#I WAKE UP I HEAR LUKA'S VOICE

[momoiro-hime]

Ruler of my Heart  | Do NOT repost or use without permission.    

[naomi-nana]

✎ᝰ. in the name of you .

in a world where everyone forgot their own religion, it's not wrong for luka to look at your ethereal self and immediately mistake you for a divine being, no?

featuring : luka

cw : female reader, implied stalking(for just a little), luka is obsessed with reader, luka isn't obsessed with hyuna in here for the sake of the story lol🙇‍♀️

a/n : i made a till one, and now i'll make a luka one! i was trying to make it seems as if luka is obsessed with reader, but i was having a hard time showing it, and ended up making it seems like luka had become a better person after meeting reader lmfaoo😭🙏

from the moment humans were taken away forcefully by those disgusting aliens—they all had forgotten about their creators. the one who gave them life, the one who gave them the will to continue living. each day felt like a stab to the heart, it feels as if someone had taken your lungs out of your body, before putting it back inside again.

it feels empty, like a void.

while all the kids run around anakt garden happily, although not genuinely, all luka could do was lean on one of the trees, while holding his knees close to his chest. what can he do? what does people expect him to do? he is a weak child, a child born with diseases, a child unable to live without support from others, including the tree he is currently leaning on. without anything to lean on, to hold on to, what was he supposed to do, weak and dependent as he was?

nothing. he could only weep himself to sleep every day, and it changes nothing. he has heard from the other kids that there is a powerful divine being that could help you in times of distress, how it's called god, how you're supposed to believe in it for it to help you, and he did. luka believed in god for a day, but nothing had changed. his everyday life had remained the same.

like waking up early, even though he doesn't know what time it is because of all the fake painted skies the aliens put in the garden, go eat breakfast with the other kids, with no one else sitting besides—"hey, is this seat occupied?" in the midst of the suffocating silence, a cheerful, almost unreal voice had reached his ears. he had first thought that it was just his imagination, his desperate feelings of wanting to be accompanied by someone. but it wasn't, as the voice echoed in his ears once again.

"uh, hello...? did i catch you on a bad day? i'm so sorry, i'll find another seat then." after what felt like a minute, he finally looked up at the person talking to him, only to notice that they're gone. he clenched his fist in regret. he should've looked up earlier, he should've answered whoever that was, but he didn't. such a shame, he thought to himself.

after half an hour, luka finished his breakfast and was getting ready to leave, before being stopped by someone whose voice was so familiar to him, it almost feels as if he is dreaming. "hey, um... i'm really, really sorry for bothering you earlier. as an apology, i got some bread for you!" that cheerful voice had struck something inside him, his eyes grew wide slightly, and his hand trembles at the sight of you. if he were to believe in the divine, he would immediately get down on his knees and pray for you, an angel.

your soft gaze, your skin that looks almost as delicate and fragile as a glass, and your small fingers offering him the bread you got for him. it took him almost a minute to react, and all that came out of his mouth is just a small gasp, so small that even you can't hear it. "don't tell anyone about this though, but i stole it from someone's unfinished breakfast! so take it, please?" you shoved the bread to his face, which made him raise his eyebrows. but he took it anyway.

he examines the bread carefully, to which you took great offense. "i won't poison you, so there's no need to look at it so intensely!" you pout at him. if you squint your eyes really hard, you can notice the faintest hint of smile on his face, and probably the first time he has ever smile so genuinely.

his everyday routine had consisted of the same, basic thing. but, now that you talked to him, it changed his life forever. it changed his views of the world, of everyone. some kids may have believed in the divine from the moment they were born, but luka just believed in the divine the moment she graced himself with her kindness.

from then on, whenever luka woke up and entered the garden, the first thing—or person he looks for, is you. whenever he went to the cafeteria, the first person he approached is you, and when luka went to his first performance on stage, the first person he looks for in the audience is you, holding a cream-colored lightstick.

whenever luka goes anywhere, the first person he looks for, thought of, and wishes to see first... is you.

his god, his universe.

and if he happens to notice some... imbecile, or other people trying to approach you, he won't hesitate to show them that no one can approach his angel without consequences. no one other than him.

naomi-nana. do NOT repost, do not use,(with or without permission), do not reccommend or talk about my works outside of tumblr.

[pocketsizedq]

The ways they show affection

Lukas Dostal

-wakes you up with coffee

->come into your guys shared room.

->place a few kisses on your head helping you sit up handing you coffee either from your favorite place or some made at home if you are up when he’s getting ready for practice

-giving you all of his attention

->always loves to hear about your day or any new gossip you have learned

->would never tell you that he loves hearing the gossip but just loves seeing your eyes light up as you tell him all that’s going on at work

-always orders food if you say no

->He always makes sure to get extra food so you can have some too and that you never getting hungry and not have some food at home

-takes you to skate

->he loves skating with you as it’s his to favorite things and you both can just enjoy being on the ice together and can talk about things

-always text you reminds about things

->oh you’ve got a doctor appointment? He’s already texted you remind you. Have you drink any water today? Did you take your medicine? I love you.

->thoses are some of the things he would text you

Jamie Drysdale

- wearing a simple bracelet around his wrist for when you get nervous

->he’d notice how you would play with his fingers or like play with his arm hair when you are nervous so started wearing a bracelet around his wrist so you could play with it.

-always stands up for you

-whether it be you getting uncomfortable in a conversation or not wanting to face conflict. He’d get out of his way and push past his own anxiety to help you.

-deep conversations

->he loves when you both can just sit on the porch drinking a new bottle of wine he had gotten and talk about the future of your relationship or how you both are feeling mentally

-always does something out of the blue

->writing little letter to you,sending little voice messages about how much he loves you or taking you out on a random date

-complimenting you

->he always makes sure to compliment you everyday to make sure you know you are loved and special to him

Cole Caufield

-lets you wear his shoes when your heels get uncomfortable

->you both would be walking out of a club or something and he’d notice that your feet would start to bother you so he kindly offers you his shoes to which he has to insist on

->he would carry your heels and walk barefoot with you back to the car happy that you aren’t in pain

->he never would say no to traded shoes as he just wants you to be comfortable

-wears a bracelet you made him around his wrist

->he nearly cried when he found out you made him a little bracelet out of some of your old beads you had

->never takes it off as it’s a good luck charm now and always kisses it before putting it back on his wrist to go play a game

-always buys you alittle something every where he goes

->if he’s playing an away game he’d go and buy you something like a charm or something in the city that reminds you of the city he went to

-always reassuring you

->if you ever feel insecure? He’s your hype man

->always makes sure that your smiling around him and always tries to keep that frown upside down

-always tries to keep things positive around you

->he’s your sunshine. if you ever down he tries to pick you back up and wipe you off. Always makes sure your happy wither it’s cracking a joke or making a fool of himself always tries to keep a smile on your face

Adam Fantilli

-keeping a pad/tampon in his wallet for you

->always has one of him if you ever need it. he keeps both in there as he never remembers what you use but just keeps it on him

-spraying his cologne on your teddy bear when he has to leave

->he had gotten you a teddy bear with a umich shirt on it and he sprays it so you can cuddle it and know he loves you

->it even has a button on it that you can press and it says “I love you princess”

-wears a dog tag around his neck that has “I love you” engraved in your hand writing on it

->never takes it off and always wears it. You had gotten it for his 19th birthday and now calls it his lucky charm

-has a playlist made for you

->he had a made a playlist of songs that would remind you of him and that remind you that he’s all ways there for you and loves you.

-lets you rant

->he even if he has something big coming up would stay up with you after a game to listen to all of the stuff that is bothering you or is coming up.

Luca Fantilli

-kissing you every time you pout

->he’d jokely say no to something like going to get ice cream and you’d put on a fake pout to which he’d kiss and say “I’m just kidding baby”

->every time he sees even a small pout on your lips he’d kiss it

-love letters to the max

->he’d leave small letters in your car,backpack,your sports bag and dorm

->he just wants you to have something that you can take with you to remind you that he loves you and sometimes it’s just even a small smiley face saying “thinking of you”

-smacking your butt

->if you watch out for booty man.

->in a loving way if your walking up the stairs or in front of him he’d give your butt a squish to remind you that he’s there

-putting his head on your boobs

->He started doing it more when you got pregnant with your guys first kid and would always keep his head on your chest and a hand on your bump rubbing it.

-keeping a hair tie around his wrist

->he always has one around his wrist which comes in handy sometimes if you ever need your hair pulled back

Nico Hischier

-keeps eyes on you at all times

->wether you are cooking or out in public he always keeps an eye on you in a protective way making sure nothing happens to you.

->as he knows the dangers of Newark and the area of the city and he also doesn’t want you to silp up and accidentally cut yourself without him knowing

-braiding your hair

->he started doing it by himself but was worried he would tangle your hair so he asked you to teach him

->now anytime your sick or need your hair up he would braid it. Also has started watching YouTube videos on more ways to braid it

-puts his beanie on your head

->if he notices your ears even getting a hint of red in color he’s will take his beanie off his head putting it on yours and says “shush just wear it”

-writes your initial on his stick

->always after you both started getting serious he started putting your first and last letter on his stick with a heart as he thinks it would bring him more good luck

-always checks up on you

->wether it’s a small message or a 10 minute call every day he makes sure you are okay and doing okay

Jack Hughes

-covering corners when you lean over

->he’s like a slient protector. If you ask him about it he wouldn’t know what your talking about but he would always cover corners so you wouldn’t hit your head

-warms up a towel for you

->anytime your about to shower or in the shower he always makes sure to throw your towel in the dryer so it’s nice and warm when you come out.

-cooks for you

->from the articles it’s says that Jack is a good cook so he takes his chief abilities and makes you dinner when ever he can

->learns how to cook your favorite meal and cooks it for you every now and then

-being your cheerleader

-> he always has someone shouting for him including you but he wanted to be shouter for once and always cheers you on in anything you do whether it’s your job or just working out

-always sending you good morning and good night text

-if he’s not home he always makes sure to tell you good morning and night with a heart and I love you with it

Luke Hughes

-always has your favorite snacks at his place (Jack’s)

->literally has a sticky note on the snacks that say “don’t touch theses are for y/n”

->always makes sure you are fed and happy

-showers you with compliments

->he always reminds you how beautiful you are and how lucky he is to have you

-cuddles

->always is holding you close and just keeping you close

->is strong cuddler and just knowing you are right by him gives him peace of mine

-compromising with you

->is always open to hearing your side before barking down the bush with you and never wants to upset you with arguing

-scratching your back

->every night before you fall asleep you always fell him start to scratch your back to help you fall asleep

Quinn Hughes

- definitely a play fighter

->you both would be cuddling then he’d start tickling you which would turn into you both play fighting and him just loving at you with loving eyes.

-always tries to make time with you

->he’s a busy man with being captain and everything so he always try to find ways to spend time with you

-reading with you

->would let you lay your head in his lap as he read the new book he had bought to you

-buys you different rings from stores he goes to

->he buys a ring for you in all the different places he goes so it would be like you went there with him

-has a keychain of your initials on his keys

->it’s a small way of him showing you that you have his heart

Maveric Lamoureux

-leans down to hear you

-> he’s a tall dude

->so he has to lean down to hear you which makes you blushy which he finds cute but he also thinks communication is important so to him leaning down to hear you is a way of showing he love you

-buys you new flowers every week

->always likes to get you fresh flowers. It’s a little thing he started when you both got serious and he’s continues to do it. It has now became a tradition

-rest his elbow on your head

->he does this to annoy you because he loves seeing the way your face goes and also a way of showing he is by your side

-translate different items or conversations

->if you are around him when he is talking to someone in French he would take his time to translate it all for you or if your in a all French grocery store he would translate the items for you

-leaves cute little sticky note affirmations on your stuffs

->leaves sticky notes everywhere so you know how beautiful and special you are

Mason Mctavish

-remembers the small things

->he reminds when you both first met and the place where you met. When he first asked you out.

-sitting with you in the mornings

-> his mornings are usually pretty busy but always tries to find time with you in the morning just to go over what you both are doing that day

-sleeps by the door

->always tries to make sure you are safe and makes sure you know that he will protect you and one the ways he shows you that is by sleeping near the door

-kisses you every time you walk by

->every time he sees you or goes near you he will kiss you on the lips with a big smile

-gives you space when you need it

->always can tell if something going on and you need space

Fraser Minten

-holding hands

->would kiss your knuckles one by one looking up at you with a soft smile before he starts driving

->while driving or walking around he’d subconsciously rubbing his thumb over your knuckles

-talking with you at late nights when you can’t sleep

->he’d always stay up with you talking random things or tell you how the game went if your still up and can’t sleep at night

->he’d tell you random stories or memories he had as a kid

-putting a blanket over when he finds you asleep

->he’d come back home from a late game to find you sleeping on the couch and would put a blanket over you

->anytime he finds you sleeping on the couch he’d put a blanket over you

-feeding you

->if you are sick or tired and had eating anything he’d sit there and feed you every last bite of what you have to eat as he doesn’t want you to get sick or sicker from not eating

-wears a chain around his neck that has your lucky number

->the number reminds him of you and the necklace has now became his lucky charm and it always reminds him he has you to come home to.

Juraj Slafkovsky

-patting your head

->if your shorter than him he likes to just pat you on the head when he sees you doing something like homework and cooking dinner instead of wrapping his arms around your waist

-washing your hair

->he enjoys washing your hair especially when he knows it relaxes you and gently scratches your scalp too.

-teaching you sovak

->He noticed how you were trying to learn it on your own so you could talk with him more so he started to teach you.

->he would say something in sovak and then make you point at what he meant

-sitting with you and telling you stories

->he tells you about his hometown and how he’d love for one day that he could bring you there

-late night ice cream

->once you both moved in together is when you both started to have a late night ice cream run definitely when he is home

Jeremy Swayman

-cleans with you

->if he ever comes home to you cleaning he would throw on some music and start helping you clean

-always has a hand or arm on you or around you

->he always keeps a arm around you to keep you safe when you both are in public and even when not in public always has his arms around you

-gives you hugs and kisses through out the day

->if he doesn’t get his morning kiss from you he’s a grumpy man

->always loves giving you Hugs and kisses

-gives you his full attention

->will sit there and listen to your day and just nods his head until you want him to speak

-always says thank you to you

->wether it be you cooking dinner or just telling you how much you appreciate him he always says thank you

Trevor Zegras

-has a nighttime routine with you

->whenever it’s a home game and he can come back to you you both have a routine you both do together.

->a shower together then skin care and then you both talk about eachother days together

-will pull you into his lap and tell you he loves you

->he would do it right in front of the boys and not afraid to show affection to you even when around the boys

-Surprise you With a Fun Activity he doesnt Normally Do

->would bring you to a movie theater out of nowhere or go to the park and plays on the playground with you like little kids

-always randomly squishing your face

->when you pout your face gets squish. when you just smile at him? Your face gets squished.

-has his favorite picture of you in his wallet

->the picture is from your guys first date and he keeps it on him to remind him how lucky he is to have you

[sakkiichi]

NOT IF IT’S YOU.

“I’ll take care of you.”

“It’s rotten work.”

“Not to me. Not if it’s you.”

Jing Yuan, Blade, Dan Heng, Luka, Seele x gn! reader.

genre/cw: angst to fluff, feelings of not being good enough, mentions of blood & injury, but soft comforting vibes.

✧ JING YUAN

Muffled cries and a darkened room are all the company you wish for tonight.

You messed up.

You utterly and completely fucked up.

Not only were you not able to catch the stellaron hunter, but you also got severely injured.

In your defense, the guy was skilled with that wicked sword of his.

And yet, that doesn’t make you feel any better.

Pressing your hand down your bloody side, you reach home.

And for the first time since you started dating him, you really hope the general is already asleep tonight.

The creaking of the wooden door makes you cringe when you enter the main hall, memorized steps guiding you to the bathroom.

Hopefully you’ll be able to patch yourself up without making too much noise.

A low purr greets you when you reach your destination’s door.

“Shhh, Mimi, please…” you utter, weakly, patting her fur with the hand that’s not soaked in blood. “Be a good girl and keep quiet for me?” The lion purrs again, as if unsatisfied, sensing something’s clearly amiss.

Wincing, you close the bathroom’s door behind yourself, pent up tears blurring your vision as you rummage the cabinets for disinfectant and some bandages.

“And just about what do you think you’re doing?” A familiar baritone sternly asks.

You stop in your tracks, a roll of bandage in your bloodstained hand.

“Jing Yuan…” you meekly manage. “Sorry I woke you up.” You lower the dressings in your grasp, defeated.

“You’re bleeding yourself out and me having woken up is your first concern?” He asks, disbelieving, leaning off the doorframe, walking towards you.

“I’m not bleeding myself out, general.” You respond through gritted teeth, your tone harsher than intended. “It’s just a flesh wound.”

And yet, the pained hiss you let out begs to differ.

“Let me see.” Your lover prompts, placing a calloused hand on your shoulder.

“No!” You pull away from his touch, something you had never done before. “I already told you, it’s just a scratch, it’s not worth worrying over, I’m not worth worrying over...”

“Don’t say that again.”

Jing Yuan’s tone leaves no room for argument, steely as the spear he wields. His usually soft amber eyes are akin to raging embers now, glueing you in place, a gelid chill running down your spine.

“But it’s tr-“

“Don’t. Don’t let me hear it.” The arbiter general cuts off, his voice a contrast to the tenderness with which he takes the stained gauze from you.

And under the warmth of his touch, you let yourself be shielded by the rainfalls of lightning with which he’d struck down any who dared hurt you.

Careful hands remove your sticky shirt, a deep gash criss-crossing your abdomen in ominous shades of crimson. With as much softness as he can muster, your lover applies antiseptic, stinging pinpricks in his wake.

“You shouldn’t be doing this.” You mumble, voice milliseconds away from breaking. “It’s trouble, I’m trouble, I failed the mission and now you have to patch me up and take care of m-“

Slightly parched lips land on yours, ardently, as if wanting to cauterize the raw soreness from your open wound. Jing Yuan’s hands settle on your waist, like stitches putting shards of you back together, your brokenness, a myriad of pieces glued back into a colorful mosaic.

And in his healing hold, you let yourself fall, because you know no matter how small the pieces, by his side, you’ll find a way to solve the puzzle.

“You are never trouble to me.” Is your general’s affirmation when he pulls away, leaving a lingering kiss on your brow as he begins wrapping your gaping wound.

Perhaps this once, you’ll believe it, you think, as the ache dulls and exhaustion starts to take over.

✧ BLADE

The moment you see his weapon fly out of his grasp, all caution is thrown to the wind.

You weren’t used to the sight of him anything but defeating with ease any who dared to cross him.

Yet now, he bleeds.

Staggering to the side, Blade tries to reach for his discarded sword.

To no avail, for he drops to his knees, sickly crimson pooling at his feet.

Whatever cursed fragmentum creature he’s parrying against will land its last strike.

You can’t imagine a world without Blade. Without Ren.

Not like this, not ever.

The next sound in the desolate battlefield is the clang of metal against metal and your strained grunts.

“[Y/n]…” your lover musters, barely any strength left in his usually steely tone. “Go…”

“Like hell I’m leaving you here!” You yell back, your muscles sore from blocking the enemy’s fatal blow. “I’m not abandoning you, Ren!” A lone tear slides from the corner of your eyes, because of the effort or the thought of a world where you don’t get to wake up by Blade’s side, you are not sure.

“[Y/n]… I’m done for.” He coughs.

“Shut up, shut up, shut the hell up!” You scream, now locked in combat with the creature launching their piercing weapons at you.

You manage to dodge a few of its pounces, ducking and parrying as best you can.

But eventually, their chainsaw-like armament grazes your collarbone, your sky shattering cry hurting Blade more than the deadly wounds he bears.

You can’t let this end here.

Mustering strength from aeons know where, you impale your own weapon into the monster’s middle.

Flecks of fiery dust fly around you, before the construct goes up in flames, the image burning in your teary gaze.

“Ren!” You call, running to kneel by his broken form.

“Why?” The stellaron hunter wonders, ebony hair plastered to his face, deep night skies shadowing the underside of his ruby eyes. His bleeding hand reaches to cup the side of your face. “Why did you save me? I’m rotten.”

If it wasn’t because the guy is quite literally holding himself together in tatters, you’d be slapping some sense into him.

Instead, tears stained in yours and his shades of red careen down your cheeks.

“You are not! You never are! And you never will be to me!” You fling your arms around him, holding his weakened body as close to your heartbeat as possible.

Blade never believed in angels, but tonight, you might as well have been one. His savior in a battlefield where he otherwise would have breathed for the last time.

✧ DAN HENG

Night stars and daylight seem to mingle together lately.

Aboard the astral express, you find yourself buried in work. Records from expeditions, blueprints from parts of the train you need to memorize should they need repairing, leads and clues on the whereabouts of the stellaron hunters… the lines of text begin to blur before your tired eyes, eliciting a sigh from your lips.

It might be good to go grab a coffee, you muse.

But looking at the time, you should work for a while longer without distractions, you really could use a breakthrough in the stellaron investigation… Everyone’s working so hard, and the last thing you want is to be dead weight.

As you stretch your arms and attempt to re-focus on your task, three knocks resound through your room’s quiet.

Resignation makes itself apparent on your tone when you ask:

“What is it?”

“It’s just me.” A familiar voice, smooth as a breeze combing through greenery states.

“Dan Heng!” A relaxed smile tugs at your lips, as you get up from your desk to let him in. No matter how many galaxies you transversed, Dan Heng’s presence was always the brightest constellation to you.

Now, it’s not like you can admit your feelings to him, but you’ll enjoy this fond closeness you have now while you can.

“You’re still up?” You prompt, more of a statement than an actual question. “What brings you here?”

“I could ask you the same question.” He deadpans, arms crossed over his chest.

“Work.” You sheepishly say, with a mirthless smile.

“Have you eaten?” The dark haired man questions, the lilt of his tone indicating he is very much aware of how you have indeed not dined.

“Uh… I drank fruit juice and coffee? A while ago?”

Now it’s his turn to sigh in exasperation.

“How many times will it take of me repeating it to you for you to take care?”

“Sorry.” You lower your head. You know your friend is right and you’ve been neglecting yourself, but can you be blamed? The amount of work you took on is hefty, to say the least.

“Since you aren’t doing it yourself, let me take care of you.” His aquamarine eyes pierce through you, but they hold a warm gentleness to them. Every time you get lost in his gaze, you feel like you’re swimming in luminescent lakes under a thousand starry nights.

However, the reverie is short lived.

When you feel his hand around your wrist, pulling you out of your airless room, a shadow of guilt lodges at the back of your mind.

“Dan Heng, I can’t let you do that.” You stop in your tracks, averting your gaze, not allowing yourself the pleasure to dip in the profound waters of his eyes.

“Why not?” The boy’s hold on you slackens a little.

“You have enough work yourself, I can’t burden you anymore…” You mumble the last part, but it doesn’t escape him.

“You’re not a burden.” The wielder of cloud piercer assures you, incisively.

His hold on you tightens a little, his hand descending to find yours.

“But surely you’d prefer spending your time doing something more fun or, I don’t know, useful, at least…”

“No, I wouldn’t.” He responds. His hand squeezes yours in silent reassurance.

You could get used to his touch.

You’d like it very much, actually.

Instead, self-doubt robs you of your voice again tonight.

“Why?” Is the question echoing in between the corridor’s walls.

“Because I like- no, because I love you.” Is Dan Heng’s confession, cheeks matching the maroon of the maple leaves you’ve sometimes studied together.

Loud heartbeats and frenzied euphoria mingle in your chest, your hand squeezing his this time.

“What? Really? No, don’t get me wrong, it’s good- I mean, thank you- I mean, are you sure? Because I’m flattered but- Well, I love you t-“

Your speech is cut short by familiar hands steadying your shoulders. Dan Heng heaves a shaky breath, then:

“I’m going to show you how sure I am.”

A second later, his lips carefully, tentatively, envelop yours. It’s hesitating, and your noses bump a few times, but, to you, it couldn’t be any more perfect.

Your hands find themselves clinging to the front of his shirt, his still poised on your shoulders.

And as you leave fields of stars behind and enter new woods of shining asteroids, you finally let yourself submerge in the pools of jade contained in the mysterious man’s gaze.

Taking a break was certainly worth it, is the thought crossing your mind, as you lean in for another less innocent kiss.

✧ LUKA

“Ouch!”

“Stay still, Luka.”

“But it stings!”

“Oh and the blows you took out there didn’t?”

“But I won, right?”

“You always say that, yet at what cost?”

That is the currently ongoing conversation (or scolding, depending on how you look at it); the same one that repeats every week, after every victory he achieves in the fighting ring.

Because no matter how many times he emerges as victor, Luka always comes back to you beaten up and bruised. Bloody sometimes too, and you can only be grateful for no fractured bones.

You were no healer, but you still remember the first time you saw him fight.

—

It was his first ever combat, against a much bigger opponent.

Luka was smiling when his arm was lifted announcing his victory, and yet, you will never be able to shake off the sight of his concealed flinches every time his chest rose and fell.

His bruised ribs didn’t escape you.

In the same way that you didn’t miss the redhead lingering for a while after the crowd had dissipated.

Those coughs of his naturally wouldn’t let him go too far.

“Hey, are you alright?” You approached him.

“Sure, I’m fine!” The fighter tried to smile, only for it to turn into a fit of coughing that didn’t sound good at all, especially not with how he keeps holding his sides every time his ribcage so much as slightly stirs.

“No, you’re not fine.” You scoffed, arms crossed over your chest. “You have a black eye, your ribs look bruised and you’re limping. How is that being fine, again?”

“I’ll get through it.” He smiled. His blue eyes glinted in the dim light of the venue, akin to patches of clear sky in the soot-filled air of the underworld.

“How exactly? Passing out from pain? Come on, sit down, I’ll patch you up.” You offered, hurrying around the rundown gym, in search for something resembling a first aid kit.

“You don’t need to-“

“No buts.” You stated, leveling him with a gaze, pointing at him with a newly acquired roll of bandages.

—

“You know, you don’t have to waste your time on m-“ he tries to retort now, summer ocean eyes averted, his usual smile replaced by a frown you’re not fond of.

“Luka.” You stop him before he can continue his self deprecation.

“But you could be doing so much bette-“

“I won’t hear it.” You cut off, applying more pressure than needed while disinfecting a cut on his cheekbone. “We’ve already talked about this. You keep getting roughened up on the battlefield, I’ll be here to patch you up. No buts.”

A smile crosses the redhead’s face, the swirling typhoons in his gaze calming down to ripples over a lake. But still, some clouds linger over the surface, no sunlight quite filtering through in harp like beams underwater.

“Don’t you get tired, though?” Luka ventures, hesitation and bashfulness lacing his tone.

“Never when it comes to you.” You assure him, without having to think twice. “And no buts.”

“No buts, huh?” The corner of his lips curves upward, the cheeky smirk you always adored back. “But what if I asked you to kiss it better, would you?” The fiery haired warrior teases.

“Oh, you…” And yet, you can’t hide the wide smile helplessly illuminating your features.

Softly, your lips brush over each of the clean bandages you applied.

And Luka could swear your lips are better than any painkiller.

“There, all healed.” You whisper when you pull away, enchanted by the lights dancing in the sapphire expanse of his stare.

“Not yet.” He breathes, pulling you to him by the hand, your weight falling against his bare chest.

“Luka…” Is all you can muster before he’s kissing you full on the lips, his hands on the small of your back, the softness of his skin and the iron-hardness of metal making your every hair stand on end. You cup his face tenderly, brushing sweaty auburn strands away, as you drown in the colliding waves of his intense tide.

“Now I’m all healed.” Are Luka’s words when he pulls away, dopey smile adorning his bruised face.

You’re definitely never getting tired of this.

✧ SEELE

By moonlight, she waits.

From her vantage point on the rooftop of Goethe Grand Hotel, Seele counts down the seconds for your return.

She’s noticed.

Your leaves in the dead of every night, when you think everyone’s sleeping soundly.

Your returns before dawn, covered in dust and bruises.

The puffiness and redness of your eyes, the shadows under them.

In the starless silence, the butterfly stills her wings, listening to the steps crossing Boulder Town’s plaza.

With a swift motion, the wildfire fighter steps down from her perch, leaning against the hotel’s front wall.

“Good night to you too.” Seele calls.

Your eyes widen in shock. Why is she here now? She wasn’t supposed to see you in such a state.

“Seele! You startled me…” You try for a reassuring smile, as if to say ‘hey, everything’s fine’, but alas, when it came to you, nothing escaped Babochka.

“Cut the act, will you?” She scoffs, a hand resting on her hip. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on or not?”

“Nothing’s going on.” You meekly answer, tone cold and distant.

Your girlfriend’s violet gaze dilates, concern overtaking her frown.

This detached iciness… This isn’t like you at all.

But Seele’s forte were never hugs and promises for better days to come, no. A fighter honed in battles for a mere glass of water, she always knew how to hit you with honesty, a scythe shredding the rainclouds dampening your light.

“So, are you going to keep looking miserable and isolating yourself?” She scoffs. “Be for real, you are barely talking, you leave at ungodly hours every night and you look like you’ve been crying for ages every morning. So are you going to tell me what’s wrong already?”

You heave a breath, the simple action exhausting.

“I just… I don’t feel like I deserve anyone… I’m not a good enough fighter, I’m not smart enough, I don’t really… I’m not proud of my personality and just…” you inhale, the night breeze unbearably frigid, even though the weather’s not even cold. “These nights, I’ve been going into the mines, to try and help, I guess, or to avoid thinking…” your shoulders slump.

Seele sighs, the bite in her tone completely faded, concern and care lingering as the indigo pigments of a butterfly caught in your palm.

“You can talk to me, you know?” She says, softer this time, her hand finding your blistered one from these last days.

“I know, I just… I don’t want to be a bother…”

“You never are, silly.” Your lover flicks your forehead, wrapping strong arms around your trembling form. “You never are.”

Quiet sniffles escape you at her warm embrace.

You had missed this.

You had missed her.

“Let’s go inside, yeah?” Seele utters, barely above a whisper, like a monarch’s flutter.

You nod, wiping the tears that started falling, glinting in your lashes like doomed satellites.

“I love you, never forget that.” Is your partner’s promise, with the moon as witness.

For the first time in weeks, you would fly in the sweetness of dreams tonight. By her side.

[thatonetwig]

Dogday x Catnap headcanons! (+ some extra things!)

Catnap has a very strong tail and loves to use it to pick up Dogday from behind so he can give him cuddles and kisses.

Dogday always starts barking and jumping around in excitement when meeting Catnap after not seeing him (one day, one minute, doesn't matter).

They each wear two bracelets. One is a rainbow bracelet to represent their friendship with the other critters, and the other is a bracelet with each other's colors and charm to always serve as a reminder of the other.

Catnap generally isn't a fan of physical contact but completely melts into Dogday when it comes to his physical affection.

The two have gotten used to their scents overlapping with each other when cuddling. This is part of the reason why the other critters leave the room whenever they do this due to how nauseating the resulting smell is.

Dogday always wakes up fully energized and ready for the day, but that instantly changes to him convincing himself that he needs more sleep if Catnap happens to be lying on his stomach and sleeping soundly.

Bonus:

Craftycorn likes to make art of the two together, romantic stuff and whatnot. Something that both are unaware of. Bubba once walked in on her making this art, and they both silently agreed to never speak of it again; awkwardly nodding to each other as Bubba slowly closed the door.

Now, since I love these two and Vocaloid with all of my being, I wanted to give them some Vocaloid songs that I associate them with! I hope you all can find inspiration in these songs while thinking of these two the same way I did!

Dogday:

Moudoku Chuui - でんの子P (feat. Aoki Lapis

IDSMILE - Toa (feat. Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin)

Viva Happy - Mitchie M (feat. Hatsune Miku)

Catnap:

Paradichlorobenzene - オワタP (feat. Kagamine Len and Kagamine Rin)

Non-Breath Oblige - PinocchioP (feat. Hatsune Miku)

Nonsense and Me - RIProducer (feat. Kasane Teto)

Both:

Last Score - せきこみごはん (feat. Hatsune Miku)

Melt - ryo (feat. Hatsune Miku)

Magnet - Minato (feat. Hatsune Miku and Megurine Luka)

Finally, a small excerpt from an upcoming fic!

...

("I hope Dogday is gonna be okay."), Catnap thought to himself as he used his tail to stir the pot of vegetable soup he was making.

He had never seen him get sick before, but Catnap already hated it. He wouldn't stop whimpering and was nothing like the Dogday Catnap knew. The worst part of it, however, was that Catnap couldn't be next to him to comfort him.

Suddenly, Catnap felt a sharp pain on his tail.

"Yowch! What the heck?!", Catnap hissed, taking his tail out of the pot.

As it turned out, the soup had begun to boil over while he was thinking. Leaving some of it already on the floor.

("You've gotta be kidding me..."), Catnap thought as he grabbed a few paper towels to clean up the mess with.

...

...

("Is he still whimpering?"), he thought as he slowly walked to Dogday's room with a bowl of vegetable soup in his hands.

Sure enough, he could hear small but constant whimpers just a few feet down the hall.

Catnap then heard a loud groan come from his room before a series of coughs and hacks followed. This caused him to panic briefly and speed up his walking.

"Um- h-hey Dogday!", Catnap said, poking his head through the doorframe.

Dogday looked up from his blanket and saw his boyfriend standing there with the bowl of soup.

"O-oh...hi C-cat- ack- nap.", Dogday said, coughing as he forced a smile.

"I made you soup! Do you want me to bring it to you?"

"T-that sounds- huahh...nice. S-sure. But p-please keep your distance.", Dogday said, his voice sounding hoarse.

Catnap slowly walked over to the bed and held the bowl with his tail for Dogday to take.

"T-thanks Catnap...you're the best...", Dogday said, grabbing the bowl and taking a sip from it.

He took a few moments to chew the veggies and examine the taste of the soup.

"W-wow...this is really-"

Dogday looked up and saw Catnap standing just a few meters away from his face.

"W-what?! What are you doing?", Dogday said, pushing himself to the other side of the bed.

"What?", Catnap said innocently.

"Look, I-I miss being with you a-as much as you do, but I don't- ack- want you to get sick either. Y-you have to understand that.", Dogday explained.

Catnap's expression faltered, and he silently left the room, closing the door behind him.

Once he was out in the hallway, Catnap put his tail under his chin to think of something else to do.

Guess he would just have to try harder to get Dogday's affection.

[rainba]

Stay Inside.

TWs/tags: death of animals, graphic violence, blood, mild gore (?), VERY dark content. Yandere.

AU/prompt where Luka and reader live alone together in a house surrounded by a forest.

Shout out to @ironicallyenraptured for inspiring me to make this! I couldn't get the idea of a creepy, more deranged side of Luka out of my mind. ╰(*´︶`*)╯

Reader is GN!

It keeps happening every night.

Hushed screams, gurgled cries, a gentle tapping at your window accompanied by howling winds. Every time the sun drops beneath the horizon and the moon rises into the sky, you feel a horrifying sense of dread begin to consume you.

Every night, Luka tells you the same thing. “Shh, it’s okay. I’ll protect you.” 

“If you need me, I’ll be right here. Okay?”

His voice is always so calm and steady, so oddly warm and reassuring– you can’t help but nod and bury yourself in his arms. Every night, he always makes sure to hold you close. If he’s not cuddling you, it’s impossible to fall asleep.

You know deep down that Luka will do whatever it takes to protect you. When you’ve both been out in the wild, Luka has never failed to stave off predators that dare to hunt you two. Luka’s hearing is impeccable, his pink eyes are sharp, his reaction times are inhuman. 

So just close your eyes… Everything will be okay. The noises outside are just that: noises outside.

When all of this first started out, things were relatively tame. Weird sounds, strange scratching at your windows, etc. There was no need to think too much of it.

But over time, things started getting… Weirder, to put it lightly. 

Instead of faint markings, deep claw marks started appearing on the house’s outdoor walls. The trash can outside your property was always a disaster, your front door was starting to come off of its hinges, and the ghastly screams outside began to echo louder through the night. Paranoia started to creep into your mind– the once tame forest that surrounds you is now an endless sea of nightmares. A death trap, even.

What could possibly be out there in the woods? Is it a monster doing all of this? A pack of wild, rabid animals? A human...?

When Luka is away from the house, you can’t bear the thought of stepping outside. What if there truly is some sort of creature out there in the forest– a grotesque monster that’s waiting for you to go outside, waiting for you to be all alone and vulnerable? You don’t want to risk anything.

When Luka isn’t around, you can’t help but barricade the doors and lock all of the windows. The howls at night have grown louder still; the destruction of your property has spiraled out of control. You tell Luka over and over again that you feel unsafe, but he just plainly tells you not to worry about it.

“Nothing will hurt you when I’m next to you,” he whispers while kissing your forehead. “No creature will dare lay a finger on you.”

Typically, you manage to sleep without interruptions, never once waking up until the morning comes. However, there are some nights where you do wake up, and usually Luka is missing.

Groggily, you rise up from the bed and go searching for him, feeling unsafe when you’re not wrapped up in his strong arms. Most of the time, he manages to sneak out from around a corner, and he always asks you what you’re doing.

His gaze is sharper than normal– his tone dark and deadly serious.

“I just wanted to find you…” 

When you mumble those words, he lightens up, and sighs.

“...Let’s get you back to bed.”

Luka will gently grab you by the hand and guide you back to the bedroom, tucking you in and lying beside you. He doesn’t leave until he knows that you’re asleep.

Somehow, things continue to get worse. There’s not just screaming outside anymore. There’re no longer just scratch marks on your house and trash sprawled out everywhere. No.

…Now there’s blood stains on your windows. 

And decapitated animals scattered on your lawn.

The first time you discovered the innocent little creatures slaughtered on your property, you fell over and threw up. The smell was fucking awful. The sight was worse than anything you had ever seen in your worst nightmares.

Those poor animals– those poor, innocent animals. Your screams and cries were impossibly loud. When Luka came rushing to your side, his eyes widened in both horror and disbelief.

But… Something didn’t seem right with him. He looked shocked and disgusted, but he didn’t act like it. His voice was steady and calm, just like usual. His body never once trembled with fear.

Luka guided you from off the ground and hurried you back into the house, quickly shutting the door and setting you down on the living room couch. He rubbed your back and wrapped his arms around you, placing your face firmly against his chest. He hushed your cries and comforted you for countless hours.

All you wanted was for this to end.

The stress is eating you alive– you can barely function in your day-to-day life. 

You can’t move out of your house– that simply isn’t an option. You can’t go out and search for whatever’s doing this, because you don’t have the strength to do so. The entire situation is so dire, and you’re just so incredibly helpless. But it’s okay… Luka will protect you. 

You start to cling to him like he’s your savior.

“Don’t go outside. Ever.” He commands, his voice never wavering. “Whatever is out there can’t get you in here.” The certainty in his voice was reassuring… However, you couldn’t help but question him.

“H-how do you know...? How do you know that it won’t just break into the house?” 

Luka’s ears twitch as his grip on you tightens for a split second. For a moment, he doesn’t know what to say– but eventually, he comes up with a reply.

“Do you trust me?” His tone is deadly serious.

He didn’t answer your question. But even so, you give him a nod. 

“Then trust me when I say that it won’t come inside.”

After that exchange, Luka grabs a blanket for you and tells you to take a nap on the couch. He trudges outside and he cleans up the ‘mess’, then he cooks you your favorite meal, trying to take your mind off of things. For a few days after that, everything begins to calm down. The screams grow quieter, there’s no tapping at your window, and for a little bit, there’s a tranquil silence that settles into your home. It’s… Nice. 

But good things never last forever.

On a random night, you’re awakened by a loud BANG.

It’s so loud that it leaves your ears ringing– you jump up out of bed and tears begin to form in your eyes. Luka is nowhere to be found.

You have no gun; you have no means to protect yourself. Your gaze darts left and right as you cry out for Luka, but you’re only met with silence.

The shrieking and crying outside your house are now louder than ever.

You don’t know what to do as adrenaline shoots through your veins, sending your mind and body into overdrive. You jump out from the bed and dash down the hallways, calling out Luka’s name over and over again.

Where is he–? Where could he possibly be? Is he okay?!

He’s not in the living room, he’s not in the bathroom, he’s not in the kitchen. When you reach the front door, your eyes widen in horror.

It’s completely broken off its hinges. There’s a large pool of blood at the entrance.

Is… Is the monster inside? 

You call out Luka’s name even louder as you rush outside, your heart pounding in your chest. There’s not a single cloud in the sky. The forest is frighteningly dark. And the blood on the ground...? It’s trailing around the side of your house, leading directly to your trash can.

All of this is too much for your heart to handle. Without thinking, you follow the path of blood, tiptoeing and trying to hush your heavy breaths. You didn’t really know what to expect as you turned the corner.

…But what you saw was something you never would’ve predicted.

Sitting there next to the trash can, hunched over and drenched in crimson blood, is nobody other than Luka.

His pink fur is standing on edge. His eyes are glowing, his pupils are sharpened, and there’s a poor bunny squirming in his clawed hands.

And there’s flesh dangling from his mouth.

He looks up at you slowly.

“...I thought I told you to never come outside.”

Luka carefully rises from his position, dropping the innocent creature onto the soft grass below. The half-dead bunny is still kicking and twitching.

“Now you’re going to leave me, aren’t you?”

The shadow of his horrifying figure engulfs you. The moonlight behind him is shining so brightly, highlighting every curve of his beautiful body, highlighting the warm blood that stains his clothes. You open your mouth to reply, but no words come out.

“You think I’m a monster, don’t you?”

Your body is paralyzed with fear. You can’t say a thing. Is this... Is this truly the man you fell in love with? Is this the same man that swore to protect you... The one who holds you lovingly in his arms every single night?

Is... Is he the 'creature' you've been worried about all along?

With a sigh, he clicks his tongue.

“All I wanted was for you to never leave the house.”

And then… He smiles.

“If you step outside ever again, I can’t promise that I’ll be able to protect you from myself.”

[zabala0z]

Hi I’m back! I think we all know what I’m going to talk about; “s4 of TMA and OH MY GOD JARED HOPWORTH STATEMENT”

MAG 130: Meat

Lucia Wright has the same last name as James Wright who ran the institute from ‘73-‘96 until he passed. I don’t know if there’s any relation but just in case. There’s that pit. There’s a lot of pits that’s related to The Flesh (MAG 49, MAG 80, MAG 97, I think, and MAG 130) so. Yay. Also Tom Hann appearance once again (MAG 30, MAG 72). Love the mention of the Carlisle boy which I think is Tony Carlisle from MAG 18, the neighbor with all that meat. Gertrude also mentions Dekker which is probably Adelard Dekker who I still need to see more of to fully develop my opinion on him.

Also what’s with all the recent cobwebs??? There’s been so many mentions of them around the institute, is The Web planning something?

MAG 131: Flesh

fucking hell, Jon. I think this man just decides to do shit without running it by anyone. Also yay Melanie! I feel like really bad for her. Again, I can’t even blame her much for her reactions cause one, there was The Slaughter and two, surgery is like hella invasive even when it’s run by the person so waking up to someone performing an impromptu surgery on you would linger with me as well.

Helen is back. Bit scared of her but she sounds much better then Michael (then again, The Spiral lies like constantly). Now onto the main guy: Jared Hopworth.

Um. I had no idea what his voice was going to sound like. My expectation wasn’t high, just “unhinged” and my god did Jared Hopworth deliver. (Also heard he’s also Martins voice actor???? WHAT??) he didn’t give much new information but lemme tell you, hearing the squelching of meat and shifting of bones made me want to throw up so congratulations Jared! You’re are in the top 3 of TMA voices that make me feel intense horror!

MAG 132: Entombed

Jesus. Okay so. Daisy. Not much lore in this ep for me to connect to anything, just a lot of sad stuff like I was speechless. I can’t remember if I mentioned on here that I thought Daisy was related to The Hunt but I did suspect and I’m not surprised! Also, the shirt thing, that’s crazy oh my god, I thought it was interesting she asked about his shirt out of all things.

MAG 133: Dead Horse

The Everchase. Why does every entity have such a cool sounding ritual name??? Anyways, pretty interesting.

“You know what my least favorite part of a case was?”

“The police brutality lawsuit” Im literally dying.

Also, Basira, man. I think she’s so interesting. I can’t put it into words but god she’s just such an interesting character to me. An ex-cop, one of the only ones who like logic’s her way out of The Unknowing, trying to keep everything together at the institute, I don’t know, I just like her a lot.

But god FORBID a character gets replaced OR SACRIFICES THEMSELF.

I need to see something from Martin, I’m worried about him. Maybe Peter Lukas. Actually, I kinda wanna see Nathaniel Lukas? Like he exists too, he has his own shit going on. I don’t wanna see Elias.

Okay I think that’s everything! I wish I could continue my notes, I low key miss sitting at my computer after listening to the eps and typing out every single detail, it was kinda calming.

[lilyrizzy]

trick or treat!! please something angsty as possible

okay this is super angsty! Cw: major character death

"I used to believe that grief was a lot of sitting around and crying,” Max says, looking straight ahead rather than at Grace as he speaks, at, Daniel Joseph Ricciardo, engraved in gold lettering. “On the TV, and a few times when I saw my mum crying about my Grandpa, of course, it was always- It seemed soft, sort off.”

His thumb slots perfectly into the groove of the ‘D’, as he traces the straight line of it, then the curve. Besides him, Grace doesn't say anything, so he continues.

“I know now, of course, that it is not like that at all. Instead, it is like every day I am one step closer to exploding, until I am just a mess. Just- Chunks of Max.”

That gets Grace laughing, abrupt, like he’s startled her. Max laughs too. He supposes it is a funny image, being made into cat food by your own emotions, your inability to deal with them gracefully.

“Did my son teach not teach you anything about grief?” she says, her voice somehow bright and heavy at the same time. For a moment, Max thinks she means- But then- “All those elbows and fists shoved through doors and walls.”

She is talking about racing.

Max shakes his head.

“Losing races, that is not grief,” he says, stubbornly, because he might have thought that at eighteen but he knows better now. His fingertip has reached the first ‘e’ now. He’s taking his time.

“Grief is all about losing,” Grace tries, but Max can’t listen to her compare them, like they are the same. Like Max hasn’t had all his bargaining and begging fall on deaf ears. One more day. Every race win for one more day. One thousand losses for one more day.

“Losing a race is a disappointment,” he insists. Underneath his touch, the headstone is smooth the way Daniel's thighs would be right after he would wax, but cold the way he never was. Max drops his hand. “It is knowing that you did not try hard enough, that- That you have next weekend, next season to try again. To be better.”

There are no more ‘nexts’ for Max. Not ones that matter, not when the future he dreamed up, that used to feel so easy to reach for, is beneath his feet, buried where he stands.

“You can-“ Grace begins eventually, breaking the quiet- “Sweetheart, it’s been a year.”

Grace is silent for a moment, and Max can hear the birds, the noises they make as they fly and land and talk to each other. He touches Daniel- the headstone- again, to steady himself as he tilts his head back to look into the treeline. He can’t be sure, but he thinks the noisy one is a type that Daniel had showed him, the only time they were here together in Perth and he was still alive. A honeyeater.

Her hand reaches for his then and it startles him a little, her soft motherly hands touching him. Skin papery thin, one year older than the last time she touched him, the same way, in this very same spot. It’d surprised him just as much then; she’d never been Max’s biggest fan.

When he trusts himself to look at her face, she’s smiling as though she thinks he needs to hear this.

“Daniel would want you to be happy.”

Max screws his eyes shut, shakes his head so viciously as though to shake away the words he wants to say, to throw into her face, like a drawing on Luka’s etch-e-sketch.

What would you know about that? You did not see the way he loved me, the way we fought, the way we fucked. What would you know about what Daniel would want for me.

“I can’t,” he gets out, because it’s half the truth anyway. Even though the words choke him. “I can’t.”

When he opens his eyes again, he expects to be met with more insistence, more of her steadfast belief that as always, mother knows best.

“You know, when you told me you wanted to keep him-“ her other hand trails over the edge of the gravestone, gently, as though touching somebody she doesn’t want to wake up from sleeping- “I was so angry at you Max.”

Instead, she nods, but doesn't let go of his hand. Then-

Her eyes look sideways towards him, as though daring him a little to question her, to protest, but he stays silent. She laughs, nervously before continuing.

“You don’t- for this you do not need to be sorry,” Max tells her honestly, because it’s almost crueller now, to have her apology said too late, to the wrong person. Daniel died thinking his mother was scared of the sight of him, and now she is apologising for wanting to see him too much.

“I thought that you had him for all these years, the least you could do was let him come home to us. That was- I was cruel. It was wrong. I robbed you of a place, somewhere to go to be with him. I’m sorry.”

Max almost wants to laugh.

Besides, it didn't matter. Max never needed a grave. He’d asked because it had been what Daniel wanted, the only thing he’d asked for in the last days he was verbal. Delirious, but verbal.

Max didn’t need ashes or bones. Not when he’d had Daniel’s hair in their shower drain. His Vans lining their hallway, his oat milk in the fridge, curdled, until Victoria had visited and made him throw it out. When he still has him now, the echo of his laughter every time Max watches a funny film, sat on the sofa they picked out together. His footsteps beside Max on every cobbled street he walks down.

I want to be in the Monaco sunshine, Maxy. With you.

His voice, even if only from videos he rewatches or inside Max’s head.

“I didn’t need somewhere to go,” he tells her, squeezing her hand. “At home, he is everywhere. He is with me all the time.”

[tippedarrows]

Hi….. I see youre taking requests…. canyou draw or make hcs for maykas (maya/lukas) theyre everything to me lately ..

(runs away imso scared)

NO COME BACK YOU NEED YOUR CONTENT PLESSSSSZZ

Ocelots? More like... polylots idk..... How about, since I love the Ocelots very much, I'll give you BOTH!!!

MAYKAS UPON THEE!!!!

I THINK SHE HELPS WITH HIS HAIRR. Lukas doesn't let people touch his hair unless he really trusts him, as he has a specific way that he does it. Maya, on the other hand, is able to take a look at his hair and be like " Yeah, I know how you did that. Let me do it. " Very early in the morning when they wake up from having a sleepover at Lukas' house. Lukas was really nervous, but when Maya forced his head into his bathtub and it came out better than how he could do it? Do it any time.

Lukas tries to balance all of his time with all of his friends, though at the end of every day he goes home. When he was younger, Aiden would have sleepovers here when he still thought it was cool. Maya, though, says they ARE cool, therefore so is their sleepovers.

She knows his Mom's name by heart, and she recognizes Maya in turn very easily! Sleep with your door open, kids! (They are 19.) (This pre witherstorm)

I think, in their context, Lukas getting Dewey between seasons and getting reminded of his friends. Of his ex-girlfriend who's bitter and being taken advantage of. So, he thinks... What.. kind of name would Maya give you..?

Ahhg.. Dewey.. He can hear her voice saying that. As a matter of fact, when he really thinks about it, he can feel the feeling of her kissing him again.

God, he misses her... But he thinks she doesn't miss him. She doesnt realize what she left behind until she doesn't have it anymore.

I think that somewhere between the last times they hung out, they jokingly traded earrings. Maya has small gold hoops and Lukas has medium sized diamonds.

They swapped and when they all split apart, he never did get those earrings back. Now he has Maya's, and he never takes them off. Little does he know these earrings have so much more meaning to her than this stupid Blaze Rod's jacket.

[grahamfolgersdeliciousnotebooks]

There were a lot of instances, really, that could be considered their "first kiss." A look at some moments that might, depending on your perspective, count as Jon and Martin's first kiss. For the Jonmartin week day 1 prompt "First Kiss" - Updates one chapter a day, every day of Jonmartin Week.

For day 6 of @jonmartinweek, I am once again posting a chapter of my "First Kiss" fic. Just a short one today - enjoy some comatose-Jon angst! (also I realized I said this on AO3 and not on tumblr - the chapter count has increased from 7 to 9)

Jon didn’t see Martin enter the room. His eyes were closed, and his mind was elsewhere, watching nightmare after nightmare on an endless carousel. He didn’t see Martin stop in the doorway, as he always did, like he was shocked to see Jon still lying there, and he didn’t see Martin sigh and take his seat at his bedside.

“Hey, Jon,” he said softly, his voice a weak imitation of his usual bright lilt. “How are you?” He waited for a response, but none came. “Yeah. Yeah, me too.” His chair creaked underneath him as he struggled to get comfortable. “I’m worried about Melanie. She’s been… well she’s been getting worse. I get why she’s angry, I really do, but she– she scares me sometimes. I thought Elias finally getting sentenced might help, but it’s only gotten worse. She’s furious at me because he’s in prison and not dead, and she furious at Basira for– I don’t even know what! I think she just likes being angry.”

He coughed quietly. “Still, she’s been mentioning that friend more often – Georgie – and that’s got to be a good sign, right? That she has a life outside this place?

“I did tell you about Georgie, didn’t I? Melanie’s brought her up a few times, she seems to really like her. Wouldn’t it be funny if it was the same Georgie you used to live with? Probably not, though. Lot of people in London; I’m sure there are a lot of Georgies.”

Martin looked over at the still and silent figure on the bed, and sighed.

“I’m stalling.”

He shifted in his seat again.

“I wanted to tell you,” he said, though Jon couldn’t hear him. “That deal with Peter Lukas… I’m going to take it. Maybe he really can keep the Archives safe, maybe Melanie won’t be so angry if she doesn’t have to fight off monsters every other day. I don’t know. I hope so.”

He reached out and grabbed Jon’s hand. He never had before; he’d always kept a respectful distance from the figure on the bed.

“This isn’t goodbye,” he murmured. “I know that. Peter keeps insisting you won’t wake up, but he doesn’t know you like I do.” A few tears pricked his eyes, but he blinked them away. “You’re too stubborn. You won’t let something minor like an explosion keep you down for long.”

Martin stood up and stepped closer. He reached out to brush the scar on Jon’s forehead that had been left by the rubble – such a small scar for such a significant injury; even Daisy had left a bigger scar than that.

“I love you. I’m sure you’ve figured that out by now.”  He let his fingers drift from Jon’s forehead down to the curve of his jaw. “I might not get a chance to tell you properly–” His voice wobbled and threatened to break. He took a steadying breath. “So I’m telling you now.”

He hesitated. He hovered over Jon for a long, fraught moment before he leaned down and kissed his lips.

It was awful. Jon was cold and stiff and motionless – he didn’t sigh against Martin’s cheek, or curve up to meet his lips, or grab his shoulders for support, like he had before. He didn’t react at all, and Martin shuddered at the wrongness of it. He didn’t try to stop himself from crying this time – a pitiful, keening sob tore from his throat as he still had his lips pressed to Jon’s. When he stood up, his tears were running down Jon’s cheek.

He grabbed a tissue from the bedside table and tried to wipe them away.

“Sorry,” he choked out. Then, again, “Sorry.”

Jon said nothing in reply. His cheeks were still glistening, and Martin once again dabbed at them, movements slow and achingly gentle. He let his fingers graze against Jon’s lips before he straightened up.

“I’ll see you—” Martin managed to say. “later. I’m sure of it.”

[yes-asil]

(sorry if this ask goes through multiple times my internet is WACK)

i have!! a ghost boys question!! (absolutely adore these past few pages btw, as a comicfury reader pages 470-473 have been SO cute and im literally crying with joy that theyre reunited ive missed them sm its unbelievable i care them so much ANYWAY)

so i read your fic on ao3 a while back and for no reason in particular, definitely not writing a fic, can i ask for details abt matt and sickness? not like the chronic passing out/near death biz he deals with when hes suffering from ghosts, i know thatll get explained later in the story, but like if he were to get a normal illness. like. say. theres this thing of stress fevers popping up for people who work themselves too hard and you mentioned matt having fever in your ao3 fic which i was rereading earlier because its SO good and i love it but like that fic was focused on the coughing and his lungs giving out lol and i am just wondering if perhaps you would be willing to share how hed deal with being like... aware of being out of commission. being able to feel the fever and physically not being able to be unconscious bc of like the insomnia aspect because i feel like he can be so nonchalant because hes never conscious when hes miserable so just curious on how hed handle having no choice but to acknowledge it. how hed deal with having normal person illness that isnt him about to die. in my head hes ofc going to keep working anyway and make things worse bc thats how he is but i would love to hear your thoughts if you dont mind giving them!!

for no reason in particular. there is definitely not already 1k words of this which will not spiral into something more ahaha wink thank you for all you do this comic makes me so feral(/positive) my friends have learned of the boys through osmosis of me not shutting up every time a new page posts

I'll start this with an: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

So happy you like the comic so much!!! And that you rope other people into it is so fun, I'm glad you like my boys!

As for the question; Matt ignores feeling bad no matter for what reason. In his head he just goes "what doesn't kill me, makes me stronger" before he proceeds to knock himself out. When he wakes up, he continues the cycle until his body is back to normal by sheer force of will. It doesn't matter if it is a week long sniffly nose, a dry cough spell that lasts a month or his funny little ghost powers pulling him under. He WILL work and he WILL make himself useful.

The only times he accepts defeat and goes to bed to rest while actually awake are when Lukas' worries so hard it makes both of them want to cry and when Cathrine starts using her soft "I'm really worried right now I can't even act harsh" voice.

He acts pretty much the same then, just a bit huffy and restless

[kieran-the-writer]

Statement of Salome Lukas

XV. The Fog of the Lonely

//CW: Mentions of SH, dissociation

16th July 2007

As soon as Michael was out of sight, Salome pressed her back to the hull of the cargo ship she called her home, her legs weak and her breaths heavy, icy fog pouring out of her mouth with every exhale. Her skin felt clammy, as if she were coming down with a fever. It had been too long since she’d fed. She cursed weakly; the amount of time she could go without feeding the Lonely was growing shorter and shorter.

     She shook her head, not wanting to end her evening with that hovering over her head. It was probably nothing.

     Probably.

     With a steadying breath, she pushed herself off of the Tundra’s hull and began to walk in the opposite direction she’d seen Michael go. She didn’t want him to see this. Her wits were enough about her to remember that. Her vision blurred, but she had to keep going. She couldn’t let her uncle or Gerard know she was this week this soon after her last feeding.

     There was a small, hidden part of her that knew that Peter Lukas, her uncle and adoptive father whose approval she sought desperately, was just what Gerard had been trying to show her all along: a manipulator who viewed her as a tool to serve the Lonely: a monster, like the Eye’s archivist or the Spiral’s distortion.

     Salome shivered and forced her hazy thoughts elsewhere. Her glazed eyes focused on a hobbling, drunk middle-aged man walking in the other direction. She made a beeline towards him as cold fog spilled from her lips and dissipated into the air. As she approached, the man’s bleary gaze struggled to focus on her. “H-hey, what…?”

     Salome breathed out a thick cloud of fog, silencing the man and his questions, and when the haze cleared, all was still. She braced her hands on the brick wall behind her, feeling as her nerves began to wake up and her mind cleared at this sacrifice to the Lonely.

     “I’m sorry,” she murmured through a choking wave of guilt, but she knew the man wouldn’t hear her. He wouldn’t even see her; he would continue to wander, sobering up to find himself forever lost and alone in a cold, endless, empty, and utterly silent London until he eventually died in that place. She normally didn’t cast people into the Lonely like that; she would usually just find an empty nightclub with a stage and karaoke machine and feed off the passive loneliness and fear of the smattering of patrons as she sang some song or another about heartbreak or loss. But she’d waited too long, and she knew that if she’d waited any longer, she would have slipped into a heavy dissociative state, and she didn’t have enough bandages for that right now.

     A brief flash of resentment towards her uncle ignited in Salome’s gut before she smothered it. He just didn’t know how to raise me, she told herself. He didn’t do this on purpose.

     A jarring chime met her ears, and it took her a moment to get out of her own head and recognize her phone’s ring tone. She glanced at the caller ID, flipped her phone open, and hit accept.

     “Yes, Uncle? …Yes, the fundraiser ended a short while ago... …I’m just topping up. I’ll be back soon,” she said, her voice almost robotic. “Yeah. Goodbye, Uncle.”

     Salome hung up her phone, chewing on her jaw. As she walked, she picked at her hands, thinking about her two interactions with her uncle that evening. First, he sought her out at her room, and now he called her. Something wasn’t right. This wasn’t normal. She wondered if Elias had something to do with it. It wouldn’t have been the first time she’d gotten caught in the crossfire of their bickering.

     She sighed, her mind beginning to clear after this last feeding. Good.

     Then she felt awful for thinking that, and she made her way back to the Tundra for a few minutes of wallowing in her guilt in the shower before trying to sleep.

     Her phone buzzed in her hand. Flipping it open, she saw a text from Michael: “I had fun on our date tonight. Sleep well, Sal :)”

     Salome’s lips quirked up as she sent a quick reply: “I did, too. Thank you. Let’s plan another in the morning. Goodnight, Michael. :)” before slipping her phone into her bag and continuing the worn path from the familiar London docks to the cramped cabin she called her home.

--

Masterlist

Taglist: @atinyladybug-daydreams @teethsies-chompies @zeelzebub

[samrut]

🌙 Nightmare with DenNor maybe?

After many restless nights, Lukas was so exhausted that he found himself able to fall asleep anywhere. Even the boisterous conference hall breakroom, proved as no trouble. The sounds of his coworkers' chatter began to fade, as he drifted into slumber.

"Lukas!" With a toothy grin, Matthias let out a shout and slammed his hand down on the table in front of him.

The unexpected cry startled Lukas. He shot up, eyes wide and pulse pounding as he scanned his surroundings. When he saw Matthias flashing him an infuriatingly goofy grin, his nervs were put at ease, but he quickly shot him a frosty glare, silently warning him to back off.

Matthias was oblivious, casually placing down his meal and plopping into the seat opposite him. 

Lukas gently commanded, "Go away."

The Dane glanced up at Lukas. His cheeks full and lips smeared with remoulade, he said, "Aw, don't be like that." A pickle slipped off his sandwich, and he quickly snatched it up, shoving it into his mouth.

With a heavy sigh, Lukas folded his arms and rested his chin.

 Matthias said, "You look tired," as he used the back of his palm to wipe his face. "Trouble sleeping?"

"Mm," replied Lukas. "Nightmares."

With a bit of roast beef caught between his teeth, Matthias smirked and playfully suggested, "Maybe you would sleep better with some company."

Lukas rolled his eyes, ready to fire back, but an eerie hush suddenly fell over the scene, as if the very fabric of time had come to a standstill. The hairs on the back of Lukas' neck bristled, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. Lukas lifted his gaze, locking eyes with Matthias, who stood perfectly still, an enigmatic presence in the moment.

"Lukas," a gentle voice breathed in his ear.

 Upon hearing his name, Lukas felt his chest tighten, constricting his lungs. The pressure mounted steadily, wrapping around him like a vice, making each breath a struggle. He recoiled from the table, breathless.

"It appears you have a soft spot for this one as well," remarked the soothing voice. A gentle hand brushed past Lukas' shoulder.

Lukas' gaze snapped upward, and he was met with the sight of his own reflection staring back at him. A chilling, unnatural smile crept across its face. The sole distinction between him and the creature lay in his striking, crimson eyes and its elegantly elongated ears, reminiscent of an elf's grace.

Writhing in pain, Lukas croaked, "What are you?"

With a laugh, an object was tossed onto the table. It tumbled to the tiled floor. To Lukas' horror, two unfocused, cloudy lavender eyes belonging to his brother peered up at him. Lukas choked and turned his head away, repeatedly chanting under his breath, "wake up, wake up . . ."

I have grown tired of torturing this one," the clone said dully. It drew towards Matthias, fingers trailing along his cheek; a contorted grin unfurled on its lips. "You seem fond of him."

Abrupt darkness descended upon the room, only to be pierced by a brilliant spotlight. Lukas squinted, his senses overwhelmed by the intense brightness. Amidst confusion, multiple hands sprung forth from the shadows, grasping hold of him. 

Lukas found himself ensnared, every limb bound with unyielding force. He battled fiercely against them, yet ultimately, he found himself unable to escape. His head was seized and forced to face the looming silhouette as it emerged from darkness.

It leaned into the light. Its sharp, clawed fingers digging into the surface of the table. Lukas horror-struck watched as a distorted replica of Matthias' face materialized in front of him.

The hands that held Lukas began to creep beneath his garments as the creature spoke in a familiar voice, "Let us have some fun," its forked tongue gliding along its fangs.

[aidanchaser]

Boulangérella: A Miraculous Fairy Tale AU - Chapter Thirty-Three

Table of Contents Read on Ao3 Prologue

Luka and his sister had been born with magical gifts. His mother had traded renown and romantic happiness to ensure that her children were protected in a world that was unkind to bastards. In exchange for any hope of being recognized for her musical talent, her son was granted the miraculous gift of intuition. In exchange for any possibility of requited love, her daughter was granted the miraculous gift of elation.

When they were children, such power had almost made their lives harder. It unnerved people when Luka readily identified their feelings and motives; Juleka’s joyous excitement—and the accidental damage the sometimes came from her overeagerness—intimidated others. The twins had quickly learned to bite their tongues and keep their insights to themselves.

So when Luka heard the attendant announce Prince Adrien, but knew for certain that it was Prince Félix who entered, Luka said nothing. His intuition allowed him to tell the princes apart, but if they wanted to exchange places, that was their business, not his. Marinette, however, who entered on the prince’s arm? That was his business.

Luka’s intuition had always had trouble determining Marinette’s true feelings. Her frenetic energy and impulsive decisions made her hard to keep up with. Though, as much as he liked how easily she surprised him where few others could, it wasn’t fair to say that it was the mystery of what she would do next that had drawn him to her. It was her creativity and stubborn loyalty that had called him back to Master Fu’s shop evening after evening.

Even though his intuition warned him that Marinette entering on the arm of a prince probably indicated that his feelings were not as reciprocated as he might have hoped, he ignored his gut. Surely some other scheme was at play here; maybe Marinette had some sort of plan.

Just because Luka had been granted the miraculous gift of intuition did not always mean he used it well.

If he had been paying more attention—instead of trying to rationalize Marinette’s choices and predict her motives—he might have noticed Lila’s ill intent as she approached Marinette. Instead, he’d been distracted by both Marinette and the loose strings of his viol. As he tested the sound of his strings, his ears caught the sudden, sharp tone of Marinette’s raised voice.

“You did that on purpose!”

Luka’s attention was no longer fractured. He stared in horror as Marinette gathered up her torn, wine-stained skirts. He could not hear what Lila whispered to her, but he knew it was vile, even before Marinette turned and fled.

Luka set his viol down and turned to go after her, but Ivan grabbed his arm.

“Wait, Luka—King Gabriel could be here any minute. We can’t do this without you.”

Luka didn’t care much about his job in the wake of Marinette’s heartbreak, despite the number of strings he had pulled to make sure Ivan would have the evening off from guard duty—which was a miracle of its own, considering how much Gabriel had increased security lately. They would have been nothing without their percussionist, and if he slipped away now, they would be nothing without their viol.

“Marinette needs help,” he insisted.

“I think she has help.”

Luka and Ivan watched Marinette’s two friends hurry after her, but his intuition told him that something was still very wrong. His skin prickled the way it had last night, just before Princess Kagami Tsurugi had been cursed by Hawk Moth into Riposte. He felt Hawk Moth’s dark magic surging somewhere in the palace and he had just seen how vulnerable Marinette was. He had to find her.

But then, as suddenly as it had come, the feeling faded. The danger was gone. His intuition assured him that Marinette was safe, that she had friends to help her.

“I just want to check on her,” he whispered to Ivan and Rose. “You two can stall, right? Neither King Gabriel nor the Duchess are even here yet.”

He glanced to the dais, where Lila and the prince were having what looked to Luka like a rather terse conversation. Though he knew Marinette was safe, his stomach turned uneasily again. He wondered if anyone else could sense that something was off.

“Didn’t Marinette ask for space until the ball was over?” Ivan asked as he checked the elasticity on his sheepskin drum.

“But Luka won’t get anywhere if he doesn’t act,” Rose pointed out. “We can stall—”

But the trumpets blared, announcing King Gabriel’s arrival. Luka fidgeted anxiously with his bow, wondering if he would be able to slip away after the first dance. Juleka had promised to fill in for him at some point in the evening so that he could have at least one dance with Marinette, but he didn’t know when she was planning to arrive. She’d slept most of the morning away, and was only just beginning to get ready when Luka had left.

Luka’s fingers fretted impatiently along the neck of the viol as he tested chords absentmindedly. He didn’t know that he would have the attention necessary to play through a song if Duchess Amelie arrived or King Gabriel called for the dancing to begin.

But then, as soon as Chloé Bourgeois had presented herself to the prince and king, King Gabriel hurried from the ballroom.

The guests stared in surprise—many had set aside drinks in anticipation of the party truly beginning—but Rose did not waste even a second.

“Go now!” she hissed, even as Luka was already setting his bow down beside his viol.

“I guess we won’t have to start without the King or the Duchess,” Ivan mumbled.

Luka hurried after Marinette, but paused at the door. He didn’t know where she had gone, but more than that, something told him to look back. Anxiety tugged in his stomach, and he instinctively glanced over his shoulder to where the prince stood as he spoke with Lila Rossi. Nothing about it looked out of the ordinary, and there was nothing about it to draw Luka’s attention, nothing but an intuitive sense that something was wrong.

But Luka wasn’t concerned for the prince; he was concerned for Marinette. He hurried out of the ballroom and into the corridor.

Luka stopped only to ask an attendant which way Marinette had fled, and the young man pointed him down one of the corridors. Luka paused at each door, listening for the sound of Marinette’s tears or at least hoping his gut might tell him which door she was behind. He didn’t know the halls of the palace at all. He’d entered through the servant’s entrance and been escorted to the ballroom and that was as much as he and his troupe had seen. He wasn’t worried about getting lost—Luka was never lost, not even during his few ventures into the Forest of Fay—but he was worried about missing Marinette somehow. While his intuition was reliable enough to keep him out of trouble and help Luka face any challenge he met, it didn’t necessarily tell him everything that he wanted to know.

Fortunately, he did not need his intuition’s help to recognize Marinette’s voice coming from behind the door on his right. He heard her familiar lilt, tinged with tears, and raised his hand to knock on the door.

“It’s not that I want to quit being Ladybug,” Marinette choked out, “I just don’t see how I can be Ladybug without him.”

Luka did not have enough time to stop himself from knocking. He had already committed to the motion, already committed to seeing Marinette and comforting her. He had not expected her tears to be about this.

The sound of his fist against the wood was stilted, belatedly restrained, but it was enough. All sound on the other side of the door ceased.

While he waited for someone to open the door—he did not need his intuition to tell him that walking in at this moment was a bad idea—Luka tried to fit all he knew of Ladybug alongside what he knew of Marinette. It was not hard. She was bold, creative, clever—all the things he knew Ladybug to be.

The idea that Marinette would no longer be Ladybug—that either of the heroes could step down from their post—unnerved him. He admired Ladybug and Chat Noir, who had crafted deals that gave them strength and anonymity in the fight against Hawk Moth. His own magic was ingrained in his blood, a part of him before he had even been born. Using it to become someone else wasn’t an option for him. If he were to face Hawk Moth, it would have to be as himself fully, and that was not a risk he was willing to take, not when it would put Juleka in harm’s way. He relied on Ladybug and Chat Noir to protect the people he loved, and he did not see how their city would stand against Hawk Moth’s curses without heroes to stand against the villain and his curses.

But Luka remembered what Marinette had said to him just three nights ago. She was trying to find a way to say goodbye to someone, and he realized that it wasn’t just the ball that need to be over before the two of them could court properly. Marinette was preparing for an end of Ladybug and Chat Noir.

The door opened to reveal Nino, face drawn in a frown and posture prepared for a confrontation. Luka did his best to appear nonthreatening, but there was no sense in pretending he had not heard Marinette’s confession.

“Sorry—I didn’t mean to overhear—I only wanted to make sure Marinette was alright.”

Nino’s eyes flicked over Luka’s frame like he was sizing him up. “How much did you overhear?”

“Enough.”

Nino glanced over his shoulder, and in response to some unseen cue, stepped aside to let Luka in.

Marinette stood in the center of the room, wrapped in Alya’s tight embrace. Her cheeks were tear-stained and her dress wine-stained, but Luka hardly cared. He stepped forward hesitantly, unsure if he was welcome or wanted.

“I just wanted to check on you,” he said, though the words felt dull in his mouth. Whatever he had come here for, whatever intentions he’d had, he had stumbled into something he could not unknow, something Marinette surely had not wanted him to hear. Luka rarely misstepped so terribly.

When Marinette did not answer, Alya gave her an encouraging squeeze. Though Marinette’s confession that she was Ladybug was far more of an overwhelming truth than who Marinette might court, Alya had not forgotten the “I guess” that Marinette had tacked onto the end of her sentence when she had said she would court Luka when this was all over. Neither had she forgotten the bland, “It was nice,” description of Marinette’s kiss with Luka just two days ago.

Marinette might have plenty of good reasons to date Luka, but Alya did not think that he was truly the person who made her happy.

“Do you two need a moment?” Alya asked quietly.

Marinette hesitated, unsure how being alone with Luka would make it easier for them to talk, for anything she could say to Luka could be said to Alya or Nino. But perhaps that was the problem. She had nothing to say to Luka that wasn’t something she would readily share with her best friend.

Marinette nodded and, with one hand, scrubbed her cheeks, smearing what was left of her makeup. With her other, she clung to the tear in her dress, trying desperately to keep the torn fabric closed.

Nino hesitated at the door, like he wasn’t prepared to leave Marinette unchaperoned, but Alya tugged him into the corridor. Once the door closed behind them, Marinette said, “I’m sorry.”

And though it did hurt, Luka did not see how the hurt was Marinette’s fault. “No, I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to intrude. I only…” He hesitated, unsure how to ask the multitude of questions that weighed on his heart. “Are you—Is Ladybug really quitting?”

“If… if Chat Noir has to quit, then I…”

Luka drew close enough to cup a hand over her cheek. His thumb caught one of her tears. “Marinette…”

“And it would be easier, you know,” she said suddenly, voice cracking almost imperceptibly, but Luka sensed it even if his ears did not quite hear it. “For us,” she said. “I would leave for my apprenticeship and you… well you can go wherever you like, can’t you? So it would be better. Someone else can fight Hawk Moth, someone who might actually win, and… and I…”

Luka’s heart wrung itself dry in a single, breathless moment. “But that’s not what you want, is it?” he asked.

Marinette did not answer.

Luka was not sure he had ever felt heartbreak quite like this.

When he and Marinette had kissed, he had been so sure that they had a future. He had gotten to her before someone better could snatch her away. But he’d been a fool. Chat Noir had gotten there first.

Luka dropped his hand from Marinette’s face, wishing with every breath that he could undo the last five minutes. But there was no unknowing what he knew. There was no changing how Marinette felt.

“Luka, I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“It’s all right,” he said, though the words tasted like lead on his tongue. It wasn’t all right; it hurt. It hurt worse than any pain Luka had ever known.

“We could make it work,” she tried, but Luka stepped away from her. It wasn’t about making it work. He loved Marinette, was enthralled by her, charmed by her, but she did not feel the same way about him. And as much as he appreciated that she was kind enough to try, it only made his ache stronger. She would always love Chat Noir; he was certain of that, as strong as any instinct he had ever felt. Luka was always going to be second best.

He had wondered, briefly, if he was competing with a prince. He’d had no idea he was competing with a thief.

“Luka, I—Luka!” The panic in Marinette’s voice rose sharply, and Luka looked up, but it was too late. A butterfly coated in deep violet, dark like ink, had flitted in through the shattered window and now it landed on Luka’s chest, suffusing his doublet with the same inky darkness that coated it.

Hawk Moth’s voice was as all-consuming as the swell of heartbreak in Luka’s chest. He was no longer aware of Marinette, nor the castle, nor anything outside of the pain consuming him, radiating out from his heart and into every vein of his bloodstream.

“Oathkeeper,” the low voice in his head seemed to curl around his pain, simultaneously dulling its edges but bolstering its strength, “I am Hawk Moth. You’ve been rejected by the girl that you love, even though she promised that she would court you. I can give you the power to hold people to their promises in exchange for Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous gifts.”

Luka’s heart pounded. His heartbreak surged inside of him, like a tidal wave, and it seemed that the only thing that would ease his pain would be to accept Hawk Moth’s offer and unleash his own heartbreak on everyone around him.

“No,” Luka answered through gritted teeth. It took all of his strength to deny Hawk Moth’s curse. But even if it might hurt less to have Marinette at his side, he did not want to bind her to a promise she no longer wanted to keep. That wasn’t love.

“You cannot resist,” Hawk Moth insisted. “Give into your pain and anger. She was wrong to reject you, to set you aside for a common thief!”

Despite Hawk Moth’s encouragement, panic flared alongside Luka’s heartbreak, numbing some of its sting. If Hawk Moth could sift through his emotions and thoughts enough to know exactly who Marinette had replaced Luka with, what other secrets might he uncover?

“Why do you resist me?” Hawk Moth snarled. As Luka’s tore his fingers into his doublet, like if he could rip through the fabric, he could release himself from Hawk Moth’s power, Hawk Moth sank his own hooks deeper into Luka’s heart. “What are you so afraid I will find, Oathkeeper?”

“I’m not your puppet, I’m Luka,” Luka snarled back, and with the assertion of his own identity, he expelled Hawk Moth’s curse from himself, and the black, violet butterfly was thrust from the fitting room. It hurtled out the window, as if it had been caught in a gust of wind, and disappeared into the night.

“Luka!” Marinette’s voice called, raw and desperate, as if she had said his name a hundred times.

When Luka opened his eyes, he saw that Alya and Nino had appeared and were holding Marinette away from him. He breathed deeply, felt his pain settle in his chest. It hurt, but it was manageable, no longer the tidal wave that Hawk Moth had tried to wash him away with.

“I’m all right,” he said, meaning it a bit more certainly this time. “I’m sorry that I scared you.”

Marinette’s blue eyes were wide. “I’ve never—I’ve never seen anyone reject Hawk Moth like that.”

Luka rubbed his hand over his chest, like he could massage out the pain of Marinette’s rejection. He could see why his sister, whose gift relied on feeling her own emotions strongly, was so easily susceptible to Hawk Moth’s curses, and had fallen victim on seven separate occasions.

He gave Marinette and her friends a wry smile. “It wasn’t easy.” His smile sobered quickly. “Marinette, I—it’s possible Hawk Moth may have seen that you’re Ladybug. I don’t know if I was able to throw him off before he found out, but the way he reads thoughts and feelings… I’m sorry. I may have just put you in more danger.”

Marinette fidgeted with her earrings. “If I give Tikki up right now—”

Alya closed her hand around Marinette’s. “Not yet. You want to stop Hawk Moth tonight, right?”

“But I—”

“One last chance,” Alya insisted, and pulled out the golden pendant from beneath her chemise. “You and I will look tonight, and if we come up empty, I’ll take over. But let’s not give up just yet.”

Marinette bit down on her lower lip, then nodded.

A knock on the door made them all jump suddenly. It swung open to reveal Chat Noir and Master Fu.

“One last chance for what?” Chat Noir asked. His smile was carved in all of its usual mischief, but his green eyes flicked warily over Luka. His clothing had changed, too. Gone were the silver claws on his fingers and toes, and the silver ribbons that tied his black sleeves in place. Instead, he was dressed in black and gold, with spider-web like strands of gold crossing his chest, and sleeves as gilded and raised as any Marinette had made for the princes.

“I hope you weren’t going to back out of our dance,” he said, “not after all the trouble I went through to bring you a dressmaker, and the trouble I went through to dress myself.”

Luka took in a slow, steadying breath. Jealousy was not a feeling he was familiar with, and he did not like the way it sat in his stomach. As evenly as he could manage he said, “There won’t be much of a dance, I suppose, if I don’t make my way back to the ballroom. If you’ll excuse me, Mademoiselles and Monsieur,” and he inclined his head to Marinette and her friends. “I trust you all have this well in hand, but I’ll assist how I can.”

“Thank you,” Marinette murmured. She reached for Luka’s hand and squeezed it once. It was all the affection she could offer him, and they both had to make peace with that.

Chat Noir watched Luka go with a raised eyebrow. He could sense that he had missed something important, something he wasn’t allowed to be privy to.

Jealousy wasn’t a feeling Chat Noir enjoyed anymore than Luka did, but he was far more familiar with it. He had been jealous for Ladybug’s time and attention over and over again in the stretch of the past year, and it curled in his gut easily. The only difference was that tonight in particular, he felt that his jealousy was unfair. Before the evening wore out, he would propose to someone who was not Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng.

“Is everything all right?” Master Fu asked, adjusting the large box in his arms that was nearly as wide as he was tall. “If you need to leave—”

“It’s fine,” Marinette murmured. She glanced between Chat Noir and Alya. “I did promise you a dance. But aren’t you even a little bit afraid of getting caught?”

Chat Noir shrugged. “Between getting caught or quitting, there are very few variations to the outcome of this evening. I’m not opposed to a little risk. I only hope I might catch Hawk Moth before King Gabriel catches me.”

Marinette frowned. Did Chat Noir really think Hawk Moth was in the palace? Perhaps it had been no coincidence that he had tried to curse both her and Luka here in such a short span of time. If he thought that Hawk Moth was here, then she ought to become Ladybug and help him search. Why were they wasting time with a dance?

But Alya wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Enjoy this, just in case,” she whispered.

Marinette gave her best friend a thin smile. She wasn’t sure what she would do without Alya.

Chat Noir and Nino were ushered outside as Master Fu and Alya closed the fitting room and began to help Marinette dress.

Nino leaned against the wall and fidgeted with the golden cuff around his wrist that Duchess Amelie had given to him. The thin cotton was cool in the winter evening, and he didn’t know what to do bathed in so many swaths of fabric. He eyed Chat Noir a little enviously, cloaked in his form-fitting black magical fabric. The loosest thing about it where the ribbons on his sleeves. Even the collar was cinched tightly around his neck.

Chat Noir, in this new gilded uniform, did not lean against the wall nor lounge. All of the loose, casual stretching Chat Noir had shown as he had darted across rooftops seemed worn out. Instead, he stood at attention with his hands behind his back. If anything, he looked like a hunter waiting for the moment to pounce.

“Last time we talked,” Nino said, “you told me that you were only quitting because Ladybug wouldn’t marry you.” Not that he was ready to let Marinette marry a thief, but Nino at least wanted to see if he could provide Chat Noir with enough hope to keep being a hero of the city.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Chat Noir said.

“Have you chosen a replacement?”

Chat Noir shrugged. “You’re still not interested?”

Nino didn’t answer. If Marinette was going to pass her miraculous gift to Alya, why couldn’t Nino become the new Chat Noir?

“Is being a thief a requirement?”

Chat Noir frowned. “I’m not sure. I think chaos is, on some level. But how you sow that chaos I suppose is up to you.”

“I won’t lie, I’d love to be a hero like you and Ladybug and protect the city. But I think we need you both, and if you quit… I think Ladybug might quit too.”

Chat Noir’s jaw tightened and his frown became a thin line. “Maybe it’s fate, then. We had our chance. A year is not a bad thing to have had for the price we paid for it.”

“You’d give up on Ladybug, just like that? I thought you loved her.”

“Does it matter if she never loved me?”

“I don’t think that’s true. I don’t think you believe that’s true.”

Chat Noir did not know Nino, did not even known his last name. They’d encountered each other twice, he’d helped against Hawk Moth’s curses these past two nights, and that was it. It wasn’t fair of Nino to offer such pointed advice that pierced Chat Noir’s heart this way.

“True or not,” Chat Noir murmured, “I have a future I’ve been avoiding that I need to face. My time playing at thief is over. If Ladybug’s decided that her time as a hero is over, too, that’s her decision to make.”

Nino didn’t think that was fair, but he didn’t have time to offer his advice. The door opened and waiting on the other side was Marinette.

Marinette’s pale yellow underdress peeked out from beneath a deep pink gown, tied on the side. The shape was rather square, unlike the tight bodices and wide skirts that were fashionable in the court, but the silk draped delicately, and the pale plum blossoms woven into the fabric shimmered in the moonlight, dressing her in a grace she was unaccustomed to. She also wore a jade green collar, similarly decorated in white plum blossoms. Its pointed edges swooped off of her shoulders, giving her a broadness and a surety that was so unlike the delicate gown she had originally been dressed in.

Master Fu had also undone the tight coils that the Duchess had tied her hair up in. Instead, her hair was in a neat loop and decorated with a delicate golden pin, ornamented with a crane perching among plum blossoms that dripped with pale rubies.

The thin slits that made up Chat Noir’s pupils were already wide with the dark of the evening well-set in, but they seemed to widen just a bit more. His lips parted, ever so slightly, but it was hard to ignore, even as Chat Noir, the princely decorum that he had been raised with. He held out his hand to her and bowed.

“Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng,” Chat Noir murmured, “may I have this dance?”

Marinette blushed, though it was largely hidden behind the fresh powder that Master Fu had dusted over her face. “You may,” she said, and as Chat Noir led her back towards the ballroom, the music of a dance rose to greet them.

Alya, Nino, and Master Fu followed at a respectable distance, and as Chat Noir and Marinette detoured away from the ballroom and out into the garden, Alya, Nino, and Master Fu waited near the ballroom doors.

Nino watched Alya continue to fidget with her pendant. “Did you want a dance, or did you want to start to work?”

“I was just thinking,” Alya murmured, “if I could use Trixx’s powers of illusion to hide myself from King Gabriel without encroaching on the time limit once I expend the magic.”

“It depends on what you traded,” Master Fu murmured, “and how great the sacrifice was.”

Alya wrinkled her nose. “It was a few head scratches. I’m not sure it was much sacrifice at all.”

“A sacrifice of your time for the sake of being kind is quite the sacrifice. I would not be surprised if your magic is stronger than the last time you donned your power.”

Alya eyed Chat Noir and Marinette, then looked back towards the ballroom. “One dance for us, too, Nino?” she asked. “We could see who we like for Hawk Moth before I start looking with a magical perspective.”

“It’s always work with you,” Nino sighed, but he was smiling.

“It’s not work if we do it together,” she grinned.

Nino took her hand and they slipped into the ballroom, where the dancing was already in full swing.

They skirted past Chloé Bourgeois, who was steadily ignoring a lanky guard’s offer of a dance and disappeared into the crowd. At the center, the prince was dancing with Lila Rossi, and Alya could not help but glance their way.

“I know Lila was a favorite of the people,” Alya murmured to Nino, “but she’s going to start a scandal with the way she’s hanging onto him.”

Alya had her hands draped around the prince’s shoulders, fingers intertwined behind his neck. It was far too intimate for the ball, but if she was at all bothered by the looks the women of the court were giving her, she gave no sign of it.

“He doesn’t look all that into it, either,” Nino murmured, as the prince moved around the dance floor with Alya, but without any of the grace he was known for. His body seemed stiff under the weight of her arms.

In the gardens outside, Marinette stumbled against Chat Noir. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, “but I’ve never been a very good dancer.”

“I think you’re doing wonderfully,” he replied.

Marinette snorted. “You’re one to talk, magically imbued with a cat’s grace.”

“I’ve been taking dance lessons for most of my life,” he laughed, but there was not much humor in it.

Marinette looked up from her feet and into his green eyes. They sparkled in the light of the full moon, like they always did, but there was something different about him from the day she had met him, and even from his dance with Ladybug when he had proposed. He seemed hollowed out or stretched too thin, like silk that had been picked apart until it was nearly sheer.

Félix was beginning to feel like an unraveled piece of thread himself. Each step he and Lila took in sync seemed to peel just a little bit more of him away, but Lila hardly seemed to notice.

She leaned in close and whispered into his ear, “I’m going to ask you a question, and you’re going to answer honestly.”

Félix could feel the pulse of the ring on her finger like he could feel the pounding of his own heart. The power tied between the brooch and his father’s wedding band lodged somewhere in his chest, and as Lila twisted the ring on her finger, he felt that power surge. Already irritated by the direction this evening had taken, at least forced himself to look away. Though he danced with her, because she had told him to share his first dance with her, he employed none of the skill that his mother had taught him. Moving in time with her felt like lifting a sword that had been forged too heavy to wield properly.

“I’ve no reason to lie to you,” he said, as if he could pretend he had a choice in the matter. His confrontation with Gabriel less than a week ago echoed in his memory.

She smiled sweetly at him, but her eyes were cold and uninviting. “Who do you want to propose to tonight?”

Félix tightened his jaw. He almost didn’t like that it was easy to answer. It felt like a trap. He longed, terribly, to be able to tell just one lie. He tried to lie, tried to bring Princess Kagami or Chloé’s name to his lips, but neither came.

“I don’t want to propose to anyone tonight,” he said.

The question tumbled from Marinette’s lips rather suddenly, as she stumbled into Chat Noir again. “Do you really have to go?”

Chat Noir hesitated, pausing their dance for only a moment, but then he nodded and resumed pulling Marinette along in a pattern of steps that she was nowhere near as familiar with as he was.

“I’m afraid I don’t have a choice. But I’ve enjoyed sneaking up to your balcony,” he said with a smile. “I’m going to miss pilfering your sketches.”

Marinette thumbed the thin golden chain strung across his chest. “I thought this looked familiar. You didn’t have to get dressed up for me, though. You—you love Ladybug, don’t you?”

But Chat Noir did not answer.

“Are you in love with Ladybug?” Lila asked.

Félix tried to answer yes, just to be contrary, but Lila said, “Tell me the truth,” and Félix, with an agony like she was ripping the answer out from his chest, gritted out, “No.”

“Chat Noir,” Marinette tried to draw his attention back. She opened her mouth, unsure if she was going to repeat her question or confess that she was Ladybug, or possibly even confess her love for him, but he spoke first.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Ladybug doesn’t love me.”

“Are… are you sure?” Marinette asked.

He stopped dancing, though the music continued on. “She was quite insistent when she turned me down,” he said. His hand grasped Marinette’s. “And so I moved on.”

Marinette swallowed as her heart tried to climb its way out of her throat. She and Chat Noir were partners, and their lives were always going to be pulled between the people of the city and the fay. She had been silly to think that Luka was the sensible choice. Maybe he was sensible for Marinette, but Chat Noir was the only choice for Ladybug. And no matter how many times she tried to divide herself into two pieces, she was only one person, one person who was both Marinette and Ladybug.

The only question left, then, was this: Could she love whoever was under Chat Noir’s mask the way he seemed to love Marinette?

Lila frowned and tipped her head to one side. “You seem upset with me.”

And Félix longed to tell her everything he thought of her in this moment, to hiss out every vile curse he had whispered about Gabriel for the past week turned now on her, but she said, “Don’t be,” and his anger melted out of him as if it had never been there.

Félix regretted comparing her to Gabriel. She was nothing like Gabriel, who was content to simply make Félix do as he wished; Lila was far worse.

But just because he was no longer angry did not mean Félix was happy. If anything, Lila’s command allowed him a clearer headspace to think. If Lila knew about the wedding ring—knew enough to steal it from Gabriel and use it—then there was only one way she could have learned about it: the letter in his pocket.

He didn’t dare check to confirm its absence. He couldn’t let Lila know he was aware, lest she order him to forget about it entirely.

That meant she only knew what Félix had told Adrien, which was, in short, everything. She knew that Gabriel was in possession of the rings that controlled Félix and Adrien. She knew that Gabriel was Hawk Moth and she knew why.

While they danced, Félix did his best to maintain a neutral expression, even as a glimmer of hope started to take shape in his mind. She must believe that Prince Félix had run away, as Félix had written to Adrien. She must believe that she had Adrien’s ring, and that she had the Crown Prince under her command. And, since the letter had still been sealed, she would have no reason to think that Adrien knew about the rings.

Naïveté and anonymity were not much in the way of advantages in this fight, but they were the only advantage Félix had. He just needed to find a way to use them. The moment Lila discovered his deceit, Adrien was lost.

“What do you want, Lila?” he asked, voice now void of all the tension and irritation he had been carrying through this dance.

“Just to love you,” she said with a smile so patently false that Félix, unable to be upset with Lila, still could not help feeling vile disgust curl in his stomach.

Marinette’s stomach curled with anxiety, but she stepped closer to Chat Noir. “I sort of want to kiss you,” she whispered.

A small smile tugged on the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were sad. “Mademoiselle, I can’t—”

“Run away with me,” Marinette interrupted, before he could turn her down. “I’m going on a journey for my apprenticeship and you can—can’t you just leave behind whatever it is that you don’t want to face?”

“I can’t just run away.”

“But what if we could?”

Chat Noir did not answer her.

Lila pressed her lips to the prince’s in a brief kiss. It was nothing intimate, even she knew better than to risk something like that in such a public space, but as the song wound its way to an end, she felt the need to lay a public claim to Prince Adrien before anyone else could.

Félix said nothing, and was merely grateful she had not asked him to kiss her.

There was a loud clang of metal against tile and everyone, Félix and Lila included, turned to see Chloé Bourgeois, face painted in fury and goblet still bouncing on the floor by her feet.

The inky black butterfly that Luka had expelled had wandered aimlessly through the palace, in search of a surge of emotion that it could lend its power to. The bitterness, irritation, and judgemental attitudes of the ball’s guest were hardly worth its time. If anything, Prince Félix’s frustration called out the the butterfly, but Hawk Moth was not about to put such power into his nephew’s hands.

Chloé Bourgeois, however, as her anger at seeing Lila kiss the man she was planning to marry, the man she had been betrothed to for her entire life, the man she knew better than anyone else in the world, became a tantalizing prospect for Hawk Moth’s curse.

The butterfly landed on the bee-shaped pin in her hair, drenching its gold surface in rippling black and violet.

[noir-ish-bee]

VOCALOID MAX LORE JUMPSCARE

this is. A long one

(ALSO shoutout to @impostorwhipplesshow for imspiring lil bits of this like them not understanding each other well at first fkjgjkc)

The day Max came to life wasnt actually the day he left the computer. One night, Sam accidentally left his computer on, and somehow dreamt of him meeting his creation, Max (who was for some reason holding a big fish) in a beach, talking about meeting someday (the contents of the dream actually dont matter its all a tako luka maguro fever reference lmao).

When he woke up, Sam figured his dream was influenced because some lines generated by Max's voice bank started playing at night when his computer was on (i dont. Actually know how the program works and most of this is inspired by whipples ideas so lets pretend this makes sense.)

But its weird, because Sam doesn't remember making Max say any of the lines on the screen. That's because Max's first glimps of conscience were through his voicebank, and he was trying to talk to Sam.

This went on for a few days, until Max got ahold of his 3d model for MVs. First by putting himself in random positions Sam didn't make or making objects trying to talk to or showing them to Sam and finally sorta like. Animating himself. Like he could move all by himself.

At this point Sam is FREAKED OUT and almost punches his computer but Max really nervous tries to tell him to stop through another generated line. Sam stops but doesn't understand Max cuz he's not fluent in japanese so he gives him some time to communicate through objects, models and body language, until Sam makes him another voicebank for him to speak english and understand him better.

This works and now they understand each other more easily, but there's two problems: sam doesn't know how the FUCK max came to life, and max's voice still sounds a bit stilty and robotic, so he has trouble understanding him sometimes.

Sam tries to make a new one to expariment with it, but he somehow can't make it, like the program would just glitch it so bad it doesn't work. The same happens when he tries to make Max a different 3d model, so he's stuck with those two he has. Still they have no problems with that and Sam tries to tweak his current voicebank over the time.

At some point, Max gets tired of being inside the computer all the time, just waiting for Sam to get back home from wherever he goes or waiting for him to make him a new stage for a song. He really likes Sam overall, and feels like he wants to hang out with him more, what with him being his creator and all, and he wants to be more than a character and a voice to him.

One night, after Sam forgetting to turn off his computer again, Max tries his best to push himself outside the computer, and by some miracle, don't ask me how, he actually does! He's in the real world! He tries not to freak out bcuz Sam is asleep, but he's really damn excited for that. Everything has different textures, he hears so many new things other than music, it's all exciting for him!

Sam has a heart attack when he wakes up

[spiderbunnifics]

I Want To Meet You In The Deep Gardens

Harmonia Hills, a seemingly ordinary , sleepy, closed gate neighborhood, wasn’t built all too long ago, it was built back when Miku and Gumi were young.

   The neighborhood was filled with ordinary people, ordinary families..

Ordinary, ordinary, ordinary.

In the back left of the gated communities, was a medium-sized home, the siding was an onyx black coloured wood, accesorized by a black tin roof, and a thick, pearly trim. 

The area around the house, usually such a sleepy area, was bustling with noise, one could hear families wishing each other farewells as adults left to go to work, children left to go to school, neighbors fighting about flowers and grass 

Miku Megurine, However, was ..

Completely undisturbed. The girl was fast asleep in her twin-sized bed, it was covered by the thick, warm quilt. She had it since she and Gumi first met . Miku’s teal hair cascaded around the feather pillow as she snored.

   Miku and Gumi had always shared a room, and wouldn’t have it any other way, Miku got the Left part of the room, and Gumi got the right part of the room.

..Speaking of Gumi, the green-haired teenager had been awake for five or so minutes, she was mostly just idling and minding her own business, before she decided that Miku needed to also be awake. Gumi slides down the side of her bed, and shakes Miku by her shoulder, “Miku, Miku wake up!” she held onto and elongated the “p” sound, but Miku stayed asleep. Causing Gumi to sigh dramatically as her voice called louder and louder, harsher and harsher, before suddenly falling silent with a sigh.

   Finally finding some peace, Miku shifted in bed, facing the door to the sisters’ room now, instead of the window, 

  There was now a pause, silence blanketing the room, until Gumi broke said pause, when she decided to pelt Miku with stuffed animals.

At first, Gumi threw a small leek plush that hit the top of Miku’s head, causing her to mumble and open one of her teal eyes. It was the left one, which tiredly looked towards where Gumi was.

      Her eyes widened as she saw her sister holding her arm up, a stuffed fox plush in hand, aiming in anticipation to throw the toy at her sister. 

    But before she could really take aim, Miku hurriedly sat up, hands going up to cover her face quickly as she yelled “Wait! I’m up, I’m up!” ending up in a fit of giggles before her sentence was finished.

Tragically, the stuffed fox hits her anyway. Miku grabs the toy and throws it back at Gumi in retaliation.

The two spend who-knows-how-long throwing stuffed animals at the other until Luka walks into the room to wake them up, her hair in a low ponytail, and her face tired, as if she had just woken only moments earlier, which, knowing Luka, was probably true.

Before their mother walked into the room, Gumi had aimed a plush whale at her sister, who was now close to the door.

   However, Luka’s appearence had caused a problem, arising from how exactly the plush had been aimed. 

The plush was right in trajectory to hit the pink-haired woman in the face. Gumi was about to jump and yelp out a “No!” before the plush whale hits Luka.

But that never happens, the plush never even goes near Luka’s personal space. It freezes in place, floats, if you will.

   Luka didn’t seem to notice it, she raised her hand towards where the toy was coming from,  The toy froze in the air, Gumi could've sworn it did! And then after a few seconds, the toy falls down with a soft plop

The pink-haired woman took a breath, before saying “I was going to wake you both up, but it seems you two have already done a good job of that!” Luka laughed, causing her daughters to smile mischievously. The pink-haired teacher turned around to leave, and before Gumi could try to ask her about what happened with the whale plush, she told the two girls “Go ahead and get dressed and ready for school, please.” then left. Unbothered and as if nothing had happened

Gumi and Miku nodded, starting to pick up the scattered stuffed animals. 

   Miku, seemingly noticing the perplexed expression on Gumi’s face, asked “What’s wrong? You look like you saw a ghost.”  Miku’s tone was humourous, as she squatted to pick up a my melody plush.

 Gumi looked back at the door, almost expecting their mother to burst through the door. When she looked back at Her sister, her voice was quiet as a mouse.

“Did.. did you see what Mom did.. The-the whale plush!” Miku looked at Gumi strangely, before shaking her head, which caused Gumi to sigh.

The green-haired girl just couldn’t stop thinking about that,          How had Luka just … stopped the plush mid-air? 

She wasn’t an expert on science (in fact, she was failing the class) but she was pretty sure people typically did not have the ability to freeze items mid-air.

 Evealen High School was a campus made out of three buildings, most of them were made with dull red and old-looking bricks, they all had black siding, and dark red, flat roofs. Len always said that it looked like an eight-year-old kids’ Minecraft house.

It was --evidently-- a pretty good school to go to if you were an introvert, the campus was huge with a lot of places

people typically didn’t go, there were a lot of opportunities to sit and hang out alone or with friends.

There was even a specific spot where the sisters’ friend group enjoyed hanging out on campus; it was what the students called the ‘deep garden’. Miku and Gumi weren’t exactly sure why , but ... it was a pretty name, so people usually shrugged it off most of the time. Surprisingly, Miku and Gumi were the first people there. 

  The girls sat on the soft grass, after laying their book bags next to them, they looked around, admiring the greenery of the gardens, before Gumi looked towards the entrance of the gardens, and saw Meiko who looked as if afraid she’d disturb someone from walking too loud. “Meiko! Hey!” Miku called, almost as soon as she noticed her, and judging from how Meiko jumped, had scared her, to which Miku apologized profusely.

“Oh, no, It’s really fine!” Meiko reassured her, almost as profusely as Miku’s apologies.

During then, Len and Rin also showed up, only to be extremely confused. They eventually sat next to Gumi right as Meiko started walking closer to the group and Miku finally accepted that she hadn’t offended Meiko by scaring her. 

The group of five was finally able to start their day off properly, with talks of school, classes, tests, and most importantly, plans to go to the movies after school, Meiko had insisted that everyone go with her to watch it, as she would probably be able to get them all discounts on their tickets.

The school bell had cut their conversations short, as they got up and ready for their first classes.

Miku had English Honors for her first class. Yes it was a rather nerdy class to take, but her favourate teacher was leading the class, so it was well worth the nerdiness.

  She hadn’t made any real friends in this class, yet.

    People didn’t seem to like her. The only people in the class she knew by name were IA and Teto. IA had a long history of bullying Miku and her friends, ever since … hm, maybe since fourth grade. Now, Teto, Miku didn’t know much about, but she hung out around IA, so her path hardly ever crossed with Miku’s.

 After an admittedly uneventful school day, the friends met up at the nearby theatre, where Meiko usually works over weekends and summer breaks. 

   Meiko was, in fact, able to get a discount on most everyone’s tickets for a movie that the group had been interested in seeing. Len wasn’t as interested in the movie as they were, but didn’t want Meiko’s discounts to go to waste, so he begrudgingly went.

The movie was “39 Ghosts”, a haunted house movie about vengeful ghosts, it was full of jumpscares and bad CGI.

In the movie theatre, all one would need to do is look over their shoulder at Len for a second to notice how terrified he was. He didn’t make it obvious, but to Miku who was sitting beside him, she could tell. She knew how every sudden loud noise caused him to cover his eyes or ears, whichever he found more convenient, and at times he would utterly refuse to look at the movie, anything but the movie. As his shaking got worse, which only she seemed to notice, she tilted her head closer to him and whispered in only a voice he would hear “Hey, I’m getting a little scared, can I hold your hand..?”

“Yeah, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one scared, thank you.” He carefully grabbed her hand, and judging by how the rest of the time at the movies went, was noticeably more confident.

Though of course, the movie had to come to an end eventually . It felt a lot longer than the hour and thirty-minute length advertised. 

  Rin and Gumi got up first, waiting at the first few seats in their row for people who were sitting behind them to go to the aisle, and eventually out of the room. 

It was about early evening when they all exited the building. Meiko had always insisted that she walked the others home, it didn’t feel right to just go their separate ways without her making sure her friends were safe.

The first destination for the group was to Rin and Len’s Dads house, he lived pretty close to the school.

Gumi and Rin were excitedly talking about the movie.

  “I saw that twist coming ever since she saw the uncle while not wearing the glasses!” Rin exclaimed proudly, her tone came across as very boastful, but Gumi knew she didn’t mean for it to be.

“The twist was perfect, though!” Gumi said. 

Meiko only interjected once or twice to give her own personal opinion on the movie, and really only when asked. “It was .. interesting, definitely! I don’t think it was my cup of tea, though.”

  Miku and Len hardly said anything, looking as if they were deeply focused on the conversation their friends were having. And though he wouldn’t say it directly, Len was extremely glad that Miku hadn’t brought up his fear during the movie. He was a little bit embarrassed about being one of the only people scared, and he figured Miku felt the same, so he didn’t bring her ‘fear’ up, either. 

After about twenty minutes of walking, the group made it to the street Rin and Len’s dad lived on.

  The twins were quick to walk into their house after bidding their friends farewell.

 And now, the group was down to Miku, Gumi, and Meiko..

The previously bustling suburban suddenly felt .. quieter than it was supposed to be, it didn’t feel right. It didn’t even sound as if crickets were chirping... 

   Gumi especially was put off by the serenity, a strange knot twisted in her stomach as she suddenly felt as if there were eyes all around her and her friends, circling them.

   After a cautionary “hold on..” from Meiko, the three girls turned around to try and see who or what exactly was watching them.

   As the three turned around, they were met with the distant sight of three imposing figures; While they weren’t all too significant to Gumi and Miku, Meiko seemed to know them, she suddenly looked even more cautious than usual and quickly walked towards the alleyway.

After a small glance at each other, Gumi and Miku followed suit, and the three practically glued themselves to the wall of the slate-grey building. Meiko looked towards the street, and let out a relieved sigh, “Alright, they passed us. Sorry about th-” 

  However, Meiko was rudely interrupted by the loud sound of the building behind the group breaking, it came from deeper into the alleyway, and Miku let out a yell of fright.

     As the three girls’ visions adjusted to the darkness, they caught sight of three figures.

  The figures of Haku and Luka, back-to-back, stood vigilantly as an even taller figure stepped into sight, seemingly unaware of Meiko, Miku, and Gumi as they watched on in fascination and fear.

The taller figure charged toward the two women, a silver knife in hand. 

   The knife seemed to glow in the moonlight as the figure’s left hand raised up ever so slightly, ready to jerk the hand – and knife – towards one of the women to stab them.

Both Haku and Luka were able to run out of the way of the would-be attack, Haku’s feet skittered and slid against the concrete floor as she steadied herself. 

   Making sure the tallest figure wouldn’t have time to focus on harming Haku, Luka’s hands made a circling motion in front of her head, foggy magic collecting at her palms before she snapped with her right hand, and the circle of magic quickly rushed towards the figure, knocking it back. 

Just as the tall figure was knocked back, it was charged into by a silver, shaggy-furred bear, and fell on its front.

  The bear was  covered in a mystical fog, before phasing back into the shape of Haku, who quickly yelled a shrill “Run!!”