#My meow echoes too loud

[kitttenteeth]

v silly I have gotten lots of anons like that today lol My one txtpost abt ribcages being a hug is crawling around again &i think some1 made a post abt being annoyed by fake edgy cannibalism being the new little . idk quirky girl online thing i g uess. I agree with it But don’t drag me into those things pls lmao idontm care

[faun-the-fawn77]

hi! Okay so again thank you for accepting my request about characters meeting their fandom counterparts I was wondering can you maybe make a part 2 where they find a version of their yn like a cat yn for Alastor and Lucifer and a tiny yn for Adam and maybe right about how each fandom counterparts would react when seeing they can have their own in like their canon counterparts? Just a idea

Thank you take care out there! 😁

"Paw-some!"

Alastor x GN!Sinner!Reader, Lucifer Morningstar x GN!Sinner!Reader, Adam x GN!Angel!Reader

Genre: CRACKFIC

Word Count: 1467(I got carried away💀)

Warnings: Swearing(don't we know this by now?), mention of having kids in Adam's part, that's it:)

Desc: Part 2 to the other Drabbles! This time the guys encounter their partners looking just like their counterparts! Chaos ensues:)

Note: I love crackfics so much! Gotta be my fav genre of fic:) Happy reading ya'll!

Edit: Reqs for Hellaverse are closed:) Be sure to check my pinned post for what I write for and who!

Alastor:

Alastor had honestly thought that his feline counterpart stole his lover. He knows that it could never replace him but that jealous feeling tugging at his mind is slowly convincing him that the feline was plotting something.

Alastor had left early that morning to run some errands and hopefully to return with a plan on how to get rid of that devil cat that looks a bit too much like the radio demon.

"Meow" Alastor paused in his tracks, humming coming to a halt. He turned his head towards the soft sound. His ear twitched when another meow echoed from the alley he was in front of.

He grinned and slowly paced down the dank alley with a plan to capture the creature. He was hoping that if this cat was a female then it could hopefully capture the attention of the other pest currently staying the bedroom he shared with his lover.

He spotted the (H/C) feline slinking out from the shadows and strutting right up to the Overlord. His eyes widened at the similarities it held with his love.

He bent down and scooped up the precious creature. He made sure to be careful with his claws when he went to scratch the beautiful creatures head.

"Why, hello my dear! How would you like to come home with me, hm?" The cat stared up at hime with huge (E/C) eyes and meowed.

Later, when Alastor returned with his new furry friend, he made sure to place her gently on the king size bed in his room. He could sense that no other presence was in there at the moment, which meant that Alastor was going to surprise his partner with a cat similar to them!

When Y/N had returned that evening with who they had deemed "Catlastor" in her arms, they halted when a fluffy feline fell into their line of sight. The other feline in her arms had glanced up when his owner froze and looked to see the sleeping beauty on the bed.

The red furball couldn't get out of Y/N's arms fast enough. It pounced onto the bed and pridefully strode up to the sleeping cat.

"What the-"

"Welcome back, my love!" Y/N jumped as the loud static voice of their lover sounded behind them. Alastor walked up to stand near them and watched as the two felines on the bed sniffed each other to get familiar with scents.

"Isn't she gorgeous?" Y/N smiled when they watched the red furball curl his body around the smaller (H/C) feline. Their tails twined together and with that, the two animals were asleep.

"Not so jealous anymore are you, Alastor?"

Lucifer:

A cat can indeed replace him. He could feel the irritation in him build when he saw the cat, that freakishly looked a little too much like him, cuddle up on his lover's chest.

Lucifer pouted as he witnessed the cat give him the side eye. He swore that it was smirking when it stretched a paw to place it on the cheek of Y/N.

"I'm going to the garden for a bit. I'll be back in a few." Y/N hummed to acknowledge that they'd heard the king and went back to petting the purring feline. Lucifer huffed and stomped towards the glass doors that lead to the garden.

The garden behind his mansion had always managed to calm him down. He sought out the bench that was handcrafted and gifted to him in his early days of reign.

"I can't believe I'm jealous of a fucking cat..." Lucifer groaned and placed his clawed hands over his face.

A bush near him had started to move, like something was hiding inside. Lucifer jumped a bit before staring intently at the flowering bush.

What came next had almost made the King of Hell pass out. A sleek (H/C) cat slinked from the bush and looked up at the pale angel. Lucifer stared into the sparkling (E/C) eyes of the small animal in front of him.

"Holy Hell..." Lucifer stiffened when the cat walked up to him and jumped up onto his lap. He froze before relaxing and started to pet the gorgeous creature that resembled his lover a bit too much.

Lucifer st up at that. His lover! He looked down at the cat in his lap, gently scooping it into his arms before walking as fast as he could to where his lover currently resided.

"My Love!" He gently opened the door to their bedroom. He saw Y/N still in bed with a book in hand and the feline version of him still in their lap.

"What is it, Luci?" Y/N didn't glance up until the cat on their lap shifted before getting up. They looked up and saw Lucifer putting down a cat that strikingly resembled them onto the bed.

"What the fuck?" Y/N placed their book down, sitting up more to observe the two felines sniffing each other. Lucifer beamed at his love and quickly got into the spot where his feline counterpart once rested.

"She's perfect! Look! They're like us but cats!" Y/N giggled and ran their fingers through the kings golden locks as they both watched the cats purr and nuzzle each other.

Definitely just like their counterparts.

Adam:

When Y/N first brought home the tiny version of him, he almost lost his mind. I mean, the little shit was stealing them away from him!

Since then, Adam has grown used to his tiny self and had honestly started thinking of it like his own child. He knew he had told Y/N that they were the caretaker of this thing but Adam couldn't help but become attached to the little guy.

Today happened to be Y/N's day to take care of the tiny Adam. They went out to the shops while Adam himself had left to the training are for the exorcists.

It was a far fly to the area so when he had arrived, he didn't expect to see his right hand woman holding onto a tiny version you Y/N.

Lute held her arms out as far as she could so she didn't get her hair pulled like the first time she picked up the tiny angel. When she heard the heavy steps of her superior, she turned to him and quickly shoved the babbling tiny angel into his arms and sprinted off to see over the other exorcists.

"What the fuck, Lute!?" Adam growled and continued to mutter swears under his breath but stopped when the sound of whimpering caught his ears.

"Oh- uh... Hi there, honey!" Adam smiled down at the tiny version of his lover. When the tiny angel stopped whimpering, he took that as a victory but that didn't last to long when the angel full on wailed.

Adam almost dropped them at the loud sound before regaining his grip. He started to freak out until he figured out that his mask was what's causing the problem. He glanced around to see the exorcists busy training before turning away and taking his mask off.

"See? Hey, no need to cry, sweetheart. It's me!" The tiny Y/N stopped their crying and looked to see the face they loved so much. A smile spread on their lips and they reached out for the man.

"Let's get you home, yeah?" With that, Adam spread his golden wings and took off to the penthouse he shared with his lover.

Walking through the door, he could instantly hear his Y/N talking to who he could only assume is the tiny version of him. He looked down at the tiny version of Y/N and saw their eyes staring at the door leading to the other two.

"And the- Oh! Adam, you're home early!" Y/N turned to face their lover and paused when they saw the tiny version of themselves being held gently in a maskless Adam's arms.

"Is that-?"

"It is! Hey, tiny me! Look who's here!" Tiny Adam turned to see what his counterpart was talking about. His eyes widened before he wriggled himself from Y/N's grip and sped towards the bigger version of himself.

"Here ya go!" Adam set down tiny Y/N and watched how the tiny him had ran up to them and pulled them into a hug.

Adam smiled as he watched the two tiny angels speak in a language that could only understand. He felt Y/N brush their hand against his arm before gripping it and leaning onto him.

"I know you said no kids but... I think I'm getting baby fever just watching them." Adam hummed in agreement. Maybe kids with Y/N wasn't such a bad idea...

This my last Hellaverse req! Thanks so much for requesting! Every time I see the notif on my inbox I cry a bit:') I hope you all have loved my Hazbin fics as much as I loved them! Ill def get back into the Hellaverse at one point cause I seem to always come back to whatever fandoms I love:D

[squichymochi]

So here is another something I wrote. I’ll probably be writing more now, but updates will be slow because I usually work 50 hours a week. However, as Hazbin is still on my mind 👉🏻👈🏻, here ya go.

Warning: this contains swearing, some cuddles, and nothing too out of the ordinary for the show.

Husk x Reader (Husk is transformed into a tiny kitten)

Word Count: 1.033

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I love writing it. As I mentioned before, English is not my first language. Thank you ❤️

Wiping down the bar in Husk's absence, you found a peculiar solace in the repetitive motion. Across from you, Angel Dust lounged, a Bloody Mary in one hand and his phone in the other.

"You alright there, hun?" you asked, concern threading your voice. Husk usually manned the bar, doubling as a makeshift therapist for the Hotels weary souls.

Angel glanced up, his frown dissolving into a practiced smile. Raising a hand, you stopped him, "No need to pretend, Angel. Is it Val again?"

He deflated, a heavy sigh escaping him. "Yeah, it is," he admitted.

Before you could offer a stronger drink, a loud bang echoed through the hotel entrance, startling both of you. "What?!" you exclaimed, instinctively summoning a pair of knives into your hands. But Charlie's voice soon echoed through the hall, and your tension eased.

"I am soooooo sorry!" Charlie's voice was a mix of panic and remorse. You and Angel rushed to the front, finding Charlie in tears, while Vaggie was clutching something in her arms.

"What in the heavens happened?" you asked, approaching with concern. Peering closer, you were stunned to see a kitten with fur patterns strikingly similar to Husk's. At the sound of your voice, the kitten looked up, meowing softly.

You froze, a mix of shock, amusement, and rising panic washing over you. Angel, unable to contain himself, chuckled, "Is this our dear grumbly Husk looking all cute?"

The kitten hissed, swiping at Angel's fingers, clearly unamused. In your mind, you could almost hear Husk's voice, *Piss off, you asshole*.

"What happened, Charlie?" you asked, a deep weariness in your voice as you massaged your temples. Charlie ran up to you clasping your hands into hers. She started explaining, sobs still tumbling out of her. They tried to solve a bigger problem and ended up within a turf war gone wrong and a dust bomb that hit Husk. As she spoke, Vaggie cradled the tiny kitten version of Husk, concern etched on her face.

"We'll find a solution, I promise," Charlie declared, determination in her voice, despite her tear-stained eyes.

Later this evening Husk, in his kitten form, had taken up residence atop the bar, his tail flicking irritably. "I really hope we find a way to change you back soon," you sighed, leaning against the counter. "I miss your hugs, you big grump." He responded with a hiss, but sauntered over to nuzzle against your face. As you stroked his soft fur, his eyes fluttered closed contentedly.

"Ugh, what a shitty day!" Angel Dust collapsed onto a stool in front of you, his face etched with exhaustion. "Hard day at work?" you asked, continuing to pet Husk.

"You could say that," Angel Dust replied, tears brimming in his eyes. "I just wish I didn't have to do this shit or do all of them…I don’t know.", he laughed hysterically. Husk, sensing his friend's distress, moved to comfort him, purring as he leaned against Angel's face.

Angel picked up the kitten, placing him on his lap. A smile found its way to your lips – even in this unusual form, Husk was there for his friends.

As days passed, you awoke one morning to find Husk, still in kitten form, growling atop the bar counter. Alastor's voice filled the air with static. "Look at you, now my pet for real," he taunted, reaching out to pet him. But Husk growled and swiped at Alastor's hand, drawing blood.

"Take care whose hand you're biting, dear friend," Alastor warned, his voice tinged with static-laden threat and his demonic form slowly appearing. 

"Alastor," you interjected sharply. In an instant, his demeanor shifted back to his usual smiling self. "Oh dear, could you prepare my usual?" he requested, his smile never wavering.

"Of course," you replied, shooting Husk a stern look. Husk hopped off the counter, still growling under his breath and sauntering to his usual spot on the sofa.

That evening, as you all engaged in group activities with Vaggie as Charlie was still trying to desperately find an antidote (mind you it’s been over a week). Husk stubbornly remained on the table. Vaggie tried to shoo him away, but his 'I don’t give a shit' glare won out, and everyone left him be. 

During Sir Pentious's dramatic storytelling, Husk probably was fed up with the snakes story and began pushing a glass off the table. "NO," Vaggie's voice was filled with murderous intent, but the glass went flying regardless.

Sighing heavily and apologising profusely for your grumpy boyfriend you scooped Husk into your lap, petting him until he began to purr and nestle into you. "I like petting you, you know," you teased. He responded with a playful nip at your hand.

Suddenly, with a snap of Alastor's fingers, Husk was back to his usual self, sitting awkwardly in your lap staring into your eyes. "You could have changed me back this whole time?!" Husk turned his head to look at the radio demon and bristled, ready to explode. You hugged him tighter, trying to calm him down, which wasn’t the easiest thing to do.

Alastor's reply, "Oh, where would be the fun in that?" only fueled Husk's anger further.

"Babe," you whispered, and Husk finally realized he was still in your lap, his cheeks turning slightly red. "I'm just so happy to have you back," you murmured, hugging him while trying to calm all of them the fuck down.

Your moment was interrupted by a loud bang. Charlie burst in, triumphantly holding a vial. "I got it!" she exclaimed. Upon seeing Husk back in his original form, she let out a bewildered, "What the fuck!?"

As the evening wound down, Husk whispered in your ear, "I hope you'll still want to pet me later in our room, babe," his purr sending a blush across your face and heat straight to your core.

"Kinky," Angel teased, wiggling his fingers. You buried your face in Husk's fur, overwhelmed but relieved. You could feel your boyfriend’s low chuckle and his arms wrapping tightly around your form. Despite the chaos, you were grateful to have Husk back, knowing it was only the beginning of solving the hotel's larger problems.

Thanks for reading ☺️

[slowd1ving]

Hello !! Do I ask for a Jinyoung Park x husband reader ? please fluff and one shot

NOSTOS . ⁺ JINYOUNG PARK

nostos: defined by homecoming, as after a long journey Gone are the days of an empty stomach and the taste of blood on your tongue. Tonight, your biggest worry consists only of explaining the ball of fur (wedged damply under your raincoat) to your oh-so-beloved husband. anon this is my first married fic ever so I hope this is decent enough fr pairings: jinyoung park + husband reader warnings: none! (literally my only one with zero warnings) wc: 1.1k

LOOKISM MASTERLIST

MASTERLIST ・゜・NAVIGATION

Forgive me. Two words repeated themselves like pious mantras while you trudged up the stairs. The rubber of your soles colliding rhythmically against the linoleum of each step sounded comforting, unlike the frivolous allegro of your heartbeat. Residue rainwater left miserly puddles in your wake, and you felt guilty for the soft-spoken janitor who’d tend to the mud tracked into the flooring. 

Forgive me. For what? There were a million mellifluous syllables to describe the long wrongdoings of your life, but to list them all would blur them into flowery wine rather than the sour plums that they were. Lying to good people? Purging the murky cesspits of Gapryong’s Fist? Muddying up the downtown apartment complex your penthouse had been reduced to? 

Gone was the gilt that came with the blood. Your biggest sin this week was making a babe cry with your brief glance, and perhaps the parcel wedged beneath your warm body and raincoat. 

With one hand, you fumbled a rusty key into your lock—third floor, no lurkers, no telltale signs of intruders—and with the other, you clutched the bundle to your chest with the fervour of a starved man. It’s open—!

“Oh.” There he is. 

“‘Oh’ is right. You are late,” he seethed, eyes roaming from the very crown of your soaked head to the tips of your muddy boots. “And you’re getting mud everywhere.”

“Forgive me.” You sounded perfectly contrite, and somewhat abashed—and the sincerity in your tone caused Jinyoung Park to somewhat deflate. You— he— he could never stay mad at the face of his downcast husband after all, even if he knew full well the trembling furrow in your brows had been practised and machinated until Gapryong damn Kim himself twitched in irritation at your performances. 

Well. You weren’t the Infiltrator behind the Fist for no reason. 

“If you’re sorry, take a hot bath before you catch a cold. I’ll heat up the jjigae so you don’t get sick,” he grumbled, but anyone and everyone who knew him could see the soft-worn affection behind his grousing. He wasn’t your husband for no reason. 

There was no move from you. You remained holding your coat to your chest, ring glinting on your finger as you shifted. The back of his neck prickled. 

“Err, might be a bit of a problem, doc,” you said. Sheepishly. Like you always did before that mouth of yours caused your target to become tetchy as they threw something at you. 

His hand instinctively reached for your pink fluffy slipper on the shoe rack to whack your arm with. 

“You got injured? What did you do?” But rather than land on his target, he grasped your arm. There might’ve been a meow. Did it come from you? Maybe. He could never be too sure with you. 

With a loud, obnoxiously obvious gulp, you slid the material of your windbreaker aside. It rustled as though it was making excuses for you, since you wouldn’t argue your case. In fact, you would probably cheerfully agree with whatever he flung at you. 

“A… cat. A cat,” he stared dumbly. A soggy feline juvenile stared dumbly back. 

Huh?

“A… cat?” he repeated, still processing the mental shock. Its matted, damp grey fur and huge splotch on your shirt suggested you’d carried this wretched creature for many miles. And, knowing you, you probably had. Despair wrought his face pallid. 

“Sur… prise?” you echoed in a mimicry of his cadence, and he buried his forehead in his clammy palm. No, he prepared himself to say, already expecting the imminent question. No, his mouth formed. No. “And it’s a kitten, not a cat. Be nice.”

“Can we keep him?” you asked as though this wasn’t the cheap apartment you’d purchased in this district. No, he wanted to reproach, since you did somewhat acquiesce to his request on your whims. You stared, just as dumbly as him and that cat—an unfortunate trio if he ever saw one. “We can call him Jake.”

“We are not calling him the name of my nephew,” he shot back instantly, then immediately cursed at both himself and you for your masterful deceitfulness. Damn you. Damn his silly, obnoxious, beautiful husband drenched and pitiful from the rain, pleading with those eyes of his and causing him to unintentionally fold. You played him like a damn fiddle. 

And judging by the bright beam you wore, it seemed you knew that a bit too well. 

“Well, I’ll be off cleaning our dear nephew,” you zipped past him, still clutching that little furball with all the tenderness of a new father. He was so lost in the happy glow of your smile that it took him quite a few seconds to recall exactly just what you had said. 

“We are not naming it Jake!” he gritted out. 

“You can finally be the favourite uncle!” you sang, partially drowned out by the flow of hot water. 

Staggering, he propped his elbow up against the thin door leading to the bathroom—sharp glare poised right at it. 

When will I learn to refuse him?

 . ⁺ 　

“Who are you and what the hell did you do to my husband?” Shellshocked, you gaped at the scene before you; Jinyoung Park, the man you had sworn to cherish forevermore, had been replaced by someone who’d actually tolerated the kitten’s presence. Nay, the man had the very furball—that he glared at—sequestered away on his very lap while he looked over research files from his lab. And he was stroking behind its ears and under its chin nonetheless! 

What a conundrum. 

“Being the favourite uncle,” he replied with a half-smirk that couldn’t be hidden from your prying eyes. For once in your long life—riddled with more lies and deceits than you could count—you were stumped. 

You cooed to the kitten, attempted bribing it with treats, and even brandished the foxtail you’d found on your way back home. All for naught—the feline remained firmly wedged on his lap, and you couldn’t believe your eyes. 

“Well, your prophecy did work out. We’re both favourite uncles now,” he bragged, and a tear might’ve slipped from your eye as you watched the heartwarming scene. 

“Save a space for me on the couch after I shower,” you demanded, though it was not with any malice nor aggression—just a raw affection for this little bubble. 

“I’ll see.” However hard he denied it, he was still that wily man you’d fallen for; in the hazy evening lamplight, though, he was much softer round the edges.  

And perhaps you were too. 

For despite your lack of piety, you sincerely prayed this would be the domain of the future.

a/n: yes the cat is still called jake

[mill-s]

HOW IS THE SKY FEELING TODAY ?

~a small gojo drabble

warning: none, a bit angsty

~1.1k

It was yet another rainy day. And as much as you loved the rain, it has ben 13days now of constant rain and it was getting too much.

You didn’t understand, and no one was understanding why such weather was going over your head for about two weeks now. Even the meteorologist’s predictions didn’t concorde. For them, it was sunny, but the sky was just crying over and over again.

And your heart was clenching.

Deep inside, you knew something was wrong. All this was the cause of a person or someone in an agonizing pain. It has to, it was the only explanation. And so, you decided it was your mission to solve it. And mostly to help this sad heart.

That’s how your journey began. You weren’t the only one on the case, humans and sorcerers were searching for the cause of it all. Rummaging all places across the country, exercising every curse hiding. Places have never been clearer. But the sky was still crying. Over and over again.

26 days have past and on the 27th it was different. Outside, it wasn’t rain you were seeing anymore, but snow. Little white pearls were falling from the sky this morning.

“The sky is cold today”, you thought out loud.

“The sky does not have feelings Y/n. Why do you keep thinking that every day?” That voice of her startled you and put you out of your thoughts.

“I don’t know Shoko, I just feel it, it’s like a string is attached from my heart to the sky and I can feel everything.”

“Then find a solution, talk to it and keep the rain away, I’m tired of it.” She retorted.

“It’s snowing today tho” you opened the window and put your arm outn feeling the snowflakes land in your hand and immediately disappear. “It’s pretty” And you were happy that since the grounds were so wet, snow couldn’t stay just becoming another raindrop into a puddle.

Pure white snow just made you sick to your stomach now.

“Last time it snowed in Tokyo maybe the sky was cold but at least our hearts were warm” It was very unlike Shoko to be sentimental like th- “If it doesn’t stop, we gonna drown and I deserve a more honourable death than that.” She sighed “Shitty weather, shitty life. We just need to get the fuck out of here and let the sorcerer life behind us. We have enough money to live a century with all the compensations that we got” There she was, it’s like I almost missed her.

“I’ll be going out. See if I can find something today.”

She hummed “Get me cigs on your way ack pretty”.

“M’kay, love you.”

“Yea yea, love ya. Now let me read in peace and stop with your weird string shit.”

Boy it was freezing outside. Even with your puffy jacket and his old scarf you were cold. The faint smell of him that still linger on it kept your heart a little bit warm but the strong smell of wood in his perfume was slowing leaving place to the one of humidity as you entered an abandoned building. The silence was often cut by the sound of a waterdrop and it was very dark inside.

Little noises were echoing inside this cold and empty place “Curses must have stay hidden inside.” You thought but as you try to feel cursed energy around you, you felt.. nothing. “Weird.”

Closing your eyes, concentrating, searching every little corner for curse energy you still found nothing. You frowned and started feeling every detail of this building without paying any mind to your surroundings that you missed the little creature coming towards you and slowly touching your ankle.

“AAAAAAHHH! Spiders I hate freaking spiders!” you screamed as you took a step back waving your hands in the air and closing your eyes. “Ah. What a weak sorcerer you must be if you fear a little innocent spider like this” his words resonated in your head as you remembered one of your first encounters.

But as you opened your eyes, you weren’t expecting to see..

“Meow”

A cat?!

What was that kitten doing in a place like this. “hi you” you said as you bended over, slowly approaching your hand to its face so it could sniff you and let you touch it. “What are you doing alone here?”

“Meow”

He was little, probably 3 months old, yet so fluffy already or so it seems. Its white fur was now grey and brown covered in dust and mud, looked starved, wet and cold, and has its eyes closed.

“Poor baby look at you” “Meow”

It was answering every time as you talked to it more with a baby voice.

And when you finally look at it again, after taking it in your arms and petting his head you saw it.

Bright blue eyes.

So blue.

So bright.

Piercing right through your eyes.

But totally making your heart clench. Mesmerized by this little furball, bawling your eyes out in the middle of an empty building.

It meowed again, and again, looking at you before posing its paw on your jaw. The action made you stifle a laugh.

“I’m fine kitty, don’t worry” “Meow”,

It was almost as you could feel worry in its voice.

“Let’s get your home hm” you said smiling.

“Almost though you died back there. Did you get my cigs? I don’ have any left.” Shoko tells you as you entered her office.

“Nope. But I got this, look!” you exclaimed happily showing her the kitty sleeping peacefully in your arms.

“A cat, seriously Y/n…” she facepalmed “Aren’t you allergic or something and that’s why you didn’t let G-“

“I don’t care Sho,” you pout “it was lonely and cold, I couldn't just let it to die like this. And beside that’s why you exist hm? You can heal m- sneeze”

“That’s not how it works.”

“Pleeeease”

“Fine, I will try to make something for you when I have the time.”

You spent your evening making him take a bath, doing all you can to warm him up, feeding him and you both passed out cuddling on your bed.

You woke up by the sun hitting your face. Outside, was a a big blue sky and a sun shining as its brightness.

“As blue as your eyes hm” you said to your kitten who was peacefully sleeping between your boobies. You laughed at the sight.

“You really are just like him yea” he purred as you start to pet his head.

From now on, the sky was only happy and warm.

I was feeling a bit gloomy about gojo today and thought of this, 🤧

hope you will like it <3

@chandeliermichel saw it first, thank you love

[hunterscyarika]

Echo and the Tooka

This is for @rinwritesfics for the Bad Batch x reader exchange @cloneficgiftexchange

Prompt: "How was I supposed to know"

Authors note: Hi! I hope you like this! I've always wanted to write for Echo and give him a Tooka so I hope you like that idea too :)

Clone Force ninety-nine was happily settled on Pabu. Crosshair was back with them, as well as Echo, and the rest of the Clone Rebellion. You loved Pabu, it was a beautiful, peaceful place and most importantly the Clones were safe. One Clone especially meant a great deal to you, Echo.

You had been crushing on him for ages, and although you believed he returned your feelings, neither of you had been brave enough to admit your feelings. When Echo’s head piece had been acting up you were worried for him. But Phee had a contact on the planet Chalza, that could help Echo. Echo figured it was worth a shot since the Empire didn’t have a presence there. Rex and Tech offered to go with Echo, and you asked to go too. Echo was happy you would be going with him.

Upon arriving on Chalza you found out it was raining. You put your poncho on. “Cute” Echo accidently said out loud. “Thanks” You giggled and did a little twirl. Echo gave you heart eyes. “Shouldn’t you wear one too?” You asked concerned. Echo thought he would melt from how sweet you were. He put his poncho on and you thought he looked cute too, but were too shy to say anything.

The rain was pouring, and the wind blew hard. You struggled to see anything. Echo noticed you stray a little, and he held out his hand for you. “Here, take my hand. I’ll guide you” He offered. You took his hand, a warm feeling spreading through you at the contact. Echo kept you close to him. You felt safe with him by your side.

After reaching the contacts workshop Echo still held your hand. Rex and Tech spoke with the contact. As they discussed what needed to be done, you felt Echo squeeze your hand a little harder. He’s nervous You leaned in and whispered, “I’m right here, Echo” He looked over at you with a soft smile “Thanks” Echo whispered back. You nodded to him.

It seemed to take forever for the Contact to get things ready and work on Echo’s head piece. Rex thought you should step away for a minute, but Echo wanted you to stay. It was a difficult few minutes as you waited. You tried to be brave for Echo and not show how concerned you were. Once the man finished working on Echo’s head piece, everyone went to the local cantina for dinner.

After dinner you and the boys went to the market place to pick up supplies, you split into groups, Tech and Rex going one way, you and Echo going the other. While you walked through the market you noticed a vendor selling toys. You looked over at Echo with a grin. “You’re spoiling Omega” Echo told you, but his smile gave him away. “I spoil all of you” You teased, and winked at him, before walking up to the stall. Echo’s heart skipped a beat as he watched you. While Echo was lost in his thoughts a Tooka ran out from the alley, calling to Echo as he approached him. The constant meowing caught Echo’s attention and he looked down at the little creature with an amused smile. “Well, Hello there, little fella.” Echo said and reached down to pet the Tooka. It snuggled up to him. “You sure are a friendly little thing, aren’t you?!” He cooed. The black Tooka meowed and looked up at him with bright eyes. “Oh, my stars! How cute!” You gasped as you walked up by Echo. He chuckled. “He just ran up to me” Echo said. “He chose you” you said with a teasing smile. “Don’t start” Echo warned, but still smiled. The Tooka continued to cuddle up to Echo. “Alright little fella, we got to go” Echo said. He stood up to leave and as the two of you began to walk away the Tooka followed you. Echo sighed and you giggled. “Stay here” Echo said, pointing at the Tooka. It seemed like he understood as he sat there. Echo was pleased and turned to walk away. You did too, but you knew the precious little creature might follow anyway. Tech sent a message on comms for you and Echo to return to the Marauder immediately. You and Echo made it back to the Marauder and left the planet.

Once in hyperspace you all sat in the cockpit. While you were talking all of the sudden you heard a meow. “Oh, my stars! Echo it’s your little buddy” You said, cooing to the Tooka. “Echo, why did you bring a Tooka on board?!” Tech complained. “I didn’t! How was I supposed to know he’d follow me?!” Echo argued. “Oh, stop fussing!” You chided them and picked up the Tooka. “This little guy isn’t going to be a problem” You stated. Echo’s heart fluttered at the sight of you holding the Tooka. It called to Echo and you handed and you handed him over to Echo. He cuddled up to Echo. “He sure does like you” Rex commented. “He needs a name” You stated. The group thought for a moment. Tech spoke up “How about Shadow? He is always following you”. Echo shrugged. You thought over some more names and one came to you that you weren’t sure about sharing. “How about…Domino?” You suggested. A little bit of surprise washed over Echo’s face but then a soft look took over his eyes. “That’s perfect” Echo said. You and Echo shared a smile. “It’s a good name” Tech agreed. Rex gave you a small smile. “Welcome to the squad, Domino” Echo said with a smile as he scratched behind Dominoes ears.

Domino followed Echo as he walked through the marketplace on Pabu. “Good morning, Echo” You greeted with a smile. “Good morning” He returned with a smile of his own. Domino meowed at you. “Why hello, Domino” You said and knelt down to pet him. “How’s Domino adjusting to Pabu?” You asked Echo. “Really well, he’s taken quite a liking to the Moon-yos. He loves chasing them and playing with them.” Echo replied. “I’m so glad to hear that.” You said, petting Domino one more time before standing up. “I meant to thank you” Echo said. “For what?’ You asked surprised. “For coming up with his name, I think my brothers would’ve liked it, especially Fives. Fives probably would’ve flirted with you” Echo said with a chuckle. You laughed too then said “Well, it wouldn’t have done him any good. I have my eye on someone.” You said, giving Echo a look that you hoped he understood meant him. Apparently, he did catch on because he stood there wide eyed and mouth agape. You felt disappointed when he didn’t respond. “Well, I got to go” You said, and quickly took off. Blast Echo thought as he watched you go. Why couldn’t he say anything? Why did he always struggle with words when it came to you?. All Echo wanted was to tell you how he truly felt. Echo looked down at Domino. ‘What’s wrong with me, anyway?” He asked him. Domino just meowed at him.

It was a quiet evening and you sat outside of your home and stargazed. You heard a meow and looked down to see Domino. “Hi, Domino. Sweet Boy” You cooed and pet him. “Where’s Echo?” You asked. “Right here” Echo said as he walked up to you. “Hi” he said sheepishly. “Hi” You returned. “May I sit?” He asked, gesturing to the chair next to yours. “Sure” You agreed. Echo sat next to you. “It’s a beautiful evening” He commented. “It is” “The stars are bright” “They are” A moment of awkward silence passed. You looked over at Echo, he was looking up at the sky. His profile was beautiful. Echo felt your eyes on him and he looked over at you. Your heartbeat quicker at the soft look on his face. “I’m glad you were out here, I wanted to apologize for earlier. I, well, I was a bit nervous, and tongue tied.” Echo explained with a nervous chuckle as he scratched the back of his neck. “It’s alright, Echo” You said sweetly, making Echo fall in love with you even more. “I love you” Echo confessed. His eyes widened when he realized what he’d confessed. “Do you?” You asked softly. “I do” He said surely. You smiled brightly. “I love you too” You said, holding out your hand for him to take. Echo held your hand and you both spent the rest of the night stargazing and talking. Echo felt hopeful for the future as he sat next to you, and his little Domino played with the Moon-yos.

[bangtanhoneys]

BTS & Min-Ji (Grace's cat)

SEOKJIN

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of white and for a brief moment, he wondered if he had seen a ghost. But then the fluff and fur that came with it made him realise he wasn’t alone at 2am in the dim light of the kitchen. 

“You awake as well?” Seokjin asked, reaching down to stroke the long length of Min-Ji’s tail as the long white cat threaded through Seokjin’s bare legs. “Hungry too?” 

There was a deep but soft meow that seemed to echo around the kitchen and the cat jumped up onto one of the kitchen stools, sitting down on his back legs as if he was waiting for meal to be prepped. 

Hiding a grin behind his hand, Seokjin knew what the cat wanted and grabbed a tin of tuna from the cupboard. It didn’t take long to chop up the tuna and put it on a plate, placing it in front of the patiently waiting cat. 

With that done, Seokjin grabbed his own snack and a glass of water and made his way back to bed. Grace slept soundly with the duvet pulled up to her neck, completely unaware that her boyfriend and her cat were wide awake at stupid o’clock in the morning. 

There was a loud purring from the bedroom door and it didn’t stop as Min-Ji jumped onto the bed, making his way over to Seokjin’s lap. “Nice to know you’ve warmed up to me already,” he whispered as the cat made biscuits on the duvet before turning around three times and settling down. “You can keep her company when I’m gone and I know you’ll do a good job.”

YOONGI

“It’s time I met my twin,” Yoongi commented as the cat stretched across the dance practice floor, completely unaware of the chaos that was happening as BTS practiced for their Busan concert and staff wandered around. 

“Your twin,” Grace scoffed with a laugh as she closed up the crate. It wasn’t often she brought Min-Ji out of her apartment or out of her parents sight but on a rare day that even the staff wanted to meet said animal, she couldn’t say no. 

Yoongi squatted down and clicked his fingers, full on gummy smile as the cat wandered over to nudge at the offered fingers. “I guess he can tell when there’s another cat in the room,” Grace commented as she left them to it, wandering over to where the staff where calling her to discuss her clothes for the performance. 

The other cat in question said nothing as he sat fully down on the floor and smoothed down the white fur, grinning like an idiot as the cat purred underneath his fingers. While Yoongi cared more for dogs, his own was testament to that, it didn’t stop him from gushing over the fur baby of Grace’s. 

Of course, the cat abandoned him for one of their managers who offered a couple of treats but throughout the day, Yoongi wandered around to pick up the completely unbothered feline so he could take a quick selfie to later upload on Instagram after Grace did. And from that day, Min-Ji became a favourite of Yoongi’s and vice versa as they were often seen chilling out together, sometimes fast asleep in Yoongi’s studio with the cat spread across the rapper’s lap as he tinkered with his music.

HOSEOK

He wasn’t a coward, he really wasn’t but he had to admit the cat had an intimidating stare. The yellowy-green eyes followed him as Hobi moved around Grace’s apartment, waiting for the woman in question to come out of the bedroom. 

They had plans to go for dinner, just the two of them, to catch up on everything even if they had only seen each other three days ago. It wasn’t often that Hobi could spend time with his other sister, on her own, without the interruption of Seokjin or Jungkook but now there was other competition for Grace’s attention. 

In the form of a large white cat with sticky up ears and large paws, looking like he was going to bite him any minute. 

“You can pet him you know, he’s very friendly,” Grace commented as she walked out of the bedroom with the bag she couldn’t find.

“He looks like he’s going to bite my nose off,” Hobi muttered as he stood well away from the cat who was spread across the back of the sofa, taking up most of the space. 

“He really isn’t, he’s just figuring you out,” Grace laughed while taking hold of the scaredy cat’s hand and bringing it over to Min-Ji, running it over the cat’s head and down. Of course, as expected, Min-Ji started purring and Hobi felt himself sag in relief. 

“Just wait till he spreads himself across your shoulders, that’s fun. He’s only done it with me and Jungkook once, but he likes to do it on Seokjin’s shoulders. It’s funny watching the two move around, especially in the kitchen. Looks like a scarf,” Grace’s voice came from the cupboard where she was grabbing her coat.

“I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

NAMJOON

He felt honoured, he really did. 

It wasn’t often his sister left him in charge of something but with meetings all day and the numbers of members slowly dwindling, Grace had left him in charge of her only pet (and it wasn’t Yoongi). Min-Ji had arrived in his crate with food, a collar and a leash which meant Namjoon could give him a walk around their apartment compound. 

His family always had dogs so looking after a cat was completely different, especially one so independent and indifferent but loveable with everyone. He had become a fan favourite, slowly taking over Bam’s spot as the second favourite pet of BTS with Yeontan still in first place. Holly never stood a chance. 

Namjoon let the cat wander where he wanted and tried not to have a heart attack when he jumped up onto a tall wall, pausing to be nosy then used Namjoon’s shoulders to get down. He was not going to let anything happen on his watch. 

When Min-Ji finally had enough, the two of them wandered back to Namjoon’s apartment where he unclipped the leash and let the cat have a wander around. It had been an hour when Namjoon went to look for him, finding the animal spread across the pillows on the bed, fast asleep.

“This was the easiest babysitting job ever,” Namjoon later grinned as Grace came to collect her pet.

“You won’t be saying that when he coughs up a fur ball.”

JIMIN

In preparation for a visit to his favourite sister, Jimin had made sure he had taken his allergy tablets and slipped a mask over his face, knowing full well the hairy monster was probably going to give him an allergic reaction anyway. 

But he didn’t care, he wanted to meet the new addition to the family since he wasn’t going to get nieces or nephews anytime soon. Min-Ji would just be the replacement for a baby which would later be proven true by all Bangtan members. 

The cat was only a year old but wise and weary of everything as he watched from his bed, looking at the new person who had invaded his space. “He takes awhile to warm up to anyone,” Grace sighed as she made Jimin a drink. “Jin got a scratch across his knuckles for his trouble and my parents have replaced two pairs of shoes but Min-Ji is getting better.”

Jimin didn’t care, however, as he made his way over to the cat bed to hold out a couple of fingers. They were sniffed cautiously and nothing happened for a good minute but then Min-Ji sat up and stretched, nudging his body into Jimin’s hand.

Well that was it.

Grace came from the kitchen to find the two on the couch, Min-Ji in Jimin’s lap and Jimin looking utterly delighted. “Ah well okay, I guess he has favourites,” Grace grumbled as she handed the mochi the drink and sat down next to him.

“What can I say noona, everyone likes me.”

TAEHYUNG

No one could compare to Yeontan. 

No one.

Yet Min-Ji was becoming a contender and Taehyung had heart eyes the moment he noticed the cat in the BTS common area in HYBE. He watched as staff members, even Hitman Bang, fawn over the chilled cat who watched the world go by without a care. 

“He doesn’t give a shit,” Seokjin had commented in passing on his way to the studio, leaving some water behind. 

“He just lays there and watches everyone,” Namjoon then commented, pausing to give the cat a cuddle on the way to a meeting. All the while Taehyung sat there and watched. He made no move, knowing from experience that any animal could be unpredictable. 

After awhile, Taehyung noticed the cat move and made his way over to the silent boy. He didn’t dare breath or move a muscle, watching as the animal got closer and closer until it was curled up into a ball in Tae’s lap.

“Yessss,” he whispered quietly as he pumped his fists into the air. 

He didn’t care that he had to go and do his schedules in half an hour. For now, he was Min-Ji’s pillow and that’s all he cared about. 

JUNGKOOK

“ARMY, I’ve got babysitting duties,” Jungkook admitted to his camera. “No, it’s not a baby. Noona is away for a night with a schedule and I promised I would look after a certain someone as obviously Jin-hyung is in the military.”

He disappeared for a moment but came back with a grumpy-looking cat, who had clearly been woken up seeing as it was three in the morning. “Have you all met Min-Ji? No? Well, Min-Ji meet ARMY. ARMY meet Min-Ji. This is Grace Noona’s cat, who she posted about last year.”

Even though he had been clearly woken up, the bright light from the camera interested him and ARMY watched as the large cat leaned forward to sniff the camera then the light then the screen then Jungkook.

“He’s pretty chill, he only meows when he wants food or he needs to go out. I took him on a walk around the compound and he just walks where he wants to,” Jungkook grinned as the cat decided the best place was Jungkook’s shoulders. “I’m his favourite, after noona. He likes Jin-hyung but not too much. Everyone else has met him and he’s become a bit of a feature down at the studios.”

Jungkook paused to watch the comments, one hand coming up to scratch the sleeping cat’s chin. “I’m not sure why noona named him Min-Ji, I know it’s not after Jin-hyung and Yoongi-hyung, though everyone thought that. It’s because of his temperament or something but like I said, he’s pretty chill. Though at night, he sometimes stares from the door for no reason. So maybe there is a ghost. But for now, he’s my roommate and he’ll be going back home tomorrow so for now, say goodnight ARMY.”

[sinelanguage]

Is it weird for me to send you an ask meme when I don’t follow you? I just got your one piece body swap on my dash and loved it so now I want to read something else you write. No pressure though, obviously! I was thinking 31? Or 28? Could be fun too

One moment, Zoro’s taking a nap on the deck of the Merry, enjoying the midday sun, and the next he’s– well, he’s taking a nap on the deck of the Merry, enjoying the midday sun. 

He doesn’t really notice anything’s changed, other than how his receding sunspot on deck is suddenly large enough for his whole body again. He stretches out across the deck and tries to chase the feeling of the warm sun on his skin. It’s better right now, somehow, and he doesn’t bother understanding why. 

This is the best nap of his life; he’s not going to question it.

“Hey, who let a cat on board?” comes a grating voice, interrupting his perfect nap. Zoro blinks awake, focusing on the deck. It’s somehow in higher focus than normal, though the colors are off. “And why is it green?”

Footsteps echo off the deck floor, each step louder than normal. He recognizes the familiar footsteps of the whole crew, but why do they sound so loud today?

Then, something grabs him by the back of the neck, pulling at his skin. He thinks the enemy is pulling his skin off, but somehow it stretches more than normal. Zoro yelps, but the sound is unfamiliar to his own ears. 

That’s not– that’s not a human noise. That’s a meow.

He’s hanging in the air, limbs flailing in front of him. His nap is properly interrupted, and Zoro flails in front of himself in protest, but everything feels weird and unfamiliar. He tries to grab for his swords, but he doesn’t have hands to hold them. From what he can see of his forearms, they’re covered in a thick green fur, and Zoro reels at the sight. 

“Why’re you glaring at me? I bet it snuck on board at the last port when you were trying to flirt with the shopkeeper! I didn’t have anything to do with it!”

The person holding him scoffs. “I dunno. Even if you don’t know shit, out of all the options, you’re the one who’ll fold first.”

Oh, great. That confirms it; the person holding him is the cook. Zoro squirms some more, but it’s all futile. 

“Hey! Sanji! I’m not that easy of a target, I’ll have you know I’ve held out under torture for longer, for days. Years, even, before folding and admitting to my crimes–”

“--Usopp. Did you let the cat on board?”

“No, absolutely not,” Usopp replies immediately. “I’ve really got no idea where it came from.”

Zoro has a bad feeling about this. 

There’s no way. There’s no way the cat they’re both referring to is him. He tries to protest, but all that comes out of his mouth are yowls and growls, all incomprehensible to his own ears. He kicks forward, he stretches outward, and he’s met with the sight of four, furry paws. 

Shit.

“That’s not a cat! That’s Zoro!” Chopper exclaims. Zoro meows again, and Chopper makes another shocked noise, looking up at him with wide, watery eyes. “Zoro! Is that really you?! Are you okay?!”

Zoro feels the hairs– fur?!-- on his spine raise. Chopper makes another shocked gasp. 

“Oh, no, Zoro, what happened to you?!”

“What?! That’s– that’s Zoro?!” Usopp exclaims. “But he’s so– he’s so tiny! And fluffy!”

He can’t help himself; Zoro growls, and yup, it’s definitely a cat’s growl coming from his own throat. What the hell. He’s a cat now? He doesn’t want to be a cat.

“Hah, is marimo angry with me?” Sanji taunts, and Zoro feels his tail stand on end. “Wow, you really are expressive like this, huh?”

Expressive? Whatever. He’s going to claw the cook’s face off– he has claws, right? If he’s a cat he has to have claws. With one last determined growl at Sanji, Zoro eyes his hands– well, his paws– and wiggles his cat toes. 

“Aw, Zoro is cute like that,” Nami coos. “Maybe we can keep him around like this forever.”

Sanji shakes him. “Cute?! Nami-san, you can’t think he’s cute! He’s just some overgrown furball!”

“I dunno, Sanji, he’s really fluffy,” Usopp argues. “Look at his tail, it’s all puffed out.”

The three of them continue debating, and Zoro opts to ignore the noise. Instead of listening, he stretches his paws like he’s stretching out his own fingers. It takes a moment and a couple of stretches, but sure enough he’s able to unsheath his claws. There’s ten of them, all sharp and pointed. 

He unsheaths the claws again and again, watching as the sharp point retracts again and again. Perfect; being a cat is great, actually. Sharp teeth and blades in his hands, what more could he want?

“-and he’s not that fluffy, I’ve seen fluffier cats,” the cook argues. What’s he going off about again? Sanji brings Zoro closer to his face, his one visible eye scrutinizing him. “And look, even as a cat his forehead’s too big.”

Oh, right. He’s going off about how he’s an ugly cat or something. 

Unbothered, Zoro glares at Sanji, then experimentally stretches one paw out to see how close he is to the cook now. He’s definitely in arm’s distance now. No better time to try out his claws. 

With Sanji still examining him, Zoro reaches one paw out experimentally to touch his face. The cook’s face feels warm under his paw pads, and his face pulls into shock, mouth agape. Then, knowing just how much distance is between him and the cook, Zoro pulls his paw back and unsheaths his claws. 

“No, no, no you stupid furball–”

Slashing forward, Zoro catches one claw in Sanji’s nose with his claw. The claw tears into flesh easily, leaving a long, clean cut down the side of Sanji’s face. With an undignified help, the cook finally lets go of his scruff, and with an instinct he doesn’t understand, Zoro falls to the ground and lands on all four paws. 

He pauses, back arched in shock as he tries to regain his balance on the deck. 

“Wow! I heard cats could land upright, but I’ve never actually seen a cat do it,” Nami says. 

“That’s not what’s important here! He just cut my face up, stupid mossball!”

“Cats falling upright is a natural reflex. It seems that Swordsman-san’s transformation into a cat has given him the same instincts as one,” Robin says, ignoring the cook’s warbling entirely. “How curious. I’ve read about cats’ ability to land upright, but I’ve never known how high they could fall before gravity does them in.”

There’s a cackle behind him; Zoro’s back arches further, all his fur sticking on end. He has a bad feeling about this. 

One rubber hand grabs him around his middle, and Zoro yelps– yowls?-- eyes widening as he’s pulled into the air again. He’s starting to resent being this small and carryable; he’d rather be a cat that couldn’t be tossed around like a ragdoll. 

“Wanna find out?” Luffy asks, and Zoro can’t contain his yowl in protest. 

Usopp makes an incomprehensible protest. “Luffy, you idiot, you can’t just toss him in the air!” 

There’s a loud laugh echoing across the deck. “I toss Zoro all the time! He’ll be fine!”

“He’s a cat now! You don’t know if he’ll be fine!” 

“Aw, but Robin just said he’d be fine–” 

Zoro is still hanging in the air by Luffy’s rubber hand, desperately clawing at the skin he can find. He is not getting tossed, not when he’s like this.

“Robin said she didn’t know his limits, not that he’d be fine! Moron!”

Suddenly, Zoro’s snatched away from Luffy’s hands by something equally furry. He growls, the sound coming out involuntarily from his throat.

“Aw, you’re upsetting him!” Chopper says. “He’s scared, don’t throw him in the air!”

What? He’s not scared. He’s not even that upset. Stupid cat body unable to hide his stupid emotional reactions– he growls again, and he can’t figure out how to make it stop.

“I can translate for him, and he doesn’t want to be thrown in the air!”

“Yeah, we can all see that,” Nami says. “Wow, who knew Zoro’d be such a fluffy, expressive cat.”

Zoro growls loudly, pauses, then tries to growl quieter. Damn it, why can’t he control this?!

“And he doesn’t like being a cat either, so you better figure out why it happened!” Chopper says. Zoro growls again. “And he doesn’t like me knowing what he’s saying–”

Chopper pets his head, as if that would calm him down. He growls again, stretching his paws outward. 

“-so stop being mean! And don’t throw him in the air!”

“Well, too bad for him, we all can see what he’s thinking,” Usopp says. “And I think he likes having his head pet. Wow, he really is just like a cat, huh?”

That’s not true. Zoro’s not enjoying Chopper petting his head, and he doesn’t even enjoy when Chopper scratches behind his ears. Still, despite his internal protests, Zoro has never felt something as relaxing in his entire life. He melts, and suddenly there’s an involuntary rumble from his throat, reverberating through his entire tiny cat body. 

“Oh, he’s purring! That means he’s happy,” Chopper explains, and Zoro tries to figure out how to turn that off. 

He’s got to get a handle on this stupid cat thing if he wants to maintain some shred of dignity. 

Still, when Chopper scratches behind his ear again, the rumbling continues without his permission.

“Aw. Are you sure we can’t keep him like this?” Nami asks. “It’s not like Zoro’s very helpful on the deck anyway. At least this way he can catch mice for us.”

“H-hey! We’re not going to let that shithead kill mice, I’m sure the mice haven’t done anything to deserve that–”

“He’d be an accomplished mouser, with his experience hunting pirates and his natural cat instincts. I’m sure he’ll be useful, Cook-san.”

“That’s not the point!”

Whatever; he’ll let the idiots continue arguing. Zoro closes his eyes, stretches out, and tries to find the sun again. If he’s going to be stuck as a cat, he’ll let the rest of the crew figure out the solution for him. It’s not like he could do anything useful; he's a cat.

The sun feels awfully good on his fur, though, especially as Chopper holds him. Zoro huffs. They’ll solve his problem eventually. For now, he’ll enjoy the best nap of his life. 

[simon-cctv]

The human's been wading through the swamp for hours now in search of his new cat. The thing ran off after Simon was surrounded by zombies. Herobrine leans against the same tree he did three hours ago, watching in cold amusement as the human continues to frantically search.

Herobrine glances over to the black kitten sleeping peacefully on the ground beside him, then back to the human. How many hours until Simon notices the cat's been on this hill the whole time?

He's waiting for the man to abandon his lost pet like he's seen all the others do. The travelers. He'll go and tame another, forgetting he ever had this cat. She doesn't even have a nametag yet, that alone is a promise of abandonment.

"I'll take you in." He mumbles to the poor thing. "You can join the others."

Simon's leg snags on something, and he falls face first into the water.

Even if he believes this one won't last, at least this human's entertaining to watch. This is where he gives up, he thinks. It's pitch black out, the man's stomach can be heard from a mile away, and he's now freezing cold and drenched.

And yet...

He continues searching for hours more. He searches until he collapses of exhaustion in the water.

The entity laughs out loud, the plants around him roaring to life along with him. He's never seen someone be so stubborn while being so pathetic going about it. If it were possible for his kind, Herobrine would have thought Simon were harmless. After all, he's yet to see him kill anything at all yet. It's only been 14 days. It may be longer than the other human's lasted before proving their cruelness but it doesn't mean it's not coming. He's like all the others, and he'll show it one of these days.

For now, though.

Bubbles dance across the surface of the water. The air is escaping Simon, he'll probably drown at this rate.

Herobrine glances at the young cat again. The splash must've awoken her. It watches the body of her owner being tugged by the current. She meows, distraught.

For the cat. He thinks, frowning as his hands finally find Simon in the muddy water.

A long lost emotion jabs at Herobrine when he pulls the man out of the water easier than a weed from the ground. It's natural to be concerned. Normal to be.

Simon hasn't taken from the village he lives beside. He doesn't kill the animals. His crops are too small to sustain himself. He knows nothing of farming. It's an insult to Herobrine's profession, honestly. This man is going to starve before his crops even grow.

Simon's chest feels like it's caving in when he snaps back to consciousness, lungs heaving to take in air.

He doesn't remember how he got home. Oh my god, I left without Pluto. What a monster he is.

A meow echos in the cave he's attempting to make a home and relief washes over him. Relief, then chills.

She has a nametag with her name on it and a blanket to lay on that Simon's never seen in his life.

Beside Pluto sits a small box.

Someone brought us home. Somebody... helped me? Simon's confused. He was near no village. Why would somebody help an outsider like him? A part of him hopes it means they're recognizing his efforts. He'd like to think the village helped him.

The box contains a hearty serving of potato stew over rice. Simon looks over it carefully.

Whoever did it knows he doesn't eat meat.

The gesture should make his blood run cold more than it warms his heart.

[wuxianxkexing]

Mu Qing x Reader: Stop Fucking With My Cat Part 4

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Y/N stood bleary-eyed in front of the gates to Ling Wen's palace. A few of the early bird Heavenly Officials happily stood around talking to each other but Y/N absolutely wanted no part of it this early in the morning. She carefully kept her distance, not caring at all if the others found it rude. They were the rude ones for being so loud this early. Plus Mu Qing was also there in the very front of the line, though he wasn't really talking to anyone. Y/N wasn't really in the mood to get yelled at again. Last night Xie Lian had told her that Mu Qing's cultivation path valued purity over all else and that he probably hated her for putting that demonic collar on his cat. As if a collar that can allow cats to speak would turn a regular cat into a demon just because a demon wore it. But whatever, plenty of people didn't understand things like that. Besides, what pet owner in their right mind wouldn't want a pet that could talk back to them? It was a shame that the collar didn't work the way that Y/N wanted it to.

The crowd of waiting Heavenly Officials slowly grew larger as Y/N stole glances at Mu Qing. What a pain in the ass the entire thing was and yes, it was entirely her fault, but was it really /that/ bad? It's not like she was going to steal anything from his palace, and she had been playing with Echo for weeks. She only got bold enough to go into Mu Qing's garden because Echo would meow at her incessantly and walk back and forth until one day she followed him. He obviously wanted to play in the garden with her, and while they would always meet in front of Mu Qing's palace gates in the beginning it eventually became their ritual that Y/N would just go into the garden to find Echo whenever she passed by. It was like that cat had an extra sense and would come out meowing at her indignantly if she ever tried to pass by without saying hello. It was kind of weird actually, but also super cute. Y/N smiled and giggled to herself.

Unbeknownst to Y/N Mu Qing was also stealing glances at her. He frowned seeing her smile and giggle to herself. She didn't seem to feel guilty at all. Demonic cultivators were universally not morning people, preferring to operate at night and avoid the sun much like real demons. A side effect of their cultivation. But that explained why she was to the side underneath the shade of a tree even though she should be further up in line than she currently was. Several Heavenly Officials had already cut line in front of her. He tsked to himself. She was probably just trying to delay the inevitable. The doors to Ling Wen's palace finally opened and Mu Qing was the first to stroll inside. He rolled his eyes as he thought he would get his merits from her one way or another.

Y/N remained outside lost in thought, never realizing that the palace had finally opened. It wasn't until she felt a firm kick to her shin that she came back to reality with a startled frown and furrowed brows. The offender was none other than Mu Qing, who stood in front of her looming down with a cold expression. Y/N resisted the urge to slap him. He'd probably go crying to Ling Wen to make her owe even more merits to him. Instead she gave him a forced small smile and greeted him politely. "Good morning General Xuan Zhen."

"We have a mission together in the southeastern swamps." Y/N died on the inside but kept her expression blank.

"Oh, ok! What do we have to do?"

"There's a large village where an abnormal amount of children keep on disappearing into the swamps, never to be seen again. So far there have been 15 victims, all children old enough to know better than to wander too far. For some reason Ling Wen thinks that I need your help." Mu Qing rolled his eyes in disgust.

"She probably just wants you to train me." Y/N smiled and waved her hand in an attempt to placate him. "I am still rather new so she doesn't know exactly what I can and can't handle yet. Thank you for coming to assist me." Mu Qing rolled his eyes again. Obviously her attempt at flattery hadn't exactly hit the mark. Y/N was pretty sure that actually was the reason Ling Wen assigned them both to this mission but for some Mu Qing seemed to think otherwise. Y/N briefly wondered if maybe General Xuan Zhen wasn't as powerful as he was rumored to be, but quickly dismissed the thought. He must just have the habit of taking things the wrong way. With the length of time he has been in the Heaven's and the number of temples he has there is no way that General Xuan Zhen doesn't live up to his reputation. Humans are too fickle to continue to worship a God that doesn't deliver. "Well I'm ready when you are."

"Let's get this over with then." Mu Qing crossed his arms and scowled. He began to lead the way to the outskirts of heaven and Y/N followed quietly. Welp this is probably going to be a fun mission, Y/N thought as she silently rolled her eyes to herself.

What a bunch of bullshit, Mu Qing thought to himself as he paced ever faster to the outskirts. This brat owes me merits and yet I'm having to help her get them for me? What kind of sense does that even make? Fucking Ling Wen. He stopped abruptly at the end of the Heaven's and pointed downwards. "That is the place we are going." Y/N peered over the edge and confirmed the spot before jumping down. Mu Qing froze with his mouth agape and watched in horror as Y/N fell. Technically yes, that was one way to get down but what the fuck?! Heaven's help me, Mu Qing prayed desperately before drawing a teleportation array. He wasn't going to follow in that idiots path.

Mere seconds later Mu Qing appeared next to a bruised and battered Y/N who was laying like a dead person on the ground. Her robes were torn and dirty and bloody. "Have fun?" Mu Qing smirked. Y/N looked up at Mu Qing with an incredulous look. That bastard looked perfect! "We normally use teleportation arrays just so you know. No wonder Ling Wen wanted me to train you, but I'm afraid you might be untrainable since you apparently have no sense."

Y/N grunted as she struggled to right herself. Mu Qing merely watched her struggle with laughter in his eyes. What a gentleman, Y/N bitterly thought. After righting herself she examined the state of her robes. Her left sleeve had a long tear in it from getting caught on something during her descent and she had a few blood spatters from a shallow wound, but nothing too bad. Y/N was red from embarrassment. Xie Lian always jumped down from the Heaven's like that, he never told her that they could use teleportation arrays to descend! But she wasn't about to admit that to Mu Qing. "I'm alright, that was fun!" Y/N tried to sound like it actually was fun but she wasn't able to hide how bitter she actually was. Mu Qing snorted and began to walk away, leaving Y/N to painfully limp after him. Normally Mu Qing would be a bit more sympathetic but Y/N was a martial Goddess, she should be able to walk it off, plus she did it to herself. Like he expected after a few hundred yards Y/N's gait returned to normal and they quietly made their way to the village.

During her days as a cultivator Y/N became very used to striking up conversations with strangers to investigate incidents, so she was kind of miffed when Mu Qing cut her conversation with a middle aged street vendor selling radishes short and verbally ushered her along. As they made their way through the large village Mu Qing shut down every attempt she made to gather information. How were they supposed to solve these disappearances if she couldn't gather information? It was a struggle to keep her temper down. Even though Mu Qing was the leader of this mission and probably had a plan he didn't bother to inform her of them and Y/N was used to having free reign to do whatever she wanted. It would be one thing if he wanted to do the interrogating himself but he made no attempt to do so either. It felt to Y/N like they were goofing off on a stroll rather than taking their mission seriously. Y/N's mind went back to Mu Qing's previous comment 'For some reason Ling Wen thinks I need your help'. Maybe Mu Qing slacked off on missions and he did need her help to keep on track. It would make sense with the lie she told Ling Wen the day she first met Mu Qing. Y/N crossed her arms and sighed. She wasn't opposed to slacking off, but she also believed that they should do that /after/ they defeated whatever was plaguing this village. Lives were at stake, and more importantly the lives of innocent /children/ were at stake. She glared at Mu Qing, who apparently felt her disapproving stare because he turned around and glared right back at her. "What is your problem?" He demanded.

"When are we going to actually get started on this mission? We can look at the village after we defeat whatever is here. We need to start interrogating people here to figure out what is going on."

Mu Qing rolled his eyes. "We don't need to interrogate anyone. I have a temple here, all we need to do is go there and listen to the prayers from my followers for a while. It will be a lot more efficient than seeking out random people who may or may not know anything. My followers will naturally tell me everything that they know." Y/N's face lighted up at his explanation. Of course! She felt kind of bad for doubting him earlier. General Xuan Zhen was known to be very efficient.

"Oh! Where is your palace?"

"Not far from here." Mu Qing turned and continued to lead the way. They finally came to his palace on the outskirts of the village and Y/N was honestly kind of impressed. It was a very attractive looking palace and the statue inside looked exactly like him! Y/N herself didn't have any proper temples but instead numerous small shrines that people typically kept inside their homes for personal use. It was the way that demonic Gods and Goddesses were traditionally worshipped. Mu Qing commanded her to make herself invisible to mortals and Y/N complied. He sat himself down right in front of his statue, invisible to the eyes of mortals, and began listening to the numerous silent prayers of his worshippers. Y/N grew bored of standing there watching him so she began to wander around his temple, touching things that she probably shouldn't but they were all so pretty. Offerings of gold, incense and fruit filled this temple. Y/N was kind of jealous. His worshippers here even gave him pets that the temple housed and cared for, and once finding that Y/N didn't leave the area until Mu Qing came to find her. She was petting a pretty brown tabby cat when Mu Qing kneeled down and completely stole the attention of the cat. To mortal onlookers the cat probably looked like it was doing typical weird cat things, and a couple thought that the cat must be asking for pets and came to pet the cat as well, not knowing that their God was right there petting it with them. While petting the cat Mu Qing filled Y/N in on what he had discovered. The children who had went missing only had 3 things in common. They were all from impoverished families, they all loved the swamp, and they all disappeared somewhere in the north end. With this information they finally knew where to start looking!

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Here's the link for part 3!

[dearmantis]

Soft and sweet

Pairing: Aleksander Morozova/The Darkling x Reader

Summary: You can't stop starring at the new boy who moved into your village with his mom a few weeks ago and he really wants to pet your cat.

Warnings: none

Word Count: 1.8k

Authors' note: This fic includes young Aleksander, not the General we all know. This is from the pre-fold era, so Aleksander unfortunately gets a different name and it's not Kirigan. It's a canon name that he actually used when he was younger though so don't come at me. Also this might be a bit cringe, I'm still recovering from my own personal heartbreak so fluff is rough for me. And of course, I'm still not a native English speaker and this is barely edited.

You have been staring at him before he even officially arrived in the village, eyes glued to the two figures in the distance, accompanied only by a grey horse and the clanking noise of an old metal lantern, loud enough to be heard from a distance as they moved closer.

Since then he and his mother have found safety and security in one of the empty standing houses of the village, build to take in Grisha like them in case shelter is needed, his mother has started joining the other women in the village during sewing sessions, their horse has quickly fallen in love with another horse of the village and he has made a few friends.

They fit well, which is why you don't fully understand why you're so drawn to the boy. Usually this only happens to you with people who don't fit, people who behave suspiciously and clearly have ulterior motives. People who are a risk to a village filled with Grisha.

It's the survival instinct that gets trained into every Grisha ringing alarm, you're sure of it, but this feels different, somehow. You don't just want to look at the boy (Iosef he calls himself, you believe). You want to get to know him, talk to him, hear him laugh at one of your horrible jokes.

You can't bring yourself to approach him though. There was a grace period, a span of two days where every teenager in your village came up to him to ask him about his powers as a shadow summoner, questioned him about his life and all that and built up a loose friendship that way. You have missed that by two full weeks, too caught up in your distrust and confusing feelings, and now all you can do is watch from a distance and whine to your cat about how stupid you are.

Crushing on a boy who you have not exchanged a single word with and will leave the village after autumn and winter are over... oh you really are an idiot.

And now you're sitting on the steps of the small staircase in front of your house, your only friend, your cat, on your lap, and watch as he plays with his friends, their voices echoing through the whole village.

Burying your face in the fluffy brown and beige striped fur of your cat you try to think of other, more important things as you breathe in his scent, noticing a slight lavender note. You grin and lift your head, tightening your hold on your feline friend before holding him up to your eye level.

"Did you take a nap in the fresh laundry again?" You ask, amusement clear in your voice despite your otherwise scolding tone. His round green eyes stare back at you, legs dangling loosely below him as if he is just as aware of the fact that he can't escape as you are. He has given up, accepted his fate. The quiet, adorable meow that he lets out a few seconds later only confirms that to you.

"Don't apologise to me, apologise to Hilda! She was the one who washed my laundry because of the jam I made. The jam you almost ruined as well, might I add." It might be stupid to others but playing around with you cat like this is one of the few innocent moments you still get to have as a Grisha and you cherish these moments greatly.

Giggling to yourself, too deep in your little, one sided conversation about the misdeeds of your friend you don't notice the boy approaching, resulting in you almost dropping the poor thing when he finally speaks, his voice calming and sweet like strawberry milk.

"What's his name?"

You turn to him quickly, lowering your arms in the process to let your pet rest on your lap again. The sun is coming from the same direction, blinding you for a second, but he notices immediately, stepping aside a bit to cover your face with his shadow. There he is. The boy who has been haunting you.

He's even prettier up close You think for a second before realising that he has asked you a question and is currently waiting for you to answer.

"Oh! Uhm, this is Findus."

You move a bit to the side, creating a nice place to sit next to you, before patting the wood. The Shadow Summoner accepts the invite silently, dropping down next to you while his eyes stay on your cat.

"You can touch him, you know? He doesn't bite."

Gaze flickering to yours he smiles and it takes your breath away, as cliché as it might be. He is so pretty, his voice so smooth, his behaviour so polite and kind. Saints, he is perfect.

You cringe as soon as the thought crosses your mind but then Iosef speaks again, voice even softer than before as if he's trying not to scare your cat. As if anything could scare Findus at this point.

"He visited us yesterday while we hung out at the river. I wanted to pet him then but Bernd said he hisses at everyone and even bit him once."

You scoff, already used to Bernd blatantly slandering your poor cat, but the Shadow Summoner just laughs, slowly lifting his hand and stroking over the thick fur that covers Findus. His movements are hesitant and he's clearly worried that there is some truth to Bernds words, so you choose to smile encouragingly at him.

"Findus is only aggressive with Bernd because he used to dump water on him when he was still a kitten. He never bit him though, Findus would never. He only hisses sometimes, that's it. He's really relaxed, I promise."

To prove your point you lift Findus back up, one hand holding him up between his front legs, the other resting on his lower stomach right in front of his hind legs, before moving him through the air in the shape of a wave. Findus lets you, content and calm, big eyes closing slightly as he gets used to the new movements and position.

You only play around for a bit before letting him back down, point sufficiently proven in your book. Moving closer to Iosef you let Findus rest his head on the boys thigh, watching as he snuggles closer to him and cubs his cheek against his black pants.

Iosef laughs as he watches the cat, fingers moving to pet his striped, long fur coat some more, and warmth blooms in your chest at how happy he sounds, how joyful and sweet and polite he is.

He is a dream come true, you're sure of it now. This crush will only get worse over the next few weeks, especially if he keeps talking to you like this.

"See? Don't trust Bernd. Especially not when it's about Findus."

Your voice shakes a bit when you speak and you can feel warmth blooming in your cheeks and chest. Oh, this is embarrassing.

The Shadow Summoners dark grey eyes find yours in a heartbeat, the smile on his lips widening.

"You're right. Findus is clearly sweet as honey, just like his owner."

The heat in your face grows, becoming almost unbearable. "I bet you say that to all the owners of cute cats you want to cuddle with."

He laughs again and you decide that it's your favourite sound in the whole wide world. You're head over heels for a boy whose last name you don't know.

"No, only you. And I'm only saying it because it's true."

"But we haven't talked before today! How would you even know?"

Something akin to mischief glints in his eyes, but you also see the blush that's starting to form on the apples of his cheek. This is just as awkward for him as it is for you and saints if it doesn't make you want to swoon.

"I know that you've been watching me." The shadow summoner finally says, eyes back on Findus as he scratches him between the ears. "And when I noticed that I started watching you as well, curious why someone as pretty as you would spend their time watching me instead of coming up and saying hello."

Your hand, formerly playing with the tail of your feline friend, stills. So he did notice. He was just too nice to outright call you out before today. Great.

"I don't mind that you watched me, don't worry. I realised fairly quickly that you're just a bit shy."

His shoulder bumps against yours and you can't suppress the smile that takes hold of your face immediately afterwards. Stupid crush, can't even be embarrassed over being caught starring because he's so wonderful about it.

"That's how I noticed all the things you do for others. Every morning you help that Healer, Felix, collect herbs and flowers for teas and balms in the forest. You feed the pigeons and leave nuts out for other animals to find. I know you help take care of our horse and fixed my mothers cloak."

He leans in closer, face directly next to yours as if he's about to tell you gossip instead of listing all the things you've done over the last few days. "I also know that it was you who made the jam Andrea brought me and my mother this morning, and I know that you're working on knitting two scarves for us. I heard from Hilda that you make every new visitor scarves and even went out of your way to get your hands on enough black yarn to make two matching scarves. If that's not sweet then I have never tasted sweetness in my life."

A part of you wishes he would just stop speaking because you're sure your heart is going to explode if he doesn't stop with the sweet talking, but you can't bring yourself to speak and switch the topic to something that won't make your heart race like the wings of a bee.

In the distance you can hear a woman call out and when you look you see that it's Iosefs mother.

The boy sighs quietly and picks Findus up from his lap to place him back in yours and stands up. Turning to you one more time before going over to his mother he smiles at you.

"I have to go eat lunch now, but I would love to visit you afterwards. Can I come over? I can bring some dried meat for Findus. And I won't bring anyone else, so you don't have to be shy. Just us two. I promise."

You grin brightly, finally feeling like a normal Teenager for the first time in years. "Sure, I would love that."

[mayaswiterblog]

Me Inside, Me Outside (Homework)

This homework poem was written on 11 April 2019, translated into English on 18 April 2019 and then posted on Wattpad.

Translated Version

The demon out there It spits, it torments The Eyes glow With blood-red flow Sometimes yellow Or even another time With a Green shine

Demonic Moon Ignites Again When not shining It shines For me Warmth or Cold Whatever you feel But the Sun Blinds ye all Just like a magician Mirrors, illusions Do you see it That norm' lie?

They murmur They ponder They build Their own world Their own community You're alone You're odd Friends, treasures Under your wings The blood streams The Sun burns the feathers But the smile never fades Because faith is great When doing it for the greater good

And when others laugh with joy It recharges Anybody's welcome To my magic cave But only the backdoor Is open for a few more And only one life form Is my resource My only treasure

The World is sometimes Very strange Good or Bad An accident can be A good sign Even when it feels bad The good will always find it And change the fate Twisting it so tightly That it hurts But giggle still

In the vast SeaSky There's plenty of star-fish They gleam They shine Big & Small In the depth of that Ocean Another door in motion To another World Through the Roman corridor An enormous library can be found It's big, alright Full of rough drafts Written and drawn About anything and everything Nobody would read them anyway Unless you recommend them Or maybe find them yourself

But even the Water is not Always Peaceful There are all kinds of fish Could be a shark Or even an octopus A Pacific whale A Cute catfish

Who would even Love a monster? Either a stupid hero Or a brave knight

Say one thing Hear another The body's ugly The mind is great Think beyond everything See something else Understand very much But hard to explain A hand and a soul A Spirit of the Art Knowledge & sweet biscuits Ate way too much Without drinking water The thirst pressures The Self-esteem drops

But the smile still stays still 'Cause mum says "Always tolerate the pain It will go away again" "Panicking is the worst Always do your best" "Stay strong, unbend And never trust anyone To the very end."

No one ever cared Beside mum alone Friends came Then left The new came along But only a couple Stayed as life companions

Own people Like Romeo and Juliet Always claim You're not a person You're selfless Altruism reincarnate Who are you? I'm a woman, I'm a small girl Nobody will pay Attention Nobody understands They're gonna get Upset anyway I'm soulless I'm a Soviet robot I always float in the air

Until I found a new cave On the top of another mountain A new folk, a new song I felt the life As if I was a child again Silent like a black cat I observed and studied But I spoke and meowed Like a white kitty cat

The more you stay The easier is to see How tough I am Even if not acknowledge it myself They call for me As if I was A lost poor puss

Now that the sweet ring changes Tune so spiritually deep And so quivering It's scary Ghostly alarming The invisible thundercloud Always floating above the head But I wasn't left alone after all I've got a flower behind my ear Hugs and kisses A Friendship Love Even my laughter echoed at last With such ease, free and loud

And once again I found something insane Like a lucky accident Above the gleaming snow Under the freezing stars That creature right there So bright, so warm Couldn't even believe But it doesn't bother him To the slightest The heart beats, the heart freezes "You're beautiful, you're pretty" And he always says No matter how many times I show him my sharp teeth "You're cute, I wanna love you"

Finally, I am crying The icy walls melt The love is felt I feel myself As a beautiful woman And not anymore As a small room girl I'm able to scream, I'm able to sneer I can neigh now, I can chirp now I purr more, I wind like a snake I'm being myself I found my own tone of voice My heart is strong Because I'm honest with myself I'm humane now And it shows.

ORIGINAL SCRIPT:

Minä sisälta, Minä ulkoa

Demoni siellä Se sylkii, se räkisee Silmät kiiltävät Veren-punaisina Joskus keltaisine, Tai jopa Vihreinä

Demoni Kuu Syttyihän Taas Kun ei pasta Paistaa Se mulla Lämpö tai Kylmyys Mitä vaan tunnet Mutta aurinkohan Sokeuttaa Kuin taikuri Peilit, illusiot Näetkö sen Se normi valhetta?

He supinavat He ajattelevat He rakentavat Oman maailmansa Oman seuransa Olet yksin Olet outo Kaverit, aarteet Siipiesi alla Veri valuu Aurinko polttaa höyheniä Mutta hymyilee aina Koska uskomus on suuri Että muille tekee hyvää

Ja toiset nauravat ilotse Se tuo energiaa Omalle taika luolalle Tervetuloa kuka tahansa Mutta vain takaovi On avoin pari hahmoille Ja vain yksi eliö On voimavarani Ainoa aarteni

Maailma on joskus Tosi ihme Hyvä tai paha Vahinko voi olla Hyvä merkki Vaikka tuntuu pahaa Hyvää löytää sen kyllä Ja muuttaa sen kohtalon Vääntääksen niin kireeksi Että sattuu Mutta nauraa silti

Meritaivaalla on Plajon tähtikaloja Ne kiiltää Ne loistaa Suuria & pieniä Ton meritaivaan syvyydessä Löytyy toinen ovi Toiseen maailmaan Roomalaisen käytävän kautta Löytyy erinnomainen kirjasto Onhan se suuri Täynnä luonnoksia Kirjoitettu ja piiretty Mistä vaan tahansa Kukaanhan ei lue niitä Kunnes suosittelet Tai ehkä löydät itse

Mutta Vesikin ei ole Aina rauhallinen Kaloja on monenlaisia Voi olla hai Tai vaikkapa mustekkala Tyyni valas Söpö merikissa

Kukahan hirviötä Tykkää? Joko typerä sankari Tai rohkea ritari

Puhuu yhtä Kuuluu toista Ruumis ruma Mieli valtava Ajattelee yli kaiken Näkee muuta Ymmärtää todella paljon Mutta hankalaa selittää Käsi ja sielu Taiteen henki Tiede & makeat keksit Syönnyt liian liikaa Vesiä juomatta Jano painaa Itsetunto putoaa

Mutta hymy pysyy Koska äiti sanoo "Kestä kivun aina Sehän lähtee pois" "Paniikki on pahinta Tee parhaasi mukaan" "Pysy vahvana Ja älä luota ketään Luppuun asti."

Kukaan ei välittänyt Paitsi äiti yksin Kaverit tulivat Lähtivät Ja uudet tulivat taas Vain pari kappaletta Elämäntovereita

Omathan ihmiset Kuin Romea ja Julia Aina väittävät Et ole henkilö Olet epäitsekäs Altruismin reinkarnaatio Kuka olet? Olen nainen, Olen pieni tyttö. Kukaan ei ota huomioon Kukaan ei ymmärrä Suuttuvanthan ne silti Olen sieluton Olen Neuvostoliiton robotti Leijun ilmassa aina

Kunnes löysin uuden luolan Toisen vuoren huipulla Uusi kansa, uusi laulu Tunsin elämän Kuin lapsena olisin Hiljaa kuin musta kissa Katsoin ja tutkinut Mutta puhuin ja maukuin Kuin valkoinen kissumirri

Mutta mitä kauemmin viettelee Sitä helpommin näkee Kuinka kova olen Vaikka sitä itse ei tunnustaa He kutsuvat minua Ihan kuin olisin Eksynyt kisu parka

Nyt se suloinen kilinä muuttuu Sävel niin henkisen syvä Ja värisevä Se pelottaa Haamullisesti hälyttää Näkymätön ukkonen Aina kelluu pään päällä Mutta ei yksin jäännytkään Sain kukan korvan taakse Sylit ja pusut Ystäv��llistä rakkautta Naurunikin vihdoin kaikui Helpotusti äänen vapaasti

Ja kerrankin löytyi jotain järjetöntä Kuin onnen vahinko Kiiltävän lumen päältä Kylmien tähtien alta Se olento sieltä Niin kirkas, niin lämpeä Ei uskoisi kaan Mutta ei häntä kiinnostaa Sydän sykkii, sydän pysähtyy "Olet kaunis, olet ihana" Ja aina hän sanoo Vaikka kuinka paljon Teräviä hampaitani näyttäisi "Olet söpö, haluan raksataa sinua"

Vihdoin itkettää Jäiset seinät sulavat Rakkautta tuntuu Tunnen itsensä Ihanaksi naiseksi Eikä enään Pienekis huone tytöksi Pystyn huutaa, pystyn ivata Voin nyt hirnua, voin nyt visertää Kehrään enemmän, mutkittelen kuin käärme Olen oma itsensä Löysin oman äänen sävynsä Sydämeni on vahva Koska olen rehellinen itseäni kohtaan Olen nyt inhimillinen Ja sen huomaa.

[darkhymns-fic]

Being an angel is pretty inconvenient, huh? (Ch. 6)

Finally, Lloyd returns home to Dirk. But he's never figured out a way to tell him about his new wings. How does one even start? [A Lloyd wingfic]

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia Characters/Pairing: Colette Brunel/Lloyd Irving, Dirk, Noishe Rating: T Word Count: 6852 Mirror: AO3 Notes: For Colloyd Week 2023, Day 6: Quote Day: “What would I wish for now if a falling star crossed the night sky?” This is long and self-indulgent, as expected!

--

In the distance, Lloyd saw the spiral of smoke, how it drifted up into the sky.

He craned his head, leaning back to watch it climb. In the darkness, it was harder to differentiate it from the clouds. Much of the weather lately had hidden away the sun, and that included the stars when night fell, blanketing them, making one's journey home just a bit more difficult.

But he and Colette had still found the way. They had traveled through Sylvarant so much, both on land and through the sky, that it was second-nature to find the road that led to Iselia, and eventually, to Dirk’s house.

To his house.

Lloyd kept watching the smoke, then lowered his gaze to see the warm light from the windows. The one on the far right illuminated a stable, along with the shifting ears of a creature deep in sleep.

He didn't hear Colette’s footsteps, but he noticed the soft violet shade that stretched along the road. “We don't have to go just yet, if you're not ready,” she said. The tip of her wing brushed over his own, pure light against feather and bone.

He could hear his father at work. The rhythmic clunk of the hammer echoed through the stillness. It was one sound of many that Lloyd had grown up with, sometimes even falling asleep to it as Dirk continued to work late into the night. For a commission, for a repair to the house that was long overdue, or for a project of his very own making.

The sound may as well have been lifted from his memories. His dad had always said dwarves rarely changed throughout their years.

Lloyd swallowed. But then what will he think when he sees me?

There was a soft meow from behind him.

He turned to see Blippy poke his head from the basket Colette carried. The once tiny kitty had grown, though only by a few inches or so. Blippy’s white fur shone bright in the night. Wide eyes looked up at Lloyd, then started pawing at a feather that dangled just above a wet nose.

Lloyd couldn’t help a small laugh that escaped his throat. “Hey, my wings aren’t a new toy for you.”

Colette smiled but made no move to stop the kitten. “And after Yuan gave him a bunch of cat toys for him to play with too.” She hefted up the bag she carried in her other hand, the felt of one pet toy sneaking out from the top.

“...Yeah, why did he have those toys anyway? You think he used to be a cat owner?”

“Or maybe it used to belong to Noishe when they traveled together! I think Yuan really likes animals.”

“You sure? He seems too grumpy to be an animal lover though…”

Blippy was oblivious to their talk, still bapping away at Lloyd’s feathers. With a grin, he placed a gloved hand over the kitten’s head, scratching just beneath his ear. Even so, those tiny paws kept reaching for him.

“Hey, little guy. We’ll play with you soon. Just…first I gotta—”

And, Lloyd had thought they weren’t being particularly loud. There were always little rustles in the forest around nighttime, the kind that would make Noishe retreat further into his pen, or even sneak inside the house to cower underneath Lloyd’s bed. 

The keening whine through the air made him think otherwise.

Going by Colette's expression, even she hadn’t expected Noishe to already be upon them. “Ah, N-Noishe, wait!” But Lloyd already felt the great paw right in the center of his back, nudging against his wings.

He fell face first into the ground. 

“Gah! Noishe! Heavy!” Lloyd struggled, but the great green beast was busy nuzzling his snout against Lloyd’s cheek, letting out great bark-whines right in his ear. “Okay, okay! I'm happy to see you too but get off!”

Also, having four legs, this meant Noishe kept accidentally stepping right on Lloyd's wings, as well as his back. I don't have to worry about losing these on my own, he's just gonna break them off!

“Calm down, boy! Here, look! We have a new friend for you!” Colette was truly doing her best, petting Noishe’s ears as he still half-trampled over Lloyd. She then lifted the basket, where Blippy was looking up at Noishe with another mew.

The sound was new to Noishe, who had rarely been around normal cats and was only used to the monstrous ones, like giant lynxes or chimeras. He whined, pressing his paw against the back of Lloyd’s head.

Despite having wings, Lloyd sure was getting to know the ground a lot more!

“Oy, what's all the racket, Noishe? Are the little foxes bullying you again?”

And just like that, Noishe stepped off Lloyd, giving mercy to his wings (and back). He was sure he lost a few extra feathers…

“Mr. Dirk! It's us!” Colette called out, helping Lloyd get back to his feet, brushing off dirt clumps and grass from his jacket. “We're home!”

And it was that word, home, that made Lloyd suddenly freeze.

He was still facing away from the house, from Dirk. So right now, his dad had a full view of his wings, which were a little scuffled now from Noishe’s paws, their feathers probably falling off and floating to the ground. 

And Dirk wasn’t saying anything.

Lloyd took a shaky breath. A part of him didn’t want to turn around, instead feeling the instinct to fly away and hide. But he had come all this way, and there was something aching in his chest to finally be inside his house after what felt like such a long time.

When he did turn, he was careful to keep his wings folded, so that they wouldn't get in anyone’s way. They were always getting in someone’s way. “Hey…Dad. Um…” He smiled tremulously, giving a small shrug. “Surprise?”

Dirk was only a few feet away, standing at the other end of the logs that served as a makeshift bridge over a small river. The dwarf’s arms were crossed, silently looking at Lloyd more and more, the wind ruffling his thick beard.

As the moments passed, all Lloyd could think that this had been a mistake. His wings shifted, curling inward more as if they could fully hide behind his back. “Sorry, I… a lot happened and…”

“Ya came here earlier than I thought,” Dirk interrupted. He scratched at his beard, humming softly. “The renovations aren't quite ready yet. Thought I’d be done sooner, but I suppose all these centuries are finally catching up to me.”

Lloyd blinked. “Reno-what?”

“Well, don't just stand there, boy. Nights have been colder here lately, ya know. What with that Celsius lass taking root in Triet now. Get the both of you inside and I'll heat up some stew.”

With that, Dirk stepped back into the house through the front doorway. Warm light framed his silhouette before he moved to the side where the kitchen was, the clinking of pots echoing.

Wait, Lloyd thought. Something seems different…

“Uh, Dad?” Lloyd asked, looking at the entrance to the house for a long while, squinting and unsquinting until he finally understood what he was seeing. “Where's the door?”

It sounded weird to say out loud, but there really was just suddenly no door at the front of his house! The metal hinges were still present, and as he looked closer, there were wood shavings scattered along the floor. That, and the door frame itself seemed to be carved in a little more than he remembered.

“Ah, that? The old one won't fit the new measurements, so I had to take it down.” Dirk brought an old cooking pot to the fire stove, the logs already fairly lit. “I only had Ms. Sage’s letter to know just how much I would need to widen the doorway for you, and I still need to fix the top as well. I’ve also been mending your clothes that you left behind—so you’ll need to put on your jackets a little differently. I’ve fashioned some clasps in the back to make it fit better, but should more or less be the same. Reminds me of the time I had to lengthen my very own trousers when you had yer growth spurt!”

Lloyd was just more and more confused at the new information being given. “Wait, the Professor's letter? When did she…?

A whine from Noishe pierced through the night, followed by a wagging tail that thumped against the ground at the scent of prepared food. Dirk turned at the sound—and it was then he noticed the little kitten Colette still held, wide eyes shining bright from the fire stove.

“Got yerselves even more mouths to feed, did ya?”

Lloyd remained standing outside, but Colette heard the invitation in Dirk’s tone, stepping towards the doorway, basket in hand. “His name is Blippy. But, I guess Professor Sage must have told you already.”

The dwarf chuckled as he gazed at the little animal, petting its head, his thick hand nearly thrice the size of it. “Fine little critter. Lloyd, you did good saving this young one.”

Something about that made Lloyd leave his confuddled daze, shaking his head—which in turn made his feathers fluff up. “So you already knew about my wings!? This whole time?!” A pause. “You know everything?!”

“Ay, keep yer voice down! No sense shouting to the whole world at this hour.” Dirk faced Lloyd, the sweat on his brow apparent from the work he had put himself through. “I got no word from ya all this time. Had me worried sick if you were hurt or worse. So, I sent a query to your teacher. I figured if anyone would know anything, she would be the one.”

At that, Lloyd hung his head, running a hand through his hair. “And I've been freaking out about how to tell you…”

“I'm sorry we haven't sent anything in so long,” Colette quickly apologized. “So much happened all at once, that we just, kinda lost track.”

Dirk smiled at her, his thick beard moving like a bristly forest. “Now, you know I always appreciate your letters about how you and Lloyd are faring. That isn't the problem here.” Back to Lloyd, the dwarf’s arms were crossed once again. “What grieves me though is how my own son could not trust me.”

Lloyd raised his head with a snap. Feathers fluttered on the wind, one of them sneaking into the house to land shyly on the hardwood floors. “That's not-! I mean…” He groaned, taking a deep breath before starting again. 

“You see this, right?” He gestured to his now stretched out wings, feeling every creak and motion they made. He couldn’t move them without feeling awkward, these extra limbs having no where to go and hide. “I've been going over and over how I was going to tell you about this! I, I had to talk to other people first. And I still don’t really understand how these wings happened or why it did, but…” His wings bristled without his meaning to, embarrassing him just then. “I just didn't want you to see me…different…”

Lloyd suddenly felt so small as he spoke. And his wings were still far too big.

It was a while before Dirk spoke again, with only the sounds of the boiling pot and the crackling fire taking up the wasted space between. “Lloyd, I thought I had taught you this already, but perhaps I need to drill it into your skull a little more.”

“Huh? What do you mea–Ow!”

Lloyd could only hear Colette gasp slightly as he felt the sharp sting. Knuckles rapped against his forehead, a small tap for Dirk, but a dwarf’s strength was never to be underestimated. Lloyd placed a hand over what he was sure was a bruise already forming. It hadn’t been a punch, yet it almost felt like one. “W-what was that for?”

“It's to get through your thick-headedness!” Dirk yelled. “Don't you get that you change in front of me every time I turn my head? One moment, you’re a little tyke barely reaching my knees, and the next, you’re a grown man who carries his swords with pride. Why would you having wings now make any true difference to me? For all I know of humans, I would have believed them sprouting wings was as natural as breathing air!”

Lloyd gawked. “But we don't… well…” He looked to Colette, who still had her own wings out, their light suffusing the inside of the home with that soft violet he had grown so used to. “I guess some of us do?”

At that, Dirk’s great hand reached to clap against Lloyd's shoulder, making him stumble, his right wing flapping to keep him balanced. But there was a supplication this gesture now, not frustration nor anger. “You’ve changed, and you will always keep changing. But no matter what, you are still my son.” A small smirk could just barely be seen through his dark beard, but Lloyd had learned to recognize it through the years—and it was there. “You are still my very own child that I raised in this home, regardless of blood.”

A still moment. His father's smile. Lloyd had heard similar words before.

Why had he forgotten that already?

“Now, will ya come in already? Colette's already beat ya to it! Which means she’ll have first dibs on the potluck surprise I'll be making.”

“Dwarven Potluck Surprise? It’s been so long!” Colette beamed—and Blippy meowed right after. "Ah, but I don’t think you should eat that.”

Colette had already gone inside Dirk’s home, perhaps unconsciously so. Her wings fluttered, motes of light drifting in the air as she realized her position. Perhaps it was because she had always been invited here that she had gone in so easily. “And sorry, I should put these away…”

Dirk waved his hand. “Nonsense. They give the house some much needed light anyways.” He patted Lloyd’s shoulder again, gentler this time. “Well? Will you be coming in or will I have to pull you by the ear like old times?”

Lloyd would have argued against that, if he had felt like himself. But he looked again at the doorway, at the markings of sawdust and hammer marks that had taken place. “You were making that bigger for me,” he said.

Dirk nodded. “No sense in having you squeeze your wings through the front door. The one on your balcony should be wide enough, so I’m trying to make it the same here. I might need to move one of the windows to do so, but it's been a while since I’ve done some real construction work. A good time to keep my skills from being too rusty!”

There was joy in his father’s voice as he spoke, even some excitement at the idea of building something for Lloyd. There was no half-heartedness, no worry, and nothing fearful. And with his dad being so close to one of his wings, barely raising a bushy eyebrow at their size, Lloyd realized then.

His vision got blurry all the sudden. He tried to hide it with a quick swipe of his arm, but it only seemed to make his tears fall down all the more. “Ah, dammit, s-sorry.”

Even so, he couldn’t stop crying.

Lloyd found himself leaning on his father’s arm who guided him inside. The shadow of his own wings fell over the dwarf, but Dirk didn’t seem to mind at all. 

“Now, now, yer apologizing as much as Colette here. You must be starving, lad. Come in now.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t…believe it would be okay.” Harder to speak, just like when he was a little. He’d been such a crybaby back then. “I’m really sorry…”

“Hush now. Also mind the tools there, ya don’t want a wicked nail through your boot. We’ll have a bit of a draft while we eat but I’m sure it’s nothing you’re not already used to.” Dirk continued to speak gently, as he would do when Lloyd was little, crying over monsters in the dark, and nightmares he could put no name to.

Maybe it was the pain of getting his wings, the weight of them, the constant ache and everything else that had made him forget. He moved through the doorway, already wide enough that he barely needed to tuck in his wings as he stepped inside. The familiar scent of the simmering potluck, the soft light from Colette’s wings painting the walls, the tiny whines from Noishe as he settled himself in a corner, hoping for scraps to come his way.

Remember, this is your home.

Lloyd really had forgotten so many things.

But he remembered the stew tasting so, so warm.

 --

The skies stayed cloudy throughout the coming days. Again, Dirk commented how it must have been Celsius’ doing, the icy summon spirit bringing forth a chill that the thick forests surrounding Iselia did not know—though not enough to hurt the trees or any of the plants in their garden, thankfully. “A customer of mine said the desert had its first snowfall,” he would later say. “It seems change is happening everywhere.”

Lloyd hadn’t been sure how long he would stay home this time. Typically, it would be a week or two at a time before he and Colette would set out on the road again. But as he seated himself on the balcony railing, his wings helping him keep balance, hearing his father put the finishing touches on the doorway below, he was finding it harder to leave.

That, and Blippy seemed to really like it here, too.

The white kitten was already growing so fast, barely fitting inside his basket anymore. So it only made sense that he would wander around the home, poking his head among the potted plants and snatching any dried fish that Dirk had stored. There had been some worries, from both Lloyd and Colette, about the river that wound around the house and if Blippy would fall in. Still, the river never ran fast and was barely over a foot deep, yet even so, Dirk had set about creating a little wooden fence, so that Blippy didn’t accidentally dip a paw in the water in curiosity.

Yet, maybe they had been worrying too much, because Blippy was far more interested in Noishe instead of some water.

Lloyd watched Blippy chase after Noishe across the grass. The small little flash of fur was bright, mewing all while Noishe whined and tried to hide in his stable. His dad turned his head occasionally towards the sight, letting out a chuckle or two before going back to his work.

“Looks like they’ve been getting along lately, don’t you think?”

Lloyd felt the brush of her fingers against his wings. The touch was so light, reminding him of the way she would press her fingers into his palm. He grinned, still watching both dog and cat rush across the ground. “Maybe. Either that or Noishe is great with kids.”

Colette looked down, her own soft laughter escaping her lips. He felt her fingers move from her wings to around his back—to the new openings in his jacket for his wings to comfortably hang from. It definitely took Lloyd some getting used to wearing it, but his dad’s tailoring skills were nearly as good as his crafting. The back clasps in his jacket could be tightened after he put it on, so that he no longer had to wrestle his wings through the makeshift openings he and Colette had tried to do on their own. No more tearing through the fabric, and no more worries that his jacket would simply fall off because of such new shapes.

“I’m glad he still kept these red,” Colette noted, and he could hear the playful tone in her voice. “Or would you have wanted to try a different color?”

“You know, now that I think about it…blue would look pretty great on me. Oh, or maybe purple!”

“Aw, purple is cute!” And before Lloyd could argue that purple could be more than just a cute color, she also moved to sit on the railing beside him, carefully brushing aside the clinging ivy and the soft dust of pollen that had draped over it.

She lost her balance almost immediately.

Lloyd quickly reached out and grabbed her arm. “Whoa, watch out! You can just take a chair if you wanna sit.”

“Hehe, sorry…” Colette gripped her free hand onto the railing now, but she didn’t move, instead continuing with, “But I think I know what to do about it.”

With that, Colette’s wings slowly slipped past her shoulders, their soft light slightly muted by the sunshine. He felt the tip of one of her wings tap his shoulder. Soon, she was sitting taller, more comfortably, her legs swinging from the railing. “There!”

She did it so easily, all with a wide smile. Her wings fluttered a little, reminding him of a butterfly’s own.

As the wind shifted the tree boughs near his balcony, carrying the scent of pine in the early spring, he kept his eyes on her. For so much of that first journey, Lloyd had seen her wings often. Easier to fight with, she had told him before, even when she worried how the others must have seen her. When she was numb to pain, her wings highlighted the scratches across her palms from gripping the chakrams too tightly. When she was locked away and could no longer speak, her wings were always at the ready, their once soft light seeming harsher in the dark, reflecting off eyes that never shifted or blinked.

Lloyd tapped his fingers against the railing, eyes shifting downward. “Hey, Colette. You don’t need to have your wings out for my sake.”

Between them, there were the sounds of Dirk’s hammer, the distant cry of a hawk overhead, and the continued whispering from the trees. The light of Colette’s wings stayed draped over the railing, over his hand where his Exsphere continued to rest on.

“I know you don’t want…what happened to me to happen to you too.” His wings furled inward slightly as he spoke. “So, it’s okay. Really. You don’t have to risk it.”

Colette had already suffered for her wings as they were. Why should he have to add more to that?

It was then he heard the railing creak from motion, watching as the familiar violet shade moved away from his hand. But before he could even start to feel a little lonely then, Colette had grabbed his hand—from the front.

“Remember when we used to fly together?” Colette asked him. She was flying before him, her wings gently beating, sending drifting motes of light to scatter across the earth. “Not just in Ozette… but before that? We should do it again. Let’s go and fly!”

Again, the rhythmic sound of the hammer, now followed by the gentle whines of a certain creature who must have noticed Colette hovering just above.

“Uh… did you just ignore what I was saying now?” Lloyd asked in turn, more out of befuddlement than anything else. He could usually follow Colette’s thoughts well, but still, she managed to surprise him now and then.

“Oh! No, I was listening!” Colette nodded, her face all serious to the point that her cheeks were a little puffy, a feature that Lloyd couldn’t help but find adorable. “And this is my answer!”

“So, you did ignore me.”

Colette grasped his hand close in both of her own, leaning in. Her blue irises held patterns in them, like constellations. “Lloyd, I want to use my wings with you again. I know I used to be a little worried before about it, when I told you about what Kratos mentioned to me. So, when it actually happened to you, I did try to stop using my wings. I got scared. I didn’t really understand.”

Her nearness made his heart race again, but he grasped her hand back with his. “That’s why I said it’s okay to not use yours. You shouldn’t have to because of me.”

“But what if I want to, Lloyd?” she countered, the rare hint of exasperation in her voice. “Can you believe me that I want to? Like when we used to fly up in the skies… When it felt like it was only us in the world. I know it’s selfish of me, but I liked that. I miss flying with you.”

Lloyd’s wings unfurled again, unconsciously done, but he didn’t shy away from it. He remembered seeing doves do the same, like the ones that would sometimes make their nests within a hidden corner of his rooftop.

“…I’m actually kinda nervous flying that high with these,” he admitted, clearing his throat. “I mean, I did fly to my balcony this morning! Like, from the ground…”

Colette’s fingers threaded between his own, soon reaching for his other hand. “Then you just need a little practice. Let’s get you more used to your new wings. I can teach you!”

Her excitement was getting more and more obvious, her serious face from before breaking into a grin. She gently tugged him forward, and all Lloyd could do was let her. His wings were already opening, catching the wind, feeling the way it shifted around his feathers.

“Heh, so should I call you Professor Colette, then?” he teased, just as he felt himself leave the railing. “Or, I guess it would be Professor Brunel…”

“Hm, but I like hearing you say my name, so keep the Colette part!” And with a little triumphant pull, she held Lloyd’s hands as they both hovered in the air just before his balcony, their wings beating in sync.

Lloyd gazed at her, at her wings painted against the cloudy skies, like the fragments of a stained-glass window. He swallowed a small lump in his throat, hoping it didn’t make his flight a bit unsteady. But flying had always been like this, hadn’t it? To trust yourself to not freefall through the air, to leave the stability of the ground for the uneasiness of the air.

It was exciting, when he thought about it.

“So, Professor Colette, I always wondered… How come you got so good at flying right away when you got your wings? Even when I had my old ones, I still had trouble with them.”

Colette seemed surprised by the question. Her wings beat rapidly in the air as she thought of her answer. “Hm… maybe it’s just part of my luck?”

“Haha, what? That’s not how luck works!” Lloyd tilted his head, his legs hanging down, still unconsciously searching for a floor to stand on. “I think?

“Well, I am very lucky.” She pulled him further up into the air, giggling. “Maybe my luck with flying will rub off on you!”

And she was quick, already guiding him on a flight path only she seemed to know. But she didn’t forget to wave down to Dirk below, calling out to him with a clear voice. “We’re just going out, Mr. Dirk! We’ll be back before dinner!”

“Ah, leaving me your pet to take care of, eh?” But little Blippy was already being stroked by Dirk’s great hand as he took a break from his work. The cat stared ahead, eyes wide as it craned its head up towards a flying Lloyd and Colette. Still, it didn’t reach out to them. It was very content to stay and be petted by a well-knowing hand. “Stay safe, you two!”

From the height of his balcony, his father’s shape didn’t look that much different than on ground level. But with flight came the distance, came the eventual loss of detail, until even Dirk’s beard could barely be seen. It was similar when flying atop a Rheaird, except Lloyd could turn in the air, and keep holding onto Colette’s hand, watching the trail of stardust from her wings float all around. Maybe with enough of it, her light could even make his own wings shine.

 --

At some point during the day, the clouds finally began to part—but Lloyd barely noticed. He was too busy keeping his eyes on Colette, and how her wings moved with all the ease that he wished he had.

The initial flight was shaky for him. He nearly lost his balance numerous times, and his wings would grow tired. They were no longer just made of light, but of muscle and bone. He had to rest them occasionally, stopping at a hill outcropping or a tree branch, with Colette waiting beside him until he was ready to fly once more.

“Feel like I’m not making this as fun as it used to be…” he said with a small laugh.

But Colette would only shake her head, the light from her wings darkening her hair. “It’s always fun with you, Lloyd.”

And then, she would take his hand to fly off again, over the forest he had known so well since he was a kid, watching the twisting rivers that cut through hills, and the dirt roads that wound down cliffs past an abandoned ranch, until they would reach the gates of Iselia. But they were so high up in the sky, they might have been mistaken for large birds if anyone saw them. Or at least, Lloyd was hoping for that.

He quickly identified the roof that belonged Colette’s house, spotting the well beside it, and the small backyard where they would both play swords together when they were young. Another quick glance to the right, and he thought he recognized Phaidra walking past the front door, her ash blonde hair catching the dim light of the setting sun.

Lloyd knew he’d have to see them too, with his new wings. He’d have to see the entire village, sporting the same wings as the angel that had come down on that day of the Oracle. So, he felt some relief as they flew farther past the village, Colette’s hand still holding fast to his.

But, that was also when he started to question. “Uh, where are we going anyway?”

Colette looked back at him, her hair flying about her in a golden array. “Just a little further up. How do your wings feel?”

“Eh, still kinda tired? But I guess they don’t ache as much.” So he flew with some trepidation, too anxious to really make any careless dives or twists in the air like he once used to.

His wings really did have an annoying habit of flying into things if he wasn’t careful enough, so he was little relieved they had left the forest for more open spaces. It wasn’t like before, where his wings of light could disperse whenever he felt like it. He couldn’t just land on the bough of a tree, sitting against the bark when he felt tired. Now he had to calculate just how much space his wings needed, how they would make it difficult for him to just lay back unless he folded them up properly. (Which also made it a bit hard to sleep in general!)

Then, as he flapped his wings a little hard, trying to catch the air, he winced. And with that came a little groan of frustration.

Colette noticed. “Oh, again?”

“Ugh, yeah…” He tried turning his neck but had no real luck. “These ribbons just keep getting in the way now!”

“Don’t worry, we’re almost there!”

Lloyd could barely question her what she meant exactly, his neck cricking from his ribbons restricting his movement. He could feel every flap of his wings only making it worse, until Colette guided him to land on somewhat uneven ground.

“Here, let me look.” Colette quickly moved behind him, and soon he felt her hands move aside those ribbons from his mass of feathers, a careful unwinding of thin fabric from his wingspan. “This left one really held on!”

Lloyd sighed, his shoulders drooping. “I think I’m gonna have to tell dad about getting rid of these. I can’t fly right if these ribbons keep tangling up in my wings!”

Colette straightened out the white ribbons, her fingers smoothing out wrinkles. “I think it would work if they were shorter.”

“No way, they’d just look kind of dumb if they were short.”

As he felt her still holding onto his ribbons, he looked straight ahead. In the distance, he saw the ocean, hearing the crashing of waves against a rocky shore. The sun, he finally noticed, was already going down, sinking into the ocean as the sky overhead darkened. Lloyd angled his head around, realizing just where exactly they were both standing on. He caught a glimpse of the carved opening that had been made at the top of the stone structure, from where the light of the Oracle had shone so brightly all that time ago.

The Iselia Temple? Why did she bring me here?

But Colette still seemed to be busy with his ribbons, even long after she had untangled them. She already spoke before he could ask her. “What if we tied it up?”

Lloyd immediately knew what she meant. He hesitated. “I don’t know about that…”

“But you did it for me!” Colette was doing her best to hide away her grin as she guided him to stand on one of the curved outcroppings of the temple, many of the stones enveloped by moss. She stayed behind him, straightening out those ribbons even more. “Remember, your ribbons got tangled up in my hair when I wore your outfit that one time.”

“That’s different!”

“How so?”

“Hair and wings aren’t exactly the same…” But he already felt her tugging on them, and the motion of it was nice. Almost relaxing, such as when she brushed his wings, careful with his feathers.

“Fine,”he relented. “If you really want to—”

“Oh, whoops,” Colette said with a giggle. “I was already doing it. Sorry!”

“Huh?!” Lloyd reached back around his collar, his wrist brushing against his wing. But his fingers found the knot that was made, along with the little bow that Colette had tied up nicely with his white ribbons.

“Now they won’t get in the way. Also, they look cute!”

Well, he knew he had to admit it then, especially once he tested a small beat of his wings then. “Huh, it is a lot better now! …I’m gonna need to do this for my other jackets.”

“Maybe we can have each one a different style!” Colette suggested. “I can make your Tuesday jacket have a more braid-like ribbon.”

“You sure you didn’t already do that?”

But Colette just poked out her tongue at him as a tease as she stood next to him again. Lloyd looked at how the night sky was seen through her wings, sparkling more than they ever did on their own. It took him a second to realize that it was already nighttime—had they really flown all afternoon?

“How come you wanted to come here?” he asked her. He caught sight of the crumbling stairs that led to the temple, the flagstones long overtaken by the earth. It seemed even more in disrepair, for probably ever since Colette left, no one else besides them had gone back to this holy place of Cruxis worship. Now it only crumbled, along with everything else of the old religion.

“The stars are always so clear by the temple,” she said, craning her neck upwards. “Not as well as by your house, but it’s always very dark here, so the stars shine brighter than they do when in Iselia.”

In the sky, there were patterns—different ones now, with the reunification of the worlds. How often had Colette had to stay late at the temple, counting the stars from the windows? How often had he done the same from his house, waiting until he could go back to Iselia again to see her?

Lloyd was still looking at her when he saw something then—like a trail of starlight that connected the span of her wings, from the top-most left to the bottom. He watched its travel, a movement so fast across her expanse.

“A shooting star?” Colette said, looking over in the same direction. “I wonder… what would I wish for now…?”

Lloyd knew what he once would have wished for.

When his wings had ached, had been covered in blood and made him hate the very thought of moving, he would have wished for them to be gone. He would have wished he had done things differently. He would have wished he hadn’t put Colette through so much trouble, just to care for him and his stupid mistakes.

In the night, he saw how his right wing moved to circle around Colette. A large wingspan, the feathers pulled at by the ocean breeze. They were the same color as the kitten he had dove in to rescue from the river. Whatever reason his wings had decided to change just then, he still couldn’t say. That same kitten was probably resting in his father’s lap, who mostly likely was still waiting for him and Colette to return home.

No wishes came to his head, but something else did.

Lloyd took Colette’s hand. “Fly with me.”

Colette barely had a moment before Lloyd’s wings outstretched, wider than before. Only once had he ever felt this confident with them—back when they had been of light for the very first time, and he flew off to the skies with no hesitation.

“Come on!” Grinning wide, he urged Colette to follow, rising high above, watching as her wings beat rapidly to match his speed.

“Lloyd!” she called back with a laugh. “Are you okay to fly this high up?”

High enough that even the temple seemed small, high enough that it felt like they were the only two left in the entire world.

Their flight path was of curves, and sudden dives, and over the ocean currents that made laughter break out between them. But still, he guided her higher, just enough so that he felt nothing else could be better. They finally stopped, uplifted by the winds, the twin moons shining down on them. They made the night less dark, surrounded by the stars that were so numerous, like an endless sea.

Stopping in mid-flight, he moved his hands from hers, to wrap around her waist and bring her close in an embrace. Just a few days before, he would have felt too awkward to do this, too unbalanced, too much of a mess to give her what she tried to give to him.

His wings beat softly to keep them up. Even if Colette’s wings were snuffed out at that very moment, he wouldn’t let go.

“Colette, I’m sorry I couldn’t say it back then when you kissed me.”

He felt the heat rise in her face, warm against his cheek. He watched it brighten as he moved back to look at her, her hair framed by her wings and the stars. “Ah, that was… I just did it without asking you—”

“I love you, too.”

Maybe it was cheesy to say it here, up in the skies, but he wanted a place where only Colette would hear him, where she couldn’t mistake it for anything else.

“I’ve always loved you, but I only really got it back at the Tree. It takes me so long to get anything. It’s kinda pathetic, huh? And even when I finally realized, it took me even longer to just say it. I kept you waiting this whole time, even after you told me. I’m sorry. I don’t want to keep doing that to you. I love you, Colette. I love you.”

Her kiss had been her way of telling him, the most obvious thing that even the densest person would have picked up on. He always made so much trouble for Colette.

She lowered her eyes, but her hands fidgeted. Fingers moved to slide up his collar, to thread across his hair. “Then…can you make it up to me?”

He moved closer, his forehead pressed against hers as they both floated lazily through the sky. “Yeah. What is it?”

“Can you kiss me back?”

Was it as far back as Flanoir, as far back as on his balcony before she would leave for her journey, when he first wanted to kiss her? He had loved her then, longer than he could put a single memory to it. So many times, so many moments, but it had been up to Colette to guide him. The wanting flooded through him. He could hardly even speak anymore.

Still, when Lloyd pressed his lips to hers, tasting that familiar sweetness from before, hearing the soft sounds Colette made against him, he finally felt he did something right for once in so long.

Flying had never before felt so wonderful.

[dyrewrites]

Pale Blood (revised) -- Ron's not doing well

Fur woke Odea. Specifically, the freshly cleaned and bandaged fur of Kiki’s paw...shoved into her open mouth.

She sat up choking, “Godsdamnit, Kiki, why!”

Kiki’s meow was not an adequate response, but the lack of KB mirroring it forced Odea into true wakefulness—the sort one can only experience in moments of sheer panic. Then she noticed more missing from the cramped room.

Lights.

After stumbling over things—that she hoped were not part of the ‘priceless’ objects Ron had said filled the room—and slapping in near-darkness at the wall—in the general area the door had been—Odea found a screen to activate.

Unfortunately, it was not the right one. No light bloomed in the room to guide or comfort. Instead the door opened, letting more darkness in.

“Nope,” She muttered, reaching for her netlink. Three quick taps accessed its lighting features and she winced as the bright violet beam shot out from its place in her ear. Angled downward, the light spread just wider than her hips and illuminated...very little. Her rationalizations for purchasing the feature rose to taunt her but she ignored them, “Okay, now I can see my feet. That’s, that’s something. That’s useful.”

It was not.

But it gave her enough false courage to leave the room and head in the direction she knew led to reception.

Kiki did not follow. She could see just fine and had no interest in spending more time around the cold thing her brother attached himself to—were anyone to ask Kiki why she woke her human, she would have said, “Because she snores too loud.”

Arms painfully wide, Odea kept close to the left-hand wall and flailed into the emptiness of the right as she navigated the labyrinthine halls.

“Ron,” she called out, too quietly, “are you down here?”  Are you hungry, her panic added and she shook it away as something too rude to consider.

DADDY...

Odea froze with the voice, it rippled through the dark, gentle and pained and she lost all sense of direction in it. All sense of self.

It consumed her, body, breath and soul with sorrow she did not understand—one none should ever—and she collapsed, tears flooding and spilling soundless and hot down her cheeks.

DADDY, WHERE?

A chill grew beyond her meager pool of light, it stretched and a hand stretched with it. Small and pale, that hand, and as it touched the violet of Odea’s comfort it withered and the voice wailed.

Hands tight on her ears, Odea’s eyes never turned from the hand...or the face that joined it. A face that remained at the barrier of her light, stretched in terror, its eyes wide and wet and leaking thin rivulets of yellowed white; watching her, studying her.

DADDY, WHERE AM I DADDY?

“Shit,” Odea muttered, tightening her lips against further words, I thought it was just the one, where did this one come from? I can’t...I can’t exorcise a kid.

She barely remembered doing it the last time, but Ron had relayed all he could and begged with those big blues and she was forced to explain that such things were part of a witch’s duty—she did not tell him it was a duty strictly of Dusk’s witches, and that her exorcising them was no kindness, nor did he tell her what happened after or that she should exorcise herself...

The dead thing was testing the light again, with hands and feet and Odea gagged when she noticed. It was not a spirit, as the other had been. What stood before her was flesh and bone, though some of it had been...eaten. There were very few fingers and toes, but many marks where ones should have been, as well as chunks missing from the arms and legs.

It can’t be a ghoul, she assured the thought that prodded, that poked and stabbed. Twilight’s the only one with that power and Ron’s the last one around.

WHERE AM I?

The thing that should not have been asked again, but it asked Odea and Odea alone. Its voice echoed, as chill and distant as any spirit, warbling through the darkness beyond her light and she shivered with it. But she answered, “Y, you’re dead.” —she was never terribly great at tact, or kids.

NO!

The shriek flared Odea’s light to pink, then white before it popped and the low ripple of current ever present in her netlink died. Then the other dead thing turned and ran and Odea turned and scrambled back toward the room and the safety it promised.

Behind her, the hall flickered and burst with the blue-white light of outdated fluorescent bulbs and she stopped just outside the still-open door of Ron’s hideaway.

“I know you love cats and all, but...really?”  Ron’s tone was neither playful nor friendly but Odea adored it all the same. She stood up and lunged at him, hugging him so tight that KB—firmly attached to his shoulder—wriggled and merped.

“Where were you?”  She snapped as Ron pushed her off him, “There was a, a, child, a dead child, Ron, a dead child.”

He looked past her and behind himself, “I don’t see any kids.”

His eyes weren’t blue.

It took Odea until he narrowed them at her to notice, but they weren’t blue. They were close to blue, one could call them that if they squinted in the right light, but they weren’t blue. They were gray. Which was the wrong color, and Odea narrowed her own as she pulled further away. His hands dropped from her arms, falling limp at his sides and she backed another step.

“You okay, Ron?”  She asked.

“I’m fine,” He lied, “didn’t you have things to do today?”

“No, uh-uh, you’re not doing that,” She scolded, waggling her finger at him as he rolled his eyes.

“Doing what, reminding you of your responsibilities?”  It sounded like a sneer, but his expression remained neutral as he said it. And he had a tone, an air of superiority that puffed under every word he spoke, that stabbed deeper than if he’d insulted her directly—do you see now, Ron, why I said you had a time limit. Time’s up, asshole, you tell her now she’ll punch you.

Odea scoffed, “Fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

Ron sighed, “Nothing, just...go do what you need to do.” Then he lied again, right to her face, “I’m fine.”

“All the fucking lights were out until a second ago and there’s a dead kid with missing digits running around what is essentially your home, but you’re fine?” She closed the gap she’d made between them, and reached up to tap Ron’s stiff chest, “You are not fine. Nothing is fine. The last few days have been one giant shitshow and it doesn’t look like it’s ending anytime soon so if there’s something more going on, here, with you? I want you to fucking tell me. Because, like it or not, I am your friend and I care about you.”

Shaking his head, Ron sidestepped her and walked toward the open door to his room. He had planned on explaining when she woke up, planned on asking her questions about it even, as it was new and different and terrifying but...

She has more important things to worry about than me, he’d rationalized, they all do. And so he ignored her angry huff, pulled away from the arm that grabbed and shut the door in her face so she couldn’t follow.

She screamed outside that door, into the flat bit of wall it had become from her end, and Ron ignored that too.

“She’ll get over it,” he told her cats, as KB snuggled tighter into his shoulder and Kiki coiled on the couch, glaring at him, “Del too.”

It started near a week before the specter, before he saw a real ghost for the first time in his many, many years in that bloodbank. But that had been when he really noticed and, though he was fairly certain it would eventually end, he wasn’t too sure it would do so pretty—it wouldn’t...

Something was scratching in the silent lump that used to be his heart and every other bit of him was scratching back. It made him hungrier, angrier, and yet numb, more so than he had ever been. He couldn’t make his face do what he wanted it to, couldn’t soften his voice and the few mirrors the bloodbank contained showed that even the meager mask he’d crafted was cracking.

Something terrible was happening to him and he had no interest in letting the few people he’d come to love watch.

So he ignored her screams, her curses, her pounding fists.

He leaned against the closed door and he waited, face stiff and eyes dry despite the ache of tears, until she stopped...until she stormed off with promises to return, promises to beat answers out of him if needed. And he knew she would, and he would have to give them, but not then.

[totallyexhausted]

Sick Sasaki with caring Miyano (Aged-up fic) with Flashbacks...

Just small notes on one of the ff’s in case my computer deletes the files again (so I have like a triple backup)...

(Just random-ass notes for right now to have a back-up back-up for myself) - feel free to comment or motivate me lol jk brb crying....

Title: You’re So Cool (Yeah, You Are)

It started with a dull ache behind his eyes as he helped his mother knead dough for whatever the daily pastry was. The familiar action digging into his knuckles as his fingers cramped, and he winced as the dull ache traveled up his arms; and over the course of the morning, through the rest of his body.  

His mother had told him to go home several times; his sister even threatening to shove him out the door if he didn’t at least take off early. Towards the end of his shift however, the threats were no longer empty-handed nor needed because Sasaki left willingly. He’d tried to power through the rest of his shift, but the smell of bread, cookies, and other sickly-sweet pastries he normally loved, was overpowering, nauseating; and he was pretty sure Satoko was going to punch him if he stayed longer…

The walk home had been a blur for the most part. A quick train ride that resulted in him jolting awake as the doors dinged open, his stop echoing over the loudspeaker, and whispered chatter from too many people, from too much noise. Sasaki never really registered he’d made it home until he pushed past the threshold of his and Miyano’s one-bedroom apartment, tripping over the white-haired cat as she tangled herself under his feet with a loud meow.

The 21-year-old exhaled loudly as he collapsed face-down against the couch. He pressed his cheek against the crappy blue material, hoping the rough fabric would provide the same cool relief the train window had; his left hand ghosting the wooden ground as the cat nipped at his fingers gently. He shifted, his left leg falling from the couch; his right foot knocking some BL books from the end table.

The couch was way too small- or he was too tall, or both. Miyano could barely stretch out on the discounted furniture, but Sasaki? Sasaki was 6’2… so finding something he didn’t have to curl up on, something he could fully lounge on, was difficult. Being 6’2 was difficult. He was always ducking down, hitting his head, towering over people his age. Intimidating. That’s what Hirano had said once; tall people could be intimidating. A sentiment Sasaki had found ironically hilarious as Kagiura was quite a few inches taller than he; towering over Hirano more than Sasaki did.

           The cat meowed again, pawing at the 21-year-old’s fingers before biting his hand, and Sasaki ran his fingers through her white hair tiredly. He inhaled softly, “Hi, Wasabi.”

           The cat had been his boyfriend’s idea. A lost kitten found wondering aimlessly outside their university. Needless to say, a stormy night and one look into Miyano’s big brown eyes, and the cat had wormed her way into a loving home. It wasn’t that Sasaki wasn’t a cat person because he was- he just preferred dogs more. He’d been surprised when Miyano brought home the small white ball of fluff, both him and the cat shivering from the rain pelting down outside because it was either carry the kitten or an umbrella. A few days later Sasaki couldn’t imagine their apartment without a cat; just like he couldn’t imagine his life without Miyano.  

           Sasaki groaned loudly as his phone vibrated in his pocket, and he shifted again, his foot knocking something else from the end table. He needed to stop moving, or at the very least, pick up the objects he’d knocked down. But he was so tired, and the idea of moving from the couch, of sitting up, bending down to pick up manga left out or papers disregarded, seemed like too much of a task. Too exhausting. Too much effort. I’m so lame…

           Wasabi meowled, jumping onto his back, rubbing her face in his orange hair and purring loudly. She was probably hungry. She was always hungry… but she’d have to wait because there was no way Sasaki was getting up right now. His head hurt too much; the sun filtering through blinds halfway shut, the cool Autumn air wafting through windows left open, and the noise of children playing outside was enough to make everything feel somewhat wrong and off-kilter. Everything seemed off-kilter. Distant, and yet, so very close; so very loud, and hot.

           The 21-year-old’s phone vibrated again, and Sasaki wondered if Miyano was texting him. He’d be in-between classes now, and Sasaki knew his sister had probably texted his boyfriend the second he left the bakery, if not before. Satoko probably had the 20-year-old on speed dial, ready to call his boyfriend to come pick up her giant mess of a brother if he hadn’t left when he did. She’d always been that way; overprotective, and so goddamn stubborn.  

           Sasaki cleared his throat, pulling his arm back on the couch, tucking it under his chest as he shivered. Something clattered to the ground as he tried pulling his leg back on the tiny futon, and Wasabi scattered from the room as the 21-year-old cursed softly. He really really needed to stop moving before he broke everything in the living room. Sasaki huffed as he let his foot slam against the floor again and closed his eyes.

           He probably could have crashed in the bedroom; at least there was less stuff for him to knock on the ground there, and it was darker. But it was too far away, and he needed to get up soon; he needed to cook dinner. It was Tuesday which meant he was in charge of making food. It was one of his boyfriend’s busiest days, just like Thursdays and Saturdays were his; besides, Miyano cooked every Thursday; hell, he cooked most of the time since they started living together last year, so the 21-year-old could at least take care of Tuesdays. He could at least do that for him because it felt like Miyano did everything else. Sasaki was just so useless sometimes. So damn useless.

           …His fingers were so cold; fingertips tracing the warm flesh painted on Sasaki’s chest, and the 19-year-old held Miyano’s gaze. He couldn’t look away- he didn’t want to… Miyano, I love…

           He opened his eyes and shifted to his back, grimacing at the small action as nausea coursed through him. He put a hand on his stomach slowly as the ceiling above him spun. He’d barely eaten anything today, but with how he was feeling now, he’d probably forgo dinner. Maybe he’d make something simple; something easy; something he didn’t have to put a lot of effort into, so Miyano could at least eat. As long as Miyano was okay, as long as he was taken care of, then the rest didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered.

           Wasabi reappeared, jumping up on the futon again as Sasaki let his right arm dangle off the couch, smacking it against the leg of the coffee table. He pulled his legs up so his feet rested against the end of the couch instead of the now free end table. It was cramped. He was cramped, but at least the room stopped moving; and the nausea subsided.

           The 21-year-old groaned, swallowing as children screamed in the alley below. He closed his eyes again, sighing as the white cat cuddled between the crook of his neck and the back of the couch, licking at his piercings. Sasaki turned his head away from her, hoping she’d get the message and stop, but Wasabi was a cat- so what was he really expecting?

           She meowed noisily in his ear before licking at the piercings again. They were shiny. Small. Distracting. And Wasabi was either trying to be affectionate or trying to eat them; her two moods; either cute and cuddly or the devil disguised as a 4-pound ball of fluff.

 He just needed to rest his eyes for a few minutes…    

 ………………………………

             The second time he’d gotten drunk, he’d been 19. The first on his 16th birthday which was an accident on his mother’s part, unaware of the percentage of alcohol in some foreign sweet drink she’d gifted him… But the second time? The second time had been all him.

           It started as a misunderstanding on Sasaki’s part. His stupid impulses and selfish attitude. His lameness. He’d thought Miyano was breaking up with him; after all, they’d gotten into an argument. Something stupid and unimportant. But an argument, nonetheless. And Sasaki had told him he loved him. For the first time. Out loud.

Hirano and Ogasawara had tried to help; had tried to cheer him up, but they didn’t help much. Neither did the alcohol, despite there being a lot of it. Honestly, he hadn’t meant to get as drunk as he did- after all, he hated the taste of alcohol… but, Hirano and Ogasawara had Sake, which was sweeter; and the easiest way to get over his own stupidity, was, in the 19-year-old’s mind, to get drunk.

           Whatever he and his friends had done that night, Sasaki couldn’t remember. Well, most of it, he couldn’t. He did, however, remember fireworks. Ordering enough Sake to satisfy a small village. A convenience store with way too many snack choices. Several drinks with names too serious for its size. An old man threatening them. Ogasawara arguing on the phone with his girlfriend while him and Hirano made fun of him. Vomiting. Hirano drunk dialing Kagiura. More fireworks. Cheap beer. Some guys shoving him against a wall before Hirano tackled them. A window breaking. Running from the cops. Falling off some swings. Taking way too many train rides to God knows where. And finally, Hanzawa basically carrying him to his apartment which was weird because he hadn’t been with them to begin with. But everything else in-between or figuring out how those events connected together or in what order, was anyone’s guess.

           He’d woken up the next morning in his sister’s room when she threw a bottle of water his direction demanding he drink it since the 19-year-old had apparently stumbled through the door, puking up bitter-tasting Sake and cheap beer on her floor, before passing out on her bed, crying over Miyano.

           That’d honestly been the first time he’d ever sought his sister for comfort, and the first time she’d openly known about him and Miyano. It wasn’t like Sasaki had hidden it, but it wasn’t like she’d asked either. Or maybe she didn’t really care; or figured her brother would tell her when he was ready. And evidently, at 3am, drunk off his ass, he was ready.

           It wasn’t a fond experience in Sasaki’s book, mainly because he spent the day after powering through a shift with a headache from hell and stopping every half hour so he could step into the alley to vomit, but it was nice to see his sister cared enough to be there for him; after calling him the biggest idiot she’d ever known. She’d called Miyano when his shift ended as the younger had been texting non-stop since Sasaki had stormed out of his room the day before; but the older teenager had been too afraid to glance at the messages scribbled across his phone.

           Sasaki hadn’t known Satoko had called Miyano until he slid down the side of the concrete building of the bakery after taking the trash out and throwing up the last of the foul-tasting alcohol souring his stomach. He held his head between his knees as someone nudged his foot, and Sasaki glanced up, squinting against the sun hanging high in the sky towards Miyano standing over him, holding out one of the sweet peach drinks he liked. Honestly seeing him, the older thought he was going to puke again, but he accepted the cold beverage.

           Miyano slid down next to him, sighing loudly as Sasaki felt his breathing catch, his heart racing. He didn’t really want to see the younger teen, mainly because he was too afraid of his answer; too afraid he’d reject him. Too afraid he’d end it. Just like Hanzawa and-

           “What are you doing here, Mya-chan?” He asked softly, opening the drink, taking a few tentative sips before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He swallowed loudly as the younger sighed again, “You weren’t answering. I was worried about you… and your sister called me.”

           Sasaki clicked his tongue; he told her he didn’t want to see Miyano, that he couldn’t talk to him right now, but she called anyway. Typical. Brat.

The 19-year-old smacked the back of his head against the wall, glaring towards the sun as he took another slow sip. He clenched his other hand against his thigh as the thought of running invaded his mind. He wanted to leave because that’s what he did. When things got too difficult. Or too upsetting. Or too much. When his emotions felt like too much, and he didn’t know how to deal; he left. He always left. Because he was more afraid of what would happen if he stayed. If he hurt someone. Again. Like he’d hurt his sister a few years ago… Perhaps that’s why Satoko called Miyano when she did, because he was trapped; he was forced to talk to the 18-year-old; forced to deal with his emotions…

“Look, Miya,” Sasaki whispered, his voice low and shaky, “I’m sorry about yesterday. It was selfish when I-”

“Wait. Sasaki, I think you misunderstood. Sometimes it’s hard to find the words- to get the point across…” Miyano cut in softly, “I wasn’t telling you I didn’t- I wasn’t saying we should break-up. Honestly, I’d hate that. I mean, I don’t know- that would suck. It’d be horrible because…”

Sasaki swallowed again, his breath hitching as he took another drink, drowning the anxiety sitting in his stomach, the sick taste of sake haunting his throat. Every movement Miyano made, every breath he took, every syllable, becoming the older teenager’s only sounding board as cold fingers intertwined with his shaking ones pressed against his thigh. Sasaki felt like he couldn’t talk, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think. He didn’t want to do or say anything that would fuck this up; he didn’t want to move the wrong way, say the wrong thing, express anything wrong, impulsive, selfish… and yet…

“I-I, yesterday, I was trying to,” Miyano paused momentarily, glancing towards Sasaki, “I want us to move in together- if you want to, and if you need some time to think about it, that’s okay. I love you, and I don’t want to pressure you; I mean you waited so long for me to-”

Sasaki choked on his drink, coughing loudly as the words hit him, and he put the bottle on the ground, wiping away the sweet liquid dribbling from his chin before turning towards Miyano. He felt his heart lurch as he pressed his hand against the 18-year-old’s cheek, cold fingers meeting warm flesh, and he pulled the younger boy towards him; his lips ghosting over Miyano’s before Sasaki breathed and pulled away sharply. He lingered before dropping his hand, letting it rest against the younger teenager’s chest, his heartbeat strong and fast. Matching the fast-paced breath leaving Sasaki’s lips, matching his heart pounding against his ribs.

“S-sorry,” he muttered, looking around sheepishly as the impulsive action left him, “I didn’t mean to do that- I- my mouth probably tastes disgusting right now.”

Miyano hummed, his fingers grasping harder at Sasaki’s still pressed against his thigh. He shifted as Sasaki dropped his hand from his chest and snaked his own fingers up the older teenager’s neck, his hand stopping at Sasaki’s jaw line as the 19-year-old glanced in his direction. Miyano moved closer, pulling the older towards him as the sweet smell of bread that clung to Sasaki’s clothes everyday reached his nose, and he smiled.

“I don’t care. I love you,” Miya whispered as Sasaki hesitated, his lips hovering over Miyano’s before the younger teenager pulled him the rest of the way towards him…

 He didn’t need to open his eyes to know it was dark now. The sun that had pierced through his clenched eyelids a few mere hours beforehand, no longer present; the soft chirping of crickets hidden in patches of grass littered along the alley, and the soft breeze of an imminent rainstorm blowing through the open windows, made everything clear. So no, Sasaki didn’t need to open his eyes to know a significant amount of time had passed. Nor did he need someone to tell him that the reason Wasabi was angrily attacking his foot as his right leg hung off the couch, pulling his body dangerously towards the floor, was due to the fact that he’d missed feeding her. Her loud mewling and harsh bites were more than enough to get the message across. He’d fucked up in his fatherly duties towards her.

           He did, however, flinch when he felt cool fingers press against his forehead, and cheek, before running through his sweaty hair. He groaned loudly, leaning into the soft touch as he tried to think of who else would have a key to his and Miyano’s apartment. His sister? His mother… She wouldn’t care enough to come over. Hirano? Ogasawara? Although Ogasawara had never once been this gentle towards him even when he was feeling off or had broken bones; and Hirano coming to their apartment without knocking a million times would be weird. Hanzawa would come over, but Sasaki was pretty sure he didn’t have a key… he was resourceful though…

           The 21-year-old groaned as he pried his eyes open, wincing as the dusky moonlight hit his eyes, making the room spin in a multitude of greys, blues, and pale browns. He swallowed as he tried moving his arm over his head, to shield his eyes despite forcing them open, but his movements were weak and feeble. Clumsy and stupid. He felt clumsy and stupid. It was annoying.

           Fingers paused at his hairline, brushing away bangs matted to his forehead, and Sasaki blinked. He turned his head slightly, his hand pressing against his stomach, and he yelped as sharp teeth bit into one of his toes, jerking his leg away as it slammed against the end table, and something shattered to the ground. There was a shushing sound before a cold hand pressed against his cheek gently, turning his head, and Sasaki blinked again as his eyes slowly met the blurry image of his boyfriend.

…soft material pulled over his orange hair and thrown against the wooden floor. Sasaki held his breath as Miyano pushed him back against the comforter… No one’s going to be home for at least another hour, you know, we could test that theory… His fingers were so cold, and yet so… Miya, are you nervous?

“Hey, Mya-chan,” Sasaki slurred softly, a smile toying on his lips as cool fingers continued to thread through his hair. He sounded drunk. Maybe he was. He’d only been drunk twice in his short existence on this planet, and neither time felt like this, but then again… Words were too hard to form. Exhaustion hung heavy in his eyes, making the world hard to see; a dull ache deep in his bones, riding the piercing headache throbbing through his temples and up his neck. Everything was too warm right now, so nauseatingly warm, and the thought of having to move from his semi-comfortable spot on their too short couch, made Sasaki’s head spin.  

“Hey,” Miyano whispered, running his fingers through his boyfriend’s soft strands, “Are you not feeling well, Sasaki? I think you have a fever.”

A fever? The 21-year-old closed his eyes as he tried to process the information. A fever didn’t sound right. He was too cold for that. The night air that pricked against his skin, eating away at the cold sweat plastered beneath his red t-shirt, and tan cardigan he had haphazardly draped over himself in order to keep Wasabi from gnawing at the black bracelets wrapped around his wrist, told him he was cold. Not hot. Besides, he just had a headache… and he was nauseous. And tired… maybe sore from work. But a fever? No, that didn’t sound right.  

“I’m fine,” Sasaki hummed, twisting to his side, bringing his knees to his chest slowly as Miya shifted and the couch dipped slightly as the 20-year-old moved to sit on the edge. Sasaki turned further, burying his head against his boyfriend’s thigh as Miyano pressed a steady hand against his back, brushing some sweat-soaked hair away from the latter’s neck. He bit his bottom lip, carding his slender fingers through the older’s hair again before placing a firm hand between his shoulder blades, his fingers cold and worried against warm sticky fabric.

Silence evaded the small living space as thunder clapped in the distance. Outside leaves dragged across the street as wind bustled through the open window, the curtains dancing freely against the breeze. The distant smell of rain lingering on the air, chilling the breath wisping past Sasaki’s dry lips as he pressed his face further against Miya’s thigh. You have to be more mindful, Shuumei, otherwise, if you’re not careful, you’re going to hurt someone you really care about...  

“Well, why don’t we check,” The 20-year-old cooed, “I’ll be right back, okay?”

Wasabi meowled loudly as Miyano exited the small living room, and Sasaki ran a hand over his face, trying to rub away some of the exhaustion plaguing his body, trying to will himself to feel better. It was a useless task. And the fact that he had slept so long when he was supposed to make dinner before his boyfriend came home, wasn’t helping his current situation.

He really needed to get up. This was so lame. He was so lame. Sasaki groaned loudly as he uncurled himself, grasping at the arm of the small futon as he forced his body to sit up. The room shifted violently, and the 21-year-old let his head flop against the back of the cushions, sweat trailing lazily past his temple. He grit his teeth, closing his eyes as nausea washed over him, and he put a firm hand against his stomach as he concentrated on the rain beginning to fall. It hit the windowsill softly, clinking against the metal frame before sliding down the rest of the open glass, soaking against the wooden ledge.

Sasaki swallowed. His breathing noisy and congested as he held onto the sound of the rain, the thunder looming in the distance, and Wasabi weaving between his legs. The room around him felt thick. And cold. And any movement he made or tried to make, made his headache worse; made the blood rush to his head, the air dizzy and light. It sucked. He sucked. Great, he was feeling sorry for himself now… How pathetic.

“Hey! Sasaki! Are you okay? Is it worse?”

Nervous footsteps followed by a soft smack against his side, and Sasaki opened his eyes against the warning nauseatingly coursing through his veins, the black dots eating away at his vision, and the headache crawling up his neck, pulsating behind his eyes. He smiled slowly as Miyano pressed his hand against his chest; his mind drifting to the first time. His first. Theirs…

…Miyano’s fingers sliding over his bare chest, sliding down… down… down… He’d been so gentle, and yet, so clear about what he wanted… so dominant- Miya had been surprisingly assertive… it was nice… His cold fingers warming against Sasaki’s back, pressed against his spine, feeling his heart pounding through his chest… fingers…  

“Shuumei?”

“I’m fine,” The 21-year-old breathed, or at least, tried breathing through his nose as he ran a shaky hand through his sweaty orange hair. He really needed to get a handle of his current situation because this was weak. He was cooler than this. He wished he was cooler than this. He swallowed again, meeting his boyfriend’s gaze, “I’m sorry about dinner, Mya-chan…”

A small smirk crossed Miyano’s face as he laughed softly, “I’m not worried about it. Your sister said you didn’t look well, so I grabbed something after my 3rd. I just wanted to see you; I was worried about you.”

Sasaki felt his breathing catch, his hand unconsciously moving from his stomach towards Miyano’s pressed against his chest, over his pounding heartbeat. His warm fingers ghosting over the back of the 20-year-old’s hand before he caught himself, recoiling carefully and let his hand drop to his side. He exhaled slowly, forcing himself up further, his whole body protesting the action. He didn’t go to his evening classes… Why. Why would he do that…

“Why? Why wouldn’t you go to your evening classes? They’re important,” Sasaki whispered, blinking several times, clearing the dizziness washing over him as he tried focusing on the emotion present on his boyfriend’s face versus the sick feeling aching in his stomach. Miyano ran a gentle hand through Sasaki’s hair, his hand trailing to his cheek. He grimaced as his fingers met the uncomfortable warmth sitting under the older’s flesh. He cleared his throat, “Well, isn’t it obvious? You don’t feel well. And I wanted to take care of you… I wanted to see you. You’re more important than missing a few classes.”

The 21-year-old let his head gradually drop against Miyano’s shoulder, hoping that the heat he felt crawling up his neck, flushed against his cheeks and ears was due to the fever he supposedly had. His orange hair falling over his face as he tried so damn hard to keep it together. Everything was getting to him right now. Miyano’s touches, his concern, his love; his own emotions washing through him in uncontrollable waves as he fought to keep himself together. But everything was starting to feel like too much. Again. His anxiety, his depression, his weak-willed mind threatening to break against the love he felt for Miyano and the love he was willing to return. Too much… it happened; more so when he felt like shit… when he had a harder time keeping himself in line… Man, Miyano. What you’ve done for me- What you do for me. I like it all, and I-I’m so anxious, so nervous I’m going to fuck it up. I’m going to mess this up… I’m so scared I’m going to ruin it… ruin you… I’m terrified I’m going to hurt you…  

Cool fingers against his cheek again, dusting under his chin, pulling his head up, and Sasaki found himself blinking towards his boyfriend; concern etched into his big brown eyes. Miyano cocked his head slightly; thunder echoing outside as the curtains whipped past the open window, rain pelting harder against the sill. Wasabi scattered from the room as lightning hit the roof across the street and a car alarm blared in the distance.

“Let’s see if you have a fever, hm?” Miyano said softly, his hand steadily tracing over Sasaki’s shoulder blades as the older leaned against him, his head returning to the younger’s shoulder. Silence evaded them, filing the small room in an uncomfortable stillness.

  that was usually foreign- even Wasabi’s soft pitter patter or purring….

“38.6… You do have a fever,” The 20-year-old confirmed, his voice wavering under a sad tone that hadn’t been there a few minutes before. Sasaki exhaled loudly, turning his head further against Miyano’s shoulder. Sitting up was getting to him. The rain beating against the windowsill was getting to him… he was getting to himself. Everything. Was. Becoming. Too. Much. You’re a big guy… You have to be more mindful, Shuumei… otherwise…

 Sorry about that

Sasaki wasn’t really sure what else to say. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if that was the right thing to say, but words were getting difficult to process.

….

  You’re a big guy. You’re stronger than you think. You have to be more mindful, Shuumei, otherwise…

  “We should get you to bed,” Miya whispered…

  A month after they’d moved in, Miyano had suggested a 4-day trip to the coast to celebrate the end of his first term in university. A small vacation since they’d both been stressed, both dealing with the strain of exams, late-night studying, and their hectic schedules they could never seem to sync-up despite living together. It had been a nice idea considering neither one of them had ever been to the beach; and relaxing in the water, discussing the types of BL fantasies Miyano could come up with while laying in the sand together, their fingers intertwined, sounded nice.

The problem was, Sasaki got motion sickness easily, and meds didn’t always help. The train ride to and from university (like in high school), he could usually handle; but taking one that lasted several hours, was torture. He didn’t remember much about the ride except he tried sleeping through most of it; his head leaning against his boyfriend’s shoulder, his fingers intertwined tightly with Miyano’s, and Miyano running his thumb over the outside of his hand in order to offer a small comfort as Sasaki tried keeping down the constant wave of nausea through passing countryside. For the most part, he did well- only vomiting the second he stumbled from the train, and the constant dull ache of sickness pitted in his stomach a few hours after. The ride back had been a completely different story though.

Despite the meds Sasaki had crammed down his throat before the train left the station; a majority of the scenery passed by in a nauseating blur of apologies, and Miyano’s soft touches grounding him in the hellish reality he was trying so hard to black out. Five hours. Five hours pitted against a cool glass window of greens, blues and tans; five hours where every 10 minutes, Sasaki was trying to puke up his stomach lining; five hours with no relief, no form of exhaustion strong enough to rip him from the motion of the giant steam engine powering down unfamiliar tracks. By the time they’d reached their apartment, Sasaki was nothing more than a towering mess of apologies and fatigue. Honestly, it broke Miyano’s heart, and made Sasaki feel weak and lame.

They had barely made it over the threshold before Sasaki collapsed, and Miyano could no longer support his boyfriend’s weight. Despite Miyano standing at a comfortable 5’9, Sasaki was taller and bigger than he was; that made it harder for the younger to help the way he wanted- to care for him the way Sasaki could for him. Needless to say, they’d spent the next few hours sitting in the cramped hallway; Sasaki leaning against Miyano, nodding off between quiet conversations and desperate attempts to stretch his lanky form against a confined space.

 I love you, Yoshikazu. I-

This can’t happen, Sasaki.

What?

I mean, I’m graduating next month, and then we’ll both be in university, and I don’t know how much time we’ll have to see each other outside of-

Stop it. … Uh, Sorry. I should go. (leaves)

  Miyano.

 His voice. Echoes whispered around him in a confusing fashion; hard to grasp as words he couldn’t really make out, a conversation he couldn’t follow, pushed around him.  

 “…really sick…”

“…can’t keep anything down…yeah, A&E…”

“…40.9…”

“He’s… scaring me…”

 He’s scaring me.

  “Yoshi…ka…zu…”

Sasaki’s pretty sure the name didn’t make it past his lips; dry heat shoved against aching flesh, pain nauseatingly eating against his cheekbones, running behind his ears, his eyes, down his neck- making every movement, every thought so damn difficult to process. Something was wrong- something felt wrong, off… so very off. He felt-

Cold fingers running through his orange hair softly as he tried repeating the name; hoping, praying that somehow the syllables crawled past his chapped lips; his mouth heavy and dry, moisture sucked through air that was hard to breathe. He groaned loudly as he opened his eyes, biting back the wince that rose up his throat as the dim light hit him; the room spinning in a multitude of sickening colors, his body wavering against stilled sheets, dizzy and nauseating. And. So. Fucking. Hot.

Miyano’s face filled his vision, concerned alarm plastered on pale features, and Sasaki swallowed slowly. He clenched his eyes shut again, the bedroom twirling in a mess of dimly lit pounding, and hot breaths shakily panting past his lips. His breathing was sporadic, harsh, hard to fully take in as air burned against his throat, his lungs, his heart racing, matching a pitch he couldn’t breathe, and he tried to move his hand only to find the task difficult and useless. He was useless. Sometimes. So damn useless. He’s scaring me… I’m afraid of you, Sasaki…

…Fingers pulling his shirt from his body, pulling it over his orange hair before throwing it against the floor, and Sasaki glanced at Miyano as the younger pressed his hand against his bare chest, shoving him back against the older boy’s comforter. The 19-year-old held his breath, letting the younger have control… letting him control the situation, too afraid he’d ruin it, too afraid he’d mess it up.

Miyano fumbled with Sasaki’s belt, his legs on either side of the older boy, and the 19-year-old let his fingers hover before he gripped the 18-year-old’s thighs; his fingertips cold and nervous as he trailed up his body, resting at the hem of Miyano’s white shirt…

Something gripped behind his shoulders, pulling him up, and the 21-year-old whined pitifully as the world shifted, his body forced into a sitting position. He opened his eyes before shutting them as the room moved violently, and he gagged harshly as he let his head fall against someone’s chest; their heartbeat echoing around him, aching against the migraine embedded in his temples. Gentle fingers gripping again at his shoulder; words- words he couldn’t make out, and someone gripping again, trying to move him, trying to get him to move despite Sasaki’s pathetic attempts to curl in on himself.

“Sasaki, please, you need to get up!”

Miyano’s voice reaching his ears, and the older whimpered…

  He was so weak and lame. He was lame… Miyano was always so cool… Sasaki never understood why the younger boy felt the need to hide himself because to him, there was no one more cool than Miyano. Nothing the younger ever did, or could ever do, would embarrass Sasaki.

Sasaki is not subtle.

Sasaki liked sweet things, and Miyano was by far the sweetest. His favorite.

 Sasaki was panting. The breath forced past dry lips and rough mouth as he tried licking his lips, but no moisture …

 Miyano was talking but Sasaki didn’t think it was to him. The conversation, well the bits he could grasp, seemed one-sided at best.

  Bed

Puking

nightmare

Shower

Fight scene?

Waking up next to Miya…

Sasaki sees bruise on Miyano, and it triggers him because he thinks he hurt him- he didn’t- crying…

Talks with Hirano because he’s dealt with Kagiura being ill a lot, and he knew he’s been to the A&E several times…

             Miyano had called Hirano in a panic.

“Look, here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to get him up. I don’t care if he doesn’t want to. Get him up, throw him in the shower or the bath- it doesn’t matter. You need to try and cool him off. He might struggle- Kagiura always does with high fevers, but you need to keep him in the water- he’ll stop fighting you after a few minutes. Check his temperature in 10 minutes- if it hasn’t started to drop, even a little bit- take him to A&E or call for an ambulance. You got that, Miyano? 10 minutes.”

 “If it looks like his fever’s starting to drop, keep checking every fifteen minutes or so until you feel comfortable with the change. Keep pushing fluids but try to do it slow enough that he doesn’t puke it back up… if he does, it’s not the end of the world. But if his fever starts dropping, and he still can’t keep anything down or his mood hasn’t changed like he’s still lethargic and stuff, call me back or take him to A&E. Clear?”

Water washed over him and for a ---- leaning his head against Miyano’s chest in the shower, his shirt gone, Miya’s heartbeat strong against his spine…. Water-

 Sasaki is terrified of hurting Miyano--- sisters words echoed in his head. You’re stronger than you think. You have to be mindful, otherwise if you’re not careful, you’re going to hurt someone you really care about.

 “Yoshik-”

“Shh, shut up, Sasaki. Just relax…”

 “We need to check your temperature,”

40.6. It was going down. Not significantly… but it was still going down, nonetheless.

 “You need to drink,” Miya said softly, pressing the bottle to Sasaki’s lips again, tipping it slightly, hoping the older boy would accept it this time. The older boy groaned, his head lolling against Miyano’s shoulder weakly before the 20-year-old tried again….

 “Shuumei, please, drink,”

 “I’m sorry, Miya. I’m really sorry.”

 “Let me help you- I want to help you.” You don’t feel well. And I want to take care of you. To make you feel better.

  Miya dominating was always surprising… but then again, Sasaki wasn’t exactly dominant.

 Although Miyano never reached Sasaki’s height, he still rested at a comfortable 5’8…

 Sasaki wouldn’t let him help him…

Please, let me help you. I want to help you!

Don’t w-worry, Mya-chan; I got it.

 “Hey, you’re shivering. Are you cold?”

Sasaki flinches when Miyano goes to touch him, and M pulls back. Instead he goes over the other side of the bed, sitting next to him…

“Can I touch you, Sasaki?”

“Is this okay?”

 “Isn’t it obvious…”

 Sasaki wasn’t as cautious or self-conscious as Miyano was. He was braver… cooler… Sasaki was protective over Miyano, so it was nice that Miyano could return the favor despite their current situation. Truth was, Miyano was better at caretaking than Sasaki was; the older boy tried, sure- and for the most part, Sasaki always went out of his way to make the younger feel better, but with Miyano- it just came naturally. He didn’t overthink it. But his mother was more nurturing than Sasaki’s was… his parents were more involved than Sasaki’s…

 Shuumei ()

 Sasaki stumbles, basically falling on top of Miyano

“Miyano!” Sasaki thrws himself against the wall, the pics against his weight, “Did I hurt you?”

“No! Sasaki! It’s okay, it just surprised me- It’s okay!”

 “I might be smaller than you and a little shorter than you, but I’m not fragile. I’m not made of glass… and I’m not going to break –

 I love you, Shuumei.

Again. Please…

    It caught me off guard.

Man, I wish I were cooler….

             His last month in high school, Sasaki had gotten into some trouble. Some serious trouble that almost cost him his graduation. Some trouble that made others in class, especially the younger classmen, afraid to approach the 18-year-old… because of Miyano. Because Miyano had done something stupid. Because he had acted stupidly.

Miyano had gotten into a fight; or at least, tried to break one up between four younger classmen. He hadn’t meant to get involved, honestly; but he’d been waiting for his boyfriend when he saw the fight break out. Three pitted against one. Against someone smaller than them, someone Miyano knew from one of his classes; quiet, reserved, kind. Someone that reminded him of himself… it wasn’t a fair fight. And the 17-year-old had tried to stop it. Had tried to help.

Maybe he thought that if he showed his face as their superior, their upperclassman, the bullies would fear disciplinary action and take off running. Or maybe he thought that because he was bigger than he’d been the previous year, taller, broader, he could help; step in line, shove the other kid away and tell him to run… something. But that’d been stupid. Idiotic.

He didn’t remember getting punched. Nor did he remember blacking out. But he remembered waking up on the ground, ringing in his ears as he fought to turn his head against the black dots eating away at his vision. Everything blurry, slow, out of focus; hard to piece together in one confusing fashion. His head hurt, the sharp ache lining his jaw, crawling up his cheekbone and landing, harshly, against his eye.

           He had tried sitting up, only to be pushed back down gently, someone telling him to stay down; the sharp ringing echoed through his head as he slumped against the wall, bringing a slow hand to his face. The movement was numb. Alien. Disorienting. He felt disconnected from himself, like his brain was lagging, taking longer to process what his body wanted.

           Red coated his fingers as he pulled his hand away, and he remembered throwing up. The harsh sound piercing through any blackness trying to pull him under, and Miyano winced as he dragged a dazed hand across his chin, smearing blood across his fingers and wrist. He felt strong hands pressed against his shoulders, yelling around him, screaming; slow movements of people crowding before him... and then…  

           His mind had caught up.

Everything hitting him with an overpowering realization as Ogasawara’s yelling reached his ears; Hirano’s panicked voice as he urged Miyano to stay down, saying something to Kagiura a few feet away. A blurry mass of upperclassmen; Ogasawara running behind Hirano, pulling someone up, shoving them away harshly; shouting something that Miyano couldn’t grasp yet.

 It took him a few seconds to register that Ogasawara was yelling Sasaki’s name; that he was telling him to stop…

 Sasaki had the boy by the collar, pinned on the ground, his knuckles bloody and busted as the older boy continued to beat the underclassman; Ogasawara wrapping his arms around the 18-year-old trying to pry him away from the barely conscious teenager, trying to pull the red-haired off him but Sasaki shoved him off, Ogasawara stumbling back, smacking against the wall.

 Sasaki wasn’t one to pick fights often; according to Ogasawara and Hirano, he wasn’t great in one. He could hold his own, sure, but he wasn’t great… and when he saw Miyano go down from across the yard, he just… lost it.

 He shouted something towards Hirano who turned, flying to his feet as Kagiura put a steady hand against Miyano’s shoulder. Hirano …. Pulling Sasaki away from him.

 Ogasawara

           Apparently when Miyano had gotten punched, he smacked against the brick wall, hitting his head, splitting it open. 17 stitches and a mild concussion.

             That’d been the only time Miyano had seen Sasaki lose control; had seen him as impulsive, selfish----

  Nightmare-

I-I’m scared of you, Sasaki. You scare me…

 Please, Mya-chan… don’t go…

You could never scare me, Shuumei.

[deliciouskeys]

Yay! Lots of numbers below, feel free to pick and choose :)

16, 26, 39 (I think you *know* which particular scene I want a snippet of, but anything will do haha), 69, 76 for ZM

Thanks for the asks. I warn you, the following is verbose and references morally reprehensible fics. TW, lol.

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

I have many if just vague ideas count! And I'm sure you'll be pleased that they all revolve around Homelander, one way or another lol. I hate "claiming" prompts on the Meow meow prompt jar because it feels like hogging it unless I'm going to be actively writing, but I did just sign up for your "fertility treatment" prompt. My brain is often eaten up by the idea of HL being happily pregnant, and really self-satisfied to the point of being annoying. Meanwhile Butcher's probably kind of worried-- not like HL's going to be able to get a C section, at least not through conventional means. HL's blithely all 'we'll cross that bridge when we get there.' He's just enthused about getting to use a breast pump in the near future, and probably the fact that the baby he has is going to adore him unconditionally.

Yes, I am gross.

26. Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

Hrm. Unfortunately the wildest ride is still probably the first fic I ever posted publicly. Originally on LJ. 51k words. 12 chapters. Of... me being a teenage edgelord and writing about Captain Hook privateprisoning a prepubertal boy, that's not ever going to grow up, as if the chanslash wasn't bad enough.

Anyway, I skimmed through this fic about a year ago just to recall what was in it again, and I had forgotten just how fucked that story is, beyond even the pairing premise itself. There's gangrape of a child, ye olde macabre medical horror, and severe emotional trauma and manipulation/gaslighting that leads to really inappropriate bonding. But it did have impressive levels of worldbuilding, and pretty intricate dynamics between the, um, leads, but also side characters. It was a very rich environment. I was "1 or 2 chapters away from finishing it" and then never did, because, damn that thing was hard to wrap up in a not-completely-disturbing ending. I still occasionally get requests to finish it and people are subscribed, but I would not be able to get back into whatever mindset I had at that age. "Wildest" ! = "good" lol, but I'd never delete it.

Don't judge me for what i was doing ~20 years ago D:

39. Share a snippet from a WIP

Heh, full disclosure I criiiinge posting snippets of my fics because they're so awkward out of context, it's like walking in in the middle of sex. But here you go, from a section you asked for. I wish I just had this done and posted to AO3 -__-

Homelander probably senses the hesitation and decides to get himself up to a kneeling position, tilting his face up, licking his lips invitingly, probably hoping to defuse and redirect the weird energy in the room into something sexual rather than violent.

"Oh no you don't." Instead of undoing his fly, Butcher hoists Homelander up to his feet and pulls him out of the cage and towards the breakfast nook. "Lie down across my lap," he commands once he's situated himself in a chair.

"Why did you--" Homelander's words catch in his throat as Butcher yanks him down to lie across his lap, not waiting for obedience. "…take Temp V?" He sounds worried, and tries to lift his head, only to get his shoulders shoved back down.

The first thwack across Homelander's ass sounds really loud, echoing off the walls of the living room. Butcher gave it his all, somewhat forgetting that his strength was amped up. His palm smarts and he can only guess what it feels like on the receiving end. Homelander doesn't make a sound, maybe too shocked. Butcher swats him again.

"Really? This is just childi—" Another thwack resounds across the room and Homelander breathes hard through his nose. "That hurts, you know," he hisses.

"Yeah, that's the general idea. I know no one probably ever punished you while you were growing up, so it must be a new concept…" Butcher trails off, suddenly recalling the photocopied lab notes from Vought and realizing what he's saying is uncharitable.

Homelander doesn't argue, just lets out a strained whimper when Butcher's next whack lands square on the place he hit the first time. Angry red splotches are forming on his skin, helpfully marking out where he's already been hit and where he hasn't.

69. What work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?

I'm not embarrassed per se, but I probably should be (if by nothing else than the sheer length of these three). Original dates, reposted to AO3 later.

2003- 51k chanslash mentioned in the previous question

2006 - 21k of working through some angst issues. Original work set in WWII Germany, also starts out underage although at least postpubertal,  problematic and historically inaccurate

2008- 59k of Pineapple Express mpreg, although I do recommend that movie to anyone who likes implied gayness in media and bizarre, funny dialogue which was a fun challenge to try to emulate in fic

76. Did you have any ideas that didn’t make the final cut of [ZM]?

I have generally managed to get everything into ZM that I wanted! One longish sequence I remember discarding (no mourning) was HL goading Billy to take Temp V with some form of misbehavior, and that being the thing that finally tips them into an overtly sexual, rather than a covertly-in-denial-kinky, relationship. It was violence that ended up as sex. But it was pretty rapey, and I didn't like it for this pairing. I prefer the version posted, where they're almost accidentally upping the ante, and kind of mutually sexually harassing each other, and it's about as consensual as it can be, at least within a private prison setting.

Plus Temp V does make an appearance towards the end of the fic, as you can tell from the WIP snippet lol.