#I should see if I can drag my brother outside to build a snowman

[reachexceedinggrasp]

Would love to hear about your beefs with Lucas because I have beefs with Lucas

(Sorry it took me three thousand years to answer this, anon.)

They mainly fall under a few headings, with the third being the most serious and the thing that I am genuinely irl furious about at least biannually (and feeling unable to adequately sum up The Problem with it after yelling about it so often is a huge part of why this post has been in my drafts for such a long time):

1. His self-mythologising and the subsequent uncritical repetition of his bullshit in the fandom. Obvious lies like that he had some master plan for 10 films when it’s clear he did not have anything like a plot outline at any point. We all know the thing was written at the seat of various people’s pants, it’s blatantly self-evident that’s the case. There’s also plenty of public record about how the OT was written. Even dumber, more obvious lies, like that Anakin was ‘always the protagonist’ and the entire 6 films were his story from the beginning. This is preposterous and every time someone brings it up (usually with palpable smugness) as fanboys ‘not understanding star wars’ because they don't get that ‘the OT is not Luke's story’... Yeah, I just... I cannot.

Vader wasn’t Anakin Skywalker until ESB, it’s a retcon. It’s a brilliant retcon and it works perfectly, it elevated SW into something timeless and special it otherwise would not have been, but you can tell it wasn’t the original plan and there’s proof it wasn’t the original plan. Let’s not pretend. And Luke is the protagonist. No amount of waffling about such esoteric flights of theory as ‘ring structure’ is going to get away from the rigidly orthodox narrative and the indisputable fact that it is Luke’s hero’s journey. Vader’s redemption isn’t about his character development (he has almost none) and has no basis in any kind of convincing psychological reality for his character, but it doesn’t need to be because it’s part of Luke’s arc, because Vader is entirely a foil in Luke’s story. It’s a coming-of-age myth about confronting and growing beyond the father.

All attempts to de-centre Luke in RotJ just break the OT’s narrative logic. It’s a character-driven story and the character driving is Luke. Trying to read it as Anakin’s victory, the moral culmination of his choices rather than Luke’s and putting all the agency into Anakin’s hands just destroys the trilogy’s coherence and ignores most of its content in favour of appropriating a handful of scenes into an arc existing only in the prequels. The dilemma of RotJ is how Luke will define ethical adulthood after learning and growing through two previous films worth of challenge, education, failure, and triumph; it’s his choice to love his father and throw down his sword which answers the question the entire story has been asking. Vader’s redemption and the restoration of the galaxy are the consequences of that choice which tell us what kind of world we’re in, but the major dramatic conflict was resolved by Luke’s decision not the response to it.

And, just all over, the idea of Lucas as an infallible auteur is inaccurate and annoying to me. Obviously he’s a tremendous creative force and we wouldn’t have sw without him, but he didn’t create it alone or out of whole cloth. The OT was a very collaborative effort and that’s why it’s what it is and the prequels are what they are. Speaking of which.

2. The hubris of the prequels in general and all the damage their many terrible, protected-from-editors choices do to the symbolic fabric of the sw universe. Midicholrians, Yoda fighting with a lightsabre, Obi-wan as Anakin's surrogate father instead of his peer, incoherent and unmotivated character arcs, the laundry list of serious and meaningful continuity errors, the bad storytelling, the bad direction, the bad characterisation, the shallowness of the parallels which undermine the OT’s imagery, the very clumsy and contradictory way the A/P romance was handled, the weird attitude to romance in general, it goeth on. I don’t want to re-litigate the entire PT here and I’m not going to, but they are both bad as films and bad as prequels. The main idea of them, to add Anakin’s pov and create an actual arc for him as well as to flesh out the themes of compassion and redemption, was totally appropriate. The concept works as a narrative unit, there are lots of powerful thematic elements they introduce, they have a lot of cool building blocks, it’s only in execution and detail that they do a bunch of irreparable harm.

But the constant refrain that only ageing fanboys don’t like them and they only don’t like them because of their themes or because they humanise Anakin... can we not. The shoddy film making in the prequels is an objective fact. If you want to overlook the bad parts for the good or prioritise ideas over technique, that’s fine, but don’t sit here and tell me they’re masterworks of cinema there can be no valid reason to criticise. I was the exact right age for them when I saw them, I am fully on board with the fairy tale nature of sw, I am fully on board with humanising Anakin- the prequels just have a lot of very big problems with a) their scripts and b) their direction, especially of dialogue scenes. If Lucas had acknowledged his limitations like he did back in the day instead of believing his own press, he could have again had the help he obviously needed instead of embarrassing himself.

3. Killing and suppressing the original original trilogy. I consider the fact that the actual original films are not currently available in any form, have never been available in an archival format, and have not been presented in acceptable quality since the VHS release a very troubling case study in the problems of corporate-owned art. LF seizing prints of the films whenever they are shown, destroying the in-camera negatives to make the special editions with no plans to restore them, and doing all in the company’s considerable power to suppress the original versions is something I consider an act of cultural vandalism. The OT defined a whole generation of Hollywood. It had a global impact on popular entertainment. ANH is considered so historically significant it was one of the first films added to the US Library of Congress (Lucas refused to provide even them with a print of the theatrical release, so they made their own viewable scan from the 70s copyright submission).

The fact that the films which made that impact cannot be legally accessed by the public is offensive to me. The fact that Lucas has seen fit to dub over or composite out entire performances (deleting certain actors from the films), to dramatically alter the composition of shots chosen by the original directors, to radically change the entire stylistic tone by completely reinventing the films’ colour timing in attempt to make them match the plasticy palate of the prequels, to shoot new scenes for movies he DID NOT DIRECT, add entire sequences or re-edit existing sequences to the point of being unrecognisable etc. etc. is NOT OKAY WITH ME when he insists that his versions be the ONLY ones available.

I’m okay with the Special Editions existing, though I think they’re mostly... not good... but I’m not okay with them replacing the original films. And all people can say is ‘well, they’re his movies’.

Lucas may have clear legal ownership in the capitalistic sense, but in no way does he have clear artistic ownership. Forget the fans, I’m not one of those people who argue the fans are owed something: A film is always a collaborative exercise and almost never can it be said that the end product is the ultimate responsibility and possession of one person. Even the auteur directors aren't the sole creative vision, even a triple threat like Orson Welles still had cinematographers and production designers, etc. Hundreds of artists work on films. Neither a writer nor a director (nor one person who is both) is The Artist behind a film the way a novelist is The Artist behind a novel. And Lucas did NOT write the screenplays for or direct ESB or RotJ. So in what sense does he have a moral right to alter those films from what the people primarily involved in making them deemed the final product? In what sense would he have the right to make a years-later revision the ONLY version even if he WERE the director?

Then you get into the issue of the immeasurable cultural impact those films had in their original form and the imperative to preserve something that is defining to the history of film and the state of the zeitgeist. I don't think there is any ‘fan entitlement’ involved in saying the originals belonged to the world after being part of its consciousness for decades and it is doing violence to the artistic record to try to erase the films which actually occupied that space. It's exactly like trying to replace every copy of It's a Wonderful Life with a colourised version (well, it's worse but still), and that was something Lucas himself railed against. It’s like if Michaelangelo were miraculously resuscitated and he decided to repaint the Sistine Ceiling to add a gunfight and change his style to something contemporary.

I get genuinely very upset at the cold reality that generations of people are watching sw for the first time and it’s the fucking SE-except-worse they’re seeing. And as fewer people keep physical media and the US corporate oligarchy continues to perform censorship and rewrite history on its streaming services unchecked by any kind of public welfare concerns, you’ll see more and more ‘real Mandela effect’ type shit where the cultural record has suddenly ‘always’ been in line with whatever they want it to be just now. And US media continues to infect us all with its insidious ubiquity. I think misrepresenting and censoring the past is an objectively bad thing and we can’t learn from things we pretend never happened, but apparently not many people are worried about handing the keys to our collective experience to Disney and Amazon.

4. The ‘Jedi don’t marry’ thing and how he wanted this to continue with Luke post-RotJ, so it’s obviously not meant to be part of what was wrong with the order in the prequels. I find this... incoherent on a storytelling level. The moral of the anidala story then indeed becomes just plain ‘romantic love is bad and will make you crazy’, rather than the charitable reading of the prequels which I ascribe to, which is that the problem isn’t Anakin’s love for Padmé, it’s that he ceased to love her and began to covet her. And I can’t help but feel this attitude is maybe an expression of GL’s issues with women following his divorce. I don’t remember if there’s evidence to contradict that take, since it’s been some time since I read about this but yeah. ANH absolutely does sow seeds for possible Luke/Leia development and GL was still married while working on that film. Subsequently he was dead set against Luke ever having a relationship and decided Jedi could not marry. Coincidence?

There’s a lot of blinking red ‘issues with women’ warning signs all over Lucas’s work, but the prequels are really... egregious.

[stargazer-balladeer]

December 1: Snow (Mystic Messenger)

Characters Included: 707, Yoosung, Zen, Jumin, Jaehee, Saeran & V

Notes: This prompt (or whatever you call this) is random, its meant to signify the start of December. So I apologize if people find that the prompt “snow” is not featured greatly here. Hope you’ll enjoy this!

Warning: Minor spoilers if you haven’t played MM and don’t know their backstories and real names.

December Fics | MAIN PAGE |

707

Seven is the most excited person in the whole RFA, with eyes sparkling, grinning widely and stuff. He’s practically shining with how enthusiastic he is with the Christmas season.

You can be sure that Seven will drag you anywhere, everywhere. This might not be his first Christmas, but its his first Christmas with you and the RFA. A home, a family he always wished he had.

You can also bet that he’ll drag Saeran with him. Saeran just going along with it because he has no choice-

Seven will do ice-skating with you, wander around town and look at the Christmas decorations. Though the best part, in his opinion, is being cozy with you on the couch with a steaming hot chocolate drink.

Saeyoung sighed contentedly as he lets his head rest on yours, his golden-colored pair of eyes looking at the fire place (pretend you have one-). There’s a small, gentle smile on his face, rather than the usual excited, cheeky smile plastered. The silence around you two was comforting and calming, that it makes Saeyoung drowsy.

As much as Saeyoung love the Winter season, he isn’t a fan of cold much. So you two ended up in your house, tucked in a thick blanket and sipping on a steaming hot chocolate drink which you two prepared. Now this is home, Saeyoung blissfully thought. “Should we host a party at RFA, to celebrate the holidays?” His s/o asked, breaking the silence momentarily.

Saeyoung just hums as he snuggled closer to you. “I think it’s a great idea.” Saeyoung mumbled, luckily you caught it. You smiled peacefully. “Alright.. how about this years theme is cat holidays?”

Yoosung

Yoosung is the second most excited in RFA. He will literally drag you to town to watch the snow fall and the decorations hanging around. His childishness really show during this season.

Yoosung would make you into a literal blanket burrito, just to warm you up. He cares about you more than himself so if you’re shivering and cold. He’ll just wrap you in a blanket and snuggle you with it. If you two are outside though, he will give you his jacket or scarf (or maybe both)-

He loves making snowman with you, snowball fighting and teasing you with the coldness. So expect to feel ice going through your back.

“Yoosung!” You shriek while Yoosung just laughed out loud. You tried pulling out the ice that Yoosung put in your back, and failing miserably. You could feel the ice melting in your skin, leaving water to stain inside. You shiver as it made the coldness around you worse.

Yoosung noticed as his laughter died down. He gave you an apologetic smile as he removes his scarf and put it around your neck. “Sorry baby. You just look so adorable.” You only pout at him with a (adorable) glare in your face, which only made Yoosung snickered. You continued pouting as you stomp yourself away from your blonde boyfriend.

Yoosung only laughs as he chases your stomping figure. “Baby! I’m sorry!”

Zen

Zen is in-between excitement and calm. He might not be a fan of the cold much, but he loves the view of snowflakes falling from the sky. Besides, it’s Instagram worthy.

Zen is literally a human heater, like how? But you didn’t complain since now, you can cling to him with a “its too cold” excuse. Zen would only chuckle and let you snuggle with him. It also gives him an excuse to kiss your head, and he ain’t complaining about a free cuddle from you.

This is the only time where Zen can relax really, from all the model shoots his been doing and singing for musicals. He could finally let his body relax.

Zen would go window shopping with you, traversing through the thick chilling snow while looking through the windows. He’s very observant so when he sees that something caught your eye, he would definitely buy it for you.

“.. you know you didn’t have to buy it.” “But I want to, my love.” You sighed while shaking your head with a smile on your face. No matter how much you tried telling him that he doesn’t have to buy you anything, he just doesn’t listen to you. You don’t know whether to reprimand him or not.

“Besides, you deserve it. I put you a lot of suffering just by being with me..” Zen trailed off, getting sentimental again. It’s been almost a year now since that incident in the RFA. As much as you tell Zen that you forgive him, he just couldn’t let go. He believes you deserve someone better than him.

“Hey..” You cooed at him as you made Zen look at you. You smiled gently as you kiss his forehead, and did the eskimo kiss with your noses. “As cheesy as this might sound, I chose you because I love you. I love the way you are. That’s never going to change.” You softly mumbled. Zen heard it and smiled gratefully at you. “Thank, my love. I love you too.”

Jumin

Jumin is probably one of the least excited for Christmas in the RFA. He would think of it as a normal day and carry on with his daily routine. His job as a CEO doesn’t allow him any free time, even on holidays. At first, he didn’t think much of it. But now that you’re with him, he’ll try his hardest to finish all of his work to spend time with you. Sometimes overworking himself to the point of exhaustion.

Jumin is actually neutral towards the cold. Similarly to Zen, he enjoys watching the snow fall from the snow. Though he doesn’t like playing around, he likes watching you build a snowman or play in the snow. He will only join you if you two are going for a walk.

Jumin is much more affectionate during these times. His body isn’t auto-heating and he’s craving your warmth— which results in him dragging you to the nearest bed or couch for a cuddle session. Even though you two have a heater, he’ll always think of an excuse just to cuddle with you. (Just let it slide-)

Jumin has loves watching the snow with you. So you two are often found watching the snow fall in the patio.

A faint gentle smile is present on the relaxed face of the CEO, replacing his usual stoic, cold-faced one. He tightens his hold around you as you two watch the snowflakes descend from the clouds. Even though no one was talking, it wasn’t uncomfortable.

“We should do this everyday.” You said in a teasing voice as you lean back on his chest. He hummed as his eyes flickers to your curled up figure in his lap. He sighs contentedly. “Maybe. Though, wouldn’t you prefer going out, darling?”

You hum in response as a smile curled up in your lips. “I much prefer being with you, love.” Jumin swears his heart accelerated when you said that. Even though you two are together for a while now, he still wasn’t used to your affections. He let his eyes drop. “You’ve been spending too much time with Zen.” You only laughed.

Jaehee

Jaehee might seem like collected and calm in the outside, but inside, she’s filled with excitement and giddiness. She couldn’t wait to go home to spend the rest of the day in your warm arms. She craves affections so much but is usually shy when expressing them. But now, with the snow falling, Jaehee now has an excuse with cuddle.

Jaehee is albeit childish for me, so I can see her sticking out her tongue so that a snowflake can land on it. But she won’t start a snowball fight with you, which is quite reassuring-

Instead, she prefers the basic walking around town hand-in-hand while basking in each other’s presence trope. She also likes pressing her body to you, with the excuse of wanting heat. Though you know that she just wants to be close to you-

Jaehee can do anything, but I don’t think she can skate. So if you know how to skate, drag her to a nearby ice rink and teach her there. She won’t refuse because she loves you very much— though if you also don’t know, you two will just stick with other activities.

Jaehee watches as you stick out your tongue to catch a snowflake. She giggled when you made a face. “Cold..” You muttered. “Well.. it is ice.” Jaehee jokingly sass as you laughed. “Right right.”

“C’mon. Let’s enter this café.” Jaehee said while pointing at a nearby café that looks so cozy. You gave her a look. “You sure? Don’t you own a café as well?” Jaehee chuckles as she gives your hand a squeeze. “Just because I own a café now doesn’t mean I don’t want to go to other café’s. Now c’mon before we freeze to death.”

You chuckled as you let her drag you to the café. “I wouldn’t mind being frozen in place with you-“ Jaehee can only sigh and smile at your puns.

Saeran

Saeran is the most least excited for Christmas. Actually, he isn’t excited about anything other than you or ice cream. Like he has the most deadpanned stare as you exclaim its already December.

Actually, I think Saeran would despise Christmas. Because it reminds him of his past. How horrible their mother was to them, to the point that they couldn’t eat anymore. Christmas wasn’t anything special to them back then but now, it is. Whether he likes it or not.

Saeran prefers staying indoors than going out. Unlike his brother that loves snow, he isn’t a fan of them. He says this and yet he’s freezing when you touch him! Like he can still literally eat ice cream even though its already freezing! Prepare yourself when you’ll cuddle with Saeran-

Saeran actually loves cuddling with you around this time. Like I said, he’s freezing so he wants (craves) your warmth. So expect to find yourself cuddling with him.

“Saeran.. I need to cook.” “Just.. a bit longer.” You sighed, finally relaxing your body with his. You knew you weren’t getting up any time soon. Not when this big baby has you in his arms. Saeran nuzzle his face deeper in your neck and hair. You shiver when you felt his warm breath on your neck.

You smiled unconsciously while closing your eyes. Saeran wasn’t one for affectionate, it’s usually you who initiate this kind od things. But now, he’s the one initiating it first. It was kinda refreshing to see him opening up to you. Finally opening his heart to you. Usually when he cuddles, it’s usually for warmth but you knew that it wasn’t for that reason why he suddenly wants to cuddle..

“Did you lose again in that game?” ... “shut up” You laughed as pat his head while he pouts. He swears you knew him better than he knows himself-

V

V is neutral to the holidays. Though he likes the idea of giving (spoiling) you with gifts and affections. V loves spending time with you and taking picture of the winter wonderland. So, ofc, he prefers going outside with you.

When he lets you see the pictures he take with his camera, you would find yourself in almost every single one. When you ask about this, his only response is your his muse. V is also sneaky when taking pictures of you. Some of these you didn’t know you were unconsciously doing or noticing him taking pictures of you. (Their all beautiful, mind you-)

He loves the domestice life with you. He really spoils you with love and affections. Every morning, noon, afternoon and evening. Afterall, he wants to make it up to you. After all that has happened, with Rika and stuff. But he wouldn’t bring this topic up. He would rather let his past be in the past. He’s forever grateful to you (and also thankful that you managed to convince him to have eye surgery-)

V smiled as he sneakily takes a pic of you looking at the snow without you noticing. His smile stays even after taking the pic. He opens it and inspect it. Perfection. Of course, its perfect. It’s you afterall.

“V.. did you take a pic of me again?” V hums, not looking up as he press the next button. He could hear the playfulness in your voice, so he knew you weren’t mad about it. When he felt you in front of him, he immediately closes his camera.

You pout as you glared at him. “Heyy! I wanna see!” V only chuckled as he lets his camera fall, he doesn’t need to worry about it falling since its lace is around his neck. He proceeds to kiss the top of your forehead. “Sorry, starlight. If I show it to you then you’ll ask me to delete it.” You pout before bursting into fits of laughs. “I guess.”

“Can I atleast have a peek?” “Nope.” “C’mon! Just a glance!” “Nope.” “V~!” “Still no, love.” “No cuddles later then!” “... at home.” You cheered as he sighed in defeat before smiling at you being adorable again.

[malecacidd]

Sneaking Out for Snowmen

This is my @secret-santa-klaus gift for @undead-supremacy!!! I hope that you like it and happy holidays!!

Yes the title is incredibly cheesy but it's not a song lyric so I feel like that deserves a few points FKZKDKZKDKS

For context they are twelve years old in this! And there are no warnings!! Only fluff 😌😌

Read on ao3 (Please tell me if you have an ao3 account so that I can gift it to you on there!!)

--

Ben normally didn't sneak out of the academy with his siblings, but that night was different. 

Usually he didn't go out for fear of getting in trouble. Trouble always meant punishments, and punishments always meant no food, or more training. The Horror didn't like it when Ben didn't eat, which was the reason that Ben didn't like it when he didn't eat. 

But, the day before that night, it had snowed. It had snowed for the first time in a year or so, and when Diego and Klaus had come into his room that night, he couldn't say no to sneaking out with them. 

He had only snuck out a few times in his twelve years of life, but he knew that 9:00 was way too early for their father to already be asleep. What they were doing was fairly risky, but he didn't really care as he pulled on his coat, quickly walking out of his room after Diego and Klaus, shutting the door quietly behind him. 

They snuck down the stairs quietly in single file, pressed against the wall where they knew the camera pointing at the stairs wouldn't catch them. They knew that their father was probably watching it, waiting for someone to disobey him just so that he could punish them. 

Ben shook the thought off, grinning as Klaus threw open the doors and bouncing outside, kicking snow up in the air as soon as Diego shut the main doors quietly behind them. 

"And we're out!" Klaus said as loud as he could, earning a shush and a snowball to the face from Diego. 

Ben couldn't help but giggle at the way Klaus sputtered, brushing the snow off of his own coat before grabbing a handful of snow and throwing it in Ben's general direction with a grin. 

Ben immediately closed his eyes, throwing his hands in front of his face to block the snow that never came. 

He lowered his hands when he heard Diego start to laugh, opening his eyes to see Klaus crossing his arms. Ben grinned, running forward to push his brothers down into the snow. 

What he didn't expect was the way they dragged him down with them, both immediately teaming up to cover him with snow. 

He sat up quickly, brushing snow out of his hair and glaring at Diego and Klaus as they laughed. 

After only a second of sitting in the snow, Diego's eyes seemed to light up as he thought of something. He jumped up from his place on the ground and turned to each of them with a smile. 

"We should build a snowman." He said, excitedly clapping his cold hands together. 

Klaus groaned from beside Ben. "But we don't have anything to put on it! All we have is snow." 

Diego rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "So? I've never made a snowman before!" He turned to Ben. "Have you ever made a snowman before?" 

Ben shook his head, moving up from the ground to stand beside Diego. "I think it would be fun." He said, and Diego nodded, turning his gaze back to Klaus, sticking his bottom lip out exaggeratedly. 

Klaus rolled his eyes, but smiled as he stood up, brushing the snow off of his pants. "Yeah, sure. But don't come crying to me when he turns out to be just as ugly as you guys."

"Hey!" Ben shoved his shoulder, but couldn't hide his grin as Diego ran to find the perfect place for their snowman. He moved to grab the hat off of Klaus' head. "Maybe we can use this to make him look better?" 

Klaus snatched it out of his hands, putting it back on his own head with a huff. "Noooo." He whined, dragging the word out, "It's my hat, not the snowmans." 

"Fine," Ben sighed, rolling his eyes and moving to sit next to Diego, who was already rolling together snow for the snowman's base. "I'll do the middle and Klaus can do the head."

Klaus collapsed onto the snow next to them, and they got to work. 

It took about twenty minutes, but eventually they were done. Klaus even gave up his hat for the snowman, who they decidedly named Jeremy. 

He wasn't the greatest snowman, considering he was their first one. But they all definitely thought that he was perfect. 

They did eventually get caught. About thirty minutes after they had finished building Jeremy, they were a little too loud during their snowball fight, and Reginald had come out of the house, pointing his cane menacingly at them as he yelled something about free time only being on Saturdays. 

They didn't get lunch or breakfast that next day, but Ben found that he couldn't seem to care all that much, despite the Horrors painful movements in retaliation to his empty stomach. 

His brothers smiles when they realized that the snowman was still there in the morning was enough to keep Ben satisfied until dinner. 

[maddrmatt]

Kairi’s Epic Journey: The Quest for Sora

New to this fanfic? Click here to properly begin!

Chapter 21: Inferno in the Ice Palace

Arendelle

Towering before them was an immense palace made of ice attached to the side of the mountain.  A staircase made of ice lead up to the double doors which made up the front entrance.  The light of the sun shimmered off the crystals.

It was quite a sight that would be usually be considered beautiful.  But the beauty was marred by all the damage that was scattered all over.

The walls, once pristine, were now dotted with char marks, cracks and holes of various shapes and sizes.  Pieces of the railing on the staircase were missing and the steps themselves were now cracked and broken.  One could only imagine what the inside of the palace looked like.

Kairi couldn’t take her eyes off of it even as Marshmallow bent forward and allowed her, Anna and Olaf to slide off of him.  She walked over to Elsa who looked just as stunned to see her ice palace in such a state.

“I’m so sorry, Elsa.  It must’ve been so beautiful,” said Kairi sympathetically.

“My condolences as well, Your Majesty.  It is bad enough that those ruffians are squatters but they’re also vandals as well.,” said the Duke.

“How could anyone do something like this to a work of art?  This is a crime against ice,” asked Kristoff as Sven nodded in agreement.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care.  They’ve gone too far!  We should go in there right now, drag them back to Arendelle and throw them into the dungeon,” said Anna furiously as she attempted to stomp toward the palace before being held back by Elsa and Kairi.

“Take it easy, Anna,” said Elsa.

“I won’t take it easy, Elsa!  Mistreating Marshmallow was bad enough.  But now they’ve ruined one of the most beautiful things you’ve ever created with your powers.  We cannot let them get away with this,” shouted Anna.

“And we won’t.  But we can’t be reckless about this,” said Elsa.

“Your sister’s right, Anna.  We still have no idea about who or what we’re dealing with here,” said Kairi.  ‘For all we know, they could be the kind of people the Heartless would obey.’

“If there’s anybody even in there,” said Kristoff who was kneeling by a trail of tracks leading up to the staircase.

“What do you mean, Kristoff?” asked Kairi.

“Take a look at the tracks,” said the ice harvester beckoning everyone to come over to where he was.  Once everyone had gathered around him, he continued.

“When we stopped earlier, the tracks were all leading up here.  But now I’m also seeing some that are leading away from here,” said Kristoff pointing to several tracks that indeed looked like they were heading away from the ice palace.

“But how could we have missed them if they’ve already left?  We didn’t see any other trails besides the one we followed up here,” said Kairi.

“I have no idea, Kairi. And there’s another thing that’s baffling me.  If they wanted the ice palace for themselves, why would they damage it like this? Surely, they’d know by disrupting the integrity of the ice like this, they’d only be putting themselves in danger,” said Kristoff.

“Are you certain of that?” asked the Duke.

“Trust me, Your Grace. If there’s one thing I know best, it’s ice,” said Kristoff.

“This mystery is getting more mysterious every minute,” said Olaf with several of the others nodding in agreement.

Elsa gazed up to the ice palace’s doors.  “Well, one thing is for certain: we’re not going to get any answers unless we go in there.”

The queen then turned to the group.  “All right everybody.  Here’s what we’re going to do.  I’ll lead the way into the palace.  If there’s any damage to the floors, I can use my powers to fix them, so it’ll be safe for us to move around in there.  They’ll also protect us if there’s anyone still in there,” said Elsa.

“Don’t count Kairi out, Elsa.  She can help just like Sora!” exclaimed Olaf.

“What on earth is he talking about?  What kind of help can she offer?” asked the Duke.

“You’re just going to have to trust us on this, Your Grace.  Just know that if the situation calls for it, I’m ready to do all that I can to help,” said Kairi.

The Duke’s eyes gave a skeptical gaze for a brief moment.  “Hmm.  Very well. But what are we to do if those ruffians return and catch us by surprise from behind?” asked the Duke.

“That could be a job for Marshmallow.  He can stay out here and keep watch.  Will you, big guy?” asked Anna.

The giant snowman looked a little hesitant.  But he assented to Anna’s request with a nod and a grunt.

Kristoff noticed Marshmallow’s hesitance.  “I guess he’s still a little nervous.  Can’t say that I blame him.  I think after what happened earlier, he’s not looking forward to facing his attackers again.”

Kairi gave Marshmallow a pat on the hand.  “Don’t worry, Marshmallow.  We won’t let them hurt you again.”

“And to make you feel better, I’ll stay out here and keep watch with you, little brother,” said Olaf walking to the giant’s side.

“That’s probably a good idea, Olaf.  Is everyone else ready?” asked Elsa.

“As we’ll ever be, Elsa,” said Kairi with everyone nodding although the Duke’s nod was a little more reluctant.

“Good.  Then let’s go,” said Elsa as she turned to the staircase and waved her hands.  Her ice magic flowed over it and restored the staircase to its pristine condition.

Elsa then ascended the stairs.  Following her was Anna, Kristoff, the Duke, Kairi, Sven and Pluto.

Suddenly, just as the Duke stepped on the icy steps, his feet slid.  He quickly gripped the railing and gazed down at the abyss below. He gave a whimper of fright.

“Be careful on the steps, Mr. Weasel Town.  They can be pretty slippery,” called Olaf from the bottom of the stairs.

“Yes er thank you for telling me,” said the Duke as he regained his balance.

Olaf then looked up to Kairi.  “You doing okay yourself, Kairi?” he asked the Princess of Heart who was having a little trouble on the ice herself.

“I’ll be okay, Olaf. I’m just not used to walking on ice,” said Kairi.

Then, much to their dismay, Sven ended up slipping.  He fell down with a grunt and slid backwards.  He collided with Pluto and the two animals ended up in a heap at the bottom of the stairs.

Kristoff shook his head. “Looks like Sven still hasn’t gotten the hang of these stairs yet.”

Pluto gave a glare to the reindeer.  Sven gave a sheepish grin in response.

Shaking his head, Marshmallow reached downward and picked up the dog and the reindeer.  He set them down on their feet.

“Maybe it’s better that you stay down there, Sven.  You can help Olaf and Marshmallow keep watch,” said Kristoff.

“The same goes for you too, Pluto.  Don’t want you both to be slipping all over the place,” said Kairi.

The dog and the reindeer looked disappointed.  But they gave nods to show they conceded.

“We’ll come out for you all once we’re sure it’s safe,” said Kairi as she turned around to see Elsa had reached the door.

With a wave of the queen’s hand, the doors automatically opened.  She gasped in horror as she took in the state of the entry room of the palace.

The frozen fountain in the middle of the room was shattered to pieces.  The two staircases had several broken steps and railings. A huge piece of the wall was torn out revealing the sheer drop on the outside. There were holes in the floor that looked like they had either been put there by force or melted by fire.  The scene was reminiscent of the aftermath of a wild and destructive party.

“Be careful wherever you step, everyone.  Wait until I refreeze the floors and then only step where I step,” said Elsa as she entered with the others behind her.

As her sister used her powers to restore the floor’s strength, Anna took in all the damage done to her sister’s palace.  The more she saw, the more her rage grew.

Finally, she shouted in the loudest voice she could muster, “Listen to anyone in here!  This is the princess of Arendelle!  Whoever you are, I command you to show yourself and explain what you have done!”

Anna’s voice echoed throughout the palace.  The group waited to see if Anna’s demand would be responded to.  But the only response was silence.

“I don’t think that was going to work, Anna.  Judging from all this damage, it looks like they take great pride in destruction,” said Kairi.

“And I’m still thinking that for all we know, they could already be long gone by now,” said Kristoff.

“We should still investigate the rest of the palace just to be sure.  Even if no one is here anymore, we may be able to find some clues as to who was responsible for this,” said Elsa.

“But, Your Majesty, this place is quite immense.  Not to mention you’ve made it clear that we need to stay with you so you can keep the floors from collapsing.  So, how are we to do that?” asked the Duke.

“The Duke does have a point, Elsa.  This place is pretty big,” said Kairi.

“Actually, though it looks big on the outside, it really isn’t on the inside.  There’s really only one other room: the one upstairs,” said Anna pointing to the large double staircases leading upward.

Kairi was surprised. ‘Elsa builds a giant palace with only two rooms?  I guess that does make sense since she intended to live up here all alone when she ran away.  There’s really no need for too many rooms if you’re keeping yourself away from everyone.’

“Come on, everyone. Let’s head up to the top floor and see if anything or anybody is up there,” said Elsa as she made her way to one of the shorter staircases that lead up to a landing connected to the longer staircases.  

After using her powers to repair the staircase, she led the group up onto the landing.  Then they made their way up the left staircase leading to the top floor.

The ascent up the stairs was not a pleasant one. Nearly everywhere on the surrounding walls were the same signs of damage that they had seen in the first room.

‘How could anyone be so heartless to do something like this to such a wonderful place?  It’s very heartbreaking,’ thought Kairi as she looked around at the various holes and cracks in the walls.

Then something caught the Princess of Heart’s eye. Actually, it was the lack of something that caught her eye.  “Everyone, there’s something very unusual about the stairs.”

“What do you mean, Kairi?” asked Anna.

“So far, everywhere we’ve been, there’s been damage all around on the walls and floors.  And Elsa’s had to fix the damage to the floors so we could walk on them,” stated Kairi.

“Go on,” said Elsa.

“So, why hasn’t she needed to fix these stairs? There’s no damage at all to them,” said Kairi.

Everyone then realized what Kairi was getting at. On this long ascent, Elsa had yet to use her powers to fix anything they had walked on like she had earlier.

“You’re right, Kairi.  After everything we saw downstairs, seeing something completely undamaged is strange,” said Anna.

“But they smashed up the stairs leading into the palace and the smaller staircases in the first room.  Why didn’t they do any damage to these ones?” asked Kristoff.

“I don’t know, but…” Kairi stopped midsentence as she sniffed.  

“Hey, can you all smell that?” she asked causing everyone to sniff the air themselves.

“You appear to be right, young lady.  There does appear to be a peculiar odor in the air.  In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say it almost smelled like something was on…” began the Duke.

“Fire!” interrupted Anna pointing upward where a thick cloud of smoke had gathered.  Everyone gasped in horror.

“How is this even possible?  How can something that’s made out of ice catch on fire?” asked the Duke.

“There’s no time to wonder about that!” exclaimed Elsa as she ran upstairs towards the smoke.

“Elsa, no!  You can’t breathe in that smoke!” exclaimed her sister.

Elsa stopped just as she entered the cloud.  She gave a few coughs before backing out of it.  ‘Anna’s right.  I could suffocate in this smoke.  But how am I going to get to that fire to extinguish it?’

Fortunately for Elsa, her answer came very soon as Kairi stepped up to her, summoned Destiny’s Embrace and pointed it at the smoke.  “Wind!” she cried.

At Kairi’s command, a gust of wind burst out from the tip of her Keyblade.  It pushed the smoke upward, clearing the path for them.

Elsa smiled at Kairi gratefully before turning back to her sister and the others.  “Anna, you stay behind with Kristoff and the Duke. Stay out of the smoke no matter what. Kairi and I will deal with that fire,” she said as she continued her ascent up the stairs.

“But…” began Anna.

“Don’t worry, Anna. I won’t let anything happen to her or this palace.  We’ll call for you when the fire’s out,” said Kairi as she followed after Elsa.

Anna was about to follow after them.  But before she could, Kristoff held her back.

“They’ll take care of it, Anna.  Trust them,” he said assuredly.

The Duke, in the meantime, was completely taken aback by what he had just witnessed.  “Was that…a giant key?  She has magic too?!” he exclaimed.

“Yes, Your Grace. Kairi does have powers of her own though they are a little different from Elsa’s,” said Kristoff.

“And you can take it from us that like my sister, there is no reason to assume the worst of Kairi,” said Anna with a hint of warning in her voice.

The Duke said nothing more.  But he nodded to let Anna know that he understood her point.

Anna then gazed up the staircase where her sister and her new friend had gone.  “Elsa, Kairi, be careful,” she whispered.

________________________________________________________________

Further up the staircase, Kairi and Elsa continued their ascent to the top floor.  Kairi kept up with casting Aero spells to push back the smoke.

It wasn’t too long before the staircase came to an end and they entered a hallway.  Midway through it, there was a doorway from which a bright orange glow could be seen.

The two of them made their way to the doorway and as soon as they got there, they had to shield their eyes from the glow.  When they uncovered them, they beheld a horrific sight.

In the center of the room of ice, a large pile of wood had been erected and set ablaze.  Water dripped from the ceiling and the chandelier as the heat from the fire melted it.

The queen was horrified to see a blazing inferno set in the middle of the room she considered to be the heart of the palace. “Kairi, I don’t know if my powers are strong enough to extinguish a fire this big!”

“We have to try, Elsa.  While you use your ice magic, I’ll cast some Water spells with my Keyblade.  Hopefully, that’ll be enough to put it out as well as soak the wood and stop it from catching fire again.  Ready?” asked Kairi causing Elsa to nod in agreement.

The two of them approached the fire. Fortunately for them, the holes in the ceiling allowed the smoke to escape so it was not as thick as it was coming up.  Kairi pointed Destiny’s Embrace at the burning wood while Elsa held out her hands, palms forward.

“Stream!” cried Kairi as she unleashed a blast of water from her Keyblade while simultaneously, Elsa conjured blasts of her ice magic.

The two of them cast many magical attacks on the fire and appeared to succeed in extinguishing the flames where they struck. But, much to their dismay, it turned out to only be temporary.  Apparently, the fire’s temperature was so intense that it was able to overcome the dampness and reignite.

“Kairi, it’s not working!” exclaimed Elsa.

Then, they heard what appeared to be the sound of cracking.  It could only mean one thing: the floor on the verge of collapsing.  If the fire wasn’t extinguished, the burning wood would fall through and put the rest of the ice palace in danger of destruction.

Elsa stopped casting her magic on the fire and fell to her knees.  Placing her hands on the floor, she channeled her magic into keeping it from falling apart.  She pored all her strength into it.  “Kairi! I don’t know if we can stop it!”

“We can, Elsa! Just keep the floor up for now!  I have an idea!” shouted Kairi as she stepped in front of the queen.

Then, to Elsa’s surprise, Kairi continued to cast Water spells on the fire as she had been doing before.   Even though it had been clear that it was futile, she kept on using the same magic.

“What are you trying to do, Kairi?  We already know that’s not going to work,” said Elsa.

“Trust me!  It shouldn’t be long now!  Just be prepared to use your powers on my signal!” cried Kairi.

Elsa’s confusion remained.  But seeing no other way, she decided to put her full trust in the Princess of Heart.

As Kairi continued to bombard the fire with apparently ineffectual Water magic, she thought, ‘I really hope this works.  Grand Magic is our only hope of stopping this fire!’

Finally, after a couple more Water spells, Kairi felt the power of the now ready Grand Magic coursing through her.  She pointed Destiny’s Embrace at the fire and shouted, “Waterza!”

The biggest blast of water so far burst out from her Keyblade.  At the same moment, Kairi stepped to the side and shouted, “Now, Elsa!  Freeze it!”

Elsa raised her hands and pointed them at the fire. Summoning all her strength, she unleashed a powerful wave of her magic.

The Waterza spell hit the fire splashing all over it.  In less than a second, Elsa’s power hit it as well.  The combination of the two magical attacks caused the pile of wood to be completely coated in ice, causing the fire to finally be extinguished.

Kairi let out a big sigh as she fell to her knees beside the queen.  Her Keyblade vanished into thin air.  She looked over to Elsa and gave a smile of relief.  “We did it.  It’s out.”

“That was a great idea as well as some amazing magic, Kairi,” Elsa said in between deep breaths.

“Thanks.  I’m just glad I was able to pull it off in time.  Truth be told, I’ve actually never done that level of magic outside of training before and certainly not in a situation like this,” said Kairi.

“You meant you couldn’t have done it right from the start?” asked Elsa.

“No.  It doesn’t work like that for me.  To perform Grand Magic with a Keyblade, you have to build up the power for it by casting the weaker spells repeatedly first,” explained the Princess of Heart.

“I guess one kind of magic isn’t quite the same as another.  But anyway, thank you so much, Kairi,” said Elsa.

Then, from the direction of the staircase, they heard Anna’s voice call out, “Elsa?  Kairi?”

“It’s okay, Anna!  The fire’s out now!  You can all come up!” Elsa called back.

The sound of running footsteps were heard and it wasn’t long before Anna came into view.  Kristoff and Duke trailed not far behind her.

Anna immediately rushed up to them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.  “Are you both okay?  I was so worried for you both.”

“We’re fine, Anna. The palace is saved,” said Kairi.

“I know you both were doing what you had to do to save it.  But that didn’t make it any less scary.  Promise me you won’t run into fire ever again?” asked Anna.

Elsa chuckled.  “I promise.  I actually hope it’ll never come to me doing that again.”

Anna laughed too.  But her laughter ceased when she gazed at the frozen remains of the bonfire, the melted chandelier and the various holes in the ceiling. Kristoff and the Duke were equally stunned.

“My word.  From the looks of this, the blaze must’ve been immense,” said the Duke.

“It was, Your Grace.  The fire was so powerful that my magic wasn’t enough to stop it.  The whole palace would’ve melted right off the mountain if it weren’t for Kairi and her own magic,” said Elsa smiling at the Princess of Heart.

Anna gazed at the frozen woodpile with anger in her eyes.  “This is definitely the last straw.  It’s bad enough they chased Marshmallow out of his home and smashed up everything downstairs.  But they tried to outright destroy this place!  They’re going to pay!” she roared.

“Calm down, Anna.  As much as we’d all like to see that, truthfully, I don’t think it’s going to happen,” said Kristoff.

“But Kristoff…” began Anna before Kairi interjected.

“Kristoff’s right, Anna.  Think about it.  If whoever was responsible for this went as far as to set a fire this big to destroy the palace, I don’t think they were planning on sticking around.”

“But we didn’t see any trace of anyone leaving coming up here.  They couldn’t have gotten by us.  Where could they have gone?” asked Anna.

“I don’t know, Anna.  It doesn’t look like we’re going to get any answers anytime soon if at all.  I think the only thing we can do right now is make repairs to the palace and then head back to Arendelle,” said Elsa.

“But Elsa, what if they come back?  What if Marshmallow won’t be so lucky to get away next time?” asked Anna.

“I think we can assume that if they believe their fire succeeded in destroying the palace, they’re not likely to return,” said Elsa.

Anna sighed.  “I guess that’s a fair assumption.  All right.  I guess there really isn’t anything we can do now other than start fixing this place up.”

“Anyone have any ideas on how we’re going to get this out?” Kristoff asked pointing the frozen woodpile.

“Good thing we have a giant snowman who’s the right person for that job.  Speaking of which, someone ought to go and tell Olaf, Marshmallow, Sven and Pluto what’s going on and that it’s safe to come in,” said Kairi.

“I’ll take care of that,” said Anna as she made her way out of the room.

But just before she could leave, the Duke ran up to her.  “Your Majesty, allow me to go and notify the snowmen and the animals of the current predicament.”

“That won’t be necessary, Your Grace,” said Anna.

“Please.  I came up here hoping I could help convince the scoundrels responsible for this of their error.  But since that appears to be no longer possible, I wish to be of service to you and your sister in any way I can,” said the Duke in tone that sounded almost like begging.

Anna gave a roll of her eyes before she said, “Okay. You can go and tell them what’s happened if you insist on making yourself useful.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said the Duke with a bow as he left the room and headed for the stairs.

Anna turned around and once again, gazed at the frozen remains of the bonfire.  She let out a heavy sigh.

Kairi rose to her feet and walked up to the princess’ side.  “Anna? You okay?”

“I will be, Kairi.  It just doesn’t feel right knowing that the people who did this will probably never answer for it,” said Anna.

“I know what you mean,” said Kairi as her thoughts turned to how little Xehanort paid for all the suffering he caused.  ‘Although, I guess being utterly defeated by Sora, Donald and Goofy despite having the χ-blade must’ve been quite humiliating for him.  Still, after everything he did to me and my friends, I would’ve preferred that he got a lot more comeuppance than that.’

Then Anna smiled.  “But I guess there is a bright side to having this all resolved now. Once we get this place back to the way it was, we can focus on finding something to help you find Sora.  And since you’ve helped save Elsa’s palace, it’s now more important that we do that.”

Kairi smiled.  “I appreciate that, Anna.  But don’t feel like you have to help me to settle a debt.  Like I told you before, Sora would have done the same thing.”

“Well, he certainly would’ve been proud of what you did here today,” said Elsa who had come to Kairi’s side.

In spite of Elsa’s praise, Kairi’s spirits dropped a little.  ‘I hope he would be.  But I really hope he’ll be even prouder of me when I succeed in finding him and make up for failing to keep him safe.’

Then the three of them noticed Kristoff had been walking around the room and looking over every detail.  An expression of concern was on his face.

“Kristoff?  Is something the matter?” asked Anna.

“Something doesn’t seem right here.  After looking over the room and from what I know about ice, I’m thinking that this fire may not have been burning for too long,” said the ice harvester causing shock to the three girls.

“What makes you say that?” asked Kairi.

Kristoff pointed to the ceiling.  “Look at the holes.  They don’t look too big.  If this fire had been burning longer, they would have been a lot bigger.”

“But Kristoff, Kairi and I heard the floor cracking. I had to use my powers to keep it from collapsing.  Wouldn’t that be a sign that this fire was burning for awhile?” asked Elsa.

“Being directly under the fire, the floor had not only the heat affecting it but also the weight of the wood. That would have caused it to melt faster,” said Kristoff.

Kairi then realized something herself.  “And we didn’t see any smoke coming from the palace when we were outside!”

“So, that means that the fire was probably set sometime after we stepped into the palace!” exclaimed Anna.

Then, from behind them, the sound of slow clapping was heard followed by an unfamiliar female voice saying, “Congratulations, Your Majesty, for figuring out our ploy.  Unfortunately, it will do you little good since you have put yourselves right where we want you.”

All of them turned around and gasped.  They were no longer alone.

Standing behind them was company of seven strangers all dressed in the same crimson colored cloaks with stylized flames around the hems and sleeves.  On their chests was an emblem of what appeared to be a light blue reptilian creature baring a fierce expression with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth and its body surrounded by violet flames.  They were all wearing black gloves and boots.  They had hoods over their heads and their faces were wrapped in dark red strips of cloth with only their eyes uncovered.

Upon seeing these strangers and their almost familiar garb, horrible memories flowed through Kairi.  Memories of Xehanort and his Organization approaching her, Sora, Riku, Mickey, Axel, Aqua and Ven in the prelude to the battle that would leave her with many scars.

Then they noticed that two of the strangers on the far left had the Duke of Weselton in their clutches.  They held him with his arms behind his body with one hand each while holding their other hands over his mouth as he struggled to get free.

The Duke managed to get his mouth uncovered and he frantically shouted, “They were waiting in the entry room!  They somehow got past…”

“Keep him quiet!” shouted the stranger in the center who appeared to be the owner of the female voice who had spoken earlier. At her command, the ones holding the Duke put their hands back over his mouth.

The woman then stepped forward.  It appeared that she was the leader of this mysterious group.

Now that she was closer, Kairi and the others could see that her left eye was covered by a black eyepatch.  Her remaining green eye stared at them venomously.

Anna stomped toward the leader with a look of pure anger on her face.  “So, you’re the ones responsible for all this!  Why are you doing this?  What gives you the right to come in here and…”

Before Anna could finish her angry inquiries, the leader raised her hand as if she was making a signal. In response, the two strangers on either side of her made fast throwing motions toward the floor right in front of the princess.  

Whatever they threw moved too quickly for anyone to see what it was other than giving off a bright orange glow.  But whatever they were, the spot on the floor they struck suddenly burst into a small flame.

Anna stopped in her tracks as the rest of their group stared in shock.  A couple of the strangers let out evil chuckles as the fire burned for a few moments before going out.

“Did they just…” began Kristoff.

“…throw fire?” finished Kairi.

The leader scraped her fingertips over her right palm and produced a small fire in her hand.  “Oh, we can do a lot more than that.  In fact, our power over fire enables us to do the most incredible feats much like a certain queen’s ice magic.”

Elsa stepped forward while trying to remain calm despite the tense situation.  “Who are you?  What is it that you want?”

“I am Eimyrja and we are the Order of the Flame,” said the leader as she gestured to the others behind her.

Then she pointed accusingly at Elsa with her free hand.  “And what we seek is justice for your crimes, Queen Elsa of Arendelle.”

________________________________________________________________

Onto the next chapter!

[westallenfun]

A Most Unexpected Love, Chapter 5

WestAllen secret santa gift  

From: @jade4813

For: @sophisticatedloserchick

Author Notes: For the lovely @sophisticatedloserchick from @jade4813! Merry Christmas, and I hope you like my first fic after a long hiatus!

Title: A Most Unexpected Love

Rating: PG

Synopsis: Iris has loved Eddie Thawne Allen her entire life. When she returns home just before Christmas, it looks like she might finally have a chance to catch his eye…unless an accident puts his older brother, Barry, directly in her path. Story inspired by Sabrina (with some quotes lifted more or less directly from the source material).

Chapters: 5/7

Chapter Five

When Iris’s eyes fluttered open the next morning, it was with the vague feeling that something had awoken her, but she couldn’t bring whatever it was to mind. She was warm and toasty in bed, and though the light coming through her bedroom windows was bright, she told herself that could just be due to its reflection off the fallen snow.

So what could have awaken her? As she debated the various merits of going back to sleep or staying awake to ponder the mystery further, she heard the soft thump of snow against her windowpane. That must have been it.

Dragging her body out of bed, her mind clouded with a sense of muddled confusion, she headed over to the window and peered outside just as another snowball struck the side of the house with a wet thud. Pulling the curtains aside, she looked down into the yard to see Barry beneath her window, bundled up in a thick coat, heavy scarf, and woolen hat. The moment he caught sight of her face, she saw him break into a wide grin, gesturing wildly for her to come out to join him. Laughing lightly, Iris rushed to dress, wrapping a scarf around her neck and buttoning her coat as she headed outside.

It didn’t even occur to her that she hadn’t yet checked on Eddie.

“What is this about?” she demanded with feigned affront, bracing her hands on her hips.

Barry took her show of indignation in stride. “We’re making a snowman! Come on!”

As he stooped to scoop some snow into a ball, Iris followed suit, the first touch of icy snow against her palms an immediate reminder that she’d neglected to pull on her gloves. Stopping just long enough to do so, she threw herself into her task, barely noticing as the chill soaked through her jeans where she knelt to build up the body of the snowman. When it grew large enough, she tried to roll it, but the heavy weight of it quickly became too much for her, her feet scrabbling uselessly in the snow when she tried to give it a push.

Iris giggled, collapsing on top of her creation, and Barry bounded up next to her, as enthusiastic as a puppy. “Need help?” he asked. She nodded and was almost disappointed when he took position next to her, rather than framing her body in his arms. Did she really long for him to hold her? She tried not to give that urge too much thought.

With his help, they pushed it until she decreed it the perfect size before tackling the second piece of the body and the head. Once completed, Barry lifted the snowballs into position while Iris packed snow between them so they would remain in place. It took a few tries, but eventually, the snowman stood on its own, and the two of them stepped back to fix it with a critical eye. “Hmmm,” she murmured, pondering its absent face. “I don’t suppose you have a bunch of coal lying around, do you?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his lips twitch as he demanded indignantly, “Just how bad do you think I’ve been this year?”

Feigning innocence she replied, “I don’t know, but I thought I should keep my options open!” He let out a small bark of laughter, and she suggested, “Okay, no coal. How about…you see if you can find some rocks for the eyes and mouth, and I’ll track down a couple branches for the arms.”

“Deal,” he agreed, racing off to perform his task. Meanwhile, Iris headed for the woods, keeping her eye open for branches that were just the right size. Several minutes passed before she found what she was looking for, distracted as she was by the quiet stillness of the forest around her. Once she turned her attention back to the task at hand, she saw the perfect branch above her head, sagging low under the heavy weight of snow.

Reaching up to grab the branch, she grabbed it in one hand, giving it a hard yank to pull it closer. The sharp tug jostled the tree, which unloaded what felt like a mountain of snow onto her head. Iris let out a loud yelp of surprise as the thick coat of white cascaded upon her head and down the back of her coat, her feet sliding out from under her.

Landing hard upon the ground, she blinked in astonishment, trying to process the strange sequence of events and shivering at feel of snow against the back of her neck. She was about to get to her feet to rise again when she heard Barry shout her name.

“Iris!” he cried, racing through the trees to get to her. “Are you okay?”

“Huh?” she asked, taken by surprise. “Yeah, of course. I just fell.”

Kneeling in the snow by her side, he explained, “Oh, I thought you might have sprained your ankle again. Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

“No, I’m okay,” she reassured him gently, touched by his concern. She didn’t protest as he took her hands in his and helped her rise to her feet. Her eyes met his, and she sucked in a ragged breath, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she found herself swaying closer, the warmth of his breath on her cheek drawing her in.

Their noses met, brushed, and she froze, her mouth barely an inch from his. She couldn’t do this. It wasn’t right. Was it? “We should – we should finish our snowman,” she breathed. But still, she didn’t pull away.

“Right,” he agreed, his forehead pressing against hers as their noses brushed together once more.

Acting on impulse, she stretched up, pressing her lips to his cheek instead. “Thank you for coming to make sure I’m okay, though,” she said, as though in explanation, as she rocked back on her heels.

Her action had broken the tension that had built between them, and he smiled down at her. “No problem.” He helped her retrieve the sticks of her choice and followed her back to the snowman, seemingly as eager as she to pretend that nothing untoward had almost happened between them.

Unless…he hadn’t felt the same urge to kiss her that she’d felt to kiss him? What a depressing thought. Caught up in these reflections, her mood was subdued as they returned to the snowman, but Barry didn’t seem to notice. He applied the eyes and mouth while she added the arms, and then they stood side by side as they considered their creation once more.

“I don’t know. It still feels like it’s missing something,” he remarked with a troubled frown. When she remained silent, he shot her a look out of the corner of his eye and said, “I know!” Pulling his scarf from around his neck, he looped it around the snowman and tied it in a knot, drawing away with a grunt of satisfaction.

“You know, it could probably use a nose,” she offered in a flat voice when he still seemed dissatisfied. “You wouldn’t happen to have a carrot, would you?”

“Good question. Let’s find out.” Grabbing her by the hand, he led her into the house, heading directly to the kitchen. Once there, he went in search of a carrot while she approached what looked like a pile of groceries on the kitchen counter. “I don’t see a carrot, but would an eggplant do?” he called, his head still buried in the refrigerator. “Or how about…oh, no, that’s no good. What even is this? Green pepper?”

“What’s this?” she asked, staring at the objects in question rather than investigate the state of what sounded like possibly some very dubious vegetables.

Her question drew his attention, distracting him from his task. “Oh,” he replied sheepishly as he joined her side. “Well, I thought it would be fun to build a gingerbread house, so I went out this morning and got everything I thought we would need.”

“I’d say!” she said in amazement. “You got enough to make a whole village!” But even as she spoke, she pulled off her gloves and shrugged out of her coat, tossing it on the back of a chair. Unlooping her scarf from around her neck, she tossed it aside as well, all but pushing up her sleeves as she turned to the items in question. When Barry didn’t move right away, she prodded him, “Well? Are we doing this or aren’t we?”

The unfinished snowman forgotten, Barry grinned and shrugged out of his own coat, tossing it on top of hers. “Okay, why don’t you get everything set up and I’ll heat up some hot chocolate. I assume you want mini-marshmallows in yours?”

She threw him a skeptical look. “Is it really hot chocolate without them?”

“Good point!” They each focused on their respective tasks for the next several minutes, but as Barry placed her full mug of hot chocolate by her elbow (complete with six mini-marshmallows, and, yes, she checked), he asked, “Have you ever done this before?”

“Nope. You?”

“Never. Well, this should be…interesting.”

It was interesting, indeed, she decided a short while later. Not entirely successful. But interesting. “We did it! I think it’s – no!” she cried when two walls they’d been trying to cement into place for the last ten minutes collapsed for the sixth time. Throwing Barry a frustrated look, she groused, “I could have sworn the peanut butter would do the trick. It sticks to everything.”

“What can I say? I wanted to be a scientist, not an architect,” Barry pointed out, throwing their efforts a considering look. “You know…there’s nothing that really says we have to make a gingerbread house,” he suggested skeptically.

Pursing her lips, Iris followed his gaze and asked, “What did you have in mind?”

“Gingerbread…modern art?” he offered weakly, making her snort in response. She actually snorted.

“Deal,” she agreed, latching on to his suggestion like it was a lifeline. “But only if you make us some more hot chocolate!”

“You drive a hard bargain,” he grumbled good-naturedly, turning back to the stove. “I’ve dealt with lawyers who drive less ruthless bargains than that.”

“Flatterer.”

Happy to abandon their gingerbread architecture efforts, Iris waited in silence as he refreshed their drinks. She was reluctant for this time together to end, but she couldn’t think of something else to suggest to pass the time.

He seemed as eager to prolong the moment, falling into step beside her as they strolled in the general direction of the living room. “So,” he began, his voice trailing off lamely as they passed through the foyer, shoving his hands into his pockets once more. She was beginning to realize it as something he only did when he was nervous or uncertain.

“So,” she agreed, slowing to a stop. He turned to face her, and she swallowed wracking her brain to think of something more to say. He was so tall, she had to tilt her head back to look at him, her body swaying toward his. Which is when she saw it. “Uh oh.”

“Uh oh what?” he asked, following her gaze. When he saw what had caught her attention, he breathed, “Oh.” His chin dropped, their eyes meeting, and she noticed he was blushing. “You know, we don’t – it’s a silly tradition, anyway.”

He was offering her a way out, and she appreciated it. But it only made her realize that she didn’t want a way out. “But it is tradition,” she pointed out, resting her hand on his chest, just over his heart. Her voice dropping to a whisper, she said, “Unless you don’t want to?”

“I want to,” he breathed in return, causing her heart to race.

His hand cupped her cheek, his palm warm against her skin, and she leaned into his embrace. He tilted his head toward hers, and she caught her breath, her eyes fluttering closed. And then his mouth was on hers, his lips surprisingly tender. The kiss was supposed to be brief, but when she felt him start to draw away, she clutched the front of his shirt in her fist, silently asking him to stay.

He hesitated for just a second and then leaned in again, his hand moving from her cheek to cup the back of her head. Iris gasped, her lips parting, stretching on her toes and pressing her body against his as his tongue swept into her mouth.

She was breathing heavily by the time the kiss broke off, and the two stared at each other in silence as she tried to process what had just happened between them.

“Iris I—” he began, but a voice interrupted them.

“Iris!” Eddie cried, and she whirled around to see him hobbling toward the two of them, relying on a cane to support his weight.

“Eddie!” she gasped in surprise, jumping away from Barry. “What are you doing up?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Barry look between the two of them before drawing away. She wished she could reach out to him, but she forced herself to remain still.

“I was coming to find you,” Eddie said with that practiced smile of his. Wait, practiced? When had it changed from boyish to practiced in her mind? “I hope Barry hasn’t been boring you too much in my absence.”

Though his voice had been light and teasing, Iris felt her muscles tense as an automatic defense rose to her lips. “He hasn’t been boring me at all! We’ve been having…fun.”

Barry’s voice was flat and devoid of emotion as he said, “Yeah, but since you’re here, I really do have some work to do. See you later, Iris. Eddie.”

“You don’t have to—” she protested weakly, but he seemed not to hear her as he strolled away, not looking back even once.

Eddie shifted toward her, drawing her attention. “You know, it occurs to me…we never did get our dance in the solarium. What do you say I grab us a bottle of champagne and a couple of plastic cups from the kitchen and we head out there now?”

Torn between the longing in her heart to call after Barry and the memory of the years spent pining for the man in front of her, she asked dubiously, “Are you sure you should be drinking? You are on some pretty strong medication.”

Seemingly charmed by the thought she was worried for him, Eddie’s smile widened. “All right,” he conceded, “we don’t need to drink, but we should dance, at least.”

“And what happens next?” she blurted, unaware the question was even on her mind until she’d uttered it. But, of course, she knew what would happen next. There would be a plane flight to Martha’s Vineyard. A show on Broadway. Dinner and dancing and a carriage ride in the park. And one day, there would be diamond earrings and a goodbye. Because that was Eddie. That was what he did. And while she may have spent the last decade or more telling herself she was special, the truth was…she wasn’t. At least, she wasn’t to him.

“Next?” he repeated, sounding confused.

“After. What happens after the dance?”

“After?” he parroted again, as though the question was entirely foreign to him. As though he’d never before pondered the concept of time or the linear progression of events. For every event, just as there was a before there would inevitably be an after. There was before his injury and after his injury. There was before she returned home and after she returned home. Before she kissed Barry Allen in his own foyer and, well…

Whatever happened next, she would now forever be the Iris who existed after that kiss. She lifted her hand, lightly pressing her fingers against her lower lip as she remembered the feel of his mouth against hers.

Ignorant of her thoughts, Eddie offered her his well-worn charm and admitted, “I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it. Can’t we worry about that later?”

He reached for her hand, but she pulled it away, pretending she hadn’t noticed his effort. Ducking her head so he wouldn’t see her confusion and the conflicting feelings in her eyes, she agreed. “Yes. Of course. We can worry about it later.”

“So, our dance…?”

“Maybe tomorrow. You really shouldn’t push it. I don’t want you to hurt yourself again.”

Eddie seemed disappointed, but he held out his arm for her to take. “My guardian angel. Okay, I’ll go, but only if you walk me back to my room.”

It was the least she could do. He’d injured himself coming to see her, so it really was the very least she could do. Plus, while her unexpected change in feelings left her reeling and uncertain, she did like Eddie, underneath it all. And so she didn’t begrudge looping her arm in his or walking him slowly back to his room, her body pressed against his side.

As she took his arm, however, she felt a shiver go down her spine. “Are you okay?” he asked, feeling her sudden trembling.

Iris nodded. “Yeah, I just…cold chill. I’m one of those people who always feels cold, you know?”

“Really? I didn’t know that. But I guess there’s a lot we don’t know about each other, and after our dance,” he paused and threw Iris a proud grin, as though he’d just said something charming and clever, “we can spend as much time as want learning it all. And, of course, I’ll be happy to warm you up any time you want.”

She forced a laugh at his wolfish grin, as she knew he’d expected. After that, she let her mind wander as she escorted Eddie back to his room, laughing lightly whenever there was a break in the conversation that seemed to call for one. Wondering what Barry had been thinking as he’d left her standing alone under the mistletoe.

[the-and-sign-anon]

First Winter

Pairing: Supernatural x reader

Word count: 1,238

You grew up in a warmer climate than the boys, so this was your first winter. The only experience you had was watching Christmas movies, but you had no practical know-how, which became obvious to the boys when you tried to leave the bunker in November wearing only a light jacket and capris. Sam was about to stop you, but Dean silenced him and let you walk straight out the door. You came back in less than a minute later, having not even made it to your car before a cold wind cut straight through your jacket and drove you back to the warm bunker.

Now the first snow of the season had fallen and you were completely baffled. Sam took it upon himself to buy you a good coat and gloves while Jody and Alex sent a hat and scarf they’d made since taking up knitting in their free time. Before you went outside, the tall Winchester helped you into your gear and led you into the winter wonderland.

“Can I touch the snow? Or should I not?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. But it’s pretty cold, so be prepared.” Sam was really leaning into treating you like a child. He even had a fatherly sort of tone as he talked to you.

“Okay.” You pulled off one glove and knelt down to touch the cold flakes when a projectile hit you in the back of the head and sent you sprawling in the snowbank.

“Dean! Not funny!”

Dean, despite his brother’s quick scolding, was laughing hysterically and leaning over to steady himself. You had yelped when you hit the snow, so Sam dug you out and hauled you back to your feet before the snow could sink into your clothes. You took off your hat, shook the snow off of it, and returned it to your head before turning a withering glare on the eldest Winchester.

“Dean! What was that for?”

“Snowball fight, Y/N! They’re great!”

You turned to Sam for more information, which he gave while ushering you behind him and back over to the snowbank for protection from his brother. A few minutes later, Cas came at Sam’s request and started silently packing snow into balls and building an arsenal.

“Cas, why do you already know what’s happening?”

“I’ve known these boys for six years. There’s snow, Sam is helping you hide; the pieces put themselves together.”

“I thought you would be on Dean’s side.” You continued the conversation as you put your glove back on and started following the angel’s motions to make a few balls of your own.

“He’s stuffed a few too many snowballs down my shirt to have my support. I want to bury him.” Castiel replied with no emotion in his voice and a determined look in his eyes. “I’ll call in reinforcements while you use this first batch.”

Sam popped up from behind your defenses and hurled a ball at his brother. He missed, instead getting a face full of snow and dropping back down. While he brushed off his face and you threw a few horribly aimed snowballs, you heard the faint woosh of arriving angels. You glanced back and saw Gabriel, Balthazar, Hannah, and Samandriel behind you.

“Hello, Y/N. Cassie said you needed help terrorizing Dean?”

“I do. I’m a terrible shot and this is my first snowball fight.”

“We’ve got work to do, then”

Samandriel started building a better defensive wall with Hannah while Gabriel and Cas continued stockpiling snowballs. Balthazar snapped his fingers and you were in snow pants and had heating packets wrapped in your scarf and hat to keep you warmer. Sam explained the rules and started shouting taunts at Dean, who had insisted on getting backup of his own. Cas disappeared and returned with Benny, Lucifer, and Amara.

“Come on! You get a squad of angels and I get the devil and the Darkness?”

“Hey! I want to torture Sam more than I want to torture you, so I’m on your side here. And why aren’t you complaining about the vampire?”

“Don’t drag me into this, devil. Just start making snowballs.”

Amara had no complaints, giving a sort of ‘that’s fair’ shrug and getting to work on their defenses. Benny and Lucifer made snowballs, Cas returned to your side, and the war commenced within ten minutes.

To your credit, you actually hit Dean a few times. Lucifer nailed you in the face, apologized briefly with the promise that he’d meant to hit Sam, and Hannah and Amara actually got quite competitive with each other. After an hour, Benny made Dean call for a truce and everyone warily stood from their forts.

“Are you sorry for hitting me from behind with a snowball when I was just trying to see what snow felt like?”

“If I say yes, can we go make hot chocolate?”

“Will you mean it?” Sam stood at your side giving his brother a stern look. The rest of your team gave protective glares as well.

“Yeah, sure. I’m sorry and I won’t do it again.”

“Promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die.”

You smiled brightly then and turned around to descend into the bunker to warm up. Everyone else followed, Sam smacking Dean upside the head softly and pushing through the door. Balthazar, Hannah, and Benny gathered in the kitchen to make hot chocolate for everyone while you and the Winchesters warmed up and changed into dry clothes. You could briefly hear arguing from the men in the kitchen over how best to make the warm beverage, but Hannah quickly silenced them and a few minutes later Cas and Gabriel went to help with the drinks as well.

Amara, Samandriel, Lucifer, and the Winchesters sat with you around a big table you’d found in one of the many rooms in the bunker, clearly made for big conferences. You were in your most comfortable sweater and fluffy socks, trying to explain how you’d gone so many years without experiencing snow. When the rest of the group came in with mugs in their hands and passed them around, they took their seats and the conversation continued.

“You did well for your first battle, Y/N. Your aim needs a little work, but that’s not a big thing.”

“Thank you, Balthazar. Also, I’m very sorry for nearly hitting you with a snowball, I released a little earlier than I meant to.”

“It was entertaining for the rest of us, so you’ve got nothing to worry about, kiddo.”

You smiled brightly at Benny and took a sip of your drink.

“Hannah, I have to say I was impressed with your work. I didn’t know you were so good at snowball fights.” Amara looked less intimidating after changing out of her thick coat and into a gray cable sweater. You wished she could hang around more.

“I haven’t personally, but Caroline did growing up, so I sifted through a few memories and knew enough to help. I’m surprised that I didn’t get hit more.”

You all spent the rest of the evening like that; gathered around the table laughing and smiling, telling stories and teaching you more about winter. Before you went to bed, Hannah and Samandriel promised to join you in making your first snowman next week. You drifted off to sleep that night with a pleased sense of peace and accomplishment. Maybe winter wasn’t as mysterious as you first thought.

[galactic-magick]

Let it Snow: Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader

Summary: You and your boyfriend Steve take the kids sledding!

Rating: T (barely)

Words: 1800+

Warnings: some no-no words, snowball fighting, making out but mostly overwhelming fluff

Author’s Notes: I compiled a bunch of wintry things together in this one, I had a hard time sticking to just sledding XD I really like how this one turned out, hope you like it too!

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“Come on Steve, really?” Dustin groans. “Run faster!”

Steve rolls his eyes and sprints as fast as he can across the top of the hill, pushing Dustin on his sled until he starts sliding down.

“WOOOOO!!!” Dustin shrieks, gliding until the ground flattens again. “That was great!”

Steve chuckles, and all the other kids line up for their turn. He pushes them down in singles and pairs, their joyful laughs and screams echoing as they slip down the snowy terrain.

He flops down on the snow and grabs your hand, pulling you down next to him, “Staying warm sweetheart?”

“As much as I can,” you giggle, leaning into his side. He wraps an arm around you pulling you close.

You’d gone to the tallest hill in Hawkins, the same one Dustin uses for his big setup to talk to Suzie (although he had to take it down come winter). Everyone decked out in their warmest clothes and puffiest winter coats and snow pants, including you and Steve. You feel like an eskimo and you can barely move, but it’s worth it. The weather’s perfect, it’s chilly but not cold enough to risk getting frost bite, and the snow is the perfect combination of sticky and fluffy.

“Steve! Can you push us again?” Will asks.

“Sorry guys, I need a break,” he sighs, collapsing his head on your shoulder.

“What if we pushed you and Y/N then?” Lucas suggests.

“Sure!” you drag Steve upright and you both jump on the sled, you sitting between his legs and his arms draped around your waist.

“Ready?” Max calls from the back of the long chain.

“I sure hope so,”

“Go!” When Max calls herself the Zoomer, she isn’t lying. She charges into everyone, boosting their sprint as they push you to the edge. They trip over each other quite a bit, but eventually you start sliding down the hill.

You grip the string on the sled tight, squealing in delight. You almost get to the bottom when the sled swerves off balance and tumbles you both off of it, causing you to roll the rest of the way down and face plant into the snow.

“Holy shit Y/N are you okay?!” Steve races to your side and turns you over, surprised to hear you giggling. “Are you hurt at all?” he crawls on top of you, cradling your face in his hands.

“I’m fine, Steve, calm down,” you laugh, gripping his coat collar and pulling his lips to yours.

The kids all get on their sleds and slide down to meet you, rushing over to you to make sure you’re okay.

“You good?”

“Yeah guys, I’m fine, this snow is like a pillow,”

“Well in that case,” Dustin fiddles with something in his hands and before you know it there’s a snowball in your face. “Gotcha!”

“Oh you little-“ you whip one right back at him, nearly hitting him in the face as well. Steve grabs the sled and uses it as a shield to defend you, streams of snowballs thumping against it.

Although eventually, all alliances are off.

Your main targets become your brother and Steve, occasionally throwing snowballs at Mike, Lucas, and Will as well. You’re honestly afraid to get on El and Max’s bad side during a snowball fight, so you avoid hitting them unless absolutely necessary (and sometimes it is).

You pitch snowballs until your arms start to fall limp and numb. But when you see Dustin turn his back to say something to Lucas, you can’t just let the opportunity slip by.

You make eye contact with El, and she nods knowingly. You fling one last snowball into the air, watching as El lifts her hand and uses her powers to launch it at jet speed and knock Dustin to the ground.

Steve looks at you in amazement, but quickly connects the dots when he sees El wipe her bloody nose.

“You okay Dustin?” you yell.

“Physically? Yes. Emotionally? No,”

“Oh come on, you threw the first punch so it’s only fair I get the last,”

“I guess,” he brushes himself off and eventually showcases a smile.

“You guys wanna come to our place and make some hot chocolate?”

The kids all cheer in agreement, the anticipated taste of rich, creamy, holiday drinks giving them the motivation to embark on the long journey back to the car.

 -

 Everyone starts ripping off their chunky winter coats and snow pants as soon as they get in the house. Their cheeks are all rosy and their hair messy from their hats, and the kids immediately go to sit by the fire.

You fall into Steve’s arms, desperate for warmth. The indoor air slowly thaws the chills through your body, and as your face regains feeling you can feel his soft sweater and the calming beat in his chest. He strokes your hair and slithers his fingers along your jaw, lifting your chin slightly.

“We still on hot chocolate duty?”

“Mhmm,” you hum, stealing a kiss before taking his hand and leading him to the kitchen.

“So we just do some hot water and those packets, yeah?”

“We could, but I think we should make the really good kind,” you boop his nose. “We deserve it,”

He laughs, watching as you grab a big pot from the cabinet and put it on the stove. You pour some milk in and let it start heating up.

“How long does it take?”

“Well the milk needs to be just warm enough to melt the chocolate, and the melting takes a bit,” you shrug. “But it turns out really rich and creamy, so it’s worth the wait, trust me,”

“Sounds good,” Steve moves across the room to turn on the radio, which proudly boasts classic Christmas tunes. He takes your hands and sways you around the kitchen, spinning you around and singing very off key.

“In the meadow we can build a snowman,”

“And pretend that he is Parson Brown,” you sing back.

“He’ll say are you married we’ll say-“

“No man!”

“But you can do the job when you’re in town!”

“What the hell you guys?” Dustin yells from the living room. You and Steve burst out laughing as the song carries on, Steve still gripping your hands in his.

You let go temporarily to start putting the chocolate in, stirring it a bit until it looks evenly distributed.

Steve hugs you from behind, resting his chin on your shoulder and pressing light kisses to your neck, “Have I ever told you how much I love you?”

“Hmm I’m not sure you have,” you stop stirring and twist around in his arms to face him, trying not to laugh.

“Well, it’s a lot,”

“I love you too,” you grin, your gaze falling from his eyes to his lips. He takes no time to close the gap between you. His hands rise to your face, holding it gently as he runs his thumbs across your cheekbones. You smile, wrapping your own arms around his torso to pull him closer.

You break apart only to take a breath and allow Steve to pick you up. You wrap your legs around him and hold onto him tight as he spins you around and sets you down on the counter, quickly pulling your lips back to his. He slides his hands down to your waist and squeezes, sending warm chills through your spine. You pull his head closer, weaving your fingers into his hair and inviting his lips to overcome you.

He moves down your neck, kissing every inch of skin not covered by your sweater. You wrap your arms and legs tighter around him, bringing your chests together. Desperate for the warmth, you guide him back to your lips, fists still full of his hair.

“Steve,” you sigh, brushing his tongue as you lick your lips, “I think the chocolate’s burning,”

“Shit!” he picks you up and sets you down gently. “Is it still okay?”

“I think so,” you giggle, turning down the heat and stirring the pot. “You’re just not supposed to leave it that long without stirring it,”

“Sorry,”

“You did nothing wrong, silly,” you squeeze his arm and peck his cheek, lingering your lips by his ear. “But you’re welcome to continue that later,”

He grins, his face returning to a light shade of pink.

“Who wants hot chocolate?”

“Meeee!!!!!” the kids come racing in. They grab mugs and pour their drinks, many of them topping it with marshmallows before plopping back down in front of the fire. You and Steve split the last bit, sipping it slowly at the table.

“You’re right, this is way better than the mix,”

“Told ya,” you smile.

When you finish, Steve takes your hands in his and escorts you back to the center of the kitchen. He presses a kiss to your knuckles as “Let it Snow” begins to play on the radio.

“May I have this dance, my love?”

You chuckle, resting your palms on his chest with his hands still clasped around yours, “Yes, you may,” you rest your head under his chin and he wraps his arms around your waist. “You’re such a dork,”

He kisses the top of your head, “But I’m your dork, yeah?”

“Of course,”

“Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful,” he hums, swaying you side to side. “And since we’ve got no place to go,”

“Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!” you sing with him, jumping onto your tiptoes to nuzzle his nose.

“Oh it doesn’t show signs of stopping, and I’ve brought some corn for popping,” the radio continues as Steve picks you up and spins you around. “The lights are turned way down low,” you hang on tight, burying your face into his neck.

“Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!” you both sing together, giggling uncontrollably as he sets you back down on the floor.

“When we finally kiss goodnight,” Steve cups your cheek and captures your lips in his. “How I’ll hate going out in the storm,”

“But if you really hold me tight, all the way home I’ll be warm!” he twirls you away from him and quickly pulls you back, holding you against him as close as he can.

“The fire is slowly dying, and my dear, we’re still goodbye-ing,” you find yourself back with your face against his chest and his arms around you, the soothing vibrations of his voice in your ears, “But as long as you love me so,”

“Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!” you lace your fingers between his and dance around back and forth.

“Let it snow! Let it snooooww! Let it SNOOOOWW!!!” you both drag out the last line before collapsing into each other in a sea of kisses and giggles.

“Are they okay?” you hear some of the kids say, only causing you to laugh harder.

Steve helps you regain your balance, rubbing his palms up and down your arms, “I love you so much,”

You wrap your hands around his neck and weave your fingers into his hair, pulling him down to you and interlocking your lips, “I love you too.”

[some-cookie-crumbz]

Eye for Detail

Eye for Detail - Kidge Month Day 22 Prompt Fill Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Pairing: Kidge Summary: She stepped out, opening her mouth and froze at what she spotted. There, beside the fort Keith had built for them, was a watchtower of sorts, constructed entirely out of snow. It had a cylinder-esque shape, with small, slim etching in the snow to give off the illusion of artist liberties being taken. There was a single window, from which Newt was poking his head out of with a pair of binoculars, and it even had a triangular shaped top. Well, it was more like a mushroom, since the snow wouldn’t stick quite how they had wanted, but the point still got across. It was… stunning, really. “Uh, boys?” she rasped out shakily, walking to the very edge of the patio to see it better. Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more.

“‘m bored!” Newt whined loudly, dangling over the side of the couch. Kaden huffed and give his butt a little nudge, trying to send him spiraling over the other end of the couch. Instead, his younger brother gripped the cushions tighter to keep himself upright, glaring at him over his shoulder. “Hey!”

“Stop whining,” he grumbled back, slumping against the cushions himself and staring at the television screen. “Mom and Dad have to finish getting the spare room put together for Nana Olia’s visit. Until they’re done, we can’t really go outside.”

“Why not? I could watch you guys,” another voice chimed in as they wandered in from the kitchen. The two boys perked up and blinked slowly.

Newt let out a little snort of laughter. “Are those bows in your hair?”

The other blinked before reaching up and tapping one of the lacy, glittery accessories clipped into his dark blue curls. “I had to look my best for the tea party. Lady Angelique Marionette is a very hard one to impress, you know,” he said with a shrug. 

“You don’t need to humor her all the time, Noah,” Newt said bluntly.

“I’m not humoring her; I like playing with her,” he said genuinely. He may not be the biggest fan of tea parties, but he didn’t like to disappoint Ari when she invited him to one. He wanted to be a good big brother, after all. “Anyway, I can go ask Mom and Dad if we can play in the backyard. I mean, as long as I’m here to watch you guys, I don’t think they’ll mind.”

“Really?” Kaden asked in surprise.

“Do it! Do it!” Newt encouraged, bouncing on the couch cushions.

“Do what?” Ari asked as walked over, carrying her little purple and white tea pot. She was most likely preparing to refill it with juice for another round.

“I was gonna see if Mom and Dad will let us all play outside so long as I watch you guys. Sound like fun to you?” he asked curiously.

Ari’s jade eyes shifted from him to the huge, snowy mounds developing in their backyard, before shaking her head. “Uh, no. I’ll just stay inside,” she said, heading to the fridge and pulling out the carton of juice.

“Your loss, then,” Newt laughed as he scrambled off the couch, heading towards his room. “I’m gonna go get my coat and boots on!”

“He hasn’t gotten a yes, yet!” Kaden called after him.

Noah chuckled a bit and shook his head. “It’s fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine,” he said before heading up the stairs. The door to the spare bedroom was propped open to make it easier for his parents to bring things in and out. He poked his head around the door frame and smiled when he saw both of them inside. “Hey, Mom, Dad?” he asked as he walked in.

Keith perked up from where he was putting together the frame for the spare bed. “Oh, hey there, bud. What’s up?”

“Can me and Kaden and Newt play in the snow out back?”

Pidge perked up from where she was dusting off the shelves of the desk in the room, frowning slightly. “Only you three?”

“I asked Ari if she wanted to play outside but she said no. She’s in the middle of a tea party, and there’s been a lot of trouble brewing. Sounds like she might need to mediate stuff between Snuggles and Cuddles again,” he said.

“As long as you three stay in the backyard, I don’t think it’ll be a problem,” Keith said, chuckling and shaking his head a bit. Sometimes the kids came up with the most ridiculous scenarios to put their toys in.

“Just let Ari know to leave her bedroom door open, so that if she needs anything we can hear her, okay?” Pidge added. After a moment she paused again and held one finger up. “Also, please make sure you all wear your mittens and scarves. Newt’s had a problem with remembering to wear those and I don’t want him getting his fingers frost-bitten.”

He smiled and nodded. “Mkay! Thank you,” he said eagerly. He headed out, stopped by Aria’s room to let her know about leaving her door open, and then headed off to his own room. Once he himself was bundled up, he helped Kaden and Newt get themselves put together as well. Newt threw a fit about having to find his mittens, since he hadn’t kept them with the rest of their things, but once they were located and shoved on his hands, the three were outside.

Newt was bouncing on his feet as he charged through a small pile of snow, kicking it all around with uncensored delight. “What should we do? What should we play?” he asked excitedly, wheeling around to look at his older brothers. 

“Hmm… We could build a snowman,” Kaden suggested, reaching down to scoop up a handful of snow.

“Lame! That’s super easy and expected!” Newt complained. “We gotta build something better! Something impressive!”

Kaden smirked and tossed the snowball at his brother, hitting him square in the face. “Not much of an idea guy, are you?” he teased.

Newt scowled before scooping up two arms worth of snow and charging towards him. While his brothers dragged each other through the snow, Noah walked a little further out and looked around. He looked from the large tree in the corner, over to their little wooden play fort. He closed one eye and lifted one hand, clenched in a fist with just his thumb sticking up, as he swept his gaze over the large pile. His eyes lit up as a thought of what to do with all the extra snow came to him. “Hey, I have an idea!” He said excitedly, motioning the two of them over eagerly.

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

 “You didn’t have to go through all this trouble for us,” Krolia giggled as she shrugged out of her coat, Kolivan shutting the door behind them.

“It’s no trouble at all; you’re family,” Pidge said warmly, taking the coat from her and hanging it in the closet. She took Kolivan’s next, unsurprised when he was immediately distracted by Ari darting over to greet them excitedly.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Krolia crooned, kneeling down to scoop her youngest grandchild up.

“Hi, Nana, hi, Papa! I missed you both!” she said, eagerly embracing the woman and then reaching for Kolivan.

Keith chuckled as he reached the end of the stairs himself. “They’ve all been really excited for your visit,” he agreed, pausing to look around. “Are your brothers still outside?” he asked in slight surprise. He had to a double-check of the clock to verify that, yes, it had been at least two hours since they’d gone outside.

“Probably,” Ari said with a small shrug as she embraced Kolivan. “They like all the snow. Weirdos.”

Krolia laughed. “I’m not too terribly fond of it myself, either,” she hummed.

“Hold on, I’ll go get the boys,” Pidge said, grabbing her coat and shoving her sleeves through as she walked to the door. She had socks on and wasn’t planning to go any further than the patio, so she figured she’d be safe without her boots.

She stepped out, opening her mouth and froze at what she spotted. There, beside the fort Keith had built for them, was a watchtower of sorts, constructed entirely out of snow. It had a cylinder-esque shape, with small, slim etching in the snow to give off the illusion of artist liberties being taken. There was a single window, from which Newt was poking his head out of with a pair of binoculars, and it even had a triangular shaped top. Well, it was more like a mushroom, since the snow wouldn’t stick quite how they had wanted, but the point still got across. It was… stunning, really. “Uh, boys?” she rasped out shakily, walking to the very edge of the patio to see it better.

“Oh, Mom!” Moah said excitedly from his perch at the base of the tower, where he seemed to be reinforcing it some. “What do you think?”

“I… Uh… You guys made that? In two hours?” she asked slowly, raising one hand to point at it curiously.

“Well, yeah. I mean, it wasn’t easy,” he said, growing a little bit anxious at her words, “and, honestly, I wish I had more time to get things just the way that I wanted. This is kinda, like, a really, really shaky prototype of what I would have liked. Kinda a mesh of the ideas I had that were possible with how much time I had, but it deviated a lot so I just kinda had to make it work. I probably could have made a little snowcase inside the tower because right now it’s just kind of a big pile. I mean, obviously the part where Newt’s out has been hollowed out, but, well, you have to climb inside from one of the fort windows, which is just a little impractical. But Newt was whining that I was taking too long, and him and Kaden wanted to play Battlefield, so… yeah.” His ears had drooped slightly and he kept looking from her to the ground, scuffing some snow around with the toe of his boot.

She reached out to gently set a hand on his head, ruffling his hair under the confines of his hat. “Noah, baby, this is amazing! You did all that in just two hours? That’s so incredible!”

“Really?” he asked in surprise, eyes lighting up and ears perking up.

“Absolutely! You’re being too hard on yourself, Noah! This is phenomenal!” she hummed, reaching down to embrace him.

He let out a little giggle and hugged her back. “Well, I like it when I can make Kaden and Newt and Ari happy. And I really like getting to make stuff,” he mumbled shyly.

She smiled and gave him a quick peck to the forehead, looking at the tower again. She made a note to see about maybe getting him into pottery classes or something of that ilk. He might enjoy that quite a bit. She then rose and waved her hand at the others still inside. “Guys! Come out here and look at what Noah made!” she hollered, excited to give her son the chance to show off a little. He was a humble and modest boy, so she always wanted to make sure he got all the attention and encouragement possible when he did something he was really proud of.

[msmkcreates]

Twice a Month I Fall in Love (5/???)

Characters: US!Papyrus, Reader

[Back to the beginning]

This body-switching, love triangle fiasco continues to be inspired by @undertale-prompts and their body-switching prompts!

---------

“it doesn't snow where i live,” you said distractedly, gazing out the kitchen window while you helped Stretch with the lunch dishes.

“no?” He looked up as he handed you a dish, and you wonder, if you ever meet, if it would be weird how small you are.

You shook your head, bone clicking against the plate as you gripped it to dry it.

Mutt has a new chip in his hand, you observed. You wonder if it's permanent, or if the sparks of purple beneath it will fix it soon...and how he even got it. You glanced over your shoulder where Black “most definitely is not babysitting you” at the kitchen table, where he's pretending to be bored by bills. There was nobody else around.

“nah. one of the benefits for both of us was the snow underground for me, the sun up here for him. he always said it was an unfair trade.”

Stretch looked at you, but you don't think Mutt was right about that just being his face. You're sure he doesn't look at everyone like that.

“but, uh, i wasn't really allowed to play in the snow underground. safety required me to stay inside...had to act like i'd seen it before, and not being able to fight meant…” You trailed off, feeling Black's gaze on you. You sighed. You may sound like Mutt, but everything you say could give you away if the others walked in.

“but up here it's different,” Stretch said, moving to the other side of you to take the dishes from you and put them away. You took advantage of Mutt's height to help, having a good few inches on even Stretch. “you can play in the snow all day if you want. look at blue and pap.”

You looked out the window of the kitchen at the many snow sculptures in the yard and the skeletons in question throwing snowballs at each other.

“YES, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GO OUTSIDE AND GET SOME GODDAMNED EXERCISE,” Black scoffed, and you looked back at him, but he wouldn't meet your eye. “I'VE NO FURTHER USE FOR YOU TODAY. JUST DON'T GET LOST AND DON'T GET IN A FIGHT.”

“i won't!” You said excitedly, hugging him before you could stop yourself. Black cried out in confusion as you pulled him up from his chair.

“ACK! UNHAND ME! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!” He protested.

Before you could set him back down, he gripped your shirt and leaned in with a whisper.

“Wait!...please be careful.” He pleaded, before making a show of shoving you off of him and plopping back down in his seat, cheekbones glowing wine red.

You resisted the urge to kiss the top of his head like you do when you drop Zack off at school, instead settling for a quiet “thank you” as you moved to the back door to prepare for the snow.

---------

“i thought it'd be colder.”

“yeah?”

You nodded, taking off the purple mittens and squishing a bony handprint in the snow. “maybe he just has a higher tolerance. or skeletons don't get cold?”

“we get cold,” he chuckled, gripping your wrist to pull you further out and away from the others. “but yeah, been in snow our whole lives. probably can handle it better than you.”

You followed without hesitation, and it wasn't long before he was helping you build your first snowman.

“hehehe… 'i'm olaf, and i like warm hugs’!” You joked, swinging around the arm sticks. He shrugged, not understanding the joke, and you chuckled. “never seen frozen? we'll have to fix that.”

“if you say so,” Stretch laughed, patting the snow down slowly as he watched you stick the arms in.

That smile should be fucking illegal on Mutt's face, he thought. He realized that, like himself and Boss, Mutt must have smiled like that once upon a time. But knowing that it's you, he supposed it makes it almost worse, because he can't help but find your interest in the snow...adorable.

“do any of you skeletons have hair?” You asked suddenly, patting Mutt's head through his knit cap. “i wonder if mutt is as impressed by my hair as i am with his inability to feel cold.”

“i think he's likely impressed by more than your hair. honestly he probably touches you all over.”

You shrugged, flushing with Mutt's purple magic a little as you laughed nervously. “yeah. probably.”

Stretch raised a brow. “what, and you're okay with that?”

You waved a hand dismissively.

“it's fine. we talked about it. i said he could touch me and learn what human girls like if i could touch him and learn what skeleton monsters like.” You blushed a little more. “not that i...have plans to please any skeletons. just, y'know. in case i end up in him when he's in heat again.”

Great, and that made him blush. “...right.”

You squeaked as a rogue snowball splatter on the back of your skull, and Stretch whipped around to see Blue looking guilty and Papyrus waving.

“SORRY, MUTT, THAT WAS MEANT FOR MY BROTHER!” Blue wailed mournfully. “DON'T BE MAD!”

“would he be mad?” You asked and Stretch shrugged.

“probably throw one back. playfully. i think he sees a lot of black in blue.”

You nodded and grabbed a handful of snow, whirling around to toss it at Blue--

Only to slip and totally eat it with a strangled yelp, your own snowball falling on your head.

Stretch chuckled as he helped you up, and behind the both of you, Blue and Papyrus exchanged looks.

---------

“here we go, hot chocolate straight from the microwave.”

You accepted the mug with a smile, Mutt's long legs drawn up so you could hug them. “thanks. sorry i'm such a fuck up.”

Stretch shrugged. “not a fuck up. just clumsy. you're not used to having long, gangly skeleton legs in the snow.”

He plopped down next to you as the fire crackled, and you sighed, sipping the cocoa.

“do you and...do we hang out often or just when it's me?” You asked, a little worried he was making it weird and you were none the wiser.

“on and off. he knows i know so i think he makes an effort to be around me so the others don't think it's weird.” Stretch leaned back against the cushions. “...he really wants you to be happy."

“me, too, for him. which is why i'm glad he's here. that they both are.” You looked over at him with a smile. “they definitely seem happy here.”

“pfft. really? that's happy? i'd hate to see unhappy, then.” Stretch never would have described them as happy, or at least not Black. Mutt seemed indifferent, most of the time, but Black seemed to actively hate living here.

“you should see his journal. he really talks a lot now...it used to be one or two sentences and bust, now he has so much to share it's almost insane.” You paused and for a moment you looked really sad. “...i just wish he'd let me in a little more. a phone number, an address. i've written mine down, but...he doesn't use them. i wonder what's wrong with me that he doesn't want to be closer.”

“there's nothin’ wrong with you, honey--” Whoops, he let that slip, but chose not to dwell on it. Felt weird calling Mutt's face 'honey’. “--he's probably just...waiting for the right time. it's a big change, and he's probably just worried that you won't like him. i know that'd be my holdup.”

You made a little hum, and for a moment it didn't even sound like Mutt's voice. Your sockets were trained on the fire, and he could see you reach up to scratch absently at Mutt's jaw.

“...yeah. that's probably it.” You said dismissively, and his metaphorical heart sank.

It's true that being with you like this is nice on its own, but he'd somewhat forgotten you were a whole person somewhere else. Your relationship with Mutt is probably very complicated, and he can see how that might drag you down.

You jumped a little as his hand clicked against yours, and he squeezed it reassuringly.

“don't worry so much. there's a lot waiting for you here...when the time comes.”

To Be Continued...

[soaringlanddormitory]

☃ Takara/Noboru, ☕ Takashi/Shigeo (I'm all here for the war), ⎚ (Hanako/Kaoru) please ;w;

Yes!!! I love this!! Thank you so much for sending this in!!!

☃: One must begs the other to build a snowman with them - they don’t wanna.

All Noboru wanted to do during the Winter break was to be away from all the stress, and he was pretty successful in doing that… for a while. He was currently sipping coffee, very pleased with the silence. It was one of the rare occasions that he should treasure-

Ding dong.

He placed his mug down and looked at the door cor a couple of seconds. It must have been Ran or any one else from the Elite Ten. He just hoped it wasn’t Hiraku. He sighed softly before walking to the door and he hoped he wouldn’t regret the choice. He twisted the knob and opened the door, and the first thing he spotted was… a fellow First Seat.

“… Tsukasa.” He mumbled her last name and the girl lit up, a grin on her face. Since he was so up close- he really noticed her fang. Her eyes gleamed in happiness and before he knew it, she began holding his hand and dragging him outside. “What are you doing?!”

Takara decides not to answer, she only begins humming a tune that they were both familiar with. “Do you want to build a snowman?” Great… Just great. A song from Frozen. She was singing a Disney song to try and persuade him to join her. “Come on, let’s go and play!”

Noboru was surprised that she was the first seat when she seemed so chill. He had to deal with his work, and he was constantly stressed with all the work piling up. He sighed and rolled his eye. “We’re not going to play.” With his response, he pulled his hand away and went back to his house. He shut the door at her and he felt the female bump his door. “How dedicated are you?!”

“I never see you anymore-”

“We met last week!”

“Come out the door-”

“No!”

“It’s like you’ve gone away! We use to be best buddies, and now we’re not. I wish you would tell me why!”

Noboru was tired of this, and he knew that if he denied her more, she’d magically end up inside his place… he wouldn’t know how she did- but he knew that she would. He opened the door slightly, slightly twitching.

“Do you want to build a snowman?” Takara almost went out of tune because of laughing. He finally gave in. “It doesn’t have to be a snowman.”

“Let me finish my coffee first.” He told her this, his face looking tired. “Come in. You’re going to freeze outside.”

The girl only entered the room before dusting off the snow particles off her clothes. “Thank you, Noboru!”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this…”

☕: One muse spills hot coffee all over the other muse! Ouch!

Seeing people from a different universe was truly something new to everyone! It was nice knowing that people could actually gain friends with other people that they’ve never seen before! But in exchange… there are possibilities of enemies too. This was to be expected since the two bicker a lot with someone similar in their own universe.

Takashi was eating walnuts and drinking a milkshake for a snack. It was break and the cafeteria was pretty empty at the moment! It was one of those times which Takashi surprisingly preferred it to be quiet. He was currently waiting for any news from the Elite Ten for a meeting so he could prepare. 

Without any warning, he bumped into and a very hot liquid poured over him. He yelped and jumped off his seat, trying to shake off the coffee that just spilled on him. “What in underworld’s name is this-!” He shouted at the person who spilled the coffee at him. He would have eased down immediately if it were someone younger than him or a friend- but his anger only strengthened as he saw the person.

He spotted Shigeo, who has his eyes widen but he quickly regained his composure. He didn’t want to apologize to the male he hated most. Definitely not. He shouldn’t back down or else he’d be considered as the “loser” in this situation.

“I didn’t see you there, Kuga. You were much too small.” A snicker came from the Eizan who Suzume hated most. “Maybe if you were a bit taller, I could have avoided this… accident.” He began chuckling at his own joke and the blonde began shaking in anger. First, coffee spilled over him and now… he had to bring up something that would piss him off ten times more?!

For one of the first times in his life, he actually decided not to censor his words with what he came up with. Meat? Medusa? Hah. He had no control as of the moment. “You fucking bitch!” Takashi swore, finally fully snapping at him. “I didn’t do shit this time! And this was one of the days I decide to wear the damn sweater my brother sewed me!” He instantly picked up his milkshake before spilling it over the male’s shirt and pants.

Shigeo stared at his own clothes, his expression darkening. “Wow. What a mature kind of revenge, Kuga.” He got his handkerchief before wiping off some drink off of him. “I never expected to curse like that, but I give you props for looking strong. Maybe small creatures do hold in anger more.”

Takashi began hissing, just getting angrier each second. “Now I know what my dad meant by Eizans are bastards!” He didn’t exactly want to judge them at first, but now he has experience… he does not want to do anything with their bullshit.

⎚: Our muses are separated by a gate/wall that they’re unable to cross.

[I hope you don’t mind that I used the Yakuza AU, Lea!! also *wink wink* This is also lowkey a snippet in away of what happens when the plan gets really ruined!! ALSO I HOPE YOU DON’T MIND THAT I USED A DOOR INSTEAD OF WALL/GATE

Hanako and Rin belong to @polar-stars!!

Emile belongs to @polar-star-dorks!!]

.

Kaoru knew what he needed to do to save the person he loved. He had no other choice. She was a planner, and he had trusted her skills completely. But he knew that the amount of people after them could actually bring them down. Maybe it was his mistake for being such a “hero” in this worlds. Saving others but never himself. 

He pushed her away before shooting the metal door to close completely. He knew that the red lights marked something- and he surely didn’t want the enemies to shoot that first. He breathed out heavily as he reloaded his gun. “Sorry flower, but we’ve broke rule 1 from the start.” He didn’t know if the person behind the other door could hear him. All he heard was her knocking on the door several times.

“Aroon-! You dumbass!” She shouted from the other side, slamming the wall with her hands even if caused some pain to herself. She knew if she continued, it might even cause bruise on her hands. “Why would you do that?!” She began turning on her ear piece, trying to contact him. “Aroon!”

Kaoru couldn’t do anything but listen to her voice. He decided to turn on his so he could speak back. He only let out a chuckle, and it was obvious that everything was connected to the whole alliance. “You should all escape. You all have a total of 5 minutes to escape. Their back-up is coming soon.”

He heard the door get slammed again and he only looked back. He began biting his lips, worried about the female. “You idiot! We’re not leaving you behind! If we leave you inside yourself, you’re doomed! Do you have any idea what they can do to you?!”

“Lotus. Please.” He punched the metal door, and this made her wince a bit. “Just leave. I already know all the consequences…” He mumbled. “But I’m not fucking afraid of dying. Not if it’s for you guys…”

“How do you think we feel about this?! We could have left with you, there would be no problem with that! We could have went with Plan-”

“Hanako. Please.” Kaoru whispered, and even people could hear him- he had to say it. “Leave. Now. If I didn’t do this, they’d chase over us. They’d know our location. Isshiki Satoshi and Kinokuni Nene would have been doomed. It’s fine.” He reassured. “I’ll be okay.”

“You won’t!” It was obvious by her voice that she already began crying. “You won’t be okay…. You won’t!” No matter how many times she hit the door or even pleased- the barrier that separated her from her leader wouldn’t happen. “Kaoru… I… I…” She finally broke down. “You’re not immortal! I know you’re strong, I believe in you… But you won’t come out alive!”

This was the first time everyone heard he break down and it made everyone’s hearts fall into pieces. Emile was currently crying and Rin was trying to calm him down and Masae clenched her fists as tight as she can- it was so tight that her nails began digging  in her skin. Tetsuji felt himself drowning, but he had to act strong to make sure he’d be there for the rest of the group.

Kuga only closed his eyes shut- he was unable to say a word. Eizan couldn’t look back… if he did, he knew he’d be trying to save someone he originally thought he wouldn’t care about. Nene was gripping Eizan, not knowing what to do- but she wanted to think od a way to save him. Isshiki didn’t show his expression to anyone, but he was obviously in pain.

Dai was currently inside a car, his vision getting blurry with the tears piling up. “Cross… Take Lotus away from there.”

Kaoru spotted several people running to him, different guns with them and he was sure he’d be shot dead on the spot. He laughed sadly, saying his last words before turning off the ear piece so they wouldn’t be able to hear the shots.

“I love you guys. Remember that, alright?”

[samsexualdeancurious]

Blind Love | Chapter 19 (NSFW)

Pairing: Dean x Castiel

Words: 1,615

Story Summary: When Dean is blinded on a hunt, Cas loves him through it.

Chapter Summary: Its winter and winter means snow

Warnings: Implied smut

Betaed by @manawhaat

Masterlist

“Sam, I think the heater is on the fritz again,” Dean says, tapping his way into the library with a heavy blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

“It’s not that cold,” Sam says.

“Not all of us are giant heaters.” he finds his brother’s leg where it’s sprawled on one side of the chair and kicks it, perhaps a little harder than necessary. “Fix it.”

“Bossy, much?”

“I might be blind, but I can still find where you sleep.”

He knows Sam’s making one of his signature “fuck you, Dean” faces, but he doesn’t care. All that matters is Sam grumbling his way down the hall to take a look at the heater.

“You could ask nicer,” Cas suggests, startling Dean a little bit. He hadn’t realized his boyfriend was also in the library, though he would have if he hadn’t been too focused on bugging Sam to notice the sound of another person breathing.

“Meh. What kind of big brother would that make me?”

Cas chuckles, scooting his chair back. He tugs at Dean’s blanket until the older Winchester is standing between his knees, so he can wrap his arms around Dean’s waist and press his face into a soft belly.

“The weather said it’s supposed to snow today,” Cas tells him. “Would you like to go check with me?”

“But it’s cold outside,” Dean whines.

“Which will make it seem warmer in here. Come on, you can bring your blanket.”

Dean pouts, but relents and allows himself to be lead up the stairs and out of the bunker. Cas stops in the threshold, causing Dean to collide with his back.

“What’s up?” Dean asks, slipping a hand from his blanket to grip the back of Cas’ shirt.

“It’s snowing,” Cas says, voice full of awe. He grabs Dean’s free hand and pulls it around to hold it in front of him. Dean’s pressed right up against Cas’ back, nose in his hair. “Feel it?”

Sure enough, light, cold somethings are landing on Dean’s hand. Snow.

“Oh,” he says quietly, wiggling his fingers a little. “That’s nice. Cold, but nice.”

Cas strokes the inside of Dean’s wrist with his thumb. “It’s beautiful. Maybe we can play in it later?”

He sounds so damn hopeful. There’s no way Dean can say no. Instead, he shrugs and kisses the base of Cas’ skull. “We probably have snow gear somewhere,” he says. “If we can find it, we’ll play in the snow. Deal?”

“Deal,” Cas agrees.

Sam’s voice wafts up through the tunnel then. “Guys, where’d you go?”

“Up here, Sam!” Dean calls back. He hears the familiar sound of his brother’s boots on the stairs. A few moments later, Sam arrives behind him.

“What are you- whoa! It’s snowing!”

Dean nods, holding his blanket tighter around himself. It’s starting to get cold, standing here in the open doorway while snowflakes land on his hand. Cas notices this and pulls Dean’s hand in to tuck it against his chest.

“Beautiful,” he repeats, but this time Dean has a feeling he’s not talking about the snow.

“Sam, do we still have snow gear?” Dean asks when the three of them are once again in the safety of the library.

“We might,” Sam replies. “It would be in one of the storage rooms. I don’t remember exactly what we have, though. It’s been awhile since we needed it.”

“Do you think we could go look for it later? Cas wants to play in the snow, but it’s damn cold out there.”

Sam chuckles. “Yeah, sure. Does after lunch sound good?”

“After lunch sounds perfect,” Cas tells him.

“Alright, so my stuff should fit you fine,” Dean says, digging through the box Sam pulled out of the storage room they’ve commandeered for their own stuff- not that they have much, but it’s good to have somewhere to put stuff when they don’t need it. The trunk of the Impala is a little emptier now as a result. “And I can just wear Sam’s stuff today. But we’re gonna have to get you your own at some point.”

“Okay,” Cas agrees, taking the coat and snow pants Dean shoves at him. “You may have to help me put these on.”

Dean chuckles, pulling the heavy snow boots from the bottom of the box. “I think I can do that.”

“Good. I want to go play in the snow now.”

“Well, let’s go get ready.”

It takes some work to get both of them into the heavy-duty gear and Dean kinda wishes he could see how ridiculously adorable Cas probably looks.

“I think we shall be plenty warm,” Cas decides when he’s dressed. “I want to make snow angels.”

“Have you ever made a snow angel before?” Dean asks, following his boyfriend up the stairs.

“Nope! You’ll have to show me.”

Dean smiles fondly. “I think I can do that. And then we can build a snowman.”

“Yes!”

Cas excitement is infectious and Dean feels a little thrill he hasn’t felt in a while. He honestly can’t remember the last time he played in the snow- he was probably really young. There wasn’t always a lot of time to play when John was around, though he did his best to make sure that Sam got to enjoy himself whenever possible. They didn’t stay a lot of places that got a decent amount of snow, either, so it wasn’t an option. In fact, they only got their snow gear after a case up north in the dead of January- werewolves who were apparently part Russian or something, because they definitely didn’t mind the cold as much as the boys did.

The air outside the bunker is crisp and cold. Dean immediately tucks his scarf tighter over his nose- cold weather never really was his thing. Cas, however, is thoroughly enjoying himself and they’ve only made footprints.

“It’s so beautiful!” Cas says, spinning around. Dean can hear the soft crunch of his boots in the snow. “So smooth as far as I can see.”

Dean can imagine it in his mind- the endless stretch of untouched snow surrounding them for miles. He bends and scoops up a generous handful. It packs in his hand just the way he wants it to. He forms a ball and tosses it in Cas’ direction.

“Hey!” Cas doesn’t sound mad at all, thankfully. Dean just grins. “Oh, it’s on now.”

This turns out to be Dean’s first real life opportunity to use all the combat skills he’s spent months working on down in the gym. The snow gives him good warning when Cas moves, allowing him to avoid his returning snowball, and helps him pinpoint where to throw his own. They throw a few more back and forth before Cas gets close enough to loop his arms around Dean’s torso, pinning his arms to his side.

“Gotcha,” Cas teases, leaning in to press the cold tip of his nose against Dean’s cheek, laughing at the blind man’s undignified squawk.

“I’ll get you for this,” Dean protests, wriggling in his lover’s embrace without really trying to get free.

“Mmm. We’ll worry about that later. Come on, I want to make snow angels.”

Dean rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. “Okay. Find some snow we haven’t trampled.”

“Over here!”

Cas lets go of Dean, pretty much bouncing away. Dean follows.

“We’re going to lay down in the snow,” he explains, demonstrating as he speaks. “And move our arms and legs like this-” he waves his limbs, pushing and packing the snow to make the iconic shape before getting up. “See, the arms make the angel wings.”

“That looks nothing like an angel,” Cas points out.

Dean laughs, shaking his head. “It’s supposed to be just a simplified version of the way people imagine angels look. For fun.”

“Oh! I understand.”

Dean hears Cas huff as he lays down a little ways away, and then the sounds of snow being rearranged. When Cas is satisfied, he gets up and examines his creation.

“I think I’m good at this,” he decides.

Dean reaches over and weaves his fingers through his boyfriend’s. “I’m sure you are.”

By the time they go inside, both men are very cold despite their many layers. Still, Dean’s quite happy to strip off all the snow gear, leaving it draped over chairs in the war room to dry before they can put it away. He doesn’t hesitate to drag Cas to the shower, strip them both down, and get under some hot water to warm up quicker. He doesn’t even realize that it’s the first time they’ve been naked with each other until Cas points it out while scrubbing shampoo into Dean’s hair.

“It is,” Dean agrees. He loops an arm around Cas’ waist, forearm falling in the small of his lover’s back, and presses a kiss to Cas’ jaw. “I don’t know why I avoided it for so long.”

“Better to wait until you were ready than to push yourself too fast,” Cas tells him, careful to keep soap from running into Dean’s eyes. “I’m glad we waited. Waiting is what you needed.”

Dean can feel heat in his cheeks. “What did I do to deserve you?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Cas replies, hands drifting down Dean’s back to cup his ass, pressing their bodies together. Dean is more than happy to return that favor. “Shall we try another way to warm up?”

Dean bites his lip, feeling Cas’ hardening cock against his hip bone. He brings a hand to between them, wrapping his fingers around both of their erections and pulling a groan from the other man’s chest. “I think that’s a good idea.”

Like this fic? Commission one of your own!

Team Forever: @laughing-at-the-darkness @mrswhozeewhatsis @books-and-icecream

Team Destiel: @ilostmyshoe-79 @idelifrey @justanothersaltandburn @ruined-by-destiel @supernaturalfanfix @basic-joy @keepingitrealcas @hexparker @smut-fluff-lemons-and-stuff @jwilly18

Team Blind Love: @jaebirdie @cacodaemonia @starcastlesinthesky @naruhearts @angerprobfemme @waywardasfudge @tina8009 @fangirl-writing-fiction

[queen-of-deans-booty]

Winter Wonderland

Characters: Dean x Reader, Sam, Castiel

Word Count: 917

Warnings: this is all fluff, honestly. 

Summary: You, Sam, Dean and Cas have a fun day out in the snow. 

Author’s Note: This is for Aria’s (@gone-to-fight-the-fairies ) Winter Wonderland Challenge. I was given the song Winter Wonderland sang by Selena Gomez and the Scene along with the prompt snowballs/snowball fight. Wanna be a Dean Bean, all you have to do is ask!

Feedback the glue that holds my writing together

Tags at the bottom

“Come on!” You said, trying to rush the boys. It’s been snowing a lot lately and there was a fresh blanket outside the Bunker. You wanted to go play in it and convinced the brothers and Cas to come with you. You were just waiting for them to hurry up.

“Calm down, the snow is going to be there when we’re done,” Dean said, walking over to you and kissing you briefly. You smiled up at him and took in his outfit. He looked so sexy even with a beanie, scarf, and mittens on. Sam walked up to you and you grinned, seeing Cas come from behind him.

“Cas, aren’t you going to get cold?” Castiel was just in his normal coat and suit and you didn’t want him freezing out there.

“Y/N, I am an Angel, my grace will stabilize my vessel’s body temperature.” You nodded and chuckled, shrugging.

“Alright, let’s go!” You said, opening the Bunker’s front door. You giggled and squealed, running into the snow, leaving fresh footsteps in your wake. Sam and Dean chuckled, walking outside with Castiel by their side.

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,  In the lane, snow is glistening A beautiful sight, We're happy tonight. Walking in a winter wonderland.

Gone away is the bluebird, In his place is a new bird He sings a love song, As we go along, Walking in a winter wonderland.

You looked all around you, the snow untouched by humans until now. You lived at such a remote place in Kansas, no one comes here so it made the snow glisten with beauty. You grabbed heapfuls of snow, throwing it in the air and watching it rain down on you. You squealed happily, letting the snow fall on your face.

You looked over to see Dean watching you with an adoration smile on his face. You smiled and walked over to him before bringing him closer to you.

“This is a Winter Wonderland.” You said, looking up at him. He leaned down and kissed you, his lips already cold. You smiled into the kiss and kissed him back.  You were interrupted by a flap of wings and you looked up to see a snow owl, watching you and Dean.

Usually, you saw different kinds of birds but never a snow owl, until now. It was so beautiful.

In the meadow, we can build a snowman, Then pretend that he is Parson Brown He'll say: Are you married? We'll say: No man,  But you can do the job When you're in town.

“Hey, guys! You wanna help us?” You looked over to see Sam and Cas rolling out big balls of snow. You squealed and grabbed Dean’s hand, dragging him over to Sam and Cas.

“Yes! I love building snowmen!” You said, starting to roll out the head that you will be needing. Dean chuckled and helped his brother with the bottom since that needed to be the biggest one. When they got the bottom to be half your height, Cas picked up the medium ball of snow with ease, setting it on top.

“Alright boys, I can’t reach up there so here you go.” You said, handing them, the finished ball of snow. Sam chuckled and grabbed it, placing it on top.

“Oh no! We forgot to get carrots and rocks!” You said, staring at your naked snowman. You looked at Dean and walked over to him, taking the scarf off him to use it for the snowman.

“Hey, I was using that,” Dean complained but he didn’t move to stop you.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you warm later.” You whispered, winking at him. He smirked and nodded, watching you go over to the snowman and wrapping his scarf around the snowman’s neck. You looked at Sam and walked over to him, snatching his beanie off his head and walking away before he could protest.

“Hey! What…?” Sam trailed off.

“Let those gorgeous locks get some snow in them!” You said, placing the beanie on the snowman’s head.

“Cas, do you think you could—”

“Already got them,” Castiel said, making you look at him. In his hands was a carrot and some rocks. You looked at him but didn’t want to know how he got them in the first place.

“Thanks.” You said, grabbing the carrot and handing it to Dean.

“Would you do the honor?” You asked with a grin.

“I most certainly will,” Dean said, taking the carrot from your hand and sticking it right in the middle of the snowman’s head. Sam and Cas placed the rocks where the eyes and mouth should go, putting three in its middle as buttons. You grinned and clapped at the outcome.

“It’s our own little hunter snowman! I wanna take a picture!” You said, walking up to the snowman. Dean was next to you with Sam and Cas on the other side. You held out your hand and took a picture of your four, posing and smiling with the snowman.

Later on, we'll conspire, As we dream by the fire To face unafraid,  The plans that we've made, Walking in a winter wonderland.

At the end of the day, you, Sam, Dean, and Cas huddled by the fire, the snow doing its job in keeping you cold. You were in Dean’s lap, trying to stay warm as you sat in silence, drinking eggnog and enjoying the warmth and the company. You loved winter because it’s the most wonderful time of the year.

The Queens:

@maddieburcham1 @ginamsmith @mogaruke @whit85-blog@inlovewithbja @spn67-sister @kdfrqqg@jarpadandjensenaremyheroes @roxyspearing@supercalifragilistic26 @mishamigose @cobrakai1967@essie1876@wishedworld @crispychrissy @laqueus-ludovicus@nostalgic-uncertainty @jerk-bitch-and-an-angel@potterhead1265@starswirlblitz  @untitled39887 @ta-n-ja @deans-fallen-angel-boy @scarletluvscas @notnaturalanahi @tahbehonest @stay-in–place@dreaminofdean @posiemax @donnaintx @mikey1822@alexandriajanae4  @li-ssu@just-another-winchester@obsessivecompulsivespn@emoryhemsworth @newtospnfandom@mizzezm  @goldenolaf25@jessikared97 @wh1sp3r1ng-impala@charliebradbury1104    @queen-of-moons-peace-out-bitches @becs-bunker  @atc74@lemonchapstick

The Dean Beans:

@akshi8278 @mega-mrs-dean-winchester @winchesterandpie@spn-dean-and-sam-winchester@carribear31 @tacklesackles@oreosatmidnight @not-naturalfangirl @missselinakitty @iam-a-cutiepie  @kristendansmith@milo-winchester-4ever @jensenackesl@codyshany316@pheonyxstorm @helllonearth @juniorhuntersam@pouterpufftrain@ruprecht0420 @shut-ur-face-and-get-in-the-car @carriemichelle2012 @aubreystilinski

@thing-you-do-with-that-thing

[nanenna]

Mystery Machine Mishap!

Chapter 3: A New Routine

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 4

Fandom: Undertale Rating: General Audiences Pairing: None Summary: There was an accident at the Lab and now Papyrus is left trying to take care of Sans as a toddler while Alphys tries to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. To say Papyrus is unprepared is not just an understatement, it’s downright fact. But Papyrus is determined to be the best big brother ever, even better than Sans is when he’s the older on.

As usual, also available to read on fanfiction.net or AO3 under the same name. (links not included because that messes with the search function)

   Nearly a week had gone by. Papyrus found that his days fell into a rhythm as he cared for his little big brother. He couldn’t help but feel forgotten by Alphys, she hadn’t called since that first day, she barely updated her Undernet profile anymore, and even Undyne hadn’t heard much from the reclusive scientist. Papyrus wanted to take it as a good sign, that it meant Alphys was working hard on fixing the machine and getting Sans back to normal. But at the same time he would have liked to hear from her. So after laying Sans down for his afternoon nap, Papyrus pulled up the doctor’s contact info and started a call.

“H-hello?”

“HELLO, DR. ALPHYS!”

“Oh! P-Papyrus! What are you… why are you… what’s g-going on?”

“I WANTED TO FIND OUT HOW YOU ARE DOING. UNDYNE TELLS ME YOU SOMETIMES FORGET TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND I WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU WERE EATING AND RESTING REGULARLY.”

“Oh, um… it’s fine. I’m fine, Undyne has been over often to make sure I uh… don’t get lost in my work?? She really wants to help me as much as she can, she says with both you and Sans uh… out of commission th-that the sentry stations are really falling apart.”

“OH DEAR, I WAS SO BUSY TAKING CARE OF SANS THAT I DIDN’T EVEN THINK ABOUT HOW MANY SENTRY STATIONS WERE GOING UNMANNED!”

“Y-yeah, I don’t think Undyne has replacements for you either. She wants you both to have jobs waiting for you when uh… when I eventually m-m-manage to fix things.”

“THAT IS THE OTHER REASON I WAS CALLING, I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD TELL ME HOW THINGS ARE GOING. HAVE YOU FINISHED DECIPHERING THE NOTES? HOW BADLY IS THE MACHINE BROKEN?”

“I’ve uh… I’m almost halfway through the notes! I had to use the other blueprints and notes that Sans had already deciphered for me to try and make a cipher for these notes. At first it seemed like it was just a straight one for one alphabet replacement and would be fairly simple, but not all of the translations Sans has written out match up. I was starting to wonder if there were some shifting going on, some sort of extra key I’d need but don’t have, but when I applied the cipher I had first developed to the already translated notes I realized that Sans was summarizing a lot of this stuff, so my cipher actually works! It’s going faster now that I’ve figured that out, the only hard part is just how messy the handwriting is. Whoever wrote all this down has just the worst handwriting!”

“SO NOW THAT YOU HAVE A CIPHER, THINGS WILL MOVE QUICKER? HOW MUCH LONGER DO YOU THINK IT WILL TAKE?”

“Oh, w-well… like I said the handwriting is very m-messy so I have to keep going back and correcting my translations, w-which means my translations are g-getting messy too and uh… even after I finish t-translating all these I still have to start work on the machine itself so uh… it might take a w-while yet.”

“THAT IS FINE, I WOULD RATHER YOU TAKE THINGS SLOW AND GET IT RIGHT THAN TO RUSH AND HAVE AN ACCIDENT YOURSELF!”

“Y-yeah, that’d be just… just awful!” Alphys laughed nervously.

“WELL THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME, DR. ALPHYS. GOOD LUCK!”

“Oh! Okay then, g-good luck to you too! With uh… with little Sans that is. I m-mean, I’m sure you’re taking great c-care of him. And uh… okaygottagohaveagooddaybye!”

There was a faint click as the call abruptly ended, then Papyrus scrolled through his contacts. He hadn’t put much thought into what he was about to do, but it just felt right. Papyrus hit the call button.

“Hey dork!” Undyne’s voice greeted him.

“HELLO UNDYNE!”

“So what’s going on, the little squirt doing okay?”

“OH SANS IS FINE, HE’S DOWN FOR A NAP RIGHT NOW. I WAS JUST TALKING TO DR. ALPHYS AND SHE REMINDED ME THAT I HAVE BEEN TERRIBLY NEGLECTFUL OF MY DUTIES EVER SINCE THE ACCIDENT.”

“Well yeah, you have a baby to take care of. A literal baby! That’s a lot of work!”

“A TODDLER, BUT THAT IS NO EXCUSE TO NEGLECT MY DUTIES AS A SENTRY! SO TOMORROW I’M GOING TO RESUME MY DUTIES. I’M AFRAID THERE IS NOT MUCH WE CAN DO ABOUT SANS, BUT I CAN AT LEAST RE-CALIBRATE MY PUZZLES, DO MY PATROLS, AND WATCH OUT FOR HUMANS LIKE I’M SUPPOSED TO!”

“Well, if you’re sure...”

“DON’T WORRY, I HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL! NYEH HEH HEH!” Papyrus hit the end call button, then decided to go upstairs and check on Sans. When he got to the top of the stairs his eye sockets were drawn to the end of the hallway where Sans was staring up at the blank wall, one elbow up which probably meant his thumb was in his mouth again, and a bright orange dinosaur plush toy dragging limply from his other hand. “SANS? WHAT RE YOU DOING OVER THERE?”

Sans turned around at Papyrus’s voice, then slowly toddled over to the taller skeleton and raised his arms to be picked up. Papyrus obligingly picked Sans up and cuddled him close. “WHAT IS IT, BROTHER?”

“i miss daddy.” Sans sniffled as he clung to Papyrus, “where daddy?”

“DADDY IS…” Papyrus hesitated, unsure what exactly to tell Sans, “DADDY IS AWAY. RIGHT NOW.” There, that was close enough to the truth. He didn’t want to outright lie to Sans, but he also had no idea how to tell the toddler that he had no idea where their father was or even if he was still alive at all. Papyrus couldn’t remember it, but he was fairly certain their father had Fallen Down a long time ago. He sighed as he rocked the clinging toddler. “I’M SURE HE MISSES YOU AS MUCH AS YOU MISS HIM.”

Sans made an indistinct noise as he buried his face into Papyrus’s shoulder. Well, the only thing to do was to distract him. “WHY DON’T WE GET SOME STURDY CLOTHES ON AND GO OUTSIDE TO PLAY IN THE SNOW? WE CAN BUILD A SNOWMAN!” Papyrus suggested enthusiastically.

Sans gave a small nod, he did like building snowmen with Papyrus.

The next day, after breakfast was finished and the dishes were washed and put away, Papyrus dressed Sans in the warmest clothes they had. Papyrus knew it didn’t really matter, that Sans wouldn’t even feel the cold, but it made him feel better anyway. Papyrus also pulled out one of the things Gerson had sent over: a toddler leash. Papyrus hadn’t felt the need for it yet, he had stayed pretty close to Sans so far or carried the toddler whenever they went somewhere far. But while he was on patrol and re-calibrating his puzzles… Papyrus attached it to Sans, then clipped the other end to his belt.

“TODAY, SANS, WE ARE FINALLY GOING BACK TO WORK. I WILL RE-CALIBRATE ALL OF OUR PUZZLES! AND WE WILL GO ON PATROL! AND WE WILL BE PRODUCTIVE! TOGETHER!”

“yay!” Sans cheered, and Papyrus was so happy to see Sans be enthusiastic about work for once!

“LET’S GO!” Papyrus took Sans outside and they set off. Papyrus knew they had a lot of ground to cover, so he was striding along at his usual, speedy pace.

“pappus! pappus wait!” Sans’s little legs couldn’t keep up. He tried running after Papyrus, tripped, and fell flat on his face.

Papyrus stopped and went back to pick him up, but Sans was already sniffling and whining about the snow in his orbits and nasal cavity. “NOW, NOW, YOU’RE SUCH A BIG MONSTER! NO NEED TO CRY!” Papyrus gently brushed the snow form his brother’s face, then picked Sans up. “WHY DON’T I CARRY YOU TO THE PUZZLES, THEN WE CAN RE-CALIBRATE THEM TOGETHER!” Sans simply nodded as he snuggled into his brother’s arms.

As Papyrus continued to walk Sans perked up and began looking around in interest, he hadn’t been brought past the ‘Welcome to Snowdin’ sign. Not since the accident, anyway. The scenery quickly became boring, just more of the same snow and trees as the town without interesting buildings to break it up. Sans settled into Papyrus’s arms and let himself be carried. Soon they came to the first puzzle, the slippery Xs and Os one. Re-calibrating it was always a challenge for Papyrus, even without a toddler along for the ride, but Papyrus refused to be defeated. He deftly skated across the ice with Sans in one arm and soon had it calibrated perfectly.

“THERE, SEE? I KNEW WE COULD DO IT!”

“’m bored,” Sans whined.

“WELL THAT IS BECAUSE YOU COULD NOT HELP WITH THIS PUZZLE. I AM SURE THE NEXT ONE WILL BE FAR MORE ENTERTAINING. IN FACT, AFTER I RE-CALIBRATE IT YOU SHOULD TRY SOLVING IT!”

Sans nodded, unsure how exciting that really would be.

Papyrus easily stepped over the spikes to the next puzzle and set Sans down. He started working on the puzzle, leaving Sans to his own devices. The toddler ran back and forth over the tiles until all the ones in the leash’s reach were triangles, then he stomped about in the snow. After that grew boring, he picked up a handful of snow and dropped it onto Papyrus’s back as the taller skeleton knelt over the tiles.

“SANS, PLEASE! I’M WORKING!”

Sans huffed, plopped his coccyx in the snow and crossed his arms. He was now thoroughly bored and his brother was ignore him. After a while that got boring too, so Sans got up and ran to the end of his leash, then zigzagged around Papyrus.

Papyrus finally finished with the tile he was working on and got up to move onto the next one. When he stood he immediately lost his balance and fell face first into the snow. There was something caught around his ankles. Papyrus managed to push himself half up and get a look at what had happened: he was completely tangled up in the leash.

“SANS! WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

Sans just looked up at him with the biggest grin across his face. Papyrus sighed, then untangled himself. He did a quick check of his inventory, he had taken to keeping a couple toys in there for when he needed a quick distraction for Sans. Oh good, he had a pail and little plastic shovel set in there. “HERE SANS, WHY DON’T YOU BUILD A SNOW CASTLE?”

“okay.” Sans took the offered toys and plopped down in the snow. With a sigh of relief Papyrus returned to re-calibrating his puzzle.

“THERE, ALL RE-CALIBRATED! NOW, ONTO THE NEXT PUZZLE.” Sans didn’t resist as Papyrus picked him up and carried him over the spikes to the next puzzle. Having learned from his mistake, Papyrus decided to attach the leash to a nearby tree so Sans couldn’t tangle him up again. Though this shouldn’t take long, this puzzle was much simpler than the one he had just finished.

It turned out this puzzle had taken some damage the more complex puzzle hadn’t. Not only did Papyrus have to re-calibrate it, he had to thaw and repair it first. Eventually everything was finished and the puzzle was good as new. Papyrus dusted off his hands in satisfaction as he looked down at the puzzle. “THERE, ALL DONE! DO YOU WANT TO TRY SOLVING THIS ONE, SANS?” Papyrus turned to where he had left the toddler, “SANS?” The toddler harness was abandoned in the snow, the leash still attached to the tree. “SANS!” Papyrus ran over to the tree, little footprints lead further up the path. Papyrus thanked his lucky stars that today it wasn’t snowing and the tracks were untouched.“IT’S OKAY,” Papyrus told himself as he followed the tiny little footprints, “SANS WON’T BE ABLE TO GET PAST THE SPIKES AT THE NEXT PUZZLE, HE’S TOO SMALL!”

A surge of panic welled up in Papyrus’s chest, the spikes to the next puzzle were down. It needed to be re-calibrated. And Sans’s footprints lead right through the thin layer of snow over the retracted spikes. Papyrus tried not to panic as he kept following the footprints, then a noise caught his attention. It sounded like something was whining and… snuffling? Breathing of some kind, and lots of it. He looked around the next tree and found a pile of dogs gathered around a happily squealing babybones.

“puppy!” Sans declared as he tried to pet Doggo, Dogamy, and Dogaressa all at once.

(Puppy!) Dogaressa agreed as she happily wagged her tail and sniffed at Sans’s hands.

“SANS! THERE YOU ARE! YOU HAD ME WORRIED SICK!” Papyrus ran over and picked Sans up, cuddling his babybones brother close. “DON’T EVER WANDER OFF LIKE THAT AGAIN!”

“Hello Papyrus!” The three dogs greeted as they all rolled onto their feet and got up.

Dogamy held up a paw in greeting, “Why is Sans out here?”

(… so far from town?) Dogaressa continued.

“I’M WATCHING HIM, OF COURSE!”

Dogamy and Dogaressa looked at each other, then back at Papyrus. “Make sure to keep an eye on the little pup.”

(We wouldn’t want him to get lost.)

“I KNOW,” Papyrus assured. “HE CAN BE QUITE THE SLIPPERY SNAIL SOMETIMES, BUT I AM KEEPING A VERY CAREFUL EYE SOCKET ON HIM.”

“Hmmm...” Dogamy hummed to himself, but otherwise said nothing.

Doggo pulled out a dog treat and started to light it, only to be smacked by Dogaressa. (Not near the puppy!)

“Alright, alright. Sheesh!” Doggo turned and started wandering towards his sentry station.

“WELL, I’VE GOT MORE ROUNDS TO DO AND PUZZLEs TO RE-CALIBRATE.”

“We’ll see you later,” Dogamy called.

“SAY GOODBYE TO THE DOGGIES, SANS.”

“bye bye, I love you!”

There was a gasp, followed by, (“We love you too”) as Papyrus carried Sans away.

The rest of Papyrus’s shift went off without a hitch, he managed to keep Sans busy or distracted enough to not wander off again. After stopping off at home to feed Sans and grab a few more snacks and toys, Papyrus carried Sans towards Waterfall.

“gun?” Sans asked as they entered the damp caverns.

“NO, WE’RE NOT GOING TO VISIT GERSON TODAY. WE’RE GOING TO GO SEE AUNTY UNDYNE.”

“aunty!” Sans yelled happily and threw his arms up in the air.

Undyne was waiting for them outside her house, foot tapping impatiently as they entered the little nook her house was tucked in. “Papyrus,” Undyne grit out angrily.

“HELLO UNDYNE, WE’RE HERE FOR MY WARRIOR TRAINING!”

Undyne ground her teeth, “Papyrus I just… I can’t believe you!”

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND, WHAT DON’T YOU BELIEVE?” Sans started fussing as Papyrus stared at Undyne in confusion.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’D DO SOMETHING SO… SO..!” Rather than finish her sentence, Undyne yelled at the cavern roof. Sans hid his face in Papyrus’s shoulder, his bones started rattling. “You took a small child with you out into the middle of the woods while you were WORKING! And what’s more, YOU LOST HIM! Do you have any idea how lucky you are the Dogi found him?!” Papyrus tried to speak but Undyne just kept going. “What if the Dogi hadn’t found him? What if someone dangerous had? Or what if he had fallen off one of those cliffs? What would you have done if he had gotten lost in the woods and you couldn’t find him?!”

“THAT’S-”

“And then you brought him to WARRIOR TRAINING?! Papyrus! You can’t bring a toddler to warrior training! He’s a toddler for the Angel’s sake!”

“UNDYNE, YOU’RE SCARING SANS.” Papyrus ran a soothing hand up and down the trembling toddler’s spine.

“He shouldn’t even be here right now. And if you can’t get someone to take care of him for you, neither should you!”

Papyrus’s jaw opened and closed a few times, then he turned and walked away. The walk home was much slower, Papyrus kept pausing every now and then to whisper comforting words to the still trembling toddler in his arms. One of those times was next to the bridge seed puzzle, and Sans finally responded.

“aunty meeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaan!” He wailed loudly, then burst into big, messy tears. Papyrus was relieved, if a little sad that is battle body was going to need to be washed again. The subdued trembling had stopped, and the wailing he knew how to handle. By the time they made it home Sans had quieted down to sniffles and muffled sobs that meant all Papyrus would have to do was clean him up and put on a cheerful face to distract him. Maybe put him down for a nap since he was overdue. “aunty mean,” Sans repeated once they were through the door.

“YES, UNDYNE WAS BEING QUITE FORCEFUL, BUT SHE ONLY YELLED LIKE THAT BECAUSE SHE REALLY CARES AND WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU.”

“aunty mean,” Sans insisted angrily.

“AND SHE WON’T BE AGAIN, BECAUSE I AM GOING TO TAKE EVEN BETTER CARE OF YOU THAN BEFORE, SO SHE WON’T HAVE A REASON TO WORRY LIKE THAT AGAIN! NOW! LET’S GET YOU CLEANED UP, IT CAN’T BE COMFORTABLE HAVING YOUR SKULL COVERED IN SNOT AND DRIED TEARS!” Sans huffed, but otherwise made no fuss as Papyrus carried him upstairs to get washed up.

The next morning Papyrus walked Sans over to the Libarby, careful to keep his steps slow and small so the toddler could keep up. Inside the librarian greeted Papyrus and Sans cheerfully, “And is Sans here for the daycare?”

“YES, I WAS TOLD I COULD LEAVE HIM WITH YOU WHILE I TEND TO MY DUTIES.”

“Of course,” the librarian chirped cheerfully, “we just need you to sign him in.” The librarian pushed a clipboard over to Papyrus, which he quickly filled out.

“OKAY SANS, BE GOOD FOR THE LIBRARIANS WHILE I’M GONE.”

“no!” Sans attached himself to Papyrus’s boot and glared up at the librarian.

“SANS, PLEASE!”

“Don’t you want to play with the other children?” The librarian’s question had Sans pausing to look up at her inquisitively. “You can walk him back, a lot of children get over their separation anxiety easier when they have other children to distract them.”

“GREAT IDEA! COME ALONG SANS, LET’S GO MEET THE OTHER CHILDREN YOU WILL BE SPENDING THE DAY WITH.” Sans allowed himself to be led into the back of the library where a few other young children were already playing with toys. A curious puppy trotted over to the new comers and sniffed at Sans.

“puppy!” Sans squealed happily before enthusiastically petting the puppy.

“Pets!” The puppy happily squealed back, their tail already thrashing about. Sans was so engrossed by his new playmate that he didn’t even notice Papyrus quietly sneaking away.

When Papyrus returned to pick Sans up that afternoon, Sans dropped the toy he had been holding and ran full tilt into Papyrus’s legs. “HELLO SANS, DID YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY PLAYING WITH THE OTHER CHILDREN?”

“missed you,” Sans grumbled as he clung to his bother’s legs.

“I MISSED YOU TOO, HOW ABOUT WE GO HOME NOW?”

“ok.” Sans held his arms up, refusing to budge until Papyrus picked him up.

“Don’t forget your drawings,” one of the librarians called as she held out a few papers to Papyrus.

“OH! I CAN’T WAIT TO LOOK AT THESE! I’LL PUT THEM RIGHT UP ON THE FRIDGE.” A big, excited grin was plastered over Papyrus’s face as he accepted the drawings.

Sans smiled bashfully and leaned his head against his brother’s shoulder, “love you, pappus.”

“I LOVE YOU TOO, SANS.” Papyrus dropped a kiss on top of Sans’s skull as they left the library.

Once home Sans refused to be put down, so Papyrus simply settled on the couch with Sans in his lap as he began looking through the drawings Sans had made. The first one was a lot of black shapes scribbled all over the page.

“WHAT’S THIS?”

“a bastard!” Sans replied as he pointed to one of the empty spots the black was scribbled around.

“A… A BASTARD?” Papyrus asked in disbelief.

“yeah! it goes bweeeeeeeen!” Sans held his hand up to his teeth and made a “roar” motion.

Papyrus looked back at the drawing, if the black were background and not the drawing itself like Papyrus had originally assumed… “OH, A BLASTER! YOU MEAN OUR SPECIAL ATTACK.” Papyrus summoned a blaster to illustrate his point.

Sans clapped his hands and pointed at the large skull floating serenely in the living room, “bastard! bastard!”

Papyrus dispelled the attack before an accident could happen, it was never wise to summon attacks indoors after all. “IT’S PRONOUNCED ‘BLASTER’, SANS. BLA-STER.”

“baster.”

“GETTING CLOSER.” He flipped to the next drawing, it was three faces. He could tell one was him and one was Sans, which meant the third one must be their father. Since it was just their faces this time there were more details, like uneven pupils inside their father’s eyes. Then again, the pupils Sans drew for his own eyes weren’t even either, it was likely just due to his toddlery hand-eye coordination. Aside from the pupils and what Papyrus could only assume was a pair of square-ish glasses, their father’s face looked very similar to his own, right down to the exaggerated cheekbones Sans had given them both.

“thaz you an’ me an’ daddy!” Sans cheerfully explained as he pointed to the faces.

“I CAN TELL, YOU DREW US VERY WELL.” The next drawing was their father again, this time alone. A full body picture that had their father wearing a long, white coat with dark clothes under it and some sort of square thing in on hand. “AND THIS IS DADDY TOO, RIGHT?”

“yeah!” Sans said excitedly. “when daddy come home?”

“I… I DON’T KNOW.” Papyrus admitted sadly. He really wished he could remember their father, or what had happened to him. Papyrus flipped to the next drawing, the first one to actually have any color in it. “OH! IT’S ME! AND MY BATTLE BODY!”

“yeah!” Sans grinned up at Papyrus.

The older skeleton felt tears welling up in his eye sockets, “THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DRAWING I’VE EVER SEEN! I’M GOING TO GET THIS FRAMED!” Papyrus hugged Sans, which the toddler returned while giggling. After they had a moment to calm down, Papyrus flipped to the last picture. “IS THIS GRILLBY?”

“girby!”

The picture featured an orange, vaguely flame shaped blob with a few black shapes below it that could be Grillby’s usual vest and bow tie if you turned your head and squinted. “WE’LL HAVE TO SHOW THIS TO GRILLBY NEXT TIME WE SEE HIM, I’M SURE HE’LL BE VERY FLATTERED.”

“girby,” Sans said again, more quietly this time.

Papyrus picked Sans up and walked into the kitchen, “IN THE MEANTIME, LET’S PUT THESE ALL UP ON THE FRIDGE.” It was already overflowing with the drawings Sans had made, but Papyrus couldn’t bear the thought of taking any of them down. He shuffled the drawings around until there was room for the new ones, which were promptly put on display. “THERE! NOW, WHO’S READY FOR DINNER?”

“dinner!” Sans repeated and threw his hands into the air.

  This chapter has some of my favorite lines, including my all fic favorite: bastard! I love it so much! I just... I’m so glad I came up with that. *wipes a tear away*

[genogenocrazycatman]

Stillwater - Chapter 13

Stillwater [Archive of Our Own, FanFiction.Net, Mibba]

Characters: Original Female Character, Monkey D. Luffy, Rorona Zoro, Vinsmoke Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Tony Tony Chopper, Nefeltari Vivi

***

"We build as only children know to build

We made a way where there's a will

No slowing down or standing still

Innocent and reckless

"How did we get so old and never notice

How did we gain the world and lose the moment

Rise and fall, the tide surrounds us

And drowns us all"

-Hands Like Houses

***

“You’re an idiot,” I said, staring at Zoro incredulously. “Ice swimming. It’s below freezing. Below. And what about Carue? You thought you should just leave the duck to guard the ship?”

“Everything was fine. I wasn’t going far.”

“Not going far? You ended up in Big Horn.”

“It was that stupid avalanche’s fault.”

“No. The avalanche must’ve pushed you to Big Horn, which means were on your way to Gyasta. You got lost.”

“I did not!” Zoro yelled.

“It took an avalanche to get you remotely back on course. You were lost.” I shook my head, getting back to my original point. “Your sense of direction isn’t the problem at the moment. It’s below zero out, and not only didn’t put on a coat, you actively took clothes off.”

“Will you let it go?”

“It was kind of stupid,” Luffy said.

“Says the boy, who’s running around in shorts, sandals a coat with only one arm,” I shot.

“Hey at least I put on a coat.” It was a strangely sound argument from the rubber boy.

“I will give you credit for that, but what about socks, shoes and long pants, huh? Gloves? A scarf?”

“What about them?”

I groaned in frustration. Next time Nami and I went shopping I was going to find a fabric store and buy everything I needed to make these boys snow suits. Then I was going to go to the hardware store and buy everything I needed to make sure that once I stuffed them in there, they couldn’t take them off. I was gonna need some yarn too, and knitting needles. They were gonna need hats and socks and scarves, and holy hell I was turning into Cal.

“All you have is that cloak,” Usopp pointed out.

“And at least two of almost every item of clothing I have on my body. Don’t turn this on me. I don’t have proper snow gear onboard. I was snatched up from Logue Town with no real warning, remember?”

We were outside. The medical ward was crowded with the people of Drum and Vivi, who was checking up on Nami and Sanji. The sun had dipped below the horizon, but the moon reflected off of the snow, lighting up the whole area. Usopp was making a snowman, Luffy was still trying to get the reindeer to join us, and I was nagging Zoro.

“Reindeer! Wherever you are, Reindeer come out!”

I would’ve taken a much quieter approach to getting the little guy to come out, seeing how timid he was, but this was Luffy. He did things his own way, which meant screaming for hours in order to find the reindeer. Because it was Luffy, it worked.

The reindeer appeared at the edge of the forest.

“Reindeer Guy!” Luffy greeted, when at last the small creature showed himself.

‘He’s so damn cute,’ I mentally cooed.

“Hey, you’re gonna come on our ship and be a pirate with us, kay?”

“I can’t.”

“Sure you can, Reindeer. It’s a whole lotta fun.”

“That’s not a very good argument.”

I shushed Usopp. “And you’re not helping. Mr. Shoot-Him.”

“I can’t. I’m not a human. I’m a reindeer. I have antlers and hooves, you see. I even have a blue nose. Okay. Maybe I do want to be a pirate, but I can’t ever be one of you. I’m not human. I’m a monster. I can’t be your friend, and I can’t become a pirate on your ship.”

How many times had he been told that? How many times had he been shunned? I saw my brothers and sisters under go the same thing. Hell, many of them treated me that way, when they first met me. My heart broke for the little guy.

“You see? I’m just here to say thank you. I appreciate you asking me to join your ship. That was really nice, so thank you. I’m going to stay here for now, but if you wanted to, you could stop by here again.”

I chuckled. Not a chance.

“SHUT UP! LET’S GO!”

“Most people don’t make friends by telling them to shut up,” Zoro grumbled.

“Most people aren’t Luffy,” I reminded him.

The little reindeer started crying, before running over to join us.

Nami and Vivi had made their way out, dragging Sanji behind them. “That cannot be good for his back,” I said, approaching them, while Luffy celebrated our newest crewmate.

“He’s fine,” Nami said. “He’s Sanji.”

“He’s human,” I reminder her, kneeling down to check on him.

“Sanji. Sanji.” I waved my hand in front of his face, but didn’t get any reaction. He was really out of it. “Wow.” I sighed, placing one arm under his legs the other carefully under his back and picked him up, walking over to, where Zoro was sitting.

“Wow, can’t even walk on your own. How pathetic.”

Still no reaction.

“He’s not even in it to pick a fight with you.” I looked towards the girls. “What did you do to him?”

“It wasn’t us. It was that crazy doctor lady.”

‘That’ll do it,’ I thought.

“Doctorine!” the reindeer exclaimed. “I have to say goodbye, and I’ll need my bag.”

“Well then what are you waiting for?” Luffy asked. “Go get it.

“We’ll be waiting for you right here,” I assured him.

The reindeer ran into the castle, while the rest of us waited outside.

Usopp continued to work on his snowman. I sat with Zoro, Sanji in my arms. The girls and Luffy stepped back, staring up at the castle. That lasted about all of two seconds, before Luffy got bored and started making a massive snow ball.

“Nami, how are you feeling? Are you completely recovered from your illness already?” Usopp asked.

I peered at the navigator curiously, wondering that myself. Not that she couldn’t feel better so quickly, but Nami had lied about feeling sick to begin with in order to get Vivi to Alabasta. She didn’t look sick. Her skin had regained much of its healthy color back. She wasn’t sweating. I knew her fever was gone, and she didn’t really show any signs of fatigue.

“Sure am. I feel great.” Nami shot Usopp a thumbs up.

“Hey. How about we say goodbye to that old doctor lady and that guy, Dalton, from the village?”

“Don’t be so insensitive. We need to leave Chopper alone with Doctorine for a while. He lived with her for six years. We should let them say good bye in peace.”

I tuned out of that conversation, instead focusing my attention on Usopp and Zoro, who were bickering with each other like idiots. “Still, you two?”

“He started it!”

“No, I did not!”

“I’m ending it,” I said with finality.

Zoro muttered something under his breath. I couldn’t catch what it was though.

I carefully set Sanji down. Vivi, seeming to realize I was up to something, kneeled by him.

“Speak up, Zoro. I can’t hear you,” I said, using my left hand to hold my cloak in place, while sneaking my right one down to the snowbank we were sitting on.

“What makes you think I was talking about you?” he asked. “Kind of self-centered don’t you think?”

“Look at you go. That makes two ribs from the human popsicle. You’re on a bit of a roll.”

“I was training.”

“Well then here. Let me help you!” I said, giving him a snowy face wash.

“Damn it, Mira!”

I cackled with glee, only to get shoved backwards off of the bank into the snow.

Zoro looked down at me, smug.

“Oh it’s on.”

I wrapped my legs around his waist and cranked to the side, knocking Zoro off of the snowbank onto the ground.

“What the hell are you doing?”

I didn’t answer, continuing my momentum, so that Zoro was on his stomach in the snow and I was on his back. I pulled his arm into a chicken wing hold. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but it was enough that he couldn’t use that arm.

“Mira! Damn you!”

“Say, ‘Mira sorry for running my mouth,’ and I’ll let go.”

“No,” Zoro said.

I cranked back a bit more. This time it probably hurt, no severely. I didn’t pull enough to cause any damage. “Say it!”

“What was that about ending it?” Usopp asked.

“You can be next,” I reminded him.

Usopp paled. “Oh now. I’m fine. Give it to him, Mira!”

“Mira, don’t break Zoro,” Luffy whined.

“She’s not gonna break me!” Zoro yelled defiantly.

“You wanna bet?” I asked, pulling back more.

“And here I thought that you were the only sane one,” Nami sighed.

“Oh honey, you thought wrong.”

You couldn’t have as many male brothers, cousins, and nephews as I did and not engage in some rough housing from time to time. It was all in good fun. I wasn’t going to actually hurt Zoro, just as Zoro hadn’t been out to hurt me, when he pushed me off the bank. It was fun, and considering the day that we had been through, the worry, the agitation, I needed fun.

“SAY IT!”

“FINE! I’M SORRY FOR RUNNING MY MOUTH!”

I let go of Zoro’s arm and sat up, still straddling his back. “See you’re not nearly as stupid as Sanji says,” I said, patting his back. I stood up, allowing Zoro roll over onto his back.

“You’re strong,” he said. “A lot stronger than I thought, considering how tiny you are.”

I extended a hand to help him up, which he took. I hoisted him to his feet, purposely pulling to hard, so that he stumbled. “Big things come in small packages.”

“I gotta train even harder.”

I grinned, hearing those mumbled words just fine.

Zoro took his seat on the snowbank once again. I took my spot next to him. Luffy and Usopp had gone to get the rope way ready for us to depart.

Nami explained her general plan for getting Vivi back to Alabasta to us, stopping only, when loud noises coming from the castle distracted her.

“What’s going on? There’s a lot of noise coming from the castle.”

“How inconsiderate, making all that noise, while those two are trying to say goodbye. That’s just down right rude.”

“It would be if it wasn’t them making all the noise,” I said, seeing Chopper with a sleigh attached, running away from Kureha, who was spinning a flail above her head.

“Hey! We got the rope way ready to go,” Usopp called.

“Everybody, hurry and get on the sleigh. We’re going to head down the mountain!” Chopper said.

I just picked up Sanji, cause regardless of how we were leaving, we were leaving. The spiked ball of the flail got everyone else moving. We hopped in the sleigh, holding on for dear life as Chopper booked it down the rope of the rope way. We were moving so fast that it was hard to stay in the sleigh. I had to give the little guy credit. He could run.

“WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!” Luffy screamed, flying behind the sleigh. Usopp had a hold of Luffy, using the seat to keep himself from falling out.

“LUFFY YOU IDIOT KNOCK IT OFF!” Nami yelled.

I held onto the railing with one arm and Sanji with the other.

“You know, you could hold on better, if you let the shitty cook go.”

“Mr. Bushido,” Vivi scolded, even though she was straining to hold on.

“Quit worrying about Sanji and hang to Vivi.”

“You damn marimo, don’t you even think about laying a hand on our precious princess!” Sanji yelled.

“Look who’s finally up. Sleeping beauty back to the land of the living.”

It took Sanji a moment the position we were in, but once we did, he completely and totally freaked. “Oh to be held in the arms of an angel! Mira, my sweet!”

With a hard thud that jolted all of us we landed back on the ground, still moving forward.

“That was fun. Reindeer can we do that again?”

“You idiot, we don’t have time for that.”

“Phew. I thought I was a goner.”

“What’s going on?” Sanji asked, confusion breaking through his love sickness.

“Oh Sanji, you’re awake,” Vivi sighed with relief. “How are you feeling?”

“Luffy, duck!” I yelled, my eyes, barely registering that the yellow and orange thing we sped past.

“What?”

“Carue!” I said, more clearly pointing in the appropriate direction.

“Carue! We forgot Carue!” Vivi looked back, alarmed.

“Grab him!” I yelled.

Luffy shot an arm out behind us, grabbing onto the bird, bringing him to the sled, when his arm snapped back.

“Oh Carue!” Vivi cried, hugging the duck. “I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. I got so caught up in everything-”

“I’m sure you would’ve realized, when we made it to the Merry,” Sanji said, comforting her. “After all, you wouldn’t get onboard until we found him back in Whisky Peak.”

“What were you doing wandering through the woods,” she asked.

Carue, squawked, shivering and huddling close to Vivi.

The sound of cannons firing, caused us to all look back towards the castle.

“Is she really firing cannon balls?” Zoro growled out.

“No,” I breathed out, amazed by the sight in front of me. “No. Chopper stop! Look!”

The reindeer peered back over his shoulder, coming to a halt.

A massive pink cloud surrounded the top of the mountain, we’d just come down, obscuring the castle. It resembled a tree, the cloud making up the crown and the mountain itself the trunk. The color wasn’t limited to the cloud. The snow that fell was the same shade. It looked like the petals of cherry blossoms. At least the ones in pictures. I had never seen a real-life cherry blossom before.

Kureha hadn’t been firing at us. She’d been giving Chopper one hell of a sendoff. I didn’t know the significance of this specific gesture, the story behind the pink snow, but considering the way that the little reindeer broke down, there was something there, something more than the pain of goodbye.

Our journey back to the ship was much slower now. There was no need to rush. Kureha wasn’t out to kill us. It gave us time to appreciate the beauty of everything.

When we finally made it to the ship, Chopper stopped, taking it in.

“Shishishishi! Welcome to your new home, Chopper.”

“The finest ship on all the seas, the Going Merry! Gifted to us by the kindest most gentle girl in the world, the amazing Kaya!”

“It’s okay Vivi! I’ll help you carry your beloved-“

“No!” I nixed that right in the bud. “Zoro, carry Carue. Sanji, you’re not carrying anything until Chopper gives you the okay.”

“But Mira-“

“And you’re not cooking.”

“Then how am I supposed to keep my lovely beauties-“

“Luffy, can I ban Sanji from the kitchen until he’s better?” I asked. Luffy was already back on the ship, having just hoisted himself up over the railing using his devil fruit. “I’ll cook.”

Luffy nodded.

“What?!”

“Sanji, you have to get better, so then you can make me more meat,” Luffy said seriously.

“Unbelievable,” Sanji muttered, heading for the ladder.

We all loaded up and set sail for Alabasta. The boys started goofing around on deck, having busted out the brew, while I headed into the kitchen to make everyone something to eat. It was a long day, I was hungry, so I knew the others had to be too, especially Luffy.

“Hey Mira,” Nami said from the door way.

“Yeah.”

“Can you make something special for Chopper? I think he’s a little overwhelmed with those idiots out there.”

“Already working on it,” I said. “Can you leave the door open, so that I can still hear everyone else?”

“Sure.”

“Thank you.”

She headed back out.

“Carue, I’m so sorry you had to wander around like that. After you had finally thawed out too. How’d you even end up in the river in the first place?”

Carue squawked out a response.

“That bird. Ten berries says he slipped and fell into the river. He’s a clumsy one,” Zoro jibed.

“He said he was on his way to the ship, because he didn’t know, where you guys were. He knew Zoro wasn’t in trouble any more he just wanted to find you,” Chopper said.

“How’d he get in the river in the first place?” I asked.

“He said Zoro jumped into the river and disappeared. He thought Zoro was in trouble, so he jumped into the river to help and ended up getting frozen in it,” Chopper translated.

“So this is all your fault!” Nami’s words were marked with the familiar sound of fist hitting skull.

“Cause you got lost,” I added, poking my head out to give him a very pointed look.

“Are you really able to understand everything that Carue’s saying?” Nami asked.

“Yes. I’m technically half animal by nature, so I can understand what they say.”

“You can talk to animals?”

“Oh wow Chopper! Between your medical skills and talking to animals, you have some amazing talents,” Nami praised him.

“Don’t be silly like that, you jerk! Flattering me like that isn’t going to make me happy or anything!”

“He sure looks happy.”

“What did you mean about Chopper’s medical skills?” Zoro asked.

“Well Chopper here is a doctor and a first rate one at that. Dr. Kureha taught him everything there is to know about medicine.”

The boys were all shocked. I walked over to the door way and laughed at their reactions.

“What? Impossible. Chopper are you seriously a doctor?”

“How cool!”

“No way!”

“Really Luffy if you didn’t know he was a doctor, what did you think he was, when you asked him to join us?” Nami asked.

“Magical talking transforming reindeer monster.”

“That’ll do it.”

“Back up food,” Sanji answered, scaring Chopper.

I glanced at the spoon in my hand. I thought about throwing it at Sanji, but ultimately decided that my glare was enough for now.

“Wait! Oh no! I was in such a big hurry, I left my medical bag behind that had all my tools in it!”

“But isn’t this it?” Nami held up a small blue backpack with a white x on it.

“It is my bag. How is that?”

“What do you mean?”

I headed back in, finishing up our meal, heading back out on the deck with the platter full of sandwiches.

Sanji’s smelled it, before he even saw it. “Ham, cheese, bread, egg, powdered sugar, preserves. The egg serves as a dip, instead of being fried. It’s not a croque-monsieur, but close. Monte Cristo?” he asked.

“You’re good. Comfort food,” I said, my hand catching Luffy’s face, before he could attack the platter. Stretched out his mouth, wrapping my hand around it, so that I could get a good grip on it, so that he couldn’t open it. That way even if he grabbed at the food, he couldn’t immediately go and start jamming it down his gullet.

“Chopper, Straw Hat survival tip number one. Always defend your food. If you take your eyes off of it for a second, Luffy will eat it.”

Chopper’s eyes widened.

“But if he does, I’m always willing to sneak you something else later.”

“What?” Zoro and Usopp yelled. I rolled my eyes.

“My darling, Mira, such a sweetheart.”

“Why does he get more food and we don’t?” Zoro asked.

“Yeah!”

“He’s adorable. He gets special privileges.”

“Ridiculous.”

Alright everyone dig in!”

Immediately, everything went to hell in a hand basket, but that was typical for us. It was the usual. Everyone was fending Luffy off. Zoro and Sanji started fighting about something stupid, which Luffy encouraged, mouth full of sandwiches. Carue scarfed his down so quickly that he started choking, causing Vivi to become even more frazzled. There was going to be a massive mess for me to clean up, but it was worth it.

Chopper sat off to the side with Nami eating his sandwiches. I snuck into the kitchen, grabbing my special dessert for Chopper and plopping down on the other side of him.

“Here,” I said, handing him the small dish. “It’s cookie dough dip that I made with homemade graham crackers that Sanji made. Just for you.”

“Really?”

I nodded. “Yep. All for you.”

He dug in. “This is so good! Thank you…”

“I never introduced myself. I’m so sorry. “I’m Zale Mira Kai, but just call me Mira.”

“She’s the ship stewardess,” Nami explained.

“Luffy’s our captain, as you already know, and Zoro’s first mate.”

“Not that he acts like one.”

I snorted, nodding. “Usopp is our sniper.”

“Sanji’s our cook.”

“He blows my food out of the water by the way.”

“I’m the navigator.”

“And Vivi and Carue are from Alabasta, which is where we’re heading.”

Chopper looked at everyone. Luffy was still cheering, switching from Zoro to Sanji and back again. Usopp was screaming, trying to be heard.

“Hey. You know they’re crazy, but I’ve never had this much fun ever!”

“Good,” Nami and I echoed each other, smiling at the young reindeer.

“I propose a toast to our new friend Chopper!” Usopp finally managed to yell out over the chaos. The boys stopped fighting long enough to grab their mugs and raise them in the air.

***

Notes:

***

Previous | Next

***

Master List | Mobile Version

[chimchimchoo]

Paper Cranes :: 2

Genre: Fluff/Angst

Word Count: 1,920

Pair: Jimin x Yoongi

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (of 7)

“Every Monday, Park Jimin would come into his white, sterile hospital room and leave a small paper crane at the end of his bed.”

The day was dark; the Sun was hidden away behind a blanket of thick, grey clouds. The birds outside were quiet and the wind was still. If the temperature dropped any lower, it could snow outside. Yoongi never had the opportunity to go outside and see the snow, as he always spent time in the hospital or locked himself in his bedroom, focused on writing music.

He thought about what it would be like, to bury his hands into the fluffy, white substance, to see his own nose turn pink and watch the fog come out of his mouth whenever he exhaled. He daydreamed about a snowball fight, or building a small snowman with a rock for a nose instead of a carrot.

Instead, Yoongi sat in his bed, sipping hot peach tea with the soft whirring of the oxygen machine beside him. A small knock interrupted the silence but he didn’t flinch. He was used to nurses coming in and out to check his vital signs and make sure the machines functioned normally. Yoongi kept his eyes on the window, ignoring the sound of light footsteps until he heard the dragging of a stool and a familiar, high-pitched voice.

“Min Yoongi, it’s really cold outside today.”

He turned his head to see the beaming pumpkin haired boy with pink cheeks and a thick, green scarf wrapped around his neck. He peeled off his winter coat, revealing a dark brown sweater that contrasted with his hair and light skin. Yoongi glanced away, concerned that he may have been staring too long. “You do realize this is a hospital, right? People tend to be alone so they can recover.” He muttered.

“But it doesn’t mean that they enjoy being alone.” Jimin responded, pulling out a thick book. Yoongi could have sworn he felt his heart flutter for just a moment, but forced himself to ignore it. He was wrong, very wrong. Yoongi enjoyed his time alone; he preferred it than having worried visitors that drained his energy. Right?

“Um, what is that?” Yoongi peered down at the book, gesturing it with his eyes while setting his tea down.

“Min Yoongi,” Jimin dropped the book down on his lap.

“Yoongi. Just Yoongi.” He flinched at the sudden heavy weight on his leg. How many pounds was this book?

“I found this in the library today, it’s a textbook of music and lyric writing. You were struggling with lyrics last week so I thought this would give you some inspiration.”

Yoongi didn’t have the heart to say it, but he was actually touched by the kind gesture. Since he could never leave the room to find inspiration, Jimin bought it to him. Why hadn’t he thought of that? “I might give this a read, maybe it’ll…kick me out of writers block or something. Thanks.” He tried to hide the admiration while flipping through the pages, skimming over the different terms he saw. Already, he came up with the next line of his composition.

“Do you have any siblings? Any family members that come to visit? Should I not come during certain times?” There he went again with the questions. That boy never stood a change to give Yoongi’s brain a break.

“I don’t get visitors often, actually. They visit once in a while, but it’s rare. My older brother is studying abroad and my family has jobs that restrict them from coming. I get more phone calls than visits.” He regretted saying some of these words, Yoongi wasn’t one to share about himself easily, but something about Jimin’s presence makes him feel like he doesn’t have to hold back much. “What about you? What brings you to this hospital?”

“Oh,” Jimin twirled the stool around, staring at the ceiling with a smile. “My dad is in Room 602, I visit him every Monday after class to keep him company.”

“He must enjoy that.” Yoongi responded, growing dizzy just from watching Jimin spin.

“I hope so.” Jimin replied.

Yoongi’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean? He can’t possibly be unentertained with that blabbering mouth of yours.”

“He’s in a coma, for 11 months and 9 days now. But he will wake up soon…I know it. His vitals are getting better each day.” Jimin stopped himself, giggling from the dizziness and used the chair to steady himself. Yoongi only watched with a frown on his face. He couldn’t understand how that boy always had a smile, what kept him so optimistic? Yoongi couldn’t imagine having a family member of his own in a coma, especially for that long. Just the thought of it was too painful.

Jimin dug into his bag and pulled out some more papers and a pencil bag, scooting himself closer to the small desk on Yoongi’s bed.

“What are you doing?” Yoongi asked Jimin carefully spread out his papers on the empty side of his desk. “I have homework to do.” He beamed and ran a hand through his hair, pulling the pumpkin colored strands out of his eyes before focusing on the task.

Yoongi’s eyebrows rose as he watched, confused. He didn’t know if he should be annoyed that some kid barged in to do his homework, or comforted by his presence and the fact that he took time out of seeing his father once a week to be in the same room as Yoongi, someone he barely knew.

Realizing that Jimin was actually quiet for once, he turned his eyes away from staring too long, put the black headphones over his ears and continued making his music, occasionally skimming through the book. Every now and then, he would also peek over at Jimin, whose eyebrows furrowed in frustration over the math problems, not noticing that there was a small smile across Yoongi’s face.

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With a deep, raspy sigh, Yoongi peered out the window, taking a short break from writing lyrics for a few hours and thought of the snow again. It looked like powdered sugar when he saw it in movies, did it taste sweet? Or was it bitter like the salty ocean? Did it crunch under their shoes or melt into liquid?

A light knock was heard as a nurse walked in with a tray in her arms. “It’s time for another checkup Yoongi, today I need to draw some blood-oh, Jimin! I see you’ve made another friend.” She smiled as Jimin lifted his head and twirled his pencil. “I don’t know how you do it, getting to know everyone in this hall. But I’m sure they appreciate it the company, don’t you Yoongi?”

Yoongi didn’t respond as the nurse set the tray on a small table beside the bed.

“I like Min Yoongi the best though.” Jimin, you literally just met me last week, Yoongi bit his lip and held out his arm toward the nurse. “He’s around my age so I can talk to him more comfortably.” Jimin smiled as the nurse wiped Yoongi’s arm with a small cotton ball.

She picked up a needle, carefully searching for a vein before piercing it through his skin. Jimin didn’t flinch at the sight, as he must have watched the procedure hundreds of times with his father whereas, Yoongi’s eyebrows furrowed in pain, looking away. It must have been obvious how uncomfortable needles made him because he felt a warm hand on his free arm and glanced at Jimin.

“Hey, do you like the beach or the forest?”

“What?”

“Just answer it.”

Yoongi thought over it for a few seconds and opened his mouth. “Forest.

“Breakfast or dinner?”

“Dinner.” He replied quickly. “I’m not a morning person.”

Jimin smiled at his comment. “What’s your favorite thing to eat?”

“Lamb skewers.”

A flash of surprise appeared across his face. “You know, there’s a famous restaurant just down the street from here that sells lamb skewers. It’s supposed to be the best in this city! Let’s eat there, you will love it-” The nurse looked up and slightly shook her head toward Jimin, silently telling him he couldn’t leave the hospital that easily. “Or, I’ll just bring it to you!”

“You don’t have to bring me any lamb skewers, I can survive just fine on hospital food.” But Yoongi mentally wished he would do it one day. The thought of eating lamb skewers made his mouth water. He was sick of the bland food they served at the hospital.

“There we go.” The nurse muttered, covering the puncture with a Band-Aid and neatly set the tubes of his blood samples on the tray. “You’re all finished and it looks like your oxygen flow is steady as of now. I will be back later with your medication.” She smiled before quickly exiting his room.

“You’re not a fan of needles are you?” Jimin finally took his hand off of Yoongi’s arm and picked up his pencil. Yoongi realized he distracted him the whole time and forgot the nurse was even drawing his blood. He sighed in relief and silently thanked Jimin.

“No, no I’m not. I don’t like pain.”

“No one does.” Jimin chuckled quietly and continued his homework.

Just a few minutes later, the nurse showed up again with a small bag, hooking it over Yoongi’s bed before attaching an IV needle to his arm. To his rescue, Jimin shared a story of how he almost got kicked out of the dance room the first time he snuck in and had to clean the bathrooms for a week as a punishment. A faint smile appeared across Yoongi’s face as the nurse collected her things and left for good.

While Jimin focused on the last few pages of his assignment, Yoongi’s eyes wavered toward him, watching him erase a mistake on the paper. What about Jimin? Had he seen the snow before? Did he know what it tasted like? Did his hands go numb after having snowball fights for hours without gloves? What was it like to build a snowman with him?

“Min Yoongi,” The soft, high-pitched voice interrupted his thoughts. “Visiting hours are almost over, I still have to see my dad.” Just for a split second, Yoongi felt his heart sink, but he understood. His father was much more important after all.

“Hold onto that book until you finish it. I’ll pick it up when you’re done.” Jimin scrambled his papers into a notebook and shoved it in his bag. He made his way to the window next to Yoongi’s bed and checked to see if it was shut and secure. “Make sure you dress warm, there’s cold air leaking into the room.”

Jimin smiled, wrapping the green scarf around his neck and hung the winter coat over his arm. “I think my father will like you, you’re both really alike. Maybe he’ll have the honor of meeting you when he wakes up.” He gave Yoongi a small wave before skipping out of the room, leaving the door opened a crack behind him.

Yoongi couldn’t help but smile, but it went away as soon as he realized the room was empty again. All he heard was his oxygen machine and pacing steps of nurses rushing down the hallway. Perhaps Jimin was right. He may have been alone a lot, but did he actually like it?

Before Yoongi flipped a page of the book Jimin lent him, he spotted a small object from the corner of his eyes. Sitting at the corner of his bed was a small, delicate paper crane.

This time, the color was white, like snow.