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wrenhyperfixates · 4 years ago

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It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Pairing: Loki x reader Summary: It’s the Christmas season and Loki still has much to learn. Thankfully, he has his favorite little mortal to teach him all about it. Warnings: just straight fluff A/N: Alright, it’s December, and you know what that means: time for Christmas fics! Hope you enjoy my first installment for the holiday season. Happy reading folks :)

Tag List: @lucywrites02 @frostedgiant @lunarmoon8 @twhiddlestonsstuff @lokistan @thelokiimaginechroniclesficrecs

Disclaimer: Gif not mine

It was bizarre, thought Loki, how seemingly overnight the world was lit up with red and green everything. Lights, wreaths, trees, inflatable decorations; you name it, and Loki could spot it from any corner in NYC. Everyone he passed seemed to be filled with joy, ready to start singing at any second. It was disconcerting, to say the least. Normally, people would give him the side-eye, but lately they passed by with a quick nod or wave. Loki doubted it had little to do with him and much more to do with the Christmas spirit floating in the air.

Ah, Christmas. He knew a decent amount about it, but had never paid too much mind to it. After all, it wasn’t like he ever really planned on living on Midgard. It was just the way things worked out. Now he wished he’d taken a bit more of an interest, for this fat, bearded, old man in a red suit made very little sense to him. And yet, he was everywhere this time of year. Though he could have asked any one of the Avengers about it, he refused to risk being teased. It should be easy enough to learn about if he truly desired to.

Loki marveled at the world in a sort of confused awe as he walked back to the Tower. This time of the year on Midgard, while so disagreeable to many, was perfectly fine with him. The bitter cold of the city at wintertime barely even felt like a summer breeze to him. One of the perks of being a perpetually cold frost giant, he supposed, was that you didn’t notice the freezing temperatures. As for those who did, well, he didn’t get why those silly little mortals didn’t just go somewhere warmer. You’d explained to him, once, that not everyone could afford to just pack up and move as they could on Asgard. A terrible shame, he thought, and he wished that he could do something to help, not that he would ever admit it. Feeling particularly generous, he dropped a one hundred-dollar bill in one of those collection bins that always popped up this time of year. It was guarded by yet another one of those strange, bearded men ringing a bell.

Hugging his so dark-green-it-was-almost-black peacoat to him, he rounded the final corner to get back home. Much like his gloves, it was more for style than anything else. Besides, no need to draw more attention to himself by dressing too lightly in the winter weather. Taking one last glance at the world around him, Loki pushed through the doors of the Avengers Tower.

“What in the Nine?” he sputtered as he was hit with a mouthful of glitter.

“Sorry, Mr. Loki,” Peter apologized. “We’re just decorating for Christmas.”

“By throwing glitter around?”

“Yeah. Why not? It’s Christmas, everything is glittery,” he said with a shrug.

“That, I can tell you,” Loki replied, patting Peter’s shoulder as he passed, “is absolutely true.”

All his other teammates seemed to be as excited about decorating as Peter was, though no one else was just haphazardly throwing that infernal sparkly dust. No, they were all using their special talents to hang garlands up from high balconies and banisters. Large ornaments and snowflakes were hanging from the ceiling. Every floor that Loki walked to was filled with merriment and yet more Christmas adornments. How they were put up so fast, the trickster god had no idea.

The common room was, much to his surprise, the least decorated place in the Tower so far. The team must have been saving this room for last, perhaps to do all together. Loki would have been upset that he wasn’t invited, but he was sure it was mentioned in one of those email blasts he always ignored. Now that he thought of it, he did remember seeing it in something that he skimmed. Regardless, this was a nice break from the hubbub in the rest of his home at the moment. In this room, there was only a tree put up and his angel working on prepping it. You.

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” you sang to the music you had blasting through the room, unaware of Loki’s presence. “Everywhere you go.”

He watched in wonder as you twirled about the floor, taking out ornaments and other assorted trimmings for the tree. You grabbed a silver and gold garland and began the tedious process of wrapping it around the artificial branches, still belting your heart out. Though Loki was unfamiliar with the words, he caught on to the tune and began humming along, startling you ever so slightly. He walked up to you and grabbed your hand, joining in your spinning and dancing. Prancing around the room with you, Loki was filled with unbridled joy, and he thought he might be beginning to understand the reason for all the joy the season brings.

As you sang the final notes, you and the God of Mischief collapsed onto the couch amidst the boxes of Christmas knick-knacks, laughing your heads off. When you tried to get up, Loki pulled you back down to him, starting another fit of giggles.

“And how is my little mortal today?” he asked, playfully ticking you a little.

“I’d be a lot better if you let me finish decorating,” you teased, poking his chest.

He sighed and relinquished you back to your duties, watching you walk back toward the tree. If only he had the courage to tell you how he feels, rather than just admiring you from afar. You were best friends, sure, but he longed for more. Much more.

“Loki,” you called in a sing-song voice, batting your eyes. “Can you help me, please?”

“Of course, little one.”

He helped you string the garland the rest of the way around the tree, using his magic to get even the highest boughs. You squealed in delight as you admired your work so far, throwing your arms around Loki to thank him for his help.

Soon, the rest of the team joined you and began to hang the ornaments. No one particularly cared about where they were put, just that everyone was having fun. Loki tried to stay on the outskirts of the activity, but everyone kept pulling him back in. It made him happier than he cared to admit that they all concerned themselves with him participating. That they wanted him to participate.

“What do you think, Mr. Loki? Here?” Peter questioned as he held up an ornament in a prospective spot. “Or here?”

“The first spot, I suppose.”

“No,” Thor chimed in, making Peter worried he was going to start one of their infamous sibling battles. “The second spot, for certain.”

“I guess. I still do not understand most of this ‘Christmas’ stuff, to be quite honest.”

“Well, why did you not say so, brother?”

“Yeah, we can teach you all about it,” you added, showing up beside them. Then you snapped your fingers, getting an idea. “The tree lighting is tonight! At Rockefeller Center. We should go to that!”

“That’s a perfect idea,” Peter agreed. “So it’s set then. A crash course, then a field trip to see the tree lighting!”

Loki smiled at his friends as they bustled around him, planning the rest of the day. He couldn’t wait for later, and it made the rest of the time spent decorating even more enjoyable. Between the constant singing and cracking of jokes, there was not a dull moment to be found. While it would have usually drained Loki, he felt as lively as ever. Maybe there truly was something special about the season, after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hours later, Loki stood with his teammates as incognito as possible in Rockefeller Center. It had been agreed that they just wanted to be normal people for one, not celebrities. To keep your group warm, Loki had cast a heating enchantment that they were all more than grateful for as they waited for the tree to light. In the last minutes before it was set to shine through the night, you summarized your lessons on the holiday.

“So,” you began, “I guess it’s basically a time for love, showing others how much they mean to you. And sure, there’s all the commercial stuff about candy canes and elves and trees and Santa Claus, which is nice and all, but that’s not the real meaning. It’s about being with those you care about and spreading goodwill to all.”

Loki thought back to all the times he’d needed a little charity or a helping hand, or really just to be shown he was loved. There were certainly a plethora of scenarios to pick from in his life. A whole season to spread cheer and show everyone things are not as hopeless as they seem sounded like a splendid idea indeed.

“I quite like the sound of that,” he said with a smile. As you looked back at him, an equally warm glow adorning your features, Loki realized there was one person he loved more than anyone else. With a sudden burst of confidence, he went to tell you exactly how he felt. “I must say this now, I-”

He was cut off as the crowd began the countdown. You gave him an apologetic smile as the both of you joined in. Upon reaching the last number, the tree lit up, filling Loki with a warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest. That was only accentuated when you grabbed his hand, bursting with excitement and awe. Once the cheering went down, and your group began to depart, you remembered Loki had been about to say something to you.

“What was it that you wanted to tell me before?” you asked. “Before the countdown.”

“Oh,” he said, clearing his throat. He’d already lost his nerve. “It was nothing urgent. I hardly even remember now. Another time, perhaps.”

“Well, that’s ok,” you replied, though you sounded a little disappointed. “Whenever you remember is fine.”

Back at the Tower, everyone said goodnight and parted ways to go to bed, exhausted from the busy day. In the hall between your rooms, you and Loki stopped to say goodnight one final time. You paused mid-sentence, spying something green hanging from the ceiling above you. Loki followed your gaze upward and immediately went a shade of red that put Rudolph’s nose to shame. Even before all your lessons from the day, he knew mistletoe when he saw it. And, of course, the tradition that went with it.

He heard snickering from around the corner and spotted Peter and Thor waiting for one of you to make your move. Undoubtedly, they'd fabricated the situation to try to get you together faster than you were going by yourselves. To be fair, at said pace, you’d never be together.

“Just kiss already!” Thor shouted before ducking away to give you some privacy.

“Pardon my brother,” Loki said self-consciously. “If you do not wish to, there is no law saying-”

He was cut off for the second time that night. This time, however, it was by something much more pleasurable. You had stood up on your tip toes and placed a kiss to his cheek, too sheepish to do much else.

“Night, Loki,” you said to the still stunned god. “Talk tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow indeed, my little mortal,” he said, pulling you in for another kiss, this time on the lips.

Oh yes, it was decided. This season was magical.

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bowieandqueen11 · 4 years ago

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Christmas Present / Dan Torrance Fluff

Request: Can I request 17 with Dan Torrance pretty please? ☺️

17. "I don't mind that you didn't get me a present because you are my present."

It’s been a while, Dan Torrance XD Comments are really, really appreciated!

Stepping into Helen Rivington House, these days, felt more familiar to you than stepping into your own home. Hiding the wrapped present behind your back, only a few specks of gold bow seem to move behind your back, as you stomp the snow off your boots and onto the welcome mat.

You’d tried so hard to find the perfect present for Danny. You knew he didn’t like snow - he had told you that much when you had tried to pry into his past, and you know he wasn’t fond of Christmas, or celebrations, or just the cold in general. Every year, when you bust open the door of your apartment overlooking the main square, and try and drag your grumbling poor husband down and out the main door, he always freezes when he sees the snow.

He tries to hide it, pulling his scarf slightly higher over his face before linking his arm with yours with a twitching smile, but you spot the way his eyes widen in what you can only assume is pure, unbridled fear. The way his fingers shake as he grabs onto your coat jacket. The way he’s uncharacteristically quite, when you finally arrive at the local coffee shop. The way he spends most of the afternoon with his cup barely touching his lips, his eyes trained to the white blanketed playground outside the window, jumping every time the door slams slightly open with the wind.

This year, you wanted it to be different. You wanted him to feel safe with you, comfortable, to realise that no matter how hard he tried to deny himself, he did have a family with you. Starting down the main hallway, you smile and greet a few of the residents, and a lot of the nurses and poor workers stuck on shifts during Christmas Eve that you had begun to know. Each of them looked glad to see you, some of them raising their eyebrows at you, the Santa hats on their heads shaking as they give you that familiar look. The, he’s in his head again look.

Bumping past a wheelchair, you finally make it past the closed door of the main sitting room of the hospice, smiling to yourself as you gather what must have been a Christmas party going on inside. Recognising the song that crackles from an old record player inside, you begin humming along to the words as you pass by the sound of muted chatter seeping out from underneath the doorway.

Midnight brought us sweet romance I know all my whole life through

Finally spotting the blue uniform of Danny’s figure hunched over in the distance, you approach his desk and place the present down next to Azzy. You scratch his ear, as you call out to your husband, appreciating the way he nuzzles his cheek into the palm of your hand in return.

‘Hey, Doc! You ready to go yet, or are you going to pretend to sweep that same bit of floor all night?’

Dan nearly jumped out of his skin, fumbling to catch the brush as it fell out of his hands. Placing it on the wall, he turns to you with one hand resting over his heart.

‘One of these days, you’re going to give me a heart attack.’

‘And one of these days, you’re actually going to get off work on time.’

Dan laughs as he comes up to wrap his arms around your shoulders, pulling you in for a kiss until one of the residents comes up coughing behind the two of you. Pulling away slightly, Dan begins to blush lightly as you press a final kiss against his cheek, the familiar of whiskey and pine ingrained into his flesh. He looked different... odd... nervous even. His eyes seemed to glance past you, despite staring at you dead on.

‘Since I know you, I decided to bring the holidays to you instead.’

He seemed to snap back then, eyes narrowing as you muttered the word ‘holidays’. He finally spots the mass of glitter and slightly askew Sellotape that is gently being knocked off the side of the desk by Azzy’s tail, and for the first time that day, he smiled. A genuine, true smile.

‘You know - you really didn’t have to do anything for silly old me.’

Chuckling, you hit him lightly on the chest, enjoying the almost bashful look he was giving you. Reaching up on your tip toes, your voice is warm against his ear, and he melts into your touch.

‘Old, maybe-’

‘Hey!’

He grabs your waist, burying his chin into the top of your hair and trying not to laugh.

‘But for you, I’d do anything. Now, go open your gift.’

He refuses to let go of you, instead placing his large hands on both sides of your waist.

‘I feel awful - I meant to go collect your present earlier today but poor Mrs Diane in room 20-’

‘I don't mind that you didn't get me a present because you are my present.’

You could see the way his eyes light up at that, the sort of unbridled joy in his eyes - a sort of childhood innocence. For a moment you could only stare up at him, couldn’t even blink, could barely breathe, as you watched the child Danny Torrance should have been in his face.

‘That’s sweet, but also, I know how to make it up to you.’

He didn’t give you a second to even process his words before he grips your hand and starts moving the two of you around the corridor, swaying slightly in time to the music that came drifting and bouncing down the walls, entrancing the two of you in its spell. Occasionally, he dips you down, nuzzling his nose against yours and making you giggle against his mouth, before tugging you up again and making you yelp.

‘I know I’m bad at this time of the year, and I really am sorry for that, but I do love you, you know?’

Your feet bump together as the two of you begin to slow down, and it breaks your heart to see how forlorn he looks. Placing a finger on his chin, you trace it up his cheek, before finally cupping his face and turning him to look fully at you. To really see you. Not the ghosts of his past.

‘And I hope you know that I love you so, so much more.’

#dan torrance #dan torrance imagine #doctor sleep #dan torrance x reader #dan torrance fluff #doctor sleep imagine #the shining #danny torrance #Ewan McGregor #christmas

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shewhospeakswiththunder · 5 years ago

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Perhaps you’re feeling bored at home or, if considered an “essential” worker like me, you need a little fun and stress relief. Here is my masterpost of fic recs from my two years of reading so far. Maybe you’ll find something new, or reconnect with an old favorite. Either way--

Enjoy! 😷💕

Reylo Fics that Deserve All the Love

Near Kinsman by englishable

Englishable is just one of the best writers I’ve encountered in fandom. This historical western mail order bride AU is top notch quality.

The Masochism of Self-Defence by greyorchids

The Reylo dynamic in this Boston PD AU is steamy, but also heartfelt.

So Much Thin Glass by walkingsaladshooter

Never knew I loved modern day Gothic AUs until I ran across this one.

Heaven Forbid by DarkKnightDarkSide

I was stunned by the author’s creativity in this Priestlo fic. So smutty. So... inventive 😉🔥

Sonder by deathbyhumidity

Two strangers passing each other by on the train. Soft, dreamlike, somber, poignant. Modern AU.

And Still I Would Remember by Inmyownidiom

A Victorian era AU of two souls that parted and come crashing back together.

So, You've Decided to Glamour a Human Girl. by selunchen

Faeries AU! Ben, a fae, and Rey, a human. Shenanigans ensue.

Live Long, and Prosper by SaintHeretical

For the Reylo Trekkies. Hell, even if you don't do Star Trek, read this. PHENOMENAL.

Mr. Solo & Miss Wellfound by LinearA

“Regency/Victorian AU, Ben sees Rey's stockinged ankle by accident.”

Diyari by Nervoustouch

Modern archeologists AU. Snarky banter with dashes of Indiana Jones, The Mummy, and Sahara vibes.

Drawn to the light of your burning sorrows by Kyriadamorte

The Mothlo AU you didn’t know you needed. Both gritty and soft.

Crown Glass by RebelRebel

Fantasy AU, with lots of beautiful imagery and engaging character dynamics.

Kohelet 3:16 (Call Me A Cab) by LinearA

NYC Jewish Leia and Ben. Skillfully layered plot, nuanced characterization. Smut is HOT.

By the Shores of Varykino Lake by hipgrab (merrymegtargaryen)

Unhealthy dynamics, definitely read the tags. “There’s a lot of fucked-up-ness”, in the author’s own words. But it’s good writing. Fair warning.

Let Me Put My Darkness In You by ArdeaJestin

Canonverse. Hux is an insufferable, pompous ass and Kylo Ren writes terrible, melodramatic poetry.

Wintertide by Zabeta

Whimsical and primitive in turn, this lives up to the style of a true fairytale AU.

The Forty Thieves by PoetHrotsvitha

Peaky Blinders/Gangsters AU. Rey starts as Ben’s bartender and ends up as so much more.

I Said to My Soul, Be Still by LinearA

Dark!Rey takes her man. 🥵🔥💕

Hux's Rousing Pep Talks by Riels_shorts

This fic is hysterical. It’s not Reylo, and I don’t care. My list, my rules.

It's All I Can Do To Leave You Alone by TazWren

Office AU. Silly, spunky, with a bashful Ben.

Sip the Honey Sweet by dietplainlite

Anne of Green Gables-esque/Edwardian era AU, the title really says it all.

The Pull to the Light by HarpiaHarpyja

Entrancingly macabre. This modern/fantasy/monsters AU catches your attention from the get-go, and never lets you off the hook.

lay then the axe to the root by sciosophia

All the Bronte goodness, plus smut.

The Golden Age by TourmalineGreen

Golden Age of Hollywood AU in which Ben is a jaded actor in serious need of an image fix, in the form of fresh-faced actress Rey.

Never Be Your Curse by Kate_Reid

Kylo Ren is a go-go dancer in this AU. That was enough to get my attention 😘

Gallows God by Killtheselights

Bursting with deliciously grim imagery, an intelligent take on Norse mythology.

Thunderstorms, Clouds, Snow, and a Slight Drizzle by aNerdObsessed

Who doesn’t love an ugly sweater Christmas party? Ben Solo, that’s who. All the nostalgic wintertime feels in this modern AU.

Though My Soul Has Set in Darkness by englishable

It’s not long, but it’s good. A lyrical dive into the mindspace of child Ben Solo. A true gem. Also not technically Reylo. Still don’t care.

I Dare You by tinylittlebrain

Daredevil Kylo has pissed off ER doc Rey Kenobi for the last time. Spicy!

stuck in colder weather by redbelles

Professor Ren stops grad student Rey from biking home in a snow storm. And takes her to his home. You can guess where this goes 😉

Between Sky and Sea by nessalk

Serious Indiana Jones vibes with a Caribbean flair. Painstakingly researched, and moments of true beauty and joy.

But Before Tomorrow by Kate_Reid

Such good writing. Canonverse.

The Sword of Prince Hector by englishable

Exploration of what redemption might feel like for Ben, canonverse.

if compassion be the breath of life, breathe on me by Victoryindeath2

All the angst and unknowns that we were left with in the wake of TLJ are soothed in this canonverse piece.

build a ladder to the stars by redbelles

An exploration of events post-Crait. Fantastic, beautifully written.

nor are we forgiven (which brings us back) by TolkienGirl

Both Kylo and Rey get to see what life would have been like if they both got exactly what they thought they wanted after TLJ. Fascinating read.

Forsworn by Erulisse17

This Mando/ST crossover has everything you could want--action, witty banter, space romance! So much fun!

Reylo Favorites & Classics

One Shots

59 Minutes by delia-pavorum (literaryminded)

For Science by KyloTrashForever, ohwise1ne

He Made It Through the Wilderness (somehow he made it through) by LovesBitca8

light carries on endlessly by lachesisgrimm (olga_theodora)

Grey by ocjones

The Idiot's Guide to Flirting by Violetwilson

High School/College AU

I Caught Fire by KyloTrashForever

Mountain Springs High School by animal

Epithumia by pontmercy44

Soul Searching by OptimisticBeth

Office/Workplace AU

Sensual Storytime by andabatae

The Food of Love by LovesBitca8

Historical/Dystopia AU

Hiraeth by Ferasha

a manner of virtue by neonheartbeat

The lamb's thirst by animal

Wanted by Inmyownidiom

She Who Would be Queen by sasstasticmad

go i know not whither and fetch i know not what by voicedimplosives

ABO

Knot My First Time by KyloTrashForever

Canonverse/Canon-divergent

variations on a theme of you by diasterisms (Reydar)

i will be the wolf by diasterisms

Sky Marked Souls by AnonymousMink

The Death of Kylo Ren by nymja

World In My Eyes by sasstasticmad

i'm always in this twilight (in the shadow of your heart) by diasterisms

Catch Me I’m Falling by violethoure666

Sword of the Jedi by diasterisms

You'll Be the One to Turn by postedbygaslight

Dark Crown by Violetwilson

Harry Potter AU

Nocturnal Studies And Other Peculiar Magic by WaterlilyRose

Otherwise Modern AU

Pretense by Celia_and

Insta-heart by slipgoingunder

Serotonin and Dopamine by pontmercy44

The Elusive Mating Dance of the Porgus Adorabilis by andabatae

Hanging by a Moment by crossingwinter

WAR DOGS by fulcrumstardust

miles from where you are by Mooncactus

Charcoal by luvkurai

Stay by jeeno2

coarse and rough and irritating by frak-all (or_ryn)

Blades Crossed by the-reylo-void (Anysia)

Embers by sciosophia

Mitan, Midi by animal

Janus by englishable

Say My Name by Graendoll

Thank You for The Music by hipgrab (merrymegtargaryen)

darling, so it goes by akosmia

This is the Sign You've Been Looking For by RebelRebel

Broken Things by midnightbluefox

One-Night Stand by delia-pavorum (literaryminded)

The Rebel Side of Heaven by jeeno2

On The Bumpy Road (To Love) by violethoure666

we could plant a house, we could build a tree by Like_A_Dove

I’d Like My Obituary to Hint at a Sequel by Violetwilson

Only If You Want To by Violetwilson

Not Reylo, Still Awesome

Gingerflower/Gingerrose, Armitage Hux/Rose Tico

Between Sand and Sea by Brit Hux-Tico (birchwoods01)

If Ever I Would Leave You by Weddersins

Her Yellow Rainboots by Weddersins

Merrical, Cal Kestis/Merrin (Jedi: Fallen Order)

The Stars Alight by FlyingMachine

Heavy Ice by FlyingMachine

Caltrilla, Cal Kestis/Trilla Suduri (Jedi: Fallen Order)

No One Else by xanderwilde

call it what you want by xanderwilde

tear you to pieces by xanderwilde

Dramione, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter Universe)

Now Is A Gift by SenLinYu

Sex and Occlumency by Graendoll

Zutara, Katara/Zuko (Avatar: the Last Airbender)

oracle bones by an orphaned account

Fics by Me

Virtue Ethics

Reylo College AU (completed)

Dr. Ben Solo, adjunct philosophy professor and part-time martial arts instructor, discovers a young woman in his Intro to Philosophy course whom he thinks may not actually be enrolled at the University.

Chiasmus

Reylo Role-reversal canonverse AU (WIP)

Scourge of the galaxy, Kira Ren, is tasked by the First Order to eliminate the last of the Jedi. When she captures hotshot podracer Ben Solo to extract Luke Skywalker’s location from him, things do not go according to plan.

This Dance of Light, This Sacred Blessing

Snapshots of a modern Reylo AU. Smutty, prosey one-shot.

Listen Up, Kid

Canonverse Reylo Post TLJ one-shot

The ghosts of Supreme Leader Kylo Ren's past are back to haunt him with a vengeance. A well-meaning, familial kind of vengeance. Or, A Star Wars Carol.

Ben’s Body

Reylo Modern AU (completed)

Rey is an up and coming sculptor specialising in human shape and form. Her new next door neighbour has a body to die for and she's determined to preserve it in marble forever. Now she just has to convince dashing and reclusive Ben to model for her. Preferably naked.

Growin’ Up

Reylo High School AU (completed)

Ben Solo was supposed to only be ruining his own life with his bad decisions. Rey Niima was just trying to pay attention in class. Both get stuck in detention.

Seven Texts, 2 AM

Reylo Modern AU, smutty one-shot

Ben has good reasons not to have sex with his neighbor, Rey. She has other ideas.

Song of the Forest

Reylo Fantasy/BatB/Fairytale AU (completed)

Once upon a time, a girl with an unknown past appeared on the doorsteps of a lord’s manor, and now the forest at the edge of the lord’s property is calling to her.

A Season of Frost & Warmth

Modern Reylo P&P AU (completed)

When Ben shows up to a Halloween party with no costume, it only confirms Rey’s certainty that he is the world’s biggest jerk. Until it comes to light that maybe... he isn’t.

Follow Me Home

Modern Werewolf Reylo AU (completed)

Rey gets stone drunk and brings home a big cute husky she found in an alley. The next morning, she finds a naked man built like a fridge sleeping on her living room floor, and no dog in sight.

The Gentleness That Comes

Reylo Modern AU one-shot

Underground boxer!Ben is resigned to his life of violence, until he meets a pretty new bartender one night.

Unlikely, Unbidden, Unbound

Gingerflower canonverse AU (WIP)

General Hux is imprisoned by the Resistance when the First Order falls. He had known his death was coming, it was simply a matter of course. He’s disappointed to learn the Resistance has other plans, and an unwavering policy of giving people second chances.

@thereylowritingden @reylofic @nancylovesreylo @grlie-girl @lilia-ula @greyforceuser @tazwren @mhcalamas

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allsassnoclass · 4 years ago

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maybe I wrote an off-screen epilogue scene. maybe I didn’t. click the keep reading button to find out

warnings for mentions of weed and a mention of meds

December 26th dawns slowly over the mountains of Colorado, the sun creeping over the landscape like molasses, and Luke wakes up in the same way. He stays in the murky space between dreams and waking for a long time, floating through his subconscious until Ashton’s gentle fingers trailing up and down his arm finally pull him back to earth and wakefulness.

“Hey there, angel,” Ashton says, shifting to kiss his bare shoulder. “Good morning, my love.”

“Morning,” Luke hums, turning on to his back so he can see him. This bed is smaller than the one at their LA house, pushing them closer together and reminding Luke of the months in Utah back when they first got together and earlier this year, when Luke stayed with him for most of fall semester.

Ashton smiles at him, hazel eyes crinkling around the edges.

“Waking up to you is the best way to wake up,” Luke says, voice scratchy from disuse. It’s something he’s told Ashton multiple times, but it always bears repeating, and it never fails to make Ashton melt a little. He reaches forward and brushes Luke’s hair out of his face, hand curling against his cheek. Luke leans forward and kisses him, warm and slow, stubble scratching his face and mouths stale with morning breath. Ashton hums contentedly when they pull away, eyes staying closed half a moment longer than Luke’s.

“What time is it?” Luke asks.

“Mid-morning,” Ashton replies.

“Petunia?”

“Already took her out and gave her breakfast.”

“I love you,” Luke says. Ashton can claim to dislike Petunia all he wants, but that doesn’t change the fact that over the course of quarantine he has been the one giving her more treats and belly rubs. His willingness to get up with her in the morning means Luke is free to stay in bed as long as he wants, and since Ashton returned he can keep him here, too.

“What do you want to do today?” Ashton asks.

“Be with you,” Luke says. That was partially why they decided to come to Colorado for Christmas. Ashton wanted a little bit of snow and Luke wanted to spend uninterrupted time with him. When spring semester starts, Ashton will be heading back to Utah alone. Luke has been writing and recording a lot of smaller projects in his home studio that will likely never see the light of day, but beginning in January the band is going to have recording time together again. He’s needed with them, so he and Ashton will be long-distance until the semester ends since the university isn’t having a spring break and they won’t be traveling more than necessary in the pandemic.

“You don’t have a choice out here,” Ashton says. “The cabin isn’t that big, my heart.”

“Good,” Luke says, hand sliding down Ashton’s waist. His pet names have been getting increasingly diverse throughout quarantine, and each one still manages to give Luke heart palpitations, even the weird ones like thunder cat and lemon zest.

He leans forward to kiss him again, shifting easily when Ashton tugs to guide him on top, thighs bracketing Ashton’s waist. Ashton moves his palms to rest heavily on his legs, and when Luke leans back he’s met with the sight of his black hair messy against the white pillow, a ray of sun illuminating his face and making him glow.

He runs his knuckles along the scruffy beginnings of a beard Ashton has been letting himself grow since classes ended. It’s prickly, but Ashton doesn’t stop him, just watches with a smile.

“You’re so handsome, Ash,” he says. The eclectic mountain man vibe he’s been leaning into shouldn’t work, but somehow Luke looks at him and is still as enamoured as he was with the adorable boy he didn’t realize he loved and the beautiful man he married.

“Take a picture. It’ll last longer,” Ashton says. Luke moves his hands to the smooth planes of his chest, keeping himself propped up.

“I think that’s your expertise,” he says, reminded of the hundreds of photographs stored on Ashton’s phone or various sim cards around the house, all filled with Luke in various moods, positions, styles, and states of dress. One of Ashton’s goals for their summer together was to bring his photography skills up to par with his painting, and with lockdown Luke was the only convenient subject.

They have some pictures that they’ll never show anyone, and there are a few that Luke has considered showing the world. Needless to say, Ashton is his favorite photographer.

“I wish I had my camera now,” Ashton says. “Every inch of you is exquisite, and with the way you’re backlit by the sun you look ethereal. If I could capture the expression on your face I would never take another picture again, because none of them would compare.”

He doesn’t yet have the words to respond to that, so he leans down and kisses Ashton again, and again, and again.

-/-

After wasting the entire morning together under the covers and grabbing something quick to eat, Luke and Ashton go for a walk. It’s not cold enough to be unpleasant, and the cabin has woods to one side with paths stomped down throughout. They soon lose sight of the house behind them. Luke hopes they’ll be able to find their way back when the time comes, but if they get lost at least they’ll be together.

“This year was a lot better than it should have been,” Ashton says.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a global pandemic going on. There have been thousands of needless deaths, cancelled plans, and teaching was significantly harder and less fun, but I think this year was my happiest year since I can remember. I feel really good about my art. I feel like I’m more aware of the world around me. I’ve stopped feeling as self-conscious. I finally got put on meds that work, and I’m actively enjoying my life.”

“You smoked a lot of weed.”

Ashton laughs.

“Yeah, I smoked a lot of weed, but I kept it professional at school.”

“Some of your students’ works would’ve been even better if you were high while seeing them for the first time.”

“Luke,” Ashton admonishes. “I’m not trying to get fired. I need the administration for reference letters since I’m job searching near LA now.”

Luke stops walking, letting Ashton carry on without him for a few steps.

“You’re job searching?”

“I am.” He backtracks, meeting Luke where he is and taking his hands. “Luke, I’m not stupid. I know that the reason this year didn’t suck was because it was the first year I got to fully spend with you. You are the love of my life, and I don’t want to try living my life without you for eight months of the year anymore. When you’re not traveling around the world dazzling people with your talent, I want to be with you at home. I love teaching, and I’m going to keep trying to do that, but after this semester I’m moving to LA permanently whether I have something else lined up or not.”

“Oh,” Luke says. “I thought you loved Utah. You have friends there, and students. Are you sure you want to leave that?”

This past semester, Luke was able to fully witness Ashton as a teacher. When he wasn’t on campus, Luke got full exposure to his joys and frustrations. He sympathized with him over administrative decisions and safety protocols and got to see pictures and video tours of the art submissions that Ashton wasn’t able to see in person.

He gave Daisy an encouraging voice note for finals, because she’s been struggling with trying to complete her senior project given the circumstances and Ashton asked him to since she’s his favorite.

“I have friends here, too, and there will be other students,” Ashton says. “Even if that wasn’t the case, being with you would be worth it.”

Luke’s heart feels full to bursting.

“Really?” he asks, needing one more confirmation that his dream is going to come true before he lets himself believe it.

“Yes, my sweet. I’m moving to LA with you for as long as you make that city your home.”

Luke kisses him because the other option is to start crying, something which he doesn’t want to do when they’re out in the cold.

“I think this was one of my best years, too,” Luke confesses.

He came out and then almost immediately deleted his social media from his phone. He’s learned more about what it means to be a good ally. He’s grown as a songwriter, stretching himself with different genres and working on his piano skills more, writing dozens of love songs for Ashton and silly ones for Petunia, bad ones, good ones, and amazing ones for himself and for the band. He figured out what it really means to be a husband, sharing his life with Ashton and able to physically be there for the bad days they both had and celebrate the joyful ones.

Things haven’t been perfect by any means. They had to postpone the tour, they can’t see anyone, and it often feels like the world is on fire. Still, though, he’s had Ashton.

Through all of this, he’s had Ashton, and after this semester he’ll always have him with him.

“You’ve been glowing,” Ashton says. “I’m glad I got to experience it with you.”

“Me too,” Luke says. “I love you.”

Ashton kisses his nose.

“I love you, too.”

They continue their walk hand in hand, enjoying the fresh air. Ashton points out signs that animals had been there and Luke ensures that he doesn’t run into any trees while he’s not paying attention to where he’s walking. The path turns out to be a big loop, and soon they can see other cabins again and then their own back door.

“Wait,” Ashton says before they go inside. “I want to jump in the snow. Film it for my instagram.”

Ashton has a professional artist social media, but he also has a private instagram that he posts on frequently. Luke has gotten very used to snapping pictures or videos for him, always endeared by which pieces of his life Ashton wants to share with the rest of the world.

Ashton takes off his coat for the video and faceplants with a kerplunk. As soon as he’s done filming, Luke is laughing.

“That was fun,” Ashton says when he hands his phone back to him. “Want to make snow angels?”

“No, Ash, I want to go inside,” Luke says. He gets no warning before Ashton has arms around his waist, tackling him down into the snow and making Luke shriek.

“You’re so lucky I love you,” Luke laughs, poking Ashton’s pink nose with his glove. Ashton beams above him.

“Can we go inside now?” Luke asks. Ashton hums, then snaps a picture with his phone.

“Now we can,” he says, getting up and offering Luke a hand. Luke lets Ashton haul him up, then they finally enter the cabin again, stomping snow off their boots and brushing it from their coats.

They don’t have any plans for the rest of the day, or the rest of their stay in Colorado in general, but Luke couldn’t care less about what they’re going to do. He gets to spend the rest of the holiday with Ashton, and then the rest of his life with him. Soon they’ll be permanently in the same house again, and he couldn’t be happier.

If Ashton managed to transform an awful year into a good one, Luke can’t wait to experience all of the amazing years ahead with him right by his side where he belongs.

#my writing #lashton #off-screen #how wild would it have been if I put a rick roll under there instead #would I have lost followers for that #okay now you Actually get a break from me.#going to not post writing for a week (but I am going to work on some inbox prompts)#can ya'll believe I still only have 285 words of the off screen prequel written and I don't even like them????#also! for your own thinking enjoyment: how much of ashton's quarantine chaos energy would still exist if he had to be a professor #like how wild is off-screen December 26 2020 ashton? who knows #I think he is slightly less wild than actual current Ashton but Not By Much #ashton's always been a goofy dude it's just manifesting differently right now #off screen

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writeyouin · 5 years ago

Note

The autobot human friend(animated) decides to sneak to the decepticon cave and give them a Christmas no matter what

TFA Reader Insert – Spreading Joy

A/N – Merry Holidays, two years late (So sorry, I was always bad at timing.)

Warnings – None.

Rating – T

“(Y/N), are you okay?” Optimus asked, frowning concernedly at you.

“Hm?” You blinked, noticing that he was staring at you. “Sorry Optimus, did you say something?”

“I asked if you wanted to help us decorate the base tonight for your holiday, Christmas, but you didn’t answer. So, is everything alright?”

You blushed at having been caught not paying attention, “Yes, sorry. I suppose I was just thinking about some things.”

“A shanix for your thoughts?”

“I was just wondering whether the holidays will see you fighting the Decepticons again, or if they’ll be quiet this year.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure everything will be just fine.”

“I suppose so. I just wish that Megatron could see the beauty of our planet, like you guys do.”

“Sorry (Y/N), but some things never change. Megatron is just one of those things. It’s nice that you’re hoping for a better future for the ‘Cons, but it’s better if you don’t waste your time tonight.”

“Sure,” You said, walking over to the group who were putting up the tree, though as you decorated, you couldn’t help thinking of Scrooge in from the Christmas Carol. Sure, he was only a fictional character, but he had been shown the way to change; maybe the Decepticons could be given that opportunity as-well.

As Christmas drew nearer, you hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the Decepticons and the comparison to Scrooge you had accidentally made. Perhaps, if you could give them a real Christmas, they might find the beauty in your small planet after all.

Fortunately, you knew that Sari’s father, Professor Sumdac, had been working on a private plane that would make travel possible for anyone with a regular driving licence. It’s one flaw? It couldn’t be picked up on any radar thus far; hopefully that would count for Cybertronian radar as well.

“Thank you, Professor Sumdac,” You beamed, relieved that he was allowing you to test out his plane at your request. All you’d had to do was tell him that you wished to lend a hand with the toys for tots delivery and he had been putty in your hands.

“No problem (Y/N). I’m glad that it’s you requesting the test-run instead of the military. Toys for tots is a much better use for my inventions than a silly war.”

You grinned at that. At least it was true that you weren’t using the plane for a war; in fact, you were trying to end one.

After hauling various boxes of Christmas decorations into the plane, you took off, finding it more than easy to fly the simple machine. You plotted the coordinates to the Decepticon lair, hoping that there would be no way for Professor Sumdac to find out where you had gone when you returned the plane to him.

Although you felt that what you were doing the right thing to do, you couldn’t help feeling anxious that it was a silly pipe-dream. All the same, you tried calming your jittery nerves by humming the various Christmas songs you knew.

Finally, in the chorus of ‘Do they Know it’s Christmas,’ you spotted the Decepticon lair. You couldn’t see if anyone was outside because of the heavy snowfall blocking your view. You only hoped that the snow covered you as well in case anyone was out on patrol.

Landing among the cover of trees near the mines, you lugged out the boxes of decorations, glad that you’d had the foresight to bring a dolly to carry them; after all, it would speed things up and you were relying on speed so you didn’t run into any of your unwitting hosts.

“Alright Decepticons, get ready to be blasted with joy,” You whispered to yourself, taking your first tentative steps into the old mines.

Every step felt heavy with trepidation. You kept to the sides of the mines, often stopping to look around or listen for anyone coming. Only once did you fear that your heart might stop as Lugnut and Blitzwing walked right past you. Fortunately, Blitzwing was in his Random mood, tormenting Lugnut into a rage; the pair passed you, too deep in their argument to notice a stray human on the ground. Once they were gone, you remained where you were, too scared to move any further in case they came back.

After ten minutes or so, you finally left the safety of your shadowy corner to head further into the lair, stopping only when you reached the main cavern where the Decepticons clearly spent most of their time.

“Okay,” You breathed, when you sure that Blitzwing, Lugnut or Megatron weren’t anywhere nearby. “Time to get things moving.”

You had never decorated so fast in your life. Then again, you had never had the threat of being held hostage to motivate you. First, you set up an inflatable tree which was the only thing you could get to match the Decepticons size without help. While the electric pump slowly brought the tree to life you wrapped red and silver tinsel around the computer’s keyboard, adding colourful fairy lights afterwards.

Since the tree itself couldn’t hold any baubles, you hung them of various stalagmites, which you also sprayed with artificial snow. Everywhere you went, you made sure to throw some glitter around for good measure. Once you had placed some large stuffed toys of Santa, snowmen, and elves in various locations, you surveyed your work. Granted, it was still a mine and there was little you could do to make it homier, but you didn’t think it was a bad job, especially when you hung the Merry Christmas banner as high as you could near the entrance.

You were almost finished but you had one more box which was the most special of all. It had taken a lot of time, but you had made a tiny replica of each Decepticon and wrapped them up individually in paper the colour of each bot. Their names hung off them, printed in fancy cursive that you had to use a stencil to write.

As a last touch, you left two Christmas films that you hoped the Decepticons would watch. The first was the film that had inspired your miniature quest, A Christmas Carol. The second was a film you thought Icy and Blitzwing would enjoy a lot more, Die Hard.

Once everything was set up and in place, you snuck out of the Decepticon base, hoping that your stunt to make the Cybertronians love Earth would work.

Megatron was not amused by what he saw when he returned to the base. He wanted to punish his subordinates for their hijinks and order them to take down the infernal rubbish that had been placed around the base. Yet, as the pair sat in front of the computer, watching a human known only as John McClane battle it out on screen with the intellectually superior Hans Gruber, he revelled in the peace; at least the trashy Earth media was keeping them quiet for a while.

Like my work? Buy me a coffee and earn preview of the next fic, or commission me on the new commissions page.

#tf #tfa #transformers #transformers animated #maccadam #lugnut #blitzwing #megatron #optimus #christmas #reader insert #reader #fanfiction #fanfic #spreading joy #fyrestrike

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lawrenceop · 4 years ago

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HOMILY for the 3rd Sun of Advent (EF)

Phil 4:4-7; John 1:19-28

The Dominican friar, Meister Eckhart, a German mystic of the late 13th-century once described the Holy Trinity in this way: “The Father laughs at the Son, and the Son at the Father, and the laughter brings forth pleasure, and the pleasure brings forth joy, and the joy brings forth love”. Laughter, pleasure, joy. This is how our God is, and this joy overflows into creation so that we and our world are held in being by God’s love. And who is this joy within the Holy Trinity, if not the Holy Spirit? So, when John the Baptiser promises that Christ will baptize us with the Holy Spirit (cf Mt 3:11), he means that we Christians will be filled with God’s Spirit of joy. And so, today, on Gaudete Sunday, ‘rejoicing Sunday’, St Paul says to us: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4).

But what does it mean to rejoice? The dictionary defines ‘joy’ as ‘intense and especially ecstatic or exultant happiness’. But is St Paul saying that we Christians should be wildly happy and laughing all the time? It would be rather exhausting! Indeed, should we feel guilty because we don’t feel like laughing and being gleeful in the face of the uncertainties, difficulties and even the genuine sorrows of this time? For many this holiday period, particularly this year, can bring up painful reminders of bereavements suffered at the end of the year, or the gloom of lonely and depressing pandemic restrictions, and the economic uncertainties faced by so many can make this a rather cheerless time. So, how can Sacred Scripture call us to “rejoice always”?

I think that we would misunderstand St Paul if we think it means mere happiness and forced merriment – the kind that you might experience at office Christmas parties when one ‘over-indulges’ in order to plaster over the real problems and tensions in the workplace. For St Paul was himself subject to beatings, imprisonment, and much suffering. He had worries about money to fund his missions, frustration about being misunderstood and maligned, and was grieved when Christian communities broke away from his teaching and guidance. So, Christian joy does not mean that we are without worries and sorrows. Nor does it mean that we should ignore these troubles and uncertainties and just focus on having a good time. Rather, joy means having a happiness and contentment that is deeply rooted in faith in God’s goodness, and hope in his promises. It means living according to the Beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs”. It means knowing that God’s love holds us in being, and that he cares for us, and desires our eternal happiness with him in heaven.

In the words of the prophet Isaiah, who is very much an Advent voice, we rejoice because God has “clothed me in the garments of salvation” and “covered me in the robes of righteousness”. Indeed, Isaiah uses the imagery of marriage to express how we should rejoice: that deep satisfaction and joy of a bride or bridegroom, who is being joined forever to his or her one love. And because of love, the husband and wife, together, can endure all hardships and trials. That is the kind of union we have with God because the Holy Spirit dwells in us, like in a temple, and he fills us with God’s presence. God’s Spirit in us, wedded to us in love, fills us with the joy of the Blessed Trinity himself. Joy, therefore, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, a divine gift that comes from our graced union with God.

It’s a tragedy that often we don’t experience this but this is the true gift that God wants to give us this Christmas, and indeed, he wants to give it to us daily. Instead of seeking delight in and from God, though, we often are tempted by the pleasures and transient joys of the world; we seek consolation from things that do not last and which may even be destructive of our true happiness; and we settle for the fleeting fancies of this world rather than the deep and abiding joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. Pope Benedict XVI, when he visited Scotland in 2011 put it really well, and I think he speaks to our experience today. He said: “There are many temptations placed before you every day - drugs, money, sex, pornography, alcohol - which the world tells you will bring you happiness, yet these things are destructive and divisive. There is only one thing which lasts: the love of Jesus Christ personally for each one of you. Search for him, know him and love him, and he will set you free from slavery to the glittering but superficial existence frequently proposed by today’s society. Put aside what is worthless and learn of your own dignity as children of God”. This is what Pope St Leo the Great said also in his great Christmas sermon: “Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s kingdom.” If we always bear this in mind, who or what could rob us of our true joy. For we belong to Christ; we are promised the eternal and unending joys of heaven; we are one with him in Holy Communion. Why, then, do we settle for less and fall into sin, lust after silly worldly pleasures, and futile quick-fix deceptive solutions?

So instead of seeking the consolations of the world, today’s Gospel calls us to seek the God of consolation, who is Love. Seek God, who St John says, stands among us, and whom we do not know. For often God’s Spirit is active and at work in our lives, and he consoles us, and brings us joy, but we do not know it because we don’t recognize him at work, present in our lives. If we want to seek the God of consolation then, we need to quieten down, and listen for his Voice of comfort crying out in the wilderness of our lives. If we want peace and contentment, we need to seek God’s perspective, and see things as he does. And we do this through prayer. As St Paul says in the epistle: “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7)

The Holy Spirit, who I have called the joy within the Blessed Trinity, is here called the “peace of God” by St Paul because it is the Spirit, bestowing God’s sanctifying grace upon us, who brings divine peace to our hearts. It is the Spirit who reconciles and conforms our will to God’s will, and who thus gives us assurance of God’s providence and governance of all things, no matter how terrible circumstances might seem. Therefore, while the media might be full of gloom, and the doomsayers predict ruin and catastrophe, we Christians remain hopeful and joyful in the Lord; we “rejoice in the Lord always.”

And such joy is one vital thing we Christians have to share with others, to bring “good tidings to the afflicted and comfort the broken-hearted”. This Christian joy, as St John says, “bears testimony, it bears witness to the light, that all might believe in [Christ]” (Jn 1:7). This joy is a cry in the wilderness of our world, of our sin-wounded human lives – not the crying of tears and sorrow, but the cry of excitement, joy, and delight that is St John the Baptist’s upon seeing the Messiah. So, as Pope Francis has said: “Do not keep Christ to yourselves! Share with others the joy of your faith. The world needs the witness of your faith…” So, as you return from Church today, laugh a little, and rejoice – some of us will go forth from this Mass tonight to bring light and song into our streets and public squares! And if people ask you why, tell them about the Blessed Trinity who is the eternal source of our unending joy.

#joy #Trinity #peace #prayer

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loki-hargreeves · 5 years ago

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Loki’s 12 days of X-Mas - Tony’s Christmas Party

A/N: I’m so sorry for taking so long. Being sick is the worst. Anyway, I’m catching up on these. Hope you like them! :) Loki’s 12 days of Christmas Warning: just fluff, a bit of alcohol, this is such a cliché Word Count: 2,3K Summary: You and Loki attend one of Stark’s iconic Christmas parties. It doesn’t take long until you find yourself under pressure with no other than Loki. The entire team has gotten enough of your flirting going nowhere. You’re in for a wild night...

Third POV

“...It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas....” The infamous tune played softly on Y/N’s lips, filling the room with melody. It was already dark outside, but the New York lights made it easy to see the cold snowflakes falling down from the sky. The Avengers were all gathered for once to celebrate Christmas. Tony Stark had hosted a party and he even invited Loki. Sure, Tony said it was only out of kindness and because he didn’t want Y/N to kick his ass, but unbeknownst to Loki and Y/N, the man of iron had other plans.

Loki was going to pick her up from her room at the compound, not expecting to hear her sing along to a song so jolly. So far, she hadn’t even noticed him as she walked across her room, her hips swaying in her crimson red dress. Loki could harly believe how beautiful she was. In his eyes, Y/N was a goddess in disguise. It was almost a shame that they were just friends. Deciding not to be a creep, Loki cleared his throat which made her jump.

“Loki! I didn’t see you...” Y/N seemed flustered, which was just adorable. She was quick to brush it off with a beaming smile. She was ready to go. Even though the pary was a few floors up, it felt appropriate to go there together.

“I can’t blame you, now can I? Sneaking up on people is my specialty,” Loki teased her lightly, earning a giggle from her. He noticed her black heels now and how beautifully she had done her makeup and hair. Her look was so contrary to her armour and tight suits. She looked great in anything. “You look beautiful,” Loki let her know smoothly, hoping he didn’t sound too much in awe.

The compliment made her roll her eyes, but little did Loki know the words went right to her core. “You’re such a gentleman sometimes, I swear...” She mumbled and grabbed her small purse and then closed the distance between them. As a Prince, Loki had manners and he had not forgotten about them. He offered her his arm to hold on which she gladly did. “You look good in that black suit, by the way.”

A gentleman, indeed, but not for everyone. Most people treated Loki like the plague - they avoided him and believed his touch resulted in a painful death. Y/N was different. She welcomed the Trickster with open arms and made him feel like a person. It had taken time, but eventually Loki let down his walls when he was with her and he could be himself. For her, he was his truest self, a prince who would treat her like a princess. Nevertheless, they were just friends and he kept reminding himself of that.

They entered the elevator at the same time as Natasha and Clint. Y/N greeted them happily, which they returned. But when it came to Loki, the duo didn’t seem as happy. “Do you think Tony will pull off any crazy stunts this year?” Y/N wondered innocently, remembering the parties from previous years. Tony was known to go overboard quite often.

“We’ll just have to wait and see, Y/N,” Natasha smirked with mischief in her voice. Loki noticed. Natasha glanced at Y/N and then at Loki and her smirk grew. It wasn’t that obvious, but it didn’t escape Loki’s sight. He knew right then at that moment that they were up to something.

As the elevator doors opened, the four of them were welcomed with drinks. They walked further inside the party and separated as different people got up to greet them. Thor made his way to Loki and Y/N. “Brother! Lady Y/N! I’m so happy to see you arrived,” the blonde prince beamed of joy. Y/N let go of Loki’s arm to hug the God of Thunder.

“It’s good to see you, Thor,” She said as they parted from the hug. Loki didn’t like the jealousy that formed in the pits of his stomach. He knew very well Y/N wasn’t his, but he didn’t want Thor to take her. It was his biggest fear - to lose what he loved to his brother.

“You came just in time. Stark said the food is ready. Come, I’ll show you to the table,” Thor offered in a friendly manner. Y/N grabbed Loki’s arm and they followed Thor to the long tables on the other side of the common room that reminded them more of a nightclub right now.

So when they entered the dining hall, it surprised them. It was so cozy and it smelled delicious. Tony and Pepper had only invited some friends and of course, the Avengers. They would feast before the true party. Y/N already knew that it would end up a drunken mess before midnight.

The host himself spotted Y/N and Loki and he just had to welcome them personally. “Finally! I thought you wouldn’t come,” Tony pulled Y/N into a friendly hug which was well returned.

“I couldn’t ghost you on this day, Tony, now could I?” Y/N chuckled. The two of them were close, everyone knew that. Even when Y/N and Loki became close, Tony never cut ties, although everyone knew what he had initially thought about the Trickster getting close to Y/N - the sweetheart of the team.

Loki and Tony simply shook hands. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m glad you came, Reindeer games.”

That nickname. Loki had no clue what it meant. Reindeer games? It wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so Loki ignored it. “Well it would’ve been quite rude not to show up,” Loki shrugged, playing it cool. After all this time, there was still tension between the two of them.

“Well, take your seats. I hope you’re hungry because the food is ready. Pepper made her iconic, absolutely fantastic roasted potatoes. God, I can’t wait to dig in,” Tony seemed excited for once.

Just like that, everyone sat around the table. Y/N and Loki were sat next to each other, which was just what they hoped for too. The food was served and luckily everyone seemed hungry.

An hour later, everyone had eaten. They moved from the dining hall to the common room where the actual party got started. Drinks were downed and people got drunk very fast. Eventually, they gathered around the couch because someone suggested they’d have a drinking game.

Loki knew he wouldn’t get drunk on Midgardian alcohol, but Thor had thought of that beforehand. He had booze from Asgard which the brothers shared - Thor a bit more than Loki.

Y/N sat next to Loki on the soft couch, a little bit too close perhaps, but neither of them seemed to mind. After all, they were a little bit tipsy already, not drunk but it was enough to make them more comfortable.

“Okay, okay...” Tony raised his hands up, making all heads turn to him. “What if, hear me out, what if we played truth or dare,” the billionaire suggested, making some people laugh.

“What are we, 14?” Bucky joked which made Steve giggle.

Tony simply rolled his eye, “come on! It can be fun. Besides, if someone doesn’t do their deed, it costs a shot.”

That’s how a bunch of super soldiers, gods and avengers ended up playing truth or dare. It began with silly dares and truths that embarrassed people. Eventually, a very drunk Sam had his turn to pick a victim. “Y/N!” The falcon pointed at his friend who was cuddled against Loki by now. Just friends, Sam thought as a smirk grew on his face. “Truth or dare?”

Even Loki was curious now. What would she choose?

“Dare,” Y/N chose confidently, having no clue what could possibly happen.

People seemed surprised and some even gasped in surprise. For some odd reason, everyone in the room seemed too interested in this. Loki was worried something stupid was about to happen.

Sam had a devilish smile on his face and his friends refelcted that just as well. “I dare you to kiss whoever you like in this room. Now.”

Was he for real?

Y/N’s heart jumped to her throat as the words sunk beneath her skin. Sure, she had had two or three drinks, but she was sober and she knew how dangerous this could be. Suddenly, she became very aware of just how close she sat next to Loki. “Sam, are you kidding me?”

“It’s a dare, Y/N,” Sam shrugged and had the audacity to look Loki right in the eye.

The god was tense. He was worried Y/N would get up from the couch and smooch someone else. It would be humiliating! Although, he hated the crowd, he kind of wished she would kiss him - if anyone.

“I swear you guys are so childish. How can you be so sure I like anyone?” Y/N crossed her arms and pouted. She was flustered again and she tried to hide that desperately.

A bunch of ‘come on’s and eyerolls erupted in the room as she said that. Everyone under the same roof knew she must’ve fancied Loki. Their chemistry was obvious, it radiated to every inch in whatever place they occupied. Sometimes, it was sickening that they didn’t act on it. So the avengers had come up with a silly plan to bring them together. If not now, when?

“Y/N, we’re not blind. Come on! It’s just a kiss,” Sam urged her on.

Just a kiss?!

“Or do you want to take a shot? I mixed hot sauce in it - delicious,” Tony suggested and held up a shotlgass of something that looked very nasty.

Y/N’s nerves were burning up. Sure, she had wanted to kiss Loki for ages now. She wanted nothing more than to embrace him and make him feel happy. But she was so scared of rejection. Perhaps, if it all went south, she could blame it on peer pressure and alcohol?

After a few deep breaths and being encouraged by everyone in the room, Y/N turned to look at Loki who seemed oblivious to the situation. Whether it was a show he put on or if it was really him, no one knew. Their eyes met and shame burned through Y/N. Why was she doing this? She wasn’t sure, but it was too late to stop now. “Do you mind? I-I just want to get this over with...” Y/N wondered shyly, her voice barely carrying above the chants of people cheering her on.

Loki’s heart swelled in his chest. She wanted to kiss him? He could hardly believe it to be true, but he was not going to let this chance slip through his fingers. Perhaps the small amount of booze was enough to make Loki comfortable enough to push through as well. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t be so persuaded by such foolish games. “Not at all,” He smiled and hoped it would help her relax.

Just like that, Y/N wrapped her arms around Loki’s head and closed the gap between their lips, bringing him into a long-awaited kiss. Their lips locked warmly and both hearts began to beat a little bit faster. Adrenaline rushed through the two of them as they finally kissed. Y/N closed her eyes and closed out the other people. For just a moment, it was just the two of them. Loki’s tender hand held onto her, resting on the back of her head as his other hand held onto her jaw, cupping her face ever so gently.

He couldn’t believe what was happening, but it felt so good. He couldn’t care less about people watching right now. Finally, he was kissing Y/N and it sent his mind to an euphoric state.

After a while, their lips parted. Both of them wanted to pull in for another kiss, but for now, they could only look at each other in awe. They were stunned.

Natasha decided to break the silence, “God, finally!”

Both Y/N and Loki turned to look at the crowd that had seen that. Suddenly, Y/N felt a little bit embarrassed, but truth be told, she was so happy that it didn’t really matter. “I..I need some air. Nat, you can take my turn,” Y/N cleared her throat and got up. Joy and realization were overwhelming Y/N’s mind and she needed a moment without all these people around her.

Silently, Loki got up and followed Y/N outside. They were on a balcony together and the cool air around them felt good.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” Y/N admitted nervously, her smile bright as ever.

Loki wished she didn’t regret it. “Does that mean you have feelings for me? Or was that simply a dare?”

Did he have any idea what he was doing to her? Y/N was shocked, honestly. How did he not know how deeply and foolishly she had fallen for him? Did he think, after all this time, that she would kiss him with no true feelings attached?

“Loki! I would never...I mean, gosh! This is embarrassing, but I really like you,” There, she finally said it.

Hearing her vocalize her feelings meant the world for Loki. He felt like the happiest man in the nine realms as she admitted that. “I thought I’d never hear it, love.”

The petname lit up Y/N’s pretty eyes. “Wait- does that mean...?” She seemed to shy to finish the sentence, but Loki saw the hope on her face.

“I care for you too. Never would I have thought I’d let you know of this in this way, but I suppose it’s better than keeping it a secret,” Loki decided to be completely honest with her. He knew he had nothing to lose now. She just admitted she liked him. What could possibly go wrong anymore?

It surprirsed Loki when Y/N leapt into his arms. He caught her, wrapping his arms around her waist, just in time before she would’ve slipped with those heels on. No words were exchanged as their lips closed into a passionate kiss once more. This time, it was for their eyes only and it felt much better. Joy, love, relief - everything they felt became so evident in the kiss and it felt magical. It was definitely long-awaited.

Who would’ve thought a silly game of truth or dare would’ve led them to confess?

A/N: As I’ve said before, I don’t know how to do fluff, but for you I really tried. Also, I just want to write happy!Loki for now, he’s suffered enough. This is such a cliché, but after iw and endgame, I’ve learned to love that. A classic avengers truth or dare, I hope you liked it! :)

#Loki's 12 days of christmas #Loki Imagine #Loki fluff #Loki x Reader #Loki x You #Loki x Y/N #Loki fanfiction #Loki Laufeyson #Loki Odinson #loki preferenc #marvel fanficion #mcu fanfiction #Tom Hiddleston Loki

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amplesalty · 5 years ago

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Christmas 2019: Day 1 - Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

A burning Christmas tree!

And the angel said unto them, fear not for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day another marathon of Christmas related movies and TV specials. As is tradition, we start by saying what a tradition it is to start the month with a horror. As we shall come to see, a not as serious Christmas Horror movie this time. Well, having said that, Silent Night Deadly Night is pretty silly at times. My horror tastes have a tendency to lean towards the silly anyway and I did do all 31 days this year so there’s perhaps less of a need to make up for lost time by extending it over in Christmas. Look, stop going on about it, it’s Anna and the Apocalypse.

It makes for a fairly obvious choice to open proceedings, it’s a Christmas zombie movie. What more do you want? Well, how about a musical? Yeah, this is like Nativity crossed with Shaun of the Dead. Or more appropriately, High School Musical crossed with Shaun of the Dead. Or, as the marketing goes with, La La Land crossed with Shaun of the Dead. I think that movie is cursed to be forever associated with anything vaguely zombie related and comedic. It’s like the new ‘It’s Die Hard but…’

Anyway, we start with the eponymous Anna on her way to school with her bestie, John, and her dad who is the janitor at the school. This is meant to be a British film, I think you’ll find it’s caretaker, lousy Americanisation. I think this is more specifically Scottish made actually, whole bunch of English people around mind you but there’s a few Scots mixed in as well. I feel like there was a lot of Scottish made kids shows when I was growing up, I dunno if they just get good investment up there or if it’s like a tax or lottery thing or something?

There’s a total Michelle Keegan thing going on with the girl who plays Anna, not a bad thing since she is one of the most desirable women in the world.

The real star of the show here though is Paul Kaye as Mr Savage, a jobsworth assistant headmaster who we first meet warning off one of the students, Steph, who is running a piece on the school blog about the local homeless problem. Mr Savage points out that the local council set their budgets so it’s probably best if she drops the whole thing. When she threatens to go over his head to the more soft touch headmaster, we learn that he’s retiring next month and Mr Savage is taking over and things are going to be a lot different around here. Kaye is hamming it up a bit as Savage but in a more reserved way? He pretty much delivers every line in this very hushed but stern tone, it’s like he’s a villain in a cheap action film but he’s really just a teacher at a small school in Scotland.

We very quickly get our opening number ‘Break Away’, dealing with the problems that Anna, Steph and John are dealing with. Anna wants to get out of this town and see the world, John has an unrequited love for Anna and Steph feels abandoned by her parents who are on the other side of the world. It’s a powerful song that talks about wanting to be more and the girl playing Steph is really giving it socks and emoting. I don’t think they’re dubbing their voices or anything so fair play to her. They even work in some lyircs that tie into the whole zombie thing; “As I wake half dead in this same old bed at the dawn of another day”. It does catch you off guard though when you’re not expecting a musical.

This would work well as one of those deceptive genre bending movies you could trick someone into watching and be like ‘Boom, zombies!’ halfway through. At the very start there’s a radio piece that kinda spells it out before it’s cut off midsentence that talks about a supposed super flu that has now being discovered to cause ‘reanima-‘. But there’s little nods here and there otherwise that make it sort of cute like those lyrics or people theatrically clawing at a wall like a zombie.

The songs in the Christmas show don’t quite match up. They’ve probably got that whole non-demoninational thing to adhere to where they can’t sing about Jesus so instead they’ve got two break dancing penguins dancing to a fish rap. Yes, fish rap. “My favourite dish is fish, mother flipper, and I eat it for the hell of it!”

Then there’s Lisa’s song which is basically an attempt to seduce Santa. Think ‘Santa Baby’ but a bit more explicit. Like, she invites Santa over to ‘empty his sack’ at one point, that sort of thing. Then you have a bunch of backing dancers who are all topless and wearing short shorts. This is a high school production, right? Seems a bit risqué. Mr Savage seems to agree so too, though at first it just cuts to him saying ‘Filthy....salacious...’ whilst pulling these funny faces, almost like he’s getting some illicit thrill from all this. Thankfully he ends that thought with ‘and it must be stopped!’ before storming off.

Going back to the zombie movie in disguise thought, when we finally do get the zombies, the movie still plays dumb to the whole thing by having Anna and John walking to school whilst performing a musical number (Turning My Life Around) where they say they’re ‘miles away’ whilst being totally oblivious to the carnage unfolding behind them. This rather disturbingly includes a zombie eating the contents of a pram. It’s an amusing scene, the juxtaposition of this bright, upbeat song and these two cheery characters with no knowledge of all the death and destruction behind them. The song has a similar message to ‘Break Away’ but looked at from a slightly different perspective, much more optomistic and poppy.

Mr Savage’s breakout moment comes when everyone gets trapped in the school after the outbreak and they hear of evacuation plans that call for them to stay put and await the arrival of the army. The headmaster seems to be out of the picture and he revels in taking charge. But, when days past with no contact, everyone wants to head out and Savage has a bit of a run in with Anna’s Dad. Savage snaps before sulking off in a corner muttering that this is his school now, hearing zombies clattering at the door and seemingly having a ‘lightbulb above the head’ moment. I’ve made comparisons before to Dead Rising and how the proper movies based on it missed the ‘psycho’ characters. This right here is a psycho character, that sense of a rather mundane character being pushed over the edge in this apocalyptic situation. I’m thinking specifically here of the supermarket worker in the first game who thinks you’re looting and tries to run you down with his adapted trolley that has a bunch of pointy things stuck on it whilst screaming ‘THIS IS MY STOOOOOOOOOOORE!!!’.

Speaking of looting, Anna’s dickbag ex shows up to help her and her friends out of a jam with a trolley full of toys he’s ‘found’. Him and his friends arm themselves to take out a nearby hoard but I feel like only two of them are actually trying. He has his baseball bat and another guy puts knives in his hands like they’re Wolverine claws. I don’t know how useful knives are going to be, especially wielded like that, but at least he’s making a better effort than the other two who have a video game controller used like a mace and the last guy who has two watermelons. Okay, so we see a vaguely similar situation to this earlier in the movie in a bowling alley where someone squishes a zombies head in between two bowling balls so maybe that’s what this guy was thinking? Well, A) I don’t think that’s going to work with watermelons and 2) say it does, that’s only going to work once with watermelons because they’re going to explode. What’s your secondary plan once they’re done with? At least the guy with the bat can keep on swinging it.

This is the lead in to the ex’s song ‘Soldier at War’ which is really good as well. Between the delivery of the song and the way it’s acted physically, there’s this kind of sultry, seductive thing going on? Apparently Rocky Horror Picture show was an inspiration for this movie and I definitely get a Dr. Frank-N-Furter vibe from this.

They all eventually fight their way back to the school only to find Savage is just calmly eating his Christmas dinner. He points them in the direction of their parents, only to lock them in a room full of zombies. He even gets a villain song as they all struggle to survive, basically summarising that for too long he’s been held down but now it’s his time. There’s a fast paced energy to the song and, at the risk of making another Shaun of the Dead comparison, having it cut to shots of the kids fighting off the horde and the fact that it’s called ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now’ makes me wonder if this wasn’t a conscious nod to the big climax at The Winchester.

Things come to a head when Anna tries to track down her Dad, only to find him tied up with Christmas lights on the stage with Mr Savage waiting for some sort of final showdown. I say showdown, it’s more a duet with Anna fighting off zombies and Mr Savage prancing about on stage trying on top hats and wrapping himself in tinsel like they’re cheap feather boas and he’s a fifty pence tart. There is a bit of fisticuffs between Mr Savage and Anna’s Dad in the end though and there’s even a call back to a moment from the start of the movie to serve as the final blow which is neat.

I was a little taken aback upon the revelation that this was a musical but it turned out to be really good fun. Just a really cool mix of genres with some good songs that are complimented at times with on screen theatrics. For the zombie portion of it, there’s some creative kills in one portion of the movie in the bowling alley but otherwise it resorts to blunt force trauma in order to ‘destroy the brain’. But the kills can be suitably over the top with a lot of blood splatter so that all adds to the cheese factor it’s got going on. It’s a suitable addition to the Christmas Horror or even just comedy-horror sub genres.

#Christmas 2019 #Anna and the Apocalypse

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swagyano · 7 years ago

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Shine bright ike a Diamond

As they're getting everything ready for the Christmas event at their school, Riko accidentally stumbled upon a sight that sweeps her off her feet, and offers her a good chance to spend a moment with the one who captivated her.

DiaRiko

Words: 1890

AO3 Link

back at it with diarikos that was intended to be a lowkey sequel to my last one but it works on it’s own. this was meant to be under 1k words because I wanted to stick to something short but it kept adding up, so sorry if last two parts feel a little rushed hope you guys enjoy, happy holidays!

She wasn’t sure for how long she’s been standing here and staring, when it felt like time and everything around her stopped.

Her trip to the gym was meant to take only a minute or two in order to drop off a box with decorations, but upon entering she didn’t expect to witness the sight she accidentally walked in on. The sight of none other but Dia Kurosawa all alone on the stage, practicing a few of the simple solo dancing steps to one of the songs they’ll be performing tonight for their school’s Christmas show, and singing her heart out as if the entire gym was already filled with dozens of people.

It’d be a lie if Rko said she’s never caught glances of Dia dancing like this, but it was during group practices only. If anyone came up to her and told her they’ve seen the student council president putting on an act all on her own she’d find it a little hard to believe. In fact she could recall hearing Chika mention something about stumbling at such a sight a long time ago in the auditorium, before she was even a member of their group. While Riko shrugged it off as something unexpected, she couldn’t deny sometimes she tried to reimagine such a scene playing out in her head.

And now being here, witnessing it like this, was beyond anything she ever imagined or what Chika described.

Every move, even though Riko as a fellow member was familiar with, felt refreshing with how much grace every of Dia’s movements had. It was captivating, breathtaking. And if Dia looking absolutely beautiful wasn’t enough, the strong angelic voice was absolutely soothing to the second year’s ears, completely getting her absorbed into everything that was happening. There was no other way her brain could describe it other than as if an actual angel landed from up above.

Dia was shining like the most beautiful diamond put in spotlight, and Riko was struck in awe.

And a part of her felt guilty, for observing so silently without a word when Dia most likely didn’t have any idea she was no longer alone. This would count as intruding, would it not? But she’d feel bad for interrupting as well, seeing how much Dia seems to be enjoying herself. How much genuine fun she’s having. Perhaps that was the cherry on top of this practice routine that made it look so magical. Like a professional idol, the third year nailed everything needed to capture the audience's attention. Riko’s attention was fixated on her, more than usual, and was overwhelmed with that adoration she’s been keeping hidden for this long.

“... Riko?”

It happened so fast her mind couldn’t grasp it. When Dia finally spotted the other girl, she’d completely stop what she was doing. The song ended, and now she stood on the stage with just as much gaze, staring back at Riko with a puzzled and slightly embarrassed expression as indicated by the soft pink on her cheeks. But she remained calm.

Unlike Riko, who after realizing she is yet to respond to being acknowledged, only mildly panicked and let out a squeak of embarrassment.

“O-Oh! I apologize, did I interrupt? I didn’t mean to, I’m so sorry! I just dropped by to bring these decorations--”

“It’s fine.”

Dia responded with so much calmness unusual for this situation in her voice Riko was almost envious, swallowing down a lump of anxiety stuck in her throat and finally averting her gaze away from the beautiful girl. She could hear her footsteps as she hopped off of the stage and slowly approached. There was no need to look up to recognize there was a soft smile on her face that could make anyone feel warm inside. At least it did Riko.

“Ahem… I think I’ve gotten carried away while setting up the decorations on the stage after Mari ran off to check if the last batch of paper made snowflakes was ready.”

Riko peers up at her just in time to catch the older girl scratching at her mole, and smiles.

“I’m really excited about tonight’s performance. It’s been quite a while since we’ve had such a lighthearted show where nothing’s at stake, don’t you think?”

Now that she brought it up, Riko realized she did catch Dia hum the tune of Jingle Bells ga Tomaranai with Ruby a couple of times back at the club room. And it was true, they’ve been so focused on doing their absolute best for things such as Love Live, this last Christmas show thrown for the town by their school is a nice change of pace, and has everyone excited.

“I hope it will be enough.”

Thrown off, Riko’s brows furrow in worry when the third year gazes back at the stage with a blissful expression, noticing the slight glint of sadness in the emerald hues.

“For everyone… I’d like to make sure this is the most memorable evening they experience. Even if with a Christmas miracle we can’t stop the school from closing, I hope for one night I can make everyone forget about it and ensure they have fun…”

“It will!”

The composer was uncertain of why Dia decided to go to her out of all people to tell about such a wish, but Riko didn’t hesitate to reassure. She could sympathize with the third year wanting to make this an incredible experience for everyone. Her, Mari, and the other third years all worked really hard to make this even amazing.

Dia looked back in surprise to meet Riko’s smile.

“You’ve been putting so much work into helping organizing this event, I can’t see it turning out anything other but absolutely amazing. You’ll see, all this hard work will pay off. And I’ll do my best to help make it so.”

Sheepishly smiling as shyness washed over her, Riko looked away.

“I have to admit, I was just a little nervous, but I think you got me not only excited, but inspired to do my best as well. I mean… the way you shine, if you put even half of your spirit into tonight’s performance like you just did up there, you-- I mean all of us will win them over for sure.”

Silence followed, and a part of Riko felt almost ridiculous for saying such a thing. Dia must think she sounds like some sort of a fool--

“You’re right as always, Riko.”

… what?

She peered up, feeling her cheeks warm up at the sound of the warm chuckle.

“I think the nerves are getting to me, as well. I can’t let such silly worries get to me, the Kurosawas always impress and succeed and don’t need to rely on Christmas miracles!”

Well she was right, Dia certainly always impresses Riko, even now when she fell into joyous laughter upon seeing the older girl beam in her usual old pride that she adored just like everything else about her. What she failed to notice was the split second emerald eyes set on her with absolute sincere gratitude.

The laughter came to an immediate halt, as she did not expect to be pet on the head so gently, nor to have her hair slightly ruffled in the process. In fact it was hard to comprehend that even occurred just now, because once again she felt herself going speechless and her face blowing up from heat.

Their hands made contact a split seconds later as Dia took the big box with decorations from her grasp and the world felt like it momentarily melted away.

“By the way, Riko?”

“Y-Yes?”

“For the record, I’ve seen you practice yourself in the music room,” Why did she sound so flustered? It was hard to tell when Dia already turned away. “You’re capable of capturing anyone’s attention with your shine as well, even if you’re not aware of it. So let’s do our best together, alright?”

Riko beamed. “Of course!”

She was completely oblivious to the way Dia fidgeted during the end of that conversation, and turned on her heel to head back to the club room to fetch those paper made snowflakes with butterflies in her stomach. Mari must’ve gotten held back somewhere, so the least Riko can do assist her instead. If Dia’s Christmas wish is to make everyone in their school happy, it’s Riko’s to make Dia happy by helping her fulfill hers.

The Christmas show went better than anyone could expect. Their classmates, the school staff families, and even neighbors were having a blast if the way they screamed along and danced with biggest smiles on their faces could indicate so.

Even Aqours was having the time of their lives, bringing joy to the crowd that’s been supporting them from the very beginning like any good idols would. They were in the middle of the finale, Jingle Bells ga Tomaranai , the instrumental part where they’d do whatever came to their mind. Riko could hear Chika giggling as happily as ever while they hopped around with a high amount of energy, somebody high-fiving, caught a glance of Ruby and Yoshiko making weird yet funny poses at each other while pacing around…

And when Dia took her hand and twirled her she saw her smile with joy as widely as never before, she’d bet. There was certain warmness in her eyes that made Riko’s own smile widen. She was shining just the way she did when she was alone, if not even more. Riko was stunned once again.

The audience was loud, and it was safe to say they must’ve been successful like they hoped to. And it was confirmed when the song ended, as the Aqours chants filled the gym.

Dia and Riko gazed at each other, hand in hand, only nodding at each other in acknowledgment as Riko mouthed ‘Merry Christmas’.

There was no plans for an after party, or if there was Mari kept quiet about it, but Aqours had to head to their club room to change before they could join the others for the Christmas fun. They’d use this moment to discuss the show and share their thoughts on how much of a refreshing experience it has been.

And as they were ready to return to the school’s gym, Riko somehow ended up finding in herself in a awkwardly embarrassing situation with Dia; under a mistletoe out of all places after she bumped into her.

Well, if being suddenly body slammed into her direction by Yoshiko could be called ‘accidentally bumping’.

Who even put that thing there, anyways? Whoever did knew the smartest move was to stay silent about it, because neither of the two would be merciful towards them for this incident. And the fact everyone’s been slyly snickering didn’t help them.

Dia huffed angrily and turned to face Riko, face bright red as she offered her an apologetic look. At least she managed to shoo them off.

Riko tried convincing her it was fine, desperate to just get out of this situation so she could cool off her face, but before she could do so, Dia stopped her.

Before she could realize what was happening, Dia leaned down to plant the warmest kiss on her cheek while her own have still been flushed.

“Thank you. Merry Christmas to you as well, Riko.”

#love live sunshine #diariko #riko sakurauchi #dia kurosawa #riko is rly gay as always #did i write anything where riko isnt gay? probably not #please udnerstand the reason it got extended is bc i wanted yohane to bodyslam riko into her dumb crush ty #all i want for christmas is more diariko so here i will provide

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littlefrostfox · 7 years ago

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Twinkle Bells and Trimmings

Hi @cyanidelemonade ! I - @littlefrostfox19 on tumblr - am your @mlsecretsanta for 2017!

This is my first time writing a fanfiction with the characters from the amazing show, so I apologies profusely if they are out of character in any way. I do hope you enjoy this one shot, and that you and your loved ones have a wonderful festive season, and a brilliant 2018! :)

THERE ARE NO SPOILERS IN THIS FIC!

On ao3 and ff.net

Twinkle Bells and Trimmings - A Miraculous Ladybug Oneshot

Word Count: 3′433

Rating: General / K

“What do you mean I have to be the one to deliver this to him?!”

As she and Alya walked out of the Dupain-Cheng’s bakery, Marinette stared down at the slightly heavy cane basket that had just been shoved into her hands. When Rose had come up with the idea of their class putting together Christmas gift hampers for Ladybug and Chat Noir, like all of her classmates, Marinette had been incredibly inspired by the project. As class president, she’d spent the last five weeks leading up to Christmas helping to coordinate everything in an effort to make it as festive as possible. They had even gotten some donations from other students at the school, as well as community members who had been impacted by the heroics of Paris’ protectors. Marinette had taken every job she’d been given in her stride, even the budgeting, which with her busy schedule both as Marinette and as Ladybug proving somewhat of a challenge to keep track of. However, it was the simple prospect of her having to give Chat Noir his personalised gift basket - as Marinette - and engaging in conversation with the slightly cocky and constantly flirting superhero, that made her the most worried.

“Come on, girl,” Alya told her, as she walked beside her best friend, her head snuggled in amongst her fur rimmed hooded coat. “If you really didn’t want this job, maybe you should have paid more attention during the last meet-up.”

Marinette sighed, as her mind floated back to the day of the mentioned occasion. She had been late to that particular meeting- it was the same time as the conclusion of a gruelling Akuma attack on the outskirts of the city - and when she had arrived, she couldn’t help but fall to a few moments of rough sleep. When she had been awoken by her classmates, asking her what she had thought of a decision, she quickly agreed with them, despite having no clue what they had even agreed on. Only now had she realised the true extent of her personal error.

“Remember, we thought since you were the class president, we thought it only fair that you have the honour of giving it to Chat Noir,” Alya continued. “If you weren’t busy yesterday, you could have done yours when me and Nino gave Ladybug hers. Shame you couldn’t make it…I’m sure you wouldn’t have been THAT awkward in front of Ladybug.”

“More like having to try and pull off being both Marinette and Ladybug at the same time…that would be beyond awkward!” Tikki whispered, the kwami snuggled in a hidden pocket inside Marinette’s christmas scarf, her words soft enough for only her chosen to hear.

Marinette laughed, both at the truth of Tikki’s words and the energy that was overflowing from Alya, her friend unable to keep still from joy. Giving Alya the duty of delivering Ladybug’s hamper to the super-heroine was an easy decision for the group, however it did cause a slight argument between her and Chloe early on in the project. The issue was quickly resolved by Alya’s quick thinking, the girl suggesting that Chloe hold all responsibility over Ladybug’s Christmas card, which she told Chloe was ‘the most vital part of the project’. Upon hearing this, Chloe soon forgot about not being the one to give the gift to Ladybug, already planning what she was going to write to her greatest idol.

“I wish you could have been there to see me give it to her. Luckily Nino filmed the whole thing.” Alya could highly contain her excitement, the memory of the moment still fresh in her mind. “She looked so surprised when I gave it to her! Nothing could happen that could ever ruin the best Christmas ever!”

Marinette had made sure to keep as much distance as possible from knowing the entire contents of the Ladybug side of the present, wanting the moment where she received the gifts as Ladybug to be as genuine as possible. But nothing could have prepared Marinette for how much each of the gifts and notes meant to her. From the home-made chocolate chip cookies, decorated with miniature ladybugs and white butterflies (made by her own parents), to the mix tape filled with original songs to Ladybug (coordinated by Nino), each gift was so well thought out and personal. Even Chloe’s card, which the normally snobbish girl had put some many hours of her own time into, had so much though, love and appreciation into it, the card including masses of messages from people who she had rescued from Akuma's or people whose lives she had changed just by existing. The moment Alya had given it to her, she had struggled to keep it together, the experience bringing tears to her eyes.

“Anyway, enough about my fangirl moment,” Alya laughed, breaking Marinette out of her daze. “Now we need to focus on finding where Chat Noir could be right at this moment.”

Before Alya could even get out her phone, Marinette spoke up. “He’ll be on patrol around the Norte Dame. He’ll be there until lunch, to when he either be heading to the outskirts near Versailles or the Champs de Mars.”

Alya glanced at her quizzically, her eyes wide with confusion and surprise. “And how would you know that? Don’t tell me you’re studying Chat Noir and Ladybug’s patrol schedule like you do Adrien’s, are you?” She raised an eyebrow, a smirk forming on Alya’s face when she saw Marinette start to squirm.

“W-What? No, of course I don’t know! It was just a guess, that’s all! An simple, normal observation!” she stuttered, growing flustered. “I just thought they could be there because…I saw them there…y-yesterday! That’s it! When I was….was going to find some extra…tinsel… for the bag trimmings, remember?” It was a in an feeble attempt to back pedal, not wanting her secret identity to be revealed, but luckily it seemed it to the trick, Alya soon laughing.

“I was just teasing you, girl! In fact, I think I’m more the one who verging on the side of stalking if anything to do with Ladybug is concerned….” Alya put an arm around Marinette’s shoulder’s, relieving the tension from Marinette’s face. She then pulled out her phone, opening an app which Marinette hadn’t seen before. “Max helped me designed it while he was working on the electronic message chips for Chloe’s card. Now I can have updates on Ladybug and Chat Noir’s location, and any social media information on recent Akuma attacks at the touch of a button! It’s just a prototype, but hopefully it could soon take the Ladyblog to the next level.”

Within a few short seconds, Alya’s phone buzzed again, a green dot appearing on the on-screen map. “What do you know…turns out your hunch was right.” As she put her phone away, she pointed across the road. “Looks like he’s around the Square René Viviani right now. Lucky for us we were headed that way anyway.”

As Alya rushed across the park, Marinette had a mental note to herself. I will have to keep that app in mind the next time I transform….as if keeping my secret wasn’t already hard enough…!

Despite the sharp winter winds that filled the air, and the recent bout of heavy snowfall, the Notre Dame still had a reasonable amount of people nearby, the wooden chalets of the Cathedral Christmas markets nearby creating almost a picture-perfect festive atmosphere.

When she had caught up with Alya, she discovered she had already locked her sights on Chat Noir. Not like it was every really hard to spot him amongst the crowds during his regular patrol times, even more so during winter, his black leather suit easily distinguishable against the city’s white snowy backdrop. For this particular instant, the superhero in question, who was just finishing up having a photo taken with a small girl and boy in matching reindeer costumes, managed to spot Alya and Marinette out almost instantly, soon walking over to them.

“Joyeux Noël Chat Noir!” Alya called to him, her phone tightly gripped in her left hand, ready to start filming at the perfect moment. “Quite a….festive hat you’ve got there!”

At the bringing up of the green, red and white swirly Santa hat he was sporting, Chat Noir grinned, adjusting it with pride. “Purr-fect, isn’t it?” He did a small spin, eager to show his festive present off.

“Why the hat Chatton…?!” Marinette muttered under her breath, her partner still wearing the same silly Christmas hat she had seen him keep on his head for the last eight patrols. Despite her constant pleas as Ladybug for him to wear something else, he continued to wear it. The feline hero had proclaimed that he had grown quite attached to the handmade gift, given to them by one of the pair’s smaller fans. The festive puns adoring its brim may have also had something to do with his attachment, which caused a frustrated groan to escape Marinette’s throat at the very thought.

Alya whipped her head in Marinette’s direction, changing the subject. “Mari had a hunch that you guys would be here. Having a break from your daily patrol?”

Chat nodded. “We decided to change up our usual patrol schedule for the holidays. We’ve been handing out gifts for the past few days, and were supposed to be going around the city markets today, but unfortunately Ladybug hasn’t shown up.”

Dammit. Marinette mused, trying to hide her ashamed expression from Chat Noir. I completely forgot that we were supposed to be doing that today…

The idea that Chat had just brought up was of his own creation - a street based campaign of delivering small tokens of Christmas cheer and positivity, by none other that Paris’ most beloved and trusted superhero duo, all in the effort to bring up the holiday spirit in a city that was growing more paranoid with passing Akuma attack. He had pestered Ladybug about it for months, his partner always going back to the same argument that they should focus first on protecting the city against Hawk Moth. But after a little while, and a few annoying Christmas carols, she eventually gave into the idea, seeing its simple merit as well as the passion Chat Noir had put in to the organising of it all. It was simple in nature, but maybe small, constructive actions were the best way to get through this daily battle, and eventually defeat Hawkmoth himself.

“I know that she would have wanted to be here, but sometimes life gets in the way. Paris knows she cares, and so do I,” Chat nodded, smiling softly. “Ladybug, out of all people, needs to make sure she looks after herself. She’ll be back bringing joy to Paris when she’s ready.”

Alya nodded in agreement. “Well, if you two need any help with your campaign, just know that there are plenty of people that would be more than happy to help. You both deserve a break this time of year.” Hawkmoth had grown more ruthless than ever, Akuma attacks increasing to several per week, with the week before Christmas hosting one every day. While greatly rushing the superheroes off their feet, Alya had also become more exhausted with each passing day, her duty as soul reporter of the Ladyblog reaching maximum capacity.

Suddenly, Alya’s phone started blaring out a familiar ringtone, Jagged Stone’s latest tribute to the superhero pair Alya’s latest choice of phone alert. She glanced at her phone, her expression becoming conflicted. “Geez, its Nadja Chamack calling about my internship application at the TV station. Do you mind if I quickly take this?”

“Not at all.” Chat Noir said politely, secretly knowing how much Alya had fought to even be considered for this internship through his interactions with her as Adrien. “Marinette and I can get to know each other better. Can’t we, princess?”

Marinette nodded as well, trying not to let the annoying nickname bother her. “Go on, Alya. I’ll manage with this until you get back.”

After exchanging with her friend a quick thumbs up, Alya moved away, deep into conversation. Marinette turned back to Chat Noir, not quite sure how to continue their conversation. Small talk was more Alya’s domain, and although she had spoken to the superhero many a times - more as Ladybug as opposed to her civilian identity - she had always found it awkward to talk to him. Marinette had expected a witty remark or a show-offish moment from him, but instead was slightly shocked upon seeing Chat Noir standing in complete silence, appearing almost nervous. The pair stood in a silence for a minute or so, Chat Noir giving an occasional fist pump to passing children, or engaging in short conversation with families as he passed them a few Christmas treats from his matching gift sack.

When a lull appeared in the small talk, Marinette looked back to Chat Noir. Fighting against her sometimes hesitant nature, she lifted the cane basket up so she it was cradled in her hands. “The reason we came to see you was….” She slightly spat out, the teenager still trying to come up with her small speech in her head as she spoke. “I…I actually came to give this bag to you. It’s a gift, a sort of thank you present. It’s not mine….I mean, it’s not just from me. My classmates and I from Françoise-Dupont, and some families from across Paris made it.”

“That’s very lovely of you,” he replied, walking with her towards one of the small park benches a few metres away. “I will make Ladybug receives it as soon as—“

“Actually, this one is just for you,” Marinette interrupted, gesturing to the tag tied around the cellophane covered basket, the green writing and paw print stamps distinctively more suiting to Chat Noir’s aesthetic.

Chat Noir’s bountiful steps came to a halt, a shocked form of a smile sliding onto his usual over-the-top act. “I-I-It’s for me? Really?” he whispered, appearing genuinely moved and honoured. When they arrived at the seats, the two softly sitting down, Marinette handed the basket to him. Chat’s eyes widened, his now wonder filled green eyes switching between the collection of gifts and Marinette herself.

Carefully, Chat Noir started undoing the wrapping covering the hamper, the delicate nature of his unwrapping also surprising Marinette. He kept glancing at Marinette, as if to question if these presents were especially for him. He was sometimes left out by the media, all the fame and attention mostly directed to Ladybug, so maybe he had just thought that that would be the same case in this particular situation, Marinette thought. Or possibly, the thought causing Marinette to feel slightly sorry for the superhero, that he believed that he didn’t deserve this sudden spree of appreciation.

Finally, he reached for the first present in the hamper, Chat Noir now proceeding to fidget in anticipation. While she had avoided impacting too much on the contents of Ladybug’s hamper, Marinette had had more of an input into the details of Chat Noir’s, having helped all her classmates in the early phases of the project in the planning of their specific gifts for the feline superhero. However, with the recent collection of Akuma attacks, she hadn’t had much of a chance to see what the final products would be, or know much of the extra gifts added in-between.

Each gift had given a slightly different reaction, all of them linked by the joy he physically exerted upon opening them. The first was a framed portrait drawing of the feline superhero, an original digital art piece created by Nathaniel. While exactly capturing Chat Noir’s humorous and carefree nature, he had styled the superhero in somewhat of a majestic, almost prince-like manner, creating an image of a kind, brave, spirited and selfless protector. Shades of gold, yellow, green and silver, as well as some contrasting touches of purple in between, all displayed a side of Chat which, amongst all the bad puns and crazy antics, sometimes slipped her mind as Ladybug, as well as Marinette.

There was also a custom coffee mug- which apart from the colour scheme exactly matched Ladybug’s- given by Kim, a dictionary of the best puns of all time - a gift from Alix, which Marinette already knew she would come to regret suggesting -, tiny boxes of tissues with cartoon pigeons on them - given as a joke by Alya, which Chat seemed to find especially funny -, as well as lots and lots of Camembert themed treats - which were at first provided by Adrien, and then proceeding to her own parents, who along with providing some Chat Noir and Ladybug themed gingerbread, also donated a entire platter of different variations of local Camembert. She would have to keep that in mind for any future gifts as Ladybug to give to him.

Upon Chat getting to the bottom of the basket, Marinette pulled out a large envelope, which was also addressed to Chat Noir. He carefully opened it, revealing a detailed card, the front filled with photos of people with Chat Noir, as well as some of his well known Cat puns. Inside, he found a song, as well as countless messages and notes, all towards Chat Noir. Chat’s smile wavered, his glance unable to look away from the card.

“I was in charge of designing the card…” Marinette said, not yet noticing Chat’s expression. “Ivan and Myléne wrote the song inside. They’re really talented, aren’t they—“

She turned back to Chat, a soft sniffling reaching her ears. Without warning, Chat Noir wrapped his arms around her in a hug, squeezing her tightly. “Thank you Mari,” he told her, his voice filled to the brim with joy. “The gift and the cards…they’re beautiful…I never had expected to receive anything like this. I am beyond grateful for all the love and time you all put into these gifts. Thank you.”

Not knowing how to respond, Marinette simply smiled, returning the hug. Their tender moment didn’t last long, Alya’s loud voice causing the pair to flinch.

“Marinette! I thought I told you to wait for me before you let him open all the gifts so I could get it on film!”

Quickly, the two split apart, Marinette fighting uncomfortably, trying to explain. Alya smiled, shaking it off. “Ah well… the least you both can do is stay still long enough for a photo. So no running away, got it pussy cat?”

“Chat’s honour! Anything for this hero’s favourite reporter!” Chat Noir smirked, swiftly returning to his typical, cheeky facade. Marinette groaned, which caused Chat Noir to laugh again, before they both turned to face Alya for a few photos.

After engaging in some short conversation, Chat thanking Alya vigorously for the gifts, Marinette and Alya wished him farewell, Alya needing to rush back home to update the Ladyblog before the day’s end. Just as Chat was about to turn and leave, however, Marinette’s mind clicked into gear.

“Chat Noir, wait!”

Chat Noir quickly tuned back to face Marinette, who was rushing back up to him. “I forgot to give you this. It’s my gift to you. I hope you like it!” She carefully handed him a small handmade drawstring bag, which had a similar design to the card.

Chat nodded graciously, returning to the girl a sincere smile. Chat turned away slightly, quietly opening Marinette’s present. His smile widened, lightly chuckling as he pulled out a silver, white and red bell, covered lightly with small black and white paw centred snowflakes. Also in the bag was a soft gold ribbon, which had two small slips on it to allow the bell to be attached onto the spot where his typical gold bell resided. Chat Noir rushed to switch the bells over, carefully putting his old bell in the small bag, and then in his suit pocket for safe keeping.

He gasped lightly upon hearing its ring, the sound lighter and more delicate than his usual bell. He turned back to where the girl’s had been, the pair having left around a minute or so ago. Sighing, he notice a small slip of paper peaking out of the bell’s gaps. Curious, he pulled it out, unfolded it and started to read it.

To Chat Noir. Hope you find this present amusing and positively claw-some for the festive season. From Marinette.

#mlsecretsanta #mlsecretsanta 2k17 #cyanidelemonade #miraculous ladybug #christmas #oneshot #no spoilers

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butterflynotes-a · 7 years ago

Text

Rain

Fandom: Mystic Messenger Characters: Saeran Choi, Myeong-Eun Choe, Sharon Won, Yoosung Kim, Saeyoung Choi, Rika Inspiration: Rain, a FMAB ending song. Originally Posted: December 20th 2017 Started Writing: September 2017 Word Count: 6162

Sharon Won belongs to @sweatcr-weather Myeong-Eun Choe is available for RP on @multiple-skylines and belongs to me.

Trigger Warning: Suicidal Thoughts, Implied Suicide, Murder, Character Death

”I see in front of my eyes…”

He cannot breathe. He sees the happiness they hold, their eyes sparkling like jewels - yet his, so similar but so alike, are shattered gems. Light shines through the cracks, yet the happiness in those eyes has crumbled from when he was younger. It's Christmas. He should feel happy... So why can't he muster up a smile like they can? Why does he just feel empty? He sits in the corner, knees pulled to his chest, forehead resting on them to hide his face. His arms wrapped around his legs, silent apart from his breaths. It's a half hour later he walks off to his room, unnoticed and alone. "Why can you feel happy but I can't?" He whispered, softly, as he looked out of his window at the night sky. The moon, the stars and the sky provide no answers, and he feels no peace as he tries to calm his raging thoughts. "Do I deserve this for the things I have done?" Vague memories come to him, mint orbs fall closed, sadness lacing his expression more than before. He hates you. You are a burden. You should die. Yes... He'd been right all along. Saeyoung was simply using him to look good - to look like the perfect older brother to his friends, so that they won't judge him. There was a reason Saeyoung hadn't looked for him all those years, hadn't cared enough to ask about him. He was stupid to think that this was anything but pretend for his brother. "He doesn't love me.." He murmurs in conviction, so sure he is correct. He would play this charade through to the end. That night, that lonely Christmas, despite every who was there... Last Christmas, Saeran's heart solidified into ice, colder than it had been before. He knew now that he could not trust others, they would always leave him - and he knew that there was no point in loving when no one could ever love him. "Whoever loves me... They will surely die..." For he would break their heart, no matter what. He could not be loved, he knew that now. You could be everything to me - but I would still be nothing to you.

”All of these truths and all these lies…”

Golden eyes flickered in and out of focus, dull and lifeless - however, fear was filled in those orbs, captivated by those around him. He listened to the voice that spoke, the softness of it that he registered, despite the cruel words that she was speaking. He didn't move a muscle except for quiet breaths, though tears fell from his eyes, for reasons that were beginning to disappear. Why was he crying? "He abandoned you. He didn't love you." The blond's words continued, slow nods coming from the boy - no older than 15 at this point - in response, the naive child believing each word she spoke. Just hours ago, he had refused to listen to her, yet now he did. He couldn't seem to pinpoint what brought on the change. He abandoned me. He doesn't love me. "He thought of you as a burden and left you to die." I am a burden. I was left to die. "He hates you, and you hate him. I am the Saviour, I have helped you, listen to each word I say. I would not lie to you, I am your guardian angel, your protector. I tell only the truth to you, Saeran." He hates me, I hate him. She is my Saviour, she will protect me, she will never lie like he did. "You are my messenger, you will lead the RFA to our paradise... And you will destroy your brother... You will forget everything that makes you care for him, and that makes you think he cares for you." I am her messenger. I will save RFA. I will destroy Saeyoung... I.. Will forget... "What have you learned Saeran?" The words that left him next were compliant, repetitive - little did he know they would change his life forever, now that he had conformed to her thoughts, to her way of speaking. Later on, he would have no memory of this time, he would simply feel rage, he would feel emptiness - as if something had disappeared from his life, and he could never pinpoint what. He would feel that hatred, he would want his brother dead, he would no longer remember his life as Saeran Choi, not as he had before.

"He abandoned me. He doesn't love me. I am a burden, so he left me to die. He hates me. I hate him. You are my Saviour who will protect me and never tell me lies. I will bring RFA to paradise, I will destroy Saeyoung. I will forget." The praise he received at the repeated words was a simple smile - to him, it was kind, but the cruelty behind it could have been obvious to everyone else. "And what will you forget, Saeran?" Gold orbs moved up to meet green, their own gaze cold and distant, the thread he'd been standing on between staying and leaving had snapped. He was stuck here, he would stay - forever and ever. He was quiet for a moment, as if unable to speak. However, when she repeated the words once again, her voice laced with annoyance, he nodded. He spoke, the words broken, scared - showing just how childish he was under the previous strength his mind had held. "Everything."

”As their colours go and fade away..”

The world around him is bleak, lifeless, much like himself. Colour doesn’t reach him - he can see it, but it does not elicit any response that contrasts his reactions to shades of black and white. Those eyes, gold, may as well be monochrome, for they hold no emotions - other than sadness and suffering, making them so tragically beautiful, so pitifully lonely. The silence deafens him with the words his mind tells him - and he wishes he could ignore the voices within his mind.

All colours hold meanings, as do the flowers that bloom in the garden. He pays such careful attention to them - to their meanings and the growth of his plants. They are his only connection to a past he wanted to let go of - yet, he constantly remembered, consistently reminded himself of it. He couldn’t let go.

”Red.”

Aggression. Danger. Fire. Blood. War. Violence.

He holds aggression within him, it is a comfort - kindness is a luxury he cannot afford, for it breeds trust and love, and those are the only things that have hurt him. He has vowed never to trust, so aggression is his only happiness in this world. He is dangerous, he has killed others - and no matter how he regrets it now, he knows he once relished in it, in the blood and violence. War, the war within his mind, of three personalities, all wishing to take control of their shared body - it hurts his head, sometimes, the arguments between the other two. Fire, the one thing he wishes to perish in, tying everything there together.

”Yellow.”

Danger. Deceit. Dishonesty. Cowardice. Jealousy. Disease. Warning.

He was a danger. He was deceived and lied to by others - and so, he lied too. He wasn’t completely truthful, he warned others of the RFA and their dangers, when he should have warned them about himself, about Mint Eye. Yet, the common sense had been replaced by a mind filled with confusion. Cowardice, that was a term he was familiar with. He once felt Saeyoung was a coward for leaving - yet, he knew now, that Saeyoung had always been the brave one. Saeran had always been the coward, too afraid to defy others, and so resigning himself to a fate filled with pain and anguish. He deserved it, of course. Yet, he was envious of the happiness, the trust and love, that others had. He was jealous that some had it so easily - he didn’t know why he had to suffer so much when some never suffered at all. He was a disease, a parasite. He latched onto others and drained their lives, he destroyed them - physically and mentally - and then acted as if they were the ones who had ruined him. He felt they’d ruined him, hurt him - when he was the one inflicting pain all along.

”Green.”

Jealousy. Envy. Misfortune. Inexperience.

He was inexperienced in life and love. He had not been taught how to live, how to love, in a way that was healthy - and so, he had lost everyone, leaving him to envy those who had lost nothing, those who could love in a way that was healthy for both partners. He envied those without tragedy in their lives. The misfortunate life of tragedy, of pain and suffering, that he led.. He was jealous that others did not live like that.

”Blue.”

Sky. Cold. Depression. Loyalty.

He was cold. He acted distant, his heart frozen over by ice due to the past he wished to forget. That ice trapped the sadness inside him, leaving him in a prison of depression and self-destruction, a waiting game of ending his life and a ticking bomb of anger and cruelty. He was loyal. He had been loyal to Mint Eye, no matter what happened - he had once been loyal to his brother, just as he was now. He had been loyal to Myeong-Eun, to Rika. Yet, loyalty only ended in harsh betrayal and his heart being shattered. The sky. That, too, was blue. The childhood joy, ever changing, gave him hope that he could change one day too, that he wasn’t truly stuck in his insanity - no matter how silly such a fantasy was, he would use it to go on living, at the least.

”Purple.”

Mystery. Transformation. Enlightenment.

He’d once been a mysterious person. Nameless, no true looks revealed - a puzzle, waiting to be figured out, just so that it could be used to crush those who dared to solve it. Once, Saeyoung leaving had been a mystery, when he hadn’t had ideas of why or knowledge of the true reasons. Then, he had been enlightened about why Saeyoung left - or so he thought, for he eventually found out that Mint Eye had simply been pain for him, never allowed true happiness. Transformation was a quality he wished to achieve. He wanted to change, to become better, to become stronger than he was today.

”Grey.”

Grief.

Saeran had grieved before. He had mourned for his brother when the elder had disappeared from his life, wondering if Saeyoung still lived under that sky like he did or if he had died trying to save him. He had grieved for his happiness when he found out his brother was alive and happy without him - when he found out he was a burden. He’d mourned Mint Eye, at first, when he was saved from it. And then… He’d hated himself for all of it.

”White.”

Nothingness. Cold.

He was cold. So cold. His body shivered the second the warmth was gone, his heart frozen by a thick layer of ice. And… He was nothing. He was nothing compared to Saeyoung, to Rika, to anybody in this world. He meant nothing to them either. The nothingness - the emptiness - that filled him was cold too, for it lacked any warmth, any love. He hated it.

”Black.”

Fear. Evil. Anonymity. Unhappiness. Remorse. Death.

He was evil, someone who hid himself from the world under the guise of Unknown, simply to avoid being seen so that, maybe, one day someone would not fear him and would never find out the things he did, thus being given no reason to fear him. He wasn’t happy - he regretted the things he had done, held remorse for every little piece of memory that involved him hurting others, killing others, or simply being cruel. Death.. He killed every person he loved - and so, he too, should die, from how he was sure at the least - he didn’t deserve to live when he’d taken so many lives, he was so sure.

And then, there were the flowers he loved.. His eyes looked over each flower, dull - but beginning to sparkle, whether with nostalgia or happiness, it was impossible to tell.

”Aloe.”

Bitterness. Healing.

He was a bitter person, he knew that. He was cruel, harsh and could never be kind to another - not even those he cared for most, those he feared losing, could withstand the bitterness of his heart. Healing… He wanted to heal. He wanted to get better - to find a way to stop being so alone, so… Hopeless. He wanted to get well, to get over everything, but memories and feelings simply drowned him.

”Bittersweet.”

Truth.

Saeran did his best to be truthful, to show his true emotions to the people he cared for most. He didn’t like being lied to - and so, he did his best not to lie to others. However, he was easily manipulated by lies that seemed like truths, which broke him and fragmented his trust beyond saving. Yes… He loved honesty, but lies were easily disguised as such a thing.

”Anemone.”

Forsaken.

He had been forsaken. Left behind by others, abandoned by those he cared for - so that they could find their own happiness, leaving Saeran to fall into a pit of deep despair that he was sure he wouldn’t ever be able to escape, not now that it had consumed his being, every inch of him filled with nothing but sadness and hatred. Saeyoung, Myeong-Eun, Rika… All of them had abandoned him when he needed them most - though, he couldn’t blame them. Rika had always lied, Saeyoung had never stayed and Myeong-Eun… He had killed her in cold blood, that was all his fault.

”Yellow carnation.”

Disappointment. Romantic rejection.

He had been rejected before, by his first love - Myeong-Eun, whom had accepted his every gift and attempt at courting her, yet ultimately left him for another. He didn’t know, even now, why he’d been abandoned by her, why she couldn’t love him. However, he was sure that it was how cold he grew, the way his mind worked… Everything about him must have driven her away - he was just too stupid to realise it.

”Forget-Me-Not.”

Memories.

Memories… They consumed him. The toxic touch of lost love and abandonment consumes his broken heart, bringing forth emotions of power and strength while the person he was decayed under its radioactive grasp, destroying all those close to him as he drives himself to the edge of insanity, from where he wouldn’t be able to return with his fragile, glass mind and empty eyes like a black hole - sucking the light from a starlit sky of joy, like the happiness he used to hold within shattered gems. Memories of how broken he was flashed in his mind, drowning him under the weight of despair that they brought him. There is no hope for those like him, who can not let go of the pasts that haunt them and linger within dying minds, drawing all thoughts of life away as hope begins to fade, leaving those tragic people to die alone with no one to console them in their last moments - knowing they had become the product of a cruel, cold world where the victims were those who could never be innocent.

Where there were those like Saeran, who had misguided choices due to uneasy upbringing and being manipulated throughout their lives - there was no redemption for those who were swayed by the spells of siren’s, only the inevitable death that awaited them could set them free.. No matter how little they deserved such freedom under the sins they had committed and the blood on their hands, the guilt of which may consume them every hour - of course, Saeran had taken a sick pleasure in it, simply another thing he was told. He was the worst of all those sinners, for he couldn’t even make choices for himself, weak-minded and pathetic being all he was… Yes, Saeran held no redeeming qualities, all he could do was to hope he would die, for he would not live if his Saviour simply said the word.

”Although you’re close to me and your warmth covers me..”

Ray was dizzy. He was so dizzy. He'd all but stumbled his way to Sharon's room, taking a few moments to steady himself before entering. "I'm... Sorry I had to.. Cancel.." He murmured, softly, staring at her with a pained, apologetic gaze. "Sharon... My Sharon..." He stumbled forwards slightly, doing his best not to hurt her as he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm so sorry...!" It was obvious he began to cry, whether from the guilt of cancelling or the pain of the headache, it could be debated which. He clung to her, tightly, desperately. "Please... Forgive me.."

This was the first time Sharon saw him look so miserable, her heart almost broke in a thousand little pieces just at the sight of the male being in so much pain. She wished there was something she could do to make it hurt less, but the best she could do for now was return the hug, one hand placed on top of his head as she gently brushed her fingers through his bleached locks. "Shhh...It's okay. I don't mind. Your health is much more important than a picnic. We can always do it some other time." The brunette spoke with a soft voice, her free hand moving behind the male to rub his back in a soothing manner, trying to get him to be as comfortable as possible. It might not take the pain away, but it should help him calm down. "Do you want to lay down for a bit? Rest is the best medicine."

"... I do... I should go back to my room then.." But Ray didn't want to let go of her. She was comforting, and he could feel the pain of the headache fade ever so slightly with how she soothed him. She was a reason he relaxed, which made the headache better rather than when he'd stress over them because he couldn't get his work done. "I'm sorry." He didn't want to leave, but he knew he would have to. One day, she'd leave him, so he shouldn't let himself be so attached - it was stupid, he'd end up hurt. However, he didn't think her ever have to let her go. He was still crying, of course, but her reassurance helped him calm down a bit. He only cried out of the pain now.

"No, no! You don't have to leave! You can rest over here! The bed's really soft, you won't regret it." She slowly took hold of one of his hands, squeezing down a little before tugging gently, taking a few steps back towards the bed. "Come on...Do you want me lie down next to you? Would that make you feel better? There's plenty of space for the two of us! For once being as small as me is an advantage~!" Without giving the male a chance to respond, she dragged him over towards the bed, patting the soft sheets. "Come on. Take a seat at least. Is there anything else you would like? Something to drink, maybe?"

"I'll lay down." Ray murmured after a few moments of processing her words. “.. Water. I just need water.." He sat on the bed, pulling off his shoes and suit jacket before laying down, leaving the suit jacket to crumple on the floor. His eyes closed, though it didn't help the headache that raged on. "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you... I was just so scared you'd be angry at me.."

Sharon walked over to the mini bar provided in her room, just so she wouldn't have to call someone every time she wants a drink. "One glass of water, coming right up. Don't worry about upsetting me now. Just focus on getting better, okay? I wouldn't get mad just because you had to cancel our plans." However, if he continued to be so stubborn about his wellbeing, neglecting his own needs for others, she might get a little frustrated. "Here you go. Something to drink." The smaller girl took a seat on the edge of the bed, extending the beverage towards him. "I would rather spend time with you when you're healthy but think of it like this...We're together now as well, right? I'll stay by your side until you've recovered."

"I'm so lucky to have such an angel to look after me.." Ray’s words were soft, quieter than usual, though that may be the fact his head hurt if he spoke any louder. He took the glass of water, taking a few sips of it at a time, taking deep breaths in between. He soon enough finished it, the lyrics returning the glass. "Thank you, Sharon.." He offered a strained smile. "I couldn't ask for anyone more perfect than you, my... Princess... Ha, I need to get out of the habit of calling you mine, I'm sorry.."

It only felt natural to be taking care of someone when they feel unwell, yet he seemed to be so grateful to her for said simple gesture. Could it be that nobody has ever looked out for him before? His headaches appeared to be a recurring evil, plaguing him more often than not. To think that he always had to suffer through them alone... "Shh...It's okay. Don't worry about that right now." Placing the empty glass onto the little bedside table, she slipped out of her shoes before joining him on top of the soft sheets. "I'm not upset. I...I'm really happy that you like me this much. I just want you to understand that being too possessive can be unhealthy."

"I see.. I... Never really learned how to treat someone with love.." He murmured, softly. "But... I think that... I'm learning, with you... I know why I get possessive, but I don't know how to stop.." He was possessive because he didn't want to lose her. He didn't want her to leave - if she left, he'd have nothing to life for. She was everything to him, but he couldn't seem to treat her properly, he could see that clearly. "My headache isn't as bad with you here... Though, that's not much of a difference, huh?" After all, his head was still pounding. "I can't help but worry though, I get so scared I've hurt you or made you angry or upset..."

He was always so scared.

”I can’t keep these wandering thoughts at bay..”

Forget He wants to forget. Forget the Saviour. Forget his sins. Forget her and the things he did to her. He wanted to forget everything, to be rid of the pain and suffering that seemed to clog up his lungs, suffocating him with self-hate and regrets, destroying him with whispered thoughts of everything he ever did wrong. He wanted to die - for he deserved it, surely, for taking away Myeong-Eun’s life, when he’d claimed to love her dearly. He’d been possessive, he’d been so scared of being abandoned that killing her had been the only viable option - that his Saviour had told him, at least, that she’d put into his mind. You’ll be much happier without her, Saeran.

Rika had said when she’d told him to kill Myeong-Eun. Happier… How was he happy? He was a murderer. He was on a cocktail of antidepressants and other medications just to keep him sane at the moment - sleeping pills, an antipsychotic. God, he wasn’t sure if he was an insomniac or insane - though, he was sure he might be both. Those last threads of sanity were long gone, leaving him aching for the medicine that Rika had given him, no matter how much he hated her, hated them. They’d at least made him numb to the broken sadness that overwhelmed him. Myeong-Eun. Myeong-Eun. He’d killed her - he’d lost her, he’d been so caught up in trying to love her that he hadn’t let her love him. He hated himself for that, for killing her - whether he was told to or not, he’d live with the regret, with the memories, of that day. He was sobbing violently, hysterical, as the door opened. He could feel arms around him, hear hushed words, yet they were distorted and he screamed, trying to get away from the other.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” He’d yelled, jerking away from the monster, backing up to the wall, trembling in fear. “Don’t- Don’t hurt me- I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m sorry-” She was going to hurt him. She was going to kill him. Once again, those arms moved around him, pulling Saeran close, despite the struggles of the red head. Hushed words, once again, were spoken to him. He could hear that heartbeat, much like his own. Saeyoung. This was Saeyoung, not his mother, not Rika. He could feel himself calm down, his shaking limbs moving to hug back, clinging to the elder as if he was his lifeline - and he was, Saeyoung was the only person who could bring him back from that border between normality and insanity. The only one who could at least pretend to tolerate him - after all, Saeyoung definitely couldn’t care or love him. Saeran could not be loved. “Please… Make me forget..” His voice is hoarse, raw from crying. He wants to forget. He needs to forget- Forgetting was so easy once, why couldn’t he forget now? He knew why, of course. “Please…” He falls limp in Saeyoung’s arms, his eyes closing as he gasped for breath, his hysterics beginning again. He feels a sharp pain in his head, and everything is replaced by emptiness and the dark. Maybe if he'd never met Rika, never left that house, he would have met Myeong-Eun one day, or died like he deserved to.... A happy life with Myeong-Eun was all he wanted - he couldn't ever stop loving her, that would be betrayal at its finest. He misses her.

When he wakes up, he feels hopeless again. He lays in his bed, his brother is watching over him - he can gather that much as he opens his eyes a crack, though he cannot keep them open for long. He spends several hours like this - slipping in and out of consciousness, as if he wasn't in control of his body, as if he wasn't the one in charge. When he truly awakes, and he does not fall back into that sleep, it is a day later - he knows this because the date on his clock has changed from what it had been previously. "Saeyoung.." The younger brother whispers, looking up at the elder with teary eyes as his brother comes in the room. "I'm so sorry.." He was a murderer. He deserved to die, just like he'd killed Myeong-Eun, just like he'd tried to kill others - like he'd murdered his mother. He would tell Saeyoung, one day, and that would be the day Saeran Choi had to die. For he couldn't live like this - he was a puppet, played by strings, with no meaning in life. Ending it all would be so easy... But seeing Saeyoung's troubled face, he makes a decision. "I'll stay a little longer, for you." The confusion in his brother's eyes is full of unspoken questions, but it's likely Saeran isn't going to be willing to answer. As Saeyoung nods and leaves. promising to return with dinner, a soft laugh - broken as usual - is elicited from him. Whoever said it was better to love and lose than never love at all..? He had loved. He had lost. He never wanted to love, it was only painful. He'd be happy if he'd never loved at all.

”You told me to go onwards and said my path would not be blurred…”

”Saeyoung… What do you think heaven is like?”

His voice is quiet, words spoken timidly, as if fearing the reaction of his elder brother will have to them. The result of the words is a harshly toned “don’t talk like that” from the other, which causes him to shrink down, stuttering out an apology for those thoughts. Saeyoung smiles, shaking his head.

”“Everything will be fine, Saeran. I have a plan.”

A plan that didn’t go as it was meant to.

”As you turn away and say goodbye…”

Mint orbs were light as he watched her, his lips curled into a small, fond smile. He watched her as she danced, listened to her as she laughed - he wondered, had he ever had a chance with her, his first love? He had been gentle, gifting her with flowers and chocolates, serenading her with smooth words and reciting the most beautiful poetry to her. Those eyes were filled with sadness as the man lead her away, laughter still leaving the woman - his heart ached for her, but she was happy, and that was all that had mattered at that time. A hand on his shoulder, he looked at the person. Rika. His Saviour. A soft sigh left him as he turned to her, blinking back tears and simply listening to her words as she spoke, as if entranced by the way she weaved them - he always had been, he never could guess why. "She doesn't love you, Saeran, don't waste your efforts on her. You're not worthy of love, my messenger, not yet- Until the RFA come to our paradise... You will not be able to love someone, not as you wished to." He nodded, simply going along with her wording, closing his eyes. "Of course, Saviour.." He murmured, softly, though sadness still filled his tone. "I'll get over her soon. This won't affect my work, nor loyalties towards our paradise, my Saviour, I promise." The blond woman had only spared a nod before heading away, back into the crowd of disciples that were gathered at their ball - it was a simple party, to celebrate a year of Mint Eye standing tall. "Myeong-Eun.. How you have destroyed me..." And he would find her, one day. He'd destroy her, just like she hurt him. He'd prove what an ice cold heart could do when it had once been thawed - he would show her the anger, the hurt that filled him. And then, he'd hurt the man who had stolen her away from him.

"How pathetic you are, Saeran..."

And then, later on… When all had come to pass… I killed her… I recall in my mind, the exact actions.. And the pain I inflicted..

Quiet. All he could hear was the deafening silence. The door had opened, unlocked - Myeong-Eun was there. Saeran sat on the sofa, humming to himself, back to where she was. Mint orbs fixated on the opposite wall, a laugh coming from him. Humorous, dangerous - and positively insane. Lips curved into a horrifying grin as he stood, still giggling psychotically as he turned, looking his first love in the eyes. Unstable mint looking into terrified blue. His insanity knew no bounds. "It's a fine day for a reunion, isn't it, Myeong-Eun?" The tone was calculating and cold, spoken with malice towards the woman He hummed to himself as he sat on the back of the sofa, facing Myeong this time. "I wonder how many shots it'll take to kill you~ One? Two? Three? Four? Or maybe I should use your head to knock on the door! I don't really care how you die, so long as you feel the pain I felt." Yes, she would feel his pain, he'd make sure of it. "Tonight, I will destroy you. I will rip you to shreds, I will tear you limb from limb. Tonight, my dear I will gain my revenge for the things you have done to me. Do not expect to live until the clock strikes twelve... You will not live to see another day, not ever again. Now tell me, traitor..." He chuckled, darkly, glowering at his love. "Do you have any last words?" There was only silence as she trembled, and Saeran had never seen someone more pathetic than himself - not until now. He placed two fingers under her chin, the gun against her head. "You know, I used to be so kind, Myeong-Eun, don't you remember? I'd bring you flowers, chocolates.. I gave everything to you, and you didn't even give any words of care, of acknowledgement..." He leaned in, close, his lips brushing against hers. "All those who hurt others must die, no matter how others feel towards them.." He didn't want to kill her. But he had to.

I love you.

That is the last thought to go through his mind as he gently presses his lips to hers, closing his eyes. He loves her. He shows her how he loves her, the innocence of his romance, as he kisses her with soft movements. He pulls the trigger, pulling away as he does so, watching her body drop to the floor. "I loved you."

I’m sorry.

And then, he left. That was not a kiss - he wouldn't count it as his first, for it had not been returned. It was simply a pathetic display of unrequited emotions. Myeong-Eun Choe. His first love and the second person he ever killed.

”Those words of empathy do not encourage me and I cannot help but break down and cry..”

Mint orbs were locked onto the screen, staring at the words from Myeong-Eun. Any emotion that had been in them had faded away, leaving those eyes to look empty, broken. His expression was not just sad, it was agonised, crestfallen. He was unlovable. She only said yes out of pity. She hates you, they all hate you. Only your Saviour could ever care for you.

Such thoughts were screamed by his mind, the phone falling from between his fingers as he hands came up to his head, grabbing at his hair, pulling on it. "SHUT UP!" He screamed into the silence of the room, nothing but pain in his voice. He shook, violently, falling to his knees.

This is your punishment for betraying her. She cared for you, Saeran, and you ruined that trust with your stupidity and nativity. After a few minutes, he stopped sobbing, hysterical laughter beginning to bubble from his throat. Tears still streamed down his cheeks, his body still shaking badly. He had lost it, that much was obvious. I won't let her leave me... She said yes... She said she would come on a date with me... And maybe.. What if that date lasted forever? Yes.. He would become her Prince, and she would be his princess - locked away from the world, his and only his. He wouldn't let her leave him, he wouldn't let anyone leave him. "She wants to abandon me.." Why was that? He'd been so good, yet all he'd received is pain, not happiness. He would find her, and he'd celebrate his Christmas with her - a Christmas that lasted every day, where the bad people like him weren't alone and hated. "I won't let her leave me.." Even if he had to kill her, Myeong-Eun would be his. He needed her - she was everything to him, even in such a short time. He wouldn't let anyone abandon him again.

”All of these memories, ringing endlessly inside my mind, have no intentions of forgiving me yet. If I close my eyes, they only grow and start surrounding me. These memories I can’t forget…”

Silence. It filled the room, the echoes of nothing deafening him, destroying any chance of words leaving him. Blood dripped from his face, hitting the floor. Fingers move up to his forehead, feeling the liquid, wide in horror as he looked at Rika - she held a knife, her face expressing nothing but disappointment. A choked sob left him, the force of the betrayal from a woman he had trusted seeming to hit him full force. "They've found us, you insolent child!" Those words stung. A reminder of his mother bubbles into his mind, his cries soon becoming more hysterical. The reason it hurt most was not because she was disappointed - but that she called him a child. She referred to him as weak, as stupid, as unable to do anything right.. That hurt, it reminded him of his mother. He hated it. "I've done so much for you, and yet, you disappoint me! I would have thought killing that girl you loved so much, making you do it, would have taught you!" He remembers being dragged away, the same words as he was once told said. Forget. Forget. Forget what? What was there to forget..? He remembered nothing.

”The rain falls, I wonder if it will ever end? It’s so cold, straining my body for a long time. The rain falls on me, and is striking down upon my face. Why does it choose me, who has nowhere to escape?”

#writing;ℓσνє мє ℓιкє α ℓєттєя fℓσαтιиg ιи тнє ωιи∂#old works;ѕєαѕσиѕ ¢нαиgє вυт ρєσρℓє ∂σи'т #Mystic Messenger

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benito-cereno · 7 years ago

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Santa Claus Letter 2017

So for years, starting in the 1920s, JRR Tolkien would write letters to his children as Father Christmas, including fanciful drawings and tales of FC and his friend, the North Polar bear, exploding the Northern Light gunpowder or fighting goblins.

Upon the birth of my own nephew last year, I decided I would steal this idea. Even though he is only a year and change old, nevertheless I composed a letter for him from Santa Claus. Theoretically, I will continue to do this, making the letters longer and more intricate as he gets older until he decides they’re stupid and that they should stop.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the skill for drawing or fancy lettering that Tolkien did, so I just had to type it up. Maybe future letters can include drawings.

I understand that this is obviously past Christmas and most of you have already thrown out your tree, but I still haven’t seen the neph for Christmas yet, so this got put off a little in favor of other holiday stuff. I hope you will forgive.

Anyway, I thought I would share it with you here under the cut (even though it does give away some of my Santa Claus secrets!). Feel free to reblog this, or if you want, to use it as a template and alter it for use with a child you know and love, but please do not republish this without my permission. Thankssss.

You can read 2015′s letter here and last year’s letter here.

Santa's Workshop

Beyond the Riphean Mountains

Beyond the North Wind

True North Pole

December 20, 2017

My dearest [name],

Here it is, your third Christmas! Amazing! It seems like only yesterday you had your very first Christmas for the very first time, and here we are at three. Three, you know, is a very special number.

Three is the number of sisters that I secretly gave bags of gold to when they couldn't afford to get married. I threw the bags of gold through the window (chimneys were not invented yet) and they landed in their stockings, which were drying by the fire. This was the first time I ever gave someone a gift by night and it gave me the idea that I might keep doing it. It's worked out pretty well so far!

Three was also the number of boys whom I saved from a wicked innkeeper who stuffed them in a pickle barrel so that he could steal their money. This is how I was named as a special protector of children, the title of which I am most proud. (The innkeeper works for me now, helping me bring joy to children to make up for being bad many years ago. Don't worry about running into him, though. He mainly helps me visit children in France.)

Three is the number of innocent men I once saved from punishment by catching a sword in my bare hand. Three is the number of generals, also innocent, whom I saved from punishment by appearing to the Roman emperor in a dream and telling him what had really happened. (These stories are not as famous as the other two, but I am still fairly proud of them.)

Three is also the number of gifts brought to the baby Jesus by the Wise Men: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The Wise Men were the very first Christmastime gift-bringers, and all the rest of us, like me or Grandfather Frost, whom I told you about last year, are merely following in their footsteps. In fact, in many countries, children expect to receive gifts from the Wise Men more than they do from old Santa Claus! In these countries, they get their gifts later, on January 5 or 6, which is still a very fine day to receive gifts. This day is called Epiphany, and it marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Children will set out food for the Wise Men's camels, and the wise old travelers from the East will leave them presents in exchange. You can tell the Wise Men have been to your house because they will write the letters “C+M+B” on your house with chalk. These letters can stand for their names—Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar—or they can stand for words that call for a blessing upon the house in Latin. (I will not make your mommy or daddy have to try to say Latin words out loud to you if they read you this letter. Maybe one day you will learn to read Latin and you and I can write letters to each other in a language that was very common when I was your age, but which is not so common now.)

There is a song I like very much that says that “The past and the present and the future, Faith and Hope and Charity, The heart and the brain and the body give you three as a magic number.” Three is also the number of a mommy and a daddy and a [name]. A magic number.

I can see that it has been much colder where you live this winter than in the other years that I have written to you. That may explain why we have not seen much of Jack Frost and his brother this year, but I can see also that it has been icy cold down there without much snow. I think this is very rude of Jack, to bring cold but no snow. Very inconsiderate. Jack himself would say that it only snows when his grandmother, Holda, shakes the feathers out of the blankets of her bed, so perhaps she has not done much cleaning this year. On the other hand, Jack is well-known as a teller of tales, and I'm not even sure that Holda really is his grandmother. The only grandparent I've ever known him to have was Grandfather Frost, but I do know that he was adopted, so who knows what may be true?

I have also seen that you love animals very much. This is something you would have in common with my friend and helper Rupert, who tends to the animals on our farm. We have a very unusual farm, as I believe I have told you before. We don't raise pigs or cows here. I don't think they would like the cold very much. Instead we of course have reindeer, which are very famous and I suspect already familiar to you. We also have horses, including my most famous horse Amerigo, and donkeys, and goats. These are not so unusual to have on a farm. But Rupert also takes care of moose, alligators that I take to Louisiana, white kangaroos that I take to Australia, dolphins that I take to Hawaii, and even a number of werewolves, though they can mostly take care of themselves. We also receive visits from a very special Camel and Mule, but they don't usually stay long, as they have gifts of their own to deliver. There is of course also Callisto the North Polar Bear, and her cub Arcas, whom I have told you about before, but they really live in the sky and only come to visit us sometimes.

But those are only the farm animals. The True North Pole is also home to a number of wild animals that live in the thick forest of fir trees tended by Mrs Claus and her wood nymphs that surrounds the workshop. These animals are protected by my friend Belsnickel, the fur-trapper who would rather be alone in the woods than live in the workshop. These woods are home to a number of magic reindeer who have not yet been trained to pull a sleigh, as well as animals such as Arctic foxes and Arctic hares, and birds like snow buntings. You should look up pictures of these animals if you have never seen them. They look very different from animals in [state]! I will also tell you a secret about the North Pole: even though many people like to make pictures or movies about penguins at the North Pole at Christmastime, the truth is that penguins live at the South Pole, not the North Pole. It's true! You can look it up. It would be better for people to draw me and my elves being visited by puffins, which is a bird that actually does live around the North Pole. They are just as cute as penguins, if not more so in my opinion, so far as that counts.

If you travel out beyond the silver fir forest, you will eventually hit the Riphean Mountains, which are a very dangerous place to visit, but which are home to our friends the griffins, which are magical creatures that look like they are part lion and part eagle. You can also look up pictures of these if you have never seen one. (There are not many at zoos, so I suspect you would not have seen one there.) The griffins are led by their noble but dangerous king Lunicursor, whose long-standing war against the moutains' one-eyed giants to protect their large hoards of gold has the added benefit of helping keep unwanted visitors out of our workshop on the other side of the mountains.

At any rate, all of these animals—every one of them—says hello and merry Christmas to you. Even King Lunicursor gave a grim-faced but solemn nod of approval when I told him I was writing you this letter. Sometimes when you are older, you may feel lonely or sad, which is okay, but remember that somewhere far to the north some reindeer, some foxes, a bear as big as a dinosaur, the king of the griffins, and a silly old toymaker know your name and hope you have a good Christmas.

Please send my warmest greetings to your mommy and daddy and all your family, and to all your animal friends from all of mine. I will visit soon to fill your stocking as you have been very good this year, as ever. See you soon!

Your dear friend,

Santa Claus

#christmas #santa claus #santa claus letter

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