#I did not edit this one bit i didn't even reread it

[graylinesspam]

Older sisters

post war, O66 never happened, Au.

Ahsoka had been loved, cherished as a little sibling.

She'd dealt with a rash of over protective brothers, that despite their physical circumstances managed to hit all the awkward preteen sibling experiences. Like giving her stern lectures on boys. Cheering on her first crush. Being generally awkward about puberty. And stuttering around obvious sex jokes they wanted to make so bad, but couldn't because she was there.

She'd been the kid sister, in all the little mundane ways that made their relationships rich, that swelled her heart with affection.

But she'd been more than that too. She had to be. Through whatever cruel circumstances, men that would slap their hands over a chatty brother's mouth to keep him from making a dick joke in front of her would also bow to her order. She held their lives in her hands. It was a concept she never truly wrapped her head around. And maybe never would. But it was a responsibility that she took very seriously.

First on the battlefield doing every damn thing she could to keep them alive. Then in front of the senate and al over the holoweb and anywhere she could get people to listen to her; To listen to them. Then briefly in the war again. And now, now she was the shepherd leading them into the galaxy. Not as soldiers but as free men.

Ahsoka was responsible for the clones in a way that many of them did not comprehend. They still believed that she was their kid sister. Little 'soka, come to play house with them while they all figured out how to live. And she allowed them to think that. She enjoyed it. Needed it even. Needed them to believe that they were taking care of her and not the other way around. Needed them to feel useful. Needed them to not feel indebted towards her. Not like some of the clones did.

Dogma, Rex, Cody, Tup. Too many brothers still looked to her with gratitude in their eyes. With a knee jerk response to do whatever she commended of them.

She didn't want that. She wanted them to figure out on their own how to be men. men who ran their own live. Who made their own calls.

But that didn't release Ahsoka of her responsibility. She may have left the public advocation for clones in more trained hands, Like Senators Chuchi and Amidala. Or the Jedi council. Or the new Mandalorian government. But Ahsoka handled the nity grity. the detail work. Ahsoka taught them as individuals, how to budget, how to pay bills, how to travel without GAR resources. All things she'd had to learn on her own.

She has a unique perspective living amongst men who were simultaneously much older and much younger than her.

Or, at least, she'd thought it was a unique experience.

When Echo turned up, he brought company. And lots of it. Clone force 99 were some of the roughest men she'd seen outside of the outer rim. Certainly rougher around the edges than any clone she'd ever worked with.

They were pleasant enough. Just strange for clones. Wrecker was a trendous help to have during the building process of the little compound they were putting together. As was Hunter. He was an excellent leader. He was deffinitly no Clone Commander. Every CC that Ahsoka had worked with had the same bow to bow acknowledgement of Ahsoka. Recognizing her rank and trusting her intuition. Hunter had no such inclinations.

It was actually refreshing. He argued with her more than anyone else did. Never hostile arguments. They were all civil. He as just a particular man with many opinions about how she was running just about any aspect of the compound. He argued with her the same as he would with any other clone. He broke the seal on making crude jokes in front of her. And was generally a pushy crass soldier in her presence.

And the compound benefited from it.

CF99 didn't strike her as the kind of solders who were ready to settle down yet. They still had that itch under their skins to get out there and do somthing. Anything.

She hadn't expected them to make any real effort to stick around until she met the reason that they did.

Omega was just the most perfect ray of sunshine that Ahsoka had ever met. She was kind, resilient, and optimistic. Even in the face of her most brazen and unlikable brother, Crosshair.

In a sea of brothers Ahsoka found herself a sister. She blames the little blonde girl for how Hunter puts up with Ahsoka's presence. Ahsoka and Omega clicked in that primal almost telepathic way that young girls do. Like magnets drawn to each other and disrupting the electromagnetic fields around them, bringing something young and untamed out of Ahsoka who at barely 18 often felt old.

They were close, which is why it didn't take Ahsoka long to recognize a pattern she wasn't aware even existed in anyone else, or ever could.

Despite her physical age Omega had a lot of authority with her brothers. They were quick to do almost anything she asked of them. Like a herd of new parents scrambling to keep their child happy. Many children would have become spoiled on the attention. Getting anything they wanted out of their guardians. But not Omega. With her big heart and her many years more life experience than her brothers. She used to her influence to take care of them.

To lure them to sleep with bleary eyed stories of bad dreams. Or forcing a decent eating schedule on them by insisting on having one for herself and making everyone else join her. Or railing in their wandering spirits with games, and challenges, and new emotional frontiers instead of the endless expanse of the galaxy. Or smoothing over their arguments with a subtlety that Ahsoka admired.

She was wise far beyond her years, and as much as she could twist her face into the bright eyed gleam of innocence Ahsoka often caught her looking contemplative and nurturing as she studied her brother. She ruled their lives with a gentle care almost motherly.

Another little big sister dedicating herself to keeping her brothers alive and together.

It was the only way Ahsoka could live her life after the war. And it seemed whatever happened in the labs on Kamino had the same effect of Omega.

She opened her heart to her little sister. Made a space where they could exist, exactly as they were. Kindred spirits in the galaxy. Living for love and learning to love living again. That dimming of something old and wizened in their eyes slowly transformed from something painful to something contented.

As they played their roles of kid sisters and eldest siblings.

[uravitypng]

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐈𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐄?

pairing: tenya iida x reader

word count: 2.0k

a/n: this was meant to be a lot shorter but it ended up being longer and took way more time than expected so hopefully this came out. i had a chubby reader in mind writing this. i've never wrote for iida before so i hope this turned out okay! anyway i won't spoil the plot or anything other than reader gets stuck. i wrote this late at night so i didn't reread and edit it thoroughly but hopefully it should be okay! if there's any mistakes i'm sorry ‧₊˚✩‧₊˚♡‧₊˚

warnings: dub con, power dynamic, pro-hero iida, unprotected sex, teasing, over stimulation, stuckage (i think thats the kink name <3 reader gets stuck), light impact (spanking), rough sex, 18+ mdni

Iida prides himself on his morals. Sure in the past he made a mistake involving stain but that was all in the past. However, he can't help but question his moral compass whenever he sees you, he wants to do things to you, things that he doesn't even want to admit to himself. It would be wrong though, he's your superior, you're a sidekick. The power dynamic is very clear, it would be wrong.

Whenever he sees you though it becomes so difficult for him to worry about the power dynamic when you look so pretty wearing your hero costume hugging your figure in all the right ways. It takes everything for him not to stare at you, especially when he's walking behind you and he can see your hips move as you walk and he swears he can see the outline of your underwear. Even at the new years party last year, your dress was shorter than Iida would typically deem appropriate but your plush thighs being more visible than he'd ever seen before made him keep quiet.

Iida loses all composure he has when you're patrolling together late one night, it was a quiet night and a uneventful patrol. Most of the time it was silent, Iida preferred not to talk much when patrolling just in case something happened, he liked to be alert and he took being a pro-hero very seriously. You never complained about the lack of talking it was always a comfortable silence walking beside him.

You heard a suspicious noise and decided to check it out, it turned out to be a cat but you wished you knew that before you tried to go between a gate. One second you were following the noise with Iida behind you, but as you heard it running away you began pursuing it, and whatever the noise was was on the other side. It was too tall and there was no way to climb up before the person or suspicious thing gets away. You wouldn't be doing your job correctly if you just left. The bars looked big enough to squeeze through, so you did, as soon as you did a cat emerged and realised this whole time a cat you were chasing a cat. You hear Iida behind you, he hadn't used his quirk, you realise that's because he realised there was no point. He knew it must of been a cat. he's just too good at his job.

You chuckle, as you look at the cat. "It was just a cat."

"Yes, i thought as much."

You chuckle again as you lean out the bar attempting to pull yourself out but failing. You try again harder this time, trying to wiggle out of the bars. This was incredibly embarrassing, at least for you. Iida noticed your predicament but stood on the spot as he watched you try and move. He couldn't help but look as you tried to get out, your ass shaking as a consequence and your whole body jerked side to side.

"This is so embarrassing, I can't get out. please help me out a bit Iida."

Before he even knew what he was doing he spoke, "what's in it for me?" He started berating himself for such an inappropriate question, maybe there's a way he can recover from this, he feels like a pervert. It was an immediate response without thinking and he doesn't know what will happen now, his reputation will surely be ruined.

Out of all the things he was preparing himself for he did not expect you to burst out laughing. 'Thank god, there's a way to recover this, it will just be a inappropriate joke. It's still bad but it's better than the alternative,' Iida thought to himself.

However he was even less prepared for the next thing that came out of your mouth, "I mean, you are right. It wouldn't be fair of me to not give you anything in return." He practically hears your grin.

Iida's mind was filling with so many thoughts, mainly- 'Fuck. This is bad. There's no way I can keep thinking like this but she was being so suggestive. maybe she was joking too? fuck, I want her so bad.' He looks over at you and sees you one more time. You're stuck there, you're not getting out anytime soon, he can do whatever he wants and you can't stop him, you look so hot. he makes up his mind as he sees you continue to try and wiggle from the bars, at least trying to get into a more comfortable position one that's not digging into your ribs.

He doesn't even say anything to you as he walks behind you and starts touching your ass, grabbing it, and making you gasp in surprise. You have a feeling he's not a talker during sex. His hands feel so warm on you, even through your hero costume. Iida surprised you again as he ripped off your hero costume, undoing the zip down the side, starting up at you neck and pulling all the way down, ripping it in the process. You shiver from the cold, only being covered by your underwear but Iida warms you up almost immediately by running his hands up and down your body. The logical part in Iida's mind tells him that this shouldn't be happening, especially in public where anyone could see but you looked so pretty and soft and felt so warm he couldn't stop himself at this point.

He kisses your back and kneads any part of your body that he can get his hands on you. Typically you'd feel self conscious from someone giving this much focused attention on your body but it's so hard to when Iida's treating you with such care, like kissing your stretch marks and tightly grabbing onto your hips. Iida's still mostly silent as he explores your body, leaving soft kisses in his wake. "Even softer than I imagined." He mumbles, he probably didn't even realise he said it out loud, either way it made your face heat up.

One of his hands makes their way down, grazing one of his fingers over your underwear, getting harder than he was already as he hears you moan at the action as you try to move closer to his touch, all in vain of course. He's decided this is his favourite thing ever, touching you but not enough to get you off, you want more but you won't get it, he has complete control over your pleasure. He focuses his whole attention on this idea, one of hands circling your nipples over your bra, and with his other hand he's still hasn't touched you skin to skin either. You start whining, you don't mean too but its all too much, you need him to touch you but he doesn't. You don't know how long this goes on for, it could be 5 minutes it could be half an hour all you know is you're getting louder, begging more, and getting more wet.

Iida finally decides to take pity on you and drags down your underwear, as soon as he makes direct contact with your clit you whimper at the stimulation. This whole time he's getting a serious kick out of controlling your pleasure. You're so wet, he knows that he could probably just fuck you without you getting hurt. He realises that he can do exactly that, it's not like you can stop him.

He discards his hero costume as quickly as possible, never regretting how finicky his costume is this much before.

You try your best to turn your head around trying to see what Iida looks like underneath all his clothes, you've always wondered, but you'll have to keep wondering as no mater how hard you try and turn your head it's not working and you can't see him. Because of that you didn't realise how big his dick was going to be but he suddenly plunged into you, hurting you with how big he is and the stretch being painful.

Iida gave you no time to recover and adjust to his size, he knows he's bigger than average, but right know he just has to be buried in your pussy and start moving. The air leaves your lungs as he thrusts into you quickly, hard and fast, the pace knocking the air out of your lungs. He grabs hold of your love handles, you know they'll bruise but you quite like that idea. Your body moves slightly pushing the bars, still stuck, but he see's your breasts bouncing between the bars, making him increase his pace to see your body move and jiggle more.

The stimulation he's been giving you all night is all to much, it's so much and it feels so good. You're chanting his name over and over again. He abruptly stops his thrusts making you try and move yourself back onto him, he pressed his hand down your back trapping you even more so you can't even try to wriggle out. "it's sir to you." You could definitely do that, he still doesn't move. He harshly spanking you he speaks in an authoritative tone, "do I make myself clear?"

"Uh-huh"

"Good girl."

You really hope he starts moving again because you think you're about to cry if he doesn't. Luckily for you he does, but unluckily that still doesn't stop you from crying, your eyes watery, tears falling down your face from Iida's touch. Your chants of 'Iida' turned into chants of 'sir' and now it's hiccups of 'sir' between your gasps and whimpers.

Its a surprise for both of you when you start asking Iida if you cum, you've never asked permission to cum before, you'd honestly never dream of it but it just feels so right with Iida. Iida wasn't expecting the request but he wasn't one to turn it down, he wanted to feel you clench around his cock. He takes one of his hands off your hips and reaches to your clit, "go on then, be good for me," just like that, as soon as he gives the slightest attention to your clit and give you permission you come undone, cumming around his cock so hard that your eyesight goes white for a second due to the pleasure with the most intense orgasm you think you've ever had. Iida fucks you through it, keeping his pace, groaning as he feels you clench up around him.

You start whining more and squirming due to the over stimulation. Everywhere is so sensitive. "I'm about to cum, you can give me another one right?" He asks in a ragged voice. You weren't really sure what he was referring to, all you could do was feel the extreme sensitivity and pleasure. "I'm taking that as a yes." He reaches down to your clit and starts to touch you again, it's so sensitive and it hurts.

"No, no, fuck Iida its too much." You near enough scream out. Iida ignores you and keeps going, however he doesn't have to long, as you soon cum for a second time just as intense as the last one with your body shaking, barely having any energy left.

Iida feels you around you tighten up one more time as he quickly pulls out and cums on your ass, watching his cum start to drip down your ass down to your soft thighs.

"Iida can you get me out now?" You ask but your voice seems quiet and he starts worrying. He gently helps you out and looks at you. You look so exhausted, you've got tear stains all down your face and you're completely naked. After seeing this his rational brain starts up again and he realises how fucked he is. He just ruined his hero career...

[navybrat817]

Sweet and Strong

Pairing: Tattoo Artist!Bucky Barnes x Baker!Female Reader Summary: You stop by the parlor to drop off some treats. Word Count: Over 2.3k Warnings: Fluff, flir-ting, slight insecurity if you squint, slight feels (it's me), Tess is a real one, Bucky Barnes (he's a warning, okay?) Graphics talent and thanks: Banner - @sgt-seabass, Divider - @firefly-graphics, Bucky edit - Nix, Moodboard - yours truly A/N: More Hottie and Sugar from my Sin on Skin AU.❤️ Beta read by @whisperlullaby , so any and all mistakes are my own. Please follow @navybrat817-sideblog for new fics and notifications. Comments, reblogs, feedback are loved and appreciated!

You did your best not to let your mind wander during the work day, but Bucky hadn’t left your thoughts since he dropped you off at your place. A dopey smile formed on your face more times than you could count. The tattoo artist was your dream come true. Someone who looked like they could destroy everything in their path, but treated you with such care.

And he said yes to a date with you.

How does a man like him exist?

“Careful,” Tess said, nudging you to the side so she could take a cookie from the case. “Keep making that happy face and it’ll get stuck that way.”

“Is that a bad thing?” you smiled, making sure there were no customers looking as you typed a quick message to Bucky on your phone.

“Hope you have a good day, Hottie.”

After a moment, you cringed and put the device away. Though Bucky gave you his number after he dropped you off, you didn’t message him immediately. Waiting until today was better because enough time had passed, but was the text too casual? Not casual enough? Was it clingy to message him before you had your date?

Why am I overthinking this?

“If you’re smiling because of Bucky, it’s a very good thing. Especially after what he did to help you. I think he should get a permanent discount,” Tess said, making you raise an eyebrow when you didn’t detect a hint of sarcasm in her tone. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

“We talked about this,” you gently reminded her when she pouted, a look that told you she was still upset. “Please, stop apologizing. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

When Tess heard that Richard ambushed you after closing, she beat herself up for not being there. You assured her it wasn’t her fault that your ex showed up. She was thankful you were okay and that Bucky, and everyone else in the shop, stood up for you. She also added that if she saw Richard sniffing around the place that she’d kick him in the nuts.

Bucky assured you he wouldn’t come around and you believed him.

“I’m just sorry I didn’t see him get put in his place. Been a long time coming,” she said, a bit of mischief back in her eyes as she leaned against the counter to smile at you. “And I’m bummed I missed that kiss.”

“Why did I tell you about that?” you asked, your cheeks hot as you recalled the moment Bucky’s lip touched yours. If you closed your eyes, you could almost feel him kissing you again. The memory made your heart swell.

As if on cue, your phone went off.

“Day’s better now that I’ve heard from you, Sugar. Can’t wait for our date. Planned something special.”

Your heart skipped a beat as you reread the message and hugged the device to your chest. You weren't sure how many women Bucky dated or how many special dates he planned before you. The thought of it being a high number didn't make your stomach sink as you expected. What mattered was that the two of you were taking a chance on each other.

And even though you technically asked him out, he took the time to plan something for you. When was the last time a guy did anything remotely nice for you without expecting something in return? Why had you settled in the past for less than what you deserved?

“You told me because we’re best friends,” Tess answered with a smirk when you looked her way. “Is that him?”

“Yeah, it’s him,” you smiled, showing her the message. “I wonder what he has planned.”

“Whatever it is, you better give all the dirty details when he dicks you down. And not to be graphic, but I bet he eats pussy like-"

“Tess!" you groaned, praying the nearby customers weren’t listening. But, god, if you hadn’t thought about what he’d be like in bed. He’d be so good to you. “Let’s try and be professional.”

“Professional, my ass. I’m not the one flirting with the hunk or making eyes at him every time he steps into the shop,” she pointed out.

Fair.

“And, look, I’m not saying you have to get laid on the first date, but I am saying you have to let him in your pants at some point,” she said, laughing as you tossed a towel at her face.

You laughed, too, and wondered just how the night would go. If you put out on the first date, would he think you were easy? If you waited too long, would he move on? You were overthinking again, but you couldn't help it. You really liked him.

He likes me, too, so I must be doing something right.

“What do you get out of it if I let him in my pants?” you asked curiously.

Tess placed a hand on your shoulder and squeezed. “I get to keep seeing you happy, which you have every right to be."

"Thanks," you smiled, a wave of fondness crashing over you. The two of you saw each other go through many ups and downs of life. She deserved the world and it meant a lot that she wanted that for you, too. "Is it too much if I run some treats over for him? Especially since I just texted him?"

Bringing a small selection of baked goods for Bucky and the guys would be a small way to thank them for defending you. Deep down, it was also an excuse to see him before your date. You hoped it wasn't too obvious.

"The guy has visited the shop for all of your shifts since he first came in. So, no, it isn't too much if you surprise him and send something his way. He might like it."

"I'll be quick," you promised, selecting some of the best treats from the case, including one with little hearts.

"Take your time. Jill and I can handle this," she smiled as if she sensed your giddiness. "Go treat your man."

"He isn't my man yet," you teased.

But I'm already his girl.

"Yeah, he is," Tess winked, giving you a gentle nudge. "Now go."

It didn't take you long to cross the street to the parlor and thankfully you didn't drop the box. You hoped you looked decent. Well, as much as you could during a work day. At least you had a cute apron on.

"Hi! Welcome to Sin on Skin!" Jake said as you walked through the door. "Sugar! It's you!"

You held back a laugh when his voice echoed. "Yeah, it's me," you smiled, holding up the box. "I wanted to drop these off Bucky and the rest of you, if that's okay?"

"You brought us food?!" he asked, leaning on his arms to look over the counter. "Hold on. Lemme grab him."

"You sure? If he's with a client…" you trailed off when Jake dashed away from the counter.

You took a moment to look around again, your gaze settling on an intricate flower tattoo. Seeing the place without the fear of your ex following you made it even brighter than before. Like your shop, it was expressive and inviting. Bucky likely put as much love into it as you did with yours.

"That was my first piece."

You tore your gaze away from the wall to find Bucky beside you, a dopey smile back on your face. There was only a small amount of space between you and your heart raced as you looked him over, the large man clad in his usual tight shirt and jeans. He had his hair pulled back and you resisted the urge to tuck a few strands back that came loose.

He would manage to look sexy as hell with latex gloves on.

"It's beautiful," you said honestly.

"Thanks. She's a good friend and still a client of mine. So is her husband," he smiled gently. "I'm glad you stopped by."

"Me, too," you smiled back, holding up the box in your hands. "I just wanted to say thanks again to you and the guys for sticking up for me. It isn't much, but I hope you all enjoy them."

"Oh." A slight frown formed on his face when you handed him the treats. "You know you don't have to give us these, right? We didn't do it expecting you to give us anything in return and I'm sure as hell not going to let anyone speak to you the way that prick did."

You furrowed your brows a bit, even as you nearly swooned at his protectiveness. Had you upset him? "I know I don't have to," you said, clearing your throat. Why did the thought of them defending you just for being good guys make you emotional? "I just wanted to do something nice for you."

Was this a bad idea?

You let out a breath when he smiled again. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure you didn't feel obligated," he said, touching your arm. Even with the glove, the touch sent heat between your thighs. "It's a very sweet gesture, Sugar. Thank you."

"You're welcome," you said, satisfied that he wasn't unhappy with the small gift. "And I'll admit. I also stopped by because I wanted to see you before our date," you added.

"You did?" he smirked, bringing warmth to your cheeks as you nodded. "While we're admitting things to each other, I've been watching the door and hoping you'd stop in. I even dreamt about you when I took a nap."

"No, you didn't," you giggled, a sense of power and elatedness filling you that his pull to you was that strong.

"I swear. I don't think Steve will let me live that down" he chuckled. You wondered what exactly he dreamt about. Was it passionate? Intense? "Can't get you outta my mind. And, frankly, I don't want to."

Oh.

You didn't think he could make your heart beat any faster, but he continued to surprise you. There was no shame or timidness in his tone or his stare. It was steadfast and true, like he wasn't afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve with you. If he could be vulnerable and open with you this way, you could do the same in return.

Go big or go home, right?

"I can't stop thinking about you either," you told him, proud that your voice didn't waver.

"You can't?" he whispered and you suddenly didn't like the box between your bodies. It made him feel too far away.

"No, I can't," you whispered back, gazing into his blue eyes. "I waited to text you because I didn't want it to be too soon. And even though I don't know where you're taking me on our date, I already have the perfect sundress laid out and ready to go."

"You can text me as much as you want. I don't care what time of day," he assured you before his eyes lit up mischievously, like he knew something you didn't. "And a sundress is fucking perfect, but no asking for hints about our date"

"Not even a little one? Please?" you asked, giving him what you hoped was a cute pout. You didn't actually want him to tell you because you wanted him to surprise you, but you hoped you looked enticing.

Bucky slowly licked his lips and shook his head. If he was trying to look hot, he more than succeeded. If he wasn't, did he have any idea what that teasing motion of his tongue did to you? "I'm tempted to tell you and I'm very tempted to kiss you right now, but no. No hints. I need to stay strong."

I'm very tempted to kiss you, too.

"Fine, Hottie. I'll be good," you teased, pouting again. "For now."

Bucky moved the box beside him so he could step closer, his eyes darker than before. "You wanna be good for me?"

Yes, sir.

"Yes," you answered, leaving out the "sir" that echoed in your mind and shivering as he continued to stare. Before you could say anything more, you noticed that the shop had gone quiet. You leaned over to look past Bucky and giggled when you saw the crew staring, taking you out of the moment. Steve and Hal both had knowing smirks on their faces, but no way could they have heard your conversation. "Hope you enjoy the treats!"

"Oh, we will," Hal winked. "What about you, Bucky? You gonna enjoy your treat?"

"Get back to work!" Bucky called back before he smiled disappointedly. "Speaking of, I should, too. I think my client gave me enough of a break."

"Yeah, I need to get back," you said. You didn't want to leave Tess and Jill hanging. "I hope you have a good rest of the day."

"You, too," he said as you went to the door. "Be good for me until I see you again."

Fuck.

"Only if you're good for me," you smiled over your shoulder, catching his surprised smirk before the door shut.

You took a breath, allowing the breeze to cool you off. Maybe a cold shower would do a better job. You smiled as your phone went off, expecting a teasing text from Tess. It caught you off guard when "Mom" popped up.

Well, that can't be good if she's texting me. God, did she somehow hear about Richard? The last thing I need is a lecture.

Instead of opening the message, you tucked your phone away. You needed to get back to work and you had a date to look forward to. You wouldn't allow your mom to sour your mood because Tess was right.

You had the right to be happy.

No ruining this upcoming date, mom! Love and thanks for reading! 💙

Masterlist ⚓ Bucky Barnes Masterlist ⚓ Ko-Fi

[acowardinmordor]

I needed to warm up, so I did not plan, just wrote this, and I'm about to hit post without editing or rereading. This is Steve&Eddie more than its a slash

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It was a week after the rumors made the rounds about Harrington and Hargrove getting into a fight. Eddie would normally assume it was nothing but posting jock bullshit, and ignore it the same way he ignored what he overheard about cheerleaders hooking up with other cheerleader's boyfriends. Except a couple days after the rumors hit a peak, Harrington showed up at school looking like someone beat his face in with a plate.

That made a pretty strong argument for the rumors being true.

The guy avoided his old crowd, and despite his ex and her new boyfriend - if that rumor is true, there was some overlap - trying to include him, he kept away from everyone for the first two days.

Eddie put him out of mind, one less asshole to cause trouble, one less shithead to dodge. Not his problem. Until he found Harrington sitting at his table in the woods the next week. It made sense, sort of. The guy was obviously having a shit time, and like most of the locals that kept Eddie's business afloat, he was looking for a distraction.

Eddie was right, and Harrington bought some weed before asking about getting anything stronger.

"I don't know man, I just wanna like, not be in my body for a while."

"Fair enough, but I don't keep that on me.

Harrington showed up when told to, and bought enough shit that Eddie hesitated before handing it over. He gave the guy a whole speech about not overdosing and ruining Eddie's upstanding reputation. Whether he listened or not wasn't something he could control.

So, the next Monday, when Harrington chased him down, and, as best as Eddie could tell, tried to become his friend, Eddie's first thought was that it was a ploy to get his next massive purchase of drugs on discount.

But Harrington didn't buy again except for a bit of weed. He did stick around. Outright said he wanted to be Eddie's friend. Kept at it through January until Eddie, confused as shit, admitted that yeah, they were friends. Mostly friends at least. There was stuff that Steve wouldn't talk about; his headaches, his nightmares, his tendency to freak the fuck out if the electricity got weird. Maybe it was better to say that Steve was his study partner who he sometimes hung out with. Cause that was the thing, Steve was pushy about Eddie studying.

"You really want to come back for a third run at graduating, man? Fuck that. 85 is gonna be your year, even if I have to bribe the teachers to pull it off"

"Why do you even care Steve? Maybe I want to become a legend of terrible scholarship in this crap town."

Steve never gave a real answer about it, just kept pushing him, hounding him about his homework, and showing up at his trailer every morning to drag Eddie out of bed if he had to. Wayne thought the whole thing was incredible and gave the guy a spare key. Traitor.

They got closer. Eddie finally met the kids Steve babysat. They immediately decided that Eddie was much cooler than Steve, and ragged on him constantly about it. They were close. They were. Fell asleep at each other's places. Spent half their time together.

Close, but not close enough for Eddie to get answers about why the fuck Steve had bruises and burns and scrapes sometimes. Bad ones. No matter how many times he said it, Steve didn't get those because he got distracted while cooking. It drove Eddie crazy sometimes. That was a lie. It drove him crazy all the time. Steve would tell him about how shit his parents were, but wouldn't admit why the fuck he needed stitches at the top of May.

"You did it."

"I think you'll find that you're the one that did it, Steve, I was an unwilling kidnapping victim in your quest to get us both across that stage."

It wasn't graceful, literally or figuratively, but Eddie got his diploma in 1985. Steve gave him what he said was a small part of his grad present from his parents. A thousand dollars. A thousand goddamn dollars. It was enough that Eddie didn't put the dots together right away. A small part, plus Steve's crappy job at the newly opened mall.

It was weird. But Eddie let it go, because Steve was his friend, maybe could have been best friends if the guy would stop pulling back whenever they got too close. He let it go, and he let Steve push him towards the goal of getting the fuck out of that town, and he promised he'd call when he got to Chicago.

It didn't really click for Eddie until he heard about the mall burning down from Wayne, that Steve never promised that he'd call too. The guy was there, and when Eddie called and demanded to know if he was okay, got another partial answer, another dodge, another thing for the list of shit his friend wouldn't talk about.

They fought about it. Loud enough as Eddie shouted into the phone that his neighbor banged on the wall. Maybe Eddie crossed a line. Maybe he crossed it a long while back. He didn't know. Eddie kept calling until September, but on the rare times that Steve answered, it was awkward and curt and terrible. He stopped trying when Wayne told him that Steve never stopped by, or even waved when they crossed paths.

Steve wanted it over, and it was so fucking weird. The guy slammed into Eddie's life out of nowhere, shifted it, changed the course, cause there was no way in hell Eddie would have graduated if it wasn't for Steve forcing him to try. The guy did all that, and nine months later, was gone again. Out of his life.

It was a week after new rumors reached him in February of 86 that a package arrived. His uncle called outside their normal plans, and said it wasn't sure yet, that there wasn't any proof, but Steve was missing, and some of those kids of his said he'd saved their lives. Said that he wasn't going to come back. Wayne didn't really understand what it meant, but passed on a message from those kids that they'd answer when he called.

Eddie got a box a week after finding out that Steve was gone, full of letters. Long, detailed, apologetic letters. The first was dated in December of 84, written after Steve spent a weekend 'out of his body' just like he wanted to be. The promises at the start didn't make sense. Steve said he'd save him. Steve said he'd make sure he got out. The apologies got more complex. Something about keeping Eddie away from friends he'd never make. About being selfish. About keeping secrets and lying when all he really wanted was to tell Eddie everything.

It was so fucking weird.

The last one was dated a couple days before things went bad in Hawkins, longer than all of the others. Monsters and nightmares and death and chance to make it right. Apologies for not doing it better, doing it sooner. For not wanting to risk it, for pushing Eddie away. Promises that Steve would call him as soon as it was over, that he was only writing this just in case. That it wouldn't ever be sent, and he'd burn the whole box after they won. Then he'd drive up and apologize in person, explain it in person, fix it, because Eddie meant more to him that Steve had ever let show, and he wanted to make it right.

At the bottom was a post script.

"Eds, If it doesn't work out, call this number, and ask for Robin. She knows the whole thing. She'll help. So will the kids. I hope you never read this. So I'm sorry if you are."

[king-paimon]

Houseki No Kuni Chapter 108 Thoughts: Everything Stays....

Hello all. I hope the month of April was good to everyone. It was alright for me, though I'm just in awe by how fast it went! Time really goes by too quickly as you get older.

Speaking of time, would you look at that? The final chapter of Houseki no Kuni was released! 108 chapters over the course of 12 years. And I've been following it for nearly 5 of those years! Wow! That is quite the feat, Ms. Ichikawa.

I'd been waiting for this day for a long time, and the feeling is bittersweet, with the overlaying feeling of relief. This emotional rollercoaster that Ms. Ichikawa had sent us on has finally reached it's dock.

Phos's story is finally complete. What a ride it had been!

Now the question is: Was I satisfied?....

I'll do my best to answer this. I don't know how long this post will be, but I'm hoping that it won't be too long (edit: Oops. I was wrong.) And as always, please feel free share your own thoughts if you're interested!

Here we go:

Phos's True End: Was It Satisfying?

I reread this chapter a few times to answer this question and to be honest, I still reach the same conclusion: It was fitting. Not absolutely bad or 100% amazing, but in terms of Phos's whole journey throughout this story, I think this was a fitting ending for Phos, and that's good. And if anything else, it's a little ironic.

I mentioned in my last post that I thought it was funny that the remaining piece of Phos had become the youngest/newest member of the pebble species much like how they originally were at the beginning off the whole manga. It seems though, the similarities don't end there because of this little interaction between Eyeball/Pita-pat and Pebble Phos:

I'm sure this was supposed to be a little cheeky conversation and Eyeball/Pita-pat didn't really mean it. But still, this was an interesting exchange to include in this final chapter, especially right before it's implied that Eyeball/Pita-pat passed away.

One intriguing story choice Ichikawa made was having Pebble Phos continuously fall apart near the end to the point that they become a small spec. To be honest, I was not sure how to feel about this part when I first read, especially considering how now there's hardly any of Phos left now. Like, after Eyeball/Pita-pat saved that last bit of Phos so they could have a nice life away from humanity, it'd be unfair for them to break apart again to nothing after all of that. But I did like how the pebbles decided to view Pebble Phos' changes; that their fragments surely became beautiful comets that would brighten someone's day. And that shot with original Phos was nice...

Also, I saw the post that implied that Ichikawa released this final chapter around the same time that a rare famous comet was supposed to be seen on Earth. I want to say that I think it was a pure coincidence, but I'm not putting anything past this author!

This chapter made me think of that one song from Adventure Time: Everything Stays. If you haven't heard of it, please give a listen. It's a song about life and the course of change. It focuses on how even if things appear to stay the same over the course of time, changes still occur, even if subtle. Phos certainly changed a lot throughout their story through intense mind and physical altering events. But I also think they changed subtly even during the less intense moments. I think the moments in this final chapter fit with this song, too. Phos was always evolving, even when it didn't appear so. Through their interactions and lack thereof with others and their environment, Phos was always changing and growing, ever so subtly. And even in this last chapter, Phos is still evolving and that'll likely never end.

Interesting... after thinking about it some more, I think I feel a little more satisfied with how this chapter/story ended. I'm glad that Ms. Ichikawa didn't pull some other twist near the end; that certainly would have ruined it for me. Am I 100% happy with how Phos's story ended? I don't think so. But to me, it's a fitting end.

But what do I think about the series as a whole?

When The Journey Ends: Was It Worth It?

There are very few manga or written stories that had me wanting to see how things end because more often than not, there aren't that many stories that I've read to completion. Part of it is because I don't want the story to end; basically, I'd have the thought process that if I don't know how the story ends, the story doesn't end! Perfect logic (sarcasm). Though this usually happens because I lose interest or because the story goes in directions that I don't like, I'd say one of the main reasons I end up dropping a series is because of how a story ends. How a story ends can completely change one's opinion of a story, and I've seen my fair share of stories that end badly. Sometimes the ending is abrupt and not satisfying, especially if it was lead by a big build up, or the ending is a result of a jarring story pivot that seems to come out of left field. It just seems that many creators don't know how to end their story well. And if I like a story a lot, sometimes I'm too scared to see how it ends. Partially because I don't want the story to end, but mostly because I don't want the end to ruin my experience.

Houseki no Kuni is a unique case for me. I know I've mentioned this before but I'll state it again: I don't think I've ever been so invested in a story like this before. Though that investment had dwindled over time, partially due to me developing new interests, life, and being occasionally dissatisfied with certain story choices, I wanted to see this how this story would end no matter what. And now that it's done, I'm glad I stuck it out.

Was this story perfect? No. There were several story decisions that I wish was either told differently or completely omitted that could have made the story stronger in my opinion.

Did I get a too invested in this story? During certain points, most definitely haha. I remember getting very emotional about certain chapters when I first started making this series of meta posts. I remember seeing some posts from people stating that they no longer liked the manga because of the direction it was going and in some cases, I could see where they were coming from.

Do I regret getting so invested in this story? No. No I don't. Despite not liking certain story aspects, I do not regret getting invested in this story. Though the story was not perfect, this was such a unique experience that I'm grateful to have gone through.

I plan on talking more about how I feel about Houseki no Kuni as a whole in another post. I intend to delve into what I loved about it and what I wish was different. While I could include that stuff here, I think this post is long enough. I've already started working on it, but I know it'll be a while before it's done; you bet there will be some parts with me ranting a little haha

But long story short, despite some grievances I have with some parts of the story, I feel satisfied with how it ended. And I'm glad that I read this series.

What Happens Next: Thank you, HnK Fandom

I want to thank those who've read, liked, and even commented on my posts! I didn't think so many of you would like, let alone read, my longwinded messy posts. I loved every feedback I got, even the ones that didn't agree with me. You made me love being part of this niche fandom. Like I said in the previous section, I have at least one more post that I want to make detailing everything I feel about Houseki No Kuni as a whole. I might make another one that's more for fun, but we'll see. I encourage anyone who's interested to share your own thoughts on the post! I seriously love reading different perspectives.

But after those posts, I don't know how involved I'll be in the fandom afterwards. I may repost some art and other people's meta posts on occasion. But when it comes to meta commentary, these will likely be my last posts about HnK. I have other fandoms that I like to follow, though I don't make posts about them. Perhaps I will, though I know they will be nothing like the posts I've made about Houseki no Kuni. This was the only series I've ever felt compelled to analyze so deeply, which makes it special for me. If I were to post anything about the other stuff I'm into, it'll most likely be of fanart that I made for my own personal enjoyment. I know scare many of my followers away since they'll not be HnK related. But who knows? I haven't made any HnK art in a long time... Maybe one of these days, I can try to make some HnK art again. I have some unfinished pieces on my computer that's now years old. Yeah, I should finish them when I have the time. That'd be a fun little send off.

Anyhow, if you are interested, please hang around for my final HnK meta posts! And when it's out, please please PLEASE share your own thoughts in it! Don't be afraid to share your opinions. I promise I don't bite.

So that's it. These are my thoughts of the final chapter of Houseki no Kuni. I might add more to it, but I'm fine with what I put out. Wow... I still can't believe I got into this series 5 years ago! So much had changed in my life since then. Despite everything, it was worth it.

Thank you again for reading my jargon. It means a lot and I can't wait to post my true final meta posts about Houseki no Kuni.

What a ride this was.

Until next time...

[tarpauline]

I’m Only Cryptic and Machiavellian ‘Cause I Care || Eddie Munson x Reader

She has always had a crush on Eddie. So she planned a way for them to interact "on accident". Flashforward, they are now dating and she confesses about the plan she made a few months ago.

Or, the one where she successfully plans a way for her and Eddie to meet as if it was destiny. Inspired by Mastermind by Taylor Swift.

Contains: fem!reader, both reader and Eddie are down bad for each other, shitty writing, grammatical errors literally edited this quickly, reader is Steve’s cousin but you guys can imagine her as anything didn't really include any appearance descriptions so it's all up to you, I have terrible communication skills and I feel like it’ll show on my writing so yeah, might be ooc?? Idk I hope I managed to write them right thats all I can think of rn

Word Count: 5,360

AN: My first Eddie fanfic and first ever fanfic here on Tumblr! I might delete this if it flops or if I reread it and end up hating it.

What if I told you none of it was accidental

And the first night that you saw me, nothing was gonna stop me?

I laid the groundwork and then, just like clockwork

The dominoes cascaded in a line

What if I told you I'm a mastermind?

And now you're mine

It was all by design

'Cause I'm a mastermind

The restaurant screamed money that only her cousin Steve could afford. Despite dressing in a Maroon dress that she deemed "fancy enough" for the place she still felt like she would stick like a sore thumb in the crowd. Little did she know that her boyfriend Eddie felt the same except he knew he would stand out. In a restaurant full of men dressed in perfectly ironed three-piece suits and women who wore designer dresses, wearing a worn out leather jacket (insisting that it adds a bit more flair to the overall look) over a white dress shirt and a black tie and paired with his only black pants that aren't ripped and black shoes that he definitely borrowed from Steve is guaranteed going to garner a lot of attention. But he pushed aside his thoughts when he saw his girlfriend seemingly glued to her place.

"Hey you okay?", He looked at her with concern before taking her hand and giving it a light squeeze.

She looked back at him and smiled. "Yeah,let's go."

They enter the restaurant and are greeted by the warm atmosphere. The place was fancier on the inside. Tables covered with white cloth with a small vase full of flowers for design. The entire room was illuminated by the chandelier on top.Soft music was playing in the background mixed with the chatter of the fully packed place.

She looked around the room for the familiar face of her cousin. It didn't take long for her to see him as he was waving at them with his date beside him .They made their way over to their table on the far corner of the room. Greetings were exchanged between the pair of couples.

A waiter gave them menus filled with fancy food they don't even know how to pronounce. After a few minutes the waiter came back to take their orders and left quickly. As they were waiting, Steve's date, Clementine decided to strike a conversation with Eddie and her.

"So…", She settled down her glass of water with her perfectly manicured red nails that matches the dress she wore. "How did the two of you meet?"

She can see Eddie smile widely as he looked at her. "It's actually a really funny and beautiful story". He says before diverting his gaze on Clementine.

"So we first met when Steve and our other friend Robin, brought her to one of my band's shows in the club near us. I'm the guitarist of the band,you know…", he pretends to play an invisible guitar to prove his point.

Eddie loved telling everyone the story of how they met. And she loved seeing his wide smile, his bright eyes, and his animated gestures as he tells the story. But along this is the feeling of guilt. The guilt of knowing the truth behind said story.

"We were short of staff in the cafe I work at and luckily she was also looking for a part-time job…", Eddie continued and she felt Steve's eyes on her. Steve gave her a knowing look which she then returned with a glare,signaling him to not be obvious.

The more Eddie talks, the happier he gets and the more guilty she gets. It doesn't help that Steve would smirk at her from time to time.

"And I finally got the courage to ask her for dinner and here we are. Three months and counting," He looks at her with heart eyes and a big smile which she returned. The guilt growing inside of her.As Eddie concluded the story their orders came in.

The double date ended late at night. On the car ride home, she remained silent which didn't go unnoticed to Eddie's eyes.

“Hey, you good?”, Eddie places a comforting hand on her thigh.

“Yeah”, she mustered a smile. “I’m just tired that's all”

-

The next day, she was still quiet the whole ride to school. Eddie had tried to talk to her but they all ended abruptly.

"Are you okay? Are you sick?",Eddie asked with concern as he parked his car in the school parking lot. "You can ditch school and work today if you want, I'll take notes for you."

"Thanks but I'm not sick," she smiled reassuringly.

"Are you sure? Maybe it's because of that pasta you ate last night.What was it? Tagtale? Tagtialie?", He scrunched up his nose trying to remember the pasta.

"Tagliatelle", she corrected him and giggled. "And no it's not the pasta, I'm just quite sleepy that's all."

"Okay, but if you don't feel good just tell me I'll gladly skip class and drive you home", he said with a grin.

"Please don't do that"

"Can't make any promises, sweetheart",he opens the door to the driver's seat before going to your side and opening it. He exaggeratingly bows and offers his hand to you and puts on a fake British accent. "My lady."

She giggled before taking his hand which he was quick to intertwine with hers as they walked through the school doors.

He leaned in to whisper in her ear "You're prettier when you smile, by the way."

-

"I'm planning to tell Eddie the truth about…everything", she said while leaning against the back room door. Steve was inside changing from his work clothes.

It was closing hours for both the coffee shop both she and Eddie worked at and the ice cream shop across it where Steve and Robin worked. As Eddie was closing up the shop she immediately went to consult Steve.

"Okay…?", He says against the door.

"Steve, I'm planning to tell Eddie the truth about everything!", She raised her voice more to make it clearer for Steve.

"I heard you fine the first time!", Steve said. "I honestly don't know why you're working yourself up about this.

"What if he finds me weird and creepy?"

"Come on, we both know Eddie isn't the type to judge people." Steve continues. "Besides, you should give yourself a big pat on the shoulder for using your Machiavellian ways to control Eddie because believe me, if you hadn't that man would've talked my ear off about you."

"One, I'm surprised you know what 'Machiavellian' means", she started. "And two, You make it sound like I manipulated him and three, I’m being serious."

The back door opens to reveal Steve wearing a white shirt with a denim jacket and matching pants. "One, this may come as a surprise to you but I actually do read and two, I'm sorry didn't mean for it to sound like that but you get what I mean and three, I'm also being serious."

"Look", he continued. "Eddie is never going to change his opinion of you okay. That man likes you too much to even hate you. I bet if you tell him something like…you commited a crime the man would be sad,yes. But he would be sad that you didn't tag him along", she laughed at him.

"I'm being serious! Trust me, I'm a man. I know a whipped man when I see one and Eddie is a whipped man!", He exclaimed with a huge grin before laughing along.

-

Steve's words calmed her down a little bit. But the nerves is still there, especially since she is now in Eddie's car. With Eddie. Alone.

"Hey something on your mind?", Eddie asked as he begun driving.

"I-yeah…", she started. 'Its now or never', she thought. " Listen, you know how back then after we met we were coincidentally in the same place, at the same time almost all the time…",she looked down at her lap suddenly finding interest in her nails.

"Yeah why?", He looked at her briefly before focusing on the road again.

"Well they're not entirely coincidental…"

(Flashback)

She had always found it difficult to make friends. Never had been lucky with finding other kids who had the same interest as her. So at a young age she developed a skill…observing people, looking for things they liked, things they disliked and then she would scheme like some sort of criminal and make them like her enough to be her friend. And it has worked quite well in her eighteen years of existence.

But everything has changed once her parents decided to move to her mom’s old town, Hawkins. The reputation and relationships she has well crafted through the years is now behind her. And now she had to make a new one.

At first she was devastated at the thought of having to restart everything. But the longer she thought about it and now that she’s finally in Hawkins she felt like this is a good thing. Maybe this time she'll actually be herself. Maybe this time she'll feel…free.

Her parents picked the house nearest her mom’s aunt and uncle and her cousin, Steve Harrington. She’s quite close with her cousin and even considers him her true friend for she was not afraid to show her true side to him and she was excited to be able to see him more often.

The Harringtons have been helping them with the moving of their stuff to their new home so it was quicker for them to settle into their new house.

Steve immediately introduced her to his friend, Robin Buckley, and despite being a total nervous wreck and blabber she liked him and was happy to have a new friend around. The day after finishing moving in they both invited her to hang out at the local bar they frequent called ‘The Hideout’.

It was a simple bar with wooden chairs and tables. It's warm lights giving it a cozy and warm atmosphere. She sees in the front that a band is setting up.

"That band right there", Robin points using a french fry. "The guitarist and vocalist is our friend."

She sees a man with dark messy hair testing his guitar. He had his leather clad back facing the crowd so she couldn't really see his face.

She didn't have to wait too long to see his face though when the band started playing. He was the frontman and the band was smart to put him in front. He was extremely charismatic and very skilled with the guitar. He also had a nice voice. The band was really good and she enjoyed them despite not being into heavy metal music. They certainly knew how to hype a crowd.

The band finished and thanked the crowd. All customers clapped but she was sure their table was the loudest. The guitarist got off stage and immediately went to their direction.

"That was so good, man!", Steve raised his hand in a high five which the guitarist returned. "Oh by the way, this is my cousin”, he said her name. “You know, the one I've mentioned before"

"Yean, I’ve heard about you. He looks at her with his huge smile,messy hair framing his face, sweating and still catching his breath but looking so beautiful. “Hi, I'm Eddie", he extends his hand to her which she took. It was warm. "Nice to meet you."

“Nice to meet you too”, she returned the smile and she was quite sure that they'd been holding each other's stare and hands longer than usual for a first meeting.

He had to let go first and she can't help but miss the warmth of his hand. "I gotta head back there to help the band pack our stuff I’ll be back", and just like that he left as quickly as he came.

"So that's Eddie huh…", She said as she followed his direction.

"Yeah", Steve replied and he looked at his cousin, eyes widening in realization. "Aw come on!"

"What?", She whipped her head to look at Steve who had captured the attention of the other tables with his sudden outburst.

"Out of all the people you could've been attracted to, you chose Eddie?!", He said in a hush tone to avoid garnering more attention.

"I'm not attracted to him", she denied, which was a lie because she was definitely attracted to him.

"I'm not stupid-"

"Yes,you are"

"Shut up, Robin", Steve glared at her. "Look, my point is, I'm not stupid with this kind of stuff. You're definitely attracted."

"I love the fact you didn't deny that you're stupid", she said playing along with Robin and hopefully changing the subject.

"Haha funny", Steve playfully glared at her.

-

On their first day of school, they were given their schedule and the lock code of their designated lockers. She was walking alongside Robin trying to find their lockers when Robin suddenly stopped.

"My locker is beside Eddie's", she whispered to her, directing her head to the direction where Eddie's unmistakeable back is trying to open his locker.

"Wanna trade lockers?", Robin extends the paper with her lock code. "It's fine by me."

"Yeah sure, thanks", she didn't hesitate. She saw her chance, and she took it.

Robin left her not before mouthing "Good luck in making your move" to her which she shook her head at.

She went to the locker on the right side of Eddie. It didn't take long for him to notice her.

"Hey”, he says her name and she realised that she liked the way he says her name.

"Yeah, it's good to see you, Eddie", she replied back.

"Likewise", he turned back to his locker before adding. "You know, I didn't expect it would take this long for us to see each other again."

This perked up her ears. "Oh you were expecting to see me again?", She asked, trying to fight back her widening grin.

"Yeah, I mean— you're new here so I was kinda expecting Steve would drag you everywhere to familiarize you with this town."

She let out a little "oh" before turning back to her locker. It wasn't exactly the response she expected (and wanted). A long silence sat between them as she tried to think of a way to keep the conversation going. But when she turned to look at him he was already gone. As if on time, the bell rang signaling the first class and she silently cursed herself.

-

The following days started the same. She wakes up early, gets ready, catches a ride with Steve and Robin, goes to her locker, and exchanges "hellos" with Eddie. That's all. No matter how hard she tries there has been no development whatsoever. But thankfully that Tuesday morning seemed to be on her side.

"Oh no", she heard Eddie groan in frustration. "I thought I brought it with me…"

"You okay?", She asked and he stopped checking back and forth between his backpack and locker.

"No, not really… I left my stupid history book at home", he reached up the back of his neck and sighed.

'This is it, this is your chance', she thought."Oh we can share you know", she thanked her brain's quick thinking as she waved her history book in front of him.

He grinned at her. "You're a lifesaver. A literal angel."

They sat beside each other during History class but Eddie tried not to lean in close to read the text better to avoid being caught by Mr. Smith not having his history book on him.

"Look, I wouldn't care if I get caught and sent to detention but if he finds out you're lending your book to me he'll definitely send you to detention too. And I don't want to ruin your good record",were his words.

“Bold of you to assume I haven't been in detention before”, she whispered and gave him a sly grin.

“Oh really huh?”, he is now also sporting a grin himself. “How many times have you been in detention?”

“30”, she said, the first number that comes to her mind.

Eddie's eyes widened. “Well, well congratulations, sweetheart you’ve beaten my record.”

She tried to ignore the way her heart fluttered at the nickname. “How many times have you been?”

“20”, he replied and then they went silent and she thought the conversation ended there until Eddie spoke up again. “Damn, can’t believe someone beat my record.

She left out a quiet giggle. “It's a lie, I've never been to detention before”, and she continued to giggle.

“Wow, you got me there alright”, Eddie said with a chuckle.

But you know what? Spending detention with you doesn't seem so bad", she said as she looked at him. "You don't seem to be bad company to me."

She mentally pat herself on the shoulder as she saw Eddie start to smile wider at her before letting out a small "Yeah?"

"Yeah"

Their eye contact was broken by Mr. Smith's loud voice. "Okay everyone get out one piece of paper we're going to have a quiz."

Everyone visibly groaned.

-

"Hey", are you planning to take a part-time job?", Robin asked a few weeks later. "You know, for college.

"Yeah, but only on Summer break. I don't think I can handle my academics with work", she answered and Robin nodded in understanding before they heard a loud clang of metal as Steve set down his lunch tray at the table.

"Guys you wouldn't believe who got punched earlier in the hallway…", Steve said excitedly as he told the latest gossip in your school.

"He honestly deserved it, he's a real jerk", Robin said and she hummed in agreement.

"Hey guys", Eddie finally arrived at the table and Steve turned to him ready to retell the incident in the hallway a few minutes ago.

"Hey you'll never guess who got punched in the hallway earlier-"

"Yeah I know it was Jason. I was there when it happened. I cheered for the guy who punched him. Man had it coming for him", Eddie chuckled before popping a pretzel in his mouth. She laughed at his antics which didn't go unnoticed by Eddie. They then continued their lunch like they normally do.

After their meals are finished Eddie suddenly talked to her. "Hey are you perhaps looking for a part-time job?", He looked at her before continuing. "You see, two of my co-workers just quit and we are short of staff and these two", he pointed at Steve and Robin. "Already work at the ice cream shop across the street and I can't really ask my band members because they already got jobs-"

"Yeah", she cut him off and he raised his eyebrows. "Yeah I am in fact looking for a job".

"You are?", Steve asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Yeah we were actually just talking about it", Robin was quick to reply and she mentally thanked her.

"Great, does Friday sound good to you?", Eddie grinned and she nodded.

-

"I didn't know you were looking for a part-time job", Steve said as he drove her home after dropping off Robin.

"Yeah just thought of it this morning", She said trying to sound casual.

"This isn't just an excuse to spend more time with Eddie,right?", He looked at her through the mirror above him but her lack of response answered his question.

"Oh it's definitely an excuse to spend more time with him, you sly fox!", he exclaimed.

"So what if it is?",she retorted. "It's not like you can stop me."

"He plays at the Hideout every Tuesday", Steve said out of the blue.

"What?", She asked not because she didn't hear him the first time, but out of elaboration.

"Eddie's band plays every Tuesday at the resto. Gives you even more time to spend with him", Steve elaborated.

"You're not gonna stop me?"she asked, trying to not sound too happy.

"Like you said, I can't stop you and besides he's a good guy", he continued. " Just make sure to not form any public displays of affection in front of us and don't break up because it'll be awkward. You guys would ruin movie nights."

-

Friday finally rolled around and Eddie offered to take her to his workplace after school. The cafe looks small on the outside but once they entered it was definitely bigger. It didn't have anything special on it. It just looked like any other cafe with small tables and chairs, some couches and a plain white wall with random frames of quotes hanging on the wall.

"Wait here a bit okay", he patted her shoulder before going behind the counter. A random guy entered the shop and stood beside her while a dark haired woman who appeared to be in her late 20s or earlys 30s greeted them.

"Hello, you must be the applicants", she said. She and the other applicant learn her name is Elise and she's the manager of the cafe. She brought her and the other applicant whose name is James, at the counter.

"You will be working here in front of the cashier while James will be brewing some coffee", It didn't escape her notice the flash of disappointment in the boy's face.

The manager told her what to do and which buttons are which in the cashier. It wasn't hard to grasp and she got everything in one listen. The manager watched as she took the order of the very first customer, making sure she got the hang of it before leaving with the boy at the back where the brewing area is.

To say she was bummed that she got the job where she had to talk to the customers and write down their order as they enumerated it incredibly fast was an understatement. She took a peak at the back to see Eddie, his leather jacket nowhere to be seen and replaced with an apron as he made a customer's coffee. Yeah, she was incredibly bummed. Then the gears in her head started to work.

After work, she approached James.

"Hey",she called out to him. " James, right? Listen I can't help but notice earlier that you seemed quite disappointed about working in the brewing area. So… I was kind of wondering if maybe you'd wanna switch? I mean to be honest, I kind of only took this job because I just wanted to learn how to make different coffees", that was definitely a lie but he didn't need to know that.

"Um yeah,sure", he accepted immediately. "Kind of wanted the simpler task, to be honest. But are you sure Elise will be okay with it? She's the manager after all"

“I’m sure she'll be fine I’ll go talk to her”, she reassured James. Elise seems to be a kind woman surely she'll understand it. She then thanked James more excitedly than she intended to. She mentally cheered for her plan's success.

-

On Monday, she entered the brewing area and put on one of the aprons there. Luckily, Elise didn't have any problem at all with her switching their positions.

She heard her name being called and turned around to see Eddie already wearing his apron. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to make coffee", she replied as if it was the most obvious answer.

"I thought you were assigned at the front", he made a pointing gesture over his shoulder.

"Oh um, James asked me if we can switch since he wanted to work at the cashier more", she half lied to him.

"Do you even know how to make coffee?", He quirked an eyebrow at her to which she shook her head at.

"Come on, I'll teach ya", He beckoned her to follow him as he took an order that just came in. " So over here is the creams, and on the left side is the syrup, the coffee and some of the toppings are there at the back…", He started teaching her the basics like how much is one pump of syrup equivalent to, how much drizzle is recommended, how tall the whipped cream is, etc.

“Wait I can't seem to make it right”,she was trying to decorate a latte but the design just won't come out.

“Here let me help”, she suddenly felt Eddie's presence behind her. He had his arms around her and put his hands on her wrists to guide her hands. She tried so hard to focus but it was so difficult when she could feel Eddie's body against her.

Suddenly Eddie lets go of her hands and she was too preoccupied by his presence that it took her a minute to notice the heart design on the latte.

"I did it!", She exclaimed as she showed him the first drink she made..

"Good job! You're a quick learner", He smiled at her and put his hand on her arm. "If you need help with anything else don't hesitate to ask me, okay?"

She felt giddy at the compliment she received and at the warmth of Eddie's body that still lingered.

-

She secretly begged Elise to let her get off earlier every Tuesday so that she can see Eddie's band play at the Hideout. Thankfully, she agreed but in the condition that she will make up for it by working every Saturday.

Steve and Robin were unfortunately too busy and had a stricter manager so they didn't get to join her. She didn't exactly get to mention it to Eddie which is why he was surprised to see her working at the cafe on a Saturday morning.

She was on her way to the brewing area when she heard the bell ring and her eyes met with Eddie. “It's supposed to be your day off,right?", he asked.

"Uh yeah but I decided to make up for it by going to see my friend's band", She smiled at him.

"Oh you don't have to do that-", she cut him off.

"Oh no I insist. At least in the future I get to tell everyone I know that I was a fan of the biggest band in the world before they became famous", she said which earned her a grin from him. "I didn't know you work on Saturday too", that was a lie she figured that if the manager made her work Saturdays for leaving earlier there is no way she is going to let Eddie not make up for his.

"Um yeah gotta make up for the half hours I miss every Tuesday", he said. "So… you think we have what it takes to be the biggest band in the world huh?" His grin was still there.

"Yeah I'm like your number one fan", she said. "Don't tell Robin or Steve I said that though because they love arguing about who's the bigger fan between them."

Eddie laughed. "You're secret's safe with me, sweetheart." Her heart flutters everytime he calls her that.

“Well, I’ll let you in on a secret of mine as well”, he moved closer to her and leaned close to her ear and whispered: “You're my favorite fan.”

He moved away and had a wide grin on his face. He winked at her before going to the brewing area.

She felt her cheeks warm up and her heart felt like it was about to burst. ‘Oh shit… I’m completely down bad for this man, aren't?’

-

The final week of school is exciting and stressful. Exciting because vacation is finally near. And stressful because all the teachers were giving a lot of work with extremely short deadlines.

She really tried to keep her mind off her studies while at work but it just kept getting in the way. She got two customers' orders wrong, she almost put too much whipped cream on every drink, and now she accidentally spilled coffee on herself and Eddie.

"I'm so sorry about your shirt", she apologized for what seemed to be the hundredth time after leaving the bathroom wearing a new shirt.

"Hey I already told you it's okay", he reassured her.

"It's just that I'm so stressed about work and Mr. Smith's homeworks which has a deadline that is way too early for the hundreds of amount of school work he has given us", she ranted.

"I understand. He can be a pain in the butt", he told her. “Hey this is just coffee it’ll wash away”, he reassured her again but that didn't seem to remove the frown she had on her face.

"Wait here okay", he returned to the brewing area. After a few minutes he returned with two cups of coffee. "Here, drink this." He handed her one of the cups and she took a sip.

Her eyes widened. "This is so good!"

"I know right!", Eddie exclaimed. "I accidentally made this when I was new here and I got the measurements mixed up and voila! I made a masterpiece."

They sat in comfortable silence sipping the special drink Eddie made before she breaks the silence.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your show last night", she looked him in the eyes. "I really needed to finish my school works."

"Hey it's okay",he reassured her once more. "Although I did miss my number one fan."

She finally smiled at that. "I might get dethroned by Steve or Robin."

"Pfft never!", He laughed before taking a sip of coffee. “You're my favorite remember?”, she nodded and smiled at him.

They fell into a comfortable silence once again but it was cut abruptly by Eddie.

"I really did miss you, you know", she met his gaze.

"Without you there the room just seemed…empty despite the Hideout being packed full". He continued. "No trace of your presence or your smile. Did I tell you you look prettier when you smile?"

"No…", she smiled wider as she shook her head.

"Well you do. I got proof of it right here", his smile widens as he continues to look at her.

"Well then thank you Eddie for making me smile today", she continued. "I missed you too."

"Yeah, seems like we can't stay one day away from each other huh?", He asked even though he already knew the answer.

"Yeah it seems that we can't"

The next words that left his mouth were unexpected but something you've been wanting to hear for a long time."Then how about we spend more time together. Does Monday after work sound good to you?"

"Are you asking me on a date?", She asked in disbelief.

"Yeah,I am", he answered with no hesitation.

"Well then Monday does sound good to me", she answered also with no hesitation.

(End of flashback)

-They arrived at her house just in time as she finished her confession.

"Look I know it may sound a bit weird and it ruined the whole "destiny" thing the events leading to where we are now had but-", she tried reasoning with him but stopped midway when she looked up to meet his gaze and see him smirking.

“Why are you smirki-”, She looked at him, brows furrowed in confusion before her eyes widened in realization.

"You knew the entire time, didn't you!", Eddie bursts out laughing.

"Yep, I sure did", he continued laughing. "And no, I don't find it weird. I actually find it very endearing that you liked me that much to the point that you planned how we'll end up together."

"I hate you",she glared at him.

"Oh you love me,sweetheart. That confession is enough proof of that. And I love you too, by the way", he smiled at her which caused her glare to falter and turn into a smile of her own.He was right she definitely loves him.

So I told you none of it was accidental

And the first night that you saw me, nothing was gonna stop me

I laid the groundwork and then saw a wide smirk

On your face, you knew the entire time

You knew that I'm a mastermind

And now you're mine

Yeah, all you did was smile

'Cause I'm a mastermind

[crescencestudio]

๋࣭⭑ Devlog #42 | 6.25.24 ๋࣭⭑

tis the season of Kayn

HAPPY SUMMER!!

Hope you're all doing well and keeping cool <3 I know for me it's started getting to.... the Hot Season. To celebrate the start of Hot Girl Summer (and the beta route going live), I of course had to draw the hottest girl, Kayn.

we must stay cool brothers

Now that we've paid respect to The Hot Girl, let's get into the devlog!

Writing has been fun this month. A lot of it has been dedicated to Etza edits and writing Kuna'a's route. We're getting to about the halfway mark with Etza edits, so we are definitely chugging along!

Sneaky peeky of a recent edit

For Kuna'a's route, I said I wanted to have his first draft complete or almost complete by the next devlog, and I'm VERY PLEASED AND PROUD to say their first draft is In Fact almost complete! This is, of course, the very, very first draft so I'll be going back in to flesh some scenes out here and there and rizz him up even more. But I'm happy with the fact that at least the very base draft is done ^^

This month, I did quite a bit of drawing actually! I finished rendering two of Kayn's CGs, meaning 8 out of their total 9 CGs are finished YYYEEEAAAHHHH!!!!!

it feels so good to see the ending cg titles ouuggHHHH

Because Fenir's beta will be going out soon, I wanted to make some headway on his CGs. This month, I ended up finishing 3 of his CGs and sketching two. I'd really like to get 5-6 of his CGs finished so that it's a similar amount to Kayn's beta, so here's to praying!

baby girl

I also finished Senja's (they/he) sprite and base expressions. His outfit was designed by very talented bestie @saffein-e so please thank them for doing god's work o7

Finally, this past month we worked mostly on Kayn's beta route and getting Fenir's beta route ready for Patreon access!

If you'd like to try out Kayn's beta, you can get access to it if you subscribe to my Patreon (tier Hydra). Beta access to Kayn's route will close as soon as Fenir's beta goes up which will be early July, so if you want to experience Kayn's beta, definitely make sure you subscribe before it ends!

Player feedback for Kayn's route so far has been really positive, which has been a relief, especially since Kayn's route is the first one I wrote so is arguably the roughest (I have a big soft spot for it and like it, but I'm obviously Biased). So I hope you're all looking forward to it!! <4

beta feedback: so real

I also have started the voice acting sessions for the characters, which is EXTREMELY EXCITING!! That's the last asset I need basically, so the fact we have finally entered a stage where we can start recording is crazy. Our current session is for Kayn's route, but in the coming months we'll be moving to the next routes similar to how beta-testing is going :')

Aside from Kayn's route, I've also been working on coding Fenir's beta route. Rereading his script and he's... a cutie, I'll admit. So I hope the Fenir fans are excited for his route to enter the beta phase!

LET'S.......... GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Last thing, but I also ran a poll on Alaris's release, basically asking whether you all would prefer a full or segmented release. The results were basically 50/50 LMFAO and that's the vibe I've been getting in general. So while I don't want to solidify anything yet, just let it be known that Alaris may end up having a segmented release, where the first four Central routes are released first, and the Fae routes a bit later. I'll see how I start feeling as the year goes on and where Alaris stands, but thank you all for the support and understanding for the poll <3

I was pretty busy this month, so I didn't have too much time to do market research :cries:

But............

I did see the new Haikyuu movie..................... And I am the biggest Haikyuu fan. Quite literally if you want to know everything about who I am as a person and creator, watch Haikyuu and you will understand who I am to my deepest depths.

obviously I had to draw baby

But aside from that, I want to give one last shoutout to our Hot Girl Summer cross-promo! If there are any games you haven't tried out in this little set, I highly recommend giving at least 1 or 2 of them a peek! All of the games are so charming and have some similarity to Alaris, whether it's a personality mechanic, hot Fae, or a fantasy/ adventure story :')

Links to each game can be found on the Alaris Game page under the magic and mystery otome section!

I'm pretty happy with the progress we made this month. While there's still a lot to do, it's satisfying to see Alaris come more and more to life with each month. See you all next month with hopefully more exciting progress!

[magpiefngrl]

hey! curious new writer here. which fix of yours were the easiest to write and which were the hardest? in what way?

Hello anon! Thanks for an interesting ask.

OK I'll start with the disclaimer that every fic has its difficulties as well as moments when it flows, but there have definitely been some that poured out of me with great ease than others which were a constant struggle.

The Miseducation of Draco Malfoy, my first drarry, was written at the height of my obsession and it poured out of me. I wrote like a fiend all day and would go to bed at night and reread what I wrote. I breathed that fic day and night for the weeks it took me to write it. It was also the most fun I had writing, prob because I was a complete unknown and there were zero expectations from me. Similarly, The Full Monty, written just after TMODM, was an easy fic to write. I remember I read the prompt and was immediately assaulted by images and started laughing on my own and was like, OK I need to claim this, the fic is writing itself.

Similarly but in a more tortuous way, dirtynumbangelboy poured out of me too. More tortuous because it took me ages to find the right beginning, and by then I was behind with my deadlines and got stressed. Also, I wrote it in a sort of dread of the Erised fest, because it had some amazing writers that year and I was intimidated. I remember my goal was to "at least not embarrass myself" .

But, aside from the doubts and stress, dnab itself flowed like nothing else. There are passages that I really love, even now years later, and they are exactly as they came out the first time. I did very little editing (compared to other works).

With The Boy Who Died I made a fun post on tumblr about a mdzs AU of drarry and then the idea wouldn't let me go so I had to sit and write it. Luckily it was summer and I didn't work and I could spend my days writing it. There were moments I got stumped but it mostly came out easily.

Finally, a lot of my short fics poured out of me in one go and came out almost perfectly formed. The Dare, A Perfectly Normal Reaction, and my MCD The Death You Carry are good examples.

Fics that took ages at first:

so my thing is that I have to find the right opening to begin the story, otherwise I can't proceed. I don't plan; the first scene/chapter is my plan. And sometimes I get stuck for yonks. With The Unquiet Grave I began with a Draco POV, him being a politician and Harry his bodyguard, had an interesting first scene and then---nothing. It's like I hit a wall. Zero words come. When I have this feeling, I know I need to go back and revise. Long story short, it was when I changed the POV to Harry that somehow the whole gothic mood came about and I felt the auspicious click: I got it. That's what the story is. A gothic romance. After that, it was easier.

The same thing happened with Hush, darling. I rewrote a first scene fruitlessly several times until a random bit of inspiration fell into my hands: the visual of a card game. I began with it and I let it guide me and the whole plot/stakes/cast fell into place.

Fics that needed a LOT of work and had to be dragged into existence:

The Gift is the first that comes to mind. First couple of chapters were pretty easy and then I was stumped. Writing it felt like dragging myself up a slope, step by step and also not being happy with anything, so that was fun. :/

The other is 9 ½ Days, which took actual years to finish. In that case the middle part was the hard one. I wrote the beginning fairly easily and the last chapters, the plotty ones, also flowed. But the middle. Zeus almighty. It took me years and I thought and thought and thought about it a lot. Finishing this fic was an immense relief but also a source of pride, especially because I really liked the result, and judging by the comments I get, people seem to love it too.

Thanks for an unusual ask! It was good to ponder about my fics and my writing process. The same issues seem to crop up with my original works too, and it's helpful to remind myself that I got over those issues before and I can get over them again.

[the---hermit]

25|09|2023

Today I struggled to work on the recorded lectures of a class. I ended up working on only one, because I could not focus at all. As I have mentioned in other posts this class is very interesting, but the recordings are not of the best quality. To fill the rest of my study day I ended up reading and annotating all the introduction parts in my edition of Richard II by Shakespeare, which is the first book we will be working on in my English lit class. I am not sure yet if I should start reading the play before class, the professor didn't say anything about it, and I am very intimidated by this book. The only stuff by Shakespeare I read in the past was translated, and it I didn't even read that much. Working on it on my own scares me a bit. I know that after I will get a bit more used to it it will be easier, but today was not the day for a challenge like that. To continue on the topic of reading this morning I decided to start a reread of The Book Of Lost Things by John Connolly, a book I adored a couple of years ago and that I have been wanting to reread ever since. It feels like the perfect cozy and spooky book for autumn. I am also continuing working my way through The Burning God by R.F. Kuang, mostly with the audiobook version as I work on my crochet project. I am around 70% through the book and I am really excited for the end, these last few chapters are really building things up, and I am very curious to know how things will develop.

cozy hobbit autumn activities and productivity:

started reading a new book first thing in the morning

did a quick weekly spead on my bullet journal because I had forgot

did a bit of planning for the week

started creating a study plan for my English lit class

daily Irish practice on duolingo (finally back to regular lessons, and after the last updates I have been moved up again in my course and there's so many words I don't know so this is going to be interesting)

worked on one recorded lecture of my men theories and power practices class

read the introduction to my edition of Shakespeare's Richard II for my English lit class

wrote the first draft of a book review

worked on my crochet project

listened to podcasts and audiobooks to distract my tired brain

updated my reading journal

📖: The Book Of Lost Things by John Connolly, The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

[tashaj4de]

A random ramble about Royal Scandal's Mermaid Theater

BEFORE READING FURTHER

If you're actually reading this- this is a comment I originally put on the official upload of Mermaid Theater on the Royal Scandal channel that I just wanted to put into my blog as well. This is more of the rambles of a fan who likes the series a lot, so I apologize to anyone reading this! You might get a little confused since I was typing off the top of my head.

Now for my ramble

Alright, time to type down the new MV impressions! First things first though, I said it in the song release but I love how Chima sounds here! Her voice really suits what I imagined Nina sounding like~ I wasn't sure it would since in her other covers, her voice felt too high, but here it sounds just right!

Now for the actual thoughts aaaaa the new story and MV were certainly worth the wait! I had a feeling the "Prince" for Nina would be Albert, and now that's confirmed… hooboi… her heartbreak… on to more of my long block of thoughts!

I was surprised to see Alam here! Which means this song takes place before Magic Ring Night, before he was taken over by the ring. And the latter half of the MV takes place during Bittersweet! So now we have a bit more of a timeline of when each song takes place in their world- or at least, the timeline we've been following so far? Which also means Beast in the Beauty takes place after Bittersweet! (And I'd say that since Bittersweet's story mentioned that Chelsea had already confessed to Lewis, thus her forlorn and "muddled" singing in the halls, I can assume Cherry Hunt is before Bittersweet! …assuming that's the song the confession is in, that is)

And since we're on the topic of characters! I already knew that Nina's story would be based on/referencing The Little Mermaid, so seeing it put out so nicely in the MV? Aaa…. but I wanted to talk about the crew aboard Albert's ship! We saw quite a few of them with visible faces/eyes this time around, so I wonder if we'll see them around again sometime? And I love how we can see how well-loved Albert is because of how his own guard outright cried with relief upon finally finding him in the village HAHAHA

Now, on to talking about the story! Since the story clarifies that Nina did not kiss the prince to resuscitate him, just sang to him instead- (Editing because maybe auto translation made me misread the story, but rereading it made me realize that she likely DID give Albert the "kiss of life" but she thought he wasn't waking up so she started singing) it makes me think… is this why Albert was attracted to Chelsea's singing? Because it reminded him of Nina's singing, which awoke him after being rescued by Nina? I'm a little sad that he didn't even catch sight of her within the village though… and I gotta love how supportive the village was of Nina ; v ; And Alam was the one who gave the dress? Honestly, it doesn't feel like Alam was a "poor" merchant at all if he was able to travel so far to a village that didn't allow anyone under 15 out of it! I love how much more this makes all the characters connected to each other though… and now, to talk about another aspect of the story!

Since Alam was specifically looking for "divas", could it be that this was Albert's way of searching for Nina, but he just ended up encountering Chelsea and heard her while searching? But for Nina's heart to be broken when she saw Albert staring at Chelsea when she was on stage… the poor girl… then she cried in the garden alone, only to encounter the same girl who attracted the one she herself loved… I don't blame her for running away, honestly. I can imagine the thoughts that ran through her head being something like "She's so pretty and kind, no wonder the prince fell for her" and being unable to stand the thought, she ran away- leaving a (broken) slipper behind. Which is interesting to me because it's just like a Cinderella reference- which again makes me think that the reason why Alam was sent out to invite Divas/Singers was to search for the one whose voice Albert heard (Nina's voice).

And with her heartbreak, seeing Albert's attraction to Chelsea and even briefly meeting the woman herself… falling into the ocean but not wanting to try to save herself despite it being an accident, wanting to just "become foam bubbles"? Definitely a Little Mermaid reference right there! After all, she must have thought that rather than see him be with anyone else, she'd rather not see it at all…

But then! Silence… and the moment where her eyes burst open and there's an intake of breath, seeing that someone was reaching out to her. And of all people it was, it was her Prince (Albert)! Could the reason she opened her eyes- and became startled- be because she heard him calling out to her, or was it instinct? Did she sense his presence and that's why she opened her eyes? She's a really good swimmer after all, and she's someone who even had dolphins help her bring Albert out of the water, so it wouldn't be surprising to me if she had that kind of senses while underwater.

Also I'd say that her being a good swimmer, someone who was able to rescue Albert amidst a storm, really emphasizes how not swimming out after she fell off the cliff really shows how much she was heartbroken and possibly wanted to die in that moment…

So! Since Albert was there to rescue her, I'd like to think that THIS moment is after Chelsea leaves with Lewis (since on Bittersweet, we also had a moment of "silence" before Lewis comes and declares he's there to pick her up). I can imagine he must have been walking around after Chelsea left with Lewis, and he saw Nina's fall- no idea if that would be within the palace, or on the beach, but either way we can see the results of that walk!

And since Albert rescued her… we see Nina, despite her heartbreak, falling in love with him all over again. So even if this is "her only chance", she took up the courage to confess to him--- and the MV ends. So we don't know how Albert responded! Whether he might've recognized her voice, or rejected her, or made her a singer in the concert halls of the palace… we won't know the answer until the next MV that continues the storyline comes out, I suppose!

And that's it for my blocks of text! Thank you Royal Scandal Team and Machita Chima for this lovely MV and song! I can't wait to see more of the Royal Scandal story, as well as what new things we might see in the Vocaloid version of the MV if/when it comes out!

Subtitles

I also would like to comment once again that I'm sad there's no English subtitles HAHAHA if only because I barely know any Japanese, though I can decipher some words (and I did see a translation of the song previously when it came out as part of one of the Royal Scandal Albums). I wonder if Royal Scandal would hire or find anyone to translate the song to add subtitles to not just this song but previous MVs (coughMagicRingNightcough) anytime soon? I'm mostly just thinking that because I like watching them on the Royal Scandal channel without trying to find other sources of translation…

[leonenjoyer69]

how do you write. (specifically fics)

i have like some ideas currently but i havent brought myself to write anything yet at all 😭

also any tips/advice you find helpful would be cool too

Vjejfiejkf ty for this ask, I'm actually so honored--

First of all, I tend to write everything on my phone in a writing app, bc I'm not about that Laptop life, but otherwise, uh, I'll throw this into two categories--

Oneshots: generally for one shots I get beamed with an idea and immediately go Yap about it, either on my server or with one or two specific people that I know will help me develop it via feedback :3

then, I generally jot down a synopsis of what I have so far and random little ideas of what I want to include, usually so I can return later and know wtf I was thinking to do next. I have a good few WIPs where I didn't end up doing that, and guess who doesn't know how to continue them now, so yeah, always do AT LEAST a brief little synopsis. Also goes for multi chapter fics, ofc. They also don't have to be serious or anything, like, this was the thing up top for my mind jekyon fic:

Very silly, but it gets the whole idea and big points across.

Multichapter fics: okay, this one's,,, a decent bit different, mainly bc I have my girlfriend (who also edits my stuff) plotting things for A Little Identity bc I'm actually really bad at plotting and pacing longer stuff.

I usually go to her with ideas and future plans and she'll dive deeper into the ideas I have for the next chapter I need to write so I have more guidance, makes things much easier for me, bc I get stuck less.

But, this could also probably be substituted once more by must talking with someone you think could help you develop it. Feedback and extra ideas are a writer's best friend! Go yap about your ideas! Especially with someone you know will bounce ideas back with you!

Motivation to write tho,,,, I have a few things.

-listening to a playlist or songs that remind you of a character or certain scenario you wanna write about. I have a character playlist for each of my tgs OCs, and then one for A Little Identity in general, and there are a few songs I straight up associate with future chapters that I can't even talk about yet. They form a whole little scene in my head, and having that makes it much easier to write it. Additionally, when I maybe get stuck with characterization, I'll go listen to that specific characters playlist. Music is your best friend! I've gotten beamed MANY ideas from songs, at random sometimes too.

-do a sprint with sprinto! It's a discord bot that gives you a 15 minute timer and takes your starting and ending word count and calculates it, ranking it against anyone else who did the sprint with you. It's very good for more competitive people, and it's a very nice thing to have on a server. I've seen it get people out of a writer's block on my server, so it's certainly nice to use.

-let the writing drive come to you. I won't lie, most days just aren't writing days for me. The English language will allude me, I'll get stuck on where I want to go next, dialogue will destroy me, etc.

I think writing is just kinda like that sometimes, so just write what you can when you can! If you have a main fic you feel you need to update but also a bunch of little oneshots, then work on whatever you feel the drive to! There's no point in trying to force yourself to work on one thing when you have a bunch of ideas for another thing-- the most important thing is that you wrote in general.

The time will come when you get the motivation and ideas for that other thing, so just do what you can when you can, writing is writing :3

-reread what you've already written, or if it's a fanfic, reread/watch the source material. I can't tell you the number of times rereading all of Lanyon's lore pages has given me new ideas with Elias, as well as just reading through old stuff or incomplete oneshots that have my OCs and such. Sometimes you just need a refresher!

-read other fics. This generally helps see how other people format things, which can sometimes help when you're struggling. Sometimes I'll also search for stuff that has specific things that I don't know how to describe very well.

Andddddd I think that's all I've got? Hopefully this helps people, so go out and write! There's never enough fan fics 🙏thank you again for the ask :3

[blueskiesrry]

2024 writing evaluation :)

thank you lizzzz for tagging me

1. Number of stories posted to AO3: 5!!!

2. Word count posted for the year: 199,325

3. Fandoms I wrote for: One Direction

4. Pairings: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson

5. Story with the most:

Kudos: everything of mine is yours

Bookmarks: everything of mine is yours

Comments: where we landed

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why): I'm most proud of everything of mine is yours because it really was just written purely based on what i wanted to write and was full of self indulgence. the writing style is one that i'm always trying to somehow replicate with my other works.

7. Work I’m least proud of (and why): to be honest, i'm not entirely sure. i wish i would've put more time into if we were butterflies but i wouldn't say i'm not proud of it. i love beige as well but there was hardly any thought put into it so maybe that's the one i'm least proud of. but not bc i don't love it haha

8. Share or describe a favorite review you received: any time i get a comment about a reread or someone going to read my other fics because they liked one of them is a different kind of special to me. to be specific though, i got a comment on where we landed from the person who submitted the prompt, and i still go back and read it when i'm struggling with writing. just know if you've ever left a comment or sent me a message about my fics, even if it's the smallest thing, i've held it close.

9. A time when writing was really, really hard: i found writing hard in late spring through the summer. i went really hard the first few months of the year (wrote four fics by may 😃) and i think it burnt me out a bit. there were some things i started and put to the side when i realized i was forcing myself to write them even though they weren't going how i wanted. this is the first year i've been serious and disciplined with my writing so i'm taking that as a learning experience.

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: there is a scene in you, in every color where louis and harry have their first disagreement of the fic that acts as a sort of indication that things are getting rocky, and it was surprising to me how difficult it was to get right. i ended up writing it a few times before i finally felt like in emulated what i was going for. the first draft was a large screaming match which ultimately didn't feel right for the characters.

11. A favorite excerpt of your writing: oh boy, i'm just going to post the first one i can think of lolol. i have nothing to say about it. this is from if we were butterflies

There’s many times in an artist’s life when they must decide whether to savor the moment with their eyes or in their art. To watch a sunset sky turn from purple to pink or to dip a brush in watercolor paint. To snap the picture of a lover lying in the moonlight or to lie with them across cool sheets. To put the pencil down when Harry parts his lips, Louis’ name on his tongue, or to capture his expression forever. “Lou,” Harry says in a voice he’s never heard before, hands shaking in his lap. Louis’ gaze snaps to his, and he must decide—to keep this to himself or to never go another day without the reminder of exactly how Harry is looking at him. And any other time it would feel easy. If it was anyone else, there might be the promise of another moment. But now? With Harry, here, like this, and so, so beautiful?

12. How did you grow as a writer this year: as i said above, this is the first year i've been intentional with my writing, so i think i grew in a lot of ways. most notably, i learned how to outline in a way that works for me which has been HUGE in actually finishing projects. i also learned that writing scenes in order is a lot easier for me and makes it more likely that i'll finish something.

13. How do you hope to grow next year: i'd like to get better at editing. i kind of despise editing after the first read through which leads to sloppiness. i'd like to do better at being intentional with editing and keeping an eye out for specific things.

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc): this is also the first year that i've really had writer friends who i can talk about writing with so everyone that i've done this with has been a huge influence. specificallyyyyyy though, @harruandlou ofc. i've learned a lot from her about the technical side of writing from plotting to editing and everything in between. and obvs she's been incredible in putting up with my whining and scattered ideas during beta reading 🙂‍↕️

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: always. the first one i can think of is the place in chicago that harry goes in eomiy are places i also went for a conference during undergrad. i'm always pulling things from real life though, i couldn't possibly tell you all of them.

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: know your characters before anything else. while plot is important, people will come for the plot but stay for the characters so make sure you know exactly who they are, where they came from, and where they're going. i promise you it will make all the difference in how real your writing feels.

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: i recently finished writing my longest (!!!!!) fic yet (over 100k!!!!) that will come out soon into the new year. i'm looking forward to finishing up editing and sharing it with everyone :) i also do have some things planned that i can't wait to get started on!

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read.

ik you may have already been tagged but @petitommo @wishingforloushair @28goldens @insightfulinsomniac @louieshalo

[bubbloquacious]

Do you have any recommendations for texts for a first reading of category theory? :))

So this is a super common question and I think it's a little hard to give a good answer to! I'll tell you what I did.

Back in the summer of the beautiful year 2019 I had just finished my first year of university mathematics education. I don't remember where I had even heard of the subject, but the first math book I ever self-studied out of was Mac Lane's Categories for the Working Mathematician (the second edition, specifically). It's a good book, I think! But I only really appreciated it on my reread (i.e. my more-than-the-first-three-chapters read) last year. For one, I had not done a lick of topology by this point, and I really do recommend knowing basic topology and basic abstract algebra before getting into categories; it gives you a nice two-pronged approach to view every construction.

So I washed out of that one pretty quickly. I learned the basic definitions of categories, functors, and natural transformations. I could work out what it meant for a product to be the limit of a discrete diagram (super neat when you just learned what a group was five months ago!), but if you asked me to give an example of a pair of adjoint functors that wasn't in the text I would've been stumped (natural transformations between hom-functors? what?).

Over the course of the next semester I got familiar with the basics of topology (and I made this blog!). Now I could see why a lot of Mac Lane's examples were so nice. Compositions of homotopic maps are homotopic, so you can take a quotient category the same way you take a quotient group. The fundamental group is so useful exactly because it is functorial. A map into a product space is continuous precisely when its composition with the projections is continuous. And so on. I sampled some more books. I read the first few chapters of Awodey's Category Theory and of Adámek, Herrlich, and Strecker's Abstract and Concrete Categories. Each offers a slightly different perspective, but every time I would wash out after the first several chapters.

But it was exactly rereading all of these different perspectives that made me grok what it was all about. How to work with these structures. I had limits and colimits pretty much down by this point. Ah, it's not a coincidence that the least upper bound and greatest lower bound are categorical limits, they're expressing the same idea. I realized on my own that not only is the discrete space functor to topological spaces left adjoint to the forgetful functor to sets, the indiscrete (or chaotic, or trivial) space functor is right adjoint. The abelianization of a group or the completion of a metric space are left adjoint to the inclusion functors of abelian groups and complete metric spaces, because a map from a group/metric space into an abelian group/complete metric space determines a unique map (in fact it factors through this map) out of the abelianization/completion. Even though the abelianization makes the group smaller, and the completion makes the space bigger, they're expressing the same relationship.

This went on for a while. I read Bartosz Milewski's blog on Category Theory for Programmers, but I didn't know Haskell so that didn't get me very far. I read a lot of nLab pages (I still do). I read a small bit of Borceux's Handbook of Categorical Algebra, which is very nicely written if you can get your hands on it. I spent a summer in a reading group for Tai-Danae Bradley's Topology: A Categorical Approach (this one's probably a good pick for you in particular!). Like two years ago I played the Natural Number Game (which they changed recently apparently!), which got me really into Lean and proof assistants in general. Playing around with Lean gave me a great appreciation for what category theory brings to the table for logic and computational mathematics. Reading Dan Marsden's blog on monads got me really into monad theory, which is just super cool and I love it very much. I had a brief fling with bicategories, mostly because of the monads. Around this time I made a bunch of explanatory posts on the things I was learning about, and that was just terrifically helpful for my understanding. I read Mac Lane and Eilenberg's original paper introducing categories, General Theory of Natural Equivalences, and it's fascinating to see the perspective that it takes. Last year I got really into sheaf theory by reading Mac Lane and Moerdijk's Sheaves in Geometry and Logic, which finally made me understand the Yoneda Lemma.

These last few examples are what I would call pretty intermediate, as far as categories go. Somehow by reading all these different sources (and progressing in my studies in other mathematical subjects!) I had gathered up enough experience to understand the higher-level structures built on top of the basics. I still don't understand Kan extensions (though I tried reading Riehl's Category Theory in Context to understand it) or fibrations, or model categories, or co/end calculus, but I'm sure I will once the need arises.

So that's my advice! Read as many different introductions to the subject as you can, in as many different contexts as you have the experience for! The power and beauty of category lies in the bridging over the gaps between these contexts. Any of the books I mentioned I would recommend, but really the most important rule of category theory is to have fun and be yourself :-)

[aurorawest]

Bargain of Blood and Gold by Kristin Jacques - 3.75/5 stars

Reminiscent of Jordan L Hawk's Widdershins series, but with vampires and werewolves. Also takes place in Maine, which isn't a very common setting. Unwittingly, I bought the second book in the series months ago, and I realized as it got to the top of my TBR that I didn't have the first book! I had to scramble to order it and I was happy I enjoyed it since, obviously, I already have the second book.

Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa - DNF at pg 2

Captive Prince by CS Pacat (reread) - 5/5 stars

Prince's Gambit by CS Pacat (reread) - 5/5 stars

Kings Rising by CS Pacat - 5/5 stars

I think I loved these books even more on my reread.

Gravity by Tal Bauer - 4.25/5 stars

Probably my favorite hockey romance that I've read.

The Modern Mythos Anomaly by Juniper Lake Fitzgerald - DNF at pg 132

I actually liked the story, the characters, and the writing in general, but this book just needed another few edits to slim it down a bit.

Lose You to Find Me by Erik J Brown - 4.5/5 stars

Leeward by Katie Daysh - 4.5/5 stars

The blurbs on this book are hilarious, because they're all like, tall ships people, and then Mackenzi Lee, hailing it as a lovely queer historical romance. This was a really lovely book and I'm excited for the sequel. Also hoping for more kissing in the sequel since this was a serious slow burn.

Riley Weaver Needs a Date to the Gaybutante Ball by Jason June - 3.75/5 stars

Starseer by Katya Hernández - 4/5 stars

Be Dazzled by Ryan La Sala - 5/5 stars

I loved this book so much!! Oh my god. Super funny, very romantic. It revolves around cosplay which is of course a special interest of mine.

Northranger by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo - 4.5/5 stars

Flying Without a Net by EM Ben Shaul - 2.75/5 stars

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley (reread) - 5/5 stars

Striking Distance by Sarah Rees Brennan - 4.75/5 stars

I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. The graphic novels were good but changing to a novel format allowed for much deeper characters. Surprisingly devastating and also really funny.

The Old Haunts by Allan Radcliffe - 4/5 stars

The Gay Best Friend by Nicholas DiDomizio - 5/5 stars

Main character is the best friend of both the bride and the groom, and everything surrounding the wedding becomes a train wreck beginning on the weekend of the bachelor party, when the bride asks the MC, Dom, to keep tabs on the groom for her. As someone who is extremely conflict avoidant with friends but not family and romantic partners, I heavily related to Dom. There's also a romance that I really loved.

Romance Languages by AJ Truman - 4.25/5 stars

I think this was my favorite of the South Rock series. It deals with some more difficult topics—Julian's self-loathing over his body image is heartbreaking (and relatable), and Seamus's guilt over the way his gambling addiction hurt his ex was very well done. I'm a sucker for stories where a character learns to ask for help, not to mention difficult parent-child relationships, and this had both. I also appreciated Julian's arc re: sex and virginity.

Darkhearts by James L Sutter - 5/5 stars

Another bandmates-in-love treasure, with a twist—the main character, David, left the band right before they got famous. He ends up falling for one of his ex-friends/bandmates after they reconnect. The author is a musician himself, and it definitely shows (in a good way). I'm really a sucker for The Burdens of Fame, which this book definitely had, but there's actually a really good arc for David and how he deals with his jealousy and resentment over being left behind. Plus he wants to be a carpenter rather than go to college, which was cool.

Brute by Kim Fielding - 4.25/5 stars

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian - 5/5 stars

What can I say about this book? Why was it so lovely? Why did it make me feel so much? Why can I not rate things higher than 5 stars? It's a million stars in my heart. Aside from just being a gorgeous mid-century America m/m romance (my favorite), this one features an Italian-American main character. The stuff with Nick's family was spot-on. I just loved this book. I felt like I was wrapping myself in a big, comfy, historical gay romance blanket.

Drowned Country by Emily Tesh - 5/5 stars

The sequel to Silver in the Wood. Had a very mythic and sort of folk horror vibe. This one is from Henry Silver's POV instead of Tobias Finch's and takes place two years after Silver in the Wood, which is time that Henry has mostly spent sulking in Greenhollow Hall, sans Tobias. Really highly recommend this duology. Emily Tesh is a treasure.

The Alchemy of Moonlight by David Ferraro - DNF at pg 11

[semantics-error]

I hope that this doesn't sound weird now but I wanted to thank you for last year. Your writing is everything. I struggled a lot in the past year. Your writing always made me happy though like damn "for having loved a little while" is a masterpiece. Even though I am certain you hate me, bc you aren't not giving me and the boys happiness.. and I finish "I could never deny you" in one setting. It's my comfort fic. I reread certain chapters every night. Just wanted to say thank you. ❤️

Thank you for spending your precious time reading my stories! I'm sorry you struggled last year, and I'm so glad my stories could help make things a little bit brighter for you :) Your incredibly sweet message doesn't sound weird by the way! I'm generally open to asks but one this kind is definitely okay. It also came at a perfect time, since I've been feeling disheartened about my writing lately. Thank you for this encouragement and the reminder that my words have the power to touch people's hearts <3

I am sorry about For Having Loved a Little While... I definitely did not mean to have a delay right when things finally turn toward angst T.T I had a hectic holiday so I won't post this week, but next week things should be back to normal! As an apology for the delay and a thank you for this kind message, here's a snippet of Chapter 15 of For Having Loved a Little While (subject to change in editing of course):

~~~

Sand was wasted. That much was clear, as he stumbled his way up the steps to his apartment.

He figured it out from the way the world spun as he got on the courier bike home. Or maybe he knew all the way back in the third shitty bar, where he had drunk two more awful shots and a beer. For how seedy the place was, the bill had been astronomical. At least, if he’d read the numbers correctly. Which, now that he tried to remember how math worked, seemed unlikely. 

At least he was almost home. 

Instead of heading inside after he climbed the stairs, Sand leaned against the cool wall of the hallway and texted Nick.

> coe outside

Sand’s phone lit up as Nick called instead of texting back. Sand declined the call with a jab of his finger. 

> where are you 

“Shhh,” Sand chided his phone when it chimed. He took his time, using autocorrect to get all the letters correct. 

> come outside. don’t tell ray

A minute later, he heard a quiet shuffling and then the door opened. 

Sand stepped back, wobbling to keep his balance, but intent on drawing Nick out of the apartment.

“What-”

“Shhh. Don't tell Ray.”

Nick rolled his eyes but gently closed the door behind him and followed Sand around to the stairwell. 

“Why can’t you just come inside?”

Sand thought that was rather obvious. “’M drunk.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Nick looked him up and down, eyebrows raised incredulously. “What the fuck, Sand? We’ve been so worried.”

Sand leaned his cheek against the cool plaster of the wall. Why was he here? He should have just stayed somewhere else until he sobered up. There was always his mom but-

“Sorry,” he mumbled. 

Nick sighed and opened his phone. 

Sand made a grab for it. “Don't tell him.” 

Nick swung the phone easily out of the way of his clumsy hands. “I’m just letting him know that you're safe and I'm with you. Sand—he's really worried.”

Sand blinked owlishly for a moment, processing Nick’s words. Worried about me? Why? “Don't tell him I’m drunk.”

“You should trust him more.”

“Do trust him.” I'm the problem. “Drank whiskey. Hibiki.”

“Shit,” Nick cursed under his breath. 

Ray’s favorite whiskey. Sand didn't even know why he'd picked it—he hated whiskey. Never drank it willingly, especially not the high-end Japanese stuff. But he couldn't see Ray with the smell of whiskey on his breath. Any alcohol was bad, but whiskey—he could never do that to Ray.

He had known that when he started drinking—he had wanted this conclusion. Wanted to punish himself without the option for Ray to smooth it all away.

But now, maudlin and without the recourse of Ray’s effusive affection, he regretted it deeply. 

“Wanna see Ray.”

Nick rolled his eyes as he propped his shoulder under one of Sand’s arms. “You literally just said you can’t.”

“Oh. S’right. I miss him.”

“Come on,” Nick said with a sigh.

Sand dug his heels in against Nick’s pull and made a questioning noise. Even if he couldn’t go into the apartment like this, he wanted to be here. As close to Ray as he was allowed. 

But Nick kept tugging. “I’m not waiting around in our stairwell for you to sober up. Let’s get coffee or something, that’ll help.”

Sand groaned but Nick made a good argument. And if they were out getting coffee there was less chance he would buckle and just stagger inside, clinging to his poor boyfriend with the smell of poison on his breath.

[jadewritesficshere]

The boy is mine (Jade's edition)

Eddie Munson x Reader

Summary: Eddie has a plan for a romantic night, but things go awry (2k words)

Contents: Anxiety, Eddie is self deprecating, hurt/comfort (kinda), no gendered terms for reader except mention that their hand is smaller then Eddie's and reader is called beautiful, a literal fire (please look up fire safety), fluff

A/N: So I saw this the first day it was posted and I thought it was a fun idea and saved the prompt by @carolmunson. I've been writing this for a bit,, but like I have had such bad mental fog and generalized pain recently I have been having a hard time focusing...I think I kind of misinterpreted the rules a bit...so here is sad lump of a contribution. Call me Stitch the way I am telling myself "it may be little and broken but still good".

18+ only

The night had started well, at least Eddie thought it had. He promised you a romantic night in. He even prepped for it.

Eddie rented sappy love movies, getting advice by Harrington and Buckley surprisingly. Harrington stated flowers were the way to go, but then started arguing with Buckley. While entertaining, Eddie learned more about the languages of romance from Buckley then he did about romantic gifts. But he wrote down to get flowers.

So he watched the movies. And Eddie was high paid a lot of attention and basically learned to make a grand speech. Big pour out your heart moment. Which, he felt he always talked your ear off, so he could totally do.

Eddie then read those magazines all the cheerleaders gossiped and giggled over. He didn't learn much except some tips for the best kiss. Cup the person's cheek and lean in slowly. Build the suspense. Eddie could do that.

Give you flowers. Make a speech. Cup your cheek as he kisses you. Eddie had this in the bag! Each point written in his little notebook.

And then the reality of you coming to his trailer hit him when you called to confirm the date was still on that morning. He hung up the phone after flirting a bit and looked around his house. Nerves flooded his system as he looked at it with the perspective of an outsider. He didn't want it to look bad. And it was, well, it wasn't bad but definitely could be cleaner.

So Eddie had vacuumed and dusted the entire trailer. Tossed empty pizza boxes in the trash. Sprayed some cologne around the trailer to cover the scent of weed, then cursed himself for using the expensive cologne when there was a bottle of air freshener in the bathroom.

Had picked up his clothes scattered across his room and shoved them all, clean and dirty, into the closet. Had made sure his bed had more then one pillow, grabbing spare throw pillows and tossing them towards the headboard. Even if he didn't think there was a chance you would enter his bedroom tonight, he wanted to be prepared.

Eddie had even started dinner before you arrived. An easy roast that Wayne had made hundreds of times. Thrown meat, potatoes, onions, and carrots into the pot, seasoned it and thrown it all in the oven.

It was newer, this thing between you, and he wanted to get it all right. You'd been friends for years, just recently evolved into dating. It was easy to hold your hand and throw an arm around your shoulder before, stealing those small intimate moments and pretending it meant something more. But now it does mean more. Truly, it always had, but neither of you had said anything. Because like usual, Eddie was the coward and ran.

He spent what felt like minutes (it had been hours) looking back at the notes, the plan. He had even sketched some pictures of you and him as he studied. Gave himself some sweet new tattoos and piercings and muscles while you had hearts around your head. By the time he stopped rereading the same points over and over again, he realized you would be there within the hour.

And he already failed the first point, flowers. It had completely spaced him what with the studying, but he had other things he had been wanting to give you so he figured he could wing it. He rehearsed everything in his mind, having various conversations with you. He would take your coat, be charming as ever, and you would fall for him even more then you already had.

But the plan immediately left his mind when you had arrived. Eddie could feel his face flush as his eyes trailed up and down your figure. All the rushing thoughts in his head suddenly stopped. All he could think was Damn, how'd I get so lucky?

"You're beautiful." Eddie mumbled in awe as you had shrugged off your coat. And then you smiled and Eddie realized he had messed up the plan. He thought he had went through every variable but he hadn't. It wasn't you that was going to fall more in love with him tonight, but Eddie was going to fall more in love with you.

Eddie twirled a piece of hair around his finger, unable to meet your eyes. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and his palms were begin to sweat. He couldn't help but shift from foot to foot. "Oh I uh....got you something," Eddie smiled and turned to leave before hesitating and motioning to the couch," You can uh sit...or stand, standing is good too! I'll be right back."

Eddie cursed himself the whole time he walked away because of how stupid he was. He could stage elaborate campaigns but couldn't seem to form a single sentence in your presence. Eddie grabbed the gift off his dresser and inhaled slowly, mentally yelling at himself to be cool for once in his life.

And faltered in his steps.

Because you were sat on the couch. Not just on the edge of the cushion like those who he dealt to who couldn't wait to get out of his presence. No, you were fully relaxed into the cushion. You looked comfortable. You looked like you belonged.

And Eddie couldn't squash the butterflies that took flight in his stomach. And he sat on the cushion next to you, fighting the urge to wrap you in his arms and hold you close.

"I got you this," Eddie declared as he handed you a rock. A small, smooth stone that fit in the palm of your hand. Your mouth parted but no words came out. Eddie bit his lip as you slowly turned the stone over in your hands, staring at it.

"I saw it and I thought, well, I thought of you and it matches your eyes and-" Eddie huffed out a laugh and shook his head," Sorry, it's stupid just give it back."

Eddie moved to grab it out of your hand but you slapped at his arm and clenched the stone in your hand. "No, it's mine!" You held your hand to your chest and glared at him. "It's stupid," Eddie looked down. "It is not." "It is!"

"Are you serious? If you don't stop we're gonna have a problem. This is the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me." You beamed at him. Joy and adoration written clearly across your face. Eddie slowly grinned back as you dared to open your palm and look at the stone again. "My precious," you wiggled your eyebrows at him, making him bark out a laugh as he relaxed.

"Let's save a ring for a later date." He joked, even as his mind raced. You quoted Lord of the Rings! You were sitting on his couch holding a rock he thought was the same shade as your eyes and you liked it!! He was done for. Completely head over heels fallen for you. Said he would never marry yet here he was planning his vows and everything.

"Seriously, Eddie, this is so sweet." Your hand grasped his. Your hand was smaller then his, fitting perfectly. Fingers interlocked hesitantly and then more surely. Eddie's eyes fell to your lips. Your tongue darted out slightly and wet them. And he started to lean in.

The air was thick, and not just with the tension, the anticipation. Your lips were milliseconds to coming in contact with his when Eddie's nose twitched as he caught a familiar scent. Your lips landed on Eddie's cheek as he turned so quickly to face the kitchen he gave himself whiplash.

Thick smoke started to waft out of the room. "Oh fuck!" He jumped up as the smoke detector finally started doing its job and screeched out an annoying beep. Eddie ran into the kitchen with you hot on his heels.

Eddie opened the oven door, smoke billowing out," SHITshitshit-" Eddie cursed as he slammed the door shut, coughing slightly. Your hand reached past him to shut off the oven before darting over to the window and throwing it open.

Eddie's eyes darted to the sink below the window. Stop, drop, and roll- wait no that was if you were on fire. But water beats fire in almost every scenario, right? Except oil, shit did he add oil? No, he didn't add anything except the food and the seasoning so it should all be good right?

"Stand back!" Eddie yells over the screeching alarm. Grabbing the pot holders, he throws the oven door open. Smoke billows past him as he makes a mad dash for the pot, grasping the handles and throwing it in the sink. He throws the faucet on, water pouring over the burnt food and pot.

Steam billows up with smoke, mingling in the air before flowing out the window. A hissing sound from the cool water hitting the hot pot fills the air. You fan the flames towards the open window. "Oh fuck." You cough as your eyes fill with tears from the smoke. Eddie winces as flurried apologies fall from his lips.

The pot, not on fire at least, starts to lessen up on producing smoke. Eddie deems it safe to leave and grabs your hand, dragging you outside. His hands on your shoulders guide you to sit on the steps as you continue to intermittently cough. Eddie rushes back into the kitchen, double checking that the oven was off, and quickly grabs a mug holding it under the still running faucet.

Eddie rushes back outside to you, almost missing the step and face planting. And wouldn't that have been the icing on the cake. Would that make Eddie or the embarrassment of faceplanting be the vanilla frosting? Who even created that saying? Cake was good and this was not good. Eddie shook his head of these thoughts as he sank down on the step next to you.

Eddie hands you the mug of water. You drink it in big gulps, a small dribble of water falling out of the side of your mouth towards your chin. Eddie wipes it away with his thumb as he apologizes," I am so sorry, I don't even know what happened."

"Is this Garfield?" You peer at the mug, as if Eddie almost didn't kill you. "Uh yeah, was in a rush, sorry I didn't grab like a nicer cup. I just ran out...to you..." "Don't apologize, I like Garfield," you mumble taking another drink of the water.

"Are you okay?" Eddie asks, hands running up and down your shoulders, eyes checking you over. "Think I hacked up a lung from all the smoke...," you rub your sternum," Man, my lungs do not like smoke...and you like that?" Eddie let out a nervous laugh," Yeah no sorry, only when its weed. Never really inhaled a straight fire before."

You look up into Eddie's eyes that are full of concern. "Well, I'd recommend like not doing that. But I'm okay, it startled me more then anything," You give a soft smile. "You sure?" "Positive." You knock his shoulder with yours.

Eddie's eyes search your figure, ensuring you aren't lying to him. You ignore him, opting to set the mug down on the ground. Fingers brushing against a dandelion, yellow and bright. You pluck it from the ground and twirl it between your fingers.

You're okay. You're holding a dandelion and you're okay. You aren't acting like you hate him. You aren't making excuses and leaving. You aren't leaving like everyone else-

Eddie's shoulders relax as the tension leaves his body. You're okay. Your relationship is okay. He didn't ruin everything. You're smiling at a fucking dandelion while his heart feels like it has run a marathon.

You're oblivious to his plight as you lean over and tuck the dandelion behind his ear," Maybe don't smoke that. Looks pretty on you." "Not that kind of weed." "Yeah dumb joke sorry."

A slow exhale escapes him as he shakes his head,"No it's good I'm just," Eddie waves his hand in front of him," like what the fuck just happened? I am never cooking again. I'll just take you to Enzo's. I fucked up. Sorry for ruining the date."

Your hand cupped his cheek as you ducked down to meet his eyes," Hey, no. You didn't ruin the date." Eddie rolls his eyes slightly," Almost killing you? Yeah, pretty sure i ruined it." You bump your knee against Eddie's, "it's not ruined and you didn't almost kill me. Small food fire, happens to everyone. I lit popcorn on fire once. Besides, if you did happen to kill me, at least I would have died happy and in love. And you'd be stuck with me cause ghost me is absolutely haunting you."

Eddie can't help but laugh slightly," Oh? You think you'd be a ghost and not get another chance at life? Be reincarnated or whatever?" "Well, even if I was reincarnated, I'd find you again."

Eddie scoffs, "C'mon, don't say that.. That's not even true, you'd totally be able to move on. You wouldn't need little old me." You grab his face and peer into his eyes," Eddie Munson, I will always need you. In this life and whatever happens after. You and me? We're it. Maybe it should be too soon to say, but I feel it in my bones. You're it for me Eddie. Together now, forever, and when everything ceases to exist we'll be in nothing together. I will always be with you because I will always love you."

You lean in and Eddie thinks his heart stops. Your hand holding his cheek in place, thumb lightly brushing back and forth. His eyes flutter shut as your lips finally touch his. It was soft and sweet, lips slowly parting and melding together in a dance that sent shivers down Eddie's spine. He sighed into the kiss as you leaned closer into each other. Your hands threading through his hair, his wrapping around your waist. Lips moving in tandem, tongues darting out tentatively.

You only part when you both are gasping for air. Soft smiles and longing glances shared as the sun sets. "I love you too." Eddie traces your cheekbone with his finger. "You better." You joke. Your combined giggles fill the air as you continue to steal kisses from each other.

The night may not have been the most romantic. Or gone to plan, like, at all. But it was one Eddie already knew that when he thought about he would be able to feel his heart swell with love. And as he kissed you Eddie thought, yeah you were it for him.