#afraid this’ll flop

[moneymartin]

teen gf Shauna headcanons pleaseee

🐶 - losergf!shauna hcs

warnings: mostly fluff but a lil smut under the divider :p

a/n: i know u didn’t ask for loser but shauna shipman is soooo loser girlfriend u cannot tell me otherwise. kinda messy and trash… i’m so sleepy rn i’m writing this half awake nd lowk a lil drunk UGH

taglist: @deerlottie @ultrone

my brown eyed beautiful baby where do i even start.

def the most athletic yj i will stand by this till the day i die

MUSCLE MAMAAAA

rolls up the sleeves of her flannels so you can see her muscles pop 😮‍💨

not a gym freak though but she works her arms 100%

cuddlebug fosho

little spoon and you can argue with me about that all you want this girl loves to be held

when she big spoons though she’s burying your face into her chest all the time

she plays with your hair tho no doubt abt it

even when you’re cuddling her instead

super soft kisses all over you while you doze off

sleeps after you do just to make sure cause sometimes you end up sleeping a lil too hard and she needs to make sure you aren’t dead

well thats what she thinks.

wakes up early even though she sleeps the latest out of the both of you

when you sleep for way too long she ends up full on wrestling you until you wake up

music geek

she def loves the smashing pumpkins, radiohead, the cranberries, the cure, mazzy star, jeff buckley, pavement, the cardigans. artists and bands of that genre

had a walkman like nat’s that you guys share on walks together

also has a vinyl player that she keeps at hers so you could listen to music with her when you come over

writes about you in her journal while she listens to the music

also writes these cute little love letters for you and she’ll write what songs she listened to while writing

sleepovers all the time though she’s one of those girls

drives you all over the place too

no matter how far so that you know she truly loves you

she goes absolutely nuts when you’re wearing her clothes i fink

esp her flannels

the moment you’re seen wearing one she can only think about taking it off of you cause it looks so good 😞

loves when you wear her jersey too

or her letterman jacket

funny sock gal

wears the one w monster faces on em or something like that

south park socks… hmo

SMARTY PANTS

got accepted into brown for a reason

she’s always helping you with assignments in case they’re too hard

she runs through them so fast though it actually baffles you to how she can do it

book geek too

has probably read harry potter a million times

edgar allan poe is her main dude she def likes poems and stuff from him

genuinely has a momma instinct

before you even get sick she tells you to be careful with the cold

and you don’t listen.

so you do end up getting sick and she has to take care of you until you’re all better

babies you but is also teasing you cause you didn’t listen to her warnings about it 😭 she could tell beforehand that you were gonna get sick

unlike lottie i think shauna has the ability to cook and stuff like that

not a 5 star chef but she’s good enough for you

being touchy in her public is her thangggg

you guys are always touching somehow

pinky holding, interlocked arms, holding hands, her just grabbing your wrist. she’s always gotta hold you no matter whaaaat

not very possessive but definitely a jealous person

makes it known she’s jealous w her attitude

has those anger issues we all know it

is not afraid to make a scene in front of a bunch of people she will cuss someone out for even looking at you

but she’s just jealous cause she’s really insecure :( poor girl my god

she thinks that the people you talk to are better than she’ll ever be

you have to reassure her countless of times so she can feel better about herself cause she’s always questioning you abt it

she loves little make out seshes behind the bleachers

its def the thrill of being caught like she loves that so much 🥸

when she kisses you she isn’t rough i think she’s very gentle actually

caressing your jaw and cheeks so you know she’s there and its not just some dream 😭

loves sitting on your lap while kissing cause it makes her feel like she’s the one in charge

also cause your hands are always in the spots where she wants them without her having to ask

biting…

teeth marks EVERYWHERE!!!

dom fosho but that’s not relevant rn

during arguments this girl is ruthless

not because she wants to hurt you but it’s because she’s always bubbling up

bottles up everything cause she’s afraid people won’t listen to her

but she’ll apologize eventually after if it looks like whatever she said got to you

won’t mean anything she tells you she just gets so mad at everything cause she can’t express herself as well :(

she regrets it so fast too like she’s immediately saying sorry afterwards

def a lace girly

loves showing off her new sets for you…

red black and white are the favs

OUUHHH

whiny as fuck but also holds her noises in cause she thinks they’re embarrassing

PANTER AND GROANER FOR SUREEEE

switch i think

like if she really wanted to she could top you but she’d rather be a power bottom

have you ride her strap or whatever…

its blue.

loves when you eat her out though cause she gets to pull on your hair

makes you talk her through it and when you’re topping but when she tops shes SO bold

she loves when you praise her thats the only thing she wants to hear from you during it

makes you kiss around her tits for sure

thats where she always wants you to be

when she’s jealous you’re constantly asking if she’s okay which leads into an argument

meaning that it’ll probably lead into really hot angry sex from her

the car scene really spoke to me

initiates everything too

anyways i’m done i’m so tired

[majesticarlette]

Could you please write Zoe Lee x Famous Singer Reader where Reader was Zoe’s only friend in New York and then Reader moves to Paris for concerts and to be with Zoe?

my apologies if requests are closed or if you don’t want to write this

Impulse

Zoé Lee x Reader | ONE SHOT 🌷

"I heard that (Y/n) (L/n) is here in Paris."

"No way, the (Y/n) (L/n) who has 2 successful albums?"

"You're stating the obvious, but that's them!" People could be heard fussing about the singer. Well, who wouldn't be excited when a famous person could be a few meters away from you? Your appearance in Paris isn't what you really thought about or even your goal to begin with. You're here because of someone you knew for a long time, and you can't wait to meet her again.

"We're here, let's go. We have a hotel reservation at 3:00 this afternoon, we can't be late." Your manager said while picking up her things. Your bodyguard on the other hand is already holding your bags. "Thank you." You smiled at him and faced your manager. "What time is it, Bellum?" "It's already 1:40." He responded after looking at his watch. You left the airport after double checking your things and head straight to the popular hotel in the city, Le Grand Paris.

You told the hotel staffs that you don't want anyone to know you're staying there. You want to keep your stay lowkey as possible until the days nearing the concert. Well, you went there ahead of time, not following the schedule designed for you. After your team finalized your world tour, according to them: Paris, France would be the last destination. You were ecstatic about the news, and couldn't wait to visit. So, as soon as you finished the recent concert, you flew all the way to Paris.

Once you reached your destination, your manager checked in for you while you stayed in the car. He came to pick you up after and you went to your room. "Finally, a bed." You flopped on the bed and it was so comfortable to the point of falling asleep in a span of minutes. "What's on the schedule today?" You faced your manager. "Wow, that's a first." He fixed his glasses and looked at his tablet. "Fortunately your schedule is not loaded for the day--" "I'm going outside." You quickly responded. "Are you going to meet, Ms. Zoé?" "Duh." He turned around after you started undressing yourself to fit new set of clothes. "That's why you're in a hurry of coming here." "Come on, she's your friend too. Aren't you excited to meet her too?" You started putting on your bottoms and shoes. "I am, it's just that it's not professional to act impulsively about coming here when you have a loaded schedule on your last destination. I had to fake your sickness for you to come here." You tapped his shoulder and he finally turned to you. "And that's why I love you. I'm gonna get going, do not follow me." You're in a disguise and left the room.

While looking around Paris, you stopped at a bakery to try their baked goods. "Hello, would you like to take an order?" A dark haired girl greeted you on the other side of the counter. "Hello, I'm new here. Do you recommend anything?" "All of our baked goods are delicious, but the best selling here are our macarons." "I'll take a box." She prepared your order but when she's about to hand it to you she stopped for a moment she must have noticed something. "That bracelet... Are you (Y/n)?" "Pssh... No, I'm not." You chuckled nervously. "It is you!" "Shh!" You stopped her cheers of excitement by placing your pointer finger on her lips. She's calming her self down but it doesn't seem to be working.

"You should come with me! I'll take you somewhere!" She uttered suddenly which made you step back a bit. She noticed her words and tried to explain. "I-I mean, I'm inviting you to a get together, 'cause my friends will perform their song at Liberty this evening. You'll enjoy it for sure." "Liberty?" You asked, confused by her response at you. You were startled when she face palmed herself hard. "What am I doing?! They have a busy schedule!" She started talking to herself which disturbed you a little bit. "Hey, what's Liberty?" You spoke trying to break her out of her rambling state. "Well, it's a name of a boat my two friends live in. They're into music, so there are music performances on the boat quite often."

Well, there's no harm in joining a get together. But, you're just new here, no one would know what might happen. Also, her invite seems legit, it must be nice to party on a boat while there's live music. Eh, you're still not so sure. What if she'll trick you into coming on a secluded area and take your organs? Now, you finally made up your mind.

"I'm totally going."

"Come on, Bell. I'll only be there for a couple of hours." You begged your manager to let you go. "Nuh uh." "Puh-leaaaase?" "Nope." "I promise, this'll be a one time thing." You gave him a puppy-eyed look while crossing your two fingers at the back. "Okay, I've made up my mind." Your eyes lit up and smiled at him. "No, you can't go." He smiled at you which made your smile drop. You flopped on the bed and sulk. Bellum chuckled at your reaction, "Alright you can go, bring Ollie with you." You got off the bed and prepared your things and left the room.

"(Y/n)!" Marinette called from the ship. Her friends quickly looked at your direction and gasp. "Hi." You entered the ship nervously, you're expecting a lot of touching and autographs but they never came. You were only greeted by smiles and handshakes welcoming you to Paris. But somehow, you could sense they wanted to really bad. "Uhm... Do you want me to sign you autographs?" You offered a bit embarrassed. They all nodded their head, they immediately handed you their owned albums you made. "You know, we really wanted you to sign our albums but it might overwhelm you." The girl named Mylène told you. "Hey, it's okay, I just dislike it when people rush up to me and they'll point their phones close to my face, and pulling of my clothes and limbs. You finished signing their albums and offered to take a group photo.

"(Y/n)?"

You looked at the direction of the voice and saw the person you're looking for, Zoé. "Zoé!" You hugged her and she returned it back. "Who knew the new girl would be friends with an international star?" The girl named Alya commented and they just smiled.

"1, 2, 3!" The drummer counts and Rose sang their debut song. The song was great and catchy, she's really telling everyone she loves unicorns. "So, why are you here in Paris so early? Isn't your concert will be in three days?" Zoé asked you. "Well, I missed you, of course. When you left New York, I began to miss our time together." Zoé chuckled at your response. "That sounds childish." "I'm serious, you were my only friend in New York, Zo." You held her hand and smiled at her. You swear you could see her cheeks tinted in pink.

"(Y/n), sing!" Marinette and her friends asked you to sing your songs but you promised you'll only sing one and keep the others for your concert. Bellum would scold you for sure if he heard that. Everyone cheers at you and admire your voice. "She is real." Juleka uttered "What did you expect? An illusion?" The others laughed at Alya's comment.

You swore that was the best night of your life, thank goodness you agreed to go.

You spent the remaining days before your concert with Zoé touring Paris. You're always in a disguise so not so many people would recognize you. You also left your bracelet at the hotel, you didn't know you could be recognized by that. "I'm glad I could be here with you in Paris." Zoé spoke while leaning on the railings on the top of the Eiffel tower. "Are you not going back to New York?" "I may not be, I found my comfort here in Paris. I met new friends and I could express myself freely." She smiled while gazing at the night view from up there. You could see that she's happy here than when she was in New York.

You smiled sadly, you never saw her this happy. You only have a limited time here in Paris and it's not enough for you. At this moment, you're desiring to be with her and stay by her side. You always knew your feelings for her ever since you became her friend but you didn't want to confess because you're afraid that it might cost your friendship. But you're not that (Y/n) anymore, you've waited for so long of keeping your feelings to yourself. Now that you've met again, it's time for you to tell it.

"Zoé." You spoke breaking the silence. "Yes?" she looked at you, waiting for your response. "I wanna confess something, I've been waiting to say this for a long time and I think it's time. Zoé, I like you. Not just as a friend but more than that. I wanna fulfill our dreams here in Paris, together." You held her hands as she just looked at you. "You mean, you're going to move here?" You nodded at her as an answer. She let go from your hold and just stared at you. "(Y/n), I've known you for a long time. I know you want to fulfill your dream as a successful singer who is known in the whole wide world." She rested her elbows on the railings and gestured the round world. You're just listening to her, confused at what she's saying. "And, you staying here in Paris isn't enough. I came here to be with my family, I had a desire and a goal to win their hearts but it didn't go my way. Instead, I found a new purpose. To be myself, not pretending anymore." She looked at you. "You, you started building your dreams in New York. You're just starting yet, you may say that you're already there, but it's not over yet. My point is, I don't want you to move all the way here just because of me." She pointed out. "I want you to move here because you planned to, you loved to, and you settled to be."

"I really want to, I promise." You replied and she just shook her head. "No, please reconsider. Now is not the right time." She cupped your cheeks. "What about my feelings for you, is that also rejected?" She just chuckled and pinched your cheeks. "I'll wait for you here, so don't pursue another person." She giggled and let go of your cheeks. "I'm kidding, you can date whoever you want, but I'll be here waiting for your return." You pouted from her answer. "I won't do that, you're the only one I'm going to pursue no matter how long it takes." You declared surely of your answer. You took something from your pocket, "This is a necklace my mother gave to me. When I get back here permanently I'll retrieve it from you." She smiled and hug you.

You both went home that time, you walked her to her room and then you finally entered your own room. You flopped on the bed and waited for tomorrow's event. You slept soundly that night, might be the most memorable night that happened here in Paris, and of course in your life.

You could spot Marinette and her friends in the audience while you were performing on stage. They were all shouting and admiring you from their spots. You waved at them which made the crowd shout louder. Of course, you wouldn't forget about your crush. You spotted her along with her family in the VIP seats.

You performed all of your songs and mentioned special people you met here in Paris. You swore you could see the gang's faces proud and happy. The experience as always was fun but never thought you'd meet new friends here. You swore you'll get back here as soon as possible, so have to give your all.

"Thank you all for coming here." You told the whole gang. "No, thank you and your bodyguard for letting us personally bid a celebrity goodbye." Nino responded and you just smiled. "Hug?" You offered and they all accepted. "Wow, I'm really waiting for this, I can't hug you at first because I know you'll get uncomfortable." Rose spoke and get to be the first to hug you and the rest follows. "These camera flashes are literally blinding me." Alya commented while covering her eyes, meanwhile Chloé's posing in front of the cameras. Yep, Chloé's here. "(Y/n), let's go. We don't wanna be late." Bellum suddenly spoke which breaks your conversation with the group. "I'll see you all soon." You waved them goodbye, you noticed Zoé discreetly giving you a flying kiss. You smiled at her and finally entering the terminal area.

"You finally told Zoé, huh?" Bellum spoke to you.

"I'm glad I did." You scrunched your nose at him.

[asweetprologue]

salt rain

@sugar-and-spice-witcher-bingo

Prompt: Rainy day Relationships: Geralt/Jaskier Rating: T (for canon typical injury) Content Warnings: None Summary: Geralt is injured on a hunt and confesses to Jaskier, thinking that this is the end. Jaskier is pissed. ao3

The raindrops fell into his eyes, stinging as they mixed with the sweat on his brow. Geralt blinked them away, staring up at the gray sky above them.

“Bet this’ll make a good ballad,” he said, the lightness of his tone probably contradicted by the way his teeth were stained with blood. He let his head fall to the side so that he could better see Jaskier, who shot him an infuriated, terrified look.

“Don’t fucking say that,” he said, turning his gaze away as he pressed hard into Geralt’s side, where the archgriffon had torn him open with a well aimed swipe. Geralt had stabbed through its throat while it hovered above him, but the thing had fallen nearly on top of him. Most critically, directly on top of his bag of potions, which were now no more than a few shards of glass on the ground. He had more back at the campsite, with Roach, but she was too far. They’d never make it there in time.

Jaskier pressed against the wound with some kind of fabric. His doublet. He was stripped down to his shirtsleeves, the thin linen fabric clinging to him as the rain drenched it. Brown hair flopped down into his eyes, pushed flat by the downpour, and Jaskier pushed it out of the way impatiently. “You’re not going to die out here,” Jaskier muttered, almost more to himself than Geralt.

It was a nice sentiment, but a naïve one. He had no potions. The rain was soaking him and Jaskier both, ensuring that his wound continued to run bloody. Without Swallow or White Raffords, there was no way he could heal from such a large injury, not without serious medical intervention. “Jaskier,” he said softly. “Look at me.”

Jaskier didn’t look up, his jaw clenched hard as he tried to put pressure on the hole in Geralt’s side. “You’re not,” he choked out through gritted teeth. “You can’t.”

“I’m sorry,” Geralt said, reaching a hand up to grasp the edge of Jaskier’s shirtsleeve. He felt weak already, the short distance to Jaskier’s wrist taking monumental effort to traverse. He opened his mouth, panting, and the rain fell on his tongue in splashes of clear, sweet spring. “Jaskier, please, look at me.”

This time Jaskier turned, his wide eyes clearly brimming with tears. He sucked in a breath when he saw Geralt’s face, his expression crumpling a bit. “I don’t know what to do,” he said, a choked admission of guilt. Geralt’s heart clenched in a way that had nothing to do with his injuries.

“It’s alright,” he said, trying to focus on the bard even as his vision swam. His hand fell to rest on top of Jaskier’s, where it was still pressed hard to his side. The skin there was warm and wet, though he didn’t know if it was blood or rainwater he found there. He was so tired. He wanted to close his eyes, but that would mean looking away from Jaskier’s beautiful, worried face, and he didn’t have the strength for that yet. “I’m glad you’re here, Jask.”

“Don’t,” Jaskier said, pleaded. Geralt couldn’t tell if he was crying, face too wet with rain to say. “Don’t do this, please.”

“Not much of a choice,” Geralt replied, feeling his eyelids growing heavier. The ground beneath him was warm, and that, he knew, was blood, mixing with the rain and turning the dirt to mud. It was over. “I’m sorry. Don’t wanna… leave you.”

“Then don’t,” Jaskier cried, one of his hands coming up to cradle Geralt’s cheek. He blinked his eyes open, not realizing that he’d closed them. Jaskier’s hand was so warm against his cold skin. His eyes were so blue. “Stay with me.”

He couldn’t, so instead he just said, “I love you. Jaskier. I love you.”

Jaskier made a sound like he was the one who’d been stabbed, a choked cry of pure misery that Geralt felt echoed in his own chest. “No,” he sobbed, “how can you say that? Not now, please-”

“Always,” Geralt sighed, feeling his eyes slipping closed again. “Always have. Sorry.”

“Geralt? Stay with me, please, darling, please stay with me. Geralt? Geralt!”

Geralt slipped into darkness.

*

It was a surprise that he woke.

He knew immediately that he was alive because of the pain. It was dulled from the sharp, twisting agony that he’d felt lying in the field, but it was still there. His side throbbed with the telltale itch of his too-quick healing.

Upon forcing his eyes open, Geralt found himself lying in a thin bed in what looked to be a room at an inn. It was familiar - not the room itself, but the woodworm eaten timbers of the ceiling looked just as they had three nights ago when he and Jaskier had passed through the last town. It was a small thing, truly only fit for one person, but Geralt could see both his own bags and Jaskier’s lute case leaning against the small fireplace. Geralt sat up slowly, feeling the newer skin on his side pull at the movement. Still not fully healed, but it must have been at least a day since he fell unconscious. How was he alive? He had been sure, so sure, that this had been the end, even told Jaskier-

Oh shit. Jaskier.

Geralt threw back the thin blanket covering the small bed and heaved himself out of it, wincing as his side screamed at him. He’d had worse, certainly, and he needed to find Jaskier. The only thing that put his mind even slightly at ease was the presence of the lute; no matter how angry Jaskier was at him, he would never leave his instrument behind. Geralt just had to find him, convince him that it was no big deal, that he didn’t mean it like that. That he knew Jaskier didn’t feel the same, and there was no reason things had to change between them. Panic made Geralt’s throat tighten, and it wasn’t just the strain of his recent injury making his heart pound double time in his chest. He had to find Jaskier.

He pulled open the door to the room, letting it slam into the wall behind him, and practically threw himself into the hallway. Only to run headfirst into Jaskier as he rounded the corner, their foreheads cracking together. Geralt felt something warm and wet coat his front as whatever was in the bowl Jaskier had been holding tumbled out of his hands.

Geralt stumbled backwards, cursing as he looked down at the stew now coating his bare chest and the bandages around his waist. He hadn’t even thought to put on a shirt. Jaskier scrambled up from where he’d fallen flat on his ass, one hand pressed to his forehead.

“What the fuck,” he hissed, “are you doing up?” Geralt looked up, startled by the vehemence in Jaskier’s tone. “Shit, look at you, now I don’t have any lunch! Fuck.” Jaskier stepped forward, bowl abandoned, and his fingertips touched the edge of the bandage around Geralt’s middle. His fingers skimmed over the skin just at the edge, and Geralt suppressed a shiver. “Look at this mess. You shouldn’t even be standing, are you alright? We need to change these, come on.”

Geralt allowed himself to be maneuvered, Jaskier herding him back into the room and pushing at him until he sat back on the rumpled bed sheets. The floor was chilly beneath his bare feet, and Geralt spared a moment to feel a bit foolish for rushing out of the room in not much more than his braies in his eagerness to confront the bard. Now that they were in the same room, he found himself unable to even speak as Jaskier fluttered about, griping to himself. He was clearly angry, though Geralt couldn’t tell if it went beyond irritation at being bumped into. After a few moments Jaskier threw down a handful of bandages and gauze that he’d pulled from a bag resting on the single trunk in the room, the closest thing to a table. Geralt didn’t recognize it; Jaskier must have purchased some supplies while he was out.

“I don’t know what you were thinking,” Jaskier muttered, brow furrowed as he knelt before Geralt, right in between his knees. Normally having Jaskier in such a position would be enough to make Geralt flustered, but now he just felt anxiety crawling up his neck. Jaskier began to pull off the soup-soaked bandages around his waist, fingers gentle even though his brow was still wrinkled with consternation. He fell silent, using the ruined fabric to wipe the rest of the stew from Geralt’s chest before reaching for the clean supplies next to him.

Geralt reached out and caught his wrist, his own grip tentative. Jaskier could have broken out of it if he’d wanted to, but instead he froze. “I don’t need them,” Geralt grunted softly, waving to his side with his other hand. He didn’t have to look to know that most of the healing was done. The wound might still be partially exposed, but it was no longer bleeding, and witchers couldn’t get infections like normal humans. There was no need for extra bandages that would only slow him down.

Jaskier wrenched his hand out of Geralt’s grasp, his jaw clenching. “I say you do,” he snapped. “How would you know, anyways? You’ve been asleep for the better part of two days, while I took care of… all this.” He gave a sharp nod towards Geralt’s injury, though he avoided looking at it.

“I’m… sorry.” Geralt shifted awkwardly as Jaskier unspooled a roll of gauze and began to gently wrap up his side once again. He didn’t fight it further, afraid to make Jaskier even angrier than he already was. This must be about something more, he thought with a sinking feeling in his gut. Jaskier had seen him injured plenty of times, and he’d never been so infuriated. It could only be about what Geralt had said to him, before.

I love you.

His own jaw tightened at the memory, the feeling of the rain on his face as he felt himself slowly bleeding out, just wanting Jaskier to know how he felt. He’d just wanted to say it. Just once.

And look where it landed him.

“How, uh.” He started and stopped, distracted by Jaskier’s hands as they hesitated over his wound, gently pressing the gauze down. “How am I…?”

“Alive?” Jaskier finished, voice still brittle. “Yeah, that is the question, hmm? It was Roach, really. I whistled to her - I’m quite good at that, did you know? Good lungs I guess. Anyways, she heard me and came. Brought all your potions, and I was able to get enough Swallow into you to slow the bleeding, enough to bandage you up and get back to town. It wasn’t easy, mind, you’re a heavy bastard and these arms are not meant for manual labor. Thank the gods Roach is used to taking care of your sorry arse, or I’d never have managed. You were bleeding all over the saddle, and I couldn’t remember which one was White Honey and which was White Raffords, and if I’d given you the Honey you’d have been bleeding out even more, so I just had to get into town and find a healer, which was a damn difficult thing to do in that storm-”

He was rambling, sharp, angry words carrying an undercurrent of anxiety. Geralt set a hand over Jaskier’s where they were tying off the bandage, just before he pulled away. “Jaskier,” he interrupted, as gently as he could. “Thank you.”

Jaskier blinked at him, seemingly startled. “Wh- For what?”

“You saved my life.”

“Well,” Jaskier said, “Roach did all the heavy lifting.”

“Jaskier,” Geralt said again, imploring. Jaskier pulled his hands away, blinking hard as he looked away from Geralt and towards the fire. He didn’t move out from between Geralt’s spread knees, but he was no longer touching either. His arms crossed defensively, his hands tucking under his armpits. “I’m sorry.” Geralt didn’t know what else to say.

“You should be!” Jaskier suddenly exploded, standing up and pacing across the room. Geralt reached for him, but he was already gone. He watched from the bed as Jaskier threw his hands up, turning back to point an accusatory finger at him. “You were bleeding out in my arms and you choose that moment to what, confess your- to confess to me? Then, Geralt? That’s not fair! You can’t just say something like that and then almost- and then-” He put a hand over his mouth, turning away. His shoulders were shaking slightly.

Geralt rose, horrified. He stepped up to Jaskier’s side, hand hovering over his shoulder but unsure if his touch would be welcome. “Jaskier, Jaskier, I’m sorry,” he said, panicked. “Please don’t be upset. I’m not- It doesn’t have to change anything. I know it was out of line, I’m sorry.”

Jaskier wasn’t listening, scrubbing hard at his watery eyes. He looked up at the ceiling, taking a shaky breath. “I mean, I understand you might have had your reservations before,” he said, voice strained, “but how was I supposed to get over that?” He lowered his gaze, meeting Geralt’s eyes. This time there was no rain to mix with his tears. “Knowing that you… that we could have been…”

Geralt was at a loss for words. “I didn’t think,” he stuttered, “I didn’t think you would feel the same. As me. I just wanted you to know.”

Jaskier inhaled sharply, a wet, pained sound. “You meant it?” he asked.

Geralt nodded gravely.

Suddenly he had an armful of bard, Jaskier flinging his own arms around Geralt’s neck as he buried his face in his throat. A sob shuddered out of him, and Geralt brought his hands up to spread across Jaskier’s shoulders. His side twinged painfully, but he ignored it. “You almost died,” Jaskier gasped, one of his hands burying itself in Geralt’s hair and clutching almost painfully. “How could you tell me you love me and then leave me?”

“I didn’t want to,” Geralt murmured, pressing his cheek to Jaskier’s temple. “I just wanted you to know. That I… loved you. Love you.”

“I’ve loved you for twenty years,” Jaskier hiccupped, his forehead pressing against Geralt’s shoulder. “You could have said it any time.”

Geralt pulled back a bit, one of his hands coming up to cradle Jaskier’s face as he met his gaze. He felt breathless, something light stirring in his chest even as he mournfully took in the tear streaks on Jaskier’s cheeks. “You too?” he asked, heart in his throat.

Jaskier choked out a laugh, and turned to press a brief kiss to Geralt’s palm. Geralt couldn’t help the small gasp that escaped him. “You’re the stupidest man I know,” Jaskier said into his hand, before looking back up at him. “Of course me too.”

Geralt couldn’t stop himself from leaning forward, from letting Jaskier’s breath gust over his nose before he used the hand on his cheek to guide Jaskier’s mouth to his own. It was only a brief press, sweet like fresh rainwater and salty with Jaskier’s tears. He pulled away slowly, pressing his forehead to Jaskier’s. When his eyes fluttered open, he found Jaskier staring at him, blue eyes startlingly bright.

“This doesn’t mean I’m not still mad at you,” Jaskier said. He didn’t sound angry, though. His voice was still shaky, but a small smile was spreading across his mouth. “Don’t do that to me again.”

“I don’t plan to,” Geralt agreed easily. His side still throbbed, but the pain felt far away, and Jaskier was warm and soft in his arms. “Even if you’re still mad, would you do something for me?”

Jaskier hummed. “Depends on the request.” His fingers had gentled in Geralt’s hair, petting across the base of his skull.

“Will you say it?” he asked, tracing a thumb under Jaskier’s eye. Wiping away the last of the dampness there.

Jaskier looked confused for a moment, and then his face brightened like a storm cloud had passed. “Oh,” he said, fondness saturating his voice. “Oh, Geralt. I love you. I always have.”

Relief, affection, joy. Geralt felt lighter than he had in years. “Me too,” he said, leaning in to speak the words against Jaskier’s lips. “I love you too.”

tag list: @llamasdumpsterfire, @theamazingbard 

[e-of-west-glendia]

This is a very very very late birthday present for the amazing @moonscarsandstars. I love you so so much babe (except for that thing yesterday you little shit) and I hope you enjoy this thing I wrote!

“I’m not doing it.”

“But whyyy?”

“Because it’s creepy as hell, James. That’s why.”

Sirius shoulders open the door to James’ room and flops down onto his bed.

“It’s not creepy!” James protests, flinging his backpack into a corner.

“It’s just unconventional.”

“Read ‘creepy and stalker-ish’,” Sirius mutters.

James plops down on the bed next to Sirius. “You,” he says, poking his friend in the ribs. “Are no fun.”

Sirius snorts. “I’m plenty of fun. I just don’t write random people letters and put them in their mailbox.”

“At least not yet,” James teases.

“Not ever.”

James rolls his eyes, toeing his shoes off. “You’ll cave, eventually.”

“Unlikely,” Sirius says firmly, folding his legs up onto the bed. Only to be shoved roughly off not a moment later.

“Prongs!”

“No shoes on the bed!” James gestures to his own recently departed shoes. “This is the one rule that I have.”

Sirius picks himself up off the floor. “You sound like your mother.”

“Do not.”

Sirius kicks his shoes off but doesn’t return to the bed. Instead, he takes a seat at James’ desk. In favor of silently spinning in the swivel chair.

They’d been having the same back and forth debate for days now. Should Sirius send a letter to that boy who lived down the street? Or no.

James, of course, voted yes. As did many of Sirius’ friends. Sirius, for the life of him, couldn’t figure out why.

His friends seemed to be under the impression that this was some sort of young adult novel. It wasn’t.

You couldn’t just send random people letters. What if they called the police? Then what? Not to mention the fact that Sirius didn’t even know his name. That certainly would complicate things.

That’s not to say they were complete strangers though, Sirius and the mystery boy. Quite the contrary, actually.

The two had met before, when Peter’s mother pointed out the fact that that house was the one she grew up in.

The current occupants of Mrs. Pettigrew’s childhood home had insisted on giving her a tour. A sort of them versus now type thing, Sirius supposed.

As it happened, James and Sirius were there the day of the tour. And that was when Sirius had first run into mystery kid.

They’d been briefly introduced, but Sirius was too busy considering how awkward it was to be walking through someone’s house to pay attention to his name.

Now, nearly seven months later, Sirius, James, and Peter had seen the boy again. And for some ridiculous reason, James was under the impression that sticking a letter with his number on it in that boys mailbox was the best idea ever.

Ok technically it was Sirius’ own fault that the idea even came to mind. But he was absolutely joking when he’d said, “what do you want me to do, stick a letter in his mailbox?”

In response to James’ telling him to go socialize. That didn’t mean he was serious (all jokes aside, of course.)

“Yo,” James says, and Sirius stops spinning.

“Mm?”

“Peters asking if we want to come over. His mom's baking cookies.”

Sirius halts his spinning and stands. “Really all you had to say was ‘cookies’ and I would’ve been on board.”

James laughs. “Fair enough.”

James scoops up his backpack and slings it onto his shoulder while Sirius pulls his shoes back on.

“What are you bringing that for,” Sirius asks, curiously.

James shrugs. “You never know.”

Sirius rolls his eyes but doesn’t say anything else about it, he just leads the way out of James’ room.

The two of them run into Euphemia at the foot of the stairs.

“Leaving so soon?”

“Peter invited us over,” James explains.

“His mom is making cookies,” Sirius adds.

Euphemia nods solemnly. “I don’t blame you, Peggy’s baking is amazing.”

“That it is!” James agrees, starting for the front door. Sirius follows him.

“Sirius,” Euphemia says, voice slightly sing-songy.

Sirius stops in his tracks.

“Those aren’t shoes are they?”

“Nope,” Sirius says. “They absolutely are not.”

“Hmm, that’s what I thought,” she says with a laugh. “You boys have fun now.”

“We will,” James calls, opening the door and then shutting it firmly behind them.

“I told you you sound like your mother,” Sirius snickers.

“Oh, fuck off,” James says. “That was a joke and you know it.”

Sirius very much does know it, but he chooses to ignore it.

A little while into their walk, Sirius feels a buzz at his side, buoyed by the familiar Apple ringtone.

“Who is it?” James asks.

“Lemme get the phone out first,” Sirius responds. Then, “Marlene.”

“Aren’t you going to answer that?”

“I’m getting there.”

A moment later Marlene’s face pops onto the screen. Her blonde hair splayed across the pillows around her.

“What’s up?” Sirius asks.

“Did you do it?” She asks, and Sirius groans.

James plucks the phone out of his hand before he can respond.

“No, he absolutely did not. I’ve been trying for hours!”

“Give Sirius his phone back,” Marlene commands.

Sirius take his phone back, eyebrow raised.

“What?”

“Pussy,” Marlene says, and then eats what appears to be a handful of gummy worms.

Sirius throws his hands up, exasperated. “What is it with you all and your stupid letter!”

Marlene shrugs. “Dunno, just need some gay drama in our lives I suppose.”

Sirius glares at her. “Marlene,” he says slowly. “You. Are. A. Lesbian.”

“And you’re gay as a maypole,” Marlene retorts. “Go get the guy, Black.”

“It is not that easy,” Sirius sighs.

“Can you write?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a phone?”

“No, I’m calling from a toaster.”

“That would explain the poor video quality.”

“Bullshit.”

Marlene ignores this. “Seems to me like you’re perfectly capable of writing that letter.”

“Yes, but I’m not social,” Sirius says.

Both Marlene and James laugh at that.

“Sirius Black you are the most social person I know aside from myself and your haired idiot over there.”

“Hey!” James says, indignant.

“You can write that letter,” Marlene continues. “I know you can.”

“The problem isn’t I can’t do it,” Sirius says, handing the phone to Marlene so that he can tie up his hair, which has decided for whatever reason to fall in his eyes and be irritating. “I just don’t want to because it’s stupid,” Sirius finishes.

“I see,” Marlene says.

She’s silent for a bit. Which is slightly alarming to Sirius. Marlene is only this quiet on the phone when she’s thinking or playing Subway Surfers, her designated FaceTime Game.

“Well then,” She says, and Sirius releases a sigh of relief. “I guess I can’t make you.”

“Nope,” Sirius says cheerfully, a girl starting to spread across his face.

“Unless of course I dare you to,” Marlene says, and Sirius’ grin drops.

It’s Marlene’s turn to smile now. “Gotcha.”

“You’re the devil.”

It’s quite the well known fact that Sirius will take basically any dare, so long as it doesn’t hurt someone else. And as far as he can tell, this dare isn’t hurting anyone. Not even himself, save for some minor embarrassment.

“How did you know what my Halloween costume was,” Marlene asks, she’s still grinning at him.

“Well, you certainly aren’t an angel,” Sirius grumbles.

Marlene waves a gummy worm at him. “Ain’t that the truth. Well then, I dare you to write that random guy a letter.”

James whistles. “Gosh why didn’t I think of that?”

“You’re afraid of being murdered, maybe?” Sirius suggests.

“And Marlene isn’t?”

“I’m the devil, remember? Already dead.”

“Right, of course, my bad,” James says.

Marlene turns her attention back towards Sirius. “You’re near Peter’s, right? You should send the letter now.”

“With what?” Sirius asks. “I’m short on paper if you can’t tell.”

Marlene gestures to James who is holding up his backpack triumphantly.

“Told you we’d need it!”

“I hate you both,” Sirius mutters, snatching a pen and paper from James.

“What the hell am I even supposed to write?”

“You number,” Marlene says unhelpfully.

“No shit Sherlock.”

Sirius decides not to ask anymore questions. He just scribbles out a quick note and folds the paper.

“What’d you say?” James asks.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Sirius retorts.

They’re right in front of the house now, and Sirius is wondering if he should just back out of it.

“Don’t be shy,” Marlene says from her end of the phone. Sirius has the vague idea that she’d be shoving him forward if she were here right now.

As it happens he doesn’t need the shove. He walked up the drive himself, ignoring Marlene’s, “Wait flip the camera James. I wanna see him do it.”

He’s at the front porch now, and he thinks he can hear something in the kitchen. There’s the sound of rushing water, dishes maybe?

Without giving it much more thought, Sirius shoves the letter inside the mailbox, wincing at the slight creak it makes.

Then he jogs back down the drive and continues towards Peter’s house.

James runs after him.

“Don’t you feel liberated now?” Marlene asks.

“If by ‘liberated’ you mean like a fucking fairytale charcater then, yes. Sure.”

“I don’t know of any fairyta—“

“Goodbye Marlene,” Sirius says, he takes the phone from James and promptly hangs up on her.

“Rude,” James says jokingly.

“Oh, please, she’s done worse,” Sirius snorts.

“But don’t you feel excited?” James asks.

“I feel anxiety.”

“You’ll thank us later.”

Even thought Sirius rolls his eyes and shoves James into a nearby plant, he can’t help but wonder if James and Marlene are right. And if this’ll actually go somewhere.

Ah, well, that’s another problem for another day. At present moment he should probably be running right about now before James comes to exact his revenge. And that, is exactly what he does.

[winchesterandpie]

Just as Brave (Diego Hargreeves x reader)

Pairing: Diego Hargreeves x reader

Word Count: 1433

Warnings: some angst, some insecurity, mostly hurt/comfort fluff

A/N: Y’all expressed some interest in me writing this, which is good because literally I have been vibrating with the energy of my obsession with 1 (one) precious stabby boi aka Diego Hargreeves since I binged the series. It took me one day to get through season 1, and I was hooked from the start. So it’s safe to say that this was inevitable. There’s probably gonna be another one soon, lol.

But anyways, here’s just some fluff for him. Reader has a nightmare, which triggers some underlying insecurities, and who’s there to fix it but Diego! Yay! As usual, I try my best to keep the reader gender neutral, please let me know if I slipped up anywhere! Gif is not mine! Hope you enjoy!

It was late when Diego stumbled through the door, one hand clutching his side. The noise of the door startled you awake, your grogginess vanishing as you saw how much blood he was losing. You leapt up and hurried to help him to the bathroom, tugging his arm over your shoulders to keep him upright.

“Diego, what the hell happened out there?”

“I’m alright.” He could barely get the words out, which didn’t assure you. 

Still, you ignored the growing pit of dread in your stomach to help him sit on the edge of the bathtub. Your hands shook as you pulled the first aid kit from under the sink, though you tried to keep them steady. A thud sounded behind you, and you whirled around to find Diego collapsed into the tub.

“Diego? Diego, sweetheart, you’ve gotta hang on.” As carefully as you could, you lifted him to a sitting position to pull up his sweater so you could find the source of the blood. It was a nasty-looking gash, worse than you had seen on him in all the late nights of his patrolling. The blood was still coming too quickly, and you knew you would have to stitch the cut to have any chance at saving him. But the needle wouldn’t thread. 

Your eyes were blurring as you tried again, but you just couldn’t seem to get the thread to cooperate, eventually abandoning it to check for a pulse, only to find it weak and fading quickly. Even if you could manage to stitch him up, he needed much more than you could do for him here more quickly than you could get it for him.

“Diego? Diego! No, no, no, no, no, no, please no!” 

“Hey.”

“Diego!” you spoke urgently, desperately, no longer able to keep your tears from falling.

“Hey!” 

You woke with a start, finding the very same dark-haired man leaning over you with concern in his eyes. He had clearly just gotten home and hadn’t even taken off his harness full of knives. You breathed out his name in relief and suddenly his arms were around you, pulling you to sit in his lap.

“Hey, you’re alright now. It’s ok, I’ve got you.” He mumbled quiet reassurances into your hair. You trembled in his careful grip, the memory of your nightmare still too vivid to stop crying into his chest. Diego held you for a long time as you calmed down slowly. “What happened, baby?”

“I… you… you were…” You took a breath to steady yourself, closing your eyes until you felt his hand on your jaw, tilting your head up to meet his soft gaze. “You came home and you were hurt. It was… It was really bad, Diego. I couldn’t even thread the damn needle and you--” You couldn’t finish the sentence, shaking your head as you ducked down to hide in his chest again. You had always had trouble stitching him up, barely able to stand the little noises of pain he made, though he tried to suppress them.

“It was just a nightmare, ok? I’m alright. I’m ri-- I’m right here.” His hand splayed across your back, pressing into you as though trying to provide additional reassurance.

“But what if you weren’t? What if you got hurt and I couldn’t do what you needed? Couldn’t be who you needed?”

He said your name softly, but you could hear the confusion in his voice. “What do you mean?”

“You’re so brave and brilliant and sweet and funny, and I…” The rest of your words fell from your lips so softly you weren’t even sure he could hear them, especially since they were muffled by his sweater. “I’m just me. Sweetheart, you do so much for everyone else, you deserve someone who could at least patch you up without panicking.”

“Woah, hey, look at me.” His hands slid up to your shoulders to hold you where he could look you in the eye, then came up to cradle your cheeks. “I’ve been doing this stuff all my life--I don’t even notice a lot of it anymore. You’re afraid of hurting me more, afraid you’ll get it wrong, but you push past that every time. Baby, you’re just as brave as I am... probably more. ” His forehead rested against yours as calloused thumbs gently brushed away your tears as you let your eyes drift shut.

“But what if you get hurt and I don’t know what to do?”

“That’s not gonna happen--I know what I’m doing.” He nudged your nose lightly, grinning cheekily when he got a watery chuckle from you. “I wouldn’t do that to you, ok?”

You hummed an agreement, nodding slightly against him.

“And you’re not just anything, alright? You’ve seen all of me and you haven’t run away.” You opened your eyes, intending to protest, but he continued before you could open your mouth. “You are so incredible, and I should tell you that more often. You know I’m not good with words, but there’s no one I trust more than you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Thank you,” you murmured. “I don’t know what I’d do without you either.”

His dark eyes held your gaze, and you couldn’t see anything but softness and care in their depths. You would have been happy to get lost in them, but then you remembered that he’d been out patrolling before you woke.

“Wait, Diego, you just got back. Are you hurt?” you asked, pulling back so you could scan his form. He watched you for a minute as you ran your hands up his arms and down his sides with your brow furrowed, but then he stopped you, carefully grasping your elbows to make sure you were listening.

“Just a few bruises. I promise I’m ok.” He relented enough to let you help him take off his knives. When you went to pull up his sweater to make sure he wasn’t more seriously injured, he stopped you, mumbling your name before pressing a kiss to your forehead.

“Let me help. Please?” You reached out toward him, waiting for Diego to let you treat him.

“You just had a nightmare, let me take care of you.”

“This’ll help me. Promise. I just wanna be sure you’re alright.” 

The dark-haired vigilante yielded then, allowing you to tug the turtleneck up and over his head. He was right--only a few bruises blossomed darkly on his skin, most of which were scattered on his arms. You did what you usually did for his bruises, pressing a feather-light kiss to each of them. There wasn’t much else you could do. When you were finished, you let him pull you back into his lap, the new position allowing you to kiss along his jaw, across his cheeks, on the tip of his nose, taking your time as you traced his features with your lips. He reciprocated easily, his lips falling wherever they could reach as you moved unhurriedly. One of your hands slid into his soft hair, threading through the short strands.

“Are you ever… gonna… kiss me… properly?” he asked between slow presses of his lips.

“Mmmmm, you’d like that, huh?” You pulled back a bit, nudging against his nose. 

His grin turned soft as his palm came to rest on the side of your neck, his thumb stroking along your jaw. Lazily, Diego leaned toward you, pressing his lips against your own. The kiss was slow and sweet, both of you relaxing into each other. The last of your doubts and worries slipped away, reassured by his gentle embrace, by the soft side he saved only for you. Your hands found their way to his cheeks, holding him there as you tried to offer him the same affection he offered you.

You parted too soon for your taste, though neither of you went far, still breathing the same air. If you were honest with yourself, you were starting to fall back asleep in his arms, finally at ease. He rubbed his thumb across your jaw a final time before moving his hand to squeeze one of yours briefly. Tiredly, he flopped back on the bed, tugging you down to lay on his chest. 

“Sleep now, I’ve got you.”

“I love you.” You turned your head more into him so you could press a kiss to his chest, though the need for sleep was quickly catching up to you.

“Love you too.” The words were mumbled into your hair, followed by a kiss, and they were the last thing you heard as you drifted off.

Thanks for reading!!

Permanent Tag List:

@riddikulus-obsessions​ @javapeach​ @mercedesbarnes​ @addictionmarvel​ @peppermint--teas​ @legolaslovely​

Let me know if you’d like to be added to the taglist (I’m also willing to do character/fandom-specific tags!)

[seanfalco]

False Positive | Nathan Young x Reader

Word Count: 2.8k a/n: Decided to combine these prompts since I felt like they somewhat went together! Prompt: I have been LIVING for your Nathan Young stories they are seriously so  good you are so talented !! I was wondering if maybe you could do a  prompt for Nathan where the reader has a pregnancy scare/gets pregnant?  Whichever appeals to you more :) thank you again for sharing your work!! + I think a heart to heart about dysfunctional families with Nathan and  your reader character could be really good. For a sentence starter, it  could be something like "It's okay. You're my family now." Requested by: Anonymous Warning: pregnancy scare

——

“Out with it,” Kelly exclaimed and you flinched, nearly dropping the cigarette dangling precariously from your fingers in your surprise.

“What?” you asked, feigning innocence, not quite meeting your friend’s eyes.

“What is goin’ on with you?” she pressed, turning to you and planting her hand on her hip as she flicked the line of ash from her cigarette.  “Even Nathan knows somethin’s off, and he’s usually pretty clueless about this kinda stuff.”

“What?  What did he say?” you asked warily, bringing your own cigarette to your lips with shaking fingers.

“He thinks you’re gunna break up with him,” she admitted.

“Kelly, I think she’s plannin’ on leavin’ me!”  Nathan’s voice had cried over the phone.  “She’s been actin’ different lately, an’ I don’t know what I did!  D’you think you could talk to her?  Figure out what’s goin’ on?  Pleaseeeee?” 

“Wha--no!” you exclaimed, finally turning to Kelly.  “That’s not--”

She met you with a flat stare and a cocked eyebrow.  

Knowing you couldn’t keep dodging her questions, you heaved a heavy sigh, turning back and looking out over the lake, resting your arms on the railing.  “I… I’m late,” you murmured, fidgeting with your cigarette as you bit your lip.  “What if I’m pregnant?”

Kelly sighed, “Shit,” she breathed.  “How late?”

“Week and a half, nearly two,” you answered softly and she nodded.  

“Have you taken a test yet?”

“Not yet,” you groaned, letting your face drop to your arms hanging over the railing.  “I’ve just been kinda hopin’ my period’ll start and this’ll all go away.”  Straightening slightly you turned your face to look at her.  “Have you ever had a scare like this?” 

Kelly nodded, finishing off her cigarette and flicking it away.  “Yeah, once.  Scared the shit outta me,” she replied.  “Obviously I wasn’t pregnant, but…” she sighed trailing off.  “Yeh need t’talk to Nathan about it.  I know you don’t wanna worry him, but he’s already worried and it’s not fair keepin’ him in the dark, y’know?”

“Yeah, I know,” you murmured, sighing, worry churning your gut.  What if you did turn out to be pregnant and Nathan left you?  You knew how he felt about kids and you weren’t exactly keen on them either.  What if this just scared him away?

——

“Hey, wanna shag t’night?” Nathan asked suddenly, waggling his eyebrows enticingly up at you as he lay draped across you, his fingers idly tracing your exposed skin and your stomach twisted.

“Uhm, not tonight Nathan,” you murmured uncomfortably, avoiding his crestfallen expression, still not building the courage to tell him what was going on.

“Aw c’mon,” he pouted, crawling closer, attempting to kiss you.  “Why not?”

Turning your face away, you bit your lip.  “I’m just not… feelin’ it tonight, I’m sorry,” you replied lamely, rolling over reluctantly.  You could feel Nathan’s eyes on you before he huffed a sigh and flopped down behind you.  

“What, yeh mad at me or somethin’?  Is this some sort of punishment?” he asked, shifting behind you on the bed.

“No,” you exclaimed earnestly, hoping he’d believe you as you reached behind you for his arm, drawing it across you and pulling him closer til he was spooning you, his lanky body curled around you protectively.

“I’m just… not feelin’ well, is all,” you lied.  Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie, seeing as your insides were twisting uncomfortably and you felt like you wanted to throw up from anxiety.

Nathan seemed to accept your answer despite his disappointment however, and settled down to sleep, squeezing you subtly as if afraid you were going to disappear and you eventually fell into a fitful sleep as well, plagued by nightmares.

Waking with a start you gave a cry, clutching at your stomach, jolting Nathan awake in the process.  When you found you’d only been dreaming and your belly wasn’t nine months pregnant and that Nathan was still there with you, you finally calmed somewhat, pressing your face into your pillow to stifle your cries.

“[y/n], s’wrong?” Nathan exclaimed, hovering anxiously and you turned to face him, sitting up and drawing your knees into yourself.

“Nathan, I have to tell you something,” you murmured, looking down at your feet and you could feel his frown on you as he watched you.  

“What is it?” he asked, the hesitance in his voice clear.

Taking a deep breath you stole yourself.  “I’m late.  Like by a week and a half… almost two,”  As soon as the words were out of your mouth you forced yourself to look up at your boyfriend’s face, finding him frowning in thought and your stomach twisted tighter.

“Late for what?” Nathan asked, clearly confused and you gaped at him for a moment.  Of course he wouldn’t know what you meant.

“Uh… late, as in, my… period,” you explained awkwardly and his face twisted into a slight grimace.

“Oh.  Are y’sayin’ you’re…?”

“No!” you exclaimed quickly, “I mean, I don’t know,” you continued, squeezing your arms around yourself tighter.  “I haven’t taken a test or anything yet.”

Nathan shook his head in disbelief.  “But I always use a cond—,” he spluttered, cringing at your flat look.

 “Not always,” you countered, though there was no heat behind your words and Nathan glanced away sheepishly.  “When we’re in too big a hurry or…”  

“You know you like it as much as I do when I go bareback,” Nathan argued weakly, “besides, I’ve never cum inside…”

“Yeah, well, it’s not exactly the best birth control method,” you grumbled and shook your head.  “But I’m not blamin’ you.  I just… that’s why I’ve been acting so weird lately.  I’m… I’m scared, Nathan.  I don’t want kids.  I’m not ready for that, and I don’t know if I ever will be,” you admitted, scooting closer, your voice shaking slightly.  “And I’ve been afraid that if I told you… and I turned out t’be… that you wouldn’t wanna stick around.  I know how you feel about babies and…”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Nathan exclaimed quickly, his hands hovering as if he wanted to hold you, but unsure what to do.  “You really think I’d leave because of somethin’ like that?” he asked incredulously.  “I thought you were gunna leave me.”

Pressing your face to his chest you clutched at his shirt.  “But… what if I am pregnant?  What are we gunna do?” you asked, sniffling, and he pulled back to look at you, his brows creased.

“Then, we’ll… we’ll make it work, y’know?” he said, his voice strengthening, though you could still hear the uncertainty behind it.  “I--I’ll support you and the baby, no matter what it takes, yeah?  Or… there’s other options, if yeh want,” he added quickly.  “Either way I ain’t gunna leave like some worthless bum and make you take care of this on your own,” he insisted shakily, pressing his forehead to yours.

“Nathan…” you murmured, taken aback by his insistence.  “But… why?” 

“Because I… I love you, [y/n],” he exclaimed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and you couldn’t help the faint smile that pulled at your lips.  It wasn’t often you got to hear him say those words. 

“I love you too, Nathan,” you murmured, snaking your arms around him to squeeze him tighter, relishing the feel of being held and a thought occurred to you that made you chuckle softly.  “Y’know I’m kinda surprised somethin’ like this hasn’t happened sooner,” you commented and Nathan snorted lightly in return.

“Y’have a point,” he agreed.  “We’ve been temptin’ fate for far too long.”

“I know right?” you murmured, pulling back to look him in the eye, finding a hesitant smile echoed on his face.

”Exactly!  It ain’t our fault we can’t keep our hands off each other,” he agreed before his grin faded and he idly twisted a strand of your hair between his finger.  “So, uh, y’think we should get yeh a pregnancy test tomorrow?” Nathan suggested, looking as distinctly uncomfortable with the idea as you were, but you nodded.

“Yeah, we probably should.”

“Right, well… there’s not really anything we can do right now, is there?” he pointed out, “So, let’s try t’get some sleep, huh?”

You let him usher you back down to the mattress, sliding closer to him, fitting yourself to his lean body and he tucked your head under his chin and he held you close.

——

“So, how exactly does this work?” Nathan asked as he peered over your shoulder at the box in your hand.  “I mean, I know y’hafta piss on it… but how d’ya aim?”

An unexpected snort ripped through you and you were strangely glad that even in a situation like this, Nathan could still manage to make you laugh.  

“It says here you should pee in a cup and then dip the end of it in that,” you explained, reading the box as you leaned against the bathroom counter.

“Ohhh,” Nathan exclaimed, “I’ll go get one.”  When he returned from the kitchen he wore a sheepish expression, holding a bowl instead.  “All the cups were dirty,” he explained and you grinned, shaking your head ruefully as you took the bowl from him.

“At least now y’won’t miss,” he teased and you gave him a playful shove. 

“Oh yeah, thanks,” you replied sarcastically, giving him a tremulous smile.

“Well, uh, good luck,” he exclaimed awkwardly, bending slightly to press a quick kiss to your cheek before stepping out of the room to give you some privacy.

Grimacing, you held the bowl under yourself as you hovered over the toilet seat.  I am never using this bowl again, you thought with a twist of your lips, setting it on the counter and unwrapping the pregnancy test.  Skimming the instructions you nodded to yourself before you dipped the end of the test in the bowl and leaving it there.

Getting to your feet you began to pace the tiny room, feeling much too jittery to sit still as you waited for the result.  

“How long is this s’posed to take?” Nathan called through the door and you groaned.

“I dunno, like a couple minutes or something,” you called back, leaning over the test to check.

Nothing, yet.

Another minute ticked by which felt more like an hour.

Still nothing.  Wait, a faint something.

Chewing your lip you watched as the result slowly appeared and a frown creased your brow.

“What does it say?” Nathan called again, his voice more of an impatient whine.

Throwing the door open you peeked your head out and Nathan scrambled to his feet from where he’d been sitting in the hall, his back pressed against the wall, staring up at the ceiling.

“It’s uhm…” you faltered and he slipped past you into the room, snatching the test and squinting at it.

“What’s it mean?” he asked after a moment, glancing up at you.

“I think it’s defective,” you answered, picking up the box and studying the possible outcomes.  “According to this… it says I’m both pregnant and not pregnant,” you muttered.

“What?” Nathan yelped, his thick eyebrows scrunching up.  “Seriously?  What a fuckin’ rip off,” he groaned and you heaved a sigh, perching on the edge of the counter.  “Y’sure you’re not havin’ like some sort of alien baby?” he teased, dodging your swat at his head.

“Well, if so, it’s your alien sperm,” you giggled, flashing him a grin, caught off guard by the one that met you.  “I am gunna need another test though,” you pointed out and Nathan groaned.

“Yeah, yeah, alright,” he muttered, straightening.  “I’ll be right back, you stay here.”

“Thank you,” you murmured wearily and for a moment you thought he was gunna complain.  

“Ahh, don’t mention it,” Nathan replied instead, his voice soft as he stepped between your knees to kiss the top of your head before heading back to the convenience store.  

Once he was gone, you slipped off the sink and ambled out to the couch, collapsing on it and grabbing your phone, finding a text from Kelly. 

“How’d it go?”

Scowling, you typed out a reply.  “Stupid test was a dud, Nathan’s gone out for a second one.”

“That’s bollocks, let me know what happens.”

Throwing your arm over your eyes you lay there for a couple minutes before rolling over and switching on the tv, not wanting to be left alone with your thoughts for too long, your fear creeping in and twisting your insides.

What’s takin’ Nathan so bloody long, you wondered when suddenly your panties felt uncomfortably wet and a burst of hope filled you.  Hurrying to the bathroom you let out an excited squeal just as the front door opened and Nathan stepped inside.

“[y/n]?” he called uncertainly, but you were too busy laughing with relief and fetching a fresh pair of underwear to respond.  “[y/n]?” he repeated, knocking urgently at the bathroom door, his voice shaking slightly.  “You okay?”

Wrenching the door open you practically launched yourself into his arms in your excitement and he stumbled backward, nearly dropping the sack in his hand.

“It started!” you exclaimed, head swimming with a giddy sense of relief.  “I’m not pregnant!” 

“Oh fuck, thank Jesus,” Nathan exclaimed before frowning.  “Aw man, that means I got this second test for nothin’,” he pouted and you laughed.

“We can probably return it.”

“Oh no, d’you know how much of a hard time the wanker at the register gave me?  No fuckin’ way,” he exclaimed, an impish grin stealing suddenly across his face.  “Maybe we could dip it in my piss and see what happens.”

“Oh my God,” you groaned exasperatedly, gasping as he lifted you, awkwardly carrying you over to the bed and tumbling atop it with you still in his arms.

“What else did you get?” you asked, peeking into the Tesco bag, and Nathan reached his arm into its depths and pulled out a chocolate bar and a fifth of vodka.  

“Just in case.  Y’know to celebrate, or commiserate,” he explained and you grinned, opening the bottle of booze and bringing it to your lips before passing it to him.

After he took a long swig he tossed the bottle aside on the bed and pinned your underneath him, grinning down at you.  “So, what d’ya say we do some other celebrating?” he suggested, fidgeting with the hem of your shirt, and from the look on his face you knew exactly what he was implying.

“Oh no,” you exclaimed, pushing yourself half up and pointing your finger in his face sternly.  “That is how we got into this mess in the first place.”

“Aw, c’mon, I don’t even care that you’re on your period.  Besides, doesn’t that just mean you definitely won’t get knocked up?” he asked cluelessly.

“I don’t think it works like that,” you replied with a peal of laughter.  “How about you just hold me?” you asked instead, your tone sobering and Nathan’s cheeky grin slipped.  

Settling himself on the bed he pulled you against him and you tangled your legs with his, relaxing into his embrace, his long fingers gently combing through your hair.  For a long moment you lay in silence before Nathan cleared his throat.

“Can I tell yeh something?” he asked hesitantly and you nodded.

“‘Course.”

He took a deep breath before speaking.  “I uhm… Is it bad that I’m really relieved?” he asked softly.

“No,” you replied, shaking your head.  “How d’you think I feel?” you replied.  “I’m not ready t’be a parent.  I’d be no good at it.  Like, I’d probably fuck the kid up royally.  I mean, let’s face it, I don’t exactly have the best experience when it comes to parental figures.”

“And you think I do?” Nathan scoffed.  “I mean my… the guy who lives with my mum is a fuckin’ jack russell terrier and my dad…” he sighed, trailing off.  “I don’t wanna be like him.  He abandoned Jamie for me and my mum and then he was still a shit dad.”  Nathan’s eyes found yours and the pain and uncertainty that filled them twisted your stomach, and you reached up to place your hand on his cheek comfortingly.

His eyes fluttered shut for a moment at your touch.  “I’m afraid that even if I tried, I’d still end up like him,” he admitted.

“Talk about dysfunctional families,” you huffed, stroking his cheek.

“Yeah,” he said, letting out a shaky laugh.  “But, it’s okay...” he murmured, “because… you’re my family now.”

His words hit you, filling you with overwhelming affection and you smiled, tears pricking your eyes as you pressed your forehead to his, his curls tickling your face.

“I like the sound of that.”

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

Tag List: @imagine-you-are​​ @magic-multicolored-miracle​​ @etherealsxnder​​ @thehrgreeves​​ @iamsexytrash​​ @gurlimtired​​ @itsmetaphorbriansblog Those Bolded - I can’t tag you for some reason

[breadoffoxy]

Prompt: Watching movies under a pile of blankets.

Day: 7/31

Pairing: Jongin x n. Reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: cuddling, people sleeping in the same bed but still SFW

Word Count: 949

A/N: Thank you @cardtak​ for requesting another one, hope you like it!

The sky was darker than usual. It was looming with heavy looking clouds. Would it snow or rain? You couldn’t tell, which made it difficult to know what to pack for the trip to your best friend’s dorm. Neither seemed optimal as you don’t like being wet and cold, but you hoped for snow as your friend enjoyed that so much more. The rain always did make Jongin uncomfortable for some reason.

You arrive to the dorms cold, backpack filled with your toiletries and snacks, and a large bag of assorted blankets. Ringing the bell, you shift from foot to foot while waiting for someone to answer.

“What’s up, loser?” A voice you recognize too well answers.

“Buzz me in Baekhyun, I’m cold.” You whine.

His tone is all too playful, “What’s the password?”

“Baek-“

There’s a sound of a commotion right before the other side of the line cuts out. Soon after, the door buzzes and you hear the lock disengaging.

Jabbing the button with a knowing smile you say, “thanks Jongin,” before slipping through the door. Going up the couple flights of stairs, you hear the bass and shouts of various parties. It gets a little quieter the higher you go, and you’re slightly out of breath when you reach the floor you need. The door is already open and an awaiting Jongin is leaning in the entry way.

“Baekhyun was complaining how he could hear you a mile away.” A grin is on Jongin’s lips as he watches you trudge the short distance between the stairs and his door.

“Well tell Baekhyun,” You pant, “that not all of us are crazy like him or dancers like you.”

“Hey!” Baekhyun’s voice shouts somewhere inside. “Crazy has nothing to do with it.”

This makes Jongin and you roll your eyes. He waves you in and you take familiar steps through the shared living room and towards Jongin’s room. You see his other roommates, Sehun and Chaneyol, as you pass, giving them a little wave that they almost miss because they are intently focused on the video game in front of them.

You dump your bags in Jongin’s room. “I got the goods.”

“Great.” Jongin eyes the dumped bag of snacks appreciatively. “He goes to his shelf and picks up two movies. “The Shining or The Poltergeist.”

“Wow…” You eye both of the movies. “I should’ve known.”

“There’s nothing wrong with these movies.” The pout on his face is cute. You shake your head to get rid of the thought.

“Let’s do The Shining. I finished the book recently so get ready for me to complain about everything.” The blankets are next to get dumped on the bed. You unfold them, making a big pile of warmth and comfort that’s just ready for you to dive in.

Jongin pulls out his computer and snickers. “You do that all the time anyways.”

“I do not!” You try to defend your honor, but know the words he speaks is the truth.

Once the movie is put in, the two of you get settled under the blankets which are pulled up over your head and the laptop. Pillows are arranged so you can lay on your stomach and rest your head and arms on them. Now you won’t be cold and this’ll help Jongin block out the sound of the weather outside if it did indeed rain. It also allows the two of you to be closer, toeing the line the both of you have yet to cross.

Jongin finds it amusing that you do indeed find everything to pick apart in the movie after reading the original text. The two of you watched this movie so many times together now, it helps bring a fresh take to one of your favorites. After a while you notice it’s a bit quiet on Jongin’s end and you take a peek over at him. His head is nestled into his arms, eyes closed, and he’s asleep peacefully as Jack Nicholson is running around with his murder axe.

You brush a stray strand of hair from his handsome face and smile softly at him before turning back to the movie. Not too much later, you are also in dreamland. When you come too it’s because the mountain of blankets is ripped from you.

“Look they are so…boring.” A voice shouts but quickly becomes disappointed.

Mustering your best glare, you open your eyes, but instead of seeing Baekhyun with an armful of blankets and Sehun and Chaneyol snickering in the background, you see a muscular chest filing your whole vision. Alarmed, you try to pull back, but something wrapped around you prohibits any movements. It doesn’t take you long to realize that something is one of Jongin’s strong arms.

“Get out of here Baekhyun.” Jongin grumbles, his morning voice low and deep.

You do your best to not let his affect you too strongly and will yourself to ask, “Snow or rain.”

“Snow.” Sehun answers, and you breathe a sigh of relief.

“You two love birds missed your first snow kiss. Now you have to wait a whole other year.”

“Out Baekhyun,” both you and Jongin grumble.

“C’mon you pervert.” Chaneyol laughs, dragging his friend out the door.

“Your just jealous I’m not afraid to say it.” Baekhyun starts, his voice muffled once Sehun closes the door after them.

The arm around you leaves, and the next moment the mountain of blankets are messily piled back on top of you. Jongin flops down somehow gracefully next to you. “Another movie?” The look on his face is soft as he looks at you.

Wanting to spend more time next to him you answer, “Yeah, let’s do another.”

[spookyspaghettisundae]

What Was the Mountain, What Heralds the Calamity

Therapy had been tough in the months following the incident. Daily life had turned into a blur ever since.

Heidi stood in front of the mirror and only registered with delay what sound reached her ears. The hollow snap, a release of pressure around her waist, and the rattle of cheap imitation metal accompanying the flaccid flopping of a broken belt as it drooped from the loops on her pants.

Almost as if in a trance, it took her several moments to register that all the stress-eating and weight gain had caused her oldest and favorite belt to break. She held the buckle and studied how its prong had cleanly snapped in half because of material fatigue and the physical strain of her belly’s size increasing.

It was not like she really needed the belt anyway because her pants had gotten a bit too tight ever since she witnessed the murder-suicide at college. Heidi thought of Krissy for some reason.

Before long, she found herself in another haze: the distant droning radio hits looping the same one-hour track list of pop music in the background, while she explored the brightly lit maze of a cramped clothing store, shopping around for a new belt. She felt seen in an uncomfortable way and avoided eye contact with every single person that got even remotely near her.

Unless she needed to, she never went outside anymore.

Navigating the narrow aisles and beginning to feel nauseous from the cocktails of perfumed scents all tactically spread throughout the retail hellscape, she even tried to avoid physical closeness to any other of the shoppers.

This made it harder to get to wherever the hell the damned belts were in this store. Instead of locking eyes with other people, Heidi stared at a camera stuck overhead in a corner, observing how it slowly panned back and forth and a tiny red light on its blocky little body blinked rhythmically. Seeing her own tiny reflection in the camera lens made her feel uneasy, like she saw someone else in there.

Faceless mannequins wrapped in stylish garb loomed high above her everywhere, looking down on her like disapproving deities; divine idols of fashion that saw without eyes but judged her with cold and absolute cruelty.

The moment she heard familiar voices, she darted into an aisle she had no business in and kept her head down. With a sinking feeling, she wondered what she hated more: the bright and garish colors and neo-hippie designs of the articles that flanked her on both sides, or that she was so afraid of human contact that this was who she was now.

Alone and adrift in a sea of empty masks, engulfed in a suffocating fog of uncertainty and countless little fears.

“Do you think this’ll go better with my blue bolero jacket, or do the colors clash a bit too much? What do you think?” Krissy asked.

Heidi recognized her fellow college colleague’s voice through the white noise of store music, cash register beeps, and other voices softly blending. Somewhat sharp, regularly rising in tone as if to pose several questions before posing the actual question.

“I dunno, babe. You might wanna try the darker blue instead. You know, instead of such a radically different color?” Jacob asked back. Krissy’s boyfriend.

The aisles being what they were in this store, it was not like they offered ample opportunities to hide from prying eyes without ducking down in between them—the nature of such a temple of commerce lured everybody in to see its ample buffet of products, rendering its neon-colored reduced-price signs visible from every corner of the store.

Krissy clicked her tongue. Without even seeing her, Heidi could practically hear her shake her head for emphasis.

“Nah, because I’m really thinking of it going with my favorite jeans, and if it ends up all looking like different shades of blue, it kinda sucks,” Krissy said.

With little opportunity to hide without making herself look even more like a freak, Heidi kept her head down and did what she had been conditioning herself to do for months now: pretend like she did not exist and pray that nobody noticed.

Despite her best efforts, she gawked at Jacob’s face. His eyes stole a furtive glance at Heidi which made her stomach knot. Despite how clipped and short it was, and him focusing all his attention on Krissy, Heidi clearly glimpsed the flash of recognition in his eyes.

She wondered if he had stopped giving her adulterously flirtatious looks because of her bloated figure or because of the thousand-mile stare that haunted Heidi’s mien. The moment she sensed her thoughts drifting in that direction, she shook her head and chastised herself for thinking anything like that.

Heidi turned away and gained distance as quickly as she could without running, far away enough to not have to overhear those other two talking. She stifled a sigh of relief when she finally chanced upon a rack of belts in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Taking less than a minute to scan the massive assortment, Heidi gazed upon one that really struck her fancy. Two big silver rings adorned the black leather belt and framed the buckle. It looked a bit pricey, but she was willing to pay extra if it was made of authentic metal and leather.

Disappointment followed when she realized it was a size too small.

In a seldom burst of defiance, she looked around. A store clerk was hovering nearby, busy sorting jackets by size on a ring-shaped stand.

Heidi dithered, owed to her mind going in circles and struggling to overcome the part of her that felt anxious in approaching and talking to a stranger. But the store employee was small and unassuming, which helped give Heidi that final push.

Instead of clearing her throat as she had envisioned to catch the girl’s attention, Heidi spoke up, “Uhm, excuse me?”

The shop assistant slowly turned and looked up at her. The nametag read “Jenn” and it only briefly distracted from vaguely disheveled hair and black rings of exhaustion under Jenn’s eyes.

“Hello,” Jenn said in a mousy little voice to match her appearance. “How can I help?”

Out of fear of breaking out in a cold sweat, Heidi embraced her newfound momentum and nodded. She held up the belt like a trophy and felt the blood rushing into her face as she spoke with much less vigor than she felt, “Do you have this in one size bigger?”

Jenn’s eyes went from belt to Heidi and back to the belt.

She said, “If there aren’t any out there, that's—”

The sentence died in Jenn’s mouth and she nodded. The faint semblance of a smile twitched around the corners of her lips, genuine and heartfelt.

“You know, I’ll check. We might have one,” she said. And with a sudden dash of melody to her voice, she added, “I’ll be right back!”

Jenn walked away with a bounce to her step.

Heidi hesitated, wondering if she should wait there or follow Jenn to wherever she was going. The thought that she could spare the girl the extra walk to get back to her drove Heidi to follow, several steps behind and struggling to keep pace. Jenn may have looked small and exhausted but hell, she was fast.

This brought them to a door bearing a label in big black letters emblazoned on its surface, reading:

EMPLOYEES ONLY

Keys jingled as Jenn pulled out a tangle of the little metal objects and unlocked the door. She stepped inside and paused, looking over her shoulder and noticing that Heidi had followed her. She gave her another smile, both feeble and warm.

“Please wait here, I’ll find it in no time. Or maybe not find it. Uhm, I hope I find it? Uh, you know what I mean,” she babbled at Heidi.

She radiated a disarming energy. It melted away the icy barrier of Heidi’s many fears. Seconds later, Heidi found it hard to believe that she had felt the pull of facial muscles she had not flexed in a while—she had returned a smile of her own at Jenn.

The girl disappeared into the eerie twilight of whatever storage lay beyond the threshold. Jenn had left the door ajar, giving Heidi ample time to absorb hints of the secret world behind it.

Contrasting the warm eggshell color of the floors in the store area, the concrete grounds of the back area looked coarse and slate-colored, radiating something cold and unforgiving. Racks of naked steel beams held up all sorts of things wrapped in layers of plastic or piles of cardboard boxes.

Although a cool light emanated from fluorescent tubes above the storage space, the ceilings in there were higher than in the store and it felt like some of them were off. One of the lights even occasionally flickered, lending the otherworld that Jenn had stepped into an almost eerie air that reminded Heidi of a cheesy horror movie.

Seconds flowed into minutes as she waited. She resisted the temptation to look around, felt a stronger need not to make any eye contact anymore. The warmth of smiles exchanged between her and Jenn already felt like it was a million miles away.

Just before any impatience could bubble up to the surface, a loud sound crashed in the storage space. Something big and heavy must have fallen, with a loud sloshing on the hells of the impact.

Heidi’s heart raced. Thundered. She wanted to check. Worried that something had happened to Jenn.

But that icy barrier of fears had fully frozen back into a solid shell, causing her heartbeat to shoot through the roof. Paralyzed, she dreaded the idea of looking like an idiot by calling out for Jenn, only to find out that everything was fine. Or to trespass beyond that ominous threshold of the ajar door and get into any trouble.

The door said it was for employees only, after all.

Then she remembered how she once walked towards danger. Towards the sound of gunshots. Towards whimpering. Towards that horrid scene that had wrought all the therapy of recent months.

Instead of impatience, cold dread bubbled to the surface. She did not want to remember the words of the phone call that followed the murder-suicide she had witnessed.

And then, something else bubbled up. Fiery, and searing. It sliced through the icy shell with something she had forgotten.

Something that felt like hope.

All she had done was witness. But now, perhaps, she could make a difference.

The cold sweat erupted from her pores, after several of her steps taking her through that door, pushing through, looking around for Jenn.

Two forces clashed in the thunder of her beating heart. The fire of courage and the ice of her dread. The need to do the right thing, and the fear of consequences.

Something like claustrophobia began to bear down on her as she paced through the narrow corridors of the storage shelves. While the ceilings were high, so were the racks and piles of boxes all around. Heidi had left one maze and entered another.

“Jenn?” she said. Timid, at first. Assertive on repeat, as she called out again, “Jenn?”

Something metal scraped against the concrete floors, grinding. It also sounded wet.

The moment she turned around, the shadows around her grew. The darkness engulfed her, and a tower fell. A mountain fell upon her. It was too fast for her to react, too sudden to realize what even was happening. Just enough time to know that one of those long metal shelves bent and toppled and fell, and piles of boxes came crashing down upon her.

She instinctively flailed about with her arms to fight herself free from being buried alive under a mountain of boxes, but as her eyes fluttered, nothing was the same anymore. Nothing was as it should be.

Distant and incredible, but all real. All too real. Terribly real.

A stinging smell of salt hung heavy in the air. The taste of rust clung to her tongue in a bitter film. The gray floors had made way to a different color of gray, blending into mist all around, shrouding the dark silhouette of a mountain in the distance.

Heidi’s hands were different. Thinner, not pudgy anymore.

Her body, everything. Like she had lost all the excess weight, and then some. And dressed differently. Dried blood stained her leg, and she had a bright orange life jacket hugging her upper body.

Heidi was no longer Heidi. She was now Krissy.

The world swayed and ocean waves lapped at the edges of an inflatable rubber raft. Jacob slumped where he sat, his head hanging down so far that his hair concealed his face, and his head bobbed up and down as he sat across from her in the raft. Like he was unconscious. Or sleeping.

But Heidi—no, Krissy—knew he was not sleeping.

He was also not Jacob anymore, even if he looked like him.

Even if he now raised his head, looking up until their eyes met, and dread welled up inside of her, making her stomach knot and cutting off air as she held her breath.

He stared. His eyes carried a cutting cold that rivaled the sea’s air. Something other than Jacob peered through them, piercing the darkness between the stars, and wriggling its way forth, like a worm burrowing through the void, trying to emerge into the light, to break through the glint of Krissy’s own horrified visage reflected in those orbs of lifeless jelly.

Like someone watching through a screen, displaying a camera feed.

Krissy hoped Jenn was okay and wanted to wake up. To become Heidi again.

But this was no dream.

And that was not Jacob.

“Who are you?” she croaked. The question landed on wings of a dehydrated rasp.

Jacob’s limbs twitched as the entity tried to move, but they were all long twisted in ways that had caused bones to break and muscles to snap, leaving him stranded in the boat and immobilized. His body shuddered and wiggled for a moment, suggesting that he might have lurched forward. Or lunged at her.

“I am Sorrowglade, a Sheen of the Interlocking Oil Walls. You look thirsty. You should drink,” came the words from Jacob’s chapped lips.

Sorrowglade nodded Jacob’s head towards a bottle of water within Krissy’s reach.

It rolled back and forth, courtesy of the ocean rocking their raft. The water in the bottle sloshed around, out of tact, and a violet tint permeated it. For whatever reason, she knew poison had tainted the liquid.

Tears welled up in Krissy’s eyes. She had no hopes of finding Jacob. Either he was long dead or Sorrowglade had absorbed him. The worries about a belt in a clothing store or any anxieties welling up now lay far behind her, even though they had troubled her mind mere moments ago.

Her head weighed a ton and she felt sick. That metallic taste reached far down her throat and a pain in her jaw flared up. The plane’s crash into the ocean had miraculously done almost nothing to her.

“We are the shining light that gleams from the cracks between the walls,” said Sorrowglade, still borrowing Jacob’s vocal cords. His eyes still dead, but awake, and wary.

Studying her features with curiosity. Like a fascinated child.

The lifeboat drifted closer towards the mountain. Panic budded in Krissy’s body, starting as a tingling in her digits and spreading everywhere else until it erupted into a nauseating dizziness, making the world spin around her.

“We are here to guard you from the jovial pudding of the laughing coin kings,” continued Sorrowglade. “From the false promises of freedom. From the lies that the stone walkers cloaked in hairless shadow utter.”

Krissy’s stomach churned. She fought against the urge to throw up while her hands pawed at the paddle nearby, gripping it tightly as she stared at Sorrowglade, expecting Jacob’s broken body to suddenly defy its injuries and jump at her like a hungry beast.

But Sorrowglade only stared at her from the helpless body of her boyfriend.

“They will devour if you let them near,” he said. No—they—they said. Speaking in one voice, but many who spoke at once, “We, on the other hand, we offer salvation.”

Krissy could barely see through the unsteady blur of tears as she pried her gaze from Jacob’s body, and she paddled with all her might. Tried to gain distance from that growing, looming shadow of a mountain. A distance that shrank far too quickly.

“We are golden light that shines upon true ways.”

Krissy forced herself not to sob when she realized the raft spun around. She doubled her efforts to alternate sides as she paddled, harder, with crushing despair taking root in every fiber of her body already wracked with panic.

“We have traveled from far to find you, and we are the conclusion that all your roads lead to.”

Silently, inwardly, Krissy pleaded for something to happen, to rip her out of this and bring her back to where she was. To be Heidi again, to find Jenn in the store, and go home with a new belt. But she was Krissy now, and her world had gone to hell.

“When you close your eyes, you taste us. When you taste the grit of dirt crunching between your teeth, you hear our arrival.”

Krissy paddled, and paddled, and paddled. Looking over her shoulder only turned her dizziness into something worse. The mountain grew larger by the second. Looming behind Jacob like a sinister and shadowy patron. Like the ocean waters carried the raft there no matter how hard she tried.

The metallic taste made way to something far more bitter and caustic and before she knew it, she retched and heaved as she vomited off the side of the boat. Chunks of lunch had gotten stuck in her hair and her mouth burned.

“Lay down your ten thousand nightmares. Abandon all the pain and the guilt,” Sorrowglade said in the same dull monotone, a mockery of Jacob’s pleasant voice as it delivered all these strange words.

Everything he said kept riding on the tone of an invitation. But all she could hear were secret threats.

At least the dizziness waned a little bit. And although her arms wobbled, she found new strength and paddled with all her might.

Doom emanated from that mountain. Slithering in between the scent of sea salt, something putrid and rotten reached her nostrils, almost made Krissy hurl again.

“Why embrace this suffering any longer? Why do some of you resist so?”

Krissy did her best to ignore Sorrowglade, but it was impossible not to listen. His voice kept cutting through the sloshing of ocean waves, infiltrating her ears and mind and thoughts, like tendrils snaking their way forth, smooth, and slow and steady and certain—

“I can make him whole again. I can end his suffering and restore your happiness.”

A gasp almost escaped her lips, but she fought back against it, even harder than she paddled. A part of her wanted to take Sorrowglade up on their offer, but she remembered the words from that call Heidi had taken from the dying man.

Not in a monotone, but a growl, she replied. She repeated those words from the mysterious call as she watched the life fade from the eyes of the man who had committed the murder-suicide at her college, “When the ascetic glimpses gold outside the gloom, he is blinded and strays from his path.”

Something grabbed at the paddle and because she had turned around halfway to face Not-Jacob and address this Sorrowglade, she never saw what yanked that paddle away from her, dragging it underwater and letting the darkness beneath the ocean surface swallow it whole.

Having reached the peaks of her panic, it made no difference anymore.

“These are not my final moments,” she finished. And despite her voice trembling, every syllable emerged with force, riding on waves of defiance.

Sorrowglade continued to stare at her through Jacob’s deadened eyes. They waited for more, but Krissy had said her part. Gave as little as possible, because she sensed how they did not understand one another, even if they spoke the same language and could comprehend the individual words.

“We may be delayed today,” said Sorrowglade. With no anger nor emotion. “The awakening comes eventually, like your sun always rises and always sets.”

The silhouette of the mountain moved. Not because of the boat’s steady rocking amidst the ocean waves, or Krissy’s sight being affected by that motion.

“A celestial body that you see in ways it is not, believe it behaves in ways that it does not.”

No. The mountain moved. Its shape changed as limbs parted from it. Monolithic and towering, one such limb reached out towards them, creeping closer and closer. A low baritone rumbling accompanied its arrival, like a nearing earthquake, heralding how the ocean waves turned more violent, now splashing higher and higher against the malleable sides of the raft.

Something oily and dark and glistening pierced the veil of mists and closed in quickly on Krissy.

As she screamed and clamped her eyes shut, the searing pain flared up in her every limb. Everything hurt.

A string of profanities, panting gasps, the sound of panic weighing heavily on Jenn’s voice as she apologized profusely, both to Heidi and to an imaginary mountain of oppression that haunted her every working moment.

Jenn helped remove the many heavy boxes under which Heidi had been buried alive, and Heidi groaned in pain.

Nothing serious. Nothing had harmed her. The pile of boxes had miraculously did nothing tangible to hurt her.

Krissy was not Krissy any longer, but Heidi again. Heidi hoisted herself up onto her side and her skin tingled as she felt Jenn’s wispy hands gently touching her while she tried to help her up onto her feet.

Trembling from the shock, Heidi’s knees buckled for a moment, but Jenn helped her stand up straight. They stumbled their way out of the sea of boxes and bags that now littered the narrow corridor of the storage space.

The mountain had almost gotten Krissy. Luckily, she was now Heidi.

“Oh my gosh,” Jenn whispered. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry!”

Heidi shook her head and took Jenn’s hands, grasping them firmly and giving them a shake for emphasis, not letting go.

“No, look, don’t worry about it. S'all good. I, uh, I shouldn’t have been here—uh, back here—to begin with. I was just gonna. I was just, uh—there was a sound, and I was just, I wanted to check on you,” Heidi finally said, struggling to find the right words and omit the deluge of wrong ones and not sound like she had lost her mind.

Trying not to talk about her time as Krissy, after a plane crash, talking to the Sorrowglade that had possessed her half-dead boyfriend’s body.

Because none of that made sense. She had turned into another person and back again.

And almost as if to confirm the sheer insanity of it all, the moment the two women emerged from the storage room into the warmer light of the clothing store, Heidi saw Krissy and Jacob standing in the aisles of the shop. Although well out of earshot to hear whatever they were talking about, Krissy’s animated movements suggested she was berating Jacob for some fashion faux pas he had just committed in commenting on her most recent choice in attire to try on.

Jenn’s continued apologies barely pierced the haze of Heidi’s mind, still drifting back to that gloomy ocean, that mist, and that mountain. Its oily, tentacle-shaped something that reached out—that almost reached her.

Almost touched her.

Its agent, Sorrowglade, having almost convinced her.

Almost.

Yet more harrowing things she could not speak of in therapy. For all of this was real.

All of this suggested the invasion of that cold thing, hailing from the darkness between the stars, from far away. From distant worlds, from devoured husks, reaching out and trying to find more connections here, in our world.

Heidi smiled at Jenn and assured her everything was fine. What a beautiful lie.

“Did you find the belt? In my size?” she interrupted the clerk.

Jenn’s eyes went wide, and she burst out laughing.

All the anxiety blown away; it was almost like old Heidi was back. The one from before the incident.

Almost.

In truth, she only wore a mask.

Deep down, she felt sick to her stomach. Wondered what she could do to prevent the coming calamity. Wondered if she could even do anything.

Nobody would believe her if she told them.

She struggled to believe it herself.

—Submitted by Wratts

[just-horrible-things]

Story: Mina and Marten [Next]

[My own take on Whumpers-R-Us, the Box Boys™, and YouTube whump. I have a bunch of ideas, but this might be kind of slow burn, so let’s see how far I get, I guess.]

---

Unboxing - HUGE SURPRISE!!!

“Hi all, and welcome as always to my channel!

“I got a huge surprise this morning! I think I’m still in shock, haha! You might notice that this video’s a bit rough around the edges. I’m sorry about that, peeps, but I haven’t had time to edit properly and I just had to get this out to you ayy-sap!

“First all, I guess I have to say a huge thank you to whoever sent me this morning’s surprise. You know who you are! Now, uh, well, I’ve got a few reservations, because, well, this is kind of a crazy thing to buy for someone without any warning or, like... asking first? But I know these things are crazy expensive, so I guess I should be pretty grateful! I’d never be able to afford it myself -

“Actually, I’m kinda worried about the upkeep! I’m gonna have to lean pretty heavily on all my wonderful Patreon supporters - names at the end, like usual - and maybe cut back on some of my big buys. But then again, I know these things are all the rage right now, so maybe this’ll bring in the new subscribers, fingers crossed!

“But anyway, that’s enough teasing, haha! I know you peeps are dying to see my surprise, so let’s get to it. Again, I’m sorry about the kind of rough quality, but you’ll see pretty soon why I was in such a hurry!”

[Cut to handheld footage of Mina in her pajamas, with wide eyes and a slightly strained grin. She is hurrying down the stairs as she speaks to the camera.]

“Oh my god.”

“Oh my god, what do I even say! This is going to be one hell of an unboxing! Oh my god. Just- just look at this!”

[The camera rotates to show a large wooden crate branded Whumpees-R-Us]

“I can’t believe there’s a human person in there! Oh my god. Should I get the good cameras? I can’t get this up the stairs. No, I’d better get started right away! Sorry peeps, you’re gonna have to keep watching through my phone! Let me just...”

[The view shakes and swings around, then stabilises to show a good angle on Mina and the box.]

“So I grabbed the craft knife and the scissors while I was upstairs, so let’s get started!”

[Mina cuts away the straps holding the box closed, and carefully lifts the lid to peek inside. She glances round, and lifts it away altogether to show the camera.]

“I guess this layer is all the paperwork? We don’t care about that right now though, so I’m just gonna toss this aside.”

[Mina removes several plastic-sealed documents from the box and tosses them out of the camera’s view. She removes a cardboard divider and sets it aside, then begins removing handfuls of packing material.]

“Oh! Ohmygod I just touched skin. Oh wow, oh my god, you guys do not know how weird this is! I guess I’d better get him out of here pronto - is it a him? Oh my god I don’t even know! Who sends this kind of thing?”

[Mina leans over the edge of the crate to take the product under the arms and lift. The product is limp, head hanging, but takes a deep breath as its mouth clears the packing material.]

“Oh wow, you’re so light! I was scared I wasn’t gonna be able to lift you, but I guess they got me a little one - like me, huh? It sure would be weird to be smaller than, um. Wow.

“Ohh, what’s this? Hang on, lemme just show the camera...”

[Mina shuffles sideways, turning the product so that the camera can see the quick-start instructions taped to its chest. The product whimpers softly, head flopping against Mina’s torso.]

“Quick Start. Oh, I guess I better read this bit. Let me just lean you back like this so I can read your instructions... Back in two ticks, peeps, you don’t wanna watch me stumble over this!”

[The video cuts forwards. The product is still in the box, leaning back against the side of the crate. Mina is crouched down beside it, and has placed a glass of water on the floor nearby.]

“Okay, so, I gotta get this hood off first... the instructions say it’s to keep them calm during transit? I don’t really get how that works, but I suppose I’ll have to read the manual later. Wow, this is a lot of clips and clasps and stuff. Hold on peeps, you’d think I’d be good at this by now, but noooo... They sure know their fasteners, haha!

“There we go, let’s just eeease this off - haha, I guess you count as fragiles! Oh wow. You’re gonna need a bath! First impressions, sweet viewers, is this: my new, uh, Box Boy smells sweat-y. I guess that’s my fault for taking so long to get up and check the mail this morning!

“Alright, hun, let’s show your pretty face to the camera... Actually, scratch that, I’ll go get the camera. Uh.”

[The video cuts to a closer view of the flushed and shivering product. Mina’s face is out of view, but her hands are visible as she lifts the product’s head and tries to hold the glass of water to their lips.]

“Hey, hey, hun, are you awake in there? You gotta drink this, your instructions say so.

“Oh- oh no-! Don’t drown-!

“Uh. Um. Oh, oh sugar. Is he broken? Did I leave him too long, is he gonna die? What do I do, he isn’t drinking!

“Hang in there, I’m just gonna check the internet a minute.”

[Another cut. Mina is now holding the edge of a wet tea towel against the product’s mouth.]

“Okay, so, uh. I looked this up, and the internet says if you can’t get a person to drink - or, I guess, a Box Boy - you should do this. So, uh, I don’t know how long this is gonna take, but I guess I’ll be here a while.

“Oh, oh did you catch that! He moved, look, he moved his lips, I think he’s swallowing. Oh, poor sweetie. I hope you’ve got a good view from there, peeps...”

[Several more clips play, from various angles, of the product sucking water weakly from the wet tea towel. Eventually its eyes open.]

“Oh! Oh, you’re awake! Woah, easy there!

[The product convulses as it attempts to sit up, then lies still, watching Mina.]

“That’s right. You want some more water, hun? Can you drink from the glass yet? Oh, I’m so glad, I thought you were gonna die...”

[Mina holds the glass of water so that the product can drink. When the glass is empty, the camera pans around the product’s face briefly to show it from all angles.]

“Alright, okay, um. Um. So, the next thing I’ve gotta do is take him to the bathroom, so I’m gonna turn you peeps off for a bit. No one wants to see that, haha! Oh my god, do I have to take him every time he needs to pee? I sure hope not! Wow, uh, well! This has been quite the unboxing so far, I’m sure I’ll be back with you shortly!”

[Cut back to Mina in her studio.]

“So as you can see, I got a bit worried there for a while, but don’t worry, he’s in good condition! I got him all cleaned up, he did his, um, business, drank a whole lot more water, and then went straight to sleep. The instructions say I should get him to eat within twelve hours, but he didn’t seem to want to, so I guess I’ll wake him up and try again later.

“He’s pretty cute sleeping! Take a look!”

[A brief shot of the product asleep. It is stretched out supine on Mina’s bed, atop the pillow. Its eyes are closed and its face is slack.]

“I’ve got some footage of the rest of the unboxing too, but the angles are pretty bad and, um, I’m afraid there’s no sound. I might have been a little bit panicky, and I’m sorry peeps, but I’m too embarrassed to share! You can watch me unfold him and try to get him up the stairs right after I say thank you to all my supporters!

“I’ll be uploading this pretty much as soon as I’m done recording because oh my god, how often do you get a surprise like this! But I’ll try to make up for it with lots more footage once he wakes up. I’m gonna set up the good cameras, right after I take a look at all the paperwork. I’m gonna need a wider angle than usual, so I guess you’ll be seeing a lot more of my room, haha!

“As always, I wanna thank every single one of you, but especially...”

[Next]

[moonlightreal]

Winx season 8/17

Now three or four people are reading these, and I am very happy.  =)

In which we root for Stormy.

17 Dress Fit for a Queen

So, a Stella episode.

Alfea!  And we’re returning to the simulation class from season one!  It’s not called the “magical reality chamber” this time around because honestly, that name is a little silly.  But here’s Palladium all dapper in his vest and long hair asking the girls if they’re ready for a “special kind of test.”

Bloom is unsure.

Stella is ready for any kind of test… “as long as it’s about makeup or changing clothes.”

But this test is about visualizing your deepest insecurities, exactly what Stella isn’t an expert at.  The cute minor fairies look worried.

Stella says she has no insecurities, but it’s Musa who hops up to go first.  

So, what are Musa’s insecurities?  Riven.  Her taste in boys.  Her mom obviously. Choosing to do music against her father’s wishes, though now that the girls are successes I assume Ho Boe would’ve calmed down about that.

Good callback, the set is the same—a door, then a bridge into a domed room that projects the simulation.  

While Musa’s insecurities play a Palladium voiceover explains that everyone has insecurities—like, “some are afraid of making mistakes” Virtual rocker Musa flubs a chord.  

“Some are afraid of being unable to help others.”  Virtual Flora can’t revive withered plants.  

Some are afraid of losing control over a situation.”  Virtual Tecna has built a humanoid robot that she’s controlling with her phone, making it do dance moves.  But her phone control stops working and virtual Tec has to flee because it looks like the robot is going to attack her. Also, virtual Tecna is sitting in a lavender diamond shaped hovering chair that you can get in Winx fairy school.  The robot bangs the chair on the ground, it’s funny.

Virtual Aisha is climbing a climbing wall and falls.  “Some are afraid of losing their nerve.”  

Virtual Bloom gets dumped by virtual Sky. “And some are afraid of losing the one they love.”  She runs after virtual Sky, very upset.  When real Bloom walks out she says the simulation feels so real.

What’s this test about anyway?  It seems kinda traumatic!  But Stella has no fear, she thinks she’ll have to ‘come up with a tiny little insecurity I can visualize.”  Stell, I know it was an alternate you, but your Nemesis slapped you around with your insecurities not that long ago! I love Stella, but she has the self-awareness of a turnip.

Virtual Stella is in her pajamas and encounters three dressed-up courtiers.  They titter.  She wonders if she’s under-dressed… nah, they must be overdressed!  She snaps her fingers and poofs them into pajamas too, welcoming them to her sleepover.

Then her parents come out and shame her.  Stella stutters, falling apart a little. Then the simulation ends.  Stella walks out looking mad, and says she could’ve fixed things with her parents if she’d only had more time.  Her voice sounds sad but she looks pissed off; I wonder what tone of voice the Italian voice actress had.

Palladium just says, “Of course you could have, Stella.”  her doesn’t sound sarcastic, or particularly anything.  Then he says they’ll have another class tomorrow morning and leaves.  I expected something more like “this test was to help you understand yourself not fix problems in the simulation, which isn’t real after all.”  but nope.  I kinda wonder if Italian Palladium was sarcastic, maybe I’ll look this episode up on RaiPlay.

Back in the Winx common room the girls talk about how down the test left Stella, and how she never really got over her parents’ separation.  Flora comments that Stella always cheers other people up, but hides her own problems.

So the timeslide has not rewritten Stella’s parents splitting up—though in US law ‘separated’ is different from ‘divorced’ but I’m not sure a kids’ show would care about that.  Probably nothing.  Also Stella’s wish in season 5 seems not to have gotten her folks remarried as was wondered.  We haven’t heard much from Luna and Radius in a while.

Star case appearance!  It speaks!  The next star is on Solaria, conveniently. “It’s easy to be seen but to get it you must be wearing the confidence of a queen.”  Was that an attempt at poetry?

The girls look worried, not thrilled.  But Stella comes in and she is thrilled: that’s her homeworld!  Musa wonders what confidence of a queen means, but Stella knows!  It just means a dress!  And that’s right up her alley!  Bloom is unsure.  But Stella has her plan: make a dress and wear it!  “After all, nobody’s more confidant than I am!”

Valtor is watching. He dispatches the Trix to get the star first.  Stormy says a test of confidence will be child’s play for her, and she’s kinda got a point.  I’d put Icy with her “Defeat the Winx once and for all!” every season like clockwork high on the confidence meter.

I have been watching the Trix very closely.  This season has a prize in the bottom of the box, and I know mostly what it is so I’m looking for any hint of foreshadowing… so far I have seen not a single hint.  I wonder if the prize was added late in the writing of the season like the gang at Rainbow suddenly decided this season needed a little something more, or something.  One thing I wish they did was have foreshadowing in the opening sequence—like in anime ops, there will often be a hint, characters with their faces not visible or only shown as a brief flash so you see just enough to suspect…

(see the Umineko game opening for an example.)  But this season of Winx the entire op is just clips from the show itself so nothing in the op can sort of contain the whole season’s story… if that makes any sense… yeah, I think Winx ops could be better than they are.

Cut to gorgeous Solaria background.  A little bay, the palace, and a… giant building like six times bigger than the palace?  Do Solarians live in arcologies instead of normal cities? (spellcheck does not know the word arcology.)  there are also some viking style boats in the bay and random crystals spiking out of the water.  Very pretty.

The girls on their winxboards fly past the crystals, which are beautifully colored. Stella says her mom can help with dressmaking but her dad can’t even combine colors.  Heh.  But he’ll be happy about the surprise visit!

Throne room!  One throne, two lion statues, the usual drapey above-throne fabrics. Radius sits reading a scroll.  He gets up to hug Stella and calls her “Little Star.”  Aaaaaw.  Then immediately starts a lecture on how busy palace life is and how she should’ve called before visiting.

Stella blows him off, “Fine, fine, we won’t bother you, byeeee!”  and leads the somewhat embarrassed Winx out of the throne room.  Stella has an idea: her dad seems stressed, he needs a party to cheer him up! Aisha reminds her of their mission and Stella says she can do both. If her friends help.  The girls follow, their expressions neutral.  I would be having an expression of ‘concerned’ at this point.

  Outside the palace Stella walks with her mother while the rest of the Winx wait on a bench.  Bloom comments that it’s nice Luna is still living at the royal palace… what IS her status as the king’s ex?  Is she a queen?  She clearly still rates a royal look and that cool moon crown.

Luna suggests they look for supplies at Muppy village.  Whatever that is.  Before we can go find out Stella has another idea: a party for her mom too!  Bloom wants to talk some sense but before she can get one word out Stella conjures her winxboard and hops on, off to see the muppies!

Bloom doesn’t know what muppies are either.

They seem to live in houses made from mushrooms around the bases of trees, but the front door is size that a person can go in, so those must be big trees.  Stella says muppies are great craftsgnomes and they’ll have all the supplies Stella needs for her gown.  Musa sensibly asks why the muppies would part with rare supplies but Stella says all she’ll need to do is make them laugh.  The rest of the girls look more and more unsure about all this.

The Trix are of course watching from above.

Inside we see many bolts of fabric.  Stella sees some bluewhite fabric and decides that’s fit for a queen.  It matches her mother’s dress, a nice touch.  Then some muppies walk in, they’re short and look about like adult male pixies would, I think.  No wings.  And way too small for the scale of their shop.

Stella attempts to pay for the fabric with a joke, but it flops.  She’s so earnest about it, it’s adorable.

Musa summons soundwaves that make the muppies’ hair and beards spike out.  They see each other and burst out laughing.  Score!  Stella gets her bolt of fabric… and immediately dumps it on aisha to carry while she does some more shopping.

In the next shop Stella finds a spool of gold thread.  She starts to tell her joke then rethinks and asks Tecna for help.  Tecna conjures a funny robot that rolls around, juggles, then drops the balls on its head.  The muppy proprietor laughs.  Tecna says , “achievement unlocked” which is becoming slightly annoying as a catchphrase.  Stella gets a box of spools of thread… and immediately gives them to Aisha to carry.  This’ll end well.

In the next shop they’re coming to buy jewels to put on the dress.  This muppy has a big jewel on his hat.  Bloom offers to provide the laughs and does a really cool trick with little streams of fire from her fingers.  But it’s not actually funny, and the muppy seems worried his shop is going to catch on fire.  As Stella tries to reassure him she knocks a bowl of jewels down on her head.  Laugh achieved, she wins a bag of jewels… and immediately dumps it on Aisha to carry.  Aisha says she should’ve brought a shopping cart.

The girls hop on their winxboards (Aisha’s burdens seem to have vanished) and head back to the palace.

The Trix hop down for their turn.

Darcy: “We don’t have to make these things laugh to get what we need do we?”

Icy: “I’d rather make them cry.”

Stormy: “We’ll let the Winx do all the work for us then take the prime star from them when they least expect it.”

Too bad, it would’ve been fun to see what kind of dress they’d have made.

Back at the palace Stella is working on a dress not unlike the folded-chiffon dresses they wore on Andros in the Sirenix episodes.  It’s pale blue/lavender with a skirt that’s short in front and long in back, blue ribbon trim, one shoulder, a wide ribbon choker, and jewels on the bodice.  it’s not at all in Stella’s colors and really looks more her mother’s style.  I wonder if that’s on purpose, a nod to Stella seeing her her as a true queen.

The other girls bring party stuff: flowers and ribbons, chocolate cake and lemon cake.  As you can guess, one parent likes one thing and one parent likes the other.  Stella decides they’ll use both decorations and magics the cakes together into a lemon-chocolate cake which is not a flavor combination I have ever heard of.  Lemon-cinnamon cake, however, is amazing.

Bloom manages to reroute Stella into trying on the dress.

Nighttime, outside, Stella is wearing the dress and her Solarian crown.  The other girls admire her confidence… and a door of light appears!

Cosmix time! Through the door!  The Trix follow, because of course they were hanging around.

The girls appear outside a beautiful pearly sphere with another sphere inside it. Inside is the prime star.

Everybody tries to fly in, but only Stella and Stormy can pass through, maybe because they’re the most confident.  But when they grab for the prime star they get zapped to…

Stella in her dress meeting the same three courtiers from the simulation.  Stella guesses this is a magical test, but at least this time she’s dressed for the setting!  She sees her parents and runs to them, asking if they like the party she set up.

But Radius says they have nothing to celebrate: Luna is leaving.  Stella can choose who to go with.  She looks back and forth between them, unable to choose.

Stormy arrives back at Valtor’s place where he yells at her for being late.  Stormy says she can come and go as she pleases and Valtor blasts all three Trix into the walls.  Icy and Darcy fall down into the chasm on either side of Valtor’s throne, hanging on by their fingers.   Valtor declares he’s powerful enough not to need them anymore.  Icy and Darcy yell for help, saying they can’t fly anymore.  Stormy does an evil grin that kinda makes me root for her.

Back at the palace Stella watches her parents walk away.  She starts crying, saying she doesn’t want to choose.

Stormy gets her badass on!  She can still fly, and still do magic, and she throws some at Valtor.  “You can’t treat me like that!  And you can’t treat my sisters like that!  She rescues both Icy and Darcy and declares, ‘Because I’m the most powerful witch in the magic universe!”

Go Stormy!

Back with the prime star, Stormy wins!  She gets the star!

Stella realizes, “It didn’t mean a dress, it means the confidence a queen uses to fulfill her duty, no matter how difficult.”

But it’s too late, Stormy’s got the prime star and the Trix escape with it. Stormy also said, “Guess I showed you two!” to her sisters, which did not make Icy a happy camper!

Stella stands defeated.

Stormy presents the prime star to Valtor.  

“I knew I could count on you, Stormy.  Keep this up and you’ll earn more than compliments.  I’m talking about your freedom from my magic bond.”

Stormy gloats.  Icy snarls.

Back on Solaria Stella’s wearing her new dress and the other girls are in their dresses from Andros.  Party time!  Stella worries about the preparations but it’s all perfect.

“No it isn’t! I failed the test!  I wasted time on that dress instead of focusing on my confidence!”

Bloom says anyone could’ve made that mistake, and Stella says, ‘Except that I did!”  and now the Trix have the star.

Cute moment of Bloom saying they love everything about Stella, the way she’s there for them, not just her confidence, and the Winx get all teary. Stella says she’s lucky to have friends like them, and Bloom says she’s lucky to have family that love her.

Luna comes in and admires Stella’s dress.  Stella says her mother was her inspiration, so I guessed that right.  Radius loves the chocolate-lemon cake.  They tell Stella that she’s their happiness, and there are hugs.  Aaw.

[sprydecreates]

warning: angst

pairings: gary litg x fem!reader

[y/n] sat on the edge of gary’s half made bed; the covers were obviously used, but pulled up last minute to look alright for her. “so,” she said, pressing her palms against the navy blue fitted sheet, “this’ll be the last time i see you for what, a month?”

gary nods, “yeah, guess so.” he lets out a huff as he flops on the bed beside her, “unless i come back or something.”

she lifts one side of her mouth to show unamusement, “you won’t gary.”

he closes his eyes and takes in a soft breath, “lets hope.”

[y/n] falls onto her back as well, turning her head to look at gary, “gary, you won’t come back. i promise.”

“don’t promise anything,” his hands clasp together on his stomach, “i’m going there for a reason. i’ve been single for what, four years?”

“has it really been four years?”

“yeah, doesn’t seem like it.” there’s silence for a small bit before he lifts his hand to animate his words, “like of course i’ve hooked up, but no one wants to be with me.”

“you just haven’t found the right person. maybe you’ll find that in the villa?”

gary grunts, “at this point, no idea.”

“so i take that you’re nervous?”

“big time,” he opens his eyes, now staring at the ceiling, “i’m scared, nervous, jittery. all the above.”

“well, why,” [y/n] sits up, twisting her body to face gary’s, “what’s on your mind?”

“everything. like,” he turns onto his side, not making eye contact with her but still holding the conversation, “what if nobody likes the way i look? or like what if nobody likes me as a person?”

“now, gary,”

before she could even finish, he interrupted her, “think about it [y/n]. been single for four years. what is it about me that makes people run away? is it my body? my smile? is it the eyebrows?” he takes his free hand up to run his finger across his eyebrows. [y/n] giggled at his example, “i’m being real, what is it?”

“do you want me to be honest?”

“yeah.”

“there’s nothing wrong with you.”

gary peered up at [y/n] for the first time in about five minutes, “what do you mean?”

she readjusts herself, now holding her head up in her clammed hand, “i haven’t found anything wrong with you. it’s just,” she pauses, thinking of a good phrase, “this generation doesn’t like to be committed. most people are... scared. they’re scared of commitment, love, closeness, all the sorts.”

gary has now let his head rest on his bicep, “yeah, i guess so.” silence fills the room again, “are you afraid of those things?”

“eh,” [y/n] shrugs with what little posture she has, “kinda?”

gary shifts his head back and forth, “yeah, me too. i just never know when i’m too much, so i end up ghosting because i’m scared i’m clingy. then it’s like, okay why do i feel this way, what caused it? and i get anxious because i think about,” his speech becomes muffled as he shifts himself onto his back again, “all the girls i could’ve had, but couldn’t because of my insecurities.”

[y/n] tried to listen to his rambling, but her thoughts were clouded. months ago, gary had flirted with her, and dropped off the face of the earth. he had sent her a snapchat message saying, “Heh i!’ A lol drunk rigt nkw but i wange tell you thag i Flly loke you. You’re a proped mate and i wont made a move id you do’nt want me tO, but I want to take u oit”. of course, it disappeared. she wanted it to. he was drunk, right? he said so himself. plus, he sent streaks like normal the next day, and nothing came of it.

little did she know, gary’s words were directed at her. he remembered her leaving him on read. he remembered the premises of the message he sent, but not the entirety of it. he knew he finally confessed his admiration, and she couldn’t even tell him yes or no. that’s why he applied for love island in the first place. she was the last glimmer of hope for him, and although he didn’t rely his happiness on her or her answer, it still dug deep.

“ugh. i’ve been rambling, haven’t i?” gary said, bringing them both out of a trance like state.

“just a little.” she spoke softly, wiping ‘sleep’ out of her eye, which in reality was a subtle tear.

“tired?” he was studying her face. nothing seemed unusual, her nose wasn’t reddened, and that usually happens when she cries. she wasn’t tense, he could feel it in the dip of the bed that she was comfortable. it’s like she’s just, there. existing, with no emotion.

she nods, faking a yawn, “yeah.”

“let’s get to bed then, yeah?”

reluctantly, they both changed, and crawled into bed. the night was supposed to be filled with movies, and laughter, and games and love and happiness and. realization. gary would end up calling the producers and telling them that he wasn’t coming because he had other dates to attend to. [y/n] was supposed to cuddle up next to him in that big oversized shirt of his that she took after he told her “since you’re mine, the shirts can be borrowed without asking”. they were supposed to wake up tomorrow blissed out of this world, together.

but instead, they silently weeped on different sides of the bed, leaving that cold drop of a blanket in between them.

[chogiwank]

Fornication - Taeyong | Fluff&Smut (Part 1)

Anon asked: Hey can I request friends with benefits Taeyong fluff,smut please ❣❣❣❣❣

Pairing: Badboy!Taeyong x Nerd!Reader

Genre: Fluff, One Scene of Smut (full smut will be part 2)

Warnings: Oral sex, Adultery/Premarital Sex, Friends With Benefits, (smut occurs mostly after the “Read more”) not100%proofreadOOPS

“That’s it, the prof is being annoying and keeps stacking us with work which...I procrastinated on and didn’t finish. Today is the day I’m skipping class.” The idea of doing such ran chills through her, she’d always been the goodie-two-shoes as others would call her, a teacher’s pet.

“Skip class? On a Saturday? Rebellious.” Her friend chuckled seated beside her on the soft green grass. “Plus it’s 7 in the afternoon, idiot.”

“Ugh shut up.” She rolled her eyes, playfully punching his arm. He laid back on the grass - hands behind his head as a pillow - laughing at her, her thoughts to be mischievous and sneak around without getting caught or give into her own guilt. When they’d met in sophomore year of high school, he’d never seen her do one naughty thing to ruin her reputation - always in class on time, homework done, full participation in class and projects - the whole A+ student, a role model.

On the other hand, he was the complete opposite to her - never participate in school-related activities, lazy, skips class to hook up, piercings, couple tattoos here and there, dyed hair. - a whole bad boy of the school even with the look. Seeing the two together was never really anything you’d think, they both clashed in looks, personality and work habits, their relationship very unexpected.

It all started during junior year in high school, the two were oddly paired up by the teacher in their chemistry class. Y/N gaining dirty looks from other girls of his past and current hookups, Taeyong raising whispers, eyebrows and some cheers from others due to his reputation.

After school, they worked together in the public library to start up the week-long project. Dividing up the work to finish off faster for the day, y/n slightly shocked at Taeyong finishing his part without any objection on time before her.

“You should know I’m not as horrible as everyone makes me out to be.” He chuckled at her expression.

“Oh no, it’s I-“

“It’s okay, don’t worry.” he shook his head with a gentle smile.

“I just didn’t expect you to finish all of it, you don’t look like the type.”

“I might not look like it but I’m actually pretty good at school, despite how much I skip and hate it.” They both laughed.

“I guess I judged wrong, sorry.” She shrugged her shoulders.

“No biggie.” He nodded. “So is this all for today?”

“So far, Yes. Same time tomorrow?” He smiled.

“Yeah sure,” he stood up from his seat packing up his belongings. “Same time.” From there on, the two cooperated on the project for almost a full week, completing it on the 6th day sighing of relief in the library study room as they flopped back onto their chairs.

“Can’t believe it took so much effort to do this.” Taeyong pushed his hair back.

“Maybe if you participate in groups a little more you’d know.” Y/N teased.

“Hey!” Taeyong exclaimed. “I do participate...just while doing the bare minimum.” He pouted, making her giggle.

“You’re a good teammate.”

“That’s only because I didn’t want you pissed at me.”

“Pissed?”

“Yeah, you’re a smart girl and pretty - I figured you’d blow up and hate me if I didn’t do shit.” he shrugged.

“wait, you think I’m pretty?” She raised a brow.

“Well yeah, only an idiot wouldn’t.”

“I think you’re a total player.” She stated.

“Shocker.” He spoke sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“But that’s only from what I’ve heard. Although I’ve always wondered...” she trailed off. “What do you get from skipping classes and so many hookups.”

“To skip class allows me to have freedom from boredom, and the hookups...” Taeyong smirked. “Help me pass time for a period or two.”

“So what you’re saying is that hooking up with multiple girls is just for you to pass time between periods?” She furrowed her brows.

“Basically, but I haven’t had sex with them all - probably three at most. One who was my ex, second when I was drunk, and third  this guy who was my neighbour-“

“you had sex with a dude who was your neighbour?” She exclaimed.

“He was hot, his name was Jaehyun if you saw him you wouldn’t blame me because you’d be banging him right now too, sweetheart.” His words brought a blush to her cheeks, her face turning hotter by the second. “Whoa, what’s with all the blushing?” He smirked. “Are you a virgin?”

“Y-yes kind of...” shifting her gaze down on her lap.

“Kind of?” Taeyong cocked his head. “What does that mean?”

“The most I’ve done is have someone finger me and well uh...I’ve had uhh” she stammered off embarrassed to finish her words.

“And what? Oral?” Taeyong threw out guesses.

“No.” She softly spoke.

“Dry hump?”

She shook her head no once again.

“Did you shove a dildo up your vagina?” vigorously shaking her head yes, she covered her red, hot face with the palm of her hands as she heard Taeyong’s laughter echo throughout the room.

“You’re embarrassed because you’ve shoved a dildo in yourself?” Groaning and punching his arm still in a state of embarrassment she placed her head down on the table. “Who’d you think of?” He wiggled his brow at her mischievously.

“What?” She shoots her head up in a whisper-shout.

“Who’s dick did you want but were too afraid to have Ms.Goodie two shoes.” He slumped back in his chair, hands behind his head smirking devilishly waiting for his answer.

“Uh, I... it was...” she stuttered. “You can’t ask that question, Lee!” She stood up from her seat, crossing her arms over her chest. “It’s a personal question!”

“Awe c’mon I won’t tell anyone, don’t worry your secret will be safe I won’t ruin your reputation, sweetheart.”

It wasn’t that she couldn’t tell him, but more so that she wouldn’t. She was afraid of what would happen if she told him, at the same time filled with slight adrenaline and curiosity of what could happen if she did. If she told him the one she thought of was him. That she was interested in him, to know him and how he was. He had good looks, extremely good looks, but his personality was a mystery to him - she wanted to find out about him and for the week she did - feeling slightly more attracted towards him. Although, how could she tell him she thought of him for her sexual fantasies. The role model student desiring for the bad boy, lewd thoughts no one would ever suspect from her, sometimes even surprising herself.

“Is it that senior Jongin is that...ah! Kai?” He stood from his seat walking closer to her with his annoying smirk still plastered on his face. “You two hang out a lot, he seems interested in you.” She nervously shook her head no as Taeyong walked intimidatingly closer to her.

“No? That’s too bad...is it Doyoung? You both are nerds, works pretty well.”

She scoffed. “I still get better marks than him, he is nothing but my mere enemy.”

“Oh yeah?” He took another step closer. “Ten, the Thai exchange student, an attractive guy.”

“He-his looks aren’t really my type.” She moved back as he slowly continued to walk towards her.

Taeyong laughed at her response. “So you’re selfish when it comes to looks?”

“N-no! Not at all I-I’m just saying it-uh he’s not really my type, great guy-g-great personality but not someone I see myself with.”

“Then who do you see yourself with?” Back bumping against the wall she could no longer move away from his intimidating figure who now stood in front of her. Inhaling deeply, she exhaled a shaky breath, gathering her nerves to speak she admit, “you.”

“What?” Processing her answer, moving back looking at the girl who stood trapped between his body and the wall “no way, don’t play like that.” He answered in disbelief.

“I’m not.” She whispered. “I’ve liked you, Taeyong. I don’t know why or how, but I’m interested in you.”

“Might I ask what interest you?” He cocked his head, smirk planted upon his features once again.

“Y-you’re-uHm...it’s basically...”

“What? The goodie-two-shoes wanted some bad boy cock? Are you purely just physically attracted to me y/n?”

She nodded her head, face flushed in pink and burning hot.

“I’ll tell you what, nerd.” Taeyong spoke, “ill make your wishes come true if you do me one favour.” Raising her eyebrows she anticipated for him to continue, “help me with my work - homework, tests and projects - I’ll make your fantasies come true, teach you to loosen up a little while you teach me to tighten up a little. Deal?”

“You do know I’ve never had sex before...”

“I know, I won’t go that far unless you initiate it.”

“Okay, deal. I’ll teach you to be a good boy, you teach me to be bad, Lee.”

“Great sweetheart, so when do we start?”

“Hmm it’s so soon but I don’t think I can wait...” she bit her bottom lip slipping her finger into his belt loop, pulling him closer, “no more work, let’s do it.”

“A little needy?” Taeyong laughed.

“A needy nerd having one of her fantasies come true, yes.” The two connected their lips in a hard kiss, Taeyong gliding his tongue along her lips asking permission for entrance, which she allowed. Leading them to hot open-mouthed kisses and roaming hands on either body. Y/N’s hand up tangled in his hair and down his biceps and back. Whilst Taeyong’s slid down her back down to her back dimples, one slipping into the back of her jeans massaging her ass - an accidental moan escaping her lips - and the other moving up cupping her jaw and occasionally sneaking down to squeeze her breasts. Y/N broke the kiss heavily panting in an attempt to gain air and a proper breathing pace. “I can’t believe we’re actually doing this.”

“Wonder if I’ll wake up and this’ll end up being some wild dream I’ve had.” Taeyong jokes causing them both to laugh. “Seriously though, I’d be lying if I said I’ve never thought about anything with you.”

“Oh really?” She raised a brow. “What did you think of?” Attaching her lips to his soft skin on his neck she began to suck and bite, leaving light pink and red marks on him.

“Well for one, this. Just kissing you and having you all over me, definitely thought of that. And boy I fucking love it, keep going sweetheart, please.” Letting out a hiss as she reached his sensitive spot below his collarbone, she sucked and bit down a bit harder causing a purple flower to appear. Satisfied with her work, the corner of her mouth twisted upwards as she changed her gaze to look up at him with devilish eyes. “Secondly,” he gripped her waist lifting her on top of the study table they previously worked on. “I thought of having you in class when everyone was gone just kiss you till you're out of breath and finger you until you’re whimpering because of me. The risk of getting caught by a teacher or another student - the school’s ms.perfect getting wrecked, destroying her reputation of innocence. I thought it was hot, still is.”

“Then do it now, wreck me, babe.” Spreading her legs apart for the boy, wrapping them around his waist as he ground his crotch against hers.

“Fuck, are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“You’re so dirty, I love it.” Pushing her down against the table he planted wet kisses on her skin, humping her each time she let out a moan. Shuffling to remove her shirt and play with her boobs. Eventually reaching the spot she wanted him the most - she laid there half naked on the table, bra exposed with hickeys on her breast and chest area, jean and panties pulled down having her legs pushed open with Taeyong between her legs, kissing her thighs up to her vagina. Teasing her he slowly licked up her slit a few times before giving attention to her clit. The sensitivity of it jolting her up with a soft high pitched moan. Soon bringing her to an orgasm with her letting out his name, bringing his ego a boost returning the favour, she gave him a blowjob allowing him his own release, her name coming out in whispers from his mouth - his head thrown back, eyes closed shut and fingers tightly held her hair in a makeshift ponytail.

Hence the two’s relationship started of friends with benefits.

“I’ve always wanted to do something...crazy.” She spoke laying her head down on his chest, the two now facing the blue sky, clouds passing as whatever you imagine them to be.

“Now you’re saying I’m not enough for you?” The boy pretended to be offended, hand over his chest and jaw dropped.

“No, you idiot!” She playfully pinched his arm. “I mean like something craz...ier than you.”

“What might that be?” He raised a brow.

“I want a tattoo.”

Taeyong burst into a fit of laughter at her confession. “Well, that is pretty crazy..for you sweetheart.”

“Shush.” She pouted. “Not everyone rebels like you okay?”

“I know.” He chuckled. “Why don’t we go right now?”

Squeezing her eyes shut, body hairs standing on edge as goosebumps rose on her skin from the sound of the machine ready to pierce into her skin and mark it with something that will always remain.

“I can’t believe you’ve actually convinced me to do this.” She hissed from the needles painting upon her wrist.

“You went along with it, don’t place all the blame on me.” Taeyong put his hands up in defence, chuckling at the girl staring him down with a glare. “Plus, even if you regret it later, at least you’ll remember how much of a good time we had together, sweetheart.”

She sighed as the needles left her skin, relaxing her tensed arm and laughed, “you have a point, I will remember this, and us forever.” smiling taking in the new art piece now permanent on her sensitive red skin. Taeyong sat beside her, his ink covered up by the plastic wrap on it, placing their wrists side by side, he sighs deeply,

“I have a lot I regret in life, but this is the one thing I do not.” flashing a bright smile up at her, his voice full of sincerity. Lovingly taking in Taeyong’s crown for a king and her’s a queen with small roman numerals vertically under marking the day they met,

“You know this just means you can’t ever leave me right?”

“So fuck buddies for life?” he teased.

“Shut up.” she smacked his arm. “You’re annoying.”

“Back at you, nerd.”

———

A/N: so here’s another fanfic after so long woot woot!! badboy!Taeyong is a whole ass concept and I’m in love ??? This man needs to get himself some tattoos he’s not even my bias but wow AN ETHEREAL MAN JUST IMAGINESKSKS this is just the first part so it’s mostly fluff,, the second part should consist of more smut and I’ll try to have it up soon!! thank you for the wait and feedback is appreciated!! <3 - Doyoung’s Darling

[whatarubberchicken]

Adrinette April -3- Fencing

@adrinetteapril

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

(There’s a nod to the other meaning of the prompt in here, if you care to find it!)

Chapter 3 – Fencing

This. Was. Torture.

Adrien tried to stop fidgeting. He did. But every time he got the least bit distracted from holding himself down, his knee would start bouncing again. He was currently clenching and unclenching his fist slowly, trying to focus on it instead of what was happening downstairs.

You’d think with years of modeling under his belt, he could freaking SIT STILL!!

He took a calming breath and counted down from ten.

Nathalie and the Gorilla were here, asking Marinette questions about whether or not she’d seen him lately. Apparently, his father was too proud to go to the police. Or he was afraid they’d search the mansion first… Adrien snorted. Yeah, that wouldn’t be good.

He hoped they didn’t question Marinette too harshly. He was sure she’d stick to “nope, I haven’t seen him since the last time he was at school” for her story, but… as Alya had once said, she didn’t have a very good poker face.

Please don’t let her give me away, he silently pleaded. Please, please don’t let her give me away!!

The bolt of fabric hiding him suddenly lifted away.

“Hey—”

Adrien yelped.

(It was a very manly yelp, he would insist later. And Marinette would, of course, agree. But again, her poker face….)

Marinette giggled. “It’s just me, scaredy-cat,” she teased. “Your father’s evil henchmen have left. I think they bought it. But geez, you’d think I was dealing in stolen goods with all the questions they had! I even let them look at my messages to prove you hadn’t tried to contact me. It’s not my fault I didn’t know you didn’t have your phone on you,” she added innocently.

Adrien breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” he said fervently.

She waved it away as nothing.

“Nathalie said she and your bodyguard were going to try the Kubdels next,” she said. “So, we should be okay for a while.”

Adrien smiled. That meant it might be safe for him to go outside! Because, while he was grateful to Marinette and her room for shelter, it just wasn’t the open space he was used to.

“Will you be all right here for a bit?” Marinette was asking him before he realized it. “Alya’s organizing a search party for you, and it’ll look suspicious if I don’t go join them for a while. Don’t worry, I’ll pretend I’m ‘sick at the thought of something happening to you’ or something,” she added with a wink.

His stomach dropped a bit at the thought of her leaving again. Her being gone for school was bad enough. Right now, Marinette was his only contact to the outside world. Adrien gave her a pouty face.

Marinette laughed. “Sorry, but I’ve grown immune to puppy-dog eyes, Adrien,” she teased, tweaking him on the nose. The playful contact startled him, and he smiled at her.

“Fiiiiiine,” he said, flopping in his chair and imitating Plagg’s best exasperated drawl. “But you’d better have some good snacks for us when you get back!”

“Deal,” Marinette said, already heading down the stairs.

Alone again.

Adrien gave one last pouty sigh, and then rolled the chair over to Marinette’s computer. Might as well pass the time by checking his email. He hadn’t done it in a while.

Messages from his father, demanding he come home. Deleted.

Messages from Natalie, pleading with him to come home. Deleted.

Messages from his Chinese tutor, telling him to keep up with his homework, even while he was away. Deleted, with a few spoken words in Chinese that he wasn’t supposed to know.

Messages from his friends, asking if he was okay. He’d answer those later.

An automatic notice from his calendar, reminding him that his fencing class was going to be learning a new move today—AWWWW!!! He’d been waiting all month for that!! It had looked so cool in the video M. D’Argencourt had showed them too!!

Adrien grumbled and sank into his chair. He was so tired of being inside all the time!! He felt trapped. Claustrophobic. Surely there was some way for him to—

Wait. Maybe he could make this work.

Fencing!

As long as he kept his mask on, nobody had to realize it was him! He’d just stick to the back of the class and not talk! Simple!

“Kid, are you crazy?” Plagg said, as soon as they got up to the balcony.

“I’m getting there, doing nothing all day,” Adrien said as he eyed the distance between the two buildings, looking for the best place to land.

“So, go for a run as Chat! Don’t you need to call Ladybug again any—”

“Claws out!” Adrien called firmly, ending the conversation. “I’ll call her later,” he promised the kwami currently trapped in his ring. Right now, his mental health was more important.

He bounded over to the school, sucking in the fresh air delightedly. Fortunately, akumas didn’t really have a time schedule, so he’d taken to storing extra fencing gear in lockers and spare spaces around the school, in case he had to make a quick change someday.

Well, today was that day, he thought to himself as he cheerfully released his transformation and changed. He plopped the mask on his head and presented himself to Plagg, who looked considerably less than impressed.

“Oh, come on,” Adrien said. “This’ll work! I just have to be quiet and subtle.”

“Yeah, because you’re so subtle…,” Plagg drawled, rolling his eyes.

“Fine, just wait for me in the locker.”

“I’ll just be eating my cheese…, waiting for disaster….”

Adrien slammed the locker shut on his unhelpful kwami.

He strolled into the fencing lesson nonchalantly, whistling. Whistling was the ultimate sign of innocence, right? Nobody would suspect him of anything if he was whistling innocently—

“Hey, Adrien!” one of his teammates greeted him easily. “You missed class today. Isn’t your nanny gonna go ballistic?”

“Wha—uh, I’m not Adrien!” he protested, coughing and trying to make his voice lower than it actually was. His teammate laughed.

“Yeah… Okay, man. Whatever you say.”

Adrien gaped. How had his brilliant plan failed already?? He was wearing a mask!!

“Adrien!” a sharp voice off to the side made him jump and then cringe. He looked over to see Nathalie striding towards him, looking supremely unhappy.

Crap. The Gorilla wasn’t with her. The Gorilla was always with her! He’d been Chat Noir long enough to recognize a pincer move. He quickly looked around. Probably the side door. He might be able to make it out of here if he ran for it… but the big guy could move pretty quickly when he wanted to. Sooo....

Instead, Adrien raised his sabre in a salute and fell into a ready stance. Nathalie stopped short, blinking at him. Then she smirked.

“If I win, you return home with no fuss?” she offered.

“And if I win, you tell my father you couldn’t find me,” Adrien said.

She nodded in agreement and accepted a mask, sabre, and padding from M. D’Argencourt, who was always eager to see a duel of honor unfold. Now, the man was nearly bouncing. As she got ready, Adrien felt himself growing nervous at the easy way she handled herself. Nathalie knew how to fence?

“En garde,” D’Argencourt called. “Prêts? Allez!”

Crap, Nathalie knew how to fence!!

Within moments, Adrien felt himself being pushed back by a flurry of attacks that had him scrambling to keep up. He barely dodged a particularly good thrust towards his ribs. He attempted a riposte, but was stunned to see her dance away from him, her movements fluid and effortless.

Damn. Why had his father never let him practice with her??

He was gonna lose…

She had him backing up again, nearly to the stairs to get away from her relentless attacks. Then—THERE!—he saw an opening and dove for it, hitting her neatly below the heart.

YES!! He’d won!! The fight was his!! M. D’Argencourt and his teammates were cheering on the sidelines—

The Gorilla grabbed him from behind.

End Chapter 3.

[edream93]

I’m Hooked On All These Feelings (Harry of Auradon AU) Part 2

Hello, hello! Remember that Harry of Auradon AU thing I did awhile ago (here’s the link for Part 1)? Well, here’s an update! Enjoy and of course let me know what you think either on here or on AO3 or FF.net. 

The sun shined down on the picturesque view of Auradon Prep students enjoying their day off from classes. Sitting on the bleachers, Uma tried to tune out the Tourney team’s coaches loud yells and whistleblowing as the group of boys ran drills. She pushed up the sunglasses that she had found (stolen) back further up her nose as she allowed herself to soak up the sun’s rays.

“And you’re sure this’ll work?” a timid voice asked next to her.

Uma spared a glance over to her side causing the pastel colored princess next to her shift nervously as she gazed at him over the rims of her glasses.

“Well, it’s no love potion, but it’ll definitely give you a bit a luck and confidence to help raise the odds in your favor with asking out whatever pretty face has caught your attention,” Uma shrugged turning her gaze back to the sidelines of the Tourney field where Gil was waving happily up at her from where he stood amongst the other cheerleaders. Uma gave a slight nod of acknowledgment which seemed to satisfy the boy before he began to talk excitedly with some other cheerleader. Audrey, who had apparently made it her mission to watch all the Isle kids scowled up at her from her place near Gil before shouting instructions at the others around her to get into position.

Uma rolled her eyes, glad that for the most part, Audrey focused most of her attention on Mal.

“O-okay. How much do I owe you?” the princess asked, drawing the sea-witch’s attention back to him.

“Not much,” Uma shrugged again, nonchalantly, moving her braids over her shoulder. “Just your voice.”

Biting her lip to hold back a laugh, Uma watched as the girl nearly toppled out of her seat, looking extremely pale.

“Kidding!” she plastered on a sickening sweet smile on her face. “Just kidding. It’ll be ten-fifty, angelfish.”

The girl smiled awkwardly, handing over the money before quickly scampering away, a small bottle in her hand.

Uma sighed, smile quickly melting on her face as she flopped back into her seat, tucking the cash into her boot.

If she sold a dozen or so more of her “luck in a bottle” - which was mostly just boiled sandalwood, ginger, and a few other nice smelling things Gil had managed to find (These idiots would believe anything you gave them when you had a mother who was infamous for her potions) - then she would be able to get one way bus tickets for herself and Gil to the furthest kingdom from Auradon. Shit was going to hit the fan, whether or not Mal and her crew got the wand and she wanted to make sure she was far far away from it all.  

She was nearly all packed up and ready to go to what was quickly becoming her corner in the library when she heard a now familiar voice shout out her voice from the field. Uma refused to acknowledge him, making her way quickly down the bleachers, ignoring the way she felt his gaze burning on her back.

The sea witch’s daughter had just made a few steps away from the bleachers when she heard the sound of someone running after her.

“Uma!” Harry jogged up next to her, slightly out of breath but sporting his usual boyish grin.

“You know,” Uma began, never slowing down. “Maybe this is a cultural difference but I’m pretty sure you’re stalking me.”

Harry snorted, gently grabbing her hand and placing another one of his too gentle, too passion filled kisses on her hand as he always did in greeting. “I’m sure a beautiful lass such as yourself is used to men, and perhaps even women, chasing after your affection, darling.”

Uma paused, unbeckoned memories right after Mal’s betrayal coming to mind, when people thought she was too weak and too defenseless to slash at their throats with a rusty kitchen knife of her mother’s. She had shown them.

Removing her hand from his grip, with an expressionless mask, Uma asked, “So that gives people the right to invade my space and do what they want with me? Because I’m a beautiful lass ?”

The boy took a step back, as if he was slapped before his face contorted into rage, something that Uma had never thought was possible for a person born in Auradon to make. She should have been scared but something within her told her that his rage wasn’t directed towards her. (And it would never be.)

“Uma,” his voice was firm, the accent he tried to hide growing heavy. “If I am bothering ye, then I’ll stop. Ye won’t see neither hide nor hair of me. I never meant-”

She put a hand firmly against his chest, stopping his rant. She should just say, “Yes, go away”, knowing that he would keep his word and leaving her with one less thing for Mal to nag on her about. No good came from the son of Auradon’s most celebrated and decorated hero taking an interest in the sea witch’s unwanted daughter. After all, no matter how his attentiveness made her feel like she was riding the crests of the tides, he would always be seen as a hero and she, a villain.

She was going to say that, to hiss and curse at his name, at people like his father who were the reason why her mother and everyone else’s parents were revived and forced onto the Isle. Why she had grown up not knowing her heritage or how she wasn’t given a chance to be seen as anything more than a sea witch’s daughter or Mal’s favorite punching bag.

“Stay,” her traitorous mouth uttered surprising both herself and the boy across from her.

“Stay?” he questioned, hesitant hope found in the corners of his mouth ( No, no, stop thinking about how soft his lips look , she mentally scolded herself).

Uma of the Isle rolled her eyes, a mischievous look in her eye as she grabbed the front of his jersey, tugging him firmly in front of her, ignoring the way that at this close distance she saw his gaze briefly linger on her lips and the butterflies it gave her.

“If you’re not afraid of the big bad sea witch stealing your voice,” she smirked.

A deep chuckle escaped his chest before he smoothly went into a kneel, taking her hand once again. Though his rage has passed, his voice was lulling in its unfiltered gruffness. She found she preferred it that way, wild and passionate, just like him.

“Well seeing as yer ma is safely behind a barrier and I only see a beautiful goddess before me,” he murmured, kissing her fingers almost reverently to the point where Uma forgot to breathe. “I’ll take my chances,” he winked up at her.

Unaware to the two, eyes were watching them. One of an untrusting princess afraid that history would repeat itself and villains would once again reign. Two other pairs of eyes looked worriedly between each other on the Tourney field, wondering who would be the one to tell a certain half-fae of this new development…

—

“Audrey says she’s bad news.”

“You’ll have to be a bit less vague as to who you’re referring to, little sister of mine,” Harry murmured into his phone. “Audrey says a lot of people are bad news, including you.” He kicked off his shoes and flopped back onto his bed.

Practice had finished hours ago and he had just returned from a small sailing adventure with one of Auradon Prep’s newest residents.

“You’ve lived amongst pirates, some of whom despite their morals were the best sailors of their time and they didn’t teach ye anything about sailing?” Harry had questioned incredulously. She had told him that she had lived on the side of the Isle amongst the wharfs and pirate ships, many belonging to scoundrels such as Barbossa and Blackbeard.

“Oh, some of them taught me many things,” Uma said with a casual flip of her braids over her shoulder that momentarily distracted him as he watched how the sun highlighted the blues and the greens and the white in her hair. His head snapped up at her though when he finally processed her words. She laughed, flicking his nose before leaning back into the sun warmed patch of field that they had found, away from the hustle and bustle and curious and always watching eyes of their classmates. “Harry, chill. They only taught me how to fend for myself. My mother may not give a shit about me but some of those pirates prayed to Poseidon, her father, before they were stuck on the Isle and are a superstitious lot. They might pillage and steal but they do have a Code.” She closed her eyes. “Besides, pirates were the last things I had to worry about on the Isle. Traitorous dragons on the other hand…” she sighed trailing off and he saw the way she clenched her fist tightly.

He wanted to ask her more, to know everything about her, but very early on he realized that if she wanted to tell him something, she would on her own time. He remembered when Audrey or Chad would withhold information from him when he was younger and how they always ended in a shouting match due to Harry’s quick fuse. But with Uma, though he still didn’t like it, he followed her lead.

“Well,” he sighed getting to his feet. “We’ll need to change that.”

“Change what?” Uma questioned opening her eyes to see Harry standing above her with a mischievous look of his own as he extended a hand down to her.

Tugging her to her feet, Harry grinned when she stumbled slightly into him. He gave her a devilish grin, which she rolled her eyes at but didn’t push away from him. “Well, can’t have a lovely sea goddess who doesn’t know how to sail. What kind of man would her sailor be if he didn’t help her fix that?”

He watched as Uma looked thoughtfully into his eyes, searching for something. After a moment, she stepped back with a soft smirk, something that he knew was filled with vulnerability rarely shown.

“Teach me then. So that there will always be winds in your sails,” she spoke softly, power in her words. Unintentional magic, but magic all the same.

A goddess’s blessing.

“Harry!”

The boy snapped out of his thoughts suddenly, hearing Calista Jane, or CJ as she preferred to be called, practically fume on the other side of the phone. (She hated to be ignored, even for a second.)

“The Isle girl,” his sister sighed frustratedly. “The one you’re smitten with and apparently daydreaming about in the middle of phone calls, dear brother. And don’t try to deny it. I’ll call and badger Ben or Jane for info. They’ll both sing like canaries, those two.”

The boy scrubbed his face tiredly. Though he loved his younger sister dearly, Calista Jane was already tiring him and he had only been on the phone with her for a moment. At least it wasn’t Harriet. (Seven seas, if it was Harriet this would have been much, much worse, he knew.)

“Manners, ya little fairy,” he chidded. “You’re still in trouble for badgering them when they wouldn’t tell you what I got you for birthday gift. And the Isle girl has a name you know.”

“And I’m waiting for you to tell me it. Come on, I’m all on bated breath and everything. Your attempts to seriously woo anyone will surely bring laughter to my ever so dull life,” CJ drawled dramatically on the other line before breaking out into giggles.

Harry had to pity her. Both of his sisters had been homeschooled back on Neverland, though they came to the mainland often enough. Harry, as his father’s heir had been sent off to Auradon Prep a decision that he still wasn’t sure how he felt about.

“Always know how to boost a man’s self-esteem, don’t you, Callie?” he groaned, waiting for his sister’s gigglings to subside.

“S-so,” CJ finally said, calming down. “What’s her name?”

Harry closed his eyes, unaware of the little smile that played on his lips as he thought of her. “Uma,” he breathed reverently, his mind calling up deep brown eyes and presence that could be as calm or as fearsome as the sea.

“Geez, you really do have it bad,” CJ laughed always perceptive of his emotions. And Harry would fully admit he did.

As soon as she had stepped out of the limo from the Isle, he was fascinated by her, pulled to her like the moon pulled the tides. She wasn’t anything like what he had been warned she would be like by the adults, the heroes who didn’t even know Uma but only knew her mother, Ursula.

She was a sarcastic lass with a sharp tongue and even sharper kitchen knife (he had learned that last bit when Chad had tried to flirt with Uma to get her Chemistry answers a few weeks ago. Harry wished he had recorded it. Chad nearly peed himself).

But Harry also knew that Uma, despite her cool exterior, was passionate and protective of those she deemed worthy. He had watched as she spent hours searching the library for books on how to help Gil with his reading difficulties so that no one here could look down at him. Watched as she fretted over him when he had a slight cold a week ago (he had initially thought her worry was hilarious until Gil had clued him, in that unassuming way that he always did, that many died from colds on the Isle).

And he watched (and hated) as that vibrant personality of hers dimmed in Mal’s presence. (Harry loved Ben like a brother but the other boy was too damn naive and smitten himself with Maleficent’s daughter, despite already being taken with Audrey. Why, even bother when the Mal sneered at him like she had stepped in something a dog left behind? Harry never really liked being in the same place with her for too long.)

“Is she, ya know, the girl? The one you’ve been dreaming about for years?”

Harry pushed himself up from his bed, needing to move, bare feet padding back and forth in front of his window.

“Now don’t go bringing that up, Callie,” he sighed trying not to think about the dreams he had since he was wee lad but it was already too late.

There had been dreams where all he heard was a haunting voice, demanding, urging, pleading for him to say something, a specific something that in his dream he knew and proclaimed with reverence but when he woke up he could never remember. There were some dreams where all he could hear was her crying, his heart breaking at the sound, at not being able to comfort her. Those dreams he hated the most because  he would often awaken to find strange bruises around his wrist, torso, and sometimes even around his neck like something long and flexible had been trying to squeeze the life out of him. (He had remembered the first time he had that dream, he had been six and it had taken Harriet hours to calm him down and reassure that it was nothing more than just a night terror.) And then, recently, there were some dreams where he was embraced by warmth, by her. He would feel a calming hand run through his hair, soft lips pressed to his cheek, his eyes, his jaw and neck, and then finally they would press against his lips and he felt like he was drowning in her with no regrets… (It was often horrible when he had those dreams at home where Harriet and CJ could walk in without warning. They would never stop laughing if they saw how…aroused a simple dream could make him.)

Harry leaned his forehead against the glass of his window thoughtfully, his frown melting away into a wistful look when he caught sight of a familiar teal head making her way to the dorms from the dining halls where had last seen her. His gaze followed her until he saw her safely enter the dorms, Gil trailing, as always, happily behind her.

“Maybe,” he finally supplied. “But she’s more than just a dream…She’s…she’s…real.”

CJ made a snorting noise, but thankfully didn’t comment picking up the tender and soft qualities in her brother’s tone. However, she asked something worse, something that Harry had been trying not to think about despite it’s approaching date.

“So, are you going to introduce your little Isle girlfriend to father and Harriet when we come to Family Day?”

[xadoheandterra]

Title: Wanted Fandoms: Overwatch | Harry Potter Characters: Gabriel Reyes, Angela Ziegler, Jack Morrison, Lily Potter Tags: Cheating trope, cheating, established r76, pre-fall, consequences of cheating, references to dubious consent/technical rape, drunken sex with a sober partner type rape references Summary: Gabriel didn’t know. He kind of blew up before he had the chance to find out, but that wasn’t an excuse. Gabriel couldn’t count it as an excuse because he could’ve tried to at least check in. Now, a mercenary, a killer, an assassin, and suddenly he finds himself...well, dealing with this shit. Talon is definitely not the best place to raise a kid. An undead smoke monster filled with rage is definitely not fit to be a dad, but here he is, dealing with this shit. Fuck.

Gabriel woke up face first in a hotel bed to a pounding headache reminiscent of his days in SEP. He grunted and rubbed at his forehead, tried to ease back the pain while he shifted into a seated position. Dimly he noted that he was naked, not exactly an unusual occurrence—most days Gabriel tended to sleep naked anyway, or at least in his underwear, since he spent more hours than he’d like in tactical gear. He also noted how his mouth was dry and tasted of stale alcohol as his head throbbed worse.

“What the fuck did I do last night…” he growled in Spanish under his breath and rubbed at his eyes.

“Here.”

Gabriel blinked to see a glass of water offered to him, held by a rather dainty looking hand. He jerked back, scrambled to cover himself with the sheet, and looked up to see a striking red headed young woman. Hazily she crossed Gabriel’s memory; he must’ve met her last night then.

“For the hangover,” she said softly, although her lips curled up in amusement. Her voice held a British lilt to it, not unlike ‘Tracer,’ but not the same either. Gabriel flushed when he noticed she wore a robe and not much else, and then paled when he realized the implications.

“Fffuck me,” he hissed between his teeth, and gratefully accepted the glass of water. Gabriel waved off the pills she offered him. Most medications didn’t work the same since SEP. He bowed over the glass and hissed out another soft curse of, “Shit,” under his breath. She wore a ring.

Jack was going to kill him.

Gabriel took a sip of the water and kept his gaze firmly off to the side. “I…am afraid I don’t remember your name,” he muttered.

She just smiled wryly and sat down on the edge of the bed next to him. “I’m not surprised. You were rather intent on getting plastered last night.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s Lily,” Lily said after a moment of silence.

“Gabriel,” Gabriel grunted and took another sip of water. “Don’t…remember much of last night.” Gabriel winced at how that sounded and focused on the glass of water.

“We shagged,” Lily shrugged, as if it weren’t a rather big deal.

Gabriel winced. “Married?”

Lily smiled tightly and fiddled with her ring. “Of a sort. It’s…”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

They lapsed into an awkward sort of silence. Gabriel sipped the water carefully, tried to ignore the way his head throbbed incessantly, and definitely refused to think about how utterly pissed off Jack would be when he finally made his way back to Switzerland. Technically he shouldn’t even be in London, being the Commander of Blackwatch and the brits ban on Overwatch agents, especially after the incident with Null Sector less than three weeks ago.

“I should apologize,” Lily said softly.

“Hmm?” Gabriel looked up at her with a furrowed brow.

“I…was not drunk last night.”

Oh. Well. Gabriel grimaced at the implication and shook his head.

“Forget it,” he sighed. “Probably would’ve fucked anyone if I was that bad off. Rather it’d be someone sober, I guess.”

“Makes it kind of worse though, doesn’t it?”

Gabriel breathed out through his nose heavily. “Yeah. Just a little.”

Shit this was a right mess, wasn’t it. Jack was definitely going to have his head; Ana too once she got word of the mess. Gabriel flopped back onto the bed and covered his eyes with his arm. What was done was done, which meant he’d have to deal with the fallout either way. Not like his relationship with Jack could get any more sour anyway, right? Pretentious bastard that he was.

Gabriel could feel his headache already clearing up. Thank small mercies of the mess SEP tossed his way, although he had to wonder just what he drank. Most alcohol only effected him minorly these days, unless he wanted to suffer liver failure from alcohol poisoning. At least he didn’t do anything more than just sex—and that brought him up short. Gabriel sat up, ramrod straight.

“Did we use protection?” he looked over at Lily, wide-eyed and a little frantic. Dear god let him have actually used some sort of protection. He couldn’t have been that far gone, right?

Lily winced, and Gabriel spat out another curse. He buried his face into his hands and whined into them. Fuck Jack would really kill him; Ana would be right behind. Gabriel didn’t even want to think what Angela might do to him too.

“I uh didn’t exactly think about that,” Lily said weakly. “Wasn’t exactly planning on this, you know?”

“Yeah.” The words came out muffled between his hands. Gabriel sucked in a steadying breath and drew them down his face. “Shit.”

“It’s not that bad, right?”

Gabriel winced, grimaced, and shook his head frustratedly.

“I need to make a call,” he mumbled. He quickly wrapped the sheets around himself—Lily snorted, muttered something about she already saw it all why bother—and started hunting for his pants, his hoodie, anything. His Overwatch designated communicator was in one of those, if only he could find it. “Where are my clothes?”

“Entryway,” Lily said lightly.

Gabriel quickly made his way to the entryway, the sheet trailed behind him, and found his clothes piled at the door. He could see Lily’s in the bathroom—they were ripped, a complete mess. Gabriel ground his teeth. Fucking hell. He quickly rifled through to find his communicator and sighed with relief as soon as he grasped it. He quickly pulled up the screen, flicked through his contacts, and then pressed send.

It took only a few seconds before Angela answered.

“Gabriel?” Angela questioned the minute she picked up. “Is something wrong? Wait, are you naked?”

“Yeah uh,” Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck and slumped against the door. “Don’t yell at me, Ang, but I’m kind of in the shitter.”

Angela rubbed her eyes and groaned softly.

“Do you need medical attention?” she questioned.

“No. Uh, no I’m good,” Gabriel winced. “It’s…fuck. I’m in London.”

“Gabriel Reyes what are you doing in London!?” Angela practically shrieked. Her accent grew more pronounced, face stern as she stared at him. Gabriel winced.

“Is that your girlfriend?” Lily asked quietly.

“Mein gott Gabriel who is that?! What did you do?!”

Lily looked surprised Angela could hear her and Gabriel squeezed his eyes shut. Fuck this was a complete mess.

“I may or may not have gotten completely trashed, Ang.” Gabriel sucked in a short breath. “And slept with…her.”

Lily looked rather abashed, embarrassed and guilty. Gabriel wanted to reassure her that no, Angela was not his girlfriend, but his doctor. Technically. Except perhaps the woman should be guilty since she was married, entirely sober, and slept with a drunk man.

“You used protection, right?” Angela sounded cold. Gabriel winced. She started cursing in German, aware that that single gesture meant a solid no. As soon as she ran out of steam she slumped, sighed, and said softly. “I have to tell Jack.”

“I know.”

“He’s not going to be happy.”

“I know, Ang,” Gabriel grumbled. “He’s going to kill me.”

Angela rolled her eyes. “Oh don’t be so melodramatic. Yell at you, sure. Maybe throw a punch or two. You did sleep with a woman.”

“Fuck you.”

“Thank you kindly but no,” Angela replied dryly. “Musclebound six feet tall men are not my type.”

“Fuck you anyway,” Gabriel growled.

“Get dressed. Jack will probably call the minute I tell him,” Angela warned. “Answering naked will just piss him off more.”

“Fuck, Angela, I’m well aware how much this’ll piss off Jack, thank you,” Gabriel grunted. “Stop reminding me. I fucked up.”

Angela snorted. “I’m not your therapist, Gabe, but as your friend? Grovel.”

“No amount of fucking groveling is going to get through to that pandejo,” Gabriel mumbled. “Fucking pissy white boy.”

“He’s under a lot of stress.”

“So am I.”

Angela sighed. “Get dressed, Gabe.”

Gabriel waved his hand, flicked the end call button and dropped the communicator. He buried his face in his hands again, pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed heavily. He gathered up his clothes and looked for a safe place to change. After a minute’s debate he chose the closet.

“I take it she’s not your girlfriend then?” Lily asked cautiously.

Gabriel grunted as he tugged on his boxers and then his pants. “No. Ang is my physician.”

“You called your physician,” Lily said dryly.

“Yeah. So?” Gabriel muttered, tugged on his hoodie. He stepped out and started looking for his beanie. It had to be around here somewhere—not in the entryway, so he headed back toward the bed and started riffling through the sheets.

“Why?”

“Lotta fucking questions you got there,” Gabriel grunted.

Lily sighed and sat down at the table. “Sorry. Curious. It’s none of my business.”

Gabriel grunted again, let out a breathy sigh of relief as he found his beanie. He tugged the thing on over his hair—fucking hell he needed a damned shower. Oh well, too late for that now. Jack would call any minute. Gabriel glanced to Lily.

“Uh, look,” he said carefully, “Jack’s…going to demand I bring you in.”

Lily arched an eyebrow. “Bring me in?” she drawled slowly, almost incredulously, and Gabriel winced.

“Yeah. It’s…” Gabriel sighed and sat down on the bed. “It’s not a bad thing. Just. Precautionary.”

“Precautionary,” Lily parroted.

Gabriel grunted again and rubbed at his neck tiredly. “Fuck yeah precautionary.” He glanced up at Lily. “Ang is gonna have to check you out. Make sure nothing’s…yeah.”

“And why would she have to do that?” Lily frowned. “You don’t have some sort of STI or something, do you?”

“Fuck no!” Gabriel burst out, eyes wide. “I mean, shit. Okay. Look it’s fucking.” Gabriel grimaced. “I can’t talk about it. There’s some paperwork, and some other shit, and. Fuck this is a mess. It’s just—”

“Precautionary,” Lily murmured, although she frowned, looked rather contemplative to Gabriel.

“Dios mío,” Gabriel grumbled. “It’s the worst fucking kept secret and I still can’t talk about it. I’m sorry.”

Lily shook her head. “I understand,” she said tiredly. Something about the way she said it told Gabriel she honestly did understand. He frowned. A random civilian shouldn’t understand something like this. He’d have to run a background check on her once he got back to Switzerland. Screw being on suspended—if he ended up fucking some sort of terrorist or enemy agent he’d rather know so it couldn’t be used against him.

“Yeah. So you’ll have to go with me to Switzerland,” Gabriel said tiredly, and that’s where Lily exploded. She burst out of the seat, face stormy.

“Switzerland!?” she demanded. Gabriel leaned back on the bed, rather surprised at the sudden burst of temper. “I can’t bloody well travel to Switzerland! You’re completely mad if you think I will. Bring your doctor here if you need to!”

Gabriel frowned, then grunted, “Can’t.”

“Why not?” Lily snapped through gritted teeth.

“Technically illegal,” Gabriel shrugged. “No Overwatch operatives are allowed in Britain.”

All of a sudden Lily seemed to completely deflate. She muttered a faint, “Oh,” and it clicked. She fiddled with her ring and looked away. After a minute Lily slumped back down into the chair. “I…I’ll need to get a hold of James,” she said softly. “He….”

“Probably best if your husband comes too,” Gabriel replied. “Just…just in case.”

Lily looked at him, concerned. “That bad?” she asked.

“No,” Gabriel shook his head. “It’s just—”

“Precautionary,” Lily finished for him. “Okay.” She sucked in a fortifying breath. “Okay. I…I’ll go get James and…what time should we be back here?”

“Check out.”

“Noon then,” Lily said. She stared off to the side. Gabriel frowned.

“He gonna be mad? You gonna be okay?” Gabriel asked.

Lily shook her head. “Oh I’ll be fine. James isn’t…” she trailed off, then grimaced. “I’ll be okay.” Gabriel nodded slowly, and resolved to perform a background check on this James as well. Best to get the whole picture after all. A second later Lily stood. “Right. Right. I’ll…go then.”

“Probably best,” Gabriel agreed. “Jack’s gonna be…yeah it’s best you’re not here for that. Just, back at noon.”

Lily stared at him a second, and then her mouth fell open in realization. “Oh. He’s your boyfriend?”

Gabriel grimaced. “Something like that.” Lily stared at him a moment longer, and to fill the silence he repeated, “Back at noon.”

Lily shook herself. “Right. Back at noon,” she agreed, and slipped off to the bathroom. A couple minutes later she came back out dressed, and left the room. Gabriel’s communicator rang right after that.

Gabriel let it ring for a second, groaned, and headed over to pick the damn thing up. He flicked the answer button and sat back down on the bed.

“Gabriel.”

“What the fucking hell got into your head, Reyes, that you’d travel to fucking London when you know there’s a ban on Overwatch—”

Gabriel sighed. Yup, he was completely, utterly, fucked.

[sparatus]

do all the prompts u have an idea for for as many eijalsen couples as possible

CRACKS KNUCKLES

i’m just gonna do the ones i can think of off the top of my head otherwise this’ll never get done lol..... also some of them i did have ideas for but it would require an entire fic in and of itself so i skipped those (most notably “I think I’m in love with you and I’m terrified.” ;) )

also i did a couple platonic ones cause some of the prompts are good all-purpose prompts

1. “Come over here and make me.”

Graat sat cross-legged on the mess hall counter, blinking slowly, a smug smirk plastered across his face. He tossed a small OSD to himself, somehow managing to keep his too-long fingernails from scratching the disc. “What’s wrong, old man?” he taunted. “Getting tired?”

Gahlan lowered his mandibles in contempt, eyeing the open vent above Graat’s head. “How stupid do you think I am?” he asked. “I make one move, and you disappear into the vents. Just give me my files, and come get your damn lungs checked.”

Graat’s snaggled teeth glinted at him as he grinned. “I wouldn’t do that. Come over here and make me, why don’t you?”

“Because I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you.” Gahlan scowled. “Don’t make me get Battalion in here.”

To his surprise, Graat’s expression immediately soured. “Hey, no need to get the fun police involved.”

Huh. So the supposedly fearless drell was afraid of a geth prime. Interesting.

And useful. “Bring it here and go to the medbay, or I call Battalion and let him know how much junk food you eat on the regular.”

“Oh, now you’re just playing dirty.” Graat scowled and hopped off the counter. Miracle of miracles.

6. “Is there a reason you’re naked in my bed?”

Thie yawned and walked into the captain’s cabin, flicking on the lights.

And then immediately flicked them back off.

“Axilus,” he said wearily, reaching up to unbuckle his helmet, “why are you naked?”

From the bed, Axilus groaned. “I took my clothes off and was too tired to get dressed again.”

Thie blinked slowly, then snorted and set his helmet on his desk. “I should probably be surprised, but I’m not.”

“It’s all plated,” Axilus grumbled. “It’s fine.”

Thie felt his way to the bed, then flopped over. “I’m assuming ‘too tired for clothes’ also means ‘too tired for cock.’”

Axilus was quiet for a moment, then groaned and rolled over. Thie heard him feeling around for a bit, then felt his hand on his arm, and allowed himself to be pulled up against his chest. “I wish I was still young enough to say I’m never too tired for cock.”

10. “Teach me how to play?”

Shala leaned against Kael, watching him fiddle with the inventory in his game. “So, what’s this one?”

Kael hummed to himself. “The Binding of Isaac. It’s an old human game, apparently. This is the remastered version, of course, the original is from over a century ago. Valentin got ahold of it for me.”

“What’s it about?”

He shrugged. “Little kid fleeing an evil mother. I can go back and show you the intro sequence, it explains things a bit better.”

She considered, then sat up a little. “What if, instead, you just start the game over and teach me to play?”

He blinked, then turned and smiled at her. “Sure, if you want.”

21. “We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wanna stop and feel the rain?”

Thie stared up at the clouds, watching as lightning danced beyond the raindrops spattering against his mask. “Wow.”

Off to his left, Axilus grunted. “Keep moving, Thie, we’re still a ways off from the shuttle.”

“Aerlia will wait.” The arcs of light in the sky were enchanting, almost hypnotizing. On impulse, he reached up and pulled of his mask, then closed his eyes against the falling rain. Oh. That... That felt nice.

Axilus rumbled some note he couldn’t determine. “We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm, Thie. Do you really want to sit and feel the rain?”

Thie sighed. “Just give me a minute, Ax.” He rarely got to be outside in any weather other than sun, and when he did, it was usually on Palaven, where leaving his suit was generally a bad idea. This was something new, something different. And he liked it.

Axilus could stuff it.

22. “I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice.”

Cephia took a deep breath, watching Aerlia check over the shuttle. They’d be arriving at the Citadel in a few hours. It was now or never.

She took a few steps forward into the cargo bay, clearing her throat. “Aerlia?”

Aerlia jumped, spun, and landed in a crouch, mandibles flared, then realized who it was and straightened up, her neck turning a faint blue. “Oh, uh, hi, Cephia,” she said, reaching back to rub the back of her head. “Didn’t see you there.”

Cephia’s gizzard fluttered. Can’t do this, run away. No, no, she could do it, and she would. “I, um, I was just, um, thinking,” she stammered, looking at her claw-tips. “I, uh...”

She was almost standing next to Aerlia now. She inhaled slowly, then managed, “I, um, well, I’ve...” Nothing for it. “I’ve, um, I’ve seen the way you keep looking at me,” she blurted out. “When I’m not looking, I mean, when you think I’m not looking, and, um, oh, dear...”

Aerlia’s neck was a very definite blue now, and she took Cephia’s hands in hers. “You have?” she asked, subvocals murmuring surprised-embarrassed-vulnerable. Wait, was that right?

She nodded quickly. “And, uh, well, after everything you said, you know, about what happened, with- um, on Omega...” She took another deep breath. “I was wondering if maybe, um, you wanted to go out with me on the Citadel? I mean, um, just to talk, and spend time together, maybe...”

Aerlia was stock-still, and for a long moment Cephia thought maybe she’d broken her. Then, Aerlia just said, “That’d be great.” 

25. “I can’t believe you talked me into this.”

Kael groaned and leaned back against his nest of blankets. “I can’t believe you talked me into this. I mean, you can’t even actually talk, so how’d you swing that?”

Ciloh grimaced at him, still working at getting the cock ring out of its packaging. Where he’d gotten it, and more importantly, when he’d found the time to measure Kael’s dick, he didn’t want to know. “Every time you make that face at me, I lose fifteen minutes off my life.”

The grimace turned into an exasperated expression, and Kael snorted. “Oh, that one takes half an hour. You’re going to kill me just for some mild kink. My dad would cry, you know.”

26. “I got you a present.”

Dara was unpacking her toolbox when Hiae came up to her, hands behind her back. “Hey, Dara,” she said, fidgeting slightly. “How’s things?”

Dara blinked at her, then tilted her head. “What’s behind your back?”

“Oh, nothing.” Hiae’s cheeks flushed violet.

Keelah, she was so cute.

Dara giggled. “You’re not good at lying, Hiae.”

Hiae ducked her head. “Well, uh, I was out on Omega, and I passed by this store, and, well...” She smiled up at her, a cute little sheepish grin. “I got you a present.”

She pulled out her hands from behind her back, revealing a spanner with a bright red ribbon tied in a hasty bow around the neck. “It’s last year’s model, but it’s still more up-to-date than your current ones...”

Dara stared, then pushed her hands aside and pulled her into a hug. “You’re so thoughtful,” she enthused, squishing her mask against Hiae’s face. “I love it.”

27. “I’m pregnant.”

Dexirrim fidgeted as she waited for the call to connect. She’d already sent all the other messages she needed to. This was the last one.

There was a click, and Solihim blinked into view. “Hey, beautiful,” he said, putting away his omni-tool. “How are you?”

Her mandibles fluttered, and she curled her hands into her skirt. “Well,” she said past the knot in her throat, “I was just wondering, um... Where are you guys, exactly?”

“We’re out in the Naborrean Abyss somewhere,” he said breezily. “Cael got a call from his wife, she needs a lift. We’re going to take her back to the Citadel, so I’ll be in for a visit in about a week or so.”

His subvocals hummed with promise, and she sucked in a breath. “Yeah, well, about that,” she began. “I think it might be more than just a visit.”

Solihim blinked. “What do you mean?”

She closed her eyes. “Sol, sweetheart, how long have we been trying for a baby?”

His subvocals went silent, then started again, cautiously hopeful now. “You mean..?”

“Yeah.” She opened her eyes again, lifting her mandibles. “Doc says I’m a week in. I’m pregnant, Sol, we’re gonna be parents.”

38. “You fainted…straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention you didn’t have to go to such extremes.”

Axilus opened his eyes to see Thie looking down at him. “Huh?” he mumbled. “What... What happened?”

“You fainted, dumbass.” Thie snorted, but his lips were smiling. “Right into my arms, and everything. You know, if you wanted my attention, you didn’t have to go to such extremes.”

Axilus blinked slowly, then groaned and tried to stand up. Thie helped him to his feet, and he put a hand to his head. “Why’d I faint?”

“Probably cause you haven’t eaten in almost a whole day.” Thie elbowed him in the side, then slid under his arm. “Come on, we’ll go to the mess hall now. I hear Solihim’s making death by meat again.”

40. “Have I entered an alternate universe or did you really just crack a smile for me?”

“Hey, Adreon,” Driss called, “Come over here.”

The old salarian grunted, then hobbled over, leaning on the back of his chair. “What is it?”

Driss switched tabs on his terminal, then gestured towards the screen, now displaying a particular site he’d found. “I found a site that sells old books and stuff. Already checked it out, seems like it’s for real. Government backing from Thessia, and everything. Thought you might be interested.”

Adreon blinked slowly, then nodded and backed towards his own side of the office, his mouth moving strangely before he said, “You thought correctly. Send me the address.”

Driss blinked, processing what he’d seen, then nearly choked. “Did I just enter an alternate universe, or did you just smile?”

Adreon paused, hand on his chair, then repeated the same mouth motion. Definitely a smile. “I know at my age it’s hard to believe, but I do sometimes have emotions beyond irritation, Mr. Magaar.”