#He never retaliates much but its fun anyways and sometimes he plays along

[cartoonghosts]

pacing emotionally like a caged dog over here. Im spending too much time inside and im kind of losing it again

[kurt-nightcrawler]

Baby Bird

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐈𝐈 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

Request: i kinda had this idea for a warren x reader and if you were intrested or had time i’d be very appreciative 👉👈. (warren has his apocalypse wings) so the reader is a new student she’s very like shy and timid but very sweet and her only friend is jean, she just like refuses to converse with others. and her gift is her wings and they’re exactly like warren’s except black (kinda like he was the bad boy with white angel wings and she’s the good girl with black wings,sorry i love opposites 😂) and be just hates her because it’s a reminder of his old wings and mistakes. fast forward to like a day at school or party someone is messing with r because she never shows off her wings and then like push her or something and jean freaks out and tells warren r doesn’t know how to use her wings (super sad childhood with very anti-mutant parents) so then warren saves her and they talk more and get closer.

A/N: this is so late! I am so sorry! But I am finally getting around to all my requests and this wasn’t in my ask box so it got kind of lost and I forgot about it for a hot minute! I hope you enjoy it though! 🥺💛

Word Count: 3.6k

Warnings: underage drinking, teasing, anxiety, and mentions of poor home life

“Your grades are phenomenal, yet your class participation is lacking.” (Y/N) picked at her nails, looking down. Xavier called her into his office to “discuss her grades” but she knew that was the last thing on his mind. “I don’t want to push you into anything you’re not comfortable with, but at some point, everyone has to socialize.”

Her head shot up, “I do! I do socialize.” 

Sure, she ate lunch alone under the trees, would rather be alone than have a partner for class projects, and she didn’t have many friends— but she was new! Being the new kid was hard. Not to mention her parents were more than thrilled to get rid of her and her wings. 

Her big, black, feathery wings, that she didn’t even know how to use! She hid them under baggy sweaters, no matter the weather. 

Xavier gave her a look, “You don’t have any friends and you hide your beautiful wings.”

“Dr. McCoy and Mystique hide their true selves… and if Kurt had the chance he’d want to look normal too.” Charles sighed. “Look, um, Professor, I do— I do have friends.” 

“Who?” 

“Jean Grey.” 

Saying Jean was her friend wasn’t a lie— however, Jean was her only friend. (Y/N) didn’t like to talk, and Jean read minds— easy friendship right there. 

Jean had other friends and even a boyfriend. (Y/N) felt like she weighed her down or was charity work, but Jean always said otherwise. 

Sometimes (Y/N) would sit with Jean and her friends. They were all kind and welcoming, despite her not saying anything. The only one who seemed standoff-ish was Warren. 

 Warren was tall and extremely handsome. Jean had teased (Y/N) for losing her train of thought more than once for looking at Warren and thinking he was pretty. 

He had these huge metal wings and tattoos on his face. (Y/N) thought they could possibly be friends, mostly because they both had wings, but that didn’t go so well…

—

The one day (Y/N) wore a t-shirt, with holes in the back so she could flaunt her wings, everyone looked at her. She didn’t like the attention, but she couldn’t blame them for staring. 

Jean’s friends showered her with a mixture of surprise and compliments with her wings. 

“Can I touch them?” Peter asked. (Y/N) nodded, making eye contact with Warren for a moment. 

He rolled his eyes and scoffed. (Y/N) quickly looked away and frowned. Everyone liked her except for Warren. 

Was he the honest one of the group though? What if all of Jean’s friends actually hated (Y/N)? What if they just put up with her because Jean made them? She was sure Scott didn’t like her much either, even if he never showed it. He was dating Jean and her friendship with (Y/N) probably cut into their time… Oh, God… They just think my wings are neat and soon as I stop showing them they’ll get bored of me… 

Warren was glaring at something, and then he got up as left. Just like that!

“Is he okay?” (Y/N) asked Jean.

“He’s just being dumb. You know how boys are.” (Y/N) nodded, but she was pretty sure Warren wasn’t just “being dumb”. He probably hated her. 

—

It was finally the weekend, and (Y/N) was hunched over her books on a Friday night. Normal for her, as Jean and her friends usually went out somewhere. 

A knock at her door interrupted her work time, and she opened it to find Jean and Jubilee standing in the doorway. Jubilee was bouncing and had a bag in her arms. 

(Y/N) let them in. Jubilee set the bag on the floor and started going through it— it was full of makeup and hair stuff. “What’s going on?” 

“We’re going to a party tonight, and you’re coming with us.”

(Y/N) glanced over to her work pile, “But I’ve got a paper due—” 

“Two weeks from now. I have the same class.” Jubilee answered. 

“Jean…” She whined. 

“One night out won’t kill you. Neither will a little makeup and a cute outfit.”

“What?” 

“Here, put this on.”

She examined the lump of fabric in her hands. 

It was a dress. 

“People will see my wings!” 

“Yeah, that’s like the whole point,” Jubilee said.

(Y/N) sighed and slipped off her sweater, putting the dress on in its place. 

“You look so pretty!” Jubilee cooed. 

“Thanks.” (Y/N)’s immediate reaction was to fold her wings in tightly to her back, so they weren’t visible from the front. 

“Relax,” Jean told her, soon as she noticed what (Y/N) was doing. Jubilee signaled her to sit down on the floor next to her, amidst a hundred different makeup products. 

“I’m just gonna do some light, subtle makeup. Enough to enhance your features.” 

“Thanks?...” The brush tickled (Y/N)’s skin, making her nose scrunch up. 

“Relax your face. This doesn’t hurt.” 

“Sorry. Sorry…” 

“It’s okay.” 

—

Everyone somehow managed to fit in one car— except for Kurt and Peter, they were racing to see who could get to the party first— Jean and Scott in the front, Warren, Jubilee, Ororo, and (Y/N) in the back. 

(Y/N) couldn’t help but notice Warren looked a little flushed, “Is Warren okay?” 

“Yeah, why?” Jean asked.

“His face is flushed. Is he just like, hot or something?”

“Or something…” Jean smiled, trying to act nonchalant. (Y/N) gave her a deadpan look through the rearview mirror. “I can’t tell you, but he’s fine.” 

“You okay, (Y/N)?” Scott asked, looking back at her through the rearview mirror. 

“Yeah.” 

Scott nodded awkwardly.

—

Once parked, everyone quickly tumbled out of the car. Music could be heard from the inside. It was loud.

“I want to go home.” 

“(Y/N) we just got here— dance with Jubilee or go sit outside with Ororo and Warren.” 

“Warren doesn’t like me.”

“Not true… He’s just quiet.” 

(Y/N) started to retaliate but Jean walked into the kitchen with Scott, and (Y/N) tried to not interrupt her time with her boyfriend, so she shut up. 

Peter was playing beer pong with some kids. Jubilee and Kurt were dancing and both had cups in their hands. There was some wanna-be punk band playing.

(Y/N) decided to join them.

“Hey, (Y/N)!” 

She waved her hand.

“You look nice,” Kurt said.

“Thanks.” 

“I did her makeup,” Jubilee bragged. 

Kurt giggled slightly, “Nice.” 

The band was mostly playing covers, but they were pretty good. (Y/N) was letting loose and dancing along with Jubilee and Kurt.

I'm burnin' through the sky, yeah! 

Two hundred degrees, that's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit… 

I'm traveling at the speed of light. 

I wanna make a supersonic woman of you! 

(Y/N) accidentally hit Jubilee with her wings. “I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine! They’re soft anyways.”

Don't stop me, don't stop me, don’t stop me. Hey, hey, hey! 

Don't stop me, don't stop me, ooh, ooh, ooh…

(Y/N) was actually enjoying herself. She was dancing and chanting incoherently along with the lyrics. She almost felt free. 

The last time she had felt like this was as a child. Before her wings grew in. Before her parents deemed her a monster who had to hide. Before she lost everything she had. Before she decided to speak less was better for her. 

She didn’t even think about any of it. She didn’t even think about how Jean was probably making out with Scott in a bathroom, or how Warren had been acting. She was having fun, and that was the only thing that mattered to her. 

—

At some point during the night, (Y/N), slightly tipsy, made it up onto the roof with a few other kids. Everything was fine at first, but they were way too drunk.

“Why don’t you jump off the edge?” One of them asked.

“What?” 

“Fly off the edge, birdie!” The other laughed. “Jump! Jump!”

“Jump! Jump!” 

In the rooftop kids efforts to get (Y/N) to jump, people on the ground started chanting too. 

“What’s going on?” Warren asked. Jubilee shrugged. 

(Y/N) was terrified, wings folded in tightly to her back.

Jean came running up to Warren, “(Y/N) can’t fly! She can’t hear me either, she’s too nervous, lost in her own thoughts.” 

Warren wanted to ask what he could possibly do, but he never got the chance. 

(Y/N) fell off the roof. 

Or maybe she was pushed off. Either way, it didn’t matter because she was screaming and falling and no one was doing anything. 

Warren bolted and flew up so he could catch her in his arms. She looked so weak and tired in his arms. She was crying and his heart dropped seeing her like that. 

Warren carefully brought her to the ground, making sure she could walk on her own. “Come here,” He gave her his jacket and wrapped an arm around her, letting her cry into his chest. 

“I hated that—” She sniffled, “—I’m never doing it again.” Warren nodded understandingly, holding her close to his side. 

“Let’s go home, okay?” (Y/N) nodded, still in a state of shock. 

—

The halls of the mansion were like a ghost town, everyone was either out, asleep, or couped up in one of the many rooms. Warren and (Y/N) were alone as they walked up to her room. 

“Why did you save me?” 

Warren blinked, looking at (Y/N). She rarely spoke to or around him. 

“Jean said you couldn’t fly.” 

“Oh…” She avoided Warren’s eyes in embarrassment. So Jean told him to save me because I’m useless. Of course…

“You could have died, falling from that high up,” Warren’s voice was stern, but he wasn’t angry. 

“Sorry…” She mumbled.

Warren furrowed his brows, “Sorry? What are you sorry for?” 

“I inconvenienced you…”

“What? No!” He stopped to stand face to face, holding one of (Y/N)’s hands. “You could never.” 

(Y/N) felt fuzzy inside. Was she getting sick? Was she allergic to Warren? Why is he so nice? Why am I so nervous?

“I’d do the same for anyone.” 

Oh. Yeah, no, he doesn’t really like me… nobody does…  “Right.” 

Warren noticed her mood change, but he didn’t call her out for it. 

“I’m gonna go to bed. Thanks for bringing me home…” 

“Of course…” He coughed for a moment, clearing his throat. “If you need anything, um, my room isn’t that far—”

“Thanks, Warren.” She forced a smile. “Good night.”  

 “Good night.”

—

Warren slipped off his t-shirt, discarding it on his desk chair. He laid in bed, thinking about (Y/N).

What if he hadn’t caught her in time?

He shook the thought away as he tossed in bed, slowly falling asleep.

Warren didn’t hate (Y/N). He just hated her wings… they reminded him of his old wings. The one thing he wanted most in life… his new ones were a constant reminder of his past mistakes, they were the wings of a monster. 

But Warren had changed, or so he thought. He hated seeing (Y/N)’s wings, despite them rarely being out. He was jealous and angry. Mostly at himself.

But (Y/N) didn’t know how to use her wings…

That was strange to Warren. Maybe there was more to her than he thought. 

—

(Y/N) awoke to a knock on her door. 

“Hggggg… Just give me a minute.” She groaned. She rolled out of bed and opened the door. 

“Jean? What are you doing here?” 

“I wanted to make sure you were okay! We got back late and Warren said you were already asleep.”

“Oh… Well, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay… Do you wanna come down for breakfast?” 

(Y/N) glanced at her pajamas. “Can I get changed first?...”

“You look fine! Most of the group is still in their pj’s anyway.” 

“Okay.” 

Jean led (Y/N) down the hall to the kitchen where her friends were. Most of them were chatting amongst themselves or shoving food into their mouths. 

“Hangovers?” She asked. 

“Yeah some, I’m surprised you don’t have one.” 

“I never said I didn’t.” (Y/N) got herself a cup and a plate, taking some of the food and drink available. 

“(Y/N), are you okay from last night?” Jubilee asked. 

She nodded. 

Peter let out a breath, “Thank God. Xavier would have killed us if you’d gotten hurt.” (Y/N) nodded again, trying to just focus on the food on her plate. 

“You’re lucky Warren was there to catch you,” Scott stated. 

“Yep.” 

“Is everyone going to keep talking about last night?” She asked herself.

“Probably. You could have broken your legs, or sprained an ankle— plus people like to talk.” 

“Gossip, you mean gossip.” 

Jean didn’t respond, she was too focused on whatever Scott was saying. (Y/N) rolled her eyes. 

Typical. 

Warren trudged into the kitchen— his curls tangled, wings almost dragging against the floor, and he wore the world’s most wrinkled t-shirt— he looked like he didn't want to be there. 

He opened up a cabinet and took out a mug. He closed the cabinet door and moved over near the coffee pot on the counter. He took it and poured plain, black, coffee into his mug. 

Then he took a sip straight from the mug. 

“There is creamer and milk in the fridge,” (Y/N) reminded him. 

“I know.”

“Oh.”

(Y/N) focused on her plate again, trying to pretend the awkward interaction didn’t happen. 

“Hey, uh, I was wondering—“ (Y/N) quickly looked up at Warren as he spoke. “I could like, help you learn to fly.” 

“Um…”

“No one would see us. If you’re worried about that.” 

“Oh my god! You should say yes!” (Y/N) quickly twisted her head over at Jean and almost gave her the finger, but Scott was watching. So she just glared. 

She didn’t want Jean in her head all the time. Especially at a time like this. 

She looked back at Warren, “Sure. I have nothing else to do.” 

“Cool. I have some stuff to do, but I’ll get you in a few hours.” 

(Y/N) nodded, “Sounds good.” 

—

(Y/N) looked through her closet, trying to find something she could wear to fly in. Most of her tops weren’t exactly wing friendly. She sighed. 

She didn’t even want to do this— she just wanted to hide her wings forever and move on from last night. 

No. No, that wasn’t true in the slightest. 

She needed to learn to use her wings, they were a part of her, whether she liked it or not. She had her old life ripped away from her in exchange for the big black heaps of feathers on her back, weighing her down every day. She had to embrace them somehow. They were all she had. 

That and Jean… sometimes. And eventually, she’d have to leave the nest and talk to other people. 

Warren knocked on her door. (Y/N) glanced at her reflection— she still had her pajamas on! 

He knocked again, “(Y/N)? It’s me.” 

“Sorry! Give me a sec!” (Y/N) hurried and shut her closet, then opening her door to let Warren in. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine, are you—“ He glanced at her clothes. (Y/N) instantly tensed up, insecure by his gaze. “Why are you still in your pajamas?” 

“Uh… I don’t really have anything good for flying—“ 

“Just wear some shorts and a shirt with holes in the back. Nothing fancy.” 

“You don’t understand, I have one shirt with holes in the back, and it’s in the laundry.” 

“You sleep with your wings tucked in?” Warren gawked.

“Sometimes.” She defended. 

Warren glanced at something shiny in the corner of his eye. “Grab a shirt you don’t care about.” 

“Okay…” (Y/N) grabbed an old Xavier’s school tee. 

“Give it to me.” She handed it to Warren. He took the scissors from her desk and quickly cut slits in the back of the t-shirt. “There. Now you have something to wear.” 

She just stared at Warren. 

“Are you gonna put it on or?...”

“Can you step out of the room then?” 

Warren’s eyes widened in realization on what he’d set himself up for. “Right! Right, um, do you need any help getting your wings through the holes?”

“If I do, I’ll ask. Now leave so I can get dressed.” 

“Yeah, right, right.” Warren quickly stepped out into the hall, shutting the door behind him. 

(Y/N) huffed and slipped her large nightshirt off, throwing it on her bed. She grabbed the shirt Warren cut up and put it on without a second thought. 

Head pops out through the first hole. 

The arms go through the sleeves. 

The shirt slips down and covers the chest and torso. 

But the wing holes were new. (Y/N) tried to push one of her wings out but she struggled. It took her a bit of reaching back with her hands to spread the fabric a bit so she had more space before she could get it through the slit. 

The second wing she had more trouble with. 

(Y/N) couldn’t reach her arms back as easily to spread out the slit. And her whole wing wouldn’t go through since it wasn’t the loosest of shirts. 

(Y/N) opened her door and peeked her head out. “Hey, I need some help…” 

Warren perked up a little, following (Y/N) into her room. 

“Just like, hold the two sides of the slit out, and then I can get my wing through.” 

Warren did as she asked. 

“We’re they too small?” 

“A little, but also this isn’t baggy like most of my clothes, so…” 

“I can make the holes bigger if you want.” 

She dismissed him, “It’s fine. I’ll do it later.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I already wasted enough time getting ready. We should go out.”

Warren nodded, “Yeah. We’re gonna be out for a while.”

—

They were standing on the roof of Xavier’s, looking out onto the grassy campus. 

“So, uh, flying once you get the hang of it, is like a reflex almost… But uh basically, you just need to flap your wings, so you keep yourself afloat of sorts. Does that make sense?”

“Kind of.”

“Okay, um, just like, run off the edge—”

“Runoff the edge?!” (Y/N) asked, terrified of falling to her death. Scared of having a repeat of the night before.

“Just flap your wings, and if you mess up I’ll catch you.” 

(Y/N) stood at the edge, peering down at the ground below. “Are you sure?”

“Maybe back up a bit, get like a running start first.” 

(Y/N) did as he suggested, running off the edge. When her feet left the roof, she tried to flap her wings as Warren had told her. 

She felt herself flying like a wonky baby bird. Somewhat lopsided with each flap, but she was doing it! 

“Oh my gosh! Warren! Warren I’m doing it!” 

She could see Warren still on the roof. He gave her a thumbs up and some encouraging cheers. 

(Y/N) smiled, struggling to fly, but flying nonetheless. She looked down for a moment, and then suddenly realized she was many feet above the ground, in the air. (Y/N) panicked, and stopped flapping her wings for a moment, before she started to fall. 

“Shit!” Warren flew off the roof to save (Y/N).  

But it was a false alarm, for, by the time Warren was about to catch (Y/N), she’d regained herself and was no longer falling to the ground.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Um, it’s just really high up, I’m scared of falling again, like at the party.” 

“Hey, hey, relax, don’t focus on the ground or your wings. Just— focus on me, okay?”

She looked at his face— his blue eyes, his plush pink lips, the dark lines adorned all over his face, and how he had a few untamable, blonde curls that framed his face— she looked at Warren’s wings and tried to copy how his fluttered and kept him aflight. 

“You’re doing it!” He told her.

“Really?” (Y/N) was almost in disbelief.

“Yeah, you’re doing great!” 

(Y/N) looked at her wings, realizing what she was doing. She was worried she’d fall, but it never happened. 

“I’ll race you to the mansion next door.” 

“Next door? That’s like several acres.” Warren gave her a knowing look, and then it all clicked. “Oh! Oh, you’re so on!” 

Warren laughed and they both flew off at high speed, away from school.

—

They got back to the mansion after sunset, both giggling and playfully fighting about who won the race. 

“I think I won—”

“Oh, yes, beginner’s luck, Baby Bird.”

She raises her eyebrows and points at him, “Aha! So you admit I won.”

“I may have let you…” 

(Y/N) scoffed, “Yeah, right.” 

“Yeah, you got me. I wouldn’t go too easy on you.” Warren was headed for the kitchen, but (Y/N) was going in the opposite direction.

“I was gonna get a bite to eat. Wanna join me?”

“Um, I was going to shower first…” 

“Oh… I’ll see you later then?”

(Y/N) was suddenly very awkward and nervous, “Um, yeah! Pfft, of course, uh— yeah. Yeah!” 

“Great!” Warren was also suddenly somewhat nervous. 

“Great!” 

The two were on their separate paths, before (Y/N) turned back for a moment.

“You good?” Warren asked.

“Yeah, um,” (Y/N) kissed his cheek. It didn’t last long, but it left her heart pounding and Warren flustered.

“Thanks for today. I’m gonna go shower.”

[kirausamaria]

A fun payback (Stolitz Fanfic)

Ok, I’m sorry, I had to wrote this! It was some innuendos and curses but it’s not really NSFW. It’s hard to write when you got the horny bird in a fanfic. Anyways, please let me know how did I do, because it’s my first fanfic ever. I plan to draw some stuff for the post too as soon as my studies finish.

   This time Stolas had something different in mind for Blitzo.

   He wasn’t the type of person to get easily flustered as anyone may expect, but after that “Stolas goes brrrr…” and “poor wardrobe choice” incidents on Instagram, he felt like getting some retaliation for that. Not that it was angry or anything like that, in fact, this was a good chance for him to try something new with his little imp.

   “Sooo, you want to be on top this time I suppose”, Blitzo said while staring at Stolas finishing his job, that was tying him from his wrists and legs to the bed. He had done this several times before so Blitzo wasn’t alarmed or anything. The only thing that seemed unusual was the fact that he was tied down in bed still with his underwear on, normally Stolas would have him completely naked at the instant he got his hands on him.

   “Well, we’ll see about that my dear. It’ll all depend on how you’ll end up feeling at the end”, Stolas replied with an eager smile.

   “Ugh, whatever, let’s just get over with it and do it quickly”, Blitzo answered with an uninterested tone in his voice.

   “I’m afraid to tell you, my dear Blitzy, I plan to take my time on this occasion”.

   Blitzo just stared at him with a puzzled face. He would never admit it, but it was difficult to see Stolas directly on the face sometimes, his eyes weren’t just deeply red, but reflecting such a warm feeling... a charming feeling, maybe? Stolas's genuine smile when staring at him made him feel something inside, but he would never admit that those feelings were something similar to “love”.

   Stolas started caressing Blitzo’s skin as softly as he could, starting from his tied wrists to slowly going down to his chest. Blitzo started to squirm and tried to hold back some moans, it was starting to feel good, but he was too stubborn to let Stolas know that too easily. Stolas then started to caress his torso up and down, focusing on his sides this time, and the pleasant feelings started to change a little. Blitzo squirmed more than at the beginning.

   “Unhg, umph...mmm!”

   “What’s wrong my Blitzy? Doesn’t this feel good?” Stolas asked while grinning a little.

   “Could you just stop fu*king around and go to the next thing?”, Blitzo struggled to say.

   “Why should we stop this? Does it feel weird? Am I possibly making you feel... ticklish?”

   Then Blitzo suddenly realized what this mischievous bird planned to do to him. That a**hole! He planned to do that to me all along! He thought to himself. It’s now he wouldn’t enjoy being tickled as a show of affection with a partner, but with Stolas...we just didn’t like to show any kind of vulnerability in front of him. He wouldn’t admit he’s ticklish or that he likes to be tickled to Stolas, he would never let this go for sure if he did.

   “Come on my little imp, don’t be shy, just show me your real feelings to me and enjoy this experience. It will make you feel so much better”.

   “Ah, shut the f*ck up you freaking bird!” Blitzo yelled. He was trying so hard not to build a smile in his face, the tickling feelings were starting to build up. 

   Stolas chuckled. “You’re such a stubborn creature. I can’t deny it, that is one of the qualities that attracted me about you in the first place, but some honesty wouldn’t hurt, don’t you think?”.

   Blitzo couldn’t run away from Stolas, he knew it, but at the same time he didn’t just lose against him, not giving him the satisfaction of doing what he wanted. But when Stolas started to use his claws against his skin, he just broke.

   “Pfff! Hehehe! Nohohohoho!” Blitzo 

   “See? I know you’d go around!”, Stolas said when scratching Blitzo’s upper arms. “Doesn't it feel much better to just laugh and enjoy it?”

    “F-f you Stolas!” Blitzo whined. He was unable to stop himself from laughing anymore, and Stolas had started to use rougher tickles against him.

   He then felt Stolas’ claws skittering every area of his torso, and also his stomach. Blitzo became really jumpy in that place, and Stolas noticed.

   “Oh, that’s why you squirm everytime I kiss you on your stomach”, Stolas said while holding his laugh. “So what about this?”

    Blitzo almost squealed when Stolas started kissing and scratching his belly at the same time.

   “Nohohohohoho, don’t do that!”

  “Why not? It doesn’t feel good? But I’m having so much fun right now”, Stolas replied. Looking at him Blitzo could tell he was saying the truth, but it tickled so bad he didn’t know if he could keep going with this game, not that he hated seeing Stolas enjoying things, though. Also, the way Stolas kissed him wasn’t bad, he actually was a good kisser, but on his stomach his kisses were unbearable.

    Stolas then started scratching Blitzo’s underarms and that was also a pretty bad spot. Blitzo couldn’t stop his cackling laugh to come out. 

    “Ahahahahaha! Don’t! Not there please!”

   “Oh, starting begging so soon?”

   “I’m not begging you pompous piece of sh*t!”

   “Oh, alright, I understand, it was just a reflex, wasn’t it? You’re actually having fun, don’t you?” Stolas cooed.

   “I’m nohohohohot!” He screamed, not admitting this was kind of fun. 

   “Blitzi, you are so cute, you know that?”, Stolas said with the most sincere voice he could make. He softly leaned down to Blitzo’s neck, which he knew was really sensitive, and started kissing and nibbling it while still tickling his underarms.

   “No my neeehheehck! At least forgive my neeehehehck! I cahahahan’t….!”

   “Blitzo actually loved to be softly kissed in his neck, his feathers also would tickle him and make him melt when Stolas did it, but he would always put a facade of seriousness so he wouldn’t realize that, but Stolas was very clever, he knew Blitzo’s true feelings when having intimacy every full moon with him.

   Stolas stopped in order to let Blitzo breathe. Blitzo was still laughing a little while catching up some air. When he was able to talk again, he said:

   “Why are you always like this Stolas, doing whatever you want…”

   “Uhm? Aren’t our encounters also enjoyable to you?” Stolas asked tilting his head to one side in a question gesture. “Well, to be completely honest with you I’ve always wondered how do you look when you smile, not your everyday smug smile, just a pure, genuine smile...and also how does your laugh sound when you are amused. Every night we meet I have the hope you’ll show that cute smile to me, and when I think I finally got to make you smile, you just look away from me and hide your true feelings”.

   Blitzo was looking at him while listening to all that. Stola’s face showed a little sad smile and he felt his heart shrinking a little. Was he feeling moved? That’s impossible, he said to myself, but he felt Stolas didn’t mean any  harm when playing with him this way.

    But Blitzo is still Blitzo, so…

   “Well, it’s not like I can just laugh in front of you that easily, or look at you in the eyes all the time...just, I don’t hate you or anything, do you get it?”

   Stolas noticed Blitzo was looking a little flustered. 

   “So can we keep having fun for a little more then?”, Stolas asked, with the purest smile he could make. Blitzo was hesitating but…

   “Well, I, uhm…”. Blitzo was kind of trapped in this game already and he wasn’t against some more tickling for the sake of making Stolas happy and having some fun (this thought would never come out of his mouth though). He stared at him and said: “Well, maybe just this time is ok...I guess”.

   There was a big smile on Stolas’ face, he jumped off from the bed and went to his vanity, quickly opened and closed a drawer and came back to where Blitzo was laying. Blitzo was getting both scared and excited at the same time, again trying not to show a nervous anticipating smile.

   Stolas showed him a fancy crystal bottle. He slowly opened and started to pour what it was inside on Blitzo’s chest. It was some herb scented oil.

   “Oh no, onohohohono!”, Blitzo said while nervously giggling at the thought of what it was about to happen. He felt Stolas’ hand sensually spreading the warm oil in all his upper body, making him squirm again. It already tickled so bad when doing this he couldn’t stop his voice from coming out.

    “Please, don’t do it!” Blitzo yelled, but he was unconsciously smiling because of the excitement.

   “I’ll just play for a while, I promise”, Stolas’ answered, while digging Blitzo’s ribs.

   “NOHHOHOHOHOHOHO! STAHAHAHAHAHAP! Blitzo screamed, arching his back trying to get away from Stolas’ claws, but he was really good tied, so he couldn’t move that much.

    “Why, my dear? Doesn’t it feel much better now, to laugh at your heart’s content? You’re getting so much attention tonight, you little greedy imp”.

     “THIIIS NOHOHOT THE ATTENTION I NEHEHEED!, Blitzo replied, truly laughing this time, while his tail was wagging, a sign that an imp is relaxed or happy.

   “Aww, don’t be shy Blitzi, just stop thinking that much and enjoy it! If you do I will let you do the same to me next time”. He took Blitzo’s tail and started to scratch its tip. Blitzo was going crazy, but he was still able to answer back.

    “I PROHOMISE I WIIILL TICKLE YOU TO DEHEHEATH THAHAHAHT DAY FOR SUURE!  AHAHAHAH!”

   “Can’t wait”, Stolas answered with a singing voice.

  “STOP WIHIHITH THE FU*KING SINGING VOICE ALREADY!” Blitzo practically shrieked, while Stolas was now squeezing his hips and sides.

   “Why, does that make you more ticklish?”, Stolas crooned. “What if I keep doing it while tickling your weakest spot?”

   Blitzo panicked, he knew what it was coming: Stolas grabbed some more oil for his hands and started to slowly run his claws from Blitzo’s hips to his underarms and neck.

   “Nohohohohoho, I swear I’ll kill you if you…!”

  Stolas started digging Blitzo’s underarms, making him shriek with laughter. His head started to get blank.

   “STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!”

   “I love your laugh so much, Blitzi”, Stolas now laughing at Blitzo’s strong reactions, “And your tail wiggling with such joy, it just melts my heart”.

   Blitzo’s looking so vulnerable and helpless laughing like this while being tied up was actually really cute.

   Stolas would alternate the tickling on his neck and underarms, then again nibbling and kissing his neck while scratching his whole body, now ten times more sensitive because of the oil.

    “NOHOHHOH, NOHOHO MY NEEECK! I’M GONNA FUC*ING DIE!”

    Blitzo started to shed tears from the laughing, his head completely in a daze.

    “AHAHAHAHAHAHAH! *hic* HAHAHAHAH! *hic*.

   When he started whining and weezing instead of laughing Stolas knew it was enough for tonight, so he stopped.

       Blitzo was coughing and giggling for a whole minute, completely exhausted.

    “You did a good job Blitzi! I really had fun”, Stolas praised Blitzo for his endurance while kissing him on his cheek and forehead.

     Blitzo wouldn’t admit it, but he also thought it had been a little fun, until the almost dying feeling part.

      “I fuc*ing hate you Stolas”, Blitzo was barely able to say, still with some tears in his eyes.

   Stolas was smiling a lot. At least he had his payback.

   “You know? We should play like this more often”. Stolas said while untying Blitzo. “It would help you to relieve some stress from work and it’s a fun way of foreplay. Also laughing is good for your…”.

   Stolas didn’t realize until looking at Blitzo that he was sound asleep.  Blitzo was just exhausted in order to do anything, but peacefully  snoring in bed.

   Stolas just chuckled, staring at this cute picture for a while before covering him with his sheets and curling up at his side, hugging him.

   “Well, I guess we’ll have our little fun until morning”, Stolas thought.

   “Really, Blitzy, you have no idea how much I love you”.

   Stolas then kissed Blitzo’s shoulder and back of his neck, making him smile a little while still sleeping.

[join-the-joywrite]

You are the music in me (part 1)

(mostly) juke soulmate AUs no. 1

Special thanks & shoutout to @endless-navigator and @i-spit-on-fire for helping me with my first juke soulmates au post, you guys are amazing!!

Suggested by the lovely Endless: AU where soulmates are musically connected, so whenever the one is playing music, the other hears it in their head (Everyone Is Alive AU, Trevor and Bobby are not the same person I know it doesn't make sense shh)

First of all, I love this au and my co-writers

Second of all, let's just pause for a moment to imagine Alex suffering out hours of Justin Bieber's pop music because that was Willie's playlist at one point. Alex retaliated by starting a rock band and that's the real story behind Sunset Curve, shhh

They all go to the same school & the entire grade is very aware of Julie & Carrie's rivalry for top spot in music, dance and drama. So far, Julie has music, Carrie has dance and somehow, Flynn accidentally got into drama due to an admin error in eighth grade and she's been rocking it ever since. But Julie and Carrie are best friends, don't doubt that. It may seem a little suspicious, but they do love each other.

Luke thinks Julie is a hotshot and finds Carrie super arrogant. He tolerates Flynn. He expects his best friends to do the same but Reggie adopted Flynn as his little sister and partner in crime, and Alex regularly sleeps over at Carrie's for spa night and boy gossip. Luke is very betrayed when he discovers this.

Once, Alex was over for a Dirty Candy recital and spent the next day singing the song they were performing and when Dirty Candy performed it, Luke and Reggie were Very Confused -- but half an hour later, Alex was singing Justin Bieber under his breath again.

Anyway back to the juke I initially started this for

Perfect Harmony

Luke doesn't really like Julie but he's the first to admit she's actually really talented. Julie has no idea who Luke is.

When Sunset Curve started up and found their sound, Julie decided that she couldn't wait to meet her soulmate because she was going to strangle them on sight. How was she supposed to get her homework done when all she had every afternoon was rock music???

They once independently went to the same concert and after realizing that the music wasn't bad, they were just hearing double, both got excited that their soulmate liked the music they did.

Julie wrote music with Rose a lot and often, she'd be the one singing. Luke often thought about penning down the unfamiliar lyrics to search it up later but he always forgot, getting lost in the beautiful music his soulmate listened to.

Eventually, Julie grew accustomed to the constant rock and decided to Google the lyrics in her head. After coming up blank everywhere, she concluded that her soulmate was making original music. So she had a talented soulmate. Didn't mean they weren't annoying.

Perfect Harmony

Julie still can't wait to meet her soulmate. Maybe she won't kill them on sight but she sure as hell will beat them with a cushion for the one calculus test she flunked after spending all the study time with loud music in her head.

Luke and Julie write music together

I love Luke but he's dumb and he doesn't even notice that he's writing music with his soulmate. Julie does, but only because her soulmate has a very distinct voice and any music that comes from her soulmate shares that voice and even though it's so very different to her own, there is an undeniable complimentary aspect.

Julie has like 8 duets locked away from her family that she co-wrote with her unaware soulmate.

Perfect Harmony

Sunset Curve has ballads now and then. Bobby, Reggie and Alex know why but they're not gonna tell Luke. They're just gonna share knowing glances and pretend like nothing is different. They have a bet going with how long it'll take Luke to realise.

Luke is falling in love with his soulmate because music is life and his soulmate has GREAT music taste. Unlike Julie, he hasn't yet figured out that the music in his head is original music.

P E R F E C T H A R M O N Y

Endless, Sun & I thought about killing Rose but we threw that out the window pretty quickly. Instead, we decided upon a year-long coma. In which Julie loses music.

Luke is absolutely distraught. He thinks his soulmate died. Reggie, Alex & Bobby don't think so for sure but the longer the silence goes on, the more convinced they get. It affects Luke's music too. Sunset Curve doesn't shut down like Julie did, but they do get softer.

Luke spends more time writing, singing to himself. If by some miracle, his soulmate isn't dead, then he's singing to them. Hopefully.

One day, Sunset Curve performs for Julie. Well, they don't specifically perform for her. They'd have to know her for that. Sunset Curve throws a small gig and "this song goes out to all of you who feel hopeless, like you'll never be able to wake all the passions you used to have up again."

Flynn decides Julie needs to start living again and drags her to the small mini concert because it's small and why not.

Julie goes through the entire evening in a daze, but after Flynn leaves her house later that night, Julie feels a little fuzzy, like something's wrapping her in a big warm hug. And the next day, Julie absolutely obliterates Wake Up.

A week or so after, Rose is concious again.

Now that the serious moments are done, let's get to some funnies.

Luke, distracted and bored: you with the sad eyes

Julie, trying to do her homework: W H Y

Luke, oblivious: don't be discouraged

Julie, squishing her scrap paper: >:(

Flynn finds this amusing and asks what's up. Julie growls, "he's singing Trolls."

"So sing back. Duh."

And then she does. Luke's singing gets less lazy and more energetic. Julie actually really likes Trolls music and she has to admit singing Poppy's lines are fun. Flynn is super tempted to record Julie and call it blackmail stock. Alex, Reggie and Bobby actually act on the temptation.

They do this often. Julie will be doing something mundane and then all of a sudden, there's a duet playing in her head and it's her idiot soulmate covering the song akd hoping she joins in. Thankfully, Julie is mostly alone but she wonders if her soulmate is acting a fool in front of other people just for the sake of hearing her voice. Endearing.

P E R F E C T H A R M O N Y

Julie needs some practice on her dance recitals okay, so randomly, she has the track playing on her headphones and bops her head along. Sometimes she's cleaning the kitchen and dancing with the broom pretending it's her dance partner. No I don't do that haha

It has been WEEKS of this.

Luke has developed brain cells. He now knows his soulmate is helping him write music. So he starts penning down a new song. Both of them know it's a duet. They've even had some joke practices together with no music and things like that. Julie doesn't know the music that goes with it because Luke is careful not to play it. Ever.

And so one night, Julie's down in the studio -- it's dusty and needs a little cleaning -- and pops her earbuds in and she's doin her lil dancy-dance as she listens to her the music for her dance class recital.

Luke: GUYS GUYS GUYS ITS TIME ITS TIME SHE'S PRACTICING GUYS GUYS

Alex: IT'S FINALLY HAPPENINNNGGGGGGG

Reggie and Bobby: so should we leave you two alone for a minute or--

Luke: NO YOU WILL STAY HERE AND YOU WILL PLAY THE NOTES I GAVE YOU LAST WEEK I HOPE YOU NERDS PRACTICED

Bobby: you know we're gonna silently make fun of you the whole time

Luke: I am aware but you guys love me and you'll do this for me now shut up I have to time this perfectly

Julie is hearing double. At first she thinks maybe she never plugged her headphones in or maybe Flynn or Carrie are nearby listening to it too or -- no wait hang on a minute that doesn't sound like the track she's supposed to dance to.

Taking out her earbuds confirms that the music is in her head.

Off topic, speaking of music in her head, Luke definitely thinks I Got The Music is a Bop™

Its soft, its sweet, it's just guitar. There is no way in hell her soulmate is listening to guitar instead of playing it. She knows that much.

So now Julie has forgotten about cleaning the studio up and is pretty much standing in the same spot, just holdin on to the broom that did just two short sweeps

"Step into my world"

"THE BASTARD WROTE A SONG"

"Bittersweet love story bout a girl"

big gasp "THAT BASTARD IS PLAYING OUR DUET"

"Shook me the core"

Julie's brain: singggg,,,,, Julie: I'm afraid, ,,, Julie's brain, in Flynn's voice: S I N G

"Voice like an angel, never heard before"

Julie, before she can back down, "here in front of me"

Luke's eyes get so wide and so happy. Bobby takes a pause to snap a photo. When they finally find Luke's soulmate, they're gonna have so many dorky pics to show

Y'all it is the most beautiful separated duet of all time. I mean, not for the guys, the pauses are really weird but hey, at least Luke seems to be enjoying himself.

Post duet: "Mija are you singing to yourself"

Julie: (screams and throws broom) no?

You know what maybe this needs to be split for a part two...

[kristoffs-lullaby]

A Guide on How to Not Confess to Your Best Friend

(Hi!! This is late I’m so sorry ;; but here’s my part for the exchange! @ninjago-valentine-exchange) [ Plasma B | 2.9k words]  Kai was awful with feelings.  He might have played himself off as cool (or at least tried to) but when it really came down to it.. he was a mess. He could dish out flirty comments all he wanted but that didn’t mean that he knew what to do with them if the other party ever decided to retaliate. And that’s not something he figured about himself until Skylor. Maybe that’s why he’d liked Skylor so much. No he didn’t entirely enjoy the moments where his brain staggered and he looked like an absolute fool, but it made him want to try to keep up. If there was one thing he hated, it was being stunned into silence because that just meant he was losing. And Kai didn’t lose. 

While things didn’t really work out with Skylor relationship-wise, he still learned something about himself. And maybe their whole dynamic and the loss of it was what led to the chain of events that he still couldn’t quite believe even as he was living through it. 

Kai didn’t think much of it at first. That’s just how he and the other three Were. They teased each other. Poked fun at one another. Cracked jokes. And sometimes it would be at one another’s expense. Sometimes they’d take it too far and one of them would get pissed and the other wouldn’t understand Why until they had a much needed conversation about limits and boundaries. 

But that never came up when this particular brand of teasing and banter kicked off and maybe it should’ve been obvious way back then that he didn’t mind Jay crossing  this one specific boundary. But Kai was stupid and Kai was oblivious. 

It started as an off-handed comment about how maybe Jay had chosen the wrong sibling to date when Nya refused to side with him in a very heated debate about cake. Like the traitor she was, she took Cole’s side on the whole thing. Kai was at least glad to see that there was no bad blood between the three of them when Jay struck an, admittedly, low blow by bringing up how Nya was backstabbing him for Cole again just like in their former relationship.

That didn’t mean he didn’t want to witness SOME sort of drama. So he sided with Jay. Which led to an uproar. Which led to Jay saying what he did. 

And it was a joke. Kai knew it was a joke. Nya and Cole knew it was a joke. And Jay had obviously meant it as a joke. There was that buffer though and he couldn’t understand why. 

He reasoned with himself that he was having trouble keeping up with all three yelling at each other. All the while he was stuck in the middle and that was why he didn’t say anything immediately and instead took a swig of his soda. But even those few seconds he bought himself apparently weren’t enough because he didn’t even have the time to register the words he planned to say before his mouth had made the decision for him. 

He was playing along apparently. 

“Obviously. I’m much better looking than Nya anyway. Don’t know what you ever saw in her.” Kai hung his head and shook it in disbelief. 

“HEY!” 

It’d been months now and that one moment had spurred on their little unspoken challenge. A competition of sorts. 

Really what they were doing was full on flirting with each other but they’d play it off as if it were a game between them to see who could fluster the other first. Until it wasn’t a game anymore. But neither of them was willing to admit that it wasn’t. And it grew to be a frustrating occurrence because everyone else knew what was up except those two idiots apparently. 

Kai was currently winning though and that’s all that mattered. Yup. All that mattered.

“Hey Romeo!”

Kai’s head snapped up at the nickname. (There was something to be said about the fact that they’d gotten used to using them but he wasn’t about to be the one to bring it up). He watched as Jay jogged up to him before the blue ninja leaned over to catch his breath as soon as he was at a closer distance. Kai wanted to laugh at the fact that the guy was a whole Ninja and still ran out of stamina a lot quicker than Dareth. It was kind of sad, actually, but he couldn’t help the fond eye roll it got out of him. 

“Hey Sunshine.” Kai supplied as he draped an arm over Jay’s shoulders lazily when the other boy finally stood his full height. “I’m guessin’ you have some big news. That or you’re dying to see me and I just took your breath away.” 

Jay snorted and shoved at his chest before ducking under Kai’s arm and side-stepping away from the touch. 

“No. And if you’re about to detail whatever daydreams you have about me it’s gonna have to wait-” 

“Shit. Is there danger?” Kai’s face dropped instantly as a million and one bad scenarios ran through his head. Geez being a ninja was hard.

“No, no, no.” It was sort of cute the way the blue ninja waved his hands around frantically. He was so animated when he spoke and it wasn’t something that was lost on Kai. If anything it was something he found endearing. He couldn’t tear his eyes away. How could he? Jay made it incredibly hard to ignore him. That’s probably why most people he came across labeled him as ‘annoying’. And maybe Kai had used the word against him in the.. not so distant past. But it wasn’t exactly right. Jay just had that sort of presence that demanded attention and sometimes it was a bit overwhelming but.. it wasn’t exactly a bad thing either.

Jay tapped a finger against his chin and looked him up and down. ”Your fashion sense might be a danger to society.. but other than that?”

“You take that back. You’re just jealous I rock everything I wear.” Kai crossed his arms over his chest and squinted. The absolute nerve. This brat was asking for a beatdown during training later. 

“Not jealous. Buuut. I do appreciate the view you’re right.”

“Why you-”

“Here.” Jay interrupted and shoved something in his direction. 

It was wrapped haphazardly. It reminded Kai of something he’d whip together when he was like nine. Back when he hardly knew how to use scissors and the tape dispenser was one of the greatest enemies in his life. Ah the good old days. The longer he looked at it the more ridiculous it looked. It didn’t even look like it had been wrapped with the same wrapping paper all the way through. More like Jay had scraps of various different ones and decided to stick ‘em together. Which.. Actually suited him. This very much screamed JAY. But why was he giving this to him..?

“C’mon dude I know your favorite person in the world just gave you a kickass gift but  you don’t gotta stare at it like it’s the best thing you’ve ever seen in your life when I’m standing right here.” Jay sounded nervous. It was subtle and he played it off well (too well. Since when was Jay good at hiding it?) but Kai could tell in the way his voice rose just a decibel above its usual tone. It was also in the tic. Jay had a habit of looping one of the drawstrings of his hoodie around his finger when he was anxious. 

“My bad. Hold on let me get a good look at you,” This was totally payback for earlier. “Yeah. How could I even question it. Nothing compares.” he determined with a wink to send it home. 

Jay scoffed and was bordering on the edge of giving up this round too if the light pink dusting his cheeks was anything to go by, but in the end it looked like he was going to stand his ground this time. That was fine. This little exchange wasn’t over and Kai had plenty of time to sweep up a tally for the score from right under him. 

Or so he thought. 

Nothing could have prepared him for what happened next. 

Which sounded a lot more dramatic than it really was but what the hell was he supposed to do with this? 

Kai had spent that night restless. A restless night wasn’t foreign to him in any way. From time to time the red ninja had trouble sleeping. If he spoke out about how occasionally he’d lie in bed and just mull over every little detail from the past week, one of the other ninja would make some smartass remark about how Kai only found time to actually use his head at the worst possible time. Or maybe they wouldn’t and they’d understand. But he wasn’t going to try his luck. He’d rather protect himself than be vulnerable in a way he knew would hurt if they didn’t take him seriously. 

But this time he wasn’t lying in bed thinking about all the morbid things that came with being a ninja. This time he was glaring daggers at the stupid red bracelet tied neatly around his wrist. Because what the hell? 

It was so nice  and sweet and yet.. Still the most sinister gift he’s ever received. Because while it left him with this feeling of hope and joy, he was also afraid that the same hope that was so innocently sitting on his wrist would burn him. He was the fire ninja and he was afraid of getting burned. How ironic was that?

Kai draped his arm over his eyes. 

..And the smug look on Jay’s face when Kai couldn’t fight back the rising heat in his cheeks. Ridiculous. 

It was fair when they stood on equal ground. When they met on a mutual battlefield. But now Kai’s gone and dug himself into a trench. No. He’d fallen into it. He liked Jay. Dammit. And he let him win. 

Kai kicked his legs in the air in frustration before sitting up. That’s it. If Jay thought he was going to get away with this he was sorely mistaken. It was on and he was going to go all out. Go big or go home right? Right. 

And a month later the plan was kicking into motion.

“Can you remind me why we have to dress up again?” Jay asked. 

“We’re going undercover, I already told you.”

“Oh okay.” 

Kai wasn’t sure if Jay actually believed him or not but he was going to take it. On the one hand that could’ve read as a sarcastic remark because no Kai wasn’t the smartest tool in the shed and didn’t think this plan all the way through BUT Jay was also the type to just take things as they were.. For a bit. At least until it finally settled in that he didn’t actually know what he was doing then he’d start questioning again. Which Kai was banking on it not being for a while. 

“Well are you ready?” Jay looked up at him expectantly. 

Kai would have loved to say ‘Yes’. He really would have. Except.. 

“I just realized I don’t know how to tie a tie,” his lips drew into a thin line. What he’d done certainly wasn’t right. He knew Jay wanted to laugh. He knew it. Kai didn’t even have to look up at the dumb amused smile on Jay’s stupid face to know that. But he did anyway. And sure enough there he was trying his hardest to hold one back. 

Kai rolled his eyes and looked down again, the embarrassment washing over him just a little too roughly. 

“What, really?”

“Yeah. Never really been invited to events and stuff growing up and well I mean who was gonna teach me anyway even if I had been?” his mouth snapped shut as soon as the words left his mouth. Sure he had a streak of not knowing when to hesitate but god damn since when had it gotten this bad? Probably a while ago. This was not the time to bring up his fucked up childhood and admittedly he wanted to move away as quickly as possible before he could get any sort of response dripped in pity. 

But in true Jay fashion, the comment was the last thing he was worried about. And in true Jay fashion.. he was also full of surprises. 

Before Kai could even apologize or change the subject, there were hands slowly guiding themselves around Kai’s neck. They were Jay’s, that much he could process before his brain started buffering. He couldn’t say anything or even react to the extent that he was internally. Which was absolute chaos. 

Kai’s eyes flickered to the red fabric of the tie and lingered there for a second as he watched it being carefully tied in a way he knew would take him a while to master. His eyes wandered to the soft hands at work and he briefly wondered how they weren’t rough and scarred considering all the tinkering Jay did on top of ninja work. And then finally his eyes landed on Jay’s face and the way it was too adorably scrunched in concentration with his tongue sticking out and all. 

It took him far too long to realize when Jay was finished and he begrudgingly added another point to Jay’s side of the scoreboard in his head. 

Kai had to stop letting him stun him into silence. 

..Some other day. 

Because now they were staring at each other with Jay’s hands frozen in place on Kai’s chest and suddenly Jay was leaning in too close and- It was a kiss. It was a little messy and not at all how Kai imagined this going if it ever happened at all. But it was a kiss. And it was still perfect. 

Kai had wondered before if he’d feel a spark of electricity or if Jay would be able to feel the hot fire that burned Kai’s body without mercy on his lips. Now he had the answer. Or at least half of one. But suddenly it wasn’t important anymore. Suddenly it couldn’t even come close to it being his first thought when he could taste the sweetness of Jay’s favorite banana yogurt on his tongue. Or when he tried to imagine literally anything softer than this moment but only came up short on that end as well. Or when his hand cupped the other ninja’s freckled cheek and it fit there like it had always meant to be there. 

They pulled away after a few beats and Kai’s eyes snapped open and all too suddenly he was pointing an accusatory finger at Jay.

“You ruined it!”

“..Huh?” Poor Jay looked so lost and a little dazed. 

“Your ruined it!” Kair repeated as if that helped any. “I was supposed to trick you into this whole “mission” thing,” he threw up air quotes “but really I was GOING take you to this very nice dinner that the whole team helped out with and surprise you!” 

“And.. why can’t we still do that?” Jay looked at him like he was crazy and like he didn’t understand a damn word Kai was saying. Which.. fair.

“Because the whole point was to eventually tell you how I feel tonight and you were supposed to be so shocked by it and I’d get to see the look on your face and revel in it and finally get my revenge!”

“Huh..? Revenge for what?”

“THE BRACELET!” Kai held up his arm and pointed at his wrist where, sure enough, the red bracelet was still clinging to. 

It took Jay a second or two but soon enough the realization was starting to dawn on him. And he laughed. The bastard laughed while Kai was fuming and beat red from the whole thing. 

“But you beat me again,” Kai dragged a hand down his face and clasped his hand over his mouth trying to hide his blush as much as possible. “You got me. You beat me. I’m the most flustered and I-” he choked trying to form a coherent thought. Feelings were hard, how did he ever think he’d be able to push out an actual confession that night? 

“You were one step ahead and I look like the fool again for letting this affect me so much.” In true Kai fashion he didn’t understand immediately that Jay having kissed him first meant something very very important. He wasn’t smart and he never claimed to be in his defense.

“Kai.”

“WHAT?” 

Jay looked like he was considering something before eventually huffing a breath of air through his nose and shaking his head in disbelief.

“You know I gave that to you on Valentine’s Day right?”

“What?”

Jay pointed to the bracelet.

“Valentine’s Day. I was goooing to ask you out but. You kinda just stormed off like the whole thing pissed you off so.” 

Oh.. OH. Kai was an idiot. He didn’t know how many times he’d have to repeat to himself that he was just flat out stupid until his braincells got the memo and actually did their job.

“I’ll give you twenty bucks if you agree to never talk about this again.”

“Throw in a kiss and you’ve got yourself a deal.” 

“Deal.”

“Now how about that Dinner?”

Jay would later make fun of Kai for perfectly timing his whole scheme to fall on White Day. To which Kai would slide him another twenty to have the blue ninja pretend like he thought Kai had done it on purpose.

 Next year he would get him back on purpose. 

[shyrose57]

Brothers anon, sorry this keeps taking me a while to send, been very busy lately.

He only had a hunch at first he was his ancestor but later talking with Karl confirmed it. I have yet to decide, I think he probably will just so I can focus more on the current events and not his past. 

He solely relys on his instincts when around other endermen. Although when around Ran he relys more on his social interaction skills. Though he still does certain things (like no eye contact, he leaves two blocks for Ran as a show of care and harmlessness, and sometimes warbling at Ran) due to his instincts. For other enderman it generally works out well, they mostly leave Ranboo alone anyway. But for Ran, he doesn't care much.

He is aware of Enderwalk Ranboo, mostly cause Phil warned him about it. His interactions with Enderwalk Ranboo are mostly Enderwalk Ranboo entering his room and trying to get close to Ran only for Ran to really full heartily growl and lash out at him when he gets close. Then Enderwalk Ranboo whines and leaves. Ranboo is hesitant but welcoming and open to Ran all the time, mostly because holy shit its another enderman hybrid, he thought he was the only one! And Ranboo can tell the two share a bit of similarities but mostly just thinks its because there both enderman hybrids. 

Karl manages to convince the Artic Commute to leave the two alone and once they leave starts to question Ran. Only to pretty often get cut off by him asking a retaliation question. Ran is angry and desperately wants to know everything, Karl is scared and wants to know everything Ran knows. So they eventually come to a agreement where Karl asks a question, Ran answers then he asks a question and Karl answers that. After a while of this they come to an agreement to wait til Ran is fully healed to start to find a way to get him back. And in the meantime Karl'll explain his timetravel stuff and how Ran got here, hoping to get the Commute to agree to help them find a way to get Ran home. 

A mix of annoyed, angry, relieved, and homesick (cause Tubbo reminds him of Jackie). Bit of both, he wants to know whats going on and where Ran came from, but is also just curious about the other hybrid. Tubbo heads to the Artic cause Ranboo hasn't been over at all in weeks, keeps saying he's to busy and how something interesting happened at the Artic. So Tubbo gets tired of it and decides to head over to find out whats keeping Ranboo from visiting. Ye medic Eret, I was originally thinking of medic Bad but I think I may try to include the Egg in this somewhere so he's not a option. They have a mutual relationship, no one there really has a reason to dislike him or to heavily like him, but they all get along whenever they meet. Eret learns by Phil contacting him for help, cause while Techno and Phil both know some health knowledge they don't know enough to properly treat Ran and make the call to call in Eret to help, both trusting them enough to keep this secret between all of them. Karl learns because of Eret actually, Eret comes to Karl for help to see if he has any enderman biology books and half handly mention how a enderman needs help, leading to Karl asking if its Ranboo or Edward, the no he gets in response alarms him enough to back Eret into a corner and force him to tell him who was there that needed help. All Eret said was a dark enderman with green eyes, which reminds Karl of Ran and gets him panicked enough to go see if its him. Tubbo knows cause he gets impatient of waiting for Ranboo to vist so he vists with no warning, leading to him meeting Ran while looking for Ranboo. Its kept hush hush cause their all unsure of how the rest of the SMP would react to having Ran there, especially when it's revealed he's from the future. 

He did. He's not having fun. Karl used too but not anymore since he's time travled so much he's gotten used to it.

Partially, he understands all common though is only able to speak a medium amount, mostly due to his mouth and vocal cords are just unable to make some words or sounds needed to speak it. When that happens they basically play charades. He is still Technos roommate and is happily helping Ranboo in anyway he can. 

------------------------

They steal anything they can get their grubby hands on. It actually goes pretty well as well shockingly. They mostly steal anything that looks expensive, though they manage to find a bunch of raw material like gold, iron, and even diamonds and steal all of that. And they get far enough no one can find them at first. 

Thats exactly what happened, they make eye contact, hear a ruckus from nearby, make eye contact again, then fucking book it away from the sounds. 

The most trouble the group makes is when Grievous makes fun of Porkums hat and gets punched for it. 

Honestly with all the wars and battles that go on in the SMP he probably doesn't even bat a eye, its probably normal for him. 

First thing Jackie does is complain about everyone being taller than him. I imagine Pogtopia being abandoned for years hasn't left it in a very stable state. So Jackie just steps in the wrong place and gets sent tumbling down, with rocks falling after trapping him. 

All happened after they met Karl, but all happened at different times. So for example, the Wild West where thrown back 3 years after meeting Karl. While for the Haunted Mansion crew, they where thrown back months after meeting Karl. Even though they've all met him before their reactions are slightly different depending on how long ago they met Karl. Again for example Sherman and Jon Jon greeted Karl like a old friend and were happy to see him again. While all of the Haunted Mansion crew greeted Karl with questions as they more recently saw him so didn't feel the need to say hello. Cause Isaac and Karl are both in Kinoko Kingdom, where Karl holds all of his books about the time travel journeys, Karl is able to bring Isaac to the books and show him the City of Mizu Book, along with the others that explain who they people he was with where. Plus Isaac just doesnt really have a reason to not believe Karl as he has never lied to him or anything.

Im guessing you mean after the search party is formed, then its actually Ran found first since he's so close. Karl has to try to convince Ran to join them so they can count him as found and then take him to a holding type area. Ran refuses at first and Karl gives him a ultimatum that he either goes with them and gets to go home or stays here forever. He eventually agrees to come with if he gets to search with them, and reluctantly Karl agrees. Karl does what any of the Tales people joining them on their search, but much to his dismay more people insist on joining them. Ran also actually has information on the Bandits but refuses to give it until they find Jackie, cause he has a bad feeling that something happened to him. Ran actually has his left hand bandaged cause a massive piece of glass went through his hand. Jackie will eventually get his arm in a sling due to a broken bone. Ranbulter and James suffer hypothermia and have to be taken care of by Bad (the Egg doesn't exist in this au). Zack slips trying to get away from the Bandits and twists his ankle. Sherman breaks a finger trying to get out of the ravine. And Benjamin gets a slash on his leg after trying to run from Drowned and getting grazed by the trident. Both sides goals are getting back home. Though it's harder for the Tales cause not all of them get along. Karl gets worn down over time and slowly becomes more distressed and hopeless about getting them home. And all the stress builds up til he just snaps and sadly, quite a few people are in the line of fire when he snaps.

From Future To Past AU:

What led to him suspecting Ranboo to be his ancestor?

Do certain blocks have certain meanings, then? For Endermen?

Enderboo sounds very sad and put-out. How is he generally in this AU, seeing as Phil's aware of his existence at the least? How does Ran feel about his visits, and what are his thoughts on when it happens? Are Ender hybrids rare in general, if he's so surprised to see another one?

How'd Karl convince him? How do the two currently view each other, and what were their previous interactions beforehand, if Ran's reaction to him was so upset, and Karl was spooked? How do they get along after?

How does the rest of the Arctic react to Tubbo's presence, and how do our two Endermen feel about the possible tension-considering Ranboo's closeness to Tubbo, and Ran being reminded of Jackie. What are you thinking, egg-wise? Why does Eret go to Karl for books? Is his library well-known?

So Karl could possibly help Ran out with the effects? Or is at least aware of them? Or no?

Charades with them all sounds like so much fun, honestly. Can you imagine it?? And good! We need more Edward around!

---------------------

Tip Of The Iceberg AU:

Good for them. Do they end up having to return the stuff later, or no?How does it go when Las Nevadas realizes who the thieves are?

Common sense isn't dead! Huzzah! Absolutely hilarious image though.

Good for Porkums, honestly.

That is also true! And really funny image, once again. Eret's just like- 'ah, my window, mysteriously broken. Again. Absolutely shocking. Whatever will I do.' Completely deadpan while they pull out supplies from a chest kept nearby for this exact thing.

Everyone else: Where are we? Are we in danger? What happened?

Jackie: How dare you all be taller than me.

That's not good though. How do they and the others react to that?

Have certain events of the Tales been altered then? Seeing as some of them would be dead otherwise? Or were they revived when they were thrown back in time?

How do all the Smp members react to these random people who popped up seeming to know Karl? 'never lied to him' implies Issac knows Karl a bit more beyond just meeting him now, so what's with that? Is he just naturally trusting of him, or do they know each other?

How does that first interaction go, not just between Karl and Ran, but with the others with them? What information does he have on the bandits, and how did he get it? Similar past as before, seeing as Jackie remains so important to him?

Poor Tales. None of them are having fun, huh? Where are they all housed after this, and what are relationships like as of now? Do the groups stick together from era, or with whoever they just get along with best? How do they interact with certain Smp members?

And what happens both during and in the aftermath of Karl snapping?

[sweetestlamb]

Lighting Up Your World Part 2

Episode 18 

Author’s notes: THANK YOU!!!!!  I’ll start there, thank you guys for your overwhelming support on part 1 that I posted yesterday. You guys make me feel like such a great writer, hearing that some of you cried because of something I wrote. incredible. This part is shorter because I was a bit strapped for time and I scrapped  a vast amount the original version I had because I got new ideas and I just didn’t feel like the other version was enough or had the feeling I wanted. Anyway, I hope you guys still enjoy Part 2 aka Episode 18. Tell me your favorite line in the comments, I just think that would be cute hehe lol. *Plays “Lighting Up Your World”  ♫ ♫

He remembers the exact moment that he purchased the ring, its sparkling brilliance from under the glass display, he imagined it sitting on her dainty fingers taking the place of her many other decorative rings. He imagined her face has he placed it on her finger. The store associate had wondered over to him with a knowing smile on his face, as if he knew that look very well, had seen it on the lovesick faces of countless men. After a few minutes of rapid questioning, he walked out with the precious stone in his possession, nerves shooting up and down his veins until he felt like a ball of anxiety.  The ring heavy as lead in his pocket as he staggered home in a daze, in disbelief at what he'd done.

When he had come home to the castle, he could feel the ring burning a hole through the pocket of his jeans. His heart pattering away, erratic in his chest. He avoided eye contact with Mun-yeong as she greeted him at the door, candied smile welcoming home as she eagerly pulling him into the house demanding that he play with her. 

She hadn’t been amused by his suggestion of cards.

Viciously pushing him in the wall and latching onto his neck like a leech. Hours later, he stumbled out of bed panting as he stealthily hid the box in the bottom of his drawer,covering it with mounds of clothes before tiptoeing into his bed alongside his brother dreaming of Mun-yeong in pristine white walking down an aisle that was laden with soft pink rose petals that matched the hue of her lips. He woke up saying "I do." Relieved that his brother was a relatively deep sleeper and hadn't heard his slip of tongue.

The sounds of nature, birds chirping and the wind rustling leaves pulled him from the sandman's hold, as he blinked awake, rubbing the remnants of sleep from his eyes. Immediately he noticed the lack of pressure on his arm, too light without her head cushioned on his bicep as she used him as her personal pillow. He had long stopped trying to get her to use a pillow, she was adamant that his arms were a perfect substitute. A wave of pride blossomed in his chest every time she would stroke a finger across the bulging muscle, humming in approval, openly appreciating his body.

Stumbling to the bathroom he groggily brushes his teeth before hopping in the shower to wash off the sweat that lingered from being pressed against her flesh all night. After changing into his outfit, another t-shirt and jeans with sneakers, he’s a creature of habit. He walks out of the camping can eyes scouting for his missing girlfriend before finding her over the open grill, poking at the meat she's grilling, tongue poking out slightly as she impatiently waits for their tenderness.

What he doesn't expect to see is a little helper on her side, Min-jo, sits in the chair right next to her, eagerly watching the meat as it grills, babbling away at Mun-yeong, who for the most part looks content in the child's presence.

"How do I pick the people I put in my family?" Her innocent voice lifts with curiosity as she peers up at Mun-yeong, eyes shining brightly with young hope and naivete. "What age will I be ready to choose my family?"

With a sigh he watches Mun-yeong bring a slightly underdone piece of beef to her mouth, she's always too impatient to wait for food to reach its necessary temperature for consumption, higher internal heat his ass. The juices from the meat run down the side of her mouth, and he's left feeling like he's watching a lioness in the wild, lethal and it is majestic.

"Didn't I already tell you to stop following me? I don't have any answers for you." She dismissively responds, looking exasperated clearly this isn't her first time hearing and rebuking this question.

He coughs to announce his arrival, watching both their eyes snap up to settle on him, one pair with adoration the other disinterest then glee. 

Min-jo greets him first, "Hi, Mr.Prince!" She waves enthusiastically at him, little hand looking like it could take flight at any moment, he blushes at his new moniker, glaring at Mun-yeong who smirks at the intended response.

"You don't need to call me that, remember I told you my name." He answers sheepishly rubbing his neck.

"But Ms. Witch told me that you and your brother, who is an illustrator saved her from her castle and then you lived happily ever after. I never knew that princes could save witches." She says the last sentence with pure wonder, sighing softly.

"Only if they're pretty princes just can't resist a pretty witch. They follow them wherever they go." Mun-yeong teasingly eyed him, images of young Gang-tae happily trailing after a dispassionate Mun-yeong playing out in both of their memories.

"Well I didn't exactly save her from the castle, I just lived there with her. Together, we made it happier. We became a family and a family has to live together, so they can lean on each other and not do pointless work." Mun-yeong scoffs at his reminder of Sang-tae's story, rolling her eyes affectionately at him.

"That sounds nice. And now you live on a house on wheels. I've never seen one before." She eyes the camping van, as he approaches them taking the last chair, on the left with Mun-yeong in the center.

"How long have you two been here?"

"This brat came here an hour ago, I keep telling her to go away but she won't listen. " She hands his a bowl of food and he notes with barely concealed amusement that a smaller bowl is aggressively placed in Min-jo's grasping hands.

"Thank you Miss Witch!" Min-jo chirps sweetly, scarfing down the food without another word.

Mun-yeong watches her before devouring her own food, her leg brushing against his when she sways into his body heat, a morning chill lingering in the air, as he glances at her and notices that she is wearing a short cotton romper, soft blue with white speckles splashed across the material. Drastic shift from yesterday's funeral best, he smiles at the implications. He wraps an arm around her shoulder drawing her into his heat, her hum of satisfaction rumbling through his body.

Min-jo's chopsticks clink on the bowl as she asks, "If you two share a brother, does that mean you are brother and sister?" His cheeks redden at the inquisitive child.

"No. He's my boyfriend, we share his brother."

"Oh." She easily accepts before adding to his embarrassment, "What do you do with a boyfriend?"

He whips his head to stare at Mun-yeong willing her not to ruin the innocence of a child, she looks back at him with a straight face before answering, "Well a lot of fun things. Sometimes we kiss, he likes that a lot and sometimes we even--"

"Yah!" He pinches her arm, hard.

She slaps him in retaliation, pouting as she soothes her pained skin, "I was going to say hug and hold hands. Why did you pinch me?"

He doesn't believe her for one second, her filter non-existent indiscriminate of the audience.

He glares at her until she resumes eating her food, ignoring the rest of Min-jo’s constant stream of questions. If she kept this up she could be an adept detective. 

Entertaining a child has never been a task he's been troubled with before and he worries his lip as he looks at the little girl bouncing in her chair with unfiltered glee. They’d made the mistake of feeding her and now she had a boundless amount of energy, unable to keep still for even a moment. 

"What should we do now Miss Witch?"

"I'm not here to entertain you. And he's my toy so you can't play with him." She juts her thumb in his direction, he admonishes at her statement arguing that he is not a toy. She nods unconvincingly as if his arguments are futile and she has already made up her mind.

"I'm bored." Min-jo continues, ignoring them. 

"Then leave."

"But I don't want to." She whines. 

"Then make your own fun."

Their bickering reminds him so much of Mun-yeong and Sang-tae tears prickle in his eyes as he decides to check on his brother. It's been two days since his abrupt departure, the longest they've been without each other. He softly announces that he'll her right back before disappearing into the van, their rising voices following him each step of the way.

I'm fine. I'm working and drawing. Stop worrying, have fun with Mun-yeong. Remember a kiss is better than a fight.

The highlights of his conversation with his older brother, who had answered on his third ring, rushing him off the phone because he was quote, "very booked and busy", he really needed to stop Mun-yeong from teaching his hyung her ridiculous slang. Especially phrases like that, that even he couldn't decipher. He had hummed along as if he wasn't completely lost before bidding Sang-tae goodbye.

He took a moment for himself before rejoining them outside, letting his brother's voice wash over him. He knew their relationship had a tinge of codependency but hadn't realized to what extent until their separation. This was good for them. Healthy. He knew that now.

It just hurt a little right now, but that was okay. Pain wasn't permanent.

The sounds of water splashing hit his ear drums as he jumps off the last step of the camping van, as if on autopilot he rushes to the lake, cold chill on his skin as he searches for Mun-yeong.

She stands on the bank of the lake. Safely out of reach, watching as Min-jo flaps her little arms wildly keeping herself afloat. She is helped by the presence of bright pink floaties on her arms, buoying her onto the surface of the wet escape.

"Can you come in the water Miss Witch?"

He watches Mun-yeong gaze at the water, fear bleeding into her irises before she blinks it away. Brief and clipped response, "No."

There is a pregnant pause, before the child continues, "Are witches afraid of water?"

Mun-yeong's eyes are cold as she looks at Min-jo, he watches the interaction enraptured in this achingly honest conversation encrypted in their own language.

"Yes."

He's releases a breath he didn't know he was hiding. Watching Min-jo nod at her response, "That's okay. Everyone is scared of something. I'm scared of being alone. But you said when I'm older I can find a family. Maybe one day you'll find a way to be in the water." She says it matter of fact, like she has no doubt that Mun-yeong will conquer this fear. 

The sun is no longer as high in the sky and the skyline begins to swirl into hues of pink, orange and yellow. Like a mad painter dragged their unwashed paintbrush across the surface. 

"I think it's time we took you back." His voice breaks their bubble as they turn to look at him. He smiles at them both, charmed by this little whirlwind who has bulldozed her way into Mun-yeong's path. Vaguely wondering what happens when a tornado and a hurricane meet? 

They walk back to the diner, Min-jo in the center and the eyes that land on them make him wonder if they look like a family, Min-jo had reached out to grasp their hands but Mun-yeong had slapped it away complaining of her dirty lake hands. The girl had only laughed before happily holding his hand instead before Mun-yeong broke between them, reminding her that he was her toy much to this chagrin.

The same older woman who had prevented Min-jo from following them the previous day, hastily bursts through the door as they draw close enough to be seen, her frantic voice shrill in the air, "Where have you been? Why did you leave without telling me? Are you okay?!" She grabs Min-jo, raptly checking her body for injuries, touching the wet hair on her head before looking at them angrily.

"Who are you? And why are you with this child?"

Min-jo beats them to answer, "This is the pretty witch and her prince." She beams at the woman, who looks taken back at the response.

He bows low in apology before continuing the explanation, "I'm Moon Gang-tae and this is my girlfriend Ko Mun-yeong. She came to find us we wanted to make sure she made it back safely."

She stares at him, scrutinizing his answer but once she sees that the girl is not harmed she sighs before accept his apology, "Okay. Thank you, I'm sorry for any trouble she caused you." She respectfully bows in return.

"You must have been really worried about her."

She freezes at his statement, looking down at Min-jo before averting her eyes, "No. I wasn't. I.....was just bothered thinking about her."

He raises an eyebrow at the defensive deflection.

"That's the same thing." Mun-yeong quips sharply.

The woman's eyes narrow but there is no argument.

They all stand in silence, the wind howls around them, darkness beginning to fall as the sun drifts into the water.

It is time for them to go. 

"Well this is goodbye, be well and stay safe." He bows once more, Mun-yeong waves once before turning away without another word to either. He shoots Min-jo an apologetic smile as her huge wet eyes follow Mun-yeong longingly.

Then she's ripping herself from the tight grip of the woman who cries at the action. She runs straight into Mun-yeong's back. Little feet thundering on the ground and she quickly closes the distance between them. 

"Wait."

Mun-yeong halts her movement, still facing away.

"Can....I?.." She stutters around the words that jumble in her mouth, eyes staring a hole in Mun-yeong's back, she must be impervious to its heat. After a long drawn out pause she bravely finishes her question, "Can I be apart of your family?" The hope laced in her voice batters at his heart, she's just a child who wants to be loved. Crying out for it. Begging for it.

"No."

Her little head bows in defeat, nodding as if she understands, nobody wants her and she doesn't belong anywhere.

She starts to walk back to the woman, all the previous joy and wonder sucked from every cell of her body. Walking as if a marionette on a string, stilted.

"We're leaving. A family needs to stay together, to lean on each other." Mun-yeong's voice causes her to pause mid step, a twinge warmer than it was earlier. The first day of spring after winter's bitter cold. "You should find a family that worries about you and who needs someone to lean on too. A family that will never leave you."

He watches as those huge eyes slowly travel until they land on the lady. She runs back to her, body trembling as she looks at her like she's seeing her for the first time. Eyes now able to see what has always been right in front of her. 

"Can we be a family?"

The woman gasps, turning her head away, eyes glistening. Min-jo reaches out and takes her hand, small palms appearing even tinier in the woman’s hold as she peers up hopeful once more.

He turns away before he can see the conclusion, walking away to fall into step with Mun-yeong, who turns to meet his gaze. He notices the tear streaks on her skin, fondly looking at her, falling ever more in love.

"How did it end?"

He shrugs, taking her hand, "I didn't stay. But I hope it's a happy ending."

"Me too." She squeezes his hand, tightly. 

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

She wordlessly goes into the camping van announcing that she wants to take a nap. He nods at her, pressing a kiss to her wet cheek before letting her go.

He opens the box of supplies he bought days ago, nerves all but obliterated, he's never been surer of anything in his life. He works diligently but quietly, eyes tracking the door of the camping van to ensure Mun-yeong doesn't suddenly appear before he's done. As he finishes his last touches, he climbs the stairs of the camping van. Eyes softening at the sight of his girlfriend laying on his bed roll, snuggling into his night shirt. He coos at the rare and precious sight, loathing the idea of waking her.

The choice is taken from him when her lashes flutter open and her unfocused eyes land on him, she jumps up nonchalantly hiding the shirt behind her. He pretends not to see it, pointedly looking away from her. Before he beckons her up.

"Come with me."

He offers his hand, sees her in all blue glowing in the sun as she waited for him.

Once again, she takes his hand. It's just as sweet as the first time. His heart is giddy with love.

He contemplates asking her to close her eyes but ultimately decided against it, he wants her to see and relish every moment.

Her small gasp as he pushes the door open makes his heart tremble and do a back-flip, bouncing all around the cavities of his chest. She looks around astonished at the scene, the faint twinkling of the fairy lights that adorn the camping van, blinking rhythmically, like stars that fell from the sky, the long winding path of rose petals that lead to a blanket that is topped with a bountiful basket and a bucket with wine.

"Wow."

She turns to look at him, eyes glossy and shining under the luminescence of the fairy lights. "What is this?"

He doesn't answer her question, actions have always spoken louder than words for him. He escorts her down the path of petals, softly crunching under their feet. Until they reach the blanket and he helps her sit before lowering himself next to her.

He opens the basket, removing all the food he purchased and hid away, small sandwiches and fresh fruits. He plucks a strawberry out before pressing it to her lips, "Open up." The dark desire that rolls through her eyes makes his body flush in return. She obeys silently, wrapping her lips around the soft flesh of the berry, biting down, relishing at the flavor before swallowing. She feeds him a slice of honey dew in return, fingers dragging across his lips bewitchingly.

They consume the rest of the food in silence, feeding themselves and each other in equal turns. Before he pours them both a bottle of the cheap wine he was able to purchase in a liquor store in the town. Her eyes never leave his face as she drinks the wine, captivated by his every move.

"Are you full?" He whispers not wanting to interrupt the calm that has settled like a warm blanket over them.

"Yes, I'm no longer hungry." Intentional pause, as her eyes lock on his lips. "For food."

Adjusting himself in his pants he ignores her tempting offer, for now. The main event is still around the corner and he needs all his wits for that.

Taking her hand in his large palms, he rubs his thumb along the soft skin, gazing into her eyes with his own laid open, wanting her to see everything he feels.

"Mun-yeong, I love you. I love who I am with you, who I've become with you, I want to be with you always."

She blinks at his words, words escape her as she stares at him. He doesn't give her a chance to flounder much more, pulling out what he had hidden in his pocket and placing it in her hand.

The button eyes of the nightmare doll, glow under the moonlight and she looks down at the thing she once dismissed as "ugly crap", now a prized possession.

"Mang-tae?..."

"I'm still a coward a little, he's going to help me tell you a message." He guides her eyes to the scroll sticking from the pouch, all too similar to her concealed message to him.

She slowly pulls the paper from the sack, hands trembling as she unfurls it and reads the message written. She's a fast reader, incredibly so, he knows that and the message is fairly short yet she stares at it for what feels like hours, maybe even years, time is relative in the moment.

She reads the message again and again and again and again and again. 

Before she finally puts it down. Then the tears come, easily, flowing like a river, soaking the neck of her romper and she lets them fall, doesn't interrupt their journey, allows herself this brief moment of vulnerability.

She's never looked more beautiful in his eyes.

He tells her so, "You look so beautiful. I want to see this face until I die."

Without a word she places Mang-tae tenderly on the blanket, before crawling into his arms, wrapping her own around his neck and she answers his question with a kiss. Their lips crash together with enough force to knock him backwards, dragging her with him as they tumble on the blanket.

Her tongue prods at his mouth and he eagerly allows her entrance, moaning at the sweet flavor of strawberry that floods his taste buds, sucking her tongue into his mouth to get more. His hands rub at the exposed skin of her back, traveling down to squeeze her soft lush ass, bringing their pelvis in contact. She grinds down sensually on his erection, moaning at the hot sensation. He pulls the tie holding her romper together, pulling back from the kiss to strip her bare. She resembles a wood nymph naked underneath the smattering of stars in the inky sky, the forest rustles around them.

While he's lost in the glory of her body, she undresses him, pulling his shirt over his head and pressing hot open kisses against his stomach, before unbuttoning his pants and pulling them own with his boxers in one firm tug. Then she hungrily gazes at his body, hands massaging his thighs before she crawls back into his arms, their bodies slotting together like puzzle pieces.

Their tongues meet in a languid battle, bodies rolling against each other like waves, uncontrollably. He presses a curious finger at the folds hidden between her thighs and groans at the enticing wetness that surrounds the digit. Coating in her sweet juices. She shakes her head above him, lifting up to dislodge his finger. He looks at her in question.

"I'm too close. I can't take foreplay. Make love to me." She pleads, demands, begs. All of them, at once.

She steals his breath, just like she did his heart and his control. He wonders what he will have left after her? What will still be his when she takes it all? He would give anything to her.

He is incapable of denying her so with a gentle grip of her waist he moves her aligning their bodies before his cock brushes against her most intimate spot, with a fluid tilt of his hip he slides into her tight pussy, it feels like coming home.

He exalts at the sensation, letting it roll over him, basking in her constrictions around him as she wiggles in his arms before pulling his ear lobe into her wet mouth, "Please."

He thrusts into her, powerful but steady, drawing her close and forcing her to meet him. She begins to ride him, feet planted beside his hips as she rams herself down into his hard cock, the view is unbelievable her face twisted in euphoria under a million dazzling stars, he takes a snapshot in his mind.

Before she knocks all thoughts out of his head, plunge down harder and faster onto him, he grabs her waist desperately, needing to slow her down. But she fights his grip, pushing his hands beside his head and he could easily take control but as he watches her fall apart he realizes she needs this. Desperately. Everything tonight has been out of her control, she needed to gain some of it back. Needed to find her footing as he effortlessly swept her off her feet. 

He lets her hold his hands down, giving no resistant, watching her fuck herself on him, entranced by the indecent sight of his dick disappearing in and reappearing out of her. In. Out. In. Out. InOut. InOut. She sets a punishing pace despite asking him to make love to her but he muses that their version of love hasn't always been gentle or tranquil, sometimes it was volatile even explosive so for them this is making love. It similar to everything else in their lives has layers, that they are continually peeling back to expose a new coat. 

She starts to moan loudly, little ahs so sweet in the wind, twisting and undulating until every downward thrust bumps against her clit, she keens as she pants out his name, "Moon Gang-tae, Moon Gang-tae!"

He holds on for the ride, hips slamming violently into hers as she tightens around him, walls crushing him until finally she shakes in his arms, her body twitching almost out of his hold and he swiftly snatches her back, drilling into the tight wall of her pussy until he feels his pinnacle nearing, the blood in his head surges and he feel his length swell and explode as he tumbles over the edge, driving every last drop of him inside her until she's stuffed full.

She collapses onto him, knocking the wind from his lung. But he takes her weight, wrapping her in his arms.

"Yes." She breaths into his ears.

Sliding out of the tight glove of her pussy he rolls to the side, catching Mang-tae once more, her brows farrow again.

"You didn't let me finish." He gently chides. Taking her hand and bringing it the the pouch on the doll's back once more, he sees the shock that washes over her features, eyes large in wonder as she pulls out the object hidden inside.

A sparkling gold ring, a modest princess cut diamond sits proudly on top, as beautiful as its new owner.

"Are you serious?" Her voice trembles, the tears coming again.

"Yes. But right now it's just a promise ring, a promise that one day I'll be a man who's worthy of being your husband. I wanted to give it to you now so you know that I'm yours and I want you to be mine in very sense of the word. What do you say?"

Her face crinkles into a smile, "You promised not to make me cry again. You already broke that promise tonight. You better not break this one."

He chuckles, "Those are happy tears that doesn't count. And you didn't answer my question." He needs to hear her answer.

She looks at him from under her lashes, naked and beautiful under the inky black night sky, lips blessing him with her response, "Sure. Why not?"

He smiles at the nonchalant answer as she weeps, before taking the ring from her hand, gently pressing the ring onto her finger, it looks like it belongs, perfect fit.

She tackles him onto the blanket, showering his face with kisses as he laughs loudly, freely. Living out his wildest dream with girl that he liked who become the woman that he loves. 

The message on the scroll crushed between their weight. But the words are unaffected.

Marry me, someday?

They were in no rush they had a lifetime ahead of them. 

Maybe even another after that, if they were reincarnated and destiny brought them together again. 

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

She drives them to their new location, he doesn't comment on her driving past the diner or looking through the glass to see Min-jo happily talking to the woman, their hands wrapped around each other as she pulls the lady behind her, excitedly jabbering. Neither of them say anything but she smiles the whole drive after, humming along to BLACKPINK on the radio. 

♫ ♫ Dududududu  ♫ ♫

He still doesn't comment when they end up at another site with a lake and mountains in the background.

After using the bathroom when he comes out of her van he finds her standing on the bank of the river. Feet barely grazing the water.

Wrapped around her arms are the bright pink floaties he saw on Min-jo's arms.

His breath hitches as she looks back at him, defiant smile on her face. Her ring shining from its permanent spot on her finger. 

She takes a step towards the water.

[sincerelyreidburke]

Can we hear more about the time nando got in a fight on the ice and got ejected 👀👀👀 and why this upset quinn?? 👀👀👀

Yes, let’s absolutely talk about this. And please do forgive me for the slight delay on this one, as I was getting my thoughts together.

Here’s the original post where I brought this up, in the context of a bunch of reasons Quinn would get mad at Nando. Since apparently “Quinn and Nando fighting or bickering” is a train of thought we’ve been on in the past 24 hours (this post went up yesterday, about their first Actual Big Fight), let’s go down this road now.

TW: on-ice homophobia, implied racism, and general hate. I won’t type out any slurs, of course, but I’ll imply some really shitty things being said by a Bad Guy.

(Ask me anything about the crickets!)

- So a little backstory. We’ve established that Nando is a walking target for some of the ugliest hate hockey culture can spew. Is this his fault? Of course not. Nando should not have to deal with so much awful just for being who he is in the sport he loves. But does this cause him difficulty growing up in the sport and playing in college, despite being unjust? Absolutely, yes.

- The thing about Nando is that while guys on opposing teams (and, pre-Samwell, sometimes his own teammates) won’t hesitate to throw hateful chirps his way, Nando is also a.) not afraid to stand up for himself, and b.) gigantic.

- Look, all I’m saying is, if I were an asshole on an opposing team, I wouldn’t make fun of the biggest guy on the ice. No matter how much my toxic urges were telling me to do so.

- But Nando also doesn’t like always having to be a ‘violent’ player on the ice. He’s a d-man, and an enforcer, and a lot of his retaliation for the hate he gets comes in the form of legal checks, concentration on defending one player, light tousles after whistles, that kind of thing.

- He’s always trying to find the balance between standing up for himself (and people like him who get the same treatment) and getting in trouble for fighting too much. We know Nando’s off-ice personality, and we know he isn’t aggressive in the slightest. On-ice Nando isn’t afraid to get in a scuffle, but he doesn’t like getting in huge fights on the regular.

- The one little confrontation he got in in this fic is pretty demonstrative of how he is on the ice, usually. In that situation, somebody makes a dirty move and trips Touille, and Nando jumps to defend him, then gets in a little tousle with the guy, winds up getting penalized, and is smug when he goes to the box. Nando is generally pretty shameless about fighting when it means he’s standing up for teammates or friends.

- He doesn’t really start fights unprovoked. There’s always a cause.

- Okay, so my point going through all of this is to establish that Nando walks a careful line between standing up for himself and others and trying not to constantly get penalized or thrown out because of the roughing he gets into. I don’t mean roughing in the technical hockey penalty sense of the word; I just mean fighting.

- Anyway. Nando doesn’t get thrown out of games often. Tousling on the ice is a part of hockey, and it has to get really bad for you to get ejected, at least from what I understand about the game. (I’ve never played, but I’ve grown up in some serious hockey country, and I’ve watched my fair share of NHL, college, and youth-level games.) I actually would say that at Samwell, Nando probably doesn’t get ejected more than maybe once before this incident that I’m going to talk about right now.

- It takes a lot for him to get into a fight that’s ejection-level. For the one time it happens prior to this, I think there was likely some kind of really awful racial hate speech being thrown around on the ice, and he just can’t not fight back about that kind of stuff.

- So finally, we reach the incident you actually asked about. This is junior year. It’s once the season has already been going on for a little while, probably one of the last games of fall semester or one of the first of spring semester.

- Quinn is manager. Therefore, he travels with the team and sits on the bench for games. This is notable because this is, although not directly, the cause of the incident.

- I wrote in this Quindo facts post about some little routines they adopt once Quinn becomes manager, and the one I want to bring to your attention now is the little pregame tradition they have where Nando skates over to him on the bench and gets a little kiss. It’s always just a quick peck and a few words of encouragement from Quinn to him, and it’s very very soft. It starts probably around the second or third game of the season, and they just wind up adopting it as a post-warmup pre-puck-drop ritual.

- Why? Look, there are several reasons. First, they love each other. So jot that down. But kissing on the bench, in plain sight of plenty of college-hockey-TV-broadcast cameras and potential NHL scouts and spectators and opposing team members, isn’t just about their own internal relationship. That’s a deliberate and intentional action that they take because they want to make the ice a safe place.

- This is really important to Nando in particular. He grew up fully aware of how hateful hockey can be, and by doing this— kissing his boyfriend in plain sight before every game he plays— he’s making an active statement about himself and about the fact that there is a place for people like him in the game. He’s continuing, in a sense, what Jack and Bitty started.

- But. Of course, this decision comes with its own difficulties.

- I think Quinn is fully conscious, and a little wary, of the fact that being open about his relationship with Nando as he assumes the position of manager will mean that Nando could be targeted on the ice for even more hate than he already gets. Nando is openly gay, but this situation puts his specific relationship a bit more on display, and, well... okay, let’s just say I feel like it would be much easier to target a guy for his gay relationship when his boyfriend is literally sitting twenty feet away on the bench.

- My point is: Nando wouldn’t change his openness about his relationship with Quinn for a second, but it does create another way for opposing teams to jab at him.

- Look, hockey is, as a whole, a really cruel, really toxic sport, with an environment to match. And SMH is the most supportive team Nando could ask for, but that doesn’t mean that when they leave the confines of practice at Faber, everybody else is going to be just as loving and welcoming.

- So they’re at this game. It’s a home game. Nando and Quinn go about their usual pregame business, and some particularly assholish guy on the other team takes note of that.

- Samwell is losing the game. This guy, along with probably a few of his teammates, starts heckling Nando. It starts as just a few comments, and it grows steadily until he sort of ends up cornering him.

- Nando really tries so hard to let most things roll off his shoulders when it comes to the stuff that gets said to him on the ice. There’s so much of it, and he has so much practice just trying to brush it off. But this time is a little different. This time, the guy says something directly about Quinn.

- I don’t actually feel like typing out exactly what the guy says. Just use your imagination. There are a lot of really cruel words you can use, and he uses many of them. The details of the confrontation aren’t something I feel is necessary to lay out here.

- Something about this, combined with the pressure from the fact that they’re losing, and the way the guy is sort of threatening and menacing in the way he speaks, sends Nando over the edge.

- So they get in a fight. It’s your standard hockey fight; it’s just heated enough that they both get thrown out of the game.

- Quinn watches all of this go down from the bench, and the reason he gets mad is because they discussed the fact that Nando wasn’t going to get himself in trouble defending against cruel things said by people who don’t matter.

- That kind of thing gets lost in the heat of the moment. Quinn watches him get sent down the tunnel, and there are a number of things going through his head: one, that he really hopes he’s not injured too badly, and two, that he’s going to chew him out for getting himself in trouble.

- I think they have an argument after the fact — and I wouldn’t count this at all as a big fight but more just a chance for them to weigh their conflicting opinions. Quinn marches right up to him in the locker room and he’s sort of like, Sebastián, what were you thinking? You could be suspended! You know the disciplinary people aren’t going to go easy on you—

- And Nando is like, baby, but if you heard what he said—

- And they go back and forth for a minute, like: I couldn’t just stand there and let him say that shit about you / but Sebastián, you know people are going to be awful about us; why would you let that jeopardize your ability to play? /  because I had to stand up for you, baby— / It’s not a matter of standing up for me when it’s putting your own hockey life in danger!

- And basically, the reason Quinn gets not exactly mad at him but more just frustrated is because Nando, who operates with his emotions as the first driver at all times, refuses to regret defending Quinn’s honor on the ice. Quinn really doesn’t understand the full toxicity of hockey culture quite enough to realize why this is so important to Nando.

- This isn’t the kind of argument that lasts a long time. They get it out and then they’re okay; they have a much softer talk after the fact. This is how basically all of their disagreements tend to go.

- But yeah, that’s what happens! Nando is a rough boy on the ice and it scares/concerns Quinn. We love to see it.

I hope this answers your question!

[woodsofblight]

How about RayLy? It's a classic~.

((excellent choice!))

The sounds of merriment, laughter and music echoed all across the pond surrounding the Fairy Council. The structure itself was no less festive than the people frolicking around it, bathing in multitudes of lights, Lums and lamps alike. Cheer was not unfamiliar around these hallowed grounds, but some nights allowed for more than others.

This eve was one of those. Fairies, Teensies, Glutes and all other manner of creatures gathered around, old friends, families and acquaintances greeting each other. All of them anxious for night to fall and the moons to appear. A simple, recurring, yet no less welcomed celebration, granting some respite to a world often thrown off-balance.

This same respite carried over to the pair sitting on one of the small islands surrounding the Council. They sat by the edge and gazed up at the Moons as they continued their eternal journey towards each other. The celebration followed along with their journey, although the gradual increase in volume hardly fazed either of its spectators. Even the tray of snacks behind them had barely been touched.

“Are you sure Globox will be alright?” Ly asked, glancing at her partner in stargazing. “He was looking at those plum jugs in a pretty suspicious way.”

“I don’t think we’ll need to worry about him.” Rayman said, smiling. “Last I saw he was busy asking Uglette up for a dance, so they’re probably too busy tearing up the place.”

Ly chuckled, remembering the few occasions she’d seen them dance. While the two were mostly known for their jolly waddling through life, dancing was a different matter entirely. All of a sudden, no fundamental force, gravity or any such trifling matter would stop them from having a fun time, always drawing confusion from those who didn’t know them very well and loud cheering from everyone else.

Once her laughter abated, she spoke up again, “Thanks for joining me out here.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s getting a bit too cramped in there anyway.” he shrugged.

She smiled, knowing that was just an excuse, at best. The limbless had always been a fairly social figure, easily winning the favor of any crowd within minutes. And that was without counting for the fact that virtually everyone around the Glade knew his name. Those from outside the Glade may not have always known his name, but were aware of his deeds at least.

“You’ve got that look on your face again.”

She flinched, the twitch of her ears making it impossible to hide that she had briefly zoned out. Naturally, she would try to do so anyway.

“What look?” she asked.

“You know the one.” he said, grinning.

“Don’t be coy with me, Rayman.” she raised a brow, trying very hard not to smile.

“Alright.” he said. “You see, I’m very good at observing. And so, there’s a couple of basic ‘Ly-expressions’ I’ve learned over the years.”

Even before he finished the sentence, the fairy was contemplating on whether to hear him out, or deliver a preemptive slap. The fact that she hadn’t already was his signal to continue.

“There’s the ‘Stop bothering me, I’m studying’ face-” he leaned into his palms a bit, pretending his fingers were lines upon lines in a particularly elaborate book. “-which is usually pretty hard to observe.”

With still no immediate retaliation in sight, he quickly continued.

“-the ‘You have one minute to ask me to dance, otherwise I’ll drag you off myself’-”

He proceeded to present a grin with positively feline mischievousness, complete with him portraying her ears with his hands. It was an expression she’d only shown once and had been relentlessly teased about ever since.

“You never complained.” she said under her breath, just about ready to give up on hiding her smile.

“And the 'I’ve got too much on my mind, but I don’t want to burden you with any of it’.” he looked away towards the Moons with an exaggerated, forlorn look.

A bit of red rose into her cheeks over how embarrassingly close he was, even for such a lighthearted rib.

“And which look did I have just now?” she asked, raising a brow.

“Well, you haven’t got a book with you.” he mused. “And we’re not dancing, so that leaves only one option.”

She groaned and poked him in the side. “You’re far too cheeky for your own good.”

“Guilty as charged.” the limbless chuckled. Nevertheless, he scooted a little closer, dropping the coy grin for just a friendly smile. “So, what’s eating you?”

“I was talking with Betilla, before everyone arrived.” she said. There really was really no point to try and pretend like he was wrong. “She said Edith wants to take me under her wings, for a while.”

“Isn’t that great though?” he asked. “You won’t find better teachers anywhere. It’s what you always wanted.”

“I know. But this wouldn’t be a brief visit.” she sighed. “I’d have to be her live-in student. Apprentice even, I’m not sure. But I’d be gone for a few years, possibly even more.”

Rayman tilted his head. “That’s what you’re worried about? That we’d forget you, or something?”

“I would certainly hope not!” she protested in mock-offense. “But still, we’re talking years here, Rayman. I like it here, I like being in the Glade, with everyone.”

“Are you scared of leaving?”

“I’m scared of not coming back.” she said. “Whether it’s for a good or bad reason.”

“There’s nothing bad enough that we wouldn’t welcome you back. You know that.”

She looked at him with a faint, sad smile, and he knew not to press any further. There were things the fairy always found difficult to discuss, even at the best of times. Things she had seen, done or could not do. Rayman knew the faint memory of fire and metal in her eyes well.

He didn’t like avoiding it, his nature rebelled against allowing his friend to suffer for something he believed had little to do with her. But it was a discussion for another time, another day. It was unseemly to drag a dark cloud into pleasant occasion.

“Must you go then?” he asked, redirecting the conversation.

“The nymphs put a lot of work into teaching me. It would be disrespectful of me to back out now.”

“That’s not an answer.” he scowled slightly.

“But it’s the truth.” she sighed. “And it’s something I worked my whole life for. I’m just… not keen on spending too much time away…”

There was something left hanging from her words, but there was little need to say it out loud.

“And I’d prefer if you didn’t see a wrinkly old fairy, the next time we meet.” she tried to joke, just as he always would. It only helped her remember how difficult it must be for him to keep it up.

“I think Betilla would take offense to that.” Rayman played along all the same, cracking a smile. “And who knows, maybe I’ll also be tall and-”

The fairy couldn’t hold back an amused snort. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” she apologized, the incredulous look on his face making it very difficult for her to be sincere. “It’s just really hard to imagine you getting taller.”

“Just you wait.” he scoffed. “You’ll need a chair just to look me in the eyes!”

They both ended up laughing, sharing increasingly more absurd height levels he would undoubtedly reach. It was a pleasant distraction from any heavier thoughts. By the time they ran out of ideas, the Moons were just about the cross into each other. The festivities had died down somewhat, as many have chosen to sit by and await the celestial event in awe, or just to relax after partaking in the Council’s hospitality.

“I’m not going anywhere, Ly.” Rayman spoke up again after some time, still smiling. “At least, not anywhere you can’t find me. Even if it’ll take a little longer for us to see each other.”

Ly giggled briefly and pulled him closer, running her fingers through his rowdy tufts of hair.

“How do you do it? How do you never worry about anything?”

“Of course I worry.” he snuggled up to her now, resting his head against her arm. “It’s why I asked in the first place.”

Ly smiled and continued to ruffle his hair, lacing the soft touch with an affectionate appreciation for his concern. When she looked in his eyes, it was like gazing into a clear pond. He had always been like this, for as long as she could remember. 

A trusted friend through everything and a piercing light to cut through any nightmare, whether they rampaged on the surface, or in one’s mind. Often brash, sometimes downright infuriating in his free-spirited disregard for consequences, always more keen to follow whatever duties he chose to hold close to his heart, rather than anything on paper. 

It was a trait that has not changed in years and showed no sign that it would. Perhaps one that she could also embrace, in time.

As the Moons finally joined in the night sky, so did their hands clasp together under their light. Celestial and mortal, all so alike. Sometimes together and sometimes apart, but always compelled to meet again by the guidance of the stars.

[markley]

amortentia — wjh

summary — where complicated feelings are so easily revealed with a simple potion

genre — hogwarts au, fantasy, fluff, comedy

warnings — n/a

word count — 2.5k

a/n — my first harry potter au! if u arent a slytherin im sorry :(

“hello class,” your potions proffesor says, looking out to the rest of the tired morning class. “for the next few days we are learning about amortentia. can anyone tell me what it is?”

many hands raise, not including your own. you knew, but didnt really care enough to answer the question, opting to read the section on the strong love potion in the textbook in front of you. suddenly, something hits the back of your head, and you turn to face wen junhui, or jun, balling up another piece of small parchment in his hands.

if there is one word to describe jun, it’s infuriating. normally, students from the same house tend to get along, but that definitely did not occur between you and jun, both headstrong slytherins with a need to be right— not traits for a good friendship.

it started when junhui questioned whether you were talented or not, as you were always so quiet and never showed any particular skill in wizadry. he challenged you to a duel, and lost. ever since then he has made it his duty to bother and annoy you until school ends, while you make sure to never give him the last laugh.

honestly, the bickering has just become a game of cat and mouse, and although its tiring, you wont lose. besides, what’s the fun in that?

“uh,” you start awkwardly, fully aware of jun’s silent laugh behind you. “a strong love potion that causes obsession rather than actual love? i believe it also varies in smell.”

“uh,” you start awkwardly, fully aware of jun’s silent laugh behind you. “a strong love potion that causes obsession rather than actual love? i believe it also varies in smell.”

“uh,” you start awkwardly, fully aware of jun’s silent laugh behind you. “a strong love potion that causes obsession rather than actual love? i believe it also varies in smell.”

mr. min looks satisfied, shaking through his dark hair with a hand. “correct, but don’t think i won’t notice you not paying attention ms. kwon.” he continues on explaining the properties of the tonic. you turn around slightly to glare at a smirking junhui, clearly proud. you shake your head, already thinking of ways to get him back.

the rest of the class period consisted of you taking notes on both the actual subject and mental notes on ways to make jun’s life absolutely miserable. the bell finally rings, signaling the end of class, and you jump up before jun is able to talk to you like he always insists.

you hear his annoying—albeit nice—voice from behind you, a teasing pout. with a roll of your eyes, you walk away to find your brother, soonyoung, knowing he’s somewhere in the hallways near you. although he is a hufflepuff, and an annoying as hell brother, you found him much easier to get along with than those of your own house— example? jun. obviously. 

soonyoung giggles as you approach him, a teasing smile playing along his lips. “aw, look at that. mr. slytherin is sad you’re avoiding him.” he says. you punch the redhead’s arm, not even needing to look back to know he’s right. jun always pouts. soonyoung insists he really likes you, but you know better—if the constant teasing and pranking is anything to go by. besides, you hated the boy anyway, even though soonyoung disagrees with that as well.

mr. min yells out a small “remember to be prepared tomorrow” throughout the dungeon hall. you turn to the professor, allowing junhui to finally catch up to you, putting an arm around your shoulder, with soonyoung long gone. “hey babe,” jun says, grinning, “good job on that thing today. fucking hilarious.” rolling your eyes, you shrug his arm off.

“fuck--”

“me?”

“off!” you correct, groaning internally at his constant teasing. he just smiles that same crooked grin before walking away with a mumble you didn't quite catch but sounded something like ‘you would.’ oh, how you hate him. or at least that’s what you tell yourself. 

whether you hated the guy or not, he was undeniably gorgeous and sometimes— only sometimes— kind of funny. but you still hated him. never have you been so easily annoyed with a human being before. 

with a small shake of your head, you walk back to your dorm to think of a way to embarrass junhui after potions today. you get there quickly as its right by potions class, but even by this time you had an idea, and not a pretty one. 

if there was one thing junhui prided himself on, it was his skillset. whether that was charms or potions, he was cocky about succeeding in it all. using this, you think of a great way to embarrass him the way you were embarrassed earlier— making a fool out of himself under mr min’s eye. oh how very fun this will be. 

on the other side of school, jun was bribing soonyoung for information on you, already knowing you were attempting to get back at him. you were known for needing the last word, after all. soonyoung being the kind hufflepuff brother he is, at least tried to avoid jun, but eventually gave up at jun’s offer of endless sweets. can you blame him? well yes, and you do the next day before potions when he lets it slip that he told junhui the name of your old crush— not that junhui knows its old. 

how you and soonyoung are siblings? you will never know.

the only thing giving you solace from punching soonyoung in the face is knowing the prank you are about to pull on junhui. the prank in question is completely fucking up his potion, a prank soonyoung called “absolute evil.”

in class, you were to make your own batch of amortentia, a difficult feat on its own, although quite easy for you and jun. the best part is to soon come, when you throw in something most definitely not in the potion. specifically something to make it explode.

maybe soonyoung was right. mr. min was not an easy teacher to impress but was definitely an easy teacher to disappoint—and jun hates disappointing professors.

you were evil. guess thats why you fit perfectly in slytherin—or atleast according to the rest of the school.

when class starts, mr. min is already talking about failure. “don’t worry,” he says, “i already know most of you will fail.” with that last piece of what was probably meant to be encouragement, everyone begins to work on the difficult potion.

soon after everyone barely makes it to the middle of the workload, you have already finished, and jun is right behind you. he moved away from his cauldron to fetch the last ingredient, and you take it as your time to throw in a little bit of porcupine quills quickly, an easy way to make his potion turn into something not made for love.

with a small smile at no one noticing, you return to your own finished product, mr. min looking at it in satisfaction. suddenly, a small pop is heard from behind you where jun is standing in front of a bright green potion— well, more like covered in it.

you burst into silent giggles at his predicament, mr. min having an opposite reaction, instead glaring at the failure. junhui himself glares too, but instead at you, with eyes full of hatred. you can’t help the feeling of pride spreading across your chest, which then drops at mr. mins snarl.

“who did it?” he asks, looking around and then stopping at you. you throw your hands up in the air with an exclamation of ‘it wasn’t me!’. the professor doesn’t seem convinced, raising an eyebrow. he then plucks a porcupine quill off your robes, and you give up. “that’s what i thought.”

you look over to jun, standing still in the green mess, but with an obvious smirk on his face. you mentally face palm at yourself for failing at making jun an embarrassment. fuck the little shithead...

“the both of you,” mr. min speaks, pointing to a downtrodden and no longer smiling junhui, “are to clean this mess up, as well as the entire class. oh, and the storage while you are at it. don’t break anything.” and with a small groan of protest from jun, the class is dismissed. mr. min struts out of the dungeon classroom, but not before flicking his wand towards jun’s robes, now spotless.

with a slam of the dungeon door, you and junhui are left alone. “this is your fault,” junhui snarls, pointing a perfectly manicured finger in your direction. “why do i always get looped in with you?!”

“because you started it. and you always retaliate.” you say with ever growing frustration. jun groans in irritation, looking as if ready to stab you at any given moment.

“how the hell are you and soonyoung siblings?” he asks, shaking his head while walking to the corner to begin cleaning.

“i ask myself that question everyday.”

after that small conversation, the two of you start cleaning up the green mess and then the rest of the dungeon classroom. it took a good hour or two, and you still hadnt even organized the messy storage yet. the entire time while cleaning you and junhui hadnt talked to each other, only sparing a few hate-filled glances and eye rolls.

the storage closet was a mess of premade potions and ingredients. it was so chaotic you feel the need to ask mr. min the last time he even thought about organizing it. shelves upon shelves held bottles of colors: red to black to clear. almost every potion in existence was held in this small closet.

you can’t help but find your fingertips brushing across the bottles of pretty tonics. jun follows you into the small space to clean after seeing you ogling instead of doing your job. “get to cleaning.” he says, already starting his organization process of what seems to be putting the potions in rainbow order.

rolling your eyes, you begin to help, grabbing the bottles of liquid. a small bright pink vial grabs your attention as you brush through the bottled ingredients. you pick it up, swishing the thick potion within the glass. with a cock of your head, you open it to be met with a strong fume of what seems to smell like... junhui? the boy in question is still diligently cleaning the small closet behind you, unknowingly to you, staring at you from his peripheral vison.

you take another sniff, hoping to be wrong—but no. that smell is distinctly jun; musky yet sweet. a hand grabs the bottle from you, peering at the label. “what does it smell like?” jun asks, raising an eyebrow at your extremely confused expression. “it’s amortentia, dumbass.”

at this, you grab the potion back, not believing him. there is no way in hell amortentia would smell like jun. however, the infuriating guy was right. the bottle was in fact labeled amortentia. your breathing hitches, and you can’t seem to come up with any words— or even look up at the boy in front of you.

jun seems to get more confused every second you dont answer him. “um, y/n? you alive there?” you finally look up, coughing awkwardly and handing him the vial back.

“yeah, im fine dork.”

“ouch. dork? im a nerd at best.”

“shut up, you nerd.” he smiles at your unconscious correction, turning back to the amortentia bottle unaware to the racing thoughts and heart you are currently dealing with internally. why, why would amortentia smell like the one person you hate the most behind soonyoung?!

“i bet it smells like minghao.” at this blunt statement you snap your head to a smirking jun. “i mean, you do like him right?” you remember soonyoung saying how jun bribed him with chocolate for this information and you write a mental note to kill your brother later.

“liked,” you mumble, walking as far away from the grinning asshole in front of you. the last thing you need is junhui teasing you about a crush while the strongest love potion ever smells like him. “as in no longer. over. done with. blah blah blah.”

“anyway, are you almost done with the rest of the potions?” you quickly change the subject of your old crush and the potion that reeks of your number one enemy. the questions in your head still wont end and you want to leave as soon as possible.

“wait wait wait,” jun says, very insistent. “if you dont like minghao anymore, who does it smell like?”

“why the fuck do you care, junhui?”

“i dont,” he says, twidling his thumbs awkwardly, but still staring you down with his dark eyes. “im just... curious.” that isnt entirely true and you can hear it in his hesitant voice.

you groan and glare at the brunet boy. you take the bottle, and pretend to smell it again, but already know your answer. it smells like the forest you found him in one night after curfew, that you just happened to be sneaking out to as well—that was the first time you two ever got along, agreeing to not turn each other in. the potion also smells of the fruity shampoo jun uses, and the mint gum he always chews. you hate to admit it, but the potion smells exactly like how you envision jun. and whatever that may mean, its true.

“the forbidden forest at midnight, mint gum and lemon-y shampoo.” you finally answer after a lot of internal debate of whether to be honest or not. pushing the bottle back to him, you begin to leave the small closet like space. jun reaches out an arm quickly, grabbing on to your wrist.

“that,” he starts, recognizing the scents as his own. “smells like-“

“i know,” you whisper, pulling your arm away. not ready to take his reaction, you start to run away and jun’s next words are the only thing that stop you.

“do you want to know what it smells like to me?” junhui says hopefully, but entirely expecting you to walk away. “hair dye and strawberries.” stopping, you turn back to jun. he had moved closer, now nose to nose with you. your breath hitches, and you almost think you arent breathing. “just like the purple hair dye you put in my shampoo and the strawberries i always see you eat every. single. meal.”

you look up to meet his piercing eyes that bore into yours with such intensity it takes your breath away. you look away for him to softly grab your chin. “look at me, please.” his voice is the softest you’ve ever heard it, just a whisper.

“what does that mean, jun?”

“it means look at me.” you glare up at him, him chuckling in return. he places his forehead against yours, and the exact mint gum scent that you smelled in the love tonic hits your nose. “it means i like you, dork.” jun’s lips move closer to yours every word he speaks until they are just barely touching

“im a nerd at best.” you mumble before pushing your mouth against what you believed to be your enemy’s. mental note: kill soonyoung later, for being right

maybe there really is a thin line between love and hate.

[schtroumpf-a-lunettes]

Smurf Village Upturned, Chapter 13

Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6 | Ch7 | Ch8 | Ch9 | Ch10 | Ch11 | Ch12

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PART TWO: A VILLAGE OVERTURNED

Looking back much, much later, Brainy was able to piece together much of what must have happened that day – as well as the chain of events that probably took place for things to turn out as they did. He was able to make an educated assumption on what it must have been like for Roesia, too. The glowing smurfs' luminescence finally became visible to the average eye, and said smurfs were propelled by magical force into Roesia's special little part of the forest, a portion of the ground waiting for each of them. Before long, they were all lined up in place, forming a circle around her with each smurf equally spaced apart. Papa Smurf and Hefty were the first glowing smurfs to arrive who were not already present, apparently. Vanity and Clumsy's sudden hope for a rescue was quickly quashed upon realising that those two were just as trapped as they were. He was there too, of course – Brainy was trapped just like them, but his enchanted glasses meant that it was a fact hardly registered by his conscious self. No, only a subconscious force reigned at that time – one the other smurfs would describe to him as having been "eerie". But once all of the glowing smurfs that Roesia sought were finally in place, Brainy could imagine that she probably started getting very excited, perhaps as giddy as a child on their birthday. She did not think, after all, that this was going to be her last day. No, as far as she was concerned, she was close, so very close to getting exactly what she wanted.

It was Vanity who'd had the “bright” idea of throwing a rock at Brainy's head. Well, at his glasses, to be more precise. None of them could safely move from their spots on the ground, and it was obvious that continuing to wear them would be bad news. Needless to say, Vanity succeeded in knocking the glasses from his face in a rather painful manner, and that's the point where Brainy's properly fleshed-out memories finally rejoin him, for better or for worse. Upon being separated from those cursed glasses, he was back – back to normal, and with no clue what was going on at that. It was all a confused mess – without his glasses the world was a blur. He didn't quite know where he was and there were voices all around him. He took a single step forward as he tried to gather his bearings, and then immediately leapt into the air with a howl. He'd stepped outside the designated markings on the ground that he wasn't even aware of and could not see, and retaliation had been swift in the form of searing pain. Luckily it was over as quickly as it had begun once he was back in place, confused and not daring to try moving again. "Why are you still conscious?" someone had demanded of him. It had been Roesia. Brainy could hardly know how to begin answering such a strange question. "The markings, you should have…" her voice trailed off, and then, after that, evidently she had turned her attention towards other matters instead. "You know, Roesia," Vanity's voice had cut through the cacophony of everyone present, "I have been meaning to ask about this glowing. I know I tend to have a natural shine about me, but something tells me that this is a little more than that." "Oh, well, it's from a vast build-up of accumulated temporal magic! I've never seen such huge concentrations in a single being my entire life, let alone a group like this… You all must have had quite some experiences among yourselves." Roesia's reply made it sound as if she were excited to share this knowledge. She really had been getting ahead of herself. Vanity ploughed on, probably in an attempt to distract her so that someone would perhaps come up with some way of escaping this mess. "You never did answer our question, either. Why did you give Brainy and I the insight?" A quick laugh. "Well, why not? Isn't sharing a good thing?" Obviously, she had given them insight in order to help with furthering her own goals, although it ultimately wouldn't have made a difference in the end. It had been an easy way to make sure that all of the smurfs she needed were accounted for… which would have been more difficult if she couldn't see the whole village and its occupants with her own eyes to verify who glowed and who didn't. That, and she had no doubt been genuinely curious what effects passing on the insight to them would have - a fun little experiment from her point of view. If there were more words exchanged between Roesia and Vanity, he hadn't heard them at that time, because Clumsy had addressed him directly. How had the conversation gone? "Brainy? You alright?" "Oh, the insight," he whispered to Clumsy miserably once he heard the nearby voice, "I never even got to see myself with it." "I wouldn't worry too much, Brainy, I don't think that's such a big deal," Clumsy tried, replying gently. "Oh, but it is! Vanity is so stubborn sometimes. If only you had been given the insight…" "Ah, I'm not sure I'd have use for a fancy thing like that. I feel like, maybe the stuff in other smurfs' minds, should probably stay there, you know?" "You could've told me what you saw, if you had it…" Brainy insisted. Clumsy smiled. "I don't need a special vision to understand my friend – you don't need special powers to figure yourself out, either. That's somethin' you're 'sposed to do on your own." Silence followed, as Brainy took those words in. "That was so… profound of you to say." It was just after this exchange that Roesia started to make her intent clear. She wanted all of their time magic, wanted it for herself. The stuff that had become attached to their essences, presumably as they put the time crystals to use, which was not normally visible to the average eye. But for Roesia, with her special vision? They might as well have been stars burning brightly in the night sky. "Are you connected to Balthazar?" Brainy had heard Papa Smurf demand as he felt around for his glasses. "We know very well that wizard is obsessed with seeing into the future." "I've heard of his exploits, but no, I don't work for anyone. Why restrict yourself to the future, anyway? Time goes out in all directions. Well, it's been nice talking to you. Sorry to cut the conversation short, but it's all finally ready – time for you all to hand over the rich resources of temporal magic you all have." There'd been two smaller circles marked out within the greater circle where the sixteen smurfs, and Smoogle, lined the circumference, all equally spaced apart. Finally, his outstretched fingers made contact with the familiar feel of his fallen glasses – he could tell that the lens was cracked and damaged a little. How annoying. Unthinkingly, he'd slipped them back on again before it could properly click that oh, that's right, the insight was still attached to them, and given its negative side-effects, he probably shouldn't have done that. But something was different about this time. Because now, he could see into Roesia, too. It must have been due to the crack in the lens… so she had merely blocked herself off from being accessible all this time, along with the other "blocks" she had put in place… and with good reason. He was just in time to see her slip her necklace off and lay it in one of the inner two circles before going to stand in the other. A loud gasp had escaped him, heads had turned in his direction. "It's going to kill us," he said. "We're going to die." "What… what?" Snappy looked about fearfully, wide-eyed. "It's not possible to extract temporal magic non-lethally," Brainy explained flatly, "and as long as we're alive and it's bound to us, no one can ever make any actual use of it, least of all ourselves." Yes, he could finally see with clarity exactly what she'd been playing at. Roesia had made no attempt at denial. "Bound temporal magic… kind of like a piece of decoration for the soul… ultimately useless," he remembered Roesia saying, before Sassette's pleading voice rang out: "Say it isn't true! Say it isn't true!" They were all gazing at her in horror, but still she refused to deny Brainy's accusation. "Sorry, I didn't want you to find out beforehand." Vanity spoke next. "...Say, Clumsy, could you toss me my mirror? If this really is my last day on this earth, I want to make sure I look my best." "No… No, Roesia, you won't do this," Papa Smurf spoke up firmly. He was surely thinking very fast, intent on finding a way out of this, for all of them. "Was it not you yourself who said earlier that you had never seen such huge concentrations of temporal magic in a single being your whole life? I can see very clearly how much I'm glowing – isn't that more than enough temporal magic for you? So you can let everyone else go." "I'm really sorry Papa Smurf. It's very noble of you for offering, but I've already got you all here, so it's not much of a bargain… There's so much that can be done with this magic, interchangeably, when it's extracted. Almost like magic currency. And there's a lot of things I want to do. I hope you can understand." "But with everyone here, you still surely have more than enough, several times over. At least set the two smurflings free right now. Please." Brainy didn't have to think too hard to realise that he was aiming to at least get the smurflings out of harm's way first, and then he could focus on freeing everyone else. "I really wish I could, truly, I have nothing against any of you. But I'm afraid I can't risk it. The structural integrity of the entire extraction strictly requires a full set, working together, all in the correct placements. All your temporal magic is alike and therefore connected… so this set-up I've done here maximises that." It was then that Brainy saw Papa Smurf's expression change, as if something had just clicked together in his mind. "…But you don't have a full set." She hadn't captured everyone with temporal magic who had been time travelling all those years ago. She was missing Baby Smurf. That meant the "structural integrity" of the entire extraction and the magically binding markings on the ground were already compromised. Roesia claimed that she needed a "full set" of everyone for her plan to work at maximum capacity, but she didn't have it. Perhaps that was why Brainy had not fallen unconscious upon stepping outside of the markings' confines. If Roesia had heard him, she gave no indication. She was already chanting, at that point. As far as she was aware, she wasn't missing anyone. But even if she didn't have everyone she needed, she would still be able to perform the temporal magic extraction. She'd already started the process. He could feel it, could feel something being sucked out of him, he was losing energy. "No," Papa then announced loudly, "not my little smurfs." And then he took a step outside of his circle. The retaliation from the binding magic must have been immediate. Everyone could see it in Papa's pained expression – he was in pain, no doubt. But unlike Brainy, who had leapt into the air upon being greeted with the sensation, Papa stayed outside of the circle – and then took another step forward instead. With obvious effort, he kept moving one foot in front of the other, exploiting the weaknesses in the set-up's defences caused by Baby's absence. If it weren't for that, the binding markings would be too strong. Roesia broke off her chanting when she noticed and instead began demanding that Papa return to his place. That's where she needed him, after all. But Papa ignored her and gradually continued shuffling onwards, crawling agonisingly forward when his legs gave out. The closer he got to the circle that contained the necklace, the more Roesia's shouts took on a pleading note. She even tried to swat Papa away, but such a thing required leaving her own circle. She unthinkingly tried to take a step forward, to go and swat Papa away, anything, only to shriek in pain and step back as she was assailed with the very same searing sensation for leaving her place. She couldn't afford to leave her place anyway; anyone out of position would make the whole process more and more unstable. That was not in her interest. None of this was. He was moving towards the necklace that was lying on the ground. He must have realised the sheer amount of power running through it: how it operated as the focal point of the entire extraction process. It was simultaneously the weakest and most sensitive point, yet holding the most power. If it were to be disturbed, the careful structure that Roesia set up would abruptly collapse, and with everything thrown so out of balance, the markings on the ground would no longer be magically binding. "You don't know what you're doing! No…!" Roesia cried. It looked like Papa Smurf knew exactly what he was doing. "Set us all free," Papa commanded. "I will." "She's lying," Brainy found himself saying. He could see now how intent she was in finishing what she'd started. How she wouldn't hesitate to double-cross Papa the moment he no longer posed an immediate threat to the extraction process. Papa was close to the enchanted necklace, now. He was close enough to touch it. And Brainy was close enough to a realisation that came just a little too late. He saw Papa Smurf reach out and wrench the necklace out of position, and *** everyone was thrown off their feet by the magic-infused explosion that followed. Brainy landed roughly on the hard ground, the lenses of his glasses now having been shattered completely. After a few stunned moments, he was able to note that he was relatively unharmed. The rough landing may leave some bruises, but nothing more than that. He then had no choice but to try and rely on his ears to make sense of what was going on, since the world was nothing but a great blur to him once more without the aid of his glasses. But listening did little to clear up the confusion – there were so many sounds all around him. Sounds of distress. Words started to get filtered through. But he didn't want to listen. They were saying the wrong things. There were scattered cries, both distant and close by. Some weeping. "No… No!" He began to see… something. Even though he could not see anything clearly, even with his terrible vision he could still distinguish the difference between light and dark, and there was something brightening in his vision – ah, was this it, then? Was he dying? Was he supposed to "move into the light"? No, when he moved closer he found that the light was not connected to him at all. He tripped over another smurf – Clumsy, it was Clumsy, he'd know that voice anywhere… He tried asking Clumsy what was going on. He was so glad to hear his voice and know that he was right by his side. Clumsy told him they were safe, but there was something else in his voice. He trailed off mid-sentence, his attention so focused on something else that he failed to help inform Brainy just what it was. "Papa. Papa…" that was Grouchy. He kept saying it again and again. "I've seen this before," said Grandpa softly. Weakly. "There's nothing… Nothing left to be done." "That's not true! I hate…!" "Papa Smurf saved us all, but he… He…" Smurfette's voice trembled. The others would later help explain to Brainy that it had been Papa who was emanating all that light, when no one else had been glowing anymore after the explosion. It was a light that was different from the glowing caused by the temporal magic. A natural light that would take hold of a smurf's form once the soul had dissipated, according to Grandpa. And then the body would dissipate too, not leaving behind a single trace. That's how it worked when it came to smurfs. Not that anyone present apart from Grandpa had ever had a chance to discover this before. Brainy didn't get to see Papa's form disappear. He only got to hear the reactions to it all around him as it happened in front of the very eyes that could not properly see it. It was actually quite a beautiful sight, if anyone's words to that effect could be trusted, but no sight could ever be beautiful enough to alleviate the excruciating circumstances behind it. All he really got to see was the bright light slowly dimming, fading, as Papa faded along with it. If only his glasses weren't damaged beyond repair, maybe he would have been able to see Papa one last time.

[mondregen]

 “Have you used a portal before?”  Minchan asks the question like he doesn’t care much about the answer. The click of his heels on the pavement is distracting, a staccato in bright pink. He’s a lot to handle in the group chat, but even more of a handful in real life. Glittery eyeshadow and perfectly manicured nails, he’s a living doll, making mock kissy faces at every person walking by who dares to stare. A force of nature if Lysander ever saw one.  “Hello? Are you listening?”

 Minchan snapping his fingers in his face brings Lysander back to reality. “Um, what? Sorry, I wasn’t… “  With a huff and a quick wave of his hand, Minchan dismisses his reply. “It doesn’t matter, does it. I’m not walking all the way to Rei’s stupid forest. I’m not going to let my baby witch do it, either.”  As always when Minchan uses this nickname of his, Lysander’s heart skips a beat. It’s one thing to read it, yet another entirely to hear it. And maybe it’s imagination, but something fond colors it, something soft. Lysander fights a smile, biting his lower lip hard. It’s somehow endearing, that particular brand of a handful Minchan is.  He drags him into some alley, its dead end around a brickwalled corner. From his jacket’s pocket he pulls a piece of white chalk, and promptly begins to draw a circle lined and filled with odd symbols on the wall closest to him. Lysander watches in awe and confusion both.  “Oh,” Minchan says, shooting him a grin over his shoulder. “It’s for the portal. You see, for some magic, we need preparation. Magic circles, sometimes little sacrifices, that sort of thing. It’s too advanced for you right now.”  Instead of dampening his mood, this revelation makes Lysander’s stomach flip in joy. “I’ll… learn this, too?”  “Of course!” Minchan finishes his work off and takes a step back, pocketing the chalk again. “You’ll learn this, and how to make potions, and, if Hiroki doesn’t tell me not to, I might just teach you some conjuring, too. Just… don’t go trying to summon some demon, yes? That never goes well.”  Once again, Lysander only half listens, too entranced by the casualness of Minchan going about his business. He squares his shoulders and places an outstretched hand into the very center of the circle. As soon as his fingers touch the chalk, it springs to life, glowing a gentle white. Minchan pulls his hand back slowly. The circle lifts off the wall, sticking to his skin like a spiderweb. It hangs in the air, still connected to Minchan’s hand. Lysander’s jaw falls open.  Of course, Minchan notices. “Neat, isn’t it? Wait until you see Qiaomeng doing it. He doesn’t even need a surface, just draws the thing in the air right away. Talented bastard.”  He falls silent, eyes closed. The glow of the circle brightens. Around it, the air flimmers like it does in the hot summer sun. Lysander inhales, catching the slightest whiff of ozone.  Minchan balls his hand into a loose fist, only his forefinger sticking out. He drags the pad of it down the length of the circle, and, little by little, it breaks open in the wake of his touch. When Minchan reaches the end, the chalk peels back in its entirety, revealing a swirl of muted purples and greens dispersed in a sea of endless black. It takes over the circle, stretching to about Minchan’s height. It stops as soon as it touches the ground.  Lysander’s heart flutters in his chest. His arms break out in goose-flesh. “Wow,” is all he manages to press out.  Minchan hums. “This is a portal. It’s like… a door, except it leads into someone’s home if that someone allows it. Rei isn’t a fan of it, but he lets us use one, anyhow.”  “Why doesn’t he like it?”  “A talented witch could trace this magic back to him. I’ll have Parfait erase as much of it after we’re done as she can, but there’ll always be some leftover in places spells were used. Rei’s mostly worried someone might have the idea to murder him in his sleep, really.” Lowering his voice, Minchan adds, “He’s got a bit of a reputation. The plants he grows are highly sought after, some impossible to get around these parts unless you want to pay a hefty sum. He has all reason to be cautious.”  Lysander makes a little noise of understanding. All he knows about Rei is that he lives in a forest -- magical and weird, as Qiaomeng had put it -- and that he’s powerful, too. He should have asked more questions.  “Anyway.” Minchan grasps him gently by the shoulders and steers him towards the portal. “It’s best if you close your eyes and keep your limbs pressed to your body until you’re back on solid ground. Got it? I’ll be right behind you.”  Before Lysander gets another word in, Minchan pushes him.  Everything goes dark.  His stomach swoops again, but not at all in joy this time. He finds himself hovering in nothingness before he’s swept away. Like a tornado toying with a skinny branch, he’s scooped up and tossed about, a deafening roar in his ears. Static sticks to his skin, crawling across it in a numbing tingle. Lysander opens his mouth to scream, but no sound makes it out.  A flash of green breaks through the dark. Lysander slams face first into a tree, its leaves shivering with the impact.  “Oh. Oh, no,” a voice close to him says. Someone places a hand on his shoulder in cadence to a wave of nausea flooding through him. Lysander retches, hunching over. The hand moves to pat his back, all gentle. “There, there. Travelling with portals is never fun, I’m afraid. He should have told you.”  He chances a look to his right, to where the voice is coming from, and is met with bare feet on mossy forest floor. Pressing the back of his hand to his mouth, he straightens slowly.  Miles and miles of forest stretch out around him, trees and bushes and a little creek gently running its course. Birdsong fills the space, lined with the rustle of leaves overhead.  Rei lives in a forest. This forest.  “Is everything alright again?” the voice asks, and the hand disappears. Lysander nods absently.  “Sorry, I… oh.”  A young man steps into his view -- the one those bare feet belong to -- and gives him an encouraging, but small smile. He’s taller than Lysander is, his hair a warm shade of blond reminiscent of honey. Something about him is… off. His skin is too perfect, his movements just shy of oily. There’s a startling darkness to his eyes. Not human, his instincts scream at him, though he passes as one well enough.  The portal buzzes. Minchan emerges with grace, touching his feet to the ground as though he were a cat leaping off the sofa. He beams at the both of them, the definition of cheeky.  “I see you’ve already met our hermit.”  The not-quite-human huffs, crossing his arms. A few heads of flowers peek through his hair, all varying shades of red. “Why did you let him go through it like this? It’s dangerous.”  “Oh, relax. Don’t talk to me about dangerous. You grow flesh-eating plants.”  “ -- that never harm anyone unless I tell them to --”  “Right. That makes it better.”  The puzzle pieces click belatedly. “Oh!” Lysander says, clutching at his chest. “You’re Rei!”  Rei turns toward him, wearing the same smile as before. “And you’re Lysander. I’ll get you something for the queasiness. Portals get to everyone the first time, especially if you’re not fully prepared.” He shoots Minchan a weighty look at his last few words. Minchan retaliates by sticking out his tongue. Rei ignores him. “Come, I’ll show you inside.”  “Inside”, as it turns out, is a little hut hidden behind layers of what Minchan calls “glamour”. After a simple wave of Rei’s hand, it appears out of thin air, flimmering at the edges like Minchan’s circle had done. It sits in the middle of a fenced in, lush garden, a plethora of brightly colored flowers and plants. Some, Lysander recognizes, but others he’s never seen in his life. A walkway of grey stones leads to the entrance door, heavy looking and wooden.  The door swings open on its own, or so it appears. Rei bends down to pick something up, cupping it ever so gently in his palms.  It’s a tiny, albino hedgehog.  “Thank you, Lilac.” Rei presses a kiss to the hedgehog’s forehead. The hedgehog makes a noise that sounds suspiciously flustered. “This is my familiar,” Rei follows it up with, showing Lilac to Lysander. “Say hello. Try to be friends. I’d hate for you two to not get along.”  Lysander wrings his hands, staring at Lilac. Lilac doesn’t move, either, staring right back.  “Um. H-hello. It’s nice to meet you.”  Lilac raises his little snout into the air, and Rei frowns down at him.  “What did I just say? Play nice.”  Still, Lilac doesn’t look very impressed. He turns around in Rei’s palms before he vanishes in a shimmery flash of light. Rei shakes his head.  “Don’t mind him. He needs a bit to warm up to someone.”  Minchan mutters something about it being Rei’s own fault for never socializing. He goes ignored again.  The inside of Rei’s hut is surprisingly normal. All his furniture is wooden or partly wooden, from the round table in the kitchen to the sofa lined with the plushest cushions and pillows to the TV stand. Herbs and flowers hang from every wall, both dried and fresh. The most outlandish item is the big cauldron in the middle of the kitchen, a fire lit underneath it. Whatever’s inside it bubbles gently, filling the air with a sweet, herby scent.  Of all the cliched witch-things Lysander expected to see, this is the most accurate to his imaginations.  Upon closer inspection, however, he finds that the TV and the kitchen itself are both highly modern. Rei even owns a gaming console. How and where is he getting his electricity from? Something tells him the answer will either be magic, or so mundane that he would have never considered it. A question for another day.  Rei gathers them together in the middle of the living room and has them sit on the floor after pushing the coffee table aside. He hands Lysander a small pill and a glass of water instead of the potion he’d expected, and Lysander gulps both down. Apparently, even witches have a need for regular medicine. Perhaps solving everything with magic is against the rules. If there are any rules.  He has so much to learn.  “Did you bring the salves?” Rei asks, seated cross-legged next to Lysander.  A few days earlier, Rei instructed him to prepare a couple of standard salves to put on wounds, ones that his job as a nurse has long familiarized him with. He’d told him to make them with the intent to heal, to concentrate on and visualize the process of a wound closing. So Lysander had done exactly that. And though he’d found himself tempted to test them, himself, he thought it more prudent to wait until both Minchan and Rei could ascertain their capabilities. If they had any special ones, anyhow.  Lysander gives a quick nod, taking the two small, rotund plastic containers out of his sling bag. They used to be filled with store-bought skin care, serving this purpose just fine. Rei takes them with a grateful nod. One he hands Minchan, the other he keeps, unscrewing the lid. He tilts it gently in his palm so the light catches in the creaminess of the salve, making it glisten. He brings it up to his face to smell it, humming as he does. Whether or not it’s a satisfied noise, Lysander can’t tell.  “They smell nice,” Minchan comments, tilting his container every which way like Rei had done. “Why’d you make him make these?”  Rei smiles, that same, small smile, but there’s an edge to it. Smug. “Because I asked him what he’s interested in. Have you done the same?”  Minchan sputters. “I -- you know, it’s not like we can just jump into what he likes. He needs basics. That’s what I’m concerned about.”  This playful back and forth is just as endearing as Minchan’s whirlwind persona. Lysander can’t stop himself from giggling, which earns him a wider smile from Rei and a noise from Minchan like he’s terribly martyred. But he’s smiling, too, unable to hide it even behind that huffy facade.  “Well,” Rei says after a moment of comfortable silence, “I suppose we’ll need to test these.”  He gets up and walks over to the kitchen to rummage in a drawer. What he pulls out glints silvery in his palm, and only when he sits back down, it becomes clear what it is. A knife. Vines snake around its handle, deep green in color. The blade itself is simple and two-edged, a small symbol etched into the very tip of it.  Rei reaches out, takes one of Minchan’s hands and quickly drags the knife from one side of his palm to the other. Minchan yelps.  “What the fuck?! Have you lost your --”  Minchan struggles, but Rei tightens his grasp on his hand, keeping him in place. Blood wells up from the cut, beading along the surface.  “As I said, we need to test his salves,” Rei says, his voice unaffected. He turns his attention towards Lysander, who has since frozen in his spot. His heart hammers in his chest, a new wave of sickness sloshing in his stomach. As used as he is to seeing blood, a warning would have been nice.  Minchan struggles again, but it’s still in vain. He goes slack a moment after, averting his eyes. “I’m going to be sick.”  Rei hums vaguely, still looking at Lysander. “Which one of them would you use for a cut like this?”  “Um.” Lysander slowly inches forward to take a closer look at the cut. It’s not deep, something that would heal just fine on its own once its dressed. He picks up one of his salves, offering it to Rei. “This one.”  “Well, go on then. Put it on.”  Lysander blinks at him. None of this is what he’d expected of this get-together, but he doesn’t have the luxury to complain. Hesitating, he asks Rei for something to clean the blood up with, and Rei disappears again only to return with a damp washcloth. Lysander wipes the cut down, careful not to hurt Minchan too much, before he dips a finger into the salve, coating the pad of it with the thinnest layer.  “This… might sting a little,” he warns as he gently rubs the salve along the cut.  Even before he manages to reach the end of it, the cut begins to close.  He and Minchan both gape at it, at the way the skin knits together on its own right in front of their eyes. Lysander finishes his job to watch the rest of it close, too, leaving Minchan’s palm pristine as if nothing ever happened. No scab, no scar. Nothing.  “Holy shit,” Minchan whispers in awe, inspecting his hand up close. Next to him, Rei chuckles.  “I knew it would work the moment you handed it to me. You must have felt that, too, Minchan.”  Minchan, rubbing his thumb along the spot where the cut used to be, nods dumbly. “I… felt something, sure. But I’m not good at healing magic. I couldn’t tell it was going to be like this.”  Rei wipes his knife down with the damp washcloth. It’s all a little much to take in -- Rei being so casual, Minchan so shocked, this place and Lysander’s salve actually working. His head spins with this slew of information. Judging by the softness of Rei’s face, he’s noticed. He puts a hand on Lysander’s shoulder, squeezing gently.  “You have a talent. Very potent magic. You’ll make a great healer one day, baby witch.”  For the umpteenth time, Lysander’s heart skips a beat.

[yannasunflower]

Incantatrix - Chapter 3

Incantatrix Pairings: NaLu, Jerza, Gajevy Summary: Lucy is a purification witch and Natsu’s magic has been corrupted by a dark, unknown force. What proceeds is an adventure, a few discoveries, and a new kind of magic Lucy never expected to find.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | ffnet

Lucy didn't believe in lazy Sundays. Sweat slid down the side of her face, strands of her hair slick with it and stuck to her cheeks. She brushed at them impatiently, reaching back to tighten her ponytail, eyes narrowed as she watched her opponent move, side to side, feet never quite stilling. Briefly, she wished she'd drank more water before their session had started. Her feet almost slid across the soft, cushioned ground.

Her opponent moved forward, so quick Lucy nearly stumbled. Lucy lunged to the right, chest heaving, left arm coming out to slam her fist into their face. They ducked and threw an elbow at her exposed ribcage. Twisting, she took it to her left shoulder instead, digging her feet into the ground so she wouldn't stumble.

"Don't leave any openings," Erza snarled. Her own forehead was dotted with sweat and her fists were raised in a defensive pose. Her mouth was tight, jaw clenched as she waited for Lucy to move and retaliate.

Lucy threw herself forward, ducking Erza's outstretched hands and sweeping her leg underneath the other woman. Erza hit the ground with a thud and Lucy scrambled to place her in a hold. But Erza was too quick, right arm flashing out to hit Lucy square in the chest and send her on to her own back. In about ten seconds she was pinned and sighing with exasperation, Lucy tapped out.

"Your movements get clumsy the more frustrated you get," Erza scolded lightly, helping the blonde back to her feet. Lucy nodded, stretching her arms above her head and trying to steady her breathing. Working out and sparring with Erza had only gotten minimally easier over the years. The red-head was a challenging, demanding instructor. Which made her an excellent one. At least now, she thought, glancing over to where Erza had her hands resting on top of her head, she could at least give Erza an equal workout.

"Remember to remain calm and focused," Erza continued, handing Lucy a water bottle and opening her own. Lucy sipped at hers carefully. From past experience she knew chugging water right after a workout wasn't the best of ideas.

Out of habit, the two began to jog around the studio as a cool-down, chatting amicably about this and that as their muscles relaxed slowly. By the end of the jog and stretches, Lucy was breathing a little easier and she didn't feel quite so overheated as she had.

Erza had owned the studio for a few years and although she had insisted on giving Lucy lessons for free, Lucy paid monthly for her membership after Erza had offered to teach her. Granted, she hadn't objected to the "family discount" Erza had offered her - or bullied her into as Jellal called it. They had a long-standing tradition of one on one sessions every Sunday morning. Erza was the reason Lucy could climb up a flight of stairs without panting and also why she'd become a much better cook.

"What you eat is just as important as what you do," Erza had basically pummeled into her head until Lucy was eating veggies daily and taking care to grow her own produce.

Grabbing her bag and zipping up her sweater, she waved at Erza cheerfully.

"I'll see you around, I have some errands to run," she called. Erza waved back and nodded.

It was gray and cloudy outside. Lucy stepped out and popped a pair of headphones in, going to turn on some music for her walk back home when her phone buzzed with a text message. The cold air made her shiver a little and she made a note to start bringing her warmer jacket. Half-hoping it was Natsu, she opened up the text and realized it was Levy spamming her as six messages popped up one after another on her screen.

So I finally dug my heels in and researched Natsu's thing…

Bad, Lu. Very bad. See me ASAP.

Also, bring coffee pls.

And muffins. I love muffins.

Just want to reinforce that the info I have is CRUCIAL.

Oh wait, Sunday, duh. Call me when you're here.

Frowning, Lucy played her music and changed direction, heading instead toward Levy's apartment. The blue haired girl always used Sundays as her day away from the library so she knew she'd be holed up in her apartment with tons of books and no food. Sighing, Lucy made a mental note to force Levy into some grocery shopping that week. Sometimes she wondered how the small witch had survived life so long.

She stopped by their favorite bakery to order muffins and coffee, hurrying to get the food to Levy while they were still warm while also not spilling the dangerously hot coffee. Plue trotted at her side, carrying the bags of muffins carefully in his mouth. The streets were still quiet; it wasn't quite ten in the morning yet and some of the fog still clung to the sidewalks. Her pace kept her warm but she looked forward to Levy's toasty apartment and the coffee.

Lucy didn't bother with calling, knowing Levy had probably forgotten where her phone was after texting her. She knocked on the apartment door instead, not surprised by the thump and loud swearing she heard. Levy threw open the door, glasses askew and hair wild.

"I dropped a book on my toe," Levy said flatly. Her expression brightened at the sight of the coffee and muffins. "But, as always, your face brings light to my darkest days." Her eyes did not waver from the goodies.

Lucy rolled her eyes and laughed, stepping into the doorway. Plue moved forward and dropped the muffins on the couch before promptly climbing onto the couch and curling up.

"You're only nice to me when I bring food, I swear," Lucy sighed.

Levy shook her head, fingers already unwrapping a blueberry muffin.

"It's when you bring coffee," she corrected and Lucy snorted as her friend stuffed the entire muffin into her mouth, cheeks hilariously huge as she began to dump sugar into her coffee.

Lucy poured creamer into hers and added only a little bit of sugar, stirring thoroughly before taking a cautious sip. She sat down at Levy's kitchen table, eyeing the damage.

Books were strewn everywhere, some open and some with post-its sticking out. Notebook paper covered the table and was taped to the walls, colored tape making lines between odd-looking diagrams and images that made up a large blank space on the wall in her living room. Lucy stood again and faced one just next to the small fireplace, tracing her finger along the dark lines.

"This looks familiar," she mused, placing her finger on her chin as she thought aloud. "I have a vague memory from college."

"We learned it in Dark Arts," Levy informed her somberly, sucking down coffee and wiping at her mouth.

Lucy sucked in a deep breath and sipped her coffee. That couldn't be good. That class had been grim at best and downright disturbing at worst.

"Tell me what you know," Lucy sighed, turning to face her. Levy was digging through the books on her armchair, muttering strange words to herself in at least two other languages. Her coffee twisted and turned precariously in her hand as she used the other one to shove books aside.

"Okay, I don't know a lot but what I do know is…not good. I got the image from Droy that you had him draw out of your mind and I recognized only a couple of things. So, going with that, I was able to find a few texts on body energy manipulation, which is a fascinating field really. Jellal could tell us a lot more but you should read up on it, it's really interesting how -"

"Lev," Lucy interrupted and Levy blinked, mouth open. She shut it, nodding vigorously.

"Sorry, right. So those texts eventually lead me to more texts on dark rituals which was, let me tell you, not fun, you owe me for some of the pictures I had to look at and can't unsee. Anyway, I couldn't find the exact ritual used on Natsu because they're pretty rare. The materials needed for them are hard to find and they often require a lot of human sacrifices.

"What they do all have in common, however, is they require a piece of the victim or target of the magic."

Lucy frowned. Levy had just shoved a lot of knowledge at her, most of it ugly and cruel, and she took a moment to absorb it, chest constricting at Levy's last words.

"Creepy," she muttered. "I'll ask Natsu if anyone has stolen something from him lately. Does it matter what's used?"

"It has to be something of deep emotional value," Levy answered, frowning at the heavy tome in her hand. The coffee cup was empty and forgotten on the low table in front of the couch. "I guess it imbues items with a sort of magic energy all on their own."

Lucy's hand went to her amulet at the thought, humming agreement. She'd seen the same in her own work.

"I hate to say it, but that sounds like someone close to him," Lucy sighed. Levy nodded agreement, glancing up from the book.

"One more thing, you were right about the magic taking a toll on him. He's going to start to weaken eventually and if they manage to take all of his magic, well…you know what happens."

The stories of witches dying painful deaths from the loss of their magic flashed through her mind and Lucy's hands clenched. She wouldn't let that happen to Natsu. She couldn't. At that moment, as if he could read her mind, he texted her, yet another picture of Happy.

good morning, here's an adorable picture to brighten your day!

Lucy smiled, the corners of her mouth twitching. She couldn't let him die.

After a couple of hours of hanging out with Levy and discussing possible books to look into, as well as some library gossip Levy was always happy to supply, Lucy headed home. The sun was a little more visible and the weak sunlight warmed her bones a little. Humming a light tune, she didn't see that Natsu had responded to her text from an hour before until she got home.

Tossing her gym bag onto her kitchen counter, she dug around in her fridge for some yogurt. She opened up the text, spoon in hand as she scanned the message.

bad news or good news? either way, dinner at my place to talk about it? my shift will be over by then

Lucy felt a thrill run down her spine at the thought. She shot a glance at the clock, which read 12:03 and mentally calculated how long she would need to shower and appear effortlessly not-goblin-like. If Natsu saw her putting effort into what was definitely not a date, he would tease her endlessly. Her bottom lip pouted out as she thought, spooning yogurt into her mouth before she used her thumbs to type out a response.

Sure. What time?

Lucy bit her lip, eyeing the message. She knew she was purposely avoiding the first part of his text. She watched her phone with a sort of anxiety she hadn't felt in a while. She wasn't really the "wait by the phone" girl. But she waited hungrily, grabbing a banana to munch on. He was a slower texter, she had come to find out, which was fine except it made her nervous. Her phone buzzed, interrupting her thoughts, and she snatched it with almost embarrassing glee.

7:30?

Grinning, she sent back an affirmative. She grabbed her bag and jogged upstairs to take a nice hot shower, already anticipating the relief it would bring to her strained muscles. As her bathroom mirror fogged up with the warming water, she combed her hair out and contemplated her wardrobe. Were jeans a good choice? Should she wear a sweater or a nice blouse? What should she do with her hair? Were earrings too much?

Scrubbing at her hair thoroughly did not succeed in getting the not-date out of her mind and in a huff she decided she'd have to text Levy to see what she thought. It had been a date-like request, hadn't it?

Levy was usually calmer about these things; she didn't get excited and while she was an avid researcher and analyst, she had a surprising ability to not overthink things.

Wrapping a towel around her body and another around her head, she rubbed a face mask onto her skin, making faces at herself in the mirror. She giggled and made her way downstairs for lunch and a needed conversation with Levy. She filled up her water bottle, taking a long sip before she checked her phone, which was still on her counter. Her phone showed her she had a message from Natsu and she opened it quickly, surprised. What else was there to discuss? Did he need her to bring something?

it's a date ;)

She hated herself for the way she choked on her water as her face burned.

No!

Lucy pulled at her sweater, tugging it down a little more and adjusting her amulet nervously. She shifted the box in her hands and reached an absent hand down to stroke Plue's head, who pressed up against her touch, tongue lolling. Her hands twitched with the urge to check her makeup just one last time despite the fact she was outside his door already. She couldn't hear anything from inside and was contemplating knocking again when the door suddenly flew open and she was confronted by Natsu's bright face.

"Luce!" he cried, ushering her in quickly. The nickname he had given her did something funny to her insides. She stepped inside with a nervous smile, not sure where to look or what to say. Natsu wasn't the kind of person who appreciated banal pleasantries.

Lucy was nearly put off by just how happy he was to see her, in all honesty. But it was true they hadn't met in a few days and she did have news of his condition. That had to be it.

His apartment, she was pleasantly surprised to find, was clean and comfortable. There were a few dishes in his sink but otherwise, it was a nice place, a couch and coffee table set up in front of an expensive TV. The kitchen was spacious enough for an apartment and Lucy laughed inwardly at the sleek, polished wood kitchen table with no chairs. He was clearly still moving in.

Her attention, however, was claimed by a blue cat winding around her ankles, mrrowing loudly enough to be heard over Natsu fussing with the TV remote, wondering aloud what to watch. Plue merely watched as Happy vied for her attention, paying no attention to the huge wolf-dog in its house. Lucy smiled and bent to stroke him, giggling as he let out a loud, rumbling purr.

"Hello, Happy, we meet at last," she laughed. Natsu watched proudly for a few moments before taking the box from her, opening it with a low whistle. He had apparently decided on a movie, one she recognized as full of epic fight scenes and a lot of blood.

"You weren't kidding when you said you were a good baker," he murmured reverently. Lucy snickered at the way his eyes glazed over at the sight of the cake. The man's heart really could be reached through his stomach.

"Dinner first," she answered, closing the box and waving a finger in his face. "Lord knows it wouldn't spoil your appetite, but it will spoil mine."

"Aye, cap'n," Natsu joked, making a sweeping gesture toward his coffee table, where white boxes of takeout remained unopened. "Your feast awaits, as promised."

Lucy was already bending to sit on the ground in between the table and the couch, reaching for the chopsticks.

"I'm starving," she hummed. Natsu grinned, taking his place next to her and opting for a fork.

"I hope this place is as good as you say it is," he said. Two pieces of chicken were already on their way to his mouth and Lucy watched with hungry anticipation to see his reaction. The takeout place she had suggested after Natsu sheepishly admitted he didn't have any food to cook was one of the best in Magnolia. It was a favorite spot among her friends as it was so close to their favorite bar as well. They had quite a few stories about the place, most of them Lucy only vaguely remembered.

Natsu chewed, eyes fluttering shut as a sinful moan escaped him. Lucy smirked.

"This is," he breathed, spooning rice and noodles onto his plate and practically dumping a whole carton of chicken on there as well. "The best thing my tongue has ever tasted."

Lucy snickered.

"Told you," she said triumphantly. She bit into her egg roll, stifling her own pathetic whimper. She hadn't eaten there in too long; the food was more delicious than she remembered.

They munched happily in silence, Natsu's eyes trained on the movie while Lucy flickered nervous eyes to him and the whole apartment. There were a few pictures on the wall, which she guessed were his family, and his TV stand was stacked with DVD's and a few video games she didn't recognize.

"So," he started casually, eyes sliding to her, mouth still full of food. She wrinkled her nose and he swallowed before he spoke again, grinning at her wolfishly.

"What's this news you had for me?"

Lucy took her time chewing, avoiding his eyes, fighting the urge to lie and say everything was fine, it's okay. Anything to keep that smile on his face. The smile that looked like it could light up a city.

Sucking in a breath, she swallowed and flashed him a nervous smile.

"Not great news," she admitted quietly before launching in what Levy had told her, abridged version. She still wasn't quite ready to tell him he could be dying. Natsu listened carefully, food still making it to his mouth as he did so. At the end, Lucy waited for his reaction, picking at her cuticles. He didn't appear overly concerned as his brow furrowed in thought.

"I haven't had anything stolen from me, though," he finally muttered, staring hard at an empty takeout box.

"Are you sure?" Lucy blurted out. Her stomach clenched. If he hadn't had anything stolen from him, then what could it possibly be fueling the spell?

"Yeah," he answered. "It has to be important to me, right? I'd definitely know if something important to me was stolen but I can't think of anything."

Lucy frowned. She was missing something. She knew it, searching frantically for the answer in her own scattered thoughts. What was it?

"You're on good terms with your family, right?" she asked hesitantly. Implicating his family was risky but they were likely suspects. They knew him best and knew how to attack him best.

Natsu nodded frantically. "We're pretty close. My older brother doesn't talk to us anymore, but it wasn't because of bad blood or anything. A lot of stuff happened and he needed space." His eyes darkened ever so slightly and the corners of his mouth turned down.

Lucy briefly considered digging deeper but decided against it. She didn't know him well enough to do that kind of prying without offending or coming off as pushy. She glanced at Natsu, who was watching her with a curious expression on his face. She tilted her head, lips pursed.

"What?" she asked.

"His girlfriend died," Natsu blurted out, cheeks coloring ever so slightly. "She was murdered. Pretty brutally, and the police never found who did it. It hit him hard, he loved her a lot, you know?"

Lucy blinked.

"Why're you telling me this?" she frowned.

"I know you wouldn't ask, because you're pretty respectful but, I dunno, I wanted you to know," Natsu mumbled, scratching at the back of his head and averting his eyes.

"I guess I just trust you. Not sure why, I haven't known you long, but you're really nice and kinda scary and weird but you're also smart. And you're tryna help me and everything so, yeah," he babbled before clamping his mouth shut.

Lucy felt a blush crawl up her cheeks. She turned her eyes away as well, pretty positive that if she made eye contact with him in that moment she'd want to do something she may regret.

"Thank you," she muttered.

"For what?"

"Trusting me." She turned her eyes back, smiling softly at the confusion in his face. "It's not easy, but I'm glad you trust me."

The slow, sure smile that spread across his face lit up the world.

[amoristt]

Means to an End | Dean x Reader

Summary: After losing everything you’ve ever known, you and the only family you have left live a life in the shadows, succumbing to your monsterly needs and feeding on the living. You’ve always had troubles with the lifestyle, heart hurting with every victim, but never had the internal strength to stand against Silas. That is, until a certain man is to be your next meal. Lighting the fire within you, you finally turn against Silas and his ideals, you soon find fighting against his life may be the very thing that takes yours.

enjoy! <3 ALSO this silas has NOTHING to do with vampire diaries! i just liked the name a lot and needed an antagonist lmao

reblogs + tags and replies will make my entire day as i put a lot of effort into this !

story continues beneath the read more. let me know if you can’t access it!

Means to an End

Cicada’s were always nearly deafening this time of year. The sun fried the top of your head, sweat soaking into your shirt. Try as you might to breathe the air felt hot and sticky, the august summer making you feel like you were actually going to die. You missed the beach you used to live along, the seaside waves lulling you to relax while you waited for a satisfying dinner. Your family were hunters, and damn good at it too. Being the smallest of your group both had its pros and cons- and one of the big pros were that you weren’t expected to join Silas in his sometimes week long voyages to find bundles of meals.

A big con, however, was that your size didn’t offer you much while those around you were being slaughtered. Without power you could do nothing but hide while you lost virtually everything you’d ever known. Silas, having survived, snatched you from your hiding place and took off from the scene just as the last of your home came burning to the ground. The fire was stark against the night sky and though you were so young at the same even now you could vividly remember the scent of burning woods, the sounds of screams and debris toppling over itself. The people who came that night were merciless and determined to not let a soul escape, but you and Silas did anyways. They were none the wiser, too busy watching your parents and relatives corpses burn to ash.

This sun, today, reminded you of the morning following that evening. Burning and relentless, making you feel dehydrated beyond belief. To make matters worse, you were carrying a heavy weight. A man in his late thirties it seemed. Though Silas had the brunt of it, his hands locked tight around the man's wrists, you still found it hard to keep the legs hoisted up enough to not have him dragging along the tall weeds you passed by. The cavern you’d discovered was a great find, offering you and Silas shelter from the outside elements. He was proud of you then, nudging your shoulders, telling you to did good. The pride felt nice even if it only lasted shortly. You remembered the life you had before the attack, before you had to struggle every moment, before people killed as ruthlessly as beasts.

After everything the food became scarce. Like a switch your life was turning upside down, forcing you into a lifestyle that left your head spinning at every turn. With no home and nothing to your names, you and Silas scavenged the streets of whatever small towns you could nimbly pass through. Silas was an expert in his craft, but only when he had a secure home to turn to. Now with nothing, he was as lost as you were. Built at a hulking 7 feet tall, shoulders broad as an ox, he couldn’t pass for a human as you could.

Unlike the rest of your family you’d been cursed with a different structure. You looked mostly human save for your eyes, nails, and teeth when you were riled up. Though you knew you weren’t human, you weren’t entirely sure what you were. Maybe it was better you didn’t know anyways. Another curse that wove its way into your life was, as Silas told it, your ‘pissbaby heart’. Maybe growing up sheltered from the hunts softened you more than it should have, or maybe you just weren’t built for murder, but you found that the life you were forced into clashed with your moral compass. You assumed that with time it would fade and the guilt would dissipate, but with every outcry of your poor victims, every beg of your newest meal, you could feel yourself being worn down. You wished you could let them go. Your kind was able to feed regularly off meats produced by animals. Steaks, pork chops, they did good to your body and kept you sustained. The only issue was that you needed to eat it more often than you did human meat. Despite knowing this, Silas still insisted on feeding on humans and humans alone. He loved the diet, and when you suggested he stop just for the time being, he scoffed.

He would never hear it. He was brutale and sometimes would have fun with his food, torturing innocent people before ravaging them alive. There wasn’t a single thing stopping him from feeding his craving like a wild animal. At one point it grew so bad that you interrupted him, telling him to just put the poor weeping girl out of her misery, and in retaliation you were struck instead. He threatened to trade your positions and tear you apart in her place. Then, in a fit of rage, he snarled down at you that on second thought, you weren’t even worth the effort to eat. He tore into that girl right there, and you never stood against him again.

Now was a time just like any other. Usually your victims were people who were at the wrong place at the wrong time, but Silas seemed much more aggressive than usual. He went out of his way to make sure that the man you were carrying was caught, growling something about being able to smell a hunter from a mile away. You’d heard of hunters, the human ones. Not just the hunters that fed on animals but the ones trained differently, who knew how to wipe out other beings. Vampires, werewolves. Yourself.

You approached the man smoothly when Silas spotted him, watching him through thick eyelashes while he took in drink after drink at some crummy bar. Silas urged you to chose him over everyone else in the bar, and you accepted without question. For a short time, you drank with this stranger.

Dean.

He was funny, and he was cute. It was strange for you to be conversing with a person you knew was going to be dead before the sun rose up but you still giggled at his jokes, hands brushing your hair behind your ears. He was a old rock buff, and a car one as well. As he told you of a ‘impala’ you nearly forgot just what your purpose was until it hit you all over again. You were going to kill him. After remembering that, talking became much harder. Dean noticed and leaned back in his seat, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes. Afraid he’d figured you out, you flashed him a smile and stood, reaching out for his hand.

“Let’s go somewhere private.” You said suggestively.

“Lead the way.” He answered after downing another shot.

You weren’t the one who did the heavy work. The very second you led Dean into a random hotel room, Silas, using the bulk of his strength, slammed him directly on the head and sent him thudding to the floor limply. After seeing this exact scenario play out time and time again you should have been used to it, but you weren’t, your heart full of guilt as Silas urged you to grab his feet. You brought him back to the cavern you were once proud to have found.

The two of you chained Dean to the wall, hands over his head. Silas wasn’t hungry, not yet, and it made you ache to realize that this man was going to be tortured by the hatred of your relative. You made the mistake in checking in on him when Silas left for a moment, exploring outside the cavern to be sure no one was around. The last thing he wanted was for a police officer nearby to somehow hear the piercing screams reverberating off the thick trees surrounding. Dean was silent and still, almost as if passed out. He heard the sound of your feet coming around the corner and glanced up, the chains rattling as he moved even slightly.

“Well,” He huffed. “Look who it is. When you said somewhere private I didn’t think you meant dungeon.”

“I’m sorry.” You said quickly, trying to force the words out.

“That’s just great. If you’re so sorry then why don’t you, maybe, let me go and I’ll forgive you.”

You wanted to so bad. You wanted to bust those chains right off him and let him make his run for it. It would mean you would go hungry for the night but it would be worth it to know you made sure you kept this human alive and kicking for whoever was waiting for him back at where he came from. At your silence, Dean scoffed.

“Thought so.”

“I want to,” You took a step forward, voice wavering. “I wish I could but-... The man you saw bring you in here with me. He’s my family. I can’t just… I have to listen to him.”

Dean narrowed his eyes. “So, what, because big bro says jump you say how high?”

“Yes.” Shame filled you. “He’s family. I have no choice.”

“That’s not how it works. Family doesn’t force you into things that mess you up.” He spoke like he knew exactly what you were going through, like he’d been through it himself. “Family can be a bitch but-” He nodded towards the doorway. “Not that big of a bitch.”

You wrung your fingers together, shaking your head. “He’s all I have left.”

“Then you’re better off without.” At his statement, you snapped to look at him. He rose his brows and nodded, affirming his words.

“Seriously? I have no one other than him. I’d be all alone!”

“Clearly this style choice isn’t working out for you much better, sweetheart.” Dean drawled, and you huffed.

“And what are you suggesting I do?”

“Choose a side!” He bursted, and you jumped. “You can’t play middle grounds- you’re either a monster, or you’re not. Either eat me or get me the hell out of here!”

“I don’t eat human meat.” He narrowed his eyes, and you sighed. “My kind can live off of any meat. Not just humans. Silas is just… Stubborn. He says he likes his fresh. Plus, how would I get you out of here? You’ve seen him, I know him. He’ll find out the minute you step foot out of here and then we’re both screwed.”

“Trust me on this.” He shifted, trying to lean forward sincerely. “I know ways out of these things. You let me out of here and I guarantee we’ll be gone before he even knows it.”

“We?”

Dean nodded once. “You get me outta here, I’ll do you a favor and pop a cap in his ass and take my exit. You’ll never see him, or me, again. New life.”

In the other room were a pair of pliers you kept, and as Dean spoke, they came to mind. You shifted your weight and licked your lips nervously. “You’d trust me enough to let me go?”

“You say you’re not ganking people, right? Just looking at you right now I know you’re not like him. I don’t trust you wholey but you get me out and I will.”

“Promise,” You urged. “Promise you won’t kill me the second you’re free.”

Dean leaned forward again, eyes looking straight into your own. “Promise.”

Your jaw set, shoulders tense. Silas was still gone and nowhere to be heard. He could be miles away by now, never expecting you to turn against him so suddenly. You knew him like the back of your hand- the sun was just starting to go down so he’d be back soon in order to get his meal in.

“Now or never.” Dean chimed, as if reading your mind, and you nodded sharply before turning on your heels and running into the other room.

Just where you had left them were the pliers and you snatched them quickly, running back into the room where Dean was. Adrenaline rushed through you as you dropped down to your knees in front of him and tried to pry the cuffs off his wrists, but they wouldn’t budge. So, you just cut the chain off. The strips fell down from Deans wrist and the moment he was able to move, he stood up. However, he fell back down onto the floor. The blow that been delivered to the back of his head from Silas likely concussed him.

“Alright, here’s the plan. Outside of here is mostly just trees so make sure you don’t take off without me unless you want to get lost. The road isn’t too far away but it is enough to lose if you don’t know your way around here,” You words were quick and precise, and he listened to every one. “Silas is gonna be home soon so if you’ve got a plan to take him down now's the time to share, because he isn’t gonna go down easily.”

“Easy,” Dean grinned and pulling a knife from the inside of his boot. Instinctively fell back, but he held the blade away. “You’re not my target, relax. When he comes in through the door, tell him I escaped. When he turns I’ll be waiting this baby-” He rotated the knife in his hands. “And I’ll ice him quick. Then, we run.”

This was going to work. Dean was back on his feet with your help, the plan set into motion. Finally you were going to be free from Silas, from the torture and blood on your hands. Your life would be renewed, this was going to be your second chance even if it was going to spent alone. Everything would be different. You’d find yourself a nice beach house to stay in and then you’d meet the locals, maybe even get some friends. Maybe even a partner, where you’d start a family of your own. You could pass as a human, no one would be none the wiser.

This was your shot.

In just seconds, the fantasy you were building your head fell to pieces. The sound of the cavern door swinging open then shut echoed through the structure. You and Dean froze in your spot. Given the small size, Silas entered the room in just moments. When he took in your shell shocked expressions, fearful of him and his great wrath, his eyes lit up to an electric green. It pierced you, froze you in your spot even as he barreled forward and slammed Dean into the wall he was once chained to. Silas went straight past you, not touching a hair on your head as he kicked and wailed on Dean mercilessly.

Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion, like you were underwater. You could clearly see the beating but your head was empty. Then, you heard Dean’s voice cut through the marsh. He was in pain, he was being killed.

You sprang into action at the drop of a dime, hands landing flat against Silas’s side. In a brash shove, he swayed but caught himself. Dean was laying still on the ground, and terror filled you at the thought of him being beaten to death. Blood covered his face, bruises already forming over every part of visible skin. His hands clenched and unclenched on nothing. Silas’s eyes found yours and he growled loud, dangerously.

“Mind explaining?” He seethed, nails growing to claws and teeth pointing into fangs. Defiantly, you stepped in between him and Dean’s body. His eyebrows rose amusedly, but the color of his eyes knew this was no laughing matter. “Really?” He hissed.

“Really.” You answered, your voice sounding like it belonged to someone else. “This-” you motioned your arms to point out the countless blood spattered strained to the walls, the color from countless different victims of his terrorization. “This all ends now.”

“You’re gonna stop me, huh? You of all people?”

Though you knew the odds in your head, you nodded. “Yeah,” Swallowing thickly, you readied yourself.  “I am.”

Silas was ready for anything you would throw at him. He was strongest in your whole group with scars to prove it, teeth sharp as razors and notorious for tearing through anything that came in contact. Never once had you tighten your fists like this before him, eyes flashing dangerously, daring him to step closer before you did. The laugh that he roared made your glower at him from beneath your brows.

“Do it then,” He hissed. Even from feet away you felt like he was towering over you. “You’ll be dead before you blink.”

“So be it.” Your voice came out evenly, strong. His taken back expression was satisfying and urged you on further. Never again would you back down before him, never again would you stand by and watch his horrible actions. This was a means to an end, and rather you lived or died at his hands was something you didn’t dare let you stop you.

Behind you Dean sputtered on his own blood, the chains on his wrist clinking together as he tried to heave himself off the dirty floor. You didn’t dare take your line of sight away from Silas in knowing he was an expert at attacking- the moment you turned away it was all over before it could even begin.

“___,” Dean grunted behind you painfully. He continued trying to bring himself to his shaking feet but it was hopeless, everything only worsening the forming wounds on his body when he fell back onto the ground. He coughed once more and spat his mouth clean of blood. “What are you doing?”

You blinked.

What am I doing.

You breathed.

Silas was so much bigger than you. Stronger, faster, smarter. One hand alone would render you powerless on the floor should it have the right grip. If not for the burning hate coursing through your entire being, lighting up your eyes and heart, you would have been shaking by now. You would have been doing anything to get out this situation- begging, pleading, compromising. Taking any punishment for your transgressions. Silas knew this. It was the only reason he hadn’t launched off his feet and mauled you yet. He was waiting for the big, ‘I’m sorry, can we start over?’.

But it wasn’t coming.

Not this time.

You bared your teeth, the tenacity so thick you could almost bite clean through the air.

“Don’t-” Dean’s broken voice was interrupted with a wheeze, his breath escaping him. He was in so much pain. Everytime he moved those damn chains could be heard and everytime it made you all the more furious. “What are you doing?” He repeated, and this time you didn’t question yourself.

You knew the answer to this question without hesitation. Means to an end. The darkness of the cavern further amplified Silas’s eyes radiating, preparing. An overwhelming calm came over you. Fear no longer struck you down or held you tight to the things you knew were wrong. Live or die, you were no longer going to be beneath him. You weren’t going to be his puppet.

Everything was clear to you, now. There wasn’t a thought in your head that told you otherwise. You were in control, you were turning the tides.

Dean waited for a response, the reason for your courage and defense. You knew it. You knew what you were ready for. You didn’t look down at him when you gave him your answer, voice steady and every word precise.

Silas had done this to him. He’d done this to you.

He was going to finally pay.

“I’m choosing a side.”

With no warning you sprung off your feet and launched for Silas, clawed fingers out stretching to grasp any skin you could. He met you halfway in your lunge and his massive body knocked you clean to the floor, but you didn’t stay down long. As he dropped to pin you in your place you rolled out of the way. He hit the ground, hands flat to steady himself. You took the split second to hop on your feet and pivot, fist cracking hard on his bony cheek. He swayed to the side and growled before he took brought himself to his feet, once more reminding you of his clear advantages.

Nimbly you dodged a swing and fasted your nails into his forearm where you raked clean strips down his flesh. He howled in pain and tore his limb away, but didn’t take a moment to nurse the wound. He tackled you onto the floor and tried to bite at your throat but you headbutted him sharply. For only an instant he was dazed but it was enough time to bite at the wrist holding down your shoulder, and when he reeled back you heaved your lower half to kick him directly in the chest. He toppled off you and scrambled to his feet to ready another attack before you were able to get to your feet properly.

Silas took the first move once more and shoved hard at your chest. You hit the ground with a thud, head slamming onto the concrete ground. Stars exploded behind your eyes and before you could shake them off heaviness held your figure down to the ground. Helpless under the ton of weight your arms flailed out blindly for anything to grab or claw, but a sudden hit to the side of your face made you go limp. He was so strong.

Now it was your turn to be dazed. Light sparked in your head like fireworks and you tried to blink past it. As your eyes cleared you were just in time to see both of Silas’s hands cupped together over his head, ready to strike you like a sledgehammer. His legs were on either side of your waist, effectively keeping you trapped beneath him while he readied to likely crush your skull in. Your mind raced for a retaliation and you found it in a convenient place. Without any thoughts of shame, your punched the only thing you saw vulnerable.

The moment the knuckles of your fist collided between his legs, Silas lurched forward, his hands falling heavily on either side of your head. A furious growl left his snarling lips and you seized the opportunity, once more headbutting him and then swinging a right hook directly into his temple. He rolled off you and you didn’t let up for even an instant. Swing after swing, blow after blow, you were relentless in literally attempting to beat his face in. He jerked with every landing strike and kicked his legs, trying to force you off of him. The adrenaline coursing through you distracted you from the cracking in your wrist, the sharp pains jutting in your knuckles.

One of Silas’s large hands struck your side, the impact knocking the wind out of you. With blood practically blinding his swollen eyes, he struggled to his feet while you regained your breath. Your mind continued racing, planning out every last step. You found him in your line of sight getting ready to take initiative once more and to counter his attack before it even began, you rolled just as he lept off his feet. He hit the hard ground and you kicked the side of his head, watching his body sway with the force abruptly. You were on your feet before he could come back from your action, and as soon as your heels made contact with the flooring, you were bounding for him once more.

You were in the lead. You were in control.

Planting both hands on his side, you heaved him onto the ground and let him roll on his back. Blood smeared his shirt, neck, face. It was everywhere and you were sure it was on you too. You kicked shamelessly at his sides and stomach, landing blows anywhere you thought possible. His wheezing and sputtering at every strike was like music to your ears.

It was only when his hand caught your leg mid kick did your stomach drop once more. He yanked you by the knee onto the ground and recovered faster than you’d expected. Your face hit the floor roughly and you knew instantly your nose had been broken. Another sharp pain seethed through your body as you were lifted up by your hair, then by your neck as he clamped his fingers down on your throat. He choked you as your hands clawed feebly at the his wrists, your lungs already desperate for an intake of air.

Any moment now you swore your windpipe was going to collapse under the immense pressure. It was agony, your voice and breath entirely cut off as you were strangles relentlessly. Silas’s face came close to your own, so close you could feel his heaving breath on your face. You could see into his eyes, void of any feeling left. You could smell the blood on his face- or maybe it was your own. You could see the sweat on his skin, his hair damp against his forehead.

You could see yourself through his illuminating eyes. You were a bloody mess to match, and seeing your choking expression mirrored back at you filled you with clarity. You needed air. He wasn’t letting up. Your hands weren’t strong enough to tear his grip away and with every growing second you were only getting weaker.

The corners of your vision were starting to blur, your head felt like it was about to explode.

Barely in your line of sight, you saw Dean. He watched helplessly, eyes full of terror as he looked past the blood caking his face.

Another wave of clarity coursed through you. Should you die here, he would be next. He would be in an even worse state. If you were to die it would be by strangling- who knows what Silas would exhibit on the person responsible for him having to kill his own family. Dean needed you to survive this. You needed you to survive this.

Just as black began filling your eyes, body shaking and in need of a breath, you gave a final attempt to release the death grip on your neck. You quit your frantic clawing and instead turned to his face, and, in a quick shove, jabbed your thumbs straight into Silas’s eyes. At first he didn’t give in but you pressed harder, angling your thumbs to puncture even further. Finally, with a cry of agony, he let go, and you fell the floor like a rag doll.

Breathing air in had never felt so good. You’re entirely body ached and you felt as though you were on fire but you were breathing and alive. Silas pressed his palms to his eyes, body bent as he leaned forward in pain. Without thinking, you took a glance at Dean, then you saw your chance. Right beside him was the knife he’d dropped during his beating.

Body feeling like led, you forced yourself onto your feet and wasted no time in snatching the blade off the floor. You held it tight in your hands, and there was nothing on your mind other than forcing them through Silas’s chest.

Then, there was another thought.

You remembered fire, a burning building. Human’s gathering before your parents bodies. Flames licking the skies, smoke coughing out the stars. The moon watching. Silas’s hands grabbing tight at your wrists. Being saved, as everything you knew burnt to ash.

You stilled and shook. “Silas,” You breathed. “Stop. We can fix this.”

“Wait until I get my hands on you!” He howled, trying to see you. Blood filled his eyes, the green mudded with red.

“Silas, please.” You begged.

“I’ll kill you both!”

Dean wheezed behind you. “Now or never!”

Your body felt like it was vibrating. Blood gathered at your face and arms, you could see it in your vision and caking your hands.

You can’t stop now.

Your fingers tightened around the handle of the blade, eyes lighting.

Still bent over and hissing through his teeth, trying to regain his vision, he had no defense against you. You took every step with a strong calm, eyes on fire, ready to burn him alive. Your heart was racing in your chest and as you rose the knife high over your head, standing behind Silas’s doubled over frame, you were ready. Just before you struck, he looked up at you with fear.

This was the end.

With every last ounce of your strength, you heaved the blade straight down into his chest. It soared through his thick flesh with ease, your force even shoving it clean through. He sputtered, choked, fingers shaking as he straightened his back and glanced down at the metal sticking clean through his body.

His eyes latched onto the sight, his hands raising before falling back to his sides, useless. He stared at the blade, and then you. Through the dimming mirrors in his eyes you could see yourself raising your chin, eyes staring right back. He knew it was over. He knew you’d won. The green in his eyes faded and revealed the deep brown you’d known your whole life. With dark eyes he stared at you in defeat, and then, vacancy.

Silas hit the floor like a pile of bricks. Beneath his unmoving body grew a puddle of blood.

You stepped back and wiped your face, body shaking but mind calm at the sight before you. You’d done it. Silas was dead at your feet and it was by your hands. Your bloody, shaking, bruised and battered hands. Movement behind you caught your attention and you turned with a sway, your eyes starting to see double. Dean sat in his place in silence, eyes watching you. He’d seen it all, the gory fight and the brutal win.

“Dean,” Slowly you stepped away from the body of Silas. You were dizzy and lightheaded now, the battle catching up with you. Along with the throbbing on your hands, your nose ached and continued bleeding down your chin profusely. To Dean you most likely looked as crazed at Silas had, but that didn’t stop you from dropping down to your knees so you could reach out and touch at his face. He let you do so, maybe out of exhaustion, maybe out of trust. “Are you okay?”

He let his head fall from your gasp so he could cough. “Yeah I’m just-...” He wiped his mouth and spat another mouthful of blood. “I’m great. I’m great” Looking past you, he eyed Silas’s body. It was strange seeing his eyes fill with regret for a moment, but when he returned to your line of gaze, he seemed thankful. “You chose me over your own family.”

You glanced back at Silas, and something tugged at your heart seeing his body just… Laying there. He was evil, untrustworthy, and volatile but all in all he was your family. He’d been there since day one to train you, watch over you, and even though he treated you like a pain you couldn't help but feel dependency. Now, it was gone. He was gone. But, it wasn’t enough to make you mourn or regret your choice. You did what you had to do. Turning back towards Dean, you shook your head. “I did what I had to,” You swallowed. “I chose a side.”

Dean laughed. It was broken and faint, but it was there. “And you chose me.”

Though it hurt, you smiled. “I chose freedom, and good.”

“You might want to rethink your definition of ‘good’.” He said.

Once more you peered to Silas, and then back to Dean. “I did.”

He met your eyes and nodded slowly, accepting. There was a warmth in his eyes, something you hadn’t seen yet. “Thank you.” He said, carefully, and you nodded.

“Let’s get you out of here,” You said, and moved to nestle one of Deans arms on your shoulder. You helped him to his feet and kept your hands mindful of the metal cuffs still dangling off his wrist. “Sorry I can’t get the keys for those. He usually just breaks them off.” You mumbled.

“Yeah, don’t worry. We got a kid back at home who can take these off.” He said, almost proudly. “Hell, he could probably fix you and me up right then and there.”

You knit your brows. “You’re taking me to him?”

“Damn straight I am.”

“But,” You helped Dean up the stairs leading to the big, heavy metal doors. “Your friends and family are all hunters.”

“We’ve had stranger with us,” He quickly said. “Actually we’ve got stranger now. You ever met a nephilim?”

“No way.” Your gasped as you used a free hand to shove the doors open, the night sky was easy on your eyes as you helped Dean out of the cavern. The outside world felt clean against your skin, fresh in your still aching lungs. Crickets chirped in all directions, and if not for you having been to that cavern many times before, the trees would be an easy thing to get lost in.

“Yeah. I was a little cautious at first too, waiting for something to spill or waiting for him to bust the world in half but-...” He sighed. “He hasn’t.”

“Not all non-humans are evil.” you smiled, half talking to Dean and half talking to yourself. Dean laughed and then coughed, his hand pressing against his bruised side.

“Believe me, I know.”

The moon was bright and giving, and as you walked Dean through the thick trees you could almost feel your own shackles turning to dust. Never again would you have to make the trek back to this place, your heart heavy in knowing everything was wrong. Never again would you fear Silas and his anger or maliciousness.

You’d won, and you’d saved Dean.

“Once we get to the main road I’ll find a way to cmy brother and he’ll pick us up.” Dean stated, and you nodded along.

“Where is he gonna take us?”

“If you want to,” He suggested, “You can come to the bunker. More than enough rooms there.”

“You barely know me.” You said incredulously, raising a brow. Dean puffed a laugh.

“You just iced your only family member so that my sorry ass could see the light of day one more time,” He replied. “I’m pretty damn sure Sam’s gonna want to meet you. Cas too.”

“Cas?”

“Angel,” He said casually. “The nephilim I told you about? Cas is his dad. Sort of.” When you didn’t reply, he grinned. “Yeah I know, pretty wild situation. If you wanna get a hotel or something then that’s fine-” “No, I’ll come.” you interjected quickly. “As bad as it sounds I’ve never been on my own. Not really sure I’m ready for that yet.” You smiled. “Plus, all this talk about Cas and the nephilim, and Sam. Makes me wanna meet them, too.”

Dean beamed despite his injuries, his hand balling into a victory fist. “Awesome. I’m gonna warn you though, Jack, the nephilim, can be a little blunt at times. Cas can be… Invasive.” “What about Sam?”

Dean tossed words around his head. “Sam is… Nice.”

“Wow, he’s your brother and he just gets ‘nice’?”

“You’ll know what I mean when you meet him. Probably the first thing out of his mouth when he sees us is going to be him grilling us for details on how he got each and every little slice. Then he’ll march us straight to the kid so he can play doctor.”

You laughed, and in the distance, you could see the trees starting to clear. The road was coming up fast and then town was only a little distance away.

“You might get overwhelmed at first but they’re good.” He bit his lip. “Usually. Mostly.”

You thought back to your precious time with Silas, and sighed. “We all have our days, right?”

“Right. You're gonna fit right in. One big, happy, freaky ass family.”

A smile graced into self over your lips once more, and you listened intently to the crickets chirping in harmony. The night felt new and fresh, like the moon and stars themselves were telling you this was your second chance, the one you’d been begging for for years. Suddenly a beach house didn’t seem nearly as appealing as it did before.

Dean arrived as a danger and a menace, and then a prisoner. Then, he was your savior. Your reason for freedom, a new life. You let out a breath and imagined warmth, food, shelter. Above all that, you imagined friends. Family. Actual family. Carefully you resituated Dean’s arm over your shoulder, moving faster to get the road. It was visible now, your new home was waiting.  Glancing up at the winking stars and the bright moon, you felt peace for the first time in a long time.

The moon watched you escape your fate one last time.

Your life was yours to take, and to live.

“Good,” You hummed. “I can’t wait.”

[mizcalculate-miztery]

Thoughts on Anti and Dark

So because of recent events in both fandoms, I started thinking about Dark and Anti, and how I personally view them. Because there’s no denying I love both characters. And everyone always likes to compare them (which is completely understandable), so I started comparing them in my own mind. Comparing how they operate, what I find so terrifying about them, their personalities, basically everything. And I just kinda wanted to get my thoughts about them down on paper (or… document I guess). So here’s some personal thoughts I have about Dark and Anti.

(Prepare for opinions! Also, like I said I love both of these characters. Just because I might say one is stronger than the other, or scarier doesn’t mean I like the other any less. Remember that this is all MY opinion and thoughts! You can agree or disagree with whatever ^_^)

Anti

Ah, the Glitch Bitch. Such a fascinating character, especially of late as Jack continues to flesh him out. We were first introduced to the knife-wielding weirdo last Halloween when he slit Jack’s throat on camera before taking over. Wow. That’s quite the entrance. It’s disturbing and wrong and terrifying. And it’s made even more sinister by the glassy-eyed stare Jack gives the camera as he does it. So with his appearances leading up to and including Halloween, we learned several things about Anti:

1) He’s absolutely ruthless, cruel, and sadistic. He kills Jack for seemingly no reason other than he finds it fun or satisfying in some way.

2) He’s calculated, sneaky, and smart as hell. I know that often times the fandoms portray Anti as the cocky, sloppy, hyper-active, and boisterous newcomer in comparison to Dark (which I agree with to an extent; Dark’s character is based on the fact that he can manipulate those around him into abandoning their beliefs; his character and powers seem based in the psyche and mind as opposed to Anti’s more physical powers), but Anti can be just as tactful and deceptive as Dark. He hid messages in the tags of the videos, he appeared at specific times during gameplay because he wanted to give us hints by highlighting certain words or events.

And in my mind, he leaves hints for us because, again, it’s fun for him. He likes playing little games. Anti enjoys seeing us struggle to connect the dots, and laughs when we figure things out just a little too late, taunting us. He loves the attention we give him and he knows that so long as he keeps leaving a trail of crumbs, we’ll follow it. And that means he has control over us. Humans want closure and completion to any story. And yet, Anti is still an enigma for the most part. We kinda know what he wants, we kinda know his plan. But we’re still not 100% sure of anything! We aren’t even 100% sure of what Anti even is or how his powers work. Is he a demon? A computer virus or glitch? He seems capable of possessing people, travelling in time, and messing with electronics. But who knows what else he can do? All these “maybes” and questions make us want to know more, and so we keep watching (this is very similar to how FNaF became so popular- just enough clues and evidence to keep people interested in learning the entire story). We’re curious about Anti and that’s our ultimate downfall. You know what they say: curiosity killed the Jack.

In many ways, Anti is childish. He’s loud and brash, loves playing games, throws spectacular tantrums, and can often be surprisingly profound. And all of this is great! There’s a reason that creepy, evil children are a horror trope. I also think that this works great in regards to Anti being Jack’s dark persona. Anti and Jack are very similar, not just in terms of looks. Basically everything I said above about Anti being childish can be applied to Jack. But the brilliant part is how, even though Jack and Anti are so similar, they couldn’t be more different. Jack’s sometimes childish behavior is endearing. He’s often cutesy and excited, but can and will whine if something doesn’t go his way. His enthusiasm and energy are what many people enjoy about his content. And then when he gets into a pensive state, he says some really inspiring, and genuine things. Anti is the same way. He’s always teeming with energy, and his manner of speaking is very similar to Jack’s in that they are both a little silly and childish. He isn’t verbose, he’s simple and to the point. “Always watching,” “tired of playing pretend,” “there are no strings on me,” “I wonder what will happen to your favorite boy,” etc. All very simple, something you could absolutely see a child saying. But even despite his common vernacular, what he says can be profound. Just look at all the theories about what he says and how much each line could mean. Anti takes what is good and liked about Jack, and twists it into its worst self.

Let’s get into some of Anti’s symbolism, specifically eyes. Now, Jack has had eyes as a staple of his channel since forever, and Septiceye Sam has been the mascot for as long as I’ve known of Jack. But Anti takes this concept one step further. Not only do his eyes change color constantly, but he’s always been very focused on what eyes do. In his first full appearance, he mocks us for just watching as he took over and eventually killed Jack. He seems very interested in the bystander effect. We were the bystanders who noticed the weird glitches in Jack’s videos leading up to Halloween, but just sat and watched to see what would happen next. We were curious because we thought everything was a game, and that Jack was just doing something nice for the fans who created Anti. And while this is true in reality, it isn’t true in regards to the story that Anti is apart of. Because Anti is part of a story. All of Jack’s Egos are. So is Jack. And so are we.

This is one of the reasons Anti is so cool a character. Because we know he’s a character, and yet he can make things seem so real. Anti’s story has become very much like an ARG like Marble Hornets. Anti openly talks to us so that we become a part of his story. He says things to make us feel as if we can do things to help. He tells us that we’re just sitting here and watching, so we try to retaliate, to do something (ex. #septicsave). But while we may be a character, all we'll ever be to the other characters are a set of eyes. Whenever Anti talks to us, it’s pre-recorded. All we can really do is watch. We can try to do things all we want. In the end, Anti’s already done whatever he’s going to do in his story. He gives us a false sense of power and choice, when we really don’t have any. (Disclaimer: I know that Jack loves theories and suggestions from the community and often takes them into consideration when crafting the story around his characters. Again, in reality, we do have a choice and influence, but so far in the story, we don’t.)

And Anti also knows we’ll never stop watching. He seems to also like the concept of “seeing is believing.” Because the obvious answer to “beating” Anti is to stop watching. But then what? Will he truly lose? How can we know if we don’t watch? Unless we see him lose, who’s to say he didn’t complete his take over, his killing spree, whatever it is he wants? We would have to rely on faith and hope alone. And unfortunately, humans aren’t particularly adept at trusting what they can’t perceive with their senses. So in the end, we watch because we feel as if we have to. And we keep going round and round in circles.

And that’s why I love the concept that’s been floating around recently about how god damn interesting and horrifying the idea of a livestream where Anti tortures Jack is. A deep-web “red room”-esque scenario where the viewers tell Anti what to do to Jack. Not only is that just unsettling in premise, it’s horrifying because some people would actually suggest awful things (because humans are morbidly fascinated by the suffering of others). And again, the only way to stop it would be for everyone to stop watching. And that would never happen. Because if no one’s watching, who knows what Anti would do to Jack? Who's to say he wouldn’t just torture him without us watching? And then there will always be the people who want to see what Anti would do to Jack. So no matter what, Anti wins. And we just sat and watched.

I started writing this entire analysis a few weeks before the charity livestream, but I’m adding it in because holy fuck. Other people who are much more eloquent and concise than I am have already analyzed everything I’m about talk about, but I wanna get my thoughts out.

So. That was a fun time! I can’t even fathom how many people stayed up all night to watch those damn security cameras! I was one of the people who was up all night (I had finals and papers to write so I was up anyway), and I don’t think I saw the stream dip below 6,000 people watching. That’s insane that that many people stayed up for 20+ hours just to see what the hell was going to happen. By the time I fell asleep on Saturday, I had personally been awake for around 41-42 hours, and most of that was due to watching the streams to see what was going to happen. Anti managed to keep us glued to our screens for hours on end, stringing us along with little clips every now and again. And one of the most interesting things is that the majority of the footage wasn’t new content. Only the clips of Emma, Ethan, PJ, and Robin doing their spooky stuff was new. And yet we kept sitting there watching. Just the amount of influence Anti has over us is astounding! Again, a lot of the Overnight Watch stream connects with things I’ve already said. How do we beat Anti? Stop watching. But what if we miss something? So we keep watching. Circles. We sat by as eyes (security cameras) while we saw all this creepy stuff happened. Anti won BIG TIME. He was able to see just what lengths we’re willing to go to just for him.

So now that I’ve beaten how Anti operates into the ground, let’s talk about why he’s scary to me. Because he is. One thing about Anti is that he’s unstable and unpredictable with deadly mood swings. Anything that is unpredictable is nerve wracking because it plays into the fear of the unknown. Like I mentioned before, we aren’t certain about much of what Anti does. We’ve theorized and theorized until our theorizers are sore, but we don’t know much other than the fact that Anti killed Jack, and most likely Schneep. Even Anti’s movement is unpredictable due to his glitches. This is something that really unsettles me because I’m a visual person who likes to be able to keep track of things visually. For example, I’m also rather scared of bugs, but so long as I can see where a bug is, or I’m able to track it going around a room, I don’t freak out about it. But as soon as one buzzes past my ear without me seeing it, I get very startled and flinch HARD. So Anti’s glitching everywhere is also pretty unsettling for me as I can’t predict or track it visually. He also is more than willing to physically harm us as well. That’s another scary thing about Anti. He wields a large fucking carving knife and seems very ready to use it. Everyone has a pain threshold that they don’t want to cross. So Anti is also scary because he gives the very real threat of unbearable pain.

So for me, Anti’s scariness comes from a combination of his unpredictable nature and movement, his enthusiasm for hurting people and his propensity for causing pain. He also tends to have a slow buildup to a reveal. He drops hints for sometimes months at a time before he makes a full appearance. That sense of anticipation is also nerve wracking (it’s the entire basis for the thriller genre). For me, though, it actually makes it less scary because at least there’s some solid hints that something will happen soon. This isn’t to say these are the only reasons he’s scary (after all, he’s also pretty good at playing mind games like I stated before. But the types of mind games he plays don’t scare me; I just find them impressive and clever more than scary). This is just why he’s scary to me.

So that’s a lot of my thoughts on Anti. I think he’s a very cool character and Jack has taken him in a super interesting direction. Plus, the use of medium and the gimmicks and plot points he derives from his medium are a goddamn treat to theorize and write about.

Dark

The monochromatic monarch, the VHS Cunt himself, Darkiplier. Has this guy seen some development this year or what? From a weird emo roomate to a master manipulator, Dark’s Valentine’s Day reintroduction was quite the spectacle that I was not expecting (I mean, up until Mark called the horror show “The Dark Mark”). So, with the retooling of his character, what do we know about Dark now?

1) He’s a master manipulator and just “the worst.” Mark confirmed this during one of the charity livestreams where he discussed “A Date with Markiplier” in detail. He clearly says that Dark wants to use us and he’s not our friend. He will pretend to be anything we want him to be in order to gain our trust before throwing us aside once our usefulness has run out.

2) He’s a being from another dimension who just so happens to bleed into our dimension that does not follow the laws of physics, similar to Warfstache. He and Mark are two different people.

3) Dark is jealous of Mark’s success and accomplishments and wants to take them for himself.

As the year has gone on, we’ve seen that Dark has a rather large plan forming. He’s working with other Egos (especially Warfstache) in order to take control of the channel, as we saw in Markiplier TV (if we assume this is part of the “canon.” I personally do, but I know a lot of people have been questioning it lately).. And then the huge bomb that was “Who Killed Markiplier?” dropped to give us the origins of both Dark and Wilford. And from that, we also now know that Dark’s plan for a takeover is not just a result of jealousy and a lust for power, but also for revenge and retribution.

So in many ways, we know a lot more about Dark than Anti. We have the basic plan, backstory, and motive. But there is still a treasure trove of stuff we don’t know about Dark. We don’t know the total extent of his powers or exactly how they operate, and we don’t know his exact plan. Similarly to Anti, this ambiguity keeps us watching and theorizing.

But, with the reveal of Dark’s backstory, he now has another hook into the viewers that keeps our attention on him and keeps us easy to manipulate: he’s a sympathetic character. To an extent at least. Okay, so we all know he’s a master manipulator, a horrible person, and a villain. But a villain is only a villain in the eyes of someone opposing them. A villain is their own hero. And when you give a perceived villain sympathetic motivation, it can often change the way viewers look at that character. Dark’s motivation is reasonable. Anyone can see that he has reason to be angry. WKM!Mark destroyed the lives of the Colonel, Damien, Celine, the Detective, and the DA. The way Mark framed WKM’s ending, Dark becomes sympathetic. Because of WKM!Mark’s antics, both “halves” of Dark lost everything. Damien had his body snatched and lost both his best friends. Celine also lost her body and lost both of the men she at one point loved. Betrayal and loss of loved ones are two of the most effective ways to drudge up sympathy for a character because at some point, most people have experienced the pain of one or both. In this way, the viewers can now easily view Dark as the “hero” of sorts while Mark becomes the villain.

But giving a villain a sympathetic backstory can be very dangerous because it can give the villain one more way to manipulate the viewer. Mark has gone on record in his “I EXPLAIN EVERYTHING” livestream that Damien and Celine aren’t really their own entities anymore. The dark energy of the House combined the worst parts of them together along with itself to create a new being: Dark. Damien and Celine are no longer in Dark. Not as we knew them, anyway. And yet, I can guarantee you, if Dark ever felt it was needed, he would create projections of Damien and Celine to make it seems like they’re still in there. And they would reach out to us and gain our sympathy and trust. Reassure us that this is for the best, and that it’s all part of their plan. How they’ve missed us and just wish we could go back to the way things were before that dreaded poker game. And we would crumble. Dark would wrap us around his finger, make us care again, and trust him more. Because they were still there. It wasn’t just Dark. They weren’t bad people. We had to help them, had to believe them! After all, what do we always say? They deserved better.

Dark is a mastermind. Due to his manipulative nature, he’s always thinking dozens of steps ahead so that no matter the circumstance, those he wants to control will stay firmly trapped under his thumb. And this bitch will prey on anything to get what he wants. Any sort of weakness a person has, he will exploit. Heck, he’ll exploit their strengths, too. Dark, to me, is a people reader. He’s observed so many people and figured out how they operate. He’s figured out which people are most responsive to positive reinforcement, and those who are most responsive to negative reinforcement. And he’s content to observe. Dark is patient, while Anti can be more impulsive. Dark does not mind waiting and biding his time to make sure he is successful. There’s a reason he’s had fewer appearances than Anti (again, story-wise not logistics based).

Just like Anti and Jack, I adore how Dark and Mark compare to one another. Even though we know Dark isn’t exactly Mark’s dark persona, it’s really intriguing to see how Mark took that concept of his dark side and fleshed it out. Because again, Dark and Mark have very similar personalities and strengths. Both are very charismatic and are good at influencing people, extraordinarily smart, and emotionally driven (in many ways, including temper). But the way they use these gifts is how they differ and why it’s so interesting to observe. Mark uses his charisma and influence to better the world, whether it be through charity or simply giving people who may have given up a reason to live. He uses his intelligence and creativity to entertain millions and is always coming up with interesting ways to make what he does more successful (just look at the recent livestreams). In contrast, Dark uses his charisma to charm people into doing and getting what HE wants. He uses his gifts selfishly instead of selflessly. He uses his gift as an influencer to coerce people into doing horrible things (like shooting Mark in ADWM), and his intelligence lets him figure out how the human mind operates so that he can better control it. It’s such a cool concept to have these two people be so similar and yet they are completely different.

Okay, now, why is Dark scary to me? Well, as a said before, Dark seems to operate in the realm of the mind. We haven’t seen him pull anything particularly violent besides pulling a gun on Mark. Other than that, he’s been trying to manipulate us and others through our emotions and thoughts. As someone who has always taken pride in how sharp my mind is, it scares me to think that Dark could turn my own mind against me just by taking my weaknesses and words and twisting them to mean something negative. I don’t like being outsmarted, and I could absolutely believe that I would somehow talk myself into a trap by being outsmarted by Dark. I like to think that I would be able to see through his charade and not be bothered by his words, but I just don’t know. I’m only human and there are some very vulnerable parts of me that could be prodded to make me even more vulnerable. And while I don’t think I wear my heart on my sleeve, I don’t think I hide my emotions well, and Dark will take whatever he sees and attack with it. Another thing about Dark is that there is still so much that is hidden about him. We haven’t seen enough of him in action to determine much. It seems he’s acting on the horror concept of “the less you see the monster, the scarier it becomes.” And god damn has that been executed well. We’ve only had extended exposure to Dark in ADWM. All other appearances have been quick cameos where we get a better sense of his personality, but not much else. Again, him biding his time has proved very effective. He proved he was a threat before disappearing into the shadows to watch everyone worry themselves into a tizzy. We’ve seen a snippet of his power, but who knows what else he’s capable of? That’s why there are so interpretations of him. He takes on the powers and forms we are personally most afraid of. He’s become the monster in the dark. He’s a looming menace which has always scared me. The last thing that scares me is that I can see parts of myself in him. I’m prideful and I have quite the temper when pushed far enough. I’m ambitious and my thoughts can be viciously vengeful. I think back through my life and wonder how much in my life would have had to occurred differently for me to become a manipulative piece of garbage (hint: less than you would think). And that’s a horrifying thought to me.

So Dark is scary due to his intelligence, his ambiguity, and the fact that he’s realistic enough that I see characteristics of myself in him. Dark’s appearances also don’t have the build up that Anti’s have. We get an occasional hint or two, but they’re subtle enough that it makes us question whether or not we’re looking into things too much. Then out of nowhere, an appearance happens and the entire fandom is sent reeling. I think the most build up we’ve gotten for Dark is the week long clue hunt the led to Who Killed Markiplier?. And that wasn’t even built up FOR Dark. This more guerilla warfare style of appearances is much more effective in scaring me because it leaves me feeling nervous all the time. Between Anti appearances, I’m able to calm down. But because of the suddenness of Dark’s appearances, I’m always high strung wondering when, where and how he’s going to strike next. Because I can “feel” him watching, calculating his next move, but I can never figure out where he is to prepare myself for the next appearance. So for me, it more effectively scares me as I feel more of a loss of control.

And that’s a lot of my thoughts on Dark! He’s very much the style of villain I’m drawn to, so I have a lot of fun theorizing about and analyzing him. I love that Mark embraced this character and made him his own because he’s made a very formidable and compelling villain! And I can’t wait to see where this story goes next and how Mark will burn the fandom down next time!

[everdreamts-blog]

  “Have you used a portal before?”   Minchan asks the question like he doesn’t care much about the answer. The click of his heels on the pavement is distracting, a staccato in bright pink. He’s a lot to handle in the group chat, but even more of a handful in real life. Glittery eyeshadow and perfectly manicured nails, he’s a living doll, making mock kissy faces at every person walking by who dares to stare. A force of nature if Lysander ever saw one.   “Hello? Are you listening?”

  Minchan snapping his fingers in his face brings Lysander back to reality. “Um, what? Sorry, I wasn’t… “   With a huff and a quick wave of his hand, Minchan dismisses his reply. “It doesn’t matter, does it. I’m not walking all the way to Rei’s stupid forest. I’m not going to let my baby witch do it, either.”   As always when Minchan uses this nickname of his, Lysander’s heart skips a beat. It’s one thing to read it, yet another entirely to hear it. And maybe it’s imagination, but something fond colors it, something soft. Lysander fights a smile, biting his lower lip hard. It’s somehow endearing, that particular brand of a handful Minchan is.   He drags him into some alley, its dead end around a brickwalled corner. From his jacket’s pocket he pulls a piece of white chalk, and promptly begins to draw a circle lined and filled with odd symbols on the wall closest to him. Lysander watches in awe and confusion both.   “Oh,” Minchan says, shooting him a grin over his shoulder. “It’s for the portal. You see, for some magic, we need preparation. Magic circles, sometimes little sacrifices, that sort of thing. It’s too advanced for you right now.”   Instead of dampening his mood, this revelation makes Lysander’s stomach flip in joy. “I’ll… learn this, too?”   “Of course!” Minchan finishes his work off and takes a step back, pocketing the chalk again. “You’ll learn this, and how to make potions… I might just teach you some conjuring, too. Just don’t go trying to summon some demon, yes? That never goes well.”   Once again, Lysander only half listens, too entranced by the casualness of Minchan going about his business. He squares his shoulders and places an outstretched hand into the very center of the circle. As soon as his fingers touch the chalk, it springs to life, glowing a gentle white. Minchan pulls his hand back slowly. The circle lifts off the wall, sticking to his skin like a spiderweb. It hangs in the air, still connected to Minchan’s hand. Lysander’s jaw falls open.   Of course, Minchan notices. “Neat, isn’t it? Wait until you see Qiaomeng doing it. He doesn’t even need a surface, just draws the thing in the air right away. Talented bastard.”   He falls silent, eyes closed. The glow of the circle brightens. Around it, the air flimmers like it does in the hot summer sun. Lysander inhales, catching the slightest whiff of ozone.   Minchan balls his hand into a loose fist, only his forefinger sticking out. He drags the pad of it down the length of the circle, and, little by little, it breaks open in the wake of his touch. When Minchan reaches the end, the chalk peels back in its entirety, revealing a swirl of muted purples and greens dispersed in a sea of endless black. It takes over the circle, stretching to about Minchan’s height. It stops as soon as it touches the ground.   Lysander’s heart flutters in his chest. His arms break out in goose-flesh. “Wow,” is all he manages to press out.   Minchan hums. “This is a portal. It’s like… a door, except it leads into someone’s home if that someone allows it. Rei isn’t a fan of it, but he lets us use one, anyhow.”   “Why doesn’t he like it?”   “A talented witch could trace this magic back to him. I’ll have Parfait erase as much of it after we’re done as she can, but there’ll always be some leftover in places spells were used. Rei’s mostly worried someone might have the idea to murder him in his sleep, really.” Lowering his voice, Minchan adds, “He’s got a bit of a reputation. The plants he grows are highly sought after, some impossible to get around these parts unless you want to pay a hefty sum. He has all reason to be cautious.”   Lysander makes a little noise of understanding. All he knows about Rei is that he lives in a forest – magical and weird, as Qiaomeng had put it – and that he’s powerful, too. He should have asked more questions.   “Anyway.” Minchan grasps him gently by the shoulders and steers him towards the portal. “It’s best if you close your eyes and keep your limbs pressed to your body until you’re back on solid ground. Got it? I’ll be right behind you.”   Before Lysander gets another word in, Minchan pushes him.   Everything around him goes dark.   His stomach swoops again, but not at all in joy this time. He finds himself hovering in nothingness before he’s swept away. Like a tornado toying with a skinny branch, he’s scooped up and tossed about, a deafening roar in his ears. Static sticks to his skin, crawling across it in a numbing tingle. Lysander opens his mouth to scream, but no sound makes it out.   A flash of green breaks through the dark. Lysander slams face first into a tree, its leaves shivering with the impact.   “Oh. Oh, no,” a voice close to him says. Someone places a hand on his shoulder in cadence to a wave of nausea flooding through him. Lysander retches, hunching over. The hand moves to pat his back, all gentle. “There, there. Travelling with portals is never fun, I’m afraid. He should have told you.”   He chances a look to his right, to where the voice is coming from, and is met with bare feet on mossy forest floor. Pressing the back of his hand to his mouth, he straightens slowly.   Miles and miles of forest stretch out around him, trees and bushes and a little creek gently running its course. Birdsong fills the space, lined with the rustle of leaves overhead.   Rei lives in a forest. This forest.   “Is everything alright again?” the voice asks, and the hand disappears.   Lysander nods absently. “Sorry, I… oh.”   A young man steps into his view – the one those bare feet belong to – and gives him an encouraging, but small smile. He’s taller than Lysander is, his hair a strangely warm shade of black. Something about him is… off. His skin is too perfect, his movements just shy of oily. There’s a startling darkness to his eyes. Not human, his instincts scream at him, though he passes as one well enough.   The portal buzzes. Minchan emerges with grace, touching his feet to the ground as though he were a cat leaping off the sofa. He beams at the both of them, the definition of cheeky.   “I see you’ve already met our hermit.”   The not-quite-human huffs, crossing his arms. A few heads of flowers peek through his hair, all varying shades of red. “Why did you let him go through it like this? It’s dangerous.”   “Oh, relax. Don’t talk to me about dangerous. You grow flesh-eating plants.”   “ – that never harm anyone unless I tell them to –”   “Right. That makes it better.”   The puzzle pieces click belatedly. “Oh!” Lysander says, clutching at his chest. “You’re Rei!” Rei turns toward him, wearing the same smile as before. “And you’re Lysander. I’ll get you something for the queasiness. Portals get to everyone the first time, especially if you’re not fully prepared.” He shoots Minchan a weighty look at his last few words. Minchan retaliates by sticking out his tongue. Rei ignores him. “Come, I’ll show you inside.”   “Inside”, as it turns out, is a little hut hidden behind layers of what Minchan calls “glamour”. After a simple wave of Rei’s hand, it appears out of thin air, flimmering at the edges like Minchan’s circle had done. It sits in the middle of a fenced in, lush garden, a plethora of brightly colored flowers and plants. Some, Lysander recognizes, but others he’s never seen in his life. A walkway of grey stones leads to the entrance door, heavy looking and wooden.   The door swings open on its own, or so it appears. Rei bends down to pick something up, cupping it ever so gently in his palms.   It’s a tiny, albino hedgehog.   “Thank you, Lilac.” Rei presses a kiss to the hedgehog’s forehead. The hedgehog makes a noise that sounds suspiciously flustered. “This is my familiar,” Rei follows it up with, showing Lilac to Lysander. “Say hello. Try to be friends. I’d hate for you two to not get along.”   Lysander wrings his hands, staring at Lilac. Lilac doesn’t move, either, staring right back.   “Um. H-hello. It’s nice to meet you.”   Lilac raises his little snout into the air, and Rei frowns down at him.   “What did I just say? Play nice.”   Still, Lilac doesn’t look very impressed. He turns around in Rei’s palms before he vanishes in a shimmery flash of light. Rei shakes his head.   “Don’t mind him. He needs a bit to warm up to someone.”   Minchan mutters something about it being Rei’s own fault for never socializing. He goes ignored again.   The inside of Rei’s hut is surprisingly normal. All his furniture is wooden or partly wooden, from the round table in the kitchen to the sofa lined with the plushest cushions and pillows to the TV stand. Herbs and flowers hang from every wall, both dried and fresh. The most outlandish item is the big cauldron in the middle of the kitchen, a fire lit underneath it. Whatever’s inside it bubbles gently, filling the air with a sweet, herby scent.   Of all the cliched witch-things Lysander expected to see, this is the most accurate to his imaginations.   Upon closer inspection, however, he finds that the TV and the kitchen itself are both highly modern. Rei even owns a gaming console. How and where is he getting his electricity from? Something tells him the answer will either be magic, or so mundane that he would have never considered it. A question for another day.   Rei gathers them together in the middle of the living room and has them sit on the floor after pushing the coffee table aside. He hands Lysander a small pill and a glass of water instead of the potion he’d expected, and Lysander gulps both down. Apparently, even witches have a need for regular medicine. Perhaps solving everything with magic is against the rules. If there are any rules.   He has so much to learn.   “Did you bring the salves?” Rei asks, seated cross-legged next to Lysander.   A few days earlier, Rei instructed him to prepare a couple of standard salves to put on wounds, ones that his job as a nurse has long familiarized him with. He’d told him to make them with the intent to heal, to concentrate on and visualize the process of a wound closing. So Lysander had done exactly that. And though he’d found himself tempted to test them, himself, he thought it more prudent to wait until both Minchan and Rei could ascertain their capabilities. If they had any special ones, anyhow.   Lysander gives a quick nod, taking the two small, rotund plastic containers out of his sling bag. They used to be filled with store-bought skin care, serving this purpose just fine. Rei takes them with a grateful nod. One he hands Minchan, the other he keeps, unscrewing the lid. He tilts it gently in his palm so the light catches in the creaminess of the salve, making it glisten. He brings it up to his face to smell it, humming as he does. Whether or not it’s a satisfied noise, Lysander can’t tell.   “They smell nice,” Minchan comments, tilting his container every which way like Rei had done. “Why’d you make him make these?”   Rei smiles, that same, small smile, but there’s an edge to it. Smug. “Because I asked him what he’s interested in. Have you done the same?”   Minchan sputters. “I – you know, it’s not like we can just jump into what he likes. He needs basics. That’s what I’m concerned about.”   This playful back and forth is just as endearing as Minchan’s whirlwind persona. Lysander can’t stop himself from giggling, which earns him a wider smile from Rei and a noise from Minchan like he’s terribly martyred. But he’s smiling, too, unable to hide it even behind that huffy facade.   “Well,” Rei says after a moment of comfortable silence, “I suppose we’ll need to test these.”   He gets up and walks over to the kitchen to rummage in a drawer. What he pulls out glints silvery in his palm, and only when he sits back down, it becomes clear what it is. A knife. Vines snake around its handle, deep green in color. The blade itself is simple and two-edged, a small symbol etched into the very tip of it.   Rei reaches out, takes one of Minchan’s hands and quickly drags the knife from one side of his palm to the other. Minchan yelps.   “What the fuck?! Have you lost your –”   Minchan struggles, but Rei tightens his grasp on his hand, keeping him in place. Blood wells up from the cut, beading along the surface.   “As I said, we need to test his salves,” Rei says, his voice unaffected. He turns his attention towards Lysander, who has since frozen in his spot. His heart hammers in his chest, a new wave of sickness sloshing in his stomach. As used as he is to seeing blood, a warning would have been nice.   Minchan struggles again, but it’s still in vain. He goes slack a moment after, averting his eyes. “I’m going to be sick.”   Rei hums vaguely, still looking at Lysander. “Which one of them would you use for a cut like this?”   “Um.” Lysander slowly inches forward to take a closer look at the cut. It’s not deep, something that would heal just fine on its own once its dressed. He picks up one of his salves, offering it to Rei. “This one.”   “Well, go on then. Put it on.”   Lysander blinks at him. None of this is what he’d expected of this get-together, but he doesn’t have the luxury to complain. Hesitating, he asks Rei for something to clean the blood up with, and Rei disappears again only to return with a damp washcloth. Lysander wipes the cut down, careful not to hurt Minchan too much, before he dips a finger into the salve, coating the pad of it with the thinnest layer.   “This… might sting a little,” he warns as he gently rubs the salve along the cut.   Even before he manages to reach the end of it, the cut begins to close.   He and Minchan both gape at it, at the way the skin knits together on its own right in front of their eyes. Lysander finishes his job to watch the rest of it close, too, leaving Minchan’s palm pristine as if nothing ever happened. No scab, no scar. Nothing.   “Holy shit,” Minchan whispers in awe, inspecting his hand up close. Next to him, Rei chuckles.   “I knew it would work the moment you handed it to me. You must have felt that, too, Minchan.”   Minchan, rubbing his thumb along the spot where the cut used to be, nods dumbly. “I… felt something, sure. But I’m not good at healing magic. I couldn’t tell it was going to be like this.”   Rei wipes his knife down with the damp washcloth. It’s all a little much to take in – Rei being so casual, Minchan so shocked, this place and Lysander’s salve actually working. His head spins with this slew of information. Judging by the softness of Rei’s face, he’s noticed. He puts a hand on Lysander’s shoulder, squeezing gently.   “You have a talent. Very potent magic. You’ll make a great healer one day, baby witch.”   For the umpteenth time, Lysander’s heart skips a beat.