#ah yeah you can print them out if you'd like !!

[crow-jx]

Forgot to post them :> Here are the standees i was talking about in my birthday post-

[lostintransist]

Fallen Angel | Iced Coffee & Scary Movies

>It seems you saved my life 💋 can I take you out for a drink to say thank you?🪳

Staring down at your phone you read the message again. This had to be Simon’s friend that you kissed before they all left for a job. He had been fun to talk to, a little shell-shocked when you layered on lipstick and proceeded to cover him with it before sending him out the door, but still fun.

< I'm still not calling you that. There is a cute early morning cafe I've been wanting to try if you're down.

The reply takes a while to come in. They must have just gotten back from their secretive jobs that take them out of the country. That thought brought on another one. Simon would be coming home and you hadn’t bought a single item of food since he left. He would notice but you prayed that he wouldn’t comment on it.

Your late-night coffee shop hadn’t been doing well. Either word had not gotten out to people that a place existed that wasn’t a bar to hang out late into the night or the universe was out to get you. Maybe you should print flyers to pass out at AA meetings. Now there was a thought.

Your coffee date met you at the cafe you suggested. You'd been wanting to try for months now, but most of your mornings were consumed by sleep since your shop stayed open to customers until 2 AM this was your first chance. Standing in the single beam of sunlight outside of the shop you waited.

When someone stepped close to you and stopped you opened your eyes and smiled.

Hi, ready to go in?

He still wore sunglasses and a surgical mask.

You nodded and turned to catch the door handle. Halfway open he caught the handle from behind you and opened it the rest of the way. He walks by your side as you move close enough to see the menu. A latte could tell you a lot about a coffee shop. Decided you turned to look at your date. His head shifted from side to side as he read the board. When he finally looked at you, he lifted a brow.

Smiling you signed your question.

Do you know what you want? I can order for us.

Iced caramel macchiato, large.

Your date waited with you; hands shoved in his pockets. You didn't take offense, bit hard to know where to go when you had assaulted him with kisses and sent him out the door.

Stepping to the counter you waited your turn. When your turn arrived, the barista called from the espresso machine.

"I'll be just a minute."

"Take your time." You knew how hard those rushes could be.

A few moments pass when the stressed but customer smile in place the barista is ready for your order.

"Hi, what can I get you?"

"Can I get a large iced macchiato and a medium lavender latte?"

"That everything?"

"Actually, I run After Dark a few streets into and I was wondering if you also get milk from one of the local farms."

The barista's brows shoot up, "I've been meaning to try your shop! Your open late right, like midnight?"

Que the awkward smile, "Two actually, but yeah."

"Oh man I love the idea of a late-night spot that isn't all about alcohol. To answer your question yes, has your milk been going bad really fast too?"

"Yes! I didn't want to stop ordering from them without asking another shop. I worried that I was just getting bad batches."

"Nope, not just you. Now I'll just be a moment to get these ready for you," he quoted the price, and you winced internally. You hadn't been paying yourself beyond rent for a couple months.

A card tapped to the POS from beside you. Your date pressed the 20% tip without hesitation, raising your opinion of him already. Stepping to the middle of the shop you waited for your drinks.

You signed as you spoke.

"Since I refuse to call you a bug, I'll just have to guess your name. Is Roman?"

His shoulders shook slightly in a laugh as he shook his head.

You tapped your chin with a finger.

“Hmm, must be Tilly then?”

You watch him laugh again, and shake his head.

“Ah, must be Galahad then!” You exclaim.

The smile the cracks under his mask can be seen in the way his cheeks pull to the side and the tips of his ears take on a splash of pink.

Gary. My name is Gary.

“Hi Gary, it’s nice to meet you.”

You would sign everything you could to him today. His ears must be on fire with how red they are.

Before he can reply your order is called out. Grabbing both, you hand him his drink before taking a sip of your own.

The warm flavors slide across the tongue and the lavender sits well in your nose.

“Good flavor, not overpowered by either the coffee or the lavender. How is yours?”

Gary shrugged. When he looked at your face you lifted a brow.

Watching the realization wash across him that you understood sign and even expected him to share his thoughts could be called magical.

Good, I like caramel.

“Did you want a sip of mine?” You tilt your cup to him.

He takes the cup, looks down at his hand full of drink and passes off his to you. He lifts the mask enough to try the warm drink. From his brows creeping above the sunglasses, you assume he is surprised but liked it.

Once his mask is settled back in place you trade drinks again.

Did you want to try some of mine?

“Sure,” you lean forward and sip the straw. The chill of the drink is interesting compared to the warmth of your still in your mouth.

“I like it. The weather is decent, did you want to walk?”

At his nod you head for the door. Again, he catches the door before you can hold it for him. Rolling your eyes with a smile you let him handle it.

“Do you like your job?”

Gary waggled his hand to and fro.

“Do you blow stuff up like Johnny?”

A croaking of a laugh has you smiling into your coffee. Taking that as a no.

Do you like having a coffee shop?

“I love it. I love the people who come through and making drinks and giving people a safe space to hang out that isn’t the bars.”

You can see the question in his shoulders.

“I don’t drink, for lots of reasons so going to bars has always been a bit boring for me.”

I would love to come by if you don’t mind.

“I would love if you came by, I even know your order now,” you bumped him with your shoulder.

Gary didn’t stand as tall as most of Simon’s men, but he had to be as solid as any of them. He didn’t move an inch.

What is your favorite science fact?

“Tough question.” You take a sip of your drink giving yourself time to think. “Flames don’t cast shadows.”

Gary stopped.

You made it two steps before you noticed.

Turning back, you can see him pushing up his sunglasses to send you a bewildered look. Biting your tongue you fight back a laugh.

“Do you need a moment?”

Shaking his head he settles his glasses back down on his nose as he falls back into step with you.

---- are more likely to get struck by lightning than people.

“What are?”

He signs the unfamiliar word again.

“Can you spell that for me?”

He pulls out his phone and after a few taps he shows you a giraffe.

“Oh! Is that what the sign is? Cool. Thanks for showing me. And that is an interesting fact.”

Conversation goes on like that until you see a small outdoor market. Gary doesn’t object when you drag him to every stall, showing him interesting art or magnets. You were taken by a pair of earrings, beautifully crafted, handmade and so out of your price range that putting them back didn’t hurt. Gary chatted with you about silly shirts and funny hats.

He warmed up to the date as it went on. Sharing jokes and observations that left you in stitches the day wore on. After you had looked at every booth, Gary took your hand, pulling you along this time. When he neared the movie theater he asked about a show.

Scary movie?

“I’m not a fan but I will make silly comments to you in the dark, so I don’t get too scared.”

Gary held your hand as he bought the tickets, and the popcorn. You visited the restroom before heading in for the movie. No use going into jump scares with an even semi-full bladder. He took your hand back up as you left the bathroom. The theater was empty when you looked around.

Top seats?  You signed to him.

Lifting your joined hands towards the stairs you take the lead. Settling below the projector you reach up at hand. A shadow large as life of your hand appears on the blank screen.

“Yes! I thought this theater might be the one,” turning to him with a grin you continue. “My brother and I would pick these seats when my mom would take us to the movies. We would have to stand on the seats to do it, but we would play shadow puppets while waiting for the show to start.”

You focus on contorting your fingers into a bunny. A dog appears and takes a shadow chomp of your bunny’s ears. Glancing over to Gary you caught sight of his smiling eyes. He had moved his sunglasses to hang off his shirt. The ten minutes until the previews started were filled with your giggles as Gary played shadow puppets with you.

When the movie starts you slide your hand into Gary’s and hold on for dear life as scare after scare tried to take you out. He typed out silly messages on his phone that he showed to you every time you jumped, leaving you laughing instead of cowering.

The walk to the flat you shared with Simon followed the pattern of laughter. When you got to the front door you turned.

“Did you want to come in? I have about an hour before I need to get at the shop.”

Gary shook his head. I have a few things to accomplish today.

“Okay, I can understand that,” you gave him a small smile. You truly didn’t mind; Simon often would be gone for long stretches even when he was home getting things done. “Thanks for the date Gary, I had fun.”

Me too. Hold out your hand.

You do, palm flat.

The pair of earrings that you had regretted not having the money to buy sat in your hand. When you could close your mouth and look up Gary had made it quite a distance.

“Gary!”

He turns enough to wave and keep walking.

Touched beyond words you watch him until he disappears. Looking back to your earrings you decide on an outfit to match them for work tonight.

Fallen Angel Masterlist | Masterlist

[aangelinakii]

FLOORPLAN.

— he's a librarian, he'll understand... right ?

summary : on your patrol night, your bag with all your books got absolutely demolished. including the books you'd taken out from the library. now all you have to do is find a way to tell the cute librarian...

not proofread !!

fuck.

well, one good thing came of this, and it was that you'd prevented your favourite delicatessen from being broken into (although the food was good, you couldn't imagine why a group of grown men would try to break in), but that was probably the only thing.

for one, that guy with the crowbar had beat the interiors of your bag to bits when he tried to whack you round the back, any horrible injuries muffled by its contents.

you'd had a late night studying for an end-of-term, and was walking to the train station when you found them, the bastard with the crowbar trying to pry open the metal shutter.

your suit was in your bag, often kept there specially for times like these — good thing you planned ahead.

after the ordeal, after deciding you could save some money on a ticket by leaping over rooftops home, you finally unzipped your backpack and spilled out its contents on your bedroom floor.

paper flew into the air, either crumbled or ripped, some words completely illegible; crushed pens and pencils rolled out, the gooey ink staining the bottom of the bag, and now partly your floor. you could buy new pens, print new papers, but the worst part had to be the creased-to-no-redemption library books you'd checked out last week.

the helpless pages stared back up at you, almost in disappointment, and you knew you were fucked. like, how could a book make you feel guilty?

ah, here's why: you'd have to eventually either return it in its state, or explain to the cute guy at the library why you can't return your checked-out books, and either option seemed to possibly end up with you losing your library card and being banned from ever showing your face.

god, what would jason say?

he already had that whole bad boy kind of look down, and he seemed like he could land a swift punch in the face if anything had happened to his books. the odds did not seem to be in your favour.

the next day, you stopped by the library on your way to the station. your class was later, which had given you time to prepare to face jason; it was better to get it over and done with, right?

when you pushed open the doors, jason glanced up from his desk, from the pages of the book in his hand, and his eyebrows rose slightly. he turned his book over on the countertop, still open on his page.

"what can i do you for?" he hummed as you approached.

really trying to lay it on thick, you lean your arms against the counter, smiling as you did.

"so..." you began, eyes wandering the library space. when they met jason's for a moment, his pale green gaze looked up at you expectantly. "you know those books i took out last week?"

for a moment he was quiet, letting out a stiff sigh. he probably got told this at least once a day. "yeah, i suppose i do. what about them?"

your fingers found each other, prodding against the pads of your finger tips, doing something to try to calm your nerves. "i dunno... i guess maybe i can't bring them back to you..."

finally, you willingly met his gaze, which was filled with exasperation. his jaw hung slightly, and his head had cocked to the side as he watched you stumble over your words. yeah, you were done for.

with another sigh, this one more gruff than the other, jason leaned away from you, a hand coming up to rub at his temple.

"what happened?" he asked after a moment, tone impatient, although it was like he was trying to find an ounce of patience.

air brushed through your nostrils, your teeth coming to each other in a clench. although you didn't want to tell him the truth, as that would compromise your secret identity, you also didn't know how to come up with something on the spot to save your ass.

it would sound crazy, anyway. what more did you have to lose than your library card?

"some guy with a crowbar tried smashing up my bag, and the books were kind of inside," you admitted quickly, pulling your backpack off your shoulder and unzipping it, readying to pull out your evidence.

but jason only looked on at you in disbelief; you could only imagine he was thinking, 'who does this kid think they're fooling?'

his eyelids closed over his eyes, and he shook his head lightly. "i'm not an idiot, okay?" he began, resting an arm on the counter top, fingers unconsciously tapping a rhythm on the wood. for a moment he was quiet, allowing the tapping of his fingers to be the only dialogue between you.

"but i guess i can let you off with a warning."

completely taken aback by his reply, a smile plastered itself on your face, cheeks somewhat ablaze. slowly you began to zip your bag shut again; the books were beyond redemption, perhaps it would be better to throw the whole bag in the trash.

"consider yourself lucky," he hummed, reaching out to take his upturned book back in his hands. "normally i'd revoke your library card. but i was feeling nice today."

if you hadn't been so preoccupied by your gratitude you may have even said the corner of his lip quirked up in a soft smile.

"oh, thank you so much!" you gasped, hands on your chest, over your beating heart. "i swear i'll find a way to make it up to you. i'll do anything, really! i could – i don't know – donate some books i don't read anymore, or volunteer, or even do coffee runs!"

jason glanced up from his page for a moment, that charming half-smile of his ever-present. "i'll just do you a favour and not tell my manager, but maybe we could do a coffee run together some time."

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook

𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐱𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 | Part 13

He'll show you it was worth it.

Tags/Warnings: Game Designer!Jungkook, Brat Tamer!Jungkook, kinda himbo!Jungkook, Non Idol AU, established relationship, minor angst, he's in love ew [Tags will be different for every part!]

Length: 1.1k words

Callob with @euphoricfilter ! 💜

There is no taglist for this fic.

-> Masterlist

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

You arrive about half an hour later, and you can't help but sit up straighter as Jungkook pulls up into the driveway of the Airbnb he's rented.

Up until now you've not seen any pictures of it at all- Jungkook being adamant on making sure that you don't ruin the surprise along the way, distracting you whenever you'd bring up the topic at all. So to say that the surprise definitely landed would be an understatement, as you look at the small but very fancy looking house he's currently parking the car at.

A lady walks out, flowery print on her dress while she smiles happily, visibly excited as you and Jungkook exit the car. "Oh you must be the young couple-" She beams, walking towards you with a bit of a limp- probably from old age catching up to her. He gives Jungkook and you a hug before she leans back, looking you up and down. "Well, you weren't lying when you said your girl is pretty!" She compliments, and you have the urge to hide behind your boyfriend for a good moment- only saved by said man taking over quickly, telling Maria to go inside as you both take your stuff with you.

Of course he argues as you want to take your bag- taking it himself instead, absolutely not admitting to any form of struggle at all.

"So! I stocked up the fridge, there's wine too- and I baked something small, just because I had the time left over." She giggles, as Jungkook sets the bags down near the front door for now, walking up to the elderly woman that's standing in the middle of the large interior. "Oh, and I asked my husband about the carpet, and he told me to tell you not to worry about it-" She says a bit more serious. "-Apparently you can just wash these kinds of stains out, no worries there." She winks towards Jungkook, who nods, hoping you don't hear the hidden implications of that statement-

though the glare you send him makes it clear that you do.

"So! I reckon you have the general layout still in mind- treat it like your own home as long as you here." She offers with a gentle hand on Jungkook's shoulder. "Go wild, you're only young once! Ah, and before I forget-" She perks up, before she pulls Jungkook away to whisper something into his ear- something apparently very important, because he looks oddly serious as he nods towards her, the woman patting his back in encouragement of something you're not sure of.

You're busy exploring the holiday home for a good moment, when Jungkook brings the last of your luggage into the bedroom, balcony door opened as you stand on it to look outside. "So? Do you like it?" He asks, standing behind you now, warm body pressed against your back while his chin leans on your shoulder.

"It's.. Jungkook this must've been so fucking expensive, what the hell?" You worry. "And also there's so many towels in the bathroom-" You begin, making him laugh.

"Oh yeah, I told maria you're kinda messy- and since I'm planning on catching up to my highscore while we're here you'll definitely need them-" He begins, making you turn around and smack his pecks- hard. "Ow!" He whines playfully, pouting at you.

"What do you mean, you told Maria about our sex life?!" You complain, and he shrugs.

"Hey I'm pretty proud of our-" He begins, but your glare shuts him up. "Listen, I didn't know if there was like.. a cleaning fine if we mess up stuff too much. And I wanna love you a lot while we're here, so I wanted to make sure I thought of everything!" He explains himself, and you just run a hand over your face. Well, what did you expect anyways?

This is Jungkook, after all. This man coded a full on sex-diary app just for the two of you.

"You know I've been wondering.." You say, leaning your arms over his shoulders, back pressed against the edge of the balcony as he leans in closer, gaze hooded now. "...what spot are you in right now?" You ask, and his face immediately morphs, eyes sharp as his tongue presses into the inside of his cheek.

"..maybe third." He mumbles, before he pulls you back inside by your waist sitting on the edge of the soft bed with you on his lap, eyes hungry while his hands travel beneath your shirt. "But I'll sure be first again once this trip has finished." He tells you like a decision made, no arguments allowed.

"You sure about that?" You wonder, pushing him against his chest until he's left laying on the mattress below, your hands pressed into the softness.

"Absolutely." He says, before pulling your face towards him, licking up all remnants of your strawberry lipbalm and sweet icecream treat you had earlier before arriving. Your hips grind on him without any shame, sounds that escape him singing of his own growing arousal as he lets his fingers dip between the fabric of your pants and your skin. They know exactly where they want to go, moving around until he's got a full hold of your ass, only removing his palms from beneath your jeans to slap back down with open palms.

You move to throw your shirt over your head- his fingers eager to unhook your bra for you, when he sees them.

His movements stutter a bit, face showing utter devastation as his round eyes find yours with worry. "You changed them." He says out of breath, quietly, and you look down at your chest, noticing that yes- you did change the jewelry.

"Oh.. yeah." You admit, making his hands gently hold your tits just to run his thumb over the two little wings on each side of your nipples. They're cute- very fitting, and he wonders where you bought them. But they're also not the little silver hearts you both always wear ever since your second big date.

"...I'll make you love me again." He promises, pulling you down again to kiss you, before he rolls you both over, pressing eager kisses to your neck.

"I still love you-" You argue with a giggle, removing his shirt to be met with the familiar metal jewelry you used to wear as well before you changed them out of pettiness.

"Then I'll make you love me the same as you did before I was a jerk." He urges, pushing you up on the bed a little to properly climb on it, knees dipping down into the soft bedding below you.

"I do that too!" You laugh, and he playfully bites at your collarbone, before looking at you with a gaze made of thousands of lifetimes worth of affection.

"Then I'll make you love me even more." He offers, while you hold his cheeks in your palms, equally as struck by cupid's arrow.

"Impossible.." You say, pulling him closer. "But you're welcome to try."

[darkbluekies]

Silas asks #5

Previous one next one

Concept: I've put multiple asks into one post to avoid too much loose posts on my account! This way, you have more to read too<3

Warnings: mafia, yandere, isolation ... the normal stuff

In Intruder, would Silas still have been able to find the reader if she didn't look to see what was on the USB? (Perhaps she didn't know she had a foreign USB in her purse in the first place) You mentioned Silas could see her on the webcam, but I assumed that was because she used the USB on the computer. Also, if she didn't see the USB would Silas have taken it back without question or would he have still kidnapped the reader? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just curious hehe 😅

Hm, interesting question. I think that Silas would be able to find the USB one way or another, either through a tracker on it or hacking into surveillance cameras to follow her. He would most likely not be too interested in getting her, but would think of her when he leaves ... which means that he'll be back for her.

There's this meme on tiktok that goes "my blickyyyyyy upon the dresseeeerrrrr" it remind me so much of Silas who definitely is the type of dude with a gun in his dresser 🔫 🔫

I haven't seen that meme, but Silas would 100% keep a gun in his dresser! For uh "safety reasons". Not to keep you in the room no no

Do you think the reader would ever develop Stockholm syndrome with Silas?

I actually think so. He treats you well when you're obedient so if you don't try to escape and actually listen to what he says, he will be the most wonderful man you can ever get your hands on. And that's dangerous for your mental health because anyone would fall for that.

With that Broken reader x Silas fanfic Does the reader have a caretaker that had been helping them?

[fanfic?]

Oneshot it's basef off of (i think)

No, Silas doesn't want anyone to be close to you, escpecially not after what you've been trough. He's scared that you'll fall for someone else in your fragile state. He needs you to be reliant on him only. You're vulnerable, perfect for him to mold how he wants you to be.

LOVING SILAS SM MWAH MWAH MWAH LEMME KITH YOU omg but like.. 😳 what if he grows to lowkey miss gen z reader's remarks and jokes in the long run😶. like ok yeah big man got what he wanted😮‍💨🫥 but now reader doesnt laugh or smile anymore cause theyre lowkey highkey traumatized😁💧 ykwim????

[omg thank you for the kith hehe]

Then he'll try to bring it back! Silas thinks that you're a toy that he can break and bend to be how he wants you to be. Somehow you'll be back to normal, he just needs to figure out how. He'll regret breaking you down so badly and will do his best to crack your numb shell.

"I like it when you smile. Come on, baby, curse at me. You know you like that. Tell a joke, I'll laugh, I promise. No, you won't get punished, little thing."

The Valentine's day ask for Silas got me thinking, what if his s/of wanted to get job? (cause I can't just do nothing all day) And since I'm sure he wouldn't let us go somewhere, what if we asked for him to hire us? (Cause if he wouldn't we can start looking for a online job or a job where we could leave and come back without getting caught) We can basically do some clean up or just paperwork 🤔. Also sorry if my English is bad

He'd hate the thought of you working because he thinks that you should be doing things you liked, but if you really had to, he'd keep you in his office, right by his side, where you can go through some papers. Of course not the ones that could make you scared. If there are no papers for you to go through, he'll print fake ones, just so you'll have something to do. As long as he'd keep you occupied, you'd not complain about being bored or wanting to leave.

"Ah, how about a break? We should take a nap on the couch. We've been working so well, don't you think, little thing? Come here, baby, let me hold you."

Silas be like "I'm gonna torture you badly" I be like "I like that"🥴Chain me up in the basement for punishment? "oooh kinky"Psychological torture? "Hey how'd you know I like mind games?"Threaten friends and family? *Looks around sarcastically "where are they? I don't see them!" 🙃In conclusion, I identify as a chaotic neutral that cannot be contained. Go ahead, do your worst! It'll be fun~ >:3

You'd be Silas's nightmare.

Ok that was weird how would Silas react to a mc who was in awe about how rich he was and shocked when they arrive at his mansion?

[what was weird ...?]

He'd be shocked. He's been in defense mode to give you a fright, to scare you into obedience ... but you're not scared?

"If I live here? Uh yeah, i do ... what about it? You like it? Yeah, I guess it's nice. Do you really like it that much?"

Hello 👁🫦👁. I love all your stories and I'm trying to figure out how best to behave with Silas so that he doesn't lock me in the basement, but also doesn't break my mind or bones😭p.s. i love the yandere characters but even chatting with AI yanderes gives me bad endings

As long as you do as he says, (you stay in your room, doesn't complain too much, doesn't nag and demand him to be let out) he'll be pleased with you. He'll take you out for dinner and dates and be more patient with you. The more you demand of him, the less likely you'll get it and the quicker you'll end up in the basement. He wants to be treated as a human being, depsite all the bad things he's done to you :)

[loveroftoomanyfandoms]

Angel of God, My Guardian Dear Chapter 1: Matt

Rating: Explicit (18+, MINORS DNI)

Pairing: Matt Murdock x F!Reader

Story Summary: While speaking at a local school for visually impaired youth, Matt runs into his childhood best friend, with whom he lost touch almost 20 years prior.

Warnings/Tags: No real warnings thus far -- This is going to be a pretty angst-free fic.

Word Count: ~6,300

A/N: Welcome to Angel of God, My Guardian Dear! This started out as a 1-shot and quickly spiraled out of control, as my thirst for Matthew Michael Murdock could not be contained.

For the purpose of this story, Reader is Catholic and grew up at St. Agnes with Matt.

Title is from the Catholic prayer "Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide, Amen."

"All set to go to Lavelle?" 

Matt Murdock turned his head as his friend and business partner, Foggy Nelson, came into his office. "Yeah, just need to finish up here and I'll be on my way."

"It was really cool of them to ask you to come speak," Foggy added.

Matt nodded. "I hope I can help these kids realize that their disabilities don't define who they are and that they can be whoever and whatever they want to be, including lawyers."

Foggy huffed out a laugh. "Or crime-fighting vigilantes?"

Matt grinned. "Well actually, there's probably only room for one blind crime-fighting vigilante in this city, so I probably won't suggest that as a potential career path."

Foggy patted Matt on the shoulder. "You're a great speaker, I'm sure you'll motivate the heck out of those kids. Have a good time, dude."

"Thanks, Fog."

Matt grabbed his briefcase, headed outside, then hailed a cab.

"Alright, where we goin'?" The cabbie asked.

"The Bronx," Matt answered. "Lavelle School for the Blind."

The cabbie tapped on a screen, presumably putting the address into his GPS. "Alrighty, just sit tight and we should be there in about half an hour."

Matt sat back as the cab began to move.  Think of it like a jury, Karen had said when Matt had told her and Foggy about the opportunity over a couple of pints at Josie's a few weeks before. Just a younger, way more judgmental jury.

Matt had laughed. Not helping.

You'll do great.

He mentally practiced his speech during the ride and before he knew it, the cab was pulling up in front of the school.

"Thanks," Matt said as he paid the cabbie.

"No problem," the cabbie replied. "Enjoy the rest of your day."

"You too."

Matt headed inside.

Almost immediately, a somewhat familiar voice asked him, "Hi, may I help you?"

Matt turned towards the voice. "Hi, yes, my name is Matthew Murdock. I'm one of the speakers for today?"

"Ah, yes, Mr. Murdock, I'm Dr. Bowman, we spoke on the phone."

Matt nodded, now placing the voice. "Right, right."

"We'll be in the meeting hall, which is straight down this corridor. If you'll just come with me…"

Dr. Bowman led Matt down to the meeting hall. "We really appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to speak to our students," she said as they entered.

"It's really not a problem."

"The students and their parents will be starting to arrive in a while, but if you'd like we could have someone escort you around to the exhibitor tables once they're all set up."

"Yeah, maybe."

"We have a Braille program if you'd like one -- it lists all the speakers and exhibitors for today."

"Yeah, I'd love one."

"Okay, one second."

Dr. Bowman stepped away for a minute then returned, handing Matt a booklet printed on Braille paper. "Okay, here you go."

"Thanks." Matt pointed to a nearby table. "Is it okay if I sit over here?"

"Yes, of course. Just let us know if you need anything."

"Will do."

Matt sat at the table and began to read the program. Staff, sponsors, speakers, exhibitors…

He began to read the exhibitor list. American Council for the Blind, representative Ashley Prewitt. VISIONS, representative Clay Markham. NYC Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, representative Barbara Franklin. Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, representative Y/F/N Y/L/N --

Matt froze and read it again. Could it really be the same Y/N?

Y/N, who at 8 years old had taken 9-year-old Matt, who had just arrived at the orphanage, by the hand and declared that she would be his friend. Y/N, who had giggled when Matt had asked her a few days later if she was an angel and replied, 'no, silly, I'm a girl!' . Y/N, who had been Matt's fiercest protector and had gotten into almost as many fights as Matt himself had. Y/N, who would stroke Matt's hair softly until he fell asleep on the nights when he would sneak into her room because all the stimuli flooding his senses became too overwhelming. Y/N, to whom Matt had taught Braille so they could pass secret notes to each other without anyone else being able to read them. Y/N, who 17-year-old Matt had held while she cried the day they found out that Y/N had been taken in by her long-lost aunt and would be leaving Saint Agnes… and him. 

Y/N, his own personal guardian angel, the one person in the world Matt could tell everything to… except the one thing he had wanted to tell her most of all.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"I don't want you to leave," he admitted quietly as he and Y/N stood at the entrance to St. Agnes.

"I don't want to leave either," Y/N replied. "I wish you could at least come with me."

Matt chuckled wryly. He had overheard one of the nuns talking to Ms. Y/L/N earlier that morning, warning her about 'that Murdock boy' and telling her how it was best for Y/N to be separated from him 'before he gets her into trouble'. "I don't think your aunt would go for that."

"Then can we run away together instead? We could travel the world, just you and me on the epic best friend adventure that we've always dreamed of." 

God, Matt wanted to say yes. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Y/N by his side, be it as his best friend or -- as he knew deep down in his heart -- something more.

However, Sister Bernadette had been right. Y/N really was an angel sent from on high who deserved all of the goodness in the world, and Matt… Well, Murdock boys had the devil in them.

He shook his head sadly. "Your aunt's waiting. You should go."

Y/N was quiet for a few moments. Finally, she said, "Before I go… I got you something."

She took Matt's hand and dropped a thin, wiry chain into his palm. "I saved up for six months to buy it from the church's gift shop. I was going to give it to you for your birthday, but…" She trailed off. "Anyway, think of me when you wear it, okay?"

Matt picked it up with his other hand. Attached to the chain was a small cross. 

He nodded. "I will. Thanks."

"I'll write to you, give you my aunt's address." Y/N pulled him into a tight hug then gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll miss you, Matty."

"I'll miss you too. Goodbye, angel."

Matt waited as half of his heart climbed into a cab and left, the note he had written to her the previous night still in his pocket.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Matt mentally shook his head. Don't get your hopes up. It may not be her.

…But deep down he knew it had to be.

He stopped someone who was walking by. "Excuse me, can you tell me if the representative from the Heiskell Library is here yet?"

"Umm…" the woman paused as she turned towards the exhibitor tables. "Yeah, actually, it looks like she's talking with Dr. Bowman at the moment."

"Okay, thank you."

"No problem."

As the woman walked away, Matt turned his head so he could listen in on the conversation.

"...So glad you could be here," Dr. Bowman was saying. "We really appreciate you taking time to come out and speak with our students and their parents."

"It's no problem, Dr. Bowman," the other voice replied. "I'm always happy to promote the library's services."

Matt sucked in a breath. It *is* her. 

Even after all the years that had passed since he had last spent time with Y/N he had never forgotten the sound of her voice, the times he had sat listening to her read to him still among his favorite memories.

Y/N and Dr. Bowman were wrapping up their conversation, so Matt stood and headed over towards them.

Either Y/N didn't notice that Matt was behind her or Matt had misjudged the distance between them, but Y/N turned around and bumped into him.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, sir, I--" Y/N gasped. "Wait, Matty?"

"It's just 'Matt' now, but yeah. Hi, angel." Matt was surprised at how easily his old nickname for Y/N slipped from his lips.

"Oh my God, hi!" Y/N wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "How are you? What are you doing here? Are you a teacher?"

Matt chuckled as he returned her embrace. "I'm well. I don't teach here, I'm actually one of the featured speakers."

"Oh, wow, that's wonderful."

"What about you? How have you been?"

"I'm well too, yeah. Oh my God, this is so crazy. Are you still in New York?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah, still in Hell's Kitchen. You know me, I'm loyal to my city. What about you?" 

"Yeah, Florida was okay, but New York is home. I'm actually in Midtown West now, so I'm not far." Y/N paused. "Hey, would you want to maybe grab dinner or a drink or something after this is done, and I dunno, like, catch up? It's totally fine if you can't, I just thought maybe --"

Matt quickly shook his head. "No, no, yeah, I'd love to."

"Great! I'll have to run back by the library to drop all of my stuff off but I can meet you wherever after that."

Matt thought for a moment. "You still like Italian?"

Y/N let out a light laugh. "Of course."

"Then how about Bellissima Italia, over on 9th and 44th? That's near there, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that sounds great."

"Will 6:00 work for you? I'll make a reservation."

"That would be perfect. Here, let me give you my number in case something unexpected comes up. It probably won't, but then again, this is New York -- you never know what kind of craziness is going to happen next."

Matt chuckled and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "That's very true."

He created a new contact and typed in Y/N's name, then added her number once Y/N recited it to him.

He hit the button to call her, hanging up after Y/N's phone began to buzz in her pocket. "There, now you have mine."

"Awesome. I have to get to my table, but I'll see you tonight?"

Matt nodded as the doors opened and people began to trickle in. "Yeah, definitely. See you tonight, Y/N." 

"Bye, Matt."

Wow, what are the odds? Matt thought as Y/N walked back over to her table. 

He pulled his phone back out and headed back into the hallway to make their reservation, then called Foggy.

"Yo, Matt, what's up?" Foggy said in greeting.

"Hey, Foggy, do you remember me telling you about Y/N back when we were in college?"

"Y/N, as in Y/N, your childhood friend from the orphanage who you talked about non-stop and are still hung up on 16 years later Y/N? 'The one that got away' Y/N? That Y/N?"

Matt chuckled. "Yeah, that Y/N. Well, I actually just ran into her. It turns out she's a librarian at the Heiskell Library and is here promoting their library services, so we made plans to have dinner and catch up after this is over."

"Oh, wow, that's actually really awesome, dude. You said she works at the Heiskell Library?" 

Matt could hear Foggy sit down at his desk and start typing on his computer keyboard. "Yeah."

After a moment, Foggy said, "Damn it."

"What is it?"

"I knew she was gonna be hot!"

Matt huffed out a laugh. "Did you seriously just Google her?"

"I wanted to see what she looks like! You're a hot woman magnet, so of course your old childhood friend is hot. Is she single? Because if you change your mind about her…"

Matt just chuckled. "Not gonna happen. If I even remotely still have a shot with Y/N, I'm taking it." 

"Eh, I was just kidding anyway. Good luck tonight, man. Hope she's everything you remember her being and more."

"Thanks, Fog. I'll talk to you later."

"'Kay. Bye, Matt."

Matt hung up and headed back inside, both excited and nervous to catch up with Y/N later that evening.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Matt smoothed down his hair for what seemed like the tenth time as he arrived at the restaurant for his catch-up dinner with Y/N. 

He took a deep breath and headed inside.

"Buonasera," the seating host said. "Welcome to Bellissima Italia. How many in your party, sir?"

"Actually, I have a reservation for two at 6, under 'Murdock'," Matt replied. 

"Ah, yes, sir. Your companion's already arrived. Right this way."

Matt followed the seating host to where Y/N sat.

"Matt, you made it," Y/N said, standing and giving Matt a hug.

She had changed from the blouse and slacks she had worn earlier into a silk dress that hugged her form, and underneath the subtly floral perfume she wore was her familiar natural scent that had never failed to relax Matt when he was overwhelmed. Even now he could feel his nervous energy starting to calm.

He returned her embrace. "Hi."

"Joseph will be your server tonight," the host said as they sat. "If you need anything let us know."

"Thank you."

Matt folded up his cane and stuck it in his jacket pocket. "I hope you haven't had to wait long."

"No, I just got here a few minutes ago."

Their server walked up to their table. "Good evening, my name is Joseph and I'll be taking care of you. What can I get you to drink?"

"Can I get a glass of Pinot Grigio and a water?" Y/N said.

"Certainly, ma'am. And for you, sir?"

"I'll take a glass of Merlot and a water as well, thanks."

"Okay, certainly. I'll get that taken care of for you while you get a chance to look over the menu."

"Do you know what you want, or do you want me to read the menu to you?" Y/N asked as Joseph left.

"Actually if you don't mind telling me what's on the menu I'd really appreciate it," Matt replied. "I didn't get a chance to check it out before I came."

"No, it's not a problem at all." Y/N picked up her menu. "Let's see…"

Matt listened intently as Y/N quickly read the menu off to him. He nodded. "Okay, thanks. I think I know what I want."

A few moments later Joseph returned with their drinks. "Okay, here you are. And are we ready to order?"

Matt nodded. "I'm ready. Y/N, you want to go ahead?"

"Yes, I'd like the gnocchi in cream sauce, please," Y/N said. 

"Okay, and for you, sir?"

"I'll take the chicken parmigiana, thanks." Matt picked up his menu and handed it to Joseph.

"Okay, I'll put those in for you right away."

"Wow, I still can't believe this," Y/N said as Joseph left once again. "It's been, what, almost 20 years?"

Matt nodded with a grin. "Yeah, something like that. And even after all this time, you still look exactly the same."

Y/N laughed. "I'm glad to know that you haven't lost your sense of humor."

She took a sip of water. "So, catch me up on the past 20 years."

Matt shrugged. "Not much to tell. Left St. Agnes at 18, went to Columbia and got a law degree, opened my own practice with my college roommate, and that's about it." Except for the fact that I also became a crime-fighting vigilante, sent a mob boss to jail, and took down a secret organization of ninjas.

"Not married, no kids?"

Matt shook his head. "No, never found the right person." Because I already had found her but was too much of a coward to tell her how I felt before she left. "What about you? What have you been up to?"

"Finished high school in Florida, got my bachelor's degree in sociology, did my MLIS, and became a librarian. Did five years as a special services librarian in Florida, two in Indiana, then I managed to get on with the Heiskell Library and have been there ever since."

"No marriage or kids for you either?"

"No kids, almost got married once but it didn't work out. Wasn't anyone's fault, we just weren't right for each other."

Matt nodded. "How's your aunt?"

"Oh, she's fine. She's still in Florida so I talk to her every few days. Wait till I tell her I ran into you."

Matt gave a wry smile. "I dunno if she'll be happy about that. She didn't like me."

"What do you mean she didn't like you? She didn't even know you."

"She didn't have to. She had heard enough about me from Sister Bernadette to form an opinion."

"Ugh. Sister Bernadette. She did always seem to have it out for you."

Matt shrugged. "Well, in all fairness, I was kind of a troublemaker."

Y//N laughed. "Yeah, but I was usually right there with you in whatever trouble you were making, if not starting the trouble myself."

Matt grinned and took a sip of his wine. "You mean like the time we stole that bottle of Communion wine out of the church storeroom?"

Y/N laughed. "You know, that was the first thing I mentioned during confession after I started going to church in Florida. Seal of Confession or not, I wasn't about to confess to Father Reynolds about it."

Matt grinned. "Afraid of a harsher penance?"

"Yes! It was bad enough having to say five Acts of Contrition and three Our Fathers that time I punched Bobby Neyland in the face for tripping you in the hall. I had already gotten detention and I had to apologize to him, what more did they want?"

They were interrupted by Joseph bringing their dinners. "Alrighty, we have the gnocchi over here, and the chicken parmigiana here. Careful, those plates are hot. Is there anything else I can get you two?"

"No, I think we're fine," Y/N replied. "Matt?"

Matt shook his head. "We're good for now."

"Okay, let me know if you need anything else."

"Will do."

"Anyway," Y/N said, "we weren't always getting into trouble. Most of the time we were perfect little angels."

Matt chuckled. "I think your memory is faulty. You may have been an angel, but I certainly wasn't."

"We did have some good times together though, didn't we, Matty?"

Matt nodded, the quiet times he got to spend with Y/N floating through his mind. "Yeah, we certainly did."

The conversation continued to flow easily as Matt and Y/N reminisced about their childhood, and the next thing Matt knew dinner was over.

"Will that be one check or two?" Joseph asked as he cleared their plates.

"Just the one check, thanks," Matt said, handing Joseph his credit card before Y/N could protest.

"Next time, I'm paying," Y/N replied as Joseph went to go take care of the bill.

Matt grinned, thrilled that Y/N had even mentioned a 'next time'. "Deal."

He signed the check once Joseph returned for the last time, then unfolded his cane as he and Y/N stood. "May I walk you home?"

He could almost hear the smile in Y/N's voice as she replied. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that." 

Matt extended his arm. "Then shall we?"

They left the restaurant together, the ease and familiarity they once shared still there.

"So, what made you decide to become a librarian?" Matt asked as they headed towards Y/N's apartment building. "Last I knew you wanted to go out and save the world by becoming a big-time CEO of a Fortune 500 company."

Y/N huffed out a laugh. "Um, well, actually, it was you." 

Matt's eyebrows raised. "Me?"

"Yeah. When it was time to start thinking about college I spoke to my guidance counselor and told her about how my best friend was visually impaired and how I'd sit and read print books to him because there weren't any Braille or audiobooks in the orphanage where we grew up, and so she told me about how there were actually special library services for people with visual impairments and that maybe I should look into special services librarianship since I seemed called to that."

"And do you like it?"

"Yeah, more than anything. Like a lot of people might think that being a librarian is boring or an obsolete job, but you should talk to some of my patrons, Matt. They're all alone with no family or friends nearby, so listening to these audiobooks are the only things that they have to do all day. It's actually kind of heartbreaking."

Matt nodded with a soft smile. Y/N really was an angel.

"And I know I'm not like, saving lives or changing the world or anything," Y/N continued, "like by being a doctor or by helping innocent people who've been wrongfully accused of crimes like you and your partner, but I feel like I'm at least helping people in my own way, you know?"

Matt turned towards Y/N as they stopped at a crosswalk. "You think you haven't saved lives? 'Angel' wasn't just a nickname, sweetheart. You befriended a lonely, scared, angry little boy with absolutely zero fucks given as to what anyone else thought, and to this day I'm still so damn grateful for whatever made you see me and decide, 'Yes, that one. I want him as my best friend'."

Y/N let out a watery laugh. "Honestly, it wasn't a tough decision. I knew from the moment I saw you that you were going to be way cooler than everyone else."

Matt smiled softly. "You were my guardian angel, Y/N. I certainly wouldn't have made it without you."

He reached up and gently swiped his thumbs under her eyes, wiping away the tears that had collected there. "You okay?"

Y/N nodded. "Yeah."

Matt slipped his hand into Y/N's and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

They continued on their way to Y/N's apartment, Y/N seemingly as reluctant to let go of Matt's hand as he was to let go of hers.

"What about you?" Y/N asked. "What drew you to law?"

"I want to fight injustice and keep Hell's Kitchen safe, protect the people I care about," Matt said simply. "Going through the legal system seemed the best way to do that at the time."

"And now?"

"What?"

"You said 'at the time'. What's the best way now?"

Being Daredevil, Matt wanted to say. Protecting those I can't protect through the law. 

He shook his head. "I just know that everything's not as black-and-white with the legal system as I once thought."

"Yeah, I get that." Y/N slowed down as they reached her apartment building. "This is me."

Matt nodded. "I'm really glad we found each other again."

"I am too -- I've missed you so much, Matt. I tried to write to you after I moved but all of my letters came back 'return to sender'. Eventually I realized that they were returning my letters, but by that time it was too late, and it's not like I could just call up Sister Bernadette and ask for your forwarding address."

Matt shook his head. "I knew it. I knew something weird was going on. I could tell she was lying whenever I asked her if I had any mail from you."

"I still have them."

"The letters you wrote me?"

"Yeah, they're in a box in my closet."

"Can I read them?"

"Yeah, sure. You want me to go get them or do you want to come up for a drink and we can read them together?"

Matt nodded. "A drink would be nice." More time I can spend with you.

"Okay, then. Come on in."

Y/N led Matt through the lobby to the elevator and up to her apartment. "Make yourself at home," she said as she unlocked her door. "Living room is straight ahead, just mind the coffee table when you go around the couch to sit."

Matt sat while Y/N moved around her kitchen. "What's your preference?" Y/N asked. "I have wine, hard cider, amaretto, whiskey, rum…"

"Whiskey is fine. On the rocks."

He could hear Y/N adding ice to a couple of glasses then opening a couple of bottles, then smelled the scent of sweet & sour mix. "Let me guess. Amaretto sour for yourself?"

Y/N paused in her pouring. "How'd you know?"

"I can hear the difference in the shape of the bottles, and I can smell the sweet & sour."

"You're good." Y/N closed the bottles and put the sweet & sour mix back in her refrigerator. 

She handed Matt his glass before setting hers down on the coffee table. "Here you go. Give me just a second, I'll go grab the letters."

Matt took a sip of his whiskey as Y/N retreated to her bedroom.

She returned momentarily with a box. "Ok so remember, I was 16 when I started writing these, so don't judge me if they're cringy."

Matt chuckled. "I won't, I promise."

Y/N opened the box and handed him a manila envelope. "Here, start with this one. I'm pretty sure they're still in the order I wrote them."

Matt opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of Braille paper. "Can you still read Braille?" he asked.

"Yep, can still write in it too, although Braille printers make everything a lot easier these days."

Matt set the piece of paper on the coffee table and began to read aloud. 

"September 30, 2002

Dear Matty,

Just got settled in at Aunt Ruth's house. My bedroom here is as big as both of ours at St. Agnes combined. 

Hoping I can convince Aunt Ruth to let you come visit soon, maybe during Thanksgiving?

By the way, my address is 4685 Sandpiper Blvd., Miami, FL 33190.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Y/N"

Y/N snorted. "Yeah, 'I'm sure you'll be able to get away from the orphanage for a week or so to come hang out with your bestie in Florida!' Man, was I naive."

Matt shook his head. "You didn't know. Neither of us could've known that they'd actually try to keep us apart."

Y/N picked up the next envelope. "Here, I'll read the next one."

Matt nodded. "Okay."

"October 21, 2002," Y/N began.

Dear Matty,

I must've done something wrong with the postage on my first letter, because it came back marked return to sender. Adding double to make sure this gets to you.

Aunt Ruth wants me to join some after-school clubs, make some new friends. I don't want *new* friends, though. I just want you.

Speaking of making new friends, you know that song 'make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold'?  Well, it's not true. You're way more precious to me than gold. You're more like… I don't know, the rarest and most precious substance on earth, whatever that may be.

Anyway, address is 4685 Sandpiper Blvd., Miami, FL 33190. Write me back!

Always,

Y/N"

Matt picked up the next envelope. "November 12, 2002.

Dear Matty,

Another letter came back return to sender. Don't quite know what I'm doing wrong, but hopefully this one reaches you!

School has been okay. Don't think I told you yet, but Aunt Ruth enrolled me in some fancy all-girls Catholic school. I'm really enjoying English class. We're reading The Crucible. Maybe next time we're together I'll read it to you. Think you'd like it.

Anyway, hope you're doing okay. I miss you.

Always,

Y/N"

Y/N laughed. "You know, my offer to read The Crucible to you still stands."

Matt grinned. "In that case I might have to take you up on it. You're still my favorite audiobook narrator."

He could hear the smile in Y/N's voice as she began to read her next letter. 

"January 10th, 2003.

Dear Matty (or is it just Matt now that you're the big 1-8?),

Happy birthday! I wish I could be there with you to celebrate. I wanted to surprise you and come visit, but Aunt Ruth said no. (Party pooper.)

I hope your day is amazing and that you get everything you wish for, because you deserve it! *Heart*

Miss you like crazy and I really hope to hear from you soon!

Always,

Y/N"

Matt shrugged. "My 18th birthday was fine, nothing overly special." I didn't get my wish, but now I know why.

He cleared his throat. "April 6, 2003.

Dear Matt,

I don't know if I did something wrong before I left and you're mad at me or if I'm just that inept at mailing a letter, but I just got a bunch of letters back unopened again. I really hope it's the latter because if it's the first, I don't know what I did but whatever it is, I'm sorry. Just please talk to me. I want my best friend back.

Y/N"

Matt's heart broke. Damn them. Damn them all to Hell for making Y/N think she could ever do something to make me not want her in my life. 

He finished his glass of whiskey before picking up the next letter.

"Want a refill?" Y/N asked.

Matt nodded. "Sure."

Y/N stood and went to make them each another drink while Matt read the next letter aloud.

"September 3, 2003

Dear Matt,

I don't even know why I'm still trying. You're 18 now, I'm sure you're not even at St. Agnes anymore. You're probably off to college and have made fancy new college friends, so even if this letter somehow reached you you probably wouldn't respond anyway, but I wanted to tell you goodbye anyway and to wish you good luck.

Y/N"

Matt's brow furrowed. "But there's more letters."

"Yeah." Y/N sounded hesitant as she set Matt's drink down on the table. "I never sent any of the rest though."

She picked up the next one. "December 9, 2003.

Dear Matt,

I'm sitting here in English class (well, not now since I'm writing this in Braille instead of standard print) and our bell assignment today was to write a letter to someone who is no longer in our lives. I'm sure the point is probably to write to someone who's dead, but whatever, I'll write to whomever the hell I want.

Aunt Ruth finally told me the truth: that St. Agnes had been returning your letters to me before you even got them. Needless to say, I'm furious. I don't understand why they would go to such lengths to keep us apart, or why Aunt Ruth would even agree to it.

I hope you don't think I never tried to get in touch with you, because the thought of you believing that I would just abandon you like that tears me up inside.

I miss you, Matt, and I hope you're doing well.

Y/N" 

Matt shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry, Y/N. I hate that you ever even had to think that I would ignore your letters."

Y/N reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. "It wasn't your fault."

They continued reading, Y/N telling him about getting into college, the classes she was taking each semester, graduation, getting into grad school and getting her library science degree, her first job as an official librarian… 

Y/N took a sip of her cocktail before starting the next letter.

"March 8, 2012

Dear Matt,

I've met someone . His name is Alex and he works in the I.T. department of the library. I think you two would get along -- you're a lot alike.

We've been dating for a few months now and things are going pretty well. I'll keep you posted as to where things lead.

Y/N"

Matt picked up the second-to-last letter. 

"January 13, 2013

Dear Matt,

Alex proposed, and I said yes. We're planning a fall wedding -- nothing big, just close family and friends.

I wish you could be there. I thought about asking Alex if he could look you up on the internet to see if he could find an address for you. Could you imagine? We haven't been in contact in over 10 years and suddenly you get an invitation to my wedding.

Crazy, right?

Y/N"

Even though Matt knew that things didn't work out between Y/N and her ex-fiancé, his stomach was still in knots as Y/N began to read her final letter.

"June 29, 2013

Dear Matt,

I ended my engagement with Alex today. We were touring wedding venues over the weekend but none of them felt right, and I realized this morning that it wasn't the venues that felt wrong, it was me.

You see, I can't marry Alex, not when-- " Y/N paused and took a deep breath.   "Not when I've been in love with you for most of my life."

Matt's brain screeched to a halt. What did she just say? 

"God, I'm so pathetic," Y/N continued, "pining over someone to whom I haven't even spoken in years. It's not fair to Alex to marry someone who's in love with another man and it's not fair to myself to keep holding on to something that I can never have. 

I guess I've kept writing to you in order to somehow hold on to you and to feel like we were still teenagers writing secret notes to each other, like maybe one day I'd have the courage to finally tell you how I feel.

I'll always love you, Matt, but maybe it's time for me to finally let you go.

Y/N"

Matt turned towards Y/N, who had picked up her drink and was currently draining it. "You were in love with me?"

Y/N remained silent, but the uptick in her heartbeat gave Matt hope. 

He took her glass from her and set it down on the table before taking her hand in his. "Y/N? Please, angel, talk to me."

Y/N took a deep breath. "I still am, Matt. I still love you. I never stopped."

Oh, thank God. "I love you too," Matt murmured. "I've loved you probably since the moment I met you, it just took me a few years to figure out what it was I was feeling." 

He pulled out the cross Y/N had given him out from under his shirt. "I've always kept you close to my heart, Y/N."

Y/N reached out and placed her hand on his chest, warming the metal cross pressing against Matt's shirt. "I was wondering if you still had that."

Matt nodded. "I've rarely taken it off in the past 20 years." 

He paused. "I was going to tell you I loved you the day you left for Florida. I had written you a note telling you how I felt."

"Why didn't you give it to me?"

"Right before I was going to I overheard Sister Bernadette talking to your aunt about how it was best to separate us so I wouldn't ruin your life, and I realized it definitely wasn't fair for me to tell you I loved you right before you moved a thousand miles away."

"What the hell? How would you have ruined my life?"

Matt huffed out a laugh. "Well, let's see, the exact phrasing she used was 'before he gets her into trouble'."

"Before you 'got me into trouble'? Wait, did she -- did she think we were sleeping together ?" Y/N sounded both horrified and amused.

Matt shrugged. "Well, she wouldn't have technically been wrong."

"Well no, but all we ever did was literally sleep together!"

"Maybe, but it's not like I never thought about doing the other kind of sleeping together with you."

Y/N gave a playfully scandalized gasp. "Why, Matthew, I certainly hope you went to confession for that."

"More than once." Matt chuckled. "I mean, I was a hormonal teenage boy who was hopelessly in love with my best friend, of course my thoughts drifted there from time to time."

Y/N was quiet for a moment. "I wonder if maybe someone saw you sneaking out of my room one morning and reported us, and that's why Sister Bernadette thought something was going on. She could've confronted us though instead of just shipping me off and keeping us apart for almost 20 years. So much wasted time, and over what was probably a complete misunderstanding."

Matt shook his head. "Angel?"

"Yeah, Matty?"

"I'm going to kiss you now."

Y/N sucked in a breath. "Uh huh, yeah, okay."

Matt reached out and cupped her cheek in his hand, then -- after over 20 years of longing -- gently pressed his lips to hers.

He leaned back, a smile spreading on his face as he caressed the matching smile on Y/N's with his thumb. "So, how about dinner again tomorrow night?"

Y/N hummed. "What, you don't want to lose touch for another 20 years and hope we randomly run into each other again?"

Matt shook his head with a laugh at Y/N's teasing tone. "No way, angel. I spent almost 20 years without you, so now that I've got you back in my life I'm not letting go."

[bimb0fy]

I saw your post about Freddy Freeman requests and omg I'm So glad I'm not alone!!!! I have a headcanon about him and I was wondering if you could write it (completely understand if you don't want to) So after Freddy becomes a super hero he starts having nightmares about some of the bad things he's seen. He tries to hide it from the reader but she knows he has them. Freddy tells her that they're not a big problem, which is a complete lie, and the reader wants to help. Freddie has told her that it helps when he has something to focus on to calm him down so one day she brings string lights so late at night when she's not there he can focus on them. When reader learns that her idea worked she gets all happy and the story its just fluffy and cute. Sorry this ended up being a really long request

~🦈

Omg hi!! I'm gonna call u sharky from now on that's them rules babes!! Also. You're a literal genius Also I made it x wayne!reader because this is so Canon. So. ALSO I'm accepting another emoji anons if anyone's intrested!!

You always spent the night at Freddys. You were the bat to man. He has matching stickers printed with that phrases plastered onto your English books. Since you both share that period.

You were always around Freddy, sometimes it felt wrong to be away from him, he was always a clingy guy, and you didn't mind that.

Coming from Gotham you preferred guys like Freddy, it was hard obviously, considering the fact that many of your exes turned out to be psychopaths who just wanted to get a check from your father Bruce Wayne.

It was why you moved here in the first place, so here you are, I'm Freddys arms for another night. You knew about the nightmares, hell, you got them sometimes.

"Can you stay, please?" Freddy whispered into your head as you groaned, looking up to him in tired eyes as he chuckled. "Can you stay. It helps batsy."

"I wore that shirt once!" You giggled as Freddy kissed your head. You shuffled closer to his head, placing a soft kiss to his lips as he kissed back. "I'll stay, so tell me Captain everypower. How does my presence help you huh."

You switched positions, from him hugging your waist to your head on top of his chest, a hand around his torso as the other intertwined his hand as he smiled at you.

"It helps focusing on other things my love." Freddy muttered as he stared at the ceiling, you hummed before kissing his hand, humming a song he instantly recognised as 'Lonely Dancers' by conan gray.

"You can tell me." You muttered as you played with his hand.

"Tell you what?" Freddy asked as he looked down to look at you're face.

"About the nightmares." You muttered as you looked up at him who looked away, trying to find an object to focus on.

"I don't get nightmares." He was always a stubborn person. Freddy always feered that if he was too much of a pain, you'd leave, you wouldn't be the first to leave.

Freddy has had many friends come and go, hell, even his own parents left at some point, but you knew deep down he was hurting, and you loved him, you wanted to help him.

"Freddy." You said sternly as he groaned. You sighed before sitting up in his lap, looking down at him. "I. I just want to help you baby."

"It's fine. Really, you're here yeah?" Freddy smiled as you bite the inside of your cheek.

Your phone rang causing you to look at it, you sighed as you read the contact name. "How is he everywhere-. AH!" Freddy screamed as his own phone rang. Alfred was always impatient with you, especially because you'd always keep him out for longer than he should.

"I should get going. I'll see you at school yeah baby? I would stay the night but-." You started only for Freddy to kiss your lips once more. You smiled as you opened your eyes, finding Freddy's heartwarming smile.

"You stayed last night. I know the rules baby. You want me to fly you home?" Freddy asked you as you shook your head. You kissed his lips once more before jumping out the window.

His parents knew you where at his house, hell, you've never used the front door.

Your father always said you were a hyper girl, so here you are, putting it to use.

Yet you couldn't help but feel bad for leaving Freddy alone, if you could you'd stay with him everynight, but that wasn't an option.

But when you passed a store and the string lights caught your eyes. Thats when you knew you didn't have to be a helpless case.

The next day, you waited for Freddy to return from some mission, while you waited, you and Rose hung up the fairy lights you had bought for Freddy.

You sat down onto the bed, smiling at your achievement before sitting up as you heard the front door, multiple footsteps entering the house.

Freddy and Billy soon entered the room, glancing at the fairy lights hung up on the wall. He looked down to find you sitting on his bed, his eyes switching to you and the light. "Oh god what did you do?"

"Well, you said it helps to focus on something. So i bought you something to focus on when I'm not here. Plus, they're really cute!" You reasoned as he chuckled, Billy raised his eyebrows at his younger brother before walking off to spend some time with Eugene before bed.

Freddy stumbled towards you as you helped him, placing his crutches onto the side of the bed before tucking him in.

"I'm going away for a while to visit my father, so. I thought this would help." You kissed his cheek before taking your backpack. "I just wanted to see you since I'll be gone all week, I'll call you everynight tho, yeah?"

"I'll miss you." Freddy muttered as you kissed his cheek. You sighed before handing him a few letters. You knew that to Freddy, acts were everything. So you wrote him a few letters to read when you were gone. "What's this?"

"Seven letters for seven days." You shrugged before walking towards the bedroom door. You sighed, turning back to face him. "Bye Freddy."

"Bye batsy."

And now here you were.

It's had been two days since you've seen Freddy. You wanted to call him the first night when you got back but you fell asleep with his contact name open and Freddy knew. He always knew with you.

So here you are now. Nails clacking on the desk as you waited for Freddy to say he could face time, yet you still jolted when Freddys contact called you.

You propped up your phone answering and smiling as you saw his face. He waved, clearly happy to see you and you just felt so glad that you'll finally hear his voice.

"Hey babe, how ya doing?" Freddy asked as you smiled. You would be lying if you said you didn't worry for him. You needed to know if you were successful, did they work? Did he take them down because they were annoying?

"So, tell me Captain everypower, did they work?" You asked smugly as he smiled.

"Yeah yeah, they worked."

"I fucking knew it!"

"Okay calm down-."

[vampiresdontbelonginfairytales]

In two minds as to whether to post this because I HOPE I'm going to do a comic arc of it.

But since I'm currently incredibly slow to do comics and also because I spent the last three days solid on it... Here it is.

But I guess if you'd rather see it in comic form and care about spoilers then don't read it?

EDIT: I wrote a follow up scene and then I wrote a follow up scene to the follow up scene and... Long story short, or rather, short story long, it's a book manuscript now. I've got 18k words so far

No book spoilers though! (The current book is coming along very well but isn't quite ready). << EDIT: this refers to a different book that is close to a final draft

----

“Um... I d-don’t have a l-lot, but...” Victor held out the canvas bag. The three of them had agreed to do a book swap, or rather, a manga swap. Lucinda had been bringing books to Fairyland for Will, as books were somewhat hard to come by, and she had offered to bring him books too. Victor, having no idea what books he wanted, not being savvy on the selection of Earth books available, and not daring to do such a bold, daring thing as taking a friend up on an offer, hadn’t asked for any yet. Hettie was positively itching to get her hands on Lucinda’s manga – “As the Otherworlds’ first magical girl, it is positively my duty!” – and Victor had some manga too. Only a few volumes... The yokai peddlers only had a small selection that passed inspection by his mother.

Lucinda sat cross-legged on the floor after taking the bag, and had plonked two of her own on the rug. They were in one of the guest parlours, little drawing rooms that were previously for nobles to sit and relax in, but were in the process of being turned into bedrooms and common rooms for the expected magical school students. This one needed very little doing at it, and had become their hangout area. There were comfy couches and a little table and trolley for drinks and snacks. Victor had brought them some tea – books weren’t the only thing he’d picked up from his brief visit home – and it was rapidly cooling as the girls were far too excited by the manga to worry about little things like staying hydrated.

“Oooh this is really rare!” Lucinda picked up one of the more battered copies with a pair of girls on the cover; one with bright pink hair, the other with an equally striking shade of purple. “It never came out in the UK at all, and in the US it was this limited run tied in to the anime they decided to air at like, 5am on a Saturday morning, so it never got a big following and never got reprinted in English. I swear sometimes they WANT shows to fail.”

“I... didn’t understand most of what you said. Sorry, it’s what?” Hettie looked up from where she was already a good chunk into volume 1 of something called Sailor Moon. “I understood ‘rare’ and then you might as well have said ‘and the hoop-de-doo sqoodled the squaddle’.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Lucinda stayed quiet for a minute before rephrasing. “They only printed a small number of these in English because the television show version of it wasn’t popular. And it was never printed in my country at all.”

“Ah.” Hettie sighed wistfully. “Oh to have print runs available. We just get whatever the yokai peddlers have with them. It’s pretty erratic. You’re lucky if you can get more than four or five volumes of a set. Sometimes they have really big sets of one thing, but they’re so expensive.”

“I guess I am pretty lucky to be able to find as much as I can,” Lucinda reflected. “They even have manga in the library.”

“You have to stop, you’re making me far too jealous!” Hettie held a hand out dramatically.

“Um,” Victor interjected. “They have m-manga in the library here, too.”

“They do?!” both girls chorused.

“A lot of it is um... e-embarrassing...” Victor had a very low tolerance for what Hettie had informed him was called ‘fanservice’ but some of the stuff he’d seen must be the sort of service where someone takes a bullet for you and then takes your would-be assassin out with them while apologising that they won’t be able to get your supper ready on time for once as they are unfortunately dying, rather inconsiderately, without two weeks’ notice.

Hettie and Lucinda looked at each other.

“I’m not about to be put off by a bit of embarrassment, are you?” Hettie asked.

“Not a chance.” Lucinda hesitated. “Well, okay. Some chance. But.” They both turned to Victor.

“Lead the way?” Hettie suggested. “Or you can just give us rough directions if you prefer.”

“I’ll c-come with you.” Victor was not about to lose out on time with Lucinda over a few drawings, no matter how embarrassing they were.

“H-here it is...” Victor waved vaguely at the two aisles.

After a few minutes of pulling out volumes at random – and hastily putting some of them back – the girls were a little deflated.

“Are they all in Japanese?” Lucinda asked. “I’m trying to learn but I can just about say what my name is, greet people and count to one hundred. I can read maybe five kanji and some katakana.”

Victor frowned. “Yes? I think. B-but...”

Hettie sighed. “That’s really too bad. Perhaps we could ask your snow woman friend to translate?”

“I don’t want to ask her to do her job for free...” Lucinda replied.

“Um.” Victor pulled the nearest volume out a little, checked it, and pulled it all the way out. He flipped to what in a Western comic would be the back. “Did you check the front? There’s a lot of translation notes and things.”

Lucinda held up a finger. “I did not.” She pulled out another manga and instead of turning to the middle she checked front and back. “Oh. It’s not the type of translation I’m used to, but this’ll work.” She put the random volume back and started searching for the first one of the series.

“It’s silly, really. I should have realised the large yokai population here would have donated something to the library,” Hettie chided herself. “I can’t believe I never looked before. There must be several doors to Japan here.”

Lucinda looked up suddenly. “I. Wow. I never thought of that. Do you think so?”

“It stands to reason?” Hettie theorised. “The queen must know a door, at least.”

“I can’t believe all this time and I never... Do you want to go to Japan?”

“What, now?” Hettie asked. “Right now?”

“It should be possible, right?” Lucinda said, eyes shining. “Although...” Her face fell. She bit the end of her thumb as she thought. “I guess it will take a long time to get into the map room, and I’m kinda broke still...” She glanced over at Victor making him jump. “It’s kinda crowded in the cities, from what I know... That wouldn’t be good... But I don’t know if it would be harder in a small place, we’d be too conspicuous...” She slouched. “I guess we can’t after all... I got myself worked up for nothing.”

“You should go to Okazaki!” came a voice from the other side of the bookcase. There were footsteps, and Will leaned into view around the end of the aisle. “It’s a city, so it’s got all the stuff you’re probably looking for, but it’s really quiet. As long as you don’t go during commuter times, you’ll practically have the pavements to yourself.”

“Okazaki?” Lucinda repeated. “Where’s that?”

“It’s near Nagoya. Aichi Prefecture.”

“I’m sorry to say that doesn't mean anything to me,” Lucinda admitted, rubbing the back of her head. “We’d still need a door map though, and, well, a bunch of stuff. I don’t have any yen, for a start.”

Will waved a hand . “You don’t need to worry about any of that,” he said. “Wait here.”

The three of them exchanged a look. Lucinda and Hettie browsed the manga while they waited, pulling out the odd volume and looking back and forth between the translations and the pages. It was pretty difficult. They weren’t intended to be read in the aisle. Victor had borrowed a few of them and you needed a desk to spread them out on.

It wasn’t long before Will returned, holding an envelope and a piece of white paper, with a much folded look about it. Paper, not parchment.

“Here you go!” He beamed. “Just make sure you go when it’s not right before or after school, and you should be fine.” Lucinda unfolded the paper and all three of them peered at it.

“Door locations?” Hettie asked.

“I came via Okazaki to Fairyland,” Will explained. “I needed to make sure I had an escape route if something went wrong, but the doors you want are this one and this one.” He pointed at the one in the top right and the middle bottom. “Oh, and here.” He presented Lucinda with the envelope, holding the shortest end with a thumb on each corner.

Lucinda opened it. She gasped. “Does that say... ten thousand? Ten thousand yen?! And what’s this?” A large feather slid out with the bank note.

“It’s a feather. You’ll need it to get back here, so don’t lose it.” He pulled out a pencil from a pocket. “I’ll just make you some notes. You need to write the kanji for ‘gate’ in the air to open the return door.” He wrote the kanji next to the door. “It’s pretty easy. Oh and if you do lose the feather or something, THIS door here leads back to Stratford-upon-Avon. It’s quite a walk, to the door and from the door, like, maybe a full day of walking, but if you can’t get back here it’s the best option. I’ll give you my parents’ address. My mom is an Otherworlder, she can help you get home.” He scribbled the address on the back. “Oh and if things are bad in Okazaki for some reason... You can’t get the door to work or any other trouble, you go here.” He drew a star on the map. “Ask for Asakura Miho. She's the local Otherworlder concierge.”

“This... This is a lot of money isn’t it?” Lucinda asked.

“Not loads.” Will shook his head. “Only about £40.”

“Only?” Lucinda spluttered. “I can’t take this!”

“Sure you can!” Will grinned. “Look, you’ve brought me at least that amount in retail value of books, if not in second hand value. I was wondering how best to repay you for it.”

“But... ... I mean...” Lucinda hesitated. She stared long and hard at the note. Finally she said, “If it’s really okay... You’re sure it’s okay?”

“Positive.”

“Okay... Uh...” She looked round at the other two. “Who’s ready to go to Japan, I guess?”

The three of them made their way to the entry door. It was in the Northern Quarter of the capital; a gathering place for yokai.

“It should be... here!” Lucinda pushed on a patch of air and a slit appeared; a slice of blue sky and a rice paddy hung in the air, contrasting heavily with the brown walls of the tavern behind it. Lucinda let it close. Then she checked her phone. “It’s... about 9:10 in the morning. Will said avoid commuter times.” She bit her lip. “I think we should wait a bit longer to be safe.” She drummed her fingers on her arm. “I feel like I’ve forgotten something...”

“You waiting for the Okazaki door, kids?” a voice addressed them from above.

They looked up to see a yokai woman leaning out of the second story window. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips pouting.

“Yes?” Lucinda replied. “We were told to wait until the morning commute was over. That’s right, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yes, that’s right. It’s just... You’re going... like that?”

The parental tone and question was familiar to Victor as of late - his mother did not appreciate his change in wardrobe from the expected vampire evening dress to the everyday fairy tunics. The three of them looked down at themselves then at each other.

“Oh. Oh, I see what you mean,” Lucinda admitted. “We look like we’re going to a convention.” Lucinda had come straight from work and was in her prince outfit, Hettie was wearing one of her tea gowns and Victor was in a blue tunic and pants, tied at the ankle. “Not good for blending in.”

“L-let’s go change?” Victor suggested. “There’s p-plenty of time.”

“I’m not sure I have anything suitable...” Hettie said.

“D-don’t worry, Molly showed me where the clothes a-are for the f-fools, w-we can find something in there.”

“I think I still have some stuff from when I stayed here before,” Lucinda said. “I’ll check my old room while you do that.”

There were a few trunks of spare clothes in the servants’ quarters, mainly intended for fools but really for anyone who wanted them. Fairyland worked on a bartering system, so labour in the palace was exchanged for food, accommodation or occasionally other goods.

“Does this suit me? I think it’s a little big but beggars can’t be choosers...” She had found a wine red jumper; it was a solid colour with long sleeves that hung over the edge of her fingers. She pulled them back over her wrists, using a ribbon on the edges to tighten them.

Victor nodded. “I-it looks very nice. W-will these trousers fit you, d-do you think?” Hettie had also found a blue skirt, but it was a glaring mismatch, in both style and colour.

“Trousers?” Hettie took them uncertainly. “I, I really don’t know, I’ve never worn any before.”

“M-Miss Lucinda is often wearing them, e-even when she isn’t dressed for work,” Victor pointed out.

“Yes, must be nice not to have to worry about changing to come here,” Hettie observed. “Then again, I didn’t have to change when I visited her house. We pretended I worked for Rent-A-Legend too, which come to think of it, I actually did.”

“I’m a l-little jealous that y-you got to see Miss Lucinda’s house,” Victor admitted. He stopped short of asking what her room was like. That felt like spying, somehow.

“It was fun, Earth technology is incredible, a magic of its own... though it was incredibly nerve wracking... I had to keep Lucinda’s identity secret from her parents.” Hettie took the trousers and he turned away so she could change. “I doubt it will be as difficult out and about in a town setting.”

“W-were her parents nice?” Victor asked.

“I only spoke briefly to her mother to introduce myself, but she seemed nice,” Hettie replied. “You can turn around now. How do I look?”

“L-like you’re from Earth,” Victor replied. There were less options for him. Most of the clothing was dresses, or way too big for him. Maybe he would have to make do with his old clothes. He understood they were very old fashioned on Earth, but without his cravat and cape, he would at least look like an Earthling, if a slightly overdressed one.

“Any luck?” Hettie asked.

“No. I’ll h-have to wear my old clothes.” Victor pouted. “I sh-should get some Earth clothes s-sometime. B-but I d-don’t know how I’m going to. They’re s-so expensive a-and the peddlers never h-have anything my size.”

“Perhaps you can ask Lucinda for help?” Hettie suggested.

Victor shook his head. “I c-couldn’t do that.”

Hettie tilted her head to one side. “Whyever not?”

“I j-just... H-help how?”

“So you just automatically answered ‘I can’t’ without even thinking about it?”

“W-well, it j-just seems too imposing t-to ask for help,” Victor tried. “... What do you mean?”

“She literally lives there?” Hettie pointed out. “She offered to bring you books? It shouldn’t be that big a step up to help find some clothes. Maybe she knows some place you can get some cheap? Or she can ask Sara? You really won’t know unless you ask her.”

“B-but clothes are s-so c-complicated!” he protested.

“I don’t think they’re as complicated on Earth,” Hettie said. “Like I say, you won’t know if you don’t ask. Besides, Lucinda is your friend. I wish I could prove it to you that asking her for help isn’t a big deal.”

“N-no, i-it seems like t-too much...” He shook his head.

“Victor...” Her brow furrowed slightly, and Victor steeled himself for a lecture. She stared at him for a long moment before giving a short sigh. “Well, I for one plan to ask Sara where she gets her Earth clothes, so if find out anything useful I shall pass it along. I’m ready, so shall I wait for you here or at the gate?”

“Th-the gate,” Victor answered, relieved. “Please apologise t-to Miss Lucinda for me.”

When he had changed into his old things, he found one of the glassless windows that lined the upper corridors and launched himself out of it, becoming a bat in mid-air. He didn’t much like being a bat, but it would be faster than walking down and he didn’t want to make Lucinda wait any longer than he already had. He made a mental note to learn a new animal transformation spell as soon as possible. He had learned how to become a bat at about age seven, normally a little early for even a vampire to start learning magic, but the death of his father at the hands of a mob when he was six had made his mother keen to get him learning escape spells as soon as possible. He could also turn into mist. That wasn’t much fun either. The only real upside was that you were pretty much impossible to kill. Stay that way too long though, and you’d find your mind starting to dissipate too. It was like being in a dream. You had to force yourself awake again.

“H-here I am!” Victor said, turning back a little way above the ground and landing on his feet. “S-sorry for making you w-wait.”

“We’ve got plenty of time,” Lucinda reassured him. “And it’s definitely not commuting time now.”

“I was just telling Lucinda how difficult it was finding Earthling clothes for you,” Hettie said. “She says you can probably have a look in Okazaki.”

“It’ll be interesting to see what second-hand clothes they have in Japan,” Lucinda remarked, smiling at him. “I’m not expecting to find a shop full of kimonos or anything but there’s got to be some cool stuff, right?”

“O-oh. Um, r-right. Yes.” Victor shot his cousin A Look, but she just made a half shrug and a smirk that said ‘See?’.

It was impossible to be mad that she was correct about just asking, or as it seemed, just mentioning, and he spent the walk back to the Northern Quarter wondering what sort of clothes they would have and how they fit without a tailor. He was aware that they didn’t usually have tailors any more. They bought things ‘off the rack’. Maybe they bought everything a size too big and sewed it to fit themselves?

When they got to the door, they found the yokai woman from the tavern waiting there. She had it open the tiniest possible amount, sticking a fingernail in it to keep it from closing. She looked round as they approached.

“Much better.” She nodded approvingly. “I’m just waiting for my partner Mitsuki to get back with supplies. You go ahead... if you’re ready?”

“I think we are.” Lucinda hesitated. “Um. Do you have any other advice?” she asked as she tentatively put a hand on the door. “It’s our first time in Japan.”

“Don’t talk loudly in public, the doors SLIDE, do NOT cross the street when it’s red, you’re expected to pack your own shopping bags at the supermarket AWAY from the cashier, get a little hand towel each for public bathrooms - I recommend Daiso for that – don’t hand money to anyone directly, it’s bad luck, that’s what the little trays are for, oh and I hope you kids like mayonnaise because we put mayonnaise on everything.” The woman thought for a moment longer. “You know a return door, right? From your lack of luggage, I assume this is a day trip?”

Lucinda nodded. “We have a few options.”

“You got a feather?”

“Yes, we have a feather,” Lucinda reassured her.

“And you know the rules for going to and from Earth? It’s not like the other Otherworlds, you know that, right?”

“I’m from Earth, yes,” Lucinda replied.

“Oh. You’re more prepared than you looked.”

“I was just a bit overexcited and I tend to forget what I’m wearing,” Lucinda admitted.

“Off you go then,” the woman said. “Have fun. Try some dango.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Lucinda had just put her hand flat on the door when Hettie piped up suddenly;

“I completely forgot! I have a thing with Lolotte today!”

“You do?”

“Yes, I shall have to go immediately,” she announced. “Don’t want to be late.”

“Oh.” Lucinda took her hand off the door and turned round. “Oh, that’s too bad. We can go another day, then? Lolotte can always come with us?”

“No, no, I won’t hear of it!” Hettie protested, bodily turning Lucinda back to the door. “You and Victor go ahead! You went to the trouble of getting changed and everything. You can go and find all the fun places and show me next time. You’ll have more money between you, too.”

“I guess but... are you really sure? I do want to go but-“

“Then go.” She gave them both a bright smile. “You’ll be more inconspicuous without me, anyway. Much better for a first visit. Can’t be too careful.”

“But-“

“Must dash! See you later!” She gave them a little wave before turning into a panther and bounding away.

“Well... I guess we’re going then.” Lucinda scratched her head before smiling apologetically at the yokai woman. “If that’s okay? With just me?” She addressed this to Victor. Who almost didn’t hear her over the internal screaming.

“Th-that’s fine,” he replied, a little shocked to find he meant it.

Yes, he reassured himself. Fine. He was alone with Lucinda. Not a problem. It had ended horribly the last time, but fine. So it was his first visit to Earth. And not a ‘Western’ culture like he was used to at home. So he didn’t speak the local language. So what if he couldn’t use magic there. So what if there were humans all over the place?

“Okay. Just stick close to me and if it’s too busy we’ll turn back, all right?” Lucinda offered. “Will said it would be quiet, so I guess we’ll just see. I’m... a little bit scared, but at least I won’t be alone. I mean, I’ll still go alone, if you change your mind. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ve been doing this for two years. I’ve been to scarier places than Japan, that’s for sure. The crime rate’s supposed to be really low. And there’s zero dragons.”

Victor considered this. They were stood in what was a foreign country to both of them right now. In Fairyland it was allowed to eat people who didn’t have a resident’s permit and there were at least two species of flower that killed you if you looked at them funny. And while he’d managed to shake off most of what he’d realised were his mother’s prejudices about humans, he was still nervous around strangers. To be fair, he was also nervous around any type of people, most animals, quite a lot of plants and the occasional rock. But objectively Japan was not scary.

“I-I’ll tell you i-if it’s too much,” he said. Oddly, it helped to know Lucinda was also a little scared. And that he was helping. He’d never helped someone else to not be scared before.

“Let’s go then.”

The yokai woman opened the door, looked around quickly, and tilted her head to indicate that they should indeed go. As they stepped through, a tanuki slipped past them the other way. They turned in surprise to see the tanuki take a human form, peering at them curiously as the door closed.

“Just some otaku kids-” they heard before the sound was cut off.

Victor looked around. He’d thought they were in the countryside but the rice paddy they’d seen through the door was next to a building... A few buildings. There was a row of houses behind them. A narrow, concrete road was painted with white stripes to serve as the pavement edge and some letters he couldn’t read.

“Oh. Uh. Wow. We’re actually really here.” Lucinda looked around at the scenery, shading her eyes from the sun. Though, the sun was nothing compared to her smile. She beamed at the scenery like it was a long lost treasure. She bounced on her heels with her hands clenched. “What should we do first? Oof, it is warm.” It really was very warm, much like Fairyland. His shirt probably wasn’t the most appropriate for the heat, but at least it would protect his skin from the sun. “Glad I put on sun cream already for Fairyland.” Lucinda fanned herself with a hand. “Do you need sun cream?”

“Sun cream?” Victor asked.

“To protect you from sunburn? Do fairies have a potion for that instead, maybe?”

“I d-did... b-but this morning.” It was late afternoon in Fairyland.

“We’d better get some then.” She tutted to herself. “I am not, in fact, well prepared at all.” He expected her to be annoyed, but she laughed. Still with a smile a mile wide she continued, “We need to break this note anyway. What did she say... Mini hand towel...for bathrooms... Ah, where did she say would be good for that?”

“D-Daiso,” Victor said.

“Great. Thanks!” Lucinda pulled out her phone. She’d brought a small bag. It was a croqueted tote; pale green with a white flower. It went well with her outfit; a pink frilly top and long white skirt. “Let’s see... Daiso...” She tapped her foot for a minute while she waited for something. Her smile finally turned to a frown. “Data is HOW MUCH per megabyte?! Someone’s having a laugh. All the way to the bank.” She shrugged and her smile returned. “Ah well. Not like I use my data for much since I’ve no signal half the time. Ooh, there’s a Daiso really close! Basically straight up this road! This way.”

“A m-map on your phone?” Victor queried.

“Yeah, it connects to a thingy in space or something,” Lucinda explained. “Oh, if you need to translate something, it can do that too. Not WELL, but enough that we should get by.”

“H-how is your phone N-NOT magic, again?” Victor asked, staring at it. It could show pictures, moving images, play music, he’d seen her use it to do maths and he knew there was a library in there too. Multiple libraries, from what he could gather. And yet Earthlings would be amazed he could turn into a bat.

“Honestly can’t argue,” Lucinda admitted.

As they walked, he thought again about the bat thing. “Um, M-Miss Lucinda, if you could turn into a-any animal, what w-would you choose?”

“Good question.” Lucinda stopped as she thought. Someone on a bike rode past them. Victor didn’t have time to react. They were already long gone even as he registered the intrusion. As he looked behind him to see where they went, he realised the jester had been right; the street was deserted. It was a tiny side road, that he could see, but this was much better than he had hoped. “I don’t know.” Lucinda’s reply startled him out of his observations.

“You don’t?”

“I’m not sure I’d want to turn into an animal at all,” she said. As he drew breath to question her further, she gasped, “Oh look, it’s right there! Right across the road!”

“O-oh. Th-that’s what she meant by ‘d-don’t cross when it’s red’,” Victor observed.

“Yeah. We call that the ‘green man’ in the UK. Interesting cultural difference,”-she held up a finger-“here they say ‘it’s blue’ instead of green.”

“The G-Green Man?” Victor raised an eyebrow. “L-like the forest spirit?”

“Oh. Oh yeah. I... think I’ve heard of that. Not the same guy, from what I know. Incidentally... It’s blue.” As they crossed she added, “And where I’d say ‘your face has gone white’ they say ‘your face is dark blue’.”

“Interesting... Wh-where did you l-learn that?”

“I’m not sure.” Lucinda cupped her chin. “Probably from manga translation notes or possibly from a research rabbit hole on the internet.”

They stopped at the edge of a large concrete area in front of the store. It had a few cars on it, with lines indicating where they should stop. He’d never seen a car before, but was vaguely aware they could kill you or explode. Luckily there were only two, and both were on the same side of the car area. They could see quite well into the store via the glass panelling all along the front. It wasn’t busy. There were four or five people in there he could see, all spread out.

“Do you want to come in with me or wait here?” Lucinda asked.

“I’ll... I’ll c-come in,” he decided, steeling himself. Even though they were at a BIG crossroads, bigger than any he’d ever seen, it was still almost devoid of people. Despite the size, it was still quieter than the Dark Capital’s streets. Logically, it was silly not to go in.

“Okay.” Lucinda led the way. He froze momentarily when the doors opened BY THEMSELVES at which Lucinda didn’t so much as blink. More Earthling ‘science’. “Oh no,” she almost whispered. He stopped again. “Everything. Is so. CUTE.”

“I-is that bad?” Victor’s voice quavered. Cute was not a quality he had hitherto associated with the phrase “oh no”.

“It is bad,” Lucinda replied solemnly, “because I want to buy it all.”

He relaxed somewhat. “What were we l-looking for again? H-hand towels?”

“Oh. Yes.” Lucinda snapped her fingers. “And sun cream. I’ll look up the word for sun cream while I remember.”

Heart pounding, Victor followed her along the shelves. He barely noticed the goods at first, instead keeping a surreptitious eye on the other customers and the shopkeepers. But he gradually came to the realisation... they weren’t paying him any attention at all. The shopkeepers would glance in his direction, smile and say a greeting. But then carry on with their work. He was completely unremarkable, apparently. It was liberating.

After a little while of browsing around the shelves which contained the wildest assortment of goods Victor could never have imagined existed, Lucinda stopped and took a very deliberate breath.

“Okay I have to make a rule for myself here,” she said. “This is the first shop we’ve been in and there is already so much cool stuff. I have to wait until we’ve had a proper look around. Comic Con rules.” She thought for a moment. “Um. Not that I’ll stop you from buying stuff you want.” She paused again. “I know Hettie said to spend the money on ourselves but I think we should save her some of it anyway. Let’s say... 2000 yen each? And we’ll try to save the rest. I know Will said we can just spend it but... I just wouldn’t feel right.”

“Y-you really d-don’t need to worry about me,” Victor protested.

“Don’t be silly,” she chided. “At the very least you need some food and drink. Speaking of, I know I said I’d wait to buy things but I have spotted some sweets I DEFINITELY want. They’re technically food. And is that an ice cream freezer I can see?”

“Ice cream w-would be nice,” he admitted. It was far too hot to say no to something as nice, luxurious and above all cold, as ice cream.

“Lemme just...” Lucinda checked something on her phone again and made a low whistle. “Wow, okay that is cheap. Is this a Japanese pound store??” They couldn’t read everything but the flavours were obvious enough and some were also written in English.

“I-I’ll have the earl g-grey one,” he said. “I-if you’re really sure.”

“Good choice. I’m super tempted by that one too but I think I’ll try the ice cream mochi.” She took one of each out of the cold box and looked around. “Oh. Self-checkout. I have never been so glad to see one before. I was working myself up about having to talk to the cashier for nothing.” She approached some boxes with words displayed on a screen. It was almost like a big version of her phone, he noticed. “Oh and there’s an English option, even.”

“Wh-what does ‘w-working yourself up’ mean?” he asked.

“That I was making myself really stressed,” Lucinda replied.

“You w-were stressed??” He hadn’t noticed.

“Yeah, to be honest I was dawdling a bit because I was stressing about having to talk to the cashier,” she admitted. “Sorry. I’ll try not to. I’m going to have to talk to at least one cashier today I’m sure.”

“D-don’t apologise...”

They took their ice creams just outside and ate them right away. There were a couple of big boxes out here too, that also looked like the cold boxes he’d seen inside. They had rows and rows of... something?

“Oh right, I forgot to get a drink.” Lucinda eyed the nearest one. “Is that... tea? COLD milk tea? That’s ... different. Though I suppose you get iced tea without milk AND iced coffee however. I’m gonna try it. We have change now.” She selected an option. Something clanged in a compartment below the rows of drinks and she reached through a flap and took out a can. “Hey, this is hot?! What the heck??” She studied the rows again. “Oh. OH. This one with the red must be hot and... the blue ones are cold? How the heck do they do that??” So there WAS some Earthling science she was baffled by. She turned from the machine and wiggled the can at him. “Want one? They’re pretty cheap.”

“Y-yes please.” While he still felt he was imposing, she was right that he couldn’t go all day without anything to eat or drink. Technically he had had lunch... back in Fairyland, some hours ago. And he was thirsty.

“This is very sweet,” Lucinda remarked, after taking a swig. “I think I like it.”

Victor tried his. “Y-yes, very.” He couldn’t decide if he liked it or not. Sweet things were a luxury at home, and carefully rationed, as he mustn’t damage his teeth. Come to think of it... she had said drinks were okay, and it WAS important. “C-can I also um, g-get some water?”

“Sure.” She double-checked something on her phone before making a selection. “Yep. Should be water.”

“Th-thank you.” Once he’d finished the tea and ice cream, he took a good few mouthfuls of water, swishing it around a bit. Seeing Lucinda looking at him curiously he said. “U-um. For-” He opened his mouth a little and pointed to his fangs.

“Oh. Yeah. Too much sugar would really mess you up, huh?” She tapped her own teeth thoughtfully. “I’ll keep that in mind. Want me to carry that?” She indicated the water bottle.

“Um. Please. Th-thank you.” Was Hettie right? Was it really this easy?

“We should look for where we can buy clothes next, I guess. Oh and sun cream. Here’s the sun cream.” She handed over a small bottle. “Uh-”-she lunged forward and grabbed his arm-“-you don’t drink it. You rub it on your skin. Just where the skin is showing.”

He lowered the bottle, feeling his face colour and wordlessly opened the top, looking down to avoid her gaze. He squeezed some out and rubbed it on his face.

“You need a mirror?” Lucinda tapped her phone and turned it to face him. He jumped, seeing his face on the screen. “There’s a camera on it,” she explained. “Two cameras, actually.”

“Is there anything it doesn’t do?” he said, mystified, forgetting his embarrassment.

“Lots of things but admittedly none I can think of right now,” Lucinda replied. “Right. Clothes,” she said when he’d finished. “There’s a place right up the street. Book-Off? Sounds like a weird name to pick if you sell clothes.”

It was a straight walk up the very big street. It was so big there were trees and sculpted bushes between the pavement and the road, as well as a line specifically for the bicycles. Yet there were still hardly any pedestrians. The occasional bike whizzed past. They still made him jump, but he was finding himself less bothered about any of the humans around. It helped that this place was like nothing he’d ever seen. Some of the buildings were huge. Not just big, like his grandmother’s mansion, but wide AND tall. Incredibly tall. Fairyland trees tall. Maybe taller.

“This is... a supermarket?” Lucinda frowned. “Where is the clothing place?”

“I-is it up there?” Victor pointed to a strange, moving metal stairway.

“Well spotted.” She moved towards it and looked up. “Looks like there’s more floors too. Shall we go up?”

Victor nodded. He watched her as she stepped onto the moving stairs, then copied her. There was a handrail to hold; it moved at the same rate as the stairs. Earthlings had thought of everything. His fingers stiffened on the rail as they neared the top – how did you get off? What if he didn’t do it right? Lucinda merely stepped off at the top. He wobbled a little and half-jumped off, as his toe bumped the metal barrier at the top. He straightened up immediately and spun around, backing away. When they didn’t explode, stop or otherwise herald disaster, he turned away and looked around. The floor below had been filled with food from what little he saw, but this one was full of clothes, tableware and a lot of stuff he could only categorise as ‘Earth things’. There was a floor above them that seemed to be full of books. Lucinda noticed it too.

“First we’ll look on this floor, then we’ll go up and look at the manga and DVDs and stuff then we’ll go get some dinner from the supermarket,” Lucinda suggested. “Sound good?”

Victor gave a nod. “I d-don’t r-really mind what we do.” He really didn’t. This was a good place for his first ever Earth visit, he realised; everything was as fascinating to Lucinda as it was to him.

“Wow, there really are kimonos here!” she pointed to a section full of robes and wraps. “Or maybe they’re yukata. I’m not confident I can tell. Ooh and are those bowls and things? I am definitely getting a bowl or a cup or something.”

They browsed for a while. Victor tried to keep Lucinda in his eye line, but it was difficult as the clothes were organised by type. He didn’t want to bother her, but became quickly apparent that he needed some help.

“U-um... H-how do I know i-if the clothes will fit?” he asked.

She put a finger to her lips for a minute. “I never thought of that. Clothing sizes are different in different countries, so I guess I’m not sure what size fits me, either. Um... If I can figure out what size you are in UK sizes, I can probably convert it to a Japanese size.” She got out her phone again. “You’re roughly my size, and I’m a size twelve, sometimes a ten, probably need to go with a twelve or maybe even a fourteen to be safe. It’s easier to make a garment smaller than it is to make it bigger.” She tapped on her phone for another minute, her face a mask of concentration. “We’re looking for size 11 or 13, or just M for medium. You find it on the clothing tag, here.” She pulled up a little white label on the neckline of a nearby shirt. “Do you want me to help you look, or...?”

“N-no,” he said quickly. “I-I should be able t-to look by myself now.” He didn’t want to take up more of Lucinda’s time than necessary.

“Okay.” She gave him a thumbs up. “You want me to give you your share of the money or you want us to go to the counter together when you’re done on this floor? I wouldn’t say I speak Japanese, but I can at least count and I have my phone if it gets more complicated.”

“T-together, please,” he said, cursing inwardly that he’d be holding her up after all.

He browsed the clothing as quickly as he could manage. He had no idea what he was looking for, exactly. He stiffened up every time someone else appeared in the aisle, far more on edge now Lucinda wasn’t with him. He tried to focus. Think. What did he actually need. The plain, black trousers he was wearing were fine apparently, but his white shirt was too formal. A shirt, then. He should try to find a casual shirt.

He was absorbed in the task when he noticed a boy a little further down the aisle, about his own age. He hadn’t seen him approach.

‘Don’t panic,’ he thought to himself. ‘He won’t even look at you.’

The boy looked at him. And Victor had been looking at the boy. He’d seen him looking! Victor seized up. The boy’s eyes flicked to Victor’s hair. He’d forgotten about his hair. It was short and black, but with a thick, white streak in his fringe and around the nape of his neck up to his ears. In the Otherworlds, it was now a known sign of vampirism.

The boy gave him a smile. “It’s very cool!” he said in a thick accent, fingers brushing his own bangs.

“Th-thank you?” Victor replied.

The boy smiled a little wider. Then he looked away, and continued browsing.

Victor hurriedly looked away too, feeling his face redden. It would probably look bad to run away. He fought his every instinct, forcing each and every nerve to stay rooted to the spot. After a few heart pounding minutes that felt like hours, the boy left the aisle. Victor sagged in relief before nearly launching himself into the air when he felt someone come up behind him.

“I found this super cute dress, but there’s no way it’ll fit me,” Lucinda lamented. “It’s so unfair. I think I’ll get it for Erlina, though. Think Hettie would like this cup?”

Getting his breathing back under control, Victor nodded mutely. It was a pretty cup. It was pale blue with pink flowers. Lucinda was also carrying a bowl with a similar design, a spoon shaped like a mermaid and two pieces of clothing. One was the aforementioned dress, the other was a mauve and beige shirt with some writing on it.

“I'm shamelessly breaking my 'look around first' rule. How's it going?" She lowered her voice. “Hey, did you see that guy who was just here? He looked so cool!”

Victor tried hard to remember what the boy had actually looked like. Black, short hair, but with blond tips, and he was wearing a sleeveless black shirt and ripped jeans. He’d been wearing studded bracelets, a mixture of black and bright neon colours. “H-he spoke to me,” Victor said. “H-he said my hair w-was cool.”

“I just realised that in an Earth context, your hair looks like a fashion statement,” Lucinda observed. “I bet it would dye bright colours really easily, too.”

“Y-you can dye h-hair bright colours?” Victor asked.

“Yeah. Or pastel. Blonde. Whatever, really.” Lucinda took in his empty hands. “No luck?”

“N-not really,” he admitted.

“Do you want some help?” she asked. “If you tell me what you’re looking for, I can look too.”

“I’d l-like a shirt,” he said. “D-do you think m-maybe... s-something like that boy was wearing? But, n-not black. A-and with sleeves?”

“Gotcha.”

In the end they left with a n orangey-brown hoody-like shirt with colourful gashes in the sleeves, and some soundtrack CDs from the third floor, which Lucinda nearly fainted at, and which she’d talked about at length in a squeaky, high pitched voice that he’d probably have been able to hear better as a bat. Then they’d walked around the huge food market on the ground floor, picked out some dinner �� technically supper – and now they were sat on some benches a street or two away eating some dango. It was sweet rice paste formed into balls, covered in a sweet, brown syrup. He had opted for a colourful version with no syrup; the balls were white, pink and green.

“These are so good,” Lucinda waved an empty skewer in the air. “Why don’t they make these in England? I wonder if I can make them myself...”

“These a-are also very nice,” Victor said. He yawned. It was getting pretty late in Fairyland.

“You know, I realised I only gave you half an answer before, and then I never heard your answer,” she said suddenly. “You asked me what animal I’d want to be,” she clarified, seeing his confusion.

“I-I asked because I d-don’t know,” he said.

Now it was her turn to look baffled. “What do you mean?”

“I d-don’t like being a bat,” he admitted, wrinkling his nose. “I w-want to learn a d-different spell, but I d-don’t have any ideas.”

“I imagine it is kind of a pain,” she sympathised. “Especially in the day. But I don’t know that much about bats. They’re cute and misunderstood, they have echo location, and that’s it, that’s all I know.”

“I l-like bats,” he pointed out, “I j-just don’t want to b-be one.”

“An owl, maybe?” Lucinda suggested. “Wait, no, same problem, nocturnal... Umm... Flying squirrel? Though, I guess you’d prefer something that can actually fly, not just glide... Hmm.”

“Wh-what about you, though?”

“Me? I’m happy staying the shape I am.” She leaned a hand on her cheek. “I wish I was a bit prettier... I guess who doesn’t...”

“Y-you’re pretty!” he protested.

“O-oh? Thanks.” She hunched her shoulders and smiled awkwardly. “I mean, it’s not like I think I’m ugly it’s just...” She dropped her shoulders again and looked away. “I don’t get to feel pretty a lot? I’m a prince for my job and my school uniform isn’t exactly flattering... So that’s at least 90% of the time I’m not dressed how I want. I suppose I’m done with high school really soon so that’s goodbye to the uniform at least.”

“D-do you not l-like working as a prince?” Victor asked.

“It’s not that,” Lucinda replied. “It’s just... tiring to pretend you’re a gender you’re not? I mean I don’t have to do a lot - Otherworlders just see the outfit and think ‘That’s a boy’. It’s both really useful and incredibly irritating at the same time. I don’t know if I’m making any sense.”

“I th-think I understand,” Victor replied. “I-I w-want new c-clothes because I d-don’t want people to l-look at me and just s-see ‘vampire’.”

“Do you... is it hard on you, being a vampire?” she asked.

“I d-don’t know, i-it’s inconvenient,” he replied, “b-but i-it’s n-not that I’m a vampire, i-it’s that I didn’t kn-know I was allowed to be a-anything else.”

“Yeah, it’s ... a whole thing, finding out something like that.” She flung a hand out in front of her. “It’s like, ‘You mean THIS was an option this whole time?!’ and it’s both annoying and great.” She laughed. “It’s better late than never though, right?”

He smiled to himself. “Y-yes...”

Lucinda rubbed her eyes. “Speaking of late... it’s something like 4am back home, and it's pretty late in Fairyland too.” She yawned. “I know we’ve only really been to two shops and a supermarket, but maybe we should head back? It’s up to you though. I can easily stay up longer.”

“W-we should head back,” Victor agreed. He was tired, and he was starting to suspect it wasn’t just the time since he’d last slept.

They got up, put their rubbish in the correct bin – there were several – and starting walking back. They’d been walking for just a few minutes when they were blindsided by a car. Lucinda jumped back. She hadn’t seen the crossing light - which was red - or the vehicle. There was a tiny side road with a wall blocking the view of anything but the main street. You couldn’t see the side street until you were practically on it.

“G-gomen nasai!” she said, bowing an apology. The driver didn’t look impressed; they were frowning hard. Lucinda shuffled back a good way from the road edge.

Victor, who had taken off as a bat in his panic, clung to the wall. It took Lucinda a minute to understand what had happened and spot him. She held a hand over her heart and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Are you okay?” she asked. They were now on opposite sides of the little road, but she didn’t try to cross.

“I-I think so,” he replied. “Th-that w-was close.”

“Yeah, I didn’t see that road AT ALL.” Lucinda made a face at the crossing light. She looked all around them and down the offending side street again. “It’s clear. No-one’s looking.”

“R-right.” He climbed around the corner anyway, just in case. And then...

“Do you want me to help block you from view?” she offered.

“Um.” He hung there for a minute. “Um... M-Miss Lucinda...”

“Yeah?”

“I c-can’t change back.” His voice sounded as small as he was.

She frowned and finally crossed the road, standing on the corner of the main street. “What was that?”

“I... I c-can’t change back.”

“Has that ever happened before?”

“N-no. N-not... to me.”

Her expression changed to match his own growing horror. “Lamprey...” Eyes wide, she bit her knuckles while she thought. “Did they ever... Couldn’t the fairies fix it? Or a witch?”

“It d-doesn’t w-work,” he answered, struggling to keep a grip on the stone as his whole body was trembling. “Th-they t-tried, b-but you end up w-with a regular h-human who still n-needs blood. B-but with a body th-that c-can’t handle it. I-it w-was worse a-and he w-would have died f-from n-no blood.” His grip slipped and he slid a few inches down the wall.

“Um. Do you want to...?” Lucinda held out a hand. He hesitated, before climbing on. She held her arms together a little away from her torso. “You know, one of the reasons I couldn’t answer you before about the animal thing... When I was turned into a raven that one time, it was really freaky how everyone else was suddenly a giant. So um, let me know if I’m being scary.”

“I-I’m u-used to it...” He glanced up at her before looking quickly back down. Her face was a mask of concentration.

“Didn’t Lamprey fall asleep as a bat or stay too long as a bat or something?” she asked. “I don’t remember the details but I know that he couldn’t turn back because he didn’t have enough magic. And he couldn’t drink enough blood to get enough magic to ever turn back because bats are too small.”

“Y-yes, that’s wh-what happened,” Victor confirmed.

“So... Um, so...” she began hesitantly, “since you only just turned into a bat, wouldn’t it work if you... drank blood, like, right now?”

“M-maybe, b-but... I c-can’t j-just... Who would...” Realisation dawned and he glanced up again.

“You could... drink... mine?” her voice cracked. “Wow, those words really just came out of my mouth. But there’s not a lot of options.”

“B-but-” Oh good. Now he had two different kinds of nightmare scenario to deal with at once, AND memories of The Incident were flooding back. His claws reflexively tensed, and he remembered that was flesh he was gripping, and forced himself to just flop. “B-but-” he tried again.

“I don’t think we’ve got time to argue,” Lucinda pointed out. “It’s at least thirty minutes walk to the return door, then a few hours from the return door to the palace.” She made sure no-one was looking, then ducked into the narrow side road, heading uphill. “Just need to find somewhere less exposed...”

“B-but-” He had absolutely no arguments to counter with.

“Look,” she continued as she powerwalked up the street, “I know I said don’t ask me for blood, and you didn’t, I offered. And, yeah, I’m uncomfortable and slightly terrified but you were literally just talking about how you don’t like being a bat and if I don’t do something you might be stuck as a bat forever and I’m a prince and rescuing people is my job and it doesn’t matter if I’m on Earth or I’m not getting paid, because you don’t get to choose who needs rescuing-”

“I d-don’t-”

“-so we’re both just going to have to speedrun facing our demons. Here should do.” She stopped in another side street, and leaned against a wall breathing hard. “Look, it’s not like that time with the potion. Just. Just go ahead? I promise it’s fine.” She hesitated. “Well all right, not fine, but as fine as I’m going to get. And we might have taken too long already.”

Unable to answer with any suitable words, Victor turned his attention to Lucinda’s arm. This was going to be a lot harder as a bat. And it was going to hurt. Human skin offered zero resistance to vampire fangs, but bat teeth weren’t anywhere near as sharp. He wasn’t even a vampire bat. Still, they weren’t herbivore teeth. He tentatively nipped near a vein. He felt Lucinda wince; she didn’t say anything, but she gave him a thumbs up with her other hand. He tried again, hearing a hiss from Lucinda, but he’d drawn blood. And still the inconvenience of being a bat wasn’t over, because he couldn’t cover the wound and suck. Bats lapped. He tried to avoid the actual cut, merely licking at the trickle of blood. He’d have to try and drink as much as he could stand; constantly stopping and failing to transform would only drain even more magic and draw this ordeal out. Determined not to look at Lucinda until he was done and frankly, possibly never again, ever, he focused on the blood. It wasn’t long before he couldn’t drink any more – he was a pretty small bat – and without thinking, tried to transform. The two of them toppled over, the sudden weight of a human on the girl’s arms not being conducive to good balance, and they ended up in a heap on the floor.

“It worked!” Lucinda beamed at him before extracting her arms from under him and pushing herself away.

Victor’s body was screaming at him. He was bruised and aching from the fall, he’d been up for nearly twenty four hours now and above all, he was thirsty. “C-can I-” He bit the question back.

Lucinda rubbed her wrist near the cut. “Do you... n-need more...?”

He gave a single nod.

Lucinda held out the still dripping arm shakily. “Well, I’m... already bleeding s-so...”

Victor shook his head furiously.

Lucinda started laughing.

He looked up in alarm.

She pushed herself up off her knees and into a sitting position, still laughing. “We are the worst two people for this activity.”

“Wh-why are you laughing?”

“I dunno, just, there couldn’t be any two worse people to have been put into this situation,” she remarked. “Well... maybe Sara,” she admitted after a moment’s thought. “Probably, no, definitely Sara.”

“A-are you okay...?”

“Doesn’t matter.” She shook her head. “Erlina fainted from not having enough magic in Bad Schwartz and that’s an area that actually has magic. Earth has barely any. I wouldn’t be able to carry you back to the door if you collapse, and if we tried and failed, you’d collapse in public, in a country where I don’t speak the language, and neither of us has a passport. Pretty sure that’s illegal, now that I think about it. So.” She held out her arm again, steadily this time.

“I c-can’t argue...” he whined, slumping back against the wall. Eventually he dragged himself back up and to where she was sat. He gingerly took her arm and put his mouth to the cut. It was inadequate, so he used his fangs. At least this way wasn’t painful.

“You know, this isn’t anything like any of the nightmare scenarios I had in my head,” she said. “I thought it would hurt, for one thing.” She rifled in her bag one handed and pulled out her phone. “Still okay for time.”

Despite what she said, he could feel she was tense through her arm. She held it rigid, while she kept a lookout for people and cars.

Eventually he let go and just let himself breathe.

“I should probably get a plaster or a bandage for this,” she began, looking at her arm. “Oh... It’s actually not bleeding that much. It’s stopped already?”

“Vampire bites h-heal v-very fast.”

“I’m gonna get some cute plasters anyway,” she said, standing up a little shakily and dusting herself off. “I’m always getting scrapes from my prince work and um, I... don’t want people to see the bite mark. But mainly I want to buy cute stuff. Is that okay? It’s on the way back. That Daiso place.”

“Y-you could tell me y-you want t-to tour the whole city by foot a-and I’d agree.”

“Is there anything you want?”

“I w-want to s-sleep for s-seven hundred y-years,” he replied. “A-and some more of th-that tea.”

They returned to the store and got more sweets and drinks, and a few interesting gizmos. It was now the wee hours of the morning in Fairyland, and it was disheartening to know that they had a few hours to walk before they got to the palace and more importantly, their bedrooms.

When they stepped through the door to Fairyland, they found a carriage waiting there.

“There you are!” Tyrian exclaimed with relief. “I thought something might have happened, so I came to wait for you. Will told me this was the return door he gave you.”

“We weren’t gone that long, were we?” Lucinda asked.

“I... suppose not, but it was getting dark and you weren’t back, and I know its not dark there yet, but I don’t know, it’s Victor’s first trip to Earth and everything,” he rambled. “Not that I don’t trust you Lucy!” he backpedalled. “So ah, was everything all right? No emergencies?”

“N-none at all,” replied Victor.

“Completely uneventful,” Lucinda reported.

“Very good then,” Tyrian said, opening the carriage door. “Get in.”

“You have no idea how glad we are that we don’t have to walk back,” Lucinda told him as she climbed inside. She settled herself into the opposite corner, on the same side as Tyrian.

Victor lay full length on the other seat, facing the ceiling.

“So, what did you get up to?” Tyrian asked brightly.

“N-no questions, please,” Victor protested.

“Agreed. No questions, only sleep,” Lucinda added, closing her eyes and getting as comfortable as possible.

“Hmm.” He peered at them both in turn before settling back himself. “Very well, as you wish,” he acquiesced.

They were asleep before they even reached the edge of the forest.

----

I have so much stuff to do right now but this INSISTED on being written.

Oh and... Lucinda is wrong about there being zero dragons. Just fyi.

[disneyanddisneyships]

@gyubby99 The Prophecy of Imortal Fire: 3

Warnings: a bit of blood and gore mention

.......

"So.. where exactly are we going?" Ella asked as she looked around, her shoes clicking on the floor. "To try to find my dad... usually he's yelling at servants and stuff..... it's wierd... I dont feel his presence," Loreley explained. "His presence?" Mia asked. Loreley nodded her head. "When a god or goddess have kids, the children get some fragments of their parents powers while still having their own. Thus creates a type of... pull..? I guess is what'd you'd call it. Basically it feels like being tugged by a rope. But I don't feel it down here," loreley replied as she lead the way. Ella stopped walking, looking around. "Do you hear that?" She asked. Everyone stopped, turning to look at her. Carol looked around before spotting tracks on the floor. "Dog prints," she stated. "Cerberus," Loreley replied. "He won't hurt us. He's basically a puppy.... a giant, 3-headed puppy," Loreley joked. As the group continued to walk, the light at the end of the tunnel shone through the darkness. The road ended, and just below, the river Styx flowed. "What the...." Loreley muttered as she knelt down, examining the river. "What is it?" Clarissa asked. "Theres no souls in here. Like... at all.... it's empty...." Loreley replied as she stood tall once again. "That can only happen if a spell is performed. But my father would never have let that happen.... unless it was a soul who was working right underneath his nose. And even then, there has only ever been a handful of souls with that power, and they were mostly good beings," Loreley explained. Carol raised an eyebrow. "I taught John how to practice magic when we were younger.... but he called it nonsense and hit me. Not nonsense anymore apparently," Carol muttered. "How abusive WAS he?" Ella asked. "To me? Pretty bad... but to Alistar?...... I try not to think about it," Carol replied. Ella looked away, her eyebrows furrowed. "So how exactly do we undo this? Put everyone back?" Alruna asked. Carol and Clarissa looked down in shame. "Back?" Mia asked. "Well... yeah I mean.... having the dead walk around as if they never left... that's gonna cause problems..... They're dead. They aren't supposed to be here anymore," Alruna replied. "But-" "Mia... darling... she's right. We don't belong up here. It's not natural," Clarissa spoke, placing a hand on Mia's shoulder. "But... we... we JUST got you back," Mia argued. "Yes. But you Also gained my son.. and my husband," Carol replied. "So. How do we fix it?" Eli asked. Loreley shrugged. "I've never had to worry about it..... my father told me that if we kill the spell caster, it could work. But he put loads of emphasis on the word 'could'" Loreley explained. "And we don't even know if it was Alistar's dad or not. We haven't confirmed anything," she finished. "Then what do we do?" Alruna asked. "..... we kill king John and hope and pray that he was the one who cast the spell," Loreley replied. The group stood in silence before Lireley transferred them back to the mortal realm. "Come on. We have another war to win," Ella stated. ..........

Alistar hissed in pain as the guards threw him into the cell, his hand cracking unnaturally as he landed on it. Ah yes. His cell. After the guards left, alistar scanned the wall for the opening that he had used to escape more than once. His hand burned. But he would worry about it later. He needed to warn people. Finally breaking through the wall, alistar made a run for it, taking a horse and riding away as fast as possible. He let out a shaky breath as Ella's kingdom became visible.... She would kick him out.. immediately. But he had to try. It was one thing when it was him she was going up against. But his father? His father scared him. A lot. And there she was. A crown on her head adorned with Amethysts, her purple dress blowing as her friends walked behind her. He took a breath. "Ella!" He yelled. She turned to him, her eyes widening with so many emotions he could barely even make out what she was thinking. Elias' eyes flashed pure anger and hatred as he stood in front of his wife. Alistar got off his horse. "L-listen I know I'm an asshole and an enemy to you right now but my father... hes-" "Alistar?" Carolyn's voice gasped. Alistar snapped his head away from ella and Eli, seeing his mom for the first time in the past 30 years. "M-mom?" He asked, tears in his eyes. Carol made her way quickly to alistar, not noticing the flinch he made with the sudden movement before she hugged him tightly. His face morphed into shame as he cried, not hugging her back. She pulled away from him, noticing the scratches and bruises on his face, as well as his broken arm. "Oh my god...... he did this to you?" Carol asked. "It's not the worst he's done......" Alistar muttered, holding his broken arm to his chest. "Okay this is a wonderful reunion between the guy who tried to kill us 10 years ago and his mom. But I wanna know why the fuck he's here," Alruna deadpanned. "R-right.. well i-" "He can tell us after his arm is fixed up," Ella spoke out, her eyes not wavering from him once, her expression unreadable. Alistar looked at her before looking at the ground in shame. ....... The group stood in Eve's shop. Ella's kids had been passed over to Clarissa in another room as eve worked on Alistar's arm. "So what's going on?" Mia asked. "..... my father is planning on taking over the island.. all of it. Including Morellia...." Alistar stated. "So basically what you did?" Elias asked, harshly. "I didn't want to take over morellia. I just-" "Then what DID you want?" Eli asked with a sneer on his face. Alistar stayed quiet. "I..... I know what I wanted.... but I didn't..... make the choices that made sense to get it..... and I did horrible things to people who didn't deserve it.... and I realize that, and after this you can do whatever the hell You want with me. But my father is worse. And he won't stop from a stab wound. Believe me," Alistar muttered. "Why should we?" Elias asked. "Because I have no reason to lie.... i.... I dont have the energy to lie...." Alistar replied. "Do you have the energy for me to punch you? Because I've been fantasizing about that all day," Elias hissed as he walked up to Alistar sharply. "Elias," Ella scolded from her place I the corner of the room. Elias backed off, stepping away as Ella walked slowly toward Alistar, lifting his head up gently to look at her in the eye. She examined his face. His eye was bruised, almost black. His lip was split and bleeding, and his nose looked broken. Ella sighed removing her hands from his face. "I believe him," she stated.

[stacywaters]

Coffee and Violets (SUGA) CH3 - Visiting the Flower Shop

(Yoongi POV)

"Did you talk to her?? Did you like her? Are you guys going on a date soon?" Hoseok bombardes me with questions the second I walk through the door.

"Woah- slow down. We just chatted for a bit, why the rush?" I ask.

"Ah, I should've figured as much." He pouts and goes back to the shipping label he was printing for an order.

"...I did get her number though"

"WHAT?!?!?!?"

——————————————————————————

"So she's coming over tomorrow? What are you going to wear?" Hoseok asks.

"The same thing I always do? She's just going to look at my lyrics.., It's not like a date."

"Sure. It's not a date. I believe you."

"It isn't!" I yell back, my face starting to burn red.

"Haha! You're blushing! I told you you'd like her~" He sings while running out of the room.

Damn it, Hoseok. He always overreacts. What's the big deal, anyway? Is it not normal to invite someone over? Or to give them your number?

...Is it?

*ding*

I pull my phone from my pocket and read the message.

Y/N: Hey! Just checking to see what time you wanted me to come over tomorrow :)

I blink rapidly, trying to comprehend the text in front of me. I start to type out a response, "Anytime is really fine. We're not busy."

Y/N: Alright! See you tomorrow then! 😃

I set my phone back on the table. Hoseok walks in, "What was that dinging sound earlier? Did she text you?"

"Yeah"

"WHAT DID SHE SAY?" He yells while grabbing my phone from the table. As he scrolls through the messages, he says, "You didn't even respond to her. It's rude to leave people on read, y'know."

"There was nothing left to say" I respond.

He starts typing something out and hits 'send'.

"Much better!" He replies.

"What did you do??" I reply, panicked.

He hands me the phone to show the message, reading: I can't wait to see you 😊

"HOSEOK!! I would never say that! That's so dumb, she's gonna think I like her or something."

"Don't you?" He smirks.

We're interrupted by another ding from my phone. Hoseok gets to it before me and reads out the message, "Oh? Catching feelings already?"

—————————————————————————

(Y/N POV) 

Why did I send that?? I question myself. I hardly even know him, I shouldn't be joking like this.

I type out another message to clarify the previous one.

Y/N: Just kidding. You better not haha

Yoongi: Why? Do you have a boyfriend?

Y/N: I might.

Yoongi: What's his name?

Y/N: Okay, I don't. You still better not catch feelings, I know how tempting I am ;)

Yoongi: I promise.

I set my phone down on the counter, giggling to myself as another customer walks in.

"Hey! What can I get for ya?"

——————————————————————————————————

Before I step out of the cafe to go to the coffee shop, I give myself one last look. I'm currently wearing a gray sweatshirt with black jeans and my tennis shoes. Wow. I really chose to not dress up at all.

It's too late to change though and I wouldn't anyways. I step out and walk a step or two before opening a new, different door.

"Hi! Welcome to- OH HEY Y/N!!" Hoseok greets.

"Hi" I timidly grin as I step into the shop.

"Yoongi's just in the back- I'll lead you there!"

I follow him behind the counter into a large room with long, black tables and shelves covered with foliage.

"Yoongi~ your date's here" Hoseok calls to him.

"I'M NOT-"

"SHE ISN'T-"

"Relax! I'm just kidding. Have fun you two!" And with that, Hoseok goes back to the front of the store.

Yoongi turns around and makes eye contact with me, a small smile playing on his lips.

"h-Hey" I say apprehensively, breaking the eye contact and instead glancing down at my worn sneakers.

"Uh, hi. Here, you can sit next to me." He turns away, his face turning a pale pink.

I walk over and sit on the stool next to him. Despite the large room, I still feel too close. I fumble with my hands and bite my bottom lip. I didn't realize this would be so awkward. Why did I agree to this? And why is it so much easier to chat with him when it's over text?

(Yoongi POV)

This was so much easier when it was Hoseok writing the messages... I tap my pencil against the desk while looking over the pages of lyrics in front of me.

"U-um this- er.., these are the lyrics I have so far. They're pretty new so if they don't sound good then-"

"You read my writing yesterday. Don't worry, I'm not gonna judge yours" She smiles sweetly at me while gently pulling the papers from my hands. I watch timidly as she reads through them.

"These are really good" she says, turning back to me, "but- well..," She pauses in thought.

"You can say it, it's okay" I say.

"It's just, well, they leave me a little heartbroken."

Her words surprise me. Heartbroken?

"It sounds like you've been through so much, and I just," her voice wobbles and a tear escapes her eye.

I rest my hand on her shoulder, "Hey, hey, why are you crying? I'm okay, we're fine."

She turns to me, her teary eyes sparkling under the fluorescent lights.

"I don't want you to have gone through that. That's so terrible. I want you... to be happy" She turns away, "You deserve to be happy."

A light laugh escapes my lips, "First of all, you don't know me. Maybe I don't deserve to be happy."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!! You're a good person and you deserve to be happy! I just know it!"

I gasp at her outburst. Everything, the pout on her lips, the dark blush on her cheeks, her passion, the way she defends me when I can't even defend myself, all of it draws me to her. This is the first time, in so long, that I've felt... loved. She doesn't even know me and yet, her presence feels so warm.

"Thank you."

Why am I already so attached to her?

Am I...

Falling for her?

Next Chapter?

[danatheelf]

Welcome to my NISA Nightmare.

This is beyond a bloody joke, now, and I am livid.

For almost six whole weeks now, I have been given the runaround by NIS America Europe's Customer Support, for an issue entirely their fault. And it's not the first time.

I love the games NISA publish. I preorder the vast majority of the Collector's Edition packages they put out, in spite of my precarious financial situation. Because I love these games and I want to have those nice sets to celebrate the art and music and game with a nice, generally sensible set of extra stuff that isn't just cheap tat to fill a box and charge a fortune for.

I have maintained "Diamond Prinny" loyalty status for years, which doesn't really mean much more than "buys their stuff a lot and gets offered small discounts when new ones go up" but you'd think if they recognise a group of their biggest customers, they would at least try to offer solid Customer Support for that group.

Here's the backstory: On September 8 2022, I placed a preorder with NISAE for four Collector's Editions. If you're unfamiliar with preorders, how this is supposed to work is that you pay money now, and they put a copy aside to make sure that you get them when they come out; I try to order as many things as I can at once, because shipping to Australia is expensive, and it helps to spread the load. When placing the order, one of the games I was ordering had an option for an Australian cover sheet - the only difference being the little rating symbol on the cover - so I picked that because... hey, why not?

At some point in production, they changed their mind, and decided they wouldn't bother printing that Australian cover sheet. No big deal, you might assume - just swap it for the UK English cover; no big deal.

Ah, sweet summer child, I see you have never had to deal with NISAE's order system backend.

Any other web store on the internet can make simple changes to an order relatively easily - but NISAE is special. They can't even change a tiny little dropdown menu option for which printed cover sheet should be included with the game.

To make any small change to your order, the entire thing must be cancelled. You must wait for a refund to clear. Then you must place the order again yourself with the changes in place.

Remember that thing about how preorders work? Yeah. It doesn't work if they just cancel your order without warning, and tell you to make the order again when something in your order is now out of stock.

For weeks now, I've been assured that they're securing a copy of the game that was out of stock, because I guess when your order is cancelled, they immediately incinerate the copies that should have been set aside for you.

But they'll have it shortly, so I can make the order then!

I've been dreadfully concerned about the other parts of my order going out of stock while I wait for them to find me a copy of the game I preordered. And naturally... that exact thing happened.

I've been keeping an eye on the stock situation and... now another one is completely sold out.

They haven't even fixed the first screw-up, and now this is added on top. It's cartoonish levels of incompetence. I have a heart condition! I can't deal with this kind of constant stress for weeks and weeks!!

If you know me, you'll know I am a very patient person. But this is really my limit. I'm fed up, and genuinely upset.

This isn't the first time I've had trouble with NISAE before, either.

A while back, I received a copy of a collector's edition set with a soundtrack CD - I love soundtrack CDs and they're a major reason I get these versions! But for some reason, one of the discs was just... missing.

Factory error, I suppose. Not much you can do about that.

So I contacted support, and they promised to just pack a replacement in with the next order that would be shipped out; it wouldn't take long for that, so, sounded to me like a perfectly reasonable solution.

Well, my next order from them came... and the next... and the next... and no CD.

After contacting them again, to see what the deal was... they just decided to send it out by itself, and eat the cost of shipping.

Screwed themselves over in that one, really. I was mildly inconvenienced, but it all worked out without too much hassle.

On another occasion, I had a preorder combined with some older items - the order won't ship until everything is ready to go, but it saves you on shipping, so, hey. That's fine.

Between the time of my order and the time it was ready to ship, they moved to a new warehouse. In the process of doing this... they lost the copy of something I ordered that had been set aside. And they had no more left.

Of course.

There was really nothing that could be done, at that point. "Sorry, we lost the very last copy of the thing you ordered." I was very unhappy about this, but... it was at least understandable. Moving to a new warehouse is a massive undertaking, and losing the last copy of some old stock... well, it sucks, but I get it. Exceptional circumstances; things happen.

So it's with this history of excusing mistakes that I am now faced with the latest one. This time, there is no massive warehouse to move; no unusual situation of sending out a replacement for part of a set that was botched by the factory.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect better than this.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the barest minimum features of an online shop to include "swapping a tiny option in an order" and "actually getting the things you paid a couple hundred pounds to preorder six months ago."

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect better from the official European branch of a very prominent publisher, handling a large number of beloved titles that can't be bought elsewhere.

As it stands, if you have the option to buy NISA games from any retailer other than the NISA Europe Online Store, I advise you to choose that other option. I desperately wish this weren't the case, and would prefer to support the publisher directly... but until they get some web developers to implement a functional backend... I truly recommend choosing literally any other option, if you have it.

Maybe if I'm lucky, people will see this and they'll actually do something.

[dingertdongert]

Chapter 2

Donna called over her shoulder as she walked by 'You're helping in the stockroom tonight'. By helping, she actually meant that you and Steven would be hauling the boxes back and forth, organising and unpacking everything, and she would leave early. Not that you knew that yet.

Steven audibly groaned and plonked his head on the cold, white countertop. 'Hey! I'll have to clean your forehead print off there later' you scolded, gently swatting his shoulder.

'You'll learn, soon you'll be like me'

'It can't be that bad', you rolled your eyes at his dramatics.

He turned his head to look at you, cheek now pressed firmly against the plastic surface. 'Oh, it's awful, it's soooo awful, words can't describe the mind-numbing awfulness'

'Mhm' you replied, fiddling with the sweet display, barely paying attention. 'Have you ever done stock or anything like that before?' he asked, appalled by your lack of dread

'I mean kinda, I used to work in a cafe, we'd have to bring the ingredients and stuff in off the delivery truck, put it away. I don't remember it really being that bad. I quite enjoyed it, everyone would joke around as you'd go past each other and it seemed to go quickly'.

'Huh' was his response, he'd managed to lift his head up, and was now resting it in his hand, propped up by his arm. ‘What kind of cafe was it?'

'A small one. I liked it, it was really homey. Independent as well, not a chain'.

'That does sound nice, what did you do?'

'Oh, I was just a barista... But we served fresh food, and the cooks were teaching me some of the recipes and their techniques. That was definitely the best part, I really like cooking now'.

'Yeah well, I've only ever been here'.

You laughed softly, 'I still don't know how you've put up with Donna and J.B. for so long'.

'To be fair, J.B. is a new addition to the enemy'.

Ah yes, the enemy. You and Steven had agreed rather quickly that there seemed to be a "You vs. us" system in place. That being everyone from customers, tour guides, security, management, you name it, viewed the gift shop staff as the lowest of the low in the museum hierarchy.

You preferred it that way anyway, a lot of the female staff seemed to be very catty towards you, especially the tour guides. Every now and then you'd see them giving you dirty looks whenever you and Steven would chat and laugh together. You had no idea why, you'd never done anything or even had to interact with them in any way yet, but their dislike of you seemed to be firmly set in stone.

The time slowly drifted by, with the occasional child wanting to buy a stuffed toy or a packet of sweets providing your main output of customer service. You knew the museum was closed when a tower of white boxes were thumped in front of you. 'Looks like it's stockroom time now folks, off you pop' you heard Donna chirp from the other side. Steven sighed, as he walked out from behind the counter, and picked the boxes up. You couldn't help but gawk a little bit, those boxes looked very heavy. Donna still had a flush on her face after exerting herself carrying them over. He made it look easy.

'Um... can someone get the door please?'

[marsmarvel02]

"What Manny Can't Fix" Review: Chapter 38

Welcome back and welcome again to my review of "What Manny Can't Fix", a Handy Manny fanfic that... well, it just isn't very good.

Wow, it's actually been a whole week since the last chapter of this review was posted. (I'd like to say that I took spring break off, but really I was just working on other stuff.)

Last time, our quartet of "main" characters rode all around town diligently hanging up copies of Twist's "MISSING" poster... by which I mean they hung up like two and then got distracted by an ice cream shop. Today... they're going to eat some ice cream. Woohoo.

(And as always, if you'd like to start this review series from the beginning, Chapter 1 is here.)

Chapter 38

After riding around town, the four of them plopped down on the sidewalk in front of the print shop again.

Allow me to take this time to make a prediction: Just because there wasn’t a pointless time-wasting scene of Pumpetunia inflating tires when we were introduced to Kira and Lilly’s bikes, doesn’t mean there isn’t going to be a pointless pumping scene sometime later in the story.

“Well, that should do it!” Lilly panted out, leaning her back against the building. She turned her gaze towards Felipe and Pumpetunia.  “We’ll get a call in no time!”

“I hope so.” Felipe sighed, looking away slightly. “I just….I just wish I knew why she left…”

Pumpetunia gently put her hose around him, pulling him closer, trying to comfort him.

“I’m really sorry…” Kira said, biting down a bit on her lip slightly.  

“Me too…” Lilly frowned. “You guys really miss her, huh?”

Felipe nodded.  "I think it's been the hardest on Pumpetunia." He looked at the bike pump sitting next to him, and gave her a gentle nuzzle in comfort.

"I understand." Lilly said. "I'd be sad if my gifriend went missing too!" She reached over and grabbed Kira's hand, giving it a tight squeeze. 

Ah yes, Kira is Lilly’s “gifriend”. That means that she agrees with Lilly about how “GIF” should be pronounced.

Kira leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, making her giggle slightly. 

The door to the print shop opened and Maude stood in the doorway. "How did hanging the fliers go?"

"It was exhausting!" Lilly huffed out, plopping onto her back on the sidewalk.

"Oh, I'll bet." Maude said. "I saw you biking all around town."

If she was in the print shop working at her job this whole time, how the heck could she have seen them bicycling around… whatever town they’re in? (San Diego?)

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a few bills. "Why don't you get some Ice cream and treat yourself?" 

One, “Ice” shouldn’t be capitalized as it’s in the middle of the sentence.

Two, HOW THE HECK DO YOU KNOW THEY WANTED TO GET ICE CREAM?!

Felipe's eyes lit up. "Ice cream!?" 

Crazy out-of-nowhere theory: Maude is psychic.

“Thank you.” Kira said sheepishly, grabbing the money. 

“Of course!” Maude smiled. “You deserve a break with how hard you were working. If you need any more help finding your friend, feel free to ask.”

“Thanks…” Kira said again, heading back to her bike, placing Pumpetunia the basket. “Let's get going…”

“Right!” Lilly said, grabbing Felipe and putting him into her own. “Ice cream here we come! Wahoo!”

As they biked to the store rain started to patter down.

Oh no, is Felipe going to rust?

No, of course not. Rust is only a problem when it’s narratively appropriate; at any other time, a screwdriver can (and, at one point, did) go for a swim in a park fountain and not have to worry one bit about corrosion.

"They said it was gonna be sunny all day!" Lilly pouted.

Pumpetunia shivered as she ducked into the basket, trying to avoid the drops. 

Felipe crouched down too, but the rain was getting harder. 

Once they got to the ice cream shop, the girls quickly locked up their bikes before hurrying inside.

Felipe laughed a bit. “We’re all drenched!”

“Yeah we are!” Lilly giggled, grabbing some napkins and trying to dab her shirt dry.

Kira leaned against the table, out of breath still from biking around town.

“Are you okay?” Lilly frowned, putting her hand on her back.

“Yeah…I’m fine….” She breathed out. “I’m just tired from putting up all the posters…”

Kira closed her eyes, resting her tired eyes.

“Do you want me to just order for us so you can take a nap?” Lilly teased.

It appears Random Nap Syndrome has struck again.

Kira nodded, not even raising her head.

How the heck do you nod without raising your head?

“What do you guys want?” Lilly asked Felipe and Pumpetunia.

“Oh! I’ll take strawberry!” Felipe said, excitedly, before turning to Pumpetunia to ask what she wanted.

“¡Quiero pistacho!” [“I want pistachio!”] She replied.

“Strawberry and pistachio, got it!” Lilly said, heading over to the counter. 

Felipe looked at Kira, still slumped over, and hopped over towards her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Kira let out a muffled sound in reply, not even raising her head at all.

Pumpetunia used her hose to gently stroke her hair.

"¿Se encuentra ella bien?" [“Is she okay?”] Pumpetunia asked.

"Sí, solo está exhausta." [“Yeah, she’s just exhausted.”] Felipe explained.

Pumpetunia let out a small yawn. "Yo también." [“Me too”] She leaned against Felipe .

Oh, COME ON!

"Supongo que yo también estoy cansado". Felipe said, also drowsy.

ARRGH!

WHY IS RANDOM NAP SYNDROME SUDDENLY CONTAGIOUS?!

The three of them dozed off at the table, only awoken by the sound of a thud on the table.

Thank goodness there’s not another dream sequence…

"Ah!" Kira jolted up, followed by the tools.

"Sorry, did I interrupt nap time?" Lilly giggled.

Kira gave her a tired smile before giving Lilly a kiss on the cheek.

Lilly scooted into the seat next to her and handed her a cup of chocolate swirl ice cream.

"Thanks." Kira said, putting her spoon in.

Lilly then set a small strawberry and pistachio in front of Felipe and Pumpetunia.

"Oh, thank you!" Felipe said.

"¡Gracias!" Pumpetunia said, already face first into her ice cream.

Lilly put her arm around Kira, pulling her closer.

"Thank you for helping us with the posters." Felipe said. 

"Hey, no problem!" Lilly said. "I hope we can find your sister."

"I do too…" Felipe sighed. 

Kira slid her spoon up and down her ice cream, leaving a small streak along the side.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lilly asked, gripping Kira's shoulder.

She nodded, not looking up from the ice cream. "I was just thinking." She looked over at Felipe and Pumpetunia. "I think I'm ready to tell you about why I'm at the shelter."

“Hopefully, the rainstorm outside will provide dramatic thunder at appropriate moments.”

"Only if you feel comfortable with that." Felipe said. "If you don't want to, you don't…"

"No, no, it's fine." Kira insisted. "I feel like I can trust you both " She turned towards Felipe. "Can you translate the story for Pumpetunia for me?"

"Of course!"

"Thanks." She gave a small smile before it turned into a worried expression. "My parents weren't…. weren't really happy when I told them about Lilly…being my girlfriend."

Gee, that was…

Felipe looked horrified before anxiously turning towards Pumpetunia, and shakily, he translated to her.

… kind of predictable, honestly.

Pumpetunia's eyes widened as he looked over at a now distressed looking Kira. 

Author, you should’ve thought harder and came up with a unique reason for Kira to be homeless that isn’t so… so cliche.

Once Felipe finished his translation, Pumpetunia hopped over to Kira and gently held onto her arm.  "Lo siento…" [“I’m sorry”]

"She said she's sorry."

Kira pulled her into a hug. "Gracias." She sniffled. 

Felipe went over, and Kira pulled him close too. Then Lilly pulled all three of them over, giving a tight squeeze.

“Thanks guys…” Kira sniffled. She forced herself to look up, teary eyed. 

Lilly grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

“So I…I’ve been staying at the shelter for the…last few months.” Kira continued. “Until I can find somewhere to stay…”

“My parents don't know about us.” Lilly added. "I don't feel comfortable coming out to them…."

It’s a toss-up whether this will turn out to be a bombshell the author will randomly drop when they feel they need some emotional torque or a sudden plot twist, or whether it’ll be one of those lines that the author will completely forget they wrote and accidentally contradict later.

She started playing with her spoon, mixing her now slightly melted ice cream.

Kira looked over at Felipe. "Can you ask Pumpetunia about her and Twist?" 

"Ella quiere saber sobre ti y Twist" [“She wants to know about you and Twist”] Felipe said.

Missing a period there, writer.

Pumpetunia looked hesitant for a moment, still feeling slightly emotional about her lost girlfriend.

After a moment, she started gushing about Twist.

Felipe had hard time keeping up with her as he translated for Lilly and Kira:

"Where do I even begin? Twist means everything to me, she’s the love of my life! And I….I miss her so much….I don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t find her….I love her so much and…I just wish she had stayed…I’d never let her get thrown into a scrap metal bin!”

What is it with Twist- and Iron Grip, for that matter- that they’re willing to up and abandon the loves of their lives the moment something damages them?

She started shaking a little. “If she stayed. I would have kept her safe…” She clung to Felipe and looked at him, “We both would have kept her safe! She’s our family and family sticks together…” She nuzzled more against Felipe. “And we’ll stick together.”

Kira put her arm around Pumpetunia, stroking her back gently. She leaned towards Felipe and asked, “How do I say ‘Everything’s gonna be okay’ in Spanish?”

"Todo estará bien.”

“Todo estará bien.” She said gently to Pumpetunia. 

Pumpetunia looked over, teary eyed, and gave her a small smile. Kira pulled her into a tight hug, trying to comfort her.

Felipe went over and joined in, nuzzling Pumpetunia. 

For now at least, they all felt okay, and that's all that mattered.

Yeah, that’s not going to last.

While proofreading this review, I had an interesting thought: Due to this fanfic’s nature as a prequel, we know that Felipe is inevitably going to have to abandon his search for Twist and come to live with Manny.

In Part 1, Turner met Twist, and learned that she had a brother she abandoned, before he settled down with Manny.

So, when Felipe finally meets Manny (which will probably be after a bit of a timeskip given what I said earlier), what plot contrivance is going to prevent Turner from telling Felipe that he’d met his sister, and had a rough idea of where to find her?

[blondrichclosetwitch]

Jeremy spoke in class today

Started to lose control

They can’t get enough of that doomsday song

Ignoring the pain of their particular diseases

They can work with Satan while they dress like the saints

Only one knows they're watching it die

You've learned to think life is for somebody else

You make it hard to live it for yourself

Yeah, make up any excuse to remedy you can't control

I had forgiven you for tricking me again

But I have been tricked again (she tricked me again)

I'm stiff on my legend

The films that I made

Forget that I'm fifty cause you just got paid

Summer

Did all y’all know I’m obsessed with recycling/composting and freak out about plastic constantly and that my mom, brother and I used to pick up aluminum cans on the side of the road for money

Well I can tell by your game you’re gonna start a flame

Oh-ah, I inhaled and breathed

But angels start to tell me, "It's okay to not feel okay"

Devil's talkin' to me, angel's talkin' to me

I know that you'd be proud if you was here today

I know God breathed on me

One less, when its all done

My voice is back home while I'm in hell

Cried oh Private Presley, “she swayed like the trees”

Swinging hard Jack

Maggie’s back

“….when I tell you it’s an offer you can never refuse.”

All these bad cats, in this bad town

And I'm gonna tell you what I think that you should know

Saw you smoking with all those new friends you've got to spare, and melting back in focus the sunday crowd, started sleeping with white trash heroes, tv's turned down

Well, I guess the best that I can do now is pretend that I done nothing wrong

(Never let me go)

And the arms of the ocean are carrying me

And all this devotion was rushing out of me

But the arms of the ocean deliver me

And it's over

And I'm going under

In this dark and lonely night I long to have you by my side(there might be more)

The violets explode inside of me when I meet your eyes

Then I’m spinning like a cloud of starlings

“Try my lies for size while I fantasize. You might swallow them. Try my lies for size.”

This has battered me

That's my history

Hold this shaking frame

Pull this back together

Amazing Grace, you know the rest

there will be many dangers, toils, and snares

Every perversion is justified.

You can leave it all behind just like the missionaries did so many years ago

Oh, I've had me my fill of cocaine and pills

Seems I've seen that devil fruit since the world begun

You, you said you'd wait til the end of the world

“And all must love the human form, in heathen, Turk, or Jew;

Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell there God is dwelling too. “

Ain't it funny? Rumors fly

And I know you heard about me

Forever waiting for some car crash

I'm sorry that I lost my patience

I promise you won't feel a thing

Hey little girl, sometimes I wish that I was dead

My days end best when this sunset gets itself behind that little lady sitting on the passenger side

That's magic in a cheetah print coat

The only moment we were alone

Jack of Diamonds

I know the truth is in between the first and the fortieth drink

Celebrate your top ten in the charts of pain as you sh-sh- shock me sane

You can be cruel i don’t know why

Hypnotized by your rotten behavior

Yeah, the politics of the worlds greatest liar

The scars I hide are not your business

The booze turns a tall, gentle boy to a terrible totem And the kids gather 'round trying to see what's inside

I think when he's drinking, he's drowning some riot

I will follow you down til the sound of my voice will haunt you

[btsqualityy]

Drabble Day!

Can we get one where Mama Jung has been begging Hobi to take her to a Bad Bunny concert! They’re drinking, dancing, living their best life. Towards the end though Mama Jung is grinding on him so much that they leave before the encore and barely make it out of the parking lot before pulling over somewhere and fucking in the car.

Warnings: public sex, creampie

"Y/N-ah, stop."

"Hurry up and pull the car over then," you whispered huskily into his ear, still rubbing over the print of his cock through his pants.

The two of you had gone to the Bad Bunny concert, where you'd had the time of your lives. Having three kids meant that the two of you didn't get out for date nights often so admittedly, you both had gone a little crazy, knocking back drinks and dancing to your hearts' content.

As things always did when liquor got involved, the two of you got a little handsy with each other and make a beeline for the car once the concert was over. You though, you couldn't wait.

"Fuck, you're killing me," Hobi huffed as he hurriedly pulled the car into an empty parking lot. As soon as the car stopped, you ripped your seatbelt off and scrambled out of your seat, climbing over the center console and settling yourself into Hobi's lap. The kiss you pressed to his lips was hot and messy, your tongues sliding together as Hobi worked on getting his cock out of his pants.

"Get in me already," you whined against his lips and Hobi nodded, pushing your skirt up around your waist and pulling your panties to the side.

"Hold them there," he instructed you and you nodded, reaching back behind yourself and grabbing onto the fabric. As you did so, Hobi grabbed the base of his cock and thrusted upwards, the two of you letting out simultaneous moans as he entered you.

"Shit," you whimpered, beginning to lift yourself up and down on his length. "Feels so fucking good."

"Yeah? You do too baby," Hobi grunted, reaching out and spanking your ass hard. "You're so wet for me too."

"Oh, fuck me," you begged. "Harder, Hobi. Please."

"Someone's really horny," he chuckled. "It's not often you beg for me."

"You just feel so good," you whispered as you looked down at him. "I love you."

"I love you too, he whispered before kissing you passionately. The whole thing was really pretty quick, the car getting warm quickly as you both fucked each other towards your orgasms.

"God, you're creaming all over me," Hobi grumbled when he chanced looking down in between the two of you. "You getting close?"

So fucking close," you panted.

"Come for me baby, come on," he goaded you, fucking you harder. Your mouth dropped open, your orgasm slamming into you like a truck. Hobi followed close behind, deep groans falling from his lips as he pumped his cum into you.

"Holy shit," you huffed, falling backwards but gasping when you fell against the horn of the car.

"You're gonna get us caught, you know that?" Hobi chuckled.

"Eh, worth it," you giggled.

[angy-mouse]

A Day in The Life of A Live-In-Whore Volume 1

Just a handful of drabbles that couldn't be turned into a full fic but I thought were still really cute. Only gets suggestive at best but its def. part of the series so posting here

Boobas

"That sounds like cheating," you said.

"I'll take you to Dave and Buster's," Sapnap said.

"Deal," you said.

And so, when the time was right, here you were slinking around your own house, creeping through the halls and listening for your cue. "Now!"

You threw open the door to Dream's office and tossed your bra at him. He fluidly caught it in one hand and threw it on his head like a pair of aviator goggles before his hand returned to the mouse. "Thanks, babe," he grinned as you stared dumbfounded.

"Mother fucker would rather beat Minecraft than look at my tits," you muttered to yourself shamefully. "I used to have standards."

Boobas 2 (they're better in pairs)

"If we're not going out today, I'm taking my damn bra off," you mused, reaching for the clasp.

George threw his hands in the air, nothing but a ball of fluffy brown hair and two arms poking up from the couch. "TAKE DEM TITTIES OUT 'CUZ I'M TRYNA SEE 'EM-"

"WE HAVE NEIGHBORS!"

Did you know?

"Hey," George mumbled against your stomach. You lifted your shirt to look at him, resisting the urge to make fun of his messy hair from burrowing.

"Hey,"

"Did you know…"

"Know what?"

He pressed his lips to your pale stretch marks. "I think you're pretty cute."

"Oh yeah? Well, did you know…"

His lips stretched into a lazy, cheshire grin. "Yeah?"

"Your hair looks like a bird's nest."

His grin fell as he glared up at you. "I hate you."

You simply giggled. "Aw, come on, babe, you- AH, NO, NO RASPBERRIES!!"

Insta-Offish

Sapnap hummed with a lazy smile as you climbed onto his lap, big hands supporting your hips to help you not tip over his gamer chair. “Hey, sugar,” he purred happily as you pressed your lips to his. “Mmmm, this feels like an ‘I want something’ kiss,” he muttered against your lips, giggling when you shamefully pulled away.

“Maybe,” you muttered, tracing your lips along his scruffy jawline. “What would you say… to taking a picture… of your hands as my bra… for my insta?”

He leaned his head back with a purr as you traced his adam’s apple. “... Can I print it out for my wallet… maybe another to put in my cap?”

You smiled wide. “I knew there was a reason I loved you.”

Bedtime

“It’s bedtime,” you insisted, arms crossed leaning against the doorway.

“We’re in the middle of coding,” Dream insisted, George’s sounds of agreement coming from the computer and the office down the hall. There was no arguing with Dream, he always got his way. It’s a good thing you’re a master manipulator.

“Well, I’m going to bed,” you hummed, sliding out of your sweatpants and kicking them at Dream. You sauntered down the hall, shedding your shirt in front of Sapnap’s open door and your bra in front of George’s. You turned around when you reached the bedroom door, smiling innocently at the three sets of wide eyes poking out of their offices. “Night, boys,” you chirped, putting a purposeful bounce to your step as you continued into the room, grinning evilly as you heard three pairs of feet pounding the floor. “Works every time.”

Ostrich Chair

"What the fuck did you buy," George scoffed, sipping a glass of vodka as he watched you and Dream unpack your latest package.

"It's an ostrich chair," Dream laughed as you happily wiggled in anticipation.

"It's the best thing ever," you declared, ripping the plastic off and unfolding the beach chair looking contraption.

"Looks like a beach chair."

"It's got a stretchy bit and a head hole, so- yeah," Dream trailed off as you laid face down on the fabric, cushion supporting your face like a massage table and the stretchy material accommodating your breasts.

"Oh my god, I haven't laid on my front since middle school," you groaned, feeling your spine straighten out.

"How much did you pay for that thing?"

"Shut the fuck up, no tits no opinion."

Betrayal

"I can't believe you'd do this to me," Dream forced out, a lump building in his throat. "Has all our time together really meant so little to you? You'll leave me just like that? Jump on the first person that comes along?"

"She's a god damn cat, stop being dramatic," you huffed, letting Patches keep kneading your lap.

"SHE'S MY GOD DAMN CAT AND SHE'S A TRAITOR!"

Another Betrayal

“What the fuck is this?”

You flailed uselessly in Dream’s headlock as Sapnap scrolled through your YouTube. “Listen, I don’t-”

“Technoblade, Mithzan, YourPalRoss,” he read out, “Fact Fiend, Game Theory, Film Theory, Food Theory-”

“Those hot wing videos were a bop, don’t even.”

“Not a single video from any of our channels?!”

“I listen to you dipshits in person every day!”

“DO YOU EVEN LOVE US?”

“FUCK YOU!”

The Stretch™

“God, my back hurts,” Sapnap groaned to himself. Your eyes wandered over to him just in time to watch his arms stretch up to the ceiling, shirt lifting to expose the soft planes of his stomach, thick line of coarse hairs leading into the blue band of his boxers, two or so inches of the fabric above his shorts.

“... Can I suck your dick?”

He started at that, ears turning red as he froze mid-stretch. “W-What?”

“I wanna suck your dick,” you said again, evenly, with a small smile as you watched him blush. “You look good. I wanna suck you dry. Can I?”

Your words finally processed and he frantically nodded, hands pushing down those pretty blue boxers as he stumbled over to you, making you giggle.

Dinner

“Takeout,” George offered, combing through the menus stuck on the fridge.

“I’m sick of takeout,” Dream huffed. “How about I make us something?”

“With what,” Sapnap scoffed. This was it: your time to shine.

“Step aside, boys,” you said dramatically, fishing out a box of noodles, a can of tomatoes, and a pack of hot dogs. “Hot dog goulash to the rescue!”

George wrinkled his nose. “Is that American food?”

“It’s ‘I grew up poor and this was all we could afford’ food, so shut the fuck up and enjoy it.”