#I realized after looking at it that I forgot to turn the shadows layer for his cheek back on 😭😭

[niko-jpeg]

Originally, Shadow 05 was not going to be in this au. But then I came up with the funniest possible way to include it in the story, and I couldn’t help myself. So you know how Camp Green Hill is set up like an animated series, with seasons and episodes and such? Well, I present to you Camp Green HIll: Shadow the Hedgehog, a post canon movie spinoff featuring our beloved moody hedgie and his adventure of accidental self discovery. The details are a little in the air right now, since I’m still finishing the base plot of CGH itself, so doodle explanations under the cut <3

Title Drop: First doodle of the batch I made, featuring Shadow and Rouge. They still work together under GUN post canon, and are cool and badass and etc. Slight design changes to Rouge because I wanted to, and Shadow rocks the button up and suit jacket combo. And yes, of course, he still has a gun.

I Can’t Draw Omega: I tried. And it did not go well, I’m so sorry Omega truthers. 

Weird Way to Meet Your Dead Beat Dad: I saw this scene vividly. After the opening sequence, Rouge and Shadow are going back to the apartment, only to be met by Shadow’s alien dad, who he does not remember. 

In the Lab, All Alone: This one’s more of a stretch, a vibe doodle if you will. I wanted to draw him in emotional distress, so I stuck him back on the Ark in the classic shitty hospital gown while he tries not to cry tears of frustration. Why? Because I said so. I don’t think it’ll make the final cut, but I had fun drawing it anyway. 

Sonic and Tails: As I said, this au takes place post canon! Now Sonic is 18, and Tails is 14! Shadow is 19 himself. However, because of just how many times Sonic has gone super, he’s begun to physically change a little. While coming down from being super has its emotional fallouts, he’s done it so many times he’s begun to grow electric yellow fur on his ears, hands, feet, and around his eyes. It also seems to be on his quills, strangely. Tails is as nerdy as ever, clearly.

Super Shadow: Unfortunately, Shadow goes super every once in a blue moon too, and it too is beginning to manifest. While at the moment the third eye is just a temporary thing while super, there's no saying if it may stick around if he does it again. A note on that as well: the only Hedgie that doesn’t go Super more than once is Silver. This is intentional, on his part, as while he was super, he found it quite a challenge to keep himself under control and has avoided it since. Who knows what his manifestations may end up looking like. 

Expressions: A surprised (though not unhappy) Shadow, contrasted with a visibly aggressive Shadow. 

Cuddle Pile: Request from the stream. Coming down from being super has its downsides, and a pretty rough mental fallout. Being a god for an hour doesn’t leave a guy unscathed, y’know. While Silver resists it initially (for various plot reasons), eventually the two are able to convince him to join the emotional recovery party Sonic’s closer friends throw him when he goes super. This usually includes blanket time, as seen here. 

Post Credits Shenanigans: I have this very vivid scene in my brain that would take place after the events of the story. Earlier, Sonic gushes about how cool he thinks Shadow actually is, under all the bitey rough exterior. Rouge, naturally, gets a recording and after everything is said and done plays it for him. This obviously flusters him. Please excuse the poorly edited blush, I realized I forgot to turn that layer back on only after I had saved the file. Oops. 

Remember, asks are open for the characters themselves, or about the au <3

[hungover-and-broke-student]

A little something based on an old thread with @malpractitioner that I've had rotating in my brain for a while. Cut for length!

After one last look around and with some irritated grumbling, Riley finished the last of her night shift and headed home into the night. Winter had arrived in full force and in the earliest hours, well before the plows and salt trucks got out to clear it, the snow made the city almost unrecognizable. Street lights now offered a hazy glow instead of harsh shadows and the usual car honks and sirens were replaced by the soft hiss of snowfall and crunches underfoot.

Block by block, she made her way home, enjoying the scenery as snow filled in her footprints. But as she approached the outermost edges of campus, with the oldest and most neglected buildings and almost a dozen blocks still to go, a cruel wind began picking up. She was prepared for a few flurries, not a blizzard, and her layers were proving insufficient.

Cold. Burning, numbing cold crept deep into her bones, chasing all sensation from her hands and feet as she stumbled up the steps of the old, imposing medical building and tested the handle. Expecting it to be locked, Riley was almost startled at the ease in which it opened, the warmth inviting her as she slipped in.

"Hello?" Riley quietly asked the sprawling darkness. But only silence answered back. Perhaps the cleaning staff forgot to lock the door when they left? Were they still here? Was she not loud enough?

"Anyone here?"

No response. Just cold, quiet, darkness and the soft drip of snow melting onto the floor.

A bit odd, but nothing to worry about. She was just grateful for the chance to warm up enough to get the feeling back in her hands before braving the rest of the way home.

Wandering deeper through the halls, she had just turned to leave when she heard it. When walking through the woods, people will sometimes jump a bit before realizing that they've noticed a snake in their path, and this was eerily similar. Her eyes widened, hair stood on end and heart raced before she could even register the single scream ringing through the hall, clawing its way to escape, to anyone who might hear it. A single, desperate, and terrified, "HELP ME!" Came from down the hall behind her.

And then it was quiet again. Nothing to be heard over her own heart in her ears. Leave. Immediately. But who could be down there? Doesn't matter. What would have made them so scared? Do you want to find out? Maybe I can help them? Your phone died hours ago. Isn't it better to know what danger may be there?

Riley crept deeper into the dark, taking care to step lightly and listen for any sign of who or what screamed, but it was just her footsteps and the silence around her. Until she noticed a soft glow from a small window on a door to one of the labs and crept close enough to peer in.

It was hard to tell what was going on at first, some papers on a desk, some chemistry equipment, an empty coffee maker, some chairs tipped over... and a body on the floor. Horribly still, eyes rolled back and mouth agape in a post-mortem scream. Locked in horror, time slowed around her until movement caught her eye. Someone else was in the room, and he saw her.

At once, she turned heel and raced back to the entrance, stumbling blindly through the shadowy labyrinth. The halls seemed to have gotten longer since she first wandered through, she couldn't have really walked so far, right? Did she pass through these classrooms already? Did she take the right one? Before she could despair, she saw it, the soft red glow of an EXIT sign. With a loud 'CRACK' she ran into the handle, but the door didn't budge. It wasn't locked. It was frozen shut.

"Riley?"

So caught up with the door, she hadn't heard him approach, now blocking the main hall. Despite the darkness, she recognized the long limbs, large glasses and imposing stature of her psychology professor, Doctor Jonanthan Crane.

"What are you doing here?" He didn't sound angry, moreso confused and almost amused. Like they ran into each other at a gas station out of town, instead of getting caught for murder. He looked slightly disheveled compared to his lectures during class, eyes bloodshot and shirt untucked, but the way his gaze pierced through her was all the same.

"I swear to God, I didn't see anything." The words spilled out without control.

He paused for a moment, before simply stating with the authority of an educator getting a confession from a problem student, "That's not what I asked, is it?"

She stared for a moment, so wound up with her own fear she had to organize her thoughts enough to go through that night's events. Starting with her shift ending, the freezing walk and her stumbling back to their current conversation. Whether he believed her, or cared enough not to, she couldn't tell. He just stood there. "I swear, I won't tell anyone."

There was a flash of amusement as he took a few steps toward her. Riley had nowhere to back up. "I can't see why you would, it's your word against mine, isn't it?" Who would you believe? He didn't have to say it, she already knew the answer and it made her insides twist. A celebrated doctor and professor, head of the psychology department versus a mentally ill drug addict. Who would you believe? Who would you believe?

He closed the gap between them and terror wrapped itself around her neck like a noose, slowly growing tighter. "Please dont kill me." It was hardly louder than the soft buzz from the sign above, but it wouldn't have mattered. She was going to die, alone and terrified, just like the other student. But this time, without anyone snooping around to find out what happened. Would anyone even notice she was gone?

Terrified and with no way out, a memory flashed through her mind, a final hail Mary. It couldn't make things worse, could it?

"I'll help you! Y-you need help with your experiments, right? If you don't kill me, I swear I'll help you." There was a flash of surprise as he studied her face, leaving her in the agonizing limbo between life and death. Time dragged as he clearly relished her uncertainty, before turning and gesturing for her to follow.

"Alright then, let's get started. "

[ikkaku-of-heart]

@waxgentleman asked: ( Birthday Ask! :) ) “LET MEE IIIINNNNNN, nO, HYYYAAAA????THE WATER IS RAISING — GA AA NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE QUICKLY!” Loud metallic tapping resonated from outside the submarine, right by the tight sealed door; Mr 3 totally forgot there’s no keyholes to be unlocked, thus his sneaky surprise was ruined. Galdino stumbled inside safely; covered in seawater, ruined hair and one his lens broken. Showing how difficult it was to reach that destination on one of Miss Golden Week’s hypnotized tamed sea kings.  “Bleggggggggggggggr.” Galdino trembled. Throwing over a wax box he carried like a backpack on the floor. Both hands over the knees as he tried to regain his breath. “ Can.. can you believe it ? I was just—” He stops to cough more sea water to his side. “ Just I was reviewing some papers and there was this mark on the calendar, ga ne. There was nothing written but then he just..!!” Mr 3’s stern eyes turned stoic, fixed in a plain state. Quickly molding a big hat out of wax as he placed over his head. Staying in a proper pose, obviously mimicking a certain swordsman. Voice dropping into a deep and dry tone.“Saanna. Ikkaku’s birthday.” Quickly turned back to himself and melted it out of his head. “AS IF WAS JUST SOMEONE SAYING, OH IT’S SUNDAY GA NE! Frankly—What would I do If I hadn't looked into the calendar? ga ne? I didn’t even program a birthday card.” Finally, he opened the wax box, carrying out a yellow three layered cake. Placing it over the box as if it was a table. “Sometimes it feels like people forget how easily people die out there, ga ne. Birthdays are important to celebrate, you know, ga ne?” He pushes his glasses, glancing towards her with an annoyed expression. “I want to make it clear. Do not say a word of this to Bossu… I do not plan to tell Mr Hawkins I was here either. I do not plan to gain any favors because of that. Happy birthday, Milady Ikkaku. Hope to see you soon at Karai Barai. Now, if you excuuuse me.” He walks towards the door, trying to leave triumphantly but takes a step back after seeing they’re under sea already. Hands rubbing together nervously as he turned back. “—buuut I wouldn’t mind staying a bit more, ga ne. Fu ha ha ha ha!”

"What the fuck?" Ikkaku muttered as she heard the banging outside the door, quickly opening it to allow whomever was trapped outside in. Had one of the crew somehow been locked out? Law was typically good about role call before submerging, but accidents did happen, and she'd hate to lose anyone, especially on her birthday.

Death had already plagued the day of her birth as a child. She'd be damned if it was shadowed by mourning again.

To her surprise, though, Mr. 3 was the one who'd been stuck outside the Polar Tang, and he was now hacking up seawater all over the metal floor. Tempting as it would usually be to let the boys throw him back out, Ikkaku held up her hand to call them off. Throwing him out would be murder, which would still cast a pall over her day. Plus, she was curious about what Mihawk's butler and her ex's BFF was even doing there in the first place. Her intrigue raised further as Mr. 3 did a brief impression of his employer (because while he technically worked for Buggy, Ikkaku was certain Mihawk and probably Crocodile called the shots and signed the paychecks), which also had her giggling. That was, until what he'd said actually registered. Mihawk noted her birthday on his calendar? She shouldn't be surprised at this point, considering their odd friendship, but still, it was flattering.

And yet Mr. 3 wasn't even here on Mihawk's behalf. Or Hawkins' shockingly enough. He...actually wanted to give the cake to her as a gift of his own? That was sweet and unexpected, to say the least. A genuine smile came to her lips. Well, how about that?

Then a laugh bubbled up from her chest when the artist attempted to leave before realizing that the submarine was decidedly completely underwater. With a grin, Ikkaku motioned for the boys to bring the cake into the galley.

"How about we get you a towel and some tea while we cut the cake. And of course you'll be eating a slice, too. No arguing with the birthday girl. If anyone asks, you can say I force-fed you to ensure it wasn't poisoned," she added, slinging an arm around Mr. 3's shoulders and leading him deeper into the ship. They could stand another party guest, and hey, he could probably contribute some great candles to the cake for her to blow out.

[vynegar]

luke 2nd anniversary SSR, part three

no matter what, I will always be drawn to you.

same disclaimer and notes from part one.

youtube link to Axr’s video of the card story

links to other parts: one two

more tot translations here

do not repost

[PART THREE]

[31:34]

???: Hey! What are you two still doing here?

A shout came from nearby, and Luke and I turned toward the man jogging toward us. It was the manager of the cemetery.

Manager: It's already closing time.

MC: (Closing time?)

I lowered my head and checked the time; it was indeed almost evening. At some point the rain had stopped, so I lowered the suit jacket and shook out my sore hands. The sunlight was no longer dazzling, instead illuminating us gently.

Luke: Alright, we'll leave now.

MC: (I can't believe it's closing at such a critical moment... What bad luck.) Luke...

Luke: Let's go home for now. We really can't stay any longer.

Luke took my hand, and we faced the tombstone once again. The stone base was wet, the scent of trees and earth was in the post-rain air, and it was comforting somehow.

Luke: Mom, Dad, we're heading back for now. We'll come visit again next time.

MC: Yeah, don't worry. Everything will get better.

--

[32:30] Streets outside the neighborhood

We were just in time for rush hour when we left the cemetery, so Luke and I ended up deciding to walk home. Because our conversation earlier was cut short, we both had a lot on our minds and were silent on the way back. It was dusk already, the sunset staining the horizon with layers upon layers of gold and orange. A bird streaked by and I subconsciously followed its shadow, gazing towards the horizon.

MC: (Wait, that's...) Luke, look, it's a double rainbow!

I instinctively tugged at the hem of Luke's jacket. In the splendid sky, a double rainbow arched across the greater part of the city, warm and magnificent.

Luke: Have the skies cleared up?

MC: Yeah, the skies are clear now. (1) Luke, do you still remember the double rainbow we saw last time we were on Nosta Island? (2)

Once, on that isolated island with "buried" gold, Luke and I had seen a unique miracle together.

MC: Do you still remember what you said back then?

Luke: "In the future, can we go to more places, searching for more miracles?" (3)

As if he had thought of something, Luke's expression gradually changed from the somewhat subdued look it had had until now. I took the opportunity and made him face me.

MC: Luke, I know it's pointless to say anything more, but I want to tell you that... whether it was back then or right now, my answer is always the same: yes. But one thing is different: back then we were just childhood friends, but in the future... I want to be at your side as someone even closer to you. No matter how things end up... I’ll still accept it, gladly.

Luke: !!!

Luke looked at me, his expression changing. Then, he suddenly took my hand and began to run.

 [33:57 Home]

Luke led me back home at the fastest speed possible. He hung his suit jacket on the back of a chair and let me change clothes, then entered the bedroom. In that time, he didn't offer a word of explanation.

MC: (Is Luke... okay? Was what I said just now... a bit inappropriate, like I was forcing him?)

I thought for a moment, then saw it was already dusk and decided to make something for dinner. After Luke had relaxed a little, I could talk to him about it.

MC: Is there any food at home?

I opened up the fridge. Besides frozen food, the only fresh ingredients were tomatoes and eggs.

MC: (I forgot, with Luke's culinary ability... how could there be ingredients in the house.)

I searched through the kitchen cupboards and was able to find a jar of orange jam. I opened the lid and smelled it; it seemed fine.

MC: (I remember there was toast in the cupboard downstairs, maybe we can first get something in our stomachs before we order takeout.)

Having made up my mind, I closed the cupboard. When I turned around, however, I realized that Luke had already been standing behind me. He held in his hands the ring box that I found earlier, his face blushing faintly.

MC: Luke, how did you...

Luke: MC, I have something to tell you.

He lifted his head and held the box forward.

Luke: I think Aaron's already told you, that I made this box for you. At the same time, I also made a ring.

MC: Luke...

Luke: But I don't think he knows how... conflicted I felt, the entire time when I was making them. I knew in my mind that it was wrong to make it, that I couldn't ask for more... but I just couldn't control myself. And I couldn't help but imagine what you would look like wearing it.

MC: ...

I couldn't help but want to reach out and touch Luke, but he shook his head and gazed at me. His expression gradually relaxed. The faint light of dusk slanted in through the window, falling onto his eyes.

Luke: Back then, I thought a lot. I thought about our reuniting, about our present, about those past eight years. And then, I thought about our childhood. Ever since I was a kid, I was always that "obedient child". I always felt that instead of my own feelings and needs... it was more important to protect your parents, to protect you. I had to be brave in order to not make people worry, in order to protect you. For so many years, that was what I thought. Maybe it’s made me unhappy in the past, but life goes on… Slowly, I got used to comforting myself that way.

MC: ...

The next moment, though, Luke's tone changed again.

Luke: But now, I'm becoming more and more unable to fool myself. MC, what do I do?

MC: Luke, you don't need to fool yourself.

Luke: That's right.

He suddenly laughed.

Luke: On the way home, I thought a lot. I can't deny it, you've... swayed me yet again. When it comes to you, it doesn't matter if I hide it or hesitate, it'll all just disappear in the end. Those eight years apart already proved that distance and time won't pull us apart. And my hesitations and avoidance made me realize that, no matter what, I will always be drawn to you.

MC: Luke, you...

Luke: MC, I don't fear fate. But I underestimated your determination, and my own greed. Will tomorrow be my last day? I don't know, but at least today, I want to make a decision just for myself –

Luke got down on one knee in front of me, raising the ring box. He pressed on the small bird, and the box slowly opened to reveal a ring. The sunset cast a golden glow on the perfectly-cut diamond, which sparkled in front of me.

MC: Luke...

I looked in shock at everything before me, my hands unconsciously gripping my skirt. After what felt like both an eternity and an instant, that uncertain heart was finally set in place, then slowly filled with joy.

Luke: MC, you are my key that can always, unfailingly, open up my heart. I don't know if this is the right decision, and I don't know if I'll regret this in the future. But just like Dévouement, the word I inscribed on the ring without a second thought: I'm willing to devote both my past and future to you; to carve your name onto both my heart and soul. And it's only now that I've decided to face it openly. Not for anyone else, just for myself. I want to put this ring on your finger, I want to walk alongside you and make the most of our time, 'til death do us apart. So, MC, will you...

Luke paused, then earnestly began again:

Luke: MC, please, once more, let me officially become your family.

There was a warmth on my cheeks, and I furiously wiped away the tears. Don't cry, you can't cry – that's what I told myself. Because I wanted to smile in this moment, I wanted Luke to know that I was happy. I reached my hand out towards him.

MC: Yes. Luke, let's continue on together.

Luke took out the ring and carefully placed it on my finger, as preciously as if he were making a vow. The great stone in my heart fell with a crash, and with immense relief I leaned into his embrace, standing on tiptoe to softly kiss him. It was as if I could share all my feelings and love with him this way.

Luke: ...

Luke froze but quickly took the initiative. My hand that was holding him slowly slid down as we kissed, until I could barely support myself against the counter. Luke wasn't very clingy. After the kiss, he slightly backed away from me. He stroked his finger on my lip, and subconsciously began to frown again.

MC: Stop frowning...

I wanted to smooth out that frown on his forehead, but he gently caught my hand. There was a different kind of light in his eyes – like restraint, but also desire.

Luke: If we keep going...

MC: Then what’ll happen?

Luke ignored my teasing. I knew that even now, Luke was still hesitating. I wanted him to think more for himself, but Luke had been burdened by the shackles of "others" for over twenty years. This wasn't something that could be changed with just one heart-to-heart, but that was alright. No matter how long it took, I would be there for Luke the entire time. Bring Luke happiness, starting from right now –

MC: (Still frowning. Guess I'll have to sort you out.)

I sneakily dipped my finger into the jam, and while Luke wasn't paying attention, I smeared it onto his nose.

Luke: ...

MC: Luke, today’s our engagement day. What kind of a fiancée looks so sad on a day like that? Therefore, I’ll have to punish you.

As I spoke, I smeared a bit of orange jam on Luke’s face.

MC: This is punishment for frowning in the car. And this is punishment for frowning in the cemetery. And this is punishment for… ah!

Luke suddenly leaned in close and rubbed against my nose. Of course, then my nose also got stained with sticky jam.

MC: That’s cheating!

Luke: Is it? But you never explained the rules.

MC: Wait…

Without waiting for me to defend myself, Luke’s face had already nuzzled into me. I wasn’t going to be outdone: cheeks, nose, chin, collarbone… I made sure every bit of exposed skin on Luke got smeared with jam. We turned each other’s bodies into a battlefield. Right now our thoughts were occupied with strategizing and conquering territory, with no room for anything else. Gradually, jam covered every inch of exposed skin, and the faint sweet scent of oranges wafted through the air. As we messed around, Luke had trapped me in front of the kitchen counter, pressed up close against him.

MC: That’s enough… we’re completely covered in jam…

[41:40]

Luke: It’s just jam… I’ll “clean it up.”

MC: Ah… wait!

Before I could react, Luke had already lifted me onto the narrow kitchen counter. If I leaned back, Luke would press forward, and there was no escape for me. He moved toward my throat, and his warm, uneven breath tickled as it fell on the hollows of my neck. I turned my head slightly, my body subconsciously leaning back once more.

MC: Luke…

Probably because we were immersed in the orange-scented atmosphere, my voice had turned sweet as well.

Luke: If you’re always moving around, how am I supposed to clean you up?

Luke’s arm encircled my waist. His palm slowly moved upward, and every inch of skin that he touched, burned. Wind rushed into the room, chilling my exposed skin, and I shivered lightly. The next instant, Luke licked the jam on my neck.

MC: !!!

As if I had been shocked, I tried to retreat, but the hand at my waist was blocking my path.

Luke: So sweet…

MC: The jam?

Luke: The jam… and also…

His warm tongue followed the tracks of jam, leaving a soft feeling on my neck. The experimental licks turned into kisses and I gradually grew weaker, almost losing my grip on the jar of jam. An unfamiliar elation enveloped me, the bliss and expectation spreading throughout my veins and bones. My awareness gradually blurred, until the only thing I felt was Luke’s scalding lips. My heart pounded like I had been flung high in the air, and was rapidly plummeting down. My body felt out of control as well, the weightlessness extending from my heart to my limbs.

MC: W-wait…

Luke backed off from me.

Luke: What is it? Are you uncomfortable?

MC: …It’s not that.

It was hard to say no while we were intertwined. All I could do was stare motionlessly at Luke. The corners of his eyes glistened with moisture, tugging at my heartstrings. In a flash, the clamor of emotions found an outlet and poured out.

MC: It’s not that it’s uncomfortable, it’s… it’s not enough… Hugs and kisses aren’t enough to fill the distance between us. But we’re already so close…

Right after I spoke, I felt Luke’s hands tighten slightly, bringing me closer to him. His eyes, still with that watery gleam, were staring at me. I couldn’t withstand that kind of gaze from Luke and tried to avert my gaze, but couldn’t bear that either, entangling with him…

Luke: Then let’s get closer… even closer. Whether it’s jam, or your feelings all in a mess… I’ll take responsibility for “cleaning it up”. All you need to do is look at me, and leave everything to me…

The close kisses once more descended on my clavicle up to my throat. Luke curled his tongue, swallowing the remaining jam bit by bit. After a few tries, these kisses gradually intensified, becoming hotter, longer. I couldn’t help but lean my head back and pant, like a fish outside of water. Amidst close contact and kisses, we succumbed to each other.

I couldn’t hold onto the jam any longer and allowed the glass jar to fall from my hands. In the moment, even the sound of shattering glass was alluring. Shadows swayed in the light, the evening sun slowly dimmed, and the night that belonged to us was just beginning.

[END]

(1) This phrase can be used as an idiom meaning a period of hope or peace after a turbulent time.

(2) Events from his Iridescent Heartbeat SSR.

(3) In Iridescent Heartbeat, this line is translated as "In the future, can we go to more places, searching for more adventures?" I edited it slightly for accuracy and to fit better here.

Sidenote: If you want to go back and read my analysis of Luke’s mother’s favorite poem in the context of this card, here’s the link to the post.

[glittrkink]

TUESDAY MORNING / ft.connie springer x fem! bodied reader

genre: one-shot // heavy on the fluff, light on the smut - minors dni // modern/college au! // established relationship

w/c: 2.5k

warnings: drug use, oral sex (recieving), overstimulation, lots of cursing 

synopsis: connie convinces you to skip class and stay home with him instead...

a/n: wake n bake with connie??? i’m just writing about what my dreams look like at this point lmfao happy 4/20 y’all

when connie said he wanted you to sit on his face at damn near seven in the morning, you assumed he was kidding. it wasn’t until his hands were wrapped around your waist, sliding you across his chest inching you closer to his mouth, that you realized- this motherfucker was serious.

your alarm had just gone off, beckoning you to get up and get ready for your 8 AM class. you groaned at its persistent buzzing that rang in your ears rattling what was left of your brain after a long night of studying. your hands frantically dug through the layers of sheets and blankets for your phone to turn the alarm off, waking up connie in the process. 

“damn babe could you be any louder?” he groaned in his sleepy morning voice, heavy with fatigue. he sat up and turned his body to face you, his slender hands rubbing at his tired eyes before they focused on your silhouette that was still half-hidden by the shadows of the early morning light. a drowsy smile grew across his face as his eyes adjusted to take you in. connie had told you many times before that waking up to you was the best part of his day, but this time around he didn’t have to because the way he was beaming at you said it all. 

“i’m sorry” you muttered before collapsing back down onto the bed. “fuck i don’t want to go to class,” you fumed. 

“hear me out… then don’t,” he challenged. connie could tell by your severe side-eye that his response had pissed you off, so in an attempt to cheer you up he toppled his way onto you, smothering you with the weight of his body. his head hung low as it fell into the crook of your neck, which his lips tenderly touched to spread little kisses across its surface. “why don’t you stay here with me instead” he let out in between brushes of his lips to your skin. you let the warmth of his voice dance on your skin, heavily considering his offer to ditch class before pushing him off you and abruptly sitting up. “no i should probably go, i have a test next week and i don’t know what the fuck is going on in this class” you stammered, having difficulty pulling the words out of your mouth because you honestly wanted nothing more than to stay home with connie. it was true though, you had fallen far behind in class because you hadn't been going to your lectures. and when you were in class you definitely weren’t paying attention. you spent the entire time doodling connie’s name across the page of your notebook, smitten like you were in high school or some shit.

you got caught up in the worry about how you were going to pass this class when connie broke the silence that clung to the air by saying, “hmmm…. well that sounds like a problem for you next week”. 

you wanted to smack him for being so fucking obnoxious, but just as your arm reached up to hit his upper bicep he caught your hand in his and raised it up to his lips to give you a kiss. god he was such a little prick sometimes, but you couldn't deny how charming he was. and you really couldn’t deny how good he looked in the glow of the rising sun. the tan skin of his bare chest was illuminated by the shafts of light that crept in through the window, his chain necklaces reflecting the rays into your eyes a little bit. you couldn't tell if he forgot to take them off before he went to sleep, or if he left them on purpose. either way, he looked fine as hell.

it was hard not to get caught up in admiring his features and the way they softened in the warmth of the light that lit up the room. his eyes flickered with speckles of gold as they glanced back at you, eyeing your body up and down, focusing on your chest that was exposed in your skimpy tank top before settling to meet your gaze. “c’mon you know you want to stay here with me…” he cooed, sounding smooth until the latter half of them got caught in his throat, suffocated by laughter because he could not get over the way you were checking him out. he gets a real kick out of watching you swoon for him. 

“look, i promise i’ll make it worth it” he says before releasing you from his grip. getting up from the bed he makes his way to your desk and takes a seat, pulling your rolling tray out from inside the top drawer. of course he would roll up at 7 am on a tuesday. sure you were slacking in school but this man was an absolute disaster. it was honestly a fucking miracle he hadn’t flunked out already, it almost made you wonder who’s dick he was sucking for good grades because obviously, he was not putting in the work. 

you didn’t hold this thought for very long though before returning back to focusing again on how hot he was. he looked so sexy when he rolled up, moving in silence with a concentrated look on his face as he dumped the weed from the grinder into the rolling paper. he licked his lips, leaving behind a sweet sheen before licking the paper to seal the joint together. 

when he was done rolling he tucked the joint neatly behind his ear and stood up from the desk. he extended his arm out to you, inviting you to take his hand so he could help you off the bed. you hesitated slightly before grabbing his hand, distracted by his grey sweatpants that sat low on his hips slightly revealing his v line. he can’t help but laugh when he noticed that you’re staring right at his crotch, he looked at you with a smirk and snorted, “damn baby you dick deprived or what? you’re eyeing me like you’ve never seen what’s under these sweatpants.”

“connie please!” you protest, “you stare at my tits like you’ve never even touched a woman before. what are you a fucking virgin?”

“come on now you of all people know damn well that is not true” he quickly rebuttals which throws you both into a fit of laughter, you start cracking up almost unable to look at each other with a straight face. he eventually grabs your hand again and leads you downstairs to the living room, where you sit on the couch and spark up. it was still early enough that none of your roommates were up yet, so you practically had the place all to yourselves.

you sat next connie on the couch with your legs propped up on the coffee table in front, but you weren’t left in this position for very long. connie said that you were too far away, even though you were sitting right next to him. his solution to this was to wrap his arms around your waist and pull you up onto his lap. his hard cock pressed up against your ass in the most tantalizing way possible as he lit up the joint he had just rolled. connie loved being a fucking tease.

he gave the joint a few puffs, exhaling the smoke into your face before passing it to you. following his lead you hit the joint and inhale deeply, as you’re about to exhale the smoke into connie’s face he presses his lips to yours and sucks the smoke out of your mouth. he pulls away to exhale and ask, “hey can you do me a favor?”

“yeah what's up?” you say, having some difficulty getting the words out because he literally took your breath away, making you feel dizzy in the best way possible.

“can you sit on my face?” he asks so nonchalantly, like it's not 7 in the damn morning. the fucking birds haven’t even started chirping yet. you choke on the smoke of the joint you had just hit again, exhaling sharply before stuttering, “connie i know you’re not serious, it is too damn early for all that.”

“pleaseeeeeee” he whines looking at you with wide eyes, “i need to eat a good breakfast if i’m going to grow up to be big and strong.”

“connie literally shut the fuck up” you giggle, not being able to take his goofy ass seriously. although he was always doing too much, you couldn’t help but smile at the boy who did nothing but joke around.

“so you’re just going to let me starve then?” he snaps, playfully folding his arms across his chest to give the appearance of being mad, but the smile creeping up on the corners of his mouth lets you know he’s just fucking with you.

“god you’re so dramatic, you can choke” you banter, giving him the most severe eye roll that honestly shakes his soul a little bit. he looks back at you in amazement, biting his tongue to keep him from saying how hot you look when you’re angry with him. he knows that if he went that far you would have actually hit him.

after finishing the joint you headed back to your bedroom where you smoked another. it was connie’s idea of course, which he justified by saying, “look if you’re gonna ditch class to smoke weed you’re gonna do it right.”

the second joint left you feeling heavier and more tired than before, weighed down by a warm haze that overwhelmed your body. you laid back down on the bed with every intention of going back to sleep, until connie ruined your plans and threw himself on top of you. you felt even heavier under the weight of his body, but the way he was kissing you made the slight suffocation worth it. his mouth was pressed tightly to yours, lips parted slightly to let his tongue dip through and clash with yours. 

while he was making out with you connie somehow managed to slip one of his nimble fingers up under your shorts between your lips without you noticing. it wasn’t until his finger started curling inside you that you realized what he was doing. before you could say anything he pulled his finger out, which was sticky with your cum that gushed from your pussy. you watched carefully as his mouth swallowed his finger, sucking on it while maintaining eye contact with you. he swirled his tongue around his digit, before pulling it out of his mouth completely clean. with his mouth newly free he moaned, “fuck baby you taste so good, why don’t you give me a little bit more?”

“because it’s too damn early” you spit at him again, unable to believe how fucking horny he was at this ungodly hour. 

he gives you the impression that he’s given up on his dream of you sitting on his face, lingering over you without saying a word. he almost seems a little too quiet, like he’s trying to come up with some sort of plan. an expression of concentration wipes over his face again, similar to the one he had when he was rolling but with more conviction like he’s really calculating some shit.

and before you know it he rocks his body to the side and rolls underneath you, repositioning yourselves so that you’re now mounted on top of him. you’re left staring at him in shock because that shit was smooth as hell, and for what? you didn’t really have much time to process what just happened because before you knew it his arms clasped around your waist and pulled you in closer to him, sliding you across his chest. you couldn’t help but shake your head, basically saying “here we fucking go” as he removed your pants, his head disappeared underneath your thighs.

connie had eaten you out many times before, honestly too many times to count, but this was way different. maybe it was the weed making you feel woozy but the way he was moving his tongue up and down your slit made you go fucking feral. you were rocking your hips with every lap of his tongue, which for someone who had just smoked twice, was considerably wet and felt so good against your soft insides. 

connie kept trying to talk to you while you were on top of him, his breath was hot on your skin and felt so good even though you couldn’t make out what he was saying. he was probably muttering something about you being such a good girl or how you tasted so good but his words were muffled by your throbbing pussy that clung to his mouth. you couldn’t make out what he was saying but this action wasn’t completely in vain, his words vibrated inside you sending shocks through your core. a tingling sensation spread throughout your body causing you to throw your arms behind you, resting your hands on his chest to stabilize yourself, arching your back as you completely unraveled on top of him. you let out a loud moan of his name which surely woke up your roommates if they weren’t already up as you came on top of him.

just as you were trying to peel yourself from him, connie moved his head slightly so that his mouth was now hovering over your clit, his plush lips giving it a little kiss before rubbing small circles in it with the tip of his tongue. you couldn’t handle the stimulation, he just made you come and a mere seconds later he was at it again? you tried to pull away but he repositioned his hands onto your hips, holding you down while he sloppily tongued at your sweet spot. there was absolutely no way you were getting away from him. 

“connie... please… it’s too much” you tried to whine out but your words were caught in the back of your throat, choked by your load moans that filled the room. your legs were quaking over him as you tried to peel yourself away, his taste buds digging into you putting you on the brink of another orgasm that surely would tear you apart. you kept fussing at his arms, clawing at them to release you just as you came for the second time. after hearing you scream out his name, connie loosened his grip on you, finally allowing you to push yourself from his clutches, which ended terribly wrong because you rolled off the bed and crashed onto the floor. 

connie peered over the edge of his bed, looking down at you- his face stained with white welts from the pressure you put on him. his lips were puckered and wet with your sticky cum as they parted to chuckle out, “damn i’m sorry, i guess i just fuck you too good huh?”

“connie- fuck you” you panted through a slight chuckle, laying your head down on the carpeted floor in a desperate attempt to collect yourself after having two body-shaking orgasms. it was definitely- too damn early for this.

taglist: @icedkoffees @fiaficsxo @izukine @ofwiings

sorry if you wanted to be on this and i forgot! if you would like to be added to my taglist send me a message specifying if you want a certain genre, character, or if you want it al!!!

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

Song: “Sunset” by The Midnight

Character: main Rider of your choice ^_^

There are several Riders who I feel would fit with this song, especially the line “make our home where we stand, one suitcase and half a plan” so I’m interested to see who you pick! Also I love this song and everyone should listen to it, lol.

Hey, hon! I picked, uh...every main Rider of Heisei Phase 1, Kuuga through Decade. It got a little long.

Readers, please note that these little vignettes are all set after their respective series, and may contain spoilers.

Song: "Sunset," The Midnight (Spotify)

sunset, no regrets

we could run away

The beach is crowded, and Kaoru briefly regrets caving to the affectionate pressure of his friends and booking a vacation in Hawaii. He could have gone somewhere quiet and had time to himself, instead of being in the middle of such riotous noise.

At the same time, though, the sun feels nice on his shoulders, and there’s a good wind. He hasn’t been swimming in years, really. Honestly, he hasn’t been entirely comfortable going to public pools since…he doesn’t go to pools anymore. But the ocean is different. The ocean smells nice, and the sound of the waves is soothing even coming as it does only underneath layer after layer of voices. He can relax here a little. At least, he’ll try to.

After some hunting, he does find somewhere to sit that’s a bit away from the crowd. He spreads out his towel, sits down, and pulls out a novel. Even if he’s not quite ready to swim, he can at least get some reading done.

He’s barely three pages into the book when his concentration is briefly shattered by a chorus of dismayed shouts from a crowd of children down the beach. Some itinerant entertainer has apparently decided to pack up for the afternoon. The children continue to protest and then disperse, in ones and twos and little clusters, and he can return his attention to the page.

At least, for a few more lines, at which point a shadow falls over the paragraph he’s reading and a man says, “Hey, this is an awfully big beach towel for one person, you mind sharing? I forgot to bring mine, would you believe it?”

Irritated, Kaoru opens his mouth to say something and then has to stop as he’s struck by two simultaneous realizations.

The first is, this man is speaking Japanese. Not that there aren’t other Japanese holidaymakers in Hawaii, on this beach even, but it’s still surprising.

The second is—he’s already looking up. He’s looking up, and the sun is in just the wrong place for this, and the hair’s the wrong shape, but the mouth is the same, broad and grinning, the eyes are the same, and he says, “Godai, I don’t believe for a second that you actually forgot to bring your towel, you’re the most prepared man I’ve ever met.”

“Well, yeah, you got me. But it’s all the way over there,” with a vague gesture down the beach, “and you’re over here. So obviously I’d rather be over here. Who finally managed to make you take a vacation?”

“Your sister, actually. I was in Tokyo on a difficult case and I showed up at the restaurant for lunch I think…eight days in a row? She scolded me because I apparently had bags under my eyes, and then she got everyone else to start bullying me too.” He’s not crying. It’s just how bright the sun is that’s a problem. “She was even the one who suggested Hawaii, did you…tell her you were here?”

“I mean, I might have mentioned I was heading here the last time I wrote, I don’t actually remember.” Godai sits down on the towel next to him. “You look great.”

“So do you, you’ve gotten very tan.” He’s not crying. “It’s good to see you.”

Godai just looks at him for a moment, and then shifts on the towel, turns his back, and lies down with his head on Kaoru’s leg, as comfortable as can be. Looking down at him like this, it’s easier to actually see his face, and then he looks up at Kaoru and says, “Good morning, Mr. Ichijo,” just like he did three years ago on a rooftop in Tokyo.

Kaoru stares down at him and is maybe crying a little, but he’d never admit it out loud, and says in return, “Good morning, Godai,” despite it being two in the afternoon.

The grin is blinding. “You can call me Yusuke, you know.”

“I know,” Kaoru says, voice hoarse, “but if I do then I’ll almost certainly cry, and I’d rather not do that with so many people around. Similarly, you can, ah.” A droplet of water falls on Godai’s face, and Godai very politely doesn’t acknowledge it. “You can call me Kaoru.”

“Kaoru. Ok. I’m sorry I’m interrupting your reading, by the way, but you mind if I get some shut-eye? I figure we can catch up later, but I had a really late night, I had to climb a tree. Actually, that’s not accurate, I had to climb…” some counting on fingers, “I think it was three trees? Maybe four.”

“You had to—you can tell me why later. Of course. Rest all you like.”

He half expects Yusuke to get up and head back to his own things, but the sunny, “Awesome, thanks,” is followed by him closing his eyes and promptly falling asleep with his head still in Kaoru’s lap.

After a moment of surprised blinking, Kaoru allows one hand to drift down to rest on Yusuke’s hair, and then goes back to reading.

---

one suitcase and half a plan

The rain is torrential, the wind is high, and Shouichi’s only halfway through the dishes when he hears knocking. He frowns. “Hey, Makoto? Were we expecting someone?”

Makoto leans into the kitchen, also frowning. “I mean, I wasn’t. You didn’t tell Ryou to stop by, did you? Or Mana or someone?”

“No, definitely not.”

More knocking.

“So we should probably see who that is, it’s pouring outside.”

The person on the doorstep is very young-looking, soaking wet, and visibly terrified, and Shouichi gets the door open as they’re raising their hand to knock a third time. They freeze, staring wide-eyed from inside the hood of their sweatshirt, and then say, very slowly, “Are you. Are you Tsugami Shouichi?”

Shouichi blinks. “Yeah, that’s me. Are you looking for a lost dog? I saw one come through the garden earlier but I couldn’t catch it.”

Damp head-shaking as lightning cracks over head. “I. Um. The lady, the lady at—Miss Okamura said come see you.”

A beat, some peering, and then, “Here, you’d better come inside. Hey, Makoto, get a couple of towels, please? And maybe some spare clothes or something? It looks like—what’s your name?”

“Harada Haruko.”

“Haruko is soaked.”

Fifteen minutes later, Haruko is sitting on their couch, practically swimming in some of Shouichi’s old clothes, wrapped in a blanket, and clutching a cup of tea in both hands. Shouichi sits down next to her and says, “You want to tell me what happened?”

She stares into her teacup. “A goose scared me and I yelled at it and it. It d. It died. And the lady at that French restaurant was outside when it happened and she saw and she said I should come see you.”

Makoto catches Shouichi’s eye over Haruko’s head and mouths, “She’s an Agito?”

Shouichi nods back and then says, to Haruko, “That’s my restaurant, Rina works for me. Has that sort of thing happened before?”

“I…I can move things with. With my mind. But don’t ask me to do it now, I can’t do it on purpose mostly except—”

“It’s ok, I believe you.”

She sniffles and takes a gulp of tea before choking out, “I never killed anything before.”

“I’m sure you didn’t mean to do it now.” He reaches out and pats her on the wrist comfortingly, and she lets out another watery sniff. “Most people don’t mean to hurt anyone, it’s just a bad thing that happens. Do you remember when it started happening? Being able to move things?”

“Um. I think. A year and a half ago?”

More than an hour later, Haruko’s drunk two more cups of tea and eaten all of the leftovers from dinner and finally gotten through her halting story, and her energy’s clearly starting to flag. Shouichi peers at her and then says, “Do you need me to call your par—”

She’s shrinking into the blanket and the oversized sweater before he even finishes the sentence, and Makoto says, from the doorway, “I already made up the spare room.”

Twenty minutes after that, she’s passed out asleep in the second bedroom, and Shouichi looks up at Makoto and says, “That was sweet of you.”

“I called the precinct while you two were talking, I think we can, ah, hold off on calling her parents indefinitely. And I finished the dishes.” Makoto glances back towards the closed door of the second bedroom. “I’m almost surprised she didn’t end up at Ryou’s.”

Shouichi sighs. “No, Ryou gets the ones who are scared of everyone else. I always get the ones who are scared of themselves.”

---

first chance

Shinji would live in this tea shop if the old lady would let him.

Honestly, the fact that she lets him set up his laptop in here once or twice a week is a miracle already. She’s not exactly the friendliest person. For some reason, though, she’s decided she likes him. Maybe because he helps with the dishes at the end of the day, and he does make sure to keep buying tea. Plus she always wants to hear about what he’s writing—today it’s an article about locals who say they have psychic powers, she’s going to eat it up.

The tall guy’s back again today too. They’re not always here at the same time, but Shinji can tell whenever he comes in, because of the way his stupid coat swishes when he comes through the door. Today he spends twenty minutes or so talking with the old lady up at the counter, quietly. She starts out looking annoyed, and Shinji almost gets worried, but then the look on her face softens and he relaxes a little bit. Then the swish swish swish again as the tall guy heads back out, with a pause at the door so he and Shinji can peer at each other suspiciously.

“I just don’t trust that guy, Mrs. Kanzaki,” he says as he’s washing plates at close. “Something about him seems off.”

She laughs, the little chuckle that always sounds unhappy to him even if she says otherwise. “Who, Akiyama? You’ll have to learn to get along with him eventually, Kido. You missed a spot.”

“Oh, I did, sorry—why’s that?”

“He wants to buy the place, and I think I’m going to sell it to him.”

“You’re. You’re going to what? Why? And wait, that guy wants to run a tea shop?”

“He’s nicer than you give him credit for.” She glances up at him sidelong. “Terrible personality, but what can you do? He reminds me a little of my late grandson. Anyway, I’m sure you haven’t noticed, but I’m getting old.”

Shinji blinks innocently. “Are you? I thought you were my age.”

She punches him in the arm, but very gently. “Don’t flatter me, Kido. I want to move somewhere warm, and Akiyama’s been moping around here ever since that girlfriend of his broke it off with him, he knows the whole place. He’s got the money and I like him. Don’t worry, I told him you’re a fixture. He’ll have to learn to get along with you too.”

He blushes. “That’s kind of you, Mrs. Kanzaki.”

She snorts. “I’m not kind, I’m selfish. I’m old and tired and lonely and I like having you around the place with those big dopey eyes of yours. Like a puppy, only you do dishes and you can reach higher shelves than I can.”

He sputters for a few moments before managing to speak again. “I’m a—well, I guess it’s good to know what you actually think of me.” A few moments of silence as he does more washing, and then, “I’ll miss you, Mrs. Kanzaki. But if you really want to sell this place to that guy…I guess I’ll have to keep coming by to make sure that he takes care of it right.”

She doesn’t quite smile. She never really smiles, not once since the first time he met her. Her eyes go soft, though, just a tiny bit, and she nods. “Good.”

"So what'd you say his name was? Akechi?"

"Akiyama." She squints up at him. "I'll tell you what, Kido, he's coming by again tomorrow to talk terms, you set up in your usual spot and I'll introduce you."

---

lazarus, we're coming back

Kaido takes his coffee black and visibly steaming, but with about five sugars, and Takumi's tongue is practically withering just from the smell of it. "How can you even drink that stuff?"

"Oh, because you've got such a sophisticated palate," with a raised eyebrow at Takumi's glass of fruit juice. "Coffee's good. Sometimes, if I drink enough of it, it almost feels like my brain is working. Used to go through gallons of it in school."

"That's probably not good for you."

"Whaddo I care? Actually, what do you care? We're both dead anyway. Speaking of which, uh," an awkward pause before, "how are you?"

Takumi shrugs, swallowing his mouthful of sandwich. "Pretty much the same. Squinting a lot. You?"

"I'm...the picture'a health, actually." Kaido frowns fleetingly.

"You're not having…" Takumi also frowns, gesturing vaguely at his own eyes, "problems?"

"Nope. Still living for free, too, I keep waiting for Smart Lady to stop by and kick me out but I think maybe she's not gonna."

"Maybe she likes you."

"With legs like that I kinda hope she does." Another one of those uncomfortable beats. "How's. Uh. How's Mari?"

Sip of juice. "Fine. Lonely." Another sip. "She misses Kusaka."

"She seriously misses that guy?"

"She misses what he meant to her. He was...he kind of, he kept her connected to when she was a kid? Like, yeah, he was a massive creep, and she gets that, but she doesn't have a lot of classmates left. There were never a lot of them anyway." Takumi stares at the tabletop. "Did I mention Mihara died? So it's just her and Rina, and Rina's busy with the orphanage all the time, and Mari misses having someone living with us who she was a kid with."

"Mihara? Delta? He died?"

"Stroke. Apparently the Delta Gear kind of puts a lot of strain on the body."

"Fuck, man, that's grim."

"What isn't?"

Silence, for a while. Takumi finishes his juice, goes up to the counter and buys a sandwich, eats it in slow, contemplative bites. Kaido continues to work his way through his enormous, oversweet coffee. People pass by on the street, come in and out of the bistro and take no notice of them. Just two guys, sharing a light lunch and thinking about death.

Then, finally, Kaido drinks the last sugary sludge of his coffee and says, "You got a dream yet?"

"Do you believe in ghosts?"

"What the hell kind of answer is--no, I don't fucking believe in--yeah. Ok. Yeah, maybe I believe in ghosts a little. Dead man walking, I oughtta maybe believe in ghosts."

"I've been dreaming about Kiba a lot lately." Takumi stares down at his half-eaten sandwich. "I think maybe he's haunting me."

Kaido doesn't answer for a moment, and then says, eyes narrowed, "You liked that guy a lot, didn't you."

"...yeah. Yeah, I did."

"I. Uh. I mean. If it's any consolation, I'm...pretty sure he liked you a lot too. But, but also you know that's not what I meant, asshole, you got a dream or anything?"

"Not really." Takumi shrugs, and then he smiles, just a little, staring off into the middle distance like he's seeing something--or someone--that Kaido can't. "I think that's the only dream I need."

---

they say it's darkest before the dawn

First he had to get money on his phone card, and then it took some work to find an actual pay phone, but at least there's no one else waiting to use it at this hour of the morning. Kazuma stares out at the foggy streets as he listens to the ringing on the other end of the line, wondering if he should stay in Sweden a little longer after he takes care of this or if he should head somewhere else.

Click as the line picks up, and then, "Good morning, you've reached BOARD, office of the pres--"

"Mutsuki. It's me."

Pause. Clattering as Mutsuki definitely drops the phone and then scrambles to pick it back up. "Kenzaki?"

"Yeah." Kazuma grins at his own reflection, imagining the startled look on Mutsuki's face. "I'm in a phone booth in Sweden and it is incredibly foggy here, it's amazing. Is Tachibana free?"

"I, uh, he's on a conference call with D&P right now, but he'll get off that if he knows it's you."

"You know I don't like to interrupt him, but this is actually kind of important, can you go get him?"

"Uh, sure, can I put you on hold for a second?"

"Of course. Although, uh, first--" Kazuma swallows hard. "Is Hajime getting any better at basketball?"

A pause, and then an awkward laugh on the other end of the line. "He's improving, yeah. Still not as good as me, though. And Amane had a growth spurt, she's nearly at his shoulder now."

"Oh wow, that's a lot. Ok, sorry, thanks, could you go get Tachibana for me?"

"Sure thing."

A click as Mutsuki puts him on hold, and he spends a minute or two listening to BOARD's terrible hold music, and then another click and some scrambling and Tachibana's voice saying, nervously, "Kenzaki? Is that you?"

Kazuma grins again. "You sound so nervous about it, who else would be calling this number claiming to be me?"

"You'd be surprised, I was on the phone yesterday with a group called ZECT--never mind that, look, how, how are you?"

"I'm...doing well, you know, considering. Europe is nice. What about you?"

"I think I've nearly succeeded in repairing BOARD's reputation, we just established an archaeology scholarship fund with Jounan University. And I was over at Jacaranda recently, did Mutsuki tell you that Amane had a growth spurt?"

"He did, and that Hajime's getting better at basketball." Kazuma tries to smile, hoping that Tachibana can't hear his voice falter. "Anyway, um, you're probably wondering what's got me calling you from Sweden at two in the morning. I found something."

A sharp intake of breath before, "What kind of something?"

"A statue. It makes my skin itch whenever I go near it, and it looks like...it looks like him. Hajime. Or, you know, the other guy. It's...I spent about an hour just staring at it yesterday. And there's an inscription on the base that I can't read, but I think it has something to do with the Sealing Stone, I'm hoping BOARD might be able to arrange to get a look at it."

Another sharp breath, and then a long exhale. "What do you need from me right now so that we can make this happen?"

Kazuma shifts awkwardly, even though he knows that nobody else is out on the street right now to see him and the only person who might be listening in is Mutsuki. "Well, the statue's in a local museum, and mostly I need to know that I can give the director your name and contact information. And also I need some money so that I can take her out to dinner."

A beat, and then--Tachibana's laughing at him. "You need me to transfer you bribe money."

"It's not a bribe, it's a business dinner."

"That you're going to use to charm this museum director into shipping a piece of her collection to Japan on academically shaky grounds." Tachibana's still laughing. "And you're going to be very earnest about it and she's going to fall slightly in love with you, because you have that effect on people." Kazuma starts sputtering, but Tachibana just continues with, "I'll have Mutsuki transfer you some funds this afternoon. Let us know if you need more."

The tension goes out of Kazuma's shoulders, which is startling, because he hadn't realized that he was so tense. "Thanks, Tachibana."

"It's the least I can do. Ah, do you think you might find yourself in Austria any time soon? I'm going to be flying to Vienna in March for a conference, it would be nice to see you."

Another release of tension, enough that Kazuma finds himself smiling again. "I think I might be in Vienna in March, yeah."

"Wonderful. And, ah, Kenzaki?"

"Yes?"

"Send Hajime an email or something, would you?"

Now he actually laughs."I know, I'm the world's worst correspondent. I'll email him. I promise."

---

follow the words and sing along

"Does it hurt when I do this?"

Kyosuke opens his mouth, clearly intending to give an actual answer, and then cuts himself off abruptly with, "Ow, fuck."

"Ok, yeah, that's sprained." Asumu starts carefully unwrapping the bandage around Kyosuke's ankle, biting back laughter at Hibiki's expression and the sight of Kyosuke very obviously trying not to curse more. "I mean, I can't really confirm that without an X-ray, which I can't do because I'm, you know, nineteen and not even in pre-clinical studies yet, but I know how to handle a sprain just from hiker resc--ok, who wrapped this?"

Kyosuke's mouth sets at the corners, and Hibiki coughs awkwardly. "Kyosuke did it himself. Under my instruction, of course. We were--oh, that doesn't look good."

"Yeah, you can get that striped bruising when you don't wrap it correctly. Like, nothing's actually wrong, it just looks really nasty--come on, Kyosuke, don't make a face at me, it's really hard to wrap your own ankle. Especially when you've never done it before."

Kyosuke's scowl doesn't lessen even slightly, but he does at least have the good grace to blush. "It hurt a lot, it was hard to focus."

"Yeah, that's fair, sprains suck." Asumu reaches for the fresh roll of bandage on the table, grasps at air, and then nods in absent thanks as Hibiki passes it to him. "You actually did a really good job for a first time, like, I've seen people make their sprains way worse before, but this is gonna look gross for a few days." His hands are steady and sure as he begins wrapping the new bandage. "Mostly you need an ice pack and some Advil, but you'll have to take a couple of weeks off from hunting. So what were you guys doing? You said something about...mushrooms?"

Hibiki nods. "Yes, there's a particular mushroom that can be dried and powdered for use against one strain of Makamou, Kyosuke spotted a patch of them and took a tumble down a hill when he was--"

A soft knock on the door frame, and Tachibana Hinaka's stomach precedes her into the room. She's balancing a tray on it, in fact, very carefully, moving at a sort of stately trundle as she steps over the threshold. "I come bearing dango for the wounded warrior and his entourage. You'll have to reach up for it, though, I can't exactly bend."

At her Kyosuke smiles, nose going pink as he reaches up to take the tray from her hands. "Thank you, ma'am."

She grins at him. "You've gotten so polite, I love it. How's the doctoring going, Asumu?"

Asumu's fastening the bandage as he looks longingly at the plate of dango. "I mean, it's more first aid than--fine, it's going fine, how are the twins?"

"Taking up more space than I'd like." She pats her stomach. "I hope you're ready to deliver a couple of babies, I'm really sick of being pregnant. Kasumi's getting sick of it too, maybe you can deliver hers at the same time and the cousins will all have the same birthday."

Asumu turns bright red and mumbles, "I don't know how to deliver a baby, Ms. Hinaka." Kyosuke snorts. Hibiki covers his mouth with a hand and mutters something about not being mean to the boys, and Hinaka snickers and heads out of the room again, as slow and steady as before.

"So," Hibiki says once she's out of the room, "are you going to share those dango or what?"

Kyosuke freezes in the act of reaching for a stick. "Obviously, yeah."

"Wonderful, could you pass me a--thanks, fantastic." A pause, and then Hibiki leans forward and pokes him gently in the ribs with his free hand. "Also, you're backsliding, isn't there something you should be saying now?"

Kyosuke glances sidelong at Asumu, blushes again, and says, "Thank you for taking care of my ankle, Asumu," before passing him a stick of dango.

Asumu grins at him. "Any time."

Hibiki cranes his neck to examine Asumu's handiwork as he's sliding a dango off his stick. "That looks excellent, Asumu."

"Thanks!" Asumu flashes him a smile. "It's because I've trained."

Hibiki and Kyosuke both stare at him for a moment, and then Hibiki breaks into a broad grin and says, "All right, I deserved that," as Kyosuke stifles a burst of laughter.

---

even bad guys know good love

Sou is sitting on a park bench, eating a cup of instant noodles and staring out at the water, when he hears footsteps slow behind him. Slow, and then stop, and there's the prickle of eyes on the back of his neck. He listens, gauging and guessing, and then says, "I'm not a spectator sport, Tendou," and takes another bite of noodles.

A beat before Tendou says, "No, you aren't," and then another pause before, "May I sit with you?"

"Who's stopping you?"

He doesn't look up as Tendou sits, waiting until the man's settled before even glancing at him. Stylish and impeccably groomed as always, wearing a vivid blue scarf that he definitely didn't pick out himself, carrying a reusable jute bag filled with a tasteful selection of expensive groceries. He looks no older, no less poised and collected than he ever did.

"So was there something you wanted, or are you just stopping by to remind yourself of your place at the center of the universe?" Sou takes another bite of noodles. "I should probably remind you that historically I don't react very well to being laughed at."

Tendou stares out at the water. "I'm not here to laugh at you. I wasn't even looking for you."

"But here you are anyway."

"Here I am anyway." And--there's a flicker, a momentary disturbance of Tendou's statue-like serenity. "It has been pointed out to me that I owe you--"

"If you say you owe me an apology," Sou says, not looking at him, "I'm going to punch you in the stomach."

"Not an apology. A debt. For certain things which, when they occurred, I did not care enough to prevent."

"Hm." Beat. "So what'd Kagami do to put you up to this, promise you a treat if you came and made nice at me?"

Tendou makes a soft sound, not quite laughter. "No, actually, he said he'd never speak to me again if I made no attempt to reach out to you. I've learned over the years not to discount the power of his intent."

Sou has to hold back a laugh himself, imagining that conversation and very nearly able to hear the threat in Kagami's voice. "He's an interesting man."

"I often say that myself."

"So there was stuff you could've stopped if you'd given a shit. Why should you have cared? He never meant anything to you."

"No." Another glance shows Tendou staring out at the water still, fingers tightening on the handle of his grocery bag. "But he meant something to you, and to himself, and that should have been sufficient to deserve my care."

"You're wrong about one thing."

"Mm?"

Sou swallows a mouthful of cheap, salty broth. "He didn't mean anything to himself at the end there. But he did mean something to me." Another sip of broth, and the cup is empty; he crumples it and tosses it one-handed into a nearby wastebasket. "And I'm not interested in giving you absolution."

Tendou is silent, throat visibly working in the corner of Sou's vision, and then says, "That is entirely your right. Is there anything that I can--"

"You can buy me a decent lunch."

"I would be happy to make--"

"I don't want to eat anything you've cooked. Buy me lunch and then I don't ever want to see your fucking face again. That's what you can do for me."

"...name the place and I will buy you lunch."

They sit together in silence for a few minutes. The weather is beautiful, the wind is good, the water smells nice, and yet Sou feels like he's looking at it through black gauze, dimmed and indistinct. He hasn't spoken of Hell in some time, since he generally has no one he cares to speak to, but that gauze, that dimness of the world, that's Hell.

Tendou hasn't left yet.

"So what else is eating you? Hoping if you hang around me long enough you'll figure out how to get your win back?"

There's a pause, and an uncomfortable shifting next to him. "My sister will not eat my mapo tofu. She says that yours was the best she's ever had."

That, somehow, makes Sou crack the very smallest of smiles. "Good. I'm not giving you my recipe."

A barely perceptible sigh of disappointment. "I would not expect you to."

---

i'll go with you

"Airi said she'd have dinner with me on Saturday."

Ryotaro blinks, processing this, and feels himself start to smile. "Hey, that's great! Where do you think you'll take her?"

“We had a really good conversation,” Yuuto says, which isn’t an answer. “Do you ever feel weird about the fact that your whole life’s already kind of planned out for you?”

“…what do you mean?”

“You know. The whole…fate thing. I mean. We know my daughter. We met your grandson.”

It takes a moment for Ryotaro to figure out what he’s asking, and then the impact of the thought is nearly enough to make him rock on his heels. Not that he hasn’t considered it before, but it’s so much every time, knowing how much apparently depends on him living his life in exactly the right sequence. Lives hang in that balance, people who may never have the chance to live if he makes the wrong choices, says the wrong things, meets the wrong girl or no girl at all—

Yuuto says, “Yeah, that’s kind of how I feel about it too.” He takes a sip of his coffee, and he does make a face, but he’s clearly making an effort. “I’m not sure I’m the guy that I’m supposed to be, you know? I hardly even know that guy.”

Ryotaro nods. “I know what you mean. People keep telling us who we’re going to be, and it’s not as if they’re just making decisions for us, they know.”

“They know and we don’t.”

“Yeah.”

Another sip of coffee, another wrinkle of the nose, and Yuuto looks older than he did. Not in a bad way, just—aged, not stuck in time. Maybe some of that’s just the way his face works, that he looked so young for so long, but he’s actually starting to seem like an adult. Maybe Airi’s seeing that?

Still, though, he doesn’t look anything like Ryotaro…remembers him looking. Inasmuch as he can remember it at all. Or talk the way Ryotaro remembers him talking. The other him, that is. The other him seems like a different person.

He’s met plenty of people from all over time, now. He’s not sure if he could handle meeting himself.

“Hey, don’t space out, I’m having an existential crisis here.”

Ryotaro jumps. “Right, yeah, the crisis, sorry. I was just, I was thinking about—”

“No, not that crisis, this is a new one, I think I’m starting to like black coffee.” Yuuto stares at his cup. “Next I’m going to start liking shiitakes and Deneb’s going to cry. Hey, look, we’re figuring this out together, right? I don’t just have to work this whole future thing out myself? You’ve also got stuff that you’ve gotta do and nobody’s telling you how to actually do it.”

“Of course.” Impulsively, Ryotaro reaches across the table and grabs Yuuto’s free hand. “We’re family…somehow, right? What’s the point if we don’t have each other’s backs?”

---

taste so sweet it hurts a little

When did the house get so crowded?

Wataru’s lived here for his entire life, and he can’t once remember the house being crowded. He can, when he thinks back, remember the occasional visitor when he was very young, indistinct adults who generally spoke to him little if at all. For most of his life, though, it’s just been Kivat and business visitors—someone from the bank if he needed to draw funds, sometimes delivery people before he was old enough to take things in himself, tutors whose origins he’d always been unclear on.

Then, a few years ago, he’d agreed to take a student, and there’d been Shizuka, and he’d had to speak to her face-to-face without hiding behind the door. And then Megumi, talking to him whether he liked it or not. And now—

Now, tonight, the house is crowded. With Shizuka and her mother, Shizuka playing violin in the living room as her mother sings along in a slightly out-of-practice but still sweet mezzo soprano. With Megumi, who is newly pregnant and twitchy and irritable, and Nago, who is handling Megumi’s pregnancy by looking perpetually dazed. With Taiga, and Taiga’s absolutely terrifying girlfriend Erika, who works for a business acquaintance of his and who ate more at dinner than anyone else while still maintaining an incomprehensible rapid-fire conversation about cosmetics with Megumi. With Maya, who is presiding regally over the gathering, looking pleased with herself.

The house is crowded, and Wataru is hiding in the kitchen.

Well, he’s not…he’s not hiding.He’s just taking a breather.

There’s a faint scratching sound, and then Kivat drifts down from his violin-case nest and says, “Hey, Wataru, aren’t you backsliding a little? Shouldn’t you be out there with everyone instead of hiding in here?”

“I’m not hiding.” Wataru takes a deep breath. “There are just…a lot of people in the house right now.”

“I’d noticed. I want to ask your brother’s girlfriend what happens at Kougami Foundation that she needs to carry a small semi-automatic in her purse."

"Kivat. Don't go through her things."

Kivat loop-de-loops in the air. "How else am I supposed to keep an eye on you?"

"Anyway, it's just, I'll go back out in a minute, but it's. It's really crowded."

He stands over the sink and inhales deeply, breathing in a whiff of varnish from a semi-successful experiment that had nevertheless mostly gone down the garbage disposal. The familiar stink helps to steady his nerves, and to steady them further he starts going through the recipe in his head. Tweak the liquor content, maybe. Using imported bourbon might be a little extravagant, but he's got a good feeling about the color tone he could get—

Someone knocks on the door frame. "Can I come in, or do you need another minute?"

He straightens up. "It's fine, I'm fine now. Come in."

Taiga grins at him, stepping over the threshold from hallway to kitchen with his hands in his pockets and taking a deep breath in, as if he, too, wants to savor the bite of varnish underlying all of the lingering cooking smells. "Too crowded for you?"

Wataru nods. "Still not used to having people in my house."

"Seems fair enough, it's only been a couple of years, you had it to yourself your whole life before that. Mother was asking where you'd gone."

"Which means she wanted you to come get me."

"Pretty much, yeah. Megu's decided she wants to play some kind of game, and once you come back in we'll have an even number of people for teams."

“Oh, good, Megumi wants to play a party game.” Wataru glances at his brother sidelong, feeling himself start to smile again. “You don’t suppose it’s too much to hope for one of our kids from the future to show up with some kind of emergency?”

Taiga grins at him. “Not really likely, no. But we can hope.”

---

last dance

Daiki is teaching Yuusuke how to dance.

They’ve pushed everything out of the way in the studio and put up an old backdrop that Natsumi found, a heavy canvas on which flaking paint depicts a grand European ballroom detailed in scarlet and gold. “It was for some goofy rich couple’s wedding pictures, some actor and his girlfriend,” she’d said as they pulled it out of the storage, “they had a big themed wedding and got this painted specially and then they left it with us and we never used it again.”

Now she’s leaning against the wall and tapping time with her foot and watching as Daiki and Yuusuke spin very slowly around the room, and Daiki’s saying, “Just follow my feet. We’re both doing the same thing, the only difference is I’m moving backwards.”

Yuusuke nods, following Daiki through a turn. “So how do you know how to do this?”

“Oh, you know. I learned it in school.” Daiki’s voice is deceptively light. “Social dance promotes social harmony, and it’s terribly important to promote social harmony.”

Tsukasa, next to Natsumi, raises an eyebrow. “And they taught you how to follow, specifically? Instead of lead?”

Daiki’s mouth twitches, and when he replies this time the lightness is more genuine. “Well, as a rule that was sort of the curriculum, but no, in school I was always paired off with some girl or other and I’d lead. You taught me to dance the other part.”

“…I did? This isn’t you messing with me?”

Another careful turn, and Yuusuke flashes a grin up at Daiki as their movements begin to smooth out. Daiki doesn’t quite grin back, just smiles his frustratingly catlike smile and completely fails to answer Tsukasa’s question.

Tsukasa shifts uncomfortably, and Natsumi glances at him and then reaches over to grab his hand. “Dance with me.”

“You know how?”

“Yeah, that same couple who had that backdrop made had me and Grandma come out to do pictures on their wedding day and the groom’s little sister taught me how. I was twelve or something, but I’m pretty sure I remember what to do.” She tugs him away from the wall. “Come on.”

He may not remember the steps, but apparently his feet do, and that’s enough to make everything work. They don’t collide with Daiki and Yuusuke, either, at least until they do, and then it’s less of a collision and more a change of partners, so that now Daiki is dancing with Tsukasa and Natsumi is dancing with Yuusuke. A few more turns around the room, and then another half-collision, and Daiki and Natsumi are now dancing together quite comfortably while Tsukasa and Yuusuke trip over their own and each other’s feet trying to figure out who’s going to lead. The conclusion is, in the end, neither of them, as they finally fall down and narrowly miss bringing down the backdrop with them.

Daiki and Natsumi stare down at them for a moment and then sit down on the floor at well, trying and failing to conceal laughter.

“I can’t be perfect all the time,” Tsukasa says, with as much dignity as possible.

Daiki grins at him. “I wasn’t going to comment. Maybe it’s time to break for lunch, anyway, we’ve been at this for a couple of hours now.”

Natsumi and Yuusuke make agreeing noises, and Tsukasa glances over at the backdrop hanging motionless on its roller and says, “We might as well take our time with things. We’re not going anywhere today.”

[catzula]

Hi, can I get some scenarios or headcanons of whichever MHA characters you want taking care of their s/o who’s delirious with a fever? Thank you

As long as we’re together

A/N (a special one for the anon heh): thank you so much for the request! I hope it isn’t a problem that I wrote only one since I write long fics, but this was really cute, and I hope you like it!

Genre: mild angst with a good ending, fluff

Word count: 3k :)

Synopsis: you never thought a small cough could turn into something this big, a day Bakugou calls the scariest worst day of his life.

pairing: Bakugou x fem!reader

It started with a cough.

You didn't think of it as much, guessing taking a pill and herbal tea would suffice, and it would be gone the next morning. Katsuki was away for the weekend, apparently, Kirishima was having a hard time, and Katsuli wasn't the type to just let his friends down.

The house was so quiet and so lonely without him, his caramel scent fading with every moment he wasn't there. You thought it was his absence that caused your laziness and moodiness. So you just kept repeating to yourself that it wasn't anything serious and will disappear the next morning,

It didn't, in fact, go away. Instead, you even had a killer headache along with the now slightly worsened cough.

You weren't the kind to get sick often, and even when you did, it didn't last more than a few days. Always just a few coughs and sometimes a bit of haziness, and it would be gone. So when you were talking on the phone, your boyfriend asked you if anything was wrong, you said no. Why did you need to bother him? It would soon be gone, and you knew very well the second you told him you didn't feel good, he would jump on the very first plane or car or anything, walk if he needed to, and be by your side.

Not that you didn't want him next to you, but he was there because someone else needed him, and he would be home soon enough, anyway.

So instead of telling him the slight cough and the headache, you just sighed. "I just missed you, babe."

"Of course, you did." He answered, and you could hear the grin in his voice. "I'm flying back tomorrow. I'll be home for dinner." He added, and you knew he had missed you just as much. "How is..." You started to ask, suddenly forgetting what you were even saying. There was an odd feeling in your brain that stopped you from thinking, your head felt lighter than usual, and your eyelids were closing on their own.

"Shitty hair is fine." He answered, not noticing your shift in mood. "Don't worry about him, dumbass. You eatin' good? I sure hope you're not eating those shitty fucking things again." By those shitty fucking things, he meant anything that didn't have enough spice and protein in it, but you didn't call him out for it. Instead, you stood silent, the kind of thing that caused Bakugou to furrow his brow on the other side of the line. Even though he was serious about you eating healthy, he expected you to laugh or tease him about it.

"Hey, dumbass. You still there?"

You wanted to say something, you really did, but the sudden dizziness that hit you prevented you from focusing on anything but not throwing up.

"Y/N?" You heard Katsuki's now worried voice. "Answer me this fucking second, or I'm coming there right now." He growled when he thought he heard a slight whimper.

"B-baby- I'm right here!" You finally managed to answer. "I was just- looking for the charger so I couldn't answer." You lied, still feeling dizzy, but at least you could talk with him now.

"Y/N, if you're fucking lying to me, I'm jumping on the first plane and coming right there." He told you, but you could hear his worry toning down. "No, no. You're coming home tomorrow anyway." You told him, smiling softly to yourself. "Just, come back to me as soon as you can, baby."

"Don't fucking tell that to me." He answered with a softer voice. "You know there's no need. Oh, shit, I gotta go now." He told you quickly, a shuffling coming from the other side of the line. "Take care, 'kay? And if anything happens, you're calling me."

"Y-yeah." You said weakly, the feeling of tiredness coming back. "You too, baby."

You knew you shouldn't feel sad when he closed the phone, but you did. Sighing to yourself, you thought it would be better if you just slept. You suddenly noticed you hadn't eaten anything the whole day, you had skipped both breakfast and lunch, but you were so tired that you thought it would be okay if you just ate when you woke up.

The room was awfully silent, and you didn't even have the strength to stand up and go to your bed. It would be okay if you slept on the couch, right?

With the thought of your lover coming back to you tomorrow, you smiled to yourself and finally gave in to the heaviness on your body and closed your eyes, thinking about how Katsuki would smile if you cooked his favorite food for him when he came back.

***

Bakugou called you the next morning but pouted when you didn't pick it up. He was an early riser anyway, so he thought you just slept in.

He knew you always woke up with him just for his sake but was also aware you could sleep the whole day if he let you. Still, he had an uneasy feeling in his chest, he knew you would wake up early just to talk to him. You sounded tired when you last talked, though, so he didn't call you one more time.

He called you again as he was eating lunch with Kirishima, you probably should have woken up and at least called him back by then. Maybe you just didn't see the missed call he had left.

The phone rang and rang, but you still weren't picking up. He called you again, and again after that, too, his brows furrowing and leaving a small crease of worry on his forehead.

"You good, Bakubro?" He heard Kirishima call to him, realizing he had been looking at his phone screen for the past few minutes. Bakugou clicked his tongue. "Yeah, let's just eat already." He answered grumpily and saw the cheeky smile on his best friend's face.

"Can't even be apart from Y/N a few days?" Kirishima teased and Bakugou clicked his tongue again. "Shut up, shitty hair. It's because of you I'm here."

You must be working, Bakugou thought. Or maybe you were tidying your place up since he knew how messy you could get when he wasn't around. That must be it, he thought. You knew how much he disliked untidiness and must be cleaning to surprise him.

He called and called after that, the uneasy feeling in his chest with every missed call, but he always found an excuse. He called you before his shower, after the shower, as he packed his luggage, after finishing, as he left the place, at the airport, before he got on the plane, but you just didn't pick your phone up.

He felt the strong taste of blood in his mouth, not even aware he was biting his lip. He was so uneasy throughout the flight, still feeling a bit at ease to be finally reunited with you, he could almost feel your sweet scent when he closed his eyes.

Maybe you were mad at him for leaving you the past two days, or he closed the phone too early the day before. You could also be teasing him for when he came back, right? Still, that wasn’t the kind of thing you would do.

He kept calling when he landed, the phone never spending a second without calling you. When he finally came in front of your door, he thought you would run to open the door for him when you heard the sound of the keys. He opened the door with a scowl on his face, ready to scold you when you jumped to his arms.

Or maybe he could hug and kiss you before he did so. Yeah, that would be better, he thought, he could give you a long kiss before he scolded you. "Oi, shitty-" he called out, but instead of seeing your bright smile and beautiful face, he was greeted with absolute silence. "Woman..." His voice trailed off.

The lights were still on, the TV playing in the background, but you were nowhere to be seen. "Babe?" He called out, every scenario playing in his mind, his usually collected movements turning into panicked ones.

"Y/N?!" He shouted again, throwing his luggage to somewhere he wasn't even sure where. He rushed into the living room, the untidy room making him grimace, which meant that you hadn't been cleaning up when he called.

"Y/N!" He shouted one more time, this time, his ruby gaze had finally landed on the small figure on the couch. You looked so small, squeezed between the big pillows of the couch, hugging your body tightly. He could feel his chest tightening at the sight, but the pained look on your face was what caused his breath to hitch in his lungs.

He ran towards you, noticed how your cheeks were bright red, your face glowing with a sheer layer of sweat. Despite the sweat and your red cheeks, you were trembling like a leaf as you hugged yourself for warmth. You were whimpering and mumbling to yourself, and even though he couldn't understand what you were saying, your face that twisted with pain and agony told him he didn't want to know.

His hand touched your forehead, but he pulled it back almost instantly. You were burning.

Bakugou suddenly forgot everything he knew, his thoughts blank, mind full of panic. "Shit!" He mumbled to himself, picking you up from the couch and rushing to the shower. Even your clothes were wet with sweat, though you still nuzzled your face to his neck, hugging him to find warmth.

"I'm so cold." He heard you mumble, a shiver running down your body. "I'm so cold." You repeated, your voice causing his heart to beat faster than it already was. "I know, baby." He told you as he started to run a lukewarm bath, frantically trying to get you out of your damp clothes.

Still, it was a good sign that you were at least somewhat conscious. Bakugou bit his lip anxiously when he heard you whimper his name. "Shh," he cooed, "I'm right here."

He didn't know why, but he could swear a pained look shadow your face when he told you that. Quickly placing you to the bathtub when it was ready, you clung on him weakly. "No- no, don't go, don't go, please!" He heard you cry out. "I'm right here, baby, I'm not leaving you." It was all he could say as tears slid down your cheeks.

Bakugou finally managed to settle you in the tub, the feeling of you unconscious in his arms like he was carrying a doll sending shivers down his spine. He finally let himself fall on the floor, sitting right next to you, burying his face in his hands. This explained why you acted weird the day before, and he was so mad that you didn't even tell him-

His mind blanked when he heard a soft sob coming your way. "Y/N?" He whispered when your sobs got more frequent and stronger. "What's wrong, baby? Are you hurting- why are you crying?" His hands caressing your burning cheek, pushing the hairs back from your face, Bakugou was in desperate need of an answer.

It took a few seconds for you to finally be able to answer. Your voice was so soft and so broken, he wouldn't have been able to understand if he hadn't listened so closely. "I don't want you to die." A sentence that sent shivers down your lover's spine.

"What? What are you-"

"I-I want- I wish we had more time together!" You sobbed, your shoulders shaking violently, and he had to hold you so that your head wouldn't fall into the water. Your face falling forward and back, you didn't have the strength to support your head. Why did you look so sad? What even was the nightmare you were having? Bakugou wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Baby I- I'm right here!" Bakugou called out to you hopelessly, well aware you weren't conscious and probably having a fever dream. He had never felt so hopeless, he would do anything to pull you out of this unconsciousness and tell you it was all a nightmare. So in a desperate hope to reach you, he kept repeating it, "I'm here, baby! I'm not dying, I'm right here, next to you. We're at home, we're together, please!"

"I know." You told him. "I'm happy we at least get to spend our last day together."

"No," He repeated, "please." He groaned, chewing his lip, trying to hold the tears that were forming because of seeing you like this.

"We're not- Y/N we're not dying." He repeated a thousand more times, the words causing a soft smile to form on your lips. Bakugou took a deep breath of relief, thinking the dream finally passed but grimaced when your tears kept coming.

"It's okay," you whispered. "I'm not- sad."

"Baby-" He repeated brokenly, feeling the tears form on his eyes. "We're not- you're not dying." He kept on telling, knowing it didn't reach you. He gasped when you pressed your face to his hand that caressed your cheek.

"I love you." You sighed weakly, and he noticed you were losing all consciousness. Your body felt heavier than it was before, Bakugou noticed, realizing you had probably passed out.

Still, the panic caused his heart to beat so hard in his chest that he thought it might break free, as he brought his hand to your neck and felt your heartbeats.

A deep breath of relief came out of Bakugou's lips, and only then did he notice that his cheeks were wet with tears.

***

Bakugou woke up when he heard you groan, not even aware he fell asleep.

He had carried you back to your bed after the bath, changing the cold compress on your forehead every hour. How long was he asleep?! Did your fever get higher again? He sprung to his legs, running to the bathroom to get a new cold compress, but he froze in his place when he heard your soft voice.

"Katsuki?" He heard you call out, eyes widening with relief and happiness, though the feeling immediately vanished when he realized you were probably hallucinating again. a heavy feeling in his chest when he realized you were hallucinating again. His chest tightened at the thought of you being stuck in those nightmares again.

You kept losing consciousness and regaining it throughout the night, and he felt like he was going to go mad if you begged for him not do die one more time.

"When did you come back?" You asked, you couldn't even open your eyes since they felt like they weighed a ton. Your throat was so dry that every word that came out of your mouth hurt. When you managed to open your eyes, trying to see where your boyfriend was, you knew he was here, you could hear his heavy breathing. Ah, shit. You had fallen asleep (?), he was probably mad at you since you hadn't greeted him.

"I'm sorry, I wanted to cook you dinner but I-" You mumbled, but before you could finish your sentence, you felt strong arms wrapping around your body, pulling you into the familiar chest of his. "Wh- what's wrong?" You asked, surprised by the sudden affection. He buried his face to your neck, his spiky hair tickling your face, his arms that were holding you felt like he was never going to let you go.

"I was so worried- I was so fucking worried!" He muttered into your neck, and you noticed how his voice was breaking. The silent sobs, you hadn't missed, or the way his shoulders shook ever so slightly, although he was trying to hide it, you always noticed.

You gave him the time he needed as he tried to get himself back together between your arms. You weren't exactly sure what happened, but you were positive he would be scolding you about it every day for the next few weeks.

"You shitty woman." He muttered as he pulled back, his hand still cupping your cheek and his ruby-red eyes softer than you had ever seen them. "You were fucking burning up when I came home, I had to run a bath and shit and you-" He suddenly stopped speaking, turning his gaze away from you, something very unlike him. Bakugou never missed the chance to either tease or scold you about something, you had never seen him holding back.

"What?" You asked, trying to find his gaze once again, and he grunted, annoyed, but rolled his eyes when you kept pushing. "What happened? What did I do?"

"You were fucking sick, okay?" He blurted out, "Why didn't you tell me, dumbass?" His ruby eyes glinted with worry, and you bit your lip not sure how to answer. "I thought it would get better if I just slept." You mumbled apologetically.

"Yeah, obviously." He growled and clicked his tongue in annoyance. You sighed as you tried to sit up, but the sharp pain in your head caused you to gasp and fall back to the pillow. "Don't you fucking move." He warned, and you smiled weakly.

"I wanted to cook for you, today." You muttered. "I'm sorry I couldn't greet you. I missed you a lot, you know."

A sliver of pain went across his face, and although he clicked his tongue and tried to hide it with an annoyed expression, you caught it still. "What's wrong, baby?" You asked softly, running your hands through his hair, the motion causing him to relax under your touch. It was something he never asked for, but you knew how much he liked it when you played with his hair.

You could feel it by the way he leaned into your touch, how he hid the sigh of relief and happiness whenever your fingers twirled his soft locks around them, how he always lay his head to somewhere your hand could easily reach.

"I- I'ts nothing." Bakugou mumbled, a small smile on his lips as he closed his eyes, snuggling even closer to you.

He could finally relax, knowing that you were here, here with him, out of that nightmare.

"Nothing," he told you. "I'm just happy you're here."

[liptonsbabe]

Chains of a family [B.W]

Bill Weasley x Grant! Reader

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4

Summary: The reader has left the burrow trying to hide from Molly’s harsh comments. Bill’s mom doesn’t want his son near you cause she thinks you’ll hurt him judging you for your family reputation. Arthur thinks differenly so he’ll try to make amends between you two

Word count: 3.4 k. Too long I’M SORRY

Warnings: none

English not my mother language so pleeeeese tell me if something’s wrong

A/N: Hey! Another chapter for you’all. Thanks for keep reading this. The next part will be updated soon and yeah, hope you like it! If you want to be tagged just tell me and i’ll do so :D

Chapter 3: Expectations

It was bitterly cold outside the burrow, and you wondered if winter had come early. Your icy hands clenched your sides, refusing to go back inside even if your knuckles burned and your bare feet began to crack from the hardness of the grass on your soles.

You walked on the grass feeling the dew wetting your fingertips. On the other side of the garden the gnomes were burying one of Molly's ornaments with what, you guessed, the woman would be very angry when she found out, but no more than she already was. Molly's words were harsh. Even if her intention was not to make you feel bad, she had managed to put a huge weight on your stomach after the fight.

You didn't blame her, it was almost certain that Molly would react that way, however, you hoped that within her there was a bit of empathy for the situation you were experiencing with your family. It wasn’t easy for anyone to go through a war that could have been avoided in one way or another, however, for the Grants it was an even more difficult challenge knowing that the trigger for such a war was grandpa Tim Grant's half brother.

You walked around the house, crossing the barnyard, watching the chickens peck at a rubber boot on a very rusty cauldron. The cornfield grasses moved with the wind at the same rate. From right to left, right to left, right to left and then they changed the rhythm from left to right, left to right, left to right ...

The barn was just behind the thick grass rising into an old stone sty, which had several crooked stories attached to it. Four or five chimneys dotted the roof of the cellar, and most likely the entire building was held up by magic due to its crazy bolt-on construction. You took a look back at the main entrance of the house where you could hear the voices of Bill's brothers next to Molly's, deciding to get away from the Weasleys before starting a new fight.

You crossed the cornfield finding a pond full of frogs that you dodged with a little scream and a ballerina jump. Then you came across an old broom shed that was half stowed and a pervasive smell. You headed there, thinking of helping out with the cleaning and wasting some time in the process until William came home from the ministry in the early afternoon.

The brooms were on top of each other in a corner of the shed where the garden gnomes used them to play with each other. One of the gnomes had gotten a match with which he had managed to light a couple of strands of the broom of one of the twins -You knew it because each of the brooms had the initials of Molly's children painted on the base. That one had a huge G in the center - which soon expanded into the rest of the broom's dark fibers. You immediately turned it off earning yourself a tiny kick from the gnome.

The smoke from the fire mixed with dust, and the foul smell of expired wax made your eyes water . You wondered vaguely when was the last time that place had been cleaned up, however, the density of the raised dust and the rottenness of the broom wax on the floor told you about the nonexistence maintenance of the shed. The orchard was contained within a paddock, so you assumed there would be no problem cleaning it up later.

You collected each thing by hand placing them where you thought they should go. You finished cleaning the shed earlier than expected, securing the door when exiting to prevent the gnomes from entering and destroying everything again.

You continued your way in a straight line until you reached the barn where a thick layer of dust hid the doorknob. You opened the warehouse with your wand finding the worst scenario ever imagined. The walls were hidden in ghastly cobwebs, the shelves were clothed in huge mountains of dust, and Muggle stuff were strewn everywhere. Mr. Weasley's old Ford Anglia was on the left side of the barn,  storing certain flying objects that you couldn't recognize from the cloud of dust that rose and entered to your eyes.

Well, that seemed like an even bigger challenge than the shed on the other side of the garden. You started by washing the car using your wand to launch several aguamentis causing a waterfall of mud falling from the roof to the fender. Then the car doors flapped open like a pair of wings, letting out the flying objects. You raised your wand by closing the barn door blockig them the exit and initiating a chase that lasted a couple of hours to catch each object, throw it inside the Ford Anglia and finish polishing the hood before the flying, spoiled car got upset.

You forgot the last time you helped your household servants clean a simple fireplace ornament. Years before, when you were little and your brothers liked to spend time together, you helped the butler to clean some objects in the house because it was more fun when you formed competitions between you, Anthon and Margaret to know which of you cleaned the house ¿faster . You had fun and old Alfred got less tired. But that was a long time ago and in the present you didn’t remember what was the proper order of cleaning.

You were lugging box after box for several hours getting a terrible allergy in the process. The last box was made of recyclable paper where you put Mr. Weasley's old newspapers and Molly's worn recipes. You carried them to the fourth shelf from the right, previously cleaned, raising it with both hands. A speck of dust flew across the room, stopping on your nose causing you to sneeze so hard you fell backwards with the box on your face. The papers flew around the corners causing a disaster worse than the initial one.

“Shit”

You stayed lying on the floor taking the box off your face staring at the ceiling. Undoubtedly that would be a difficult life without anyone to help you doing the things more than yourself, however you were willing to try ‘cause you didn’t want to return home where things were simple but with a high cost. You weren't sure you wanted to trade your freedom for a few extra comforts. You let out a sigh ready to stand up when a singular sheet of a recent newspaper flew towards you, stopping on your chest. You caught a glimpse of a fairly familiar photograph in the ink, so you took the paper and read:

"Dark Mark sparks panic." Muggle family murdered.  Death Eaters numbers grow”  Your hands trembled over the paper, caressing each of the words, reading them over and over again. The weight on your stomach grew and grew, as if it were suddenly going to explode. A huge picture of uncle Tom stood in the middle, with that toothless grin and throbbing nostrils “Merlin’s beard”

Your fingers tingled, and you couldn't help but run your touch over your uncle's face trying to think how he got to that point. Grandpa Tim never talked so much about his half brother and you never had the courage to ask him even if the curiosity was eating your insides. There were few times where Tom Riddle's presence was in the family conversations and if that happened, then your father changed the topic from one second to another. It was annoying living in the shadows, but it was even more to be tied to a cause that no one sympathized with, not even his own brother. But Tim Grant was reserved, perhaps too reserved. Maybe that was the reason why he allowed the actions of his little brother to escalate to those levels and allowed too that his only son had choose the wrong side. However, you didn’t understand - or support - Voldemort's ambitions, neither did your grandpa and that cost you to be rejected by the rest of your family.

Your eyes watered and you didn't know if it was because of guilt or if the damn dirt had entered your eyelids. You looked at the ceiling in the haze. You searched your mind and realized that the situation affected you too much. You weren't welcome with the Weasleys, nor with the Grants. You felt desolate, as if the barn walls were closing in on you.

Molly's reaction was valid, you repeated yourself as many times as you could, because anyone who had lost a large part of it’s family to a member of another's would have done the same thing or something so much worse. You shook your head, once again feeling the rejection you were used to.

The barn door opened suddenly, letting in a gust of wind hitting your body directly on the ground. Your skin prickled from the cold causing the newcomer to laugh.

You looked up to find yourself face to face with the distorted figure of Arthur Weasley who was holding a couple of drinks along with a weird smile that made you laugh. The man sat on the floor next to you leaving the glass next to your face.

"I'm sorry I scared you. it’s freezing cold out there and in my defense, nobody comes to this place”

“It’s okay, I wasn't expecting visitors”

"Fine, then" Arthur took a sip of his drink licking his chapped lips, but still showing you that smile so much like Bill's. You folded the newspaper on your lap, nervous. "So ... what are you doing lying in my barn?"

"I ... I was trying to clean this place up”

"Is that so? ‘cuz It seemed like you were about to take a nap."

“Yeah, i had a little mishap here”

"I see, do you want to get up?"

"Yes, thank you." Arthur held out his hand, slowly pulling you up to leave you sitting in front of him. He offered you the drink and you clinked glasses before drinking. It was hot chocolate, you guessed, made by Molly. Your stomach churned.

Mr. Weasley glanced around the barn, surprised to see more than half perfectly arranged

“This place hasn't been so clean since Bill was born”

“Sorry?

"No, no, it's okay," he mentioned, waving to play it off, "Molly had been asking me for a long time to do it, so I think you just made my job easier."

"It's nothing, Mr. Weasley

"Did you see something you liked?"

"Uh, yeah," you answered wiping your lips. "Ignoring the fact that your car almost killed me, I noticed that you have a lot of muggle stuff."

“Ah, yes. They are fascinating, don't you think?”

"Certainly, but I also realized that most of them are useless, why do you still have them here?"

"I like to collect them," he replied, taking another sip of his drink. You mimicked his action “to be honest, I don't even have a clue how these things works, but I suppose I'll find out in time. Muggle devices are not as advanced as ours, much less functional, however, I find them entertaining and special somehow, did you know that they use a subway to transport themselves underground? And they must leave coins in a machine so that they give them a little ticket. A ticket! The first time I used one I was deadly excited!

You smiled, imagining how it would to see Mr. Weasley that happy

"I could help you understand how they work." You winced when Arthur looked at you with wide eyes. "My ... my grandfather lived with Muggles for a while and knows a lot about this artifacts. Several times he spoke of his usefulness to my brothers and me”

“Fantastic!” He replied cheerfully. You smiled “It's wonderful (Y/N), thank you”

“No problem”

Then a silence settled between you, being cut off only by the babble of the gnomes outside the barn kicking the timbers trying to get inside. Arthur cleared his throat as he ran his little blue eyes over each of the walls of his newly renovated barn. He smiled again placing one of his hands on your shoulder

"I found out what happened with Molly in the morning," he mentioned. You nodded “My children told me what you said to each other and ...”

"I'm sorry I spoke badly to your wife, Mr. Weasley" you interrupted, sipping your glass all at once, leaving it on the floor. "I know after this I'll have to talk to William and find another place to stay."

“She is not like that. She rarely has such behavior with the people and I can only think that my Molly has a lot of mixed feelings. The war has us all nervous and the fact that the memories of the past have arisen again ... they make her have reactions that are not very usual in Molly.”

"I'm not blaming her. I think she's right”

“Why?”

"What I did to my family ... running away, betray them..." You started playing with your fingers on your lap, embarrassed. "It's not something a trustworthy person would do."

“What are you talking about?”

“For the Grants, it’s very important to support the family in their endeavors without stopping to think if that could be harmful to the others. With uncle Tom becoming the most dangerous dark wizard of all times ... people would think that his relatives would follow his steps and they did “Mr. Weasley listened attentively, ignoring the screams of his wife announcing that the food was ready “At least most of them. Now all of us are tied to the He-who-must-not-be-named, whether we want it or not. It ruined our lives and I couldn't stay in that place forever

"Why aren't you on his side?"

"Because I can't see my brothers make a wrong decision" You crumpled the newspaper with your hands looking at how the pic of Lord Voldemort turned into a streaked stain "I have my own convictions, even if you don’t believe so”

"I don't believe anything of you, (Y/N)" Arthur's voice turned stoic as he stared at you harshly. "Neither the good nor the bad. I am a believer that you should judge someone by what demonstrates, not by what it’s said about them. Right now you aren’t showing me anything but that there is something in your family that you don’t like and that the dirt in my barn is intolerable to you”

You smiled

"We're all here waiting to see what are you capable of. Good or bad, you get to decide who (Y/N) Grant is from now on. Starting over. Forget that the Grants' actions make you worthy of the consequences”

Warmth attacked your chest. It was comforting to feel for the first time the acceptance of someone who wasn't doing it out of mere compassion or that it was Bill. That Arthur gave you the benefit of the doubt encouraged you to continue as before: trying, trying, trying.

"I think his wife doesn't think the same."

Arthur Weasley patted your shoulder.

"I'll talk to her, she'll understand. Meanwhile let's go home, it's time for lunch”

"Did Bill come back?"

"Yes, my son and I came back from the ministry a while ago.He wanted to find you, but I asked him to let me do it. You know, because sometimes it's good to have the daughters-in-law on your side”

Your cheeks heated up and then the rest of your face turned completely red. Arthur studied your reaction, smiling as he realized you were just a kid looking for approval. He patted your shoulder again, inviting you to leave the rest of the mess and accompany him to the burrow.

"These aren’t a good times to trust the Daily Prophet," Arthur mentioned, noticing the crumpled newspaper in your hands. You skipped the pond and skirted the cornfield until you reached the garden entrance where Bill's brothers and Bill himself had set up a long table near Molly's apple tree where they planned to spend the afternoon. One of the twins raised his wand putting the cuterly across the table, one set for each of the family members. You wondered if there would be a place for you at the table “Honestly, these are not good times to trust anything or anyone, so if you accept my advice, don't worry too much about reading the newspapers, they will leave you more questions than answers, Hey, you will break that!

Arthur scolded his twins when they fiddled with forks in a battle to find out which of them would wash the dishes after eating. Arthur ran towards them while Bill approached you greeting you with a kiss on the cheek. He frowned, watching you closely and then removed his coat, draping it over your shoulders.

"What the hell were you doing outside without a sweater?" It's freezing!”

"You worry way too much," you told him, pressing the faux fur against your shivering body. The truth was that, after the exchange of words with Bill's mother, you didn’t have the time to get a sweater before leaving and of course your wounded pride wouldn’t let you get dressed again before going to hide in the barn. Bill clicked his tongue rubbing your arms. "I'm fine, I just lost track of the time cleaning your father's barn and I didn't feel the cold until now”

"You're bad at lying, did you know that?"

"You should stop asking so many questions." You smiled at the grimace on the older Weasley's face. "Nothing happened."

"That's not what the twins told me," he suddenly mentioned. You felt the tension in Bill's body when Molly passed by him giving you a dangerous look, however you decided to ignore it for the good of both of you “ What my mom said ...”

"It’s okay, it doesn't matter I discussed it with your father and we worked it out”

“Are you sure?” You nodded “I hope so. Not because she’s my mother I will let her offend you in any way”

Your smile widened. You couldn't possibly love that man more than you already did. You approached his body, throwing your arms around Bill's neck, having to stand on your tiptoes to reach only to kiss his chin. He lowered his head, managing to bring his lips together.

“Help your brothers set the table, I'll go take a bath”

"Don't you prefer i help you instead?" You laughed

"I can do it by myself, thanks”

"Hmm ... you sure?”

"William ...”

"Okay, okay, okay," he urged you leaving a couple of kisses on the corner of your lips. "Don't be gone too long. i’ll miss you, love."

“I will not. Wait for me just here, yeah?”

You went upstairs to the room you shared with Bill and jumped into the shower enjoying the warmth of the water above your head. You leaned against the tiles thinking that your first day in the burrow had turned out very bad, but better than you had thought. Even if Molly didn't believe your words, you would do your best to fullfil the expectations of the others members of the Order. You would be loyal to them, to the Aurors, and you would fight whoever you had to to prove that your actions were worth more than the rumors surrounding the Grants did.

You were going to prove how wrong they were with you and, incidentally, you would forge a reputation of your own, one of which you would proud of

Tag:

@purple-vodka-99​

[iwillsearchtheuniverse4u]

See You In My Dreams, Stranger

Sik-k smut | khh smut

Warnings: SMUT! ORAL! (f and m receiving) PUBLIC? (not really tho)

Preview: Meeting a stranger on my night walk down the river turns out to be one of the best nights of my life.

It was one of those restless nights that I’ve been dreading ever since I started attending university. I couldn’t sleep, the thought of not knowing where my life is headed keeping me awake every single night. I couldn’t concentrate, I couldn’t brush my teeth or remember to drink water, I just felt like existence was so utterly useless when all my dreams have been swept under a rug somewhere because I was too afraid to act upon them. I’d been dreaming of becoming a translator but all the odds of the world were against me so I chose some apparently more ‘useful’ business degree that I hated with all that I had in me. Because of my perfectionism I had been attending all of my online classes and excelling at them but I felt empty, I felt like I had been contributing to everything I hated the most in this society. At the same time I was just too afraid to change my major because I felt like I had to do something impressive to the outside world, something that would make people respect me.

Just another night of endless tossing and turning, tears streaming down my face, wondering if life does ever get better than this. I couldn’t take it anymore. I got up, took a few steps towards the light switch in the corner of my one room apartment and pressed it. The cheap yellow light bulb lit up the room. The floor next to my mattress was covered in books I was trying to study from and my notes covered in smudged ink. I had a bad habit of crying while studying, sleeping, listening to music and showering, every activity that demanded me to be alone in my little space that had never really felt like home at all. Not much else was in that room apart from a small refrigerator, a microwave oven, my mattress, a closet and a wooden bookshelf. I also had a tiny bathroom that always smelled a bit moldy if I forgot to spray the air freshener three times a day.

I decided to go for a walk along the river as it became clear I wasn’t getting a second of sleep in that night. I hastily put on my black leggings and a hoodie with my high school’s logo on it. I desperately needed to get away from my own thoughts so I grabbed my phone and my earphones that were tied into little knots as always. I couldn’t afford the wireless ones because my scholarship was kept safe in my bank account where I was saving every last cent just in case I decided to drop out and go move to...run away to a foreign country where my name sounds like a whisper of the distant wind. As I was locking my door I heard one of the neighbors flush their toilets. Most of them were students like me or people living on part-time jobs, I never really met any of them, they were just familiar faces I would probably forget in a year after moving out.

The streets were quiet, only the sounds of air conditioners and an occasional motorbike or a car passing by me. I checked my phone to see the time, the picture of my favourite singer’s face lighting up my screen: 3.30am. Of course other parts of the city were probably very much alive at this time of the night but my area was populated only by grocery stores, cafes and libraries, not a single club in sight. The only lights I could see where streetlights and some LED signs. I headed towards the river trying to untie my headphones. I put them in my ears and decided to lose myself in the beats of one of those hyped-up rap songs. I put the volume up just so it was a bit uncomfortable and let my ears adjust to the blasting music.

I finally reached the riverside and started walking along the flow of the water. I couldn’t hear it but it still resonated with my mind better than the rustling sound of the city. There was a road along the river that ended somewhere within the green forest because the are was populated with some important bird species that I could never remember the name of. I sat on the bench at the beginning of that forest, my mind still dissolved in the loud beats coming out of my earphones. Even though my ears were covered with a thick layer of my long brown hair I was sure the music could be heard by anyone standing within a 1 meter ratio. I didn't mind, it was 4 am, people were either asleep or sloppily making out in a club somewhere far away. Thinking about the things I was missing out on started to become louder than the music and I let my tears fall. I was overworked, overwhelmed and empty, I couldn't keep it in. Not that I ever tried. I had never been good at hiding my emotions.

Looking at the night view of the city on the other side reflecting on the surface of the river, getting lost in my thoughts, I felt the bench move ever so slightly under my body. I looked to the side and almost fainted at the sight of a dark shadow sitting beside me. My heart started beating and I stood up to leave in case it was a stranger trying to talk to me in the middle of the night. As I took my first step away from the bench the person lightly touched the fabric of my sleeve. I looked back at him. I was certain it was a man judging by his broad shoulders and a black cap on his head. I removed my headphones, my heart still beating as if I had been running for the last 3 hours. "Excuse me. I wasn't trying to bother you or anything. I just like to look at the city at night when my head gets all crowded and I can't think straight. Don't go just because of me." His voice was deep and raspy but had an elegant tone to it, it felt  calm but distant as if he had been lost in thought. He was looking at me and the lights of the city were playfully jumping around in his eyes but his expression was the complete opposite. He seemed broken. I couldn’t let myself leave him, partly because he seemed significantly depressed and partly because he was astonishingly beautiful. My feet were unable to move, I stood there for a moment contemplating my options but my gut feeling sat me down next to him.

As we were sitting, each on one side of the bench, looking at the sparkly surface of the river my heart calmed down and minutes passed, none of us speaking, just the sound of the river mixed with my music flowing through the night air. "You were crying." He stated with a regretful tone, almost whispering. My cheeks flushed with warmth, I looked at his profile, him still staring at the waves. "I just thought I was alo-" "Don't. Feelings aren't something to be ashamed of. They're just as much a part of you as your legs and arms are. If people feel burdened it's usually their problem because they've never been faced by their own emotions. They just don't know how to act and feel uncomfortable." He talked slowly and didn't bother looking at me. It felt like his words were directed at the universe or at himself just at the general direction he was speaking, he looked so lost. I didn't notice I was staring until he looked at my eyes and smiled. It was one of those crooked smiles, filled with a certain type of worry I couldn't identify. "You can tell me why you were crying. I probably won't remember tomorrow anyway. I can lend you my ears for tonight, maybe I'll forget all about my own problems." His gaze moved back to the view as he sat back and crossed his arms on his chest. At that moment I felt like telling him every little thing about my life. It had been so long since I had anyone who would just listen without the constant urge to solve my problems but just LISTEN. I stopped myself. "I won't let you get off the hook that easy. I have a feeling that you're the one not facing your own problems. Why don't you lean on someone for a change?" I said, determined to make him speak. He looked at me from the side and his head slowly followed his gaze, his eyebrows furrowing just so much I could notice. The anticipation of hearing his raspy voice that felt so familiar and kind made me turn off my music. This man that sat next to me just a moment ago suddenly awakened my curiosity. It took a while for him to speak as we were maintaining a really intense eye contact for what felt as hours. I was able to inspect every milimeter of his dark cat-like eyes. "You're good at reading people, I'll give you that." He smiled and turned back to face the view. "I'm just under a lot of pressure. People expect a lot from me, that's all...and sometimes it can get really frustrating when I can't really reach those expectations. Sometimes it feels like there are so many people doing my thing better than me, it scares me." He put his hands in the pockets of his black sweater still staring at something in the distance. I wasn't sure what to say but he also didn't expect me to say anything. He needed someone to listen and I was there to supply. I asked: "And what would your 'thing' be exactly?" in an effort to get to know more about this mysterious creature in front of me. "Music. I make music for a living." His eyes now focused on his shoes while he bit his lips in an effort not to smile. I finally realized why his voice sounded so familiar, it was freaking Kwon Minsik, Sik-k, Korea's best rapper, sitting next to me staring at the Han river. My hand automatically covered my mouth as I inhaled. I was trying to calm myself down. He probably heard my playlist which was full of his songs and it made me feel so embarrassed, my cheeks flushing with heat again. He tried really hard to hide his cocky smile as he turned his face away from me, looking into the woods on the other side. After a few minutes he asked: "So now are you going to tell me why you were crying?" He was facing me, looking at my eyes attentively like a little boy waiting for instructions from his teacher. I was still to shy to maintain eye contact so I looked at my hands on my lap. I told him my story about how lost and useless I felt in life. I told him about feeling lonely and scared about my future. I told him everything.

Before I knew it tears started to emerge from my eyes again and I tried really hard not to look at Minsik who was still facing me, one of his arms resting on the back of the bench. I cracked. I cracked in front of a man I respected the most. It was embarrassing but also liberating, I was done trying to impress the world. I dropped my head, defeated. Next thing I felt was his warm hand on my cheek, gently wiping the trail of my tears. I froze for a bit, my eyes widening at the sudden proximity of his body. I didn't even notice him getting closer before he put his hand on my face. He was sitting right next to me, the sides of our thighs touching ever so slightly. I could hear my heart rate getting faster and louder. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t control it. I looked at him and he removed his hand, still looking at me with his furrowed eyebrows, a concerned expression drawing on his face. "I'm sorry. You probably think I'm just being childish, crying at something as trivial as my major." I said with a shaky voice. "Don't ever say sorry for your feelings ever again, you hear me? And besides, I don't think it's stupid, I think it's just very important to you. You want to set goals for yourself but you're too afraid that you're not going to reach them so you just let them go. I would obviously tell you to go for what feels right and figure it out but that won't make you feel secure and I bet a lot of other people in your life told you this before." He replied with his deep raspy voice that I loved so much. He was so close. I could feel every breath on the surface of my cheek, his left arm was lying behind me on the back of the bench, it was almost like a hug. I couldn’t think straight anymore, my thoughts were intertwined with the smell of his cologne and the heat of his body so close to mine. He didn't feel like a stranger, he felt like someone who'd known me for years. I buried my face into my hands so I wouldn't make any thoughtless mistakes. Suddenly, he moved away from me, I couldn’t feel the proximity of his body anymore, the cold night air embracing my whole being. I peeked up from my palms. He was still looking at me with concern in his eyes, saying: "Sorry, I probably got too close for comfort, I'm not used to this kind of emotional thing, you know?" I felt a desperate need for physical touch, maybe it was the cold air, the anxiety or his perfect stature or maybe it was a mix of both but I straightened my back and looked directly into his eyes. It was so unlike me to be this bold but my body automatically moved closer to his.

He didn't move even when my face was only ten centimeters away from his. His expression changed, his forehead relaxing, his eyelids closing halfway when I suddenly felt his hand on my thigh. He grabbed onto it like he was holding on for his dear life and it made me want him more. I stopped, looking down at his lips when he pulled himself closer. His smooth lips crashing into mine made me lean back but he was only getting closer until he pinned me to the wooden bench beneath us. It was a passionate kiss, his hands didn't limit themselves to my thighs but discovered the hot surface of my skin under my hoodie. I felt a certain kind of euphoria, the kind you only get to experience when you do something completely out of character for you but turns out to be the best thing you could have possibly done.

As our kiss was getting more heated and his hands were groping my breasts for a couple of minutes the heat between my legs was getting unbearable. I could feel one of his hands roam down to my thigh and up to my ass where he got the grip to grind against me. Our lips and tounges still inseparable, I played along and grinded my heat against his growing buldge until I heard his raspy growls which sent shivers down my spine. As our tempo aligned we started breathing heavily and his lips left mine but relocated to my neck, definitely leaving more than just the incredibly pleasing pain. There was only a couple of pieces of clothing seperating us but the longing was excruciating. I started tugging on the collar of his black hoodie, trying to stop him as his lips attacked my collarbone. "Stop...I can'...I can't take it." I said with a soft voice in between my moans. His hips stopped moving immediately and he pushed himself above me so we were looking face to face, his body still on top of me. The loss of friction left me feeling needy. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to be this fast, I just thought-" I got up and laid a small kiss on his lips mid-sentence. "Come to my place." I whispered in his ear. I hadn't gotten to know this part of me before but that night felt different. Maybe it was the stream of emotions I had just shared with this stranger on top of me or the tone of his voice or the feeling of the cold night breeze but I didn't want to spend this morning alone.

When we finally arrived at my door he was standing so close to me I almost held my breath trying to get myself to collect my thoughts. I swear I could hear his heartbeat like it was my own, his lips suddenly tracing the curve of my neck as I was trying to insert the right passcode. I couldn’t even focus in my own hands as his were holding me around the waist so it took me a few moments to find the right digits. When the holy sound of the door lock unlocking echoed in the hallway he already pressed the knob in a hurry and pushed me inside. Because my one room apartment was so small it only took our intertwined bodies a solid 30 seconds to hit the mattress. He was planting sloppy kisses down my collar bone as I was tugging at his hoodie, trying to set him free of it. He stopped for a moment only to get up and remove it. The moonlight from outside my small window caressing his elegant body, lighting him up from the back like he was some beastly creature of the night taking advantage of my sadness. I couldn’t move, he was sitting on top of me, his face was covered in darkness but I knew he was watching me. "Do you have any idea how freaking beautiful you look in this light?" His raspy whisper made me quiver. I smiled and looked away while my body was hungry for his touch. I wasn't ready to show it.

He slowly got up with his hands trailing the shape of my thighs until he was holding me behind the knees, still looking at me. I felt his hands pull my leggings of as if it was the easiest thing in the whole entire world. He then proceeded to playfully pull at my panties, rubbed my knot and lowered his face to blow at my growing heat, my legs almost immediately trying to close at the sudden pleasure. He held them open while licking my folds twice, trying to see my reaction. I couldn’t hold in my moans and my spine curved in-synch with my breathing. It was something I haven't felt in forever, not like this, not this strong. I grabbed onto his hair and he seemed to read the ques as he got rid of the piece of fabric. His tounge was doing circles around my clit making me see fireworks and probably tugging at his hair with both hands so much that his scalp was in pain. He got me shaking in a matter of minutes and it was the best high I've ever experienced, sending all kinds of shivers down my skin, leaving me panting. He was far from done though.

"You taste so good, baby girl," he said unknowing of the affect it had on me. I got up to unzip his pants (which he more than willingly helped me with). I traced my fingers down his perfect abs to the hem of his boxers and lower, tracing his hard member while inspecting his face. As soon as I grabbed it through the fabric with my whole hand his eyelids shut closed and his head fell back in pleasure. I pulled him to the mattress and got on top of him trying to grind at his boxers, making them soaking wet. Then I got up to remove the rest of his clothing. I proceeded to trace my tounge along his shaft and sucking on his member, enjoying his growls. His hands were grabbing the sheets and the veins on his forearms and neck were starting to protrude. Every now and then a soft "fuck~" escaped his mouth, motivating me to keep going. Then he suddenly stopped me, saying: "I need to come inside of you, grab my wallet." Instead, I got up to open one of my drawers where I was saving a pack of condoms, praying they would fit him. I handed one to him and he was so quick about it, it got me thinking just how many girls he gets to play around with like this every night. The thought escaped my mind when he stood up to hold me around the waist, slowly pulling me back to bed with him. He undressed me, pulling my hoodie over my head only to discover I wasn't wearing a bra underneath. His dark eyes glowed with passion as he greabbed one of my nipples, tugging at it while kissing me sloppily. He threw me on the mattress and got on top of me. My body was heated up completely, I couldn’t even feel the night breeze coming from the opened window. He licked my sensitive nipples a few more times before aligning himself with my entrance and pushing inside of me. The fireworks from before were nothing compared to the utter pleasure I felt at that exact moment, Sik-k filling me up perfectly. My head fell back in moans and my back curved up again. I could have sworn I saw stars playing in the darkness of my eyelids. All I heard him say was: "Fuck..." He took his time waiting for me to adjust and started to quicken his pace while adjusting the angle. One of his hands was stroking my stomach and the other was holding onto my ass. I tried to mimic his movements, increasing the fraction of our bodies. The moans escaping our mouths felt so unholy they made it even more passionate. "I'm going to- I'm close!" I squealed throught the moans which made him go even harder and faster. My whole body tensed up and I grabbed onto the bedsheets pulling them off. His dick was starting to twitch inside of me, hitting all the right spots and I knew he was trying his best to make me come first which was a rare experience. I opened my eyes seeing him focused on me with his furrowed eyebrows, sweat dripping down the side of his jawline. My body was caught up in a wave of shivers, the walls of my pussy tightening so much it got him shaking as well. We were both just trying to ride out our highs with the last strenght we had. It was sweaty and suffocating but liberating at the same time, all of our thoughts disappearing for these unthinkable moments of pleasure. His hot body collapsed on top of me, both of us trying to catch our breaths again. "This was amazing." I told him in between breaths. He rolled over me to remove the condom and, to my surprise, came right back to lie beside me, his arms hugging me from behind. He kissed my neck and whispered in my ear: "See you in my dreams, stranger."

[jengarie]

#showyourprocess !

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES — When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag up to 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

Thank you, @rinielle for tagging me! She chose the piece above (original post), and oh boy this one was a whole ass rollercoaster ride! Unfortunately, I hadn't turned on the timelapse feature for this but I'll try to go through each part of the process as best as I can!

The photos I'm gonna upload are gonna be a mix of screenshots and literal photos of my screen, because I'm taking some of them from my updates to friends, since a lot of the steps got lost in my painting process.

But before that, let me tag some other amazing creators!

@dragonji: this gif art!

@candicewright: this yibo painting!

@wendashanren: this gifset!

@mylastbraincql: this gif!

I haven't been able to keep track of who's been tagged so apologies if you've already done this! Also, no pressure to do it at all if you would rather not! <3

Planning

Sometimes, I get an idea first and find reference photos to go with that idea. But for this one, I sought out a reference photo first, and built an idea on top of it!

After that, I roughly sketch out the base pose. Usually, this looks very messy, but it doesn't really matter as long as I understand which part goes where!

The idea for the background didn't really come until the creation process because I don't think I really planned this to be a full piece.

Creation

Sketching

Honestly, from this point on, it's more of trial and error.

So, I redid the the initial base pose—made it cleaner and a little bit more detailed. See: the added definition in their arm muscles, the rearrangement of Wei Wuxian's legs, and Lan Wangji's hand on Wei Wuxian's back. If you look at the second photo, I also changed the pose a bit midway—I tend to edit as I go sometimes when I change my mind. (For this, I thought, given the Lan arm strength, it would be better to make Lan Wangji look more at ease carrying Wei Wuxian. This gets covered by the robes anyway though, so it didn't matter much in the end.)

I also started adding details to the base! I usually start with the face and then the hair! I usually go for the clothes next, but I dreaded the robes in this piece so I guess that's why I ended up with a basic idea of what I wanted for the background instead LOL I also figured out how I want the final crop to look like, so I blocked out all the other areas with an extra layer!

Okay, onto the part that killed me like ten times: the robes. There are a lot of interactions between their robes here given their pose, and not to mention they also have layers upon layers on each of them! So, to maintain my sanity and to keep track of which part is which, I color coded them into the most colorful sketch I've ever made.

Another reason why I filled in each layer of robe with a solid block of color, is so that all the lines underneath gets covered. Without all of the colors, the actual outline actually looks like the one on the right. What a nightmare!

I also ignored the crop again for this part, because it's always better to draw past your borders, in case you decide to rotate or tilt or whatever your piece later on. I didn't do the feet anymore though, because that I was sure wouldn't show in the final piece anymore.

After that, I did the sketch one more time and then started adding the base colors. (I didn't have a screenshot of just the base colors, and the final CSP file is a nightmare so I copy pasted the layers into a new canvas to show you guys :') )

By the way, I drew their robes flowing this way, because I wanted it to frame the lower arch of the moon behind them for the composition. It was a little frustrating that I couldn't get Lan Wangji's robes a little higher because of Wei Wuxian's legs but I later filled in the empty space with his forehead ribbon anyway, so it all worked out in the end!

Painting

Because apparently, I was a masochist back then, I merged the base colors all into one layer and started adding shadows to the robes. (These days, I add shadows first and then, merge. It's much easier this way.)

And then, I started painting! Again, I did the face first and then the hair, before finally the robes. This was my first time painting side profiles and honestly it was quite a pain to figure out LOL but !!! I think I did a good job and I'm proud of how it turned out. I again used reference photos for this one but I can't link any because they were just several random Pinterest photos that I didn't save.

Another thing to note is that I use the mesh transform tool a lot, especially on faces. That's largely why Lan Wangji's face looks so different in the latter two!

And then I went with the robes. Somewhere along the way, I realized I didn't like how I planned to do Lan Wangji's sleeves and the flowy part of Wei Wuxian's robes and I... decided, with much dread, to do them over. So I sketched on top of the painted layers and redid the robes, again.

It was at this point that I decided to take a break from this piece because it was honestly very draining! I think it took about three weeks before I decided to open the file again and continue it.

When I did, I just finished painting the rest of the robes and their hands. The blue details on Lan Wangji's outer robes were painted on a separate layer that I put on Multiply. I probably did more adjustments to the face and hair and stuff, because my painting process is honestly a mess :')

Final Adjustments

I added some correction layers on certain areas to fix some of the colors. See: Lan Wangji's sleeve becoming much brighter and paler; Wei Wuxian's legs having less contrast. And then I merged all of the layers (excluding the background) and added a bit of blur. See: Wei Wuxian's ponytail; the entire lower part; the flowing forehead ribbon. My reasoning for this is so that most of the detail (and therefore the flow of the eye) goes to their faces and expressions!

And then, I put a blue Overlay layer on low opacity to make Wangxian blend better with the background, added a bit of shadow on the inside and the lower sections and added the glowing details for the added flair. I initially wanted sparkles and/or stars but they didn't turn out as well as this did. I also upped the contrast by a little for the entire piece!

Aaaand, that's it! In truth, I did a bit more color adjustments to the whole piece, but I was a dummy who forgot to turn them back on before posting so ... oh well.

Posting

Before posting, I upload it either on my spare private Twitter account or on a drafted Tumblr post so I can check the colors on my phone. This is because the colors on different devices can look very different, and I would at the very least want all my pieces to look nice on both of my devices!

And then, once I deem it satisfactory, I just try to think of a caption and post! Some artists wait for a certain time where most of their followers are active, but I didn't have a lot of MDZS followers at this point so it didn't really matter to me.

It still doesn't really; I haven't actually been able to figure out when my MDZS followers are awake even now.

[msdanvers]

gif coloring tutorial

for @sappho-mia​

a photoshop tutorial on how to make gifs that look like the ones in this gifset. I will only explain how to do the coloring, so if there’s any other part of gifmaking that you’d like for me to explain, let me know and I’ll make another tutorial or send you some tips! 

I’ll show you how to go from this:

to this:

1. exposure

shows have the lovely habit of underexposing every scene, but you don’t want people looking at your gifs like this  

so: time to brighten that shit up!

I have a psd (an edited version of the one in this tutorial by @redkrypto​​) that I use and adjust for basically all my gifs, but for the sake of this tutorial I’ll do this step by step. 

photoshop has a few good options for changing the exposure. first, go to window > adjustments to get this: 

which is your biggest friend. the ones on exposure are these 4:

I’ll be honest, I have no idea what the difference between levels (the second one) and curves (the third one) is. they both adjust the tone of your gif - with the option to make the dark tones, the light tones and the midtones either brighter or less bright, separately. this’ll make your gif look less flat!

let’s take a look at levels:

this might look daunting but I promise I don’t really know how to read the histogram either, I just use the little sliders (cyan) and see how it looks. you can also use one of the eyedroppers (red) and click on a part of your gif that you want to be black, white or grey, and the rest of the image will adjust to this. it might be a little too intense - in that case you can lower the opacity of the layer (see image below). 

then there’s brightness/contrast and exposure. the difference between these two is that brightness will mostly affect the parts of your image that are already bright, while exposure will affect the whole image. the exposure window has another option I use often too, gamma correction. with gamma correction you can change the gamma levels of your gif, and I have no idea what that means but it sure does look good lmao

there not one ‘right’ way to do this, so just play around a little and see which ways you like the most :) 

after brightening, our gif looks like this. yay!

for comparison:

2. coloring

I remember feeling very overwhelmed with all of photoshop’s options at first. I will discuss all of the ones I used to create this gif, but you definitely don’t have to use or understand all of them in order to make beautiful gifs! 

two adjustments I use in pretty much every gif are hue/saturation (cyan) and selective color (red). 

first, selective color. selective color basically gives you the option to single out a color in your gif and change it. the most important thing to understand here is which colors are opposites: red and cyan, green and magenta, blue and yellow. so if you’d want your yellows to be green, you use the magenta slider. 

for the gif we’re making, we want kara’s cape to stand out, because red is going to be the only color left. these are the settings I used:

now it’s gonna look a little oversaturated, but we’ll fix that later on. I also made the yellows more red and less yellow and increased the blackness a little. 

another way to make a color stand out is by removing the other colors -- the background is mostly yellow, green, cyan and blue. so we’re gonna go to hue/saturation and completely remove their saturation, which will make the wall behind them look gray. 

in the saturation window, you also get the option to reduce the lightness (and the hue, but we’ll get to that later). reducing the lightness does not do the same thing as increasing the blackness in selective color: reducing the lightness will give it more shadow, while increasing the blackness in selective color will make for example a lilac go to a purple, or a red to a deep red. 

for our gif, I reduced the lightness (-13) and the saturation (-3) of the reds. now it looks like this:

the next step will make the gif look weird at first but after we add the other layers, it’ll look better. go to adjustments > photo filter and select ‘sepia’ (it’ll be a warming filter first - click on that and you’ll see all the other options). then increase the density: 

next, we’ll move to channel mixer. channel mixer is one of my favorite adjustment layers because it’s the easiest way to make your colors look really different. there are three channels (red, green and blue) and the best way to use it is to just try things out and see how it looks. my settings for this gif were: 

then I added another saturation layer and reduced the saturation for the yellows, greens, cyans and blues, and removed the saturation completely for the magentas. for the blues, I also decreased the lightness, and for the reds, I changed the hue a bit so it looks less yellow: 

another selective color layer (with opacity and fill both at 65%):

then add a gradient map (bottom right in the adjustments window). make sure it goes from black to white, and isn’t reversed. this will make the gif look a little softer! opacity: 20% fill: 50% (or your whole gif will be black and white)

increase the red saturation a bit and increase the blackness with selective color, so it’ll look like this:

see if your exposure needs some tweaking, remove all the colors you don’t want (the background is mostly yellow now) and add another photo filter, a cooling filter this time, and set it at 4%.

finally, one last selective color layer: 

and that’s it, we’re done!!

3. some final tips

it matters which layer is on top. if you use selective color to turn all the green into cyan and put a saturation layer on top of that, not a lot will happen if you increase or decrease the green saturation. but if you increase the cyan saturation, every part that photoshop recognizes as cyan now will become more saturated. 

some scenes are a lot harder to color than others, and you’re allowed to just ignore the existence of those scenes. :-)

use folders or “groups” to put layers together. my psds are very chaotic but this helps me find things! 

when making a set, your gifs should look good together, not just on their own - sometimes seeing my gifs together makes me realize I need to change the coloring / brightness in some of them. to make sure this realization doesn’t happen when I’ve finished all of them already, I always put them in a tumblr post in my drafts while I’m still working on them. 

use creator tags when posting your gifs. so don’t just tag it as “supergirl” but also “supergirledit” and not just “kara danvers” but also “karadanversedit” - this is the easiest way for other people and other creators in your fandom to find you! if your set doesn’t show up in the tags (when you search supergirledit and click on “recent”), send me a message and I’ll help you figure out what went wrong.

try to make your coloring match the ‘mood’ of your gifset - is it dramatic? soft? angsty? romantic? should there be intense contrasts? lots of reds, or calmer blues? same goes for the font you choose, but that’s a whole other tutorial (that I am probably not qualified to give haha, but I can point you in the direction of some people that are really good at it!). 

you’re going to make a lot of gifs you don’t like, and that’s okay. it doesn’t mean you’re not good at it, it means you’re learning and improving! and it can also mean that you forgot to turn off the night shift on your laptop and your ‘red’ gif turns out to be... definitely not red. lol

if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!! good luck & have fun :) 

[heuristicallyinclined]

Of Disks Lost and Cullings Interrupted

5.1k | Rating T for referenced gore and language

Summary: An unfortunate encounter somehow manages to not go quite as bad as it should have.

This is one of the self-indulgent drabbles I wrote last year for me and @theartisticapparition’s fantrolls meeting for the first time and how much of an absolute mess it would be. Enjoy.   

It has three fucking months since you ordered that hexagonal disk and you still don't have a shipping notification for it.

You stare at the screen of your palm husk. It’s a single point of brightness in the store room you slipped off to while some other ship was docking. For supplies or inspection, you don’t know and you don’t care. All you care about it the fact that no one is going to notice a single rusty slipping away for all of two minutes to fuck around on a personal device and see if maybe something went to spam. Which you are looking at now. And apparently set to delete messages after thirty nights, so if it did go to spam, it was long gone now.

“Sh!t,” you quietly exhale.

It’s objectively not even a good movie, just something dumb and cheesy that you can use to break up an evening. But it's no longer even about that. You just want the garbage that you ordered because you fucking ordered it and paid for it using some of your very limited funds. Grunt work means grunt pay and you have to at least be olive to even be allowed to complain in the first place, so your bronze ass just isn't going to cut it.

It doesn't make sense for you to not have gotten anything. Like at least a, "sorry king, your package is delayed," thing should have happened. You work in this shit, you receive and ship and log and deliver until your pan feels numb and it’s just your body moving through the motions. You have been mentally trying to work out how to even fuck up bad enough that this kind of delay would even happen because even for a rusty, who expects very little, this is still a bit much. You’re drawing a complete blank.

The movement of a shadow catches your eye, snapping you out of your thoughts. It slowly shortens from its exaggerated length to a more proportional one as the figure draws closer, straight towards you. You don’t recognize the silhouette’s lean frame, horns or hair which seemingly fanned out to symmetrical points. You definitely didn’t hear them enter or move through the storage bay.

Swallowing, you turn.

You see his color before you notice anything else about him. Your blood runs cold as you immediately straighten to attention.

Violet.

Seeing sea dwellers through screens and on posters did not prepare you for the real thing. You had never seen one in person before and definitely had never had one slowly making his way closer to you. Everything about him was sharp. His fins, his claws, his teeth, they all came to a clearly defined point. His grin was especially sharp. Almost sharp enough to distract you from whatever the hell his spear thingy that he casually held over his shoulder like it weighed nothing was.  

“S!r.” You address him, bowing your head slightly. “!s there anyth!ng ! can do for you?”

His smile widens when you acknowledge him. His golden bracelets jingle lightly against each other as he brings a hand to his chin, seeming to genuinely consider your question.

Oh goddamn it. This is going to take longer than two minutes.

“) is there anyfin you can do for me? (,” he repeats coolly. He pensively looks off to the side as he continues to move towards you. ") oh I don't know. i just wanted to sea what was back here ("

He walks just behind you and you stiffen. You can feel his eyes lingering on you.  

"!t's mostly crates here s!r. Noth!ng too !nterest!ng"

Faster than you can register it, the hand not gripping his weapon quickly grabs your shoulder, turning you to face him. The points of his manicured claws dig into you. You keep your balance as best you can, but stumble a bit.

”) now, now. you're here too (,” he smiles at you cloyingly.

And just like that, he corrects your stance, getting way too into your personal space in the process. His grin remains shallow and doesn’t meet his eyes. It just isn't warm enough to distract from how cold his touch leaves you and in that moment, you have a realization.

So, you’re probably fucked.

He holds you for longer than is comfortable in what you’re guessing is a touchy little power play, before continuing to move past you, looking up and down the racks that surrounded you two. They were nearly as high as the ceilings and he was doing a pretty decent job of acting like he actually gives a shit about what's on the shelves. He moves by each of them methodically, occasionally picking something up like he was shopping before putting each back neatly into its place.

At least the crew coming in after to replace you isn’t going to have to reorganize anything after washing you off of the walls.

He keeps going and you know he doesn’t genuinely care about whatever soaps and meal packets are back here. You don’t either, not really. He isn't even going through the whole store room, just the area around you. It is almost like he i-.

Oh.  

He’s circling you.

Is this a fish joke? You feel like this is a fish joke he’s making for himself. Or is he just adding another layer to his touchy murder dude bit?

His voice snaps you out of your thoughts before you can really try to work out what his angle on this is. You really hope he didn’t notice you starting to zone out there for a bit.

“) it all just seems rather dull (,” he draws listlessly.

“Wh!ch part?”

He glances back at you. His smile begins to falter.

“Wh!ch part s!r?” You correct quickly.

He chuckles and turns his body to face you.

“) the whole thing (” He gestures away from himself, at your general surroundings. “) i mean here you are, trapped on a run down ship, doing menial tasks for the rest of your unfortunate life. truly, i don’t know how you can stand to be here. i mean, I’d rather die than work in a place like this (,” he looks at you intensely, his pupils seemed much more narrow now that they were completely focused on you. “) what about you? (”

Ah. Yeah. You see what he did there, but he isn’t exactly providing you with any revelations about your life and you don’t exactly think boredom is what’s going to cull you.

“! see !t more l!ke a flavor d!sk.”

Your response stops him and he looks at you strangely.

“Even when !ts bad !ts good," you elaborate.

His gaze becomes harsher for a moment, and then it’s gone.

“) that is a rather crude way of looking at it, i seappose(.”

Alright. No mentally stable person seriously uses the word “suppose” out loud. You wonder how you’re inevitably going to beef it. The spear thing would be involved. It would be really fucking weird if he carried it here just to not use it, but he seems extra enough that you would not put him bringing a long a prop past him.

He notices you looking at it and smirks at you.

") so (,” he recovers and ambles towards you, focusing his full attention on you again. His weapon no longer was resting against his shoulder. He held it against the ground and casually leaned against it like it wasn’t one of the most threatening tools of questionable identity and mass murder you had ever seen. “) what are you doing back here with all of these very uninteresting crates? (”

“! just thought ! forgot someth!ng !n here and stopped by to check. S!r”

“) without telling anyone? (”

“Yes, s!r.”

He chuckles, all too pleased, “) whale, that was a poor decision on your part. there is just so much here that if anything happened to you (,” he lowers his voice, like he was graciously letting you in on a joke, “) who knows how long it would take anyone to find out (.”

A beat of silences passes. You swallow, You know he feels the tension. He looks too excited not to.

“!, uh, maybe should have told someone ! where ! was go!ng !n case someth!ng happened.”

“) i agree (.” He straightens and picks up his weapon, spinning it with ease before he points it at you and slowly starts to bring the to your neck. “) unfortunately for you (,” he starts, “) no one knows you're here (.”

Even as you move your arms, he makes no move to stop you. He grins wider, more manic, looking excited at the idea of you actually trying to fight back.

Ha.

Sucks to be him because there is no fucking way that the last thing you do before you get culled is putting in some more effort to make this more enjoyable for the extra dude culling you.

Because if this guy's going to cull you, you're at least going to be the one making a request and try to have some fun here while you can. Because what is he going to do about it? You’re getting culled anyways, might as well, right?

The ridiculousness of it all makes you grin as you shrug at him. "Well, sh!t. Alr!ght."

This acceptance gives him pause as he tilts his head slightly, considering you. A crease forms between his brows and he tightens his grip on his weapon. ") w-"

You cut him off. You’re going to die so you think you get to be rude. Him being mad about it won’t really be your problem for long anyways.

"Can ! d!e !n a cool way though?"

") i-" he starts to lower his weapon, which you now think is a harpoon. Maybe? You don't know man. You don’t know anything about fish shit and you’re understanding less by the second.

You continue looking at him with the same resigned optimism that carried you through most of the bullshit you did. It got you this far. Which, granted, is probably getting culled by a bored sea dweller, but there are probably worse ways to go.

") wait (,” he says.

"Yeah?"

It isn't exactly like you're going anywhere. You know what to do with fear, being a rusty, you learn that shit real quick. But the look he is giving you now just makes you uncomfortable.

"What's up my guy?"

") aren't you going to fight back or somefin? ("

"Uh." You glance around the room full of mostly crates and his eyes follow yours as you search before you focus back on him, confused. "L!ke w!th a weapon?"

") yes? (" His smile tightens, seeming incredulous that you even asked.  

"Why would anyone g!ve me a weapon? ! mean, there m!ght be a broom somewhere. Actually wa!t, ! th!nk that got broken last w!pe. !t wasn't even me th!s t!me," you add with a side smile.  

He doesn't seem to know how to respond. Neither do you, so you do what you normally do when you don't know how to react.

You keep talking.

"! did troll karate for a l!ttle b!t when ! was f!ve, but !t was k!nda lame so ! stopped going. Does that uh,” you hazard, “w!ll that work for th!s?"

") no (." He narrows his eyes at you. ") plus, I know fish judo(."

Your jaw drops.

"What the fuck. F!sh judo !s real?"

") of course fish judo is reel (." He quickly spits, looking offended by your ignorance. ") do land dwellers just think that you can fight the same way underwater? ("

"! mean !'ve l!terally never thought about !t."

") i'm not surfrised ( ."

"Okay, but ! feel l!ke !f a land dweller !s !n a pos!t!on where they need to know f!sh judo, !t means they're going to lose at f!sh judo."

") i mean, i guess? (," he replies, baffled before quickly refocusing on you again. His sharp thing is pointed back at your throat as he slips back into his previous cool demeanor.

“) you do reelize the danger you’re in right? (”

Your eyes dart down to his weapon and then at him, now being the one confused.

“Um, yeah?”

Was the whole mood he had going on not an intentional thing on his part?

He stares at you. So you go on, listing things on your fingers as you go, trying not to focus on his questionable object with definite pointiness.

“So you got the whole class!c stalk and lurk th!ng so you could follow me somewhere ! would be alone where no one can hear me scream. !t’s pretty standard,” you emphasize.

You can’t read his expression.

“There was the whole slow dramat!c enter, nefar!ous d!alogue, and, uh," you glance down, "harpoon?”

“) harpoon (,” he repeats.

“That’s what ! thought !t was, but ! felt !t would be we!rd to ask.”

His mouth opens slightly and his fins flare out more, now openly seething.

“) do you know what i could do to you? ("

A lull drags on.

"Et!vor."

") what (."

"My name !s Et!vor." You continue, "! thought you were draw!ng out the you th!ng because !t's l!ke. We are a good b!t into th!s whole th!ng and !t's kinda awkward to ask for names now, so ! am just, you know, putt!ng !t out there."

He blinks. "I don't give a fuck about your name Etivor."

He still used it though.

Taking a very deep breath, he resumes. “) i am going to take immense pleasure in cutting your tongue out and slowly flaying you alive (”

He moves closer to you, slowly, predatory, circling you again. One of his icy hands brushes by your arm in a mockery of comfort as he continues to muse more to himself than you.

“) maybe I’ll slice off each of your joints, starting at the ends and slowly work my way to eventually gutting you. perhaps I’ll simply behead you. although, i think you’ve said enough to have earned far worse, don’t you think? (”

His face being this close to you is definitely starting to put you on edge more than what he is saying. But what’s really bothering you most of all is that one of those sounds a bit too familiar.

“Wa!t. That second on-”

“) you don’t get to fucking choose which one,” he hisses at you as his claws start to dig in to you.

“! wasn’t done. Damn.”

You’re honestly surprised he hasn’t just stabbed you from sheer frustration. It’s kinda funny. It would be way more funny if he wasn't going to cull you though, but you’ll take what you can get.

“!sn’t that second one from that one comedy with troll Tob!hn Bhelle?”

“) you’ve sean that? (” He raises his brows. “) no. i added a little twist with the gutting at the end instead of letting them bleed out (.” Almost hesitantly he asks, “) did you like it? because i thought they were trying too hard where they ha-.”

He catches himself and raises his weapon at you again, “) STOP. This is NOT what is taking place right now (.”

You narrow your eyes. He's the one who kept talking.

“Then !t !s from that mov!e. You can’t just say, no !t’s not and then be l!ke,” you motion with your hands, “but w!th a tw!st! You l!fted !t.”

He bemusedly stares at you.

“) are you purposefully trying to infuriate me? was your egg dropped? do you not understand what happens when you piss off royalty? (” He snidely adds, “) i am going to get so much satisfaction out of flaying you (.”

He is literally the one holding the weapon, and holding you hostage, and also did physically hold you a few times. What the fuck does he think you’re trying to get out of this?

“! have never purposefully done anyth!ng !n my ent!re l!fe dude. ! am not about to start mak!ng an effort just when !’m about to get culled,” you respond, surprisingly defensively.

Wait, this has gotten off of the fucking rails and you don’t know where you guys actually stand.

“You are going to cull me r!ght?”

“) well, uh. yeah (.” He’s tense and glances around the room, taken off guard by your question.

"Cool." You nod at him. Worth a try you guess.

His harpoon is less looking like a weapon to be used against you and more like a barrier to keep you away from him. Silence again draws on and he stares at you expectantly. You glance around. His frown gets deeper and he looks more frustrated as time goes on. You have no idea what he is waiting for.

You never thought being culled would be this fucking awkward. Guess the torture’s already started.

") aren't you going to plead for your life? (" he demands, bringing his harpoon closer as he does so.

You’ve never been great on the spot. You try to muster something decent up.

“Uh, don’t cull me?” You said it as lamely as you felt.

He looks at you blankly. “) are you getting off on this? (”

“Dude. No. Gross.” Your face twists. “!t’s just like. !’ve never pleaded for my l!fe before. !t !sn’t sh!t you really get to pract!ce and ! feel l!ke !t won’t actually matter since !’m getting culled anyways. So. Yeah.” You slowly nod to yourself before looking up at him.

He is still waiting. Goddamn it. You sigh.

“No. Please don’t cull me. !’ll do anyth!ng.”

While that covers all your bases, it came out a lot drier than you thought but you’re too over this shit to feel any kind of way about it.

"!s there any chance plead!ng would even work?"

His disappointment was broken by a sharp laugh, ") of course not (."

“Then what do you even want from me?” you ask, getting kinda exasperated at his apparent high standards and prereqs for the randos he culls. Like it is one thing to play some kind of sadistic game with your prey, that’s normal, whatever, but it is a whole other thing to get weird about them not being good at it.

"Why ask unless y-. Oh." Your face falls as you get bitch slapped with the realization of what is really happening here. "Oh fuck."

You step back.

Your fear has apparently slam dunked him right back in his comfort zone because his grin is back full throttle and wider and sharper than ever like he was making up for lost time. ") you finally understand the weight of the seatuation you're in? ("

He slinks towards you and you feel the edge of the blade graze your neck.

"Yep," avoid his gaze and swallow.

You were going to get culled in the weirdest way possible.

“) and what is that? (,” he asks lowly, getting right the fuck back into your personal space. His smile almost splits his face and you want to crawl out of your skin.

"Th!s !s l!ke. A th!ng. W!th you."

He lowers his harpoon again, looking completely done. “) what the fuck is THAT supposed to mean? (” You half expect him to throw it across the room or through your torso.

You can’t stop yourself from speaking now that you're actually nervous and stressed and he is yelling and also way too close to your person and his harpoon isn’t doing either of you any favors.

“You had the whole k!nda fl!rty touchy th!ng going on and then you got really p!ssy when ! d!dn’t f!ght back. And you also got super d!sappo!nted w!th my sh!tty plead!ng l!ke you were really look!ng forward to !t or someth!ng.”

“) i’m disappointed because this is the least satisfying cull of my life! (,” he hisses.

You visibly cringe at the word “satisfying” and take another step back from him. There is some fear there but mostly you’re just really fucking uncomfortable. Troll Jesus Christ this dude is into some shit and you are not playing into it.

He also takes a step back too, now into a defensive stance. ") what? it doesn't look like that! ("

You suck in air in through your teeth and are looking anywhere but at him as you reply, "!t k!nda looks l!ke that."

") oh my cod ("

He just slumps down, his harpoon clattering in front of him. His mouth is in a straight line and his head rests between his hands. You stand there, unsure for a moment, before slowly lowering yourself a decent distance away from him. You honestly thought that getting culled would be less uncomfortable than it was being here while he has whatever the fuck it is he has going on going on or at least uncomfortable in a different way.  

You continue trying to avoid looking at him. It’s kinda expected that a highblood was going to cull you at some point. That was just how it tended to go for rusties, but you could not have guessed this, and now just kinda want to get this whole getting murdered thing over with.

You try to give him a moment, glancing around the room, mentally taking inventory of everything there twice. The awkward silence is weighty and the longer it stretches on, the worse you are feeling about this whole fucking ordeal.

“Would cull!ng me help you uh, not be l!ke th!s?”

He gives you a dirty look.

You sigh, "!t's not l!ke anyone gets to th!nk that for long, !f !t helps.”

“) if it helps? ( ” He spat each word, getting louder as he went on. He whipped his head at you, indignantly, “) this is your fault! ("

"What?"

") getting culled is so fucking basic. how did you fuck that up? ("

You stare at him, trying to figure out how the fuck to even respond.

Slowly, in what might be one of the last things you do in your existence, you serve this royal what you are assuming is the stalest tea of his life in the form of the lukewarm take, “you know, be!ng bad at dy!ng !s a good th!ng actually.”

These are real words. These are real words that you are saying to the guy who was leaning way too hard into the thirsty part of bloodthirsty.

You continue. "L!ke you don’t get to pract!ce th!s. ! mean, do ! look l!ke someone who has been culled before? Because ! haven’t. Have you?" You add.

He looks like he is about to have a conniption or the sea dweller equivalent. Can sea dwellers have conniptions? Because this guy is about to have a big one.

") you did not just seariously just ask me if i've ever been culled before. that is the dumbest question anyone has ever asked me! (," he practically shrieks.

"Well you're acting like ! should just know th!s sh!t. We have the exact same amount of exper!ence gett!ng culled!"

“) whale i’ve never encountered any TROLL who is so miserable that they just accept getting culled from the fucking get go (.”

“!’m not m!serable! !’m real!st!c! ! don’t have a weapon, ! can’t fight for sh!t, f!sh judo !s apparently fuck!ng real, and plead!ng does noth!ng. !’m gonna end up at the same place no matter what ! do so why drag !t out? L!ke, come on.”

You slump against the wall, exhausted from this whole interaction. “!t wasn’t great, but ! don’t see much of a po!nt !n gett!ng so worked up about sh!t ! can’t control. ! just wanted to go out !n a cool way s!nce noth!ng ever fuck!ng happens here. The reason ! was even back here !n the f!rst place was to see !f ! had an update on a stup!d hexagonal d!sk ! ordered three months ago. But that sh!t !s apparently !n the vo!d," you gripe.

You pull out your palm husk and check again. Jack shit. You groan.

You’re surprised to hear him chuckle.

“) sucks to be you (.”

“Yeah." You shake your head. "And then a few seconds after ! found out, some guy showed up to cull me.”

He actually laughs. This is so fucking ridiculous so maybe that’s why you are too.

“) it’s a lot more fun to be doing the culling (.” He eyes you again and you don’t want to crawl out of your flesh this time, and you feel like that’s a real development here. “) you seam like you’d lose a fight (.”

An accurate assessment.

“Yeah. Troll karate didn’t do sh!t for me.” A beat passes. “Drones actually burnt !t down l!ke two w!pes after ! qu!t.”

He snickers and a moment passes.

“) one month for a disk? that is fucking bullshit (.”

“Three.”

“) fuck (," he raises his brows. Moderate inconvenience seems to repulse him more than anything you've said tonight. ") that sucks, i get my shit next night with cullazon prime (.”

"N!ce. !'d probably try that if ! had more than twenty seven whole caegars."

Broke bitch disorder also seems to do it for him in the humor department and the two of you continue chilling in silence. Less uncomfortable this time. You almost feel bad for thinking he was a sadistic creep.

He breaks the silence. “) give me your palm husk (."

“What?”

“) i don’t repeat myself (," he replies tersely, holding his hand out to you.

What the hell.

You type your code in and pass it to him. He glances at the massive crack on the center of your screen with disgust. He looks at you and shakes his head before he starts typing.

He didn't ask, but still, you answer. “! cracked !t do!ng a k!ckfl!p on a doll!e.”

He doesn't look up. ") you can't do a kickflip on a dollie (."

"Not w!thout a cost."

He spares you a side glance. ") why the fuck would you even do that? ("

"Because !t !s bor!ng as sh!t out here and there !s much better to do !n the ma!lblock."

He hums noncommittally.

"Were you just spaced?"

") and what if I was?(," he asks, a touch defensive.

"Noth!ng. ! was just wonder!ng !f !t sucks th!s bad at your level too?"

") of course not (," he snaps. ") do you genuinely believe anyone could be doing worse than you? ("

"Well yeah." You tap your sign. "But not by much."

He huffs and rolls his eyes before he looks out for a moment.

") i'm abshellutely krilling it out here (,” he states resolutely before continuing, “) but taking orders is a reel pain (.”

He sullenly joins you in leaning back against the wall.

Damn, This might just be the first time he's ever had anyone above him. Well, above him and specifically giving him orders you mean, judging by the way he is basically pouting over it. Everyone loses agency when they ascend. Guess it just sucks more when you have more to lose, not that you’d really know.

"!t doesn’t get better, but you do get used to !t," you say, not looking at him.

He glances at you, frowning deeper before exhaling.

You keep not looking at him when you ask, "So. Are you go!ng to cull me?"

") no. there is no salvaging that. you completely ruined it (." He replies bitterly while returning your palm husk.

The cullazon app has been downloaded and opened to an account page. You raise an eyebrow at him.

He announces, “) okay etivor, i shared my cullazon prime with you. you’re still going to be a sorry excuse for a troll, but you might get enough out of it that culling you acshelly becomes entertaining (.”

This is a joke. This has to be a joke.

“Thanks, but there !s l!terally no way for me to pay you back for anyth!ng ! buy on th!s.”

“) do i look like i need your fucking charity? (” he sneers.

He is actually serious about this. He looks too pissed not to be.

“Nope, you’re way too bl!nged out for that,” you grin. This dude is wild. “What’s your number?”

He looks at you suspiciously.

“!s th!s really where you’re gonna draw the l!ne? You gave me access to your Cullazon, but won’t g!ve me your number? Ser!ously?”

He doesn’t ask this time. He just swipes it out of your hands.

“) i am ievahn mordax, probably the best thing that has and will ever grace your miserable fucking life and i will brutally cull you if you mention any of this ever happened to anyone (.”

He hands it back, but still holds onto it. “) i’ve made myself clear? (”

“Yeah,” you nod and he finally lets go. This is way better than a shipping notification. 

Oh. 

You check the time.

"Fuck!" You leap to your feet and he quickly grabs his harpoon.

") what? (" he shouts.

"! was supposed to be here for l!ke a m!nute to check on the d!sk." You look at your palm husk again. It has been way more than a minute and you have the feeling someone definitely noticed by now. You completely forgot about having some work work to do considering you thought you were going to die. "Sh!t." You look at him again. "Do you have anywhere to be?"

") what? (" He squints.

“! mean you just had some free t!me and you seem bored and apparently don’t believe ! can do a k!ckfl!p on a doll!e. ! have to defend my good name. You get !t.”

“) what good name? (” he snickers. “) and if i did, why the fuck would i want to spend anymore time with you? (”

“Because you can’t make fun of my Cullazon orders !f my boss culls me for tard!ness. You be!ng around means she can’t say sh!t.”

He seems to consider, “) a compelling argument. and i do get to watch you maim yourself in the dumbest way possible which is a definite bonus (.”

You grin as you start walking. “Or have your pan be blown when you see what trollk!nd can really do when there is l!terally noth!ng else to do. !’m push!ng l!m!ts here !evahn.”

“) you’re pushing your luck (.” He leans his harpoon against himself as he follows.

“Maybe.” Quickly, you face him and add. “But ser!ously, be cool. !f my boss f!nds out about any of th!s, she w!ll absolutely cull me.”

“) she can’t cull you (,” he huffs. “) i already called dibs on that (.”

You grin returns.

“Damn. !’ll let her know.”

[saeran-imagines]

Did you see the birthday chats from 2019? Specifically the one where Saeran (as "Unknown") invites you to come eat ice cream and watch Netflix with him? Since Saeran's birthday is coming up again, could you write what if MC had taken him up on his offer and gone to meet him? (Jindere has a video of the chats on youtube if you haven't seen it/want a refresher!) I'm obsessed with the idea of this happening and I love your writing so I'd love to read this from you 🥰

Heya! I remember those birthday chats omg, I just had to buy the picture that went along with them when it became available! That and the 707 version are just so pretty, I had them as my desktop background for a good while 🥰

I made this longer than I meant omg! I wanted to get it done in time for his birthday, which, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAERAN !! (and seven too but this blog ain’t about you ❤) I have a bias for the soft Saerans so I didn’t think I’d like writing for Unknown as much as I did, but I had a lot of fun with this 😊 I hope you all like it!

You fiddle with your phone, the broken looking chat room open to “Unknown’s” messages. That hacker… what kind of person is he? There’s no doubt he’s up to no good, but he’s never done anything that would put you in danger. Quite the opposite, actually. You have a feeling he’d rush to your rescue if you found yourself in a bad situation. “It’s my birthday today. Meet me outside the building at 8 and I’ll show you a great time.” Coming from anyone else it’d sound creepy as hell, it should sound creepy as hell, he’s a complete stranger who hacked your phone, but… the feeling of dread you imagine would come before getting axe murdered just isn’t there. And more than that, there’s something in the way he typed, in the long pauses between messages that seemed… lonely. You look at the clock- 7:50. Taking a deep breath, you force yourself up, pull on a coat, and take the elevator down to the first floor. You wouldn’t be able to stand not knowing what might have happened if you didn’t go meet this mystery person. And hey, it could very well be a great time.

You take up a position right outside the building and look around- nobody seems to be here yet. The sun has started its trek downwards, the shadow on the building long enough to reach the other side of the road. It’s a little late to be out. What does he have planned? You take another deep breath and try to relax, worrying won’t do you any good. You check your phone- 7:53. Has it really only been 3 minutes? It feels like you’ve been waiting here for hours. Footsteps followed by a figure rounding the corner next to you cause you to perk up, but another person follows shortly after and you quickly look back down again, dejected. The couple shoots you a suspicious glance, keeping enough distance from you that they end up walking on the road as they pass you on the sidewalk. You must look strange, you realize, fiddling with your thumbs and glancing back and forth in the dark shadow of a building. You sigh, this is a little ridiculous. Just as you’re considering going back inside and forgetting about this whole evening, you feel a tap on your shoulder. 

“Hey, doll,” a smooth low voice sounds from where your shoulder was tapped, and you whip around to see the source. “You actually came.” You notice his eyes first, a striking minty blue that almost glows in the dim light. Then you notice his white suit that matches perfectly with his hair, pink accents and all. Aren’t hackers supposed to be subtle? The only things about him that match your mental stereotype are the dark circles under his eyes and the mask covering the lower half of his face. Neither detract from his allure, though. He looks like you could find him on the cover of a fashion magazine. He chuckles at your stunned silence. “What, liking what you see?” 

“Ah! Uh-” you stutter out. “You just… weren’t what I was expecting.” You can’t see his mouth under the mask, but you know he’s smirking anyways.

“Oh?” he teases. “And what did you expect?” You try your best to regain your composure. This isn’t the time to be making googly eyes at strangers. God, it’s been way too long since you’ve interacted with someone. You haven’t had the chance to after temporarily moving into that apartment. 

“I don’t know, some weirdo in a ski mask?” you joke, making him chuckle again. You feel yourself starting to relax. He seems like a kind enough person, despite the teasing, and talking to him is comfortable. This night might turn out better than you expected. “So, what are we doing tonight?” 

“Well, I hope you like ice cream. My favorite parlor stays open late, I figured I deserve a birthday treat. You know, since I’ve been such a good boy recently,” he laughs. It’s a giddier laugh than you expected from him, he must have been looking forward to this for a while. He holds out his hand for you to take. “Shall we?” You pause, looking down at his gloved hand. You can feel that this is the last chance you have to change your mind, to take the elevator back up to the apartment and forget about this interaction. Taking hold of his hand would form a contract that binds you to his side for the rest of the night. After a moment of deliberating you grasp his hand, perhaps a bit too tight. You’ve already gotten this far, your curiosity won’t let the night end until you learn more about this strange man. You flash him the most convincing smile you can muster.

“Let’s go.” He weaves you through the city, taking more than a few sketchy shortcuts through alleyways and unexpected detours. He must have to be careful to avoid detection in his line of work, he’s walking as if he’s trying to confuse anyone who might be tracking him. He makes some small talk along the way, prying you for your thoughts about various RFA members and asking you about your life outside the messenger. You learn that he has a bit of a soft spot for Jumin, seeming to appreciate his cold honesty and business oriented mindset. From the short walk you’ve had with this stranger he seems to be the type to prefer fun over work, but you suppose you’ve only seen one side of him. So far, that is. 

You arrive at your destination after around 20 minutes of walking. It’s a small sweets shop painted white and baby blue. A chalkboard sign shows the flavors of the day through the window, around half crossed out due to the business day nearing its end. You feel a light squeeze around the hand that you nearly forgot was being held by the hacker. When you look up at him you can see sparkles in his eyes. When he notices your stare he looks away, is he embarrassed? “Sorry if I startled you, darling.” He apologizes for his sudden excitement, letting go of your hand “My flavor is still in stock,” he says with a smile. “Shall we go inside?” He holds the door open for you and you thank him, walking inside and losing yourself in the sweet scent. 

“Welcome!” the chipper cashier calls out. “Do you two know what you’d like?” Your partner wastes no time in calling out a practiced order, something with mint and a waffle cone that you don’t quite catch as you scan the overwhelming array of colors and flavors. Not wanting to spend too much time gawking, you throw out a fast ‘I’ll have what he’s having’ and make your way towards the counter.

“Good choice,” your partner of the evening says with a grin. You stop him as he starts reaching towards his pocket. He tilts his head at you with a questioning stare.

“It’s your birthday, right?” you state more than ask. “My treat.” You pull out and swipe your card before he has a chance to protest. He doesn’t speak for a few seconds, not expecting this act of kindness, but he quickly recovers with a laugh and a thank you as he takes his cone. “Where to?” you ask once you both successfully make it out of the shop with delicious looking chocolate dipped mint chocolate chip ice cream cones. You want to see how it tastes, but a deep rooted birthday etiquette that lives inside of you forbids you from taking the first bite. That’s reserved for the birthday boy, after all!

“Just up there,” he points to a nearby hill. “You can see the stars really well.” You smile and nod before starting the trek. It’s a cool evening, luckily, so your ice cream only barely starts to drip on the way up. Talking to the mysterious hacker seems to get easier as time goes on. Any leftover anxiety you had fades as you make light conversation and tease each other. It feels like you’ve known him for years. You attribute at least some of it to the ice cream, his speech has become a lot more bubbly and a lot less guarded after he got his hands on his cone. You never thought you’d call the person who broke into your phone cute, but you can’t help but smile at how happy he seems.

You reach the top of the hill before you know it. A blanket is already laid out at the very top, and he guides you to sit beside him on it. It’s not a huge blanket, your shoulders are nearly touching. Which is NOT something to blush about, you tell yourself. He pulls his mask down for the first time tonight, leaving you to stare at him for a bit longer than you would have liked to. He was definitely handsome, but there’s a layer of familiarity that you can’t quite put your finger on. His pretty lips turn up in a smirk. 

“What are you staring at?” You almost miss it, but his hands fidget slightly as he asks the question. Maybe he’s a bit more insecure than he lets on? You try to get past some of your shyness for his sake, if he’s worried about his looks you’d like to reassure him.

“Nothing much, I just think you look nice,” you smile, feeling just a bit of heat creep to your face. “Now-” you quickly change the subject. “You have to take the first bite of your ice cream so I can have mine. Birthday rules, and all.”

“Okay, okay, whatever you say, doll,” he chuckles. He takes a bite, trying to catch all the ice cream that threatens to drip off. “There.” You grin and have a taste, too. There’s something about small shops that make everything taste a thousand times better. It’s the sweetest, creamiest ice cream you’ve ever had. 

“Good, right?” he asks, already knowing your answer from the big smile on your face.

“Yup!” you exclaim. You finish your treats in a comfortable silence. The stars really are beautiful from the top of this hill, they appear so much bigger and brighter without the light pollution from the city. You glance to your side to see him looking back at you. 

“Enjoying yourself?” he asks. He’s closer than you remember.

“Yeah,” you breathe. “The stars are beautiful.” His eyes are shining like stars, too. The darkness has made their unnatural color stand out even more, it would be so easy to get lost looking into them. You force your gaze back to the sky, trying to ignore how fast your heart is beating. “Are you? Enjoying yourself, I mean? It’s your birthday, after all.”

“Yeah, I am,” he says without missing a beat. “It’s not often that I get to go out like this.”

“Because of your hacking job?” you ask.

“Yeah, something like that.” He sighs and leans back, looking up at the stars once again. What kind of life does he have? It’s hard to get a read on him. You can talk to him like an old friend but you don’t even know his name. You get the feeling he wouldn’t tell you even if you asked. Better not to, then. You’re satisfied with the little snippets of him that you’ve gotten today, and if he wants to reveal more you’ll let him do that at his own pace.

“Well, I’m glad I came out to meet you then.” He looks over at you again, studying your face. Almost like he’s waiting for you to take it back, or turn it into a joke. You don’t.

“Yeah, me too.”

[northlight14]

Breakup’s, birthdays and drag shows

Description: Roman and Janus broke up and now Roman can't celebrate his birthday with him. Now it's Virgil's job as his best friend to cheer him up.

TW: breakup mention, crying, cursing, Janus isn't intended to be unsympathetic but since Virgil doesn't like him it might come across that way, alcohol mention, brief violence mention, let me know if I need to add anything else

Ships: platonic prinxiety, past roceit

Genre: hurt/comfort

Prompt: alt prompt 4, drag (prompt by @pridewrite2021)

Virgil was browsing the card isle looking for a birthday card for Roman when his phone started to buzz. He pulled it out to see it was Remus calling him.

"Ugh, what is it Remus?" Virgil said, already not interested in whatever Remus had gotten himself into.

"Hey Virgin! Can you come over?" Remus chirped.

"I'll be coming over later to drop off Roman's card. Why, what's up?"

"Well, you know how Roman and Janus broke up last week?" How could Virgil forget? Roman had spent the entire week being an absolute wreck and Patton and Logan had to hold Virgil back in order to stop him beating Janus up.

"Yes." Virgil gritted out through his teeth.

"Well, Roman just realized that he isn't gonna be able to celebrate with him and that this is gonna be his first birthday without him in 3 years and what not. So now he's crying in his room, lookin' like a hot mess. And since he's your best friend and all I was wondering if you could come and cheer him up or whatever."

"What! How the hell am I supposed to do that?!" Virgil yelled, before realizing he's still standing in the middle of the card isle, hiding his face which was now scarlet.

"I don't know man but you'll come up with something! You're like a brother to him, Virgie!"

"You actually are his brother, Rem!"

"Come on Virgil, please!" Remus pleaded through the phone. "I just...I really don't know what to do, here." He said, voice suddenly going quiet.

Virgil sighed. "Ok, I'll be ten minutes."

———

Virgil always forgot how big Roman's house was. The drive way alone seemed to go on for ages, outlined by large trees and red rose bushes. The pathway to the door was a red brick and clearly well taken care of. The house itself was a faded red brick with large windows and balconies. The front door was too tall and painted black, standing in the middle of two white pillars.

Looking at where Roman lived, it was easy to see why Virgil had disliked him at first. When they'd first met, Roman had a much bigger problem with his bratty rich kid attitude and with his life seemingly perfect from an outsiders point of view it was easy to see why they clashed. after all, Virgil had absent parents and had to work several jobs to help pay bills. But as he got to know Remus better it made it much easier to see through Roman as well. Mr and Mrs Prince were nice enough but they had a bad habit of pitting Roman and Remus against each other, both with academics and creative pursuits. It turned out Roman's arrogant attitude was a coping mechanism for his surprisingly low self esteem. It also turned out that Roman wasn't just "lazy" when it came to school work like Virgil had first thought, but he was actually struggling with ADHD. The more Virgil learned about Roman and the more Roman learned about Virgil, the closer they became until they began to see each other as brothers. Brothers that would make fun of each other relentlessly but brothers non the less.

Virgil knocked on the large door and waited for a response. Not too long after, Mrs Prince answered. She was a tall and slender woman with tanned skin. Her dark hair was tied perfectly in a bun. She wore a black dress with a red shall, both of which looked as expensive as Virgil's car.

"Oh, hello Virgil. I assume you're here for Roman? Remus said you were coming." She said.

"Uh, yeah. Can I come in?"

"Of coarse, Roman should be in his room. He hasn't come out since this morning." She said, stepping aside to let Virgil in.

'Oh God.' Virgil thought to himself before heading upstairs and hoping he would finally be able to remember which room is Romans.

In the end Remus came out his room and pointed Virgil in the right direction but hey, no one else needed to know that.

Gently, Virgil knocked on Romans door and waited to be let in.

"Remus, I told you to go away!" Roman yelled from inside, his voice sounding muffled.

"Hey Roman, it's Virgil. Can I come in?"

There was a brief moments pause before Virgil heard a quiet voice he decided to interoperate as Roman inviting him in.

Virgil was very taken aback by the sight before him. The room, which was usually kept as neat as possible, was covered in tissues, chocolate wrappers and a mix of opened and unopened presents. Roman was sat on his bed, eyes puffy and hair messy.

"Um, hey, are you alright?" 'Fuck sake Virgil, obviously he isn't.' Roman sniffled, smiling despite himself. "Yeah, I just...I miss him, ya know?"

"Yeah." Virgil said, sitting beside him. "Oh, um, I got you this..." Virgil awkwardly passed him the card.

Roman smiled, accepting it. "Thanks."

"So...what do you want to do? For your birthday, I mean." Virgil said, trying and failing to hide his discomfort.

"I don't know..." Roman sighed, looking down at his hands. "I was just going to continue to watch Carmen Santiago. But I always watched that with Janus. It was our show, ya know? He'd always make a comment about how she's still stealing and I'd counter it with how she's stealing from thieves so surely that makes it ok! I don't know, it just...it feels wrong to watch it without him..." Roman laughed sadly. "Which sucks because the last episode left on a cliff hanger and I really wanna know what happens next." He laughed a little at his own expense.

Virgil couldn't help but smirk. "Well, why don't we go out somewhere?"

Roman looked down again. "I don't know..."

'Crap. What the heck am I supposed to do here?!'

Virgil looked around awkwardly. He then spied in the corner what looked like a new makeup pallet. Roman must have gotten it for his birthday. 'Bingo.'

"Hey, why don't we do each other's makeup?" Virgil offered.

Romans face immediately lit up. "Really?!" He said, excitedly.

"Yeah, why not?" Virgil said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well last time I asked to do your makeup, you said you'd rather stab yourself in the eye with your eye liner."

"Yeah, well..." Virgil coughed. "Consider it my birthday present to you."

Roman immediately shot up and grabbed the eyeshadow pallet and several brushes. "I promise you won't regret this!" Yeah, Virgil was already regretting this but Roman seemed happy and that's all that mattered.

———

The brushes tickled Virgil's face as Roman layered the purple eye shadow. Virgil almost started to object as Roman began to apply silver jewels at the edges of the eye shadow, before stopping himself. Roman then finished the look by applying a purplish pink lipstick and brushing Virgil's bangs out of his face. He then handed Virgil a mirror. The look was very 80's glam, far from Virgil's usual style but he had to admit, it looked really good. The eyeshadow looked sharp, the upper lid being a lighter shade than the under eye and corners of the eyes.

"It looks great!" Virgil said, admiring it. Roman smiled proudly from the compliment. "Alright." Virgil said, taking the eye shadow pallet. "Your turn."

Roman laughed. "I appreciate the offer, rainy day real estate, but I don't really wanna look like I haven't slept in a hundred years." Roman teased.

"Says the guy who's went entire weeks not sleeping because he was binge watching a new show!" Virgil teased back.

"And I'll have you know I wear that like a badge of honor!"

"Besides," Virgil continued to laugh. "I know how to do other makeup looks."

"Ok..." Roman said. "But if I end up looking like a Tim Burton character, I will kill you with my bare hands." They both couldn't help but laugh.

Virgil decided to go for a similar style that Roman went for, layering different shades of red and mixing in some gold glitter. He also decided to draw a small crown on his right cheek, just below the eye. The look was then finished off with red lipstick to match.

He passed the mirror over to Roman who gasped in delight at his reflection. "It looks so good!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah? I'm glad you like it." Virgil smiled, pulling back on his purple patch hoodie after taking it off to give himself more mobility when applying the makeup.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Roman said, waving his arms in front of his face before jumping up and handing Virgil a black leather jacket that was hung on his chair as well as a pair of purple tinted heart glasses. "Put these on!" He exclaimed.

Virgil once again pulled off his hoodie, replacing it with the leather jacket. It fit him surprisingly well considering Roman was a fair bit taller and more muscular than him. He then put on the glasses and Roman eagerly pulled him off his bed and guided him to his full length mirror.

"Wow...I actually look really good." Virgil said.

"See! I told you!" Roman laughed.

Virgil examined the jacket. "I didn't think you'd own a jacket like this. Did you steal it from Remus or something?" Virgil asked.

Romans smile suddenly dropped. "It, uh, it was Janus'..."

Shit.

"Oh, um, sorry." Virgil said, honestly.

"It's ok." Roman sighed, sitting back on his bed. "I've been meaning to give it back. Especially since it still has his wallet in it. But that means I'll have to see him and I don't think I'm ready for that yet."

'He left his wallet in here?' Virgil put his hands in the pockets and sure enough, Roman was right. Virgil quickly started to feel all too powerful now knowing this.

"Hey, come on, let's go out somewhere. Show off your makeup." Virgil tried again.

"For someone who looks like they belong in a vampire novel, you're awfully eager to go outside." Roman laughed.

"Come on, I just think it'll do you some good to get out for a bit."

Roman averted Virgil's gaze. "I don't know..."

"Come on, man. Do you really want to let that jackass ruin your birthday?"

Roman sighed. "Ok, fine."

Virgil waited outside Romans room as he changed out his pajamas. When he came out, he was sporting a white shirt paired with a black jacket that had a red floral pattern. He was also wearing a pair of glasses, his in the shape of two fairy wings that matched the gold in his eye shadow perfectly.

As the two walked out the house, Roman called "Mom, weren't going out! I should be home soon!"

His mom sounded surprised by this but happy non the less. "Ok sweetie, be back soon!"

"So where are we going?" Roman asked as they walked out the house.

"How the hell should I know? I'm just winging it." Virgil laughed.

———

The two wandered through the town as the sun began to set, the reds and oranges bouncing off Romans glasses and the glitter perfectly. Virgil was all too aware of the judging looks they were being given but when he looked at Roman, he seemed happy. And right now that's all that mattered. Just keeping Romans mind off Janus.

Eventually, Virgil began to hear the sound of music and he subconsciously started to follow it, Roman tailing behind. As he wandered through the town he eventually found the source.

A bar putting on a drag show.

Roman was staring off into space, standing next to him. Virgil tapped his shoulder, pulling him back to reality. "Hey, I know what we're doing."

———

Romans face lit up once more when he saw the stage. It didn't seem like they missed too much, which was good. The drag queen that was stood on the stage currently was singing, her hair done big with makeup that shone and reflected the lights perfectly. Her dress black and covered in sequins and frills. The heels she wore didn't look comfortable in the slightest but she walked in them with ease.

The two sat at the bar. They were each 18 and 19, meaning they wouldn't be able to drink but given the circumstances, it was probably best if Roman didn't get drunk right now.

Instead, Virgil just ordered them some non alcoholic drinks and fries. Roman was about to hand him the money to pay but Virgil immediately declined. "My treat. It's your birthday after all." Virgil then remembered Janus' wallet still in his jacket pocket. 'I mean, if Janus is the reason we're here, it's only right he should be the one to pay for us, right?' Virgil couldn't help his smirk as he handed the money over.

The night continued and Roman and Virgil cheered loudly for each queen on stage, each one quite different from the last. Virgil watched as any sign of grief seemingly dissolved from Romans face.

The final queen for the night came on the stage and they both watched with joy as she performed.

"I know what you're doing, you know." Roman said, not taking his eyes off the stage. Virgil froze instantly, slowly daring to look at his friend. Roman once again had small tears in his eyes but he wore the most genuine smile Virgil hadn't seen on him in ages. "Thank you."

Virgil smiled at his friend. At his brother. "Of coarse."

-------

Authors note: I’ve been wanting to write something based on the glam looks Thomas posted for Roman and Virgil for a while now and I obviously wanted to write something for Romans birthday. So when I saw the prompt for today was ‘drag’ I immediately thought “well that’s convenient”. So happy birthday Roman! Anyway, hope y’all enjoyed. I’m still practicing my writing and hopefully I’m improving. 

Reblogs >>> likes

[ex-vengeancedemon]

Payback and Performances

Summary: Set at the beginning of Season 2 after Buffy gets back from summer vacation in LA after having been killed by the Master. A what-if scenario where in episode 2x01 When She Was Bad, Buffy dances with Spike instead of Xander to make Angel jealous.

Alternate version of my fic "Hey Jealousy" written from Spike's POV instead of Buffy's.

Read below or on ao3.

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

Well this was the joint. The Bronze. What kind of tosser named this dive anyway? Supposedly this was the slayer's regular haunt, according to the Annoying one and his lackeys. Spike wasn't sure how much longer he could play nice with the locals. Then again, maybe he wouldn't have to. He may just have gotten all the useful information from them that he was going to get. Which didn't amount to bloody much. Oh so she liked this... what even was this place? Bar? Dance club? Bar dance club? Much more of this music and he'd really be needing a drink... didn't have to be booze. The only other things he had learned from his new colleagues was that her watcher was the school librarian and she tended to move around with a group of nerds. The irritating lack of information was the cause of this little bit of reconnaissance. Gotta get to know a slayer a bit first before you kill her.

Spike moved away towards the edge of the dance floor, sliding seamlessly between the dancing patrons. She wasn't here. Not yet. But someone else was. Spike did his best to put bodies between him and his old pal, keeping carefully in the shadows. No need to go ruffling Angelus' soulful feathers. At least, not before he found the slayer. Spike had heard that he was going by Angel now, feeding off vermin and such. Pathetic really. How the mighty have fallen. And what was up with the hair?

On the bright side, if the slayer didn't show up, he could certainly make a night out of messing with Angel. The ponce was just standing there, staring intently at the door of the establishment. The few people who had attempted to speak to him had been curtly dismissed. Angel's seeming fascination with the door had allowed Spike to more or less have a run of the place. He could probably slaughter everyone on the balcony without Angel even raising an eye. What'd he think was gonna waltz through that door? Redemption? An evil demon? A blood bank? Elephants on parade?

Spike plucked a full cup out of some co-ed's hand as they walked past.

"Hey man!" the guy with the Hawaiian shirt protested. Good thing for the shirt too, it was the only thing the dullard had going for him it seemed. "What gives?"

Spike took a drink out of the cup and made a face. "Mate, that's the worst piss I've put in my mouth since the prohibition." Spike tossed the cup aside, spilling liquid on a few of the dancers and earning him a few glares.

The man muttered under his breath but scampered off when Spike shot him a toothy grin. He didn't know why the humans got so worked up over his real face. It was just for an instant. Sure was funny to watch though. As Spike suspected, Angel remained completely oblivious to his little scene. All the better.

Finally, Angel straightened, tensing up as he did so. Spike eyed the door. Whatever Angel had been waiting for, this was it. And then the devil walked in.

Although walked certainly didn't seem to cover it. More like strutted. She removed her long black coat that extended just as far as her little black dress. The back was low cut, exposing what was meant to be a scintillating amount of skin. She looked good, and she knew it. So this was the slayer. Buffy. She matched the photos. He was a bit surprised. This was clearly a girl out looking for trouble. And you know what they say: go looking for trouble and you're sure to find it. Not exactly what he had been expecting, but it would make things more interesting. Slayer on a bender. He loved a good bender.

The surprises didn't stop as Angel approached the vampire slayer. So the git had a death wish then? Probably couldn't take one more day of rat. However, instead of staking him, they just... talked. Well, that was anticlimactic.

Spike couldn't hear what they were saying, but he examined them carefully from afar. She seemed flippant, even laughing. He seemed dour. Then - what was that? Was that hurt? Did she hurt Angelus' feelings? Realization dawned on him as he broke out in a grin. This was just too good. Spike could spot a heartbreak from a mile away. The vampire was in love with the slayer. Poor Angelus. Couldn't be a man, couldn't be a monster. Forget Fortuna, Spike's new favorite deity was irony. If only he could get a picture of that crestfallen face, really preserve the moment.

The slayer brushed passed Angel - giving him the cold shoulder so to speak - and headed out onto the dance floor. Spike was somewhat amused to notice that she was quite literally turning heads. Confidence has that effect. All about confidence. Put on a good show. His amusement turned to concern as he realized she was moving directly toward him. Had he been made? 'Suppose it was too late to slink off. Bugger it. He could give her a damn good show. Plenty of people around to threaten and all. Then again, he wasn't sure exactly where she was stashing the stake...

She stopped in front of him, apparently reaching her intended target. She was at ease, seemingly not bent on killing him. At least, not right then.

"And just what can I do for you?" Spike asked, raising an eyebrow with a smirk.

Buffy tilted her head slightly as a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. It suddenly struck him that she wasn't intending on staking him at all. Apologies Fortuna, I'll never slander you again.

Buffy cocked her head towards the crowd of people moving along to the music. "Well this is a dance floor. Dance with me."

His eyes widened slightly and he glanced over at Angel, the movement almost imperceptible. Angel seemed to be struck in some sort of shock. Guess the cover was blown.

Spike let out a low chuckle. "Who am I to refuse a lady?"

Buffy took his hand and pulled him out into the center of the dance floor. Now this was a laughable turn of events. Spike shot a smirk over at Angel. He was paler than usual and his forehead was creased with concern... and fear. No good mate, all that worry will give you wrinkles. Angel's eyes never left them. Spike also noticed that Buffy was casting furtive glances over Angel's way. Lover's tryst then. Even better.

Spinning around to face him, Buffy slowly raised her hands above her head and began swaying her hips to the music. It was a slow, sultry song, which was perfect for taunting one's jilted former. Spike placed his hands on her waist and pulled her closer as he moved along with her. He could almost start to like this music. It was different than the type of dancing he normally did with slayers. Probably not something he should make a habit of, although she was making a tempting case for it.

He leaned in closer to her ear and said, "Name's Spike."

"I don't remember asking," Buffy replied, moving her arms down over his head.

Ouch love. Fine then. Names get left at the door.

Spike grinned back and pulled her flush against him. "Oh you're a fiery one. I like it. Got to appreciate a girl with flair."

Buffy locked eyes with him, holding his gaze for a moment. Curious. She had green eyes. He was going to enjoy watching the light leave them. A light blush rose in her cheeks as she broke eye contact. She hastily turned around with her back facing Spike, wrapping his arms back around her waist as she did so. He let his hands wander slightly as he looked over at Angel, who stood rigid as a board. Spike mimed biting into Buffy's neck - letting his face transform into that of a demon for an instant - then raised a finger to his lips. Now now Angel, let's not do anything rash.

He leaned back down next to her ear and asked, "Is that your beau over there?"

"What?" Buffy asked, startled out of an almost trace-like state.

Her eyes drifted immediately over to Angel, who seemed to be sweating in the metaphorical sense of the word. Of course, Spike assumed that was exactly what she wanted. A reaction. Well, she was certainly getting one.

"The git you've been eyeing," Spike replied, smirking against her ear. "What'd he do to merit this little show?"

Instead of answering, she reached up and put her hand behind his head, moving slowly down and then back up again. He momentarily forgot about Angel as his hands traced lightly along the curves of her body, barely concealed under the thin layer of fabric. She certainly knew how to give a performance. And he wasn't exactly rushing to give up the charade.

As she moved his head back down to her neck, she finally answered, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Spike turned her around and placed his arms on her shoulders, locking his hands behind her. "Bloody right I would. But, I'll settle for evening the score. Want to give him a real show?"

An idea had hit him. Something that was sure to get under Angelus' thick skin and even their scorecard.

He took her chin between his thumb and index finger and lifted her head up slightly. This time when they locked eyes, Buffy didn't look away. Taking that as an invitation, Spike leaned down and kissed her. The kiss started out slow but quickly deepened as he leaned her backwards slightly, holding her firmly by the small of her back. She tasted familiar. Spike placed it easily - she tasted like fear. Although he doubted he was what she was afraid of at the moment. He traced his hand up her spine and smiled into the kiss as he felt her shudder. He hoped Angel was watching. Wouldn't want him to miss a moment of this. It was only fair really. Payback's a bitch.

Buffy pulled away, her skin slightly flushed, as the song came to an end. "Guess that's curtains."

"A gentleman would walk a lady home," Spike replied, still holding onto her waist.

It'd be such a shame to end the night so early. And without spilling even a drop of blood.

"Are you a gentleman?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he replied, mimicking her earlier line.

He raised an eyebrow at her and offered her his arm. She hesitated for a moment before accepting it. It really was too good to be true. And pissing off Angelus was just icing on the already frosted cake. Alright slayer, how about you, me, a little deserted alley with no witnesses?

Spike winked at Angel as they walked to the door. All the fear on Angel's face had been replaced by pure unadulterated rage. Been a while since Spike had seen that expression. When was the last time? Boxer rebellion maybe? Buffy glanced back at Angel and Spike registered her surprise. Guess he hadn't ever been that pissed at her before. Cute.

Buffy and Spike had only gotten maybe 10 yards outside the Bronze when he heard the metal door slam open. Spike sighed. Of course, Angel would have to ruin all the fun.

Angel came rushing out of the Bronze and yelled after them. "Buffy!"

Spike took his arm back from Buffy and gave her a charming smile. "Well, I think that's my cue."

With that, he walked off - not bothering to hurry - with his hands in his pockets, leaving a bewildered Buffy behind him. Angel had broken out into a sprint and was barreling toward her, her gallant savior and what all. No matter. There was always next time. And he had a feeling this time would be stuck in both their memories for a good long while. He knew he wouldn't be forgetting it anytime soon.

"Angel?" Buffy asked. "What the hell?"

Spike raised an arm up and waved without looking back. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around, Slayer!" He paused a moment to let his words hit. "Oh, and Angel?" Spike said, turning around and continuing to walk away backwards. "Your girl? Delicious."

He gave one last satisfied grin before disappearing around the corner. See you soon love.

[lancermylove]

Snow (Christmas Scenarios)

Fandom: MLQC

Pairing: All x Reader

Warning: None

A/N: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

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Prologue: 

You never liked the snow and thought nothing good came out of it. Every winter, you felt like nature was against you, but then you met him.

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Victor

Yet another Christmas you didn't get off, and on top of that, you had to work late. By the time you left the office, a heavy layer of snow had coated the streets. Snowflakes were still falling from the sky, covering your jacket and hat. How you wished it was spring.

As you wrapped your arms around your body, a shadow appeared overhead. Looking up, you saw a black umbrella and traced your eyes to the owner. Even though you knew it was rude, you couldn't take your eyes off him.

'Wow, he's handsome.'

The two of you stared at each other for a brief moment, and you couldn't shake the feeling that you had seen him before. Wordlessly, the man took hold of your gloved hand and wrapped it around the handle of the umbrella. He pushed the umbrella closer to you before continuing down the path ahead.

By the time you registered what happened, the handsome stranger was long gone. Your cheeks grew hot as a smile crept on your lips.

Gavin

You wanted to stay in your warm office and report news from there, but your company sent you to cover a crime scene. The sun was setting, and the snow continued to fall.

By the time you reached the location, the sun had fully set, but a small amount of light still lingered in the sky. As your crew prepared the equipment, you searched the van for your jacket only to realize that you left it back at the office. Sighing loudly, you walked closer to the caution police tape and scanned the area.

Half an hour passed, but the police had yet to report the results of their investigation. Your body was now freezing, and you tried your best to divert your mind. 'I am not cold. Think of warm thoughts. Only a little while longer. I am not cold. Wait, I'm not cold.'

Snapping out of your thoughts, you felt an unfamiliar weight on your shoulders. Your shivering body was now covered with a heavy and warm coat. You shifted your eyes from the jacket to the attractive policeman in front of you.

He held out a white paper cup in front of you and whispered, "here."

You were too absorbed examining his face but absentmindedly reached for the cup. He nodded his head before walking away. You would've continued to stare at him had the alluring aroma of coffee not caught your attention.

Kiro

Snow, why does it exist? You thought as you trudged through the snow-covered sidewalk. Out of the corner of your eyes, you saw a white orb flying towards you. Even before you could react, the object smashed against your coat. While you tried to figure out what happened, you heard a few giggles.

"Snowballs," you vehemently hissed under your breath. Finding your annoyed expression hilarious, the children from your neighborhood began to throw more snowballs at you.

"Stop, you little brats!" Unfortunately, your body couldn't handle the force of the snowballs, and you stumbled backward. The kids laughed at you before scurrying in the opposite direction.

As you mumbled a few unfriendly remarks, you saw a gloved hand a few inches from your face. Tracing the hand up, you saw a familiar face. Despite being in shock, you managed to speak, "You are Ki-"

But the cute man shushed you and placed a finger on his lips. He winked at you and smiled before helping you onto your feet.

"May I see your smile?"

His voice was even sweeter in real, making your heart beat faster. You tilted your head and whispered, "s-sorry?"

"May I see your smile?" He chuckled and repeated.

It didn't take long for your lips to curl up. His unexcepted request was too innocent for you not to smile.

"I knew it! I knew your smile would be pretty," he grinned, "so please keep smiling."

With those words he walked away, leaving you in shock. You weren't sure whether to run after him, dance, or fangirl, but you were sure that you wouldn't be able to stop smiling.

Lucien

Just as you thought winter couldn't get any worse, a blizzard warning was issued for the residents of your city. You glanced at the calendar on your desk and started counting down the days to spring.

As you were about to finish counting, all the lights in your apartment turned off. In a moment of panic, you jumped to your feet and ran towards the door, nearly tripping twice. You flung the door open and slammed into someone, gripping onto the stranger's shirt.

A calm voice asked, "Are you alright?"

Not being able to answer, you looked around frantically in an attempt to find a source of light, gripping his shirt tighter.  

"Are you afraid of the dark?" The voice asked, but once again didn't get a response.

"Wait here," the man said as he gently freed his now wrinkled shirt from your clutch. He soon returned with a lit candle in hand and held it between the two of you. "Is this better?"

Words failed to come out of your mouth as your eyes were too busy studying his features. Since when did such a handsome man move into the apartment next to yours? How had you not met him before?

As questions raced through your mind, you slowly forgot about the blizzard and your fear of darkness.

Shaw

Finally, the day of the concert had come. You had purchased tickets months ahead, and you couldn't wait any longer to see your favorite band performing live. It was going to be the best day of your life, or so you thought. Then came the announcement that the concert was canceled due to the weather.

Snow.

You walked through the streets, trying your best to hold back your tears. "Why did they have to cancel? This is the worst day ever."

Right as you said that a flyer landed in front of you. Stopping in your tracks, you picked up the colorful piece of paper and scanned the words carefully. 'A band playing? Oh, that coffee shop is nearby. Well, better than nothing.'

You hurried to the quaint café and found a seat close to the stage. As the band members made their way on stage, you examined them. One, in particular, caught your eyes, and for some reason, you couldn't bring yourself to look away.

He looked in your direction and gave a playful smile, catching you off guard. The charming man mumbled a few words, but you were unable to hear him. You tried to read his lips. 'You. made. You made it?'

You could only stare at him wide-eyed as he smirked.

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