#I’m gonna find some pictures of previous blankets I made and reblog with them for reference

[kieraelieson]

Maybe a fun idea or maybe a migraine addled dumb one.

So I *Love* making crochet blankets. Of all the things I’ve ever crocheted, my favorites have been the blankets. I’ve wanted to make be able to make them for sale as well (so I can justify spending more hours and yarn money on them), but with how expensive one would have to be, I don’t think I’d be able to sell it outright.

But what if I did something akin to a raffle? While I’m creating the blanket I open like, a go fund me? Or a something on my Kofi page? And each person that donates $5 is counted as one entry. Multiple entries allowed. I would need to set a minimum of total entries for the blanket to be given away/awarded to someone, but it wouldn’t have to be an enormous number or anything.

Maybe I could also do polls during the planning stage to decide colors and patterns and such~ It could be like a pride thing or a fan thing or just a cool blanket.

Especially if I went a lil smaller than usual and tried it with like a twin blanket instead of a king or queen like I tend to make for my loved people. If a first one went well I could do a king or queen next.

[ticklishfiend]

Cool Beans (My Hero Academia)

Pairings : Lee!Ojiro / Ler!Bakusquad (minor lee!bkg, ler!kiri with kiribaku!!!)

A/N : aaa this was a rlly cute prompt, tysm anon! took me a while to write this considering i wasn't really sure how to write for ojiro's character haha. i also don't think the toe bean thing is canon whatsoever but guess what, neither is kiribaku and u dont see me shutting up abt them do u? either way, hope u guys enjoy this!! much love <333

Summary : Denki decides to invite Ojiro to one of the Bakusquad's weekly sleepovers, and once they both arrive, is shocked to find that Ojiro has...toe beans? No way he can't investigate those! (even if they do turn out to be a bit sensitive...)

Word Count : 3651

⚠️quick heads up!! i had to add some lines after the "keep reading" so tumblr wouldn't mess up the writing! pls ignore them, they have nothing to do with the actual story!⚠️

REBLOGS ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED!!! MWAH <333

. . .

“Here, just glue that last paper down and we should be done!” Denki clapped his hands together with a wide smile, his tongue poking out of his teeth in excitement as Ojiro pasted the last picture onto their poster board for the night.

The pair had been working on a group project together for the past two days, and after hours of pretty heavy research and planning, they were finally finished, and Denki could not be more thrilled to not have to work anymore tonight. He’s had a good time with Ojiro the past two days, though, and wasn’t really ready to just part ways with him just yet. He’d never really hung out with the guy much before this, and as it turns out they got along much better than he would’ve initially guessed. No way Denki was just gonna give up the chances of a new good friend.

///

///

“So that’s it, right? We didn’t, like, forget a chunk did we?” Ojiro asked cautiously, knowing Denki was one to often forget important details like that. The electric teen sat in genuine thought for a moment, before popping his mouth with a smile.

“Nope! We’re all good, man,” Denki stood from his spot on the floor, moving the poster over to another side of the room and picking up his bookbag, turning back around to face Ojiro who was busy putting stuff away in his drawers. “Hey, um, me and a couple others are having a sleepover in the common room tonight. Would you wanna join us? I’ve kinda enjoyed hanging out with you these past few days so I think it’d be pretty fun if you went!”

Ojiro looked at him with an almost shocked expression on his face for a moment, eyebrows raised and mouth just slightly agape. “O-Oh, um...sure!” He looked towards his bedroom door a little warily and almost like he was confused, looking back to Denki with a thumb pointed towards the door. “Is it happening, like, now, or…?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah Bakugou and Kirishima already finished their project so they’re probably down there right now, but you can just come down whenever you feel like it! I’ve gotta grab a few pillows and my blanket first but I’ll be down there in just a minute.”

“Alright then, um...I guess I’ll meet you there?”

“Sure thing, man! I’ll tell the others you’ll be coming,” Denki gave Ojiro a big thumbs up before practically bouncing his way out the door and towards his own room to grab his stuff. This was definitely gonna be a fun night.

…

It took a while for Ojiro to get his stuff together for the night, wanting to make sure he had everything so he wouldn’t have to walk back to his room in the middle of the night and risk waking any of the light-sleepers of the dorm. But, once he was sure he had everything and had hyped himself up enough to do it, he finally made his way out of his bedroom, walking towards the common area with his pillow and blanket in hand.

Upon entry, Denki’s whole little friend group was sat lounging around the common areas. Bakugou and Kirishima were cuddled together under the same blanket at the corner of one of the couches, while Mina was on the opposing side of the same couch under her own pink and purple blanket. Sero sat on his own little chair, while Denki sat on the floor on top of an orange bean bag someone must have brought from their own room. Ojiro took a deep breath in before marching his way towards them, waving his arm that held his pillow under the armpit.

“Hey guys!” Ojiro greeted with a smile, all the teens turning around to face him with smiles of their own (well, all except for Bakugou, but Ojiro took no offense to that).

“Ayyye, it’s the Tailster!” Sero chuckled from his spot on the chair, giving Ojiro a little nod in welcome. Denki hopped off his beanbag excitedly, speeding his way behind Sero’s chair to grab a purple bean bag he must’ve brought just for Ojiro’s company. He plopped it right down next to his orange one, showing it off with pride.

“Jirou let me borrow this tonight! I invited her over too but apparently she had plans with Momo,” Denki rolled his eyes playfully with a grin, pretending to gag with a finger in his mouth.

“Booooo, love sucks!” Sero heckled with his hands cupping around his mouth, chuckling when Bakugou threw a throw pillow at him from his spot cuddled up against Kirishima.

Ojiro giggled at their playfulness, sitting his pillow down beside his beanbag before sitting himself down on it comfortably. “Thanks for inviting me, you guys, seriously.”

“Babes, of course!” Mina exclaimed from her spot behind Ojiro on the couch. “We love having you around, Oji!”

“Yeah man, what she said!” Kirishima spoke up, pointing at Mina in agreement. “You’re a super manly dude, Ojiro. We were so excited when Denki told us you said you’d come!”

“Dude, even Bakugou was psyched,” Sero smirked, pointing his thumb at a now seething Bakugou.

“I was not PSYCHED you Spider-Man wannabe! He’s just less annoying than any of you bastards; thought it’d be a nice change of pace for once,” Bakugou rolled his eyes, slumping into Kirishima’s chest with his arms crossed like a pouting toddler. Kirishima just giggled at his boyfriend’s little temper tantrum, scratching at his scalp just the way he knew the blonde loved (which immediately calmed him down from any previous rage he felt towards the, quote, “Spider-Man Wannabe��).

Denki threw himself onto the bean bag next to Ojiro, TV remote in hand as he grinned up towards the tailed hero-in-training. “It’s a Disney movie night; got any suggestions as our guest of honor?”

Ojiro sat in thought for a minute, scratching at his chin as he scanned through all the past Disney films he’d watched over the years through his head. “Hm...Wreck It Ralph?”

“Oh FUCK yeah, this guy’s coming to every movie night from here on out!” Bakugou exclaimed, the compliment making Ojiro feel a little sheepish as he chuckled shyly. The others nodded in agreement, Denki getting the movie ready on the TV from his position propped up on the beanbag.

Once the movie had started, Ojiro decided he wanted to make himself a little more cozy now that he felt more comfortable around the group of other teens. He laid his pillow down on the floor, lounging back against the beanbag and propping up his feet on the soft cushion. Denki glanced over towards Ojiro when he noticed the movement, his eyes naturally gazing towards the boy’s now propped up feet. Denki gasped in excitement when he saw something he had never noticed before on the boy.

“Dude! You’ve got little toe beans!” The electric blonde pointed eagerly down at Ojiro’s feet, the tailed teen blushing slightly at the attention. Denki scooted in closer to his feet, looking intently at the little pink buds on his soles and toes. “No way, this is so cool! Can I touch them?”

“U-Uh, sure, just be gentle please,” Ojiro scratched at his neck sheepishly, unable to keep down the blush pushing at his cheeks and ears from the attention.

Sero suddenly hopped down from his spot on his chair, plopping down next to Denki to get a look at Ojiro’s feet as well. “Yup. Tailster’s got beans.”

Ojiro chuckled at the nickname before flinching when he felt a single finger touch down on the pink pad right under his toes. Denki used the pads of his fingers to idly trace and feel around the flesh, and Ojiro couldn’t help the way his toes tried to instinctively curl up at the sensation.

“They’re so soft, I could do this forever,” Denki sighed, continuing to brush little shapes into the pads. Ojiro gasped with a small jerk when he felt a nail accidentally scrape against the skin, and Denki instinctively pulled his hand back in shock. “Oh, dude, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

Ojiro shook his head immediately. “No, you didn’t hurt me, it’s okay! It’s just...the uh, the ‘beans’ are a little...um…sensitive.”

Ojiro could see Sero raise an eyebrow at the word, a small grin appearing on his face as he nudged Denki in the shoulder with his elbow. “I think what Oji’s tryna say is, his beans are ticklish.” Sero glanced at the embarrassed Ojiro, Denki following suit with a large grin plastered on his face.

“Aww, that’s so cute! Kaminari, tickle his beans!” Mina giggled from her spot on the couch, Bakugou rolling his eyes at their silliness. The angry blonde pointed an accusatory finger towards Ojiro, the tailed boy’s eyes a little wide at the intimidation.

“Don’t be fuckin’ loud, Tail, I’m tryna watch the movie you picked out,” Bakugou grumbled, dropping his arm and pushing himself further into Kirishima’s chest as the red-head played with his hair soothingly.

Before Ojiro could respond, he yipped when he felt two teasing nails scratch slowly along the padding on his feet, his leg jerking back only to be stopped by Denki grabbing his ankle and holding the appendage in place.

“Ah ah ah, no getting away now, Oji! I wanna test this out a little more,” Denki chuckled, scribbling his two fingers into the bean. Ojiro gasped, quickly clamping his hands onto his mouth to muffle any giggles that threatened to burst out. Denki continued his slow, ticklish touches while looking over towards Sero. “Sero, get the other foot for me.”

“With pleasure~,” Sero chuckled, gently grabbing Ojiro’s other ankle and scribbling his fingers along the pad on his arch. Finally, Ojiro’s dam broke, muffled giggles being heard from behind his palms as he squirmed in his beanbag.

“Guhuhuys! Nohoho!” He giggled, gently pulling at his trapped feet to no avail. He really didn’t want to kick them, and was almost a little glad they were holding him by his ankles to prevent it, but at the same time it tickled so so badly and he didn’t know how much longer he could take it before he was gonna start to scream laugh.

“Does it really tickle?” Denki asked honestly, but the question only made Ojiro blush even harder behind his hands, the electric teen unintentionally teasing him beyond belief. “I’m gonna go faster, okay? I wanna test and see if it tickles more like that.”

Ojiro nodded shyly, before shrieking at the feeling of three fingers scribbling even faster along the pads of his foot, Sero’s hand still scribbling rather slowly on his other foot, but oh so teasingly.

“GYAHAHA! Kaminahahari! Guhuhuys! It tihihickles!” Ojiro cackled, keeping one hand over his mouth while the other went to grip at the side of his bean bag for support.

“Get his toes ones, you idiots. The toes always tickle worse,” Bakugou called from the couch, Kirishima giggling beside him.

“Yeah, you would know, wouldn’t you Bakugou?” Kirishima teased, pinching Bakugou’s side under the blanket and causing the blonde to yelp before hitting the redhead in the chest playfully with a frown.

Denki heard Bakugou loud and clear, moving his fingers up to scribble along the pads covering Ojiro’s toes. The poor tailed boy squealed, his kicking and thrashing getting a little more aggressive as Sero also moved upwards to mimic Denki’s tickling.

“NAHAHA! STHAHAHAP! IT TICKLES SOHOHO MUHUHUCH WOHOHORSE!” Ojiro cackled, both of his hands shooting down to clutch at his tummy that was convulsing from laughter. “PLEHEHEASE! I CAHAHAHAN’T TAHAHAKE IT!”

“Oh c’moooon Oji! You’re a hero in training! I’d think you could handle a couple bean-tickles!” Sero teased, switching to pinch at the pad with his finger and thumb. Ojiro screamed through his giggle fit, making Bakugou groan and grab the remote to turn on the subtitles.

“NOHOHO! NOHOHO PIHIHINCHING! PLEHEHEASE!” Ojiro pleaded, his eyes squeezed so tightly shut that he could see little colorful fireworks in the darkness of his eyelids. Kaminari just giggled, pinching at the boy’s big toe despite his desperate pleas.

“You’re really ticklish, man! Is it like this everywhere or just your beans?” Denki raised an eyebrow before glancing over towards his three friends on the couch. Mina squealed excitedly, knowing exactly what the blonde was implying, while Bakugou just groaned into Kirishima’s chest.

“I don't wanna moveeeee,” Bakugou whined, making Kirishima just roll his eyes with a smile. Kirishima pinched Bakugou’s side again without stopping this time, making Bakugou jerk with a few choked giggles. “N-Nohoho! Kihihiri!”

“I’ll just tickle you ‘til you help us tickle Ojiro, Kats,” Kirishima teased into the blonde's ear, who promptly scrunched up his shoulder and batted at the boy’s face.

“Fihihihine! I’ll hehehelp! Just quhuhuit!” he giggled, huffing when Kirishima finally relented. They both moved from their cozy spot on the couch, the three of them getting down on the floor next to Ojiro. Denki and Sero had momentarily stopped their tickling at this point to give the boy a breather, but still held onto his ankles firmly as to not let him escape just yet.

“Guys, w-wait, hold on-” Ojiro pleaded with a blush before being hushed by Mina.

“Sorry, Oji, but this is a tickle-friendly group! Might have to get used to it if you wanna spend more time with us!” Mina giggled, plopping down on his right side while Bakugou took his right. Kirishima sat behind him, quickly hooking his arms under Ojiro’s and pulling him back some to give the others access to his torso.

“Which we definitely want you to do! You’re super fun, Ojiro, and we wanna keep spending time with you!” Kirishima smiled, though Ojiro couldn’t exactly see it as Kirishima was behind his head. “And hey, if you really really need us to stop, our safeword is ‘koala’!”

“I came up with that one,” Denki chuckled proudly, holding a hand to his chest.

“That’s...that’s really nice of you guys to say,” Ojiro smiled with flushed cheeks, sighing before bringing his head up to face them. “Alright, I’m ready. Someone should probably sit on my tail, though; I’m really ticklish and sometimes it goes a little out of control.”

“No problem, buddy! Bakugou; tail,” Kirshima pointed with his finger extended towards Bakugou, who just rolled his eyes and plopped down on his tail. “Comfy?”

“Y-Yeah, just hurry up, I’m not sure I can take waiting any longeR-HRG! HEHEHEHAHAHA! NAHAHAHA GAHAHAD!” Ojiro cackled wildy as all the teens around him dug into his sensitive body. Mina scribbled her finger in the hollow on his right armpit, while Bakugou took a much rougher approach, digging his fingers into the grooves of Ojiro’s ribs and vibrating mercilessly. Denki and Sero continued their incessant assault upon his so-called “toe beans,” scribbling wildly with their fingernails and leaving Ojiro an absolute mess underneath them. Kirishima got a little bored just being Ojiro’s physical captor, and took to blowing teasing air along the backs of Ojiro’s ears, which resulted in him scrunching up his neck with high-pitched squeals.

“Aww, he’s so ticklish!” Mina cooed, massaging circles with her thumb into Ojiro’s armpit, making the teen jerk and writhe under her assault with vicious cackles.

“It’s fucking hilarious, he’s losing his goddamn mind,” Bakugou chuckled, moving his fingers down to pinch along Ojiro’s sides right above his hips. Ojiro screamed, thrashing under their hold with desperate cackles and pleas.

“NAHAHAHA! BAHAHAHKUGOGOGOU! NAHAT THEHEHERE!” Ojiro’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut, his body trying desperately to wiggle away from those torturous fingers that refused to relent on his sensitive sides.

“Aww, someone’s got really ticklish sides!” Denki teased, pinching at Ojiro’s big toe pad while having to hold on to his ankle for dear life so he didn’t kick it out of his pin.

“PLEHEHEHEASE! I CAHAHAHAN’T!!” he bursted, his body trying to curl in on itself from the ticklish sensations. “I’LL DOHOHO ANYTHIHIHING!”

“Looks like we’ve got a beggar,” Sero chuckled, scratching relentlessly at those little beans. “Tell you what, Oji; promise to come to our next sleepover and you’ve got a deal.”

“I PROHOHOMISE! I PROHOMISE JUHUHUST PLEHEHEHASE! NO MOHOHORE TIHIHICKLES!” Ojiro begged through his giggling mirth. Those fingers against his sides just would not let up, as Bakugou was quite the mean tickler he’d come to find out, and he really didn’t know how much longer he could stand it. It was incessant, it was torturous, it was...it was so much fun.

“Oh yeah? You wanna bring us some snacks too?” Bakugou added, one hand continuing it’s deathly ticklish attack on the boy’s sides, while the other took to scribbling along Ojiro’s stomach and pinching at the pudge when he felt absolutely necessary.

“YEHEHES! ANYTHIHIHING!”

“Hmmm...what snacks do you guys like for a movie?” Denki asked, as if he wasn’t in the middle of pinching and scribbling at his friend’s sensitive feet and making the boy thrash and cackle cries of mirth underneath him. “I could probably go for some sour gummy worms. Sero?”

“Oh, definitely some Reeses Pieces. Goes great with popcorn,” Sero grinned, looking calmly towards Bakugou who was very evilly grinning while squeezing torturously along Ojiro’s sides. “Bakugou?”

“Hot Cheetos, easy. Forget those next time and this will look like child’s play in comparison,” Bakugou chuckled lowly, Denki raising an eyebrow at him.

“Dude...this is child’s play. We’re literally having a tickle fight right now,” Denki grinned, the background melody of Ojiro’s desperate cackles making him giggle from the contagion.

“SHUT UP, SPARKY!” Bakugou yelled, which only made him drill even harder into the boy’s sensitive flesh.

“NAHAHAHAHAHA! PLEHEHEHASE STAHAHAHP! ANYTHING YOHOHU WAHAHAHNT! I CAN’T TAHAHAHAKE IHIHIT!”

“Alright, alright, just two more snacks for you to jot on your mental list and you’ll be good to go!” Kirishima hyped the cackling boy underneath him, but looked to his friends to mentally tell them, ‘give the boy a second to breathe.’ They all slowed their tickling down some, still not relenting fully, but instead reducing Ojiro to a pile of happy, giddy giggles instead of the desperate cackling cries he had just seconds before. Kirishima smiled at the adorable sound. “I’ll take...hmm...I’ll take some jerky! Mina?”

Mina stopped her assault on the boy entirely, Ojiro opening a tear-filled eye to glance at her through his giggles. “I’m more of a fruit girl, so I’ll have to go with…” Mina grinned, pulling up Ojiro’s shirt to reveal his bare tummy, her face leaning down close enough where the boy could feel her breath brush against the skin, sending goosebumps across the expanse. He sucked in his stomach much to no avail. Mina smirked evilly up at Ojiro, his eyes now wide and his mouth still spilling giggle after giggle from the slowly tickling fingers along his side and feet. “...raspberries.”

Ojiro’s eyes widened. “No! Nonono, not thahahat! Wahahait, Mina pleheh-EHEASE! GYAHAHA STAHAHAP! NAHAHAHA!” Ojiro cackled and kicked as he felt Mina place teasing raspberry after teasing raspberry along his bare and ticklish tummy, He wiggled and squirmed to no avail until Mina finally let up, sitting up and back against her hands on the floor with her own little giggle.

Everyone finally stopped their tickling, letting go of the boy’s limbs and backing off to let him breathe. Denki chuckled at Ojiro’s heaving breaths and residual giggles, patting his calf in comfort. “You okay, Oji?”

Ojiro just nodded with a giggle, holding up a big thumbs up. “Yuhup, all good here.”

Kirishima smiled widely, clapping his hands together once before patting Ojiro on the shoulder in support, shaking the boy around a little. “You did great, man! Way better than I could ever handle a good tickling!” the redhead chuckled.

“Yeah, man, you were a total champ,” Sero grinned, holding up two thumbs up to the tailed boy who just smiled back at him.

“I’ll go grab you some water from the kitchen, cutie! Get comfy on the couch, I’ll take the beanbag,” Mina ruffled his hair as she stood from her spot on the floor, skipping her way to the kitchen to grab him a glass of water. He watched her leave, seeing Bakugou stand up from the corner of his eye. The explosive teen just plopped back down on his spot on the couch like nothing had happened, unpausing the movie and making grabby hands towards Kirishima. The redhead just chuckled and obeyed the boy, getting up and throwing himself on the couch to cuddle Bakugou back under their shared blanket.

Denki just rolled his eyes at the gross lovey-dovey display, standing up and offering a hand to Ojiro. “Seriously, man, you’re getting that other spot on the couch after all that. Waaay comfier than this old beanbag,” Denki smiled as Ojiro took Denki’s hand, letting out a huff of air as he pulled Ojiro off the floor. Ojiro plopped himself down on the couch tiredly, letting out a small ‘oof!’ when Sero threw his pillow at him before laying his blanket down on top of him.

“Get comfy, we sleep in here,” Sero smiled before walking back towards his own seat. Mina finally made it back from the kitchen, handing Ojiro the glass of water with a smile.

Ojiro just sat there, almost dumbfounded for a moment at their kindness. “Um...thanks, guys. You’re all like...super duper nice.”

“Aww, babes!” Mina pouted happily, her hands shooting to her chest over the spot that contained her swelling heart. “You’re such a sweetheart, of course we’d be nice to you!”

“Can you guys shut the fuck up already? Shit, I’m tryna watch the goddamn movie,” bakugou grumbled, pouting like a child against Kirishima’s chest.

Ojiro really couldn’t have asked for a better group of friends, and he was so happy they felt the same way about him.

. . .

A/N : aaa i hope u enjoyed that!! if u did, pls consider reblogging, it helps my fic to reach more ppl!! much love to u all, mwah!! <33

[fishnets-fingers]

Six Months - Part Four

Summary - Layla desperately needs a vacation and her Aunt and Uncle come to her rescue. So, at twenty two, she packs her bag and jets off to America. Harry took a break from education and is now a full fledged content creator on OnlyFans. At twenty, he makes more money than almost all of his friends. What ensues when these two meet and realise the windows in their rooms face each other? How will paper airplanes bring them closer together?

a/n - Please reblog! Come say hi! This is becoming a slow burn.

Word Count - 5839

Warnings - smut (not what you think). fluff. just two idiots that won’t admit that the like the other.  one minor confession from one said idiot.

Masterpost (find previous parts here)

Layla opens the door to see Harry with a wicker picnic basket slung on his shoulder. He was wearing lilac trousers and a white shirt. He had his top buttons undone and his shirt was slightly see through. A cross was hanging on his neck and he had a soft smile on his face. Layla could make out a few tattoos on his torso, she wondered how many he had.

“Hey, you ready?” Harry stays as he steps into the house as Layla moves to the side.

“Yeah. Gimme a minute, I’ll go fetch the blanket. The sandwiches are on the counter. It’s guacamole swiss cheese. I also made some buffalo cauliflower. I hope that’s okay?”

“Sounds perfect. I made some lemonade. I have strawberries and watermelon. I also have a slice of chocolate cake.” Harry puts the sandwiches in his basket.

Layla comes into the kitchen with a picnic blanket folded on her forearms. "All set. Ready?”

“Yeah. You look beautiful, by the way.” Harry says shyly and Layla can feel her face heating up. She was wearing a white tennis skirt with an oversized black t-shirt tucked in. Her hair was in two boxer braids. She had put on some lip gloss, some eyeliner, and some sunscreen.

“Thanks. You don’t look too shabby yourself.” She says and walks to the door to lace up her shoes.

They both walk to the park in silence. Harry kept stealing glances at her ass and her legs as she walked a little in front of him. 

The lake comes into view and Layla walks towards it a little faster. “Oh, this is stunning. I love love love water bodies,” she says looking at Harry with a giant smile on her face.

“Yeah. It’s a decent view. So, what do you say we set up shop here?”

Layla nods and spreads the picnic blanket on the grass a little further from the water. They both kick off their shoes and get settled on the blanket. 

“This is nice,” Layla says. She stretches out her legs and throws her face back towards the sun. Her weight is mostly supported by her arms. “It’s sunny but you don’t sweat that much. It’s humid back home because of the beach, so you just sweat bullets immediately when the sun hits you.”

“Where is home exactly?” Harry says. His legs are bent at the knees and his arms hug them.

“Chennai. It’s a great city. It’s home and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You’re from London, right?”

“Hmm… born and raised. Unlike you, I’d trade it for some sunshine. It’s so bleak and gray all the time but it does have it’s charm. I’ll tell you that.”

“So… how does a twenty year old end up posting pictures on OnlyFans?”

“Wow. Jumping straight for the juicy part, huh.” Harry laughs.

“Sorry. I’m not one for small talk. Also, I’m slightly nosey.” Layla smirks. “You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to.”

“Nah. I don’t know really. I just got home from a year long internship in the Arctic circle. A week or so later my parents told me they were gonna split up. A lot of money went into that. Mum decided to move here, and that burned a hole into her savings. I really didn’t wanna burden her or go into debt and I just stumbled across the site. I decided to give it a shot. Not a lot of boys in skirts and tights. I saw an opportunity there and here I am, I just hit 40k followers last night. I charge 20 dollars for a subscription each month. I don’t do the whole pay per view. Taking pictures, coming up with concepts, buying stuff, and editing is a little exhausting. Clothes are just clothes, you know. I have an Instagram - that you found- and a twitter for promo. I’ve already saved up quite a bit of money. I’ll head back to college after I've hit my target savings.”

“That sounds like a full- time job. I’ve always thought it was easy. You post a picture here and there and bam hundreds and thousands of dollars. Thank you for trusting me with this.”

“So, Layla, what brings you here?”

“Burnout. Total fucking burnout. Definitely want to get a PhD though - behavioural neuroscience. Just not now. I want some peace.”

“So what? Just roll on the bed and watch TV for a few months. Sign me the fuck up” Harry says.

Layla laughs. “Not quite. I’m planning to write a paper or two. I already have an idea - how gender studies in psychology are rooted in a binary system and why they need to look at it as a spectrum. I have a few reading materials bookmarked. I’ll sub in for one of my professors mid November. But other than that, yeah, roll on the bed, watch TV and explore the country a little.”

“That’s not a break! You are still doing a lot.”

“Not really. I really want to write something for ecopsychology. Definitely would help to have an environmentalist by your side.”

“Consider yourself lucky,” Harry smirks at her.

Layla raises her eyebrow.

“Mostly did science and environmental science for my A levels. Interned with one of Britain's top climate scientists.”

“That’s impressive! Will you help me, if need be?”

“I’d love to.”

“Alright, enough talking. What do you say we get some food into our bellies?” Layla asks.

Harry pulls out the sandwiches, the cauliflower, the lemonade and the fruits. Layla eats some strawberries, and Harry takes a bite of his sandwich.

“Mmm… this is delicious.”

“Thank you,” Layla says as she blushes. 

Harry watches her as she bites into the strawberry. His cock twitches at the sight. “So um,” he  clears his throat. “Have a boyfriend or a girlfriend back home?”

“Lol nope. Never really been on a date. Never really liked anyone. I’ve never had the chance to too. All girls convent. Women’s college for my Masters and Bachelors. The only boys in my life are my cousin’s and my friend’s boyfriends. What about you? Special someone here? Back home?”

“I’m a single pringle as the kids say. Had a girlfriend in high school. Broke it off in my senior year.”

Layla takes a bite of her sandwich and Harry sips on his lemonade. “Harry, I’ve been meaning to say. I love your nails. I really like the colours you’ve picked.”

“Thank you.” Harry was red. No one has really complimented his nails before. He usually got a few stares here and there every time he wore something other than black. 

“I’m curious. How many tattoos do you have? When did you start?”

“I really don’t know, to be honest. Lost track. More than fifty, I’d say. Started when I was seventeen. Once I got one, I just wanted more, you know? What about you?”

“No tattoos. Although, I really want one. But my mom would kill me. I have a couple of ideas in mind. I like the small ones artistically. I do have a few piercings though. I have one on each lobe. Pretty standard. I got my helix done on my left ear when I was 20. I know what you mean with wanting more. Once my helix healed up, I just wanted another and another. Restraining myself has been a bit hard. Are you done having tattoos? Or would you want more? I personally do not love a sleeve but I think you could pull it off.”

“I think I’m done. It’s expensive to maintain. I still have to go once in a while and get it retouched.”

“Oh, almost forgot.” Harry says. He takes out a small box with a big slice of chocolate cake. Here he says handing her a spoon. 

Layla takes a bite, throws her head back and moans with her eyes closed. “Fuck! These are so good! Where did you get it?”

“I made them,” he says shyly scratching the back of his head.

“Jesus fuck. They are scrumptious. Perfectly moist. You have a gift.”

“I used to work in a bakery as a teenager. If you want I’ll bake more and bring it over to your place.”

“Thank you. Another reason to get more fat? Sign me the fuck up!”

“Layla, you are not fat.”

“Eh. So? What kind of movies do you like?”

“Um,” his cheeks heat up. “I like rom coms.”

“Oh please! That’s not the truth. I bet that’s what you say to impress all the girls.” Layla laughs. “Really! What do you like?”

“I’m not lying! I love The Notebook. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve watched it.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. You are the first boy that I met that likes rom coms.”

“What about you?”

“Sci Fi. Horror. Love me some good gore. I also love Disney movies.”

“They are two opposing sides on the spectrum.”

“What can I say? I’m a walking contradiction.”

Harry laughs.

They keep chatting while eating the cake. Some chocolate smears in the corner of Layla’s mouth. Harry absentmindedly reaches over and wipes it off with his thumb and puts it into his mouth to suck the chocolate off. Layla blushes profusely and thanks him. They stay there for an hour or so. Layla takes a spray on sunscreen and reapplies it on the exposed parts of her body.

“Here,” she hands the bottle to Harry. He raises his brows. “Do you not reapply your sunscreen every three hours?”

Harry laughs. “I barely remember to apply it once.”

“That won’t do. Put this on.”

Harry does so. They both fall into a comfortable silence as they lay beside each other and watch the sunlight reflect off the water. As promised, Layla puts on her ‘slut song’ and passes Harry a headphone. Harry giggles at the English translation. “Hey, if you make fun of it, I’ll end you.” They settle back into silence. The sunlight glints off the water making it seem golden. They are both startled by Layla’s phone buzzing. It was Heidi on Facetime. 

“Sorry, I’ve got to get this. Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” Harry says as he sits up.

“Hi.” Layla says as she accepts the call.

“Hey, Lails! You busy? I need a small favour.”

“Not really. I’m having a picnic with my neighbour Harry.” She turns her phone, so he’s in frame.

“Hello.” Harry says and waves.

“Oh, hi there.” Heidi grins. “So you asked h-”

“Okay. Why did you call?” Layla says and whips the phone back to her.

“Okay. My professor wants us to read and review this paper for like 500 words. I really don’t understand it. I’ve read it twice now. Can you just go over it and help me figure out what they are trying to say? Please.”

“Okay. Send it to me and I'll send you a voice note in say four/five hours.”

“Alright. Thanks. Bye, Lails. Bye, Harryyyy.”

“Bye, you idiot.” Layla hangs up.

“She seems fun. So, Lails, huh?”

“Hmmm.”

Harry takes a few pictures of Layla by the lake. She mostly just awkwardly stands there smiling and throws up  peace sign. Layla takes one of Harry smiling, and then pulling a goofy face. A couple who were walking together offers to take a picture of the two of them when they see Layla taking a selfie of the two of them. Layla gives them her phone and Harry throws an arm around her shoulders. She slightly leans her head on his chest and they both smile at the camera. Layla thanks them and they both pack up and walk home.

////

“So, you wanna come over to watch a movie?” Harry asks.

“I’d like that.”

Harry keys into his house and they both sigh when the cool air from the central hits them. “Umm.. There's a bathroom down the hall to the left, if you wanna use it.”

Layla nods and walks towards the bathroom. Harry quickly runs up stairs to his room to use the bathroom. He finds Layla on the couch scrolling on her phone when she gets back. 

“I’ve sent the pictures to you,” she says.

“Thanks. So what do you wanna watch?” Harry pulls up Netflix on the TV.

“I’m not really in the mood to watch anything new. How about Enchanted?”

“Never heard of it.”

“Okay now you HAVE to watch it! It’s such an underrated Disney movie.”

Harry puts it on and curls up on the couch next to her. Halfway through the movie, he notices Layala shiver slightly.

He opens the ottoman and pulls out a knit blanket. He scoots closer to her, drapes it over her lower half and puts some on him. Layla smiles at him. Harry feels butterflies in his tummy. She mouths the word to the songs and Harry can’t help the smile on his face as his eyes drift to her every so often. She is so fucking adorable, he thinks.

They get towards the end, where Gisele shows up to the ball and they take her coat off.

“Wait a damn minute!” He says as he pauses the movie. “She makes such pretty, intricate dresses and she shows up to THE ball wearing THAT?”

Layla laughs. “I know right! Such a travesty.”

The movie ends. “Thank you for today. I had so much fun. I should get going,” she says as she stands up.

“No problem. I had fun hanging out with you,” he says as he follows her to the door.

“What’s this?” Layla points to a whiteboard that has a calendar drawn on it with some writings.

“Oh. Mum always puts up our schedules on the board, so we can keep a track of each other. She has a 24 hour shift today. See!” Harry points.

“So, Anne won’t be back tonight?” Harry shakes his head. “What will you do for dinner then?”

“I can whip something up. It’s no problem,” Harry says.

“Hey. Come over for dinner. It’s Dosa night. Have you had a chance to try one?” Harry shakes his head. “Then you have to come over. It’s a sin to not let your taste buds have that experience.”

Layla says as she pulls on his hands towards the door and pouts with puppy dog eyes. It’ll be a sin if I pass up this offer when she’s being so cute, he thinks. He makes his way towards the door with her.

“Yay!” Layla says as they make their way towards her house.

////

Layla comes down the stairs after sending voice notes to Heidi as promised. Harry had a good time at dinner with her Uncle and Aunt. He now declared himself “a masala dosa convert.” She sees Harry helping her Aunt with the dishes. Her Uncle is cutting up some cupcakes and putting them in a plate with some fruits on the kitchen table. She joins him and helps him to plate the cupcakes.

“So, Lails, how was your picnic? Did he try anything?” Her Uncle whispers.

“Oh my god, stop it. Why would you even say that? He did not. He’s been super respectful.” She whisper screams. “I’m sure he doesn’t even like me.”

“Oh, that boy likes you alright. He smiles like a loon every time he looks at you.”

“We’re just friends.”

Harry and Abi walk into the living room. 

“Desert’s ready.” Your Uncle says. 

You guys play Pictionary and soon the house is filled with laughter. Harry leaves around 10 and you all head to bed. 

Layla finishes her nightly routine, gets into bed and calls her parents. She hangs up and gets comfy on the bed and starts researching and reading some articles for her paper. She puts her phone on ‘do not disturb’ and puts on some songs on her laptop and puts her headphones on. 

////

Harry tidies up around the house and goes to his room. He can see Layla’s legs on her bed and suddenly has an idea.

“Layla,” he says going near his desk. 

“Laylaaaa,” he says a little louder. No response. He doesn’t want to scream and wake the neighbourhood. 

“Layla. Layla. Lails!” Again, no response.

“Ugh,” he says in an exasperated tone. He tears off a sheet of paper and gets to work.

////

Layla has nasty on full blast. She’s really enjoying the new Positions album. She’s busy highlighting some text and taking down notes when she feels something land on her feet. Startled, she puts her laptop aside and crawls towards the end of her bed to find a paper plane. She looks over the window to find Harry standing by his desk pointing to the paper airplane.

She looks at it and turns it around. There was a note: ‘Do you wanna walk around downtown tomorrow?’ 

She smiles and walks over to the window. “Your penmanship is horrible,” Layla laughs. 

“Oi! No, it’s not.”

“This is the definition of chicken scratch,” Layla cracks up. 

“You know what they say intelligent people have terrible handwriting.”

“No one says that.”

“Answer the question. Yes or no.”

“Yes!” She says enthusiastically. “What’s with the paper planes?”

“I’ve been calling your name for a couple of minutes and no response.”

“Sorry.  I was doing some research and I had my headphones on. It’s impressive that it landed on my bed, it’s like fifteen feet or so.”

“I’m sure you can do it too. It’s all in the wrists.”

“If I did that, it’ll definitely flop.”

Harry laughs. “Maybe we can communicate like this, when we know the other is in the room. This way you can practice making a paper airplane fly fifteen feet.”

“Alright. Never hurts to learn a skill. See you tomorrow. Good night.” 

“Night,” he says. They both shut their windows and draw their blinds. 

////

Layla and Harry had a great time exploring downtown. They each had a soft serve they were furiously licking before the sun could melt it.  They walk towards the flower shop and see Earl changing the sign. 

“Hi!” They both say. 

“Goodness! Look who we have here Harry and the gorgeous Layla,” he says. 

“Earl! I told you already. Your efforts are futile. If only you were two years younger,” Layla laughs. 

Earl lets out a hearty laugh. “Can’t blame a man for trying. What are you two up to?”

“We went exploring. Layla picked up some paints at the crafts store. We’re heading home for lunch,” Harry says. 

“Well, I’m just closing up the shop for my lunch break. Come on up. We could have lunch together,” Earl says. “And before you two protest, I insist,” he adds. He opens the door and ushers them inside. 

They walk upstairs to his house. It’s quaint and mostly light wood.  It’s spacious. 

“Do you live here alone?” Layla asks. Harry throws both their tissues that came with the ice cream in the bin. 

“Yup. My children and grandchildren come over every Christmas. I go over to Florida to one of their houses for Thanksgiving. They pop over here during spring break sometimes.”

“Earl, can I use your bathroom?” Harry asks and walks over to it as Earl nods. 

You and Earl walk towards the kitchen. “So, how would you like a sandwich? Or some salad? I can whip up something pretty quick,” Earl says. 

“No no. I’ll cook. You just sit here on this island and give me company. It’s the least I could do after you invited us to eat. I insist. You can help by chopping up some veg?” Layla says. “Please I love to cook,” she says with a small pout. 

“Alright, can’t really say no to that face,” Earl says and sits down and Layla gets to work. She finds the ingredients to make some Arrabbiata pasta. Harry joins the two of them in the kitchen. 

Harry and Layla cook in tandem while Earl tells them a few stories from his childhood. They were laughing and having a jolly time. 

“Layla, this is delicious! Can’t believe you made that sauce from scratch.” Earl says after he swallows a bite. 

“It’s no biggie.”

“She always does that you know Earl. Does not know how to take a compliment.” Harry gives her a slight nudge. 

“So, you two out on a date earlier?”

Harry and Layla both choke on their food. Layla starts coughing and Harry immediately hands her a glass of water. 

“No. We were just- we were just out and about,” Harry says as she drinks water. 

“Yeah. Just out and - out and about,” Layla says coughing slightly. 

The rest of lunch goes by quietly. Harry and Layla wash the dishes and Earl dries them.

“I’m gonna use the restroom. Excuse me,” Layla says and walks over. 

“You know, Harry. I’ve known you for a year now.”

“Yeah?” Harry says. 

“All I’m saying is that life is short. And that girl right there, she’s perfect for you, lad. I don’t know what you are waiting for. Or her for that matter. Just ask her out, will you?”

“I’ve been trying to. I don’t know if she likes me like that,” Harry says quietly. 

“Excuse my crudeness but the fuck are you saying?!? The sexual tension between the two of you is almost palpable.”

“Sexual t-“

“Harold. I’m 72. I know sexual tension when I see one.”

Harry is about to say something but stops when he hears the bathroom door shut. 

“Alright. Thanks for lunch Earl. I’ve put some leftovers in the fridge. I’ll swing by next week with all the ingredients. I’m so excited to learn. I can’t believe you lived in New Orleans and learnt how to make gumbo.”

“I haven’t made it since Christmas. I’m excited  too,” Earl says. 

The two of you walk towards the door. 

“Thank you so much for giving this old man some company. It was nice. The house is quiet most of the time. This was a nice change,” Earl says. 

Layla hugs him. And Harry does the same. 

“I’m gonna take a nap. I open the shop only in the evening. There’s a spare key in the drawer near the till. Lock up when you leave. Keep the key. I have more spares. This way you can let yourselves in when you want,” he says. 

“Okay,” Harry says and the two of them head downstairs. Layla finds the key and the two of them let themselves out. She locks up and pulls on the door to check for good measure. 

They both walk home in silence. 

“Hey, Har.”

“Hmm.”

“I think we should hang out with Earl whenever we can.”

“I was thinking of the same thing. We could visit him every other day.”

“That’s a good plan,” Layla says. 

Their arms brush each other and Harry jumps a little. She looks at him, clasps his hand and intertwines their fingers. It was quite a bold thing for Layla to do. Harry looks down at their hands and smiles. He’s beat red. Layla smiles. They both walk home all giddy. 

“Well, I had fun today,” Layala says as they reach their house. She turns to look at him.

“Me too. Do you wanna come over later? We could watch a movie or do whatever?” Harry says scratching the back of his head.

“I’d love to but I’m sure you mum will need some peace and quiet when she gets home after her shift. I also have some stuff left to do for my gender paper. See you in the morning for a walk?”

“I’d like that,” Harry says. Layla bounces on her feet nervously and looks up at him. Neither wanting to leave. Harry really wants to kiss her but doesn’t want it to happen in front of their houses. He wants it to be somewhere special. Layla deserves something special, he thinks. He hugs her and they both go into their houses.  

////

The next few weeks go like that. Harry and Layla hung out together almost every single day. They’d watch a movie, read a book, or Layla would paint Harry’s nails. When Harry offers to paint hers, she declines saying that she’s too anal and would lose her mind even if there's a small chip or she would chip them off herself. They became fast friends. They’d constantly laugh whenever they are together. They’d go around exploring nearby areas in Harry’s car while singing around to whatever was topping the charts. Harry learnt that Layla was the kind of person who does not like creating playlists because she never went back to them. So she’ll carefully make a queue by meticulously searching the songs at the start of any drive based on her mood that day.  They went for karaoke night at the local pub and Harry was surprised to see a slightly tipsy Layla flawlessly spit out Lose Yourself. 

They’d have lunch with Anne if she was home. Anne loved having Layla around, he was happy to see Harry enjoying himself with a friend. Layla started painting again. Harry would sometimes stay over at Layla’s and have game nights with her folks. They would go over and spend some time with Earl, either cooking or hanging out with him at the shop while helping him tidy up. As promised, Earl taught Layla how to make gumbo. She picked up all the ingredients at the farmer’s market and went over to Earl’s in the evening. Harry couldn’t join them as he was busy taking pictures, editing, and queuing them up for his OnlyFans. They had so much gumbo that Layla had to ask her Uncle to give her a ride home because she couldn’t walk home carrying that giant pot. She gave some to Harry and Anne, too. 

Layla’s Aunt has been feeling a bit off lately. She was tired and had a few dizzy spells. She would work remotely from home, when she was extremely tired. Layla would sometimes curl up next to her in the master bedroom and work on her paper. She was close to finishing her first draft.

Their trip to smoky mountains was this weekend. Harry was over at Layla’s one evening. They both put on the newer version of Evil Dead, after brainstorming a few topics for their paper, and were curled up on the couch. Layla had her head on Harry’s shoulder and his arm was thrown around her.

“I really don’t understand how you can still eat while watching so much gore.” Harry cringes when the girl slits her tongue open into two with a blade.

“Like this,” Layla says as she scoops a huge handful of popcorn and stuffs it into her mouth and makes a show of chewing it. “Don’t shit on one of my comfort movies.”

“I say this with utmost care, but Lails, you are fucked in the head. You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Layla laughs. “You think I’m cute?” she says with a pout.

“You know I think you’re cute,” he says as he tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear. He leans in slightly towards her.

Layla looks up at his lips. As she leans in, the door opens.

“Hey, kids!” Her Uncle and Aunt say in unison.

They both jump apart.

“Umm.. hi,” Layla says. 

“You okay Harry? Look a bit red. You want me to turn the AC up a little? ” Abi says with concern.

“No. No. It’s okay. It’s the movie,” Harry lies pointing to the TV on the wall.

“Oh no. Please don’t tell me she has you watching Evil Dead. Lails! It’s not a fun thing to watch. Remember when you forced your cousin and he puked on the bed?” Her Uncle says.

“It’s not my fault he’s a wimp.” She crosses her arms. “Anyway, why are you both late today?”

“We went to my friend’s house-”

“We hit a drive through-”

They both say at the same time. Layla narrows her eyes at the two of them

“We went over to a friend’s place and I was craving a McFlurry and we stopped on our way home.” Abi says.

“Oookaay.” Layla says unconvinced.

“Alright, I’m gonna head back home. Thanks for having me. Lails, no thanks for the movie, "Harry says and Layla flips him off.

As he heads to the door Layla’s uncle calls his name.

“Harry, we got talking yesterday and wanted to ask you if you would like to join us on the trip on Friday? We booked a couple’s massage and we don’t want Layla saying ‘gross’ every five minutes while getting them done. I know she’ll be fine to hang out by herself but we just thought it’ll be more fun if you tag along. Don’t worry about the money. We got it covered. I’m gonna ask your mum tomorrow if she wants to join as well. What do you say?” Vasanth says.

“I’d love to, Vasanth. It’ll be fun to explore; I’ve never been. I don’t know about mum’s schedule but I know she won’t have a problem with me being away for the weekend. Thank you.”

They nod at each other and leave.

After dinner and a movie Layla heads upstairs to find a paper airplane on her bed. She smiles and reads the note: ‘Looks like you’ll be stuck with me this weekend. You wanna go to a club tomorrow night?’

Layla quickly gets a blue pen and starts writing on the other side. ‘Who do you think suggested that it’ll be fun if you came along? ;) Also, yes to dancing at the club but are there any here?’

She tries launching it to his bedroom but the paper plane falls short of the window. Layla rolls her eyes, closes the window, draws the curtain, and texts him the same.

Harry: oh can’t get enough of me huh? ;) there’s one in Raleigh. you couldn’t just send me the paper airplane back huh lol

Layla: trust me i did. It’s on the walkway below your window :( We’ll leave around 7:30 tomorrow? I won’t be out for a walk tomorrow. I have a video call with my professor about the paper. Soz.

Harry: lol i just saw the paper plane on the ground. Looser. :( for the walk but :) for the club.

Layla: goodnight. 

Layla goes to the bathroom to take a shower. She texts the girls for an update.

Potatz: Almost kissed tonight. We were on the couch, watching a movie and he brushed some hair away from my face. At least that’s what I think it was. My Aunt and Uncle walked in and he left, he was flustered a bit. Maybe we’ll talk tomorrow when we are going to the club. Maybe I’ll jump him when I have some alcohol in my system.

Potatz (Grace): Girl, you just need to woman up and ride his dick.

The others liked Grace’s message.

Layla groans in frustration and drifts off to sleep.

////

Harry gets into bed and sighs. Why did her folks have to walk in at that moment? He wonders how soft her lips would be. Would they have stopped with just a kiss or two or would they have made out? He really wanted to taste her. Her scent was intoxicating. It was a tiny bit floraly with an undertone of a woody musky scent. Sometimes when they cuddle, in a totally platonic way, he closes his eyes and takes a whiff off of her perfume. He groans as he looks down to find a tent in his boxers. He was not in the mood to jack off tonight, especially to the thought of Layla, when she’s just a few feet away. 

////

Layla and Harry are back at the lake. She’s wearing her white tennis skirt and a see through top. Harry could make out her nipples that were pebbled because of the air. 

She bites into a strawberry and offers him the rest by bringing it up to his lips.

Harry takes a bite of the strawberry and gentles bites into the pad of her thumb.

Layla moans, a throaty moan. Harry cups her cheek and brings her close to him. She leans in a bit and suddenly they are kissing. 

Their teeth clash. His tongue invades her mouth. He bites down on her bottom lip. They were softer than he could ever imagine. She tasted like the strawberries they were eating. 

Harry cups her breasts and her hands palm him through his pants. His breathing hitches. 

He lifts her and places her on his lap and she starts grinding on his crotch. Whimpers escape from each other. Harry runs his hands up her thighs, his nails scratch up from her knees and the snake their way into her panties. 

She  is wet. He teases her clit by rubbing slow circles, barely touching her. Layla throws her head back and Harry uses the opportunity to start planting open mouthed kisses on her neck.

“I need you inside of me, Harry, right now,” she says, almost in a whiny tone. Her palms cupping his cheeks as her dark brown eyes stare into his green orbs.

He didn’t need to be told twice. He flips her over, slides her panties down her legs and tosses them on the grass. He lowers his pants so his dick springs free. He snakes his hands under her shirt and cups her breasts with both his hands, he leans down and kisses her as he thrusts in.

They both let out a sharp cry into each other's mouths.

////

Harry wakes up with a start. He feels a bit disoriented when he looks around to see the familiar surroundings of his room creeping in. His body is laced with sweat, he looks down to find a sizable wet spot on his boxers.

Great! A wet dream. What am I thirteen?!? He thinks as he walks over to his bathroom to get rid of his boxers and to clean himself up.

As he walks back to bed, he looks over to see Layla’s window shut and the drapes closed. He sighs. He is disappointed that it was a dream and that he was not there by the lake with Layla ravishing her. He’s disappointed that their moment was interrupted earlier. He’s disappointed that he didn’t get to feel her lips on his.

“We really need to talk tomorrow. Maybe we can on the drive to Raleigh.” He mutters and gets into bed. “I’m losing my mind.” 

Harry’s never been this way around a girl before. He usually takes them out, fucks them, treats them right, and finds another. He’s never wanted someone so bad. Not just sexually. He wanted all of Layla. Her laugh, her love, her wit, her sarcasm, her humour, her intellect, her view of the world, and her willingness to jump in and take care of others. He’s never felt this way about another person before, not even his highschool girlfriend of seven months. 

Harry Styles was fucked. And the reason he was fucked was fast asleep in her bed just a few feet away from him. 

[fieryanmitsu]

Intertwined Roots | ch. 6 - “tic-tac-toe” | A3! AU

This is another chapter that I was really looking forward to writing, since it introduces our last main character! This was also a chapter that I had planned out quite early on as well, so there was definitely a lot of anticipation to writing this!

Also, I realized that I’ve been using the wrong spelling for Tasuku’s nickname this whole time. I’m trying to stick with the localized spellings, and it’s spelled “Tachan” with only one ‘a��. I’ll have to go back and fix it in the previous chapters…!!

“Intertwined Roots” is an A3! alternate universe series where Izumi, Itaru, Tsumugi and Tasuku grow up as childhood friends.

For the summary, background and notes about the “Intertwined Roots” universe, along with more chapters, please refer to the “Intertwined Roots” Masterpost.

Masterpost for my other fanfiction: here

AO3: Link in my Blog Menu!

INTERTWINED ROOTS – ch. 6

“tic-tac-toe” | spring | Itaru (age 5) & Izumi (age 4)

Izumi sighed as she pushed away her picture book and flopped backwards onto the floor, her foot idly kicking at one of the coffee table legs. Though it was her favourite book, she had lost all motivation to turn the page and had been wearily rereading the same words over and over again.

Bored.

It had been four days since she’d last seen Tsumugi and Tasuku. This was the longest she had gone without seeing one of them since they’d first met almost two months ago.

“Mommy, when are Tsumu and Tachan coming back?” Izumi whined from her spot on the floor.

Haruna looked up from the kitchen counter she was cleaning and glanced at her daughter with an amused smile.

“That’s the second time you’ve asked that today, Izumi. They’ll be back at the end of Golden Week – so three more days.”

The young girl let out another miserable sigh.

“You’re going to chase all of your happiness away if you keep sighing, Izumi,” Haruna tutted lightly as she wiped her hands on her apron. “I’m done cleaning the kitchen for now, and there’s still time before I need to start dinner. How about we go to the park? Will that cheer you up?”

Izumi immediately sat up at the mention of the park. It wasn’t quite the same going to play without her best friends, but at least it would be more interesting than sitting at home. With an enthusiastic cheer, the girl scrambled to her feet and got herself ready. Soon, the mother-daughter duo left their two-bedroom apartment and leisurely made their way to the park Izumi often frequented with Tsumugi and Tasuku.

With everyone off work and school for Golden Week, the park was livelier than usual. Many families were spread out across the grass with picnic blankets and the air was filled with the joyful shouts and squeals of countless children. Izumi’s eyes swept across the playground, taking in the swarming play structure and fully occupied swing set, spring toys and sandbox. From what she could tell, most of the other children were several years older than her – about Fuyuki’s age.

“Izumi, after we spread out the blanket, can you help me pick some flowers for the house?” Haruna asked gently, feeling her daughter’s hand tighten around her own.

Perking up, Izumi nodded at her mother before they proceeded to claim an open area of grass with their pink and white blanket.

“Mommy, I’m gonna go this way to find more flowers!” Izumi called to her mother, several dandelions clutched in one hand. The young girl wanted to find some daisies to go with the yellow flowers she had already plucked.

As she walked further from her mother, scouring the grass for a glimpse of white flowers, she suddenly noticed a solitary figure crouched ahead of her on the outskirts of the playground. It was a young boy with fluffy hair and oval glasses. He was holding a stick in one hand and scratching it against the ground.

Maybe it was because he made such a striking sight, playing by himself in stark contrast to the bustling play structure behind him, but Izumi found herself fixated by the boy.

Curious about her new discovery, she scampered closer to the young boy and, before either of them realized, she had come to a stop in front of him. The only thing separating the two children was the drawing of a grid in the dirt between them.

Sensing her presence, the boy looked up from his drawing and glanced wordlessly at Izumi. His magenta eyes locked with her brown ones for just a moment before the boy’s gaze flickered back down to the dirt. Without even acknowledging her, he continued to scratch away at the ground.

Izumi watched as the boy drew an X in one corner of his three-by-three grid before drawing an O next to it. Then, he drew another X in the empty square above his O.

“Are you playing tic-tac-toe?” Izumi blurted out, surprised.

The boy looked up at her again with wide eyes, but didn’t answer her.

“I didn’t know you could play by yourself!” she exclaimed in awe, unperturbed by his silence. She had never thought to try that before.

Crouching down and setting her half-finished bouquet aside, Izumi studied the grid with an intense expression.

“Are you going to put the next O here?” she asked, pointing at an empty square. “Wait, no, put it here!”

Izumi was so caught up in her own excitement that she didn’t even notice that the boy still hadn’t said a word to her. In fact, he was staring at her as if she was speaking a completely different language.

“Can I play, too?!” Izumi asked eagerly, wanting to implement her great tactical plan to win the tic-tac-toe game. “Here, lemme borrow your stick!”

With her hand held out open and expectant in front of him, the boy reflexively placed his twig in her hand. Izumi quickly scratched an O into the dirt, blocking off the potential win.

“Your turn!” Izumi chirped, handing the stick back.

Though the boy still didn’t respond to her, he took the stick and drew an X two squares below her O before wordlessly proffering it to Izumi. Noticing that the boy was ignoring the row closest to her, Izumi drew another O beside her first one. Then, branch back in his hand, the boy scratched out his final X and drew a diagonal line through his three-in-a-row.

“I win,” he murmured quietly, a small smile spreading across his face.

“Ehhhhhh?!” Izumi exclaimed in dismay, more shocked that she had lost than by the fact that the boy had finally spoken. “Again!! Let’s play again! I’ll for sure win this time!”

“HEEEEEY! It’s time to go hoooome!!” a loud voice suddenly interrupted.

Looking up at the unexpected holler, the two children saw an older girl waving in their direction.

“Um, I gotta go,” the boy mumbled, standing up and dusting off his pants.

“Wait!” Izumi exclaimed, shooting upright as well. “Will you be here tomorrow?”

“Umm…”

Brows furrowed, the boy glanced anxiously over his shoulder at the older girl waiting with her hands on her hips, before whipping his head back to look at the bright-eyed child in front of him.

“Uh, I… I don’t…” he stuttered nervously, unsure of how to respond.

“Come back tomorrow, okay? After lunch!” Izumi insisted. “I wanna play tic-tac-toe with you again!”

Without waiting for his answer, Izumi took the boy’s right hand in both of her own and maneuvered his pinky to stick out. Hooking her own pinky around his, she shook their hands up and down furiously.

“There! Now it’s a pinky swear! So, if you don’t come back tomorrow, you’ll have to swallow a thousand needles!”

Dropping his hand, Izumi knelt to pick up her discarded flowers, oblivious to the dazed look on the boy’s face.

“Oh! I forgot! I’m Izumi! What’s your name?”

“… Itaru…”

((I commissioned some artwork for this chapter of the fic, you can check it out HERE!))

Ahhh, I’m so glad I was finally able to introduce Itaru!! Honestly, one of the biggest reasons behind how this series came to life was my desperate need to have a universe where young Itaru is happy and grows up with wonderful friends who appreciate and love him T_T.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please do leave a comment if you have any impressions! As usual, any reblogs are much appreciated! Thank you for stopping by!

There’s also a couple more days before my 100 Followers Milestone Event ends, so if you’re interested in entering a draw for a gift fic or want to submit an A3! Drabble Request, please do check out this post for the rules!

-Anmitsu

[saokpe]

HDLW Sibling Week 2020 - Day 7: Free Day!

Well guys, we finally made it to the end! This has been one hell of a week, definitely in my personal life, but even more so here! The mods at the HDLW Sibling Week tumblr have been amazing this week, I can't give them enough praise for both their choice of prompts and their support of the various artists that participated in this event! Artist's submissions that you can see reblogged over at their tumblr blog @hdlwsiblingweek2020, so please give those a look if you haven't already. I am also eternally grateful for the positive response these fics have gotten, it really was what kept me going throughout these hectic collection days. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

This final fic is definitely my most ambitious of the week, hence why it took all seven days to work on and is being posted a couple hours later than usual (sorry!). A story meant to make reference to all of my previous HDLW Sibling Week fics but also work as a stand alone story of sacrifice and action! I love how it turned out, I hope you all do as well! (Sorry for the long message, please enjoy...)

A Drawn Out War

My feet slam and echo across the hollow chambers of the remains of McDuck manor. I clutch my weapons between my fingers, its sharp edges scratching along my already weathered and distraught palm. My clothes torn, my pristine pale face vandalized with the war paint my quivering expression wore. My feet keep moving, the nagging voice at the back of my head begging me to surrender, my resolve not allowing that cowardice to take over. She could be anywhere, yes, ready to pounce, ready to relieve me of this stress I allowed myself to carry, ready to aim her barrel between my eyes and allow me bliss. I don’t want bliss.

The wooden hallways I stalked threatens to turn, a sudden panic overtaking me as the idea of what hid at the other end drenched me. “I wonder if my brothers are still in the game?” My head cruelly asks, the thought dragging every step I attempt to take. I reach the hallway’s turn, the corner of my eye catching an odd construct. The continuing alleyway housed not tensed air but instead an elongated line of walls made completely out of blankets. My curious gaze is promptly stolen from me, however, as the moment I reach the odd monument’s presence, my leg is clutched. The fear from before returns to me like the shots I have so cautiously tried to avoid, the creature which held me knocking me over and dragging me to the now horrifying display of incorrectly used bedspreads. Darkness finds me, my heartbeat slamming over my chest with the power of the gun I loosely dragged with me. As my body finally halts, taking my bearings, like a cornered animal, I begin to shoot wildly.

Foam hitting cloth bangs the pitch black room, the sound of life grunting and ducking the only other element attracting my senses. Soon the ammunition halts, the clicking of an empty magazine the only thing my weapons shoots. 

My heavy panting fills the silence, soon the sound of a match lighting and the bright flame it produces return my sight. My distressed eyes look across, seeing the multicolored walls decorated crudely with the bright orange bullets I dispensed. I continue to dart, looking for who my captors may be, seeing two uncannily familiar faces looking back. Both sharing the look of blood curdling adrenaline as I, Louie and Huey stare down at my prone body.

“HUEY! LOUIE!” I bolt back, clutching them between my aching arms. The little strength afforded to me wasted as I revel in the long lost warmth of my brothers. “I thought you two for gonners after what happened at the kitchen!”

“Almost but,” Huey begins, stopping as he drags his candle closer to my sullied face, “-it seems we all survived.” A well deserved smile stretches over him.

I part from my re-discovered family, “Where are we?”`

“Cushion Island.” Louie, a tang of grizzled seriousness, answers. “After she separated us, I started reconstructing it as a safe haven, taking a new design philosophy into consideration. We’ve been hiding out in here for a while, amassing enough resources to be able to fight back. Looking for you as well.” The kid shares a knowing glare with his eldest twin. 

“I’m just happy Webb-” I attempt to, in my newly found excitement, say before finding a hand forcefully placed over my beak. Looking over to where the arm originates, I see Louie, still not dropping the solemn urgency in his gaze, tilting towards me.

“Don’t say her name.” He whispers, “She’ll know.” His hand slowly begins to part.

“What do I call her then?” Seeing the consequentiality of the room rise, I emulate their murmur.

Huey lowers the wax candle to the middle of the circle we had created throughout the conversation, “We’ve been calling her Worerdurk.”

“Ok then,” I allow the new information to season, “I’m just happy Worerdurk hasn’t, y’know, gotten to any of us.” My voice heightens as it attempts to avoid the severity of the situation. “It’s almost been a full day, she must be getting frustrated by now.”

“I don’t think so.” My hoodie wearing brother’s clarification almost overlaps my prediction, “Our sister isn’t that weak willed, she’ll wait as long as it takes.”

“Like a predator to their prey.” Huey finishes, his eyes dilating as he recollects. Both keep silent after, allowing me to think the situation over. What they have seen I can only imagine…

Their silence is not well utilized as before I could get a response out, the thin walls ripple and shake. The sound of distanced footsteps reaching us. Our eyes bolt open, their pupils staring at each other as we prepare for action.

“She’s here.” My silver tongued sibling addresses Hubert.

“I’ll get the weapons.” The cap wearing and increasingly calm Huey bolts deeper into the tunnel of blankets.

I turn to worry, keeping vigilant for any type of indicator of danger. This paranoia leading me to notice Louie a bit less jumpy, uncharacteristically so. His sitting body hunched over a picture.

I crawl over, raising my neck over his as I attempt to view the celluloid. Though harder to see in the miniscule candle light, the object identifies itself as a picture of us, dressed in humorously designed attire. The photo is far from methodically composed, streaks of blurred action carved to it as I rebelled against my sweater. I chuckle at the recent memory.

“Where’d you find that picture Lou, I thought Uncle Donald threw all those out.” I inquire.

“We found it while trying to smuggle guns from Worerdurk’s room, she had it framed.” He remains stoic, halting his answer as his drowsy eyes continue to stare over the picture a bit longer. “She takes this game so seriously, you think she can be talked out of it?”

“I don’t know.” My answer reins honest.

… A moment of shaky stillness follows my response, interrupted by the sudden movement of my triplet’s hand as he crumbles and hides the picture, turning to me swiftly after.

“Does your gun have any darts left?” Louie looks to me.

“No, I’m tapped.”

The answer brings out an annoyed grunt from the analytical adventurer. “It’s worthless to try to escape without guns. We’ll just hope Huey is faster than Webbs.”

“I thought we couldn’t say her name.” A second of my jittery concern asks.

He remains silent as the correction reaches his ears. Thought overtakes him, the footsteps getting louder and faster, its banging only matching the intensity of my beating heart. It raises further, and further, and further. The sound of incoming danger scratching over me, the thinning quiet only adding to the stabbing dread. My fingers clench into themselves, my spine straightens, my brow furrowing in shaky anticipation. The slamming steps boom, one after the other. I shift the anxious glare I wore across the room, my head nagging for an escape, eventually finding solace in my brother. Who, against any type of common sense or logic, wore a smirk, a begrudged smile. Why?

A figure darts to our corner of Cushion Island. I toss my body back as I analyze if the silhouette was friend or foe. Luckily, the candle light reveals the identifiable outfit of Huey Duck. Louie’s smile fades.

“This is all I could find, she's right on my tail.” Alarm laces his words. Quickly dropping a collection of plastic pistols, rifles, and ammunition over the cushioned floor, Huey begins to haul various items towards himself. Footsteps approach. As I stare over my brothers, their faces contorting and biting in determined vigor, two pistols are thrown over my lap. “Those are yours.” 

“Thanks..” I take both weapons, along with their accompanied darts. The weight pulls my arms to the ground before leveling them. Scanning the pistols I am able to assess their strength, weapons worthy of battle. Additionally, I notice their dramatically fitting color scheme, the right sporting vibrant red and green while the left a light blue and pink.

The sound of a long rifle clicking sounds from Huey, who while fiddling with his weapon asks, “You taking anything, Louie?”

The green adorned duck exhales heavily, “Don’t think so.”

The question’s originator sighs, standing as the answer delivers. 

“That’s stupid, how are you gonna protect yourself without a gun?” I ask, the oddity of the response forcing me to question. “Are you not that good of a shot?”

My brother restores the smirk from before, the incoming attacker’s noise scratching over us, yet he walked closer to it.

Huey pulls my shoulder, raising and dragging me to Louie’s opposing direction.  “He’s a great shot, actually.”

“We need to wait for Louie.” I attempt to reason, my feet slipping behind my older brother, my sight distancing from my younger. 

“He’ll draw us some time.”

“What?! No!” The situation’s condition punctures. The anger of it giving me the strength to break from Huey’s grip, the force shooting me closer to Louie, my feet continuing the travel. Not soon after the arms I escape stretch and lock over my abdomen, my sprint halted as I am once again pulled away.

“Dewey, it’s alright.” I stop my resistance as Louie speaks. “Just doing my part of a deal.” His words spewed with such confidence yet they only read to me like self-righteous nonsense. “You’ll win anyways, it’s not that big a deal.” 

Just as he finishes, the blanket walls that separated the room Louie stood over begins to ripple and open, a figure walking in as the footsteps halt. I don’t get to see the menace as Huey, with one final tug, emerges out from Cushion Island with me in hand. I separate as we bounce over the wooden flooring of the relatively better lit mansion hallway. 

“We need to run, you got your weapon?” Huey asks, slowly returning to his feet.

I struggle to find any will to return to my feet, the burning anger and sorrow encompassing all my energy. 

“Dewey!” 

My trance is broken, the sorrow suppressed as anger refuels me. I bolt to my feet, clutching the dual pistols in my unstable hands. I take a deep breath, the first intake of air I’ve dared take in the last minute. “Let’s go.”

The two of us race back the way I came, almost immediately after, the horrid sound of Webby’s guns firing echoes from the now desolate Cushion Island. My feet stumble, my teeth grinding onto each other in sizzling rage. I shake my head, holding my tongue as I return to a full sprint.

“Stop!” Huey drags his feet. “Look.” He points to the remaining stretch of the hallway.

I step besides him, looking forward to the sight of an almost invisible piece of string stretch taught along the two walls.

“Let’s just step over it.” I suggest.

“Look closer.” 

I return to analyzing the continuing path, noticing what my brother refers to. The same piece of twine repeated across the rest of the house.

“How did she even find the time to do this?” My shocked and agape mouth sounds off.

An eerily familiar family of footsteps fastly approaches. “Dewey! Huey! I know you’re there!” An arrogant and maniacal Webbigail boasts, her shadow stretching and distorting as it begins to turn towards us.

“Quickly! The lights!” Huey orders.

The instructions delay trying to reach my understanding but I eventually look over to the chandelier hanging near the alleyway’s middle. My arms raise, haphazardly aiming before laying two bullets in its direction. The second stray shot crashing across its top, knocking it out of balance and out of frame. The set piece falls harshly across the wood, the bulbs it hung shattering onto the walls and ground. Blinding all nearby with its lack of light.

“Come on! Over here.” I hear a voice call to me from my left, the still readable figure of Huey Duck hiding behind one of the drawers the house had a plentiful variety of. I throw myself, ducking alongside him.

“We need a plan.” I begin, my whisper falling to the increasing vibrations of the approaching Worerdurk.

“Yeah…” Huey dives into thought. Mumbling as he thinks of what to do.

My patience pounds across my head, my hand readjusting in fidgety anticipation. My neck turns as I wait for my smarter half to adjust to the situation, looking off to the hallway, searching for danger in the ink black darkness. As I scan the environment, two green dots stare back at me. My heart rips from my chest before I return to hiding.

“She has her night vision goggles, hurry up!” I don’t attempt to hide my desperation in the whisper.

“Don’t rush me!” he retorts, quickly slamming his feathered palms over his beak as the screech echoes, alerting any still breathing creature in the house. “Dammit…  I got a plan.”

“Tell me! Quickly!” I disobey his previous scowl.

“You only have one chance Dewey,” A pair of hands fall over my shoulders, “-take our sister down.” The hands squeeze before my body is hurled where Huey once was, the sound of his body scurrying past me blasting. I look over, the silhouette of my hat wearing brother dashes into the hallway. 

Gunfire instantly commences, the streaks of wind the darts produce flying over me. My body curls, the intensity of the moment shooting between my bones, the fear washing and twisting every miniscule detail of my body; forfeiting control of my valor. 

“No!” I yell to myself. Too much has been sacrificed, Louie tried to reason with her, Huey survived for my sake and now he’s fighting alone because he put his trust in me. “I CAN’T GIVE UP NOW!” 

I raise my body over the drawer, placing my arms across as I wildly shoot forwards. The pistols alternate shots, my left hand firing first, the red and green, the gun brave enough to attack first. The beaming green dots of my sister’s goggles shift to me before darting towards my brother, who’s weapon shoots aimlessly at her.

My guns don’t let up, my shut eyes doing little to help the cause. My fingers press and release in unison, the foam ammunition bouncing from all surfaces it can find, my continuous onslaught only hesitating when a loud grunt strikes me. 

“I’m out!” Huey screams, grunted pain in his begrudged announcement.

My soul sinks. I lower my body behind cover once more, my right hand finishing to press the trigger, it clicking, empty. I look down to it, tossing it aside as a million different thoughts flash my mind. I stare the hardly visible blue and pink dart gun down, the last remaining, one final shot. I exhale before tossing my body back over the wooden shelf, taking both of my overfilled hands to aim. Between the eyes, the two glowing beams that glared me over. The whirring of a gun ready to begin shooting sounds from my target, the artillery she carried ready to riddle my body in plastic. 

“Dear o’ sibling of mine…” I whisper, the previously suppressed sorrow stationing in my right index finger which sadly levers.

My final dart shoots ahead, dashing between the wind which pulled against it, vanishing to the darkness upon release.

“Ow!” A high pitched Webby screams. A palpable anticipation takes hold of all in the audience. A wait of the outcome, of the winner's disclosure. “Aw man! You got me!”

The reveal deafens my ears, my already limited view doubling, my head dizzying.

“YOU DID IT DEWEY! YOU WON!” A secondary voice congratulates.

The room begins to spin, my body’s excess of adrenaline leaving my body sluggish upon its departure. Consciousness begins to leave me, my body dropping as quickly as my increasingly heavy eyelids. Before I fall, however, I scream out, raising my left hand, the blue and pink pistol still loosely attached to it, “Heck yeah I did!” 

My brain shuts down.

Dewey eventually woke up, where he, along with his brothers and sister, was forced to clean up the mess their little Nerf war had caused. Despite that particular drawback, Dewey still proves proud of his cooperative victory over the once thought unbeatable Webbigail. The perfect end for a particularly perfect week.

Thank you all so much for reading through this rather long week finale, if you have yet to read the rest of the week’s submissions, all are posted on this AO3 link

[hua-fei-hua]

tagged by @shippingweekly~! ty o vo’’

Rules: Answer 20 questions, then tag 20 bloggers you wanna know better

1. NAME | Hua. 花, if you wanna chat w/me in chinese.

2. NICKNAME | ah, i don’t really like nicknames, unless you count hua as a nickname of huafeihua. once someone asked me if they could call me fei as a nickname n i had to gently correct them that that’s not too good an idea hahaha

3. ZODIAC SIGN | snake/taurus

4. HEIGHT | 166.4 cm, or 5′5.51″

5. LANGUAGES | english, 一點點的中文 (繁體) (我覺得看懂簡體字是困難;-;) (i also don’t really get a lot of practice so there are Definitely Mistakes lol)

6. NATIONALITY | i live in america. i’m half white, half taiwanese.

7. FAVOURITE SEASON | spring bc i get seasonal depression and the returning sunlight reminds me that it’s gonna be okay o(*￣▽￣*)ブ

8. FAVOURITE FLOWER | orchids n tulips~! primroses and plums are my favorite to press tho

9. FAVOURITE SCENT | roses bc an underclassman got me a rose-scented potpourri as a senior gift and it just reminds me that i make a difference out there

10. FAVOURITE COLOUR | purple!! the lighter, bluer shades of it especially

11. FAVOURITE ANIMALS | the other day my friend and i were testing out zoom and i was like “hey you wanna see my dolphin shrine” and she was like “sure” so i brought my laptop over to my dolphin collection and she was like “jeez i thought you were kidding about it being a shrine but no that is a shrine.” also crested geckos.

12. FAVOURITE FICTIONAL CHARACTER | mmm from bnha, i picked out todoroki as my favorite before i even watched bc an internet friend saw a picture of me and jokingly called me todoroki bc they (mistakenly) assumed i dyed half my hair red. (it’s actually closer to a quarter), but after watching the series, bakugou grew on me a lot, so he’s in second place. i tend to like brash, nerdy types lol.

13. COFFEE, TEA OR HOT CHOCOLATE | hot chocolate, though i don’t drink any of these three things often at all

14. AVERAGE HOURS OF SLEEP | six hours

15. DOG OR CAT | cats bc they’re soft n i’m kinda scared of dogs (。﹏。*)

16. NUMBER OF BLANKETS YOU SLEEP WITH | i’ve kinda lost count hahaha

17. DREAM TRIP | aight, so we first hit up taiwan in late winter/early spring, head out to the mountains, maybe by car, maybe by train, and chill out in toucheng or smth to roast potatoes underground, catch fireflies, and maybe make some lanterns. watch the tadpoles spawn in a forest somewhere, appreciate the rain, the works. then it’s back to taipei, where then it’s all abt those epic alleyway markets where boxes of pocky are 33 american cents each and awesome subway infrastructure where i get to show off my good sense of balance by not holding onto anything as the subway moves around. obligatory night market trip, ideally we’d track down a shopping plaza where i could find anime merch and/or pineapple cakes bc those hit different when they’re from taiwan. a bunch of obligatory family visits, and then we go to japan where i’m forced to bring a whiteboard everywhere and attempt to communicate using my shitty japanese in combination with the hopes that whoever i stop is very good with kanji, and then we buy anime merch. maybe if it’s all timed right, we could see the cherry blossoms, but that’s flexible and hard to predict. anyway, then we pick trains at random to ride off to their last stops, and explore the area where we end up. buy some pleated skirts bc you can never have enough of those. go to a cat cafe to watch the world go by but now with a cat on my lap. yeah and then come home probably.

18. BLOG ESTABLISHED | april 27th, 2016 is when the first post was made. i think i spent a day or two trying to figure out how to reblog stuff to here tho bc this was my first sideblog lol

19. FOLLOWERS | 159 bc i don’t post in tags a lot. this is my least followed blog lol.

20. RANDOM FACT | the username HuaFeiHua came to me in a dream. my previous fandom identity was LunaBloom, which didn’t come to me in a dream, but i did wake up at like three in the morning to come up with it for a hoax in eighth grade, and it became my fandom identity. anyway, i didn’t want to use it when signing up for the soul eater resbang in... 2017 (wow) bc it felt a bit childish i guess? or bc it was associated w/my previous fandom. anyway i had a dream i was signing up for resbang on their forum, and i came up w/hua-fei-hua, after a chinese poem i really like, as the username, and i mean i’ve had dreams predict the future before so who was i to deny this one?

i don’t wanna tag anyone so i’m gonna have another fun fact bc i’m full of those: i pick a character from a character’s name when handwriting fanfiction bc as a junior, i once mistakenly left my tiny notebook in my old chem teacher’s classroom, and he walked into my ap chem class going “hey [ap chem teacher] check out this notebook of [hua]’s i found!! it’s full of--” (and then i started literally screaming so he returned it w/o reading any of it aloud) (and then when i was hanging out w/my friends after school he found me again and i faced a wall, screaming, he mentioned to my friends “yeah i’m not really that surprised that it was fanfiction; what surprised me is that it was just pages and pages of it, just one after the other) ((this was unfortunately foreshadowing for the fanfiction fiasco of my senior year lol))

[shawnpetermuffins]

Anniversary gift

A/n: here is the 3rd and final part to my little husband!Shawn series.

Summary: it's been 4 years since the wedding and Shawn wants to make the day special.

***

“Okay, pumpkin, I’m heading out. I’ll be at the studio until five. I made us reservations for seven. I’ll come home, get dressed, we’ll leave no later than six thirty. That sound good?” he asks, shoving his phone in his front pocket.

I nod, “Sounds perfect, baby. Have fun at the studio. Write a song about me.”

He laughs, his palm finding my waist and pulling me into his side. “I write every song about you,” Shawn leans down and presses a quick kiss on my lips. “I love you.”

“Love you more,” I say with a hum when he pulls away.

“Not possible,” he pats my hip twice before crossing the room. “Oh, and one more thing,” he says when he’s almost out the bedroom.

“What’s that my love?” I turn my head in his direction.

“Happy anniversary,” he smiles cheekily and I think I fall in love with him all over again.

I smile lovingly at my husband who is far too cute for his own good. “Happy anniversary. Now, go. You’re gonna be late. Call me if you need anything.”

“I know, I know.” He holds loosely onto the door frame. “Are you going into the store today?”

“Yeah, for a little while. Gotta overlook a new shipment. I’ll be there sometime this afternoon.”

He nods, “Text me when you leave, eh?”

I roll my eyes playfully, “Yes, dear.”

Heading to the store now.

Bubba 💞

Thank you. Be careful lovie.

I shake my head at the cute nickname his mom gave me the first time I met her. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost eight years since then.

Fifteen minutes later, I walk into my store and am instantly greeted by one of my employees working the front. “Good afternoon, y/n.”

“Hi, Alex. How was your morning?”

“Good, thanks. Busy. How was yours?”

I hum, “Blissful.”

“Oh,” he snaps his fingers, “before I forget, something came for you about five minutes ago. I put it in your office.”

“Thanks.” I make my way to the back of the store when my office is. My face lights up when I see the bouquet of cherry blossoms sitting on my desk. I make my way over to them, finding a card sticking out the side.

Happy anniversary to my wonderful wife! Every single day with you is like a dream. I love you so much and I’ll see you tonight. - Shawn

I place my hand over my heart and sigh contently at his scribbly handwriting. “He’s the cutest,” I say to myself and text him a quick thank you.

I’m sitting down, admiring my flowers when my phone rings.

"Hello, husband."

“Hello, wife. I assume you got your flowers.”

“I did,” I nod even though he can’t see me. “They’re beautiful, thank you.” I stare at the blown up picture of us on the wall next to me. Our foreheads are pressed against one another and my hands are grasping at his cheeks. You can see my all too prominent diamond ring and I hum at the memory of when that was taken. It was our first wedding anniversary and he was on tour, flew me out to see him for the week - in my hometown. He took my out to dinner and then we met with some of the guys at a bar near the hotel. They were playing a few country songs, and nothin' like you by Dan and Shay came on. Shawn instantly brought me to the dance floor and we swayed pathetically to the beat. (Because he remembered how much I loved that song when they had opened for him on his previous tour. And it soon became our song.)

"Y/n?"

I hum, "Sorry. I was just thinking."

"About me?"

"Always about you."

He chuckles, "I love you, darling."

"I love you too, rockstar."

---

"Dinner was amazing, Shawn. Thank you for bringing me out."

"Of course, y/n/n." He brings me closer to his side. "You up for a little drive?"

"I'm up for anything," I confirm.

He leans down and kisses my lips softly, "Let's go." Shawn played his music softly in the car while he drove us to an unknown destination. I held his hand in my lap and brought it to my lips to press a feather like kiss to his swallow tattoo.

"Where are we going, bub?"

"You'll see."

I nod and close my eyes, smiling when fallin' all in you filled the car speakers. He reaches forward to turn it up when he sees me blissing out completely. It's my favorite song and he knows it. Well, he knows that every song of his is my favorite, it all just depends on the day. But this one is it every day.

We pull up to the park he took me to on our first picnic date about six years ago. To this day, that is my favorite date he's taken me on. We'd been together for just over a year at that point and we were talking about god knows what in his condo with a bunch of the guys. One of them brought up worst first dates or best or something or another, I can't remember exactly. But I let it slip that I'd never been on a picnic, but I'd always wanted to. Next day, there we are with a big blanket and basket full of food, sitting beneath the large willow tree in the center of the park, eating chocolate covered strawberries that he no doubt had Aaliyah make.

"What are we doing here?" I ask as he walks us to that tree again, which has now become our spot.

He lets out a deep breath and turns to face md, taking both of my hands. "Y/n."

"Me," I say jokingly.

He smiles and brings my hands up to his lips. "You know I love you, right?"

"Well I would hope so. We've been married four years."

Shawn shakes his head, a smile still on his face. "I want to do this right, this time."

"Do what right?"

"Four years go, I called you up late at night and I said that we should get married. That I was tired of waiting. I just wanted to be with you right then and there."

I nod, "I remember."

"I proposed to you over the phone and I didn't even have a ring to give you. And you married me in a  courthouse on a Saturday because you had midterms starting Monday. So we didn't get a honeymoon either."

I shrug, "But I got you… why are you making this sound so sad, bubs?"

"No, I'm not trying to. I'm so glad I married you when I did. But you deserve that big wedding that every girl dreams of having. With the large dress and the flowers and bridesmaids. You deserve to have all that and I know you said when we were at the courthouse that it didn't matter. But it does."

"Shawn-"

He gets down on one knee and let's go of my hands briefly to reach into his shirt pocket. "I'm gonna do this right, y/f/n y/m/n. These past seven years have been amazing. And the past four years being married to you have been absolute bliss. But you deserve to have that big white wedding dress. So, my love, will you marry me again?"

"Oh god!" I cover my tear stained face and nod. "Yes. Yeah, I'll marry you again."

He puts the ring around my already occupied finger, but it fits perfectly against the one I had been sporting for years now. His lips connect with mine and I hum into his mouth.

"I love you," I murmur against his lips.

***

Tags:

@curlyshawny @anamariel2301 @shawns-badreputation @my-sweet-escape-from-the-world

I hope you enjoyed! And I'll see you guys Sunday for a new post! 💙

Like, reblog, and leave feedback!!

[1000-directions]

30 questions

i got tagged FROM THE FUTURE by @dearmrsawyer did you know that it is already tomorrow there?? (spoiler alert)

(i think someone else tagged me for this pretty recently, but i can’t remember who, i’m sorry!!!!!!! sorry if i end up retagging you for this like an idiot 😩)

1. Nicknames? steph is really my only nickname 2. Gender? girl 3. Star Sign? aquarius 4. Height? 5'5 5. Time? 10:18pm 6. Birthday? january 22 YEAH ME AND FREDDIE TOMLINSON ARE BIRTHDAY NEIGHBORS 🤗🤗 7. Favorite bands? one direction, niall’s band, louis’ band, harry’s band. uh. i don’t listen to much else anymore. i was really, really into tegan and sara for very many years. 8. Favorite solo artists? louis tomlinson. niall horan. bebe rexha. ME. i love my own music, that’s why i wrote it, sorry not sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 9. Song stuck in my head? miss you by louis is the only song i can remember for the foreseeable future <-- this is jamila’s answer and also my answer and also the only acceptable answer 10. Last movie you watched? i’ve been on a marvel kick the last few days. i liked spider-man: homecoming the most, but captain america: civil war is the one i watched most recently. 11. Last show you watched? um i’ve watched 47 episodes of “agents of s.h.i.e.l.d.” in six days, sooooo let’s hear it for unemployment tbh 12. When did you create your blog? my first post is dated november 26, 2016 WHOOPS MISSED MY ANNIVERSARY 13. What do I post? mostly one direction (mostly louis). fic recs, and sometimes even fic that i wrote. i like to reblog illustrations of positive animals giving encouragement. i like science stuff and underwater animals and sometimes but not always anatomy. crafts. pictures of things with bisexual colors. 14. Last thing I googled? "cranberry bog” bc i wanted to find a picture of them to show jamila, but they were all so awesome i couldn’t pick just one. HEY, if you don’t know how cranberries grow, do a google image search for cranberry bog, that shit is wild. 15. Do you have any other blogs? nope 16. Do you get asks? i do <3 i get prompts, which i always read and think about and save, and i’m gonna get around to all of them eventually, i hope!!!! i get some anons about elounor and lad and dad stuff. lately i have a generous anon who gives me presents <3 17. Why did you choose your url? i was 1000_[something elses] in a lot of different places, and when i made my ao3 account, i needed to choose a name i would remember but didn’t want it to be the same as my previous usernames, bc i do want my 1d life to be separate from my real life and also my other internet presences. and then i made this url to match that name, although i’m REAL MAD that tumblr forces me to have a hyphen instead of an underscore and THEN makes it so you can’t track tags that have hyphens?????? so dumb. 18. Following? 105 19. Followers? more than 105, less than 500 20. Favorite colors? green! G R E E N. i like grey and light purple, too. 21. Average hours of sleep? lately, too many. i was back to a pretty decent sleep schedule for like a week, but it’s been really, really bad since thanksgiving, especially the last few days.  22. Lucky number? 22, which is also the number of this question, wow 😱 23. Instruments? guitars and keyboards 24. What am I wearing? black yoga pants from target, which have basically become my uniform, and a grey tanktop 25. How many blankets do I sleep with? right now three bc i’m too cheap to turn my heat on and it’s fucking cold. normally, only like one thin blanket bc i am always hot and sweaty >:/ 26. Dream job? louis tomlinson’s pa so i could get him coffee every day and he’d be forced to tell me what he gets from starbucks 27. Dream vacation? i wanna go to australia so so so bad, and i have for years. i wanna go to kangaroo island and tasmania and sydney and melbourne and i wanna eat a pavlova and a passionfruit and i wanna hang out with jamila. i am also really excited about going to red rocks and meeting everyone, by which i mean i am terrified about it to the point that i start crying if i think about it too much bc i’m so worried no one will like me in person lolol mental health is awesome guys 28. Favorite food? pierogies, vegetarian matzo ball soup, thanksgiving leftovers all piled in the same bowl, chips and guac with frozen margaritas and a good friend to talk with 29. Nationality? american. i had a hungarian grandmother and a russian grandfather, and then i’m polish on the other side but they came to the US like many generations ago. 30. Favorite song right now? i love one (1) song

tagging: @sarcathlon @nocontrolforlouis @niallspringsteen @alligatornyc @nothanksweregood @oopsi1d-ditagain @flora-flauna

[nonbinary-octopus]

I got tagged by @kelly-scribes and @sosinshark !!

Answer the questions in a new post and tag 20 blogs you would like to get to know better. (probably not gonna tag 20, but... I’ll tag a few.)

Also, if any questions make you uncomfortable or if you don’t want to participate, no pressure to anyone I tag. I’ll even remove your name if you’d prefer!

Nickname: Paige, or Fire Mage, I suppose. Or Phoenix. I don’t really have nicknames IRL, but some people call me these online.

Star sign: Cancer. I’m pretty sure. Though apparently someone changed all the things, and now there’s an extra one or something, and mine might have shifted, but I forgot what to.

Height: 5′1/2″ last I measured (and for several years previous), but I think I may have grown in the past few months.

Time Right Now: 11:02 pm. I should sleep soon.

Last Thing Googled: “Medieval boots.” As a reference for the picture I just posted.

Favorite Music Artists: Um... there are a lot of good ones. I don’t really have favorites.

Last Movie Watched: I think it was Arrival, sometime last week, with some friends. I don’t watch movies a whole lot.

Last TV Show Watched: Either Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency or Star vs. the Forces of Evil. I forget which was more recent.

What are you wearing now: Jeans and a blue t-shirt, along with a hairtie in my hair (ponytail) and two on my wrist, glasses, socks, a bracelet, and not my watch. I think I took it off to draw and didn’t put it back on.

When did you create your blog: A while ago... I honestly don’t know. A few years ago, I think.

Do you have any other blogs: Yes, I do. @askthesuperheroes is my superhero blog, which I occasionally update with new pictures of my supers doing stuff. @toreferencelater is a sideblog to which I reblog stuff I want to look at again later. I try to tag them so I can find them better, but am not always good at that.

Do you get asks regularly: Hah, no. I rarely get them ever. I’d like more, especially on @askthesuperheroes, but I don’t get them much.

Why did you choose your URL: Well, my go-to username is Phoenix-FireMage, and I guess that was taken, or it hadn’t quite become my default yet, or something, so I modified it a tiny bit, replacing “phoenix” with the name of my phoenix character, Paige, and there you go.

Gender: Female. But also sorta non-binary in that I don’t really mind at all if I’m mistaken for a guy, and sometimes even like it.

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff.

Pokemon Team: So, uh... Originally blue, Mystic. But all the gyms on campus (there are three) were continually always blue, and therefore I couldn’t fight them (and training at gyms is a bit boring). So I made another account, so I could fight the gyms. Long story short, I’ve got an account on each of the three teams.

Favorite Color: Green!

Average Hours of Sleep: 8? I’m not really sure.

How many blankets do you sleep with: I think ten. It would be more, but I couldn’t find any more.

Dream Job: I’d like to draw and write stories for a living. I also would really enjoy writing computer programs and websites, and that’s probably what I’m going to do. My CS classes are my favorites.

Followers: 187, apparently. Most of them don’t really interact with me much.

Now, I’m supposed to tag people. I choose... @blueskimmer @featherpantsd @creatorofuniverses @neonthebright @big-fluffy-dragon @gt-flufftimes @gt-adventures 

7 is enough I think. 7′s my favorite number, anyway. Sorry if anyone I tagged already did this, you don’t have to do it again if so.

[joecasualnerd]

Number 14: An Indirect Kiss

Hello and welcome again! If you are reading this then you have stumbled across my little neck of the internet woods and I would like to welcome you! I am elated to say that I have had two likes on two separate posts, which for a blog that has gone unadvertised and is completely shooting into the wind isn’t too bad.

Sure, I can be getting hundreds if not thousands of likes and reblogs and followers, but I do enjoy having a small start. I really won’t start advertising the blog until I get at least a profile picture, which should hopefully be in a couple of days.

On a more depressing note, I will be posting a mini PSA after this post, and I’m pretty sure you guys know what it will be about. Don’t worry, it will be a separate post and will be clearly marked so you can not read it if you are tired of hearing about it.

Until then though, welcome back to the 25 Days of Stevenmas (name pending), and today I will be talking about Season One Episode Twenty-Four, An Indirect Kiss.

Premise

The episode begins with Connie setting up a blanket for a picnic, and Steven, being carried by Lion, looks a little depressed. By a little, I mean he has a very gloomy looking face and isn’t as enthusiastic as he usually is.

Connie asks about the fence around the hill, and Steven says that he knows why it’s there, but that it isn’t a happy story. Connie pressures him into telling the story and Steven begins by saying that he and Amethyst were playing around on the unfenced hill.

Amethyst was jokingly saying that she was gonna fall, and Steven was rightfully worried about her. Amethyst brags about how she is a Gem warrior and that and that she isn’t going to fall.

In a bit of irony, Amethyst does indeed fall, and hits a rock on the bottom of a very tall cliff. Steven runs to go check on her and while she says she’s fine, she reveals that one of her eyes has become massive.

Garnet and Pearl come by and see that Amethyst’s Gem is cracked. Pearl asks how it happened and Steven says that it was because she fell off the cliff. Pearl then declares that they need to build a fence around the cliff and Steven ends his story.

Connie, very dissatisfied with not hearing what had happened to Amethyst, eventually breaks Steven down into telling the rest of the story, if Steven gets to wear Connie’s glasses and she gets the rest of his juice.

Steven continues his story with him in the past asking why it was bad for Amethyst to fall when she has fallen down a lot. Pearl says that normally it wouldn’t be a problem, but the issue comes from Amethyst’s actual Gem being damaged.

Steven asks how they can fix it and Pearl sadly remarks that in the past they would have had Rose fix it. Garnet expands on this by saying that Rose had healing tears that could be used to heal, and that she believes that Steven has those same powers.

Steven tries to heal Amethyst, but can’t bring himself to cry, which is an impressive feat considering that he can usually cry at the drop of a hat.

The Crystal Gems then decide to go to Rose’s Healing Spring, and Amethyst’s condition slowly gets worse.

When they arrive at the Fountain, they see that it is overrun with giant thorn plants, and Pearl begins to slowly panic.

Steven continues trying to cry and Amethyst suggests that Steven use the thorns to make himself cry. When he tries to do so, the thorns comes to life and try to attack Steven, with Amethyst coming to save him, only making the damage to her Gem worse.

Pearl is slowly sinking to despair since they can’t get through the thorns, to which Garnet finds a solution the only way that she knows how, by punching something.

They reach the Fountain, only to find that it has dried up. Steven sees the statue of his mother and tries to cry, only for it to cut back to the present with Steven getting a headache from wearing Connie’s glasses.

Back to the story, Steven is still unable to cry, so Garnet and Pearl try to find a way to get the Fountain to start working again.

Steven is frustrated, and when Amethyst makes a remark that he can’t understand, he yells and asks why he can’t cry. He begins talking to himself and he wishes that he could have met Rose, so that when he did visit the Fountain he would be sad, and he could cry.

Connie is very much engaged in the story and asks Steven to keep going.

As with most cartoons there needs to be a third at conflict, which is the vines attacking Steven and Amethyst. When the two are backed into the Fountain and Amethyst makes the very difficult effort of managing to make a joke, Steven finally cries.

And the tears do nothing.

Suddenly the Fountain begins working, and after some imagery of the Rose statue grabbing Steven, Amethyst and Steven come out of the water, with Amethyst all better.

Garnet and Pearl return, and Steven says that his tears brought the Fountain back. Pearl then remarks that it was her and Garnet opening a clogged chamber. Steven asks if they are sure that his crying didn’t help a little to which Pearl remarks that Steven will never have magical powers and the Gems don’t want to associate themselves with him anymore.

Of course, that is an exaggeration, but Steven says that’s what it felt like to him. He says that the Gems want him to be like Rose, but he laments on the real possibility that he doesn’t have any of those powers.

Connie says then he’ll be like her, which isn’t a bad thing, but he says that if he doesn’t have powers then he won’t be able to be with Garnet, Amethyst or Pearl, and that he won’t be able to go on any mission, and a host of other things.

Connie grabs Steven’s hands and says that he doesn’t need powers to be with her, and she moves closer to him.

She is suddenly struck by a headache and remarks that she can see without her glasses. Steven asks how that is possible and they both look at the juice box.

Steven realizes that he doesn’t have healing tears, he has healing spit, to which he thanks Connie and says that he needs to tell the Gems, which he runs off to do.

The episode ends with Connie popping the lenses out of her glasses and stands tall, accepting the fact that she can see very well.

Discussion

This was an interesting episode, as I find it to be the second episode to really show Steven’s overall character arc in the series, the first being a glimpse in Lars and the Cool Kids.

Here though, we get to see that Steven feels like he must live up to Rose’s legacy, and it isn’t helped by how much praise the Crystal Gems give about Rose.

Steven feels like if he doesn’t live up to be Rose, then he doesn’t deserve to be with the Crystal Gems, which is a lot, and I mean a lot of pressure for a, at this point, 12 or 13-year-old boy.

And of course, doing a little subversion of Steven having healing powers, but not tears and it being spit is actually a very nice counterbalance to how Steven was feeling.

Steven has Rose’s powers, but he isn’t Rose, and he shouldn’t have to be. His abilities are his own and he does plenty of great things with them, probably in ways that Rose couldn’t. He can heal with his spit, he can make a spiky version of his bubble, his apparent psychic/dream/mind control abilities revealed later in the series are uniquely his.

We also get insight on how Steven feels about Rose, or rather how he wishes that he could feel more about Rose.

Rose Quartz was his mother, and while the Crystal Gems and Greg feel sad about her being gone, Steven wishes that he could feel the same way. He can’t bring himself to feel sad when he sees a statue of his mother because he doesn’t know his mother.

He knows about Rose, but he doesn’t know who Rose really was.

This is a very unique issue, and when something like this is brought up in other shows it is usually done in a way that the one who has a great parent that is deceased or out of the picture brings up a lot of a particular kinds of emotion to the child of that great parent.

Steven doesn’t feel angry at Rose, or sad about Rose, or happy about Rose. He feels sad that he doesn’t know how to feel about Rose and that’s heartbreaking.

This episode was also an interesting look at how Pearl viewed Rose. Pearl makes several remarks that show that Pearl didn’t just see Rose as a leader, but something more. This was what made me much more interested in Pearl as a character, and there is a lot to say about how that development goes.

This is also the episode that made me ship Steven and Connie hardcore.

This is a huge deal because I normally don’t ship characters. If a character is romantically involved with one character when a part of the fandom wants them to be with another character, I couldn’t be bothered to be bothered about it.

Sure, I thought it was cute when Steven and Connie had the very cute moments in previous episodes, but it was this one that made me go “DAMMIT WHY DIDN’T THEY KISS?!!?!”

The title was very much accurate in them having an indirect kiss, but I wanted them to kiss here dammit, and I am not alone in that I’m sure. It would have been adorable, but they are probably saving it up for a big moment near the end of the series. Here’s hoping.

Speaking of Connie, let’s talk about how this episode had a major change for her. She had her sight restored, and when she popped off the rose-tinted lenses of her glasses, she essentially was signaling that the show was going to enter a phase where the pleasantries of a magical story were going to change in a major way.

With the next episodes aired being Mirror Gem and Ocean Gem, I can say that prediction ran true.

Until next time, thanks for reading and have a pleasant time.

Peace.