#Good I should’ve just sketch them simply and be ok with it

[collapsethevillain]

Two reasons for my mother to roll her eyes over me still not being over fnaf. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be over it tbh

[frozenartscapes]

Pumpkins - A World Without Gods Fic

Byleth heaved the large, orange vegetable up onto the kitchen table with a grunt, the weight of the object causing the whole piece of furniture and the cutlery on it to shake.

Edelgard did the same, though her pumpkin wasn’t quite as big so it didn’t land with the same intensity.

“Alright,” Byleth said as she playfully dusted her hands, “Let’s get started, then.”

“So remind me again why we’re making...what was it again?” Edelgard asked.

“Jack-o-lanterns,” Byleth told her, “It’s another Halloween tradition.”

“I figured as much. I was mostly just wondering why carving up perfectly good pumpkins to turn them into decorations rather than food seems to be so popular,” Edelgard said.

Byleth merely chuckled. “Don’t worry, El. These pumpkins aren’t that great for food. They’ve been growing them this way for decades specifically for making Jack-o-lanterns. That’s also why we got a couple of those small ones, which are good for eating.”

“I...see,” Edelgard replied, glancing at the two pie pumpkins sitting on the counter.

“So... Do you know what you’re going to do to yours?” Byleth asked, pulling out a couple of markers and offering one to El.

“I think so... I did a little research beforehand when you told me you wanted to do this, although I know right now that many of the designs I saw were far too complicated for me to execute,” Edelgard said, taking the marker and beginning to sketch out a simple face.

“Yeah, some people are crazy good at this. Although most of the time they’re professional sculptors.”

“What about you?”

“Me? I’m maybe average at this? The building does a contest but I’ve never won in the years I’ve lived here. I mostly just like the tradition.”

“I’m hoping this will turn out all right. It’s not the same as cooking, but I also can’t say I’ve ever been...careful when it comes to blades.”

Byleth laughed. “I’ve seen you use a dagger just fine, and you were pretty good with a sword,” she offered, “But yeah... Your style definitely was more about doing damage rather than precision.”

“I never really had the patience,” Edelgard admitted with a sigh.

They finished their designs and now it was time for the “fun” part, as Byleth called it. “Ok, so you want to take the knife and cut a circle around the stem. Make sure you cut at a bit of an angle so that the piece you cut doesn’t just fall through,” she explained, demonstrating on her pumpkin.

Edelgard nodded and followed along. Once the hole was made, she glanced into the pumpkin with a grimace. She had never...dealt with a pumpkin before. She knew of them. She had eaten food made with them. She knew of the general concept of their most popular uses, including these jack-o-lanterns. For some reason, though, she never really thought about what might be in a pumpkin until it was staring her in the face.

Byleth simply shoved her hand in without question, removing it with a handful of seeds and pumpkin guts and dumping the goo in a bowl with a wet splat. Edelgard gulped, then carefully stuck a hand into her pumpkin. Her finger brushed against something cold and stringy, and with a small squeal, she yanked her hand back out.

“Why is it warm?” she demanded when she heard Byleth chuckle.

“We were keeping them inside, El,” Byleth reminded her, “Trust me: it’s better than if they were cold.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Edelgard commented, attempting to clear her pumpkin out again. This time she got her hand in far enough to grab a clump of goop, but the squishiness of it made her retreat with a gag.

“Here,” Byleth said, offering a large spoon, “You can scrape the sides and bottom with this, then just turn the pumpkin over the bowl. It’s less messy that way.”

Edelgard let out a deep breath, accepting the spoon with a grateful smile. “You’ve clearly done this a lot,” she stated as she got to work, finding the spoon method much better.

“It’s funny. I used to get together with Rhea, Seteth, and Flayn and do this sort of thing a lifetime or two ago. It’s interesting to see how the holiday has changed over the decades,” Byleth said, “Pumpkin carving thankfully has stayed more or less the same. While costumes and candy and decorations and parties have all changed, good old pumpkins have been a nice constant.” For added emphasis, she patted the pumpkin lovingly before reaching in to clear out some more seeds.

A nervous smile made its way across Edelgard’s face. “Ah... And how did...they...find the holiday?” she asked, trepidation growing at the reminder of her former enemies.

“Flayn has always been intrigued by it, so of course it’s Seteth’s worst nightmare,” Byleth replied casually, “Rhea’s kind of indifferent on it. But she really doesn’t like carving pumpkins.”

“Really?” Edelgard asked with an eyebrow raised.

“She doesn’t like the guts,” Byleth said.

“I can’t fathom why,” Edelgard returned dryly, turning her pumpkin over the bowl and shaking out a clump of seeds and goo.

“It’s just seeds and mushy squash,” Byleth teased upon seeing El’s face, “Goddess knows you’ve dealt with much worse.”

“It’s the texture,” Edelgard insisted, “I don’t like how it’s slimy, warm, and sticky all at once. And don’t remind me about worse things because then I’ll start to picture them.”

Byleth laughed again, dumping out the last of her pumpkin guts. “Sorry. I should’ve known better,” she said sheepishly, “How’s it going? You get it mostly cleared out yet?”

Edelgard did a final scrap of the sides of the pumpkin. “About as clean as it ever will be,” she replied, “So now we can start carving?”

“Yep.” Byleth reached for a knife as Edelgard did the same. “Just work slow, and be careful not to cut yourself. Blood might be spooky but parents tend to be more approving of fake blood this time of year.”

Edelgard chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind, my Teacher.”

Byleth smiled at the nickname. They were well passed their time spent as student and teacher, but Edelgard kept insisting that Byleth had never truly stopped teaching her new things, now more than ever. So the name stuck.

She realized she had been watching Edelgard carving for perhaps a little too long. She couldn’t help it, though. For as silly and casual as this activity was, Edelgard was approaching it with the same intensity and focus as she did whenever she was learning a new fighting stance or battle strategy.

Byleth blinked a few times before snapping out of it. As much as she would have liked to keep admiring Edelgard, she had her own pumpkin to carve.

“How are you making out?” Byleth asked after a few minutes, finishing up the last few details of her carving in the process.

“Almost... Done!” Edelgard proclaimed, leaning back to take in her creation. The pride in her expression fell away, however, as she studied her work. “Hmm... I feel like it’s missing something...”

“Hang on,” Byleth said, getting up to retrieve a couple of candles from the counter. She set one in each pumpkin, flicked off the lights, and with a snap of her fingers, both jack-o-lanterns lit up in all their spooky glory.

Byleth’s had a large, fang-filled mouth stretching from one side of the pumpkin’s face to the other, and two pointed eyes that seemed to narrow menacingly. Edelgard’s had the classic triangular nose and eyes, but a toothy mouth that was frowning rather than smiling.

“He doesn’t look very happy,” Byleth commented lightly.

“I thought the frown would make it less friendly,” Edelgard mused, “But now I’m not... Oh! I know!”

She quickly left the kitchen, only to return moments later with the plastic bloodied axe Byleth had hung up over the fireplace. After making another quick cut in her pumpkin, Edelgard then stuck the fake weapon inside, giving it the appearance of having just been attacked by an axe murderer.

Byleth couldn’t contain her laughter. “Oh Sothis, I love it, El!” she said.

“See, now he has a reason to be unhappy,” Edelgard replied with a small chuckle of her own, “And you did say fake blood was ok.”

“I did say that,” Byleth conceded, “I can already think of multiple morbid little kids who are going to love this pumpkin.”

---

A few days after Halloween, Byleth returned home after work to an envelope that had been tucked under the door.

They had won the pumpkin carving contest.

[storytimefromthecreed]

To Love From Near and Afar

His hair was lighter, and his face more lined. It had been years since they’d last spoken, but had it really been so many? A blade in the crowd, Ezio stood entranced as Leo chuckled with his workers and took a step back to investigate his experiment. When he smiled, lines creased at his eyes and remained at his cheeks. It looked like he’d smiled many times over the years. Good, Ezio thought to himself, that was the intended affect. Let Leo think he’d left or perished, anything that would keep him safe.

His heart tugged in Leo’s direction, and Leo looked over his shoulder for a moment. Just a moment. His eyes searched the crowds, and the smile frozen on his face faltered. Ezio remained motionless, blending into the crowd easily. Someone called his attention, and Leo returned to his work. Ezio smiled, it was good to see him safe and well, but he’d stayed too long. He left for the evening.

As he lay awake that night, his heart tugging him in the direction of Leo, Ezio thought of what he could do. Playing this game for years had taken a toll on him, and he didn’t know how much longer he could go without speaking to Leo. Touching him, kissing him.

Rolling out of bed, Ezio bound for the door. Once more and then never again, Ezio told himself. I just need ensure his safety, and I’ll never see Leonardo de Vinci again.

Finding his way to the workshop took some tries as Leo always moved around and Ezio was trying to remain in the shadows, but he found it. The candlelight flicked shadows on the street, and Ezio poked his head to the window.

In the small room, was Leo. In one hand, he held a piece of paper while in the other a pen. He spoke to himself as he fiddled with his work, and Ezio found himself transported back in time. They’d do that all the time. With Leo working on a Codex page or assisting Ezio with whatever he needed, Ezio would sit in a chair and watch Leo work and talk a million miles an hour. If Ezio tried to help, he would receive a slap on the back of his hand. “You’re going to break it.” Leo remarked, then tilted his head. “Yes, hm, maybe? You know what? I’m overthinking it.”

“I’m not going to break anything.” Ezio rubbed the stringing hand and pouted, “How do you know what I was doing?”

“But then why would….Ohhhh, that’s genius. Well, of course it’s genius. It would have to be, otherwise I’d not have so much trouble with it. I wonder,” Leo tinkered with his toy. “Because you’re clumsy.”

“What?” Ezio’s jaw dropped and he mouthed some words before settling on, “I’m an Assassin, Leonardo. I run around the city, fight evildoers daily, I am not clumsy.”

“When you’re being an Assassin.” Leo kept working, etching a design, keeping his eyes on it. “When you’re Ezio Auditore, well,” his eyes flickered to Ezio’s and he winked, “you often leave some things left to be desired.”

“I-” Ezio’s pout intensified and his cheeks went red. “Well, I… don’t know what you need me here then. Since I break all your precious,” he gestured around vaguely, “...stuff.”

Leo finished his sketch and set down his pencil. Then, he crossed over to Ezio and laughed, “To brighten the room.” Ezio’s blush deepened and Leo kissed him. “I’m only teasing, my love. Now please, sit there and look pretty.”

Ezio fought his smile and kissed Leo once more. “Fine, fine,” he rolled his eyes, acting like this was the worse job in the world when in face he loved nothing more. “Just because you asked so nicely.”

Now, watching Leo speak to himself as he worked, always working, Ezio’s heart tugged once more. Stronger now, from the nearness and the memories, tears sprang into his eyes and Ezio took a step back. Silently saying goodbye to his love, Ezio straightened, turned, and promptly tripped.

The clang of paint cans made him wince and the rope tightening around him wrapped him like a caccoon before dropped him to the ground. The air left him and Ezio groaned. Light surrounded him as the door opened and before he could speak, he was being hit. “Leo! Leo!” He moaned between swats to the head. “It’s me! It’s Ezio!”

The hitting continued as Leo said, “Oh I know exactly who this is! You no good-! I can’t believe-! All this time-!” Too angry to finish his sentences, he stopped and began setting this paint cans straight and untying the Assassin.

“Wait,” Ezio kicked off the ropes at his feet. “You knew I was there?”

“You make it rather obvious.” Leo gestured to his clothing and let down a hand. Taking it, Ezio was helped up and brushed off. “Years, Ezio, years.” When Leo had worked on straightening Ezio’s collar, he slapped him on the back of the head again. An angry quip rested on Ezio’s tongue and his explanation died when he saw the tears in Leo’s eyes. The corners of his mouth were pulled into a quivering frown, and Ezio saw that he had been using his left hand. Before he could comment on this, Leo continued, “Didn’t you think of what I was going through? Waiting day in and day out for you to arrive? A letter, a note? Anything?”

“Leo-” Ezio said softly.

“Do you know how hard it was? Not knowing if you were ok? If you were….”Leo closed his eyes and crossed his arms. His right was slower than before and Ezio frowned.

“Are you well?” Ezio breathed, already knowing the answer.

“And you just left.” Leo breathed, opening his eyes so the tears spilled. “You’ll say it was to protect me or that your work needed you, but you…you couldn’t tell me? You… couldn’t say goodbye? After all we’ve been through? I didn’t get a goodbye?”

“Wait…” Ezio examined the scene once more. The paint cans, the ropes tied from the roof. “Did you…did you make this trap for me?”

“Well,” Leo swat away Ezio’s hand when he tried to brush his tears away. Palming his face, again his right hand moving slower than his left, Leo explained, “I couldn’t prove it was you any other way.”

Ezio opened his mouth to say, well, anything. You could’ve told me? How? Ezio was hard to track these days. You should’ve let me go? No, that hurt too much. So, he just did the only thing he could. He took Leo’s hands and kissed them. Leo tried glaring up at him, but he missed the contact so much all he could do was muster a frown. “I’m so sorry. It was wrong for me to believe this was the best thing for you. For us.” Ezio breathed, “I’ve just…life hasn’t given me the best track record for the ones I love. Leo, you know this. I-I couldn’t have anything happen to you. I had to keep you safe.” Leo was silent a moment and Ezio squeezed his hands. Leo squeezed back, his right weaker than his left, and Ezio’s heart fell. “I tried very hard to keep you safe from the harm of the outside world, and it seems there are some dangers that not even I can save you from. What is it?”

Leo poked his chest, his mood growing lighter. “Don’t think you can just return here and sweep me off my feet, Ezio Auditore.”

“To be fair,” Ezio chuckled, feeling like they were picking up right where they left off. Like no time had passed. “You’re the one who sweep me off my feet.”

They looked at the trap once more and Leo laughed, “That was a bit dramatic on my part, isn’t it?”

Ezio shrugged, shivering from the night chill. Leo pulled him inside and closed the door. “I expected nothing more from the brilliant mind of Leonardo de Vinci.” Though the room was miles away from their home, it felt like the one he’d spent so much time in. Paintings lined the floor, some unfinished, some drying. Inventions hung wildly in the air, making him cock his head to try to understand them. Finally, his eyes went to the chair, his chair, and his smile fell when he spied the medicine there.

Leo’s eyes watched him, and he confessed, “It happens, Ezio. We’re older now, and it makes sense. I can’t imagine I’d be creating forever.”

Tears ran down his face as he realized all the time he’d lost. “You’re sick?”

“I’d rather not waste more time on it than it’s worth.” Leo pushed him into the chair and began his work again. “Now, tell me of your adventures.”

“Leonardo.” Ezio tried to raise, but Leo made to stop him. Then, he just took his hand. “What can I do? How can I help?”

“Ezio,” Leo kissed the back of his hand and looked at his work. Tears dripped to the table, and he wasn’t really looking at the map. “There are some things that even a hero like you can’t fight, Ezio. There is no point thinking of what we could or should have done, and there’s not point fighting the future. All we can do, is be.”

As the words hit his heart, Ezio rose and took Leo’s hands. The inventor finally looked at him and wept. Ezio pulled him to his chest and kissed the top of his head, his own tears falling into his hair.

Ezio stayed for years, considering this his early retirement. Leo and he enjoyed many picnics under sunsets, cold nights spent wrapped in blankets as Leo explained the stars and Ezio watched his face animate. Many love filled nights, and love filled days, when they had the chance. Dancing in the rain, Ezio singing terribly and Leo begging him to stop but then begging him to start again. They lived with love in their hearts up until the day Leo lay on his bed. He was weaker now, his hair taking on a blonder hue. They held hands and when a doctor came in and asked who Ezio was, Leo simply stated, “He’s a king, can’t you see how regal he is?” The doctor left them and Ezio cried. He’d thought he’d wept to his life’s content, and now this? With a shaking hand, Leo cupped his face, his thumb brushing away his tears. “Ezio, I need you to do something for me.”

“Say it,” Ezio breathed, tasting his tears on his lips. “Anything, and it’s yours.”

Brushing the tears from his lips, Leo memorized his face. “Keep fighting.”

“What?” Ezio rubbed his eyes. “Leo, I don’t get it. I don’t understand.”

Leo sighed, looking over the man he loved. “You’ve grown from a naïve young man to a hero before my eyes, Ezio, and I’m so lucky to have had you by my side all these years. To have loved you and be loved by you. If I could go back, I would change nothing. Now, listen closely.” Leo’s voice dropped as he was too weak, and Ezio leaned in to hear better. He pressed his head to this temple, and remained there. “There are going to be times when it’s going to be hard. When you think yourself alone and don’t want to get back up again. But you must. Not for me, for you. Promise me. Promise me you’ll keep fighting.”

He couldn’t speak, so Ezio just held Leo’s hand in both of his, buried his face in it, and nodded.

When Leo passed, Ezio bid well to the assistants who’d became his family, and told them the Assassins would be lucky to have them. Dawning his robes, he noticed they were tighter. They must have shrunk while hanging, he thought to himself. Then, pulling himself out of retirement, Ezio continued on. It was just as Leo had told him. It was hard, and some days Ezio felt he could disappear into the shadows and never emerge, but he kept fighting. He fought for Leo until he knew how to fight for himself.

[elle-smells]

Not me rewriting the one shot I posted an hour ago to include the events of the latest clips- Bonus: I live through Sander’s thoughts about you know who- 

He felt good.

Sander used to hate that word. It didn’t mean he was down, but it also didn't mean he was at his best. It's always been all or nothing for him. That is, until he met Robbe and realised that good is just enough, more than enough actually. As long as he has the right person holding his hand, the stage of simply feeling good was a promise of not drowning but it also meant things could still get better. 

So that's what he felt tonight. Good. He had spent the evening sketching after finishing his big project earlier than he expected and his parents were gone on some sort of second honeymoon they had to reschedule due to the pandemic. The house was quiet and peaceful. The blankets wrapped around his legs was soft and warm….the blanket was also Robbe’s. In fact, the hoodie he wore was also his boyfriend’s. They had so many of each other’s things in their rooms that at times it felt like they lived together. Sander smiled at the thought of never having to let go of Robbe late at night when he really had to get home or having the guarantee of never waking up alone. One day, he thought, it honestly could not come fast enough. 

Sander was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of someone knocking on the door. That was weird, he wasn't expecting anybody and Robbe wouldn't knock, especially since Sander got him a copy of his house keys for the week. Yes, Robbe is staying with him while his parents are away. Yes, Robbe complained about receiving a key, saying it felt like he was intruding. And no, Sander did not pout and whine like a baby until Robbe finally took the key….and if he did no one has to know. Anyway, it couldn’t be him, but he was wrong because when Sander opened the door he was greeted with the most beautiful and yet heartbreaking sight. It was indeed his boyfriend, looking as handsome as ever but with a slight frown on his face. 

“You know how keys work right? It means you don't have to knock because my house is your home too, remember?” Sander tried with a teasing tone and Robbe looked up at him with a small smile forming on his lips. 

“Shush I’m tired” Robe moved past him into the small hallway and made his way to the living room where he pretty much threw himself onto the couch where Sander had been sketching moments earlier. Sander picked the camera equipment left forgotten on the floor and placed it on the small table in the middle of the room before positioning himself right behind Robbe so his boyfriend could lay with his back facing him. Speaking of his boyfriend, he should really know better by now. See, being together with someone for a while and being as infatuated with them as Sander is with Robbe means you learn to pick up on a few things. little details that the untrained eye would miss, but not Sander. Nope, he knew Robbe wasn't just tired, and if the way he kept looking down and playing with his hands told the older boy anything, it was that his lover was thinking hard about something. 

“So are you going to tell me what happened or are we going to forget about it and watch a movie?” Robbe huffed out a chuckle, as if saying he should’ve known his boyfriend would notice. They stayed silent for a moment, Sander would wait for hours if he had to, as long as Robbe told him when he felt comfortable saying it. 

“It’s just- “ Robbe tried “The first thing is kinda silly,  I mean it was my fault anyways for being late, I should’ve checked my tires before hopping on it for 45 minutes, I-...I just really wanted it to go well, I didn’t mean to make her upset at me or Moyo...and we checked the footage...it's not as good as I hoped, I mean they said it was good but I know its not my best. And then we were driving home and then...Moyo told her to sit down, we told her it was a bad idea...we were telling her to sit down and-...he lost control and he didn’t mean for the accident to happen and we didn't know what to do- ”

“Hey hey hey, breath, it's okay. Its okay” 

Robbe had told him about the dance video he was going to film with Moyo and his new girlfriend. He didn't really get what it was for but seeing Robbe so excited when talking about it filled Sander up with joy to last a lifetime. His boyfriend had been through so much and seeing him finding something that brings him so much happiness and fulfillment is truly the most amazing sight Sander had ever had the pleasure of seeing from the front row. He recognised the look on Robbe’s face whenever he finished editing a Broerrs video, it’s the same look Sander sees whenever he looks in the mirror after finishing a drawing he is really proud of. It’s beautiful to see really, someone being so passionate about something, truly wonderful, especially if it's the person Sander loves most in the world. 

It's not fair, he thought, that a few mishaps turned something Robbe was so excited about into whatever happened that is now making him sad and slightly frustrated. To be honest, he's not exactly sure about what happened, Robbe is not exactly the most eloquent person when he's rambling. But Sander understood enough.and Moyo’s girlfriend? Kato? He could not understand how someone could be so self centered and selfish and borderline manipulative and- wait a minute, did Robbe say there was an ACCIDENT? 

“Wait, go back for a second-, accident? Like, a CAR accident? Are you okay? Was anyone hurt?” 

“I’m fine, all three of us are fine...the car is not though. I just wish there was something I could do to help Moyo with that, it's totally wrecked. Not to mention the other car we hit...” 

Another car- no, this was not the time for him to get upset, he needs to be there for Robbe. He chose his next words very carefully.

“Did you go to the police?” Robbe shook his head and looked down. They both knew what came to mind but decided not to mention it. Not tonight. “No...I mean Kato just wanted to get home and Moyo was pretty upset.” 

Sander huffed. Kato just wanted to get home, he tries not to judge people before he properly gets to know them. He tried with Kato, he really did, but the more Sander hears about the new girl, the more a dislike of her grows in the pit of his stomach. Didn’t Robbe say Moyo got distracted because of her? And if he heard correctly then she was apparently pissed at Robbe for being late? After giving up his free time- well, operation don't get upset has officially failed. Thankfully, Robbe’s back was still pressed to his chest, he was also good at reading Sander and he didn't need that right now, he needed someone to hold him. And so Sander gently kissed the top of the brown curls he loves so much. 

“Ok, first of all, we’ve talked about this, if it upsets you, it's not silly. It won't ever be silly, not to me.” 

“Yes, but-”

“No buts” Sander tightened his gripped around Robbe’s waist “It's not your fault you had a flat tire and I’m sure Moyo will appreciate the footage you got, which I’m 100% certain is amazing, no questions asked” 

Robbe turned his head to look at him. “You don’t know that….its not my best”

“It may not be your best but it's good. Good means good, Robbe, not bad. You are only going to get better from here.” 

 A short pause.

“...and the accident...no one was hurt, right? So, it's fine, as long as you are all okay, and I know you want to help Moyo but right now there is nothing you can do so don't feel guilty about coming home okay?” Robbe nodded “We’ll figure out the rest when the time comes, we’ll do it together, I promise.”

Robbe turned his entire body around and they laid there, chest to chest, brown eyes looking up to meet green. Then, a smile, and Sander knew he had gotten something right. Robbe spoke in a soft whisper, “I love you so much, you know that”

 It wasn’t a question. Sander simply snorted and slowly kissed his boyfriend on the lips, running his hands through what he was sure was the softest hair in the world. He no longer needed Robbe’s blanket or hoodie to keep him warm, Sander had something much better now. 

“You know...that movie night thing you mentioned doesn’t sound half bad. Want to order in? I promise not to make you watch a horror movie this time, I wouldn't want you bothering the neighbours with your screams” Sander playfully hit Robbe’s arm

 “Hey! That was ONE time, and I told you, they got me when I wasn’t paying attention, anyone would scream if caught off guard”

Robbe giggled, oh how Sander loved that sound. “Yeah, okay One time out of fifty-” Sander didn’t let him finish the sentence as tackled him on the couch before peppering his lover’s face with endless kisses. 

Yes, Sander felt good tonight. Maybe even a little better than that.

[clumsybookworm18]

and my burden to bear is a love (i can’t carry anymore) | pt.5

Jossam Ghost AU

Summary: Sam's indifference has everyone concerned.

A/N: Writer’s block sucks.

[ao3], Moodboard, parts 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 6

The autumn chill chased Sam down the neighborhood streets. Despite the cold, the muscles of her legs burned with every movement she made. She hadn’t even jogged a whole mile and she was already tired. Sure, she hadn’t exactly been keeping up with the fit lifestyle she had before, but how had Sam let herself become so out of shape? So weakened? 

She breathed in the cold air, letting it fill her lungs. 

Milky eyes on her. Pale creatures with long limbs. Monstrous shrieks.

 Her pace quickened. 

You’re alive. You made it out. You survived.

Running had been what saved her life that night. She didn’t know why she had stopped doing it in the first place. 

“Sam!” Someone called from behind her. “Sam, wait!” 

She slowed her run down to a slow walk and saw Chris running towards her. Or trying to. And here she was, thinking she was the one out of shape.

He stopped in front of her, lifting a hand as a sign for her to wait and leaned over his knees to catch his breath. Finally, he wheezed, “What are you, training for a marathon?”

“I wasn’t even going that fast.”

“If you say so,” he said, hands on his hips as he still tried to catch his breath. 

Sam had a feeling he wasn’t here to talk about her running habits. “What do you want, Chris?”

“Why have you been ignoring everybody’s calls?”

“I’ve been busy.” Busy trying to understand why the ghost of your best friend is haunting me. 

“Sam,” he started, giving her a look of disbelief. “I was friends with the biggest bullshitter I’ve ever known so if you want to lie to me, you’re gonna have to try a lot harder than that.” 

“Fine,” she snapped. “How about ‘I just want to be alone and not have any of you breathing down my neck.’ Is that believable enough for you?”

“We just want to make sure you’re alright.”

“As you can see,” Sam said in a dry tone, doing a quick gesture at herself with a hand. “I’m clearly fine.”

Chris muttered, “Yeah, clearly.”

“I’m not getting into this right now.” Sam scoffed, turning away to continue her jog.

“You know you can’t outrun your problems,” Chris yelled after her. 

“I can certainly try,” Sam said over her shoulder.

***

The sound of her phone vibrating on breaks Sam from her reverie. The name Mike flashes on the screen for a few moments before it goes black again. She lets out an irritated sigh, closing her sketchbook and picks up her phone to scroll down her notifications. 

where have u been?

CALL ME

Are you ok?

If you’re still alive, give me a call.

Her cell started buzzing in her hand again, this time Jess calling her. Sam waited until it stopped.

She’d turned the Do not disturb setting on to avoid the merciless buzzing that had been going on in the last week but the silence on her end only seemed to add more fuel to the fire as the aggressive flurry of texts have now turned into persistent phone calls. She didn’t want to imagine the group chat, which she had muted long ago. 

Sam wasn’t stupid. For the  last couple of months they had been taking shifts to check up on her, visiting her, taking her out.

Waiting for her to break. 

But she’d caught up pretty quickly on what they’ve been doing. She’d gained six unwanted babysitters and hated it. There was no way she was going to allow them to turn her into their charity case. 

Her friends meant well but the incessant calls and texts were getting out of hand. Sam debates sitting on her cell as it buzzes for what it felt like the hundredth time that night. She grounds her teeth, turning it off without bothering to check who was calling, and drops it back beside her on the window seat. 

Can’t they take a hint that she wants to be left alone? What was the sudden urge that had everyone wanting to get in touch with her? Why now when she was trying to figure out this ghost business anyways? Specially when the ghost in question was missing.

After the fight he picked, Josh had made himself scarce for the rest of the week. Sam couldn’t help but think that she should’ve been happy about this. She really should’ve. The problem was she wasn’t, that somehow the silence was worse. But she wasn’t about to tell him that if- when he decides to show up. 

Yes, she was angry, she was hurt, but there was still this�� yearning- Sam choked on the word- for him. As confusing as it was. And she had no idea how to handle what was happening. Gah.

“Why are you avoiding everybody?” 

Her eyes pulled away from the window. Lounging on her bed as if he owned it was Josh, an arm resting behind his head and looking at her with expectant eyes. Sam tried to hold on to her anger, not liking what she felt. Relief, that he came back. And something else: intense, burning, awful. An emotion she’d grown wary of... Sam kept her face blank. “Oh, so you’re talking to me now?” 

He frowned. “I was never not talking to you.”

“Really? Is that why you’ve been gone these last few days?”

“Aw Sammy, are you saying that you missed me?”

“Not in the least.”

“Hmm.”

“What?” 

“Nothing.” He merely shrugs, that insufferable smirk she’s all too familiar with curving his lips. “Just that I wouldn’t be here if you weren’t thinking about me, that’s all.”

 “Well your ghostly radar must be on the fritz then.” She picks up her pen and dashes off a few more lines. “I didn’t realize being a ghost also made you a mind reader.”

“Your thoughts are written all over your face.”

“Good to know I’m so transparent,” she said dryly.

A sly smile. “Only for those who know where to look.” 

Sam looks away first. She focused on the half finished sketch in front of her, the image in her mind long gone, but kept adding more lines to it, looking for something, anything to distract her. 

“You didn’t answer my question,” Josh said.

“Why bother?” She shrugged. “Apparently you already seem to know what I’m thinking so…” And it was none of his business. 

“I may be going out on a limb here but I’m sensing it has to do with the same reason Cochise was nipping at your heels the other day.”

“If you already know, then why ask about it.”

“I’m just trying to make conversation,” he defended.

Sam crossed her arms, not amused.

Josh rolled his eyes. “Right, I forgot is better to be miserable and alone.”

It took a lot to refrain herself from throwing something at his big fat head. With her patience running thin and looking to get off the topic, she asks, “Where were you?”

Josh’s face grows tight and Sam braces herself for him to push, to provoke her but he simply says, “Around.”

She scoffed. “Oh, so you can pry all you want about my life but when I ask you something, you can’t even give me a straight answer?”

A faint smile. Bastard. “Good to know you still care,” Josh said. “Warms my cold, dead heart.”

He doesn’t duck when she throws a pillow at him. 

***

Sam startled awake. Her face soaked and sticky. Her breath coming out in pants. 

“It was a dream,” she heard Josh say, his presence a gentle hum on her skin. Sam latched onto it as she swam out of the murkiness of her subconscious. She sat up straight, her surroundings slowly coming into view.

Josh was instantly in front of her, his eyes wide as they sought hers in the darkness. “Just a dream,” he repeated. 

She was home. In her bed. She had made it out. 

She could feel his gaze on her but Sam curled on to her side, stubbornly keeping her back to him. Tried to ignore the pounding in her head, focusing on her quiet breaths instead. She hated that someone was seeing her like this. Hated that of all people, he was the one that got to see her like this. He didn’t have the right to see her be vulnerable. Not anymore. But at the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to give a shit.

Sam made herself go back to sleep.

***

She awoke to the sight of Emily raiding her wardrobe. “Good to see you’re not dead.” she said, not bothering to stop her ransacking. “Even if you look like it.”

Sam quickly sat up, temporarily blinded by the morning light. “Emily? What are you doing here?”

“Get up,” Emily ordered, chucking some clothes on the bed. “We’re going out.” 

Not waiting for a response, she turned and left the room.

Sam groaned, throwing herself back on the bed and rubbed her eyes, wiping the residual sleep from them. A quick glance at her bedside clock told her it was almost noon. Had she really slept that long? 

Still, she didn’t move from where she lay.

“You do know,” Josh drawled from his side of the bed. “That if you don’t get up now, she’s only gonna come back and bitch about it until you do.” 

Sam gave him the most sassy side eye she could muster. “You would know all about that, wouldn’t you.” 

“Ouch.”

Eventually she got up before Emily decided to come back and drag her out.

***

Sam felt the weight of Josh’s attention heavy on her as she finished getting ready. Knows his gaze is on the purple bags beneath her eyes. Senses the questions pressing on his tongue. Yet he doesn’t push, doesn’t demand to know what nightmarish hell had disrupted her sleep last night. 

It wasn’t that the nightmares had stopped, but it had been a while since she had a dream like that. Long enough, that she’d foolishly started hoping she wouldn’t have one again. Wishful thinking on her part. 

Sam had just finished adjusting her scarf when he said, “If you’re not up for this just tell Heather Chandler down there to back off.” 

Her eyes met his. She saw the challenge blazing in them. “Don’t tell me you’re worried?”

“So what if I am?” 

“I’m not some broken doll,” she instantly snapped.

“I know you’re not,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t worry about you.” 

She felt her body go hard. “Go haunt someone else,” Sam seethed, but she was the one that walked away.

***

Emily and Matt were waiting for her in the foyer. Matt gave her a sheepish smile while Emily crossed her arms impatiently. “You certainly took your sweet time.”

Rolling her eyes, she asked, “Where are we going?” She hadn’t even gone out of the house yet and she already wanted to crawl back to bed.

Matt opened his mouth to answer but Emily beat him to it.

“We’re going to grab a bite first,” she said. “We’re starving and you haven’t had breakfast yet.”

“I appreciate the concern, Em, but I’m not really hungry.”

“Really?” Emily scoffed. “I don’t know how you can say that to me with a straight face when you look like your bones could snap at any moment.” 

“Wow. No tact at all with this one,” Josh suddenly appeared beside her. Sam gave him a subtle hiss. 

“Em.” Came Matt’s soft warning.

Sam leveled her gaze at them, crossing her arms. She didn’t need Matt to defend her nor did she want him to. Like she told Josh, she wasn’t a broken doll. Besides Emily was the only one who didn’t treat her any differently which she actually appreciated. “Is that why you’re here? To babysit me?”

Emily scoffed, placing a hand on her hip. “Do I look like a babysitter to you?” 

There was something weird going on that didn’t sit right with her. 

Emily’s shrewd golden eyes narrowed at her. “What else are you going to do with yourself? Spend the day doing those depressing paintings of yours?”

“They’re not depressing,” Sam protests. 

“Oh please, everything you paint is depressing,” she retorts, scrunching her nose. “It’s all black and white and grey.” 

“Maybe I like the contrast.,” said Sam. “Ever thought of that?” 

She debated on pushing, on insisting to stay. But Emily had a point. What was the point of staying in? Sleep? As tempting as crawling back to her bed sounded...

With a resigned sigh, she agreed, letting her friends drag her out of the house. She knew she was going to regret this.

***

After a quick lunch and scouring the entire mall, Sam was exhausted. How the hell did Matt keep up with Emily’s shopping sprees, she didn’t know. Sam barely survived herself. She was pretty sure they were even more aggressive than they were before, and that was saying a lot. 

Shop after shop, rows of clothes, shoes and jewelry. Yet nothing inside her stirred at the display like it would’ve done before. 

The only thing worse than the trip itself had been Josh’s unwanted commentary. He had an opinion on everything. She had to catch herself a couple of times from slipping up and talking to him in public, which had clearly been his intention all along. Prick. 

Matt kept throwing her some weird looks the entire time that only made the uneasiness she felt this morning worsen. 

“Hey are you doing okay?” he asked once they were alone. 

Sam looked forward to the day people would stop asking her that. She forced a smile on her face. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“It’s just that I know Emily can be a little… aggressive-” 

“Matt, I know you guys worry about me, but don’t you think that treating me like I’m made of glass makes me feel worse?” She crossed her arms. “At least Em doesn’t walk on eggshells around me.”

Matt looked at her closely but Sam’s attention was back to the clothing rack she’d been halfheartedly sweeping through.

And that was that. 

***

The sun was starting to set by the time they left the mall, Matt carrying most of the brunt of Emily’s shopping bags and Sam with a small bag of supplies for her makeshift art studio at home. 

Somehow they ended up at the park downtown. Sam was too drained to question why they were there and neither of them bothered to explain either. They all tensed as the sound of shrieking laughter pierced the air. In the distance, the children played. Safe. Coddled. Ignorant to the momentary emotional distress their innocent laughter caused the fucked up trio. 

Sam pointedly ignored how Emily’s hand found Matt’s, the way her shoulders relaxed when he gripped it in his own. She found Josh’s gaze on her, concern shading those eyes. 

She pointedly ignored that too.  

She stopped in her tracks as she saw where Matt and Emily were headed. As they made their way to the table, where all of their friends were waiting. She did not like the feeling that settled in her gut. Not at all. 

“I thought you said it was going to be just us,” Sam said, looking between Emily and Matt.

Emily raised a brow. “Did I?” 

She turned to Josh as subtle as she could. One look at him told her exactly what she needed to know. He knew this was going to happen and didn’t even warn her. Honestly, she didn’t know why she kept expecting something from him. 

She looked to where her friends were sitting. Something inside her twinged at seeing everyone paired off. 

Jess smiled in greeting and gestured for her to sit down on the empty space next to her and Mike. Sam didn’t move. 

“What’s going on?” She asked, too tired, too angry to bother with any pleasantries. Sam was familiar with what a friendly intervention looked like.

“The only thing missing is a fucking banner,” said Josh, but his tone was devoid of any amusement. 

Mike approached her slowly, holding his hands up as if he was dealing with some kind of animal that would just run away if it got spooked too easily. “Calm down. We just wanna talk.”

Her stance grew even more defensive. “And that’s why you decided to ambush me?”

“You were screening all of our calls and wouldn’t answer any of our messages. You left us no other choice.”

“Yeah, a huge mistake on my part, otherwise I would’ve saved you from the trouble of doing this.” 

“I know how this must look like to you but we’re doing this for your own good.”

This had to be some sort of payback for all the interventions she had instigated in the past. That was the exact kind of thing the old her would’ve said. They were using her own methods against her. Oh the irony.

“Not so fun when you’re at the other end, now is it?” Josh drawled in her ear. 

Sam grounded her jaw, refraining herself from reacting. The others already thought she was a walking cry for help, no need for her to add to that notion. “Okay, I learned my lesson and you guys gave me a taste of my own medicine. Can I leave now?” 

The silence that followed her statement was unnerving. Here she was, surrounded by her friends and she felt more alone than ever.

“Well?” she snapped, growing more irritated with that looks they were giving each other. “What is it?”

“This seclusion of yours has gone long enough,” Emily said, crossing her arms. 

Sam‘s lips thinned. “Well, I’m here now.”

“Because we basically dragged you out of the house or else you wouldn’t have come.”

“So?”

“That’s the problem,” Mike broke in. “Sam this isn’t you. This tough act you have going on… it’s like you’re so scared to accept what happened that you’ve become a completely different person.”

This was exactly what she had been trying to avoid.

Mike’s stance loosened, his expression growing apologetic and tired. “Look we know that you and Josh-”

The sharp look she gave him was enough to make Mike glance at the others for back up. Josh clicked his tongue, murmuring something under his breath.

“Look Sam, you don’t have to pretend like you’re holding yourself together, bottling everything up,” Chris took over. “How are you going to move on if you haven’t even accepted that they died?” 

“I tried to grieve them. Trust me. I tried,” Sam said, her throat tightening. “But every time I let everything sink in…” She shook her head. Doesn’t want to think about it.

“Look Sam, we get it, okay? We do,” Chris said, touching her shoulder. “But there are better ways to get through this.”

“Like what?” she snapped, shaking his hand off her. “Burying my heartache with school? Drown my sorrows with a bottle? Fill the empty void with shopping sprees?” Her angry gaze flickering over every one of them as she spoke. “We’re all dealing with it in our own ways. This is me dealing with it, okay?” 

Ashley tentatively walked over to her. “Yeah, that’s the problem,” she said gently. “You’re not dealing with it, Sam. You’re just pressing pause.” 

“So tell me,” Sam said, looking between Chris and Ash. “Tell me what you’re doing to get through this because I’m clearly doing it wrong.” 

This time it was Chris who answered. “I moved on. The twins are gone. Josh is gone,” No he wasn’t, he was standing right in front of her. But they didn’t know that. Chris went on, oblivious, “You have to say goodbye.” 

His words made her feel far away and horribly grounded at the same time. They made her resent them for it. What the fuck did they know? They’re not the ones who have to live with his ghost. With the constant reminder of what she’d lost. Sure, Josh had been their friend. Best friend, even. But it wasn’t the same. 

“Easy,” Josh murmured. “Don’t say anything you’ll regret later.”

Sam wanted to laugh. A year ago it had been her saying those things to him. Now Josh- Josh was the one telling her to calm down. Josh who always let him temper get the best of him, who never had any sorts of qualms about what he’d say, no matter how spiteful or mean it might’ve been. 

There had to be a joke in there somewhere. 

Sam angrily stalked away, knowing without looking back that her ghost was close behind. 

***

Josh kept his distance as he stormed after her.

That attempt at trying to preserve that bit of normalcy was laughable at best (caging Sam never worked) but Josh couldn’t fault them for trying. Sam had always been the glue that kept their mismatched group together. The one that was always had her shit together. The one they could depend on. That constant variable. Because even if she was still mad, when you needed her, she was there. 

Sam was the final girl. She was a survivor, a fighter, but lately…. She was burying her heart so deep that she was burying her spirit too. And the worst part was that she didn’t care, that she’d stopped fighting. The girl they knew was gone, and she wasn’t coming back. 

Sam kept walking until they reached a more secluded place. Stopping before a bridge, she leaned against the railing overlooking the lake, watching the sun as it disappeared into the water. A ray of light cuts across her face. It ignites her hair. She didn’t look at Josh, yet he could see her eyes were still too shadowed. 

Grief. It had all come to this. 

He wanted nothing more than to go over to her, grab that hand that was gripping the railing, to brush his thumb over her knuckles that were now turning white from their tight hold. He wanted to have her bury her face into his chest as he hugged her, feel her body pressed close to his. But he couldn’t do any of that.

So he only said, “Care to share what’s churning around in that beautiful head of yours?”

Silence.

“Sam.” 

“I’m fine,” she answered, her voice curt.

“Bullshit,” Josh said, walking over to her side. His eyes hunted her face, searching for a sign of sadness, of anger, of anything- wanting to see something other than that apathetic detachment on her features. But Sam refused to look back at him, her gaze stubbornly fixed on the lake in front of them. 

He was pushing but she was pulling. Josh may be a selfish prick but he knew part of the reason he was still here it was because Sam hasn’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t let go of him completely. It was a two way street. That much he knew. And as much as she didn’t want to admit it, Sammy was still holding on.

“Tell me what to do,” he said. “Tell me what to do to help you.” 

Her jaw tightened, letting his pleas go unanswered. 

“After last year- after everything we’ve been through-“ 

“Don’t,” she said quietly, but not weakly.

“No,” he hissed. “You’re not going to push me away.”

“This conversation is over.”

“Like hell it is.” 

Those hazel eyes darted towards him and Josh almost sighed in relief at the emotion simmering in them. He sensed the shift in her, saw how all of the anger and resentment that had laid dormant inside her sprang to life. Good. Anything better than that cold and hollow silence.

“What do you want me to say?” she snapped. “That this is all your fault? That if it hadn’t been for your stupid need for revenge, we wouldn’t have gone back to that godforsaken mountain in the first place? That Mike wouldn’t have lost his fingers, or that Ashley and Chris would’ve get that haunted look in their eyes when somebody asks them how they got together. That you wouldn’t be dead.” 

Her words hit deep, digging up his anger and regret, but Josh- to his credit- didn’t even flinch. 

Sam shrugs angrily. “Did you ever stop to think for one moment that I might’ve needed someone to mourn with? Because I lost them too you know. I lost Hannah and Beth- just like you. I felt guilty for not being there for them- just like you. Didn’t you think I blamed myself for not stopping the prank when I could? For letting Beth go after Hannah in the middle of that snowstorm alone?” she said tightly, her features twisting into a pained expression. “Of course not, because you were too selfish to focus on something other than your own pain.” 

Tears shone in her eyes, few of them slipping down her cheeks. Not from sadness- oh, no- she was fucking pissed. “I was there for you when you needed me. Every call, every text, the late nights. I was there for you. And what did you do? You lied. You ran away, cloistering yourself in that damn mountain. When I needed you, you didn’t think about me or didn’t look back-”

“You know it wasn’t like that. I cared about you,” Josh snapped. 

“Is that why you terrorized me? Violated my privacy? Made me watch footage of yourself getting sawed in half? Because you cared about me?”

Her gaze burned. Josh forced himself not to look away.

“Fine,” he conceded. “I dug that grave myself with everything I did.” 

“Forget it.” Sam shakes her head. “What’s done is done. It’s not like it matters anymore.”

“Then why doesn’t it feel that way?”

Sam went back to ignoring him. Just like that, the fight in her gone. 

Josh didn’t say another word.

Tags: @xmxisxforxmaybe​

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[jess-the-vampire]

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 17

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Nora sat on her bed, writing in her book and doodling some drawings alongside them. Her subject matter of the day being judas's cursed arm, a detailed sketch of the matter on one side, and notes of what she knew next to them. Growing up with judas and sky for years, she always had watched them from afar, they never had been close, but at the same time she felt like she knew them. She could point out their quirks, what they liked to do, their relationships with their parents, anything. Her parents were always so cautious, probably because they were dominant when it came to preventing sickness and curing it, and that mindset has sunk into wanting to make sure they didn't get involved with anything that seemed harmful. If they saw her drawing her journal now, or saw the pictures she kept of judas or sky in her drawers, they'd probably freak. They meant well, but nora honestly was surprised they didn't chain her to their side every day.

Judas and Sky got to go on adventures. She was forced to learn to cure boils. They stood up to people who treated them like garbage. Nora could barely even keep eye contact with most people, much less talk to them without softening her timid voice. They had such great relationships with their parents, who were so loving and playful. Nora's parents were boring, finding enjoyment together in finding a new species of moss and consistently restricting their daughter from doing literally anything. Despite everything though, here she was, trying to do as much research as she could on the cursed arm judas had. She was probably in over her head trying to do this but why not right? She had nothing to lose by at the very least, looking into it.  The infection itself was harbored into the poor boy's dna, so it was not like another curse or a normal parasite. Not to mention the whole thing was magic, so she'd need to do some research on magic to get what she needed. Her family, being magicless, made that incredibly difficult. It probably didn't help that magic itself made her so anxious, but then again everything seemed to have that kinda affect on her most of the time. Doing this would mean diving into new territory, something nora was far from used to. The girl closed the book nonetheless and put it in her nightstand drawer, it was getting super late and if her parents saw she was up they would make her get some rest anyway. She'd have to figure out the details of her research at a later date. "Nora? Sweetie?", nora froze as the door to her room swung open and her mother stood at the top of the steps, smiling. "Dear, i hope i wasn't interrupting anything, you ok?". Nora nodded meekly, she really should say something to her mom, anything, about last night. But as much as her voice fought to speak out, nora's lips keep her words sealed in. "Ok well, i wanted to wish you a good night, and me and your father want to speak with you early tomorrow morning ok?". Then she let out a small laugh, "Also, we're replacing our sheets tomorrow, your father keeps staining ours.....let me know if you need any yourself ok?". The girl only simply nodded, eyes not even looking at her mother, instead they were off to the side, avoiding eye contact and scattering around her bedroom. Nora was always like this, avoiding eye contact, or avoiding any contact if possible if she could.Where speaking to someone, even a family member, was torture for her. The queen didn't seem to notice though. She smiled at nora sweetly as the door closed and nora felt like punching herself. The lights turned off and the girl slipped under the covers of her slime covered bed. Her hair made so much of a mess but there wasn't a ton she could do about it, these stains were more then permanent at the point and trying to clean them of slime would be a waste. She closed her eyes gently and made herself comfortable, nothing but the sounds of crickets outside and gushes of wind and.....tapping? The girl suddenly froze, eyes wide open and looking at her window. There was no one there. And yet, that's where the noise was coming from. Grabbing a rather heavy book next to her, she got out of bed, position the item as a weapon just to be safe. She crept to the window silently, hesitant as she unlocked the hatch, opening the window to get a better look at whatever was making that racket. Only to find... A girl's face suddenly appeared in front of nora, dark hair, blue eyes. Sky "Hi nora..." Nora fell on her back, clearly startled to see sky's head peeking in as she scooted across the floor behind her. Sky shushed her as she stepped in, and nora watched as someone else followed in behind her, no longer invisible and keeping an eye out for guards as she closed the window. Upon closer inspection nora remembered this girl, from the night before! However, she still didn't move or approach the pair, and sky awkwardly rubbed along her arm as she put her wand into her back pocket. "Uh, sorry to drop in like this....but we uh.....we needed, well..I needed....to talk to you.", she wasn't too surprised nora seemed so freaked out, but it wasn't like sky could give her so much as a warning before she showed up tonight. She moved towards nora, she couldn't say she had the comforting presence judas seemed to have but she had to try. If nora's parents found sky in her room, she'd be in such big trouble not to mention she'd most likely be unable to leave the castle when she wanted ever again. She'd end up like nora. Nora's eyes shifted around the room, she clutched the book to her chest. She needed to say something, anything. She wasn't even sure if this were some trick or not, it could be right? Magic could make someone do many things, things that could hurt her. She refused to move when sunny stepped forward, "Nora, we're sorry we uh...broke in, but well, sky wanted to help you....speak to judas again. ". Nora's eyes shifted to sky, who seemed to slightly be regretting this choice. "Sorry the night before was a mess....but well, judas has kinda been sad ever since you left and I thought.....I should help everything with your folks, so...you can hang out with us..", the monster girl slightly moved her book away, and that gave sky the opportunity to move forward a bit. "Like, i know we're all not SUPER close, but It's just....well, he likes having you around and he wants to help and he kinda feels like he failed and...I guess I thought, we should fix that...". "Did he tell you I wanted to fix his arm?", she mumbled out. "Wait, you wanna fix his arm?". Nora nodded gently, "He's been really nice to me since we were little and I-I wanted to help him...". "But you can't if you're stuck in here...right?". Sky fell to her knees, "We never should've ignored you for so long, i mean, i don't what we would've done when we were younger but....we totally would've snuck you out of the castle to hang out if we really thought about it. I mean, i know it's not our fault your like this, but...we knew and....we didn't try hard enough to spend time with you or make real friends with you. Me and jude, we've just kinda always been bad at trying to make people like us....but well, these days, we got a lot of things going on and....we kinda think you should be in on it.". "Sky...", nora dropped the book, "I uh no.....it's...i always REALLY wanted to hang out with you...I mean.....well, who wouldn't? I mean...oh this is embarrassing......", she pulled her hair in front of her face. "I get scared talking to you two, sometimes i worry you guys think I-I'm....silly or weird or....you guys are only nice to me to make me feel better. I keep wanting to talk to you but i'm bad at it and I panic and.....please don't blame yourselves! It makes me feel bad.". "Nora.." "You shouldn't be in here, i don't want you getting in trouble because of me!" "Nora-". "And judas, oh if my parents find out they'll never let me go to another ball with you guys again!" "Nora!". The girl quieted and her intruders looked at each other, "Please...It's ok......look, that's the point, we uh....we want to help you so you can leave the castle! And uh...so your parents won't make you stay in here! Please don't panic we want to help! Just please, calm down!". Nora looked up at the girls and wiped her face, "I'm sorry, I'm not good at this...I...I just.....I mean, I-I WANT to talk to my parents about it...but i can't talk to them about it, I mean, they're my parents sky.". "Yeah but well...I mean, have you tried?", the girl's light green eyes looked to her wooden floor, "What would I even say to them sky? That i want to hang out with you and judas? That i should leave when I want? That i can protect myself?". Sky answered quickly, "Yes!", but nora sighed. "Sky, my parents aren't like that, they worry about my safety. I mean, i'm scared of magic, scared of being attacked, i've never even held a weapon before and my parents know it.". "You held that book pretty well..", the girl turned to sunny, who nodded to the book in nora's hands. Nora blushed and eyed away, "It was just on instinct, I-I don't know if i really would've used it on you if you were evil or anything.". But sunny persisted, "Well, you know, we could help you learn to protect yourself? If that's all it would take to convince your folks you can handle yourself.". The girl moved away some of her slimy hair, "Look, you should talk to my parents.....not me, they want to keep me safe..a-and i get it, i just want to...you know..". Sunny twiddled her thumbs, "I know how that feels....my family kinda kept me and my brother under protection for years too. We couldn't leave or go anywhere without assistance....but then, I learned to fight, my parents trusted me to handle myself. And I could do it! I mean, your parents can't keep you in here forever....". The princess nodded, "Judas told me something similar, I think, but, they're my parents sky....what if they make it stricter for me to leave? After last night, they're panicked...they doubled security....". "Well.....do you have dimensional scissors...?". "Sky....are you suggesting i sneak out of my room? I-I can't do that! What if my parents come in when i'm not there or someone sees me and rats me out?! I really want to sky, But-". but sky grabbed onto her shoulders and pressed their foreheads together , "But nothing nora! If you want it, you should go do it! I mean, c'mon! It's not fair for your family to keep you from making friends or helping someone or letting you explore! Yeah like, it's dangerous but you're their daughter, they should trust you!". "What if i get caught?". "Can they really do much worse to you then keep you here? Not let you hang out with anyone most of the time? Never let you go anywhere without them?". She thought for a moment. "Maybe not....but...". Sky felt her hopes sink further and further as this conversation went on, her shoulders sinking and a frown on her face. This wasn't going to work was if? Then again, what was she expecting? Nora to just jump at the chance to ditch her parents? The same girl who had a hard time just talking to people normally? Even if she wanted this more then anything, leaving the castle like this was brand new to the girl and incredibly scary. She wasn't like her or judas, and sky sighed as there was a bit of silence. "Coming here was risky, it was kinda stupid of me to think i could just easily convince you to do something like this." , she mumbled out, "I shouldn't have put all this pressure on you to leave. It's just, judas cares about you and i know you don't want to be here. You don't have to agree to it if you don't want I just....I just think if you want something....you kinda have to grab it. I just....i don't know when we're going to be able to talk again but if you want to help judas....i know it'd mean a ton to him..". "Does...judas really miss me?". "Yeah, he feels bad he didn't do anything to stand up for you before and...look, you don't have to do it-". "I guess i could try..". "Hmm?". "I'll do it.". "For real?", sky couldn't believe it, nora actually said yes. God she hoped she didn't pressure her into it or anything, but nora stood up, walking to a drawer near her desk and pulling a book from it. She opened the old thing to show her recent drawings and notes on judas's condition. " I just want to help him, I just.....I cure sick people all the time and....he's always been really nice to me. If i really want to help him, I-I....I can't stay here, i'm supposed to help sick people in need..". "You sure..?". The girl took a deep breath, closing the book and holding it to her chest. "Well, he'd do the same for me....wouldn't he?". Sunny now stood in front of her and smiled, on her tippy toes to be a bit taller," I think he would, and i think he believes you can do it too...". Nora blushed and smiled, "But.....what about my parents? Or being seen outside of the castle?". The two girls exchanged looks, "Well, maybe you should tell them you want to do your own research, even if you don't tell them it's with us...". "But you know my parents .....they're paranoid right now, they won't just let me go around on my own. They especially won't let me into your castle after last night.", sky eyed the door, "Does that thing lock?". The slimy girl nodded, "Then instead of you coming to us, how about we come to you?". Nora blinked at her, and sky explained, "You just tell your folks about a private study session, me and jude pop through a scissors portal, and like...we can use magic so they don't know we're in here?". "You two....are going to hang out in MY room?", she asked for clarification, thinking to the photos she had of sky and judas in her drawer that she would most definitely have to hide if these two were going to be anywhere in her room. And the butterfly princess nodded, "I mean, you can't leave, but me and judas still can....so if you don't want to get caught, we can come to you. You can study jude's arm while he's here for your "Study session", and we can leave before they even notice we were there.". "That's.....actually a good idea sky...", nora blushed and brushed aside some hair, "Thanks, I thought about using scissors to get here tonight, but uh.....it's probably a really bad idea to teleport in a room until you're sure everything's ok and everything. Plus that might've been worse then tapping on a window.". Sunny slapped her on the back, "She's more talented then she thinks she is, and she thinks the only thing she's good at making is clothes.". "Well....sorta, but i only started that because my mom wasn't very good at picking out clothes for me...", sky grumbled, "But uh, yeah, we can drop in tomorrow and you can tell us the time you have set out for you, ok? I'll tell jude tomorrow morning.". Nora nodded and took a seat on her bed, "Uh...sky, i've never told you this before, but i really love your hats...". Sky smiled a bit at that, nodding to the other princess, "Thanks nora..uh....maybe i'll make you your own sometime." "I'd like that...like...a lot...", they exchanged a smile as sunny grabbed onto sky's hand to teleport away, "I'll see you later nora!". Nora's eyes then turned to sunny and they lit up, "Thanks sunny, i'm glad you came to visit too." The two vanished in a flash as nora was left by her lonesome once more. Sky really came in the middle of the night to see her? To help her? The princess of the butterfly kingdom snuck out with risk to go and see her? Nora couldn't wipe the smile off her face. Tomorrow was going to be a great day. - "Why are you pacing so much all of a sudden?" "Because my MOM is coming here soon." Luna grumbled as she walked around her room, celeste on the bed and munching on chips. "Yeah well, I already got a load of my parents...so...", luna shot her a look, "That's not the point, my mom is the head knight in this universe and i'm not remotely sure what to expect from it. Not to mention if the head guard is arriving early from a long mission that can't mean anything good. Especially not for me, kelly might like me, but, i don't know what to expect from my own mother...". "Why? What's she like back home?". "I'm not talking about my life back home, you all already know this.", celeste snorted, throwing a chip at the blonde, "Why? What are WE supposed to do with the info? How in the heck could i possibly get to believe me anyway?". Luna shook her head, "Haven't heard you talk anything about your home either, so you might not want to sound like a hypocrite.". The brunette eyes to the window and the pink sky outside, "Well, you did tell us king lucitor didn't have kids, so that's something." Luna made a face and turned her head. "Wait a second, you lied didn't you.....?". "What?" "I could see it on your face, just now, you lied when you told us he didn't have kids....", luna was about to say something and celeste smirked, "Oh, don't try and deny it now, i'm used to being lied to, i know a liar when i see one.". Luna crossed her arms, "It's none of your concern what goes on back home for me, we're better off not trying to get attached to each other.". The girl on the bed just rolled her eyes, "You're lame luna, no fun to hang out with at all.". "You're one to talk, every time i see you anywhere in the same room as your father you look like you're going to hit someone, if you're so open to sharing you might as well explain your lousy attitude. Have daddy issues back home?". Celeste threw another chip at her, "Shut it...", this time luna caught the chip, "Then i suggest you do the same, right now i need to get back on track of what to do once my mother gets here, what approach to do?". "Don't most people tell you to just be yourself or something?", luna turned back to the brunette and she looked off to the side, "At least, that's what everyone says. Cause apparently the "Real you" is what matters, even if they hate the "Real you". The blonde finally took a seat on her bed, leaning back against it as her back hit the mattress, "Depends if the "Real me" is the person i need to be to avoid any further issues, and clearly around here people don't seem fond of "The real me". The girl on the bed snickered, finding joy in luna's frustration it seemed. It was behavior like that that made the wheels in luna's head turn, though she would do better to not waste much of her energy on understating the psychology behind the girl when she had more important things to think about. The events of the day before left her frustrated and angry, mostly with judas and sky.  Before luna understood the push for secrecy, even supported it, but her time and patience was running out. Then she took a look at celeste, "Why did i even let you in here again? All you're doing is leaving crumbs on my bed and i'm pretty sure you're supposed to still be down in the underworld still before the lucitor family freaks at you being gone". She didn't look amused as the younger girl propped her legs up and on the older one's knees, "You invited me here,  you said everyone else was being so inactive you thought i'd be the only one to i dunno...take action or something. You really gotta be going nuts if you forgot already...". Luna clapped a hand over her face, "oh right, THAT'S why, though it's just my luck the princess most willing to take action is the one with the smart mouth.". She moved Celeste's legs off her and faced forward, "It's clear if we're going to get anywhere we need to use magic and get the info we want and clearly i can't get anyone else to do it....except for you for some reason." Her companion finished her chips before crumpling up the bag and throwing it to a trash bin, missing it. "It's almost like you all forgot i was here until you guys needed me for something dirty...". "Well, it's not particularly much like you have much to say or do anything...", luna commented, "Ever since you got here all you've done is complain, you barely like talking to anyone and you don't even make yourself remotely welcoming. But if we're going to work together I'm going to have to just deal with it". Luna half expected the girl to argue with her but celeste said nothing, it wasn't like she had proof or anything, even lexi spent her time drawing and making friends. The closest thing to a friend celeste has made is Landon, and even then landon was now spending a bunch of time with that human boy he dismissed LIKE liking. Celeste was left on her own more and out of the minds of everyone else. Though she supposed it could be worse, making comfort out of sitting around and finding things to do, sometimes that meaning for her to play with magic for a bit on her own. Shooting at cans or rocks as she waited for hours to go by. "You done insulting me?". "Are you? If we're going to work together, the less this, the better.". Luna stood up, arms behind her back and in a formal position, she continued to walk around the room, speaking to Celeste. "We need more eyes on eclipsa, and not only that, we need to really step up our questioning. But the matter is where to start, the high commission would be suicide trying to go for, not even i can handle all of them at once, even in my own dimension. I wonder if this masked figure has an accomplice somewhere around here, someone to tell them what they need.". "Well, considering they broke into two castles supposibly, wouldn't it mean they'd know both places inside and out? how many people are gonna know THAT?". "Good point.....unless there are either more accomplices, one accomplice knows one and and the other...the other, or this person knows both without much help....", luna's mind seemed to be working at a rapid pace, did this girl ever take a break? She looked like she'd combust have the time and her face was clearly stressed, she picked up the crumpled bag on the floor and expertly shot it into the trash can before resuming. "How could ANYONE be this powerful though? I can't even counter charm something like that?!", she was talking to no one anymore, just herself. "Luna, you're mumbling to yourself." "Look, how about this,  you go do some digging in the kingdoms. And I start going through the queen's offices." Celeste raised an eyebrow, "You hadn't done that before already?". But the girl looked her over and turned her head, "I still have a cover to maintain, I wasn't THAT desperate, but now, I am. If i'm caught, i'll just erase their memory of me, i can get in and out without being seen, at least if i rule them out we won't have to worry about them afterwards...". "And then-?". "And then we investigate the lucitors, we have to put them on the top as they all are powerful magic users that may know more then they're letting on. Being is disguise would only make sense so they wouldn't be recognized, or they could've even hired someone to help as the queens were at that meeting the whole time supposibly. They could all even be working together, after all, they all know their security systems better then anyone.". "Ok, and you want me to run around mewni and do what exactly? I don't even know where to start, this dimension isn't exactly small, you should be smart enough to know that." Luna was clearly very annoyed with the girl's constant insults but she summoned her wand in all it's pink,turquoise,and orange glory as she used magic and summonsed a map for the girl. "I want you to mostly check out the woods, there are secret areas around there the creep could be living in and better you search those first.". "Gross....", she twisted her fast in disgust but luna didn't seem to care, "You have to get dirty to get what you want sometimes, And besides, if they're abandoned you should be fine. But if you do find anything, take some pictures, and if you find anyone, get out of there as soon as possible.". Celeste looked incredibly unhappy with her job, clearly it wasn't what she thought she was getting into at all when luna decided she needed her help with investigation. Was she trying to get her killed? She was totally trying to get her killed. "I know you clearly aren't fond of this plan...", she started. "Oh? What gave you THAT idea?". "BUT...", she closed her eyes, "You seem capable to handle it, and you know how to contact me. As long as we stay safe and follow my directions we should be just fine and dim down locations and suspects.". She leaned again a wall, "I'm in a tight spot, i know the team doesn't trust me, but you're on the outs just as much as me, we are the only ones trying to get things done here, and i'm done sitting here and doing nothing because of them." Her companion let out a breath, blowing her bangs out of her face. "When do we start?". - "Sorry sky, Judas isn't here right now, i send them with their father to the cloud kingdom. Ponyhead hasn't heard much on the matter of the masked crook, so they're working on something in case they break in there next, it's just me here today." Marco went through some files in their office, looking up to the girl who was standing in front of them, "You'll have to wait till they get back, we're all a little stressed and busy, and that's not to mention tom's parents have been fussing with me all day.". "How long will they be gone?", sky adjusted her hat and watched as the queen took a seat at their desk, "As long as it takes, in the meantime i promised to feed lucy and keep an eye on mason's garden for him in their absence. I'm sorry sky, but right now is not a good time, you should head back home and i'll tell judas when he gets back.". The human quickly organized the files they were holding, drinking what was probably coffee out of a mug before setting the files off to the side and opening up a letter. Sky was about to think of her next course of action when the door opened, a couple of demon servants entered. Marco's attention was then diverted to them, putting down their mug and watching their rather frantic faces. "Your highness.....we uh....your son's garden has gotten out of hand....", marco stood up quickly, brows furrowed,"I told you two to feed his plants appropriately, what did you both do?". The demons eyed each other before going back to their queen. "Well,  we did as you asked, but then a plant you hadn't listed attacked us! They wrapped around our ankles and almost poisoned us, we just barely got away but those two girls..". The mention of two girls made marco raise their voice, "Two girls? what two girls? I only sent you two in". The pair were now sweating, one trying to hide behind the other, "Sire, the demon girl you're keeping as a guest, she ran inside, tugging along a friend, we couldn't go back in to save them-". On instinct, marco summoned their skull mask on their face, their piercing green eyes making the servants more nervous. Marco was more then used to his own kids being in danger, and their parebtial/hero instincts activated almost immediately, '"Sky, stay here, you two, come along, we need to get in there IMMEDIATELY.". Marco left in a flash, the two demon servants quickly behind him and leaving sky alone in the queen's office. She almost forced herself to stay put, but that only lasted a few seconds as she ran out after them. Sunny must've ran in thinking she could handle the plants herself. And taken lexi with her. She was going to be in so much trouble but trouble was better then her friends being dead. She waved her wand, needing her cloudy to move faster, but much to her dismay, it wasn't working. "Oh come on! My friends could be in serious trouble and you're not going to work NOW? I don't have time for this!". She kept running but then she tripped as she felt the ground shake, for a second she assumed it might've been judas's grandmother. Only to see a dog, with three heads, bouncing through the corridor, it stopped as it saw sky, smelling her. Familiar with the girl already. Lucy got out. "Hi girl?". The dog started barking, and licked sky as the girl stood up. "I guess you haven't been fed yet...huh?", the dog barked in response. "Sorry, lucy, i gotta get moving to mason's garden....I-". Then the dog used one of it's heads to grab onto sky's shirt, lifting her up. "Lucy!! What the-WOAH", she'd ridden lucy in the past, with judas, but never had lucy lift her up and carry her. She was practically being shooken like a doll as lucy bounded her way over to mason's garden, dropping sky onto the ground. "Ahhh....uh....thanks?", sky got up and rubbed her head only to see Queen Lucitor call for lucy to come forward, so they had summoned lucy, she hadn't just escaped this time around. Sky watched the dog wander into the garden after it's master. Marco using magic to brush aside the plants as the dog sniffed around for the missing girls, sky walked in after them, and the servants weren't kidding. There was one plant going on an uproar, vines with spikes waving around and it practically screaming. no doubt this was one of the plants landon gave him, one their parents would not have approved of. Tom and Marco let their son keep a ton of things, but they had their limits. No plant in the garden could be an eater of meat, nor could be incredibly dangerous to take care of unless supervised. But mason was a child, and he wanted to own as many plants as he could. The fact there hadn't been an accident like this sooner was a miracle in itself. Sky had her wand out at the ready, this place was terrifying, like a jungle full of nightmares. She was going to be in such big trouble with her parents for going in here but she felt obliged to do something. These were her friends, sisters, out here and she knew judas would do this in her position if given the choice. She heard yelling and seems cloudy wanted to work today and the bat-winged creatures lifted her into the air to get a better view. She spotted the plant and on instinct her licorice rope extended from her wand and around some of the vines, holding them in place. Next thing she knew, Lucy's heads were already grabbing the vines and pulling, the plant quickly dying and falling as marco grabbed the girls from nearby. The giant three-headed dog teared the thing up like a chew toy, it was almost gruesome as the plant fell to pieces and crumpled. Mason was going to freak when he saw this, he already freaked enough when his family had to trim his plants, now he had a dead one, with traces everywhere. Sky didn't know nearly as much as mason did about plants but she had a hard time believing this thing was going to recover from something as bad as this. "What are you girls doing in here!? You two could've been seriously hurt!!", Marco's parent instincts kicked in fast. Before sky dropped down and Marco turned their attention towards her, "and YOU, what are you doing here sky? I told you to wait because it's dangerous.". Sky twiddled her fingers as the small demon came to her defense, "She probably just wanted to help....she's our friend after all.". The Queen signed, crossing their arms, "Fine, but never do it again, are we clear?". Sky nodded, Sunny sending her a smile as a thanks. Marco led the girls out, lucy following behind, dropping the dead plant vines onto the ground. "Mason's not going to be happy but....he's also going to be in big trouble when he gets home for keeping something like THAT in there. Those guys are highly dangerous, they have acidic spurts. Why mason had this and how he got a hold of it i have no idea but he knows better then to do this. Ugh, i even send it servants to help in the garden and even they didn't point this out to me...". The mask was removed and marco's hand trailed through their brown locks, "Why did you girls go into that garden anyway? Even without plants like that it's not safe without some supervision, we can trust mason with most plants because he's an expert but...you two could've been hurt.". Sunny took a hold of lexi's arm and nodded, "We're sorry, we saw the plant and we just wanted to help, since you know, we handed that last one so well before.". "That's not the same thing, this plant went on a rampage because of it wanting to feed, the previous one needed trimming and it was reluctant to it. It can hurt you but with me and tom around you're all in safer hands taking care of those things. You two are not allowed to go into the garden without our permission, you understand that?". Geez, and there were times judas thought his parents were too busy flirting with each other to pay attention to their kids. Queen Lucitor didn't fool around. The human walked over and patted one of the heads of their dog, giving it a small smooch. "Good girl, c'mon, get on back, we'll see about dinner later.". The dark Cerberus licked the human before barking and turning itself around, hopefully towards it's usual home. Marco tried to wipe off the slobber but sighed, there goes another suit, but it was probably worth it. A guard was called over and the queen told them to grab a team and further examine the garden for dangerous plants that were not to be kept and the guard left as soon as they could. Marco then motioned for the girls to follow them. "My family leaves for one day to have a meeting and the place is already falling apart on me.", marco walked ahead and sky got close to the two girls, even lexi was oddly quiet for someone as bubble and out as her. "Lexi says she drew a plant like that awhile back...with shampoo...". Sky gave her a look and mumbled, keeping an eye on the queen, "Ok, why did you guys really go in there? It's really freaky in there and everyone would've flipped if you both got hurt." "We saw the plant freaking out just wanted to take it down, we weren't lying." "Ok, but why were you around the garden in the first place? Did you know mason was out?". "Well, lexi told us to come here, i think she wanted to see if mason wanted to play more DND but......all we saw was the plant and we had to do something". The girl sighed, her expression turning sad, "Mason's going to be sad about his plant....isn't he?". The older girl crossed her arms, "Yeah, yeah he will, his plants and stuff mean a lot to him. When his parents had to release some of his pets back into the wild he cried for days, and he kept hiding in his wings...". "Pets?". "Mason snuck animals into the castle to take care of, but most of them weren't the "Pet Type", so his folks had to take them back where he found them. I mean, with the dog and the bunnies , dragon cycle, and the skeleton horses, feels like their's enough critters running around. Also, queen lucitor's allergic to cats, so that kinda means they need to be careful whose allowed in the castle so they don't have a sneezing fit or anything. There have been incidents after all.". "Oh......". "Anyways, mason's...not going to be happy at all, i mean, he did raise all those plants after all. So he's going to be heartbroken.". Originally, sky thought marco was leading them back to their office, only to find where they actually were leading them, was sunny's room. They opened the door for them and let the girls go inside before closing the door behind them and leaning against it, they still didn't look happy, whether  it was about the girls, the plant, or what they were going to have to tell their youngest son, sky couldn't be sure. It was probably a mix of all three though. "Girls, i want you to stay here for a moment while i call sky's parents for a bit. No leaving, i'm not ok with any of you getting out of my sight, especially since sunny here is supposed to have guards watching her and somehow evaded them despite their orders. I take safety seriously, especially during this time around when we have a possible threat running around, none of you may be my children but under my roof you need to follow my rules, i don't want any of you hurt.". The human turned to sunny, nodding at her. "Your bravery in wanting to help is great, but do not willingly put yourself in danger under my roof, i'd never forgive myself if the worst happened.", they sighed and rubbed their forehead, strained and stressed from all the work and issues of today. "Me and tom normally split the tasks of today but he has a job to do and i need to hold the fort until he gets back, and we're already off to a bad start. So please stay here till i come and get you, alright everyone?". All the girls nodded, making it clear. "Good." They yawned and lifted themselves off the door. "Alright, i'll see you girls soon.", they messed with their dark hair before walking out the door of the room. Gee, sky comes all the way here to talk to judas and finds herself locked in a room, great. Judging by Sunny's face she knew exactly why sky was here and spoke up, "You should've texted him instead, called him, It's usually not a good idea to walk in when you don't know where he might be today.". Sky fell on the bed, "i TRIED texting him, but he didn't reply. I think he's being held up...". "It's ok sky, you can wait till he gets back.", Sunny took a seat as well, watching lexi start sketching in her book. "I know but.....ugh....", she grumbled as her arm covered her eyes, the small girl smiling and laughing. "Something else getting under your skin?". The dark haired princess uncovered her face, sighing, "I might be also still kinda annoyed i'm stuck with angel a few hours everyday, i'd much rather my mom teach me and risk taking my wand then be stuck with angel...". "he's really not that bad...". "Hm?". Sky sat up, looking the girl over, "What?". Sunny bit her lips, "Well, i talked to him a bit more during the interrogation, he kinda just seems like he needs help, is all. I think he wants so many things but just makes some bad choices in getting those things. But, he seems ok if you talk to him.....just maybe a bit defensive with touchy subjects.". The other girl just crossed her arms, not buying it at all, "Sunny, c'mon now, i don't know what he said to you, but i've spent so much of my time kicking him out....and my mom doesn't do anything about him, he's so stubborn.". "Well, wouldn't you do anything if your mom or people were in trouble?". "You're starting to sound like judas, and....yeah, but i'm not gonna stand outside of their castle and annoy them until they listen! Like angel just wants to go back in time! He thinks we can do so many ridiculous things and fix all our mistakes with a snap of our fingers!". She raised her arms up before they fell down to her side, "And his dad trusts ME to be someone to look after him, why me? Why not judas? Judas is way better with him then i am....way calmer, i think angel prefers his company too...". "Maybe because you are kinda more strict with him....maybe he needs that...". "Have you seen his dad?" "Well, maybe you have something that his dad doesn't?", sky bit her lip, trying to recall anything about her relationship with angel. Yeah, she showed him sympathy at times, never really wanted him hurt, and felt bad for him at times when she did hurt him. But was that really enough to warrant her helping him? Just because she didn't want him hurt or felt even the least bit guilty for what happened to him, or his people in the first place? Did the king just want angel to get close to sky in particular for a reason? She was a butterfly after all, the kinda person angel wanted to speak to, maybe it had something to do with that? It left her thinking. The demon dropped down from the bed, summoning her wand, the staff clinking to the ground. "Maybe you both just need to talk, this could be fun!!", now she was starting to sound even MORE like judas. Ugh, no wonder they got along so well. Sky groaned again in protest as sunny summoned a flower necklace, throwing it around sky's neck. "You two should work things out, he told me he does really think you and judas and cool people so.....maybe you guys can all be friends.". "Friends? Us? C'mon now, i don't want to be friends with angel....". "Better friends then enemies...". "Sunny, the dude has been a pain in my side for what feels like ages, if he's gonna do nothing but cause more trouble and complain about my family, why would i want to be friends with him?", sunny looked rather sad, but not surprised either. After all, it was clear sky didn't seem to like angel, there was no way she'd convince sky to change her mind about him so easily. But she carried on, "Well, i think you should think about it, maybe you just need more time to talk to him personally....instead of fighting." "You can't just be friends with everyone and expect that to fix things sunny, at least not around here. ". "Yeah but......you'll never know how to fix these things if you don't try right?" Sky turned on her side and closed her eyes, maybe she needed a nap or something. The girl  next to her decided no longer to bug her, her focus over to galexia, who was doodling on her sketchpad peacefully. She needed to take some time, time to clam down and stop thinking about all these troubling things that were clearly getting under her skin. If she was stuck here, she might as well doze off, off until her best friend came back to talk to her about it. "Maybe..". - Judas shook his compact, grumbling, just great. How was anyone supposed to contact him if there was no reception up here? Granted, his focus should be on the meeting instead of on his compact but he was worried, what if there was an emergency and he couldn't speak to anyone? The girls could take care of themselves but still, he wanted to be able to speak to them. And yet, here he was struggling to get a signal in the cloud kingdom of all places. His brothers seemed fine though, landon listening to music with his headphones and keeping to himself and mason playing with the pom pom on his hat as he usually did during meetings like this. His father was trying his best not to look annoyed to be stuck in a room with ponyhead. Tom put up with pony way more then marco did, but out of all the royals in mewni, pony was not the easiest one to talk to nor the best listener. As she was arguing with her husband since they all go there instead of talking about the crisis. in fact judas wasn't sure if pony even knew why tom was here at all, instead assuming he was there to be their marriage counselor or something. Bring the boys they said, it'll teach them how to be a good king/prince they said. "-And we can't even get reception here today! It's totally no fair, now i gotta go to boring meetings and not text b-fly and plan our next party.", Queen Ponyhead was a master of first world problems, and how tom put up with her was astonishing, guess his anger management had really gotten that good since marrying marco and fixing his life. He let out an annoyed sigh, probably wondering how his partner was doing back home more then anything. Judas put away his compact, asking to be excused as his father sighed and waved him off. Honestly, there was really no reason he needed to be there with what little progress they were making anyway. Judas thanked him and promised to come right back as he headed out of the office, contacting his friends was a bust. But there was someone he could contact while being stuck up here, and perhaps he really should talk to loki again since he hadn't seen him since he hid in his room and ran off. Or as how Coral put it, since judas did something Ponyhead wouldn't like and that his parents covered up for him. Though, his parents had yet to even mention it to him, so did pony even mention it at all? Never mind, he needed to find loki, even if it were just to talk for a few minutes. He'd been here a few times in his life but he couldn't say he new his way around at all, but as long as he watched his step and didn't eat the food he'd be fine. Honestly he was surprised loki didn't find him himself, especially since he was commonly found following judas or sky most of the time, judas chuckled to himself, maybe loki and angel should hang out, they could annoy each other. That'd be a sight to see. Approaching the pony's room, he knocked on the door. "Hey loki, I know i normally don't visit you , but it's been some time and i wanted to check up on you. Is it cool if i drop in?". It was only seconds when loki magically opened the door, stunned to see judas standing there as he frantically looked at his clearly messy room behind him. "Judas....I uh...I didn't know you were coming..uh...", he floated away and started quickly trying to clean his room, and by clean his room he meant stuffing stuff behind things and under his bed. "You didn't know, didn't your parents tell you?". "I was sleeping, I think....", the pony zoomed around and judas looked at him more closely, noticing he still looked tired and a little bruised. "Loki? Everything ok? You look kinda like a mess....", loki froze and turned around, "Oh that? I keep sleepwalking and running into things during it, that's why, mom's been keeping me in my room more often. Kinda sucks, but hey, i don't have to go to those lame ceremony's to be king right? So it's not so bad to me....". "When did this start up?" "I don't remember honestly, it's kinda blur......but don't worry, I'm uh...I can't believe you came to see me."He then looked behind judas, "Wait, is sky with you, she's always kinda attached to your hip it seems ,so?". And here we went again, the demon sighed as he answered, "Loki, my dad's here to meet with your mom and dad, did your sister tell you about what happened, at the sleepover she went to? There was a masked creep that broke into butterfly castle?". "Wait what!? You kidding me!!?". "Your sister really didn't tell you? She was there, and her parents had to pick her up early.", the pony shook his head, "My sister doesn't really tell me anything, she keep to herself and we only talk when we're taking care of our sister. Mom yells about stuff all the time that it's hard to kinda like....pay attention to what she says? It all ends up kinda blending together after awhile and you really stop listening to it. To be honest, that wasn't entirely invalid, one second his mom would be complaining about her phone and another about a world crisis. "Well, turns out a creep snuck into the castle during the night and we ran right into them, we don't know what they were doing , but they got away and we're all trying to investigate and protect our homes in case they come back. That's why our parents are talking, security is bumping up and we don't know if your kingdom is a target, so we're working on a better system to catch this guy in the act. Loki looked panicked, "Wait, you SAW them, did they attack you, they totally attacked you right?!". "uhhh....no, they kinda retreated when i showed up...". "Oh...". "anyways, i hadn't seen you since you left me that note about finding angel and i thought while i was here i'd see how you were doing, sorry if this was a bad time.". , Honestly he was probably only encouraging loki to follow him and sky and bother them more by doing this, but considering how long it'd been judas really had no reason to dismiss the prince. And it was probably a good idea he showed up because loki was more informed on the situation, although...it seemed to freak him out a bit. "Wait, what about angel?". "What do you mean what about him, you left a note saying you were going to talk to him, you were trying to see if talking to him would make sky want to hang out with you more. I assumed you decided not to and went home instead considering what your sister said". The pony still looked utterly confused though, as though judas had said something outrageous or insane. Judas's curiosity peaked as the pony turned his back to him and seemed to think to himself. "Loki, are you sure everything's ok? You seem a bit more absent minded.....", but the pony brushed it off, turning back to judas and rolling his eyes, "Yeah yeah yeah, i'm totally fine jude, you're just being silly dude, like c'mon.....". Judas bit his lip but sighed, no point in pushing it, "Alright, well maybe you need to get some rest for a bit, you look tired....and um...maybe we can work something out in the future, so you can maybe hang out with me and sky.....maybe.". The pony's eyes lighted up,  "Wait, REALLY? Wait, sky still doesn't really like me does she? Does she?". Judas nodded his head, "Well, no, she's still not fond of you, but right now she's also got a bit on her plate this time around. But we're making an effort to work that out and making when you're feeling better we could try and hang out some more.". Yeah, sky would not be happy at all he proposed loki hang out with them, especially since the guy invaded into their business a lot. But then again, judas was more willing to fix things so they didn't have issues then sky. "Wait, what kinda issues..?". "Uh......well...", Judas couldn't exactly spill the real big issues to loki, especially since there's no way he wouldn't blab about it, but then again he could at the very least stick to a part of the truth. "Well, she and angel are going to be working together, she's not entirely happy about it, but i'm sure they'll be fine.....angel is pretty harmless and maybe they can talk things out. If ether of them stop being stubborn and just listen to each other at least...". "Angel angel angel, why is he all you're ever talking about, like...whose obsessed with who here?", loki flopped on his bed, "Like, i'm WAY cooler then him. Also, working together? What are they working together on, something weird? Are they dating now?". Well, at least loki was acting like loki again, "They're not dating loki, they have study together now, so they're just going to learn how to be a good ruler and do the things they need since they're both kinda behind....". "Oh.....well that's kinda lame....", loki snorted, trying to brush his light green hair using magic now, "I dunno, honestly, i think you could maybe benefit from it too, especially since your parents are so persistent on giving you the crown as soon as possible.". The horse didn't seem to be buying it though, "Uh...no....i don't want my mom making me do more work, that's so annoying judas why do you put up with doing this kinda stuff all the time?". "Uh, because i kinda have to?", judas let out a weak laugh, "I mean, you kinda have to take being a king seriously and study dude, i think your parents stink at helping you but when you take over you should be prepared. I mean, aren't you excited to be king, even a little bit?". Loki's blue and yellow eyes looked right at judas, and his glare made his answer rather clear. "Loki, it's not that bad, when you get on that throne, you'll be seen as a leader...someone to admire..". "I'm already someone to admire...". "Uh...yeah, well i mean, you'll be even MORE impressive to everyone around you.". "That's better....". "Look, it's just, maybe you outta make the most out of it? Things will be OK Loki , i promise. ", he was trying to be reassuring but it was hard to tell if loki was even remotely being shifted my the boy's words. Judas eyes to the wall, and all the posters in the boy's room. Popular mewni celebrities, boy bands, and hair products lined the walls and judas looked back to loki, sometimes he forgot loki was a teenager, his behavior at times felt so  childish for a pony his age. "Loki? Listen, i know we have our issues at times, but I do want to work stuff out. But, if you really admire me like you say you do, you need to take my advice. You need to take being king more seriously, you'll have people counting on you to decide things for them, to make their lives better. If your parents aren't gonna help, then maybe you need to get some advice elsewhere, but you have no choice but to be king, you can't hide in your room and ignore it..". "I'm only important to my family because i'm a boy, otherwise they don't remotely care about me. I could live in your room for the rest of my life if i weren't the only boy to inherit the throne. But guess what? I am, so therefore, my parents need me, coral gets to sit in her room and play games all day and do whatever she wants. It's not even remotely fair for me to not be able to do anything i want cause i got no choice, how am i supposed to look on the bright side of this?". "You don't even want the money or anything, nothing?". "Well, yeah i want the money but....i still don't want to be king....", granted, loki didn't seem built to be a king but there really wasn't much judas could say that he hadn't already told loki. "Loki, you have to do something with your life, and it can't be just following me and sky around. Even if you could not be the next king, what would you do? Loki you need to stand for something, you need to find your place on mewni and you kinda have to take it.". "For the record, i DO have a place judas! i'll be totally fine", the green pony sat up and made themselves comfortable , "I want to do what I want to do, not have my mom make me do it. You're cool judas and everyone loves you but i'm not doing this stuff. I got better places to be and i'm not giving my mom the satisfaction.". Judas sighed, "Well, i can't make you........but i think i better get going anyway, before my dad worried about me. We'll see each other sometime ok?". "If i can leave the house again, sure" Judas sighed as he walked out and closed the door behind him. So many stubborn princes in this dimension, so many he had to deal with. "Judas! There you are!", the king of the underworld came around the corner, hugging his son instantly, "I was worried for a second, just wanted to tell you i FINALLY managed to get a word in with Queen Ponyhead. So.....we'll all be implementing a call button, we'll use it to instantly summon someone to the scene during another emergency. We'll also in the meantime be letting lucy out for walks to sniff around for the culprit and the culprit's been put on a watch list...." "Uh....". "I know I know, it's imperfect and things are starting to get scary but....", tom placed a hand on his son's shoulder, sighing, "Trust me, it's worth it. Anything to keep you and your brothers safe right now is important to me and your mother both.". The boy nodded, "I just, hope we find them soon, i uh....i know you both worry about us.". Tom pulled his son into a hug, he tended to do that often during times like these, as king lucitor was known to be very affectionate to his family. Judas could recall when he and his brothers were smaller and their parents gave them goodnight kisses. It was like this, small but sweet moments, the kinda moments judas kinda felt he needed more of these days. He hugged his father back, "You're getting so tall....". Tom mumbled under his breath, and judas could tell he was smiling, "I'm almost taller then you....must be the demon side of me coming out more and more.". Tom laughed before letting his son go and reaching to ruffle the boy's hair. "You're cute, just like your mom...". "DAD!". "Sorry!, But it's true and you can't convince me otherwise...i know my children are amazing, even if you won't admit it.", tom patted the boy's shoulder before his smile slightly faltered, ending the sweet moment. " Anyways, we better go collect your brothers, they stopped to go to the kitchens to get some lunch and we better find them before they realize they have to eat from troughs around here.". Tom seemed way too happy about that idea as he ushered judas along. "Hey judas, D-" "No dad, no girlfriend...". "H-". "No boyfriend either...sorry, you gotta wait longer if you expect grandkids...". Judas knew him too well, and tom smiled to himself once again. "Eh don't worry, my dad did the same thing at your age, nu rush in your case.". The king twiddled his fingers, "But, you'll tell me if you start dating anyone, right?". He was met with an elbow to the side and tom wrapped an arm around him, "Alright alright, i'll stop.". The walk along the cloud kingdom still remained lively, the two talking amount each other on the way to the cafeteria. Judas could even feel his own stomach start growling, he really hadn't eaten much at all today had he? Guess the stress and stuff had been getting to him a little more then he would've liked. Even tom seemed to have noticed it as he led the boy along, finding both demon children easily among the cafe of floating horse heads. Mason even ran up to hug tom as tom approached the table they were sitting at, ushering judas to sit down. "I think maybe we should get a bite before we go back, but....no troughs....ok?". Landon made a face, "Yeah, no duh dad...". "Love you too sport..". "I want PIZZA!!", Mason excitably took a seat next to landon and landon went back to listening to music, pulling out his compact to no doubt text bernard.  Tom took note of this as he tapped on the table to get landon's attention, "Hey...landon, i don't mean to be a bossy dad or anything. But you mind taking the headphones out and put down the compact? I'd like to talk to all of you while we're here, i'm sure your friend would completely understand". Reluctantly, landon, obeyed, the headphones coming off and and compact sliding into his hoodie pocket. Landon looked less then pleased to be told he couldn't talk to what he considered practically his only friend and he crossed his arms as his father called for a servant and told them their order for lunch, the pony giving them as look as tom told them that they wanted it on a plate rather then a trough. Them tom focused on his sons, clearly relieved to be hanging out with them then with ponyhead. "Sorry boys, i thought our meeting would've been way better then it turned out. Wanted you to see your old man be a real king but uh....guess maybe i'm better off doing it with a much different kingdom..", though mason's expression showed he didn't seem to mind as much landon still didn't seem pleased. "Yeah well, no wonder mom didn't want to come here, they probably would've lost their cool sitting in a room with queen ponyhead for an hour." "Well, your mother also just wanted to make sure someone was in charge back home, sometimes it's better one of us stays at home to keep everything in order.", he was smiling, looking off into the distance, clearly lost in thought about his spouse. If his father wasn't in front of him, judas was sure landon would fake gag about the king's cutesy and puppy dog-like love for marco. Even when they weren't together it still felt like they were, and tom attempted to hold himself together too focus on his kids. "Sorry sorry, didn't mean to phase out there...I know you boys think it's gross, but you won't be saying it's gross when any of you start dating.", he winked to all the boys at the table, judas snorting and face palming as mason smiled and landon tried to hide his face. Mason never seemed phased by much, at least not like his brothers, he rarely got embarrassed about anything and most things that bothered him related to his family or his garden and pets. "i don't think it's gross, you guys are cute...". So of course he'd say that. "Thanks little bat....", tom made a face at mason and mason made a matching face back, "Anyways it's good to sit down and eat together, i mean, i know we do that during dinner. But i mean it's nice to do it without my parents as...you know how they can get sometimes.". He sat back in his seat, watching mason tear off the bottom of a straw wrapper and bow the rest using the straw at judas, the boy taking it as a challenge and doing the same back to him. "I know they mean well and everything but sometimes they do crazy things and it makes me and marco on edge, i'm not to deal with them when they probably take some drastic measures themselves to find the guy we're all looking for. Especially since star and janna both suspect them as a magic user...". Judas's ears perked up, guess he couldn't be surprised his dad found out, their parents weren't stupid, they were going to come to similar conclusions eventually. Even landon's expression perked up for a split second. But mason, being the oblivious one, seemed a little more surprised. And a little scared. "Wait, if they have magic doesn't that mean they could hurt us more easily.?", tom instantly regretted  speaking about this matter in front of mason. The boy was not frightened by some things, but no doubt something like this would probably give him nightmares. "Mason, no no no, because me and mommy will take them down if they do, "No one will hurt any of you, you have my word.". Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted judas's shock bracelet and closed his eyes, "No one...". They ate in a bit more silence after that, tom trying to crack jokes in order to lighten the mood. But it didn't seem to entirely be working, not even pizza was enough to make mason feel less anxious, and he loved pizza. Landon didn't seem any better, annoyed he couldn't take his compact out and talk to bernard. Clearly there were no pleasant thoughts surrounding the masked foe and the danger surrounding them. Tom sighed, putting down his slice and closing all three eyes. "Boys, we didn't mean to worry you...any of you. Me and your mom, we're scared too....but we've been in tight spots before, and you know me and your mom would do anything to keep all of you safe. It's just part of the job, and we won't let any of you get hurt.". Tom, glimpsed to judas's arm, "I'm not letting anything bad ever happen to any of you....we'll catch this guy soon and everything will go back to normal, ok? We promise you, we'll find them as soon as possible...". "And what if you don't?", landon blurted out suddenly, "What if you don't and things get worse...?!". "They won't landon, we're the lucitors, we are some of the most powerful royals in all of mewni. We control the dead, we control fire and lava, we've been here longer then the butterflies ever did. You can't tear a lucitor down so easily. We have never failed before and we won't do it now, magic or no magic this being can not evade us forever. Me and marco have been taking bad guys out since before we were even dating, and we've handled tougher then this...". That seemed to get landon to stop talking, tom wrapping an arm around judas and reaching out to landon's shoulder.  "We're family, we'll get through this mess, and i have complete faith in all of you to be able to protect each other if you have to.", mason seemed a bit relieved, breaking out into a smile. "Will mommy wear their scary mask like before?  To go out and get em?". This seemed to lighten tom's spirits as well, "Oh heck yeah, mommy will scare the heck outta this guy....make them regret it.". The exchange between judas and landon in facial expressions said it all, what would their dad think if he found out they were trying to track the guy down? He'd probably be proud to a degree they caught them, but on another hand tom hated his family getting themselves into danger. Or even putting younger kids into possible danger as well, as the adults would take full responsibility if one of them ended up hurt under their roof and protection. And god, worse off, what if they suspected the girls of not being who they say they were. Showing up oh so conveniently when all this started happening? There was no way they could keep this charade up forever, if they didn't wrap this up soon, they were all busted. Then what? Be grounded forever? Even if their father was ok with it there was no way their mother would feel the same way. They were all about safety and the one of their family was a huge priority for them. The food was finished, the group was ready, and judas couldn't wait to talk to sky about Loki. Though as the flames lifted and they were surrounded in the familiar warmth of the underworld, it was clear something wasn't right. Even tom sensed it, calling a servant over and asking about the situation. "There was an incident, no one was hurt thankfully, but your husband wants to speak with you.....immediately. And you uh...better bring the boys as well..". tom exchanged looks with his sons and ushered them to follow as they moved forward, walking to marco's office, tom opened the door, almost in a panic. "Marco what hap-", their lips were pushed instantly against marco's who tugged them forward before hugging them tightly. Marco looked to their sons, who looked stunned and nervous. "We need to talk, now...".

[wanna1things]

CEO!Kang Daniel AU

Genre;; ceo!au, business!au,, job!au are these things?? ++FLUFFFFF

Warnings;; none that i know of

Pairing;; Kang Daniel x reader

Requested?;; yes (by anon)

Summary;; Your first time talking to your boss, the one and only CEO Kang Daniel, went a little wrong, but oh so right…

Style;; bullet point….

Word Count; 1559

This is kind of inspired by a) a tv show i saw once and b) a video my mum showed me about the london olympics lol so yhh

Kang Daniel is the powerhouse of W1 advertising company (excuse me i’m terrible at coming up with names for things;;)

No kidding,, he managed to score official advertising for the Korean winter olympics like;; what?? How?? Persuasion king???

Not only is he talented as hell in the business sector

Hes also MAD good looking

He managed to rise to the top at a super young age because of his skills and he constantly has the older female office workers crowding around him and swooning,,

I mean who wouldn’t swoon over Kang Daniel???

The first time you see him is when you first join W1 as a sketch artist for the production sector

Daniel’s secretary Seongwoo is just showing you around the office when you notice Kang Daniel

Sitting in his office

Stuffing gummy bears into his mouth

Like woah hold up a second?? The professional CEO-god Kang Daniel is literally STUFFING himself with sweets??

You take a mental note of this like ok you can use it for blackmail if you need to

After a few months of working there the official sketches for the olympics adverts are needed

And boyyy is Daniel GRILLING your department

Everyones working themselves to the bone and Daniel just keeps on;; turning down every idea

So you decide to take matters into your own hands

And order him a personalised box of chocolates with ‘cheer up’ on them

Funny idea

Would’ve been even funnier if you hadn’t left the receipt in the bag when you placed it on his desk that morning

With your name on it.

It didn’t take long for a call to come through to your desk that was just daniel practically shouting into the speaker

‘Come to my office now or you’re fired’

OHHH no you’re screwed sorry not sorry

As soon as you step foot in his office you just feel overwhelming dread like ohhhh my god

Dont go losing your job!!

But instead of screaming in your face he just calmly asks you to take a seat opposite him,,

‘You’re y/n, yes?’

Well duh

‘And you’ve been working here for 3 months right?’

‘Yes, Mr Kang’

‘Did Ong put you up to this??’

He asks holding up the box of chocolates

With half of them missing

Without even thinking you say,, in shock,,

‘You ate half of them already?? It’s only been half an hour??’

He laughs that cute lil laugh and smiles so softly and you just feel your heart skip a beat like ohhh god why is he so charming???

‘So you did it yourself. No need for the formalities, y/n, just call me Daniel.’

Excuse me

Your superior wants you to call him by his first name because;; you sent rude chocolates to his office

‘Thanks for the chocolates by the way, I didn’t realise I was being that harsh to your department that it warranted a rude box of chocolates.’

Uh oh here comes the you’re fired

‘I’m so sorry Mr Kang-’

‘No, y/n, I told you to call me Daniel! And there’s no need to apologise because now you’re making the whole plan on your own’

It takes a second for you to process what he said

You, someone who has worked there for not even half a year, has been given the sole responsibility to create the plan for the OLYMPIC ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN WHAT

While you’re just drowning in your thoughts he shoos you out of the room with a quick

‘I expect a basic plan in two days time, y/n. I’ll be waiting~’

He smiles that damn sweet smile and slams the door shut right in front of your shocked face

Oh my god

So much work

uHH tiny time skip

Its tomorrow basically;; and;; you’re nowhere near finished

The deadline for the basic plan is due at 9am tomorrow and it’s currently 7pm and you have absolutely no ideas

Daniel basically banned the rest of the department from talking to you so you couldn’t even ask them for ideas??

The office is almost empty except for you, and the light’s still on in Daniel’s office but nobody is in there so;; he probably left it on (don’t do that kids it’s bad for the environment)

The last person left besides you in your department is just leaving when Daniel returns from well,,, wherever he was

She turns to you, pats your shoulder and whispers

‘Good luck, y/n, if you’re too stuck just ask Mr Kang, he’s not as bad as he seems.’

You nod to her and say goodbye and turn back to your blank computer screen

The minutes feel like hours as you rack your brain for ideas and it’s almost like you’re in a trance;;

That is, until, a voice by your ear whispers

‘Y/n~ you should’ve asked me for help!!’

Of course its Kang Daniel uh oh

He plops himself down in the seat next to yours and begins to supply you with ideas

Before the clock even turns 9pm you’re finished!! And you’re so pleased you spin around on your spinny chair (i love those) and throw your arms around Daniel

He just laughs and hugs you back

‘Well done, y/n’

Then you realise what you’ve done haha good one y/n real clever;;

And you quickly remove your arms apologising profusely while he just smiles at you and giggles lightly

And in the dim light of your computer screen you realise

God

You have a crush on your boss

He continues to help you with the project after everyone else has left until you have the perfect idea

The adverts are going to be interviewing the loved ones of the athletes and talking about supporting them and helping them to achieve their dream

By the end of the month all of your ideas are finalised and you’re ready to start filming

Both you and Daniel go to the filming, him as the CEO and you as the original creator

You both stay behind after the initial filming and mess around a bit with the camera

You manage to catch a video of him stuffing his face with gummy bears and he videos you dancing along to the songs they were playing for the photoshoots bless

And as you’re watching the various videos of Daniel back you just realise that damn;; you’ve fallen HARD

His smile just makes your chest ache because it’s so cute and you’re so in love!!

But no he’s your boss stop

After that initial filming he suddenly stops attending the filming sessions

That is, until the last session when he pulls aside the cameraman and well; who knows what he did you couldn’t hear

He still hasn’t spoken to you properly and you’re beginning to think he’s sussed out your mASSIVE crush on him oh dear

So you take the opportunity to leave early and go cry into some ice cream while on the phone to your best friend in your department

Who reassures you it’s all okay but what do they know ??

The next day you walk into work in a slump with bags under your eyes because boy that ice cream food baby made it hard to sleep comfortably

Not to mention you’re nearly an hour late because of traffic

As you log in to your computer you realise you have an email?? From Daniel??

Its subject is simply ‘completed’ and it has nothing inside except for a video attachment, which you assume is the final cuts of all of the videos from the past sessions

So you watch it but as you near the end you notice something is up

There’s an extra 3 minutes?? Why??

And boom a smiley Daniel appears onscreen (prepare for cheese)

‘Y/n~~! It’s your favourite CEO!! I didn’t know how to confess to you so;; I planned this with help from Seongwoo so if this doesn’t work blame him’

Wait

Confess

‘So… I’ve liked you pretty much since the first day you appeared and saw me eating all those gummy bears;; but since we’ve worked together on this project my feelings have grown and i’m proud to say that i love you, y/n!! I will support you until you can achieve your dream and even beyond! You complete me~’

Oh my god cheesY

‘But i think you should take a look in your desk drawer…’

So of course uhh you open your drawer and there’s a pack of gummy bears with a post-it stuck to it that reads ‘come to the roof’

Then realisation sinks in

You’re an hour late the poor guy will have been waiting on that cold ass roof for an hour better get up those stairs quick

As you reach the top you notice Daniel standing in the middle of the roof with a small bouquet of flowers dressed up in this rEALLY NICE GREY SUIT (god even imagining it he looks handsome af)

He spots you, smiles and waves at you, thrusting the flowers towards you

‘I thought you’d never come! I was beginning to think you’d rejected me!’

He laughs and scratches his neck, his cheeks BRIGHT red

‘Ahh, Daniel I would never!’

He pulls you towards him and softly presses his lips against yours, confirming both of your feelings for one another

As he pulls back smiling he whispers

‘That was a long time coming but it was so worth it’

And you smile because you would never have guessed that from the first time you spoke to him that it would end up like this

He really is the persuasion king lmao

ahhh second au first request!! hopefully you guys like it lmao it took me ages to think of a plotline ;; and its kind of short yikes

[adrienaline-rushed-art]

Tomato Soup and Lemon Zest: Touche, Pussy Cat!

Rating: Teen

Chapters: 5/5

ao3  fanfic   1 - 2 - 3 - 4- 5

NOTES: "I'm just tryna get my head around, wtf is happening *clap clap, clap*" "I'm just tryna get my head around, wtf is happening *clap clap, clap*" - lol

 I was reminded of OK Go for some reason.Did anyone get the reference in the title? No? Ok...

That's a wrap!Well.. ok that's a lie. I'm probably gonna do drabbles for this and make it a series. But for now, a break, I've got to finish Maid for It and Charming Spell first.In the meantime, I hope you enjoy! Please leave reviews!

Comment if you want me to tag you in the next update, otherwise check the tag #adrinathdrawingfic

based on this post

@samantha-girlscout @artgirllullaby @miraculouslyme @breeeliss @itsmegan347official @b0n3-crush3r @tallsuperstar @messy7seamstress

Also, @yourfavouritekindoftrash made a fic based on the same post, check it out under the tag #adrinathdrawingfic

It had now been 2 months of constant training. Nathaniel was already starting to become toned. He was gaining endurance and strength he'd never heard of - though, they still didn't meet the athletic standard - he was at a good place where he could probably excel in a P.E. class. And his teacher noticed, too.

He often hid behind other students so that the teacher would forget about him long enough to last through to changing time without doing a thing. Recently he was confident enough to give the activities and sports a shot. He wasn't half bad. Not skilled, but not trailing behind his team while chasing a ball and wheezing. Not strategic, but not standing frozen like a deer in headlights waiting for the other team to steal the ball. Adrien was his only issue. When he was on the opposing side he was nervous and when he was on the same side he preferred to pass everything to Adrien and just watch. It was far too stressful knowing Adrien was watching him play… and he was watching a lot.

Nathaniel had achieved a lot with his dedication. It was time to move on to the main goal. Fencing.

"I'm proud of you, Nath," Chat handed half of his baton over to Nathaniel, "You're finally ready."

Nathaniel smiled shyly, studying the baton in his hands. "Yeah, well, I'm not close to the finish line as far as my coordination goes."

"That's what I'm here for," Chat smiled at him in a caring way Nathaniel wasn't familiar with.

"Right?" Chat continued, "Otherwise you could've done all of this on the internet."

Nathaniel shook his head. "No, I wouldn't have stuck to this if it had been from the internet. The only reason I'm trying is because it's you- I mean because you're- Imeanitsnoteverydayasuperheroofferstojustshowyouhowtofightand-"

Chat laughed. "I get it, you love me, nothing to be shy about."

When Nathaniel stopped to gawk at him, Chat swallowed hard and began to regret the existence of his mouth.

"Oh. Uhh.. I, um sorry, I didn't know you actually…?"

Nathaniel stopped Chat nervously. "No, it's fine! You just caught me off guard, oh was that a joke? AHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Yeah…" Chat's smile was strained, and his smile was stiff, "A joke."

"Anyway…" Nathaniel tried to hide his disappointment.

"Right, back to stance."

Chat Noir moved Nathaniel around again until he was positioned correctly. Nathaniel tried moving forward as instructed.

"You're putting too much weight on one side and you're leading with the wrong foot," Chat stood behind Nathaniel, trying to help him shift his weight and grabbing his wrist to raise the staff higher.

Nathaniel tried again. He got the leading foot right but his balance was even worse.

"Try to be on the balls of your feet instead of your toes."

Chat continued to give Nathaniel the best advice he could until he finally was alright at it.

"I feel like a crab," Nathaniel finally said.

Chat laughed, "Yeah, I know.. And look you have red hair too."

"Not all crabs are red, you know," Nathaniel pulled at his bangs to stare at them.

"I know…"

"There are purple ones too."

"You've got purple pants on."

Nathaniel glared down at his pants. "Oh my god, you're right. I'm an actual crab. How many nicknames am I gonna get? Tomato, Little Red Riding Hood, now what… Mr. Krabs?"

"Now, now, don't get crabby about it," Chat grinned.

Nathaniel shot daggers at Chat. "Teach me how to fight already so I can kick your ass!"

Chat shot his hands up defensively. "Hey, I thought you liked puns?"

"I never told you that…" Nathaniel squinted at Chat.

"Ah, nevermind, you're right… I must've been thinking of Ladybug or something. Hey, but, aren't nicknames kinda nice, though? They're cute… well except for Mr. Krabs, but trust me that's not gonna be one of them. Maybe Krabby Patty."

"No, that's… No. And, maybe they would be cute, except that no one ever asks me. They just start calling me something, and my quiet ass doesn't have the guts to say anything about it.."

Chat stepped closer to Nathaniel. "You're right, I never asked either, I'm sorry. Is it alright if I-"

"No no no, it's too late now. I think it'd be better if I thought of one for you," Nathaniel tapped the staff on his chin.

"People call me Banana Hair," Chat suggested.

"Mmmm… no, I'll think of my own, thanks. How about, Lemon?"

"Noooo… I do not want to be named after smut fics," Chat cringe.

Nathaniel poked Chat's chest with the staff. "It's not my fault that's the first thing that crossed your mind. Normal people think of fruit when they hear the word 'lemon'."

"Oh, they think about fruit alright…"

"Oh my god. Listen, I happen to know someone who's nickname is Lemon, and I happen to think it sounds perfectly fine. I'm sticking with Lemon, and you can't convince me otherwise."

"But, well just don't say it in front of anybody. I don't wanna sound like some sexual beast."

Nathaniel snorted. "And we wouldn't want that, now would we?" He tugged at Chat's bell until it came slightly down and jingled.

Chat froze. What the fuck was happening? Chat Noir was supposed to be his safe haven, now Nathaniel was growing bold. Was his newfound confidence because of his new physique?

"I-"

"You're the one who's been flirting and teasing this whole time."

Chat Noir scratched the nape of his neck. "You're right, I deserve that type of name then."

"No, you don't deserve it in that sort of way. You deserve it because you deserve a nickname. I don't mind the flirts…"

Chat blinked at him. He smirked. "Really? You're not so bad yourself- now let's get back to that ass-kicking you told me you were gonna do."

After a little over a month, learning grip - though Chat informed him it would be different with an actual rapier - and how to loosen his wrists without making them weak, it didn't take him long to get used to attacking and parrying.

"Well, you're ready to do a drill. Is this the part where you kick my ass?" Chat lowered his stance and pointed his staff to Nathaniel.

Nathaniel smiled. "I guess we'll have to find out."

Chat waited for Nathaniel to advance and their staffs clashed. Nathaniel swung with practiced movements. Chat picked up the pace, stepping forward and driving Nathaniel back. The wind blew and Nathaniel noticed a small poster of Adrien Agreste falling at his feet. He glanced down at it to avoid stepping on it.

"Don't take your eyes off me," Chat said.

Nathaniel twitched, blocking an attack and ignoring the poster. He kept a steady gaze on Chat Noir.

Chat looked back to make sure Nathaniel didn't start wandering near the fountain, but Nathaniel's staff collided into Chat Noir's and slipped just enough to graze Chat's side.

Chat stopped, stunned. Both of them stared down at Nathaniel's extended arm, going through the gap between Chat's arm and his waist.

"I thought you said not to take your eyes away, Lemon." Nathaniel grinned up at Chat.

Chat bit his lip. "Touche, Red."

Nathaniel stood back. "I guess that's the closest I'll get to any sort of ass-kicking. It was probably luck though."

"Maybe," Chat maneuvered his staff until Nathaniel somehow ended up on the ground, "But don't let your guard down."

Nathaniel smiled ear-to-ear at his cellphone below his desk. Several pictures of Chat Noir had been secretly saved to his photo album. Class wasn't really being taught at that moment, students were working in class assignments and wandering around. It was time to add a new member to the sketchbook hall of fame.

He sketched a basic outline, adding no details but a rough tail and ears. He started with the eyes, which had a gaze that could kill, somewhat familiar. Of course it was familiar, he'd known Chat Noir for months.

He took a moment to take in Chat's mouth, which he should've had memorized by now from all the times Chat teased right up in his face, but just barely touched skin.

He finally moved to his nose, which he always saved for last. He drew what he could from what showed beneath his mask.

He looked back at the composure of the face. He furrows his eyebrows. Something…

He drew the shape of the head and started to move on the the hair before he froze.

"Oh my god." Nathaniel muttered.

It was unmistakeable. He'd drawn every shape perfectly. Those strokes weren't foreign to him, his hand knew those lines.

Adrien climbed the steps to Nathaniel. Without lifting his head and with his hands casually stuffed in his pocket he asked, "What are you drawing this time, Nath?"

Nathaniel's finger twitched around his pencil. He glanced back down at his paper, then back up at Adrien. He stood up slowly.

"Adrien… you're… Chat N-"

Adrien's face dropped as he flinched and within a split second he sprung into action. He strode forward, with a subtle wave of his hand and a few quick shushes. He placed his lifted hand on the collar of Nathaniel's blazer, the index of his other hand found itself touching Nathaniel's lips before he moved it out of the way and planted a kiss. It all happened so quickly Nathaniel had no time to react. He could do nothing more than simply let Adrien take another heartbeat of a moment before pulling away, and listen to the delicate chirp of lips parting echoing in his ears.

Adrien remained breaths away, gazing into Nathaniel's eyes. "Touche, Red."

Was that good? I hope it wasn't anticlimactic :/

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