#I had no experience with dance whatsoever and was not the kind of kid who was typically into tutus or things like that

[stevishabitat]

👏 👏 👏

“what if kids identify with something and it ends up just being a phase-?” good. stop teaching and expecting kids (and adults honestly) to formulate permanent traits and ideas of themselves. everything in life is a phase. that doesn’t make it any less legitimate while you experience it. let people explore themselves and know it’s okay if what you think about yourself changes.

[cottagehowell]

wait epic… “The Word” was my fifth song of 2023. now I’m curious about the choreography! Are you a dancer? What kind of dance do you choreograph?

i also had queen and the Beatles on my top 5 artists! (I got to see queen with adam lambert in concert at one point��� exsquisite). My top 5 were Beatles, Billy Joel, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, and Queen.

ok also you may have to explain the monkees to me bc I don’t quite understand the premise (band? tv show?) and just scroll past all their little floppy haired pictures on my dashboard… it is time to seize the day

Btw I use she/her pronouns! What about u? :)

OMG OUR MINDS!!!! it’s such a catchy song

I teach dance to mostly elementary-age kids, which is a lot of fun! Personally, my favorites are more traditional styles like ballet and tap, but I’m also really into dance involving some kind of apparatus, so like “manipulation disciplines” (baton twirling, hooping, and the apparatus handling element of rhythmic gymnastics) and aerial (silks, lyra, sling, trapeze, etc). And I LOVE using 60s/70s rock music for choreo (and sometimes new wave); a lot of teachers will only use “kids music” for their classes, but I always find that kids really enjoy older music/rock music/the beatles especially.

Omg I was obsessed with Elton John as a kid after he was on the bob the builder Christmas special 👀 like we have so many home videos of me performing crocodile rock in the living room lmao. so Elton John holds such a special place in my heart 🩵 also do you have any Led Zeppelin recs?? I enjoy their music whenever I hear it on the radio, but I don’t really know where to start to properly get into them! Also I’m sooooo jealous you got to see Queen + AL live!!!!! I’m sure it was amazing!!!! Sadly they did not come anywhere near my city on the rhapsody tour

okay you’re getting like a proper essay on the monkees because it’s a complicated situation. Micky likes to say they’re a fake band that became a real band. basically the creators of the show wanted to make an American version of the hard day’s night movie but in tv format. so they held auditions for the show and ended up casting 2 guys who were more musicians (mike & peter) and 2 guys who were more actors (micky & davy, although davy was a broadway performer and could definitely sing and do percussion, but had basically no experience in rock/pop music). so obviously they’re not like a “real band” bc they’re assembled so artificially. they assign micky to be the drummer even though he has no drumming experience whatsoever. Davy is actually a proficient drummer, but the showrunners want him to be their front man (even though he only ends up singing maybe half of the songs, but I digress) and they think he’s too short to be behind the drum kit. they also don’t allow the guys to play any of the instruments on the songs, just the vocals. Mike gets a clause in his contract that a couple of his original songs will be recorded, but it’s still session musicians. but the songs are catchy and the show is funny, and they become fairly popular :) if you’ve watched big time rush, the monkees show has a really similar vibe!! the four of them are essentially playing caricatured versions of themselves, with their own names, except they make Peter play the dumb one and he quietly resents this.

Part 2: The Trouble Begins

So the monkees are a fake band in a tv show, right? That seems to be the case until the showrunners start releasing albums of their music, taking the monkees on tour (they had to teach micky to drum for this), and, crucially, insisting to the public that the monkees actually do play their own music. and then forcing the guys to lie about it too (not to mention the frankly abusive conditions the monkees were being forced to work in). eventually the guys start telling the world how they’re not allowed to play their instruments, and instead of being sympathetic to their plight, everyone suddenly HATES the monkees for being a fraud. and legitimately some of that stigma continues to this day

Part 3: Total Control

While all that drama is going down, Mike and Peter decide that they actually want to make their own music, and micky and Davy get on board pretty soon. so the four of them start fighting to get creative control over the band. in one altercation over this in a hotel room, Mike famously punches a hole in a wall and says “that could’ve been your face, motherfucker” to the showrunner. so eventually they get creative control over the band and put out 4 albums really quickly! the tv show flops after season 2 because they’ve been outed as frauds and also because they were being more themselves than they were in season 1. they make a movie that flops horribly. Peter leaves the band. Mike leaves the band. Micky and Davy try desperately to keep it alive but after a little bit Davy becomes too much of a bitch and micky is having too much of a quarter-life crisis. none of them are basically ever taken seriously as performers again. Was it a real band? Was it a tv show? You decide!

I use she/they pronouns! thank you for asking ♡

anyway, do you have anything you’re looking forward to this month? I’m looking forward to being done with finals after next Tuesday and possibly seeing a Pink Floyd cover band closer to Christmas!

Much love, talk to you soon xoxo

[supersoftly]

What about private schools? SSDS?

Every place has it's ups and downs, it's about weighing in what's best for you and your children. I'm sure private schools may have better access to proper educators, equipment and materials, but then you might be subject to the unspoken rule that highest donors of the school will have exemptions to the rules (for example, had an acquaintance who taught at a private school and kids were caught literally having sex in the library, but because their family was paying top dollar, there was no punishment whatsoever, teachers were instructed to practically ignore it).

My overall understanding of education for children is that it requires effort, time and intelligence. Any place or person willing to give that for individual children and their needs are likely to turn out better than those that don't. That can include public schools too, but I find that success is wholly dependent on specific teachers and the parents involvement in the school.

In the past, I have had wonderful teachers in public school, but they were wonderful because they went above and beyond the expectations of the board of education. They loved what they teached and they had the patience and compassion to teach anyone who wanted to learn, including those with disabilities. Those that followed the expectations were the worst kind of instructors that made me hate learning (and certainly made other kids hate it too), and you can tell me I'm joking or lying, but doing Lord of the Flies interpretative dance in Gr 10 English was probably one of the lowest points of my secondary education. It really made me question what the fuck was I doing here.

I've had close family who were brilliant, incredibly smart and creative, but dropped out mid high school because it bored them. Now, as an adult, they're a better educator and more loved than most teachers I knew lol.

Anyways, rant over, I know a lot of this is anecdotal experience so take what you will, tldr: education anywhere has the capability to properly teach and raise kids, but it requires a fuck ton of work and a sacrifice of ego that the majority of teachers seemingly aren't willing to do.

[lgceloise]

         𝐡𝐢 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 ! my name is celeste, but you can call me ce or cece, and this is my first muse here, eloise! i have some bullet points about her under read more, where you can get to know her better. sadly i don’t have any plots written down, but we’re open to anything!!! you can message me here or on discord, find me at yeppi yeppi#3458.

𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 (tw: xenophobia, bullying)

eloise was born on september 18, 2002 in montreal, canada. her mother is korean-canadian and her father is french-canadian, and eloise and her younger sister were raised in this dual culture household. because of that, eloise speaks both korean and french comfortably, and has some notion of english.

she spent most of her life in montreal, only moving to south korea when she was already fifteen, when her grandfather passed and her parents had to move to take care of her grandmother, since her mother is an only child. eloise wasn’t too enthused about the move. she had her group of friends, she was part of the cheer squad and fairly popular, if not loved. 

but it was very different when she moved. her parents insisted on putting her and her sister in a regular high school and it was a terrible experience for eloise overall. the kids were terrible about her being half-korean and eloise had no friends whatsoever. after dedicating so much of her life to cheering, at best she could only take dance classes between an strenuous studying schedule. 

one habit she kept from her years in canada was singing in church. eloise took a few lessons for choir in school, even in south korea, but she never thought about making singing her career, it was only a hobby for her. auditioning for a company didn’t register as a possibility for her until one of her teachers suggested she try auditioning to legacy in early 2020. 

eloise both sang and danced for the audition and even thought she got some criticism in regards to the fluidity of her dancing, her vocal tone gave her the boost she needed to be accepted into the company. 

for the past two years, she’s been focusing the most on training her vocals, her dancing and her korean. everything else eloise doesn’t put quite as much effort into and it shows. she’s been told to start focusing on other skills, but she’s a little bit stubborn. 

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘

as it was mentioned, eloise is a bit stubborn. even though other kids tried their best to break her, she has a lot of certainty in who she is and what she does best, and it takes some effort to break her out of that stubborness. 

like a true virgo, she’s very organized and reliable. she works really well with set schedules and carries around an ipad with a digital journal where she writes down her tasks and everything she’s supposed to do + deadlines. 

eloise is also kind to a fault. being bullied didn’t really harden her. if anything, it made her crave even more the acceptance and love of others, and she thinks the best way to do that is to be as kind and loving to anyone she encounters. when she’s given even a fraction of love and affection, it makes her very happy. 

[sevlgi]

the special one

requested: yes

group: mamamoo

pairing: moonbyul x fem!reader

genre: fluff, angst

contents: vampire!moonbyul, bartender!reader

warnings: blood, weapons, vampires

synopsis: Moonbyul was always used to getting her way. So encountering an entire bar warned against her powers, and led by a surprisingly feisty human, wasn’t exactly on her bucket list.

a/n: lowkey wanted to wait for byul’s birthday to post this but i couldn’t wait :D enjoy!!

word count: 3.3k

As soon as she stepped into the bar, Byulyi could smell the thing she had been craving for the past month. Well, two things: blood, and some good alcohol.

She paid no mind to the hands grabbing at her as she slid through the crowd, skillfully evading being pulled into a dance circle by a group of admittedly pretty girls. Sure, they were easy targets for feeding, but there needed to be some alcohol in her system before she dealt with horny foreigners.

“A bottle of your finest soju, please.”

She smiled at the waiter who turned around, a girl probably barely 20 years old. A perfect target, then- someone who didn’t know the kinds of creatures that frequented the darker bars of Seoul.

It wasn’t even an egotistical thing to say that no one had been able to resist the allure of Byulyi’s gaze for centuries, and she never expected an almost teenaged girl to be the one to break that record. To her surprise, the kid looked down instantly, voice sounding odd as she polished the glass in her hands. “One second, ma’am.”

Pursing her crimson-stained lips, the vampire checked her clothing for the unlikely chance of bloodstains on the black fabric. Maybe it was the dark smeared eye makeup? But usually, all her looks did was draw more people in, even without using the power behind her eyes...

“Another one of you, eh?”

When her eyes shifted over to the staff door that the boy had entered, she found a defiant gaze, eyebrows cocked and hip jutting to one side. Unlike the earlier bartender, you stared right into her eyes without a change to your expression, no lust or euphoria seeping into cold irises. “I’m sorry, you are?” Byulyi asked, sending you a small smile. 

You remained unimpressed, flinging a dishrag onto the bar counter as you slammed your hands down onto the stone and leaned in closer. In close proximity, you were interestingly beautiful, the lack of sympathy attractive in some twisted way. “Y/N. Manager, and a strong hater of you vampires. See yourself out.”

The short-haired woman shrugged, leaning back in the barstool and crossing her arms. “I don’t think I will, manager. Tell me, did you train the kid how to recognize people like me?”

Taking a good look at the points of Byulyi’s nails and the glint to her teeth, you evidently decided not to fight her, gritting your teeth instead as you matched her stance. “Ryujin’s smart. She isn’t as strong as me, maybe, but she knows enough to not be caught in your trap.”

Every word spat out of your mouth sounds like a barbed and poisoned insult aimed right at the vampire’s heart, but they make no impact on stone skin. Still smiling, Byulyi waved a hand at the alcohol littering the bar. “Well, since you know not to fight me, how about that soju?”

You bristled at being ordered to do something, but set an ice-cold bottle of the soju down on the counter. “The most expensive in the house,” you hissed, shoving it over at her. “And you’re going to have to pay. No one else is coming to serve you tonight, now that I know what you are.”

“See you soon, manager,” she saluted, cracking the soju open with a simple flick of her wrist. Even if nothing else resulted from the night, she’d found another first.

You were going to be the first person that Byulyi won over by herself, without the influence of any powers whatsoever. And yes, she would win you over somehow. Eventually.

At first, Byulyi had been confused by the vendetta you seemed to have against vampires. It was true that she didn’t fit in with the clan system that most vampires in the city (or world) tended to adopt, but she didn’t think that anyone could be bad enough to make you quite so wary.

And it just so happened that the next time she dared to visit your bar, you were dealing with the difficult ones.

“I told you that we don’t allow vamps for a reason,” you scowled, eyes flicking between those of the five girls who stood with their arms crossed before you. “I may not be able to control you, but I sure as hell won’t let you feed on innocents.”

Irene exchanged a glance with Joy, who was just about to step forward when another voice interrupted the conversation. “Hey. Are you giving the manager trouble?”

You glared at Byulyi as well, though there wasn’t the venom that you directed at the clan. “Rogue. You’re going against us?” Seulgi asked, head cocked to a side. “Isn’t it in your best interest too to get rid of this... human?”

Strolling forward with her hands in the pockets of her pants, Byulyi sighed. “Look, manager here is stronger than you think. And if I want to remain in her best interests, be able to come to this bar sometimes, I’ll do what she asks. Including throwing you out.”

Despite the numbers of the clan, there was no possible way any of the five could match up to Byulyi’s sheer experience. She wasn’t violent compared to some, but she could certainly hold her own in a fight. You were silent behind the bar, but the stare you directed at the clan spoke volumes.

“Fine,” Yeri rolled her eyes, lips pinching together. “Come on. Survive another day, right?”

As they filed out of the bar, Byulyi’s eyes remained on them until the door swung shut. “You didn’t have to do that,” you said with your back turned, hands scrubbing at a bottle for no reason.

“Don’t worry, it was fun,” she grinned, sliding onto the barstool. “Is this why you dislike us vamps? Not all of us are like them, you know.”

You turned just to send her a half-hearted glare. “No, that’s not why. I always- I never liked you undead things, and being immune to your powers doesn’t help anything. But hoity-toity ones like them make it worse.”

The vampire leaned her chin on her hand, watching you work. The reddish glare of the bar’s lights only made the column of your throat look more inviting, but Byulyi wasn’t reckless enough to attack someone capable of resisting her. Besides, you were an interesting one. “I see. Well, if anyone tries to mess with you again, you call me,” she jested, smiling wider when you scoffed.

“Sure.” But contrasting your cold words, you slid a bottle of soju over to her, the same flavor that she’d liked best the last time. “On the house this time. But I don’t owe you anything after this,” you warned.

“Come on, a bottle of soju isn’t enough,” Byulyi pouted, laughing when you scrunched your nose. “You owe me a favor. I’m responsible, promise, I won’t ask for your blood or anything.”

You hesitated before agreeing, but finally allowed her to shake your hand. “Fine. A favor- geez, your hands are cold.”

She stared down at the pale skin once you had jerked away, a slight warmth from your human hands lingering. “I guess. I mean, I’m dead, what do you expect?”

“Dead, huh?” You almost look sympathetic for once, pouring out some soju for the both of you. “What’s that like?”

Byulyi raised an eyebrow as she clinked her glass against yours. “Being dead? Well, I don’t remember that. But now, it’s similar to being alive. My heart still beats, if that’s what you’re wondering. That’s what makes it hard for people to realize that we aren’t human too.”

“It still beats?” you frowned, scrunching your entire face at the taste of alcohol burning the back of your throat. “I always hear differently.”

She reached out for your hand, holding on loosely when you allowed her to hold it. “Come on, feel.”

You exhaled sharply when you felt the pounding at the pulsepoint of Byulyi’s neck, leaning in closer as if that’d allow you to hear it, too. When you looked down, though, you realized the position you were in. “If anyone looked at us, they’d think I was the vampire.”

“You’re right, aren’t you?” she smiled, only tilting her head more to expose her neck to you. “You could kill me right now.”

“Aren’t you already dead?” You bent down under the counter to hide the heat in your cheeks, your fingertips icy just from a couple seconds of contact. “How would I kill you?”

The vampire shrugged, “Wooden stake works on the weaker ones. Holy water, if you had any, but that one takes a lot to kill. For us older ones, the only thing that works is a sacred bullet; hard to come by for you humans, which is why you don’t know about it.”

Frowning, you looked over from the vault of good alcohol stored under the bar. “Huh. What else is fake?”

Byulyi scrunched her nose, looking remarkably like a cute and harmless hamster in a slightly bloodstained black outfit when she did. She was almost charming when she pondered your question, tapping blunt fingernails against her chin. “The mirror thing is, my friend Yongsun spends hours staring at herself. So’s the garlic allergy. I like garlic.”

“Good to know,” you chuckled when you stood up again. “Enjoy your soju, Byulyi  .”

She ghosted her own hands over your fingerprints marring the frosted glass of the alcohol bottle, bringing the entire thing to her lips. “I will.”

Seulgi’s grip was iron tight as she pulled your head back by your hair, your wrists straining against the duct tape holding them together as your scalp screamed. “I’ll ask you again. Where is she?”

Ryujin’s eyes were nothing short of terrified over the tape clamping over her mouth, but you remained firm with your chin jutting out. “I. Don’t. Know. I don’t serve vampires, and I don’t protect them.”

Scoffing, Irene scraped a fingernail against your cheek, the skin tearing under the serrated tip. “Don’t lie. She saved you from us last time, and Byulyi doesn’t risk her rogue status for just anyone.”

Glancing up at the ceiling, or the floor of your actual bar, Wendy mused, “I wonder if she’d hear you scream. If you mean so much to her, what would she give to save you?”

You sighed, going limp just to shake your head. “I told you. Byulyi protected me out of spite against you, not because she gives a shit about me. And I won’t scream. You can kill me in peace, as soon as you--”

Crashing into Wendy, the door to the basement slammed open with a kick from the very person you claimed to not give a shit about you. Byulyi finally looked like the vampire you feared her to be from the start, dark eyes ablaze with something that quite honestly frightened you. Her dark clothing swirled around her in the dusty air, pale brown hair glinting gold as her own nails cut the bonds holding Ryujin. “Go.”

She ran as told, too fast for Yeri’s claws to grasp onto the hem of her work jacket. “So it worked,” Joy smiled, cocking the slightly rusty pistol in her hand. Sacred bullet, you remembered, struggling more against your bonds when you realized what that bullet could do to the vampire glaring daggers at her opponents. “Stupid of you.”

In a sudden burst of strength, the duct tape ripped and you surged up, feeling at least a couple locks of hair remain in Seulgi’s fist. But in that rush, you tackled the tallest girl in the room, all breath knocked out of your lungs at the impact.

Scrambling for the gun, you screamed out at the feeling of sharp points sinking into your arm, hand faltering. “Let go--”

A harsh crack sounded by your ear when Byulyi’s foot stomped down on Joy’s ribs, her fangs pulling out just as your fingers closed around the gun. You panted as you twisted, blood dripping from your arm onto your face as you pressed the stone cold barrel into the girl’s pretty face. “Stand up,” you breathed, hands shaking as she eyed you. “Stand.”

The other four in her clan circled around you; despite the fact that you had no clue whatsoever about how to handle the weapon in your hands, you hoped that the fierce expression on your face was enough to convince them. Byulyi’s hand was surprisingly gentle on your shoulder, as was the expression on her face when she smiled at you. “Well. I believe you know what the blessed bullet in this gun does, and I’m sure you know better than to fight me on this.”

Irene hissed, fangs glistening under the dim lighting of the basement, “You don’t have Yongsun with you right now. What makes you think we can’t kill you, and your pretty human girlfriend too?”

Byulyi’s lips curved up in a smile as the cocking of another gun sounded by the basement door, Ryujin’s brow furrowed as she aimed. “Unlike this one, which I bet you only loaded one bullet into, that pistol over there has 4 bullets, straight from the hands of a priest,” the vampire explained with her hands behind her back. “More than enough to kill all of you, if I don’t get to you first.”

Yeri was already tugging at the wrist of Wendy, who stared futilely at the gun still pressed into Joy’s neck. Finally, Seulgi spoke up with a wavering voice, Irene not bothering to dispute as she asked, “What do you want? Money?”

“I want you to stay away from this bar, and with it, Y/N,” Byulyi gestured, deep voice smooth as she turned to you, sending a greasy wink that you rolled your eyes at. “And I’ll be telling all the other clans about this... incident. Sound fair?”

You breathed out a shallow sigh of relief when Irene nodded tentatively. “Good. Then get out, and don’t expect the pistol back,” you warned, waving Ryujin to get out of the stairway. “I don’t ever want to see your faces again.”

“I can’t thank you enough.”

Byulyi shrugged, clinking sojus with a grin on her face. She looked positively delighted, though she wasn’t the one with bite marks on her arm and a scrape on her cheekbone. “No need to. It was fun.”

“Fun?” you scoffed, downing the alcohol. “I wouldn’t call it that. But seriously, what do you want in return? That’s two favors I owe you now.”

“Is it?” she blinked. “I wasn’t keeping track.”

Looking out over the bar, you smiled at the sight of a vampire-free crowd, customers downing Ryujin’s specialty drinks as music boomed in LED speakers. “Yeah. Two favors. You better think fast, vampy.”

“There is one thing in mind.”

You raised an eyebrow and looked back over, head tilting when you realized that Byulyi wasn’t staring back like she usually did. “Yeah? What’s up?”

She cleared her throat suddenly, though you were sure that alcohol didn’t burn her like it did you. “I don’t want to use the favors for this, since I think that’d be immoral, but I... I want to be closer to you.”

Flicking your hand in the air between the two of you, you clarified, “What’s that mean? You wanna be friends? You wanna sit closer to me? Or sex--”

“No!” She held her hands out in front of her; to your satisfaction, you were sure that she’d be blushing if she was capable of it. “I may feel something for you. Not sexual, but something that I haven’t felt in a while. If I can, I’d like to use both my favors to call you my... girlfriend. Is that the term you use these days?”

“A girlfriend?” you laughed, shaking your head as you leaned forward in your chair. “That’s great and all, but you’ve barely known me for a month.”

Despite being a (not-so) human being, Byulyi visibly deflated. Without realizing it, your hand shot out and settled on her knee, thumb caressing the rough material of her jeans. “Okay. Then how about this: I will be your girlfriend. But it’ll be probational, like our alliance. As soon as you do something to piss me off, which I’m sure will be soon, I’ll decide if it’ll continue.”

She grinned, nose scrunching up as she offered you a toast. “Sounds perfect to me.”

The clink of the glass bottles was the chime of bells ringing in a new chapter, clear over the drunk energies of the night. Not wedding bells, of course- that wouldn’t happen for a good hundred more years. 

[citydreamgrls]

they were roommates part seven

a weasley twins x fem!reader fic

summary: she had nowhere to go, fleeing home to pursue something along the lines of freedom, so being welcomed into the entrepreneurial twins life was a whole world of new experiences waiting to happen.

an: i was looking through my older posts and saw someone who said they really enjoyed my ‘adoptive daughter’ one shot ( thanks <3 ) and they also mentioned that they wanted it to be a full fic, like a proper story and all, so like i’m thinking about it. if i was gonna do it, would you guys prefer to see an extended ‘the adoptive daughter’ where i kind of drag it out more, and extend the storyline past that one shot. or would you rather just a completely new fic, no previous plot lines whatsoever? 

words: 6,279

After the night on the rooftop, things began looking up for all three of the people living in Weasleys’ Wizards Wheezes. Fred started acting like his usual self, now with the knowledge that he and y/n stood a chance together. George enjoyed having his two closest friends back in their right minds, and overall, no one was breaking in.

“So what could you possibly have to complain about!” Ginny guffawed, earning some glances from other customers inside the cafe she and y/n had stopped at one sunny afternoon.

The girl giggled, blushing at the brief attention before lowering her voice.

“I’m not complaining, I’m very lucky.” “Of course you are, not only was Bill in love with you- now Fred is!” The youngest Weasley was yet to calm herself over the news that her best friend was still going to be in with the family.

“I was only saying how I needed a bit of a break from the boys-”

“Spare me the lies- you couldn’t keep away from me for more than a week could you!” Ginny laughed, her head throwing back in the process.

It was true that y/n longed to see Ginny whenever they were apart, the girl and Hermione acting like her long lost sisters when they got together. But since she and Fred had gotten a little closer than friends; the loft seemed more cramped than ever. Not to mention that the twins had been pranking her all week long, showing no mercy to her begs for them to stop.

“Here she is!” The redhead announced, making Hermione frown at her friend before noticing the empty wine glasses on the table.

-

“I’m not that late am I?” She joked, taking a seat at their little table before ordering another round for them all.

“Oh no, Gin was just very excited to get started.” Y/n giggled, the alcohol only rouging her cheeks slightly.

“I can tell, your laugh was echoing down the alley,” ‘Mione smirked, leaning back and taking a sip of her own with a relieved sigh. “It feels good to have a break.”

“I haven’t stopped practising in months, this feels like an early christmas.” Ginny mused, reminding them all of why they were gathering in the first place.

Upon learning that y/n had the afternoon free, Ginny had raced over to the loft to take her own, sending an owl to Hermione telling her to sack off work so they could go for drinks. The desk maniac had grumbled, not one to walk out on a whim, but gave in when she thought back to how long it had been since she had seen the girls.

“Perks of being the head of your own department,” She grinned, eyeing up the girl beside her. “And how did you convince tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee to free you?”. Y/n ignored Weasley's look of confusion and giggled.

“I already had the afternoon off, luckily.”

“And Fred loves you.” Ginny slurred, calling the waiter over yet again.

“What!” Hermione squealed, having not been caught up since the girl and Bill decided not to pursue things. “When did this happen?”

“He doesn’t love me, Ginny, you minx.” Y/n slapped her friends wrist lightly.

“Oh he so does!”

Hermione frowned, remembering the conversation she and Fred had shared back at the burrow, how devastated he’d been just at the sight of the girl with Bill. If only she could reveal all that he’d told her, then y/n would know the truth. But Hermione knew all she could do to help was urge her into seeing what was obviously already there.

“He’s been looking after me, since the incident- then there was this thing on the roof the other night.” She explained to her friends.

“Not to mention you guys kissed!” Ginny piped up, and the look of shock on Hermione’s face was purely comical.

“Oh come on it wasn’t like that!” The girl defended, not wanting to rush into the idea that her feelings for Fred were reciprocated. “I kissed him.”

Hermione pulled her work blazer off and rested it on the back of the chair, preparing for what could only be an intense afternoon of grilling their new friend for details. That was as long as Ginny had anything to do with it, and Hermione would never say it, but she too lived for the same kind of gossip.

“Did he kiss you back?” She sipped on her wine politely, all the while watching her over the glass.

“Well- yeah but-” “Then he likes you!” Ginny squealed, positively ecstatic at the situation, her nose wrinkling up as she couldn’t stop smiling. Y/n admired how fearless the girl was as she gazed upon her hopeful sister-in-law.

“Oh will you just drop it,” The girl jokingly whined, rolling her eyes.

“Not until I see you in a wedding dress my girl!” She announced.

-

The three girls spent the rest of the day sharing stories and gossip, most of their time was used up discussing whether Hermione’s new secretary was pregnant or just ate really weird food. In the end they never came to a conclusion, Ginny having gotten side tracked when the other two had tried explaining what a Jaffa cake was to her.

By the time they paid the poor waiter, who seemed traumatised in their drunken company; the sun was just setting and they stumbled through the alley to drop y/n off at the twins’ front door.

“S-see home safe…” She giggled, leaning against the door and falling a little when the last customer tried to leave. “Oh sorry!” She tried to call out, but the three women were already in an unstoppable roar of laughter.

“You’re no safer in their company than ours!” Hermione tried to argue, gesturing to the two men inside, who had stopped what they were doing to try and comprehend what on earth was going on outside.

“And we’re sober!” Ginny cried. “Oh no- we’re not sober- they are.” She corrected herself, propping her head onto ‘Mione’s shoulder with a sweet giggle. The redhead’s eyes closed momentarily, before opening when her crutch decided to move off.

“See you soon y/n!” Hermione waved, dragging Ginny behind her, who tried to give her best goodbye given the state she was in.

“Better retrieve little miss clumsy before she breaks a bone.” George scoffed, seeing the way the girl struggled to open the front door. Fred could only smile, glad that she had agreed to go out with Ginny, not that their sister would have let her decide regardless.

“Come here you!” He laughed and helped her inside, she slumped against his side slightly with a giggle.

“Missed you twooo…” She drawled, sprawling her body against the counter once she was let down by the man at her side.

Fred kept a subtle, watchful eye on her, noticing the way she swayed back and forth and was in danger of smacking her head against a nearby shelf if she chose to fall backwards.

“Our sister is a bad influence on you.” George grinned, ruffling her hair as he counted up the cash from the day’s earnings.

“She’s gr-reat.” The girl blushed, turning her head to smile at Fred, even if her eyes were tightly closed.

“Did you know that Ron still sleeps with a teddy?” She blurted out, catching both men's attention as they plonked her down on a stool. Her drunken body was more of a caution than they cared to admit, so decided to keep her out of the way as they cleared up.

“He does?” George laughed, dumbstruck by this new and incredibly embarrassing piece of information about his youngest brother.

“Yeah. Hermione told me all about it- ssays that he throws a ffit whenever she tries to hide it from him.” The girl couldn’t help but laugh to herself as she slurred her words.

“That’s brilliant! He’s never gonna hear the end of this.” Fred shook his head in disbelief as he swept the floor around the girl’s feet. Her laugh was like music, sounding out in between small rambles of her time with the two girl’s. It seemed to make time pass faster.

“All done?” She asked, cocking her head like a puppy when Fred stopped in front of her.

“Yes darling, all done. Come on, let’s get some food in you, you must be starving-” The girl nodded silently, like a peaceful child, as he gave her a piggyback up to the loft, basking in her tiny squeals of excitement.

-

As y/n sobered up over multiple slices of pizza, Fred enjoyed the moment of blissful solitude he felt from the rest of the world. Curled up on their sofa, the girl was the only thing important to him. She would look up every few minutes to check that he was still there, despite the fact that he had a permanent arm sloped around her shoulders. He didn’t mind, she was cute.

George was just happy for things to be back to how they were. The three of them all getting along, with an endless supply of boozy evenings in the kitchen and dance parties late into the night whenever they felt like it.

Y/n had brought more life into their lonely loft, and for that the twins would be eternally grateful. In fact, as George peered over the other two he longed for her to stay with them forever, fearful of a future where she wasn’t giggling on their sofa, or watching the lights with stars in her eyes, or dancing in the kitchen, or helping little kids play pranks on their parents.

Things were finally… normal.

-

“He’s always the first to crash.” Fred scoffed, hearing his brother’s snores from down the hall. The girl in his loose arms laughed, the feeling flowing through her body onto his own.

“At least he was polite enough to do it in his own bed this time.” “That’s true, I have back pain from the amount of times I’ve had to carry him from the sofa.”

Since the night on the roof, both Fred and the girl had become much more relaxed around one another. The man finding comfort in holding her, in one way or another whenever they were together. It made things easier that she visibly brightened up whenever he did so, her little cheeks warming as she would play with her sleeves to distract herself.

As it was they were laying back on the sofa, Fred propped up against the arm to serve as her chair so she could see the stars better.

“I did say we could go onto the roof, they’d be easier to see from there.” He reminded her, his face rested on her shoulder.

“I like it here,” The girl smiled, sinking even deeper into his chest with a happy sigh.

After some time the pair fell asleep, their faces still positioned up to the living room’s windows as they breathed lightly against each other. Fred’s body wrapped around the girl’s, as she rested beneath the blanket she’d grabbed about an hour earlier.

The man’s body twitched, a small grumble leaving his parted lips when he felt a sharp twinge in his lower back, one that woke him from his slumber. The girl followed suit, mumbling something about heading to bed, but making no move to do so.

“Come on,” Fred sighed, giving in to the pain the sofa was causing him, and stood up to hold out a hand for the girl.

He gave her a long hug as they stood alone in the dark room, only the light from the kitchen giving them some clue of the nearby obstacles. The girl’s arms stayed around Fred, unwilling to let go, almost as if she could tell that he too didn’t want her to go.

“Y-you could sleep up here if you want?” He asked quietly and cautiously, not wanting to spook her with anything too serious. The girl looked up, into his nervous eyes, and nodded.

“Yeah… but n-not because I’m scared or anything-” “Oh yeah of course not.” Fred nodded, a small smile on his lips.

“I just want you to know that I want to stay because I want to, no other reason- you know?”

Fred laughed at how she rambled before him.

“I think so… but you lost me somewhere in there.” “Shut up.” She grumbled, hiding her smile badly.

The two of them went up to Fred’s room, resting in one anothers hold just as easily as they’d done on the sofa so many nights before. Y/n pushed past the memories of his bed, not wanting to remember the circumstances under which she was last in there.

Instead she focused on the man beside her who, despite his tired nature, couldn’t bring himself to fall asleep until she did in case she needed him.

“I’m glad you’re here,” He whispered, her face appearing better as his eyes adjusted to the pitch black room. “I’m glad I stayed.”

A large hand rested upon the girl’s face, the skin smooth and warm as she closed her eyes beneath his touch. She couldn’t help but hold her breath, feeling the intensity between them growing as he ran his fingertips slowly over her face and onto her jaw.

Fred’s lips felt even better as he pressed them against her neck with restrained passion, the short gasps from the girl only urging him to finally give in to his desires with every passing second.

When the man leant up, pulling away from her skin, he saw the way her eyes shined as they locked into his. She greeted him with a small smile, still in awe of the moment.

“You okay?” He whispered, worried that she was having second thoughts.

“I’m great.”

The girl took his face in her hands, holding tight so she could keep him as close as possible while she kissed him, properly this time. With no regrets, no second thoughts, and not even a glimpse of hesitation, she finally let her body take over.

-

George sat at the kitchen table, his mug of coffee hovering over his mouth as he watched the clock on the wall; wondering when either one of the missing pair were going to turn up before the shop opened. His question was answered when the sound of Fred’s door closing echoed throughout the loft, followed by a quiet curse.

“Ah! Caught you!” He shouted, making the girl jump out of her skin as she attempted to creep through the living room.

“Oh… Georgie- I-uh I didn’t realise you were awake.” She stuttered, halting at the door when she remembered she was covered in Fred’s old quidditch jersey.

“Well, we do open in twenty minutes.” He smirked, nodding at her appearance.

She looked down at herself with a nervous laugh.

“I-I was just borrowing this for… um… for-” “Cut the crap. I already know.” George laughed, deciding that he’d teased the poor girl enough for one morning.

Y/n just rolled her eyes and sat down across from him, stealing his toast from the plate.

“How did you know?” She asked, crumbs falling onto her lap as she curled up in the wooden chair with bleary eyes.

“Well first off you two aren’t exactly subtle with the lovey-dovey gazes at one another.” He scoffed.

“Come on, it’s not that bad.” She argued playfully, taking his coffee too and taking a large, well-needed, gulp.

“No, I suppose it’s not-” He gave in, the smirk still painfully strong however. “But the sound of you two going at it all night, that kind of gave it away.”

The girl choked on her mouthful of toast, close to spitting it out at George’s blunt words.

“Oh god.” She sputtered out, grabbing his drink once again to settle her surprised coughs.

“I mean- really! Did you both forget that magic exists?” “Was it that loud?” She seemed to be surprised, even at her own capabilities.

“Please- don’t make me relive it.” George groaned, dodging the girl’s light slap as she leant over the table to strike him.

“What are you shouting about-” Fred froze in the doorway when he noticed y/n was still wearing his clothes, even after she’d told him she was sneaking down to change before his brother noticed.

“Gig’s up freddie boy! You’ve been caught!” George announced, throwing his hands in the air like he was at an actual quidditch game, which was very fitting.

“Oh y/n! Come on! He saw you?”

The girl scoffed along with George.

“Do not blame me, he knew well before I came down.” The girl defended herself with a smile, hiding her face behind the coffee cup which she had now claimed as her own.

“What? How?” Fred asked, seeing his brother’s face drop slightly.

“Please- not again.” He begged, this time blind to the girl’s smack on the back of his head as she moved to the sink.

“Right drama queens,” She teased, “Long day ahead of us, huh?” The girl winked at Fred, making his brother groan out in playful disgust.

“I have to live with this now- OW!” Fred was much better at hitting his brother, knowing where it would hurt most.

-

“So, where are you two gonna go on a date?” Ginny asked, leaning against a shelf of electric shock shakes that the girl was stacking up.

“It’s not like that Gin- we’re taking things slow.” She told her friend, making sure they were out of earshot of the man in question.

“Boring!” The youngest Weasley wasn’t one for subtly, especially when she had more free-time on her hands while on break from quidditch practices.

“Ooh what about somewhere really romantic- like paris!” The redhead exclaimed, startling some passing customers.

“What’s in paris?” Y/n laughed, passing it off as a joke.

“Umm- what’s not in paris more like.”

“I’m not in Paris.” George stuck his head between the two girls, making them jump in shock. Ginny shoved him away slightly.

“Get lost, no one wants you to third wheel their date.” She complained.

“You and Freddie are dating? I thought this was purely casual.” He frowned.

The girl whipped round.

“It is casual, but Ginny’s got it in her head that we’re on the road to marriage or something.”

“Well duh, eventually you will be.” Her friend scoffed, acting as though she was the only one in their right minds. “We should go shopping, I saw this perfect dress down at Madam Malkins’ the other day- I could get it for you.” “No, you’ve done enough for me-” The girl tried to protest, but Ginny was too lost in the idea to stop rambling on about Paris and new dresses and romantic restaurants.

“I’ve seen her like this before,” George whispered, seeing the look of fear on the girl’s face as she saw no way out. “Sometimes, if you back away very slowly, she doesn’t even notice that you’re gone.” He explained, grabbing her wrist and taking her away very slowly.

It turned out George was very experienced with Ginny taming, and they managed to get away unscathed.

“That’ll keep her busy for at least twenty minutes.” He laughed, from the safety of the counter, where he could pretend to be busy if she tried to hassle him.

“What? The sound of her own voice.” “Honestly, it’s a strange sight- but she can entertain herself like no one else.” He laughed, reminiscing on times when he’d find a six year old Ginny Weasley interviewing herself in the bathroom mirror like she was writing an article for the prophet.

“You’re a lifesaver Georgie.”

“What are we hiding from?” Fred whispered, poking his head between the two just as George had done earlier. It garnered a similar reaction, with both jumping at the sound of his voice.

“Little miss chatterbox over there.” George sighed, slumping into the stool that laid behind the till.

“Oh yeah, it’s best to let her wear herself out when she’s like this.” Fred nodded, putting down the boxes he’d been carrying. “Has she mentioned paris yet?” He asked.

“How did you know?” Y/n gasped, eyeing him up suspiciously.

“Oh she cornered me earlier, honestly I thought I’d never get away-” He huffed at the memory, “I ended up knocking over a lamp just so I could have a reason to get away.”

Freddie handed a dustpan and brush to his brother.

“That reminds me, cleanup on aisle two.” He teased, giving George a playful smack on the back as he sloped off to reluctantly do Fred’s dirty work.

“You’re cruel,” The girl grinned, leaning into his side like it was second nature to them.

“Don’t deny it- you love it.”

She looked up at the man with a wide smile, one that he would have to dream of every night if it hadn’t been there beside him when he woke up that morning.

“I know we said casual-” The girl started, instilling a little fear in them both. “-so this isn’t me asking for a date, don’t worry. But there is somewhere we could go. She offered up with a hopeful look. “If you wanted to watch the stars, that is.”

Fred leant up against the back wall, his body about a head taller than the girl’s as he smirked down at her.

“Are you telling me that my beautiful roof isn’t enough for you?” He teased, clutching his heart like it had been stabbed by her words. “I’m hurt!” “Well- if you come with me then we can decide which is better, yeah?” She smirked and Freddie couldn’t help but give in to her perfect little face.

“Of course darling, oh- watch out, Ginny’s clocked us.”

Fred scurried away, ducking his head, and leaving the girl to fend for herschel against his sister’s constant stream of date ideas.

“Traitor!” She called after him, huffing in defeat when Ginny whipped out a dress catalogue, flicking through to show her all the pages she had marked. Where had she got that from?

-

Once the shop served it’s last customer, and the twins forcibly removed their little sister from y/n’s side, all three of them settled in for the night. George, being the secret granddad he truly was, went off to bed early with complaints of back pain. That only made the teasing easier.

“I was the one doing heavy lifting too!” Fred called after him from the kitchen, cleaning up their dirty plates.

“We are all painfully aware- given how often you mention it.” The girl laughed, rolling her eyes as he bared his teeth to her. “Play nice.” She sneered, jumping out of the way while the man tried to flick water onto her with his wand.

Once their miniature water fight ended with a truce, the girl wrapped her arms around Fred’s waist, nuzzling her head into his back with a comfortable hum. The man smiled to himself, one hand conducting the dishes before him and the other rubbing gently over her fingers.

“So,” He started, his voice rumbling through his body. “You gonna tell me where we’re going later?” “Nope, it’s a surprise.” She giggled.

“Or a kidnapping- it sounds like a kidnapping.” He insisted, teasing the girl as she spoke.

“I promise that I won’t kidnap you, especially since you and Georgie were kind enough to not be creeps when I moved in.”

“I wouldn’t speak too soon darling.” Fred warned, finally setting down his wand and grabbing her body to hold her properly.

She wrapped her legs around him, leaning back to get a good look at the man’s face.

“What?” He asked her.

“Nothing. I’m just looking.”

“Well, I don’t blame you.” He scoffed, planting soft kisses onto her cheeks and all over her face, basking in the squeaks of happiness that she made with each one.

-

It was well past midnight when the girl finally convinced Fred to leave the loft, their make out session having gotten a little heated once they moved it to the bedroom. At least this time one of them remembered to cast a silencing spell, the fear of another lecture from George becoming a real threat to the couple.

“I’m coming- chill out,” Fred laughed, seeing the girl waiting in the middle of the living room with a nervous tap in her feet. “Let me just grab a jacket.”

“I’m getting impatient Freddie,” She whined out, excited to show him her favourite spot.

The man chuckled as he took her hand, giving her one last look of pride before they disappeared from the loft with a flash of air. Y/n had never apparated before she left home, but the twins had been eager to teach her how, seeing as she had enjoyed it much more than the floo line.

“Where the hell is this place?” Freddie frowned when they landed in the middle of a wooded clearing, only the sound of rustling leaves to be heard around them. The man spun round, taking in the serenity of this place compared to the bustling city.

“This is Godstone cove,” The girl explained, taking his hand again and leading him through the woods, closer to where they could see the moon shining through the trees.

“This is a forest y/n.”

“I know this isn’t the cove, but there is one- come on!” She pulled him, still just as impatient as when she had been waiting for him to leave.

As the moon’s light became brighter, the trees began to dwindle away, revealing a small patch of patch in front of them. The water licked across it gently, barely making a sound. Fred stood watching the sky’s light ripple over the waves.

“Here we are.” She announced, taking a seat on the sand with a happy sigh. Fred followed suit, his eyes locked on the stars above them. She was right, it was a perfect place to watch them.

“How did you find this place?” He asked her, an arms fixed round her waist as they laid back on the sand.

“My aunt took me here when I was younger, it was the closest thing to a beach that I’d ever see.” “You never mentioned an aunt.” The man’s voice was quiet, almost a whisper, as if they didn’t want to disturb the peace all around them.

“I only knew her for a short time. She was my father’s sister and she was great, she’d always bring me presents and play with me- but she travelled a lot.” “Why did she leave?” It was like he already knew, he knew something had gone wrong.

“I don’t remember much about it-” She started, hesitantly, but still with a welcome smile on her face. Just the memory of her aunt, even the unpleasant ones, still filled her with warmth. “But she and my father got into an argument, a bad one, and she said something about leaving the country for good.”

“And your father didn’t like that?” “I think he hated the idea of being away from her, not being able to look after her when she needed it. Except it came out as hatred… which only pushed her away even more.” “I’m sorry y/n,” He held her closer, knowing that talking about her family had never come easy to the girl.

“She brought me here the day before she left, our last adventure, that’s what she’d told me.” Her little chuckle still sounded sad. “Then that was it, my parents never spoke of her again- even if I tried to bring her up, they would just tell me to forget her.”

The water sloshed against the small wooden pier beside them as they laid in each other’s arms.

“You know my family loves you.” Fred said, out of the blue.

“They’re all brilliant,” She beamed, thankful that they had brought her such kindness.

“Well then you don’t need anyone else, as long as you have us… and you always will.”

When the girl looked at him her eyes sparkled, maybe because of the stars, or maybe because of the threatening tears. But she didn’t care, she no longer wanted a family that outed her for being curious or one that planned her life to the day.

She had Fred, and that was all the girl could ever ask for.

“I love you.” The man blurted out, still staring deep into her soul. The girl went to respond, a few seconds later, to which he just interrupted. “-No, you don’t need to say it back, I don’t expect you to, I just wanted you to know- that’s all.”

“Freddie?” She asked with a grin, loving the way he rambled when he was nervous.

“Yes darling?” “I love you.”

-

The pair laid together for hours, watching the sun rise and drifting off  to the sound of rippling water. Freddie watched her sleep for a while, the orange glow of the waking sky lighting up her cheeks as he stroked them.

When they finally awoke together it was early enough for them to head back to the loft and still get some rest before the day began. Freddie held her, still drowsy, in his arms and apparated them back to his room, vowing to return to Godstone cove with her again when they next got the chance.

George had woken them both at 8 o’clock, with a less than lovely song about them shagging. Despite the fact that by the time Fred and y/n had made it back, neither of them would have been conscious enough to do so. Still it worked to get them out of bed, even if it was to hit him into silence.

“Ron said he’s gonna drop by today, something about dinner at the burrow.” He explained, rubbing his messy hair from his face, ignoring the scowl’s that Freddie was sending him.

“Oh yeah Hermione wrote a couple days ago to tell me, said Ron keeps forgetting to let you guys know.” The girl explained, watching the toaster with hopeful eyes.

“So you knew as well?” Fred asked.

“And didn’t tell us either?” George finished.

Y/n just laughed and leant against the counter.

“Well then what would be the point of Ron?” She proposed, to which both men amazingly agreed. “Your poor siblings.”

“Hey, you’re practically part of the family, remember- don’t think you’re excused from our teasing.” Fred scoffed.

“God don’t I know it.” She groaned.

“Ahh y/n as part of the family,” George dramatically stated, “does that mean you’re sleeping with your sister now?” He asked his brother.

“Fucking hell Georgie-”

“What’s wrong with you!” “Disgusting!” They cried out, the girl barely needing to move in order to place a good whack on the back of his head.

The man grimaced but basked in the chaos his off handed comment had created.

“Don’t even say that, she’s my girlfriend for merlin’s sake!” Fred chimed, unknowing of what he’d just announced in front of the other two.

All of them froze, George holding his mug still in the air, the girl with her hand ready on the fridge door and Freddie gripping the cereal box in one hand. All the while contemplating asking Hermione if she could help him find another time turner, just so he could avoid this tense silence.

The toaster popped up, jump-starting all three of them again, as if they had been reset.

“I am?” The girl finally spoke up.

“W-well… unless you have a problem with that?” Freddie joked, half cursing himself for not being a little more serious.

“You can run now, it’s not too late.” George whispered, but to whom it was unclear.

“Shut up George!” Both of them responded regardless, making it very clear how the girl felt.

“I don’t have a problem with that, I love you… remember?” She smiled, a little glint in her eye as she did.

George groaned, throwing his head onto the table with a thud.

“I can’t take you two!” He cried out.

“Then get laid!” The girl said sweetly, catching them all off guard. “Come on you two, stop gawking and get downstairs, we’re gonna be late opening.”

-

The night that everyone gathered at the burrow had been a celebratory one of sorts. Molly Weasley had been over the moon to see Fred so happy with the girl, after the confirmation that Bill wasn’t upset about it of course, and Ginny was using up her last evening of getting drunk before she was back to practising for the quidditch world cup.

Everyone else humoured the occasion, which had ended with a pile of empty firewhiskey bottles and some pitchy karaoke from Arthur and George. It hadn’t been a surprise that they ended up back at the loft in a pile of limbs, none of them anywhere near sober enough to stay standing while they apparated home.

“Leave him!” Fred wheezed, seeing how his brother hadn’t waited a single second before falling asleep on the hard wooden floor of the living room. “You know he’s impossible to wake when he’s like this.” The girl giggled, but agreed, letting his leg hit the floor after trying to drag him to his room.

“Come on, I’m exhausted.” The man groaned, taking her hand.

“Yes well that’s because you and Harry insisted on having a race around the house.” “Which I won, I’ll have you know!”

“Only because you jelly-legsed Harry- that’s right, I saw you do it!” She accused, with a smug grin on her face.

“Let me have it, just this once?” He pleaded.

“Fine… I’ll be up in a minute, I wanna get some clean pyjamas from downstairs.” The man nodded at her words, silently stumbling up the set of stairs to his room.

Y/n chuckled to herself, giving George another nudge as she passed him and lit her wand to shine the way down through the shop. Her room was untouched, given that she barely spent any time in it now that she slept with Freddie most nights. A part of her felt bad, but it was sad being away from her boyfriend when he was just a short walk from her.

Once the lamp was switched on she saw the unfamiliar owl at the window, its little beak too quiet to be heard as it tried to tap on the glass. Hurriedly she opened it up, taking the letter from between its beak and frowning.

The hand in which the letter was written made the girl’s stomach drop immediately, a feeling of impending doom washing over her as she slipped the parchment from the envelope with shaky hands.

Y/n, this nonsense has gone on far too long. Your Father and I have spent months tracking you down, and if this letter EVER finds you then just know that we are extremely disappointed. Though I’m sure that is a fact you must be aware of already. We request you return home immediately, from wherever it is you are holed up. You are too young to be alone in this world, there are all sorts of people who wish to pray on you.

As if it is bad enough that you have run away like some sort of delinquent, you have put a stain on our family name. Forever more will we have the reputation that our daughter cannot be controlled, however do you wish to find a husband that way? Who would want you when you’ve already been exposed to the smog of a spinster’s life, absolutely no one respectable, that’s who.

Now you will come home at once or else we will have no choice but to take more forceful measures to make sure you’re returned to our care. This is non negotiable, you will be punished, I will see to it.

Mother.

Why hadn’t it been a howler? The girl wondered, peering over the words with her eyes unwilling to blink between each letter written down. She had heard about the punishment from the twins, of course, and presumed that she hadn’t received one because she was always home. Maybe her mother was trying to lull her into a sense of security, hoping she would take her advice and just go back home to be punished like it seemed to be her parent’s wishes. The twins could help her understand it better, the girl thought, well Freddie at least, seeing as he was the only one alive.

She grabbed a change of clothes, and held onto the letter, lighting the way once again with her wand when there was a knock on the shop’s front door. The girl turned, pointing her wand to a figure who stood outside, in the alley.

“Neville?” She asked, frowning at the man, who had a look of worry on her face. She neared the door, a polite smile on her face, despite the fact that it was the early hours of the morning and all she wanted was to sleep. “What are you doing here?” She asked as she opened the door.

“Oh god y/n… I’m- I’m so sorry.” He stuttered shakily, turning his head a little to reveal the man crouching down at the edge of the building.

The alley was dark and it was a struggle to see much, but y/n couldn’t miss the glint of silver that reflected the moon. It had been a quick flash of light, enough to draw her eyes down, where the man held a blade threateningly towards them both.

“Now now, don’t make a scene sweetie.”

Taglist :  @hufflrpuffforfred​

[saudade-mayari]

Hi Luna! I have a question why you get so sensitive on student/teacher tropes or age gaps? Please don’t take this as an offense

hello hello! don’t worry im not offended in any way and i am truly happy for the genuine question, anon💙

hmm let’s start off with age gaps. not that i don’t like it because as i said before, i am comfortable writing huge age gaps for at least 8 years just as long as it doesn’t have a student-teacher relationship. i do love age gap trope in where they meet each other in a different setting. that’s just it. other than that i have no issues in age gaps or whatsoever.

as for student-teacher tropes... i do understand the writer's free space and love of tropes like that and i don't want to mess them up or force them not to like it or worse, stop writing it. if i am being honest i have read a great student/teacher fic written by my lovely moot, @crybabygalore. it's well written and i really commend it.

but... i really really get sensitive to this trope for various reasons, especially for middle school and high school students x teachers (I'm not saying i agree for college as well).

i would want to say that i grew up in a strict and conservative household but i know that's not a reason at all, maybe partly, but not entirely. during my mid-school and high school where i started doing ballroom and dancing, i have always looked up to my senseis. more of admiration because they're the ones who truly understood me.

i'm a problematic kid who almost got kicked out in her school, told i don't deserve to study in catholic schools (lol catholic school breeds the devils, i know it. im the proof), reported multiple times for picking up a fight but there is this one male teacher that always believed in me. my former teacher in math and ballroom coach and i have always looked up to him in a platonic sense.

when i volunteered to be a firefighter and scout, i had two male scoutmasters or senseis and these two helped me figure out what i really want to be. they hold such great key point in my heart to the extent that without them, i wouldn't be a resident doctor now.

my scoutmaster is not far from my age... just a 6-year gap. i always go back to him to catch up and talk about things even if im just a former student. i hold such great admiration for my teacher, and reading (or writing) high school reader x teacher drabbles makes my heart swell in a sense that i feel disrespected because i have only looked at them platonically. i hope i am getting my point! hahahaha

in college or when i entered my pharmacy major and med school where i showed half on my potential, i had a rough life. none of my relatives believed in me. it was harsh and hard plus the stress in my program, but i had great professors who supported me like a doting parent. i just don't see myself or rather writing a trope about teacher and student in a non-platonic way because i have stood a great admiration of them as professionals.

lastly and probably my most important reason... during my first year in pediatric residency, i am also a pharmacology professor for one year in two sections.

i don't know how the fuck i was able to go on hospital shifts and teach pharmacology during thursdays but i had fun in the field of teaching my favorite subject.

and for a year in academe, i understood what it meant to be a professor, what it meant to be a guide for students who looks up to me and i did become a professor because of those teachers that once helped me as well. they treated me as their child even up until now and i owe them to where i stand right now, so when i started teaching for a year i got to experience what it feels like to be so accomplished whenever i hear my 8 yr younger student says:

"thank you ms. selene."

(im writer who seeks inspiration on inserting myself as 'y/n'. i'm an ambitious mofo and im sure im not the only writer who does this)

i do respect others who wants to write student/teacher tropes. it's not offensive at all bcoz it's what they want but if i'm the one drafting this kind of genre... it would be hard for me and it'll shatter the platonic relationship i had with my professors because i started normalizing and romanticizing nonplatonic student/teacher relationships through writing.

i hope i explained myself anon and i am truly thankful that i get to express myself in a non-offensive way!

lots of love,

your former problematic high school kid, Luna 💙

[jimlingss]

Arcadia

➜ Words: 9.6k

➜ Genres: 50% Fluff, 50% Angst, Dystopia!AU, Utopia!AU

➜ Summary: In a new era, the human race has largely been eradicated through warfare and disease. You are one of the few left, living in the forest and making use of the wild. Or at least that's what you think until a man quite literally crashes into your home.

cr.

It happened in the afternoon.   A deafening noise from the sky. A thin whistle that crescendoed. Louder than what you’re used to hearing. Ringing in your eardrums. It shrieked horrifically — rumbling the ground — roaring through the silent forest. And you looked up to see a streak of white in the sky. Immediately, you dropped the animal in hand, abandoned the trap at your feet and ducked your head.   But the explosions never came raining down on your skull.   Instead, it happened in the distance. An explosion that made the evening sky spark bright white.    It took a full minute for it to die down, for the smoke to fade into the horizon as if nothing occurred a moment ago. Yet, you stalked the fumes and commotion, crept in the shadows. You knew better than to approach foreign things, to approach clamor and potential danger.   But the forest had been quiet for so long that it provoked your curiosity.    What you found past the shrubbery and trunks of spruce is a giant white cylinder with rounded edges. A capsule. So white that it burnt to the back of your eyelids, in no way natural whatsoever. But the colour had been marred by dirt and foliage after it crash-landed. The mud and ground hugged it, molded against the shape after it quite literally smashed into the Earth.   Before you could approach the thing and investigate, there was another noise. An unfamiliar whirring. It made you flinch and stumble back, taking refuge behind the trees.   But as you peeked out, you saw something crawling out of the open compartment. A groan.    Someone.   You hadn’t seen another person in years.   Immediately, you stepped forward and he saw you. Eyes darting to look into yours.   He was in stark white clothing from top to bottom, pants that stopped too short at his ankles, a shirt that was cut awkwardly and too small for his broad shoulders. It was vivid against his dark hair and golden skin, almost made him look ridiculous. But you supposed at the time you didn’t look any better — ripped jeans, dirtied boots, a worn jacket taken years ago from some loot and your hair tucked into a baseball cap with a logo too faded away to discern.   “I-I won’t hurt you,” he stutters out, putting up his hands. “I...I’m Seokjin. I’m part of the rescue fleet of Arcadia.”   Arcadia?   The man, Seokjin, sighs after your ongoing silence. “Sorry. Of course you wouldn’t understand me. I,” he enunciates slowly and points to himself. “Am. Friend.” His hands wildly form a heart for you to see and then he points at you with his left while still making wild gestures with his right. He tries to smile brightly. “I. Help. You—”   “I understand you,” you deadpan with an impassive expression.   The man is visibly taken aback, eyes rounded as his mouth opens and closes comically. “Y-You can speak?”   Your arm lifts and your index finger points at his head. “You’re bleeding.”   ... .. .   He looks around the interior of the tree house like a lost child, seated on the floor and waiting for his parents to return. It’s a meager shack made of alder, large gaps for windows, tattered backpacks stained and collected in the corner by some pairs of shoes and an old radio. There’s a fishing line hung diagonally across the room and above his head, used to dry clothing. But he finds himself drawn to the radio and crawls over to try to switch it on, tugging on its antenna, turning the dials.   Yet, all that answers is noisy static.   “It’s been broken since a long time ago,” you pipe up, nearly startling him to death with your sudden presence. But you had simply climbed up the ladder quietly. “I’m still tinkering with it.”   Seokjin sets the radio down. “I have a device similar to it. Thought this one would work.” He pulls out a black and thick rectangular piece of plastic from his back pocket and you scarcely recognize it.   “A walkie-talkie?”   “Kind of. It’s called an Erewhon device. State of the art technology, even if it looks chunky. It transmits radio waves without any limit of range and it syncs to one other device. No third can ever join or hack into it. I use this one to communicate with my base. Or at least I usually would, if the thing didn’t break in the crash.”   You don’t understand anything he’s saying, so you chalk it up to gibberish.   “It stings.” Seokjin sharply inhales as you apply pressure to his wound. But the ache soon alleviates when you wrap bandages around his head. “What’s your name?”   It’s your last roll of bandages.    “Y/N.”   It’s not like you to be so generous or welcoming towards a stranger. The nature of your upbringing and life has ingrained an innate suspicion to anyone who isn’t yourself. But there’s a characteristic about the man in front of you that doesn’t make you doubt his intentions.   It must also be partly because you’ve been on your own for so long and your inner subconscious is willing to dance with danger if it means having some kind of contact with another. But whatever the case may be, you don’t feel wary of Seokjin even if you should.   “Are...there any others?”   “Other humans? There hasn’t been any for years.”   “There’s….just you?”   “Just me.” Until now. “Where did you come from?”   “I come from a place called Arcadia. It’s a utopian society just off the Zion mountain and Elysian Fields,” he says as if you know what those places are. “It has everything and it’s where the remaining people have gathered for years. I actually rescue people like you who are still alive and bring them back. How...how did you manage to survive on your own out here?”    “I just do.”    “How long have you been here?”   “I don’t remember. The apocalypse happened when I was young.”   Seokjin makes a noise of acknowledgment like he understands. “It happened when I was seven.”   “I remember celebrating my fifth birthday in an underground bunker with my parents.”   He doesn’t ask where they are. If they aren’t with you now, it’s safe to assume your parents are dead like his are.    “I had a lot of people help me along the way, a lot of people who died,” you say, “I’ve been in sanctuaries and communities until they fell. Everything was only temporary. So, I’ve been on my own for a while.”   “Arcadia is different,” he says with bright eyes, breathy voice full of wonder and hope. “It’s where the new world is beginning. I can take you there.”   “Isn’t your flying machine broken?”   “You mean my Xanadu Shuttle?” Seokjin scratches the back of his neck and chuckles. You notice how the tips of his ears turn scarlet. “Actually, it was my first time taking it out that far. I’m kind of new to all this. But don’t worry! When it crashed, it sent a notification to headquarters and gave coordinates, so they should find me soon. I’ll try to fix my Erewhon device too.”   You don’t pretend like you know the things he’s referring to. “Are you hungry?”   “I have dried pemmican!” He lights up as if remembering and pulls a transparent wrapped bar from his back pocket. You wonder what else is in those endless pockets of his.    Seokjin must read the puzzled expression on his face since his smile widens. “Want to try it?”   “Sure.” You rip open the wrapper and you’re met with a dark red and gray block, and a meaty scent that makes you slightly nauseous. But you’ve eaten worse before, so you take a bite.   Seokjin instantly laughs when your expression wrinkles up. “It tastes better the more you eat it. Promise.”   “It’s awful.” There’s a temptation to spit it out the window, but afraid that it might be considered rude, you swallow it down and quickly hand back the monstrosity to him. “Do you want rabbit?”   “Sure.”   … .. .   It’s odd to eat a meal with someone — an experience that you’re unable to pinpoint your last memory of. It’s rather mundane, but mundanity has long been a privilege in this era.   “You can sleep in the tree house if you want.”   “Where will you be?”   “I usually like to sleep on the forest floor anyway.” It isn’t a lie. One of the few things you love is drifting off while gazing at the stars, that the last thing you see is the sparkling horizon before it’s blue again when you awake. “How many people are there in Arcadia?”   “About twenty five hundred people so far.”   So far. But if what he tells you is true, then it’s a big settlement.   As if able to see how he’s piqued your curiosity, Seokjin continues, “It’s an amazing place and we’re completely self-sufficient. There’s an agriculture industry that’s growing and greenhouses underground that gives us all the food we need. They developed a water filtration system as well and it’s connected to the mountain springs nearby. There are pods that people live in, schools that kids can go to, jobs, medicine— you’ll see when I take you back.”   “I never said I was going with you.”   “What? Why wouldn’t you?”   You don’t answer.   … .. .   “Morning.” You watch as he climbs down the ladder and nearly slips off. It’s an amusing sight to see his hair in a disarray and his eyes swollen beyond recognition. “Glad to see you’re finally up.”   Seokjin, on the other hand, is baffled at how you’re already moving so energetically. “When….did you get up?”   “Since sunrise. Changed your bandages too, if you didn’t already notice. I’m getting breakfast prepared. There’s a stream down this path that you can wash your face in. Collect water for me while you’re at it.”   You hand him a silver pail.   Walking off, Seokjin finally gets a good look at the forest. It’s quiet, save for the chickadees he notices in the thin branches of the spruce, twiddling as he passes and the woodpeckers hammering against the alder. There was just enough rays of light bursting through to allow the saplings to flourish and shrubs to overgrow. And the verdant green almost blinds his vision with how vivid it is. He’s never been so surrounded in nature before — never has it encapsulated him completely.   When Seokjin returns, he’s more alert than before.   “Thought you got lost for a second. You can set the water over there. Do you want to help me look at my traps?”   He follows you and nearly steps into a trap before you yell at him. But he’s amazed. You’ve designated a whole section full of traps made of loose string and branches, and when he asks, he learns they’re treadle snares to drowning snares.   “They don’t yield a lot of food. It depends on the season, but it mainly depends on luck.”    “What do you usually eat then?”   “I have some canned stuff from the cities, but there’s a lot of berries and herbs around here that are edible. I’m in the process of growing some basil and tomatoes too, so I never really starve out here.”   Seokjin is astounded. You can see it on his face, but you don’t know why that is. It’s not like any of these things are impressive. It’s just things you learn once you’ve lived out here long enough.   “You’re making a fire now?”   He watches as you take out a curved piece of wood with string attached and another piece that’s pointed at the end. You saw it back and forth on some more wood and Seokjin watches the smoke, how the friction creates the heat, how you transfer the embers to tinder.   “Is this how you always make fire?”   “Nowadays. At the beginning when I still had materials, I would use batteries and steel wool. Even flint and steel. But the bow drill method works fine. I save my matches for when I need them.”   “That’s incredible. Is this what you do? I mean, collect food and make fires.”   “I guess.”   “Do you do anything else? Do you ever get bored?”   It’s an interesting question — boredom. A privilege in itself to be bored rather than worried. Though you suppose that in this quiet forest with no one else, it’s a wonder how you never went insane. But while loneliness sporadically plagues you, you’ve never necessarily felt isolated or deprived. It’s always been this way. You’ve learnt to adapt to it. Humans can handle more than they think when push comes to shove.    “There’s always something to do. Whether that’s upkeeping the tree house or making more traps or planting. But sometimes in the summer, I go exploring for a few days. Into the cities. There’re lots of places I haven’t been. It’s a good opportunity for me to get seeds, food, and clothes, so I’m never….bored.”   “Wow, t-that’s...that’s impressive.”   “There’s nothing impressive. It’s just the way things are.”   “I...went to Arcadia in its early days,” Seokjin explains, “It was established twenty years ago, right after the apocalypse began, so I’ve never really got to see the outside world.”   “They don’t let you leave?”   “It’s not that. It just isn’t safe to. Actually, that’s why I wanted to join the rescue fleet. It gives me a chance to see the outside world.”   “You haven’t even seen anything yet. If you want….I can take you somewhere. Better than this.”   “Really?!” Seokjin’s eyes widen, irises practically glistening.   Your lips tickle, threatening to upturn. “Sure.”   … .. .   Past the stream and thicket is a clearing. A meadow of daisies. It’s overgrown grass that reaches to your knees, white petals spilling over with yellow centers filled among them. The sound of insects buzzing and circling through the field is heard as the sun beats down. You found this place a good year ago and while it doesn’t serve much of a purpose, you left it undisturbed.    The apocalypse was a catastrophe, but it did a lot for nature.   “This….this….” Seokjin is breathless, unable to force a coherent word out. He looks over at the blue horizon that seems to steal the land as the abundance of flowers overwhelms his senses.    “It’s beautiful, huh?”   He stays silent, taking in the sight in front of him. He has seen a vase of flowers at best — most certainly not a boundless field of them. Not like this. Not in the entirety of his life so far. Not in a way where he could inhale the fresh air, count clouds, memorize the azure shade of the sky, and not where he is unable to see where the end or the start is.   Seokjin is overwhelmed, and he realizes why the choice to stay remains. Why you would refuse his offer of coming back with him to Arcadia. A part of him also wants to stay here. Where freedom lies.   “I’m sorry,” he murmurs while still taking in the sight. The colours are so rich that he feels regretful he couldn’t see it sooner. “I didn’t mean to push you to come with me.”   “It’s okay. I’ll come with you.”   Seokjin finally peels his eyes away from the scenery to gaze at you.    Yet you continue to look forward. “You made me curious about this Arcadia.”   And the corner of his mouth turns into a smile.   … .. .   The next few days are spent with Seokjin — noisy at your side, but it’s entirely invited.   He goes back to his vehicle, his so-called fancy Xanadu Shuttle, and tries to contact his people. Much like your radio, there’s only static on the other end when he flips and fiddles with switches and the lights eventually die off. He messes with his Erewhon too, the little walkie-talkie device, though it’s to no avail. But Seokjin never becomes discouraged. He remains optimistic, a rarity in today’s climate. The man has no doubts they’ll come for him and even reassures you.   In the meanwhile, you show him how to start a fire, how to collect berries and certain plants, and he helps you sharpen the knives you have. But the man looks away when you have to kill the animal you trapped and he makes you kill the bugs that land on him as well. It’s a bit ridiculous and outlandish, but frighteningly natural how quickly he falls into place and adapts.   You forgot what it was like to have someone with you. To be able to talk to someone.   … .. .   “Are you ever lonely?”   Seokjin asks one night when he’s laid on the grass, arms tucked underneath his head and staring up at the stars by your side. He copied you after several occasions where he found you like that. You immediately heard the gasp that left his mouth the first time he laid down. It’s beautiful enough that he’s unconcerned with insects and doesn’t get up until you chide him to.   “Sometimes. Then I think about how people are more trouble than they’re worth.”   He grins. “Why do you say that?”   “People mess up things and always have their self-interest at heart. Learned it after I had a gun pointed on me by someone I thought was a friend.”   “I’m sorry.”   “It’s alright. Just the way things are. Anything to survive, right?”   “Is that why you’re on your own?”   “Partly. It’s hard when people die too. I’d rather not deal with that.”   “Why’d you agree to help me then?” Seokjin asks after a moment. “If people always mess things up.”   “I don’t know. It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone. I thought talking to you would be worth the risk. And it’s not like you’re not messing things up. I’m leaving with you, right?”   Seokjin grins, meeting your eyes. It goes quiet and then you pipe up again—   “I do sing sometimes to myself. Helps keep me sane.”   “Like what?”   “I don’t know.”   “Show me.”   You outright scoff. “No.”   “Please?”   A sharp exhale later, you start mumbling, slurring words together in some obscure melody. Your voice is rigid and stiff, out of tune even to your own ears. But you’ve heard it from your parents before. It’s some jingle on television back when electricity still worked.   Instantly, Seokjin starts laughing.   “Hey, it’s not my fault I don’t know the lyrics!”   “No, no, i-it’s amazing, please continue!” Seokjin squeaks out in the midst of a giggling fit and the corner of your own mouth twitches into a subtle smile.   … .. .   Unfortunately, these simple days don’t last long. Seokjin continues messing with his Erewhon device whenever he gets the chance — banging it on the tree house wall much to your dismay, curling up with it using a screwdriver kit he got from his capsule — and one evening, it suddenly comes alive.   There’s the sound of static and someone’s muffled voice.   “Hello?! Code White. R-six-four-three. This is Kim Seokjin from fleet seventy two.”   “R-four-......three-nine.”   It’s difficult to discern, but that’s all the other line says before the device goes silent again.    You look to Seokjin, anticipating dejection and disappointment. But instead, a grin spreads into his cheeks and his eyes crinkle ever so slightly. “Y/N. They’re coming soon.”   … .. .   It’s a morning of checking for traps, of hearing the orchestral songs of nature, of holding your breath as the breeze whisks through the strands of your hair. You’re tip-toeing to the simple snare laid on the ground when the familiar, deafening noise returns to the sky. A thin whistle that crescendos. Louder than you’re used to hearing. Ringing in your eardrums. It rumbles the ground, roaring through the silent forest. And you look up to see a streak of white in the sky.    It’s a larger white vessel with glass windows around. So white that it burns to the back of your eyelids, in no way natural whatsoever. And it descends to the same place Seokjin crash-landed.   Seokjin finds you and the two of you venture through the forest and shrubby towards it.   There’s a whirring and a compartment opens. Three different people step out, dressed in that unnatural white much like Seokjin is, pants and shirt cut off oddly. They look at Seokjin with smiles and incredulous expressions.   “I can’t believe you actually crashed.”   “It wasn’t my fault, JK!” Seokjin whines immediately and then quickly greets the other two females who he’s evidently less friendly with. “Amber. Lizzy. Good to see you too.”   “This something I expected from Namjoon or even Jimin, not you,” the shorter-hair girl named Amber huffs out as she playfully shakes her head.   “At least he’s safe,” Lizzy says with a smile. “Saves us from having to transport him back in a stretcher. But….who’s….that?”   Her eyes dart over to you and the other two strangers follow her line of sigh, re-directing their attention. Then their mouths drop open, eyes widening in surprise, having not seen you there.   Seokjin steps aside, allowing the light to shed on you. “She’s a lone one.”    “A-A lone one…?”   “Are you okay? Do you need help?” Amber whispers softly, lowering herself to meet your height and connect your eyes with hers as if you were a wounded animal. But then light flashes beneath her irises and her brows furrow. “Right. She might not know how to speak. Where’s my translation devi—”   The corner of Seokjin’s mouth tilts. “She does.”   You step forward, directly underneath the canopy spotlight coming through the spruce, walnut, and alder. “My name is Y/N.”

Arcadia. It’s protected by a dome-like structure reminiscent of glass, but as one of the strangers narrates, it’s supposedly a magnetic force field to protect against natural disasters. The place is ruled by tall buildings like the cities, but unlike it in the sense that they’re not decaying. They haven’t turned brown under wear and tear, don’t have moss growing on the sides of it. Rather, there are patches of green in between the paved pathways, flickering screens that are seemingly floating mid-air, masses of people walking past one another.    It’s a utopian society, they tell you. But you’re not sure what that means.   “Welcome to Arcadia,” the voice from above speaks rigidly.   The door whirs as it opens.   And white is all you see. White floors. White walls. People dressed in white. The white lights burn your vision as you stagger out, being aided by the strangers who were onboard with you.   They welcome you. Tell you they hope this place could be your refuge and new home. And you’re taken immediately by strangers until you begin thrashing, calling out to Seokjin until he consoles you. He promises that they mean no harm, that he’ll see you soon, and it’s enough for you to be relieved.   They lead you away, give you a new set of white clothing that are soft to the touch and a bin to place your old clothes in. You feel vulnerable as you strip from your grimy clothes and trade them in.   You’ve never been able to afford to hold onto sentimentalities. But it’s hard to let them go.   … .. .   “Hello—” The doctor glances at his clipboard. “You must be the new refugee, Y/N! Oh right, they call it newcomer now, not refugee. Anyway, nice to meet you, I’m Jung Hoseok. I’ll be assessing you today and setting you up to live in Arcadia. You understand me, correct?”   “Yes, I do.”   “Excellent! Makes things easier for me if we can speak the same language. But feel free to tell me if you want me to slow down. We’ll take things one step at a time.” The man grins brightly and sits on his stool, spinning around to a thin screen on the desk. “We’re going to be doing some tests together today, so I can figure out what I’ll need to help you with and we can make sure your transition is as smooth as possible.”   “Okay.”   You knew a doctor once. She was similar to him, whimsical as he seemingly is, until she had to amputate her own arm and then bled to death.   “Do you have any questions?”   “Not really.”   There’s an eye examination done until you tell him you don’t know all the letters of the alphabet. He switches to pictures afterwards and is enthused as he tells you that your eyes are apparently fine. He makes you lay down and open your mouth to examine your teeth. You spit into a vial, have your blood drawn. You step into a white capsule with black bars twirling around you. He shows you a picture of your bones and scanned brain with the excitement akin to a child’s afterwards.    And he asks too many questions.   “So you mainly ate rabbits, berries and other plants? Fascinating.” — “How often do you sleep?” — “So your bowel movements were pretty consistent?”   You miss Seokjin.   … .. .   “Seokjin, can you please tell us what happened on the fifth?”   The commander, chief, supervisor and several others are seated on the other side of the table.   “Yes. I was dispatched to forty one degrees, twenty four point two eight minutes north. Halfway there, I….became distracted by the scenery, and went off course. I became alert again when the shuttle skimmed along treetops. The console received a malfunction notification and I subsequently crashed into a forest area.”   “The maintenance record shows your Xanadu Shuttle was updated on the second of the previous month?”   “Yes.”   “Then do you accept responsibility for this incident?”   “Yes, I do.” There’s no point in putting up a fight. All the evidence is all in the machinery and Seokjin had made no attempt to hide it.   “I’m interested in the girl you rescued,” the Commander speaks up, tapping his pen on his clipboard. “When did you come into contact with her after you crashed?”   “After I crashed, I exited my Xanadu Shuttle and caught sight of her standing amongst the trees. I think...the accident got her attention and she came to investigate what it was.”   He nods and the people on the other side of the table look around at one another. There are soft murmurs and Seokjin stays quiet through their deliberation, keeping his eyes on his own report.   After a minute, it simmers down.   “The panel appreciates your honesty and integrity, Seokjin. In spite of your circumstances, you were able to rescue someone who will become a valuable member to our society and such a thing should not be overlooked. However, the crash was ultimately on your part and as such, you will have to be put on probation for a period of two months. The panel will also require that you retake your license class. Do you agree these actions are necessary?”   Relief washes over him. Seokjin thought this was it. He was anticipating that he’d lose his job.    “Y-Yes. Thank you.”   “You will have to pass your license class.”   “Yes, I will.”   “There is one more thing I would like to discuss with you, Seokjin,” The Commander speaks up. “I spoke to our Premier and Minister prior to this meeting and we came to an agreement that it would be in the best interest of everyone involved if you could foster the newcomer you rescued. Typically, as you know, we house newcomers for a while and monitor them. But she...seems to be a special case.”   The Chief furrows his brows. “Yes, she was isolated, wasn’t she?”   It’s known to all that the lone ones are usually the people that are most unstable. The ones with animalistic behaviour as a result of living in the wild and being socially deprived. The problematic ones. But they’re wrong. Seokjin doesn’t outright refute his own superiors, yet he’s certain that you don’t have any of those issues. You’re not violent. Uncivilized. Barbaric.   “Usually people are found in groups or clusters.”   “Exactly that. But it seems like Seokjin has built a rapport with her. It might lead to a smoother transition if there’s immediate integration. Or at least, it’s an experiment we want to try. He has a calm temperament as well which makes him an ideal candidate to attempt this new method. Would you be willing to house this newcomer for a period of time, Seokjin?”   He doesn’t need a second longer to think about it. “I wouldn’t mind whatsoever.”   ... .. .   Seokjin finds you and almost bursts out laughing with how relieved you look.   “Jin!”    He doesn’t mind the nickname either.   “I haven’t seen you in a while.” Hoseok twirls around with a blazing smile, his white coat fluttering with him. “But I have a feeling you’re here to see my little guest and not me.”   “You’re right.” He enters and stands by your side. “Has everything been alright?”   “Of course!” Hoseok interjects before you can answer. “I’m one of the best doctors here, what do you take me for? We had a very fun time together, right, Y/N?”   “Uh, sure.”   “I’ll take it.”   Seokjin smiles and looks at his old friend. “Is there anything…?”   “She’s healthy. She’s been taking care of herself well. Nothing that’s too concerning.”    Hoseok's eyes meet yours and he grins. “You’re approximately twenty to twenty five years old. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like you have any family here in Arcadia, but you don’t have any diseases, so that’s something to be happy about! Minimal dental work that needs to be done. Blood pressure is good. You have a slight magnesium and iodine deficiency, but nothing dark greens, whole grains, fish and eggs can’t fix. I’ll give you some vitamins to be safe and some medication to avoid illnesses you’re potentially susceptible to in Arcadia.”   “That’s good news,” Jin exhales.   “You’re also healthy enough to have children!” Hoseok announces and if possible his grin widens. You blink at him and he quickly reads your confused expression. “Right, you might not be aware but it’s one of the main ambitions of Arcadia to repopulate society. People with the most compatible genes get paired together into family units. Depending on how your integration goes, you might get paired up in a family unit by the end of the week.”   “What?” You’re reeling. Starting a family and having children are things at the very back of your mind, not even in the realm of what your thoughts are, and you’re not sure what to think at this news.   Jin sighs at his friend. “You’re freaking her out.”   “Am I? Sorry,” the man laughs and looks at you. “Don’t worry. No one will force you. It’s just...highly suggested and recommended.”   … .. . “That’s the dining hall.”    “What do they serve?”   “On Mondays, there’s quinoa. Tuesday is this dried beans dish. So on and so forth. Don’t worry, there’s poultry too, so there are eggs and chicken breast which you can order. There’s corn, milk, cheese and a selection of fruit too. They also serve protein powders you can mix with water that gives you the same nutrition value.”   “It’s not like...that stuff you gave me, right?”   “You mean pemmican? No, it’s better. Or at least I hope so.” He smiles. “Everyone has the same food. Sometimes during celebrations though, they serve different things.”   “There’s not much privacy, is there?”   Seokjin follows your line of sight to the glass buildings where you’re able to see the people working on each floor. “I guess not. I’ve never really thought about it.”   You suppose it’s something to get used to. “Are...people staring at me, Jin?”   “Don’t mind it. It’s not everyday we get a new face around here.” Right as he says that, you lift your head to discover your face plastered on one of the screens at the top of the building as if you were a wanted criminal. Seokjin laughs. “News spreads fast around here.”   “I bet it does,” you mutter, a bit unnerved.    “It’s a nice place if you follow the rules, trust me.”   “What happens if someone breaks a rule?”   “Well, there’s a focus on restorative justice for small crimes. So people often do community service or talk to victims or the people they affected and try their best to fix their mistakes.”   “What about big crimes? Like if you killed someone.”    Yet, Seokjin stays silent for a moment. “They disappear.”   Your brows furrow, not sure what he means. But he doesn’t elaborate and you don’t push for an answer, uncertain that you want to know more.   Arcadia isn’t as you expected it to be. When Seokjin told you stories, part of you anticipated it being lesser and merely blown up in proportion through his evident love of this place. You had predicted a community ridden with suspicion, like many of the sanctuaries you had been to before they inevitably collapsed. Leaders suppressing their people. Scarcity in resources.   Another part of you expected an otherworldly universe, full of gibberish and things you didn’t understand. Much like the technology he carried with him or the shuttle that crashed in the forest.   But what is presented in front of you is a sort of familiarity in a changed background.   People like you know them, except courteous and independent.   “This is my housing unit.”    It’s a blinding white, two stories with the top floor off center and extended off the right side. It looks like two boxes haphazardly stacked on top of each other with giant pane glass windows at the front.   “It’s not much but it’s my home.”   You nod as your eyes drift to his lawn — a tiny patch of grass that surrounds the path leading up to the front door. As if entranced, you launch forward towards it. But it feels different underneath your feet, past the soles of your shoes. The soil isn’t soft. There aren’t any lumps, no grip when you try to root yourself into it.   Seokjin notices your reaction. “It’s artificial grass.”   “What does that mean?”   “It’s fake.”   “Fake? You can’t get real grass?”   “Guess not.”   The interior of his home is less white than all of Arcadia. There are mismatched cushions, wooden tables and bookshelves, fake yellow flowers on his marble kitchen counter, paintings of oceans and cities placed on the wall next to photographs of himself growing up. You glance over the knick-knacks lining the shelves, snow globes and postcards, tiny things you’ve always seen lying around shops in the decaying towns, but never paid much attention to.   “Sorry. It’s a bit messy.”   “No, I like it.”    He shows you to your room, an empty one down the hall. It’s much less decorated than his living space and he quickly excuses himself to tumble back in with heavier blankets and proper pillows. “Had I known you were coming, I would’ve had everything already set up!”   “I don’t think any of us knew I would be here.”   He laughs. “That’s true.”   You walk to the window, taking a peek outside to the white city that towers over and covers the blue sky, the tiny patches of grass that alleviates the brightness of Arcadia, the flying shuttles hovering past the paved paths.    “You’re probably tired, right? Do you want to rest a bit? I have a few things to do, so…”   “You don’t have to worry about me, Jin. I can take care of myself. Probably.”   Seokjin ends up shutting the door after promising he won’t take long. But it’s the first time in hours that there’s finally silence. And you allow the quietness to simmer down on you as you take a seat on the edge of the soft bed that sinks underneath your weight. You stare at the sheets, the white walls and floor, the luminescent sunlight streaming through the windows.   You’re not sure how you feel.   … .. .   You stare down at your slab of white meat, so white that you wonder if everything in Arcadia is dyed in this blinding shade. It’s something you might have to ask Jin, even if it’s a bit ridiculous.   You’re just not used to having meat that isn’t charged by the flames of a bonfire. But still, you tear it with your fingers and when you bring it to your mouth, it tastes dry and heavy — like it’s fake.   “This isn’t very good, is it?”   “It isn’t?”   Jin blinks and you lift your head. Immediately, your eyes connect to a stranger who instantly turns away and it occurs to you that people are watching.   “Don’t worry. It’s because you’re not using utensils. Here.” He hands you a metal stick with three prongs at the end and another one that’s rounded. Understandably, it’s awkward in your hold, hurts in your grip. It goes silent as you fumble with it. The chicken breast almost flies off your metal tray.   “It’s okay.” He smiles at your visible frustration and reaches over to slice it with a knife. Jin gently takes your hand holding the fork and pierces the piece. “Like this, see? Not too bad, right?”   “It would be easier with my hands.”   He agrees, “It would be.”   “Hey, you’re Y/N, right?” A familiar red-head comes prancing up to the table and steals a seat next to you. “I’m Lizzy. We met on the Xanadu Shuttle, remember? I was the one telling you all about the history of Arcadia?”   “Yes, I do.”   “This is Namjoon. He’s one of our robotics engineers,” she introduces a gawky, strapping male with framed glasses. He takes a seat next to Seokjin.    “A pleasure to be of your acquaintance. I’ve heard quite a lot about you in the past two hours or so. I am friends with Hoseok. He doesn’t indulge me in much information, he told me he received a great person of interest in his office. I believe that person may be you—”   Seokjin interrupts his ramble, “Namjoon.”   “Don’t mind him,” Lizzy laughs, ignoring the two men as she leans over the table to intrude into your personal space. “How are you getting settled in? Everything okay?”   “Yeah. I’d say everything’s okay.”   “I heard you were living with Jin now. Tell me, is he as messy at home as he is at work?”   “I am not messy,” he protests.   “Only a little,” you divulge her with a small smile.   Namjoon smiles. “I heard you crashed. Glad to see you’re still alive and well.”   “Thanks.” Seokjin’s eyes roll as his voice drips of sarcasm. “I’m sorry you couldn’t use my body for your next humanoid robotic experiment.”   “Not now, but in due time,” the other man teases then turns to you. “It’s a shame you’re partnered with Seokjin. He can be quite clumsy and forgetful. You’ll end up becoming his handyman like I am.”   “His first time he got into a Xanadu Craft, he broke the console,” Lizzy tells, making your mouth upturn.   Namjoon swallows down his food before asking, “If I may be intrusive, Y/N, is it really true that you were alone? In the forest, I mean.”   “I...was.”   “How long were you alone for?”   “I’m not sure. I think maybe two years.”   “And before that?”   “I...uh...traveled around and met different people.”   He leans forward. “And what happened to those people?”   “Well, some...passed away and others went somewhere else.”   “What did they pass away from?”   There’s a loud scraping of a chair against the tiled floor, grating to your ears. “I’m stuffed. Aren’t you, Y/N? I think we should head back now. Sorry, Joon, Lizzy. Might have to cut your questions short there. Maybe you can ask more next time.”   “Oh, alright then.”   They bid you farewell and Lizzy waves with a smile. As you exit, you look at Seokjin. “Thank you.” He saved you from answering, from bringing up memories you had no intentions of returning to.   Yet he smiles and then looks away, feigning ignorance. “For what?”   … .. .   They’re wrong. It’s not a shame at all to be with Jin at all. If anything, you think you’re quite fortunate. Ever since you’ve met him, he’s proven himself time and time again to be thoughtful and considerate — traits that you thought were gone in this era. But it’s him who makes it easier to deal with these changes, to enter into this new world.   … .. .   “I thought you were gone,” he says, looking down at you with a smile. You’re laying on his lawn in the middle of the night in bare feet. “I knocked on your door and then searched my whole house.”   “Where did you think I was?”   “I don’t know.” Seokjin plops down on his artificial grass, stretching out his body and laying beside you like all those times before. “I was worried. I thought something happened to you.”   “I’m sorry.”   “Don’t be.”   “I couldn’t sleep.”   It’s quiet as the pair of you look to the sky with your hands folded on top of your stomachs. The lamp posts nearby casted warm glows on your visages. The warm breeze making his cheeks rosy. Yet, none of you can see the stars — not with the light pollution of Arcadia, not when all the buildings were towering so high and covering it, not like out there in the middle of the forest.   “Remember when we were in the forest, Jin?”   “I do. I remember that one time, you didn’t completely put out the fire and my pants almost set on fire.”   You giggle and Jin relishes in the sound. “I apologized for that and who told you to sit so close to that spot?”   “Hey, I just wanted to be next to you.”   You remember the nights when you were able to drift off while staring at the horizon and how you were awoken by the first blush of dawn, sunlight coming through the trees. You have a feeling it’s going to be a long time before you have an experience like that again.   It’s going to be a long, long time. If ever again.   “I feel homesick,” you whisper, finally being able to pinpoint your emotions and it’s the most honest you’ve been since you arrived. “I don’t want to be paired up with anyone or have kids.”   Jin reaches out and you feel his hand against the back of yours. He holds it, clasping it tight. You shift and your eyes meet. “Don’t worry. They can’t make you do anything you don’t want to.”   You trust him.   … .. .   “If you want, we don’t have to eat in the dining center anymore. We can eat at home.”   The corner of your mouth pulls. “Is that allowed?”   “I’ll find a way around it,” Jin promises.   … .. .   “Please, Hoseok.”   “You know that’s not how the system works. There’s not much I can do anyway.”   “But you can put in your recommendation.”   He’s silent in contemplation. “She’s compatible with you, but more so compatible with others. Plus, she’d assimilate better with someone stricter.”   “I want to protect her. She’s my responsibility. Pair her with me.” Seokjin won’t let you be paired up with someone else in a family unit, expected to stay together and have children. He’ll keep his promise to you and be with you until the end — it’s also his selfish wish to be with you.   The other man sighs. “I’ll make a note of it, but I can’t promise anything.”   … .. .   You’re unfamiliar with the devices at hand — the kitchen appliances with automated voices that speak when you come close, the machines with tens of buttons you can’t read. They’re all things you once overlooked when you scrambled for remaining supplies.   “Is everything okay?”   “I’m trying to heat this up. You said I could use it, right?”   “Yeah. Here.” Seokjin comes behind you and takes your hand, guiding you where to press. “Click this button and then this one.”   You don’t understand technology at all. Even the television is odd, an overload on your senses.   “What do you think?” he asks, watching your reaction in amusement and how your eyes are as wide as the screen flashing against your face.   “It’s...a lot to take in.”   “That’s okay. Do you want to go outside instead? We can, if you want to.”   You glance out the window. “I’m fine here. I’m not used to there being so many people.”   “How about we work on some more worksheets?”   “Again?”   Jin laughs and the sound is tinkling. “You have to learn eventually. Come on.” He pulls you up and is happy to sit next to you at his kitchen table to teach you how to hold a pencil, how to write each letter and answer your questions.    You’re a fast learner. Today your strokes are smoother and you learn how to spell his name.   … .. .    Seokjin often knocks on your door before going to bed to bid you goodnight. Yet he seldomly finds you there, where you’re supposed to be. He wonders if you’re outside on his lawn again, but instead, he discovers you standing in his living room. You’re gazing out the window quietly with an unreadable expression.   “Is there something wrong?”   You turn around with a small smile. “I’m just a little homesick.”   He joins you, staring out at the city and the lampposts lined on the paved paths.    “How do we go outside, Jin? Not just outside, but beyond the dome.” To the forest again.   “Most people aren’t allowed outside because it’s dangerous. You would need to have my job or something similar, and that’s after you graduate from a three year program and pass several exams.”   It’s quiet and neither of you look at one another or speak when you reach over, discreetly taking his hand into yours. Seokjin laces his fingers through yours and squeezes.   He’s the only reason you can starve off the longing sewed uncomfortably in your chest.   ... .. .   In the following days, he receives a notification. The leaders are interested in you as a newcomer and extended an invitation to the party. So he helps you pick an appropriate outfit and the two of you enter with your hand looped around his arm as he reassures you.   “You must be Y/N!” The strangers, leaders of Arcadia, welcome you with tall bubbling glasses, one of which that you receive from a waiter. It tastes disgusting, but you try to not let it show on your face.   “It’s good to see that you’re getting yourself accustomed to Arcadia. I see you’re with your future partner this evening.”   The man laughs boisterously while you exchange expressions with Seokjin.   “That’s supposed to be a secret,” the woman beside him chides.   “Right, right. The postings of the new family units go up on Friday. My apologies for ruining the surprise, but I assume it is a happy one.”   You look up at him, gazing meeting Seokjin’s at once. The relief is overwhelming and what follows is a kind of excitement. Part of the weight lifted off your shoulders and Jin smiles tenderly. He leans in close, whispering in your ear so you’re the only one who hears—   “You shouldn’t look at me like that in a place like this or I might just do something about it in front of all these people.”   It’s bold. Unexpected but you know with the heat that rises into your face, it isn’t unwelcome.   “Y/N, is it?” The intimate moment is intercepted by other individuals approaching in blue attire, form fitting dress simple and modest. “You must be the newcomer! I’ve heard so much about you.”   “Yes, how has your transition been? Are you finding everything accommodating?”   You hope they don’t come close enough to feel the warmth radiating off your cheeks. “Yes. Arcadia has been very welcoming to me.”    They smile. “It’s so fortunate you can understand us and we don’t have to use those translating devices.”   “You were alone, correct?” another asks. “How did you fare in the wild like that? How did you manage to even eat?”   “I trapped animals like rabbits and squirrels and roasted them over fires.”   Laughter is suddenly roused all around you.   “Aren’t you glad you don’t have to do such a primitive thing anymore?”   “What I’m curious about is how you’re still alive without any radiation poisoning.”   “I used a radon detector. It was given to me a long time ago by an older woman who was with me. She died.” Automatic silence sweeps through the crowd. You clear your throat. “But I used it when I traveled through the cities.”   “I see.” Some are fascinated while others aren’t. “How preserved are these old cities?”   “Most buildings are still relatively in-tact. There are abandoned cars and buses too, but they’re useless without fuel and everything’s been raided, so there’s not much left. It’s one of the reasons I started to live in the forest.”   “Poor thing,” someone sympathizes, “Someone should’ve rescued you sooner. You wouldn’t have to suffer so much.”   “I didn’t suffer.”   They’re taken aback, clearing their throats and moving on from the subject. A man directs to the refreshment table — all the while Jin pulls you closer to him and away from the prying eyes of Arcadia.   … .. .   Later on in the evening when Seokjin’s gone to relieve himself, you meet an old man seated alone at the table.   “I was outside too,” he croaks. “Until two years ago.”   Your eyes find his — past the wrinkles are bright irises — and you remain silent.   “Many things happened that the people here would never understand. But my biggest regret is coming here willingly. Arcadia offers many things,” he says, “it has everything but one.”   “Freedom.”   … .. .   The words stick to you. Like flies to honey. Or the magnets on Jin’s fridge. They don’t cease from your mind — a plague that spreads, a pollutant that you can’t shake off no matter how hard you try.    Jin worries about you, but he doesn’t ask. He knows every time he does, you’ll reassure him that you’re fine.   So one night, he takes your hand and shows you to his television.   “Put this on.” He hands you a black, heavy device and smiles at your visible reluctance. “Trust me.”   You slip it on top of your head and it sits comfortably over your eyes, obstructing your vision in complete darkness. Headphones are put over your ears and you discover both of your senses of sight and sound are completely disabled. “What are you doin—”   The words die upon your tongue the moment the machine flickers on.   There are chickadees chirping and woodpeckers digging against the bark. The sound of insects flapping their wings in the beating sun and the whistling wind intensifies. You see the forest, a forest. Canopies of spruce, walnut, and alder cascading light to the verdant floor overgrown in shrubbery.   A cry chokes in your throat, but then it bubbles into laughter instead. You jump up and down.   “I see it. I see it!” You whirl around, looking in each direction. To the blue horizon and the sound of the rustling leaves.    Your home.   But when you take it off, it’s all gone. You’re shrouded in darkness with Seokjin’s features barely discernible. You’re trapped in the very utopia you had followed him to.   And you cry.   For the first time in his presence, for the first time in a long while, sobs break through your frame at what you’ve lost — what you’ve traded in, what you’ve given up. Jin embraces you, arms wrapped around your frame, trying his best to keep you whole.   “I want to go back.”   … .. .   Jin makes it easier to be in Arcadia. He gives you reason to become accustomed to it. He makes you wish you wanted to stay. But he’s not enough to dissipate your constant wistfulness.    He isn’t the solution to your plaguing dilemmas, but you’re glad he doesn’t have to bear that burden.    You wouldn’t want Jin to harbour the hardship of being your fix.   … .. .   It’s in the dead of the night that Seokjin comes out of his room and finds you. In the dark, you’re seated on the floor with your knees folded to your chest and the virtual reality headset slipped on top of your head, over your eyes and ears.   You’re taking it all in. The orchestral songs of nature, the birds and leaves, the swaying of the grass and flourishing shrubs, bathing in the warm sunlight you cannot feel.    He sees you, but doesn’t say anything, merely turning away.   At same time, you feel the presence of another and slip the device in time to catch his retreating backside.   “Jin,” you call out for him, knowing you’ve been caught.   He hums, turning around and the two of you look at one another.   “I’m sorry.”   The dark-haired man smiles tenderly. “It’s me who should apologize. I’m the one who brought you here selfishly.”   “It’s not your fault. I’m the one who agreed to some and I’m...the one having trouble adjusting.”   “That’s not it. The problem is you’re not where you should be. Home. Not my home. Not Arcadia. But your home. “   You stand and he meets you halfway.   You press your face to his shoulder and he embraces you. “I’ll help you go back,” Seokjin murmurs against your hair. “I thought you would be happy here, but I don’t want to keep you against your will.”   “Come with me.”   “You know I can’t,” he whispers in spite of your soft-spoken plea. “I have a life here. Like how you can’t leave yours. Arcadia is my home. It always will be.”   You hold him closer, shutting your eyes to savour the moment. “Won’t you get into trouble?”   “I’ll find some way.” The corner of his mouth turns. “I always end up fine. You will too.”   … .. .   The year’s posting goes up and just as the man had said, you and Seokjin are paired together. The two of you hold hands as you look at it, taking your time to read it over. It’s slow, but you understand nonetheless.   You’re congratulated by those around him, people you recognize and friends you have yet to know. It’s fortunate it worked out that way, but it’s still bittersweet, knowing of your upcoming departure.   And that same night, five hours past twelve, Jin takes you across Arcadia. The white shuttle is ready when you arrive in the dark and you scarcely recognize its scratched paint and dented surface. It’s the same one that he crashed in, the one that took him to you.   “I programmed the path back. It’ll go automatically without you needing to drive it. And once you close the door, it’ll come back on its own. I’ll erase the data’s history. Take this.” Seokjin gently places the sling of a heavy bag on your shoulder. “There are clothes in here, blankets, medicine, a first aid kit, some canned food and seeds of new plants you don’t have. It should help you out.”   Tears threaten to spill from your lash line. “Jin. Wait.”   Hope blooms within him, wondering if you’ve changed your mind, that you want to stay. But he knows having such selfish desires won’t help him, so he puts them away. Just for a moment.   He tries his best not to hang onto you, to hold you down.   “It was because of you that I could even cope so well. You made it so much easier for me. I...I…”   But Jin lets his greed slip.   He closes the distance and kisses you senseless. The man swallows your soft gasp and comes to cradle the back of your neck as you ease into him. You relish in the gentle touch, his tender affections and taste one another’s lips. It’s bittersweet, yet he pulls away with a faint smile.   “You should get in.”   You nod, pulling away from him. Everything the two of you wanted to say has already translated through the kiss.   Still, you take every moment you can and look to him. “Thank you, Jin.”   The doors whir as it closes. He gazes at you till the very last second, till it shuts. The thin whistle diminuendos as it lifts into the air. He watches the shuttle fade from sight and when the sun lifts at the first blush of dawn, what’s left is a streak of white in the sky.

The world is limitless.    You have learned of such a fact at a young age, traveling from desserts to mountains, finding all the hiding places and safe spots that others had claimed no longer existed. But they did and you’ve sought refuge in this forest, found a home amongst the rustling foliage and canopies ruled by spruce, walnut, and alder. There was just enough rays of light bursting through to allow the saplings to flourish and shrubs to overgrow. And without the presence of others, you could listen to the woodpeckers hammering against the wood, the wings of insects fluttering about.   Everything was the way you left it. Unchanged from the time you left like it was waiting for you.   It’s as if Arcadia and Seokjin was a fever dream. Except the mementos brought back with you reminds you otherwise. You dig into your bag, looking through what he’s given you, everything he picked out that he knew would help. But you discover something special at the very bottom.   It’s a black, thick rectangular piece of plastic reminiscent of a walkie-talkie, synced up to only one other without a third in between.   You hold the Erewhon device to your lips and press the side of the button.   “Hello.” There’s a pause. “My name is Y/N.”   Silence follows.   But then there’s the sound of static and someone’s crystal clear voice.   “Nice to meet you. I’m Seokjin.”   A wide smile spreads into your cheeks.

[normal-thoughts-official]

Do you think the polycule has any holiday traditions?

POLYCULE ASK! POLYCULE ASK! POLYCULE ASK! YESSSSSSSSSS

that's actually a pretty interesting question because the polycule is very culturally diverse. like of course we have simon who's jewish, but the rest is kind of in a weird place. i'm pretty sure shadowhunters don't have holidays at all, and since clary was raised by a shadowhunter and a former shadowhunter, i'm pretty sure she would have been raised without any either? like maybe she'd celebrate the gregorian new year because you know, they have to pretend to be mundane after all, but i think that and birthdays were probably pretty much it for her. oh and halloween i guess which is also not religious-affiliated, are there any other holidays in the states? i guess there's the 4th of july and thanksgiving but both celebrate imperialism/colonialism and i don't want to write about that so i'm gonna pretend there aren't. plus i doubt shadowhunters celebrated those either

so ok we have izzy and clary with no holidays, we don't know whether or not maia is culturally christian and i don't wanna just say "yes" by default... and then there's meliorn whose holidays and traditions will be typical to seelie culture, which are gonna be... unique to them obviously. we don't know how they are celebrated, how long they last, what is the milestone, how or even IF they count time - like maybe they go by when a specific flower blooms and that only happens every 10 gregorian years or some shit. so that's a question mark i guess

and there's also the fact that the seelie realm is very politically closed which. i like to think changes once they get rid of the old queen! but it's still a slow process to just allow other people there. then again izzy was a shadowhunter and she used to hop by so it's probably not a huge deal for meliorn to bring their partners and metamours to seelie celebrations? or at least to the ones that aren't Super Sacred or anything. so like parties and dances and stuff like that? yeah. which i guess brings me back to the other "meta" i wrote about seelie dances (link) and what it would be like for the rest of the polycule to participate in those and shit

then... well obviously there's the gregorian new year which we have obviously just gone through (well, we had when i started answering this ask. it's march now so rip. update it's april now. i'm so sorry anon) so like! i think it was always kind of hell for both raphael and maia, autistic icons, because of all the explosion sounds that just made them feel really upset and feel really stupid for it. with raphael i think it was more bearable when he had rosa because she would spend the day with him and hug him and let him squeeze the stress out you know dauhdasuihda also she was always the one he felt the most comfortable stimming in front of. and then after he lost her it only got worse because on top of the fireworks there was the clear absence of rosa that he just FELT everywhere. you know?

and with maia there's the added trouble of her being AMAB and what with being raised to "black men" standarts of masculinity (to be clear, as in: due to racism black men are expected to be even more macho than white men, ESPECIALLY by nonblack ppl; not as in wow black ppl are so backwards or whatever. white ppl invented gender norms anyway so lmao), she was definitely shamed a lot for being so distressed by the fireworks when she was little methinks. we love that combination of transphobia, racism and ableism! so it was just hard and filled with bad memories. and then once she ran away from home it got marginally better without the constant telling her to "man up" and shit like that, but it still came with the added memories you know

and also with them (plus simon) being vampires/werewolves the hearing gets even more sensitive so that's... fun. meliorn realizes it stresses them out and makes up a special kind of spell that muffles their hearing of background noise, so they can feel more comfortable and for the first time there is not that added stress that comes with the new years and it feels so nice?? they even try watching the fireworks but it's kinda like eh, not that great, especially because even looking at them brings out memories you know doahdsaoh so instead meliorn shows them some magic and it's so much prettier with all the glowing lights and stuff, you know?

maybe after that the polycule starts spending the new years in the seelie realm instead, that'd be cute, just like. enjoying that pretty place with all the lights and shit. i think they would all prepare some kind of light show some way or another like using magic and witchlights and whatnot. that'd be cute

as for other holidays! i think their holiday traditions would start with simon's first yom kippur after he was able to eat solid foods again (shut up a potion WILL be created and i don't accept any other option). before that, with simon being unable to eat, he was also obviously unable to fast. he wouldn't feed during yom kippur but it's not like vampires need to drink blood every day so it's not really the same thing. and it felt particularly lonely that, besides being away from his family and community, he also couldn't fast

i mean obviously simon isn't the only jewish vampire in the world, or jewish downworlder for that matter, so i'm sure he makes jewish friends he would at least get together and pray with for yom kippur, and that's what matters the most, really, but being unable to fast when he wants to and also not being able to participate in the break-fast meal just. sucks djdnudhsus

and then he's able to eat and he can do all that again! but it's also kind of emotionally charged for all of the vampires to fast for the first time when for so long they associated not eating with feeling unhuman, you feel? so like it kind of hits all of them hard

so the polycule decides to make him a little surprise and cooks the break-fast meal for them. clary probably knows what simon and his family used to eat after yom kippur so they try to recreate that for him? and maia and raphael are lowkey nervous about it because they had never made stuff like noodle kugel before and while they could at least try it (yay potion!) they have no idea if it's tasting like it should, ya know what i mean? and it's kind of sweet that they are so worried about making this the best possible experience for simon and the closest to home it can get. and simon is super emotional about getting to eat that stuff for the first time, as well as the other vampires, so you know. it's very emotional all around. but in a good way? and i think after that it kind of becomes a tradition that they make him the break-fast meal after yom kippur too

and then the next years they lowkey fuss over him for the last meal before the fast too, which i'm not sure is something simon would do with other people so they would go ham, dude, particularly raphael because he is a worrier first and foremost. so catch his ass all lovingly planning a meal he can make with zero (0) salt whatsoever so simon doesn't get too thirsty during the fast for MONTHS, planning so he gets the most amount of sustenance, lots of fiber, etc., and simon is like "you know i don't even have to eat, right?" but rapha is just all "you know food still matters" and simon doesn't say anything because it does. it matters a lot

and raphael is all sweetly nervous because like... it is a simple meal, that is the point, but he still wants simon to enjoy it and simon can't stop smiling through the whole thing. raphael and the others also eat it with him too in solidarity before simon goes to the synagogue with his community and it's like a sweet send off you know?

also this is not exactly a celebration or a tradition for that matter but since YK is the day of forgiveness i like to think that eventually simon asks for raphael's forgiveness on YK for the whole rosa thing, and although that isn't religious for raphael, raphael asking for his forgiveness for how everything went down, too. and it's just a sweet moment where they leave this whole story behind and look for a better future - i imagine this happening before they get together, so again, it doesn't really count as an answer to your question, but i just thought i'd include it because i find it sweet

then after that there is sukkot and i just really loove the idea of them helping him build the sukkah (for those who don't know, the sukkah is a hut covered with vegetation under the open sky, where jewish ppl live in for the duration of the sukkot). i know that they could just buy a certified one but where is the fun in that when we could have shenanigans? also i think that that would have been part of simon's personal/family traditions because i bet him and becca loved to build the sukkah for their family. so like on that spirit it is a little sad that they can't help each other with that anymore since simon can't be seen by the rest of his family, but of course as soon as he mentions it and how fun it used to be the whole polycule is Immediately On Board. let's help simon build his sukkah!

first of all other than simon none of them have ever built a sukkah before and simon usually followed becca's lead tbh, also he's just not great to Lead And Control people in general, and the polycule is already messy as all fuck. so it's a disaster, especially with raphael and simon's superspeed and strength thrown into the mix, and meliorn's almost impossible to hold back mischievous nature. izzy is lowkey responsible for keeping them in check and okay now that i think about it clary might have helped simon's family build it before, especially when she was a kid because kids just love that shit, but i don't know if she would remember the steps tbh (read: she wouldn't remember the steps) so yeah all in all the sukkah falls down more often than not and they might have to replace a few materials when simon and raphael accidentally snap their bamboo poles in half. rip

meliorn is probably all like "you are all weak and pathetic, i am a seelie, i can literally control living things. simon needs a vegetable covering? watch me get all the nearby trees to form a beautiful roof" and simon is like "actually the sechach cannot be alive" and meliorn slowly dies because they have no power over dead nature. also simon forbids magic usage in general because this needs to be an authentic building experience for him, so meliorn is left as the most useless one since they only have experience building these things using magic and the help of the trees or whatever

also i bet they would love to go EXTREMELY hard on the lights and decorations. i know that hassidic and to my understanding general orthodox jewish communities don't decorate the sukkah but i don't hc simon as part of those communities so i think he would want to decorate the sukkah. like even if it isn't fully covered in decorations, he would want what few he has to be well done, you know what i mean? like he would want to make the holiday posters himself (i dont know if it would be appropriate for clary to help make these but if it would, she totally would and i like the idea of simon giving her a very specific prompt to make the posters and clary doing it for him, you know? and maybe them all helping paint it with colorful themes), making decorations, and okay, at the very least fairy lightning? please? come on. it's another whole ass dramatic experience to get electricity in there so that's fun for sure, but i think meliorn and maia in particular would be all over the idea of making a pretty lightning system, and simon is definitely not gonna complain because he loves pretty things and the idea sounds rad. raphael smiles fondly through it all and basically saves the day by being the only one with organizational skills who is actually able to help them make a working plan for the sukkah

(catch these idiots making a blueprint. TRY and tell me they wouldn't)

(every year they make a new blueprint and the sukkah has different designs and proportions - always following the requirements like having four at least 32 inches tall walls, of course - and they start completely anew. the sechach must always be new but not the general structure, but they redo the structure anyway because again, it's fun)

and then of course they have meals together in the sukkah for the duration of sukkot and just idk i really dig the idea of the lot of them holding trays of food wearing oven mitts as they get inside and turn on the lights and it feels really nice and sweet you know? and then of course promptly turns kind of messy because it's their way but that's what they want. also, at least once a year they manage to sneak becca in for a meal with simon in the sukkah and they are just both so happy and aaaaa :')

and that's how "kidnapping" becca so she can see simon and his sukkah becomes another tradition lmao. they do it in the most dramatic full of flair way they possibly can while still not being found out and then promptly tell simon all about it in the most dramatic and exaggerated retelling during the meal, which always makes both simon and becca laugh (reality: becca just told her parents she would be off for a few hours to do some school thing or something and then they picked her up and she got a superspeed piggyback ride so she and simon wouldn't miss a minute. their story: "it all began with a carefully planted lie,")

there's also pesach which many (reform) jewish friends of mine have told me they like to do with goyim because the whole point of that holiday is to welcome strangers and share jewish history, so i think simon would like to do that as well. so yeah i think simon would enjoy having them with him during the Pesach Seder - again i think simon would want to be with his other jewish friends but it would be fun because they all could bring their pet goyim that they know would be respectful and nice to have around, run the Seder, and celebrate with them. also for their first one i think simon would have gotten excited about explaining the order/15 steps to them, so like cue lots of fond looks as simon tells them everything about it, how this is the first time he'll be able to have the feast, the four cups of wine, and how he's excited even to have the bitter herbs again. and then over the years they all become pretty much used to the 15 steps, they come naturally, they know what to expect, they already know the story of the Exodus after retelling it every year, and it's nice both when it's new and he gets to share and when it starts to be something in their element because it became their tradition and they want to be there with simon for the holidays, you know what i mean?

then there's purim!!!!!!!! god they would sure have so much fun on purim it gets me really excited to think about. purim might be the one that they get to participate the most in from what i've seen, and i have lots of thoughts about it, like:

first of all, making hamantaschen!! they each make a batch with a different stuffing and it's lowkey a competition and lowkey a surprise and as always with cooking together it is very fun and homey. and also kind of silly as they usually are, but purim is a holiday that is kind of supposed to be silly and for ppl to let go so it matches that mood, you know what i mean? like they're all covered in flour and "stop trying to LOOK at what i'm making!" and blind testing and stuff

then, food gifts! so from what i've seen it is preferable that the food gifts jewish ppl send each other on purim are sent by a third party, which is usually a kid, but they don't know many kids and i really like the idea of the polycule serving as simon's messengers for the day lmao. going everywhere round the shadow world and beyond ("hey mel since you can portal i have this friend in argentina-") and then bringing him the other gifts people send simon in return :)

dressing up in costumes! there is absolutely no way simon doesn't dress up for purim and the whole polycule is absolutely dragged into it, including an absolutely reluctant raphael. it quickly becomes a tradition tho that they change costumes every year and try to make them funnier and more outrageous (as you do) as time goes by. trust the polycule to turn pretty much everything into a competition. and simon always laughs with so much glee and joy when he gets to see what everyone dresses up as so really, how could they say no?

(maia "wins", like, every year. she is totally huge on costumes and her and simon are very attuned in that sense, so, you know. catch her dressing up as memes and just generally making the most creative costumes. she may or may not think them months and months ahead of time)

maybe they hold purim meals with particularly themed costumes every once in a while when they want to spice it up, but i think generally it's more of a freestyle thing

simon also loves reading the purim torah tbh, it's just fun. and then of course there's the megillah and booing when haman's name is mentioned. they are all banned from using graggers because half of them have superstrength and the other half doesn't technically have superstrength but is still super strong and they destroyed the poor thing on accident after the first ten seconds when they tried

food yay! and the very long meal. they usually get pretty drunk, tbh, at least the ones that can. and just generally i think it's one of their favorite celebrations to do together and more often than not ends in them all curled up together in the couch so u know, that's sweet uwu

and then of course rosh hashanah, which is the holiest joyous day in jewish tradition, so of course it's a huge deal for them all. and i just think they would all be super excited about making the evening (especially the meal ofc) the most incredible for simon it could possibly be. again i think simon would want to spend it with his downworlder jewish friends and community, and they probably have their own synagogue they go to together and everything, so obviously they are all involved in making preparations for rosh hashanah, but i like to think the polcyule and simon's friends' pet goyim would help with what they can as well (provided it's not something that should be done by a jewish person like baking the challah; but if not with cooking, they would at least want to help with stuff like decorations and the like. honestly i imagine all of simon's partners sitting together very seriously with a paper in front of them writing down all the stuff they can do to help with rosh hashanah preparations and everything. especially once they learn that like being happy/joyous is a mitzvah so they're just like "we want to make u as happy as possible then :)" and it's sweet and simon may or may not tear up a little)

and then we have other holidays that aren't associated with religion like halloween, which was kind of implied to be the official downworld holiday, so i'm pretty sure they go big on that too. not dressing up because again, one day where they can all afford to be themselves, but definitely meeting up at the hunter's moon, getting spectacularly drunk, roasting the mundane's costumes, and then once they get back to whichever of them's homes, watching some shitty movies and throwing stuff at the screen together

i'm on the fence about día de muertos. i know it's not exactly a sad holiday but i feel like it is for raphael because it kind of represents everything he's lost - his culture and his family, and he can't even go to the parade during the day, you know, although i'm not sure that would have been his thing, but i do think he would have loved to watch the arrival of the monarchs when he was a kid but he'd have to be in méxico for that. and particularly after he lost rosa i just feel like it would have been so emotionally charged for him, you know? he would definitely make her an altar every year and it would be just... big and well thought-out and something really emotional and important for him, welcoming his little sister back the best he can. and i feel like that's something he'd want to do alone because my boy loves to punish himself

but there are little things i think they would have wanted to do with him, and that they might push a little to be able to, like being with him while he eats by the altar and hearing him tell stories about rosita. and i think they would help him "undo" (?) the altar once día de muertos is over, which is always extra emotional for him and aaa. and then the next day they kind of just get to be with him and cuddle a little bit as he recovers emotionally, you know?

also it has just occured to me that raphael is christian shit fuck fart bitch cock. so okay i guess that puts xmas and easter somewhat on the map? again mostly for food. us latinos celebrate xmas on the eve, not on xmas day, and raphael is totally the insufferable xmas meal obsessed bitch who's on the kitchen all day and refuses to let anyone help (he can't pull that particular stunt for the meals they have for simon's holidays obviously but he can on xmas soo). but it's worth it because it is always a great one. and he also gives a lot of thought into getting everyone presents so that is sweet and it earns him lots of kisses on the cheek and stuff. and that's pretty much it for latino xmas, we don't really do stuff i'm still not convinced gringos haven't made up like the socks and the eggnog and xmas music (????) so it's more lowkey. and i think raphael would keep the more religious aspects of it to the stuff he does at church (again, there are downworlder religious communities idk what to tell u) and for the nursery home. which is not to say that like... oh wow xmas is totally not a xtian holiday! or whatever, just that the version the polycule does is more lowkey on the religious aspects and the things they do together on that day are more about being together with raphael on a day that matters to him, you know, especially since again, he is the only xtian and that's gonna be a sensitive thing for simon especially

and i think for easter it is mostly something they do to shower maia in sweets lmao. again she misses chocolate and i'm sure they spend a lot of their time trying to figure out how to get around that, either be by like trying to make special chocolate that doesn't make her sick or sweets that really really resemble chocolate or that are so good she doesn't even mind that she can't eat chocolate anymore. so that's their tradition for easter (and raphael goes to church ofc)

oh yeah and i forgot valentine's day! i have this funny little idea just for the shits where they have this little thing where they setup one-on-one dates for all the parts that are actually together and each of them lasts, like, 10 minutes (poor maia who dates everyone is just running around town) and it's more about the fun of running around from one day to the other like this is a bad romcom where some bastard is trying to juggle having two (monog) girlfriends at once. but then they actually get all together at the end of the day and trade presents and funny cards both among their dates and metamours ("roses are red, violets are blue, you're my girlfriend's girlfriend, and i love you platonically"). usually ending up with them drunk and debating how exactly they got to this overly complicated arrangement and trying to figure out the best way to explain this to an outsider and trying to make, like, fluxograms that explain all of their different relationships visually and they all look so messy it just leaves them more confused lmao. so yeah it's fun

and i think that's all i've got? i say, as if this answer isn't longer than anyone will have the time to read and took me over 4 months to write. but anyway

a special thanks to "a group where non-jews can ask questions about judaism and jews can answer" on facebook and all my jewish friends for helping me write about the jewish holidays and customs. i also used the following sources: Rosh Hashanah (link), how to build the sukkah (link), more on the sukkah (link), how to celebrate purim (link), more on purim (link), how to celebrate passover (link), what is a passover seder like (link), laws of yom tov (link), yom kippur (link), what to eat before and after yom kippur (link), a classic yom kippur breakfast menu (link), menus for the pre yom kippur meal (link). if there's anything inaccurate or disrespectful, however, please let me know, and feel free to add more ideas as well if you're jewish :)

[emy-loves-you]

Perfection Isn’t Perfect

So, as some people know, I lost a bet to @imthebadguythatsfine and my punishment was to write 3K words of whatever they wished. My prompt was: cutesy anaroceit date! It was originally supposed to be something completely different, but plot came and slapped me in the face. So here we are!

Summary: Roman, Janus and Virgil were planning on having a fancy date, but it was canceled due to bad weather. Roman will not stand for it, and assures his loves that they don’t need fancy clothes and nice makeup to have a good date night. Anaroceit with nonbinary!Virgil, genderfluid!Roman, and background QPR Intrulogicality

Warnings: Implied Sex (Remus), language

Words: 3,333

Masterlist

Virgil sighed as they scrubbed the makeup off of their face. Another date night lost to bad weather. Just their luck. They looked up at the corner of their mirror, smiling sadly at the two pictures taped there. The first one showed Roman up on a stage, her pink pronoun bracelet proudly on display, giggling as she spun in circles. The other photo showed Janus at the zoo, holding an intense staring contest with a python (Virgil had actually recorded that entire experience, mainly because it took their boyfriend a full 2 minutes to remember that snakes didn’t blink).

Virgil loved their partners with all of their heart. They had all met in high school, each one from a different social group. Roman, the theatre nerd. Janus, the popular kid. Virgil, the resident bad boy and social outcast. None of them would’ve met if it hadn’t been for Roman’s twin brother, Remus. Remus had quickly attached himself to Janus and Virgil, and introduced them to Roman a few months later. The rest, as they say, was history.

Virgil shook their head, focusing back on their makeup. They’ve been dating Roman and Janus for a few years now, but it was nearly impossible to spend time with both of them. Roman was always auditioning for some play, hoping to rack up enough credit to reach Broadway. Janus was still in college, trying to fulfill his dreams of becoming a lawyer. And Virgil didn’t know what to do with their life. They were currently a manager at the local supermarket while commissioning artwork on the side. Virgil was the only one with a predictable schedule, and even then they were constantly busy. They could usually score a lunch date with either Roman or Janus, but the third was almost always busy. Today was supposed to be their first three-person date in over a month. Virgil sighed. They were looking forward to seeing their partners face-to-face. They would just have to settle for video chats and texts.

Virgil sighed as they continued to wipe off their makeup. Janus and Roman always looked like they were runway models, especially during dates. Virgil would spend hours on their makeup and hair so they didn’t look homeless in comparison. It was kind of daunting, actually. Their partners always looked perfect, with perfect makeup and unwrinkled clothes. Virgil would probably die of embarrassment if their partners saw the way they look at home, wearing only a baggy hoodie and some sweatpants, their hair tied up in a messy bun.

“VIRGEY! WHERE ARE YOU?”

Virgil screamed, jumping as they threw their makeup wipes at the bathroom door where the sound was originating. A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal Remus standing there, soaking wet. Remus grinned. “Pack your pajamas and toothbrush, we’re having a sleepover!”

Virgil blinked slowly, staring at their best friend. “What?”

Remus started bouncing slightly as he grabbed Virgil’s hand. “C’mon! You need to get out of this stuffy apartment. I’ve got food and games and movies!” He smirked. “So grab your sexiest pjs and come on!”

Virgil blushed before sighing. “Alright, geez. Just let me get this makeup off first.” Remus sometimes crashed at their place for ‘sleepovers,’ but this would be the first time that Virgil stayed at his place. But Remus was right, Virgil did need to get out of their apartment and stop focusing on their ruined date.

Remus giggled. “Alrighty then! I’ll be downstairs.”

Ten minutes later, Virgil stood in their living room, backpack hung loosely around their shoulders. They were still bummed that they didn’t get to go on their date, but at least they could spend some time with Remus. “Let’s go.”

“Alrighty, then! Get ready to get wet!”

“Why am I getting- oh.” Virgil stared at their now open apartment door, rain pouring so quickly that they could barely see a few feet in front of their face. Virgil sighed. It’s not like anyone’s gonna see me like this. With that, Virgil marched out into the rain, shuddering as the initial chill soaked through them. Virgil quickly locked the door before sprinting towards Remus’ car, not stopping until they were safely in the backseat. Remus followed a few seconds later, and Virgil snorted as they saw the air freshener hanging on the mirror. It had the outline of a deer with the words Oh Deer in the middle. Virgil snorted. “Did Patton get you that?”

Remus’ grin softened as he looked up at the air freshener. “And what if he did? I’m allowed to get gifts from my squishes!”

Virgil laughed. “Yeah, but it’s an air freshener.”

Remus huffed. “I recognize that some people might not appreciate my natural scent, but that does not mean you should ridicule me, Emo!”

Virgil chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s get out of here, trash rat.”

Remus laughed as he turned on the car. “Why are you in the backseat?”

Virgil raised their eyebrow. “Because last time I sat in the passenger seat, there was a squirrel in your glovebox.”

“First of all, I did not know about the squirrel. Second of all, that was one time!”

“Yeah, one time too many!” They both chuckled at that, before the car descended into a comfortable silence. A few minutes later, they arrived in front of a house. Virgil started to unbuckle before they realized something. “Remus, this isn’t your house.”

“Uh-huh.” Remus responded, staring at his phone.

“...Then why are we here?”

“You’ll see.”

Virgil huffed, leaning back in their seat. They scrolled through tumblr for a few minutes before the car door opened, someone climbing into the passenger seat with their umbrella and bag. “Sorry, I couldn’t find my face… masks…”

Virgil locked eyes with Janus, feeling their cheeks heat up. Janus was still wearing a fancy yellow button-up shirt and some black slacks, but his hair was ruffled and his makeup was gone. Virgil turned to look at Remus, who was silently giggling at the scene. “You said this was just the two of us.”

Remus chuckled. “I said no such thing! I just implied it!” He turned the car back on and drove away, humming a merry tune he’d heard from Patton while ignoring the tense silence around him.

Virgil could barely stop themself from openly staring at Janus. They’d never seen Janus so… casual. Janus was always dressed to perfection, his perfect makeup and hair only topped by Roman (Roman was the only person Virgil knew to carry both a makeup back and hairspray at all times). It was odd to see Janus without his perfect hair and makeup. A good odd, but still odd nonetheless.

Just as Virgil was contemplating breaking the silence, Remus pulled up to another house. This time it was Janus who pointed out the obvious. “Remus, this isn’t your house.”

Remus giggled. “I never said you were staying at my house. Now come on!”

Remus immediately ran inside, ignoring the rain around him. Janus opened his door and immediately opened his umbrella, then stood there silently. Virgil wondered what he was doing as they got out of the car, until Janus moved to cover both of them with the umbrella. “I assumed you didn’t bring your own.” His tone was slightly teasing, and Virgil was relieved that they might get through this night with minimal awkwardness. “Come now, no need to keep Remus waiting.”

Virgil surveyed the house they were in. Cardboard boxes lined the walls, each one labeled for a different part of the house. They heard laughing from further in the house and followed it, Janus trailing quietly behind them. They reached the kitchen and saw Remus giggling on a barstool, watching as someone whistled and danced as they put something into the oven. His blue pronoun bracelet was a sharp contrast to his bright red pajamas with gold crowns. His hair was sticking up in every direction, and when he turned around Virgil noted that he had no makeup on. But it was still impossible to not recognize him. “Roman?”

Roman chuckled sheepishly. “Surprise?” He gestured to the house. “I was gonna tell you on our date tonight, but that didn’t really happen, so…” Roman clapped his hands (Virgil fondly noted years ago that he only did that when he rambled and needed to get back on topic). “Yeah! This is my new house! I was gonna tell you all about it in person but there was rain so I decided to show you instead!” He made cute little jazz hands. “Tada!”

Virgil blinked in shock while Janus spoke up. “Roman, Darling, I understand why you wanted to show us your home, but why did you have Remus bring us? And why be so secretive about this?”

Roman rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Well, after our date got cancelled, I was talking with Remus-”

“More like bemoaning”

“Talking about how I wish we could have a date without one of us being absent or the weather ruining everything, and Remus asked why we couldn’t just have the date here? And that’s when I realized something.” Roman started gesturing as he spoke. “All of our dates are so ridiculously formal! Other than texts and video calls, when was the last time we spent time together without fancy makeup or perfect hair? I can’t even remember!” He gestured around the mostly-empty kitchen. “So I’ve prepared a perfect date, set with no expectations whatsoever!”

Now it was Virgil’s turn to speak up. “Date?”

Roman smiled softly. “Now, no need to fret. I can hear the wheels turning in your head, My Chemically Imbalanced Romance.” Virgil blushed at the nickname. “The point of this is to spend time together without any stress of trying to look and act perfect. If we can’t have a nice time like this,” he gestured to his pajamas “then how are we gonna have a happy life together?”

Before Virgil or Janus could even try to respond, Remus spoke up. “Well, if you no longer need your bestest twin ever to be your uber driver…”

Roman chuckled. “Go hang out with your squishes. I know you’ve been dying to see them all day.”

“Damn right I have!” Remus quickly made his way out of the kitchen, waving to Janus and Virgil. “Bye Janny! Bye V! Have fun and use a condom!”

“Tell Pat and Specks we said hi! And tell Specks that he still owes me a jar of Crofters!” Roman called out as Remus left, smiling at the laugh he got in return. He then turned back to Virgil and Janus. “So! I have a pizza in the oven and various junk foods throughout the kitchen. I’ve set up some MarioKart and Disney+ in the living room, and I have some moisturizers and nail polish if you’re up for it!”

Janus said something, but Virgil didn’t hear it, their thoughts running wild for a moment. They didn’t even realize that their partners were trying to get their attention until they felt a hand on their shoulder. They saw Janus’ hand, but it was Roman who was in Virgil’s direct field of vision. Roman gave them a curious look, and Virgil let out a shaky breath. “Sorry, I’m still adjusting to this. I just went from a random hangout with Remus, to a potentially awkward hangout with Remus and Janus, to knowing that I’m now on a date with both of my partners without any way to even try and look nice.”

Roman smiled softly. “That’s why I had Remus bring you two under the guise of a sleepover. I didn’t want you to panic and try to force yourself to be formal and make yourself uncomfortable.” His face then became serious. “However, I understand if this was too sudden. If you want, I can drive you home now. Or you can take up the guest bedroom and have the night to yourself. We would never judge you for something like that.”

Virgil shook their head. “No, I want to do this. It just… hit me all at once, I guess.” They felt their cheeks get warm with embarrassment.

Roman chuckled. “No need to feel embarrassed, Panic at the Everywhere.” He then held out his hand. “Now, onward to video games and Disney movies!”

Virgil giggled as they grabbed Roman’s hand, holding their other hand out for Janus to take. Roman let them to the living room, which was almost completely bare. “When did you move in here, Roman?”

“A few days ago. I wasn’t planning on decorating before showing it off, but we don’t need Disney posters to have a good date!” He pushed a controller into Virgil’s hands. “Here, pick your character. You too, Jack the Fibber.”

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

“Out of my way, Janus!”

“Sorry Darling, but first place is mine.”

Virgil smirked as they heard their partners bickering. “Eat shell, bitches.” Two red shells shot out, hitting their mark.

“Aggh, Virgil! Love of my life, why do you do this to me!”

Virgil giggled at Roman’s dramatics, but was suspicious when Janus remained silent. Just as they were a few seconds from winning, Virgil felt a hand gently grip their chin and tilt their head-

Virgil felt lips on theirs and groaned into the kiss, not realizing their mistake until they heard the sound of someone crossing the finish line. They quickly looked back at the screen and saw their character stuck on a wall in 5th place. They quickly finished their race before turning back to Janus, who was now smirking. “You little shit!”

Janus laughed. “You wouldn’t let me be in first, so I returned the favor.”

Virgil gestured over to Roman, who was dancing on the other end of the living room. “You let Roman win! That’s not fair!”

Janus kissed them again, a teasing smirk on their lips. “All’s fair in love and war, Love.”

Virgil grumbled as their cheeks grew warm from the kiss. “Shouldn’t the pizza be done by now?”

Roman gasped as he ran to the kitchen. “THE PIZZA!”

Virgil laughed as their boyfriend attempted to save the pizza. “Why didn’t you set a timer?”

“Well EXCUSE ME for being so utterly distracted by my beautiful partners!”

Virgil laughed, until they felt a hand cupping their cheek. They turned to face Janus, who gave them a fond smile. “He’s right, you know.” He slowly began to trace Virgil’s cheekbone with his thumb. “You are quite beautiful, with and without the winged eyeliner.”

Virgil snorted. “Says you. You and Roman are always beautiful.”

“And the two of you have beauty that rivals the divine!” Roman yelled, coming back with a plate of misshapen pizza slices. “A small portion was charred, so I had to cut it out before I could cut the slices, but it’s still good!” Roman quickly put the plate down before running back to the kitchen. “I’m gonna go get some drink, go ahead and start without me. Bon Appétit!”

Virgil cautiously grabbed a slice, and watched as Janus did the same. They quickly took a bite and watched as Janus took a bite so small that they wouldn’t have known it was there unless they saw Janus take the bite. They snorted, and explained when they saw Janus’ curious stare. “That’s the first time I’ve seen you eat without silverware, and you ate that the exact way I thought you would.”

Janus gave Virgil a small smile. “Well, I typically don’t eat finger-food, so I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Take what as a compliment?” Janus and Virgil turned to see Roman coming back with three cans of soda.

“Virgil had found my eating habits amusing.” Janus set snootily, but the amusement in his eyes was unmistakable.

“Eating habits?” Roman asked as he grabbed two slices of pizza.

“Yeah, he always takes the world’s smallest bites, no matter what he’s��� eating.” Virgil was now staring at Roman, who had taken a bite of his newly made pizza-sandwhich, with a cheesy inside and a crust-coated outside.

Roman noticed that he was being stared at and became confused. “Yes?”

Virgil continued to stare at the pizzas. “...You know how some people have things that could make or break a relationship?” They gestured to the pizza. “Thi-this is it.”

Roman snorted. “My Knight in Shining Armor, are you seriously willing to abandon me over my pizza eating habits?”

Janus gave Virgil a bewildered look. “And haven’t you seen Remus eat pizza? He eats it the exact same way.”

Virgil huffed. “Well I’ve learned from personal experience to not look anywhere in Remus’ general direction while he’s eating.”

Roman laughed, leaning over Janus’ lap to cup Virgil’s cheek with his hand. “You still love me though, right?”

Virgil pretended to think about it for a moment. “Hmm, I don’t know… I think I need a little persuasion.”

Roman chuckled, and soon Virgil’s personal space was filled with nothing but Roman. His mouth on Virgil’s, one hand in their hair, the other rubbing small circles into their collarbone-

“Ahem.” Virgil and Roman parted to look at Janus, who appeared more flustered than annoyed. Virgil could sympathize, having sat between Roman and Janus during a make-out scene before.

Roman smirked. “Aw, are you jealous, Love?” He looked Virgil in the eye and they nodded before they both leaned over to press a kiss to the corners of Janus’ mouth. They continued to kiss their respective halves of Janus’ face until it was redder than a tomato. Virgil pulled back and matched Virgil’s smirk as they watched their blushing boyfriend attempt to form words.

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

“...There! Now we just have to let it set for 20 minutes.”

Virgil groaned as they resisted the urge to touch the face mask. “How can you do this every night? I’m already wanting to scratch my nose.”

Janus smirked. “Practice, and the desire to have a good self-care routine.” He glanced down to Virgil’s hands. “Your nails are drying nicely.”

Virgil glanced down at their nails, the various black and purple patterns complimenting each other nicely. “Yeah, they are. I think they’re dry too.”

“Well then, would you like a distraction from wanting to touch your face?” Virgil turned to look at Roman, who was plugging in a speaker. They watched as Roman connected his phone to the speaker, and a soft tune floated through the air. It took Virgil a moment to recognize the tune.

Virgil snorted. “Sleeping Beauty? Seriously, Princey?”

Roman gasped in mock offense. “Hey, it’s a lovely song!” He held out his hand. “Now, care to dance?”

Virgil sighed before grabbing Roman’s hand, allowing him to pull them up into a standing position. Roman immediately shifted to a leading position, and Virgil let themself be guided through the dance. Dancing with Roman felt like walking on clouds, every step of uncertainty matched by Roman’s confident movements.

After around a minute of dancing, Roman spun Virgil away. Virgil moved with the motion, expecting to be pulled back into Roman’s embrace. They let out a small squeak when instead they were gently tugged into Janus’ hold. Dancing with Janus felt like they were a snake and Janus the snakecharmer, Virgil instinctively yet shakily following every move in tandem with Janus.

Janus eventually spun Virgil towards the couch in a loose hold, and Virgil let themselves spin across the room and land on the couch. They watched as Roman quickly took Virgil’s spot, following Janus’ lead. It was exhilarating to watch Roman and Janus dance. Every movement was filled to the brim with passion. You could tell with every heartfelt look and gentle touch how much they truly loved each other. And every second of watching reminded Virgil of how much they loved their partners with all of their heart.

Roman and Janus both reached out towards Virgil, their other hands locked together. Virgil smiled at the loves of their life before placing their hands in theirs, letting themself be pulled back into the music.

[deepdonutkid]

Social media and the Shelby Family

Let’s go from youngest to oldest…

Finn, as said in the first part, is an influencer, who likes to live his life online. He tweets a lot, he has a ton of insta stories and likes to keep his followers updated. Also he follows some trends like trying bubble tee or these weird tik tok dances. Finn even bribed his brothers to try some with him. They refused of course. Tommy said a no and walk right out of the room. John laughed and brushed it off. Arthur tried, but failed hilariously. Good for him, that Finn was teaching him the steps and not filmed the miserable attempt.   Michael did and was actually good… and Ada did quite okay. Well, Polly wasn’t even asked, because Finn already knew her answer was no.

A lot of his pictures online are with his friends, especially Jesaja.  They skate sometimes and film their tricks. (I added this, because I saw a video of Finn’s Actor- Harry Kirton- skating and I thought it also fit Finn) Whenever he is eating something instagramable, he definitely take a picture. Finn also take good selfies, but he only uses funny filters. So no Dog ears or sparkly flowers here!

He answers messages mostly direct, no waiting time, ‘cus this guy doesn’t play games, but as a Gen Z he would definitely be scared of phone calls. Especially if it’s Polly and there are already two missed calls. Then he just freaks out right away.

And to add a little funny extra: Finn tried among us on his phone and he is kinda sus!

His Whatsapp status would be: “my milkshake brings all the bees to my car. Shit… there are bees in my car!”

-.-.-.-.-

Michael is king of selfie. He knows he looks like god’s gift to the women and he plays that card. His phone is filled with all kinds of selfies. Little narcissist, here! Well, he needs to take a picture from every ankle to capture his beauty.

He also posts some stories on insta, but not so often like Finn. Michael keeps it casual. Just a few party pictures with friends or something super cool like new car.  

But as we all know Michael Gray, he likes to play games with da ladies. So sometimes you wouldn’t even get a goodnight from him. If you tease him, he’ll tease back. Probably posts a picture with another woman. She is just a friend, but you’ll not know that. Yes, he can be mean, but if you’ll call him drunk and late at night, that you miss him, he’ll be glad to hear that.

His status would be: “P1 cleaner than your church shoes.” And yes, this is a weeknd lyric from the song starboy

-.-.-.-.-.-

Ada. Yes. I almost forgot her. How could I? She is gorgeous!

Already mentioned in part one… She knows her stuff pretty well. Technology… no problem for this gal right here. Ada can hack into stuff and write codes and programs, but this also made her very aware of data getting misused or stolen from bots. This is why she chose to keep distance from social media. She doesn’t use the gram or snapchat or whatsoever, but she uses secure text messenger and is likely to be found on a super dank meme page and to understand the memes you need the knowledge of years and years internet culture. And Ada talks to Finn and Michael about unprotected data and how they shouldn’t spill so much information about them online.  

But she takes a lot of pictures from her kids, her husband, her cute outfits, her house and garden, their vacations. She doesn’t use a normal cloud and prefers to show you the pictures together. One after one and she’s making a comment to every single one of them. About that she could talk for hours.

Her status would be… well, she wouldn’t have any!

-.-.-.-.-.-

So… John-boy! Here isn’t much to say. He uses Instagram, but it’s a rare thing. John might follow some artist, so he is up to date for new concerts to go to and also some friends, but that’s it. On a good day which happens to be every half year he might post a picture, when he went somewhere. To get a new tattoo or if he went to see a game, probably soccer and rugby. If he gets the chance to travel, he’ll make pictures, but he totally forgets to post them or even show them to his family. He prefers to talk with his brothers about the experience of traveling and not starting a slide show.

What he is talking pictures of? Selfies are rare, but do happen, if they are a special request from a gal… and it’s probably shirtless, ‘cus he has got the body.  Then again, he took pictures, if he was abroad, not on the usual roads, but only a few. While texting he might send a funny meme, if he sees any and thinks of you. And the occasional picture of “Look what I just got”… and it’s a Vinyl or a band shirt. Even though, he answers his family rarely, when he is in Birmingham, he’d be texting with his lady a lot, having this grin on his face, while Ada asks who he is writing to.

His status would be something like: “punk in drublic.” Which is a festival for said genre, but he just finds it funny. Likely to add “Y/N with an emoji of choice”, when he is in a relationship.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Tommy hates social media and refuses to try it for a long time, but Finn uses it so much, that Tommy had a little interest, what’s going on there. His youngest brother had a lot of explaining to do, which probably went like:

T: “How do I tell the person I like the picture?”

F: “There is the comment button.”

T: “No, I mean the… like thing.”

F: “Double tap on the picture, Tom.”

T: “Good, so… what’s next?”

F: “Nothing. What should happen?”

T: *shrug* “So, this is completely useless!” *deletes the app immediately*

And Tommy is also not the guy to answer private messages directly or often. Sometimes you said on read for days with this fellow, because he is super busy and doesn’t have the time to type. If you’re lucky, you get a quick okay. But if it’s important, he’ll call you right away and asks what happened, and if you need any help. With business he always answers straight and don’t like to waste time.

He doesn’t take pictures really. There may be some incidences where he hit the button by mistake. And there some photos of documents, which he need proof of… so he doesn’t have to rip out a page from a book like its 1920s. And all the pictures of his family has been send to him, he just don’t delete them.

His status would be: “Available” or “At work. Only important calls.”

-.-.-.-.-.-

Arthur… well… he has Facebook and uses it like anyone going on forty… really weird boomer mems, that might have been funny ten years ago. He sends them to everyone and they’re so annoyed by it, but he spares Tommy as his time is too important to waste on ‘funny pictures’.

Some gave him an Echo thing, the one with Alexa, you know, and he was so frustrated by it, that he threw the thing against the wall. Arthur couldn’t get past the set-up and got to angry. His family laughed about it, but it’s better this way.

Thanks to Finn and his little videos, Arthur became a meme himself, because his little brother filmed him while Arthur did something ridiculously stupid. That vid went viral. (Unsure what he did exactly)

His status would be: “Hey, there I am using whatsapp!”

-.-.-.-.-.-

I don’t know what to say about Polly and Freddie… so I leave them out now, but if you have something to add or whatever, feel free to do so!

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 20

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 10,096

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

Turns out once you've smooched a guy on the nose, things like holding his hand and other such minor displays of affection no longer seem so daunting.

Sure, even as I reached for his hand now, some small amount of mental self-cheerleading was still required in order to work myself up to it. And okay, the tiny flutter in my chest when my fingers brushed against his almost had me pulling back faster than you could say 'emotion-phobia.' But I didn't. And hey, this was way more than I could have brought myself to do even just a few short days ago. This was kind of huge for me, so I think I'd earned the right to take a little pride in my headway so far. Who knew, I just might pull off my half of this whole pretend dating deal yet.

Lea glanced down at my touch. Then he grinned, pulling my hand up to press a soft kiss to the back of it before setting it back down on the dinner table, his thumb trailing light circles along my knuckles. Picking right back up where he'd left off in the conversation, he said, "Oh yeah, GUMMI ships got all sorts of badass tech going on now, the likes of which would put both Star Trek and Star Wars to shame. Super, ultra, mega-laser cannons, impenetrable force fields, swarms of nanobots that can repair any and all damage just like that," he snapped his fingers. Lea then planted an elbow on the table and leaned forward to add in a conspiratorial whisper, "They even have defense systems in the form of giant, exploding space duckies."

Saïx gave him a flat look from where he sat on the other side of the table from us. "Not true."

"Sure it is!" Lea chirped, straightening back up in his chair. "I mean, how else are they gonna fight all those aliens out there?"

Propping my cheek in my free palm, I cocked an eyebrow at him as I felt an upward tug at one corner of my lips. "Aliens? As in little green men?"

"No, no, that'd just be silly," he waved off with a scoff. "As in lil shadow men. Creepy bastards with big, yellow eyes and twitchy antennae." Still holding my hand, he brought both of his own up to either side of his head, miming said antennae with his index fingers.

Closing his eyes, Saïx gave a low sigh into his wine glass. "Also not true."

Lea shrugged, "Oh sure, they're not all like that. There was that blue one they found over in Hawaii, what was its code name again… Experiment 626? Yeah, the government got that one covered up real fast. And don't even get me started on the total dreadnought that is Schwarzgeist lurking out there somewhere in the night sky that absolutely obliterated the USS Endymion."

"The sheer amount of not true you are spouting off right now is positively staggering," Saïx deadpanned, eyelids drooping as he dabbed his napkin to his mouth. "You really need to stop staying up late every night reading all those conspiracy theories out there on the internet."

Lips curling into an evil smirk, Lea said, "But how else am I gonna royally piss you off so much?"

That earned him a small scowl from his brother.

This was basically it. The whole evening in a nutshell from the moment I'd stepped foot into Lea's apartment. Like me, it seemed that Saïx was not much of a talker, at least not amongst strangers. Unlike me however, it appeared to have less to do with social anxiety and more like he just plain wasn't a fan of the whole talking thing and so only did it when he deemed it absolutely necessary. Which I could totally respect. It was just that between the two of us, it had a tendency to leave a bit of a void in the conversation every now and then. Luckily, it was void that Lea was only too happy to fill.

Saïx had been the one to cook dinner. It seemed that that was part of the breakdown of chores in their living arrangement: he usually handled supper while breakfast was Lea's job. Saïx and I had already emptied our plates by now while Lea was still working on his, seeing as how he was otherwise preoccupied with talking a mile a minute. The meal had been a very nice chicken bruschetta pasta paired with a red wine from a fancy looking bottle. The latter I'd thought to be a bit of an odd choice, as I didn't picture Lea being much of a wine drinker. But there he was, sipping away at it, pinkie raised as he did so for an added bit of flair. I guess he just wasn't picky and would drink whatever was put in front of him. I, on the other hand, had decided not to partake. Would rather keep a clear head during this bit of subterfuge we were playing out in front of Saïx.

The point was, there was wine. And wine equaled a wine tipsy Lea. And a wine tipsy Lea, as I was discovering, equaled a chatty Lea. The boy was already chatty to begin with, but this was an all new level. This was chatty on steroids. Needless to say, he was having no trouble whatsoever keeping the conversation rolling.

"Why are we even discussing the GUMMI space program again?" Saïx asked in his bored monotone.

Lea drove his fork down into his pasta, twirling it around. "You know you're always a total slut for outer space, man. The moon and constellations and all that crap is your jam."

"Yes, but our guest," he gestured towards me, "might not find the topic nearly so interesting."

Trailing a finger along the rim of my still full wine glass, I said, "Actually, I've been fascinated by the research their lead mechanical scientist Cid Highwind has been doing in the field of warping technology. With his help, it might not be long before our ships can travel to other solar systems."

Both men just blinked silently at me for a moment.

What? So I liked to keep up on current events by reading a news article every now and again online. It really was not a big deal.

Saïx was the one to speak up first. "Yes. It's said Highwind is hoping to have a working prototype in less than five years."

Do my eyes deceive me? Was that the hint of a smile ghosting over Saïx's mouth?

Oh wow, I think I'd managed to score some points.

...not that it mattered, of course. Since this was only a fake relationship, after all, so getting in the brother's good graces didn't really mean all that much to me. Not one bit. Nope.

Nuzzling his nose to my ear, Lea beamed, "Hell yeah! My baby knows shit!"

"More than you do at least," Saïx sniffed blandly.

Expression relaxing into a sly grin now, he shot back, "I know enough to know about an astral sea monster whose sheer mass is gargantuan enough to blot out the very sun, the terror of the cosmos, eater of spacecrafts and destroyer of worlds, the dreaded galactic space whale," he paused for dramatic effect before splaying a hand out before him as he intoned in hushed reverence, "...Monstro."

Saïx grumbled under his breath and facepalmed.

"By my count, that's the eighth time he's done that tonight," Lea stage whispered to me. "Just five more and I'll have beat my all-time record."

I gave a low hum of amusement. "I suppose it's important to have goals in life."

He snorted, returning his attention to his food as he scooped a forkful into his mouth. I noticed that he'd incidentally stained one side of his lips in the process and I had a brief flashback to a familiar scene of Sora and Kairi. Of the pair of them sitting in the food court and Kairi kissing away a similarly located blotch on her boyfriend. Now that right there had been a seriously advanced dating technique and one I was in no way ready to try out myself. You kidding me? I was still very much a beginner here and the very idea of trying to pull off such a maneuver already had my ears turning pink. That said, a newbie like me still had some options, especially with my newfound ability to make the first move and actually touch my (fake) boyfriend without completely spazzing out.

I tucked in my lower lip, hesitating briefly as my pulse thudded a little more loudly against my eardrums. But then I slowly lifted my hand.

Lea visibly stiffened as he felt my thumb brush at the corner of his mouth, wiping the smudge away. As I began to retract my arm however, he dropped his fork to snatch my wrist and stop me. I arched an eyebrow at him. He smiled back with hooded eyes. Then he gently tugged my thumb up to his lips and licked the sauce off it.

Breath hitching, I yanked my hand free of his grasp. His smile just turned smug as he winked at me.

Apparently, Wine Tipsy Lea had even less boundaries than usual.

As I wiped my thumb with a napkin and ducked my head to hide my boiling cheeks, I heard Saïx mutter, "One has to wonder what a woman of your obvious intelligence and sophistication even sees in an asinine clown such as my brother."

"Well let me think about it," Lea's eyes danced as he folded his hands together, steepling his index fingers so the joined tips touched his mouth. "Perhaps it's my devilish charm and debonair good looks?"

"Oh come now," he said cooly with another sip of his wine, "if you're going to be making things up, you should attempt to make them at least halfway credible."

"He makes me laugh," I suddenly heard myself saying. As both pairs of eyes turned towards me, I immediately felt self-conscious. I mean seriously, what a stupid, cliché thing to say. But that didn't make it any less true, any less… meaningful. I wasn't someone who laughed a lot. In fact, before I'd run out on my wedding, I could probably count the number of times I'd laughed in the last year on one hand.

Fidgeting with my fingers, I pushed forward, "He's sweet… and thoughtful. And genuine. He's not afraid to be himself. And because of that, I find it easier to be… myself... around him." Another thing that did not come easy to me.

As Lea slipped an arm around my shoulders so he could pull me closer and plant a swift peck to my temple, Saïx gave a soft harrumph, "Well, I guess there's no accounting for taste."

"Psst, Saïx," Lea lowered his voice, bending forward over the table and cupping a hand to his mouth. "The moon landing was faked."

With a heavy sigh through his nose, he merely rose from his chair and started gathering the plates and silverware together. As he reached for mine, I protested, "No, that's okay, I can take care of it."

"You're the guest," he said simply as he swiped it up in one smooth motion.

"Best not argue, otherwise he might unleash his berserker wrath on you," Lea sniggered to me. However, when Saïx next took his plate away (still with food on it), he snapped, "Hey! I wasn't done with that!"

"Then you should have eaten faster," he responded dryly.

He stuck his tongue out at him. "Oh yeah? Well the earth is flat." As Saïx turned towards the kitchen, the plates stacked in his hand "accidentally" smacked into Lea's forehead, forcing a small grunt out of him.

I hid a grin behind my hand as Lea pressed his fingertips to the fresh sore spot with a soft tch. Then he downed the rest of his wine as he stood up himself, gathering the other glasses between his fingers on one hand while balling up napkins together in the other. He looked at me, face brightening, "Why don'tcha go on and take a seat in the living room. I'll join ya after I finish helping Saïx clean up."

"Alright," I nodded. He used a hand (the one stuffed full of napkins) to pull my seat out as I stood and gave him a tiny smile before moving past him. Reaching the blue sofa, I moved some of its mismatched pillows to clear a space and took a seat on the far end, tugging the hem of my dress down to cover my knees as I listened to the sound of running water and clinking dishware coming from the kitchen.

I didn't have to wait long before the boys were rejoining me. Lea came bounding over first, plopping himself unceremoniously down onto the couch with me.

Leaving one whole cushion space between us.

I furrowed my brow over at him. However, I did not have to wonder for long at his unexpected seating choice.

For next thing I knew, he'd flopped over onto his side and was using my lap as a makeshift pillow.

My eyes widened and I jolted, one hand going to my chest. His cheek nestled against my leg as one hand went to my knee, his thumb tracing lightly along its top curve over the fabric. "Mmm… you're comfy!" he sighed contentedly.

It was official. Wine Tipsy Lea had absolutely zero boundaries.

Halfway into taking a seat into a maroon armchair to our right, Saïx stopped. Then he straightened back up to his full height with a tired, drawn-out huff. "Perhaps some coffee would be in order."

I gradually relaxed, my eyes crinkling as I glanced down at Lea with a resigned smile. He was like a kitten cuddling into my lap. A really big kitten. I half expected him to start purring. "Perhaps that might be for the best," I murmured in agreement.

My eyes lifted long enough to follow Saïx as he made his way back over towards their kitchen, long blue hair swaying behind him as he went. When I looked back down, I realized with a tiny start that one of my hands had taken it upon itself to start lightly stroking Lea's hair.

Huh. How did that cheeky little devil get there?

I should stop.

But it was just so very... soft. Softer than I remembered. So soft that it felt like I was doing something wrong, something… forbidden by daring to touch it.

...okay, I really, really needed to stop.

...ten seconds. Just ten more measly, innocent seconds, then I'd stop.

There was a low, pleased hum in Lea's throat as my fingers continued to slowly run through his fiery locks. Then he rolled over onto his back, capturing my hand with his to press a gentle kiss into my palm. It tickled and my heart stuttered as I felt a familiar heat creeping up my neck. He... did know Saïx was no longer nearby to witness this little production he was putting on... right? Then again, maybe Lea was too far gone by now to realize his brother had left the room and so was still on boyfriend autopilot. Cradling my hand to his chest just over his heart, his other came up to start fiddling with the end of my braid from where it hung forward over my shoulder as he grinned up at me. "Wanna know?"

My head tipped to one side, "...know what?"

"You said what you see in me, so now it's my turn. Wanna know what I see in you?"

I blinked at him. Then my eyes briefly flicked over to Saïx just beyond the island counter where he was filling a coffee maker with water. Could he hear us all the way over there? Hopefully… this might be good for show. With a low snort, I planted my elbow on the armrest next to me, propping my cheek against my knuckles as I dropped my gaze back to Lea. "Sure, why not? Go for it."

This should be good.

His grin twitched wider. "You're kooky."

...well I certainly wasn't disappointed.

Though that wasn't quite the word I would have expected out of him. In fact, not the word I would have ever expected out of anyone when used to describe me.

One of my eyebrows quirked. "I'm… kooky?"

He nodded, "Mm-hm! Most people don't know it, but it's there. Way, way deep down in here," he tapped a finger to a spot just below my collarbone before going back to toying with my braid. "Ya try to keep it hidden. Don't like people seeing that side of you for some reason. But I've caught glimpses of it. I like it. Makes me feel like I'm in on a secret no one else is. And you're fun. Hella smart, too. And so goddamn pretty."

"That so?" I muttered, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.

Wine Tipsy Lea was laying it on a bit thick.

Still… I was smiling despite myself.

"And that. Right there," he tapped a finger to my lips. "Your smile is gorgeous. Was the first thing about you that had me head over heels. I love being the one to put it there. Love being the one that can make you laugh."

Did I say a bit thick? Try instead a lot thick. Too thick. Like two metric tons too thick. Jeez, perhaps I'd be better off hoping Saïx couldn't actually hear all this. Even he might think it a bit too much to be believable.

Lea's eyes softened as he continued to stare up at me, his hand shifting over from my mouth to lightly graze his curled fingers against my cheek, leaving tiny tingles in their wake. "...I wish we were real."

Insert record screech.

E-E-Excuse me?!

My heart stopped. Like legit full on stopped. There were at least three full seconds there where if a medical examiner had checked my pulse, they would have probably declared me dead.

Lea froze, his whole body locking up. His eyes grew round and his face blanched, his expression now a perfect mirror of what I imagined my own must have looked like in that exact moment as he seemingly and immediately realized his mistake.

Now I definitely hoped Saïx couldn't overhear us! There seemed to be no reaction from over in the kitchen beyond the sound of water beginning to boil. Which was good. Maybe our cover wasn't blown and-

...and so not the point right now! The point was… was…

Ex-friggin'-scuse me?!

Wish we were real? What did that even mean? Real what? Did he mean that he wanted… that he wished he and I… that we were a… an actual, honest to god coupl-

No! No, I must have misheard. Yeah, that had to be it! He hadn't said… er… what I thought he'd said. No, what he'd probably actually said was, uh… was he wished we were… seals. Yeah, that's probably what it was! Seals were neat! And… and cute! I wouldn't blame him for wanting to be one, especially in his less than totally sober state! Or… or… he could have said that he… he fished… for Neil. Who was Neil, one might wonder? Got me! But you know what? Good for Lea, helping his ol' pal Neil out with fishing like that. Nice guy, that Lea. Such a giver, such a-

"TORS!" Lea suddenly shouted, practically making me jump out of my skin as he shot up off my lap and scooted all the way over to sit at the opposite end of the couch. He had a hand clasped over his nose and mouth, doing a poor job of hiding his reddened (wine flushed?) face. "Realtors! I wish we were realtors, is what I was trying to say!" he hastily clarified, shooting a weak chuckle my way.

I stared at him blankly.

Wha…? Realtors…?

Apparently, he wasn't done. "Yeah! You know, one of those power couples you hear about all the time! Partners in everything, from romance to real estate! That's some real lovey-dovey crap right there, don'tcha think? The epitome of passion! The sappiest dream to ever sap! The-"

"What inanity are you babbling on about now?" Saïx returned, causing me for the second time in as many minutes to nearly die of cardiac arrest. He was carrying two steaming mugs, one in each hand.

"Nothing! Not a damn thing! Nope! Total nonsense!" Lea said quickly, snatching up one of the cups and rapidly blowing on the coffee a couple times before knocking back the whole thing in one go. He pulled the cup away from his lips with a wince, probably suffering from a tongue that was now at least mildly burnt. Then he plastered on a grin, "You know how I get when I'm lost in the sauce, man. I start rambling off total bullshit that I don't even mean. Never. Mm-mm, nope, not one bit! Every word of it? Total garbage. Yup! Heh…"

I flinched back from the second warm mug that was suddenly being offered me. I'd barely had a chance to hold up my hand and shake my head before Lea was grabbing that one too, handling this one with smaller, more cautious sips.

...realtors.

Huh.

Okay, sure, why not?

Not like it was any crazier than any of the other explanations I'd come up with myself. Especially when you considered Lea was more than a little buzzed. People said nonsensical things all the time while under the influence. I'd know, I'd seen Anna in a state of three sheets to the wind on more than one occasion. You should have heard half the things she'd blathered on about at the time… adventures through magical winter wonderlands, talking snowmen, singing rock people, whole castles made of-

Shoot, Saïx was talking to me. Or rather, had been talking to me for a while and now seemed to be expecting some sort of reply. Still a little rattled, I scrounged together a flimsy but polite smile, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

One thin eyebrow arched ever so slightly at me as he cradled a fuming mug between his hands. Apparently he'd gone back at some point to get one for himself as well. "...I heard you were present during one of my sleepwalking episodes a couple weeks back. I hope I didn't give you too much of a fright."

"Oh! No! No, it's-" I got distracted as I felt Lea gingerly inching back over to sit beside me. Probably trying to salvage some semblance of the relationship pretense. However, his affections had become somewhat subdued, restricted now to only resting an arm along the sofa cushions behind my head and his knee brushing against mine as he continued to nurse the coffee. Regathering my train of thought, I tried again, "It's, uh… it's alright. Not your fault. Nor was I bothered by it at all. Just had to stay out of your way, is all."

"Still I-"

"Ya know what?" Lea suddenly piped up, plonking the now empty mug down onto the coffee table right next to the first one. "Sorry guys, but I think we gotta call it an early night! I'm beat! And I mean woof! Dog-tired!"

My eyebrows knit together as I glanced over at him. "...but you just chugged two full cups of coffee."

...what are you doing, you fool, shut up! He was probably trying to rescue us by putting a merciful end to what, as of the last five minutes, had officially become one royal disaster of an evening!

He bat a hand through the air, "That? Please, that was just to help sober my drunk ass up! Trust me, caffeine doesn't do jackshit to me when it comes to staying awake."

Saïx's mouth had settled into a flat line as his green gaze shifted back and forth between Lea and me. "Very well," he said finally, closing his eyes as he raised his cup to his lips, "I presume my noise canceling headphones will be a necessity while I work tonight."

I frowned. "Noise canceling…?"

Lea cleared his throat and gave a sheepish chuckle while scratching a spot behind his ear. "He, uh… thinks you're spending the night."

"Oh…" I said slowly before his words had a chance to fully sink in. Then they did. "Oh!" I repeated more loudly, eyes widening as I rocketed up to my feet, "You mean sex!"

...what the actual frick, mouth?!

"Which is a thing!" Apparently, I was only getting started. Panic mode was in full effect now. "A thing d-dating couples do! Which… which we are! Dating, that is. And a couple! Can't, uh… can't forget that part." Dear lord, where's a gag when you need one? "Which, I don't know w-why you would. Because clearly we're a couple. Yup! That's us!" Yeesh, at least when Lea had been yammering off nonsense, he'd had wine coursing through his veins. What was my excuse? "A couple! A couple who, ah…" Oh no. "...who have, er…" Don't you say it. Don't you dare say it. "...who have sex!"

I winced.

Just shoot me. Shoot me now.

"Oh yeah, lots and lots of it!" Oh great. There was more. "All the time! In all s-sorts of, um… places. My room. His room. Oh look," I pointed both my hands towards Lea's door, "there's his room now!" Make an excuse to leave. Any excuse. " I think we'll go in there now and make with all the sex!" Not that excuse! Pause, followed by tiny, nervous laughter from me. "Yup."

Then before I knew it, I'd bolted into said room, door crashing shut behind me. I pressed my back to it, clutching both hands to my mouth as I hyperventilated and trembled, eyes huge and unblinking as I stared off into space, registering absolutely zilch of what was in front of me now.

What.

Did.

I.

Just.

Do?!

You know what, cheeks? I won't even try and stop you this time. You go right on ahead and blush your nonexistent little hearts out. Fry my face to a friggin' crisp, for all I care. I won't judge. You have every right after… that. Whatever the heck that even was just now!

Oh gosh, had I really just gone on and on about, hrm… intimate relations? In front of Lea's brother? That... had to be... the most spectacular case of anxiety-induced word vomit to date from me yet! What was wrong with me? Who does that? No, seriously, I demand answers this instant, what in the everliving-

A soft knock at the door made me yelp and jump away, whipping around to face it, heart trying to jackhammer its way out of my chest. I was greeted by my own frazzled reflection staring back at me from the full-length mirror hanging there. My face could have been mistaken for a ripe, oversized tomato.

"...El?" Lea's muffled voice came through from the other side. "You might've, uh… kinda forgot something."

A crease formed between my eyebrows. Forgot something? No, I don't think so. I glanced down at myself, hands patting over my dress. Phone in pocket? Check. Shoes on feet? Check. No purse, I hadn't used one tonight. No coat, I'd thought it too warm out for it. My gaze settled on the door once more, eyes scrunching. "What did I forget?"

"...me?"

Oh.

Fudge.

After that, ah… stirring speech I'd just given out there a moment ago, it would certainly help drive the point home if I had him in here with me, wouldn't it?

After all, it took two to, ahem... tango.

As I reached a hand towards the doorknob, I realized I hadn't even locked it. Lea must have only been knocking to be considerate. A consideration I greatly appreciated, especially when you take into account that this was in fact his room that I'd taken sanctuary in. Taking a deep breath and expelling it slowly in one last ditch effort to calm my nerves, my still shaking fingers closed around the knob and twisted.

I cracked the door ajar about an inch, just barely enough for me to peek one eye through. Arms crossed and one shoulder propped against the doorframe, Lea tilted his head with a tiny smile, "Hey."

My gaze fell to my feet for a moment before flicking back up to meet his. "...hi."

"Can I come in?"

I hesitated for another heartbeat then nodded, pulling the door open further and taking a couple steps back. He turned his head to one side, calling out a quick, "Night, man!" to Saïx before walking in and closing the door.

Ah, awkward silence. Ye hath returned. Never could stay away from me for long, could you?

"So…" I hugged myself and decided to get into a staring contest with the floor. "...think he likes me?"

Lea snerked, folding one arm behind his back, hand hooking his opposite elbow as he leaned back against the mirror hanging from his door. "You kidding? He adores you. Practically ready to call ya sister-in-law."

I attempted a smile. It came across as more of a grimace. "Even after I was… all…"

"...smooth and cool as a cucumber?" he supplied, his voice chipper. "Absolutely! And you said you couldn't lie," he teased. "You handled that one like a total pro!"

...oh. Wow, he was right. Not about the "pro" part, obviously, but that I had lied. For the first time since this whole charade started, I'd told a straight out, bald-faced lie. It had been a monumental failure, to be sure, but hey… we all had to start somewhere. Guess I had to take my silver linings wherever I could.

"Gah, I should have just made up some sort of… of excuse or something." I started pacing slowly, eyes still downcast as I brought one hand up to chew on my thumbnail. "Said I couldn't stay because I had an opening shift tomorrow."

He shook his head, "Saïx knows you work at the mall with me, so he also knows I woulda happily driven ya over from here, even at the crack of dawn."

Frowning, I tried again, "Well then, I could have said that… ah! That you had an early test tomorrow so I shouldn't be keeping you up late!"

"Nah, he knows me too well," he smirked, waggling his eyebrows. "Knows I'd never let a lil thing like that stop me."

I blinked. Then I buried my face in my hands with a groan. "Oh god, I can never face him again. Not after that." Dragging my palms down to peek out between my fingers, I grumbled, "I'm guessing it's safe to assume he's retracted his 'woman of obvious intelligence and sophistication' comment." Ha. Showed what Saïx knew.

Shrugging one shoulder, he laughed, "I wouldn't worry 'bout it too much. Just another side of your kookiness that I mentioned earlier. 'Sides, he knows what a nervous, jumpy creature you are."

Up quirked one eyebrow. "...he does?"

"Well, he does now."

...fair point.

One that did not make me feel better.

"And look at the bright side," Lea continued. "It's good this happened here rather than in front of your folks! Now you'll be better prepared to handle it the next time it comes up."

My lips twisted sourly, "I guess so." As bad as this already was, it would have spelled utter disaster if that little freakout had occurred during the upcoming weekend with my parents. We're talking one epic catastrophe here, like meteor-taking-out-the-dinosaurs kind of catastrophe. Then again, I didn't particularly see this exact set of circumstances arising while I was around my family. Still… best to be on the safe side. I wrinkled my brow, "Better prepared… how?"

"Ah, well…" he pursed his lips to one side, tapping a finger against his other arm. "For starters… and I'm just spitballing here, but next time you could maybe just, ya know… not say the word sex repeatedly? If at all? I'm thinking this is 'less is more' kinda situation."

"...good call."

"Heh," he paused, rubbing his shoulder. "So... looks like we're bunkmates."

I lowered my gaze once more and brought my curled fingers up to my mouth, covering my deepening frown. "Yeah… looks like…"

I wish we were real.

Gah, why was I still even thinking about that?! Lea had already explained it, hadn't he? Realtors. The word he had actually said, had been in the middle of saying, was realtors. It was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just the ramblings of a guy who'd had a little too much to drink. Why was I still stuck on this?

My face must have been an open book. "Listen, I… meant what I said earlier," he spoke abruptly and my eyes darted up to lock on his. He averted his gaze and scratched his cheek, "You can't take anything I say too seriously when I've been drinking. Often my brain is just stringing random words together and spitting out the first arbitrary bullshit it can come up with. Like a toddler that's just learned to talk, regurgitating words it doesn't even understand just cuz it heard it from someone else at some point. Half the time, the things I say when I'm liquored up don't even make any sense." His eyes settled on me once more, this time accompanied by a weak smile. "So just don't be too… concerned about any gibberish that came blurting outta my stupid drunk mouth, 'kay? And you won't hear another peep of it tonight. Those two coffees are kicking in fast, so I'm much more clear headed now."

I tugged at my braid before folding my arms tightly together once more. "...okay."

And now onward to Act 1, Scene 2 of the award-winning and critically acclaimed musical: Awkward Silence.

"I have a lizard!"

My head rocked back at Lea's sudden declaration out of nowhere, both eyebrows shooting up my forehead. "...a lizard?"

He nodded eagerly, grinning big now. "Yeah! Wanna see? Come take a look!" He moved off to his left towards one corner of the room and for the first time I realized that there was a large glass terrarium situated on a long, low table in that spot. Lea squatted down next to it, waving me over to join him. I obliged and when I got close enough, he took hold of my hand and tugged me down into a crouch beside him. He squinted into the enclosure for a second, scanning all the rocks and plants inside before, "Ah-ha!" He pointed, tapping his finger against the glass, "There he is!"

And indeed, there he was, curled up inside a small, hollowed out log and blinking back at us. He was a tiny thing, all big eyes and blue skin except for the purple markings running down his back. "Oh wow," I slowly smiled, "you really do have a lizard. Why didn't you say anything last time I was here?"

"Cuz 'come into my bedroom so I can introduce you to my lizard' sounds a lil sketch, don'tcha think?" he chuckled, waggling his pointer finger up and down at his pet in greeting.

A soft snort. "Yeah, that might have earned you a dubious look." The critter crawled out into the open now, giving us a curious look. "Can I hold him?"

Lea flashed some dimple, "Course!" Straightening up, he moved the terrarium's lamps to one side before sliding out the lid and reaching inside, mumbling, "C'mere, Bruni." Picking the reptile up, he then offered him to me, "Now, the lil guy's usually shy at first but warms up quick and can be a bit of a flirt."

I stood as well, holding one hand out. Bruni cautiously put one stubby-toed foot on my fingers, eyeing me warily before fully walking the rest of the way into my palm. He was small enough to fit perfectly in it. Then he cocked his head up at me. I cocked mine back then hummed a low laugh, stroking a finger along the top of his head. That seemed to be all it took to win him over, for he then bellyflopped into a cuddle against my palm before rolling over onto his back.

"Bit of a flirt indeed," I murmured, rubbing his tummy with my fingertip. "What kind is he?"

"Salamander. Which, I know, technically not a lizard. But feels simpler most of the time just telling people that's what he is." He fell silent for a second, eyes crinkling as he watched us. Then he walked past me, saying, "Hey, welcome to my room by the way!"

I turned to face him and for the first time got a real good look at the place. If I had to pick one word to describe it, that word would be pandemonium.

Clothes were strewn about everywhere, covering floor and furniture alike - pretty much anywhere conceivable besides actually inside a dresser. Bookshelves stacked high with no rhyme or reason, textbooks next to movie DVDs (from action thriller to cornball classics) next to game CD cases next to vinyl records. Walls and ceiling plastered with posters, mostly of classic rock bands, but there was the occasional renegade: one here in which a dangerous looking man posed with an Assassin's Creed logo across the bottom, another one there depicting a grim reaper character dual-wielding sickles that looked to be from another video game of some sort. A queen-sized bed with black and red sheets buried beneath a mess of paper and more textbooks, along with a closed laptop and his shoulder bag tossed carelessly on top of it all.

And that was just barely scratching the chaotic surface. Needless to say, it was a lot to take in.

"Pardon the mess," he gave a rueful chuckle, scrambling to snatch clothes up off the carpet here and there to chuck into the laundry basket residing in his open closet, just under a black, full-length coat hanging from the rung in there. "Wasn't expecting any overnight visitors."

"It's, uh…" So many adjectives, so little time. As I searched for a word, I felt Bruni crawling up my sleeve. I kept an eye on him to make sure he didn't slip, but otherwise let him do his own thing. At last, I settled on, "...big."

"Yup! I got the masters! Comes complete with its own bathroom and everything," he jerked a thumb towards a second closed door on the other side of the room. By now, Bruni had found his way onto my shoulder and was snuggling into the crook of my neck. My fingers came up to pet along his spine. Narrowing his eyes on the salamander, Lea went on, "Surprisingly, Saïx prefers the smaller, cozier room. He's a minimalist, so not like he needs all that much space anyhow. Which works out for me, especially since I used to, er… heh, shall we say, host more sleepovers?"

I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth, but whatever I'd been about to say was forever lost.

For that's when Bruni did it.

He took the plunge.

Straight down into the neckline of my dress.

I yelped, arms crossing over my bosom. Lea's eyes widened, "Motherfu-" He lunged forward, hands outstretched before him like he had every intention of going down in there after Bruni. Then Lea froze, seemed to think better of it and instead folded his arms together, shoving his hands into his armpits as he looked away. "You, uh…" he cleared his throat, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye, "...you okay?"

"Yeah. Just tickles a bit," I wrinkled my nose, trying not to squirm as I felt the little guy climbing around against my chest. Thankfully, it wasn't long before he moved over to start making his way down my sleeve. I gave my arm a gentle shake to help speed his progress along and eventually he came tumbling out into my palm.

"Sorry 'bout that," Lea scooped him back out of my hand into his, using the other to ruffle his hair with a tiny, bashful smile. "I know I said he was a flirt, but he's never been this brazenly forward before."

Shaking my head with a snerk, I said, "It's fine, really. Don't worry about it."

Walking back over to the terrarium, he turned a scowl onto the salamander. "And what do you have to say for yourself, young man?" Bruni just answered with a lizard grin, flicking his tongue out to lick his own eyeball. "Smug lil shit," Lea grumbled, setting him back down inside his home.

One corner of my lips twitching up, I turned to take another look around his room. Despite Lea's hasty tidying up, his carpet was still a disaster zone of shirts and other garments. As I began to carefully navigate it, I asked, "So how are we doing this?"

"Doing…?" I could hear the frown in his voice.

I looked back at him. "Sleeping arrangements?"

"Oh! That's easy!" Having now set the lid and lamps back into their rightful places, Lea walked towards me with his grin resurfacing. "You get the bed, I'll take the floor."

My eyelids drooped. "You can't sleep on the floor, that's ridiculous. It's your room."

"Exactly!" he started clearing the papers up off his comforter, gathering them all together and tucking them away inside one of the textbooks. "It's my room, so I'll sleep wherever I want in it! And tonight, the floor's looking pretty damn good!"

I huffed. "Enough with the chivalry already. I'll sleep on the floor."

He picked up his laptop and made his way over to a large mound of clothes. Oh wait. There was a desk hiding under there, or so I realized as soon as he started shoving all the shirts and whatnot aside. Placing the laptop down on top of it, he then shrugged back at me, "Hey, if that'll make ya happy, more power to ya. Doesn't change the fact that I will not be taking my siesta in that bed tonight."

A low harrumph in my throat. "Fine."

"Fine," he agreed, now opposite the bed from me as he hung his bag from a wall hook there. Then he squinted one eye at me, "So it's settled then. We're both sleeping on the floor. Like the couple of rational, mature, grown-ass adults that we are. While the perfectly good bed goes to waste. Cuz that makes total sense."

I shot him a deadpan look. "Alright, fine then. Bruni gets the bed."

He slapped his forehead, dragging his hand down his face with an exasperated laugh. "C'mon, El, will you just take the bed please? I won't be able to fall asleep if I know you're just curled up on the floor."

"Sounds like not my problem," I crossed my arms with a smirk. Oh-ho, that's right. I could be stubborn when I wanted to be.

"Woman! Just take the freaking bed before I throw you in the damn thing!" both his hands gestured in mild annoyance at said bed.

Scoffing, I turned my head to one side. "Please, it's the twenty-first century, your neanderthal tactics won't work on me."

Green eyes flashing, he said in a low, even voice, "They will if I make good on 'em."

My gaze narrowed on him now. "You wouldn't dare."

He bent forward, fists planted on the mattress as he gave me a tiny glare across it. "Wanna bet?"

My legs turned traitor and defected, sitting me down on the bed so quick, you would have missed the motion if you'd blinked.

"There now," his face immediately lit up like the first rays of sunlight at dawn. "Was that so hard?"

I made a little hmph in my throat, tucking my legs beside me as I smoothed my dress over my knees with as much dignity as I could muster. "I'll have you know that I chose of my own free will to take the bed tonight and it had nothing to do with any thinly veiled threats that may or may not have been made on your part." I unzipped my ankle boots, letting them fall to the carpet below with a couple of heavy thuds. "I mean, I am the guest after all, it's only proper etiquette that I sleep in the bed. I'm just making sure you're adequately performing your role as the host."

A soft snerk came from his nose as he kicked off his own shoes and spread his arms wide to give me a mock bow, "Well, thank you, Miss Manners, I dunno what I'd ever do without you."

"You're welcome," I sniffed lightly. It was nice of him to let me have this. I then felt the bed quake beneath me as Lea flopped down beside me, stretching out comfortably and cushioning his head with his arms. I blinked down at him. "...I'm sorry, did that conversation just end differently than I thought it did?"

He raised an eyebrow at me, "Hm?"

"Thought you were taking the floor."

"I am, but that's not until lights out. Right now, we're just chilling!" he beamed. But then his expression relaxed and he propped himself up slightly on his elbows, cocking his head at me. "This is okay, right?"

"Er…" I glanced away, gnawing on my bottom lip.

Yeesh, I seriously needed to grow up. This wasn't a big deal. Like, at all. So what if we were sitting in the same bed? Nothing to freak out about. I mean, sure, I'd never shared a bed with a guy before, not even my ex. Come to think of it, I'd never even been in a boy's bedroom before. But hey, there was a first time for everything. This would be fine. I would be fine.

"...yeah, it's okay," I finally responded. He frowned, not looking convinced. I put on my best brave smile and managed a tiny laugh, "Really, it's fine." Or at least it would be once we stopped talking about it. Wanting to move the conversation along to something else, I searched my brain for a new topic. "So… you and Saïx…" I drew my knees up, hugging them to my chest, "...do you always mess with each other like that?"

"Oh yeah, all the time," he chuckled, settling back down into his pillow and folding one arm back behind his head. "Nothing says you care like making the other person's life a constant living hell!"

Settling my chin down onto my knees, I snorted. "Remind me never to let you care about me."

"Too late!" he chirped. My eyeroll belied the tiny cartwheel my stomach was doing. "'Sides, all siblings are like that. I'm sure you and Anna have terrorized the crap outta each other more times than you can even count."

"Well yeah," I turned my head to look over at him, resting my ear to my legs instead, "but that was way back when we were children. We grew out of it a long time ago."

Lea grinned cheekily, "Oh really? I seem to recall a certain someone chasing her sister 'round the living room trying to straight up murder her dead not hardly more than a week ago."

Wow, had that really only been just last week? It felt like eons ago by this point. A soft noise of contempt huffed out through my nose, "Don't exaggerate. I didn't try to murder her."

"How did it go again? ...ah, I believe your exact words to her were, and I quote, 'dip you in liquid nitrogen, snap every frozen limb off your body one by one, and then I'll kill you.' That about sum it up?"

I pursed my lips to the right, "...there were extenuating circumstances."

"Heh," he stared up at the ceiling, "if ya say so."

I lifted my head back up, my arms loosening somewhat around my legs as I considered my next words carefully. "About Saïx… can I ask what happened?" Lea glanced back at me quizzically and I clarified, "I mean with…" I tapped a finger to the bridge of my nose.

"Oh, his scar?" he rolled over onto his side towards me, bracing his head in one hand. "Old battle wound from our time in the foster system. Same shithead who let us two numbskull brats play with a chainsaw. Negligent and abusive. Real winning combo there, huh?"

"You mean a foster parent did that to him? On purpose? That's terrible," I breathed, looking horrified.

"S'okay," he gave a one-shouldered shrug, then smirked wickedly. "I retaliated by burning his house down."

My eyes widened, "Did you really?"

Lea sighed, "Unfortunately, no, but not for lack of trying. Only managed to set a bed ablaze and blacken a few curtains before the fire department showed up."

I stared at him blankly. "I am just... simply amazed that you survived long enough to make it to adulthood. Either of you."

He blew out an amused pft through his teeth. "Yeah, Saïx and I were definitely prime candidates for the Darwin Awards growing up. Told ya, we were lil hellions forged straight from the fiery pits of El Diablo. Hey, speaking of Ol' Bullseye over there..." he trailed off as he suddenly sat himself up.

"Bullseye?" I asked, arching an eyebrow his way while watching him fold his legs beneath himself so he could stand on his knees atop the mattress.

"Ya know. Mr. X-Marks-The-Spot," he tacked on by way of explanation, abruptly shoulder-slamming into the wall behind us just above his pillows and making me jolt.

...the heck?

"...you mean Saïx?" I furrowed my brow, wincing as he followed it up by crashing his elbow against the wall next. "Aren't those nicknames a bit… mean?" My question was punctuated with another loud thump.

Seriously, what on earth…?.

"Nah, he likes it." Whack! "Knows they're terms of endearment." Bang! "Only from me though. Anyone else ever even so much as thought about calling him anything like that, I'd make sure next time they turned up would be in a bodybag." Whump! "'Sides, you should hear half the shit he calls me, especially when he's royally ticked." Thwack! "This one time, he-"

"Wait. Hold it. Stop," I held up my hands, eyes flicking back and forth between him and the wall. "...what exactly is it that you are doing?"

"Huh?" he stilled, blinking at me a couple times. "Oh this?" his shoulder rammed into the surface once more. "This is the wall I share with Saïx's room."

...well okay then, sure, that totally and one hundred percent cleared up my utter confusion and lack of comprehension.

Not.

"Alright," I said, stretching the word out. "And so…?"

"So he's come to expect a certain level of enthusiasm on my part whenever I'm entertaining a lady friend," Lea winked and clicked his tongue before once again striking the wall.

"Oh?" I frowned down at my hands. Then it clicked with another louder, "Oh!" Followed by a slower, more quiet, "Oh…" Cheeks warming now, I looked back over at him, "You mean you… that is, against the wall, you've… oh." A pause while my eyes shifted about in my awkwardness. "But wouldn't the headboard get in the-" I stopped, glancing back over my shoulder and answering my own question. "Oh… oh, I see. No headboard. Got it. How very, er..." I cleared my throat and ducked my head to my knees, muffling into them, "...very practical."

I heard him snerk as the beating the wall was taking continued. "You're funny when you're flustered, ya know that?"

My face cranked up the heat dial even further and I scowled.

If you listened closely, the signs of a very steady, very distinct rhythm to the pounding could be heard beginning to take shape.

...I needed to stop listening so closely.

My eyebrows knit together as I then remembered something. "Wait… didn't Saïx say something about noise canceling headphones?"

"Well yeah, so he's not hearing any of this, but he can still see whenever any of the crap on his shelves or any framed pictures or anything else that might be up against his side o' the wall shakes from the impact," he shrugged, halting to puff out a noisy breath and wipe his forehead with the back of his hand. Apparently, he was working up a sweat. Then he grinned brightly, "This is actually kinda fun! Wanna have a go at it?"

I shot him a flat look. "...I think I'm good, thanks."

"You sure?" Another slam. "It's actually pretty satisfying. One might even say cathartic. Got any pent-up aggression you gotta work out?" And another, this one taking the form of a punch. He immediately regretted that one, eliciting a pained hiss as he shook out his now reddening fingers.

"Yeah, no," I rapidly shook my head, "no pent-up aggression here. Fresh out." Insert weak chuckle at my lame joke that was neither funny nor an actual joke.

"Suit yourself," he laughed, smacking the wall hard with an open palm this time. Then his back snapped straight and his face lit up, "Oh yeah! Before I forget…" he pivoted to his left, reaching into his messenger bag he'd hung up earlier and rooting around in it.

I snorted, "Done already?"

"Just giving that wall a breather," he said, not looking up from his searching. "We've found some other surface to bear the brunt of all our lovemaking for now, but we'll probably be back to this one later."

Oh gosh. Way to go, mouth, you just had to ask, didn't you? Just when my cheeks had begun settling down too.

"Ah! Found it!" he triumphantly pulled something out of the bag. Flopping back down to once more lay flat on the bed beside me, he held it out towards me, "Pour vous, ma petite amie jolie."

I squinted at the booklet in his hand. Or more precisely, a catalog. "Twilight University?" I read the bold lettering as I reached out to take it, staring at the image on the cover of a handful of young adults gathered around in a small circle of desks and looking photogenically excited about education.

"Yup! It's the course listings for next semester at my college. Lookie here," he opened the booklet up, leaving it propped in my hands as he started thumbing through it quickly. "Ah, there!" he stopped on a page, resting his head on my shoulder as he pointed to one of several listings that had been circled here. "They offer a few different introductory drama classes ya might be interested in."

I blinked down at the catalog as vague memories of a conversation I'd had with Lea last time I was here to help him study started coming back to me. "...you remembered?" I asked quietly.

"'Course!" I could feel his cheek pull into a smile against my shoulder. "It seemed important to you, so how could I forget?"

Honestly? I myself had forgotten. But to be fair, I had had a lot on my mind the past couple weeks, what with suddenly having a boyfriend now (pretend or otherwise), trying to figure out how to make a proper show of being a girlfriend, and stressing out over the all too soon to come visit with my parents. Frankly, my life had been turned upside down as of late and had become the very definition of insanity. There had just quite simply been no time to think about childhood fantasies of singing and performing in musicals.

But I guess… right here, right now in Lea's room, I had a bit of a reprieve. I mean, it's not like there was anything exactly pressing at this very moment, nothing that couldn't wait until tomorrow at least. I suppose I had a few seconds I could spare to entertain the thought. It couldn't hurt anything…

"...so where is Twilight University exactly?" I stretched my legs out to lay flat on the mattress, crossing my ankles and resting the open booklet down in my lap. "Is it close to my apartment?"

He hummed low in thought. "Probably a bit too far if you're on foot. But maybe we could carpool there. And hey," he lifted his head to glance over at me, "I still got a free elective course or two that I need to take. I could enroll in the class with ya!"

I felt a grin tugging at one corner of my lips as I looked back down at the catalog, absently trailing my fingers down one of the circled paragraphs. "I think I'd like that…"

"Yeah?" he asked softly and for a second I thought I might have sensed him leaning in a little closer. But it must have just been in my head, for now he was pulling away to flop over onto his back on his side of the bed once again, making a small cough into his fist. "I, uh… talked to my friends too. The ones who run the local community theater. You're in luck! They're between shows at the moment and are actually gonna be holding auditions soon for their next one. Sometime this week, I think. It's a musical too!"

"Really?" I returned my gaze to him, closing the booklet but using a finger to hold the page. A sigh then escaped me as I worried my bottom lip between my teeth, "I don't know… I doubt I'm ready for anything like that."

Lea shook his head with a chuckle, "Ready for what? Just to talk to 'em? It's not like you actually hafta audition or anything. Nah, you can just head down, meet them, get some deets… maybe find out the where and the when so you can go and just watch other people tryout, ya know? Just get a feel for it, if you want."

He made a good point. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious. I could go and just ask some questions, that's all. Surely, there would be no harm in that. "Maybe…"

"Well if you do decide you wanna drop in for a lil chat with them, their day job is over at Halloween Town in the mall. They should both be on the clock there around noon tomorrow. Ask for Jack or Sally and just tell 'em I sent ya," he jabbed a thumb into his chest with a big grin, "got it memorized?"

"Jack or Sally… okay," I nodded, responding with a small smile of my own. "I might do that. Thanks, Lea."

"Always happy to be of service! Now," he hopped up off the bed and made his way over to one of his shelves that was pure anarchy incarnate, "whaddya think? You up for a movie?"

The corners of my eyes crinkled and I set the catalog aside on the nightstand. "I could be. What are the options?"

He rubbed his chin, scrutinizing the mess crammed into the rack before pulling out a couple DVD cases, one from the top shelf and the other from somewhere in the middle. He held them up in either hand for me, "I'm thinking either Sixteen Candles or The Labyrinth. Thoughts?"

I looked between the two choices. Then my eyes scanned about the room and I frowned. "I'm thinking it's going to be hard to watch either of them without a TV."

"Without a-?" he blinked a couple times, looking over to his right. Then he sighed, "Hang on a sec," as he tossed the movies down onto the foot of the bed and made his way over to another towering pile of clothes against the wall directly across the room from his bed. "Watch and be amazed as I make a flat screen appear outta thin air in three… two…" he whipped the garments aside with a flourish, revealing the television beneath, "Ta-da!"

"Ah," I gave a polite clap and settled more comfortably down into his pillows, "I stand corrected. Though who needs movies when we have your amazing wizardry to keep us entertained?"

He scratched the back of his head, "Heh, it'd be a short magic show. 'Fraid I just got the one trick up my sleeve."

"Too bad." I paused, eyeing the DVD cases. "Make it a double feature?"

He snapped his fingers and snatched them both back up.

"Girl after my own heart. Pure genius."

Author's Note: Ah, yet another classic cliché for the books: our couple encounters one room, one bed for the night xD Also, fun fact: I started out this chapter stumped for what they should be talking about over dinner. Then I asked my bestie, who simply said: "gummi ships." And I just laughed it off at first, all "naw, that wouldn't make sense for this AU." But then it churned in my mind for a few minutes and I was like "wait… no… I think I can make this work…" And thus the Global Union for Multigalactic Mobility Investigation aka GUMMI Space Program aka NASA rip-off was born xD And further thus, Lea being an alien conspiracy-nut JUST for the sake of pissing of his space-loving half-bro was born xP Anyhoo! For those of you who haven't seen Frozen 2 yet (for shame, it's SO good, I demand you go out and watch it THIS INSTANT), Bruni the salamander is from that! He's a fire spirit in the movie with legit fire powers, so I got excited to give the fire boi a fire lizard for a pet! Also, maybe you can start to see the inklings of actual plot starting to sneak back into this story xD Slowly, we'll get back on course, but not before at least one more hijinks-y misadventure takes place… hehehe…

What does the next chapter hold in store for out couple? What new challenges could their budding fake relationship face? Is Elsa really going to pursue any sort of acting class or community theater? Will Lea ever follow his realtor aspirations he seemed so passionate about? Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

[eccentricpony]

Hi, your kaomojis were so cute! UwU Could I request a movie theater date hc with Tenma? ty!!

Hey anon, thanks for visiting my page! I’d be happy to write this for you! I’m going to write in the style of bulleted imagine if that’s okay. My writing style is usually a usually a little campy humorous, a little emotional, a little sexy, and sometimes flowery.

I apologize if my tenses changed, or the style changed, but I just wanted to have fun with it. Maybe possibly a tiny bit implied NSFW but not really. 

·        You were determined to take Tenma to a movie theater as soon as you had found out he had never been to one.

·        Despite his fame, you had learned that this child star beau of yours had missed out on many opportunities that you had taken for granted growing up. Your boyfriend was an odd blend of mature and immature due to his isolation and the pressure to manage a full-time profession at the age of seven. Fame has a price, as they say.

·        He was hesitant at first – visiting a heavy traffic social scene meant donning sunglasses, avoiding eye contact… but you had already figured that part out! You’d be soliciting Monster Movie Night at the old theater-turned-cinema in the town square. You were sure Tenma would appreciate the 19th century theater aesthetic, and it was sure to have less attendees than the cinema at the mall.

·        And what better movie genre to experience in an old, darkened theater than a classic horror!

·        Yeah, no, Tenma was having none of that.

·        He claimed that the movie you chose had received bad reviews.

·        You then forwarded him the 97% fresh rating from RottenApples.com.

·        He argued that the antagonist of the film was an actor he had worked with before and it would be “too weird” to watch someone he knew go on a killing spree.

·        You proceeded to locate said actor on IFDB.com to find that he had passed away two years before Tenma was born.

·        The lake of excuses having run dry, Tenma agreed to pick you up at 1pm that coming Saturday.

·        Tenma was a bit more fidgety than usual in the back of his family limo. You assumed that it was date night jitters, which was so very precious. The old-fashioned theater marquee came into view, and you excitedly shuffled closer to the window. Nightmare on Birch Street! It had been ages since you had seen the film, and you couldn’t recall how the victims had all been killed… was it Chauncey who had been impaled by the school flagpole?  You continued to jabber excitedly, the exhilarated sentiments floating through your head remaining unscathed as Tenma had the common courtesy to feign a cough so you couldn’t glimpse his sour expression.

·        The journey from the ticket kiosk to the theater was uneventful. There were a few stares, and a “Aren’t you that kid? From the show? At that school?” but you made it to your seats in under 10.

·        Wow, they really renovated this place! It was a bit sad to see that the creaky wooden seats of the theater had been replaced with cushy, high-tech armchairs, but it was comforting to know you wouldn’t be suffering a butt-ache following the film.

·        Immediately, Tenma started messing with the seat like he was in a dentist’s chair. Leg rest up, back down, leg rest down, back straight, back flat. 123 degree angle…

·        “Don’t you have chairs like this at home, rich boy?”

·        “Yeah, but I never sit in my living room. There’s never anyone there.”

·        Oh. You held out the bag of popcorn as a peace offering. “Well, you know that you’re welcome at my house any time you like.”

·        “Yeah so I can recite the monologue from Shinobi Love Song to your mom for the 100th time? I’ll pass”

·        “Forget it, sunshine. It was hasty of me to assume you’d be able to find my house without the guidance of Igawa…”

·        Cheeky banter was the norm with the two of you, and you never tired of it. He handed you the box of Soup Patch kids with a feigned scowl as the lights in the theater began to dim. Leg rest up, back at a 95 degree angle was his final decision.

·        He figured he’d have sometime before the killing started, so he decided to try and pay attention to the overall plot and characters, in case you had questions for him later. So wait… the killer doesn’t actually murder them in real life, but in their dreams? What kind of late night, infomercial hour, made-for-TV junk is this…

·        Time to do the classic yawn and stretch. Smooth as a milkshake, he performed what he felt was a very believable yawn (practiced to a fault due to all of his roles as a too-cool-for-school hottie) and casually rested the stretch of his arm across your shoulder.

·        You had been dating for about 7 months now. You had been moderately intimate. For Tenma to put on this song-and-dance just to hold onto you was a surefire tell that he was nervous. You hadn’t even really considered that maybe he didn’t like horror. You just assumed that because he was an acting professional that he was also a film aficionado, and a fan of all genres, at that. Stop pigeonholing him! you reminded yourself. Sure, he was perfect to you, but you had to let go of those preconceived notions.

·        You turned and leaned closer to him, close enough to kiss. His throat constricted, he had heard there was more to these cinemas than just watching the movie. He prayed to God that this was your intention all along.

·        “We can leave if you’re not into it” you insisted into his cheek.

·        Pulse still quickening through his neck, he sat back and shook is head.

·        “Nah babe, it’s cool. I liked the…” He proceeded to regurgitate every possible fact he had learned about the film within the last 15 minutes.

·        Damn, so he was paying attention. You knew there was no point coaxing him to leave once he had made his mind up to stay, so instead you leaned forward and gave him a peck on the nose.

·        “You’re adorable.”

·        “Tch…” He bristled returning his back to the seat, but with the pouty pleased grin of a child who received praise for a shitty drawing. He watched as your eyes returned to the screen, and you flicked a few pieces of popcorn into your pretty mouth. Now what to do?

·        Anything but look at the screen, really. Beads of sweat began to collect on his brow as the movie soundtrack reached a crescendo. He swiftly brushed them off into his already unruly ginger mane. He needed to distract himself, at least until the slicing and dicing had desisted.

·        What’s this hole for? Tenma located an out of place hole attached to the arm of the chair. It doesn’t seem to have a bottom, but it does taper off deeper down. Curiosity got the best of him, and he casually slid his hand down into the soft drink cupholder. That’s freakin’ weird, there’s nothing even down there. Dumb. And he promptly finds his hand very much stuck.

·        Shit, now what? Now he was really sweating. Some freakin’ great newspaper article this would make. “Teen drama heartthrob finds himself arrested not by the eyes of a young beauty, but the grasp of a plastic cupholder.”  His father would kill him, to be sure. He’d probably have to sign autographs for all of the firefighters who removed the plastic cupholder from around his sore wrist. Here he is, trying so very hard to be a man’s man, to weather the barbarism that is horror cinema just to impress you, and now he’d gotten his hand stuck in the metaphorical cookie jar like a damn kid.

·        He twists and pulls but he can’t get the heel of his palm back through the opening. He jerks his hand in frustration and elbows your flimsy paper cup of Canada Dry. Oh, so that’s what they’re for…

·        “Hey! You got ginger ale on me, what are you doing?” You cocked an eyebrow at his hunched form.

·        “Sorry, sorry! Yeah, I- I think I’ve got it. Don’t worry about me- hey! I think that guy in on a TV show with my father.”

·        Snapping your head back to the screen, you consented that the man did indeed work with Tenma’s father (you’ve told him this before, he’s one of your favorite actors, and now you need to remind him again why his acting is so transcendent that even in a horror movie he can make the most mundane gestures seem so…)

·        To Tenma’s great relief, it turns out ginger ale makes a passable lubricant. Using the splash that now trickled down his forearm, he twisted his wrist and managed to retrieve his very sore hand, tingling with pins and needles as he returned it to his lap. He sensed that you’ve finished your rant and offers a vacant smile. “Yeah… he’s a talented guy…” Crisis averted.

·        Back to all the crazy shit happening on Birch Street. Tenma blanched as the whir of a chainsaw could be heard offscreen.

·        “You okay? he asked, leaning over to comfort you which really wasn’t necessary whatsoever since you actually seemed extremely excited and not the least bit worried or bothered by all of the disgusting blood and guts and weird fleshy ceiling splayed onto the wall by the projector overhead.

·        Before you had a chance to reply, he nuzzled in close to you, his hair brushing your cheek as he snuggled next to your chin. D’aww. You wiggled closer, touching the side of your forehead to his as the shrieks of the Final Girl could be felt penetrating the very seat below you. Great acoustics.

·        Tenma wiggles his head into the crook of your neck to avoid looking at the carnage, murmuring an almost devious “Don’t be scared” into your ear before pressing a kiss to the column of your throat.

·        Your heart leaps into your ears at the sudden burst of semi-public affection; Tenma wasn’t big on PDA, and you were cool with that. He smelled like a mix of clean cotton and Cool Water (they still make that?) He didn’t really do much besides camp out there above your collarbone after that, but his ghosting breath gave you pleasant chills, so you didn’t tell him he was missing the best part.

·        You smelled like almonds and Freesia, he considered. His mother loved Freesia and she had planted them all along their estate courtyard, though she was rarely at home long enough to enjoy it. Tenma enjoyed sitting in the courtyard as a child. While the house was always eerily silent aside from the sterile hum of electricity, the courtyard was always full of tweets and twittering after school, and a discordant chorus of various chirping in the evening. That was what homes are supposed to be like, he had always thought. Chaotic and noisy, but full of life. It was his safe haven, and you carried the scent of it on your skin. You were his new sanctuary… a little pocket of protection from the pains of fake friends and real insecurities.

·        These are his last thoughts before he fell asleep. You realize he’s out like a light as the credits roll, and you feel a sliver of drool trail down your clavicle. Hot.

·        “Tenma? Hey!” He startles awake and you attempt to suppress a grin. “Hope it was a good dream.”

·        Tenma may not have book smarts, but he’s far from stupid. He knows that you know he hated it, and he knows that you know that he knows he was just playing the brave guy to shield his ego. He was beginning to confuse himself, so instead he focused on the core of the matter – he loved you enough to feign interest in something you liked, and you loved him enough to go along with it.

·        “They’re always great when they feature my favorite co-star.” He leaned forward and gave the bridge of your nose a chaste smooch.

·        Gahhh. The right side of your mouth pinches up in a grin. Damn you and your flawless smileyou’re your immaculate stage presence.

·        After he returned his hat and sunglasses to their proper place, with twin grins syrupy-sweet enough to make Yuki vomit, you exited the theater.

·        Once outside, he took your hand and pulled you off to the side of the theater, at the mouth of the little alleyway that led to a street behind the theater. His wide palm and long fingers felt warm and comforting, though rather sticky and smelling oddly of ginger.  

·        “Thanks for coming out with me. I know it’s a pain in the ass for you,” you offered before he could speak.

·        “Nah,” he deflects. “I’m used to it.”

·        You knew he still hated it.

·        “Plus, you’re worth it,” he added, feet shuffling and pink tinging the tips of his ears.

·        Butterflies, oh so many butterflies. Rolling onto your toes, you leaned up and kissed him. After a meager gasp of surprise, he returned it with fervor, nose brushing against yours as he experimented with a few different head angles. Sour Patch kids never tasted so good.

·        The thump of a closing car door was unfortunately audible above the sounds of your smacking mouths – Igawa was on the move and ready to shuffle the prince of teen dramas and his beloved to the safety of the Sumeragi Cadillac CT5. You groaned in unison, and not the good kind.

·        Dragging your mouths apart, your mutual stares shared a silent vow that you would find a way to pick this up again later. Without a word, you both emerged from the shadows, fingers tangled tighter together as you steeled yourselves for a lecture from Igawa on the dangers of lingering in crowded places.

·        You had no doubt there would still be plenty more adjustments to be made by both parties, and many a wall to gently tumble down. But that was a future nearly too resplendent to imagine, when where you were now was already a pretty fantastic place to be.

[littlegiantslight]

Little Giants

After the success from the boys of the volleyball team, it’s time for the girls’ soccer team to take the spotlight and march their way to victory.

Under the command of Aiya Takahashi, this team will go through challenges, adventures, struggles and joy together. After all, the union leads to strength.

Part 1

-

-

The class seemed to take more than 4 hours for the young Hana and Yoko. Their impatient bodies wanted to go back outside, mess around the campus and just have some fun until the day was over. But while that didn’t happen, they just kept exchanging little notes to each other with drawings and jokes, that made the two laugh uncontrollably.

Behind them, a very annoyed Chikara Ennoshita watched the two laughing and joking around, not being able to understand a single word from the teacher thanks to them. That made Nishinoya, the talented libero from the volleyball team, pull one of Tachibana’s pig tails and tell her to shut up a little. At first, she was confused, since she knew that Nishinoya wasn’t the kind of student to pay that much attention either, but Yoko pointed towards Ennoshita, who was clearly angry with their behavior, making the small girl understand what was happening.

As soon as class was over, Hana got up from her seat and walked towards Ennoshita, grabbing his uniform tightly enough to make him stop his tracks and look at her. Again, the height difference between her and the boy made her feel slightly uncomfortable. There was no fear, whatsoever. It just felt weird to be like a little kid next to someone that is the same age as her. Not minding that, Hana looked up at Ennoshita, guilt covering her face for distracting him earlier in class.

“Look, Enno, I’m really sorry for my behavior earlier,” she apologized, “I was terribly bored, plus English is the easiest subject we have…” She interrupted herself realizing how dumb that excuse was. “What a dumb excuse! Goodness Tachi, you’re better than this…”

Ennoshita just held her shoulders, almost like trying to hold her from flying away. “It’s okay, Tachi. It’s not a big deal, just please try to control your giggles.” He asked sounding like a true gentleman, calming her down immediately. You know the power Enno holds when he can calm down an excited puppy like Hana. “I really don’t you to get in trouble for not paying attention, that’s all…”

The small girl nodded with a warm smile, letting go of the boy’s uniform and giving a quick bow in appreciation. She offered to have lunch with her, which he gladly accepted as long as he could bring some teammates as well. Hana looked at Yoko who nodded gladfully, enjoying the company from the volleyball team. Even Nishinoya looked way to excited to hear that.

When it came to the first years, Kenta’s sister was far to focused on her notes to even realize the class is dismissed. Her hair would fall softly over her forehead, making her look like she just woke up. Jin would only realize when a fellow classmate would poke her shoulder so she could notice the empty classroom. The girl apologized quietly to him, gathering her stuff carefully and organizing it in her bag.

Outside the classroom, a group of girls were waiting for her. Their looks weren’t so friendly, in fact, they had a threatening glare towards Jin, like they were looking to harm her somehow.

“Look if it isn’t Jin-chan!” The girl in the middle said stopping the young Satoshi in her tracks. “I heard your brother hurt my sister last week when she confessed to him.” She informed Satoshi, like it was her fault that it happened. “Does he have a girlfriend? Is it that ugly soccer girl that hangs out with him?” The same girl kept asking Satoshi stuff she didn’t even have an answer about.

Jin and Kenta were pretty close, but never got in each other’s business unless it was really needed. Right there and then, Jin felt like she needed her brother more than life itself. Her hands were trembling, barely holding her bag anymore. As the girls stepped further towards her, she stepped backwards until her back was finally against the wall. There was nowhere else to run and the three girls in front of her made sure to let her know that.

Right when Jin needed the most, two little guardian angels came to her rescue. Kiko and Kenta noticed the situation and quickened their pace towards the young girl. Kenta didn’t hesitate in holding his sister as soon as he was close enough to her. On the other hand, Kiko, motivated by old memories of the same situation, grabbed the bully’s collar and pulled her close enough to not cause a scene.

“Listen here, you little brat! She has nothing to do what her brother does or doesn’t. Threatening her won’t help at all your sister’s situation. Plus, I can assure you, he’s not interested in me or her or any other girl you see him with, got it, smartass?” Kiko spoke with a clear anger in her voice. Kiko and Jin knew something about Kenta that most people didn’t, including most of his family. “Now, beat it!”

The girls tried to play it off, fixing their uniforms and hair. They strutted away like a group of penguins, like they weren’t embarrassed of that scene.

Kenta was quite worried about his sister’s situation. She was still nervous and trembling a lot, but she felt much safer now that he was there. Kenta fixed her messy hair and wiped a little tear from eye, the one that was earlier threatening to fall down her rosy cheek. Kiko looked at them and patted Kenta’s back softly, stroking the girl’s hair the same way.

“Everything is okay, Satoshi-chan, they are gone, plus,” Kiko told the two of them, “if this ever happens again, I’ll talk to the principle or to Takeda-sensei.” She offered her help, receiving two nods from both of them.

While that, Takahashi was making her way towards old Ukai’s house. Casually whistling and riding her bike to the sound of the tall trees, dancing to the wind. It’s been so long since she was with Ukai Sr. in his home. She was a barely graduated student back then. Despite being younger than Keishin, the two of them would treat other like they were the same age and with the same jokes and with the same bickering. Ukai Sr. always found hilarious when the two of them would break in a fist fight, knowing that Aiya wouldn’t take Ukai Jr.’s insults towards girls and Keishin, in defense of his words, wouldn’t lose to a girl.

As soon as she arrived to his house, she could already hear his kids practicing in the old volleyball court in the old man’s backyard. They sounded so happy. It really brought memories of the old team days. She knocked on the door and waited for someone to open. It did take a while, but eventually one of the little boys came to the door and opened for her. The poor thing almost jumped seeing how tall she was compared to him. Takahashi simply greeted him with a high five, taking his hand and leading him back to the old court.

A volleyball came flying towards the little boy, but fortunately, Aiya caught it on time. She served the ball towards the old man, that turned it into a set and another little boy spiked in the other field, making another point for himself. As usual, the coach’s capabilities were still untouched by the old age. They seemed even better, actually.

“Okay, break time, little guys! Snacks are on the bench…” He spoke to his pupils, before walking to Aiya and greet her with an almost fatherly hug. His hugs always made her feel welcome to his house, like she was actually part of the family. “I hope you didn’t scare little Ishikawa over there…” He chuckled loudly in amusement.

“I think he was just surprised, coach. He looks like a brave boy. They all do…” she smiled towards the little kids sitting in the bench, drinking milk and eating milkbread. “You haven’t lost your talents, coach! I thought your old mind would be quite tired to remember the rules by now, but you’re better than me!” Aiya pointed out as a joke, but Ukai always took that jokes a little to far and smacked the back of her head. She still chuckled softly, rubbing the place of the smack softly.

“You’re still reckless. I like that! So, how have you been? Still coaching those girls?” He asked curious, dribbling the volleyball in a constant and slow pace. Aiya told him all about the new captain and the second years were still as feisty as usual and how excited the new first years were. “Finally a good coaching experience! I can’t say the same about Keishin, those boys aren’t easy to deal with, and you know his patience isn’t the best…”

“Oh, they are pretty good actually! They are getting better everyday according to the news.” She responded to his comment about Keishin’s capabilities. “You can’t be so harsh on him coach,” Takahashi almost asked him, “he really cares about what he does, he believes those knuckleheads more than he believes in himself.”

Ukai Sr. held the ball in his hands and looked at it, like some memory was playing in his head. He trusted his grandson’s skills, of course he did. He knew that that kid was an excellent setter, but sometimes he was too much like the old man and that was the thing he feared. He didn’t want his grandson to give up on everything and then hide away. He wanted him to shine, like he once did.

“Coach,” Aiya called for his attention, “he is an amazing coach, just like you. I promise he won’t let you down. Just have a little faith in him.” She asked him again getting her hair ruffled as a response. She giggled softly just like he did and took the ball from his hand. “Mind if I join? I’m not the best, but I can help. For the old days.”

Ukai couldn’t say no to such proposition from the girl’s side. He reunited the boys on the court again and separated. With him and Aiya would stay one of the boys, forming a team, leaving the other three on the other side for another team. Takahashi served once again and from the other side of the court, a brilliant receive from one of the boys. And just like that the game started. It lasted until the little boys had to go home.

However, Ukai Sr. and Takahashi didn’t seem tired in the slightest. So, they kept going. The ball flying from one side to another.

In the doorway, not far from the court, the younger Ukai stood there, watching those two idiots play together. She didn’t change a thing. Inside, she was still happy to learn a sport she would never really understand but enjoys it with all her heart. The lovestruck smile on his face quickly disappear, realizing how stupid it was to remember those things.

The last spike ended on the old man’s hands. He was breathless, beads of sweat covering his forehead and already feeling the cold of the night on his shoulders. His arms were pinkish from the receives and his hands were burning from all the spikes against the young girl. She was still incredibly energetic. That gave him life somehow. That pipsqueak. It didn’t take long for him to notice Keishin in the doorway, eyeing the two of them, noticing the dumb smile on his face.

Ikkei Ukai offered Takahashi to have a shower first and offered her an old yukata that belonged to his beloved wife from when she was younger. Aiya accepted the offer with a grateful expression, bowing towards the elder with appreciation. As she walked away, the old man smacked his grandson’s arm with the most amused expression the young one has ever seen.

“What’s with the dumb struck smile, huh?” He asked quite loudly, getting a mere huff as an answer from his grandson side. “I know you, Keishin, you’re not like this with women and yet you are for this one. The one that was, and I quote, like a sister…”

“You’re just a delusional old fart. You’re just seeing things.” He said sitting down on the floor in front of the table where he left the food, setting it on the table so they could eat. “She is like a sister to me, an annoying brat, that’s all she is.” That comment didn’t really convince the old man. However, Keishin was pretty certain of what he said. She was just another girl in his life, another one for him to ignore and just move on.

“I may be an old fart,” Ikkei stated, “but I lived enough to know what I see.” He finished with a warm smile towards his kid. He could be terribly wrong because it was hurtful see his own grandson behaving like that. He just wanted to believe otherwise. “She really supports you, you know? The girl that you find annoying thinks you’re an excellent coach, you should feel proud of that statement!”

“Oh, because she’s just like you! She knows how to coach a team like a pro, isn’t it? Well, let me tell you, I’m doing just fine! They trust me and I don’t need anyone else to tell me if I can or cannot coach that group of crackheads…” Keishin spoke loudly, tired of people trying to tell him that he is good when he knows it. Aiya heard him, but only showed up when he was done talking.

She sat by his side, out of respect for Ukai Sr.’s wife, thanking for the food before turning to Keishin. “I actually saw your practices a couple of times…” Takahashi admitted quietly. “The way you handled their differences was incredible. I took that as an example for my own team, Ukai…” Her words came out almost as a whisper when she spoke his name, almost like she was scared of being yelled at.

Yet, young Ukai simply nodded, not being able to form words after seeing her wear his grandmother’s yukata and hearing her use him as an example. Ikkei just ate as those two sat there looking at their food. Deep down, they all knew they were doing or they did their best. There were no regrets.

Back in Tachibana’s place, Hana was trying her best to do her Japanese homework with the help of her own old lady. Hana lived in a small farm since she was one year of age with her father and her grandmother. Her father was in Tokyo for work, so during that time, Hana would help her granny with housework and working on the farm as well. That was something Tachibana always loved to do and never complained when it came to feed the animals or even take care of the cows and goats.

“Lola, can you help me here? I don’t understand what this means exactly…” Hana asked softly, holding her grandma’s arm softly. Despite being almost an adult, Hana still behaves like a little girl around her grandmother. She didn’t have a reason for it, maybe it made her grandma happy and maybe it made herself feel happy. After the help from the older lady, Hana thanked her favor and gave her a quick hug before finishing her homework.

“Your dad is arriving tomorrow, dearie! I hope you finished cleaning your room and studying to greet him properly…” The old lady said with a little mischievous smile on her lips. She knew very well how Hana was. If the things weren’t done on time, she would spend all night fixing it if needed.

And so, it happened.

Yoko on the other hand sat on the top bunk bed reading quietly before falling asleep, while her little sister kept telling her about her day. Nakamura never really paid much attention to what her sister said, but sometimes when the little girl climbed to her bed and hugged her body oh so tightly, Yoko knew something was wrong. The little girl often heard some comments about her skin tone, since her darker skin wasn’t well seen in the school, and Yoko knew how it felt. Those comments were cruel and just so terrible.

“Yoko, why don’t they like me? You always say I look like a princess, but they say I look like a weird monster…” The little girl asked her sister, starting to climb up to the top bunk bed. “They say I’m not normal…” Her voice was shaky, and one could already see tears in her little eyes.

Nakamura didn’t waste a second setting her book down and picking up her sister, sitting her on her lap. The little girl’s sobs just made Yoko worry more about her and held her tighter hoping she would calm down a little. “You know, I also went through that. I know they are mean. But you really are a princess! The strongest one there is. And next year, you’re going to another school, meet a more princesses like you, okay?” The goalkeeper assured her little sister. “You can’t give up though!”

The little girl simply nodded, her head still on her sister’s chest, hugging her tightly. Almost asleep. Yoko placed her softly by her side, covering her with the bedsheets and holding her close to her body. Eventually, their mother walked in and saw the two of them like that, a warm feeling taking over the woman’s body. They were safe together. Her sweet girls.

Back in the Satoshi household, Kenta and Jin were still finishing their homework. He kept looking at her writing and it looked way wigglier than what was normal. She was still nervous. However, not a word was said.

Later that night, when the two were in their rooms, Kenta started sobbing quietly against the pillow. He wishes he could just end that suffering that was destroying him in the inside. And now, it was starting to be a problem for Jin as well, which was the last thing he wanted. The end of that was so close and yet so far.

Jin, on the other end, tried to calm herself before falling asleep. Sometimes she just wanted to be free from that secret as well, just end all the mystery and free both her brother and she from those chains.  Not yet though, they needed to be ready for every consequence.

Suddenly, a knock was heard on Jin’s door. Kenta asked permission to walk in and join her. She answered quickly, allowing him to walk in. Her calm expression changed in a blink of an eye, jumping out of bed and rushing towards her brother, holding him into a hug. Kenta just sobbed more and more. She was so understanding towards him.

“This will end soon, okay?” She assured him, brushing her fingers through his hair. “You can do this, Kenta, I know you can!” Jin spoke again quietly. Her nerves were now eased and so were his. They sat a little with each other, talking and studying a little longer, until Kenta was sure that the two were alright. He only left the room after kissing his sister’s forehead gently and tucking her in.

“Good night, little sis! Thank you for understanding…” he said, watching her drift away to the land of dreams. He could never thank her enough for what she would go through because of that stupid secret, but he’d make sure she knew how he felt and how he appreciated her help.

It was pretty late at night when Takahashi left old coach Ukai’s house. This time she wasn’t riding the bike back home, she simply took it by her side and walked under the moonlight. The cold wind making her shiver under the old yukata. It was almost like an old movie scene. It’s been too long since she felt that pretty. By her side, Ukai Jr. made her some company since his house wasn’t far from hers. Sometimes she would joke saying that he just slept in the store, but she knew it wasn’t the truth.

“Look, thank you for accepting to visit the old man. I haven’t seen him this energetic in a while…” Ukai spoke quietly, his hands in the jean’s pockets. She said it was more than fine for her. She would gladly visit the old man more often if needed. “Invite him to one of your games, maybe. I bet he’d love to see your work on those girls.”

Takahashi would say that it wasn’t such a bad idea, but the fact that they could lose and would lead to a false judgement from her side terrified her. So, Aiya simply made an excuse.

“Tell you what, when we go to Tokyo from the mid-season championship games, I take him. I’m sure he’d love to see old Nekomata as well…” she chuckled, waiting for Ukai’s jokes to start.

“I can’t imagine anything else but those two old farts complaining at each other as they drink. I can’t believe I’m going to face them next week…” He sighed, clearly scared and even tired to say the least. Takahashi rubbed his back to calm his nerves and assured them that everything would be fine. “Yeah, let’s hope for the best…”

“Keishin, you are an amazing coach, and you have an incredible team. The odds are on your side. This isn’t like when you were a setter, this is new blood. Sure, there’s no Tenma, no Akiteru, but you’re there and the boys are there to support you back.” She said stopping him in his tracks. “I’m not letting you out of all people go down before going to a challenge…”

Ukai took a deep breath exhaling to the sky and nodding towards Aiya, showing his appreciation for her words. She was really still the young manager. The unconditional support wasn’t only for her team, but for everyone that surrounded her. No matter the talent, the experience, the age, the skin color, no matter what. Aiya would be there in the cheer, supporting them.

“Now, wipe that frown out of your dumb face, coach. Think about your break tomorrow. Being in the store, alone, smoking your disgusting cigarettes and just relaxing.” Takahashi reminded him, making him smile a bit as they started walking once again.

Everything would be okay.

[fangbites]

Who: Marius With: Damocles ( @sxncerelyme​​ ) Verse: Apocalypse Wow Prompt: send me a 💏 and i will randomise a number in order for my muse to kiss yours... 22. In a rush of adrenaline

The truth was- though this particular truth was one Marius made no effort to share whatsoever- Damocles really wasn’t all that bad.

In some ways, Marius admired him. He didn’t let him know that, of course, but judging by the looks some of his brats had been sending him lately he thought perhaps his feelings weren’t as unknowable as he would like to believe. It hadn’t gone anywhere, of course. He hadn’t allowed it. But Damocles had been his faithful follower nonetheless, following him and his collection of children on their trek across what had once been a country but was now just an expanse of crumbled civilization, home to a seemingly endless amount of living dead.

Of all the ways for the fucking world to end. Really.

They’d grown... close, he supposed, over the last few months. It was inevitable, really. Damocles had wormed his way under Marius’ skin, even just in a small way. He supposed that was only natural. After all, they’d been together for months now. They’d been taking care of each other, sharing mattresses from time to time, watching out for the kids. When you were all too aware that you and yours were amongst some of the last surviving members of your species- and a collection of those who apparently weren’t exactly inclined to procreate and repopulate the earth.... well. Each life became valuable, or some mumbo jumbo like that. Personally Marius was no more fond now of the human population at large than he had been when it had been an actually large population. He was aware there was something twisted in him, in his lack of empathy or compassion, but ultimately- though he loathed that the children he loved would have an upbringing wrought with hardship- he just didn’t give a fuck that most of the world was gone.

There was a part of him, some ugly, dark part, that actually enjoyed slaying the undead. Liked the high that accompanied jerking back from a rotting, snapping jaw, just barely missing flesh, the high that came from bashing a body ‘til it stopped moving.

He liked feeling powerful, and he’d always had this thing for danger.

They’d been out on a supply run, and that was one thing Marius was unabashedly grateful to Damocles for- the fact that the other man could accompany him while they scavenged, providing not only backup but peace of mind that his kids were safe and sound where he’d left them. Dancing with death with himself was one thing, but having to stress over the kids- that was another. Not to say he didn’t fret over Damocles’ wellbeing from time to time, but Marius did trust him to be somewhat capable of taking care of himself. Case in point, the two of them had just taken out a swarm of twenty- something, the tip of the iceberg that was surely contained in the city they were on the outskirts of, and he didn’t think either of them had sustained so much as a goddamn scratch.

It was exhilarating.

Marius laughed as he stepped over a felled body, eyes bright as he swiped at a splatter of blood on his cheek. “That was fun,” He chimed, voice lilting. “Don’t you think?” The smile on his lips turned lopsided, more of a smirk than anything- he was well aware not everyone had a kink for near- death experiences the way he did, but whatever. He analyzed Damocles’ face carefully, his chest still heaving from exertion, skin shiny with sweat. 

He might plead insanity later. It might not even be a lie. He was exactly sure what the fuck he was doing or why- he just knew he wanted to, was pretty fucking confident Damocles wanted him to, so why the fuck not?

His weapon hit the floor with an unceremonious clatter, and then his hands were fisting in Damocles’ jacket, rough but playful as they hauled the other man’s body in against his own. At the same time, he was still moving him backwards, still moving to cage Dam in against the weathered brick wall behind him. His body was a long line of heat against Marius’, firm but oh- so- pliable, and Marius bit playfully at his neck while he wedged a thigh between Dam’s.

 “Thought it was gonna get me for a second there,” He breathed out. “But look at you, swooping in like some kind of fucking hero. You think you’re my knight in shining armor?” He asked, talking nonsense he was sure, but god. His head was spinning, pulse jumping, every part of his body still strung high. “Guess I should thank you, yeah? Give you a token. I don’t have a pretty embroidered handkerchief for you to take, but I might do you one better.” His words were teasing, still breathless, and the kiss he gave Damocles wasn’t careful or sweet at all. It was hungry and hot and messy, just a hint of teeth in Dam’s lower lip before Marius pulled back, a strand of saliva connecting them for just a moment before it snapped. Marius’ hands were still holding Dam in place, controlling, but not so much so that the man couldn’t move, couldn’t get away if he wanted. “'S’that work?” He asked, teasing, eyes once more analyzing the other.

[merakiaes]

True Colors - Peter Parker

Pairing: Peter Parker x soulmate!reader

Requested: No

Warnings/notes: Peter Parker’s part of the soulmate mini-series. A bit dull and not much interaction but I hope you like it. Also, I know it’s a bit unrealistic that Peter knows the name of the color blue even though he’s never seen it before, but just roll with it. 

Wordcount: 1995

Summary: Soulmate AU where the world is black and white until you meet your soulmate. You’re meeting Peter Parker for the first time when he’s taking you to your prom per requested by Tony. 

Tony Stark and Steve Rogers’s wonder child. That’s what everyone called you, much to the two’s dismay. But you loved it. You were an orphan and the two had practically adopted you after taking you in as an asset to the team, and you couldn’t be prouder.

But having two father figures did have its disadvantages, too. One of them being the intense, practically unbearable over-protectiveness.

It was time for your prom, the thing every girl your age looked forward to. You, however? Not so much. You were pretty sure the music would suck, someone would certainly spike the punch, you would get hit on like every other day in school. You could go on all day with the reasons you didn’t want to go.

Prom, parties in general, really, weren’t your scene. You didn’t drink, you listened to Queen and Sam Cooke, not Kygo and Ed Sheeran, or whatever it was people your age listened to nowadays, and you definitely didn’t dance.

You were pretty sure everyone in your year knew of your outlook on prom, but still, a total of nine guys had asked you to go with them. And that was only this week. You had told them all no, obviously, just planning to stay at home.

But then Tony found out about the prom, and insisted you go, telling you that you needed to learn how to let loose every once in a while, and not waste your teenage years running around with a bunch of old farts fighting bad guys.

That’s when Steve found out, and naturally, seeing as him and Tony were practically polar opposites, he had started telling Tony off, saying that he wasn’t helping you let loose; he was trying to force you to be someone you weren’t.

You had thought that was a little dramatic, but you knew about the rivalry going on between the two and figured it would be better to leave them to it.

You would’ve thought, with the way Steve viewed dancing, that he would be the one to encourage you to go to your prom, but no. After learning from Clint and Scott what kids nowadays did on the night of their proms, Steve didn’t want you near anyone of the male species that weren’t a part of the team.

But Tony on the other hand, argued that a girl your age couldn’t attend a high school prom without a date, pointing out that it would ruin the rest of your high school experience as your peers would see you as a social pariah from that moment on.

You didn’t agree with either of them. Even if you did have a date, which you didn’t, you wouldn’t run off and lose your virginity to some jock that you would never see again after high school, which seemed to be Steve’s biggest concern.

And if you did go to prom without a date, which you weren’t since you weren’t attending at all, and you ended up being picked on every day until the day of your graduation, you couldn’t give to shits. You had more important things to think about than teenage drama.

This was exactly what you had told Steve and Tony when you had been having this conversation, and you thought you had made your point clear, but here you were, sitting on your bed with Natasha at your side, staring at the dress hung up on the wall in front of you with a sour look.

“I can’t believe he’s making me do this.” You grumbled, falling back on your bed and putting your arm over your eyes in annoyance. “I can’t he’s making him do this.”

Natasha offered you an amused smile, reaching down to pull you up by your hand again. “Come on, it’s not that bad. You need to get out of the house more, anyways.” She paused as she finally pulled you to your feet. “You haven’t met Peter yet, though, have you?”

“No, I haven’t.” You responded. “And now Tony is forcing him to be my date to the prom I don’t even want to go to.”

“Well, look at it this way. Maybe you’ll meet your soulmate.” Natasha shrugged, trying to rid you of your pessimistic attitude with her optimistic one.

But you only snorted at that. “I highly doubt I’ll find my soulmate in school, where I go every day. If he was there, I would’ve met him already.”

“Maybe not.” Nat protested as she led you over to your vanity table and pushed you down on the chair. “You’ve said it yourself, several times, you never actually interact with the people at your school. It’s possible you might’ve missed him.”

You just hummed, letting her go to work on your hair. Maybe she was right. You hadn’t thought much about your soulmate before. You didn’t really care about romance. You just wanted to get good grades so that you would be able to go to a good college.

But now that you actually took the time to think about it, it might not be that bad. You had heard great things about finding your soulmate from Steve.

You see, up until the moment where you found your soulmate, you saw the world in black and white. No color whatsoever. And when you did find them, your whole world would light up with colors and introduce you to a whole new life.

Steve had told you about the time when he met Peggy Carter more times than you could remember, he had described as detailed as he could the way his world had gone from dull and grey to absolutely beautiful in the blink of an eyes.

But he had also told you about how his world had gone back to black and white when Peggy passed away, the beauty of color gone again, this time forever. You guessed it was that little detail that made you feel so discouraged when it came to be meeting your soulmate.

But then again, how was it any different from the person “just” dying? Everyone died, eventually. Why should that stop you from finding your soulmate? You guessed it was worse for Steve, seeing as he didn’t age like other people did.

But you weren’t like that. So maybe you should actually start hanging out with people your age and give yourself the chance to find him. Did you want a soulmate, in the first place, though? You weren’t sure. But as this was the first time you had actually thought about it, maybe you did.

While Natasha curled and styled your hair, did your makeup and helped you into the dress Tony had picked out for you, Peter sat downstairs with Steve and Tony and the rest of the team, awaiting your arrival.

Peter had met everyone on the team except for you, and the fact that his first time meeting you would be by taking you to your prom made him a little nervous. Alright, that was obviously a lie. Everyone who had met him knew what an actual wreck of nerves he was.

As he sat between Clint and Sam on the couch in his tuxedo, he slowly but surely felt his hands clam up. He glanced at Tony where he sat in his armchair, looking as unbothered as ever.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Mr. Stark?” He spoke up, breaking the silence. “I mean, if she doesn’t even want to go, I doubt she’ll be happy about having a stranger as her date. And me, at that.”

Tony wasn’t bothered by his doubtful attitude, simply waving it off. “Stop worrying, kid. I won’t sit by and watch her skip her prom, and you’re the best candidate for a date. I know Bucky and Sam has probably told you about how rude she is, but she’s not. She’s actually just rude to them because they’re full of shit, something I assume you’ve picked up on, by now. You have nothing to be nervous about.”

Peter took a deep breath, nodding his head and rubbing his hands on his legs anxiously. Steve observed his movements, taking in his nervous state and feeling a small smile rise on his lips. He had been doubtful of letting Peter take you to your prom at first, thanks to his tendency to find himself in life-threatening situations every time he tried to do something even remotely fun.

But now he was starting to feel more comfortable with the arrangements. Sure, he still wasn’t very fond of the idea that you would be going to a party where someone undoubtedly would be spiking the punch with alcohol and hormonal teenage boys would be looking for girls to deflower, so to speak. But at least you would be in good hands, because, just as Tony said, Peter was by far a better candidate than the boys at your school;

Steve had seen them when he had come to a teacher-parent meeting. He had heard them joking around in the hallways, shoving each other around and cheering each other on as they compared their “numbers”. And that was not the kind of boys he wanted to take you out. Peter might not be the most fortunate or lucky of boys, but at least he possessed manners and chivalry.

No one had the time to say anything else as the sound of heels clicking against the stairs broke through the room then, causing them all to stand up from their spots.

Natasha came down first, successfully covering your body from their views until you had both reached the bottom of the stairs. Peter straightened his back, raising his hands to pull at the hem of his suit jacket as he waited for Natasha to step to the side to let him have a first look of his date for the evening.

And when Natasha moved out of the way, revealing you to him, he was absolutely flabbergasted. His eyes widened, glazing over as the black and white before his eyes slowly started disappearing, countless of different color variations taking their place.

Your breath caught in your throat as your eyes fell upon him, your heart wasting no time in jumping in your chest, thumping against your rib cage so intensely that you felt like you were going to throw up.

The black and white that had only seconds before made up your entire field of view was no more, more colors than you could count taking their place.

You didn’t know whether it was the colors or the fact that you had found your soulmate on this day of all days, after just moments before having been thinking about it, that shocked you most. But one thing you did know for sure; you were absolutely speechless.

“Woah.” Peter let out before he could help himself, eyes wide in amazement and barely being able to form words. “Your eyes are so blue.”

You felt your heart skip at the sound of his voice, secretly grateful that he had been the one to speak first because you were sure your voice would’ve cracked like it would a teenage boy’s if you tried.

Before either of you could say anything else, however, Tony and Steve both jumped into action, pulling the two of you away from each other after you had apparently, without either of you noticing, gotten closer to each other, Tony speaking up.

“You know, now that I think of it. Maybe you should stay at home where we can keep an eye on you, anyways.”

But you didn’t hear him, the color of Peter’s eyes seeming to suppress your every sense and proving to you that everything that Steve had ever told you about soulmates and colors was more than true; and so much more.