#TO CLARIFY - I WAS NOT PRESENT AT THE MATCH. AM WELL WELL AWAY FROM THE POINT WHERE I'M DROPPING MONEY ON THIS

[takiki16]

I just want to anonymously support your recent football obsession! not a messi fan rly but I'm enjoying the football talk!

I WATCHED A FOOTBALL MATCH FOR THE HOME TEAM OF MY BIRTH CITY. it was the literal 1st time in my life that I have EVER been actually invested in a sporting event for the sake of the SPORT rather than the people I was watching the game with!!!! I am having an identity crisis.

(also I am begging any actual football fans who follow me not to expect any sort of knowledge competence on this until I've like...acclimated to the temperature at the devil's sacrament. I can watch the sportsball men running around but unless someone tells me that what I'm watching is Very Good or Very Bad or there is an easily definable stat I still don't comprehend much of it)

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #52 — The DJD Once Again Prove to Be an HR Nightmare

Ratchet and Drift, looking fresh as hell in their matching paint jobs, stand on the cliff they made their cool entrance on last issue, as they snipe at each other over whether or not Drift personally knows the DJD. Considering how Tarn and Friends had a space-cocaine induced freakout over seeing Drift on the quantum duplicate Lost Light, they may want to talk a little quieter, especially with the face Helex is making.

You better watch out, Ratchet— this man's going to do Sakamoto-got-all-the-way-to-pencils shit to you!

The Pet takes the opportunity presented by our recently returned newlyweds being too busy flirting to pay attention to the fight at hand, leaping to chew on Ratchet's head. Luckily, Ten is an ally, even when he’s been beat to shit, and punches the shitty little Pomeranian into the air. Kaon, card-carrying freak and dog dad, takes this abject display of animal abuse about as well as he can.

Ratchet, having his gun eaten by the mouth pervert, is beginning to worry that he, his rich boytoy, and a mostly out of commission Ten might be sliiiiiiiiightly outnumbered against a dozen Decepticons, two of whom belong to the Super Murder Death Squad. Drift, after a bit of needling, heelies a dude’s face off, jumps into the air, does a bunch of sick flips, blocks a laser with a sword in such a way that it looks like he got shot in the dick, and then lands, like, 70 feet away to scoop up the Pet and threaten to chop its head off if Helex doesn’t stop trying to vore his boyfriend.

Kaon, #1 dog dad, orders everyone to fall back. Helex, who has Ratchet like 70% inside his smelting chamber by this point, can’t believe that Kaon’s ruining the fun. Helex releases Ratchet, letting him crowd onto Drama Point with Drift and most of Ten, as the Decepticons circle them. Drift, unfortunately, didn’t think past doing sweet flips to show off after his sabbatical from the comic run, and they’re back in the same situation they arrived to, but now one of them is holding a crusty little dog.

Then a platform descends from the sky, and we see what Ravage has been up to.

Grand theft auto!

Yes, it turns out that this cat can drive, and well enough to get the boys up and out of danger, though Ten’s size means that the lovebirds have to dangle off of his remaining arm. Drift still hasn’t put down the Pet. Sure hope that thing’s been socialized to cats.

Oh, who am I kidding? Kaon wouldn’t have bothered.

Speaking of Kaon, he looks like he’s about to cry, because someone’s kidnapped his princess baby angel, and Helex doesn’t even CARE, the heartless bastard, as he orders the other Decepticons to fire on the shuttle. They, of course, hit it, as there’s at least ten of these guys firing, and they’re all decently tall. The shuttle begins to lose altitude, and Ravage, who does not have traditional hands and is currently using his tail to man the control stick, attempts to crash as close to the “fortress” as possible.

Meanwhile, over at Megatron’s plinth, we get back to that whole thing where he surrendered himself to Tarn. Tarn, feeling an excuse to monologue coming on, says that he’s well aware of Megatron’s new schtick, and he’s not a huge fan of it. Megatron clarifies that he wishes to give himself up so that the rest of the Lost Light crew stranded on this planet might live, because this is his fault to begin with. Tarn agrees, reminding him that he paid for Tarn’s plastic surgery. Megatron states that he only brought Tarn to his side to hurt “someone”.

Three guesses who Megatron could have possibly hurting by bringing Tarn over to the Decepticons, and the first two don’t count.

Megatron thinks that by bumming around space on a borderline vacation, he’s returned to who he used to be (maybe he got his teaching license, who knows) and that the war was a waste of time. Tarn gets kind of intense here, because if Megatron wasted his life, what does that make Tarn? Tarn, who has decorated his home with nothing but Decepticon symbols? Tarn, who has had corpses nailed to his wall for the last couple million years? Tarn, who wears a fuckoff stupid mask every single day of his life, even while eating and trying to kill himself with space meth cut with time travel and gas station dick pills? Also, what about all the other guys who died trying to realize Megatron's ideals? What about the little guys, the cogs that made the machine run? What about Steve from accounting, whose husband left him, because he was too busy trying to balance the budget on Megatron's body remodels and Optimus Prime punching bags that also doubled as body pillows to come home? What about Steve, huh?

Megatron basically regrets everything he’s ever done, not that Tarn cares. Megatron then reveals that whole thing where Rewind tried to retroactively kill him as an infant, and how he sort of wished it had worked.

Tarn starts beating the shit out of Megatron before the guy can start going on about how his parents are Brainstorm and Whirl, though Tarn promises that this is just a healthy dose of tough love, as surely the wimp before him isn’t actually who Megatron is. Megatron doesn’t fight back, instead just staring sadly at the Autobot badge Tarn slapped off of him. This is really starting to piss Tarn off, as he was really hoping to beat some of the fire back into his former mentor and idol. This is when he starts trying to choke Megatron, even though their species doesn’t breathe. Still, I’m sure Tarn’s stiletto nails hurt something fierce.

Megatron then recalls his conversation with Velocity, and states that if the fool’s energon DID alter his personality, it was probably for the best, and he wouldn’t want to go back. Tarn, who has based his entire selfhood on the thing that Megatron threw away to live out his probation on a cruise ship, takes this statement with all the tact and level-headedness we’ve come to know him for.

Tarn is just one more double fusion cannon blast to the chest away from smiting Megatron utterly, and he’s fully committed to doing so. However, he gets distracted by the sound of Elton John’s “The Bitch is Back” coming from across the field.

WHO LET THIS MOTHERFUCKER OUT OF HELL

Anyway, it looks like Ravage can, in fact, drive pretty well, as the shuttle did crash pretty close to the “fortress”. Swerve, who still really wants to make up for his shitty boss behaviors and also accidentally dragging Ten into a microcosm of hell, lets Ten know that they saw his floor graffiti, and that it might actually work. Magnus, who still has his arm off, does his best to not kick Swerve across the room as he scurries underfoot, as he drags Ten inside the building.

Skids intercepts Ratchet to welcome him back, and also ask how the hell he knew to come to Necroworld. Apparently he and Drift had received a call from the handy dandy phone that he had given First Aid, who First Aid had then regifted to Velocity, just in case some bullshit happened. Velocity’s introduction to Ratchet is rough, as she manages to call him grumpy, old, and stubborn as a mule in the span of about fifteen seconds. Ratchet is mostly concerned with the fact that the Lost Light replaced him so soon after his return. Nobody tell him about Velocity’s track record with the medical exams, he might just shoot off into space to beat First Aid to a pulp for leaving her by herself.

Over in what might be a closet, Rodimus runs across Drift sitting in the dark and sharpening one of his swords. Drift seems to have used his exile to remember that he does, in fact, have some semblance of self-respect, as he doesn’t immediately forgive Rodimus for throwing him off the ship that he paid for, only to have given himself up as the real culprit behind the Overlordening, like, a week later, thus negating Drift’s sacrifice, and then never coming to find him, despite the fact that they’re supposedly friends, and, again, the ship is in Drift’s name, as was the crew’s allowance money. How the Lost Light has survived financially without Drift is unknown.

Rodimus knows that he sucks and is the worst, but he was really worried that Drift wouldn’t like him anymore, so he’d sort of been kicking the issue of “finding my ex-TIC to tell him he got publicly humiliated for nothing” down the road, to the point where Ratchet had gotten sick of it and went to solve the problem himself.

Of course, the meta reason for Drift not being found was so that Shane McCarthy could have his OC back, as well as Ratchet, for the miniseries Transformers: Drift— Empire of Stone, well known for being sort of silly and introducing the phrase “be shoosh” to Drift’s lexicon. In it, Ratchet found Drift traipsing around the edge of the galaxy being a neutral (in terms of war) hero to organic species affected by Decepticon aggressions, before crashing on a planet where Drift, back when he was “Deadlock”, had found a mystical stone army, one that Gigatron (a dude who totally isn’t anime Megatron) wanted to harness the power of, so that the Decepticons might claim victory over their enemies. Hellbat, Gigatron’s second in command, had gone mad doing nothing but killing over millions of years, and had been modifying the stone army in secret to do his bidding so he could "kill everything". Then the stone army woke up, Hellbat died, Gigatron died, and Ratchet went to take Drift to get detailed, because he looked like he'd been ridden hard and put away wet.

Also, if you think about it, having two former high-ranking Decepticons turning to the Autobot side being on the Lost Light’s high command might have been too many redundancies to make Megatron’s arc stand out. Perhaps, had Megatron not been added to MTMTE’s roster so late in the game, Rodimus WOULD have gone looking for Drift, finding him just in time for the DJD to catch wind that they hadn’t actually super nightmare death murdered Deadlock after all.

Drift, who can’t say no to Rodimus's puppydog face, lets Rodimus sit with him on the floor, as he apologizes for the fact that by coming here, Drift and Ratchet have unwittingly signed up for Tarn’s Political Theory and Dismemberment Slam Poetry Night, but he mega-promises that they’ll come up with something together to get through this. Drift appreciates the sentiment, but knows that Rodimus is just saying this to make him feel better.

Back at the worst fan club meetup in the galaxy, Tarn elbows Overlord in the throat and tells him to fuck off. Overlord tells him that he knows Tarn never finished his degree and only acts like an academic for the aesthetic. Tarn transforms to shoot him while reminding Overlord that at least Megatron’s spoken to him in the last few thousand years. The two duke it out with their tank modes, Overlord KRUMPing all over Tarn, before the theatre kid kicks him off and questions why exactly Overlord is even alive, given that he chainsawed his head off last year. No word on if he’s bothered to ask this same question about 75% of the people he’s here to super murder.

Overlord simply states that someone found him floating out in space and fixed him up, because it turns out that they both wanted to go after Megatron and kill his ass dead, because Overlord is sort of sick of not getting the attention he so obviously deserves. When Tarn, ever the opportunist, attempts to make a team up deal, Overlord tells him to shut up.

And then they realize they lost the old man they were fighting over.

Great work, fellas.

Over with the Autobots (and Cyclonus), Rewind’s outside, looking at that memorial to the disappeared and trying to figure out why the Necrobot laid out the names in the way that he did. He’s currently near the top, where you can see most of Roller’s name, someone whose name ends in “gator”, and Dreamwave Production’s smoldering corpse, which makes me wonder if Alex Milne ever did get all the money he was owed from his work with them. Rewind, who last dealt with the DJD not even a year ago, is trying really, really hard to not think about how many needles they’re going to jam into Chromedome’s eyes this go around.

Of course, Nautica, who has come out to find Rewind, doesn’t give a shit about Rewind’s PTSD. She wants relationship advice! She’d ask Chromedome, but apparently he’s taking a nap, still worn out from stabbing Tailgate in the brain after he rainbow-exploded all over the ship. Which happened months ago.

You know, at the rate he’s been going, Chromedome probably wouldn’t have lived too far past sunset anyhow.

Anyway, Nautica wants to know if, on Cybertron, you have to be besties before you can get hitched, because that’s how it works on some of the other colonies. She specifies that this ISN'T how it works on Caminus, which is good, given how problematic that would be, considering you need to be best friends with someone by the time you're five weeks old, and there's no telling if they're cool with platonic polyamory. Rewind informs her that it’s either one or the other on Cybertron, no double-dipping, and god help you if it’s a situationship. Nautica is asking this because she’s realized that she can’t waffle about on committing anymore, seeing as she’s probably going to die in the next hour or so, and she’d rather use that time to enter a queer-platonic partnership than get her face fixed.

Back at the Peaceful Tyranny, Tarn has, in fact, managed to bring Overlord to reason, much to Deathsaurus’s confusion and derision, if his squiggle face is anything to go by. Overlord, smug as fuck, informs Deathsaurus that in exchange for his compliance, Tarn has agreed to let him personally murder Megatron while everyone watches, because surely Tarn couldn’t actually kill his idealogical idol, because he’s a pussy. Tarn is being very brave about this, only letting the spot blacking on his linework show on his face, as his fists shake with rage.

Then Kaon shows up, begging they pull back their forces until the Pet has been returned, and the spot blacking gets a little heavier.

Tarn, who has had a very long day of tactical meetings, phone calls, facing his fallen idol, having a very unsatisfying beatdown with said idol, and dealing with known freak Overlord, handles Kaon’s inability to be a big boy about misplacing his shitty little dog with all of the tact and decorum we’ve come to know him for— he gives Kaon a big, beefy hug, acknowledges just how much Kaon loves that shitty little dog, and then makes sure that Kaon never has to worry about a thing ever again.

That’s a series wrap on Kaon! Let’s give him a hand, folks!

Tarn, who has had just about enough of Overlord in the last half hour, smashes Kaon’s head onto Overlord’s tits, covering him in viscera, as he demands he be treated with respect, because this is HIS house, where HE’S paying the bills and calling the shots, so help him god. Nickel is very displeased that Tarn’s killed one of the Twinksome Twosome. No word on how Deathsaurus feels about this, considering that a big reason he’s working with Tarn is because he refused to kill the rest of the DJD when demanded to do so, thus showing his dedication to his men. Also no word on how the rest of the DJD are going to handle Tarn decapitating their weed man.

Tarn tells everyone to pony up, as they’re about to go over and handle all the silly little bastards hiding out in the Necrobot’s “fortress”.

Speaking of which, it looks like Megatron made it home, despite Tarn blowing his tits clean off with that cannon blast. Rodimus and Ratchet carry him inside, as Magnus is probably too busy not getting his arm put back on to help, and Megatron is using the last of his energy to hold the Autobot badge Tarn slapped off his chest earlier.

Sure hope Ratchet didn’t forget to tell Drift about his old boss being co-captain of the ship, or else this is going to be a very nasty surprise for both of them— we've already seen that Drift loves to freak out and kill sick people.

[getvalentined]

What’s your opinions of the various ffvii compilation games?

Oh I am a huge proponent of the Compilation as a whole; I know that opinion is rare for someone who's been in the fandom from the beginning, but I'm an insufferable lore gremlin and I just eat up everything the series has to offer. I have three different copies of Advent Children (the original on DVD, ACC on DVD, and ACC on blu-ray) and even still watch Last Order on occasion.

The series itself is really fascinating and staggeringly consistent (I've talked about how the implied timeline of the Jenova Project as presented in-game is so consistent that it matches up with real-world human gestational science), with the exception of the FF7Re series—which I can deal with, since it's canonically on a different timeline and therefore any retcons there are literal in-universe retcons, which is pretty brilliant.

That said, I'mma put ratings for the pieces of the Compilation individually under a cut!

OG FF7: 9/10. would be 10/10 if the English localization were better. Where it all started, still one of my favorite games of all time.

Advent Children (+Complete): 8/10. Not a game, but part of the Compilation! Anyone who says the plot makes no sense doesn't realize that they're watching a sequel that relies very heavily on people understanding the history and characterization of every single character shown.

Last Order: 6.5/10. Also not a game, also part of the Compilation. Love that this is implied to literally be Tseng's coverup of what happened with Zack, presented in anime form. Makes no sense in multiple places as a result, but if you know that's what it is then you can 100% see why it's portrayed that way! Honestly I really enjoyed it and wish more people would appreciate it for what it is.

Dirge of Cerberus: 7/10. The gameplay kinda sucks but honestly the storyline is super good—or it would be, if the entire fucking prologue hadn't been cut from any release outside Japan, thereby leaving the entire issue with DeepGround completely unexplained to all other audiences. Once you know what is going on, the storyline here is fantastic, and I've never really forgiven SE for not releasing the rest of it. I love that Dirge fills in the lore for Vincent that was cut when he was relegated to "optional" in the OG, and that it also helps to clarify why Midgar could have 9 functional mako reactors while every other reactor in the world is either sputtering to nothing or exploding. (It's Omega. Midgar is built over Omega. It's the place where all lines of the Lifestream converge so that Omega can draw it all in and carry it away at the end of the world, and Shinra never discovered that's why the mako well there is so expansive. I love good worldbuilding, and Dirge is a beautiful example of that.)

Before Crisis: N/A. I want this game so bad man where is it give it to meeeee. Honestly tho I've watched playthroughs and read scripts where available, and while I don't think it looks like much fun from a modern gameplay perspective, I have huge respect for it as far as development goes. This is one of the first really mainstream mobile games ever made, it was made for flip phones, and it's super extensive! Also it gave me Veld, who is one half of my favorite ship ever, which means it automatically gets a 7/10 even if I've never played it.

Crisis Core (+Reunion): 9/10. As fun to play as the OG. When I first played this on PSP over a decade ago, it hit me with such an intense feeling of nostalgia that it almost took me off my feet. In spite of the dramatic difference between game mechanics in CC versus the OG, it felt exactly like playing the OG again, and that feeling never really left. Humanized Sephiroth in a beautiful way that pissed off a bunch of fanboys and made me fall in love with him all over again. Also introduced my second favorite FF7 character ever, Genesis, who is one half of one of my core FF7 ships, so A+ on that too!

FF7 Remake (+InterMISSION): 8/10. Had a lot of fun with this one, and it's beautiful, but it doesn't have a lot of replayability in my experience, which is a shame. Would have been 6 or 7/10 if not for InterMISSION, which was a fucking delight.

FF7 First SOLDIER: 6/10. This applies to both the Battle Royale and the title in Ever Crisis. I am not a fan of Glenn & Co. but I love 14 year old Sephiroth and really appreciate that extension of lore and worldbuilding, so it's a decent balance. I love that the opening cutscene for the battle royale literally filled a 20+ year old plot hole in under two minutes.

FF7 Rebirth: 9.5/10. The only things that could make me like this game more would be if Vincent were playable (although I understand why he's not and, in spite of him being my favorite fictional character ever, I agree with this decision), and fewer required minigames. Just cut like one or two. Or fix the controls, maybe. Glide de Chocobo is even more broken now that it's been patched.

[biggerbetterbat]

WITH YOU [30] THE KILLER I AM

Daryl Dixon x OC!Charlie Reed

Summary: Every action has its consequences. Charlie realizes what big burden the last wish of Lori puts on her. She tries to deal with the loss on her own.

Warnings: language, death

Song: Billie Eilish idontwannabeyouanymore

A/N: I had a writer block and tone of exams, but I'm back...I think. This chapter is shit, but I just want to get through this moment in my story. Prison era is one of my least favorite, so it's HARD and I'm struggling. Also I would like to clarify some things to this chapter:

Charlie won't have any romantic situationship with Carl

Charlie likes Maggie!!!!!!! (for now...), Glenn was the problem

So!!! Enjoy, give it love, and let me know how do you like it.

PS. I have NO IDEA if I already used this gif, sorry

Let me see the baby.

What are we gonna feed it?

We got anything a baby can eat?

The good thing is she looks healthy.

But she needs formula.

Charlie furrowed her eyebrows. Everything and everyone felt so away as if she was standing behind a glass or underwater, or else...maybe she was still in that boiler room. "And soon or she won't survive," was the first sentence she could match to a person. Hershel was talking with Daryl, and the baby was still crying.

"We ain't losing nobody else," the other man said. "I'm going for a run."

"I'll back you up," Maggie proposed without a second thought.

Charlie wanted to volunteer as well, but her mouth just didn't want to cooperate with her brain. She was just standing there with bloody, shaky hands.

"I'll go, too," Glenn said right after his girlfriend.

"Okay, think we're going. Beth," Daryl nodded and stepped aside with the younger girl. Charlie couldn't hear what he was saying but felt his eyes on her as he did, and then he looked over at Carl. He must have said something like keep an eye on them, but would Beth really be a reliable person to give two lives to..."You two get the fence. Too many pile-ups, we got ourselves a problem," he gestured towards the two prisoners."Hey," Daryl touched her arm delicately. "I'll be back soon, okay?"

He saw her eyes wandering around, but she wasn't present.

She was so far away at that moment. Maybe part of her was still in the boiler room, maybe part of her was in the quarry, on the farm, or maybe even in Atlanta. Maybe a small part of her was in her family house, surrounded by her brothers, mom, and even dad. It couldn't be her life. She must be sleeping, because there was no way she could kill a person.

"Charlie, I need you to look at me," he said, but she did what he said after he placed a hand on her cheek. "I'm going for a run. I'll be back as soon as possible. Look over Carl, and don't do anything stupid. Charlie?"

"Okay," she whispered, and after she nodded to strengthen her response. Then she felt his lips on her temple.

"Rick!" Maggie called in fear.

To this moment he was sitting as if he was made out of the stone. He didn't hug Carl, didn't ask how he felt, he didn't even look at the baby. He was too deep in his own loss to even notice how other people dealt with the loss. Now she could only see his back as he was going in the direction of a place where his wife died. She could have let both of them die as it didn't make any difference if the baby was alive. At least then she wouldn't have blood on her hands and guilt in her whole body.

"Come on! We're gonna lose light!" Daryl yelled, snapping Charlie from her thoughts.

Memories of the events were hunting her -the longer it was from it, the more pictures were flashed in front of her eyes. Nothing seemed to wash off the blood she had on her hands, she still felt its weight on her skin, and the smell lingered too deep to get rid of it - even though they had been cleaned for a long time. Charlie couldn't be in the same room as the baby, she couldn't even look at the little girl. Her cry was remembering her of Lori who was screaming in pain, and who was the cause of the pain she was experiencing.

"Are you okay?" she heard a weak question and then felt someone's body next to her.

"I should be the one asking you this question," Charlie said looking at the boy, but the moment she crossed eyes with him, she looked away in shame.

"I don't blame you, you know?" Carl said. "You did what you needed to do. I wouldn't have a sister if you didn't do that. And I wouldn't have a mom either."

Charlie looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Maybe there was a way to save her."

"It doesn't matter," he said.

"It does Carl," she said. "It makes the whole difference in the world. Your mom asked me to do something cruel. She decided for both of us...for all of us. But she died. And we have to live with consequences."

"You can always count on me," he said, nodding his head. "And I won't be a burden. My sister either."

Charlie looked at him in the daylight, with a sober brain. His eyes were puffy and now he looked like the boy that he was. He was scared - just like Charlie, and he was scared that he was left alone with a baby because his dad was gone. Lori took Rick with her, at least some part of Rick - the sane and strong one.

"Come here," she spread her arms and pulled Carl to her body, wrapping her hands around him in a carrying gesture. She wanted to show him support, she would never be his mother or replace one of his parents, but he would always find a friend in her. He started crying into her chest as if she were his pillow, so no one would hear his sobs, and it was only breaking her heart. "I'm so sorry," Charlie whispered into his hair. It was the moment to kill their old versions and let them be gone with Lori. But at that moment they didn't know how big part of them they were letting go; moreover, they didn't know that they would never see each other in the same way as before. Carl would never be the annoying kid, following her around like a lost puppy, and she would never be the girl who felt satisfied by upsetting him. They didn't know that they would be basically one person one day...

It got only worse when it was getting darker, and there were still no signs of Daryl and Maggie, and Rick was still hiding in a boiler room. Charlie saw the looks she was getting the whole day, but besides Carl, no one had enough courage to approach her. It seemed that her friends were giving her much-needed space, and the two prisoners were keeping their distance - as they should because it was all their fault. They should have sent them away without food or water, or just let them die the moment they found them, maybe then...

Charlie swallowed.

The scariest thing was that Lori was alive when she cut her open, so Charlie killed a perfectly fine woman and became a cause of why two kids became orphans. She promised to protect those two, but she knew very well that she had to break the promise. Carl would do whatever he wanted, and her opinion wouldn't matter - especially now, when he felt responsible and in his eyes he was an adult. And she just couldn't look at the baby, so it was impossible to raise it.

"Hey," Glenn almost whispered, sitting next to her.

Awkward silence.

"The baby is doing good," he said. "She's probably hungry, and water is not doing the job, but it's good. She's good. Have you seen her?"

"No," Charlie clenched her teeth. "And I don't care about it."

Glenn opened his eyes wider.

Probably, if they still were on the farm, he would help her or comfort her. But their relations were cold as if they burnt with Hershel's house. She needed her best friend, but didn't know how to break the distance that with each day was growing. Glenn didn't know that either. He knew it was his fault, he became distant and forgot about her, as he had a whole family on his shoulder. But Charlie wasn't helpful either, if she wanted to reanimate this friendship, he saw no sign of it.

"Still no sign of them?"

"No."

"I don't know if you noticed, but...T-Dog is dead..." Charlie gasped and her eyes filled with tears again. That's what Daryl meant when he said that they are not losing anyone anymore. "He was closing the gate when they got him. Then they disappeared with Carol."

"Is she..."

"I don't know," he shook his head. "There were too many...And she was alone with T-Dog. She probably didn't make it."

Glenn's intention wasn't to make her feel bad, but she did. If she was feeling like shit before, then now she felt even worse than that. That's why she swallowed a big lump and looked at her friend from behind tears. "Why are you telling this to me?"

"Because I want to show you that we lost more than Lori, okay?" he touched her shoulder. "It was a horrible day and we can all feel it."

"No!" she yelled. "It's not the same. We lost T-Dog. You didn't kill him. I'm feeling this way because your girlfriend couldn't handle it. She made a wrong decision, and when things went south she just cried. And someone had to do it. And if it weren't me then...it's enough that he shot her after. We're not the same! Do you know how it feels to kill someone? No! Do you have any idea what a horrible thing is to feel somebody's hot blood running down your hands? How scary it is when you hear them screaming and then...suddenly... you don't? You have no idea!" she yelled at him. "And I can't stand the baby! Because looking at her remembers me of the killer I am!"

She was looking into his eyes in shock that those words finally left her lips and suddenly something snapped. Charlie started crying so hard that she couldn't breathe, the only thing coming out of her mouth was You don't know and We are not the same. And Glenn was with her through the whole time. Like a true man, he was holding her, listening to accusations, and fighting his tears as his heart was breaking. But one thing that came out of her mouth just shattered his body and soul.

"And you left me."

"I'm here now," he said, but as she kept repeating that he didn't care for her anymore, he pushed her away and shook her by her shoulders. "You left me too!"

Charlie stopped crying and was looking at him in shock.

"You left me, too," he said again. "You kept walking away, wishing to be dead and not telling me. I thought I lost you on the farm, and when I found you on the highway you were not the same. I wanted your support, when I became a source of support for Maggie...and her sister...and Hershel. But you stopped talking to me, thinking that I don't want you anymore. You left me, too."

Charlie swallowed. She never looked at this that way.

"But I'm here now," he said, easing his grip. "And I want my sister back."

It was dark already when Daryl and Maggie were back. Everyone took a breath of relief when Daryl was forcing a bottle with formula between the little girl's mouth. Charlie was sitting on the stairs clutching onto the railing for her life, her instinct was to run as far as she could.

"She got a name yet?" Daryl asked.

"Not yet," Carl shook his head. "But I was thinking maybe Sofia. There's Carol, too. And...Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Patricia. Or Lori..."

"Better not naming her after the dead ones," Charlie said quietly, but she was heard. Glenn nodded.

"Then maybe Charlie," Carl proposed.

So she could carry a name after a woman who murdered her mother...But Charlie decided to bite her tongue this time and used all of her power to smile. "You will come up with something better."

"I don't know..." Carl shook his head.

"Yeah? Do you like that? Little ass-kicker? Right?" Daryl cooed and Charlie was amazed at how this big and rough man can be so soft for a baby. "That's a good name, right?"

Charlie crossed her eyes with him. Maybe in different circumstances, she would look at him with the baby and think about how it fits him. Maybe she would even think about some alternative world where they have their own kids. But now she saw him as some man who can't make anything better - even though till yesterday she believed he could - with a baby whose mother she killed. And couldn't share the enthusiasm as the rest of the group. So she just backed out, still not being able to be in one room as the baby. 

previous masterlist next

[shimmeringweeds]

How to guard a secret without lying: a Link Click tutorial pt 2

This portion includes all direct Q&A interactions between "X" person and Lu Guang during season two, ie. any chance he was given to lie. Seeing as season two rarely lets Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang have a moment, I've chosen to open up the floor to everyone.

Season two is where the secrets really start to become an issue. Intuition is necessary when determining what is a direct, honest answer and what is a lie. Some of this is subject to speculation. For clarity, I've included my reasoning. We’re not going easy. Everything will be scrutinized.

Final Tally in a reblog.

Color Key:

Present Question, Past Question, Future Question

Direct Answer, Non Answer, Half Truth, Lie

s2e1

(CXS)Q. Lu Guang, you're still alive? A. Idiot, are you disappointed?

s2e2

(CXS)Q. He said "take it." That means our abilities can be taken away. Lu Guang, do you know about this? A. Not quite sure. (I think we can agree on half truth here? What he says is probably true. He's not quite sure what LTC means, but he also isn't willing to share the one heavy thought now haunting him.) (XL)Q. You can see contents of the photos, right? A. I can try. (Benefit of the doubt. This answer could signify a number of things that don't equate with an evasion of truth. I think it's similar to the "lie" in s1e7 and sets a precedent for their cooperation with Xiao Li but, benefit of the doubt.)

s2e3

(QL)Q. How is it going over there? A. *A very long winded and precise summary of the security measures* followed by, "I'm a little tired. A nap would be nice." (CXS)Q. How about handcuffing yourself to the bed before sleep? A. *Hangs up* (no, actually, this interaction is as hilarious as it is worrying, isn't it? LG basically says "here's a handful reasons why you shouldn't worry, now let me sleep. CXS responds, "oh, that's sus. Now I'm really gonna worry." So I'm labeling LG's answer as half truth to match CXS's intuition.)

s2e4 (Another episode where your tally might look different from mine. You can be less scrutinizing and call these direct answers. Benefit of the doubt.)

(CXS)Q. Lu Guang, who is this person wearing a hood? Why do you hide this from us? Tell me. You've already known something, right? A. .................... That person gave me this (photo). He was wearing a hood and a mask, deliberately hiding his face without any word. At first, I thought it was just an ordinary photo, but on the back there was a slightly blurry children's drawing and a message. (to be quite frank, I think LG suspects something. He doesn't immediately clarify why he hid the photograph, and takes a CXS's dive request as an out (not a lie, but potentially another half truth.) It's possible he gives a long winded truth to avoid talking about what he knows.) (LX)Q. Didn't you directly investigate the situation in the photo? A. I tried, but due to my current condition, I can’t use my power continuously to see all the details within 12 hours. (I still don't buy this, but I am starting to believe that LG himself doesn't know whats up, so he pulls the invalid card. Without evidence, I cannot call his assumption a lie, but I’ll be damned if it’s the entire truth. Is it possible he's uncomfortable addressing speculation with Xiao Li present?) (CXS)Q. It's true that we can't change the past. But you also said, "the future will change because of us." Right? A. *silence* (CXS)Q. What should I do now? A.*idk. Presumably "start crying," an instruction was likely given or CXS figured something out first.* (CXS)Q. Where are we going? We're going to go out suddenly. Is it because of my mistake just now? A. It's OK. I can see where they're going. That means nothing significant has changed. (well, that's convenient timing to see the photographs future..... wait. could it be a lie? Or does this confirm that he can see some portions of the photograph better than others? He doesn't answer "where,” so I'm calling it a half truth. It's not really a non-answer because the reassurance is honest and helpful. (CXS)Q. He won't notice me while checking her pulse, right? A. Look at yourself. Now you believe this, huh? (CXS)Q. Huh? Now? A. Yes. The child noticed that her mother couldn't carry it alone. (noticing a present moment that just happened in the photograph. Gets a full pass.)

s2e5

(CXS)Q. But, but how? (how to ask) A. Follow my lead. Use sign language. (CXS)Q. Lu Guang, are you still there? A. *he never heard the question* void. (CXS)Q. Where did you go just now? A. I've been here the whole time. (CXS)Q. By the way, the message on the back of the photo, "Can't lose my good brother," what does it mean exactly? Isn't her brother well? A * silence* (with the context of: this is seconds before things get traumatic. He did the same thing in the earthquake arc. Thank God this time there's a reason.)

s2e6

(CXS)Q. What I should do now is save her, isn't it? A If the photo is gone, the 'future,' our present, will no longer exist. (again, some earthquake arc vibes here, but this time communication is clear and accepted. They can't be saved.) -Honorable mention: (CXS) "We're in a police station. What could happen? Don't worry. -(LG) *worries immensely* (like yeah, there's police here and there, but Qiao Ling you better go with him and leave me all alone to handle the situation by myself when things inevitably get stirred up.)

s2e7---Lu Guang MIA until The damn boat --- No Q&A.

s2e8

(CXS)Q. Lu Guang? Why are you here? A *too busy playing defense* (LTC)Q. How did you know about the time and location of our plan? A. If I tell you, won't I loose my value?

Episodes 9 - 11 have zero Q&A interactions:

s2e9 - 3 acts. - No Q&A. Just a little guilt trip fuel at the end there. Potentially, Cheng Xiaoshi learns stuff . (like how to find and hijack a damn boat.) s2e10 - Still nothing new in the Q&A department. But Lu Guang does talk to Li Tianchen with the confidence of someone who doesn't fear death. So that's always fun to remember ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ s2e11 - Still no direct questions asked. Surprisingly. I thought Xiao Li would have asked at least one. Instead, he just lets Lu Guang do his job for him.

s2e12 -

Qiao Ling probably has a million questions in her mind and that is where they will stay thank you very much :) But then, finally, one last bombshell question: (CSX) Q. Lu Guang, why don't you eat? A. *LG's Internal hypocritical guilt monologue intensifies* + cue ending credits.

SEASON 2 END TALLY:

Direct Answers(8) Non Answers(6) Half Truths(5) Lies(0)

8 Direct, honest answers and 11 Other. Not as great of a track record as season one, but maybe some of you are more trusting than I regarding those half truths. Or maybe some of you are even less trusting and have already labeled them lies. Please, do tell. In either case, he seems to be actively keeping people in the dark. Still.... the complete lack of outright, verifiable lies spoken really deserves noting.

All but one question is a Present Question, too, huh, neat.

This is completely unnecessary ( I'm really just sliding my Link Click rewatch notes into the tag), but for the fun it:

Hypocrisy is living a lie, but that doesn't make one a liar. So I got curious. Lu Guang's hypocrite label has been well earned, but does it cause him to lie? Is he a liar? I think fandom leans towards "no?," but let's find out anyway!

Provided below is a reference list of every last question Cheng Xiaoshi has ever asked Lu Guang in series (and I mean every question) + every answer Lu Guang gives. Color coded by response and explained when necessary. Season 2 opens the floor up to everyone.

Categories include Direct Answer, Non Answer, Half Truth, and Lie.

This post covers Season one. Season two is covered in a reblog below. The final tally is also in a reblog below for anyone who is just curious about that. Criteria below the cut.

Criteria notes: This list focuses solely on the act of lying to a trusted partner in response to a question asked. Keeping secrets does not, actually, count as lying, so long as you are honest about it. People are allowed a box of secrets and no one is entitled to the key. This compilation will also not dock points for the hypocrisy, or the uh..... questionable ability limitations. I will however, use the aforementioned knowledge as a basis for reasoning. This is far from scientific. Any conclusions I draw from the evidence can be challenged. Court is in session ⚖️

You will notice that there is no category for "truth." This is because all truths are covered by a "Direct Answer." "Direct Answer" indicates that Lu Guang is not hiding anything in direct relation to the question. In a "Direct Answer," he will answer Cheng Xiaoshi's exact question honestly. Nothing more required. Omission of extra knowledge is (frustratingly) allowed, because unless Cheng Xiaoshi has asked for that knowledge, it doesn't need to be given. So watch those closely.

Non Answer = an avoidance of the question with words or silence.

Half Truth = a partial, truthful answer to the question. The question asked for more/there is a second, hidden answer tied to the question.

Lie = an answer that denies a truth.

Color coding:

Present Question, Past Question, Future Question

Direct Answer, Non Answer, Half Truth, Lie

s1e1

Q. Any chances? A. Yes. But only one. (a non specific answer complements a non specific question. This sets the precedent for a direct answer. Keep an eye on how often it occurs.) Q. Now, should I finish this spring roll? A. Hold on. Q. Hold on for what? A. unanswered Q. How's it going? Are you satisfied now? A. *miserable sigh* Q. Do I have a boyfriend or not? A. No. Q. What is going on now? I did what you told me. What is the matter with him? A. Calm down. Repeat after me. Q. What should I do next? A. You forget his words? Prepare the material. Q. She just keeps doing this day by day? A. We said, linger no more around the past. (Every rule repeated will be counted as non answer if it avoids the question.) Q. You mean the meeting at 9 A.M. tomorrow? A. Mn. Q. It's midnight. Who? A. Leave it. Q. Will they come back? A. ................. All right, go to sleep. Q. When should we start? A. Take it easy. They're not all there yet. Q. Then tell me how long I need to wait? A. It's a secret. (note: This is the scene that inspired all this. I feel CXS's frustration here so much. LG stressed that there was only one opportunity and that this is it, only to deflect every question. He even checks his watch because he knows exactly how much more time. Yet, this is a direct, honest answer. "I will not answer," is an answer. I hate him lol. Q. In your opinion, if I really did something, will everything change because of it? A. You really didn't do something stupid, did you? Q. I really want to know. How is she doing now? A. I said, never ask about the future. Past Question(1) Present Question(6) Future Question(7) Direct Answer (7) Non Answer (7)

s1e2

Q. Do you have any questions? A. What are their names? Q. Why did they break off their friendship? A. Just do the job instead of caring about the whole story. Q. If we disagree with each other some day, shall we break up, too? A. It's almost time. (to be quite fair, CXS deflects his own question with tomfoolery before LG can respond.) Q. Is there really a secret recipe? It's just a pot of stew. A. Coming soon. (vague as hell, yet blissfully direct. wow.) Q. Do we have any other chance? A. None. She's crying all night at home, not going anywhere. Q. Can I go eat that for the last time? A. No! Q. What should I say? A..................... Q. What does it taste like? A If you dare change the photo shop into a noodle shop, I'll leave right now. Past Question (1) Present Question(5) Future Question (2) Direct Answer (4) Non answer (4)

s1e3

Q. A few words? That may affect the past. You sure about this? A. It will be fine. Nothing will be changed. Q. Can I get rid of them? (regarding the glasses) A. There is nothing you can help with in the match. Just sit there till the end. (eeeeh. It's very long winded way of saying "no.") Q. I can take photos right? A. Void. No time to answer. But it's telling that CXS was just advised twice to stay put and chill, but the moment he adjusts the script....? oof. not a good start to this arc. Q. Did I just affect the historical track? A. Yes, you did. But the results have not changed. Q. Is it in the plan? Should I play or not? A. The past has been disrupted by you. I can't foretell what would happen before they lost the game. ( ie. your call) Present Question (5) Direct answer (4) Void (1) This is such nice episode with such a clean tally. THE TRUST.

s1 e4 - The formatting on this one doesn't want to stick. If it still doesn't work... I'm sorry.

Q. What exception? A. At some point in time, there is an important node. Q. Lu Guang, where are you? x2 A. silence <counted as 1 Q. You asshole. Where have you been? A. The client's words were written on the note. I didn't know where Qiao Ling placed it. (I'm calling bullsh*t on the silent treatment but you can read it as DA. So we will excuse the friendly, "you were deliberately tricking me"/"I'm not you" banter that follows (was it a question? subs say no.)) Q. Why? (in regards to the major node being unaffected.) A. Void. The chemistry teacher conveniently interrupts and gives his own answer… sure dodged that knife!) Q. Liu Meng puts everything on her face, how could he miss that? A. Let the past be. We just need to deliver the words. Nothing else. Q. She makes her steps first. What should I do? What should I say? A. Instructions given. Q. Is that really okay to say so? Q. Will they eventually miss each other? A. Yeah. A. The result will not change as long as the node does not change. (1. I'm calling the second answer a half truth, because you can draw a yes/no conclusion about them missing one another. So it's not a non answer, nor is it direct. 2. CXS doesn't ask about the node again. He just says "okay. you're always right." like the angel he is.) Q. Are you sure it's okay if I just repeat after you? A. Don't worry, the result will not change, even without any quarrel. (at this point CXS does question to himself why this mission is so weird. He does not question LG.) Q. No matter how the process changes, they are all doomed in the end. Am I right? A. …..Past Question(1) Present Question(7) Future Question(2) Direct Answer(4) Non answer (3) Half Truth(2)

s1e5 (where your tally might differ from mine)

Q. Can you save my mum? Can you please let me save her only? A. All right. I'll tell you what you should do. (okay. okay. Let's chat. We can and should analyze this answer to hell and back. Originally I had this labelled as a direct answer, but if so....then this is a direct answer that CXS later sees as a lie. CXS was not in the wrong for that. This statement is a conceding and LG does follow through on this. However, LG at least partially believed that CXS's actions wouldn't matter in the face of a death node (the next question is my evidence, as is Emma in ep 11.) As much as I want to believe he had hope, I think the fear of changing things prevented true action. They hide under the table, the place where Chen Xiao survived. But then Chen Xiao's mom mentions the camera, and Cheng Xiaoshi goes to get it. LG is silent. They need that camera/photograph. He knows what will happen. Chen Xiao cannot die. His mom dies because she covered him. LG gave up before CXS did (and god, CXS stayed until her last breath.) This wasn't true teamwork. LG deserved the punch. Yet it's not a lie. He never said he would save her. So I'm labeling this as a half truth, for half sincerity. Q. Will the earthquake never happen? A. *No answer and continued silence as CXS goes to get the camera; the earthquake happens. CXS is again asked to exit the photo.* (I do believe that silence betrayed CXS more than the conceding to help. It just sends the point home. I've got a lot of sympathy for both of their perspectives though.) Q. Why do you lie to me? Why do you still want her dead? A. In order to make everything stay the same. (another answer you can analyze to hell and back, but I read it as complete and brutal honesty.) Q. If I can't save them, then what's the point of delivering the words? A. Fool. I have said, past or future. Because we can't change the past. Don't question the future, as the future will be changed because of us. (This is the first time I think the rules really do serve as an answer if you read into it. LG also clarifies this statement as a proper, unprompted answer in e6. Present Question: (4) Direct Answer: (2) Non Answer (1) Half Truth (1)

s1e5.5

Q. Isn't this what you figured out at a glance? A. It's impossible. Q. Can't you just figure out the old master's tricks by foreseeing the events that happened 12 hours after the picture was taken? A. That's such an intuitive detail. I still need you to visit the scene in person and become my eyes. (giggle snort at that face saving answer tbh, I kind of want to label it a half truth.) Q. Where the hell did you go? A. *yaaaaawn* where are you? (the yawn is a direct answer /ᐠ - ˕ -マ Ⳋ ) Q. What now? A. Stop. You're too early. Q. Is this where it ends? A. It's not over yet. Q. How is he still fighting? A. But what I'm seeing is what happened back then. (a polite way to say "I have no f*cking clue") Q. I thought you always said never ask about the future? A. I'm here to keep an eye on you. (the áojiāo answer lol) Present Question(7) Direct Answer(6) Half-Truth(1)

s1e6

Q. If you use your predictive ability to see from the surveillance video, how will it be like? A. Within 12 hours, all surveillance images within one kilometer, I can have a panoramic view of them. etc. Q. Can you see Dou Dou? Who took him away? A. The one who took Dou Dou must have surveyed this area long ago. He used the surveillance camera blind spots perfectly. Q. This time will I become a CCTV? A. Stupid. What are you thinking about? Just follow my instructions. (LG probably thinks that was a direct answer. CXS's face said it was not.) Q. Where did they go? A. The second alley on the right. Present question(3) Future Question(1) Direct answer (3) Non Answer(1)

s1e7

Q. Look at this. Can we find some new clues? A. It's possible. Q. Where am I? A. I don't know. I couldn't perceive anything when you were unconscious. ( I am assuming that is truth. There is no reason for it to not be, unless secrets run deeper than we think.) (and yeah, that's it for e7. CXS does make comments, but they aren't questions directed at LG. CXS is too busy being unconscious/ doing his best and LG is too busy being stressed/proud. Have I mentioned how much I love this episode?) Future Question(1) Present Question(1) Direct Answer(2)

s1e8

Q. What do you think? Can we help? A. (to Xiao Li) I've looked at the general situation. I’m sorry, but this time, there's nothing we can do. (First Lie! First Lie! Though technically it was answering XL not CXS.....) Q. Lu Guang, that's it? Did you see it clearly? A. ....... (QL shushes CXS for him.) Q. Are you sure you saw it clearly? You rarely ever say no. A. Who was the one who wanted to take a break? Q. What? You agree, just like that? Hey, wait a minute did you say help? This is clearly a deal, why should we do it for free? A..... (again, QL shuts up CXS first.) Q. Is there no justice in this world? How could you beat up the person who's going to help you? (this isn't a valid question, CXS is just rambling aloud but uh.......... honorable mention. This is a line LTC and QJ really needed to hear lol) Q. Then what am I supposed to do now? A. Try to create a situation where he wouldn't be able to attack. Q. I forgot you had this ability. So, what exactly did Dong Yi say back then? A. I've already passed the message to Xu Shanshan.... *he reads the message* (that first line is what makes me question events in Dou Dou's photograph, but that's not the focus...) Past Question(1) Present Question(5) Direct Answer(2) Non answer(3) Lie(1)

s1e9

Q. Then isn't this because I....? A. Now is not the time to let your thoughts run wild. Q. Eh, is there no other way? A. Unfortunately, that's the only way. Q. Then what if I high-five myself and enter the photo...? A. You'll loose contact with me. If that happens, you won't know anything about what will happen in the photos. Q. How is it? Did they catch that bastard? A. No. Lack of evidence. Present Question(4) Direct Answer(3) Non answer (1) 2/4 questions are a flashback. Since the two act mostly separate in this episode.

s1e10

Q. How is it? Did you find a clue? A. Last night around half past one, a masked man broke into Xu Shanshan's house and attacked her. (with some intense speculation, this is a half truth, but I'm not going there.) Q. Am I supposed to yell at myself? A. You accepted the arrangement, go on. Q. This time can you let me take the lead? A. You? What do you mean? (this is not a non answer, because it directly asks for clarification of the question.) Present Question(3) Direct Answer(3)

s1e11

Q Do you remember the message the murderer left when Qiao Ling last called Xu Shanshan? A. Yes. Q. What if I'm the person who made an appointment with him? A. Are you saying that because of us diving back into the photo, we have created an alternate timeline? - CXS A. That's right. Honorable mention 1: Q. Didn't you say nothing in this world is an absolute? A. *too busy being in shock/getting stabbed* Honorable mention 2: Chen Bin: Even though you guys caught him, methods like this aren't encouraged. In the future, you have to let us know as soon as possible. LG: Oh, I'm sorry. We only just realized that he might come and cause trouble, so we took some temporary measures. (for the look CXS gives him at the easy dishonesty in this statement. It's almost a shocked Pikachu face lol. I kind of want to add that to the lie tally...... but it wasn't a question (and does lying to police count, let's be honest.) I'm adding it. Past Question(1) Present Question(1) Direct Answer(2)

Final Tally:

Past Questions (5) Present Questions (50) Future Questions (14)

Direct Answers (42) Non Answers (19) Half Truths (4) Lies (1) +1 honorable mention

Not bad, eh? 42 direct and honest answers and 24 other. Honestly, that's impressive considering the circumstances. Of course, you can view these answers from different perspectives, or you can break them down further to nudge a half truth closer to a lie or a direct answer, for example.

It should also be noted that, in regards to Qiao Ling, Lu Guang also does not lie. He is very honest with her too. There is potentially one half truth regarding Xu ShanShan's photograph, but that is only speculation. (I wonder who proposed keeping her out of the ability loop? Even so, they probably just told her they preferred to work in secret. Not a lie.)

[iwadori]

Atsumu dating Kita's younger sister (their manager). That's it. That's the request. Hope you like this prompt 🤞😅

Dating your brothers teammate (Atsumu)

Part One Part Two Part Three

Word count: 1.6K

Genre: angst, fluff

ATSUMU

You and Atsumu started dating a month after Kita introduced you in your first year

You’re now in your second year and still going strong

However, no ones knows about your relationship since Atsumu said you being the manager and him being the setter it will affect the team dynamic?

You start the day off, seeing a message from your boyfriend,

‘Tsumu: Mornning babe, can’t wait to see you today!

You don’t respond, you are Atsumu have been at odds for the past few weeks as you feel like you guys should make your relationship public. Not even public per se, but you definitely feel it shouldn’t be hidden away especially with it being nearly two years of you being together.

Of course, Atsumu disagreed. He felt like at this moment you and him revealing your relationship to the team will just mess up the ‘dynamics’ or whatever that’s supposed to mean.

You get ready for school eating the breakfast your grandma made you and conversing with her and Kita before you both headed off to school together meeting Aran on the way.

You had an early morning practice and you didn’t mind it. To be honest, you love being around the team you were all a little family, you having a good relationship with all the guys.

This morning, the guys were all practicing different sorts of skills Kita was helping some of the gives with dives and receives and the rest doing other things. You were helping Osamu, Suna and Atsumu with there serves. 

Regardless of your public or private relationship status with Atsumu, you the twins and Suna were all good friends. You did have a slight inclination that Osamu and Suna knew of the relationship with you and Suna but just didn’t bring it up.

At the end of practice, the usual fan club was there waiting for the twins and the other guys to flirt and talk with them. As you are their manager, you did get some slight hate and jealousy from the other girls in your year but you didn’t pay no mind to it. 

When leaving practice, Atsumu (who usually walks with you to your class) gets stopped by a girl who seems to have something important to say so you politely step to the side (still in ear shot though.) 

“Miya-san” she said a bit nervous as her finger were shaking “I have this letter I would like for you to read.” 

He took the letter and said “Thank you, and you can just call me Atsumu” he smile at her.

“Thank you Atsumu, I hope to hear a response to you soon” she says about to walk away “Also, just to clarify you are single right?”

“Yes yes of course” he assures quickly making you annoyed “Why did you ask?”

“I assumed you were dating your manager, you seem pretty close”

“Oh her” he laughs and you already start to walk to your lesson leaving him behind “we’re just friends”

This makes the girl smile as she leaves, Atsumu turns to where you were standing shocked that you were completely vanished. He did think back to the conversation you had a week ago about your relationship status which did make him kind of sad for you since he did understand your reasoning he just wanted to you atleast wait it out till nationals is done.

He finds you at lunch, and to him it seems you don’t have a problem with him at all as you were being your usual smiley self interacting with him and all of your friends. So he assumed everything was fine (which it wasn’t of course.)

The next day at practice, when it ended the same girl came back again this time with friends and instead of approaching Atsumu they decided to approach you.

“Hi you’re the manager right?” one of them asks.

“Yup I have been for the past couple years.” you say 

“Oh and you’re definitely not dating any of the guys on the team right?”

“I don’t see why it’s any of your business, but no i’m not.” it pained you to say this but you did agree with Atsumu to say you weren’t dating to people and as much as it pained you to say this you couldn’t break your ‘agreement.’

Once the girls leave, you start to softly cry because you don’t want to have to hide your relationship anymore. Atsumu enters the corridor and sees you upset and rushes towards you, “Hey babe what’s wrong with you?” he asks 

“Nothing ‘tsumu just go back to practice” you murmur 

“No i’m not going until you tell me whats wrong?”

“it’s just that girl that confessed to you yesterday and her friends approached me about if I was dating anyone and i-”

“what did you say, he told them no right?” he interrupts

“Is that all you care about? Wether I keep our relationship secret or not ..” you say slightly raising your voice 

“Well I would appreciate if you don’t go round telling the world that you’re dating me gosh Y/N” he shouts a bit 

“I’m not even fucking doing that, I havent told a soul and that’s all because of YOU” 

You’re screaming match has alerted the team (who you didn’t notice) and they all stood around you watching before Kita steps in “Y/N are you okay??”

“yeah i’m fine bro” you say preparing to leave with tears still in your eyes “I just got into an argument with a friend” 

Before you leave the corridor you look back at Atsumu and catch all the guys attention when you say “Also Atsumu, happy anniversay ‘babe’”

“I KNEW IT!” shouts Osamu but Suna nudges him telling him to ‘read the room.’ Kita slowly approaches Atsumu and punches him in the face “I don’t care what you did but you made my sister cry so you better go fix it you dick”

Atsumu nodded and clutched his face, “Also I think it was pretty evident that you guys were dating.”

“Wait they were dating?” said Aran

You were in your room, scrolling through old pictures of you and Atsumu and looking at the presents he was going to give him for your anniversary still crying. You hear a knock on your door “Granny, I’m not hungry right now” you shout. But the door opens anyways “Granny I said I wasn-” you pause when you see a bruised Atsumu ‘Kita’ you think making yourself smile at the thought of your brother coming to your defence.

“Y/N, i’m sorry baby for trying to hide our relationship and not seeing how wrong it was until it was knocked into me... literally” he says cautiously sitting on your bed “ I’ve always wanted to be able to show off to the world but I just couldn’t cause I thought Kita would be mad and I genuinely thought it would mess up the team dynamic, however I’d rather have Kita be mad at me and the team loosing nationals if it meant getting to date you”

His words make you swoon and to add on to your fawning he whips out a wrapped up box giving it to you. When you open it, you see it’s a necklace with both your initials on it “ Happy anniversay babe, this has been one of the best years of my life.”

You silently hand him your presents, murmuring a quiet “Happy anniversary.” After seeing your presents, he gives you a big deep hug whispering mutiple thank yous and compliments into your neck making you smile.

“So does this mean we’re in a public relationship? right?” you ask making sure you were on the same page.

“Of course!” he exclaims “Also check your phone”

You look down at your phone seeing a bunch of notifications all tagging you in one post that was from Atsumu on instagram. It was 8 pictures of him and you and a caption that read *insert long romantic sappy paragraph that I’m too lazy too write since its 3 am :3* 

Your heart was overwhelmed with love for Atsumu, you spent the rest of your night cuddling and watching movies and before you went to sleep you told him you loved him.

Waking up the next morning, you thought it was all a dream to be honest. Because there was no way that Atsumu did all that right? You go downstairs and are shocked at the sight you see, Atsumu and Kita both sitting down eating breakfast together “What are you doing with my boyfr-” you stop yourself from finishing that sentence,

“Its okay Y/N you can say boyfriend, I have given your boyfriend the talk I just had to make sure that he knows that if he was ever to lay a finger on you that he would definitely get a bi-”

“Ughh nii-chan you’re being so embarrasing” you say pulling Atsumu back upstairs hearing Kita’s laughter in the backround.

You and Atsumu, stay together and it wasn’t much of a suprise when your relationship was public to the rest of the school and that girl that wanted Atsumu she ended up with Osamu anyways (it does makes sense since they do have the same face afterall.) Kita enjoys his days embarassing the both of you whenever you’re at your house. But you don’t care since you can finally show off to the world how great your boyfriend is.

Authors Notes: I don’t know if you wanted it to have angst in it but I hope you enjoy? Might make this a series so if you want anymore characters Request them and I’ll write for them too 

[football-and-fanfics]

Distracted - Jordan Henderson

Who: Jordan Henderson Request: Hey! No.11 with Hendo 🙌 thank you Prompt #11: Getting distracted during a team meeting Requested by: anonymous Warnings: none

It wasn't often that Jordan's attention wandered off during meetings, but today that was just what happened. His eyes constantly found their way to his phone, which lay in his lap under the large conference table, hidden from view of the others. You were up for a big promotion at work, and right about now you would find out whether or not you were the one getting it. Jordan was just as nervous about it as you were, and checked his phone every ten seconds or so to see if you had already messaged him. "Am I boring you today, Hendo?" Klopp, who was giving a presentation of the planned tactics for their upcoming match, noticed Jordan's short attention span. Even though it could easily be interpreted as a reprimand, the coach was smiling and sounded more concerned than irritated. "Sorry, boss." Jordan immediately apologized. "I'm a little distracted today." The entire team's eyes were suddenly on their captain. "Nothing serious, I hope?" Klopp's face fell a little as he asked the question that probably burned on everyone's lips. "No, not at all!" Jordan was quick to clarify. "My wife, she finds out today if she's getting a big promotion at work. And I-- I'm just as nervous about it as she is." His words were followed by a soft, shy giggle. "I see." Klopp chuckled understandingly. "Well, I think we all want to know the answer now, so have your phone on the table. No hiding it away anymore." It were another tense 20 minutes for Jordan, until the liberating text message finally came through. 'Got it! Celebration tonight 🥳💖' "Yes!" Jordan muttered. As Klopp was in the middle of a presentation, he wanted it not to be too loud, but his quiet celebration was still clearly heard through the room. "I take it she got the promotion?" Klopp turned to Jordan with a big smile on his face. "Yes." Jordan confirmed with an even bigger smile. A round of cheers rose up from the entire team, everyone urging Jordan to pass on their congratulations to you. "I wasn't expecting anything else," Klopp grinned, "she deserves it." "Thanks." Jordan nodded happily. "I'm happy to hear that, and I'm sure she is, too." Tags: @glam-khal, @evie-pr, @gryffinwars, @auawdo, @meteora-fc, @stonesys, @prettystones, @mrs-henderson, @footballffbarbiex

[angryinternetduck]

Bet On It

HELLO i’m back again with not only another fic but another friends to lovers!!! here’s 5.9k on hotel mishaps, long-term bets, and falling in love. featuring harry styles x reader with just a few warnings of explicit language and alcohol consumption.

enjoy!!!

masterlist | ask

***

Five Years Ago

If you hadn’t met him an hour before in the bar of the hotel, you would’ve said no. Share a hotel room with a stranger just because the hotel fucked up and double booked a room? No. Absolutely not.

Except -

His name was Harry. He was very cute. And sweet. He complimented your shoes in the bar, dimpling at you all cutely before holding out his hand and introducing himself. He let you prattle on for way too long, laughing at all your jokes and nodding gravely when you started getting serious.

And surprisingly, when you said you had to go, he didn’t ask you out or try to kiss you. He just told you it was nice to meet you with a smile. Problem was that that wasn’t the last you saw of him; when you went up to the desk to get your key card, the receptionist informed you of the mistake.

“We’ve double booked it. You’ll have to work it out amongst yourselves,” they said. “We can suggest other places to stay, or you can sleep in the lobby. Or - of course, you can always share. He’s over there. Guy in the pink shirt.”

You looked over, and lo and behold…

“Harry.”

“We meet again.”

“Was this your doing?” you joked. “All that to get me in a room with you?”

Harry grinned. “I wish I were that smart.”

“So just coincidence?”

“Or perhaps fate,” Harry replied with a shrug.

“Did you know?” you asked. “When you, uh - introduced yourself?”

He shook his head and said, “Not that it was you.”

“Well, now that you do, what do you say? Share the room?”

Harry tilted his head from side to side, pondering. “Let’s prove it was fate,” he decided, meeting your gaze with a grin. Your brows furrowed, and he clarified. “Rock, paper, scissors. I win, we’ll share. You win, I’ll find somewhere else to stay.” He held out his fist.

“Won’t make me find somewhere else?” you asked, smiling a bit. “Would rather share?”

He shrugged.

“Alright, then.”

Both of you counted silently, in your heads -

Rock, paper, scissors…

Harry grinned, and you made a fist from your scissors to bump his rock.

“Fate it is,” you said.

Fate proved to be in your favor; that night, you had the most fun you’d ever had in your life. To your surprise, however, the fun didn’t involve sex. Just talking. You sat on the bed drinking booze from the minifridge and talking until dawn with this Harry Styles.

It came up at one point, sex - or at least kissing did - but neither ever happened.

It was around three, when the exhaustion had set in, when you were lying down, gazing into each other’s eyes, half asleep. “Why haven’t you kissed me yet?” he’d whispered, and you grinned at him. “I should be asking you that, don’t you think?”

He looked confused. “Why’s that?”

“You’re the one in love with me,” you told him.

He giggled, rubbing his eyes. “And what makes you say that?”

“You wanted to share!” you exclaimed, like it was obvious, because it was.

“Sharing is caring.”

You bounced your brows. “Caring. Loving.”

Harry laughed and insisted, “Not the same!”

“I’d bet a million bucks you’re in love with me,” you murmured, tapping his nose.

“Then a million bucks you’d lose.”

“You will be,” you said, nodding slightly.

“Yeah?” Harry asked, a smile growing on his lips.

“Yeah.”

“Do you have a million bucks to give me on my deathbed when I still only care?” he said.

“Do you have a million bucks to give me when you confess?” you said back.

He stared at you for a second. His eyes were very green, his smile very wistful. “A kiss.”

“A kiss?” you echoed.

Harry nodded. “I will bet you one kiss that I will never fall in love with you.”

“You’re gonna want a lot more than one kiss when you inevitably do,” you whispered.

“At least one kiss,” he amended.

“At least one kiss,” you agreed.

“Shake on it?”

You both shifted around in the bed so you could shake hands without sitting up.

“It’s a bet,” Harry said.

And so it was.

***

Present Day

“Give it to me straight, Styles,” you greet Harry, plopping down at your table with a sigh.

He hesitates for a moment, drawing out the suspense, and then breathes, “Care.”

You shake your head disappointedly. “Unbelievable, how bad you are at lying, you -”

Harry interrupts, “What’s really unbelievable is your tardiness -”

Then you do: “Your annoyingness -”

He pouts and fires back, “Your vocabulary -”

“Your lack thereof -”

“That’s not proper English.”

You stick your tongue out at him. “You’re not proper English.”

“I promise you I am,” he replies with a smirk.

“I’ve always thought the accent was fake.”

“If it were, I’d be the greatest impersonator to walk the earth.”

“Impersonator?” you repeat. “And tell me, what is an impersonator but a talented liar?”

He gives you a grin. “I’ll take the compliment of talented, thank you.”

Leveling his gaze, you smile back and take a sip of your drink. “You know, I think that actually was proper English,” you muse. “Lack thereof. Your vocabulary - or lack thereof.” Harry bites his lip, eyes narrowed, staring at you, and you’re tempted to joke that his focus is lust when he replies, “It’s still wrong. I was saying your vocabulary is naive, and by saying I have none, you’re fundamentally saying the same. It’s redundant.”

Clearly satisfied with himself, he sits back, smiles smugly, and takes a sip of his coffee.

“Harry Styles,” you say, “I’m going to smack that smirk right off your pretty face.”

“Second compliment in a day!” Harry exclaims. “Someone alert the press.”

You roll your eyes, taking a sip of your own drink. “Why, they’d have a field day.”

The little cafe you’re in is absolutely adorable. It’s midway between your place and Harry’s, and after that fateful night in the hotel (during which you learned you live so close to each other), you began a tradition of meeting here once a week.

Tradition doesn’t end with just the location and time. Each meeting is almost exactly the same. You’re always late, and you always greet him the same way: some variation of “Have you fallen in love with me yet?”

And his reply is always the same: negative.

From there, the conversation wanders as much as it ever does, with one asking about the other’s week and the response being long and filled with complaints and woes and lamentations. The question is echoed back, and the response is - again - long, filled with complaints, woes, etc.

Despite the moaning and groaning, the mood never falls too low. It’s impossible to feel down around Harry Styles; just one look at those dimples makes a smile of your own appear on your face.

Your friendship with him has certainly blossomed. It’s a wonder he hasn’t fallen in love yet (or maybe he has, you’ll never know unless he says), and a greater wonder still that he hasn’t turned the question around on you.

Because the answer would be yes. You have, in fact, fallen in love with him.

Deeply, madly, in love.

But he’ll never know, because you’ll never say.

***

“I love you,” you tell Harry breathlessly, looking up at him lovingly. “Most ardently.”

Harry shakes his head. “No, no - I’m just a girl! I’m just a girl, standing in front of -”

“I’ll always be there for you!” you cut in excitedly. “All the love in my heart, Llo -”

“Michael, I love you!” Harry gushes. “Choose me, marry me, let me make you happy!”

You jump up and jut a finger at him dramatically. “We live in a cynical world!” you exclaim. “A cynical world, and we work in a business of tough competitors. I love you! You - you complete me!”

Harry jumps up to match you and begins, “I hate that -” then shakes his head and restarts, “I hate the way you’re always right, I hate it when you lie - I hate it when you make me laugh and - and - and even worse when you make me cry - I hate the way - I hate it when” - he’s grinning big now, jumping with excitement and passion - “you’re not around and the fact you didn’t call - but - but mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you, not even a little bit, not even at all!”

It all came out in a rush of jumbled words and you’re so impressed you can’t help but sit back down and clap for him. Bright red, Harry takes a bow and collapses onto his couch next to you. “That took way too much effort,” he says, out of breath.

“It was worth it,” you tell him. “That was dazzling, really. You should go on the road.”

Harry nods. “One man show. Shakespeare. All of his long monologues, then bam - a poem better than all the others combined.” You giggle and fall into him, leaning against his chest with a sigh. “I’ll come with you,” you say. “Follow you to the ends of the earth and hold my breath to Pluto.”

“What’s that from?” Harry asks.

“That’s all me, baby.”

“Maybe the poem better than all the others combined could be yours.”

“Impossible,” you say immediately. “Nothing will ever beat Kat Stratford.”

“I’ll manage.”

You scoff. “You?”

“We.”

You shake your head. “There’s no ‘we’ in genius, Styles, but there is an I.”

“And a U!” Harry replies.

You look up at him.

“Wait.”

Snickering, you sit up and stretch your arms towards the ceiling. “Stick to memorization, maybe. Leave the heavy lifting to me. You need some practice on that speech, anyway - I counted at least three errors, not to mention the stuttering.”

“Practice makes perfect,” Harry sings. “What do you say, can I confess my love to you every night for the sake of practice?” You shake your head, standing up again and grabbing an empty container of food to throw away. “Not without losing the bet.”

Harry follows you, cleaning up as he goes. “Just for the one man show!”

“No exceptions.” You grin at him, grabbing your stuff and heading for the door. “Thanks for the food, Styles. I’ll see you Sunday?” Harry nods and blows you a kiss, which you catch and put in your pocket. “I’ll save that for when you lose the bet,” you tell him.

“Get outta here,” Harry laughs.

You stick your tongue out at him and stick a post it note on the door frame as you leave.

***

Harry usually wakes up to a few texts. Maybe a call every so often. Notifications from social media aren’t uncommon. The only days he wakes up to nearly a hundred texts are the nights you decide to go to the outlook.

Whether or not you like staying up late normally, you stay up until the wee hours of the morning to go to this place you found about three hours outside of the city. It’s a bit of a drive, but it’s completely worth it.

There’s a little woods out there, and a while ago you went a bit off path and found an outcropping of rocks that look out over the city. At night, stars are visible. There’s nothing you love more than lying for hours on the cool stone, gazing up at the heavens above.

The first time you took Harry to the outlook, you asked a question, and Harry’s answer to that question was one of the only lies he’s ever told you. You’d asked, “You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”

And Harry had said, “Of course not!” when in reality, he’d been looking for an opening to mention that very fear for the twenty minutes before, while you’d been climbing steadily uphill through the trees.

In his defense, there was no way he could’ve said anything different. You were just so happy, glowing with excitement and practically buzzing with energy. Plus, you’d grabbed his hand at the moment you asked to pull him up the last ridge and he was still a bit startled.

He never came to regret that lie. He grew out of the fear, anyway, so it wasn’t a huge deal. In fact, he’s almost come to love heights. He loves the thrill, the burst of happiness, the insane phenomenon of a racing heart and the feeling of being totally at peace all at the same time.

Incidentally, he also feels that way around you, whether the two of you are a hundred feet up or not. He’s always enjoyed spending time with you, and even just seeing you makes him happy. It’s what makes you a good friend.

Harry’s gone with you a few times to the outlook, but it’s usually pretty late by the time you want to go. Sometimes you’ll call him and he’ll pick up, and you’ll talk on the phone until one of you falls asleep.

You went last night, apparently, because Harry scrolls through seventy-two text messages this morning. It takes a while, since he reads all of them and then replies, but he woke up early anyway so it’s fine.

It’s Sunday, so he’s headed to the cafe to meet you. He has a cup of coffee even though he’ll get one at the cafe, too. There’s a sticky note on the coffee maker - Note to self: tell Harry there’s a snickers bar in his sweatshirt pocket - which you probably left a few days ago.

Harry smiles at the note, then frowns, sticking his hand in his pocket. There is, in fact, a Snickers bar in there, and Harry throws it out. It’s from almost a month ago, when you and him had an August Halloween. The sun is just a little too bright. Harry listens to music in the car, humming along and tapping his hands against the wheel in time.

You’re late, of course, so he orders his second cup of coffee and reads a newspaper on the shelf while he waits. Today it’s five minutes until you arrive, which is actually more on time than usual, and Harry throws you a large brimmed hat he found in his closet when you approach the table.

“What say you, Harry Styles,” you greet him, catching the hat and placing it on your head. “Make a jester laugh” - you form a heart with your fingers - “or make a jester cry?” Your heart cracks in two as you pout at him.

Breaking a finger-heart of his own, Harry grins. “Laughing clowns were always creepier to me,” he tells you. You trace a finger down your cheek like a tear and sit down across from him, sliding a menu from its place on the wall and beginning to read it over.

You look up at him, half smiling, a joke on your lips, and then -

Harry blinks.

Just like that, something’s changed.

You snap in front of his face. “Hello? Anything? You could at least pretend to laugh.”

“Christ, sorry,” Harry breathes. “What’d you say?”

Raising a brow, you lean forward and inspect him. “You alright, there, Styles?”

“If I were any better and it’d be obscene,” Harry answers easily, tapping your nose.

Grinning, you sit back. “Fantastic. Tell me, then, how it’s been. Fill me in.”

“It’s a lot better seeing you in that hat.”

“Oh, I forgot!” you exclaim, looking up at it.

Harry giggles and asks, “You wanna know what one hat said to the other?”

“Oh, boy.”

“I’ll see you on a-head!”

Groaning dramatically, you throw the hat at him and bury your face in your hands.

***

"This is getting embarrassing, Styles,” you say as you walk up to Harry.

He turns around, a smile already on his face, and begins, “What’s -”

He stops when he sees you, because you’re all dressed up. You look absolutely stunning, which was on purpose, because of course you want to see his reaction, whether he loves you or not. And it’s very satisfactory, this reaction.

“You look fantastic,” Harry says softly.

You clear your throat, a little put off by how serious he’s being. “That was the goal.”

His eyes float back up to meet yours, a small smile on his face. “Thank you for coming.”

“You’re welcome,” you chirp. “But don’t let your head get too big - I only came for the free food and movie.” Finally, the glaze over his eyes fades, and he grins at you. He takes your arm, and as you walk, he asks, “You started a thought, you know, about something embarrass-”

You scoff. “You asked me on a date, Styles!”

“I did not!” Harry insists. He shakes his head. “My date ducked out at the last second -”

Smirking, you cut in, “Wonder why, Mr. Pink Suit.”

“- we were going to match, thank you - but really, she ducked out, and I wasn’t about to waste two perfectly good tickets. Thus… here we are.” He nods, like he’s pleased with his answer, but you raise a brow at him. “That’s a terrible excuse. You can just say you love me. I’ll accept.”

You arrive at his car. “Not yet,” he says, and then he gets in.

He starts the car, and for a moment, you gaze out the window.

Then, breaking the silence, you say, “I like the suit.”

“I like the look.”

“Thanks, I came up with it all by myself.”

“Impressive.”

You wait a moment, and then ask, “What inspired the pink?”

“She said she wanted a pink rose.”

Frowning, you begin, “I thought you said pink roses are -”

“Yeah, they’re not my favorite,” he mumbles.

You snicker a little. “Oh, what a bad date in high school can get you…”

“Hey, don’t tease,” Harry whines with a pout.

“Sorry, sorry,” you murmur. “You’re nice to dress up anyway. No rose, though?”

Sheepishly, he tells you, “I… forgot.”

“You forgot?” you laugh.

“Yeah…”

“Well, um… well, it’s the thought that counts.”

Harry pulls into the parking lot and parks the car, then unlocks the doors. “Come on,” he says, but you frown at him, confused. “You know you pulled in the wrong way?” you ask, but he just beckons with his hand and opens the trunk.

You hadn’t even looked - there’s pillows back there, and candy, and blankets, and he flicks on little fairy lights. “Harry Styles, you romantic!” you gasp, enthralled. “Wow, I gotta meet this girl, if you’re doing all this for her…”

He sits down and pats the space next to him, then grabs a pack of candy - your favorite. He hands it to you, which you take with a slow smile. “Her favorite too?” you ask. “Nope,” Harry replies, shaking his head as he opens his own pack of candy. “Forgot to ask her, but when I called her in the store she wouldn’t pick up so I just… got yours.” He clears his throat and hands you a bag of popcorn. “There’s this, too.”

“Thanks, Styles.”

On the huge screen in front of you, the movie begins to roll. You take a risk, sliding a little on the seat so you’re leaning against Harry, head against his chest. You can feel him breathing, his heart beating, his arm around your waist, thumb gently moving back and forth over the fabric of your clothes.

You fall asleep for most of the movie.

When you wake up, you’re leaned against a pillow, not Harry. Frowning and out of sorts, you sit up and rub your eyes. He’s leaned against the car outside, on the phone, and you can just barely make out what he’s saying.

“... I know, it’s… Yeah, I - I’m sorry you couldn’t make it, love. I missed you…”

The familiar feeling of tears building behind your eyes horrifies you, and you have to turn your back to him as tears start slipping down your cheeks. You’d somehow managed to convince yourself that it was all a ruse, that he’d meant it to be you from the start, that there was no other girl, that all along it was -

“Hey,” Harry says.

You cough, palming away the tears on your face and yawning like you’d just woken up. “Oh, hey… How’s, um - how’s she doing? Or - whoever - I mean -” You squeeze your eyes shut, shaking your head. “Sorry,” you whisper.

“She’s fine,” Harry tells you. “How are you? Took a pretty long nap there…”

“Yeah,” you murmur. “I was… I’m tired.”

“C’mon, then, let’s get you home.” He smiles at you, dimpling adorably, and holds out his hand. You take it and slide off the back of his car. “Thanks,” you say. He nods and shuts the trunk while you get into the passenger seat.

You don’t say anything as he starts the car, as he backs out and heads for your place. He glances over at you, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, and eventually turns on the radio. You fold up a sticky note and covertly slide it into the center console.

“I’ll see you Sunday,” you tell him when he stops the car.

He nods. “See you then.”

You hold his gaze for a second, and then get out of the car. As you’re shutting the door, Harry says, “Hey!” and you stop. “Hey, er - thank you. For coming tonight. I know it was a little… It was a bit much.”

“Not too much at all,” you say softly. “Bye, Harry.”

You shut the door.

***

The sticky note business began about a year after Harry met you. He’d mentioned something about refrigerator magnets being the most charming form of communication ever invented, and the next day he found a sticky note on his mirror that said, Note to self: find a more charming form of communication than refrigerator magnets.

Harry doesn’t find the sticky note in his console until the next night, when he’s driving home after working late and he’s trying to find his phone. It’s ringing, and it’s your ringtone, which is really, really annoying because you set it to the worst song you could think of so he’d be motivated to pick it up fast.

It’s not in the center console. It’s actually in his pocket. He picks it up.

“Harry, you gotta tell me now,” you say immediately. “Do you love me?”

“I -”

“Love or care, Styles.” You sound breathless. “L or C. Lover or Cunt. Tell me now.”

“Cunt,” Harry says reflexively, and then shakes his head. “I mean -”

“You don’t love me.” You don’t sound upset at all. You’re just clarifying.

Harry frowns. “I… What’s going on?”

“Well, I think I love this guy, Styles, and I’m about to fuck him, so I’ll talk to you later.”

And then you hang up.

Harry stares at his phone for a moment. Then he puts it down, frowning at the street in front of him, and thinks for a while until he gets home. When he does, he’s shutting the center console, which he’d left open, and he sees the little post it note.

Note to self: buy a pink rose for h to make him like them bc they’re pretty

Sitting in his car, staring at the note, Harry can’t help but think he’s messed it all up.

***

Sunday. You don’t show up.

***

Another Sunday. Harry orders a coffee and reads the newspaper.

You don’t show up.

***

You answer a text.

He asks if you’re okay, and you say, Yup!

***

You send a text.

Hey, Styles? Can you bring me a flower?

***

He should’ve gone to your place first, Harry’s thinking. He should’ve checked there, and then gone here. But it’s too late now. He’s stepping out of his car, trekking through the forest, and he’s finally here, and -

You’re on your back, staring at the stars.

“You know, I really thought he was the one.”

Harry bites on his lip and fiddles with the flower in his hands. “Did you?”

There’s a beat of silence. Then you sigh and sit up. “No.”

“He didn’t - you’re not… You’re okay, right?”

“Nothing’s broken but my heart,” you murmur. “Physically, I’m fine, emotionally, I’m…”

You fade off, and Harry sits next to you and hands you the flower.

“Yellow,” you whisper. You look up at him, eyes wide in the moonlight. “Why yellow?”

“Color of your shirt the first time I met you.”

Smiling, you murmur, “Memory of an elephant.”

“I couldn’t remember her favorite candy,” Harry says impulsively. He shuts his eyes, exhaling softly. “Sorry. Wrong thing to say.” You shake your head, looking forward again. “It’s fine. How’s she doing?”

“Wouldn’t know.”

Surprised, you glance at him again. “You mean you -?”

Harry shrugs. “She said my priorities weren’t right. Then she said goodbye.”

“We’re just a coupla broken hearted fools, aren’t we?” you say quietly.

“Broken hearted, yes,” Harry replies, “but I’m not a fool. Don’t know about you.”

You scoff, hitting his chest with the back of your hand. “We’re having a moment here!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Harry says, but he’s laughing so the apology is moot.

There’s a beat of silence, and then you say, “I would’ve known about her if I hadn’t missed all our Sundays. I’m sorry.” Harry shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it. Did you have fun, at least? With Mr. Heartbreak?”

You giggle. “So much fun.”

“Well… that’s good, at least.”

He looks at you, really looks, and for a moment, he forgets himself.

You’re looking up at the stars, your head tilted up, your lips curved upwards in a smile.

Harry’s expression matches yours. It’s one of quiet awe, of happiness and joy and adoration. He’s smiling, too, but it’s not as conscious. It’s more reflexive, something he can’t help but do whenever he catches sight of this view. He’s not looking at the stars, though - his gaze is focused on you.

“Come on!” you exclaim suddenly, jumping up. “This is the perfect excuse to watch The Notebook again.” Harry blinks, standing up and following you back to his car. “You took the words right out of my mouth,” he says.

***

Ideally, on the anniversary of your meeting Harry, you’d both rent a hotel room and get drunk on the minibar, talking nonsense until morning, to properly reenact that first night together. Problem with that is that hotel rooms cost money.

So instead, you have a sleepover. Last year it was at your place, so this year it’s at his. The good thing about not being in a hotel is that you can buy normal size bottles of booze, rather than the teeny ones from the minibar.

He’s grabbing everything from the kitchen while you’re queueing up the movie on the TV in his room. It’s not cooperating, though, and you’re rooting through all the wires in the back to try and find something that’s supposed to be connected.

“Harry, if you don’t get in here this second!” you shout at him.

“Did you get the other remote?” he shouts back.

You groan and whine, “Just come in here!”

“I haven’t gotten everything yet! Look for the second remote. It’s in one of the drawers.”

“Which drawers?” you yell.

He doesn’t reply.

So you ruffle through the drawers closest to the TV. Books, papers, chargers. No remotes. You go further and find his record collection. A few photo albums. You stick a sticky note on the top one that says, Note to self: go through these. There’s more books. A few DVDs.

And then - a folder. It has a yellow flower on it.

Frowning, you glance at the door behind you and then flip it open. What must be a hundred post it notes fall out. Your jaw drops, just slightly, because they’re all from you. Every sticky note you’ve ever left him is in this folder. He kept them all.

“Did you find it?” Harry shouts.

You ask, “Find what?” but your voice is too soft and he doesn’t hear you.

He shouts your name again, and you quickly shove the folder back where you got it. You clear your throat, then yell, “Harry, I can’t find it!” Finally, he comes in, arms full of food and drink, and tugs open the top drawer on his bedside table with his foot.

And there it is.

“Have I got to do everything around here or what?” he jokes.

You give him a laugh and set up the TV, which works just fine now that you have the right tools. Harry sets everything down and puts his hands on his hips, raising a brow at you. “You alright?” he asks.

“Yeah, fine,” you tell him. “Just grew a few white hairs waiting for you to come back.”

He sticks his tongue out and tosses a bag of chips at you. “Ha, ha, very funny.”

Finally, the movie’s set up, and you lean against his bed, sighing in contentment as the opening credits start to play. Harry hands you a glass and holds his own out, which you knock against your own. “Cheers, Styles,” you say. “To five years.”

“And counting.”

Grinning, you drink up and then settle back to watch the film.

***

His voice is thick.

Like honey.

It drips off his tongue, catches on his lips, slides down the column of his throat and glistens in the dim light. It’s rich. Deep. It turns to crystal in the cool air around you as his words fade off. You want to reach out and feel it on your fingers, want to taste it on your tongue, want to feel it slide over your lips, down your throat…

“... and then, suddenly, I was flying out the window with the worst pain I’ve ever -”

“Harry,” you interrupt with a giggle, “this is the third time you’ve told this story tonight.”

“It’s a good story!”

“Lemme see,” you say, crawling forward, and you’re on his lap now but you can’t really bring yourself to care because this is for scientific purposes. Harry grins and puts his hands on your waist and you giggle again and put your fingers on his jaw. “Lemme see your tongue.”

“Wanna see it or touch it?”

You smirk and reply, “How ‘bout lick it?”

“That’s gross!” Harry exclaims with a delighted laugh.

“I know!” you exclaim back, equally delighted.

“It’s broken,” Harry says, but he’s opening his mouth so it comes out all warbled. “I’m broken, you know -” You peer at his tongue, but it doesn’t look very broken. “No, you’re not,” you tell him.

“On the inside,” Harry says, pouting at you.

You laugh and wrap your arms around his neck, nestling your head on his shoulder in a hug. “You’re warm,” you say, “that’s what you are.” Harry nods against you, running his hands up and down your back. “You fix me,” he slurs into your neck.

“That’s so romantic!” you giggle.

You sit there for a second, breathing him in, feeling happy, and then suddenly -

“I’m roasting,” Harry says, and it’s morning.

“I’m so hot,” you groan, “and my head hurts so bad…”

Harry grunts and pushes against you. “Get off me.”

You open your eyes, squinting in the sunlight, and fall off of him and onto the floor.

He stands up, moaning and groaning, and walks out. You may have fallen asleep again because when he comes back in and hands you a glass of water and some medicine you’re blinking back awake. “Thanks,” you mumble, downing both.

“That was something,” Harry says.

“Something for sure,” you say.

“I can’t move,” Harry says.

“Me neither.”

So you don’t. The day drags on, and when you’re both coherent enough for food you go to the kitchen. Harry cooks something up, and you eat it, sitting next to him at the kitchen island. You feel his foot against yours, and you play a half-delirious game of footsie as you finish eating.

Once you’re all done, Harry stands up and starts to wash the dishes. You watch him, watch his back and his arms and the way he moves, and stand up and stand next to him, grabbing a dish towel and holding out your hand. He hands you the plate, and you dry it.

It’s comfortable, the silence, and it’s more than peaceful, standing there drying dishes with Harry in the early afternoon. There aren’t many dishes, but you both take your time, and eventually he breaks the silence and the productivity to put on some music.

And then, suddenly, you’re dancing, a smile on your face that you can’t seem to get rid of curving your lips as you float around the kitchen with him. He’s bopping along to the song, hand in yours, dish towel over his shoulder after he stole it from you.

The dancing carries you to the living room, where he twirls you out so you can collapse onto the couch. He does the same, and you put your feet on his lap, head on the armrest, looking at him.

“You’re staring,” he says.

“You’re in front of me.”

“Excuses, excuses.”

You raise a brow, smiling and still holding his gaze, and then sit up. “Staring contest, go.”

Instantly, he blinks, and you laugh, “Fuck’s sake.”

“No, no, again,” he demands, grinning, and he blinks quickly a few times before declaring, “Go.” The staring begins. Your eyes begin to sting, and you bite your lip, trying to keep your eyes open.

“We should watch Bird Box,” Harry whispers.

“Saw it last week.”

“I saw it,” he corrects. “You hid behind your hands the entire time.”

“You were the one screaming like a baby.”

“I prefer rom-coms, you know that.”

“Sometimes you need a little variety in life.”

“I lost the bet.”

You blink.

“Victory,” Harry says, a bit weakly, blinking too.

Your brows furrow. “What?”

“Victory,” Harry repeats, smiling sheepishly.

“No, no, before that,” you insist, shaking your head.

“I lost the bet,” Harry repeats softly.

You swallow thickly. “What bet?”

Harry bites his lip, concentrating, and then stands up and walks away. You scoff, following him, and ask again. “What bet?” He shakes his head, quiet, and opens his refrigerator, looking for something.

“Harry, for the love of -”

He holds out a kiss. A chocolate kiss.

Your eyes widen.

He steps closer, holding the kiss out on his palm. “I lost the bet,” he says. “I fell in love with you.” Your breath catches in your throat. “I don’t know if you feel the same,” he goes on, “so I… I don’t want to kiss you. I mean - I do, but -”

He holds the kiss closer to you. “I lost,” he finishes quietly.

You can’t find the right words.

So instead, you close the distance and kiss him.

The chocolate kiss falls to the floor, and fireworks erupt behind your eyelids.

After a moment, the words come.

And then, when you pull away for a moment, you both speak at the same time -

“I love you.”

Laughter bubbles from your lips, and Harry grins, kissing you again.

“So I guess I didn’t lose after all,” he murmurs.

You smile against his lips. “Let’s call it a tie.”

***

AHHHH there it is!!!! i actually did write this in like . two days . which was ! great haha but i hope u liked it!!!! if u did, feedback and a reblog would be much appreciated 💜

thanks for reading!

masterlist | ask

[cacoetheswriting]

congratulations on 2k!!!! can i please get a ✏️ with spencer reid and prompt “You and I together… would that be weird?” “No. No, I don’t think so.” please?

THANK YOU SO MUCH 🥺

Pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!Reader Warnings: a lil pining, a lil teasing from meddling friends, other than that just a big ball of fluff Word Count: 1.1k [this was supposed to be a lot shorter oops]

-

There was always a distinct sense of calm present on the jet during return trips home. Whenever a case concluded, whether it ended well or not, every member of the team used the flight to compose themselves and collect their thoughts in their own little way. You included.

With your knees pressed tightly to your chest, feet resting near the edge of your seat, you were looking out the window into the deep dark night. The illuminated wing blended with the million stars as the aircraft dipped between shadows and clouds - quite a soothing sight.

You were observing the motions silently, listening to the hum of the rotors, when Spencer’s delicate whisper hailed you back to reality. “Hey, can look at me for a second?”

You instantly obliged, tilting your head to glance at the resident genius sitting next to you. “What’s up, doc?” You asked quietly.

He didn't answer. Instead, his hand travelled to the side of your face and using his fingers, Spencer softly brushed along your cheek. You could feel the blood rush to your features at his gentle touch and you were glad - or rather hoped - he was too focused on whatever he was doing to notice the faint blush.

“Eyelash.” Spencer explained, lips twitching into a nervous smile. He held out a finger and your gaze flickered briefly to the singular lash present on its tip.

“Why, thank you kind sir.” You tittered before slightly leaning towards him and blowing the eyelash away. An all too familiar quiver ran down Spencer’s spine as your cool breath hit his skin.

The two of you proceeded to lock eyes although, the tender moment was soon interrupted by a distinctive snicker coming from across the table. Both your heads turned simultaneously to find Morgan no longer asleep.

“Please, please get a room. I am beginning.” Derek whined, clearly unhappy that your whispers woke him up. “No-one here wants to see you two making lovey-dovey eyes at one another.”

Spencer stiffened at Morgan’s words. Suddenly feeling hot, the brunette doctor wished he could say something to stir the conversation in a different direction. Away from the topic, the image, of you and him together - something that only happened in Spencer’s wildest dreams. He didn't want his colleagues figuring out he had feelings for you. But when Spencer opened his mouth, it was as if his brain and mouth ceased collaborative function. Nothing came out.

You on the other hand weren't as... reserved.

“Why? Are you jealous?” You teased, feet quickly hitting the ground beneath and your elbows now on the table separating you and Derek. You rested your head in your hands as Morgan rolled his eyes.

“You wish, pretty lady.” Derek scoffed.

“Hmm, you’re not convincing anyone Derek Morgan.” This earned you another eye roll from the man who then also leaned forward, matching your level. The young doctor silently observing the interaction couldn't help but feel a zing of jealousy located in the pit of his stomach due to the abrupt proximity you and Derek have now found yourselves in.

“If there is anyone that’s unconvincing, it's you two lovebirds.” Morgan pointed between you and Spencer.

It was your turn to roll your eyes. A seemingly meaningless act that Spencer obviously read too much into. You didn't see him as anything more than a friend. And why would you? He never gave you reason to believe he wanted anything different.

Memories of a conversation he once held with Elle flashed in his mind: “Have you ever asked anyone?” She eyed him patiently. “No.” He replied, shifting his eyes. “That’s why you can't get a date.”.

Should he ask you out? Would you say yes? Sometimes he really hated the way his brain worked.

“Are you absolutely sure you’re not jealous? I mean, it’s okay if you are.” You continued to tease with a devilish grin. Morgan smirked. Knowing he wasn't going to win this one, he waved his hand dismissively before sitting back in his seat. 

“Just keep the flirting to a minimum.” And with that he closed his eyes once again. You couldn't help but chuckle lightly.

Turning your attention back to the resident genius, who’s face was currently as white as snow, the smile on your face quickly faded and was replaced by a look of concern.

“Are you okay, doc?”

“Yeah, I think the tiredness is finally catching up to me.” Spencer lied smoothly. You nodded slowly - not believing for a second in his reasoning, but also not wanting to press on the matter.

After the jet landed and the team said their goodbyes for the night, Spencer walked you to your car. As he often did. Only this time, instead of blabbering about the latest scientific article he consumed, he was completely silent.

“So, doc, are you going to tell me what’s going on in that beautiful big brain of yours?” You asked when the two of you reached your vehicle. You threw your go-bag into the backseat and turned to face Spencer.

His hands slid into the front pockets of his pants. His mind was racing a million miles per hour and he wondered whether you could see the conflict spread across his face - you could.

“You and I together…” Spencer began after a brief moment of silence, a hint of hesitation detectable in the tone of his voice. “Would that be weird?” He queried. And right after the question escaped his lips, his heart stopped. The world stopped. He wanted to run and hide. Disappear in plain sight. The seconds in which he waited with anticipation for you to answer felt more like hours. What if you said yes? What if you said yes!

Yes, yes, yes...

“No...” You benevolently shook your head. “No, I don’t think so.”

A genuine smile crept up on your lips as the realisation of what you admitted out loud washed over you. Because now that you thought about it so vividly, you and Spencer together only felt natural.

It didn't take long for the resident genius to replicate your expression. His posture immediately relaxed and he couldn't help but let out an inaudible sigh of relief. Although, a question still rang in his ears: “Have you ever asked anyone?”.

He quickly cleared his throat. “Would you, uhm... Would you like to go out sometime?” Spencer asked. “On a date that is.” He clarified, although he didn't have to.

“I would love to go on a date with you.” The smile gracing your features grew a tiny bit bigger as your eyes scanned every inch of his perfect face - almost as if you were taking a mental picture to remember this moment forever.

-

milestone celebration | masterlist

spencer reid taglist: @no-honey-no​, @calm-and-doctor​, @idroppedmygourd​​, @averyhotchner, @wowitsel, @elldell1204, @hey-there-angels, @reidabookforonce, @willowrose99​

[anemo-writes]

hello travelers! again, thank you for putting up with my inactivity, it’s been hard to write lately haha. anyways, i thought this would be something fun to post and for everyone to enjoy, whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day or not :) (note: this will probably be more fanon than canon so please bear with me, i’ll make it as canon as it can be :’) i also kept this pretty short, so hopefully that’s okay too,, and sorry for this being late haha—i wrote this very late at night so don’t mind any typos you find please)

much love,

~ anemo-chan <3

(The Playable) Genshin Impact Characters on Valentine’s Day (Romantically)

super romantic; gifts you a bouquet of flowers and takes you out to eat at a fancy restaurant/cooks for you.

Diluc

He is nervous. He’s never paid close attention to the countless amount of people who have lined outside the tavern to ask him to be their Valentine, only to be rejected. There was absolutely no way that he would turn to Kaeya for advice, so unfortunately this was something he would have to figure out for himself. He figures that it wouldn’t hurt to go traditional, so that’s what he does; he buys a large bouquet of roses (which he had to get from Donna, seeing that at the hours that he ended work were very late and Flora’s shop was not open at the time—yeah, that was not fun) and presents himself outside your doorway, to which he invites you to join him for a late dinner—which he makes!

Lisa

She leaves a letter on top of your nightstand, paired along with a singular rose. The letter states for you to meet her outside of Good Hunter, where you find her sitting at a table with a candle dimly-lighting up the surroundings. She greets you with a warm smile, gesturing for you to sit down—the two of you enjoy a candle-lit dinner as well as bolognese she specially requested for Sara to make for the two of you to enjoy together why does this remind me so much of Lady and the Tramp,,

Tartaglia

Oh boy. It’s always a fun time spending a holiday with him, seeing that it could go two ways; one, he would be too busy to celebrate it with you on the day of, and he would take you out the day after, or two—have a store’s entire line of merchandise presented to you outside your doorstep, in which a very, very smiley Tartaglia hidden within the pile (after all, he was the best present!) After you’re done moving all of the gifts into your house (it took up the space of your entire living room), he tells you to cover your eyes and follow him. He takes you to one of the most well-known restaurants in Liyue (which currently doesn’t have a name because it is very late here!), and insists that you order whatever you want, and however much you want.

Zhongli

Over the years, he’s witnessed many, many couples celebrate this holiday and every year he’s wished to do the same. He finds the perfect opportunity to do so when Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and boy does he plan it out for the two of you. He’s even made sure to have his wallet on him at all times—it would be extremely rude for you to have to pay if he happened to forget his wallet. He makes sure to stop by to pick up a bouquet of flowers, as well as a bottle of perfume (not in a bad way, just to clarify) from Ying’er’s shop that he recalled you liked. He makes sure to pick you up early from your work place to make sure you made it to your appointment on time; after all, being late to an appointment was similar to breaking a contract, no?

surprises you with homemade sweets.

Fischl

Oh, she is so nervous—of course, she doesn’t show this. The entire week, she spent researching recipes to create a special batch of chocolate-dipped strawberries just for you—she even sent Oz to the nearby farms to “borrow” the freshest strawberries for the treat (the farmers were too scared to confront the talking bird who “borrowed” their strawberries, so luckily they got away with it). She dips them in a purple-colored chocolate (because what other color would she use, really?) and drizzles on a dark-chocolate syrup to top it off. She’s too shy to actually give it to you herself though, so she has Oz drop it off for her.

Ganyu

Even though she’s quite busy, she’s somehow found time to whip up a special batch of chocolate just for you! She shapes them into Glaze Lilies (which she found quite hard, which is why there are so few of them) and presents them to you in a neatly-sealed box. She’s quite modest when your eyes widen and tell her it’s the best chocolate you have ever eaten, claiming that she only followed a recipe, when she really made it from scratch.

Keqing

Like Ganyu, you have no idea how she finds time to create a perfect array of chocolates, which she made herself! However, with her tightly-packed schedule, she has to drop it off at your house in advance, to which you accept happily. She tried to decorate them with designs of cartoon-versions of your faces, but they’re a bit...messy. Nonetheless, they’re tasty, and to her relief, you enjoy them.

Mona

Somehow, she’s managed to scrape up enough mora to buy you a necklace; yes, a necklace, and a real one at that—none of that fake, costume jewelry stuff! She even added a pendant shaped like star, just so you could be reminded of her whenever you fiddled with it or even glanced at it. She’s quite flustered when she gives it to you, ignoring the way you ask how she managed to save this much mora to be able to buy something like this, changing the subject on how you should never-ever take it off (because it looks great on you.)

Noelle

One word: pancakes. (Have you seen the ones she makes for her special dishes? They’re frigging amazing) As a dutiful maid should, she wakes up especially early to prepare a homemade breakfast just for you, to which she serves to you just as your wake up in bed. The fluffy stack of pancakes are decorated with fruits cut up in heart-shapes, as well the words, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Y/N”, written neatly with chocolate syrup—it’s quite a sight to see, to be honest, and utterly delicious. Lucky you!

Xiangling

The day before, she tells you to meet her at the restaurant around noon. When you arrive, the restaurant is adorned with Valentine decorations, as well as a terrifying amount of food; she insists that she only made it for you, so you better eat up! Before she can show you the other dishes, the restaurant is suddenly filled with a strong, bitter smell—something burning. With a yelp, she runs into the kitchen, coming out a few minutes later with a tray of half-scorched cupcakes, their Gouba-shapes adorned with...a lot of burn marks. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts, doesn’t it?

buys/makes a present for you.

Albedo

Without your knowledge, Albedo has been creating a collection of artworks throughout all the time you had spent together. The pieces include portraits of you, portraits of you and him (sucrose helped with this), as well as just random sketches of the little things that remind him of you, such as the bare, snowy-white terrain where the two of you first met, as well as its flora and fauna. If you request it, he’ll even make the painting come alive (literally), and the two of you run to Sucrose’s dwelling, who is very shocked to see the pair of you running from a Frosted Lawachurl when she peered out her window to see if she could pinpoint the sounds of distant screaming.

Amber

Is there anything better than a matching set of wind gliders? Not only that—they were homemade! She spent the last couple of weeks putting together a pair of gliders for the two of you, customizing them to your tastes (which she nailed!) She quite literally drags you to the nearest hill to test them out, and the two of you end up challenging each other on who can get back to the Knights of Farvonius Headquarters the fastest—spoiler alert: she did.

Barbara

Oh, she would make the cutest card for you—the envelope is decorated with cute stickers (some of them even had her face on it; there’s nothing like promoting merchandise, am i right? jkjks) She also pairs it off with a box of chocolates that she bought from Sara—however, what she didn’t know was that in the box was a special-edition spicy chocolate truffle. With your luck, that was the first one you chose—and boy, were you met a surprise (it was so bad that you were begging Barbara to use her Vision on you, which she refused of course). Fun times.

Chongyun

He’s real sweet. After his expeditions and commissions, he opens the freezer (yes he keeps them in there, don’t judge him) to an array of ice sculptures, shapes varying from flowers, hearts, and such—although it’s quite the simple gift, he’s put a lot of effort into them, even putting in the extra effort to cast a spell to make sure they would not melt; it’s all worth though, when he sees the absolutely giddy expression on your face, and the look of pure awe as you pick one up and study it closely, admiring all of the details and work that’s he put in.

Ningguang

She sends out informants to find out what you like, whether it be something that your gaze settled on for too long or something you’ve mentioned while talking to her—on the day of, you open your door to a mountain of gifts, with Ningguang herself peering out from behind it with a calm smile and a wave (which was the opposite of your reaction, because who has that much mora to purchase all of these gifts?!?)

Razor

He doesn’t have a clue on what the holiday until Lisa asks him if he’s planned something for the two of you during one of his lessons. When he shakes his head no, Lisa suggests that he make you something, to which he sets out on an adventure to do, looking for flowers and flower stems to weave into a pair of matching bracelets—they’re not the prettiest, but he is pretty proud of it; after all, it was his first time making something like that. He’s quite nervous to present it to you, afraid that you might not like it, but all feelings of worry melt away when you slide it on with a huge smile on your face, insisting that he wears his too.

Sucrose

At first, she considers gifting you a present that she created herself; of course, with her work being alchemy, she isn’t sure if that would be the safest option, despite being talented herself. And so, she resorts to buying a present for you—she is very picky with the present though, insisting that it should be perfect since she could not make one herself. She even consults Albedo when selecting some of the presents (he doesn’t help her unfortunately; he believes that she should figure it out herself haha). Like Razor, she’s quite nervous to give it to you, but lets out a huge sigh of relief as you thank her happily for the gift, wiping a bead of sweat from across her forehead (sucrose bby anything you give us would be perfect,,)

whisks you away somewhere sentimental, where the two of you can enjoy a special date.

Beidou

It’s ungodly early in the morning when Beidou presents herself in front of your doorstep, announcing that you’ll be joining her and the crew on a special ride. She tugs you along beside her until you reach the harbor, where you are met with the sight of her ship adorned with streamers and banners, varying between shades of pink and red. Onboard, there is a table filled with goodies the crew collected and made, and boy do they look delicious. The group sets out to sea, and you take your place next to the captain, who even lets you steer the boat (momentarily, at least.)

Bennett

He takes you to meet his dads; yes, yes—he knows that it’s not the most romantic thing to do on a day dedicated to lovers, but he figures it’s just as important. Besides, they’ve been asking about you for quite a while—they even set up a small party within the Adventurer’s Guild, with the help of Bennett, of course. You spend the day listening to their old adventuring stories, as well as bits from Bennett’s childhood (poor boy is flustered from all the information his dads are spilling, but he’s still happy either way; after all, he’s with the most important people to him.)

Kaeya

He quite literally kidnaps you; one second you’re walking in the streets of Mondstadt on your way to work when suddenly someone grabs you by the waist and pulls you into an alley way (that sounds so creepy but i swear he means it in a good way). He only chuckles and shields himself with his arms as you punch him lightly, retorting that he scared you. He doesn’t care that the two of you have an overwhelming amount of work to do—after all, Valentine’s Day only comes once a year, right? Surprisingly, he doesn’t take you the tavern, but instead...Dawn Winery! Diluc received quite the surprise when he is met with the two of you standing outside his gates, with Kaeya requesting a wine/grape juice taste-testing. Yeah...you guys didn’t get any of that, but you did manage to snag a couple of grapes on your way out! Good for you!

Venti

You wake up in your bed, opening your eyes to see a very-smiley Venti laying beside you, chin propped up against his hand as he watches you yawn sleepily as you force yourself out of bed. You’re then presented with a handpicked-bouquet of Ceceilias, the freshest of the bunch, if he may add. You barely have time to thank him before he hoists you up in his arms and out of your dwelling, gliding over the city of Mondstadt as he whisks you away to Starsnatch Cliff, where he’s prepared a special performance just for you (and no, you don’t need to pay.)

Xingqiu

While he’s not the most romantic, he does have a clue on what people look for on Valentine’s Day; after all, that’s what cheesy-romance novels were for, right? Unbeknownst to you, he takes you on a date very similar to the one the main characters in his favorite novels partook in—and you don’t find out until you catch him peeking into the pages while you weren’t (you were) looking. Again, it’s the thought that counts—

doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Jean

Sadly, she probably forgets about the holiday. She’s too busy holed-up in her office to notice the couples gathered up in the courtyard, sharing moments with their lover. It’s not until she walks out to take a breather that she notices the commotion—she immediately calls you over, apologizing frantically. Of course, to this you respond that’s it’s okay, but that you would much rather her take the rest of the day off to spend time together, to which she reluctantly agrees.

Xiao

“I do not have time to celebrate silly human traditions like that.” He would say as you bound up to him, exclaiming that it’s Valentine’s Day, the day where you can give sweets to your loved ones, and asking if he had someone special in mind to spend it with. He’s irked when your gaze falters and the grip on the object you’re hiding behind your back tightens—he only grows more irked as you mutter to yourself how you’ll give the chocolates you made to someone else. He scoffs loudly, avoiding your gaze as he lays out his hand in front of you to accept the chocolates (just because he doesn’t celebrate the holiday doesn’t mean he can’t get jealous!)

[greyeyedmonster-18]

Loving this celebration sooo much! Any cut scenes with the word "grey"?

my namesake! lol, just jokes over here.

this was cut from the neverending epilogue of Carry Me Away that initially was going to be a "year in the life" sort of thing except i got carried away *badump chhhh*

remus and sirius connect at some point over the hols when sirius has been at his parents for a few days and just goes a bit quiet.

As far as Remus was concerned Walburga Black could go fuck herself.

After a conversation last night that left Remus oscillating between worried and ready to fight (which included getting James involved who would have no qualms at all storming the Black residence, guns blazing), Remus had convinced Sirius to let him come to him. The two of them were at a teahouse and though Sirius seemed to be thawing, there was so much missing and Remus hated that too.

Sirius was good at taking care of people, though Remus didn’t think he actually saw it that way. Sirius took care of people as easily as breathing, not giving it a second thought.

He saw it in the way Sirius helped James color code his university schedule; in the way he gave Lily his jacket during James’ football games that ran too late. He felt it when Sirius would lay on top of him when he was stressed out (who needed a weighted blanket when your boyfriend was a brick wall?); or when he would offer to pick Remus up no matter the occasion. Part of it was manners, or so said Sirius, the other part was exclusive to him. And it was hard to match, especially when Sirius was so damn reluctant to have someone care for him in the first place.

Which was made worse on days Remus hated Sirius’ parents. Sirius sat across from him, a cup of Earl Grey barely touched on the table.

Remus hated when Sirius was quiet. Unless he was quiet because Remus had fucked him into oblivion and rendered him speechless, but that wasn’t the case presently.

“There’s a couple over there on their first date,” Remus commented, absently over his own chai latte, inclining his head to a boy and a girl in the far corner of the house.”

“Hm?”

“Over there.”

“How do you know?”

“Look how nervous he is…” Remus said, “Those are first date nerves. And neither of them are touching their pastries. People are afraid to eat on first dates.”

“Maybe it’s not a date at all, it could be...an interview.”

“She’s not wearing that short of a skirt in hopes she gets a job, baby.”

Sirius snorted a little, looking at the couple again, “Maybe she’s giving the interview.”

“Then he definitely should’ve worn trousers and not...what are those even?”

“Have you been flipping through magazines?” Sirius asked, the corner of his mouth turning up to Remus’ relief.

“Brain turns to mush around the hols...I used to go with my Mum to her hair appointments when I was younger, if my Dad was working and I read a...shocking amount of fashion magazines. I think I actually used one for a haircut one year.”

Sirius grinned a little bit more, “Your mum didn’t show me those pictures.”

“And she never will.”

“I think that’s very unfair considering you’ve seen photographs of me at just the right spot in puberty.”

Remus shook his head, “Nope, completely fair. Your bad photo’s are not the same as everyone else’s. Even with braces--”

“Shhhh, never happened.” Sirius said, cocking his eyebrows in a way that felt so familiar to Remus, and taking a sip of his tea finally.

“James’ are the best.”

“Didn’t you know him then?”

“Yeah but...you don’t realize that people are funny looking when it’s actually happening. Because...everyone is funny looking at the same time and he was just James. But...looking back, absolutely hysterical.” Remus said and glanced back towards the couple, “Ah, no, see? First date. His hand is getting closer to hers.”

“Think it’s going well?”

“I haven’t decided yet...maybe. Hard to say until they get to the end.” Remus looked back to Sirius, “Come sit.”

“I am?”

“By me,” Remus clarified patting the space next to him on the cushioned bench. Sirius had insisted on giving that part to Remus, choosing the chair for himself. Remus often wondered the if there would ever be something that outweighed manners in Sirius’ book. What was the threshold for being polite?

“On...the same side?”

“Stranger things have happened on dates.”

“Interviews,” Sirius quipped and Remus laughed.

“This is a terrible interview.”

“Probably a terrible date--”

“Hey, no,” Remus cut him off, “Come here.” Sirius hesitated, “Baby...please?”

Sirius liked to maintain distance when he was in this headspace. And sometimes Remus let him, sometimes it was easy when they were two Universities apart. The only person who seem to be allowed and seemed to know exactly how to navigate Sirius was James. Maybe it was from living together and sharing a dorm room. But Remus sometimes thought they were two sides of the same coin. Birds of a feather who just got each other. Sirius stood up though, slowly, and moved to the other side of the table, sitting next to Remus on the cushioned booth, Remus putting his hand on his kneecap.

“Thank you.”

“It’s not...a chore to be by you, love,” Sirius told him, reaching for his cup of tea and pulling that to the other side of the table.

“Was that for you or me?”

“Let’s call it both of us for now.”

[ms-indifferwnt]

“I’m Cold”

“I’m cold"

“And?”

“Can’t you give me your jacket or something?”

“Can’t you accept my proposal and marry me already?”

In which Prince Donghyuck’s parents are forcing him to get married and he decided to propose to the first girl he sees to shut his parents up

Genre: Prince!Lee Donghyuck x Maid!Reader, Angst, Fluff, Arranged Marriage (kinda), Slowburn

Warnings: Curse words, Suggestive (I’ll add more if there are)

Notes: Chapter 9 out of 13 of Im Cold. This came out a lot 

WORD COUNT: 3.6k

Prev / Chapter 9 / Next

Donghyuck, your eyes were closed just as he had instructed and smiles, it was a long day and he knows your scared so he stayed by your side just as you had requested, he sat across from you (which you were worried about, you invited him to sit beside you so it'll be comfortable but he just holds your hand and tells you to rest, and with great reluctance and a lot of persuading from the Prince you finally decided to rest. He only pulled his hand away when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket, Doyoung texted him after he clearly stated to not be bothered, at least Doyoung tried

Donghyuck stares at his phone, Y/n should be okay by tomorrow, in any case I'll instruct Yuta to stay by her side all day and make sure Yangyang and two or three of the Honoris (the knights that Prince Donghyuck Commands, lead by Sir Yangyang) are at her beck an call, he nods and types on his phone Yes reschedule it to tomorrow

"Your Highness?" Your voice made his finger hover over the send button and he looks up his hand immediately taking yours, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to call you while you're busy"

Donghyuck shakes his head "I wasn't," he smiles softly "Didn't I tell you to get some sleep?"

You returned the smile "I can't"

"I can ask for a glass of warm milk" He says and attempts to stand and then pointed a finger at you, you tilt your head "Milk not hot chocolate, you won't be able to sleep with the sugar"

You smile at his words "No, please" You held his hand  making sure he wont leave "Don't wake the anyone for my sake, I'll sleep"

"Then sleep"

"But I wanna ask the Prince something"

"Go on then" Donghyuck says as he looks at his phone where Doyoung was still waiting for his response

"Can I go home?" Donghyuck froze at your words, fear being evident n his eyes as you clarified, his mind was running with questions of this was how afraid you were to afraid to stay at the palace "Tomorrow is supposedly my day off as a maid, I would like to go home and meet my family if that's ok"

"Of course its ok" He answers visibly relaxing at your request "I'll arrange a ride and escorts for you"

"I don't need escorts I'm just going home, Your Highness"

"You're my Fiancé you can't leave the palace without an escort, you were at the the palace and you got hurt what if you're out there?"

"Please? I don't want to make this a big of a deal"

He was firm with his decision about having an escort, the he grinned as he had an idea "Can I come?"

"Sorry?"

"No escorts just you and me, It'll be great to get out of the palace and you get to go home"

You sat up and shook your head "Your Highness I just help my parents with the flower shop, it'll be extremely boring-"

"Then wouldn't my visit be beneficial?" Donghyuck says and tilts his head "Not only am I visiting my soon-to-be-in-law's but I'm also visiting their shop that should boost your sales"

"Prince Donghyuck-"

"I don't wanna leave you alone" he cuts you off, he sounded sincere and worried his hand holding yours and you scrunched your nose and Donghyuck had to resist the smile that threatened to leave his lips

"But his highness has a schedule tomorrow"

"I don't" He answered quickly, his other hand (the one not holding you) had already pressed backspace and sent a new message to Doyoung

"I really don't" He answers and gives you a small smile "Let me accompany you?"

You stared at him, will it really be ok? If the Prince neglects his duties for you, you might actually hit him "You can come" He lights up "Only if you have nothing to do, otherwise," you pursed your lips "I'll go with another escort, ok?"

Donghyuck nods, happy to have you agree "Ok, I accept your terms, now get some rest, I'll make the preparations"

You nod and settled back down "Stay with me 'till I fall sleep?"  

He nods at your suggestion and in all honesty, Donghyuck had no plans in leaving you alone at all, he watches you close your eyes and he looks at his phone where Doyoung has sent a message

Donghyuck looks at your already sleeping form and he smiles, he adjusts the blankets to cover you more and used his finger to brush the hair out of your face and he coos, You looked exhausted which was true today had been a long day and you deserved the rest so he pulls away and looks out your window into the grassy fields. He took this time to think about Doyoung's suggestion, next week the deal would be over and you will no longer be his fiance, he will no longer have a reason to bring you around anymore, he nods

He sighs, a bitter taste filling his mouth, this shouldn't be hard, why would he care if the deal is over? He locks his phone, What the hell is wrong with him?

"Mama, Papa!" You called and happily jumped to hug your parents the moment you entered the shop, "I missed you"

"Aww Y/n" Your father whispers and hugs you "My Darling, look at you" You smile and leaned into your father's scent before you get an earful from your mother

"Mama?" You called and you yelped as your mother hugged you before pinching your ears and you cry "Ma!"

"Y/n what the hell are you thinking?!" She screeched "Why agree to be on a fake relationship with the Prince?"

You pouted and rubbed your ears, as your father laughs, its no secret that he misses how you and your mother would play around, "Pa, why won't you defend me?" You whined and he laughs more

"I'd rather not get in-between you and your mother" He answers

You scrunch your nose "Traitor"

"Y/n" Your mother calls you again and you straiten up "Do you have any idea-"

"Lay off her Ma" A familiar voice starts from the doorway to the back of the shop and you squealed running over to tackle your brother in a hug "Hi" He chuckles and pets your hair before pinching your ears "Cause I want first dibs, I can't believe you did something so reckless"

"Pa!" You called out and your father pried your brother off you "Like you guys would've said No to the Prince?"

You're brother looks at you and he laughs "Come here" You moved to him and he pulls you to a hug "You're an idiot but you got a point"

You rolled your eyes and hugged him happily, You missed your brother.

"Still, why you?" Your mother asks and you moved to hug her and give her a kiss on the cheek "Is the Prince treating you well? Fake or not he should treat you with respect"

"He does Mama" You answered and held you mother more "The Prince is really kind and caring"

She looks at you and you smile, "If you insist, But that doesn't mean I'm happy with this Fake Relationship of yours"

"There is no need to worry Y/n is in great hands" Donghyuck answers and entered the shop Bowing in front of your parents and they bowed in shock at the sudden intrusion. Donghyuck yelps and quickly straitened your families posture, "No Please, Don't bow, I do not deserve that" Your family looked down, ashamed at there words and the Prince laughs "They act like you"

"Your Highness-" Your brother starts

Donghyuck bows "Please, It's Donghyuck. Even if Y/n and I are on a deal, We have become good friends, and I would like to be close with her family too"

You poked your brother's shoulder so he'll speak "It'll be an honor your Highness" He smiles bowing slightly and Donghyuck bows

"I would like to Present gifts to Y/n's family" Donghyuck starts and moves to take a box out from his bag "Consider this as a thankyou for giving birth to Y/n and an engagement gift from me"

"You Highness" I gasped and he grins moving to present the gift

"Oh my god" Your mom gasps and looks at the Prince smiles "Y/n mentioned you needed a new plot of land for your plants, I have brought the deed of the land, I hope that is alright"

"My Prince we can't accept this" Your father answers

He shakes his head "Please, It would be an honor to help" He takes out two other boxes and bows handing it to your parents "And these are presents from the King and Queen"

Your parents froze at the Prince's words "Your highness" Your father starts again and Donghyuck motions for them to open the gift

Your bother drags you away and puffs his cheeks as you laugh, "Y/n, was the Prince always, stuck up?"

You smile, you knew your brother was very insightful and he has the tendency to say things he regrets later on but you decide to tease him anyway "Should I relay your words to the Prince?"

He hits you at the teasing and you laugh, Donghyuck turns to you and smiles, he didn't regret seeing you here at your home, He adores your smile and you deserve to be happy and he'll do anything to keep that smile of yours. He looks at your parents "And I would like to buy flowers, The Queen always mentioned that she wanted the Royal Gardens to be expanded" He smiles "Do you have any recommendations?"

"Y/n" He calls and you and you walked towards him, and he shows you the flowers in his hands "Red Chrysanthemums or Heliotrope?" He asks and you scrunched your eyebrows

"That doesn't match the flowers In the Royal Garden, Your Highness" you answered "Lilies might blend well with The Queen's White Carnation"

"I'm not placing them there" He answers and you looked at him confused "They'll be in the plot of land by your room"

You blinked "What?"

"You never told me how plane that part was and The Queen wanted to extend the Garden and I thought why not" He answers and looks at the flowers "Which one would you think is better?"

"It is completely your choice, My Prince" You answered

"I'm asking you, Y/n"

You looked at him and he raises an eyebrow waiting for your answer "The Heliotrope"

He nods and hands it back to your mother as he takes out his phone to contact Doyoung "I'll take fifty of those" He informs

"Fifty is too much for that land, Your highness" You Informed as your parents stared at the Prince in his surprise

"I know" He answers and smiles "I have something in mind for the extras"

"Would you like coffee your highness?" Your mother asks as she places the hot water into a glass

He nods his head as you tilt yours, You're family made you sit by the Prince while they prepare snacks, You're mom doesn't seem to have notice the Prince's answer as you spoke first  "Ma can I get Hot chocolate?"

"No" She answered and you pout "No, too much sugar" She says and raises her eyebrow at you but you nodded

"Um," Donghyuck cuts in "I would like Hot Chocolate if that's alright" You looked at him, He hates sweets, why would he ask of that?

Your mother nods, smiling at the Prince "Yes of course"

Your brother flops down across from you "You'll give it to her, won't you?"

You looked at The Prince who nods "Is it that obvious?"

"I'm afraid so your majesty"

The Prince laughs and nods "Well it can't be helped"

"You don't have to worry about me you know" You started and he looks at you "I could always coax Mama"

He smiles "I know, but I thought this would be easier"

You opened your mouth to retaliate only to hear the front door of the shop open and a familiar voice pop in "Auntie where should I put these?" you stared at the figure at the door as Donghyuck looks at him he bows "I'm sorry for barging in, I didn't know The Prince was here, I wouldn't have entered otherwise"

Donghyuck watched as the boy looks at you before standing up again "No Please, Come in"

The man bows and looks at your brother as you stared at him "Hyung, I'll go put this in the storage room" He informs and moves to enter the storage room, his eyes briefly meeting yours before disappearing behind the door and you couldn't help but whimper at the action

The Prince stared at you confused behind the exchange and you seemed frozen, staring at the door. He reaches out a comforting hand to yours but your brother despite being a fan of the Prince knows the reason behind that look in your eyes and he was starting to grasp the Prince's feelings for you but he had to be sure "Y/n" He called your name before The Prince could hold your hand and you jolted as if waking up from a trance

You reached out to pat the Prince's hand which was closes to you as you stood up "I'll be back, just a moment, My Prince" You said and stood up running to the storage room "Hendery!" You called and disappeared behind the door

"You're quite quick" Donghyuck says looking at the door the way you did when Hendery entered "You knew what I was doing?"

Your brother nods "I'm sorry for interrupting but my sister, despite being your fake Fiance is still my sister" He answers and takes a deep breath, he knows that is rude but The Prince seemed to enjoy the conversation, you and your brother are alike, both of you aren't afraid to stand up for yourselves

"Who is he?" Donghyuck asks and looks at your brother, using his position as the Prince to dominate your brother who was older than him

"My sister must be very important to you your Highness" Your brother notes, his competitive side coming out "Makes me wonder how important my sister is to His Highness, may I ask why?"

Donghyuck seemed to have been taken a back by the question begore humming and regained his composure, Why does this bother him?  "I promised Y/n," He answers and smiled "I promised her despite being in a fake engagement," Donghyuck copied your brother's tone as a silent way to warn him about his words "That I'll take care of her"

Your brother nodded, The Prince's intentions was definitely to take care of you, he now has no doubt "His name is Wong Hendery" Your brother answered "He is my sister's Boyfriend" Donghyuck froze at the information and your brother looks at him to study his reaction "Didn't Y/n mention him?"

No. "Yes," He lies and looks at his hands, it shouldn't hurt, but why? Why does he want to cry? "She has, I just didn't know what he looked like"

"You should follow her, My Prince" Your brother starts "I doubt Hendery would believe her if she was the only one who spoke about your agreement"

And Donghyuck stand to follow after you the moment your brother said those words

"What do you want me to believe?" Hendery asks and you looked at him reaching out to hold his hand "I was hurt," he whispered and you teared up at his words "Why would My Y/n be in a relationship with the Prince when she just accepted my love for her? Did I do something wrong? Was it me? Did I drive her away?"

You shake your "No, Don't think like that-"

"Then Why?" He asked, his emotions a mix of both anger and sadness "Why?"

"We're not together, the Prince asked for my help and I wanted to say no but how could I say No to the Prince?" You pleaded "I'm sorry," you bowed your hand and a sob leaves your lips, Donghyuck who was listening behind the door flinched at the sound of you crying, he wanted to barge in there and hold you, to console you, he wanted to be in there with you "But the Prince is just a Prince," Tears started slipping from your eyes as you spoke, the build up of frustration and fear and pain you felt the last couple of days finally being enough, Hendery being the only person you could rely on and at the thought of loosing him you broke "The Prince doesn't mean anything to me, Hendery, please I'm sorry-" you cried and were silenced when Hendery wrapped his arms around you

"Y/n what happened in the Palace?" He asked and wiped your tears, he knows you enough to know how strong willed you were and that something must've happened if it upsets you that much

Donghyuck freezes at your words and looked away, tears building up in his eyes, he was in pain, why? he doesn't know himself, maybe its because he can hear you crying and not be able to do anything about it, that seems to be the only reason

You shake your head as he holds you close "Believe me the Prince and I-"

"I believe you" Hendery spoke and pulls away to look at you, wiping your tears "I promise, I believe you. Didn't I tell you while I courted you? I'll believe anything you say as long as you choose me in the end"

You stared at him and started crying even more and he holds you "Please Hendery I'm so sorry" You wailed and he looks up whatever happened to you must've placed a huge toll on your mental state "Please don't leave! I-I can't loose you! I can't- I was so afraid, I was so scared I- I felt so alone and-"

"You're ok, I'm here, I'm staying" He assures and whispers into your ears "I love you, It's ok, let it out, you need to cry it all out" he whispers "Let me take care of you, Let me" He says and you loose consciousness, "Y/n!" He curses before lifting you, carrying you out of the storage room and he sees the Prince on his way

Donghyuck looks at your limp figure on Hendery and opens his mouth to speak before Hendery turns and walk in the direction of a bedroom and places you inside and down on the bed, his hand intertwined with yours to whisper small promises of him staying 'till you wake up

"What Happened to her?" Donghyuck asks after following after Hendery and you

"No offense, Your Highness but shouldn't I be the one to ask you that?" Hendery shot back and looked at the Prince "What happened in the palace? Why was she she afraid?"

Donghyuck's jaw hardened, He had no reason to fight against the boy in front of him, he is legally your boyfriend and just outside was your family, he is at a great disadvantage "She was Physically abused by a Duchess and her daughter"

Hendery stood up "She was, what!?" He was angry enough to speak informally to the Prince but Neither could care less, You were more important than their status

"I took care of it," Donghyuck answered, lips pursed as he sees your figure "I saved her, and punished the Duchess and Haneul accordingly"

"You heard our conversation, which part of that is her being ok?"

"I don't want any harm on her, I came and helped the moment I heard about it"

"Why would a Duchess harbor something like that?"

"I was once engaged to the Duchess's Daughter"

"On a fake relationship?"

"Watch your tone" Donghyuck warned and Hendery stared at him unthreatened "The King thought it would be the perfect match, but I dumped her when I caught sight of her personality"

"She must've been scared" Hendery whispers and sits back down "I don't care about your story, My Prince, but you must understand, I love Y/n and I will do anything to make her happy"

"I can see that, rest assured" Donghyuck sighs "I'm sorry, for making your relationship with her complicated, but our agreement will only last for two weeks, and I will make sure no harm will come to her after I announce about our break up"

Hendery looks at your sleeping form and then back at the Prince "I know your Highness" he answers and kisses your fingers "She has a special place with you, doesn't she?"

"No, She is a friend" His jaw hardened once again at the words

"well in that case" Hendery looks at the Prince with a tilt of his head "Can I ask the Prince for a favor about Y/n's Birthday?"

"Her Birthday?"

"Yes, I was planning on surprising her with a sweets my mother bakes" He smiles softly at a memory of you adoring his mother's sweets "perhaps The Prince will be interested making her birthday more memorable?"

I’m Cold Taglist:

@staysstrays @tyongf-sunflower99 @jackyeongljin @rebel-lious-alien @daydreamiies @channiespup @jaeshark @itlittlefangirl @ncttboo @manutuankim @annetsocial

If you wanna be added, leave a comment♡♡

[lululawrence]

Polyamory Fic Rec

I thought I’d made one already, but apparently I hadn’t. So, since @twopoppies had an anon looking for more, I figured I’d go ahead and make a rec list now. This is not exhaustive, but it’s a start! 

Please remember to leave the authors kudos and nice comments to show appreciation for their work.

I Should've Known by @nikogda (Liam/Louis/Harry, 11k)

It started out with little things here and there. A light that needed replacing. The belt in the vacuum. Small things, and eventually they took advantage of it.

Louis decided they needed another, larger repair whilst talking with his alpha neighbour, Liam. Liam had said he would do it for Louis and his partner, Harry.

And, well, it sort of went a little off track from there. What was an innocent thing at first, was now the two omegas’ way of catching the sweet deep scent of their alpha neighbour one whom they both mutually crushed.

Or: the one where alpha Liam moves in next door to bonded omegas Louis and Harry. All three go on their own journeys but in the end find that maybe, in the end, it really was always each other.

And That Was That by @lightwoodsmagic​ (Zayn/Liam/Harry/Louis, 23k)

“Okay. When Zayn and I were working on the set yesterday, Liam dropped by and mentioned he had a date. I asked Zayn about it, and he said that they’re ah - poly?”

Harry blinked.

“Oh yeah, I knew that. Li mentioned it when we were playing tennis once.” He ran his hand through Louis’ hair, smiling softly when he nuzzled into the touch.

“Is that what’s making you act strange? Because it seems like something that works for them, and I —.”

“Zayn has feelings for me.” A deep breath, and then blue eyes locked on green. “He said he needs distance because he has to get over them.”

Harry hadn’t realised his hand had fallen from Louis’ face until his fingers were being tangled and gripped tightly.

Or, Zayn and Liam have been polyamorous for years, but Harry and Louis are monogamous. When Zayn meets Louis and starts to fall for him, it opens them all up for something they've never experienced before.

That Don't Define Who You Are by lululawrence (Nick/Harry/Louis, 7k)

“Shit,” Harry muttered, rushing towards the man. “Are you alright?”

The man clearly tried to muffle his scream. “No, I’m really not. I’m afraid you’ll need to call 999.”

When Harry reached the man, he saw the man’s leg had gotten caught by pieces of the bike that had come apart beneath him. Without thinking, Harry leaned down and lapped where the blood was flowing quickly until it slowed.

“I’m so sorry, I just didn’t want you to pass out whilst I was on the phone.”

“God, no, don’t apologise,” the man said. “My mum’s a licking omega, see. Quite soothing.”

Harry blushed. “Yeah. Let me see about an ambulance for you.”

Or the one where Harry is a licking omega with a broken bond who helps heal a fairly hapless beta with a folding bicycle. When Harry also meets the beta's alpha, things start to get... interesting.

Its Mutual We (All) Discussed It by @nikogda (Zayn/Harry/Louis, 29k)

“Well you go to the agency, Alpha Donor Services and fill some forms out, whoever is doing the deed gets tested and such. And then they match you based on the papers with a few Alphas. You read the information on them and pick a few, they make sure they’re still willing and tell them about you. Eventually you guys will meet in public, do that a few times until you’re comfortable.” Niall scratched his arm lightly, and glances over at Harry, “The point of the service is to help a family, mostly an omega one, who can’t have children of their own. An Alpha will help an Omega get pregnant.”

“I feel like this is a lot.” Harry mumbles, setting his mug down.

“It is. Or well it was but it was worth it, H. I mean, I would do this again. We already talked about it.”

“Really?”

Or: Two omegas in a committed relationship are ready to start a family. In the process, their alpha donor becomes part of the family too. Every part of their relationship may be unconventional but all of them have never been happier

old haunts are for forgotten ghosts by fortymaliks (Nick/Harry/Louis, 8k)

“It’s the three of us, now,” Harry says, finally.

Louis blinks.

“Like,” Harry rushes to clarify, “you, and me, and Nick.”

Louis wakes up with amnesia, and learns that he's missing two whole years of his life. Two whole years, and some interesting developments...

Orion's Belt by @londonfoginacup (Nick/Harry/Louis, 24k)

Louis and Nick have been in a happy committed relationship for two years, their matching soulmarks on display for the world to see. It’s been them against the world, the alpha/beta singer and radio DJ power duo.

All that changes on February 1st, when they wake up to a third matching soulmark.

As they say, the course of true love never did run smooth.

You're a Rabbit, Louis Series by @magicalrocketships (Nick/Harry/Louis, 16k)

"Maybe Louis turned into a rabbit," Nick suggests. They both laugh. Louis doesn't. Harry is an idiot and Nick is an even bigger one.

Louis stomps past both of them on four tiny, furry, baby rabbit paws, and into Nick's flat. "I hate you both," he says. He sits on the rug by the TV. "And you can stop following me around too," he says to Pig, who sits down next to him on the rug.

"But seriously," Harry says, from the door. "Where's Louis?"

Louis thumps his back leg on the floor. "I'm here, you idiot."

"I'm not really suggesting this could be true," Nick says carefully, "but are we sure he isn't a tiny baby rabbit?"

The "A" in "Normal" by Yesitstyles (Nick/Harry/Louis, 28k)

Louis eats chips, argues with his best friend Nick about the validity of various sexualities, and falls for a second crush. Harry tries to spell the word "normal".

Loving You's the Antidote by lululawrence (Nick/Harry/Louis, 11k)

Nick and Harry had never been an obvious match. When eighteen-year-old Harry, newly presented as an omega, came home freshly bonded to Nick, a man nine years his elder and a beta no less, Anne had been more than skeptical and Eileen had shared some harsh words of her own. That didn’t deter them, though, and their families soon realised there really was something special about the bondmates that allowed them to work together almost seamlessly.

It was only a few months later that Harry started getting sick.

Or the one where Harry and Nick have been able to keep Harry's disorder at bay over the course of their relationship, but when they move to London and away from their support system, they find themselves in desperate need of help.

Come Out and Play by @dinosaursmate (Combination of OT5 pairings, 30k)

“I have this… fantasy.” Louis smiled self-consciously. “Well, I- I’ve been thinking about it recently, you know?”

Harry smiled softly. “Say it, Lou.”

“I have this fantasy,” he repeated. “Of… all five of us.”

“All five of us,” Harry exclaimed. “Gosh.”

Louis buried his face into Harry’s armpit, and Harry giggled softly. --- Harry and Louis discover a new kink in their relationship, and it brings all the boys closer than they could have ever imagined.

Trinity's Fate by Anonymous (Nick/Harry/Louis, 43k)

When a person is sixteen years old, he or she finds out if they are a dom or a sub. Later when they turn eighteen, the name of their soulmate(s) appear somewhere on their body.

Louis Tomlinson, a sub, fears getting a dom more than anything.

When his eighteenth birthday approaches and the names Nicholas Grimshaw and Harry Styles, a well known dom couple who are DJs for BBC Radio 1, appear on his arms, Louis panics.

Let me be your good night by Conscious_ramblings (Nick/Greg/Harry/Louis, 8k)

The one where Harry and Louis are in love, they end up at a party with some friends, and end up discovering things about themselves, and their friends that could change everything.

The thing was, Harry and Louis weren’t poly. They’d never even played with others together, despite having talked about it quite a lot in the heat of arousal. When they had been at torture garden and antichrist they had flirted with the idea. Harry had even kissed a friend of theirs once to rile Louis up, which had lead to a great session on the Saint Andrew’s cross. Louis loved to watch Harry flirt, loved the way jealousy turned him on and riled him up, loved how pliant and submissive Harry could be when Louis claimed him after. But they definitely weren’t poly, and Louis wasn’t quite sure what that meant for this evening. Everyone else attending the party was, and Louis’ green-eyed-monster had been feeding off that fact for most of the bus ride here. Now he was confronted by a really hot man playing with his boyfriend’s hair like it was no big deal, and he didn’t know quite what to do.

Perfect Sky by @polkadotlou (Nick/Harry/Louis, 40k)

Sub pairs are a rare thing, not only because of the jealousy that can brew between submissives if a Dom isn't attentive to each.

A sub pair has to be balanced.

Harry and Louis have always fit each other without trying. With them, it's easy.

But sub pairs can't just go out in the world and live on their own.

Alternatively, Louis always knew that a Dom was going to come into his and Harry’s lives – he only wishes Nick picked him too.

The Only Thing That Keeps Me Grounded by lululawrence (Nick/Harry/Louis, 28k)

“Shit, I definitely missed the last train.”

“Oh no,” Louis lamented. “I’d offer a ride, but I’m part of a carpool and we’re full already. I’m so sorry.”

“Really, it’s fine.” Then, what Louis said sank in. “Wait, I thought you were here alone?”

“Oh, I am. I’m the only one dancing here tonight. The others were working. In fact, here’s Nick now.”

It felt like slow motion as a tall, lanky man with incredible hair came walking over towards Louis. He smiled before pulling Louis into him and giving him a quick kiss.

“Nick, this is my new friend Harry. He just moved to the area and he’s amazing at swing. Harry, this is my husband, Nick.”

Fuck.

Or the one where Harry moves to Washington DC to be a nanny and never expects that his past struggles with love will be brought to a head. He definitely never expects the solution to it all will be the man of his dreams that just so happens to be married to the other man of his dreams.

Tell Me It’s The Strongest Shape by @louandhazaf (Nick/Elgar/Louis, 73k)

Nick and Elgar have it all. They’re famous, successful, and engaged to be married—and sometimes they play with others.

When uni student Louis gets street cast by Elgar for a GQ photoshoot, he's drawn into Nick and Elgar’s complicated relationship.

They've always invited mates into their bed. It doesn’t ever mean anything. Until… it does.

it hurts, but it's worth it by words_unravel (Liam/Harry/Louis, 14k)

Liam finds the shots of the three of them, rolling around and laughing, a week or so later during a late night. After a moment's pause, she saves one of the photos, giving it some inane, boring name. She shuts down her computer after that and goes to bed.

It takes a long time before she falls asleep.

[storyoffracturedstars]

Protect (Naib Subedar)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Your eyes fluttered open, seeing the familiar ceiling of the Manor's medbay. As to how you got there, you can't quite recall. You slowly sat up, flinching when you felt the familiar pain you always feel. 'The match must have ended.'

The door opened, revealing the manor's very own doctor, as well as Mechanic and Gardener, who were with me in the last match. Emily looked at me, her usual cold front visible. However, it seems as if it is softer than usual. "(Y/n), Good to see you awake. You've received quite a few injuries, a bit more than usual if you were to ask me." She quietly approached me, checking to see if my wounds opened. When she saw that I was all good, she sighed in relief and gave me a small smile.

"You're all good. Just make sure to get plenty of rest before the next match."

I nod, smiling thankfully at her. "Thank you, Emily."

With that she left, leaving Emma, Tracy, and I alone in the medbay.

I glanced at both of them, whose eyes seemed to be full of worry. I opened my arms, signaling them for a hug, as to which they immediately complied. I heard Tracy's small sniffles and this made my heart warm. It's understandable, really. She's one of my closest friends here and in the last match, I protected her from the hunter. Thinking about it, it made me wonder what happened. I couldn't recall what had happened, seeing as I blacked out at the near end.

I felt someone remove themself from the hug and hit me in the head, making me flinch at the impact. "Ouch! Calm down Emma, I'm injured, remember?"

"No, you deserve this much. How reckless are you that you taunted Undead?" She glared at me, "You know the guy's heartless right?"

"I know but I couldn't just leave Tracy alone, you know?" I giggled, "I'm a faster runner than her and we need our little decoder." You ruffled her hair, making her look at me. The rim of her eyes was noticeably redder than usual, making me smile softly.

"Don't cry, Tracy. I'm fine, see? I'm still alive."

She sniffled, before whispering softly. "You wouldn't have been if Naib didn't get there in time."

This made me look at her curiously. "Naib?"

"Yeah, you told us to leave you but the guy is stubborn. He didn't want to leave you behind." Emma sighed, "I know that you guys are reckless but please, don't scare us like that."

I could hear the sadness in her voice, making my heart ache a bit. I softly removed Tracy's hold on me before reaching for Emma, hugging her as well. "I'm sorry, I'll make sure to take good care of myself. I promise."

I felt her sigh in relief. It was understandable as to why'd they act this way. Everyone in this manor had gone through something that changed them entirely. Something that made them fear life in itself. It just becomes a bit bearable with someone by your side.

I soon broke the hug, wondering where the last member of our team was. "Where's Naib?"

Emma shrugged, "I don't know. Probably in his room, why?"

"Lead me to him? I just need to thank him."

Tracy immediately nodded, while Emma follows, albeit reluctantly. You stood up, following the two girls, chatting along the way. You quietly watched them, looking around the manor. You couldn't deny that it was beautiful if it weren't for the fact that you were trapped in here while the game ensued.

While you were walking, you couldn't help but notice a familiar tuff of hair outside the window. "Emma? Tracy?"

You called the two, making them stop their talk to look at you. "I think I see him. I'll see you later?"

"Are you sure?" Emma asked, concerned for your well-being.

You nodded, a smile present on your face. With that, they left you as you headed for the window, opening it once you reach it.

The sudden sound made the mercenary jolt in surprise, sending a glare towards the sound. Once he saw that it was you, his expression softened, turning to face you.

"Rather cold to be outside, huh Naib?"

He leaned his arms on the windowsill, meeting your gaze and you fail to hide the blush that's slowly creeping up your cheeks. You thanked the heavens that it was a cold night.

"I'm used to it. How about you? Why are you already up? Last I saw you, you were unconscious."

While he tried his best to hide the worry in his tone, you could sense it because you have been on so many rounds with him. You giggled as you leaned your chin on your hand. "I'm okay. I'm a strong survivor, after all."

He scoffed, "Sure you are."

"I am!" You smiled playfully as he let out a small chuckle. You took this time to stare at him. He had sported a new bruise, present on his lips. There were also quite a few littered here and there, and this made you frown.

Noticing your stare, he sighed, flicking you in the forehead thus, making you flinch. "Hey!"

"Don't worry so much kid. These injuries were caused by Undead, not you."

You rubbed the spot where he flicked you, "I'm not. It's just..." you gave him a sad smile, "I feel like I always give you troubles, you know. I'm always giving you inju--"

"One more word and I'll kiss you."

You shut up, making the mercenary in front of you chuckle. "If you hated being kissed by me, you should have said it." His chuckles died down as he stared at you seriously. "I'm going to clarify one thing here kid. You don't give me any trouble, not as much as the other people here do, and you are NOT the one giving me these injuries. The hunters are the ones giving me these, NOT you." He drilled his pointer finger in the middle of your forehead, "Remember that kid."

You swatted his finger away, glaring at him for doing so. "I'm not a kid you know?"

"Could have fooled me." You playfully hit his shoulder, making him laugh. You slowly stopped, smiling at his expression. It was rare for him to be this way, only doing this in front of you. You found it endearing that he'd let his guard down when with you. It must have been all the times you were together in the matches.

He seemed confused by your staring, waving his hand in front of you. "You there, kid?"

You nodded, before giving him a soft look. "Thank you."

"For what, kid?"

"For always being there for me. You didn't have to but you continue to do so anyway so thank you." You could have sworn that you saw a light blush on his face but you quickly dismissed it as being too cold.

He scratched the back of his neck, coughing to ease his awkwardness. "No problem kid."

You tiptoed as you reached his cheek, giving it a quick peck, making him look at you in shock. You giggled before slowly going back inside, "I wouldn't have hated it, you know?"

With that, you closed the window, allowing the mercenary to be alone with his thoughts. He sat on the ground, eyes staring into nothing. Once he realized what had happened, he covered the lower part of his face, hoping to hide the creeping smile on his lips.

"Cheeky kid."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

[from-a-reckless-writer]

some rojascorp mayhaps??

Once upon time, Andrea Rojas would've been the first person she would call about this. Ask her if it would really be a good idea to drop everything and just leave. In her mind's eye, she can already see what Andrea would've said. She would say, yes. And most possibly even tell Lena she'd drop everything too and fly right along with her.

You jump. I jump.

She was sure of it. After all, they did it once before.

So, really it wasn't a surprise when she opens the door and sees Andrea on the doorstep.

"Andrea." The door opens wider and Lena lets her in. "What are you doing here?"

Even though based on the unreadable expression on her face, Lena already has an inkling.

"I overheard my emp-" she clears her throat, waits for Lena to turn and face her. "I overheard Nia and Kara today," Andrea speaks slowly, "You're going to Ireland."

Lena merely raises a questioning brow.

"I-" Andrea fidgets and that's the first time Lena sees that there is something in her hands. A folded piece of paper, it looks like.

Andrea catches her eyes, and says, almost a whisper, "I have something to confess."

Lena inhales deep, crosses her arms.

"Well, let's hear it then."

Andrea takes a step forward, debates putting a hand on Lena but settles for fidgeting with the paper again.

Now upon closer inspection, Lena notices its yellow color, an old parchment and if the inky bleeds are any indication, Lena's suspects it to be some old letter.

This rattles the heart in her chest, for reasons she would not dare name.

Andrea starts to speak again and Lena tears her gaze away from the letter.

"I-I've been investigating Lex," Andrea tells her.

"Seems like that's what everybody is doing these days, or so I heard." Lena's stalling she knows, but who wouldn't? Andrea's serious yet sincere gaze is terrifying. It has been so long since that's been directed at her, and Lena does not want to fall victim again.

Andrea ignores her, continues on, her voice now more sure, most likely the effect of noting Lena's reaction. Andrea knows all too well what she can do after all.

"And in order to do that," she explains, "I had to infiltrate the Luthor Mansion."

As Acrata, Lena adds in her head. She remains as stoic as possible and what Andrea does next almost knocks her.

"Lena," she says, "I really think we should sit down for this."

The rattling has now become pure chaos inside her.

Lena says nothing in response, just turns around again for Andrea to follow. She guides her to the enormous couch. She crosses her legs and Andrea does the same next to her. Lena pointedly avoiding the thing in Andrea's hands.

"So?" Lena prods.

Andrea inhales, swallows, "I went to Lionel's study."

The room springs clear in Lena's mind.

The rows of books; the smell of cigar and grease when Lionel brings his projects home; Lex's diploma framed and hung, Lena's report card pinned next to it. A single family picture. The stiffest Lena has ever felt for the camera.

"And I- I found something."

Lena snaps back to the present.

"It's from your mother."

Andrea looks regal in the open moonlight of her apartment, and God, she thinks, it truly would never be over, would it?

"N-not Lillian." Why Andrea felt the need to clarify that, she wouldn't know. When she's the first person Lena had confided to about how Lillian was never a mother to her.

"A letter," Lena states, her voice is quiet and calm, the opposite of the tempest deep inside.

"Yes," she confirms, "here." Andrea starts to hand her the letter-

"Can you please-" she blurts out suddenly, Andrea halting mid-way.

"Can you please hold my hand? While I-" she inhales deep, "While I read it? Please?"

Andrea only nods, reaches for Lena's hand, wraps around it tightly.

It's the anchor Lena needs, but she would never admit that. It looks like she doesn't need to though. Andrea already knows she's afraid of drowning.

Lena takes the paper gently, afraid that it will crumple the dust the moment her fingers touch it.

The paper is old and yellow. The ink blurred at some parts, drops of something Lena suspects to be alcohol, marring the words. He imagines Lionel reading it for the first time in his study. Did he feel the same churning in his stomach as Lena did now? Was he too drunk to even read it?

God, Lena so badly wishes she was drunk right now.

Andrea squeezes her hand and drags her back.

The writing isn't anything like hers. Each word in capital letters, which should've made it look a bit robotic and too uniform, yet to Lena's eyes it looks elegant. As if the hand that had written took great care in laying down the words.

She reads the first line.

"To my dearest Lionel,

I am sending this directly to the mansion, I apologize in advance. I tried calling. But your assistant, I have to commend her--she gets creative with those excuses--never fails to inform me that you're unavailable. I've also tried your various emails, to no avail. And well, this is my last resort.

All this to say, I know when I'm not wanted anymore. But I do just need to send you this one last letter. If you don't want me in your life anymore, well, who am I to stop you? You're Lionel Luthor.

But I do think you might want to know about your daughter, our daughter. Lionel, we never did make any good decisions together, but I think, our daughter, she's the one good thing to ever come out of this mess.

She's turning two on the 24th. She's perhaps the best thing that could have happened to my life. She's a menace, she started walking early and I've babyproofed the house yet I'm still afraid she'd knock her head somewhere. She's a babbler, and a smart one at that. She's going to do great things, Lionel. I just know it. I'm so proud of her already. She has your eyes. Always green. Always bright. I miss you, I'm not going to lie. Yet, when I hear her laugh, it doesn't hurt so much anymore.

Her name is Lena, in case you've already forgotten. Don't worry, her birth certificate doesn't say Luthor. Lena Kieran, I've decided, would be the safest for her. She will be untraceable. Nobody will manage to link her to you.

Then why name her Lena at all? If she'll never be a Luthor, right? Naming her with an L seems a bit sentimental, I admit. A selfish part of me, I think, is still hoping for you to come back. To see you hold Lena for the first time, matching eyes lighting up. Maybe give her your name.

Someday.

She's the love of my life, Lionel. I would do anything for her. I keep wondering if you would do the same if you met her. If you will ever meet her. I'm afraid, you know? I'm terrified of the day she'll come asking for you. I'm terrified that even though I love her fiercely, it would never be enough. Will my love ever be enough? It never was for you.

But well, I never was one to dwell on sad things, so I'm afraid I have to end it here, Lena will wake soon. And how such a small thing can make so much noise, I don't know.

Goodbye, my love.

If you ever have a change of heart, you know where to find us.

Yours..."

And that was it, Lena realizes, that was the end. It wasn't signed. She turns the paper over frantically, searching for any clue, anything, any sign.

A signature, a name, an initial.

Nothing. There's nothing.

"Where's the- there's no-"

She doesn't realize she's sobbing till Andrea's tearing the paper away from her hands and pulling her close; doesn't realize she's hyperventilating till Andrea's squeezing her tight, tight, tight.

"Lena, you have to breathe. Lena, breathe."

She lets herself be carried away by Andrea, heaving gasps coming out of her lungs.

She's the love of my life.

I would do anything for her.

She'll never be a Luthor.

I'm terrified-

"Lena, Lena," somebody's calling her.

"Lena, you have to look at me. Look at me."

Her eyes focus and Andrea is there, soft and strong and here.

Lena's fully in her lap, one arm wrapped around her, one hand cupping her face.

"Lena, Lena," she keeps saying her name, her palm warm on Lena's cheek, and all Lena can do is nod. Tears are still streaming down her face and if she opens her mouth, she's afraid of what will come out.

So, she nods. She nods and she tries to breathe, tries to follow Andrea's counting.

Her breathing settle, and she can feel the whoosh of relief from Andrea.

"There we go, just breathe, just breathe," she coos, running her fingers through Lena's hair.

"I'm sorry," Andrea tells her, "God, Lena. I'm so sorry, I should not have sprung it on you like that. I'm so stupid. So, so stupid. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

She says sorry over and over. pressing it to Lena's hair, to Lena's forehead, anywhere within reach.

"T-there's no signature," Lena manages to say, she feels Andrea tense beneath her. "No name. I don't know why- I don't know why I can't remember her name."

Her lips move against Andrea's exposed collarbone, and she wonders if that's the reason something is drumming loud beneath the skin Lena's pressed to.

"She couldn't sign it, I think."

"I think so, too," Andrea agrees quietly.

She was the other woman, of course, she couldn't sign it. It was already an act of bravery to send it to a place where Lillian Luthor resides. Signing it would've meant more than danger.

"You were a kid," Andrea whispers, "You were a kid, Lena. It's okay if you don't remember."

But it's not. Because, because her mother loved her so much and Lena can't even remember her name.

"She said, I wasn't going to be a Luthor, in the letter, she said."

And that, that must mean something, right? That must mean that everyone else is wrong, she's not just a Luthor. She wasn't supposed to be one anyway.

Kieran.

"I'm so sorry, Lena," Andrea says again and Lena's unsure what she's still apologizing for.

"Kieran, Andrea. Kieran. I don't think that's supposed to be my middle name." She pulls away from her place on Andrea's chest to look at her.

She turns around, reaches for the letter discarded on the table. Her hands doesn't tremble much this time.

"Look, there, see," she points at the line, "She said, Lena Kieran. I think, I think that's a surname."

A clue.

A thread to pull on.

A part of her that connects them together.

Andrea stares at her silently, "I think you might be right."

Lena's mind is going a mile a minute now, she would have to research. She would need Brainy's help, a database, she needs access to a database, lists of orphanages, records that Lillian might have hidden about her.

"Lena," Andrea calls, "Slow down."

"I- I wasn't-" A blush rises to her cheeks, "I wasn't doing anything."

"Yes, you were. I can hear you thinking."

She doesn't answer, just slumps back into Andrea again, buries her red face out of sight.

"I'll help you," Andrea murmurs, "I'll help you. You don't have to do it alone. Not anymore."

"Okay," she says, dares to kiss at Andrea's jaw. "Thank you," she breathes against her skin.

There's so much to unpack, so much to do, so much to say.

But it can wait, it can wait.

"You jump, I jump."