle, her palms flat against the wooden tabletop. It happened again, just like earlier when she’d kissed him. Every single noisy thought flooded his brain and the animal side kicked into overdrive.

Yeah, he knew how imprinting worked but this felt… Different. A thousand times more intense. It was imprinting and something different… Something so much more than that. This primal urge to get her alone and lay claim.

When it hit him, his jaw dropped and for a few seconds, he sat there in a daze, staring straight ahead. 

Lily toyed with the wrapping to the straw in her mixed drink after noisily slurping down the last of it and taking a few labored breaths. The way he looked at her just now was… Deeper than any look he’d given her before.

To be fair, she found herself thinking with mild annoyance, before it was all about Bella. 

“Do you dance, Lily?” Jacob leaned in and muttered the question against the shell of her ear as someone put the Halsey version of I Walk The Line on to play in the music box at the front of the bar. He needed her closer. He needed to know she was okay. He needed to feel her body molded against his again because only then could he feel centered.

“Nobody dances in here, Jake.”

“There’s a first time for everything, Lil. C’mon. Unless you’re too tipsy?” he teased her gently, his eyes fixing on the pyramid of shot glasses in front of where she sat and the two empty glasses that contained mixed drinks.

This got his inebriated imprint slash omega on her feet. Between the alcohol in her system and the effects of what he suspected to be her heat setting in, she swayed a good bit. Jacob stood too and pulled her completely against him, his hands drifting down and gripping her ass to hold her in place. Lily looked up, staring deep into dark brown eyes. “I’m not too tipsy for anything, Jacob. I’ll… I’ll have you know, I-I’m perfectly sober right now.” she nuzzled her face against his shirt as soon as she dropped her gaze again and Jacob barely contained the low growl that arose from deep in his chest. His hands splayed across both sides of her ass, fingertips digging in just a little as his nose buried in the crown of her hair and he breathed in the scent of his mate as deep as he possibly could. After a few seconds, he gave a quiet laugh at her words.

“Right.” Jacob continued to snicker quietly to himself, a fond smile tugging his mouth upward as he fixed his gaze on her intently.

Lily’s head raised and she poked out her tongue at him, prompting him to snicker about it. 

“What’s so funny, Jake?” 

… God, is she ever not going to get me hard or distract the living hell out of me?. This is going to take a lot of getting used to, but it’s fine. It’s perfect, actually.. the thought came and went and rather than be dumb and let it slip out, he instead went with, “You’re kinda small. It’s cute,actually.”

“Oh hahahaha. Says the guy who reached man size in what? Seventh grade?” Lily teased gently, trying hard not to think about just how good it felt to be pressed against him like this, but just how many layers of clothing were still between them and how badly she wanted those gone.

“Ninth, actually. And I was not man sized.” Jacob chuckled, a soft gaze down at her. There it was at last, that truly lightweight and give no fucks feeling that came with the imprint bond.

“Y-you are.” Lily muttered, stumbling over the words lightly. With each little step they took, she found herself rubbed right against him and the slick coursed down her inner thighs, coating them. “Y-you were more of a man t-than any of t-those other s-shitheads at our school.”

… I seriously just said that… Ugh, can someone just strike me mute? Before I totally fuck up?... the thought came floating into her mind and Lily muttered a quick apology, giving him a little dirty look when he managed to mis step and stepped on her toes. 

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” Jacob apologized, laughing. He dipped her down and as she came back up, their faces bumped against each other. Just the feel of her lips against his own had him struggling to keep the animal within at bay.

 Lily’s tongue danced over the outline of his lips and his grip on her body tightened as he hauled her up fully, pressing into her so much that she had to lean back, her back meeting the edge of the booth with a soft smack. “It’s...it’s okay.” Lily managed to gasp out between sloppy and rough kisses that seemed to dominate her mouth and set her pulse racing. A throat clearing nearby had the two springing apart momentarily and it served to put the brakes on for the two momentarily. 

“You wanna get outta here, Lily?” Jacob pressed into her heavily, his hands on her hips, his mouth next to her ear. 

… isn’t this a little fast?...

… better too fast than never, besides… haven’t I waited long enough?... his mind was at war with itself and the stronger side, the animal side, that was winning.

Lily found herself staring deep into dark brown eyes and getting lost, just like she used to when they were kids. After a few seconds, it occurred to her that he’d said something and she managed to respond, “Oh god, yeah. Take me home, Jake.”  as she slipped her tongue past his lips all over again, her hands drifting down, tugging almost impatiently at the waistband of his jeans.

Jacob bent at the waist, scooping her up, making quick strides towards the doors of the little sports bar. Once they were outside in the chilled night air, he sat her down on the back of his motorcycle, getting on in front. 

“Hold on tight.”

Lily’s arms slipped around his waist and she pressed herself into him as the motorcycle’s powerful engine roared to life, the motorcycle taking off at a decent speed towards the reservation.

“Your place or mine?” Lily muttered quietly next to his ear as she grazed her lips against. Jacob’s breath caught for a second and he chuckled quietly, shrugging. Lily continued, “Because I’m the only one staying at my place… No interruptions.” her lips dancing right over the rapid pulse in his neck. Jacob bucked a little, feeling himself getting harder and harder. 

The reservation was coming into view and he drove down the dirt road they both lived on, parking his motorcycle beneath the carport next to the little red cabin she lived in. 

Getting off the motorcycle, he scooped her up in his arms again, quick strides up the porch steps, Lily digging around for her house key after climbing out of his arms, reaching out to unlock the door as Jacob lightly kicked it open with his foot, stepping inside the darkened house as he shut the door behind them and locked it. 

Her back pressed against the wooden door with a soft smack and Jacob’s hands were all over her. Her mouth latched onto his neck and chest, anywhere she could reach and when she rose to tiptoe all over again, Jacob chuckled and slid her up his body to sit her down on top of her dining table, his mouth latching onto her mouth and then dancing down her neck. 

As soon as he found the spot where her scent glands were, he could feel the pierce of his fangs at his gums. Lily was rubbing herself against him, her legs wrapped around him, her hands moving down between them and then her fingertips catching in the hem of his tee shirt, starting to pull it upward. The warmth of his breath against her neck felt so fucking good. She gasped and let her head fall to the opposite side, giving his mouth better access.

Jacob pulled away a second or two, eyeing her as she continued to rub against him, shaky fingers catching on the button to his jeans and pulling it free, then lingering down, lowering his zipper slowly. In a daze, he kicked his jeans and underwear free when they pooled at his ankles, a low and primal growl filling the air as his eyes settled on his mate all over again, his tongue trailing slowly over his lips as he gazed down at her. 

“Aren’t you going to do it?” Lily’s voice was a breathy drawl as her fingertips trailed up and down his bare chest and she fixed her eyes on him almost expectantly. She rubbed herself against him with more urgency, her whimpers and moans echoing off the walls of the dining room. Jacob licked his lips and smirking, he lowered his mouth back down to her neck, his teeth scraping against scent glands again.

“You’re sure, right?” his voice came out deeper, sending a jolt racing through her and another wave of slick coating the insides of her thighs. Lily gazed up at him, biting her lip. “I asked for it, didn’t I, Jake?”

“Yeah, but..” he trailed off, unable to finish his words because she took his face in her hands, scooting herself closer to the edge of the table, rubbing against him all over again, more urgently. Jacob’s hand went down to the jagged hem of her crop top, tugging it up and over her head, letting it settle on the table top behind her. He gave a low growl as his eyes roamed over her, his mouth almost watering at the way her scent intensified. Wiping the back of his hand over his mouth, he leaned in again, reaching around, the quiet tear of satin as her bra was torn away breaking the semi-silence between the two as he tugged it free from her body next. And then, he was leaning in, ghosting his mouth down the side of her neck, his tongue trailing over soft skin boldly, his lips latching onto the patch of skin her scent glands lingered beneath. 

This time when he felt his fangs starting to prick through and push to the surface, he didn’t bother fighting it. Instead, he sank his teeth into the sac just below the surface of the patch of skin. Her nails dug into his shoulders and she rocked herself against him, legs clenching his hips tight as she gasped. “Oh, oh wow..” the rush of the bond took over, leaving her to lean into him heavily, clinging to his body. Jacob leaned right back against her heavily, chuckling as he muttered the same against her skin.

The wooden tabletop was cool against her back as she wound up flat against it, Jacob pinning both her hands at either side of her head, his mouth crashing against hers again, muttering against her lips, “Just a second… stay right there.” and raising up, letting go of her hands, bending to pick his jeans off the floor, rifling through the pockets. He tore open the condom wrapper with his teeth, sliding the condom down over his cock before turning back around to face her, stepping back between her legs as he leaned down, his hips pressing into her lower body, his mouth roaming over her neck, littering soft skin with bites and suck marks as he groaned and rutted himself into her, the tip of his cock teasing between her folds and making her whimper out loud, rubbing herself right back against him. As his cock sank deep into her heat, she got louder, Jacob chuckling against her mouth as he pressed into her, going still to let her get used to his size as the knot began to form.

“I think I’m okay.” Lily managed to gasp, rocking her hips against him urgently. Jacob sank his cock in a little deeper, a quiet growl escaping into the kiss as he pulled his mouth away, staring down at her. “You’re sure?”

Lily gritted her teeth as she felt him burying his cock in even deeper. She felt like she was being split in two, stretched and overfilled. Her nails dug into his shoulder and she gasped as she started to really get used to the way he felt buried inside her, trying to rock her hips against him all over again. “Yeah, yeah. Fuck.” she moaned out, “so big.” 

“I’m not hurting you, right?”

“No, fuck no. Feels so..” Lily met the deep and steady drives he made into her tight and dripping cunt with her own thrusts eagerly, “So good. Fuck.”

Jacob slowed to an almost stop, she was so tight around him, it felt too damn good. His fingers dug into her hips and he growled quietly as he slammed her up and down his massive cock, panting next to her ear in quiet and filthy growls, “You’re so tight, fuck. Feels so good to bury my cock in you.” 

Her fingers dug into his shoulders and she moaned louder and louder, the table creaking quietly beneath them and making them both pause and eye the table, then each other. “Maybe we should move this to the couch.” Lily muttered, giving a soft laugh as she caught her breath for a few seconds. Jacob scooped her off the tabletop and went to step out of the dining room and into the living room. Lily’s back met the wall as Jacob’s mouth buried in hers all over again and he started to fuck into her slowly, making her moan and whimper and bite down on his neck as she begged for more. “On second thought, this… Oh fuck it feels so good, baby. So good. Don’t stop.” 

Jacob slipped her legs over his forearms and started to fuck into her harder and faster, feeling her clench around his cock as he slammed into her throbbing G spot again and again. Her nails danced down his back and from the way her mouth kept latching onto his neck, he had no doubt in his mind that tomorrow, he would not be hiding the marks left behind. Then again, neither would she, because he’d definitely left marks of his own. He felt her tense up and chuckling into her mouth he asked quietly, “Are you getting closer, baby girl?”

“So close. So close.” Lily gasped into his lips as he continued to pump in and out of her, the sound of their sloppy kisses and quiet moans and growls breaking any silence in the room. “C’mon, Lily. Let go.” Jacob coaxed as he felt himself getting closer too. “Wanna feel you, princess.” 

“ -oh fuck. Oh yeah, that’s it.” Lily moaned as he slammed against her g spot all over again, and she felt her orgasm shatter through. Her walls clenched his cock and Jacob’s thrusts became erratic, skin smacking loudly against skin as he fucked them through their orgasm, holding her against him and kissing her all over the face as they both tried to catch their breath. He nipped at her ear and muttered quietly, “Are you okay?”

“If you’re going to carry me around a little while, yeah.” Lily teased gently, catching the corner of his mouth with her own as their stomachs both growled noisily. “But I am kinda hungry…”

“Me too.” Jacob chuckled against her mouth, his forehead pressed against hers as he kissed her again, tender and deep.

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 5: Snow Day (originally published on January 4, 2021)

Author's Note: This will be the second to last chapter before we really start breaking off from canon and go off the rails with my ideas. Just a chill little episode, nothing truly special, just some cute fun. Now then, happy 2021 and, let's hope it won't be as much of a travesty as 2020 was.

Synopsis: The Gems try to cheer up an overworked Steven.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven

Estelle as Garnet

Michaela Dietz as Amethyst

Deedee Magno-Hall as Pearl

Aimee Mann as Opal

Nicki Minaj as Sugilite

Alexia Khadime as Sardonyx

Rita Rani Ahuja as Alexandrite

Charlyne Yi as Ruby

Erica Luttrell as Sapphire

Michelle Maryk as Larimar

Ian Jones Quartey as Snowflake Obsidian

Amy Sedaris as Teal Zircon

Jennifer Paz as Lapis Lazuli

--

On one freezing winter's day in Beach City, snow began to fall from the sky at Little Homeworld, marking another snow day for many of the Gems living there and the first for those just joining Little Homeschool, including one Gem in particular.

"Hey, what's with all this white stuff that's got so many Gems excited?" Teal Zircon wondered, reaching out to try and grab some snowflakes in her hands. Unfortunately for her, the snowflakes instantly melted with her touch. "Aw!"

"That's what they call snow TZ." Little Larimar informed her fellow corruption victim as she helped Snowflake Obsidian build an igloo. "It's what happens what water in the clouds gets super cold and drops from the sky like rain. It's where Snowflake here gets her name from."

"Hey, snowball fight!" Snowflake cried out as she bundled together a large amount of snow to make into a snowball, and she tossed it straight at Teal Zircon. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?"

"Okay?" Teal asked as she slowly emerged from the giant snowball. "I'm better than okay!" She then began to form a snowball of her own from Snowflake's snow to make hers. "I wanna fight!"

Unfortunately, TZ's snowball was incredibly poorly made and fell apart when she threw it.

"Come along; I'll show you how to make a good snowball." Larimar said to the Zircon. "But in the meantime, I have my own battles to fight."

Larimar picked up some snow of her own to form into projectiles, and manically tossed them everywhere with a creepy grin on her face. "YES! YES, TREMBLE BEFORE MY SUPERIOR THROWING SKILLS!"

--

Elsewhere, Steven woke up from a good night's sleep and turned off the alarm on his phone. "All right, Little Homeschool, what's on the itinerary today?" he muttered while picking up his phone and examining the schedules he had lined up. "Let's see, Gem-Teacher Association meeting this evening from 4:00 to 5:00, clinic tomorrow at 3:00, interpretive dance class today at noon; might have to find someone to cover for me there, baseball practice tomorrow morning and volleyball game next week."

After reading off the schedule, Steven gave himself a good stretch before getting out of bed. "You can do it!"

After getting dressed and heading downstairs, Steven immediately got to work on preparing for his day by pouring some water when Amethyst came strolling in with fried eggs over her eyes.

"You really gonna skip the most egg-ssential meal of the day?" Amethyst cracked a pun while pointing to the eggs.

"Of course not." Steven stated, barely even noticing her joke. "I've got all the nutrients I need in my protein shake."

As Steven walked away, Amethyst sadly poked at the yolks on her face. "Dude, you're making me sad."

"Steven," Garnet called with a backpack shaped like a cheeseburger in her hands. "I packed everything you need for today in your old cheeseburger backpack."

"Uh, I don't really need that thing anymore." Steven abstained from taking his childhood bag while presenting the satchel he packed. "Besides, I already got one."

"At least pet this cat." Garnet replied, cuing her one-eyed Calico Cat Steven to emerge from the backpack with a meow.

"Why was I going to need-" Steven began getting more miffed before stopping himself. "Never mind, I gotta go."

"Hold it!" Pearl stopped Steven in his tracks while gazing at her phone. "According to my weather application, we're expecting quite a bit of snow today and tomorrow." She revealed while showing the current temperature off and held out some winter clothes to put on him. "You're going to freeze if you don't put on a puffer, a hat and two scarves. Okay, maybe three would do."

"Pearl, I need to go!" Steven muffled beneath the scarves, preventing Pearl from wrapping a third one around his neck.

"But classes don't start for another couple of hours." Pearl said.

"Wait for us." Garnet suggested as she took the scarf from Pearl and wrapped it on her neck. "We can come with you."

"Why even take that old Dondai when you can just use the Warp Pad?" Amethyst pointed out as she slurped the eggs off her face.

"Because I have errands I need to run before class." Steven revealed. "Now then, can I please go now?"

"You got it." Garnet beamed before putting a hand in Steven's hair. "Go get 'em, champ."

"Yeah, see you soon!" Amethyst and Pearl said in unison while putting their hands in Steven's hair as well, much to his chagrin.

As Steven finally left the beach house and drove away, the Gems took a few moments to talk as they gazed out the frosted window.

"Hey guys, you think Steven's become kinda boring lately?" Amethyst asked Garnet and Pearl.

"It must be because he's got so much to do." Pearl suggested morosely. "How about we surprise him when he gets back?"

"I think I know just what to do." Garnet stated coolly.

--

One of Steven's errands took him all the way to Little Homeworld. What he was unaware of, however, was the massive snowball fight its inhabitants were waging, and now he was going to be caught in the crossfires.

Upon stopping his car and setting a foot outside, Steven was immediately pelted with snow from all sides. "Whoa guys, settle down!" he cried out while protecting himself from the cold onslaught with his shield. "I said, settle down!"

However, not a one was paying attention to Steven, and they were too busy having fun to notice he had arrived.

"Uh, can I have your attention please? Anyone?" Steven began getting more desperate for someone to notice him while watching Lapis heave an entire pyramid of snowballs with her water powers at a few of the Quartzes, which gave him an idea. "Okay, you all tried my hand."

Steven picked up some snow of his own and formed it into a ball of his own, which he used to throw straight at Snowflake Obsidian.

"Ooh!" Snowflake grunted as she felt the snowball hit her back, and turned to discover that Steven had thrown it. "Steven! Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"Just wanted to get someone's attention." Steven admitted before Snowflake turned to her fellow Gems.

"Hey everyone, Steven's here! Let's get to class!" Snowflake announced.

The moment everyone else realized Steven had come, they slowly stopped their snowball fight and began preparing for classes.

"Hey, you don't need to stop what you're doing." Steven tried convincing them otherwise. "I'm only here for a few errands. Besides, classes don't start for another few hours."

However, nobody listened to Steven, and they continued preparing, just as he decided to continue on with his errands.

--

That night, Steven had finally returned home after a long day and was ready to eat dinner, go to bed and prepare for tomorrow. But when he turned on the house lights, he found his three guardians all sitting on the couch, anticipating his return.

"Surprise!" the three Gems cheered.

"We were sitting in the dark!" Amethyst admitted in addition.

"Hey, everyone." Steven greeted the trio. "Uh, what are you all so excited about?"

"Guess what we got lined up for tonight?" Amethyst said, holding a DVD in her hands. "Pupcopter's Sky-High Adventure!"

"Sheet masks with cute animal faces!" Pearl added, demonstrating the masks by putting a panda one on her face.

"And most importantly, pizza." Garnet declared as she opened up a pizza box with a pie inside. "Straight from Fish Stew."

When the Gems expected Steven to be all over these activities, he was a bit more reluctant. "Uh guys," Steven said. "I've been a vegetarian for six months, Pupcopter is for six-year-olds, and I got a skincare routine now. You all should've known by now. Anyways, I already ate, but it's cool you want to have fun. Later."

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were left disappointed as Steven walked upstairs to his room.

"Well, guess we can watch the movie with Cat Steven, if that counts." Amethyst said.

"My bad." Garnet apologized as she examined the pizza and then dumped it in Amethyst's mouth like the smaller Gem was a trashcan. "I thought we were in the pepperoni timeline."

--

The next morning, Steven was woken up by his phone once again. When he raced down the stairs to start his day, the Gems were sitting around the table with waffles covered in whipped cream, syrup, popcorn, and a strawberry on top.

"Look Steven, Together Breakfast!" Pearl called to Steven, in an attempt to bring his attention to a familiar food. "Just like old times."

"Too much sugar for me, but thanks." Steven hurriedly stated as he opened the front door. "See you at work guys!" But surprisingly for Steven, a massive pile of snow dropped down on him. "Okay, just gotta take the warp then."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Amethyst cautioned Steven as he made his way to the Warp Pad, and just like the door, he was greeted by snow covering him from head to toe by the warp tunnel.

"Looks like we have to cancel Little Homeschool for the day." Steven realized. "Pearl, can you send everyone a mass text?"

"Already on it!" Pearl declared as she whipped out her phone to give everyone at the Gem village the news.

"Hold up!" Amethyst yelped. "Are you basically saying we get the day off?"

"Great, we can re-read No Home Boys!" Pearl replied, excitedly looking up from her phone.

"And I can do the voices again." Garnet added.

"No, I don't need anyone reading to me right now." Steven said firmly while taking out a notebook. "If anything, I need to get the calendar organized. This snow-mageddon is definitely going to put a damper on third-quarter plans."

As Steven got out his calendar, some post-it notes, and a pen to organize plans for Little Homeschool's third quarter, Amethyst sat down at the same table he was working at across from him. "You used to have a better work ethic when we were constantly at risk of Homeworld and the Diamonds attacking Earth." Amethyst remarked. "Now, with Era 3 in full swing, you've become kinda boring."

"That was then Amethyst. This is now." Steven responded without even looking up from his work. "And what makes you think I'm getting boring?"

"Well, I mean, you didn't eat Together Breakfast with us, didn't laugh at my egg pun yesterday, and didn't want to put on your cheeseburger backpack." Amethyst listed off. "I get that you want to be more responsible now, but sometimes it's fun reliving old memories." Suddenly, a great idea flickered to life over the purple Gem's head. "Hey, you know what we haven't played in ages?"

"I don't know, what?" Steven asked before Amethyst abruptly shapeshifted into his 14-year old self and jumped onto the table.

"STEVEN TAG!" the now Steven-like Amethyst yelled and attempted to tag Steven, much to his alarm.

"Amethyst, what the heck?!" Steven cried out.

"You know the rules buster!" Amethyst cackled. "You get tagged; you have to turn into Steven! Or, in this case, Classic Steven!"

"Wait, Classic Steven?!" Steven said incredulously before he started running from the pursuing Amethyst all around the living room. But even when Steven rushed into the bathroom for safety, Amethyst was still on the hunt.

"Steeeeveeeen, come out to plaaaaay!" Amethyst laughed as she began clacking glass bottles together. "I always wanted to reference that old movie."

"I'm not playing!" Steven insisted as he blocked up the bottom of the door with a towel and sat on it. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Dangit, got me with the towel one-two!" Amethyst groaned as she failed to break into the bathroom. "Fine, maybe we don't always need Steven to play Steven Tag."

As Amethyst seemingly walked away in defeat, Steven peeked out of the bathroom to check if she was truly gone. While he sneaked out into the living room hoping to get some work done, Steven instead found Garnet looking around on the floor.

"Hey Garnet, lose something?" Steven asked the perma-fusion.

"I've been looking for Cat Steven." Garnet answered. "Haven't seen her all morning. I think she may be in the cabinets."

"Like, in here?" Steven asked as he pointed to one of the cupboards.

"That's the one." Garnet cheekily replied while she held Cat Steven in her arms. As Steven opened the cabinet, Amethyst leaped out at him, still in the shape of Classic Steven.

"GET READY FOR STEVEN TAG!" Amethyst yelled in another attempt to tag Steven, but she instead tagged Garnet by accident.

"What an unexpected turn of events." Garnet flatly declared as she laid on the floor, and obediently turned into Classic Steven as well. The two Gems stared menacingly at Steven, who was trying fruitlessly to escape.

"Uh, see ya guys!" Steven stuttered before making a run for it, but then accidentally tripped on a pillow. As Garnet and Amethyst leaped up and prepared to tag him, Steven prepared a bubble to protect himself from them.

"You can't hide in there forever!" Garnet yelled as she prepared to break the bubble open with a punch. Thinking quickly, Steven got up and began running towards the temple gate, accessing the cloud-like room that his mother once used when she was alive, and tossed the pair inside before making his way out.

"That should keep you guys busy for a while." Steven huffed as the door closed behind him, and he returned to the calendar on the table. "Now I can finally get these schedules done in peace."

However, Steven was quickly proven wrong as Garnet raced out of the nearly empty Burning Room, with Amethyst in hot pursuit.

--

"Thank you so much for helping me shovel off the snow Lapis." Pearl thanked Lapis at Little Homeworld as they finished work on cleaning all the walkways.

"No big Pearl, it's just frozen water." Lapis remarked coolly. "Anyways, how's everyone doing back at your place?"

"Well, Steven said he wanted to get some scheduling done for Quarter Three with all this snow, and-" Pearl answered, but then felt a disturbance somewhere. "I feel like my Steven Sense is tingling."

"Your Steven what-now?" Lapis asked with an eyebrow raised. "I get that you're essentially a mom to Steven, but what's that for?"

"Feels like something's happening back home." Pearl realized as she marched back to the Warp Pad with snow shovel in hand. "Anyways, thanks for the assistance; I'll see you all again soon!" she said her farewells before the Warp Pad took her back to the temple.

--

When Pearl returned home, she found Steven in a panic as he was being chased by Garnet and Amethyst shapeshifted into him. "Steven, what are you doing? Has cabin fever took you over already?!"

"It's Garnet and Amethyst!" Steven answered hastily as he continued running from the aforementioned Gems. "They're only playing Steven Tag to mess with me!"

"Steven Tag?" Pearl began to reminisce. "That sure takes me back to the old days. I'm sure they-AH!"

Before Pearl could finish, Garnet officially tagged her, and she began to keel over.

"Ha, the joke's on you!" Steven yelled. "Pearl doesn't like to shapeshift!"

Unfortunately for Steven, he was instantly proven otherwise as Pearl began to glow, and her shape changed into that of Classic Steven.

"The power of Steven Tag COMPELS ME!" the now Steven-esque Pearl declared, sparking delight from her fellow veteran Gems as they giggled and tossed her into the air.

"Wow, good for her." Steven chuckled, just as proud of this big step for Pearl. But when the three Gems all leered at their ward, Steven finally realized how outnumbered he now was.

The Steven-resembling Crystal Gems chased the prime Steven all around the house, from his bedroom, to the conservatory, to the stairway, and then back to his room. In his bedroom, Steven thought of a way to distract Pearl by tossing his old shirts on the floor.

"No Steven, I just folded those!" Pearl yelled as her motherly intuition began to take priority over playing, and she tided up the shirts as Steven fled.

With no other option, Steven was forced to flee into the freezing cold outside, his body temperature be damned. "They can't hold those forms forever." He panted. "I'll just wait until they give u-"

Just then, a massive fist dropped from above and smashed the snow behind Steven, and he discovered none other than Sugilite, the fusion of Garnet & Amethyst, standing on a cliff above him.

"Missed me little man?" Sugilite, also in the shape of the younger Steven, asked confidently as she whipped her flail above her head.

"Wait, you fused?" Steven gasped and began running again. "When was the last time anyone has seen Sugilite?!"

"Come back here, kid!" Sugilite snarled eagerly while Steven used his shield as a sled to escape.

"Seriously, this is dangerous!" Steven panted before he was barraged by a rain of snowballs, all courtesy of an also Classic Steven-like Sardonyx.

"Aw come on, don't be so cold!" Sardonyx joked before preparing more snowballs. "Now stay still, I got you in my sights!"

"I'm still not playing!" Steven shouted as he swerved his shield away from the snowballs, only to lose control and disappear behind the temple's discarded hand.

High above on the rooftop, Opal stood ready to fire Garnet with her bow. "Target acquired!" she exclaimed, pointing the other Universe-looking fusion at a figure resembling Steven. "Now!"

When Garnet was propelled at what she thought was Steven, it was instead a snowman wearing his jacket. "Curses, foiled by a snowman." Garnet overdramatically declared, followed by a very monotonous "Noooooooo."

Faraway from Garnet and Opal, Steven was finally free after distracting them with the snowman, but he was very cold too.

"They won't stop until they make me play." Steven declared boldly, that is until a massive shadow loomed over him. Just like all the other times before, it was a fusion taking the form of his younger self. But this time, it was Alexandrite. "Oh geez!"

"You're looking cold." Alexandrite boomed before launching a giant fireball from her mouth at a panicking Steven, who formed a bubble to shield himself from the fire.

"I really didn't want to do this, but you all forced my hand!" Steven shouted while the bubble disappeared, leaving him surrounded by a ring of fire. "I'll play your game!"

Alexandrite grinned eagerly as Steven leaped to her head and bounced off it to the beach house. The massive three-Gem fusion attempted to catch Steven in her hands, but he quickly dodged the attempt and just as quickly tried ascending to the top of the lighthouse.

"There's no way she can catch me!" Steven said to himself just as Alexandrite made it before him and un-fused into Ruby, Sapphire, Amethyst and Pearl. Everyone except for Sapphire proceeded to bombard Steven, but he had just about had it as he leaped towards the three Gems with bubbles forming around his fists.

"ENOUGH, IS, ENOUGH!" Steven yelled as he punched Ruby, Amethyst and Pearl away in rapid succession, and then leaped up to the top of the lighthouse in triumph. "You shouldn't have messed with me." He said menacingly, just as he realized he forgot a Gem.

"Tag." Sapphire declared as she snuck up and tagged Steven from behind, ending the game and sealing her as the victor.

"OH NO, IS THIS THE END OF MY ADULT LIFE?!" Steven cried as he fell off the lighthouse onto the ground below. Back on solid earth, Ruby, Amethyst & Pearl checked on Steven while Sapphire returned downstairs to meet them.

"Sapphire, you did it! You're the best!" Ruby cheered for her blue bride before they kissed and fused back into Garnet.

"You've been tagged." Garnet confidently stated.

"You gotta turn into widdle ol' Steven now!" Amethyst jokingly taunted.

"You did set the rules all those years ago." Pearl added.

"No!" Steven refused with a fold of his arms.

"DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!" the Gems chanted excitedly. Cat Steven suddenly appeared to agree with them with a meow.

"Et tu Cat Steven?" Steven asked his feline friend, who responded with another meow. "Okay, I'll do it!"

Then, in a flash of light, Steven reluctantly turned himself into a child to match his guardians, to the point where his clothes barely fit him anymore. And they were happy.

"HE'S SO CUTE!" Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl cooed at the younger Steven, to his disappointment.

"No, I'm not!" Steven yelled, his voice now matching his current state. "It's tough for me, y'know? I feel like no matter how much I grow, how much I try to mature, you'll always just see me as a little kid."

"Buddy, we just wanted to spend time with you." Amethyst shrugged.

"Yeah." Pearl agreed with Amethyst. "Just like when you were-"

"A kid?" Steven finished for Pearl, eliciting many frowns. "I really didn't want to disappoint you guys, but I'm not the Steven you babied so much anymore." He proclaimed while returning to his original form. "Please, I need you to see me for who I am now."

This prompted the Gems to tear up and finally hug Steven. "Please forgive us." Garnet sobbed.

"We didn't mean to hurt your feelings!" Amethyst said just as sadly. "We didn't realize we were kinda acting like kids too."

"We just miss you Steven!" Pearl said. Soon, Steven began to cry as well as he looked down at the sad Gems.

"We're sorry!" the trio apologized in unison.

"I missed you guys too." Steven accepted the apology while the chilly weather began to take effect on him. "You know, it was pretty nice to spend time with y-ACHOO!" Without even being asked, Amethyst extended her arm to fetch Steven's pink jacket for him. "Thanks Amethyst."

"Steven, we're very proud of the person you've become." Garnet complimented her ward.

"Yeah, that's why we wanted to hang out with you so much." Amethyst stated.

"But if you want to go back to work," Pearl added. "That's okay with us."

"Well, I can't." Steven answered confidently as he put his jacket back on. "Because TAG!" he added by tackling Garnet. "You're it!"

"I guess we have to update the game." Garnet realized before transforming to match Steven's age. "To this."

And so, Steven Tag began anew with Steven and Garnet chasing Amethyst and Pearl down the mountain.

--

The next morning, Steven woke up once again. But this time, he was feeling more cheerful and had the Gems by his side.

With his winter clothes on, Steven hopped into the car with the Crystal Gems, also in winter gear over their regular forms, and they shared a laugh until the car set off for Little Homeworld.

--

So ends Snow Day. We're getting very close to the end of Part 1, and next up is my favorite episode of Future, Why so Blue, too. But after Why so Blue, things will start to get a little different. Perhaps pertaining to a certain Off-Color fusion between a Ruby and a Pearl, or the mystery Gem we've been foreshadowing since Cracks and Buds. Anyways, Happy New Year readers and see you next week!

[myownworldstayout]

New Friends Ch. 12

Ch.1 / Ch.11 / Ch.13

(Are you ready for more fluff?? you’re gonna get more fluff.) (also, It’s long so warning lol)

“Marinette, I love these dresses!” Aurore sang, twirling around in a sleeveless purple dress, which stopped short just above her knees.

“The casual outfits are quite nice as well.” Kagami complimented, studying her black, ripped jeans and rose red top, matching her black boots.

Marinette blushed slightly at the praise, though it was hardly noticeable since she was still fiddling with another outfit on one of the manikins. 

“Thank you so much! I figured you guys would like those.” 

“I still can’t believe you made these.” Wayhem commented, picking at the collar of his bright green, short sleeved shirt. 

“Do the jeans fit okay?” She asked, turning to get a good look at the three. 

Wayhem grinned. “They’re perfect.” 

Marinette smiled brightly, nodding with satisfaction as she focused on the manikin again.

“It’s a shame Felix couldn’t come to your house with us. He’s missing out on some great fashion.” Aurore giggled, sitting down on the chaise and smoothing out her dress.

“Actually, I already gave him an outfit. He’s gonna meet us at the concert.”

Aurore sat up. “Really?” 

“Yep!”

During lunch period that morning, Luka invited them to go to Kitty Section’s concert. They were holding it in the square this time, and the crowd was hopefully going to be big. Aurore and Wayhem were more than happy to go, since they always loved Kitty Section’s concerts, and Kagami promised to work something out in her schedule. Felix was reluctant at first- concerts were always so loud and pushy -but when Marinette excitedly agreed to go, he gave in.

The group became so hyped for the event that they decided to dress up for it as well. That was when Marinette remembered she had some outfits at home that she’d been working on. So Aurore, Kagami, and Wayhem came to the Bakery to try them on while Luka prepared for the concert. 

“The real question is how you convinced Felix to come to the concert in the first place.” Kagami said, shifting comfortably on the chase next to Aurore.

“What do you mean?” Marinette asked obliviously, pulling one of the pins from between her teeth and sticking it into a skirt.

“Felix hates concerts.” Kagami stated bluntly.

“I can’t imagine Felix liking anything loud or crowded to be honest.” Wayhem joked, slipping his hands into his pockets.

“Pretty much. His exact words were, ‘why listen to music at a loud, people-infested park when I could listen to the same music alone in my quiet bedroom?’” Kagami smile.

Aurore and Wayhem laughed at that, but Marinette furrowed her eyebrows.

“Why do you think I convinced him though? Maybe he decided to just try it out on his own.” 

Wayhem scoffed and lightheartedly replied, “You kidding? He was so going to stay home until you said you were going.” 

“He did suspiciously agree right after you did. Even though he said no the first time around.” Aurore joined in, a coy smile spreading across her lips.

Marinette pursed her lips, turning back to her project to hide her embarrassment. Felix didn’t agree just to be with her, right? 

The image of him walking her to her house around the first time they met flashed through mind.

She shook her head.

He just wanted to go to the concert since everyone else was going. They were all friends, after all. It would be silly to stay home instead of hanging out with all of your friends.

Yes, it had nothing to do with her, and this certainly wasn’t going to be another Adrien situation.

Marinette stilled.

Adrien.

“Marinette, are you alright?” Aurore asked, noticing her pause.

She drew in a breath, steeling herself. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. I was just thinking about..”

“About Adrien?” Wayhem finished, sitting down on the floor next to Marinette’s rolling chair, across from the girls.

Marinette nodded in confirmation, keeping her eyes on the skirt.

The group quietly waited, their gaze soft, understanding. Marinette would speak if she wanted to do so.

“They haven’t noticed my unofficial absence for weeks.” she finally began, more of thinking aloud. “They didn’t care that I haven’t spoken a word to anyone, that they haven’t talked to me for weeks. It wasn’t until I actively ignored Adrien that they got upset.”

Marinette sighed, massaging her temples. “It’s like they don’t even care about me as a person. It’s all about their egos or hurt feelings or something just- just all about them.”

The group nodded along, letting her work through her thoughts. Though Marinette appreciated it, it also sort of ached. Because she had never had something like this before. Not with Alya, or Adrien, or anyone else she knew for years in that forsaken classroom. It was always “Marinette, you’re overreacting”, “Marinette you’re being ridiculous”. It could never be, “you have a right to be angry”, or “your feelings are valid whether they completely make sense or not”.

Come to think of it, even despite Lila’s influence, they’d had trouble before. Mostly when Marinette decided to have any sort of feelings besides pure happiness. Of course, Alya and the others weren’t entirely to blame. Adrien was normally the one to scold her on that front. 

She looked back up at the others. They sat there patiently, waiting for her to either finish her concerns or change the subject. It was her choice.

She reveled in that thought. Her choice. It felt as if this entire school year had flown by without giving her a single glance. She’d been forced into more things than she liked to admit. 

Being ladybug, for example. She loved Tikki with all her heart, but Marinette still found herself a tad bitter about how she got the miraculous. Would she have accepted if Master Fu asked her straight up? Probably not, but it still would’ve been nice to get a say in the matter. 

The point is, choices seemed to be new for her. She was sad that it turned out this way, but if it meant she could make choices, that she was finally free in a sense..

“There, done.” Marinette then smiled, leaning back to check her work.

Aurore and Wayhem gasped.

“Oh, Marinette, it’s beautiful!”

~~~~~~

Felix grumbled to himself as he got ready for the concert.

Why did her agree to go to this? Concerts were loud and crowded and everything he despised, really. Why couldn’t he just stay home and watch the concert live at the very least? That’d be much more preferable.

He pictured Marinette’s smiling face, her eyes shining with excitement and anticipation. 

“You’re coming too, right Felix?” She had asked.

Seeing that expectant and hopeful look in her eyes… how could he say no?

He remembered her quietly squealing a “yes!” and pumping her fist in the air when he said he would go.

The group was surprised, though none argued. Especially when Marinette started rambling about “New outfits” and “Fitting sessions after school”.

A frown tugged at the corner of Felix’s lips.

They were all at her house now, getting ready for the concert. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to be there. Unfortunately, he needed to come home first to inform his mother about the new schedule and do a few things.

As expected, she was more than eager to let him go to the concert.

“When are you going to invite them over?” she asked for what felt like the fifth time that week.

“When I feel the time is right.” Felix said, repeating the same answer he always gave. 

His mother put on a pout, but only huffed and left the room to start supper. 

Felix smiled towards his mother’s antics as he straightened his new tie.

Marinette had shown them lots of sketches for clothing designs, but her actually making the clothes was a completely different story.

And she’d done and amazing job. The clothes she made for them not only fit their personalities well, but also seemed like they could be bought from a store.

Felix noticed a few crooked stitches and some loose buttons, usual mistakes that are perfected over time. Considering she was only fifteen, the handiwork was extremely impressive in his opinion.

The outfit wasn’t all that different from his usual one. He still had his black dress pants and dark grey vest. However, his familiar, lighter grey of a button up, long sleeve shirt was replaced by a black one with the sleeves stitched up to his elbows in a quarter sleeve style. Instead of his black tie, Marinette gave him a striped green and black tie to use. How she got the measurements was beyond him, because the clothes fit perfectly.

“Have fun at the concert sweetie! If you need me or your father to pick you up, just give us a call.” His mother cooed as he opened the front door.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Felix said with a small smile, waving and walking out the door.

-

The walk was longer than what he was used to, but he left earlier than necessary so he took his time. Nevertheless, he still got there about twenty minutes before the concert started. A few people were lingering in the square, either curious about the commotion or waiting for the concert to begin. In the center of the square, right in front of the glass pyramid, Felix spotted Kitty Section preparing themselves for the performance. Luka was tuning his guitar with Juleka, Rose was checking the sound system, and Ivan was testing his drums. 

Felix noted that the others were wearing their normal outfits while Luka was obviously wearing a “Mari original” as they called it. He was wearing a dark-ish blue, checkered button up shirt with black jeans. His shirt was unbuttoned to reveal a navy blue t-shirt underneath. In the middle of the navy blue T-shirt was a white jagged stone, similar to the black one on his white t-shirt he normally wore.

Luka glanced up, smiling when he noticed Felix. 

“Hey! I see you’re wearing your new outfit, too. Mari did a good job, as always.” he commented, setting his guitar to the side and standing up.

Felix nodded with a smile, looking over his clothes once more. He ignored the side glances he received from his classmates. He figured they wouldn’t be pleased of his presence, but he was here for Marinette, not them.

Speaking of which, “Where are the others?” 

“They’ll be coming soon, don’t worry. Marinette wanted to make last minute tweaks on the other’s outfits.” Luka explained, waving off the question. “I didn’t expect you to come. Concerts don’t seem to be your thing.”

“They’re not. I only came because-” Felix cut himself short. Telling Luka his real reason for coming probably wasn’t the best idea.

Unfortunately for Felix, Luka was good at filling in the blanks.

“Because Marinette wanted you to, right?” he finished with a knowing smile. 

Felix gave him a glare in response, not denying or confirming anything.

Thankfully, people were already starting to pile into the square. Therefore, Felix and Luka were quickly surrounded by chattering fans, distracting them from the conversation. 

“I have to go up on stage. Good luck finding Mari in this mess.” Luka chuckled, before disappearing into the crowd as well.

Felix hummed in displeasure, turning on his heel and heading for the back of the crowd. Maybe it would be better to find them if he weren’t so smothered.

“Felix, there you are!” 

He stopped, looking in the direction of the familiar voice he’d come to know quite well.

What he saw brought his thoughts to a screeching halt.

It was definitely Marinette- you could tell from her signature ponytails and unmistakably bright smile -but her clothes almost made her seem like a different person entirely.

She wore a pitch black blouse which was tucked into a bright red skirt covered in black polka dots that hung just above her knees. Her black heels, which were red on the bottom, drew attention to her toned legs. Now that Felix thought about it, Marinette’s arms were pretty toned as well. She was fit in general, to be honest.

A light blush dusted Felix’s cheeks as he pushed the thought out of his mind.

“What do you think?” Marinette beamed, twirling to give him a better look. 

Felix swallowed, briefly at a loss for words. Could you blame him, though?

“Did you make that?” he managed to ask.

“Yeah! It’s not too bad is it?” Marinette said shyly.

Felix shook his head almost vigorously. “No, It- you look-” he paused, taking a second to compose himself. “You look.. Stunning.” 

Now Marinette blushed, a delightful pink that somehow complemented the outfit. 

He pulled a soft smirk, but then it faded as he looked her up and down again and squinted.

Marinette frowned. “What is it?” 

“Do you mind if I try something?”

“Try something?” Marinette repeated, blinking in surprise.

“Yes, with your hair if that’s alright?” He said, reaching up and gently touching one of her pigtails in thought.

“O-Oh, uh- Sure, I g-guess.” Marinette stuttered, her blush deepening.

Without another word, Felix moved around behind her, carefully starting to pull the ribbons out. It might have been his imagination, but Felix thought he felt her shiver when he started combing his fingers through her hair to straighten it out.

“Alright, I’m done.” He stated after a few minutes, stepping around to her side again.

Marinette brought her hands up to her hair, lightly feeling around to figure out what he did. 

“Thank you.”

Felix shrugged. “My uncle is a fashion designer after all.”

Marinette smiled, opening her mouth to respond when someone else called out to Felix.

“Felix! We finally found you! Oh, and you have Marinette that’s even better!” Aurore shouted over the crowds, moving towards them with Wayhem and Kagami in tow.

“Wow, I love your hair.” Wayhem complimented when they caught up to the two.

“Felix did it.” Marinette grinned, absently touching her hair that had fallen around her shoulders.

“Felix did?” Kagami raised an eyebrow, an amused smirk playing at her lips. 

The blonde didn’t respond, keeping an indifferent expression. That might have been more condemning than if he had said anything at all.

“Well, it totally makes the look.” Aurore smiled, pulling a pocket mirror out of her purse and handing it to Marinette.

The hair-do looked much nicer than Marinette expected. Apparently, Felix took out her two pigtails, using the two ribbons to tie her hair into a half up half down style. This caused it to look like she was wearing a big red bow instead of her ordinary ribbons. Having her hair pulled back certainly topped off the outfit as Aurore had said. The red bow brought out the skirt and the hair that fell around her shoulders, along with her bangs, shaped her face nicely. 

“Wow..” Marinette muttered, brushing her bangs somewhat to the side.

“Mhmm~” Aurore hummed with a smile, taking back the pocket mirror. 

“We should get to the front, or somewhere near there. The concert is going to be starting soon.” Felix spoke up.

“Yeah, but there’s so many people..” Kagami said with a frown, standing up on her tiptoes to look over the growing crowd.

“Oh, let’s hold hands so we don’t lose each other!” Wayhem suggested, grabbing Aurore and Kagami’s hands. 

Felix winced, though no one noticed.

Aurore grinned, turning and grabbing Marinette’s hand.

Marinette turned to Felix, holding up her hand.

“So we can stay together.” She smiled.

Felix hesitated. He didn’t like touch. Never enjoyed physical contact with anyone, really. Even his mother, who he loved dearly, was someone he could barely stay around for long due to all the hugs she smothers him with.

There wasn’t a specific reason he hated being touched, he just did. Felix assumed it was mostly from his father, but he couldn’t tell for sure.

That was why he was surprised when he took Marinette’s hand. Because he.. He actually didn’t mind her touch. It wasn’t all that bad. Her hand was warm and her grip gentle, loose enough that he could let go if he wanted, but tight enough that they shouldn’t be separated.

Her grip then tightened suddenly to keep from losing him when they got deeper into the crowd.

For reasons unbeknownst to him, Felix squeezed her hand back. 

He caught a glimpse of Marinette glancing back at him in surprise, before turning her attention back to the crowds.

“Alright, Paris, are you ready!” Luka called over the microphone.

The group stopped. The crowds cheered.

Marinette didn’t let go of Felix’s hand. Whether she was distracted by Luka or just didn’t think about it, Felix found that he was okay with it. 

The music began, causing Felix to look at the stage as well. Half way through, Marinette and the others started dancing. He didn’t join in, but his hand swung around with Marinette’s occasionally. That was when he noticed she was still holding Aurore’s hand as well. In fact, they were all still holding hands. To stay together.

That’s right. To stay together, nothing more. Felix reminded himself, even if he wasn’t sure why he needed to remember that.

-

The concert lasted for about an hour, along with a few added encores.

“And now,” Luka began, wrapping up the show. “I’d like to make a special shoutout to the girl who not only made my outfit for tonight, but also designed Kitty Section’s costumes and album covers from the beginning. Mlle. Marinette Dupain-Cheng!”  

Felix saw Marinette’s eyes widen as the spotlight landed on her.

Luka grinned, walking to the edge of the stage and holding out his hand.

Marinette, still in shock, slipped her hand out of Aurore and Felix’s grasp and took Luka’s hand.

He ignored the sudden coldness he felt from Marinette’s absence as the girl was pulled up on stage.

“This is also a ‘Mari Original’.” Luka announced eagerly, gesturing to Marinette’s outfit.

The ravenette smiled sheepishly, fiddling with her skirt a bit to contain her nerves.

The crowd gave a hearty round of applause. Her friends clapped the loudest, of course, and Wayhem whistled. 

“That’s all I’ve got folks. Thank you and goodnight!”

~~~~~~~

Marinette’s heart pounded against her chest even half an hour later. Luka did love his surprises, she just wished they didn’t involve so many people.

“Where does this go?” Wayhem asked, holding up a box of sound equipment. 

“Over there is fine.” Luka answered, pointing to a few other boxes nearby.

Wayhem nodded, hobbling off in that direction. Marinette giggled at the odd posture.

It was nice though, she thought, being appreciated. Getting the credit she deserved for her work. What did she do to deserve these wonderful people?

“I~ think that’s everything?” Aurore more of asked, looking around the now empty stage.

“Yes, I believe so.” Felix agreed, crossing his arms and searching for any lost or forgotten items as well.

Marinette smiled towards the blonde. He’d been full of surprises that evening. Since the first week she met him, actually. She was also happy to say that the outfit she created looked good on him.

“Thanks for helping out guys.” Luka said appreciatively, setting the last few boxes onto their stacked pile. 

Juleka, Rose, and Ivan mumbled their “thanks” as well- Rose being as cheerful as ever. Marinette and Felix might rival Chloe in low popularity at school at the moment, but they still helped out.

“You don’t have to thank us.” Kagami insisted. Her phone then buzzed in her pocket, and she sighed when she saw the message.

“My driver’s going to be here in a few minutes. Anyone need a ride home?” 

Luka scratched the back of his head. “Actually.. Can you take Juleka and I home? It’d be hard to take all of the boxes home and mom doesn’t have a car..” 

Kagami smiled. “Of course, it’s not a problem.”

The exchange seemed to remind Felix of something, and he turned to her. 

“What about you?” He asked, glancing at her as he took out his phone and pressed on his mother’s contact icon.

“Sorry?” Marinette blinked, looking at Felix and standing up on the stage.

“Do you need a ride home?” he elaborated, waving his phone slightly.

“Oh no! I’m alright, thank you-” 

Marinette then paused, and looked to the streets. It was getting a bit dark. 

“On second thought, that would be nice.” she smiled.

Felix returned the smile, before walking away to call his parents.

-

Marinette yelped as she stumbled down the steps of the stage, right into a firm pair of arms. 

“Are you alright?” Felix asked, concern lacing his tone.

“Ah, y-yes. I’m so sorry..” she sighed, struggling in his arms to stand back up.

Felix lifted her to her feet. “It’s fine. As long as you’re alright.”

Marinette blushed, suddenly noticing how close they were and Felix’s lingering arms around her waist. She lightly touched her right cheek, which she somehow managed to scratch on the way down.

“Honestly, I don’t know what possessed you to where heels. You can barely walk around in your usually flats.” he then added, frowning at the injury. 

Marinette chuckled, shrugging her shoulders. Though his tone was sarcastic, she knew he meant it as more of a joke than anything. It was hard to read Felix when they first met, but after a few weeks of hanging out with the group so much, she managed to figure him out a little.

For one, he wasn’t as stone cold as he appeared to be. Felix might be brutally honest and strongly opinionated, but he did care. She’d seen it over the past few weeks. He just had a hard time expressing his emotions.

Not to mention that ever since he arrived at school, Lila hasn’t bothered Marinette as much- if at all. She couldn’t begin to explain how thankful she was for that. 

“The car’s here. Are you ready to go?” The blonde in question interrupted her thoughts, gesturing to a grey car that had just rolled onto the street. 

Marinette nodded, saying a quick goodbye to the others and following Felix to the vehicle. 

Felix opened the back door for her, which she found sweet. When she got into the car, though, Marinette was a tad surprised to see Felix slide into the seat next to her and close the door.

She looked to the floor to calm herself. Taking deep breaths, smoothing out her skirt, fixing her hair. The car pulled onto the street and started towards the bakery.

“T-thanks for the r-ride.” she finally said, wincing at the stutter.

Why was she nervous? It was just Felix.

Just Felix. Marinette mentally repeated. 

“It’s no trouble.” Felix assured, brushing off the comment. 

“I didn’t know you had a chauffeur.” She commented thoughtfully.

Felix glanced at her from the window. “Well, I would certainly hope so. My family does own and run several banks around the country.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?”

“You didn’t know?” Felix raised his eyebrows, straightening in his seat.

Marinette shook her head dumbly. Then again, how did she not know Felix’s family ran the banks? She’s known him for weeks hasn’t she?

The boy stared at her for a moment, then simply hummed and turned back to the window. 

Silence filled the car. Marinette found it frustrating. Usually, she could talk about anything or everything with Felix. Now, she was at a loss for words. Why was that?

-

When the car stopped in front of her house, Marinette shuffled out of the vehicle, Felix following behind her.

“Thanks again for the ride home.” she said, throwing him an appreciative smile. 

“Any time.” Felix replied softly. 

A frown suddenly flickered across his face and he lightly touched the side of his lips. “You’re lipstick’s a little messed up.” 

Marinette blushed, bringing her hand up to fix the error. 

He was looking at my lips? 

The thought nearly gave Marinette a heart attack, and she shoved it to the back of her mind. That didn’t mean anything. Felix was just observant like that.

“No, wait- you missed- here let me do it.” 

Before Marinette could respond, Felix was in front of her again. He tilted her chin upwards, gently grazing his thumb across her lips.

Marinette’s heart skipped a beat at the gesture and her eyes flicked to his.

His eyebrows were knitted together as he focused on fixing her makeup. It was all too obvious that he wasn’t trying anything.

“It’s such a lovely shade of red..” he murmured absently, stroking her lips one last time for perfection.

Oh, if Marinette thought she couldn’t blush any deeper..

The poor girl was about to blabber out some sort of reply when a car horn blared next to them, signaling for Felix to hurry up. The two jumped apart, glancing at the impatient chauffeur. 

“G-Goodnight!” Marinette nearly squeaked, holding back another cringe of embarrassment. 

Felix gave a small smile, though, not seeming to mind. “Yes, goodnight.”

With that, he got back in the car and left. 

Marinette went back inside as well, hand on her lips and thoughts racing about the night she just had and the new feelings she might have just experienced.

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