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worldofkuro · 1 year ago

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Painted Smile

Painted Smile XV

Pairing: Alastor x Female! Reader

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Summary: You couldn't wait to meet new friends. What you didn't expect was this smiling little boy, only one year older than you, that would take such a big place in your life.

Notes: Because I wasn't satisfied with the last chapter I decided to post the next one right now. I’m so excited about your thoughts because the plot is finally beginning ! I can’t wait to hear about your theories.

“ It makes your boobs look ugly, another one please !”

You were being tugged behind the curtain already being undressed to put on another dress. Today you were with Alice, in one of the most expensive shops of all New Orleans, to find your wedding dress. It was an exciting, amusing and stressful experience. Alice was being, as usual, honest about the dress you have been trying for almost an hour.

“ Alice, how many more dresses do I need to try? You know we still don’t have a date for the wedding? Alastor’s father is still missing.”

“ What about it? His loss if he misses the wedding. Now, I think I’ve found the perfect dress for you~!”

You laughed behind the curtain. Alice didn’t even know Alastor’s father, she never met him but you have told her once that you didn’t feel comfortable with him and she decided that she would hate him until the end of time. You looked at the dresses you have been trying, a part of you was happy to be here with your best friend and yet you wondered…Were you selfish? You knew Alice was in love with Alyzée but they couldn’t get wed to each other… Were you hurting Alice without being aware of it?

“ Alice–?”

“ This one. This one will fit perfectly your waist, your legs, your shoulder, your chest. For heaven’s sake, I’m the best.” she said looking at her nails. Why were your best friend and your future husband so full of themselves while you were always insecure ! “ Come on, try this one.”

“ Alice.. I’m.. You’re okay?” you asked, taking the dresses off her hands.

“ Yes? Well, I’m still shocked about what you told me about John, but you know what we say, we don’t keep trash around us.”

“ Who is “we”?”

“ Me, Myself and I. Now, try the dress, doll ! I’ll find the shoes!” you laughed as you watched her running away. You sighed with a smile, you were surrounded by amazing people, you should try to be more sure about yourself.

The workers from the stores helped you put on the dress and your shoes. You looked at yourself in the mirror. You felt.. pretty. Really pretty. You smiled at yourself, moving the pans of the dress, loving the movement it was doing.

“ Can I see?”

“ Of course Alice.” you turned around. Since you could remember, Alice always knew how to dress you up. From her Christmas’s Eve’s soirée where she had found that beautiful dress from today, she would always come with outfits from other countries, always being new, unique, something Alastor scoffed most of the time. He was always saying that Alice was running toward the future without being aware of her surroundings. And Alice was always saying that Alastor needed to shut up because he was lucky to look good in anything.

“ Oh my Lord. You look ravishing, my friend!” she clapped her hands together, her eyes whelming up a bit. “ Oh God… I’m… I’m so proud of you.”

“ I haven’t done anything yet.” you laughed nervously.

“ Take the compliment for once. So, what do you think? I , personally, think it’s the perfect dress for you. But what do you think?”

“ This is my favorite too. but the price–”

“ Let me buy it.” you opened your mouth, ready to complain but Alice stopped you with her hand.” I know, I know, you’ve never liked me paying stuff for you, expensive things mostly. But please, just this one, let me buy it. I… The next time I go into this kind of shop might be for my own wedding, which won’t be filled with laughter and love like we just did. It might be selfish, but just.. I want this moment. I’m sorry–”

“ Okay.” you smiled, almost moved to tears by her comment “ But Alice, for your wedding, no matter with who, I’ll be there. There will be laughter and love, because you won’t be alone in this.”

You saw Alice nodded, wiping some tears from her eyes. You looked at her, your best friend might never be married to the one she loved, but you will never let her feel loveless.

You took off the dress, as Alice went to pay in cash. You joined her once you were dressed with your own clothes and you both walked toward her place. You saluted the butler, who bowed to you.

You both sat down in the huge living room, sighing in relief. You took off your heels, your feet were killing you.

“ By the way, if we need to find Alastor’s father to be able to have your wedding, do you want me to… pull a few strings for you? I could call the best of the best!”

“ No, no. I won’t lie, the fact that he is missing isn’t… bothering me.”

“ I’ll cheer for that. “ she winked at you before asking for wine. You laughed, she always loved Rosé. It wasn’t very strong in alcohol, it had a very good taste but when the alcohol hitted. Dear lord…

You didn’t drink too much, you had to walk back home yourself after all. You smiled when you saw Alice put on Alastor's broadcast even though she was rolling her eyes at the radio sometimes.

“ Are you hearing him? Gosh. I knew you when your voice was cracking, Alastor !” she shouted at the radio.

“ Alastor voice never–”

“ A woman can dream, dear. Gosh, now I hear his voice anywhere I’m going.”

You laughed behind your glass. Alastor was gaining popularity surprisingly quickly, which was good of course. It was the best outcome you could imagine.

“ Now, about my cottage.”

“ Alice, we told you we don’t have the money and you just bought me my wedding dress.”

“ Who is “we” my dear?”

“ Me, Myself and I.” You stuck your tongue at her, making her laugh. Alice was a girl ahead of her time with her manners and way of talking, she always felt like a breeze of fresh air.

“ Well, if you all say so.” She took a sip of a drink before looking at the door, her father making his entrance. You stood up as the big man smiled at you, he always has been nice, never raising his voice, always wanting what’s best for Alice.

“ Oh, good afternoon ladies. Alice, I just wanted to tell you that you might have a date with the son of the–”

“ Yes Daddy, I know, don’t worry I’ll go.” she said, looking away. You saw her father smile sadly before leaving after giving you both candy you used to like when you were younger. You looked at her, worried. Was she going to be okay? “ Don’t look at me like that Doll. It’s going to be the same as usual, I’m going there, bat my pretty eyes and at the end, I’ll just say to Daddy that the man wasn’t what we needed for the family.”

“ How long do you think you can keep this game going?”

She stared at the large windows in silence. Alice was just like a bird in a cage, she felt like freedom, but would never taste it for herself.

“ As long as I can.”

You stayed with her until the sun was setting down. The maid took her to her bedroom as she was sleeping on the sofa. Seems like going on another date was getting harder and harder for her. Was Alyzée aware of it? You sighed as you gave your goodbye, before walking out of the mansion.

You decided to go into a park, walking between the trees. There weren’t a lot of people outside, even though we were in March, the weather was still cold. You stopped when you saw an old man fall not too far from you.

“ Oh sir! Are you alright, let me help you!” you said as you took the cane that had fallen from his hand. You helped him sitting down on a nearby bench.

“ Oh, thank you little lady.”

The man was tall, black with brown eyes, a white beard, he was wearing a hat, helding on his cane, he seemed like he had injured his leg.

“ Do you want me to take a look at your leg? I’m no nurse, but I used to help my father when he came back from war.”

“ Ahh, war. You don’t need to take care of me, little lady.” he smiled warmly at you. “ You look sad yourself, do you need to talk about it with an old man?”

You looked at him, he felt so warm and he was… cute. His aura was gentle, cute like a kid that wanted to learn something new. You haven’t seen your grandfather since he died during the war, you haven’t had the strength to go back to your old country to go to his grave so… Maybe why not indulge yourself and talk with this man?

“ I’m… I want to help a friend, she is in love but can’t marry that person.”

“ Aah, love. And why can’t she?”

“ She had to marry someone from “noble blood”.” you sighed, rolling your eyes. It was bullshit. “ She has no choice.”

“ Mhn… I think she does, little lady. We always have a choice, when you think you don’t have one, it’s because you already made up your mind. “ he smiled at you with eyes that held so much wisdom.

“ But… What if the other choices are more dangerous?” you asked, feeling like you weren’t talking about Alice anymore.

“ Well, little lady. What would you do?”

You stopped talking. You killed to be with the one you wanted. You had a choice and yet..

“ Are you unhappy with the choices you made?”

“ No, but I’m afraid of what it will bring at my door.”

“ Aah.. Si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait.”

“ What?”

“ You will see, little lady. Your friend is maybe so blinded by what she has to do that she can’t see what she could do. Love is the deadliest poison and yet the sweetest remedy in the world. She should try to think for herself, don’t you think? Would you rather live your whole life in misery or be happy for a short time of your existence? The difference between existing and living is thin, little lady, but it exists.” he nodded before looking at the sky, seeming lost in thoughts.

You stared at this mysterious man. He seemed to be around 60, maybe that is why he seemed so wise. You looked at the sky and gasped when you saw the moon in the sky. It was already dark!

“ Oh, I need to go!” you stood up but before leaving you took the candy from Alice’s father. You smiled at the man, placing the candy in his veiny hands. “ Thank you for that useful advice.” You beamed at him as he looked curiously at the candy before smiling at you. “ Maybe we’ll see each other one day again !”

“ May our ways cross again if needed, little lady, may our ways cross…”

You ran back home, feeling better than when you left Alice’s house. You walked inside and saw your father with Jeff in the living room. They were still trying to understand how Alastor’s father could have disappeared like this. You smiled at the men, walking toward them.

“ Nothing news?”

“ No, my sweet daughter. We are trying, but from the moment he left the bar he wasn’t seen anymore.”

“ I’m sure the wife was having an affair and decided to kill the husband. Classic scenarios.”

“ And how could she have done that?” you sat on the sofa, staring at Jeff with an innocent smile. You almost smirked when you saw him puffing his chest, feeling so much pride in vomiting all the information he should kept away from you.

“ The man came home, drunk. She could easily poison him, hide the body somewhere and end the story.”

“ Mhn… But without a body, you don’t know. What if he was the one having an affair and ran away? From what I understood, he seemed to be someone who drank a lot, maybe he was being ambushed in an alley because we know for a fact he never made it back home.” you smiled at him, your father smiling with pride by your side.

“ That what they say but–”

“ No, that’s what we said. I was there. I’ve never seen this man come back home.” you stared at him down. He shut his mouth. “ You see, I really want to get married and the fact that you are trying to put the blame on my future family in law is getting on my nerves. So please, do me, us, a favor, find out what happened. And if you are unable to, just give up.” you looked at your father. “ I don’t want to wait forever, I want to get married.”

Your father stared at you before kissing your forehead.

“ Alright sweetie, we have a new man who’ll help us in this case. I’ll give him three months, if he doesn’t find anything, I will close the case and we will concentrate on your wedding.” you hugged your father with a happy grin. Finally!

You bid your goodbye before going into your bedroom, getting ready to go to bed. You listened to the noises downstairs, waiting for Jeff to go and your father to go to bed.

You were concentrating so much on trying to hear what was going downstairs that you didn’t notice the shadows behind you. You almost shouted as a gloved hand fell upon your mouth, muffling your screams.

“ You’re such an easy prey, dearest.”

You sighed in relief as you closed your eyes. Alastor was really the quietest being you have ever met, which was surprising when he was the noisiest man on the radio.

You turned your head toward him, looking at his mocking smile. He was so full of himself. You bit his finger before letting it go, going for a hug. He hummed against you.

“ How did you come here?”

“ Well, the windows, dear.”

You scoffed before forcing him to sit on your bed. You sat on his lap and took his hand with yours, playing with his fingers.

“ I have my wedding dress.” you smirked when you felt his whole body tensed underneath you. “ And you won’t see it, because I left it at Alice’s.”

“ Do you really need Alice in your life, dearest?” asked Alastor with an amused voice.

“ Yes! Come on Alastor, be honest with me, you enjoy Alice’s company?”

“ Hah ! I enjoy Alice’s contacts nothing more.” he rolled his eyes, pressing you against his body. “ She is useful and she can be amusing, when she is having problems.” he smirked at you, making you slap his shoulder, trying to contain your laughter. He was such a…

“ Well, I have some news on your father’s case, my dear future husband.” you smiled as you explained what happened with Jeff. You couldn’t help but grin when you saw Alastor beaming with pride as he listen to what you have told the policeman.

“ My, my… So, they think my Mother did it?”

“ For now, we know that we have three months until we are completely free of it.”

“ Have you felt it again?”

You tilted your head.

“ What?”

“ The need to kill.” he asked you, gripping your waist, pressing your body against his. You felt lightheaded.

“ N-N.. Well… I thought for a second.. to kill John.” you saw Alastor’s pupils dilated as he stared at you before kissing your neck. You tilted your head to give him more room.

“ Mhn, interesting, go on, why?”

“ Because he was bad mouthing you.” you tried to contain the anger in your voice, you didn’t want to wake up your parents. “ Who does he think he is?” you rolled your eyes, you were still hurt about what John has said but now you weren’t feeling sadness over it, only anger.

“ Would you like to kill him?”

You looked at Alastor who had his chin against your chest, looking at you in a way too innocent face for the conversation you were having.

“ Alastor, we can’t. There would be too much suspicion on us, we already have your father’s disappearance on us, if we kill John–” he kissed you feverishly making you sigh in the kiss. Oh, how you loved the feeling of Alastor’s lips against yours.

“ Do you hear yourself, darling?” he smiled against your lips. “ In your mind, you are already ready to kill him… ” he sighed against your skin. You stared at him, stroking his cheeks. You wanted to see the Alastor you had seen the first time you killed.

The difference between existing and living is thin, little lady, but it exists.

You kissed Alastor on the nose, with an excited smile.

“ Not now.”

You fell asleep with new marks on your thighs and your neck. When you woke up the next morning, you were already smiling.

You stayed with your mother all morning, spending time with her until you decided to go to Alice’s. You didn’t know when her date was supposed to be, but if you could help her morally before she had to leave, it would be great. You took some pancakes you’ve made and walked toward her mansion, the butler let you enter, escorting you to the living room.

“ Miss Alice shall be here soon.”

You nodded before sitting on the sofa. You put the pancakes on the table and wait until you hear the familiar footsteps of your best friend. You turned your head and smiled at her, as usual, she was beautiful.

“ Hello Alice.” you stood up and you both hugged each other. She sat next to you, holding her head in her hand. “ Mhn, the wine doesn’t taste good the day after, right?” you laughed as she groaned.

“ Please, not so loud…”

“ What a hangover.” you whispered, mockingly. She stuck her tongue at you before digging into your pancakes. “ Well, someone is hungry.”

“ I don’t want this man to think he has a chance with me because I seem eager to eat.”

You smiled, crossing your legs. You told Alice that you needed to wait three more months before finally concentrating on your wedding. You laughed as she let out a sigh of pure relief.

“ Thank God, since when do we stop living because a man disappeared.” she rolled her eyes before eating the last pancake. You look at the butler who came to announce Alice’s date. And like an actress, Alice put on the fakest smile she could conjure, Alastor would be proud. You stood up as a man, looking around 40 came into the living room, he was sweating so much you could see sweat pearling on his forehead.

You gave Alice a look, encouraging her with your eyes before leaving, you even made a face to the butler who nodded at you, with a disgusted face. You laughed before leaving, going out to buy some pastries. You walked to the park, thinking about your weddings. Where should you do it? What about the honeymoons? Did Alastor want children?

You stopped when you saw the same old man from last time, sitting on the bench, smoking a pipe. You grinned and walked toward him.

“ Hello, sir.”

“ Hello, little lady.”

“ Might I sit a moment with you?”

“ It would be my pleasure. You seem happier than yesterday.”

You smiled as you sat next to the man. You felt safe with him, maybe it was because his aura reminded you of your deceased grandfather..? You didn’t know. You began to talk, mostly about what was going on in your life until you began to talk about your wedding.

“ Mhn, you have quite the ring.” the old man said with a little grin. He didn’t have a ring on his fingers, did he never get married?

“ Yes, in less than three months, I will be able to concentrate on my wedding.”

“ Who is the lucky lad?”

“ If you are listening to the radio you might have heard him, his name is Alastor.”

“ Alastor heh..? Quite a name, quite a name…”

You smiled, happy that Alastor was getting a name to himself. You took your box of pastries and held one for your new friend. He thanked you before eating one éclair au chocolat. You smiled as you kept talking with him, the man mostly listening and giving you wise advice.

“ Being too confident is not a good thing, your insecurity might be a blessing on some occasions.”

“ What do you mean?”

“ Don’t be afraid, to feel afraid. The ones who don’t fear are gods, spirits…”

“ But it’s irrational.” you frowned, how many times you felt jealousy when you didn’t need to be.

“ Yes, but it’s instinctive. Here is some wise advice from an old man: trust your feelings. Did they ever betray you in the past, when you needed them, little lady?” he looked at you with a warm smile.

You looked at the ground. Your family always told you, you were sensitive, you would easily be overwhelmed by what you were feeling or what was going on around you.

But when Alastor’s father took the bullets, you didn’t know why, you felt it in your guts that something was going to happen. That’s why you had run outside to find Alastor and that's how you killed his father.

But then, why did you not feel John’s romantic attention towards you ?

“ People who feel a lot are trying to balance themselves by becoming observant. That way, they feel more grounded, they think they are being rational, which can be good sometimes. But you mustn't discard your feelings, you’ll lose yourself like that. You seem like a sensitive little lady, it’s not bad and it’s not good, that's what you seem to be. Why would you want to be like others, they are already busy being themselves.”

“ So.. I should listen to myself more?”

“ It’s a choice you can make. Feeling emotions is a good thing, it connects you to the rest of the world.” he nodded before looking at the sky, smiling warmly. “ And isn’t it beautiful?”

You stared at the man. He was such an.. intense person in a way. Would he talk to you the same way if he knew you had killed someone and you didn’t feel any kind of remorse?

“ What if… by being connected to the world, I might be a bad person?” you whispered.

“ That’s your choice. For some people you will be a bad person no matter what you do, no matter what you think.” he looked at his cane before eating the rest of his éclair au chocolat. “ Soldiers killed during war, the winners are seen as heroes, and the losers as cold blooded killers. Who is right? They all killed people, they all did horrible things and yet they aren’t seen as the same. Your father have killed during the war, right? What made him different from an enemy soldier?”

“ Because… he was fighting for what’s…right..?”

“ Who says?” he tilted his head, always having a gentle expression. He wasn’t judging you, he was just curious about your thoughts.

You couldn’t find an answer to his questions.

You stayed in silence for a moment, thinking about the man’s words. What was strange, was that his words weren't shaking your morals, but it was making you accept them. You had killed, you wanted to kill again, maybe not as strongly as Alastor, but you wouldn’t be opposed to killing again, if it was to protect. You knew it was the difference between you and Alastor, you would kill to protect while you knew Alastor would kill.. Because he wanted to.

And you accepted it, you accepted him, you accepted yourself.

You would be the wife to a murderer, maybe he would kill again, maybe not. You didn’t really care. You would be by his side, as promised.

You opened your eyes, feeling lighter. You didn’t expect to feel burdened by all of this, but maybe, the fact that you were trying to make the wedding happen was a way for you not to think about what happened.

You felt better.

You turned your head toward the man who was looking at the people walking in front of you. They weren’t looking at you, just walking, not even caring about you. You smiled.

“ Thank you. I feel… better.”

“ Is it a good thing?” he asked, amused. You grinned.

“ Well, for my own happiness, yes!”

“ Then, everything is good.”

“ I’m going to meet a friend.. But, can I have your name sir?”

The man stared at you with his usual gentle and wise expression. You waited politely, maybe he thought you were being rude, asking his name out of the blues?

“ Legba.”

You bid your goodbye before walking toward Alice’s home. You were going to encourage her to break free from her chains! She didn’t need to marry a sweaty man, she could handle herself perfectly! You entered the mansion, the butler escorting you once again in the living room. Now, you just need to wait!

You opened your eyes, not even realizing you fell asleep when you heard shouting at the front door. You walked toward the entrance and saw Alice and the sweaty gentleman, your friend was shouting at the man, demanding his departure from her house while he was clearly trying to calm Alice.

“ What is going on?”

“ This man is just a filthy pig! Touching me like I’m some kind of harlot.” she was fuming, trying to contain her rage. What did that man do? The man, who didn’t seem sure of himself became more confident, pointing at Alice.

“ Maybe that’s what you are, kissing the mayor’s daughter like this. What a scoop that would be, unless we come to an agreement of course. I think you would make a darling wife Miss Alice. I’ll let you think about it, and if you need more convincing, I have proof. Now, have a great night ladies.”

And just like that, he left.

Alice closed the door before dropping to her knees, breathing heavily. You took her in your arms, looking for a butler or a maid but nobody was around, which was weird. You tried to calm her but she was panicking.

“ He saw us.. He saw us kiss.. Oh lord, what could happen if he were to open his mouth about it.” she was shaking, nipping at her nails.

You calmly took her hand with yours.

“ Do you have any way to get rid of him?”

She looked at you, seeming torn to speak before sighing.

“ Don’t think I’m a monster but… Most of the richest families have.. people who do their dirty jobs? Sending… assassins or things like that..? I’ve never done that of course, but I feel so trapped right now… Oh, what Alyzée is going to think.”

“ She won’t need to think about it. Use your assassins.” you wondered if you were shocking her. Maybe you were a little too at ease with the idea of killing someone ?

“ No. They would report everything to my father and if they see the proof… My father would know about me and Alyzée.” she sighed, rubbing her face with her hands. You knew it was dangerous, you knew it could backfire but…

“ What about me?”

“ You? What you?”

“ Do you want me to… ?”

Alice stared at you before laughing so hard she was crying. Or was she crying so hard that she was laughing ?You waited for her to calm down before staring at her.

“ Are you serious ?”

“ Seems like she is.”

You both turned around to find Alastor, standing in front of you, the door open.

“ My dear, we don’t talk about taking trash out at the entrance, I taught you better than that.” he smiled widely at you. Alice was looking at you then at Alastor, seeming confused. You sighed before helping your friend standing up. “ Is there a place we could talk about getting rid of the trash?” asked Alastor with a beaming grin.

Alice seemed to come back to herself, and she tugged you to her father’s office. She locked the door behind Alastor, staring at you.

“ Explanation ?”

“ Nothing too serious. You’ve been caught in a big scoop Alice, and you need us to clean the mess you’ve made!” you paled, asking Alastor how did he know, did the bastard already told everyone? “ Oh dear, no, but from Alice’s expression, the only things that could make her so upset would be you or her lovely Alyzée. I took a lucky guess.”

“ Alastor, you are… your father… oh… that explains so much.” Alice let herself drop on her father’s chair. “ So, that’s why you didn’t want me to help to look for his father, because he killed him?” asked Alice, looking at you, confused.

“ We killed him.”

“ Of course you did.” she sighed, putting her head on the desk. “ I need.. a fucking glass of whiskey, I’m not having this conversation sober.” She took a bottle from the cabinet before sitting back in front of you. She poured herself after giving you and Alastor a glass. “ So, let me get this through, you both killed Alastor’s father and now you want to kill the man who knows I’m in love with Alyzée?”

“ Well, Alice, for once you made your brain work. I would almost be shedding a tear if I cared.” said Alastor as he sipped his drink. “ And furthermore, this man is a pig that needs to be slaughtered.”

You felt relaxed. You didn’t know why, but the fact that Alastor was referring to the man as a pig made you feel even less remorse than you could have felt.

“ What are you winning from this?”

“ Nothing–”

“ Doll, I know you don’t want to manipulate me. I know. I’m talking about your murderous husband. He wouldn’t help me freely.”

“ Using your brain for the second time? What a day folks ! It’s simple really, you are at the head of one of the richest families in Louisiana. Having you on my side is a plus.”

“ I’m already at your side–!”

“ No Alice, you could be cutting yourself to prove your faith and I would still doubt you. But a crime, that is a win-win situation. The pig is slaughtered, you are free, my darling and myself are doing what we need and everything is back to normal!” exclaimed Alastor with his usual smile.

“ … Fine.”

As Alice and Alastor were talking about the contract, you felt shivers down your spine. You closed your eyes, trying to comprehend what was happening. You don’t know why but you remembered Legba’s words. You need to trust your instincts. You couldn’t hear Alice and Alastor anymore, you could hear footsteps… You could hear…a shovel digging into the ground.

“ Darling?”

You gasped as you felt Alastor hand on your shoulder. What just happened ? They both were looking at you, worried.

“ I’m okay.. I just.. I’m okay.” you nodded, feeling extremely tired all of the sudden. “ Alastor… Where is your father's corpse?”

“ Six feet underground.”

“ I think.. I think we should check it out.”

“ Why dig up dirt from the past?”

“ Because I think someone is trying to dig him up.”

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wiresage · 1 month ago

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A Bokuto one-shot

Bokuto x y/n

“I’m moving tomorrow.” It went Quiet, Your secret was out. For a moment there was an echoing laugh coming from the other side of the court although once it wasn’t reciprocated it stopped just as fast as it came, leaving the two of you with the silence of your over due words and the whispers of a summer breeze.

“You’re..moving tomorrow?. What uh..what do you mean? Like houses? New neighborhood?” Bokuto put the ball down for once, ducking under the net as he moved to your side. Deep down he already knew. You wouldn’t have waited so long to tell him if it was just a different neighborhood. “Y/n?”

“Um..no..” you looked down at your feet, not wanting to meet his anxious eyes. “New prefecture..I didn’t want the news to mess up how you played.” You knew it bs, you didn’t want your last casual and normal moments with him to be filled with ‘that look’. The kinda look you give your cousins on Christmas Day right before you leave them again until next year. The look partners give each other when they know things are falling apart.

“Well- not too far right?? What? Like an hour? Hour and a half?” He still had that hopeful lopsided grin as his hands reached out to your hips, ever so gently pulling you in. “Not that bad yeah? We can make it work?” His voice raspy from his usual yelling but now laced with a hushed tone.

"Niigata." It was about a four-hour drive from Tokyo, and the train ticket cost nearly $50. Both of you were unemployed due to your sports. You had looked at every possibility already but your mother would never allow anything that would get in the way of your school. So there it was again: that heavy silence.

His eyebrows furrowed, not out of anger but confusion. The glimmer of hope had already gone. Bokuto had always hated puzzles. He was for power, not solving. He didn't know what to do; usually, he would ask Akashi how to handle such a situation but he didn't have time. How was he supposed to fix this? "You're moving to Niigata..tomorrow?.why didn't you— we could have-”

"Done nothing Bokuto, because we can’t do anything." To him, it sounded like you were already okay with giving up. Leaving him. You had known for weeks now though, already let out your many cries. This was just another excuse to try to push him away, but this time he couldn't bike to your house with stupid jokes and food. This time, all he'd be able to do is beg you to give it a chance before you left for good.

"Y/n. please..We can do long distance I can do that!” Before you could even hint at the thought of breaking up, he knew what was gonna come out of your mouth. He knew that's what you'd think was best; and you were right.

"Bokuto no..you can't. You need someone who can be there for you. You deserve someone who can be there at your games cheering you on. Most of all you hug you, hold hands, all of it.”

You can't handle long distance, and we both know it." You wrapped your arms around him, sharing one last embrace before you had to go home and leave it all behind.

Bokuto held you close, his hands gripping you so tightly that you would leave with wrinkles in your shirt. You could feel his tears staining your shoulder, but he wanted to be strong for you—to be a man. Even if that meant letting you go. "Let me.. walk you to the bus."

Okay okay I’m sorry but I love me some angst 😋. I do not consent to anyone saving or posting this to another platform. Thank you!

#haikyuu #anime and manga #oneshot #haikyu angst #haikyuu oneshot #bokuto koutarou #bokuto x reader #hq bokuto #fukorodani #x reader #akashi seijuro #writing #hq x reader #hq oneshot #headcanon

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cannibalisation · 6 days ago

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pavlov’s kiss | carwood lipton

switchin up the format of fic intro(?) title thing but i’m too lazy to do it to my other fics… so anyway this kinda sucks, it’s rushed and i didn’t even want to post it but i wanted to finish it before i started any other stories lol. 855 words

!! war-related ptsd, physical trauma (scars), allusions to sex (nothing explicit)

QUIETNESS was something foreign to you now. The long years spent in European lands, a constant buzz of soldiers and nurses around you at all times, the common violence of bombs being dropped overhead. You had grown accustomed to the wild nature of existing.

But now, safe and solitude in a warm bed, thousands of miles away from the horrors you endured, you can’t bring yourself to revel in the absence of noise honestly.

Carwood is hunched over the flower beds now. Fingers dirtied with the flesh of the earth, burrowed beneath his fingernails. Does it remind him of France or Belgium? Once spending his time digging up foxholes or graves, now planting flowers and vegetable seedlings.

You try not to think about it. All the young men and close friends you watched die, or tried to save, only to fail them. But it becomes such a habit, now especially that you have all this time on your hands.

You had contemplated turning to the working world the moment you got back. Picking up a few shifts at the nearest hospital or maybe at a local linen and cotton factory, but Carwood was immediately dismissive about the idea. Questioning you, ‘What kind of husband would I be if I let you work after all you’ve done?’

You had to remind him that you weren’t even married.

So, he married you. A small ceremony, with a good number of the Easy Company boys and your respective families. Joseph Liebgott even showed—that was the last time anyone’s seen him.

Now, you take care of the house—the inside only, though; the gardens are all Carwood’s.

Much has changed over the years. How you went from stopping the blood flowing from dying men to sewing the holes in your husband’s ruined work clothes.

He plucks a lone marigold from the flowerbed and turns on his knees to face you. An invitation. A burning notion brews in your stomach that forces you to bite down on your tongue.

As you make your way down the path to where Carwood sits, you think about the day it happened.

December, 1944. Easy was stationed in the forests of Bastogne, where you were posted in a nearby township, in a church-turned-hospital.

A couple of days before Christmas, you were instructed by a doctor to go and gather some bedsheets from some of the civilian housing to use as bandages. The next second, the church was brought to rubble by German artillery.

One of the warheads that was dropped not far from you was what caused it.

A sizeable amount of shrapnel embedded itself in your left arm, fire burned away at the first layer of skin from your wrist to elbow.

It left a scar. A bad one, one that you became embarrassed by. It wasn’t proper or ladylike, as you’ve been taught to be. The weather had warmed up once you made it to Austria, but even then, you didn’t wear your summer uniform.

Now that the years have passed, you’ve grown accustomed to the cicatrice, but the insecurities still fester whether you want them to or not.

A set of cobblestone steps led to the gardens, you narrowly avoided the mess of water that pooled into the walkway.

With a slow movement, you pluck the delicate flower from his grasp. He smiles up at you warmly, and you can’t help but mirror it.

“Hey.” He whispers, eyes filled with admiration.

“Hey, dollface.” You answer with a cheeky smirk. Carwood chuckles at the term and moves up from his kneeling stance.

A pair of calloused hands find familiarity around your waist as he uses the grip to pull you closer. Your hands lay atop the collar of his rumpled shirt, fingers curling around the soft baby hairs at the nape of his neck.

Shit, when was the last time you ironed any of his clothes?

His tender gaze briefly flickered to your upper arm, and an ailing sensation seeps into the back of your mind.

Over the time you’ve spent together, Carwood has never allowed you to feel bad about your scarring. Having no shame in spending a big amount on pretty dresses with short sleeves or thin cotton blouses that showcased the rippled flesh in an almost indecent manner.

For he could not bear to allow you to see yourself as something undesirable, a lot of time was spent in the darkness of your bedroom to make sure that was the case.

A light touch to your shoulder, you look down.

He’s leaning forward now, pressing feathery kisses across the discoloured and warped skin. You shudder as his teeth skim over the surface, and it’s clear that he has to hold in a laugh.

In an attempt to get revenge, you nip lightly at his face. His own scar sits there, a permanent crease embedded into the fat of his cheek.

He lets out a noise, a mix of surprise and humour, but it doesn’t halt his path of kisses down your arm.

“Hey, Lip— First Lieutenant,” You pause, revelling in the feeling of him against you, “Want to take this inside?”

#mine #band of brothers fanfic #band of brothers x reader #band of brothers #carwood lipton x reader #carwood lipton

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doc-pickles · 1 year ago

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waking up in vegas | matthew tkachuk x hughes!sister (pt.5)

series masterlist

summary: your families come to visit you and matthew in florida for christmas

warnings: none I think???

a/n: this is the definition of a filler chapter. it’s here solely so I can post my next chapter this weekend. enjoy!

xoxo

nina

“Y’know moving a week before Christmas wasn’t really my best idea,” you groan as you shuffle through your closet for what feels like the tenth time. “I can’t find what I’m looking for and at this point I’m not sure it even exists.”

It's two days before Christmas and Matthew’s family is in town to celebrate the holiday with the two of you. Your parents and Quinn are also coming, your other brothers stuck in New Jersey with a game to play tonight.

“What’re you looking for?”, Matthew calls from the hallway and you groan from inside your closet.

“A green and white sweater that doesn’t make me look like I ate a bowling ball for lunch,” you sigh as you flip through the racks of your closet. “God damn it!”

“Is it striped?”, Matthew asks.

“Yes! Did you see it?”

Matthew walks into your room with the aforementioned sweater in hand but freezes. It’s then that you realize you’re only wearing leggings and a sports bra, your now very obvious cleavage and baby bump on full display.

“Let me-“

“I’ll just-“

You reach out for the sweater just as he steps forward, your bodies bumping against each other. Matthew’s hand darts out to wrap around your waist, steadying you and unintentionally bringing you closer to him. Your eyes meet and the heat burning between you two is so tangible you can feel its flames licking your cheeks.

“Matty,” you whisper as one of his hands moves up to brush against your cheek. You lean into it,

the soft touch from his calloused hands stoking the fire burning in you. “You feel so-“

“Matthew! We’re here!”

Chantal’s voice douses the fire threatening to consume both of you. You take a step away from Matthew, taking the sweater from his hands and slipping it on quickly, “I just need a few minutes to get ready.”

Matthew nods, still staring at you. He shakes his head and walks out into the living room to greet his parents and siblings. As soon as your bedroom door closes you release a breath you didn’t know you were holding. You work on grounding yourself for a few minutes before heading into the living room, immediately hearing Chantal and Taryn shrieking.

“Look at you!” Chantal gasps as she takes in your small baby bump, hands moving to the swell. “Oh you’re practically glowing, sweet girl. Your mama is gonna die when she sees you!”

You blush under Chantal’s compliments, meeting Matthew’s eyes over her shoulder. His eyes are glued to you, a dopey smile on his face as he meets your eyes. His stare confirms one thing for you; the fire between you two is still burning bright.

Your parents and Quinn arrive and your mother spends the first 20 minutes fawning over you. Brady and Quinn get into an argument about fantasy hockey while Taryn and Emma watch them with amused smiles and rolling eyes. Matthew sticks close to your side, not letting you get much further than a few feet away before he’s right next to you again.

Dinner is easy, something you’d worried about for a few days. But the way Quinn and Matthew chirp lovingly at each other across the table puts you at ease.

After dinner is finished and the boys have done the dishes you all settle into the living room to watch the Devil's game. You find yourself squeezed in next to Matthew on the couch, his arm casually swung over your shoulder as you lean into him.

“Let’s see if Jack can score me a few points in fantasy,” Brady says, leaving him, Quinn, and Matthew to begin a conversation about their league.

As you all watch the game, a strange feeling makes its way across your stomach. Your brow furrows for only a moment before a dull pain jabs you in the side and you let out a groan.

“You okay?” Matthew whispers, trying not to draw attention to the two of you as he looks you over with concern.

“I’m fine just feels-,” you’re cut off when another jab comes from the same spot. A third jab is right behind it and your eyes widen in realization. “Oh my god.”

Before he can ask more questions you grab Matthew’s hand and place it on your bump. You wait for a moment before there’s a small kick against his hand. A grin forms on his face as Matthew lets out a loud laugh, attracting everyone’s attention.

“The baby just kicked for the first time,” you explain with a smile, laughing as nearly everyone runs over to place their hands on your belly. The baby, however, decides that they don’t like the attention and instantly stops.

When everyone returns to their seats you lean into Matthew, his arm curling around your shoulder as his lips brush your forehead. His hand remains on your bump the rest of the game, both of you staying curled up with each other.

After the Devils secure their win you all share dessert before your families are excusing themselves. Your parents are flying to Jersey tonight to see Luke and Jack while Quinn is heading back to Vancouver. The Tkachuks are heading to St. Louis in the morning, leaving you and Matthew to celebrate Christmas on your own before he leaves for an extended road trip the next day.

“Dinner was delicious, you did a great job,” Matthew’s voice is soft as he comes up behind you in the kitchen, boxing you in where you’re grabbing a mug from the cabinets. “Thank you.”

You turn in his hold, smiling up at him. You two are close, only a few inches separating your faces as you stare at each other, “You’re welcome, it was fun and I’m glad everyone could come down.”

Matthew’s breath fanned across your face, his fingers coming up to brush your cheek just like he had earlier. Your eyes fluttered closed, relishing the feeling.

“You look beautiful,” he whispers. “So pretty, especially carrying my baby. You’re glowing.”

The words have an instant effect on you, a sigh leaving your lips in contentment. You know your panties are damp without having to check, your second trimester hormones having your body on edge all the time.

“Matty…,” you whisper, eyes fluttering open as you meet his dark gaze. You’re both so close to breaking the tension between you and letting the fire burn. But there’s hesitation still and you know Matthew can see it in your eyes.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” he whispers as his lips brush your forehead softly. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” you murmur as you watch Matthew disappear down the hall. When you hear his door click shut your head falls back against the cabinet and you let out a loud sigh. “Well… fuck…”

#matthew tkachuk #matthew tkachuk fanfic #matthew tkachuk fic #matthew tkachuk imagine #nhl fic #nhl imagine #hockey fic #hockey imagine #nina writes

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humbledragon669 · 5 months ago

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S2E2 - The Clue Write Up P3 - London (Present Day) the Dirty Donkey meeting up to Land of Uz (Crowley speaks to Job)

Alright, so it’s been a minute. As I write this, it’s been two weeks since I posted the last of this episode’s write up instalments. My apologies about that, I’ve been pretty nose to the grindstone trying to get a Uni assignment finished so that I could enjoy a few weeks of socialising in the lead up to Christmas without worrying about getting it done in time. I finished this afternoon, a little over two weeks ahead of the submission date, which I am over the moon with. Honestly, it’s been pretty intense. I’m not ashamed to say that the first thing I did after I hit the “Submit” button was open up all the bits and pieces I use to write these posts, and I am definitely not ashamed to say that I was quite emotional as I did it. I’ve missed these goofballs. Like… a LOT. And I’ve missed engaging with the fandom with anything more involved than doomscrolling. I still have some reading for the trimester to catch up on, but I am largely free of Uni work now until mid-January (did someone say filming will be underway by then? Not me…) and I intend to throw myself into this beautiful little community wholeheartedly whilst I can. Who knows I might even manage to some more fic writing done/completed… So. With that self-indulgent waffley intro to this post out of the way, let’s get started, we have a pub to get to.

I didn’t think there was any point in delaying the inevitable, we all know that this is the moment that everybody wants to squeal about in this scene. There are a couple of bits and pieces (and they’re all pretty small) I just wanted to point out before I talk about it proper, and even then I probably won’t talk about it all that much because it’s been covered by just about everyone already. Firstly, I just wanted to give a little nod to the sound editors (who knew the first thing I would be pointing out after a short hiatus would be a sound thing. Oh that’s right, everyone did) for the donkey braying noise we can hear in the lower layers of the soundtrack when the camera focusses in on the pub sign. I don’t know why it’s there (I think we all know what a donkey is when we see one), but I think it makes it sounds like the sign is roaring. I don’t think it’s important, I just appreciate the effort.

Next up I want to say how much I wish there was an alleyway of space that leads directly from the door of a pub to a table in every busy pub I went to. There will be a bit more to talk about in regards to our hero couple having an “aura” of free space around them in a little while, but here I think it’s probably there for logistics more than anything.

Last up, I can’t help but feel like there’s something to be had in this little exchange:

CROWLEY: Ah, we’re going to the pub. You never go to the pub. AZIRAPHALE: We’re in the pub now. CROWLEY: What’s wrong with the coffee shop?

So, we hear Crowley moving from the collective “we” to the singular “you” in the first line, followed by Aziraphale immediately reverting to the collection “we” (which is in and of itself notable - I think it points to his not being able to think of himself as a “singular” where Crowley is involved). I actually wonder if this might be a reference to 1967 - we know that Crowley uses this same pub to conduct a covert meeting. Did he choose a pub knowing full well that Aziraphale doesn’t frequent them, supposedly safe in the knowledge that he could remain in the angel’s vicinity without the risk of bumping into him? I think it’s likely this would have factored into Crowley’s choice of meeting place, but what I find curious about the delivery of these lines in the present day is that he firstly sounds amused about this turn of events and then immediately asks Aziraphale why they can’t just do what they normally do. Don’t get me wrong, I love this little exchange, partly because we get to see a little of that mischievous Crowley that I mentioned is a little lacking in this season (at least in the present day scenes), I just can’t quite fathom Crowley’s thinking processes at this point.

Alright. Here we are at last.

I’m going to try and make this short and to the point. Three things about this:

Crowley does not respond to this touch at all. It’s quite rare for us to see this pair consciously touch one another, so if this was out of the ordinary for them, you’d expect to see some sort of shock from him but that is most definitely absent.

Aziraphale doesn’t just stop at putting a hand on Crowley chest, he actually strokes it a little, in a downward motion, and that’s not a response to any movement from the demon, who is completely stationary. That little downward stroke is all sub-conscious Aziraphale (or totally conscious and mischievous Michael, as we came to find out).

There is a little flash of shock on Aziraphale’s face in the split second after he strokes Crowley’s chest. I think this is him realising what he’s just done. Distracted as he was trying to find a table, he’s revealed the true nature of their relationship in a room full of people.

There. That’s it. That wasn’t too drawn out now, was it? Well, if that was a little too shallow for your tastes, shall we have a look at the miracle noise we’re about to hear?

OK, so this is very familiar territory for us by now, and just to prove that point, let’s compare this noise with the one from episode one:

Almost exactly the same, I think. Perhaps some slight difference with the levels, but that could just be the recording I’ve produced. As a reminder, I’ve started playing around with the idea that the miracle noises are more to do with need than the person who casts them - see this take from the episode one write-up:

This would stand up for the scene in the pub too, seeing as the miracle has been cast out of a “need” for somewhere to sit (and for that “aura” of space I mentioned earlier, this time around the table), rather than to achieve something with a moral aim. On the other hand, if you’re still of the camp that believes that the sound is tied to the caster, this would almost certainly drive the hammer home for my theory that Crowley didn’t do anything for the miracle in the book shop - these two miracle sounds are exactly the same, and the one in the pub is definitely only cast by Aziraphale. On a non-sound related note, it has not escaped my attention that the angel is incredibly nonchalant about performing a miracle here, despite how cautious he has been in previous scenes about doing “a very minor miracle”. How does one go from not wanting to perform half a miracle to hide someone in need to openly performing a full one just to guarantee yourself a seat? I suppose it’s possible that he thinks he has little left to lose now that he has Heaven’s attention, but that doesn’t sit right with me. Perhaps this is just another one of those instances, like with Aziraphale’s comments about the arrival of the Heavenly hosts, where the writing is perhaps a little thin in order to provide convenience for filming.

There’s a little Easter egg here in the headline on the newspaper (there will be another one shortly):

It’s not easy to make out the top bit, it looks to me like it reads “Modern, efficient, healthy and pleasant living accommodation in Milton Keynes”. To those of you who don’t know about Milton Keynes, it’s a town that was deliberately developed from scratch in the 60s to try and help address the housing shortage in the UK. It’s one of a handful of so-called “new towns” in the UK. Its most notable feature is that it has a lot of roundabouts. It’s also the one place that neither Crowley nor Aziraphale would take responsibility for, according to the book:

Crowley had been allowed to develop Manchester, while Aziraphale had a free hand in the whole of Shropshire. Crowley took Glasgow, Aziraphale had Edinburgh (neither claimed any responsibility for Milton Keynes*

The footnote for the town in the book also provides us with the text for the headline:

It was built to be modern, efficient, healthy, and, all in all, a pleasant place to live.

Lovely little Easter egg that one. Here’s the other:

This one comes from the book too, this time as part of Newt’s dialogue:

Daily Mail. ‘Letter from America.’ Um, August the third,” said Newt. “Just after the story about the woman in Worms, Nebraska, who taught her duck to play the accordion.

You really have to hand it to the prop and design team - they know how to sneak in those cheeky treats into newspaper headlines, don’t they?!

Alright, let’s jump into another oft-discussed moment.

As with so many of the moments in this show that are highly treasured and talked about by the community, I’m not going to talk about this a great deal, I just want to touch briefly on the vibe I get from this little moment. The bottom line for me here is that this is another Crowley rescue going on. I’ve talked about this aspect of their relationship quite a lot already I know, it’s just that I think it becomes so desperately important later, to the point that it’s explicitly stated. But I’m jumping ahead of myself. Breaking this rescue down, we can see how quickly Crowley becomes aware that his angel might need rescuing - when he looks over at the table to observe the odd man that just sat down. We also see how quickly Aziraphale is to signal to the demon that a rescue is required - with his look back to Crowley at the bar. This little moment is so beautiful to me - it shows how completely aware they both are of the other’s presence and role without a single word. And that position Crowley takes up when he does get to the table? It’s so very territorial, isn’t it? Reaching across Aziraphale to put the glass down, rather than just placing the glass down. It’s like a proverbial shield. And that you really can’t pretend not to hear the “what the fuck are you doing in my seat” in that “hello”, can you?

There are two additional minor points I want to point out here. The first is to do with one of Aziraphale’s tells - his hands.

You can see that as soon as he starts to feel seriously uncomfortable, he starts fiddling with his hands. We’ve seen him do this on multiple occasions before, so it shouldn’t be news that this is something he does subconsciously, I just think it’s worth noting that this behaviour comes into play even with situations where the risk of peril is low. The other thing of note is this tiny lip and eye movements we see when he takes a sip of his sherry:

The lip movement is tricky to read and interpret. I have seen a post that suggested this is a bit of non-verbal communication from him to Crowley, where he says “thank you”. I don’t think this is an unreasonable suggestion, and certainly plays to the non-verbal theme that runs through this entire season. It would also tie in nicely with the eye flick we can see, which makes it seem like the words are being projected at Crowley with his eyes. What’s important is that this gratitude isn’t for the drink (otherwise it would be spoken aloud) - this thanks would appear to be for the rescue.

There’s something about this line I really love, almost like he thinks he’s speaking from a wealth of experience. Which he blatantly isn’t, but you gotta love him for trying claim some knowledge in the area. Crowley looks as convinced of that as the rest of us though:

I also love this little insight into Aziraphale’s character:

AZIRAPHALE: I told them I made Nina and Maggie fall in love. CROWLEY: Why? AZIRAPHALE: It was the first thing I could think of.

To me it shows that ultimately he’s always instinctively drawn towards love. When you compare that mindset to the one shown by Gabriel earlier on in the episode when talking about Job’s children, it really shows how wide the gulf between Aziraphale and the rest of Heaven actually is. Here’s a little script thing I do have an issue with though:

AZIRAPHALE: Oh, miracles don’t work like that.

Um. OK. So why would you have gotten away with telling the rest of the Heavenly host that your miracle worked? This feels like another moment of flaky writing, it just doesn’t really hold up to any sort of scrutiny. But as quickly as I have a moment of doubt about this show, a little moment comes in to bring me back in line:

There’s something so showy about this. Like he’s giving Crowley the gift of “we”. There’s such emphasis on the “we”, with a set-up and a pause. This is interesting to me, because it almost sounds as if the suggestion here isn’t that they “fix” a problem, but that they rescue it, except this time it won’t be Crowley doing the rescuing on his own, this time it’s a “we” thing. Really cute.

There’s another fandom favourite coming - the fall-in-love-in-a-rainstorm speech. As usual, I won’t go into huge detail here, just highlight some of my favourite aspects. It goes without saying that the scene described is essentially an exact description of the events of the wall scene from the Garden of Eden, and what makes that particularly interesting is that it suggests (or perhaps confirms) that this was the moment that Crowley fell in love with Aziraphale. More than that, it suggests that he believes that the same can be said of Aziraphale. I am not unaware of the similarities of the description with the Before the Beginning scene, but if we’re talking actual watery rain, there is only one scene of the two that we can apply it to. The layers of subtext in this micro-scene are what really engage me, because not only do I love that Crowley’s speech says that he truly believes the way he fell in love to be the only and best way it’s possible to fall in love (and can we say “made for each other”? Swoon), the way that it’s delivered suggests he’s completely unaware he’s talking about himself. And it definitely hasn’t registered with Aziraphale either:

I also love how Crowley stands his ground on this one.

And just when you think this demon couldn’t get any more saccharine, he pulls this out of the bag:

There’s a tiny hesitation before the “Richard Curtis” that tells me everything I need to know about his little speech - this is the moment where he realises what he’s just said. Whether this is a realisation for him about exactly when he fell in love with Aziraphale I don’t know, largely because his eyes are covered and we don’t get to see his face for long enough, but I find something really charming in this idea. I’m sure there are some that would say that hesitation is because he’s about to give away the fact that he watches Richard Curtis films (Notting Hill is hardly demon-worthy content now, is it?), but I am not one of those. As a point of note, has Crowley’s description ever actually happened in a Richard Curtis film? Personally I haven’t watched an awful lot of his work, but I’m pretty sure it hasn’t happened in any of the stuff I have seen.

Final note on Crowley’s side of this discussion goes to this expression, the response to Aziraphale telling him that they should “invoke fiction … properly”:

I mean, he’s pissed at this point isn’t he? And rightly so I say. He’s just recounted his incredibly romantic tale of how he fell in love, and he’s told, by the recipient of that love, that he hasn’t done it “properly”. I think it’s fair to say that the non-verbal communication that was working so effectively earlier in this scene has well and truly gone off the rails by this point.

Quick side note about this 1810 Clerkenwell diamond robbery - not a real historic thing by all accounts. I find this interesting because so many of the historic things referred to in this show were actual events, or at least loosely related to one. This one seems to have been entirely created though. What I will say is that, from Crowley’s description and the way he says her name, it seems he may have been on a first name basis with her. Now wouldn’t that whole thing make for a fascinating spin-off/minisode?

I love the complete opposites we see in Aziraphale’s description of the perfect way to fall in love, the most obvious being that we haven’t ever seen this particular scenario play out between them in the way that we say Crowley’s. Perhaps this is meant to reinforce the difference in the types of personalities between them - the angel being the fantasist, the angel being the realist (which in of itself would open up a huge can of worms for discussion). At the heart of his speech is the only common aspect between the two descriptions:

AZIRAPHALE: …and then realise they had misunderstood each other and were actually deeply in love.

Essentially the two descriptions boil down to the same thing - two people coming together and, based on apropos of nothing but being in close physical contact with one another, fall deeply and desperately in love. How ironic that Crowley feels the same way about the Austen-scenario as Aziraphale did about the “Richard Curtis” one:

Right, I think that just about covers the pub scene, let’s see if I can get to the start of another flashback scene without too much trouble.

Tiny thing, but does anybody else find the idea that Crowley has never heard “Everyday” before highly unlikely? With his broad music tastes and the fact that he would actually have been around to hear the song when it was released, this seems like a really strange thing to claim, even if it sounds convincing. Maybe it’s just a me thing.

Next tiny thing (aside from noting that, despite the fact that Aziraphale is hiding a much sought-after archangel inside the shop, the door isn’t locked) - how is it that Crowley knows exactly where to find the Jane Austen books? Maybe that particular bookshelf is the start of an A-Z of fiction by author (I highly doubt this, as it would mean customers can actually find books they’re looking for). Even if that was the case, it would mean that Crowley has paid enough attention to the system at hand to know where to look. Given he himself claimed he doesn’t read books (see season one, episode two), there’s something about his familiarity with the shop layout that says more about the amount of time he spends there (and helps out there?) to me. What I do find interesting here is that he doesn’t instantly remove his glasses when he enters the shop. This might just be a set-up for their removal in just a moment, but it may also be that he’s less comfortable there now that Gabriel has set up camp. Talking of the removal of the glasses, there’s another one of those hiss noises here, just to really hammer home how threatening he wants to be to Jim. Lovely bit of subtextual sound editing.

Alright final point here - I’m sure there’s something to be said about Jim’s eyes turning purple when he remembers things. Maybe it’s just a special effect to show the audience that this is a genuine moment of remembering, but if not, it raises questions for me around what the purple eyes signify, which is emphasised by the fact that the words Jim recalls were not only not spoken by him, but he wasn’t even present to hear (at least as far as what we see can testify to). Some things to ponder on there for a later time perhaps.

I think it’s time to call it a day on this part. It’s run a little longer than intended, but that’s what happens with Aziracrow-rich content I’m afraid (so… all of season 2 then?). As always, questions, comments, discussion: always welcome! See you for the next one 😊

#good omens #episode analysis #good omens season 2 #aziracrow #ineffable idiots #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #head canon #crowley loves aziraphale #aziraphale loves crowley #good omens soundtrack

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canirove · 10 months ago

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Rice, Rice, baby | Chapter 16

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Masterlist

“Liv, you seriously didn't have to buy them anything for Christmas.”

“I’m their favourite aunty, Kennedy. I had to get them something” I say while watching one of the twins try to eat the wrapping paper from one of the presents. “Besides, thinking about what to get them and then going shopping has been one of the most joyful things I've done lately. Who knew buying kids’ stuff could be therapeutic?” I chuckle.

“How are you?” Kennedy asks me. “Like, truly.”

“I have good days and bad days” I shrug. “But the good days have begun to overcome the bad ones.”

And that started just a couple of weeks after what happened between me and Declan in my car. Because what did he do? Make it Instagram official that he and the singer were dating. And what did I do? Have the biggest breakdown known to history.

When Alex showed me their joint post during our lunch break (kind of lame to announce it like that, but who am I to judge), I felt as if the hole in my chest had started to grow at lightning speed, swallowing me completely. I wanted to cry, to scream, to hit something. And I did all that at Tottenham's gym, where I ran to hide myself, and where Micky found me.

“Liv, what are you doing?”

“Looking for something I can hit!” I yell.

“Why?”

“Do you seriously have to ask why?” I laugh.

“Declan…”

“Yes. Him” I say, kicking a yoga mat and making the ones standing next to it fall.

“If you want to hit something, why don't you try this?” Micky says. “It's less harmful, gets the job done, and they won't fire you for destroying the gym.”

“What?” I say, turning around.

“This” he says, holding some boxing gloves. “It has helped me in the past and I think it can help you too.”

That first day all I did was cry and scream while he held the punching bag, letting all my anger go. But when I woke up the next day, my arms feeling so sore I could barely move them, I noticed that the hole was a tiny bit smaller. So I started to meet with Micky in the gym when we both were free, him teaching me how to properly box while I felt like every punch was closing the hole a bit more.

“I'm glad to hear that” Kennedy says. “But you aren't looking that good.”

“Uh?”

“We have matching bags under our eyes, Liv. And last time I checked, you didn't have three children that drove you crazy” she chuckles. “Are you sleeping well?”

“I mean… I'm sleeping a lot more than usual, even taking naps throughout the day. But I still feel tired, it's a weird feeling.”

“Not so weird. I felt like that when… Nah, it can't be.”

“What can't be?”

“I felt like that before I knew I was pregnant with Leo. But it doesn't make any sense because you haven't been with anyone since before the summer, have you?”

“Yeah, that doesn't make any sense” I reply, not really answering her question. “It probably is just stress from these days.”

Too much work, then the training with Micky after not working out for ages, the fact that I'm still emotionally healing, that I'm having to spend Christmas with Alex and his family when things keep being weird between us… That has to be it.

“You could always ask one of the team's doctors to run some tests if that makes you feel better.”

“Nah, there is no need. I'm fine” I smile. “Do you want me to help you with bath time and putting them to bed?”

“Yeah, sure. You take care of Leo, I'll take care of the twins” Kennedy says. But there is something in the way she's looking at me, that tells me that she won't forget so easily about the conversation we just had.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Liv, wait” Madders says behind me.

“Hey” I reply, turning around. “Doctor Smith?”

“Hello” he smiles.

“Great, you know each other.”

“Of course we do, Madders. He works with my dad, remember?”

“Oh, yes. Silly me” he chuckles. “Anyway, he has something to tell you.”

“Me?”

“Your dad and James have mentioned that you've been going through a rough patch and they are worried it may have affected your physical health. That's why they've asked me if I could run some tests and make sure everything is fine.”

Kennedy. She told Madders, of course she did! This is what her look from yesterday meant!

“That's very kind of you, but there is no need.”

“C'mon, Liv. It'll be just a blood test and maybe a peepee one, right?”

“Peepee?” I laugh.

“You know that's how Leo says it and now I do it too without thinking” he shrugs. “But that'll be it, won't it, doctor?”

“Just the basics” he says.

“I'm fine, James. Maybe a bit stressed, but fine” I insist. “It'll pass after the holidays, you'll see.”

“But what if it doesn't?”

“Then I'll say yes to those tests.”

“Promise?”

“Yes, I promise” I sigh. “Now can I please go home? My mum wants me to help her clean around the house, we are hosting this year.”

“Ok, fine. But we have Doctor Smith as our witness. If after Christmas you are feeling like shit…”

“He can run those tests.”

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“You didn't have to wait with me, Madders.”

“What kind of older brother would I be if I left you alone?”

“The not annoying one?”

“Meh, meh, meh” he replies, sticking out his tongue.

I had had to do it. I had had to get the tests done. And why? Because during Christmas things hadn't improved.

I felt sick most mornings, and by dinner time I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. All I wanted to do was to lay down in my bed while watching period dramas and wish I got to dress like a princess. Oh, and speaking of periods… Mine was nowhere to be found. Which has only made the tiny voice that has been in my head since Kennedy told me she had felt this tired when she was pregnant, get louder and louder.

But me having all these symptoms could be just stress. I googled it and it matches. So it has to be that, not that Declan had better aim than all the strikers in the Premier League together after just one time not using any kind of protection.

“Isn't it taking them too long? He said he'll have the results by the end of the day.”

“Maybe they were busy with other stuff” Madders says, resting his hand on my leg and stopping it from moving like crazy.

“Or maybe there is something wrong with me.”

“Liv, no. Don't you dare going there.”

“Then why hasn't he called us yet? Why…”

“Oh, there you are” Doctor Smith says, opening the door of his office. “Sorry for making you wait, but the system went down and it took it a while to recover and allow us to log in.”

“See?” Madders whispers.

“Please come in, Olivia. You can wait here, James.”

“Can't he come with me?” I ask.

“I would prefer to talk with you in private” the doctor says. That's it. There is something wrong with me, I'm dying. Or worse. My suspicions are right. “But if it makes you feel more comfortable…”

“It does. Thank you” I say, holding Madders' arm as if my life depended on it. Which can very well be the case.

“Ok, so” Doctor Smith says once we are sitting down in his office. “All the tests came back perfect, but…”

“But?” I ask, grabbing Madders hand and squeezing it so hard I fear I may break it.

“Olivia… You are pregnant.”

#declan rice #declan rice fanfic #declan rice x reader #declan rice imagine #football fanfic #football imagine

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you-can-be-what-you-want-to-be · 1 year ago

Note

People aren't mad because John/Arthur aren't canon, people are mad because the creator made fun of the fans that ship them in the Christmas special

I see… the post has been deleted

I’m just very used to being in bad fandoms where something as small as “I don’t ship them personally” is taken as a homophobic statement, and people have been saying forever if it’s not canon it’ll be queer bait, so I assumed which I maybe shouldn’t have done but with it coinciding with the “John is a child episode” it just made sense

now, I do have to say though, that while I don’t know a whole lot because I’m not on the Patreon, I was for awhile. Again take this with a HEAPING load of salt for that reason since I clearly don’t know the specific situation. Everything I’m going to say I will try to say from an objective viewpoint since I don’t know the situation and will only focus on the facts I do know.

But how is this new? For the karaoke creep special they keep calling it weird to call each other romantic terms. And when Arthur died by not sacrificing the little guy last season Harlan was ROUGH. He said anyone who voted to not sacrifice were children smashing dolls together, that they forgot the story they were in and hopefully this punishment would remind them that actions have consequences. He basically said this is your fault for being stupid. He ended up having to post a semi apology saying it’s eldritch horror story, it’s supposed to be about harshness and not knowing the consequences before hand, and that he teases his audience and that if they don’t like that this isn’t the right show for them. His phobia play through he did a bit as Arthur and John where he was like “and we are NOT doing anything in the shower no matter what the fan fictions say” “let them dream John”

I also would like to mention that word of god should be ignored in these stories and that Harlan does NOT have a PR team. Again I don’t know the situation. I don’t know if he was ad libing live, in which case he should be given more Lee way as self editing in the moment is hard, I don’t know how if he said the most vile stuff alive, or if he said something a little mean but harmless like the “no we are not doing this” “let them dream” or what. Maybe it is bad and he deserves to be roasted, idk.But making jokes about a non canon thing can be a normal thing, especially if it’s a thing people keep bugging you about.

I do know that fandom as a whole has a problem attacking people over though, being someone who frequently got called homophobic for headcanoning single characters as aro, this one specifically has already harassed him about this ship which I’m sure gets annoying, and that he has explicitly said he will poke fun on the Patreon, and that he has said Jarthur won’t happen, and that he is one guy without the means to sort through hate mail removed from situations and doesn’t have a PR team to tell him “hey this off the cuff joke is a bad idea”

all that being said, again I do not know what he said specifically. I think either way a lot of people need to reassess if this is the fandom for them. I’ve seen a lot of people only get into the show for shipping and then get mad when there’s eldritch horror and the attitudes of eldritch horror in the eldritch horror podcast. If he said something that bad then maybe consider getting out since he writes about delicate subjects and it will only get worse. If what he said wasn’t that bad and people are getting mad about being lightly teased but it wasn’t confrontational or homophobic, they might want to leave because that’s just what Harlan does, tease people, and it’s not new and will continue, especially about non canon stuff in his own work. And if you got into and are only staying for the shipping…. Yeah. If that’s the only thing you want maybe it’s time to move on.

and if you decide to stay, know that. Know and be warned ahead of time that you will be teased so it isn’t a surprise next time

edit: so I did get the full context quote and it’s literally just “we want to hang out together alone for Christmas” “platonically, as in canon” “oh of course of course.” This. This isn’t bullying. It’s a little tongue in cheek sure but the whole thing is just saying it isn’t canon. I’ve heard complaints on comments on this post about other stuff he’s done, which I don’t know much about but is also applicable. I did my best to say “either way, this is stuff related.” As someone who writes and has written things before where every single chapter people kept pushing for something I wasn’t going to write I get it. I’m not saying anything he might have done is right but I think it’s understandable at the very least, for a writer to be upset about his stuff being constantly misinterpreted and having fans try to push it where he doesn’t want it.

him reminding people it won’t happen is fine, especially when people keep accusing him of queer baiting. I still think what I said earlier stands even hearing other opinions, because although I can’t say either way, it seems like everyone who is upset says this is a repeated behavior, and if you stay you can’t be surprised by it every time. If it’s going to bug you you have to either be prepared for it to keep happening or leave.

That isn’t to say no one can be upset about anything else but this specific thing I don’t think is worthy of that. All he did was jokingly repeat canon in character (which is much better than like. Someone who keeps hinting at something and never giving it) in a teasing manner. He didn’t say anything negative about shippers, or anything homophobic, just said “hey remember kids, we aren’t into each other like that.” Which is. Fine. It’s annoying but it isn’t malicious.

If the issue is mods or his interactions with people say that. Don’t make it about him light heartedly going “don’t accuse me of queerbaiting.” it makes it so when actual issues like what people are talking about in the comments (if they’re legit, again I try to stay only in the actual content part and abstain from knowing about creators) come up no one takes them seriously because so many molehills were mountained.

If you’re pissed about how he talks to his fans say that, don’t make it about a lack of queer rep when he said day one there wouldn’t be any. Make it about the issue itself. You don’t mention that someone’s a domestic abuser for example after you say “and they have NO CHEESE in their house thats MONSTROUS who does that.” If you want to be taken seriously about a problem you focus on the thing that matters which is. Hurting people.

I guess at the end of the day I’m no one’s boss, but I am tired of not knowing what to believe or not when someone saying something like “no comment” on if characters they wrote are together is homophobia, or a character who’s been Described as a dick acting like one and then the creator gets accused of being shitty (random examples not to do with this specific fandom). If everything is a big deal that makes someone the worst when the subject is not actually hurting anyone… it’s exhausting. Idk anything about Harlan. At the end of the day I’m here for my little horror stories. But I will say definitively that I don’t think it’s bullying to say a ship is not canon and that to act like it is makes it impossible for people who actually care about morals and what someone is doing to keep the energy to stay that way without becoming part of a mob just taking people at their word.

If it upset you I’m sorry, it’s always disappointing when our take on media is dismissed, especially by the creator. And it’s fine to be disappointed. I get that. But don’t blow it out of proportion, and don’t make it about something it isn’t. If you’re upset about the quote say that it’s disappointing without saying it’s punching down. The author is dead and it’s one of the biggest podcast ships out there. If you’re upset about anything else make a post about that issue without tying it to this fun bonus non canon episode. You are allowed to be upset just and if it is about shipping: stop making someone disagreeing with you about a ship a big controversy. You can ship whatever you want regardless of canon and no one is trying to stop jarthur shippers, and if it isn’t about that stop making things about shipping if that’s not what it’s actually about.

#Discourse #malevolent #Masked

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jerzwriter · 1 year ago

Text

The way I screamed when I saw this commission! The artwork is by the simply lovely, delightful & talented @rosefuckinggenius. If you have never commissioned her, you should! Rose, you're the absolute best, my dear! Thank you for bringing my babies to life this holiday season!

All is Merry & Bright

Book: Open Heart (Post Series) Pairing: Tobias Carrick x F!MC (Casey Carrick) Other Characters: Bryce Lahela, Vivian Carrick (F!OC), Jordan Carrick (M!OC) Words/Rating: 1,200 / Teen Summary: It's their second Christmas with little Samantha, and the Carricks are getting ready to take their Christmas card photo. As Uncle Jordan sets up the perfect shot, Grandma Vivian and Bryce provide the commentary. A/N: In my timeline, this would be taking place during the Christmas 2024 season.

With their coffee orders securely in hand, Tobias stepped into the vestibule of his townhome, careful to make sure ‘Hurricane Samantha’ wasn’t underfoot. A year ago, he and Casey wondered what it would be like when she began to walk and talk; now they knew it only added to the joyful chaos they had come to know and love. It was as familiar as the warm vanilla cinnamon scent that had filled the air ever since Casey moved in and as welcoming as his wife’s loving embrace or his daughter’s smile at the end of the day.

He smiled as he placed the snowflake bedecked cups on their dining room table. The last four years of his life bore no resemblance to the thirty-six that had preceded it, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard his brother's desperate pleas from the next room. He was doing his best to keep Samantha occupied, but she was quicker than he thought, and the bowl of red, silver, and green-wrapped Hershey kisses was too tempting. As the toddler's tiny hand reached up to grab the bowl, Jordan started to unravel.

“No, Sammy! No! I know Mommy and Daddy don't want you on a sugar high while before taking your Christmas pictures!”

But Samantha was undeterred. “Yum-YUMS!” She yelled. The bowl was about to topple on her just as Tobias lifted her from behind, placing her high atop his shoulders in one swoop.

“Uncle Jordan’s right, pumpkin. Let’s save the sugaring up for after, OK?”

“Wow!” Jordan was astonished. “You said I was right!”

Tobias shot his brother a smirk. “Yeah, well, even a broken clock is right twice a day! Where is Casey, anyway.”

“Upstairs, finishing her makeup.”

“Still?”

“She was all done,” Jordan shrugged. “But then Ma had... opinions... so she's upstairs touching up.”

“Oh, shit!” Tobias laughed. “Then we’re safer down here with this little firecracker.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

But Casey and Vivian were descending the stairs at that very moment, and Mrs. Carrick was all happy to interrupt her sons.

“Hate to disappoint you, boys. But we smelled that delicious coffee the moment you came in. There’s no keeping us away.”

“Gam-mah!” Samanta squirmed excitedly, throwing her arms her grandmother's way, and that's how Vivian instantly forgot about her coffee.

“Oh, come here, my little angel!" She cooed, retrieving her from Tobias's arms. "That’s right! Tell Daddy that Grandma’s here. His services are no longer needed!”

“Really?” Tobias sneered. “Because with all your complaints of wanting another grandchild, I think my services are most certainly needed.”

Bryce dropped his coffee cup to the table with a thud. His eyes rose to the ceiling as he let out a sigh. “I don't know if putting up with you two is worth the free coffee.”

“Maybe not,” Tobias said, pointing to a few bags on the table. “But there are also cookies from Parziale’s, and I’m ordering in Chinese after the photo. Would that make it worthwhile?” Bryce may have answered if he weren't too rushing for the cookies.

Tobias let out a slow whistle as he walked toward Casey, making a show of looking her over as he did.

“No mistletoe needed here!" Casey laughed. "You can just kiss me."

Tobias studied Casey's face, then kissed her forehead. “Not bad! Not bad at all!”

“Jordan told Vivian he didn't like it,” Casey smiled. “He wanted something a little edgier. That a little punk edge four our family Christmas portrait would go a long way.”

“And I made it clear that my foot would go a long way...” Vivian interjected. “A long way up his ass if he thought I would allow that to happen.”

“ASS!” Samantha hollered, and everyone but Vivian broke into a fit of laughter.

“See what you make me do!” Vivian scolded as she whisked Sammy into the living room. “Making me say bad words in front of my grandbaby.”

“There is a swear jar in the kitchen," Bryce noted.

“Yeah," Casey added. "Between all of us, her college education will be funded before she turns two.”

“Amen to that,” Tobias laughed.

“All right, guys, as fun as this is, do you think we can start taking the pictures?” Jordan requested. “I do have a date tonight.”

“Oh, do you?” Casey teased.

“Yep,” Jordan grinned, playfully smacking his brother. “Someone’s gotta keep the Carrick rep going since this one has gone all domestic.”

“That’s not our rep!” Vivian shouted. “You’re not getting any younger either, Jordan! Who is this person? Do I know them?"

"I think I know him," Casey winked. "Make it quick; Vivian is itching to plan another wedding!"

“Oh! Trust!” Tobias laughed heartily. “Trust! She is!”

“All fun aside," Casey segued. " We should start the photos before it gets too close to Sammy’s naptime.”

“Yeah, we want to do it before my naptime, too,” Bryce added.

“You’re not in the photo,” Tobias reminded. “You can go nap now if you want."

“You know, I’m still insulted by that," Bryce complained. "Why am I not in the family photo?”

“Because you’re not their stepson, no matter how much you may act like it," Vivian advised. "Now, if you want a family portrait, I suggest you get mar...”

“Annnnd on that note, it's photo time!" Jordan grinned.

“Sammy, come here, baby,” Casey beamed as her giggling little toddler wobbled over to her. “Let Mommy fix your sweater so we are all pretty for our picture!”

“I’ll admit,” Vivian observed. “Those sweaters wouldn't have been my first pick, but they're definitely you two! They will make an adorable family Christmas card.”

Casey stopped what she was doing, exhaling as she snuggled under her husband’s arm. “Family Christmas card... our second already. Can you believe it?”

“Oh, do I hear disappointment there?” Tobias teased.

“Not even a little. But sometimes, I’m still astonished. How did we end up here?”

“Do I really have to explain how this came to be, Mrs. Carrick,” Tobias winked. "See, when a man and a woman fall in love, sometimes, they do this thing together...."

“OK, No!" Jordan insisted. “I don’t need to hear about how Sammy was conceived.”

“No, we don’t,” Vivian agreed. “But I do need you two to keep at it - in private! Because I sure would love a second grandbaby on next year’s card.”

“I think that’s her way of offering to babysit for us tonight,” Casey winked.

Tobias pulled his wife and Sammy closer. “Then, that's our queue! Come on, let's get this picture over with."

@choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

@choicesholidays It fits a few, but let's go with ... it's a tradition. .

Tagging the rest separately.

#choices fanfic #open heart #open heart choices #choices open heart #open heart fanfic #tobias carrick #bryce lahela #tobias carrick x f!mc #choices fanart #playchoices #playchoices fanfic #rosefuckinggenius #christmas #christmas fics #holiday fics

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farmergirlimagines · 8 days ago

Text

Chapter 55 : Spinning Needles

Masterlist ~ Through Static and Shock

>>>Thank you for reading! Please comment and let me know if you want to be tagged in future updates of this story. I post a new chapter each Monday, Wednesday and Friday!

See you all next update!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The house was too quiet. Not the kind of quiet that comes after peace—but the kind that settles like dust in the corners. Unwelcome. Unmoving.

Joanna moved through the hallway like a shadow, her backpack slung low, flashlight and spare batteries already packed. She passed Will’s bedroom with a pause—just a second of hesitation—and then kept going.

From the living room, the bang, bang, bang of a hammer rang out like gunshots.

Joanna stepped into the doorway, her boots silent on the carpet.

Lonnie was crouched by the living room wall, hammering a fresh board over the hole Joyce had torn open just days ago. The plywood looked rough. The anger in each swing of the hammer was even rougher.

She didn’t say hello. “What are you doing?”

Lonnie didn’t look at her. “What’s it look like I’m doing? You wanna freeze to death all winter?”

Joanna folded her arms. “You’re sealing it up.”

He shrugged. “It’s a hole in the wall. Of course I’m sealing it up.”

At the far end of the room, Joyce stood frozen, holding a tangled knot of Christmas lights in both hands. Her eyes were wide, staring at the now-bare wall like it had just betrayed her.

“I told you not to take these down,” she said, her voice thin.

Lonnie straightened up, brushing dust off his jeans like he hadn’t just dismantled something sacred.

“They were in the way, babe,” he said, too casual. “How long are you gonna keep those up? I mean, really?”

Joyce didn’t answer.

She moved quietly to the wall, still holding the lights, and began to rehang them.

One hook at a time.

The hammering resumed.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

“You know,” Lonnie said, over the sound of his own destruction, “it’s a shame what they’ve done to this family.”

Joyce paused. “What?”

Lonnie drove the last nail in with a loud crack, then stood back like he was proud of it.

“The Sattler company,” he said. “I went to the quarry on the way over here. Just wanted to look around, you know? I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it.”

Joanna’s stomach turned.

“No warning signs. No fence. No nothing.” He shook his head, solemn and slow. “They ought to be held accountable if you ask me.”

She was too busy looping the next strand of lights over the window, her hands trembling slightly. The bulbs clinked together like wind chimes, too soft to drown out the hollow sound of Lonnie justifying himself.

Joanna paused in the hallway, her fingers tightening around the strap of her bag.

She didn’t say anything at first. But then—“Maybe,” she said, voice quiet but sharp, “you should be more concerned about what Will was running from.”

The words hung in the air.

Lonnie turned, blinking like he hadn’t realized she was still standing there. “What?”

Joanna didn’t repeat herself. She just stared at him.

Dead steady.

Joyce stilled mid-loop, her arms frozen above her head, as if the sentence had pulled something inside her taut.

Lonnie gave a tight laugh, but there was no real humor in it. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know Will was scared,” Joanna said. “And I know he didn’t fall in that quarry by accident. So maybe instead of measuring lawsuits, you should be asking why no one saw it coming.”

Lonnie’s jaw tensed. “I’m just trying to protect this family.”

Joanna’s eyes narrowed. “You’re trying to profit off it.”

The silence that followed was not the kind anyone rushed to fill.

Lonnie scoffed and turned away, muttering something under his breath as he walked back into the kitchen.

Joanna stepped into the living room, toward Joyce—slow, deliberate.

She reached up and helped hang the last strand of lights.

Joyce’s voice, when it came, was soft. Raw. “You believe he’s still out there, don’t you?”

Joanna didn’t hesitate. “Yeah. I do.”

Joyce nodded slowly, eyes glassy.

And Joanna didn’t say goodbye.

She didn’t say anything.

She didn’t have to.

She knew exactly what Lonnie was doing.

She just squeezed her mother’s shoulder once—firm, grounding—and slipped out the door before Lonnie could say another word.

The fluorescent bulb buzzed faintly above Nancy’s head, casting a pale light over the Wheelers cluttered garage. Dust hung in the air, catching in the glow like glitter in molasses. Nancy gripped the handle of the wooden bat tight in her hands—worn, sanded down smooth over time, the grain darkened from years of use. It had belonged to her dad, back when he still thought he was athletic.

She exhaled.

Thwack.

The bat struck into a hanging pillow she’d duct-taped to a support beam.

She adjusted her stance, tried again.

Thwack. Thwack.

She wasn’t just practicing—she was visualizing.

And what she saw wasn’t a baseball.

She was mid-swing again when—“Whoa—whoa! Hey!”

Nancy yelped, spinning with the bat raised. It came to a sudden stop inches from Steve Harrington’s chest, his hands up, eyes wide.

“What the hell, Steve?!”

“I was gonna ask you that!” he said, stepping back with a nervous laugh. “Jesus, Wheeler. You almost cracked my ribs.”

Nancy lowered the bat, cheeks flushed. “What are you doing here?”

Steve gave her a look. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” she said too fast.

He gestured toward the bat. “Yeah, sure. Just some light murder prep?”

Nancy rolled her eyes. “Joanna and I are trying out for softball.”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “You are?”

“Yeah. Why?”

Steve leaned against her dad’s car, crossing his arms. “So you guys are talking again?”

Nancy hesitated. “Yeah. Are you, uh... cool with that?”

Steve gestured to the faint bruising around his bandaged nose. “I don’t know. Is she gonna apologize for rearranging my money maker?”

Nancy looked down, almost smiling. “Honestly? Not likely.”

Steve smirked. “Didn’t think so.”

There was a beat.

He scratched the back of his neck. “Hey... I’m sorry. For everything. Even before you went full Louisville Slugger on me.”

Nancy didn’t let him off easy. “Yeah. You were a total dick.”

“I know,” he said, sighing. “I panicked. Said stuff I didn’t mean.”

She was quiet for a second. “Did your parents find out?”

“Oh yeah. Grounded. Lectured. Threatened with boarding school.” He shrugged. “Screw ’em.”

Nancy gave a tired nod.

Steve’s smirk faded. “Any news about Barb? Or Donna?”

Nancy’s voice dropped. “No. Not a word. Nothing from their parents either.”

That silence between them wasn’t awkward—it was just... empty.

Steve stepped forward and pulled her into a hug.

It didn’t fix anything.

But for a second, it made things feel less like falling apart.

“Hey,” he murmured. “Let’s go see a movie or something tonight. Pretend it’s all normal. All the Right Moves is still playing. Your boy from Risky Business.”

Nancy gave the faintest smile. “Yeah, I know.”

Steve smirked. “Carol says I kinda look like him. What do you think?”

Nancy laughed under her breath. “Don’t push it.”

He tilted his head. “So… movie?”

She shook her head. “I can’t. Between the funeral, my brother, and... Joanna—it’s a lot.”

Steve nodded. “Yeah. I get it.”

“So...” she said.

“I should go.”

“I’ll call you later. Is that okay?”

She leaned in and kissed him—soft, fleeting, familiar.

“Sure,” Steve said, voice a little rough. “Of course.” He stepped back into the driveway, fading into the dusk.

Nancy picked the wooden bat back up. It was heavier than she remembered.

She went back to the beam.

Thwack.

Then—Honk-honk.

Joanna’s station wagon rolled up to the curb, headlights casting long shadows across the garage.

Nancy grabbed her backpack and the bat. It was time. The station wagon’s headlights cut a path through the darkness, bouncing slightly with every bump in the winding dirt road. Inside, it was quiet—except for the sound of the engine and the faint rattle of the bat rolling in the backseat.

Nancy stared out the passenger-side window, arms folded, her brow furrowed. Joanna’s hands were tight on the wheel. Eyes on the road. Jaw set. They hadn’t spoken since they pulled out of the driveway.

Nancy broke the silence first. “You don’t have to do this.”

Joanna didn’t look at her. “Yes, I do.”

Nancy turned toward her, voice low. “I mean it. You haven’t seen what’s on the other side.”

Joanna’s fingers tightened. “Good.”

“I’m serious, Jo.” Nancy shifted in her seat. “It’s not just dark. It’s wrong. It’s cold, and it smells like rot, and the air feels like it’s watching you.”

Joanna’s knuckles went white on the steering wheel. “Then that’s where they are.”

Nancy hesitated. “It messes with your head. The longer you’re in it, the harder it is to remember what’s real.”

Joanna finally looked over. Just for a second. Her voice was steady. Low. Dead serious.

“I remember Donna’s voice on the walkie. I remember her saying Barb didn’t die quickly. I remember Will sounding like he was holding his breath through a nightmare.”

Nancy looked away.

“I’m not scared of what it looks like,” Joanna said. “I’m scared of what happens if we wait too long.”

They were both silent again. The tires crunched over the gravel.

“You can still hang back,” Joanna added, glancing at her. “No one would blame you.”

Nancy snorted. “Oh, shut up. I brought the bat.”

That earned her a small smirk.

The road curved, and up ahead, the crooked silhouette of the dead willow loomed into view—branches twisted like reaching fingers, bark blackened and splitting from age.

Joanna slowed the car, pulling off to the side.

Nancy reached into the backseat and grabbed the wooden bat, holding it tight against her knees.“You sure you’re ready for this?” she asked softly.

Joanna stared out at the trees beyond the bend. “No,” she said. “But I’m going anyway.”

The trees were still, the air thick with the kind of silence that made your ears ring.

Joanna and Nancy followed the dirt path to the clearing where the dead willow stood—its gnarled branches looming like skeletal arms. The moonlight filtered weakly through the canopy above, patchy and pale.

As they rounded the bend, a crack echoed through the trees.

Nancy tensed. Joanna grabbed her arm.

Another crack. Then a dull metallic plink.

When they stepped into the clearing, Jonathan was there—standing a few feet back from a fallen log where he’d lined up a row of rusty cans, his shoulders squared, his jaw clenched, a worn revolver in both hands.

Crack. Miss.

One of the cans wobbled from the air pressure, but stayed upright.

Joanna raised an eyebrow. “I think you’re supposed to hit the cans,” she called out.

Jonathan lowered the gun, giving her a look. “Oh, no, no—you see that space between the cans? That’s actually what I’m aiming for.”

Nancy smirked as they approached. “Right. Very precise.”

Jonathan rolled his eyes. “The sight’s off.”

“Sure,” Joanna said, crossing her arms. “And the moon is in retrograde.”

Nancy held out her hand. “Let me try.”

Jonathan hesitated. “You ever shot a gun before?”

Nancy arched a brow. “Please. Have you met my parents?”

Jonathan cracked a dry smile and handed it over carefully, still watching her hands.

He stepped back. “My dad took me hunting on my thirteenth birthday. Made me shoot a rabbit.”

Nancy wrinkled her nose. “On your birthday?”

Jonathan nodded once, lips pressed together. “Yeah. Guess he thought it’d make me a man or something.”

Joanna snorted. “Yep. That sounds like my father.”

Nancy lined up her shot, squinting one eye.

Jonathan watched, arms crossed. “You know how to handle the recoil?”

Nancy pulled the trigger.

Crack. The can flew off the log.

She handed the gun back, casual. “You were saying?”

Joanna grinned. “Okay, Wheeler.”

Jonathan blinked. “That was actually... kind of impressive.”

Nancy shrugged, brushing imaginary dust off her jacket. “We’re full of surprises.”

The three of them stood there for a moment, a soft quiet settling over the clearing.

Not peace. But something close enough to hold for now.

The light was changing. That warm, golden kind of dusk had settled over the trees—the kind that made everything glow like a painting right before it went dark. Long shadows stretched across the forest floor, stretching from bike tires and flashlight beams and restless, sneakered feet.

Four bikes lay discarded in the grass just off the trail. Their wheels spun lazily in the breeze.

Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and El were already several yards into the woods, compasses out, flashlights on even though they didn’t need them. Yet.

The sun still dipped low through the trees, but it wouldn’t last. Dustin was walking ahead, compass in one hand, crinkled sandwich bag in the other. “Okay—needle’s pulling this way. Pretty sure this is it.”

Lucas looked down at his own. “Mine’s drifting again.”

Mike stopped, furrowing his brow. “Mine too.”

Dustin pivoted in a slow circle, eyebrows raised. “They were all pointing north like thirty minutes ago.”

Lucas shook his head. “They’re not broken. Clarke said this could happen. If we’re near something big. Something electromagnetic.”

Mike turned toward El, who trailed behind, hands deep in the sleeves of a faded jacket that had clearly once belonged to someone else. She was watching her feet. Or maybe the shadows.

“El?” Mike asked. “The gate—it messes with compasses, right?”

She blinked up at him. “Yes.”

“Then this has to be it,” Dustin said, excitement rising. “This is it. We’re close.”

They started forward, flashlights flicking across tree trunks as the golden light faded further.

But El lingered. She paused in the trail, her head tilting just slightly like she’d heard something no one else could. And she had.A whisper, low and distant, rippled through her skull like the echo of a memory not quite her own.

Joanna.

“You have to keep them away.”

El’s breath caught. Her fists clenched in her sleeves.

Ahead, the boys were arguing again—Mike insisting the trail curved east, Lucas swearing the compass had straightened out. None of them noticed El’s stillness. Or the quiet weight on her shoulders.

She looked down at the compasses in their hands. The needles were twitching, unsure. She closed her eyes.And with the softest, invisible push—The needles spun.

Just enough.

Just enough to lead them away from Dead Willow Bend.

“Guys!” Mike shouted. “It’s pulling this way now!”

El opened her eyes.

The sky above them shifted from golden to gray-pink. They were heading the wrong way. And she would keep it that way. Because they didn’t know what was waiting out there.

But she did.

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spotofmummery · 1 year ago

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OOC: State of Mummery 2023

On the eve of Amon’s Nameday (tomorrow), I just wanted to take a moment to talk about Spot of Mummery, my creative endeavors (rather the lack of), a bit about what’s happening IRL, and what I’d like to do more of in 2024.

Feel free to take a peek into my life if you wish, below the cut. Your suggestions are always welcome!

I want to start this with a disclaimer – I’m going to talk about difficult things that I don’t normally address here, but I am doing okay. I’ve learned how to work through many difficulties the last couple of years, and this is not a post of lament.

Some might know that I lost my father unexpectedly right before Christmas last year.

Most don’t know that for the last couple of years (and right now currently), I’m also dealing with unexplained chest pain on and off through the year. My heart was checked this past year, and that was all fine. It’s undiagnosed, but I’m thinking (and the cardiologist also thinks) it’s a form of inflammation. The pain I can deal with, the worry about “what is this?” is a bit more troublesome.

All this is to say, I haven’t been very creative in 2023.

During NaNoWriMo of 2022, I finally wrote Amon’s triumphant return to Syrcus Tower in the First, as I’ve wanted to for years. But then, my Dad passed, and it took months for me to finish editing and posting all that writing. I did finally get it done, but my focus was other places, obviously.

In 2023, I haven’t written a word for Amon’s story outside of the Choose Amon’s Adventures (which I’d like to get started up again, maybe) and his silly adventures on Island Sanctuary (which I need to complete with the newest content for the last patch).

My RP interactions here have been little to none. My energy for attending in game events has been low.

I did organize my own event around the NA fanfest, and that went great, actually! Thanks to all who attended!

But aside from that, Lunarcon, and a few small art parties, I’ve kept to myself a lot this year. In fact, my game time in FFXIV is probably an all-time low – and that’s not because I’ve fallen out of love with the game.

On a positive note, the whole fiasco at Twitter/X brought me back to this Tumblr account full-time. I was already moving this direction, but now I’m here primarily. I do have a Pillowfort and a Blue Sky account for Amon, but Tumblr is my main gig.

I’m not exactly sure where I’m going with all this, other than to just note that my creativity and interaction has not been up to snuff this year. I’d love to say something like, “My resolution for next year is to knock it out of the park!” – but the reality is, I’m not sure what I can commit to just yet.

I think what I'd like most of all to start by getting back into enjoying time spent in game with Amon again, for one. Not that I dislike time spent with Amon, just that I recognize that it’s not got that spark that once motivated me (probably user error).

To be fair, though, I haven’t been spending a lot of time with any of my characters in game like I used to. So, it’s not just Amon.

If you’ve gone through a time where you needed to reconnect with your OCs, let me know how that turned out and what you did. I’m open to suggestions!

And if you’ve read all the way here to the end, thanks for listening. You are appreciated, friend! <3

#IRL #Creative struggles #Feedback welcome #Thanks for listening

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xflamesandfbombs · 5 months ago

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The “Surviving the Holidays” Playbook: Post-Breakup Edition

Ah, the holidays—when every song, commercial, and Hallmark movie seems to mock your newly single status. Nothing says “Merry Christmas” like Aunt Linda asking, “So, are you seeing anyone special?” while you’re just trying to inhale a fourth cookie in peace.

But don’t worry, boo—I’ve got you. Welcome to The Surviving the Holidays Playbook, your ultimate guide to dodging drama, owning your glow-up, and maybe even laughing through the chaos.

Step 1: Reinvent Your Holiday Traditions

Who says you have to stick to the old traditions you shared with your ex? Ugly sweater parties? Been there, done that. This year, we’re doing “Sparkle and Sip” nights with your besties or solo movie marathons where you pause Love Actually just to roll your eyes at every cheesy kiss.

Take the power back—turn “our traditions” into “your new traditions.” You don’t need mistletoe to thrive, babe. You’re the whole damn holiday miracle.

Step 2: Make a Pep Talk Playlist

Forget “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” We’re talking empowerment anthems. Think Lizzo, Beyoncé, or that one breakup song that makes you feel like the main character every single time. Create a playlist that screams, “I’m thriving, thanks.”

Bonus points if it’s loud enough to drown out your neighbor’s romantic Christmas carols.

Step 3: Gift Yourself Something Fabulous

This year, you’re Santa, and you’re spoiling the heck out of yourself. Always wanted that fancy skincare set or a pair of boots that scream “I’m way too good for you”? Buy them. Wrap them. Put them under the tree. From: You. To: The Absolute Best.

The best part? You don’t have to fake excitement opening a candle you didn’t want. (We’re looking at you, Karen from Secret Santa.)

Step 4: Channel Your Inner Comedian at Family Gatherings

You know the breakup questions are coming. “What happened to what’s-their-name?” “Are you dating anyone yet?” Prepare some witty comebacks. Try:

• “They’re gone, but I’m dating inner peace now, and it’s going great!”

• “I dumped them for Santa. The sleigh vibes were better.”

• “I decided to go solo this season—less drama, more dessert.”

Turn it into a game: Every time you deflect a nosy question with humor, reward yourself with an extra slice of pie.

Step 5: Embrace the Joy of Being Extra

Deck yourself out like the holiday queen you are. Glitter, bold lipstick, statement outfits—the works. Nothing screams “I’m doing better than fine” like showing up to the holiday party looking like the festive icon you were born to be.

When your ex’s mom sees your Instagram story? Let her know you’re thriving in HD.

Step 6: Use Holiday Chaos as a Distraction

Volunteer. Bake cookies for your neighbors. Host a “Single and Sassy” holiday brunch. Stay busy and keep your mind off the “what ifs”. The holidays are a perfect excuse to pour your energy into things (and people) that actually bring you joy. Bonus: You’ll walk into 2025 feeling accomplished AF.

Step 7: Make Peace with the Tears

Okay, real talk: The holidays can be rough. There might be a moment when you cry into your hot cocoa or get a little misty-eyed seeing couples skating hand-in-hand. That’s fine. Feel it, then remind yourself that this is just one chapter in your story—and the next one is fire.

Step 8: Toast to You

When New Year’s rolls around, forget resolutions about changing yourself. Raise your glass (or mug of spiked hot chocolate) to all the BS you’ve survived this year and the boss you’re becoming. Cheers to you, the star of this comeback story.

This holiday season, you’re not just surviving—you’re thriving, laughing, and maybe even dancing around your living room to Mariah Carey at full volume. Because the best revenge isn’t moving on—it’s living so fabulously that your ex starts regretting all their life choices.

You’ve got this, babe. Now, go slay the holidays!

#breakup #healing journey #inspiration #positive mental attitude #glow up #encouragement #self care #holiday

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auroralix · 1 year ago

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✩ fairly odd christmas - part 2 ✩

read parts one and three here!

pairing: chanlix. this is still chanlix. this will always be chanlix.

summary: single and lonely on christmas, felix makes an offhand wish to have someone to love. the man who appears in his kitchen the next morning to make that wish come true is the last thing he expects.

song: fictional ~ khloe rose

this section’s word count: 5.6k

warnings: i don’t think there are many ?? ummmm the boys(tm) are in love so if you’re homophobic gtfo, the tiniest bit of angst if you squint bc felix is insecure, also felix is still thirsty he’d like some water pls

small a/n: part two! i highly recommend reading part one before this as this will make more sense. i have part one linked above (: also i’m still in the process of editing this, which i’m going to focus on once all parts are written and posted

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

The next several days passed without much excitement, much to Felix’s relief. The time consisted of both Chan and Felix learning to love with each other and become more comfortable in their shared space.

Felix took an extra day off work to help Chan settle in more before having to return and leave the spirit at home. He felt horrible the day after when he had to leave Chan and go back to work, but he knew it was for the best.

During the day, Felix went to work and sat at a desk and dreamed about clocking out and going home to the man waiting for him. He was mildly embarrassed to admit just how quickly Chan had worked his way into Felix’s heart, but the damage was done, there was no going back to how he was before.

Chan was the sweetest person Felix had ever met, he was convinced of it. Yes, he hadn’t known the other very long at all but there was no way anyone else could even compete. All of Felix’s past loves were shadows in comparison to the beacon of light that found himself in the center of Felix’s life.

With anyone else, he would’ve been scared he was moving too fast and getting himself in too deep. He and Chan had spoken about it, made it clear from their first day together that Chan was there to fill Felix’s lovesick heart the way he craved so intensely. And he had, he was there when Felix woke up, came home from work and went to sleep.

That wasn’t to say he catered himself completely to Felix’s every desire. He had his own little quirks that endeared him to Felix even more, one of those being his ability to Christmas-ify any and every room he walked into on a whim.

Felix couldn’t believe his eyes his first day home from work to see his apartment decked out in Christmas decor. Little baubles had been placed here and there and paper garlands were strung across the apartment. His sad little Christmas tree he’d put up in the corner had been completely transformed into a glowing masterpiece, just the same as the sad little tree in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” had been. And to top it all off, the whole apartment smelled like fresh cookies.

Felix didn’t know if spirits were allowed to marry, but if they were, he would’ve proposed on the spot.

His apartment had never felt quite as much like a home as it did once Chan aggressively redecorated, making the apartment look like a scene straight out of a cheesy Christmas movie. It was a bit overboard, but Felix didn’t have the heart to say so when he saw the utterly joyful expression coloring Chan’s face.

Christmas was his favorite time of year but he hadn’t properly celebrated Christmas in too long. The most he’d done was put up a tree and maybe some lights on his apartment balcony as he had been by himself every Christmas since college. He was grateful for Chan coming in and springboarding him right into the Christmas spirit.

Although the two of them were spending lots of time together outside of Felix’s work, their relationship hadn’t progressed farther than cuddling while watching a movie or falling asleep. They had time and while Felix was more than happy to let his inner monologue go crazy over Chan, he didn’t want to jump into anything more physical until they’d been on a few dates at least.

One of those dates Felix had been planning for some time, or at least a couple hours while he was supposed to be working.

Chan had a penchant for cookie baking that nearly put Felix’s brownie skills to shame; he’d made large batches of the tasty treats in three different variations since arriving in Felix’s kitchen almost a week ago. And while Felix figured a lot of people would get tired of the baked goods constantly covering his counters in different little tins Chan found, he was not one of those people. Felix had a notorious sweet tooth that could rival that of a five year old’s so he wasn’t complaining by any means.

It had sparked an idea for their first official date, a metaphorical bulb lighting up above Felix’s head when the thought popped into his brain. An ad had popped up while scrolling through TikTok for a shop where people could decorate their own Christmas cookies. As soon as he saw it, he knew it was the perfect place to bring Chan.

He made a reservation for the next night, barely able to contain his excitement and stop himself from spoiling the surprise to Chan when he got home.

“Someone’s happy,” Chan commented when Felix came home hours later. He was in the kitchen, absentmindedly stirring something on the stove and the smell immediately made Felix’s stomach grumble in interest.

Felix hummed, nodding and making his way over to Chan so he could peek over his shoulder at the pan on the stove.

“How’d you know?”

Chan gave Felix a dimply smile before shrugging. “It’s just one of those things.”

“You say that, but I have the feeling it’s another one of your little powers you haven’t mentioned yet.”

Chan just shrugged again, smile still on his face as he looked back to the pot of pasta on the stove. “It might be, you never know.”

Felix groaned and shook his head. “Why can’t you just tell me?”

“Where’d the fun be in that?” Chan giggled, wiggling his hips slightly in a way that made him look like more an excited, oversized puppy than the powerful spirit he was.

And if Felix’s heart didn’t skip a beat or three at the sight.

“Okay, fine, don’t tell me. You’re lucky you’re cute,” Felix grumbled quietly, hardly realizing the words that were leaving his mouth before they tumbled out.

Moments later, a soft squeaking noise came from Chan’s general direction as he tried not to choke on his own spit.

“Y-You… you think I’m cute?” Chan’s words were hushed, his tone disbelieving.

Felix felt his brain stop for a second as it caught up with his words before nodding quickly, unable to help the adoring little smile growing on his face. “I- I, um, yeah, I really do.”

Chan’s own shy smile mirrored Felix’s, his face flushing a bright shade of pink as he looked back at the pot of pasta. “I- uh, o-oh wow, would you look at that, the food’s done. Do- do you want a bowl?”

Felix nodded once again and went to retrieve two bowls for Chan and himself. He chose to ignore Chan’s blatant subject change after being complimented for the time being. Instead, he decided to bring it up later when the other didn’t seem quite so flustered and was less likely to burn himself on the hot surfaces he was surrounded by.

Chan hurried through serving Felix and then himself, keeping his head ducked to try and hide his reddened face the whole time. He offered Felix an awkward, sheepish giggle, waddling into the other room without another word.

Felix shook his head and followed Chan into the other room, fond smile dancing on his lips as he looked after the other. He settled down on the couch next to Chan, not at all thinking about the way their knees lightly rested against each other as he pushed the pasta around in his bowl.

“So, um, I was thinking we could go out tomorrow night,” he began after a moment. “One of my days off from work is tomorrow and we haven’t been on an actual date yet.”

He looked up from his bowl to once again find Chan beaming at him, dimples etched deep on either side of his mouth, the embarrassment from earlier long forgotten. Felix had the fleeting thought run through his mind that he’d never seen someone as beautiful as the man sitting opposite him. The thought was quickly followed up by another right after of how lucky he was to be faced with that bright smile everyday. And to be the cause of it so often made him feel wholly unworthy.

Chan was the sun, and Felix was a simple sunflower, greedily basking in the warmth of the other’s gaze.

It had only been a few days and already, Felix was unsure how he’d made it this far without the Christmas fairy in his life.

“You want to go on a date?” Chan asked, his voice snapping Felix out of his daze and back to the present.

Felix blinked at Chan dumbly a couple times before nodding and giving the other a small smile in return. “That’s part of why you’re here, right? So we can do cute couple things together?”

“Well, yeah, but I wasn’t sure if you actually wanted to-“

“Channie,” Felix interrupted, scooting closer and putting his face in front of Chan’s so he couldn’t escape his gaze. He also refused to think about how quickly and easily that little nickname slipped out of his lips. “Why would I not want to go out with you? I haven’t known you for a very long time, but I do know that you’re kind, funny, the best cookie maker in the whole world, and quite possibly the hottest person I’ve ever met. I want to take you out and make you smile and let everyone be jealous that someone as amazing as you would be with someone like me.”

Sometime during his short speech, Felix’s hand had found its way to rest on Chan’s arm. And once Felix realized, he kept his hand where it was, secretly enjoying the feel of Chan’s arm under his hand.

Not that Chan had noticed, his face red and eyes wide as he stared back at Felix.

“Really?” he said quietly, tone unsure. “Y-You mean it?”

Felix gave Chan the sweetest smile he could muster, the Christmas fairy deserved nothing less. “I mean every word.”

Chan let out a soft giggle, looking down at his hands for a brief moment. He looked up at Felix again, who had still not moved away from in front of Chan’s face. This time, his expression wasn’t shy, it was the exact opposite. Chan’s full lips were quirked up in a cocky smirk and one of his eyebrows was raised as he gazed at Felix, who suddenly felt much too warm and too close to the other.

“So, you think I’m hot, huh?” Sadly for Chan, his façade lasted only until the end of that sentence, after which he immediately broke down into embarrassed giggles. He set his half eaten bowl of pasta down on the end table next to him and sunk into the corner of the couch, covering his face with both arms. Tiny, distressed groans and squeaks could also be heard coming from Chan’s general direction.

Felix just sat in his spot for a few seconds too long, his entire face now a deep shade of red to match Chan’s. He let out a nervous giggle of his own, trying not to think too hard about how his stomach was in knots over seeing that new, albeit short lived, side of Chan.

He didn’t know what he was going to do with the sweet, and apparently sometimes feisty, Christmas spirit that had found himself a staple in Felix’s life faster than he’d ever admit.

•••

The next evening couldn’t arrive fast enough.

For Felix, it was torture trying to keep the idea for his date a secret from Chan. And for Chan, it was torture as he followed his human around all day trying to guess what the date could be.

But eventually, it was nearing time for them to head out so they didn’t miss their reservations at the cookie shop.

Felix had told Chan to wear comfy clothes that he didn’t mind getting dirty which was a struggle for Chan as he loved his new, nearly all black wardrobe he’d picked out with Felix the week before. He didn’t want to get any of his new outfits messy, but after much reassurance from Felix that they could be washed, he settled on a set of clothes and the two headed out.

From the moment they walked into the shop, Chan had gone quiet, gazing at the rows of cookies waiting to be decorated in wonder. Felix just followed him around, letting him look at the impressive spread of cookies, icings, and candy decorations they had to choose from. He couldn’t help but smile fondly every time Chan came bouncing up to him, rambling about another type of cookie he just had to decorate and take home.

“Which ones do you want to start with first, Chan?” Felix asked after they started their third lap around the store.

“I- I don’t know, they all look so good,” Chan replied with a slight huff.

“Well, we can decorate a few to begin with and come back for more after. You don’t have to decide on everything right now.”

The smile Chan gave Felix in return was blinding, immediately bounding back to the front of the store so he could start collecting the cookies he wanted.

As he followed Chan around, Felix began to realize just how much he underestimated the amount of energy the spirit truly had. It took another three turns around the shop before Chan was ready to sit down and decorate. To Felix though, the slight twinge in his feet from so much walking was worth it to see Chan’s face permanently lit up with joy.

Another thing that quickly became apparent to Felix was just how skilled Chan was when it came to decorating. They’d barely sat down and already Chan was spreading out the cookies he picked out and icing them to near perfection. He held the little piping bottles expertly, concentrating on filling in every little gap with the colorful frosting.

Felix, on the other hand, was struggling a little more. He’d picked out some cookies for himself and though he considered himself somewhat skilled as a baker, it was clear that talent did not translate over into decorating. While Chan could create the most wonderful little pictures with frosting, Felix was just happy to complete a sad little stick-like snowflake on one of his cookies.

After multiple failed attempts to pipe out a Christmas tree that didn’t look like a blob, Felix huffed in defeat and slumped back in his chair.

“Is it like, a Christmas fairy requirement to just be amazing at cookie decorating?” he asked, looking enviously at the little murals Chan was painting next to him.

Chan shrugged, not looking up from the cookie he was now decorating with tiny candies. “Not necessarily, I’ve- I’ve just always liked it. I can let my creativity be free, you know?”

“I guess, but you’re so good at it, I don’t know how you manage to make every one of them look perfect so effortlessly.” Felix gestured to his tray of cookies with lumpy little pictures on them. “Mine look like they just got run over.”

“They’re not… terrible.”

Giving Chan an incredulous stare, Felix couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped his lips seconds later.

“What?” Chan asked, voice squeaky in confusion. “Mine just look this nice because I’ve had a couple more years to perfect my ways.”

“Oh sure, because that’s just practice.” Felix nodded again, wholly unconvinced. “Go back to your decorating and let me be jealous.” He waved a hand dismissively and turned his attention back down to the cookies on his tray. The little smilies he’d shakily drawn onto one cookie stared at him tauntingly, like they knew he tried to make them better but was completely incapable of doing so.

Felix scrunches his eyebrows into a frown and petulantly poked at the cookie, offended by its happiness when he was trying to sulk. From his side, he heard a snicker and whipped his head up to look at Chan. “Don’t laugh at my pain.”

“I’m not laughing, I promise!” Chan snickered again and flinched dramatically when Felix reached out to lightly smack at his arm.

“Yes you were! You think my lack of talent is funny.” Felix pouted, poking his lips out in a way he knew his friends and others had a hard time resisting. Chan was no exception to his ways.

“I’m sorry, I- I didn’t mean to upset you.” The smile was gone from Chan’s face, leaving him looking genuinely concerned.

Felix’s eyes widened as he realized what he’d done. Twice now since Chan came to him had Felix accidentally offended him. Scrambling to correct his error he rushed out, “No! No, no, Channie, no. I’m not upset, I promise. I was just joking.”

Chan still didn’t seem horribly convinced at his words, and Felix once again felt like the worst person alive for making his Christmas fairy feel that way.

His Christmas fairy. Huh. That was new.

“I mean it, I’m really impressed by you and couldn’t create anything close to that. I- I say stupid things sometimes, so don’t listen to me, like, ever. I’m really sorry.” Without thinking, Felix reached a hand out to brush a couple stray curls off of Chan’s forehead. He didn��t miss the way Chan stilled at the move, the tips of his ears flushing a dark red.

“You really like my decorations?” His question was quiet, half unsure and half shy.

“I don’t just like them, I love them. Now, let me watch the master work and maybe I’ll pick up something.” Felix lightly poked Chan on the cheek, grinning when a small smile made its way back onto the other’s face.

“If you insist…” Hesitantly, Chan picked up a new cookie and piping bottle, beginning to work on his next design.

Felix just watched him work, sending the spirit encouraging nods every so often when he held up the cookie to show his progress. He smiled as Chan regained his confidence and momentum after a couple minutes, falling back into his decorating groove.

Some more time passed and Felix started to get restless. He’d handed over his undecorated cookies to Chan, letting him make them pretty in a way he never could but now he was left with nothing to do. Until Felix looked at the little bottles of icing laid out before him and suddenly, he had a very stupid idea.

He picked up one of the bottles of red icing and put a dollop on the paper plate in front of him. Felix stuck his finger in the frosting before turning back towards Chan and lightly poking his cheek. Chan stopped mid-frosting swipe, frowning slightly in confusion and a tiny, surprised giggle leaving his lips.

“What was that for?”

Truthfully, Felix had no real answer other than a simple, “Because I wanted to?”

Giggling once more, Chan looked back at him for a moment, seeming to have an internal conversation with himself. He set down the cookie and offset spatula he had been using to decorate and reached in front of Felix, dipping his finger in the frosting on Felix’s plate. Then, with a mischievous smile of his own, he booped Felix’s nose, leaving a smudge of red icing.

“There, now we match,” he announced proudly.

“I guess we do. But maybe I should just…” Felix trailed off, grabbing the bottle with the green icing and putting a dot on his finger. He glanced at Chan and, wiggling his eyebrows, smeared a line of the frosting along the top of his cheek, right above the initial spot he’d left.

Chan’s eyes widened and he reached for the blue frosting to repeat the action of swiping a line across Felix’s cheek. Felix laughed, going for another bottle of frosting.

“Maybe this is the decorating I’m good at,” he joked, making a couple dots on Chan’s other cheek. There was a distant thought in the back of his head that they shouldn’t be doing this with the frosting and they could get in trouble for it. But one look at Chan’s smiling, red face and Felix couldn’t find it in himself to care too much.

The two went back and forth for a couple minutes, sharing laughs and shy glances as their faces became more and more covered in the bright frosting. They probably received some weird stares but neither noticed, too wrapped up in each other to think about anything else.

“I hope this doesn’t stain,” Chan whispered, leaning in close to Felix like he was sharing a deep secret.

“If it does, too bad. At least we’ll both look silly,” Felix shrugged with another laugh. “We should probably try wiping it off soon though, I don’t want the owners to kick us out.”

Chan nodded and picked up one of the paper towels that laid untouched in a pile by their cookie trays. He focused once again on Felix, lightly swiping it over a spot of frosting on his chin.

“Hold still for me.” The soft tone of his voice made Felix freeze, heart thundering in his chest at all of Chan’s attention on him, his face so close. He took in every inch of Chan’s perfect face, the light freckles across his nose that couldn’t be seen from far away, the way his eyebrows furrowed as he realized, “Uh oh. Felix… it’s not coming off.”

Felix was so deep in his own mind he barely heard or registered the other’s words. When the words finally sunk into his brain, his eyes went wide. “Wait, really?”

Nodding once again, Chan sat back immediately, his eyebrows still scrunched together as he studied the streaks across Felix’s face. “I think we’re both gonna look weird for a while.”

“Oops?” Felix offered unhelpfully and scooted forward in his chair, reaching for a paper towel to try and wipe the color off Chan’s face in return. Chan stayed still, closing his eyes while Felix dabbed at his face. Sure enough, the layer of frosting came off, but not the colors of the dye underneath. His skin was lightly stained, the little dots and streaks Felix painted stayed right where they were.

Even with the mismatched colors all over him, Chan was still the prettiest person Felix had ever seen. He was sure, now more than ever, that nobody else on earth would ever change that.

“There we go, all done.”

Slowly, Chan’s eyes fluttered open, his gaze meeting Felix’s. Felix was sure time slowed down in that moment as he looked at the beautiful man in front of him, the world fading into static around them. They were so close but so far away, and all Felix could think about was closing the distance that separated them; a couple short inches and he’d have what he’d been dreaming of for what felt like forever.

But not here, not in this crowded shop. His Christmas fairy deserved better, his Christmas fairy deserved nothing short of the whole world.

Felix tore his eyes away from Chan’s, turning back to the discarded cookies beside them.

“We should- we should, um, go,” he muttered. “I’ll go pay and get a box for these, okay?”

Chan just blinked several times, seeming dazed for a second before he gave a hum in affirmation that he’d heard.

Minutes later, they were walking back home, and all either of them could think about was what had happened inside the shop. Felix didn’t like the silence that hung between them.

He hated it, actually. He couldn’t keep messing up like this, Chan deserved better.

Long minutes turned to quiet hours and all too soon, Felix was getting ready to sleep, Chan already in bed in the room next to him. They hadn’t said much, neither of them knowing how to broach the subject of earlier. They made small talk, ate dinner and watched a movie together.

Felix still climbed into bed, curling up on his side. Chan still wrapped his arm around Felix’s waist, pulling him against his chest. Things were a little weird, but wouldn’t be forever. They could handle a little awkwardness for a day or two.

Next time, Felix would get it right, he silently promised Chan, and himself, as Chan’s steady breathing slowly lulled him to sleep.

•••

Another thing Felix had quickly learned about the Christmas fairy was that he could not sleep. He didn’t know if this was a problem all Christmas spirits had, but it was clearly one that Chan struggled with. More nights than not, Felix would wake up at three am to find Chan gone, in the kitchen baking or making hot chocolate.

Tonight was one such night.

Felix had woken up to again find that Chan was no longer next to him and instead had went off to the kitchen, presumably. Normally, Felix would just stay in bed and fall back to sleep, but tonight was different. He felt a pull, like something was telling him he should get up and join Chan in his late night kitchen adventures. So, he dragged himself out of bed and trudged toward the kitchen.

It had been a few days since the Incident and they still hadn’t talked about it. Things had been awkward at first and it had taken some time, but a couple batches of baked goods later and everything didn’t seem quite as dire as it had before.

Felix wandered into the kitchen and was met with the sight of Chan’s bare back as he stood in front of the stove. While Felix preferred to wear his cute, warm pajamas at night, Chan opted to sleep in shorts; though he suspected the reason Chan bothered to wear anything at all was just to keep Felix from feeling uncomfortable. Not that he would’ve minded if Chan wore less, which was another thought he’d tried desperately to push to the back of his brain whenever possible.

Chan heard the quiet shuffling of Felix’s feet on the floor and turned toward him, offering him a slightly concerned look.

“Felix? Are you okay, what are you doing up?”

Felix just shrugged, because once again, he had no good answer for the Christmas fairy. “I- I noticed you were gone and wanted to check on you.”

To that, Chan smiled softly and turned back to the pot of hot cocoa in front of him. “I’m fine, just can’t sleep sometimes, you know?”

By now, Felix had made his way to stand next to Chan and was watching him stir absentmindedly. “I’ve noticed.”

Things were back to being awkward and Felix hated it.

He wanted to fix it and make things better but he didn’t know how. What was he supposed to say? “You know that really awkward moment a couple days ago? I was really close to kissing you because you looked so pretty but didn’t want to because it wasn’t the right time and you deserve better than that and-“

“Do you want some?” Felix was snapped out of his inward spiraling by Chan’s question.

“I- what?” He asked dumbly, his brain still not having caught up with the moment.

“The cocoa, do you want some? I can make more if you want any.” There Chan was, still smiling sweetly at him like Felix hadn’t been a huge idiot in every way since the first day he showed up. Felix truly didn’t deserve anyone like his Christmas fairy.

His Christmas fairy. Oh fuck, there it was again.

“Felix, are you sure you’re okay?” Chan was frowning now and reached out to feel his forehead with the back of his hand. “Are you getting sick?”

Upon Chan’s skin touching his, Felix’s brain kicked back into overdrive, making him back away quickly. “N-No! No, I’m okay, I’m sorry. My brain’s just been… elsewhere, I guess.”

Chan just tilted his head, giving him a long, considering look. Eventually he sighed and looked away. “I can hear you overthinking again.”

There really was no hiding from Chan with his Christmas-spirit-emotion-telling-thing he had. That didn’t stop Felix from panicking internally.

This was one half of the two things he hated about love. The confessing. He was a chronic over-explainer and always rambled on for too long and weirded the other person out with how much he talked. He couldn’t help it; when he fell, it was deep and hard and there was never any going back.

Not that he was falling for Chan, except that he definitely was.

“Please talk to me, Felix,” Chan said, his voice barely more than a murmur. “I know it’s about the other day, stuff has been weird ever since then.”

Felix took a deep breath. It was time to face his anxieties and be honest. This was Chan, his sweet, lovely Christmas fairy that made him hot cocoa in the middle of the night and looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky. He could tell Chan anything and would still receive that same smile that brightened his mornings and made his nights glow.

“About that,” he began, huffing out a sheepish laugh, “it’s stupid, really. I just- in the shop, you looked so, um, so pretty and I really wanted to kiss you but it wasn’t- it wasn’t the right time. I- I wanted to give you the perfect moment because you’re so amazing and- and you deserve something just as special.”

“Felix… why didn’t you tell me?” Some time during his stumbled explanation, Chan appeared in front of Felix, fixing him with such an earnest gaze that he was sure his legs nearly turned to jelly.

“I- I didn’t know how to. I was scared I’d messed up again and made things awkward and I didn’t want to make things worse.” Felix looked down, feeling a burning blush spread like wildfire across his face. Seconds later, a hand tilted his chin up and he was staring into Chan’s warm brown eyes. He was smiling faintly, his head tilted just slightly to the side with his dark curls falling across his forehead.

“What had you imagined?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper.

That took Felix aback. Truthfully, he hadn’t fully planned it out, but different scenes would float across his mind throughout the day. One minute, it was them ice skating, twirling around with each other; and the next, they were outside as the snow fell around them, glittering against the twinkle lights brightening the night.

He closed his eyes, and concentrated on the scene that appeared most in his brain.

“We’d go out, maybe we’d go ice skating, it’d be at an outdoor rink I know of. There are pretty Christmas lights hanging all around and it just feels so magical; we’d skate and maybe hold hands, I’d stress about having sweaty hands or tripping and falling on my face. We’d take a break for some hot cocoa before skating a little more and when the moment was just right, I’d turn toward you and ask before kissing you.” Felix’s eyes were still squeezed shut, wistful smile gracing his face.

And then there were two large hands cupping either side of his face and his eyes were flying open, once again meeting Chan’s searching gaze. He was close, so close. Felix’s breath caught in his chest as he gazed at the wondrous man in front of him. Mere inches separated them but it felt like a mile wide ravine.

“How attached are you to that idea?” Felix could feel Chan’s warmth breath on his face and his brain short-circuiting in response.

“N-Not very, anymore.”

“Then can I please kiss you?”

Unable to form words, Felix just nodded, closing his eyes once again as Chan leaned in. Softly, almost tentatively, Chan pressed his lips to Felix’s. They were soft, just as Felix had imagined, and he hurried to reciprocate, his hands coming up to gently rest on either of Chan’s sides.

It wasn’t like any other kiss Felix had ever experienced. With other people, it had been nice, wonderful, even. He’d tried to push himself to feel the fireworks spoken about in his favorite books and had never had anything close to that experience. But that wasn’t this either, there were no fireworks.

Instead, kissing Chan felt like coming home.

He felt like a warm hug on a cold day, reassuring and there. He was the sun after a long winter night and a refreshing swim in the middle of summer. This wasn’t the feeling Felix had dreamed of, but one so much better; one he hadn’t known he’d needed and now one he knew he’d never be able to live without again.

Moments passed and all too soon, Chan was pulling away, leaving Felix forever wanting more. He knew right away that he’d never be able to get enough of those kisses, of Chan himself.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, blinking at Chan with a slightly dazed smile.

Chan smiled back, always and forever looking at Felix like he held the world. “Was that okay?”

Felix couldn’t help but let out a soft giggle at the question. “That was the best kiss I’ve ever received.”

Chan’s beautiful, dimply smile grew ever wider as he started to lean in once more. “Then would you mind if I did it again?”

This time, Felix beat him to it, wrapping his arms around Chan’s neck and eagerly pressing his lips against Chan’s. Chan let out a small, surprised noise but still returned the kiss, fitting perfectly with Felix.

As he pulled Chan in closer, Felix couldn’t stop smiling. Finally, he had someone to love and someone who loved him just as much.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

read part three here!

#stray kids #chanlix #skz bang chan #bang chan #skz felix #felix #lee felix #skz fluff #fluff #love #i love them #wholesome content #christmas fairy #so many cookies #they’re in love your honor

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lilover131 · 2 years ago

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Clear Card Chapter 75 Analysis

Omg, Chrissy posting a chapter analysis in a reasonable amount of time! It’s like a Christmas miracle in July! Now that I am mostly moved into my new place and am in a better place emotionally, I actually have the time to sit down and get this done quickly! I apologize for the delays the past two months, and I appreciate y’all being patient with not just that, but the lack of posts in general. I know I’ve been more quiet than usual for sure, and I’d like to get back to being more active on here.

This chapter was really fun in a lot of ways, but we also get a nice cliffhanger that isn’t entirely surprising. But nonetheless, I’m hyped and so ready for future chapters! Without further ado, let’s dig into chapter 75!

As usual, I will start off by talking about the color page. Omgggggg, I love this one. CLAMP gave us the colors for these new outfits immediately (the fanartists are grateful), and I love the similarity to this and the cover for chapter ____. Syaoran still has a serious expression, but certainly looks more serious than emotionless like the Kaito black cat version. And Sakura is actually smiling in this one as opposed to her almost confused expression in the previous chapter. The moon seems to replace the gears for the most part here, and this is symbolic as the moon itself becomes very important in this chapter! We also have Kaito’s clock face in this image, which is important for obvious reasons.

The chapter itself begins with Sakura revealing her Dream wand. It is not familiar to anyone of course, but Sakura stated to have found the key alongside her star key, and she felt it was important to use this one, especially as she and the others could sense that this was made with her magic. It seems logical to all that this staff existed prior to the world being rewritten.

Tomoyo advises both Sakura and Syaoran that the ear cuffs they are wearing are transmitters that will allow them to talk to each other. Moreover, they can be used to send audio and video to her tablet. Nakuru is impressed by the technology, but I never cease to be amused by Tomoyo’s never ending desire to capture literally everything on film. Hahahaha.

Sakura then pulls out the FLY card and uses it on Syaoran, which sprouts the wings that we’ve become familiar seeing on him. However, this is a surprise to everyone else, who of course doesn’t remember any of this from the previous timeline. Also, CAN I JUST SAY HOW HAPPY I AM THAT WE STILL GET WINGED SYAO?!! I was honestly a little depressed thinking we wouldn’t see any more of that. Lol. Kero asks why Sakura is using the FLY card on him and what she will do for herself. Sakura states that Momo told her that there were other cards that haven’t disappeared, and she calls upon FLIGHT (yay!!!). FLIGHT is honestly probably the best card of the Clear Cards, so I am stoked to see this card particularly returning. It is the only one from this deck that has really shown clear emotions and personality, and it’s so cute!!

Eriol seems impressed and through Nakuru’s phone can see the new card. He can tell it is made from Sakura’s magic and Kaho mentions that it is also Sakura’s summoning circle. With that, Sakura steps up to Akiho and asks to borrow her pocket watch for a bit. She willingly passes it along and claims she will be right back before she and Syaoran fly up into the air.

The couple has a beautiful scene in the sky with the moon in the background, and Sakura thanks Syaoran for coming along. He thanks her in return, but specifically for saying that he is her favorite person in the world. OMG, HOW CUTE CAN THESE TWO BE, SERIOUSLY?! I could not help but gush for a moment and just felt a warmth in my heart. But I absolutely love what Sakura says next. She says that when she found out the world had been rewritten, she thought to herself that if she had something to say, it was important to say it, because then even if the world was rewritten again, the words would still have been said and would live in their hearts. This kind of explains why Sakura has been a little more assertive in what she wants to say in the past few chapters, but I also think this is an important and beautiful message in general for everyone. We should all say what we want to say while we can, because they will live on in our hearts no matter what happens after.

While Tomoyo, Kero, Suppi, Nakuru, and Yuki are watching on the tablet, Touya speaks alone with Akiho. He tells her that despite Sakura’s flaws (which are hardly flaws but just silly teasing remarks), that she always carries out the things she says she is going to do. So if she has promised to find Akiho’s missing person, then she will. He is likely saying this to Akiho so she will be reassured that everyone will come out of this safely. So all they have to do is wait for Sakura to call them…together. He gives her a little pat on the head, and this is just such a sweet little moment between brother and sister.

Meanwhile, the rest of them are watching the ‘livestream’ of Sakura and Syaoran and just caught the cute interaction between the two. They comment on how livid Touya would’ve been if he had heard the conversation, and Kero and Suppi find themselves starting to pity Touya as a result. Lmaaoo. I guess it’s a blessing he didn’t overhear any of it.

Sakura and Syaoran are up in the air and discuss how they will go about finding Kaito, and Sakura says that she feels power inside of it, but that it doesn’t belong to anyone she knows. They come to the conclusion that it must belong to ‘the one who is missing’ and that it will lead them to him. Syaoran summons his rashinban and tells Sakura to place the pocket watch on it. She does as asked and Syaoran uses his locating spell. This has been a spell established in the original series as something he could do. In the Sakura card arc, Syaoran attempted to find Eriol via the coat he left behind on the feverish Sakura, and he mentioned this spell when Sakura transformed the SHADOW card at the school to locate Tomoyo (he couldn’t in the end since they didn’t have anything left behind by Tomoyo). The way the spell works though is that Syaoran can locate a person with an object of theirs that is left behind, and I’m so glad we finally get to see him use this spell successfully!

However, the result is rather unexpected. The rashinban shoots out a beam of light that points directly towards the moon. Syaoran assumes this must be a mistake because there are traces of moon magic in the pocket watch, and that perhaps this is why it is pointing towards the moon. This is logical, however Sakura then advises that his tracking spell is actually correct, and that what they are seeing isn’t the real moon. Syaoran is naturally confused by this, but Sakura acts immediately by summoning the SWORD card and slices right through the illusion.

This seems to open up a portal to where they want to go. Watching from England, Kaho and Eriol are commenting on how magic of this level would have taken the combined power of many sorcerers, but that Sakura was able to see right through it within seconds. She has certainly grown powerful, but Eriol states that this was not power she grew unconsciously but rather through sheer will. If she wants something done, her magic will guide her and do what she wants. It’s a good thing Sakura is such a pure and good human being. Can you imagine what someone with evil intend would do with that kind of power? Makes me shiver thinking about it…

Sakura and Syaoran have no idea what awaits them on the other side, but nonetheless they bravely go in together and without hesitation. The space they enter almost looks like a crazy Salvador Dali painting with warped clock parts all around them. I think this space symbolizes Kaito’s ‘time’. His lifespan is now a bunch of warped clock pieces that are broken apart (this is my theory at least). The beam of light from Syaoran’s rashinban continues to guide them, however where it ends is certainly unexpected. At the end of the light is...the dragon (the one we’ve seen from Sakura’s dreams) curled up asleep within a gyroscope of sorts. It seems to be trapped, and due to the light pointing at it, reason would deduce that the dragon is Kaito’s current form (likely a result of the curse put upon him by the Association and Akiho’s clan). Now, many of us have had theories that the dragon would ultimately turn out to be Kaito due to the dragon symbols that appeared in the corners of the ‘storybook’ formatting of his past as told by Momo. However, there was never any certainty until now. I can’t say I’m surprised, but I’m glad that we finally are getting some answers.

The only thing we need to know now is…well, what happens now? What will happen if they free and wake up dragon Kaito? Will he be violent and cause destruction? Will he remember who he is? And naturally…how in the world do they get him back to who he was? My current theory is that he will escape and enter Tomoeda, just like the first dream Sakura had about Kaito. I also believe that initially he will not remember who he is and cause destruction, but that Akiho will be the one to bring him back to himself. I also still think Syaoran will have some role here as CLAMP seems to have implied it, but we’ll see exactly what that is. I am extremely excited though to see where this goes, and I anticipate major drama in the next chapter! Let’s gooooooooooooooooo!!!!

#cardcaptor sakura #clear card #manga #chapter 75 #spoilers #sakura #syaoran #tomoyo #touya #akiho #nakuru #suppi #kero #yuki #eriol #kaho #chrissy talks a lot #analysis

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