#Oh my gosh he knew this entire time!!!!! XD

[sunshine7queen]

@yuujispinkhair @windlullaby @queentoji @preciousamethyst @thefallofruins

@samaraxmorgan

Different twist on the last one. Reader pretends to be scared of horror movies so Sukuna will hold them (reader actually loves horror 🤭)

𐔌 . ⋮ You sat on the couch with Sukuna, the lights dimmed as the horror movie began. You’d watched it a million times before—every scare, every twist was burned into your memory. But tonight, you had a different plan: you wanted to see if you could get Sukuna to actually comfort you.

The first jump scare was coming up, and you readied yourself, letting out a soft gasp as you clutched his arm. "Oh my god," you whispered, voice trembling just a bit too much.

Sukuna rolled his eyes, smirking. "Seriously? It’s just getting started," he muttered, but he didn’t move his arm away, letting you cling to him.

You tried to settle in again, but every few minutes, you would gasp or flinch, pressing yourself closer to him with each ‘scare.’ At one particularly eerie part, you buried your face in his shoulder, peeking through your fingers just enough to see his reaction.

"Pathetic," he teased, though his arm had shifted, wrapping around your shoulders almost protectively. “If this is how you handle horror, maybe we should’ve put on a cartoon instead.”

You pouted, playing along. "It’s scary, okay?" you mumbled, nestling into his side.

His eyes narrowed slightly, looking at you with an almost amused suspicion, as if he didn’t entirely buy your act. But then he sighed, pulling you closer as if resigned. "Fine," he muttered, "Stay there if you’re that scared." You could practically feel him roll his eyes, but he made no move to shift you away.

As the movie continued, you’d ‘jump’ every now and then, pressing closer, hiding your face. You caught a flicker of pride in his eyes each time, like he’d single-handedly saved you from some imaginary monster. When the final credits rolled, you finally let yourself relax, resting against him with a satisfied little smile.

He noticed, scoffing as if he’d finally pieced it together. "You weren’t actually scared, were you?" he muttered, brows drawing down.

"What?” you blinked innocently. "Of course I was...!"

He grunted, looking unconvinced but with the faintest hint of a smirk. "Next time, pick a different excuse," he murmured, not moving an inch. And though he didn’t admit it, his arm stayed right around you, just in case .ᐟ ֹ ₊ ꒱

[kizzer55555]

DP X DC School Project

So...I am part of a dp x dc Discord server under the nickname Jazz. Someone decided to post a Pinterest picture in the fanfic ideas channel. This is the conversation it created. I love this Discord server so much.

Eros:

Danny and Damain working together on school project together.

Or even Dani and Damian up to you.

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Danny and Damian just sounds so much more funny to me.

Eros:

Alrights 👌

BreKitten:

Oh my gosh, that's hilarious

Eros:

And they totally would act like this

Apricot:

crying lmao

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Damien: Why wouldn't we shop at [the expensive place]? I am an heir-

Danny: taps the paper 2k a month. You gave up your money to make me feel more comfortable.

Damien: Why would I care about your comfort?

Danny: dramatic gasp How could say that about your husband?!

Apricot:

Damian: husband?! what "husband"?!

Eros:

then proceeded to fight on types of toast and pricy vegetarian meals

Danny: look our family needs a balance diet, we can't live off vegetables alone! The very least we should mix it with some actual food like Ectoplasm.

(if Ectoplasm can be considered all kind of elements/a semi living organism since it revives things then any food brought to life should be counted as a beast of some kind)

Eros:

Also counts since Danny lived off ectoplasm for a fair bit of his life so he would see it as a food source

Eros:

Danny: me. I'm your husband, we agreed to marry to make it easier for the kids.

Apricot:

Damian: KIDS?!

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Danny: Danny Jr and Damian Jr!

Eros:

Danny: yes kids, don't tell me you forgot we had kids! I swear you'll say you forgot we have pets too!

Danny: shows the paper that says they have a pet and two kids

Jazz:

No wait, the ectoplasm comes last. Just the Wayne’s seeing Damian and this random kid fight about every single thing. Finally Damian comes home and says that they finally agreed on something.

The Wayne’s: finally. Looks like this is a good learning experience:

Damian: we have agreed to live off of Lazarus water.

Wayne’s: ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!

And the best thing is that they might not know about Danny being a halfa. So they think Damian is now corrupting random citizens.

Jazz:

Cause like, they both grew up with Lazarus water/ectoplasm and know the nutritional value.

Eros:

Indeed~

Jazz:

Great for child development too!

They both turned out great!

Eros:

Hehehe

Alright now both Danny and Damian are fully into this project now they have at least a agreed idea on food

Because the project they have is this; budget for every day living

So they have food set out

There is now trying to keep the house running and kids/pets alive and entertained

Danny agrees that with his skills he can do the majority of repairs, Damian agrees to take responsibility of the pets

They are now having an argument on how children should be raised.

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Damian is all for strict discipline, high standards of education, after school activities (he may not want his kids to be assassins but he still wants the best).

Danny's all for independence, finding your own way, encouragement and lots of love and support.

Damian: Do you want our children to grow up to be garbagemen?!

Danny: Do you know how much a garbageman makes?!

Eros:

Danny grew up around a lot of physical affection and love from his folks, except around the time of the accident/the holidays he always knew his parents loved each other very very much.

Damian comes from such an emotionally constipated house hold that he only gets the majority of physical affection from Dick

Jazz:

Lol

This is so perfect.

Danny then says something that puts Damian’s entire world view into question.

Danny: is this how you would treat our pets?!

Eros:

Damian: gasp how dare you, how very dare you!

Adonnenniel "Addy":

XD Danny, recounting the story later to Sam and Tucker: I swear, if he had pearls, he would've clutched them.

Eros:

Hehehe

Jazz:

Me imagining Damian going to Dick to complain.

Damian: can you imagine?! Raising kids and hugging them! Or saying it’s ok to fail!

Dick’s face.

Eros:

Damian complaining to his family: we might have agreed on living off Lazarus water, but now he wishes for our children to just go wild, then compared our pets to them!

Jazz:

Damian: obviously our pets would act nothing like those…savages.

Eros:

It just keeps getting better~

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Waynes are listening to this kind of like a soap opera

Eros:

Sam: wow Danny, at the very least your doing better then when you were partnered up with Val, like the majority of the time you were trying to pawn off raising the kid on each other until the flower was in danger, but I can't say much myself since Tucker pulled a Kronos.

Which opened a new can of worms; how much time were they going to take care and be there for their "kids" what kind of training would they go through

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Hehehe

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Danny: I learned from my mistakes. I wasn't ready to be a parent then.

Eros:

Their whole class and teachers are watching it like a soap opera

Eros:

The very least they get to see it live and not re counted

Jazz:

(Someone get popcorn, or they just get out their packed lunches early).

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Yes! The Waynes and Sam and Tucker get the play-by-play but the class gets to see the actual show!

Jazz:

No wait, someone records it and post it and then it goes viral. (Do they think that the Wayne’s make a lot more sense now hearing of how Damian thinks children should be raised?)

(Are there now more questions?!)

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Oooh. I can see people being even worse to Damian. Maybe pitying him because he grew up with so little love.

Eros:

Then the next day Danny brings up the issue of child raising again since Sam makes a good point.

Danny: okay so I've re think a few things, mainly on occasion the kids should get self defense classes or something like that since it would make most sense to keep them safe. But beyond work and school activities how should we spend our time with them?

Jazz:

People see the two about to continue their conversation and immediately stop what they are doing to bring their phones out.

What if this becomes one of the most popular ‘dramas’? Like, so much in fact even villains will stop what they are doing to watch?

Eros:

(because Danny comes from a physical affectionate house doesn't mean there was neglect from his folks working way too much)

Jazz pretty much raised him when it came to actual child care so Danny is determined to be there for his "kids"

Not just for the fun stuff or being pulled to random projects

Jazz:

They get super invested in this project.

Also, what if people intentionally goad them on? Like seeing them together and asking if a kid should be left alone at home or with a babysitter or what they’ll do during a blackout/tornado?

Eros:

Surprisingly it's Danny who brings a big book of plans in case if emergencies

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Yes!

Adonnenniel "Addy": - reply to students and citizens goading Danny and Damian on.

The teacher reworks their lesson plans to do an extended deep dive into home economics so that this can keep happening.

Jazz:

Absolutely.

Jazz:

Some of the emergency responses are normal like, if there is a tornado, evacuate kids to a shelter, others are strange like arguing whether you should fight the burglar or prioritize the kids. Others are just plain weird. A blackout? Both Damian and Danny will turn to face the questioner. Obviously they’ll be able to see in the dark. (Effect of ectoplasm/Lazarus exposure).

Eros:

Danny is even willing to share on the "in case of apocalypses" situations

Jazz:

Neither question why they know a massive amount of information about various world ending disasters/villains.

Eros:

Oh and how they should pack bags for school and for emergencies

Jazz:

Omg, they make a kid survival kit. Including blasters and knives.

Eros:

Danny insists they should put some of the survival kit stuff in the school bag

Jazz:

Everything a five year old should take to school.

Eros:

Ooo discussion on how old their kids should be to learn about weapons and how to safely handle them

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Danny: Eight should be good.

Damian: Eight is way too late to start!

Jazz:

The fact that both agree this is a necessary subject to teach their kids. Everyone’s reaction to hearing various ways you can kill/dismember a person and why this won’t work. Not because it’s immoral but clearly because young kids don’t have the necessary arm length to complete certain maneuvers.

Eros:

Damian: that's why we should put the kids into martial arts and gymnastics as soon as possible so  they can be flexible enough!

Jazz:

Danny: that’s why we should wait until their older and focus on their aim while young! Their muscle memory will be all wrong by the time they reach the appropriate age!

Damian: they will not always have a weapon to aim. The body is the only reliable weapon that will never fail.

Eros:

Now to add extra into the mix; Bruce and Jazz (who is now Danny's legal guardian) show up to school to pick them up as they are in a middle of an argument

Danny: and who will be the one teaching them? Because proper teachers will be expensive, at least we can teach them at home how to aim properly! It can be a bonding experience!

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Jazz: What are you talking about?

Danny: Teaching our young children proper aim.

Jazz: You will not!

Danny: I mean, you're obviously not going to teach them.

Jazz:

Damian: I can teach them perfectly fine.

Danny: what about work? You can’t be with them all the time. 

Damian: I can take them with me. We can travel around Gotham and learn to fight through experience. 

Danny: you are not taking our children to fight on the streets

Damian: what, didn’t you want us bonding?! Make up your mind!

Dick looking at Bruce. “This is your fault.”

Eros:

Danny: You're not letting our children out on the streets, they will put too many people in the hospital! You have any idea how expensive that would be!

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Damian casually dropping he's Robin?

Jazz:

Danny not even processing it.

Then casually stating he’s dead. Damian skipping that detail.

Adonnenniel "Addy":

XD They're too caught up in the roles.

Jazz:

Exactly.

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Maybe afterwards, if they think back on it.

Jazz:

Like vigilantism and the dead coming back to life is normal for them. They are focusing on the children right now thank you.

Adonnenniel "Addy":

And then they both come up with the excuse "I was just adding to lore, it was all pretend!"

Eros:

Not before this;

Damian: fine if you want to control our lives and children then we should just divorce!!

Jazz:

Danny: oh I’m controlling?!

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Do they get Alfred to be the judge to oversee their divorce?

Jazz:

Danny: fine, our kids and pets will be happier with me anyways.

Damian: don’t you dare bring the pets into this.

Damian going to Bruce to use the Wayne lawyers for this imaginary family divorce.

He will win this.

Danny actually going to Vlad.

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Vlad has been watching the whole time. He doesn't need to be brought up to speed.

Jazz:

Both of them are like, this is ridiculous. But on the other hand, my child actually asked for help from me for once.

Eros:

Hehehe

Danny uses Dani as an example of a child that is better off with him

Jazz:

Lol

Adonnenniel "Addy":

And Jazz even brings it up to Bruce that if Damian didn't get to play like this as a young kid, he might be making up for lost time, in his own intense way.

Eros:

Because that's what Danny is doing too

Jazz:

The absolute struggle both Bruce and Vlad go through on whether or not to actually do this and use up their lawyers, money, and resources.

The viral videos increase. 

Eros:

Danny getting frustrated enough that he is tempted to get Clockwork to be the judge

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Bruce gets his other kids involved? They play as Damian's lawyers?

Eros:

Yesz

Jazz:

Dick is having a blast.

Then Sam comes in for Danny’s defense.

Both Tucker, Tim, and Barbra (possibly Technis) get into a hacking war.

Eros:

Yesss!

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Yesss!

Jazz:

Cujo and Titus become best friends.

Eros:

Dani is still the example child

Jazz:

Tim is Damian’s example child.

Eros:

Peepaw Clockwork comes in a human form to judges

Jazz:

Alfred and Clockwork have tea.

And discuss their kids.

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Tim: I'm older than you! How am I your example child?!

Dick: whispers Hey, he's including you without stabbing you. Take the win.

Eros:

Clockwork: I do hope they figure this all out before their legit kids are born~

Jazz:

Yesssss.

Eros:

Danny: finally stops, going into a blushing and betrayed look at Clockwork

Damian: who doesn't know Clockwork sees the future what on earth are you talking about, we barely are keeping together for the kids we do have!

Gestures to Tim and Dani

Jazz:

Tim: I’m. Older. Than you!

Damian. Then start acting like it.

Danny: (trying to recover) tsk tsk, how can you treat your son this way?

Damian: he’s adopted.

Eros:

Danny: and she's a clone, doesn't mean they can't be loved and cared for as their own persons!

Danny: to prove a point he hugs both Dani and Tim, trying to smoother them with love and acceptance

Jazz:

Tim just looks so done with life at the moment.

Eros:

Danny: plus our pets are adopted, yet you wouldn't love them any less

Jazz:

Critical hit.

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Danny ends up adopting Tim by the end of this.

Jazz:

Lol

He wins Tim in the divorce.

Eros:

Lol

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Yesss!

Eros:

Tim gets a new dad

Jazz:

Bruce doesn’t know how to feel about this.

Eros:

This one says "I love you" and is into Tim's science projects

Jazz:

Dani’s like new sibling. Tackle Hugs.

And Danny doesn’t restrict coffee intake. He’s just as bad.

Eros:

If anything he shows Tim a whole world of coffee mixes

Jazz:

Jazz though. Jazz is a bit of a problem with Coffee.

Tim and his new dad form an alliance.

Eros:

Danny takes Tim to Frostbite to get a new spleen

Jazz:

Danny: see? I provide free healthcare.

Eros:

Then proceeds to show off Tim: This is my boi, I won him!

All while Dani is giggling and clinging to their sides

Jazz:

Vlad is looking at Bruce very smugly.

Eros:

Danny would show Tim and Dani off at school after this

Like: behold, my children!

Jazz:

It becomes public that Wayne enterprise’s CEO is Tim Fenton.

Eros:

(and since I'm going with King Danny in this)

That means due to Danny winning and Tim becoming his kid, Tim Fenton is now the prince of the infinite realms along with his new sister Dani

Cass and Steph come back from a big trip once everything is over

Jazz:

They ask what happened. 

Jason gleefully explains that Bruce went to legal war with another billionaire over an imaginary family and ended up loosing Tim to them.

Also, that Damian might have a crush.

Eros:

Jazz:

Lol

Eros:

Because he just went through one of the best non injury fights of his life with this guy

Jazz:

And lost

Eros:

Yet they do agree on a fair bit of things, and now know where their main issues are and can work on them.

Jazz:

The entire world witness this entire thing and there are going to be shippers.

Eros:

Pft imagine the Justice League hearing about this~

Jazz:

Also just think, when they eventually do get together. That high school teacher is absolutely going to brag that it was their project that started this.

Jon might have a crisis on being replaced as Damian’s best friend. Someone explains the difference between boyfriend and normal friend and Jon’s like, ok that’s fine then.

Eros:

Oh man, when Jon finds out everything that had happened

Jon would tell Conner

Jazz:

Conner hears about the clone comment.

Now Conner wants to be adopted.

Bruce “Kal-el” Wayne:

Absolutely

Danny be pulling a Bruce

Or would Bruce be pulling a Danny?

Jazz:

Omg, I just realized. Bruce Wayne lost a Custody battle.

Bruce “Kal-el” Wayne:

Major L

Eros:

To a child

Bruce “Kal-el” Wayne:

Ain't Danny technically a god?

Eros:

Still child

Who would definitely adopt Conner

BuriedReign:

Omg this is like a whole ass fic already, it’s soooo goood! I absolutely bursted out laughing at the “we plan to live off Lazarus water”

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Just got caught up and all I have to say is: 😂😂😂

Btw, I love the idea that Tim isn't legally adopted to Danny (by ghost standards, yes, not by mortal law) but he just goes with Danny cuz he's so done with his family.

Eros:

>:3

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Dani, Tim, Conner. Do we throw in reformed, de-aged Dan for shits and giggles?

Eros:

Pfft yess

And Damian only finds out about Dan after the divorce

This re sparks everything into a new battle~

Eros:

Damian is offended that Danny never told him about their other son Dan

Adonnenniel "Addy":

He wants visitation rights!

Eros:

Damian wants to win Dan, like how Danny won Tim

Adonnenniel "Addy":

That makes more sense

Eros:

Damian goes up to Dan and offers access to all sort of weapons, training/fights, being a heir to a different Kingdom, and possibly be ungrounded if he takes Damian's side in the new Custody battle

The Angst Queen:

When you catch up and burst out laughing

Also - I wanna add something

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Add, please!

The Angst Queen:

Damian would definitely pull a sword at some point - decide to attack and “miss” every time. He does not expect Danny to suddenly have an ice sword in hand. Do then they’re both going at it in a sword fight while still arguing about diaper brands

Damian - so then I attack him 

Dick - WHAT!?!? 

Damian - I know! He didn’t even have the decency to die! He pulled out his own sword! 

Dick in shock whispers - what

Damian - and he still refuses to consider Huggies! Insists on natural diapers!

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Lol

Eros:

Like when the arguments get too much they start sword fighting like the Adam's family

It's how they discuss things and keep up reaction times for both brain and body

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Do they fight in school or at the manor?

Eros:

School, just to add more to the soap opera drama

And for the bats to keep missing the live actions of it

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Yes!

Eros:

Except Babs but that's obvious to know why

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Their sword fights go all around the school, interrupting other classes. The security guards or other teachers try to stop them but Danny'll just pull them into the argument. 

Teacher: walking up to them, trying to grab the swords Now, boys, this must stop!

Danny: leaps up onto a desk, put his arm around the teacher's neck as he's still fighting Damian Hey, you look like a reasonable man. Tell me, why would you ever want to buy a waste product all for brand recognition and not cut down waste and get reusable diapers?

Teacher: That's a very leading question and calls on a few logical fallacies-

Danny: shoves the teacher away as Damian leaps for an attack

Eros:

And this is where Damian's crush really began

It's one thing to argue and have different trains of thought

It's another to have someone actually just as skilled as you in the battle of the sword and the mind

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Yeeees!

Eros:

Danny: Hopefully the castle is big enough for everyone

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Tim: You have a castle!? O_O

Conner: You have a castle!? : D

Danny: Yep!  Oh, and you two are now royalty!  Don't worry, you won't have to do anything unless you want to.

Eros:

I wonder if Tim rubs it in his other semi siblings faces

Like Steph, Jason, and Damian's faces in particular

Bruce “Kal-el” Wayne:

Does Tim take a pic of everything in the realms?

Eros:

Yes

Bruce Kal-el” Wayne:

Or try to

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Tim especially rubs being royalty in Damian's face.  He knows he should be better but damnit, Damian was/is all high and mighty about being the heir to the League of Assassins and Bruce's biological child - he stabbed Tim over it!  Tim gets to gloat a bit that he technically outranks Damian now!

BuriedReign:

Does this increase Damian’s crush on Danny? Damian tries to ask out Danny and makes it ‘rational’ by saying of course he needs to be higher ranked than Tim. While also trying to hide that isn’t the only reason why he wants to date Danny

Eros:

(make Damian unintentionally ghost speak which reveals his true emotions and reasons as to why he wants to date Danny)

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Damian: I want to date him for no other reason than to one-up my once brother.  That's it.  Nothing else involved here.  Just pure revenge.  I will not let Tim outrank me in this life or the next.

Jason: Uh-huh. flipping to the next page of Pride and Prejudice  Have fun on your denial date.

Omg, imagine Damian formally asking Danny out on a date!

And Danny's like, despite the divorce, I want to give us another shot.

Eros:

And the plot THICKENS

That's everyone's reactions 😁

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Yes!

Eros:

Where would they even go on a date?

Ooo what if they went to the museum

Or an art gallery

Bruce “Kal-el” Wayne:

Or a date to the literal moon

Eros:

I don't think Damian would survive that well

Bruce “Kal-el” Wayne:

Ecto shield giving an artificial atmosphere

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Damian would take Danny to a museum or art gallery.

Danny will chose the next date and take him to the moon.

Eros:

Then definitely the museum should be like the Glenbow Museum

This is just inside the front entrance

It's called the aurora borealis

Because they make the crystals actually glow different colors

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Ooooooh!

Yes!

Eros:

This is a full on walk through section where you learn about the stars and First Nations

Adonnenniel "Addy":

Holy shit, now I want to go to the Glenbow Museum.

Eros:

Art pieces, and they also have a section for mid evil times and even mini battle fields

The Angst Queen:

Side note - I bet Danny makes Damian work to get that date

Eros:

Definitely

[paranormaljones]

Ok so, for reverse unpopular opinion, MAWS and Stranger Things :).

I genuinely laughed out loud when I saw the second thing in this ask. Evil evil evil 🤣

BUT FIRST WE START WITH MAWS

@dangerously-human BLESS YOU for also asking me about MAwS, I'm gonna do a two-for-one here and tag you in this one (and then answer your other one afterwards)

I'm gonna try to keep my thoughts brief because I'm gonna make an incredibly long post about it later but main points:

I absolutely adore the way MAwS portrays physical and emotional attraction between two adults while balancing both of those aspects of romantic attraction in a way that never makes the viewer feel it's unrealistic or uncomfortable, or like either party is objectifying the other. This is what my long post will largely be about because the way it's done in MAwS feels incredibly rare and valuable.

This has been said by so many other people but I also just adore Clark Kent's character in MAwS. Until now I have never once found myself significantly compelled by any mainstream superhero media besides Megamind. I tried with Marvel and it didn't take. I saw less of DC and didn't really see anything that drew me in, though to be fair I didn't really look. I didn't grow up reading comics and only knew the characters by their stereotypes or their gritty, subversive adaptations that no one likes.

And then I watched MAwS and it changed everything. XD I care about all of it now. I want to know so much more.

I also really really love this adaptation of Lois Lane. I'm really not familiar with the others, but she's such a fun and real-feeling character. She's larger than life and also so down-to-earth when she needs to be. She makes mistakes a lot and does her best to right them, and it's so comforting that she really feels like exactly what she is: a 23-year-old intern with the energy of a caged comet, trying her best to live up to extremely high expectations and her own aspirations. Sometimes that energy goes in the wrong direction, but she is well-intentioned and genuine and really a sweetheart. I love her to death.

I just. ugh. I love them so much. 😭

Okay. Now for part two.

Stranger Things. Can I talk specifically about the first and second seasons? Because those two seasons, for the most part, felt like such a beautiful embodiment of the "love conquers all" trope that we both love. The boys protecting Eleven at the start and doing everything they could to help her, Mike especially doing his best to communicate with her and be a source of safety and comfort for her, and at the end of the first season, her sacrifice to protect all of them. Good gosh. I still can't watch that scene without crying. AND THEN IN THE SECOND SEASON us finding out that Mike tried to reach out into the void for Eleven every single day for 353 days straight?? Destroys me. Utterly. I love Mike so much. (also fun fact, if you add up the digits in 353 it equals 11. i remember binging the second season on the night it came out and screaming to myself about that when it came up.)

I'm gonna throw this link in here because it's one of the best fan edits I've ever seen in my entire life and it encapsulates all of my feelings about Mike and Eleven in season one. I remember watching it over and over again seven years ago and it still brings back all of those emotions. It's so good.

Additional things I love about Stranger Things:

The music. Oh my gosh, the music. The soundtrack from season one is often on repeat in my car. It's freaking beautiful.

Steve. Best freaking redemptive character arc I've ever seen in anything ever. He goes from being perfectly hate-able to someone I would die for in the span of two seasons, and just continues to get better.

Steve's hair. It's great.

It being the reason that we have the infamous "category five woman moment" post about Joyce Byers. I think about it all the time. One of my top five favorite phrases ever.

There are more things but I think I've talked about Stranger Things more than I talked about MAwS at this point, ironically. XD

Thank you both so much for the asks!! These were so fun!! :DDD 💙

[igbylicious]

Oh igby, we're really in it now ૮(˶˃ᆺ˂˶)ა I know the epilogue is out already but I wanted to ramble on about how much I loved this chapter first before reading it and sending a separate ask for the epilogue!

oooo jealous woo is cute!! I didn't think I would find it that endearing but it's woo so he can make anything endearing I shouldn't be that surprised. you just write him that well.

hehe yunsan's past activities mentioned hehehehehehehehe I am a happy lil bean thank you. Also sannie pulling a lil brittany broski trying kombucha mentally was so cute to visualize. THE MILES OF MYTHOLOGIES LINE TOOK ME OUT!!!

I just love the entire strap picking convo being from san's pov because his reactions were just so precious I mean he need to be bonked but he's still cute. Woo biting is a canon event and no one can interfere XD

gods the dirty talk in this chapter. I mean you do so well every time but adding reader into the mix all sweet but teasing got me insaaaane. I'm simply in love with the smut here. woo getting spitroasted by san and reader is everything I've wanted and MORE. you've excelled truly.

I also just adored the pov jumps especially with woo being both incredibly cockdrunk but still sneaking in the feels with the too much monologue. gosh I just wanna give him THE WORLD. HE DESERVES IT!

the cuddlepile!! they're my babies!! icb this is ending but I promise you I am saving this on my kindle and rereading it foreverrrrr I just know it <3

hehe hi yuyu! glad he approves <3 this bit was just so sweet. I just love seeing the rest of the boys. seeing the trio interact with the rest of the world is nice. I can read about every single interaction and never get bored. Thank you again for always coming through <3

two separate asks?? ack you are SPOILING me!!!! (♡°▽°♡)

hehe Woo just wanted things to be fair! if he can’t fuck other people she can’t fuck other people! :3 (but, as you’ve already seen, he found a perfect solution in the epilogue lol ♡(>ᴗ•) )

WAIT I NEVER KNEW SHE WAS TRYING KOMBUCHA, TODAY I LEARNED ASDKJSDJKDSJKJKD my meme knowledge has been expanded :o lol i like to imagine reader tortures the guys w/ mangled videogame names all the time <3 they know it’s a bit to get them riled up they just can’t help but react asdkjadsjk <3

San overhearing and misunderstanding the strap-on convo came to me in a vision and im glad it satisfied hehe <3 biting is vital enrichment for any Wooyoung and to deny them would be cruel!!!

aw thankyou! :’) i like it when two doms have a different vibe to them in the same scene hehe, it’s fun! so yep San pretends to be a meanie while reader gets to be sweet(-ish lol) ♡

ahhhh i’m happy the pov switches worked and that you liked the monologue!!! askdjdsjk; i actually went back-and-forth on that a LOT, wondering if i should take it out or at least trim it down (and no, the irony that i worried it’d be too much is not lost on me LOL ^^;; ) but in the end i picked self-indulgence asdkdasjk, i really wanted to shed that bit of light on Wooyoung’s inner workings (ಡ﹏ಡ) he DOES deserve the world!!! give him everything he wants!!!!!

i will always grab onto any excuse to write in a cuddlepile! (⁀ᗢ⁀) asjkdasjkds aw shucks pls saving it on your kindle? („ಡωಡ„)♡

i gotta log off so i’m gonna try to answer the other ask tomorrow, but aaAAAAHHHHHHH PLS THANKYOU YOU’RE TOO GOOD TO MEEEEEEE (*≧ω≦*)♡

[iristial]

Super delayed Trio of Deep Sin thoughts 📚

ღ.ღ.ღ.ღ.ღ.ღ.ღ.ღ

- What a beautiful movie! Probably the best Reiwa V-Cinema thus far, what with its tight focus on three central characters and a clear sense of purpose the story rarely strayed from

- “Bittersweet”, an oxymoron the film itself grappled with. How you end up loving someone you intended to wrought destruction upon (not unlike the sweet lull of a siren’s song) and it ends up hurting you. For Mamiya and Yuina, they never strayed from vengeance yet their 'pretense’ at love became so passionate, desperate, and violent, calling it an illusion became a lie. Mamiya erased the swordsmen from history yet hesitated when it came to tampering Touma’s memory. Yuina preferred to die over seeing the light fade from Kento’s eyes and experiencing the grief of loving again. It didn’t help that Touma and Kento, in turn, loved them fiercely and it aroused their anger. Probably because - how could you love someone who intended to hurt you from the start? How could you forgive, just like that? Still stand firm? Even offer your life for them? They truly kicked my feels here

- In comparison, Rintarou’s third of the story merely recycled his main series’ struggle: a bittersweet tang to a noble cause. At least I think they did? But it indicated how Rintarou has grown since his days of inner turmoil, and honestly I couldn’t bring myself to hate the father he barely knew

Touma and Riku’s relationship was wonderful, lovely, wrung out many smiles and tears, everything. How I wished Touma had been the single father Rider writing books for his son in the main series lol It linked well to early Saber’s focus on father-son bonds, better than the Shindos imo

If I remember correctly, the Riku-Mamiya plot twist was when I said aloud during my lunch break, “oh my gosh, I can’t call this a bad movie”. I spent days dissecting it until my head spun

Erasing memories to erase one’s existence reminded me a lot of Den-O’s ripple effect, where as long as one person has strong memories of another, they’ll never truly fade from the timeline

Going back to oxymorons, Touma’s the swordsman of fire. Fire and swords; the subjects of Riku’s trauma. And Touma loves Riku with all his heart, to the point where he believes he’s an insufficient father. However, that love was never one-sided, culminating in Riku fighting with himself - in both senses of the word - to protect Touma and call him otou-san. I didn’t ask to have my entire water supply depleted through my eyes T-T

- I also liked the inevitability of certain bonds, such as Kento and Rintarou comforting each other with ease despite being (in their minds) complete strangers, and Kento getting interested in Yuina again. Goes to show the people you love will always find a way back to you

- To think I had reservations about Kento’s love line and probably became one of the few viewers who actually enjoyed it. Even if Kento was going to run himself through with Yuina’s sword...being self-sacrificial....as if he didn’t learn anything the past three times...Kento -

Kento’s new suit henshin? A shower of brilliant stars I had the privilege to witness. Touma’s henshin? Took the breath from my lungs. Fitting for a guardian of the Wonder World

My only criticism is that there weren’t enough Mei scenes xD

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

AAAHHHH YESS THEMMM all my babeys :'))

Well I mean I don't think Jordan's here and I'm sure Danny isn't but you know xD we try our best lol

Or Andreas probably eh

BUT STILL LOL

AHH little Jasher moment in the background :')) or just like yk in the group scenes in general <33

Lol I love them :')) 😭❤️🥰🥺 <333

AAHHH I love them all :'DD

AWW first picture time 🥰🥰

AAHHH hats :'DD time for the hats :)) <333

Noo but there's Glassman's 😭😭😭

YUP 😭😭😭😭🥰🥰❤️❤️❤️

AAAHHHHHH I'M NOT OKAY

:'OOOOOO AAAHHHHHHHHH GLASSMAN!!!! COME ON SIR COME ON

COME IN :'DDD

NOOOO GLASMAN YOU GO IN RIGHT NOW!!

GLASSMANNNN 😭😭😭❤️

AWW 😭😭❤️ leaving the hat :'((

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH THEMMMMM :'DDDD

Little peanut :')) I love him so much <333

Aww :'))

NOOO Glassman go in now :'(( :'))!!!

NOOOOO DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT IT GLASSMAN

NO

NO!!

I SAID NO!!!

😭😭😭❤️❤️💔🥺🥺🥺💔

By the way basically this entire time about Glassman, like end of last scene and beginning/some of this I was just saying "I'm gonna kill him. I'm going to kill him. That's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna kill him"ike over and over again XDD

In case you're wondering how I'm feeling lol

AAAHHHHH NOOO 😭😭❤️💔💔❤️🥺

Aww but hey here's them getting the gift :'))

AAHHH AWWWW 😭😭😭💔❤️❤️❤️🥺

But hey at least they know he sent a gift :')) that's a step closer <333

Ahh (kind awh and kind aah) come on open it what's in it :)) :'))

:'OOOO A BABY BLANKET WITH- AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WITH STEVE ON IT :'DDDDDD

THEY'RE NAMING HIM STEVE :'DDDD 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥺😭

I am so not okay 😭😭😭❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰 :')))

AAHHHHHH YESSS he just knew :'))

And also AHHH they really are :'DD

BECAUSE HE KNOWS YOUUUU 😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰��🥰🥰

AAHHH nooo Glassman alone at homeee 😭😭 I don't deserve this frankly <33

Awww yes wrapping him up :'))) <33

- :'O

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HIS NAME IS STEVE AARON MURPHY!!!!!!!

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

I love that so much :'D

Oh my gosh that was amazing 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥰 :'))) <333

[ghosts-and-blue-sweaters]

Restless Reveries for director's cut ask game? And feel free to ask me some- I'd love to ramble!! ~Pinestripe

Link!!

Gosh its been so long since I’ve written that I’ve gotta try to remember stuff now oh gosh-

I don’t actually remember how or why I came up with the idea for this. I started writing it in September, which was… about three months after I started writing DSMP fanfic. I think it was around the time I started getting curious about Tommy’s Exile (I didn’t know much about it then).

Gosh I’m really trying to remember but its been so long-

At the time of writing this, I hadn’t actually gotten to Exile in my DSMP watch-through, so it’s all based entirely on art/random posts/etc… which means that there are some continuity errors XD

For example, Michael and Friend are both mentioned in the story, but in reality, neither of them were even in Dream SMP at that point!! I just didn’t realize that at the time 🫠

It kinda bugs me, honestly. I try to make my stories as canon-compliant as possible, so… gah. Maybe I’ll go back and fix it someday.

Anyway! The rest of this will be incredibly random and scattered-

This was also the very first Ghostbur-centric story I wrote, and I had a lotta fun with that! He’s a very easy character to write :)

I tried to make Tommy as… un-Tommy-like as possible. To the point where it’s painfully obvious that he isn’t doing well; I really wanted to show how much Exile was affecting him.

Gosh I’m kinda wondering why I set this story in Exile because I literally had almost no clue how that arc went lol. I knew that Logstedshire was a thing but I didn’t really know what it was, so I just took a lucky guess and wrote this:

Ghostbur pulls his legs closer to himself, fighting off a shiver. "How has Dream been? Have you two gone on any more adventures together? He's quite the adventurous person, I think. Ooh, maybe you two have built more in Logstedshire? Perhaps a library? I love libraries!"

I sort of had the idea that Logstedshire was built by Tommy, but I wasn’t sure if Ghostbur had helped with that or if Dream had blown it up by this point. I think that I was tentatively leaning towards the idea that Dream had recently destroyed it, but I didn't explicitly say that because I wasn't completely sure if it was true.

SO MUCH OF THIS FIC WAS JUST ME GUESSING!!! LIKE TOMMY LIVING IN A TENT!!! AND HIS EYES LOSING THEIR BLUE COLOR!!! I DIDN’T REALLY KNOW ANY OF THAT I WAS JUST GOING OFF COOL ART I SAW!!!

I gave Ghostbur a satchel for no reason other than I find satchels cool and thought he should have one. Still headcanon that :)

Ghostbur giving Tommy Wilbur’s coat was based off of a bunch of art by a bunch of different artists. As far as I know, it has no canon… evidence I guess? But I think it’s a widely accepted headcanon and I thought it would fit the story nicely.

The title for this fic actually came pretty naturally to me—which is weird, because titles are usually the area I struggle with the most for writing.

At the time of writing this, I was really happy with it… but, as time passed, I found myself liking it less and less. I was seriously considering just not posting it at all.

I’m not sure why I lost interest, to be honest. Maybe it was the style I’d written it in?? I don’t know.

But, on a whim, I decided to just go ahead and post it… and you quickly read it and told me how much you loved it and that it was comforting and that you’d reread it over and over and SKDGSKSVAOGSOSBSIS

I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT RESPONSE!!! PINESTRIPE IT ACTUALLY MEANT THE WORLD!!!

So because of you I started to stop not-liking it XD

Fast forward a couple months, and I’ve now got a bunch of ideas for a multi-chapter continuation—and it’s 100% because of you!!

So yeahhhh that was my extremely rambley ramble about Restless Reveries :D

For you, I’ll do A Protecter :)

[zankydraws]

OKAY LET'S GOOOOO

feel free to comment/reblog and share your favorite incredithings with me too because I also love hearing about it! :D

alright, I'm going to talk about my favorite bonuses in this post

my fave V1 bonus is Santa. it's just so catchy! it makes you want to dance. I'm really glad my beloved Bass is used in this one. he is so cool 👍

RIP that guy tho. you didn't deserve it homie

V2: Little Miss. It's so good oh boy howdy. the colors in this bonus are one of my favorite combos. black red and white works sooooo well

I gotta ask tho, what were they thinking when they put this in the game xD

V3: listen. they're all so good. I don't think I can choose. like this is why I love V3 so much. everything's so diverse. it's perfect

if I reaaaally had to choose I'd probably go with Sunrise. it's so, idk, mystical and mysterious (I am also a very casual Inca/Maya/Aztec culture enjoyer so this bonus and melody 1 and 4 are a huge treat for me!) and Incredible Polo's voice sounds particularly amazing in that one. and the video is just beautiful

I go silly when he says "over your head" in this part!! ^^^ (I just listened to this bonus again and oh. ooohh. I am getting emotional. Indien's howling in the background. the visuals. all the dudes singing "aaah". my freaking game bugged and couldn't even play the bonus properly, I'm not even joking dkfgjhdk)

V4: very tough choice. both of these are amazing but I might go with Eagle. I just love the beat in it and it looks very aesthetically pleasing to my eyes, it has an awesome color palette. and sometimes you just really want to turn into an eagle and say heck it all...

these make me feel so many emotions. it's a crime that those bonuses are short

V5: Musica. another absolute crime that the bonuses are so short. I love them, they have such happy vibes

what is homie drinking 👀

also very silly theory(?) time: I like to think this is Armo sitting on the V3 horse toy dkfgjh (I know this could be a V5 guy but shh pls let me have this..)

V6: I'm not gonna be original here, my favorite is Busta. it looks very good, it sounds very good. 12/10. Fire

So Far So Good knew what they were doing when they made this bonus (I'm so normal about Mind and his eyes)

However, Alive gets an honorable mention for being the funniest bonus in the game and having amazing visuals and music.

broski literally said "don't tell me how to live my life" and willingly let himself get hit by a meteor. King. Would this mean that, in a way, Incredibox has two canonically dead characters?

V7: Kabikabi. listen. listen. this one is probably the best bonus in the entire game. it's absolutely beautiful and it's sounds so good it's unbelievable. wow. it gives me goosebumps (most of the bonuses do but shh, Kabikabi is so special to me)

my gosh. the visuals. and I love the lyrics too! this bonus makes me ascend

V8: Zemetekile. Oh it's so damn good. I love Choir and his little journey. I love the faces he makes in this bonus. The music in this bonus is AMAZING, I love how it's soo.... I don't know, not too melodic? there's a lot of clicks and funky lil sounds in this one (I think some of the sounds are made by Foubreak and they're just soo 🤌🤌🤌). What I like about Dystopia is that the beats, effect and voices are just excellent, they create a great atmosphere. You can make an awesome tune without using the melodies which gives the whole thing this empty and hopeless vibe... what am I even saying anymore

Oh and Dystopia the short film? My gosh. What a masterpiece

And that moment in Cumulor when Choir takes off his robes? It kills me every time

This gave me a silly little headcanon idea that all Incredimen are mass produced androids dfkgjhk (I love androids/robots okay)

oh and when his hair moves while he walks?? the attention to detail!! holy crap!! take all my money So Far So Good. they went crazy in this version

V9: Yeah we only got one bonus so far but Flow is so good!! I mentioned it in my other post but I just really love the 80's/90's vibes!! a song made just for me... 💖

a reference to our beloved V3 horsie and the best V4 bonus? cool!! WTV? haha nice. everything about this bonus rocks. I really love the sound in the background, I don't even know what it is, that jingly thing? yeah it's great :) and the percussion at the end? so badass... it's also a crime that it's a shorter one. I really hope the other bonuses will have more loops. When will the second bonus be released tho... pls So Far So Good, I am so thirsty for more bonuses, PLS. Incredibox is my life source. I also hope Big Duke and ASAP Bee will appear in one (or both) of the bonuses. I need them there. They are my babies

also can I just say how much I love this douchebag?

--------

Okay, I guess that'll be all for this post! :D I wanted to squeeze in some more things but I figured it would be better to keep it for another one dfkgjh (plus tumblr is having troubles with all those pics lmao)

I hope you enjoyed this, thank you for reading :)

you know what, I kinda want to talk about my favorite Incredibox things again because kdfjgh I forgot about bonuses when I answered that ask.. and I also have some other silly things to say. I might just do that tomorrow.

[tf2-simps]

how abt the mercs (or just defense if you're tired/busy) with a reader whos a superfan of tf2? like how would they react to their room being filled with merchandise of them?

I never thought of this idea but I read it and just new I had to do it for the whole team XD thank you this was so fun ask to write for!!!

-gender neutral reader

Scout

“How didya get all of thes-? nevermind. Freakin awesome.”

Oh god his ego. He is fascinated by all the things you have of him. He can’t quit smiling over it! He starts purposely finding excuse to walk into your room

Ohhh my gosh if you gush about Scout to himself he will stim and try to act cool and fail miserably because he is just so hyped up

He will start dragging the others into your room to show it off

He likes to look at the merchandise of him. He feels like royalty and like some magical honor had been bestowed upon him

He will not shut up about it but he especially loves to rub it into Spy’s face

Soldier

He is very..curious about them. Pokes at the stuff and looks through it

Eventually comes to the conclusion of “of course you have merchandise of him! Who wouldn’t have merchandise of him?”

He’s shockingly quiet at first, laughs, then (caringly) rattles you back and forth and goes on an entire tangent about how excited and happy about it

He’s very interested in seeing how much you already know about him

He gets suspicious you might be a spy sent to kill him or capture him so there will be some lecturing

Pyro

Pyro is very thrilled and wants to know where you got such cool merchandise! Pyro will ask a lot of questions like how much did it cost? Do you have a favorite one? Which was the most expensive? Is Pyro allowed to touch/play with the stuff?

Pyro will make merchandise of you in Pyro’s own fancy way and will show it off to you as well!

Pyro will just have to show all of this off to balloonicorn!

Pyro finds it absolutely so cool that you got all this merchandise and probably makes a drawing of you and Pyro and says its the new Picasso merchandise

Demoman

Goes from amazed to questioning to amazed within the span of 4 seconds

He never knew that there even was merch of him being produced so he’s a little questionable but he’s really delighted about it at the same time

He has mixed feelings on you knowing so much about him but he finds it pretty funny that you probably know more about himself than he does

It gives him an ego boost

“If ya’ know this much about me, I suppose I better start findin stuff about you too!”

Heavy

Concern is the first thing he feels, he needs a moment to process it but eventually comes to the conclusion that this probably isn’t and won’t be the strangest thing he sees

When he finds out that you just think he’s super cool and probably aren’t planning on trying to kidnap him he doesn’t mind it too much

Secretly has a slight enjoyment from someone showing so much interest in him

Grows accustomed to it and if anyone tries to give him any banter he simply brings up his fanatic fan

Engineer

Confusion but not like curious confusion but questioning confusion

He’s trying to figure out if it’s a good or bad thing. Do you..know his name? Or what his family as done? How much do you know? Would you use it against him? Or is this just a simple enjoyment?

He’s a little tip-toey around you for a bit but when he decides that you probably aren’t going to do any terrible harm and theres not much he could do since you already know so much he gives in to the idea of it

Not to the same degree, but just like the rest he gets slight sick kicks from someone being obsessed

Medic

He stoops to your level of what can be described as “freakiness” and is a sponge for that kinda nonsense

This man is ready for it. He sits down and is listening. A little concerning how okay and intrigued he is with this

He gives you a very particular look when you go into detail about things like his name and where he grew up and his whole deal with the devil situation but shrugs it off

He will criticize the merch if it doesn’t have “perfect detail” though

Sniper

He doesn’t know what to say or how to feel about it. He calls you a dork for it though

He is a professional assassin, does this mean he is famous too? He would either hand it oddly well or horribly

He needs a while to think about it and process it. He is tied between feeling really cool and why out of anyone to get invested into did you pick him?

He never really gets a particular feeling over it, but he does smile when you ramble about him

Spy

Oh god he is horrified. At first he’s like “oh cool ok, do what you want” but 0.000005 seconds later he realizes you just might know too much about him and that could lead to…issues

He does his own spying on you and runs a background check. You probably won’t see him show up around your for a few days until he can for certain say you won’t do anything that could compromise him or his team

He stares bullets into your soul anytime Scout shows up around the both of you

He’s chill about it but if you threaten to blackmail him he will spill all of your violent worst secrets and fears and will turn it against you

[sscarchiyo]

Masumi, Mikado, Tsukuyomi, Karou when you have an entire photo album all dedicated to their photos

(I have so much Masumi pics..)

having a photo album dedicated to them

paring(s): masumi, mikado, tsukuyomi & karou

contains: gn!reader, crack, fluff

✉️ - damn this is the fastest thing i’ve gotten done, i started in the afternoon XD hope you enjoy and feedback is always appreciated, have a good day <3

masumi

→ his camera roll is filled with all sorts of pictures, from memes, to cursed pictures to the random shit he gets into while dragging karou along and he’s more of a ‘saved’ photo taker than actually taking photos

→ but he knows how much you love to take pictures, so he thought buying you a camera would be great and you were joyful. now you wouldn’t have to use up phone storage

→ while you were showering he thought he’d do you a favor and transfer you photos to the camera. but when he gets to the last folder he’s in shock, it’s filled with pictures of him

→ some of them were from when you first met, hell − he doesn’t have pictures dating that far back and he’s filled with a sense of pride. you love him so much to have a whole album just for him? he can’t stop his smile from growing

→ but his smile is replaced with a cocky grin when he sees, that you see, that he sees the album

→ and oh gosh, he’s holding it over your head

“aw, y’know if you wanted my picture you could just ask”

“should’ve taken my left side instead”

“is this for blackmail? i approve”

“damn you’re like a stalker baby”

→ despite his teasing, he can’t hide the smirk gracing his lips. but just so you know even though he found your album, that does not mean he’ll show the one he has of you. that's for a special occasion

mikado

→ mikado loves to take pictures with/of you, like it’s almost his favorite thing to do. he just thinks you look good all the time and wants to capture every moment of your glory

→ one day the both of you were chilling on the couch and you got up to fix yourself a snack. your phone started ringing and mikado checks the caller id

“it’s an unknown”

“hm, just leave it”

→ so he lets it ring a little longer before it cuts off, he takes an opportunity to check the time on your phone, noticing your wallpaper

→ laughing to himself he decides to change it, after all it was a bet he proposed and you lost to, that made you have a shrek lock screen. opening your photos he’s looking for a nicer picture to use, maybe one of the both of you

→ so when he stumbles upon a album filled with pictures of him, he’s perplexed. not sure if he should be happy or shocked. he’s always taking photos of you, so when did you have time to take these?

→ he wont let you know he’s seen them, but when you come back he’s grinning ear to ear

“why are you so happy? something happen?”

“huh? oh no reason ehehe”

→ very happy boyfriend indeed

tsukuyomi

→ another one who absolutely loves taking pictures with you, i also see him as the type to take pictures of everything. from outside scenery, to animals on the street and random silly photos of his coworkers

→ his phone died when he wanted to take a photo of a cat passing by, so he used your phone instead. once he finished, he opened your photos so he could send them to himself.

→ he gets a little sidetracked when he notices how many albums you have, with curiosity getting the best of him he’s scrolling through the album names until he sees one in particular so him being him, he opens it

→ so him being him he opens it and his jaw drops, who knew you had so many pictures of him. he’s not complaining though, he looks great in them and he’s not trying to sound self centered. but somehow when you take photos of him, they come out so much better

→ he’s going to very much approach you about it, he’ll even show you the secret album he has of you

karou

→ karou is camera shy, he has no photos of himself (unless you’re in them) and doesn’t give anyone the luxury of taking his picture. the only people who can get his picture are you and masumi

→ now he knows the type of pictures masumi has on his phone, so he knows if his picture is there, it’s probably for blackmail. he also knows you take lots of selfies with him in the frame on purpose, to which he’s totally fine with

→ but he’s speechless by what he finds a whole album for him on your phone, it was a pure accident on how he found out. you’d left your phone unatened and he noticed the battery dying, being the considerate boyfriend he is, he goes to charge it − until he found the album

→ and it’s all sorts of photos, from him cooking, doing chores, some of them when he’s taken naps and to others it’s not a big deal or a little creepy

→ but he takes such pride in knowing you’ve done that for him, like my dude is literally smiling so hard his face will break

[cranky-kyrati]

Okay I just finished the main game for Far Cry 4 and.... wow, oh my gosh. So Mohan kills Ishwari and Pagan's child, and Pagan fell into such grief that he just completely stopped caring about anything because there was nothing else to care about after his kid was murdered? x_x Oh and Mohan also wanted to train child Ajay as a soldier for the Golden Path (which Ishwari obviously strenuously objected to), so he's down with both child soldiers and child marriage??? I feel like I need a solid 24 hours just to absorb the ending.

Hahaha I know right?! I mean, my own experience of this aspect of the story was rather, uh, underwhelming, since my first experience of the story was a compilation of Pagan's cutscenes, meaning I learned about Lakshmana before I even knew that "finding Lakshmana" (while not knowing what it was) was Ajay's primary motivator throughout the entire game. xD

Anyway I think we're supposed to take from what Pagan says (and some other clues) that he went on a bit of a murderous rampage after Lakshmana's death, and then he kinda withdrew a few years later. There's a loading screen tip saying he's been cooped up in his palace for the past decade (which is also supported by a number of NPC lines about how no one has seen him in a long time), and that still leaves a few years of him establishing his reputation as brutal in his own right. As Pagan says:

"I killed so many people for them... But then I realised: I was only using Lakshmana's death as an excuse to do whatever I wanted to do. Just as you use those ashes as an excuse to do whatever you want to do."

Which brings me to what I was alluding to in a previous post - Ajay, too, comes to Kyrat and warps it. His intentions are (probably mostly) pure, but the fact remains that he lets himself become a weapon and a figurehead in a war he knows nothing about, and had he made different choices (admittedly predominantly ones that weren't available to the player), perhaps not quite so many people would have had to die before the war ended.

What are your thoughts now that it's had time to sink in? (Oh and where did you pick up the thing about Mohan wanting to train Ajay as a child soldier? Can't remember seeing that anywhere - in his journal, he writes about wishing Ajay to grow up in a free Kyrat.)

[teecupangel]

From @allegedlyrainy

#“Desmond please get him off the street.” sdjkfhjsdhf hahahah. his insanity is only going to appear to grow while Desmond dances around this #this is really so lovely though oh gosh ;-; I keep rereading that kiss because it tugs at my heart every tim e#Desmond and Maria both pretending to be the opposite gender is additionally such a fun layer to it. poor Malik though lmao #Maria: yeah this is my idiot now but I'm not responsible for any of his idiocy.

This in reference to the last post’s tags:

#yeah, desmond poached maria from the templars early on #maria is pretending to be a dude #and calls desmond her sister #because desmond doesn’t mind pretending to be a woman,

From @thedragonqueen1998

Malik is gonna be so pissed when he finds out. XD

From @zero-saito

Omfg maria!! Lol Malik needs to get his eyes checked 😂💀 malik will be beyond pissed and confused!!! I will live for this!!

“You betrayed me.”

Mario-

No.

Maria’s eyes shone with amusement as she asked, “Oh? Is it because I never told you that I was a woman? Or is it because my ‘sister’ turned out to be the person Altaïr falls in love with over and over again?”

Malik’s glare only made her laugh.

“I never told you I was man as well, Malik. You simply assumed that because I lowered my voice and wore-” She waved her hand over her baggy, quite comfortable clothes, “-this.”

“You listened to me talk about Altaïr, all the while knowing he keeps falling in love with your brother.” Malik said with gritted teeth.

She chuckled and shook her head before reminding Malik, “And I complained to you about how my dear brother has been in love with Altaïr the entire time.”

“And you could have done something.” Malik argued, making Maria raise an eyebrow at him.

“Do you really wish for me to get between those two idiots?” Seeing Malik open his mouth to most probably say yes, she added, “Knowing that I would drag you with me so we can make a foolproof plan together?”

At those words, Malik paused and stared at her.

She waited patiently as Malik’s face closed off.

What was Desmond’s phrase?

Ah.

She could hear the gears turning inside Malik’s head.

Malik’s shoulders relaxed just a bit to show that he had made a choice.

“Maria… shall we have our afternoon tea?”

Maria’s lips twitched before she said, “Of course, Malik.”

She knew Malik would see it her way.

Of course, they could certainly help those two finally get their heads out of the sand.

But…

That was too much trouble.

The whole Desmond/Vega situation with Altair in EoAhas made me think of a time travel au where Altair keeps having romcom meet-cutes with people but literally all of them are Desmond in disguise

So Altair is going from having very few crushes in his lifetime to having multiple at once (unaware that they're all actually the same person) while Desmond is stuck wishing he had a computer to make a spreadsheet about which identity knows what about Altair so he doesn't let something slip that Altair told a different identity or info he got from the animus/bleeds

Oh my god.

This is so cute.

I think Altaïr would know it’s Desmond sooner or later, which would make Desmond’s spreadsheet quite a lost cause at that point but…

If it starts with Altaïr being a child, we can prolong the meet cute situations XD

So, in this one, it starts of with Altaïr as a child getting lost while he was joining his father in some kind of safe mission.

His first love was a child who saw him and helped him get back to the bureau, wearing clothes that were a bit too big for him.

The child’s hand was warm and he would squeeze Altaïr’s hand while he held it whenever he says “It’s going to be alright.”

And Altaïr didn’t understand why but he believed him.

Altaïr’s second love was a girl whose face he didn’t even see. Clad from head to toe in black robes with a niqab covering her face. All he could see was her eyes, clear light brown eyes that seemed to shimmer during the day.

This time, Altaïr wasn’t lost. He had just been taking a walk while waiting for his father to finish his mission. He saw her steal a piece of pomegranate from one of the stalls in the marketplace and tried to catch her.

Instead, he ended up sitting on the edge of one of the buildings as they shared the pomegranate, listening to her talk about how the merchant had been an ass who bullied other poorer merchants.

It was Adha who told him that what he felt wasn’t love but infatuation. Maybe even greed. He fell in love easily for people he will never see again. Altaïr hated her immediately, shouting at his father that he would never marry a girl like her. Adha scoffed and told her own father that she didn’t want to marry a boy who would fall in love so easily. Altaïr stormed off after his father tried to pretend he wasn’t taking Adha’s side. He bumped into him. His third love. Or the next target of his infatuation. No. That was Adha talking, not him.

He was a young boy, wearing a dark brown shemagh that covered half of his face. Altaïr’s eyes were enchanted by his eyes that reminded him of honey. The boy asked him if he was alright and Altaïr didn’t really want to talk about it. So… the boy gave him a piece of bread and told him to cheer up. His eyes wrinkled in a way that let Altaïr know he was smiling behind that shemagh.

And just like that, the boy was gone. Leaving Altaïr with a piece of bread that was still warm to the touch.

His fourth love was a street urchin who looked like a wet rodent. He had been out of Masyaf with the other recruits to observe the older Assassins perform their tasks in a busy city. The Assassin that had been assigned to him was a kind man with an easy smile. Abbas thought he was nice. Malik was as polite as ever.

And Altaïr was bored.

And it was because he wasn’t truly paying attention that he was swept by the crowd before the Assassin or the two other recruits with him could notice.

He was on his way to the bureau when he heard a crash. A child no older than he was had crashed onto a nearby stall that had been selling wine.

He quickly ran and shouted at Altaïr to run as well, just as the guards were catching up to him. Altaïr ran even though he shouldn’t have.

He wasn’t part of whatever was happening.

But his body moved on its own.

Once they were on the other side of the city, the child began to laugh. He didn’t ask why Altaïr agreed to run. He didn’t ask how Altaïr was able to keep up with him as they traversed the city, using their surrounding to gain the upper hand over the large armored men chasing after them.

“Here.” Altaïr caught whatever the child had thrown at him before he even realized what it was, “Take that as my apology for getting you mixed up in all these.”

Altaïr opened his hand.

It was a necklace of some kind with a small yellow gem.

“It matches your eyes.” The child said and Altaïr wished he would take off the fabric around his face so Altaïr could see his face.

Could see his smile.

“Take care on your way back, Altaïr.” The boy waved before he jumped off the window.

And Altaïr tried to remember when he had told him his name.

[toujoursmiraculous]

Thoughts and Reaction to Guiltrip!

Alright, so this one is a bit more of a serious one for me. But I'll be going in order of the episode so the more serious talk will be a bit further down! First thing we get is this lovely moment:

I've already addressed it in a post, but I'll say it again here. Guiltrip is episode 11, several episodes take place before Guiltrip that we haven't seen yet, so this is awhile after Marinette and Luka broke up. We also know that Marinette has always had feelings for Adrien, even when she was with Luka. Luka always knew that fact too. None of this is new and is to be expected, obviously, when Love Square is endgame. But! I also want to point out here that this is just a soft look. Very gentle, very common. I see people looking at each other both in real life and in other shows all the time. A look that says "I adore you". And I think it's sweet! Very subtle, but enough. Something's wrong with Rose. We never get told (in this episode anyway) what it is, but it's a chronic illness that's a worry in Rose's life, ever since she was young. I feel really bad for Juleka, knowing that her friend's been struggling with an illness, and whenever something happens she has to worry about it alone. Also that really sucks when you try to cheer somebody up and make a joke, that because you were mislead about a situation you end up making things worse. Poor Marinette. :c Adrien when he realizes he's bumped into someone (and the pink bubbles to remind us of Marinette's feelings for him):

Adrien when he realizes just who it was he bumped into!:

Scroll up now and look at how Marinette was looking at Adrien earlier that day. It's the exact same look. Yet, something feels different from usual to me, idk. But continuing on. Marinette gets slightly jumbled with her words, but manages to give herself a kick and says nope not now! Good for her! You can't expect to change overnight, but she's working on it.

She looks to the side, gathering her surroundings for a split second and she misses the top step. I'd like to say that this is just a joke for the show but well, this kind of thing has happened to me a lot because I'm that much of a klutz so I feel for her here. (On Halloween I forgot that there was another step as I was walking down as I wasn't paying attention. I couldn't walk on my foot for 2 weeks. It's a serious problem, guys. Really. xDD) Marinette had told Adrien she's concerned it was something she said that upset Juleka and Adrien tells her while sometimes she doesn't make sense, what she says is never mean. This scene reminds me of when Ladybug's worried about something and Chat Noir's there to keep her grounded and remind her of how things really are. I very much appreciate seeing such a scene with Adrienette! Makes the Love Square much more rounded. Also the way he stops her and says let him go talk to her to try to help the situation and any possible misunderstandings from taking place. ;-;

Can I just say... oh my gosh. He went from determined, to hearing Marinette trying to comfort her, to looking with confidence "This girl is amazing." and the whole Ladynoir vibe I'm getting from this scene makes me happy. The thing that's unrealistic about this scene though is you expect to tell me that 8 kids went down those stairs and came up behind them and Marinette, Adrien, and Juleka didn't hear? XD Now here's where the serious comes in. Rose is hospitalized with an illness we don't know about, but has been a long-term thing that has Juleka really worried a lot. That must be so stressful :c I'm going to be honest and say I never really saw Julerose romantically. Like I can see how people do, but to me, I could see that their bond was really unique. It didn't really fit completely in the "BFF" category either. But if felt like there was more to them that I didn't really understand. I think the best example off the top of my head was during Zombizou, when Rose was going to help Chloe after she slid down Chat's stick and she went too fast for him to catch her. Juleka seemed especially worried and concerned for her. Rose never seemed to get concerned about Juleka in the same way Juleka was about Rose. Juleka's always been more protective and worried and it was always one of those things that made me go "hmm, interesting". Now this episode finally explains why and I'm honestly super glad for it. Because this kind of a relationship is not a common one in media, especially kids media. Partially because having such serious illnesses in young people is not particularly common, and having someone who's so caring and protective of that person is even less common. And most people probably don't realize how amazing it is to have health problems and then have someone in their life who acts like Juleka does for Rose. I had a life-threatening illness as a kid, one that still affects me greatly today. When in school, my friends knew about it without me having to say anything unfortunately, and while they didn't usually treat me differently, sometimes they were pretty ignorant and didn't understand why I wasn't "normal" like them. They asked questions that were harder ones to answer, and tended to forget my answers. I got a lot of "I know you have X problem but I still don't see why you can't..." as well as thinking I was lying if I said I wasn't well and couldn't go to a party, and that was hard to deal with, being limited in what you can do which makes you different and being judged for things out of your control. So seeing these kids who only know something's wrong with her, but are willing to do so much to make her life better and happier, not judging her at all, wanting to take care of her no questions asked was really heart-warming for me. I only had one friend during that time that was anything close to this. I never had to explain anything to him if I didn't want to. He never asked me personal questions I didn't want to answer. And he seemed to know what he could do to make things for me easier if I was having a hard time without me ever saying so. And this is another reminder to me that this show is aimed at kids. To show kids that they'll likely encounter someone around their age that's going through something serious like a health problem, and what that kid needs most is kindness and not to be made to feel like they're even more different from the other kids than they already feel. The way they handled that aspect of it for such a short, limited intro to it, I think they did good. I discussed this next bit with a friend. She mentioned it first, the trope where those with chronic or serious illnesses are usually an "inspiration". With this episode, you kind of get the feeling that because Rose's been through so much, she's therefore a really positive and bubbly person and it kind of gives off the vibe that if you don't view things the way she does, then you're not doing it right. "What matters isn't the problem, but how you handle it." While I agree with this, and that when you come out of or regularly deal with

such hard times, automatically trying to see the world better and brighter can easily happen, but it's not exactly realistic either, at least not to the extent Rose and other people the media has portrayed. For one, I think you have to have always been more of that kind of person from the start to realistically be so positive. As my friend said and I agree, positivity is just who Rose is, she's not who she is just for the sake of a trope. But honestly, when you've gone through something so difficult, and if life continues to throw you more difficulties on top of it, being positive so much can sometimes turn into a negative and be harmful too. When you've been through a lot, it's important to allow yourself to feel the negative too because it's part of dealing with such problems. And if you've been through a lot in life and you haven't come out of it being all sunshine and rainbows, always looking on the brighter side of things, that's perfectly okay. Life's hard and tends not to work out how we'd like, or even for the better sometimes. If being positive and hopeful after struggling is hard to do, you're not bad or wrong for feeling that way, everybody handles things differently. c: ANYWAY, moving on to the rest of the episode! Juleka being all irritated and worried that the class was going to expose her spilling Rose's secret xD While the situation isn't ideal, it's nice that this is the most involved she's seemed with everyone in the entire duration of the show. But Rose knows something's up, and I love that she talks to her about it and realizes that she should've told everyone herself instead of Juleka being the only one who knew. Which has been such a burden on her. (Oh no, what if this is a reflection of Alya knowing Marinette's Ladybug later on? I'm hoping not.) Ugh these children and how much they care about Rose! These kids are the absolute best. But then they kind of ruin it a little with going overboard. Which, frankly, I think is just ignorance of her situation really. I mean, we don't know what exactly is wrong with Rose. Just that she ends up in the hospital. If they knew about her condition, what causes her to get sick, what to look out for, etc, they'd be much more informed and much less likely to be frantic whenever something's not perfectly "normal" with her. All of these kids are going to be overprotective parents someday, aren't they?

Okay so like... are Adrien and Marinette going to question at all how Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up immediately after Juleka was akumatized, and no damage had happened outside of the school for it to be known to the public? Literally the only ones that could've possibly known were the class to have shown up that fast. ??? I am confusion. "I can't help my best friend face his father." "No, Nino..." Two things: The fact that THIS is what he's feeling guilty about? My poor Nino! Dx I just love him, he really doesn't get enough love and appreciation imo. Also, um, isn't Ladybug like right by Chat? Didn't she hear that? What? Idk but I feel like we're really missing something here. Usually we get things that are kind of hints, that make us wonder if they know right, but this? This is a bit too blaring-in-your-face, and there's two major things so close together. Really strange. Chat about to use Cataclysm on himself. Good grief that was not expected. Chat Blanc threatened to destroy himself along with everything else. Now Chat Noir while affected with negative emotions from an akuma almost Cataclysmed himself. This show really is getting deep and dark isn't it. o.o Also is there something Adrien needs to work out with someone...? Daizzi and Rose saying the other's so cute, ugh they're both so cute! And Pigella's costume and transformation is so adorable omg. Okay so Pigella's power allows people to see their biggest wish, the thing that'd make them the most happy and feel positive emotions. I know some people probably think "That's it?" Considering that Shadow Moth preys on people's negative emotions, such a power is actually extremely useful facing Shadow Moth. (And let's not forget, that while that's her power, she has the ability to fight and make a difference just from being transformed too) BUT AWWW Juleka's wish! And her face when Pigella said it aloud. ;-; Am I the only one wondering if Pigella may someday use her power on Shadow Moth and that's how they learn his motive? I'm so impressed with how Rose knew how to handle everything. She knew she can't slip up with Juleka. She knew to sneak away to detransform and come back as Rose. She knew to subtly give the Miraculous back so nobody would ever know she had it. Even Chat Noir had no idea! I don't know why, I'm just so very proud of that. "She doesn't need a Miraculous to be a superhero." She really has the characteristics of one, and I can't wait to see more of Pigella. Also I'm really wondering. This scene here:

All the kids that are part of that friend group are there...except Marinette and Adrien, of course. Alya knows why Marinette isn't there. But is she wondering about why Adrien isn't there too? LOL Marinette being like "I'm taking your pillow back, sorry! Gotta wait for it like everyone else." and the boys being like LE GASP. Marinette's right, she's not fragile! The fact Rose jokes with her and makes everyone laugh, and Chloe saying "Hey, why doesn't everyone laugh when I say something like that?!" Adrien: Because in your case, it's never a joke. Chloe: Hm, that's true. Which is super funny, especially how he just so casually says it. But also it really shows again how Chloe wants to be liked. She wishes the kids would laugh when she makes comments, but it's because they're said in a serious/obnoxious way, instead of making light of something like in Rose's case here, that they don't. I know she talked about it with Ladybug in an episode, but it again shows that that's what she'd like. All that needs to happen is someone helping her get there. Maybe Zoe and Luka will somehow help with that later on. Anyway, this was a really great episode! I feel like some things might not make quite as much sense as they should if we got it in order, but what can you do when Gloob has to air them? Even a friend of mine who's been doing what she can to avoid spoilers, still got spoiled. She's having to delete tumblr to avoid future spoilers because people can't help themselves and tag things properly. So thanks Gloob. :P All we wanted was the episodes in order. We've waited this long for S4, we can wait a bit longer. But they gotta make money I guess. I'm glad other countries are trying their best to keep it in order anyway. c: Guiltrip also has some really great Adrienette moments, and covered a more serious topic which was really interesting and shows how much the show's changing. Especially with some of the choice of camera angles and movements! Like the zoom-in on the door with Adrien and Marinette, the boys LE GASP scene. Very cool artistic choices! Looking forward to the episodes that come before this one to try to help fill in some of the gaps! And apologies to those that frequently read these posts from me, I started writing it up late and couldn't finish so you get it the day after instead. xD

[slashingdisneypasta]

Harper Alexader x Fem!Reader || Oneshot

Title: The Fake Love Of My Life

Notes:

I want this to only be part 1 in a series because a. Fake dating. b. Harper needs more content on this site, and c. I actually have some ideas.

Motivation is the problem, haha. But hopefully I'll figure it out.

Plot: I’ve! Always! Wanted! To Write! A Fake Dating Scenario!! So here we go. After 2 centuries of judgy looks from the older folk in town and getting questioned about why you’re not married, you and Harper have decided to pretend to be together to finally make people stop it.

Warnings: I think its fine? Discussion about sex, but not outright said and there are no ya know... intricate details haha XD

“Oh, Y/N I can’t tell you how pleased I was to hear about you and Harper Alexander! Gosh, we all thought you’d be alone forever!”

“You’re such a pretty couple.”

“It took you long enough to find a man!”

“And my, what I catch, girl. You’re one lucky gal!”

“You’ll have to bring him over Wednesday for dinner with Ted and I!”

All. Week; This is all I’ve heard. I mean, it was expected (In fact, it was the intention) for people to be relieved and get off my back about finding a damn man, but good grief. You’d think the whole thing would’ve cooled off, by now. I’m exhausted from acting pleased about this and their words.

I mean, god, since I hit 16 I’ve gotten this gip about finding a guy, and right from the get-go (Actually, since I was younger, I’ve felt this way) I’ve been against it. Even before I died and everything normal here, everything we knew, became obsolete- The idea that just because I was born with tits, I need to legally tie myself to a big strong penis in order to survive made me feel... incomplete, rather then enthusiastic.

Other girls, my friends, dreamt about their perfect men and the way that he would kiss them; How the world would shatter, in supposedly a good way, when he finally found them. And I did want to be right there, dreaming with them! I so did. Because they just looked so happy... And it was so easy for them to be so, as well. But... I just... couldnt. It seemed ridiculous to me, so I just supposed that I was made... wrong. I could never see the sense in it. I still can’t, and I can’t imagine a time I will. I’m me, whether I’m dragging along the dead weight of a husband, or not. Thats enough for me; Why cant it be enough for the people that love me? Why on earth do I need the extra unnecessary baggage weighing me down?

... But still, after a century and a half of it… admittedly, a girl breaks down a bit. A little bit.

I mean, not entirely, of course, seeing as Harper’s and my ‘relationship’ is nothing but a farce to benefit us both and not in fact a real effort. Effort enough to suffer through the town’s seemingly endless congratulations at least, yes. But effort enough to find a real relationship? No.

But god- the effort I am putting in, is a lot. The way they're talking to me; It makes me sick. They speak like I'm finally whole- like I wasnt so, before. Its archaic and obnoxious.

Its so bad, that sometimes - more and more often these days, - I have to break away. Escape. And, ironically enough… there’s only one place I can go to in order to get that, aside from spending all my time alone.

Sneaking up behind that place, or person, I lay a hand on his shoulder, feeling him jump slightly under my surprise touch, which makes me grin as I sit down beside him. “Hey,” I greet Harper, the only person I can go to for any kind of peace now, wierdly enough. He flashes me an annoyed eyeroll, not quite as much the charmer with me then as with modern folk that come traipsing into town and our eager clutches. He quickly returns to whatever he’s whittling; Quite focused. Taking a deep breath of fresh, non-stuffy air, I close my eyes for a moment. Ahhhh, the quiet…

Usually, I can find Harper here, on the outskirts of town. Or he finds me here, depending on which of us ran out of patience with the others, first. Today I survived longer, which is uncommen as Harper has an extraordinarily strong poker face, but either way; We’re finding ourselves alone together here more and more often these days. Which was weird at first, and actually still is a little bit strange still, but I'm sure it'll become more natural soon enough. I mean, we will be married after all, sooner rather then later.

Despite knowing Harper our whole lives, going to school together and ending up in similar circles, we were never really... good, friends, I guess you could say. He was never at the forefront of my mind, like he was a fair few of the other girls in our year- my girl friends included. We did get thrown together quite a bit as our groups tended to run together (Husband-Hunting… ), and then at various weddings and such, too, as my friends managed to share their chosen victims. This does mean that when we announced our 'engagement', no one was magnificently surprised even though we hadnt openly dated (Or dated at all), though, so there you go.

'Fate'.

But Harper and I never actually sought each other out, until now. Until he had the ‘fake marriage’ idea. Neither of us wanted to find someone, really, so it only seemed... sensible. This way, we can keep living the way we have been; Just, you know, in the same house. And occasionally we'll have to attend events together- which is not out of the ordinary, anyway!

Exhaling, fingers on either side of my lap digging gently into the decaying wood of the bench we're on, I open my eyes slowly again. I'm recharging already.

"So... " I turn to Harper, who doesn't look back this time. He just continues to focus on the wood and the knife in his hands, a look of indifference with a tone of annoyance, on that handsome face. But then again, what's new? When he's not seducing poor, bewitched women to eat he isnt actually all that sweet! After the Jubilee, he drops the act as soon as he can. In fact the act starts to fizzle away as soon as his job is done.

He wasnt always this way. I mean, he's always had bite but he genuinly was the golden boy when we were in school, and even through to our adult lives; But being stuck here after the earth discarded us, has taken its toll. Everyone grew darker, and continues to do so as we're stuck here longer. Miss Peaches, the Mayor, Granny, and I certainly wasnt except, either- so I dont blame him for the change. Its the only natural part of what happened.

A soft look on my face, I raise my brows in query. "How are you today?"

A disaffected sigh comes out of him, and he shrugs his shoulders in that derisive way that people do when they don't particularly want to talk about it. "Same as every day, I s'pose... Yourself?"

"Very similar."

Sniffing, he forces his blade down the block of wood- sending a particularly thick shaving to snap off the end. "Figures."

"Yeah... " Figuring myself that Harper is really not in the mood to talk right now, I take the hint and look away from him; Close my mouth, and my eyes. If he doesnt want to talk, then I can really relax. Here, I'm safe from the way people look at me - now us, -, and I can just stew. Be me. Think about me things. Like the books I've been reading, and the food I'm interested in learning how to cook, and the garden! That's just fine with me.

A few minutes later though, when I'm totally lost somewhere in my own head between fantasy lane and sounds-of-the-forest avenue, Harper decides to speak up again- and it shocks me out of my own head so hard I nearly damn well fall forward off of the bench.

"So Y/N- "

"Christ- "

Luckily, the grip I had on the bench saves me from what I think its safe to say would have been a humiliating, and painful, fall. Unfortunately though, it doesn't save me from the 'Why are you so ridiculous' look from Mr Darcy, here. Nevertheless, with the effort of an awkward smile on my part, he looks back to his widdling and continues.

"I've been thinking, about our impending marriage." Right, right. "And I'm wonderin'- What's gonna happen on the weddin' night?"

"... " My eyes flicker over Harper like he just grew a third arm. What- where did this come fro- Harper- Why!? "What!?"

"Well, my mother used to say that people could tell when a couple hadn't consummated the marriage." He shrugs, still under my disbelieving, bug-eyed gaze and entirely oblivious of it. Or at least seeming to be. Perhaps he's ignoring me. "She said it took Granny and the Mayor weeks, and everyone could tell."

"Yeah," I scoff, sarcasm dripping off the tip of my tongue as I continue to look at him deeply incredulously. I never planned to sleep in the same bed as him, much less perform that particular marital 'duty'! "And do you also still believe in Santa Claus? They absolutely cannot tell that kind of thing! Its a fairytale!" ... right?

Harper actually sets his work down now, and looks at me, and it is the most shocking experience... "You sound mighty sure of that, Y/N. But I'm not, and I don't want to risk the, uh, 'integrity' of our scheme. This is just as much servin' me as it is you and I'll be damned if it's put in peril- for any, reason."

"Integrity!?" I mimic, dubious and horrified.

"Yes, integrity. Look, I'm not too delighted about the idea, neither." WELL- insulting, much? He catches the insulted look on my face and smirks at me, and all I can think about for a flash is what a smug prick I'm marrying. "But I also don't want our cover blown. So I'm just thinkin' we give it a thought. We might have to."

"I've never even seen a man, uh, in any state of undress!" My cheeks are heating up hotter and hotter by the second. Its such an embarrassing thing to admit!- And definetly not what I expected by coming out here. I'm Pleasant Valley's resident sacrifice-safe virgin, and I've never even thought, seriously, about doing... anything... like that. I never thought, really, that I would need to! With sex comes a relationship, and with a relationship comes people looking at you all happy- oblivious and ignorant to the fact that I eas perfectly content before.

"That's your problem? That it'll be your first time and not... that it'd be with me, of all people?" Harper asks, putting words in my mouth and laughing about it. Ugh. Rolling my eyes, I just avert my eyes in annoyance. Because to be quite honest - to myself. Not him, - , due to our shared history and out of all the possibilities, it doesn't feel totally out of left field at all for it to be him. For him to be the one, that I...

But I cant say that, because that would ruin our entire plan because then he will think, misguidedly, I have feelings for the bastard, and that certainly isn't true. "Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I ain't never gone all the way with a lady neither."

Sighing, I refuse to look at him still. Despite the slightly less obnoxious way that he said that. "You still have more experience then me. And that's not fair." And god, now I sound like petulant child. That's just great. I need only pout to complete the look.

"Hold on there, Y/N. Before I lose you to your lil tantrum- " His hand falls on mine, on the bench, but I don't really notice because I'm tuning around to snap at him.

"I'm not being dramatic- "

"'Course not." See, he says that, but the eyeroll that follows sure doesn't emote faith. Quickly though he continues on. Well, quickly enough- "Maybe we should put in some practise? I mean, we'll have to kiss in front of people at least at the wedding." My mouth falls open in shock, as he ignores it and scrunches up his face in scepticism. "Have you even kissed anyone, before?"

"Harper, you're being ridiculous." I feel like crossing my arms, but realise his hand is holding mine down on the bench between us and decide not to move. "And of course I've been kissed." But as I think back on it, a flicker of awkwardness flickers over my face, a frown spreading across my mouth. "Once... "

To my future husbands credit -because I must credit his name with nice things. Otherwise he's just as an ass and I really cant bare the thought of marrying an ass if I'm going to do it at all, -, he does try to steal himself from sniggering this time, at least, but I can still tell what he's thinking when he rolls his eyes, and says so sarcastically; "Well consider me proven wrong." Scowling at him may give me frown lines, but it also makes him continue, which is a mercy I consider worth it. "Here I was thinkin' you were some spring chicken here- " Nevermind.

"Fine!" Swivelling in my seat, I turn to face him with a determined look on my face because of which the laughter in his eyes disappears, and I raise a brow at him, quite expectantly. Like well?? "You want to kiss me, Harper? Go ahead. I'm not kidding, lets do this. If what you say is true, then its a small price to pay for romantic security." I shrug. "And you're right- we will have to do it in front of people at the ceremony, at least, so we might as well get the awkwardness over with now. I don't know about them being able to tell whether we've consummated, but I do give that people could tell if we hadn't kissed, before."

For a few moments, Harper just stares at me. Like he doesn't quite know what to make of me right now, or... I don't know. I really don't know what he's thinking. His face is just blank, so I roll my eyes and sigh. "Are we doing this, or not, Harp- "

Suddenly he has moved forward, killing the distance between the two of us on the bench and cupping one side of my face in his hand with which he was so oddly holding onto mine, before. And the look on his face is so intense now that something in me that doesnt understand the principal of the thing, wants me to back down- but instead I force that little voice to pipe down and look stonily back at him, slightly craning my neck in order to do so. "Fine, Y/N." He says, slowly. At a normal volume but darkly. Deeply. "If you want to."

"It was your idea, Harper." I remind him carefully, seeing as he seems to have forgotten that fact. It was his idea, to practise. This wasn't for me. I dont... I dont want this! My voice comes out steady, but the erratic beating of my heart right now is anything but. And voice is also quiet, unlike his. Because he's so close, of course!- Thats why I needn't raise my voice. Thats the reason. He hasnt affected me, at all.

Harper's handsome but I've known him too long for him to be able to render me dumb like any of those travellers. Surely.

He nods to me, an almost scary look in his face. I'm suddenly reminded, for some reason, of the terrible things this pretty boy is capable of. "Okay."

"Okay." I say as well, because I've done some terrible things, too.

And then he leans down- and we're kissing. No further warning, just his lips against mine and a lovely glittery feeling in my tummy. My eyes flutter shut because this far better then that uncomfortable kiss I had with Harvey McGreevy when we were 14; In fact I almost forget to focus on this. Because this practise- like when you recite a poem a million and 1 times in order to be able to recite it easily thr next day in class. But I remember just in time before I accidentally lose myself, and tilt my head so our noses can be more comfortable, and apply a little bit of pressure into it like I've been told you're supposed to. Am I doing it right????!

Harper, of course, has no trouble with it. His pressure is perfect and he rubs his nose against mine, which is weird but nice at the same time. Its sort of affectionate, which is the weird part because we aren't a real couple and this is only purely for logical reasons... a fact that I myself have trouble remembering in the moment. Especially when he flicks his tongue against my bottom lip, a far cry from the way Harvey had smooshed his slimy wet tongue against the crease between my lips, asking for access that I don't even consider before allowing him. One of his hands, the one that isn't tucking wild hair back behind my ear, finds my waist and holds me there, and the grip is comforting.

As I let my hands fall on his shoulders, gripping him as I just enjoy the kiss, I tilt my head a bit to the side -Which side? I dont know which side. Does it matter? I'm forgetting where I am... - in order to allow him better access and actually moan, mortifyingly, at the feeling of a mans tongue in my mouth, which really shouldn't be as wonderful as it is, but is. He starts to kiss me more fiercely as soon as that comes out of me, and I'm just thinking about running my hand up through perfect hair, when-

"Wo-ho! Lookie here! Two young lovebirds getting a little bit amorous in the safety of the woods, huh?" A yelp escapes me when the sound of the Mayors loud teasing enters my ears and I immediately snap away from Harper like he stung me. Gaze flashing to him as my cheeks heat up once again in embarrassment, I catch a scowly look of irritation cross his face before he manages to pull himself together for Mayor Buckman; Who's setting his hands on his hips like he's telling off a pair of wily teenagers. "Lucky I happened upon ya, huh? Wouldn't want either of you to jump the gun- not before the weddin', yes?"

My lips are pink, I'm sure, and they feel tingly from the intensity of that kiss. God, I had no idea that he'd... do it like that... I run a thumb over the bottom one, thinking to myself and wondering what the hell happened there, how it got out of hand so quickly like that, as Harper focuses on Buckman. That was... weird.

Lets... just go... with 'weird'. Yep. Thats all. Just... wierd. And surprising. Definetly, surprising.

A forced rone of relief slips into Harpers voice. "Um, 'course, Mayor. Yeah, thank you." Harper hops up quickly off the bench, and away from me, smiling brightly. My eyes snap up to him when he moves, to see what he's doing- like I'm not done with him, or something, which I definitely, most certainly, absolutely am!! Thats enough 'practise' for the day Y/N!! I have to tell myself and the fireplace built in an odd place, in the pit of my stomach. Harper glances back at me momentarily and I just get hotter. "Just cant keep my hands of a' her, sometimes, hah hah... "

My stomach flutters at his, fake, words for the first time since we started this. and I hop up off the bench myself, and promptly reach the Mayor in .2 seconds in order to get away from Harper. Chewing nervously on the inside of my cheek, I offer just an awkward look to the older man before redirecting my gaze to the ground. Yep, nothing to see here, sir... Despite my inflamed reaction to the words, I play my part well. Rolling my eyes and blushing. "Oh Harper- don't say things like that!"

"Oh that's fine, don't bicker on my part, I'm just headin' off again." The Mayor himself sounds a little awkward, as he clasps his hands together behind his back, rolling on the balls of his feet. A glance up at his face reveals that he's looking around and struggling not to laugh. "Far be it me to leave my two-cense where it don't belong, anyway!"

"Yes, uh, see you later at the bar, sir!" Harper salutes, a definite sense of discomfort to the gesture for once as the fact occurs to us both, that as soon as Buckman leaves us we'll be alone, together, again.

Promptly, I turn to the Mayor before he can make an escape.

"Actually I'll come with you, Mayor!" The words slip out of me far faster then necessary. I don't know why I'm acting like this but the feeling of Harper watching me now is too much, too suddenly, and out of nowhere, so I'm forcing myself to focus on the Mayor - who looks deeply amused at the whole situation, thinking its just two young lovers acting squirrelly around each other, - and paste a polite smile to my face. "Headin' back to town? I have to get back before too long anyway, as well. It'll be getting dark. soon. Accompany me, wont you?"

"Uh, a'course, but wouldn't you rather your beau here walk you back?- "

Out of the corner of my eye I catch Harper moving, as if about to play his own part and indeed walk me home but I just shake my head. "Nope! Uhhhhm, we're finished, anyway-" I close my mouth, stopping myself before I say anything else that will make it even harder for the Mayor not to burst out laughing. "Right, so... so lets go!" Then I'm grabbing the mayor by the arm, and dragging him off back to town.

My heart refuses to slow down its manic beating until I'm sure, that Harper isn't watching anymore.

~

Its a couple of hours later when I see Harper again. I'm just getting ready for bed, when the front door clicks unlocked and creaks open, and only one other person in town has the key to my house- so instead of grabbing a weapon, I just pull on another layer and head down stairs. Harper's waiting in the front door, the screen door closed behind him and that familiar half annoyed/half disinterested look about him; On his face.

I cross my arms after pulling the extra layer of cotton tighter around myself and my sleep gown, feeling awkward standing near Harper; Under his subjective gaze. "So... hi?"

"I thought we should talk about that kiss. I wanna make sure that everything's okay, between us, after that. I mean... wouldn't wanna hurt your delicate sensibilities."

Eyes flashing, I curl my fingers over my arms tighter, a glare flaring at him and his smart mouth, and the smirk on his lips. "Theirs nothing delicate about me, Harper."

"Really? You seemed pretty spooked, to me. Took off like a broodmare just after the whip comes out. And I don't think it had anything to do with the mayor." Harper continues on, and I scrunch up my nose as him in response.

"Maybe I was just sick of your face, twiggy."

For a moment the boy just continues to smirk at me, seeing something entirely too amusing in my standing up for myself for my taste and only making my frown crease deeper; Like I taste something bad. "... Well alright then," The silence finally breaks. "If you say so, then I guess its so. I mean, you did run off pretty quick though... "

"Yeah. Well." Slowly, a mischievous smirk of my own rises. "I was afraid maybe you enjoyed that kiss a little too much."

"Oh I wouldn't be afraid of that, sweetheart."

"No?" I perk a brow, knowing that that's bullshit. "I guess it shouldn't happen again, then, right?" Maybe its my imagination, but Harper looks a tiny bit unhappy about that, but he nods in agreement. Then for another few seconds we just look at eachother, silent as a new phase in our... weird, now... relationship, settles over us. Taking in a deep breath, I shake my head, looking down. "So, um. Anyway." Something may have changed between us under the skin level but we still have a job to do. That hasn't changed. "The, uh, dinner party later this week. You'll pick me up at 7?"

"Always do." Harper shrugs, finally letting me off the hook from his penetrative gaze and folding his hands into his pockets, settling carefully into the new tone I've set.

"Well... good. So that's all set." Running my bottom lip through my teeth, my eyes flicker from the floor to Harper. "See you tomorrow?"

"Probably." He agrees, nodding his head. But doesn't move to leave. I open my mouth to ask him what he's just standing around like a goon for instead of leaving my home so that I may sleep, but he beats me too it- suddenly walking over, closing the lovely distance between us and guiding me closer by the arm; And presses his lips gently to mine.

Immediately a surprised gasp escapes me but my eyes flutter closed anyway and I kiss back on an impulse before he pulls back again. I raise a brow. "And what was that for?... "

"Appearances. Y'know- anyone could be watchin' us. With the door open like that and all," My eyes flicker past his face and to the open front door, the screen not offering much privacy. But also- there is no one there??? Everyone's going to bed at this time. This is Pleasant Valley, not goddamn Washington. "I'm just conscious of our arrangement, is all." He shrugs. "Wouldn't want us gettin' called out for not actin' enough like a couple or nothing."

"No... " No, you wouldn't want that. "Okay, well, if this kissing thing is going to be a thing we do now- then you gotta give me some kinda warnin- "

Another kiss is pressed to my lips, warning-less. When he pulls back this time, I deadpan at him. A laughing smile slips across his face, a great change from his usual brooding self. A little closer to what he's like with the victim girls, and it shocks me for a moment.

Then Harper opens his mouth, and a cheeky grin slip across my lips. "Hey, I make no promis- "Before he can finish what he was saying this time, I give him a kiss of my own- feeling him realise what I've done to him this time and then return it.

I am really surprised, at how nice kissing him is.

When its over, though, I point wordlessly to the door over his shoulder and raise my eyebrows. He looks, turns back to me, and fakes a put-out expression. "What? Sick of me now? Gotta get rid a' me so your other fake fiancé can come visit?"

"I'm tired." I say pointedly, pulling out of his arms and closer to the stairs, even as theirs a little grin on my face. "So get out."

"Well damn," A grin full of superficial southern charm on his face, Harper goes back to the screen door, and opens it. I pull my shawl closer around myself once again, and cross my arms back over my chest. "And here I was just startin' to feel welcome." He steps out of my house, onto the porch, then turns back; His normal visage back. "So, I'll see you tomorrow sometime?"

"Probably!"

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

A A A A A A A A A H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

NOOOOOO I TOLD Y'ALL I COULDN'T HANDLE CHEST COMPRESSIONS 😭😭😭😭

But also the angstttt 👀👀👀 :DDD

But also AAAHHHHHHHHH H E L P M E 😭😭😭💔💔❤️

BC Y'ALL "NO PULSE" LIKE 😭😭😭😭😭 THE ANGST BUT AAHHHHHHH ANYWAY

COME ON COME ON COME ON COME ON COME ON

No one:

My brain: I mean hey he's used to kissing Carlos-

Like XDD but NOT THE TIME MAN I'M HAVING AN EMOTIONAL BREAKDOWN

AAAHHHHHHHH COME ON P L E A S E E E E 😭😭😭😭😭

NOOOO NOT THE SLOW MO

A A H H H H Y E S BACKUP!!!

OH MY GOSH WAIT IS IT THE 126

OKAY NO THAT'S GOOD HONESTLY XDD

A H YES THEY'VE GOT IT THEY'VE GOT THE NARCAN COME ON

AAAHHHHHH YES GIVE IT TO HIM GIVE IT TO HIM

C'MON C'MON C'MON TK

It feels like for the drama he should stab it in but isn't it like an ingested thing XDD

A A A A H H H H H H NO HE IS STABBING IT IN WHOOO THE DRAMA

BUT ALSO AAAHHHHHH CARLOS

COME ON COME ON COME ON

COME ON CARLOS 😭😭😭 TK'S NOT DOING CHEST COMPRESSIONS RIGHT NOW SO YOU BETTER HURRY UP AND WAKE UP 😭😭 X'D

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

Y E E E E S S S S S S S S S S S S S

CARLOS IS ALIVE 😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

A A A H H H H H H 😭😭😭😭😭 THE A N G S T OF THE GET OFF ME AND WHAT NOT 😭😭😭😭

PLEASE LET HIM REALIZE PLEASE LET HIM REALIZE 😭😭😭

IT'S OKAY CARLOS IT'S OKAY

Y E S SEE IT IS :'DDDDD

IT'S THEM :'DDDD 😭😭😭😭😭😭

AAAHHHHHHH Y'ALL THEMMMM 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ <3333

(them being tarlos and also Gabriel this time, the previous one being like about Carlos realizing lol)

Y E S :'DDDDDDDD

Y'all the relief :'DDD

AAAHHHHHH LOOK AT THEMMM 😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️

TK right by his side :')))

AH (awh) yes Andrea XDD

LOL already decorating, yeah you'll probably have to stay there for a while lol

Not a whiiile but I mean you ain't going home today Carlos xD

SLGHSHFKSHFL VORIMGNP I THINK NOT SIR

YEAH EXACTLY TK XDD

Insane man lol

AWWW lol literally <333 xDDD

Very much a TK thing lol

Carlos has joined the ranks 🥰🥰

Yk as we've been saying with the Strand men, but rn I especially mean TK xD

A A A A A H H H H H H H H H YESSS "Thank you for saving my life" 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️❤️

A A A A A A A A A H H H H H HH H H H H H H H H "I was just holding onto it for a bit" 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

A A A A A A A A A A A H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H "It's yours" 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Y'ALL CANT KEEP D O I N G THIS TO ME 😭😭😭 XDD

That entire conversation was just one hit after another 😭😭 XD. Killing me again and again lol

Awwwwwwww themmmmm :')))

AAH them :'DDDD

TK and Gabriel this time

WAIT PLEASE ARE WE ABOUT TO GET A "YOU GONNA RIDE WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND PARALLEL?"

C'MON PLEASE CAN WE GET IT PLEEEEAASEEE

AAHHHH okay it might be setting up for one but at the very least this :'DDDD also this is kinda a parallel to the conversation xD the one before the one line of are you gonna ride with your boyfriend xDD

A A A A A A A H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H WAIT YESSSS WE DID GET IT :DDDDDDDD

"You gonna ride with him?" 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️ YESSSS LITERALLY :'DDDD

THAT'S WHAT I WANTED 😭😭🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️

I mean it would've been even better if he said "with your fiance" but hey I can take what I get XDDD

(still though lol imagine it, better parallel, more specific to their relationship so just 🥰🥰 which includes making it feel more important, and slightly similar but another mention of them being fiances :'DDD I'll take it any time I can get it lol, it being said I mean xD)

Anyway I mean YEAH YOU BETTER TK XD

I was thinking that lol

OKAY GOOD yes xDDD

Awwww :'))))

WAIT ohh noooooo he's calling Owennn 😭😭😭 and he's not gonna ANSWERRRRR 😭😭😭

OWEN C'MONNNN PLEASE

I know he won't but like 😭😭😭 I can have hope, I mean he's not meeting undercover anymore for sure xddd

A H NOT EVEN HEARING OWEN'S VOICEMAIL 😭😭 MESSAGES FULL :'((( 😭😭

I knew it but like 😭😭😭😭 :'((( still, yk? xd

AAHHHHHH AWWWW TKKK 😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️💔❤️❤️

My poor baby :'(((

C'mon Owen xdd

Well hopefully this just means more drama in that Owen and TK episode lol

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Out from Darkness - Chapter Three.

Big thanks to all of you who are interacting with this! I really appreciate your feedback and reblogs. Sorry I didn’t post this update last night as pormised, full disclosure, I fell asleep while editing it xD 

Previous Chapters - One  Two 

Word Count - 2,415

Cast of characters post here

Tag list - In the comments

Warnings - None

“Oh, I thought I’d done this bit already! Fuck my life!” Ava wailed, sorely regretting the intricate nature of the dress she and Megan had chosen to work on as a team. The assignment was to jointly create a bridal gown, which was no mean feat even for an accomplished seamstress, let alone two students.  

“We were crazy, deciding on yard upon yard of tulle. Christ on skates! Okay, got it. You hold this up and I’ll pin it. We can both hand stitch it, once I’m free from its clutches!” Megan joked, swathed by the oyster tulle entirely as she located the hem Ava had forgotten to sew prior to its attachment to the bodice of the dress.  

“I’m so sorry,” she lamented, passing down more pins.

“No, it’s fine! Don’t be sorry, we have so much time left! We can do this!”  

It was one of the reasons Ava loved Megan so much. Her eternal optimism always managed to keep her calm in a crisis, Ava having the propensity to sometimes lose her cool and stress out where she didn’t need to. “Okay, I’ll fetch the thread. Bear with.”

“Bearing with!” Ava turned to smile, picking up the oyster white cotton and a couple of needles before joining her bestie on the floor, both threading and beginning to stitch. A few silent moments passed before Megan asked the question that, for some reason, Ava could just feel coming, “Can you use your magic on...”

“No!” She was resolute there. No magic on college projects. It wasn’t fair on the other students for her to have used her abilities, the likes of which none of them would ever possess. Besides, she had no idea whether they would extend to any kind of useful, enchanted needlecraft or not.

“Okay, alright. Gosh!” They shared laughter then, continuing to stitch until they met in the middle, tying off the thread and both standing, shaking their dead legs as they admired their work, which was roughly half done. “Just the beading to go, but hell, I’m not starting that tonight!”  

“Nope, I gotta go, too. It takes so much longer to get anywhere now I don’t have my car at the moment,” Ava sighed, Megan snorting. “Stop! It isn’t funny!”

“Oh, it is! Only you could forget to put oil in it and blow the engine up!” Her father had told her time and again that the car was her responsibility to look after, even though he’d of course pay for it. Sadly though, her beautiful Mustang was currently being repaired in the shop, not to be given back to Ava until she’d ‘learned your lesson by walking and taking the bus!’ as her father had worded it.  

Ava gathered her belongings and hugged her friend goodbye, courteously saying goodnight to Megan’s parents as well before leaving, her walk home not too far, just over twenty minutes. As soon as she stepped foot onto the street, though, she knew she wasn’t alone. There it was going off inside her like a flare, the energy she recognised to belong to one very specific other instantly.

“Hi, Chirs.” There was a pause, before the large vampire appeared from thin air at her side.  

“Evening.”  

She perhaps should have been scared, or possibly freaked out that he’d just shown up like that, but she truly wasn’t. She did wonder, though, how he knew where she was. “Did you just happen to be in the area, or...”  

“Kind of. I was feeding on someone about a mile that way and I happened to smell you. Thought I’d come seek you out, apologise for last week, just shooting off like that. I was enjoying talking to you.”

“It’s alright, you had somewhere to be, obviously,” she began. “So, I’m curious. Is it just one person you feed from? How does it work, if vampires aren’t commonly known to be real?”

They soon would be. In just over a month, to be precise. “Enchantment. It’s an ability we have, it means we can manipulate someone into letting us feed upon them and then forget all about it once we’re done. It’s how we’ve remained in the shadows for so many centuries. It’s also how we can get whatever else we might need out of humans, without them knowing of our existence.”

Ava could tell from the look on his face that whoever had kept him sustained in blood had also nourished him sexually as well, but his explanation did trouble her somewhat. “Isn’t that a little...rapey?”

“No.” He was fiercely adamant in his single worded retort, going on to embellish a little more. “They’re entirely willing at the time. They just don’t remember it was a vampire whom they had sex with afterwards. That’s the power of enchantment, the alteration of memories.”  

“So, if I did go to bed with you, I wouldn’t even remember it. Hmm.”

“No, you would. I wouldn’t want you to forget.”

“Why?”

“Because I’d plan on it happening more than once.” Suddenly, she got a flash through her mind about being beneath him, above him, however he wanted her, what it would feel like, at his mercy completely, him inside of her while he fed upon her.  

Again, her body betrayed her to her detriment, Chris knowing from the physical response she didn’t even realise she was giving off just what thoughts had been the prompt. “Yeah, I want you to as well. Tell you what, instead of me walking you to the home I presume you’re returning to, why don’t you come back to mine with me, and then you get me all night long, to do both of those things and much more.”

“Because I’m not easy. That’s probably a difficult concept for you to understand since you’ve likely never been short of female company, but there you go.”  

“So, work harder, is what you’re saying?”  

“And let me get to know you past one conversation. You have to not be so cocky,” she advised in light reprimand.

“That won’t be easy, not to be cocky. You should see my cock.”  

Immediately, she burst into a fit of giggles. “There, that right there! Stop!”

“You don’t want me to, or you wouldn’t be laughing.” He had her there. “But I will work harder.”  

“What about the letting me get to know you?”

“It’ll come with the harder work.” He couldn’t help himself, putting extra emphasis upon the word harder. He was so bad. Ava enjoyed the playful discourse too, although she intended to remain resolute regardless of how much. “So, you’re a witch.”  

“Yes, I am.”

“When did you realise it?” Witches, true witches at least, and not people who claimed to be such while working from alleged ‘spell books’ from Barnes & Noble, were born what they were. It wasn’t learned, although abilities had to be honed. It seemed Ava’s new vampire friend – or whatever he was – was aware of that.

“I think when I was four and lost my temper, thusly blowing out the light bulbs in my room. I learned pretty quickly my need to harness my emotions, but it still happened sometimes over the years. Still does now if I get really mad, my power messes with the electricity. I fried the broadband when I was fifteen and under PMS duress,” she confessed, Chris snorting minimally with laughter. He wasn’t overly expressive, and she liked that. She liked the quietness about him.  

“Do you know other witches, have anyone who can guide you upon your path?”  

“No, I furthered it by myself. Well, that’s not strictly true. I say I don’t know other witches, but I converse with a few online and they offer their help. As far as I can tell, there aren’t many others in Pasadena.”

“Nope, you’re one of only very few left. A lot of your kind got wiped out when the meteors came crashing down, unfortunately. Mind you, there weren’t many witches out here to begin with.” Ava always had wondered, why she’d only very sporadically been able to feel her own kind. She’d approached a lady once whom she’d felt the same energy coming off of in waves, but had been met with extreme hostility. It wasn’t uncommon, for some witches to fear what they were and live in abject denial over it.  

“So, you said you encountered witches before, but have you known any, been friends with any?” She wondered whether he’d revealed himself to another like her with the same ease, not worried about hiding what he was, since of course, she’d already known. She can’t have been solitary in that. Other witches must’ve known what he was, should they have been close enough to feel the energy he radiated.

“I don’t really have friends, well, not human ones for obvious reasons. Nor witches.”

“Why not?”

“Because...humans. Witches are still human, and most humans irritate me. You’re not irritating, though. Neither were the other witches I encountered, but I wouldn’t say they were friends of mine.” There was no tactful way for Chris to reveal to her that as a young vampire, he’d become so overcome by the energy of the only two he’d ever truly been in close proximity to, he’d drained them both dry. A rookie mistake, as Magda had coined it, making the corpses look at if they’d been ripped apart by a wild animal and dumping them in an area known for cougar attacks.  

Still, he didn’t want to frighten her.  

“You barely know me. Trust me, I can be irritating. Usually when I’m stressing over something that doesn’t require the freak out,” she revealed, smiling and shaking her head.  

“Something about a lot of humans I find to be severely off putting is the self-indulgence and self-importance. You don’t appear to lose yourself in either.” Ava smiled, liking what she’d been told. “Those traits are the most irritating to me, but then again, I understand it in a way. Your lives, they’re so temporary.”

“How does it feel, knowing that all being well, you’ll be around forever, that in the grand scheme of vampirism, you’re still only at the very start of your journey?”  

“That’s a very insightful question. Some of the dumb bullshit I’ve been asked over the years by humans prior to me enchanting myself out of their head is unreal.” More of it would come, too, he knew. He'd be able to lead his existence much more openly, tell people what he was without having to erase it from their minds afterwards. Not that he was planning on being all too social, though. “As for how it feels, I’ve never really thought about it, to be honest. I wonder how life and the human race will advance, but other than that, I suppose I just think on all the stories I’ll collect and wonder about who I’ll have to tell them to in the very distant future.”  

It made Ava feel a little sad, suddenly, that it wouldn’t be her. Whatever she was, or might become to him, it would but a tiny fraction of his existence if he did go on to be around forever. She imagined the incredible things he would go on to see, such a world of wonder, and she’d be long dead by the time he truly had some fabulous tales to share. She was just about to voice that to him when there was a sudden screech ahead, a car looking to be in the midst of complete loss of control and careering right towards them.  

Chris was just about to grasp Ava and move her to safety at speed when he suddenly felt her energy swell and rise, his young companion holding out her hand, the car instantly seeming to move in slow motion as she used her abilities to slow its forward motion, making it swerve around them and then roll slowly to a stop further down the road. She’d never done it quite that neatly before. Even when she saved her brother from the same fate, the car had swerved around and taken a while to stop.  

Remembering the leaf, something hit her. It was him. Being near Chris made her abilities spike rapidly.  

“Very impressive, Ava,” he complimented, frowning suddenly when she grabbed his arm and shook it. He wasn’t fond of being touched, or at least, not like that.  

“It’s you!” She enthused. “Oh, sorry.” Registering the unimpressed look, she immediately let go of him.  

“That was you, not me.”

“No! I mean, being near to you, you make me more powerful! Why is that? Do you know why that is?”  

“Something about your energy and mine mingling together, perhaps?” Such a suggestion wasn’t without its merit.  

“It could be. Oh, I want to test it further, but I can’t!”

“Why can’t you?”

“Curfew. I have to be home in five minutes and my house is just up here.”  

“Meet me tomorrow, then?”

“I can do that, what time?”

“My place, at sundown.” Ava agreed, the pair nearing her home. She turned and stopped, smiling up at him.  

“We have guards on the gates, so this is as far as you can come, or I’ll get questioned over who the big, pale dude is.” he smirked, nodding as he looked down at her, feeling his cold body tingle hot at looking into her eyes.  

“Until then, little witch.” It was monumental, the restraint he had to tether within himself, like holding onto a wild bull fighting against the restraint of a lasso, not to lean down and kiss her. She stirred him so potently.  

“Shouldn’t you be going, then?”  

“In a moment.” Hypnotic blue stared unflinchingly into her very soul, the vampire leaning a little closer, eyeing her and nothing more. He then took her hand, raising it to his mouth, turning his head to plant a kiss upon her inner wrist. “I look forward to tomorrow.”

She blinked and he was gone, all that remained the cool tingling of his lingering energy that she was in no rush to feel cessation of, her heart hammering in her chest. If that’s what his lips felt like against her wrist, just what would they feel like on her...

“Don’t even think about it! You told him you weren’t easy. Your thoughts will match your actions.”  

That night, though, all she could think about was what it would feel like, to have his mouth buried between her legs.