#I think I just made luka glue???

[yanxidarlings]

wait can i request platonic yandere nordics headcanons? not separated. uh if this is weird feel free to ignore it.

𝒴𝒜𝒩𝒟𝐸𝑅𝐸 𝒫𝐿𝒜𝒯𝒪𝒩𝐼𝒞 𝒩𝒪𝑅𝒟𝐼𝒞𝒮 𝒳 𝑅𝐸𝒜𝒟𝐸𝑅

• there is a multitude of ways this could go, perhaps you're a member of the nordics yourself, or maybe you're a country that's helped them out in the past, or just a friend of one of them that the rest have gotten attached to. one way or the other now you're stuck with five yandere's on your back, good luck.

• it's most likely finland or denmark met you first, both more outgoing then the rest of the nordics. it was probably tino that got attached first, he has a natural inclination to taking care of people, and when his darling, at least in his mind, looked to be in need of a loving family, how could tino deny them that?.

• he's clingy towards you, you'll start running into him more and more often, and since you're both there you two might as well hang out. a subtle yandere, tino really just seems like a mother hen, wanting to take care of you at all times, he pretty much just inserts himself into his darlings life. he tries to do things for them and his pretty affectionate, which comes off as overbearing to his darling, who's only known him for a month.

• sweden would take it upon himself to 'investigate' this new person his 'wife' has been suddenly doting over. you'd notice the shadow of a man wherever you went for a while, and eventually berwald would be introduced to you by tino.. and you aren't afraid of him. with even tino being slightly jumpy around him, his darling would be a breath of fresh air. it would be obsession at first sight, he and tino might just start planning to take you to stay with them from that point onward.

• similarly to sweden, denmark is one to attach hard and fast, matthias was probably just on his way to drag berwald out for a drink when he notices the swede 'observing' you from afar. how could berwald hide you from him this long! (it's only been like six weeks since you met tino), he's quick to glue himself to your side, without any intention to ever share you with someone else

• when denmark realises sweden and finland are also after his darling, he doesn't hesitate to take them away with him, without outside distractions. it'll be the perfect life, just his darling and their 'big brother denmark', except neither sweden or finland would ever back down.

• you might end up in a situation where you just keep getting kidnapped back and forth, tino is furious when he finds out and promptly moves you into his house, he hadn't planned on taking you so forcefully, he and berwald had agreed that they'd convince you to move in on your own, but then matthias just nad to go and escalate things.

• you know when you're at a friends house and they start arguing with their family?, it's like that but ten times worse.

• norway would be a different story entirely, thinking little of you when you first met him, actually, he probably doesn't even like you that much, he wouldn't become a yandere until you'd been kidnapped by the others. lukas will start getting sick of the madness and kidnap you himself until they calm down, he really had no intention of becoming so attached to you himself, but whether it was your passion for something, smile, laugh, heck maybe you can see his trolls, but his fellow nordics obsessions with you will gradually make more sense to him.

• you'd have much more freedom with norway, he can just use his magical friends to keep track of you, so at least you're not chained to a basement. once denmark, sweden and finland realise norway has you, they'll begrudingly come to the agreement to share you fairly.

• it was iceland that probably made the suggestion for them to just share you, he hadn't been really involved in the drama until you'd stay at their house as an 'official' member of the family. initially all he'd feel towards his darling was sympathy, having dealt with the other nordics overbearingness before, he'd be a breath of fresh air to his darling, the only 'normal' person, you're probably fonder of him then he is of you at first. emil becomes a yandere slowly, and quickly, one day he just attachs to them, especially if they treat him like an adult and not a child like the other nordics do.

• slowly but surely you'll end up with five clingy, obsessive, overprotective and possessive yandere's after you. after the madness of coming to the agreement of sharing you fairly, you'll be given more freedom, but rest assured that they'll never truely let you go.

[miraculouscontent]

Anonymous asked:

I think that the thing that bothers me most about the show is how it pushes the idea that "true love" is painful. Marinette can't be with Luka, a boy who she genuinely loves being and spending time with. Instead, she has to be with a boy she endlessly pines for, even when she wants to give up on him. The universe punishes her at every turn, treating her like a punching bag. It takes out all the joy of being in love. Sure it's not always easy, but ML makes romance look miserable.

Honestly. If this was the kind of romance I saw when I was younger, I’d never want to be in love. I’ve seen love triangles that last over one hundred episodes that are less painful than this.

I still wanted the endgame ship to get together. I still had fun even during the more painful moments. There’s just no fun in the love square, and the show has basically admitted to itself that the only way to keep it together is with duct tape, glue, and cheating Marinette out of her other option.

ladylucina28 asked:

I dunno if it has been mentioned here or I'm forgetting it but a pattern a friend and I have noticed is that Marinette has almost no respect to her autonomy. When she says she isn't ready to confess or she doesn't wanna date Chat or declines anything, everyone and their mother pushes her into doing the thing or punishes her for not doing it. So our main girl says "No" and everyone just yeets her consent out the window to make her do it. I wanna hug her

You’re absolutely right, it’s a pattern. Fictional characters have no “real” agency, but we as an audience are supposed to feel as if they do.

We don’t get that with Marinette because so many of her choices are forced by someone else?

The ladybug miraculous? She was “chosen” for it and the person she’d planned on giving it to ended up being trapped, forcing her hand in choosing it herself “““for real.”““

Being a guardian? Fu just decided to train her and then she got the role forced on her when Fu renounced the box.

She tries to confess? Everything’s against her. She tries to move on? Everything’s still against her and no one cares.

Even the “decisions” she’s made - such as defending Chat to Su-Han - are made without all the information, because the show hides things that Chat is done from her so she’ll make the decision that it wants.

Being with Luka (not even romantically, just in general) was one of the few things that was largely in her control. Getting close to him, asking him out to the ice rink, playing guitar with him, deciding to give their relationship a chance... that was all her.

How convenient then, that the one thing forced upon her was her feeling like she had to break up with him.

[jrueships]

i’m logging back oh man how i missed tumblr and how i loveee your blog! i’m laughing with the switch and bttm players. yes yes luka seems like a sub bttm! and kuz is a switch! i agree that mariah is probably pegging giannis 😈. giannis probably does things with them boys too. also jrue got the best white house outfit! draymond is obviously a dom like his ugly ass is so controlling and corny. and we all know steph is kinda sus! sorry ayesha we’re not that serious here 😭. but yeah trae seems so desperate sometimes it’s so funny. he’s like confused all the time, waiting for someone to make a move first 😭. your thoughts on keldon? he’s such a cute bundle of laughter, i can’t imagine him being a top… and guess what? i got a tip that jimmy have a big dingdong and got stamina for days. he’s kinda a talker and controlling too. so i don’t agree with him being the bttm one! well maybe dom bttm? like have you seen jimmy? girl he’s so whewww. and bam? bam is such a cute big fella idc! he’s probably a sub too 🤣. oh after seeing the latest post, i wonder if kyle is ruining the bam and jimmy duo? SORRY for this long ask and i’m going to HELL with this fr fr

THIS ENTIRE ASK IS ...

GENUINELY... DO NOT KNOW HOW TO RESPOND. WHERE TO sTART ??? the phrase '..and guess what? i got a tip that Jimmy have a big dingdong' is going to glue itself to my BRAIN i LITERALLY cannot stop LAUGHING at that sentence HELP ???? URE SO FUNNY??? THIS IS SUCH A GOOD ASK DONT WORRY OR APOLOGIZE QKDBEJB I SAW IT AND HAD TO REREAD IT LIKE 50 TIMES IT WAS SO GOOD WKBFKEB???? IM SO GLAD U LIKE THE BLOG AND IM EVEN GL A D - E R THAT U LOGGED BACK IN OMG UR MIND ???? UR WOrdS ??? HELP ???? I HAVE NEVER WANTED TO KNOW WHO AN ANON WAS MORE THAN NOW pLEASE. I NEED TO KNOW WHICH ARTISAN CREATED THIS JUST FOR ME ???????? SRS THIS IS SO GOOD I AKFBKSBF IT RLLY MADE MY DAY BRUH BUT ANYWAYS LETS GET TO IT 😭😭

LITERALLY ... UR MIND.. the way u See the subpremacy !!! AND the giannis peggage EXACTLY he and she are TOO BEAUTIFUL n o t to have tried it !!!! giannis' jokes about it paid off when he finally learns what it ACTUALLY is☝! ALSO ... ' giannis probably does things with them boys too ' HELP WLNDWK honestly the bucks really Are just a large poly frat of dads! Love that for them !! bucks polycule REMAINS doin things 😳😳 And YEAH SO TRUE !!!! Jrues SLAPPED !!! I think his wife dressed him or smthin but he slapped with the STYLE !!! I wonder if he won the 'best dressed to the white house' award LMAO fake or NOT he should GET IT !!!! even though he'd probably run away when they try giving it to him & all start complimenting him without him being able to compliment back LMAO

DRAYMONDS UGLY ASS 😭😭 he really was born with a receding hairline, giant forehead, AND a mouth breather huh 😭 (it's okay im a mouth breather too I understand the pain of always looking like you're hexxed or in a void) he has it ROUGH and it should only be FAIRR that he can be a little ROUGH too !!!! Im sure swaggy p wouldn't Mind at All . . Steph sus steph sl*t it BEEN known # girlboss 💙💙

The trae thoughts are SO cute awww.. little incel fratboy trae !! He's good with whatever his partner is willing to give! Just wants to make em feel good n whatnot ! he's very Gremlin evil and surpasses twinkhood via evil gremlin mastermind tendencies BUT that DOESNT mean he can't be soft sometimes !!!! Exactly!

About keldon... here's one of my Twitter mutual's Thoughts on him from a While back . .

WHO TOLD U THAT ABOUT JIMMY HELP??? and WHY were you wonderin about it in the First place hmm 🤨 ??? Suspicious.. but YEAH this is SO funny QJBDJW I fr want ur prose not even being sarcastic this was the greatest thing to read ever KABDJW but YEAH (x2) !! I can see jimmy as a Dom bttm! Very bossy, likes telling his top what he can do.. not sure if he's reached Russ's levels of Dom bttming but he's Around There !!!! But yeah Switch jimmy is ... a Thought. He is Insane he is Unbridled !!! Kyle rlly went from service top deebo to JIMMY. pray 4 that little man and his as(s)pirations bro

YEAH!! IKR ! bam is SO cute he deserves a little **** just a LITTLE ! him being a sub is also a BIG brain idea !!! I am looking Exactly at it op!! He's also very kinda Smartassy, HAS to get the last word HAS to snap back (as seen by his brief ball scuffle with kd at the Olympics .. where he literally STOLE keldons ball 😭😭). i think he can be ur sorta mean teasing tp or your brat bttm yaknow it all Depends ! Kyle WISHES he had the range !!!

ABOUT THE LAST ONE, that's an INTERESTING query!!!!! A little problem in paradise perhaps??? LMFAO idk! I personally, going off bam's smartass dumbassery, like to see his relationship with kyle just being like. Competition 24/7 but the VIBES! they don't Necessarily compete like? Physically, but with Wit. Because bam and jimmy banter 24/7 and are both petty bitches AND NOW.. bam has to deal with TWO petty bitches.. and kyle is Extra powerful because he's a little man with nothing to lose and bam can only lose So much until he goes home and starts beating up his backpack pretending it's kyle LMAO. I think they just Really like getting on each other's nerves! They being said tho ... i wonder if they.. Do compete physically tho? hm.. some food 4 thot

Also ...... deebo/kyle/jimmy/bam 4some WHEN 🤨??? And HOW ... hmmm. Much food 4 thot

[motherofwoofers]

A Very Verfound Christmas

This is my gift to @verfound for the LBSC Secret Santa 2020 -Extravaganza! This it a Teen rated fic for some implied thoughts, and the ability to keep up with vague clues! 

---

Here’s the thing-

When he’d woken up this morning, he had every intention of celebrating a short work day and another successful year of endless toy making. After all, it was Christmas Eve. Work. Watch the sleigh launch. Rock out in one of the Jingle Halls. Join the rest of the elves in bringing in the Christmas Dawn. Then sleep the entirety of Christmas Day.

As he had the last seventy odd years.

But as of five seconds ago, he was pretty sure he didn’t even remember his own name, let alone what he was doing later tonight, or even what he needed help with-

“What?” Luka blinked rapidly, before clearing his voice. Bright blue eyes blinked back.

“Do you need help with those?” Liquid sugar rolled off her tongue, he was certain of it. There was no other feasible way for her voice to be so sweet and melodic. Liquid sugar from pink glossed lips.

Those?

It took him a moment before his mind snapped back into action. Those.

Those were a pallet of last minute dolls that had been assembled and programmed incorrectly. Which, in reality wasn’t even in his department of toy making. They were his green haired absentee best friend’s. A certain friend who had slapped his ass, clocked off early, and dashed, leaving him to try to figure out how to get an entire pallet of singing ice queen dolls fixed, wrapped, and loaded onto the sleigh before launch.

Except, he really didn’t mind all of a sudden.

“I’m, uh, looking to drop these off with the doll repair department. Except I don’t even remotely know where that is,” he tried to drop his best grin at the end, and bit back a goofy grin when her face lit up red.

“Oh,” bright blue eyes blinked again, “this is the art department.” He watched as a small frown turned down her sweet lips, a furrow forming between her soft dark brows. His heart pounded in his chest painfully as a full pout took over the elf’s face. Then just as quickly, her face was lighting up, eyes wide. “Hold on one second! Stay right there! I think I can help.” The raven haired girl disappeared behind the door he had just knocked on, door shutting with a loud click in his face before his attention was drawn to the loud whirring around the corner.

Pulling the pallet of dolls along, he followed the sound to see a large bay door opening, as well as a sight he’d never let his mind forget.

Back lit by the shop lights behind her, the elf stood before him, hands triumphantly placed on her hips as she grinned at him. Curvy. Petite. And dressed in something he was pretty sure wasn’t the usual uniform. Because if it was, he was switching departments immediately.

Red and white striped stockings ran the length of her legs, a hint of creamy skin revealed where garters kept them in place, before disappearing beneath a red tutu flared out just enough to test the boundaries of cute and oh. A black vest trimmed in glitter wrapped her frame like a second skin, dipping dangerously low in the front. A view he knew would become increasingly distracting the closer he stood to her. He could just make out the twin coat tails attached in the back to round out her look.

Oh, sweet candy canes.

A sculpted arm waved him forward, “Come on in. I’m Marinette by the way.”

He was fairly certain he’d left his jaw on the floor, a good meter behind him, when he tried to respond, “Luka. Luka Couffaine.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Luka Couffaine,” she giggled, leading him further into the shop. Smooth, Couffaine.

Most of the machines and monitor screens were quiet, though some of the holo displays still had their most recent projects lit up and rotating. Lights were slowly kicking back on as they moved towards what looked like a small carpeted studio area, sectioned off from the immense space with a curved control panel. Then there was the color. It was everywhere, on everything. The control panel itself looked as if someone had gone crazy with spray paint and glitter glue. An extreme contrast to his department, where most of the spaces were walled off and smaller, but cozy and themed.

Two different ways to keep inspiration high.

“Go ahead and bring them over here so I can see what we’re dealing with,” Marinette pointed towards an empty space near a work table. As he powered the hover units down on the hand truck, effectively parking the dolls, he became aware of one very specific thing:

The Couffaines definitely had a pixie kink.

Marinette stepped out of heels he hadn't even been aware she was wearing, until she went from chin height to his chest.

And just as she had dropped in height, so did his eyes. Beaming blue eyes, determined pink lips, and --ffff the swell of her chest, emphasized by the matching red bra he could just barely see peeking from beneath. Being tall was both a blessing and a curse. When it came to which one it was right now, he was fairly certain his name was dropping rapidly from the Nice List.

Tearing his eyes away, Luka shifted his attention back to the original problem at hand.

“The doll is dressed in her sister’s attire, and to top it off the music department loaded it with the wrong song. This is the first movie’s song, and not the recent release.” He lifted the platinum haired doll, easily sliding her from the plastic twists they’d been forced to switch too. A small hand reached out to take the doll from his hand, before it was meticulously examining the fabrics. He would’ve expected the petite elf’s hands to be soft and smooth, but they were nearly as strong and callused as his own.

“I think we can fix this. How long do we have before launch?” She swivelled away quickly, setting a few things into motion as she took control. A holoscreen popped up from the control panel, before she flicked it up into the air to hover a few meters off the ground. The countdown to launch was displayed in bright red numbers. “Oh good, we’ve got five minutes until launch. Plenty of time.”

“Plenty of time?” He questioned, a bit disbelieving. Granted, it was a decent amount of time, but how in the world were they going to get it done. “I don’t know anything about dolls. I work in sound effects.”

“They essentially just need their outfits updated, which I can do. And the correct song recorded over their music chip, which you can do.” She was already pulling the dolls free from their boxes, while simultaneously preparing the work space before her.

“Amazing,” he breathed to himself. “I don’t know how to record songs onto these, though.”

“Don’t worry! We used to fix stuff all the time in my old department. You know those toys where the voice doesn’t sound like the actual character? That’s because it’s an elf,” she whispered, even though it was just the two of them. “They’ve got a small recording studio in here, we just need to get the right song track set up and you’ll sing over it. And don’t worry, the program will alter your voice, no talent needed!”

She made it all seem so simple.

He stood there for a moment watching her move about, removing clothes from the dolls, sourcing different fabrics, and selecting different re-hue pens.

All he had planned on doing was dropping them off, and now here he was, fixing them.

But there was definitely nowhere else he’d rather be than where he was right now.

Wandering over to the recording studio on the other side of the control panel, he flicked through a few of the screens that hummed to life, but found it hard to keep his eyes from drifting.

“Your outfit is pretty cute. Were you going to one of the parties or a date?” He watched out of the corner of his eye to avoid facing her directly. But he wished he had when he saw the beautiful rosy color from earlier spread across her cheeks and bloom all the way to the tips of her elegantly pointed ears. “I hope I didn’t ruin any of your plans.”

A tiny squeaked, “Thank you,” came long before the rest of her response. “No date. A celebration actually. I don’t normally dress sooo…..” she waved her hands at her body.

“Oh?” The audio track he needed began to play loudly in the speakers around him, blaring out high notes neither of them were prepared for. Marinette nearly fell from the stool she’d placed herself on, naked doll and hue-pens flying, as he scrambled to turn it down. “Sorry!”

“I’m okay! I’m okay!” Her hands were waving him off as she went in search of her things, dropping onto her hands and knees. He could see her crawling around underneath the control panel, skirt bobbing dangerously. Pale skin flashed, and the bare curve of her rear came into view for a moment’s breath, before her skirt dipped to cover her once more.

“I’m definitely on the naughty list,” he muttered. Taking a moment to himself, Luka closed his eyes and dropped into the swivel chair behind him, swivelling slowly. Think about something else. Anything else.

“Are you kidding me? After we fix this fiasco right before launch, we are going on the Nice list for sure. I would know!” Luka stopped spinning to find Marinette settled on her stool and working on the dolls once more.

“There’s no way you’ve ever been on the Naughty List.”

Mischievous blue eyes looked over at him, sending his heart fluttering once more, before she grinned. “I’ve been on the Naughty List.”

He sat up in his seat, intrigue pulling him to full attention. With an impatient flick of his wrist, the screen between them flew off to the right, taking the lyrics with it.

“Do tell.”

“Wellll, I got in trouble for a little breaking and entering and theft of personal property,” he watched her lips roll between her teeth as she tried to keep up her nonchalant facade. He blinked, surprised none the less.

“Hardcore,” he grinned, thoroughly satisfied when her face flamed up again.

“I didn’t keep it!” She squeaked out and he couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled out of his chest.

“I believe you,” he winked. Her blush deepened, and she swivelled away to hide the way she bit into her lip. Damn did that feel good.

Pulling the lyrics back in front of him, he set about analyzing the song and tune, easily working silently in the space with her. He took a quick glance at the countdown, and breathed a sigh of relief when it read five minutes ‘til launch still.

Positioning the microphone in front of his face, he lost himself in the song. Testing out his ability to reach with his vocals, muscles he didn’t get the chance to use as frequently as his other band members.

“Wow.”

Luka looked up to find Marinette only a few paces away, clutching a full arms worth of redesigned dolls. The amazement on her face, brought blood rushing to his own cheeks. He cleared his throat awkwardly, and poured more focus than necessary into saving the music file.

“You’re beautiful-- I-- I mean your voice is beautiful! I didn’t know you could actually sing,” she was setting the dolls down and moving closer, the smell of sweet baked goods surrounding her and intoxicating his senses.

“Well, these dolls look like they should be on collector’s shelves.” He lifted one of the ice queens up, marvelling at Marinette’s ability to not only change the entire outfit but make it better than the original. He followed her lead as she sent the dolls through a reprogramming shoot, catching them at the end to repackage them. “You didn’t learn those skills from the mass production team.”

The smile on her face caught his attention. The way it lifted her cheeks, set light to her eyes. She pulled the doll from his fingers, and he realized he’d been staring.

“No. I actually learned on my own. It’s a hobby of mine- making clothes. So doing it in miniature wasn’t too hard.” The machines around him were shutting down as he realized she had already finished packing everything away. Not to be the worst helper around, he carried most of the boxes back to the pallet. “Your voice. It really is amazing, you know.” She turned to him brightly as he powered the hover units back on, and the hand truck lifted from the ground. “You remind me of one of my favorite performers! Jolly Stone!”

“I love Jolly Stone! I’m actually in a band, we’re performing later tonight. If you’d like, you could come watch us perform. We’re not famous or anything. Just my sister and two of our friends.”

“Oh. That sounds fun, but I’ve got my party right after this! Which actually-” she glanced at the countdown- ”I’m late for! It’s five minutes ‘til launch!” He watched her devolve into panic, frantically searching for her things. She looped a scarf around her neck, slipping her arms into a long coat that fell past her skirt. Standing on one leg, she attempted to put her heels on, before tipping forward. With speed he wasn’t aware he’d possessed, he leapt forward catching her in his arms before she could take a spill onto the floor.

Sugar plum fairies were going to be dancing in his dreams tonight.

Delectably sweet smelling, and tantalizingly light in his arms. He found himself molding her small frame to his body as he lifted her to her feet. Those bright blues caught him again, and parted lips begged for him to lean in. Painfully he let his hands drift away from her body once he was sure she was steady, and immediately he wished he hadn’t.

Her next attempt was far more successful, and even still he offered his arm to her as they left the art department. When her hand slipped around his elbow to secure herself, he let the smile show on his face. Then let the grin take over, when Marinette dipped her face down, blush rising up her ear tips.

“I don’t wear heels often. I’m a total klutz, I should’ve known better.” He frowned at her self admonishment, but kept any comments to himself. “I just thought they went so well with my outfit. Plus I wanted to look cute for my party.”

“Right, this party. You said it was a celebration and you’re late?”

“Oh, yes! My old coworkers and friends are throwing me a party for my promotion. I’m actually from district South 12th. I was, um, going through some things. Naughty List and all,” an embarrassed giggle slipped free, but she continued on. “So, when I saw a management position pop up in South 10th’s Art Department, I applied for it. Today was my first day.”

“First of all, congratulations on the promotion. Second, I’m sorry to hear you were going through some things, but I’m not sorry that it led you here. Otherwise I’m not sure I would’ve met you.” He gave her a small bump with his arm, but made sure to keep a tight grip on her hand just in case.

“Me too.” And when he glanced down she was smiling brightly to herself.

“So after we drop these off at Wrappings, I could walk you to your party if you’d like? I have to meet my sister in South 12th anyways.”

“Does your sister work in South 12th?”

“Yeah, she’s in the music department though. Not art, so not sure you’d know her.” As they came around the corner, they found themselves in line with the other last minute toy deliverers.

“I actually have friends in music!” Luka watched as her face scrunched up in thought, nose wiggling adorably. “Hmmm, Couffaine.... Wait a second!” She turned to him, eyes searching his face, furrow finding her brows. “Juleka’s last name used to be Couffaine. Are you related to her?”

And this was the moment when Luka realized that the whole Christmas-Magic-works-in-mysterious-ways thing his mother always claimed, was in fact, real.

“That’s my sister,” he chuckled, watching the excited surprise on her face.

“She never mentioned having a hot brother!” The loud gasp, before she slapped a pale hand over her mouth made him laugh harder. “I mean… she never mentioned having a brother,” she sputtered.

“Of course she wouldn’t. I’m lame in her book.” Externally he was playing it cool, but internally he was pretty sure his insides were about ready to burst. The most amazingly adorable and badass elf he had ever met thought he was hot.

A Wrappings coordinator waved them towards a platform to leave their pallet on, and Luka took the opportunity to calm his excitement, so that he didn’t look like a giddy cherub when he sauntered back to her side.

“You know, Jueka was going to my party. And I’m not sure if you had any other plans, but if you have time before your performance… you could come celebrate with us. It’s not just a coworkers thing. But if you don’t want to or don’t have time, I totally understand. It is last second after all, and you barely know me-”

“Marinette.” Her lips clamped closed suddenly, and those eyes he was beginning to truly lose himself too, watched him.

“I would love to go to your party with you. My performance isn’t until right before the Christmas Dawn. I’ve got all night.” He slid his hands into his pockets, to keep them from reaching out to hold her again. The expressions crossing her face were a mixture of excitement and worry, but he kept his thoughts and limbs to himself while she worked out whatever was on her mind.

“Do.. do you have a date for Christmas Dawn?” So quiet, hesitant.

“Not unless my Ma counts,” he winked, heart beginning to pound again.

“Would you like to be mine?” YES. “I- I mean my date?” That too.

“I would love to be yours, Marinette- your date.” Pulling his hand free from his pocket, he offered it to her. She slipped her small hand into his without hesitation, smile setting her face aglow.

“Shall we?”

[toloveawarlord]

25 Days of Christmas Day 20

Characters: Aster, Jonah Clemence, Edgar Bright, Lancelot Kingsley, Zero, Kyle Ash

Prompt: “Where did you get that tree?”

Tagging: @plumpblueberry @christmaswarlock @sakura-1819 @starry-starry-night24 @kissmetwicekissmedeadly @thewitchofbooks @stardust-dreamer13 @ikemensengokufangirl @gay-noodle-clan @nad-zeta @canaria-blackwell @lordsister​ @hamster-damn​

A/N: This was supposed to Aster and the RA but it turned into mostly Jonah and Aster. She’s closest to our lovely Queen, but she won’t admit it. He’s so soft for her.

No one would actually be brave enough to complain to the Queen of Hearts when he'd so graciously taken them out to buy a brand new dress. But Aster was not no one. She sat sideways in the plush maroon chair outside of the changing room, legs dangling over the arm. Kicking her bare feet, she groaned for the fifth time. "Jonah, this is so boring. Can we go now?"

A perfectionist to his core. He'd tried on almost every shirt in the shop, searching for the best one. "First you complain about being stuck in headquarters, then you complain when I graciously bring you along with me into town. Be grateful for my endless generosity."

Aster stuck her tongue out in his direction, not caring that he couldn't actually see her. Rolling off the chair, she moved to the full mirror, taking in her image.

"Did you settle on a dress?"

Natural white hair covered with a raven wig, to hide her identity as best they could.

The deep crimson dress was the softest material she'd ever felt. Delicate lace layered over the skirt that brushed just above her knees. The top hooked around her neck, leaving her shoulders bare.

Not something she ever imagined herself in.

"I guess so," she answered. One of the shelves caught her eye. A small potted Christmas tree sat alone on a shelf; all the bigger ones having been purchased.

Crimson irises checked for any employees. An opportunity has arisen and she took it. Plucking the plant from the shelf, she moved to stash it in her purse...

The same moment Jonah pushed the curtain open, having chosen his new shirt. "Aster, where did you get that tree?" Her silence only confirmed his suspicion. “You were going to steal it, weren’t you?”

Maybe,” the teenager muttered, tucking the small tree against her chest and turning away. It belonged with her. No one was going to buy such a small and fragile little tree. “It’s not like they’ll miss it.”

 He’d begun to get used to her childish behavior. There were many occasions where items in headquarters had gone missing and later were found in her bedroom. He should reprimand her, but instead, he placed a gentle hand on her head. “I’ll purchase it for you, along with the dress. Gather your things.”

Aster snatched her purse from the floor, and slipped on her shoes. Her head swam with confusion. Jonah had a strong sense of right and wrong, but he gave no lecture. She silently trailed behind him.

With their items purchased, the pair returned to headquarters. By the time they’d reached her room, Aster was boiling with anxiety. Stealing came as easily as breathing to her, so why did she feel so bad about getting caught over this stupid little thing?

Maybe it was more guilt than sadness. Somehow, no lecture was worse than receiving one. He’d looked at her with such a kind expression, and then bought it for her.

“We’ll be leaving for the party now. Please try to behave while we’re gone,” Jonah said, finding at least three stolen items from his room alone. She was like a dragon from a fairy tale, hoarding treasures. He lingered a moment longer, but she refused to respond, tending to the little tree instead.

Aster only lifted her gaze when he’d gone, unable to voice her objection to their leaving... his leaving.

                                             << << <<

It bothered him the entire evening. Jonah wouldn’t say he enjoyed these kinds of events. Every year, the Red Army hosted a holiday party for the elites in Red Territory, mostly family of army members or those who made sizable donations. It lasted far too long, in his opinion.

But that was far from his mind. He couldn’t stop remembering how dejected Aster had been after she’d tried to steal that cheap tree. Perhaps all his guidance had begun to pay off. His head shook, not satisfied with that conclusion.

“You’re thinking way too hard over here. Have a drink, and maybe some fun while you’re at it!” Kyle slapped his hand on Jonah’s shoulder, utterly intoxicated himself. He awkwardly slipped into the chair at the table, nearly falling off the other side if not for Edgar’s assistance.

“He’s quite right about the sour expression. What’s bothering our dear Queen tonight?” The teasing his tone only irritating Jonah more, but Zero and King Lancelot had joined the group, all concerned about their friend.

Jonah drummed his fingers against the table. He shouldn’t be this worked up about her. “It’s nothing. Aster was not herself this evening.” Not entirely true. She almost resort to thievery.

It was Kyle who broke the silence first. “Do you think... hic... that maybe it has something to do with... hic... it being Christmas Eve? She’s probably always sad on holidays since, you know, she was hic-always alone.” He didn’t even realize what he’d said at first. His mouth moving before his brain could process whenever he had this much to drink.

And they all realized how foolish they’d been.

                                                  << << <<

The door to her bedroom was open, an unusual occurrence as the girl tended to be guarded. Jonah paused in the doorway. Aster hummed a familiar melody, sitting on the bench seat by the window. He couldn’t remember a time in the months that she’d been here that she’d ever hummed or sang.

In her lap sat the little tree, fully decorated with tiny ornaments and garland that she’d created from various materials in her room. That mischievous smile gone, replaced with a softer, more melancholic one. The words to an old Cradle Christmas song fell from her lips, a little broken and off pitch, like she struggled to sing the happy lyrics.

It had been nearly too dark in the dimly lit room, but the closer he got, the clearer the tears spilling from her eyes became.

Had she ever experienced a Christmas without sorrow and loneliness?

How must she have felt when he asked her to accompany him to town to shop for a party that she couldn’t attend? 

Jonah’s heart ached in his chest. He’d had such wonderful memories of when he and Luka were young. Without any thought, the Queen of Hearts had crossed the room and dropped to his knee, pulling the girl into a hug.

“J-Jonah? When did you get here? And why are you hugging me?” She sniffed, cover up the fact that she’d been crying. How long had he been in the room? Embarrassment flooded over her.

He’d couldn’t recall when he’d become so attached to her. The mouthy little teenager that always had a snarky comment to throw at him now so incredibly dear to him.

“I’m sorry, Aster. We... I  shouldn’t have left you here alone on Christmas Eve.” Jonah expected her to fight him, like she always did. But her hands clutched the back of his jacket, face tucked into his shoulder and she began to cry harder than before.

He’d forgotten that she was still just a child.

Jonah stayed with her until she’d calmed. There was one more order of business to attend to, and the others were likely wondering what was taking so long. “Come with me,” Jonah said, offering her his hand to escort her down to the dining hall.

Edgar and Zero had conspired to throw her a proper Christmas Eve party. With the help of Lancelot, they’d gotten quite the spread of food and desserts. Kyle raised his beer when the pair entered before promptly passing out in his chair.

With her emotions still running high, Aster turned on her heel to shield herself as more tears sprang to her eyes. She’d hated the holidays. They were cold, miserable, and utterly lonely. But this year, she found herself in a warm home with people who truly cared for her.

“Aww, is Aster crying cause she’s so happy? That’s adorable,” Edgar teased, sneaking up behind her. He wrapped an arm around her waist before using his free hand to tickle her side.

Laughter bubbled up, a smile finally settling on her features. “E-Edgar- Stop!” She struggled helplessly, jaws aching from her inability to stop laughing. She finally slipped free, darting across the room to hide behind Lancelot. Her tongue stuck out at the Jack.

“Alright, that’s enough. The food is going to get cold,” Lancelot ordered, chastising his third in command like a unruly child. He was grateful that in a few moments, her mood had lifted drastically.

The remainder of the evening was spent enjoying good food, and drinking for the adult, while the girl took paint to Kyle’s sleeping face.  Aster’s genuine smile worth all the strings they’d had to pull to make this evening happen. The teenage thief becoming the glue that held them all together.

[basement-writings]

~Yandere!Norway x Country!Reader

guess who accidentally deleted their nordic 5 headcanons/ short stories! honestly this is the only I I put in notes so I'm just going to be posting it solo. why does tumblr hate me-

✨✨this is kinda like a small story mixed in with headcanons✨✨

~~~~

You first met Lukas when you went to go get coffee at one of the nearby cafés before a meeting, turns out you weren't the only one with that idea.

You thought you had seen him before but when he suddenly made direct eye contact with you, causing you to swiftly turn away feeling embarrassed that you were starring at the stranger

You quickly got your beverage and left thinking nothing of him, that was until you sat down at the meeting and saw the guy again, now with him looking at you with a cold expression.

You were Embarrassed throughout the entire meeting (with how your face had turned beet red), he probably remebered you from the coffee shop and must have been insulted with you starring at him.

When the meeting all you wanted to do was leave, not wanting to embarrass yourself in front of anyone else, but before you could make it out you heard

"Hei."

Stopping to look behind you (even though you had a pretty good idea of who it was), and low and behold, the guy from the coffee shop was standing before you.

Thinking he was looking for an apology you quickly apologized over and over for acting so rudly to him at the coffee shop and properly introduced yourself holding your hand out to him.

Your embarrassment went up ten folds as he just continued to look at you causing your face to turn even more red (if that was even possible), but before you were going to awkwardly excuse yourself he shook your hand. Much to your relief.

You quickly left the building but not without feeling like you were still being starred at.

After that day you started getting into a routine with getting coffee with Lukas before a meeting. It took a while for you to break the ice due to him being so shy, but once you two started to get more comfortable with one another you were stuck together like glue, too where you two would regularly meet up to have coffee before each meeting.

He seemed to totally change when talking and being around you, he was actually quite charming with the small gestures he would do for you. Be it holding the door open for you, giving you his scarf when it got colder, and walk with you to the meeting.

He would subtly start becoming more clingy toward you, though from what you could tell you two were just becoming more closer with all the outings he planned for the two of you (they were really dates but he just called them outings feeling to shy to properly ask you out on a date).

His obsession with you would bubble under his stoic facaude more and more when you where together, and he would just start to become more and more clingy, to where you were spending all of your time with him.

Giving him all your attention and love.

~~~

[kryptored]

Blue boy feeling blue (needs to have kisses to chase the blues away)

I swear I'm gonna update and post the second chapter of my LK exchange fic, but I just had to get this out of my system after seeing THIS art by @sidsinning.

AO3

He wakes up with his head feeling heavy; as if someone had stuffed his skull with cotton to replace his brain. He tries to move, but as soon as he does, he sees the world tilt and turn and swivel all around –

“Maaaa! Ju-” a cough interrupts his shout, before continuing his call with a weaker and strained voice, “J-juleka?”

It takes about 5 seconds for him to hear the thundering footsteps of his family getting closer, and a few more before their concerned faces appear.

“We heard you yelling like a scared pup; what’s wrong?” Anarka approaches her son, who’s in–between struggling to sit up and trying not to throw up, and combs through the mess called his hair. “You alright, son? You’re looking a bit *peely wally right now.”

“He’s kind of burning up, Ma.” Juleka says, her hand resting on her brother’s forehead. Luka is a little surprised to not have noticed her do that, but then again, he’s feeling too out of it to even know what’s happening to him.

“Wha…I feel awful. W-why…?”

“Tsk, you were out in the *baltic weather while drenched like a drowning cat for too long, is why and what happened!” Anarka tightens her grip on Luka’s clump of black and blue hair, but not enough to have him flinch and only to serve as a warning.

“I should’ve known that big brothers could be this stupid, especially when around – “Luka swipes at her with his weak arm, interrupting Juleka with her lecture. She effortlessly avoids getting hit, even if she knows her brother doesn’t have enough strength to make his point, and laughs at him.

“That’s what you get, really. Sometimes I hate when my stubbornness shines through one or the both of you. You should’ve stayed at the Dupain-Chengs for a while to dry and warm up like you were asked to, instead of walking back home like soaked to the bone.”

“Maaaaa…”

“Don’t ‘Ma’ me, Luka! You should see yourself right now. Even your girl was adamant on giving you a sweater she made for you, or so your sister heard. I didn’t peg you for the daft type.”

“S’was ‘posed t’be… her surprise.” Unable to stay sitting up, Luka gives in to gravity and falls back into bed,. The drop has him feeling queasier than when he woke up. “She shu’nt have.”

“Listen to yourself.” His mother shakes her head in disappointment, unbelieving at how her son is acting. And to think he was the responsible one out of the three of them. Just as her mouth opens to lecture him some more, she sees her daughter with her phone out. “Juleka, what’re you doing?”

“I’m recording him; this doesn’t happen much. I’m taking as much blackmail material as possible.”

“Your brother is sick. Your own blood.”

“Just let me have this, Ma. Besides, he’s going to need proof of what happens when he starts acting reckless.”

“Fine, but could you at least fetch him a glass of water and some medicine? Your brother’s throat is probably as dry as a desert.”

“Yeah, sure.”

As Juleka goes to find what’s needed, Anarka turns back to her son, who’s miserably trying to will away his sickness by tightly closing his eyes and clenching his fists against his blanket. She reaches out to his hands one by one and gently pries his fingers off the fabric, and massages the lines on his forehead away.

“There, there. You’ll get through this; I know you will.” She turns back to Juleka, back from the kitchen, and takes the glass of water medicine from her. “You’re a Couffaine, after all. Now drink this and go back to sleep. I’ll make some soup for you to eat when you wake up.”

“Too sick… eat.” Luka manages to say after washing the pill down his throat. He’s never felt so thirsty until now, evident from how he finishes the entire glass. “Don’ wanna.”

“You’ll be saying otherwise when you wake up and your stomach’s trying to imitate a whale mating call, dummy.”

Oh, whatever happened to his sweet little sister? Those are his last thoughts before he succumbs to the heaviness of his lids.

He wakes up feeling warm, and not the comfortable kind of warm. The moment Luka’s eyes blink awake, he tries not to move his head too much in fear of witnessing the world go round and round and round and –

“Oh, you’re awake.”

He turns his head slowly towards the doorway and sees his sister leaning on the side.

“How’re you feeling?” The slight scrunch of her brows lets him know just how worried she is.

“Uh…” he starts to get up, thankful that he doesn’t feel like his whole body is spinning out of control, and puts a hand against his stomach. Soon enough, he feels the rumble before he hears it. “M’hungry.”

He chooses to ignore the smirk Juleka gives him.

“Why don’t you take a shower? Make sure you wear something dry and warm right after, okay? I’ll heat up the soup up for you while you’re at it.”

After Juleka leaves, Luka sluggishly gets up from bed, skipping to make his bed while silently promising to do it later (when he’s all better). As he struggles to walk forward, he feels his shirt sticking to his skin. The disgusting feeling of his sweat acting as glue between his shirt and skin has him walking a little faster to the washroom, picking up a recently washed towel from the cabinet.

It takes him about 20 minutes to shower, and about 5 minutes and counting trying to find something to wear. So far, all he’s succeeded in is choosing some light blue pyjama bottoms. The sight of him standing shirtless with his towel resting on his shoulder, his back facing the doorway, is how Juleka finds him.

“What’re you doing standing around shirtless for? Are you seriously trying to make yourself even sicker?”

She approaches him to whack him on the shoulder, albeit softer than she normally would as an act of mercy.

“M’trying to find something warm to wear, but I can’t choose.”

“You could wear the sweater I made for you, if you want.”

The sound of Marinette’s voice jolts Luka awake, turning around too quick for his liking. Pushing back the nausea from his sudden movement, he takes in the sight of the girl standing outside his room, a small bag on hand.

“Oh yeah, I was gonna tell you that Marinette came by while you were in the shower.” Said girl approaches them as she rummages inside the bag she carries. “She also brought you some noodles and stuff.”

“Mhm. I put the noodles in the chicken soup your mom made. Better put this on before you get cold.” She hands him something thick and blue, and it takes him a few seconds to realize that it’s the same sweater she intended to surprise him with. The same sweater she offered him yesterday, before he woke up feeling like death warmed over him.

“I’m not taking any arguments right now so, wear this sweater and get your stubborn Couffaine ass into the kitchen.”

“I’ll change the bedding; you guys go ahead when you’re done.” Juleka offers, her hands already busy with throwing out Luka’s blanket onto the laundry basket. “With how much sweating you did, your bed’s probably gone *scabby and *howlin.”

Muttering his arguments to the two girls, Luka wears his sweater and attempts to tame his hair. He stops when Marinette takes hold of his wrists and pulls him out the room.

“Don’t bother with your hair, I can fix it for you while you’re eating.” She looks back at the boy she’s dragging to the kitchen. “Did you drink some water since you woke up?”

“Yeah. After shower.”

“Mm���that’s good.”

Marinette pushes him down the seat by the counter and sets the bowl of soup in front of him.

“Here you go.” She takes the glass of water that Anarka passes to her. “I’m just going to fetch the bag from your room. Don’t do anything rash; your mom has her eyes on you right now.”

“You’re looking a lot better now, Luke. Did you have a good sleep?”

“Uhuh…” He shoves a spoonful of the broth to his mouth, thankful that it’s not too hot that it burns him, and he hums in satisfaction as it goes down his throat. “Feel lil’ better.”

“That’s good.”

Their conversation is put to a halt when Marinette returns with her bag, her arm reaching inside of it.

“I brought you a care package, even though you brought this onto yourself.”

Luka grunts in retaliation, but finds it useless him and continues to enjoy his soup. His eyes follow Marinette’s arms whenever she puts something on the counter beside him.

“Here are some chicken and rice soup, and it’s got green chiles and ginger. I wasn’t sure if your mom – ”

“For the hundredth time; call me Anarka, dear.”

“ – Anarka, made you some soup and what kind so, I brought it into a single serving container. If any of you want some, I can always come by and bring you some more. You all know how my Maman is. Also, I have tea, some socks, a scarf, crackers, bananas, and I even made some applesauce!”

She excitedly brings the small jar of applesauce by her cheeks, and it suddenly hits Luka how worried he must’ve made the people precious to him. As he lets this sink in, his brows pinch themselves together and the skin on forehead wrinkles. He slowly drops the spoon down the bowl, shoulders dropping, and the corners of his mouth turned down.

“It’s a good thing it’s the weekend,” Marinette combs her fingers through his unruly hair, “or I wouldn’t have enough time to – oh, no! What’s wrong?”

Luka’s eyes look up to Marinette, who’s suddenly moved closer to him and looks him in the eyes.

“What’s wrong, Luka?” His mother asks, leaning a little closer from her seat in front of him, “Are you feeling something else? Is it coming back?”

“No, no. I-It’s nothing, I just… I’m sorry for worrying all of you.” He makes a face, and it’s not the one that they like to see at all. “I’m sorry for not listening and acting like a *roaster.”

Sitting by the counter, with his large, blue sweater hanging off of his shoulders lopsidedly, his hair still in need of more grooming, and pale. Luka has never felt and looked so small until now.

Unable to stand the sight of him feeling so vulnerable, Marinette cups his cheek kisses him soundly on the cheek. This takes him by surprise, as he doesn’t move nor say anything for a short while. Marinette can only giggle at the sight of an unresponsive Luka, while Anarka chuckles at what has transpired.

“You don’t have to feel bad about it, Luka. We’re just glad that you’re okay now. But promise me next time that you don’t go out in the chilly streets of Paris, with nothing but a light jacket on to keep you warm, and soaking wet.”

“Best listen to your girl, Luka. She knows what she’s doing; a definite keeper.”

He smiles at their words and blushes hard. He doesn’t bother hiding the flush on his face and continues eating his soup, and Juleka finally comes out of their bedroom and calls out to him.

“Have you finally knocked some sense into him, Marinette?”

“Yeah, I think I have.”

“Think he’s contagious, Ma?”

“He’s feeling better now so, I don’t think so.”

“Great, that means I can do – ” Juleka wraps her arms around her brother from behind, careful to not jostle him so much and spill the soup, “  – this!”

Luka doesn’t say anything, still, but pats at his sister’s arms as he enjoys his soup.

“Ooh! I wanna join in, too!” Marinette says, before hugging him from the side while trying to make sure he can still move his arms.

“Don’t forget about the captain of this boat!” He doesn’t feel his mother touch him, but knows that she’s hugging Marinette and Juleka from the sudden gain of weight on his back and side.

“Oh! Are we doing a group hug? Let me join, too!” he recognizes the voice as Rose’s, which is coming from the door, and his smile stretches wider even with the spoon stuck in his mouth.

This is what home feels like, and he loves it.

Scottish slangs marked with [*]:

Peely Wally - looking unwell, pale.

Baltic - freezing cold.

Scabby - dirty.

Howlin - smelly.

Roaster - idiot.

[only-here-for-jatp]

Build-a-Band pt 7 The End

Just me tying up loose ends

Featuring: WILLEX <3, the boys playing with their bears like they’re seven, Juke, hotdogs

As always you can read on Ao3 here

But also below! ~2300 words

The boys poofed back to the studio hearts as full as their arms full of stuffed bears.

Luke and Alex were both jittery with anxiety. Luke hadn’t seen Julie hug her bear, but he also hadn’t seen her not hug her bear and he was growing very concerned at the prospect of when or if she’d hear the lyrics he’d poured into the heart. He hadn’t meant to offer a confession, hadn’t meant to reveal his feelings so blatantly.

What if she didn’t like the song? What if she didn’t like him? What if she didn’t get it and he was stuck in this nightmare limbo waiting for her to realize as she kept hugging and hugging the bear that they lyrics were about her???

Yup he was a ball of anxiety, but at least he wasn’t alone.

Every now and again Alex would shift onto the balls of his feet and then back down. His mind zipping down very similar avenues to Luke. He’d impulsively made a bear for Willie but what if Willie thought it was dorky and lame? Was it weird for a not-dating person to give another a teddy bear? What if he heard the message and didn’t feel the same way?

I mean. Alex was pretty sure Willie liked him? But the more and more it went around in his head the less sure he was that he was interpreting Willie’s actions correctly. I mean they could just be friends?

Reggie quietly noted his friends’ anxiety and while he had no idea why it was happening; he knew a surefire way to cheer them up. Luckily, it was also one of the things he was best at, distraction.

He held up Sir Reginald II, a name he loved and adored since it meant Julie remembered his story about Sir Reginald I, and in his best teddy bear voice ( which mostly turned out to be a weird falsetto) said “Hello there!”

Both anxiety ridden boys eyed him warily and Reggie took this as permission to move Sir Reginald II verrrryyy close to Luke’s face. “Have you seen my friend Lukas? He’s late for band practice.” Luke’s eyes widened and glanced between Reggie and Sir Reginald II as Alex let out a snicker. “Wellllll? Have you seen him?”

Luke let out a sigh, knowing Reggie wasn’t going to let him out of this. He pulled Lukas up in front of his face and mimicking Reggie’s voice as best he could responded. “Sorry Reginald. I didn’t mean to run late.” At this point Alex was nearly doubled over with silent laughter. The sight of Reggie’s face all lit up though made Luke warm inside and suddenly he knew their next move. He raised an eyebrow at Alex who discovered too late what Luke was planning.

Luke bounded over, put Lukas right into Alex’s face and asked “Have you seen my friend Alexander? I’ve been looking all over for him.”

Alex slowly backed away “I’m not doing this.”

A quick exchange of glances brought Reggie on board with Luke’s plan and soon Reginald and Lukas were chasing Alex around the study asking and asking about Alexander their best friend. It wasn’t until Alex tripped, falling onto the bed where Alexander lay (tucked in no less) that he gave in. He pulled Alexander out and in the same falsetto his bandmates used called “Who disturbed my nap!”

The three boys grinned and thus they were off.  They spent the rest of the day pretending with their new stuffies, reliving favorite moments of their life or pretending to play major stages around the world. They even took turns pretending to be Julie and reenacting some of their favorite moments with her.

In fact, the trio was having so much fun that Alex had forgotten about promising to meet Willie, who after waiting and growing concerned came looking for him. Willie stayed out of sight for as long as he could, watching the blonde-haired boy who he wanted to be around every second of every day laughed and joked with his brothers. Willie could feel the smile growing on his face at the sight of these three rock band boys kneeling on the ground miming arms and leg movements of stuffed bears while playing out scenes in funny voices.

However, his spying was up after Reginald and Lukas ganged up on Alexander (he’d long since figured out the names) in a hug pile and he burst into laughter.

All three boys heads whipped around suddenly very shy and sheepish at the thought that someone had been watching their antics over the last couple of hours. Alex turned nearly bright red, stammering out excuse after excuse for missing their plans and finding Willie here.

Willie turned to Alex with a soft smile. “Oh hotdog. You missed our plans AND y’all made bears for everyone except me and are having all this fun? My feelings are hurt.” He couldn’t resist the opportunity to tease Alex just a little. After all, he was incredibly adorable when flustered.

Luke and Reggie glanced at each other smiles growing wide as Alex grew even redder and began mumbling under his breath. In a move to both help and tease him, Luke and Reggie called out “Hey Alex, what is that you’re mumbling? Maybe you should say it louder.”

Willie tilted his head to the side in confusion as Alex took a deep breath and plucked up the courage to speak just a little louder. It was still barely audible, but Willie still caught it.

“I made you a bear”

Willie thought his heart was going to burst. He’d seen the bear-ified version of the band but as he glanced around the room he noticed a bear in a skater outfit off to the side. “You made me a bear?” Willie knew his voice was soft and he knew Alex liked him, but to include him in this little family of bears meant so much. He slowly moved toward the stuffie which had his signature tie dye and skateboard.

Alex began to ramble as Willie began a dedicated perusal of the bear. “I know it’s kind of lame, but I kept walking past it and it has two hearts sewn onto his chest and I don’t know something about its face reminded me of you and yeah it’s lame, you don’t have to keep it….”

Willie burst in. “No. I- I love it. Is it alright if he lives here though? I don’t want…”

“No, no, yeah totally.”

Willie’s head sprang up to look at Alex all of a sudden and a signature mischievous smirk filled his face. “Wait a second. You said there were two hearts sewn into the chest. Why would that remind you of me?”

Alex’s eyes widened as he shot looks to Reggie and Luke who had settled quite comfortably on the couch, bears in their laps to enjoy the show. They offered him an encouraging smile and a couple of nods. Alex gulped, took a deep breath and said as confidently as he could “It seemed kind of poetic. Since you.. uh… kind of… hold mine?” He hadn’t really managed for it to come out as a question, but he’d started to wince as if preparing for a negative reaction from Willie.

Instead, Willie wrapped himself around Alex in a fierce hug, never letting go of William. “You hold mine too Alex.”

Alex being too surprised, didn’t hug back right away, but with a squeaky “wait really??” he hugged on so tight that if either of them needed to breathe, they would probably be worrying about it. The two had started to jump around a little making happy noises while Reggie and Luke beamed.

The hug had barely broken apart when Julie joined them in the studio with a questioning look, but before anyone could say anything Alex burst out “I HAVE A BOYFRIEND!!” before shooting nervous glances at Willie “I mean, if you want.”

Willie chuckled, “Definitely”

Alex couldn’t stop smiling, but of course now was when he remembered “You should hug William. When I hugged Alexander I could hear the wish Reggie made for me and I uh, may have left you one too.”

Willie looked slightly confused, but sure enough when he squeezed William the Sk8 Bear tightly Alex’s voice whispered in his mind.

I wish for an eternity to hold your hand.

Willie seemed to melt a little, before he entwined his hands with Alex’s. “For eternity” he whispered just loud enough for Alex to hear. They both blushed, but everyone else mostly looked confused.

Luke was the first to speak up. “I also heard Reggie’s wish when I squeezed Lukas.”

Reggie looked entirely confused. “You could hear… my wishes? That’s awesome!!! But also, you couldn’t hear Julie’s?” Alex and Luke both shot a look at Reggie. “She made wishes on both your hearts also, but you didn’t hear hers?”

Julie’s face was growing slightly pale. She hadn’t realized they could hear those wishes. The thought of Luke hearing those lyrics was maybe making her panic a little, but maybe since he hadn’t heard them yet he wouldn’t. It helped her fear a little that there was some overwhelming curiosity about the wish Luke left for her.

Alex’s voice cut through her questioning. “You know, I only tried the one time.” Luke sounded an agreement before Reggie cut in.

“You know it’s kind of cool if you think about it, she ended up leaving a wish on all our bears. Maybe we should try together to hear it?” The boys nodded as Julie watched with concern.

Alex’s face changed first. A small gasp echoing out of him and his eyes pooling with tears as he rushed towards Julie to envelop her in a hug. She’d made him feel seen and valued and the reassurance that he had a special and unique existence to her was a security he hadn’t realized he needed.

Reggie hugged his bear two or three times just listening to the message she’d left him over and over again.

Sir Reginald II please take care of Reggie. Sometimes he doesn’t realize how important he is. He’s the glue that holds us all together and keeps us going when everything seems bleak. He is so loved and so valuable. Please remind him of that when everything seems hard.

Reggie glomped her next. Crying just a little at the words she left him which touched on his biggest and darkest insecurity. He could help but whisper his thanks and she pulled him tighter telling him that he was basically her brother. Reggie could no longer tell if he was laughing or sobbing everything was perfect.

Julie was having difficulty holding up the two emotional boys and she was filled with warmth at their love almost as much as she was filled with tension. She could barely see Luke which meant she couldn’t see his reaction.

Luke was having difficulty breathing and functioning. He didn’t need to breathe but now he couldn’t do it and he really felt like he needed to do it. He couldn’t-

He couldn’t believe it.

We say we're friends, we play pretend. You're more to me, we're everything Our voices rise and soar so high. We come to life when we're, In perfect harmony

She’d poured the same song, the same words, the same wish into his bear as he had into hers. Julie Molina loved him. He had absolute verifiable proof and he didn’t want to waste another second without her. Without her knowing that she was the most precious, wonderful, thing about his life. So he did the only reasonable thing he could.

He yanked his crying brothers off of the girl they also loved more than anything, but not as much as him and worked on gaining her attention. He smiled. She looked slightly terrified, but she didn’t have to be. She just need to hug Jules.

“Julie. Julie. Julie. Julie! You need to hug Jules. Right now. You need to hug her right now. RIGHT NOW.”

His boys looked pissed, but slowly they could tell by the rush and joyous mania radiating from their friend that this was Important and begrudgingly stood out of the way.

Julie looked at Luke with big eyes as he insistently shoved Jules at her. He seemed excited and thrilled and flushed and by god if he didn’t stop rushing her she was going to-

We say we're friends, we play pretend. You're more to me, we're everything Our voices rise and soar so high. We come to life when we're, In perfect harmony

The song filtered through her head as she hugged Jules and she felt her mouth drop as her eyes snapped to his. She watched his grin widen as he saw her figured it out. Her eyes met his and she was drowning. He was too far away and they both rushed into each other. They took another second to stare before wrapping each other in a tight hug.

Alex groaned a little, in a good-natured way, his hand once more linked with Willie’s. “Not that we’re not glad that you both finally got your lives together, but do either of you care to explain what exactly just happened?”

Slowly Luke and Julie moved out of hugging, but they still hovered around each other with their hands intertwined as they explained. They took turns explaining that somehow, someway, they’d left the same wish in each other’s bear. More than that, they were the same lyrics from the same love song they’d written without telling the other.

The shocked faces on all cause Luke and Julie to burst into laughter and soon all five of them were falling together into a hug. Julie carried one more surprise though in her back pocket. Slowly she pulled out three hotdog accessories for their new Build a Bears.

The boys looked at her with shock and horror as she grinned sheepishly at them.

“I couldn’t resist!”

They spent the afternoon playing with Jules, Lukas, Reginald, Alex and William. Then, when the time came for sleep, they couldn’t bear to leave each other so four ghosts, one human, and 5 teddy bear fell asleep in a pile of warmth and love.

[lady-charinette]

Chapter 1 - Strings & Papers Lukanette AU (Teacher!Marinette & SingleDad!Luka)

A/N: Hello everyone! As requested, I made this into a full fic. It was originally something small on Tumblr, an AU idea for Lukanette (SingleDad!Luka and Teacher!Marinette) but after many requests, I finally decided to post the first chapter.

INFO:

All characters are aged up! Everyone is at least in their late twenties/early thirties.

Modern AU without superpowers/kwamis. Tikki is a cat here ^_^

A few OC’s will make appearances, mostly the children of some of the original ML characters (Luka’s child Leon…etc.)

This is purely Lukanette.

Oh and I apologize for any OOCness in advance!

Enjoy reading! :)

Chapter 1

Children rushed about, the room bustling with life as her students went about their tasks; trying to create something using their hands and imagination.

It could be drawings, clay creations, any piece of art that the children were able to craft.

The important thing was, it was something that made them happy and that they liked.

“Miss Marinette! Miss Marinette! Look what I did!“ the boy waved his clay creation in the air wildly, cupped securely in his hands.

His teacher flashed him a bright smile, bending down to look at him and his clay figure properly, “Oh! What a cute dog!” the brown clay figure with blotches of white was slightly disfigured, but Marinette could tell from it’s general shape it was supposed to be a dog, a dog with missing ears, but a dog nonetheless.

Marinette grinned cheerfully and nodded towards the others. “Is this what makes you happy?”

He didn’t hesitate to reply. “Mhm! I love my dog very much!” he raised his arms and spread them as wide apart as they could go, indicating how much he loved his pet.

Marinette’s alert gaze swept over her class, catching some students drawing quietly on some tables, others chatting energetically on the arts and crafts table with glue and colourful carton papers strewn about.

Some children were on the floor, building castles, vehicles or even people with lego blocks.

She walked around, asking every child how they were doing and if they needed any help. Marinette offered holding the tall lego tower for a girl while she got the little decorative bow on top of it, her mother’s workplace she said, a place she could play at where her mother was also nearby, because she didn’t want to be alone at home.

The next child was a boy with dark messy hair and kind brown eyes, Leon. He was drawing something.

Two people, surrounded with what looked like music notes. And what appeared to be an instrument on top of the taller figure, a guitar.

Marinette crouched down next to the table and peeked over his shoulder, giggling when he turned his head and wore a full blown grin on his face. “Miss Marinette!” her heart warmed and lips pulled into an automatic smile at his glee.

Leon was such a cheerful child. He was a walking contradiction at times, cheerful and kind but also quiet and polite, he was never mean to his classmates or teachers.

He sometimes hummed a melody during class, but quiet enough not to disturb her or anyone else, she sometimes heard it when the whole class was silent, except for Leon, who hummed a tune to himself, swinging his legs with a small smile on his face.

Marinette remembered the first time she asked him about it, the reason why he hummed and if it was a special melody.

His answer had surprised her. ‘Mhm! My dad always sings me to sleep that way! He’s really good with his voice.”

She couldn’t remember ever meeting the man, Leon’s father, she vaguely remembered jotting down a phone number as the parental contact information, but she couldn’t remember it.

The only parental figure that frequently picked Leon up from school was his aunt Juleka, whom Marinette always had pleasant conversations with. The woman was kind if a bit shy, her voluminous hair, dark save for the purple streak at the front and at the ends, half hiding her left eye. It would’ve hidden the entirety of her face if not for the hairclip holding it at bay.

Marinette couldn’t blame her, she herself normally styled her hair into pigtails, loose hair would get everywhere in her face and it was impractical for teaching.

She also experienced some of the more daring kids try to pull on it, so pigtails were always a safe bet.

Marinette focused back on the picture Leon was drawing, particularly the two figures on it. “Is that you and your dad?” she saw him nod his head, using black to colour the top of his father’s head and blue for the ends. She stifled a giggle, always amazed at how creative children could get. She saw a girl once draw her father with flowing rainbow hair and when she’d seen the man in person, he almost looked nothing alike from the childishly drawn picture his daughter portrayed him to be.

“Your dad’s hair looks cool.” She smiled, giggling at the light blue.

“Thank you.” His polite phrase made her smile and the pedagogical figure in her rejoice, she was proud whenever parents raised their children right.

Then, she pointed to the guitar over his head, his best attempt at the instrument, which Marinette had to admit was good for someone his age. “Is that your guitar?”

This time, Leon shook his head. “No, that’s my dad’s. He plays it whenever he’s home, he also plays for me.” He smiled shyly, sheepishly, rubbing his messy black hair. “Um, I tried to play once, but it fell on the ground. Dad didn’t get mad, but I felt really guilty.” His cheeks tinged pink and Marinette felt sympathy well within her heart as she placed a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“I’m sure your dad forgave you as soon as it happened, it was an accident, right? Accidents happen all the time, Leon! I dropped my mug in the kitchen today!” she giggled, cringing internally because she was known for her clumsiness.

The boy stuck his bottom lip out and shrugged. “Yeah, I guess, I still felt really bad, but dad said it was okay…” a bright smile curled his lips in the next second, eyes alight with excitement. “Miss Marinette, can I tell you a secret?” 

Marinette steeled herself, adjusting her grip on the table to support her weight. Children were honest by nature, they frequently revealed things about their home life, in extent their parents’, to the teachers. Most things weren’t bad, but very amusing, a secret source of entertainment for teachers to talk over coffee in the teacher’s lounge.

Leon whispered before she could say anything, grinning from ear to ear. “My dad is the best dad in the world!”

She blinked, surprised, but laughed at the ‘secret’, shaking her head and affectionately pinching Leon’s cheek, which made him laugh. “Really? Then I guess I should meet the best dad in the world sometime, hm? I would love to meet him.” She was being honest too.

It was important for teachers to know the parents of the children they taught and took care of through the day and their early education, knowing from what sort of familial backgrounds children came from was important to adjust their teachings or offer the appropriate help if children were surrounded by less than desirable circumstances.

Marinette doubted that was the case with Leon, but she was curious about his father, since she never met either him nor the mother.

She did hear from the aunt that his mother was working and living overseas and that the father was her older brother, but that was that.

She hadn’t thought to ask the aunt, since she thought his father would come to pick his son up himself sometime. So far, that hadn’t been the case, but Marinette could be patient.

If he was as great as Leon described, surely he would have time to drop by sometime?

Standing up, Marinette complimented the drawing one last time before she clapped her hands and announced for the children to hang up they art works somewhere in the classroom, on the walls or the strings over their heads to decorate the room with.

Weeks had already passed since the school year started and Marinette longed for something new and fresh to liven up the classroom, the children found the idea good too. It would help keep their creativity flowing and to brighten the overall atmosphere.

Her gaze strayed to the clock on the wall and a sigh left her lips.

It was almost time for the big break.

A few minutes later…

The two women laughed, Marinette stirring her coffee to dissolve the sugar as her best friend and fellow teacher Alya talked about her day. “Wait, you didn’t take the glue from him?”

The busty woman snorted, taking a big sip from her black coffee before she smirked like a fox. “Nope! I let him squeeze out every last drop, he learned his lesson when the ball rang. He had to clean up all the mess himself and he got a good scolding from his mom too. Good woman, I salute her!” she lifted her mug in a mock salute and Marinette laughed, shaking her head.

“I’m sure the boy had reasons to be so destructive.” Truthfully, children with such tendencies weren’t rare, they were aware of the phases of each child and that sometimes by destroying things, they released pent up frustration or helped themselves focus better afterwards. But this child seemed to be a bit different. “What’s his background like? The parents?”

Alya sighed, taking another long gulp. “Father’s a mechanic, has a bit of a sailor’s mouth. The mother is an iron hard business woman, she even makes me freeze on the spot whenever she comes to pick him up.” She grimaced, extending her hand to throw a sugar cube into her coffee. “I think the dynamics in the family are a bit unbalanced. The father is a bit too lenient but the mother is too strict, causing the two to clash. They’re unsure of their parenting methods, they even had a small verbal fight during parent teacher conference.”

Ugh, Marinette secretly dreaded those days, as did every other teacher.

Parents came in all shapes and sizes, just like anyone else.

There were parents who were the spitting images of their offspring, other were their polar opposites.

There were parents with impeccable backgrounds, academically successful people, but lacking in human warmth. Parents that continued the archaic parenting methods of their own parents, never intending to change the way they were raising their own children from their own childhood treatment.

Marinette disliked those the most, ones that weren’t progressive in their thinking but cocooned in their own ‘deal’ version of how a child had to behave or to what limits a parent’s authority could reach.

It was her secret pleasure whenever she had an opportunity to shoot them down  and lecture them otherwise, she lived for those moments to see the colour drain from the adult’s faces while she explained all the potential negative ways their toxicity could affect their child after, that children weren’t ‘small adults’ and that every child had different needs and required a different form of parenting finesse.

Some parents were defensive and angry like lions, others more kind and understanding and willing to better themselves and correct the errors.

In the kitchen of the teacher’s lounge, somewhere in the back of her mind, Marinette kept Leon’s picture stored in her memory and during her conversation with Alya, she wondered just what sort of parent Leon’s father was.

——–

It was two in the afternoon and classes were over for today, for the children the day of duties and learning was over.

But for Marinette, she still had tons of work to do.

She watched the children leave the classroom, watched them put on their outdoor shoes and how some parents were already waiting for them out of the classroom.

Those moments, when the parents came to pick up their children, those moments Marinette loved most.

To see the pure joy of child and parent at seeing each-other, after being separated only for a few hours. To see them kiss and embrace each-other and laugh. The parents asking about their day and the kids retelling everything they did, from the tiniest details, the most insignificant things to the big events.

The parents listened with a smile, some shutting off their phones so colleagues from work didn’t disturb them.

There were also other parents, some greeted their children with a quick hug and kiss, ushering them along so they didn’t stay away from work for too long. Others gave a robotic kiss to their cheeks and took their school bags, marching out of the school like a soldier in the military, their child trailing behind them like a doll pulled by its strings.

Marinette always stayed with the ones whose parents were running late, being met with endless exclamations of gratitude for watching over them on her break and the like, with numerous apologies spilling from their mouths about traffic and work or too many duties overlapping.

She understood, she was an adult herself, and while not a mother, Marinette knew how difficult children could be. Her past work experiences in a local kindergarten taught her the very definition of patience.

And what it means to be assertive.

Kindergarten kids could be surprisingly stubborn and with their temper tantrums, nothing was safe from them.

She remembered starting her private meditating sessions for that very reason, always after work, with or without relaxing music and her bed.

She tried a scented candle once, but nearly burned her foot after not paying attention.

Sometimes, relaxing music didn’t help, the zen-esque tunes not appealing to her at all. She sometimes wondered if the people composing the music ever really tried mediating to it.

But the most relaxing thing to her was still her other passion, besides teaching.

Fashion.

She loved to create.

She encouraged creative minds in whatever way she could.

Her own parents’ encouragement and support in her youth drove her to pursue a career in fashion, then switch over to teaching, to be in a role where she could offer the same kind of warm encouragement and fierce support children didn’t have from home.

Her wardrobe consisted of more than half of her own creations, clothes by her own design. She’d tried opening a small fashion store once, but had to close it due to time constrictions. She couldn’t do two very time consuming jobs at the same time.

It might have been ‘just’ elementary school, but correcting hundreds of students’ tests, writing new ones, overseeing several classes while attending her own educational courses took up a lot of time.

Marinette relished coming home, stretching and taking a quick shower before she set to work.

Before she opened any of her thick folders or worksheets for school, she first opened her journal.

She always liked to document things, for safety but also private reasons. As insurance and the fond – and not so fond – memories to find a home.

For that purpose, she kept two diaries.

A journal for work.

A diary for home.

Marinette took the thick leather bound tome first, a modest brown leather design, a feather imprinted onto the leathery material on the cover, the thick book held closed by a magnet.

She opened it, skimming through filled pages to get to a blank one.

And she began writing, Tikki mewling at her feet, her soft fur brushing against her legs, whiskers tickling her skin while Marinette scribbled furiously, toes gently running along Tikki’s arching back.

“Hello journal,

Today had been a good day, 24th of October.

I started class at 8 sharp, there were only two children who called in sick, with parents excusing their absences immediately.

Class began with arts and crafts, the children received instructions on the tasks for today: decorating the classroom.

The old decorations were discarded, some saved in the storage room for further use, but the broken and tattered ones disposed of. The children had to create something that made them happy, in whichever form they could. Drawing, painting, using clay or building blocks to their heart’s content.

I tried helping as little as I could, to not impede their creativity, but offered helpful advice when asked. Most used clay to form figurines of their parents, siblings or pets. Some even formed food. A few creations caught my eyes, but all of them were unique and beautiful in their own way. Some of the children took their creations home, drawings they made a second or third time mostly. But many others stayed to decorate the classroom, it gave a refreshed image and helped levitate the atmosphere.

Break was spent outside in the school garden, I led some of the children to the vegetable garden to check on the growing plants and explained some of the still budding vegetables, unrecognizable in their ‘baby form’ as the students called it.

Tasks for tomorrow were quickly finished, I worked through my fifteen minute break, the short assignments about ‘happy memories’ had been read through but refrained from correcting. It had been one of their first written tasks, so I refrained from putting a stamp on them with red markings. I’ve returned them today, for the two sick children, I kept them in my desk in the teacher’s lounge to be dealt out once the children returned.

Parents had picked their children after school was over, some running late. Ms. Wilson had a suspicious countenance in particular, I detected a faint scent of something alcoholic, but didn’t address the matter. I did send a message to social worker Chloe Bourgeois, who agreed to look into the matter after some measures. Apparently, the family had already been a case not yet laid to rest and they’d waited for a cue to finally take action.

More to come tomorrow, goodbye for now.

-          Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Marinette yawned, spying the clock on her desk reading just passed seven in the evening. Had she been sitting for that long already? She shook her head, leaning down to scratch Tikki’s head, resting languidly on Marinette’s foot.

She would need to feed her later and check her water bowl. Tikki was sometimes surprisingly gluttonous, despite her slender frame.

Stifling another yawn, Marinette safely stored the notebook in her first drawer, locking it with a key and slipping the metal into a hidden sleeve underneath her desk, well concealed from inattentive eyes.

She smiled when she grabbed her private diary, the pink leather book feeling heavy with memory in her hands.

She pulled off the leather string tying it together and flipped it open to a fresh page.

And began to write.

“Dear diary,

Today had been a stressful day.

The children were fine and well-behaved, but I had so much work to do! Not to mention, I missed one of my breaks because a colleague had called in sick unexpectedly and I had to fill their shift. Can you believe it? She couldn’t have called hours ago before school started, she HAD to call five minutes before her class started and I had to FLY across the hallway to make sure the children were inside and busy with tasks.

Sometimes, I wish I could throw a banana at some of my colleagues.

Some people just shouldn’t have become teachers.

The world would be a better place, the children growing in it too.

Speaking of children, something caught my eye today that I just couldn’t get out of my head.”

Marinette paused, tongue sticking out of her mouth as the image of Leon’s drawing burned brightly in her mind, as if she imprinted it so perfectly into memory.

“Leon drew a picture today, under the theme ‘what makes me happy’. He drew a picture of his family, his dad and him. He didn’t draw his mother and I didn’t ask, it wasn’t my place to and I doubt he’d know anything aside from ‘mommy doesn’t live with us’ or the like. At least, that’s the impression I got. But from everything I saw so far, it looked like the father didn’t live with him either. He never set foot in school before! Or at least I never saw him, Alya apparently did, but couldn’t really remember, saying it was for a short time and there were so many people.”

Marinette rolled her eyes, thinking back to the conversation she had with Alya in the kitchen.

That woman could memorize six pages of their random chats about a boy they gossiped in high school, but couldn’t, for the life of her, remember seeing the parent of one of the children at parent teacher conference two years ago. She smiled, shaking her head fondly and the pen was scratching against paper again.

“Anyway, what Miss Reporter said, Leon’s father was apparently pretty busy. She didn’t know what his occupation was, but it was the only logical conclusion, right? A man that rarely picks his son up from school? Sends his sister to do it for him? He must be some businessman. Then again, Leon mentioned how ‘he was the best dad in the world’ and he would sing and play songs for him before he went to sleep. Maybe he wasn’t so bad, but what was the deal with not coming to school? Was he a former dropout? Did he just have a phobia? Maybe he really was just too busy, but still, something’s fishy. Juleka, the aunt, mentioned how apologetic the man felt for not always being there….I guess he might not be a bad parent, but still, Leon talked so fondly of him, I really hope he isn’t the jerky parent I think he could be. I also, wondered about where the mother was. Leon rarely ever talks about her, I don’t really dare to ask neither him nor Juleka. It was a family matter after all, but still, I was biting my nails the whole time! Juleka just mentioned the mom lived and worked overseas and the dad was busy, but that was it. Were they divorced? Forced to live apart because of work? I don’t think Leon seemed to mind much, at least he hadn’t showed any signs to. He rarely talks about his mom, but he regularly gushes about his dad. Maybe I shouldn’t judge too quickly, the man could have his reasons for not picking up his child.

Still, I’ll see where that goes. Maybe I’ll try to flip through the parent contact book and try to give him a call, just to see how he would react.

Anyway, that’s all for today, I still need to feed Tikki and myself.

See you tomorrow, dear diary!

-          Marinette

Thanks for reading! What did you think so far? :)

Tag List: @seraphkitty @canadianburd @macaknight @fher43 @vivilakitty @quickspinner @im-here-for-the-content @decaffeinated-happyshit @jessigurl-design @2sunchild2 @zebrabaker @redscarlet95 @didntwant2come @graduatedmelon @eve-is-the-dawn @bresso23 @anjuschiffer @alissawhited-blog @rudy-ruby @mystery-5-5 @winter-gardenflower @kayla-the-rambling-writer @teresarosiadeviluke2112 @captainmac6 @violatiger8 @crazywhitemofo @varksvader

@veroocasanova (I’m sorry for not asking before, but I remembered you wanting to read more Lukanette fics without Adrien salt 😅)

[kiaronna]

I would just like to say that School’s Out For the Summer gives me life and that all the Lonelyeyes moments are absolute perfection

Thank youuuuu!! SCOFS was super fun to write and helped me deal with the horrors these characters were going thru in canon lolol. COPING. I COPE

To be honest, a real challenge in this fic was making Elias n Peter non-threatening and fluffy but still in character?? Making them lil just. Really helped. They are mean bc school is hard and their circumstances suck. Elias just wants to go on one (1) date w/ his crush. Most LonelyEyes HCs I had for that fic did not fit into the flow, and JonMartin needed focus & grounding after their get together. Anyway what I'm trying to say is, here are some LonelyEyes HCs from teacherverse. they are long and if you didn’t read SCOFS they make no sense so I’ve placed em under the cut

-Remember their date plan? Peter legit has a chauffeur but Martin drives him bc Martin is Unofficial Dad. Jon was gonna drive Elias but. Jon accidentally muses about hanging out (COUGH going on a date) with Martin while they wait to drive them back and the idea of their respective dads hanging around while they’re on a date drives Elias into Embarrassed Teen Rage. So Elias takes the bus. Martin also muses about a waiting date w/ Jon but does it 100% on purpose on the drive over while Peter Suffers

-They do get fish & chips and people watch at a cute market. Elias likes this for obvious reasons and Peter likes it bc it fulfills his i-am-here-and-you-all-are-over-there needs.I very specifically picked this date plan even tho it sounds stupid bc it’s perfect for their personalities and it is the type of first date plan people their age would manage to execute. in my day dating at that age was like. going to the mall w/ ur parents in the background

-In the fic Martin says Elias dropped by the Lukas estate “a few” times over the summer. Martin was busy writing poetry in his room and had no idea that Elias hung out once a week

-Elias has had a crush on Peter since 0.001 seconds after he transferred. He spends entire classes staring at him and has turned in HW w/ Peter doodles on it. All his teachers gossip w/ Jon about it at district meetings. 

-Peter hated Elias initially bc he doesn't like attention and also bc Elias is loud and prickly. Then some prep school brat bullies another one of the scholarship students and Elias (partially out of pragmatism, he would've been next) like... destroys him. So Peter starts paying attention. Tbh he only develops a proper crush once Martin is tutoring him and asking him about school and what he enjoys and Peter realizes Elias comes to mind. It is a long summer. Peter spends a lot of it awkwardly wondering how to be a person while they skip rocks on the lake and explode stuff out in the deep woods. yes u read that right. they get a lot of fireworks and they Do Not tell Martin

-when they start dating they spend a surprising amount of time navigating how to handle Peter's introversion vs Elias' desire to glue their frickin hands together bc he continues to find his bf fascinating. the first time Peter erupts and goes into a vent session about school where he rants for 20 minutes, Elias holds his hand very tight and has to remind himself that Peter is pissed and it is not time to smile bc he likes to listen to his bf talk. they text a lot. Peter hates phone calls

-these last points have made the crushing sound one-sided, but trust me when I say Peter likes Elias. Peter does what Peter wants, and if he wanted Elias gone, he'd make it so. sometimes when he needs to be alone he does make it so. Elias spends a lot of time pretending to be someone he's not to be accepted, so he values that kind of honesty. The concept of someone enjoying Peter’s personality actually makes him v uncomfortable and kinda confuses him (Martin skates by under the guise of ‘he is just my tutor who I pay and not the only adult I respect & trust’). after their 6-month anniversary he sort of flips out and ghosts Elias for a week bc he did not expect this to work & he’s scared. Jon and Martin get involved when Elias spends that week mercilessly torturing Jon, showing up unannounced. when they reunite they somehow like each other more. but Elias pettily spends a week w/ extra staring which Peter grudgingly allows

-Peter's family thinks their new maid has a son who now basically lives at their house. Spoiler: Elias just visits a lot and Peter tells them zero personal info

-The difference in social class & money is awkward for Elias, who is hyperaware and insecure and won’t let Peter come over to his house until they’ve been dating for like two years. At that point Jurgen has saved up a lifetime’s worth of embarrassing things to reveal to his grandson’s bf. there is definitely some pining where Elias is convinced Peter’s going to dump him to get with some other hot rich kid at their school. Peter? Oblivious to this fear entirely. Peter had the luxury of growing up filthy rich, and is also the type of person who doesn’t care at all if your clothes are from Goodwill or your dates can’t cost more than a few bucks. This actually leads into the next point

-Peter is super outdoorsy and once his foot heals Elias takes him hiking /canoeing/camping every other weekend when it’s warm. Elias gets into landscape drawings. Peter hates TV but will eat popcorn & snuggle Elias on the couch while he watches his favorite shows on the Lukas’ expensive flatscreen. Elias continues to sketch Peter a lot and Peter does not find out about this for like a year. they continue to explode fireworks and homemade stuff in the woods bc they are teenage boys.

-they’re both Lil Bastards and like to annoy each other but if you ever mess with one the other pops up out of nowhere to threaten you in a cheerful, low drawl (Peter) or descend upon u vengefully w/ embarrassing secrets being yelled out in public (Elias). They hold hands the whole time. it is terrifying. neither of them have ever been the popular kid but nobody will so much as look at them funny

-they make bets about literally everything. My fave is the bet about who's going to be taller, which drags on for yeeeeears and no one will ever concede defeat. “you’re not taller, I could still grow” (Elias) “we are adults and puberty is over” (Peter) meanwhile they are both taller than Jon, who still tries to like. pat Elias atop the head. 

-When Jon and Martin get married u know who walks each of them down the aisle to give them away!! THE BOYS. they both hate the formalwear and look ready to shank someone the entire time

[quickspinner]

MLHolidays2k19 14. Candy Canes

Lukanette

Ugh I’m so sleepy tonight, but I tried. Should I label this as candy cane salt? Not gonna lie, I hate the dang things!

Luka felt a bit foolish, sitting there with a hot glue gun carefully gluing tiny red pompoms and googly eyes on candy canes, but Marinette had asked for help, and well…

Well Luka was a sucker. 

He was the only guy in a room full of women, but that was so typical for him that it didn’t even ping his radar. The whole room smelled like peppermint. There was a whole case of candy canes on his right, and Rose sat to his left, taking the candy canes and tying pipe cleaner antlers on them. Across from them, Marinette had the other glue gun (which was honestly making him a little bit nervous) and Juleka sat beside her on antler duty.

“How many of these do we have to do?” Juleka asked in a mumble.

“The whole case!” Rose chirped excitedly. 

“Does anybody ever actually eat candy canes?” Luka wondered aloud.

“That’s not the point!” Rose pouted, but Marinette giggled, and Luka shot her a grin. 

She was adorable in an oversize sweater and leggings, plus a reindeer antler headband that she had made herself and she was absolutely the reason Luka was sitting here risking his fingers and his sanity gluing tiny eyes on the most useless candy ever invented. 

“I’ve seen people put them in hot chocolate,” Marinette suggested. 

“There’s literally nothing you can do with a candy cane that wouldn’t be easier with some other kind of peppermint,” Juleka grunted. She set another candy cane reindeer down in the completed pile, and took the next one from Marinette. She and Luka exchanged a look of amusement and commiseration, both stuck doing this because they were hopeless lovesick saps. Juleka had the advantage, though, Luka thought ruefully as he snuck another glance at Marinette. He was the real idiot here.

“Do you want some music?” Marinette asked, her eyes fixed on her hands. “I could put on Jagged Stone’s Rockmas album.”

“Ooh, that sounds perfect!” Rose squealed. 

“Thanks for helping us out, Luka,” Marinette smiled at him, and he automatically returned it, caught by her eyes. “I know there’s probably a bunch of other things you could be doing, but we have to have these done by tomorrow if we’re going to get them on the donated packages for the children’s hospital, and Mylène had to bail on us.”

“No prob—ow, shit!” he exclaimed, jerking his hand back and dropping the glue gun.

“Oh no,” Marinette gasped, lunging forward. With unusual dexterity she caught his wrist in one hand and grabbed the glue gun with the other, lifting it up and placing it carefully upright on its stand. “Come on,” she said, tugging him up and toward her sink. “I’m so sorry, that stuff hurts so much!”

“You didn’t do anything,” he said as she twisted her tap and pulled his hand under the cold water. “I was just careless.” 

“But your hands,” Marinette fretted. “Why didn’t I think of that? I should have had you do the antlers.”

“You did,” he chuckled. “I was so bad at it that Rose took over, remember?”

“Still,” Marinette sighed, still holding his hand under the stream of cold water. “I could’ve found something else for you to do—”

“I volunteered to help, not to make work for you. It’s fine, Marinette, I knew what I was getting into.” He tugged on his hand lightly. “It’s my right hand, anyway, I should still be able to hold the pick. Might’ve been trickier if it were my fret hand.”

“No more glue gun for you,” Marinette said decidedly, pulling his hand out of the stream of water and holding it up to examine. The angry red spot had turned to more of a grumpy pink. Even so, she didn’t let go of him, tugging him over to her closet, where she pulled out the first aid kid. She did let go of him long enough to open it and pull out a tube of cream and a bandage. “I’ve burned myself a hundred times on that thing,” she said, taking his hand and turning it. She dabbed the cream lightly over the burned place, and then put a bandage over it. 

Then she lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it. 

Luka blushed, and so did Marinette, and suddenly she couldn’t look at him. “No more glue gun for you,” she proclaimed as she packed up the first aid kit. “We’ve got enough done now, you can start tying the ribbons on them.” 

Speechless, Luka let her grab his arm and pull him back across the room, where she dumped several spools of ribbon in his lap and handed him a pair of scissors. 

Juleka raised her eyebrows at him and Luka realized his mouth was hanging open. He shut it quickly and began sorting out the pile of ribbon. At least he had been helping Juleka with her hair for long enough that he could tie a decent bow. As long as he didn’t get distracted by Marinette and cut himself with the scissors, this should be fine.

He sighed and chuckled a little at himself. Man, he really was hopeless. He sneaked a glance at Marinette, and caught her looking at him. Her eyes flicked away and her cheeks turned pink. “Music,” she muttered under her breath. “I said I was going to put on some music.” She set her hot glue gun carefully aside and ran to her desk. 

Well, at least it seemed like today, he wasn’t the only one. His smile was a little wider as he snipped the next length of ribbon.

[why-are-there-crocs-in-my-stew]

tell 👏 me 👏 about 👏 your 👏 OCs 👏 thANK y o u-

*happiness noises* okay just gonna put a three to five sentance summary of each OC- 

 Shift- Not much to say. Main character, and used to be my persona. Thinking about changing them by a LOT- and also they're just the glue that sticks toghether the better and more interesting OCs. 

 Android- A n g s t y teen. Quite pissed at everyone- He was also reincarnated sorta so there's that- He was also the first one I ever truly made. 

 Auto- Gay mess with father issues. He's an innocent sm0l bean to everyone and believes in second chances. Well, except for Blake because he killed him. 

Cyber- Depressed, alcoholic, and y e a h- He is a complete mess- Also he's asexual so there's that. Also pretty smart and the only one with any self control kinda-

 Axphiel- g u n. haha fire go brrr and not like. s c i e n c e person. not human though and slightly immortal. 

 Lukas- m e m e m a n. also I fucking stan him more than a lot of others. he's like one of my top favorites- he also is the type to pass out to Carmelldansen. he is best boy.

 P.O- he's not social distancing because of the virus, he's social distancing because he secretly hates people. he has no eyes but is only half-blind. ball of r a g e. 

 Blake- bastard. the reason why everyone's dying because of his own trauma, but little does he know, it's a full cycle and causing trauma to others caused trauma to himself- it's kinda hard to explain. also slightly immortal psycho. 

Daniel- the other (s o r t a) innocent one. he's there before Blake happened. They're physically the same person but not mentally. If I ever make a video game it's gonna be in the D7 universe aka Daniel's backstory. (but that's not likely to happen so-) 

 aight that's about all but I do have a shit ton of coded AUs and I could also summarize those up-

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Lavender Adage- Luktober Day 5

I was thinking of what to do and for some reason my mind went to lavender pointe shoes and I remember on the lukadrien discord I’m in, it was brought up as a headcannon that Adrien did ballet and pointe to and how he scared Luka when he was softening his shoes by banging them on a wall or the floor, don’t remember. Anyway, please enjoy. Lavender

Luka looked up at the ballet school. Miraculous Dance Academy. His sister had almost attempted to audition but she was more comfortable with the make up aspect of it. Besides, her ballerina girlfriend danced with her more than enough times that she’d seem to regret the decision. He was called by the flower shop he made deliveries for to drop off a few long-steamed flowers for the students for a performance coming up. Juleka kept mentioning it, it was one of the few variations they showed where the switched the genders of the dancers. He’d asked about the lifts and she said that they actual a good number of girls who could lift boys with no problem. He needed to see it to believe it.

“Lu!” he noticed his sister was at the front door, poking her head out and keeping the door open. “Come on, you’re just in time.”

“How did you know it would be me anyway?” he asked, climbing the steps and letting his sister take one of the large bouquets from his hand.

“Who do you think suggested that flower shop anyway? Come on, I don’t want to miss this.”

Luka raised an eyebrow. “Is Rose in this?”

“No, she’s one of the fairy’s attendants. Our Aurora finally got his pointe shoes in and we’re deciding on the colour.”

“His?”

“Well of course. The performance is to showcase our male pointe dancers. We have some of most male pointe dancers in the area. And not just for character roles. Now, come on.”

Still feeling a bit sceptical, he followed his sister to a dance studio, seeing three guys and two girls along with the red-haired teacher he’d seen his sister talking to a few times.

“I thought you said the roles were switched.”

“Well, Adrien’s actually a lot heavier than he looks, thanks the muscle of picking up other girls, so we decided since we’re only doing one variation from Sleeping Beauty, it’s alright if we kept some of the traditional roles. Alix however, has no issue picking him up and is doing the English Prince, Aurora’s main partner in this.”

“That’s mostly completely gibberish to me.”

Juleka rolled her eyes. “Mme. Bustier, the flowers are here.”

“Oh, excellent. This must be your brother as well. Welcome and thank you so much for delivering this so quickly.”

“Of course. I’m a bit confused though. From my understanding, this is the Rose Adage. Why aren’t you using roses?”

“The rose props we have were unfortunately broken in an incident.” Mme Bustier said as she gave a small glare to two boys sitting at the side-lines, who looked guilty. “We used real roses but after our director watched a practise, he decided that the roses leaned more towards the traditional variation and wanted something that would fit this one.”

“Ok, well, I guess your Aurora should choose.”

“Of course. Adrien.” He then noticed one of the guys had pale coloured point shoes, effortlessly stretching his leg behind his head. Luka had to pull his eyes away from the dancer, who’s easy grace was captivating. “This is Juleka’s brother. He works at the flower shop that we’ll but the prop flowers from.”

“Hi, I’m Adrien.” God, those green eyes made it hard to look away.

“Luka. So, which do you want to start with?”

“How about the lilies?”

Alix turned out to be a girl who was shorter than Adrien but she seemed to have no problem guiding Adrien. She was rather loud with her complaints though, which seeing as how she was the main partner for Adrien and kept getting slapped with the flowers during every pirouette, maybe she had a good reason. The height difference was making things difficult.

“Oh sorry!” Adrien apologized as their newest flower, tulips, hit Alix. He was stopped with a hand in the air.

“Just drop it. On the floor, right now.” Adrien threw the two flowers he had on the floor as Alix turned to Luka, who’s taken a seat with his sister with how long this was taking. “Please tell me there’s a flower with not so long petals. I can take getting hit in the face with the flower, it’s the long petals that are driving me insane.”

“Um,” Luka looked over at the dwindling bundle of flowers he had. He pulled out ones he forgot he was given. “French lavender?”

“I’ll take anything at this point.”

The smaller delicate flowers worked. Barely hit Alix as Adrien pirouetted, they were still able to be seen and the pale colour was a near match to his pointe shoes. When practise was over, he spotted Adrien with his nose in his bundle that he’d have by the time the dance was over. The content look on his face as he breathed in the scent made the long journey to choosing them worth it.

                                                ________________

Luka came 2 days later with a new bundle of lavender for practise. The others were starting to drop petals and the school didn’t want to use basic silk flowers, not like the old handmade ones they had, so they put in an order for 8 French lavender flowers to be delivered every 2 days and then 16 the day of the performance. Sitting outside the dance studio was Adrien, picking up a large hardcover textbook and slamming it on his pointe shoes, the sound making Luka jump. He knew that’s what dancers did to help soften his shoes but still, it was terrifying to watch. Adrien noticed Luka and pulled off his headphones, a smile growing on his face.

“Luka! You’re early.”

“No other deliveries for today so I came to drop these off.”

“You’re not staying?” was it him, or did Adrien actually look a bit upset at the statement.

“Well, I’ve been meaning to work on this song and I don’t have any homework waiting for me.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were a musician.”

Luka shrugged, “Not classical.”

“Please, when you’re a dancer, you tend to be more than tired of classical by the end of your first year. Though, my father would kill me if he found out I listened to Jagged Stone.”

Luka took a seat next to Adrien, face even brighter. “I love Jagged Stone! I’ve been following his music since his self-made album. It’s really good.”

“Lucky. It’s almost impossible to find now.” Adrien said, pressing the top of the pointe shoe between his hands and pressing until a crack was heard.

“You must need those pretty soft.”

“Cause of my foot shape, I have to reconstruct the top of it anyway. Don’t worry, I sew and glue fast.”

Luka then took a closer look at them as Adrien checked to see how they were so far. “They’re lavender.”

“Yeah! We decided to match it to the flowers. My outfit’s more of a faded purple, to kinda match the Purple Fairy who gives Aurora a fighting chance. I love it when we get to have more fun with the outfits when we just do variations and not the whole production.”

“How did you get into pointe anyway? Guys rarely do it.”

“My mom. She used to do it and when I’d go to her practises, I would watch her just rise up on her toes and look so graceful. I know our feet don’t look the greatest,” Adrien said, sticking up one leg with perfect straightness – Luka was trying not to stare, “But just watching dancers glide with ease on them, even when in pain from it, it beautiful. So, I asked my private teacher if I could, and I continued practising. I was lucky I was encouraged to continue when I came here.”

“Well, it’s paying off. You’re going to make an amazing Aroura, even if it’s only for a variation.”

The smile and blush on Adrien’s face was doing things to him. “Thanks.”

Whenever Luka would come over the next 2 weeks, he’d usually find Adrien, either working on shoes, or stretching and just waiting for practise to start. Sometimes he’d be with his friends but he’d easily find a place with them. he liked it the most when it was just him and Adrien though. They got closer and it was worth the teasing his sister would give him. He was sad the day of the performance, due to a mix up in the schedule, he wouldn’t be the one delivering the flowers. It did mean something else though.

He stood with his sister in the wings, watching Adrien move gracefully dance across the stage, accepting the flowers of his suitors. At the end of the dance, as the bowed and the curtain dropped to allow for a change of dancers, Adrien found Luka.

“You came! I wasn’t sure if you would when someone came to drop off the flowers.”

“Yeah. Here, I had a feeling you might be tired of lavender for a while.” He handed Adrien a small bouquet of lavender dancing lady orchids.

“They’re so pretty. Thank you!”

“So, I was wondering. From what Juleka tells me, you don’t have classes after a performance, so did you wanna come over and maybe listen to some Jagged Stone CDs with me?”

“Like a date?” Adrien asked, looking hopeful.

“Yeah, like a date. If that’s ok?”

“Sounds perfect.”

[cosplayinamerica]

The thing I found most interesting was the biggest fans of Prince John weren't the little kids, it was the adults! I was stopped constantly for pics and had people telling me how much they loved the movie growing up.

When deciding what cosplay to do, I consider several factors, First, how much is it already done? Second, how to I feel about the character I want to portray? Third, how will people respond to seeing it done, especially kids? Little kids and their reactions are one of my favorite things about cosplaying.

Growing up, Robin Hood was one of my favorite movies! I had a mad crush on Robin, but always got such a kick out of Prince John and his bratty behavior. He is the ultimate younger sibling, always competing with the older brother, trying to be the favored one. I had yet to see a Prince John cosplay done at any con I have attended and thought it would be fun to pull together.

I admit I cannot sew to save my life, not even buttons! All of my cosplays are put together by an amazing team of friends. For Prince John, my normal seamstress was busy with her day job, so I had to find a new magician with a needle and thread who understood that cosplay is about the details and not just a Halloween costume that can be slapped together. I put out a request for recommendations on the Twin Cities Geek Facebook group looking for help and was matched up with the amazing Michelle Lucas by her husband.

Michelle not only sewed my Prince John robe but also Sir Hiss' (who I found on Amazon) cape and hat. My crown was put together by another talented friend of mine, Matt Feikema. He has done other prop work for me in the past including my Flash Gordon green egg and Jayne Cobb's Vera. Matt had the crown printed in a 3D printer for me, sanded it down, applied gold leaf and his wife Nikki, who is a jeweler, applied the stones, as well as made the rings for my fingers.

Under the robe, I wore a blue nightgown from Amazon and gold sandals from Walmart. Makeup was much easier and a lot of fun. I surfed Pinterest for ideas on various ways to do cat/lion makeup. The most difficult thing to figure out was the whiskers. While I could have drawn them on or used a pair that clipped to my nose, that wasn't the vision I had. I wanted to figure out how to apply a whisker to my cheeks. I wanted to look like Prince John but still on the slightly realistic side.

After lots of googling, I found a great YouTube tutorial by Luka. She showed how to create whiskers from wig hair and attached them using eyelash glue. It worked amazing! I was shocked at how well the whiskers stayed on all day long with no touch ups. Much of my makeup was covered up with my posing (after all, John does love to suck his thumb), but I was extremely happy with how everything turned out!

I started cosplaying about 8 years ago, after my first time at Comic Con. Since then it has become an important part of my Con experience and my life. My friends and I spend the better part of the year planning and deciding what to do, how to do it, when/where to do it. We have lists of characters we want to cosplay but have not yet attempted. It is so much fun to see how happy it makes people when they see a character they recognize and love, especially one that is more obscure.

Most people I meet are shocked that I am a cosplayer. I guess I don't have the stereotypical "look" that they would expect a cosplayer to have. But what they don't realize is that cosplay is for everyone and anyone who wants to try it!

My favorite thing is their reactions when they see photos of me as Prince John, Ursula, Jem, whoever I have become in the photo. I love that my own daughters, as well as nieces and nephew are so into my cosplay. They often dream about what they would like to do themselves when we might be able to cosplay together (hopefully this November at a local Con!). I think it is teaching them it is OK to be different, to stand out, to be silly, and to just have fun, not worrying about how you look or what others might think. Cosplay teaches that kind of confidence and independence.

--- https://www.instagram.com/sisustylegirl/

[sole-cuore-amore-e-droga]

Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Croatia to Eurovision with a confused angel lad and his lowkey over-enthusiastic mentor

Yeah, well, I definitely have hoped for this nation to finally finally bring back Dora as their national selection, as I myself have never really felt their internal entries since they abandoned it (well maybe except Nina from 2012 but even then by now I grew out of it softly). Not even Nina from 2016 which was tipped as a huge fan fave (though I’m so sorry for it getting completely lambasted in Eurovision, especially because of the poor clothing choice and Nina’s warbly notes here and there).

And they did! After like what, 7 solid years??? After the last Dora ending out with a disastrous end result and spawned a person to (more) stardom who even qualified a couple years back and this year he’s there to be a songwriter for his home country because of the Eurovision 2019 slogan inspiring him???? Well... yeah that happened. With having fought 15 other participants made up of familiar faces, up and coming starlets, the already legendary divas or just some people, he won as a songwriter for this next target of my review - the target that is aptly titled “The Dream” and is performed by a 19 year old up-and-coming pop star, Roko Blažević. Yep, Jacques Houdek won a NF but not with himself singing. Man did his magic game get stronger over the years since Dora 2011.

And interestingly enough, Jacques’s wizardry comes in with him being capable of selling chanceless music as something worth buying into. How can that happen???

Well, to be frank with you all, this song is not that bad, unlike everyone thinks it is. It feels like a low-rent musical ballad, sure, but it's not terribly composed or anything... well, I know I usually hate on those songs that like using mostly not the "verse - chorus - verse - chorus - bridge - chorus", but there are plenty of songs that mess with that structure that usually just omit the last two components (radio pop music) or don’t even need one, and they sound great. Here we have the omission of the last two components that more reminds me of “Grande amore” (I am not saying they’re comparable but still), as in, slow ballad in the F minor (”The Dream” even slaps a keychange on) that tries to sound majestic/dramatic, not very much so to be intense, just something theatrical I s’pose. And has a little too little time for another full verse so they just go to a bridge (and "Grande amore" had two long pre-choruses too?!?). I don’t hate this one, if I had to make a 2019 ranking this instant I’d put this in Top 30 somehow.

So what is there to be found that puts people off? They cannot be hating on Roko’s voice, which is really great for a young man like him. (In fact, God forbid I say one bad word about him, because some specific one on Twitter will have a beatdown with me because I dissed her hubby... so I’ll keep my mouth shut about any qualities of his :X) I guess it consists of several factors: 1) the song sounds dated; 2) the lyrics, especially in that chorus (I DREAM OF LOOOOOOVE, YOU DREAM OF LOOOOOOVE~ lol I actually dream of hatred, hatred will prevail >:) ); 3) the vocal volume is loud at parts; 4) the song is English-Croatian and somehow it should be sung in Croatian just to hide away the hideous understandable lyrics. My personal caveats are: 1) the song is too plodding and it shows a lot in that chorus with Roko holding his long notes (can we get tothe point FASTER?!); 2) the chorus lacks productional depth and maybe with a slight revamp (given Jacques wouldn’t be so stubborn about it!) it could have sounded the right amount of dramatic. If anything, I am GRATEFUL that it sounds more palatable than "My Friend", as THAT one was a joyful of cringey clichés tbh. The cheese became rotten and smelly and the sudden violin lead-in into the bridge still creeps me out. Goddamn it Jaq.

Not to mention Mr. Houdek is soooooo optimistic about his song, he finds everything in it perfect enough to not change it! Not the melody, not the language decisions, not the wings (did I tell you Roko wore wings on his NF performance??) - no! Did someone not tell him that Eurovision is rapidly evolving and his fantasies of coming top 3 with this song just better stay fantasies? Oh wait, it's the same man who once sang "dare to dream and make it real", of course he's stuck to his guns like super glue. Can't blame him, there were worse songs in top 3 over the years. Still though, the wings is a stupid idea. There should be something else involved if Jacques wants a performance to be memorable. Roko can't just stand there and only do what he's told to do by his guardian songwriter - granted he has to behave but still...

In the end, how would I summarize this tl;dr? I am one of a handful of folks who find this alright. There's a bigger minority who outright adores the song but I'm just there that likes this and nothing much more, honestly. Everything's just alright. Guess I'm sometimes soft enough to accept cheese, huh. But seriously, the mentoring behind the scenes... it's creepy to say the least. I'm happy Roko's having a helluva good time at least.

Approval factor: Oh I don't know with this one, statistically we can just go ahead and... try approving this? I’m not a huge fan of Croatian entries this decade, at least Slovenia redeemed themselves in my eyes last minute with “Sebi”, while even in my Croatian faves (they mostly are “Nebo” and “Crazy”, and I maaaaaybe like “Lighthouse” a bit too actually?) I see some negative qualities that completely overwhelm my liking for them. But since I legally find “The Dream” okay, I give this one a bit of a pass.

Follow-up factor: Sadly this kind of choice feels to me as a steady divedown in overall quality of what Croatia usually offers us. Well the decline was always on since “My Friend” followed up “Lighthouse” I suppose, or it's just so happens that Croatia sent the duds on this decade only in odd years ("Celebrate" was fun but tragic trash, "Mižerja" was pleasant I guess but everything here was miserable from the beginning and everyone still doesn’t get why “My Friend” qualified and “Crazy” didn’t). I like it though.

Qualification factor: I’d like to believe that this one can borderline sneak the fuck in to the finals for no reason other than Jacques knowing how to work things in his favour. Yes, I’m not writing this off completely. Although I still see some parts where this wouldn’t work out, it’s actually not 100% doomed... if anything, I at least don’t see it coming last in semi easily! It’s not as LAME as Iceland last year was. And it too was a basic love-peace-dreams message inserted into an older-timey-sounding singalong ballad and was given for a young singer that has a helluva lot of potential later ASIDE Eurovision. That is if they don't pretend Eurovision "ruined [their] careers, njeh!", of course. At least Roko can SANG live and maybe it will happen again that a singer's voice will make this surprisngly qualify over the song? We'll see. For now Jacques should just stay focused on how to make Roko's angel wings (sigh...) more memorable on stage in case the voice is not qualifying but the gimmicks are.

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

EMA 2019 at least had positive surprises all over for a NF this non-cared-about-by-me. Dora just... did not. Really. This NF did not interest me all that much song-quality-wise, and it even had SIX MORE SONGS than EMA!!! Crazy, huh?? But it’s okay, I can talk about the show to you if you want me to:

• From the Dora participants list announcement I was mostly excited to hear like two entries, and I'll mention both of them right away separately. And it's by two artists I've heard of before a lot! Though this first one kind of made me feel like I've been somewhat betrayed... enter Luka Nižetić who has got a nice vast catalogue of songs now - soft song(s), upbeat summer songs, and so on. And I kinda liked some of those songs of his I heard (if you're looking for recommendations, give "Vječno" a listen!), but “Brutalero”, his actual Dora 2019 entry was... on a whole different level. Dude, when was ripping off “Mi gente” ever useful?? It’s the year people were chasing after “Fuego” as the Latinesque bop to copy, not this! I hate it when people rehash annoying (but catchy) songs, and it’s certainly worse when they do it as their Eurovision NF entry. Brutal. And I actually remember hyping him before hearing the song, which is a bigger facepalm-worthy moment of mine. When will I ever learn?! ;( Thank God for the juries who served this song right. IDC if the revamp version of this made it any better, I’ll be fuming over this not being an inspired song. Oh and the comic book cartoon style made this brutally laughable to me, I said what I said. It might have entertained some kids though. So to summarise, Luka’s capable of having bops out, but “Brutalero” ain’t it, sis.

• Well guess what - Friendship ended with LUKA, Now MANNTRA is my best friend! Hell yeah lol. Did I tell you I like rock music so much? So I really foresaw kind of liking Manntra's song “In the Shadows” and rooting for them based on me knowing their name (just like Luka but oop), and in fact I really did root for them in the end! I wish I supported them more than Luka instead. They’re bangin’. They’re blazin’. They’re pure awesomeness. Their costumes. THAT BREAKDOWN. Magic. Should’ve won, and if them winning were any forbidden because Croatia is just refusing to accept stuff I’d stan for, at least come second. Screw Luka, screw Lorena. Bring the rock music back. ^^

• oh yeah and the others I guess. Well, if I had to recommend a few entries, here goes: if you’re nostalgic for old-timey early 2000′s bops (in the style of “Everyway That I Can”), you go and listen to the aforementioned Lorena Bućan‘s entry, “Tower of Babylon”. If you dreamed of one of the Femminem singers becoming a 60s retro artiste (actually you did not, that sounds very utter random), go check her project’s (Gelato Sisters) entry, “Back to That Swing”. If you’re here for THE QUEEN DOMENICA, go ahead, check out “Indigo”, the ultimate shopping mall background music anthem. My actual other favourite together with Manntra was Beta Sudar though, as “Don’t Give Up” as some really nice pop I guess. You see what I mean when I said that Dora this year did not interest me all that much song-quality-wise? Well ofc some songs were nice but that's all and too much 'just niceness' is slowly breaking me honestly. I would have gladly cancelled the NF and put Manntra through internally instead. Epic boys deserve an epic platform to showcase themselves, I don’t make the rules here.

Thankfully that's that out of the way, now I'm just going to wish this sweet little angel man all the best in Tel Aviv and not to be too upset if he flops. I know Jacques would be upset, but for that he shouldn't put Roko through a similar mind process also...

[imjustthemechanic]

Natalie Jones and the Golden Ship

Part 1/? - A Meeting at the Palace Part 2/? - Curry Talk Part 3/? - Princess Sitamun Part 4/? - Not At Rest Part 5/? - Dead Men Tell no Tales Part 6/? - Sitamun Rises Again Part 7/? - The Curse of Madame Desrosiers Part 8/? - Sabotage at Guedelon Part 9/? - A Miracle Part 10/? - Desrosiers’ Elixir Part 11/? - Athens in October Part 12/? - The Man in Black Part 13/? - Mr. Neustadt Part 14/? - The Other Side of the Story Part 15/? - A Favour Part 16/? - A Knock on the Window Part 17/? - Sir Stephen and Buckeye Part 18/? - Books of Alchemy Part 19/? - The Answers Part 20/? - A Gift Left Behind Part 21/? - Santorini Part 22/? - What the Doves Found Part 23/? - A Thief in the Night Part 24/? - Healing Part 25/? - Newton’s Code Part 26/? - Montenegro

Look who’s back!

The town of Kotor in Montenegro didn’t have many claims to fame.  It had been reasonably important under the Venetian empire, but those days were long gone, and it was only just starting to find new life as a tourist attraction.  In many ways it was the exact opposite of Santorini, which had been whitewashed villages clinging precariously to the edges of cliffs, with no trees.  Kotor was dark stone and brick clustered at the bottom of a deep, fjord-like valley full of foliage.  It was much more sheltered and cool than Santorini, and Natasha decided she would rather have spent a weekend here than on that barren volcanic island.

When they arrived, there was a cruise ship anchored in the bay.

“Wouldn’t it be funny if that were the same boat we saw at Santorini?” asked Clint.

Nat shielded her eyes from the low morning sun and squinted to see the image on the ship’s superstructure.  “I think it is,” she said.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”  As the sun went behind a cloud for a moment, the light changed and Nat was able to make out the circular logo.  “There it is – Zodiac Cruise Lines, the Scorpio II.  Same as in Santorini.”

“That’s… actually not funny at all,” Clint decided.  “Think how much more fun we’d be having on our little tour of the Balkans if we were on a cruise ship!

“You’d have a way better selection of wines,” said Nat.

“Air conditioning,” Sam agreed.

“Lobsters to race,” said Jim.

“We’d have a way more expensive selection of wines,” Clint corrected.  “Santorini was expensive enough.  Speaking of which…”  He checked his phone.  “Laura says if I’m in Kotor I need to find her some smoked ham.  Apparently that’s a thing.”

“All right,” said Nat.  “We’ll save the world.  You can shop for souvenirs.”

“I’m glad you guys trust me with the important stuff,” said Clint.

Before they did anything out, they found a room at the Hotel Vadar, just a moment’s walk from the gate in the old Venetian city walls.  The hotel only had one available, due to a last-minute cancellation, and it only had one bed, but they would make do.  It would definitely be better than camping out in a construction site on Santorini, or rock-hard mattresses on the creaking cargo boat.

If Neustadt had told them to go to Kotor as part of a trap, then it probably wouldn’t have mattered if they’d all stopped to take a nap first – a mousetrap wouldn’t spring until something touched the cheese.  After their encounter with the thief on Santorini, however, they were worried that the alchemist might have decided to take matters into their own hands.  On that assumption, they ate a quick lunch and set out for the monastery at once.

The Church and Monastery of the Holy Dove were outside the northwest corner of the town, a short but arduous hike up a very steep path on the mountainside.  There were Catholic churches in Montenegro, but this one was Eastern Orthodox, identified by its domed roof and a steeple with three bells, one each for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The Square of the Holy Dove outside was thronged with tourists and with vendors selling trinkets to them.  On the left side of the church steps was a man selling books of local history in several languages, and on the right were a pair of sisters busking, one with a guitar and the other singing English pop songs.  Stray cats and dark-coloured pigeons ran around underfoot.

Trailing behind a tour group from the cruise ship, they climbed the steps to the church and went inside.  The interior was unusually bare by Orthodox standards, which had inherited the Byzantine preference for colourful murals with lots of gold.  The Holy Dove had once been decorated that way, but the plaster had fallen off the walls in an earthquake in the 1960’s, and since there was little hope of recreating the paintings in their former splendor, the walls had simply been left as bare red limestone.  Only a few fragments of the paintings remained, and a corkboard displaying carefully colourized old photographs to suggest what it had once looked like.  The austerity had the effect of making the wall of icons at the far end stand out all the more, their gilded surfaces glittering in the shafts of light from the high windows.

A monk was busy re-lighting candles in front of these holy pictures, murmuring a prayer as he did each one.  Tourists were taking flash pictures of this, despite posted signs warning that the light might damage the remaining murals.  The group respectfully waited until he was finished before approaching him.

“Excuse me,” said Nat.  “Do you speak English?”

“Some,” the monk replied.  “Do you have questions about the church?”  He must be used to being approached by strangers.

“No,” said Natasha.  “We’re here to see Brother Luka.”

The young monk went a little pale.  “What do you want with Brother Luka?” he asked.

This was not going to go well, Nat could already tell.  “He has something a man named Neustadt needs,” she said.  “He was supposed to send it to him?”

“Wait here,” said the young monk.

He vanished through the back door of the church, leaving them to wait there a while and contemplate the crumbling paintings that remained on the insides of some of the supporting arches.  These were mainly the faces of saints, with their names in Greek lettering next to them.  By one was a man on a ladder, using some sort of glue to stabilize a bit that was about to fall apart.

The young monk returned, accompanied by the Abbot.  This man was also younger than Nat would have pictured a monk, which she tended to think of as a bunch of old men clinging to a dying institution.  He was no older than fifty, and clean-shaved, with a jowly face and a strong Eastern European nose.  His expression was worried.

“Good morning,” he said to them.  “I am Father Slavko of the Brothers of the Holy Dove.”

“Good morning,” Nat replied, and for the sake of looking legitimate, she pulled out her badge.  “I’m Dr. Natalie Jones, of the Committee for the Appraisal of Archaeological Peril.  We were told to come here and see Brother Luka.  The man we spoke to didn’t give us much information.”

“You are the second group of people in as many days who have come for Brother Luka,” said the Abbot, and Nat’s heart sank – Neustadt must have already been here.  “A man in a hat came yesterday morning and the two argued.  The visitor left angry, and Brother Luka took ill shortly afterwards.  He’s now in the hospital in Meljine.  The doctors said it was a stroke.”

Something Neustadt had done on purpose, Nat wondered, or just an old man who’d gotten too angry for his own good?  “What did they talk about?” she asked.

“I did not hear,” said the Abbot.  “It was not my business.”

“Excuse me,” the younger monk said, “I did hear.  They spoke about Aleksio the Heretic.”

Aleksio.  That was the name from Newton’s notebooks, the one who said The Principle was in the monastery.  “Who is Aleksio the Heretic?” she asked.

The Abbot looked over his shoulder at the crowded church and the tourists with their cameras, then moved closer to the group.  “Come with me,” he said.

He led them out of the church by the back door, an ornately carved wooden one with big iron hinges that must have been centuries old, and into the area where the monks lived.  Outside of the parts open to the public, the monastery was sparingly decorated and without electric lights.  The Abbot stopped by a small table and took a flashlight out of a drawer, then produced an immense iron key and unlocked another door, which looked like it might lead to a medieval torture chamber – although the taller members of the CAAP had to duck to go through it, it was made of planks six inches thick, reinforced with heavy iron bands and nails like railroad spikes.  When the Abbot opened the door, Nat could see that the nails were so long they went all the way through and protruded a few inches from the back, where they’d been hammered to the side to lie flat.

A very narrow flight of stone steps spiraled down into the darkness.

“Be careful,” said the Abbot.  “They are often wet.”

Down they went, in single file.  Sir Stephen and Sam, who were both very tall men, had to stoop.  Jim bent at the knees, walking like the Missing Link, and Allen hugged his own shoulders, trying to keep from filling the entire space.  Only Nat, the shortest, was able to stand up straight.  Anybody wishing to go back up would probably have had to go backwards, and anybody behind him or her would have had to turn back, also.

At the bottom was an equally narrow corridor.  It went a short way to another door, which the Abbot opened with a different key.  The rusted hinges squealed as they moved, thunderously loud in the tiny, quiet space.  Beyond was an underground chamber.  A little bit of light and a slight draft came in through a set of tiny grates in the floor of the church overhead.  Shadows passed by as the tourists wandered around.  At the far end of the room was a table, with a little sandbox in which several candles had been set upright to burn, and an ornamental reliquary.  In front of the table another monk was kneeling.  He’d looked up at the sound of the hinges moving, but saw it was the Abbot, and returned to his silent praying.

“Have you heard of the Cathars?” asked the Abbot.

“They were a heretical group during the Middle Ages,” Natasha replied.  “They believed that God and the Devil were equal in power, and the Earth was their battleground.  Was Aleksio the Heretic a Cathar?”

“No,” said the Abbot.  “His was a much more poisonous idea.  He believed that the Devil could not truly be evil, because all the evil he does is in the service of God’s plan.  He reasoned that evil would not exist unless God allowed it, and therefore evil can serve good purposes – he thought that Judas would go to Heaven for making Christ’s sacrifice possible, and that the Anti-Christ would be as divine as Christ himself.”

Nat had been hoping for something a little more alchemical.  As far as she could tell, this was just theological semantics, and seemed irrelevant.  “Neustadt said he had something called the Principle.”

The Abbot nodded.  “That is in here.  It’s our most holy relic.”

“So why is it hidden away, and not in a place where souls may benefit by it?” asked Sir Stephen.

“For a long time it was because of the Crusaders,” the Abbot said.  “It was the sort of treasure they would stop at nothing to possess, and so we pretended it was only a myth.  After centuries of that it was almost forgotten.  Then we had to hide it away from the heathen Turks, who would have destroyed it if they’d found it – and then there was Aleksio, who said that the Antichrist would come for it on the day of judgment.”  He looked up at the ceiling as another tourist’s shadow passed over it.  “And don’t think I haven’t wondered if the man in the hat were he.”

“He’s not the Antichrist, he’s an alchemist,” said Natasha.  Although she supposed it was possible that Aleksio had thought Newton was the Antichrist… in which case, in a mind that believed everything served God’s plan, Newton might actually be the good guy.  ���Is it gold?”

“No,” said the Abbot.  “It is something infinitely more valuable than that.”

He touched the praying monk’s shoulder, and the man got up and stood aside.  The Abbot took a chain from around his own neck and removed a small, tarnished key from it, and unlocked the reliquary on the table.