#That's from months of encouragement and little things like having them transfer over by themselves

[sastielsfandom]

I love that it was heavily implied I do too much for my sisters and when I worked with them so they can be more independent it's now I don't do enough for them lol. Meanwhile I've been transparent that this was always the goal. They're not supposed to rely heavily on me. It's not beneficial to them. And it's not like I randomly stopped doing as much, it took months of specific teachings before we could get here. Sorry that you like playing into being a hero for disabled people but they also like their independence.

[gentlenotes-moved]

Hi! Can I just start by saying how much I adore you? I mean, yeah, I guess I don't really know you. But everything that you share here reflects bits of you and I love the whole reflection that I've come to know. I used to hate positivity blogs and such because their words always used to feel so unachievable. It all always used to feel too far away from the real process of healing. But your blogs, and the others I followed after that actually helped so much! And that's only because even though you can just create that image of invulnerability, you choose to share all the parts and you guys aren't afraid to show the other side of the coin too. That yes, these people, who encourage so much positivity, break down too. That no matter how far along you are in your healing journey, there will still be moments when you break down but what's important is that you get back up again. I guess that sounds a little messed up in a certain way but that's not what I mean, I just don't know how to word this better. I guess what I'm trying to say is that your honesty makes things feel realistic. Feels more human.

But despite all that, I get so sad when I see such amazing people feel down about themselves. If I could, I would hug you so tight until no insecurity could breach that stronghold (that's coming from someone who shies away from physical contact a lot). But I look at you (or your posts anyways) and I see somebody quite strong. Even though the present is heavy, you keep continuing and don't stop. Instead, you take the steps and encourage others to do the same! You really are someone awesome.

And I can't offer much advice, as you had asked in that one post that I can't find right now, but I hope these words are, idk, a net positive?

(I know this is already too long so I'm gonna wrap it up quick)

I hate the fact that childhood years, the ones we have the least control over, are the ones which have the most control over us later in our life. I just hate that thought so much. But we can only keep trying to take that power away from them and transfer it to our current self.

But please, don't worry, I know that the present sucks and it sometimes feels like it's gonna be this way forever, but remember, trying even a little changes the future. And you are trying so much, so you have a definite better future.

Anyways, sorry for this long thing, but I hope good things come your way soon! Sending lots and lots of love.

(Am I supposed to send this anonymously? I'm sorry, I'm very new to Tumblr and I don't know the norms 😭)

this is honestly one of the most sweetest messages i've ever gotten in my inbox; in all of my sideblogs. thank you for your kindness and encouragement, love!! :( <3

i try to make recovery and healing feel as realistic as possible. it's not just a clean, linear path; there's thorns and dirt and there's rocks to trip and fall on and dark holes to fall into. and the path may even lead you back to where you started. but it's worth trying. and i think that's what i try to express on this blog. and i totally understand positivity blogs that make recovery look like a flawless and faultless process, but it's almost never like that at all.

i've been feeling very alienated from my father lately because of something (just search up qanon; it's not good). he's just going down a deep spiral of rage and paranoia and loneliness. and from what i'm seeing, it looks like he could have a lot of diagnosed mental disorders that he seems to have inherited. and he also has a massive amount of unresolved childhood trauma. all of this combined has lead to my family being severely dysfunctional for as long as i can remember. i'm not gonna get much farther into it, but this is the gist of what my mind has been orbiting for the past several months.

but i do keep me and this blog going to encourage others to keep fighting their battles and to keep living their lives. there are so so many reasons to be happy, and i want to remind others of that. the path to healing might be ragged and a bit unpredictable, but it's a path worth walking down.

thank you for your kindness. seriously. and to think that someone thinks i'm a good person? it really does shock me, lol. but i thank you anyway. i hope life treats you kindly my love. seeing from your posts, you really seem like a gentle and kindhearted person as well. ♡

[terrence-silver]

Thoughts on Terry and Kreese’s toddlers developing a bond, like they are extremely clingy and cry when they become separated from each other?

Ha-ha. A classical case of Terry baby-trapping Kreese.

...With a baby that isn't even their shared child, via adoption, surrogacy, or whatever method. No, this is Kreese's own biological kid and Terry's own biological kid merely becoming friends. Not quite so insidious, right? Right!? But, this is still baby-entrapement where tactics are concerned because it bears every semblance of just that. Comes off like that and Terry knows it. He knows it even as he encourages this friendship between toddlers to the utmost degrees, stoking the fire, insisting on their playdates, sharing toys, spending time together, being brought over to the mansion to be with each other, or Terry literally limousining through The Valley with his kid to bring them to John, ensuring they've their time together. After all, these kids, they have no prior memories, experiences, character traits due to being merely months old (The iron is forged while it is hot, Terry decides). This bond would be their first and only, and as such, the most expansively intense connection they ever had with anybody, ever, and might even become a formative memory in their minds. This friendship took up 100% of their lives, because they aren't even one year old, and there is no other lives they lived other than being friends. Is this Terry also viscerally living through their children because he might've had an unfulfilled desire or fantasy of meeting John much sooner than Vietnam and actually growing up together with him in some sort of sibling-next-door-best-friend-that-is-always-at-arms-lenght situation? Maybe. Undoubtedly. I feel he was a lonely, overly-sheltered child, after all.

Is it also Terry tying John to himself in yet another elaborate way?

Oh, look, Johnny, our kids just love each other so much.

Why, they cry and cry when separated!

Don't you know that when babies cry too much they're in risk of getting trauma-based child seizures and various illnesses? You wouldn't be so heartless as to go and be anywhere except within arm's reach from me? From us? Or better yet. Why don't you move into the mansion? So we can raise them together, John. John?

C'mon, Johnny! It was just a suggestion!

Of course John wouldn't entirely concede to bunking together, because he too wants a reason for Terry to ride out and come to him (some baby-trapping all of his own, albeit in a far more subtle way, playing a bit prideful and a bit hard to get at times), but shared birthdays it is! Shared little get-togethers for their children and themselves! Shared presents (or rather, lavish gifts Terry hoists upon John through the guise of 'merely giving things to the dad of his kid's best friend)! Those toddlers start picking up Karate together from an earliest age. Any onlooker might think these are relatives. Maybe Terry and John are some sort of uncles who married into the same family or? In the 80's as in present day alike one might assume that they're a gay couple, which could both be hilariously accurate or hilariously close to the truth without actually being true if we take into account all the shades of repression these two have all while basically unwittingly acting out a domestic, pastoral fantasy that is blatantly gay seeming to everyone but them. Well, at least to John. John thinks this is just two war friends ensuring their children appreciate their connection from the army by transferring it to the next generation. Meanwhile, Terry might be fully aware how they come off. Like two fathers. Like lovers. Like a couple. And he relishes the image, all while manipulating events through their children who now absolutely cannot be without one another. Are you just an unethical individual that used two babies as a Pavlovian method directed at each other, or are you just, you know, Terry Silver?

Except, might just be abundantly clear to John how they come off, deep down, as well.

Thing is, he could function under rules all of his own, with his own codex. Not really caring what the world thinks or how it perceives them. as much as he wants to let on like he seems he cares. He realizes what Terry’s been doing, and he lets it happen, because they’re both just as bad and obsessive as the other.

[multifandomimagines]

Let Me Show You - A Theo Raeken Imagine

Characters: Theo Raeken x Reader

Word Count: 3469

Summary: Reader is feeling stressed and insecure, so Theo wants to be there for her and make her feel perfect.

Warnings: Smut (female-receiving oral and vaginal), insecurity, mentions of IED

Written by: Josie

A/N: Keep reading after the cut 👀

Disclaimer: GIF isn’t ours - credit to who it belongs to

Y/N sighed as the puffy red eyes of her reflection stared back at her through the mirror. This week had been… different. Every little thing had been going wrong, and each day brought more and more emotion, stress and insecurity. Her under-eyes were dark with exhaustion and her smile wasn’t as bright as it usually was - that is, when it showed itself anyway.

She didn’t even hear when her bedroom door opened and closed softly, didn’t register the light footsteps across her carpet moving toward her; not until the eyes of her boyfriend met hers in the mirror, round with concern. Seeing him so suddenly would usually have elicited a wide grin from Y/N, and she would jump into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. Yet, in the state she was in, his arrival made her feel as if she could finally let it all out. Her emotions overwhelmed her like a tidal wave, and her eyes prickled with tears.

“Theo,” she whispered, her voice cracking, and hurriedly turned around to bury her head in his neck. Almost like a reflex, Theo held her tightly to his chest as she cried, his hand rubbing up and down her trembling back. He slowly walked them backward until his legs hit the edge of her bed, and pulled her shaking body onto his lap.

“Shh, baby,” Theo hushed her sobs tenderly. “It’s okay.” Her head had made its way back to his neck, Y/N couldn’t even look up at him. He wouldn’t show it, because he had to be strong for her, but seeing his girl like this broke him to pieces inside. She was the only person who saw the good in him when everyone else tossed him aside as either a failure or a villain. Either way, he was a lost cause in the eyes of most people. Everyone really… well, everyone except her. Out of all of the people Theo had met in his life, he knew Y/N deserved to be happy more than anyone. She deserved to be cared for, celebrated, loved. As someone who dragged him out of his darkest places, Theo wanted nothing more than to help her out of hers.

Y/N sniffled, and slowly lifted her head from Theo’s shoulder, her eyes staring downward and avoiding the gaze of her boyfriend. She knew it hurt him to see her like this and she wished she could just… stop.

“Hey,” she heard him say. “Look at me Y/N.” His voice was rich with worry for the girl he loved, and she flinched at the thought of causing him grief. It was quick, but Theo saw it, and his heart snapped once again. Slowly, he raised his hand to her cheek, running his thumb along her cheekbone softly, collecting the tears that were slowly drying on her face. She subtly leaned into his touch without even realising she did it, it was like her body moved off it’s own accord, drawn to him. Gently, Theo moved his hand to Y/N’s chin and turned her head to face him.

For the first time since he’d arrived, Y/N finally let Theo see the pain in her eyes. They were glossy and slightly bloodshot, and Theo’s gaze softened at the sight of her vulnerability. “What’s wrong?” He asked a simply question, not wanting to overwhelm her.

“Everything,” she breathed. Theo’s fingers ran themselves through her hair, encouraging her to keep going. Initially she wanted to shrug him off and succumb to her feelings again, but she let him comfort her. “I’m just feeling everything all at once. Theo, I can’t-“

“It’s okay baby, it’s okay,” He held her cheeks delicately, scared to break her fragile form. “Breathe with me.”

It was something Theo had learned over the months. Sometimes Y/N really needed to calm down and just breathe slowly, in and out, exhaling the intensity of her feelings as much as her brain would allow. Though she hadn’t admitted it, Y/N realised that the method worked better when Theo led her through it.

After a minute or so of long, deep breaths, Y/N was no longer jolting with the ghosts of sobs from earlier. Theo continued to hold her close, remaining gentle but tight enough to always remind her that he was there for her. No matter what.

“This week has been so bad,” She began, and Theo stayed silent, realising that she was finally feeling comfortable enough to talk. He felt a small surge of pride flow through him at this, knowing that it was hard for her at times. “I’m stressed. I still have so much work to do, and deadlines are creeping up on me like a freakin’ predator. I’m worried for my brother, he’s struggling with his IED and he’s even been taking his meds, but they keep needing to up the dose and it kills me to see him in the state he gets. I keep screwing up too, like earlier I kept stalling the car, and I broke a photo frame yesterday morning, and I forgot to submit an assignment for grading at the beginning of the week. And I can’t sleep at night… Theo, I’m so tired.”

“Hey, come here,” Theo whispered, pulling her into another hug. “Okay, first of all, you are so smart and every time you get stressed about an assessment, you always go and smash it, don’t you?”

A smile threatened to pull at her lips at his confidence in her, and she nodded.

“Right,” Theo grinned. “Next thing, Liam is resilient, just like you. He won’t let one little setback get him down, and his meds will be sorted before you know it. Plus, he’s lucky to have you as a sister, you know that? You’re always there for him, everyone sees it.”

Y/N shifted on Theo’s lap, looking into his eyes as he spoke. “And,” He continued. “Everyone has weeks where they feel like they mess everything up, even super cool badasses like me.” Y/N giggled, spurring Theo on. “Someone as perfect as you doesn’t need to worry about a few little mistakes. They’re nothing, okay? Not important.” His hand moved soothingly up and down her arm, leaving goosebumps in their wake. “Is that everything?”

“Um, yeah…” Y/N trailed off quietly, suddenly avoiding her boyfriend’s eyes and sinking into herself. Theo knew her so well at this point that not a single subtle movement would go unnoticed, so he raised his eyebrows at her response. He knew she was holding back, and she knew that he knew. Sighing, Y/N gave in a little. “It’s stupid.”

“What have I always told you?” He said, smiling at her. “You can tell me anything. Anything at all. I’ll be there for you no matter what. You know that, don’t you?”

Y/N nodded and breathed in, slightly shakily. “I feel ugly, Theo.”

“What?” Theo whispered in disbelief, his eyes the size of saucers. He didn’t know what he’d expected, but it wasn’t that. “Baby-“

“I told you it was stupid-“

“No, it’s not that, it’s just-“ Theo searched for the words in his brain. He never thought he’d have to convince the most beautiful girl in the world that that’s what she was. He thought it was just common knowledge, really. “You and ‘ugly’ would never even fit in the same category. Not even in the same universe.”

“That’s just not true though,” Y/N stated, shaking her head, her eyes tired. “I can’t even look in the mirror at the moment. I feel like when I look, I’m not looking back at me. And it makes me cry. I’d rather not see myself at all than to look at that reflection.”

If Theo’s heart wasn’t broken before, the damage was definitely done now. Hearing Y/N, his girl, say that she wasn’t pretty, but ugly, made him feel all kinds of lost and confused, but more so sad, because he wished he could take away her pain and make it all disappear. Unfortunately, his powers of pain transference only worked on physical pain, and he silently cursed that fact.

“How can you not see what I see…” He whispered, almost more to himself than to her. “You know, the first time I saw you Y/N, even from a distance I knew I’d never see anyone as beautiful as you. And now I’m looking at you, months later, and I still think you’re just as stunning. You are gorgeous. You hear me? The most gorgeous ever.” Theo placed kisses on her nose, her cheeks, her forehead as he spoke, causing Y/N’s heart to flutter. His words stirred something in her, and the intensity of his eyes boring into hers made her forget about everything she was worried about. A wave of adoration for her boyfriend washed over her, and she cupped his cheeks delicately, a smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

Y/N didn’t have the words at that moment, all the emotion was caught in her throat, so she did what she felt conveyed her feelings best. She leaned forward and kissed him, Theo’s lips moving against hers immediately, as if by instinct. It was so soft, so pure, light as a feather. She pulled away from him all too soon, their eyes meeting each other once again, but Theo didn’t feel like stopping. “I want to show you how beautiful you really are,” He spoke lowly, holding her hand and giving a gentle squeeze. “Please baby. Let me show you.”

He didn’t have to explicitly say what he really meant by that for both of them to know, and his request sent warm shivers through her body. She spoke only one word: “Okay.”

Theo connected their lips again, harder this time. Even with just a kiss, he wanted to pour every ounce of love he had for her in it. He would make sure that he made her feel exactly how she deserves to feel. Her hands had moved to the back of his neck, plucking at the hairs on his head, while Theo held her as close as their bodies would allow.

His fingers slid up her t-shirt slightly, brushing the skin underneath. Theo’s fingers were so cold that Y/N gasped against his lips, so her boyfriend took the chance to slip his tongue into her mouth and explore. Slowly, he lifted her shirt up further and further until they were forced to pull away so Theo could tug it over her head and toss it on her bedroom floor.

Of course, Theo wanted to marvel her brilliance as best he could, so he gripped her by the waist and moved her carefully so she was laying flat on her bed, looking up at him. “So beautiful,” he murmured, and waisted no time in resuming their kiss. His hands travelled down her sides as their lips moved in sync like a perfectly choreographed dance, and his hips ground into hers - gently still, yet hard enough to give Y/N friction where she needed it the most.

He dragged his lips to her neck, sucking and biting on the skin to create dark marks to decorate her already perfect body. Theo considered it his finishing touch to her, as he knew she needed him as much as he needed her, which was what made them so perfect. Y/N’s hands roamed his back, one leg secured over his hip to keep him close, and Theo reached around to unclip her bra. His eyes widened - he would never get used to seeing her body like this, and she wasn’t even fully exposed to him yet.

“I love these so much,” He said, lowering his head to one breast and closing his mouth over her nipple, his tongue sliding across her sensitive skin. Y/N moaned as he simultaneously kneaded her other breast with his hand. “I love this one,” He said, moving away from the one he was playing with. “And I love this one.” Theo reattached his lips to her other breast, her rapidly increasing breaths spurring him on.

Y/N’s hips involuntarily bucked up at Theo’s, and he chuckled lightly against her skin at the movement. He trailed his lips back up to her collarbone, her neck, her jaw, all while dragging her leggings and her panties down her legs as far as he could. He pulled away from Y/N’s lips to crawl down the bed until he could completely reveal her entire body. Her leggings and panties discarded on the floor, Theo looked his girl in the eyes as he placed his hands on her thighs and lightly encouraged her legs apart.

Shivering with anticipation, Y/N watched her boyfriend wide-eyed as he licked one long stripe up her centre. Her eyelids fluttered, but she couldn’t bring herself to break the intense eye contact she held with Theo, until he began to flick his tongue against her clit. Her head fell back onto her pillow, arms flying down to grab onto Theo’s hair, feeling his head moving between her legs. She moaned as he licked and sucked at her clit, doing everything in his power to make her feel good, and it was music to his ears. He soon replaced his tongue with his fingers, rubbing her clit quickly, and started licking along her core, like it was his whole life’s purpose to do so.

“Fuck, Theo,” She whimpered, and Theo groaned against her at the sound of her saying his name in such a situation. Her voice held so much vulnerability yet so much excitement, so much feeling, so much love. The vibrations against her core sent waves of pleasure racing through her, and Theo watched through his eyelashes as her back arched off the bed.

Theo removed his mouth from her core, and her head whipped up briefly at the loss of contact, her eyes wide and pleading for something, anything. Barely moment after, Theo pushed two fingers inside her, pumping them at a quick pace. Y/N moaned louder, and Theo pulled himself up so his head was level with hers, staring directly into her eyes as his fingers worked their magic. “How good does this feel Princess?”

“So good,” Y/N breathed, barely being able to find it in herself to speak. She gripped onto his biceps as he continued his work between her legs, moaning with every thrust of his fingers. “It feels amazing.”

Theo smirked slightly, content that he was getting exactly the reaction from her that he set out to get, and leaned down to capture her lips with his once again. He added another finger and picked up the pace of his actions, his mouth drowning her voice as she cried out. He kissed her hard, drawing the breath out of her almost completely, and she could taste herself on his tongue which only brought her closer to the edge.

Feeling her walls clench around his fingers, Theo moved his lips around to her ear. “Are you gonna cum?” He said, his voice rough with his own arousal. He knew the answer, but he also knew that Y/N loved to hear his voice, and it somehow turned her on even more. All she could do at this point was nod frantically, her moans and whimpers making it impossible to get the words out. Theo sped up his actions even further, trying with everything he had to send her over the edge. “Cum for me baby.”

The words uttered into her ear sent her into ecstasy, and she let go screaming Theo’s name. He watched with his mouth hung open as her body pulsed and jolted as her orgasm washed over her in waves, her cries slowing into whimpers and her contorted face relaxing into one of sheer bliss.

A few moments later when Y/N had caught her breath, she reached down and palmed Theo’s bulge through his joggers, eyes widening when she realised how hard he already was. He groaned, dropping his head to her shoulder and tensing at her touch. “N- no, baby,” He stuttered out, voice rough from the feeling. Y/N was confused as he slowly moved her hand away, tilting her head to the side in a silent question. “Tonight is about you.”

Usually she would protest and say that they both need to be pleasured equally, but she wanted him so badly that she didn’t have it in her to argue. Frantically, she yanked his head down and smashed her lips against his, tongue and teeth clashing in desperation. All she wanted was him, and she didn’t want to wait any longer.

She pulled his shirt up his body, almost ripping the fabric with her speed, and he pulled away so she could pull it over his head. She loved to admire Theo’s toned chest and stomach, so she reached her hand down to feel up his abs. She tried to look, but Theo was adamant on her being the one who was worshipped, so he dipped his head and began sucking on her neck once again, causing her head to fall back and a moan to fall from her lips.

As he painted her neck with purple bruises, Y/N reached down and played with the waistband of his joggers, fiddling with the drawstrings. Theo felt her fingers brush him and growled against her neck, hurriedly standing up to yank them and his boxers to the ground, completely exposed before her.

Y/N whimpered at the sight of him, naked and ready for her, and he crawled back over her just as quickly as he’d stood up. Theo looked at her with dark eyes, wordlessly asking for permission to treat her to just what she deserved. “Please, Theo,” She whispered, and of course, Theo didn’t want to deny her anything she wanted, especially when she asked so nicely.

The two of them moaned in harmony, jaws dropped open, as Theo pushed himself inside her, easily sliding in due to her wetness. He moved all the way in until he felt like he was inside Y/N’s stomach, pausing there as they both breathed heavily from the sensation. “Feeling better?” Theo spoke thinly, smiling at his girlfriend’s expression of pure pleasure.

“Miles better,” She replied, thrusting her hips up at Theo, making it known that she wanted more. The chimera began to move, pushing in and out of her at an ever-increasing pace, making sure she felt every single inch of him to give her the best sex possible. Y/N hands roamed his back, nails scratching at it and breaking the skin as she moaned and cursed into his ear.

“Always so tight and wet for me,” Theo groaned, his hair falling messily over his forehead as he moved. “So perfect. Every inch of you is perfect.” He sped up his movements, making sure to hit the spot that gets her screaming, and grabbed at her breast with one hand and delicately stroking her cheek with the other. “I love you.”

Theo was going so deep and fast now, Y/N was so close. Her nails dug into his back as her release approached, unable to tear her eyes away from his as they glowed yellow from the adrenaline. “I love you too,” She spoke shakily, so nearly there, when Theo kissed her hard, knowing she was reaching her orgasm from her clenching walls.

“Now,” He spoke against her lips, and as soon as the word had left his lips, Y/N screamed out Theo’s name at the most euphoric feeling she had ever experienced, shaking and quivering around him. Moments later, as she was still feeling the high, she felt Theo slow his movements as he spilled into her, his own release washing through him like a tidal wave.

After coming down from their high, Theo flopped down next to her in bed, immediately pulling her close to rest her head on his chest, which was still rising and falling. He kissed her head lightly, stroking her hair affectionately, and then pulled the covers over their bodies. He knew Y/N was exhausted, not just from their activities but from her whole week. Her breathing had slowed and he realised she had already fallen into a relaxed slumber.

Theo smiled to himself - seeing his girl finally calm with no stress lines pulling at her face made his heart soar. He hated seeing her so upset, in fact it was his least favourite thing to see in the world, so he vowed to always be the one to lift her back up again.

Theo would always be there for her: rain or shine, any day, any time. And one day it’ll be ‘til death do them part. His smile lingered on his lips as he let his own eyelids closed and he joined her in her slumber, meeting her in her dream.

[doshmanziari]

Most English-speaking people today who are aware of videogame developer T&E Soft only know of them through two titles: the first Hydlide (specifically the, by 1987, dated/inferior NES re-release) and Virtual Hydlide. Both of these have acquired a pretty undue notoriety, mostly encouraged by the exaggerations of e-personalities intent on making everything out to be either AWESOME or LMAO TERRIBLE, since that’s what gets the most attention. It’s better to see Hydlide in its PC-6001/PC-88 context as an innovator of the action-adventure-RPG genre, and the influence for the first two Ys games’ format (also little-known: Ys III: Wanderers from Ys was modeled on the design of Tritorn 2, a game by developer Sein/Xain/Zain Soft; it even copied some of the settings!). Understood as such -- compare the PC releases of Hydlide to, e.g., the original Dragon Slayer, also released for the PC-88 in 1984 --, we can also begin to understand its popularity as a consequence of something more than millions of Japanese citizens being deprived and deluded. Virtual Hydlide is noteworthy too as a strange and perhaps unique attempt at crafting a lightly randomized, score- and time-based 3D arcade game for a home console using the overworld + dungeon crawler format. Its most significant downside is a miserable framerate. I get why this would put people off from playing it, especially since it’s always conflicted with the design’s speedrun-like emphases. But if this were the worst thing you could knock a game for, the medium would be specially positioned among all others for a minimum of faults (hint: it isn’t).

With that preamble out of the way, I’d like to bring to unaware readers’ attention Rune Worth 2 and 3, released for the PC-98 in 1991. As usual, if your only resources on the English-speaking Internet for videogames are Wikipedia and MobyGames, you would probably never know about either of these (Wikipedia cites the first Rune Worth (1989) for the MSX, but says nothing of the sequels; MobyGames does not even cite the former). The Rune Worth series was, by all appearances, T&E Soft’s successor to Hydlide, and while it is formally organized as a trilogy, the three-months-gap between the second and third installment’s release, their discounted price, and the way in which 3 picks up right where 2 leaves off (to the extent of being able to transfer your character data from one to the other), means that, really, there are two full entries. Much of this information was laid out on a dedicated stream for both these games by Macaw45, who has dedicated years to researching, cataloguing, and exposing people to lesser-known videogames. If you can’t read Japanese, or just don’t want to play the games yourself, the embedded video would be your best bet for seeing them in action.

There are many things to say about Rune Worth 2/3 -- the dramatic introductory sequence preceding the main menu, the luxuriant sprawl of its public spaces (one can, for example, go out to the first castle’s rooftop, partitioned into a little pseudo maze, despite no requirement for doing so), its equal emphasis on setting, story, and action -- but since I’ve elected to make this into an image-based post, I want to illustrate how amazing these games look. Even from a distance, many PC-98 games have a distinct and highly abstract composure; and, looking at them up close, where the unlikeliness of certain chromatic and textural decisions make themselves known, it’s a wonder over and over again how representation emerges from what I described in a post about Super Hydlide as “an ornate and time-worn carpet.” The resemblance to a tapestry is especially obvious with Rune Worth 3 and its faded floral border depicting a grape vine. The overall visual splendor of these mosaics on a PC-98 monitor would, of course, be all the subtler and greater.

Over time, a handful of early- to mid-90s Japanese PC videogames have gotten more exposure in the West as the consumption of anime and nostalgic sentiment have grown hand-in-hand (not infrequently to pathologically anti-social effect). The bulk of these have tended to be of the visual novel/eroge type. YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World, released in 1996 for the PC-98, is a particularly popular example, in part because of its soundtrack by Ryu Umemoto. For me, the in-game artwork for these titles can be technically commendable, but is otherwise not very exciting. When I look at Rune Worth 2 or 3, it sometimes reminds me of looking at artist Kathleen Ryan’s beady sculptures of rotting fruit and marveling at the surprising vibrancy and coloristic range within putrefaction: the intersection of the beautiful and ugly, and its fructifying of the grotesque. This extends to a number of PC-88 titles too, like Sorcerian (Falcom, 1987) and DIOS (Zain Soft, 1989). In some cases, there is a remarkable convergence of visual grit/granularity and fidelity, maybe exemplified best of all by the PC-98 release of Xak III: The Eternal Recurrence (MicroCabin, 1993). But even there I find myself missing the marvelous polychromaticism of these two Rune Worth games. The intention for, say, Super Nintendo games to be played and seen on CRT TVs has never been an impediment to contemporary indie developers mimicking their look for modern LCD monitors. Even if it feels unlikely, then, I wonder if we will one day see a small revival of that fibrous, loom-woven PC-88/PC-98 look.

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[pansyslut]

my daisy

draco x reader

summary: draco falls in love with his pen pal and when she transfers to hogwarts he becomes even more infatuated than ever

warnings: smut towards the end (innocent kink, skirt kink, thigh riding, praise, spanking)

a/n: well some of you *cough cough* (@futuremrsfelton20 @ch0kemedracomalfoy @yellowsuitcase @fa-me) have been waiting for this and i really hope it’s to your liking. y’all’s comments and messages had me laughing so hard you don’t even know. if y’all want a less fluffy version i would happily oblige.

you had been lingering in dracos mind for quite some time now. over the past few months, you and draco had been writing letters to each other for your writing class. it was only supposed to last a month but both of you quickly became accustomed to writing to each other, always looking towards the window waiting for the next letter to arrive.

he had instantly become intrigued by you and everything you had to say. at the beginning, the letters were short and to the point, only really doing them to receive a grade. but later on, you started sending little things in the letters. pictures, flowers, small gifts.

three weeks into the letters, you decided to send a picture of yourself to him. he kept complaining about not being able to put the name to a face even though it was just his curiosity getting the best of him.

dear draco,

you have been pestering me about this for far too long and i’ve finally decided to give in. i promised you i wasn’t some old hag with warts all over my face and i hope i’m to your liking.

p.s. please don’t take that last part too seriously. merlin knows you don’t need another ego boost :)

fondly,

y/n

draco had starred at your picture much longer than he had liked to admit. you stand there in a small green plaid skirt, knitted matching green cardigan, with a white crop top underneath, and your hair pulled back with a slim headband. the picture shows you standing there with a radiant smile he couldn’t seem to get out of his head.

after immediately writing you back and giving you an array of compliments, he sends you back a picture as well. along with an enchanted white daisy.

my dearest daisy,

i wish i could tell you you looked like an ogre and throw a handful of insults at you but i would be lying to myself. thankfully, we aren’t talking in person so you didn’t have to see my starring at you in disbelief. to say the least, you are a sight for sore eyes. i would be lucky to ever be able to see you in person. i hope you like the flower. my mother sent it to me from her garden and it reminded me of you.

fondly,

draco

the thing you didn’t know, and what draco had decided was best to leave out, was that the flower was in fact from his mother’s enchanted garden but she sent it specifically for you. draco had told her about you and his mothers sent him the flower with a message saying- so you can woo the girl.

you held his picture in one hand and the flower in another. although you would like to say otherwise, the boy is beyond handsome. and charming as well even though you’d never admit that in your letters.

this goes on for months. you continue to write back and forth until your mother came to you with news saying you would be switching school for the second semester.

saying something along the lines of, “this school holds a hand full of fine young witches like yourself. this is for the best.”

you immediately thought of draco. he wouldn’t know where to write you and you would never hear from you again. quickly, you pull out your pen and paper to message him.

as soon as draco read your message he was filled with joy. he had a pit of anxiety bubbling up in his stomach and his head couldn’t help but run through ideas. what if she doesn’t like me? what if she’s disappointed and realizes she never knew the person she was messaging all along?

his mind was filled with these kind of thoughts for days. he had written you back saying that he attended that school but never recieved an answer. he assumed you were too busy packing or were already on your way.

it wasn’t until a week later while sitting in the dinning hall that he saw you. you walked in in your new uniform and was in awe. with the outfit similar to your picture, you had on a small plaid skirt and knee high socks and draco couldn’t help but have his mind filled with dirty images of you.

watching you walk to your table, you plop down next to a group of students and give them a warm smile. they immediately bombard you with questions and you answer them politely and make conversation. draco watched you across the room in facination. of course she’s all polite and sweet and looks like that.

deciding against talking to you, he scuries off to his room. scolding himself for being some shy boy when that is the total opposite of who he is. interrupting his thoughts, blaise and crabbe walk in talking amongst themselves.

“she’s a total babe, man. i hope she’s at that party tonight,” blaise says peaking dracos interests. if you were at this party then that would give draco an opportunity to talk to you without seeming like some love struck stalker.

after combing his hair back and trying to make himself look as presentable as possible, he makes his way to the party. trying not to immediately look for you, he decided to take a drink or two to help him calm down.

that drink or two turned into three or four and as he sits on the couch he realizes how much he accidentally drank. as the tipsy buzz washes over him he feels someone wrap a hand around his shoulder. “you look much more relaxed,” he hears someone whisper in his ear. looking up, he’s met with y/e/c eyes as you look down on him with a small smile on your face.

“daisy,” he whispers more to himself. plopping down onto the couch, you sit directly next to him enough to feel the warmth radiating from his body. “it’s good to finally see you dray.”

“it’s good to see you too. i cant believe you’re actually here,” he replies. after that your conversation flows smoothly. your banter was like no other and throughout the night you seemed to scooch closer to him as the hours pass. eventually ending up in his lap, you continue the conversation uneffected.

with his hands holding your thighs, he can’t help but look at your body infatuated. not only were you as sweet as you looked but you probably tasted just as sweet, he thought to himself. you babbled on about your classes and new friends you’ve made while totally blind to the fact of dracos hardness. his whole body was embarrassingly needy for you. and as the nights moves on and you both have more and more drinks, he tries his best to prepare himself to actually make a move on you.

ultimately, you ended up closer to him on his lap, almost directly onto his growing buldge. caressing your thigh all nights, you’ve grown impatient. leaning down to his ear and pressing your chest suggestively on his, “when are you going to take the hint and fuck me,” you ask looking down at him with an innocent look on your face.

“you little vixen... and to think i thought you were all sweet and pure.” you smile down at him as his hands cup your ass pulling you down onto him more. he imitates your previous actions, pressing his lips to your ear, “why don’t we go back to my room, daisy?”

nodding your head, he hoists you up and carries you all the way back to his room. while he holds you, you press your center directly on top of his and grind yourself against him, thanking that because of the late hour no one was out of their rooms. kissing up and down his neck, occasionally biting or sucking his ear, you were too caught up with yourself to notice you now stood in the common room.

he sits on the sofa while you continue to grind in his lap. he groans softly, “you have no idea how much i’ve thought about doing this to you.” you did have an idea. because you had been thinking the exact same thing for over a month.

placing you on one of his thighs, he slides his hands up your skirt. “ride my thigh baby,” he says in your ear. he didn’t have to tell you twice before you started moving your hips on his thigh as he starts to bounce it. trying to get more and more pressure on your clit, you can’t help but let out a breathy moan and totally forgetting that you are basically in a public place.

while bouncing his thigh, he sporadically sends slaps to your ass in encouragement. “look at my innocent daisy getting herself off at the thought of me,” he says teasingly. his words sending you over the edge, you come all over his thigh, moaning in his ear. with your head now laying in the crook of his neck, “y/n i can say confidently that that is the hottest thing i have ever seen.”

“do you think you can take more?” he asks while kissing the side of your forehead. nodding, he hoists you up once more and leans you over a table. flipping your skirt up, he takes in the sight of you and licks his lips. “merlin y/n you’re wet.”

greedily pushing your ass against his cock, you moan impatiently. “draco i need you,” you admit sheepishly. “you need me to what, darling? use your words,” he says trying to egg you on. “i need you to fuck me,” you reply breathlessly.

that was all he needed to hear before plunging into you. he had had this fantasy play in his mind too many times to count and now here you are, bent over a desk displaying your ass to him with that tiny skirt of yours.

taking ahold of your hair, he pounds into you again and again. slapping your ass, he watches your cheeks turn tomato red with his handprint forming. both of your moans had grown uncontrollable as you scream each other’s names.

he pulls you up by your hair and smashes his lips on yours. “you have no idea how long i’ve been waiting to do that,” he admits, leaning his forehead on yours.

taking your hand, he leads you back to his room and begins to undress you. this time, his actions were soft and domestic rather than sexual. leaving you in your bra and panties, he shoves one of his tshirts over your head and holds you by your waist, dragging you to his bed.

he holds you in his arms while your breathing synchronizes. huffing, “y/n i don’t want you to think that i only want you for your body or- or that sex is all that this is. i want more. you’ve meant more than that for months, daisy.”

you look up at him and meet his grey eyes in the darkness. scooting up closer to him and laying your head in his neck you whisper, “i want that too.”

[robininthelabyrinth]

Spilled Pearls

- Chapter 3 - ao3 -

The closing ceremony of the discussion conference was dignified and serene, as appropriate for an event hosted by the Lan sect, and after it was done everyone milled around to chat a little more before starting to break off into groups to leave.

The leaders of the Great Sects naturally gathered together.

They were an unusual mix. Wen Ruohan was the eldest by an entire generation, technically hailing from the generation of Lan Qiren’s grandfather even if his extraordinary cultivation made him seem as young as Lan Qiren’s brother; after him there was Lan Qiren’s father and the Jiang sect leader, Jiang Menglin, who themselves were a generation above their younger counterparts from the Nie and Jin clans – Jin Guangshan especially, having only inherited his position in the past year.

Lan Qiren’s brother stood beside them, speaking with them with his head held high. Their father planned to slowly transition sect leadership to him over the next half-decade so that he himself might be allowed to retire from the mundane world to focus on cultivation, as Lan An ultimately did. In accordance with that plan, he had allowed him to take the lead on hosting certain small events at the discussion conference, like the night-hunting.

Lan Qiren was there, too.

He was lurking as far to the back of the platform as he could get, trying simultaneously to perfectly reflect his sect’s expectations for proper behavior while also doing his utmost to remain beneath anyone’s notice – Lao Nie had caught his gaze at one point and winked, a friendly older man’s indulgence of a junior, but that was in large part unavoidable given the man’s gregarious personality – and enjoying the rare moment in which he could see his father at something other than a distance.

He usually only saw his father when he was brought before him to report on his achievements, typically once a month. When he was younger, he had been accompanied by one of his teachers, who would report on him while Lan Qiren anxiously examined his father’s face for signs of approval; now that he was older, he went by himself, dipping into a deep salute as he recited anything of interest, and sometimes if he really exerted himself his father would reward him with a word of praise.

Lan Qiren was only allowed to stand with the rest of them on the basis of a technicality – his father hadn’t officially transferred power to his eldest son and wouldn’t for a while yet, so he had brought along both of them on the transparent excuse that they could provide company for Jin Guangshan and Lao Nie as members of the same generation. It was very much a technicality in Lan Qiren’s case, given his much younger age; he fell on the very tail end of their generation on account of the circumstances of his belated birth.

Lan Qiren’s birth was very late to allow him to be considered a peer to those a decade or more older than him, in fact, but that was the way of things.

He was a child of duty, rather than pleasure.

His parents had been very much in love, as was the Lan sect’s way, and together they had had two sons and a daughter within six years, each one of them deeply beloved. But perhaps their joy had been too complete, because the heavens had not permitted it to last: they lost their younger son and daughter both – one to an unexpected illness, the other to an accident. Their eldest, Lan Qiren’s brother, was still there, but it would have been irresponsible to have only a single heir to a Great Sect. Accordingly, under great pressure from the sect elders, they had sought to have another child, only to fail time and time again, enduring countless miscarriages and stillbirths alike.

There had even been some debate as to whether such a situation permitted the sect leader to take on a concubine, regardless of custom or even his own wishes. Desperate to prevent such a result, Lan Qiren’s mother had inadvisedly taken certain drugs to encourage conception and at last Lan Qiren had been successfully born in a slow and bloody labor that had sapped his mother’s already poor health. She had died a few years later, suffering a recurrence of the infection left behind from his birth. Lan Qiren had been too young to really remember her, but he knew that his brother had blamed him for her loss ever since.

He sometimes wondered if his father did, too.

Of course, unlike his brother, his father had never said as much. As the Lan sect leader, he was graceful and refined, educated and reserved, a venerable and venerated cultivator; it was widely agreed that he would never have planned to retire so early if it hadn’t been for losing his true love all those years ago. Perhaps he might even have been another Wen Ruohan, seemingly ageless, striving for immortality – at any rate, he would never be so petty as to mistreat a person due to the circumstances beyond their control. It was something he had heard that his father had said from one of the other Lan sect juniors, and at any rate it was in the rules, and Lan Qiren believed in the rules.

Besides, it wasn’t a surprise that Lan Qiren would be an afterthought in comparison to his brother, the already famous Qingheng-jun, who his father treasured like a pearl cupped in his palm. His brother was the much-anticipated first child of his father’s happy youth, the reminder of good days gone by, a child who had survived the misfortunes that had taken his siblings, and Lan Qiren’s brother repaid his father’s adoration with strength, intelligence, and endless potential. He was a cultivation maniac, yet good at managing the other juniors; he was cold and aloof, elegant, yet capable of being personable and even charming when needed. He was one of the shining stars of his generation, already a powerful cultivator and a respected gentleman even though he’d only just passed twenty-one. Even the name which he was commonly called, Qingheng-jun, was a rarity, a personal title unusual in this peaceful day and age.

Lan Qiren, in contrast, was slow and clumsy, with only average cultivation skills and positively dire social skills. While his teachers praised his strong academic skills and musical talent, the Lan sect followed first and foremost the orthodox path of swordsmanship; once his weakness in that area had been discovered, many of his sect elders lost interest in him as anything other than the inferior back-up plan that he was.

Undoubtedly that was why, when Wen Ruohan turned to Lan Qiren’s father and said, “Your son is a credit to you,” everyone assumed he was talking about Qingheng-jun.

“Sect Leader Wen does him too much honor,” their father said, clearly pleased despite his deprecating words. After all, Wen Ruohan, Sect Leader Wen, was well known to be extraordinarily sparing with his praise for any who didn’t share his bloodline or surname. “My unworthy son is still young and foolish. His eyes are always fixed upon cultivation, never straying – he doesn’t even spare time for girls, despite his advancing years!”

The other sect leaders were smiling, and Lao Nie already opening his mouth to say something teasing, when Wen Ruohan said, “I meant your other son.”

Lan Qiren wasn’t prepared at all for all the sect leaders to turn to look at him.

He shrunk back.

“Qiren?” his father said, almost as if he were checking to confirm that that was the right name, a trace of doubt in his voice even as Lan Qiren’s brother’s face went white with humiliation. “I didn’t realize you’d had a chance to hear him play.”

“Regrettably I have not yet had that pleasure,” Wen Ruohan said, a slightly strange expression on his face. “We merely exchanged some charming conversation, that’s all. Is that his most notable skill?”

“His accomplishments as a musical cultivator are sufficient to rank him among the adults of his already talented sect,” Lao Nie volunteered when there was a brief pause, and Lan Qiren’s father was quick to smile and nod along. “You missed out, Sect Leader Wen.”

“Perhaps another time,” Wen Ruohan said, his return smile still strange and almost subtly displeased, though Lan Qiren would hardly trust himself to know for sure.

At that point, Jiang Menglin spoke up, changing the subject, and most everyone joined in, all of them evidently relieved – not least of all Lan Qiren himself, who had started wondering if there was some way he could become invisible or else fall into a deep chasm that might conveniently open up beneath his feet.

Nothing more was said on the subject until the ceremony was done and the last of their guests departed, when Lan Qiren’s brother tracked him down and hissed, “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” Lan Qiren cried out. “We only talked!”

“You mean you talked at him the way you always do – ”

Their father cleared his throat, having come up behind them, and they both turned at once and dropped into deep salutes.

“Do not think about it too much,” he said, voice distant as the cold wind on a winter night. “Sect Leader Wen sometimes likes to make trouble for the sake of making trouble, especially if he thinks he has found a weakness. You will need to be on your guard against that when you are sect leader.”

He was talking to Lan Qiren’s brother, of course. Lan Qiren could count, and had, the number of times his father addressed him directly in a given year, but it was only reasonable – he wasn’t the heir, doomed to take on the burden of leadership, and so there was much less his father needed to say to him.

“Yes, Father,” his brother said. “I’ll remember.”

“Do not trouble your younger brother over nonsense.”

Lan Qiren felt his brother’s angry gaze like a flame against his skin, even if it wasn’t anywhere as weighty as Wen Ruohan’s. He did not understand what he had done wrong, whether to Wen Ruohan to decide to make trouble using his name or to his brother now that had made him angry, but that wasn’t so much different from the usual.

“Very well, Father,” his brother said. “I won’t.”

[justkending]

The Number One Rule. Chapter 19.

Series Summary: Y/N has always been seen as “Steve’s rambunctious sister.” However, she grew up, graduated, and moved to London to study abroad for 4 years and get her bachelor's degree. The girl that returns looks nothing like the teenager that left, but don’t worry the attitude is still there and stronger than ever. What’s to come of the two grown adults that used to push each other's buttons, but now have a lot more in common than they’ve ever realized.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Y/N Rogers (Steve’s little sister)

Word Count: 2400+

Chapter Nineteen:

“Peace offering delivery,” Y/N said as Steve opened the door for her.

“About time,” Steve laughed, taking the boxes out of her hand and leaning down to give her a kiss on the head before moving to the kitchen. “Where’s Beck? I thought you guys were coming together?”

“She said something about a meeting with a professor and going to the grocery store before dropping by. She should be here in probably less than half an hour or so,” Y/N shrugged, kicking off her shoes at the door and looking at the couch where Bucky was staring at her. “Hey, B.” she said sweetly. 

His nerves lightened at her acting normal as if he hadn’t confessed his love for her earlier. 

“Hey, Y/N/N,” he replied with a smile as she walked over to him. She stopped at the back of the couch and put her hands on his shoulders giving him a squeeze. “How was your day?”

“Eh, same old same old. Still waiting for those Roman documents to be transferred from another museum before I can really dive into my project, but besides that, good,” she smiled, leaning down and placing a kiss to his cheek before moving to the kitchen. 

“Ugh, I know I’m going to have to get used to that, but maybe give me a second to wrap my head around you two being together before doing any PDA,” Steve shivered as he pulled plates out from the cabinet where he could still see them in the living room. 

Bucky and Y/N laughing as they made their way to the food. 

“Get over yourself,” Y/N said, hip bumping her brother away from the pizza so she could dive in first. “Where’s Sam? You told him about movie night, right?”

“Movie night?” Bucky asked, tucking his hands in his pockets behind Y/N. 

“Yeah, did Steve not tell you?” she asked, making a plate for herself. 

“Can’t say I’m in the loop,” Bucky laughed. 

“In honor of all being best buds again, we’re celebrating with a movie night,” Y/N explained, with a wink to Bucky before moving around the kitchen like it was her own. 

“Just like the good ol’ days,” Steve nodded, making a plate for himself too. “Sam! War’s over!” he shouted down the hall where Sam almost instantly came out of his room. 

“I thought I smelled peace and pizza,” Sam smiled as he practically skipped in. 

Steve noticed Bucky slightly zoned out and realized him and Y/N probably needed to talk and catch up on everything. Of course, he didn’t realize the real reason why Bucky was zoned out. 

“Hey Sam,” Steve nodded once the two had their own plates. “Come help me pick out a movie for tonight while we wait for Becca.”

“What genre are we going for?” Sam asked with a bite of the new york pie in his mouth already. 

“Ooo!” Y/N started.

“No, no murder mystery,” Steve pointed. 

“But, last night we-”

“No,” Steve shook his head. 

“I like murder mystery-” Sam started.

“Don’t encourage her obsession,” Steve warned, pushing Sam out of the room. 

“Jackass,” Y/N scoffed, taking a bite of pizza as they left. Bucky laughed coming up to her and placing a kiss to her forehead. “Hey,” she smiled. 

“Hey,” he smiled back. 

“I’m guessing things went well considering his mood. He seems back to normal,” she gleamed. 

“Really well. We both came to the conclusion we were idiots,” Bucky nodded. She laughed at him before there was a slight silence. “Listen, about earlier today on the phone,” he began. His cheek bones almost instantly turned a shade darker. “I didn’t plan to make things awkward. What I said just kinda slipped out,” he noted, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at the ground. 

Having not been looking at her, he was shocked to feel her hands wrap around his neck and bring his eye down to hers. 

“You didn’t make things awkward,” she smiled. 

“We’ve been dating two months Y/N. I didn’t want to scare you away…” he noted not breaking eye contact. “So don’t feel obligated to say it if you don’t feel that because-,” He was on the verge of rambling. 

Placing a finger over his lips, she cut him off. 

“You aren’t scaring me away, B,” she said with a soft smile. 

“I’m not?” he questioned with her finger still on his lips. 

She laughed before moving her hands to his shoulders. 

“Yes, we’ve been dating two months, but we’ve known each other for what? 23 years?” she tilted her head. He moved in grabbing her hips ever so gently. “I think it’s easier to figure out your feelings for someone in this kind of situation when you’ve known them your whole life,” she shrugged. 

“I wanted to make it special,” he said quietly, leaning his forehead down to hers. No longer nervous, but more so embarrassed. 

“Saying it in itself is special, Buck. You don’t need some monumental moment like the movies tricked us into thinking we do,” she giggled. The sound made a wide smile form on his face. “And in saying that,” she smiled, pulling back to see his face fully. Her eyes switching back and forth between his blue ones. “The feeling is very much mutual.”

His face went blank for a second. Wait, did she just say she loved him back? In a different way, but she said it, right?

“Wait, you-?” he started, but when he didn’t finish his sentence, Y/N laughed. 

“Yes, B. I love you as well,” she smiled widely. His grin copying hers almost instantly. “Call me crazy, but-”

“Hey, if you’re crazy, then I’m just as crazy,” he stopped her before leaning down for a kiss. 

They smiled into the kiss after the confession of love. Sure it wasn’t the textbook written way of saying those three little words. But who cared? The meaning behind it was all that mattered in those kinds of moments. And if they meant it, which they both very much did, that’s all it took to make them both feel like they were walking on cloud nine. 

“Ok, I’m all for you guys being together, but it’s going to take me a second with the PDA,” Becca’s voice sounded from behind them shocking them both. 

Bucky pulled back looking at his sister who had scrunched up her face as she put her purse on the kitchen island. Y/N immediately burrowing into his chest in embarrassment and he wrapped her into him with a laugh. 

“Are you guys making out in my kitchen?” Steve sounded from the other room. “Come on guys! I just figured all this out the other day. I’m still adjusting!”

“Adjust faster then!” Y/N shouted to her brother. 

“Yeah, and you and Steve can get over yourselves,” Bucky said to his sister.

“Beck, I think we’re going to get ganged up on a lot more,” Steve retorted from the other room. 

“I think you’re right, Stevie,” Beck shook her head with a laugh. “When you guys are done making out, care to join us for the movie night we had planned?” she asked as she made a plate for herself. 

“Get out of here!” Bucky chided, throwing a towel from the counter at her. 

“Sheesh, I’m going. I’m going,” she huffed, grabbing her things quicker as she went back to the living room.

“This is going to be an interesting time,” Y/N laughed. 

“I’d have to agree with that,” Bucky shook his head with a deep breath. Looking down at her one more time, he bent down for another quick kiss. “What are the odds Steve picked an old 60’s spy film?” 

“High. I’d say the odds are high,” she nodded. 

“God help us all.”

_________________

The entire crew had a good night hanging out all together. Sam and Y/N had hit it off and had started to become good friends even though this was only really their 2nd or 3rd time hanging out. 

They bantered and also obsessed over murder mysteries and surprisingly, Sam was very much into greek gods as well. He didn’t know much about other cultures' Gods, but one group was all it took for Y/N and him to go on and on about the topic. 

Bucky having rolled his eyes on multiple occasions when he and Sam would go back sassing the other, and Y/N now started defending Sam really only as a way to tease Bucky. God, the two together were going to be a handful for him. 

Steve and Bucky were practically back to normal though the rest of the evening. It was a little weird seeing his best friend and his little sister cuddled into each other on the loveseat by themselves, but he reminded himself they were happy. He was going to have to get over the weirdness. Though, it was fun for him and Beck to tease them on it and make them blush or retort something sarcastic back to them. 

In the end, the night was a night to remember. It was rounding about midnight now and Becca had just left. Sam was headed off to bed saying his goodnights and getting a quick late-night snack before disappearing into his room. Leaving Steve, Bucky, and Y/N in the living room with Brooklyn Nine-Nine playing in the background. 

“Ok, I think I’m going to call it a night for myself. I’ll probably go in my actual hours tomorrow,” Steve yawned standing and stretching. “What about you? See you tomorrow like usual?”

“Don’t know yet. Fury said I can come in later tomorrow since things are slow in my department. I’ll probably just go in for a few hours honestly,” Bucky shrugged softly. Y/N had fallen asleep on his chest and was completely knocked out.

Steve looked down at his sleeping sister and laughed softly. “You got her?”

Bucky looked down, seeing that she had her hand covering where his heart was and was completely nuzzled into him in comfort. 

“Always,” he chuckled lightly, not to wake her up. “She said she was going to spend the night. You ok with that?”

It was weird. Steve had to admit it. But he trusted Bucky. He said it earlier, if there was anyone on this planet that would treat his sister right and protect her, it was Buck. 

“Yeah, man. I mean it’ll be weird to me for a while, I’m not going to lie, but it’s not my decision to make. Just, just don’t let me hear anything,” he said with a cringe. 

“Steve, I’ve already told you, we haven’t done anything like that. It’s only been two months man,” he shook his head. 

“I know. I know, it’s just. You know what? Talking about it just makes it weird. I’m going to bed,” Steve waved off. “You guys do whatever you do, just don’t tell me.”

Bucky laughed at his innocent friend who was trying his best to be accepting and not be an overbearing brother at the end of the day. No matter how bad he wanted to. 

“Go to bed, punk. I’ll take care of her,” Bucky laughed. 

“Yeah, yeah. Good night,” Steve walked out. 

Once Steve was down the hall and Bucky heard his door shut, he looked back down at Y/N. Yup, sound asleep. 

He didn’t want to wake her, but there was no way he was going to be able to sleep in the position he was in for a whole night, and eventually she would wake up with a crick in her neck too if they stayed like that too long. 

Gently, he ran his hand up and down her arm to slowly wake her. 

“Sweetheart, you need to wake up,” he said softly, laying his cheek on her head. 

“Hmmm,” she hummed nuzzling into him more. 

“We can go to bed, but I promise you won’t want to sleep here at the end of the night,” he chuckled at her protest. 

“I’m comfy,” she mumbled barely audibly.

“I bet, but I can promise, my bed’s a lot more comfy,” he hummed kissing the top of her head. 

“Fine, but will you carry me?” she asked, throwing her arms over his shoulder. 

He chuckled again before adjusting his arms in the best way to lift her. “Of course, doll.” As if she was a feather, he maneuvered her off the couch with him and walked her to his room. 

He placed her on one side of the bed, walked over and turned on his lamp before going back, and pulling the blankets over her. Instantly, she cuddled into his pillows and bedside. Luckily she was already in shorts and a t-shirt when she came over, so she didn’t really need to change, but he went and grabbed her overnight bag at the front door anyway. 

“Want to change, or-” he asked, placing it on her side of the bed. 

“No, ‘m ok,” she mumbled, pulling the covers up more to her chin. 

“Ok, baby. I’m going to go to the bathroom and I’ll be right back,” he smiled, kissing her forehead before walking off. 

When he got back, she was sound asleep again but now facing his side of the bed. And as soon as he was changed and maneuvered under the covers, it’s like her body sensed him and she shimmied over to him before he could move to her himself. 

Immediately going back to the position she had been in while on the couch. Her arm thrown over his torso and her head resting in the nook of his side and arm. Perfectly and comfortably puzzle pieced into his side. 

“Goodnight, Y/N/N. Sweet dreams,” he grinned, happy that they no longer had to hide anything and it was all free of worry from here on out. “I love you.”

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[captainrexisboo]

Shameless Flirt

Hey hoes! I’m (partially) back!!!

I had a sudden burst of writing inspo. I am very excited to finally give y’all my long awaited Hevy X Reader fic!! I loved writing this, Hevy was so fun to get into the head of. I was going to post this yesterday but then (of course, right as I wanted to start posting again lmao) Life Happened aHA-

Anyways! The Reader Is A Lady (although, it’s not really specified aside from she/her pronouns. still tagging it as female reader though)! No warnings apply, just a lot of flirty banter and a bit of smoochin! Reblogs, replies, and comments are highly encouraged. I love hearing from y’all! Enjoy!!!

~

Technically, it was your day off. However, being the workaholic you were, and bored just sitting in your quarters, you decided the best course of action was to pick up some things you had left at one of your workstations in the ARC training sector...like the stopping point of your last project. You waved and smiled past the guards and troopers patrolling the halls, the vode knew you so it’s not like they were surprised when you strolled through the stark fluorescent halls in your lounging civvies you brought from Corrie. It’s not like you didn’t do this every other off day. It’s not like they haven’t tried to stop you- but not even ARC Commander Blitz could give you orders to go relax as you hunch over another blaster, detonator, or even some type of launcher, without you grinning like a cheeky loth-cat, “I am relaxing, Commander.”

After the first few months of working alongside Blitz, he came to understand that nothing was going to come between you and your work. At least nothing short of the consequence of you kicking and screaming all the way back to your quarters. So he let you be. “Don’t mind her, boys, that’s just our weapons tech. She’s always at the armory, or here in the target range. Think of her as a part of the training- don’t you dare get distracted.” Every new batch of ARC-trainees got told the same thing, and everytime you’d smirk into your work with a casual but polite wave over your shoulder, not even bothering to look back-

“And what about after training, Commander, will she still be ‘distracting’ up here?”

-until today. His shameless intention laced his words, and you could feel his eyes run up and down the curve of your spine, following the shape of your legs. You stood straight from your bent position over the standing turret, turning around with an unimpressed brow as you cocked out a hip, “I sure will, but you’ve got curfew to make, trooper.”

It was easy to single out the flirt, even if they were all wearing helmets. There were five trainees this time, four of them had their shoulders shaking as they choked back giggles with varying snorts and fake coughs at their brother’s expense. The one second from the end to your right seemed taken aback by your retort, spine stiff, and visor still looking at you dead on. You slid your eyes over to where Blitz was sighing and shaking his head, taking as step forward as he ordered, “Fives, thump your brother’s helmet for me.”

“Aye, sir,” Fives managed to breathe out the two syllables without breaking, but needing to clear his throat before swatting the upside of the flirt’s head, effectively taking his gaze off of you and immediately to the floor. Blitz made his way across the room to stand in front of the trooper, and even though they were the same height, Blitz carried himself in a way that made him seem to loom over the younger soldier.

“CT-782, you said your name was Hevy, right?” 

“Yes sir,” Hevy confirmed, voice coming out low, in a natural huskiness some clones seemed to have, as he stood even straighter, trying to mimic the Commander’s practiced stance. Blitz nodded a couple times, humming sagely- you recognized this though. He wasn’t thinking at all, he was just adding tension, the dramatic bastard. You couldn’t help but scoff silently at his demeanor as he took an inhale before continuing.

“I’ve read up about you and your brothers, soldier. The outpost at Rishi, getting recruited into the 501st, your entire batch surviving every fray, hells I just saw all five of you in action during the Separatist invasion just a couple days ago,” Blitz took a moment to exhale, something that could have been mistaken for a sound of intrigue, “You no doubt deserve to be here. An entire batch making it to ARC training? This hasn’t been done since the last batch made specifically to be ARCs themselves. But son-” in the pause, now you could never be sure, but you were positive in that moment you heard the grating clicking of Hevy grinding his teeth at the term, “-I don’t recommend playing with fire. Lucky as you all have been, even in ARC armor, you’ll get burned.”

Hevy stole a glance back at you, to which you gave him a mock salute with your screwdriver and a delightfully crooked smirk before turning back to your work.

Instead of taking his Commander’s words to heart as a warning, he took them as a challenge. From that day on, whenever he found himself in the same room as you (provided Blitz wasn’t there to reprimand him) he would try his hand to win you over. Admittedly, it was very fun to trade bouts of wit with him. He was a cocky brute, but held a sharp tongue. His hot-headedness made it especially entertaining to get him all riled up, teasing him back, only to give him a flick on the nose or a poke on his chest plate. Hell, there was one time you went as far as squeezing his bicep. Specializing in weaponry, especially the heavy duty kind, his arms were definitely impressive. How could you not take that chance? 

On the slower days, when he was too tired to even run his eyes over you, he’d still find you hunched over your workspace in the armory to watch you perform your task of the day. An arms specialist finding interest in a weapons technician’s work? Shocker. Still, being surrounded by the blasters and countless ammo and bombs in the armory, listening to the gentle clicks of your tinkering and watching your fingers go through repeating nimble motions over metal plates and little rivets did seem to put him at ease after a rough day. It was something you could much too easily relate to. Over the course of Domino squad’s ARC training, those days where he gave you quiet, warm company were your favorite.

Today was not one of those days.

You had been given a new assignment, transferring from the training base...to travel with the Domino squad once they graduated in the next few days. And it seems like they just got the message too. You rolled your eyes as you heard his low whistle from across the room, but from the safety of being turned around you couldn’t help a sly grin take over your face. 

“And what, praytell,” Hevy’s gruff voice fills the armory as his boots echoed off the walls with their weighted falls, like you could hear the sway in his step to the beat of his walk, getting closer to you as you continued to lean over your work table, “Did the Domino ARCs do to get a pretty little thing like you to be our weapons technician?”

“Oi, leave her alone, Hevy,” ever the gentleman, Echo tried to ‘defend your honor’ from the shameless flirt as he walked in not a moment later, “Unless you want her to issue herself for a transfer to a different band of ARCs? Keep talking to her like she’s some meat pie, see where it gets you.”

“Awh, thank you, Echo,” you cooed over your shoulder before pushing up your goggles to give Hevy a sugar-coated pout, “Eat shit, Hevy.”

Hevy knew this game, taking his helmet off he shot you a charming wink, before turning to his brother, “What other ‘band of ARCs’? We’re the only notable ones, all the other ARCs are in CO positions, or are riding it solo and getting contracted to separate battalions for separate missions every day! We’re the only full squad of-“

“Half a squad,” Echo interrupted, taking off his helmet to shoot his brother a criticizing arch of his brow, “You realize a full squad is nine soldiers, right? This stuff has been drilled into us since decanting-”

“Then why do they call us the Domino squad?”

“Rolls off the tongue better than Domino batch,” you grumbled into your work, slipping your goggles back on and trying to focus amidst their conversation, “Look, are y’all actually here for something, or-?”

You trailed off, continuing your practiced movements as you waited for an answer. Hevy leaned next to you on the table, careful not to jostle it, or you, with his weight. He had learned that lesson the hard way...some nights his shin still throbbed with the memory.

“We’re gonna celebrate, not just the graduation, but now with you getting to tag along!” Hevy’s unusual cheeriness made you pause in your work. You turned to him, about to say something when he continued, “And we want you to join in the celebration too, mesh’la.”

You blinked at him, surprised by his offer. Sure, you were friendly to the troopers, and Hevy seems to have gotten especially comfortable around you, but you didn’t think they’d want to invite you to something as special as that. You pulled the goggles completely off your head, setting down your tools as you turned around to lean against your table, “I’ll bite. What’s the catch?”

Echo and Hevy looked between themselves, before glancing at you with mirroring expressions of confusion. 

“Why do you want me to join?” you elaborated, bringing up a hand to count on your fingers, “You wouldn’t want me there unless you had a reason for me to join, what is it? Contraband liquor? Snacks? Do you want me to secure the armory for the get together so you don’t have to have it in the barracks, or my quarters, or what?”

“The catch,” Hevy took a careful step into your space, mimicking your new pose, giving you an amused if not surprised smile, “is for you to have fun, not surrounded by guns and ammo.”

“And that’s coming from Hevy,” Echo scoffed, but agreeing with a wide shrug of his shoulders as he crossed his arms. You looked between the two of them as the moment stretched out for what felt like a lifetime… for Hevy at least. All the times he spent with you, all the terrible flirting and unashamed eyeing- he really wanted you to join. He could feel sweat begin to creep down his neck, the longer he waited for a response, swallowing down a gulp of dry air as his gaze flicked nervously over to Echo. Echo simply rolled his eyes- all of Domino Squad knew about Hevy’s true feelings for you. It was hard not to take notice when Hevy was just, well, like that. But they never seemed to learn about Hevy’s quiet times in here with you, how you two would partake in silent togetherness, finding peace in each other’s company. Not that Hevy was embarrassed, far from it, but he liked having that little piece to himself. Of course, he wanted more of you to himself, but for now those comforting silences while you built and rebuilt blasters were enough for him, because they were enough for you.

You kept your gaze neutral as you weighed the option of joining in your mind. It was far from a bad option, you liked this batch. They had been through a lot together, loved and protected each other like brothers should, and along with Hevy they accepted you as one of their own. What was one night?

“Yeah, alright,” you looked between the two ARCs, a grin forming as you stole a glance at Hevy, “I’ll join in. When is it?”

Hevy could jump for joy at your agreement, but he was still leaning on your workspace. Instead he smiled wide, tattooed cheeks crinkling parallel to the corners of his eyes, letting out a relieving breath, “Tomorrow night, the eve of our first deployment as ARCs. Be at our bunks at 1930…and if you do have any liquor-”

“Hevy-”

“Of course I have liquor,” you interrupt Echo’s chiding with a wink to the heavy gunner, bringing your forefinger up to trace Hevy’s jawline, gliding along the sharp edge, the pad of your fingertip calloused from years of work, and swelling with pride at how his dark eyes fluttered shut as he leaned into your teasing touch. Coming off with a playful tap to the tip of his chin, his eyes snapped open at your sultry chuckle, “See you tomorrow, soldier.”

You turned back to your work, slipping your goggles on a final time, but not before a quick and casual wave over your shoulder, “Later, Echo.”

Echo couldn’t figure out your mood toward Hevy worth a damn. He looked between your aloof manners and Hevy’s moony grin, deciding it just wasn’t worth trying to pick your brain at, partially because he was smart enough not to get involved, but also he wasn’t certain he’d be able to stomach the answer. Catching his brother's eyes, he made a discreet gagging motion to him before fitting his helmet back on and walking out the door, “See you, techie.”

Hevy stayed back a bit longer, continuing to watch you work. He was completely quiet, but his silence was deafening. You breathed out a huff of laughter, the tops of your ears beginning to heat up at his attention, wetting your lips, “Well?”

“Hm? Well what?” he shook himself out of his stupor, blinking back into time at your voice.

“Are you gonna leave now n’ let me work?” You cursed inwardly at your harsh words. You liked Hevy, deep down he was a real sweetheart, but you always found yourself being so coarse to him. Thankfully, he was as much of a hardhead as he was a hothead, and he met your indifferent glare with a devilish grin that made your heart jump doubletime.

“No, I think I’m gonna sit right here and watch your lovely hands make something amazing.”

“Amazing?” you scoff, shaking your head at his compliment, “I’m just fixing up another DC-15A that some cadet broke. You need to head to the med station if you think that’s amazing. We both know the Z-6 rotary is far superior-”

“When you’re done with it, it’ll be the best DC-15A in the GAR,” Hevy interrupted, eyes shifting between your face and your hands, “Everything you do is amazing.”

You stopped what you were doing at the genuinity that filled his praise. He always spoke to you with a hint of truth, a bit of heartfelt sincerity to make his easy way of speaking more personal to you, more interesting. But there was something in his expression, maybe the dreamlike haze filling the depths of his eyes, or the way that his accent rolled off his tongue that had you placing your palms flat on the table before speaking low to him, “Hevy, what are you doing?”

“I thought I was pretty clear,” he shrugged with a sideways grin, still careful of the lean on your table, “I’m watching you. You’ve let me before-”

“I mean with the…” you gestured to his full self, keeping your eyes on your now resting project, “The whole...flirting thing.”

You caught him off-guard. The two of you have been at it for months now, but neither of you had ever said or acknowledged anything about it. It was like a silent pact between the two of you, continue the performance, but don’t mention the game. To suddenly come out of the unsaid arrangement, Hevy felt himself draw back, slowly lifting his weight off the table, “Do you...not like it? I mean I figured that you...you know, you’ve always responded…”

You couldn’t believe it. After always having something to say, being able to trade quips, building a friendship over the shared banter and ripostes, the fearless ARC trooper you’ve seen grow so much these past few months was babbling out broken sentences at a single question.

“I can stop, if you’d like.”

It was that whispered phrase that brought you back into the moment, turning to him with burning cheeks, “I didn’t say that.”

“Well then what do you want?” He took a step into your space, brow set and a jaw flexing as he frustratingly tried to understand your sudden shift, “We’ve been...flirting-” the word left him like he was saying it for the first time, each syllable carefully leaving his lips- “since the day I met you. Mesh’la, if you don’t like it, say something! We’re about to go to work together, travelling the galaxy for a long time-”

“Exactly,” you countered, poking at his chest as you stood defiantly to him, tearing off your goggles and mussing your hair off to the side, “Whatever this is, are we gonna continue it? Continue dancing around each other like some kind of goddamned soap opera where everyone but us gets off on our own self-denial?”

“Self-denial?” Hevy repeats, an incredulous sound leaving his chest as you saw a fire spark behind his stare, “Sweetheart, I’m not denying anything, especially things I haven’t been asked!”

“Alright then, fine!” Somewhere down the conversation, your voices had raised to shouting in the small space, even as you two stood almost nose to nose, and your breath hot on his lips you asked, “Do you like me, trooper?”

“Like you? It was love at first sight when you first told me off,” Hevy couldn’t find it in himself to be embarrassed at his confession, just focusing on fueling the flames between you, “And what about you, techie? How do you feel about me?”

“I think you’re a smartmouthed asshole with a heart of gold and a pretty face- yeah, I like you a whole fucking lot!” 

This was ridiculous. You knew it was ridiculous. You could see it in his face too, the two of you breathing heavy, barely a hair’s width away from each other. You’re unsure who started it, later on you two would always claim the other giggled first, but eventually you found yourselves holding onto each other for support as you laughed out the rest of your pointless venom. His arms fit around you perfectly as your hands held strong to his wide shoulders, your laughter filling the room together, the sounds swirling in their melody as everything started to click perfectly into place. Once everything quieted down, your head resting against his chest as his hands ran up and down your back, you exhaled low and steady against him, slowly rocking in his hold, “Plastoid isn’t that comfortable to rest on, huh?”

“You should try wearing it,” Hevy snorted at your comment, leaning over to rest his cheek on the top of your head, “So...what now?”

You hummed, feigning thought before angling your face to brush your lips over the column of his throat, murmuring into his skin, “I wouldn’t be against a kiss.”

Something rich left his throat, the sound deep and thrumming through his chest before one of his hands found its way into your tresses on the back of your head, tugging gently at your hair to guide you to his lips. You couldn’t stop the brief hitch in your breath at the daring move, but you wouldn’t have expected anything less from the brash soldier. At your word he took the lead, slanting over your mouth in a soft motion, breathing you in as easy as air. You followed in confidence, welcoming the boldness with which he kissed you as the same boldness that had him playing the game you both set up. A small noise of satisfaction left you, not just from the perfect pressure from his lips moving so softly against yours, but also from the way his hand gripped so firmly at your waist through your canvas jumpsuit, his other hand still carding so thoughtfully through your hair; it was a sweet little gasp that Hevy swore he’d be replaying in his head for a week. Or at least until he was able to make another sound tumble out of you.

Your hands came up to cup his cheeks, thumbs tracing the edges of his tattoos, pulling him impossibly closer. The payoff of this single kiss was absolutely worth all those months of gentle torture, the teasing touches and glances, discreetly watching his lips when he’d talk and thinking about how he’d feel against your own. Or even how he’d taste. In a stroke of your own audacity, you ran a slow, languid lick of your tongue against his lips, and the growl that came from him made the most delightful of shivers shoot right down your spine.

He had a robust, spicy taste, earthy and rich with a bit of heat that came tickling at your tongue. It wasn’t too surprising- he smelled the same way, smoky and hearty with the biting musk all clones seemed to carry with them. What did surprise you was the honeyed velvet of his own tongue eagerly coming to meet yours as you repeated your action. You could feel his infuriating grin at the helpless whimper that dripped from you at the feeling, and you nipped brazenly at his bottom lip in retaliation.

Before he could respond to your playful attack, the two of you froze as a throat loudy cleared from the entryway of the armory. Hevy almost didn’t pull away from you, a near silent broken whine coming from him (for your ears only) as he came off of your lips with a wet smacking sound. After a quick flex of his fingers, he removed his hands from you just as slowly, your own hands sliding down from his face to clasping behind your back. You both turned to face the bucket of Commander Blitz, arms crossed and stance wide in the doorway. He nodded toward the hall, “You left the door open.”

You cleared your throat, pursing your lips to keep from saying something ridiculous. Hevy clenched his jaw, trying to accomplish the same thing. Blitz’s visor smoothly slid to gaze over you, and you straightened in the mimic of his cadets. “You finally relaxing, techie?”

A short chuckle escaped you, lips twitching up in a coy grin, “I am, Commander.”

He nodded, that same dramatic humming leaving him as he turned then to Hevy, who tensed at full attention to the ARC Commander. “What about you, son. How’s that burn feel?”

“To be perfectly candid, sir,” Hevy, always pushing the limits, turned to shoot you a look with a quick lick of his lips before responding, “Absolutely thrilling.”

Blitz nodded again, taking slow steps into the room, like how Hevy had earlier that day, letting each step echo off the walls until he was about two feet away, “I’m happy for you both, but please. Don’t be stupid. You’re lucky it was me walking by and not one of the longnecks, or the nat-born chief trainers. Close the doors. And do me a favor, wait till you’re both off Kamino for any of the heavier stuff, okay?”

You and Hevy both confirmed the Commander’s request with quick nods and mumbled “Yes sirs,” making him let go a long breath. Uncrossing his arms, he pointed to Hevy, “Trooper, hit the showers. Move it.”

Hevy shot you one last look, if you didn’t know any better you’d say he was bashful, before saluting Blitz, grabbing his helmet and marching out of the armory. You stood straight, still under Blitz’s cold stare from his visor, until he sighed, slapping a companionable hand on your shoulder, “If he steps out of line, I better be the first vod you call. I will kick his ass so hard, he’ll be knocked back to failing the Citadel the first time-”

“At ease, Commander,” you rolled your eyes, you hand coming up to hold onto his, brushing your thumb over his knuckles with a soft breath of laughter, “He didn’t lay a hand on me until I asked him to.”

Blitz squeezed your hand, taking off his own helmet to look at you. He looked a little older than Domino did, cheeks slightly hollowed and eyes a bit deeper set, a bittersweet shine coming over his amber stare, mouth twitching up into a lopsided smile, “I’m gonna miss you, after you go off with those fools.”

“You’ll make great friends with the next techie who comes along. Who knows, maybe they’ll actually listen to you,” you smile back at him, the two of you masking the tears threatening to fall from your lashes. He pulls you in, touching your foreheads together, before giving two more pats to your shoulder.

“And remember,” he pulls off of you, placing his helmet back on and causing his voice to come out in a soft static, “Please, for the love of Jango, don’t-”

“Don’t be stupid,” you salute to him, winking for extra effect, “Aye-aye, ori’vod.”

[sadachmesarthim]

yes this is a rewrite, feel free to fry my ass on anon about it.

content: starker being mean to each other, peter parker has Supportive Friends™, tony has daddy and mommy issues, quentin beck is a Mean Boss™, smoking, secondhand smoke.

word count: 3.0k

square filled: coffee shop au  -> link to playlist here

part two is here!

a little vocab lesson before continuing: mobster = really high up in the chain of command for this group of coffee shops. they go around training new hirees, and often decide who gets to move up the line of command. they get to travel on company money, and are very well respected in the workplace. mobsters usually come in groups - siblings, hires from the same groups, etc. 

Tony didn't like Richland.

Sure, okay, it was a serious step up from Federal Way. He was free from his parents, he could do whatever he wanted in a house all to himself, no one knew who he was - it was a refreshing change, one he definitely needed now that he was graduated, all grown up.

He'd moved back east about two months ago. He'd wanted to get as far away from home as possible, stretch his legs - he went under the guise of missing his grandma, wanting to go to school. He wasn't a terrible liar, either. Howard and Maria'd eaten it up, encouraging him to go as soon as he could.

"If you go now, you could get there in time for summer classes. Maybe even get a job before they stop hiring seasonally. You never know, but you might as well try!"

So here he was. Still jobless, still not yet enrolled in school. Enjoying his time in the (now autumn) sunshine, biding his time before he ran out of money. He'd planned well - he had enough cash to keep him covered for a while, as long as he didn't go blowing it.

He'd blown it.

He was a sucker for good coffee, though, and he missed Outback. He'd worked at one back home for almost a year before he left, and now... now, it was like an itch he couldn't scratch - he needed the interaction, needed to go make friends. He was too much of a social butterfly.

Yet again, he found himself in his truck, on the way to the nearest stand. He was pathetic, really. Here he was, wasting more money on coffee, when he could be out hiking or climbing or... literally doing anything else.

He knew it was worth it the second he pulled in. The cutest kid was running lines that day - shorts hugging his tight ass deliciously, in a way Tony knew his operator would get in trouble for if a Mobster or Coach saw.  Christ, they lettin' just anyone work here now, that it?

He had to keep his thoughts to himself, though - the kid had just finished the cars in front of him, and was headed straight for Tony, iPad in hand. He took a breath, putting on his best poker face. He needed a fucking cigarette.

"Hey handsome! Welcome to Outback, what're we drinkin' today?" Shit, he's cute. All bright and cheery - it might be fake, sure, customer service voice and all - but boy, did he play the part well. All big eyes and wide smile. He looked up at Tony expectantly, right hand hovering over the screen of the runner iPad. Shit, he still has to order something.

"Hi, just a small iced white vanilla breve please." Tony watched as the kid pressed a few spaces on the tablet, shocked at how fluidly he moved. Tony'd never seen him at this location before, but he obviously knew what he was doing. Location transfer, maybe? Mobster? He wasn't sure.

"Perfect! I've got you in - anything else, love?" God, he was too much. There's no way this was just the sickly facade Outback enforced - no, this was all him. "Nah, I'm okay. I'm paying card today, too." He reached his hand out for the tablet, wanting to tip this kid specifically.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, this card reader's broken. The one up at the window's working though! My girl Maia'll be up there waiting for you!" He turned with a smile, skipping off to the next car.

Jesus, who was this kid? And what did Tony have to do to see him again?

•|||•

Return an application, apparently.

Maia, the girl at the window, had let him know that they were hiring. He didn't have to feign interest - he had relevant experience, could work his way up if he needed to - and he'd get to see the mystery boy again. She'd ran and grabbed a small stack of papers for him, which he dutifully filled out and brought back a couple of hours later.

The closing shift lead had briefly interviewed him, practically giving him the job on the spot. Apparently she'd met his sister on a Mob trip, before - it paid to have connections, but damn... someone in town already knew who he was. Oh well. Not a big deal. These were still new people, fresh faces - he could make a clean reputation for himself, a fresh start...

It was exactly what he needed. And if he needed to use a bit of his influence with his sister to get it... so be it.

•|||•

"Emma, please, just... don't be a dick when he calls you. I need this job, it'll be good for m-"

"Save it, Tony. I don't want your excuses. If I say I'll do it, will you leave me alone?" She was being unusually short with him. Fuck. She and Rhodey were fighting again.

"Yes, yes, anything. Thank you so much." He was met with a bored sigh.

"Whatever, dude. I'll put in a good word. Talk to you later." She hung up before he could say anything else. Whatever - it wasn't the worst conversation he'd had with his sister, but it left a lot to be desired.

They hadn't been doing well since she & Rhodey got together. It was on-again-off-again... and they were honestly both to blame. Neither one of them was good at commitment, and it showed.

It put strain on both of their relationships with Tony, and didn't do much to help keep him in Federal Way. He sought comfort in the isolation of a new town, but it didn't seem to be helping anything.

Leaving never did, but it was really all he knew how to do.

•|||•

Peter hadn’t been at Outback long, but he’d enjoyed every minute of it.

He’d gotten hired almost immediately after graduation, not wanting to waste a second of his summer not making money. It was a bit of a difficult transition - he wasn’t a big fan of Beck, his boss, and training was really overwhelming. But after he’d hit that twelve week mark... it’s like something just clicked.

He was a whiz on bar, he was making friends right and left. He and Maia’d even gone to get tattoos together a couple weeks ago during a flash sale. He was getting faster and faster at running cars, he knew almost all of his regular customers. He genuinely felt like part of the family.

That didn’t really change when Beck hired a new group, either. There weren’t too many of them, helping keep their group small. They’d been spending a bit of time in the stand here and there, going over the rules, the ins and outs of making coffee, taking their menu test.

The three he was introducing today seemed okay enough. He just barely caught the tail end of Beck's “congrats on becoming a full employee” monologue before the man set the fresh meat loose. Not that they could really go far - it was maybe a good spit's distance from corner to corner. But, if it helped them get their bearings...

He was pulled from his thoughts before they could take off too far. “Hey, Parker! Come say hi to the green beans!”

•|||•

The red haired girl was nice enough. They'd introduced themselves, exchanged snap usernames, gushed over Peter's tattoos, and bonded over the typical new job anxiety. He'd forged a sweet new friendship with Bri, and was hopeful she'd stick around. He'd seen people like her get chewed up and spit out in this industry, and he liked her.

The tall guy... was pretty boring, actually. He stayed on his phone for the majority of the introduction, opting to ignore Peter entirely. It was fine - he'd probably be gone by the end of the month. Not like they’d miss him - he barely passed his menu test, from what Peter’d overheard.

Then came Mr. Short, Dark, and Brooding - Tony, apparently - Peter remembered him from a few weeks ago. He’d given Peter a poorly concealed once-over, tried to take the runner iPad from right out of his hands... if he wasn’t so attractive, Peter’d pin him for a fuckboy.

Despite how much he looked like he’d wanted to back then, when given the opportunity, he didn’t really engage with Peter. He apparently wasn’t the type to keep eye contact, go in for a hug, make small talk. 0 for 2. Disappointing. Oh well. That’s fine - Peter was perfectly content as the only guy at this location (sans Beck, of couse). Too much testosterone didn’t foster a healthy working environment, and they all knew it.

The girls, especially. They all gushed over Peter - apparently being the token gay guy in the stand somehow made him exempt from the targetted harassment. Nearly every guy they’d hired had left within 9 months - coffee was definitely a female-dominated field.

Peter was excited to see how these two fared.

•|||•

The tall guy was gone within a week. Didn’t even leave notice, just up and stopped showing up to his shifts. Not that it was the end of the world - he was still in his probationary period, so he wasn’t even making tips. No sweat off Peter’s back.

Bri did really well, in comparison. Beck was unusually strict with her - lashing out during her initial first shifts, generally being a hardass. It was unnecessary, and everyone knew it - Peter often found himself having fridge or bathroom meetings with her to help calm her down. But she kept showing up, kept trying, and after a few weeks she was doing just as well as Peter and the rest of them.

Tony was even better. Peter’d heard through the grapevine that he’d worked at a different location when he was still in school. Why he had to go through training again was lost on Peter - Beck tended to be thorough when it came to these kinds of things, but Tony was arguably more experienced than some of Peter’s coworkers...

Apparently, it’s because he wasn’t one to play nice.

•|||•

It took them quite a while to work together. Peter’d found himself getting the shit end of the schedule, working 7-1s religiously. It was by far his least favorite shift - dealing with the morning and lunch rushes were nothing, if not exhausting. But he pushed through, and finally got a say in what he worked - a very comfortable 5 - close.

Tony seemed to fill the between-shift gap - 2-8 was his jam. He liked working later, but still getting home before dark. Apparently being a newbie meant drawing the short straw sometimes -

And the short straw just so happened to be barring with the twink from a few weeks ago.

He hadn’t been... avoiding him. Tony just... didn’t like the way he worked. Peter was flighty, always moving. It irked him... he was just so much, it made Tony’s head hurt. If he wasn’t so engaging he might actually piss Tony off - but he knew the kid had nothing but good intentions, and that made it bearable.

It didn’t translate to the bar, though.

It seemed nearly impossible for them to work well together. Tony’d been assigned the milk station for the last three hours of his shift - a long stretch, but nothing he hadn’t done before. Peter was on shots almost the entire time. Poor kid.

Tony’s sympathy ran dry when they actually began working. They were almost always on top of each other - Peter crowding his space and trying to do too much. It grated on Tony’s every nerve, made it difficult to function. Peter didn’t seem to notice at all - or if he did, he didn’t care.

It came to a head when Peter went for the fridge. 

It was a pretty well-known rule that the person on shots doesn’t reach for the fridge. Not only was it too far away from their position on machine, it requires them to go behind their bar partner, which is dangerous in a shop this small. Hot liquids, ice, sugar... they can cause spills, burns, falls... 

So of course this dumbass goes for the fridge. Opens the door. Grabs a can of cold brew with his bare hands before turning back around. 

And running into Tony face first. 

This would have been fine if it were literally anything other than a cold brew. This would have been fine if Tony wasn’t holding a fresh drink! But no - the universe lined things up just right, laid out the most well-planned disaster. 

As they made contact, Peter’s hands flew up in shock, dropping the very pressurized can. It exploded as it hit the concrete, spraying nitrogen and foam-y coffee all over them. This caused Tony to let go of the drink in his hand, coating both of their lower halves in hot, sticky milk. 

It was picturesque, the mess they made. 

Tony looked up at Peter in absolute shock. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?! Why were you in the fridge?!” 

“I was just trying to help! You were busy, I figured I could-” Tony cut him off before he filled the stand with more hot air. Not in the mood for his bullshit excuses. 

“I don’t care how busy you think I am - you ask before doing something outside of your station. Do you understand me?” The look in his eye was one Peter’d never seen before - it probably should have scared him, but frankly, it just made him angrier. 

“Who do you think you are to be giving me orders?” He was huffy, he could feel his cheeks burning red. He was an angry crier, and knew he was struggling to control his face. 

“My sister’s a Mobster. I think I know what I’m doing.” Oh. That explained it - his experience, his proficiency on bar... why he was such a dick. Peter’d never met a Mobster he liked, and if this guy was related to one... shit just made sense. 

•|||•

He spent the remaining few hours of Tony’s shift hiding in the back. They were better off separated, and neither complained. Tony could handle himself up front, and Peter was productive enough. He had chores to do, dishes to finish, the closing list to start... Getting an early start benefitted everyone. 

By the time 8 rolled around, the atmosphere in the stand had relaxed. They’d both had a chance to clean up, the girls on window had helped ease the tension with casual conversation. Bri had been running, and Peter spent plenty of time in the back with her, hushed enough to avoid the ears a few feet away. 

“I don’t see why he gets to walk all over us. You’ve been here longer, and the attitude isn’t necessary.” She was sitting on the edge of the sink, goldfish making their way to her mouth between words. “You know I don’t like him. I don’t see why you keep trying to be nice.”

Peter sighed. He knew she was right. “I just... I don’t want anyone here to feel left out, or like I did at the beginning. Beck can be mean... I want all of you to feel welcome.” It wasn’t a lie, either - he’d made a point to make everyone feel at home, to make this stand a family. Until Tony showed up, he’d been doing a great job. 

“I know buttercup. Just... don’t go bending over backward for someone that won’t even look you in the eye.” With that she hopped down, ready to clock out. 

Tony shuffled past them both, excited to do the same. Maia’d taken over the bar for him, alleviating him just before the four minute window was up. He didn’t even excuse himself, just inserting himself in their personal space without concern. 

Bri shot Peter a look before she left. Talk to him! 

He opted for bravery. He deserved an apology for Tony’s harsh words earlier today, and he was going to get it. 

He checked the cameras before walking back, making sure Maia wasn’t gonna wind up swamped if this took longer than necessary. Tony was collecting his things - he had to do this fast. 

“Hey, listen.” Tony looked up, unamused. “I know we didn’t exactly have a good shift, and yeah I’m partly to blame for that... but Beck doesn’t really vibe with hostility, and the girls...” 

Tony cut him off halfway through. “What, it makes them uncomfortable? They don’t like it when a man takes charge, has a little outburst? Sheesh, y’all really are a mess.” What the fuck?

“Okay, seriously. I tried to be nice. You owe me, and the rest of us, a serious apology for today, or I’m going to Quentin about it. It’s not that hard to say you’re sorry, Tony.” Good job Parker, firm boundaries. 

“I’m sorry? Sorry for what, doing my job? Fuck that, man. I’m out of here.” He opened the door and left, skipping past an oncoming car and heading toward his own. 

Peter followed him. It was stupid, sure - but he needed to assert himself here. This was his stand, his home - and he was damned if he was going to let some... some asshole trample all over his home like this.

He caught up to Tony quickly, stopping him before he could open the driver’s door. “Why are you such an asshole? The girls are obsessed with you, you clearly have a leg up against everyone else in your group. There’s no reason for you to be acting like this, dude. You’ve been here all of what, a month?” 

Tony took a long drag from his cigarette before answering. “I don’t have to explain myself to you. Now be a good little closer, and run inside. Finish your shift.” He exhaled the smoke into Peter’s face, getting into his car and driving away without another word. 

What a douchebag. 

[gacy-lajla]

karasuno x trans!reader

warnings: accidental and intended misgendering, transphobic comments like twice and probably a curse or two

summary: after outing yourself as a trans man you were forced to live with your uncle Ittetsu Takeda and transfer schools

a/n: heya i’ve been binge watching haikyuu this past month or less (currently through half of season 4) and i just really really wanted to read some content where the reader is transgender!! i’m agender (they/them or he because we don’t have neutral pronouns where i live)

_____

Training started just like always, after a quick warm up everyone got back to improving on their skills. The team worked like clockwork as they practised as a group – of course not leaving out a little banter here and there. Coach Ukai was currently talking outside with Takeda which was nothing too out of the ordinary. The team was used to depend on themselves and coordinate accordingly. What they didn’t expect was for the two absentees to enter with a third person again. You. Tanaka and Nishinoya were the first to react, curiosity making the served ball drop.

“Is that a new manager?” Nishinoya’s eyes lit up as he took in the figure of the new person – Karasuno sure was lucky in that regard, it seemed.

“She looks cute, but not as cute as our Kiyoko!”, Tanaka added in, standing next to the Libero.

The other players attention was on you shortly after, taking your presence in before Sugawara scolded the two friends for being distracted that easily and to keep their eyes on the ball. They were about to resume when Takeda called for everyone’s attention. Quickly gathering around the coach, the teacher and the newcomer they bowed their heads in greeting, just as you did.

Harshly giving you two pats on your left shoulder blade Ukai made you step forward with himself, giving you a reassuring smile in the process. You rubbed your cold hands together, nervousness taking over your body as all eyes were now set on you. Catching on quickly the man introduced you to the team himself.

“Everyone, this is (y/n), a third year. He recently transferred to this school and will be joining our team from now on, I expect you to be respectful towards him.”

You bowed again giving a small “pleased to meet you”, thankful that Ukai spared you of making a fool out of yourself by tripping over your own words. After that you got a short introduction from everyone, trying your best to remember their names immediately but that wasn’t really your forte so you just told yourself you’d pay attention to the others calling each other’s names.

After that you warmed yourself up to join them in the actual training. During that time you couldn’t help but listen in on some of the conversations as there wasn’t much else to focus on.

“Isn’t that a girl? Why is she training with the boys?”

“Yeah, wouldn’t it be better if she just joined the girl’s training?”

“I heard that she’s actually a he.”

You didn’t pay attention to who was talking – they seemed not to be part of the volleyball club – but it sure hit you in the most vulnerable of all places. Just until recently you had been playing with the girls from your former school. You actually transferred because, after coming out as trans, you have been excluded from any gendered club activities as the authority was unsure about how to handle a case such as yourself. There were also some actions inside of school which convinced you that your former school was not the ideal place for you to stay at. Not only that but your parents sent you to stay with your uncle – Ittetsu Takeda – because obviously you were ungrateful towards them. Not that you really mind, he’s much nicer and way more understanding – well, still in the process of understanding, but at least he’s trying his best, which was nice.

“It’s weird calling someone with boobs ‘he’.”

Your jog slowed down, your mind trying to focus on suppressing tears that threatened to appear. Taking a deep breath you gained some tempo again before taking a stop next to the coach again.

“I think I’ve warmed up enough, am I supposed to just… join them?”

Ukai nodded so you continued to walk towards the line waiting to receive their spikes. In your old team you didn’t really have a set position, rotating it around inside the group as the sport wasn’t taken too seriously. Though opponents were cautious of you every time you went out on an attack you had to admit that you had more fun in a defensive position, receiving the ball was one of the best feelings you could imagine while playing on the field. But when it came to skill you would probably be considered an all-rounder.

It didn’t take long until it was your turn to hit the ball – two setters being present making progress like clockwork. You got a pass from a grey haired boy, Sugawara if you remembered correctly. It was easy to remember him, he just had a sweet aura about him which made it easy to remember his name. The moment the ball hit your hand and the ground on the opposite side of the net immediately after, silence befell the room. The Libero didn’t manage to get the ball by a hairs width. Turning towards the setter you nervously played with your hands.

“Could you try to pass the ball a little higher next time? I might not be the tallest person but I can jump pretty high.”

After a brief silence a smile flashed on his face – which you immediately returned -, giving you a thumbs up. “Sure!”

Moving out of the way a boy about your height came up to you, looking at you with bright and sparkling eyes. You didn’t remember his name but you were quite sure he was a first year.

“Can you show me how you did that? When did you learn that?”

You were stunned into silence for a second, wondering what he could possibly mean. He must’ve meant your spike, right? You’ve noticed that they tended to spike their balls quite far which you didn’t – a force of habit since in your old team your teammates struggled to get the ball higher up most of the time. Rubbing the back of your neck nervously you chuckled a bit.

“Well, my old team didn’t really have a setter that managed to keep the ball at the perfect height every time so I had to adapt, I guess? So when I jump too high I just try to get the ball on the other side as close to the net as possible. It took me some time not to touch the net in the process but with enough training it just happens less frequently.”

“Woah, that’s so cool! Do you mind staying after training so you can show me, please?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not.”

After that you got quite comfortable with Sugawara’s sets which never seemed to falter. It finally felt like you were playing volleyball with people who shared the same enthusiasm as yourself which was a nice change. After a few more turns everyone was gathered again. The coach announce that you’d be playing one set before packing up for the day.

The opposing team consisted of Daichi, Sugawara, Tanaka, Kinoshita, Hinata, Yamaguchi and Nishinoya. You were teamed up with Asahi, Ennoshita, Narita, Kageyama and Tsukishima. To be honest, you really hoped you’d end up with the setter you’ve been training with already but that wishful thinking should apparently be denied. You wondered if the coach did it on purpose because he noticed you avoiding the other setter until now? Whatever it was there was no time to complain, not that you actually would.

You started in the back left – thankfully not serving the ball as you struggled most with it. You always made little mistakes, if it was throwing the ball too high or too low, but most commonly not noticing that you stepped over the line. Yes, when you hit the ball you usually hit it hard but if it didn’t reach the other side of the net or flew into the out there was no use to it.

The whistle ripped you out of your thoughts, focusing on the game. Yamaguchi had the first serve. It seemed like the ball was heading straight for Ennoshita next to you but in the last moment it drifted off to the side towards you. Noticing this you quickly sprang into action, diving for the ball. Despite managing to touch it there was no way of it to be saved, the first point going to the opposite team. That had to be a jump float serve! Impressed you looked at the boy breathing a quiet ‘woah’ before resuming your position. Ennoshita turned toward you as well.

“You react quick, I’m sure we’ll get the next one!”

You smiled at him, nodding.

The next serve was easier to react to as Yamaguchi failed to hit the ball right, resulting in Ennoshita successfully receiving. Next thing you knew your teams setter passed the ball towards the guy with the ponytail in front of you, spiking the ball with confidence only to be received by Daichi.

“Good spike!”, you cheered the guy in front of you, receiving a shy ‘thanks’ in return.

The other team struggled a little with the received ball, the second touch not reaching the setter resulting in a successful block from the tall blonde with the glasses, earning your first point. Encouraging words were exchanged and your team rotated its players clockwise, you now standing in the front left, ponytail standing to your right and Ennoshita behind you, Narita having the next serve. His hit seemed a little unstable but ended up rolling over the net, earning you yet another point.

His next serve seemed more intentional but was easily received by Daichi once more, passing the ball to Sugawara who set the ball nicely for Tanaka, but the tall blonde managed to touch the ball taking a direct course towards Narita once again who passed the ball towards your setter. You took the opportunity to run forward, either receiving the ball or distracting the other players – you assumed that he’d play to the ponytail guy again since the middle blocker was smaller by a few heads and thus less likely to block the ball. Sugawara, opposite of you, kept you covered, not joining the small redhead. And just as you predicted ponytail got the ball. What took you a little by surprise was the height the first year student reached, he was easily on par with you. But that didn’t help as a point was scored nonetheless.

The game went on, a head to head game. Your team had 12 points while the opponents had 14. You had scored none of the points, the setter not having played once in your direction. It bugged you, yes, but you also tried to be mindful. You’ve never had any interaction with that guy so it would be hard for both of you to get used to one another, possibly making you lose more points than you would gain.

You nervously fiddled with the volleyball in your hands. It was time for your first serve and your gut was telling you something really bad was about to happen. You’d definitely screw this one up. You really wished you’d practised your serves a little more now. If you didn’t jump you probably wouldn’t be able to score at all because you knew from experience that your standing serves always ended in home runs. Gulping down whatever was blocking your airway the moment you heard the whistle you took a deep breath before throwing the ball. Taking a few quick steps you jumped, dread filling you the moment you hit the ball with all of your might. It wouldn’t be high enough.

Oh no.

A loud thud was heard and the person in front of you stumbled a little forward, holding the back of his head before falling to his knees. Panicked you rushed towards the setter, the looming silence making you wince with every squeaky step you took.

“I’m so, so incredibly sorry! Are you okay? I didn’t mean to hit you like that-”

You cut yourself off the moment the dark haired setter whipped his head around and glared at you. Taking a few steps back others rushed to his side, helping him up asking if he was alright. Reassuring them that he was alright everyone went back to their positions, albeit reluctantly. And not like this situation was humiliating enough already, the moment the coach spoke up you really wanted to be swallowed by the ground.

“(y/n), you stepped over the line.”

You felt your soul leave your body, Asahi, now to your left tried to assure you that everything was alright. But for the rest of the game you didn’t dare call out for the ball once, not having scored once in the end despite winning by a narrow margin. You really feel like you’ve fucked up this one.

After cleaning up you quickly threw on a sweater to keep yourself warm. You were about to call out to you uncle to wait for you when something quick made you stop abruptly. It was Hinata.

“Do you still don’t mind showing me that spike you did? It was really awesome and I want to see it again!”

_______

a/n: thank you for reading! I’m not sure how i want to continue this, i might just turn this into one overall thing with no focus on one character (i’d probably write something similar for other schools as well) or i might split off from here so there would be different ‘routes’ (also including other schools! as in karasuno reader and kuroo, bokuto, akaashi or whoever)

feedback regarding this would be nice :0 have a nice morning, day, evening or night <3

[keeptheotherone]

Do You Promise?

Chapter 1 of a new WIP, just for you, my Tumblrers <3

August 1999 the Burrow’s garden Weasleys’ 2nd Annual End of Summer Celebration

Charlie Weasley sat on the fence separating his mother’s vegetable patch from the garden, thinking about the last time he’d sat here, one year ago. Then it had been Bill at his side, not his little sister.

“Knut for your thoughts,” she said, pushing herself up.

“Where’s your boyfriend?”

Ginny raised her brows at the implication of his answer but didn’t tease. “Around.”

“Mmm.” He’d been home for more than twenty-four hours, but he hadn’t seen Potter once. At Christmas, they’d been a package deal, never out of arm’s reach of the other. “I thought he might have had to work.”

Ginny shook her head, pigtails dancing round her shoulders like they had when she was shorter than this fence. “Today and tomorrow, but not tonight. Mum made them promise.”

By “them,” Charlie knew she meant Ron and Harry. But … Mum made them promise? Not Ginny, or even Hermione?

“Well, he’d better show up,” Charlie said, taking a drink of his beer. “He owes me a rematch.”

They had played Quidditch in the orchard last year, he and Ginny and Potter and George and a bunch of kids he hadn’t known. Played past sunset into darkness, until Professor McGonagall ended the pick-up match without a capture of the Snitch.

Ginny muttered something that sounded like “he owes me a hell of a lot more than a rematch,” but Charlie let it slide. Ginny could take care of herself.

He and Bill had made sure of it.

“Shouldn’t you be with your friends?” 

“Thanks, Charlie, that means a lot.” She swiped the bottle from his loose grasp and drank.

Charlie had to remind himself she was of age to keep from overreacting, but even so, his hand twitched reflexively.

Ginny saw it and smirked round the glass, tipping her head back and the bottle up, taking several long swallows just for show.

“Yeah, you can have my beer, Sis. I’ll just get another, no problem.”

She finished with a pop and licked the foam from her upper lip before handing it back. “Thirsty.”

Charlie held the bottle up to the light—there was exactly one swallow left. “Brat.”

Ginny was predictably unfazed, gazing over the crowd starting to assemble round the food tables. “I talked to Angelina. She said Alicia couldn’t make it this year.”

“Who?” Charlie said, right as a picture of a perky brunette, with equally perky … anatomy … popped into his mind. Shit. Alicia wasn’t avoiding the party because of him, was she? The same age as George, she would know most of the people attending tonight. He’d thought they parted on good terms, all things considered….

“I thought you might be watching for Amy.”

“Amy’s coming?” He hadn’t seen Amy Green since he had invited himself back to her room and she politely declined. 

“Fleur wasn’t sure,” Ginny said casually, as if she hadn’t just dangled fairy lights in front of a niffler. “She said she encouraged her to come since she sounded a little down, but Amy didn’t commit. I hope she does, don’t you?”

“Of course. I haven’t seen Amy since the memorial. It would be good to catch up.” Charlie took a subtle deep breath, repeating the mantra he told himself when he occasionally woke with her on his mind. You asked, and Amy said no. It doesn’t matter if she isn’t seeing anyone. She’s still unavailable, Weasley. No benefits, just friends.

“I remember, you know. You think I was too young to understand, but I remember. In Egypt.”

Charlie scoffed. His baby sister celebrated her twelfth birthday the summer his family had visited Bill in Cairo. “Oh, yeah? And what do you think you remember, Gin-Gin?”

“I know Bill was an arse,” she said bluntly.

This reversal of her usual hero worship got Charlie’s attention.

“I know you weren’t. And that you liked her. I know you two went out together, and you’ve both dated other people since … but you’ve never dated each other.”

Charlie sighed. “Ginny….”

“Bill’s married,” she said simply. “It doesn’t matter any more.”

“I never thought I’d say this … but go find something else to do. Even if it’s Harry.”

****

Charlie did not leave his post on the fence rail, content to get quietly drunk and watch his family enjoy themselves. He had wondered why he’d bothered making the trip in—it made three in a month, when you added the party to Ginny’s and Percy’s birthdays—but now admitted to himself it had been in hopes of seeing Amy. After all, she hadn’t refused him, exactly; she’d refused the timing. 

“I think we both know what will happen if you walk me back to Hogsmeade.”

He raised his brows, leaving the challenging “so?” unspoken.

Amy closed her eyes, then pulled her hand from his. “Not today, Charlie.” She waved her hand at the gates and the castle and the grounds beyond, where the first Remembrance Ceremony had just ended. “Not after this.”

“Oi, sleepyhead!”

Charlie opened his eyes to find an object in eminent danger of colliding with his nose. He snatched it from the air in sheer self-defense, then groaned when he realized he’d just crumbled one of the best biscuits he’d ever had in his life—a biscuit he’d been waiting all year to taste again.

Percy laughed. “Nice catch, Captain.”

“Shut up,” Charlie muttered, trying to transfer the contents of his hand to his mouth without wearing them.

“Full of snappy retorts tonight, I see.”

Charlie eyed his next-youngest brother, his cheery demeanor highly suspicious. “Did you just get laid?”

Percy slung one arm around his shoulders. “I, in the utmost gesture of brotherly solidarity, am foregoing my own numerous opportunities to assist you in yours, however few and far between they may be.”

“You’re pissed.” Alcohol did not make Percy more relaxed; it made him more Percy-ish.

Percy squinted one eye closed and looked towards the gate. “Perhaps,” he conceded. “But not so drunk I can’t recognize a certain beautiful brunette.”

It was Amy. She was wearing—well, Charlie supposed it was technically a dress, but he’d seen similar items under a dress or robes more than once. It was black and flow-y, with red flowers and skinny straps made to make a man think of slipping them off, and just like that Charlie saw the garment puddled at her feet. She was taller than usual in thick sandals, and even from this distance, with the cut of the dress and the way she moved—he could tell she was braless. He raised the bottle to his mouth before remembering it was empty.

“Godric, I wish I had a camera,” Percy said wistfully. “George and Ron are never going to believe this.”

Charlie realized he was making a fool of himself, closed his mouth, and turned, shaking off his brother’s arm. “What’s she doing now?”

“Making a beeline for us.”

Charlie spoke through clenched teeth. “Shut up and get the—”

“Amy! What a pleasure. We’re so glad you could make it.”

Charlie turned to find his brother kissing Amy on both cheeks with minimal difficulty, despite their height difference. His heart skipped a beat. She was taller; he could kiss her easily.

No, not kiss. We’re friends!

Oh, who was he kidding? Unless she flat-out declined, he was sleeping with Amy Green tonight. They could figure out the friendship stuff tomorrow.

“Hey,” she said, pausing just shy of kissing distance (cheek or otherwise).

“Hey.”

Her hair was down, as it often was, but she had pulled back the front above her ears, exposing small purple and silver earrings (her house colors) and … a blush?

“I would offer to bring you a handful of biscuits, but something tells me you two aren’t going to be here for long.” Percy smirked. “Take care, Amy. See you tomorrow, Charlie.”

Charlie glanced at Amy to judge her reaction. “I’m sorry. He’s, er—”

“Taking the piss?” She offered the British idiom with a grin.

Charlie returned it. “I was going to say ‘pissed,’ but yeah. That too.”

She laughed.

“I keep telling you, you’re lucky to be an only child.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, brushing her hands over his chest with slow, deliberate strokes that were in direct opposition to her presumed goal of removing crumbs. “Brothers can be useful. I figured even if you turned me down, not all of you would.”

Charlie froze, just for a second, his brain short-circuiting to a night more than a year ago, before Ron had left for Australia. “Well, if she actually says it with words, that’s always a good sign, although if she strips her knickers off, that’s even better.”

Wait a minute … she wasn’t commando under that thing … was she?

It took a few moments for the silence to catch his attention.

“I take it that’s not a no,” Amy said dryly.

“No. It’s not. But—”

Her expression darkened, and she pulled away slightly. 

“The terms haven’t changed.” 

“I didn’t think they had,” she said cooly.

They had been here before, the autumn after Voldemort came back. Grimmauld Place, an unexpected post-meeting raid, high spirits and adrenaline … and the darkened hallway where Amy had turned him down. “I like strings,” she’d said, and walked away.

The staccato drumbeat of the Weird Sisters’ Do the Hippogriff pulled Charlie from the memory.

“Drink?” he asked, indicating his empty bottle in case she hadn’t heard him over the noise.

“Not really.”

He’d already started towards the tables, but her answer drew him up short. “Really, Amy, you could at least buy me dinner first,” he said sarcastically.

She sighed. “Look, Charlie, I don’t want to play the game. It’s why I’m here. Now, am I wasting my time or not?”

For the second time that night he found himself holding on to his temper. He was starting to see how she’d got under Bill’s skin, why he’d had such a hard time letting her go even when Bill had known he didn’t want to pursue a relationship with her.

“So what, you thought you’d just fly in, snap your fingers, and I’d jump?”

“Am I wrong?”

Godric, she was obnoxious. She was also beautiful, confident, and sexy as hell, and Charlie was honest enough to admit he found the balance of power between them as intoxicating as it was infuriating. 

“We could get a room at the Leaky—in magical London—or maybe Hogsmeade?”

“I have a room in the village.”

Damn. When Amy made up her mind, she didn’t mess around.

“All right,” he agreed. “One last thing, though.”

He stepped into her space, close enough to ruffle her skirt with his legs and watch the gooseflesh pebble across her chest and shoulders. He ignored the temptation to follow it down and looked her in the eye. In heels, she was as tall as he, but his wide shoulders and bulky frame dwarfed her. He paused to let her consider this fact, still not touching her, before dropping his voice.

“You will not be in control the entire night.”

Her reaction went straight to his groin—a sharp intake of breath, dilated pupils, a shiver she tried to suppress. Then she smiled, a sly, knowing smile that reached all the way to her eyes and made them sparkle in the fading sunlight.

“Do you promise?”

[fizzingwizard]

Go ahead y’all ask me how I am... do it, I DARE you... after Digimon Adventure: episode 50 - the 1999 equivalent of which, I feel compelled to mention, was “Jou’s Battle,” when Taichi strategically splits his group apart with the goal of gathering the whole team for the final confrontation - I think my emotional state can best be described like this:

meme so funny haha

but the truth is I’m very sad. I just can’t with this show anymore. I don’t know if I’ll continue to review future episodes. Actually, as I was watching this one, I thought it was the final episode, even though I knew there were supposed to be more and it hadn’t been hyped as the finale at all. I just thought, “What else can they do after this? It seems like the kind of ending this shitshow would get. At least it will be a relief to not watch it every week anymore.”

However, let’s be clear that this is NOT the finale. I’m gonna watch till the very end, but idk if I have it in me even to make these depressing little reviews. At first it was fun, then it was meh... I held out and the show got fun again, but the last month or so have been such a drag. And this week’s episode is just the final straw. So we’ll see.

Anyway real episode review below the cut. Warning: I hated everything except for Taichi’s face so it’s mostly caps of him.

Pic of the day:

“At this rate... I’m gonna request a transfer to Boruto...” /Sanpei Yuuko joke

More below

Last week big bad Millenniumon appeared to be resurrected. Here he is.

Totally lacking a clear motivation other than “destroy the world...” Even in appearance, ALL of Devimon’s evolutions mid-season were WAY scarier.

Turns out Taichi and Agumon have faceplanted on this hunk of rock, which immediately breaks off and sends them catapulting earthward.

Wind noise what? Taichi and Agumon encourage each other while freefalling.

Agumon: Hey shouldn’t we have broken every bone in our bodies by now

Taichi: I once broke my leg tripping over Hikari’s hairbrush. This is starting to seem silly.

Meanwhile the others awaken inside what Tailmon explains is a cut-off dimension created by Millenniumon, where they will eventually fall into a dreamless sleep forever and ever.

Millenniumon’s power is immense and he makes volcanos erupt. So his power is he gives the earth digital acne.

Yamato evolves MetalGarurumon and stars just attacking the walls (of... the endless void... lol). This appears to slow Millenniumon down in a total rip-off of the way cooler way Koushirou slowed Diaboromon down in Our War Game.

The Holy Digimon are inspired by Taichi’s courage to fight wheeee I didn’t realize they were having problems with that

no kidding

Taichi fights a lot and escapes certain death a lot. Even when he and WarGreymon take a head-on hit and are sent spiraling into the ocean. Still fine because THE POWER OF BELIEF

Chumbawumba: I get knocked down but I get up again you’re never gonna keep me down

WarGreymon is able to knock the black ball thingy out of Millenniumon’s mouth. This is fortunate because it’s what contains Yamato and friends and now they are able to free themselves thanks to the Holy Digimon, who randomly start acting like the Crests are important. But since we don’t know what they are *cough* they just call them “everyone’s hopes!”

Now let’s interrupt my mocking to appreciate an adorable Taichi waking up face:

Alll the d’aaaaawwwww

... Aaaand his back is broken x’DDD

The HolyDigimon have evolved to Ultimate level! More on that later. First, they divided the group in halves with them, because because. Hikari gets Taichi, Sora, and Koushirou, and Takeru gets Yamato, Jou, and Mimi.

So yes... those Ultimate evolutions... Tailmon becomes Magnadramon and Patamon becomes... GODDRAMON, GOD OF STEELY ABS

no seriously thats all I could think. Magnadramon is all soft and fluffy looking and then Goddramon is like “I HAVE SMALL HEAD HUGE BODY ABS ABS UNTIL KINGDOM COME, VERY MACHO”

He punches Millenniumon in the mouth, of course.

Millenniummon considerately starts to melt. Thank you, Millenniumon. We wouldn’t want Goddramon’s ego to get bruised.

There’s a few good attacks here - I liked Magnadramon’s Apocalypse attack - but like who even cares. The animation is so half-assed that there’s nothing really to appreciate.

Just when it seems Millenniumon’s defeated, he comes back like... this. It’s enormous. Even Koushirou’s digimon analyzer doesn’t know what it is.

Lopmon does though!

bahahaha

but wait what’s this

sparks! are they fireflies????

no they are the hopes and wishes of all the Digimon we’ve met on our journey! how lovely and inspiring! what are they saying?

hopes and wishes: I DONT WANNA DIE I DONT WANNA DIE I DONT WANNA DIE

now I shall spam Taichi looking adorable while being as cliche as an anime protagonist can get.

Good heavens, WHY. WHY WHY WHY. I looooooove Taichi (obviously) but WHY is he the one fighting here?? First it was Taichi, then it was Goddramon/Magnadramon, and now it’s... back to Taichi??? FOR WHAT REASON???

I mean the reason is, we don’t know anyone else well enough to cheer for them the way we cheer for Taichi. As cool as the Holy Digimon are meant to be, I guess the one thing the producers realized is that, uh, they’ve only spent time building up Taichi (and even that, while they’ve done a lot of it, they haven’t done it well).

Kinda cool death scene.

Our heroes wake up no worse for the wear. Millenniumon is gone. Everyone is together and happy. I’m just spamming Taichi again.

his face when Mimi gives him the corsage

Taichi: “Wtf, what is this, is this supposed to mean something??? also didn’t we see this burn to a crisp a few frames ago??”

And we end with a blue sky, which is both the most beautifully animated frame as well as the most Digimon Adventure-like scene in the entire episode -____-

So, like I said, I was all prepared for this to be the inauspicious ending, despite what I’d heard about the number of episodes. But nope, there’s more. Although I’m frustrated beyond belief, I’m somewhat relieved because this does mean there’s still potential to recover somewhat from this utter train wreck of a battle. The big problem is that Millenniumon is a TERRIBLE villain.

The other problem is that the show HASN’T been terrible the whole time. It’s been up and down a lot, but the ups were very much there, and they gave us some stuff I found pretty interesting. Like, I really wanted to know more about what the heck went down between Taichi and DoneDevimon - the fact that only Yamato has any idea about it (Takeru too but he’s a baby) hasn’t been addressed. Then there’s the connections between Devimon and Angemon, SkullKnightmon and Tailmon. Those have been addressed, technically, but they left sooo much room for more.

Then there’s things like the kids’ family situations - my guess is we’ll end up back in the human world at some point quite soon - which were hinted at back when most of the team was exiled to the human world. Really want to see that expanded on.

Mosty of all, what gave me any positive vibes about this reboot at all was the first three episodes, which were pretty good overall - did a lot of things different but still preserved what I felt was most important. We saw Koushirou coming into his own, Yamato being standoffish and slowly opening up, and Taichi being the glue that keeps things together. Those first three episodes are arguably better than the rest of the show combined. And I bet it’s no coincidence that they predate covid-19 (sort of - I mean, covid was already a thing and around, Japan just hadn’t started caring much about it yet).

Episode 4 is when we started hitting misteps, and that’s also when the show went on brief hiatus due to covid. It never got back what made those first three episodes so promising, even during the highs.

I’ll make a list of the things I liked sometime, but I suppose the main points are the ones I mentioned above, plus the arc with Ogremon, and the kids getting new evolutions not seen in 99 Adventure (well, by “kids” I mostly mean Taichi tho - but I thought it meant everyone would get them. Technically, Takeru just did.)

So yeah. I’m  so done with this show and the things is, I just love Digimon Adventure so much, it meant so much to me as a kid. I didn’t expect the same show. I think my expectations were set at a reasonable level, though I knew I had to be cautious about comparing the now and the before too much. This show just hasn’t been able to live up to 99 Adventure, but that’s not even my issue - it’s that it doesn’t live up to other current children’s cartoons either. It’s got no heart. Just think about that, Digimon has got no heart. It’s literally all about the connection between kids and their partners, kids and their friends, kids and their families, and it has no heart! That is failure. It says to me that something got confused in production - there wasn’t enough money, or there was too much staff turnover thanks to covid, etc, and people just lost sight of the story they were planning to tell.

That’s what I think happened. It can’t be fixed at this point, but I’ll still watch till the end and hope for the best. At least maybe I’ll get more Taichi pics to spam.

I probably need to rewatch 99 Adventure soon to get my soul back.

Next week, apparently the Crests will finally matter. My hope is that this whole debacle with Millenniumon is gonna turn out to have been a cover for something much bigger and less boring going on. Millenniumon didn’t even get a villain monologue. He reminded me of the way Mugendramon had been somewhat, more like a puppet than his own person. Makes me wonder if the Vademon were up to more than simply resurrecting a vanquished evil. Here’s hoping.

[blizzardfluffykpop]

Truly Yours

Summary: Moving to Korea from China had to be the hardest thing Yanan ever had to do. But if you love something and it comes back it was truly yours. If it never does it never truly was.

Do or Not Series

Little sad ends happy

Word Count: 1,517

Yanan X Reader

Requested: Hello could i request a yanan imagine where he is your ex and still pining, but you guys haven't seen each other in years? I leave ur imagination for the rest, as long as it's a fluff happy ending ((((: thank u xx

--

Some days are rougher than others when you sit only a few feet away from him. So beautiful yet so unaware of it, he hasn’t seen you in years. But every time he sees you, whether it's a picture frame or in person, it’s like his heart stops, and he’s a whole new man. You haven’t noticed him yet, and that's what he’s counting on. He hides behind the newspaper, peeking out every so often to see the way you laugh at what your friends say. How he wishes to make you laugh like that again, but as far as he knows, he’s the only one who still has feelings for you. It’s been four years, yet he can’t get over you.

It wasn’t a bad ending to a relationship, but it wasn’t great. Ending something with someone you love is something you never wish to do. Yet, it had to happen you both had separate dreams, yours in China and his in Korea. It broke his heart into a million pieces to leave you, but it was for the better. While you two would have remained loyal to each other. You two were still young and deserved to explore and learn more about yourselves. It doesn’t mean that the heartbreak didn’t hurt, but it was for the better, so you guys didn’t hurt each other.

He has changed a lot since then he followed his dream of being a singer in Korea. Grew more into his features and learned that he still loved you. Yet he had no way of contacting you when he moved he lost all of his connections. He changed his number and sacrificed most of his friendships for the idol life. It was grueling and miserable, but he did whatever it took to follow his dream. And to see you here in Seoul, he couldn’t help but feel his whole world come spinning to a halt. But how does he approach you now, and how long have you been here? But most importantly, were you here because you wanted him too?

--[Your pov]--

It’s been four years, and my mind has never once stopped thinking about my ex-lover, Yanan. Sometimes it is subtle, like our song playing on the radio or seeing someone his height. Leaving me breathless, and sometimes I would have to pause and do a double-take. And then when I started seeing him perform on TVs inside window fronts. The love I felt for him rushes back full force. When I figured out what group he was in, I became a huge supporter. Buying albums and merch, proudly showing my bias Yanan, how could you not bias Yanan. My best friend, giggling at me whenever I wear things with his name on them and how my heart still belongs to him.

We started dating in our senior year before, that we were just neighbors. We would walk to school and home together and talk about miscellaneous things. Introducing each other to different artists, sharing earbuds as we walked together. It wasn’t hard to fall for him; he was always so kind, honest, and cute. I miss him bursting out into laughter at something one of our mutual friends would say. Or if I was lucky something I said or those quiet moments,... Where we would be listening to music in my treehouse and thinking about the future.

It would be in that very treehouse where he would tell me that he was, finally, going to move to South Korea to pursue his dream of being an idol. We both cried and wiped each other’s tears before I encouraged him to go and follow his dreams. Who was I to hold him back from his dreams? If you love someone, you set them free you let them be their own person. Let them find themselves, and then if you’re lucky, you’ll find each other again and fall in love all over again.

Those three years we dated were the best years of my life. The highlight, because he was there to experience those years with me. So when the opportunity arrived that I could move to South Korea and still work at my dream job, I seized it without a second thought because it meant that I had a chance of seeing Yanan again. I wasn’t going to pass that up for the world. My parents and friends were sad to see me go, but they knew why and held me before I left. I promised to keep in contact and video chat whenever I had the chance. I wonder if, after all these years, he still feels the same. But alas, even if he doesn't, maybe we can be in contact again at least? That would ease my heartache a little.

--

It took me a month to finally settle, and I finally have a few friends in this new place. Who knew making new friends is a lot harder than it portrays on tv? We are going to a cafe for some coffee before we head to our separate jobs. Well, today I’m off, so I’ll be taking more things out of boxes to settle more into my new apartment. After meeting up with my friends, Yuqi and Kun. They make my day since we can speak to each other in a mixture of Chinese and Korean together. We arrive together and order our coffee and get a few pastries. We are sitting down and chatting when I notice someone reading a newspaper. Who does that nowadays? I roll my eyes, but something in my brain is hitting me over the head. Telling me that person feels familiar, but I don’t know anyone in Korea. I let it leave my brain and enjoy my friend's company. “--Then Minnie tells me I was the one snoring!” I can’t help but laugh, “Well, do you snore?” Kun asks, and she rolls her eyes, “That’s not the point--” I smirk, “It most certainly is a part of it.” She groans, “Why am I friends with you guys?!” We shrug, “Just lucky I guess,...” I trail off when I notice Newspaper get up. When they put the newspaper down, my jaw hits the floor. And I’m holding onto the table to keep myself from falling out of my chair.

Yuqi smirks, noticing she can deflect the teasing onto me, “Cutie at 11 O’Clock~.” Kun gasps and whispers, “That’s not any cutie,... that’s Yanan from Pentagon--.” I shake my head and barely can get out the words, “I know.” Before he approaches and says, “(Y/n)?” I nod and gulp Yugi whispers, “You know him?” I nod and she goes, “Why didn’t you introduce us earlier--” I cut her off, “Yanan, it’s nice to see you again.” He smiles, and my heart nearly pops out of my chest. He rubs the back of his neck, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if I talk to you?” I shake my head ‘no’ and shake off the nerves my brain set aflame. I leave my drink at the table and whisper as I follow him out, “I’ll tell you guys later.”

--

“I can’t believe you’re here,...” He says barely above a whisper, and I look him in the eyes for the first time in four years. “I can’t believe I’m seeing you again.” He nods, “Why are you here?” I tell him about how my job offered me a transfer and how I couldn’t refuse because I knew he’d be there. Our cheeks are red, and I wish to say it was from the cold, but it’s a nice warm spring day. I whisper loud enough for him to hear, “I missed you, Yanan.” He grins and chuckles, and my heart ignites, “I missed you too, (Y/n).” I scratch the back of my neck and say, “Would it be too soon to say I still love you?” He shakes his head, “No,... I’m in love with you too. I’m so glad you’re here.” He pulls me into his arms, and I feel comforted instantly.

We walk back in together, hand and hand. And introduce our relationship to them with bright smiles adorning our faces. We sit across from each other while we still engage in conversation. We’re busy staring into each other’s eyes, getting lost all over again. “The company will need me in about ten, so I’ll see you three later?” Yuqi asks, and the three of us nod and before she gets far. Kun tells her to wait up so they can walk to their respective companies. They yell, “Toodles, love birds!” We laugh, and we stay like that, exchanging small talk.

--

And that’s how it starts all over again, back in each other’s arms. This time never letting go, knowing this is what you truly want and need. For if you love something and it comes back to you, it is truly yours. Outside of his practice room is where we share our second ‘first’ kiss. “I love you, (Y/n).” Not a beat later, “I love you too, Yanan.”

[darlingdtarot]

🌕 2/27/2021 - Full Moon In Virgo & Horoscopes For All Signs🌕

 The Virgo Full Moon, where do we even begin? This is going to be an amazing time to take stock on what all is in your life. Where the New Moon is about setting new goals for yourself, the Full Moon is a wonderful way to reflect on what all has happened over the last month and how to be more in your own integrity. Are your current circumstances aligning with what you know is right for yourself and your Divine Purpose on this planet? This energy of rumination on what has transpired, and how this has either bettered your life, or made you a stronger individual, is almost palpable and you could very well be feeling it's effects days before the actual Full Moon itself.   

Some might be feeling a little emotionally charged and might feel as if it's easier to judge yourself a little too harshly as Virgos can be very detail oriented about themselves.  They can tend to be way too hard on their own projects, while being comforting and loving to other's. Show yourself and your dreams this same unconditional love and understanding that you would show others. Don't stoop to making self-deprecating jokes in the presence of others in the heat of the moment or setting the bar low on how you should be treated. Give yourself your dues – you deserve it for always pushing forward so courageously. No more cutting yourself into bite sized pieces to be more palatable for others. You are the spiciest, warmest, and most comforting cup of tea; but not everyone is a tea drinker. Some people enjoy coffee or hot chocolate and that's okay. Remember even though you might not be everyone's cup of tea, there are still a heck of a lot of tea drinkers out there in the world. Respect what sets you apart from others and what makes you different. These are things that others can't replicate even if they tried as they are unique to you. Embrace your uniqueness and authenticity with this Full Moon, and go into the month of March feeling empowered and strong.     

  Remember; this is a heavy time for everyone, so make sure that you're reaching out to those that you care about and seeing how they're faring with these newfound energies. They will be ecstatic that you took the time for them.  

Rituals that you can do during the Virgo Full Moon:     

Some of the best rituals to be doing for the Full Moon in Virgo are actually the most simple.  We are going to discuss a few of the different ways we can utilize the energy of the Full Moon. Take what you feel called to, and don't feel as though you have to accomplish everything on this list. We go over a few so there are many different ways for many different lifestyles. The most important thing to take away from this is to be kind towards yourself during this Full Moon, and not to be so hard on yourself. Give yourself credit where credit is due, and respect your boundaries! If you're tired, take a nap. If you're hungry, get something good to eat. Which speaking of; Eating better such as making yourself a home cooked meal is a wonderful way to honor yourself during the Virgo Full Moon. Work with your Clairgustance and allow yourself to go all out when cooking yourself something. This could even include eating a bit cleaner – more water, more vegetables, and more fruits. It sounds so simple, but it's a great ritual to take part in on the Virgo Full Moon. Learning new recipes and offering some of the food to your ancestors is also a wonderful way to not only honor yourself, but also your bloodline that has come before you. This energy will be transferred to your living relatives as well, protecting and providing to both you and your loved ones. Virgo also reminds us to take some time to honor our living friends and relatives with a cooked meal, too. Sometimes we get so comfortable with them being around, that we can take them for granted. Do or say something kind ; remember, “a kind word can keep someone warm for years.” On that same note, volunteering at local charities and rescues would be another incredible way of utilizing the momentum of good karma coming your way over the next moon cycle. Remember, Full Moons are about reflecting on what we have had over the last moon cycle, while honoring that we are stepping into a brand new space yet again.  

    Baking some breads would also be a wonderful way to honor the Full Moon and the harvest it has brought into your life over this last month. I would love to suggest a braided bread with 3 strands. Each strand of dough will represent something different ; One being in reference to all that has been brought into your life, One Strand being what you are Currently Thankful for, and the Last Strand is going to be what you want to manifest into your life over this next period. There are many yummy bread recipes online, might I also suggest Butterswim Biscuits, Sweet Bread, or Gluten Free Socca bread. (There are many great ways to turn a regular recipe into a Gluten Free one as well, I love to make my dog's cookies using Chickpea Flour as they have sensitivities to gluten.) On the subject of our pets/babies, this is a wonderful time to make them treats or snacks of their own! Honoring your Fur-baby (Or Scalebaby, Featherbaby, etc) is a wonderful way to also bring in this Full Moon.  

  Cleaning your space and getting things in order is going to be incredibly beneficial for you also. You'll feel recharged and more inspired when your space is cleaner. For some in particular getting up earlier in the morning and making your bed is going to make you feel more encouraged to do other things. Remember to give yourself a pat on the back for all that you do though. The Virgo Full Moon wants us to remind ourselves of all that we do on a daily basis. Just getting up in the morning and pushing forward is so commendable and brave – and both The Universe and I couldn't be prouder of you, Darling!  

Furthermore, this would be a wonderful time to work on getting into an exercise routine too. This doesn't have to be a super intensive workout session, but something that gets you going for the day and gets those endorphins going. Some are going to really do amazing with yoga, and this will bring you a more peaceful energy while you are practicing poses that provide mindful moments. Express yourself over all during this Moon Cycle, loved one.  

Horoscopes for Each Sign over the Full Moon in Virgo:  

         (Please make sure to check your Sun, Moon, Rising, and Venus Signs as they might resonate with your current energy)

Earth: 3 of Pentacles – Working with others is going to be amazing this month, Earth Signs! You're going to feel excited to cooperate and share ideas with those around you. This is going to bring in eye opening conversations and you're going to really appreciate bouncing ideas off of those around you and have their input. Teamwork truly does make the dream work this month, Earth Signs. There might also be someone who wants to extend you a job opportunity or maybe wants to go in on a business with you. For some this could be a friend that gets you a job interview at their place of work, and you're feeling grateful to know them. Others might just be finding it easier in general to get along with coworkers or peers – even those coworkers that aren't always the easiest to work with. This is going to have you feeling more open to fellowship and conversations with like-minded individuals. Make sure you're not hiding yourself away as these connections are going to be incredibly important to you later on in life. The Virgo Full Moon is bringing things in that are meant to stay for the long-term, so don't be scared to be vulnerable with these new people joining your energy space. For a few Earth signs, The Universe says “Don't judge a book by it's cover.” Give new individuals a chance to be a part of your life. You won't be disappointed – that's for sure.  

 Taurus: 7 of Wands – You're fighting for what you want, Taurus, and now is not the time to back down from what you truly desire! What you hope for is in the homestretch, which might be adding to the surmounting feeling of needing to finish things up. You might be wanting to tie up any loose ends, but those around you might be giving you a little bit of a hard time to do so. Some Taureans are discovering who is really in your corner and supportive of you this month, which is going to be both liberating and a bit frustrating at the same time. When someone tells you 'No', you're going to laugh in the face of danger and show them what you're really made of. No one quite accomplishes those goals like Taurus does, and it's time you show them who is really boss. Some might be deciding to pursue an entrepreneurship with a craft of hobby that you are incredibly skilled at. Spirit wants you to disregard any of the naysayers and keep striving forward towards those dreams. A select few Taurus might feel as if they have been taking one step forward and two steps back, but The Universe wants you to know that this was for a reason. “If we gave you all your abundance at once, what would there be to fight for?” is their message to you, Taurus. Don't stop believing!    

Virgo: The Star – Wow! You are feeling very hopeful with this Full Moon in your sign, Virgo! This energy is going to uplift you and make you feel excited to take action in many different areas of your life. No longer feeling stuck or stagnant, you're going to feel as if there is truly nothing holding you back or could get you down. You will be feeling very creative this month too. Some are going to be feeling hopeful in regards to business endeavors while others might be deciding to branch out in their hobbies. Now is a wonderful time to learn a new skill and to share your intelligence with others. Know that good fortune and incredible luck is coming your way. Some Virgos might be called to start writing as well, so if you have any ideas during this full moon phase be sure to write them down. Get out in nature too as it will inspire you, Virgo. You might be feeling called to sit near a small stream or take a long hike to clear your mind – and it will! This is going to be incredibly beneficial to you. Spirit keeps showing me that some Virgos need to clear their Solar Plexus Chakra, and loosen up their body – for some there is a need for a better posture as your neck and back have been aching. Take priority in yourself now, Virgo ; do your hair, sing in the shower, laugh loudly! The hardest part is now over. Now is the time for healing and honoring your space. You might have been carrying around stress for a while, but it will feel as if you've finally let out a breath you were holding in. Good for you, Virgo!  

Capricorn: The Magician – You're manifesting great things into your life, Capricorn! Have you been working with the Law of Attraction more? If yes, then your harvest is coming in a lot faster than you originally anticipated. If no, The Universe wants you to start working with the Law of Attraction and Affirmations as soon as possible as this will really help you in so many aspects of life, Capricorn. Saying Affirmations that confirm that you are That-Bitch™. Know that you are worthy of achieving all your dreams as you're not just a snack; You're the entire Buffet. The Universe also wants you to know that you have all the resources that you need in order to achieve your goals. Anything that you can dream of can be birthed into being – you are the creator of your world, and someone who knows how to get things done. Mixing both your Logical mind with your Intuitive mind will help balance out decisions you have to make. Some Capricorns are manifesting a call on their cellphone from an Air or Fire sign. This is working, and you can expect some kind of a call very soon as this person has genuinely been missing you. Stay optimistic and envision yourself doing good in every scenario you desire, Capricorn. This is the key to manifestation. Your high vibration is going to bring your fruition in sooner than you could even begin to imagine.

Air: The Hierophant -  Air Signs are being called to get back to basics and ground themselves. This could be through more mindful moments or actually meditating. Bringing a new plant into your space is a wonderful way to freshen things up and get some positive energy into your room. Someone might have recently gotten a succulent or have been planning on getting one – this is your sign to do so! With this plant offering some perspective you'll be able to take a hard look at your life in where you need to grow yourself. Some Air Signs are going to be receiving some sound advice from a Authoritative figure. This could be someone with a strong Paternal/Masculine Energy (Regardless of Gender), this means this person wants the best for you. They are protective, and want to offer you some words of wisdom on where to go next. Don't see this as the end all be all, but do take the moral from their story on whatever they're telling you as it might be incredibly important regarding where you're going in life. For some this is going to be a Grandfather, Father/Step-Father, or your Boss. Some might also be longing to follow tradition, perhaps getting connected with their heritage and culture. Some Air Signs are wanting to deepen a connection and having a stronger commitment. Stability is the name of the game right now, and something that is weighing you down a bit. Other Air Signs might be longing to have a promotion at work as well and step into your own position of Authority. As you already know, Air Sign, you are a natural born leader who is capable of doing so quite easily! You're going to be offered the chance to prove yourself worthy of what's next – either to a boss, the Universe, or someone shady. You've known your worth this whole time – it's about time they get on the same page. ;) One Air Sign in particular has been mulling over in their head if they are going to branch out into something new in regards to career. You're being asked to go towards what you know and are amazing at. This Air Sign in particular has dark hair with blonde highlights and beautiful eyes. You might want to start a Spiritual Youtube or Social Media account and Spirit is telling you to go for it as you truly have a gift for connecting with the Divine. Let nothing hold you back, Air Signs!    

Aquarius: Knight of Pentacles – You're really making sure to take your time with something, Aquarius. You're deciding to stay very practical and not to just dive in head first to something. You're choosing to be cautious with everything that you do. You're seeing every angle of a situation or reading all the fine print. It might feel a little meticulous, but it will be something you'll be glad you spent the extra time on. For some Aquarius, you might be focusing more on your material wealth and finances. Some are very excited about a job they have, but they're having to learn how to pace themselves better. There might be a lack of boundaries that you have had in the past when it has come to job situations, and you're learning how to work smarter – not harder. You're feeling determined to do a job well done though, and who better to call for the job than you, Aquarius? Others are in a relationship that they might be wanting to pump the breaks on a little. This isn't out of lack, but wanting to regroup and have a bit more of a 'Slow-Burning Romance'. You might be saying, if it's meant to be they will wait for me. It seems as if you want to get your ducks in a row first before you proclaim a commitment of forever as well. There might be a Aquarius in particular that wants to get back to basics as well. Go for it! 

 Libra: 3 of Swords – You might be feeling a little down in the dumps about something, Libra. What has been getting you down? Was there an ending of something? Are you grieving something that you miss from the past? For some you might be feeling nostalgic, but it pains you to have to think about it. The Universe wants you to honor the memories, but honor yourself first. When you feel overwhelmed, feel your emotions, but then spend time picking yourself up again. Taking care of yourself, having a nice meal, watching that new series on Netflix. For some Libra, the song “Had to Lose You to Love Me” by Selena Gomez is going to resonate. Look up this song or read the lyrics as I feel it could pertain to your situation. It's not always easy to have to move on from a situation, a person, or a relationship – but not everyone is meant to be in your space forever. Some are meant to just be lessons in your life. For some Libras there is going to be a Dark Night of the Soul that makes you really look at what you've been doing leading up to this point. I see this card as the Soul Growth card as well – each sword representing a different cycle in our life that we are going to experience. The Maiden, The Mother, and The Crone all have their different lessons and morals to learn. You might be having a Coming Of Age or 'A-Ha!' moment that ushers in a brand new energy with new opportunities and blessings around the corner.   

Gemini: King of Swords – Gemini, you're taking a logical approach to everything you're doing over the Virgo Full Moon. Some are taking a look at their obstacles or problems with a fine toothed comb – really seeing where they can improve or grow. This Full Moon is going to make you feel as if you are in your power and you're trusting yourself more. You might be focusing on your studies a lot more as well, and really putting your nose to the grind stone in order to make big waves. Even when trials or tribulations come your way over this period, you maneuver it with such ease that others are going to be shocked in this. You are going to see life as a beach with waves, and when a large one comes your way instead of panicking you're taking your surfboard out and riding this out. How incredible, Gemini! You're going to be focusing on yourself and the things you enjoy a little more as well, maybe not having as much time to just has conversations with anyone around you. You're being more discerning on how you spend your time or where your intention goes into. For some Gemini's you're going to be putting up better boundaries. There's a blue haired Gemini that is going to be stepping into their integrity and inner truth – this is going to bring new opportunities. For a blonde Gemini spirit is showing that you might be receiving a lot of signs and synchronicities through flowers. Make sure to look up the kind of flower you are seeing repeatedly in order to gain the full message. What an exciting time, Gemini!

Water: 4 Of Wands – Wow, Water Signs! That's all I can say right off the bat. Good things are coming your way – and fast. This could be in the form of stability, firm foundations, celebrations, homecomings, and inspiring thoughts. This is an amazing card as it shows people all together,  celebrating the beauty of life and love. You yourself might be invited to celebrations yourself – perhaps baby showers, weddings, or birthday parties. Of course a lot of these might be virtually as well, because of the pandemic, but it will still be a good way to get you out there. For some Water Signs, it might be Bittersweet as you are wanting these things to come into your life also. So while you might be genuinely happy for others, you might feel a bit left out or contemplative on how to bring this into your life. Don't stress it, Water Sign. It's coming into your life when you least expect it – and that's the beauty of it. To manifest something, the Law Of Attraction asks us to let go of what we truly desire to be in the moment. This will bring more chances of what you want entering when we don't hyper-focus on 'when' or 'how'. Let the Universe work it's magic! In the meantime, enjoy basking in the celebrations and connecting with those that you love! I'm hearing the song 'Bittersweet' by Panic! At the Disco, so this might be a sign for some Water Signs.    

Cancer: 9 of Swords - Are there worries on your mind that are keeping you up at night, Cancer? You haven't been sleeping very well, and this might be causing you to hyper-focus on or analyze the things that scare you. The Universe wants you to change the way you're seeing your situation in order to solve whatever this might be. Are you worried about someone in particular? Or are you missing a Passed Loved One? Are you worried about a Job position even? In the words of Newt Scamander, “Worrying is just Suffering twice.” Know that if this Job/Partner is meant to be yours, it will come your way no matter what. Get some good rest tonight and clear your mind. Know that you will also be able to think about it tomorrow when you start your day. To prepare for this, set your alarm 45 minutes earlier than usual to be able to think over everything that has been stressing you out. It will not only give you a quiet space to be alone with your thoughts, but also a dedicated time just to deciding what you're going to do going forward. Other Cancers feel as if something is on the horizon and just about to enter their life. This is causing you undue stress, because you might not be able to pinpoint what exactly it is. This makes you feel on edge and uncomfortable, but why not shift this energy to excited? Know that you are headed towards another new adventure, another new perspective, or another new connection. Be proud that you're going through another cycle in life! Some Cancers might be reminiscing on memories you spent with a passed loved one that you miss dearly. Your loved one(s) with you no matter what, in every walk of life, guiding you to something better. They want you to take care of yourself, and honor yourself too just as you honor them.  

Pisces:  2 of Pentacles – Do you feel as if you have been juggling for a while, Pisces? There might be two different energies that are calling you in different directions. Some are struggling to divide their time between their loved ones and their studies or work. With all of this trying to be in many different places at once, you might be feeling a little unbalanced. Grounding yourself will do wonders over the Full Moon in Virgo. Some Pisces might be feeling a little drained. Spirit is showing me someone who feels as if they have ran an entire marathon – exhausted, sweating, but feeling excited for all the progress they've made. Victory theirs as they know their hard work wasn't in vain. Know that yours wouldn't have been in vain either Pisces. With this constant pushing forward or juggling you may feel pulled between what you want to do versus what those in your energy expect or desire you to do. You might feel as if something is going to have to give sooner or later. You're highly underestimating your phenomenal juggling skills though, Pisces dear. You have all the resources to get through this period of trials and tribulations. Others are trying to find balance between their logical mind and their emotions. Some Pisces have noticed that in the past they would over-react with others, but now they're realizing this came from a place of needing healing. You're pulling your energy back and honoring yourself more over this Full Moon – which is fantastic! You're more mindful about where you're putting your intentions – and this is going to bring a lot more happiness your way.    

Scorpio: 3 of Cups – Your friends are thinking about you, Scorpio! Have you been wanting to spend more time with them? Or to get away from such serious, stagnant energy towards more productive and lighthearted fun? That's totally fine! Spirit is telling you to go for it now! Allow yourself to reach out to those that you care about; they're going to be extremely excited to hear from you. You might be wanting to hang out more with family members too during this time, perhaps wanting to play board games or have more family nights. Other's might be craving to have a drink with their longtime buddy. (Remember to be mindful with the pandemic, of course) This could be someone that you haven't talked to in a long time and you're wanting to change that. Regardless of what you've been manifesting, people are wanting to connect with you just as much as you've been wanting to connect with them. It's looking like setting aside a whole day to livestream a movie with your group would be more conductive and beneficial right now than constant working – so make time to find joy in your day. Some Scorpios are going to benefit from hearing other people's point of view. For one Scorpio in particular you might have a friends group with two friends, one with blonde hair and the other with auburn (you yourself might have dark brown hair). Something exciting is going to enter into you guy's space. You might have an opportunity to safely travel to see one another, or have a chance to come together through online video calls.  

Fire: 2 of Cups – Fire Signs might be getting a deeper level of commitment! For some you might be going on a date with someone who makes you feel on top of the world. This person is supportive, kind, and they encourage you to do better in every aspect of your life. You both understand each other on a level that you've never experienced before, and it's both alluring and a bit terrifying at the same time. You two might be a lot like yin and yang. The Universe is highlighting for someone in specific “Sometimes Opposites Attract”. They are showing me a battery, and how there is a Negative and a Positive. You can't have one without the other, and this might be the same for you two's union. Let this love come in naturally. For Leo's especially there might be a solid offer of love headed your way. Fire Signs are also being asked to be flexible between Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine energy – to be comfortable with switching between being nurturing to protective, or logical to emotional, without missing a beat. This is going to get you the most out of every situation you find yourself in, so make sure to go with the flow. Don't be scared to be vulnerable with people around you. There are so many people that value your thoughts and want to cherish you, Fire Signs, allow others to celebrate you during this time.  

Aries: Ace of Swords – Clarity is on the way fast, Aries! Have you been hoping for clarity in a situation with something or someone? Perhaps this is clarity on what you want to go towards or achieve during this next Moon Cycle. The Full Moon is going to make you reflective on where your energy has been going, and where you might have been overextending yourself. You're getting into the Driver's Seat and taking the wheel, which Spirit is very proud of! You're being asked to look at things logically right now when making decisions. For some Aries, you're deciding if you want to go back to school and pursue a different line of study. This could be something completely different than what you originally thought you would want to go towards, but it will be a better fit overall. You're going to decide to chase your intellectual endeavors in whatever means possible. This is going to inspire other people around you as well to do the same thing, and how amazing is that, that you are going to be making others strive ahead too? Some are deciding to finally cut energetic cords to people or places that no longer serve their highest good. You'll know when something isn't serving you, Aries. You're incredibly intuitive, and you know when to stay in something or when to disengage.    

Leo: Seven of Cups – Leo, you are going to have a lot of options coming in very soon, but this might leave you feeling a little confused. With all of these opportunities, you might be feeling as if you could potentially make the wrong decision. There is never any wrong decisions in life, Leo. As long as you believe in your goal and yourself, you will always be able to make the right choice for what is correct and aligns with your integrity. Some Leo's might be confused on what it is that they want to pursue going forward into the month of March. Spirit also wants to remind you, Leo, that choosing to not make a decision is still making a decision. So make it count where it matters most! Again, there is no wrong decision. If you decide not to act towards the opportunities coming your way, know that better ones will come. Others are finding a way to get away from self sabotaging tendencies, and are taking a realistic look towards their life. Spirit says, “Someone is dropping the Rose Colored Glasses, and Seeing things the way they Actually Are.” The Universe wants to remind you that when someone shows you their true colors – don't paint them to be something else. Someone better will come in, but right now the name of the game is combing out the tangles in your life with a fine-tooth comb. This might feel a little tedious, but the meticulousness will pay off – I promise, Leo.  

Sagittarius: Six of Wands – Victory is ahead, Sagittarius! Do you see it in the distance? It's a lot closer than you realize, and it might be a bit surprising. Some might be getting money for something that they put effort into a while ago, and it's finally paying off. Others might finally be receiving recognition at a job which will lead to promotion. Whatever these opportunities are, Sagittarius, one thing is for sure; it's finally coming full circle! For those that have been struggling, there will be relief and smooth sailing. Others are going to have a new mindset of 'Only Up From Here' – this is a perfect perspective to have, Sag! The Six of Wands also reminds us that whatever we set our mind to is definitely something that can be achieved. You will definitely be getting a lot of praise and recognition for all that you do though. Those around you are going to want to lift you up and honor you over the next few weeks. Are you ready for this? This recognition has been a long time coming, with some Sagittarius in the past feeling overlooked or overburdened, and it's something that you have been in the works manifesting in for yourself. There is an energy of not having to compromise your ideals or dreams in order to achieve amazing things either. Don't worry - Let the chips fall where they may, and know that a glorious outcome is yours, Sagittarius.

[silverkoushi]

blue scarf ; sugawara koushi

haikyuu!! one shot

⇢ scenario: in which you forget to bring a scarf on the way to school, but running into him suddenly makes the cold, chilly air dissipate away with your feelings for him burning in your chest instead. ⇢ feat. : suga (karasuno) x you (f!reader) ⇢ genre : fluff, meet-cute, self indulgent lbr ⇢  wc & warnings: 2.8k, none ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ lmk what you think! i’m considering a 2nd part for this :-)

Sugawara Koushi didn’t have much to look forward to during his weekday mornings going to school. He is neither an early riser nor a person who absolutely abhors waking up before noon. He usually gets up before his first alarm turns off, and readies himself for the day ahead. He’ll chug a scalding hot cup of coffee sometimes, munch on an energy bar with half-lidded eyelids or perhaps snooze away whilst leaning against the wall in the bathroom as he brushes his teeth — but that’s all routine to Suga, there isn’t much to think about things you do on a daily basis for so many years now. 

But that fateful day on a winter morning, well into his second year of high school, Koushi didn’t think there could be anything mildly interesting about his routine on the way to Karasuno.

Until he met you.

“Good morning,” he mutters, a friendly nod towards you. You quickly whip your head to the sound of his muffled voice underneath the blue scarf wrapped around his neck snugly. Half of his face was covered, probably in an attempt to keep exposed skin warm but for some reason, you can hear the smile in his tone. 

“M-morning,” you stutter, reddened cheeks the only heat your face is emitting against the cold wind hitting the air around you. You had gone out forgetting your own scarf again, only to have remembered once you’ve already turned so many streets away from your house. 

There is that logical voice in the back of your head encouraging you to return home and grab it, maybe two so you can chuck it in your locker in case this happens three more times in a row — but the early morning lecture from your mother would have been an inevitable reason of frustration for you eventually. So, you swallowed your pride and the sense of feeling anything on your face as you braved the biting winter season welcoming the streets of Miyagi. 

Unfortunately for you, Koushi had detected the shivering in your words as well as your shoulders, watching the way your hands wrap themselves around you. He knew you went to the same school given the shared colors of your uniform, but for the past year and a half he spent in it, he’s bewildered by the fact that he’s never noticed you before today. 

“Do you have something to keep you warm?” He asks, concern laced in his soft spoken manner. 

Your steps naturally slow down to match his but as his body inches closer to you, the more you feel your feet side stepping two inches away. You were still very much in a state of freezing cold at this point, but having the Sugawara Koushi walk to school with you at the same time, greet you a good morning, and realize how stuipid you must have looked walking around with nothing to defend yourself from the weather? 

Your body would probably give out first due to embarrassment rather than hypothermia. 

“N-no,” you bite your lower lip in a futile attempt to keep the chattering of your teeth to a minimum, but the sudden breeze attacking your face made you come to a halt. Hair suddenly all over the place, you sacrifice the warmth your hands were exuding off your sleeve-clad arms to fix the flyaways atop your head. In your peripheral vision, Sugawara pauses with you, eyes trained at your actions with an indistinguishable expression— thanks to his scarf. 

You panic inwardly, making haste with flattening out the pesky strands of hair without so much help as a mirror to see if you’re actually making it look better or way, way worse. 

Curse him, you think with your eyes closing tight for a second. If there was anyone in the world — or at least the 3rd year batch in Karasuno — who had the messiest, most unkempt hairstyle you’ve ever seen: it’s Sugawara. And yet, it’s what gives the guy so much charm to his appearance without even getting to know his personality yet. 

Admittedly, it was one of the first reasons why you harbor indescribable feelings towards him since you moved to his school just a few months ago. Your feelings had only deepened even more so in the bottomless pit of your heart once you have (eavesdropped) on the many anecdotes a lot of his friends from your class had said about him. (Particularly the student with a manbun named… it escapes you).

“Sorry, y-you can g-go ahead,” you let him know, shoulders shivering from the lack of heat source as little as your hands have given them. Sugawara continued to look at you with those gentle hazel eyes, studying every minute twitch of your body, and hands nervously tucking the last stray bangs out of your face. 

“I’ll probably just go back h-home to get m-my scarf and b-be late for class—” you don’t know why you’re explaining your inner defeat out loud to him, but it was soon interrupted by the very blue scarf that hugged his neck being stretched out to you. 

With your hands falling to your sides, your eyes held its nervous gaze upon kinder ones; and there is no telling how similar to a tomato your whole face had been colored by now. Sugawara urges the scarf closer to you, his tight lipped grin finally exposed for you to witness, for the world only just waking up to see for itself. . 

“I think you need it more than I do,” he chuckles lightly, and before his arm gets numb from reaching over to you, you grasp the blue scarf with utmost care. It’s soft, just like you imagined. You feel nervous putting it around you while having an audience of one for at least three minutes now, but it would be rude to make Sugawara wait. 

As you let the scarf engulf you in its small yet snug embrace, sudden notes of what smells like gingerbread cookies invite your senses to inhale it all in. To your side, you hear Sugawara laugh a little louder and longer this time, but it didn’t sound mean at all. You still look at him curiously, the lingering holiday-esque scent keeping you more wide awake than you actually were. 

“My perfume probably rubbed off on the scarf,” he explains as if reading your mind (your eyes probably told it all, though). “It was an early Christmas present from my younger brother.” 

“Oh,” you respond meekly, appreciating the tiny detail of his family life shared to you in the most unexpected of ways. “He has good taste,” you add, smiling shyly against the fabric. 

“Right? My friends say it smells childish and too sugary,” Sugawara nods his head one too many times in agreement, pouting his lips at the end. “I think Daichi and Asahi just need to feel like a kid again more often.” 

“I like gingerbread cookies, so this is right up my alley,” you comment, falling into step once more with Sugawara right next to you. If a few minutes ago your feet seemed to be magnetically pulling you away from him, this time you revel in the feeling of his arm brushing against yours every so often as you walk along the path to school.

He didn’t seem to notice— or maybe he didn’t mind? Either way, you masterfully calculated how wide your steps needed to be in order to accidentally mismatch his, and so the faux touching happens and your fast heart thudding in a never ending race.

“Ah, how could I forget to introduce myself?” He perks up in an instant, brows up in surprise while he puts a hand behind his neck for comfort. “I’m Sugawara Koushi, a third year in Karasuno.” 

And I already knew that, and have been infatuated with you way before I heard your name, you confess in your mind, careful not to let the embarrassed squirm on your lips protrude from the scarf. Sugawara waits for your name expectantly, blinking up at you. Without hesitation, you blurt out yours, adding on that you’re in the same year as him. 

“Is that so? Which class are you in?” 

“3-2. I just transferred a couple months into the year, so I’m fairly new…” 

“That explains why,” Sugawara hums to himself, grabbing hold of his chin as if to ponder over this information. You grip the handles of your backpack a little too tightly, not knowing what was there to outwardly think about you being new to the school, and the area. It’s not like it mattered too much to him, right?

“I’ve never seen anyone from my school walk the same way I do in the mornings, apparently they all live on the other side of town. Just like my friends,” Sugawara grins, and you couldn’t help yourself but to take in the endearing sight before you. 

You wish the walk was an endless path, but soon enough your eyes can make out the exterior structure of the high school building, as well as the many trees surrounding its gate. Most of them had quickly shed off their leaves the past few days, and others are dusted with soft, plush snowflakes overnight. It was truly a sight to behold, entering the winter season away from the air pollution of the city where you used to live. 

And also, the sight of Sugawara Koushi admiring the very same surroundings, his mole highlighting the beauty that his face radiated this early in the day. 

Since you’re closing in on school grounds, a couple more students enter your field of vision; in groups of three, five or those who keep to themselves. Unconsciously, you dip into the gingerbread scented scarf further, nose scrunching at the possibility of returning the source of warmth to its owner sooner than you realize. 

Having reached the gate, you begin to unwrap what has become your most favorite temporary prized possession from your neck, but the man in question (and always on your mind) physically stops your hand. His fingertips touch the back of your palm ever so slightly, sending tingles along your arm. 

You jump from the sensation, taking Sugawara aback with you but he was quicker on his reflexes and keeps the same calm, gentle expression you love to daydream about. 

“You can keep it, I’m sure the cold would be even more bothersome after school,” he urges. 

Shaking your head, you protest, “No, no. I couldn’t— how about you? You’re walking home, too…” 

“I have my volleyball jacket to keep me warm!” He chirps, sounding rather proud with the mention of his club uniform. With the scarf hanging down from your face, your smile lets itself out warmly this time. You’ve always wanted to watch him play upon hearing of his vice captain role in Karasuno’s volleyball team. There hasn’t been any official matches yet as far as you’re concerned, but going to their practices after school without any relation to the members whatsoever just deemed suspicious to you, so you kept the image of Sugawara tossing the ball and wearing his jersey and shorts and his messy hair even more out of place all to yourself. For now. 

“I insist, though, you can keep it until you buy a scarf of your own,” Sugawara snaps you out of your reverie, a teasing tone seeping through his words. It takes you a second to realize this, noticing how his smirk turns into a goofy smile in an instant. 

He’s teasing you, and you sure are wrapped around his slender, pretty finger. 

“I— I have my own scarf! I just forgot it at home,” your first reaction is to pout, crossing your arms defensively at the lighthearted accusation. “I’ll take the scarf home tonight to wash it and give it back to you!” you huff once more, watching how Sugawara chuckles at your serious demeanor. 

“Understood,” he responds with a mock salute, opening the door for you. You bow your head to thank him, awkwardly shuffling your feet to get you inside the somewhat less cold temperature in the school lobby. You proceed to change your shoes with your locker being a few steps away from Sugawara, and you contemplate whether or not it was okay to wait up for him. You share the same floor after all, but was this supposed to be the end of your interaction for today?

“Ready to go up?” Sugawara calls your name for the first time, looking back at you as he approaches the staircase. 

You blink back, the worries swirling in your head slowly disappearing just by looking at him smile at you. And he said your name. You take the stairs to the third floor, a couple of students you recognize from your year in the hallways have said their quick hellos and nods towards the volleyball player, and you see him reply back in earnest grins and high fives. 

Upon reaching your classroom first, Sugawara stands by the open door, right in front of you. 

“Thanks for the company, it was a nice change of pace for me,” he tells you, the mole on his left eye crinkling in the way he smiles. You nod your head, ears heating up at the way he focuses all of his attention towards you — it’s a nerve wracking feeling but nevertheless something you’d want to experience again. 

“Thank you for the scarf, I’ll make sure to return it in good condition,” you promise. “Have a good rest of your day, Sugawara-san.” 

He opens his mouth slightly as if to correct you, but closes it at the next second when another boy screams his name at the top of his lungs at the other end of the hallway. 

“Suga-san!!” A boy with a clean, shaven head runs up to him in a skidding halt, almost toppling over you. You flinch at this volume instinctively, wary of the fact that the situation between you and Sugawara would be misconstrued at this moment. In reality, he barely recognized your presence, wide eyes glowing at his friend instead. 

“Have you seen Kiyoko-san? I need to talk to her!” He cries out loud, hands clasped tight. 

Sugawara shakes his head no, places a hand on his friend’s shoulder to calm him down. “I haven’t, Tanaka. I just got here. What do you need her for?”

“I forgot to tell her how beautiful she looked yesterday after practice, and I feel like I had done the worst crime ever known to man,” Tanaka groans in frustration, a dramatic hand wiping at non-existent tears. As if on cue, you and Sugawara stifle a laugh, and that’s when he finally sees you. He takes a step back, points at your figure, then at Sugawara, mouth hanging open. 

You’re certain he stopped functioning, so you squeak out, “Um.. hi.” 

“Suga-senpai, you didn’t tell me you were taken! Does Daichi-san know? Asahi-san? Why are you leaving all of us behind like that— and keeping it a secret, too! I thought we were close buddies on the team!”

“Tanaka, shut up!” Sugawara had gravitated his hand over to the loud mouthed guy’s lips, clamping it shut. He tries to blabber some more but his words become incoherent, and you wouldn’t have been able to process them anyway with your cheeks rising to the heat, and your head getting dizzy due to his assumption about you two. 

Sugawara isn’t less fazed, sweat oozing out his temples as he looks at you with an apologetic expression. “Sorry about my teammate here, he’s uh— he doesn’t have a filter, even with people he doesn’t know.” 

“It’s okay!”

“I— I’ll see you later, then, yeah? Good luck in your classes today! Fighting!” He hurriedly tells you, dragging the Tanaka boy alongside him. You watch Sugawara push him on his back, almost tumbling down the stairs with the way he kept struggling from his grasp. You concur that Tanaka would have been a second year if they had went a floor down. Thankfully, students out and about had minded their own business, so you finally rush inside the classroom and took in everything that happened ever since you realized you forgot your scarf. 

As your trembling heart beats at a normal pace, you finally become aware of the scarf you’re still using even when seated at your desk. The scent of Christmas cookies and Sugawara become one to you, and you feel utterly lucky to have been given a piece of him albeit it was out of his kindness (so you think). 

“Hey, mornin’! Nice scarf,” your friend arrives with a few minutes before class starts, and you wave at her hello. You hadn’t taken it off yet. 

“You still feelin’ cold in here? I think it’s pretty toasty actually,” she comments, placing her bag underneath her desk and making herself comfortable in the seat next to yours. You don’t respond, only bury yourself in the comfort of Suga’s scarf. She begins to share her morning festivities, and you listen with half a mind thinking about the next time you’re going to face Sugawara again. 

You wish it was already tomorrow.