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crying-wolves · 28 days ago

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🆃🅷🅴 🅰🅽🅸🅼🅰🅻🆂.

(peer mentor!ex-prisoner!vi x masc!prisoner!reader)

PART ONE

synopsis: the consequences of your chaotic past have finally landed you in Piltover's finest Correctional Facility. Too bad you can't even atone for your sins in peace without seeing some very familiar, very unwelcome faces.

cw for part one: prison 😔, only sorta-kinda proofread, lots and lots of cussing, afab reader, masc!reader, reader is kind of a pessimist. and a little mean. she went through a lot. running from the cops, the slightest sliver of sexual tension, MDNI!!!!, discussions of crime, dr*gs, alc*hol, all that fun stuff, backstory exposition, let me know if i missed anything!

a/n: this is gonna be multi-chapter (around 5 parts) because it feels better to me this way! the second chapter will be out before next week! pls enjoy <3

likes, reblogs, and comments are always appreciated :)

Time.

Sweet, sticky, oozing, glorious time.

It’s funny. When you were still a kid—

Well, kid is kind of an overstatement, but you were definitely reckless enough to feel like one. Wind in your face, light in your eyes. All that good stuff. Everyone around you said you were just a touch too restless. A little overboard with your idea of fun.

It was almost as if there weren’t enough seconds in a lifetime to get to everything you wanted to do.

And you wanted to do everything. Sex, drugs, booze, petty crime, not-so-petty crime—The list went on and on and on and on, and then it got longer.

And then, quite suddenly, actually, you didn’t feel like such a kid anymore.

Soon, you were well into your twenties.

a newly-lit angry flame in your chest,

a whole lot more restless energy,

and a shiny court order issued for you to pay for the consequences of your childish actions.

Now, shoved into the corner of four thick stone walls with 58 and a half more months to go, all you have is time.

And nothing has ever felt like less of a comfort.

It’s an uncharacteristically humid day when you see her again. The other prisoners are groaning about the busted ACs and barred windows, claiming that they’re being roasted alive every minute they’re forced to spend in these conditions, and if you weren’t so concerned with folding each individual page of a shitty magazine you’d found into jumbo fortune tellers, then you would be right there with them. But, you know, important task at hand and all.

You’re on your 15th glossy sheet when a heavy fist raps against your cell door, startling the plush paper out of your hands, and your contraband scissors clattering to the floor.

“Fuck…one second!” you hissed out, trying to tape the tiny shears to the bottom of your crackling toilet’s seat. It’s usually the best hiding spot one can find in this overglorified bird cage. The guards who usually commence the daily room checks, Officers Harold and Steb, tend to overlook the rather obvious placement, choosing to believe in the all-forgiving power of ‘feminine rehabilitation’. As long as you bat those pretty eyes and send a half-assed smile over their way, they’ll depart from your space with little trouble, whistling cheerily and trusting in the innate goodness of women who are simply ‘down on their luck’.

If they found out about half the shit the other inmates were smuggling in, whether it be hidden under porcelain seats or shoved up some secret orifice, they’d have a serious bitchfit.

The door swings open after a great deal of hustling and bustling on your end. Flashlights and clickers bombard your senses like noisy fireflies, and for some reason, Harold is grinning at you like he’s won the lottery five times over.

“There is a very special assembly being held today for you C-block girls. Report to the East chapel in 30 minutes! You don’t wanna miss it!”

He’s always excited about things like this. Fundraisers, kickball, bonding activities. Whatever gets the girls together, possibly even enjoying themselves for an hour or two, lights his wrinkled little face up like a Christmas tree. It’s hard, you admit, not to find his hopefulness endearing. Sometimes, at least.

You bare your teeth sweetly, corners of the mouth pointing upwards as politely as can be managed.

“Sounds like a whole lotta fun, sir, but I was planning on a cozy day in, you know? Window watching…ceiling observing. Can’t put those off.”

He pouts, actually pouts, at your negative response. For a moment, you think Steb is going to have to talk him down from crying.

“Oh nonsense! Nonsense!” he exclaims, waving his pudgy hands in the air to ease himself. “We’ve set up fans and opened alllll of the windows. It’ll be a great big treat Besides, inmate, it would be rude when our special guest has come alllll this way just to speak to you lot!”

He turns on his heel away from you, motions for Steb to follow in step into the hallway.

“30 minutes! Nothing more, inmates!”

The door slams shut, leaving you to stew in frustration without the prying eyes of happy-go-lucky correctional officers.

You wonder, for a brief moment, if there’s enough time to grab the scissors from your hiding place and offer it up to Harold for a one-way ticket to solitary confinement, but you decide against it. Who knows what this special assembly will bring out of the other women?

A full 47 minutes pass by before you find yourself in the East chapel, Officer Harold clicking his teeth in disappointment at your tardiness. But when that sweet breeze of electric fans and breathable air hit you in the face, you wish you had arrived sooner. Especially when your eyes fall on the last available seat: one smack-down in the middle of the front row. Of course.

You shove your hands into the pockets of your dark blue jumpsuit, settling into the surprisingly comfortable flip-out chair that’s a hair’s breadth away from the altar. Every single person seems to be talking over each other, new voices add themselves sporadically into the mix, gossiping excitedly about the same old things that always happen in this place.

“Did’ya hear Nolan’s getting out on good behavior next week? what a fuckin’ kissass? I’d break her face if it didn't mean God knows how long in the hole…”

“You’ll never guess who I saw sucking face with a guard while waiting in the commissary line. Some of these girls’ll do anything for a freebie, I swear…"

It almost reminds you of a high school cafeteria. Nothing but low jabs and cruel chatter.

“Apparently, they flew her in from Zaun…she’s this ex-convict who got out of a murder charge ‘cause the judge says she’s got ‘good character’ or something. Can you believe it! I’ve got fan-tas-tic character and I’m still stuck in this hell for another 40 years…”

That certainly peaks your attention…

…because there aren’t many people, especially, many people from the Undercity of all places, who go before the hallowed Piltover court with a charge like that and just get to walk free.

And considering the fact that you were born and raised in Zaun, growing up with kids who had also spent their free time chasing the next new thrill until ultimately getting caught, it may not be a stretch to say that you could, possibly, recognize this speaker.

It isn’t until you catch a flash of electric pink hair, a silver sparkle atop thick raised eyebrows that your heart drops to your ass.

Violet fuckin’ Lanes.

In all her flesh and glory.

Janna, even the way she struts to the podium pisses you off.

Her boots hit the ground like some magic megaphone, somehow commanding the attention of each and every eye in the room. The inmates stare, like wild animals trailing a new addition to an already tight knit pack. It’s different, though. There’s none of the whistling or lewd comments that usually accompany the arrival of a new prisoner, but the captivated silence that falls over the crowd when she smirks their way makes you wish she was in uniform like everyone else was.

Some regard her with disdain, invisible daggers shooting from their eyes right between her charmingly crooked smile. Others are practically leaning into the spinning fans that litter the scenery, trying to catch themselves from swooning so openly in front of her.

You can’t say either reaction is unexpected. You two do have a particularly troubled connection, after all.

Violet had introduced herself to you as ‘Vi’ after some enforcers shut down a crazy house party you were both attending. Bottles were being thrown all over the place, people had been dragged out by their arms and legs. You took this as a sign to get the fuck outta dodge.

When the pink-haired girl had caught up to you, pretty easily, you might add, she was already talking your ear off. Inviting you to a different party just a few blocks away, asking if the dying cigarette hanging from your lips was up for grabs, listing off every situation in which she’s had to book it to keep from getting locked up (this was the 6th time in the last three weeks), all without faltering in speed or running out of breath. It was impressive, for sure.

She led you straight to that party she was gabbing about. Some stuffy abandoned warehouse spinning with heavy smoke and even heavier music. Vi hauled you into the center of the heady disarray and pulled you in as close as she could.

“Dancing’s always more fun when your eardrums are about to pop right out of your skull.” she’d told you.

And you smiled at her. Honest full-face-grin beamed at her, because, Gods, where has she been all your life, and why is she only coming into it now?

So, of course, you danced with her all night. It ended up being the most fun you’d had in a really long time. You could tell she wanted to keep your attention all for herself, what with the way she wouldn’t let you out of her sight for longer than ten seconds (even when she challenged you to keg stand contest, and lost her focus because she couldn’t keep her eyes on her own barrel for the life of her), but you didn’t mind so much. She kept laughing and spinning you in circles and dragging you around like she was leashed to your wrist, but you didn’t find it the least bit annoying.

When the warehouse began to empty and the music dimmed to a shivering whisper, Vi brought you to the roof just in time for sunrise. The way the warm spots of heat kissed your features rebirthed a sort of softness in your heart, and you showed it by wrapping an arm around Vi’s shoulders in a contented squeeze.

“You’re…something else, you know that?” you’d crooned to her, still addled and woozy from the flask in your hand and the—well, copious amounts of everything still settling in your system.

Vi trailed her gaze up to the curve of your neck, taking in the position of your head, memorizing the drops of alcohol as they ran down the corners of your mouth. You were downing cheap, warm beer like parched wolf, and for some reason, her head swirled with envy at the sight of it.

In a flash of a moment, she ripped it from your lips, and toppled you over so hard you started spitting up the bitter liquid.

“Hey! The fuck was that f–”

She straddled you, trapping your thighs between her own in a tight embrace. pressed a harsh kiss to your temple to apologize, the madwoman.

When you looked back up at her, she tilted her head at your form like a curious pantheress, like she wanted to know how you felt squirming between her teeth.

“What are you doing this weekend?” she inquired, like her hips weren’t crushing yours into the impenetrable concrete.

You blinked several times at her.

“I–I dunno! …What are you doing this weekend?”

That got her grin back. She rewarded you by shifting her weight off of yours, and stretching out next to your heaving frame with a thoughtful hum.

“Come up Topside with me. I can show you all the best spots, we can get into some real trouble up there…”

A stunned laugh loosened itself from your throat. No one’s ever caught you off guard this much in such a short amount of time, so you punched her in the arm to regain some iota of surprise back.

“What happens if we get caught, smartass? We’re not exactly piltie princesses over here.”

She rubbed her sore bicep slowly, shrugging as if she’s made of rock-hard diamond. From what you’ve seen of her, it doesn’t seem like an outlandish assumption.

“Oh, please…”, she muttered, ultramarine eyes boring into your foggy glare.

“You really think they’re gonna be able to catch us?”

It’s been almost seven years since she said that to you, on that hushed, rumbling morning,

and you regret ever listening to a single word she ever uttered in your direction.

taglist: @baylegend6

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thesunshinebunny · 2 months ago

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I'll throw ask your way. Picture Ace and or Deuce ether going out their way to cancel their holidays plans to stay NRC with male Yuu for the holiday or they take Yuu with them. Figure their exeicted to go back home until they realize its literally not an option for Yuu. Ace being himself probably doesn't say. you know its serious when Ace admits or jokes Yuu better be glad since he choose them over spending time with his brother. Deuce's mom meanwhile is glad Deuce has the kind of friend he'd want to do this for even if she'll miss him. figure it ends with a nice platonic hug.

That's wholesome coming from Adeuce sharing braincell

The thing is, Ace and Deuce were excited. Like, truly excited in a way only people who haven’t been home in months can be, cooked meals, their old hangout spots, warm blankets, familiar sounds. That loud, buzzing kind of excited you don’t even try to hide—their bags were halfway packed a week early, and they’d been swapping stories for days about the stuff they were gonna do once they got home. Ace joked about sleeping in until noon and bullying his brother into making breakfast. Deuce beamed talking about his mom’s hot pot and how she always waited up even if his train got in past midnight.

They didn’t notice it at first. You were quieter than usual, sure, but laughed when they did. You nodded along. Said stuff like, “That sounds nice.” It wasn’t until Deuce asked offhandedly what mirror you're taking that the silence landed like a thud in the middle of the room.

“Oh,” you said. “I’m… not going anywhere.”

Just like that, the whole atmosphere shifted.

Deuce blinked. “Wait, seriously?”

Ace tilted his head. “Why not?”

You shrugged. “Nowhere to go. It’s fine, though.”

It wasn’t. Not really. But you said it like you meant it, so neither of them pressed. Deuce got quiet. Ace got loud.

“Tch. Well, guess you’re stuck with us now,” Ace muttered, flipping a pillow at your face like that was the end of it. “You better feel honored, dude. I picked you over spending time with my brother. And I don’t even like you that much.”

He did. Of course he did. And the fact that Ace was joking about it meant it was serious.

Deuce called his mom that night, hands fidgeting with the hem of his sleeve. She was disappointed at first—just a soft “Oh,” and a pause. But when he explained, she was quiet for a moment, then said gently, “That’s a good friend you’ve got, sweetheart. I’m proud of you. I’ll miss you, but… I’m glad you have people to stay for.”

You didn’t make a big deal of it. Didn’t throw some elaborate party or pretend it was anything more than what it was: three boys staying behind at a half-empty dorm during the holidays.

You three found an old space heater in the back of the lounge closet, made cocoa that was probably 80% sugar, and took turns watching crummy holiday movies on your glitchy laptop. There was only one blanket, and it was too small, but somehow all three of you ended up sharing it anyway.

The night stretched long and slow, soft as the snow drifting outside. At some point, Deuce pulled you into a hug—no warning, just arms around his shoulders, solid and steady. “Thanks for letting us stay,” he said, voice low and a little rough.

Ace scoffed from the other side. “Okay, if this turns into a group therapy circle, I’m out.”

But he didn’t move. If anything, he leaned in closer.

It wasn’t the holiday they had planned. It wasn’t loud or flashy or particularly festive. But it was warm. It was enough. And sometimes, that’s all you really need.

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst x reader #twisted x reader #ace x reader #ace trappola #deuce spade #deuce x reader

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charliegyrth · 2 months ago

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Fat Blind Date - Part 2 of 2

I See Nathan Again

Read Part 1 here.

I didn’t run into Nathan for the rest of the semester. I told Greg that it was a good date, but that I wasn’t interested in seeing him again.

Greg understood. He said that Nathan had “thick skin.”

I felt awful for running off on such a nice guy. In fact, I kept thinking about him. I even dreamed about him a few times, picturing what he looked like under his clothes. What he felt like. The memory of Nathan was haunting me.

But he’d affected me in another way, too. One I didn’t notice until weeks later. Every time I thought about him, I grabbed a snack. I started enjoying my food more, ordering more, allowing myself to succumb to the tastes of each meal.

My eating habits had definitely changed, but I didn’t realize it until the following month, when my pants didn’t fit.

I took a long look at my reflection, finally accepting that my belly had grown and my chest had softened even more. I didn’t have a scale, so I didn’t know how much damage I’d done, but it was enough to be visible.

And honestly, my reflection didn’t horrify me. I liked the extra heft. I even played with my stomach a little, rolling my flab around and seeing the different shapes I could make.

None of my classmates said anything. When I’d gone from skinny to fat, everyone seemed to have a comment. But now that I was going from fat to fatter, no one really cared. Or if they did, they felt too awkward to admit it.

The bigger I got, the more I accepted that this was what I wanted.

I decided to call Nathan again, but I chickened out. This happened multiple times. I felt like I’d blown it with him. And I had. I was a jerk for running out on him when he’d been nothing but kind and honest with me.

His problem was that he was too honest, and I couldn’t handle it.

Once exam season started, I gave up on contacting Nathan entirely. I focused on my studies, cramming in snacks as I crammed for each test. On some level, I knew that I was trying to make myself fatter, but I never really admitted it to myself.

Then the semester ended. I’d aced all my finals (thanks to the extra boost from all my eating), and I went back to that same restaurant to celebrate. Even with my new wardrobe, my belly was visible to everybody there, wobbling in front of me as I stepped inside.

“Benjy?” a familiar voice came from the corner of the room.

My heart raced.

Nathan was there, sitting alone in front of a huge spread of food. He’d ordered six separate dishes for himself. I couldn’t tell if he’d gotten any bigger since the last time I saw him, but he could tell right away that I had.

I walked over, silently scolding myself for purposely jutting out my stomach as I walked. “Can I join?”

“Of course,” he said. “But don’t expect me to share any of my food this time. I’m here to celebrate.”

I sat. “Passed all your classes?”

“Flying colors,” he said.

“Me, too.”

Begrudgingly (and slightly flirtatiously), he pushed a plate of spaghetti toward me. “Okay. You can have some. You earned it.”

“Actually, I don’t think that’ll be enough for me.”

He smiled as I waved over the waiter and asked for a couple entrees for myself.

“Look, Nathan. I’m sorry I freaked out.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “I saw your stiffy, so I assumed you were… figuring stuff out, so to speak. You look wonderful, by the way? How much?”

I shrugged. “Don’t have a scale.”

“I do,” he said. “A heavy-duty one. Back at my place.” He let the words hang in the air.

“So you’re not mad at me?”

“Course not. And seeing how you took my advice to heart, I’m honestly proud. You’re a faster gainer than I was at your size.”

I gulped.

“Am I being too frank again?”

“No. Um, thank you. And you don’t have to wait for my food to arrive. Dig in.”

He gave me the sweetest smile and started eating. I loved watching him.

When my own food came, I tried (and failed) to match his pace. Once again, the thrill of eating together was electric. When he started to slow, I encouraged him to keep going.

“You’re one in a million, Benjy.”

A little over an hour later, we’d both finished everything. I was stuffed to my gills and feeling pretty proud of myself. Sure, Nathan had finished three times as much as I did, but it was still a personal best for me. My gut throbbed. A good throb, though.

Nathan leaned back against his chair, utterly spent. His breathing was ragged and his red hair was matted to his forehead with sweat. He didn’t say anything for a long time. Then, finally gathering up his strength, he sat up straight and said, “Okay. Let’s head back to my place and get you weighed.”

***

Nathan’s apartment was a den of gluttony. He kept things mostly clean, but there were trays of snacks everywhere. Every chair in the place had food within arm’s reach. I also noticed a cane sitting by the front door. Not sure how often he had to use that.

He excitedly pulled me inside and closed the door behind him. “This is it!” he announced.

He waddled into his bedroom, expecting me to follow. I did. Then he flopped down on the bed (too much standing) and nodded toward his scale in the corner.

It was much wide and thicker than any of the scales I’d ever seen before.

With a gulp, I stepped on. I had to suck in my belly to read the number.

“How much?” he asked from the bed.

“249,” I read.

“Not bad. Though 250 is such a nice, round number. You’re so close.”

I turned to face him. “I still don’t know if this is what I want.”

He nodded. “Can I show you what 400 looks like?”

“Four hundred?”

“As of last week,” he answered proudly. When I didn’t answer, he took that as a yes. He grabbed his shirt and started pulling it off. He was struggling, so I helped him yank it over his head.

Then I finally (finally!) got a good look at him. His belly was more liquid than solid, oozing over his thick thighs, its edges touching the mattress on either side. He was much hairier than I’d imagined, too. A darker red than the hair on his head.

His chest rolled into the fat on his sides, drooping down so that his nipples were hidden in the creases. I didn’t know that a chest could even look like that. He had three clear rolls, one just under his chest, one draped over his belly button, and a third (the largest by far) spreading out on his lap.

This was not what I’d imagined. The way his shirt had kept everything in place made me assume that his stomach was much more solid than it actually was. It was almost like each fold had grown independently of each other.

He had some stretchmarks on his lower belly, but all of his skin had been stretched to the point where the texture looked papery and thin.

“Can I…?”

“Of course.”

He’d left me enough space on his king-sized mattress to scoot in next to him. I looked into his eyes for permission and then grabbed onto his rolls.

God, he was so soft. And as I felt his belly, I realized how natural it all seemed. It wasn’t some foreign object. It was a part of him, a part he’d grown, and it felt wonderful. I liked the folds. I liked the lumps of overloaded fat cells just under his skin. I liked everything.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“I think you’re fat.”

That made me laugh.

“And I think I like it.”

He whimpered as I cupped his moob and weighed it in my hand.

“Do you like it enough to maybe… build this kind of body for yourself?”

At the beginning of the semester, I would’ve said no. Hell, before I came here, I probably would’ve said no. But now that I could really see him and feel him, I felt compelled to say, “I think so.”

He wrapped his sweaty arm around my shoulder. “You’re still not 100%.”

“I mean, it’s harder, right? Everything is harder for you now?”

“I manage.” Then he got a sly glint in his eye. “Would you like me to show you exactly what I can do?”

He didn’t have to ask me twice. I pulled off my shirt, letting my own belly hang free, and waited for Nathan to show me exactly what a fat guy can do.

The End.

Thanks for reading! You can find all my stories here.

#gainer fiction #gainerstory #male wg #gay feeder #gainerfiction #feeder fiction #gainer story #gainer stories #gay feedee #gainerstories #weight gain story #weight gain stories #weight gain fiction #feederfic #bhm weight gain #fat belly #gay gainer

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naomi-nana · 2 months ago

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✎ᝰ. 001 : prepare for the chaos! . deuce bday special

your friend, deuce spade's birthday is coming up in a few weeks, and you're trying to figure out his birthday present with your not-so-reliable other friends, ace and grim.

featuring : deuce spade, ace trappola, grim, riddle rosehearts, trey clover

cw : gn!reader, reader is yuu, crack/cromedy, platonic, bad grammars

a/n : suddenly thought of this and i think it would be cool if i do a bday special everytime a character have a bday lmao. hope u enjoy!!

chocolate, or vanilla ...?

that same question has been repeated between you and ace for the past fifteen minutes like a broken radio. well, how could it not? deuce's birthday is just a few weeks away, and the two of you can't figure out what he likes for god's sake!

er, not like any of you guys are a bad friend, of course. deuce just rarely reveal stuff about himself. which is surprising considering how dense and oblivious he's most of the time—if you hadn't known any better, you'd have thought that he would answer everything everyone asked him.

but, noooo— he has to act very difficult whenever any of you ask a question.

two weeks ago, when you were thinking of a present to give to deuce for his birthday, ace has taken the courtesy to ask deuce subtly about what he likes. he grins at you, saying something along the lines of, "c'mon, it's gonna be easy. that guy's like, so dense it's almost insane. he'd probably say something obvious like 'blastcycle' or something."

you pray to yourself that he won't ask for a blastcycle. where would you get the money to buy one anyway? besides, it's not like any of you are allowed to ride it at your age. you sigh, nodding along to whatever ace has planned in his head.

with a confident smirk, ace walks into the heartslabyul lounge casually as if he's not about to do something risky. what if he reveals your surprise party accidentally? sigh, well, you'll just have to trust ace's lying ability for now.

"deuce, my man!" when ace called out to deuce in an unusually friendly way, he almost jumped from his seat because he thought that a doppelganger of ace was coming to get him. "hey, what's with that look? do i have somethin' on my face?"

"oh, it's just you, ace ... right? what is it?"

"'right?' of course it's me!"

you shook your head at the awkward interaction before you. great, it's already failing before ace even blurts out the question. ace turns to face you for a few seconds, winking at you like a cartoon character. his face screams, 'i got this under the belt, prefect! don't worry!'.

"ahem, deuce, can i ask you a question?" ace starts, making deuce raise an eyebrow. "you know, we've been friends for years, and i never knew what you really liked. so, tell me 'bout it!" he grins, trying his hardest not to let out a cackle with how serious deuce looked.

"first of all, we're not friends for years ... we literally just met six months ago." he replied, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"hey, don't sweat the details! just tell me!"

"what are you plotting? i'm not gonna participate."

"what? i'm not plotting anythin'. just tell me what you like!"

"no! knowing you, you're probably gonna run off with it and use it to blackmail me! ... or something."

"not wrong. uh, i mean, no way! i'm not that type of person!"

they both glare at each other. somehow, an entirely new sub-plot about the eye staring contest is starting in front of you. you began to question your decision of hanging out with these people. in the end, neither you nor ace finds out what deuce likes.

the next week after that, you both decided that you'll give deuce a miniature blastcycle, and also a can of tuna(grim insisted). ace hums at the list of presents on your notebook. "hmm, i dunno, this looks a little bland for a birthday present. you sure he's gonna like these?"

"you were the one who fumbled asking him an easy question about what he wants ..." you frown at him, making him shoot you an apologetic smile. "c'mon, that was only because deuce was so difficult to work with. what about we ask around?"

"ask around? there's only one person who knows about deuce, and it's the guy himself."

"hey, he might be socially awkward sometimes and is also bad at understanding jokes, but he's got friends other than us, too! so i'm sure we're gonna get a couple of answers." ace grins, taking the notebook from your hands before sprinting out the ramshackle door.

"you really don't have to add those insults ..." you mutter to yourself before walking out the door with grim following behind.

the first person you had in mind was: the very scary and uptight housewarden, riddle rosehearts. though before you could message him to ask him where he was, ace stopped you by putting your phone down. "no, no, no! are you crazy?! that guy's probably not gonna answer at all! he'll probably lecture us for being a bad friend instead! let's think of someone el—"

"that is true. i would be very disappointed if i found out my friends in school do not know anything about me. the least they could do is know the base of what i like." that very familiar shiver you once felt on your first day of school in NRC is present yet again when you hear the strict voice behind you.

"h-housewarden rosehearts! oh, trey-senpai is here, too!"

"fnyagh! it's the redhead warden!"

"heya, you three. riddle accidentally overheard your conversation earlier and offered to come up to you and help you." trey smiles, waving his hand at you. "i did no such thing, i simply saw three little lost lambs in the courtyard. also, who are you calling a redhead warden, grim?" riddle crossed his hands, narrowing his eyes at the direbeast, making him hide behind your leg.

"uh, trey, riddle, what do you think would be a suitable gift for deuce?" you ask, tilting your head in curiosity. even if you already got a grasp of what the two is probably gonna say, you want to hear it from them directly. riddle hums for a second before giving a well-thought out answer.

"you should buy him a notebook," at his answer, ace looks at you, silently saying, see? i knew this was gonna happen. "... is what i would say if i didn't know any better. deuce seems like someone who likes strange things, so you can maybe buy him a necklace with tooth as charms? uh, if ... you know what i'm talking about, of course." he continues. now it's your turn to smirk at ace.

"tooth charms...? you mean we gotta use our teeth?! hench-human, don't listen to him! i still wanna eat tunas, i don't wanna lose my teeth!"

"that's not what he meant, grim ..."

trey just smiles at the interaction before offering his piece of advice. "i think you should definitely go with something that's screaming rock. i don't know how to describe it, but that guy used to be a delinquent, right? he'd probably like something like that." oh, he's right.

the three of you exchanged looks, as if you immediately knew what you were going to do before any of you utter a word. "thank you, housewarden! trey-senpai!" ace and you bows slightly at the two of them, before leaving the courtyard and went straight towards the pop music club room.

"... trey, you're either giving out a solid advice, or is going to cause severe ear bleeding on the third of june." riddle mutters under his breath, making trey laugh.

"i don't know what you mean by that, riddle."

naomi-nana. do NOT repost, do not use (with or without permission), do not recommend or talk about my works outside of tumblr.

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twistedwonderlandshenanigans · 1 year ago

Text

Valentine's Day...Gifts They Give You?? I Think. IDK.

HAH SCHOOL CAN KICK MY BUTT BUT BY GOD AND THE DEVIL WILL I SHARE A LITTLE BIT OF LOVE!! (I'm suffering Jesus fucking CHRIST this course is gonna eat my fried up brain for breakfast lunch and dinner) This is done assuming they're pining for Yuu, save for Ortho he's Idia's little wingman. GN reader as always bbssssssssss if anything seems canon divergent, check out my HCs lmao

Heartslaybul Ace: He thought about making it super romantic, like he spent the week leading up to Valentine's day brainstorming ideas on napkins and doodling on scrap paper, trying to come up with a way to ask to hang out that would make it feel different than normal, but not so obvious that he...you know, likes you. He ends up showing up at Ramshackle before class with a box of chocolates he bought the day before and a bit of a blushing mess. "I just got these because who knows how much Sam will have by the end of today, you owe me half, ok?"

Deuce: He absolutely called his mom to ask for some advice, and asked his dorm mom (Trey), to proofread the hand written note he had meticulously written and supervise while he tries to make a heartshaped quiche. Why quiche? Well he knows you guys have...Memories about eggs, and he remembers it fondly, and he knows that quiche freezes well, so if he makes a big batch, you can eat what you want and have a readily available breakfast to just pop back in the oven whenever you want it - hopefully you'll remember him each time you do, and you'll ask for more when you finish it! He ends up at Ramshackle a little disheveled and out of breath, trying to make the quiche early enough in the day that he could make it there before breakfast so maybe you could share a meal before class. "It's still warm??" "Yeah, I ran here as fast as I could once it was cool enough to handle." "You didn't have to..." "I wanted to! You're more than worth the effort it took to be here on time." Trey: Mans has a major advantage in that he is great in the kitchen, but he can't just make your favourite dessert. He can do that any day. No, for weeks ahead of time, he plans, makes, tests, and revises a new recipe, something that is unique and meant to be for you. It's more effort than he normally puts into his work, but it's so worth it when he shows up at Ramshackle in the evening to deliver his gift and a small note, though he gets shy. He leaves it on the front door step, knocks once, and moves to hide by the side of the house, relying on Grim's nose to bring you to the door if you didn't hear him knock. Seeing the way your face go from confusion to joy and excitement as you read the note is worth every moment he spent crouching. He knows tomorrow you'll want to talk to him in person, but for now, that's more than enough for him.

Cater: Consumerism Capital lmao. He has a really sweet, genuine gift to give to you, but the time he's spent with his sisters makes him second guess whether or not something is "good enough". So, yes, he will have spent 72 hours painting a fucking masterpiece on a phone case for you, or a pair of shoes you said you wanted, or a skateboard so you guys can skateboard together, or something you mentioned you wanted offhandedly months ago, but he's not sure if it's enough, so to "make up" for his "shitty handmade gift", he buys a shit ton of Valentine's day merchandise! He shows up with the giant teddy bear, the bouquet of flowers, the chocolates, the sappy movies, a trending perfume and some sort of specialty drink he picked up at a cafe. Depending on your reaction to all that stuff, he might actually give you the gift he worked on, otherwise you'll see it by accident or something and he gets embarrassed and a little flustered because What If You Don't Like It, Isn't Everything Else Better Than That Thing I Worked On Specifically For You. Treat him gently please. That's a personal request slkdjfhlskdjf

Riddle: He's new to this. So of course he researched long and hard on how to best express his interest in you without trying to push anything on you. Cater tried to show him cute stuff on social media, but it all seemed so scripted, disingenuous, or so over the top he couldn't see himself doing it that way. Or on the other end - they were couples, well into their relationships and living together- that wasn't where he was with you, at least....not yet. He ends up watching, reading and listening to tutorials on how to put together the perfect bouquet - his beloved rose garden would have more than an aesthetic use now, and with a little magic, a beautiful gradient came easily to the bunch of roses he arranged beautifully. Before you, this holiday just seemed ridiculous. Maybe it still was, but he would indulge if it meant it brought a smile to your face.

Savannaclaw

Jack: He can't be direct for the life of him, not in terms like this. The night before Valentine's day, he's still stumped on what to do for you that won't be...inherently romantic and obvious, but show that he cares about you!! His eyes end up settling on his little cactus and he ends up finally getting an idea. Somehow after class, but before you got home, he managed to gift you your own tiny cactus. He left it sitting in a box, a small knitted coaster of sorts sitting underneath the flower pot - he put it in the box just so that the yarn wouldn't snag on the uneven wood outside of Ramshackle- and a tiny cowboy hat sitting on top of your cactus. It had been from one of his little siblings dolls that ended up in his bag from the last time he'd gone home, but either they didn't even notice it was gone, or he could get them a replacement later.

Ruggie: "Do you have plans for Valentine's day?" "Yep. Wait for it to be over." He doesn't really care for Valentine's day, but the sale that starts on the 15th? Goddamn, yeah, he's gonna capitalize on that....and he might even like you enough to share a little bit of it...maybe while watching a movie....and snuggling up under the same blanket at Ramshackle...that he may or may not have snagged from Leona's pile of Really Nice blankets....all it takes is for you to say you want some chocolate or treats too.

Leona: He really doesn't care for Valentine's day and all the shit that comes with it, but his sister in law asked him to at least try to make the best of the day. Initially, he was going to...at least try to contest it, but ultimately decided there was a simple way to do it. He ends up firing you a quick text to meet him in the greenhouse. While the way he pulls you into his little nest for napping is rather unceremonious, once you've settled he tucks a pink camellia behind your ear before abruptly telling you he's going to sleep and you're welcome to join him or you can get out of there if you want. He hopes, that just maybe, you'll be able to identify the flower he gave you and find out what it means.

Octavinelle

Floyd: Azul is making him work overtime for Valentine's day, he doesn't get up early enough to do anything Before classes, and by the end of his shift he's EXHAUSTED and MAD. He likely has the wherewithall to bring you a serving from the special menu in a takeout container before flopping down on the couch next to you, then onto you, just looking for a little bit of physical affection. The next day he does feel a little bad for not making you feel as special as he could have, so he'll wake you up with breakfast in bed. Jade: Again, he's been working overtime but he was more ready for Valentine's day than Floyd. While he can't take you anywhere on the day of, he has an easy hike and picnic planned for the weekend if you'll join him. Despite being in the wild outdoors, he's determined to make you a dish that would be worthy of serving at the lounge. He will not handle being asked to stay home very well, but ultimately will if you want that more....but it's going to be in your backyard.

Azul: He had so much on his plate leading up to Valentine's day with marketing, organizing shifts and maximizing profit. But, some of that profit was already planned to be set aside specifically for you. It was about time that you got a bit of a leg up, right? I mean working for Crowley can only pay so much, and he's the head of the dorm that represents generosity anyways. So on the day after Valentine's day, he shows up in the evening with a laptop, and envelope with cash, and a grin, ready to show you the wonders of ✨investing✨. He may have forgotten you still...want to go home. He'll backtrack a bit and offer to help you find contractors that will renovate a part of Ramshackle for you.

Scarabia

Jamil: He didn't even bother trying to plan something for himself with you. How could he? It was a holiday, as ridiculous as it was, it meant that Kalim would inevitably want to celebrate it on the dorm level, and Jamil, of course, would have to plan and organize and arrange everything in order to make it work out. However, that didn't mean he wouldn't make sure to invite you. It didn't mean that he wouldn't make the time to ensure your favourite dish was served. Or that your favourite song would come on during the dance party portion of the celebration. Or that he wouldn't check on you just as, if not more frequently than he did on Kalim to make sure you're enjoying yourself. And if you're not, if it's all too much, he accounted for that already and will show you where you can stay until you feel okay again. Of course, if you show up an hour or two early and demand (you can't ask, he'll say no) to be given a task to lighten his burden, he might just admire you a little bit more (even if he still says no).

Kalim: Valentine's Day means partayyyyy time!! There's gonna be food, and dancing, and games, and lots of people, and live music because he, Cater, and Lilia are gonna perform, won't you come see him?? He needs you there so he can perform the best he ever has!! Come on Yuu, please??? They did actually practice, because they had to change a few lyrics so that it could be a better cover for Valentine's day and he was thinking of you when they modified it, so can you pleeeeeeeease come?

Pomefiore

Epel: He isn't sure whether he wants to continue a tradition he had from home or not, where he would show up at school with handmade lollipops and give them out to people....but his class at primary school was soooo much smaller, it wouldn't make sense to do it here for everyone. Not to mention, he usually had his grandma help him make them, he's never done it on his own. He likely does it for all the first years in his little friend group because he doesn't want to be obvious to anyone person that maybe...he likes them a little more...however your lollipop is the only one that seems to have no imperfections. Funny how that worked out.

Rook: Screw your alarm clock, he knows when you wake up anyways and will be outside your window, serenading you until you wake up. Even if you end up rolling out of bed lookin like a sewer rat and peaking out the window, once he knows you're awake he'll start reading poetry to you. He kinda just lingers until you're done getting ready enough to come great him outside, where he gives you a single rose and a few sheets of paper that he's written his poems about you on. He'll kiss the back of your hand and offer to escort you to class. ** I just want to say, for as much as I gripe about Rook in other posts, I genuinely believe that if he knew or found out you had no Valentine, no plans, and nobody treated you, he would, by the end of the day, at least have left a rose and handwritten note on in front of your door apologizing for not having asked to be your Valentine earlier and going through and complimenting you, though the note is completely anonymous. Rook is a bleeding heart (hehe Snow White ref) and regardless of his feelings for you/your feelings for him, he wants to make sure Valentine's day is positive for you.

Vil: Ugh, Valentine's day. It's a tacky, meaningless holiday that corporations push for the sake of profit. He agrees to model stuff still, sure, he has to in order to try and keep up with Neige, but he hates it. He gets his nails done so that they are jet black. Part of him wants to go goth for the day, but really that would be an overreaction to something so minor. He rejects any Valentine's day gifts, and likely won't want to do anything special, so if anything, you get to see a slightly out of character Vil as he either facetimes you to make sure you've been drinking water today and rant about the industry and how it's ruined Valentine's day, or. You send him a really cheesy gif wishing him a happy Valentines day and he very reluctantly replies, but tells you to never do that again (and it segues into Above).

Ignihyde

Idia (+ wingman/little shit Ortho): Ortho didn't really intend to snoop, but his big brother just left his phone out in the open...well he threw it onto his bed and mumbled something about being a loser. According to Ortho's analysis of Idia's phone, he hadn't been on a mobile game, so what got him so worked up? He sifted through until he found the culprit- the draft of a really sweet...and yeah, kinda cringey message he had written out addressed to the prefect of Ramshackle. Eugh he didn't need to read that...but...but Yuu should. He sends the message for Idia right before his brother comes back into the room, mumbling about how he needs to delete something. His eyes go wide as saucers as he sees not only has the message been sent, but the prefect has read it and is replying in that very moment. Idia reprimands Ortho immediately, but gently until the Prefects response comes through and Ortho confirms the tone is positive. Diasomnia lord help me it's one in the morning

Sebek: Wasn't going to do anything until Lilia mentioned...."exaggerated"...just how important Valentine's Day can be to humans. His decision to try and come up with a last minute gift only amplifies if he sees someone else give Yuu a gift, and ultimately decides with a certain degree of defeat just to buy something from Sam's shop. He decides something practical is best, but gets a little distracted around the candles. Surely in Ramshackle you would appreciate something small, aromatic and it even offers a small bit of heat! He decides to go through with it, but it's only noon, surely he can customize it a bit more before the end of the day. Lilia ends up walking into Sebek's room at around 10:30, only to see him struggling to stay awake as he wipes off paint from the lid. Based on the discarded tissues around, he hasn't been satisfied with any customizations he's tried to make. Lilia gently encourages him just to write a quick note, and he'll deliver it to the prefects doorstep for him so he can get to sleep. Sebek insists it's not perfect, but is forced to accept defeat as Lilia ushers him to bed, reassuring him that the prefect will still appreciate it.

Silver: He knows that he struggles to stay awake, so he starts on his project long before Valentine's day so that he can work on it whenever he has the wherewithall to do so. Come Valentine's day, he has the gift with him during class, and ends up sitting outside of Ramshackle, passed out next to the door waiting for you to show up so he can hand you his gift, which turns out to be a dagger. No, he didn't make it, but he wanted to research the best option for someone of your size and stature, the quality, where to purchase it reliably, to make a small write up on how to care for it properly, what it can and should be used for, and activities it's not suggested to use it for, but you technically "can". It also gives him an excuse to come see you more often to teach you how to use it- often teaching someone is a great way to learn and will add another layer to his training. Lilia: He's been around for so many Valentine's Days, he probably knew the fucking saint it was named after. That being said, he loves to make the most of life, and that doesn't stop here! Get ready for a home cooked meal, you don't have to worry about dinner tonight sweetheart, Lilia's got it covered. Or he'll pay for take out. Or both, to make up for the mess in your kitchen.

Malleus: He's been aware of the holiday for years, but has never really had a reason to celebrate it. But now there's someone who isn't scared of him. Someone who, perhaps if he asked, you would allow him to spend time with you. He ends up daydreaming about the activities the two of you could do together, from making gargoyles to learning to make ice cream together, he ends up spending the entire day like that. Though he's a bit frustrated at his loss of time, he writes out a heartfelt letter to invite you to join him in those activities at a later date. He'll either wait for you outside, or if its too late in the night, simply slide the letter under your door.

---------------------------------------------------------

I was gonna do Che'nya and Neige and even Rollo but its. its way too late, I'm hungry and I have a STATS class tomorrow RIP me.

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generic-enthusiast · 5 months ago

Text

My gift for @an-akward-ace as part of the gift exchange :))

@outsiders-gift-exchanges

“Mama?” Darry asks as he creeps out of the hallway and into the living room. Mama’s on the couch, feet tucked underneath her, book in her hands. She looks up and worry crawls onto her face.

“Darry? What’s wrong?”

He walks up to the couch tentatively and sits down next to her. “Am I a bad person?”

“What?” Mama closes her book and puts it on the couch armrest. “Why would you think that?”

“Sometimes— sometimes I think I don’t…” He looks at her guiltily for a moment before looking away. “Sometimes I think Ponyboy doesn’t love me.”

“Honey,” Mama murmurs, putting her hand on Darry’s shoulder, “Why would you say that?”

“I don’t—” Darry looks down again. “I don’t know. When I told him to go away because I wanted to play with Mark and Andrew he started crying and wouldn’t talk to me for a week. An’ he gets way more mad at me than at Soda but I’m a lot less annoying than Soda.”

Mama runs her hand through Darry’s hair and he curls up against her, just young enough to not be embarrassed. “Oh, Darry, that don’t mean he don’t love you. It just means he gets cranky sometimes. Maybe y’all mess up sometimes, but that don’t mean nothin’. Everyone does.”

She pauses for a moment.

“You ever notice that sometimes we’re all real quiet at dinner and Pa an’ me won’t look at each other?” Darry nods slowly. “Love ain’t perfect, and it ain’t about wantin’ to be with someone all the time, or never gettin’ mad. Only place you’ll see that is in the movies.”

Darry nods again, but doesn’t answer.

“Say— weren’t you reading Ponyboy a story before he went to sleep?”

Darry looks up at her and nods. “We’ve read it a bunch before but he never wants ta read anything else.”

“Does anyone else ever read it to him?”

“The story?” Mama nods. “No. Says he only likes how I read it. But it’s just ‘cause I do more voices than you.”

“How ‘bout walking home from school? Pa could go pick him up in the car, wouldn’t that be faster?”

“Yeah…” Darry’s not quite sure where this is going. “But that way he knows what the city’s like and doesn’t get lost when he’s older and stuff.”

“Right. What about how Ponyboy asked for a football for his birthday even though he’d been talking about that colouring book for months? What about how he won’t go to sleep without a ‘Darry hug’ because he says it’s better than other hugs?”

Darry doesn’t know what to say so he looks down at his hands.

“Love ain’t perfect, honey. You don’t always wanna be with someone and sometimes you’re gonna get mad and, Dar,—” He looks up at her “ — that’s fine. Love’s in the little things that add up, and yeah, sometimes something’s gonna subtract some, but that don’t take away from all of what you’ve built.”

…

Darry steps into the house with a loud sigh.

No one’s around to hear it.

He can’t be bothered to take his boots off, no matter how much he dreads having to clean the house afterwards, because it’s just grabbing the grocery list and taking off again.

Just grabbing the gro— oh, shit. Where is it?

A groan starts poking its way out of Darry’s chest.

Why him? Why now? Why at the end of the work day, when the only thing keeping him standing is the thought of a bath once he gets back?

He looks around the same place again, hoping the bright yellow sticky note somehow flew under his radar.

It didn’t.

In a couple cabinets, on the floor, inside drawers— by the time Darry’s looked through the whole kitchen, he’s shuffled around so much the floor’s covered with dirt. Because his shoes are still on. Because it was supposed to be quick. Because the list was supposed to be right there and it’s actually a tiny thing and he can probably remember everything anyways but the list needed to be there and he doesn’t have the stupid list and he just want to sleep but he need to make dinner and where the fuck is that list—

“Oh, hey, Darry!” Soda walks in and holds the door for Steve, who comes in behind him. Both their arms are full of groceries.

Everything that was on the list.

“Thought we’d get ahead on groceries since your shift’s longer’n normal today.”

Steve doesn’t add anything, but grunts in Darry’s general direction, so he gathers it’s a form of greeting.

“Oh,” Darry says, trying to keep his voice calm and hide the fact that he was about to break down because of something as stupid as not finding a sticky note. “How much was it?”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Steve says, setting his bag down at the kitchen table. “Old man kicked me out again last week. S’on him.”

…

“Hey, Darry?” Darry stops and turns around from where he was heading towards the kitchen.

“Yeah, Pone?”

“Can you stand there for a second and put your hands behind your back?”

Darry stares at him, confused, before doing as he asks.

“And tilt your head a bit to the right— wait, no, my right, your left.”

A couple moments go by. Ponyboy’s scribbling something in his notebook, looking up at Darry and back down quickly.

“Can I move now?”

“Just one more second…” He erases something, draws it again, and holds his notebook up next to Darry. “Okay, thanks.”

Darry heads towards him. “Can I see it?”

Ponyboy covers his notebook hurriedly. “When it’s finished.”

“Okay, okay.” Darry holds his hands up in mock innocence.

…

Darry tries not to worry too much about Ponyboy. Their parents were never very controlling, and generally any of them could leave for hours without facing too much questioning.

He tries not to, but the problem is that Ponyboy never thinks, no matter how much Darry tries to get him to. He’d mouth off to a Soc because he just didn’t notice they had a knife, or walk home all alone at night without realising he was holding a neon sign that said “jump me”. Honestly, even being run over because he didn’t bother to look both ways is an option at this point.

“We didn’t get into any trouble,” Johnny says. Darry blinks at him. Pony and Johnny have just come back from the drive-in — they went alone this week — and Ponyboy’s gone to his room to get something to show Johnny, who’s wandered into the kitchen to talk to Darry.

The last time the two of them talked alone must be at least a year ago.

“Weren’t even any Socs nearby. All in their cars.”

And without another word, Johnny walks out of the kitchen as Ponyboy comes storming back into the living room.

…

“Kicked out again?”

“Got mad at me for bein’ away too much and decided to kick me out.”

“Huh.”

“I saw y’all didn't have any tomatoes so I picked some up on the way. Got a discount, too.”

“Yeah?”

Steve wiggles his fingers. “Five finger discount.”

…

Darrel Shaynne Curtis is defying all the laws of physics and biology because he is utterly dead inside and yet somehow still walking. If he has to take another step his joints will fall apart like rusty gears on an old clock.

And for some reason his house has to be full of fucking people.

People he loves, but people nonetheless.

Annoying people. Loud people. People who apparently do not know the definition of shutting the fuck up.

No amount of affection for the gang can stop Darry from crossing the line into homicidal if one more person screams across the room for something completely unnecessary.

“Hey, Superman.” Dally says with a light smirk as he sinks into the couch next to Darry.

Darry looks up and nods.

“How ya doin’?” Now here’s the part where Darry’s supposed to say “meh” or “as good as I can be, I guess” or something along those lines. Or he should at least shrug.

All of that requires energy, though, energy that Darry does not have, so he just hums.

“Yeah, I get that.”

Dally stays next to him, quiet and thoughtful for a moment.

“Hey, y’all wanna go to the drag races?”

Dally’s question is met with a chorus of whoops that make Darry’s head throb, and in a matter of minutes, the whole gang’s out the door.

Dallas walks out the door, then strays back in just before the door closes. He turns the lights off and Darry sighs in relief, the pressure finally gone from his eyes.

He stops again just before stepping out the door and turns back towards Darry.

“There’s still some cake left in the freezer, I saved ya a couple slices of bread, and Two-Bit left a bit of peanut butter in the jar.”

Darry musters a soft “thanks”, and Dally nods.

The door closes with a soft click.

…

“Darry!” Darry raises his eyebrows. He’s just closed the door behind him, work boots still on, and Ponyboy’s running towards him with a grin on his face.

“Why’re you so happy to see me?”

“I finished it!” Darry blinks at him once. Twice.

“What’d you finish?”

“The drawing!”

Ponyboy holds out his notebook, and right there, in the middle of the page, is Darry. He’s made the kitchen doorway vaguely in the background, but it’s in black and white while Darry is in colour.

And it’s— well, it’s impressive to say the least. Darry knew that Ponyboy liked to draw — always had his notebook out when he got bored of talking to people, sketching something he wouldn’t let anyone see —, but he didn’t know he could draw well. He always assumed it was like when he used to draw as a kid, only he didn’t want to show them anymore.

“This is…” Darry can’t seem to finish the sentence. He looks up and meets Pony’s eyes. “You made it?” Ponyboy nods, excited. “I— Can you show me whenever you draw stuff? In the future?”

Ponyboy’s eyes seem to almost glow. “Yeah, sure.”

…

“Ponyboy’s gonna tell you he fell down the stairs today, but Justin Lawson pushed him.” Johnny hesitates for a second. “Second one in the phone book, the first one’s a priest.”

“Right. Thanks.”

…

“How’d ya know I wanted to be alone?”

Dallas cocks an eyebrow. “You ain’t the first.”

…

“Hey, Superman,” Two-Bit says with a grin as he pointedly closes the door behind him.

“Hey, Two.” The smile that comes with the greeting is second nature, but Darry’s not entirely sure whether that’s from genuine happiness or getting used to pretending he’s okay.

“How’s it goin’?” He pulls out a chair and sits down in it backwards, arms resting on the backrest.

Darry sighs with a sarcastic smile, gesturing at the pile of bills in front of him.

“It that time again?”

“Was that time last week.”

Two-Bit whistles low. “You got enough?”

“Hope so.”

“Well, if you ain’t… I don’t got money I can give you. Sure someone’s got some, though.” He starts looking around, as if he would find someone to jump for money inside the Curtises' house.

“It’s fine, Two. Don’t worry about it.” Maybe Darry’s smile is wearing a bit thin or the exhaustion is clear on his face, because Two-Bit drops it.

“Alright.” He looks down, dejected, before lighting up again and looking at Darry, all excited again. “Guess what I found at the store today?”

Darry just raises his eyebrows — a form of rebellion, at this point, considering how the whole gang’s started copying Two-Bit and raising just the one — and tilts his head.

Two-Bit pulls a plastic bag out from behind his chair — how it got there, don’t ask Darry — and grins at Darry. “Lookit what I got.”

It’s a bag of Lay’s, something Darry and Two-Bit had worked together to swipe dozens of times to fuel Darry’s unhealthy obsession, only —

“They make ‘em in barbecue now. Figured we might as well try ‘em out.”

“Yeah?” Darry grins, and this time it’s genuine.

Before he can get another word out, Two-Bit’s fist comes flying down onto the bag and makes a sound so loud that if he weren’t watching it happen, Darry’d think a gun had fired.

At least five chips have gone flying, slamming against the wall, and Darry just knows it’s going to be an absolute pain to clean up.

Then he makes eye contact with Two-Bit and they burst into uncontrollable, stupid laughter. It’s only once they sober up after a couple minutes that Darry realises just how long it’s been since he’s laughed like that.

…

“What’re you drawing?”

Ponyboy moves aside to show him it.

“Oh.”

“Don’t wanna forget him.”

…

“I was talkin’ ta Susie the other day an’ she told me there’s this girl in her class that’ll draw ya stuff if ya pay her, and she cost me extra ‘cause she was scared of her mama findin’ out, but tell me this ain’t worth every penny!”

…

“I hate you!” Ponyboy screams as he storms off into his room. Darry just stares after him, frozen in place.

He doesn’t mean it he doesn’t mean it he doesn’t mean it—

But what if he does?

Love’s in the little things, the little things that add up—

But this feels too big, it’s too much to be just a little setback. Because the little things add up but they also subtract and if you put enough of them together—

There’s a soft knock on the door. Darry sits up from where he’d been in starfish position.

“Yeah?”

The door slowly creaks open. A small figure stands behind it.

“Darry?” Ponyboy stands in the doorway, grabbing onto the frame and avoiding eye contact.

“Yeah?”

“Can I come in?”

Darry crosses his legs and sits up straighter, fully waking up. “Yeah, sure, baby.”

Ponyboy walks in and sits on the edge of Darry’s bed, looking down at the sheets instead of at him.

“I’m sorry,” he says softly, tugging at the ends of his hair. It’s getting too long, but he refuses to cut the bleach out of it and Darry doesn’t have it in him to force him to.

“It’s fine,” Darry says on instinct.

“No, it�� it really ain’t. We’re not supposed to fight anymore. We’re not supposed to holler at each other and go to sleep mad. But we do it anyway, and it’s like nothing’s changed since—” He can’t finish the sentence, but he doesn’t really need to.

“Ponyboy…” Darry trails off. What is there to say? Mama would know what to do, she would know what to say so Ponyboy knew that there was a part of Darry’s soul intrinsically tied to his, following him around no matter how far he wandered.

But Darry doesn’t know how to talk; he hardly knows how to feel.

Ponyboy looks away from him and stays quiet for a couple moments, playing with the loose strings on Darry’s sheets.

“Darry?” He looks up.

“Yeah, honey?”

“Can I tell you a secret?”

Darry frowns. “‘Course.”

“And you promise you won’t be mad?”

“Yeah.”

Ponyboy looks up to catch sight of Darry before his eyes dart away again.

“Sometimes I— Sometimes I’m scared you don’t love me.” He lets the sentence hang for a couple seconds, lets it fester in the air and seep through Darry’s skin. “I ain’t sayin’ you don’t wanna keep me or that ya don’t care, but I just— I don’t know. Are ya doin’ it all ‘cause you think you should?”

He looks up again — furtive, small, scared — and looks back down at the sheets.

“God, Pony,” Darry says softly, “‘Course I love ya. Just ‘cause we fight don’t mean nothing.” Ponyboy still won’t meet his eyes. With every second that goes by, the crack in Darry’s heart grows a bit wider. “C’mere.” He pats the spot beside him.

Ponyboy looks up in surprise. He gets up tentatively and walks over to the other side of the bed, where Darry’s sitting. The moment he’s sat down, Darry wraps an arm around his shoulders and pulls Ponyboy towards him. Ponyboy tenses, and for a moment Darry’s sure he’s made a mistake, that this wasn’t what he needed, before he slowly relaxes, his face burrows into Darry’s shoulder — Jesus he’s tall now, he used to barely reach his chest — and he hugs Darry back like he needs it for the first time in… far too long.

“Love ain’t always pretty, Pony,” Darry whispers into his hair, “It ain’t always perfect and happy and nice, but it’s there. S’why there’s always Pepsi in the fridge and why I always ask where you’re goin’ when you start runnin’ out the door and why Soda and me listen to you talk about your books.” Ponyboy laughs softly, muffled by Darry’s shoulder, and Darry smiles — proud, fond, relieved. “Love ain’t in some big moment, it’s in the little things, so sometimes it can be easy to miss. But it’s there, I promise.” Darry forces himself to pull Ponyboy away from him and take him by the shoulders so they can meet eyes. “It’ll always be there, alright?”

Did I get it right, Mama?

#the outsiders 2025 valentines day exchange #the outsiders #darry curtis

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twistedminutia · 2 months ago

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A Million and One Minutia: Childhood Toys

The freshmen and Gray discuss their childhood toys and nostalgia.

Read the rest of the chapters here and crossposted to AO3 here.

Trips into Foothill Town are regularly scheduled as part of life on NRC’s campus. It’s not a particularly glamorous trip- you don’t get to just magic-mirror portal into town (apparently that’s ‘a waste of magic’). The trips run every weekend, and the school busses you into town. If you want to go during the week, there are rideshare services you can use, but those are extra, so I don’t usually bother with them.

I don’t even go into town that often. There’s a nice park that I visit on occasion, but most of the time the main thing to do is shopping, and you can get most of that stuff on campus if you ask Sam. I try not to do too much window shopping, honestly. Too much temptation to buy with my meager budget.

Generally, the only reason I ever go into town is when Ace and Deuce really want to go. They’re the ones who nudge me into going with them. It’s not a total waste, since Grim seems to enjoy getting off campus once in a while.

The bus ride into town is pretty quick, a bit under fifteen minutes. Technically, there’s a total of five stops it makes, each in a different section of town, but we all get off at the first one. By ‘we all’ I mean Ace, Deuce, Epel, and Jack. Epel ended up coming with us because it gets him out of the dorm for a while, and Jack’s joining because we met him on the bus, and he more or less got dragged with us. Plus, Grim and me.

“Do we have any specific places we want to hit up?” I ask, studying the large map of town that sits next to the bus stop. “We can plan out the best route from here. If we get to the other end of the town before four, we can just take the bus back up to campus from there, so we don’t need to walk back.”

“We don’t need to plan everything,” Ace complains, but he leans over me to look at the map.

“The hardware store,” Jack says. “There’s a fitness store, too.”

“The fitness store,” Epel agrees.

“There’s a bookstore,” Deuce suggests.

Ace snickers. “What do you want with a bookstore?”

Deuce’s face goes slightly pink. “I heard some guys saying they got new magic study books there! Ones that break down different spell components.” Because the town exists between two prestigious magic schools, there’s a decent amount of shops in town that cater to magic users. Apparently, it’s pretty rare for bookshops elsewhere to have a section bigger than a few shelves for magic books. You have to go to specialty stores for that.

“Do you guys need to go to the magic supply store for anything?” I ask. The school provides a lot of stuff, but things for personal projects need to be acquired independently. Again, usually through Sam, but you can sometimes get better discounts at the town stores.

“Nah,” Ace says. “I don’t need anything specific. Just wanted to get out of the dorm.” He groans. “Tyrant Riddle is starting to get on people’s cases about final exams.”

“Seriously?” Epel says, eyebrows lifting. “Those are months from now!”

“Housewarden Riddle’s right that you need to prepare in advance,” Jack disagrees.

“Ugh, it’s barely out of February,” Ace says. “It’s way too early to be thinking about that stuff. Don’t we ever get a break?”

“You’re getting a break right now,” I say. “I wouldn’t mind hitting up a bookstore either.” I used to read a lot more when I was home, but I don’t do it as much on campus. The library has a section for fiction books, but it’s not very big, and Sam doesn’t let you read in his shop for more than a few pages. They’ve usually got a decent showing of popular fiction in the town’s bookstore, and it’s interesting to look at.

“Fine,” Ace says, rolling his eyes. “I guess we can go to the bookstore. But we’re not spending all day there.”

“Is there anywhere you want to go?” I ask diplomatically, since Ace hasn’t said a store yet.

“Eh.” He shrugs. “If I see anywhere that’s cool, we can stop by.”

“What about you, Grim?” He’s been quiet since we got on the bus- I think it made him a little motion sick.

Of course, as soon as I direct my attention to him, he perks up. “I heard some guys talkin’ about a sushi place! Let’s go there!”

Naturally, his brain is on food. We had breakfast not two hours ago. “We’ll see about going there at lunch,” I tell him. “Okay, it looks like the bookstore’s the closest. Here, I’ll take a photo of the map and we can follow it.”

I flip through a few of the popular fiction books at the back of the store while Deuce considers a Beginner’s Guide to Magic book. It’s a bit pricey, but he eventually decides to get it. I could have spent longer there, but both Ace and Grim are looking frustrated, so we head somewhere else. Probably good to not have an irritate Grim near a lot of flammable objects, anyway.

The fitness store is up next, which means it’s my turn to be bored while Jack and Epel debate the finer points of protein powder. I guess it’s all right that Epel wants to get buffer, but I don’t know if protein powder actually makes you taller like he seems to think it will.

The hardware store is the next one. I wasn’t sure why Jack wanted to go here at first, but he spends a long time lingering in the potted plant section, weighing different kinds of potting soil and planters. Never guessed such a big guy would have a soft spot for plants. It’s kind of sweet. Ace makes an attempt to tease him about it, but Jack gives him a single glare and he shuts up.

By the time it’s lunch, we’ve made it to the sushi place. Admittedly, I’m not a seafood person, but they offer ramen there, too, so I get some of that. I try not to eat out or order off-campus food, since it’s a bit too expensive, but it is really nice to eat something I didn’t have to cook. Plus, the sushi part is all-you-can-eat, so Grim’s bottomless pit of a stomach isn’t going to bankrupt me here.

Once we leave the sushi place, we wander for a little bit. The sea air floats over town, accompanied by the yelling of kids and the murmur of adults talking and shopping. Deuce chats amiably with Epel, with Ace and Grim adding in their own thoughts as the mood strikes them. Jack walks next to me, both of us silent. It’s weird. I never lived in a very walkable area, so I never walked much. Not that I would have had people to walk with. This is… nice.

“Oi, Gray!” I pause and turn a quarter rotation back. I’ve almost walked past everyone else- I didn’t notice them stopping. Ace waves me back to them. “Where are you even going? Come on, we’re heading inside.”

I glance at the sign over the store as we head inside. “Golden Bear Toys? We’re stopping at a toy store?” Not that I mind, but I’m kind of surprised everyone else wants to go.

“Everyone else got to pick a place,” Ace says. “Toy stores sometimes have decent magic trick sections. I’d like to take a look.”

The store itself isn’t very big, but they’ve done something with the space to make it feel bigger. The shelves are towering, and the ceilings arc up, making me feel younger just by standing beneath them. There are a few different sections you can see right upon walking inside- an area with large, blocky toys, probably for little kids, a painted jungle of shelves overflowing with stuffed animals, a less brightly-colored section for older kids, and a small spot that seems to be for collectables and tabletop gaming. I can see painting kits and glass shelves for showing off figures. There’s even a big bin of vinyl animal figures nearby, topped with a sitting dragon.

“Woah,” I say. “Nice store.” This is exactly the place I would have wanted to spend all my time as a kid. Shame I’m a bit too old for it now.

“I haven’t been in a toy store in ages,” Deuce says. “I was more of an outdoorsy kid.”

“There wasn’t a toy store at all where I grew up,” Epel adds. “I mean, everyone in town gave me toys, but I was more interested in playing outside, too. Sometimes I’d drag one of them with me, I guess.”

Jack nods. “I was the same way. Always preferred the sports stores to the toys.” He picks up a stuffed wolf and runs his hands over it. It’s ridiculously fluffy, but the white fur bears a striking resemblance to Jack’s own wolf form.

“I ain’t never been in a place like this before,” Grim says. He seems a little awestruck, eyes as big as saucers while he takes everything in. “Hey, what’s that thing?”

He points a paw toward a large display case. It must be some kind of promotion or something, since there’s several stuffed animals hanging off a wire rack, with a few children’s books on the table next to it.

To my surprise, Ace’s face lights up. “Hey, I remember this guy!” He leans over and plucks a monster from the rack. It’s a similar shade of gray to Grim, but its body plan is pretty different. It’s on all fours, with leathery bat-wings, a fuzzy body, and a face that looks kind of like a wolf’s. The tail is similar to Grim’s too, being three pronged like a pitchfork.

“Oh!” Epel reaches out and picks up one of his own, turning it over in his hands. “Baldwin!”

“Baldwin?” I repeat, bewildered.

“My mom used to read these to me,” Deuce says, picking up one of the books and pages through it.

“The show’s still on,” Jack says “My little sister was obsessed with it.”

“Does it still have the same old theme tune?” Ace asks. Jack shrugs. “Come on, you have to remember it.” Jack shrugs again.

“Ugh, you’re going to get it stuck in my head!” Epel says. His accent thickens at the edges of his words, like it usually does when he gets annoyed. Ace dodges as Epel tries to swat him with the toy.

“What, the theme song? Baldwin, the good monster, runnin’ round the world…” Ace slips into singing, though it wavers with his barely-contained snickers.

Epel groans, but he joins in after a few lines, almost like he can’t help it. “Goin’ here and there, helping all he could…”

Deuce half-hums the tune, the words indistinct. “Someday he’ll come trotting up asking what to do…”

Jack doesn’t actually join in, but I can see his mouth moving to outline the words as the other three finish up. “He’s Baldwin the good monster, and he’s coming to help you!”

Ace dissolves into snickers as he plants the toy back on the rack. “Man, it has to have been years since I’ve seen that show. They make those songs so you can’t forget them.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full episode of it,” Epel sighs. “But everyone knew the theme song at school.”

“Did your parents have these books?” Deuce asks. Epel nods.

“Everyone was always gifting my family these. I actually think we had three copies of the same one, because people wouldn’t ask before buying.” Epel sets down the toy and pages through one of the books. “This is a new one. Baldwin and the Wishing Star.”

I peek over Epel’s shoulder to get a look of my own. It looks like a fairly standard children’s book- big, watercolor-esque illustrations with small paragraphs on each page. Most of the pages feature the little monster, Baldwin, exploring or staring up at the sky.

“You know which ones are new?” Ace says, teasing. Epel’s face starts to flush.

“I’ve got a little cousin! We get new books like this all the time!”

“My sister likes these ones,” Jack says, ignoring Ace and Epel’s sniping. He picks up a book from the back of the table. It’s the kind of short chapter book you’d get for someone who’s just coming out of elementary school, maybe. Mostly words, with a few black-and-white illustrations.

“I didn’t know they made books other than picture books,” Deuce says. He picks one up and skims it.

“I think it’s recent,” Jack says. “They made a spinoff, too…”

“I want to see!” Grim complains near my feet. We’re clustered around the table too tightly for him to get up- probably good, since he definitely would have knocked all the books off. I pick up the book and bend over to show it to him.

He studies it for a moment. I feel a flicker of something, watching him parse the words. Grim can read (not sure how he learned) but he’s never been interested in it. He’ll read for school, if you drag him kicking and screaming to the books and force him to sit there, but he’s never happy about it. Maybe part of that is that he’s not any good at it. He’s never been to a school before NRC. No one’s ever formally taught him to read, I assume. Is his stubbornness over schoolwork just because he’s trying to do something he barely understands?

A curl of guilt twists around my stomach. How did I not notice this sooner? Should I have been getting him books like this all along? Or would he think it’s patronizing? I never even offered to read books to him or anything, I just assumed he wouldn’t like it. But maybe he would like an adventure story or something. That’s how my mom taught me how to read. She sat me on her lap and read me stories from books-

Something cold and strangulating grips my throat. I look up at the guys. Deuce is flipping through a book with a soft, nostalgic look, Jack looking over his shoulder while trying not to look like he’s looking. Ace is humming the theme tune absentmindedly. Epel examines one of the toys with a vaguely fond expression, like he’s seeing an old friend. It must be a really popular show here, or franchise or whatever. Enough for them all to know it. Deuce’s mom read these books to him. Maybe the other parents did, too. A little common thread between them, a little flicker of nostalgia.

Where are all the books my mom read to me? Where are all my childhood toys, the franchises I liked growing up?

They’re all… gone.

It’s not like I’ve read those books in years, even. I don’t even think they’re in the house anymore, unless Mom packed them into the attic or something. But I always could have gotten a new copy or picked one up at the library, or done what everyone else is doing right now- wandered into a bookstore, seen a copy, and gotten a hit of nostalgia. I can’t now. Those books are gone. I can’t find them in a bookstore, I can’t talk about them with anyone else who also read them as a kid, I can’t even read their Wikipedia article online. They don’t exist here. Wikipedia doesn’t exist here.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I can’t stop. I was midway through a series about aliens invading people’s minds. The last book was supposed to come out in March. Assuming time’s passing in my world, it’s been out for months now. There was a new video game I was supposed to pick up, one my mom had promised for my birthday. My brother and I played it. You could find little stuffed toys of the characters in any toy store in the world. In my world. There aren’t any here.

I had a little stuffed cat on my bed at home. It was the first stuffed toy I ever picked out myself (that’s what my Mom says anyway, I was too young to remember). I just started making little grabby motions toward it when we were out and she got it for me. It’s really worn now, so I don’t actually have it in the bed when I sleep. But I put it there on the pillows when I make the bed. I did when I made the bed before I-

It should still be there. That’s weird. I didn’t move it, so it should still be there. Unless my parents moved it. Because they were doing something in my room. Or maybe they’re just keeping things still for me. For when I- when I get to go back-

“Hench-human!” Grim huffs. I startle. “Are ya gonna turn the page or not?”

I blink and turn the page as the shop seems to re-form around me. Ace and Epel are having some kind of discussion with Jack on how old is too old to watch a kid’s show. I think they’re both agreeing that his sister is ‘too old’ while Jack is trying to defend her. Deuce is watching with an expression that suggests he might have watched a kid’s show for longer than they think is appropriate, but knows going in on Jack’s side will only cause trouble for him.

“This story’s dumb,” Grim complains. “Why’s the monster tryin’ to give all these people wishes? He went to all the work to get ‘em! He should keep ‘em for himself!”

“I think it’s supposed to be about the value of sharing,” I say numbly. “Like, don’t keep things to yourself if other people need them.”

“Ya gotta be selfish some of the time,” Grim grumbles. “He should keep at least one of the wishes.”

“Maybe. He says he’s happy with it, though. Maybe he is fine.” Grim offers me an exceedingly skeptical look. “Maybe he is! You don’t know!”

“Ain’t nobody happy, givin’ away their wishes,” Grim says. “He shoulda at least made everyone else pay for them!”

“Now you sound like Azul,” I say. I look at the guys, who are still poking around with the monsters, fondly reminiscing. “Y’wanna go look at something else?”

Grim nods. I replace the book and slip away from the other guys. They seem too wrapped up in their nostalgia to notice.

“Those books were dumb,” Grim huffs. “I dunno why everyone else liked them so much.”

“They’re things they remember from their childhood,” I say. “They’re… nostalgic. Nice. I guess it makes them think of a time when they felt really happy and safe.”

Grim stares at the ground for a moment. His fur lifts upon his spine. Grim… doesn’t have that, does he? He doesn’t remember his past. He knows some things, clearly, but personal information is, apparently, a void. The only thing he can remember is being alone…

Sometimes, I think I forget that even while Grim is a native to this world, he’s still like me. He needs almost as much education as I do. I mean, it’s not exactly the same- he belongs at NRC more than I do, at least. And sometimes it feels like he’s the opposite of me. He doesn’t have a past, but he has a future. I have a past, but what kind of future could I ever have here?

“Gray!” Grim complains. “Where are we even goin’?”

I pause. I was just letting my feet take me wherever, and we’ve wandered through a few aisles into the stuffed animal section. The shelves are literally overflowing with fluffy critters. A lot of them look like normal animals, but some of them are fantastical creatures. I pick up a soft, red dragon and wonder what Hornton might think of it.

Grim glares at one of the toys on his level. I think it’s supposed to be some kind of direbeast, with a snarling expression and thick, gray fur. “What’s with all this stuff, anyway?”

“They’re stuffed animals. They’re just supposed to be cute and cuddly. For fun.” I glance around and my gaze is drawn to a cat plushie. It’s not the same as my cat plush from home. Mine was a brown tabby and this one is white and gray. But it’s cute nonetheless, and I feel kind of drawn toward it.

I wander over and pick it up. It’s soft, almost impossibly so. The stuffing is firm, but with a good level of squish to it. The face is really cute- they’ve made it look like it’s smiling with the mouth stitching, but not so much that it seems cartoonish.

Part of me kind of wants it. I know I shouldn’t- I have food expenses, Grim expenses, and even if they’re fixing up Ramshackle so I don’t have those expenses anymore, I need to be prepared. But it’s really cute. It would be nice to have one.

With nothing more than idle curiosity, I flip the price tag and- oh my God, what is this thing made out of, spun gold? Well, okay, the price would be a lot higher if that was the case, but this is still kind of exorbitant. I didn’t think stuffed animals were this expensive. This thing costs most of my weekly grocery bills. I’m not doing that.

“Gray!” I jump and Grim goes about a foot in the air as Deuce scrambles into the aisle, limbs flailing. He skids to a stop. “There you are! You just vanished.”

“Sorry,” I say. “I didn’t want to interrupt you guys. I just…” I shrug. “Wanted to go look at some other things.”

Deuce sighs. “Yeah, okay. Just tell us next time? It was kind of freaky when you vanished like that.”

“Why? We’re in a toy store. Nothing’s going to happen.”

“It’s…” Deuce sputters against my impenetrable logic. “It’s rude,” he finally offers, looking triumphant at his own logical victory.

I think he got that from Riddle. I have a tendency to just leave things without saying goodbye, and apparently, to Riddle, this is the height of rudeness. Or at least one of the heights. I caught a lecture from him when he saw me next, which sucks, because saying goodbye is the worst. You either have to inject yourself into whatever conversation people are already having, or stand awkwardly on the outside of the conversation until they acknowledge you, then you have to formally notify them you’re leaving while they make all the appropriate ‘oh, we’ll miss you’ noises even if that objectively is not true. Blegh. Let me just slip out into the night like a ghost, and everyone else will figure out what happened eventually.

“Gray?” Deuce prods. “Uh. You still okay?”

“I’m fine,” I say.

“You’ve been drifting off a little more recently,” Deuce says. There’s an awkward pause, and Deuce seems to be forcing the words off his tongue. Not like he’s reluctant to say them, but more like he’s so unused to saying them he’s not quite sure how. “Have you been, uh. Feeling okay? Recently?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I’m fine.”

“We were just sick of listening to you talk about that dumb monster book,” Grim huffs, folding his paws over his chest.

“Really?” Deuce says. “I guess we all just got kind of caught up in it… Everyone knows Baldwin, he’s like the mascot of childhood-” He blanches a little. “W-well, I guess he wouldn’t have been around for yours…”

“It’s fine,” I say. “I just wanted to look around. Where’s everyone else?”

Deuce glances over his shoulder. “Uh, I think Ace went off to look at the magic stuff, and Epel was looking at some bikes they have over on the back racks. Not sure where Jack went.” He pauses and looks at my stuffed toy. At some point, I started cradling it in my arms like a baby. “What’s that?”

“Uh.” I hold it out for further inspection. “Stuffed animal.”

“It’s cute,” Deuce says politely.

“Yeah. I had one kind of like it at home.” There’s a minute change in Deuce’s expression, but I can’t track it well.

“Are you going to get it?” he asks.

“Uh. No.” I put it back on the shelf. “It’s a little pricey. And anyway, I guess I’m too old for stuffed animals, right?”

Deuce looks at me, then at the stuffed animal. He doesn’t say anything.

“Come on, Grim. Do you want to look around a little more?” I tilt my head further down the aisle.

“If they’ve got cool stuff,” Grim says, and trots ahead of me. Deuce doesn’t follow. Just stands for a moment, looking at the stuffed animals. Just as I’m rounding the corner of the aisle, he turns on his heel and heads in the other direction.

Grim, as it turns out, does like some of the stuff a toy store can offer. There are these little magic-powered flying toys you can control with remotes that he stares at in utter fascination. Unfortunately, they’re even more expensive than the stuffed animal, so we leave that aisle empty-handed. He also enjoys the toy train they’ve got set up; the thick, wooden carriage and cars are easier to manipulate with his paws than more delicate toys. We meet up with Ace in the small magic trick section, who shows me a quick trick involving a disappearing handkerchief. Grim tries it too, but his paws don’t work well for the manipulations the trick requires. He huffs and puffs, even emitting a little cloud of smoke, so I take him outside, just in case the smoke becomes fire. I pass Deuce and Epel whispering together as I do, which strikes me as a little strange. Neither of them notice me, though.

The guys emerge as one group, taking a little longer to do so than I expected. They’re all clumped together and whispering, but they shut up the second they see me. Weird.

“Hey,” I say. Ace is holding a bag with the shop’s logo on it in one hand, so I guess he decided to purchase some of the magic stuff. Deuce, meanwhile, is attempting to shove a bag also containing the store’s logo into his other bag from the bookstore. “Oh, did you get something too?”

Deuce freezes. Epel executes a facepalm that is going to have Vil scolding him about red marks later. Jack’s ears tilt back in subtle display of disappointment. “Um,” Deuce says.

“It’s okay, you don’t need to be embarrassed about getting a toy,” I say. “They had a lot of cool stuff in there.”

“Yeah! Like the flutter-copters!” Grim makes a grab at the bag, which Deuce frantically yanks out of his grasp. “Did you get one? Let me see!”

“No! It’s not for you!” Deuce holds his purchases above his head while I tug Grim back.

“If Deuce doesn’t want to show us, he doesn’t have to,” I say. Grim grouses about Deuce not sharing, but makes no further grabs. Deuce surreptitiously glances into his bag as we start walking, like he’s checking the purchase. Weirdly enough, I catch him also showing it to Ace, but maybe it’s just Grim he didn’t want to see it.

We start making our way back toward the bus. I convince everyone else to take a pit stop at the bookstore and spend a few minutes rummaging through their cheap books section before finally striking upon some kind of magical adventure story that seems decently entertaining, with even a few illustrations scattered throughout. It costs just under ten thaumarks, so I bite the bullet and get it.

We crowd onto the bus together. Grim nearly always sits with me, with a little bit of awkwardness. There’s always a bit of awkwardness when he sits- his legs are digitigrade, so they’re a bit weird in human seats, and his height means that when sitting at a desk or table, the edge tends to be just about even with his chin. I’m wondering if I should request, during the renovations, that the table be removed from the kitchen and replaced with the cushion and flat surface setup Scarabia seems to have going on. Grim seemed most comfortable there.

There’s some shuffling as the others pick out their seats. Not super unusual- there’s never enough space for everyone to have their own row on the bus, so arguments about who gets the window are pretty much universal. This time, though, it seems a little more like a debate than the bribe/bet fest it usually is. I can’t really catch what they’re saying, though, and it’s resolved within moments. Deuce squishes into the seat next to me, while Ace, Epel, and Jack slide into the one in front of us. A bit unusual- Jack took a seat to himself last time, with one other student sitting next to him. The seats are technically suited for three people, but Jack’s broad, which means Epel, as the person with the least mass, is sort of getting crowded.

As soon as people get settled in and the bus starts to move, all three of the people in the front turn around and lean over the seat back.

“Are you going to do it?” Ace asks, hooking his arms over the corner of the seat back.

“Do what?” I ask, glancing at Deuce. Whatever he’s doing, he suddenly seems to be having cold feet about it. He’s not making eye contact.

“Just do it,” Jack suggests. Deuce starts rummaging through his bag. After a few seconds of awkward shuffling, he emerges with the bag from the toy store.

“Here.” He passes it into my hands, still refusing to meet my gaze. “It’s from all of us.”

I have an inkling of what it is from the shape and size, but I’m somehow still surprised when I unwrap it. It’s the little plush cat from the toy store, paws stretched out and a stitched smile on its muzzle.

“Oh,” I say, not sure what else to add. “You got it for me?”

“Eh.” Ace waves it off. “Only because your house got destroyed. Figured you needed some kind of cheering up.”

“And as a thank you,” Epel offers, “for going to STYX with me.”

“You don’t need to thank me for that, I was going for Grim,” I say.

“Still, it was mighty brave to go without magic,” Epel says.

“And you helped with Leona,” Jack says, brushing a hand through his hair. “…Thought it’d be a good gesture, anyway.”

“Oh.” I’m… weirdly touched. Deuce taps my arm.

“Uh. Do you like it?”

“Yeah.” I clutch the little cat to my chest. “I love it. Thank you.”

Which is about the point where Grim, having spent the last minute nosing through the discarded toy store bag, starts to complain. “Hey! How come you got my hench-human something but not me?”

“I’m not going to give you something. You didn’t help out at all at STYX,” Epel says.

Grim’s fur fluffs all along his spine. “I was KIDNAPPED!”

“Sorry, Grim,” Deuce says. “I’ll buy you something from the cafeteria tomorrow?”

“Don’t give in to him,” Ace complains. “He’ll just whine more.”

“Buy me two things,” Grim insists. I nudge him with my elbow.

“Don’t push it, and say thank you to Deuce for getting you something,” I tell him. Grim grumbles out his thanks to a Deuce who looks a bit like he’s regretting agreeing. Well, he has those VDC funds. He can afford one bakery item for Grim. “And I got something for you, anyway.”

There’s a murmur of surprise from everyone, except Grim, who immediately charges me. “Ya did? That’s my hench-human! The Great Grim’s trained you well! So, where is it?” He starts pawing at my bag and I have to push him away.

“You’ll get it later tonight. It’s a surprise.” He grouses, but doesn’t make any more grabs for my stuff.

I tuck the stuffed cat into my lap, stroking the fur until it’s all lying smooth and with the grain. “Thank you, guys. Really. You didn’t have to do this. I know it was kind of expensive.”

“It’s not so bad if you split it four ways,” Ace says. “Just don’t get used to this kind of thing.”

“I won’t,” I say.

As the bus continues onward, the guys slip into conversation. Ace tries to show off some of his new magic tricks to Epel, who’s better at catching what Ace is doing than I would have thought. He consistently impresses Deuce, though, which might be partially because Deuce has to lean over the seat and has a worse viewing angle. Jack’s staring out the window, but one of his ears is rotated back toward the guys. Grim curls up against me, half-asleep. I keep stroking the little cat, smoothing its fur, then ruffling it up and re-smoothing it.

When we get back to school, we split at the Mirror Chamber. I go back to Pomefiore with Epel and head to my room. It’s a bit empty- there was supposed to be another bed, I guess, but it got moved before I showed up. I place the little cat onto my pillow and start looking up Baldwin.

It’s a very long-running series. Apparently there have been three reboots of the toy line and TV show, plus an endless series of books, stuffed animals, and made-for-TV movies. Apparently Vil even had a single voice acting role in one of them. It’s the only voice acting role he’s ever done, as far as I can tell. I guess he’s not a fan of roles where you can’t see his face.

Someone’s uploaded one of the movies online. I watch it with Grim. It’s… fine. Standard kid stuff. It’s just… there’s a very distinct difference between watching something for kids and watching something for kids that you watched as a kid. No matter how stupid the show is, even if you cringe and wonder how you could have ever liked it as a kid, I think there’s always a part of you that still likes it on some level. Sometimes I would look up clips from old TV shows I saw as a kid and get a little bit of nostalgia that way.

(I search the names of a couple of shows I liked as a kid. I wasn’t really expecting them to show up. Somehow, it still hurts when they don’t.)

After dinner, right as I’m getting ready to go to bed for the night. I call Grim over. “Remember what I was saying about getting you something earlier?”

He scrambles over, paws slipping on the silken bedsheets. “Myeah! What’d ya get me? Those flyin’ things? Food?”

“Here.” I pull the book out of my bag and hold it out to him. The change on his face is immediate.

“A book?” His tail lashes as his ears fold back. “I don’t want more homework!”

“It’s not a homework book. It’s a fun book. I think you’ll like it. And if you don’t, I can always take it back and you can pick out a story that you like more.”

Grim looks mutinous for a further moment. Then he sighs. “I don’t like readin’.”

“Well, I’ll read this one to you. You just have to follow along.” I lean back against my pillows and pat the space next to me. “Maybe it’ll be easier if it’s a story that’s fun, too.”

He crawls up next to me, head nearly against mine. There’s something sweet about having a little, fuzzy creature next to me. I miss Sassy- hopefully Grim’ll like this enough that we can keep doing this at Ramshackle.

I clear my throat. “Once, the lonely kingdom on the Everdawn Planes stood tall and proud above all others…”

Read the next chapter here.

#twisted wonderland #a million and one minutia #twst #twisted wonderland fanfic #yuusona #grim twst #ace trappola #deuce spade #jack howl #epel felmier

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avionvadion · 9 months ago

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Ortho: "Those pieces of wood are not just sitting on their skin; they're rooted deep into their heads. If we tried to force them off, it would not end well! Furthermore... Eleanora Quince's health is deteriorating rapidly. The wood seems to be interfering with another magic already engraved deep in her body. She... may not survive the night if we can't discover the cause of these roots and how to remove them."

Listen, ya'll. I have October mapped out.

Halloween preparations start on September 30th (Divus says they have a "month" to prepare.) The Magift Tournament is in mid-October, so I'm going to have it take place on the 17th. Playful Land will be taking place a couple days after the tournament but a couple days before Halloween Week. (18-24th, as Ortho gives us a decent timeline at the very beginning of the event to work with, so it'll be one of those days) Halloween Week is the last week of October. (25th-31st, exactly seven days.)

Considering everyone will be turning into living puppets, I'm treating that magic as a curse. Furthermore, Eleanora can not have another curse overlapping the one she already has. Thus, she gonna start dying.

There's already gonna be lasting drama from Book Two featuring Ace, but oooooooh boy this is gonna get DARK.

Especially since Eleanora would absolutely be considered a "defective" puppet. Once she starts visibly deteriorating and losing life, Fellow will most likely tell his "boss" that one of the puppets seem to be dying from the spell. If he does that, then the boss will probably tell Fellow to "toss the defective one overboard" and into the sea.

They can't restore her to normal and let her tell everyone what happened, but they can't sell her as a living puppet either. Easiest way to get rid of her is to toss her overboard while she's still being transformed.

Fellow probably won't dump her into the water right away, though.

Human trafficking is one thing, but murder is another. (Really? That's where the line is drawn?) So he'd probably be keeping an eye on her condition to see if she actually dies or not, checking her pulse every now and then, etc. Contemplating his life choices and why he's still working for such a rich asshole who treats him like utter shit.

As time passes, Fellow probably comments that Eleanora will end up becoming a "pretty corpse" after all, unlike her friends who will be living puppets, and Lilia will be pissed at that but can't really do much since he's also paralyzed from the wooden curse.

ALSO, since Fellow IS a card-

I'm trying to rationalize why and when he might end up joining NRC.

The only reasons I can think of after watching his SSR story and reading his voice lines, is that he realized he needs to actually learn the stuff he wants to be able to teach for when he eventually gets the funds he needs to build a school for the poor and the people with little to no magic. Because, even in his SSR story, he laments that he can't teach Gidel a whole lot of stuff since he himself never went to school.

(Him teaching Gidel how to read was the cutest damn thing oh my goodness)

But how did he get into NRC, when he doesn't have the magic for it or the cash? How was he able to establish himself as a student with Gidel as his "other half" similar to Idia+Ortho and Yuu+Grim, so he can build up his knowledge and make a proper game plan?

My idea is, he managed to catch Kalim in town and sweet-talked him into speaking to his parents, mentioning the offer Kalim spoke of before back in Playful Land, and at his behest Kalim's parents bribed the school into letting Fellow and Gidel attend, sponsoring the boys as Kalim spoke very highly of them. (Similar to when Kalim was supposed to be in RSA, but was transferred to NRC so he wouldn't be separated from Jamil.)

That said, I do think it would also take a couple months for Fellow to come to terms with his situation and make the decision to attend NRC after all.

As such... I leave you with this to consider:

Fellow showing up after winter break is over, at the start of January, just before GloMasq and Book Five. Thus being left with all of the boys who were nearly turned into puppets who still have grudges, and those who have grown fond of El after she saved them realizing this was the man who almost KILLED her, while Eleanora and Grim are off at Noble Bell College.

He will be in for a talking to, and poor El is gonna have to fight for her life trying to calm Malleus' rampage when they get back so Gidel doesn't lose his older brother. XD

#twisted wonderland #twst #playful land's miraculous marionettes #playful land spoilers #twst playful land #twisted wonderland playful land #fellow honest #twst gidel #ernesto foulworth #honest ernesto does NOT hit the same as honest fellow #twst oc #twisted wonderland oc #once upon a dream #eleanora quince #'you're okay with human trafficking but you draw the line at murder?' meme insert here

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high-voltage-rat · 6 months ago

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Having some G.E.A.R.S. University thoughts. Based on real, actual things that have happened over my real, actual university experience, things aren't actually *that* far-fetched.

Houses stealing each others' mascots and holding bitter grudges over it? So real. We regularly steal other schools' mascots and ransom them back in exchange for silly and embarassing acts. Our mascot, a miniature functioning cannon, was once spirited away overseas by a former student. (We now have a team of cannon guards who chain themselves to the cannon for its safety, and an anonymous chief who wears a blacked out face shield attached to their hard hat and keeps the cannon safe during downtime). Mystraven stealing the Drakylon Cube and the Wolfblade to put them in the Labyrinth is pretty in-line with engineering prank culture, if anything it's not intense enough. I just want to see them demand Wolfblade and Runehawk provide "a hand-painted portrait of the other house's logo done with their non-dominant hands", "9 bottles of mocha cola cooled to exactly 2.7⁰C", and "one first year student to join mystraven as a human sacrifice" in exchange for their mascots (all based on real prank ransoms I've seen). Maybe the other houses should establish a mascot guard.

Pizza stuck to the wall indefinitely in dorms? On move-out day in my residence I witnessed a toothbrush embedded in the ceiling and garbage bags piled to the ceiling of the garbage rooms and down the hallway. People let mold grow on their food in the communal fridge until it was 4 different colours and thick as chinchilla fur and I, someone who didn't even USE that fridge, disposed of it. The hero's dorm room is actually pretty clean in comparison to some of the stuff I've seen. When their desk is piled in papers and their floor is covered with dirty laundry, I'll believe they're an average university student.

I've never had a professor make anyone wear a dunce cap, but my first year physics prof probably would have if he could have. He called students idiots to their faces in front of a whole lecture hall, and had a list of "content-free phrases" on his official department website- including such terms as "stakeholder", "partnership", "facilitate", "leadership", and "ecosystem". He has tenure and is a federal research chair. Aleysia probably has incredible job security and just does whatever she wants in response.

The real-life equivalent of the G.E.A.R.S. entrance exam was the frosh week "entrance exam" we were told was administered by the faculty. It was intentionally so hard it was improbable to get more than ~4 questions in, and even included ones that were literally, mathematically, impossible to solve. It was, in fact, a prank by upper years. But it did accurately set the tone for the rest of the program.

The real-life equivalent of Aleysia's "I'm pitting you against 4 enemies because I want you to fail" is a calc II prof who declared the class average of 58% on a midterm was "too high" and increased the difficulty of the next one. (Said prof also learned the school was ending in-person classes when the pandemic hit, decided to try and teach the rest of the course material in the final in-person one hour lecture slot, told us to read the textbook, and never taught us another thing for the rest of the remaining month of classes. And then the exam was 24 hours long (yes, actually. 24.) and the hardest thing I've ever done.) You just know Mecha Combat 101 students are chanting "pray for the curve" after every assessment.

The hero having 4 jobs around town AND doing Hero Stuff on top of schoolwork is just a turbo-charged version of my dear friend who had a full-time job, was head of a club, and was acing 8 courses (standard is 6, he had to petition the faculty to let him take more than 7).

Not to feed a mean stereotype, but our electrical engineering common room smells so badly of body odour that they have air fresheners everywhere. The cockpits of student mecha probably smell atrocious and people probably need a bundle of those little rearview mirror air fresheners for cars dangling over their pilot's station. G.E.A.R.S. student welcome package: mecharoni coupon, baby's first pilot uniform, directions for how to get to Specific Hospital, and 50 air fresheners.

There's a guy who for years rollerbladed everywhere. I once saw him rollerblade out of the bathroom and down the stairs. No one questioned him. I once brought a rat carrier to class and no one looked at it twice. Maybe it's not quite Hugh Munn level, but you can do some really odd stuff and nobody bats an eye. They all have midterms to study for, there's no time to worry about what you're doing. So sure, maybe that guy's a suspicious alien imposter, but you missed the last tutorial and he has good notes so the rest is none of your business.

Pulling up to lecture halls and having to sit on a chair to the side because everywhere else is full does happen. I've been in lecture halls so large and crowded, people in the back were using binoculars to see the chalkboard. In first year I sat on the floor for more than a few lectures when there were no seats. I feel the hero's pain, but at least they got a stool.

The lesson in M.A.T.H. is actually legit wisdom that we discuss in real engineering classes. Standards with clearly defined metrics are important, yo. This isn't an absurd occurances bit I just thought it's important. Sarrina is correct even if forcing students to measure between half the buildings in Soluna City is a bit Much.

We have a course that for a major project, asks us to use contact cement (which produces extremely strong fumes) to build a prototype bridge. They do not provide respirators. It's basically a rite of passage for first years to get high off contact cement by accident working on this project until 3am. We have another that asked us to design a "launcher" with very little regulation as to what that meant (and we were literally encouraged to "squirrel" around definitions), and set us loose in a school building to work on it- resulting in rogue projectiles nearly taking innocent bystanders out all week. I've seen people duelling with previously mentioned bridge prototypes as swords, zapping each other with electronics components they were supposed to use for lab projects (do not do this), dropping dry ice down each others' shirts (do not do this), and genuinely wanting to eat the gel we use for gel electrophoresis (do not do this!!!). I am not at all fazed by the idea that students are invited to and willing to attack each other with live rounds in their mecha or with deadly energy blades on foot. Frankly, I could see it happening on our campus if we had the technology.

Lastly, I want you to know: all of the G.E.A.R.S. profs need to be weirder. I love Denara, Aleysia, Anastasia, Tsuba, and Sarrina- but they need to be weirder. My calc I prof is an aeronautics genius but apparently doesn't believe in climate change. My Intro to Computer Programming prof showed us a selfie he took with Snoop Dogg. My intro Civil Engineering prof spent more than half of our lecture time talking about ancient roman bridges. My Thermal Physics prof followed a math proof with "I hope you're convinced, or disgusted, or whatever.", and spouted such wisdom as "there are dangers to going to Antarctica, like you may come home to find your wife has bought you a dog.", "computers are born to suffer", "Everything is a spring at low amplitude, just ask the mechanical engineers", "If you're a level 7 log mage you can do this proof, but I'm only a level 6, so I won't", and "close is just another name for wrong". My ordinary differential equations prof was obsessed with shoehorning boba into every example problem. My developmental bio prof insisted we only call him by first name and loved fruit flies, to the point that any time he showed us an image and asked us what it was, "fruit fly" was a safe answer. My materials science prof posts pictures of grocery store fruit displays he sees to his twitter to talk about what molecular crystal structure they're stacked in. People who become professors are always just a little weird. The G.E.A.R.S. profs are too normal and serious, if you leave aside the "throwing students into mortal danger" thing.

I want to see Denara, exhausted from writing grant proposals, blasting an air horn to make her talkative class shut up so she can start lecture. I want to see Aleysia go off on a 20 minute long tangent about her extremely niche field of research when she's supposed to be lecturing because this specific style of mech is just so fascinating. I want to see Anastasia, desperate for student engagement in lectures, showing memes about course content in her lecture slides. I want to see these profs be so experienced in their fields that it doesn't occur to them that their students might not have ever heard of the concept they're covering, and just breeze right through it like it's obvious. I want to see "do as I say, not as I do"-style approaches to safety from the teaching staff who do demonstrations of maneuvers that could destroy their mech and injure them if they make one wrong move because their hubris is enormous now that they have tenure and good disability insurance (here's looking at you, Sys-Zero. I saw that gratuitous barrel roll). I want G.E.A.R.S. profs who feel like academics.

#is the stuff I experienced also a little nuts? yeah. I survived a 24 hour exam ama.#but I think it just goes to show that the stuff we see ingame is like. not unheard of. outside the mecha combat.#and playing mechquest as a kid may be why I took a lot of this in stride when it happened to me lmao #also. I've mentioned this before but we literally have. a peer mentoring service called G.E.A.R.S. at my school.#mechquest #aleysia mechquest #denara mechquest #anastasia mechquest #sarrina mechquest #ali plays ae #late nights with ali

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s1m0nth3swag · 1 year ago

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Leon S. Kennedy X M!Reader

A little self indulgent fic, because Leon is my husband (real) (not clickbait) (we are cuddling on the couch as of writing this). Fluffy but I DEFINETLY have some silly nsfw indulgences with him :)

Fun fact a chainsaw actually went off while I wrote this so that is definetly a sign from the universe.

I changed some stuff about my layout etc for this one, but the spacing is a little weird for this one because I had to write it on another medium and not tumblr, since for some reason I couldn't save at some points. (tho i think i fixed it pretty well)

may or may not be a little rushed at the end because I got new scenarios for Leon and uhm!!! BIG need to write but I wanted to finish this one to properly introduce my new layout and stuff!

WARNINGS/ CONTENT INFO; Male Reader, Leon is a silly guy, mentions and describtions of alcoholism, lots of bumps and small issues because Leon doesn't know how to properly care for someone and neither does reader, Reader is mentioned to be younger & shorter than Leon and to not understand social cues at times, Vendetta to Death Island Leon (my favs <3), slight mention of Death, slipped my head cannon in here that Vendetta Leon was in a long depressive episode and actually got to heal some time before Death Island, soft angst because Reader thinks Leon is straight, slight themes of bullying (though its never said to be that), pretty long (surprised at myself for that), only like halfway proof read

When you met Leon for the first time you swore you'd dislike him. You had just recently started working as a DSO agent and were supposed to work under him for a while, because he was "a competent older agent" and "knew what he was doing". Yet there he was, hungover from last night, wishing he already had another bottle of literally whatever alcohol he could acquire. For a second, you believed that he was someone else, surely not the Leon Scott Kennedy you had only heard praises of, someone who was held over your head as role model during the gruesome training you had to go through. Not a chance this poor excuse of a DSO agent was the person you had been told to be like. He had looked at you, grumbled something under his breath, and then strutted into his office. He hadn't even paid you a second glance. You didn't know whether to be offended or glad about it. If he didn't like you, you'd get assigned to another DSO agent, someone who might actually look the part. Someone who wouldn't be such a lowlife as Leon seemed to be. You'd take that over Leon any day, you told yourself.

Nothing prepared you for what would actually happen. Sure, Leon seemed to absolutely hate that you had been assigned to him, but he didn't order for you to get assigned to someone else. He was pretty chill about literally everything, actually. You had been with him for about a week when you started to wonder why he wouldn't just let you go to another agent, especially since he made a point of continously telling you what you did wrong, and that you should just quit the job. A few times you almost snapped at him, almost demanded to know why he was being this difficult. You hadn't trained for months and months just to get told off by this drunken mistake of a guy. You couldn't though. Leon Scott Kennedy, as much as you hated it, was still your superior, and if you didn't want to get fired because you snapped at some stupid remarks. You wouldn't let yourself drop that low because of him. That'd be the worst way to lose the job you had worked so fucking hard for.

You could deal with it though.

And you would.

The first time you started hating Leon a little less was when you were practically baking in your office on a hot summers day. You had just recently gotten your own office, after having to share with Leon for a few weeks - you only now had worked up the status to have your own. However, your AC was positively broken. YOu guessed that was the only reason why you got this office, no one else would want to work in it, so give it to the stupid newbie who won't complain. You sat on your desk, looking through files while having your window wide open - luckily for you, the day was almost completely windless, no risk of government documents getting flown out like your life is some generic movie. You were melting, an honestly, the day couldn't get worse. At least ypu thought that until Leon strutted in. IN your mind, you let out an exhausted groan. After a night fully worked though, a whole day of sitting in the worst heat and multiple files already worked through, you really didn't want to deal with his bullshit as well. You gave the taller man the slightest glare, waiting for him to speak. Instead he placed a bowl on your desk, on top some file - you'd be mad about that later, as you figured out that it had left a stain.

Icecream.

He had brought you icecream.

Your expression turned into one of surprise and shock as you watched him simply leave - he didn't even tell you that you were working too slow or that you had more to do than just sit around. The first thought that came to mind was that he had poisened the sweet treat, but honestly you couldn't be bothered as you cooled yourself from the inside with it. It didn't help much, but the thought had been... weirdly sweet. Well, at least until you noticed the previously mentioned stain and cursed Leon again.

Screw him and his weird gestures which got you into trouble for getting government files dirty.

But at least you got cooled down a little.

The second time you knew that your feelings for your superior agent had changed was when the office held a party upon another agent returning from a particularly gruesome mission. You didn't know the agent's name, but apparently she was now a pretty big deal around the office. Most agents were getting drunk, having fun, and enjoying the opportunity of having a proper break for once - all of you were overworked, definitely. You had simply sat yourself in a corner, completely unused to how busy the office now seemed. Normally you were tucked back into your own, buried behind files and the dreams of soon going on your own mission and returning as a hero, not out and about with everyone. There were only a few people you actually spoke to, mostly superiors and some agents that graduated the together with you. Though, in your defense, you had enough friends outside of work. At least you thought so.

Leon had strutted into the party fashionably late, already somewhat drunk and looking way too disheveled. He normally looked like a wet kitten picked up and brought inside out of pity - now it was somehow worse than that. Messy hair, eyebags way too big, face just a little paler than he normally was. You figured he wasn't feeling too well, but still came to the party. Probably for the free booze. Still, you felt obligated to keep an eye on him, just to be safe. He was your superior, you couldn't just let him do stupid shit. It would put a bad light on you as well, and you simply couldn't have Leon put you in yet another spot of annoyance.

Most of the night went well. Leon didn't pull any shit, and you weren't spoken to by anyone, which was a huge plus to you, because looking after Leon was already like taking care of a toddler, and talking to someone would have made that task a lot harder. After a little more time though, Leon had caught onto your slight staring and confidently walked over to you, basically glaring you down. You carefully started writing your will in your head, because you were convinced he would kill you on the spot - or, even worse for you, get you fired by labeling you as some creep.

"Something on my face or what's got you staring like that?" He ruffly asks, looking down at you with an unreadable expression. You let a sigh slip from your lips. "No, sir. I just figured I'd have to watch you so you don't make a fool of yourself." You then answered. If you were going to be humiliated in public, you at least wouldn't go down without showing Leon what a hypocrite he was.

You were once again caught off-guard by him when he actually started chuckling at your words. It was a pleasant sound, you had to admit. Nice and deep, but not cold, a pretty inviting sound actually. You couldn't help but let the slight shock you felt show on your face, which made him let out a breathy laugh. "What, did ya think I'd be mad at that? You'll have to try better, kid." He then grins, walking off to leave you alone, completely and utterly confused.

Leon left the party with some other agent. A pretty, young woman.

Your stomach twisted as you watched him step out the door, an arm around her waist and a charming smile on his lips.

That night was the first time you couldn't sleep because of Leon Scott Kennedy.

The last time you felt awful about yourself because of Leon was when you were told you'd get your first solo mission. It had been a month or two after the office party. A month or two after you noticed that you maybe didn't hate him as much as you thought you did. A week after Leon had started taking care of himself again, gaining muscle and wearing suits to the office, which he hadn't done once in the time you knew him. Three days after you had figured out that you also weren't as straight as you thought you were.

You were underprepared, wouldn't get the proper equipment, and the mission itself was total bullshit. The notes didn't make sense, the objective was way too random and you hadn't found any previous intel on anything mentioned in the file. It was like you were supposed to be confused by it, because everytime you even tried to ask someone about it, they'd simply give you an apologetic smile and went on about their day.

You were convinced that this was a plot to have you die on a random mission, because you had been too annoying, or made too many mistakes. Something. Anything. It didn't make sense.

For some reason, you found yourself standing in front of Leons office at last. Totally not because you were going to beg someone for intel, and weirdly enough you’d be the least embarrassed if the person you were begging was Leon. You gathered the courage to actually knock on the glass door, already feeling slightly nervous and uneasy. You didn't know how he'd respond, if he'd call you stupid, or worse. Your already close to fragile mind wouldn't be able to take that after spending sleepless nights because of him. A deep breath, a muttered curse, and his door swiftly flying open before you could even properly knock.

“Who the fuck do you think you are standing in front of my door— oh. It's you.” He spoke, all anger in his voice dissolving as he looked down at you, a complete nervous wreck. His tie was loose, he had probably been tugging on it,and his hair was a tad bit messy again. By now, that was actually weird for him, since he seemed to genuinely care for his appearance. “Sorry, I uh… I just got this mission and I'm uhm.. a little confused.” You muttered, an embarrassed flush creeping onto your cheeks as you gaze drifted to the floor - completely uncharacteristic for you, who normally stood your ground against him. Leon stared at you for a moment before he sighed and stepped aside to let you inside his office. He wordlessly took the folder with information, which you had been clutching onto for dear life, from you, swiftly looking through it, his expression growing more and more exhausted and angry.

He'd say you're stupid. Definitely. He thought you were an absolute idiot.

What you didn't think he'd do is let out a groan, open his office door, and yell out: “You lot are fucking assholes!”

You stared at him in disbelief, by now having taken a seat on the small couch that Leon had placed in his office some time between the party and you getting your own office. With absolutely no clue what was going on, you watched Leon step out, argue with someone - a female voice, as far as you could make out. You didn't exactly know what to do, especially since Leon hadn't told you a thing. You were simply sitting by, waiting for orders, getting yelled at, or fired - you didn't know what to expect either, if you were honest.

When Leon returned, you had been picking at the skin of your fingers for a good five minutes or so. He closed his office door and strutted to his chair, swiftly falling into it with a heavy groan.

“I'm sorry sir I just–” You started, interrupted by a dismissive wave. “There's no mission. It was a prank. I told them not to do it. Their reasoning was that you needed to get out of your office more and this would force you to talk to someone. They didn't plan ahead though, and simply told everyone that they'd give you a fake mission, without telling anyone what to say. I'm having her write an incident report about this. You can go home.” He simply spoke, leaning back in his chair as he looked at you. His words practically beat you down.

A prank.

A stupid fucking prank and you had gotten this upset over it.

You stared at the floor, desperately trying to even begin to understand that stupid reason. You didn't like socializing. Simple as that. Leon didn't do it, but he didn't get pranked and laughed at for it.

“She..?” You then asked, looking up at Leon.

“That agent that we had the party for. She grew over her own head, thinking she could rule the office.” He shrugged as you got up. “Where are you going, kid?” Leon wondered, clearly a little confused by the look on your face.

“Socializing.” You simply spoke, unsure of what you'd actually do. You were upset, angry… a lot more than that. You wanted to beat her, calmly tell her why what she did was wrong. A lot of conflicting emotions and thoughts.

“Instead of chewing her face off, how about you just come over to mine later, and we drink our asses into oblivion?” Leon sighed. He had dealt with stuff like that before, surprisingly as it was. You didn't make it particularly easy for yourself, though, as you didn't even seem to notice when you were getting out of line. Hell, you stood up to his gruff demeanor without a second thought - maybe you were just a bit crazy. Maybe a little more than just a bit.

That's how you ended up on the couch of Leon's living room instead, beer in hand, the TV on, Leon beside you with a respectable amount of space in between the two of you. His couch was comfortable, probably having been used for more than just a few years, as you could feel yourself slowly sinking into it while sipping your beer silently. Normally, you'd become more social when drinking. But normally, you weren't in your superiors' apartment. Nonetheless, a superior you had grown to realize you had a crush on.

Thinking about it, it had been obvious, really.

You don't think you've ever actually hated Leon. You just thought you did because you had actually felt like that for the first time in possibly years. A nervous glance over at Leon let you know that the other was focused On the TV, which stupidly led you to eye him cautiously, your gaze trailing along his face, jaw, neck… you felt a little weird when looking at him like this. He had pulled off his tie, his shirt slightly unbuttoned. Now that he wasn't wearing a blazer, you could see that his shirt was the tiniest bit too tight around his biceps - you swallowed harshly before forcing yourself to look away.

Leon hadn't noticed how awkward you felt around him. He was already at his third beer himself, seemingly a routine for him. You, on the other hand, were still sipping the first half of your first. Soft concerns about Leon's alcohol consumption filled your mind, but it wasn't your place to judge or comment on it. It was overall known at the office that Leon struggled - he frequented the office therapist, but only to sit there in silence as he stared the poor guy down. He only went because it was mandatory for agents after an unfortunate accident, a story no one you asked would ever expand on. You figured you wouldn't want to know anyway.

“You do know that the others pick on you constantly, right? There's a reason you have so many files.” Leon suddenly huffed, resting his head on his fist as he glanced over at you. You shrugged awkwardly. “I never noticed anything. I figured that… well, that everyone had so much work.” You mumbled. All this had been a bad idea. Definitely. This was stupid. Leon sighed your name, and it made a small shiver run down your back. He had used your first name, not the generic ‘Agent’, or simply your last name. It surprised you that he even knew your last name. You couldn't keep your cheeks from flushing.

“Listen, I thought you'd get it yourself, you aren't the type to be this… I don't know, obedient?” The older agent grumbled, shaking his head softly. You could only watch his soft strands of hair shake, wondering if they'd feel the way they looked. It took you a moment to realize his words.

A little dumbfounded, you asked him to explain what he meant by that. He didn't think you were ‘obedient’? Was that a good thing? Seeing as how your job was quite literally all about following orders, you feared that it might not be. Leon struggled to find the words to properly explain what he meant. “Like.. You stand up for yourself. Always, no matter what. It just.. feels weird to see you like.. like you can't take care of yourself? You normally speak your mind, but at the same time you're scared of not following everything to standard. You're.. weird, honestly. I don't mean that in a bad way, particularly.” He shrugged, and it was noticeable that he also didn't know how to deal with this. The two of you sat in silence for a moment.

“I don't notice.” You then mumble, taking a sip from your beer. Leon looks at you in confusion, so you clarify. “When I'm being harsh, or mean, or whatever. I don't notice. I speak my mind because I never got told that that was a bad thing at times. I guess I learned from childhood that most people don't appreciate it when I simply tell them that their life decisions statistically suck, but it never sticks.” The soft shrug that you add at the end earns you a chuckle from Leon. A sound you grew to appreciate more than anything. “Is that why you don't talk to people?” He asks, nudging your knee with his foot playfully - this is probably the most relaxed you've ever seen him. “I do talk to people.” You grumble, a soft pout on your lips. “Just not coworkers.” Leon chuckles again. If you could, you'd bottle the sound and replay it forever. There's a soft silence again, but this time, you are oddly aware of the fact that Leon is looking at you, almost the same way you were beforehand. You feel the sudden urge to chug your beer in one go.

"I really want to help you, kid." The older agent then sighs, shaking his head softly while getting up to go get himself another beer. "Surprising, I thought you wanted me gone." You huffed. The alcohol had probably loosened your tongue, and you didn't want to have to wonder about Leons actions anymore. One day he'd be nice to you, and then the next he'd glare at you like he was on a murder spree. It was confusing. He claimed to want to help you, but never actually did anything, it seems. You desperately wanted answers - partly because it would probably help you deal with the definitely improper feelings for Leon. He only stared at you for a moment, before sighing again and shortly leaving the room. You had fucked up, hadn't you? You made him uncomfortable or something.

"I don't.. want you to leave. Not fully, anyway." Leon hummed as he walked back into the living room, a glass in his hand. You guessed he had gotten something stronger than a simple beer. "This job ruins people. I mean, you know how I acted when you first got into the office. I was actually the reason that the whole therapist rule was put up..." He chuckles awkwardly as he moves to sit beside you again. You nervously notice that he's sitting closer than before. "I was forced into this, you chose it. And seriously, it's a stupid choice. This job gets you killed, brutaly so. It doesn't even have to be a Bioterrorist mission, every other one is awful as well." He explains, running a hand through his hair after taking a quite big sip from his glass. You're reminded of your beer, so you take a sip as well. You aren't quite sure what to say, you don't think you have a valid reason for your choice either. "The fact that you don't understand how to... well.. properly act doesn't help that either." He mutters, looking at you expectantly. A soft shrug is all you can muster up, still trying to think of the words to bring your point across - if you even had an actual point. Some silent moments passed. "I guess I just always wanted to be.. a hero.. of sorts." You then mumbled awkwardly. "The stories we were told of you were just a way to get me even more determined and well.. now it's too late to quit. I didn't go through all that just to go work in some coffee shop." You added, looking at the other cautiously. You weren't sure if he'd like your answer, even though it was mostly how you truly felt. Leon simply nodded as you spoke. “Yeah, I can respect that.” He then answers, another blanket of silence enveloping the two of you. Both of you sip at your respective drinks, caught in your thoughts for a moment.

“You got yourself together though, didn't you?” You then asked, unsure if the question would cross a line. The way Leon looked just a few months ago came to mind, the imagery of a wet kitten. The drunkard you had ‘despised’. Leon thought for a moment, a soft hum coming from him as he weighed his response. “I guess I did.” He then shrugged. “A friend of mine made me realize that I couldn't sulk around forever. That I had to keep going, even though it was hard.” Leon added. You watched as he downed his drink and set the glass down on the small table in front the couch. It reminded you of how awkward this situation actually was. Alone with your superior in his apartment, drinking alcohol all because you couldn't properly socialize with the rest of your coworkers. A bit ironic, actually. The only person you could talk to was the man that made you realize you were into guys. You huffed at that realization, slightly staring at Leon, who was apparently zoned out a little. The alcohol was getting to your head properly now - you'd always been somewhat of a lightweight - and you couldn't help but sigh as a strand of hair fell into Leons face, reaching out to brush it behind his ear again. The second your fingers made contact with the soft skin of his cheek you pulled back again, awkwardly aware of how weird that just was. Your cheeks flushed a deep red as Leon shot up to look at you, caught off-guard by the sudden touch. “Your uhm.. I just wanted to fix your hair. Sorry.” You mumbled, looking away from the older man in embarrassment. Neither of you said anything for a moment - it wasn't helping your state that this silence wasn't as pleasant as the others had been - and you already thought of the way Leon would tell you to leave.

Instead, you heard Leon chuckle as he gently took your chin to turn your head back towards him. "You could've just said that you wanted to touch me." He grins, awfully close to you. Your brain malfunctions for a second. "Come on, it's fine." The other adds, and you can form enough of a thought to carefully brush the hair out his face. His bright blue eyes dug into yours - your heart stopped for a second - before you pushed away slightly. This was crossing a line, no matter how much you wanted to be close to Leon, you wouldn't have it like this. He was probably just drunk and acting stupid. There was no way he'd ever actually be interested in you, in any way, shape, or form. Hell, Leon probably wasn't into men at all - a thought quickly dismantled as Leon suddenly leaned towards you and pressed a kiss against your lips. You were too shocked to react, simply jerked away as the abrupt action wasn't what you had ever thought would happen. "Shit. I'm sorry, I read that wrong didn't I?" Leon immediatly says, his expression showing that he hadn't meant to do anything you didn't want. "I just- I didn't think you'd... be into guys..? Let alone me." You spoke hastily, not wanting him to feel bad - not when inside you were fireworks going off. "I'm not, usually. You're just.. different. Only had this one time before and well that was... ended prematurely." He chuckled awkwardly. "I'm willing to try though, with you. Only if you want to though, of course. I'm not forcing you or anything, I now realise that's awful to say when I'm literally your superior and you probably will feel pressured-" Leon starts rambling, running a hand through his hair. It was actually kinda cute to see him like this, somewhat panicked because he wants to make sure that you know he doesn't want you to be uncomfortable. "It's fine. If you're actually willing to, I'd uhm.. I'd really love to try." You answer, your voice just slightly higher than usually because of how nervous you are. "You are?" Leon asks, just to make sure. A huge grin spreads on his lips as soon as you nod. "Really?" He asks again, excitement clear in his voice. "Really." You answer after clearing your throat. You want to jump up and down in excitement, scream out loud, literally whatever, because you're genuinely on the verge of getting to date Leon. You're caught off guard when Leon stands up, pulling you off the couch as well. You were painfully reminded of the fact that he was taller than you as you stood right in front of him, looking up. Your face flushed when Leon cupped your cheek with his hand. "Would you like to be my boyfriend?" He asked softly, almost as if he was scared that your answer could be anything but a clear yes. "Yes. Definitely. I really want to be your boyfriend." You answer.

Leon kisses you, and you swear it's the best you've ever felt.

#leon kennedy #leon s kennedy #leon resident evil #leon vendetta #leon death island #leon x you #leon x reader #male reader #x male reader

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zayray030 · 1 year ago

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Interrogation 3/3

Interrogation, Twisted Wonderland, Chapter 3/3

Summary: we finish the final few senpais and we also get emotional <3 also plot twist at the end

“I can barely stand being around Vil, let alone Rook! What makes you think I would willingly spend time with them!”

“He’s lying.” Ortho interrupted, cutting the perfect piece of pie for Ace to eat. “His heartrate shot up just now.” Ortho tattled.

“Oh, so you do enjoy spending time with them?” asked Epel, raising an eyebrow ta him.

“One instance where I did!” demanded Ace.

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“You do realise, potato, that this could have all been avoided had you had a little more pride and didn’t jump straight into things, right?”

“Don’t rub it in!” whined Ace, trying to adjust to the position he was in but a firm squeeze on his right hip made him pause and stay in the uncomfortable spot. “Besides, how long is this going to take it!?” Ace demanded to know, glaring at the blonde in front of him.

“When I have decided it!” answered Vil imperiously. “Besides, what else could you be doing in your time that could be more productive than helping me?” he asked vainly.

“Literally anything else could be better well spent that sitting on your lap and being forced to try on make up so you can check if the texture or colour is suitable for you.” Answered Ace mulishly, wanting to cross his arms but knowing that if he moved anymore Vil would simply use his unique magic on him and force him place.

“Oh, hush now. I did tell you that you would be allowed to take some of the products with you, didn’t I?” Vil gently brushed Ace’s bangs away from his eyes so he could keep Ace’s gaze on him.

“Duh! That’s why I agreed! I-I just didn’t realise that it would consist of sitting on your lap.” Ace mumbled out the last part, averting his gaze from Vil’s piercing eyes.

Vil wanted to laugh at the little shy display but held it in, knowing that it would only cause the first year to run away from him. Instead, he smirked and placed a gentle kiss on Ace’s forehead.

Immediately the younger snapped to attention and started to splutter, moving slightly from Vil’s hold. “W-why would you do that!?”

“You are on adorable potato.” Vil commented, ignoring the question much to Ace’s indignation. Now stay still as I apply this eyeshadow on you. I have a shoot next week and I need to see what colours from these pallets I want to send to my agent.

And with that he carried on, smirk on his face whilst the redhead sported a deep frown and a bright red blush.

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“I wanted free shit!” spluttered Ace, growing red again from remembering the incident. That familiar warmth that he had felt when interacting with the upperclassmen had been there as well and he was starting to wonder if there was some merit to what his friends were saying.

‘No! The insane don’t get to be right!’ he shook his head mentally and stuck to his guns to avoid admitting anything to the group that watched him get tranquilized and have still yet to untie him.

“I want free stuff as well, but I still keep my dignity!” pointed out Yuu.

“You’re also a psychopath that tranquilises people! I’m not asking about your experiences on shit! And what about Rook! What proof do you have about him?!”

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Ace could feel eyes following him. He had been having this feeling for the past few months now and it was only getting worse. Furthermore, had started to notice little gifts being left in his room on his bed, or even on his desk and sometimes empty classrooms that he just happened to be wandering into seemed to have little presents addressed to him.

Now normally, he would be terrified about such a thing. However, receiving brand new shoes, a phone and a brand-new game that he had been wanting to play with his brother since it came out, kind of placed a damper in the whole, ‘Ah I should be frightened I have a stalker’ situation.

Discovering who it was hadn’t exactly been difficult either. One day when he had felt the eyes gazing on him, he had sighed mournfully and then continued on his way to his dorm. The next day Rook had approached him, looking mightily concerned about him. Ace wanting to play a little experiment informed Rook sadly about how he had wanted new shoes to play during basketball it. Unfortunately, they were sold out by the time he had gotten the money.

The next day he had found the shoes lying on his bed. Ace, cradling the shoes to his chest, allowed himself a small, satisfied smile of success.

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“So, I want free shit?” snapped Ace, annoyed again at how his friends keep finding out about these little moments.

“So, I just find it concerning that you like it when Rook-senpai buys you things after stalking you.” Epel folded his arms, looking at Ace as if daring to refute his point.

“Maybe I like the fact that Rook is stalking me. So what?” ‘please don’t be blushing, please!’ Ace prayed internally after involuntary saying that sentence

Epel looked at him for a moment before saying out loud with no remorse, despite knowing what would happen “Whore.”

“Now it’s my brothers turn!” Jumped Ortho excitedly, completely ignoring the sounds of pain that were coming from Epel. “I have collected many data. Unfortunately, Yuu has said that I may only share one, so I shall share the more explicitly clear of the evidence.”

“Wait Ortho-!” Ace tried to interrupt, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

“Too late!”

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“Thank you again for this, Ace-shi!” thanked Idia again reverently staring at the first year.

“Whatever! Just don’t tell anyone about this! And give me the money quickly!” Ace crossed his arms, trying to appear nonchalant, however, the massive blush on his cheeks said otherwise.

“It’s just, seeing it come to life is a dream come true and I-!” continued Idia, absolutely enthralled by the vison in front of him.

“I get it already!” Ace stamped his foot flustered. “Now can you just get on with it already! T-take your picture and give me the money!”

“Ehh, but just taking the picture won’t be enough!” complained Idia, approaching a flustered Ace.

You may be asking yourself, what is going on? What is going on is that Ace Trappola is currently cosplaying as an anime girl from Idia’s favourite rhythm song due to the fact that he says a mighty similarity to her. The skirt is so short that Ace has to constantly keep a hand down and Idia is currently acting as if he was told that Ace holds the luck for getting all your favourite SSR cards within the 1st pull.

“S-stay back!” Ace warned, however he was not very intimidating due to the a) the stutter and b) the blush.

“Please! Just once! I’ll pay you more!” bartered Idia, hands clasped together, eyes wide and one could almost mistake them for innocent. Ace bit his lips before he sighed and took a step closer to Idia hesitantly.

“You have 1 minute.” Pouted Ace as he let Idia touch him.

Idia held in his shriek of excitement and placed surprisingly gentle hands on Ace’s waist and pulled him closer, and then started to run his hands all over Ace’s body, his hands going from Ace’s hips to his thighs, all the way to his shoulders and neck.

Ace slowly untensed as he got used to the touch of Idia’s hands. “Th-that’s enough, I-!”

“Hey big brother I was wondering if-.”

“Ahhh!” shrieked Ace, kicking Idia off of him, ignoring the grunt of pain from the older.

Ortho stared at the scene in front of him, Ace in a cosplay dress and Idia clutching his stomach in pain and slowly backed away, closing the door.

“This is your fault idiot-senpai!” Ace yelled, absolutely mortified at the situation, quickly hurrying to get dressed, not pausing to help the blue haired teen next to him.

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“I-I was doing that for money!” argued Ace, blushing out of pure humiliation that such a mortifying situation was brought up.

“I see you tend to have a poor habit of constantly whoring yourself out for money, Ace Trappola!” Ortho replied back, with all the cheer of what you’d except someone to have said that they were adopting kittens

Ace stared at the android for a moment before cursing under his breath. “Be grateful that you’re my favourite!”

“And know we shall move to our last 3 pieces of evidence that had lead us to believing that you were in fact dating our senpai!” Yuu announced dramatically before gesturing to Sebek, who’s leg felt much better after getting brutalised by Ace.

“At first, I was shocked by the brazenness of a mere human such as yourself, however, the more I look at it the more it seems that that whatever is going on is mutual!”

‘And clearly great cause for your depression.’ Ace thought sarcastically as he looked at the near weepy teen in front of him.

“I shall first start with Wakasama and then end with Silver.” Sebek continued with his dramatics.

Ace at this point, used to the routine, merely flopped back in his tied-up state, and listened as they explained their tale.

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“It is a rock.”

“Gargoyle”

“Rock!”

“Gargoyle!”

“Ro-!”

“Rocks are bland soulless structures that serve no decoration and no purpose. They simply exist to ruin the landscape. Meanwhile, gargoyles are dignified and-!” “And currently the reason why I am 80ft in the air!” snapped Ace, absolutely not in the mood to deal with royalty’s bullshit.

The situation was that Malleus had overheard Ace question why gargoyles where even still at the school despite the fact that they all looked old. Malleus had then decided to teleport the two of them over to a gargoyle, without Ace’s knowledge, to explain to the redhead the wonders of gargoyles. And now he was faced with a teary-eyed brat, demanding he be set back on the actual ground.

“Look, senpai. Gargoyles are cool and shit, especially in those old houses. I just wanted to know how a school that has like of 5 teachers is able to maintain keeping gargoyles around without there being any major accidents.” Ace huffed, folding his arms and looking away from the horned man.

“Oh.” Malleus let out, now feeling himself grow embarrassed at the situation he found himself in. “I apologise to causing you such distress. I could place protection spells around the gargoyle to make sure that they-.”

“Can you please inform me of your plan when I’m safely on the ground?” Begged Ace, literally a moment away from grabbing onto the older man.

“Y-yes of course.” Malleus gently placed his hands on Ace’s waist and teleported them to where they had been previously.

“Oh, thank the sevens!” Ace almost cried happily before turning back to the fae. “Now, you were saying?” he prompted, and Malleus carried on, neither noticing, or neither willing to point out the fact that they were both still clinging on to one and other.

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“W-well I just needed to stabilize myself!” Ace defended lamely and was only faced with Sebek pointing his fingers at him accusingly.

“For an entire 30 minutes after getting back on the ground? I think not you-!”

“We literally just saw him beat you with only his legs whilst being tied up, don’t be stupid.!” Jack slapped his hands on the green haired teens mouth and glared at him to be quiet. “Now this next incident quite frankly makes me wish I didn’t have such string hearing.” Grimaced Jack as he remembered the incident between Lilia and Ace.

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“Owww.” Moaned Ace in pain as he attempted to stretch his arm. “I’m in so much pain.”he hissed out as he immediately stopped strtching his arms.

“Maybe it’s because you’re too stiff!” came a voice from behind him and Ace reistied the urge to scream and jump knowing that it was only going to cause his body even more pain.

“Hey Lilia-senpai.” Resturnded Ace’s lackluster response, not even turning around to greet the fae.

“Goodness, it’s worser than I thought!” worried Lilia, cupping his chin with his fingers and thought for a moment, Suddenly a lightbulb went of inside his head and he quickly scoured the locker room that they were in and shrugged, realising that the benches would have to do for no. “Ace-kun. Please trust me and lie down.” He whispered directly into the youngers ear.

Honestly a part of Ace probably shouldn’t trust Lilia, especially after listening to Sebek regale them with all the pranks that Lilia likes to pull, but currently his body was too sore for him to make any complaints. Damn an overly enthusiastic Floyd during basketball who likes to squeeze his own teammates in excitement. So, he followed Lilia’s instructions and laid down on the bench closest to him, face down.

“What are you going to?” mumbled Ace as he tried not to hiss out of pain.

“Just a simply massage, Ace-kun.” Reassured Lilia before cracking his fingers and getting straight to work.

First, he started at the base of Ace’e neck and slolwly made his way down Ace’ body, making sure to gently massage Ace’s tender flesh inbetween his fingers, listening out for which parts were causing Ace the most pain. He gently squeezed the parts that seemed to be a little too tight and within minutes Ace had turned into putty in the shorter’s hands.

“Lilia-senpai~” sighed Ace, eyes closed, grateful for the euphoric feeling all over his body. “T-thank you for this.”

“Anytime, Ace-kun.” Lilia whispered gently into Ace’s ear, making sure to cast a spell on the doors to make sure that no one can come into the room and see Ace in such a vulnerable state.

Unfortunately, this also means that Jack is unable to leave the locker room and now he’s trapped listening to his friends near pornographic moans as he got massaged by the fae.

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“Look.” Ace began, eyes averted from the rest, looking down. “I. I was tired. And Lilia-senpai also has MAGIC hands.”

“And I had to start brainstorming ideas to create brain bleach to make sure that I don’t see or hear that in my nightmares.” Hissed Jack, arms folded, glaring at the redhead, shivering at the memories. Epel rubbed his shoulders comfortingly as he practically rocked back and forth in pure fear.

“Okay first, you need to be grateful.” Ace snarked vainly “Secondly, my body HURT! I wasn’t exactly going to turn down a free massage!”

“Uhuh.” Deuce nodded unconvinced.

“So, what reason did you have for sleeping with Silver?” asked Ortho.

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Ace yawned as he stretched his arms over his shoulder, absolutely exhausted after having to clean the potions cauldrons. He had been given ‘detention’ for messing around in class. Truthfully, he had just asked Crewel to make it sound like detention, so his friends didn’t know he was getting advanced potion tutoring from Crewel. In return for covering for Ace, the dog owner has Ace cleaning the cauldrons.

Ace, not looking down, continued walking out of the potions room onto the main campus so he can finally be able to relax. However, he was also praying that Riddle didn’t find out abut the ‘detention’ session and collar him again. He was already tired; he didn’t need to be hard of breathing as well.

However, any daydreaming was quickly put to a stop when Ace tripped and unceremoniously fell on his face. Well, almost fell on his face. Just as he was about to accept his fate and land on the floor, he felt arms wrap around him and stop his fall. Slowly those same arms gently lifted him till he was back on his feet.

Ace, after stabilising himself properly, turned and came face-to-face with Silver.

“Sorry about that, Ace.” Silver apologised formally, bowing his head in regret.

“It’s cool dude.” Ace forgave still trying to get his beating heard to calm down a little. “Was that you who I fell on?” Ace confirmed, looking down to the ground both so he avoids Siler’s piercing eyes and so he could see if there was any other reason as to why he had tripped.

“Yes, I apologise. Without realising it, I had fallen asleep on the ground. Thankfully no one else had been passing by this way so no one else was affected.

“Sorry!” Ace bit his lip and was about to head out before an idea strook him. Maybe…

“Wel, I’ll let you go back-.”

“Wait, Silver-senpai!” Ace widened his eyes and tried his best to play concerned underclassmen worried about their senpais health. “You can continue napping here and I can be on the lookout for you!” Ace offered, grasping Silver’s hand with both of his. “I would just need you to explain to housewarden Riddle the reason why I was so late.”

“I wouldn’t want to inconvenience-.” Silver tried to refuse but no way was Ace letting his ticket to freedom be ripped away from him that easily.

“It’s truly not trouble! I see how you tend to get wearier when you fall asleep randomly and being look out for you means that you are kept safe!” Ace made sure that he tried not to be too pushy as to not appear too suspicious. “Trust me, it’s no problem for me!”

“…well, if, you’re sure.” Silver finally relented. Ace did a little whoop and happy dance in his head as both he and his senior took to the ground. Gently he managed to get Silver to lay his head down on his lap.

“Now, go to sleep! I might have to wake you up s you can confirm with my housewarden what I’m doing but I’m sure that’ll be no problem!”

Silver, however, wasn’t focusing on what the redhead was saying, He was far too enraptured by how soft Ace’s thighs were and how comfortable it was for his head to lay on them. Immediately, faster than usual actually, he felt himself drift off, the redheads’ words nothing but a murmur to him

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“I didn’t wanna get in trouble with Riddle!” defended Ace, blushing at how calming it felt to have Silver lay on him.

“Uhuh and that’s why you also fell asleep on him?” asked Sebek, smirking and raising an eyebrow, as if almost daring Ace to object.

Instead Ace merely collapsed sideways, and blinked back tears. “Look, it doesn’t really matter if they are into me or not. We all know that they wouldn’t date someone like me anyways so there’s no point in bringing it up.”

“What do you mean, Ace?” asked Deuce as he approaches hid best friend to untie the ropes.

“Meaning it’s not as if any of them could ever love me. They’re all successful, royalty or just plain higher. I’m just an average high school kid who’s one relationship ended due to poor communication. It takes ages for me to actually finish something, and I know that they think that I barely try to that they think I’m just plain stupid.” Ace sniffled, trying to hold in his tears. Deuce gently pulled him in, with Ortho going to his other side as well to embrace him. “There wouldn’t be any point in me attempting to be in a relationship with them or trying to ask out any of them because they would just look at me and laugh.”

“Well, if Riddle or Floyd or Trey or Cater or anyone! Makes fun of you, I’ll beat them up!” declared Deuce reassuringly, punching his fist into the palm of his hand for emphasis.

“Yeah, it’s not like they could ever judge you, considering you are honestly better than most of them at other things!” Jack awkwardly reassured, rubbing the back of his neck, cheeks flushed.

“It is true! Whilst you may never be as great at Wakasama!” Epel quickly punched Sebek. “You are however intelligent, smart, resourceful, conventionally attractive and tend to be quite talented! Anyone should be lucky to have you!”

“What these guys are saying!” Epel held Ace’s now free hand. “Look, Ace, we might tease you every once in a while, however we are here for you, and we simply will not stand for anyone making you feel guilty about yourself!” “I have blackmail for years on these guys! So, If any of them breaks your heart I will make them regret they were ever born!” declared Ortho, nuzzling into Ace.

It was quiet for a while, Ace simply trying to calm himself down whilst the others were waiting for Yuu to jump in.

“Yuu?” called out Deuce to an extremely guilty looking Yuu. “Anything you wanna add or...?” trailed off Deuce awkwardly.

However, Ace narrowed his eyes. “What did you do?” he demanded, glaring daggers at his supposed best friend.

“I would just like to say that I did not know the night would end so emotionally and had I known I would have made this a more private affair!” began Yuu, rushing nervously with his words.

“What did you do?!”

Yuu looked at Ace guilty before digging into his pyjama pockets and fishing out his phone. His phone which was open to an ongoing caul to a number. To multiple numbers. In fact, many of them looked like…

“I just wanted to say, that I could not have made it any more obvious that I was into and did in fact want to go out with you!” came Cater’s voice from over the phone.

“Quite frankly did you seriously believe that I would just let anyone sit on my lap, sweet potato?”

“Think I would let anyone else sleep in my territory?”

And on and on came his upperclassmen’s declarations of how obvious they made their crushes on Ace whilst Ace slowly started to grow into a tomato.

“Hey, Ace Trappola? Are you okay? Your temperature is-!”

The last thing that Ace was aware off before he blacked out was Yuu’s screech of, I’m sorry as the first years pounced on him.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

It had officially been 1 month since the sleepover and in that one month Ace has been taken out, kissed and loved more times than he had ever before. The senpais, eager to make up for not making Ace realise their crush on him had gone all out with spoiling him and reassuring him.

Meanwhile, Yuu had to wear dunce on their head for a week. Thankfully, Ace did forgive them.

……….

After he forced Yuu to ask out Neige LeBlanche but that’s a different story. Right now, he’s simply going to enjoy the fact that his boyfriends can pick him up and twirl him around and that almost all of them have a ahem private room.

[1] [2]

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zapasnoysoldat · 4 months ago

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psa.

Hey, guys. I disappeared. Again. I know. The truth is that I've been struggling with a lot of things. I work a pretty stressful job and lately it's been even more stressful because of stuff happening every other day that ends up falling onto me to fix. It's been incredibly draining and I've found myself disappointed in a few colleagues that I thought had my back after everything I do and try to do for them. Anyway, it's done a number on my mental health and my energy levels. So I retreated into myself. I barely had the energy and focus to get through my weekly D&D sessions for a few months.

But I've been trying to get back on my feet the past two-ish weeks. I've finally decided to start working out again so I can blow off some steam and do something for me again. I've been finding some joy in videogames again (hello, AC: Shadows). It's still a lot and my brain is often just mush at the end of the day, but there's some progress there.

Aside from all that real life stuff, I've been coming to terms with something too: tumblr rp no longer excites me. Actually, it does the exact opposite. Even opening this website fills me with dread. So much has changed the past few years on here and I feel there's constant judgement: for not having "cool" graphics, for not writing a certain way, for liking or disliking canon, for your choice of character,... Nothing you do on here is good enough these days and it's fucking paralysing. I don't have editing skills. My writing has taken a nosedive. I seriously don't care about canon or headcanon or whatever the fuck anymore. I'm not obsessively rewriting plotlines anymore. Honestly, I want to come on here, write silly characters that fit the mood I'm in and make them kiss. But it seems that vibe, which is where tumblr rp started for me and what the community used to be, is no longer accepted. And so people either shittalk you behind your back or completely ignore you or send anons. And even if that doesn't happen, even if you do everything right, the dash is still a graveyard most of the time because liking headcanons or dash commentary or sending silly asks seem to be habits that died out during COVID. Just like people have stopped interacting with fanfics and authors, they've stopped interacting with each other on here. And it fucking sucks. To the point that I hoped a new blog for a new show and a new fandom would maybe ignite my interest again but it's just paralysed me even more.

Anyway, all that to say a simple thing: I'm gonna step back from this place and I don't know if it's permanent. I'll still be on Discord (fiorentinabelga) for those who want to get in touch but I doubt there's any of you who will. And that's okay. Best of luck to you all.

#( ooc ) out of orders.

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saneriddlefan67 · 2 years ago

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ace who had a whole ass conspiracy board abt who the other basketball team members are dating vs. Jamiazu being vague as hell, Jamil never talking abt personal info, and neither of them doing a ton of pda (but just enough to make him suspicious) and also florid. Just being them.

Thank you for this amazing ask. Unleashing my ship demons rn to reply to this🙏

The moment Ace sees Jamil giving Azul a TINY genuine smile he already starts suspecting, he tells Deuce and the Ramshackle dorm and they all say he's just making up stuff, Ace keeps trying to explain to them how they're totally dating or they at least have a crush on each other like:

Jamil is completely aware of how Ace knows him and Azul are dating and I can see two outcomes to this:

1- He mentions it one day casually acting like he doesn't know Ace was for months looking like a conspiracy theorist trying to prove their relationship and then he laughs with Azul about it later.

2- Jamil and Azul decide to mess up with Ace. Everytime they're walking down the halls and they see that he's the only one there they hug each other and start acting like a typical overly affectionate couple on purpose. They do this multiple times and then when Ace asks Jamil about him dating Azul he goes "Dating Azul? Try coming up with better jokes next time" Ace loses his mind everytime Jamil says that, he's convinced they're messing up with him but after weeks of gaslighting he starts thinking it might be his imagination.

Now you would maybe ask: why they would do this? Because I think they should be evil/chaotic together. They're already busy enough with their own tasks and they spend a lot of their time together relaxing (like cuddling, talking about their days or stuff about themselves, doing schoolwork together, etc-) they're only missing the being evil together, I want to see them pulling little pranks on people and having fun (Also neither of them had the possibility of doing this when they were kids, Azul was studying all the time and refused to participate on pranks the Tweels would pull, while Jamil had to take care of Kalim and prevent him from dying).

I think that they don't exactly hide their relationship but they don't show a lot the fact that they're dating?) Or at least from Jamil's side. Azul takes every chance he gets to mention HIS BOYFRIEND JAMIL in any conversation he has, he wants to make sure everyone knows that he's dating the beautiful and smart Jamil Viper, but then in public they don't do stuff like high PDA or kisses and shit so people get mixed signals and they think Azul is lying about Jamil being his boyfriend💀 they can believe almost anything that comes from Azul's mouth, but him dating Jamil??? Not in a hundred years.

With Floyrid it's a slightly different situation. Just like Jamiazu no one really expected them to be dating, not even Ace, he was expecting Riddle to end up murdering Floyd rather than them dating. Worst of all is that he found out on accident, I can think 100 different ways of how Ace found out they were dating but idk which one to write so this is up to your interpretation.

I think I would need to do a whole separate post for them, I have a lot of ideas. Don't trust my word though I might forget to write it💔

Thank you again for this ask!!! It was pretty fun to think about and write, you're always welcome to send me stuff like this :3 Ranting about my favs is my favorite thing so I love this kind of asks.

#jamiazu #azujami #ashenviper #twst #azul ashengrotto #jamil viper #jerryrambles #jerryanswers

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kitkatopinions · 2 years ago

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Today I'm thinking about this one post I saw where someone basically said that Team RWBYJNOR always could see that Ironwood was bad, but were following him anyway because they had to in order to get the things they wanted and 'dropped him when they could.'

...... Huh?!

Some people are really out here like "James Ironwood was a horrible evil dictator from jump and Team RWBYJNOR always knew that, but they worked with him anyway, wasn't that so good and smart of them?" These are the protagonists, right? I'd be willing to bet that the same people thinking that Team RWBY and co knew Ironwood was bad and worked with him anyway would use 'does bad things for good reasons' and 'has an ends justify the means mentality' as bad things about Ironwood that made him a bad guy, and they would look at the Ace Ops and say 'following Ironwood when he was doing bad things made them in the wrong, no excuses.' But when it's the good guys and the show is not at all concerned with challenging them or their actions, they can literally just be like 'oh yeah, team RWBY was working with a dictator willingly because they thought he could get them stuff, but he was always clearly evil and they knew that going in.' Like, bad enough that when I was like 'the idea that Ironwood was always clearly an evil dictator actually makes the mains and the show look worse for not challenging the fact that they were willingly working for him for months' I got sent hate anons for like two weeks because of it, but some people are really out here actively saying Team RWBY and co were fully purposefully knowingly working with an evil dictator and were just doing it because 'they had to' in order to 'get what they wanted.

Like, tell me you don't actually care whether or not the show has any sort of morals without telling me. What do you mean? That makes the mains and the show look so bad! How can people actively like the show and then come up with things like this? It also definitely isn't even intended by the writers who talk about James' 'fall to villainy' and 'the path of good intentions' and have said that he 'was meant to be a douche but then they realized he truly had a heart' and talked about how the 'leaving Mantle to save Atlas' situation was SUPPOSED TO BE A NUANCED PROBLEM WITH NO CLEAR RIGHT AND WRONG CHOICE. But even if people are going to think the writers are either liars or incompetent enough to write a dictator without realizing he was a dictator (and therefore not portraying Team RWBYJNOR as thinking he was a dictator,) why would they say that RWBYJNOR were out here fully aware of Ironwood's villainous dictator-like no-good behavior and just willingly working with him anyway?

#rwde #pro ironwood

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sabo-has-my-heart · 1 year ago

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I have been following you for a long time, actually, you are the first person I followed here and I saw that you have emergency requests. I was wondering if you had time to write one for me. So here's the story, the last few years have been more than a mess for me. I've been pretty methodically screwed for the past 4 years. Because things in my country are very complicated and very rough… I haven't had a single normal school year since the year I was in elementary school. First, it was Corona for a year and a half, then there were a lot of missiles, then there was the whole issue of laws and trials and now there is a war… Of course, in the background, there is a hurricane of political problems and next year the war will probably continue plus there will be many problems with the teacher's strikes… and all this is simply אoo much for me, I'm only in high school… I assume that you probably already know what country I'm from… but please let's put all the politicians aside, please… the things you write helped me get through all of this. So if you can, can you write to me about a reader (female) from One Piece or Demon Slayer who went through a very difficult time and all she wants is a few moments of quiet. Just a month or a year or week without fighting or weird things. just a normal life iven if it only for a littel bit. with a happy ending. Sorry for all the truma damping and thank you very much.

(I hope all this is understandable, English is not my first language and I wrote it in Google Translate)

Hi there! I'm the first person you followed? That... that makes me want to do a happy wiggle, I'm going to go do a quick happy wiggle.......... okay, I'm back from my happy wiggle. Things sound very rough over there, but I actually don't know where you're from. I don't watch or keep up with the news. I know there's the stuff with Palestine, Ukraine, and Trump was found guilty, but that's it. Before any of you get mad at me for not keeping up with the world, please know that I do this for my own well being. If I kept up with the news, it would shoot my anxiety and depression through the roof and I just really don't need that. As much as I care about human life and others, I need to focus on my own health and well-being too. I'm happy that my writing has been helping you get through it all, it's always flattering to know that my writing has helped someone and don't worry about trauma dumping, if it helps, I'm always happy to lend an ear. So this is an Ace fic, so I hope you enjoy it and I hope it makes you feel better. My best wishes on getting through this!

Word Count: 1170

Warnings: Female!Reader, comfort

Why had things been so chaotic lately? It seemed as if every time you turned around there was some new thing going on, some new problem or some new drama. It might be fine if it were just one thing, if it was just Thatch chasing Ace through the halls for raiding the fridge or just a few attacks or storms hitting the Moby Dick. Who in their right mind attacked the strongest man alive anyway? But it wasn’t just one or two things. Yesterday it had been Marco roping you into helping him get the crew into their yearly physicals. Last week had seen a severe storm that had threatened even the Moby Dick, calling for all hands on deck. The week before that was an attack by an entire fleet of marines. Before that there had been multiple attacks on islands under Whitebeard’s protection. Okay, sure, you weren’t the only one taking care of things. The different commanders all split up, 5 of them taking their respective divisions to check out the islands, with you joining the second division as a temporary ‘doctor’ in case anyone was injured. During the storm, you’d been mostly taking care of things below deck with the other Whitebeard nurses, making sure cabinets were securely tied shut, glass bottles of medicine safely packed away, and anything on wheels kept from rolling everywhere. That wasn’t the point, however. The point was that you were tired of something new and stressful always cropping up!

Honestly, was it really so much to ask for some peace and quiet? A moment of respite where you could just relax without worrying about the next thing. Okay, sure, you’d had a few days here and there where things hadn’t gone wrong. Nothing bad had happened and life aboard the Moby Dick was quiet, or at least, as quiet as things got on a ship with 1,600 males. However, with how things had been lately, you hadn’t been able to relax once. Always on edge, always expecting the next thing to crop up. How long had it been since things had been quiet on the Moby Dick? How long since you’d had a true moment of rest? Hell, you hadn’t even had time to simply relax with Ace. Just the two of you, laying on the deck, napping under the warm sun; or curled up under a warm blanket, forgotten mugs of hot cocoa having long since gone cold as you slept, leaning against each other. Okay, yes, the two of you were often caught simply napping together, but was that really such a bad thing? It meant things were calm, that you could afford to relax enough to take a nap, that you could sleep. Sleep had been… difficult lately. Tossing and turning as the anxiety of what would happen next ate away at you, waking up in the middle of the night at very little bump and thunk, expecting the worst. Ace had been trying to help as best as he could. Wrapping you up in your favorite blanket, heating himself and the blanket up to the perfect, soothing temperature, lightly humming songs that he didn’t even remember learning, though he’d deny humming if you ever asked about it. Thatch had made you mugs of tea or cocoa, Marco had given you sleeping pills, but none of it helped enough.

Looking out over the railing, you sighed. There weren’t storm clouds on the horizon, no marine ships for miles, and nobody causing any particular chaos, but you still felt on edge. Feeling a hand on your shoulder nearly made you jump out of your skin, spinning around to find a familiar freckled face smiling at you.

“Calm down, it’s just me. I came to check on you, you’ve been staring out at the ocean for a while now.” Ace said, standing next to you, leaning with his back against the railing.

“Oh… Sorry. I guess I’m just on edge is all. There’s… been a lot happening lately and I just can’t seem to relax.” you admitted, sighing as you let your shoulders sag, the tension ebbing away for the moment. Ace nodded in understanding, looking up at the sky.

“Yeah. It’s been pretty busy lately. I can’t remember the last time we took a nap together. But I mean, it’s nothing we haven’t dealt with before. We kind of signed up for this when we became pirates. Or… well, when you became one of Pops’ nurses. Besides, it’ll be fine, we’ll manage. As long as we’re both alive and together, we’ve got this.” Ace smiled at you as he tried to comfort you, putting a hand on your shoulder.

“I… I know, I just… I guess I just… I wish it would stop, you know? I don’t need much, just a month, hell I’d settle for a week, of peace and quiet. No attacks, no storms, no running from an angry Thatch, or Pops telling me I can’t fight off marines because I’m ‘not a Whitebeard Pirate’... stupid no women rule. He has nurses, why can’t I be an official Whitebeard pirate?!” you grumbled, resting your arms on the railing and resting your head on your arms.

“Hey, it’s alright. It’s not all that cool being a Whitebeard pirate anyway. You always have a huge target on your back and you have to listen to Marco whenever he tells you to do something, it’s probably way better that you’re not." Okay, he didn’t actually believe that. He loved being a Whitebeard pirate, but he was trying to make you feel better. “If it makes you feel better, I can take you on a vacation or something. We’ll talk to Pops and we can find a nice, peaceful little island where all we do is nap, eat, and mess around.” you smiled at Ace’s proposition, thinking about it for a moment. It would be nice after everything that had happened. A little vacation on a warm, peaceful island. Somewhere small enough that a marine presence wouldn’t be necessary, lots of trees to nap under, a warm beach with soothing waves, staring up at the stars as you drifted off to a good night's sleep.

“Yeah… that sounds nice. Once we get the chance, we should talk to the captain.” you said softly, feeling yourself relax ever so slightly, not noticing the huge grin on Ace’s face.

“No need! Marco’s been harassing me about taking some time off after what happened at Marineford and no one will mind if you’re gone for a little while. Pops has plenty of other nurses. We’ll pack some shit and tell Marco that I’m finally taking that time off. Let’s go!” Ace pushed himself off the railing, holding a hand out to you, making you smile.

“Yeah, let’s go.” you took the young man’s hand, letting him pull you down the halls of the Moby Dick to pack some things. A little time off, that’s all you needed, all you both needed.

#one piece #one piece ace #fire fist ace #portgas d ace #ace x reader #fire fist ace x reader #portgas d ace x reader #op ace #ace portgas #emergency requests

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