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thatsadbietch · 2 years ago

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Silly Little Ruler

I’ve been on a Dreamlight Valley kick recently and just had to write for it. I noticed there wasn’t a lot of content for it, within the t-community or in general, so I made the content, as one does.

Warnings: This is a tickle fic, scroll forth if not your cuppa tea. Also my other fics usually at least have a swearing warning, but I get “The Good Place” feeling from DLV where it’ll censor your curses lol.

Lee!Ruler(player character), Ler!Goofy, slight Ler!Ruler, Lee!Goofy

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You’d had a hunch you were the lost Ruler of Dreamlight Valley, but now as more memories flooded back and you received constant nagging from Scar and Mother Gothel, you were absolutely certain. Merlin had warned you not to blame yourself, that things are just meant to happen, good and bad, and we are meant to meet these things when the time is right. Though you couldn’t help but feel at least somewhat responsible, especially with The Forgotten still running around. This time though, you were going to be the Ruler these characters could depend on.

“My friend, did you hear me?” Merlin asked. You jolted out of your own thoughts, remembering he was trying to teach you a new spell.

“... Is everything all right?”

“Yes, definitely! Just not 100% awake yet, I guess,” you lied, not wanting to worry the old wizard. He’d done so much to help you already and he was the first you went to once you figured out you were the old Ruler. However, Merlin would not be easily fooled. He sighed

“You know, things are quiet today. Too beautiful a day to waste, yes?”

“Merlin,” you protested, “There’s still The Forgotten, there are areas still covered in Night Thorns, other villagers might need my help-”

“My friend,” Merlin stopped you, placing one of his hands on your fidgeting ones. You’d only just then noticed you were doing so. “You have been a tremendous help to us. Much of the villagers’ memories have been restored and they are living their lives here as they were before the Forgetting.”

“Merlin-”

“Hush, child,” he scolded, though softly, as your walls came down a bit and he saw your distress. “You will not be able to help us if you don’t let us help you, or at the very least allow you to help yourself.” You sighed and crossed your arms, unable to argue. Merlin smiled softly.

“Now then, I do have a few other matters to tend to today. However I noticed Goofy up and about, you should see what he’s up to. It may do you some good, and may bring back some memories. I can vaguely recall you two running about the Valley together and having a grand time.” You were quiet, trying to remember. You knew you were good friends with everyone here, even the villains. And you do remember hanging out with Goofy a lot.

“I don’t know, Merlin. We may have been good friends then, but what if he’s upset about me leaving?”

“Oh, you’ve been talking to Scar, haven’t you?”

“...I talk to everyone.”

“Don’t let that lazy lion put thoughts in your head. Go on, go see what Goofy is up to, I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.” You didn’t protest any further, and walked through the Peaceful Meadow to find the villager in question, fishing in the pond just behind his house. You stifled a laugh at his hilarious method of casting his line.

“Good morning, Goofy.” Goofy spun around to meet you, smile plastered on his features.

“Good morning pal! What can I do for ya?”

“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to… hang out? I was talking to Merlin earlier, he said he remembered us hanging out a lot, and I know I’ve been busy restoring the village…”

Goofy’s face lit up and embraced you, dropping his fishing rod in the process.

“A-hyuck! Of course I want to hang out, pal!” You were taken aback, and his reaction warmed you. But before you could respond, you noticed Goofy’s fishing rod scooting across the grass toward the pond.

“Goofy, your fishing rod!”

“Huh? Oh!” you both grabbed hold and began to real in his catch, a sizeable Bream.

“Gawrsh, look at that! Thanks for the hand!” Goofy said, motioning for you to follow him to Remy’s restaurant to drop off his catch.

“All right, pal, what do ya wanna do now?”

“Goofy… do you remember what we used to do? Before the forgetting? Merlin said we’d be running around the Valley together all the time but…” your statement trailed off as a bright yellow light on the ground caught your attention.

“A memory…” you said as you picked it up, Goofy in tow. It was only a fraction of a memory, but you could see a heavily forested area, with what appeared to be Mickey hiding and laughing behind a tree.

“Hey! That’s Mickey!” Goofy said, and pointed to another part of the memory. “And that look’s like my hat!” Your eyes followed and sure enough, Goofy’s hat could be seen right where the memory fragmented. “Maybe we’re playing hide and seek in the Forest of Valor?”

“Hmm… Seems a little silly though, right?” You asked, to which Goofy laughed.

“But it sure looks like Mickey was having fun! Maybe you were there, too!” You smiled at him. It was hard not to: his positivity was radiant and contagious.

“Let’s go check it out.”

“I’ll race ya!” With that, Goofy took off toward the forest. You shook your head and chuckled, jogging to follow him up the hill leading to the forest. Once in the Forest of Valor, you looked around and were greeted by the resident raccoons, but lost sight of Goofy.

“I see, he’s already hiding,” you thought. You couldn’t help the slight grin from spreading on your face, and even more so when you saw a familiar green hat poking out over a bush. You crept up to it slowly, then:

“Found you!” you exclaimed… to an empty space.

“Gotcha, pal!” Goofy cheered from behind you, wrapping his arms around your shoulders. You jumped and involuntary squeaked, but it dissolved as you laughed.

“You got me pretty good, Goof!” As Goofy retrieved his hat, a familiar glow appeared near the bush.

“Another piece of the memory,” you said. Goofy picked it up and studied the image briefly, smiling warmly before giving it to you to observe. This was a rather big piece, you could see Stitch in another tree and Woody and Buzz peeking out from a bush. This was definitely in the Forest of Valor, and it looked like Goofy’s guess had been right; everyone appeared to be hiding. The biggest hint though was the face of a child: your face. There seemed to be no care or worry in your bright eyes and joyous smile. You were looking back at something, but that was where the memory stopped.

“It looked like we have one more piece missing. Let’s get all our pals together! We can play the game and recover the memory!” Goofy cheered.

“I don’t know, Goof… I mean, I think the memory speaks for itself as is. Maybe there are other ones we should be looking for?”

“Oh, please, pal? Let’s finish this one. You look… so happy… I don’t think I’ve seen you like that since before the Forgetting…” You looked up at Goofy, seeing for the first time today his smile fall. Your heart broke a bit and you sighed: you needed to be a good Ruler.

“Goofy, if this is important to you, it’s important to me. Let’s go get the others and play a few rounds to recover the memory.”

“Ya mean it? Yippie!” Goofy shouted, and ran off to gather the friends in the photo.

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“Hey guys, glad you could come!” you said genuinely as Woody, Buzz, Stitch, and Mickey followed Goofy back to the forest.

“You bet, always ready for a good playtime, partner!” Woody commented.

“And recovering a memory. Anything we can do to help,” Buzz added.

“Yeah! Stitch keep up goodness level, help with memories!” The little blue fluff blurted, seeming to be bursting at the seams with energy.

“Gosh, I can’t remember the last time we played in the forest together,” Mickey added.

“Well, hopefully, that’ll change today. And if it doesn’t work, we’ll have new memories of it,” you responded, hoping to sound encouraging. Goofy placed a hand on your shoulder as if he knew you needed the reassurance.

“Okay! You all go hide, I’ll stay here and count. I already hid anyway, a-hyuck!” he said throwing you a wink, and before you knew it he started counting and everyone fanned out across the forest.

Your legs thought faster than you did and took off, first toward Anna and Kristoff’s house. Then noticed Stitch climbing up the side of the house, and aside from that strategy, it was too obvious a spot anyway.

You ran further up, crossing the bridge and then mentally face-palming yourself: running across a wooden bridge wasn’t exactly stealthy. Running out of options, you felt a tug at your pant leg, seeing a raccoon trying to direct you to follow it. You giggled a bit to yourself and followed it, this time over a path of stones to not create as much noise again, and you were led to the Pillar of Courage.

“Are you sure about this one?” you asked. The raccoon just shrugged, and ran off.

“Ready or not, here I come!” Goofy called out.

“That’s what I get for taking a raccoon’s advice,” you thought to yourself, ducking behind the pillar. Fortunately for you, Goofy marched in the direction of Anna and Kristoff’s first, finding Stitch with relative ease. Then he made a beeline for the bridge. He was Goofy, but no fool, and you were glad you’d hopped along the stone path on the way back.

A few minutes passed and you heard voices returning, and coming closer.

“Buuuzzz, Wooooody, Yyyy/Nnnnn!” Mickey called, “Come out, come out!”

Crap, Mickey was helping Goofy now. Was that part of the game before? What’s worse, (better?) you felt fluttering in your belly and chest. You don’t remember the last time you got butterflies from a game.

“AH HA! STITCH FIND YOU!” You jumped and looked furiously for the small blue alien, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen, so you risked a peek around the pillar and witnessed Stitch pounce on Buzz, who had tried to crawl out from under Goofy’s stall and make a run for it. You giggled at the scene, then noticed Goofy’s attention turn back in your direction. You whipped your head back behind the pillar.

“I don’t think he saw me…” You thought, and he didn’t. He did, however, see the glow of a memory piece a few feet in front of the pillar. You heard him approach as he retrieved the piece.

“D’awww, a-yhuck! I do remember this!” he said fondly. “Ruler, come out, I’ve got the last piece!” Goofy called, and you heard him approach the pillar.

“Well, I haven’t looked here yet,” you heard, and bolted from your hiding place.

“There you are!” Goofy yelled after you, gaining ground. You tried weaving in and out of trees, but being as tall as he was, he gained ground quickly and grabbed around your middle. You couldn’t stop your giggles at the silliness of everything.

“Yoohohou got me again, Goof,” you surrendered, but Goofy didn’t let go.

“Do ya still have those other two memory pieces, pal?”

“Y-Yeah, what’s up, Goofy?” you asked, pulling out the other two pieces. The last piece fit perfectly in the middle, and it magically adhered to create one picture. The photo revealed Goofy, now fully visible and reunited with his hat from the first found piece. You felt a blush come to your cheeks as you saw the younger version of yourself. It was Goofy you’d been looking back at with your boisterous smile. And no wonder; Goofy was hoisting you up and holding you against his chest with one hand while the other squeezed one of your sides. You looked up at Goofy, realizing why he hadn’t released you yet.

“...uh oh.” Goofy just chuckled and wasted no more time scribbling his fingers up your sides. You latched onto Goofy’s wrists and tried, rather poorly, to keep composed.

“Gohohof, thihis is silleehehe!”

“It sure is, a-yhuck! You might need a little “silly” sometimes, pal!” he countered, his fingers skittering across your belly, breaking your already weak composure.

“NAAHAHA, Goohoohoofy!” you wailed, throwing your head back onto his shoulder. You felt your knees weakening, but Goofy held firm; he wasn’t going to let you fall. He was, however, going to tickle all the worry out of you it seemed.

“A-goochie goochie goo! A-hyuck!” He teased, and laughed alongside you, scritching over and around the softer parts of your belly. Your giggles ran up an octave as you kicked at the ground beneath you.

“Goohoohooofyheeehee! Dohohohon’t DOHOHO THAHAHAT!” you squealed, and reached your hands up to cover your ears. Big mistake.

“NAHAHAHA! GOOHOOHOOFY!” His hands quickly and treacherously scurried to the hollows of your underarms, gently kneading in the sensitive area. Your arms shot back down, effectively trapping Goofy’s tickling fingers. Goofy realized you were barely standing by yourself anymore, and, all while continuing to torment your poor underarms, guided you both to sit on the ground, you leaning on his chest still.

“D’aawww, pal, look at you!” He cooed. “Just like in the memory!”

“GOOHOOFY!”

“I remember now, you loved being chased around the Valley. You were always up for a good game, especially when I was gonna tickle you by the end!”

“NAHAHAT TRUHOOHOOHOO!”

“D’uh oh, you wouldn’t be lying, would ya? No Ruler should be lying!” He scolded playfully, blowing a raspberry in your neck and wriggling his way down to your ribs. Both sensations at once drove you ballistic.

“OKAHAHAY! I LIHEHEHEKED THOHOHOSE GAAHAHAMES!” you cried out, squirming to no avail as Goofy had a leg on either side of you to keep you from squirming away for support.

“A-hyuck! I know you did, you were our resident gigglebug!”

“DOHOHON’T CALL MEHEEHE THAHAHAT!”

“You would sneak up on me all the time and do this!” He recalled, and at mach speed moved his hands from your ribs to your hips, pinching and wriggling his fingers on and above the taught skin over the bone. You jolted at the sudden change and shrieked.

“Tickle tickle tickle!” Goofy teased, and again laughed alongside you. Again, he was Goofy, but no fool, and knew exactly what he was doing.

“GOOHOOHOOF! I CAHAHAN’T! BWAHAHA!” you pleaded, and in the middle of doing so felt Goofy’s feathery-light swipes on your neck. Reflexively you scrunched down, and your giggles were a lot less maniacal and much more bubbly. Goofy’s heart melted on the spot.

“Still such a cutie, little gigglebug~”

“Ihaha’m not lihihittle anymohohore!” you protested, and in a moment of clarity reached and squeezed one of Goofy’s knees. His leg jerked and his ticklish assault on your neck halted.

“H-Heehehey! Nohoho fahahair!” He cackled in response, and gasped when you turned and pushed him on his back.

“Plenty *huff* fair!” you retorted, still catching your breath as you dug your fingers relentlessly into Goofy’s sides. Surprised by the quick turn of events, he yelped and dissolved into that contagious, goofy laughter that you’d just now realized you missed.

“W-waihehehet, pal! A-HUHUHAHAHA!”

“No way, it's my turn!”

Woody crawled out from his hiding spot near the staircase of the Frosted Highlands during your and Goofy’s commotion and picked up the memory where it lay a few feet from a vengeful Ruler and a hysterical Goofy. He snickered and smiled endearingly at the memory, and walked it back to the remainder of the group.

“Ha! That’s right,” Mickey started, “Goofy and Y/N always played that way, they were so silly together,” he reminisced. The toys and Stitch had memories coming back too, not just of this particular one, but other instances where you and they and other villagers participated in these games. If you and Goofy were involved it almost always ended in a one-sided tickle fight, but now that you were older and bigger, it seemed you did better in holding your own.

Speaking of, breaking everyone’s train of thought was a high-pitched squeal from the tall goof himself, as you vibrated your fingers on and in between his ribs.

“Pahahahal, it t-tihihihickles! A-hyuhuhuhueeee!” he cried, but made no real effort to free himself.

“That’s the point, you Goof!” you replied triumphantly. “Have a taste of your own medicine!”

“Maybe Goofy needs some help,” Buzz offered.

“Yeah! Stitch save Goofy!” The blue friend said and broke into a run on all fours, the others following closely behind.

You heard a familiar, devious laugh approaching, and stopped tormenting Goofy long enough to turn around and see a hoard of villagers running toward you.

“I’m not done with you, yet, Goof! But I gotta run,” you spat quickly, standing and sprinting as fast as you could down the hill and into the peaceful meadow. Goofy sat up and witnessed Stitch and Buzz whiz past him to catch up to you. Mickey and Woody stayed to help Goofy to his feet.

“You okay, partner? It looked like they got you pretty good,” Woody asked. Goofy only chuckled.

“They sure did! But it was all fun, a-hyuck!” he replied light-heartedly. “I was afraid they’d forgotten how to be silly.”

“I was too, actually,” Mickey said, and handed Goofy the completed memory.

“I think you should hang on to this for them for a little bit-” Mickey started, and another one of your squeals could be heard in the distance. “I think they’re a bit busy to take it back right now.”

The three of them laughed, and Goofy viewed the memory again, glad their Ruler was learning, or rather relearning, this rather important part of what made them best suited to lead.

#disney dreamlight valley #goofy #mickey #stitch #buzz lighyear and woody #buzz lightyear #woody the cowboy #ticklefic #tickle community #tickle fanfic #lee!reader #ler!goofy #ler!reader #lee!goofy #dreamlight valley #tickle #tickle fluff

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garmadragon · 6 years ago

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it's free real estate

suddenly I was in a bruiseshipping mood?? And then I actually wrote something about it??? this never happens I don't know what came over me.

rated... T? it's so fluffy we lost the plot in it, the whole thing is goofy intimacy. if you find the plot, please report it to the nearest station officer.

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"Eeuuuuugghhhh," Jay groans. Cole hums in agreement. That-- yeah that was pretty much it. The whole day spent hiking a mountain in the blistering summer heat only to figure out that the artifact they were looking for was on a different mountain, and then having to hike back down and losing their way in the weird scraggly buggy brush? And then getting caught in a rainstorm to end all rainstorms? And not even being allowed to use the dragons? Yeah, that elicits an 'eeuuuuugghhhh'.

With a flourish, Jay tosses his gi shirt into the dresser, where it makes a spectacular smack and flops onto the floor. He snaps the straps of his tank top anyways, bowing haphazardly to a sleepy audience.

Cole just puts his hands behind his head and falls onto his bed, and then thinks the better of it and spreads out across his, Kai's, and Jay's bed.

Jay makes a noise of complaint. He was super gonna sleep on that. Cole doesn't respond, however, even when he complains louder, so Jay decides to improvise around the problem and cannonballs right across where his spot should be, which is Cole's stomach.

He doesn't even knock the breath out of him, but having him startle enough to bring a hand out from behind his head to try to push him off is close enough. Jay Adamantly Refuses to be pushed off from His Spot.

"You," Cole says, cracking open one eye, "are heavy."

Jay sticks his tongue out and props his elbows on Cole's chest, scooting himself to be a full annoyance on top of him.

"You are also sharp," he grunts, shoving at his arms, but it doesn't do much besides make him falter and drop one elbow.

"My spot," Jay quips.

"Really? Cos I laid on it first. Think that means it's mine."

"'S not how that works."

"Yeah-huh."

"If that's how the rules are," Jay sniffs, "then this is mine now." He folds his arms under his chin and pats his hands rapidly on Cole's shoulders. Cole opens his other eye, considering the order of operations when claiming land space to the ruling of finders keepers. He looks up, at Jay's goofy half-grin and still-soaked hair and the beginnings of a sunburn across his nose and shoulders that have more freckles than they usually do, and then down at the blue sheet he is clearly lying on.

He shrugs. "Them's the rules." Then, before he can think the better of it because he knows it's gonna throw him off, he leans up and says "Congrats! This is yours."

Absolutely that little red tinge to Jay's ears is worth it. But instead of turning into a tiny ball of Mess and rolling off of him, his grin gets wider. He scoots a little to the right and threads his fingers through Cole's, his arm almost perfectly mirroring his own.

"This's mine now too, then. Free real estate."

Cole splutters a laugh. "If it's that easy," he says, and whips his other arm out from behind his head to wrap it around Jay's back. He squeaks, the blush from his ears starting to spread across his face, which is honestly adorable.

"It's-- it's not that easy," Jay says, trying and failing to keep a straight face. "One measly hand doesn't count."

"Mmhmm." Well that was a challenge if he ever gave one. He feints to the left and tries to roll, but Jay smacks a hand down in front of his face to block him. He rolls the other way, but the same thing happens, like a cat with a laser pointer. Cole tries to shove Jay off, resulting in him on top of his side instead. Jay is absolutely just giggling his head off at his efforts. He narrows his eyes, letterboxing in his mind for the dramatics (last resort and all), and then darts upward, pressing a gentle kiss right over the top of his freckles.

With a startled gasp, Jay forgets that he's supposed to be guarding his hard-earned property space, and drops his hand. And the second he does so Cole flips around and tucks Jay half under him like a stuffed animal.

"Gotcha," Cole breathes. "I have a monopoly now."

Jay takes a second to get his focus back. "Wh- hey! No, th.. that's illegal!"

"Your face is illegal," Cole retorts, and presses another kiss to his jaw. Jay blows a raspberry at him, but very quickly dissolves into laughing again in his silly little way as he gets a couple more kisses down his neck.

"You're so giggly," he says.

Jay shoves his free hand onto Cole's cheek. "Because you're pokey! Shave!"

Cole responds by burying his whole face into Jay's shoulder. He yelps, and then goes right back to that genuine laughter that Cole's been missing all day. Nevermind that the two of them are still kinda wet from the rainstorm, and they kinda smell bad, and are way too tired to do anything else today and probably tomorrow, if this is what he gets at the end of an awful day, he'll do it every week.

They just lay like that for a while. Cole slowly combs his fingers through Jay's curling hair, his other hand subject to being played with even as it's half under a pillow.

Jay snickers, suddenly. "We look like we fell over dancing and couldn't get up."

'I think that would probably happen if we tried dancing right now."

"Tragic accident. Two idiots waltzed so bad they died."

Cole laughs under his breath. "You would. I actually learned to waltz."

"You should show me sometime!" Jay says, suddenly excited. "I've always wanted to dress up fancy and hold a champagne glass in one hand, and then like get swept away onto the ballroom floor, right? But I can't do that if I don't know how to dance."

Wow, Cole loves how ridiculous Jay can be. He grins and kisses his forehead, longer this time, and then finally steals a quick kiss from his half-parted lips, loving how Jay just melts entirely under him. Cole pulls back, watching the stars dance across his mismatched eyes, half-obscured by his dazzlingly crooked little grin.

"Sure. I can do that for you.'

#my writing #Ninjago #bruiseshipping #I DONT KNOW WHAT HAPPENNNNEEEDD but this is my first attempt at fluffy romance nonsense so.. ah?#YEEHAW #what a goofy goober.#I don't e- I don't even ship anything actually #I just wanted to write and grabbed the first two goofy characters I could find #djbfksbfishfiehwi #ANYW #thank u for reading! <3

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redheadspark · 2 years ago

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Hi there! Hope you're doing well!

Could i ask for an eddie munson x reader (gn if possible) with a reader that's more of a cutesy pink aesthetic who comes off as timid and awkward at first? But once they open up they become the literal embodiment of chaos with a goofy childish personality? (bonus points if they can do a perfect heavy metal scream)

A/N: This is real cute! Sorry for waiting so long to reply, I had stuff to handle in my real life before I can write this one out! Thanks for the request, anon!

Coversion

Summary: You two were polar opposites when you got together, but Eddie slowly brought out the inner wild child in you.

Warnings: Only cuteness from here on out!

"You got everything for tomorrow night?"

"I think so, dad,"

"Can't believe you're going to a Metallica concert! I'm kind of jealous!"

"You can still come if you want,"

"I think i'll cramp your style,"

You snorted as you packed the last shirt into your suitcase, seeing the new crips Metallica shirt that was sitting on the top of the pile, nestled in the middle of your suitcase. Checking your watch, you had five more minutes before your ride was going to arrive and take you to Indianapolis, spending the night at your Aunt's house before you would site see the city and then go to a Metallica concert.

And you weren't going alone.

If you would have thought one year ago that you would be doing as bold as going to a massive to see one of the biggest metal bands in the world, you would have laughed. But moving to Hawkins because your dad landed a great job at the power plant that was just outside the little town, you were open to the possibilities that were awaiting you. It was just you and your father, your mother walking out on you both when you were a little girl. Even though it was tough, and your father was quite young to be a father, he made it work. He was merely 33 years old, driving into Hawkins with his 17 year old daughter in tow and only a U-Haul behind them.

It was safe to say that you were a bohemian duo, your dad thrived in the Hippie movement and loved that kind of life. That meant you did grow up with some great taste in music: Jimmie Hendrix and The Mamas and The Papas always on rotation in your living room. Yet you weren't a hippie yourself, you liked being dressed in pink with skirts and flats, heavily into the pop music more than your dad's taste in psychedelic rock. He never minded you looked more....bland and stereotypical to say the least, your dad was still a great dad and loved seeing you happy in a new town.

But that was shaken up when you met one Metal Head, or the "Freak" of Hawkins High.

The sound of a horn was heard in your driveway, you grinning widely as you dad checked his watch, "Woah, he's early,"

"Well, he's never been late," You reasoned, zipping up your suitcase and grabbing your jacket, knowing it was going to be a little chilly in the evenings when you were there. Your dad chuckled, grabbing your suitcase for you as he followed you out of your room and down the hallway over to the front door. The butterflies were in your stomach, the anticipating was in your throat and you felt like you could bounce out of your shoes if you could. So as you grabbed your wallet and shoved it in your purse, you threw open your front door and beamed from ear to ear.

Eddie Munson, standing at your front door with red roses in hand and a massive grin on his face.

"Ready for the best concert in your life?" He asked, you giggling as he gave you the flowers that were already ripped and in bloom.

Eddie Munson was a character in Hawkins High School, you already hearing about him your first day at school. You were a shy, timid newbie, keeping to yourself with your trapper keeper and your smoothed out pale pink shirt that went with your denim jacket. He hung with the misfits, whom were already hanging out at their lockers in the middle of the school and talking about "Hellfire Club". Of course, you walked by them to find your Algebra 2 class, seeing a few of them analyzing you since you were a new student and judging you from the jump.

Eddie was one of them, his eyes drilling into the back of your head.

You happened to be good with math, which made into play when you saw Eddie struggling with some of the equations in front of him. You noticed him looked stumped as the class was meant to work alone and in silence. Of course, his image was intimating: the denim jacket filled with patches, his long crazy hair that shadowed most of his face, and his rings that were on his scrawny fingers as they were tapping against the desk stop in agitation and worry. You were mostly done with your own work, just sitting and waiting for the class or end when Eddie was stuck on one question. A part of you felt bad, not liking to see hims struggle when you could get him. Sure, you didn't know him, but that never stopped you in being decent.

So you moved over a bit, pointing with your pencil and whispering, "Move the X factor over to the other side near the two,"

Eddie head moved so fast you almost fell out of your chair.

"What?" He asked, lowering his voice instantly when the teacher was looking over in your direction. His bright eyes, light brown like chocolate drops that you used to eat as a kid, made you almost stumbled a bit and felt a hint of flush on your cheeks.

"Your.....X factor....you need to move it over and then solve it," you whispered, then using your pencil to show what you were saying. Eddie was watching in amazement, his eyes wide in amazement as he saw you solve his problem for him. As soon as you did the one move he was stumped in, you leaned back to your own space and watched as he finished the equation with ease. He grinned, and that smile that your heart flutter for a brief moment as he eyed you.

"Thanks, Princess," He said to you in a whisper, his low tremor in his voice seemed like a chill song your spine as you just grinned at him. He didn't seem like the "Munson Freak" you've heard about all over the school amongst the jocks and cheerleaders, brash and weird and filled with hate.

No, he seemed...opposite.

"You're welcome," You replied.

And that was the start of a beautiful relationship.

"Hello, Eddie! You ready?" Your dad asked as he walked with Eddie out to Eddie's van, you following like an obedient puppy as Eddie threw open the back door to get your suitcase inside. "Yes, sir! I got the tank full for the trip and we should be there within an hour," Eddie explained as he closed the backdoor and shoved his hands in his back pocket.

"I already called my sister and she's ready to see you two tonight," Your dad explained as you placed your purse in the passenger seat, "It's not that I don't trust you, Eddie. I just want a phone call when you get there,"

"Dad!" You said in a groan and wine as Eddie chuckled.

"I'll call only from her house phone, sir. I know how to get there easily since i've driven there a thousand times for other concerts," Eddie explained, "But this is a huge concert. Apparently it's their biggest concert of their tour,"

"Oh I heard, and I was just saying how jealous I am," Your dad commented with a smirk on his face, Eddie shrugging and gesturing to the car.

"You can still come if you want," He hinted.

"No, I won't do that to you two," Your dad replied, "I've placed all of that behind me, I think I'm too old for the scene now. It's your turn."

"Nah, I see plenty of older gentlemen at those concerts," Eddie reasoned. As they were going on with their banter, you couldn't help but smile at how they were interaction with one another as if they were old buddies, not a father and his daughter's boyfriend. But they've always have this kind of relationship with one another, ever since you and Eddie starting to date. Of course, any boy would be intimated or worried in meeting the father of their girlfriend.

But you lucked out with Eddie, seeing a metal head and an ex-hippie talk about music until they were blue in the face.

Your father never thought you would date a metal head, neither did you. But as the months went by and you and Eddie got close in Algebra, your friendship was formed and deeper in more than just math as a topic. He asked for your help few more times after you made the equation look easy, then you two starting to chat about other things.

He didn't mind that you looked Pretty in Pink, compared to his grungy self with his wild hair and massive rings on his fingers. You were more dainty in your appearance, thin rings and perfect little earrings with your high ponytail and crossed ankles. He seemed smitten with you, almost wishing to make you blush and smile to show your dimples and bright eyes. Yet you were under his spell very easily, seeing how much of a gentleman he was as he volunteered to walk with you to your next class to "Show you around" the school.

At least that's what he told you.

You ended up walking together to classes throughout the next few months, chatting and talking together. He made it seem so simple and light, asking you about what you liked and what you didn't like, amazed in your taste in music and your young dad. You were shy round him in the beginning, stumbling over your words a bit when he asked you the most simple of questions, and he thought of it as cute and enduring. His friend in the Hellfire Club seemed skeptical in how you two became friends, such polar opposites in appearance and in demeanor. But Eddie never saw it as a bad thing, in fact he liked it. He was never cruel to you, not in the way the jocks would assume he would be. Especially Jason, who for some reason had some kind of vendetta against him.

But with your, he was kind. Beyond kind

Yet as time went on and your friendship deepened, your shyness was melting away and a boldness was coming over you. You were diving into the metal bands he was listening to, seeing how enthusiastic he was when he would blast it in his van when he would drive you home. It wasn't too bad, not with how Eddie would describe the music to you and tell you the story behind each song. To see his eyes light up with a certain song, or how he would talk about Dungeons and Dragons when he was drawing out a new campaign for the Hellfire Club meeting, you never wanted to miss a moment of pure joy on his face.

He then invited you to a local concert in town at one of the local venues. You were surprised that he wanted you to go with him, and he seemed rather nervous asking you to come along after school on a Friday night. Of course, he had to ask you dad first if he could take you, and he was beyond petrified. You were grateful that he wanted to ask, thinking it was better than you sneaking out and getting in trouble later on. He was starting to like you, really like you, and he felt like bringing you into his world would be the best way to express his feelings for you.

You dad was fine with it, knowing the venue was not a full on bar but most a music venue that hosted dry concert every once in awhile. You were a Junior and Eddie was a Senior, his last year at Hawkins High school and you felt those butterflies in your stomach when he picked you up at your house, looking rather nervous to take you. But you were excited, picking to switch out your pink attire to something more neutral. Even your dad helped you with your outfit, which made sense since he went to concerts all the time as a kid.

"Sneakers are better for concerts, your feet are gonna hurt in your flats. And loose clothes are good if you're gonna dance, okay?"

"Wow, thanks...dad,"

"Not everyday my little Princess goes to a metal concert,"

That night was the best night of your life. Eddie made sure you two weren't in the middle of the mosh pit, keeping an eye on the crowd and the energy level of the crowd as the band started to play. You were watching in amazement, hearing the loud music roaring in the small room and the walls almost vibrating. You saw the singer banging his head, his voice sounding almost like a demon but with raw power behind every word he bellowed in the microphone. The guitars were so loud and almost like they were against your skin, the drums beating like a heartbeat under your skin.

It was heightening everything inside of your, tenfold, and Eddie was singing along next to you.

You had no idea what came over you, or what made you do what you did, but you were watching Eddie and feeling everything else slowing down as he was engrossed with the band on the stage. He looked like he was going through a moment, a frozen moment in time when his joy was at its highest.

Knowing him up until that point, you knew the rumors about him got to him every once in awhile and made him sad. None of them are true, stupid rumors started mostly by Jason and his need to bring Eddie down to his knees. Yet Eddie always stayed himself: quirky and unique, not going through the mainstream but against the grain. He was more than the rumors that were said about him, the layers that were seen on Eddie were pelted off day by day as you two talked and grew closer. And sure, it might have been superficial that opposite did attract. But in that moment, surrounded by other concert go-ers and the scent of sweat lingering in the air along with the small scent of beer, you didn't care.

You leaned up and kissed Eddie, whom was shocked but framed your face within seconds to kiss you back as the song ended and the audience cheered.

"Alright, you two, have the best time and let me know how good the concert was!" You hugged your dad one more time, feeling him squeeze you extra hard as Eddie was turning on the car, "Don't forget your emergency cash I gave you in your wallet,"

"I know dad," You replied in a hum, feeling him kiss the side of your head, "I love you!" "Love you too, kid," You dad hummed in reply as you moved away to hop in the passenger seat, "Drive straight to the house, got it?"

"No problem!" Eddie said from the diver's seat, "I'll get you a shirt!'

Your dad laughed and waved as Eddie put the van in reverse, pulling out of the driveway and then going down the road with the radio on his favorite station. You hung your head out one more time and waved to your dad, whom was waving from the driveway. Once you were down farther the street and turned the corner, you leaned back in your chair and grinned as Eddie took your hand in his, Eddie's class ring on your middle left finger as he smiled widely at you.

"You ready, baby?" He asked you, making your nod your head.

"Beyond ready," You replied, hearing a AC/DC song come over the radio and Eddie turning up the volume a bit more.

That kiss changed everything for you two, and Eddie couldn't get enough. it was like a drug for him, you two ending up kissing for a few long moments before you two realized you missed the entire song that Eddie was looking forward for you to listen to. But you were dizzy in your own mind from his soft lips on yours, the small acne to his cologne that lingered on his thing shirt and his rings against your jawline. Yet once you pulled away from the kiss, seeing how flushed he was and how your heart was pounding, the rest of the night could melt away for all you cared.

So Eddie kept an arm around your shoulders the rest of the night, your fingers along his ribs as you both watched the rest of the lineup that bad in store. Eddie took you home right after, knowing you had a curfew not wishing to screw it up since your dad liked him. He walked you to the front door, and giving you a kiss against your cheek right in front of the door, making you blush right where he kissed you.

You both were official the following Monday, Eddie walking with you hand in hand from class to class. He was beaming with pride, holding with hands with a sweet girl that seemed so opposite of him. But you both worked and made it look so natural. Sure you saw the sneers from the others students and how they were confused that you two were together, even Jason seemed mortified in the pair of you being happy and dating with ease.

"Seems like the Freak is rubbing off on you," Jason commented to you as you two were sitting together during your Chemistry class. You saw how he was staring at your outfit, a mixture of pink and heavy metal that seemed to fit you more. You just snorted.

"And it seems like you're more of a dick because you lack a literal one," You replied smoothly, seeing him glare at you as you raised your hand to answer the question. At that point, you were letting the rumor mill go around and around, knowing the truth yourself. So did Eddie.

Neither of your cared, you had each other.

He was your first real boyfriend, and you were his first real girlfriend. So everything you did together you remembered and you savored every moment. The pair of you spent a lot of time together, working on homework side by side in the van after school as the back doors were wide open and the autumn breeze coming through or spending time at each other’s homes in the weekend listening to music. You music taste was broadening and widening into the metal and rock genre, opting to get band shirts and darker pants instead of the lighter tones you were used to.

“I think I’ve converted to you to the dark side,” Eddie said as he saw you sporting skinny jeans and black Chuck Taylor’s with your Corroded Coffin shirt, pulling you into his arms and passionately kissing you in the hallway with no remorse, “I like it,”

Eddie always made you feel special and loved, taking your date nights seriously. Whether it was at a fast food joint or at another concert, date nights were sacred. He loved having his time with you, outside of school or the Hellfire Club.

At one moment, two months into your relationship, Eddie took you to another metal concert two towns over. You were having the best time, just like the first concert you went to together. This time, you knew their music since Eddie made you listen to some of their songs before you would go. It worked, you singing along to some of their songs and even belting out the words to shock Eddie.

"That a girl!" He replied as you screamed along with the song. Even with the sore throat you got for two days straight from all the bellowing you were doing, it was worth it seeing the proud look on Eddie's face that night. He even made you tea with honey every time you felt your sore throat getting irritable.

On your 6th month anniversary, Eddie gave you his high school class ring, a few months before he was going to graduate. It was his way of giving you a Promise Ring, not being able to afford a proper Promise Ring for you. The thought behind it was beyond enough for you, wearing it with pride and never regretting how the ring shined on your finger as you wrote out your notes in class.

But you nearly lost all of it during Spring Break, when the world almost came to an end.

You both were still on the road, the sun about to go down over the rolling hills as Indianapolis was 10 minutes away. The windows were down, bringing in the sweet breeze and the soft sounds of the radio was filling the van as Eddie was driving with one hand on the wheel and the other on your thigh, his eyes on the road as you leaned back in your seat to watch the scenery roll by. You liked the comfortable silence, breathing in the sweet scents of the grass that rolled by and the evening that was coming over the area. One hand as on the open window, your other on Eddie's arm that was stretched over to you, your fingers tracing the small scars that were on his skin.

The scars from the Upside Down.

It's been a year since everything happened in Hawkins, how everything was falling apart around you and nearly breaking down your world that you loved. One minute, you and Eddie were making plans on spending most of your days together during Spring Break, the next he was accused of murdering the head cheerleader, Chrissy Cunningham. Deep down, you knew he would never do that, ever. So when you were recruited by Dustin Henderson, a freshman who was a member of the Hellfire Club that Eddie took under his wing, to find Eddie and clear his name, you went out to search for Eddie since he went into hiding to avoid the cops. And to prove his innocence one and for all.

You moved to lace your fingers together in your lap, Eddie looking for was brief moment in how you were watching the wold roll by and the colors of the sky being etched in pinks and purples. He moved your joined hands to have him kiss the back fo yours, not needing to say a word but quietly showing you love. You grinned very briefly, feeling his lips against your skin. Even in the quieter moments Eddie was there to love you and give you affection and adoration. You both have been through far too much, climb too many mountains, to let each other go for a split moment.

That almost happened when you saw Eddie take on demon bats in the Upside Down, blood pouring on the ground and his body almost giving out on him as the bats were eating away at him. You fought them all for, Dustin helping you as you both then pulled back through the portal into his trailer again. Trying as hard as you could, you wrapped his wounds with clothes and rags to stop the bleeding. You were sobbing as you were attempting to keep him awake.

"Come on, Eddie! Don't you dare leave me, damnit! Come on, please! PLEASE!" You pleaded as you got him in his van and drove him to the hospital.

You had to think back to the last year of recovering al that happened, to getting over the nightmares that haunted you at night of Vecna and the Upside Down. Hawkins was still mending, and with you about to finish your last year as a Senior, you were ready to escape from the town and start somewhere knew again. Your dad wanted to get you out of there when Hawkins was ripped to pieces, you wanted to stay merely to help Eddie recover. It was a miracle that he did survive, his Uncle Wayne was taking care of him at their trailer when he was discharged from the hospital.

You volunteered to help him when Wayne had to work, change his wraps along his wounds and putting on the ointments to make the scars less visible. Eddie was grateful for you being patient with him. But he could only hold you close and kiss you, thanking you for saving his life and sparing him from death.

"You're kick ass, Princess," He said to you one night as you two were snuggling together, your head against his shoulder as he was playing with your fingers and watching your class ring glistening on your finger.

"I learned how to be kick ass from you, you know," you replied, Eddie kissing your head lovingly as you held him a bit tighter and avoided his wounds around his waist and ribs.

"Hey," Eddie said to you from his spot behind the wheel. You looked, your hair flying in front of you eyes as Eddie grinned at you. The softness in his orbs, the coolness in his hadn't holding yours, and the two fo you going to a metal concert together as a sign of healing and moving forward, it was all picturesque.

"I love you," he replied, sounding so sure as he said those three words. You loved heading him tell you that, whether you were watching a movie together at your house and you were hiding your face in his neck during a rather scary moment, or you two under the covers of his bed at the trailer, the heat of the moment and Eddie bringing you pleasure beyond measure.

Those three words meant everything to you, and Eddie would never use them lightly.

"I love you too," You replied back, feeling that same wave of love with him. You did love him, maybe longer than you thought you did. He brought out the best in you, the wild side that seemed to be hidden. Yet he still loved the softness you shared with him, the gentleness that you could never get rid of when it came to him. Sticking by his side when Hawkins called him murderer, when he was fighting for his life from nearly dying in your arms, you'd do it again and again for him. Because you knew if it was the other way around, if it was you that was being targeted or dying, Eddie would stick by you without doubt or question.

You stuck together through thick and thin: The Princess and the Metal head.

The End.

#eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #fanfiction #writing #my love #joseph quinn #stranger things 4 #stranger things fanfic #stanger things

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dikanamai · 3 years ago

Text

“And everyone always assumes the worst”, an Encanto fic

Since I wrote this post, my love for Bruno and Dolores as the perfect duo of uncle and niece hasn't stopped growing. I really love tío Bruno being the best tío ever with all the kids, but I still think his bond with Dolores has a loooot of potential, and both have the perfect characteristics to have a very especial relationship. So I needed to write this to honor them.

Besides, something I like a lot about Dolores as a character is how resigned she seems all the time in the movie. Not in a salty way, but just with total acceptance of the situation she's living (being at Isa's shadow, the Mariano issue, etc.). To me, she has this 'ok, this is my life' kind of vibe, and I wanted to explore it here with Bruno's prophecy as background. I also think her gift made her mature very soon and, while I can picture Isa as very goofy and childish when she was little, I imagen Dolores way more serious and mature even at 12.

Since this one is written from Bruno's POV, there're a lot of indirect triplets content included (this time, many Bruno-Pepa dynamics, because I love them too). Thus the length, but I hope you enjoy it :)

Title: And everyone always assumes the worst Characters: Bruno and Dolores Word Count: 10.549 Rating: G Warnings/Spoilers: none, if you've watched the movie. This one ties directly with my previous one, 'The life of her dreams', and has some winks of 'It will always be the three of us', if you want to check them first. This time the family fluff is more bittersweet than ever, so grab you tissues, just in case. Summary: Three times in a row, Bruno was asked to look into his nieces' future. The first one was Isabela, a perfectly good omen turned into an awful warning under his mother's perfectionist look. The last one, the one that changed everything, was Mirabel, that fateful night full of fear and anxiety about a vanished door. But the one that hurt the most, the one that really made him reach his limit, was the second one. A request in the tiny voice of his dearest niece and a vision that made him wonder what was the point of having a miracle that felt like a curse.

(Friendly reminder that English is not my mother tongue, and I'm not used to write fiction in this language. So this text is probably closer to Spanglish. Anyway, I hope it's readable enough and you can enjoy it. Thanks for your time!)

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Three times in a row, Bruno was asked to look into his nieces' future.

The first one was Isabela, feeling already trapped in her gift at twelve. She hadn't told him, but it wasn't necessary. Bruno understood in a blink that look in her eyes; he knew what it meant, he knew perfectly. The eagerness to find your own voice, to free your true self, to find out what else you could be beyond the frame imposed by your gift. Her request had been born from hope. And, at least, he was glad his oldest niece had been able to enjoy her power in a more or less healthy way along those seven years, thanks to her blissful obliviousness. Because she'd have surely understood by now that Madrigals weren't allowed to hope. Mamá would make sure of explaining her why.

The second one was Dolores. But she was anything but oblivious, so her request was born from concern. And it was the hardest one Bruno had to face in his entire life.

It took place one afternoon, a couple of weeks after Isabela's vision fiasco, when he was dozing off in his hammock, trying to focus on the sound of falling sand to empty his mind. He closed his eyes one second and, the next one, he found another pair of big, round eyes peeking at him over the edge of the cloth, below two buns of fluffy curly hair.

She always did that, sneaking in his room without asking, whenever she wanted. She knew she was always welcome. And his uncle always greeted her with the same joke.

"Hm, I didn't know this floor grew wild nieces."

Dolores smiled and sat up, half kneeling beside the hammock. "I'm as silent as the wind," she said, with that tiny voice of hers. "I slide under the door like a breeze."

"How poetic of you. So that's your real gift? Had you been fooling us all these years?"

"Caught."

Bruno couldn't help a weak laugh and offered her his hand with a grateful look. Dolores took it between hers and pressed it briefly against her cheek, before crossing her arms on the hammock's side to lean on it. "How's doña Catalina doing?"

Bruno lifted a handful of curls to show her the old, sleeping rat curled in the cozy corner where his neck met his shoulder. "She's very tired today. I have the feeling she's gonna leave us soon."

The corners of Dolores mouth turned downwards with sincere sadness. "I'm sorry, tío Bruno."

"It's ok, pajarito. Rats' lives are short anyway. But I'm gonna miss Catalina III, she has always been very loving. Catalina II had an awful character, she was a steel matriarch. Benevolence was a refreshing change, for once." And he gave his rat a soft, affectionate pat, covering her again with his curls and hoping his last remark hadn't sounded too salty.

If Dolores noticed, she didn't comment on it. "Have you already chosen Catalina IV?"

"Nah, not yet. But I have some candidates, I'll give it a little more thought."

"Could I attend the succession ceremony?"

Bruno laughed again. Among all his family, Dolores was the only one who took seriously his stupid rats stories. She knew their names, their bloodlines, their tangled affairs. Most of that information was made up, of course; not even he was able to keep a constant track on whatever the house's rats were doing. But Dolores was really invested on their story and played along with his antics and was always helping him to plan out new plot lines. The life of the Madrigal rats was even more extraordinary than their own, and he loved to share that little game with her.

"Of course you can," he promised. "You'll be our guest of honor."

She gave him a wide smile, resting her chin on her crossed arms. But he knew her too well to be fooled. Her eyes still looked clouded by worry, and all that detour had just been a tactic to make him feel at ease. What she really wanted to ask came then.

"How are you?"

Bruno sighed, looking away. "World is finally upside down if my niece has to come to check on me, instead the opposite."

"I like to check on you. You're always checking on everyone."

"You think too well of your uncle."

"You think too ill of yourself."

He sighed again. "I'm fine, pajarito. I just— I-I just need to be left alone with my rats for a while."

"Should I go?"

Bruno chuckled and patted her head kindly. "All my niblings are part of 'my rats', so you can stay."

"That's awful. I'll take it as a compliment."

He laughed a bit louder this time and looked at her with a sad but also loving smile, to answer more honestly. "I'm fine, really."

"You're not." She paused, with a side look at the ceiling. "But don't worry. I know you're in those days."

Bruno raised an eyebrow. "Did you… really say right now I'm in those days?"

"Yes," she nodded, shrugging. "Like mamá. Those days in which she just can't take it anymore, and needs a break and to be alone. You two are the same."

He was about to protest, but pursed his lips pensively instead and gave her an accepting nod. "Yeah, well, yes, I suppose that's pretty accurate. You know, we both have the theory that Julieta was the only one who got enough oxygen in abuela's womb, that's why we're always malfunctioning." Bruno laughed at his own joke, but Dolores just looked at him, brows raised and eyes half closed, with her usual 'stop beating yourself' expression. That girl was terrible.

"I heard what happened this morning with don Eduardo," she said plainly, right to the point at last. "You shouldn't feel bad for refusing. You did nothing wrong."

Bruno held his breath for a moment and then exhaled, laying down his head on the hammock to look at the ceiling. Of course she had heard. Of course he hadn't done anything wrong, and still he had. But how could he explain it?

It had been quite difficult days, with all that tension filling the house, and he had been feeling awfully since what happened with Isabela. Upset stomach, migraines, insomnia— nothing new, but pretty worse than usual. And he had that dreadful feeling again: the feeling that he was on the verge of something, something bigger and even worse, so close he could almost feel it breathing on his neck, and it was none of his rats. That strangling anxiety had plagued his dreams with nightmares, and he felt so exhausted, so worn out, that even after everything at home calmed down and life went back to normal, he couldn't get rid of that ominous sensation of fatality hanging over his head.

He really couldn't take it anymore. He needed a break. He needed to be alone some time to recompose himself. And attending to stupid requests of neighbors more than willing to see the worst in his visions was the last thing he wanted. He already felt like sending everyone to hell, along with their fears, their paranoia and their resentments.

But he shouldn't have refused to help that man. He had no right to refuse. Madrigals weren't allowed to refuse, either.

He could almost hear mamá's voice in that very moment: is this a good example for your niblings?

It wasn't.

"I-it's not like I didn't want to help him," he started babbling, waving one hand and scratching his chin nervously with the other. "I-it's just— I-I'm not feeling good lately, and doing visions in this state is not the best idea, you know, if I don't have my mind clear, I could— A-and that Eduardo, come on, his cousin Taís still resents me because I told her to check on her fish more often and the poor thing ended up dead, she thought I had done it mal de ojo. Have I told you that story? One of my greatest hits! Dios, how much she loved that fish, it's been almost twenty years and she's still mourning that damn fish!"

Dolores chuckled and Bruno suppressed a relieved sigh. Distracting her was never easy; when Dolores wanted to talk about something important, it was hard as hell to make her loose her grip on the subject.

"You're trying to change the subject."

Dammit. "Loli, look, it's just—" He gave up with another sigh. "I didn't do right, ok? Madrigals have responsibilities, like it or not, a-and we should never— w-we should never be selfish, we should…"

He trailed off and his words faded. They should what? Sacrifice themselves. That's it, they had to sacrifice themselves, because papá had sacrificed himself, and they had to be worthy of that sacrifice, they had to, it was too important, it was mandatory, even if it cost them their own lives. At least, that was mamá's philosophy.

But what would have papá thought if he could see them like this now? The family turned into such a mess.

Dolores stared at him for a moment, as if she could hear his very thoughts, and then stood slowly and leaned on the hammock, lying face down across his stomach and letting her head and arms hanging from one side and her legs hanging from the opposite. Bruno snorted and was about to tell her that position wasn't a good idea, since he really felt like throwing up and the added pressure wasn't helping. But he couldn't complain. He knew his niece just lay on him like this when she was feeling worried or anxious, or when she felt he was worried or anxious. Pepa had always done the same thing when they were little, even if she was way bigger than him; both collapsed perpendicularly on Pepa's bed, belly against belly, he looking at the ceiling, she burying her face on the mattress, without talking, just lying together miserably. Julieta called it 'the cross alignment' (Oh, no, you're doing the cross again?), till Pepa came out with the brilliant explanation of 'We're neutralizing each other's pain, ok?!', and since then Juli had always teased them to stop neutralizing each other.

Bruno felt his eyes stung at the memory and gritted his teeth, trying to remain calm. Moving slightly to free his arms and get more comfortable, he laid his hands on Dolores' back and patted her gently, following the old soothing rhythm he had always used to make her sleep when she was a baby. Getting restless by the change of weight, Julián and Ana María, that had been sleeping on his chest under his ruana, crept to his collar and slipped away, climbing the hammock's rope to the shelf he had hung for them along the wall, near the ceiling. They disappeared through a hole gnawed there, leading to who knows where. Sometimes, he envied his rats. Whenever they wanted to avoid something, it was as easy as disappearing into the walls.

"You're not selfish, tío Bruno," Dolores whispered after a brief silence. "You're the least selfish person I know. You were tired and annoyed, but you stood there for half an hour talking with that man to calm him down, and you managed."

"I only wanted him to stop pestering me," he snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Don't lie. I have noticed, you know. The people who visit you— Most of them are just worried and want to talk. They come to tell you their problems, expecting you to soothe them."

"Yeah, I know," he sighed absently. "They should visit Padre Sebas more often and leave me alone, I'm not a confessor. But they think I can give specific answers to specific questions. They want me to solve everything with magic. And I can't do that." He twitched his mouth in a bitter grimace, glad Dolores couldn't see it. "More than thirty years and they still don't understand how my gift works…"

"But you really like to help people, it's just— you also want to be heard."

Bruno stopped the soft patting and looked at her, frowning. "What do you mean?"

Dolores swayed her feet, touching the floor with her toes to make the hammock swing slightly. "The problem is not your gift or your visions," she answered quietly. "The problem is not you. It's people's demands. Everyone asks first for a vision because they want to know, but they don't listen to you, so they don't understand. And you don't like doing visions that way, because that's why everyone always assumes the worst. Just like abuela did with Isa's."

Ah, there it was. The real core of the matter. Bruno let out a heavy sigh, wondering why she had to be so perceptive. "Abuela has her reasons to be worried, Loli. She carries a heavy weight on her shoulders and—"

"I know," she said softly. "I know she's worried. I hear her every night talking to abuelo Pedro. She misses him so much. Sometimes, she cries. I know she's always suffering, and it's getting worse lately."

Bruno forgot how to breathe for a second and stared blankly at the ceiling, eyes wide and moisty, feeling his heart crushed by those words. He knew it, of course. But hearing it in the tiny voice of his twelve years old niece made it sound even worse. He had to press his lips together to prevent them from trembling. "I'm sorry you have to hear those things, pajarito," he babbled, gulping. "You're too young. You shouldn't have to deal with the messed up heads of your elders."

"I rather hear those things. You know I like to understand what's happening." Dolores paused and swung the hammock again. "You talk to abuelo too, right?"

He almost choked and shot her an alarmed look, before letting out a weak, wavering titter. "There's no way you could hear that…"

"I don't hear it," she admitted, raising her torso to rest her elbows on the hammock, with her eyes closed and a peaceful expression. "But at night, when everything's quiet, I close my eyes and I can see Casita in my mind. If something moves across the house, I can see what's doing. And I know you go down to the kitchen for water before sleep, and you stand in the stairs for a while in your way back, before abuelo's painting. So I've always thought you're talking to him." She finished with a sweet, loving smile, but it faded quickly when she looked at him and saw whatever was in his face. Ashamed and nervous, Dolores rushed to bow her head again. "S-sorry, that sounded— t-that sounded super nosy. I didn't mean to—"

"It's ok," he cut her off gently, clearing his throat. "I'm not upset, Loli, it's ok. I just— I-I had no idea you could do that… bat thing." And he smirked and gave her some comforting pats again. "That's amazing."

Dolores glanced at him pursing her lips, but her pout turned into a grateful smile in a blink. "So you really do it?"

"I do," Bruno nodded and looked away, trying to hold back the sudden wave of melancholy. "I like to… tell him things and ask him things. I often ask him for help, too, for guidance. I wish he could tell me what should we do to fix this mess, what would he do to help abuela and… and everyone else." He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "I wish I could also look into the past to know him better, because maybe that way it would be easier to guess his words. I wonder what he would think of us, if he'd be proud or disappointed or…"

He couldn't finish the sentence. He saw out of the corner of his eye how Dolores stared at him, but he couldn't face her either. And, for a brief moment, the silence grew thicker, till his niece sighed. "You know, I think he would— Oh." Dolores stopped, eyes wide, and titled her head as if listening. "Aha. Yes. Yes, I see. Ok, I'll tell him." And then she looked at him with a satisficed smile. "Abuelo says y'all are wonderful and he loves you with all his heart."

Bruno gaped at her, dumbfounded. It took him a good time to realize she was joking, and then he cracked up laughing breathlessly, on the verge of tears. "Santo Dios, so now you can also hear the dead?"

Dolores' smile grew wider. "That would be awesome, ah?"

"Actually, it would be a nightmare," he joked back. "Hearing the living is more than enough."

"But that way we could be the perfect duo," she insisted, almost dreamy. "The fortuneteller and the ghost talker."

"The perfect duo of Madrigal freaks, you mean?"

"Yeah, we could terrify the town together."

Bruno chuckled and shook his head. "That's… actually tempting, but I wish a better life for you."

"There's no better life than being your sidekick," she kept teasing, and he rolled his eyes at her exaggeration, but laughed again anyway.

"Ay, what have I done to deserve such an amazing niece?"

"That's an easy one: being an amazing uncle." Dolores elbowed him cheerfully, and they shared a long, knowing look. "Don't worry, tío Bruno," she added, a bit more serious. "You know I understand."

"Yes, I know." Bruno gave her a bittersweet smile, because he understood her very well too. And that shadow in her eyes was still there, too old for a girl so little. "But I wish you couldn't. That would mean you haven't had to go through all this yourself, right?" Dolores' smile faded again slowly under his intent look and Bruno twitched his mouth. "You know, all those wise words of a moment ago about wanting to be heard and people's demands and assumptions— I know what they mean and where they come from. You did a pretty good job trying to change the subject yourself, but I'm smarter than I look."

Dolores was pressing her lips together in a flat line by then, looking as caught as a mouse in a trap. With a soft 'hm' of surrender, she collapsed again on the hammock, letting her limbs hanging lifelessly, like a rag doll.

"There, there." Bruno patted her back sympathetically. "Come on, let it out. The cross alignment is meant to neutralize each other's pain, now it's your turn. What's happened?" Dolores just made another 'hm', so he tried again. "Isa told me you've been pretty worried lately, and I've noticed too. You've said it yourself: people visit me to tell me their problems and seek some comfort. Don't you wanna talk about it?" Dolores shook her head. "If you don't tell me, I'll have to guess. Remember I'm pretty good at guessing." She shrugged with another 'hm'. "Oook, so… has something bad happened at town? Has someone hurt you?" She shook her head again, and Bruno gritted his teeth. "Are you… worried about abuela's behavior and Camilo's gift?"

There was a pause, and then Dolores spoke very quietly, without moving. "I'm not worried about Camilo. Mami and papi will fight for him, and he will always have his big sis to protect him. He will be fine. And abuela will eventually find a way to put his gift into good use and she will calm down. As always."

"Then has something happened at school?" Silence. Bruno sighed. "Has some classmate asked you some stupid request that turned out terrible bad and blamed you for the consequences as if it was all your fault, and now everybody is upset around you and you're feeling like a total failure?"

Deep, deep silence. Bingo. Bruno sighed again in frustration. Were they already in that age? Why did they have to grow so fast? He wished kids could remain kind and innocent their entire life, but he knew better than anyone that there wasn't anything worse than a bunch of pre-teens trying to take advantage of a Madrigal's gift. That could get messy as hell.

"Loli, you shouldn't—"

"Tío Bruno," she whispered in a burst, as if she had been holding back the words for too long and couldn't do it anymore, "would you look into my future?"

Her ask made his heart skip a beat and he almost choked on his words. "What?"

"I know Isa told you. I didn't want to ask you, I wasn't going to, but—"

"I rather not," he retorted, too abruptly for his taste, but unable to bite it back. His stomach, far calmer than before thanks to her company and her chat, seemed to twist again and he felt like throwing up one more time. Bruno shifted in the hammock, feeling suddenly trapped. "W-what are you t-talking about, anyway?" he stuttered nervously. "Are you serious? After the talk we just had? Whatever the problem is, a vision won't solve it and you don't—"

"I don't want it to solve anything. I just want to know something."

"What is it? Tell me, and we can just talk it over and—"

"I don't want to talk about it. I'm tired of words. I already know what you're going to say. I just want to see what's going to happen."

Bruno stared at her, brow frown and lips parted in confusion. That awful dread was creeping up his throat, and he had to gulp to suppress a screech. "Loli…"

"You know I can do it. I understand. I'm not some ramdo from town, I know how it works and I'm not afraid."

"So said Isa, and now she can barely look me in the eye."

"She's not afraid of you, tío, she's afraid of abuela," Dolores said quickly, almost impatient. "She thinks she has failed you and she's feeling miserable, but she wants to please abuela at any cost. There wasn't anything wrong in her vision. You gave her hope and—"

"I didn't give her hope, I gave her despair," he finally exclaimed, losing his nerves. "I showed her the future she loved the most just to find she can't afford it, so she's gonna live in fear of her own dreams and wishes from now on. Don't you see it? I should have never looked into Isabela's future, and I'm certainly not going to look into yours."

Dolores shut up and kept quiet for so long that he felt almost strangled by the anxiety. The thought that he had been too loud or rude or harsh made him panic, and he covered his face with his hands, exhaling a desperate growl of frustration. "Argh, sorry, sorry, sorry. I didn't— I just— I-I just think you're not getting the point. T-this is not a good idea, it's a horrible idea, and abuela would freak if I do it again."

She let out a muffled sound he didn't get. "Abuela doesn't care the slightest about my future."

There was something in the way she said that, in her flat tone, so lacked of anger or resentment, just full of plain acceptance, that broke his heart. "Loli," he babbled, trying to swallow again the lump in his throat. "Loli, don't say that. Abuela loves you so, so much, you're her—"

"Sorry," she cut him off quietly. "I didn't mean she doesn't love me. I know she does. I mean she's not worry about my future, because my gift isn't dangerous. It can't get out of control or hurt people. If it gets out of control, I couldn't hurt anyone but myself."

"That's not a comfort at all." Bruno groaned, palming his face. "A-anyway, gifts aren't everything in life, and this is— i-it's about your life. If I see something bad in your future, your mother will never forgive me."

"I won't tell her. I won't tell anyone. I don't want anyone to know, anyway."

"Loli, please, just—" He bit his tongue and shut his mouth, laying down his head on the hammock again with an exhausted sigh. He stared at the ceiling and counted to ten, to twenty, to twenty-five. But that didn't make his voice any steadier when he kept talking. "O-ok, there's— there's something important you must understand. If I see something bad in your future, I will never forgive myself. And it will probably kill me."

"Don't joke with that, tío."

"I'm not joking." Bruno shook his head and lowered his voice even more. "I'm not joking, mija, that's the point. I couldn't bear it."

Dolores raised her head to look at his face, but Bruno forced himself to keep his gaze fixed on the ceiling. His eyes stung more than ever, and he couldn't afford to have a breakdown in front of his niece. But he wasn't joking. He meant it, he needed her to understand that. And she understood. She slid off the hammock and sat on the floor again to stare at him intently, waiting for him to meet her eyes. And, since he didn't, Dolores gripped his ruana and tugged gently, in that childish way to demand his attention; till Bruno gave up, took a deep breath and finally looked down at her. Big, round eyes looked back at him.

It had always been like that, since the very first time Félix had put her in his arms and the newborn Dolores had opened those big eyes to look at him. She hadn't smiled, but she hadn't cried either, just stared curiously as if wondering who he was. And Bruno had laughed and teased Pepa, telling her the baby was so beautiful she obviously hadn't taken after her.

Isabela had been born a few months before, so technically he was already an uncle when Dolores arrived. But he hadn't had many opportunities to feel like that. Julieta and Agustín were very efficient parents, they seemed to be able to manage on their own, and baby Isa needed nothing more than her mamá and papá during those first months of life. But Pepa was different. Dolores had been her miracle, and she was so afraid of failing, so scared of doing something wrong and hurt her baby, that her first months of motherhood had been a hell of a struggle. It hadn't helped at all that Dolores didn't eat enough, didn't rest enough, didn't sleep enough. She had always been a quiet baby, but so, so restless. Pepa didn't want to ask mamá or Julieta for help, she wanted to do it on her own too; but the anxiety kept growing bigger and bigger over the weeks. And, when the inevitable breakdown hit her, Bruno told Félix: 'She needs you now more than anything; take care of her and let me the baby, I'll try'. His brother-in-law had looked him in the eye for five seconds, and then nodded and wrapped his torso with a shawl in a blink to carry the baby, sending him out with a list of instructions to know how to react to diverse scenarios.

Sweating by his own nerves, Bruno had taken Dolores for a walk, away from Casita and away from town, striding along the path that leaded to the forest. He had been mumbling and humming the whole time, just looking around and describing everything for his niece, rambling nonsenses nonstop. And when he had finally gathered enough courage to look down at her again, he had found her sleeping deep and peacefully for the first time in weeks, curled against his chest. That shocked him for an instant. He was so shocked that he sat down on a rock and stared into the nothing, and then cried. He had cried and cried quietly, almost sobbing like a child, and he had felt so damn ridiculous but also so damn happy and relieved, crushed by the sudden realization that he had one task and he had accomplished it successfully. That little human being had trusted him and had calmed down, because she had felt safe and sound in his arms. He had managed. And he couldn't remember, he was utterly unable to remember, when had been the last time he'd had the feeling of doing something right.

Bruno knew perfectly he would be an awful father. He had always known. He could barely take care of himself, far less take care of children of his own. He wasn't meant for parenthood at all. But he had always hoped, he had always wished, he could be a good uncle. Not a parent or a brother or a friend, but something in between. The extra support for his niblings, their confidant, their guide, if they wanted him to. He had always hoped to be some kind of counterbalance to mamá's pressure, the uncle who's there to remind the kids that they were valid, they were loved, and life could be more than just a magical gift. And then, sat there with the snoring baby, he believed he could do it. He would do anything for them. He finally felt like a real uncle, with a goal to meet.

And he had whispered to Dolores for the first time the words that he would repeat later to all his niblings when they were born.

"Don't worry, Loli. I'm here. We're all here. You'll be fine. You have an amazing family. You have an amazing house. And now we have an amazing you."

He had gone back home when he managed to pull himself together, and had found Pepa and Félix waiting for him. Before he could say anything, his sister looked him in the eye, and Bruno knew she could see his very soul. She understood immediately, and he understood too, because Pepa had been feeling the same way since Dolores' birth: the overwhelming joy of being able to do something right after so many failures. Neither of them said it out loud, but it wasn't necessary; and he had the feeling Pepa had given her blessing to the newly set bond between uncle and niece.

After that, she and Félix had slid smoothly into parenthood and everything had gotten better. But Pepa stablished that nap time was tío Bruno's duty, and he welcomed it with open arms, every day, week after week, month after month, even when the girls got old enough to settle together on the nursery. He was caught there one day by Pepa, when he was laying one year old Dolores on her cradle after their usual walk, and he felt embarrassed as hell at how proudly his sister looked at him.

"Who's your favorite nieceee?" Pepa had whispered in a teasing singsong.

"I have no favorite," he muttered in response, looking away.

"Yes, you haveee," she pushed smugly. "You know it. I know it."

And Bruno had no choice but to sigh dramatically and pout at her. "Just— don't tell Julieta."

"Yasss!" Pepa made a gesture of triumph, and a rainbow glowed over her head. "You've been mocking me for years about my 'creatures', but noooow mine is your favorite, mine is your favorite…"

And she kept singsonging and performing a goofy dance around him, shaking her hips to bump him, till Bruno rolled his eyes and growled, "Grow up, ¿quieres?"

Next thing he knew was Pepa's arms were wrapping his head, stifling him. "Who needs to grow up, ah, canijo? Who needs it?"

"Stop it, jirafa!"

And they were struggling and slapping each other as children, till a soft chuckle caught their attention and they saw little Dolores awake again, clapping at the show. It took them half an hour to put her back to sleep, but that stupid rainbow had been crowning proudly his sister head for weeks.

Years had passed and more niblings had been born, and he loved them all greatly. Luisa was a kind, noble soul, always caring about the others, always willing to help. Camilo was the embodiment of joy and mischief, always laughing, always proud of making others laugh. And lil Mirabel was pure energy and innocence, always bouncing around, always asking, just like Isa. He would always treasure the memories of those nighttime tales in the nursery diverting the kids before sleep, first with the older girls and then with the youngest ones. All those times he had fallen asleep somewhere and had woken up with two or three kids using him as pillow. All those days of babysitting while the children were learning to walk and speak, and the excitement brought by their first steps, their first words, their first jokes and witty comments. All the little tricks he prepared for them and all those hours of playing with blocks or board games, reading together, making crafts. He had grown accustomed to walk around with some kid clung to his ruana, and to be climbed immediately when he sat on the couch, and to hear their laughs in the cave when they were there playing with the sand. Over those twelve years, they had been the light of his life, and he had felt so lucky to be there to see them grow and know them, as their personalities developed and got defined.

But Luisa had always had a big sis and a cousin to look up to; and when they grew up and left the nursey, she got a lil sis and a lil cousin to look after. By Camilo's birth, Pepa had more experience and felt more confident, and she coddled him so much he was very attached to her. And Mirabel, who had arrived at a house full of children to play with, spent most of her time stuck to Camilo or running after her sisters. Among all of them, Isa and Dolores had been the first ones, and his relationship with them had been always different, a bit closer; a bond that had never stopped getting stronger. And between them both… Dolores still was the apple of his eye.

It wasn't about favoritism; it was just affinity. It had always been, even more after getting her gift, when she started sneaking in his room every now and then, seeking peace and silence and reassurance. She dozed on the hammock or played on the floor in silence when he was busy writing, reading or drawing, just content to spend time by his side. She had been there while he trained his rats and they had plotted their stories together, and joked together and laughed together. She still liked to snuggle up to him to nap or to talk quietly about anything, because she still trusted him, he still made her feel safe and sound. They had thousands of little habits and routines. And they were so similar, they understand each other so well, that even Pepa admitted once: 'You were right; she has taken after you'.

How could he explain all that to the girl who was staring at him now, asking for a prophecy that could destroy her life? How could he ruin the most important of the few things he had ever done right? He didn't feel this way when Isa asked him for a vision; maybe because her mood was far different, and facing the ritual with the proper mood was something essential. Now, under the pressure of Dolores' anxiety, the simple thought of doing a vision for her made him feel like crying. He already was on the verge of tears again.

But she held his gaze, tightening her grip to his ruana, and whispered, "Have I ever told you? The night I got my gift— Have I ever told you what I was thinking?" Bruno shook his head, and Dolores closed her eyes and titled her head. "I was feeling far behind everybody. Isa had already gotten her gift, and it was beautiful. She had already had a little sister, and she was great. Her mamá was the most respected by abuela, by everyone. And I had the feeling there were a lot of things happening around me that I didn't understand. I wanted to know. I wanted to know everything, to understand why people acted as they acted, and said what they said. I thought that way I would be better and know what everyone needed, and I could help a lot of people, and they would see me and think 'Oh, Dolores Madrigal! Such a great girl!'. Then I touched the doorknob and ¡tachán!, I could hear everything." She opened her eyes and gave him a smile far too tired for a girl her age.

Bruno gritted his teeth again, but forced a sad smile too in response. "That sounds familiar. I was always scared of the future. Unexpected changes made me sick, it always took me far too long to get used to new things. And I thought it would be great to be able to see what was going to happen in advance, to get ready and process it with time." He chuckled bitterly. "Beware what you wish, ah?"

He offered her his hand, and Dolores took it again between hers to press it against her cheek. But this time, she didn't let it go. She rested her head on his hand and kept quiet for a moment, eyes closed again.

"There's something in my mind, tío Bruno," she explained finally. "I can't get rid of it, and it's driving me crazy. Mami has already noticed, and I don't want her to worry. Papi is trying to find out what's happening and I think he's gonna ask tío Agus to keep an eye on the kids at school. And I don't want them to get involved, because nothing has happened actually. It's just me." She looked at him, a sudden flash of anguish shadowing her face. "I can hear the present, but I can't hear the future, so I need you to show me. That's all. I— I-I need to know, I just want to know, and then— then I can get ready and calm down and… and settle for it."

Settle for it. What the hell was going on there? Bruno frowned and sat up carefully, taking doña Catalina from his shoulder and laying her on his lap. The sleepy rat looked around, disoriented for a second, but then stretched and started cleaning herself thoroughly. "Will you tell me what's the matter?"

Dolores hesitated, but nodded at last. "I'll tell you after the ritual. I promise."

He frowned even more, suspicious. "Why all the mystery?"

And she lowered her gaze, twisting her hands with embarrassment. "I… I don't want you to think I'm dumb for worrying about this."

That confession melted his uneasiness and Bruno exhaled, rubbing his forehead. "Loli, I would never think you're dumb for worrying. Unless you're worrying about some goldfish or losing your hair or something like that."

Dolores choked on a chuckle and shook her head. "No, it's nothing like that." She looked up and made an obvious effort to smile again. "Listen, if we see something good, we can laugh together about it. If we see something bad, we can cried together and let it all out and… close this chapter. Deal?"

He kept staring a little longer, knowing deep inside he was going to regret whatever decision he chose. But he also knew how maddening the sting of concern could be, scratching one's brain constantly, at day, at night. Dolores didn't deserve that. She was too young, dammit, she was still too young. But again, since when were the Madrigals even allowed to rest? There was no rest for the Madrigals. Dolores —as well as her mother, as well as him— had been pulled away from childhood since the very moment she had touched her magic doorknob.

So, with a heavy sigh of surrender, he nodded. "Deal."

Dolores smiled widely, a sort of smile very rare on her. Lifting the rat to his shoulder again, Bruno stood up and offered her his hand to help her up too. She took it and stood, but then pulled him into a hug and wrapped him in her arms so, so tightly it almost hurt. She was trembling; perhaps she was about to cry in relief. And he just could press his lips together and embrace her back, also as tightly as he could, to rest a cheek on her hair.

"O-ok, let's do it," he sighed weakly after a while, with a last squeeze before letting her go.

"It doesn't have to be now, if you don't feel up to," she said, frowning in worry.

"It's ok." Bruno shook his head and waved a hand in a gesture of determination. "I-it's ok. The sooner, the better. You're right, if it's— i-if it's something bad, you'll get rid of it once and for all, and— and we'll cry, and at least we'll have enough time to pull ourselves together before dinner and don't look as if someone had beat the daylights out of us. Oh! Wait, wait." He stopped and turned to his shelves, searching them from up to down frantically. Among books and notebooks, Pepa's fulgurites, Luisa's little wooden animals and the babies' ragdolls, he finally found a wooden box decorate with Isa's dried flowers. Inside, there were the ear plugs Dolores used to wear when she napped in his room. "Here, take them. The ritual is very noisy."

His niece stared at the ear plugs, looked up at his face and then hugged him again. When they headed to the sand clock door at last, she was still clung to his arm.

Before crossing the threshold, Bruno stood still for a moment and gulped. He knocked on wood, and Dolores did it too. He placed his free hand under the falling sand, took a handful of it and threw it over his left shoulder. Dolores mirrored him. And they entered the cave, holding his breath and crossing his fingers, with that dreadful feeling pulsing again inside his chest.

As they approached the stairs, he had to suppress a gasp while looking up, counting. That damn place had grown at least two rounds more of steps since the last time, and his shoulders dropped in despair. It didn't matter how much he tried to keep control, it didn't matter how many times he tried to fix it; his room was always acting on its own in response to his real mood, as revealing as Pepa's clouds. The more alienated he felt from his gift, the more inaccessible got the chamber of visions. It was like looking himself in a mirror and getting a perfect picture of how messed up his mind and his heart were.

"Want me to use a shortcut?" he tried to joke, when they reach the stairs.

But Dolores shook her head. "I want to climb on foot. Isa said you must overcome this challenge to get the prize."

"Yeah, well, yes, but actually, hm, Isa cheated," he coughed. "Isa cheated a lot."

"I would like to make the way with you." Dolores looked at him, her big eyes wide open. She was nervous. "Would you mind?"

And he couldn't refuse. "Of course not, pajarito. Come on."

Even so, he touched the wall as they climbed. Shorter, he ordered the stone. Shorter, shorter, shorter. Make it shorter for my niece. Dolores titled her head, probably hearing the distant movement at the top, and glanced at him raising an eyebrow. But he just shrugged and gave her an awkward smile, telling her he was adjusting it for a twelve years old visitor. And the joke made her chuckle and relaxed her a bit.

Their way to the top was so different from the previous one with Isabela that Bruno couldn't loosen the lump on his throat. There weren't jokes, laughs or silly teasing, but silence and soft talk. Once in a while, they stopped to take a break and rest a little, before going on. They took turns carrying doña Catalina, as the old rat jumped from Bruno's shoulder to Dolores' head and vice versa. And, for once, his stupid rule about the cave's stairs seemed to actually work, because he noticed each step was soothing his niece's nerves a bit more.

"I love this sound," Dolores said, when they were halfway.

"What sound?"

"Your sound." Dolores titled her head with a little smile. "The sound of falling sand. I focus on it at night to sleep. But—" She lowered her gaze, ashamed again. "I'll stop if it bothers you."

He snorted a laugh. "Why would I be bothered? I feel honored."

"If I focus on this sound, I can hear anything what's happening on the cave or your room."

"Oh." He blinked and then shrugged, lips pursed. "There's not much to hear, actually. You can hear me scribbling, snoring, talking with my rats… talking with myself… ok, that could be creepy. Oh! Sometimes I fart, like any other human being…" Dolores elbowed him, laughing quietly, and he couldn't help a laugh himself, before smiling fondly at her. "Don't worry, Loli, I don't mind. If you're listening, I'll say you goodnight from here before sleep from now on."

He hadn't said anything groundbreaking or extraordinary, but the look she gave him in that moment left him breathless: a wide, wavering smile full of emotion and big, moisty eyes full of love. She seemed so starved of approval, of validation, that his heart sank painfully. But he couldn't add anything, because she burst into words, almost stuttering.

"Y-you know, I can already block any sound at night without the help of my room, have I told you? I'm getting better and better at it, and I only keep an ear on the nursery to check on the babies, now on Camilo's room too, and on abuela's in case she needs something, b-but— but this…" She looked around and then looked at her feet again. "This is just for me. It's my safe place. Besides my papis, you're the only one who thinks my gift isn't annoying, tío Bruno. Well, you and Isa. She thinks I'm amazing."

"That's because you are." Bruno prayed for his words to not sound as strangled as he felt.

"I'm not." Dolores kicked a little stone out of their way. "I've been wondering… what's the point of my gift."

Bruno inhaled and looked up, at the top of the stairs, trying to calm his heartbeats and steel himself for that talk, now that his niece seemed to feel more comfortable to open up. Support, reassurance, guidance. That was what Dolores needed, a wise uncle with wise answers, not the anxious wreck who could barely hold the tears. He had to gulp twice and cleared his throat, but he managed to said, "Protecting the Encanto, of course."

"How?" She sounded confused, but not skeptical.

"Your gift had always been pretty similar to mine. I'm supposed to warn our people about any danger in advance, so we could be prepared if something bad happens. You're the same, some kind of… lookout, our guardian. If any danger approaches the Encanto, you could hear it and warn the town. You're the one meant to keep everyone safe."

There was a brief silence, while Dolores stared blankly at the stairs, as if processing his words. "You… You really think so?" Bruno nodded and she frowned. "I had— I'd never thought of it that way. Abuela only asks me to keep an ear on people to check if there's anyone unhappy, uncomfortable or angry. She wants me to track what's everyone's doing to know if there's any problem in town that needs to be solve."

Yeah, in town. Bruno suppressed a sigh at the irony. "Abuela is a bit overprotective sometimes."

"But I don't feel like I'm protecting anyone, I just feel… nosy." She twitched her mouth, dejected. "I rather protect people for real than keep this policing. But I don't know how to do that. I don't think they see me as a protector either. Everyone's always jumpy when I'm around."

"Yeees, that sounds familiar too. But, you know, you said it yourself: the problem is not you or your gift. Our gifts can be used in many ways, and it should depend just on us what to do with them. We're the ones who must decide what we want them to be. But sometimes people don't fully understand the purpose of the miracle and they act weirdly around us, just because they assume the worst."

Dolores nodded and kicked absently another little stone. "How… How was it? When you were twelve."

Ah, great, finally getting to the point.

"Messy." Bruno tried to laugh it off, and hoped he had sounded more nonchalant than hysteric. "The other kids were amazed by my cool powers and they were always making stupid request just to see me prophesy. They just assumed I knew everything and wanted answers right away. I knew how dangerous could be doing visions without the ritual, but I didn't want to let them down, so I did it secretly for a while just to please them. And it was a disaster. Without the ritual of projection and away from my room, my visions are just random flashes of info. They saw me sitting there in trance, babbling nonsenses and glowing like a firefly, and I scared the hell out of them. But they kept asking because— you know, kids sometimes have this morbid fascination for creepy things, and I was the creepiest thing ever. I almost broke my brain. Till one day Pepa and Juli caught us in the act and, well, that was the end of the show." He smirked at her. "Your mamá knocked out half of town kids that day. You know Germán's nose? It's crooked because she broke it. And Juli refused to heal it."

Dolores was gaping at the story, eyes totally round. "Seriously?"

"Oh, yes." Bruno couldn't help a dreamy, nostalgic smile. It was a bittersweet memory, of course, because the migraines that came after that, the rumors about his creepy visions and bad omens and his 'coronation' as the Madrigal weirdo weren't funny things. But it had been glorious seeing Juli shouting like crazy and Pepa punching people and chasing them with a thundering cloud, even if he had been punched too for being so stupid. Even mamá took sides that time to defend her children, which was pretty unusual when they did something irresponsible. "The moral of this fable is to never do anything against your own safety or better judgement, no matter what people ask you for. We're meant to help and we must honor the miracle, but we're not tools, far less to please the people who treat us like circus freaks. And never forget that the best part of being a Madrigal is that you can count on the backup of your family anytime." He gave her a significant look and, by the face she made, he knew she had taken the hint. "You know, I understand you don't want your papis to get involved, but I'm pretty sure Isa's excellent at punching."

Dolores pouted, as if feeling caught, but then sighed tiredly. "She is. But they know it too. That's why no one says anything in my face. Nobody wants to get on Isa's bad side, everybody loves her. But they know I can hear them. So they keep saying things, just… from far away."

Bruno gritted his teeth, but freed his arm of her grip gently and put it around her shoulders to squeeze her in a reassuring side hug. "You should let her break some noses. She would enjoy it greatly, and you'd be avenged."

She chuckled. "Nah, she would get in troubles with abuela."

"Abuela," Bruno snorted and rolled his eyes, joking, "always setting limits on our talents."

Dolores laughed a bit louder and leaned on him, hugging him too in gratitude. "Tell me more, would you? Were there good things too?"

"Oh, of course!"

And he spent the rest of the way telling her stories of the triplets' childhood, funny, good, tender stories, about the three of them, about the few but loyal good friends they still had and those first years of the Encanto. Trying to make her understand that life didn't have to be a burden, that things were always changing, that there was always room for things to get better, to get fixed.

When they got to the top, both of them felt a bit better and a bit calmer. They crossed the bridge, they crossed the hall, and Dolores looked around without asking anything, because she didn't need to. Bruno left doña Catalina with the other rats before entering the chamber of visions, and his niece helped him to prepare the ritual, just as Isa did, without leaving his side once. As they sat together before the fireplace, side by side, Bruno glanced at her one last time, bracing himself for whatever could happen, and asked her softly, "You ready?"

Dolores put in place her ear plugs and nodded, wrapping his arm with hers.

"Do you have in mind what you wanna know?"

She nodded again, suddenly shy.

And he faced the burning fire, taking a deep breath. He made an effort to let its light burn up every stray thought in his mind to empty it. He tried really, really hard. But the fear rose up, as strong as the flames. Please, he prayed. Please, let it be a good omen. Let me show her something good. Let me bring her hope. Please, please. And he felt the roots of his dread creeping up his throat and reaching his brain, digging their way on it with a burst of blinding pain, just before the world faded around him and turned into green light.

The vision was a chaos of swirling, half formed imagens, melting with each other. He fretted, trying to focus and regain control, lost in the sand whirlwind with the only anchor of Dolores grip to keep him grounded. It took him several seconds to find sense in anything, but the first flash of green he managed to transform into something comprehensible was a quick imagen of a grown up Dolores clung to the arm of a young man. His niece had to see it too, because he felt how she jolted at his side and straightened up in tension.

"Is that—" Bruno frowned, seeking more in the sand, as the meaning of what they were seeing sank on his mind. "Have you really brought me here to ask me about boys?" he exclaimed, with a high pitched screech.

"I-it's not about boys!" Dolores complained weakly, but she sounded so mortified he almost cracked up laughing.

So that was the matter? Bruno didn't know if he found it hilarious, endearing or worrying, but a wave of relief soothed his mind and the vision got clearer, more precise. More imagens of that young man took form in the whirlwind, and he felt a wide smile tugging at the corner of his lips, imagining Félix's face when he discovered his little girl was in love.

"Who's that guy? I see him everywhere!"

"I don't know!" Dolores seemed as surprised as him. "I don't recognize him!"

"Well, I bet you're gonna know him pretty well in the future. He looks like the man of your dreams!"

Dolores' grip tightened so much she almost left his arm numb, and he felt like laughing again. But there was something off. Looking eagerly around to catch every bit of information, an odd feeling struck him. In most of those glimpses, they didn't seem to be together. The man appeared doing many things, living his life, while Dolores watched him from the distance. Bruno's smile started to fade and he pushed his power to its limits, trying to see more. Till a clear imagen of the man kneeling at a young woman's feet offering her a ring gleamed before their eyes.

"He's proposing!" he cried out.

"That's not me."

Dolores' remark hit him like a slap. She was right. Straight hair instead of curls; hooked, sharp nose instead of a broad, round one. The woman betrothed to the man of her dreams wasn't her. A shock of panic left him breathless, kicking his concentration away. And the heat of his power burned his mind as the touch of a branding iron.

"No," he gasped. "No, no, no, NO! STOP! STOP IT!"

His shout made the chamber of visions rumble, and he lost control over the ritual. The fire exploded in a final burst, the whirlwind blasted so wildly it almost threw them to the ground. And, since nobody reached for the green plate half formed in the air, it plummeted and hit hard the stones, shattering and scattering all over the floor. The sudden silence that came then was even more deafening than the roaring wind, and Bruno panted frantically, trying to catch his breath. He couldn't see, still blinded by the headache and the ritual's abrupt end, and blinked furiously as he felt around for his niece.

"Loli," he gasped again. "Loli, a-are you ok?"

A little hand grabbed his tightly. "I'm ok."

Her tiny voice sounded awfully weak in the darkness. Bruno felt his lips trembling, and he had to bite them to suppress a scream of rage. Dammit, dammit, dammit. Bold of him to assume he could see something positive! But the weight of this failure was heavier than ever, and it crushed him more than anything else. "I-I'm sorry," he babbled. "I'm so sorry, mija. I-I didn't—"

"It's ok." He turned to her, squinting to focus her face. His sight cleared slowly, and he saw Dolores sitting on her ankles, looking blankly at the glowing pieces of broken glass. "It's ok, tío Bruno. It's what I expected." She looked at him and tried to smile, but her cheeks were crossed by tears. "Who would want to be with the Madrigal sapa, anyway."

That was like a punch. Sapa, gossipy, big mouth. His heart skipped a beat. "Loli, y-you're not—"

"That's what they say," she cut him off, and then the words flowed like a river with no dams. "The know-it-all sapa. They want me to tell them the secrets of the others, but then they say I'm an awful, nosy sapa, that I have no friends because nobody trusts me, that I'll be the next Madrigal spinster because no one could ever love me. And they're right." Dolores pressed her fists to her face, cringing. "They're right, tío Bruno. I-I have no friends. I feel so lonely. I don't want to be alone forever, I just want someone to see me and love me, like papi loves mami. But no one will ever give me a chance, because everyone always assumes the worst about me."

He stared, petrified, holding his breath as his niece teared the wound of her heart and let out the poison of her worries. He saw how she bent over, covered her ears, started sobbing and then cracked up crying, louder and harder than ever in her life. And her sobs kicked him again into reality, and he reached for her, and pulled her into a tight hug, wrapping her in his arms, wishing desperately he was actually able to neutralize her pain somehow.

Dolores curled up in his arms and cried, desolate. He rocked her and mumbled that she wasn't awful or unworthy of trust or love. He reminded her she was already loved, because her papis adored her, he adored her, and Juli, Agus, abuela, her little brother, her cousins, all of them adored her sincerely. But even he felt those words weren't enough this time. He tended to forget that he wasn't the norm, that most of people did want more, need more, and that being alone by choice was far different to believe you didn't deserve any company.

She kept crying till there were no more tears to shed; and he cried with her, of course, as they had promised. Neither moved again till they managed to calm down, and Dolores begged him to keep quiet about the vision, about the kids' words, about everything she had told him. Still with moisty eyes, she also begged him to not worry and not blame himself, because she really rather know instead of being on tenterhooks for years.

"It's like you said, tío," she whispered, her head on his shoulder. "You warn us about bad things to be prepared."

And Bruno wondered why his own words, meant to make her feel better and more valid, sounded suddenly so wrong and twisted.

Dolores concealed everything very skillfully. Before the rest of the family, she seemed to calm down and go on, and her parent's worries faded bit by bit. But she grew even quieter, even more introvert, almost turning into an invisible ghost who avoid stubbornly being in the spotlight. She resigned so hard that it was heartbreaking.

Bruno, however, didn't recover from that experience, as he had predicted. The wound of showing his dearest niece a loveless future didn't heal. He refused to do visions for weeks, as stubborn as Dolores, and when he was forced to stop avoiding his responsibilities, he didn't even try to pretend he wasn't sick of everything and everyone. His visions were awful even for himself, he spat prophecies without any tact, he didn't bother to look for the good side, he showed no more patience towards the villagers and their problems, or mamá's pressure, or the whole situation around the Encanto and the miracle and their gifts. He wondered, too, what was the point of all that, what else they had to sacrifice, why their kids had to sacrifice anything in the first place, how he was supposed to comfort his niblings when he was feeling so broken and helpless himself. He stood for long minutes before papá's painting every night, wondering why the miracle had to feel like a curse, asking him what they were doing wrong, how could they fix it or if there was actually room for it to get fixed, after all. He asked him for help one more time, and then wondered if he was even listening. He felt as if the salt of his rituals had been absorbed by his body and was infecting his very bloodstream.

That's why he did what he did when the last request finally reached him, a few months later. A request born from fear and despair, made in the heat of the moment, during the second worst night in the history of the Madrigal family. When mamá looked him in the eye and asked him to look into Mirabel's future, he knew what was going to happen. He knew, because he was Bruno, and he was a mess, his visions, his gift, his warnings, all of him was a harmful mess. And he couldn't bear to destroy the life of another niece, barely a baby, with any more bad assumption.

Later, he would find out that Casita was hiding a lot of cracks behind its walls since who knows when. But the first thing that cracked beyond any repair that fateful year in Casa Madrigal was him.

#encanto #disney encanto #encanto spoilers #encanto fanfics #bruno madrigal #dolores madrigal #ok I have projected a lot here and I'm not even sorry #every family have a weird aroace uncle/aunt who lives in the walls #I'm that weird aroace aunt who lives in the walls #and I have 11 niblings and they're my everything #so this one is dedicated to them #Bruno and Loli FTW they're the best and you know it

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kodzukyan · 4 years ago

Text

better with you (until it kills me)

notes: it's always missing baji hours here </3 fluff, angst; alternative ending: always, always you

summary: four times you think you are in love with baji keisuke, and the one time you tell him.

wc: 3.7k

You're reasonably sure the only reason he chooses you to pair up with for the Japanese literature project is that you sit next to him, but it surprises you all the same. You don't think you have much of a presence in class, but you don't think you can say the same about your new partner, Baji Keisuke.

His slicked-back ponytail and thick frames make his presence seem like a poindexter, but there's something about his bruised knuckles and his fierce aura that makes him feel ferocious. You've noticed him hang out with the school delinquent on multiple occasions. You also think you've seen him laugh wildly as he beats up some of the local thugs who crowded around the said delinquent he's friends with.

He isn't who you expect him to be at first glance, and that intrigues you more than you like to admit. You're too nervous to openly ask, so you settle for stealing glances at him from the corner of your eyes.

So, when he really decides on you and submits the partner form, you don't know what to think.

In the time that you two are partners, you've discovered a couple of things about him. First, his handwriting and kanji absolutely suck. Despite that, he writes a letter addressed to someone named Kazutora every week without fail. As if that isn't endearing enough, it gets even more so when he pouts at the complex characters that he often gets wrong and the inevitable smile that breaks out whenever you show him how to write them correctly.

("Oh, thanks! I would probably fail my kanji tests without you and Chifuyu. Kazutora probably can't even understand what I'm saying," he laughs rambunctiously.)

Second, he's genuinely an unexpectedly good partner in terms of being punctual about meeting up. However, despite being on time, there is little progress on the project. Your work times often end up in discussions about random life topics rather than the project itself.

(“Do you like cats?” he asks out of the blue one day, head on the table and books already forgotten.

“Uh, yeah, I guess so,” you humor him because you’re also tired of researching Japanese literature.

“Wanna see my cats? They’re all strays,” he sits up suddenly, eyes lit and smile bright.

You nod, and he proceeds to take out his phone to show you pictures of his cats. You note his lock-screen is a picture of all his cats, and his camera roll is just full of his friends and mom, motorcycles, and the said cats. With shining eyes full of excitement, he tells you their names and their personalities in detail.

"Do you think cats recognize their names but choose to ignore us whenever we call them?" he resumes the conversation after he finishes showing you his gallery. He leans back as he balances his pencil on top of his pursed lips.

"Maybe. Depends on the cat? Maybe they just hate you?" you mimic his pose. You suppose thirty minutes of work is enough progress for the day.

"Ouch," he grimaces as if it shatters him directly in the heart.)

Third, sometimes he comes with his hair down and without his glances, with stains on his clothes that he claims are ketchup, despite it not smelling like that at all.

("Uh, hey, sorry I'm late today," he offers sheepishly as he runs a hand through his unbound hair.

"Oh, it's okay," you finally say after you take in his shaggy appearance. You try not to think about how handsome he is despite the bruises forming on his face. "Are you… okay?"

"All good! The ketchup bottle just randomly exploded," he laughs nervously and awkwardly. "Anyways!! The project!!"

You stare at him dubiously but nod anyway. "Okay, if you say so…")

Fourth, he has an extremely charming smile, especially when his fangs are in full display. To some, it may look fierce and menacing; to you, it looks cute, especially when his eyes are always brimming with life and his laugh is full of vitality.

More often than not you catch yourself staring at him because he's just so intriguing.

You try to ignore your racing heart when your stolen glances become shared ones, and he flashes you a grin softer than the smiles you've seen.

-----

“Uh, hi.” You say shyly as you enter through Baji’s window. It’s not frequently you seek out Baji at his own home, especially through the window he keeps open almost exclusively for stray cats to seek shelter.

“What the fuck?” Baji drops the stray cat he's cuddling as you give a slight wave, causing the cat to meow loudly at the sudden change in demeanor.

“Sorry to drop by unannounced. I, uh, just wanted some company.”

You feel vanishingly small as you awkwardly laugh and piece together some words that make sense. Home is supposed to be full of warmth, but your home is more of a house with people than a home with love. It’s a truth you’ve long accepted, but some days, it feels a little extra cold.

Therefore, you run, and somehow you end up here, in the comforts of Baji’s room.

Maybe you are currently a stray cat, feeling a little more lost than found. Maybe you find that he’s the sort of comfort that warms you a little when your heart feels heavy. Maybe you are just a little bit in like with him, and he is the first person you want to see whenever you’re feeling down.

The room is silent aside from the soft paps of cats moving around and the periodic meow. Then, he pats the spot next to him, and you make your way there. As soon as you sit down, he hands you a cat.

“Here, hold her. She’s nice,” he comments as he places the calico cat he dropped earlier in your lap, petting her as she adjusts to her new position on you.

She narrows her eyes and softly purrs in your lap as Baji pets her, and this makes you feel more in the moment than in your head like you’ve been. Your initial baffle turns into a smile as she purrs louder when you pet her, and just like that, you feel a little more found than lost.

You lean on his shoulder as you continue petting the calico cat in your lap. You keep your eyes on her as she climbs onto his lap and nuzzles him in an attempt to hide your burning cheeks and your drumming heart from your proximity.

“Thanks for giving me a home when I don’t want to be in my own,” you tell him softly, airly, almost as if you’re letting him in on a secret.

He stops playing with the cats for a moment and pauses. Feeling his intense stare, you peek through your lashes up at him. His broad grin and sharp canines are in full display, and his smile looks a little more boyish than wild. He tousles your hair as he laughs aloud boisterously before he props his head on top of yours.

“You’ll always have a home here.”

-----

It all started when a group of thugs looked at you inappropriately and made some comments that made you uncomfortable. You grip the ends of his sleeve just a little harder and press yourself behind him, trying to make yourself impossibly small. Baji, seeing your small form and downcast eyes, removes your hand from his sleeve and places it in his hand. Knowing Baji and him knowing you and your every mood, he does not stand for it. He simply flashes you a reassuring grin before he squeezes your hand and runs straight at them.

He throws the first punch, and you could just stand there in shock as he pummels through them and beats them up. He has cuts and bruises everywhere, and you’re certain he’s taken on a few nasty hits on his ribs. Though you’re equally confident that these thugs are absolutely 100% in worse shape than he is.

“Oh my god,” you sob frantically as Baji wobbles back to you, ferocious smile on his face softens as he sees you. He pats your head when he notes your teary eyes. You’re not even sure when you start crying, but the tears just don’t seem to stop. “Are you okay? Oh my god, I’m so sorry. Are you -”

He clutches your tear-stained face in his hands, “Look at me.”

Your eyes meet his, but you can barely see him over your tears as you continue your incoherent rambling.

“Hey,” he tries once more, voice more frantic as he struggles to find words. He finally just squishes your cheeks and yells, “Do you think I care about anything else but you right now?”

Your eyes widen, and the tears forming fall freely onto his hands. Oh, oh, oh, you think to yourself as your beating heart rapidly thumps at an exponential speed, maybe he’s also falling. When you meet his steady gray eyes, the shocking realization that maybe you’re not the only one dumb and possibly in love stops your tears.

He sighs in relief when your tears gradually stop, and as if all the tiredness accumulated in his body hit him all at once, he falls down onto the ground.

You try to catch him as best as you can, and with the combined effort of mostly himself and partially you, he breaks his fall. He lays sprawled out on the ground. After you check for wounds and find none too serious, you sit with your knees tucked under you by where he lays and moves his head onto your lap.

All around you are the battered bodies of the thugs you’ve encountered, but all you can see at the moment is him and his gray eyes that disappear into crescent moons as he flashes you a grin. He’s too tired to move, but he raises a fist up into the air in victory anyway.

“I got you.”

-----

"Wanna go on a ride?" he texts you.

It’s almost midnight when he texts you, and it’s probably way past when you should stay up. But your heart flutters at the thought of adventure, at the thought of him, so you quickly respond, “Okay, but be quiet! Don't wake my parents up again, stinky!!!”

You can already imagine his sheepish smile when he sends you a "that was once!!! my bad" back.

After sending him a quick ":p", you silently put on some clothes more fitting to go out than your pajamas. The sound of his motorcycle announces his greater-than-life presence long before his text does. Grabbing two scrunchies, you sneak out your window.

He only greets you with a goofy smile and a wave, hair free-flowing in the wind. Under the moonlight, his gray eyes twinkle with vigor and youth. It knocks the air out of your lungs as you glance at him because he's beautiful, ethereal, and alive. He smiles smugly when he catches your stare, but he holds his hand out for you to take.

"Hi," you whisper under the twinkling stars as you put your hand in his.

"Hey," he whispers back as he curls his fingers around your hand before adjusting to interlace your fingers together.

The quietness and intimacy of this moment drown out the world - the sound of cars driving by, of cicadas flying, of the world standing still. The only thing keeping you from floating is his hand and the sound of your heartbeat.

"I got you a hair tie." You offer softly with an equally soft smile, eyes pointing to the scrunchies on your wrist.

"I got you a hoodie," he responds as he nods to his motorcycle. "Because I knew your dumb ass would, once again, forget to dress for the winds."

"I'm dressed decently enough. You, though… please tie your hair… It hurts like hell when it whips in my face," you laugh lightly.

He rolls his eyes. "That's also what you said last time before you ended up stealing my hoodie, and I ended up being cold!" he complains, but there's a certain fondness in his voice.

You only stick your tongue out childishly at him. You would rather bite your tongue than admit that you are always slightly underdressed for the occasion so he would keep giving you his hoodies.

He tugs your interlaced hand and pulls you closer, and as you stand so close to him, you think close isn't quite close enough. The two of you linger in that position for longer than what should be appropriate for friends, but you think you have been tiptoeing around that line for a while now. Your heart races, and you're sure your erratic heart is beating fast enough to generate heat to keep you warm against the cold winds.

He pulls away first, moving to grab his hoodie before he roughly puts it on you. He laughs when you complain about your ruffled hair, but as his hoodie and scent engulf you, you could only shyly smile. He takes a scrunchie despite complaining about how poofy it is. As he settles in his bike and you settle in behind him, arms tight around his waist, you think this is probably what holding the universe in your arms feels like.

He rives his bike loudly despite your warning, but you find that you could care less right now as he takes off. You are young and dumb, but the wind is running through your hair as the two of you are chasing the moon, and it makes you feel so alive. Neon lights and starlit skies blur together as he speeds through familiar roads, and the brisk winds drown out your loud laughter. It feels like you're feeling everything at once, but your head is so clear.

You think you can understand why he loves riding so much because the only thing that you can hear is your loud heartbeat, and the only thing that matters is you're living.

He finally stops at a local 24-hour diner. The moonlight shines through the window by your table. You are still feeling the wild wind in your hair, cold air on your face, and the warmth of Baji’s back on your arms. It's way past midnight now, and the yellow lights of the diner feel a little more homey than dingy. He’s munching on some fries, occasionally waving one in your face whenever he’s trying to make a point about something. As you watch the various expressions on his face, a smile makes its way to your face.

“Hey Keisuke,” you grab a fry and jab it at him in the middle of his sentence. He stops his mid-word as he stares at you, head tilting slightly and mouth still gaping. There is a particular word that you keep thinking of whenever you think of Baji, a feeling that lingers and fills your heart up. You know what it is. You think you know at least, and in moments like these when you’re just watching his goofy self munching on fries while boisterously laughing at something dumb, all you can think of is those four letters.

“You’re my best friend,” you whisper before you eat your fry. Best friend, you think, encompasses a lot of things and feelings as you stare at his childlike grin, heart fluttering and mind blanking because all you see is him. You hope he knows, hope he gets that best friend is a loose term because he is so much more.

When he meets your eyes and his gray eyes crinkle in mirth and laughter rolls off his lips, you think he does.

“I know,” he smugly nods before he drops another fry into his mouth. “I guess you’re pretty cool too.”

You stick your tongue out at him and feel a warmth in your heart that matches the pinks of his cheeks. Maybe it’s adrenaline still in your blood, maybe it’s the moment, but it makes you devious, brave even, as you lean over and chomp down on the fry he's holding.

He stares at you with his mouth wide open, looking absolutely flabbergasted and offended. “Hello? That was my last fry!”

“Sorry,” you giggle, not feeling all that sorry at all. You know he’s not truly that offended because he has that stupid grin on his face, because he’s always soft with you. A part of you does feel a little sorry when you see the small pout that arises on his face. “I’ll treat you to yakisoba later?”

He turns away from you, face still slightly sulky as he huffs silently.

“No? You don’t want yakisoba?” you ask. You still find it amusing that Baji Keisuke, the first division captain of the Toman Gang who would punch someone on the streets for no reason other than just because he feels like it, is pouting because you stole his last fry. If anyone from any rival gangs sees Baji Keisuke now, they probably wouldn’t believe this is the same person.

“Fine,” he huffs softly, “But don’t think one yakisoba is enough.”

“Then,” you begin, your heart pounding loudly in your chest as you work up the courage, “What about this?”

He turns to you in confusion, and before your courage runs out on you, you crash your lips onto his before you pull away.

“Repayment,” you mutter meekly, eyes avoiding his because you’re sure he can feel the heat radiating off your cheeks from where he’s sitting.

“Hey,” he tugs on your hand under the table. When you finally look at him, he continues, “Just one isn’t enough.”

He kisses you again.

-----

Home is supposed to be the place you come from, but you think it's more like a place you find, pieced together from scattered bits of feelings, emotions, people along the way. Somewhere along the lines, home becomes less of a place and more of a person. Your home becomes the boy with the sharp canines and long hair that gets tangled by the stray cats he keeps, the "I love you" declared loudly with kisses and the longing looks in between, the comfortable warmth of his body next to yours as you chase sunsets and live in your own infinity. Your home is Baji Keisuke and the constant image of him in your mind and the infinite pieces of him in your heart.

Infinity, though, is awfully short, you think, as you see him lay surrounded by bouquets, eyes closed in eternal slumber. He's always looked good in white, but when his tan complexion is nearly as pale as the white roses surrounding him, you think white is an awful color on him. His eyes always shine with possibilities and promises, and while you've always joked that his sleeping face is cute because he always looks so innocent, adorable even, all you want now is to see him awake.

His heroism and love for his friends are always something that you love about him, but in turn, it feels so incredibly cruel to you now. For as short as he has been in your life, he becomes pieces embedded so deeply in it that it makes you whole. You cannot imagine a world where there is no Baij, where he isn’t there to punch a hooligan on the streets or feed stray cats at night or hold you when your world is crashing. You cannot imagine a life where he isn’t here to shine a bright light in your life without his laughter and goofy personality. Suddenly the world blurs around you, and you can't breathe as droplets of water hit your clenched hands on your lap.

You hold his hands. Cold, cold, cold, when they used to be warm enough to light a fire in you. There are so many things you want to tell him, say to him, but the speech you prepare in your head drowns in silence as your voice gives out on you. All the words in your head just come out as broken sobs. You feel the sympathetic and equally broken glance of his mom as she embraces you, but all you can think about is that he won’t open his eyes.

Baji Keisuke has always been bigger than life, you think, because he becomes a part of everything in your life. There are traces of him everywhere - him with his cats on your lock-screen, the random memes he sends you at night, the little notes he leaves you written in his ugly penmanship with love. When you think of these things, you feel like your heart is breaking all over again.

People tell you to be strong, and while you want to retort because how can you when he’s gone?, you find that you cannot say a word without crying. You’re tired of crying too because your eyes are already so, so raw, but it seems like all you can do is cry. When you think you've finally run out of tears and your tears finally stop, a new batch takes over even at the slightest things that remind you of him. You feel so pathetic because you can't do anything without water leaking from your eyes, and you hate yourself for being so weak.

You tune out the somber tone of his friends and the broken tone of his mom because you don't want to accept a reality where he isn't here. But luck is never on your side because he never opens his eyes again, and you never get to tell him how much you love him. All you get are flashbacks and memories of him and emptiness in your heart and soul. You tell yourself you have to be strong and smile and live for the both of you, but you can't. Not when he isn't here, not when he isn't with you anymore. Every time you think about that fact, your heart breaks again.

"Hey, stupid," your broken sobs ring loudly in the deafening silence, "I love you."

The words you’ve wanted to tell him for so long are finally in the open, but there is no answer.

#baji keisuke x reader #keisuke baji x reader #baji x reader #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers x y/n #tokrev x reader #baji fluff #baji angst #tokyo revengers imagines #tokyo revengers fluff #tokyo revengers angst #i... i just really miss baji :(#come home you stinky head </3 #i'm sorry if he's ooc :(( in my head he's just really dorky and soft w his s/o HAHA #rissa told me to make it angst so i made it angst 👍#sometimes i write things

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3d-wifey · 4 years ago

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Temptation Sings

Pairing: Ryūnosuke Tanaka x Reader

Word Count: 3k

Warnings: Smut, fluff, senpai kink, p*rn watching, implied bisexual reader, excessive use of the word "babe" & some curse words

A/N: The senpai kink is sort of one-sided, but what kink isn't 💀 and the title is sort of based off a lyric from Super Freak by Rick James. Also, those are actual lines from a Hentai, but I fucking lost it half way through so I had to improvise. Anyway, this is over 3,000 words of straight dog water. Enjoy!

Synopsis: You ride Tanaka while watching hentai

"What kind of porn do you watch?"

"What?" Tanaka let out a quick bark of laughter before staring at you with wide eyes. His hand was frozen over the bowl of popcorn as he turned his full attention to you. The two of you had been dating for over a year now, yet, you've never had sex.

Sure, there had been some over the clothes stuff before. Some tops off heavy petting, some groping while making out, but it had never progressed past that. Not for a lack of trying, of course. Anytime you could find time to hang out alone, something would always interrupt you.

You weren't a virgin, but you didn't have much experience, so, naturally, you were more than a little nervous. And Tanaka, bless his soul, was pretty understanding. As long as you two could still make out and he could grab your ass, he seemed fine. But, he's still a teenage boy, no matter how respectful. He could only handle being blue balled so many times. And you wholeheartedly felt the same way.

This seemed like the best way to go about it. Establishing a common interest in what you both liked to get the ball rolling.

"Porn. I know you watch it, Ryuu. So...what kind?" You sat up on your side of the bed and leaned against the headboard, knowingly making him eye level with your breast. Nothing wrong with a little incentive.

"Okay, wow. You're serious. Um," he stuttered, eyes flickering over your chest and back to your eyes, before a blush settled flooded his cheeks, "You're just gonna laugh." He moved his gaze over to the movie playing on the laptop, avoiding eye contact. Was he embarrassed? He should know by now that you didn't judge.

You wouldn't be dating him if you did.

"I promise I won't laugh, baby. Look, I'll go first," you moved the bowl of popcorn off his lap and grabbed his hands to pull him up, "Pay attention."

"Wha–"

"There's Amateur, Lesbian," you ignored his questioning look and kept going, "Creampie, Fingering, Solo male and female, Public, and Taboo. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. You like any of that?"

He stared at you slack-jawed. Had you been too forward? You thought if you were honest about it, you both could be comfortable with each other. You watched in anticipation as he moved his gaze from you to the ceiling.

"Thank you, God," he whispered, almost on the verge of tears, "I must truly be blessed."

"Are you serious, Ryuu," you scoffed, hitting his arm to hide how relieved you really were, "You made me anxious for nothing!"

"That is so hot, babe," he grinned excitedly, moving to sit on his knees with his legs folded under him, "All that stuff sounds cool, and we're definitely gonna come back to that lesbian thing later, but I usually just watch...Hentai." He cleared his throat, scratching his cropped hair.

You pulled the laptop over to you and paused the movie playing. Pulling up the browser, you typed "Hentai" in the search bar, and hesitated for a second.

Hentai. Of course, it was hentai. You weren't surprised in the least that he got off to cartoon characters fucking. In fact, you expected it. You knew what you were getting into when you agreed to date him. You briefly wondered what kind he watched before it hit you.

Oh, yeah, you thought, he'd like that.

"What are you doing, babe?" He questioned. You paid his nervous laughter no mind as you queued up the perfect video. You were a genius.

"Are you okay with this, Kasuri?"

"I've been telling you that it's okay!"

You watched as the small girl pushed the boy on the ground and climbed on his hips to straddle him backward. To your complete surprise, you were actually kind of invested in the plot. Sure, some of the lines made you cringe and the ethics behind the sister trying to fuck her brother were a bit iffy, but, somehow, it was keeping you entertained.

The less than spectacular writing didn't seem to be affecting Ryuu any. With how much he jerked off to this kind of stuff, you figured he was probably used to it.

"I want you to take it...take me Senpai."

You felt Tanaka stiffen up beside you before quickly relaxing. Well, more like you felt him force himself to relax. You watched out of the corner of your eye as he subtly, or as subtle as Tanaka could be, adjusted himself in his sweats.

He was trying very hard to hide how much the video was affecting him; however, you always found Tanaka easy to read. The furrow of his brows, the twitch of his muscles, the restless tapping of his fingers along his thigh—all of it was effortlessly understood like the words of a well-loved book.

He was holding himself back for some reason that you couldn't find the effort in yourself to figure out, but he wasn't the only one affected.

"You have to tell me what you like. You have to teach me, senpai."

There was that stiffening again.

You placed your hand high on his tense thigh, completely ignoring the eyes burning into the side of your face. Unlike Ryuu, you were a fantastic actor. You decided you would wait for him to fully relax, or be as relaxed as any teenage boy could be while watching porn before you would strike.

You waited for the moment his leg softened under your hand and oddly enough it was at the point in the video where they showed a very detailed shot of the boy coming inside of the girl. He probably thought it was ending soon. Little did he know you were going in for the kill.

You cuddled further under his arm before you looked up at him with imploring eyes.

"Do you wanna do that...with me, senpai?"

It was just like any other kink, you rationalized. It was on par with the guys who were into being called 'Daddy' or 'Sir' or some other title. It didn't do anything for you, but if your magnificent hunk of a boyfriend got turned on by being called senpai, you were more than happy to go along with it.

"Well?" You prompted when he said nothing and gawked at you like a test he didn't study for.

"What did you call—is this—are we actually about to—" His wide eyes switched between you and the computer screen before deciding you were far more entertaining.

Instead of answering his stammering, you rose to your knees to pull the sundress over your head. You unhooked your bra and threw it off the bed with no regard for where it landed. It was a shame it wasn't one of your cuter ones, but you doubted Ryuu cared.

Your hands paused on the waistband of your panties when you realized he was frozen beside you, eyes flickering over your body like he didn't know where he should look.

"Am I gonna be the only one naked?" You would have thought he was on the court with how fast he jumped off the bed.

You watched from his bed as he struggled to get out of his clothes. It was adorable how excited he was, but he wasn't the only one. You've been waiting nearly thirteen months for this and you were practically vibrating out of your skin.

You were content to watch him almost bust his ass as he tried to get his sweats off when you remembered something.

"We don't need a condom. I'm on birth control." You started birth control years ago to handle your irregular periods, but it also came with the added benefit of Ryuu being able to cream you like a Twinkie.

He stared at you for a second with a blank face before closing his eyes with his hands clasped together...almost like he was praying? You heard him whisper something suspiciously along the lines of him being blessed before he practically bounded up to you like a hyper puppy

Probably not the best analogy to be made in your current situation, but it was true! He was bouncing on the balls of his feet and shaking his hands out like he always did before a match. You briefly wondered if he ever did this before. He never told you if he got this far with any of his exes and you never asked.

At that moment, you decided it didn't matter what he did before because you would be the best he ever had.

Your hands shot forward to pull his underwear down before pausing.

"Is... Is this okay?" You asked, hands hovering over his boxer briefs. For the first time during the entire affair, you were hesitant. What if you were pushing too fast? You hadn't exactly asked anything. You just gave out demands and he followed. You wouldn't be able to live with yourself if you ended up pressuring him into this.

"I—," he stopped, staring down at you with wide eyes and for a split second, your heart stopped, "Are you kidding, babe? God, yes, it's okay!"

You honest to God giggled when you pulled him onto the bed with you and clamored onto his lap, like the stereotypical school girl. You calmed yourself down enough to just look at him. The way he gazed at you with a year's worth of pent-up desire made slick dampen the seat of your panties.

"You're just—you're beautiful. God, I love you so so much," the sincerity in his voice was amplified by the goofy grin he gazed up at you with and the blush on the apples of his tan cheeks, "you know that, right?"

One look at Ryuu and even a blind man could see how much he loved you. It was a good thing his feelings were mutual or it'd be pretty embarrassing.

"I love you too, idiot," your hand settled on the back of his close-cropped head to pull him into a kiss. And in typical Tanaka fashion, he kissed you like you were the only thing keeping him alive. He kissed like his only goal was to leave you as breathless as you made him. And he always succeeded.

"Now," you took a deep breath, "are you gonna fuck me, senpai?"

The groan he let out against your lips was more than enough of an answer for you.

You rushed to pull your panties off, thanking whoever was watching over you that it wasn't one with holes or bleach stains on it.

You reached to pull him out of his boxers, but he beat you to it. It gave you pause how he whipped it out like it was nothing to gawk at.

A little over half the length of your forearm, his dick was nothing to scoff at. He was the same width as your wrist with a thick vein running up the underside of his shaft.

Not the first dick you've seen but by far the biggest. Your heart rate picked up as you thought of the logistics of how he'd even fit inside you. You'd probably have trouble with just the tip.

You pulled the foreskin back to see precum already collecting at the angry red head. He jerked when you took the heavy weight of his dick into your hand and you could barely wrap your fingers around him. You didn't think he'd be so sensitive but you called yourself thankful for it. Easier to tease.

You rubbed his tip against the opening of your pussy and pulled away, strings of slick still connecting you. You repeated the action a few times before taking pity on your poor boyfriend. You used his quiet moans as motivation as you pushed his head past your tight hole.

You hissed at the unexpected stretch. The burn veering on the side of uncomfortable, but not painful. You couldn't tell if it was because of how long it had been since the last time you had sex with anyone or if it was because of the sheer size of him.

You decided it was the latter as you tried to take more of him.

"Here," you grabbed one of his thumbs and rubbed it over your clit in quick circles. The callused pad pleasurably rough against the slick covered bud. Luckily, he caught on quickly and kept up the pace as you tried to sink further down. The ache in your walls added to the pleasure on your clit.

You sighed once you finally reached the base. You hadn't expected this much effort would go into just taking him.

He was panting hard, eyes closed and struggling to hold still enough to let you adjust.

"Okay," you breathed, "okay." You slowly rose to your knees and peeked at his dick as it came out coated with your slick, before driving yourself back down with a moan. You settled your hands on his shoulders as you picked up a rhythm.

"You're such a badass, babe," he praised and you would have laughed if him shoving himself into you, thrust for thrust, didn't fuck a series of moans out of you.

You peppered quick kisses against his lips as you drove yourself up and down. You ran the tip of your tongue along his bottom lip before nipping at it. He eagerly took the hint and opened his mouth to you. You swallowed his groans as your hand slid up to the front of his neck and squeezed, tongues pressing together in an openmouthed kiss.

When you pulled away, his eyes flickered between your bouncing breasts, where his dick split you open, and your lidded eyes.

"I've dreamed of this for so long," you moaned as his hand resumed its motion on your sensitive clit. How he was able to piece together coherent sentences was beyond you, "Wanted you so bad, baby. So. Bad."

The headboard slammed into the wall as you sped up your pace. You were lucky you two were the only ones in the house.

"That's right, babe. Bounce on Senpai's dick. Fuck," he cursed, voice cracking when you swiveled your hips, "You like that, don't you? My pretty girl." You didn't want to admit it, but the senpai thing was really doing it for you. Not the actual word, but the sheer affect it had on him.

You can't say you were surprised by how talkative he was, his dirty words dripping over your overheating body like rich syrup. If you knew watching porn would lead to this, you would have done it ages ago.

His big hands used his grip on your ass to rock you back and forth at a faster pace. You relaxed your legs and let him take the lead, pulling his head towards your chest. The animated girl's moans on the computer combined with Tanaka's and created a harmony that pushed you closer to your release.

You moaned freely into his neck as the change of positions dragged your swollen clit over his pelvis with every buck of your hips. Sweaty bodies pushing and pulling against each other in a motion that was more grinding than riding.

Wet and sticky slaps echoed around the room, punctuated by the meat of your ass meeting his wet thighs. Thighs made wet by your juices collecting at the base of his cock.

Your release bubbled low in your stomach, steadily being pushed higher with every one of Tanaka's sloppy thrusts. It pulled heavily from below your naval, expanding to the point where you felt like you could burst. You weren't a virgin—this wasn't your first time, but, God, it felt like it was. And it might as well be your first time with how sensitive he made you.

You were sweaty and you were sore and so, so completely overwhelmed. But your mind was wonderfully cloudy with the pleasurable haze of an incoming orgasm and it made it hard to care.

"You close, babe?" You whimpered out a weak yes as his lips trailed from your jawline down to your damp neck before sucking on the skin.

"Can feel you squeezing me. So damn tight." He panted against your heaving breasts.

You knew it was coming, but knowing and feeling were too different things. Your thighs burned with fatigue, but you couldn't stop. You were so close and the humid air blurred out everything that wasn't Ryuu's cock plunging against that spongy patch on your wall and you didn't want it to end.

He couldn't take his eyes off of you as you used him for your pleasure. Head thrown back and skin gleaming with sweat.

"Shit, I'm-" he grunted at the tightening grip your walls had on him, just begging him to cum, "Fuck, 'M not gonna last, babe." His hips twitched uncontrollably as he rammed into you.

The knot in your stomach built and built before suddenly loosening, your vision blanking completely. Not that you could tell with how far back your eyes rolled. Hands shooting forward to desperately cling onto him as you trembled. Nails digging into his tense biceps, a mantra of his name falling from your lips like a prayer. Your thighs shook as you rode yourself past the sensitivity.

And that's what does it for him, your impossibly tight heat clamping down on him. Tender balls pulled taut against his body as the white ring of cum coating his cock grew with every one of your thrusts down.

The only sound that escaped him was your name broken by his breathy moans.

Once you came back around, you're still dazed with cooling sweat gathering on both of your bodies. The air is still clammy and you were sore from your neck to your thighs but it didn't stop you from looping your arms around Ryuu's neck.

He gathered you into his warm chest, heavy arms locked around your waist.

"So," he huffed, "lesbian porn, huh?"

"Shut up, Ryuu."

#haikyū!!#haikyuu #tanaka x y/n #ryuu tanaka #ryūnosuke tanaka #haikyuu!!#haikyuu smut #tanaka ryunosuke x reader #tanaka smut

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hufflepuffsthunderdome · 4 years ago

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Hopelessly Devoted to You | R.L

Pairing: Marauders!Remus Lupin x Female Reader

Warnings: None :)

Words: 3,200

Request: @risingtripletaurus hi lovey! may i pretty please request a fic with the reader very much in the halloween spirit, celebrating halloween the marauders.. remus and the reader also lowkey have a crush on eachother rEMUS HOPES HE GETS ALL THE CHOCOLATE WHEN TRICK OR TREATING over all just a very fluffy time!

A/N: sorry this is so late, a lot has been happening in my personal life. I hope you enjoy! I took it in a slightly different direction that I hope you like anyway, it’s still a fluffy spooky time so I hope you enjoy. I really like this one :). I also have an idea for a part two so keep an eye out... also I know that Grease technically came out after the Marauders were at Hogwarts, I just thought it was cute anyway.

Summary: Reader and Remus are crushing hard, and what better way than an accidental couples costume and a Halloween party to get the pair together

Y/N and Sirius came bounding through the doors to the Gryffindor common room with so much force Peter grimaced as the walls shook around them. Their hands were loaded with boxes, overflowing with black and orange decorations, cheap spiders and what seems like an insane match of costumes and clothes. It wasn’t even the start of October, but whenever the season rolled around even slight, Y/N and Sirius went all out! For the pair, it seemed that they were built for the season, putting care and thought into their costumes and the treats they would make everyone; their energy infections, getting everyone else in the school hyped for the spooky season months in advance.

Even Remus let himself loose around the Halloween season, knowing how happy it made Y/N when he would join in on the corny games that she and Sirius worked so hard to make. And he lived to make Y/N happy; to see that goofy smile that she would give him as she looked up at the lanky boy, melting his heart even more around Halloween when she would be dressed in an adorable hand made costume.

His friends all knew, about Remus’s crush on Y/N. Honestly, it seemed that everyone in the whole school knew that the boy was smitten except Y/N, they just strolled around the castle, unaware of the boys lingering stares and wistful glances. He had a plan though, to change that. Well, Sirius and James had a plan. A plan that he wasn’t privy to despite being a leading role in it.

Sirius dumped the box onto the couch next to James, who was prying the lid open before it even landed, to pear inside. He pulled out all sorts of different costumes, Y/N’s box joining next to it, Gryffindor written in scratchy writing on the side, full of decorations and gags to put up around the common room.

“Sirius,” James laughs, pulling out a tight black off the shoulder top, “you’d look great in this mate but it’s a stretch to think it’ll fit you.”

Y/N rolls their eyes, taking it out of James’s hand and holding it up to their smaller frame, “it’s mine you nit.”

Sirius comes up behind Y/N and slings an arm over her shoulder, “we’re doing a couple’s costume this year.” The pair struck a cheesy Charlie’s angels style pose as they giggle. Remus knows it’s stupid but he can’t help the hot feeling boiling in his stomach at how close Sirius and Y/N are. He knows it’s stupid, he has no reason to be jealous; Sirius knows that Remus likes Y/N, and he knows they’re just friends, but he can’t help it. He wants to be the one to make Y/N laugh, to be able to sling an arm around her without making a fool of himself, to be able to do cute couple costumes that Y/N is excited to make.

“What are you going as?” Peter’s voice breaks Remus’s train of thought, the shorter boy hanging over the back of the couch to rummage through the box himself. He pulls out a pirate hat and an eyepatch, laughing slightly as he puts them next to him.

“We’re going as Sandy and Danny from Grease,” Sirius says, shooting James a look that he just returns with a nod, sending me a glance as he smirks slightly.

“I’m so excited to do it,” Y/N chimes, reaching a hand up to grab onto Sirius’s arm slightly before turning back to us with a wide smile on her face, “It’s that muggle musical I was telling you about, the one set in the 50s. We’re going as the two main characters!”

James gets up from his seat on the couch behind Y/N, walking over to the pair and placing his arms around them, “I thought you were gonna do a costume with me this year Black? We’ve been working on it for months.”

With an exaggerated hand to the forehead, Sirius lets out an exasperated sigh, “shit that’s right James, fuck I’m sorry mate. We’re gonna have to save our amazing surprise costume for next year, I promised Y/N.”

“You guys were working on a costume?” Y/N asks, looking at the boys on either side of her as they nod. Remus can tell she’s slightly upset at the thought of not doing her costume she had planned but is hiding it with her excitement at her friends getting into the holiday. “That’s so cool guys, please do it! I want to see what you guys have planned.”

“But what about your costume?”

“That’s ok,” she smiles warmly back, “I have plenty of other ideas.”

“I feel super bad now,” Sirius brings Y/N into a hug to which the girl giggles and assures him it’s ok. Over Y/N shoulder he shoots Remus a wink, the boys' eyes going wide at the thought of what his friends are up to, “say, Remus is around my size isn’t he?”

All eyes in the room turn to Remus, and he feels his face heat up at the attention, glancing down at his book, “not happening.”

“Come on mate,” Sirius and James chorus, James throwing an arm around Y/N and sarcastically patting their head, adding “you don’t wanna make little Y/N sad do you?”

“Come on guys,” Y/N chuckles, slinking away under James grasp and looking over to Remus, “he doesn’t have to if he doesn’t want to.” James and Sirius's glare daggers over Y/N’s shoulder at the boy sitting on the couch, Peter going to say something James shutting him down with a stern look before he can even get a sound out. It seems that the boys are able to have a conversation without saying a single word, ‘dude come on don't be a baby,’ James’s look taunts, Sirius’s glare telling him to not lose his chance.

“I-I’d love to d-do the costume with you Y/N.” Remus grimaces slightly at his nervous stuttering, grinning at Y/N as they bound over to him excitedly, thanking him as she pulls him into a hug. The boy freezes for a moment, before relaxing in the shorter girls grasp and returning the hug. The pair stood there, enjoying the small moment, for slightly longer than they probably should have; as their friends just looked on smirking and chuckling to themselves as the two teens were so obliviously in love with each other. James coughed obnoxiously, breaking the pair out of their hug as they pulled apart, faces red as they smiled shyly at each other.

“Well I think I need to get going,” Y/N smiled up at the boys, ruffling Peter’s hair slightly as she walked past him, grabbing a box labelled Hufflepuff that she had placed on the floor earlier, “those Hufflepuff’s won't help themselves.” She turns and walks towards the door to the common room, turning back to Remus to smile at him and thank him one last time before she was out the door, and once again on a mission about the castle.

The instant she was gone the common room erupted into cheers, as Sirius and James loudly hollered in excitement for Remus; Peter joining in soon after, confused as to what was happening but feeling left out that he wasn’t involved. Remus however was unamused, arms crossed in front of his chest as he glared at his friends, eyebrow raised as if daring them to speak.

The cheering stopped when Sirius and James noticed Remus’ upset attitude, Peter once again joining in and stopping, mumbling a small what’s happening to Sirius who brushed him off. “Oh come on mate,” James argued, mimicking Remus’ posture but with a smirk plastered on his face, “how are you possibly upset with us?”

Remus was gobsmacked at James’ question, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water as he looked at his friends trying to find the words to convey how stupid they were, “you lied to her that’s how! You got her hopes up when you knew you weren’t going to go with her. And you dragged me into your bullshit once again.”

“Oh come on mate, it’s not like that,” Sirius chimed in, trying to calm the tension forming. Leading Remus over to the couch he sat both of them down, slinging an arm over his shoulder, “besides, she was way more excited at you saying you’d go with her than she was when she brought it up to me in the first place.”

“That’s not true.”

“It so is,” Sirius argued back, “now stop being a fucking baby and grow some balls. It’ll be a great night.”

“If you’ll excuse me, lads,” James mutters, standing up from the seat he was on and heading towards the door, “but I need to catch Lily before she makes it to the library. Anyone joining?”

Sirius gets up and follows James, the pair out the door in an instant; and Peter, who is lagging behind, gets up to follow them, turning to Remus before he leaves, “don’t worry, it’s gonna be a wicked night.”

Remus can't help but chuckle slightly at Peter’s excitement, his head still swirling and his heart still racing, even after his friends leave.

The month was trekking on, October drawing to a close, much slower than Remus and Y/N would have liked. The closer it got to Halloween the more nervous excitement the two teens felt bubbling away. It was noticeable to their friends, as they would talk during break and pass each other in the hallway; both unbelievably ~excited and hopeful that the night would go how they want, and yet nervous. But that didn’t stop Y/N from getting in the festive spirit. She went all out this year, dragging along anyone and everyone that she could convince to help with her preparation. The whole school seemed to know that she was in a particularly festive mood this year, everyone in her year helping where they could, all the first years unbelievably excited over how amazing the castle looked.

As the talented young witch, she was, it was no surprise that Y/N was able to make some pretty amazing decorations. Pumpkins that would follow students around, glasses that made the teachers look like they were dressed up, the orange streamers and plastic spiders that would come to life when you walked past. Everyone was shocked by how all out Y/N was going this year, they knew she was talented, but not this talented. In the back of her mind though, Y/N knew she had to make this year perfect.

Remus was confused when he walked down the corridors to potions one day, and the school seemed to be buzzing with excitement more than usual. Students everywhere were glancing around in excitement, peering over each other's shoulders to get a glimpse at the parchment they were all holding. As he walked up to potions class, surprisingly early for once, he heard a commotion behind him, and turned and saw Y/N and Sirius walking towards him, students around them clapping and patting them on the back in excitement. They made their way over to Remus, who was stood there seemingly entranced by Y/N. It was like she was glowing with excitement, and he couldn't help the dopy smile on his face at seeing her so happy.

When the pair got to him Sirius pulled him into a headlock, rustling his hair slightly as he laughed, “we’re superstars we are,” he gleamed, letting go of the boy and putting an arm around Y/N’s shoulder, “everyone loves us.”

“Y/N I can understand people liking, but you?” Remus says, glancing at Y/N quickly to see her face going slightly pink, as he is doing too, at his bold comment. ‘haha lover boy,’ Sirius shoots back, but Remus isn’t listening as Y/N passes him a piece of parchment, notes from last potions class. They both go to say something when the door swings open and they are being summoned inside for class.

The boys are back in their dorms, late in the evening now, Sirius and James gasbagging about Severus while Peter listens attentively, chewing on a sweet Y/N brought to the common room earlier. Remus is trying to read his herbology textbook, trying to take notes from class today, but his mind continues to wonder. To Y/N, to Halloween, to Sirius and Y/N's friendship, he’s all over the place. As his mind is racing he feels the heat in his shirt pocket start to warm up, shocking him out of his trance as he pulls out the bit of parchment Y/N handed him earlier. He never got a chance to ask her about it, she was being pulled in every direction that day, but as he looks down at the piece of paper, no longer homework but rather an invitation now. He feels his heart start to beat harder in his chest as he turns the sheet over, Y/N’s handwriting littering the page,

“I’m so glad you decided to come, Remus, I was hoping you would. I can’t wait to see you, I’m really glad we’re doing a costume together.”

That night Remus goes to bed with a huge grin on his face, the happiest he’s felt in ages.

Halloween day comes and goes, much slower than the school would like. The teachers drone on in their usual lessons, their patience running thin at their student's erratic excitement. No one was more excited than Y/N. The second her last class finished she was off, grabbing her friends as she went and dragging everyone to the Ravenclaw common room, where she had made it clear would be open to anyone in dire need of a last-minute costume. In came students of every house and year and out walked clowns, mimes, zombies, princesses, anything and everything they could think of, hidden from the teachers by some simple spells.

The boys were down at the room of requirements, decorating for the party to come; the room had transformed itself into a huge dance hall, and the boys were doing everything in their power to make it a spooky extravaganza. And they were succeeding. There were jack o'lantern, punch, sweets of every size and shape, every corner of the room decorated with spooky charmed decorations, and every ceiling adorning some spider or streamers. Peter had even thought of the idea to set up a trick or treating scavenger hunt for the younger students (and some of the older students too), so there were plenty of people already coming in and out collecting clues and sweets before they weren’t allowed to be wandering the halls anymore.

It was immaculate, seeing the room come together because of his friend's hard work, but nothing could describe the awe he felt when Y/N walked in the room. By now there were people flooding in at a regular pace, but when he heard that soft voice call his name and turned to see her, his world seemed to stop. All he could do was stare, she looked gorgeous. Not that he didn't always think she looked gorgeous, but he couldn't help but think how happy she looked, completely encompassed by the holiday spirit. She looked beautiful in her costume, her hair big and curly, and the tight leather trousers and off the shoulder top complimenting her figure perfectly. She held her self with a confidence he had never seen in the girl before, and he was amazed.

“This is brilliant Remus,” Y/N smiles up at him, grabbing his hand as she looks around, “you guys did an amazing job.”

Remus barely processes her words as his brain is already trying to put together his next sentence, “you look incredible.”

It caught Y/N off guard his compliment, he had never been so earnest and bold with her before, and the sentiment made her blush furiously, “you look great yourself.” The teens stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, when Sirius and James sauntered over to the pair, already on the verge of drunk, and started chiding them “there’s my favourite greaser couple.”

“Don't tell me this is your incredible costume?”

Sirius was shirtless, a studded leather jacket and black glove the only attempt at a costume, giving him a Billy Idol vibe that both Y/N and Remus didn’t even know was intentional. James was more obviously dressed up, the mouse ears on his head giving him a very distinct, albeit lazy Micky Mouse appearance. They both just shrugged at the girl, going into a tirade of drunken excuses to which Y/N just rolled her eyes, “if it makes you feel better I only did this to match with Lily,” James slurs, “turns out they were lying to me and she's wearing some bloody antlers.”

“Dear god James you’re so thick sometimes,” Y/N shook her head, turning towards Remus, “wanna go dance?”

The pair made their way into the crowds of other people dancing, ignoring James’ shouts of questions.

The night went on, and the people kept dancing, chatting and spinning and laughing at how much fun they were having; all through the night people would come up and compliment Y/N on the party, and never once did she take full credit, always saying how much other people helped her. As the pair stood there, laughing with their friends as they danced to the ending of the monster mash, it slowly faded and didn't pick up again. A slow song began to play, and Remus looked over to see Sirius playing with the music, James giving him a thumbs up.

Before Remus can say anything, Y/N is placing his hand on his arm, “wanna dance?” Despite both of their nerves, the pair danced together slowly, Remus’s arms around her waist, and Y/N’s around his shoulders. Both of them wanted to look at each other, to bask in how lovely they each looked but neither wanted to ruin the moment.

Remus moved his head from where it was resting against Y/Ns, and she moved her head to look up at him, meeting that soft, goofy smile that sent her stomach tingling with butterflies. “you really do look lovely tonight, I’m so glad you asked me to come with you.”

Y/N barely knew what to say to him, it seemed that her body was moving on its own as their heads were slowly moving towards each other. “I’m glad you came with me,” she mumbled back before their lips finally connected.

What seemed to be years in the making was finally happening, both teens dream coming true as their lips pressed softly together. All at once, Y/N felt her heart pounding in her chest, her mind racing at yet somehow, all she could focus on was Remus, and his lips pressed against hers. It seems that the world disappeared around them, as they stood there with each other. Nothing mattered right now except them.

They pulled apart sooner than they wanted to, both could've stayed there for eternity if they had the chance. They looked into each other's eyes, hoping their shared glance could give them all the words they failed to be able to say. It was a nice moment until James’s, Sirius’s and Peter’s hollers broke through the soft ambience of the crowd, everyone looking around confused, some even joining in as Remus and Y/N just laughed slightly at their friends' antics.

“Do you wanna do Hogsmead with me this weekend?” Y/N asked softly, grinning up at the boy.

He leaned down to connect their lips again softly, grinning when they pulled apart, “I would love to.”

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denkamis · 4 years ago

Note

Can you please write a fluff one shot about a sk8 the infinity like his girlfriend/boyfriend/s/o falls asleep on him

to anon: omg first request omgomg thank you so much for sending one in! i wasn’t sure which sk8 character you were referring to, so i decided to write one for both reki and langa! hope you don’t mind hehe <3 this is the one for reki, the one for langa will take a little bit longer bc of valentine’s & other requests but i hope you like this one regardless!

warnings: none, just some fluffy times with the best boy. reader is gn!

word count: 1.3k

sleepyhead. (reki x reader)

Late nights were certainly not a rare occurrence with your boyfriend, Reki. He was filled to the brim with energy and passion that practically flowed out of him like a geyser. Not that you were opposed to that at all, you found that it was one of the qualities that made you fall for him in the first place. Though, you worried that he wasn’t taking into consideration his own personal health during these late night excursions. Take for instance tonight, as it was slowly approaching two thirty am, it seemed that the redhead had no clear intention of stopping his work.

The two of you were cooped up in his workshop behind his house, Reki singing along to some “cool jams” as he called them. In reality, it was his Spotify playlist of the “best 2000’s alternative” music like Sk8er Boi by Avril Lavigne and Dear Maria, Count Me In by All Time Low. You were barely hanging onto your string of consciousness, the mere idea of sleep sounding like absolute heaven at this very moment. You were propped up on a stool in the corner, the stack of skating magazines Reki had given you to flick through in case you got bored now sat in a neat pile off to the side. You had read each one of them front to back twice already tonight.

It wasn’t that you didn’t love spending time with Reki. You enjoyed listening to his midnight ramblings of whatever came to mind. His ideas for new boards, designs for stickers, and other creative ways to beat his future S opponents were usually his topics of interest. No one really noticed how much of an imaginative person your boyfriend was. He could be impulsive and over excited at times, but his fantastic mind and his willingness to create made your heart soar. Not only that, but he was fairly handy when it came to fixing up and assembling his own boards like he was some mad scientist waiting for one of his many experiments to go right. You indulged him as much as you could, you really did enjoy his company. Even if you would much rather be curled up beside him snuggling in bed rather than hear Reki precariously make his way through the lyrics of Check Yes Juliet for what seemed like the seventh time.

“Reki,” you spoke up finally as the analog clock on the wall indicated the current time of two forty-three am. Reki looked up from Langa’s custom longboard, hair bouncing about despite already being contained by the headband he wore everyday. “Yeah?” he asked, throwing a glance over his shoulder only to see your weary eyelids and tired expression. His entire demeanour melted, lips jutted out in a tiny pout upon seeing his poor baby so tired.

He backed away from his worktable, dancing and tiptoeing across the floor to avoid stepping on any spare parts or tools he had left lying about his mishmash of a workshop.

“Is baby tired?” he cooed, sawdusted fingers beginning to tug and pinch at the corners of your cheeks. You groaned in annoyance, your sleep deprived state causing you to be a tad more irritable at this hour. “Reki,” you repeated in a more serious tone, ember coloured irises meeting your e/c ones. His calloused hands moved to cup your face, warmth enveloping you in a way that felt like home. The scent of pine and the remnants of orange crush soda invaded your senses. He smiled at you with that goofy face of his, the one that Langa constantly teased for being weird. Maybe it was your sleepy nature, but he looked even more gorgeous in the harsh LED lighting of his garage. Tiny strands of his auburn hair fell in front of his face as he tilted his head to the side, his smile growing as he watched your eyes begin to droop.

“Please. Let’s go to bed,” you asked of him as kindly yet firmly as you could. Reki clicked his tongue a bit, thinking for a moment before delivering a cute peck to your nose. “A few more minutes! Then we can head inside, grab a cookie or two and crawl into bed together! It’ll be just a jiffy okay? Here, you can even set an alarm,” Reki was already reaching for his phone in his hoodie pocket so that you could do just as he suggested. He stopped in his tracks as he felt your hands clasp around his hoodie, pulling him close so that you could hug his torso. He laughed at how clingy you could be while being so sleepy, his hand patting atop your head as a form of affection.

“Wow, you really are.. sleeping,” Reki’s voice trailed off as he looked down to be greeted by you completely passed out against him. Your arms held your boyfriend close, your face buried within the fabric of his yellow skater boy hoodie. Soft snores escaped you, your breathing slowed and calm as you finally let your consciousness slip out of your ever fleeting grasp. Reki’s face began to bloom with colour the longer he stared at you, panic setting in as he realized what was truly happening.

You had fallen asleep against him. Oh shit. Oh god. You were asleep against him. That meant you were so comfortable that you just so happened to pass out in his arms. Reki bit back a giddy smile, warmth cascading through him in a form of nothing but love radiating solely for you at nearly three in the morning. His heart thumped rapidly against his rib cage. No matter how long he had been with you, he kept discovering new things about you that made him absolutely lose his mind. You falling asleep against him definitely being one of those many things. You looked so peaceful, so unbothered and safe within his embrace. This warmth you had given him overtook his will to keep working, his hands moving your hair out of the way of your face to kiss your forehead.

“Sorry for making you stay up, sweet baby,” he apologized in a quiet tone. His hands moved your arms to around his neck, using his strength to lift you up and wrap your legs securely around his waist. “I can’t say I’m not grateful for you being here for me, though. You could have left too, yet you stayed here for me,” Reki spoke to your sleeping form. The fact that you had stayed up with him this late made him even more grateful to have you. Reki grunted a bit as he adjusted to the newfound weight of you around him, your hair getting in his mouth and his eyes squinting to find the light switch so that he could flick it off before leaving. Reki was always careful with you, handling you as if you were a sort of glass figurine he barely even had the permission to touch.

“You look so damn cute like this, y’know,” he continued to speak as he maneuvered his way about his house, trying his best to subdue his footsteps and make as little noise as possible. He didn’t want to wake up his mom or little sisters. “Man, I’m so lucky. Seriously really lucky to have someone like you in my life.”

In your sleep, you subconsciously nuzzled your head against his chest. He melted a bit, holding back a tiny noise of happiness as he began to beam like an idiot holding his partner. You were the most amazing person, the person who made him happy every single day without fail, the person who picked him up no matter how much he bailed or got hurt. He loved you more than anything, and he wanted to treat you as well as you treated him. Even if it meant carrying you to bed after a late night of him talking your ear off about skateboarding for three consecutive hours.

all works © denkamis 2021.

tags:

@meilbox

wanna be on the taglist? see this post!

#reki kyan #reki kyan x reader #reki x reader #sk8 the infinity #sk8 the infinity x reader #sk8 x reader #sk8 fluff #denkamis.oneshots #denkamis.requests

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kamino-blues · 3 years ago

Text

501st Affection HC's (Part 1)

✨ Part 2 ✨

Rating: Pg-13 and sfw

Warnings: Fluff!!!! References to kissing, making-out, cuddling, and flirting!

Note: I'm finally starting to write for the 501st!! When I want to get a feel for characters I don't normally write for, I like to do affection headcanons to get a general feel for the character (that's why you see them pop up so much on my blog 😅💖). I hope you enjoy!!!

Rex

Rex is a complete and utter gentleman with you, constantly making sure that you feel comfortable with him

It takes a little while for him to show affection through touch, you would have to take the lead for some time

Loves it when you hold onto his arm, walking closely next to him

The ability to exchange quiet words, faces close to one another is one of his favorite things

Sometimes when the two of you are sitting in public next to each other, he would throw an arm around you (solely so that you two can be closer)

He is definitely a hand holder! Rex will send small hand squeezes when you two are in conversation with his other brothers

Is very protective of you, will keep a hand on the small of your back when you are in public

If you stray away from him for one reason or another, Rex would have eyes on you at all times

As you both get farther into your relationship, Rex would get bolder with his touches

Will pull you into his lap in public, wrapping his arms around you

If you are flustered and ask him what he was doing and mentioned that you guys are in public, he would tell you that no one could complain because he’s the Captain

At this you would usually hide your face in his shoulder, Rex letting out a small chuckle as he rests his chin on the top of your head

After a long make out session, he will pull you into a Keldabe kiss so that you both can catch your breath

Rex can be both a big spoon or a little spoon, it depended on the night

Usually he preferred to hold you, wrapping you up in his strong arms as you lean back on his chest

When he wakes up in nightmares, he definitely prefers that you hold him against your chest

Loves the feeling of your fingers running over his hair, it bring him comfort

Fives

Fives is a flirt, and is not afraid to try and make you flustered

Made it his personal goal to make you blush as much as possible when you first started dating! He was constantly sending compliments your way

He isn't afraid to give you affection, when you first started dating he made sure that you were close to each other when you were hanging out

When you are talking with him and his brothers, he will have an arm thrown over your shoulders, holding you to his side

Fives initiated your first kiss, kissing you with a passion that you had never had before

Will steal kisses in between shifts, and made sure to try and meet up with you if you were in the same area during work

Fives is the type who would pull you into a spare supply closet during work for a quick make out session

Would sneak up behind you to wrap you up in a hug, resting his head on the top of your head

When you two were alone, he was a lot more laidback, his goofy exterior fading

Fives tends to be drained by the end of his missions, so when he got to your apartment, he just wanted to be in your arms

He collapses on the couch usually, shifting as you sit down after putting on a holomovie

Will lean his head on you, you leaning your head on top of his in return

Sometimes he would shift, his head falling to lean closer to your chest, so you can wrap your arms around him

This man absolutely loves cuddles, and has practically begged you for them

Loves it when you lay your head on his chest, using him as a pillow (and vice versa!)

Echo

When you first got together, Echo would follow your lead when it came to how affectionate you wanted to be

He would take mental notes on what you liked, and would make sure that you were happy and comfortable

Honestly he would look on the holonet to get dating tips since this man had no clue what he was doing at first (He would also go to Fives for help!)

As soon as Echo learned that you were comfortable with him, he started to get a little more bolder with his touches

Hands lingering on your shoulders, arms, and hands

Will grab your hand in public more often, finding comfort in having contact with you as you walk side by side

Echo would even kiss you in greeting, even when his brothers are around (Fives would fake groan, but you would give him a look and pull Echo back into a kiss to get Fives to stop)

When Echo gets back from missions, he loves it when you run up to him and wrap your arms around him

Echo will pick you up in these moments, spinning you around before catching your lips with his own

Is a complete and utter gentleman!

Keldabe kisses, all the time, he loves to pull you into them after you kiss

Likes it when you lay in-between his legs, resting back against his chest while you two watch holomovies

Echo also liked that position so that you two can read together! He’ll have his arms wrapped around you to hold the datapad in front of you, and he’ll read to you

When you curl up next to him in bed, he will tell you all different stories about his brothers and the 501st! Mostly about the antics Fives pulls him into

Will always give you a goodnight kiss!

When it comes to cuddles, he likes holding onto you. Will trace shapes into your back until you fall asleep! He prefers that you fall asleep before him

Hardcase

Hardcase is a cuddly type of person!

When you meet up, he will gather you up into a hug, excited to see you

Lots of kisses, no matter where you are he’ll lean in to kiss you

Sends you winks from across the room when you make eye contact with him, and sometimes is even blowing you a kiss

When you and Hardcase hold hands, he’s swinging your arms back and forth

Is the master of giving you piggyback rides! Will randomly be like ‘Hey hun want help walking?’ And then will offer

The type of person to throw you over his shoulder and carry you, making you a giggling mess as you tell him to put you down

If anyone looks at you the wrong way, Hardcase will fight them

You have had to hold him back a few times, and once you pulled him away Hardcase would pull you into the nearest desolate spot to pull you into a kiss (if you weren’t out with anyone else of course)

Hardcase is chaotic!! And even if you are not a chaotic person he will make you act chaotic with him

One chaotic affection tactic you picked up from Hardcase was jumping on him and holding on, refusing to let go

This causes Hardcase to break down in laughter, ‘trying’ to get you to let go

Hardcase can definitely both be a little and a small spoon!

He loves it when you hold him, pressing kisses to the back of his neck

But he also loves it when he does it to you! So it really depends on the day

Taglist: @sitherin-mxschief , @kirinpl , @m-o-o-n-s-g-o-o-n-s , @monako-jinn-stories , @os274 ,

If you want to be added to my taglist please let me know!💖💖

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spxllcxstxr · 4 years ago

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Yellow Sticky Notes • R.L

(Gif not mine)

Request: maybe an imagine where the reader is dating remus and puts sweet love notes into his books to constantly remind him how loved he is 🥺 — anon

Summary: Remus finds your lovely paper trail in his books while in the hospital wing

Warnings: mention of food, mentions of injuries, mention of full moon, Remus being a bit insecure, fluff

Word Count: ~1k

A.N: Do me a favor? Disregard the fact that Post It Notes were invented in 1980. Let’s just push that date back a tad...I honestly don’t know how I feel about this one? I love Remus so much so maybe that’s why I can’t seem to love the things I write about him because I feel I don’t do him justice. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Love you all ❤️

****

Remus sits alone in the hospital wing, all his friends stuck in class, while he’s forced to suffer in the all too familiar scratchy bed.

The full moon the night before gave him deep purple bruises all along his abdomen, a foot facing the entirely wrong way, and a brand new inflamed scar running from the bottom of his left earlobe all the way to the corner of his left eye.

When Madam Pomfrey reluctantly held up a mirror in front of him earlier in the morning, he almost snatched it out of her hands in a fit of rage and threw it across the room. He would’ve, if he wasn’t too weak to even lift up a finger.

But that was before James made his way down with a plate of breakfast, Sirius with an armful of jumpers, and Peter with a fluffy pillow from Remus’ very own bed.

You had come running down with his school bag filled to the brim with his favorite Muggle novels.

Just seeing them gave him the strength he needed to get through the rest of the day.

The four of them stayed as long as possible, but Slughorn made it very clear the last time they were late to class that detentions would be the least of your problems. He was threatening to write home, and no one wanted that.

You pressed a quick kiss to his lips before dashing out, his eyes trailing after your retreating form.

He sighs before picking up the novel closest to him on the nightstand. It’s one he’s almost done with, only a chapter or two left.

Remus opens to the dog-eared page, but notices something different about the paper.

Smack dab in the center of the page sits a pale yellow square, your elegant scrawl resting on top of it. Bringing the book closer to his face, he reads out your note.

Dear Remus,

Over the summer, Lily sent me a pack of these Muggle things called sticky notes. I think they’re absolutely fascinating, don’t you? There’s this sticky stuff on the back and that’s what makes it stick onto stuff. Sometimes I think these Muggles are geniuses! There’s one hundred in a pack and I’ve decided to use them all. Let’s see if you can find the other ninety-nine.

Love forever,

(Y/n)

Narrowing his eyes, he turns his head to look at the other books you brought down for him.

Slowly, he closes the book in his hands and grabs another one from his bag.

Sure enough, on the first page, there’s another pale yellow sticky note with your handwriting.