#I have a Vision for this amusement date ok

[evanescentsun]

MY GREATEST VISION…….

[shysuccubusstuff]

virgin! choso pt. 1?:

Content: SFW + NSFW; sub turned into dom! choso + facefucking + dacryphilia + mean dom! choso + Exhibitionism + degrading kink + teaser! reader + female reader, although I would say the NSFW part is rather gender neutral + non proof-reader, sorry if there are any mistakes.

Summary: Choso is one of your classmates, he has always been in the background, keeping himself in the corner of the classroom while the rest spoke. So when the two of you get paired up for a group project, you are already worrying about it, but maybe this is the perfect oportunity for the two of you to get to meet each other?

Word count: 1021 + 941.

Note: I read this one fanfic a few days ago and it was just so good I just had to create my own, huge thanks to the creator @/hellokityish for the amazing work + @/_satanISA on Twitter for the amazing fanart that inspired the prompt. Let me know if you want it to become kind of a series

Virgin! Choso who is the one who approaches first. He is wearing his usual dark clothing, his hair tied on two messy buns, his pale skin making his eyebags stand out. He stands before you, books on his hands, you were waiting for him to speak, but after over one minute with the two of you in silence, you finally decide to speak first.

"Hey, so, we are together for the group project, right?" He looks at you, silently nodding as he moves a few strands of his hair ot of the way. "We can meet up in my house if you want--."

"I gotta stay at home, I gotta take care of my younger brother, would you be ok with coming over yourself?" His face is slightly flushed, hands fidgety as he avoids your gaze.

"Sure! No problem, let's exchange phone numbers so we set a time." He nods, taking out his phone and then sending a message to check if the phone number had been added correctly. "Great! Let's meet up this Saturday then."

Virgin! Choso who turns out to be quite the catch. In contrast with what one might think at first, he's an absolute sweetheart, always walking closest to the street when you walk together. Not only that, but he always holds the door for you, buying you small treats each time you meet up.

Virgin! Choso who starts to make you nervous. At first, you try to hide it, after all, it was probably because you didn't have that much experience having male best friends... right? This small attraction becomes even more difficult to ignore the moment Choso gets truly comfortable with you. He becomes more shameless, making small little remarks, his hands always close to you, if they aren't petting you, he is touching your cheeks, smiling at you when he sees you stuffing your face with the food at the cafeteria.

Virgin! Choso who invites you many times to his home. It was fine at first, I mean, you got to play to all his games and to eat tasty snacks he baked, how could you refuse it? That is, of course, until you see him one day with his younger brother. You find Choso, his back turned against you, it seems he hasn't noticed you yet, as he keeps playing with his brother, his smile completely blissed as he touched his soft cheeks while playing peek-a-boo. It might just be your vision acting up, but he is looking even more attractive than ever, his biceps flexed as he lifts his dear brother to entertain him, smile as brigth as the Sun as he keeps playing with him... You get the picture, right?

Virgin! Choso who keeps acting clueless even despite you try to make him realise your feelings. This complex plan comes all crashing down the moment he rests his head against your shoulder, his eyes closed as the Sun hits the two of you. The room is completely empty as you work on the essay late in the afternoon.

"I'm so tired... The Sun is making me want to sleep..." He snuggled against you, his nose rubbing against the fabric of your clothing. "You smell so nice, did you get all pretty for a date or something?" He teased, although his expression wasn't really that amused.

"Nah, they must be running away because they think you're my boyfriend or something."

"I'm sure you're way prettier and kinder than them anyways, no need to hangout with jerks when you have me right here with you." He stopped his movement, his eyes fixated on you as you turned to look at him. "What? I just said the truth, you're far too good for any of those dudes in the course, so there's no need for you to meet anyone, right?"

"Or what? Maybe I'm just meeting them while you're away--"

"No way, I'm always with you. Hope you're not doing something like that, I'm like, your closest friend if not the closest."

"Are you jealous? Don't worry, I will definitely make some time for you, don't be~" You teased him, but it seemed that his expression only got darker.

"Hey, don't joke about that."

"Oh, are you mad? So what if I got a special someone? Not like you really care, right?"

"What if I do care? Maybe I just want you to be only with me." As soon as Choso said those words, both of you remained completely silent, the heat rising towards your faces as the silence became heavier.

"...Does that mean we're like, a thing or something?" Your words came out as a mere whisper, just barely enough for Choso to hear.

"I... I suppose, just if you want, of course." He got away from you, his face completely red as he looked to the other side. "Not like I want to pressure you or anything. Before he was even able to completely finish your sentence, you rushed to him, your lips finally kissing his. He struggled at first, too stunned to even respond, but soon after he was finally able to respond to it, his lips clumsily corresponding yours, soon having to separate due to the lack of air. "That's a yes... right?"

Virgin! Choso who begins to struggle with seeing you face to face, eyes drifting each time you try to make eye contact with him during classes. Not only that, but he even becomes much shier when it comes to physical touch, avoiding it as if you were made of the finest porcelain.

Virgin! Choso who starts to get bolder as time goes by, his hands wandering arond your body even despite being in public. At first these were just small touches, his hands running your arms up and down, caressing you with great care. But then it turned into something else, his hands began to move lower, first it was around your waist, squeezing it as you kept talking to your other friend. Of course, this silly "game" of yours became a thing since your third date, when you decided to go to the cinema together.

The date started as normal, he bought the popcorn and you both seated as the movie started. As soon as the lights were turned off, your little teasing game began.

At the beginning, it was just you and him eating popcorn, sometimes laughing from what happened in the movie, while other times Choso got a bit bolder, moving his face towards you and leaving a cast kiss on your lips. It was then that your hand started to drift towards his body, what began with just brief contact on his arm, moved further, your hand now drifting to his chest, touching it over his oversized sweatshirt, then it moved under it, touching his bare skin and tracing his slightly toned body. Despite the bold move, Choso stood there in complete silent, his face turning as red as a tomato while he kept watching the film, he got closer, whispering into your ear:

"Hey, that's not... You shouldn't do that, we're in public, you know?" Ignoring what he said, you kept moving your hand, now even further down, and while you acted as if you were searching for the popcorn, sometimes passing your hands just close enough to his bulge, teasing him as he tried his best to stay focused on watching the film, his grip tightening around the fabric of his pants. Just as he turned around to call you out, he was interrupted by your hand grabbing his bulge, it was no longer subtle, of course not. Your hand was grabbing it, well, more like massaging it over the fabric, Choso chocked on the popcorn, then had to cough as he almost chocked again because of the drink. "That's... That's not the popcorn." He put his hand over yours, making sure you were unable to move even an inch more. "Fuck... You know we're in public, right? I thought you were shy but now I know I was completely mistaken." You acted as if he didn't speak, your hand still touching it while your other hand started to make its way towards his face.

"Come on, darling... It's not like the film is good, plus, there's barely anyone here, please~? Just a little bit..." His gaze pierced into yours, face completely flushed as he started to look around.

"Just a bit... but don't think about anything weird, ok?" He moved his hand away, allowing you to carefully unzip his jeans. "Hey! That's... that's not what you said... Fuck, we're going to be found..." Despite his complaints, he did nothing to stop you, simply covering his mouth with his hand. "I swear to... No more than this, I'm warning you." Once again, you ignored his warnings, taking out his cock and kneeling to the cushioned floor in the room. "Don't you dare...-- Fuck..." His words were cut short as soon as you started to trace the tip of his cock with your tongue, letting your saliva run down his shaft, then inserting it little by little into your mouth. "I should... I should have known you wouldn't even care about what I said, if that's what you want, fine by me." He took your head between his hands, abruptly forcing his cock inside you, the tip hitting the back of your throat and making you gag on it. "This is what you get for fucking messing with me, you thinkthat just because I'm less extroverted you can order me around? Know your fucking place." Without delay, his hips started to move, pistoning against your poor mouth, the saliva running down your chin as he kept forcing his cock inside your oral cavity. "I fucking dare you to keep on testing me, bet you love the possibility of anyone finding us right now, seeing you on your knees in the middle of the film sucking my cock like a good little pet." Choso's voice kept resonating inside your head, the slight praise melting your brain bit by bit as his velvety voice kept whispering those foul words.

You opened your mouth wider, letting him mess you up as much as he wanted as he kept pushing your head against his groin, your eyes rolling back as you started to touch yourself over your clothes. "Now you're not even trying to fight against it, oh... someone is getting closer, you think you can keep still for a moment?" Before he allowed you to answer, he was already forcing his whole length inside you, his dick twitching as hot ropes of cum filled your whole mouth.

Choso steadied his hands on your head, petting your hair as you swallowed his essence, at the same time, the person was making his way to the exit. Just as they were about to leave, they turned around, almost as if they were looking for something in the same seating line you both were. Just as you were about to gag on it Choso pulled you by the hair softly, letting you breath as the tears kept falling from your eyes. Then, he wrapped his arms around you, helping you get up and wipping your tears. He then kissed your forehead, peppering a few kisses all over your face, finally cleaning a few strands of saliva that were still in your chin. "Are you ok? Sorry for being so rough, I just... I got a bit angry because I was afraid of them kicking us out and people finding out why. I promise I will make it up to you as soon as we get home, baby." Just then, the film finished, the people leaving the room in complete silence as you two tried to catch your breath.

[junkdrawerfics]

hello!! i had a request for jasper, if that’s ok? i was thinking about him with an entirely oblivious reader. alice knows they’re meant to be together, and just cannot fathom how reader is this clueless to jasper’s flirting? LMAO esp with that southern charm and the fact that he’s actually talking to someone outside of his family 😭 just know id be blissfully unaware that man’s even interested even if he was breathing down my neck and his family is practically tearing their hair out atp 😭

Jasper Hale X Reader

Summary: You're oblivious. That's it. And it drives the Cullens (+ Bella) crazy. Jasper has to take a far more direct approach to get through to you.

Word Count: 1846

Note: I hope this works for what you were requesting! It was a fun write, I always like playing with different perspectives and even writing scenes without the reader directly in it.

---

“Anyone would think they’re dating,” Alice sighs in exasperation.

Bella follows the vampire’s gaze, noticing you and Jasper standing close together at your car. You’re gesturing wildly, eyes wide, excitement pouring off of you like usual. And Jasper’s just listening, a soft smile on his lips, one she’s only ever seen when the blond’s with you.

“Most of the school does,” she corrects, shoving her hands in her pockets, “Jessica brings it up all the time and Angela says she had to fight Eric to keep it out of the paper.”

Alice snorts softly, the sound somehow delicate. The humans love gossiping about their family, a fact that is unchanging wherever they go. She’s heard more than a few rumors about the two of you, and Jasper probably has too. You, however, remain blissfully unaware.

In her entire century of life, she had never met someone so completely oblivious.

“Does she know he’s flirting with her?” Bella asks, her brow furrowing as Jasper tucks a strand of hair behind your ear while you just keep talking a mile a minute, totally unphased. You, the girl who gets flustered at the drop of a hat with everything else.

“Oh, absolutely not,” Alice chirps matter-of-factly, “She has no clue that he likes her. It’s kind of sweet. But also maddening.”

“You’ve seen something about them?”

“Of course I have.” She sighs again, shaking her head. “It’s not even that, though! I don’t need a vision to know they’re perfect for each other. They’re both absolutely smitten with each other, but she’s even more oblivious than you.”

“Hey-!”

Jasper chuckles under his breath. You pause, head tilting as you follow his flickering gaze to the two girls standing at the other side of the lot. Alice has her hands propped on her hip, a smirk adorning her features as Bella turns impossibly red.

Curiosity washes over you. Eagerly, you whip back to Jasper. “What are they talking about?” 

“Bout you and me it seems, and they’re arguin’ about how…observant Bella is,” he murmurs, amusement clear in his tone.

You blink, pursing your lips a little, “They were talking about us?” 

“They were just wonderin’ if we are goin’ to the fall festival,” he lies smoothly. Jasper has no desire to expose you to the ugly rumor mill of this town. “What do you say, darlin? Want to go with me?”

“Yes! Yes, I’d love to! I’ve been thinking about that all week!” You squeak, confusion disappearing just like that.

The smile you give him is so bright, so genuine, it could cripple a weaker man. The blond has to bite his tongue, though, the desire to lean down and kiss you pulling at his chest viciously. He wants to see if your smile tastes as sweet as it looks…

 “We could see if they want to join us!” You continue, clapping your hands like a little kid. “Maybe that’s why they were talking about us. Oh, it’d be so fun to go as a group!”

The groan from across the parking lot is audible even to you.

---

“Gaaaahhh-”

Your groan gets cut off when you flop onto your bed and land face first in your fluffy comforter. It practically swallows you whole, you almost wish it would.

Bella watches, lips curling in amusement as she gently drops her backpack down and perches herself at your desk, “Jasper again?”

“-e’s su niiithee,” you whine, voice muffled.

“Try again.”

You turn over on your back, pouting at the ceiling, “He’s so nice.”

“He is.” Bella draws her knees up to prop her chin on and waits. The rant is inevitable.

“No, like, he’s so nice. You don’t understand, Bells.” You throw your arms in the air, letting them fall to the bed dramatically. “I’ve never met someone who’s just so nice. And he’s so pretty and charming and sometimes I just wish I could jump on him and hold on like a koala.”

“You could,” she points out, not missing a beat.

Propping up on your elbows, you can’t help but gasp at her, cheeks going positively red, “No I can’t! That would totally freak him out!”

“I think he’d like it more than you think.”

“Oh my gosh.” Your hands fly to your face, as if covering it will stop the blush from spreading down your neck. “You’re so mean to me, Bells. So crude.”

Bella snorts, “That’s not crude. And you’re oblivious.”

“Hello!” You yelp, sitting up. “Kettle calling the pot black!”

“It’s the other way around, actually.”

“Oh whatever,” you sigh, flopping back down. Your thoughts are always a mess when it comes to Jasper, and everyone teasing you like this doesn’t help. It’s easy when you’re with him, you kind of just forget about it all. He’s your best friend, afterall. A frown pulls at your lips. “And I’m not oblivious. We’re just really close friends. I think I’d know if he liked me or something…”

Bella has never been so close to strangling someone.

---

Eventually, a Cullen family meeting has to be held about the issue, despite Jasper’s reluctance.

“She’s clueless,” Bella groans, dropping onto the couch next to Edward.

Emmett snickers from his seat with Rosalie, “I thought we already knew that?”

“We did.” Alice sighs as if she’s mourning the thought. “But we’re afraid it’s worse than we originally thought. The girl is hopeless.”

“She is not,” Jasper chides, lingering on the edge of the group. A part of him doesn’t like having his family in the middle of this. It’s his relationship, or lack thereof. He hates feeling infantilized.

“Hush, Jasper.” Alice waves him off, earning a scowl from the blond. “You’re hopeless in your own ways. This is about (Y/n).”

“So what should we do?”

Jasper forces himself to take a long, calming breath. They mean well, he knows that. They always do. But their methods are usually far too…exaggerated. He might have considered asking for Esme’s advice, perhaps even Carlisle, but not Emmett, and most certainly not Alice. This is his decision to make, and he needs to go about it in his own way.

“Oh! Maybe we can hire someone-”

“That won’t be necessary,” he interrupts, cutting off whatever wild plan Emmett has concocted, drawing the family’s attention to himself. Jasper straightens up, giving them all a pointed look, “This is my business, and I will be taking care of it as I see fit. Thank you for your concern, but it is unnecessary.”

“What are you going to do, honey?” Esme speaks her first words of the evening, voice gentle and unassuming as always.

The blond softens, giving her a faint smile, “I’ll be straight with her.”

“But-” 

“Stay out of it, Alice.” The little ravenette pouts, though her eyes dance with excitement. A little push was all he needed, it seems. “It won’t do me any good if she learns of my feelings from one of you. It needs to be me. Even if I have to lay myself out plain for her to see.”

“If you’re sure that’s what you want, son,” Carlisle hums, relieved to take a step back. He wasn’t a fan of this plan from the start.

“It is.”

And it’s true. At one point, it didn’t feel like he had much control of his life, but now he does. And now he has you. It may just be a ‘matter of time’ thing, according to Alice’s vision, but he wants to do this right, at his own pace. 

Now, it’s just a question of how.

---

“Darlin…can we talk?”

“We are talking,” you giggle, writing down another formula.

“I mean a more serious talk.”

You blink, looking up from your chem textbook to meet a pair of nervous, gold eyes. Nervous? Jasper is nervous? Your brows furrow, concern immediately sparking in your chest.

“Is everything okay?” You ask, notes forgotten and thrown to the side. You can always study later. “What’s up, Jasper?”

“Everythin’s alright, just-” Jasper settles on the bed in front of you. He keeps a respectable distance, but reaches across to take your hand in his. You freeze. Eyes wide, you can’t stop yourself from staring at it. Your hands. Together. He’s holding your hand. Why is he holding your hand?

“Darlin?”

“Huh?” Oh right. You drag your gaze back up to him, catching a flicker of an amused smile on his lips. A blush creeps up your neck and you smile apologetically. “Sorry, sorry, um, what’s up?”

“I have something important to tell you,” he explains, thumb brushing over your knuckles in a way that is far too distracting. 

It helps calm your racing heart, though, because a part of you is terrified. You have no clue what he could possibly want to talk about that would warrant such seriousness. Unconscious, you end up holding your breath, waiting for him to continue.

“I like you, darlin.”

What?

You pause. Process. Confusion swirls through your concern.

“I like you too, Jazz, you’re my best friend,” you chime, tone completely lost and befuddled.

An incredulous laugh breaks past Jasper’s wall of nerves. The tension drips from his shoulders. It’s ridiculous. So ridiculous that he feels like he can finally say everything he’s ever wanted to say.

“I’m ‘fraid you don’t understand, darlin,” he hums, giving you one of those gorgeous, slanted grins that make your heart melt. And the way you cock your head at him, eyes doe-ish and soft, does the exact same thing to him. “I want to take you on a date. I want to open doors for you and walk you to your porch afterwards. Maybe give you a goodnight kiss and watch you go inside. You drive me mad, darlin. I like you so much, it’s taking everythin’ in me not to kiss you right now.”

What?

Your head spins. It’s difficult to even process what he’s saying, everything swimming through your head at a dizzying pace. Maybe you heard him wrong.

“You-” You falter, “You want to- to what?”

Finally.

Jasper smirks, leaning in just enough to make your heart skip erratically, “I want to kiss you sugar. And trust me, it is mighty hard to control myself.”

“Okay um…” You scream silently in your head. Jasper wants to kiss you. Jasper likes you. He likes you. And you like him. “So, you- okay, I have no clue what to do now. I like you too, a lot. Which you probably knew. Wow. I can’t believe I didn’t…”

“Everyone tried tellin’ you,” Jasper chuckles, leaning back.

“I know! I just, I thought they were all teasing me, you know? Cause I like you,” you explain lamely, pouting a bit in disbelief. All this time, you could have just told him! “I just can’t believe how oblivious I was.”

“Trust me, darlin, none of us can. I have one more question for you, though.”

“What?”

“Will you give me the great pleasure of takin’ you on a date?”

You bite your lip, but it does nothing to stop the smile from spreading across them.

“Of course!”

---

I hope you guys liked this one! It was a fun one, though it took me a while!

[little-miss-dilf-lover]

BABE!! Tan for sure is the kinda guy to open your car door, pull your chair out for you etc, BUT imagine that you’re not used to that?? And so kinda keep doing it yourself, before Tan gets to? And he always lovingly scolds you for it?

OK SO NOW!! Imagine calling him when you’re drunk, asking him to pick you up, and suddenly he learns that you’re kind of a brat when drunk?? I FEEL LIKE HE’D LOVE THAT, like suddenly, you’re stood by the car door, waiting, chin raised and happily clearing your throat to signal to him to open it 😭 and he’s melting bc you’re finally not so darn independent and you let him care for you!!! (He also finds it hilarious) (also, you’d totally get him to take your heels off for you)

AAAAAGGGHHH OMG!!! love love it!!

this also disappeared right after I posted it??? idk what’s going on!!!

TANGERINE WITH AN INDEPENDENT READER.

omg omg this is so eldest daughter coded!!!!!!!!! (self indulgent but idc)

and you're independent and used to doing everything yourself, yup yup I see the vision. and also maybe not used to chivalry sooo..

— so like when you go do dinner/ have date nights out, you pull out your chair before he can even reach it (also the same for opening car doors, or doors in general) he just tsks at you, shaking his head "that's my job" or "what did I say?" bc he's told you so many times

— and when you're walking and you're on the outside (closest to the road) he puts a hand on the small of your back and guides you to swap places and says "what did I say?" (that's gonna be a running theme/ repetitive saying btw) 

— and when he drops you home after going somewhere he gets out the car to walk you to your door, you're like "I'll be fine. you don't need to do this" and he’s like “would you just let me be a gentleman” and he waits until you're in and he hears the door lock before he leaves

— he holds bags for you and dismisses your protests of carrying them yourself, he's all like "how many times have I gotta tell you?"

— AND so?? you're out with friends and you're drunk, you call him to pick you up. you give him your bag immediately, silently handing it to him with no reaction, not a smile or a glance, nothing. and he just squints at you bc you've never done it before

— and then when you're walking to his car, you have an arm around his back as he helps keep you stable (you're a bit sloshed btw) and bc he's so focused on getting you to the car, he forgets that he's on the inside of the pavement, but you don't. so you're like "swap. im meant to be that side" and he's kinda loving it bc it seems that all the things he's been trying to ingrain into you have finally worked 

— when you get to his car, you're waiting for him to open it for you, arms crossed, tapping your foot, and you'd slur something like "sometime today would be nice" and he's just so entertained and amused by it all!! he's like "you're right, sorry. I'll be quicker" so you reply with "that's what I thought" and he just does one of those low chuckling snickers bc he’s loving it a lot more than he thought he would

— and then when you sit in the car, your twist to pull your legs out before he can shut the door. and you lift a leg and say "my feet hurt" making him take your shoes/ heels off for you. and he's just so whipped and he crouches down to undo them and he's just holding under your heel AARGGHHHHH. "better?" is def something he says. and "'little miss precious' tonight, you are"

— AND THEN just as he's about to shut the door you say "wait" and he's like "what?" and you say "seatbelt. it's not plugged in" hinting for him to do it. so he grabs it and reaches over you to plug it in, and kisses your cheek before standing up straight. then finally he gets in the car to drive back

— he's loving that you're finally letting him help you, even if you're drunk and have no real control over yourself. he reminds you the next day about what you did, and you're embarrassed, like "no, I didn't. you're making it up. I would never do that" and bc he's sweet, he's like "yeah, you're right. just pulling your leg" and he pretends his teases were a lie BUT THEY'RE NOT. HE'S JUST SAVING YOUR FEELINGS

— ALSO JUST BC I LOVE IT SO MUCH if you say “I can do it by myself” he says “I know you can. but let me help you” 🫠

[l0sercat]

Ok stay w me on this being spider noirs vision of black cat and your his suspect so he trys to corner you at a bar dance thingy and it’s just the reader teasing him

Ooooo I like how you think 😏 Also I don't know much about Black Cat 😅 I don't know if this is more fem or neutral so I'll tag both but please correct me!

Spider Noir x Black Cat! Reader

Spider Noir was following you the whole night. You were going everywhere it's a wonder how you can just blend in. You went into a bar so he thought it would be perfect to finally corner and catch you.

He made his way into the bar and ignored the stares he got. All he was here for was you, you were the main suspect in a crime he was solving. He needed to question you but you are really hard to catch.

He makes his way through the dancing drunks and saw you at the bar. He sits in the stool next to you and orders whiskey. You glance at him and look away and then looked again to process the fact that Spiderman is next to you. He lifted his mask to where his lips only showed and took a sip.

He glanced at your surprised face morph into a amused one. Your lips curled into a smirk and you placed your chin in your hand. Spider Noir pulls down his mask after finishing his drink and pays. He then fully turned to face you and opened his mouth to speak but you interrupted him.

"So what's a handsome man like you following around a woman like me?" You asked. He stared at you and let out an exasperated sigh. "Where were you the night of December 7 of this year?" He asked. You let out a dramatic gasp "Your not supposed to be in a woman's business y'know? It's quite rude have you never been taught manners?" You said grinning

His eye twitched in annoyance and he persisted on asking questions. But you keep on avoiding them and just flirt with him. "So for our next date how about you take me to a nice restaurant instead of this cheap place I feel like a prostitute" you lean in closer and drop your voice to a whisper "If you really want to know then come with me to my place" You winked and leaned back.

He sighed for the umpteenth time and stood up. "Well if your going to be no help-" he started. Your eyes widened slightly and cut him off and stood up as well. You leaned into his ear and whispered "If you really want to know meet me on the roof" you then exited the building.

He soon followed suit and went on the roof. He saw you there and let out a cough causing you to look at him with a smile. "How romantic of you to take me to a rooftop, what are you gonna do? Have your way with me?" You say and make your way towards him. "Look I came here for information about the murder that happened if you don't have any then we're done here" he backs up and stands straight.

"Aw come on can't we have a little fun first..." You pout and he rolls his eyes "No because I don't have time for it" "Guys are always impatient with foreplay..." You mumble "Fine if you take me on a nice dinner date or maybe even a rooftop date then I'll tell you everything you need to know" you smirk at him. He ponders for a moment and then shakes his head. "I'll take you on one date and then after it your going to tell me everything I need to know" he said glaring "Yes sir" you said and winked at him before leaping off the roof and disappearing into the night. Leaving him to question his sanity and patience.

[shadesoflsk]

Number 71 with re2r Leon could be so silly *twirls hair and blushes*

hiiiii anon😼 That idea is so cute please I'm melting. For this one, I immediately thought about an amusement park date (is that the correct name ? lol), and that led to a photo booth kiss! And you're sooo right this idea with re2r Leon is so silly he's just ike that! I hope you like it, take care. !!

71. “Kiss me, quick!” summary: re2r leon kennedy x gn reader, just straight up tooth rotting fluff wc: 1.0k

After accepting a job as a cop in Raccoon City, he knew that time wouldn’t be enough to be with you. That’s why, every time he has days off, he does his best to make it up for you.

Leon had decided to surprise you this time. The only clue he gave you was “wear something comfortable” and while it was an ambiguous sentence, you obliged. You took one last glance at the mirror, making sure you looked the part when Leon whistled.

“Ready to go?”

It hadn’t been a long drive, at least you thought so until Leon stopped the car in the middle of the road. Confused, you turned your head as you observed Leon rummaging through his pockets. Eventually, he found what he was searching for.

“A blindfold?” Your voice carried a sense of curiosity in it.

“Do you trust me?”

“Hell no.”

“Darling…please.” He whined, his lips forming a pout as exasperation filled his speech. It was funny to tease your boyfriend every chance you get, but now you spare him the embarrassment. 

“Ok, no need to cry.” You took the blindfold and Leon made sure to check that you couldn’t see anything.

“How many fingers do I have?” He said as he lifted his hand, forming a three.

“Four. Now drive.” You couldn’t hide the silly smile that was forming on your face.

And with that, Leon’s hand gripped the steering wheel again.

When you finally arrive, Leon helps you get out of the car and the first thing you notice —besides the chill air— is kids screaming and giggles filling the atmosphere. At first, you thought Leon had brought you to a concert. But then again, kids wouldn’t be at a concert at this time of the night even if it is still early.

“Can I take it off?”

“Yes, let me help you.”

Leon gets in front of you and takes off the blindfold that prevented you from seeing anything. The previous darkness that blurred your vision is now disappearing as your eyes adjust to the neon lights that the scenario before you offers.

“Ta-da!” Leon’s lips curve into a cheerful smile as he extends his arms, showing you his greatest idea. He has been planning this date for days. Ever since he read this new fair was coming to town, he just knew he had to take you there.

He is the epitome of a good boyfriend, dates are always a must when he has free time. And even when he couldn’t be with you, he would leave surprises. A sticky note telling you how much he loves you? Done. Having flowers delivered to your front door? Of course.

“Leon I...” You let out a breathy laugh. Your eyes dart back from the scenario of countless games and rides lying in front of you, to Leon's eyes which look at you with a devotion and love that just makes your heart weak. “Thank you…”

And, as a way to show your gratitude, you wrap your arms around his waist and hug him, letting the warmth of your bodies embrace both of you. He places a kiss on your forehead and motions you to follow him.

You don’t know who was more excited, you or Leon. But with the way he kept tugging your hand each time he saw a ride he wanted to try, you may as well say him. He kept his vice grip on you all the way from the roller coaster, to the ferris wheel and to finally the haunted house.

After scaring the shit out of both of you, you decide to sit down for a while, catching your breaths as adrenaline still pumps through your veins. Your eyes, eventually, fall on a photo booth a few meters away from where you’re sitting.

Now it was Leon’s turn to be dragged around.

You both laugh in unison as you waste no time in getting into the booth, almost forgetting to insert the five dollar bill that the machine needed to work. Leon closes the red curtain and instantly pulls you closer.

You sit down, struggling to fit into the narrow and tight space the photo booth provided. Leon and you try fixing each other’s hair amidst the giggling fit you were in. The countdown for the photos starts.

“Leon! Stop laughing.” You mutter as you try to maintain a sweet smile for the picture. Leon, on the other hand, moved at the very exact moment when the machine snapped a photo. “For God’s sake Leon…” And as much as you feign annoyance, you are grateful for this little memory you are creating with him.

For the second picture, you both show a beaming and pearly white smile to the camera, pressing your cheeks to one another. However, as the first photo is probably blurry due to Leon’s inability to stay still, you decide to have the perfect picture just for yourself.

“Kiss me, quick!”

He almost didn’t hear you when your words left your lips. However, your instructions are followed to the letter, and Leon in a swift motion grabs your face. You smile between the kiss as you hear the camera making a click sound. 

You don’t pull away right away, letting the romantic display of affection linger for a few seconds before the machine decides to break the sweet and tender moment.

“Thank you. You can now leave the photo booth. Please don’t forget to collect your pictures.”

“Don’t pay attention—”

“Thank you. You can now leave the photo booth. Please don’t forget to collect your pictures.”

“Jesus… I get it” Leon mutters as he reluctantly pulls away from the kiss. A dumb smile is plastered on his face as you admire his expression. You both walk out of the photo booth with your fingers interlaced, ready to see the results.

Needlessly to say, Leon stole that picture from you just to brag about what a pretty partner he has whenever he gets asked if he has a special one or not.

[ttulipwritezz]

Rules huh? pt.2

Sirius Black x James's sister reader

warnings: James being oblivious, date, the nickname "love", not revised very well.

tysm for over a hundred likes on the last part skkdhskjd

pt1 ,pt3

Synopsis: you fell for your brother's best friend...what happens next in this situation?

"well...if it isn't Miss Potter"

"What do you want black" You had more matters to attend to than the raven-haired boy beside you, despite how badly you wanted to humor him for the moment and simultaneously piss off your brother.

"Ouch, last name basis are we?"

"You called me Potter" you half asked-half stated with an amused expression

"Miss Potter"

You laughed. A small scoff-like one but a laugh nonetheless. Truth be told it's not like his "joke" was funny at all, far from it even. It's just that Sirius had this charm, this capability to make anyone and everyone smile the moment he entered their vision.

"Isn't that worse? Also, aren't you afraid my brother's gonna give you another lecture? I assume he didn't spare you the last one, you know when he saw you blow me a kiss during dinner.?"

"Oh my, I am offended that you think that way of me, potter! And for the record, I did receive a lecture"

He said with a hand clasped over his chest in mock offense

"Besides, James is at quidditch practice right now love"

Oh, how your stomach flipped at the nickname.

Love

It almost made you consider giving in to the black charm

if it weren't for your brother's little-

"Ahem"

Sirius jumped back startled, you almost laughed out loud at that, though saving it just in time for your brother to ask for an explanation.

"Padfoot? Care to explain why you're around my sister and not at practice?"

James's tone wasn't pleased in the least.

However, it seemed as though Sirius had met with the same fate not too long ago, and he handled it with ease.

"I was just going to ask miss potter where you were, prongs, I was gonna inform you about me not being at practice.'

"And why were you not at it?"

"Uhhh....-"

"-he had potions homework and didn't want to suffer another lecture from Slughorn so I found him in the library"

Luckily potions was not a class the two fifth years shared.

"And how do you know that"

... sometimes James lacks common sense...

"I asked James...asked. Didn't I just tell you I bumped into him at the library?"

Luckily your brother's words were Always predictable to you.

"Whatever Padfoot don't be missing practice for homework next time," He said almost shuddering at the word homework.

~~~~~~

Over the next few weeks, it seemed as though things had changed with Sirius.

You didn't feel normal, your heart thumped against your chest every moment he came around, and worst of all he was forbidden.

It felt wrong to feel this way... God y/n he's your brother's best friend for Merlin's sake. But why do I keep thinking about how he called me love. Does he call anyone else that?

The weeks had been nothing but filled with wholesome exchanges, James had been kind of oblivious to this subtle change in both your demeanors, being too engrossed with Lily at the moment.

He failed to see the way Sirius smiled subconsciously when you were around, the trips to the Library might have stopped but he'd still always catch a glimpse of you in the halls, still staring at you during dinner and still staying the same old flirt.

In fact, His feelings may have been stronger than he had intended.

~~~~~

"You know black you're quite the unwelcome bug I see lingering around all the time."

You were sitting in the common room reading a book when you felt the couch beside you dip and lo and behold the raven-haired boy was back.

"You know love, I happen to..."

He takes a second to pause and look at your book title

"-love that book .. it's one of my favorites"

"Right....and I suppose you know what this book is about then?"

Defeated he didn't argue any further...

" Ok alright, I do not... But-" he started

"What do you want black?" You said remembering how upset your brother was earlier in the halls, though it gave you a bitter feeling to talk to him this way.

"Hogsmeade....me and you?"

That was kind of all he managed to get out but fortunately, you got the memo

"You're asking me out?...you do know James would be furious?"

"I simply do not care, give me a chance y/n...I promise I will make sure your brother approves of me. He's my best friend and hurting him would be the last thing I'd do. Trust me."

"Alright...see you the day after tomorrow at noon."

Curtly nodding you left without much.

But the tiny little "yess" followed by a fist in the air was enough to form a small smile on your face.

A/n: oh god this is awful and so rushed sjdkashjs, tysm for over a hundred notes in the last part!

Should there be a part three with James's reaction and the actual relationship dynamic between the two?

[rems-writing]

AUD: Saving the First Mate

》 Pairing: non-idol!Seonghwa x afab!reader

》 Genre/Trope: fluff/strangers to friends

》 Wordcount: 1,863

》 Rating: pg-13

》Type: series

Nets: @mirohs-aurora-society @othersideoutlawsnetwork @illusionnet

"I need you to think different. Think bigger when it comes to us." - Lucky Daye

“In this scenario, you are on a blind date with Park Seonghwa. You are a strong hater of men. He discovers this yet he can’t help but fall for you. He tries day and night to get you to change your mind. Will you still reject him?” - Maddox

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

“Ok it’s not like I hate men persay. Sometimes, they can be a little stupid.”

“Love, they’re all stupid. And I am a man myself.”

“Ok but you’re an exception though.”

“What about me?”

You and MITO turn to Hongjoong, who tilted his head curiously. Even though you hadn’t known the captain for long, you knew of what he and his crew did so in a way, you trusted him. Thus, also making him an exception. 

“Yeah I guess you’re an exception as well.”

Hongjoong giggled and your heart melted upon hearing it. For someone who is supposed to be a deadly captain, he was downright adorable. You patted his head before turning back to MITO, who had an amused expression on his face as he viewed the exchange between you two. He soon looked up and saw the next pirate king. A blush was on his face and you were quick to notice it. A mischievous smirk was on your face as you poked MITO’s bicep. 

“Do you… perhaps have a crush on this guy?”

“What?! Psh! No! Of course not, love!”

“I don’t know, Christian. Your heart eyes say otherwise.”

“Shut up!”

You and Hongjoong giggled quietly while MITO sighed heavily and hid his face to further hide himself from embarrassment. You stood up and patted him on the shoulder before making your way towards the man. You were mesmerized by the androgynous beauty he held. His eyes were sharp, his eyebrows and jawline were sharper, his nose was pointed beautifully, his lips looked soft and plump, and his platinum blonde hair was long and styled specifically so one layer was tied up and the rest was down. He wore a simple polo and jeans with some off-white Vans. He was looking out the window, sipping on his drink and waiting for you. You waited a couple more seconds before sitting down across from him. He looked towards you and a shy smile was on his face. 

How could you possibly hate this man?

“Hi. I’m Seonghwa. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Hi! I’m Natasha. Nice to meet you too!”

You chose that fake name since you felt like a spy due to the sneaky undercover nature you held when you first entered the simulation. Plus, Black Widow was your favorite Marvel character so you felt like you had to do her justice. As you were eating and conversing with Seonghwa, you noticed the captain and bounty hunter in your peripheral vision, watching you from the sidelines carefully and thoroughly. Unlike Hongjoong’s scenario, this one took a little longer since you tried to maintain your role as a certified man hater. 

MITO’s words, not yours. 

Yet, you couldn’t find it in you to hate this man. You tried your best to act non-chalant or dismissive of everything Seonghwa does, but if you had to be honest with yourself, each time you acted cold towards him, you felt like you were committing horrible sins one at a time. Unbeknownst to you, Seonghwa took mental notes of your odd behavior. Before he could point it out, his phone pinged. He looked down to see that he had to get back to work in a few minutes before sighing deeply and looking back up at you. 

“I’m so sorry to cut this short, Natasha. Duty calls, you know? Perhaps we can meet next time under better circumstances.”

In this scenario, you were supposed to scoff and roll your eyes before lecturing him on how you shouldn’t set up a blind date during a work day, let alone a 30 minute break during a work day. However, you didn’t have the heart to tell him that. And perhaps it’s a good thing. By doing all these small and subtle changes to your character, you could be a bit closer to breaking him out of the simulation. As he was getting up, you were about to fish out your wallet so you could pay for your guys’ meal. In this part, he was about to protest and you were about to bite back by saying some stupid shit, causing him to feel horrible. When he protested and insisted on paying, you did something different. You tilted your head and furrowed your brows in confusion. 

“Are you sure?”

“Yes yes! I’m positive. Think of it as me making it up to you for all this.”

“Ok, Hwa. Only if you’re sure about this though.”

Seonghwa nodded in reassurance as he set down a few bills and put away his wallet straight after. Before he left, you exchanged numbers and set up another meeting with him. Usually, that doesn’t happen. It was the other way around and there was reluctance and annoyance on your part before you gave in. With a final word of gratitude leaving his lips, he left the small eatery in a hurry so he could get back to work on time. You walked back to where Hongjoong and MITO were seated. They were impressed with how you went about your interaction with Seonghwa. MITO pointed out the subtle changes you made and commended you on a job well done. However, he couldn’t help but tease your lack of non-chalance. 

“Listen! If you were in my position, you would’ve done the same exact thing! Especially since you have a thing for him.”

“I understand what you’re saying, but still. You have to maintain your role. Sure, the changes are small and subtle, but what if you get cocky? The virus will catch wind of that and it’ll further corrupt Seonghwa’s mind and will either kick you out of the simulation or…”

“Or start corrupting you.”

You looked over to Hongjoong, who finished MITO’s sentence with a grim look on his face. You sighed and nodded slowly, indicating that you understood yet you were expressing how disappointed and ashamed you must’ve been feeling since you didn’t think about the consequences that will come with your actions. MITO noticed this and took your hand in his, rubbing your knuckles in a comforting manner. 

“Look, love. We’re not saying you should stop. We’re just letting you know that you should be more careful about these things. Ok? You’re doing an excellent job so far.”

You grinned bashfully at the hunter’s praiseful words. Soon, the three of you stood up so you could go back home to your temporary quarters, which was a small condo located in the heart of the downtown district. Once you arrived, you went to your room so you could rest and formulate your next course of action.

A WEEK LATER

You were deep in your thoughts as you sat on the park bench, waiting for Seonghwa to come by. You were thinking differently about the type of men that are out there. Not every single man is a fuckboy. In truth, there are still gentlemen in this world. You just got to find them. There was just one issue. 

You already knew this. 

You knew about what Seonghwa told you prior to you entering the simulation. However, you heeded MITO’s words and acted like you agreed to disagree on his statements. It hurt your heart to see him so puzzled and disappointed, but you pushed through. You kept repeating to yourself that this was all fake and that you needed to do this in order to free him. 

“Hey.”

You looked up to see a nervous Seonghwa sit next to you. You greeted each other and started talking once more. You were a bit distracted since you had to mentally prepare yourself to say the words you have relayed to Hongjoong in order to break the captain free of the simulation. As you kept talking, you heard Seonghwa inhale and exhale slowly before taking your hands in his. 

“I might be jumping the gun here, but here it goes. I’m in love with you. Even though your mindset is warped, I can tell you are headstrong and that your word is unmovable. You say what you say, mean it, and stand by it. You are not easily persuaded. I want this to work. I just need to ask one thing.”

Here it goes…

“What’s stopping you from changing your mind about me and why is it that you still feel this way despite the fact that you must feel the same?”

With that same composed look you gave Hongjoong, you stared at him dead in the eyes and said the words with conviction and determination. 

“Because none of it is real! Wake up!”

Seonghwa’s face paled and you began to worry that the virus must’ve discovered you and will either rip him away from you and further corrupt you or rip you away from him and kick you out of the simulation. To further save both yourself and him, you fished out a silver bracelet and slapped it on his wrist, hurriedly saying the words engraved on the inside of the accessory. 

“Be free!”

The setting around you soon changed. Instead of sitting on a bench in a park, you two were standing in the vast empty space once again. Seonghwa groaned in pain and clutched his head. He was stumbling and just when he was about to fall over, Hongjoong and MITO ran up to him and kept him upright by grabbing his arms and steadying him. Meanwhile, you stood there and tried not to drool. 

Like Hongjoong, Seonghwa’s appearance changed. 

He was wearing the same thing as Hongjoong, except he didn’t have a trench coat or a hat. He had two leather armbands on both his sleeved biceps and he had leather gloves on. His hair was shorter this time and it was a brighter shade of red than Hongjoong’s hair. Your eyes then drifted to the wine stain sparsely covering one of the sleeves of his crisp white tee. You were about to point it out, but a gloved finger covered your lips. 

“Don’t worry about it, darling. I crushed my glass out of anger during a meeting we all had prior to entering this… simulation.”

“Uh… ok?”

Seonghwa smirked wickedly as he looked you up and down shamelessly. He was either checking you out or he was judging you. You didn’t know which one was better. Luckily, you didn’t have to since Hongjoong smacked him upside the head. 

“Dude, don’t scare her. She’s our savior. Don’t make her run away now!”

“Oh? My apologies then. It appears I’m still hazy from the simulation.”

You gave him an awkward thumbs-up and Seonghwa found the sight utterly cute. He grabbed your hand and kissed the back of it before pulling you closer to him. Hongjoong rolled his eyes at his friend’s flirtatious actions while MITO cringed. 

“Come on. We got six more blokes to save.”

That was the last thing MITO said before the four of you ventured off on your next rescue mission. 

[fumifooms]

Fleki x Marcille

I dub thee flekille Fourth entry of my “Dunmeshi rarepairs I will birth with my own hands if I have to” series. This one goes really well alongside laicion

Hear me out… Probably one of my most crackpair simply because they never really interact in canon, but it snowballed from me thinking about laicion so many months ago and I genuinely enjoy them a lot on their own now too.

Overview of the appeal: Silly prep girl that tries to not be silly x silly troublemaker that is silly on purpose. Could have been cellmates in another life 😍 /j It’s chaos x order, it’s propriety x will tease you specifically to make you uncomfortable, it’s Fleki sticking around Marcille when she gets the opportunity to because she thinks she’s entertaining, it’s her dragging Marcille to a shitty club that would give anyone epileptic a seizure and Marcille being so out of her depth but finding the thrill intriguing… It’s Fleki’s YOLO attitude rubbing on Marcille a bit, encouraging her to stress less and live more, it’s Marcille looking out for Fleki and teaching her to value her health, her friends and stability in life more. It’s banter, where Fleki is bold and amused and Marcille is panicked and horrified, which as they grow to know each other becomes Fleki teasing and Marcille responds with exasperated but fond comebacks. They have big yuri manga with a bad boy girl vibes, they deserve 50k slow burn rivals to lovers fics exploring the deepest emotional lows imaginable, they deserve cute funny bantery ficlets where they try out rollerskating together and Fleki skates face first into a pole and Marcille heals her up. ALSO it’s the mage who always talks about the importance of hair and braids hers neatly x the mage who keeps her hair long but at MOST brushes it every 3 days and looks feral

We see that Fleki looooves casual physical contact which I think suits Marcille well! Since she’s also big on casual & affectionate physical touches. Oversimplifying it, I kinda see Fleki as a more chaotic and less grumpy Izutsumi, which I think pairs really well with Marcille.

Ok, so the meme + below is my romantic flekille & laicion, qpr laimar & flekion vision… Maybe romantic laimar and flekion too idfc. Fleki’s bestie Lycion and Lycion’s boyfriend Laios and Laios’ girlfriend Marcille and Marcille’s girlfriend Fleki… A bond forged by the shared experience of having a feral partner. In my timeline they start hanging out because laicion starts dating and it goes from there, like they keep showing up at the other’s place to come pick their guy up or when laicion meet up in town at an agreed location both come with their bestie so then as Laios and Lycion head off the girlies just stand there awkwardly for a sec together… And it becomes habit enough that they start talking. One time one arrives early at the other’s place to pick up their dog guy so while she waits on Laios and Lycion being done hanging out they just chat and hit it off around the kitchen table. Eventually maybe they all live together, the girls have a qpr situationship with their respective dog boy too and they all snuggle up together on the couch and life is good… I have a couple of other flekille au ideas though.

The one college au I would EAT UP FR. Anything modern for them is so fun for some reason. They could even have a like… y’know ‘that yuri manga where the prep girl thinks the emo girl’s a boy and she’s interested’ thing (googling it The guy she was interested in wasn’t a guy at all is the name), they feel like they’d have that energy… Except that instead of Fleki being dressed all cool she’s dressed in Minions merch or something. Puke colored tie dye. Marcille cringes but also smth about the cringefail allure has her enraptured (jk it’s mostly Fleki being determinedly clingy) Like come on imagine Fleki with the alpaca trampoline hand tattoo, Marcille would be so endeared. They have the vibes ever, I wanna see them hang out and with Lycion and Laios too

Marcille, seeing this disheveled absolute rascal: … I can fix her.

I made a reblog post that goes into Fleki’s drug addiction a lil for the topic of the ship just so it’s easily avoidable if it’s an uncomfortable topic to some, I don’t go into the details though, just on how it might affect their relationship

[sporesgalaxy]

this came to me in a vision so I wrote a script in a feverish state, but I'm not sure when/if I'll be able to draw it???

so here's Scientist-Palmer Prom Acceptance Speech-- i.e. sexyman descendants-world equivalent of this ⬇️

I used Carlos & Cecil's canon son's name from the actual podcast (besides the last name, which is conjecture). I also used No Design, for The Bit, but there are 2 very cool Cecil descendant designs on the @sexymandescendants blog! Check them out!

ok here u go enjoy lol

Too-lette: [bitterly] ...and this year's winner of the title of Tumblr High Prom Tyrant is... [opening an envelope]

[shot of Spamton Jr. and Sara holding each other with anticipation]

Too-lette: ...Esteban Scientist-Palmer.

[most people in the decorated gym applaud politely]

[Sara is clapping dejectedly, while Junior sympathetically pats her shoulder]

[Too-lette is still standing on the stage alone]

Too-lette: ...

Too-lette: ...Scientist-Palmer?

[silence]

Too-lette: Is he even here?

[The crowd murmurs]

Too-lette: [moving to put the crown on her own head] Well then, maybe I should just--

[the overhead speakers suddenly blare loud feedback. Too-lette clutches the crown to her chest defensively.]

[Everyone else in the gym winces and covers their ears]

ESP: [over the intercom] ...Hello? Testing. Testing. Is this thing on?

[The crowd responds with only stunned silence]

ESP: [cheerful] ...Greetings, esteemed classmates!

ESP: This is Esteban Scientist-Palmer, speaking to you live from an unidentifiable pocket dimension!

ESP: I seem to have taken a wrong turn at some point, and wound up stuck here on my way to the dance.

ESP: I may not have had a date to stand up, but I was hoping to at least see my friends...

ESP: Speaking of-- hi guys! Take lots of pictures! And text me if you know anything about escaping places that don't exist!

ESP: Anyways, it's a good thing I never leave my house without my portable radio broadcasting equiptment.

ESP: Otherwise, I might not have been able to thank you all for voting me Prom Tyrant!

ESP: It was a great tournament, and all of my opponents were formidable warriors of popularity! This is truly an honor!

ESP: Uh... Since I'm not there to accept the crown or sash, feel free to just put them on a hasty effigy of me.

ESP: You can even ritually sacrifice it at the end of the night if you want! Man, I wish I could be there for that...

ESP: [Sighs] Alright, I really ought to get back to taking careful scientific notes of my surroundings, in hopes of using what I learn to devise an escape.

ESP: If you enjoyed this impromtu radio-jacking, consider listening to my bi-weekly podcast, available wherever you least expect it to be.

ESP: This is Esteban Scientist-Palmer, Prom Tyrant elect, signing off.

ESP: Up next: a gruesome free-for-all game of Capture The Prom Crown, because I am not physically present to defend it, and the vast majority of our school's student body is amused by things like theft and violence!

ESP: [Giggles] Don't have too much fun without me, guys! And good night, Tumblr High! Good night.

[the intercom turns off]

[mariana-oconnor]

The Empty House pt 1

Now, in the hour of our greatest need, a hero rises to answer the call. Our dear friend John Watson provides food for our reading appetites and bravely returns to write the tales of his dearly departed* partner, Sherlock Holmes.

*all facts correct at time of writing

You may be forgiven for assuming that my silence indicated that ‘The Final Problem’ truly was the end of my association with Sherlock Holmes, and indeed of the man himself. The passage of time and many subsequent tellings of the tale has not diminished me joy in saying that it was not so.

WHAT??!

No, seriously though, the fact that Letters from Watson is going with the conceit that Watson knew when he sent the email that Holmes wasn't dead and then just went radio silent for three weeks is fucking hilarious. It's what Holmes would have wanted. I mean, he's not dead, but even so. I love the dramatic bitch energy here.

It was in the spring of the year 1894

I feel like this is as definite and accurate a date as we're ever going to get in these stories.

Also, I have definitely read this one before, multiple times. Partially for my own enjoyment when I was younger, but also during my Sherlock fandom phase where I needed to verify some original canon so I could mutate it terribly for my own personal amusement.

I definitely remember whodunnit and how this time, but I'm not sure if that's actually going to be the mystery.

Only now, at the end of nearly ten years,

So this is a story set in 1894, written in 1903, read by us in 2023.

I should have considered it my first duty to have done so had I not been barred by a positive prohibition from his own lips, which was only withdrawn upon the third of last month.

So Holmes stayed 'dead' officially for 13 years? I mean, I guess this is also sort of ACD saying 'please stop sending me death threats. Here it is. He was never really dead. I surrender I surrender.'

As I read the evidence at the inquest, which led up to a verdict of wilful murder against some person or persons unknown

Totally read this wrong at first as though the murder was against the person or persons unknown. 'We know a murder has taken place, but we don't know who, or even if it was only one person or multiple. But it was definitely murder.' But no, it's the verdict that's against them, not the murder.

There were points about this strange business which would, I was sure, have specially appealed to him, and the efforts of the police would have been supplemented, or more probably anticipated, by the trained observation and the alert mind of the first criminal agent in Europe.

It is pretty tragic to think of Watson reading the paper and sighing to himself as he thinks of how Holmes could have helped. But then also casually throwing shade at the police officers, also in tribute to Holmes' memory.

Adair's mother had returned from Australia to undergo the operation for cataract

Health tourism has a long and varied history. In a time before aeroplanes that's a long way to go and a long time to take for surgery. Did Australia really not have any opthalmologists worth their salt at this time? I mean, I don't know how good even the surgeons in London would have been with that sort of surgery, it's a little more finesse than amputations and they had enough difficulty with them. Got to assume that if you're going to take that long travelling for the surgery, there's got to be a reasonable improvement in your chances for survival.

OK, wow, the history of cataract surgery is long and I do not advise you to look it up if you are in any way squeamish about or squicked out by eye stuff. But apparently the earliest cataract surgeries known are in the 5th century BC, although modern surgery methods didn't seem to really get good until around the 1950s. Basically yes, infection was very possible and her vision would never be the same again.

That was very educational and quite unpleasant.

Ronald Adair was fond of cards, playing continually, but never for such stakes as would hurt him. He was a member of the Baldwin, the Cavendish, and the Bagatelle card clubs. It was shown that after dinner on the day of his death he had played a rubber of whist at the latter club.

I know it says that he never played for stakes that would hurt him, but I feel like being a member of three different clubs is a sign of something. Also, the fact that he recently broke up with his fiancee really needs to be relevant later because I cannot imagine why it would be included if not. At least as a red herring.

Mr. Murray, Sir John Hardy, and Colonel Moran

I wonder which of them is important? Clearly it must be Mr Murray. Absolutely could not be Colonel Moran, who is a colonel and therefore a respectable member of society who would never be associated with any crimes.

I stg ACD had some sort of beef with a colonel at some point in time. That's the only possible explanation. OTHER RANKS ARE AVAILABLE.

She had lit a fire there, and as it smoked she had opened the window.

They need their chimneys checked. Where are the chimney sweeps? I was under the impression that Victorian London was full of chimney sweeps. Was I lied to? Shove a small child up that chimney at once!

The door was locked on the inside, and no answer could be got to their cries and knocking. Help was obtained and the door forced. The unfortunate young man was found lying near the table. His head had been horribly mutilated by an expanding revolver bullet, but no weapon of any sort was to be found in the room.

Locked room mystery! Locked room mystery! Locked room mystery!

The window is open, but this is the second floor, and it's worth noting for any American readers, that in the UK the second floor is one higher than you think. We have ground floor, first floor, then second floor. So that's a pretty high window to reach.

(Unless there was already a small child lying in wait up the chimney...)

A minute examination of the circumstances served only to make the case more complex. In the first place, no reason could be given why the young man should have fastened the door upon the inside.

Sometimes people just lock doors. I automatically lock doors behind me sometimes. My brain is just like 'ooh, lock!' I made my flatmate at university think I hated her because I used to lock myself into my room, but I just... be like that.

There was the possibility that the murderer had done this and had afterwards escaped by the window. The drop was at least twenty feet, however, and a bed of crocuses in full bloom lay beneath. Neither the flowers nor the earth showed any sign of having been disturbed, nor were there any marks upon the narrow strip of grass which separated the house from the road.

So I know how this goes, but I feel there is a very real alternative solution to this puzzle that involves a circus troupe, an archer and a tightrope walker. Not sure how they'd get the tightrope back, but that can be sorted out in editing.

Again, Park Lane is a frequented thoroughfare, and there is a cab-stand within a hundred yards of the house.

Fine, people would probably notice the tightrope walking clown...

^ This guy could do it, is all I'm saying. (Although he would definitely use more than one bullet...)

since, as I have said, young Adair was not known to have any enemy, and no attempt had been made to remove the money or valuables in the room.

No one who gambles that much and consistently wins can be entirely enemy-free, that seems unlikely.

As I did so I struck against an elderly deformed man, who had been behind me, and I knocked down several books which he was carrying. [...] With a snarl of contempt he turned upon his heel, and I saw his curved back and white side-whiskers disappear among the throng.

Oh hai, Holmes. I'm not 100% that this is Holmes but lbr, this is Holmes. The snarl of contempt and abrupt about turn is totally to conceal his identity. Also I want to read The Origins of Tree Worship is it a real book? I feel like it has the potential to be the basis for a decent fantasy book.

but the window was entirely inaccessible, since there was no water-pipe or anything which could help the most active man to climb it.

I had not been in my study five minutes when the maid entered to say that a person desired to see me.

Drum roll please

I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. When I turned again Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my study table.

Certainly a grey mist swirled before my eyes, and when it cleared I found my collar-ends undone and the tingling after-taste of brandy upon my lips. Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in his hand.

This surprise reveal brought to you by:

Brandy!

If Brandy doesn't save you, at least you'll die drunk!

“My dear Watson,” said the well-remembered voice, “I owe you a thousand apologies. I had no idea that you would be so affected.”

No.

Shit.

Sherlock.

Yeah, totally unbelievable that your bff who has thought you were dead for two years and probably blames himself at least somewhat for falling for the obvious ruse and leaving you alone on the cliffside to face your demise, might POSSIBLY be A LITTLE BIT affected by YOU RISING FROM THE DEAD BEFORE HIS EYES.

You are such a dramatic little chaos gremlin and it's great, but a truly spectacular lack of forethought here.

"Now, my dear fellow, in the matter of these explanations we have, if I may ask for your co-operation, a hard and dangerous night's work in front of us. Perhaps it would be better if I gave you an account of the whole situation when that work is finished.”

Casually rolls back into town, greets bff. 'Like, I could tell you how come I'm not dead, but instead we could both risk our lives first... what do you think?'

"I had no serious difficulty in getting out of it, for the very simple reason that I never was in it.”

A cliffhanger - literally??

Disappointed we only got two synonyms for the falls though: "awful abyss" and "dreadful chasm" I was hoping for some other ones. "merciless maw", "terrible void", "cruel crevasse", "fell fall", "godawful gap". Hopefully some more can be shoehorned into the next bit.

[inkyminx]

🙊🦁🐦‍🔥

Trivia Under The Cut ~

Zhe Kong Shi (Middle)

The second born, Guardian Lion

Cunning, Mischievous, a bit chaotic & unintentionally funny

Sensitive (body-wise)

Really good with kids

Might be part jackal but who knows

Don’t hurt his loved ones he will bite all your toes and eat your prized possessions

No really, don’t risk it

Loves cats (he will steal yours)

Has ptsd because of his capture & t*rture by humans in his past

A BIG foodie but is one of those people where they eat a lot but always looks fit (like muscular and constant workouts)

Is surprisingly a gentle giant

Likes working with metal or mechanical objects (mostly vehicles and tiny trinkets)

Play wrestles with Ping on the daily

Was put in his father’s mouth as discipline (it’s ok, he was never bitten. He’d just sit there bored)

Likes trading (it’s business, kid)

“Shorty” proceeds to eat on your hand

Definitely has a “natural beauty” as they are known to be really pretty

Naturally has curly hair but uses one of Yuan’s oils to tame it

Wears a band around his neck to hide the wounds he got from the capturer’s chains

~ ~ ~

In a relationship with Cole

Like his brothers, Cole gets very concerned about how tall Kong is since (headcanon time) he’s the tallest of the ninja

Dates? Isn’t it obvious? These guys would go to cake testing, maybe some test of strength games & more outdoorsy activities like a carnival or rock climbing

Takes turns sitting on each other while one’s doing push-ups

“Brains and brawns? HOW ABOUT BRAWNS AND A TITAN”

He probably also scared Wukong and the gang as he nearly matches the height of Sandy and DBK (if not taller like his brothers)

Will lift the ninja/monkie team/monkeys like it’s nothing & tease them about it

Dear God do not let him be alone with Wukong or there will be chaos. Who knows what shenanigans they will get up to

Might have forgotten to pay for some noodles one ten time

Cole meeting the parents was fun

Kong: *in his dad’s mouth and lifting it up by his teeth* Pretty neat huh?  Cole: 😨

Has probably yeeted Jin & Yin into the celestial realm at one point

Doesn’t like Lou (Cole has to hold his boy back from strangling his dad)

Fengkuang Huayuan (Left)

The first born, Jue Yuan

Flirtatious, sneaky, mature (somewhat) & easily amused

The mean responsible one: will tape a kid to the wall or “your a disappointment, grade C+ kiddo”

“Chillax man, I got this” comes back clean despite an explosion in the background

Loves to cook and knows how (mostly stews & broths or anything with vegetables)

Kind of a slvt

Doesn’t like wearing revealing clothes

Probably gets his jewelry from Guimo

Definitely the one who taught Kong how to be a menace

Adopted three small dragon-like cats and treats them like his children

Knows how to push buttons

Likes to make puns

Smokes (owns a kiseru)

Lost his vision as payment to reunite with Kong

~ ~ ~

Had a relationship with a soldier at one point before not aliving him when he found out he was a demon

Definitely likes using pet names, both platonically and romantically

“Darling”  ,  “my sweet baby”  &  “pumpkin” are big in his vocabulary

Will tease tf out of Macaque & Kai

Kai will get the short end of the stick with this guy usually

The ninja definitely caught Kai taking a nap on Yuan’s lap at one point but said red ninja had threatened them to keep it a secret (especially from Nya)

And it’s no different for Macaque just with Wukong

Kind of acts like a mom to said red ninja & monkey, and is very protective of them

May threaten the monkey king and mr. six ears to reconcile PROPERLY instead of bickering like an old married couple

“Smashes their faces together” NOW SHAKE HANDS AND SAY “I DO”

Pingheng Xie (Right)

The third born, Phoenix

A sweetheart, big body big heart, constant state of confusion & responsible

Had a really close relationship with his mother

Touch-starved

Will cry if a loved one gets hurt (even a paper cut will set him off into becoming Niagara Falls)

Incredibly strong

No really, this bitch can probably lift an entire palace if he wanted to

Kind of a mama’s boy

Uses his own feathers for fun (writing, tickling someone, etc)

Will let you use two hands in an arm wrestling match

Is the more responsible fun “parent”

“If you eat your vegetables we can go to the water park”

But will probably lose the kid(s) as he’s on the slides and go apeshit trying to find them

A little chubby around the stomach

Might have accidentally thrown Kong off a mountain cliff while playing as kids

Lost his vision as payment to reunite with Kong

~ ~ ~

In a relationship with Lloyd

Dates? Definitely going to arcades, reading comics, some indoor dates like movies & most times Ping cooking while Lloyd clings to him like a finger monkey

Probably needs to be pulled off Lloyd & MK when hugging cause he can practically sense how fvcked up they are

“NO! YOU ARE STAYING IN BED, WE’RE BUYING PIZZA AND WE WILL HAVE A MARVEL/DISNEY MARATHON UNTIL YOU GET BETTER”

Lloyd often uses his wings for comfort or hiding (it’s a must if he has a nightmare)

Gave Lloyd a necklace with one of his feathers as it’s charm to keep him warm & comforted by his presence

[soranihimawari]

Winters breath

A Kita Shinsuke x reader drabble

Word count: 600+?

Pairing: kitaaaaa! x reader

Warnings: fluff confession

You were a vision, according to your old friend, Kita Shinsuke. You were visiting home for a much needed vacation from coordinating all the intramural matches for the local schools ranging from middle school to high school and even some colleges. The deadline was approaching and lo and behold you bosses had tasked you with at the very least coordinating the opening season match of your shared alma mater before your vacation truly began. Regardless of talking your friend’s ear off in the car trip back to the house you grew up in, Kita softly laughs at the way your brows furrow and relax when you’re overly exchanging how dreadful Mo-kun is as the ‘office snitch.’

“…I almost slapped him for asking me out. Again,” you sighed. “I’m sorry I rambled on for too long, huh.”

“It’s ok,” he says with a sweet smile. “I’m just glad you stopped by to say hi. You’re a very busy person, y/n.”

You both were seated on the front porch of his farmhouse which had been the main scene for a few teenage shenanigans while still in high school. A medium sized coffee table complete the furnishings for said patio; cups of cold tea remain on their saucers now. One of the many shenanigans happened shortly after the spring carnival where your class had a silent auction for a ‘date night.’

Apparently the rumor around the student body the was how a first year Suna or was it second year Aran mentioned how they didn’t want to ask any member of the student body until they kissed their first love. The moment either Miya twin heard of this, they consistently tried to get you alone with their friends. Considering you were in a few classes along with Aran and an art elective with Suna, the volleyball team seemed to have their eyes suspiciously on you. Well, more like in the sense that whenever your name is brought up, Kita had to quell his teammates’ annoyance at the twins’ teasing. Granted, Kita, bless him, was a little peeved at the time. The only one who knew of their diligent admiration from afar was perhaps Gin. Gin who saw how flustered Kita became whenever you had swung by during morning practice with sweet cream sandwiches amongst other snacks. Or when you stopped to deliver some calculus handouts to both Aran and Kita right before midterms in your third year caused a bit of a ruckus since Aran noticed how Kita’s eyes lingered on you speaking with a member of the management team that brisk fall afternoon.

However, presently, the thought of you with someone else made Kita blurt out a rushed, “go on a date with me.”

You were busy glancing at the blossoming hibiscus tree whose branches swayed in the wind; you had heard what your dear friend said, but you decide to play coy instead. You curl a fist under your chin and tilt your head to the side to have a better look at his features. You see his stern expression grow softer the more you stare at him.

“Ehh?” Your voice is a mix of both surprise and confusion.

He’s leaning back in his chair shyly covering his flushed cheekbones, an amused expression reflects through his bronzed eyes. For a second there, you think you see the sparks of the fabled western idea of fireworks, he must have felt it too. You feel your own cheeks flush with embarrassment because even you can fall victim of the revered, “Captain Kita stare.” Though you are feeling a bit bold and initially had aimed to tease the company you keep, you glance back at your dear friend who for whatever reason made you feel a bit unsteady.

“Oh don’t look at me like that Kita Shinsuke.”

Kita shrugs. “Like what?”

Golden brown eyes reflect a warmth and strength you didn’t know existed; supposing his dating history, given taking care of the fields to the east of the house, would be small, it seems to you that his tactful nature when talking to you had fallen a bit… well, flat. Then again, you wonder to yourself, when was the last time he had even thought to date anyone? Let alone bring anyone to bed? From what your text chain conversation with Aran, Suna, the twins, and sometimes Gin pokes in every once in a while, Kita never really brought any significant other around. Yet, if any of them mention you, according ‘Samu, Kita would literally spend hours bugging them about more details about your life post college graduation (are you ok? taking care of yourself in the ‘big city’? pack you extra onigiri which kita not so anonymously pays for, etc).

Your curiosity has led you here. Back to the farm of your youth with the man determined to love you the best way he knew how. Who cares if he had been waiting a little over a decade for the right time, sans your friend circle who could’ve interrupted you two at any point. It’s such a quiet, earnest request from you to him. Bleach locks with ebony tips blow gently in the wind as you notice he will not budge from staring so sweetly back at you.

You needed to break eye contact for a moment, so you glance down at his boots compared to your business kitten heels: you jump to the logical solution, you’re determined to test the waters of whatever may come from this, so you chose to speak your mind when you bring your eyes to look at him like you haven’t noticed his matured features before:

“Like you’ve been in love with me forever and now you’re coming to terms with—?!”

Kita silences your rambling fear in such an austere way: his lips align with yours in the most subtle of moves. Perhaps if you’d have been more careful, you’d notice he was staring at your lips the entire time you were speaking. He holds your hand when he breaks this quiet confession, a bold smirk on his boyish face.

You’re too stunned to speak by this development; your cheeks are flushed with a fever you can’t sweat out as you try to suppress your beaming grin with your free hand. The other is currently being held (and kept warm) by the man across from you. You feel him exhale over your brow before pecking you there. He chuckles a bit when you lean back a bit in your chair.

“So, about that date…?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

You lean forward and as he turns his face, you kiss his lips again. Here is where you both feel your heart stutter for you feel yourselves topple over in compassionate way. Though you break this kiss first, you smirk at him. Kita shakes his head slightly as he says your name so deftly you almost miss it. You’re too enamored by the sudden electricity passed from you to him; it’s in the reflection of his eyes when you realize perhaps Kita one day will truly answer your question.

[real-reulbbr-band]

Hey lovely!! I was wondering you opinion on TantoToria (Tantomile x Victoria) 👀??

a what a good question !!!!

while not being one of my go-twos I do enjoy and adore them a lot! And that’s the joy of being a multi-shipper!

I could really see it working with Victoria’s connection with the jellicle moon and Tantomile’s own psychic abilities. (rambles below)

I mentioned it before that Tantomile is more sensitive than she lets on, both from her powers and her own personal insecurities.

But when she catches a glimpse of the seemingly “perfect” white cat shows a similar sensitivity- a similar otherworldly knowledge she’s interested.

Tantomile is quite blunt when approaching Victoria about what she perceives to be, though unintentionally that it does cause Victoria to get nervous and panic “of course she’s on to her, Tantomile knows everything about everyone”

but at the same time, Victoria is interested. Perhaps Tantomile could provide her insight? Even closure on her previous lives. Though Victoria’s approach is more subtle than Tant’s and way less obvious Tantomile offers her assistance.

Tant isn’t able to decipher much on her own and when she comments about getting Cori involved Vic immediately shuts it down. Instead switching the topic to something more- casual.

She invites Tantomile to spend time with her, alone. And wow Tant is both surprised and amused.

surprised because it’s clear Victoria is hiding *something* but happy at the possibility that she genuinely was interested in getting to know her.

They spend time together and while Vic’s secret is still a point of tension they manage to bound quite easily. Even relax and do yoga.

Vic doesn't need any powers since she’s a naturally attentive cat, so she can typically tell when Tantomile is having trouble with her powers or had a frightening vision.

Outside of her brother, Vic became a very comforting and warm presence for Tantomile.

They just get so used to each other, when they're together there isn't a need to speak through words. It's the glances they share, the touches the smiles.

During a sleepover after Victoria had another nightmare about her past lives she was in shambles tears even. And when she couldn't figure out how to ease her after about an hour of reassuring words Victoria just kisses her.

it’s quiet after that a few words are spoken before they decide to go back to sleep and carry on as normal. But that was Tantomile’s first kiss, and she could only dream of vic that night.

When they do start dating it doesn't feel like a sudden transition or like much has changed they've just loved each other and wanted to protect each other for so long that it just feels right.

I tend to have a preference for their stage counterparts since I have a little more to work with but they’re 2019 versions are so soft!!!

Ok I’m done talking about the gfs totally….

[fitrahgolden]

Something That Digs At Us: 3 - You're the nicest thing I've seen

[Kate and Anthony have a second date, of sorts.

—

I must admit that I truly don’t know if anything interesting is gonna happen in this story and I’m sorry. I just like writing this version of Kate and Anthony.

—

TW: Brief descriptions of a panic attack.]

Anthony opened his eyes to find Kate, still asleep, cradling his head against her chest. He shifted just a little to look up at her. She looked serene. There was no other word for it. He couldn't help the swell of pride in his chest, however unearned it was. He was happy he could be what she needed to sleep through the night, at least one night. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Don’t fuck this up. Still, it made him optimistic about her trusting him and their potential to be together. She had to trust him. He kissed the part of her arm that he could reach and was content to continue lying there, soaking in the warmth of finally being in Kate Sharma's arms.

Eventually, Kate started to stir and moan. Well, that sound is gonna be a problem. Maybe Kate just didn't want to have sex last night. Maybe she didn't want to have sex with him at all. Either way, he imagined Kate waking up to find Anthony lying on top of her with an erection would probably be awkward at best.

He tried to calm himself down when Kate started squirming as she was becoming more and more awake. Anthony squeezed his eyes shut. Jesus Christ, I have to get off of her. He moved over to lie beside her instead. He could tell she was going in and out of sleep, slowly becoming conscious. He watched the process unfold, and felt compelled to stroke her hair and just…marvel at the vision beside him. Wake up, Foxtail.

"Who's that?"

Shit. I said that out loud? "Hey, good morning." He propped himself up and looked down at her.

Kate reached up and patted his cheek. "Good morning. Who's Foxtail? Another code name from the picnic basket caper?"

"Uh…" Anthony ran his hand over his face and sheepishly peeked at Kate, who seemed equal parts curious and amused. "Foxtail barley is my favourite species of grass."

There was silence as Kate's brow furrowed. Then she smiled and chuckled softly. "That's cool."

"No, it’s not. Having a favourite grass is absolutely not cool, Kate."

"Who’s Kate? I thought my name was Foxtail."

“Jesus.” Anthony fell onto his back and covered his eyes with a forearm. "I know giving you a nickname when we aren't even… Well, it's weird as fuck. It just slipped out, truly."

It was Kate’s turn to roll onto her side to look at Anthony. “I may like it. I have ‘Professor Death Blade’ ready to go if we get there. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”

Anthony peeked at her from under his arm. Don’t ask. It will ruin the moment. “Does… does that mean you had a good time last night?” Anthony grimaced. Idiot.

Kate nodded. “I did. Did you?”

“I had an amazing time last night. I’m glad it finally worked out.” Kate looked down, seemingly embarrassed. Anthony rubbed her arm. “No, no. I understand. I wasn’t trying to… I had a great time, Kate. And I hope we can do it again.”

Kate visibly relaxed and put her head back on her pillow. “Sorry. I mean– Ugh, I’m trying not to apologise for, like, um, for just being who I am. Or for doing what I need to do to be OK. I used to do that all the time. My therapist called me out on it. Rude.”

Anthony nodded and lifted a hand up to Kate’s hair and pushed some back over her shoulder. “Very rude.”

She twisted her mouth. “Can we inelegantly change the subject?”

“My specialty.”

Kate giggled. “What do you have on today?”

“Well, what with Daphne and Simon getting engaged, Mum wants us all at the house today and tomorrow for all kinds of celebrations and family bonding and tormenting of Simon.”

“Poor Simon.”

“I’ll be gentle.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t, either.”

Kate looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath as she spun the ring on her finger. “Kent’s a bit of a drive from here.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you need to leave, then?”

“Not really, I just need to go across the hall and pack an overnight bag and go.”

Kate nodded with a quiet, “mmm.”

Anthony shot up to sitting. “Shit, was that you telling me you want me to leave? Sorry, that went completely over my head.”

“Anthony. If you want to leave, you can go, but I wasn’t telling you to. I… don’t want you to.”

“Oh. Good, ‘cause, um… I don’t want to leave, either.” He really didn’t. This almost felt like they were already on a second date. Anthony leaned back against the headboard and Kate followed suit by sitting up. Anthony took a chance and slid his hand into hers and could not stop the sigh of relief when Kate intertwined their fingers and rested her head on his shoulder.

“I’m surprised Newton hasn’t run in here.”

He felt Kate shrug next to him. “He doesn’t come in here unless I tell him to. And it’s early, so he’s OK out there. May even still be asleep.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Anthony asked. “And do you have plans today?”

“Visiting Amma, probably. If I can get myself to leave my flat.”

Anthony decided to leave the second part of that alone. “Amma is… Kaveri, right?”

“Right.”

“And Mary is…”

“Mum. Or Mummy, if I’m being a brat.”

“But they aren’t together, right?”

“No, Amma was my dad’s first wife. And Mary’s my stepmother.”

“But Kaveri and Mary are friends?”

Kate nodded.

“That’s… lucky.”

There was silence for a while until Kate looked up at Anthony, “You want to ask more about it, don’t you?”

“Yes, but it seems really personal.”

“Well, seeing as how we’re lying in bed together with nothing but boxers and a satin nightgown separating us…”

“I’m very aware of that.” Too aware. 

Kate laughed before continuing. "My parents divorced when I was three. Appa married Mary when I was six. Appa and Amma stayed close. We were all this happy family, really, the four of us. Five, once Ed was born. People thought it was odd. Sometimes they thought Amma and Mum were sister wives, which we all thought was quite funny. Amma and Mary bonded after Appa died. They both… They were both in a pretty bad place for a while. And they had each other to be in it with."

"What was your dad's name?"

"Maaran."

"May I ask why your parents split up? Sorry if this is too many questions."

"No, no. It's fine." Kate looked away, sighing with a faint smile on her lips. "My parents loved each other. Truly. They explained it to me when I was older. They grew up together. Their families are close. They were best friends. Everyone assumed they would get married. It made sense to them, too. So, they did. But they were never in love. And that could have been fine, but they realised they both wanted the chance to find it. Like, passionate, romantic love. And Appa did with Mary."

"And Kaveri?"

"No. It hasn’t happened."

"And she's alright?"

"Oh, she's thriving. I can't keep up with her. And I don't think she needs me to."

Anthony recognised the resignation in her voice. “It’s odd, isn’t it?”

“What is?”

“May I ask how old you were when your father passed?”

“Eighteen.”

“Fuck.”

“What?”

“So was I.”

“Oh… Yeah, I think I knew that.”

“And you said Kaveri and Mary had each other.”

Kate started spinning the ring on her finger. “I did say that, yeah.”

“And who did you have? Who took care of Edwina?”

Kate sat up straighter and started shaking her head. “Anthony–”

“Kate, I know what it’s like.”

“That may be true but I don’t want to talk about it right now. I don’t want to think about it. Shit.” Kate started hyperventilating. “Shit!” 

Anthony moved to face Kate. “Shit, OK. Um…” Anthony heard rustling outside of Kate’s bedroom before Newton ran in carrying a bag in his mouth. He jumped on the bed, ignoring Anthony, and sat in Kate’s lap. Kate gathered Newton up in her arms and took the bag he was carrying. She opened it and out fell a pill bottle. Kate popped one of the pills into her mouth and swallowed it. As she stroked Newton’s fur, she took a series of slow, deep breaths.

Anthony was staring helplessly, at a complete loss. He wanted to take care of her, but he didn’t know how.

“It’s OK, Anthony.”

Anthony didn’t realise he had zoned out until Kate’s voice pulled him back. She’d calmed down, but she was still clutching Newton.

“Kate. I am so sorry.”

“Anthony–”

“I didn’t know what to do.”

“There was nothing you needed to do. That’s what Newton’s for. What meds are for. What breathing is for, remember that?” She smirked a little at that last part.

“Right. I still feel like I should have done something.”

Kate shook her head and put a hand up to Anthony’s cheek. “I know what you can do.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“Don’t make it about you.”

“Yeah. Of course. I’m s–”

Kate put her fingers on his lips. “I know. But this isn’t something you need to concern yourself with. At least not until–Well, unless… We’ll have to see how it goes, right?”

Anthony nodded with a soft smile. “We’ll see how it goes.”

Kate almost imperceptibly tapped Newton a couple of times and the dog hopped off the bed and wiggled his stout body out of the room. She pulled Anthony into a hug. He took the opportunity to inhale deeply. “You smell good.”

“It’s probably my soap. It’s–”

“Lilies. Trumpet lilies, to be specific. I imagine they were harvest from the region of–”

Kate pushed him away with a laugh. “Show off.”

Silence settled between them and Anthony found their hands clasped on the bed.

“I need to be alone for a while.”

“Yeah, OK. I need to get ready to go to Mum’s.”

They both nodded but neither moved for a little while.

“I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

“Can I kiss you good-bye?”

Kate nodded enthusiastically. “Please do.”

The kiss was decidedly not of the chaste variety and did not feel like good-bye at all. Still, Anthony found the willpower to crawl off of the bed. As he put his clothes on and turned to leave, Kate giggled.

“Wait a minute. What’s on the back of your arm?”

He looked over his shoulder. “Oh, right.”

“Is that a tattoo of foxtail barley?”

“I told you it was my favourite.”

“You did.”

“Still cool?”

“Even cooler now.”

—

“Ma?”

“In here, Chellam.”

Kate found her mother crocheting in her living room. Kate leaned down and kissed her on the cheek before sitting next to her on the couch. Newton looked at her expectantly and Kate pointed to her feet, so he settled there.

“What are you working on?”

“A jumper for Edwina. Mary helped me pick the colours. Nice, eh?” She held up the work in progress, rightfully proud as it looked like it was coming together beautifully.

“Very. She’ll love it.”

Kaveri’s hands continued to manoeuvre the yarn and hook around each other expertly. “So…”

Kate exhaled as she leaned her head back on the couch and looked over at her mother, whose eyebrows were raised over her glasses. “It…” A smile broke out. “It went really well.”

“Ah, nalla! When is he popping by?”

“Amma…” Kate rolled her eyes.

“I’m kidding–mostly. Somewhat. About thirty percent kidding. I’m happy for you, chellam.”

Kate said nothing.

“Shouldn’t I be?”

“We’ll see if he wants to go out again.”

“Why wouldn’t he?”

Kate shrugged. “Think he wants to. It’s just… I had a panic attack this morning while he was still at mine. We were talking about Appa and he kept asking about how things were after he died.”

“Why would he–”

“He was the same age I was when his dad passed. I really think he was trying to connect over it. But it was too much. I wasn’t expecting it and it was… It was just too much.” She didn’t realise her breathing had become shallow until Newton jumped into her lap. Kaveri pulled Kate over enough to hold her.

“Ah. Please don’t tell me that boy treated you poorly because of it.”

“No, no. He was fine. He was quite… attentive. But I’ve been through this before. Though I suppose it would be harder for him to ghost me since he lives across the hall.”

Kaveri sucked her teeth. “Let’s try to base our expectations on his actions, hm? Not any goyyala that may have come before him. And if he turns out to be one of them, he’ll have to answer to me, Mary, and Agatha. And we’re all scared of Agatha. OK, chellam?”

Kate nodded.

“So, he was at yours this morning, eh?” Her smile was cheeky.

Kate clicked her tongue. “Amma, please. It was a literal sleepover. I’m still as pure as the driven snow.”

[rwfanficrw]

Beginning

This is the "beginning" of the story that I've approved to date. I've considered re-writing it to include Sayako but for now, this is it.

Please read the pinned post on this blog. It's ...complicated. But you love h/c with Cye, you may enjoy it.

“Ah, Kento is fine. He’s gone to China to visit his family.” Cye explained as he sat back in his chair at the café. “Last I heard of Ryo, he was going to visit Mount Fuji for some “lava time” as he calls it..”

In front of him sat Sage and Rowen. He was updating them about the other three. Since the Dynasty had been destroyed they had all kind of gone their own ways. In reality, they all lived in the city and saw each other as much as possible. Sage and Rowen had both gotten into prestigious universities. Kento and Ryo were still deciding what they wanted to do.

“And what about you? Did Say finally decide to get married?” Sage asked as he drank some of his green tea. “Last I heard, you were going down there to meet her fiancé?”

The bearer of torrent laughed giving a smirk, “oh I met him alright. For a marine biologist, he’s a slow swimmer… he panicked when he saw Suki as well.”

“To be fair, Cye, I’d panic if I saw a killer whale..” Rowen grinned. “But do you approve of them getting married.”

“It’s not like I have much say in it.. she did tell me that she and he would help mother out with the pottery shop until I was finished with schooling.” His eyes darkened as he sighed. “And of course… she said if something bad happened again and we were needed that she would drop everything and come back.”

“I forget that your sister knows of Torrent and is ok with it.”

“Even if she hadn’t known about it, she would have figured it out.. she’s bloody annoying like that. Always several steps ahead of me.”

The other two just grin amused.

The youngest warrior had a sister who was 10 years older than him, and she was super protective. It always depended on her mood on if she was going to annoy her younger brother or help him. Either way it was always fun to watch it unfold.

“Yeah, keep smiling… until she makes you two her next target.” He grumbles looking down at his empty teacup. His vision blurred for a few seconds then went back to normal without warning… was it happening again? He closes his eyes shaking his head, his hands clenched the cup.

He wasn’t going to pass out again.

Not in public.

“Have you eaten anything today?” Sage asks as he lifts his head from looking at the menu watching Cye fidget. He quietly used the power from his armor to see if anything was wrong. He tilts his head noticing how fast the other’s heartbeat was going, “Cye? Are you –“

To his horror Cye fell back into his chair going limp. The tea cup fell out of his hand shattering as it hit the side of the table falling to the ground beside him.

“What the?!” Rowen stood up in his chair nearly knocking it over watching as Sage kneels beside the bearer of Torrent. “S-Sage?”

“He’s alive.” The blonde informed the other as he tries to figure out what happened. “His heartbeat is just racing… I don’t understand why. Nothing else is wrong except some minor dehydration and low sodium.”

“I forget you’re like a walking medical test kit.”

Sage rolled his eyes, “We need to get him out here and to a –“ He stops in mid-sentence as the youngest starts to come to. “C-Cye? Can you hear me?” He reaches up and gently turning his face towards him so he could see… the usual bright green eyes were unfocused and glazed over. “….h-he’s not entirely conscious.”

Rowen walks over with one of the clean napkins dunking it his ice water. “Here. See if this helps?” He watches worried as Torrent makes no move to wake up any more than he already had. He was already calculating the fastest route to the major hospital 15 minutes away.

Halo takes the cold cloth and presses it against the other’s neck hoping the shock will bring him back. To his relief, they hear a weak moan as the smaller warrior starts to move and wake up more. He made an effort to try and sit up but fell back. “D-Don’t move. You fainted on us. Do you know where you are?”

Groggily Torrent looks at his surroundings then back to the one speaking to him. “S-Sage? When did you get here?” He looks up seeing Rowen and has the same confused look. “R-Rowen?”

“Buddy, we met for lunch? You were updatin’ us on everyone. We were about to order food. Then you just went down.”

“I-I’m sorry…i-it happened again.” Cye’s voice started to sound more normal as his body came back a few minutes later. His memory came back as well as he sat up with Rowen’s help.

“Again? Cye, what do you mean again?” Sage asked standing up, he hovered over the younger warrior demanding an answer.

“I mean it happened again. It’s been happening every s-so often … but after I wake up, I’m fine.” The other shrugs trying to play it off. “I-it’s nothing to worry about.”

“Nothin’ to worry about?! Cye you scared us!” Rowen exclaimed wide eyed. “Do we need to take you to the doctor or back home?”

“No.” The bearer of Torrent looks up stubbornly. “I’d like to eat lunch with two of my friends and enjoy my afternoon.”

The other two just stared wide eyed at him. Rowen started to say something when Sage shook his head holding his hand out to stop him. “Fine. But if it happens again, we’re doing something about it. Understood?”

The other nods silently.

*~*

“Sage, I don’t feel right just leavin’ him like that.” Rowen sighs as he watches Cye cross the street towards the train station. “Somethin’ ain’t right. That fainting spell. Something’s off about it.”

The blonde starts to get in the driver’s seat of his car as he looks over as well, “He ate a full meal, acted normal the rest of the time and drank lots of fluids. I checked before we left, he was back to normal. Readings at least.”

He sits down expecting Rowen to join him in the passenger seat, but nothing happens. He looks over and sees the door is open, but Rowen isn’t there. “Rowen!?” He calls before groaning getting out to look around.

He spots the bearer of Strata darting across traffic towards the train station. Rowen had a habit of being over protective of them all but he was guilty of it with Cye the most. He wasn’t the only one though, the rest of them were protective as well.

Something about the bearer of Torrent made everyone want to protect him, to keep him safe and happy. This started during the battle with Talpa and hadn’t changed. Being treated like this however just made Cye even more stubborn and he would fight their help.

It’s why against his better judgement that Sage had stepped back and let it play out. Even now he was fighting his every instinct to force Cye to see  a doctor.

Sighing, he gets out of the car before locking it and running to join him.

*~*

He let out a sigh of relief as he made it down the stairs to the level he needed to be on. He had been worried that they would follow him home. They didn’t need to see what his life had turned into. He wanted them to stay on the other side of things and not be dragged into it.

He reaches up tugging on his scarf as he pants exhausted from the walk. He leans against one of the posts unbuttoning his jacket, he was really hot all of a sudden.

It was another one of those weird temperature fluctuations. Just this morning, he had the opposite hit and was so cold he couldn’t feel his fingers. He had dropped his teacup because of it and still needed to clean up that mess.

Cye wavered unsteadily clenching his bag closer to his side as he rested his head against the cool metal post. He closes his eyes trying his best to relax. He didn’t want to pass out again.

He groans frustrated, maybe he should have told them. It would have been nice to have more people in on it and maybe they would force him to go to the doctor and see what it was.

Currently he was too nervous and too chicken to go, afraid of the outcome.

What if he went and was told the worse news possible? How would he relay it to his mother or Sayako? Worse yet, the guys. How would he break it to them.

He hears the train come blaring down the tunnel, it overpowers the rushing heartbeat in his ears as he panicked. Could the armor not save him and make him feel better? Was the armor broken? Was he broken?

His vision started to blur as his legs went numb. He felt the darkness take over as he fainted unable to fight it. The last thought he had was crying for help hoping the other two heard it.

*~*

His heartbeat was pounding in his ears as he started to come to. He expected to be on the cold subway station tile, but he was on something soft and warm. He attempts to lift his head and see where he was but something pushes it back down against something else soft.. he relaxes as he hears another calmer heartbeat in his ears. He felt sleepy hearing that and fell back into the deep groggy sleep he’d been in before.

“Sage? He’s wakin’ up.” Rowen calls from the backseat. “Cye? Can you hear me buddy? Take it slow.”

Sage looked in the rearview mirror nervously, “Are you sure we shouldn’t be taking him to the doctor?” He looks back to the front and turns right at the next light. If he remembered right, it would be a left in two miles.

“My gut tells me to just take him home for now. Once he’s awake we can figure out what’s going on, then we can take him to the doctor.” Strata sits back trying to remain calm. His hand sits on Cye’s back rubbing it every few seconds as he looks down watching him go in and out of consciousness.

“Twice in less than 4 hours…. Something is really wrong.” The blonde comments as he sits back at the light waiting for it to turn green. “What I don’t understand is – his readings are normal besides a racing heartbeat.”

“You said he had a quick heartbeat at lunch as well.”

“Yeah.. I just… I don’t know. This is beyond my knowledge and it’s not ringing any alarms with Halo.”

“That means it’s not the Netherworld messin’ with him.” Rowen heaved a high laughing nervously. “I’d almost prefer that…”

“I know. That’s almost easier to handle. Is this it?”

“Yeah, that’s the place. He’s on the fifth floor.” The blue haired warrior shakes the youngest’s shoulders gently hoping to rouse him. “Buddy? Can you hear me? We’re going to walk you up to your apartment.”

He got no response and looks to Sage worried. The blonde holds his hand out closing his eyes. “…he’s too weak to wake up right now. His body won’t let him. We’ll have to carry him up ourselves.”

Rowen hands the sky-blue tote bag to Sage, “Here, his key has to be in there somewhere. If you can help me once we get out, I can carry him on my back.”

“Up five flights of stairs?”

“Hey, I’m not a Ronin Warrior for nothin’. He’s also not that heavy. I carried him to the car with ease earlier.”

“I know that should bring some comfort but..”

“I know. He’s a lot lighter than he was during the battle with Talpa. He’s lost a lot of weight.”

They both went silent before shaking their heads trying to push those thoughts out. They had more important things to do like get the other warrior up to his apartment in one piece.

*~*

Sage walks in front of Rowen pulling the door open only to be stopped by a keypad. “…What’s his birthday again?”

“March 14th?” Rowen answers shifting Cye on his back. “uh.. 1973?”

He reaches forward and presses the date in getting nothing. “Try again..”

“Wait. We do numbers differently than Japan overseas. Try the month, day then year.”

Another handful of high-pitched beeps were heard before the door unlocked itself. “Good thinking, Rowen.”

“I do it on mine as well… it throws a lot of would-be robbers off.” He grins following the blonde into the lobby. He sighed with relief at seeing the elevator. He follows him down towards the elevator and waits for it to come down. “…how is he?”

Sage turns his head and reaches out placing a hand on the auburn hair, “Still out. Though his heart rate has slowed a lot.. I think he’s sleeping.”

“He’s probably exhausted after fainting twice.”

“That we know of.”

“W-Wait what do you mean?” Rowen watches as the other walks into the elevator holding the door open for them to come in.

“Think about it, Rowen. If he’s passed out on us twice in less than four hours… it’s only 2pm. There is no telling what happened between the hours we weren’t together and what of his way over to the café?”

Blue eyes widened with fear as he realized what the other said was plausible and very well could have happened. “Try not to think about it until we ask him. No use in panicking over nothing.”

“Rowen, it’s not panicking. It’s thinking through a reasonable explanation.” Sage heaves a sigh rolling his eyes, “Fine. Let’s not think about until we interrogate him.”

The elevator dings as it gets to the fifth floor and they step out walking down the hallway with Sage leading. “…503…504… 505… here. 506.” He pulls the key out that he’d found in the tote bag and unlocks the door. He pulls it open and holds it so Rowen can carry the youngest in.

The lights are flicked on and Rowen stops in mid step, “Cye, buddy.. what is going on?”

“What is – woah. This is not what I remember him being like when living with together at Mia’s house.” The blonde walks past Rowen looking around the apartment. “This is what I expect Kento’s apartment to look like.” He turns back to Rowen sighing, “NOW can we think about that?”

*~*

“Here, I found a clean hoodie and some sweats. Let’s get him out of these clothes and into something comfortable. If you’ll stay with Cye, I’m going to clean up the apartment.” Sage pulls his jacket and scarf off laying them over the couch before he unbuttons his cuffs and rolls his sleeves up. “Whatever is going on, is probably being made worse by the state of this place and he’s obviously not a good physical state to take care of it.”

Rowen watches as the blonde starts to walk around taking note of what needed to be done. He smiles amused watching him go into the kitchen a few minutes later coming back out tying an apron around his waist. “I like it, Sage. Very stylish.”

“Just keep him comfortable. Let me know when he wakes up.”

“I can help you and he can sleep here on the couch. You don’t have to do this alone.” Rowen takes his ball cap off and unzips his blue and red jacket taking it off awkwardly trying not to knock Cye’s head off his lap.

“Cye trusts you more than me.”

“H-He does not.”

“Now isn’t the time to be shocked by this. Next to Kento, you’re the one he would prefer to see when he wakes up. Since Kento is in China currently, you’re “up to bat” as you’d say.”

The bearer of Strata scratches the back of his neck flattered to hear that before he laughs nervously sitting back against the couch looking down at the sleeping Ronin curled up against him.

Cye did look more comfortable than he did in the car now that he was curled up properly. He turns and looks around finding a blanket on the floor. He picks it up laying it over the other before he gets comfortable pulling his book out of his jacket.

*~*

“Hey, what are you up to?” Sage asks as he puts the phone between his ear and shoulder as he can work with both hands in the kitchen.

“I’m going over that new set of armor that was sent in last week. Are we still on for dinner tonight?” Mia’s voice comes from the other end of the phone. “Where are you calling from anyway?”

“I’m afraid dinner will be canceled tomorrow night and depending how things go for the foreseeable future.”

“Sage? What’s going on? You sound scared.”

“I am. Rowen and I met up with Cye today at lunch to catch up. He fainted on us twice.”

“H-He what? Is he ok?”

“He woke up from the first fainting spell almost instantly. The second one, well he’s still asleep with Rowen.” The blonde sighs as he washes the piled-up dishes on the counter. “Mia, if Rowen hadn’t had a gut feeling to follow Cye, we’d have heard he fainted on the platform in the train station.”

“Which hospital are you at? I’ll come meet you-“

“We’re not at the hospital- yet. We carried him back to his apartment to wait for him to come too. I-I just… Mia it’s not other worldly, so my armor is useless. I can only read some of his vitals.” He looks around the kitchen swallowing nervously. “I don’t think this is the first time it’s happened either… his apartment is a disaster.”

“That’s not like him at all.”

“No, its not. Kento called me before he left for China and mentioned that Cye had backed out at the very last minute and said he didn’t feel well…. He wanted me to check on him. I’m glad I did.”

“Let me grab Ryo and we’ll come over and help.”

“No. Stay there until we know more. I don’t want to overwhelm Cye. He probably already is and I don’t want to make it worse.”

“Sage, I’m not going to sit by and not do anything. Let me help.”

He smiles a bit in spite of everything, relaxing his shoulders. “Mia, you’re helping just by listening.”

*~*

 Cye groans as he starts to wake up. His body felt so heavy and numb, it ached and hurt… he must have fallen somewhere when he fainted last time.

Where was he again? What was he doing before it hit? His mind was so foggy, and it was hard to think. He reaches out groggily trying to find something to touch that would ground him so he could start waking up more.

Currently he was spinning in time and space and couldn’t get his bearings together. He felt someone grab his hand and hold it gently, then felt a hand on his head.

Who was with him?

He tried to open his eyes, but he was still too tired to do so. He must have made some sort of noise because he heard someone’s voice breaking through the foggy haze.

“Cye? Buddy? It’s ok, I’m here. You’re safe.”

He recognized the voice but couldn’t put a name to it. He needed to open his eyes. He groaned frustrated before forcing his eyes open. His vision was still blurry but he could make out who was hovering over him, “R-Rowen…?”

“Hey Cye, yeah it’s me. You’re safe.” Rowen sighed with relief still holding one of the cold hands in his own. 

“W-Where…what…”

“Take it easy. You’ve been unconscious for about 45 minutes almost an hour. I caught you as you fainted on the train platform. Sage drove us to your apartment.”

“Wait? WHAT?” Cye sat up quickly panicking as he realized what Rowen said was true. He gets to his feet staggering around groggily. “N-No.. No no … y-you weren’t supposed to come in…a-and….” He feels his legs give out bracing himself for the fall that never came.

“CYE. Calm down. We’re past the not coming in stage.” Rowen caught him as he sagged against him. “We know things aren’t going well. Sage is cleaning the apartment up, so you’ll have somewhere good to stay.”

“No.. it can’t be.. you weren’t supposed to…this wasn’t supposed to happen…”

“Here, sit down and take a few deep breaths.”

Cye sat down heavily on the couch hunching over burying his head into his hands. He takes a few deep breaths, his shoulders shaking.

“It’s ok, Cye. I’m not here to judge. I’m just worried about ya. Sage is beside himself with worry as well. I think you scared him; I know you scared me.” Rowen sits back on the couch beside him reaching out to rub his back reassuringly.

“I-I don’t want to tell Ryo or Kento.. or Mia. They will just worry. Ryo will think it’s the white armor.”

“Is it?”

“I-I don’t know.” The other admits sighing as he rubs his eyes.

Sage walks in at hearing the heavily accented voice, “Rowen? Is he awake? Oh, thank god.” He hurries over kneeling front of the youngest. “C-Cye? Are you ok?”

The youngest lifts his head looking nervously at the blonde. He didn’t expect to see Sage looking so scared. He felt a hand on his head and smiles weakly, “I-I’m alright…I think. I’m sorry for the mess and for inconveniencing - ”

To his surprise he was pulled into a hug and held there for a few seconds. “Stop apologizing. There is no need to say you’re sorry. I’m just thankful you’re awake.”

Halo pulls back checking Torrent’s vitals as gently as he can. “Everything feels back to normal… Cye, what is going on?”

Rowen sits closer wrapping an arm around the small shoulders, “It’s ok buddy, you can tell us. You can’t do this on your own. You need help and we want to.”

“I-I’m not quite sure what is going on… it started a few months ago. I stumbled after running across the street downtown and couldn’t stay awake. I passed out and woke up to a lot of people surrounding me.” His green eyes darken as he sighs heavily wringing his hands. “A-After that it’s just gotten worse. I have no energy anymore t-to do anything. Some days I’ll have a bit but then it only lasts so long… I’m always one extreme temperature or the other. Earlier I was so hot I couldn’t breathe before I fainted in the train station… now I’m so cold my hands hurt.”

Sage lifts his gaze and nods to Rowen who pulls the blanket up around the other warrior’s shoulders. “Go on, Cye.” He reaches up placing his hand over the trembling ones. He gently rubs them in between his own trying to warm them up. Cye was right, they were ice cold to the touch.

“Recently, I’ve been unable to keep food down and when I do eat something, I throw it back up shortly after. That leaves me so tired, I’ve started sleeping on the floor near the bathroom just so I don’t have far to go.”

“How often do these fainting spells hit, buddy?”

“Today, I only had four so far….yesterday I had one after taking a shower but I slept the rest of the day.. the day before that it was three… it just depends how I’m feeling.”

“Is there anything that’s the same each time you faint? A smell? An action? Something you see or hear?”

“….I-I don’t….” His eyes widen as he grabs Sage’s hand. “M-My heart beat. Its so loud, I can’t hear anything else. It drowns out the people and surroundings to where its all I can hear. Then I know I’ll lose my balance and the vertigo will hit… then my body just gives out and I black out.”

“Have you been to a doctor about this? What did they say?”

Cye sits back shaking his head embarrassed, “I-I’ve been too nervous and scared to go. I-I don’t want to hear the worst a-and have to live with it and have to tell everyone a-and…”

Rowen reaches out pulling the younger warrior into a hug, “We’ll do it with you, ok? I’ll be there every step of the way.”

“You don’t … I can’t ask that of you.”

“You’re not. We’re volunteering.” Sage joined in sitting up on the couch on the other side of Cye. He smiles warmly nodding, “I’ll be there as well. For right now, we’ll keep it a secret from Kento and Ryo. But once we know what’s going on, we’re going to tell them. We’re like Family Cye. You can’t hide things from your family.” He then sighs, “I also vote we tell Mia. She can be of great help to us to get connections if need be.”

“Connections? Why would we need connections?”

“You may need to see a few specialty doctors. My family is a lot of pull in Toyama and Mia’s Grandfather had a lot of higher up connections to other scientists and doctors alike.” 

Torrent’s face dropped as the weight of what “specialty” doctors meant and he bites his lip looking down, his hand gripping the edge of Rowen’s shirt so tightly his knuckles were white. Strata looks down confused before he realizes what’s going on, “Woah, buddy, don’t go down that route yet. It could be as simple as a vitamin deficiency.”

“Cye, I didn’t mean specialty as a cancer doctor or anything like that. Just someone who can do certain tests. That’s all.” Halo reassures him realizing what he’d done. “Like me. I’d be considered a specialty because I can read armor and that’s it.”

“Yeah, he’s kinda useless actually if you think about it.” Rowen jokes grinning.

“Next time you throw your shoulder out while practicing with the Strata Bow, I won’t help fix it. I’ll let you suffer.” Sage threatens glaring.

Cye looks between the two of them before a small smile appears on his features. They were trying to cheer him up and it was working.

*~*

“Mr. Hashiba? A Sage Date is here to see you and Mr. Mouri? He just arrived.” A nurse said on the phone from the front desk.

“Ah yeah, send him back.” Rowen hangs up the phone and turns to check on Cye.

They had been here all-day getting blood work done and running several other tests. He lays his jacket back over the smaller frame hoping to keep him warm. He had managed to get Cye to wear layers today so when he got too hot, they could be removed and when he got too cold, they could be put back on.

Currently the bearer of torrent was almost a normal tempreture coming off of an over heated spell. His head was cushioned by his hoodie that was folded up underneath it as he rested on the examination table.

Rowen sighs watching him sleep, resting his hand on the other’s thigh. He looked up as a knock on the door was heard, he felt Cye startle. “Easy, buddy… just rest. It’s Sage.”

The door opened and a nurse was there, Sage behind her. “Hey, you made it!”

“I did.” The blonde smiles out of breath. “Sorry, I took so long. My father decided it was necessary to lecture me on the importance of patience. Apparently, I was fidgeting too much during meditation this morning.”

“Gee, it’s almost like you get nervous when you miss an appointment.”

“Right?” Sage quickly removes his jacket and scarf laying it over on the table with Cye’s outerwear. He wasn’t dressed in his normal dressy attire. He had actually come in just khakis and a button down.

Rowen smiles realizing how fast Sage had left. He really was worried about the youngest. “Well, he’s been poked and prodded all morning. They took so much blood, he nearly fainted from blood loss.”

“Has he fainted any besides that?”

“Five times.”

“F-Five? Here at the hospital?”

“Three here and two on the way.”

“Rowen… has the doctor said anything?”

The blue haired warrior shook his head shrugging, “Nothing definite. We’ve been seen by four different doctors today, all having different ideas on what’s causing it. They are running several tests on the blood they took to see if he’s low or deficit on anything and any other problems that could be caused with that in mind.”

“I can feel how exhausted he is. Mentally and Physically.” The blonde commented as he walked over to the examination table. He tucks the blue and red jacket around the small frame before placing a hand on his back. “Did he do alright during the tests?”

“That depends on what you mean? He clung to me the entire time and fainted when they stuck the needle in him to take blood.” Rowen smiles inspite of it all. “For someone who has witnessed the end of the world, blood makes him very squeamish.” He then sighs, “The nurse is keeping an eye on his body tempreture. He keeps having those fluctuations and with it, an energy drop. He finally just fell asleep on the table an hour ago and they wanted to let him sleep.”

“Once he wakes up, one of the doctors wants to perform something called a tilt table test? Have you heard of it?”

“I-I haven’t. Is it painful?” Sage asks looking back to over to Cye nervously.

“I don’t think so. She would have told me if it was. She has been there most of the day and has seen him panic. She wouldn’t hide that from me.”

“Rowen? You’re thinking something… what is it?”

“Is there a way to “reset” his energy levels so whatever this tilt table test is, we get an accurate result?” Rowen asks crossing his arms as he leans against the wall. “I’m just worried that he’ll be so exhausted that we’ll get an extreme reading.”

“I can try.”

“Nothing extra. Just back to his “normal”.”

Sage walks over and holds his hand out closing his eyes. Cye glows a faint green before he starts to stir slightly. He startles pulling back as the door opens behind them.

“Mr. Hashiba, is Cye awake yet?”

“He just made a noise, so I think he’s moving.”

“Good. Once he’s coherent, we’ll start the test.”

*~*

“….w-what exactly is a tilt table test?” Cye asks nervously as he was asked to sit on an examination table in a different room. The other two weren’t allowed in in fear of contenmating the findings. He watches as a nurse hooks up sensors to his head and chest. “Why won’t you answer my questions? A-And why can’t Rowen be in here?”

“We need an accurate result. This test will show us how fast your body can react to certain stimuli.”

“What does that even mean?” He asks as he was laid back on the table.

“Whatever you feel, don’t fight it.”

His eyes dart around the room nervously, he turns his head so he can see Rowen and Sage standing outside the room. The lights above him dim slightly and the doctor’s voice came on the speaker.

“Just try your best to relax. This test won’t take long. As the nurse said, whatever happens don’t fight your body. There is no wrong answer to this test.”

He takes a shakey breath before giving a slight thumbs up.

*~* 

“Doc, how long will this take?” Rowen asks nervously, he can already tell Cye is scared.

“Less than 15 minutes. If he reacts the way I think he will, I know what is going on.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then we’re back to square one.” She says as she starts to push a button. “Alright, Cye. We’re going to start.”

*~*

The table jerked underneath him causing him to grip the edge of it. Then it calmed down. Another jerk and the table moved him to where he was up right. It was a good thing he was strapped down… he felt dizzy with the movement and started to feel a little faint.

*~*

“Hmm, he is responding properly. This is interesting. Alright, one more test. This one is the most common.” She turns to the to the other two. “Prepare yourselves. He most likely will faint from this one. But he will be alright.” She presses a few buttons and resets the table to it’s original position letting him lay there for a few seconds.

“What are you watching for?” Sage asks intridgued.

“For this last test, his blood pressure. It should start to climb very quickly.” She points to the monitor before leaning into the microphone, “Alright, Cye. You’re doing great. One last test.”

“W-Wait, you’re not going to warm him that he could faint from this?” Rowen asks frustrated. “He deserves to know!”

“He can’t know. It would mess up the test.” Sage comments finally realizing what was going on. He reaches out pulling Rowen back. “Let’s just watch. I think I know what’s happening.”

Rowen sighs pulling back before he walks to the window to watch nervously. He didn’t like not being able to help. Cye looked so scared strapped to the table.

The table started to move again, then time leaning back for several seconds letting Cye get used to leaning back. Then it jerked and forced him to sit up quickly without warning.

The heart monitor started to go off loudly. “Wow. You weren’t kidding… it just sky rocketed.” Sage commented.

“G-Guys.. Cye is … he’s .. he’s..”

“He’s fainting.” The doctor finishes for him.

Rowen watches horrified as Cye’s eyes grow heavy then roll back as he goes limp on the table. The restraints keeping him from falling off the up right table. His head fell limp to the side. He turns back to the doctor, “Now wake him up.”

“He should be coming too very shortly.”

The table levels itself out again and they wait for a few minutes watching the monitor as his heart rate drops. Rowen wrings his hands wanting to get into there and free Cye from that thing.

A heavy breath was heard on the microphone as Cye regained consciousness. He laid there groggy and confused making no move to get free. “….r-rowen…?”

At hearing the barely audible call for his name over the microphone, Rowen was sent off the edge. He paced nervously walking towards the door wanting to get in there. He kept pushing against the door hoping it was unlocked but each time it wasn’t. He didn’t know how much longer he could wait.

Sage watches him worried, “Can we see him?” He finally asks for the other.

“Just be gentle. He’s still coming back.” She nods unlocking the doors. She turns in her chair just in time to see Rowen bolt out the door into the other room.

*~*

Cye forces his eyes open and hearing someone enter the room. Whoever it was, jerked the retraints off his body, hands and feet and then his head. He felt almost drunk as he tried to ground himself and wake up properly.

“Buddy, it’s me. I’m here.” Rowen whispers as he helps Cye sit up hugging him. “You’re safe. It’s over. You did great.”

“..Ro? D-Did I pass…”

“Yeah, you passed with flying colors.” The blue haired warrior caught the youngest as his head dropped to the side. “You ok?”

“…f-feel almost …d-drunk? Everything is s-spinning r-really fast…I can’t find the ground.”

“Shh, use me. Use me to ground yourself, Cye. I’ve gotcha. I’ve got both feet planted on the ground. You’re currently sitting on a table.” He explains gently trying to help. He feels a hand weakly grasp at his shirt as the other tried to obey.

Rowen turns his head looking back to Sage and the doctor unable to hide how scared he was.

*~*

“Well, Mr. Mouri, we finally know what is going on.” The doctor smiles relieved as she sits down in her chair by her desk.

“And that is what exactly?”

“It’s a syndrome disease called Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome or POTS. In the most basic of terms, when a person stands their blood pressure rises to give your body the energy it needs to move. For people with POTS, their blood pools at their feet instead, making you feel light headed and cause fainting spells. This can also occur when you get excited and/or when your body naturally rises and drops your blood pressure.”

“So it will just happen randomly?”

“Yes, however, People who experience POTS come to recognize their symptoms and can plan accordingly. Some even have a therapy animal that can sense when to tell their owners to sit down.”

Cye sits back in the chair staring wide eyed. “…b-but if it can happen randomly, how do I live? How do I go outside?”

“Until you get the hang out it and can tell when your fainting spells occur, what they feel like, how your body feels.. I recommend living with a loved one who can help when you do faint.”

“If it’s just faintin’ we can work on that.”

The doctor sighs shaking her head, “I’m afraid it’s more than that.” She turns to look at Cye, “I can see you’re experiencing discomfort besides the anxiety. Vertigo and Nausea are both very common every day symptoms with POTS. I have lots of patients that will reguarlly take Dramamine to help with it.”

The bearer of Torrent hangs his head trying not to panic. He shakes his head and attempts to get to his feet, “You can’t expect me to just take it that easily!? What can I do to keep it at bay!? There h-has to be s-somethin-“ He staggers, his hand going to his head. “…oh dear…”

“Sit down, Mr. Mouri, before you faint.”

Rowen reaches out steadying the smaller warrior before helping him sit down just in time for him to go limp. He falls back into the chair being caught by Strata as he does. “H-how long does it take to come outta these?”

“Depends on how well his energy is at that time. He can come back in a few seconds, sometimes several minutes…the longer it takes the come out of, the more severe his brain fog will be.” She turns her head at hearing Cye moan. “He may have trouble remembering what happened.” 

Cye opened his eyes barely coherent as he looked around his surroundings, he looked confused.. then he looks to the doctor, his eyes widen as memory comes back. “…w-was that a fainting spell?”

“That was. You stood up too fast.” She sighs crossing her arms. “There is a way to keep the symptoms at bay but you can’t get rid of them completely. There are several other side affects of this syndrome, I don’t have time to go over it all. I will send some literature home with you so you can read.”

“Doctor, you said there was a way to keep the symptoms at bay?” Sage pressed trying to take of this in.

“Yes, balanced diet and rest. Cye, you need to learn the limits of your body and not push past it. I suggest you go home and get some rest. You will have a lot to figure out, I’m sure. Don’t be surprised if you get home and crash. You’ve been through a lot today.”

*~*

“Well at least we got sort of good news.” Rowen comments as he gets into the back of Sage’s car beside Cye. He smiles as best he can. “At least it’s nothing like cancer and you can still live with it.”

Cye doesn’t say anything as he sits in the other seat looking out the window. When Cye didn’t respond at all, Sage lifts his gaze from the windshield to look in the rear-view mirror. “Cye?”

The youngest heaves a sigh unsure if he could trust his voice or not. Getting diagnosed answered a lot of questions about his life until now but it was still over whelming. His mind was racing on how he was going to tell people and how he was going to live. He hears Sage’s voice and lifts his head, “Hm?” 

“Are you ok? I know that was a lot.”

“…I-I think so..? I’m honestly so turned around that I have no answer.” Cye comments shrugging helplessly.

Rowen looks down seeing the other wring his hands nervously. He sighs lifting his gaze and reaches out gently rubbing the other’s back. “We’ll take it one step at a time, buddy.”

*~*

He tossed and turned uncomfortably in his bed trying to find some position that the vertigo and nausea would leave him alone. Sitting up just made the bed feel like it was tipping forward and laying down made the bed feel like it was spinning.

He felt so over heated as well and tugs his t-shirt off throwing it onto the ground. He sat up unsteadily leaning back against his headboard bringing his knees up. He rests his cheek on them trying to not panic.

He was so scared. 

He finally had answer to why he was fainting. There was no relief in it as he had another giant list of things to change in his life to make sure they didn’t happen again. He clenches his eyes shut, his shoulders dropping as he started to cry.

He wasn’t going to live normally ever again. Even though Sage and Rowen kept reassuring him he would, he knew the truth. He knew he wouldn’t.

His life had changed so much just over the course of three months once the fainting started that he couldn’t see what would help him get back to normal. All he knew of were the lists of do and do nots from the nurse, the books that Rowen had checked out from the library, the grocery lists that Sage had put together, he didn’t even know where to begin.

The crying left him lightheaded and he knew he needed to calm down, he could feel his heart beat pounding in his ears, he was panicking. Each time he tried to relax he just saw it all swirl in his mind again.

He looks up and sees the phone on the table beside his bed. Did he dare? Would he be bothering him? He glances to the clock, 3am. He shouldn’t.. that wasn’t fair. He crawls over and curls up on his side feeling the foggy drunk feeling take over and realized he was passing out.

He tried to fight it reaching out for his phone. He knocks the base off the table in an effort to move it onto the bed. His hand was clinging to the receiver, the cord keeping the two attached. He groggily dials one of the numbers he knows by heart and falls backwards onto the bed, his eyes growing heavy and unfocused.

*~*

A hand reaches out attempting to pick up the phone that kept ringing. He had stayed up too late reading as it was and when he finally fell asleep this happened.

“…’lo.” He moves to the edge of the bed resting his chin on the mattress groggily waiting for a response.

At first, he hears nothing and thinks it’s a prank call, then he hears a sharp inhale and a slight moan. His eyes widen as he scrambles to sit up, “Cye? Cye is that you? Are you ok?”

Another groggy groan is heard, and he realizes the other had fainted. “Okay, buddy.. .I’m here. Just let it happen. I won’t hang up on you.” He turns to look at the clock, it was nearly 4 in the morning. “You’re okay.” He says softly.

A few minutes later he hears the breathing level out and he sighs, “Cye? Are you ok?”

“…I’m scared.” Came the breathless response. “I’m so bloody scared..” The accent was heavier than normal, his voice shook and Rowen swore he could hear Cye hold back a sob.

“S-Scared? Do you want me to come over?”

“I don’t want to bother you even though I’m fully aware that I’m bothering you right now,” Cye rambles groggily. “I can’t get comfortable. I can’t stand, can’t sit, can’t lay down… e-everything hurts. EVERYTHING. Why did I agree to see the doctor?”

“You know not seeing the doctor wouldn’t have prevented any of this right?”

“How do you know?”

“Buddy, you would still be having all of these symptoms. It would just be scarier as you wouldn’t know what it was.”

“So what, I should be relieved?”

“I didn’t say that. Look, let me get dressed and I’ll come over ok? It’ll be about 30 minutes but then you won’t be alone.”

“I’m already the weakest of us all and then I go and get this POTS thing….how many more hints do I need that I wasn’t the right bearer for Torrent.”

“Cye! You stop that talk right now! I don’t want to hear you say any of that, got it?” The blue haired warrior staggered to his feet wrapping the cord around his waist as he tries to find the clothes he had kicked off only a few hours prior. “Your symptoms are just flaring up and you’re by yourself.”

He hears sniffling on the other end, “Cye, really… it’s okay. You’re just overwhelmed.” He pulls his jeans up buttoning them then reaches for the nearest shirt. “Listen, can you go get something to drink for me? Maybe a salt packet?”

“What good will that do?”

“It will help level you out.”

“One of those salt packets and a weirdly colored sports drink isn’t going to fix this! I’m not a fish in a tank expecting food to be shaken into it’s home.”

He sighs realizing the other was panicking. “Ok, buddy, what do you want me to do?”

“….come over.”

“I’m working on it. Will you be ok if I hang up? Do you need to call Sage? He can stay on the phone with you.” Rowen grabs one of his baseball caps off the back of his door. “You have his number, right?”

“Won’t he be mad?”

“No. He’ll be worried and maybe frustrated at you for not taking care of yourself.” Strata turns around looking at his desk. “Do you need his new number? Here – can you write something down?”

He hears rustling on the other end and a crash. “C-Cye…?” He leans back against the door to his bedroom waiting nervously. “CYE?! Speak to me. Are you ok?”

He waits for a few long seconds before he gets a response. “I’m ‘ere..”

“Okay, listen. Here’s what we’re going to do. After I hang up, you hang up. I’m going to call Sage. He’s going to call you. When that phone rings, pick it up. Can you do that?”

“I think so…”

“Good. Hang in there, Cye. I’m on my way over. I’m going to call Sage first. Be ready to answer.” Rowen waits for a moan of confirmation then hangs up. He then starts to dial Sage’s number preparing for the not so silent judging of why he was calling so early in the AM.

“….Strata, do you have any idea what time it is?” Ah good. He was awake and sounded pissed.

“Uh… about 4:30am give or take?” The grunt he received told him that was rehetorical question. “Look, I don’t have time to explain all of it. I’m heading to Cye’s. He’s panicking and needs someone to stay with him.”

“How can I help?” The anger in the voice disappeared and was replaced with worry. “Do I need to come over as well?”

“Not right now. I need you to call him and keep him company on the phone. H-He went out on me twice, so I don’t think he’s feeling the best. But keep talking to him and just let him know he’s not alone. Once I get over and see what’s going on, I’ll let you know. Then you can decide what you want to do.”

“Sounds good. He knows to answer correct?”

“What? Yeah, I told him if the phone rang it would be you and to answer. He may not be fully coherent but he’ll groan or something…”

“Okay. Be careful Rowen.”

“Aren’t I always? I’m about 30 minutes out. I’ll see you when I get there.”

*~*

It was the longest 30 minutes he’d ever spent going anywhere. He had managed to catch a cab and the entire drive over he was restless and beside himself with worry.

He takes his baseball cap off squeezing the front bill of it a few times, his mind racing. He was kicking himself for not grilling the other before left that afternoon.

He had believed Cye when he said he would be ok by himself. Now he knows, he should have pushed harder and stayed anyway.

No, he couldn’t do that to Cye. The bearer of Torrent could have been fine all afternoon and then it got bad at bed time.

That’s probably what happened.

He looks up as the car pulls up beside Cye’s apartment building. Putting his baseball cap back on, he throws some cash the drivers way and hops out running to the door.

*~*

“Cye? Are you still there?”

The younger warrior let out a weak moan as if to respond. He was curled up on his side on the floor of his bedroom. “…’m here…” He tried to hold in a wretch as his body tried to get sick yet again. He had nothing to throw up. So it was just dry heaves. “….you’re not mad…?”

“What? No! I’m just worried.. Cye you have to tell us when you’re feeling like this. Rowen told me you were fine earlier.”

“I was…” His hands grip the carpet frustrated. “I was fine a-all bloody afternoon. I managed to make dinner, take a bath even did some clothes.. then it hit a-and hit hard.”

“CYE!? Buddy where are you?”

“…r-rowen…?” He attempts to sit up and call for him, but his voice was hoarse and weak. He was so tired that he was starting think irrationally and groaned frustrated. “…d-don’t leave..I’m back h-here..”

“Cye, calm down. Take deep breaths.” Sage’s voice tried to break through the haze. He could tell the bearer of torrent was starting to panic. “He’s not going to leave you.” He holds the receiver close waiting to hear that Rowen had made it.

It goes quiet and then rustling is heard. The phone is dropped. The blonde stands by listening. If Cye had fainted again, he would hear the unsteady breathing.

“Sage?  I’m here, I’ve got him.”

“Oh thank god. Do you need me?”

“Cye? Do you want Sage to- yes. Just come over. Come on in when you get here.”

“I’m leaving now.” Sage can hear the bearer of strata reassuring and comforting the youngest before he hangs up and gets ready as fast as he can.

*~*

“Hey, easy.. I’m here.. it’s okay now.” Rowen sits down on the ground hugging his friend close. It breaks his heart to feel the other clinging to him. As gently as he can, he pulls Cye back so he can look him over. “You ok, physically I mean?”

The smaller warrior looked like a mess. His face pale, dark circles under his eyes, watery green eyes that were red from crying. He looked very disoriented and Rowen could see a few bruises appearing on the side of his face probably from fainting so many times.

The bearer of Torrent shakes his head embarrassed over it all. “N-Nothing is going right… I-I can’t even go to bed normally… I can’t lay down, I can’t sit up… I-I’m so bloody dizzy and feel so sick to my stomach… I tried to pick up the notebook to write down Sage’s number a-and I was too weak to stand. I collapsed. My legs gave out. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!” His eyes widened as his hand goes to his chest, he felt weird.

“C-Cye?”

“My h-heart it feels..feels….Rowen am I having a heart attack?” He looks up terrified, unable to breathe properly.

The other reaches forward and presses his hand curiously against the others chest. “No. That’s the heart arthimya that can hit when you panic. Just deep breaths. We’ll figure this out. Ok? I’m not leaving you.”

“…u-until tomorrow.”

“Ever.” He states seriously. “If you want me to, even if you don’t, I’ll stay by your side. We’ll do this thing together.”

“R-Rowen..”

He picks up Cye’s hand and places it over his chest so he can feel what it feels like and rests his hand over it. He wanted him to know what it felt like so he wouldn’t think it was the other.

Then gently pulls him into his arms and hugs him. He holds him carefully breathing with the other until they were breathing in sync. With his other hand he reaches out picking up the brochure they had gotten from the hospital and shakes it out before setting it on the floor. “See? Right there… that’s what this is. It’s a form of a panic attack, common in patients with blood pressure disorders.”

Cye relaxed against him at hearing that. He rests his head against the warm chest, his breathing finally starting to level out. “I-I’m sorry… I’m s-so scared….” He could feel his heart beat starting to calm down as well.

“I know you are, that’s why I’m not leavin’ ya. It’s really scary having to get a diagnosis like this and I shouldn’t have left you by yourself, even if you were “okay” earlier.” He finally lets Cye’s hand drop from his chest and sighs relieved. “…you ok?”

“…f-feel f-faint.”

“Go on, it’s probably from the panic attack. The aderline is wearing off.” He sits back reaching up to catch the youngest warrior as he gives in and faints. He tried his best not to panic, remembering what the doctor said. The more they panicked and made a big deal out of it, the more Cye would panic.

His hand holds Cye’s head to his shoulder, keeping him up right. He goes quiet and listens for the gasping breath that told him, he was coming back. After a minute or so he hears it sighing relieved himself. Now he just had to wait for him to become coherent again.

Rowen sits quietly rubbing the shaking hands as the other warrior’s body came back completely. He hears another moan and then a weak, “I’m here.”

He smiles nuzzling the top of Cye’s head reassuringly, “Welcome back, buddy. You did great.”

*~*

The blonde twists the doorknob pulling the door open not sure what to expect. “Rowen? Cye?” He calls out. He trips over Rowen’s shoes and for once sighs with relief. He kicks his own off before walking as quickly as he could down the hallway where the light was.

“In here, Sage.”

He stands in the doorway surveying the situation. The other two were on the ground and thankfully the youngest was conscious. He walks over and kneels down pulling Cye into a hug. “Are you ok? Did you faint?”

“He had a nice panic attack,” Rowen explained gently trying not to make a big deal out of it. He smiles as Cye hugs the blonde back just as tight as he did earlier with him. “I told him that we’ll figure this out together.”

“Yes, we will. You’re not alone, Cye.”

“I told him that I’ll be with him through it all.”

“And you’ve got the best body guard.” Sage jokes as Cye pulls away. He pats the other’s head reassuringly. “I’ll be with you as well. It won’t always be this bad. We just have to figure out how to wade through all of the symptoms.”

Torrent nods sniffling, “I-I’m sorry a-about earlier.”

“Don’t be sorry. Don’t ever apologize for something like that. I’m glad you called Rowen. I would have hated to hear what happened the next day and know we could have done nothing.” Halo sighs relieved at seeing the situation was defused.

He lowers his gaze seeing Cye’s hands were shaking. He looks up meeting Rowen’s gaze, the blue haired warrior nods in confirmation. “Here, let Rowen help you get your bed back together. I’m going to go make you some tea and something small to eat. Ok?”

“He needs sodium and electrolytes I bet.”

“I’ll bring both. Tea and a sports drink. Then one of those salt packets.”

Cye watches as Sage stood up and sits back, his shoulders dropping. He was starting to think rationally again and the embarrassment was coming back. “R-Rowen.. I…”

“Don’t apologize. If I’m going to help you, I need to know what you’re feeling and thinking. I don’t want you hiding any of it to pretend to be ok and not as embarrassing.” Rowen holds both of Cye’s hands squeezing them. “I meant it earlier. I’m not leaving your side for anything. So do me the courtesy of not hiding things from me. I won’t make fun of you for anything you are feeling or thinking, I just want to help.”

The water bearer blinks shocked and stumbles over what to say. He had thought the other was just saying it to make him feel better during the panic attack. Why was this such a relief to hear? Before all of this happened, he would have loathed hearing he’d be forced to depend on someone.

He finally nods squeezing the hands holding his own. “…I am embarrassed by how I acted. But, none of it was a lie.” He says carefully unable to look the other in the eye. “I really was terrified about everything. I was okay earlier.. I told Sage, I had eaten dinner, read my favorite book and even took a low heat shower.. then I went t-to bed and it all hit at once.” He smiles weakly. “I tried to ignore it a-and go back to bed but it all got worse… I guess I did go to sleep at some point because I had the most suffocating dream that I was stuck here forever with way out and no way to save me.”

He hangs his head sadly, “…t-that’s when I called you. I knew you’d answer a-and somehow would help.”

“I’m glad you did, and I hope I was able to.”

“You did.. t-thank you.”

“So, do you want to go into the living room and drink your tea or would you rather have it in bed?” Rowen stands up looking around. “You sure did a number on your sheets. They are turned around every which way.”

“I think bed would probably be best.” The other admitted. He sighs nervously realizing he was going to have to stand. “O-Or I could just sit down here.”

“You can’t sleep on the floor, buddy.”

“What if I faint standing up?”

“Then I’ll catch you. Let’s just take it slow. Let me rearrange these sheets first, ok? Just stay right there.” Strata steps over Torrent carefully before approaching the bed. He starts to rearrange the blue sheets getting them back in order.

A stuffed killer whale rolls out from the comfortor. He smiles and picks it up, “Here, this little guy was trying to escape.” He turns and hands it down to him.

Torrent blushes at being caught with a stuffed animal but doesn’t push it away. He takes it and hugs it, holding it in his arms.

A few minutes later the bed looks back to normal and neatly made. “There we go. All nice and comfy.”  He turns back and reaches his hands down, “Alright, you ready?”

The other sighs, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Ok, we’re going to take it slow. If you start to feel faint or dizzy let me know. You can grab on to if something happens that makes you feel scared or nervous.”

Cye nods reaching out grab the two offered hands. He clings to them as he pushes himself up moving as slowly as he thought he should. His eyes fluttered as he felt a dizzy disoriented rush, his vision blurring. He lets go frantically reaching out to clench the other’s shirt as he stumbles.

He expected to fall or knock the other over. Instead he felt warm arms hug him close and keep him safely up on his feet.

“Deep breaths. Let your body catch up.”

He never noticed before how comforting the bearer of Strata’s voice was. He loved all of the guys dearly and held a special place in his heart for each one of them. But right now, Rowen was who he wanted to hear, who he wanted to be there.

The dizziness started to fade away and his eyes widened as he realized he hadn’t fainted that time. He looks up nervously only to see Rowen smiling down at him. “See? We got this. We just have to learn how to work this POTS thing. Can I help you to the bed?”

He nods slowly watching as an arm is put out for him to lean on. He leans on it for support and moves a little unsteadily but manages to get there on his own. He sits down smiling relieved.

“High five, buddy.” Rowen held his hand out low enough for the other to give it back to him. “You did great, Cye. You were even able to get to bed mostly on your own.”

“Is everything ok in here? I brought tea and some biscuits…er.. cookies.. that I found in the cupboard.” Sage explains as he walks in. He’s holding a tray full of the requested items and walks over, “Salt packet is right here.” He waits for Rowen to pick it up before sitting the tray on the nightstand.

He turns around surprised to see two surprised looks. “What?”

Cye was the one who snickered first and looks away unable to say anything. It wasn’t proper.

Rowen however had no problems whatsoever, he snorts laughing. “Buddy, I’ve never seen you with bed head before and we shared a room when we lived with Mia. Your hair is going every which way.”

Halo glares at Strata then he chucks the electrolyte drink at him hard, “You slept too late every morning to see it. My hair doesn’t do this naturally you know. It takes effort to look this good.”

“It’s just… looks like a fan…?”

“A very beautiful fan.” Cye attempted to smooth over the insult. “Very impressive volume and-“

“Stuff it. Both of you.” He pulls away as Rowen attempts to smooth it down to it’s normal state. Then he smiles shaking his head relieved to hear Cye joking, “I was so worried that I didn’t bother getting ready. I’m still in my own pajamas.”

They both lower their gaze and Rowen tilts his head, “…I honestly thought it was some kind of fancy business suit.”

Cye looks down at his own pajamas comparing the two of them. “Yours are definitely uh nicer..” His had killer whales and dolphins on them.

“Ok, so I wear “fancy” pajamas.”

“I just have one question.”

“What, Rowen.”

“Do you shock yourself when you move at night? If so, do you wake up Halo in the process? I mean, you take electricity right? Are you powering your own armor orb and- oMMF”

Sage smiles sweetly to Cye as he smothers the other Ronin with a pillow. “Be careful the tea is hot. But I made it how you like it. Eat the salt packet first then wash it down with the tea.”

Cye smiles nodding giggling as the other two start to act normal again. He reaches out picking up the packet that Rowen had dropped in the process of being nearly killed by Halo with a Pillow and tore it open.

His hands shook as he looks down at it, the normalcy that had just come back disappeared. He feels a hand under his own and looked over to see Rowen beside him. “It’s okay. It’s not anything special, it’s just salt.”

For some reason hearing “it’s not anything special” relaxed him. He nods and throws his head back pouring it in his mouth.

The other two went silent watching to see how he reacted. Rowen started to reach out to steady him as a full body shiver went through him. “C-Cye?”

“Oh, it’s just AWFUL.” The other says shuddering. “And I swim with fish.” He makes a face before smiling up at them. “If that’s the worst this POTS has for me then I’ve got this.”

The other two sighed with relief. Rowen grins nodding as he ruffles the other’s hair. Sage sits back and watches as Strata picks up the teacup and helps the other hold it keeping it steady.

He smiles relieved to see Cye being himself again.

*~*

“Sage are you sure you’ll be alright in the den?” Cye asks nervously as the blonde tucks him in. He tries to sit up and is gently pushed back into the pillows again. “Did Rowen find the pillows and blankets? There are plenty. Kento used to sleep here before he got his own apartment.”

“Shh, I’ll find them. You need to relax so you can go to sleep. Rowen is in the bathroom then he’ll be joining you if you’re okay with that.”

“W-What?”

“If you’re not, I can tell him to join me on the sofa.” The blonde sits back running his hand down the auburn hair as the other’s eyes start to grow heavy. He strokes it gently pushing some of it behind the other’s ears smiling.

He remembered what Kento had told them as joke when they lived with Mia years ago “He’s got this weird thing, if you stroke his hair you’ll put him to sleep.. it drives him crazy but he can’t fight it.” He later found out that it wasn’t a joke and in fact a very real thing.

“No…I-I think I’m ok with him staying.” Cye relaxes back into his pillows fighting to stay awake. If he weren’t so exhausted, he’d be questioning why Sage seemed to know about this.. after all only Kento knew, right? The blonde’s fingers were warm and comforting, it was hard to keep his eyes open.

“Hey Cye you …ok?” Rowen blinks before looking over at Sage. His raises his eyebrows silently “no way that actually worked”, getting a nod from the blonde in response. He laughs as he slides into the bed and curls up on his side facing the other warrior. “Just rest, buddy. We’ll be here in the morning. I’m here if you need me, so is Sage.”

Cye finally lets his eyes close, one of his hands holding one of Rowen’s as he drifts off. This time in more of a relaxing sleep, he was safe.