#I am being dramatic it's just that I've been in my room pretty much all day

[daisywords]

ok fr I need to stop starving myself and self-isolating like who am I, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov????????

[kaiser1ns]

#. CHEATER, CHEATER STOP !

featuring 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝘅 𝗳𝗲𝗺!𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 ıllı. umemiya hajime, takiishi chika, togame jo, kaji ren

fluff. yes, what you did was indeed cheating to some extent, but sometimes you have to play dirty to win.

UMEMIYA HAJIME

"I knew it, you were cheating on me..." the pain in his voice, the agony and misery colored his face and his eyes began to water slowly, drop by drop as if at any moment the wall holding the dam would collapse. "But i didn't expect to be with my own best friend."

"Hajime it's not what it looks like, I-I swear I can explain," you demanded, stuttering in the process as you were caught in the act, right on the spot.

"It's not what it seems? With everything that we've been through and all that I've given for you ... And this is how you repay me?" he slammed his hands on the table, furious that was one way to describe the situation as he was starring at both of you, trying to dig out an answer.

The uno cards scattered across the table seemed to echo the shattered pieces of trust that was once held in the palms of your hands. Hiragi stepped in, "It was all her idea. I am innocent." Umemiya raised an eyebrow at you like you just broke his heart (you did). "I didn't know my girlfriend was secretly an Uno mastermind and that you Hiragi would be her little follower."

"Baby, don't take it too seriously, it's just a game." You laughed a little because of his dramatic reaction, yes what you did was indeed cheating, at some point, but if you want to win you have to play dirty sometimes.

Umemiya sighed dramatically, he is being such a child right now, "Just a game? And you made me draw 32 cards because it's just a game. Do you even understand the emotional trauma you've put me through?"

"Pretty much yeah." you said nodding of head followed by Hiragi's humming, because everyone goes through it — you either put the plus cards or you draw them, no in between.

Umemiya shot Hiragi a look of betrayal before turning back to you with furrowing his eyes and pouting. You flashed him a grin, your smile so genuine like you just didn't commit the most serious crime against your boyfriend. "I will make it up to you, anything you want. More cuddles? You got it. More kisses? On the way!"

You stood up from your place to sit next to him, as you held your hand for him to take it. And he did as you kissed him on the cheek, leaving a little scent from your strawberry lipgloss you know he adored.

He can't be that mad at you, not for too long. Despite you being a cheater.

"She's pretty good at making pancakes, just saying." The white head couldn't help but laugh at his best friend's comment, knowing how much they loved your pancakes. Food tastes better when you're in good company, not with cheaters of course. "Alright, fine. But no more stacking up the whole deck against me."

You nodded, suppressing a giggle. "I will try, no promises~"

TAKIISHI CHIKA

The two of you sit on the floor, surrounded by scattered UNO cards, your laughter filling the room. Boredom crept into Chika's features after the countless games over the past hour, but then, you laid down a +4 card, well luck was on your side today. He's about to draw twenty cards, practically handing you the win.

“You should stop doing that,” he mutters, his patience worn out after countless games. You can't help but laugh, teasing him with your victory. "Don't be a sore loser now, baby. You did pretty good but I always win."

Just as you're reveling in your win, Chika threw his cards aside angry and annoyed by your so-hidden antics. Before you know it, he grabs your ankles and pulls you towards him. You squeal in surprise as he settles you on his lap, clearly having lost interest in the game.

"You know that flirting with your rival will do you no good, right?" you say, half-joking, as he removes the cards from your hand. Chika’s golden eyes lock onto yours, a serious stare replacing the soft smile that had tried to form on his lips. "You should stop cheating," he says, his voice low and demanding, as he knows you all too well by now and how you proceed to get your wins.

"I did not!" you exclaim, genuinely offended. You’ve always had luck drawing the right cards at the right time, but cheating? Never. You always play fair, and you give your opponent a chance to make their best strategy.

"I will make sure you learn your lesson," he says, cupping your face in his hands, his touch gentle despite the intent behind his words. He moves your head slightly as if inspecting you, making you feel like a doll in his hands. What's gotten into him? It nice though, to see him behave like that.

"It's not okay to threaten girls," you tease, touching his hands that still cup your face.

"It's not okay to cheat," he counters, Touché. You frown, pretending to be ready to get up, despite your best efforts, his grip is firm. He’s not letting you go just yet. Chika always seems to see through your tricks. He’s always claimed he wouldn’t be a perfect boyfriend, but calling you a cheater? That's a new low, even for him.

His eyes study you, as if you're a puzzle he's trying to solve. In many ways, you are. You bring out a side of him that’s unfamiliar even to himself. If Endo had been here, he’d have said this was completely out of character for Takiishi. Yet, here he is, a lovesick fool, the joker in the deck, and the plus card in the UNO game of your relationship—always keeping you with a million questions in mind not knowing what to expect next.

“And what are you going to do now?” you whisper, as he leaned closer. His breath is warm against your skin and the game is long forgotten.

TOGAME JO

Togame loved shogi, especially playing with the elders from whom he had learned so much. You admired this hobby of his and how good he was at the game, but today, you were determined to finally beat him. The record was 4-0 in his favor, but you still won't give up, not when you were so close to taking his king this time.

As the game progressed, your focus sharpened, your moves becoming more strategic. Your boyfriend watched you with an affectionate smile, clearly enjoying the way you were so deep into focus. Then, in a moment that felt almost unreal, you saw it. The opening. Your hands moved almost on their own, and you captured his king.

"I did it?" you whispered to yourself, still unsure if you had truly won. But the realization hit, and a wide grin appeared on your already beautiful face. "I did it!"

Togame's eyes lit up with a warm and proud smile directed at you, "Congratulations," he said warmly, reaching over the headboard to shake your hand. You extended yours as well, but instead of a handshake, he tugged on the sleeve of your blouse. To your shock, a few of his shogi pawns fell out, clattering onto the board.

"W-what… How did they end up here?" you stammered, trying to mask your 'surprised' face. "Pfft, can you imagine?"

Togame stared at you, his expression turning serious, though his eyes still held a hint of playfulness. "Y/N, you didn't need to cheat," he said, his voice gentle despite the scolding. You felt a blush creep up your cheeks. "I didn't mean to," you mumbled, feeling embaressed that he found out, no tricks up your sleeves, yet he didn't belive any of it. "I just wanted to beat you once in something."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Your determination is one of the things I love most about you. But next time, let's keep it fair and square, okay?"

You nodded, grateful for his understanding. "Okay," you agreed, smiling at him. "But just so you know, I would have won anyway."

He laughed, a sound that always made you feel warm inside. "We'll see about that," he said, leaning in to press a soft kiss on your forehead.

KAJI REN

It was one of those rare times when Kaji finished his patrols around the town early as he found himself resting with you and Kusumi, his fellow vice-captain. You had suggested playing UNO to kill time until the others returned. Kusumi had easily secured first place, and now it was just you and Kaji left in a heated duel.

The game had stretched out, each of you fiercely battling with plus cards, neither willing to back down. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of back-and-forth, you managed to clinch victory with a triumphant smile. Kaji looked at you, then at Kusumi, who extended his hand to you, to give you plus cards. The realization dawned on him.

"Is this how you're going to play now?" Kaji's voice was tinged with anger and annoyance, his usual calm demeanor shattered. You noticed his lollipop, previously a sweet distraction, was now gone.

"What do you mean Ren?" you asked innocently, placing another +4 card on the table, sealing the deal. Your boyfriend threw his remaining cards onto the table, clearly pissed off. His frustration was visible as he was about to open his mouth to express his annoyance, but you acted quickly, placing another lollipop in his mouth, silencing him effectively.

"We'll talk about this later," you said, your tone teasing. "For now, let me enjoy my win, baby."

The word "baby" came out a bit like an insult, making him sulk even more. Despite his irritation, he couldn't stay mad at you forever. As he sucked on the lollipop, his annoyance seemed to melt away, replaced by the warmth of your presence. Kusumi chuckled, shaking his head at the two of you, standing up to leave you alone sensing that Kaji wanted to be with you now.

"You cheated," he mumbled around the lollipop. You leaned in closer, your face inches from his. "Maybe," you whispered, "but you still love me." He couldn't help but roll his eyes at you, his earlier anger slowly disappearing. "Yeah, I do," he admitted, pulling you into a gentle embrace. "But next time, I'm winning."

You laughed, wrapping your arms around him. "You already won if you want to know." It took him a while to find the meaning in your words, but cuddled with him, Kaji knew best what you meant.

taglist :: @meidiary @kazuhaiku @kiurona @maruflix @stunie @nyxypoo @kajibunny

©2024 kaiser1ns do not copy, repost or modify my work

[30somethingautisticteacher]

Toasts

As Buck sat at the sweetheart table, holding Tommy's hand, he couldn't believe it. He was married. He had a husband. If someone had told 25-year-old Buck this would happen, he would've thought they were crazy. But here he was, and he was enormously grateful for how things had turned out.

The music faded, and Buck saw Eddie approach the microphone. It was time for the toasts. His best friend cleared his throat nervously.

"Hey, uh, hi everyone. Eddie Diaz here, best man for Buck over there." Eddie gestured towards the newlyweds with a warm smile. "When I first met Buck, I became immediately aware of his competitive streak. From my first day at the firehouse, everything was a contest. We moved past that pretty quickly and became fast friends, but I always remembered that about him."

Eddie paused, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Fast forward five years, and suddenly I'm seeing that competitiveness again because I've made a new friend, Tommy. Initially, I thought it was about me—that Buck was afraid Tommy would put a rift in our friendship. Turns out, that wasn't the case at all." He chuckled. "He just had the hots for the guy. Not that he knew it at the time, of course.

Eddie grinned, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Fun fact: I was actually at Buck and Tommy's first date."

"Oh no, you don't," Buck piped up, his face flushing. "You are not telling that story."

Tommy leaned in, planting a gentle kiss on Buck's cheek. "It's okay, honey. You'll always be my favorite ally." Buck groaned, burying his face in his hands as laughter rippled through the audience.

Eddie chuckled, continuing his speech. "As I was saying, Buck screwed up their first date pretty spectacularly. A few days later, he came out to me and confessed that he couldn't stop thinking about Tommy."

Eddie's voice softened, a fond smile playing on his lips. "I had never seen him like that before. His face was the color of his birthmark when he told me." The audience erupted in laughter, and Buck playfully rolled his eyes, his arm tightening around Tommy's waist.

"I encouraged him to reach out to Tommy and ask for a second chance," Eddie continued, gesturing towards the newlyweds. "And well, we all know how that turned out."

Eddie's gaze swept across the room, taking in the smiling faces of their friends and family. "You know, watching these two fall in love has been quite the journey. Buck went from being completely oblivious about his feelings to head over heels in a matter of weeks. And Tommy," Eddie continued, "you've been incredibly patient with our lovable idiot here."

Buck pretended to look offended, but couldn't hide his grin as Tommy squeezed his hand affectionately.

"But in all seriousness," Eddie's tone grew more earnest, "I've never seen two people more perfectly suited for each other. Buck, you've grown so much, and Tommy, you've been an amazing addition to our family. You balance each other out in ways I never thought possible."

He raised his glass, prompting others to do the same. "To Buck and Tommy - may your love continue to grow, your adventures never end, and may you always have each other's backs. Congratulations, guys. We love you both."

As the room erupted in cheers and the clinking of glasses, Buck stood up, pulling Eddie into a tight hug. Tommy joined them, his eyes watering.

As Eddie stepped back from the microphone, Chimney stood up, adjusting his tie with a mischievous grin. He approached the mic, clearing his throat dramatically.

"Make way for best man number two—or should I say the better man?" Chimney quipped, eliciting chuckles from the audience. "Howard Han here, but people call me Chimney. I'm Buck's brother-in-law and Tommy's best man. And I'm going to be honest with you all," he paused for effect, scanning the room, "I am the reason you're all here today."

Chimney leaned into the microphone, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "See, I saved good old Tommy's life when he was working at the 118. Pulled him out of an exploding building, if you can believe it." He paused as murmurs of appreciation rippled through the crowd.

"And then, two years ago," Chimney continued, gesturing dramatically, "I introduced him to the love of his life." He glanced at Buck and Tommy, who were listening intently, hands intertwined. "Not that I expected that, of course. I mean, who could have predicted these two would end up here?"

Chimney's voice softened, his expression becoming more sincere. "Certainly not me, but I will say I am so proud of these two and the effort they've put into their relationship. They truly would do anything for each other."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over to Buck and Tommy, who were looking at each other with adoration. "And let me tell you, they're fabulous uncles to my little girl." Chimney's eyes twinkled mischievously. "I think she likes them more than me, to be honest."

This elicited a wave of laughter from the audience. Maddie, sitting nearby, playfully rolled her eyes at her husband's joke.

Chimney's expression turned nostalgic. "You know, I'm so glad we're all here celebrating their wedding in this beautiful venue instead of, say, a hospital room." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Unlike my own wedding, which, as some of you may remember, took place in a hospital because I had encephalitis."

The crowd murmured in recognition, some laughing softly at the memory. Maddie caught Chimney's eye and smiled.

Chimney's eyes twinkled with amusement. "But here's a fun fact for you all," he continued. "My wedding night is also the night I found out about Buck and Tommy." He gestured towards the newlyweds. "There I was, just married, laying in a hospital, when Tommy walks in wearing his turnouts, fresh from fighting a wildfire. And right behind him? Our boy Buck, face covered in soot."

Buck buried his face in his hands, clearly embarrassed but laughing, while Tommy rubbed his back soothingly, grinning at the memory.

"Let's just say," Chimney added with a wink, "there was no doubt what these two had been up to. Talk about making an entrance!"

The audience erupted in laughter, and even Buck peeked out from behind his hands.

"So in a way," Chimney mused, "my wedding night was the unofficial debut of their relationship. Talk about a two-for-one deal!"

Chimney's expression softened, his tone becoming more sincere. "Seriously though, I'm so happy for these two." He looked directly at Buck and Tommy, his eyes filled with genuine affection. "You guys have been through so much together, and your love has only grown stronger."

He raised his glass, prompting the guests to do the same. "I can't wait to see what the future holds for you both. Your dedication to each other is truly inspiring."

With a warm smile and a hint of his characteristic humor, Chimney concluded, "Congratulations to the Kinards. Can't wait to see what the future holds. Let's just hope it involves fewer hospital visits and more actual dates. Cheers!"

The room erupted in laughter and applause as guests clinked their glasses. Buck and Tommy exchanged amused glances before standing up, visibly moved, to embrace Chimney in a tight hug.

Chimney sat down to enthusiastic applause. Buck stood up, taking Tommy's hand as they approached the microphone together. Buck's face was glowing with happiness as he began to speak.

"Last speech, I promise," Buck said, grinning at the guests. "My husband and I," he paused, beaming at the word, "really want to thank you all for being here."

Tommy leaned in, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Even though we know you're really here just for the free booze."

Buck snorted, struggling to contain his laughter. He shot Tommy an adoring look before turning back to their guests, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "He's not wrong, you know."

The audience erupted in laughter, clearly enjoying the couple's playful banter.

Buck's expression softened as he continued, his voice filled with sincerity. "I just want to say that I'm so grateful for all the people who have supported us along the way, and I have never been happier." He squeezed Tommy's hand, his eyes shining with emotion.

Tommy cleared his throat, a hint of his usual dry humor in his voice. "Well, as the resident cynic, I should probably balance out all this sunshine," he started, gesturing towards Buck with a fond smile. "You know, I was always a romantic comedy fan who didn't actually believe in romance. Ironic, right?"

He paused, his expression growing more serious. "But the truth is, being with Evan has made me believe in all those cheesy things I used to roll my eyes at. I never thought I'd be standing here, married to someone who embodies pure joy. But here I am, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Tommy looked at Buck, his typically guarded expression softening. "You've made me a believer, Ev. Thank you for that."

Buck, still beaming, turned back to the guests. "Alright, everyone. We've kept you long enough with all this sappy stuff. It's time to eat, dance, and enjoy each other's company!"

Tommy leaned into the microphone, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Just a heads up, ladies - there's no bouquet toss tonight. But hey, that's what you get when you have two grooms."

He paused for effect, then added with a smirk, "Or should I say, one groom and one groomzilla." Tommy pointed playfully at Buck, eliciting laughter from the crowd.

Buck snorted, struggling to contain his own laughter as he playfully nudged Tommy's shoulder. "Hey!"

The room erupted in laughter and applause, with several guests shouting good-natured comments back at the couple. As they made their way back to their seats, hand in hand, the DJ started up the music, signaling the beginning of the celebration.

[negrowhat]

15 Day BL Challenge the Threequel

Day 44: Well that escalated quickly. What dramatic scene really stuck with you?

Tharn threatens Fiat in TharnType 2: 7 Years of Love. Tharn had just walked into the parking lot of the hospital Type worked at to see Fiat lock lips with his man. Not only did he snatch up Type but he snatched up Fiat's lil tail too. Jacked him up and I've never seen Tharn glare at anyone with so much disgust and anger. AND WHEN THAT GLARE TURNED INTO A FULL BLOWN SMILE baby I was scared for Fiat.

Tharn looked that boy dead in the eyes and threatened to k-word him if he didn't leave Type alone. And Fiat just KNEW that man was not exaggerating. People were not happy watching Tharn threaten that boy but I was cheering because Fiat wanted to be in grown folks' business. He knew what he was doing and then he wanted run away when shit got bad.

Alan rolling up on JimWen's Christmas Celebration in Moonlight Chicken. Yo he came in on 10! It was escalated the moment he walked in the chicken joint. He walked right up to Wen and demanded to know if Jim was the one he was sleeping with. Poor Jim standing off to the side all confused while AlanWen spill their mess all over his lil chicken shop. They were yelling so loudly lol.

The peak of the fight of course was when Jim asked Alan to leave and Alan, in his perfectly logical rage, accidentally shoved Wen into the Christmas tree and he got a lil boo boo on his head. Look man if Jim wasn't such a pushover he probably would've laid Alan's ass out. When he lets out that frustrated yell when he leaves it was like *chef's kiss*. Highkey Alan was so unhinged in MC that any of his moments could've been on this list.

Xiaobao kicking Huai'en to the curb in Meet You at the Blossom. Please Xiaobao in his savage era was a personal fave. Like Huai'en had the nerve to just show up in Lil Bun's room talking about getting back together and Xiaobao was just so BAFFLED that Huai'en would even think that? My favorite part is when Huai'en shows Xiaobao he's wearing the matching hair tie and Xiabao fucking rips out his own hair tie and throws it at Huai'en. The WAY Huai'en is horrified and just stands there with big ole eyes wide and his mouth hanging open?? Superb.

Xiaobao goes on to say that everything between them is a lie and he just wants Huai'en to kick rocks and that Su Yin is a better man than him. Of course Huai'en does not kick rocks and was def about to do something he would regret later but luckily the guards show up and that makes our Prince flee.

The bullies made Haebom cry and Taesung found out in Cherry Blossoms After Winter. I am fairly certain Taesung was aware of the bullying but I guess since Haebom never mentioned it he thought it wasn't THAT bad he didn't do anything about it.

Now that Haebom and Taesung were in the same class it pretty much became impossible for Haebom to hide how he was being tormented. Now what pissed me off is that all the classmates were watching this group of boys bully and steal from Haebom but did nothing. This time they had stolen all the money Haebom had saved up to buy Taesung a bday gift (I think) and Haebom had enough and called them pathetic and kind of just left before the bullies could get to him.

He couldn't move fast enough and bumped into Taesung who wanted to know what was wrong and through tears Haebom just silently headed out of the classroom. Seeing Haebom crying and then seeing the bullies laughing sent Taesung over the edge. Next thing I know he's giving the main bully a flying kick to the chest and then has him on the ground ready to commit atrocities. AND THAT'S WHEN THE FUCKING CLASS STEPPED IN TO STOP THINGS.

[aayakashii]

🎃 happy halloween! 🎃

Zenji takes you on a short stroll during Halloween, which happens to be a very special time in Darkwick! No warnings, just fluffy and some spooky vibes 🧡🖤 veeeery dialogue heavy, btw!

gif credits: Louie Zong

divider credits: @saradika-graphics

“Oh! My heavens! Who is that lovely doll I see walking this way?” Zenji threw his arms out, quickly falling down on one knee as he observed you walk towards him with a bashful smile on your face.

It had basically become a little inside joke between the two of you – whenever he saw you, he would call out, begging you to tell him your identity, much like an awestruck artist finding his new muse; except you were always the muse, always his only inspiration (not that he would ever complain).

“It’s me! Hi, Zenji.” you said, landing in a puddle right in front of him with a hop, little droplets of water splashing around your shoes and muddying your socks.

“Of course it is you, my dear.” he said with a sing-songy voice, getting up. His clothes, despite his dramatic kneeling, were completely clean. “What brings you to this side of our campus?”

You shrugged.

“Just going back to the Cathedral right now. Gonna try to find some blankets to keep in my room since the air is getting a lot colder... It makes it hard to sleep at night.” you wrapped your arms around your body, shivering as if to make your point clearer.

Zenji frowned as you two began to make your way to your dorm together.

“My dear, if you’re in need of anything at all, please let us know! I am sure Hotarubi would be more than happy to give you some blankets to keep you warm during these chilly nights.”

You shook your head and waved your hand dismissively.

“No, no, don’t worry. I’m pretty sure I stuffed some blankets in a cabinet some time ago, I just need to air them out.”

Zenji’s eyebrows were still scrunched up in mild disbelief. He's seen your living conditions far too many times and couldn't fully trust that you actually had proper protection from the cold.

He sighed, shaking his head. If he saw you shivering, even if slightly, he'd make sure to haul every blanket from Hotarubi into your room. But you didn't need to know that yet.

"You know, dear. One of the flipsides of being a ghost is that you can't ever be bothered by the weather. I only remembered it was Autumn as I saw the leaves change and fall!" he dramatically pointed to the ground, littered in leaves. "And, of course, all the other changes around here." he finished, voice a little bit quieter.

You tilted your head to the side.

"Other changes?"

Zenji gasped loudly and took two long strides in order to stand right in front of you, walking backwards just to keep looking at your puzzled expression.

"Haven't you noticed my dear? Darkwick changes quite a lot during All Hallow's Eve!"

You looked around.

"Really? I think I've been too busy with studies…"

"Oh, but that can't be!" Zenji shook his head vigorously. "You have to appreciate the beauty of autumn through the lenses of our Academy! See? Look at that little critter!"

Zenji pointed at one of the hardworking cats that roamed freely throughout the campus, fulfilling errands and fixing problems. You raised an eyebrow, confused.

"What's wrong with it? It's just one of the cats."

"Ah, you will see." Zenji smiled and turned around, slowing down his pace in order to walk by your side once again. "Let us walk a little bit more, and your keen eyes will definitely notice a pattern!"

After a few moments, you finally understood what Zenji meant. You couldn't help but let out a snort.

"They're all black!"

Zenji let out a loud, satisfied laugh.

"Exactly! I knew you'd notice! On this lovely period, all of the campus' cats change their fur color into black. It's the magic of Halloween!"

You couldn't stop smiling as Zenji's mirth was contagious.

"That's a cute change."

"Ah, but we have more, my doll. Come with me, let me show you some of the wonders of this place!"

Zenji took you into a stray path, a little cobblestone road that you were pretty sure would take a lot longer to cross than the usual road that led straight to the Cathedral. He had such a pep on his step, however, that you couldn't help but follow him towards wherever he wanted to show you.

After a few minutes of tripping on stones and walking fast to compensate for Zenji's long strides, you two stopped in front of a corn maze.

"Huh? Was this always here?" You say, a bit breathless and very taken aback.

"Not at all! It is a seasonal anomaly. It only appears during the end of October, and it usually has first year students as its victims." He says, arms crossed.

You quickly snap your head towards him, eyes wide.

"V-victims? Does it hurt people?"

Zenji shakes his head.

"No, but to the unsuspecting student, who still doesn't know all the paths of this place, this could be just another weird location. Little do they know, they'll spend so much time getting lost in the corn field!” Zenji sighed. “It is, in fact, the main cause for lateness among the first years during this season."

You sighed in relief, then frowned.

"But... Why dont people warn the new students?"

Zenji put a finger under his chin and hummed in thought.

"My guess is that this has become some sort of hazing amongst our colleagues. If they went through this, they think that the next ones should as well."

You grimaced, clearly displeased.

"I gotta warn Lyca... Don't want him getting lost on his own here..."

He nodded in agreement.

"But dont worry, my dear! The maze is mostly benign."

"… Mostly?"

"Well…" He shifted on his feet, looking a bit uncomfortable "Some poor, unfortunate souls have been taken to a most dangerous path in the maze, that barely no one reaches… and then they find a tree." His voice sounded solemn, which brought a shiver down your spine.

"A tree?"

"Yes, my dear. Sometimes, the maze may lead to a tree that stands tall in the middle of it. A big Dryad."

"A Dryad? But whats the problem? I thought they weren't that bad... Jabberwock has a few Dryads walking around."

"Well, this one is quite peculiar. You see, the tree will be constantly shedding leaves of multiple colors. Apparently, it is such a beautiful sight! Oh, how I'd love to see it and write a poem about it..."

"But as far as we know, each leaf color causes a different effect when touched." He cleared his throat before continuing.

"But…?" You egg him to continue before he went on with his poetic rambles. You knew that, when inspiration struck him, Zenji would only focus on that.

"Those that are touched by red leaves have something happen to their blood. They might suddenly lose half of it and become deathly anemic. Or it might coagulate in their veins. They might drown in their own blood as their lungs are drenched in it. Truly a horrifying sight"

You shivered, not expecting a horrifying imagery like that.

"Do we know other colors?" You asked, despite your discomfort, while Zenji and you began walking once again, distancing yourselves from the maze and going back into the usual path that led to your dorm.

"Yes. The orange leaf causes people to get enraged. It is an anger that consumes their body, turning even the most peaceful person into a cold blooded murderer.

"A yellow leaf causes people to become overly optimistic and happy. This may sound innocuous, but it makes them irresponsible. Some people have jumped from high altitudes, firmly believing they could fly or walked into dangerous encounters with other anomalies, believing they could never be hurt."

"That's... so scary." you whispered. Zenji nodded, a sullen look on his face.

"And then there's the brown leaf. Which immediately causes death." He murmured and you immediately shook your head, as if to cast that thought away.

"I definitely need to warn Lyca about that maze then... Are there other colors?"

"Apparently, no. But we've never had witnesses or survivors that could recount the stories, so who's to say?" He said, sighing.

"That's terrifying. I definitely think people should warn the students if there's a chance to see that Dryad..."

Zenji nodded in agreement before gasping and pointing something swirling on the side of the path.

"On a lighter note, look at those little fellas over there!"

"Oh, the little shadow imps." You recalled them immediately, since they were the first anomaly you saw inside Darkwick. They were gathered together as usual, moving from one shadow cast by the nightlamps to the other.

"You do know they are fond of confetti sprinkles, yes?"

"I do! Kaito told me way back then."

"Well, now you'll have to walk with confetti in your pocket at all times. They turn into little tricksters during Halloween!" Zenji said, back to his normal booming voice.

"W-what do they do if you dont have confetti?" You asked, still a bit wary after the whole Dryad story.

Zenji quirked an eyebrow and smiled mischievously.

"They triiiiiiiip you!" He said, making claws with his hand and elongating his words to make them sound a bit spookier.

You laughed loudly, finally relaxing.

"That's such a cute problem compared to that tree!"

"It's all the magic of Halloween, my dear! Oh! Also, be careful of the Jack O' Lanterns!" he added once you two passed by a bunch of pumpkins who, apparently, seemed to be moving around and humming some unknown tune.

"Do they kill people, too?"

"No, but they bite you if you try to stop them from singing." He said and you laughed loudly once again "I must admit I understand their passion! The flow of creativity and art must never stop!" Zenji added, passionately empathizing with the pumpkins.

You couldn’t keep yourself from giggling as you got close to the cathedral.

"Anything else I should know?"

"I can't seem to remember anything in specific… Oh! Don't accept candy from strangers."

You raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Well, that's the usual mom advice."

"But this one is serious, my dear!" He said, shaking his hands as if he was trying to attest to the seriousness of his words. "There are rumors of an unknown candy offered by a strange man that's so addicting that it quickly becomes all that people think about. They try and try to find the strange man again to no avail, since he's only here on Halloween, when the veil that separates the living and the dead is thinner."

You hummed in thought at his words. Zenji continued his tale.

"Apparently no other candly can ever compare to the sweetness of the one that had been given to them. They get so obsessed and depressed that they cannot eat it anymore, that they fall into deep despair… But those are just rumors."

He finished his tale right as you two climbed the first steps of the Cathedral's entrance.

"Say, what did you mean when you said the veil is thinner?" You turned around, standing a few steps in front of him, in order to look at his face, a little obscured by the moonlight.

"Oh, the magic of Halloween, my dear. The threshold that separates the living from the dead is barely there! Ghosts come to this plane to play, and humans can join them!"

"So more people can see ghosts?"

"Yes, indeed!"

"Can they touch them?"

"Well, from time to time, I believe, yes."

You pause, and Zenji tilts his head, looking at you with a bit of confusion on his face.

"What's wrong, my dear?"

With his words in mind and the hope that Darkwick's supernatural air was on your side you hesitantly reach out for his hand.

You gasp loudly once you feel the cold of his skin against your fingertips. You scramble closer, hurriedly intertwining your fingers with his.

“It was just a test but… it truly worked…” you murmured, eyeing the way your fingers were intertwined with his long and slender ones.

Zenji, for the first time you’ve ever known him, seemed speechless. He could only blink as he felt a faint yet still warm sensation against his usually unfeeling hands.

You leaned in, grabbing his other hand and interlacing your fingers in the same manner. A smile graced your lips while you cheerfully swung your arms, and his widened eyes moved back to stare at yours, bewildered.

“It’s the magic of Halloween.” you murmured, winking at him.

And when Zenji laughed, utter joy warming his voice, you were sure that you would never feel cold again.

[snwusberry]

pairing: dad!hongjoong x mom!black reader

warning(s): none

genre: fluff

wc: 746

hi guys, i'm sorry for my inactivity. i've been extremely busy lately and when i do have free tome, i'm really tired and can't even think of writing. that being said, this is much shorter than the rest, sorry about that, however, i didn't have the capacity to write anything over 1000 words and i refuse to half ass just to get to that so here you go. i hope you enjoy.

reader pov

the living room feels warm and alive, glowing softly from the christmas tree lights. i wrap the blanket tighter around me, smiling as i watch hongjoong sit cross-legged on the floor with our daughter, aria. his eyebrows furrow in concentration as he carefully chooses a crayon from the scattered pile on the coffee table.

“alright you two.” he says, holding up a picture of santa claus with a grin. “i'm taking this one. you two don’t stand a chance.” 

aria giggles, her little hands already busy flipping through the stack of coloring pages until she pulls out one with a christmas tree and gasps dramatically.

“this one’s mine! i'm gonna make it sooooo pretty!” she yells grabbing all kinds of crayons. greens, yellows, glittery ones, whatever her tiny fingers can reach. 

“guess i’ll take this one, then. well see who’s the real artist in the family.” i say, holding up a reindeer wearing a scarf. it's cute and simple and hongjoong raises an eyebrow at me with a smirk.

“oh, it’s on now.” 

i turn to look at aria who's working on the star at the top of the tree, her tiny tongue sticking out in concentration and i want nothing more than to fold her up and put her in ny pocket.

“mommy, daddys gonna lose! he's going too slow.” she exclaims when she catches a glimpse of hongjoong's page as he's busy colouring in santa's coat.

“slow and steady wins the race, my angel.” he says, pretending to be deeply offended. or at least i think he's pretending...

i hope he's pretending.

i roll my eyes, but i can’t stop smiling. they’re both so into it, like this is an actual competition with a prize that could change their lives.

i pick up my own crayons and start working on the reindeer’s scarf, using bright red and green stripes. 

“are you going classic christmas colors over there?” hongjoong asks, leaning closer to peer at my page and i can hear the judgement.

“don't give me that tone. It’s festive.” i tease, nudging him lightly with my foot and he grins, his eyes warm, and then turns his focus back to his santa.

out of nowhere, aria bursts into giggles.

“daddy, your santa looks funny!” she blurts, pointing at the slightly smudged red around santa's hat. talking a lot for someone who's barely stayed in the lines but okay.

“hey! he's abstract.” he says, feigning offense, and i can’t hold back my laugh. 

i glance at aria, who is now coloring ornaments on her tree. she moves with excitement, her curls bouncing every time she reaches for another crayon. my heart feels so full in this moment, surrounded by laughter, love, and the easy warmth of our little family. they're all i live for.

“she’s right, you know.” i say, giving him a playful grin. “your santa does look a little off.” 

“you too, my love? both my girls have turned on me!” he replies dramatically, clutching at his chest.

aria laughs so hard she falls onto her back, crayons scattering everywhere and hongjoong scoops her up, tickling her sides until she’s squealing and begging him to stop. 

i set my page down, and watch them with a soft smile. it's moments like this that make me realize how lucky we are. how lucky i am to have these two in my life. a family to call my own.

“you two better finish your masterpieces.” i say, leaning back against the couch. “we're framing these for christmas.” 

“mines gonna be the best!” aria says confidently, wriggling out of his grasp and diving back into her coloring. she's a little too competitive but like father like daughter, i guess.

he glances up at me, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiles.

“where does she get this competitiveness from?”  he asks as if he got a glimpse into my thoughts just now.

“you! you’re the one who can’t handle losing and she took notes.” 

he chuckles, shaking his head, and we all go back to coloring.

"i'd pike to believe she got it from her uncles." he says, not looking up from his page.

"of course."

she gets it from him a hundred percent.

the snow falls softly outside, the world beyond our little bubble silent and still. Inside, though, everything feels warm and bright, like this is exactly where we’re supposed to be. 

[venbetta]

Okay, I wanted to talk about this animation by @/Johantly on Twitter

It's 1:31 animation of Freddy in the Endo Daycare having his existential crisis, it slaps so hard... and I just need to ramble about it. (I was trying to add pictures, but it's not loading properly, so... wahh)

The first few seconds have me interested. It's something about the way Freddy moves, feels natural/humanoid. The cut of the camera to a lower mid shot angle gives it a similar feel to a TV show/movie.

Something about the different shots adds a nice a flow that tickles my brain

I also love the use of the voiceline and how it was edited, as its one of those lines that Freddy asks at some point during the game; as if he's having an epiphany about what Gregory saw earlier.

He brings it up with such casual skepticism (his tone makes me giggle), despite saying, "I believe you if you say you have." Hearing that line in game makes me wanna flick him- don't question me, Freddy, I know what I saw >:(

Anyways the natural cut off of dialogue just works, his little quirks of speech and movement in this animation makes him so human like.

The model for the endo daycare is so well crafted that the setting is dark but has a nostalgic vibe. The original game model is cold, dark, and creepy, but for some reason, when I look at this one, it feels different. Nostalgic, as I mentioned, and kinda warm in a weird way. I don't know. Conceptually it's fucking creepy with the endos hanging around, but honestly this gives me the vibes of a college kid going back to his childhood room and reminiscing on the memories. It would be interesting if we find out if the glams remember their training.

Side bit, his mention of never being allowed in the endo daycare is interesting, despite saying he might have been born there. Knowing what we know from HW2, seeing the programming process of juvenile endos is a delicate yet fast-paced one. I've had personal headcanons about what it was like, and Hw2 sort of confirmed it.

It's kinda odd that Freddy isn't allowed to be in the daycare, though, but maybe the existential dread is probably the reason why the techs don't let the main mascots go back there.

Freddy's soliloquy has always made me feel for him, I like listening to it. He sounds so introspective and frantic about it, so seeing it animated with his movements was.. cathartic? (Help I've watched this thing 9 times now)

The glams themselves aren't that expressive in the game. They experience emotions, yeah, but I mean physically emoting is rare or pretty stiff. The most facial expressions we get are in the beginning cutscene, maybe the dissamble ending, and the front entrance cutscene- Freddy being at the forefront. It's kinda hard to emote as a robot, but this animation does a great job with the limited range of expression.

Using Freddy's ears, hands, eyebrows, and his shoulder pads to emote is impressive. I've seen a lot of good security breach animations and they all have their own ways of making the glams emote, and I always love watching them (I'll probably link my favorite fan animations at the end). Also, this one of the few animations I've seen where they actually rigged Freddy's eyebrows to move. Hell yeahhhh!!!

But how Freddy acts in this just gives me joy. "Monty in a different" as he looks over himself, reaching to touch an endo as he says, "They are all the same." He's just so sweet acting.

And the music swelling adds so much more to his monologue. The crescendo as he says, "If I am mass produced, am I still art?" HITS SO FUCKING HARD

I made a joke tweet comparing the shot of him reaching up to the light with Ariel in Part of Your World, but it honestly has that same vibe. He's dramatic, he's whimsical, he's dumb, and also a little annoying, but it's okay. We still love him.

The light shutting off as he breaks out from his dread is kinda funny, though, and Gregory awkwardly standing there adds to it.

Sorry, this is such a cornplate thing to say, but he also uses a contraction when he says, "Greg, I'm not nearly that annoying, am I?"

GOD HES SO SILLY

Then Gregory nodding in response, causing him to get a little droopy is comedy. It's not gut busting humor, but it's the little things that make me giggle okay. Freddy needs to be self-aware, and damnit, if a 12 year old doesn't humble him, then what's the point?

Get called cringe like the rest of us, Freddy.

Okay, the fazerblast commercial doesn't have any reason to go that hard, but it does. The opening sequence for it with Freddy standing there is so... GGHHFHG :33

I'm normal.

He's so cool. I know I called him cringe just a second ago but I'm fan regardless of his flaws okay. This makes me want to play fazerblast with him.

The running, jumping, and shooting he does is *chef's kiss*, even if it's at Monty's expense. Bro should've had a fazerblaster...

Also their faces... it's like Freddy doesn't even remember doing that commercial.

I love how embarrassed he gets, it's so cute-

And it's hard to tell if Gregory is impressed by Freddy's agility or by how cheesy the ad is. The cut was like a cutaway gag in The Office or Family Guy.

Either way, this is peak. I loved this animation, it's only been out less than a week and I've watched it officially 9 times... (and maybe more)

It gives me a sense of comfort. The amount of time and effort put into something that was a small side project is an incredible feat, and it has so much jam packed in a one and half minute animation. It feels like it could be a scene from SB or even a movie. It's so fucking good. This is just a self indulgent, cornplate post and I don't care what anyone says about it. I just like rambling about fnaf sb stuff especially if Freddy is involved.

Here's the playlist full of my favorite security breach animations (some are music videos)

Anyway, thanks for reading..

[intergalactic-garbage]

octavian wet cat headcanons

@odysseus-crewmate-number38 and i have decided that there has been enough of rick's writing which transparently only made octavian an object onto which to project hate, rather than a character. because i am the sexiest and smartest person on the planet, i understand octavian better than rr, and know that what he is actually meant to be is a traditionally queer-coded, camp, homosexual villain, who enjoys being a villain immensely. the following are a compilation of ody and mine's absolutely true and fully verified octavian facts (he told me):

his little augur rituals are like drag performances

in which i don't means he dresses up in drag but rather that he's exaggerated and dramatic

he does the thing where he rubs his grubby little hands together

he's the type to say "well well well look what the cat dragged in"

light in the office opens dramatically as octavians spinny chair turns to the door

’i’ve been expecting you’

he’s done this 12 times already

he says the same name of. the person who hes been expecting. he eventually is right

WHY does octavian's wiki page say his ancestors are VENUS, JUPITER (also apollo obviously) and. a bunch of mortal guys like hercules? what the fuck. guy must be so inbred

his ancestory is just the olympus family tree

but i mean he's a legacy of venus so that explains everything. he's just suffering from a terminal amount of prettyboy syndrome

octavian would wear so much gold. 90 pounds soaking wet 138 pounds with all his robes and jewelery on

he'd get things covered in gold leaf just because he can

his closet takes up the space of like three entire barracks of the cohort

‘where did the funding for the new buildings in camp jupiter go’ . new suspiciously closet shaped building implemented:

BRO COMMITS EMBEZZLEMENT JUST SO HE CAN BUY NEW OUTFIT

not that he doesn't already have enough money. he just likes doing it like this

nobody else is allowed to touch his clothing though. high treason actually

one of his henchmen (bryce) can bc he knows exactly how to handle it and which setting on the washing machine to use with which detergent

oh he’d watch the devil wears prada and base his personality on the boss from that movie

his room has a shrine dedicated to meryl streep actually .reyna accidentally walks in on him once and sees him praying to her. they never talk about it

octavian could deify miranda if he tries hard enough

oh my goddd. do you think his biggest internal conflict during hoo would be "can a girl like me really have more than ONE evil henchman?"

how is he going to strut down the halls in an iconic triad formation if he only has ONE henchman . he has to follow in his ancestors footsteps (heather chandler, chanel oberlein, regian george-)

his henchman no1 is michael kahale, son of venus, who's canonically fit as fuck and pretty close to octavian, headcanonically a gayboy who rolls his eyes and sips his starbucks drink waaaay too loudly when people he doesn't like are talking (he does this in the senate meetings)

his henchman no2 is bryce lawrence, legacy of orcus, god of punishment, who was canonically banished from camp jupiter bc he killed someone, but in boo, octavian takes him back. he's supposed to be really big and burly, with some "traditionally unattractive" traits (which i've decided to allow, as long as michael and octavian call them pretty in a totally infatuated way)

edit: someone said that since he doesn't have a last name, it should be octavian gallo (since it means rooster), and i'm making that canon now

[strawbabys-blog]

Hi I have one-shot request, regressor regulus (1-4 age range) and CG James, in which regulus regresses because of trauma and stress and James gives him CG cuddles

Ofc!!!! Baby reggie is such a cute concept istg! Ty for the request <333

Baby Black

"Reggie!" James shouts in his usual cheerful manner, slinging an arm around the younger Black brother as he spots him in the hallway, "How's my favourite Slytherin doing?" He asks. James and Regulus had gotten very close over the last year, Regulus had eventually followed his brother out of Grimmauld Place and straight into the welcoming arms of the Potters. Of course that included James, who was like the sun to Regulus, always filling him up with light. James had naturally taken on the role of Regulus's caregiver, he was naturally inclined to take care of the people around him. The first time Regulus has regressed and stumbled crying through the house to find James and Sirius, James had found him and held him and kept him safe. So the next time it happened Regulus went to him again... and the next time, and the next time and every time after that. Their relationship quickly progressed from platonic to romantic (outside of Regulus's headspace of course) and after a brief period of horror from Sirius ("James you brotherfucker!!") The pair were accepted by pretty much everyone with ease.

"I'm fine," Regulus says, it had been a long day and he really wasn't feeling up to going back to his dorm, the older kids hated him ever since he'd left his parents house. James frowns at his tone.

"Are you really or are you just saying that for my benefit?" He asks, raising his eyebrows. Regulus sighs, looking up at James with tired eyes. He pouts.

"Can I come to the Gryffindor common room for a bit?" He asks. James face breaks into a smile.

"Of course you can Reg," he says, "do you need to...?" He doesnt need to finish for Regulus to get it.

"Maybe, but later, the older kids were being dicks again," he says. James frowns again, it was well known at this point that the older slytherins had taken to harassing Regulus in the halls when he was alone, so much so that the Gryffindor's take turns walking him places when they can.

"Okay," James says, his arm slipping down to link with Regulus's, leading him back to where the other Marauders were waiting, "We've got a visitor," he announces to the other three. Sirius grins.

"Brilliant! I've missed you too much Reggie, it's been painful," Regulus laughs and rolls his eyes.

"I saw you at lunch," he says.

"Far too long," Sirius says with his usual dramatic flair that sends the other boy's laughing too.

"Come on you lot," Remus cuts in, "Let's be getting back, the girls will wonder where we are,"

"I think they've lost hope in us Moony, they'll think we're doing something we aren't supposed to, as always," Peter says.

"Well they'll wonder where I am," Remus says with that signature smirk that has Sirius swooning while James hits Remus's shoulder.

"Rude! They love us," he says incredulously. Remus rolls his eyes.

"Siruis, can you stop with the goo goo eyes, I'm going to be sick," Regulus says, looking at Sirius's lovesick expression with disgust. Sirius turns to him, sticking out his tongue.

"Payback for every time I have to see you thirst over my best mate," he says. Regulus flushes red and James takes the opportunity to put his arm around his shoulders again, grinning teasingly.

"Reg, you've gone all red, do you have a temperature?" James says, innocently, knowing full well that he's being a dick. He glances around for a moment, deeming the coast clear he leans in and gives Regulus a peck.

"Oh for fucks sake," Sirius groans, leaning into Remus as if he's just been fatally wounded, "could you wait until I'm not around to suck faces with my baby brother?" He groans from Remus's chest.

"Oh fuck off Pads, that was as PG as kisses get," James says.

"You're just using it as an excuse to cuddle up to Remus," Regulus says. Both the boys flush red and Sirius pushes away from Remus, turning to flip Regulus off.

They continue their playful teasing as they walk up to the common room, James's hand not leaving Regulus's until they reach the portrait hole, where he helps him step in.

Regulus was determined to hold of his regression for as long as possible, he liked hanging out with the older Gryffindor's when he was big and wanted to stay for as long as possible. But being looked after, even in a small capacity, was really making things difficult.

"Reggie?" James questions, "are you okay?" Regulus nods absentmindedly, humming a confirmation, "Alright, let me know if you need anything," he says, kissing the boys cheek as he drags him to sit on an armchair in the common room.

Regulus floats in a bit of an in-between space as they hang out together, leaning against James contentedly as the Gryffindor's around him chat to each other. James seems to catch on to Regulus's drifting headspace and after a while he nudges him.

"Hey Reg, do you want to go on a walk?" He asks. Regulus's eyes light up at the thought of spending time with his caregiver and he nods happily. James turns to the group, "I'm gonna take Reggie on a walk, we'll be back later," He says. Sirius bounds over, giving Regulus a kiss on the head and a hug.

"Stay with Jamie, yeah?" He says, smoothing down his brothers hair. Regulus nods.

"Mhm, stay with Jaime," he parrots.

They say a quick bye to the rest of the group before heading back out the portrait hole.

Walks like these had become somewhat of a thing between the two boys, no matter what headspace Regulus was in. They make their way down to the great lake, walking around the path surrounding with their hands interlinked, chatting a little.

"Are you slipping?" James asks. Regulus thinks for a minute.

"No, I nearly was but I think it's cleared a bit," he explains. James nods.

Suddenly there's a rustling from behind them and both boys whip around to see people stood behind them.

There was three Slytherins stood looking personally offended just at the sight of the two boys. Malfoy and Snape were at the front, wands already out, while Narcissa hung back a bit, glancing between the two boys.

"Can we help you?" James asks, stepping in front of Regulus slightly.

"Just going for a walk," Malfoy answers, "that's allowed isn't it?" James raises an eyebrow, "Oh don't flatter yourself, what would we want with a couple blood traitors?" Regulus could think of plenty of things.

"Right, well we're heading back now," James says, grabbing Regulus's wrist and trying to pull him past the two boys. Malfoy stops him with a hand on the shoulder.

"Don't let us ruin your night," he says. Snape takes a step towards Regulus and James blocks him with his body.

"Jumpy, Potter," He drawls, peering around James to sneer at the younger boy. Regulus had frozen in place, resisting the urge to clutch James's arm, suddenly the idea of showing any form of weakness felt sickening. The voice of his mother rings in his head.

"You are weak! Disgusting! Get up!"

James steps closer to Snape, sheilding Regulus from his view again.

"Leave us alone," he says, reaching back to give Regulus's arm a reassuring squeeze. Malfoys eyes zero in on the small interaction and he scoffs.

"Can baby Black not look after himself?" He spits. James eyes flash angrily, attempting to shoulder past the two.

"Okay, we're going now," he says. Snape goes to grab Regulus, who whimpers and flinched away, but Narcissa clears her throat.

"Let them go" she says, voice clear and strong. Malfoy looks at her, confused, but something in her expression must make hom fold because he turns to Snape and nods.

"Love has made you weak," Snape hisses, begrudgingly letting go of Regulus and stepping aside.

James wastes no time, grabbing Regulus's arm and speed walking away from them, nodding to Narcissa as they pass, a brief moment of understanding passing between them before the two boys disappear back into the castle.

James stops in the entrance, turning to look at Regulus.

The boy looks wrecked, tears streaming down his face, eyes wide in shock and fear. James immediately knows that Regulus was reliving some none too pleasant memories.

"Are you okay baby?" He asks. Regulus whimpers, headspace immediately plummeting after teetering on edge, "How's about we go up to bed?" James asks. Regulus nods, reaching his arms forward and making a grabbing motion.

"Up," he whines.

Snape and Malfoy were bad enough but the sight of Narcissa had thrown Regulus right back to that house, to his mother, to the unspeakable things that happened to him and his brother. Regulus needed comfort right now. James smiles and scoops his baby up and Regulus immediately tucks himself into his caregivers neck, immediately soothed by the physical contact.

"I've got you baby," James murmurs, walking up to the common room.

They climb through the portrait hole and James gives a quick gesture to the boy clinging to him and that's all the explanation their friends need, letting them go up to bed without another word.

"Baby boy," he gently puts the boy down on the bed, feeling a tug on his heart as Regulus makes a noise of protest, "I know, I know, I'll be right back, I'm just getting you some clothes," he murmurs, Regulus pouts but nods. James quickly rushes to his drawers, pulling out a soft jumper and some shorts before going back to his baby.

"Daddy," Regulus mutters, grabbing hold of James shirt and tugging.

"I know baby, let's just get you changed and then Daddy will come cuddle," he says, making quick work of helping him change before pulling off his own shirt and climbing into bed, arranging them so that Reggie is layed comfortably on James's chest.

"M'sorry" Regulus murmurs. James was used to this, Regulus tended to feel like a burden whenever he regressed, it was rare that he slipped without apologising at least once.

James moves his hand to run through Reggie's hair, looking down at him.

"None of that baby, you have nothing to be sorry for. This helps me too, remember?" He says. Reggie screws up his nose adorably if James does say so himself as he thinks, before huffing and nodding a little.

James smiles and pulls Regulus a little closer, running his hand up and down his back to comfort him as he plays with the younger boys hair. Regulus buries his face in James's chest and makes a content little noise in the back of his throat. James thinks that if he were a cat he'd be purring.

He wants to talk to Reg about what happened earlier but he's found that Regulus isn't great at talking when he's little, that's something for him and big Reggie to talk about, so instead he watches as Regulus's eyes slip closed, his breathing slowly evening out into slow steady breaths.

Only once he's sure that Regulus is sleeping does he let his own eyes close.

[goldeneyedgirl]

Ficmas24 Day 8: Damaged Alice

Good evening everyone! Definitely lost track of time and this was later than I was going to upload but alas, here we are.

Today's is Damaged Alice. Fun fact with this: I cannot, for the life of me, find the original post I made for this fic. I have trawled my blog, searched it, manually gone through all my postings and I cannot find it. So I can't even reupload what I've already posted because I don't know what I've posted.

So I've gone in blind. This is for the New Moon-era of the fic, just kind of riffing on both sides. I had a very clear view of Alice finding herself and her history which is a very liberal and broad use of mental healthcare from the 20s, because Meyer is a twit who did zero research. We're going with the idea that Alice's doctors were racing the Italians towards new, innovative treatments for mental health and were testing their theories out on wards of the state.

There's also a lot of little details about Jasper and Alice's relationship here which I am obsessed with and are pretty much the entire reason I started this 'verse. It's the little things, I swear.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and I will be catching up on my inbox tomorrow because I need 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep tonight or I might cry (again.) Ahh, the holiday season <3

---

Ithaca is quiet. That’s the best way he can describe it.

Moving is always difficult for Alice; they all blame her visions, but she thrives in routine. He always jokes that it’s not his level of control that keeps him from slipping, it’s that he hates making her move before it’s time. As Esme and Edward always remind the others, Alice needs the security and certainty of her five years in each home.

So the Cullen departure from Forks on Edward’s demand should have been disastrous. Rose and Emmett are leaving for Europe directly, which has been planned for months. Esme already has a house waiting in Ithaca that she’s been looking forward to restoring, so it seems like the best choice - right across the country with new names and stories. They can be there in a day.

Alice is stressed, but not in a bad way. She complains to Edward, that it’s not fair, and that Bella’s going to suffer. That Victoria’s still out there and this isn’t the way to deal with it. He’s hurting Bella worse doing this.

(And he can feel the guilt leaking out of her, that if things were different, Bella wouldn’t have gotten hurt. She still won’t tell him what she saw that night, before it all went sour, but Bella has a dozen stitches up her arm and a wicked bruise across her chest and now they have to leave her behind.)

Edward is grieving and despite an infinite well of affection and patience for Alice, the spike of rage when Alice tells him that he’s making things worse for Bella is enough that Jasper thinks that Edward might slap her and ends the conversation with a look.

“You have to pack, love,” he reminds her and Alice screws up her face and stomps off to her room. Edward grunts his thanks that Jasper has ended the conversation and disappears into the bowels of the house to brood.

Jasper has no illusions about his youngest brother; they will be returning to Forks. It really just depends on how long Edward can play martyr (and if it’s long enough that Bella outgrows him) or how long Victoria hides in the shadows. It’s really easier just to agree and get on with Edward’s dramatic pantomime of star-crossed lovers rather than argue with him.

Alice paces a lot, in-between packing. She hates being micromanaged, so he casually packs his things at the same time, tossing in the items that she almost always forgets but needs. Not to mention the things that she’s going to want when the stress of everything fades, and she can think clearly - there have been a few forgotten phones and more than a few forgotten laptops over the years. And Esme’s practiced at making sure certain things - particular blankets, clothing items, furniture, books - are present at every single house to prevent disaster for all of them, but especially for Alice.

(It’s 1976, and Alice is having a very, very bad day. It’s the worst one he’s ever had to handle on his own. She’s staring unseeing at the corner, trembling. She hasn’t responded to him in any way - not when he called her name, touched her hand, used his gift. Her emotions are churning to the point that he cannot separate them enough to make a difference. And there’s a blanket, an ocean blue one that Esme found at some street vendor in New Hampshire, that helps. They’ve dragged it from place to place for years, Esme carefully re-stitching the fraying edges, adding more panels to the bottom half for reinforcement. But he cannot find it and he has a sinking feeling that it has been left in Montana, tossed carelessly over a chair in his study. Everyone is away and he’s been trusted with Alice alone for the first time, he needs to fix this.)

So, somehow they manage to make it to Ithaca. Somehow, Alice stays calm - she spends the drive in the passenger seat, focused on crocheting a fall poncho that he knows is a way for her to keep her hands busy.

“You wanna talk?” He asks gently.

She shakes her head. “Uh-uh.”

He waits for the breakdown. For the panic attack, and the desperate need to cling to him for a day or two. For blank eyes and days of no words. Especially when they get to Ithaca, and the house is different. It’s a new acquisition, there’s no furniture installed yet.

But nothing.

So he shouldn’t be that shocked when, after three weeks of haunting the mostly-empty house (it’s very, very strange to be alone with Esme and Carlisle. Edward has been a fixture for so long, it’s downright bizarre for there to be only four of them), Alice takes off. There’s a sticky-note on his computer screen that he finds when he gets back from classes.

Going to Mississippi to find myself. Will be back soon. Will be careful. Love you.

(The only upside is that he gets to freak out and calm down before Esme and Carlisle get home, are informed, and he has to talk them out of a panic. All three of them panicking about Alice’s whereabouts at the same time would not have been helpful.)

// She finds herself in an abandoned hospital slated for demolition within months. There’s not much left of it - there was a fire in the 60s that wiped out the main building. Since then, it’s been left to rot, and there’s a lot of legal and media attention on the hundreds of unnamed bodies buried on its grounds.

It doesn’t feel like a place that she wants to be. Esme and Carlisle are always very clear that if she’s uncomfortable, she needs to leave. If she forces herself to stay somewhere, she’ll get upset.

(‘Upset’ is a euphemism for a lot of things. It can mean crying, it can mean biting, it can mean that she’s not going to talk for the rest of the day. Carlisle just tells her that she’s a very sensitive girl, and it’s okay. She’s doing so much better than when she first joined them, and that he’s proud of her. But sometimes it’s hard to believe that when the high school teachers and students are calling her names behind her back, telling her that she’s a burden to the Cullens. So she tries really hard not to get upset.)

Jasper is definitely upset that she went alone. It’s the first time she’s gone alone anywhere. Well, that’s not true. Jasper used to let her go places - once, he pretended they were going to Seattle for a weekend when he let her fly to New York City alone to buy a dress. He said that she could do it by herself and that it was important that she tried, in case he wasn’t around.

(She got upset at that because, frankly, the idea of Jasper not being around is the worst thought ever. He’s been around since she opened her eyes, even if it was just as pictures in her head. The moon might as well fall out of the sky if anything takes Jasper away from her.)

But this is the first time it wasn’t planned out, the first time he hasn’t known exactly where she was going, the first time she hadn’t gone over it with him and her visions to make sure it went smoothly.

It’s definitely the first time she’s been on her own for more than a day in a very long time. Sometimes she thinks that the Cullens forget that she was alone until she found them, and she was okay then.

(She wishes Jasper was here right now.)

The files she would have found at the University Hospital Library were frustratingly incomplete, but the librarian she would have asked would have told her that they ran out of funding to finish digitalizing them, and that a lot of stuff in storage from the old asylum had never even been moved - too expensive.

(And then she would have gotten caught as not being a student of the university, and there would have been a fuss because she might have remembered to bring almost everything she needed but she definitely only has her Forks High student I.D. and a Washington state driver’s license that says she’s under eighteen. It was better just to do that through very monotonous, careful visions and skip the in-person visit.)

There’s an old statue in the middle of the long grass behind a cracked and forgotten fountain, and she’s got an uncomfortable feeling that she’s seen it before, when it was taken care of. Which makes sense. She knows this is where she was before she was changed. She’s even got a short list from the internet of eight different girls that she might have been.

It takes her over an hour to navigate the hospital, because it is upsetting her. It’s dark instead, and everything is broken and rotten and forgotten. It makes her chest feel tight, and like there’s something in the dark she really, really doesn’t want to find.

(There is, but she also has to find it. James is dead and gone, and anything else in the dark she can fight herself. Plus she knows that Esme put a GPS tracker inside her necklace, and Jasper tracks her phone. She can’t get lost again, they made sure of it.)

It’s a room in the basement where she finds what she’s looking for. There’s a good inch of murky, standing water, and for a moment, she’s worried that anything she’s looking for will be destroyed. But maybe she’s lucky.

(‘B’ is at the top of the alphabet, so it s in the top drawer, where the water can’t get to. ‘Mary-Alice Brandon’ is the fourth name on her list, and the second youngest.)

The filing cabinet is rotten, and most of the files are moldy and disintegrating. Only a few of the surviving files are still legible. But she finds it in the end. It is thick and worn, but she takes it up the old stairs to the light, and spreads the pages out.

She is a child in the first photo, a girl with long black braids and wide eyes. She looks haunted and miserable, and is clutching a doll with a death-grip. Little Mary-Alice is so very young. Too young.

There are four more photographs – one of her nude as a child, bruises blooming all over her legs and torso. Then one of her older, clad in a thin hospital gown, with the most frightened eyes Alice has ever seen. Another, when she is closer to when she was changed; her hair is only a little shorter, and the way she looks at the camera is strange and not right.

The final one makes her sick. It makes her stomach twist and she doesn’t want to look at it. But she has to. It’s one that shows hideous black stitches curving along her bald skull, her eyes empty as she slumps in a wheel-chair. She is so thin in the final photograph, her bones jut from her body. There is an ugly scar on her belly and dozens of bruises all over her.

The notes are handwritten and faded, but she deciphers what she can, and they tell a hideous story that leaves her shaking – Mary-Alice Brandon. Born 28th February, 1901. Admitted September 4th 1911. State custody. Schizophrenia. Hysteria. Metrazol program. Electoplexy Protocol. Lobotomy. Hysterectomy.

(Mary-Alice Brandon died on September 4th, 1911. That’s what the internet said - pneumonia. She’s buried in Biloxi, a footnote on a family grave.)

She wants to call Jasper (“I think I was made like this, not born like this. I don’t understand.”) and have him come find her. She could except she’s not sure she can speak without screaming. She’s not even sure if she can stand up and leave.

Breathe in.

(She can’t. She stays there, trembling, all of the night, trying to wrap her head around those photographs. Trying to understand what she’s seeing, and to forget every single thing she knows about old-fashioned medicine.)

Breathe out.

(Oh. This is going to upset Carlisle a lot. Like the book on the Spanish Influenza or that whole magazine article about Rosalie’s disappearance.)

Breathe in.

(She wishes Jasper was here.)

Breathe out.

(Her head hurts so bad.)

Breathe in.

(Jasper made her a recording. He was going to spend a few days with Peter and Charlotte, and she was worried. He put it on her phone. It’s stupid and she shouldn’t need it but it always, always helps. Just Jasper calmly telling her that he loves her, and he’ll see her soon, and everything will be okay. It’s still on her phone, and her headphones are in her bag. He always reminds her to pack them, even though they don’t block everything out because they’re designed for humans. And maybe, maybe, putting them on and pressing play is what she needs. Maybe it feels like she can breathe a little more, even with those photos still spread out in front of her. One step at a time.)

Breathe out.

[seenoversundown]

For Death Or Glory : Chapter Nine

Jake Kiszka x Charlotte (Fem OC)

Warnings: FLUFF, a very mild mention of gagging, uncomfortable tension, alcohol / drinking, SOME FLIRTING ACTION 😏, quite literally the most painful paragraph I have written so far (dramatic but you'll get it i promise) and some cute, silly banter.

Word Count: 5k

Summary: The day after drinking a little too much proves to be a tough start, but ends up being an even tougher evening.

Author's Note: Oh I am just twiddling my little thumbs over this chapter!! We're so close to the inevitable everyone 🤭 like SO SO CLOSE.

Hot For Teacher - Van Halen "I've got it bad, so bad, I'm hot for teacher."

Maybe if I just keep my eyes closed, the hangover won’t be real. I’ve been lying in bed for I don’t even know how long. I need to pee. My head feels like it’s going to explode. I know the moment I open my eyes, it’ll only get worse. 

I can hear some movement coming from what I can only assume is the kitchen. Opening my eyes long enough to look at my phone, why is he awake at 7:30 am? I let out a deep sigh, knowing that getting out of bed is probably the best choice, considering that I do need to become a person again since I have to work later. God, I’m dumb for drinking that last drink.  

My head feels like a construction zone when I finally stand up. Turning the doorknob as quietly as possible, I leave the room. I don’t know why I’m nervous. The hallway isn’t long, but feels like a mile. As I approach the open space, I can’t help but notice the decor. Josh must have helped him. It’s very comparable to the bar’s atmosphere, without the heavy pirate influence. The big windows let in a ton of natural light with a very pretty view of the Old Port. They have exposed brick walls; I can’t lie- I’m a little jealous of that.  I scan the room silently, admiring the different art pieces and plants- until I find my eyes fixed on him. 

There he stood in the kitchen, making something on the stove. The way he moves so gracefully as he goes between cooking and making coffee. I can feel my body warm as I notice what he’s wearing, or lack thereof. Oh no, he’s hot. His sweatpants hung low on his hips; I only knew this because he wasn’t wearing a shirt. I know that his outfit last night showed off a fair amount of his chest, but I wasn’t expecting to see this much of him. Not that I’m complaining. 

He’s an attractive man, but I never really considered anything past his nice smile. He’s a smaller framed guy, and that’s apparent once anybody who isn’t Josh stands next to him, but seeing him right now, I can’t stop myself from staring at him.

I become incredibly self-aware that I’m quite literally just watching this man cook while he has no idea I’m here. And I don’t know why I haven’t made a noise to acknowledge my presence yet.  

I watch as he gathers all of his hair into a low, messy bun, pulling the hair tie off of his middle finger; I hadn’t noticed he made it into a ring. His back muscles flex a little as he wraps the hair tie into his hair, and the sound that comes out of my body is embarrassing.

“Mmm” slips out of me, causing him to turn around. 

“Well, good morning,” he speaks quietly, “how terrible do you feel?” he giggles a bit after that. 

“Astronomically bad right now,” I tell him, tugging his sweatshirt down my legs a little. 

“Here, I made some coffee,” he tells me, quickly pouring some into a cute mug for me, “Do you want anything in it?” 

I shake my head, “No, black is perfect, actually.” I find myself a comfy spot on his couch. 

“My kinda girl,” he says, looking over at me with a devious little smile. 

He brings it over to me, carefully holding it out for me. He goes to the other end of the couch, reaching down beside it and pulling up a soft-looking throw blanket. Opening it up and draping it over my bare legs, …that’s so sweet. 

“Thanks,” I squeak out. 

“Of course.”

He makes his way back into the kitchen in a comfortable silence. The coffee warmed my body and slowly eased some of the headache. I try not to just stare at him, but he makes it difficult to focus anywhere else. He tilts the pan, pushing whatever he’s cooked into a little bowl, before turning to face me. 

“I made some food for you,” he continues to whisper, “Figured you’d need something in your system once you woke up,”  He quietly walks over, extending the bowl out to me.

I can’t stop myself from the small gag, my eyes going wide. 

“Oh my god, I’m sorry,” he says, moving the bowl away from me. He sets the food on the counter and then makes his way over to the couch, sitting on the opposite end of me. He grabs the flannel that’s draped over the back of the couch, pulling it on but not buttoning it at all. As much as you probably think that’s helpful, Jacob, I promise you it’s making this worse. 

“Let me get you something else,”

“Oh, no, it’s okay,” I tell him.

“You need to get something in your body to soak up the alcohol,” he says, “and there’s a Starbucks approximately thirty seconds away.” 

“You really don’t have to do that,” 

“Charlotte, tell me your order or I’m going to order one of everything,” he tells me, a smile plastered across his face. 

I shake my head, laughing, “Okay, fine, I’ll text it to you.” 

He disappears into his bedroom for a moment before coming back out to harass me again. 

“Text me your order. I’ll be right back,” he says before pointing at me, “I mean it. If you don’t tell me, I will literally just buy the whole menu.” 

“Wait-” I quickly spit out, “Where’s your bathroom?” 

“Oh, I should have told you. It’s right down that hall on the left,” he tells me, pointing to the opposite hall from his bedroom. 

“Thank you. I have to pee so bad,” I whisper, standing up from the warm blanket. Either he’s very courteous of my hangover or maybe he’s just actually that soft-spoken. Seems odd to whisper. 

I hustle to the bathroom, bringing my phone with me.

I sit down, open my messages, and click on his name. 

Me: an everything bagel with avocado spread would be great.

After a second, I stand up, wash my hands, and stare deep into the mirror at my fairly smudged makeup. I try to wipe some of it away but ultimately accept defeat. I’ll just buy some makeup wipes when I leave. I tap on my phone to see if he replied, seeing the notification sitting there on my lockscreen. 

Jacob loved “an everything…

Turning to leave, I open the door, still looking down at my phone. 

“Well, hello there,” 

A loud gasp escapes my body when I see Quinn standing in front of me. 

“I– Uhh-” I try to speak, and nothing wants to come out. 

“Oh, good morning, Charlotte,” Josh says from the room across the hall. 

How did I not see another fucking door?  

“Haha, good morning.” 

“Oh, don’t be shy, dear.” He says, finally emerging from the room, “Where did my brother run off to?” 

“He went to Starbucks,” I can hardly make eye contact at this point; I’m so embarrassed. 

“Oh! Well, in that case, I’ll keep you company until he gets back.” 

Great. 

We both find ourselves sat on the couch, with Quinn sitting on the floor below Josh. It’s sweet how Josh just instantly runs his hand down the back of their head and just causally rubs the back of their neck. They just talk about random topics and occasionally look to me for my opinion. They’re an odd pair, but they’re definitely entertaining to be around. 

“Well, bug, I need to change and go take down some of the decorations before Jake loses his marbles over it,” he says, pressing a kiss into the top of their head. He pads off into his bedroom, shutting the door swiftly behind him. 

“So,” Quinn’s eyes dart over to the door and then back to me, “how are you feeling?” 

“Honestly, the coffee has done wonders for me.”

“Oh good, I’m glad. Umm-” They’re interrupted by the sound of the door unlocking. 

Jacob quickly came in and locked the door behind him. He turns to see the two of us now sitting on the couch. 

“Ahhhh- good morrow, Quinn,” he says in his English accent, looking over to me with an uncomfortable smile on his face. 

Quinn’s head slowly nods before joining him, “Mmm why yes! A good morrow indeed, Squire Jacob!” Is the English accent normal in this household or what? 

He brings the food over, “Hopefully, this helps.” 

I can feel Quinn’s stare boring into the side of my head as he hands my food to me. Thankful that this time, I don’t gag at the smell. 

“Good morning, brother. I was about to go downstairs and start cleaning up,” Josh speaks at a much quicker pace than Jacob.

“Thank you, bub. I’ll be down there soon to help ya.” 

 Josh comes back over, leaning down and giving Quinn a little kiss before ruffling their hair and scurrying off. 

“Charlotte, is there anything else you need before I run downstairs to try and get the bar back to normal?” Jacob asks me. 

“I don’t think so,” I tell him in between bites of my bagel, “I think I may run to a store and just grab some clothes so I don’t have to go all the way back to my house.” The realization hit me: I don’t have pants. 

 “Um.. Quinn,” I start, “Is there any chance that you have some pants I can borrow for like .. an hour?” 

“Oh for sure,” Quinn tells me, “Where are you going? I might come with, if you don’t mind, of course.” 

“I think there’s an Urban Outfitters close by, isn’t there? I’ll probably just walk over there real quick, and you can come if you want?” 

“Oh there is, and I will be joining you then,” they have a smirk painted on their face, “let me grab you some pants.” 

Jacob comes out of his room, moving a bit quicker, but at least this time, he’s dressed. Wearing what seems to be his staple—a hardly buttoned button-up —with some jeans that have seen better days and some ankle boots, unfortunately, he looks good.  

“I’m gonna go, but if you need anything.. You know where to find me,” he says with a smile, “I’ll see you in a little bit.” And off he went. 

Quinn bringing me a pair of sweats, debatably Josh’s, but at this point, I don’t even care. I grab my bag, and phone, and Quinn, and we head out to find me some slightly more presentable clothes. 

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

“So..” Quinn says quietly, “did you..” 

“Did I what?” 

“I mean.. Did the two of you…?” They question. 

“Oh- OH- oh my god, no,” I realize what they’re thinking, “I was just a little more drunk than planned, and he didn’t want me to drive.” 

“Well, that feels very much like Jake.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he’s basically a mom,” they say through a laugh. 

I quietly laugh with them, realizing that is why he probably handled the situation the other day so well. I wonder if he’s always been like this or if it’s just since he’s been older. 

“Anyway, so what do you do?” I ask them. 

“I’m basically an elementary school art teacher,” They tell me

It makes so much sense when they tell me and explain why they would be with someone like Josh. I heard enough about how Josh decorated the bar; he seems incredibly proud of the job that he did, which is sweet. 

“Oh, that seems so fun. You must really love it?” I don’t know why I can’t just have a normal conversation. 

“Oh, I love it so much! The kids are so fun, and I really can’t wait to get my own classroom full of little nuggets.” 

After a few minutes of casual conversation, we make it to Urban Outfitters; I’ve never been more grateful to see the sign in my entire life. 

“So, what are we looking for?” Quinn whispers as we walk in. 

“I just need to look more professional than..” I pause, gesturing to my outfit, “Well.. this.” 

Quinn simply salutes to me as we wander through the store looking for something that I can put together to hold me over for at least today. 

“Not to circle back or anything.. but also.. Circling back,” Quinn quickly rambles out, “Are you interested in him?”  They look over at me; they’re smart for acknowledging body language because that’s way harder for me to hide right now.  I can feel my face slowly turning pink and god, I wish it wouldn’t. Focusing on the shirts that I’ve been slowly looking through. 

“I mean, he’s nice to work with because he really pays attention when I’m trying to explain things to him,” I tell them.

“I’m sure he does,” they roll their eyes with a laugh. They hold up a pair of pants which I quickly shake my head ‘no’ to. 

“Hey! I can’t control why he is or isn’t paying attention,” 

‘Mmmmm’ comes from them quickly, before holding up a black mini skirt. 

“What about this with black tights?” they ask. 

It would be cute, but that feels kind of casual- they cut me off mid-thought, which is probably for the best. 

“It’s just for a day. I think you’ll survive. Plus I can see you overthinking it so, just go try it on real quick.” 

They’re a little too good at reading me, and I don’t know how much I love that. But I’m not going to fight them right now; I don’t have the will or energy. I need to work on loosening up a little anyway. I may as well start today. 

“You’re right; let me try this on.”

I let Quinn choose my outfit for the day, and we’ll see if I regret that later on. We begin our walk back to the bar, and it doesn’t take long before the interrogation continues. 

“So, another question,” they say quickly, “are you single?”

“I am,” I can sense where they’re going with this.  

“Okay, and like.. you think he’s pretty cute, right?” 

“Who?” I reply, trying to refrain from alluding to anything. Don’t fall for it. 

“C’mon now, I saw how you were oogling him last night,” 

“I mean, that’s also hard to judge from because I was clearly not in my right mind,” I try to defend myself, but the urge to say the truth was too strong, “But- he’s not hard to look at.” I can’t help but look up at the clouds for a second after admitting it. The smile painted on my face, gave me away.  

“GOTCHA BITCH,” Quinn barks out with a laugh, “Okay, but also, don’t be embarrassed. He’s so sweet, AND he’s hot? I don’t blame you.”

I can’t help but look at them, puzzled a bit at their last comment. 

“I’m fully obsessed with Josh. I just have eyes, and let’s be so for real right now, they’re twins.” They rattle off with a shrug, and I guess they are right. They don’t always look incredibly similar, but they are both handsome guys. CHARLOTTE. 

We cross the street where you can see the sign for the bar, thank GOD. 

“I can let you into the apartment so you can get ready, don’t worry.” Quinn leads the way down the back alley to the stairwell.

How did I even get up there? Is all that plays in my head as I see the flights of stairs. 

We make our way into the apartment, they let me know that they’re going to shower real quick and then they’ll be out of my way. Not like I can really do much with what I have here. 

Shutting the bedroom door behind me, I actually look at where I am.  He’s so … different? His room is much more simple than the rest of the apartment. A few small trinkets sat on top of his dresser, with the rings he had on last night. I set my bag on his bed, that I should make for him. A very obviously loved quilt still semi-folded at the foot of his bed, made from a bunch of different nautical and piratical design fabric. Quickly pulling the light green sheets back up and making sure all the blankets are smoothed out, adjusting the quilt to be draped nicely on the corner. 

I pull on the black tights and mini skirt, and maybe Quinn was onto something. I grab the sweater out of the bag and pull it on, Oh it’s cropped.  I walk over to look in the mirror he has set in the corner of his room. Well.. It’s definitely not what i’m used to, but it is cute. Is it too much, though?  

I walk out into the living room, and the shower isn’t running, “Quinn?” I say, barely above a whisper. They opened Josh’s bedroom door and gave me one glance over before doing a victory dance. 

“You look SO GOOD, CHARLOTTE,” Their voice’s volume increases as they get more excited. 

“Are you sure?” 

“AM I SURE? ABSOLUTELY.” 

“Okay well, thank you for helping me,” I tell them. 

“Wait-” They turn and hurry back into Josh’s room before hustling back with their phone, “Here.” 

They hand me their phone with the new contact screen pulled up. Oh. Are we friends now?  I type my number in with ‘Charlotte (Bar)’ as the name before handing it back. They laugh to themselves as I watch them type something before looking up at me, “Okay, off you go!” ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

There hasn’t been much business since I got here, but I’ve just been waiting for them to have any questions. I don’t even really need to be here, plagues my mind but for some reason, I can’t leave. 

I watch as Melody looks over some drink recipes that the boys have put together. Slowly learning how to make things in between working on lessons for her certification. She’s a smart girl so this really isn’t taking much for her to get through it. I’ve found myself sitting at the end of the bar so I can people-watch while I’m here. Even though there’s only one person I’ve been watching. 

The way he moves so delicately is intriguing. I can’t help but watch the way his hands move so smoothly. He’s just showing her how to make drinks, and I can’t seem to find anything more interesting to look at in this maximalist bar. He has a very gentle approach to such a not-gentle career. Even when I was telling him unfortunate information, he seemed to stay calm. Lord knows I would be panicking in his situation.  

“Here,”

I’m suddenly brought back from my thoughts. 

“Figured you’re gonna be here for a bit; may as well enjoy yourself,” he tells me. 

“I think I enjoyed myself enough last night,” I say, sliding the drink closer to me, “But thank you.” 

He laughs at my comment; I’m glad he thinks I’m funny. He leans on the bar with one arm, looking over to Melody, who is clearly holding her own with the few customers here. Turning to face me, he slowly glances down, which makes my skin crawl, before smiling at me. 

“You look different,” he says. 

I’m unsure what comes over me when I stand up to show off the entire outfit, doing a quick twirl before telling him, “Quinn insisted.” Sitting back in my seat and taking a sip of the drink now that I’ve sufficiently stressed myself out. 

“That makes more sense,” he says with a soft laugh, “It does look nice on you though.” 

He absolutely just checked you out, and YOU LET HIM. Who are you? 

“Hey,” Melody pipes up, “I know that you let Josh help make these recipes, but I don’t fucking know what this says,” she hands him the small piece of paper. 

“Oh god,” he says, rubbing his eyes for a second, “Let me find out for you.” 

All I can focus on is him. I don’t know what is wrong with me. He leans over to Melody, and I can’t hear anything they’re saying with the music and normal chatter of the bar filling my ears, but I have to assume he’s explaining what the recipe is supposed to say. I watch as he squats below the bar, shuffling through a cabinet, his one hand holding onto the edge of the bar to help keep his balance. The way his forearm muscle is flexed, the veins in his hand are visible, and the grip he has on the bar has me shifting in my seat a little. Down, girl. He is just doing his job, as you should be. 

‘hands hands hands’ I scribble on the corner of the page. 

I take another small sip of my drink as I watch him stand up with a notebook, moving to the counter behind him. Turning bottles so the labels are facing him and grabbing the correct glass for the drink. He begins writing down what I can only assume is the recipe Melody was working on. Tucking a bit of his hair behind his ear, why is that so endearing?  Pouring the correct amounts of each liquid into the glass, he alternates making the drink with writing it down. The way he’s so focused, his face is so calm, he’s so- Don’t do this, Charlotte. 

Turning around, he looks to see some of the regulars of the bar sit down, flashing them a smile as he greets them. God, that smile. Scribbling quickly, ‘His smile is so pretty I could cry.’ Reaching over the bar to shake one of the guys’ hands as he laughs with them, I keep going back to his hands. I’ve never been someone to focus on specific things on a person like this before, but there’s something about him that feels different. Maybe it’s because I never envisioned myself finding someone like him attractive. That sounds bad. I have only really dated men who are very clean-cut, well-put-together, and .. boring. Am I a terrible person? 

Jacob, on the other hand, is definitely not clean-cut, put-together, or boring by any means. The way he definitely thrifts a lot of his clothes and doesn’t seem to mind if things look worn out is refreshing. His hair, sitting just below his collarbones with some subtle waves that he absolutely did not brush, suits him somehow. Normally, that would drive me crazy, but looking at him, it just feels right. The man owns a bar that looks like a pirate exploded in, I really can’t say that he isn’t interesting. His little English accent slips out when he’s nervous or unsure of what to say. The way he’s just always so relaxed and like he has no other worries in the world, I could probably stand to learn a thing or two from him.  

Me: soo.. Come here often? 🤭

Setting my phone down, I glance over to where he’s stood, talking to some of the regulars. He pulls his phone out, clicking on the notification before looking over to me. I can see his eyebrow pop up with a little smirk. 

Jacob: youre never gonna believe this- 

Jacob: i actually work here 😉

Laughing to myself quietly, I look up to see him smiling at the drink he’s pouring. My heart feels weird again. 

Me: I just want you to know I really appreciate you taking care of me last night 

Is that weird? Was that a weird thing to say? I can literally see him read the text, and I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse at this moment. I watch the typing bubbles pop up, making my stomach turn a little. 

Jacob: of course. gotta make sure youre safe

My hands start to sweat; why is he so sweet? 

Me: maybe I can return the favor sometime 

What are you DOING? I immediately feel like I shouldn’t have sent that. I watch and wait to see how he reacts, hopeful that I didn’t just embarrass myself. I flip my phone facedown onto the bar, impatiently waiting for him to have a chance to read it. 

 He finally taps his lock screen, reading the message from the notification; I can see from across the bar the way he’s fighting the smile on his face. 

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Realizing the time, I decide I should probably leave. Looking around, I don’t see him in the bar; I’ve spent the last few minutes chatting with Melody about how she’s feeling with the training and certification. 

Standing up to go find him, I should probably let him know if I’m going to leave since I’ve basically lived here for the last twenty-four hours. I round the corner into the hallway, seeing his office door cracked open. Gently knocking to get his attention. 

“Hey, you.” His voice is soft. 

“I think I’m going to head home. It’s getting a bit late.” I tell him; it’s much more quiet in his office than I anticipated. I guess the only other time I’ve been in here, I was sobbing a little too loudly to notice. 

“Oh, I’ll walk you to your car,” he says, standing up from his desk.  

“You really don’t need to do that. You’ve already done enough for me,” I say, looking down at my boots for a second, “Um.. so thank you again– a lot for.. everything last night.” I can feel the heat rising into my face as I say it. 

“Of course,” he mumbles, smirking a bit before continuing, “You were a little treat, honestly.” He’s moved closer to me, looking down at me with a small grin on his face. My stomach is in knots; what is this?

“Oh god,” I groan, rubbing my hands down my face. 

“Don’t worry, it was cute.” His eyes scan all over my face, and I can’t help but stare at his mouth. I swear I can feel how soft his lips are just from looking at them- no, cut it out stop looking at them. You work together. You can’t be looking at him like this, Charlotte. My brain is moving at a million miles per hour until I let out the most pathetic sounding, “Oh.” 

“So, about that favor–” He takes another step closer, and my hands instantly feel damp, “Are you trying to get me drunk?” he mumbles, popping that same eyebrow up. Charlotte, come on, girl, what are we doing? 

“Don’t think yourself out of happiness, Lottie.” Cassie’s voice playing in my head suddenly. Maybe Cass was right. 

 The silence is deafening between us. His hand grazes mine as I see his eyes slowly drop to my lips and back up to meet my stare. He’s so close to me I can feel the warmth radiating from him. I timidly bump my hand into his, hoping he’ll get the hint. He gently takes my hand in his, lightly squeezing it a few times. I think I want to kiss him. I take my turn of glancing at his lips and finding his gaze again, like we’re playing the worst game of chicken. 

“Just wanted to pop in and say Hi- OH MY GOODNESS, I’m so sorry, sweetie,” Linda says louder than either of us wished she would. 

“No, Linda, come back,” Jacob says, “We were just discussing Melody’s training.” 

Linda peeks back around the corner, seeing us now, not in an incriminating moment. I quickly grabbed some papers from his desk to look at. 

“Was just wondering where you ran off to,” she says. 

“I think I’m going to escort m’lady Charlotte here to her car, and then I’ll be all yours for the evening.” It’s very sweet how much they all love her.  

“That’s very nice of you. I’ll be waiting for ya,” she shoots him a wink before wandering back into the bar. 

He slumps down into his chair, letting out the biggest breath I’ve heard, which honestly makes me laugh. He runs his hands over his face for a second before joining me for a laugh about the situation. 

“I’m sorry, this is-” he spits out, “Let’s get you to your car.” He lets out another giggle, shaking his head at how ridiculous both of our nights have gotten in the last three minutes. 

We walk to my car in comfortable silence. I unlock it as we get closer, he kindly opens the door for me. 

“After you,” 

“Oh, thank you,” 

I throw my things over into the passenger seat before turning to look at him. We both look fairly defeated at this point. The chill from the outside starts to get us both as he slides one hand into his pocket. 

“Haha, um… so I’ll see you tomorrow?” he says, his free hand grabbing the back of his neck. 

“Mhmm, have a good night, Jacob,” I tell him with a soft smile. 

“You too.” He gently shuts my door for me and makes his way back to the bar. 

I watch him as he walks with both hands in his pockets. How he is so nonchalant after that? I’ll never understand.. and why am I sad it didn’t happen? Waiting for him to be completely gone, I see the door to the bar shut. I drop my head back onto the headrest, letting out a quiet ‘fuck’ and then decompressing with a sigh. 

My head floods with Cassie’s voice, “Maybe he’s your Scott, Lottie.” 

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Chapter Eight

Chapter Ten

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[lament-of-lydia]

help i love your hcs i need your opinion on onceler/greedler (or both if you want) trying horror escape room lol

trying to escape, are you?

♱ pairing: slight onceler/greedler x reader

♱ note: had this sitting in my inbox, ty for your ask!

♱ warnings: slight suggestive themes/actions

────────────── ⋆⋅♰⋅⋆ ──────────────

escaping with onceler 𖤐 it had been a harmless invitation at first, and onceler seemed excited with how quickly he had accepted, not at all afraid

𖤐 oh, how wrong you had been.

𖤐 for one, you had completely forgotten how much of an absolute scaredy cat this man was (and still is)

𖤐 i mean walking into the building, he was already nervous, wringing his hands constantly and messing with his hair

𖤐 as you walked up to the front desk with his lanky frame following close behind, you can hear him muttering to himself

"okay, this is starting to seem like a bad idea . . ." 𖤐 you had to reassure him constantly the entire time you were in that stuffy room that no, you wouldn't get stuck, and yes, they would let you out of the room if you failed to escape

𖤐 he of course, after your escapade, denied ever acting like a scaredy-cat jumping at the slightest noise or creaking of a door

𖤐 typical oncler.

𖤐 when it came to finding clues, though, he was actually pretty good at noticing the little details

𖤐 he probably has 20/20 vision, cause how else did he find the false wall that opened into a secret little storage cupboard?

𖤐 solving clues involved a little more brain power, but he didn't let you down here either exactly

𖤐 eventually you two fell into a rhythm, with you mostly solving the clues onceler found while he hunted for more

𖤐 at one point, you had to reach for a red, thick book on the top shelf, and were struggling to do so

𖤐 you ignored the shock that trickled down your spine when he pressed up behind you, even if it were just for a second

𖤐 he seemed to have not even realized what he had just done, handing the book over to you with a goofy smile

𖤐 when you made your inevitable escape through the once-bolted door, he picked you up and swung you around

"we did it! we actually made it out of there! i can't believe it!" 𖤐 later at his tent-house, where you both had retreated to for the night for a celebratory meal of pancakes, you both laughed well into the morning over how onceler had kept hitting his head on various things in the escape room

𖤐 damn him and his tallness.

────────────── ⋆⋅♰⋅⋆ ──────────────

escaping with greedler 𖤐 onceler's slight annoying ego when it came to admitting his initial fear of escape room was pale in comparison to greedler's

𖤐 let's face it, them being the same person and all, but greedler having 10 times greater of an ego? this was bound to go wrong

𖤐 you're not even sure why you invited him, especially when he seemed so cocky about it at first

"an escape room? how childish. don't get me wrong, i've done countless before. is this the best you could think of?" 𖤐 regardless, he agreed eventually and showed up, even if it was in much more dramatic than needed kind of way

𖤐 what kind of person rides a limousine to an escape room?

𖤐 he seemed bored and unimpressed by the interior of the building, like he'd seen much better rooms in his life

𖤐 still, you could still see he was slightly nervous with the way he ran his fingers through his hair

𖤐 old habits die hard, you supposed.

𖤐 compared to onceler, greedler was a lame excuse of a help

𖤐 sure, he pointed out a letter or two stowed away behind a desk, but he mostly just sat and lazily watched you do everything yourself

"me? oh you know i'm just here to keep you company. i am not getting these gloves dirty." 𖤐 the best part for you, though, was definitely when a plastic spider popped out of a wardrobe and right into his face

𖤐 the high pitched shriek he had let out then was beautiful.

𖤐 surprisingly, he didn't seem adverse to helping you solve clues, although it did give him more boasting rights, so there's that

𖤐 when the room suddenly grew uncomfortably hot with 10 minutes left (a clever design) he peeled off the many layers he was wearing, and so did you

𖤐 it would be a lie if you said you didn't stare as much as you did when greedler pulled his sleeves up

𖤐 working in the heat and being uncomfortably close was not a good combination, but you two surprisingly made it work

𖤐 when you finally cracked the code and opened the door, you squeezed him in a bone crushing hug as you cheered

𖤐 you were shocked when he didn't pull away instantly, and even more when he returned the hug, (ignoring, once again, the way you shivered when his hands settled on your waist)

𖤐 he pulled away eventually, of course

"don't get your sweat all over me. this is designer, you know."

𖤐 you went out to dinner afterwards, where you noticed he was smiling at you a lot more than usual, and you smiled right back.

[cha-melodius]

Hi friend! Congrats again on 100 works! Thank you for offering to write more for us! ❤️I'd like to request 1. firstprince and 2. Kensington as an AU, but only because you dared us to! Alternatively, if someone already requested that and you don't want to duplicate, I'd be interested in a hockey AU set inside the rink! Thank you again, I am so excited to see what you come up with and to read more of your words!

(Thank you so much for taking my bait lol, I've wanted to write this canon-divergence AU where they hook up in Kensington during the damage control trip for a while now. I hope you enjoy!)

Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile

(firstprince, 4.1k, M; read it below or on AO3) read all the fandom fest fics

It wasn’t supposed to go like this. They were supposed to finish up at the hospital, and then Henry would go back to whatever the fuck he does while Alex went to the airstrip. He’d fly back to DC, so that maybe he’d be able to get some schoolwork done before Monday, and try to forget that this ridiculous weekend ever happened—barring the fact that he and Henry were still obligated to keep up the fake friendship for a few more months, that is.

Instead, Cash comes up to him as they stand outside of Kensington with a slightly grim look on his face and says, “Change of plans.”

“Huh?”

“They discovered an issue with the plane during the flight prep. It needs some part that they’re not going to be able to get until tomorrow morning. We’ll leave then.”

“What do you mean, they can’t get it? Why not?” Alex demands. Surely in a country with fucking royalty, nothing is out of grasp for said royals and their guests.

Cash shrugs. “Didn’t ask. The palace confirmed you can stay another night.”

Alex groans probably a little too dramatically. “What about my classes?”

“I am, in fact, very aware of your class schedule,” Cash says dryly. “You’ll be back in time.”

“I don’t have another change of clothes.”

“Pretty sure Kensington has laundry.”

“I’m really not getting out of this, am I?”

“Nope.”

Alex sighs and looks over to where Henry is standing with Shaan by the front gates. There’s a look of trepidation on his face, no doubt because he’s just been told that he’ll have to deal with Alex for another night. Of course, that’s not a given. Henry will probably disappear into his apartments and ignore him, which suits Alex fine. They may have reached a kind of détente today, but they’re not friends.

“Sorry to hear about your plane,” Henry says as they get back into the car that will drive them further into the palace.

Alex shrugs. “It’s fine. I guess I’ll have to survive the hardship of ten thousand thread count sheets another night.”

Henry huffs a little laugh and grins. It’s kind of amazing how different he looks when he smiles for real. “I know you’ve probably had your fill of me today, so feel free to say no, but…” He hesitates a moment, as if waiting for Alex to shut him down before he even makes his proposal. “I was thinking of ordering in curry for dinner tonight. There’s a place not far away that’s quite good. Maybe watch a film?”

It’s pretty much the last thing Alex expected him to say. He wonders if this is another olive branch, an acknowledgement that it’ll be easier to pretend they’re friends if they’re actually… kinda friends. Surprisingly, Alex doesn’t hate the idea.

“What movie?” he counters.

“Well, I would suggest one of the Star Wars films, but I’m not sure we could agree on one.”

“If we’re not going to watch the best one, aka Empire—”

“You mean Return of the Jedi,” Henry interjects.

“—I guess that leaves the next best.”

“So, Rogue One?”

Alex grins. “Ok, maybe we can be friends, after all.”

He’s absolutely not letting himself think about the warmth that grows in his chest when Henry laughs.

~~~~~

Alex discovers that there’s a room in Kensington that’s pretty much as tricked out as you can get without being in a movie theater—“There’s an actual theater in Buckingham,” Henry tells him, “but Dad had this put in for family film nights”—with a massive screen and a killer sound system. They eat their curry out of take-out containers on a surprisingly comfortable, normal couch as the movie plays, keeping up a running commentary between them that ranges from Star Wars lore to the cast (“Come on, you can’t tell me you wouldn’t follow Diego Luna anywhere. Look at him!” Alex insists, which garners him a strange look from Henry) to random things entirely unconnected to the movie.

Turns out Henry is actually really funny, which is a fucking shock and kind of annoying except for how he leaves Alex in stitches several times. It’s absurdly easy between them in a way that it shouldn’t be, and Alex can’t remember the last time he had this much fun just hanging out with someone. And it’s Henry. What is his life, even.

“I can’t believe you like this one,” Alex says as they watch Jyn and Cassian embrace desperately on the beach. “It’s pretty much the opposite of a happy ending. For the main characters, at least.”

Henry hums, tipping his head slightly. “They give up everything in the service of a cause bigger than themselves, and they succeed. There’s something beautiful about that.”

“God, you are a sap,” Alex teases, bumping his shoulder up against Henry’s. Somehow they’ve managed to migrate closer on the couch over the course of the movie, until they’re practically touching.

“And why do you like it, then?” Henry counters. “The action and spies and intrigue?”

“Not only that,” Alex says. “But there’s a reason I’m a big Bond fan.”

A smile flickers across Henry’s face that’s a little melancholy but mostly contented. “I suppose that makes sense given what I know of your movie tastes now.”

“Also, your dad was a total babe.”

Henry’s eyes go wide as he chokes on a laugh. “I beg you to not.”

They lapse into silence as the final scenes as the credits start to roll. The movie is over and it’s getting late, but all Alex can think of is that he really doesn’t want the night to end yet. Which is crazy. Twenty-four hours ago Alex was actively cursing this man’s name, and now he seemingly can’t get enough of spending time with him. It doesn’t make any sense, but somehow it does; it’s the same feeling that he was chasing all those years ago in Rio, the one that pushed him to go up an introduce himself at exactly the wrong time, the one that made the hurt of that encounter linger for so long in his psyche.

“Hey, uh,” he says eventually, turning slightly to look at Henry, “thanks for suggesting this. It was fun.”

“I hope it made up for being stuck in London longer than you wanted,” Henry replies, his voice low and soft.

“Definitely.”

Henry smiles, a warm and pleased one that stretches his lips and crinkles the corners of his eyes, and Alex feels like he’s being pulled in by the magnetism of it. He wants to get closer, despite how close they’re already sitting. His fingers twitch with the urge to touch—the soft blond hair falling over Henry’s forehead, the sharp cut of his cheekbones, the fullness of his lips. He’s always known Henry was objectively good-looking, but Jesus, where does he get off being so pretty? It’s annoying, really.

Alex isn’t trying to make things weird, but he also can’t quite help the way his eyes are drawn inexorably down to those plush lips, still curved in a gentle smile. Who even has lips like that, does he get fillers or something, because they can’t be real, except they look very, very real, Alex hasn’t even ever kissed any girls with lips that nice, that look that soft—

Something short circuits in Alex’s brain and he just— has to know. How soft they really are. Before he even knows what he’s doing, he’s leaning in and pressing his lips to Henry’s, which are, as it turns out, extremely soft. It only lasts for a second before his brain comes back online and he realizes Henry’s frozen stiff, which is fair, because Alex has no fucking clue what he’s doing. He hasn’t kissed a boy since Liam and this was not the fucking boy to just kiss out of nowhere. He’s gonna get, like, locked in the Tower of London or something.

He wrenches away as quickly as he leaned in, meeting Henry’s wide, stunned eyes (—still so so blue, how can they be that blue—), his lips slightly parted and just a little damp from Alex’s.

“Shit,” Alex breathes in a rush. “Fucking shit— I don’t know why I did that, I’m so sorry, Henry, I didn’t mean anything by it—”

“Alex,” Henry murmurs, but Alex is too far gone in his spiral at this point.

“—I promise, it was just— I mean, I’m not even—”

“Alex.”

Alex stops in the middle of a word, his mouth hanging open. Henry’s got some kind of strange look on his face that he can’t parse at all.

“Did it really not mean anything?” he asks slowly.

The thing is, Alex has no idea what it means. Absolutely none. Something inside him—something he doesn’t really understand—wanted to do it, but like, just as an objective experiment. Except that part of him wants to do it again, even though he already got his answer. Really wants Henry to kiss him back. Which is making him feel a little insane.

Alex closes his mouth, licks his lips, and swallows hard.

“That depends,” he says cautiously, “on what you want it to mean.”

For some reason, that makes Henry growl in frustration and cast his eyes to the ceiling. Then he groans, “Christ, Alex, you’re so—”, grabs Alex’s face between both hands, and kisses him soundly.

Alex’s insides go positively molten. Henry’s hands are gripping his jaw, and in his hair, and Alex can’t help but press closer. His own hands find Henry’s narrow waist, reveling in the dip of it, the heat of his body scorching through the thin fabric of his shirt, and the only thing currently occupying Alex’s mind is a desperate urge to feel bare skin under his palms. That is, until Henry slides his tongue along Alex’s lower lip, sucks it into his mouth and tugs on it with his teeth, and Alex stops thinking altogether.

Their positions are a little awkward, twisted toward each other on the couch as they are, and Alex isn’t sure if he pulls or Henry pushes—or maybe both—but a moment later Henry is unfolding his long legs and shifting to straddle Alex’s lap, which is both incredible and incredibly overwhelming. Especially when Henry’s hips rock forward and Alex can feel his growing arousal pressing into the rapidly tightening region of Alex’s pants.

Jesus, this is— it’s— it’s a lot, but the very last thing Alex wants to happen is for it to stop.

He absolutely does not whimper when Henry pulls back, sending Alex unconsciously chasing after his lips. Fortunately, Henry doesn’t go far. He presses their foreheads together, breathing raggedly into the space between them as his thumb swipes across Alex’s cheek.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” Henry breathes, and yeah, Alex had no fucking clue.

His mind is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and he has no idea what to say to that besides: “Fuck.”

Henry chuckles softly, nudging their noses together. “Indeed.” He presses a soft kiss to Alex’s lips, then another to the corner of his mouth and one to the edge of his jaw. “Do you want to… go somewhere we won’t be interrupted?” he murmurs into Alex’s ear, and his warm breath combined with the words makes Alex tremble under him.

Alex swallows hard as his hands tighten on Henry’s hips, but he hesitates a moment too long because then Henry is actually pulling back, a concerned expression creasing his brow.

“Which is not to say— we don’t have to do anything more if you don’t want— I just thought—”

“I want to,” Alex blurts, surprising even himself. He’s not entirely sure what more means to Henry, but he knows he wants it. Jesus, does he want. “Yes. Fuck. Let’s do that.”

Henry grins, wide and nearly blinding in its brilliance, and Alex thinks he would do just about anything to see that smile on his face always.

They clamber off the couch, adjusting themselves with shared, knowing giggles, then Henry grabs his hand and tugs Alex through formal, stuffy corridors lined with portraits and antiques, which just adds a certain something to the absurdity of the whole situation. Somehow it’s not a surprise that Henry’s apartments are just as impersonal and opulent as the rest of the palace, full of hideous floral wallpaper and baroque furniture. Before, he’d have put that on Henry himself, but now it feels wrong despite the fact that Alex still barely knows him. It feels like he knows enough. Henry eats curry on the couch and cracks crude jokes and sniffles at the tragic endings of Star Wars movies (yes, Alex noticed). Henry is warm and soft and feels like he belongs in cozy, simple rooms full of old books and tea and cardigans.

Alex’s musings are cut off when Henry pulls him close again at the foot of the hideous gilt monstrosity that is his bed, wrapping his arms around Alex’s waist and tugging him into a lingering kiss. It’s softer than before, delicate and sweet, exactly like Alex would imagine Prince Charming would kiss. From this angle Alex has to tip his head up to kiss him, which is definitely not something he ever thought would do it for him, and yet. Henry’s evening stubble scratches against his chin, and broad hands grip onto his hips and pull him against the hard, flat planes of Henry’s chest, all of it constantly reminding him of the unmistakable masculinity of the person he’s currently making out with.

Alex thinks, distantly, that he should probably be freaking out about this a bit more, but it’s too easy to give himself over it in the moment. He can freak out about what whatever the fuck it means later.

Henry’s hands move to the front of Alex’s shirt, and his nimble fingers make short work of the buttons before pushing it backwards off Alex’s shoulders. His fingers leave trails of fire where they linger against Alex’s bare skin, and even just this has Alex moaning into the kiss, desperate for more. He tugs at Henry’s shirt, yanking the tails out of his pants and nearly tearing the buttons open in his haste, which makes Henry laugh at him, the bastard.

“Eager, are we?” Henry teases, and Alex bites the grin right off his face.

“Shut all the way up,” he huffs before sinking his teeth into the absolutely irresistible collarbone he’s just uncovered.

Henry sucks in a gratifying breath at that, his hands tightening on Alex’s waist, and then he’s manhandling Alex back onto the mattress, which has no business being as hot as it is. Alex kicks off his shoes before scrabbling backwards so that he’s lying against the pillows, his heart racing as Henry crawls up over him with a nearly predatory grin on his face. The way his body fully blankets Alex’s is overwhelming in the best way, making every part of Alex ache with the need to somehow be closer, even as Henry presses the their bodies together from knee to chest and captures Alex’s lips in another deep, probing kiss.

They kiss and kiss until Alex’s lips are almost numb from it, their hands roving over heated skin and through thoroughly mussed hair. Henry’s hips roll slowly against him, almost a question, and Alex groans when he feels the hardness of Henry’s cock pushing against his hip. His own is straining against the front of his trousers, and his breath shudders in his chest when he imagines what it would feel like to have Henry’s hands wrapped around him.

But—

“Hey, uh,” he breathes as Henry’s mouth moves to his neck, and he’s nearly driven to distraction by the feeling of Henry’s teeth scraping lightly over his pulse point, but he wants to get this out, “I’ve never actually—” His voice fails, and Henry pulls back just enough to look him in the eye. Alex swallows. “Done this. With a guy. I mean, kinda, but not really—” He lets out a frustrated huff. “It’s a long story.”

Henry stares at him so intensely and earnestly that Alex feels flayed open by it, like Henry can see all the parts of him that Alex himself didn’t know were there. “We can just do this,” he says as he pushes a curl back from Alex’s forehead. “The last thing I want is to push you into something you’re not comfortable with.”

It’s completely reasonable not to rush things, but Alex thinks if he leaves London without seeing Henry naked he might fucking expire.

“Did I not already fucking say I wanted it?” he retorts, a little testily. Better that than admitting how desperate he really is.

“Well, to be fair, we didn’t exactly specify—”

“I want you naked,” Alex breathes in a rush. “I want your hands on me. Your mouth, if— if that’s something you want.”

Henry’s gaze goes dark and hot, and he actually licks his lips. Alex’s dick twitches in his pants. Jesus Christ.

Henry dips back down to kiss his neck, but a moment later he answers. “That,” he says, pressing it into Alex’s skin as he kisses a path down his chest, “is something I very much want.”

Then Henry’s hands are at his waistband, making short work of his belt and peeling off his underwear and pants in one go, and everything goes very, very hazy after that in the absolute best possible way.

~~~~~

The room is quiet after they subside, after every ounce of pleasure has been wrung from their bodies, after shouted names ease into murmured endearments.

“I should go,” Alex eventually whispers into the stillness, because he should. It would be better if he spent the night in his own rooms. Safer.

He doesn’t want to, though. He doesn’t want to be alone with his thoughts right now, doesn’t want to give his brain the space to run wild with this. That’s what will happen if he goes. He’ll fall into a research spiral on google, and text Nora even though it’s too late, and quietly freak out about everything that’s happened tonight. Here, though, Henry’s got an arm thrown over his waist, and it’s not much, but the weight of it soothes something within him. Keeps him grounded.

Maybe it’s just Henry that settles him. He doesn’t want to think too hard about that.

“You could stay,” Henry murmurs back. He leans in, presses a kiss to the outside of Alex’s shoulder. “No one will notice. Tomorrow’s Sunday. The staff come in late.”

This is a terrible idea. This can’t be… anything, really, given who they are. Alex doesn’t even know what he wants it to be, but he knows that.

“You sure?” Alex asks anyway.

“Stay,” Henry repeats.

So Alex stays.

~~~~~

The bed Alex wakes up in is unfamiliar, which is hardly surprising given his travel schedule lately. What is unexpected is that he’s naked, and there’s a warm, naked body pressed against his back, and abruptly all of what he got up to the previous night comes slamming back into vivid clarity.

He slept with the fucking prince. Henry. His nemesis, except not actually, apparently, and oh yes, definitely also a dude. Alex sucked his dick and most definitely enjoyed the experience, so that’s a whole new thing. The freakout about his sexuality that he shoved to the back of his mind last night rockets to the forefront now, and he can feel his breath stutter in his chest.

Except then Henry’s arm tightens around him and he presses a sleepy kiss to the back of Alex’s shoulder, and the tightness in his chest unclenches somewhat. Not all the way, but enough.

He fumbles for his watch, then jolts up to sitting with a new fear once he sees the time. Jesus Christ, Cash or Amy is going to show up at his bedroom any minute now to pick him up so they can leave, and Alex isn’t fucking there. This is a disaster.

Henry grumbles at being disrupted, sleepily rubbing at his eyes in a way that’s definitely not adorable at all. “Time is it?” he mumbles through a yawn.

“Late,” Alex huffs, briefly getting tangled in the sheets and nearly falling out of the bed in his haste to find his clothing.

He’s halfway into his pants when there’s a knock at Henry’s bedroom door, and he almost falls on his face again. That seems to wake Henry up a bit more, and he finally sits up, his hair standing up in all directions and his eyes gone wide.

“Yes?” Henry calls out.

“The Secret Service seem to have misplaced their charge,” comes Shaan’s voice through the door, and Alex would very much like to die right now. Henry stumbles out of bed, throwing on a robe, then opens the door just enough so that Alex isn’t visible. “I told them I would inquire with you to see if you had any idea of Mr. Claremont-Diaz’s whereabouts.”

There’s something very knowing in Shaan’s tone, like he’s perfectly aware of where Alex spent the night and furthermore none of this is exactly a surprise to him, and Alex only barely manages to hold back the extensive collection of curses crowding at the tip of his tongue. What the actual fuck.

“Ah,” Henry says. His cheeks are bright pink. “Just a moment, I’m sure I can help you locate him.”

“I’m not sure I’ve properly conveyed how agitated they are, sir.”

“Tell them I’m ok,” Alex sighs begrudgingly, stepping into view now that his shirt and pants are on. It’s not like he’s kidding anyone; he’s still barefoot in Henry’s bedroom and the bed that two people clearly slept in is fully visible from where Shaan is standing. “I just—”

Shaan holds up a hand. “Believe me when I say that you do not need to finish that sentence. I will deliver the message, but”—he pauses, glancing between them—“you probably shouldn’t linger.”

He pulls the door closed behind him as he goes and, despite the warning, Alex stands there for a minute, rooted in place and staring at the floor. Maybe Shaan doesn’t want an explanation, but the Secret Service certainly will. Fuck.

“I’m sorry, Alex,” Henry says quietly, suddenly close beside him. Alex hadn’t heard him approach. He still looks so soft and sleep-rumpled, and something tugs at Alex’s chest that absolutely should not be tugging. “I shouldn’t have talked you into staying here.”

Alex huffs a laugh, shaking his head. “I didn’t take much convincing,” he says. “I shoulda just set a fucking alarm.”

“Probably,” Henry agrees, his lips tipping into a wry smile that fades into a look of concern. “Are you… ok?”

“Yeah, of course, why wouldn’t I be?” he answers, probably a little too quickly. Henry just stares at him in that way that makes Alex feel entirely too seen. “Probably gonna get chewed out for disappearing, but it wouldn’t be the first time.”

“That’s not exactly what I was talking about.”

Alex swallows. “I’m fine.” He offers Henry a little smile. “This was fun.”

“It certainly was,” Henry agrees carefully.

“Where’s your phone? I’ll give you my number, it’ll be easier to plan joint appearances or whatever,” Alex says in a blatant attempt to divert from a discussion about what happened or what this makes them. He’s got to figure his own shit out first. He doesn’t need Henry to know that he’s already wondering when he can arrange his schedule to see him again.

Henry gives him a look, but he fetches his phone and hands it over to Alex with a blank contact page open. Alex types in his number and hands it back.

“I’ll be disappointed if you only use that for booty calls,” he jokes.

Henry sputters out a laugh. “Noted.”

He’s endearingly pink-cheeked and smiling, and Alex doesn’t think before he takes the last step that puts him in Henry’s personal space, grabs the fronts of Henry’s robe, and pulls him into a kiss.

If he’d had any lingering doubts about the previous night, about whether what he’d felt was real or not, this thoroughly dispels them. The press of Henry’s lips to his, the way their mouths slot together as easily as if they’ve been doing this for years, the zip of electricity that fizzles under his skin and spreads out to tingle in the tips of his fingers and toes… Alex has never been kissed like this, has never felt like this being kissed, and it’s exhilarating and terrifying all at once.

Like he’s falling.

Oh. Fuck.

[dreamylyfe-x]

Hi, I am pretty new to the Shameless/gallavich Fandom but first I LOVE YOUR FICS

Second, I've read some of your meta and I don't know about soaps but novelas and kdramas under my belt, I agree the come and go of Noel probably saved them from drama in later seasons, they probably have had them broke at one point also, they refused to make Mickey a principal, but one of my fav parts of s4 is that he finally gets his own arc (pimp and all that apart) and I'd have loved to see him explored outside his relationship with Ian

Hey! What an amazing surprise this is!

First of all, thank you.

Second: Novelas, kdramas (I have watched my share of t-dramas -- Devil Besides Me and Meteor Garden forever), Shondaland -- they will all give you the gist of that soap experience. My feeling is that we'd get a season six where both Mickey and Ian sort of struggle to figure out their adult lives -- and that's probably a decent enough story. They likely marry them in season seven. And then they spent seasons 8-11 (or however many seasons they get to keep them) messing them up. Not because Shameless burns plot the way soaps and novelas do, but because 11 seasons is a lot. And at some point they will decide they need conflict for Gallavich and that conflict will be in the era of Gay Jesus-type writing and I'm confident we'd have been very upset by it.

I will say I don't think they so much refused to make Mickey a principle as they didn't know for sure what they wanted to do with American Mickey or where he fit into their pretty full roster. Like, there was always a chance for him, since I believe his British counterpart sticks around, but he's not filling the same role that US Shameless Mickey does. Also, shows has a budget and I can completely see how they might not have had the money for him until season three.

In season five, Cam and Noel did an interview with Buzzfeed where the EP, Etan Frankel, talks about how Mickey turned into the character he'd become at that stage, and it's clear that they don't quite know where they're going with him, and then once they shoot 1x7 they know they've got something interesting to pursue. There are a lot of moving factors in making use of that, though, including Cam's age and how ian's character balances out with his siblings in terms of storyline. Gallavich get one of the most dramatic moments of the entire series in season three and I think that's really when they shift into being primaries on the show. More and more, they start to drive fan engagement online and that sets up season four where, absolutely, Mickey vaults ahead in terms of how much the show is paying to his inner life.

Part of that is because Cam is off filming The Giver, so he's not around for half the season, but I think the other part is what Etan is talking about in the Buzzfeed article -- they just know Noel can deliver. I particularly always think about this quote, in regards to both Noel and Cam as individual performers, but also when I think about their creative partnership:

As a writer, you feel secure writing a scene knowing they're going to knock it out of the park and they'll find things you didn't necessarily intend, so you find beautiful moments. It's exciting to see those dailies come back and saying, Oh wow, that wasn't even a moment in the script, but they've made it become a moment.

I know this is why we get so much Mickey in the first half of season 4. Not just that he needs to carry the torch for Gallavich by himself but because the writer's room knows they can give him that scene with the picture in the bathroom and the performance will convey how much Mickey misses Ian. This is also clearly when he essentially becomes a point-of-view character -- and he continues to be until he leaves the show in season six. So many key moments in those two seasons, particularly around Ian's illness, rely on the audience seeing Mickey's reactions and moments of realization. His confusion in 4x12. His reaction to the suitcases. His meltdown after Ian is hospitalized, where virtually his entire reaction is silent across two episodes. It's really great that they trusted him to do that. It's one of the reasons I think the story works so well.

Anyway. I find it a little jarring, when Mickey comes back, that he isn't quite the POV character he was. It improves in season 11 and we get more Mickey-centred storylines. But I feel consistently (particularly in the late seasons when I'm really not that invested in the rest of the story) that there was a lot more room to use Mickey the way they used to. But by then, it's a different kind of show.

[plscallmeeren]

HIS ASSISTANT

Severus Snape x Reader

Request: yep, by @Chloelouise02

Summary: (Y/n) was Snape's only friend back in their time at Hogwarts, but they had a falling out just before they graduated so he doesn't know how to feel now that she had been appointed as his assistant. This takes place during the golden trio's third year, or, more specifically - in their first lesson.

Warnings: a swear word or two?; dementors; shouting; pretty much just fluff

Word Count: 1.7K+

"Clean up that mess", he drawled lowly, and for the hundredth time that week I fumed at his attitude.

"Magic word?", I seethed, not moving a muscle to reach for my wand.

"If you wanted me to Imperio you, you could just say so", even through all this I heard his suppressed smirk that I would have loved to see after all this time, but apparently wasn't worthy of.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes in disbelief, and was inevitably reminded of our past shared moments. I'm not sure if it made me sad or happy thinking about. Maybe nostalgia is meant to have both.

"How about the other one?"

After a very long and over-dramatic sigh he gave in, boosting my serotonin levels drastically, at least that's what I think this feeling was.

"...Please."

"See? Was that so hard?" He didn't answer but his expression suggested it was indeed so hard.

I pulled out my wand reluctantly and swung the wood wordlessly, the puddle of rainbow-coloured failure vanishing in thin air.

I mean hey, at least it wasn't as bad as Seamus' rumored explosive draughts.

In fact, there were many rumours about all students of Hogwarts as well as teachers from other schools and Rosemary or someone of the likes from down in a Hogsmeade pub.

If I'm being honest, the teachers' room possessed more qualities of a gossip girls set-up, a talk show or a Comedy Drama movie than a teachers' room at all; but I wisely decided a while ago already to keep this to myself.

Severus apparently enjoyed the talk just as, if not more than anyone else, not that he would ever dare to admit it.

Sev...

It felt strange calling him Severus. It felt stranger calling him Snape, though, so to his dismay that's what he was going to have to put up with. We just weren't on good enough terms again for, well, honestly? Anything.

Now you may be wondering how we ended up like this. To keep it short: I'm the second-last week of our last school year he kissed me. And for whatever reason I kissed him back because apparently I had a stupid crush on him; but then he felt guilty because of Lily (am I a joke to him?) and just left and refused to talk to me again.

Great way to treat your best friend. Really. Wicked.

"Is it just my imagination or are you particularly moody right now? Because I could swear I made you laugh an hour ago and I've basically just lost all of my progress." His lip twitched upward as he positioned himself behind one of the front desks, but maybe it was a trick on the eyes.

"No. I am not moody. I am never moody. And I am most certainly not more moody than usual." Those were the most sentences I had gotten out of him in a row all day, but my accomplishment was quickly forgotten at the rubbish he had just made me hear.

"You're never- oh, I get it. I know you're not Mad-Eye. Believe me. You just haven't got the looks", I grinned, before my face fell and I grew serious for once.

"No, seriously. Have you got a bad relationship to the Potter kid or something? Everyone talks about him so much but never in relation to you. Is that it? Are you dreading him?"

I'm pretty sure if you held a really exact ruler to his eyes and you weren't shaking at the look he's giving me now, you would have seen they'd widened a couple of millimeters. But unfortunately I guess no one's gonna take over that job, are they?

He simply stayed silent until all the students had come in and positioned themselves at their desks, including the Potter boy, who was sitting next to who I think was a Weasley.

The lesson began and I watched in curiosity as his eyes flicked to Potter more often than not, although the possibility was still there that it was only because I had brought it up. I gradually regretted not saying so after the lesson more and more.

"This is my new assistant, Ms. (L/n). She will be helping me keep your dim-witted souls under control and prevent you from destroying anything as best as possible", he sent a sharpened glance at Finnigan as he said the last part, making the boy gulp. That has to count for something, right? He hadn't put it that way all the times he introduced me until now, so maybe he was warming up to me again.

I could tell the students wanted to start whispering, but their fear of Severus seemed to surpass even that.

Once he gave the assignment, however, and they started working, I heard my name mentioned in their conversations more often than i would have liked under any circumstances.

I can't believe how judged and pressured you can feel by a bunch of teenagers, even as an adult.

The amount of times it was suggested Sev and I were together or he had a crush on me or something was even more unsettling, yet aside from a casual blown up cauldron on Seamus' behalf the rest of the day went by rather eventlessly.

...

And so did the rest of the week. And the next. And the next. Although I did get rather invested in the drama of Mulligan's relationships, but who didn't?

The dementors on the grounds were becoming more and more annoying, and I was thoroughly sick of them to say the least.

One Saturday I dared to pass the lake and sit down on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. I wanted fresh air, and above all - I wanted to be completely undisturbed.

So, lying down on my jacket I pulled out Tiffany Aching: I Shall Wear Midnight and started reading.

I think I lay there for hours before something happened. Or more accurately, disturbed me.

The air grew cold fast but the wind stood still, as if balancing in the tip of its toes, threatening to plunge forward in one great gust.

As a familiar feeling of sadness invaded me it didn't take long for me to come to my senses and realize what was approaching me.

Dementors. Patronus. Quick. Now.

I spun around, just to look right into it's disgusting face - well, I wouldn't call it that, but then again, what else can one call it?

But before I could do more than draw my wand, before I could utter the words, before a clear thought could even fully pass through my head -

- someone else yelled the spell.

"EXPECTO PROTONUM!"

The voice was suspiciously familiar, so I wasn't all too surprised when I saw the figure of Severus standing on a rock, panting as he held out his wand. The questions that remained were why, how, where and when.

The dementor was being chased away by-

Something that couldn't possibly be true. Anyone who knew Sev - so, not many, I guess - knows that- no, it's can't be.

The figure of a tiger was attempting to pounce on the Dementor, which was gliding away as fast as seemed dementorly possible.

But- a doe- it can't be!

"What were you thinking!?", he raged, marching up to me, wand still raised, "Oh, yes, why not just lie around at the edge of the Forbidden Forest-"

"Severus-"

"-and read a book! Who cares about the dementors whirring around here like a pack of bees!"

"Severus!"

"And what-

"SEV!", I called, but he just yelled louder.

"How stupid are you!? You were never responsible, I guess that never changed, did it? I always have to fucking save you-" That's it.

"SEVERUS FUCKING SNAPE YOU WILL BE QUIET THIS MINUTE."

That seemed to do the job.

"Don't you go on about you saving me, and don't you dare try and embarrass me or something just because you felt embarrassed yourself back then when you were seventeen! How petty can you be? It was one kiss, I don't care!" My breath fell short as I shared the thoughts I had been dying to tell him. "And since when is your patronus the same as mine!?"

He stayed quiet yet again. God, I hate it when he does that. Well, no, I don't, but I hate it when he does it after I confronted him with something.

"I didn't-" Silence again.

"It's been a tiger since the day we kissed." He seemed to deem that enough said as he sulked and began turning away.

Oh, no you won't.

"Is it because you don't regret it?", I called, barely keeping control of my words at this point. "Because you still want to?"

He halted suddenly, whisked around in one motion, and walked up to me. He stood mere inches from me and for the life of me I couldn't tell whether he was about to yell at or kiss me.

The latter was the case.

He simply pecked my lips once before smiling slightly-

I repeat, smiling!

-and walking off yet again. But this time I didn't stop him. In fact, I didn't do anything much as I watched his cape hide him until he felt beyond the horizon.

And I had never minded as much as now.

———————————————————-

A/N:

Oh, to be an assistant...

This was fun, but my autocorrect is actually killing me. Like really. I have French, German, English and emoji keyboards on here and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna lose it

Like every time I'm writing in one language it is ALWAYS, I repeat ALWAYS in a different one.

Anyways, hope you liked this, I would appreciate every comment you can spare :D

-Eren

[vampiresdontbelonginfairytales]

In two minds as to whether to post this because I HOPE I'm going to do a comic arc of it.

But since I'm currently incredibly slow to do comics and also because I spent the last three days solid on it... Here it is.

But I guess if you'd rather see it in comic form and care about spoilers then don't read it?

EDIT: I wrote a follow up scene and then I wrote a follow up scene to the follow up scene and... Long story short, or rather, short story long, it's a book manuscript now. I've got 18k words so far

No book spoilers though! (The current book is coming along very well but isn't quite ready). << EDIT: this refers to a different book that is close to a final draft

----

“Um... I d-don’t have a l-lot, but...” Victor held out the canvas bag. The three of them had agreed to do a book swap, or rather, a manga swap. Lucinda had been bringing books to Fairyland for Will, as books were somewhat hard to come by, and she had offered to bring him books too. Victor, having no idea what books he wanted, not being savvy on the selection of Earth books available, and not daring to do such a bold, daring thing as taking a friend up on an offer, hadn’t asked for any yet. Hettie was positively itching to get her hands on Lucinda’s manga – “As the Otherworlds’ first magical girl, it is positively my duty!” – and Victor had some manga too. Only a few volumes... The yokai peddlers only had a small selection that passed inspection by his mother.

Lucinda sat cross-legged on the floor after taking the bag, and had plonked two of her own on the rug. They were in one of the guest parlours, little drawing rooms that were previously for nobles to sit and relax in, but were in the process of being turned into bedrooms and common rooms for the expected magical school students. This one needed very little doing at it, and had become their hangout area. There were comfy couches and a little table and trolley for drinks and snacks. Victor had brought them some tea – books weren’t the only thing he’d picked up from his brief visit home – and it was rapidly cooling as the girls were far too excited by the manga to worry about little things like staying hydrated.

“Oooh this is really rare!” Lucinda picked up one of the more battered copies with a pair of girls on the cover; one with bright pink hair, the other with an equally striking shade of purple. “It never came out in the UK at all, and in the US it was this limited run tied in to the anime they decided to air at like, 5am on a Saturday morning, so it never got a big following and never got reprinted in English. I swear sometimes they WANT shows to fail.”

“I... didn’t understand most of what you said. Sorry, it’s what?” Hettie looked up from where she was already a good chunk into volume 1 of something called Sailor Moon. “I understood ‘rare’ and then you might as well have said ‘and the hoop-de-doo sqoodled the squaddle’.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Lucinda stayed quiet for a minute before rephrasing. “They only printed a small number of these in English because the television show version of it wasn’t popular. And it was never printed in my country at all.”

“Ah.” Hettie sighed wistfully. “Oh to have print runs available. We just get whatever the yokai peddlers have with them. It’s pretty erratic. You’re lucky if you can get more than four or five volumes of a set. Sometimes they have really big sets of one thing, but they’re so expensive.”

“I guess I am pretty lucky to be able to find as much as I can,” Lucinda reflected. “They even have manga in the library.”

“You have to stop, you’re making me far too jealous!” Hettie held a hand out dramatically.

“Um,” Victor interjected. “They have m-manga in the library here, too.”

“They do?!” both girls chorused.

“A lot of it is um... e-embarrassing...” Victor had a very low tolerance for what Hettie had informed him was called ‘fanservice’ but some of the stuff he’d seen must be the sort of service where someone takes a bullet for you and then takes your would-be assassin out with them while apologising that they won’t be able to get your supper ready on time for once as they are unfortunately dying, rather inconsiderately, without two weeks’ notice.

Hettie and Lucinda looked at each other.

“I’m not about to be put off by a bit of embarrassment, are you?” Hettie asked.

“Not a chance.” Lucinda hesitated. “Well, okay. Some chance. But.” They both turned to Victor.

“Lead the way?” Hettie suggested. “Or you can just give us rough directions if you prefer.”

“I’ll c-come with you.” Victor was not about to lose out on time with Lucinda over a few drawings, no matter how embarrassing they were.

“H-here it is...” Victor waved vaguely at the two aisles.

After a few minutes of pulling out volumes at random – and hastily putting some of them back – the girls were a little deflated.

“Are they all in Japanese?” Lucinda asked. “I’m trying to learn but I can just about say what my name is, greet people and count to one hundred. I can read maybe five kanji and some katakana.”

Victor frowned. “Yes? I think. B-but...”

Hettie sighed. “That’s really too bad. Perhaps we could ask your snow woman friend to translate?”

“I don’t want to ask her to do her job for free...” Lucinda replied.

“Um.” Victor pulled the nearest volume out a little, checked it, and pulled it all the way out. He flipped to what in a Western comic would be the back. “Did you check the front? There’s a lot of translation notes and things.”

Lucinda held up a finger. “I did not.” She pulled out another manga and instead of turning to the middle she checked front and back. “Oh. It’s not the type of translation I’m used to, but this’ll work.” She put the random volume back and started searching for the first one of the series.

“It’s silly, really. I should have realised the large yokai population here would have donated something to the library,” Hettie chided herself. “I can’t believe I never looked before. There must be several doors to Japan here.”

Lucinda looked up suddenly. “I. Wow. I never thought of that. Do you think so?”

“It stands to reason?” Hettie theorised. “The queen must know a door, at least.”

“I can’t believe all this time and I never... Do you want to go to Japan?”

“What, now?” Hettie asked. “Right now?”

“It should be possible, right?” Lucinda said, eyes shining. “Although...” Her face fell. She bit the end of her thumb as she thought. “I guess it will take a long time to get into the map room, and I’m kinda broke still...” She glanced over at Victor making him jump. “It’s kinda crowded in the cities, from what I know... That wouldn’t be good... But I don’t know if it would be harder in a small place, we’d be too conspicuous...” She slouched. “I guess we can’t after all... I got myself worked up for nothing.”

“You should go to Okazaki!” came a voice from the other side of the bookcase. There were footsteps, and Will leaned into view around the end of the aisle. “It’s a city, so it’s got all the stuff you’re probably looking for, but it’s really quiet. As long as you don’t go during commuter times, you’ll practically have the pavements to yourself.”

“Okazaki?” Lucinda repeated. “Where’s that?”

“It’s near Nagoya. Aichi Prefecture.”

“I’m sorry to say that doesn't mean anything to me,” Lucinda admitted, rubbing the back of her head. “We’d still need a door map though, and, well, a bunch of stuff. I don’t have any yen, for a start.”

Will waved a hand . “You don’t need to worry about any of that,” he said. “Wait here.”

The three of them exchanged a look. Lucinda and Hettie browsed the manga while they waited, pulling out the odd volume and looking back and forth between the translations and the pages. It was pretty difficult. They weren’t intended to be read in the aisle. Victor had borrowed a few of them and you needed a desk to spread them out on.

It wasn’t long before Will returned, holding an envelope and a piece of white paper, with a much folded look about it. Paper, not parchment.

“Here you go!” He beamed. “Just make sure you go when it’s not right before or after school, and you should be fine.” Lucinda unfolded the paper and all three of them peered at it.

“Door locations?” Hettie asked.

“I came via Okazaki to Fairyland,” Will explained. “I needed to make sure I had an escape route if something went wrong, but the doors you want are this one and this one.” He pointed at the one in the top right and the middle bottom. “Oh, and here.” He presented Lucinda with the envelope, holding the shortest end with a thumb on each corner.

Lucinda opened it. She gasped. “Does that say... ten thousand? Ten thousand yen?! And what’s this?” A large feather slid out with the bank note.

“It’s a feather. You’ll need it to get back here, so don’t lose it.” He pulled out a pencil from a pocket. “I’ll just make you some notes. You need to write the kanji for ‘gate’ in the air to open the return door.” He wrote the kanji next to the door. “It’s pretty easy. Oh and if you do lose the feather or something, THIS door here leads back to Stratford-upon-Avon. It’s quite a walk, to the door and from the door, like, maybe a full day of walking, but if you can’t get back here it’s the best option. I’ll give you my parents’ address. My mom is an Otherworlder, she can help you get home.” He scribbled the address on the back. “Oh and if things are bad in Okazaki for some reason... You can’t get the door to work or any other trouble, you go here.” He drew a star on the map. “Ask for Asakura Miho. She's the local Otherworlder concierge.”

“This... This is a lot of money isn’t it?” Lucinda asked.

“Not loads.” Will shook his head. “Only about £40.”

“Only?” Lucinda spluttered. “I can’t take this!”

“Sure you can!” Will grinned. “Look, you’ve brought me at least that amount in retail value of books, if not in second hand value. I was wondering how best to repay you for it.”

“But... ... I mean...” Lucinda hesitated. She stared long and hard at the note. Finally she said, “If it’s really okay... You’re sure it’s okay?”

“Positive.”

“Okay... Uh...” She looked round at the other two. “Who’s ready to go to Japan, I guess?”

The three of them made their way to the entry door. It was in the Northern Quarter of the capital; a gathering place for yokai.

“It should be... here!” Lucinda pushed on a patch of air and a slit appeared; a slice of blue sky and a rice paddy hung in the air, contrasting heavily with the brown walls of the tavern behind it. Lucinda let it close. Then she checked her phone. “It’s... about 9:10 in the morning. Will said avoid commuter times.” She bit her lip. “I think we should wait a bit longer to be safe.” She drummed her fingers on her arm. “I feel like I’ve forgotten something...”

“You waiting for the Okazaki door, kids?” a voice addressed them from above.

They looked up to see a yokai woman leaning out of the second story window. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips pouting.

“Yes?” Lucinda replied. “We were told to wait until the morning commute was over. That’s right, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yes, that’s right. It’s just... You’re going... like that?”

The parental tone and question was familiar to Victor as of late - his mother did not appreciate his change in wardrobe from the expected vampire evening dress to the everyday fairy tunics. The three of them looked down at themselves then at each other.

“Oh. Oh, I see what you mean,” Lucinda admitted. “We look like we’re going to a convention.” Lucinda had come straight from work and was in her prince outfit, Hettie was wearing one of her tea gowns and Victor was in a blue tunic and pants, tied at the ankle. “Not good for blending in.”

“L-let’s go change?” Victor suggested. “There’s p-plenty of time.”

“I’m not sure I have anything suitable...” Hettie said.

“D-don’t worry, Molly showed me where the clothes a-are for the f-fools, w-we can find something in there.”

“I think I still have some stuff from when I stayed here before,” Lucinda said. “I’ll check my old room while you do that.”

There were a few trunks of spare clothes in the servants’ quarters, mainly intended for fools but really for anyone who wanted them. Fairyland worked on a bartering system, so labour in the palace was exchanged for food, accommodation or occasionally other goods.

“Does this suit me? I think it’s a little big but beggars can’t be choosers...” She had found a wine red jumper; it was a solid colour with long sleeves that hung over the edge of her fingers. She pulled them back over her wrists, using a ribbon on the edges to tighten them.

Victor nodded. “I-it looks very nice. W-will these trousers fit you, d-do you think?” Hettie had also found a blue skirt, but it was a glaring mismatch, in both style and colour.

“Trousers?” Hettie took them uncertainly. “I, I really don’t know, I’ve never worn any before.”

“M-Miss Lucinda is often wearing them, e-even when she isn’t dressed for work,” Victor pointed out.

“Yes, must be nice not to have to worry about changing to come here,” Hettie observed. “Then again, I didn’t have to change when I visited her house. We pretended I worked for Rent-A-Legend too, which come to think of it, I actually did.”

“I’m a l-little jealous that y-you got to see Miss Lucinda’s house,” Victor admitted. He stopped short of asking what her room was like. That felt like spying, somehow.

“It was fun, Earth technology is incredible, a magic of its own... though it was incredibly nerve wracking... I had to keep Lucinda’s identity secret from her parents.” Hettie took the trousers and he turned away so she could change. “I doubt it will be as difficult out and about in a town setting.”

“W-were her parents nice?” Victor asked.

“I only spoke briefly to her mother to introduce myself, but she seemed nice,” Hettie replied. “You can turn around now. How do I look?”

“L-like you’re from Earth,” Victor replied. There were less options for him. Most of the clothing was dresses, or way too big for him. Maybe he would have to make do with his old clothes. He understood they were very old fashioned on Earth, but without his cravat and cape, he would at least look like an Earthling, if a slightly overdressed one.

“Any luck?” Hettie asked.

“No. I’ll h-have to wear my old clothes.” Victor pouted. “I sh-should get some Earth clothes s-sometime. B-but I d-don’t know how I’m going to. They’re s-so expensive a-and the peddlers never h-have anything my size.”

“Perhaps you can ask Lucinda for help?” Hettie suggested.

Victor shook his head. “I c-couldn’t do that.”

Hettie tilted her head to one side. “Whyever not?”

“I j-just... H-help how?”

“So you just automatically answered ‘I can’t’ without even thinking about it?”

“W-well, it j-just seems too imposing t-to ask for help,” Victor tried. “... What do you mean?”

“She literally lives there?” Hettie pointed out. “She offered to bring you books? It shouldn’t be that big a step up to help find some clothes. Maybe she knows some place you can get some cheap? Or she can ask Sara? You really won’t know unless you ask her.”

“B-but clothes are s-so c-complicated!” he protested.

“I don’t think they’re as complicated on Earth,” Hettie said. “Like I say, you won’t know if you don’t ask. Besides, Lucinda is your friend. I wish I could prove it to you that asking her for help isn’t a big deal.”

“N-no, i-it seems like t-too much...” He shook his head.

“Victor...” Her brow furrowed slightly, and Victor steeled himself for a lecture. She stared at him for a long moment before giving a short sigh. “Well, I for one plan to ask Sara where she gets her Earth clothes, so if find out anything useful I shall pass it along. I’m ready, so shall I wait for you here or at the gate?”

“Th-the gate,” Victor answered, relieved. “Please apologise t-to Miss Lucinda for me.”

When he had changed into his old things, he found one of the glassless windows that lined the upper corridors and launched himself out of it, becoming a bat in mid-air. He didn’t much like being a bat, but it would be faster than walking down and he didn’t want to make Lucinda wait any longer than he already had. He made a mental note to learn a new animal transformation spell as soon as possible. He had learned how to become a bat at about age seven, normally a little early for even a vampire to start learning magic, but the death of his father at the hands of a mob when he was six had made his mother keen to get him learning escape spells as soon as possible. He could also turn into mist. That wasn’t much fun either. The only real upside was that you were pretty much impossible to kill. Stay that way too long though, and you’d find your mind starting to dissipate too. It was like being in a dream. You had to force yourself awake again.

“H-here I am!” Victor said, turning back a little way above the ground and landing on his feet. “S-sorry for making you w-wait.”

“We’ve got plenty of time,” Lucinda reassured him. “And it’s definitely not commuting time now.”

“I was just telling Lucinda how difficult it was finding Earthling clothes for you,” Hettie said. “She says you can probably have a look in Okazaki.”

“It’ll be interesting to see what second-hand clothes they have in Japan,” Lucinda remarked, smiling at him. “I’m not expecting to find a shop full of kimonos or anything but there’s got to be some cool stuff, right?”

“O-oh. Um, r-right. Yes.” Victor shot his cousin A Look, but she just made a half shrug and a smirk that said ‘See?’.

It was impossible to be mad that she was correct about just asking, or as it seemed, just mentioning, and he spent the walk back to the Northern Quarter wondering what sort of clothes they would have and how they fit without a tailor. He was aware that they didn’t usually have tailors any more. They bought things ‘off the rack’. Maybe they bought everything a size too big and sewed it to fit themselves?

When they got to the door, they found the yokai woman from the tavern waiting there. She had it open the tiniest possible amount, sticking a fingernail in it to keep it from closing. She looked round as they approached.

“Much better.” She nodded approvingly. “I’m just waiting for my partner Mitsuki to get back with supplies. You go ahead... if you’re ready?”

“I think we are.” Lucinda hesitated. “Um. Do you have any other advice?” she asked as she tentatively put a hand on the door. “It’s our first time in Japan.”

“Don’t talk loudly in public, the doors SLIDE, do NOT cross the street when it’s red, you’re expected to pack your own shopping bags at the supermarket AWAY from the cashier, get a little hand towel each for public bathrooms - I recommend Daiso for that – don’t hand money to anyone directly, it’s bad luck, that’s what the little trays are for, oh and I hope you kids like mayonnaise because we put mayonnaise on everything.” The woman thought for a moment longer. “You know a return door, right? From your lack of luggage, I assume this is a day trip?”

Lucinda nodded. “We have a few options.”

“You got a feather?”

“Yes, we have a feather,” Lucinda reassured her.

“And you know the rules for going to and from Earth? It’s not like the other Otherworlds, you know that, right?”

“I’m from Earth, yes,” Lucinda replied.

“Oh. You’re more prepared than you looked.”

“I was just a bit overexcited and I tend to forget what I’m wearing,” Lucinda admitted.

“Off you go then,” the woman said. “Have fun. Try some dango.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Lucinda had just put her hand flat on the door when Hettie piped up suddenly;

“I completely forgot! I have a thing with Lolotte today!”

“You do?”

“Yes, I shall have to go immediately,” she announced. “Don’t want to be late.”

“Oh.” Lucinda took her hand off the door and turned round. “Oh, that’s too bad. We can go another day, then? Lolotte can always come with us?”

“No, no, I won’t hear of it!” Hettie protested, bodily turning Lucinda back to the door. “You and Victor go ahead! You went to the trouble of getting changed and everything. You can go and find all the fun places and show me next time. You’ll have more money between you, too.”

“I guess but... are you really sure? I do want to go but-“

“Then go.” She gave them both a bright smile. “You’ll be more inconspicuous without me, anyway. Much better for a first visit. Can’t be too careful.”

“But-“

“Must dash! See you later!” She gave them a little wave before turning into a panther and bounding away.

“Well... I guess we’re going then.” Lucinda scratched her head before smiling apologetically at the yokai woman. “If that’s okay? With just me?” She addressed this to Victor. Who almost didn’t hear her over the internal screaming.

“Th-that’s fine,” he replied, a little shocked to find he meant it.

Yes, he reassured himself. Fine. He was alone with Lucinda. Not a problem. It had ended horribly the last time, but fine. So it was his first visit to Earth. And not a ‘Western’ culture like he was used to at home. So he didn’t speak the local language. So what if he couldn’t use magic there. So what if there were humans all over the place?

“Okay. Just stick close to me and if it’s too busy we’ll turn back, all right?” Lucinda offered. “Will said it would be quiet, so I guess we’ll just see. I’m... a little bit scared, but at least I won’t be alone. I mean, I’ll still go alone, if you change your mind. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ve been doing this for two years. I’ve been to scarier places than Japan, that’s for sure. The crime rate’s supposed to be really low. And there’s zero dragons.”

Victor considered this. They were stood in what was a foreign country to both of them right now. In Fairyland it was allowed to eat people who didn’t have a resident’s permit and there were at least two species of flower that killed you if you looked at them funny. And while he’d managed to shake off most of what he’d realised were his mother’s prejudices about humans, he was still nervous around strangers. To be fair, he was also nervous around any type of people, most animals, quite a lot of plants and the occasional rock. But objectively Japan was not scary.

“I-I’ll tell you i-if it’s too much,” he said. Oddly, it helped to know Lucinda was also a little scared. And that he was helping. He’d never helped someone else to not be scared before.

“Let’s go then.”

The yokai woman opened the door, looked around quickly, and tilted her head to indicate that they should indeed go. As they stepped through, a tanuki slipped past them the other way. They turned in surprise to see the tanuki take a human form, peering at them curiously as the door closed.

“Just some otaku kids-” they heard before the sound was cut off.

Victor looked around. He’d thought they were in the countryside but the rice paddy they’d seen through the door was next to a building... A few buildings. There was a row of houses behind them. A narrow, concrete road was painted with white stripes to serve as the pavement edge and some letters he couldn’t read.

“Oh. Uh. Wow. We’re actually really here.” Lucinda looked around at the scenery, shading her eyes from the sun. Though, the sun was nothing compared to her smile. She beamed at the scenery like it was a long lost treasure. She bounced on her heels with her hands clenched. “What should we do first? Oof, it is warm.” It really was very warm, much like Fairyland. His shirt probably wasn’t the most appropriate for the heat, but at least it would protect his skin from the sun. “Glad I put on sun cream already for Fairyland.” Lucinda fanned herself with a hand. “Do you need sun cream?”

“Sun cream?” Victor asked.

“To protect you from sunburn? Do fairies have a potion for that instead, maybe?”

“I d-did... b-but this morning.” It was late afternoon in Fairyland.

“We’d better get some then.” She tutted to herself. “I am not, in fact, well prepared at all.” He expected her to be annoyed, but she laughed. Still with a smile a mile wide she continued, “We need to break this note anyway. What did she say... Mini hand towel...for bathrooms... Ah, where did she say would be good for that?”

“D-Daiso,” Victor said.

“Great. Thanks!” Lucinda pulled out her phone. She’d brought a small bag. It was a croqueted tote; pale green with a white flower. It went well with her outfit; a pink frilly top and long white skirt. “Let’s see... Daiso...” She tapped her foot for a minute while she waited for something. Her smile finally turned to a frown. “Data is HOW MUCH per megabyte?! Someone’s having a laugh. All the way to the bank.” She shrugged and her smile returned. “Ah well. Not like I use my data for much since I’ve no signal half the time. Ooh, there’s a Daiso really close! Basically straight up this road! This way.”

“A m-map on your phone?” Victor queried.

“Yeah, it connects to a thingy in space or something,” Lucinda explained. “Oh, if you need to translate something, it can do that too. Not WELL, but enough that we should get by.”

“H-how is your phone N-NOT magic, again?” Victor asked, staring at it. It could show pictures, moving images, play music, he’d seen her use it to do maths and he knew there was a library in there too. Multiple libraries, from what he could gather. And yet Earthlings would be amazed he could turn into a bat.

“Honestly can’t argue,” Lucinda admitted.

As they walked, he thought again about the bat thing. “Um, M-Miss Lucinda, if you could turn into a-any animal, what w-would you choose?”

“Good question.” Lucinda stopped as she thought. Someone on a bike rode past them. Victor didn’t have time to react. They were already long gone even as he registered the intrusion. As he looked behind him to see where they went, he realised the jester had been right; the street was deserted. It was a tiny side road, that he could see, but this was much better than he had hoped. “I don’t know.” Lucinda’s reply startled him out of his observations.

“You don’t?”

“I’m not sure I’d want to turn into an animal at all,” she said. As he drew breath to question her further, she gasped, “Oh look, it’s right there! Right across the road!”

“O-oh. Th-that’s what she meant by ‘d-don’t cross when it’s red’,” Victor observed.

“Yeah. We call that the ‘green man’ in the UK. Interesting cultural difference,”-she held up a finger-“here they say ‘it’s blue’ instead of green.”

“The G-Green Man?” Victor raised an eyebrow. “L-like the forest spirit?”

“Oh. Oh yeah. I... think I’ve heard of that. Not the same guy, from what I know. Incidentally... It’s blue.” As they crossed she added, “And where I’d say ‘your face has gone white’ they say ‘your face is dark blue’.”

“Interesting... Wh-where did you l-learn that?”

“I’m not sure.” Lucinda cupped her chin. “Probably from manga translation notes or possibly from a research rabbit hole on the internet.”

They stopped at the edge of a large concrete area in front of the store. It had a few cars on it, with lines indicating where they should stop. He’d never seen a car before, but was vaguely aware they could kill you or explode. Luckily there were only two, and both were on the same side of the car area. They could see quite well into the store via the glass panelling all along the front. It wasn’t busy. There were four or five people in there he could see, all spread out.

“Do you want to come in with me or wait here?” Lucinda asked.

“I’ll... I’ll c-come in,” he decided, steeling himself. Even though they were at a BIG crossroads, bigger than any he’d ever seen, it was still almost devoid of people. Despite the size, it was still quieter than the Dark Capital’s streets. Logically, it was silly not to go in.

“Okay.” Lucinda led the way. He froze momentarily when the doors opened BY THEMSELVES at which Lucinda didn’t so much as blink. More Earthling ‘science’. “Oh no,” she almost whispered. He stopped again. “Everything. Is so. CUTE.”

“I-is that bad?” Victor’s voice quavered. Cute was not a quality he had hitherto associated with the phrase “oh no”.

“It is bad,” Lucinda replied solemnly, “because I want to buy it all.”

He relaxed somewhat. “What were we l-looking for again? H-hand towels?”

“Oh. Yes.” Lucinda snapped her fingers. “And sun cream. I’ll look up the word for sun cream while I remember.”

Heart pounding, Victor followed her along the shelves. He barely noticed the goods at first, instead keeping a surreptitious eye on the other customers and the shopkeepers. But he gradually came to the realisation... they weren’t paying him any attention at all. The shopkeepers would glance in his direction, smile and say a greeting. But then carry on with their work. He was completely unremarkable, apparently. It was liberating.

After a little while of browsing around the shelves which contained the wildest assortment of goods Victor could never have imagined existed, Lucinda stopped and took a very deliberate breath.

“Okay I have to make a rule for myself here,” she said. “This is the first shop we’ve been in and there is already so much cool stuff. I have to wait until we’ve had a proper look around. Comic Con rules.” She thought for a moment. “Um. Not that I’ll stop you from buying stuff you want.” She paused again. “I know Hettie said to spend the money on ourselves but I think we should save her some of it anyway. Let’s say... 2000 yen each? And we’ll try to save the rest. I know Will said we can just spend it but... I just wouldn’t feel right.”

“Y-you really d-don’t need to worry about me,” Victor protested.

“Don’t be silly,” she chided. “At the very least you need some food and drink. Speaking of, I know I said I’d wait to buy things but I have spotted some sweets I DEFINITELY want. They’re technically food. And is that an ice cream freezer I can see?”

“Ice cream w-would be nice,” he admitted. It was far too hot to say no to something as nice, luxurious and above all cold, as ice cream.

“Lemme just...” Lucinda checked something on her phone again and made a low whistle. “Wow, okay that is cheap. Is this a Japanese pound store??” They couldn’t read everything but the flavours were obvious enough and some were also written in English.

“I-I’ll have the earl g-grey one,” he said. “I-if you’re really sure.”

“Good choice. I’m super tempted by that one too but I think I’ll try the ice cream mochi.” She took one of each out of the cold box and looked around. “Oh. Self-checkout. I have never been so glad to see one before. I was working myself up about having to talk to the cashier for nothing.” She approached some boxes with words displayed on a screen. It was almost like a big version of her phone, he noticed. “Oh and there’s an English option, even.”

“Wh-what does ‘w-working yourself up’ mean?” he asked.

“That I was making myself really stressed,” Lucinda replied.

“You w-were stressed??” He hadn’t noticed.

“Yeah, to be honest I was dawdling a bit because I was stressing about having to talk to the cashier,” she admitted. “Sorry. I’ll try not to. I’m going to have to talk to at least one cashier today I’m sure.”

“D-don’t apologise...”

They took their ice creams just outside and ate them right away. There were a couple of big boxes out here too, that also looked like the cold boxes he’d seen inside. They had rows and rows of... something?

“Oh right, I forgot to get a drink.” Lucinda eyed the nearest one. “Is that... tea? COLD milk tea? That’s ... different. Though I suppose you get iced tea without milk AND iced coffee however. I’m gonna try it. We have change now.” She selected an option. Something clanged in a compartment below the rows of drinks and she reached through a flap and took out a can. “Hey, this is hot?! What the heck??” She studied the rows again. “Oh. OH. This one with the red must be hot and... the blue ones are cold? How the heck do they do that??” So there WAS some Earthling science she was baffled by. She turned from the machine and wiggled the can at him. “Want one? They’re pretty cheap.”

“Y-yes please.” While he still felt he was imposing, she was right that he couldn’t go all day without anything to eat or drink. Technically he had had lunch... back in Fairyland, some hours ago. And he was thirsty.

“This is very sweet,” Lucinda remarked, after taking a swig. “I think I like it.”

Victor tried his. “Y-yes, very.” He couldn’t decide if he liked it or not. Sweet things were a luxury at home, and carefully rationed, as he mustn’t damage his teeth. Come to think of it... she had said drinks were okay, and it WAS important. “C-can I also um, g-get some water?”

“Sure.” She double-checked something on her phone before making a selection. “Yep. Should be water.”

“Th-thank you.” Once he’d finished the tea and ice cream, he took a good few mouthfuls of water, swishing it around a bit. Seeing Lucinda looking at him curiously he said. “U-um. For-” He opened his mouth a little and pointed to his fangs.

“Oh. Yeah. Too much sugar would really mess you up, huh?” She tapped her own teeth thoughtfully. “I’ll keep that in mind. Want me to carry that?” She indicated the water bottle.

“Um. Please. Th-thank you.” Was Hettie right? Was it really this easy?

“We should look for where we can buy clothes next, I guess. Oh and sun cream. Here’s the sun cream.” She handed over a small bottle. “Uh-”-she lunged forward and grabbed his arm-“-you don’t drink it. You rub it on your skin. Just where the skin is showing.”

He lowered the bottle, feeling his face colour and wordlessly opened the top, looking down to avoid her gaze. He squeezed some out and rubbed it on his face.

“You need a mirror?” Lucinda tapped her phone and turned it to face him. He jumped, seeing his face on the screen. “There’s a camera on it,” she explained. “Two cameras, actually.”

“Is there anything it doesn’t do?” he said, mystified, forgetting his embarrassment.

“Lots of things but admittedly none I can think of right now,” Lucinda replied. “Right. Clothes,” she said when he’d finished. “There’s a place right up the street. Book-Off? Sounds like a weird name to pick if you sell clothes.”

It was a straight walk up the very big street. It was so big there were trees and sculpted bushes between the pavement and the road, as well as a line specifically for the bicycles. Yet there were still hardly any pedestrians. The occasional bike whizzed past. They still made him jump, but he was finding himself less bothered about any of the humans around. It helped that this place was like nothing he’d ever seen. Some of the buildings were huge. Not just big, like his grandmother’s mansion, but wide AND tall. Incredibly tall. Fairyland trees tall. Maybe taller.

“This is... a supermarket?” Lucinda frowned. “Where is the clothing place?”

“I-is it up there?” Victor pointed to a strange, moving metal stairway.

“Well spotted.” She moved towards it and looked up. “Looks like there’s more floors too. Shall we go up?”

Victor nodded. He watched her as she stepped onto the moving stairs, then copied her. There was a handrail to hold; it moved at the same rate as the stairs. Earthlings had thought of everything. His fingers stiffened on the rail as they neared the top – how did you get off? What if he didn’t do it right? Lucinda merely stepped off at the top. He wobbled a little and half-jumped off, as his toe bumped the metal barrier at the top. He straightened up immediately and spun around, backing away. When they didn’t explode, stop or otherwise herald disaster, he turned away and looked around. The floor below had been filled with food from what little he saw, but this one was full of clothes, tableware and a lot of stuff he could only categorise as ‘Earth things’. There was a floor above them that seemed to be full of books. Lucinda noticed it too.

“First we’ll look on this floor, then we’ll go up and look at the manga and DVDs and stuff then we’ll go get some dinner from the supermarket,” Lucinda suggested. “Sound good?”

Victor gave a nod. “I d-don’t r-really mind what we do.” He really didn’t. This was a good place for his first ever Earth visit, he realised; everything was as fascinating to Lucinda as it was to him.

“Wow, there really are kimonos here!” she pointed to a section full of robes and wraps. “Or maybe they’re yukata. I’m not confident I can tell. Ooh and are those bowls and things? I am definitely getting a bowl or a cup or something.”

They browsed for a while. Victor tried to keep Lucinda in his eye line, but it was difficult as the clothes were organised by type. He didn’t want to bother her, but became quickly apparent that he needed some help.

“U-um... H-how do I know i-if the clothes will fit?” he asked.

She put a finger to her lips for a minute. “I never thought of that. Clothing sizes are different in different countries, so I guess I’m not sure what size fits me, either. Um... If I can figure out what size you are in UK sizes, I can probably convert it to a Japanese size.” She got out her phone again. “You’re roughly my size, and I’m a size twelve, sometimes a ten, probably need to go with a twelve or maybe even a fourteen to be safe. It’s easier to make a garment smaller than it is to make it bigger.” She tapped on her phone for another minute, her face a mask of concentration. “We’re looking for size 11 or 13, or just M for medium. You find it on the clothing tag, here.” She pulled up a little white label on the neckline of a nearby shirt. “Do you want me to help you look, or...?”

“N-no,” he said quickly. “I-I should be able t-to look by myself now.” He didn’t want to take up more of Lucinda’s time than necessary.

“Okay.” She gave him a thumbs up. “You want me to give you your share of the money or you want us to go to the counter together when you’re done on this floor? I wouldn’t say I speak Japanese, but I can at least count and I have my phone if it gets more complicated.”

“T-together, please,” he said, cursing inwardly that he’d be holding her up after all.

He browsed the clothing as quickly as he could manage. He had no idea what he was looking for, exactly. He stiffened up every time someone else appeared in the aisle, far more on edge now Lucinda wasn’t with him. He tried to focus. Think. What did he actually need. The plain, black trousers he was wearing were fine apparently, but his white shirt was too formal. A shirt, then. He should try to find a casual shirt.

He was absorbed in the task when he noticed a boy a little further down the aisle, about his own age. He hadn’t seen him approach.

‘Don’t panic,’ he thought to himself. ‘He won’t even look at you.’

The boy looked at him. And Victor had been looking at the boy. He’d seen him looking! Victor seized up. The boy’s eyes flicked to Victor’s hair. He’d forgotten about his hair. It was short and black, but with a thick, white streak in his fringe and around the nape of his neck up to his ears. In the Otherworlds, it was now a known sign of vampirism.

The boy gave him a smile. “It’s very cool!” he said in a thick accent, fingers brushing his own bangs.

“Th-thank you?” Victor replied.

The boy smiled a little wider. Then he looked away, and continued browsing.

Victor hurriedly looked away too, feeling his face redden. It would probably look bad to run away. He fought his every instinct, forcing each and every nerve to stay rooted to the spot. After a few heart pounding minutes that felt like hours, the boy left the aisle. Victor sagged in relief before nearly launching himself into the air when he felt someone come up behind him.

“I found this super cute dress, but there’s no way it’ll fit me,” Lucinda lamented. “It’s so unfair. I think I’ll get it for Erlina, though. Think Hettie would like this cup?”

Getting his breathing back under control, Victor nodded mutely. It was a pretty cup. It was pale blue with pink flowers. Lucinda was also carrying a bowl with a similar design, a spoon shaped like a mermaid and two pieces of clothing. One was the aforementioned dress, the other was a mauve and beige shirt with some writing on it.

“I'm shamelessly breaking my 'look around first' rule. How's it going?" She lowered her voice. “Hey, did you see that guy who was just here? He looked so cool!”

Victor tried hard to remember what the boy had actually looked like. Black, short hair, but with blond tips, and he was wearing a sleeveless black shirt and ripped jeans. He’d been wearing studded bracelets, a mixture of black and bright neon colours. “H-he spoke to me,” Victor said. “H-he said my hair w-was cool.”

“I just realised that in an Earth context, your hair looks like a fashion statement,” Lucinda observed. “I bet it would dye bright colours really easily, too.”

“Y-you can dye h-hair bright colours?” Victor asked.

“Yeah. Or pastel. Blonde. Whatever, really.” Lucinda took in his empty hands. “No luck?”

“N-not really,” he admitted.

“Do you want some help?” she asked. “If you tell me what you’re looking for, I can look too.”

“I’d l-like a shirt,” he said. “D-do you think m-maybe... s-something like that boy was wearing? But, n-not black. A-and with sleeves?”

“Gotcha.”

In the end they left with a n orangey-brown hoody-like shirt with colourful gashes in the sleeves, and some soundtrack CDs from the third floor, which Lucinda nearly fainted at, and which she’d talked about at length in a squeaky, high pitched voice that he’d probably have been able to hear better as a bat. Then they’d walked around the huge food market on the ground floor, picked out some dinner – technically supper – and now they were sat on some benches a street or two away eating some dango. It was sweet rice paste formed into balls, covered in a sweet, brown syrup. He had opted for a colourful version with no syrup; the balls were white, pink and green.

“These are so good,” Lucinda waved an empty skewer in the air. “Why don’t they make these in England? I wonder if I can make them myself...”

“These a-are also very nice,” Victor said. He yawned. It was getting pretty late in Fairyland.

“You know, I realised I only gave you half an answer before, and then I never heard your answer,” she said suddenly. “You asked me what animal I’d want to be,” she clarified, seeing his confusion.

“I-I asked because I d-don’t know,” he said.

Now it was her turn to look baffled. “What do you mean?”

“I d-don’t like being a bat,” he admitted, wrinkling his nose. “I w-want to learn a d-different spell, but I d-don’t have any ideas.”

“I imagine it is kind of a pain,” she sympathised. “Especially in the day. But I don’t know that much about bats. They’re cute and misunderstood, they have echo location, and that’s it, that’s all I know.”

“I l-like bats,” he pointed out, “I j-just don’t want to b-be one.”

“An owl, maybe?” Lucinda suggested. “Wait, no, same problem, nocturnal... Umm... Flying squirrel? Though, I guess you’d prefer something that can actually fly, not just glide... Hmm.”

“Wh-what about you, though?”

“Me? I’m happy staying the shape I am.” She leaned a hand on her cheek. “I wish I was a bit prettier... I guess who doesn’t...”

“Y-you’re pretty!” he protested.

“O-oh? Thanks.” She hunched her shoulders and smiled awkwardly. “I mean, it’s not like I think I’m ugly it’s just...” She dropped her shoulders again and looked away. “I don’t get to feel pretty a lot? I’m a prince for my job and my school uniform isn’t exactly flattering... So that’s at least 90% of the time I’m not dressed how I want. I suppose I’m done with high school really soon so that’s goodbye to the uniform at least.”

“D-do you not l-like working as a prince?” Victor asked.

“It’s not that,” Lucinda replied. “It’s just... tiring to pretend you’re a gender you’re not? I mean I don’t have to do a lot - Otherworlders just see the outfit and think ‘That’s a boy’. It’s both really useful and incredibly irritating at the same time. I don’t know if I’m making any sense.”

“I th-think I understand,” Victor replied. “I-I w-want new c-clothes because I d-don’t want people to l-look at me and just s-see ‘vampire’.”

“Do you... is it hard on you, being a vampire?” she asked.

“I d-don’t know, i-it’s inconvenient,” he replied, “b-but i-it’s n-not that I’m a vampire, i-it’s that I didn’t kn-know I was allowed to be a-anything else.”

“Yeah, it’s ... a whole thing, finding out something like that.” She flung a hand out in front of her. “It’s like, ‘You mean THIS was an option this whole time?!’ and it’s both annoying and great.” She laughed. “It’s better late than never though, right?”

He smiled to himself. “Y-yes...”

Lucinda rubbed her eyes. “Speaking of late... it’s something like 4am back home, and it's pretty late in Fairyland too.” She yawned. “I know we’ve only really been to two shops and a supermarket, but maybe we should head back? It’s up to you though. I can easily stay up longer.”

“W-we should head back,” Victor agreed. He was tired, and he was starting to suspect it wasn’t just the time since he’d last slept.

They got up, put their rubbish in the correct bin – there were several – and starting walking back. They’d been walking for just a few minutes when they were blindsided by a car. Lucinda jumped back. She hadn’t seen the crossing light - which was red - or the vehicle. There was a tiny side road with a wall blocking the view of anything but the main street. You couldn’t see the side street until you were practically on it.

“G-gomen nasai!” she said, bowing an apology. The driver didn’t look impressed; they were frowning hard. Lucinda shuffled back a good way from the road edge.

Victor, who had taken off as a bat in his panic, clung to the wall. It took Lucinda a minute to understand what had happened and spot him. She held a hand over her heart and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Are you okay?” she asked. They were now on opposite sides of the little road, but she didn’t try to cross.

“I-I think so,” he replied. “Th-that w-was close.”

“Yeah, I didn’t see that road AT ALL.” Lucinda made a face at the crossing light. She looked all around them and down the offending side street again. “It’s clear. No-one’s looking.”

“R-right.” He climbed around the corner anyway, just in case. And then...

“Do you want me to help block you from view?” she offered.

“Um.” He hung there for a minute. “Um... M-Miss Lucinda...”

“Yeah?”

“I c-can’t change back.” His voice sounded as small as he was.

She frowned and finally crossed the road, standing on the corner of the main street. “What was that?”

“I... I c-can’t change back.”

“Has that ever happened before?”

“N-no. N-not... to me.”

Her expression changed to match his own growing horror. “Lamprey...” Eyes wide, she bit her knuckles while she thought. “Did they ever... Couldn’t the fairies fix it? Or a witch?”

“It d-doesn’t w-work,” he answered, struggling to keep a grip on the stone as his whole body was trembling. “Th-they t-tried, b-but you end up w-with a regular h-human who still n-needs blood. B-but with a body th-that c-can’t handle it. I-it w-was worse a-and he w-would have died f-from n-no blood.” His grip slipped and he slid a few inches down the wall.

“Um. Do you want to...?” Lucinda held out a hand. He hesitated, before climbing on. She held her arms together a little away from her torso. “You know, one of the reasons I couldn’t answer you before about the animal thing... When I was turned into a raven that one time, it was really freaky how everyone else was suddenly a giant. So um, let me know if I’m being scary.”

“I-I’m u-used to it...” He glanced up at her before looking quickly back down. Her face was a mask of concentration.

“Didn’t Lamprey fall asleep as a bat or stay too long as a bat or something?” she asked. “I don’t remember the details but I know that he couldn’t turn back because he didn’t have enough magic. And he couldn’t drink enough blood to get enough magic to ever turn back because bats are too small.”

“Y-yes, that’s wh-what happened,” Victor confirmed.

“So... Um, so...” she began hesitantly, “since you only just turned into a bat, wouldn’t it work if you... drank blood, like, right now?”

“M-maybe, b-but... I c-can’t j-just... Who would...” Realisation dawned and he glanced up again.

“You could... drink... mine?” her voice cracked. “Wow, those words really just came out of my mouth. But there’s not a lot of options.”

“B-but-” Oh good. Now he had two different kinds of nightmare scenario to deal with at once, AND memories of The Incident were flooding back. His claws reflexively tensed, and he remembered that was flesh he was gripping, and forced himself to just flop. “B-but-” he tried again.

“I don’t think we’ve got time to argue,” Lucinda pointed out. “It’s at least thirty minutes walk to the return door, then a few hours from the return door to the palace.” She made sure no-one was looking, then ducked into the narrow side road, heading uphill. “Just need to find somewhere less exposed...”

“B-but-” He had absolutely no arguments to counter with.

“Look,” she continued as she powerwalked up the street, “I know I said don’t ask me for blood, and you didn’t, I offered. And, yeah, I’m uncomfortable and slightly terrified but you were literally just talking about how you don’t like being a bat and if I don’t do something you might be stuck as a bat forever and I’m a prince and rescuing people is my job and it doesn’t matter if I’m on Earth or I’m not getting paid, because you don’t get to choose who needs rescuing-”

“I d-don’t-”

“-so we’re both just going to have to speedrun facing our demons. Here should do.” She stopped in another side street, and leaned against a wall breathing hard. “Look, it’s not like that time with the potion. Just. Just go ahead? I promise it’s fine.” She hesitated. “Well all right, not fine, but as fine as I’m going to get. And we might have taken too long already.”

Unable to answer with any suitable words, Victor turned his attention to Lucinda’s arm. This was going to be a lot harder as a bat. And it was going to hurt. Human skin offered zero resistance to vampire fangs, but bat teeth weren’t anywhere near as sharp. He wasn’t even a vampire bat. Still, they weren’t herbivore teeth. He tentatively nipped near a vein. He felt Lucinda wince; she didn’t say anything, but she gave him a thumbs up with her other hand. He tried again, hearing a hiss from Lucinda, but he’d drawn blood. And still the inconvenience of being a bat wasn’t over, because he couldn’t cover the wound and suck. Bats lapped. He tried to avoid the actual cut, merely licking at the trickle of blood. He’d have to try and drink as much as he could stand; constantly stopping and failing to transform would only drain even more magic and draw this ordeal out. Determined not to look at Lucinda until he was done and frankly, possibly never again, ever, he focused on the blood. It wasn’t long before he couldn’t drink any more – he was a pretty small bat – and without thinking, tried to transform. The two of them toppled over, the sudden weight of a human on the girl’s arms not being conducive to good balance, and they ended up in a heap on the floor.

“It worked!” Lucinda beamed at him before extracting her arms from under him and pushing herself away.

Victor’s body was screaming at him. He was bruised and aching from the fall, he’d been up for nearly twenty four hours now and above all, he was thirsty. “C-can I-” He bit the question back.

Lucinda rubbed her wrist near the cut. “Do you... n-need more...?”

He gave a single nod.

Lucinda held out the still dripping arm shakily. “Well, I’m... already bleeding s-so...”

Victor shook his head furiously.

Lucinda started laughing.

He looked up in alarm.

She pushed herself up off her knees and into a sitting position, still laughing. “We are the worst two people for this activity.”

“Wh-why are you laughing?”

“I dunno, just, there couldn’t be any two worse people to have been put into this situation,” she remarked. “Well... maybe Sara,” she admitted after a moment’s thought. “Probably, no, definitely Sara.”

“A-are you okay...?”

“Doesn’t matter.” She shook her head. “Erlina fainted from not having enough magic in Bad Schwartz and that’s an area that actually has magic. Earth has barely any. I wouldn’t be able to carry you back to the door if you collapse, and if we tried and failed, you’d collapse in public, in a country where I don’t speak the language, and neither of us has a passport. Pretty sure that’s illegal, now that I think about it. So.” She held out her arm again, steadily this time.

“I c-can’t argue...” he whined, slumping back against the wall. Eventually he dragged himself back up and to where she was sat. He gingerly took her arm and put his mouth to the cut. It was inadequate, so he used his fangs. At least this way wasn’t painful.

“You know, this isn’t anything like any of the nightmare scenarios I had in my head,” she said. “I thought it would hurt, for one thing.” She rifled in her bag one handed and pulled out her phone. “Still okay for time.”

Despite what she said, he could feel she was tense through her arm. She held it rigid, while she kept a lookout for people and cars.

Eventually he let go and just let himself breathe.

“I should probably get a plaster or a bandage for this,” she began, looking at her arm. “Oh... It’s actually not bleeding that much. It’s stopped already?”

“Vampire bites h-heal v-very fast.”

“I’m gonna get some cute plasters anyway,” she said, standing up a little shakily and dusting herself off. “I’m always getting scrapes from my prince work and um, I... don’t want people to see the bite mark. But mainly I want to buy cute stuff. Is that okay? It’s on the way back. That Daiso place.”

“Y-you could tell me y-you want t-to tour the whole city by foot a-and I’d agree.”

“Is there anything you want?”

“I w-want to s-sleep for s-seven hundred y-years,” he replied. “A-and some more of th-that tea.”

They returned to the store and got more sweets and drinks, and a few interesting gizmos. It was now the wee hours of the morning in Fairyland, and it was disheartening to know that they had a few hours to walk before they got to the palace and more importantly, their bedrooms.

When they stepped through the door to Fairyland, they found a carriage waiting there.

“There you are!” Tyrian exclaimed with relief. “I thought something might have happened, so I came to wait for you. Will told me this was the return door he gave you.”

“We weren’t gone that long, were we?” Lucinda asked.

“I... suppose not, but it was getting dark and you weren’t back, and I know its not dark there yet, but I don’t know, it’s Victor’s first trip to Earth and everything,” he rambled. “Not that I don’t trust you Lucy!” he backpedalled. “So ah, was everything all right? No emergencies?”

“N-none at all,” replied Victor.

“Completely uneventful,” Lucinda reported.

“Very good then,” Tyrian said, opening the carriage door. “Get in.”

“You have no idea how glad we are that we don’t have to walk back,” Lucinda told him as she climbed inside. She settled herself into the opposite corner, on the same side as Tyrian.

Victor lay full length on the other seat, facing the ceiling.

“So, what did you get up to?” Tyrian asked brightly.

“N-no questions, please,” Victor protested.

“Agreed. No questions, only sleep,” Lucinda added, closing her eyes and getting as comfortable as possible.

“Hmm.” He peered at them both in turn before settling back himself. “Very well, as you wish,” he acquiesced.

They were asleep before they even reached the edge of the forest.

----

I have so much stuff to do right now but this INSISTED on being written.

Oh and... Lucinda is wrong about there being zero dragons. Just fyi.