#I have to get it out before I forget again SO I may redo it again at some point. possibly lol

[seduceme-lovestruck-thearcana]

One Last Goodbye

MC and Josh clean out their mother’s office at H.E.R.A., and say goodbye to her one last time.

@megatraven

I hope you enjoy this quick fic :).

And I chose Melody as first name since I always use that for her and had to pick “Cooper” as the last name quickly so there’s that quick explanation. Enjoy.

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MC sat in the passenger seat while Josh drove to H.E.R.A. headquarters. It was a nice Saturday morning with the sun shining, the cool breeze blowing, and the people of New York going about their day. MC stared out the window, eyes never staying in one spot. There were couples holding hands, friends talking and laughing, someone walking their dog, a few business men leaving their regular lunch cafe, and all sorts of people out there. A part of her felt jealous as she passed by. Jealous of how happy they seemed in the moment, while she was miserable.

Their mother was dead. Her funeral was a week ago, but it felt like it was just yesterday. The grief and emptiness still surrounded them both, only filled by the others presence. They tried to keep themselves busy to not think of the grief and sadness, but now they had to face it all head on. Their mothers office needed to be cleaned out, and the two immediately cleared a day to go and take what was theirs. What was their mothers.

MC tuned back in to the world when Josh pulled into a parking garage and into a spot. She looked over at him with a tiny smile. “How many boxes am I carrying?”

He snorted. “I’ll take majority, so only take a few.”

They both got out and took their share of the boxes in the trunk of the car, and walked to the front desk of H.E.R.A. Josh spoke for MC, even saying her name when they asked for both of theirs, and explained why they were there. “Agent Melody Cooper is our mother, and we’re here to clean out her office.”

MC looked at the ground, too afraid to look at anyone, but she heard the agent’s little wince at hearing their mothers name. It was a little stab into her heart, a reminder of how important their mother was. However, she pushed it aside and kept her tears away, hiding them for another time.

Once they had permission, they went to the office, both silent as they passed by multiple agents and other workers. They only spoke when they said “thanks” to everyone that offered their sympathies. It soothed a piece of their heart, but it broke again as soon as they got to her office door. Their hearts were heavy as Josh unlocked the door, and both felt a mix of disappointment and sadness when their mother wasn’t waiting on the inside, like she usually was.

“Is it bad that I was hoping she’d be here, waiting for us?” MC asked as she placed her boxes on the ground.

“No,” he said sadly, “I was thinking she would be here.” Her death didn’t truly cement in their minds. Josh sometimes waited for a call that would never come, a call from their mother saying she was on her way home or that she’d be home a little late. She usually called him first and then MC. A habit of hers since he was the oldest.

MC sighed at that. “Yeah.” She looked back at him and pointed to the bookshelf and cabinets near the door. “You want to look through those? I can start at her desk.” When he nodded, she walked over to the desk and bit her lip to stop her tears. Next to where her laptop would be was a frame. She picked it up gently and smiled at the photos. It was MC and Josh together in their living room, both dressed for their first days of school. It was taken only a month before she passed.

MC just started high school and Josh started college, and each school year she took a photo on their first day, and that was no different. “I can’t believe she already got this photo printed. It was only a month ago.” She showed the frame to Josh and felt a pinch of happiness at his smile. “At least one of us needs to smile,” she thought. She placed the frame into the box she had next to her on the floor, and noticed a pen that was behind it. Not any regular pen, but specifically one of MC’s glitter pens. She knew it was hers because of the chipped off clip that should’ve been on the pen. MC had a bad habit of messing with it when she was bored or spacing out. “And it seems like my mother has a habit of stealing pens.”

She placed the pen into the box and laughed when she saw a few more of those glitter pens, different colors though, in the first drawer on the right. “She takes pens and then forgets she took them,” she mumbled with a smile.

“You talking trash about mom already?” Josh called, his tone teasing as he looked over at her.

MC scoffed and picked each pen from the drawer and held them up. “Look at all my pens she has!” She gestured to him with the handful of pens. “I always complained about missing pens, and I guess I’ve figured out where they went.” He laughed again and she joined in that time, but they went back to their tasks soon after. Their laughter never lasted long.

She put the pens, and other regular office items she found in the drawers, into the box beside her, and froze when she picked up a pretty heavy file, almost dropping it. “Did she never empty out her desk?” She thought with a tiny laugh. At home, her mother was clean and organized, so she expected the same at work, but turned out wrong. She opened it on the desk and gasped at what she saw. Little memories flashed in her mind when she saw drawings that she made.

“Did she really keep these?” Josh said, suddenly beside her. He picked up a few and skimmed to see both MC and his drawings mixed. He could tell it was years of drawings from how the quality changed. “We both went from squiggles to sketches.” He hummed and showed one of hers, which was still squiggly. “Maybe not both of us.”

She snatched it from him with a giggle. “Stooop! I haven’t drawn here since I was like, what, ten?” She continued to look through them all, a big smile on her face at the idea of her mother keeping them. Even though they were bad, she kept them close to her. “Just like a mother would.” Other files were found in the drawers, many not for their eyes, especially the ones with a stamp that both knew stood for, “Gods only.” Any files like that were put onto a separate spot on the floor, ready to be given back to the agents and put back deep in the H.E.R.A. archives.

It was all light and a bit happy for a moment, but the next thing she found hurt more than she expected. There were two envelopes in a drawer, MC’s name on one and Josh’s on the other, and both written in their mothers familiar cursive. MC, though she hesitated, opened hers and her breath caught when she saw…a birthday card. She immediately opened it and she felt tears form at the words she read.

“To the greatest daughter in the whole world, I love you. I’m so proud of the woman you’re becoming, and I’m so excited to be by your side through everything life has for you. From the best mother ever <3.”

MC stood still for a moment, tears flowing down her face and hands shaky as she reread it over and over again. But once she couldn’t take it anymore, she fell to the chair by the desk and held her face in her hands as she cried. She kept herself together this long, but this was what sent her over. She, in all her grief and anger, forgot her own birthday was near. Her birthday was only a month later, and Josh’s a month after hers. She already had the cards ready, she was prepared to spend the day with them like she always did.

But she never would spend another birthday with them, never give them another card always filled with $40, never bake another birthday cake for them, never sing them happy birthday, and never…be there again. The accident didn’t only take away the present, take away the now, but it took the future as well. MC would never be able to work at all with her mother, Josh could never cook at a restaurant for her, she’ll never get to see MC’s kids or spouse, she’ll never get to see MC get her drivers license, she’ll never get to see her graduate, she’ll never see Josh finish his cooking classes, she’ll never get to taste the awful first attempts Josh has at cooking and the attempts MC has at baking…she’ll never see her or Josh become their own person.

MC looked up when she felt a touch on her shoulder to see Josh kneeling next to her, his own tears on his face. Without a word, he pulled her into a hug and they both held each other as they cried. This was the day they accepted she was gone. She wouldn’t come back, no matter how much they wished she would. They had to live on because they knew it’s what she wanted, even if she wasn’t there to say it. They would grieve and heal.

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13 Years Later

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“What are you thinking?” Eros asked. He sat next to MC on her bed, watching her stare at her mothers badge, tracing her name with her nail.

“The accident that took my mothers life was because of them,” she said quietly, though he heard the anger behind them. “They shut down HERA for some reason, and she fought back because of her belief in justice and—and,” she let out a shaky breath, “And she died.” She scoffed. “And they LIED to me and Josh. They just said it was an accident and that work was ‘fine’, but it wasn’t!” She looked over at him with tears in her eyes. “She never told us that H.E.R.A. shut down or that there were any problems. She-She acted like everything was fine when I told her goodbye when I left for school that morning. She gave me a kiss on the head like always and said she’d see me tonight.” She sniffled and wiped her face, failing to rid the tears. “I remember she even told me what she was making that night for dinner.”

It was silent between the two. He knew MC needed time to vent, to let everything out. She’d been in pain for the past few days since HERA was shut down and she’d been outed for having Hera within her. He’d done his best to protect her so far, but he knew it was taxing on her. She needed at least one moment to breathe and speak her mind.

She looked at him again and spoke, her voice full of defeat. “Will history just repeat itself, Eros? We’re fighting back, trying to keep H.E.R.A. alive and also stop the gods from practically killing me, but will we just fail? Will I die like my mother? Follow a little too far into her footsteps,” she said with a small laugh.

He gave her another moment to speak, but when she said nothing he reached to the table by his side of the bed and grabbed her badge. “You two may look similar,” he gently took her mother’s badge from her and replaced it with her own, “But you’re still two different people. Your life is different than hers was, and we always have the chances to be different. We know what happened to her, and how awful it was, and we know how to avoid that from happening, the steps we need to step away from that path.” He cupped her cheek and wiped her tears away. “She was Melody Cooper, and you’re MC Cooper. Your paths may be similar, but they’re different, filled with different steps and twists and turns.”

She leaned into his hand and smiled shakily. “So we may prevail in the end? The good may win against the bad?”

He nodded with a soft smile, one full of love. “Yes, we will win this fight, the one she fought, too. You won’t lose yourself, and we won’t lose the organization your mother worked hard for.” He kissed her to seal the deal, and for that moment she believed him.

They would win and she would live, like she promised she would years ago.

.

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Okay….the ending wasn’t as good as I wanted BUT I literally couldn’t think of anything other than the Hera situation happening and then the possibility of MC becoming Hera or dying and then trying to keep the organization alive and a lot of different ideas. I hope this was good and went up to the expectations. I may even rewrite it one day who knows but I hope you enjoyed this!!! I kinda did and I did in fact cry while thinking of this whole idea😭.

[writingsbychlo]

HIDE AND SEEK | mattheo riddle

summary; you and mattheo play a little game on hallowe’en.

word count; 9058

notes; don’t forget to check out the sister fic to this one by @azrielscrown, we did a lil joint thing, and you can see me making some cameos if you wanna hang out 😉 we’ve been keeping this lil secret for WEEKS and I’m so happy we can finally share it with you all <3

“Sit still, will you?” Your giggle echoed off of the stone walls in Mattheo’s bathroom. He scoffed, shuffling between his feet once again. 

“S’not my fault it tickles! I don’t know how you girls do this every day, don’t the brushes make you want to sneeze?” His nose scrunched up as he spoke, but he let you continue to set the wet paint around his face with powder. His eyes focused on you, you could feel the stare as you observed the photograph he was holding up, a cut-out piece of a magazine. “You’re pretty when you’re focused.”

“And you’re distracting me,” You switched brushes, slapping at his hand as his fingers began to tease at your thigh. Returning it to its place on the counter beside your thigh, he shuffled between your legs impatiently once again, and pouted. “I can’t do your makeup like that. Smooth your face out.”

“Kiss.”

“Mattheo—”

“Kiss!” He repeated, and the smile you wore was against your control as you leaned in, pecking his lips softly, doing your best not to smudge the makeup you’d already applied around the centre of his face. It was too short and chaste for his liking, that much was clear when you pulled away as he licked at your lower lip, a whine coming from him as he chased you forward, only to be foiled by a chuckle, and a hand on his chest.

“I’m not redoing this for you if you make a mess of it! I don’t have time, I still have to get ready myself. Party starts in less than an hour, you know.”

“I know.” Mattheo grouched, smoothing his features out as you ran a thumb over his lips, refocusing on painting the skeletal features onto his face. “Y’know, you still haven’t told me what your costume is going to be.”

“You’d know if you’d gone for a couples costume with me. Stop moving your mouth.”

“That’s not fair!” He cringed and the brush slipped right into his mouth, leaving a streak of wet paint across his tongue, and you raised your brows. “I had to go with the boys, I couldn't be the only one who didn’t join in!”

“I’m messing with you, honey. Now, stop talking.” He merely grumbled behind closed lips, but his eyes were sparkling. He remained still and quiet, letting you paint the final pieces of his makeup around his mouth, stretching the creepy, toothy grin across his cheeks. Plucking the picture from his fingers and holding it up, you glanced a few times between it and your boyfriend, shrugging with a sigh. “That’s as good as it’s gonna’ get.”

Standing straight and moving to the mirror, his jaw dropped a little, hand rising but fingers never quite touching his face, tipping his head side to side to observe it. “Damn, baby, this is better than just ‘good’, it’s great!”

“Yeah? Good enough for your little boy’s night scare fest?”

“Don’t call it that, but yes.” Reaching for his hand, you tugged him back toward you, standing him before you and shaking the bottle in your hand. “What’s that?”

“Special setting spray. Close your eyes.” He did as told, eyes closing as you unpopped the lid. “I warn you, it may take some serious scrubbing after this to get the paint off, might leave some stains.”

“Wait, what—” You sprayed it across his face, and a choked sound between a gag and a cough left him as you covered his skin in a thick layer of the spray. Flapping your hand over his face to help his glistening skin dry, his frown deepened, hands reaching for you blindly, and gripping your hips. “I feel like my eyelids just got glued shut.”

“You’re so dramatic.” He cracked his eyes back open, several blinks and a few funny faces to adjust the stiffness, before he was tapping lightly at his skin, fingers pulling away clean. “You should still be careful with it, but it should hold. Just don’t… rub your face, or get any drinks thrown at it by scared party-goers.”

“Always ruining my fun.” Mattheo’s wistful sigh had you laughing once again, slipping down from the counter and slipping your hands under the edge of his baggy shirt. Lifting it up carefully and guarding his face, he raised his arms up, helping to slip off the shirt without disturbing the makeup on his face, leaving it heaped next to the paints and brushes on the counter. “Always helping me out.”

“Yes, well, someone’s got to keep your hopeless arse out of bother.” You leaned in, placing a kiss on his chest. “What does the rest of this group costume consist of?”

“Suits. Not sure whose choice that was, probably Dray’s one condition on joining in.” Pretty brown eyes rolled at his friend, even if his lips were raised in a wide smile. “I’ll get ready, and then we can go to your dorm and get you all ready before meeting the rest?”

“I’ll go start getting ready now, while you do. Save some time.” He only hummed, your heart skipping a single beat as the first deception of the night passed seamlessly through your lips. 

“Alright, I’ll pick you up in fifteen minutes.”

You only nodded, pecking his lips delicately one more time, before slipping from his arms, out of his dorm and into the corridors. Your feet were moving fast, like a sprint through the halls towards your own dorm. Fifteen minutes was barely enough time to grab the things you need and escape from the Slytherin dorms without your boyfriend seeing you. You dragged out the bag you’d already packed from under your bed, and the pre-written note you’d hidden in your bedside drawer. 

His name was written neatly across the front, and you flipped it open, double-checking the message inside. In perfect, neat cursive;

‘Find me before midnight xo’

Folding it back up and propping it on the bed where you knew he’d see it, you eyed it for a second. Putting down your bag and rooting through, you gave your lips a half-hearted swipe of red lipstick, blotting them for a second before pressing a kiss to the note over his name, a single clue to start the game, before returning it to its spot. 

With that, you were off, leaving your dorm unlocked and enchanted, for his entry and his entry alone.

The common room was packed with groups gathered, ready to leave for the Weasley twins’ party, making it easy for you to blend in and disappear. The halls were just as busy, decorated and overflowing with chatter, the castle ghosts crowding and gathering happily to add to the atmosphere. 

Everyone else seemed to be heading down and out, leaving you as one of the few people heading up, to the prefect’s bathroom on the fifth floor. It was empty as you arrived, the sound of your bag hitting the floor creating an echo to bounce off of the walls. 

Tugging on your costume only took minutes, stashing your clothes back in the bag and leaving it open as you fished through for your makeup kit. It was as you were leaning across the sink, one eye closed as you swept eyeliner into a sharp point in one corner that the door crashed open once again. Jess stumbled through it, arms full of whatever costume the Weasley boys had forced upon her, and you stood straight up, trying not to blink and smear the wet liner before it dried. 

“Pushing it late, huh? Party starts in fifteen minutes!”

“Don't remind me…” Jess shucked off her robes, dumping the cloak on top of your empty bag, and beginning to undo the buttons of her shirt as you turned back to the mirror once again. 

When you were satisfied with your makeup, two sharp wings on either side and red lips to match your dress, you gave a happy nod to your reflection. With a few minutes to spare and a bottle of nail polish waiting to be used, you hopped up onto the sink. Costume now donned, Jess was lacing up heeled boots that reached all the way to her thighs. 

“Are you trying to scare the masses, or seduce them?” With only a sly smirk of her own in return, Jess made her way to the mirror beside yours, plucking the red lipstick from your makeup bag. 

“I’m supposed to be a bloodthirsty sorceress,” Popping the cap, she applied a coat. “Know any men who wouldn't mind having their hearts ripped out?”

“A few. The boys will be in skull makeup tonight, so aim for them first.” Your legs swung as you chuckled at her statement, focused on the brush moving across your nails. You wondered just how many of the boys were ready, and what Mattheo was doing right now. Surely, he’d already be on the hunt. “Save the curly one for me, though.”

Jess only beamed in response. “You’ve sent Riddle out on that wild goose chase yours, then?” 

You shrugged, ever the picture of easiness as you blew on your wet nails to dry them. “He’s got until midnight to find me.”

Excited knots twisted at your stomach with the mere thought, the thrill of the cat-and-mouse chase. It would likely drive Mattheo insane, knowing you were toying with him as he searched. “What happens when the clock strikes twelve?” 

“Let's just say, that I’m fully prepared to live up to my house name, and let him slither in.”

Zipping your makeup bag up with the nail polish inside, you packed all of the clothes into your bag, stashing it behind one of the sinks. “At least one of us is having fun tonight.”

Oh, that was no doubt. You weren’t sure ‘fun’ was even a fair word to use, knowing that the way you were riling your boyfriend up was more like a first-class ticket to seeing Heaven. “Who says you can’t? You may owe Fred a favour, but that doesn’t mean you can’t cause a little trouble.”

Jess shared a devious smile, sliding a gold mask into place as you slipped your own red one on to match, “I like the way you think.”

Placing the final part of your costume onto your head, the small horns on the headband complete your ‘devil’ look, and you hopped down to join her.

With your arm linked through your friend’s, the two of you set off. At the pathway marked as the beginning of the no-doubt terrifying journey ahead, Jess split off, a wink in your direction as you blew a kiss in hers, wishing her luck on the night of haunting ahead, mind set on your own task. 

Mattheo had told you where the boys all planned to meet, leaving you plenty of time to slip into the throng of people and disappear into the masses. Your plan: to remain hidden in plain sight.

Weaving through the crowds, eyes scanning over every person there, it wasn’t long until you spotted your boyfriend. Leaning against the trunk of a tree, flanked by only Enzo and Draco so far, he was already searching for you amongst the hordes. You followed closely behind a group, slipping into their ranks seamlessly, as Mattheo’s focus moved across you, flickering over the group and dismissing them quickly as strangers. A spark of excitement shot along your spine. 

Just like that, you were walking straight past him. Your cover merely being that of standing among people you didn’t even know meant letting him look right through you like fog in the early morning. 

Slipping inside one of the hidden walkways, darkness encased you, hiding you from view as all the horrors and thrills Fred and George had managed to create took place. 

Actors in costumes, enchantments to create realistic scenes, and laughter poured from your lips as much as screams did, your heart was pounding as you cleared the tunnel minutes later.

Surrounding the clearing on all sides were various attractions. How they’d managed to pull all this together, you had no idea, but the twins never failed to impress you. Several hexed bonfires filled the clearing, a hazy setting washing over your skin from that very first sniff of woody smoke pulled into your lungs. 

A haunted hayride, pulled along no doubt by the thestrals that Luna seemed so fond of took off on your right, a speakeasy-style building to the left, a haunted house with screams filling the chill night air right before you. Bobbing for apples, a spooky corn maze with moving scarecrows, everything that would send chills down your spine. 

Mattheo and the boys would likely catch up any moment, more visitors pouring in around where you’d paused at the end of the tunnel to admire, so you spurred yourself into action. The night couldn't end just yet, you still had hours of fun ahead of you. 

Angling yourself towards the speakeasy first, you stepped through the door, the subtle smell of gin and perfumed musk washing over your senses as you stepped up to the twisted staircase, flickering lights disappearing into darkness before your very eyes. 

Down, down, down, you moved. Swallowed whole by the shadows, your shaky laughter would doubtless have clouded your breath with the sudden chill that took you over, so dark for a moment you couldn't even see your hand before your face. Then, just as your hand skimmed towards your wand for a Lumos spell, a curtain swept aside, a couple stumbling out between fits of tipsy giggles, guiding you with flashes of coloured lights and the beat of unconfined music. 

The moment you were inside, all silencing spells wore off, blinding lights flashed across the dance floor, with the music that was pounding through the room so deep the base travelled up your legs. The floor was packed, everybody dancing to their heart’s content, and those who weren’t were gathered around small tables for card games, or crowding the bar. 

It wasn’t long until you located a group of your friends, some with their dates, some solo, and you were quickly immersed under the cover of the group. The beat had your eyes slipping closed, rhythm flowing through you as your body swayed. A drink was pressed into your hand by a friend, the fruity taste coating your tongue and leaving your body in a numb haze. 

You had to say, you were impressed by the effort the twins had gone to. Despite the student-body having only found out about this party a few weeks ago, you knew for them to have pulled this off, they’d have to have been planning since Valentine’s Day. Songs passed by in a blur of dancing and more drinks, a shot came soon, so spicy your eyes watered and throat stung, only soothed by the lime you were handed to follow. 

Wiping a stray droplet of juice from under your lip as you pulled the slice away, you almost missed the flash of skull makeup and blond hair in your peripheral. Draco was on the dance floor, making his way across, a smirk on his lips as a hand with manicured nails reached out to clasp his tie, trying to tug him into a dance. 

You didn’t have to search for long to find the face you knew so well, the one you’d painted yourself only a couple of hours prior, also on the dance floor. Hands reached for him too, trying to pull him this way and that, but he wasn’t stopped. No, he was searching. Looking at every face with your hair colour, checking under masks and turning dancers around despite their protests, just to rule them out from the game. 

And he was heading right for you. 

Spinning away from him, you ducked across towards a friend, her arms looping around your body as you neared, none the wiser to the game you were playing, and the distraction she provided. Swaying your body with her own, you pushed your lips close to her ear, watching Mattheo over her shoulder. “I need another drink, you want one?”

She only shook her head, released you near the back of the group and let herself get swept back up, as you were hidden away behind the crowd, sneaking towards the bar. 

Padma and her sister were serving quickly, wands in hand as they floated several cups through the air all at once. Slices of fruit and cubes of ice drop, tinkling into plastic cups ready for them to fill.

Flagging down one of the twins, a shaky breath of pure excitement leaves you, as you turn your focus back to your boyfriend. He looks like he’d been having fun. A little dishevelled, the top buttons of his shirt undone and his tie loosened, smudges of dirt and glitter on his clothes from wherever he and his boys had been playing, scaring unsuspecting patrons and gathering screams. 

His hair was no longer the neat style he’d doubtless have gelled it into, the stands messy from running his fingers through it, and curls beginning to form in the heat of the bar. A single curl fell across his forehead, brushing through the paint, and your fingers itched to brush it out of his eyes, like always. 

He’d reached the group now, searching idly in the area you’d been occupying, not finding you where you’d once been, chasing only steps behind and having no idea. 

The visible frustration he wore gave you a cocky smile, a rush of pride filing you up, watching as he made to move on, to more fruitless endeavours.

Then, a hand shot out. 

A hand in a black lace glove, attached to a girl in a full-body leather jumpsuit, hugging every inch of her body, the little cat ears you knew well. A member of your former dance group, poking up into the air. Pulling him to a stop, he bowed his head, lips moving and a conversation you couldn't hear taking place, and his head snapped up in your direction. 

For a second, your breath caught, swearing he almost looked right at you as he scanned his gaze over the bar. Someone had told him you’d been there, that you’d headed for the bar, and he filled with renewed vigour, eyes twinkling with mischief even from this distance. 

Motioning to Draco— who now had the rest of the owner of that manicured hand wrapped around him— to head to the bar, he moved like a man whom wild horses wouldn't be able to stop. The crowd parted around him as he moved, leaving nobody in his wake, not until he was right up to the bar at the other end. He motioned for one of the twins to take his order. 

Padma finally arrives to take your drink request, your order only adding to the floating display over their heads, and the display is utterly mesmerising. Much like the floating candles in the Grand Hall, light shimmers and reflects through every drink and piece of glass, light bursting out across the room. 

Following one trail of light, you spot Jess entering the bar, followed quickly in tow by someone in matching skull makeup, this one with shaggy blonde hair, his eyes locked on her like she’s the only girl in the room. You quirk a brow, sealing that little piece of information away for later.

You’re so caught up with your people-watching that you almost forget the game afoot, that Mattheo is so close, until the rough grate of his voice only a few seats down breaks you from your reverie. Snapping your eyes to him, he’s leaning on one arm, back to you as his focus scans out across the crowd. Somewhere on the dance floor is Enzo, you’re sure, and Draco has his lips on the neck of his mystery girl, completely ignoring Mattheo’s summons to the bar. You know where Theo’s interests lay, and you’re not sure where Pansy and Blaise will have snuck off too, likely some dark corner where they won’t be seen.

Your boyfriend was the only one in the group not dancing tonight, something that had you smirking. Swiping up your drink and bringing the straw to your lips, you admired his jawline as he stretched his head, once again searching. That was until a girl in a tight black dress and black feathered angel wings made her way over to him, clearing her throat lightly to bring back his attention as he continued the hunt. 

“Hi, Mattheo. Over here all alone, why aren’t you out there—”

“I have a girlfriend.” His curt response was flat and bored, and you almost snorted some of your drink trying not to laugh. Her expression wavered, a pout forming on her lips as she tried again, undeterred, reaching out to take the end of his tie between two fingers. 

“I don’t see her.”

Smoothing his hand down his front to remove his tie from her hold, he scoffed, shaking his head; “Neither do I, that’s the damn problem.”

This time, you were too slow in holding back your laughter, the sound bursting from you against your control. You hoped the music would cover it, but Mattheo heard it, whipping his head around in your direction, as he began to analyse every person at your end of the bar. 

Taking your drink and quickly ducking behind a man dressed as the Phantom at the Opera, you ducked and dove between people, daring a look back at the bar to see Mattheo stood where you had once been, looking amongst the people, but thankfully, not in your current direction. 

Glancing around for some quick cover, you spotted Jess, making your way over to her and watching as the boy she was with parted with a lingering kiss to her cheek. She clocked your approach, a wide smile bursting free on her lips, and her hands reached for you, tugging you into a dance with her as soon as you were near enough. 

“I take it Riddle hasn’t found you yet?”

“No, but he’s close.” You have to shout over the music, tipping your head in the direction you last saw him. She glances over your shoulder toward the bar, where her dance partner seems to have found himself too, along with the others.

“Gettin’ colder, he and Draco are heading toward the exit.” Spinning you around smoothly, a smirk pulled on your lips. A determined-looking Mattheo began to chase a cold lead, the unsuspecting girl who did look rather like you from behind leading him off-course. 

Twisting back to face her, your brow hitched up as the mystery man began to make his return, two new drinks in hand. “Is that Theodore Nott you’re flirting with?”

“Maybe, maybe not.” It was her turn to smirk, shrugging and brushing her hair from her shoulders. “He doesn't know it’s me, though, so if he asks you, you have no idea who I am tonight.”

“My lips are sealed.”

With a final wink, you slipped away, knowing she’d only be alone for a second before your boyfriend’s best friend was all over her once again. Following in the direction Mattheo had just left, you reentered the dark halls. The glow of his and Draco’s wands ahead, that and their murmured chatter bouncing from the walls, was your pin-point to follow through the new maze of tunnels. 

Too busy looking ahead, he had no idea you were right behind him. 

Hands reached out, faces flashing before your eyes as actors and other fear-mongers stalked the dark tunnels, and if it wasn’t for your boyfriend’s light ahead, you’d have screamed and given yourself away a long time ago. When you reached the central clearing once again, it was even busier than it had been before, you emerged not long after the boys, from a hidden alcove between the cornfield maze and a stand selling hot cider. 

Mattheo and Draco were gone, disappearing faster into the masses than you could comprehend, likely to find more of their little group, and you grabbed a cider, digging a galleon out of your pocket and tossing it into the collection jar, before taking a stroll around the maze. It was in there that you found Pansy and Blaise, hidden away in a darkened corner, just as you suspected. 

Both had swollen lips and glossy eyes when you cleared your throat at them, grinning at the blush spreading across your friend’s pale cheeks, as Blaise only smirked. 

“Ah, well, look who it is.” He mused, covering Pansy as she attempted to adjust her costume once again, and your laughter wasn’t lost on her, only getting flipped off as she tried to pull the corset top back up over her bra. “By your absence of lover boy, I take it Mattheo hasn’t found you yet?”

“So, he’s told you about the little game I’ve laid out, has he?”

“Oh, absolutely. We have a little bet going. By all means, keep this up, you have me winning. I bet he wouldn't find you at all.” Your head tipped to the side, a little sip of your hot cider as you considered his words, before Pansy was snatching it from your hand, sniffling it, and taking a gulp. 

“You bet against him?”

“Of course, look at you. Over halfway through the night and he still hasn’t found you. Pansy, on the other hand…” He teased, and she smacked at his arm. You gasped.

“Pans, you bet against me? And to think, I was sharing my drink with you.” Snatching it back, she pouted, but shrugged.

“Hey, nothing against you. He just had better odds, he’s recruited everyone to help him find you!”

“And a marvellous job you’re all doing of that. Tell me, did you find me hiding behind Blaise’s tonsils?” Her cheeks went red again, along with a burst of deep laughter from the other culprit that had him clutching his stomach. She shushed him quickly, despite the silencing spells cast over the maze for an added air of creepiness. 

“Well, here you are, are you not?”

“Sure.” You rolled your eyes fondly, stepping away from the pair. “I’ll let you get back to your intense searching. Don’t tell Matty you saw me!”

And with that, you slipped back into the darkness, the bushes around you rustling and creaking as they changed with every step you took. It wasn’t until you’d successfully given up, growing bored as the chill of mist rose goosebumps on your skin that the hexed forestry finally freed you, a pathway clearing and opening up ahead of you to release you back to the party. 

Seeking the moon in the sky, you found it not long until midnight, Blaise had told no lie, your game coming closer and closer to the end, where you would be crowned the winner. Taking a seat before the fireplace, you settle in to watch the flames, and peer around to spot your hunter. 

There. It only took a second to find him but there he was, a little clearing across the way, leaning against some haybales with a blunt balanced between two fingers. Bringing it back to his lips, he took a drag, smoke filtering out into the cold air and obscuring his face, before passing the roll to Draco. 

When the smoke cleared, his eyes locked on your own. 

Just a second. A moment across the field, so far away, but he knew. Your breath hitched, his back straightened. Then he was moving, without even warning the rest of the group, he was taking long strides across the field, closing the distance between you both, and adrenaline surged through your system as you shot to your feet. 

Your closest building was the haunted house, his eyes narrowing, a silent warning when a smile curved on your lips, already knowing your next move. 

You bolted, a giggle breaking free as the true chase began, and he called your name, the sound lost amongst the chatter and amusement of everyone else gathered around. Slipping through the hoards of people, you stumbled through the front door, watching as Mattheo rounded the porch, trying to snake his way through to catch up. 

A kaleidoscope of colours, screams and shouts and music, different rooms with every theme as you were ushered through in a rush, the whole attraction feeling like a fever dream as you searched for the exit. The game was reaching its peak, midnight neared, the moon called it into the sky, and being so close to the last moments, you were determined to win. 

Stumbling out into the cold night air once again, you headed for the tree-line, secluded enough that you could lean on the thick trunk of an old oak. You watched the entrance to the haunted house, a red-painted lip caught between your teeth, eager for him to emerge in your wake.

You waited. 

Waited.

Seconds ticking by, and the thunderous race of your heart in the moment finally began to slow. Gasping breaths became softer pants, calling to you the silence of the world around you when blood was no longer pumping in your ears. 

A twig snapped behind you, and before you could turn to acknowledge the sound, a hand was sealing over your mouth, an arm banded around your waist, dragging you back into the darkness. 

Spun around in their arms, your panic lasted barely a second, before soft lips were pressing firmly to your own, the familiar smell of cigarette smoke and woodsy cologne filling your senses. Your arms came up, gripping him just as tightly as he walked you backwards, pressing you to a tree as he left a dozen kisses on your lips, longing and loving after hours apart.

“You’re a little minx, do you know that?”

“Actually, I’m a little devil.” You snickered, hands on his chest to push him back enough to look down at your outfit, motioning to the horns still on your head. “See?”

“I see it, baby. I have to say, I love this costume.” His hand fell to your thigh, callouses scraping across soft skin until he found the short hem, tugging and twisting the flowing skirt around his fingers. “I’ve been searching every girl for red lipstick all night, thanks to your little clue. Should have known you’d be decked out in all red, too. Standing out, right there, the whole time.”

His mouth descended upon your own once again, a happy sound rumbling in the back of his throat as you kissed back just as eagerly, one hand sliding up into his hair. His hand squeezed at your thigh, slipping back down as far as your knee, only to hike your leg up around his hip, shocking you into a gasp.

“I’ve been running around all night trying to find you, and you were right under my nose the whole time, weren’t you?”

His kisses descended to your neck, a shaky sound slipping free as his teeth teased a spot on your jaw that made you tremble, gripping tighter to his suit for stability. Your breath was shaky as you spoke, desperate to reclaim some power, despite the way he was undoing you already, “What, you didn’t like my little game?”

“Oh, I loved your little game, baby. But, I think I just won. It’s a few minutes to midnight.” Licking a stripe across the underside of your jaw, you mewled, head tipping back against the tree, hips bucking up to meet his own, and he grunted. “What’s my prize?”

His gaze came back up, dark and challenging and sultry as he stared down at you, smirking. Licking across one red lip, his attention focused there, his own lips parting, getting closer, needy for another taste. “The second part of the costume, of course.”

Gripping his wrist and sliding it up and under your skirt, his fingertips smoothed over the lace of your panties. He didn’t hold back his groan, gripping your ass tightly in his hand and tugging you forward to rub against him once again. “Red, I assume?”

“Smart boy.”

“My dorm?” He whispered, forehead falling to your own, a needy sound your only form of reply as your hips rolled together, friction dragging and sparking heat across your body. 

“What, you want to leave the party already?”

Your teasing words weren’t appreciated if the squeeze to your rear was any indication. “Game is over, don’t play with me anymore, my love. I need you, now.”

“Then let's go.”

The two of you stumbled along, barely keeping your hand to yourself as you hurried back through the woods, avoiding the crowds and teasing whistles of your friends by taking a more covert route instead. You certainly weren’t the only ones with the same thoughts, various couples were dotted through the woods, wandering hands and desperate kisses exchanged behind the trees and throughout the branches. 

His hand was tight around yours, tugging you along with his pace, but when he stopped short, you almost crashed straight into his back. Following his line of sight, you huffed, pushing him with a hand on his back to get his feet moving again. 

“Is that Theo over there, zipping his pants back up? Who’s he out here with?”

“You want gossip, or you want sex, Matt?” His body jolted at the insinuation, feet stumbling over one another as he picked the pace again. Guiding the two of you through one of the tunnels he had likely discovered during his night of scaring, the two of you paced back through the speakeasy. 

Up the haunted stairs. 

Through the woods. 

Along the halls.

Past the common room.

And then, he was backing you up against his dorm door, fingers fumbling with the lock, pressing frenzied kisses to your lips as he slid the mask off of your face and threw it to the floor. 

"You taste like cinnamon and wine." Mattheo moaned, practically sucking the taste of mulled cider from your tongue as you ground against his clothes cock. 

"You taste like cigarettes and whiskey." Your words are bitten off as he nips on your lower lip, a whine spilling from you as his hand snakes back up your skirt, toying with the lace of your panties again. Hooking his fingers into the waistband, he snapped them against your hip. The sting of the elastic on your flesh made you gasp, and he only chuckled into your mouth in response. 

“Godric knows, you’ve been driving me crazy tonight, baby, thinking about these red lips, lookin’ for them everywhere. Now I want to see what that red looks like around the base of my cock.”

Your fingers trailed across the front of his body, shaky fingers undoing the buttons of his shirt, tugging it more and more until it hung open, only his tie in the way as you peppered his chest with open-mouthed kisses. A moan spilled from his throat, his head tipping back, and he yanked at the tie, throwing it to the floor, quickly joined by his shirt and blazer until his torso was bare and exposed to your ministrations. 

Your hands gripped his hips, spinning his body with your own until his back was to the wood instead. Mattheo only smirked, eyes half-lidded as he watched you, your red lipstick already smeared across his mouth, printed on his chest, his own makeup smudged to match. 

One heavy hand found your shoulder, pressing you down, until you were on your knees before him, tugging at his belt as he lifted his hips from the door. His arrogance only grew, lifting one hand to comb through your tangled hair as you struggled with his trousers, pulling at them until they were halfway down his thighs. His cock sprung free, a hiss on his lips as the cold air of the dorm met his flushed skin. 

Gathering your hair up and out of your face, he gripped it in a bunch behind your head, not pushing or pulling, just waiting as you peered up at him, licking over one kiss-bitten lip. His other hand fell to your cheek, smudging streaks of black and white facepaint as he went, tracing his thumb across your lower lip. 

“You’re so beautiful, my love,”

Your smile made his thumb fall to your chin, a single squeeze, before he was retracting his hand, and manoeuvring your head towards his cock. Slipping the tip past your lips, a shudder passed over his body, his thighs clenching under your hands as your nails dug into his flesh, and his head ‘thumped’ on the wood of the door as it fell back. 

“Salazar fuckin’ save me,” He panted, slipping further and further, his grip in your hair tightening with every inch, until he was tapping the back of your throat, your gag buzzing along his flesh in a way that made his hips buck. “Love your pretty little mouth. Make it so good for me, baby.”

Smiling as best you could with every inch of his cock slipping into your mouth, his hand tightening in your hair, pulling back just enough to let you take a breath before his hips were bucking again. This time, as he sank back into your mouth, your lips tightened around him, sucking suddenly, and his broken moan bounced off the walls of his dorm. 

Again, and again, he was pushing you further, until you were comfortably taking him deep into your throat, tears lining your eyes, threatening to spill over your cheeks in a way you knew he loved to see. “Fuck, you’re so good down for me,”

Tracing your tongue around the head of his cock, you took control, sinking down against him and dragging your tongue along his cock, feeling the throb of that prominent vein. You moaned against him, and his body tensed at the feeling, making you pull back, just enough to have him gasping as the pleasure was ripped away. 

You kissed at his hip, nipping his hip bones where they pressed to his skin, and a babbling mess of your name was all you got as he panted, flushed skin rising and falling. 

Your hand took over, pumping his spit-slick shaft slowly, dragging up until his hips were following your hand with a pathetic groan. He finally had enough, enough of your teasing as you caught your breath, his head tipping back forward against his shoulders and blissed-out eyes narrowing on you. 

“Tongue out for me, pretty girl.”

Your stomach flipped at his words, at the gravel in his tone, the way he yanked your hair back to control you as you opened your mouth, tongue falling out as he’d asked. 

His cocky smile grew as you grinned back at him. Guiding his cock back to your mouth, he let the weight of it sit on your tongue, rubbing softly, pre-cum leaking and the taste of him made your thighs clench together. 

He didn’t miss the action, not at all, his hips thrusting lazily in and out of your mouth as he gave you a nod. Sealing your lips back around him, you moved enthusiastically once again, bobbing up and down along his cock, wringing every bit of pleasure from him that you possibly could. 

“So fucking good, baby, just like that. You like sucking my cock, huh? Always so eager for my cum in your mouth.” Pulling back, his cock fell free of your lips, spit tainted with red lipstick and pre-cum connected his tip to your lips, and he gathered it on his fingers. That same hand cupped your cheek, smearing it across your skin, “Not today though. Today, all my cum is going in that pretty pussy of yours.”

Kissing across his abs as you rose to your feet, his mouth was slamming onto your own. Tongue plunging in, your moan was lost to his lips as he worked at your clothes too, tugging at your dress, horned headband falling to the floor as he yanked the garment over your head. 

Kicking off his trousers and stripping himself the rest of the way, he panted, eyes wide, admiring the lace set you’d donned for his eyes only tonight. “You’ve been wearing this all night, and you let me chase you ‘round for hours?”

His hands skimmed over your body, almost reverent with the lightness of his touch, tracing the corset top that hugged your chest, pushing your tits up to the perfect fullness. The panties with their tiny straps, sitting perfectly on your hips, across your cheeks to make your arse look round and shapely, the strings and ribbons that had his mouth watering as he stared in awe. “You like it?”

He only growled, a flash of cold travelling across his eyes as you fuelled the carnal desire boiling within him. He was moving in a flash, sitting on the edge of the bed and bending you sideways across his lap, his wet cock prodding your stomach as you gasped at his manhandling. His hand smoothed over your flesh, across the seam of your panties, chuckling at the wetness he found on the material, and swirling at your clit. “How many times, huh? How many times did I almost get to you, but you escaped me?”

“Th-Three.” Your mind was foggy, hazy as pleasure began to take over. Your eyes fluttered shut as you hung limply across his thighs, core clenching around nothing. He hadn't even touched you properly yet, and you were already falling apart for him. Your gut was tightening, hips rocking and pressing back onto his fingers as you neared that peak, the excitement and electricity of the night had had you worked up for hours now, all moving toward this. 

“Three times. Three times you ruined my victory, so I think three times, I’ll ruin yours.”

His words had barely even registered in your mind when his touch left you, a cry of protest being cut shut by a sharp slap across your ass, your body jerking forward at the force, and pleasure zipped through you, despite your denied orgasm. “Damn it, Matty…”

“That’s what you get, baby.”

You pushed yourself up, shaky hands, putting on your best pout as you turned to face him. He only mimicked the expression, mocking you. Tugging you in instead, he licked his way into your mouth, filthy, panting kisses taking over as he made sure to ruin whatever was left of your makeup. You adjusted yourself across his body, settling down to sit against one thigh, nipping on his bottom lip and rocking your hips. 

Slow, so slow, you moved over him, feeling the muscle of his thigh tense up underneath you, his hands roaming your body, distracted and oblivious of the pleasure you were taking for yourself as that fiery pleasure rekindled once again. He reached for the back of the corset, tugging at the hoops, undoing them roughly until it was falling to the floor and he was catching one nipple between his lips. 

“Oh, fuck, Mattheo…” You whispered, arching closer to him, pushing your chest further into his face as he teased his teeth across the taut bud. A sob left your lips, fingers carding through his hair, tugging at the roots to convey words that were melting to nothing on the top of your tongue.

His arm caught around your waist, tugging you closer into his body, making it harder for you to move as you tried to squirm in his lap. His breathy laugh spread over the skin of your chest as he littered it with hickies, switching to the other side and leaving one wet, perky nipple cool in the air of the room.

“Matt, please!”

“Please, what? What do you want, my love?” When he was satisfied with the havoc he was wreaking on your body, his attention moved to your neck. Your arms around his shoulders, head tossed back, panting and whining as you ground against his thigh. “You wanna’ come, baby?”

“Y-Yeah.” The feeling was burning through your veins, taking you over, your eyes rolling back as your pussy throbbed. 

He pulled you in, a finger and thumb on your chin to guide your face back to his own, lips brushing. “Too bad.”

He gripped you once again, both arms holding you steady, unable to chase any kind of pleasure, as he kissed your neck, his smirk on your skin showing he knew just what he was doing. 

“Thought you’d get away with that, didn’t you? I’m not even going to count that one.” Tugging your panties to the side, two fingers sank into you, and your back arched into his body as he touched you at last. “You can’t win at my game. My little loser, huh? What a shame.”

You were shaking atop him, the feeling of his fingers, the curl and the pump he knew so well. Mattheo could read your body like a map, he knew just what you needed, just how to touch you, and he was using that to his advantage. Two fingers became three, stretching you out deliciously and yet it still wasn’t enough. You collapsed against his body, desperate to come, moaning like a whore and forever on the edge as he toyed with you. 

Your forehead was pressed to his, crying his name, begging against his mouth as he licked at your lip, tipping his head up to catch you for a kiss. When he pulled away this time, you could feel the tears in your eyes, nails digging into his skin, pleading with sounds that no longer resembled words. 

You could feel his frustration; every time he’d almost found you, every dead-end, every narrow escape.

A sick, twisted part of you was loving every second of this delicious torture, and you found yourself face down in the sheets, panties around your thighs and his cock slamming into you, so hard that a scream ripped through you. 

“Shh, you can take it, my little demon. I know you can.”

“I can, Matty. I can take it. I can take more.” You wanted it, you wanted it bad, spurring him on. Your hands scratched in the covers, legs spreading even further, body rocking with every deep thrust he gave you. His kisses travelled over your spine as your tears smeared mascara and eyeliner into the sheets. His body smothered you, one hand coming around to clasp your own, love shining through in his actions even as he ruined you, took you apart until your mind was shattered. 

You’d be wrecked in the morning, you’d surely be unable to walk, sore legs and trembling limbs, you’d have to spend half the morning just recovering from the way he was fucking you now. Brutal, fast, slamming in and out and making you sure your eyes would never come back from how far they were rolled into your head. 

Nerves were lighting up, electricity shooting along every cell of your body as his slick skin slid against yours, one hand in your hair, tugging your head back as his lips brushed your ears. 

“Wish you could see yourself, pretty girl. Wish you could see what I see. Shaking, dripping, my cock sliding in and out of this pussy like you were made for me.” He slowed his pace, for just a second, and you keened back into him, chasing the pleasure that was already building once again, even if you knew it would be fruitless. 

You may have lost the ability for sentient thought, but his count was ringing in your head, only two of three failed orgasms served. Your body tensed with a shudder, the anticipation lingering in the air like a sword over your head.

“You really do belong in the pits of hell, don’t you? Look what you do to me.” His teeth grazed over your shoulder, biting down on your skin enough to make you cry out his name, bucking against his touch as he soothed the bite with gentle licks. “There’s nothin’ angelic about you, you’re nothin’ but a sinner.”

His name spilled from your lips, again and again, like you were begging for redemption. 

“You’re on your knees, but you’re praying to me.”

His hand snaked around your body, finding your swollen clit and brushing his fingertips across it, pitching the bud harshly between his fingers. “Matt—”

“You want to come?”

“Yes!” 

“What a shame.” He slipped himself out of your cunt, spewed curses in anger leaving your wobbling lips, more tears spilling over as he took away the last part of your dignity. 

Twisting your entangled bodies, he guided you until your back met the bed sheets, pushing you up as he crawled over you. Hooking his fingers into the edges of those panties and pulling them away, he spread himself over you. 

He barely gave you time to recover, the stimulation all too much, as he lifted your legs to hook them over his shoulders plunge his cock back into the sopping heat of your cunt. 

This may have been his game, but when his forehead came to rest on your own, hands frantically bunching in the sheets beside your body, you knew the last round had begun. The ball was in your court, his own need displayed clearly on his face as he rutted into you desperately. His rhythm was lost, sloppy and out of control, and you squeezed yourself around his cock. 

You pressed sweet kisses to his lips, tempting him over the edge with a drag of your teeth across his lip, a lap of your tongue, and he was done for.

Finally, your peak crashed over you. Waves and waves, blinding pleasure that left you with silent, open-mouthed screams. Twitching underneath him, your fingers tore down his back, your legs snapped against his hips, holding him to your body as white-hot bliss drowned you. 

He only needed a few more thrusts, your back arching and his name a chant, enough profanities to scar anybody passing by as the lewd sounds of your movements covered your moans. He came with a groan, thrusting through until the sound tapered off into a whimper, his own unsteady body collapsed down on top of you. Dragging breaths into his lungs to recover as his sweaty body covered you, you hooked your arms around him, hugging him close, unwilling for him to move even a fraction.

You felt numb, the aftershocks of pleasure racing through your body, still twitching and shaking despite his weight on top of you. Freeing one hand, he smoothed it up your body, dragging from your thigh to your ribs, stroking softly in soothing motions, as his lips gave delicate pecks, shushing every lingering whimper that escaped. 

You reciprocated the action, raising one hand to land in his hair, fingers brushing through sweaty curls, as his cheek found your shoulder. 

“That… was some of the best sex we’ve ever had.” Your words were still breathless, and he laughed lightly, nodding against you where he lay. 

His skin was littered with lipstick, smudges of his facepaint on every part of your body, painted with love and lust everywhere you’d touched one another. The night was still heavy on your skin, the festivities outside still raging even if your night had come to an end. 

Maybe minutes had passed, maybe hours, but eventually, Mattheo dragged himself up, pulling himself free from your body, and smirking down at every mark he’d left on your skin. With unbalanced steps, he wandered away to the bathroom of his dorm, the squeak of the taps and the splash of water in the basin signalling the running of a bath. 

He offered you a hand as he returned, pulling you to your feet, the two of you wobbling your way through to the bathroom and taking stock of your mess as the water ran. Elixirs and salts, the fresh smell of jasmine and honey filled the air, and then you were sinking in, leaning back against Mattheo’s body as the two of you revelled in the hot water. 

His hand looped around your body, fingers lacing with yours and resting on your stomach, as his chin hooked over your shoulder. For a while, the two of you remained just like that, chasing the cold of the night from your bones and merely enjoying one another’s company.

“Tell me, was that your little friend— the one who was ripping out hearts for the Weasel-twins— that I saw running from Nott in the woods, this evening?”

“Oh, Matty,” You chuckled, turning to press a kiss to the underside of his jaw. “You have no idea the games she’s been playing tonight.”

He only grinned, head resting on the edge of the tub. “I fear those two together, they’ll rip each other’s hearts out.”

“Maybe so,” You mused, his fingers dragging along your ribs, and you shuddered happily. “Or maybe, they just found their perfect match together.”

“Just like I found you.” He whispered, lips brushing along your cheekbone, and you scoffed. 

“You’re so cheesy.”

“It was your game!”

Your hum echoed off of the walls. “Don’t tell Theo. I want to see how it plays out.”

“What, and ruin the surprise? I would never.” He smirked, “Besides, Theo didn’t help me find you, let him search for a while.”

Holding onto his forearm banded around your waist, your fingers traced up and down, before his hand caught yours, holding tight and weaving fingers your together. 

“I love you, but don’t you ever run from me again. There is not a place on this earth you could hide that I wouldn't find you. I’d search forever.”

“You know,” You whispered, turning in his arms to sit across his lap, and he made a happy sound, face tipping up to brush his lips on your own. “That sounds vaguely threatening. You’re a little bit fucked up.”

“That’s because it is a threat, and a promise. Besides, you’re a little bit fucked up too, because I know you love it.”

You couldn't deny it, only able to snicker in response instead, and press a firm kiss to his lips, which he was happy to return. “I love you too, Matty. Now, let’s try and scrub off all this makeup, hm?”

[koimethehorizon]

Adventure Time and Fionna and Cake Theory: The Victimhood of Simon + How the Series Might End

Prerequisite Watching for this Theory:

Adventure Time: Temple of Mars, Betty, Come Along With Me, Broke His Crown, I Remember You, Holly Jolly Secrets Part II

Gonna start this loaded theory with a bit of a hot take. I’ve never liked how Simon and Betty’s stories concluded in Come Along With Me.

For Simon, I’ve always had trouble considering Simon and the Ice King as the same person. Holly Jolly Secrets and I Remember You, the pinnacle of depicting the dichotomy of the two characters is built on us seeing Simon as suffering irreversible memory loss and how his loved ones can grow to accept that. The context is most apt when viewed as a metaphor for dementia, Alzheimer’s, or simply old age.

The scenes in which Ice King reacts so superfluously to characters desperately wishing for his old self to return are striking because of the cruel finality of his condition. Alternatively, the ones in which his loved ones hang around with him despite his condition are sweet in their own right.

One of my favorite Ice King scenes is in Broke His Crown where Marceline invites her girlfriend to meet her surrogate father.

Bubblegum: What's this?

Ice King: It's a present, to bribe you for coming over!

Marceline: You don't have to bribe us silly, we're here because we WANT to hang out with you.

Ice King: No one has ever said that to me before.

*snatches present*

Ice King: You didn't say no takebacks.

There was a real poignancy to depicting an old man with memory-loss slowly having people come to accept him and realize that he’s still a swell guy to hang around. It may be depressing to see this good person who was once so unconditionally caring into a buffoon who could forget your name so easily and turn on you in the flip of a coin.

But even he deserved love from others. And in time, as a result of that love, he did improve.

Which is why, even in Fionna and Cake, I find myself still disturbed seeing Simon in his normal state and Ice King completely erased from Ooo. It kills me that Betty and in extension, the show itself could not accept Ice King as he was and felt that his best course was to undo it all.

All of his experiences for 1000+ years all of a sudden no longer matter, and the acceptance of his peers no longer mattered as well. He's just back to who he used to be in a world where everything he's known is gone.

Happily ever after

Even worse, however, is remembering the wish that allowed Simon to be cured. The person who sacrificed her individuality to get that good person back, because she couldn’t accept reality as it was.

And I’m going to put a second hot take. A spicy one. Simon needs to take the fault in Betty's fate and Fionna and Cake (the show not the characters) seems aware of this.

Throughout Adventure Time, Simon Petrikov was never developed as a character. As far as the audience and the characters within Adventure Time knew, the only traits about Simon that mattered were: that he was intelligent, he was a kind man, and he loved Betty.

This wouldn’t really be a compelling character on its own, but when juxtaposed with the Ice King it’s a tragedy that he lost these traits. The compelling part of Simon was his victimhood to the ice crown and not really him as a person.

It’s why Obsidian’s version of Simon feels somewhat empty, he’s back to his intelligent, kind self but there’s no real hints to how he’s mentally adjusting other than that brief glimpse in Ice King’s robes again.

And he looks really weird in this special too. Color me surprised when Simon Petrikov reads out the problems I've had for years about his ending while also making Simon into his own person. In many ways it just completely redos what we see of him in Obsidian.

He's still a kind man but even he can't handle being so maladjusted to a world so beyond his time. He's still intelligent but his passions aren't reciprocated, and that seems to have always been the case even in the past. Rather than a guy who doesn't take shit from guys like Marceline's ex or a first responder to his daughter's problems, he's a normal guy unable to handle the threats of Ooo's world even after 12 years of living in it. Rather than singing to large communities in bliss, he's a lonely alcoholic who can't even relate to his fellow humans anymore. He loves his adopted daughter but there are even some days he can't muster the courage to be honest with her. And most importantly, he doesn't seem to know how to live beyond his curse or his loneliness.

His mutual obsession with Betty is the only character trait of his that's ever had some distinct flaw and with this new show, the writers must have finally found a way to tackle the subject further. Betty is ultimately a greater victim than Simon. She ends up in a far worse fate than Simon has ever been in. Perhaps more disturbingly, she willingly chose to strip herself of her individuality.

Fionna and Cake brings a contradiction to light about Simon and Betty’s seemingly perfect relationship. Simon and Betty's love is real and they do make each other happy. But there does exist a co-dependency that has worsened throughout the series as a result of their insecurity of letting a bad memory conclude their relationship. Betty's patterns are pretty clear throughout her tenure as Magic Woman but not too much with Simon. Not until now.

In Jerry, Simon stops Betty from pursuing her dreams because he didn’t want her goodbye to be his last memory with her.

In Betty, Simon rewrites history and inadvertently summons her to Ooo because he didn’t want Betty’s look of contempt to be his last memory of her.

And through all of Fionna and Cake, Simon has turned into a suicidal man willing to resummon GOLBetty regardless of the reasons she can’t see him again. All because he didn’t want her sacrifice to be his last memory of her. Despite the fact that Betty’s final wish was to keep Simon safe.

There's also this uneven power dynamic between the two. Simon was far more accomplished as a professor with PhDs even if no one took him seriously. Betty was just a student offering some help, knowing she wouldn't take any credit for helping.

I’ll preface that Betty is a consenting adult in the relationship and made many self-determined rash choices that Simon would never approve of with full context. We’ve enough scenes to show that Simon actively refuses Betty’s help if it means endangering her.

However, Simon’s perception of Betty and his own inadequacy did influence her personality for the worse. Fionna questions Simon on two occasions about how strange it was for “someone she just met to drop everything to go with you”. Even within the flashbacks Betty verbally describes her internal conflict between her individuality vs. her infatuation with Simon and the guy never picks up on it.

Whether he’s aware of it or not, Simon always ends up becoming the center of attention during Betty’s greatest life-changing events because he’s always suffering in some way. And sadly in-character, Betty always prioritizes him first because of how sorry she feels for him.

Simon: Just hold my hand to your face, this will be my… last sensation.

Betty: Don’t be a wimp, Simon!

I don’t want to be too hard on Simon, his suffering is cosmologically depressing. An undeniable tragedy that no one deserves to be alone on. It would be unfair to say he’s being dramatic about something most if not any human would ever go through. He’s not a leech for desiring help, especially from his significant other.

But I do think it’s important to point out that he does have a major flaw in not reflecting on the consequences of Betty’s choices.

Fionna: Damn, that’s romantic. So, you got on the bus with her?

Simon: Yup. Uh what? No. No. Why would I-

This is the reason this post exists. This is the show explicitly telling us that Simon has never really thought about what Betty lost because he thinks his love was greater than the passion Betty once had.

Let's go back to Betty once again for what is honestly the most justifiable takedown you could make of Simon's character prior to the miniseries.

As stated earlier, Simon opens a portal to ask for Betty's forgiveness with a few seconds on the clock. And in that time, he essentially just unloads a giant drama bomb, trauma dump of his suffering leading Betty to ask what she can even do without him. And if the plan went as it was, Simon would've just left her a hundred questions that she'd never have answered for the rest of her life.

Simon: Just know that I love you and I forgive you for leaving me. Author's Note: I dunno, isn't there something a bit off about how he worded this?

Now Simon didn't ask for Betty to jump into the portal, but he certainly was asking for it subconsciously. How else would he have expected a person who loves him dearly to act after this?

Taking any measures necessary and finding a way back together obviously. That's what he's doing too!

And reiterating again, this is the reason why Betty goes on her ego-suicidal quest. This is Simon's greatest mistake, his greatest moral failing as a person and he doesn't seem aware of this.

He’s not wrong that Betty lived happily with him. In spite of losing her dreams, Betty and Simon did love each other unconditionally. But he’s missing the bigger picture about how he could’ve been self-centered in deciding Betty’s fate for himself.

And maybe to stretch somewhat, I think even the quest to become Ice King again is somewhat motivated by his inability to live as anything more than a victim. Some of it is because the citizens of Ooo were being a bit inconsiderate about how much they liked Ice King yes, but Simon should be perfectly aware that Marceline, Betty, and now Fionna would be extremely concerned about him for doing this. Yet, he doesn’t really consider their feelings too much on the matter. He’s too used to the suffering.

Please have one scene with Marceline, I'd be sad if we don't get to see at least one.

This leads me to how I believe Fionna and Cake may rewrite Simon’s ending.

The key is in the episode Temple of Mars.

Upon rewatching the episode, I’m convinced that the Adventure Time cast had a greater plan with the Betty and Simon arc that just never came to be due to production constraints. A lot of Betty’s history and the deconstruction of her relationship with Simon in Jerry are surprisingly details that have already been told.

I thought it was an animation error that Betty’s glasses were different in Jerry but it turns out the continuity director is just that good.

The trip in six months, Simon stopping her, and the realization that Simon superseded her identity. Seeking independence from Simon is the lesson that Normal Man was trying failed to teach her.

Betty: I’ve spent so much time dedicated on Simon that I’m not even sure if there’s any “me” left anymore.

But the most telling detail is how Betty passes Normal Man’s test.

Finn: Even if you are a lost cause, she is not!

Betty: No, Finn’s right. You’ll thank me for this later past Betty.

In an alternate pocket reality, she changes her trip to the day before, preventing Simon from stopping her. And I think Simon will have to change fate once again to do the same.

If Simon comes to realize that he was the one who set Betty to her terrible fate, that all this time his rose-colored lens of their relationship had been detrimental then he could give her identity back. But it can’t be as simple as changing the moment Betty turns into GOLB or Magic Woman or even bringing her through the portal in Betty.

He needs to let Betty go on the bus. Alone.

It’s the only way for Betty to have her life back. If not for his Betty, maybe at least to save one in the multiverse doomed to the same fate.

They both need to cherish their time on the Enchiridion trip back when it wasn’t too late for Betty to go on the trip. Back when they were both equals and not tied to Simon’s needs.

Jerry is absolutely setting up something big with Simon and Betty’s relationship for next week and now that we’re going to the GOLB dimension, we’ll see how he remembers these moments again.

Personally, as someone who has been skeptical about Simon's peace for years, Fionna and Cake's second episode was like a sigh of relief. Simon hasn't found his ending yet, and my hope is that this epilogue will help me see the man happy without having to relive Betty's sacrifice for the rest of his life. Just like the rest of Adventure Time, it'll have to end with him cherishing the time he had with Betty regardless of the inevitability of losing that relationship.

PS. Isn’t quite strange that at one point in time, Simon sought after magic objects that ostracized him from the normal world and now, he lives in a house full of 1980s-1990s objects that ostracized him from the magical world? Maybe he was never really satisfied with where he was in the present.

PSS. I really wanted to write something on Fionna for the Ep 3-6 releases, and I still have the idea, but I couldn’t make it coherent due to how much my brain overthinks everything to the point of cognitive collapse. If there’s enough interest, I’ll go back to write it again.

[alienoresimagines]

Omg “classics” for clegan plsssss 🥺

classics - muse a tends to muse b’s wounds with more care than necessary

So. This fic may have gotten out of a hand and may or may not be 14.5k, 7k of which are them making out and smutting 😅 So Nonnie, if you'd like a redo of the prompt with really 100% h/c and fluff, send me another ask and I'll keep it general audience, I promise 🥹❤️ Also a huge shoutout to @soliloquy-dawn for single handedly beating the slump out of me for this fic, I was stuck on 4k for three weeks and then wrote 10k in one, for which I also have to thanks all my fellow sprinters on Discord🥹🫶🏻 And, a happy birthday to @amiserableseriesofevents !!! Thank you for all the wounderful fics you constantly post, the countless sprints you do with me, I wish you all the good in the world 💕 Consider this my humble gift for an amazing person celebrating another year of life ❤️ This is my first time writing an actual smut so I'm really nervous about this one lmao but I hope you'll like it 👉🏻👈🏻🥹

Tell Me You're Going To Be Alright (I Don't Want The World To Turn Without You) | Buck x Bucky

Summary : Perhaps life really only started when he opened the door to his room in flight school and shook hands with Gale Cleven. Perhaps the twenty-four years before that were only to learn how his legs and arms worked to get him to this moment, where he learned how his heart did. Or After the Regensburg Mission, John cannot forget just how close he came to losing Gale forever. He copes how he can, tending to Gale's wounds, and holding him when the adrenaline leaves him and Gale can't keep up the officer façade anymore. He lets Gale take care of the cuts that adorned his face even though John had forgotten them. And then, when all the wounds have been treated, desperation to feel just how alive the other still is settles in, like a wildfire of urgency that not even the presence of their men a few feet away can soothe.

Snippet :

“You did so good, darlin’,” his lips attach themselves to Gale’s temple as another one of those broken noises pierces through his soul. “Brought your boys to safety the best way you could.” He thinks of the mangled body of a radioman and how easily it could’ve been Gale. Tightens his hold until there’s no telling where one of them begins and where the other ends. 

“You did so, so good, Gale.” He keeps on whispering in Gale’s ear, rubbing soothing circles on his back, and pressing kisses anywhere he can reach until Gale isn’t shaking as much anymore, tremors receding and replaced by a heavy blanket of exhaustion that sends him further into John’s chest. John doesn’t budge, stays rooted to his spot like the old oak tree in his mother’s garden, sheltering the house from rain and storms. 

Minutes later, Gale shifts and clears his throat, the sound dulled by John's shirt before he starts to pull away. John’s heart screams and thrashes with wanting to bring him closer once again, but he knows better than to force Gale to lose control, knows the other is probably ashamed that he felt the need to be comforted. The anger simmering in his blood at that is cold and familiar enough for John to ignore it, preferring instead to stroke his thumb back and forth over Gale's cheekbone. A light smile pulls at his lips when Gale leans into the touch, a sigh leaving him as he nuzzles his cheek against John’s palm, as though the space has been carved just for him- John is certain it’s the case.

Read more here

My other Clegan Fics

[liquidcrystalsky]

Pinned Post

Other places i'm at:

@ranidspace (my main)

@splatoonsongpolls

my github

my ko-fi

the splatoon tumblr community

general hangout discord server (17+, come join!!!)

Before you send a request, check to see if it's already been ripped:

The google drive:

Stuff I didnt rip but check it out:

Lean's Database

(Gear icons, tableturf stuff, ink colours, nearly everything)

Models Resource (Splatoon 3)

(please check this before asking me for a model)

The tagging system i use:

Things of note:

I forget to tag things. often.

I'm intending to go and redo the tags on all my previous posts, so some of these tags are currently pretty empty

I'm canadian. i may spell things like "colour" instead of color

Often things are plural. for example i tag things as "textures" instead of "texture"

searching for text on tumblr sucks, but you can search for posts tagged by making sure you add the "#" at the beginning. Searching for two tags at once seems to be broken :(

Rip Medium:

"#game rip" Rip from a video game

"#website rip" from a website, like the official nintendo sites or stuff like that

"#music rip" rip specifically from a music release, like Splatune. not all music, see "#music"

Rip Type:

"#textures" textures of various objects and things

"#images" anything which is meant to be it's own image, in universe graphics and such

"#symbols" like images but, symbols. May also include symbols in textures

"#models"

"#UI" Any ui like screen elements. also may include in-universe UI, like marina's laptop screen

"#audio" any and all audio

"#voice" voice lines

"#particles"

"#music"

"#sound effects" (currently very empty because i forget to tag it, i'm working on it)

"#text" any in game text, note it's usually in english. most of all ripped text in splatoon 3 in all languages can be found in here. also see "#typeface"

"#maps" entire stages or areas.

"#animation" any animations or poses of models

Game:

The game and series is tagged, so all splatoon rips are tagged "#Splatoon" and then the game as well: "#Splatoon 1", "#Splatoon 2", "#Splatoon 3" etc.

Game Mode:

If it's from a story mode i'll tag it:

"#Octo Valley", "#Octo Canyon", "#Octo Expansion", "#Return of the Mammalians", "#Side Order"

I always remember to tag the story mode, so if you're having trouble finding something your best bet is with this

Splatoon 2's salmon run is tagged "Salmon Run", while Splatoon 3's is tagged "Salmon Run: Next Wave"

other tags like "#Splatfest" or "#Tableturf" also exist

Characters:

rips of the character models are tagged "#characters", but character tags can be used for anything relating to the character

I often do full names, "#Frye Onaga", "#Marina Ida", "#Pearl Houzuki", "#Shiver Hohojiro", though until i get all my tags unified and checked through them again it would be good to check both

apparently i genuinely tagged something as "Manta Tarou Kizaemon Munekiyo" once, but i'll usually just tag "Big Man"

General enemy names like "#salmonids", or "#jelletons"

Specific enemy names like "#Griller", or "#Octodisco"

band names, like "#chirpy chips"

Location:

rips of the location itself are tagged "#maps", but location tags are for anything inside, or relating to the location

If it's in a normal battle stage, that will be tagged, like "#MakoMart" or "#Inkblot Art Academy"

Other locations like "#lobby", "#alterna", "#the crater", "inkopolis plaza"

things like "#credits" also may be tagged

Objects:

Probably the thing i forget to tag the most. I'll work on it

"#clothing"

"#weapons", "sub weapons", "#special weapons"

specific things like the weapon or gear name, maybe includes the brand as well

"#posters", "#graffiti",

Other important object like "#NILS statue" but more likely it'll be tagged with the character or location it's relevant to

Meta Tags:

"#request" a rip that was requested from an ask or my discord server.

"#ask" and "#username"/"#anonymous" any asks and the username who sent it

"#not a rip" anything thats not a rip. if i remember to tag it.

"#not my rip" things ripped by other people, if i remember to tag it, but i usually mention i didnt rip it in the post itself

"#megapack" anything that contains a bunch of stuff. Most have migrated to the google drive

"#splatfilesqna" asks i get not relating to ripping things

"#edit by me" sometimes the textures or things get some working to look presentable or even legible,, so if i edit something i tag it with this

"#commentary" old tag from when i didnt used to yap as much. yapping on what the rip is

"#file upload" contains an uploaded file, like on the google drive, or through filegarden

[urinarythreatinfection]

may i ask for headcanons for crocodile x child reader where crocodile's daughter joins the strawhats post alabasta?

and the next time they meet in impel down, well. that's not even his daughter anymore. that's his son now.

thank you very much for the open requests!

(from @77v77)

Bet. My first time writing a trans character so I hope it turned out okay. I'm still not used to headcanons so this honestly came out more as a fic, I'm really sorry about that. If you want a redo I don't mind, sorry. I got kinda carried away with a storyline and it turned out like this.

It's Good To See The New You

Crocodile x FTM!Child!Reader. 1562 words. Author isn't trans but trying their best. Feel free to correct if I messed up. (D/N) Is deadname.

This is how your life is, you’ve accepted it. You’re the daughter of someone powerful, strong, rich, you should be happy; but you aren’t. These dresses aren’t making you happy, the people fawning over you aren’t either, even the small amount of attention you get from your father doesn’t truly make you happy. It’s only when something happens, something that was supposed to be negative, that you get a glimpse of what can be your happiness. How could you let it pass you by at that point? Call yourself your father’s daughter, you don’t let opportunities like this just leave. Of course, maybe daughter isn’t something to describe you anymore.

“Take me with you.” Is what you say to Luffy when he’s leaving.

“Hm?” He looks at you, recognizing who you are, and scowls slightly.

“Take me with you, I want to go with you.” You repeat and it only confuses him more, Luffy doesn’t like being confused either.

He thinks you’re trying to pick a fight at first, but when he realizes you aren’t he calms down a bit.

“I just beat up your dad, why do you wanna come with me?” He asks you.

“Because I want to. So let me on.”

“Wha- Don’t give me orders!”

You two end up getting into a small argument, call it childish but you aren’t used to being argued with by anyone other than your father.

Of course, it ends up working out, Luffy lets you on.

Robin even uses you as an excuse to get on as well, your partner in crime.

Luffy’s a little upset he kind of didn’t get as much of a choice as he’d like, but he got over it once Robin worked her charms. (Using her hands to help them make stupid jokes)

As for you, it took a while for you to warm up to them even though you’re the one who got on.

Something just still didn’t feel right.

You felt better than before, of course, but not as good as you’d like.

It’s only when Nami helps you pick out clothes that you realize that you’ve never truly chosen what you’ve wanted.

You were given options of course, but those options were picked from what your father wanted.

When you were looking at dresses Nami noticed you looking unhappy.

“You don’t have to wear a dress if you don’t want to, you know. You can wear something else.” She says casually.

In her mind it was just a fashion tip from one woman to another, something simple.

But to you it was so much more.

From then on you took things into your own hands.

Not just bossy with the things you’re given, but exploring to find your own choices.

You started dressing differently, which might seem so little but it felt so much bigger to you.

Time passes and it was the best choice you’ve ever made, it helped you become your true self.

The crew was confused at first, Sanji was even devastated, but it passed.

Sometimes Sanji still laments, but it’s more just because he was happy to have another woman to fawn over.

He gets over it, you’re happier this way.

You even get the privilege of not having the privilege of Sanji’s over-the-top affection.

Everything is so much better, so much brighter that you almost forget what your life was like before you were truly yourself.

That’s until you meet your father again, a reminder of who you were.

You know it's not his fault, he never bossed you around or told you you couldn’t be your true self.

He just wanted you to be someone that he could have confidently as his child, someone unbreakable; and that's what you were.

An unbreakable broken person.

That’s how you could describe him too, in the state he’s in.

Chained up and defeated, it makes your heart ache.

Even if he wasn’t the best father he was still yours.

He almost doesn’t recognize you at first, glaring at you until it clicks who you are.

“...(D/N)?” He calls to you and you almost flinch from the sound.

It brings shivers up your spine, even if you know it was from ignorance.

You don’t want to respond, not wanting to acknowledge that previous you; but decide it’s time to face it.

Crocodile himself, your father, isn’t the enemy that kept you captive.

“..Father.” You say to him.

“(D/N) you, what are you-”

“That’s not my name” You interrupt him, and it makes him pause.

Not your name?

How isn’t it your name? He named you himself!

“What are you talking about? I figured you joined that Strawhat’s crew but you changed your name for it? Were you..” He trails off, feeling hurt.

Were you that unhappy with him?

Why else would you change your name if not to try and get rid of your past?

You must be ashamed of him, he sure is.

Got beaten by a brat and ended up in a prison getting mistreated by people he could kill in a heartbeat, if only he had the chance to.

“Father.” You catch his attention, snapping him out of the trance of negativity he put himself into.

“It’s not you, if that’s what you were worried about.” You reassure him, and he scoffs.

“If not me what else? You sure seem a hell of a lot brighter now that you’re not with me.” His heart aches.

Despite not wanting to admit it he did have a soft spot for you.

You were his daughter, the small light he had in the darkness, whether the choice to have you was his or not.

“..It’s (Y/N).” You say quietly and he perks up, looking at you closer.

You look different, more different than he realized at first.

“You’ve changed.”

“I know.” There’s a silence.

Crocodile isn’t one to pry, he didn’t pry even when you were his daughter.

“Are you happier?” He asks you, like a sentimental fool.

Your eyes go wide, but they calm as you smile.

“I am, I’m so much happier.”

“Good. Make sure you stay on the other side of these bars, too, (Y/N).” Your father says and your heart clenches.

You’re happy, but sad at the same time.

Here you are, your true self with friends that care about you, meeting your Father again.

This should be happy for you, there shouldn’t be anything bad about this.

Despite that, you feel like crying; and look down.

Because you’ve gained so much, but you’ve lost being your Father’s daughter.

He still cared for you, and you him.

He helped you with your hair, gave you the luxury he grained, treated you with the respect you deserved, he even changed your diapers sometimes when you were little.

Even though he didn’t need to.

Crocodile loved you as much as he could in and in the way he knew how.

So the thought that you’ve lost that love, it hurts.

You don’t want to go back to being his daughter, you don’t want to go back to being a daughter, but you don’t want to lose being his child.

“Hey, don’t give me that look.” You hear him say, and you look back up.

“I know you and how that face you make when you're about to cry. Even if you’re different know you’re still my..” He trails off and you hesitate.

“Son.” Your heart drops, fear overtaking you at the thought of him rejecting you.

“My son.” He says and your vision blurs.

“Jeez, you really don’t listen don’t you? That a Strawhat trait, or did you get it from me?” He says with a sigh as tears roll down your cheeks.

“C’mon, stand up straight. You’re my kid, act it.” Something he would always say to you when you felt insecure.

It never did much other than help you put your mask back on.

But now those words empower you.

More than when they were said by the savior of Alabasta, the fearsome Crocodile.

You nod and wipe your eyes, you can’t cry now.

“That’s right, one of us has to be free." He looks down at himself, weak from mistreatment and seastone.

"Maybe it’s better you than me.” His chains clink as he moves.

“I am free, I feel so free. All the time.” You say, laughing a bit.

It shocks Crocodile, he hasn’t heard you laugh like this in so long.

He'd thought you'd lost it from age, just as he did.

You haven't laughed this freely with him since he could hold you up with one hand.

The sound of his son sounds so much happier than his daughter.

He wishes he knew sooner, maybe he could’ve even given you different life skills.

Too late for that.

“Are you gonna stand here all day looking at your old man? I doubt you’ve come to free me.” You shake your head.

You don’t even have his key.

Your ears perk up at crashing noises, it’s time for you to go.

You look back at your father, eyes clear and bright.

“I’ll be going now, Dad.” You say with a smile and he bites the inside of his cheek to hold any emotion in.

“Go get em, son.” Crocodile says with a chuckle.

You go off and he sits in his cell.

He wonders if this is how you felt, trapped with him and in a body you didn’t feel was your own.

Maybe this is his retribution, his punishment for his wrongdoings.

If there’s a God out there.. he hopes that they keep that punishment to him.

It wouldn’t be fair to drag someone he just met into his problems.

You deserve your new life.

He’s just happy he was able to see a glimpse of it.

That was it. Hope that was good. I'm not trans but I just based it off of what i've seen and maybe how I would feel if I were trans. Hope that works. I don't know why you made yourself anonymous but put your @ but I'll assume maybe it was because you wanted me to tag you so here @77v77

[spookyscarydemonbabe]

Hihi!! For buggy would you right hcs for if he ever gets embarrassed in front of the reader?:)

of course!! and thank you so much for the request my love 🥰

(so sorry it took so long to post!! 🖤)

I feel like this isn’t something that would happen often

He’s the kind of guy who will take embarrassment on the chin, make a joke of himself as long as it helps him in the long run

It’s pretty difficult to make a clown look foolish

Though there have been times where he feels like he may or may not be a little embarrassed around you

Mainly due to his own fuck ups

Once or twice he’s realized he accidentally forgotten to finish his makeup before leaving his quarters for the day from being too distracted by you changing

He actually looks kind of cute when his eyes and lips aren’t blended out to their normal points

He’s absolutely fumbled his words just from talking to you

He’ll approach you with the utmost confidence, head held high and a smirk on his lips, but as soon as he sees your smile when you look up to him his legs turn to jelly and he forgets every thought that was in his head

His usual way to fix this problem is to redo the whole scenario all over again, walking back to his original place and approaching you again just to see if he could really get through his full script

And of course nothing embarrasses him more than having you watch him get bested by any other pirate captain and their crew

Though when that happens it’s a different kind of embarrassment

He wants to show everyone how great he is, and when he can’t do that he feels like he’s failed

You’ll usually find him sitting on the edge of his bed in his captains quarters, staring at the floor, his hat thrown across the room

He never wants you to see him like that, but you and him both know that you’re the only person that can help him feel better

You’ll wander over and sit quietly next to him, your arms around him and your head on his shoulder, leaning up every now and then to gently kiss his temple

All he needs is to know you’re still proud of him, that you still love him even though he wasn’t the winner this time

It’ll take some time before he’s back to his normal Buggy self, flaunting around the ship and barking orders and being the perfect ringmaster he knows he is

He just needs a little time to relax first

tags: @lotr-got

[My tag list is always open, let me know if you’d like to be added!]

[luci-is-a-bitch-x3x]

Obey Me! Older Brothers Antics:

Younger brothers version

━☆*:･ﾟ✧✧ ♡ ❀ ♡ ✧━

Welcome! To this adventure! The characters may not be how you imagine! I apologize for any poor jokes, bad spelling, and terrible grammar. Without further ado, please enjoy the content. ♡

━☆*:･ﾟ✧✧ ♡ ❀ ♡ ✧━━☆*:･ﾟ✧✧ ♡ ❀ ♡ ✧━

There's definitely been a time where Levi has convinced Mammon to team up with him to "get back at Lucifer". Lucifer probably just said something that pissed the Okatu off like "watching anime all the time is a waste of time" or something along those lines. The simple statement is enough for Levi to claim war on Lucifer, so like Levi does he finds a teammate to team up with. He teams up with Mc in game that's why I say that. He obviously goes to Mammon because he can use Mammon's debt as leverage. "hey Mammon, help me defeat Lucifer and I'll forget about all the money you owe me" or something silly like that. The two come up with a brilliant really thought out plan, Levi isn't going into this like Mammon does, he needs a solid plan to try and take down the best! So Levi plans it out, for a really long time, takes a week or two if not longer to come up with the perfect plan. Levi tells Mammon the plan, the two get ready to execute the plan, going to Lucifer's room and setting the whole thing up....but it backfires! We all knew that was coming. Lucifer somehow knew of the two's plans, he catches them right as they're about to leave his room. Lucifer puts a stop to it, and strings the two upside down together as a punishment. The two proceed to get into an argument of whose fault it is that the plan didn't work. Mammon thinks it's Levi's fault because it was Levi's plan, Levi thinks it's Mammon's fault because Mammon was "slow". The argument escalates ..and leads to the two fist fighting while strung upside down! Levi totally pulls a petty move and summons Lotan....all hell breaks loose, Lucifer loses his marbles, HoL is a mess thanks to Lotan..and the two wind up in more trouble than they were already in.

If you read the younger brothers version it's longer and I feel bad, so here's extra:

Lucifer is chilling in his study doing some work, he could hear Levi and Mammon arguing while strung upside down together as a punishment. He assumed everything was fine and that they'd just argue when the door suddenly bursts open, water comes rushing in getting everything wet. As the water drains and goes wherever the hell it goes he stands there just blinking for a second before what just happened really dawns on him. His expression sours and he almost has a breakdown. All his finished work is completely ruined. He'll have to do it all over again, so many sleepless nights just to have to redo what was already done. Lucifer sighs, walking out of his study, his shoes sloshing as he walks due to the fact that he's drenched head to toe in water. He follows the sounds of an argument happening, the sounds lead him to the room he has Mammon and Levi strung upside down in. He opens the door to the room and...sees Mammon and Levi still strung upside down, they're completely drenched in water the room they're in is in the same condition. Levi watches as the two argue and appear to be fist fighting even in the current situation. Strung upside down, drenched in water, about to be murdered, not the usual time to be fist fighting with the person who's also in trouble. Lucifer sighs deeply, stepping into the drenched room and drawing his brothers's attention by clearing his throat. Mammon and Levi look to see who it is at the same time, both freaking out at the same time as well. Mammon yells and clutches onto Levi in fear. Levi freezes up, looking even paler than usual, then he starts muttering about how he's a lousy Okatu and he deserved whatever torture Lucifer has planned for him. Levi gives his sob story and a little bit of tears and it works, Lucifer doesn't punish him as much as he had planned to. Mammon gets the usual treatment, Lucifer has a soft spot for him and will only give Mammon what he knows Mammon can handle. Now this is longer than the other drabble TvT.

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Thats all for now babes! Hope you enjoyed!! ♡ This is not proofread. Feel free to comment or reblog any thoughts or any add ons you have! More content is coming soon so Stay Tuned! Stay Safe! & Stay Groovy Scooby! ♡

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⟡˙⋆Masterlist⋆˙⟡

[imerian]

Here goes little essay about everything going on with Logan bc i have a lot of thoughts that I want to organise a bit .

I'm not sure where i want to start bc there so much to this whole situation with Logan and Williams but I'll firstly discuss today's fp1.

I hate what media portraying Williams got, yes they fucked up and critique is fair but there much more than just critique online. I tend to believe that the gave logan repaired chassis not bc they disrespect him but bc his car is tuned to alex and tune new one to him is faster than redoing both of them. It may give him some disadvantages that it's too bad. The part that I'm really sad about is that Williams didn't clarify any of this and we never gonna know for sure. It all doesn't exclude possibility of this just being decision but somehow i find it unlikely.

Another part that i have a lot of emotions about is today's crash, i hate it and people's responses so bad bc firstly we never gonna know is it car or logan bc once again we can't be sure with how Williams talked about it, but even if it was logan i can hardly blame him bc amount of pressure on him js insane.

He wasn't ready for f1 when he was brought into it, everyone already said that. Plus he constantly compared to oscar which isn't fair, you can look at their cars for example (bc in this sport they matter a lot, fact that somehow a lot of people forget) or where their teams are. I remember how in f3 oscar told that he was excited to fight with Logan and that shows for me that logan can do better it's just his circumstances that are unfortunate. He's season in f2 also was really good, he obviously couldn't get first place with domination of filippe but he still did his best.

Another thing about f2 is how much pressure he had there because Williams announced him as their f1 driver even before season finished and it put Logan on a spot bc he could actually become that driver only if he finishes in top three. And he did!!

But you can see how than, in his first f1 season and eveb now amount of pressure doesn't go down, he constantly needs to prove himself or he'll get kicked out of sport, same sport that his family sacrificed all for him to get in.

I absolutely don't understand his haters, especially those that compare him to alex at least because comparing them is stupid with this big of experience gap. Same discourse i see about lando and oscar which is also stupid because at the moment lando is objectively better at least because of his experience, and oscar doesn't need to be better than him, he needs to learn and get that experience himself for any comperasing to make sense.

Big problem with Logan is that he can't get that experience to grow as a driver, even alex said that it isn't stange that he crashes that much in his first season bc Williams car is hard to work with. It was Alex that said that, same person that car was made for so i think it's pretty good evidence. Also that was ghe reason why u was very excited to see Logan this year because he would finally have car that made for him as much as it was made for alex. And then the season started :)

In first two races he couldn't prove himself in any way bc of the reasons that wasn't in his control and what happened in Australia is just horrible for him as a driver. But i really hope that his patience will help him to hold his seat for the next year. As much as it sucks right now if him helping the team can improve his chances for the seat next year than it matters most, bc even of he has shit year he could have another one to prove himself ( which i think will absolutely happen at one point or another of his career if it continues)

In the end i want to add that i believe that James have good intentions bc even knowing how negative internet going to be he made that decision in Australia for the team. As logan fan i was very sad about it but i hope that with same good intentions for team he will keep logan that already shows how supportive he is to the team and with their growth it's probably exactly who they need at the moment

[elizabethplaid]

evening notes - oct 15, 2024

I slept for about 3 hours this afternoon. Kinda forgot when I had last slept before that. I DO know that I was in the bath at 2:30 and out around 6am. I'm not sure how much I remember from dinner and earlier. My memory is bad, and I was clearly awake for more than 24 hours.

Since I didn't get my lab sample today, I'm going to wait til next week. The doc is only there 2 days a week, and he wanted to see the results and call me asap. *shrug*

Oh and because of sleeping, I didn't go to the library, like I had planned. Is that a bad thing? No. The "mania" of staying up all night and then continuing to do things meant that I had grand, unrealistic plans.

On the bright side, I slept with clothes on! Even socks! And I've been wearing them all evening, including the hooded sweater I thrifted back in May. I've had also been writhing, overwhelmed by my sense of touch. Mostly good, just intense.

Talk about nail polish failure is below the cut.

I used the blue Rimmel polish tonight, and it seemed to dry okay. But when I layered the sheer "fairy tale" polish over it, it seemed to melt. Like, I could wipe off the majority of it with a paper towel. So I did, alas. I cleaned it up the big chunks with non-acetone nail polish remover, then hit the details with acetone. (Gotta use up the non-acetone somehow.)

Since it took me so long to do my nails and then undo them, I've left them blank for now. Also, that sheer shimmer has left specks everywhere. I'll try to redo it tomorrow, perhaps with the "miami spirit" shade, maybe without the sheer stuff.

Why not just skip the sheer stuff and retry the Rimmel? The base-top coat is the same brand. If it's a chemical reaction from that, I worry that it'll happen again when I reapply the clear coat. Plus, the Rimmel is one of my older ones and was really cheap. If I reattempt it ever again, I'll buy some Rimmel-branded base-top coat, just to be safe.

I swear, I have a ton of nail polish, and I just never used it over the years. I'd keep buying bottles, wear it a couple times, then forget about it. ======

Briefly talked about sleep hygiene with my dad, and how bad my sleep habits are. Very likely a result of hanging out in bed all day, along with playing with my phone and laptop in bed.

I'm relying on very old coping mechanisms lately, because of my sense of touch being overloaded. I think I stopped hiding in my room all the time in 2011ish? That's when I'd have my laptop at the kitchen table. After mom passed, I had it in the living room. (Really, I stayed in my room to avoid her.)

Truly, the sooner I can at least hang out in the living room during the day, the better my sleep will get.

[rosemaidenvixen]

Another Halloween prompt idea:

For the sunshine au, the kids get a sleepover redo (after stupid James crashed their last one) and they spend the night watching horror movies and/or scaring each other

Ao3

“Sup Jimbo, you ready to party until dawn?”

“Hey Tobes,” Jim shot him a fanged smile, this late in the year he changed early, as he shut the door behind him “You’d be better believe I am,”

Ever since the disaster that was their first attempted group sleepover last May, one thing or another had gotten in the way of the five of them having a sleepover.

Until now at least.

One weekend in late October the stars had finally aligned for the five of them to get together and they sure as heck weren’t going to waste it.

“I brought the goods,” Toby hollered as he stepped into the kitchen “Oysters,” he slung a mesh bag into the sink “And as much candy as I can physically carry, plus a little something else for an extra spooky activity,” 

“You’re the best Tobes,”

Toby winked and shot him fingerguns “And don’t you forget it,”

Jim rolled up his sleeves and reached into the sink “I’ll shuk the oysters, you mind stirring the big pot on the stove?”

“Is that Chef Jimbo’s famous hot cocoa I smell?” Toby asked while stepping up to the stove.

Now it was Jim’s turn to flash him fingerguns “You know it,”

“I’ll take it from here if you want to focus on the oysters,”

“That’d be great, thanks,”

Toby might be the only other person on earth who both knew Jim’s recipe and Jim trusted enough to finish making it.

Grabbing the ladle, Toby gave the big pot a sniff, eyes flicking to the smaller saucepan simmering on the side as he did “What’s this other pot?”

“Oh, that’s not cocoa, that’s for…me,”

He’d been experimenting with making drinks for himself while he was blue, this particular concoction was one of his favorites, but he really didn’t want to explain to Toby that he was drinking apple cider vinegar mixed with garlic juice…among other things.

“Ah, want me to give it a stir every now and again?”

“Sure, thanks,”

Mercifully Toby didn’t ask questions and just stirred both pots.

Twenty minutes later, just after Jim finished the oysters and just before the cocoa reached perfection, there was another knock on the door.

Jim walked over, and after confirming it was Claire, Darci, and Mary at the door, opened it to let them in “Hey guys, come on in, cocoa’s almost done,”

Mary rushed in right away, making a beeline for the TV “Which movie do you want to watch first; Danger House IV, The Demon Queen, or Inheritance?”

“Danger House IV,” Claire said, stepping in after her “That one’s the goriest so we want to watch it before we get full,”

Mary gave a curt nod of acknowledgement and got to work putting the DVD in while Claire and Darci followed Jim into the kitchen.

“I brought sandwiches,” Darci said, patting the side of the cooler slung under her arm “Fresh from my favorite deli,”

“I brought sausage rolls, dipping sauce, and…” Claire pulled a carton out of her bag with a flourish “Pumpkin spice chai concentrate,”

Jim just stared, jaw gaping open, unable to keep the shock off his face.

“Oh my god,” Toby whispered, his expression one of pure horror “You’re one of them,”

Claire fixed him with a glare while to her side Darci let out a heavily disappointed sigh.

“Sorry guys, I tried to stop her, but once Pumpkin Spice hits the shelves it’s too late,” 

A turn of the head and Clair’s steely stare landed on her “Don’t you start.”

“Oh hey is that pumpkin chai?” Mary stepped into the kitchen “I’ll have some,”

“Well the milk’s in the fridge,” Jim said slowly “But you’ll be enjoying that on your own,”

Claire blew a raspberry at him while Darci and Toby laughed. Mary stared daggers at him, not breaking eye contact as she poured the chai and the milk into a glass measuring cup and popped it in the microwave “Well if you’re all finished judging our beverage choices, the movie’s ready so we can–”

“Actually,” Toby cut in “Before we start with the movies there’s a game I want to try,”

Mary arced an eyebrow “What kind of game?”

Ten minutes later they were all sitting on the floor of the upstairs bathroom holding mugs of chai, cocoa, and Jim’s own concoction. The lights were off, curtains shut tight, and every flat surface dotted with glowing candles, filling the room with eerie light.

“Is that…” Darci sniffed “Lavender?”

“Sorry,” Toby set the lighter aside and took a seat on the floor, completing the circle “All of Nana’s candles are scented,” 

Claire leaned forward, hands clasped around her mug “So tell us about this game,”

“I learned about this online, so how it works is we each take turns telling scary stories, and when we’re done we blow out a candle, and keep going until all the candles are out,”

“That’s it?” Mary said “That doesn’t sound too scary,”

“Well I think it sounds fun,” Jim cut in “Let’s give it a shot,”

“I’m game to,” Claire added “But let’s all agree on no phantom hitchhikers, hook hand killers, or ‘The call’s coming from inside the house’,”

“Agreed,”

“Done,”

“Definitely,”

“Hundred percent,”

“Great, I’ll start,” Claire set down her mug and picked up a candle from the counter.

“A long time ago, in a small village in Mexico there lived a young woman, who’s name was lost to time. She was poor but beautiful. Then one day a rich man came to town and saw her beauty, he wooed her with flattery and promises of riches, and the woman was so swept up she left with him. He took her back to his manor and gave her dresses and fine jewels, and in return she gave him two children, a boy and a girl. And for many years they were happy,”

Claire’s voice dropped, holding the candle directly under her chin, highlighting her face in shadow “Then one day the beautiful lady from Spain came to town. She was well cultured, her family old and wealthy, and as soon as the man saw her he forgot about all of his love for the young woman. He threw her and her children out on the streets, proclaiming he didn’t want a loose woman and her bastards tainting his home,”

Without even meaning to Jim found himself leaning forward.

“The young woman begged and pleaded but the man had his servants chase her and her children off. She ran to the edge of town, where the river ran past the road. Confused, terrified, and desperate; she saw her children as the only thing keeping her and the man apart. So in the depths of her despair, she grabbed each of them by the hand, led them along the path, and when they reached the deepest part of the river threw them in. Watching as they struggled and floundered in the cold water until the current swept them out of sight,”

Another pause, candle flames flicking in the silent room.

“Then the young woman made her way back to town,” Claire picked up again “Trying to seek out the man, only to walk in on his wedding to the lady from Spain. As soon as the man saw her he ordered his servants to throw her out again, chasing her out of town and threatening to beat her within an inch of her life if she ever returned. The young woman found herself standing back by the river, and as she stared down at the rushing water, she was hit by the true horror of what she had done. Letting out a wail of despair, the woman threw herself into the river and drowned,”

Claire clasped the candle with both hands “Legends say that the young woman’s restless spirit wanders the shores of all the rivers of the world, searching for her lost children. And if she sees you, she’ll confuse you for her children and drag you to the bottom of the river, forever trying to reclaim what she’s lost,”

With that Claire blew out her candle, setting the smoking wax stump behind her.

For a few beats there was silence, then a wide smile slowly cracked Darci’s face “Dang girl, when did you become such a good storyteller?”

Claire just shrugged, but gave a small pleased smile “Comes with the acting lessons,”

Jim found himself grinning as well. Sure he’d heard the story of La Llorona before, but something about Claire retelling it in a small candle lit room really upped the spook factor.

“I’ll go next,” Darci grabbed a candle and slid it across the tile until it was directly in front of her “A long time ago there was a man locked up in prison for murdering his wife and kids. He was in there for life, he was never going to be released, but he had a plan to escape,”

Darci flickered her gaze around at each of them and then continued “There was one prisoner who was allowed to go outside, old Ben, the oldest there. Every time a prisoner died, old Ben was tasked with going with the warden to take the horse and cart with their coffin out to the small graveyard. The warden would help him dig the hole and lower the coffin in it. Then the warden would head back and leave old Ben to fill in the hole and make his way back to the prison when he was done. The warden allowed old Ben so much freedom because he was well behaved and too old and frail to try to escape,”

“The murderer made friends with old Ben, and they came up with a plan. The next time there was a death the prisoner would sneak into the coffin. Then old Ben and the warden would take them out to the graveyard. Then once the warden left old Ben would let him out before he finished burying the coffin and the murderer would be home free,”

From the side Jim saw Toby edging closer, transfixed.

“Now all they had left to do was wait for a death. It took almost a year, but finally the prisoner heard the tolling of a church bell that let him know someone died. That night he pretended to be sick, and when the guard let him out of his cell he killed him, snuck into the morgue, and crept inside the coffin. It was uncomfortable being stuffed in their with a corpse, but the murderer consoled himself with knowledge of his imminent escape and settled in to wait,”

Darci’s voice was barely above a whisper but Jim had no issue hearing her in the silent bathroom.

“So he waited. Eventually he felt the coffin being moved and pulled along in a cart. Felt the steady clopping of the horse’s hooves. He had to hold himself back from laughing, his escape was so close. After a short ride the cart came to a stop, and the murderer heard the sound of shovels against dirt just outside the coffin. He could barely contain his excitement, freedom was so close he could taste it. Then when he felt the coffin being moved again he knew that any second now old Ben would open the lid and he’d be free he’d be free,”

“But that didn’t happen,” Darci’s voice abruptly jumped up, making Jim start a bit “What happened was the murderer heard and felt a shovelful of dirt being thrown on top of the coffin. At first he didn’t know what to do, but as more and more shovels of dirt were piled on with no one letting him out the murderer started to panic, screaming and shouting for old Ben to let him out. But if anyone could hear him through the layers of dirt they didn’t reply. Desperate, the prisoner pulled a match out of his pocket and lit it. And stared into the dead, gray face of old Ben smushed into the coffin next to him,”

Darci picked up the candle and blew it out with a near silent puff of breath.

No one said anything, the bathroom full of the reverent silence of bated breaths. Then before anyone could laugh or make a joke or do something to break the tension Toby picked up a candle beside him. 

“My turn,” Toby pulled in a deep breath and then began “A long time ago there was a couple that lived on a farm on the edge of a lake. The wife was a hard worker, but the husband was a lazy bastard who spent all his time drinking and gambling in town, and cheating on his wife like the bastard he was,”

A pause as Toby glanced around at them “But the wife was smart, constantly stashing away money so she could ditch her loser husband one day. Then one day the husband’s girlfriend started whispering in his ear about how he should get rid of his wife and steal her stash of money, then he and the girlfriend could live the high life,”

“So that night the husband waited behind the front door for his wife to come in from working, then when she stepped inside he killed her with a single blow with an ax. He threw her body in an old trunk then rowed out to the deepest part of the lake and threw it in,”

Jim stayed still and quiet, listening with rapt attention, all of them did.

“The next day the girlfriend moved in and they started looking for the wife’s stash but they couldn’t find it. As the days went on the farm started falling into disrepair. The wife might have been a hard worker, but the farmer and the girlfriend were lazyasses, and it wasn’t long until they were almost out of food. So then, two weeks after the murder, the husband’s sitting on the porch watching the sun go down, cursing himself for trading a hard working wife for a lazy girlfriend when he sees something out on the lake,”

Toby’s voice lowered to a whisper “He looked out and saw that it was his wife’s corpse, all bloated and rotting, walking along the surface of the lake towards him. So he’s shaking in fear, but when the wife gets up to him she just laughs,”

“‘Don’t worry I’m not after you’ she says ‘I just want that scarlet woman out of my house, poison her coffee tomorrow morning and get rid of her for me and I’ll even tell you where I hid my money’”

“The farmer of course, is scared shitless, but glad his dead wife isn’t after him, and he really wants that money. So the next morning he comes down and sees that the girlfriend has already made coffee and poured him a cup. The second her back is turned he pours rat poison in her cup and the two of them sit down to eat. After a few minutes the farmer feels a sharp pain in his guts, when he starts clutching stomach the girlfriend starts laughing. Saying that his wife came to her and promised to show her where the money was if she got rid of her cheating bastard husband,”

Jim could see Claire leaning closer as Toby continued the tale, transfixed.

“So the farmer totally freaks and says the wife did the same for him, and that her coffee’s poisoned to, and the girlfriend starts to panic along with him. The two of them are sitting there, freaking out and clutching their stomachs and spitting up blood, when the wife’s corpse walks in the doorway. Still bloated and rotten from being at the bottom of the lake, but this close they could both smell the sickly rot of her decaying flesh,”

“She grins at them and says ‘A deal’s a deal’ then the old trunk the farmer dumped her in slides in behind her, the lid pops open and the lining busts apart, revealing money stuffed inside ‘My money is yours to enjoy for the rest of your lives’ then the last thing the farmer and the girlfriend hear is the wife laughing and laughing,”

Toby blew out his candle and set it aside.

For a moment the four of them just stared at Toby in silence.

“Toby that was…” Mary struggled for words “Wow,”

“Thank you thank you, I pride myself on being a man of many talents,”

“So who–”

From out of nowhere bright light blazed through the room, sending all of them shrieking and scrambling around. Candles were knocked over, wax spilling on the tile, screams bounced in Jim’s ears, elbows prodded him and fingers dug into his shoulders as his heels scrabbled against the floor.

Barbara blinked at them with wide eyes from where she was standing in the door frame, finger still hovering above the light switch.

“I’m sorry kids, I didn’t mean to scare you, but what were you all doing in the bathroom with all the lights off?” she glanced around at all the candles, some spilled and some still burning “....and what are all these candles for?”

“We were…telling scary stories,” Toby spoke up.

Now that the adrenaline was fading Jim could regain his bearings. He could see he had shuffled back nearly all the way to the wall. Claire and Darci were pressed into either side of him, Toby was practically sitting in his lap and Mary was huddled behind him peeking over one of his shoulders.

His mom raised an eyebrow “But what do candles have to do with that?”

“It’s part of it,” Jim said “You tell a story and blow out a candle,”

Jim didn’t have the words to describe the expression his mom was making right now. The only other time he’d seen it on her face was when they’d had a really bad drought one summer and he and Toby had tried to use the slip and slide with mayonnaise.

Barbara made to speak again but then sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose “I’m sorry I interrupted your game, but I just got off a twelve hour shift and I need the bathroom. I'll give you guys five minutes to pick this up. You can leave the wax and I’ll help you clean it tomorrow,”

Toby bobbed his head “Perfectly reasonable, thanks Dr. Lake,”

She gave a nod back in acknowledgement then backed out of the bathroom.

The five of them alone again, Jim turned and peeked over his shoulder “Were you hiding behind me?”

Mary blinked back unashamed “I was watching your back,”

“Sure you were,”

“Well I’ll always protect you,” Toby stretched out languidly in his lap.

Jim grinned down at him “Thanks Tobes, but I do need to get up now,”

The five of them climbed to their feet, blowing out the remaining candles and wiping up the worst of the wax.

Darci set the smoking stump of a lavender candle down “What do you say we wind down with oysters and Danger House IV?”

“Sounds good to me,”

“Let��s do it,”

“I’m game,”

“Let’s go,”

Jim grinned, following the others out of the bathroom “Hey at this point I’m just glad things are going better than our last sleepover,”

They all laughed at that.

[she-karev]

Cousin Jen

Age Rating: 12+

Chapters: Four of Six

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy

AN: Hey guys it’s been a great spring break for me and I’m gonna post all the chapters for this story tonight that I hope you all will enjoy. I will take one shot requests from you guys and I always appreciate a like and reblog.

Summary: Jen takes a reluctant Amber to the locker rooms to fix her hair where they hear Roy say something that freaks Jen out about Matt’s condition.

Words: 2952

Andrew and I are sitting at the neuro lab table doing research for Amelia’s project. I was able to schedule for Pierce to consult on Matt’s case tomorrow morning. Now we’re working for Shepherd together, I would’ve gone back to Avery, but Alex scheduled me for Kimmie Park’s awake brain surgery so along with helping to diagnose Matt I’m assisting in the O.R. The thought of that would excite me if not for the part of a good friend of mine being a medical mystery I wish to solve so he can marry my cousin.

Shepherd walks inside the lab, “I have an awake brain surgery on a kid tomorrow, so I’m gonna need my beauty sleep which means you two don’t get to sleep because I need you to narrow down these studies to two options by tomorrow.” I write what she tells me, “Do a feasibility evaluation including a timeline, and don’t forget to evaluate likely subject availability and do a cost projection.”

I finish writing, “Got it.”

“On it.” Andrew confirms as Shepherd walks out of the room and turns to me, “I guess we can call this a date night.”

I smirk as I read a journal, “I’d light a candle but I don’t want to blow us up.” I rub my eyes to get the tired out and my energy deflates as soon as Jen walks inside wearing a dark blue Grey Sloan hoodie and carrying a large capacity bag she uses for her hair equipment. She looks at both of us with a grin.

“Hello.” I look at her annoyed while Andrew looks at her perplexed by her company, “I just wanted to come by and check on you guys and check out the gift shop here. When in Seattle right?”

“Please come on in Jen.” I greet her sarcastically, “I mean it’s not like I’m doing anything here.”

“Oh goodie.” Jen smiles, “Now you can make time for me to fix that rats nest you call a hair.”

I look at her with a frown, “Jen as much as I enjoy your company and I really do I don’t have time to play Beauty Shop. Shepherd just told us to narrow down her studies so she can figure out what to propose to the judges. I’m pretty sure highlights and dye jobs aren’t gonna revolutionize neuroscience.”

Jen turns to Andrew, “Can you handle this on your own for the next two hours?”

Andrew looks surprised and looks at me as I give a glare that tells him not to let her take me but Jen also has a glare that tells him to say yes. He clears his throat obviously conflicted, “I’m not sure which one of you I should be more afraid of right now.”

“Me!” I exclaim, “Very clearly me!”

Jen approaches me, “Okay come on let’s go before you scare this one away.” I face her ready to say no but she interrupts me, “If you deny me, I will just come back in the morning and ask you again only your friends and bosses will be there to see me dominate you like a lion on a gazelle. It’s your choice honey.”

I groan at that and throw my pen on the table standing up as she grins in pride, “You may be victorious now but I will beat you someday.” I look at Andrew, “If I don’t call in the next two hours report me as a missing person.” Andrew grins amused and I reluctantly follow my cousin on the way to beauty hell.

Two Hours Later

The strip of wax being yanked off my eyebrow causes me to yell out in pain, “Ow!” The locker room restroom we’re in keeps the painful shout in. I grip the chair I’m sitting in trying not to hit her for getting me in this hellscape.

She presses the area to keep the swelling down, “Hey it’s your fault for growing a jungle on your face.” After we finished redoing my hair back to the long glamourous blonde it was before I left for Seattle we moved on to waxing which is always my least favorite part. I wince at the hot wax being spread on my upper left eyebrow, “Your lucky I got here when I did otherwise you’d sport a goatee like Andrew.”

She puts the strip over the wax, “Hey at least my guy can grow facial hair does Matt use any shaving cream or is it all just for your legs?” I can tell I pissed her off because she yanks the strip off with more force than necessary causing me a fire ball of pain, “Ow! You evil bitch!”

“Nope that’s you.” Jen grins as she presses the stripped flesh, “You know you can make fun but at least I’m in a long-standing relationship. I’m with a guy who loves me and takes care of me but also gets that I don’t need a man to swoop in and save me. It’s nice and trust me honey you can take a note from me.”

I raise an inflamed eyebrow at her, “In the four years you’ve known me when have I raised concerns about who I date?”

Jen spreads wax on my lower left eyebrow, “Well some of the people you dated wouldn’t qualify as people. I mean seriously cuz I’m just waiting for this new guy to either hit on me in front of you or ask you to give him a handy on the subway.” She strips off the wax that doesn’t feel so painful as I get used to it.

I narrow my eyes at her accusations about Andrew, “He’s not like that. I know I’ve said that before but this time I actually mean it.” Jen looks at me intrigued, “He’s smart and funny and nice and he isn’t scared of me.”

“Is the sex good?” Jen asks me genuinely curious, “I mean I would’ve looked at his feet but you say it’s a myth.”

“It is but somehow he’s an exception.” I grin mischievously as Jen chuckles in delight, “He’s tender and he makes me scream in pleasure and he doesn’t sneak out and ghost me right after. He’s easy to hang out with and easy to talk to, which as you know is a challenge for me. And somehow, he has emotions which he expresses more than I do.”

“Well, it’s not really that hard to do.”

“Yeah, except he’s actually emotional and protective of me which should seem barbaric but somehow it’s not coming from him.” Jen spreads lotion on my waxed eyebrows, “Somehow, he is perfect in every way imaginable and I am so not which he hasn’t figured out yet. I mean what is wrong with him that he can’t see what I and everybody else can see clear as day? I’m convinced he lost a bet or has a tumor of his own.”

“Oh come on Amber.” Jen chastises me gently, “Your every guys dream girl, you watch sports, save lives, have natural assets and you look like a runway model. He’d be an idiot to let you go.”

I grin flattered, “Well your my cousin and my unpaid cheerleader your supposed to think the best of me.”

Jen puts the wax away, “Somebody has to, your done.” I exhale in relief and look in the mirror grinning at the job well done, “See? And it only took two hours and this was all done in a public restroom am I good or what?”

“If I say your good, can I go back to studying with my boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

I fluff my wavy hair, “You are the god of all beauticians. Now please leave and don’t come back unless Matt has another fainting spell.” We walk towards the closed door to open it but I hear voices outside and stop.

I can make out Qadri chastising Roy, “Roy that is so mean even for you.”

“Oh come on like your all not thinking it.” Roy responds smugly, “Her cousin’s fiancé faints about a minute into their engagement. There’s nothing wrong with him on the scans or the blood tests. I mean people get cold feet all the time but in his case his feet barely keep him up before the wedding bells. I don’t think I’d blame him I mean she’s hot but she doesn’t seem like the kind of girl I’d get hitched to for life.” I look at Jen who frowns hurt and I move to open the door but she slaps my hand before I can reach and retract it knowing not to fight her.

“Roy you are the worst.” Helm says in disgust, “I mean she seems sweet; I’d like to see if her and Amber actually share genetic material but she’s a nice girl.”

Roy snorts, “Yeah she got the heart and her cousins got the brains.” I curl my fist resisting the urge to burst through the door and punch him and I can sense Jen doing the same, “Maybe that’s why he’s fainting, she’s not the Karev he wanted to ask out that night and had to settle for the loud second best.” I can hear a few interns chuckling as Roy continues, “I mean that could be why he’s fainting, the stress of knowing he made a mistake is causing him fainting spells and it doesn’t help to have a Chatty Kathy with him 24/7.” I can’t take it anymore as I open the door and it hits the wall hard causing them to look at us and I’m sure even with the supermodel hairs we look like their worst nightmare. Roy’s smile falls as he looks scared for his life as he should be.

I glare viciously as I get ready to tear him down, “You know Roy of all the-”

Jen shushes me, “I got this cuz.” She struts toward Roy with a startling grin that’s more scary than comforting, “You know your right I mean marriage is a very scary thing and maybe Matt does have cold feet but at least he knows what it’s like to have a woman in his bed instead of a blowup doll that I’m sure you named after your favorite pornstar. Or your mommy you seem like you have those issues judging by your small dick energy.” I grin at her as she continues, “I might not have an MD or know anything about how the human body works but I have a 60K salary and live in a 2 bedroom in Greenwich Village.” She whirls around asking everybody, “Do any of you have an apartment that has an oven or even pay retail for luxury items?” They all stay silent confirming her suspicions causing her to smile, “I didn’t think so.” She turns back to Roy who looks more relaxed clearly underestimating her which will be his downfall, “You know she thinks I don’t know this but my cousin did a DNA test about a month after we met.” I purse my lips at that, “She’s crap at leaving her letters open on my table and I didn’t blame her. You look at both of us and you can’t believe we share blood. But you know there is one thing just one thing that I share with my cousin that comes from genetics.”

Roy scoffs condescending, “And what-” Roy’s question is stopped with a punch to the stomach by a very pissed off Jen who caught him by surprise. I grin at her very proud and very satisfied Roy was put in his place by a hairdresser of all things.

Jen grins, “We both have a killer right hook.” Roy whimpers in pain and kneels down on the floor holding his groin and she turns sharply slapping his face with her long ponytail and struts out arm in arm with me. We walk down the hall looking fabulous until we reach the neuro lab where Andrew is still working and looks up at us or more specifically me. His eyes practically pop out of his head due to the fact I look like I did when we first met.

“Wow.” Andrew puts his pen down and turns his chair toward me grinning, “I gotta say I’m glad I let her kidnap you.”

I chuckle and stand in front of his holding his shoulders, “Yeah well enjoy it while it lasts because until her next visit I’m gonna let all this slip away.” I kiss him and turn to Jen with my arm around his shoulder and his around my back, “I’m sorry you had to hear that Jen, I should’ve warned you Roy has the mindset of a toxic 90’s male.”

Jen waves me off, “Oh please I’ve handled worse in the East Village although those guys didn’t pass the MCAT.”

“Yeah I think I’m gonna look into that for Roy and see if I can prove he’s a fraud as well as a disgrace to medicine and men everywhere.” I can see Jen looks uneasy for a moment and Andrew sees it too as he asks her.

“Hey what’s wrong?”

Jen sighs and puts the bag on the table and faces us with a serious face for one, “What if…What if Matt doesn’t really want to marry me?”

I mentally curse at Roy for putting that in her head, “Jen don’t listen to what those assholes said okay?”

“Just hear me out. These attacks what if their caused by stress about getting married to me and spending the rest of his life with me?” I chuckle at the absurdity but she doesn’t have it, “Don’t laugh you two are the doctors here can you honestly tell me it wouldn’t be an accurate diagnosis?”

Andrew steps in, “Jen there are a lot of possible reasons that would explain-”

“They started right after he proposed.” I look at Jen in sympathy, “I mean what if I’m not the girl he imagined a future with? I mean you heard what he said you’d be a more logical choice for him than me.”

Andrew looks at me confused, “Wait what?”

I squeeze his shoulder to reassure him, “It’s nothing, it’s just Roy said some things that got into Jen’s head and now she’s talking crazy, well crazier.”

Jen narrows her eyes at me, “I am so glad you find me stressing about my fiancé getting cold feet so funny.”

“Okay first of all me and Matt? Gross like Facebook cyst popping reel’s gross.” Jen looks at me offended, “Not for you, he’s perfect for you but him and me it makes my skin crawl. I mean the guy did puppetry in high school, you know those things freak me out.” Andrew snorts beside me and I explain, “Chucky is the one horror icon I wouldn’t take on, would you?”

“Okay I see your point.”

I focus back on Jen, “Jen, come on, it’s Matt. I’ve known him longer than you have and we both know he’s a terrible liar. I mean remember when he wanted to surprise you with a reservation at Kochi and ended up spilling the beans in his sleep.” I step away from Andrew to grip Jen’s shoulders assuring her, “The guy loves you; he doesn’t have a deceptive bone in his scrawny body. If he had any doubts about marrying you which he doesn’t he would tell you, trust me.”

“But he wouldn’t tell me.” Jen keeps freaking out, “He would just bottle it in until it comes out and he falls asleep as a result of the stress. I mean you said it yourself the labs, the scans they don’t show anything what is it’s in his mind? What if I’m making promises he can’t keep?”

I sigh at her neurosis, “Look if you’re so worried about this why don’t you just go back to the hotel and ask Matt point blank if he really wants to marry you? I know we didn’t grow up with this but communication is key to a long-lasting relationship from what I’ve heard.”

Jen groans, “I can’t ask him he’s just gonna lie and say of course I want to marry you.”

I nod seeing her point, “How about I do it?”

“Amber, I love you but your just gonna scare him into saying what he has to because he’s afraid you’ll castrate him on my behalf.” I open my mouth to defend myself but again I see her point she turns to DeLuca, “Can you ask him? Just do his exam tomorrow and ease it into the conversation and report back to me.”

Andrew is taken back and chuckles nervously but Jen glares at him in a way that keeps him quiet. I look at him silently telling him to do it or she’ll do something bad to him, “I guess I can throw it in while I help Pierce with his EKG.”

I nod and give him an assuring grin turning to my cousin, “If we find a medical reason for his syncope will it make you feel better about this engagement?”

“Yes.”

I turn back to the table, “Okay I will go over his labs again and see if they missed anything before his test tomorrow.”

Jen nods appreciative, “You’re the best.” She grabs her bag and turns to Andrew, “If he says anything about cold feet or reminiscing his single days or planning to bag a stripper before the wedding you tell me got it?”

“Got it.”

Jen walks out the door, “Night hot doctors!” Andrew and I grin at each other amused by her energy and I look at Matt’s labs again hoping she and Roy are wrong about this.

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

Hi, I see that you've been getting a lot of jikook asks, so I just wanted to share my viewpoint. I've started to get skeptical the past few months and now I'm leaning more towards they aren't together. Today in jungkooks live he kept talking about wanting to do a redo at yoongis concert tomorrow. He kept repeating it multiple times and even asked yoongi. Yoongi ends up telling him not tomorrow, and people are speculating that it's because jimin is performing. So if jimin actually performs tomorrow that really seals the deal for me because how wouldn't you know your bf is performing? On the inkigayo live jungkook said he doesn't keep up with the members all the time and I saw a lot of people say he wasn't talking about jimin, but if jimin does perform tomorrow it shows that they truly don't talk often.

Hi! I get having doubts - we don't have undeniable "proof" and we keep being told we're crazy because shipping is pretty much a sport in kpop - but your reasoning just isn't solid. If you have doubts, this should not be one of them.

Jungkook may have asked Yoongi for a redo of his performance, but he wasn't being serious. I'm sure he knew both Jimin and RM were performing on the remaining days of his tour, and every concert is meticulously planned weeks in advance, so you can't just decide to perform the day before. For example, Jungkook's dancers may not have been available to perform. Jungkook wanting to perform again on day 2 says nothing of his knowledge that Jimin was performing already. Even if Jimin himself didn't tell him he was performing, you think Suga wouldn't have? You think they didn't all talk about it on their group chat? I mean, three different members performed in the finale of Suga's tour, which was obviously a big deal for him, and 2Seok even appeared in the last day to watch the concert! What are the odds that they didn't all know who would be showing up? Imo Suga added those three days just to give Jhope the opportunity to catch one of his concerts after completing his training. Jin and Hobi probably had to ask for permission to attend Yoongi's concert, and I think one of the members had already mentioned they'd all been planning a get together. Do you really think all seven of them didn't know who would be performing and when? Jungkook asking Yoongi to perform the next day says nothing about his relationship with Jimin. Why couldn't both he and Jimin have performed on day 2? The fans wouldn't have minded, right? But you can't just decided on these things on spur of the moment, which Jungkook knows.

Also, there are times where Jungkook doesn't seem to be aware of Jimin's schedule, like when he commented on Jimin's live that he wanted to go watch him on music shows but Jimin said he had just performed the last one. If you recall, at that time Jimin was super busy while Jungkook was still resting. He went to bed in the morning, either seemingly slept all day or not at all, had no official schedules or responsibilities, and didn't seem to go out very much or work out. When you live like that, every day is the same. You can't tell if it's Monday or Friday because it makes no difference to you. Even if Jimin had told Jungkook he would be on Inkigayo on a Sunday, Jungkook may not have realized it was Sunday already, or that Jimin had meant that Sunday and not the next one. You know what I mean? Plus, people forget. Jikook aren't fan/artist, they're very close which means they don't write down on their calendars when the other is releasing something or performing somewhere. They know but they might forget or get a date wrong, or maybe one forgets to tell the other because they don't just want to talk about their jobs. We know Jungkook watches Jimin's stuff, but Jimin may not even tell him he'll be on a variety show in advance because it's not important? That's just his job. To us it's a big deal, but to them, photoshoots, dance practices, music shows, etc. are just their daily lives. How well do you know what your partner/best friend/parent does every day at work?

Besides, Jikook literally hanged out in NYC a few weeks ago, they talk frequently in each other's lives, Jimin knew Jungkook had a schedule at 2pm the day of his shirtless live, Jungkook watches Jimin videos all the time in his lives - and not just when he releases a new song, like he does for the other members -, etc. Just because we don't have as much content, and Jikook likely can't see each other as often (for example, Jungkook said he wanted to do a live with Jimin, but their schedules weren't aligning), it doesn't mean they're no longer close. Don't forget that Jikook are very private and rarely post pics with friends and stuff. V and Mingyu might post pics hanging out with Jungkook, but Jungkook doesn't post pics with them. Since Jimin is the same, we're unlikely to get any pics of their time together, but that doesn't mean they never see each other...

[indigowallbreaker]

Hey there! If it's fine, may I request 63 from the kiss prompts with Sylvain, Felix, and Ashe? Just found your writings recently and they're great! <3

Glad you’re enjoying my work! I hope you enjoy this too!

63. Routine Kisses Where The Other Person Presents Their Cheek/Forehead For The Hello/Goodbye Kiss Without Even Looking Up From What They’re Doing

(Currently accepting rare ships! Click here for the info post!)

--

The Gautier estate was not a very calming place, even with Sylvain taking the title of Margrave. There were always meetings to attend, troops to train, orders to give-- not to mention the piles and piles of paperwork. Ashe had to consciously carve out time to just sit and listen to the logs in the fireplace crackle, or savor the lunch he helped the cooks make, or pursue the library in for a good book. And it was pulling teeth trying to get Sylvain to slow down and do the same.

Once Felix finally moved in with them, Ashe had declared the mornings “rush free”. 

“So if renegade Empire troops attack the borders I’m just supposed to stay tucked in bed?” Felix had asked gruffly.

Ashe frowned. “That would be an exception.”

“Hurray.”

Sylvain nudged Felix. “Come on, you came here to spend more time with us, didn’t you? What’s wrong with having mornings to ourselves?”

“And it wouldn’t be the whole morning,” Ashe added. “Just time enough to have breakfast together. No interruptions.”

After grumbling about needing to redo his training schedule, Felix had agreed. Sylvain, praising Ashe for his great idea, agreed as well.

It wasn’t easy. At first the trio had a whole two hours to themselves every morning. But, within a fortnight, that time had dwindled to half an hour. Then Felix had put his foot down and yelled at the Gautier staff for needing so much hand holding-- and Sylvain, equally frustrated, did nothing to reign him in. Ashe had apologized to the servants later but gave each general and advisor a firm glare.

Which is how, at long last, Ashe found himself on the couch in their sitting room, listening to the crackle of the fireplace and sandwiched comfortably between Sylvain and Feix. Sylvain had one hand in Ashe’s hair as he reviewed a report for his afternoon meeting. Felix drank his tea, feet propped up on the low table in front of them and occasionally bumping Sylvain’s leg. 

The clock began to chime, breaking the quiet. Sylvain heaved a sigh. “Alright, I gotta get ready.”

Felix scowled. “I still don’t see what you could possibly do for merchants out of the eastern port,” he said into his cup. 

“I think they just need me to sit at the head of the table and be stunningly handsome while they talk it out.”

Ashe laughed and Felix rolled his eyes as Sylvain disappeared into their bedroom to change. “You have to get going too, right?” Ashe asked, bumping Felix with his shoulder.

“I’ve got some time.”

Ashe didn’t know if he fully believed that but he wasn’t about to push Felix away. Leaning forward, Ashe took the top letter from his pile of that day’s mail and opened it, settling back against Felix again. “Can I read you the latest update from Gaspard? My sister’s reports are always more detailed than my brother’s.”

“Sure.”

The letter was detailed enough that Ashe was still reading when Sylvain left the bedroom fully dressed. “I’m off,” Sylvain announced, folding his arms over the back of the couch between them.  

“Good luck,” Ashe said as he tilted his left cheek up. Felix did the same with his right, eyes still on the letter. Sylvain pressed a kiss to each cheek before ruffling Ashe’s hair one last time and turning for the door. 

He stopped in the doorway. “Don’t you have that thing, Felix? The captain orientation thing? Or is that tomorrow?”

“It’s today. I’ll leave soon.” Felix waved a hand at Sylvain to urge him out the door. “Get going, and don’t forget to be handsome or whatever.”

With a wink, Sylvain left. Ashe looked at Felix. “Captain orientation? Are you late?”

Felix shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I mostly just need my swords. Finish the letter.”

Luckily they were on the last page. Once done, Ashe gently took Felix’s empty tea cup from him. “Get dressed,” he ordered just as gently.

Felix stood from the couch, hesitated, then continued on to the bedroom. Taking the next letter, Ashe sat back again the pillow Sylvain had been using as an armrest, trying to draw peace from the warmth Sylvain had left behind and the lingering scent of Felix’s tea.

When Felix opened the bedroom door again, he was indeed armed with both his favorite swords. He fiddled with the straps on their scabbards as he approached Ashe. 

Ashe inclined his head and accepted Felix’s kiss to his forehead.  “Good luck,” he said as Felix straightened.

“I hate when we leave at the same time,” Felix blurted out.

Ashe looked up. “Huh?’

Hands still busy with his straps, Felix said, “When Sylvain and I have things to do but you stay here-- I hate when we have to run out on you. So I wanted to stagger this morning a bit.” Felix met Ashe’s gaze. “I know I didn’t think much of this idea at first but it’s been nice having time set aside just for you two. I’d hate to make you feel abandoned just because we have places to be.”

Ashe found himself smiling as he took one of Felix’s hands. “We’re all busy, Felix. That’s why I wanted to plan this time together in the first place! As long as we have that-- and as long as we’re all together at the end of the night-- then I could never feel abandoned. Is that how you feel, when I have to go on missions and Sylvain has meetings and we leave you here?”

“No...”

“Then I’m fine.” Ashe kissed his knuckle. “We’re fine. I love you.”

“I love you too.” 

Accepting one more kiss to the forehead, Ashe let go for Felix. “You’ll be late.”

“Like they could start without me.” But Felix turned for the door and, with one last look at Ashe, left.

Ashe settled back into the couch again. As he continued reading the letter from Caspar, he absently wondered how to increase their mornings back to two hours. 

Somehow, he got the feeling Felix would like that. 

[mousieta]

2022 Drama Rankings: Dropped Shows

Bulgasal

Year: 2022 Country: Korea Platform: Netflix Episodes watched: 2/16 I so wanted to like this one, I was quite excited for the cast as I enjoy Lee Jin Wook, Kwon Na Ra and Lee Joon quite a bit in other shows. The premise, also, felt very Guardian-esq in a good way. I enjoy a good immortal series and Korean fantasy with a dark gritty edge? Yes, sign me up.

Unfortunately I could never get past the first two episodes. It fell victim to the trap that immediately kills my desire to continue watching a show: I started rewriting the whole thing *as* I was watching it (at least with Love in the Air the rewriting didn’t start for me until I’d seen the whole thing). But once my writer brain kicks in to redo it all, the show is done for me, its no longer fun, it is work and frustration.

I just didn’t care for the writerly choices as they felt poor and led to the overall tone of those first two episodes being very flat, emotionally. I just didn’t care about any character enough to make the flaws worth it.

Business Proposal

Year: 2022 Country: Korea Platform: Netflix Episodes Watched: 2/12 This was sharp and slick, and very cute. I made it, again, through about two episodes before I realized I just didn’t care enough to keep going. The cute felt a little too much, as though the show were depending on that and its bag of tropes rather than believable characterizations and moving plots.

The writing of what I saw seemed fine, the acting was fine, the directing was a little to into itself but it was fine. Fine, fine, fine, and in a lineup of much more compelling shows, I just didn’t feel like spending my time with fine.

F4 Boys over Flowers

Year: 2022 Country: Korea Platform: Netflix Episodes Watched: 3/16 I think I may just be Boys Over Flowersed out, y’all. Again, like Business Proposal, it was cute and fine. I made it through three episodes and just kept forgetting to watch more. I guess I don’t love BrightWin enough to watch heterosexual shenanigans.

The casting seemed spot on and I love that Thailand now has their own version which seemed to do well. I have the Korean version which was my first and the Chinese version which is my favorite and I think that’s enough F4 for me.

The Wind Blows from Longxi

Year: 2022 Country: China Platform: Viki Episodes Watched: 9/24 Of all the shows on this list - and maybe any other on my Dropped list this one and the next make me the saddest. I got quite far as well, nearly halfway. On paper, this has everything I need. The writing is good and intense with layers of conflict and constant guessing at the twists and turns of the plot. It is slick and well-directed and the acting is phenomenal. It also has a delicious staple: a tense and fraught m/m love/betrayal dynamic. This should have been catnip but for some reason I was  always either too mentally tired to engage, or would get distracted watching other things. Dropping this was definitely an ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ thing. Hopefully, someday I’ll have the capacity for it because I think it would be an excellent and captivating binge watch.

Heroes

Year: 2022 Country: China Platform: YouTube Episodes Watched: 19/38 This is another one that dropping made me sad. It was delightful and has Baron Chen!! An OT3 Romance! Delightful DMBJ connections!! All I can say is what did it in for me was likely the platform. I don’t have the fancy YouTube so watching commercials made it impossible for my ADHD brain to keep focused on an episode, I kept getting lost in the plot (which isn’t why I was bothering to watch but would have been nice to follow) Now that it is on Viki I might give it another go when I’m in the right mood.

Strangers from Hell

Year: 2019 Country: Korea Platform: Netflix Episodes Watched: 5/10 This was so, so good. Amazing. Gripping. Twisted. Lee Dong Wook was terrifying and compelling, Im Si Wan was as good as he ever is. Everything about this was good. I am just a great big old scaredy-pants who cannot tolerate anything suspensful or scary (I never have been able to).

I did my best: I only watched on brightly lit weekends in the middle of the day, and only one episode at a time. With those restrictions I managed to make it to episode 5 before I just couldn’t take it anymore. Highly recommend if psychological horror is your jam, you will be very pleased with it, I think. I just…can’t watch anymore. Dong Wook I still love you though! I just love sleeping through the night more.

2022 Drama Reviews Masterlist

[mekatrio]

OK my tingle thoughts before i end up forgetting them

let me get the negatives out of the way first..... firstly, the racism: terrible. yamatami tribe is super uncomfy and everything abt samba the king's daughter makes me want to strangle whoever at vanpool that had thought of this. deku forest being a temperate forest yet having a rando tarzan-esque hero is like 🆗. also the random durians in mt desma despite durian not being a mountain fruit at all.. like yeah ok this isnt the only fruit to grow in a random place, but the association of durian = exotic, which by proxy equates seasia = exotic, is.... 😑 also this isnt racism but i was disappointed that pinkle ended up having a thing for tingle. i was put off by the whole "you saved me from a terrible situation so i must reward you" bla bla bla deal. theres more layers to this that im honestly not to bothered to tackle like how its a subversion of expectations with how tingle is portrayed as a 'ugly character', but the way this game wrote its female characters just felt stereotypical af and its like eh.... and like it sounds worse in balloon trip of love which i have absolutely 0 plans to play.

and secondly THE GAMEPLAY JANK..... like the rupee system is Very... yeah i played without a guide for like the first dungeon before i realized it was unsustainable. bc it really is. practically no leeway for players who may ask for too much rupees, and asking for too little will end up stifling players' progression. and in both situations theyre gonna have to go and grind for rupees which is REALLY... NOT AT ALL fun to do. there is nothing fun about loading and reloading a map area to kill some enemies again and again in order to sell their drops. or digging an area over and over again. this doesnt just extend to rupees but to getting ingredients as well; like i dont understand why minced meat is so hard to come by. like after the first continent, i barely got any minced meat. and minced meat is a main ingredient for the health potion so its like.... fuck me i guess. had to farm minced meat at cape treasure until i was rich enough that it wasnt too much of a loss to just revive my bodyguards with rupees.

other gameplay janks are the fact that there isnt a way to view the zoomed in map in its entirety, the walking speed is sooooo slowww, and you can fucking lose access to fast travel to the most recent area if you neglect the tower. also there are a few puzzles and one boss fight that requires pushing shit around; and if you have a bodyguard they will 100% makes things even more difficult for you, sometimes to point where they'll push the item to a corner and you have to leave and reload the entire area to redo it. terrible developer oversight. also fast travel and saving is so tedious 😑

and the last main 'complaint' (sort of)... this game made me realize that ive been taking satisfying endings and credits for granted. bc ive been playing so many amazing games in these recent years, ive come to expect that the finale and its accompanying credits of any game would be a satisfying wrap-up of everything ive achieved. but trr had made me realize that No!!! thats not always a given. because i definitely didnt get that in this game. and that was so disappointing to me, because this game had so many diverse and quirky and unique characters and settings, but there was no final acknowledgement or one last wave goodbye for any of them. what a shame.

also the ending itself was uh.... not very satisfying either. both the good ending and the standard ending. i think i like the standard ending more honestly. it was nicer to see the children lament the adult's greed, than it was to see the unrealistic ideal of rupeeland actually be achieved (yes im completely aware how silly this sounds irt a tingle game IDC). neither ending was a super deep commentary on money and i wasnt expecting it to be a Perfect Socialist Manifesto, but the ending was essentially just "money can be good and money can be bad. ok bye" and it was like.... ??? ok bye

OK NOW THE GOOD PARTS: i love the music and i think the art direction of this game was soooo so fun. it was so quirky and zany and it reminds me a lot of mother 3! its like mother 3 if it wasnt an rpg, didnt have emotional moments, and hated you even more than mother 3 hated you. thats what this tingle game was like.

despite the gameplay jank, i think there were many good parts abt its gameplay. like despite how badly designed the rupee system is, i think it made for a very interesting setting and really emphasized how valued rupees are to the characters of this world. i really wish it was designed a bit better bc i really didnt hate the idea of this mechanic. and the music and character portrait screen when youre made to ask/pay for rupees is so creative and good too!

i think the mapping system was super fun as well. annoying that you couldnt view the full zoomed in map, and that sometimes the circling feature just... wouldnt work.. but paying attention to the overworld while simultaneously paying attention to the map, and being paid handsomely for spotting the differences made exploration all the more rewarding. and i loved the bodyguard system! i think the 'combat' in this game was very fun actually. i loved the music of the bodyguard's combat. the bodyguard salons were such a fun tidbit of world-building, and it was nice to have a place where i could actually spend money and get something worthawhile in return, compared to the rest of the game where you need to pay people just for the basic decency of like, being able to talk to them (which i dont mind thats how this world works, but again it was nice to SPEND MONEY ON SMTH USEFUL). see, i liked a lot of this game's mechanics, its just that they werent ironed out enough and had enough jank to really piss you off 😮‍💨

the dungeons (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE WRETCHED INSECT CAVERN FUCK THAT PLACE FOREVER) were good too! nothing to write home about but like they were fine. but oh man the boss fights.... THEY WERE ALL AWESOME!!! sorry minish cap and albw but i actually enjoyed the boss fights in this game a lot more than any top-down zelda ones LOL. each one was so different and creative and unlike zelda, didnt just rely on Sole Item Gimmick for you to defeat them. and they were actually challenging!! but not too challenging to feel unfair. i think the lack of a standard combat system allowed for boss fights as interesting as these.

what else... i think it was really fun to see the foreshadowing of uncle rupee throughout the game. i think pinkle's ominous dialogue of being trapped in a room all day was very neat. i liked the lyphos lore too. OH and the zelda references throughout the game was amazing. like aba and her father being a sort of emotional reunion echoing the hero of time's origins.. only for them to beat each other's asses a second later was great. the saria theme in the deku forest was awesome too.

overall it was a game that i wish i could like more. like i really really wish i could like this game more! cuz the parts that i liked i really liked. also i only played like 30 minutes of phantom hourglass but this game was way better than that regarding its control scheme (fuck nintendo for ph and st control scheme forever btw). unfortunately trr has too many weird things and gameplay jank that i cant like it as much as id like. sad!