#I would love to give Axel a smooch

[umbraartist]

Axel when his pookie trauma dumps to him

I feel like as Fandom we should talk more about Axel's soft side. Just me?

[yanderelovlies]

✨Galaxy Anon ✨here!

Ooh I see.

Interesting

I see. That’s a nice goal for her to have and definitely a challenge that sounds tough enough to overcome. Aww cute!

Ooh tell me! I love to hear it

Also hi! I know it’s been awhile but in my defense I was waiting to for the responses since I sent mine out. I think maybe tumblr didn’t send or if you were tired of the conversation we can start a new one. I don’t mind.

And also I couldn’t respond faster since I actually needed a break from talking to people. I was very stressed for awhile and needed a break from everything so sorry about that. Hope this also explains why I didn’t reach out sooner when I wondering where your responses were.

She is the sweetest, and she is such a good mom. aahh I love her so much.

So I'll try not to drag this on too much, but here you go!

Fatgum: Ugh, let me just say this man is good with kids, and he seems like such a family man. That does something to me. On top of that, he is so sweet. I can't name a thing I don't like about him. (That being said, I'm not caught up on the series 👀👀)

Sardonyx: Sweet, fun, and outgoing. all of that on top of having all the best jokes. I'm sold. Also, in four arms, you can't tell me she doesn't give the best hugs. She needs more screen time.

Axel/Lea: I could pull out a pamphlet for you on why I like him so much. I love that despite being a nobody, he still manages to become best friends with Roxas and Xion. Despite everything, he still fights for his friends. Even going behind the organizations back.

Milo: When I first played Sword and fought him, he talked about not minding being the first gym everyone faces. He loves seeing the faces of his opponents when they win. From that alone, I realized that despite being a very capable trainer, he would rather uplift others than himself. I wanted to smooch him then and there.

Oh, galaxy, I would never get tired of our conversations! I love talking with you. I think Tumblr messed up cause I never got a response. I figured you were busy, and I didn't want to bother you.

Also, I'm glad you took time for yourself to just destress and recharge your social battery. You don't need to apologize. I just hope you're okay, dear. 💕

[dreamtydraw]

Well hello there (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

I'm starting to finaly be active on Tumblr a bit thanks to the really kind people being intéressed by my baby Erika ( bless all if your Heart for being super nice guys )

I said i'll explain more of Erika bonds with the différent arlignton's student later and we are now later sooooo, enjoy this post if you'll read it.

first let's respond to a question I didn't answer: who's here love interest?

It's no one else that mister businessman Tadashi

Tadashi :

What's better than starting a life story with awkward confusion ( I'll probably show how they first met in another post ). When they first met Tadashi not knowing about Erika's handicap mistook her as an Axel 2.0, always late for paperwork and giving him a hard time, he then one day snapped and yelled about her being lazy which she responded with "I'm sorry it's just you're walking faster than me" showing him her special pass.

This is a moment that made her laugh and that will haunt Tadashi when he tries to sleep. Since then she always thought of him as a great but overstressed guy and liked annoying him to time but they weren't close. When the Nanako's corp incident occurred she was not taking any BS knowing damn well that he wasn't that type of guy. Gaining a new ally they became real friends at that moment and soon after she convinced him to watch one of her movies .

She didn't gain her title of a talented young actress and Tadashi developed a little crush on her but tossed it away "she just has a pretty face, that nothing". Well it wasn't nothing when she won the first place of the Classement, honest, nice, pretty and smart, oh boo this crush got worse.

And what about Erika's POV? Well that something I'll tell another day while we pass on a relationship heavily impacted by tadashi's feelings....

Karolina :

It's really easy, Karol hates her. She respects her works and her career but her blood boils from seeing how easily Erika talks and is comfortable with Tadashi while she tried to be perfect for the boy she liked. She knows it's just jealousy speaking and she hates it, making her even more disgusted by the young actress presence.

Erika feelings some sort of aggressively coming from her by her coldness just tried to not be around her, she reminds her too much of other actresses she met and don't need that kind of impression in that new environment. She also really dislike the way she treats her friend Anessa ( my other OC ), even if Anessa tells her that everything is ok it doesn't help the relation between them.

Axel :

Someone she liked and feels comfortable with tho is Axel. They met each other long before Arlington, meeting on a talk show where they were interviewed for having such a successful career at a young age. They connected really fast and exchanged numbers quickly after. They lost contact when she went to the hospital but she was still very happy to learn that she would find a familiar face at Arlington.

Axel had a good feeling with that annoying little rats like he used to call her. The news of the incident was a shock and even if they weren't that close he still hoped she was alright. She happily joined him on his scheme to annoy Tadashi and he couldn't be more proud of that little rat.

Claire :

If there was someone Erika would have probably gave a big smooch during the new year that would be claire. Erika missing a lot of hours the precedent year she needed a tutor and a good one, that when this angel came to her. Erika loves Claire with all her heart, this girl is a sweetie and she couldn't believe how nice she was, it touched her to have someone that kind around her. Claire became her confidant concerning her medical situation, she hates talking about it but she felt safe talking about it to her.

They don't see each other that much since they have both really heavy schedules but they are really good friends. Claire also enjoy Erika's presence, she had charisma and a motivation to study and talks about everything, she loved it. When she learned Tadashi had a crush on her you wouldn't believe the big smile she had on her face, she went on the ship really quickly.

Ellie :

They were banned to work together due to the amount of heart they almost make stop with their cahotique creations. Their taste in humor, robotic, mechanics, creations, and pranks made them too similar for not being scared. They are a really good duo and both know it, it's fun to work with each other and they have a lot of fun together. Sadly teacher's decision was made and they were separated in class ( Romeo and Juliette who? )

They don't have much time to spend with each other but they send each other memes at 3 in the morning and do emoji battles in tchats.

(･ω･)つ⊂(･ω･)

Tyler :

when they first met it was Like if two fanboys were in the same room. She worked for her father before and was a huge fan of him but she then was introduced to Tyler's work and was a huge shadow fan. On the contrary, Tyler remembered her acting very well, this girl had talent and not the kind he could forget. After a long period of awkward and anxious fan behavior, they finally spoke to each other as students, and they became really good friends. Erika is honest and straightforward, she's not influenced when it comes to criticizing Tyler's works and it's a good help.

Tegan :

If someone asked her to describe Tegan she would immediately tall about how to talk he is. She's not that tall and he's a literal giant for her. They are good friends but Erika is a way too social and a tactil person for Tegan's taste which she understands. She still thinks of him as a nice guy and is 100% here to encourage him ( mostly for his crush toward Anessa ). She also enjoys gaming with him and doesn't hesitate to go talk to him or just chill without talking.

Alistair :

One of her favorite person to ask for a ride on his back. Alistair and she don't have a lot in common but they always have time for a nice conversation. She likes to learn about his siblings and regularly asks for news from them when they see each other. He empathizes with her legs problem and tries to help her if she needs any help. He's probably one of the first person who'll find about Tadashi's feelings towards her and he totally agrees to help his friend about it.

Because of the nature of the relationship she has with Karolina, Neha and Erika don't really have lots of moments to speak to each other. Therefore none of them have negative feelings toward each other and they had some pleasant discussions. Erika loved Neha's design and probably commanded her different outfits which led them to have a nice but simple and small little friendship they don't talk about.

Raquel :

These two never had a particular occasion to interact with each other but friends of a friend they are nice and that a bit if they have time. Raquel Always kindly invite her to her party which she mostly décline due to her health condition.

If you readed all of it i Hope you had a good Time and if you have any Ask about anything i'll be happy to respond to it

Have a good day (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

[lesbianjunimo]

If you’ve played Chapter 12 of Sweet Elite, then you know what went down. Today I am here to humbly attempt to give us what we all want: A MISTLETOE SCENE WITH THE RIGHT PERSON!! WOO!

ANYWAY, here you go!! I hope you guys enjoy. I’ve only romanced Alistair so some others may be ooc but let’s hope not. Putting these under a cut because I’m assuming this is gonna get long!

Alistair:

As soon as he got back with your punch, the crowd around you guys started giggling and pointing. You two just looked at each other and shrugged. That was when they started yelling to kiss.

“What? Why?- Oh.” You finally spotted the mistletoe above the two of you. “There’s a mistletoe, Al! I couldn’t see it behind your head. You’re too tall.” That made both of you laugh.

“Really? Sorry,” he rubbed the back of his neck. The crowd had gotten bored of you both by that point. You took too long, and high schoolers have the attention span of a pigeon.

Having noticed no one was looking anymore, you quickly planted a kiss on Al’s cheek. He turned bright red immediately, holding a hand to his cheek. “What was that for? I mean, I really liked it-”

“The mistletoe!” You beamed at him and he felt like his heart could’ve exploded. He smiled back at you, taking your hand and giving it a squeeze. He was very glad he asked you to the party.

Tadashi:

If you think this man would kiss you in front of a crowd, I’m afraid you are sorely mistaken. I think the most PDA you’d get from Mr. Professional would be him jumping off a bridge after you if you happened to fall off.

So when the crowd starts yelling for him to kiss, he simply rolls his eyes. “That’s not going to happen! Stop shouting, you’ll get us all caught.” A few people called him lame, but no one really had an argument. If y’all didn’t want to kiss, so be it!

You’d be lying if you said you weren’t disappointed. You were, like, super disappointed. You had been wanting to kiss this man since Halloween night! That’s two whole months of staring at his lips! And for what!

You were a bit bummed, but the excitement of spending the rest of the party with Tadashi brought your mood back up. You had almost forgotten about the mistletoe incident entirely until he walked you back to your dorm.

“I had a really great time tonight,” you smiled at him. He blushed, returning your happy expression. “So did I...” And then he did something you didn’t expect. He took your hand in his, bringing it up to his mouth and kissing your knuckles. “I apologize for the mistletoe incident...I’d rather kiss you at a time more special than that.”

OH. OKAY COOL. THANKS. You two said goodnight and you blushed all the way until you fell asleep. Nerd.

Raquel:

She catches on to the hype of the crowd, but she doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable or move too fast. She’s about to tell you just that, but when she turns to you she sees that you’re not as hesitant as she assumed you’d be.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you for months,” you’re nervous, but so giddy at the prospect of getting to kiss your crush that your feelings just rush out. You didn’t know what you expected Raquel’s response to be, but the huge smile that spread across her face was clearly the best option.

This girl absolutely dips you to give you a kiss. The crowd goes wild. She is milking it. She has spent way too much time with Axel. It’s a really good kiss, though. So good you barely even register the crowd noise. 

When you’re both back upright and you pull away, you’ve got stars in your eyes. You’re so happy you feel like your heart could explode right out of your chest. 

“Definitely the best party I’ve ever thrown,” Raquel winks at you, and smiles to herself when you burst into flattered laughter. “Agreed.”

Tyler:

Also starts yelling “kiss! kiss!” before realizing that it is, in fact, you two being told to do that. Oh. Well, in that case...

Gives you a really cheesy wink, one that makes you snort, before taking both your hands in his. His expression changes to be really serious. “If you want to kiss, that’s fine by me. More than fine. Awesome, even. But if you don’t want to kiss right now, that’s also cool. Kissing in front of people isn’t for everybody.”

He’s. So. Sweet! Oh my God! “A consent king,” you joke, and the two of you snicker. “But, seriously, I would love to kiss you.” “Really?” He looks absolutely giddy at the prospect. “Really.”

And so you two kissed. It was short, but super sweet. You both smiled through the whole thing. Ahh, you’re too cute! You get a few cheers and hollers from the crowd as you pull away. Tyler has a mind to scream “Thank you!” to both them and the heavens for letting him finally be able to smooch you, but he restrains himself.

“Would you want to do that again?” You ask him when the two of you go back to dancing. “Anytime, anywhere.”

Claire:

Mmm no. This would just not do. A bunch of people yelling at Claire will never do, even if they aren’t being mean. And based on the panicked look on her face, all that commotion is deemed illegal under the “everyone must be nice to Claire at all times” law. You leap into action quickly.

“Hey, hey! Leave us alone! If it’s so important someone kiss, do it yourselves!” You shout over everyone. You get a few boos, but you just roll your eyes and take Claire’s hand, leading her out of the room.

You take her back to your dorm, away from all noise. “How about we just stay here for a while?” You offer. She nods, smiling at you. “Thank you. That was very brave of you to stand up for us like that. I froze up.” 

“And that’s perfectly okay. Anyone would have. I just hated seeing you like that; I knew I had to do something.” You sat down next to her, on the edge of your bed. She leaned over and unexpectedly kissed your cheek.

“We may not have had a mistletoe kiss, but I hope that shows my gratitude.” NO ONE PERSON IS ALLOWED TO BE THIS CUTE. You blush and smile, giving her a nod, before the two of you start talking about how excited you are for the group vacation the next day.

Axel: 

More annoyed than anything. Since it’s him, there’s even more excitement than there would be if literally anyone else was under the mistletoe. Shuts that shit down immediately.

He glares at the crowd before telling them to calm down and leave you two alone. You’re torn between sad you didn’t get to kiss him and happy all the peer pressure to do so is gone. 

Honestly, after that Axel doesn’t seem that into the party. You feel bad. Was it your fault? I mean, probably not...but maybe you could’ve handled it better? Hm...

“You wanna get out of here?” He offers, knocking you out of your thoughts. You agree, and you both head to his dorm. “You seemed out of it back there,” he observes.

“I was just...worried I did something wrong and upset you,” you twiddled your thumbs, looking at the floor. Suddenly his shoes were in your view, and he was standing right in front of you. 

“I don’t think you could ever upset me,” he puts a hand on your shoulder as you look up, squeezing gently. “I was just mad at everyone there for pressuring you. I didn’t want to be in the same room as them anymore. I never want you to be uncomfortable like that. I’m used to large crowds screaming at me, but I don’t want you to have to be.”

“So it wasn’t me? Or that you didn’t want to kiss me?” “God, no,” he replied instantly, no hesitation needed. “I’d love to kiss you. Just not with all those people around.” “Well...what about right now?”

Take a guess what happens sjdssgffkdsfj

Karolina:

Completely immune to peer pressure from anyone she doesn’t respect. All the shouting has practically no effect on her. Her reaction is similar to Axel’s, except far more subdued.

“Oh, stop it. It’s not happening,” she pinches the bridge of her nose in a move that kind of reminds you of Tadashi. Those two do tend to have similar body language. Not wanting to deal with the ice queen’s wrath, as well as seeing that no kiss was coming, people lose interest.

“Sorry about that,” Karol says, when you two move to chat in the corner over punch. “It’s no problem! You handled it just as gracefully as I assumed you would.” If there is one compliment she wasn’t expecting, it was to be called “graceful” for dispersing a crowd. She loved it. She was blushing before she even realized it.

“What? It’s true,” you smirked as you took a sip of punch. She looked away, trying futilely to hid her burning cheeks. “Plus, I think first kisses are better when they’re in a more romantic setting. Maybe we’ll get to do that someday?”

Karol lifts her punch to her mouth, seemingly trying to hide in a dignified way, before locking eyes with you. “If you’re lucky,” she replied, smiling despite herself.

Tegan:

Ew. Not a fan of all the peer pressure going on here. Glared at the gathering crowd. “Stop that. Leave us alone.” He was a whole lot more stern than usual! You knew he could be like that when he was especially upset or passionate, especially after what happened at Faxion. 

“Why don’t we go?” You suggested, voice soft. He sighed and agreed. You took his hand in yours, and he quickly intertwined you guys’ fingers as you left the room. You both decided to head to his dorm to get away from the chaos.

“Sorry,” he looked a bit skittish when you arrived. “What are you saying sorry for? You handled that well! You showed major guts out there!” You smiled at him, sitting down on one of the bean bags. He sat down next to you on the carpet, blushing at your praise.

“Thanks. I just...I really wanted everything to go perfectly at that party. It’s important to me that tonight goes well.” He looked into your eyes, clearly worried he had ruined your night.

“Tegan, literally any time spent with you is perfect. We could be doing math homework right now and I’d still be ecstatic. As long as I get to spend it with you, no matter where, tonight will be my favorite I’ve spent on campus.”

Oop- was that too much? You couldn’t tell. You were about to apologize when Tegan surged forward and hugged you. Oh. Looks like it wasn’t. “You’re the best, Y/N.”

Neha:

Freezes up when everyone starts demanding you two kiss. It’s not like she doesn’t want to, just...not now! She gives you a bit of a deer in the headlights look while you both desperately look for a way out of the situation. 

Spending a night with your crush has absolutely fried your brain, so you do the first thing that comes to mind. Point at something shiny. “Whoa! Look at that!” You point towards the window, at nothing in particular, in hopes your peers will think you actually saw something. To your surprise, the majority of people fell for it! Maybe their brains were fried, too. Probably from finals.

Neha can’t stop herself from laughing at your awful plan, continuing to giggle as the both of you make your escape. You guys go back to her room, closing the door behind you before collapsing into another fit of laughter.

“I’m sorry! I couldn’t think of anything else! I just wanted to get you out of there!” You wipe a tear from your eye as you both begin to recover your breath.

“I don’t know how that worked,” the girl next to you rolled her eyes. “But I’m very happy it did.” She lifted your still-joined hands, kissing the back of yours. You blushed beet-red. “Thank you, Y/N.”

Ellie:

Making Y/N uncomfortable is illegal. And the crowd yelling at you sure as hell seemed to be making you uncomfortable. So Ellie put her foot down. “Alright, alright! Stop it!” She’d brandish her screwdriver as a weapon if she weren’t still on Arlington property.

But, luckily for her, the crowd dispersed quickly after her outburst. You let out a sigh of relief, and she wrapped an arm around your shoulders. You could feel her concerned eyes looking you over.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” “Yeah. That just made me really nervous. Do you think we could go somewhere quiet?” “Absolutely!” She agreed immediately. “How about we play some Honeydew Valley? Tegan will totally let me borrow his Swatch.” (ajsgaksjdgsj i love coming up with weird names for stuff like they do in-game)

“That sounds great.” God, she always knew just what to do. You loved that about her. After asking Tegan for permission and getting set up in her dorm, you two settled down. You had a whole lot of fun playing together. You mar or may not have even married your farmers in co-op ohohoho...

“Thank you for changing your plans so last minute,” you mumbled as the night got later, your head having rested itself on her shoulder at some unknown point in the gaming session. “No worries, Y/N! Anything is fun when I do it with you.” 

“Really?” You lifted your head. “Bet,” she replied, and kissed your nose. You nearly died. “Next time let’s make it a real one, hm?” Okay, then you did die, all while she laughed and beat your farmer at the egg hunt.

[avellanas-nutty-empire]

do you have any headcanons from when their s.o. gave the swedes a kiss first? Like not on the lips but like on the cheek or the forehead and they where like “is this... affection?”. because I do believe that they may not be very good at expressing their emotions since we’ve only seen two types of reactions from them: screams at a funeral and “maybe I’ll cut my murdering hand with an axe”

*gives swedes a smooch* what was that? Affection. Discusting. Do it again *countless more smooches*

Oscar gets a lil kiss kiss on his forehead after tou check his temperature, and he is just so confused. Is it a weird prank of sorts? He asks what it is and you say it's to make him feel better. Even though his temp is normal, he insists he needs more.

Otto is caught being self conscious of his scar, so you give it a lil peck. And he is lowkey scared? Like why would you do that? Of all the places, his scar?

"Cause its beautiful and deserves love just like you" blasphemy

Axel was struggling to bandage his own hands, so you help and give a lil smooch on top of the bandage when done and hes just... he doesnt comment on it or anything, but he is baffled for the rest of the day. Cant stop looking at where your lips touched. Then you do it again. And he asks why??? Ans you just like "why not? Does it bother you?" Lowkey yes, but in a... good warm bothered instead of grossed out way.

[milasartblog]

Video game surprise

Surprise is a tricky thing. Some people like it, others don't. They can be unexpected or something that person would expect from other. They can appear not at good time and moment most of the time. But it also happens otherwise. One of such surprises was decided to be done by Axel. After that situation and what Liya told him, he couldn't stop thinking about it. Even moments with his girlfriend were not his concern at this moment. Well, better say they didn't have them for some time. He couldn't just sit aside, and so today he and Liya were going for a walk. Liya of course was surprised that Axel invited her, but she was surprised more after hearing the reason behind it.

Liya: Are you sure that this is the right place? I mean there are plenty of video games shops.

Axel: But when i checked them all, there was no game that I was looking for. Only after one of my colleagues suggested me one place, I decided to give it a try.

Liya: I see. But why inviting me?

Axel: Well, with you I feel more confident about this surprise. I mean, sure, I could do it myself, but I don't know if Nazeel reacts possitively on it after-

Liya: After what happened that day.....

Axel: Yeah....Look, maybe it won't affect that much, but I still want to cheer him up.

Liya: Like you did to me?

Axel: Of course! All my friends and girlfriend.

He smooched Liya's cheek, making her blush amd smile for a moment.

Liya: You're such a sweetheart. No wonder I love you~

Axel: And I love you~ Even tho your ideas for our moments are....unique.

Liya giggled as they got to the shop Axel needed. For couple of minutes they were there, chatting with the seller about the price of the game. Finally after buying it, they went outside and walked towards Liya's house.

Liya: I will warn Anoli, so that she could warn Nazeel about your arrive.

Axel: Good plan.

And she picked up the phone. Judging by voice, Anoli was busy in the kitchen, but chat didn't last long as Liya warned her about Axel and finished the call. For couple of hours they were walking and chatting, exchanging the latest news they heard on TV or on social media. At last, they reached Liya’s home. As there was no elevator, they had to use old casual way - stairs. When they got to their floor, Liya walked towards the door of their appartment and knocked. They could hear Anoli’s voice on the other side. 

Anoli: I will open!

They could hear footsteps coming closer and a click sound telling the couple that the door was opened and they could see Anoli. 

Anoli: Oh, Liya, Axel. Good to see you. Come in.

As they entered, Nazeel came out of his room with Sona to greet his mommy and her boyfriend. 

Nazeel: Welcome back, mommy! Hello, Axel!

Liya: Thank you, sweetie~

Axel: Hello, buddy. How are you doing?

Nazeel: Doing fine. I was not expecting that you will pay a visit to us. 

Axel: Yeah, well, I thought that it will be okay to visit you, to see how you and girls are doing. Hope it’s okay.

Nazeel: Oh, it’s okay. 

Sona barked happily, running around, waving his tail. Axel kneeled and patted puppy. Meanwhile Liya took off her shoes to enter the house.

Anoli: I have just finished cooking lunch, so please come in.

Axel: Thanks, Anoli, but I had lunch already at home. I came here because I have something for Nazeel.

Nazeel: For me?

Axel nodded as took shoes off and entered house too. Nazeel noticed that Axel was searching something in his back and when he found it and took it out...his face took an amazed expression. 

Nazeel: It’s...Dragon Quest VIII on 3DS?? But I thought that it was sold out. 

Axel: Well, one of my colleagues shared a little secret that helped me to find such game. 

Liya: And this secret is In- ~

Axel: Liya!!

Nazeel: But...why? You didn’t have to do it for me.

Axel: Maybe, but after....recent events, I couldn’t help myself not to do something for you, Anoli and Liya. Video games with good stories can help lift mood and for a moment feel like you’re part of this story. Plus, I just wanted to surprise you and thought to play this game together, if you don’t mind of course.

Nazeel looked at the game cover and thought for a moment. 

Nazeel: It’s so kind of you, Axel, thank you.

He hugged Axel tightly as Axel did the same.

Axel: You're welcome, Nazeel. So, want to play together?

Nazeel: Sure, I would like to play with you. But first I need to pick up my 2DS.

Axel: Cool.

With the bright smile Nazeel rushed to his room and came back with his 3DS. After that they went to living room where they occupied places on the sofa and Nazeel launched the game. Girls meanwhile were in the kitchen. Liya helped with setting a table while Anoli almost finished with cooking.

Meanwhile Axel and Nazeel were enjoying new game and having fun. Sometimes they were taking turns so that both could play as the main character. Even Sona decided to join them as a watcher, being confused and curious at the same time. Liya peeped up a bit to look after them. Seeing them being happy, she couldn’t help but smile too. She knew she has the best boyfriend ever. For couple of minutes boys were playing, doing a quest, then Anoli called them for a tea time. Boys put the game on pause and together the crew were having nice lunch time.

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

And that's the next story for our universe^^ Axel is such good friend^^ Sorry for no stories for a long time X') I will try to do them as much as i can. For now hope you will enjoy it^^

Axel, Liya and Anoli belong to @wildstarfan and @milasartblog (both me)

Nazeel and Sona belong to @captainthane

Okaria et Feria belongs to @wildstarfan and @captainthane

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Bonus Chapter 4

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 16,518

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

Lea gave a low thoughtful hum as he zipped up the back of my dress. "Well lessee here… the sound of dry leaves crunching under my shoes… the smell of movie theater popcorn… that specific shade of deep red the sky turns at sunset…" A brief pause and another quiet hum as he gently finger-combed and played with my hair, eliciting a small shiver from me. "Oh! Let's not forget the feel of the first breeze of summer warming my skin."

My eyelids drooped as I shot a look over my shoulder at where he sat at the edge of his bed in skinny jeans and topless. "...I was more looking for things you liked that maybe, sort of… had a price tag?"

He chuckled, his arm hugging my waist from behind, pulling me back towards him so he could press a kiss to my shoulder. "Trynta figure out what to get me for my birthday, hm?"

"Now whatever would give you a silly idea like that?" one corner of my lips tugged up as my hand covered his, toying with his fingers. "Perhaps I was simply making polite and completely theoretical small talk."

"Oh-ho, I see. Well if you were theoretically fishing for gift ideas for the birthday boy, how 'bout this?" A tiny yelp escaped me as he suddenly yanked me backward, my spine hitting the mattress. He hovered over me now in all his shirtless glory, his hands finding mine as he pinned them to the bed to either side of my head. Smirking down at me with hooded eyes, the tip of his nose brushed mine and his breath warmed my lips as he purred, "You. Me. Locked in my room from dawn to dusk while I just worship every last inch of your body."

Face warming, I looked away, pressing my cheek to his comforter as I gave a small scoff. "This is for your birthday, not mine, remember?"

He did not hesitate to take advantage of the easier access I'd just given him to my throat, nibbling down it. "Funnily enough, I was actually thinking the exact same deal for your birthday as well. It's a win-win for both of us, really."

I cleared my throat, trying not to get distracted as he teeth now lightly nipped at my earlobe. "Come on, there's got to be something you want besides just… that."

"Honestly?" he pulled back a bit and my gaze met his once more as he playfully waggled his eyebrows. "Getting to see you naked is the second greatest gift you could give me."

Snorting, I narrowed my eyes up at him suspiciously. "...what would be the first then?"

Lea nuzzled our noses together as he cooed, "Your love," before capturing my lips with his.

I laughed against his mouth, breaking the kiss. "Have I mentioned what a sap you are?"

"Mm, it may of come up once or twice," he nodded solemnly before burying his face into the side of my neck again, only this time to blow a raspberry. I gasped and spasmed under him, managing to free one of my hands so I could swat at his shoulder. This only seemed to encourage him to do it again as his chest rumbled in amusement. But then his whole body deflated on top of mine as he released a soft, grumbling sigh. "Damn this motherfucking econ exam I hafta take today. I'd call in sick in a heartbeat if it wouldn't flunk me outta the whole course for missing it." With a groan, he planted a quick peck to my forehead before reluctantly pushing himself up off the bed and onto his feet as he began a hunt for a clean shirt.

Sitting up myself, my fingers set to work weaving my pale hair into a loose braid. "Seriously, I need ideas for what to get you."

"Seriously, I know you'll figure out something awesome on your own." He grabbed a tee that was hanging from the brim of his hamper, giving it a quick sniff. Guess it passed the smell test, for he then tugged it on over his head. The front bore a circle with a curved grid, yellow on the inside with a thick red ring border and large, bold but faded text wrapping around it proclaiming, THE POWER IS YOURS! Then he grinned big at me, "I mean, the first gift ya ever got me was perfect after all!"

My brow furrowed. "...my first gift?"

I'd gotten him something before?

Since when?

Both eyebrows reached for his hairline and he dramatically clutched at his chest. "Don't tell me you forgot about Bubbles!"

Um…

"...Bubbles?"

He snerked then moved over to one of his tall, cluttered bookcases where he plucked something from the top shelf - a spot of honor, no doubt - before holding it out in front of me. "Bubbles," he repeated by way of explanation.

In his hands was the toy from Wandering Oaken's Trading Post - the orca robot with a machine gun. A little derisive huff blew out my nose as I took it from him. "This? It doesn't count as a gift. I didn't even pay for it."

"Ya tried to. Not your fault if the cashier let it go for freesies." Snatching one of his Converse up off the floor, he started hopping up and down on one foot as he tugged it onto the other before setting to work tying it. "'Sides, spending munny doesn't necessarily make something a gift. Some of the best presents out there can't be bought in a store."

"But I didn't even pick this out for you," I continued to argue with a small sour twist to my lips. "You did."

Finished donning both his shoes now, he snagged his messenger bag off its wall hook and started hastily stuffing it with whatever supplies he'd need for his test. "But you saw that I liked it, thus ya got it for me. That right there was some superb gift decision-making! And I'll have you know outta everything in this room, it's my most favorite."

I wrinkled my nose and frowned down at the cheap toy in my hands. "...really?"

"Mm-hm! 'Cept for you, of course!" he chirped, bending forward and bracing his hands on the bed to either side of me as he pressed his lips to mine. I rolled my eyes but bit back a grin as he straightened back up. "And I have the utmost faith that you'll be able to find something else I like without even breaking a sweat, babe. 'Sides, whatever it's gonna be, I'll love it no matter what cuz it'll be from you!" Slinging his bag strap over his head to hang across his chest, Lea unplugged his phone from the charger and pocketed it. Then he squinted up at the ceiling and tapped a curled finger to his lips before snapping his fingers, "Ah! Mustn't forget Marshmallow!"

He crossed his bedroom to open the door only to be immediately greeted by the sight of Saïx standing on the other side. In his arms was the big ball of white fluff in question, poofy tail enthusiastically wagging as his tongue lapped away at Saïx's chin. The show of puppy-dog affection did not seem to be wholly appreciated, if Saïx's dull scowl was any indicator.

"Oh! Heh… mornin', big guy!" Lea said brightly. "Thanks for keeping an eye on the pooch last night! Hope the lil furball didn't give ya too much tr-"

His words were swallowed in a grunt as Saïx just shoved Marshmallow into his chest, then wordlessly turned to stalk off into his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him. Eyes fixed on where Saïx had just disappeared, Marshmallow immediately began to whimper and squirm in Lea's arms.

Struggling to maintain his hold on him, Lea grumbled, "Aw c'mon, what am I, chopped liver? Where's my doggy smooches? You're my pupper after all!"

Marshmallow's reply came in the form of gnawing on Lea's thumb.

Sighing, he put him down. "I tell ya, Mr D of W, I am this close to kicking your fuzzy ass to the curb where you'll hafta turn tricks for Scooby Snacks just to survive."

The threat fell on deaf ears as Marshmallow came running over to me, demanding attention. I hummed a laugh and reached a hand down to pet him, glancing towards Lea out of the corner of my eye, "I think Saïx is one puppy-sitting session away from murdering you with a Scooby Snack."

"Nah. He puts on a grumpy front, but he loves that lil slobber-factory. I saw the two together last night. There were cuddles. There were snuggles. There were even," here he paused, dropping his voice low for dramatic effect, "...belly rubs."

I mock gasped. "The scandal."

"Right?" Removing the hair-tie that was around his wrist, he handed it to me before nudging Marshmallow over to make room and plopping down on the floor himself, using my knees as a backrest as he tucked his feet in under him to sit cross-legged. As I set to work running my fingers through his hair and gathering all his crimson spikes together, he went on, "Now I should only be gone a few hours. Dog food's under the sink in the kitchen and the lil fellah will probably wanna go for walkies soon. Bruni's already gotta full belly so all good there, but some time outta the terrarium might be nice and-"

"I know all this already. This isn't my first time watching them, you know," I snorted, finishing his ponytail and pressing my lips lightly to the top of his head to let him know I was done.

"Sorry, can't help it. I just take my responsibilities as a pet dad very seriously," he chuckled, standing up once more and spinning around to smirk down at me. "Unlike some people who strangle imaginary animals during acting class."

My hand shot out to pinch him, but he hopped back out of my reach with a laugh. I huffed, "Don't you have a test to be getting to?"

"Yeah, yeah. But first," he braved stepping closer to me once more, eyes crinkling as he reached down to take my hands in his, "c'mere and gimme some sugar, sweet thang." I let him pull me up to my feet as he brought my hands up to clasp behind his neck. Then he slipped his arms around my waist, pulling me close for a kiss.

Marshmallow circled our legs with a small growl. Pulling away, Lea stuck his tongue out at the dog, "Don't be jelly. I saw her first." Then he was turning a soft smile towards me, cupping my cheek with his hand as he rested his forehead against mine and murmured, "I love you."

Still wasn't used to hearing that. Still wasn't used to the way it made my heart jolt nor the explosion of butterflies it set off in my stomach. And definitely still wasn't used to saying it back.

And so…

Clap.

The sound of my hand flying up to cover his eyes.

"El, c'mon," Lea pouted.

My lips pursed to one side. After some hesitation, I slowly pivoted my hand so it was only over one of his eyes now.

It helped. Don't ask me why or how. It just did.

As he blinked it open and half his green gaze settled on me, my face grew uncomfortably hot as I mumbled, "Love you too."

There it was again. That big, dorky grin. "There ya go! Progress! Now I only hafta be a pirate for you to tell me that, yar!" Planting a swift peck to my cheek, he released me and headed towards the door. "Gotta run, wish me luck!"

"Good luck," I smiled after him as he closed the door.

Save for the sound of Marshmallow happily panting away from his seat next to my feet, the room fell abruptly quiet.

For a grand total of two seconds.

Then-

The door banged open and in Lea rushed once more. I tipped my head to one side, "Did you forget-"

He took me in his arms and dipped me backwards, kissing me long and slow and deep. I was breathless when he at last broke it off and straightened us both back up. "Kay, bye for real this time," he winked before bolting out the door, clicking it shut behind him again.

Fighting the upward pull I felt at one side of my mouth, I ran my hands down my dress to smooth the nonexistent wrinkles out and cleared my throat.

Right. Back to the matter at hand.

That matter being I still had no clue what to get Lea for his birthday.

Since the boy himself had been absolutely zero help, it might only be natural to assume the next best step would be to ask his closest friends and family. But Saïx had just gone to bed and as nice as he could be during his regular awake hours, the thought of disturbing him while he was just settling in to get some sleep seemed like a bit of a deathwish. Ruling him out for the moment, I supposed the next best options would be Xion and Roxas, but…

Was it wrong for me to feel so… self-conscious about going to them for present ideas? I mean, I was the girlfriend after all. Wasn't it my job to know these things? Shouldn't his friends be the ones coming to me for advice on what to get Lea, not the other way around? I know it was totally silly, but I couldn't help but feel embarrassed for not just… automatically knowing the answer. I simply wasn't quite ready to put my shame on display like that in front of his friends. Not just yet, at least.

Luckily, there was another I could turn to without any fear of judgement.

"So tell me," I began conversationally as I crouched down next to the terrarium, one elbow propped on my knee as I cradled my chin in my palm, "of the three of us in this room right now, you've known Lea the longest. What would you suggest I get for him?"

Bruni blinked back up at me. Then lashed his tongue out and flicked it over his eyeball.

I gave a soft snerk at that. "That's just your answer to everything, isn't it?" I sighed, straightening back up to my full height and setting the enclosure's lamps aside before opening it and reaching inside. Scooping the little salamander up, I turned and walked back towards the bed, Marshmallow trotting along behind me with his tail going a mile a minute.

"It's just… well, you know how Lea is," I told Bruni as I took a seat on the mattress and rested my head back into the pillows. "So impulsive… anytime he sees something he wants, he just buys it on the spot. It makes it very hard to find something he'll like that he hasn't already purchased himself."

As I stroked the reptile's head with a fingertip, a whimper from next to the bed drew my attention down to Marshmallow, who was staring up at me with forlorn puppy eyes. Smiling, I pat my free hand to the blankets. Needing no further invitation, the pup sprung up onto the bed and flopped his full weight down onto my belly, forcing a small grunt out of me. Making a noise that was half wheeze, half laugh, I said, "Marshmallow, I think you're getting too big for that."

He tilted his head at me with a tiny huff and doggy frown.

"Oh, well then, my mistake. Consider the comment withdrawn," I grinned softly, my fingers scritching behind his ear. The grin slowly faded however as I shifted my gaze up towards the ceiling. "...I suppose I've just never really been a fan of the whole gift giving thing. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of giving something to someone you care about that you'll know they'll love. It's everything else around it that I dislike… the agonizing over hundreds of options in search of the perfect gift, the uncertainty that comes with finally making a decision of whether it was even the right one, the anxiety as they open the gift and the fear of a negative reaction… and even after all that's finally over and done with, there's a lingering wonder of if they even really liked the present or if they just said they did to spare your feelings when really they were disappointed with the absolute crud you gave them…"

When the only response I received was a soft snuffling noise, I glanced back down to see Marshmallow curiously but gently sniffing at Bruni. Nothing to be concerned over. Marshmallow had long ago learned that Bruni was friend, not food. Still, my eyelids drooped, "Hey, you even listening to me?"

Puffing out a low snort through his snoot, the dog blinked up at me.

"That's better," I lightly tapped his nose before depositing Bruni on top of his head. As the salamander began to explore his new white, fluffy terrain, the dog hardly seemed to notice or mind as he just rested his chin on my chest. Idly ruffly the fur at his cheek, I muttered, "Then of course there's also what to even do for his birthday. I mean, Xion and Roxas have that surprise party planned, but that doesn't start until mid-afternoon, so it's up to me to keep Lea busy until then. And not just busy… I want to do something nice for him. Something he'll really like." My teeth gnawed at my bottom lip. "...I mean, I've already made plans for something… and I think he'll enjoy it, but I don't know. It's so simple… maybe too simple… maybe he'll think I put little to no thought into it because I didn't really care enough…"

Marshmallow yawned deeply, lazily licking his chops while Bruni graced me with the sight of his tail-end as he started crawling down Marshmallow's back.

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I boring you two?" I chuckled, my hand moving to block Bruni's path before he wandered off too far. Then my face scrunched slightly before I conceded with a nod, "But you're right. I've made a decision there already. It's done, so no use second-guessing myself over it. My time and energy would be better spent on what I haven't figured out yet: the present."

Settling Bruni back on his throne - aka the spot between Marshmallow's ears - I then reached over for Bubbles, picking it up from where I'd left it lying on the mattress. I held the little robot up in front of my face, squinting at it. Lea had called it a great present, but…

...why?

"Reveal unto me your hidden and untold wisdom on picking the perfect gift, oh great and powerful plastic one," I implored Bubbles.

The toy just stared blankly back at me and remained stoically silent.

My eyes narrowed. "Fine then. Keep your secrets."

...was I really resorting to asking an inanimate object for advice now?

I really was hopeless.

But I couldn't help it, I was really that clueless when it came to gift giving, especially for a boyfriend. You'd think I'd have years of experience from when I'd dated Hans, but gifts between him and me had never really… mattered. There had never been any substantial meaning behind the presents, no real sentiment… it'd just been stuff like the most expensive, latest model of wristwatch for him, or some fancy, glittery bit of jewelry for me. It'd all been about putting on a show of looking like a happy couple, just like everything else had always been between us. But for Lea, I actually cared about getting something he'd like. I just really didn't want to screw this up. I just… I wanted to make him happy.

"Ugh, maybe I should just cave and ask Roxas and Xion for help," I grumbled under my breath.

Marshmallow snored, apparently having elected to take a nap.

Bruni had made a break for it and was halfway to the foot of the bed by now. The little fugitive.

Deciding not to disturb Marshmallow until it was absolutely necessary, I let the salamander continue his adventure. If it looked like the little guy was going to take a swan dive for the floor, then I'd leap into action. For now, I just glanced at Bubbles again with a tiny frown. "...what's your deal anyhow?" I whispered. "A firearm-toting, killer-whale-transforming robot must have some sort of story behind it, right?"

Putting the action figure back down on the comforter, I snatched up my phone. Pulling up Google, I pursed my lips to one side as I stared at the empty search bar for a few seconds before deciding the bluntest, most direct course would be best and simply typed in "orca robot with machine gun toy." It actually didn't take long to find exactly what I was looking for and-

My eyes widened and I gasped, sitting up straight and knocking Marshmallow out of his beauty rest with a disgruntled huff.

I knew now.

I knew exactly what to get Lea for his birthday.

"Now turning down Market Street. And directly on our left, dear sightseers, you'll find a candy store, accessories boutique, and local post office."

"Are you sure you can't see at all?" I grumbled as I stopped Lea's car at a red light, glancing at him dubiously out of the corner of my narrowed eyes.

"Yup!" he chirped, turning his head to look at me. Or rather… not look, seeing as how he was currently blindfolded with a black strip of cloth. "Blinder than a bat with vertigo after a twenty-hour bender at a tequila bar! But I know Twilight Town like the back o' my hand, babydoll! Could navigate these streets with my eyes closed." He smirked, pointing at the blindfold, "As demonstrated."

My lips twisted sourly as the light became green and my foot pressed on the gas.

The day had arrived. His birthday. I was currently chauffeuring him to the destination I'd picked out to kick off celebrating the big day. A destination that was supposed to be a surprise, thus the blindfold. A fat lot a good that was doing though. I muttered, "You should consider getting your own circus sideshow, your recall skills are so freakishly good."

"What can I say, I know how to get it memorized," he declared cockily, poking a fingertip to his temple. "'Sides, never can be too careful. This lil party trick could save my life one day."

I snorted as I checked the rearview. "Sure it could."

He waggled his index finger, "You scoff now, but just you wait. When I get kidnapped but know exactly where my abductors have taken me despite having a sack thrown over my head to keep me in the dark, we'll see who has the last laugh. We'll see," he taunted, pointing two digits at his covered eyes then pointing them at me. Well… more like at the space in front of me, aka the steering wheel. While he had the uncanny ability to pinpoint his own precise location on a map without the use of his vision, it seemed he was a little bit foggier on where exactly I was.

"When you get kidnapped?" I echoed. "Not if?"

"Trust me, it's an inevitability at this point."

A grin tugged at my lips. "...what if your captors take you outside of Twilight Town?"

"Well then, I'm fucked," he shrugged.

"Very well," I hummed a soft laugh. "If someone manages to overpower and get the drop on a behemoth like you, and if they put a bag over your head, kidnap you and throw you in a car, and if they take you hostage somewhere within the city limits... then and only then, in that absurd and oddly specific scenario, will I concede that you may have had a valid point."

"Thank you," he lifted his chin with a lofty sniff. "Oo, now we turn down Station Heights, huh? The plot thickens."

On seeing that the street sign we'd just passed confirmed his words, I said nothing, just growled low in my throat.

He chuckled. "I think we can both agree that this," his hands reached for his blindfold, tugging at the knot in back, "is really just a formality at this point and is doing jackshit, so may as well just-"

"Ah-ah! Leave it," I snapped, jabbing a warning finger in his direction, even though I knew he (allegedly) couldn't see it.

"Mm, love it when ya get bossy. Your wish is my command, mistress," he waggled his eyebrows with a click of his tongue, hands dropping back into his lap. "Gotta say, El, when ya started off the morning by handing me this thing, I thought today's activities were gonna be lil more hitting the sheets, lil less hitting the streets."

Shifting my grip on the steering wheel, I dropped a casual, "Who's to say that's not the plan for the blindfold later?"

Who me? Trying to distract him from mentally tracking our whereabouts by appealing to his baser urges? I would never!

"Woman, don't tease me if ya don't plan to make good on it."

"Who's to say I won't?" I quirked a cheeky eyebrow.

Lea "looked" towards me again with a toothy, lopsided grin. When he next spoke however, it wasn't to comment on that. Instead, he furrowed his brow and cocked his head. "...be mindful of that tram."

I blinked. "Okay, one, I was nowhere near that thing. And two, pretty sure you're messing with me and can one hundred percent see."

"Nope!" he said brightly before tapping his ear. "Heard the ol' gal chuggin' along. She has a very distinctive thrum. I tell ya, El, take away my sight and I become a regular Daredevil - what I hear is what I see, clear as goddamn day."

"Right," my eyelids drooped.

"Like that! Right there! From the skepticism in that one word alone, I can see the perturbed look on your beautiful face, Love," he cooed, leaning over towards me with lips puckered. Presumably, the intended target was my cheek. Instead, the smooch landed on the headrest of my car seat. He pulled back, "My, how leathery you taste today."

I snorted. "Huh. Must have forgot to moisturize this morning."

"Must've," he agreed. Then, "Hey, ever wonder where totes wackadoodle streets like Where Nothing Gathers Way come from?"

My left eye twitched as we pulled up to a stop sign at that very road. "Streets? As in, more than one?"

Lea beamed, "Oh yeah! There's loads of 'em out there in the world! Don't tell me ya've never heard of the infamous Bucket of Blood Street."

"That's a real street name?" I scrunched up my nose as I flicked on the turn signal.

"Mm-hm!" he nodded. "Over in Arizona. Named after a shootout in the 1800s at a saloon located there. Then of course, if you're lookin' for some class, we can skip our happy asses on over to Vegas and take a stroll down Hanky Panky Street."

I scoffed. "Now I know you're making these up."

"Am not! I'll prove it to ya!" he jammed his hand down his pocket, digging out his phone. I watched out of my peripheral as he swiped the lockscreen away before his thumbs became a blur of typing.

Okay seriously, if he could successfully google this while blindfolded, I'd eat my own braid.

Just as I pressed down on the brakes for a crosswalk, Lea shoved his phone in my face with an all too pleased, "Read 'em and weep, sweetcheeks."

I was greeted by the sight of the search results for a string of characters and numbers that were just a complete mishmash on nonsensical gibberish.

Kudos for actually being able to pull up the search app at all, but I think I could consider my braid safely off the menu.

To him, I just deadpanned, "I stand corrected."

"Bam!" he smugly retracted his phone, moving to sheath it at his hip once more. "Game, set and... shit," he hissed out under his breath as the phone missed his pocket and fell down the crack between his chair and the center console, followed by a muted thunk from somewhere below.

Shifting lanes, I lightly singsonged, "Gone forever."

"You mock - quite cruelly, I might add - but it actually very well could be, " he grumbled, sticking his hand down there after it to blindly fumble around for the thing. "People think the Bermuda Triangle is in the Atlantic, but nope. Nu-uh. It's here, right under my goddamn car seat. You don't even know half the crap that's disappeared down here, never to see the light o' day again."

Alright, I'll bite. "...like?"

"Does the name Amelia Earhart ring a bell?"

"Please," I rolled my eyes with a soft huff, fighting a grin. "There are no historically famous female pilots lost in the black void beneath your car seat."

He razzed his tongue at me, hand still rooting around under his chair. ""Scuse you, but outta the two of us, pretty sure I'd be more the authority on what important figures from history may or may not of gone missing in my car, thank you very much."

Shaking my head, I reached a hand over to gently squeeze at his shoulder. "You can stop, I'll find it for you after we park."

"Spoken like the black hole below's soon-to-be next victim," he harrumphed, giving up on his search and straightening back up in his chair. "Now lessee, where were we?" he muttered, tapping his chin as he "stared" up at the ceiling. Then he brightened, snapped his fingers and pointed at me, "Psychopath."

"Uh…" Both eyebrows shot up my forehead as I slowed for a pedestrian. "...pardon?"

He held up a pair of digits, "Two words. Psycho..." insert pause, "...path. Psycho Path. 'Nother weirdo street name out there."

I tipped my head to one side, one corner of my lips lifting as I drove forward once more. "Okay, that one's pretty clever, actually."

"Right? Definitely way more fun and interesting than dumb, boring ol' Sunset Terrace."

I scowled.

Guess what road I'd just turned the car onto.

Go on, just take one look at Lea's shit-eating grin and guess.

...let's see what we can do about wiping it off that dumb, gorgeous face of his, shall we?

The tires loudly screeched as I made a sharp turn without warning into a massive grocery store parking lot, ignoring the blaring honks from the vehicle I had cut off in the process. Lea yelped as the momentum threw him into his car door. "Crap! The hell?! El, wha-"

I jerked the steering wheel into another hard left and his words were swallowed in a grunt as his shoulder hit his door again. Pressing my lips into a flat, determined line, I said nothing, just zoomed down the parking aisle. Now Lea laughed, "Oh-ho, I see how it is. You're trynta discombobulate me, get me all turned around so I dunno left from right, up from down. Nice try, but I gotta mind like a steel trap, babe. Ya won't get me lost that-"

Another abrupt turn tossed and silenced him.

We'll see about that, bucko. We'll see.

I weaved the car in a high-speed, winding path around the parking lot, making sudden jerky stops here, driving in reverse through empty parking spaces into the next aisle there, just constantly and unpredictably on the move. Lea remained quiet now, a crease forming between his eyebrows just above the blindfold - most likely concentrating on keeping his sense of direction and where we were intact. After a minute or two of this - right about when I saw what looked to be an annoyed employee emerging from the supermarket, probably aiming to put a stop to my recklessness - I maneuvered the car towards a different exit than the one we'd come in through and floored it, propelling us out of the lot and back onto the streets.

"That all ya got?" Lea shot me a half-smirk.

My eyes settled on what was coming up on the road ahead. Then a wicked grin twitched at the corner of my lips. "Hardly. We're just getting started."

That's when I drove the car into the roundabout.

A risky move, yes. There probably weren't a lot of roundabouts in Twilight Town and given his track record thus far, there was a good chance Lea knew every last one of them.

Didn't mean he'd know which direction I'd exit out of it.

Not if I raced around it eight times, anyhow. Or was it nine? Honestly, I'd lost count.

"Devil woman," Lea hissed, bracing one hand on the dashboard and the other to the door, steadying himself against the centripetal force.

My nose crinkled in amusement as we started our tenth (eleventh?) lap. "You like it."

"I really do."

Finally I picked a road at random and turned off the roundabout onto it. From there, I swerved down a few more lanes and side alleys for good measure, hoping to further throw his internal GPS out of whack. At last, I puffed out a sigh as I started driving like a sane person again, glancing towards my phone. The map app (sound muted so Lea wouldn't hear street directions from it) was going a bit haywire trying to adjust and correct course for our destination after that wild ride I'd just taken us on.

Lea chuckled, interlocking his fingers behind his head and leaning back in his seat. "Ya got moxie, kid, I'll give ya that. Tell me, is the rest of Red Nocturne Avenue as in awe of you right now as I am?"

I was this close to smacking his shoulder when I caught sight of the street sign and my hand froze.

This wasn't Red Nocturne Avenue.

This was Dragoon Drive.

...had I really done it? Did he actually not know where we were anymore?

I gave him a sideways squint, holding my tongue as I steered us into a right turn.

"Speechless, huh?" his grin ticked wider. "Yeah, the pure and unadulterated awesomeness that is yours truly has a tendency to do that to the ladies. Not to mention all o' the pretty sights Powerwild Court has to offer."

Wrong again. We were now on Dancer Boulevard.

Smiling as I basked in the glory of my tiny victory, I did my best to mask it with a soft hmph. "Fine, you win. Guess there's no fooling you."

"Damn skippy!"

It didn't take much to get us back on track and heading in the right direction again. From there, it was just a few minutes and several more incorrect street names from Lea before we'd arrived at the final address.

"Conduit Way? Really?" Lea arched an eyebrow as I finished parallel parking. "Ain't nothing here but sewage treatment facilities. Babe, I love ya, you know I do, but hate to break it to ya… a tour of one of those icky places isn't exactly my idea of b-day fun."

Luckily for him, we weren't on Conduit Way. I merely smiled, "You'd be surprised. Out… and ah, not yet! Blindfold stays."

His hands dropped from where they'd been trying to remove it again and he just grinned and shrugged before unbuckling his seatbelt and opening his door over the sidewalk. By the time I'd made my way around to his side of the car, he'd managed to climb out without tripping over the curb.

I pressed a quick peck to his cheek before turning and crouching down to start patting my hand around under his chair, trying to locate his phone. My fingers finally bumped into something, closing around it. I frowned.

...whatever it was, it was most definitely not a phone.

I pulled the object out to discover a tiny troll doll with neon pink hair, goggles and a little scarf wrapped around its neck. I held it up to Lea, "And this would be?"

His hands fumbled with it for a second, feeling the thing out before his face lit up. "Amelia Earhart! Ya found her!"

I shot him a small, withering look. Though it was more so only for my benefit, since he couldn't see it. "You're just messing with me. I refuse to believe that it's actually named that."

"You don't know!"

I gave a snort and shook my head as my hand plunged into the dusty shadows beneath the car seat once more. This time I successfully fished out his phone.

"Thanks, boo. Dunno what'd I ever do without ya," he chirped as I handed it to him.

"Probably not be blindfolded and thus dropping your phone in the first place?" I suggested, rising to my feet once more and dusting off my dress.

"Touché." Then he bent down to reward me with a smooch, right smack dab on-

"That was my eyeball, thanks," I deadpanned, screwing my face up a bit as he pulled back.

He beamed. "Meant to do that! Peepers need love too, ya know!"

"I'll take your word for it," I shook my head as one side of my mouth quirked up. Taking the troll doll back from him, I set it on top of the car's dash before closing and locking the car. Then I tucked my hand into Lea's elbow and began leading him over towards the building's entrance. Halfway to those doors, something on the sidewalk caught my attention and my eyes crinkled. "Little to your right," I told him, gently veering him with my grip.

The sharp crunch of brittle leaves being crushed beneath his Converse filled the air. He perked an ear up at the sound, then he flashed his dimples down at me. "D'aaawww, you remembered!" Again, he was ducking down. I think this time the aim had been to press his lips to mine. Instead…

"And I suppose nostrils need love as well?" I half grimaced, half grinned as I swiped the back of my hand across said nostril that had been the unwitting recipient of his affections.

"Absolutely! But what's that?" he cupped a hand to one ear. "...do I detect a note of discontent to my maiden fair's lovely voice? What oh what could the problem be, I do wonder!" Then he snapped his fingers with an evil smirk. "Ah! Not enough tongue. Gotta fix that," he started bowing towards my nose again, mouth open and tongue snaking in and out of it.

A clamped a hand over his whole face and shoved him back, grumbling, "Dork."

"Mm-hm!" he hummed, kissing my palm before freeing his head from my grasp. "And proudly so!"

We reached the entrance and I pulled open one of the doors with my free hand, using the other to tug Lea over the threshold. Once inside, I directed him off to one side so we wouldn't be in other people's way before pulling us both to a complete stop. His head pivoted to and fro curiously, even though the black strip of cloth was still covering his eyes. Then he sniffed the air, "...popcorn?" He cocked one eyebrow then pointed to his blindfold, silently requesting permission.

I bit down on my bottom lip, chilly uncertainty spiking in my chest, tiny but sharp.

This was it.

The moment of truth.

Time to find out if this had been a halfway decent plan or if I should just be crawling under a rock already to die of embarrassment over what a pathetic idea my useless brain had come up with.

I gave him a tentative nod. A full two seconds ticked by before I remembered he couldn't see it. Reaching up to squeeze at my braid, I voiced a small, "Yes."

He untied and removed it, blinking a couple times as his eyes adjusted to the light. Then he glanced around, taking it all in: the massive lobby we stood in now with its walls regally embellished with gold, curly trim. The plush red carpet beneath our feet leading to a wide, old-timey looking concession stand that looked like it'd been yanked straight out of the 50s. The noisy, vintage popcorn maker behind it, paired with a retro yet newly-polished soda pop machine. The black-and-white posters lining the walls boasting popular movies from various decades long past. He squinted at one of those in particular, right between Giantland on its left and Mickey's Circus to its right. "Classic Kingdom Theater?" he read off slowly.

"Mm," I hummed in confirmation, giving my braid one final yank before releasing it and instead fidgeting with the pendent on my necklace. "It's a movie theater, but not a normal one. It only screens old films. Every week, they pick a few from a certain decade to play. This week is the 90s which is apparently the cut-off for what they'll consider a classic, but some weeks they'll have movies from as far back as the 30s."

"This is… How did I not know about this place?" his forehead wrinkled as he glanced over his shoulder towards the glass doors that led back out onto the streets. Then his eyes widened slightly as a lightbulb seemingly flashed in his brain. "Wait… we aren't on Conduit Way. Which means we're… hang on, gimme a sec, I know this place..." Another pause as his eyes swept the room with a thoughtful frown before he tapped the side of his fist into his palm. "Got it. This used to be that defunct and abandoned tram lot warehouse."

Nodding, I said, "It only had its grand opening a little less than a month ago. Apparently some local billionaire bought the place and renovated it into this." I smiled softly, "Looks like there's someone who might quite possibly like the classics more than you, if such a thing is even possible."

"Local billionaire, huh?" he rubbed his chin. "Not a lotta those running around. Betcha it's the same one that owns Le Grand Bistrot."

"And Ice Palace too, I think," I agreed. Then I hesitated, licking my dry lips. "...so… what do you think? ...do you… like it? I hope you like it. I mean, you should like it." I blanched at my word choice, then hastily amended, "N-not that I'm telling you what you should or shouldn't like, I just meant that you, uh… you like… movies." I winced, fingers fiddling with my necklace more frantically. "Of course you like movies. Duh, everyone likes movies. Wait… no, not everyone exactly, I suppose, that's a bit of a broad generalization…"

Please like it.

"...but what I'm trying to say is that you in particular… you like the sappy classics. Although…" I frowned, tucking in my bottom lip,"...not even sure if they're showing anything sappy this week… but they're still classics, so that's something at least, right? Something you'll… like? Hopefully? Or… was this a bad idea?"

Please be happy.

" ...what am I saying, of course this was a bad idea," I was quick to answer my own question, saving him the trouble. "Such a bad, awful, uninspired idea. I should have come up with something else. Something to do with… dogs! Because you love dogs. I should have taken you to a dog… show. Yes, a dog show. Or… or a toy show, or a… car show? Because you like your car, so you'd like a car show, right? Do they even host car shows in Twilight Town? If they don't, then something else to do with cars, like… go-karts! Yeah, we could've gone to Disney Town Speedway or-"

Lea's hand cupped the nape of my neck, yanking me forward and shutting me up by otherwise occupying my mouth with his.

...fudge, I'd been doing it again, hadn't I? The whole anxiety-fueled rambling thing?

Lea had learned fairly early on in our budding relationship that sometimes this was the only way he could get a word in edgewise.

I gripped at the front of his shirt and he inhaled deeply before finally pulling away, but only by about an inch so he could press his forehead to mine. His fingers brushing my bangs behind one ear, he murmured, "You're right. It was a huge mistake bringing me here."

My heart plummeted and I stared hard down at my feet. I knew it. This had been such a dumb idea. Stupid, stupid, stupid-

"Cuz now that I know this place exists, I'm gonna be dragging ya here all the time. So when you inevitably get sick of it, just remember this is all your fault."

My eyes snapped up to meet his, which were crinkling at the corners. "...really? You… actually like it?"

"Like? No. I love it. Thank you for bringing me here, couldn't think of a better way to kick off my birthday," he pressed his lips to the tip of my nose. Then he straightened up, lacing our fingers together with a big grin and tugging me towards where tickets could be purchased. "Now c'mon, let's go find out what flicks you're treating me to."

I snorted, arching an eyebrow, "Wow, you're going to actually let me pay for you for once?"

He chuckled, "Course! Today is Lea Day after all and on this most blessed and holy of days, you're supposta spoil me rotten! Plus, I'm yo date and like I told ya before, I ain't a cheap one. You'll see that for yourself soon enough when we head on over to concessions. Now let's have a look at our options here…" he scrutinized the movie listings overhead. "Clueless… The Sandlot… Oo, Edward Scissorhands…"

I watched him as he idly rattled off a few more movie titles, slightly tipping my head to one side.

...he'd meant it… right?

He actually liked that I'd surprised him with this? He wasn't just saying that to calm me down or so that I wouldn't feel bad? I mean, I guess I never really could be sure when it came to stuff like this and I'd just have to learn accept that and take people's words for it, but-

"Holy shit, The Mummy with Brendan Fraser?! Oh hell yeah!" he excitedly tugged at my hand several times, pointing. "Babe, that's it! That's the one!"

...okay, I actually think I could be pretty sure in this case he was being genuine.

Don't think it would be possible to fake that much enthusiasm for a cheesy action-fantasy blockbuster from the 90s.

A pleasant tingle bubbled inside my chest and I couldn't hide my growing smile as I stepped forward to buy our tickets.

Guess I could consider the morning birthday activity a success.

Now to hope I would do even just half as well on the birthday present later.

We actually managed to squeeze in seeing two movies, considering we'd gotten there early enough in the morning. Good thing too seeing as how I don't think I would have gotten much say in the matter anyway, not with the way Lea had all but dragged me into Groundhog Day once he'd found out I'd never seen it after we'd exited the first movie. By the time we were finally leaving the theater, it was getting close to 1PM - perfect for lunch. Not that we were starving. We'd both filled up plenty on popcorn and candy, Lea especially. But now we could get something more substantial in our stomachs, or so I'd told him. Thus once we were on the road again, I couldn't help a tiny smile as I checked my phone and confirmed we were right on schedule for-

"Turning off Mako Lane onto Avalanche Street, huh? Must mean it's time for the surprise b-day bash Xion and Rox planned for me at 7th Heaven," Lea clapped and rubbed his hands together, a smirk emerging beneath where the blindfold was tied firmly in place once more.

I heaved a low sigh through my nose but chuckled as I steered his car into the parking lot. "You know what? I'm not even going to fight it anymore. Just please at least try and act surprised when we get inside?"

"Always do!" he flashed his pearly whites.

After pulling his car into a parking space close to the bar and shutting down the engine, we both climbed out. I went to the trunk first, pulling out the present I'd gotten for him - a tall box covered in ice cream print gift wrap. I'd snuck it back there earlier this morning after the blindfold had first been donned. Holding it against my hip, I then took Lea's hand in mine and led him towards 7th Heaven, carefully guiding him up those wooden steps onto the wraparound patio and through the front entrance.

"Golly gee, I wonder where it is you've taken me now, El, cuz I really haven't the foggiest!" Lea announced as we walked in, delivering the line loudly and with all the emotion and believability of cardboard.

My eyelids drooped at him before I shook my head and glanced around. Gosh, Lea had a lot of friends, all of them gathered here right now, shushing each other and struggling to stifle their giggles as they watched us step further into the room. Saïx could even be seen off to one side of the group, looking positively pleased as punch (not) at being included in the festivities - guess his brother's birthday was one of those three days a year he begrudgingly endured daylight. I also spotted Anna and Kristoff, his arm draped around her shoulders as she excitedly yet quietly waved to me from the crowd. It came as little surprise to see Riku and Rayne next to them, along with Kairi and Sora.

And of course, standing front and center of the small mob were the masterminds and orchestrators of this little shindig themselves: Xion and Roxas. I glanced towards them, arching one eyebrow in silent question. Both grinning ear to ear, they nodded their heads rapidly, giving me the okay. Temporarily setting my gift down on the nearest table, I then moved behind Lea and reached up to undo his blindfold. Just as I slipped it off him and his eyes fluttered open-

"SURPRISE!" erupted from every corner of the room accompanied by party blowers and poppers, filling the air with a whole rainbow of streamers and confetti.

Lea dramatically clutched at his chest with both hands, gasped and made choking noises, then fell over backwards, collapsing to the floor with a loud THUMP!

I blinked, then squeezed my eyes shut and hung my head with a sigh, pressing my fingertips to the spot between my eyebrows.

For the love of… I'd said to act surprised, you big doofus, not like you'd had a friggin' heart attack.

As everyone else around us devolved into laughter and chatter, Roxas's shoulders sagged and he groaned, "Goddamn it, Lea, you knew again?!"

Xion glared at his prone form, stomping over towards him. "This happens every year, you stupid jerk!" she huffed, kicking his foot with hers.

"Rude!" Lea harrumphed, sitting up and crossing his arms as he shot a flat look up at her. "Is that anyway to treat your friend who just suffered cardiac arrest, not to mention is the birthday boy?"

She threw up her hands, so done with him as she turned to walk away, "That's it! No more surprise birthday parties for you since you always ruin them!"

"What?!" He scrambled to stand now and chase after her, "Aw, but I love surprise parties!"

"How would you know, seeing as you've never really had one? Not one that's actually surprised you, anyway," Xion grumbled as she rejoined Roxas and matched the pouty scowl he was shooting at Lea for the double whammy.

"C'mon, kiddos, ya almost had me this year, I swear! No doubt you'll get me good next birthday, I'm sure of it!" Lea did his best to placate them, but judging by the zero change to their sour expressions, they were unmoved. He chuckled sheepishly, rubbing at the nape of his neck for a second before his face brightened as he seemed to recall something. "Hey! Guess who turned up?" he asked them as his hand dove into the pocket of his skinny jeans, pulling out-

"Amelia Earhart!" Roxas's eyes immediately lit up on seeing the troll doll emerge.

Seriously?! Okay, no, I still wasn't buying it. This had to be a bit. The three of them had to have planned the whole silly thing at my expense. There was no way that thing was actually named Amelia Earhart.

"You finally managed to rescue her from the Bermuda Triangle!" Xion laughed, taking the little toy from him.

"Actually, it was El." Just as I had my gift for him in hand once more, he reached back towards me to snag my other hand and tug me forward to join the three of them. Smiling down at me, he went on, "She fearlessly braved the dreaded unknown beneath my car seat, sticking her hand under there and risking life and literal limb to bring our tiny, intrepid heroine home and-" He abruptly stopped mid-sentence, seemingly noticing for the first time that I was carrying something. "Hey, what's that?"

Holding it behind me and out of his sight, I asked innocently, "What's what?"

"You know what," he smirked as he stepped closer to me, bringing us toe-to-toe and invading my personal bubble while he tried to reach around my side for it. "The thing you're hiding behind your back. The suspiciously birthday present shaped thing."

I stretched my arm away, keeping it out of his reach as I grinned back at him, teasing, "Well if it looks like a present and is shaped like a present…"

Crooked smirk twitching wider, he caught me around the waist with one arm, pulling me up against him - all the better to reach the cheerfully wrapped box with, of course. I don't think he was trying all that hard however, not really. His arms were easily longer than mine, so if he really wanted the thing he should've had no problem getting it. And yet I was able to keep it out of his grasp. He didn't seem to mind, his eyes hooding and his lips a breath away from mine as he murmured, "But I thought the blindfold was your gift to me."

I snorted softly at that. "Really? What kind of gift would that be?"

"A fantastic one. Or so you'll find out later tonight," his eyebrows slyly bounced.

"It certainly doesn't take much to make you happy," I crinkled my nose at him, one corner of my mouth curving up.

"It really doesn't," he agreed, pressing a lingering kiss to the hollow where my neck met my shoulder that left a little tingle in its wake while at the same time his hand casually reached for the present again. "Now gimme."

An audible gag at our antics - courtesy of Roxas - reminded me that we weren't alone. As Xion sniggered, I cleared my throat, disentangled myself from Lea's grip and took a step back. "You'll just have to wait and open it up with the rest of your gifts later."

"But-"

"Happy birthday, Lea!" Anna suddenly appeared at my side, clinging to my arm with a giggle and almost making me drop the present.

"You're getting old, Red! How's that social security treatin' ya?" Rayne beamed cheekily as she latched onto my other arm, which did make me drop it. She was quick to catch it for me however and once I had it back, I hugged it protectively to my chest.

Lea scoffed, "I'm not old, ya twerps, I'm-"

"Decrepit, we know!" Roxas supplied, barely ducking in time as Lea took a swat at him and coming back up with an impish gleam in his eye. "Now grab your walker and c'mon, ya old coot, cuz it's time you make your rounds and receive all your birthday punches!"

Fingers waggling as his hands reached for the precious cargo in my arms once more, Lea said, "Be with ya in just a sec, I just wanna-"

Xion stepped forward, putting herself between him and his coveted prize, "But you're the guest of honor! You can't leave all your adoring fans hanging like that, for shame!" She shoved the troll doll into his face, "Amelia and her glorious flamingo hair judge you!"

He snerked at that, brushing the toy aside. "Amelia should learn not to get her non-existent lil panties in such a twist."

The troll immediately snapped back up, nose to teeny, plastic nose with him now as Xion coaxed in a light singsong, "Come with us. You know you want to. You'll be the center of attention." She gave the thing a slight wiggle for emphasis.

"...I do love being the center of attention," he slowly, almost begrudgingly allowed as he glanced past her, still eyeing the gift in my hands.

"We know ya do, big guy," Roxas slugged his shoulder - the first of the aforementioned birthday punches, perhaps? "And just think… the sooner the whole meet-and-greet is done, the sooner there can be cake!"

That caught Lea's full attention. "Cake, you say?"

"Mm-hm! Your favorite, bud: strawberry and sea salt ice cream cake!"

"Well, why didn't ya say so? Musn't keep my public waiting!" Turning to the face everyone else in the bar, Lea grinned big, threw out his arms wide and called out, "Who here's ready to celebrate the birthday boy?!"

The crowd cheered as he strode forward, disappearing into the throng with Roxas hot on his heels. Xion shot me a tiny wink before she went after them. Anna and Rayne - still hooked to either of my elbows - laughed as they spun all three of us around into a rather sloppy about-face and all but charged us towards the presents table, me stumbling to keep up with them.

Once I'd deposited mine with the others, I glanced around 7th Heaven with a small smile. "The place looks great. Do we have it all to ourselves?"

"Yup!" Rayne said brightly as she handed Anna what looked to be a big box of party favors to unpack and distribute. "We've rented it out for the rest of the day and beyond. Trust me, this party is gonna be going until the wee hours of the night."

I crossed my arms as I continued to take it all in. "Roxas and Xion really did a wonderful job with everything."

She quirked an eyebrow at that with an odd little smirk. "Did they now? Like what?"

My head tipped to one side. "Um… well, like the-" I was interrupted by a squeal of delight from Anna, who'd just finished opening the box. She pulled out a brightly colored conical hat with a tinsel poof at the top and swiftly put it on my head. Wincing as the elastic snapped under my chin, I then pointed up at the thing, "Like the birthday hats?"

"I brought those," Rayne grinned, seemingly pleased that they were already such a hit.

"Oh? Well, then the streamers and par-" once again, I got cut off, this time by Anna shoving a party horn in my mouth that furled out and whistled. Rolling my eyes at my sister as she bit back a snerk, I removed the thing and finished, "Party blowers."

"Me as well," Rayne declared chipperly yet also somewhat distractedly as she started rearranging the presents into a more aesthetically pleasing display.

My brow furrowed, then I looked around the room again. "...the decorations?" I asked, pointing to where the giant, prismatic cut-out letters declaring "Happy Birthday!" were strung up across the back wall, surrounded by dancing fairy lights.

"Me yet again."

"Huh… guess that'd explain that one then," I gestured towards where another string of letters were hung, these ones spelling out "It's a boy!" Seemingly as a last minute afterthought, a sheet of bright red construction paper had been taped up between "a" and "boy" with the word "birthday" scrawled across it in sharpie.

Rayne shrugged, patting her swollen tummy, "Bought that before we knew jellybean here was a girl. Had to find some use for the thing!"

A low huff of amusement escaped my nose before I shook my head. "So why did you end up being prime party planner?"

"Why else?" she chuckled. "Practice for my own baby's future birthday parties! I volunteered and Xion and Rox were only too happy to let me take over."

I snorted as Anna continued to pile party favors on me. I was now also sporting several cheap, beaded necklaces, some glow-in-the-dark bracelets, and a pair of comically large sunglasses with lenses that were almost as big as my head. I was basically a walking advertisement for a party store at this point. When Anna had been given the job of distribution, I somehow got the feeling she wasn't supposed to distribute all of it to me. Ignoring her for the time being, I said to Rayne, "I don't think throwing a party for your kid and throwing a party for Lea are quite the same thing. Not unless you're planning on giving birth to a fully grown, twenty-six year old man."

She pulled a face at that. "First of all, ouch. Painful. Don't even joke about that. Second of all, pffft, you. Trynta act like your man isn't basically an oversized toddler."

"Hey!" I tried to be indignant for my boyfriend. But then my lips pursed to one side, "...alright no, that's fair." Then I frowned slightly, "Why didn't you tell me you were organizing the whole thing? I could have helped."

"Don't worry about it!" Rayne brushed off. "You had your hands full with keeping him busy for the first half of the day."

"Yeah, keeping him busy," Anna echoed, suggestively waggling her eyebrows as she slipped a "Party Girl" plastic headband onto my head behind the birthday hat.

I narrowed my eyes at my sister. I think the humongous sunglasses made it lose its impact however. "I took him to the movies."

"Is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?" Rayne sniggered with a wicked smirk. "Well I'll be taking Riku to the movies," she made air quotes with her fingers, "later tonight, if ya know what I'm saying. Taking him to the movies all night long."

Ew.

TMI, Rayne. TMI.

"What about the movies?" Riku (speak of the devil) grinned at his wife as he walked past carrying a box of what would presumably be more party supplies, slowing to a stop beside her.

"Nothing, hon. You'll find out later," she winked at him, planting a kiss on his lips.

A slow grin spread across his face as he murmured back, "Alright, looking forward to it." Then he turned to call back over his shoulder, "Hey! Am I the only one working on getting all this stuff inside?"

Sora suddenly came running past carrying a box almost as big as he was, huffing and puffing out a hasty, "Sorry!"

"And you're just as lazy as he is," Riku grumbled to Kairi as she came in next with two smaller boxes, one stacked on top of the other.

"So you noticed!" she giggled as she too jogged past him, spotting the top box was about to topple off and shifting her hand up to steady it as she went.

Rolling his eyes, Riku just readjusted his grip on the container he was carrying so he could secure a better hold on it before following after the other two.

"I see you've put the hubby and the hubby's friends to work," I snorted dryly as I watched them go, before turning my attention on my roomie once more. "Did Xion and Roxas actually end up doing anything to help with party prep?"

"They usually take care of it all in previous years, just this time they were nice enough to let me be in charge of everything so I could get as much birthday planning experience as possible! I wanna be the mom that throws the best parties!" She paused thoughtfully for a moment then. "They did pick the place though," she gestured around the pub, "and also helped blow up all the balloons."

"I brought the cake!" Anna happily announced as she tried to press a "Make a wish!" sticker to my cheek. My hand caught her wrist, stopping her in her tracks as I drooped my eyelids at her.

Had to draw the line somewhere.

"No, I brought the cake," Kristoff abruptly appeared at her shoulder to correct her. Come to think of it, strawberry and sea salt ice cream cake did sound like something that could probably be custom ordered from the Ice Palace. He playfully grinned down at her, "You I had to keep from eating the thing on the whole ride over."

Anna gave an offended gasp, "Hey! So not true!" One side of her mouth lifted as she threw up her dukes before him, "Them's fightin' words, buddy!"

He grunted out a laugh as she socked his shoulder. "Woah there, Feisty Pants. Easy," he caught her fists, one in each of his hands, and used his hold to spin her around so he was now hugging her from behind.

"I helped," Anna insisted with a halfhearted pout.

"You most certainly did. You helped by successfully not eating the cake before we could get it here," he agreed, pressing his lips to her cheek. She cracked a smile then, seemingly mollified.

"Today's the day, Tifa!" Lea's voice suddenly cut through the hubbub of the festivities all around us. We turned as the crowd parted to reveal the redhead, cocky smirk twisting his lips as he thrusted a finger towards the person standing across the table from him, none other than Tifa herself. "That bottomless ale for a year is mine!"

She chuckled, cracking her knuckles. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just cuz it's your birthday, beanpole."

"Would never expect ya to," he shot back as he threw himself down into a chair, slamming his elbow on the table and holding his hand up, fingers curled and smirk widening.

"What's that all about?" Anna asked quietly as a hush fell over the room. She'd set to work on getting Kristoff all decked out now in birthday finery, complete with stickers. Surprisingly (or maybe not really) he let her.

"Tifa - the woman he's challenging - owns the bar and has a deal going where if you can beat her at arm wrestling, you get your drink of choice free of charge for a whole year," I whispered back, not taking my eyes off the two contenders.

"Really?" Anna's lips formed a tiny 'o' as she paused mid-snapping a hat onto her boyfriend's head. Then she glanced back towards Tifa. "...wouldn't that put her out of business?"

Rayne made a noise through her nose that was somewhere between a snerk and a scoff. "Please. The woman hasn't lost to a challenger yet."

"Hafta warn ya," Lea was telling his opponent now as she settled into the seat opposite the table from him, "I've been doing extra reps at the gym. Gotta new trainer too. Name's Phil… perhaps you've heard of him?" The last part came out a touch smug.

"That old, washed-up has-been? You should demand your munny back," she flashed a half-grin as her elbow planted on the table as well and she clasped his hand with hers. "You sure about this? Not too late to back out. Hate to make a grown man cry on his birthday."

He barked out a laugh at that. "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. 'Sides, it's a matter of manly pride to me at this point. You're going down, girl. Now go!"

WHAM!

That, my friends, had been the sound of Tifa taking a grand total of zero-point-three seconds to totally and utterly obliterate Lea's "manly pride.".

"Better luck next time, beanpole," Tifa winked as she stood up, dusted her hands together and walked away.

"Crap, can't believe ya'd humiliate a guy like that on his birthday of all days!" he called after her, sulking and hissing through his teeth as he shook some blood flow back into his hand.

His moping was short-lived however as Roxas and Xion rolled out the ginormous cake a minute later. The customary song was sung, the candles were blown out, and presumably a wish was made. Then slices were divvied out, Lea of course happily taking the largest piece whereas I opted for what was quite possibly the smallest, given that I still wasn't exactly sea salt ice cream's number one fan. I will admit however, the strawberries helped.

Shortly after that, karaoke started up. And shockingly, I may or may not have been the one to get the karaoke ball rolling. Willingly, no less! It'd even been my own idea, no one had to drag me up there or anything this time! Perhaps taking part in Wicked has gotten me more comfortable with performing on stage. Or maybe that college acting course I was taking with Lea now was already starting to work its magic on me. True, the semester had only just begun and we were just a couple classes into it, but hey… every little bit helped, didn't it?

In any case, I went with a song I'd picked out especially for this occasion and especially with Lea in mind… Jodi Benson's Happy Birthday, Princess. I thought it suited Lea quite perfectly actually as I smirked over the mic at where he sat in the audience, cheering me on. Of course once I was done, I was quick to exit the stage to avoid any sort of encore performance.

One song was enough for lil ol' awkward, misanthropic me, thanks.

But still… baby steps. I count this as a win.

From the relative safety of the back of the room, I watched as several more people took their turns at the mic next, each with varying degrees of success. As I now fought a small smile watching Anna lug Kristoff up to karaoke so he could sing Ain't No Mountain High Enough with her, I felt arms slip around to encircle my waist from behind while a faint but familiar boyish cinnamon scent reached my nose. "So here's where my lil hermit disappeared to after her big number, hiding tucked away in a dark corner," Lea's voice murmured against my ear, his breath tickling a bit.

My hands covered his as I leaned back slightly, settling comfortably into his chest. "I wouldn't say hiding so much as… enjoying the ambiance."

"Mm," I felt more than heard his hum of acknowledgement as he rested his chin atop my head. "Why're you all by yourself? Where are Raindrop and Riku?"

"They slipped off a few minutes ago in the direction of the restrooms." My face scrunched up a tad. "There's a good chance they've locked themselves in one and are making out like a pair of hormonal teenagers in it."

"Shit, they beat us to the punch," he chuckled and I elbowed him in the ribs for the comment, which only seemed to make him laugh harder. "Can't believe they left ya alone like this though. They're fired, let's find ya some new friends to hang out with."

I smiled, knowing he was only joking. "I'm good, thanks. Anna and Kristoff will be done and back in just a few minutes anyway."

His fingers idly played with mine, weaving and unweaving them only to weave them together again. "Aw c'mon, lemme help ya find a new posse, it'll be fun! Lessee, who do we got here…?" He used his hold around my middle to pivot us both, forcing my gaze away from where Anna was having no shame getting overly flirty with her lines on stage which in turn was causing Kristoff to get all flustered and horribly butcher his half of the song. I instead glanced about the room now, which was still quite packed - I think even more people had shown up since we'd arrived. Many were faces I recognized from Friday night drinks or laser tag or just from around the mall in general. There were also several that were unfamiliar to me sprinkled in amongst the rest.

It was one such stranger that Lea now directed my view towards with a, "Ah-ha! How 'bout that guy? Mr Broody McBrood Face over there with the blonde, spiky hair doing the cool-mystery-guy lean against the bar. That's Cloud. He and Tifa go waaaaay back.

"And that other dude that he's angrily eye fucking from the across the bar?" He steered us now to look at said dude. "The one with the long, white Fabio locks and looks like the whole Halloween Town store threw up on him? That's Sephiroth, or Sephy for short - take note, he's a real huge fan o' that nickname. Anyhoo, the two of 'em are locked in an eternal battle to be the one true champion supreme over Darkness."

I blinked. "...Darkness?"

Now Lea turned us to face the pub's small arcade section. "Name of one of the pinball machines over there. Those knuckleheads are always fighting over who holds the high score. Currently, Sephy is top dog on the scoreboards, so he's standing guard to make sure Cloud doesn't steal the number one spot out from under his nose. Yeah, they take that game way too seriously… so whaddya say, do they sound like prime bestie material for ya or what?"

"Or what," I wrinkled my nose and shook my head. "Think I'll pass."

"Alright, not your cup of tea, got it. Maybe this next bunch will be more your speed. See that gang over there, butting heads with Hayner, Olette, and Pence?" He swept me around to point me in another direction now, causing a tiny laugh to escape me. I spotted four people - a guy (who appeared to be the leader) with a scar across his face and wearing a beanie engaged in what looked to be a rather heated debate with Hayner, a girl with red eyes and half her face hidden behind bangs, a tan muscle-bound guy, and… well, I really couldn't make out whatever the deal was with the fourth one. Not with that large coat they were practically drowning in and the large brimmed hat shrouding their face.

"That's Seifer and crew," Lea went on to explain. "Or the Dusk Town Center Disciplinary Committee, aka the fancy lil title they gave themselves that basically means glorified mall security. Don't let the sneers fool ya tho, they're a real sweet lot… all warm and friendly-like. You'll fit right in with 'em!"

"Shut your mouth, chicken wuss!" Seifer suddenly shouted as he grabbed Hayner by the front of the shirt, who shoved him away with a snarl.

"Oh yeah… super friendly..." I deadpanned. "Not sure they're exactly my crowd though."

He gave a low chuckle, his arms tightening around my waist. "No? Dang, thought they'd be a shoe-in for sure. Hmm, who here can meet your impossibly high standards?" he teased. I would've reached back to tickle him for that remark if it weren't for his fingers gently squeezing mine now, holding them captive. He then turned us to face an occupied booth across the way.

"Got it this time for sure! That guy right there is Tarzan. He works over at that jungle-themed café at the mall. And the chick he's with? His girlfriend, Jane. She's hella smart, like step-aside-Einstein-there's-a-new-brainiac-in-town kinda smart. She's an anthro major over at Twilight U. Dunno what that girl sees in her neanderthal boyfriend. Don't get me wrong, he's nice and all, but dude's a total ape. Seriously, I legit think he was raised by gorillas." As if on cue, the man in long dreads grinned and proceeded to stand and beat his chest with his fists, cracking up the brunette he was sitting with. "See? See?" Lea pressed triumphantly.

I snorted softly as I watched the couple. "They do actually look kind of sweet… but no thanks. Wouldn't want to be a third wheel."

"Fine then, guess there's just no pleasin' ya, Lil Miss Wallflower," he cooed, nuzzling his nose into my cheek. I squirmed, closing one eye against it as I fought a grin. "If making friends is off the table, we'll just hafta find something else for ya to do. Hmm… oh! You can come sing a duet with me!"

"Sorry," I shook my head, "but I've already performed my one song for the day."

"What?! Aw man, I didn't know it was a one-and-done kinda deal, no fair!" I could hear the pout coloring his words. "C'mon, I love your voice. Just one more for me? You can't deny me on Lea Day, that's sacrilege!"

An amused huff escaped me. "I think I'll take my chances."

"The impudence! You're lucky you're so cute, otherwise there'd be a reckoning," he gave a halfhearted harrumph. Then, "Fine, ya don't gotta sing. Just come up on stage with me while I devote a love ballad to you."

"No thanks."

Ugh, so cheesy.

I could already feel my face warming at the very idea.

"C'mon, it'll be romantic. Let me serenade you," his voice dropped low as he started trailing light kisses down the side of my neck.

Well… I guess maybe… one lil song wouldn't h-

Hold it!

Oh-ho, no. Nu-uh. Nice try, bucko, but you're not going to get me that way!

"And I'm sure it'll be just as romantic if you serenade me while I'm sitting at a table in the audience," I said sweetly back.

A chuckle hummed in his throat. "Alright then, have it your way," he released me so he could spin me around and plant a smooch to my forehead. There was a wicked gleam in his eye now. Perhaps it should have set off warning alarms in my head.

But it didn't.

"Just remember… you asked for it," he smirked and winked before disappearing into the crowd in the direction of the karaoke stage.

Maybe his parting words should have filled me with a sense of dread and foreboding.

But they didn't.

Ah, what a naive little fool I was. It's true what they say. Ignorance really is bliss.

Anna and Kristoff soon finished their song and I clapped with everyone else as they stepped off the stage, making their way back towards me. It was just as we were finding an empty table that my blissful ignorance was shattered and tragedy struck.

It struck in the form of Lea's voice coming through the overhead speakers singing, "Oh-oh-oh-oo-OOH!" to the opening notes of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.

My face paled, my spine snapped rigid, and I whipped around to see him standing on the karaoke stage now with the cordless mic up to his lips. He made direct eye contact with me and flashed a wide cheshire grin as he kept crooning away at the song's intro, beckoning me with a crook of his finger. It seemed my presence was requested on stage.

I gulped, rapidly shook my head and crossed my arms as I sat down in my chair with more force than intended.

Nu-uh. No way. Not on your life, pal.

He was undeterred. In fact, his toothy grin only broadened as he hopped down off the stage, singing the gaga-ooh-la-la's now as he came charging straight across the bar towards me.

So I, of course, did the only logical and mature thing I could do in response.

I squeaked and scrambled to try and hide under the table.

Problem solving at its finest.

Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough and he'd snagged my wrist before I could safely get under full cover. As he dragged me back out into the open, I snapped, "You said it would be romantic! This song is not romantic!"

"You lost your chance at romance when ya refused to come on stage with me, babydoll! Now suffer for the birthday boy!" he cackled as he pressed me back down into my chair. I tried to stand up again, but his hand on my shoulder held me firmly in my seat. Then he raised the mic to his mouth once more, picking the lyrics back up as if he'd never been interrupted in the first place and started to dance around me in a way that was… hrm… how shall I put this? ...provocative, but... so exaggerated to the point of extreme silliness and absolutely absurdity. As people around us started clapping in time with the music with whoops and whistles, I looked down and buried my face in my hands.

Don't worry, I wasn't feeling mortified…

...merely homicidal.

I was seriously going to��murder him for this.

But no. I couldn't. Not today. Not on his birthday, of all days. Surely, I could give him a pass, just this once.

I'd slaughter him tomorrow instead.

That's right, yuck it up while you can, you giant dork. Your days are numbered.

Also, I didn't know whether to be disturbed or impressed by the fact that he seemed to know this song by heart and didn't need that little karaoke TV to remind him what the next line was going to be.

As the chorus began now, he straddled my legs for a crude approximation of what might be considered in the very absolute loosest sense of the term a lap dance. He whipped his free arm around over his head - oh gosh, was that dope doing The Lasso? - and Anna managed to wheeze out between her peels of laughter, "Oh my gawd, just how friggin' hammered is he?"

"Pretty sure he hasn't touched a single drop yet," I turned my head away from Lea, bringing up a hand to shield my face as I pretended I was anywhere but here right now.

"You mean this is him sober?!" she busted up all over again and nearly fell out of her chair, clinging to Kristoff's arm for support.

Any retort I might've made to that was swiftly forgotten as Lea, still singing away, spun around to give me a front row, up close and personal seat to his gyrating rear end. Rolling my eyes, I used both hands to shove the thing out of my face. A sharp gasp from Anna had me looking at her again. Swallowing splutters and snerks, she chided, "Sis, behave yourself! You're in public!" She tsked, still struggling to keep a straight face. "Groping a guy like that, so unladylike… what would Mom and Dad say?"

I blinked. What was she even-?

...oh.

Oh god.

I basically, technically, for all intents and purposes and with the whole world to bear witness (or at the very least, the whole bar)... had just grabbed my boyfriend's butt.

Okay. Now I was mortified.

Thanks a lot, hands. You little harlots, you… you… jezebels, you-

Whump!

Annnnd now Lea had flopped over backwards on top of our table. Just where exactly was he going with this next? Did I even want to know? I mean, really?

Whether I did or not, it seemed I had little choice in the matter. It was kind of like a scene out of a classic black-and-white film, where a sultry bombshell in a slinky dress would be stretched out seductively on top of a piano while sing-schmoozing the pianist. Except there was a table instead of a piano, Lea instead of the bombshell, leaving me as the sing-schmoozing recipient.

All still to Bad Romance, mind you.

Which is just every girl's dream, am I right, ladies?

My eyelids drooped as I fixed him with a dull stare. I was determined to not give him anything. Zero reaction. Zilch. Nothing. There was a tiny gleam to his eyes now as they crinkled, sending a clear message: Challenge accepted. In the end, it actually didn't take much to break my resolve. Just him hooking a finger into my necklace, drawing me close so he could "whisper" (if it could even be called that, considering the mic was still broadcasting his singing) into my ear the lyrics, "You know that I want you… and you know that I need you… I want it bad, your bad romance."

That's when it happened.

A mutinous little snort rushed out my nostrils. Then I was cracking up laughing and shoving his face away. Beaming in victory, he hopped up off the table to resume singing and dancing around me like an idiot. And for the record, he seemed to take way too much delight in the parts of the song where he got to shout, "I'm a free bitch, baby!"

The buffoonery thankfully only lasted another minute or two before the song came to an end. After he gave several flourishing bows to the loud round of applause for his performance, Lea handed off the mic to someone else. I did not envy the next person up for karaoke who had to follow that act. Then Lea flashed a grin as he leaned over where I was still seated, bracing himself with a hand on the table. "Well now, I hope we learned our lesson!"

I crossed my arms, smirking up at him. "We most certainly did."

"Good. So next time I wanna serenade ya on the karaoke stage, you…" he trailed off, waiting for me to fill in the blank.

My smirk widened. "...barricade myself in the bathroom until the song is over."

He gave a soft pft at that. "It's adorable that ya think I couldn't just bust that door straight off its hinges and-"

"Lea! Get your ass over here!" Xion suddenly came bursting through the crowd, skidding to a stop in front of him with a giggle. "It's that time at last!"

He whipped his head towards her, blinking a couple times. "Huh?"

She snerked, "Don't gimme that dumb look! It's Present Time!"

His whole face lit up before he glanced towards me slyly. "Oh goody, and I know exactly whose I'm gonna open up first!"

...fudge.

My hands were already reaching to tug and twist at me braid as I frowned. "Or, uh… or maybe you could start with… some of the other gifts? That way-"

-I could secretly compare what other people had got him to what I'd got him and then-

"-you, um… you wouldn't be playing favorites! Yeah! And, er…"

-if I thought my present terrible by comparison, I could maybe covertly remove it from the pile and-

"...that just wouldn't be... fair! You know… to the other gifts!"

-sneak out, buy him something better, return and slip the new one into the stack with everyone here none the wiser, least of all Lea!

"...which might hurt their… their feelings! And you wouldn't want to go around hurting the other gifts' feelings, now would you?"

Wait, what was I going on about?

Ugh, mouth… I leave you unsupervised for two seconds and this is what I come back to?

Well, at least you tried. A for effort… No, you know what? C-minus. Do better next time.

Lea pressed his lips to my cheek and ruffled my bangs. "Well, all the other presents will just hafta put on their big boy pants and suck it up," he playfully teased before going with Xion to where his treasure horde awaited him. I grimaced slightly before slowly following behind.

Most of the partygoers had already gathered in a circle around the present table. I squeezed into a spot between my sister and (a somewhat disheveled but thoroughly satisfied-looking) Rayne. The chatter around us was shushed as Lea approached the small mountain of colorfully wrapped boxes. He immediately zeroed in on mine, yanking it out and raising it high over his head to be met with cheers from the whole room. Then he held it up to his ear, giving it a little shake and arching his eyebrow with a grin.

Oh gosh, what if he didn't like it?

I mean, I'd felt so… so sure when I'd first laid eyes on it. So confident in my decision when I'd made the purchase. So certain as I'd wrapped it, zero doubt in my mind that he'd absolutely love it - which was so out of character for one such as myself who'd second guessed every gift decision I'd ever made in my entire life. Well, now I was second guessing this one too. Up until a minute ago, it'd seemed so perfect. But now all of a sudden, it just seemed so… so stupid and-

-and oh god, he was ripping it open!

I couldn't watch!

My hands flew up to cover my eyes.

Ahhhhh, much better! Now I had absolutely no clue what was going on!

...except now I had absolutely no clue what was going on. Oh dear, had he finished removing all the wrapping paper? Had he opened the box? Was he looking inside this very second? What was his reaction? Was he happy? Confused? Indifferent? Underwhelmed? Disappointed? Crestfallen? So unimpressed by what a mundane, thoughtless gift it was to the point of taking offense and throwing it in the nearest trash can, lighting it on fire and- dear lord, not knowing what was going on was worse. So, so much more worse! Why wasn't he even saying anything? If he'd just say something, maybe I could at least get some sense of his-

"Holy shit."

...yeah, I didn't know what to do with that.

Was that a good "holy shit" or a bad "holy shit"?

Or maybe a wow-this-present-sucks-so-much-that-I'm-breaking-up-with-you "holy shit"?

Perhaps if he just said one more thing-

"Holy shit."

...preferably something else and that was maybe a bit more descriptive.

Ugh, screw it. I couldn't take this anymore.

I parted my fingers ever so slightly, just enough so I could peek between them. There he stood now with an action figure in molded plastic packaging in one hand while the other reached inside the open cardboard box on the table in front of him, still with bits of shredded gift wrap taped to it. Out came a second toy similar to the one he was already holding and just as brightly packaged. Other than both of his eyebrows reaching for his hairline, Lea's expression was unreadable as he glanced from one to the other.

"He's part of a set," someone suddenly blurted out.

Took me a second to realize it was me.

As Lea's gaze locked on mine, I bit my bottom lip and wrung my hands together for a second. Then, "Bubbles, I mean. He's… They're… all of them together, that is... they make a set." I hesitated for another beat before finally stepping forward to reach inside the cardboard box, pulling out the third and final one so I could hold it up to him as well. Heart thudding in my ears, I hastily began to explain, "Besides the orca you already had, there's also robots for a great white shark, a dolphin and a whale shark. And they all have machine guns too!" I tacked on with a bit of nervous excitement, then frowned. "...for… some… bizarre reason." I shrugged, "Anyway, now you have them all. Bubbles has, er… has been reunited with his brothers! Or… sisters, maybe? I mean, far be it from me to assume the gender of a," I paused, squinting at the toy's packaging for a second and slowly reading off,"...royal sea dinosaur deformation robot." I wrinkled my nose. Yeesh, what a mouthful. Clearing my throat and suppressing a tiny grimace, I then uncertainly asked the question that I was dreading the answer to. "So… what do you think?"

Still, Lea said nothing, just pursed his lips to one side as he scrutinized the action figures again. But then he uttered one single, solitary word. "Riptide."

I blinked. "Uh…?"

...was that a good "riptide" or a bad "riptide"?

A smile broke out across his face now as he tapped a fingertip to the plastic encasing the one in my hands - the whale shark. "Riptide," he said again. Then he lifted the great white, his hand giving it a little wiggle, "And this one's Whirlpool."

Oh! He was naming them.

That was a good sign, right? Was the present a success? Had I done it? Had I achieved the dream?

"This is great, now the kiddos and I can play with 'em all together!" he laughed. "Xion will be Riptide, Rox Whirlpool, and I of course will control Bubbles."

One side of my mouth quirked up. "Then I guess that makes that one for Saïx," I nodded towards the dolphin.

"You kidding? Saïx wouldn't be caught dead playing with toy robots," Lea razzed his tongue in his brother's direction, whose only reply was to fix him with a dull stare. "Then again, who knows, once in a blue moon he might surprise us. In that case, he can borrow it, but only if he asks ya nicely first."

"Me?" I furrowed my brow at him.

His infamous dimple emerged. "Course! Cuz that's the one you'll normally play!"

"Oh." I'd been assigned one of the robots. Was it odd that that made me a teensy bit giddy? Trading him the whale shark for the dolphin, I inspected it with a small grin. "So what's this one's name then?"

"Craig."

My eyes snapped up to meet his again and I echoed incredulously, "Craig?"

He nodded firmly, "Mm-hm. Craig."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "...so their names are Bubbles, Riptide, Whirlpool… and Craig."

"What? He looks like a Craig!" Lea defended.

"Don't be silly, how on earth could an aquatic robot toy possibly look like a-" I cut myself off as I glanced at the little figurine in my hands again. I blinked once, then twice. "...actually, he kind of does look like a Craig." My head tipped to one side with a thoughtful frown, "Huh."

Lea then hooked his finger under my chin, lifting it and drawing my attention back to him so he could kiss me before murmuring against my lips, "These are amazing, El, I love them. Thank you."

My face warmed as I bit back a small smile and nodded. "You're welcome. Glad you like them."

Tucking them all with care back into the big cardboard box, Lea called out, "And now, the show must go on! So lil time, so many presents to get through! Onward to the next tribute celebrating the greatness that is me! Minions!" he pointed to Roxas and Xion. "Bring me the next offering forthwith! Chop, chop!" he clapped his hands together twice.

They both just drooped their eyelids at him as Roxas deadpanned, "Yeah, no. Not happening."

"Ugh, fine! Guess the birthday boy's just gotta do everything himself!" Lea harrumphed before walking over to pluck the next gift from the top of the pile and thrusting it up above his head again for another round of cheers from everyone gathered to watch.

I observed for a while longer with everyone else as he gradually made his way through the stack. Amongst other things, he got a video game rated M for extreme violence, blood and gore from Roxas, a DVD box set for some series that looked old, sappy and right up Lea's alley from Xion, and a big, heavy hardcover book from Saïx that was difficult to discern from the title whether it was a novel or some sort of academic text. Lea quickly hid the flicker of a grimace at the last one, thanking his brother all the same. Towards the end as the heap began to dwindle, the crowd and press of people started to get to be a little too much for me and so I decided to slip outside for a few minutes for a quick breather. There were only a few presents left anyhow, so I was sure I wouldn't miss much.

Dusk was beginning to fall as I stepped out onto 7th Heaven's deck. I was the only one out here as I moved to take a seat at one of the picnic tables, closing my eyes and relaxing on the wooden bench. After all the hubbub inside, the solitude and quiet was a welcome change. The cool autumn gust felt good on my skin and I breathed it in as it toyed with my braid.

Not sure how long I stayed like that. Probably only a few minutes before I could hear the murmur from the festivities once more as the bar's door opened briefly before closing again. Then the sound of approaching footsteps on the patio before the bench creaked under the weight of someone taking a seat next to me, their knee brushing against mine.

"You all good?" his voice reached my ears.

I opened my eyes now, turning my head to look at Lea. He was slouched comfortably where he sat, propped up by his elbows on the tabletop behind him, flashing me a gentle grin. I smiled warmly back and nodded. "I'm fine. Just wanted some fresh air. You should get back to enjoying the party, I'll be right behind you."

The corner of his eyes crinkled before he slung an arm around my shoulders, hugging me tightly into his side. His teeth lightly nipped at the tip of my nose before he rested his cheek against my hair. "Lil fresh air sounds good. I'll head back inside in a minute."

As I settled my head into the crook of his neck, I hummed a contented sigh. Then I pointed out towards the sunset, simply telling him, "Look."

I felt a small chuckle rumble through his chest. "That certainly is a lovely shade of red."

"Mm," I agreed softly. "...I unfortunately can't do anything about a summer breeze for you though. Not until next year anyway."

"Don't worry 'bout it. Three outta four ain't too shabby."

I gave a low snort at that. Then, "So… you having a good birthday so far?"

"The best," he nodded against my hair. There was a smirk in his tone as he added, "I mean, course it's no locking us in my room together, worshipping every last inch of your body, that whole shebang, but still… pretty damn good."

A blush creeped into my cheeks as I hesitated before saying, "Good thing that's the plan for tomorrow then."

I felt him tense beside me. Then he was lifting his head off mine as he pulled away slightly to fish his phone out of his pocket. He tapped his thumb to "Work" under his contacts before bringing it up to his ear as he beamed big at me.

"Welp," he delightedly chirped, "Looks like I'm callin' in sick for tomorrow!"

Author's note: BE WARNED! Extra long chapter gets extra long Author's Note! Keep reading at your own peril xD It's all just basically fun facts and me explaining the random inner workings of my oddball brain as I wrote this chapter, so if none of that interests you, then just skip it all, no skin off my nose xP

Early on in writing "Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza", I decided I wanted to figure out when Lea's and Elsa's birthdays were for no other reason than just because I could! So with the help of several "what the day you were born on says about you" websites, I spent days poring over the meaning of more birthdates than I care to admit before finally deciding on (insert drum roll) August 3rd for Lea's bday! It was a really silly thing to spend all those hours on cuz at the time I had no plans for their birthdays to ever come up in the story at all, it was just a random fact I wanted to know about both my characters xD But then as I was writing these bonus chapters, I suddenly remembered figuring out those birthdays and realized Lea's big day was coming up between 2 chapters I had planned and I was all, "well shit, I should probably write it!" And whew, I tell ya, for starting out this chapter having absolutely ZERO CLUE what to write, I certainly came up with a lot of BS to fill it with, making it my longest chapter yet xD Hehe, guess I overcompensated, oops! Hopefully it was all fun to read tho! I'll probably get around to writing an Elsa bday chapter too, but hers isn't until February 5th, so we have a lil bit before we get there. Also, timeline is getting a lil vague, wibbly-wobbly with these bonus chapters, but if I try to line this chapter up calendar-date-wise with whatever the date was exactly that Elsa ran away at the start of this story, pretty sure at this point I have to say that Oaken ALWAYS has a big summer blowout going on in his store, no matter WHAT time of year it is xD

Hopefully strawberries and sea salt ice cream cake sounds good :P According to the internet, it should be delicious, I'm just not sure if it SOUNDS delicious to the reader haha! I just thought plain old sea salt ice cream cake would be too basic bitch for someone like Lea on his BIRTHDAY of all days, so I went too far in the other direction at first (still sea salt cuz DUH, but I think there was also chocolate and blackberries involved? Again, the internet said it would taste PHENOMENAL, but it didn't SOUND phenomenal xD) before toning it back to just strawberries xD Anyhoo, another chapter jam-packed with references! Some might have been more subtle than others tho, so I wonder if you guys were able to catch them all? I brought Tifa back for a proper cameo this chapter, since I didn't really do her justice back in chapter 12 - hopefully this made up for it xD I even came up with a lame twist on Cloud and Sephy's whole Darkness bit from the KH games - I know it's a lil off since Sephiroth is supposed to BE Cloud's darkness, but shhh, close enough, dang it! On another note, I spent way too long trying to figure out what song Elsa would sing at karaoke, especially for what amounted to just one friggin' sentence lol! I wanted a birthday song that wasn't the standard one, but everything I could find was either too sexy or too sappy for El, either of which would have made her too flustered to sing in front of a bunch of people xD I almost went with one of the birthday songs by either The Backstreet Boys or NSYNC cuz she actually probably would have been the most comfortable with their lyrics, but I just couldn't bring myself to write Elsa singing goddamn Backstreet Boys or NSYNC x'D Just when I'd been about to give up all hope of ever finding the right song, I happened upon "Happy Birthday Princess" sung by Jodi Benson, which I felt Elsa would not be embarrassed singing to Lea while at the same time letting her be a lil cheeky about it xP It's a song on an album entitled "Disney Princess Tea Party" and Jodi Benson is actually Ariel's voice actor! Fun Fact: I imagine in the "Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza" universe, people like Jodi Benson and Idina Menzel still exist just instead of being voice actors, they're singers equivalent to Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, and Lady Gaga fame. Speaking of Lady Gaga… xD THAT happened cuz, due to circumstances beyond my control, Bad Romance has been playing on loop in my household almost constantly for like 2 weeks while I was writing this chapter haha! You'd think I'd get sick of the song, but actually it got me pretty hooked - and I'd liked the song before, but you know I never actually LISTENED to the lyrics until I heard it nonstop and lemme tell you, that is one surprisingly HORNY song xP In any case, my brain eventually warped it into me totally being able to see Lea singing it at karaoke and being a total dope about it too xD But hey… at least I didn't include the full lyrics to the song this time! We've finally reached a point in the story where someone singing isn't pivotal to their character growth and thus I can gloss over it, huzzah! On one final note, those action figures are real! I think I mentioned that about the orca robot back in chapter 30, but the whole set is a real thing! And I know, honestly maybe it would make more sense as a gift you'd give to Demyx since they're all sea life themed, but I could definitely see Lea going totally bonkers over them too just cuz their weird AF which, let's face it, is Lea's brand xD

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

Next bonus chapter is once again gonna be focused on Lea and something going on in his life, but is gonna be a lil less mindless nonsense and a lil more serious… but still flavored with my odd brand of humor tho, cuz it's me and that's just how I roll! And the hint will be… car keys! Ooo, how are THOSE involved?! Stay tuned!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

[nobodies-png]

Sorry about that! Here's the letters I would like for Luxu/Xigbar: c d f j l x y z

gotcha ! 

C omfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

Xigbar’s learnt to face everything head on and work around the problems, but he knows that kind of approach might not work for everyone - so if that doesn’t work for you, he’d try to figure out and see what does work. Maybe you need to wind down and go to a safe place without strong stimuli, just chill and stay grounded. Maybe you just need to scream and vent it out. Or maybe you just wanna curl up in a ball and cry for a while. That’s all valid. 

 The guy has pretty much a lot of free time, so if you can’t tell him specifically what he can do to help you in these situations, he doesn’t mind helping you find out. Needless to say, he doesn’t condone any type of habit or behaviour that can be harmful to you in any way. 

D reams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

He doesn’t, easy. Boom. Can’t stress over what you so blatantly ignore and avoid to think about.

Also i’m answering these on reverse so i’mma go out and say that the last answer of this post can also apply to this question here.

F ight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

Xigbar is rather lenient. The man knows how to play his cards to his favour and avoid the subjects that would genuinely get him mad. And the fact that time and death stopped having any sort of meaning to him also adds to this. What’s the point in staying MAD when everything is fleeting and bound to end ? Why not enjoy it to the fullest ? If you did anything to need to ask for his forgiveness, you can b e t Xigbar would just brush it off eventually - maybe joke and tease here and there about it. I think I even mentioned this before, it’s not necessarily a good quality as it can easily mean he doesn’t take things seriously.

So yeah, any argument with Xigbar is not a fight you can win. Even when it’s proven that you were in the right, you’ll always be left with a feeling of uncertainty, like you didn’t quite get your point across and you were simply told “yes, dear you were right” so you would simlpy avoid losing your temper. Again, very frustrating when you need to properly communicate with him. 

J ealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

He acts jealous and spoiled, but only for fun. If you start befriending someone else or if you get along with someone new, Xigbar will butt in afterwards with silly jokes like “Oi, don’t forget about me” and such, keep you on your toes with his sudden appearances and public displays of affection. But all in all, he trusts you, so he has absolutely no reason to actually feel jealous. He also trusts that his reputation is infamous enough to let others know better than to try anything with you, whether it’s flirting or bringing you any harm.

But you know, the guy is still uh… human, I assume, so there are some things that bother him - Xigbar is known for switching bodies to continue his mission, but he kinda resents being so old ? So there are those rare moments when he sees you messing around with more active and young members like Demyx or Axel and he’ll just sulk in his own because this current vessel is getting old.

L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

It highly depends on how receptive you are, really.

If you acknowledge his advances and even flirt back, then he sees no point in stopping the fun to get all mushy and gushy and touchy feely. There is a clear mutual attraction, no need to confirm it oudloud with a love confession, right ? Unless you show him that’s EXACTLY the kind of romance you want, then he doesn’t mind pullling something outta his ass. 

If you’re the dense type, he’d take it as a personal challenge - how far does he have to go for you to realize that he’s into you ? If it backfires and you still have no clue, then Xigbar would just resort to letting you know directly. No blushing, no stuttering, no cute confession, just him and his straight forward nature. But I can also see him as giving a half-assed confession, kinda direct but also kinda confusing, a challenge for you this time, see if you can figure him out yourself.

X OXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?

Yes, yes and yes. The casual, light hearted and fun kind of affection is his favorite - like when he sweeps you off your feet out of nowhere just to see your reaction and then see how your first instinct is to hold on tight to him, only to get mad when you realize it’s one of his stupid ass pranks ? And then hearing you laugh when he starts blowing raspberries on your neck so you forgive him ? The best. 10/10, he’s gonna do that again. 

One of Xigbar’s favorite games is to see how many kisses he can steal from you on a daily basis without getting his ass beaten by you. And having the power of controlling s p a c e and portals really gives him a lot of advantage. But he loves it even more when you’re the one to take the initiative for these things, like smooching and cuddling. As much fun as he has when he’s messing with you, Xigbar also loves knowing that you like him just as much. 

Y earning - How will they cope when they’re missing their partner?

This is the kind of guy that would sneak out of work just to bother you while you work, so take a wILD GUESS. But of course, Xigbar has plans to keep an eye on, make sure it goes according to plan so if he really really cannot afford to sneak away for a bit to see you, then he’s going to complain. Very loudly and very annoyingly, to whoever’s nearby to listen, probably turning it into a game to see how much whining they’re willing to withstand before their breaking point. It helps him forget that he misses you and keep his head in the game. 

And now that i’m thinking, it kinda sucks that bad guys don’t get phones cause otherwise, Xigbar would be blowing up your texts, spamming you at every given chance with cryptic shit, memes or stupid stuff.

Z eal - Are they willing to go to great lengths for the relationship? If so, what kind of?

I -

I’m actually NOT sure :thonk:

Cause it’s obvious that he takes after the Master of Masters, in the way he jokes and even moves. Xigbar is loyal to him and his own mission, he’s changed wildly for the sake of completeing it. Both physically and emotionally, meaning that while he might be one cunning bastard, he might not be sensible or in tune with actual emotions. There is that small chance that everything he does unrelated to his mission is just idle entertainment, something to pass the time. 

Sure, he might love you. But he might’ve loved a dozen other people before this, all probably long gone. Sure, you might love him. But he’s had a dozen other identities. And while Xigbar values the present, it’s kinda hard to go to a great length for a relationship when in his eyes, it’s bound to end due to his responsibilities.It’s very bittersweet. But even so, we still know little about him - so this loyalty of his could easily extend to you, just like it applies to MoM and the other lost masters. 

So I dunno, gamers. I think that as long as Xigbar doesn’t have to directly choose between you or his mission, he’s ready to do pretty much anything, even if it’s just for the sake of seeing what happens. 

[tetrakys]

Sweet Elite - Chapter 7

I reckon I’ve never done one of my big episode review for SE, so here I am, seat tight because there’s lots to unpack. Thus I’m putting everything under a cut.

Episode 6 left us with the meanest cliffhanger ever: we found out that Tadashi’s father has been arrested for colluding with the yakuza. Now we’re waiting in front of Lady Arlington’s office to learn about Tadashi’s destiny at the academy. When he finally comes out, he tells us that Lady A (unwillingly) asked him to start packing because unless he can prove he has no hand in his father’s illegal business, he has to leave.

Now, this part leaves me confused. First of all, no one not even Tadashi suggested that this might be a mistake and that his father is innocent. Aren’t people innocent until proven guilty? There’s been no trial yet. At the end of the episode we find out that there are many proofs against him and he sounds like a total asshole on the phone, so he is (almost certainly but you never know) guilty, still someone should have at least wondered about his innocence.

Also, Tadashi is a minor, fifteen/sixteen years old, he should not be under any scrutiny. Yes we know that he works with his father, but he’s still technically a kid in the eyes of the world. I understand the whispers and damages to his reputation, but I find it kinda absurd that he gets immediately kicked out of school, even if he’s there under “special circumstances”.

Anyway, we spend the whole episode talking with people about what they think about the situation and thinking about a way to help Tadashi. After talking with everyone, we meet Tadashi who shares with scholar about his situation and reveals that his parents are sort of blackmailing him into testify to his father’s behalf (he has pleaded not guilty). Apparently even though there are toooons of proofs including videos and witnesses, somehow Tadashi’s testimony is the key to his father’s freedom (?) Again, I am confused.

By the end of the episode, it seems that we are part of the Save-Tadashi squad which officially includes scholar, Karolina and Alistar, but Raquel also wants to help and Tegan has kinda been thrown into the mix by his sister, who asked him to hack Nakano’s Corp network (🙄 easy peasy right?)

I have to admit, I am not a big fan of this arc, it seems a little illogical from my point of view. But maybe that’s the point? We are normal people who identify with scholar who is a normal person surrounded by extraordinary people in an extraordinary environment. Maybe we are supposed to feel dumbfounded by everything that’s happening? I want to have faith in the team and believe that this story is going to make sense by the end.

I feel that the game is at a crossroad. I know there have been many changes this past year in the team and I really appreciate how they are all juggling life, school, work while at the same time making this amazing game. I bet it’s draining both mentally and physically. 

This kinda reflects in the game, because the past two episodes have felt somehow rushed and not at the same level of the previous ones. Episode 7 is basically one objective: find out what people think about Tadashi’s situation. That’s it. Nothing happens in the plot and you spend your whole time just going back and forward trying to talk to people about what just happened. Considering that this is an otome game, you basically have one conversation with your crush and that’s it. I like talking with all the guys, but having one-on-one with everyone made more sense when we were trying to get to know them. I know that technically it has been just around one month or little more of school in-game, but we players wait months between one episode and the next, to just get one short conversation with the crush. Talking as someone who plays loooooooooots of otome games, I would find much more interesting if I could chose with whom to spend time, and spend the whole episode only with those few selected people, 10 LIs are too many to equally divide time with, you end up spending very little with each.

Now, I don’t want to sound like an ass, the game has these few problems that I think could be easily addressed, but it has also lots of potential. 

I loved the previous art but I think they are finding their dimension with these new artists, the first look at the new sprites got me excited and the redraw of episode 6 illustrations and the one from episode 7 are really promising. I think they are all moving in the right direction.

Also, the main reason I play this game is neither the plot nor the art, but the writing. I LOVE how each charater is so different and well-characterised and just the way they talk to each other. The dialogues are funny and engaging and even scholar who is supposed to be a blank canvas, is actually a really cool and smart character and a pleasure to identify with.

So, here is the list of my favourite moments of the episode (which I’ve played twice so far, on Axel and Tegan’s routes):

Cheeky Tyler:

Tyler don’t make me fall for you! I already like your new sprite waaaay too much. Also, I’m already playing 4 routes, I can’t add a fifth!

Savage scholar:

The dude deserved it.

Flirty Raquel:

👀👀👀 So much sass... I love this girl!

Axel plagiarizing John Legend:

😂😂😂 babe this song already exists, changing a few words is not enough 😂

Scary Ellie:

This girl would be able to stab you with her trusty screwdriver while still sweetly smiling at you. ROLE MODEL.

Holding Alistair’s hands:

You too Alistar... stop acting so swoony, I can’t play anymore routes!

Now, the piece the resistance. What I really loved about this episode, is seeing how the writing changes according to the route you’re on. I love looking for all the little differences and, since I really love this game’s writing, I had a blast during the couple of minutes we got to spend with our crush.

As I said, I played only Axel’s and Tegan’s routes so far (I also play Tadashi’s and Karolina’s but I’m a few episodes behind).

Axel’s scene in the garden is to fall for. First of all, when you correctly guess that he has issues with his family, he simply tells you that he doesn’t have time to talk about it now if you’re not on his route. But if you have high infinity meter he also acts bashful and cute

I LOVE the fact that when he gets embarrassed and shy he also looks mad ❤, it almost seems like he can’t fathom why he’s feeling like this. Too cute! I hope this is going to be preserved in the new sprites.

And then, afterwards, when he complains he has to write a love song (makes me wonder what he’s written about so far) and doesn’t know how, he decide he’s going to look for some couples around the school to stalk/interrogate. But if you have high meter he basically serenades you 💕💕 I’M DEAD! Looks at scholar in the eyes and just starts creating the song on the spot.

I wonder how aware he is about his own feelings. What I would give for a change in POV!

Now... Tegan... my sweet dork... he’s such a sweetheart.

You meet him in the corridor, he’s in a rush and you apologise for being in his way. If you’re not on his route, he simply tells you that he can spare you a few moments. If you have a high meter instead, this is what happens:

Also, when you afterwards tell him that he is also a great friend, if you have low meter he simply thanks you and leaves. If you have high meter, scholar adds that he is kinda jealous of his friends and he gets flustered.

What do I have to do to smooch this cute stupid genius? If scholar doesn’t literally jump on him I bet he’s never going to make a move.

Anyway, these are all my thoughts about the episode. As I said, I have a few issues, but there’s also lots I liked. I trust the team and I’m sure the’re going to do great things in the future.

[emmyrosee]

How does Axel take care of his two babies; sub!Jim & sub!Reader?? (I love your writing! Please keep doing what your doing 🥰💜!!)

Oh my g-

Axel aND JIM WHY HAVE WE NOT DISCUSSED THIS YET, YOU BEAUTIFUL GENIUS!😫🥺

(Also... side note... I love you too🥺💕💕)

(Also also, I didn’t know if you meant like, handsome daddy axel and his babies, so, with all the strength I could muster, I steered from Littles and kept it submissive..... althOUGH IF YOU WERE LOOKING FOR LITTLES THEN HIT ME UP!)

————

Let me just say, first of all

that you and Jim are absolutely obsessed with axel. Even to the point where sometimes you may or may not fight over him.

But that’s okay because he is just as obsessed with you both.

You’re both like, the light of his life, can do no wrong, all the goodness in the world was poured into you both.

Anything either of you say goes, and Axel’s so whipped for you both his friends play a sound affect when you go into his shop

It’s a three way romance, completely dependent on each other

Anyways.

Axel is so, hopelessly in love with you both that he even looks up sometimes, usually when he’s following you shopping, or carrying Jim’s beach stuff and he’ll just whisper “wtf am I doing?” But then he sees the bright smiles on you both and it reminds him of how worth it this is. Anything you may need goes with him, he absolutely would bend heaven and hell for you both. He works as hard as he can to keep the house that you three live in, and his heart absolutely melts when you and Jimmy are asleep on the couch, gently waking up to see him.

This absolutely didn’t answer the question but oh my god this trio is going to be the death of me and I wanna give you a smooch😫

[axel-fics]

can i request axel and female s/o at a theme park? s/o is having a lot of fun going on roller coasters, but does axel feel the same? do they smooch during the snapshots at the big drop?

Hope you like it! 

A Day at Disneyland

“C’mon, Axel! The line to Splash Mountain is over this way!”

It was a perfect summer day at Disneyland. Earlier that morning, as soon as the sun started peeking through the blinds of your shared bedroom, you knew it would be a great day to spend at Disney Town’s famous theme park. Axel was still sound asleep and didn’t even flinch when you started poking his face, trying to wake him up. Only when you started jumping up and down on the bed shouting ‘Disney Town!’ did Axel finally open his eyes. “Axel, it’s the perfect day to go! Please, please please!?” Axel let out a long groan and covered his head with a pillow; Disney Town wasn’t exactly his cup of tea, but he didn’t want to upset you either. He slowly sat up and ruffled your messy bedhead-hair before caving in and saying yes. 

Hours later, you were still dragging him around from ride to ride, not once stopping for a break. There were some rides you did end up going on alone, however, especially rides like the Mad Tea Cups and the Carousel. Axel would politely decline and nudge you to go off on your own while he sat on a nearby bench and waited. Roller coasters weren’t his thing, either, but he made an exception for those. It’s not that he was afraid of heights or the sensation of falling at really high speeds, Axel just wasn’t what you’d consider a “thrill seeker”. He gets enough adrenaline rushes when fighting Heartless and whatever else decided to pop up next. 

As you were exiting off the Pirate Ship ride, you searched the area for Axel. You walked for a few minutes until finally finding him on the ice cream stand line, ordering a Hunnybunny cone for you and a sea-salt bar for himself. Wrapping your arms around his torso from behind, you nuzzled your face in the small of his back and inhaled the mixture of cologne and body wash that always made you feel weak in the knees. Once Axel paid, the two of you walked to the nearest bench and sat down to eat your ice cream. 

“Axel…are you having fun?”

“‘Course I am, why? Aren’t you?” 

“Oh, no! I am. It’s just… I’d have more fun if you were actually going on more of the rides with me. It just seems like you don’t want to be here.” You looked down at your ice cream as it started to melt a little down your hand. 

Axel let out a sigh and wrapped an arm around your shoulder. The last thing he wanted to do was spoil your fun, and it looks like he ended up doing just that. “I’m sorry, [Y/N]. Theme parks are just not really my thing to be honest.” 

“Oh… well then, I should be saying sorry, not you. I was so excited this morning, I didn’t even ask if you wanted to go. That was pretty selfish of me.”

“Nahh, don’t worry about it. It was adorable, by the way. You looked so happy; I couldn’t say no. Didn’t want to sound like a grouch to you,” he laughed. 

You smiled and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek, making his face flare up. “You’re so sweet, Axel. And I’m still sorry. I promise to ask you what you want to do first next time, deal?”

“Deal,” Axel smiled back and brought you closer to his side to give you a hug. “Well, the day is still young. And we’ve got a few more hours to kill until the fireworks. So, what should we do next?”

You reached into your back pocket and pulled out the guide map to the park, opening it up so the two of you could look together. “I think you should pick what we can do next, Axel. There’s gotta be something here you’d like to do.” 

Axel rested his head on top of yours and peered over your shoulder to look at the map. “What’s that?” He pointed to a small camera icon not far from where you were sitting. 

“Looks like a photo booth! You wanna do that?”

“Yeah, that sounds like fun. C’mon, let’s head over there.” He kissed the top of your head before stuffing the rest of his sea-salt ice cream in his mouth, swallowing with a large gulp. Taking your hand, he led the two of your to where the photo booth stood on the opposite side of the plaza to wait your turn. The booth was pretty tiny, and with Axel being the tree that he was, you didn’t have much of a choice but to sit on his lap to take the photos (neither of you complained about that, of course). 

“Looks like we can take… three photos. What should we do first?” You wrapped your arms around his neck, bringing his face close to your breasts in a light hug. Axel’s face started heating up again, and he was pretty sure it would show in the photos. 

“Hmmm how about get the nice one of us out of the way, then something silly?” 

“Alright then!” You pressed a couple buttons on the screen, and the countdown for the first photo started. You kept your arms wrapped around Axel, and he wrapped his around your middle. Both of you smiled as the first bright flash filled the booth, temporarily blinding you. The countdown from five started over, making your heart skip. 

“What now??”

“Anything that comes to mind! Quick!” Axel placed a finger on your face and lightly pulled down on your cheek to bring down your eye socket a bit. You laughed as you held up a peace sign and stuck your tongue out, Axel following suit. 

“One more! I don’t know what else to do!” 

Axel laughed and watched the clock run down. “Keep your eyes on the camera, I’ve got an idea.” He waited until the clock was down to ‘one’ before placing a tender kiss on your cheek, holding still for the camera to take take the shot. Your eyes were wide with the surprise gesture, and you cheeks were dusted pink. Axel kept kissing you long after the camera took the photo, giving you multiple pecks as you giggled at the soft touches. Your lips finally met his, kissing him passionately until you heard a knock on the booth. 

“Hey! Other people are waiting out here, ya know!” A voice called out. 

Blushing, the two of you pulled back the curtain and got out of the booth. You apologized to the family waiting, still blushing from your kiss with Axel. While holding hands, you waited for the booth to deposit the photos you just took from the slot. 

“Oh, Axel! These are great! I love them!” The photo strip popped out with the three photos one on top of the other in black and white. 

“That’s a good way to get this day memorized,” Axel said. You nodded in agreement and stood up on your toes to give him another peck on the cheek. “The fireworks should be starting soon. Let’s go find a good place to watch them. 

~*~

The sun was finally setting and everyone started to gather around the front of the castle, waiting for the firework display to kick off. Kids were sitting on top of parents’ shoulders, running around chasing each other, and having ice cream all the while peering up at the sky making sure they didn’t miss a single firework. You couldn’t help but watch them with a smile, remembering what it was like to be that age and not have a care in the world. It’s been a while since life was like that… 

“What do you think?” Axel asked, nodding towards the kids. The two of you were sitting down on a large blanket on one of the grassy areas of the park. Axel’s legs were on either side of you while you curled up against his chest, head resting under his chin. 

“What, kids?” You asked. He nodded again with a smile. “Well… yeah. One day, I mean. Not in the near future. What about you? Did you ever think about kids?”

“Yeah… more recently than in the past. Things have changed a lot for me, never thought the opportunity would ever come. But maybe after things settle down a bit, you know?”

“Oh yeah, and when do you expect things to ever slow down for us?”

The two of you laughed. “Yeah, you’ve kinda got a point. The Keyblade War may be over, but that doesn’t mean everything else is. Still doesn’t mean one day… we can have that. A family.” He kissed your temple, deeply inhaling your shampoo and rested his chin back down on your head. 

“Yeah, I’d like that,” you smiled. The first firework of the night shot up in the sky, and everyone froze in their spots to look up and watch. The two of you got lost in the show, watching the different colors of light sparkle in the sky and feeling the deep boom of the fireworks thumping inside your hearts. 

“Let’s come back here again,” Axel said as he watched the fireworks. 

“Really?” 

“Yeah. I had a really great time today, [Y/N].”

“Me too, Axel. And next time, I’m dragging your ass on those teacups.”

Axel laughed and moved a few strands of hair behind your ear as you continued to look up in the sky. The combination of his light touch and the sensation of the cool night air sent chills down your spine. Wrapping his arms around you, he incased you in a warm hug from behind and bent down to whisper in your ear: “I love you, [Y/N]. Got it memorized?”

[axelegandersson]

Hey, I love "The Bar". Is it safe to assume more is eventually coming?

Hi, I am going to hijack this question to address some thoughts I and some critics have on my work. But to start with I will answer the question with: Thanks! And maybe. It’s possible.

It depends entirely on whether I feel the fandom could benefit from it to being delved into further. Because what “Target Sighted”, “High Four” and “The Bar” is is a sort of... in-universe perspective on the fandom’s overwhelming shipping between Nick and Judy. 

To break the art-artist distance a bit (entirely), the art comes down to ask why WildeHopps is such a huge ship, and what impact it has on the fandom. (And contrary to popular belief, I am not against the ship in any way. It’s cute and they have great chemistry! I understand why it’s so enticing to ship them, and I don’t want people to stop shipping them just because I don’t. I do not believe that I am any more correct in my headcanon than anyone else.)

Target Sighted: Friendshipping is Dead

But let’s start at the beginning: At the end of the movie, Nick and Judy are the greatest friends there is. They went through a lot together, hurt each other, and mended that hurt together. They saved Zootopia, and its very ideals Judy had echoed since she was nine, and helped Nick to stand proudly on his own two paws yet again. 

And so that means they need to fuck.

 And I wanted to challenge that notion by posting “Target Sighted” in which Nick and Judy hang out, have fun, and enjoy each others’ company... while not being romantically attracted to each other. Partially because I simply felt it was sorely underrepresented in the fanworks where Nick and Judy simply were the best of friends. Just to show that they can be together constantly and have banter without the need to smooch muzzles.

Then I released “High Four” as a continuation, which took a more focused look on the ship’s place in the fandom itself, and its prevelance. I used the ZPD as a metaphor for the fandom in this, and how the fandom’s look on the Nick-Judy relationship actually would look like in-universe.

High Four: Are They or Aren’t They?

Everyone assumes they’re dating, even though we have no signs of that in the film beyond great chemistry and a “You know you love me” comment (that everyone apparently knows is a romantic confession rather than a platonic comment at the end of a barrage of platonic banter and platonic jabs at each other (Say “Platonic, platonic, platonic” three times in a mirror and your best friend will appear behind you)).

(Sarcasm aside, am I saying there’s zero chance they meant that in a romantic way? No, I am not, but it is far from being as clear cut as the ship makes it out to be. Are they in love with each other? Not sure. Are they not in love with each other? Also not sure.)

Back to the “High Four” comic: Despite this real vagueness on Nick and Judy’s status, everyone in the “Are they/are they not dating” betting pool agrees that they are dating without any actual confirmation. And suddenly the new betting pool is “can they have kits together?”

And that perfectly fine idea in fanfic writing and artwork became the new great question the fandom struggles with. The question moved from “Are they in love? Let’s discuss” to “They obviously are in love, so can they have kids together? Let’s discuss” as the ship became so big that even non-shipping became a fringe idea.

The Bar: Do You Have To Sex the One Closest To Your Heart?

And so we came to “The Bar” a year+ later that shifted the focus away from the ship and onto the mindset some shippers have: “They like each other a lot, and they have great chemistry. They have to be romantically involved. They like each other too much to be ‘just’ friends.”

And I disagree wholeheartedly with that. 

Can romance be greater than friendship? Absolutely, and congratulations if you find someone whom you are both the best friend and romantic partner with. That is the gold standard of a relationship. I say that without sarcasm.

But you can also have a best friend and a romantic partner, in which you like your best friend more. Is that a weird notion? If you are a heterosexual guy and your best friend is another guy, whom you went through hell and back and have great chemistry with, does that mean you can become such good friends that you need to get romantic? Is sexuality something you are born with, or something you... “choose” or learn?

Question to shippers: In your headcanon, was Judy always attracted to foxes, or did she choose or learn to be that after she met Nick? And vice versa with Nick?

I do know that it is part of a fandom’s culture to ship everything left and right (heck I bet there’s a Woody and Buzz ship out there somewhere (and I respect those who ship that (don’t send me pics, please.))) and I want people to keep on shipping WildeHopps. But please, don’t generalize and mistake a great friendship for a bad romance. Best friends aren’t lesser than romantic partners. Their relationships don’t have to mean less just because they don’t bonk the carrot.

And romantic partners aren’t necessarily lesser than best friends! A romantic relationship doesn’t mean it is lesser than a friendship! They are two different scales, not polar opposites. 

And because I feel so many get sucked into the idea of “they like each other so much, so they have to be romantic” because we want good things to happen to Nick and Judy (unless you are going for a tragedy (I am looking at you, @mistermead (I loved JiD, by the way) and so we want to give them the best relationship we can think of which erroneously is thought to always be romance, forgetting that maybe... your strongest relationship might be with your best friend, instead. 

But Why?

So why am I not shipping them? Why don’t you want the rabbit and fox to bonk, axel eg andersson?!

Because I simply don’t think they are attracted to each other. It’s as simple as that. It has nothing to do with that I am allegedly anti-ship, that I allegedly think romance ruins friendship, or just hate popular things because I am an grumpy old man. And a Grinch.

Nope, it’s because when I saw the movie, I saw them as friends. I saw the “You know you love me” as friendly banter and not a proclamation of romantic attraction.

And that’s it. That’s why I draw platonic content. And I wanted to cater to the underserved niche of friendshippers who saw it the same way I did.

And many saw it them as a romantic item when they saw the movie. And that is just as fine.

[chikkachu]

4 or 14 for Nalu

Happy Birthday to the beautiful @brokenangelwings83 . I was going to make this a short drabble but then I thought you love your NaLu smut and hey I already had a prompt request for it. So, I hope you like it. It’s been a while ;) Thank you to the wonderful @nalu-natic who beta-read this for me and of course the anon who sent me this prompt. 

-x-Pairing: NaLu prompt: What if they hear us?Rating: 18+ / Smut / M Genre: Period/Historical Romance

Summary: Natsu and Lucy have never been so long without seeing each other. In order to cover up their frowned upon activities, they must proceed with caution. However, Lucy has run out of patience.

-x-

Acid pumped through strained muscle as Natsu lifted wrought iron. Hard graft accelerating his heart rate and a fine sheen of sweat accumulated on his skin. The heat of strenuous exercise made his clothes tight and scratchy. Natsu hated having to wear tight garments finding them restrictive. Zeref scolded him for “inappropriate apparel” regularly; walking around in clothes fit for a beggar was inappropriate for the Dragneel lineage.

Epithets and pleasantries meant about as much as the horse shit he scrapped from the stable floor on the morn. Not that Zeref knew of that pastime otherwise the noble would have him escorted at all times.  As if it wasn’t enough being tied to the dukedom, another ball and chain would stifle his audacious nature.

‘Move it this way flame-brain or are you having trouble.’ Gray scoffed, smug banter intoning a challenge to the “pampered young master”.  They had been best friends from the moment Ur adopted the orphan and brought him to the estate. Raising him to be a stable hand with a magic touch. No one in Fiore could tame an unruly stallion like Gray Fullbuster.

Helping fix a broken carriage beat paperwork and the arbitrary tattle of the gentry. Physical work exhilarated his senses and Natsu loved the burn. Shifting the wheel, the strained linin dress shirt restricted his movement making him lose grip. Both men jumped backwards to save their toes as the sound of metal crashing against cobblestone echoed off the walls. Distressed kicks and grunts from the prized thoroughbred met his ears as he ripped his shirt from his breeches. The incident reaffirming his distaste for the fashion. Readjusting the fitted fabric on his waist, he used his shirt to wipe off excess perspiration before tossing it over a stable door.  

‘Showing off?’ Gray laughed, responding to the hushed whispers and giggles of maids passing through to collect supplies from the farm. Looking down he supposed he was exhibiting barbaric behaviour in front of the fairer sex. Zeref did say such nudity should be reserved strictly for the bedchambers. Not that he obeyed. Especially when it concerned a voluptuous blond that wouldn’t take no for an answer.  

‘You’re always half-naked when brother isn’t around.’ Rebuking the snarky retort, Natsu readied his hands on the iron rim waiting for Gray to position himself.

‘Damn straight.’ Gray grunted, Natsu smiled at the response. That’s why Gray understood him unlike the fake accomplices forced upon him at formal gatherings. On the count of three, they heaved the chunky wheel onto the brace. Stepping back, he admired their work. It still needed wheel nuts to securely fit it to the axel.

‘I’m going to go find some oil before we screw it back on.’ Gray said, walking off and wiping his brow, ‘otherwise it’ll break again.’

‘Sure.’ Not bothering to watch Gray slink away he decided to stretch. Bending forward his back arched allowing him to feel the pull down his thighs and calves. Natsu groaned in satisfaction as the tension left his body.  

‘Do you require help?’ He recognised that tinkling laughter and honey-dipped voice. Small hands smoothed over his rump travelling to grasp onto his hip. Bolting upright heat settled against his back, feeling lips pressing against his shoulder blade.

God, he missed her.

‘Lucy.’ He breathed, noticing her fingers tracking his waistband and tickling the sensitive skin.  

‘It’s not often one is greeted with such a pleasant view.’ She said, amusement evident as she dragged her fingertips over his abdominals in a fleeting caress. Natsu sucking in a quick breath turned in her embrace moving to grip her arms. Memories of passionate nights and heated escapades in her father’s hunting lodge filled his mind at her playful antics. Lucy’s touch is something he could never refuse but society is cruel to those who didn’t adhere to protocol. And he wouldn’t stand for her name to be tarnished.

‘We can’t, not here.’ Her determined countenance said Lucy didn’t accept his answer as she swivelled out of his grip.  A finger found his lips and he couldn’t help but track the tongue wetting her own.

‘I don’t want to hear “can’t” from the man who preaches the virtues of living in the moment.’ She said, pressing her digit further into his mouth.

‘Someone might see.’

‘No ones here now.’

‘That’s not the issue.’ He said, she laughed and dragged her hand down his jaw. Following the line of his body, making sure to drag her palm over his nipples, she continued downwards. Hooking both hands into his breeches a sharp tug caught him off balance.

Lucy Hearfilia is a dangerous woman. A woman he couldn’t refuse.  

‘You’ve never been so reluctant before.’ Her voice is sin and he couldn’t help but follow. ‘I travelled too far to wait until later.’

Natsu scouted the area as he allowed the temptress to pull him into a vacant stable. This wasn’t the first time Lucy exhibited her adventurous side. Then again in high society, they take their alone time whenever the opportunity arises. A scandal of their trysts would rock the aristocracy and ruin Lucy’s reputation. He felt guilty, but patience had never been his strong suit and their first erotic venture had been against the old oak in the Heartfilia estate. Now they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Passion burned in his veins for the heiress like nothing he’d experienced before. Natsu intended for them to be wed. The thought of another man touching Lucy made his chest constrict.

‘Natsu Dragneel you sure know how to drive a girl crazy.’ He shivered feeling her breath tickle his dark nipple. Head resting on his chest her hands flitted over a pec setting a pace that caused his hair to rise in anticipation. Instinctually he moved to her dance, hips rising to meet her antics that wandered dangerously close to his crutch. Teasing fingers smoothed the fabric on his thighs, fingers drawing lines on the inside of his knee.

Dipping down he caught her lips in a quick succession of smooches feeling her hand move slowly up his inner thighs. The drag of her manicured nails felt wonderful despite the fabric barrier. Coming close to the straining erection he saw the devilish twinkle in her eye as she removed her hands from where he wanted them. Deciding instead to loop her arms and grab his butt for leverage. Lucy wiggled her hips creating a delectable friction over his bulge.  

‘Damn, what’s with you today.’ Not that Natsu was complaining but it wasn’t usual behaviour. Lucy commented previously that she loved to see Natsu riled up and taking control.

‘I want you to feel my frustration.’

Oh.

They hadn’t been able to meet for a long time and Natsu had decided against their last opportunity to meet. Frolicking at the King’s ball was a bit too risky even for him. Apparently, his fiery partner had revenge in mind for the elongated abstinence. Natsu gasped as he felt her hand dipped below his waistband and gripping his dick.  

‘Fuck!’ He swore, soft lips kissed along his jawline and he chocked as he felt a sharp tug. She didn’t have mercy deciding to attack his neck with open-mouthed kisses. The feeling of her hands gripping his shaft made his knees buckle. Undulating to encourage further movement he worked on undoing buttons to give her better access.

Her eyes flicked down to watch him buck into her hand, there was something incredibly sexy about his desperate movements. The sound of his laboured gasps made her nipples strain, aching for the reward of Natsu hot mouth. Before that, she wanted to have fun with the handsome man at her leisure.

Spitting in her palm she reached down to caress the head of his shaft, taking over from the hand reaching further down to cup his sack. Rolling her head to the side Natsu cupped her cheek and capture her lips in a sloppy kiss, his skill hampered by the distracting thumb brushing under the head of his dick.  He could feel her gentle rotate her palm rolling his balls in a way that nearly made him cum. The sensation of both hands on him was overwhelming. The absence of her touch for more weeks than either of them cared to be separated didn’t help his control.

‘Let go.’ Lucy breathed on his lips, dipping her tongue into his mouth. Tapping her fingertips along his base in a teasing pattern, Natsu braced his back against the walk for support. He felt her travel upwards to connect her thumb and index finger around the top of his shaft. Setting a slow pace, to begin with, he felt his abdominal clench on a particularly strong stoke.

‘Please. Lucy.’ Natsu’s plea barely came out a whisper, his hands moving from her waist to cup a weighty breast. He wasn’t above playing dirty using his thumb to roll the covered nipple. Lucy tremored, her hold on his cock faltering as she craned her neck to engage a languid role of tongues. Need pulsing in his member he covered her hand with his own. Encouraging her to use more fingers Natsu guided her on pleasuring him. Lucy got the message increasing her pace and the occasional rotation of her wrist made his thighs seize up in an effort to resist climax.  

‘Natsu?’ Gray’s call cut through the hazy pleasure they were surrounded in. Lucy didn’t stop, in fact, her eyes glinted mischievously as she proceeded to perform as a quick succession of tugs over his head. Pleasure exploding through his veins made his toes a heavy grunt escaping his throat. Natsu tried to stifle the noise hearing Gray moving around outside searching for him. It wouldn’t be the first time Gray had found them in an inappropriate situation. He wouldn’t hear the last of it if it happened again.

‘I don’t want to see your bare ass ever again.’ Was the quip Gray focused on him the next day. Lucy couldn’t look their friend in the eyes for a month. However, by then Lucy was grinding against his thigh Natsu suspected she had a thing for high-risk coupling.  The feeling of pressure at the top of his sack snapped his thoughts to the woman in front of him. She had circled the top massage the skin gently as his balls drew together. His abdomen rippled as he thrust upwards in a haphazard pattern. Head lulling, he allowed himself to breathe in her bergamot and orange scent.

‘Your hands feel so fucking good on my cock.’ Murmuring praise in her ear Natsu found himself fall from the precipice. Capturing her lips once again in a bid to silence his moans fire shot up his shaft as the pressure in his stomach released. Pulling Lucy’s body flush against him, Natsu clung to her in his vulnerable moment. Savouring the comfort of her hand that had moved to caress his back. Finding her eyes, he couldn’t help but smile. Intimacy enabled him to see her with shocking clarity. His beautiful Lucy who couldn’t keep her hands of him, a woman sporting a kind and gentle soul. Natsu knew he was a lucky man.

‘So,’ Lucy said, smiling up at him as she licked his seed off her knuckle. ‘What’s next?’

And she called him insatiable.

[callunavulgari]

Year-In-Fic | 2018

How many fics did you write this year? What was your total wordcount? This year I wrote... 12 fics. Bit of a letdown, really, but I mean. I didn’t write much. I wrote what I did whenever a plot bunny really seized hold of me, but I didn’t go out of my way to write this year. Which is sad. But I mean, shit happens. 55,519 words, which isn’t completely terrible for 12 fics. It helps that a couple of them were in the 8-9k range.

Fic Roundup!

Everybody’s Looking For Something | Stranger Things | Steve/Billy | 4,790 words | On the third weekend of May during their last year at Hawkins High, Steve Harrington throws a party.Billy crashes it.

taste you on my tongue | Stranger Things | Steve/Billy | 2,290 words | “You’ve never felt pleasure like it, Steve,” an old girlfriend had told him once, her eyes bright with memory. Steve shrugged. “No vampires here, though.”

Home | Star Wars | Reylo | 1,670 words | “Rey,” he says into the quiet. “Just drive.”

hits like a drum | Stargate Atlantis | Mcshep | 3,507 words | “Believe it or not, having something with sharp teeth breathing down your neck is not actually conducive to one’s thought process.” John barks out a loud, abrupt noise that might be laughter, his breath tickling the hairs at the base of Rodney’s neck. “I’d have thought it would be good motivation.”

feed the hunger | Stranger Things | Steve/Billy | 1,792 words | “Thought you wanted to fuck me, Hargrove,” Steve whispers, and presses a sweet kiss to the hinge of Billy’s jaw. “Now’s your chance.”

Apotheosis | Marvel - INFINITY WAR | Thor/Loki, Steve/Pepper/Tony | 4,450 words | Grief, a story told in three parts.

and i’m always tired, but never of you | The Bright Sessions | Sam/Damien/Mark | 10,405 words | Sam runs into Damien at the grocery store two years later. It changes everything.

tides will bring me back to you | Kingdom Hearts | Axel/Roxas | 7,383 words | When Axel was sixteen, he did something stupid. 

Smallest Light | Stranger Things | Gen, El & Will | 5,165 words | In the summer of 1986, Will’s mom marries Jim Hopper. OR, Will and El learn how to be real people again together.

i don’t want to rest in peace, we can haunt each other’s dreams | EOS 10 | Ryan/Akmazian | 1,520 words |  In the dream, Ryan wakes up and Akmazian is there.

Looking For Atlantis | SGA | Mcshep | 4,632 words | Hey Rodney, the postcard reads. Go see a movie.

keep your heart open (i’ll keep mine open too) | Stranger Things | Harringrove | 7,915 words | “Did you even like me before you found out I was your soulmate?” Billy murmurs as he kisses a line down Steve’s throat.

Best story I wrote this year: and i’m always tired, but never of you. It was that one fic that I wrote because I just couldn’t stand the idea of Mark, Sam, and Damien not having a happy ending. Because I realized there was no poly fic for them on ao3 and I thought that was a travesty. So I wrote 10k in like two days and it’s soft and sweet and the happy ending that I wanted to see, so I freaking wrote it.

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest. Honestly?  Home. It’s only 1600 words, and it’s Reylo, which I wasn’t even feeling that much this year, but it’s just the story that I set out to write. The night that I wrote it I’d had the shittiest day at work and came home wanting to write about someone being angry and sad and driving really fast. Originally I think I’d been planning on the story being Harringrove, but modern day Skywalkers just kind of spilled out of me.

Okay, NOW your most popular story. feed the hunger, my harringrove fic that I wanted to write the entire time I was in South Carolina, where Steve is a little bit messy and he and Billy fuck around for a bit and catch feelings comes in first with 339 kudos and 2731 hits, but taste you on my tongue, my harringrove vampire au technically beats it in the bookmarks department. Story of mine most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Yeah, probably Home. I’m always a little bummed when the stories that I like the most don’t get much attention, but well, I mean. It’s a modern day Reylo fic that I wrote a while after The Last Jedi craze settled down, so it’s whatever. 

Most fun story to write: Definitely and i’m always tired, but never of you. It was so much fun to write and was so freaking easy too. Every line flowed smoothly. Even the editing didn’t trip me up much. 

Story that could have been better? hits like a drum was the wraith!John AU that I had such a hard time with last year. It was supposed to be at least another 5 or 6k and feature John coming to Rodney’s rescue and becoming slowly integrated into Atlantis. It was supposed to work it’s way into something smart and plotty, and yes, eventually Rodney would have gotten to smooch the wraith. But I hit a snag and never really recovered, so I just cleaned it up and posted it as is.

Story I wrote to fix things: Technically Apotheosis, and i’m always tired, but never of you, and i don’t want to rest in peace, we can haunt each other’s dreams were all written as fix-it fics in their own way. Apotheosis was my way of dealing with Infinity War and featured Thor, Steve, and Tony dreaming about people they lost. Bright Sessions domestic poly fic was written because I wanted Damien to have some semblance of happy ending, preferably with Mark, and that last one with the super long title was written because I was trying to cope with EOS 10. Technically it wasn’t a fix-it because nothing was really fixed, but it helped fix me.

Longest completed fic this year: and i’m always tired, but never of you. Just over 10k, it’s definitely my longest this year.

Fandom you enjoyed writing for most this year: I wrote a decent chunk of Stranger Things this year and had fun with all of them, but I still think the most fun I had was with the Bright Sessions fic.

Favorite character you wrote this year: I actually really liked writing Will and El in Smallest Light. I got kind of stuck halfway into that fic, so it wasn’t always the smoothest, but Will and El were both very strange and good to write.

Most memorable comment this year: So, keep your heart open (i’ll keep mine open too) was my entry for the harringrove secret santa and I recently got a comment from my giftee that was just, the best thing to wake up to ever. I haven’t gotten the chance to reply yet, mostly because I have been ridiculously busy, but it was such a long, thorough comment and I’m just so glad they appreciated it.

Additionally, the same fic also produced a comment that started with “My Sterek bitch!!” and it just fucking tickled the hell out of me.

Fics you wanted to write but didn’t: I think I’m going to have to give up on writing the Sabriel AU. I mean, unless the Episode 9 comes out and blows me out of the water, I’m not hopeful. The Last Jedi jossed too much, even in an AU, and it made things a little complicated to move forward. I still need to finish that fic where John dies and Rodney ends up raising his daughter, and the Enjolras/Grantaire fic, and the giant Dishonored fic that I still desperately want to write. The bodyswapping Reylo, the girl Cisco AU, the Sterek Bioshock Infinite AU, the dozens of other Sterek fics that I started two or three years ago and never finished, including the Carmilla AU.

More recently, I’ve got a Castlevania OT3 fic that I’ve been working on and a different flavor of Harringrove soulmate AU that wasn’t angsty enough to be my entry for the secret santa. I have the giant canon-divergent Bright Sessions AU where years after the series ends, Mark ends up running into Damien again in a small town in the middle of nowhere only to realize that he has a daughter, a farm, a life, and is just so drawn to it that he keeps coming back. I have the Wolf 359 post-canon fic where everyone has feelings and found family is a general theme and maybe Eiffel smooches an AI. I also have the smuttier Wolf 359 fic that’s been lurking in the back of my head for months where Eiffel and Kepler er, basically eiffel tower Jacobi. 

Oh, and I have the Reylo fic where Rey (and Ben, through the bond) sit through General Organa’s funeral and keep coming back to each other afterwards. And shit, I also started that Final Fantasy 15 fic where Dino and Noctis do the nasty.

Oddest story: Probably hits like a drum. I know Atlantis fics are weird, but John as a wraith is something that I hadn’t seen before. Hardest story to do: I think the only finished fic that gave me any resistance was Smallest Light, which probably wouldn’t have ever been finished if I didn’t go back and fill in the gaps with El’s part. Easiest story to write? I mean, most of these were easy. See, when you only write when you really feel the pull of something, it all comes easy. The Bright Sessions poly fic was the easiest, but all of the Harringrove ones were easy too.

Most mining of your own history in one story: Weirdly enough, tides will bring me back to you. Yeah, the story about the man-eating merman. The graffiti on the side of Axel’s building was a guy who tagged all over our neighborhood. The mermaid statue was my grandmother’s. Axel’s cat is basically my cat, but she’s been cleverly disguised because I called her gray once in the story. And like, that’s kind of it? I mean, the cove is something I came up with, but it’s heavily based on the years I spent at the beach. 

Themes, or absence thereof: Atmosphere, mostly. Want. Need. Daddy issues and forever kind of loves. Soft. Where did you publish/archive your stories? Ao3, as per usual. Story I haven’t yet written, but intend to: I want to write a few things in the new year, but mostly I want to write that Dishonored fic and a couple original stories that have been percolating in my brain for a year or two.

Sexiest moment (excerpt): “Damien,” Mark breathes against his lips, and pulls back to suck a bruise into the side of Damien’s neck.

“Please,” Damien is saying, high and needy, and doesn’t know what he’s asking for, just knows that he’s desperate to have it. He slides his fingers into Mark’s hair and gives it an insistent tug, mouthing sloppily at the corner of his jaw. He spreads his thighs wider. “Please, please, please.”

“Yes,” Mark hisses, and hauls him in for a deeper kiss, yanking Damien into him until they’re so close that Damien can feel him everywhere. Mark presses against him, the weight of him settling between Damien’s spread thighs. He gives Damien a hot look and rocks their hips together. Damien makes another tiny noise, his head tilted back, mouth open. It’s probably an embarrassing sound. Mark gets his teeth on his throat, and Damien stops caring.

From very far away, he becomes aware of a door opening somewhere, but it’s so far down on his current list of priorities that he doesn’t even register why this could be a problem until he hears Sam’s voice. Damien swallows around a gasp, his glassy eyes refocusing. She’s standing about a foot or so away in the open doorway, a startled flush on her cheeks, her hair windswept. There’s a package in her arms. She arches an eyebrow in Mark’s direction.

Mark, who still hasn’t pulled away from Damien, whose teeth are still working another mark into the fragile skin at the join of his shoulder and throat. Damien swallows hard and has to close his eyes and fight down a whimper when Mark, still distracted, grinds their hips together.

“Slow, huh, Mark?” Sam asks, setting the package and her keys down on the table next to her.

Mark winces at her voice and pulls back ever so slightly, just enough to free up his mouth, not enough to drag them away from the heat of each other’s bodies. He doesn’t seem surprised enough. Doesn’t even seem to care that his girlfriend just caught them necking in her apartment. He just grins at her, helpless and a little flushed, his lips red and wet, and says, “Sorry, Sam.”

.

Ryan bites down on a smile, and takes another daring step forward. “Do you have standards?”

Akmazian blinks, then groans, slumping back against the desk. He looks at Ryan, and while there’s a hint of good humor, there’s also something else. Resignation, maybe. Disappointment. He laughs it off, flicking his cloak to the side, a sardonic little grin on his face, but it’s there.

“You know me, darlin’,” he says, and it sounds like a joke, but it rings true. Ryan does know him. He knows Akmazian - knows that he’s good down to the heavy muscle of his heart, knows that he’s been dealt a shitty hand in life and that he’d live that shit all over again to have the world know the truth.

Ryan knows him. Maybe that’s why he does it.

Akmazian makes a lovely, startled little noise in the back of his throat when Ryan takes both hands and draws Akmazian down to meet him, his fingers sliding into the spaces where his jaw’s gone slack. He strokes there, hesitantly, with his thumbs, and when he tugs Akmazian forward those last few inches, he is utterly sure of what he wants.

Akmazian’s lips are dry and a little chapped, but they’re plush and part easily around a groan when Ryan takes the kiss deeper, makes it a little wetter, a little more wanting. The room is quiet around them, this little echoing piece of space that is theirs alone. He can hear his own breathing, soft but steady, and Akmazian’s over that, just a little uneven. He lets out a quiet groan as his entire body relaxes into the kiss, slumping forward into Akmazian’s arms, pressing closer until they’re both half on, half off of the desk. He kisses slow and deep and a little bit sloppy, until his lips feel bruised and wet. His eyes drift closed and when Akmazian lets out a soft murmur, Ryan tips his head back to make room for Akmazian’s mouth on his throat.

He can be greedy for this, Ryan thinks as Akmazian leaves a trail of kisses up the length of his throat. He’s allowed to want this.

When he pulls back, Akmazian is looking at him with faint wonder. His hand reaches out to touch the curve of Ryan’s cheek.

“Darlin’,” he breathes, and swallows hard around the words that might have come next.

Crackiest moment (excerpt): He makes it to the last showing of Aquaman twenty minutes late, which fortunately for him means that after collecting his popcorn and slushie from the surly looking teenager manning the concession stand, he walks into the theater just as the movie is starting.

It isn’t a full theater by any means. A group college students take up a couple of the middle rows, only recognizable by their colorful array of hairstyles and the semi-permanent air of exhaustion that lingers around them like some kind of miasma. There’s an older gentlemen near the back noisily slurping a fountain drink who looks as if he hasn’t been out of the house since the 90’s. And then there’s a couple kids who look about twelve snickering and throwing popcorn at each other in the top most row.

Rodney chooses one of the first rows he sees, not necessarily because he’s enamored with the idea of being so close to the screen, but because he doesn’t want to be anywhere near the crossfire when those kids realize that there are other targets in the theater besides their friends. With a heavy sigh, he collapses onto an off-colored seat cushion that he thinks may have been mauve in a former life. The whole thing creaks alarmingly under him, and he spends a good thirty seconds arranging himself so that the arms aren’t pinching uncomfortably at his waistband.

The movie isn’t horrible, much to his surprise. It’s not great, but it’s moderately engaging, and has two relatively attractive human beings gracing the screen ninety percent of the time. It’s engaging enough that he barely notices when the twelve year olds incite a some kind of farting competition amongst themselves that a couple of the college kids decide that it’s in their best interest to escalate. He’s still half asleep in his popcorn, but staring mindlessly into a bright rectangle helps.

Maybe half an hour into the movie he notices someone slinking into the theater out of the corner of his eye, but is too invested in licking the salt and butter off of his fingers to really notice. If they want to movie hop, then whatever. Props to them. He does notice at least a little bit when they take the seat directly behind him.

Then the guy starts kicking the back of his chair.

It isn’t a constant thing. The first kick Rodney writes off as an accident. Everyone does it at some point, especially with seats as small as these. He’s probably just rearranging, and then he’ll lay off. The second and the third time? Okay, whatever. Annoying, but ultimately not worth starting something over.But the guy just keeps doing it. Every five to ten minutes, like clockwork, just as the action is starting to ramp up on screen, his knees will dig into the back of Rodney’s chair. Or his heels will scrabble against the arm rests, like he’s trying to put his feet up on Rodney’s chair. And okay, nobody has ever called Rodney patient. Nobody ever will call Rodney patient. The very idea is laughable.

He’s grinding his teeth, this close to snapping, when he hears the guy lean forward in his seat, close enough that Rodney can feel his breath on the back of his neck. The guy breathes a little loudly for a moment, and then he says, “That guy kind of looks like Ronon, don’t you think?”

Favorite dialogue (excerpt): In the dream, Loki smiles at him. They’re on Asgard, in what were once Loki’s quarters. His body reclines loosely across a chaise that he had favored, one knee hooked over the arm. As Thor watches, he stretches - a languid, rippling motion that seems to start from his toes and end in his shoulders.

“Brother,” he says in welcome, his face open and content.

“You mean to torture me,” Thor says dully, licking his chapped lips.

Loki’s face crumples, the beatific smile going dim. The sunlight coming in through the windows behind him is all Asgard, golden and warm. If he touched Loki now, he thinks he would feel an echo of that warmth, the heat of it having seeped into Loki’s shoulders and back.

At last, Loki says, “You torture yourself, Thor.”

“Only because you are not here to do it for me,” Thor replies, taking a step forward as if pulled in by some great, magnetic force.

Loki sighs, his dangling leg swinging in idle irritation. “Perhaps I am here, truly. Would it be so hard to imagine that a piece of me lives on within you?”

“No,” Thor whispers, and feels a tear drip down his cheek. “It would not. I have always held you here, in my heart.”

Loki looks at him, all the mirth gone from his face. “You cradled my body when I was gone. You pulled me close and waited for that explosion. You were to die, with me. With our people. You meant to. The last of the Aesir.”

Thor reaches the chaise, and sinks to his knees before him. Loki touches him gently, cool fingertips tracing his face from temple to jaw.

“Tell me, brother,” Loki asks him softly. “When you woke, did it pain you? Did you look for me? For my corpse?”

“Yes,” Thor tells him. He had woken disoriented, surrounded by strangers, the memory of rage lighting him up from the inside out, the ghost of Loki’s touch still against him. He’d thought of vengeance, of a burial that he would never have, and he had hurt. He’d gone chasing after death, and hoped it would take him.

He’d told the rabbit that he had nothing left to lose. It turned out that he was wrong. There was always more left to lose.He chokes on a sob, and Loki shushes him.

“You will do this, brother. I know you will.” The corners of Loki’s lips quirk upwards into an impossible smile. Perfect in its replication. “You and Stark, your Avengers. You will beat Thanos.”

Loki’s smile goes sadder, and he touches Thor the way that Thor used to touch him, a hand reaching out to clasp the hinge of Thor's jaw, thumb stroking his cheek. “You don’t know how to lose, Thor. You never did.”

“And if I can’t bring you back?”

Loki shrugs. “Then you dream of me. Whenever you think to miss me.”

Thor chokes on a watery laugh. “I will always be dreaming of you, then.”

One last touch. A kiss, light as a feather, first to his brow and then to his lips. A tear slips from Loki’s chin and lands on Thor’s cheek. Loki is still smiling, his eyes wet. “Then, I will welcome your company.”

Favorite lines (excerpt):

Damien is wearing dark jeans, and though there are holes at the knees, they seem to be of the ‘artfully distressed’ sort rather than the too-lazy-to-patch-up variety. He’s got a decent jacket hugging his shoulders, and under that, she’s pretty sure she spies a Nirvana shirt. His shaggy hair is pulled back into a half-assed bun and there’s a day or two worth of stubble clinging to his jaw, but he looks okay. Good. A little too grunge to be on this side of the millenium, and hopelessly confused by the third bag of chicken nuggets he’s picked up, but good.

She bites her lip, and considers her options.

Two years ago, she’d be hightailing it out of this grocery store as quickly as possible, packing Mark into the nearest suitcase, and skipping town to go find backup. But for some reason, she doesn’t think that Damien’s followed them here. More likely, is that they accidentally followed him here.

Before she has the chance to second-guess herself, Sam takes a deep breath and strides firmly into the aisle, shopping basket swaying at her side. She comes to a stop right beside him, and for a moment, he doesn’t seem to notice her. He’s squinting at the nutrition facts on another bag of chicken nuggets. There's ramen and a pack of energy drinks in his basket.

“Those probably aren’t great for you,” she tells him, wrinkling her nose.

“Did I ask you?” Damien sing-songs, still not looking away from the nuggets. He hmphs at it, and muses, possibly to himself, “A hundred and seventy calories for five pieces. Not bad.”

“Yeah, but how much of that is actually chicken?”

Damien blinks, and tears his eyes away from the bag. He looks up at her, his face stuck in an expression that seems to be at least two-thirds disdain, the rest of it being absolute incredulity, as if he’s appalled that some stranger in the grocery store is insisting on lecturing him about his taste in chicken nuggets - which, fair. Because Sam’s looking for it, she can pinpoint the exact moment that he places her, his eyes going ever so slightly wider. He blinks and shuffles backwards half a step, and then the surprise is gone, leaving behind a smooth mask of general douchebaggery. She remembers that mask - the slimy smirk and the too-cool-for-you-slouch.

He leans against the freezer door, and regards her coolly.

Apathetic. Smooth. Unphased.

Yeah, right.

“Saaaaaaam,” he drawls, eying her up and down. One sharp eyebrow quirks upwards, his gaze lingering on the Care Bear t-shirt that she’d thrown on over the tattered, holey tanktop she’d worn to bed the night before. The t-shirt is just as old and worn as the tank top is, and she immediately has to struggle against the urge to check herself for pizza stains. After all, it’s not like the shirt was exactly clean when she’d grabbed it out of the laundry pile. It was just the best looking of the bunch.

She wasn’t actually supposed to run into people that she knew at the freaking grocery store. And definitely not on laundry day. That was just rude.

The smirk ticks ever higher. Damien nods at her shirt. “Cute.”

Sam flexes her fingers, and wonders with an idle sort of curiosity if it would be worth the pain to punch him again. No. Fuck that. Two can play at this game.

“I thought so,” she says with an indifferent shrug and a chipper little smile.

(or)

Do you miss him, she thinks, and has to bite down hard on her lip to keep the question from slipping out. God, how stupid. He’s all pathetic and droopy now, of course he misses Mark. He takes a deep breath, and she watches him pull himself back together. It’s not a very convincing charade, but she lets him have it.

“Anyway,” he says brightly, and pushes off of the freezer. “Things to do, puppies to terrorize, you know the deal.”

He looks at her with that same careful consideration she’d given him a moment ago, and makes his face do something that she thinks is supposed to be an amiable smile. It mostly just looks like he’s trying too hard.

He holds out his hand. “Sam.”

Reluctantly, she takes it. His hand is chilly and a little damp, but he has a surprisingly strong grip. “Damien.”

The grin that he flashes her is still just this side of wrong, too showy, not enough mean.

“It’s been real, but I gotta go.” Damien hesitates, and just when she thinks he’s gonna let it go, he leans in and brushes a careful kiss to her cheek. His lips are warm. They linger for a moment over the swell of her cheekbone, and she wonders why that is. If it’s because of Mark, or her, or the sheer unexpected delight of human contact. When he pulls back, there’s a flush of red across his cheeks, and an unsure, painfully earnest smile on his lips.

His voice is soft, tellingly so when he murmurs, “Give Mark my love, okay?”

Sam swallows, her heart thundering in her chest. And, because she’s still caught off guard, she smiles back, and says, “Okay.”

(or)

“I swear to god, Ben-”

Ben sighs heavily, laying an arm down on the rest between them. He turns to her, and for the first time all day, he really looks. Her hair is frizzing where its come loose from her bun, and there’s engine oil beneath her fingernails. Her dress, modest enough when standing, is riding up her thighs, the cut scandalously short for a funeral. He would bet money that she didn’t pick it out herself.

Her eyes scald him - all the anger and accusation that he’s been avoiding for the last few years narrowed down to a single point. Her brow is pulled tight into a frown and she- she’s itching for this. He knows she is, because even if he hasn’t seen her in six years, Ben grew up alongside of her. He’d been there for her early years, when just keeping her from running was hard enough.

He’d chased her across state lines, kept her from hopping busses, dragged her kicking and screaming to return every stolen car.

He knew the fire in her. He had it, too.

And he knew that it was burning.

“Rey,” he says into the quiet. “Just drive.”

She bares her teeth again, lip curled into an effortless, vicious snarl. Her eyes narrow. Around them, the car hums with power. It sounds as angry as she does.

“You’ll regret that,” she warns, and when he says nothing, she makes a quiet irritated noise and slams the car into reverse, peeling explosively out of the lot. Dust clouds the road behind them. He can smell the burning rubber.

Fic goals: I did absolutely none of the goals I set last year. Nothing novel length, nothing original, very few original characters, and I almost made it to 60k, but not quite. My only goal for next year is to write something that’s all mine. That’s it, Heather. Write a story, make it yours.

[milasartblog]

Camping (part 7)

Everyone looked confused and scared.

Anoli: W-Who?

Lucifer: The guy....and behind him there is someone.

Liya: C'mon, Luci, you're joking, right?

But his face looked serious as he shook his head and everyone, except Lilith, turned around slowly. But there was no one here.

Axel: Umm, there is no one here. Only emptiness, and-

As he turned back, the scary scene awaited him.

Lucifer: BOOOO!~

Axel: AAAA-

Liya quickly shut his mouth with her tail while others jumped from scary surprise.

Liya: Shhh, do you want Nazeel to give 1000 and 1 questions about what happened here?

Axel only mumbled as Anoli got closer to Chris while Lucifer tried to hold his laugh. Lilith meanwhile tried to hold laugh too.

Lucifer: You should have seen your face~ This is a masterpiece~

Axel mumbled angrily to him as Liya patted his shoulder.

Liya: He says that it was a dirty move to do it from you.

Lilith: But where is sense in horror story if somebody doesn't get scared?~

Anoli: But still we could wake Nazeel up.

Chris: I'm pretty sure he is giggling quitely too. And honestly, that was good one, very classic.

Lucifer: Thank you, thank you, i will be here all day~

Axel looked angrily at Lucifer as pokes Liya to let his mouth go. As she did it, he tried to hold his voice.

Axel: Do you even realise what have you done?? Now i will have nightmares!!

Liya: Awww, don't worry, i will protect you from them~

She cuddled him, trying to cool him while Anoli looked at Chris.

Anoli: How do you feel, love?

Chris: Me? Don't worry, it didn't scare me that much. I'm fine. And you?

Anoli: Well, i'm not that used to scary stories, so i got scared a bit.

Chris: That's understandable. But you did great holding on.

He smooched her forehead as she smiled.

Liya: But i must admit, your reaction was priceless~

Axel: Hey, that's not-

Lilith: I know, right?~ I even caught a photo of it~

Axel: You did what?? Delete it!

Lilith: Why should i?~ It's a nice memory~

Axel: But not for me!

He tried to reach to camera, but Lilith playfully moved it away from him. Liya and Lucifer giggled a bit while Anoli facepalmed.

Chris: But seriously, delete this photo, please, Ms Lilith.

Lilith: Awww, but it's such a memory~ Don't worry i will not show it to anyone~

Axel:....Do you really think i will believe it?

Lilith: Okay okay, just for you~

And she "deleted" the photo from the camera, while in reality she just saved it on another file.

Axel: Thank you.

Lilith smiled and looked at Jeff, who was finishing frying marshmallow and eating it.

Jeff: Well, i didn't get scared.

Lucifer: Oh, really?~ I still have some scary stories if you want~

Lilith: I think we better go to sleep~ It's getting late~

Anoli: Oh, yeah, and i promised Nazeel that we will swim in the river together.

Liya: How about we do watervolleyball?~

Jeff: Sounds cool idea.

Axel: But we don't have a ball.

Lucifer: Who said it?~

He snapped his fingers and a ball appeared on his hand. Moreover, already inflated.

Anoli: Awesome! Shall we play by rules or just for fun?

Chris: Dear, we're on the camp, no rules needed just to have fun.

Liya: Agree with him~ But i would still say just not to swim way too far.

Jeff: What about Sona?

Axel: I will stay on the coast.

Liya: Awww, why so?~

Axel: Who knows what you two can do.

Lucifer: I think it's better if me and Lilith stay on the coast.

Lilith: How about we all decide it tomorrow?~ Fresh ideas always come with clean head.

Chris: Good idea. Well, shall we put out campfire and go to our tents?

Lucifer: I will stay for couple of minutes~

Anoli: Why?

Lucifer: I will be on guard. You know, just in case.

Liya: But we're all by ourselves.

Lilith, guessing why Lucifer wanted to stay outside for more minutes, reasured the crew.

Lilith: You just like to stay outside, right?~

Lucifer: Me? Oh, yeah, i do~ Sometimes it's something you need when you are in Hell for long time~

Jeff: Maybe it's so hot there that even Ruler of Hell takes breaks.

Lucifer: Indeed~

Anoli: Well, if you need something, call us, okay?

Lucifer: Will do~

And the crew wished each other goodnight and went to their tents, except Lilith and Lucifer. Lilith asked Jeff to wait for her in the tent for couple of minutes as she looked at Lucifer.

Lilith: You think they can come here too?

Lucifer: I'm not sure. After what happened with Jeff and you, i can't risk it anymore. If me and you can still handle them, the rest will not be able to even stand after hit.

Lilith: True.....Just don't forget to rest.

Lucifer: Pff, you know how humans like to say? Sleep is for the weak~

Lilith: Hehe, yeah~ And yet, don't forget to sleep too~

Lucifer: I will~ Goodnight, Lily~

Lilith: Goodnight, Luci~

And she went back to the tent while Lucifer was looking at the campfire in deep thought. It was so quiet outside, like the nature was in a stage of full harmony. Peace and quiet, something that Lucifer misses from time to time in Hell. And yet, he didn't regret about his choice. He got what he wanted and deals with it in his own way. And that's how he spent the rest of the night, guarding our little crew who was sleeping peacefully till the new day came.

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

And that's another part of the camping story^^ Seems like Axel was the one who truly got scared X') Poor boy X') And yet evening was nice and fun^^ Wonder how the rest of two days will be^^

Lucifer, Anoli, Liya and Axel belong to @wildstarfan and @milasartblog (both me)

Lilith belongs to @wildstarfan and @captainthane

Sona, Nazeel, Jeff and Chris belong to @captainthane

Okaria et Feria belongs to @wildstarfan and @captainthane

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 11

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 8,761

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

“Please, Ray, think of the child!”

“I am! Cuz this is my last few months of freedom!”

It was getting late and things were winding down now in 7th Heaven. Most of the gang from the mall had already split and there were just a few stragglers left. It may have come as a shock to find me among them. Or maybe not, given Anna and I were carpooling and my little sister had never, ever been one to call it an early night.

Rayne apparently wasn’t ready for the party to be over yet either. Much to Riku’s dismay, she had climbed up onto a table for what was probably now the sixth time tonight and was rocking her best dancing queen moves. I snorted as I watched her work it, always managing to boogie-dodge out of the way whenever Riku would make a desperate grab for her ankles. I was almost surprised Anna wasn’t up there cutting the proverbial rug with her right now like she had been earlier.

“Trying to wrangle the wife so you two can head out for the night?” I asked, stepping up beside Riku.

His shoulders slumped as he released a long suffering sigh, “Yeah, if only she’d stand still long enough.” Once again his hand swiped out and once again she evaded him with ease as she razzed her tongue at him before spinning around to shake her munny-maker in his general direction. “Now she’s just taunting me,” he grumbled.

I brought a hand up to hide my grin. “Need help?”

“Nah, I got it.” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes. “You catching a ride home with us tonight?”

“No thanks,” I shook my head. “Anna is more alcohol than person at this point. She has no business being behind a wheel, so she’s going to need me to drive her. Will it be okay if she sleeps on your couch?”

He nodded, “Fine by me. Sure you yourself are good to drive?”

I cocked an eyebrow at him. “If you’re referring to that one sip I had on the karaoke stage, that was hours ago. Trust me, I’m good.” Looking around, I then asked, “Any idea where Anna may have gotten off to?”

“Haven’t seen her for a while now, but I’m sure she’ll turn up. Maybe check with-”

“Catch me!”

Eyes going round, Riku hastily threw his arms out just in time for Rayne to land in them princess-style. Giggling, she wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a loud smooch on his cheek. He gave an amused huff through his nose, muttering, “Woman, you’re gonna be the death of me.”

“And you’ll love every minute of it, my knight in shining armor,” she cooed, hugging him tighter and nuzzling her face into his neck.

He snerked, closing his eyes. “You’re right. Probably need my head examined.”

I felt a tug at one corner of my mouth. “Looks like you have your hands full with this one, Riku. Good luck.”

“Eh, it’s just this place. She’ll be all sobered up by the time we’re on the road. Speaking of which, we should probably get going.” Still carrying her, he started to turn to leave but then stopped and peered back at me with a smile. “Oh, and Elsa? Great job at the mic tonight. You were amazing.”

I blinked, then looked down with a weak chuckle. “No, not really.”

He gave my leg a friendly nudge with his shoe, seeing as how his hands were otherwise occupied. “Yes, really. Anyway, see you back at home.”

“Hi-ho Silver, away!” Rayne cried, jabbing a finger out and kicking up a leg.

“If you’re expecting me to gallop and whinny, sorry, not happening,” Riku said flatly as he started making his way towards the door.

“Aw, please?” she dragged out the word and I could all but hear the pout in her voice.

I hummed a soft laugh as I watched them go. I’d said it before and I’ll say it again… they really were so sweet. It was hard not to envy them and what they had, the relationship and life they’d built together. I wondered if I could ever have anything like that with someone. I mean, I’d had my chance with my ex and had blown it. I’d never felt anything even remotely like that for him in the years we’d been together. Could I if the right person came along? Or was I just…

...not built that way?

In any case, this wasn’t the time to be thinking about such things. Romance was the least of my worries at the moment. What with having made the wholly unwise and completely spur of the moment decision to turn my entire life utterly upside down, there were much more pressing matters to deal with.

Not the least of which was locating one rambunctious and currently quite heavily sauced little sister.

Now where to even start looking? Hmmm… pretty sure I’d seen her last holed up in one of the booths with Xion, heads hunched together, whispering and cackling about something. What exactly? Not entirely sure. Part of me had been a little too afraid to find out. Either way, checking in with Xion would probably be my best bet. I knew she’d been making the rounds and saying good night to everyone, but I didn’t think she’d left just yet.

It took a few minutes as the bar was still pretty jam packed, but I finally caught sight of her over by the arcade machines chatting with Olette and Hayner. She waved goodbye to the other two before turning and spotting me as I approached. “Oh hiya!” she smiled broadly. “Glad you decided to join us tonight, hope you had fun!”

I smiled back, “I did, thanks.” And I wasn’t just being polite. Oddly enough, I actually meant it. “So hey, any clue where Anna might be?”

She pursed her lips to one side, giving a low hum before at last shaking her head. “Nope! Sorry. She and I were hanging out a bit ago, but then she ran off. Haven’t seen her since. Why don’t you try calling her? You’re still phoneless, right?” She dug hers out of one of her pockets. “Here, use mine.”

I took it from her and almost dropped it when it immediately started vibrating against my palm. The screen lit up with Anna’s name and a photo selfie of her next to Xion in one of the booths here, both posing with duck face and white girl gangsta hand gestures. Speak of the devil. Apparently, the phone was receiving an incoming call from my sister. I arched an eyebrow up at Xion, to which she just laughed, “Oh yeah, we exchanged numbers. Perfect timing, huh?”

Perfecting timing indeed.

Shrugging it off, I pressed the green button and brought the device up to my ear, “Anna?”

A loud dramatic gasp came through from the other end, “Xi-Xi! Has anyone ever told you that you sound exactly like my sister?”

My eyelids drooped. “This is your sister.”

Another gasp. “Sis! Has anyone ever told you that you sound exactly like Xi-Xi doing a spot on impression of you?”

“You’d be the first,” I rolled my eyes, squinting as I took another quick glance around the pub. “Where are you? We should probably get going.”

“But I am going!” her voice slurred through the speaker. “I’m already loooooong gone, baby, woo!”

“Oh, no doubt about that,” I snerked. Xion pointed over to Meg and Tiana, indicating she wanted to catch them before they left and I nodded as she walked off. “But no, I mean going as in driving. You know, like in a car? Beep beep, vroom vroom?”

She huffed, “But that’s what I’m saying! I am in a car with all the beep beeps and vroom vrooms!”

My eyebrows knit together. “You are? With who?”

“Ray-Ray and Ri-Ri of course!” she chirped.

Anna was oh so clever and original at coming up with nicknames, if you hadn’t guessed by this point. “What? But I told Riku I’d be driving you. Like, not even five minutes ago.”

“Yeah, I caught them as they were leaving and Ri-Ri said something about that, but told him I figured I’d just snag a ride with them cuz you decided to stay a tad longer to hang out with yo peeps!”

“Oh I did, did I?” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Funny, I don’t remember saying anything like that.”

“Well, no, not in so many words, but I knew. I could tell. Sisterly intu… intu-ish-ish, uh…” she sluggishly stumbled over the word for a bit before instead settling on, “I’m psychic!”

“I see. Fine then, oh great and powerful reader of minds, what am I thinking about right this second?”

There was a pause. Then, “You’re thinking… no, wondering… how… glue doesn’t stick to the inside of its own bottle?”

“No.” Well… yes actually, since she’d brought it up, now I was. But Anna didn’t need to know that! “I’m wondering where the keys to your car are.”

“Oh!” Another pause, then some shuffling noises followed by a loud jangle. “Right here!”

I frowned, heaving a sigh through my nose. “Perfect. So then tell me, Anna, because I’d really love to know… how am I supposed to get home?”

“Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Just ask someone there to take ya. Oh oh, ask Xi-Xi! Besides, you shouldn’t be driving anyway, ya boozehound!”

“Oh my god, it was just one sip!” I facepalmed. “Look, can you just put Riku on the phone? You guys can’t have driven that far yet, I’m sure he won’t mind turning around. Besides, we shouldn’t just leave your car here overnight.”

She scoffed, “It’ll be fine, I can get it in the morning!”

“Anna, please, can you just hand the phone to-”

“What was that?” she asked before making a loud, crackly hiss through her teeth in a super obvious and super fake attempt at static noises. “Sis? You’re breaking up! I’m going through a tunnel, I can’t-” More hissing followed by a long beep, presumably Anna pressing down on what she thought was the ‘End Call’ button. It wasn’t. “...hehehe, all according to plan.”

 “You know I’m still here and can still hear you, right?” I deadpanned.

“Gah!” Another beep and the line actually went dead this time.

I pulled the phone away from my ear to narrow my eyes down at it.

What were you up to, brat?

“So!” Xion beamed as she abruptly popped back up in front of me, making me jump as my hand flew up to my chest. “Looks like you’re hitching a ride with me!”

My brow furrowed, “How did you-?”

“We better hit the road then!” she took her phone back as she slung her other arm around my shoulders, making me stagger into a walk beside her as she directed us towards the exit. “I gave the boys my keys so they could let themselves into the car, so they should already be all buckled in and good to go!”

Okay, something was beyond fishy here.

I started reaching towards her hand to remove it, “Thank you, but this isn’t necessary. Could I just maybe borrow your phone again and try Riku’s or Rayne’s numbers directly? I don’t want to be any trouble, really.”

“Nonsense!” She swatted my hand away before barreling us through the door and out into the night. “No trouble at all! I’m only too happy to drive you. Besides, with all that testosterone swimming in giggle juice stuffed into one teeny-tiny car, I’m grateful for another sane female presence. Trust me, you’re doing me a favor!”

As we made our way down the steps and into the parking lot, I tried again, “But-”

“Arr, avast ye scallywags!” Roxas suddenly jumped out in front of us from between two cars, earning a yelp from the both of us. He drunkenly wobbled into a battle stance, brandishing a broken tree branch in our faces. “Surrender yer booty or taste the cold steel of my blade, yar!”

Xion fixed him with a dull stare and crossed her arms. “Roxas, that’s a stick.”

“Wha?” Blinking groggily at his makeshift weapon a couple times, he then shouted, “Think fast!” He chucked it, missing us by miles and instead hitting some random car, setting off its alarm. Then he sniggered and spun around to make a break for it, only to trip over his own two feet and hit the asphalt hard. He hiccuped before calling out a weak, “I’m okay!” Scrambling to his feet once more, he managed to stumble across Xion’s Prius a few vehicles down and dive (well… more like fall) head first through one of the backseat windows, shoes flailing about wildly in the air for a few seconds before getting pulled inside with the rest of him.

Her lips flapped as she puffed out a breath. “Ugh, Rox is such a lightweight. At least Lea knows how to hold his hooch a little better. But see? See what I have to put up with?” She pressed her palms together and held them up under her chin, “Please, please just let me give you a ride home so you can keep those baboons from driving me bonkers.”

My lips pressed into a thin line. “...oh, alright.” Then I scraped together a small smile, “Thanks.” 

“Yes!” she pumped her fist before she resumed walking and I reluctantly followed. “And don’t mention it!”

As I gave her my address to put in her phone for directions, we walked around behind her car and I looked longingly at Anna’s Porsche, just one space over. So close, I could reach out and touch it. Ugh. Besides not being able to quite shake the feeling that I was wandering headlong into a carefully laid trap courtesy of Anna and I was beginning to strongly suspect Xion too, I’d just plain had enough of being around people for one night. My social battery was depleted and in serious need of recharging, so even something so simple as a car ride with others sounded like a lot.

Hmm... wonder what my chances of success would be if I tried to break in and hotwire Anna’s car?

Probably not the best considering when it came to grand theft auto, I didn’t have the foggiest of where to even begin. But hey, someone had to be the first to figure out how to start up a car sans keys. And that person wouldn’t have even had Youtube tutorial videos to help them through the whole process, so who knew, maybe I had a shot.

Meh. I should just suck it up and go with Xion. Ten more minutes of human interaction wasn’t going to kill me.

...famous last words.

Xion opened the door to the backseat and held out her hand to whoever was seated inside, curling and uncurling her fingers a couple times. “Keys.”

Another hand stretched out from within the car, dropping the requested item into her awaiting palm with a muted clink. As the arm was pulled back inside, it was replaced by a fiery head of hair poking out to quirk an eyebrow back at me. “El?” Lea called out. “What’re you doing here?”

Xion stepped aside so I could walk up, coming to a stop between the open door and where he was buckled in in the back. With a tiny, awkward laugh, I said, “It, uh… looks like I’ll be catching a ride with you guys tonight.”

“Oh?” he smiled up at me, but then it quickly faded. “But there’s not really space…”

“There’s not?” I frowned, bowing down a bit to get a better look into the car. Sitting next to Lea were two Roxases. Or rather… I guess one was his brother… Ventus, was it? I didn’t know them well enough yet to tell which was which. Drat, I couldn’t even remember what Roxas had been wearing thirty seconds ago when he’d tried to hold us up at stick-point. And neither one was in their work clothes, so I didn’t even have that as a clue. As for the front passenger spot, that was already occupied as well. Naminé had twisted around her seat there to give me a wave with a warm grin.

“Oopsie,” Xion singsonged behind me a touch too innocently, “looks like I miscalculated available car space!”

I turned to squint suspiciously at her. “You told me you needed another,” here I used finger quotes, “sane female presence in the car with you.”

“Yeah, another. Never said anything about you being the only one.”

My gaze shot skyward as I released a soft huff. “Well… thanks anyway, but looks like I’ll be needing Riku to come back for me after all. Could someone lend me their phone please?”

“Nah, it’s fine, don’t make him drive all the way here again,” Lea batted a hand and started reaching for his seatbelt. “El, take my seat, I’ll just walk back to my place, it’s not that far.”

“Please, I’m not letting you walk your drunk ass home in the middle of the night,” Xion said sternly.

“Yeah, we’ll just stuff your drunk ass into the trunk instead!” Roxas (or was it Ventus?) cackled beside him.

He snorted, “Like I’d even fit in there. If anyone’s going in the trunk, it’s Nams. She’s the smallest.”

She blinked back at the boys before tapping a finger to her chin, “Well, I guess if it’ll make everything easier…”

“No one’s going in the trunk, Nams, he was joking,” Xion rolled her eyes.

I decided to try again, “Now about that phone?”

“Worry not! We can make this work,” Xion smirked and I didn't like that sudden gleam in her eye. “It’ll just get a lil cozy, but that’s okay. We’re all friends here, right? Right.” And with that, her hands shot forward, shoving me into a backward stumble.

And straight into Lea’s lap.

I felt his whole body jerk and tense beneath mine. As my brain was still trying to catch up and process what exactly it was that had just happened, Xion cooed all sugary sweet like, “Watch your toesies there,” lightly kicking my feet in along with the rest of me before slamming the car door shut.

“Xion!” Lea yelled, grabbing the door handle and yanking on it several times, but it remained shut tight. “This isn’t funny! Open the door!” She just brought her face down to the window, sticking her tongue out as she waggled her fingers at him before skipping off around to the other side of the car. He banged his fist against the window glass, “Damn it!”

Oh no…

Oh.

No.

“W-what’s wrong with the door?” I asked, my breathing growing rapid as I pulled on the handle a few times myself, but still it didn’t budge. “Is it stuck?”

Lea flopped his head back against the headrest, raking his fingers through his hair as he grumbled, “Child lock.”

“Yup!” piped Xion as she plopped down into the driver's seat, buckling herself in. “Rox here has tried one too many times now to jump outta a moving vehicle while plastered.”

“Keep telling ya, I’ll be fine!” the one next to the other backseat window snapped. Guess that’d make him Roxas.

She snorted, turning the key in the ignition. “For the last time, no, you won’t. Being three sheets to the wind doesn’t make you as invulnerable as you seem to think it does, sorry bud.”

I barely heard a word that was being said, heart thudding loudly now as my fingers frantically and repeatedly pressed the window button. I was not above climbing out that way to escape! However, the window remained firmly closed and I heard the one opposite of us rolling up as well.

I caught Naminé casting me a look of concern through the rearview mirror before she glanced at Xion, “Um… maybe this isn’t really the best id-”

“Shush, it’ll be fine!” Xion brushed her off before backing the car out of the parking space. “And we’re off!”

Oh god, oh god, oh god, this was really happening. I rigidly sat as far forward on his legs as I could, self-consciously tugging at the hem of my mini skirt. I still hadn’t purchased any tights to wear under them, so there was also that. 

Worst. 

Work attire. 

Ever. 

I stopped fussing with it, instead concentrating on sitting as still as humanly possible, planting my elbows on my knees and clasping my hands over my nose, mouth, and searing cheeks.

Breathe. Breathe. Okay, Elsa, calm down. This isn’t another person you’re sitting on. It’s a chair. Just… just a chair…

A very warm, firm, shifting, breathing, distressingly person-shaped chair.

Yeah, no, that wasn’t helping.

My eyes screwed tightly shut.

Alright, okay, try this instead! Just picture like you’re a child again, sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what you want for Christmas!

...except I’d always been terrified of Santa Claus as a kid and had screamed bloody murder until they’d take me away from him.

Ugh, this wasn’t working! Were we there yet? Was it almost over? Please, oh please let us almost be back to the apartment!

I peeked one eye open and...

We weren’t. In fact, we’d just barely left the parking lot and were waiting at a light. Out of my peripheral, I saw Lea’s hands hovering about awkwardly, clearly not sure what to do with them. At last, he settled on one grabbing the edge of the seat to the left of his knees while the other fumbled about against the door, the window, the ceiling, basically trying to be anywhere but on me.

This was awful. One could all but choke on the sheer amount of awkward, it was so palpable. This was one hundred and ten percent the type of situation I would usually nopety-nope the hell out of faster than you could say ‘panic attack’. But I couldn’t! I was trapped! No way out!

Except… hold up, maybe there was one way out… it was a long shot, but...

Squeezing my eyes shut once again, I clicked my heels together three times.

There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home…

I peeked one eye open.

Fudge, still here.

Maybe it’d help if I actually had ruby slippers.

Stupid, useless, non-magical, suede ankle boots. 

“I’m really sorry about this,” I heard Lea mumble behind me.

I twitched, then quickly shook my head, “Don’t be, it’s not-”

“Sweet! Light’s green!” Xion whooped before slamming the pedal to the metal.

The car leapt forward, knocking me into a backward slide along Lea’s lap, my back thumping against his chest. I heard him suck in a sharp breath and groan softly, his hand on the seat cushion gripping harder. I stammered, “S-sorry, did I hurt you?”

Voice somewhat strained, he said, “No, not at all, it’s, er… hm, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” His breath tickled against my neck and shoulder, making me shiver and my blush burn hotter. It was a wonder my whole body wasn’t glowing in the dark at this point. “Your, ah… your hair… may I ask the, um… the scent?”

Oh gosh, he must have gotten a face full of ponytail when I had been thrown up against him just now. “Snowberry? I believe is the, erm… the flavor of shampoo.” I winced. “Not flavor! D-don’t know why I said that, I don’t know what it tastes like! Not like I go around eating shampoo, who would do that? Crazy people, that’s who! I’m perfectly normal and eat normal things like-” Ugh, stop rambling! You may not eat shampoo, but you’re definitely sounding like a crazy person right now! “Nevermind. Anyway, sorry… I know it- the shampoo that is... that the smell tends to be a bit strong.”

“No, no, it’s, uh…” he cleared his throat, “... it’s nice. Very-”

There was a loud thud that jolted the whole car, making me bounce in his lap, much to my utter horror. I heard a tiny whimper from Lea as his knuckles started turning white. 

“Sorry,” Xion laughed, “pothole!”

Oh, Xion. Dear, sweet Xion… what did I ever do to you to deserve all this? Did I mess up one of your ice cream orders? Give you a sugar cone when you had wanted waffle? Or only two scoops when you had asked for three? Served you a Sea Salt that was an insultingly subpar shade of blue?

And Anna… oh-ho, trust me, this little stunt had that hellion’s name written all over it, no doubt about that. I don’t know what she was even trying to accomplish here, but when I got my hands on her… sorry, Mother, Father, but your littlest would be coming home to you in a friggin’ body bag.

“So Lea,” Ventus elbowed him in the arm abruptly, “I feel like you and I don’t get to talk much, like, ever. Figure now’s a good a time as any to fix that. So tell me, buddy, cuz I really wanna know…” his lips curled wickedly as he leaned in closer to him, eyebrows waggling, “...what’s up?”

Lea shoved him away and into Roxas, who snickered, “Ooo, sore subject, I take it? Don’t worry about it, big guy. Too much booze can do that to man and-”

A second, more forceful shove from Lea, this time knocking the twins’ heads together with a satisfying smack as he snarled, “If you two twerps don’t cram it, I’m gonna-”

“Oopsie, stop sign!” Xion announced brightly, stomping down on the brakes hard.

As the tires squealed to a stop, I flew forward, but was saved by Lea’s arm instinctively latching around my waist. He breathed a sigh of relief, but then his muscles stiffened. “S-sorry,” he hastily removed his hand from my hip… only to rest it on my bare thigh instead. Instantly realizing his mistake, another louder, more panicked, “Sorry!” as he jerked the hand away, electing to jam it under his leg instead.

One had to wonder what the boiling point of human was, because at the rate my head-to-toe blush was going, I had to be fast approaching it.

“Onward!” Xion cheerfully boomed, flooring it once more, flinging me back and starting the whole cycle anew.

The rest of the trip probably lasted only a grand total of five more minutes. However, it felt like five centuries, with a decade tacked on for every sudden acceleration, sharp turn or jerky stop. I swear Xion was purposely seeking out every last dang bump and ditch in the stupid road. I never even realized there were so many! If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have suspected her of doubling back to hit some of them twice.

Finally, after what seemed like an absolute gut-wrenching eternity, she mercifully sang out a chipper, “Here we are!” as we pulled into the parking lot for my apartment complex.

Oh thank goodness!

As we came to what had to be the smoothest stop the whole ride, I was already tugging on the door handle restlessly, impatient for Xion to release the infernal child lock. “Alright, alright, hold your horses,” she snerked, taking her sweet time to tap a button on her armrest. There was a click beside me and with one final pull of the handle, the car door popped open. In the blink of an eye, I was gone.

Road Runner, eat your heart out.

“Elsa, wait!” Lea called out behind me. 

I was feeling so humiliated, so mortified, so wanting to be anywhere but here in that exact second that nothing could have stopped me. Not hell or high water. Not the zombie apocalypse. Not an alien invasion. Not the inevitable heat death of the universe snuffing out all life and existence as we know it everywhere. Nothing.

Well… almost nothing.

Turns out the one thing that could stop me was a clattering sound, followed by a, “Motherfu-” then a heavy tumbling thud accompanied by a pained grunt, all topped off at the end with a tiny, almost inaudible “Ow.”

I froze a mere few inches short of the building entrance, my hand already reaching for the door - aka my ticket out of this nightmare - and haltingly glanced back over my shoulder. There Lea was, halfway out the car, back sprawled flat against the pavement, eyes squeezed shut in a grimace, feet still up inside the vehicle where they’d somehow gotten all tangled in the seatbelt.

...this… dork…

Despite every fiber of my being still telling me to run, something in me found the will to resist. Instead I turned and slowly, reluctantly walked back, coming to a stop beside him and squatting down, knees together and arms folded over them. “...you okay?”

His eyes snapped open and he blinked up at me a couple times, surprised to see me there. Then he scrabbled to get up, failed miserably due to the seatbelt predicament and instead just ended up flopping about like a hooked fish. Finally, feet still up above his head, he just settled for rolling over onto one side, propping himself up on an elbow while the other hand went to his head with a soft hiss. “Yeah, nothing bruised ‘sides my ego.” He paused, peeking at me out of the corner of his eye. “...are we?”

I stared blankly at him, slightly tipping my head to one side.

“Okay, that is,” he elaborated. “Please believe me, I had nothing to do with this, had zero clue what the, erm… seating arrangements were gonna be.” I looked away, feeling a now all too familiar warmth creeping back into my face as the corner of my lips pulled down. He was quick to add, “And make no mistake, the culprit will not go unpunished. Heads will roll. There will be repercussions, young lady!” he directed the last threat in a yell back towards the car.

“You’re not my real dad!” Xion shouted back and it was followed by a chorus of giggles from the rest of Prius’s occupants.

Lea hung his head and heaved a sigh. “I swear, I get no respect.”

I shifted one arm to prop my chin in my palm, fingers hiding a growing grin despite myself. I nodded, “...yeah. You and I... we’re okay.” I then turned my head to shoot a small glare back towards my apartment building, “I can’t say the same though for my own little troublemaker. Yours didn’t act alone and had an accomplice, one who’ll soon be reaping the excruciating consequences of her actions.”

“I pity anyone fool enough to provoke your wrath,” he chuckled.

“Trust me, I know how to bring the pain. She will rue the day.”

“Oh, I have no doubt about that.” There was a thunk as one of Lea’s feet suddenly fell free. It seemed Naminé, feeling sorry for the big lug, had sat up on her knees and flipped around, leaning over the back of her seat so she could disentwine his ankles from the impromptu snare. With one down, her fingers set to work on unwinding the other one. “Thanks Nams! Looks like I have a new bestie, cuz my current ones suck and/or are not long for this world.”

The car’s engine revved and abruptly rolled forward a few feet, dragging Lea with it. “Xion!” he snapped and the wheels screeched to a stop.

“Ven did it!” Xion blurted out, voice bubbling with laughter.

“Wha- Did not!”

“Don’t lie, I saw you,” an identical voice could be heard, tone colored by a smirk.

“You’re the liar, Rox!”

Again, the Prius started to inch forward. Reacting on impulse, my hands darted out and latched onto Lea’s wrists. That combined with a now distraught Naminé working feverishly to finish untangling the seatbelt finally had his other leg pulling loose. He was fast to hop up to his feet and as I straightened up to join him, he scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile. “Heh, thanks! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a couple of ex-friends to brutally slaughter.”

And with that, he charged off in a blur after the car. Cackles and jeers from within echoed out into the night, mingled with the tires shrieking as Xion burned rubber to stay ahead of him. I shook my head, deciding to leave them to it as I turned my back on the scene and made my way inside.

I was still a little rattled from that whole… ahem, experience. My cheeks had yet to make a full recovery, still redder than molten magma and three times as hot. But hey, that was an improvement over the ten times as hot they’d been during the entire car ride, so… progress! Awesome. Not to mention I felt physically and emotionally exhausted and was pretty sure at least five years had been taken off my life. I was just about ready to curl up in bed and hibernate until next Spring.

But first I had a certain sister to march to the gallows.

After climbing several flights of stairs to reach the door to my apartment, I unlocked it and stepped inside to find the room dark. My hand groped about the wall for a second before locating and flicking the switch, light flooding the space.

“Do you have any idea what time it is you’re coming home, missy?”

Startled, I spun around to find Rayne seated at the dining table, arms crossed, eyes stern, and steaming mug resting atop a coaster in front of her. Yeesh, at this rate, my heart wasn’t going to hold out much longer. Hadn’t the poor, defenseless organ suffered enough scares for one evening? Eyelids drooping, I said, “I don’t know… maybe ten minutes after you got home?”

Her lips pursed to one side. “...touché.”

“So how long have you just been sitting here in the dark like a weirdo?” I asked as I dropped my keys onto the table and moved to the fridge, opening it up.

She shrugged and grinned, “Not long. Maybe a minute or two. Thought it really sold the whole vibe I was going for.”

“Oh, it did,” I pulled out a water bottle, nudging the door shut behind me as I unscrewed the cap. “Nice mother voice, by the way. That I’m-not-mad-just-disappointed tone of yours is really coming along quite beautifully.”

“Aw, thanks!”

This whole being her parenting test dummy thing was starting to get a bit out of hand. But eh, it sort of grows on you after a while.

“So where’s Riku? Surprised he’s not out here too, enabling your neurosis,” I quirked an eyebrow as I brought the water to my lips.

Rayne waved a dismissive hand, “Brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed.”

“And Anna?” Was kind of shocked the flat was as quiet as it was right now, given that the crimson tornado that was my sister was supposedly lurking about somewhere.

As if on cue, there was a rumbling, disembodied snuffle, followed by a mumbled, “...pink yetis… fluffy unicycles…”

She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “Passed out stone cold on the couch like the absolute lush she is.”

Setting the plastic bottle down on the table, I went over to the sofa to discover Anna flopped there in an undignified heap, hair already knotted into a bedheaded rat’s nest, arms snuggling a pillow close as she snored and murmured more incoherent gibberish.

So even evil criminal masterminds looked all sweet and innocent while sleeping. Go figure.

“So you gonna fill me in?” Rayne asked, drawing my attention back to her.

My brow furrowed. “On what?”

She blew on her beverage before taking a careful sip, shooting me a deadpan look. “On whatever happened that has your cheeks lit up like a pair of stoplights and has you looking ready to strangle your lil sis.”

“Stopl-?!” I scoffed, turning my head to one side. Come on, face, you’re weak! Get your act together already. “My cheeks are fine and I most certainly do not want to strangle her.”

“Tell that to your hands.”

I looked down and said hands were clawed and halfway to Anna’s throat.

Hehe… how did those get there?

Hastily snatching them back to hide behind me, I just gave Rayne a feeble chuckle by way of answer. She patted the chair beside her, “Sit.”

I hesitated before doing as I was told. As I lowered myself into the seat, I pulled my hair free of its ponytail, my anxious fingers combing through the soft, platinum strands. My little talk with Lea after the whole ordeal had actually been rather comforting and an odd calm had managed to settle over me in the minutes since. I say ‘odd’ because it was me after all, the PanicBot 3000. However, now that I was running over the events again in my head and trying to figure out how to best put them into words, I could feel that calm fraying at the edges and beginning to unravel. 

Gnawing on my lower lip, I began, “So, you know... cars… right?”

Oh excellent. Off to a superb start here. Simply smashing.

She gave me a dull stare. “...I’m aware of the concept, yes.”

My hands, unable to keep still, moved to haphazardly weave my hair into a loose braid. “And you know how they have, uh… limited seating?” She merely gave a patient nod and here I struggled, feeling my cheeks crank up the heat again.

Damn it, face, what did we just talk about?! 

What little poise I had left suddenly ripped to tatters like tissue paper and I snapped, “Well I had to get home somehow, didn’t I? And you’d left and Anna’d left and, and the keys had left! I tried to get them to come back but Anna was too busy talking about glue and making static noises and- ugh, she can be such a- anyway, I considered hotwiring her car, obviously, but had to toss out that idea due to lack of tools or experience or, you know, actually knowing how to hotwire, so when Xion offered, I… well, there really was no other choice, was there? But there were no more- I shouldn’t have been surprised, really, I just knew something was up and oh-ho, you can bet she and Anna planned it all, but still, that doesn’t change the fact that I had to sit somewhere and there was really no other alternatives, I mean… okay, Xion? Driving. The twins? Twigs. Uncomfortable. And Naminé? So small, I would have crushed her. So, I guess, by process of elimination, when… when you really think about it, Lea was just the just most logical choice! I mean, I didn’t want to, I didn’t even know what was- not until it had already- and then once I was… ya know, there, Xion, she… she just kept stopping and starting and stopping and, and hitting every- it was like a damn bouncy castle in there! I wanted to leave, oh dear god, you have no idea how much I just wanted to leave, but I couldn’t because apparently Roxas likes to pull a friggin’ Superman or whatever on the highway whenever he’s-”

Rayne clamped a hand over my mouth, silencing me except for the loud, rapid breaths through my nose. Her eyes squinted at me. “So… cliff notes version? Xion gave you a ride home.”

Her palm still effectively muzzling me, I simply nodded.

“...but she already had a full car and there were no seats left?”

I nodded again, hands twisting and tugging on my now complete, if somewhat sloppy braid.

“So you had to sit,” here a slow smirk curled her lips, “on Lea.”

My head bobbed frantically now and I was jerking on the braid so hard, I was afraid I‘d rip it clean out of my scalp. 

She snerked. Then spluttered. Then busted up laughing, nearly falling out of her chair.

...so not cool.

I kicked her in the shin, shutting her up just as Anna shot up on the couch, disturbed from her slumber by all the noise. My sister looked around, all bleary-eyed and slack-jawed, doing her best zombie impersonation. Don’t think she’d quite made a full exit out of dreamland. She groggily turned her head towards us, smacked her lips and mumbled, “What’s the sum of pizza divided by the square root of sandwiches?”

We both blinked at her before I shrugged and Rayne shook her head.

“Chartreuse,” she enunciated slowly and with an air of authority. Then she flumped back down, snoring thunderously once more.

Rayne began to snicker again, more softly this time and I shoved away the hand that was still acting as a jury-rigged gag, huffing, “I fail to see what’s so funny about all this.”

Wiping the corners of her eyes, she tried to sober her expression but only ended up cracking up again, saying, “You gave Lea a lap dance!”

Just about every last ounce of blood in my body flooded up into my face. “Wha- I- He- I most certainly did not!”

Her hand now went to pat my shoulder, “Okay, okay, sweetie, just answer a few quick and simple questions for me. Were you or were you not in his lap?”

“Well, yes, technically, but-”

“And did you not dance in said lap?”

“No, I did no such-”

“Fine,” her hands came up in a placating gesture, “allow me to retract and rephrase the question. Was there not the shifting and moving of your body in his lap? Answer truthfully now,” she tacked on quickly as I opened my mouth, “for I do believe the term ‘bouncy castle’ was used earlier.”

My teeth clicked shut as I glowered at her. “...well, yes, I suppose there may have been some… inadvertent shifting, but-”

“And,” she pressed on gleefully, “is not ‘the moving and shifting of one’s body’ an acceptable, working definition of the word… dancing?”

I narrowed my eyes at her and said nothing.

She smugly relaxed back in her seat. “Let the record show the defendant is speechless. I rest my case.”

“...I really hate you right now,” I grumbled, snatching up my water bottle again and unscrewing the lid.

“Love ya too, sweetpea,” Rayne winked and blew me a kiss. She then fell silent for a second, eyeing me thoughtfully as I took a sip. Then, “You know Lea used to be a big ol’ man-slut?”

I choked.

Nope, still can’t breathe water yet.

Coughing and wheezing as I put my drink back down, I struggled to get out, “Excuse me?”

“Oh yeah,” she plonked her elbows on the table, chin nestled in her palms as she smiled big at me. “You know the type. Smooth talker, real charmer, taking a different girl back to his place every night. It was almost kind of amazing watching him work. He had it down to an art form, but not like in a sleazy douchebag way… he just loved the ladies and the ladies loved him, I suppose.”

“...okay?” Wasn’t quite sure why she was telling me this.

“And when you and him got left alone in the booth earlier tonight? Well there was a time not too long ago that the, ah… discourse between you two? Would have ended up a lot less vertical and a little more horizontal, if ya know what I’m saying,” she waggled her eyebrows at me.

I scoffed, “Please. I don’t care how much of a ladykiller he was, this is still me we’re talking about here.”

She gave a low hum at that. “True. Talk about unstoppable force meets immovable object. Now I’m actually pretty curious about how that all would’ve really played out.” Her shoulders shrugged, “Anyway, when he went back to college again, he decided to hang up his casanova hat. He really wanted to give his education a fair shake this time around, which to him meant cutting out all his vices and distractions, including women. None of us took him seriously at first, but he’s surprised us all by sticking to it. For over a year now, he’s been on his best behavior. A total priest.”

Huh. I do remember when he was telling me about going back to school, he did say something about dropping old habits… I guess maybe dating had been one of them?

Rayne gave an abrupt, tiny snerk, muffling it behind her knuckles. A crease formed between my eyebrows, “What?”

She shook her head, “Sorry, sweetheart, I didn’t mean to laugh. You just, heh… looked a smidge disappointed there for a second.”

Annnnd there my cheeks went again. I swear, like a couple of furnaces, they were. Averting my gaze with a scowl, I said, “I’m not- ugh! I... was just trying to figure out where all this was coming from, why you felt the need to share.”

“Ah.” Her eyes crinkled and I got the feeling she didn’t quite fully believe me. Whatever, if seeing things that weren’t there made her happy, then more power to her. Let the crazy woman have her delusions. “I just wanted to give you some context. Knowing all that about Lea now, does it come as any real surprise then that Xion decided to have some fun at his expense tonight by testing his resolve and literally dropping a cute girl in his lap that he obviously has a little crush on?”

Those furnaces exploded into a fiery wreckage. “He- he absolutely does not!” I take it back. The crazy woman needs to have her delusions confiscated, no good can come from them in her demented hands! “This isn’t kindergarten, please! He hardly even knows me.”

“That’s the thing about crushes, boo. You don’t have to really know the person,” she flashed a cheshire grin and poked me in the nose, “just think they’re a total cutie-patootie! And trust me, the minute those sweet, candy lips of yours found their way to his on that fateful day, that poor boy was a goner.”

I rolled my eyes, “Oh shush, you’re just being silly now.”

“Am not. In fact, betcha that’s why Anna was Xion’s cohort in all of this. She wanted to play cupid.”

“No, Anna was just sowing chaos and mayhem like the demon imp she is because that’s what Anna does best,” I shot my sister an accusatory glance. In response, she defended herself most eloquently by snoring louder. Returning my attention to Rayne, I sighed, “Seriously, Lea doesn’t see me that way. We’re just friends.”

“You’d be singing a different tune if you saw the way he was looking at you during karaoke,” she lilted playfully.

Voice flat, I said, “What, like I was some kind of tone-deaf walrus?”

She gave a soft tch, “Girl, don’t even. Self-deprecating isn’t a good color on you. You crushed it, and I mean crushed it. And you know I never sugarcoat things, so you know I’m telling the truth! But no, I was talking specifically about during the second verse of the song.”

“The second…?” I frowned, thinking back. “...you mean the part where I got embarrassed by the lyrics and closed my eyes?”

Rayne nodded, “Mm-hm. And do you know what else you were doing?”

“Um…” Was this a trick question? “...singing?”

“And?” she prompted. I just stared at her blankly. Both eyebrows shot up her forehead and she smirked. “Oh pumpkin, you really have no idea, do you? Well, allow me to enlighten you. You had yourself a cute lil shimmy going, complete with swaying hips, a seductive crook of your finger, and a hand gliding up and down your thigh as you sang,” her voice got theatrically husky, “feel your way.”

I grew paler and my eyes more round with every word. “I- I did not! I w-would have known if- I wouldn’t j-just…” The words died on my tongue as she just simply nodded slyly at me. My mouth went dry as my face scrunched up in disbelief, my hands wrenching at my braid once more. “...did I? I mean, I… I was picturing the scene from the movie in my head, pretending I was there instead of making a fool of myself in front of a room full of people. I guess maybe I was just, I don’t know... getting into character?”

She shrugged, “Whatever you were doing, it certainly caused Lea to experience some, uh, heh… minor technical difficulties.”

Oh gosh, and here I’d thought the car ride was bad enough, but this? This was just the cherry on top. Not to mention the Kissident or... fudge, I just couldn't stop humiliating myself in front of this guy, could I? “I was… probably just making him awkward and uncomfortable, that’s all. But he really is always so nice about everything.” I stared down at my fingers, fidgeting with them now. “Do you know what he actually said after karaoke? He said I should try looking into singing professionally… which is absolutely ridiculous, of course, but still, it was sweet of him to say.”

“Don’t think I didn’t notice the oh so subtle attempt to change the subject there, sugarcube,” she gave a wry harrumph into her mug. I just avoided her gaze. Can you blame me? I just wanted to put this ludicrous and baseless topic behind us already. “But I’ll let it slide. And that’s actually not a bad idea.”

My eyes blinked at her. “You’re joking. Become a successful singer? Please, one has better odds of winning the lottery while being struck by lightning and hit by a rogue meteor at the same time!”

“And who said anything about becoming a career singer? There are other ways of putting that silver voice of yours to work. Like, for example... musicals. You know, as in play acting. Now don’t give me that look, it’s not like I’m not talking Broadway or nothing… not yet anyway. But there’s plenty of small theaters out there that would kill to have a nightingale like you on retainer.”

I huffed out a tiny snort through my nose. “Aren’t you forgetting something? Like, oh say, I don’t know… my crippling anxiety, crushing stage fright, and, ya know… absolutely zero acting experience?”

She folded her arms under her chest, “And aren’t you forgetting something? Like, oh say, I don’t know… summer camp musicals? And how you always just freaking slayed at all the lead parts?”

...oh wow, I actually had forgotten all about those. Camp felt like ages ago by now. Almost nothing more than a distant, fading dream. Frowning up at the ceiling, I murmured, “The musicals… were one of my favorite things about camp. They were the one place where I didn’t have to be my awkward, scared, pathetic self, that I could pretend to be someone else completely. It was an escape, it… helped.” Then I slowly shook my head, “But that’s different. It was a long time ago, I was a kid, I… I couldn’t be like that today.”

“Couldn’t you?” her head tilted slightly. “You really seemed to get into it with the karaoke. You said it yourself, you got into character without even realizing it. It was like the very spirit of Sandra D had possessed you.” She smiled, closing her eyes, “I think you might be a natural, cupcake.”

...me? A natural? Yeah right! There was no way, not in a million years! …I mean, unless… maybe… maybe if-

I shook my head again, more rapidly this time, banishing any such preposterous notions from my mind before scooting my chair out and rising to my feet. “Clearly you’re still fake drunk. You should really get to work sleeping it off.  I’ll be heading to bed now myself. Good night,” I said firmly. End of discussion. Topic closed. I grabbed my water bottle and marched off towards the door to my room.

Of all the silly, crazy, absurd-

“You know I’m right,” she called out brightly after me. “And hey… any verdict on Anna yet?”

I paused long enough to shoot the girl in question a sour look over my shoulder. She mumbled something in her sleep, rolled over and brazenly flung one leg up over the back of the couch. My lips pressed together into a thin line.

“...let her sleep. I’ll murder her in the morning.”

Author’s Note: The takeaway this chapter? Xion and Anna are evil xP Despite their questionable methods however, they DO mean well... I think xD But oh gosh, I do so love to torture Elsa! And by extension, Lea too, tho it’s a very different kind of torture xD But I think I managed to wrap up that lil car misadventure sweetly enough by the end of it! And hmmmmm, those were some interesting things Ray was saying... very, veeeeeeeery interesting...

Next chapter, what will Elsa do with these new thoughts buzzing around her head? Does our dear fire boi actually have a crush on her? Or is Ray just talking crazy from all them baby hormones making her loopy? And will Anna live to see the blessed light of day ever again? How DOES glue not stick to the inside of its own bottle? Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

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