#aha people who are expecting something from me be disappointed

[red0-3]

Uhm cannibalism is something aha, there's art below trust ^_^

(I'm hiding the horrors below [TW CANNIBALISM] like fr, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat moment)

(it's that cannibal toddler theory)

Camera's low-key ass rn so whoopsey

It's based on that one video I think a few know of..

Uhm, clear Atsushi design

It's that thing where y'know cuz of Atsushi's regeneration ability his parents (I've mostly seen his mom) cannibalizing him so that they don't starve cuz they're poor..

The most fitting song (I have at least 40 hours on Spotify just listening to Mitski this week)

[caelia-does-stuff]

Hypnotee Imposter Syndrome

Being in the hypnosis community is a strange thing. It's absolutely amazing being around, hearing so many stories about things people have done, and things people plan to do. It's a well of inspiration for many, a melting pot of ideas that people add to, take from, mix together, and improve. But sometimes, it can also be a source of disappointment and pain.

Depending on what circles you run in within the community, it's not uncommon to hear imposter syndrome mentioned, especially among creators. Thinking that they aren't as good as someone else or not as creative. Second guessing their ability to hypnotise someone or create good content in general. What isn't as common is imposter syndrome on the other side of the pocket watch. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of discussion out there providing support or advice from people who say "I don't think I've ever been hypnotised" or "I don't know how to go into trance". A lot of the time, this seems to be met with lines such as "not everyone feels trance the same way" or "just because one thing is harder for you doesn't mean you can't be hypnotised" or even "take a step back, readjust your expectations, and focus on what changes while trying hypnosis, rather than expecting something instantaneous and magical; it takes time". I know I have said these things to newer members of the community, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one.

But also, I am a hypocrite. I say these things while at the same time not listening to them. Even the other night, during a scene involving hypnosis, I was saying/thinking that I wasn't actually in trance. In the 7 years I've been around the hypnosis community, I've never had that "aha!" moment where I knew I was hypnotised, and even to this day wonder whether I've just been faking it. I see all these incredible stories about how trance is falling down into a void, about memory play, positive and negative hallucinations. I hear about the amazing stories that other people tell, about all the incredible things other people have done with hypnosis; things that I have never been able to achieve, and don't know if I even could. I logically know that hypnosis is different for everyone, and everyone's brain is different, but that doesn't change the envy, the jealousy of seeing other people do it better than you. Sometimes, I feel like a fraud in this community, as a hypnotee who always second guesses themselves and questions whether they can even trance.

Maybe this is just a me thing, but I feel like imposter syndrome in hypnotees isn't thought about or discussed enough. I wonder how many other people have had similar experiences but just kept it to themselves?

[multi-kpop-fanfics]

hoodie szn (but make it jolly)

pairing: non-idol!bf!Chan x fem!reader (ft. roommate!Soonyoung)

genre: fluff, smut, comedy

warnings: mentions of food, reader is implied to be petite, fingering, use of pet names, whipped chan but also a tease, exhibitionism? sorta?, soonyoung is a cockblock on accident, playful banter, mentions of food

word count: ~1.9k

summary: getting snowed in with your boyfriend isn't as bad as you think - you can put up some early decorations, steal your boyfriend's hoodie - did we mention getting fucked in that hoodie?

Author’s note: Hello! This is my entry for the snowventeen collab of @svthub​! Be sure to check out the rest of the fics as well <3 Happy holidays!

p.s.: have this terribly made header with early 2010s wattpad style lmao

“The snow has already covered the biggest part of the city, the roads are closed off until further notice. Citizens are advised to stay at home and cut down on any unnecessary transports for their own safety”.

“Wonderful…”, you sigh and turn off the television, slouching back in the cushions of the couch. You definitely didn’t expect getting snowed in the day after sleeping over at your boyfriend’s apartment.

But then again, when was the last time you actually saw snow in the city? Might as well enjoy it, right?

You open the curtains once more to take a peek into the now white streets, just a handful of people walking around in heavy clothing, clutching the grocery bags in their hands with all the necessary supplies.

A chill runs down your spine and you realize that you’re still in your rather thin pajamas, which aren’t really the best option for such weather. You skip to Chan’s bedroom and start rummaging through his closet, hoping you’ll find something warm and cozy enough. Your eyes shine when you spot a stark white hoodie of his, although you’re a tiny bit disappointed when you notice that the hoodie is sleeveless. 

“Eh, I’ll just put a shirt underneath”, you deadpan and open the drawer right below, where Chan keeps some of your shirts - those you forget whenever you sleep over, at least.

Your intuition is proven correct as you spot a long sleeved black shirt and you waste zero time in changing into the handpicked clothes.

You do a once-over at the mirror and notice your bare legs, suddenly feeling very cold down there. “Damn, I’m sure I’ve brought socks with me…”, you mutter and search through your bag again. “Aha!”, you exclaim when you finally find your pair of black thigh high socks - which, coincidentally, are Chan’s favorite on you (you definitely didn’t do that on purpose).

A few minutes pass and you’re found in the living room again, laying on the couch, scrolling on social media out of boredom. You sigh as you look at the posted pictures, decorated balconies and Christmas trees, hot beverages and gingerbread houses. You close your phone, putting it down on the table, whining in defeat.

You glance around and notice that Chan's apartment is very much ordinary and in desperate need of Christmas decorations. Well, might as well keep yourself busy with something, right?

You get up and start searching around the house to find any obnoxiously big boxes that could possibly contain said decorations. 

Living room? Nope. Soonyoung's room? Out of bounds, not stepping in there. Chan's room? Not there either. 

"Where the hell are they…", you mutter and go to the bathroom to splash some water on your face, when you see a box awkwardly sticking out right next to the washing machine. Nah, it can't be, you think but you nonetheless try to pull it out and lift it up, a quite familiar sound echoing from within.

"I swear to God…", you plop the box down and remove the tape, rolling your eyes as you see that there are, indeed, Christmas stuff in there.

"These damn idiots", you grumble as you take out the colorful lights, trying to detangle them from the mess they currently are in. You’re caught up in separating all the garlands and mistletoes when the door clcks open, revealing your boyfriend (who could easily pass for a snowman in his current state).

“Babe, I’m h- what the fuck happened in here”, Chan deadpans while taking off his snow-covered shoes, leaving them on the doormat.

“That’s what I said when I realized it’s literally two days away from Christmas and you still don’t have Christmas decor in your apartment!”, you point at the open box, filled with mistletoes, lights and tree charms. “If anything, it makes me think you forgot about Christmas”, you plop on the couch with a disappointed pout. “Hey, that’s too far!”, he points at you in protest, “We just didn’t have enough time to decorate with Soonyoung”, he puts his jacket on the hanger, “Classes have been running crazy these days, everyone seems to wanna learn dancing for all the holiday parties”, he ruffles his hair a bit.

"Anyways, what were you doing outside with that weather?" you ask him, “Didn’t you freeze your ass off?”. “Yeah, I kinda did, but I managed to find food!”, he proudly flexes the bag with the warm takeout in it. “Aww, Channie, you didn’t have to”, “Shut up, of course I had to - It’s not like I always have my girlfriend staying over - with my flatmate not being here as well! Talk about luck, huh?”, “Well, I don’t know if getting snowed in counts as luck, but I’m not saying no to it”, you laugh.

After placing the food on the counter, Chan takes a more detailed glance at your current outfit.

“Babe, is that my hoodie?”, Chan raises an eyebrow, realizing that the sole clothing article covering your body, is indeed, his hoodie.

“Yeah, it is - does it look good on me?”, you hop off the couch and twirl around in a cute way, but you don’t realize the hoodie rides up and it reveals part of your ass - along with your lacy white thong.

Chan immediately gets up and pulls you flush to his body, his hands smoothing over the fabric, yet his palms ending up on your ass, squeezing the soft flesh.

“Baby, it looks really good on you”, he smiles, his voice dropping a few octaves, sending a shiver straight down your spine.

“So good I wanna make you cum while you wear it”.

“Channie!”, you yelp at his words, skin flushing at the thought of your boyfriend doing such unspeakable things to you, “May I remind you that you don’t live alone?”, you reprimand him and he rolls his eyes, pressing a kiss on your cheek, a radiant grin on his face. “Y/N, Soonyoung isn’t even here today and he won’t be able to return until the roads are cleaned up”, “You’re so insufferable sometimes”, you roll your eyes at him, but he merely brings you closer to him, making you back step towards the couch.

The back of your legs hit the cushions of the couch and you plop down on it with a giggle, Chan caging you with his body, his radiant smile captivating as ever.

"Hi", "Hey, handsome", you reply and he leans down to kiss you, spreading your legs to give him space. Chan gets the message and slots himself between them, his hands now running over your legs and the thigh highs.

"You brought these on purpose, didn't you?", he tugs at the elastic band, making it snap against your skin. "Maybe", you let out a tiny yelp as his fingers make contact with your covered core, rubbing your pussy over your flimsy panties.

"Naughty girl", Chan bites his bottom lip and slides your thong to the side, letting out a groan when he watches your pussy glistening with your juices, his fingers itching to slide in. “Chan, come on”, you whine, your hand wrapping around his wrist to pull his hand closer to where you need him the most. “Gosh, you’re so impatient”, he chuckles and you glare at him, opting to close your legs out of spite, but he’s having none of it.

“Baby, don’t misbehave”, Chan pins your right thigh with his free hand, the other one finally touching your pussy, making you moan out loud, “You wouldn’t really want me to leave you high and wet like that, right?”, he grins. “N-No, I don’t want you to stop”, you mutter, bringing your hand over your mouth to muffle the rest of your moans threatening to spill from your mouth. “What was that, baby? I didn’t hear you”, he sing-songs with the most teasing lilt he can muster. “Fuck, Chan, stop teasing and give me your fingers, please!”, you whine again, but it turns into a loud gasp when you feel your boyfriend’s fingers sink into your soaked core, instantly clenching down on them.

“Damn, baby, you’re sucking them right in, so fucking greedy”, Chan’s breath tickles your ear, his lips barely touching that weak spot behind it. You mentally beg he abuses that spot with his mouth, just like the way he knows.

He starts pumping them in a rather fast pace, his thumb reaching to rub your swollen clit, eliciting moan after moan from your lips. It’s as if he reads your thoughts when you feel his lips suck on that spot behind your ear, your mouth forming in an ‘o’ shape. “Doing so well for me, sweetheart, so fucking well, fuck”, Chan moans, his own self-control wearing thin as his cock twitches with every little sound you make. “More, give me more”, you whine, your hand reaching to Chan’s crotch, palming his bulge over his pants, making him groan, his head leaning forward, forehead touching yours, breaths almost mingling together.

The both of you are completely lost in pleasure, your boyfriend’s fingers never stopping their motions, rubbing against your walls, that you completely miss the door clicking open, a different figure entering the apartment.

“Hello? Anyon- HOLY SHIT DUDE!”, the source of the voice snaps the both of you out of it, making you scream out loud. 

“What the- Soonyoung?! What the fuck are you doing here?!”, Chan yelps as he notices his roommate standing frozen on the doorstep. He puts himself in front of you to somehow cover your body from the older man’s sight, in an attempt to save the last remnants of decency. “Um, I can still see her, uh”, he gestures vaguely towards your body and you hide your face under your boyfriend’s hoodie out of shame.

Chan takes a pillow and throws it towards his roommate, while trying his best to put your panties back on, ending up leaving you high and dry, against his will, mouthing an “I’m sorry” with an embarrassed expression. 

“Can you at least explain why the hell you’re here? Weren’t you supposed to stay at Seungkwan’s tonight?”, “Well yeah, that was the plan, until a power cut happened and both of our phones died out so I had no way to text you”, he lets out an awkward laugh. “Let me get this straight - you left Seungkwan all alone in his house without power?”, you straighten your clothes, legs feeling a bit wobbly.

“In my defense, he managed to send a text to another friend of his to spend the night there before his phone died”, Soonyoung tries to excuse himself. “And you didn’t think about doing the same?”, your boyfriend grits out of annoyance. “Oh…Ahah, you are not wrong there, buddy”, Soonyoung laughs, making the two of you sigh in defeat, “Yeah, sorry about that, Y/N”. “You’re lucky you’re Chan’s friend and I love you, otherwise I would have decapitated you”, “Okay easy there, tiger”, he laughs and goes into his room to change. You feel a pair of arms around your waist and Chan turns you around, pulling you flush to his chest.

“I promise to make it up to you, babe, I swear”, he whispers against your lips, his hands fisting your (his) hoodie. “You better hold up to your word, mister, or I’ll strangle you with that ugly garland”, “Is that a promise”, “Threat would be a more suitable word”, you retort playfully.

“I’ll accept it either way”, Chan kisses you again, grinning widely.

Maybe getting snowed in isn’t so bad after all.

[nayialovecat]

Nimona :/

Ok, we finally watched Nimona and I admit that I'm a bit disappointed - mainly with the plot and the world that has no right to function.

After everyone was raving about this movie, I really expected something much better. I will only point out a few of the biggest logical, plot and world building errors (warning: spoilers):

The queen is dead - where is the mourning? Where's the new queen or king? She died and people were like "aha, so we have a villain in the city now" and continued their lives? What the hell?

For a thousand-year-old being, Nimona acts like they're been in some kind of hibernation for 99% of those thousand years. They have no experience, no knowledge, and basically… nothing. Personally, I bet that they are a descendant of a monster and are younger than their "main" form. That would make more sense.

Where are the older knights? The new ones were only choosed when the old ones died or what? And if only the descendants of the original team became knights - how come there were still so many of them? Within a thousand years, at least half of these families should be extinct!

So the city really had no contact with the outside world? How on earth was it self-sustaining? Okay, with the technology they could do it - but not in medieval times, damn it! Read how many hectares of land are needed to feed the appropriate number of cows to feed 700,000 people. Man! Seriously!

Since apparently there was ONLY this one kingdom in the whole world, why was it called a kingdom - yes A KINGDOM, even not THE KINGDOM (by the way, it had no other name, lol), but also - who did they trade with at the end? And if there were other countries - why didn't they try to contact this one?

Nimona and Ballister gain evidence of the principal's guilt IN THE DIGITAL VERSION. Ballister doesn't want to share the recording online - but WHY can't he send it to his lover VIA EMAIL? Fucking hell… The technology in this world is advanced but only works when there is a plot need. It hurts so much.

Horses that magically appear when the epicness of the scene requires it and disappear when something could happen to them (then we have exploding flying scooters).

Please, did they only post this short fragment of the principal's statement online, or were the animators simply lazy? Why didn't they include the scene of Nimona changing from lover back to themself - then it would be clear that they couldn't have been the principal when she confessed. Am I the only one who sees the idiocy here?

The principal's motivation doesn't make any sense. I'm not saying anything more here. Her whole plan simply exists to create a plot problem, giving an excuse for fights, betrayals, dramatic scenes and the deaths of other characters. Bleh.

Ballister attack on Nimona have no sens also. Bleh.

People. Don't. Act. That. Way. They don't forgive because the monster saved their lives when he previously almost destroyed the city.

And finally, two more comments about the Polish translation: flattering and unflattering. Unflattering: why "dyrektora". What's wrong with the word "dyrektorka"? I mean, I know what it's about, the fucking linguistic political hypercorrectness, but… When I first heard the phrase "dyrektora", I thought it was just slang. At school we called the principal "dyro" - I thought that was what it was about. Political hypercorrectness disgusts me in this case. And flattering one: Nimona's pronouns. In the Polish version, they talk about themself in the neuter gender - and that's cool. But others call them "she". And here's a big plus in that: a) there's no saying "that's not my pronoun, use proper one!!!", which actually gets tiring, b) there's no exaggeration in the other direction, i.e. Nimona calls themself "ono" once and then everyone magically knows to address them with this form (this is also what irritates me in TV series, that no one is ever wrong - unless they use the plot to justify it or is needed conflic about that). So here I consider translations to be a plus, I don't know if it was the same in English, but it's a tiny plus for Polish translators. Good job.

Let it not be so harsh. The movie has good moments. I think the animation is wonderful. The dialogues are even funny. There are nice character designs. I like the romance between Ballister and Ambrosius. There are some really cute scenes that I liked (e.g. a possessed child, a scene with an otter - although at first I thought it was a hydra - similar words in Polish "wydra" and "hydra") and a few texts that made me laugh (somewhere at the end there was "leave the kid and run away" from some random characters - I laughed at this). But overall… the movie disappointed me. This was not what I expected after so many praises in its honor. And the main (I assume it was supposed to be the main) thread about tolerance and respecting others, no matter who they are, completely disappeared.

[delicatefade]

For #talktometuesday I'm v curious to hear more about corrupt Eilan is that in a world where she follows Solas and helps him bring the Veil down or something else? I love hearing about Inquisitors who turn to the dark side 😈

Aha! The turn to the dark side is full of thrashing and self delusion. Quick world state catch up. It's close to canon-ish. Solas broke up with Eilan and left to pursue his goal of tearing down the Veil to restore the world to its rightful order. Eilan stayed on as Inquisitor. The Inquisition is now a direct military and ops vehicle of the Chantry lead by Leliana with Cassandra as her hand. The Inquisition's main target is Solas. tl;dr: If you're wondering what radicalizes her.... nothing? She never agrees with Solas philosophically about the Veil or why it needs to come down. But she is so singularly focused on staying in a relationship with him, so self-absorbed in her love, that she makes a series of small, compromised decisions. Each decision feels, in that moment, absolutely human and excusable. But ultimately those decisions culminate in her corruption because they make her his accomplice. And once the deed is done, she engages in a series of mental gymnastics to live with herself and with him and her transformation from a do-gooder to a villain is complete. The slightly longer explanation below: 👇

Eilan corruption arc. The story starts six months after Trespasser. Eilan and Solas were a couple and very much in love. She is convinced that if she could just find him and reason with him, he can be persuaded from his destructive path. She dreams about him, finds him that way (dream magic!) He's actually thrilled by this turn of events. For him, it represents the possibility that she might change her mind and join him. He also wants this to end with his lover Eilan at his side. What a dream! They both ignore the elephant in the room for a while, just enjoy being together and pretend they aren't at odds. But as he gets closer to his goal, she starts getting desperate and leaks some of his secrets to Dorian so that power players of Thedas can perhaps oppose Solas a little longer. But she never actually gives up any critical information that would help Solas' enemies stop Solas once and for all. That would be a step too far. Her heart isn't there. Dorian, and others, doubt Eilan's loyalties. She had said she is Team Modern Thedas, but her actions speak otherwise. Dorian in particular feels betrayed by her. 😟 Meanwhile she's arguing with Solas all the time, their relationship is frayed very badly, she acts out, but he will not be dissuaded. He is convinced she will prefer life as an elf without the Veil and their lives will be better. He is also hoping that removing the Veil will make all elves immortal again. Fingers crossed, vhenan!!! You and me forever!!! Finally, when Solas does take down the Veil, Eilan against all odds shows the fuck up and does have a way to stop his ritual. Bruh, it won't even kill or wound him. It is like, the perfect Solavellan gotcha: stop the ritual without hurting Solas? Wow, the dream. SHE STILL BACKS OFF!!!!! She's too in love to disappoint and hurt him (emotionally) this way, and will absolutely choose him over the world (as her friends had accurately accused!!!) Sure, she gives herself a little mental band-aid about it, she reasons her decision not to stop Solas from *checks notes* destroying civilization as millions of people know it is about, uh, "having faith in him." Nah, dawg, it's toxic, obsessive love. That story is completed and published. Comes in at just under 30k. Read it here -> https://archiveofourown.org/works/38774526/chapters/96954213 I am working on the sequel which covers the first 3 years after the Veil falls. The draft is currently at 65k words. In that fic, the consequences of the apocalypse are dire!! A little worse than Solas expected. You know. For consistency. Eilan, at first, is not coping well and says ugly things to Solas. But in order to cope, she has to compartmentalize. Also, she's essentially in the most privileged position in all of Thedas at that point, and shielded from most horrors.

Meanwhile we see Solas start to have doubts about his choices re: the Veil (both putting it up and taking it down). His self-doubts start to eat at him and it is Eilan who builds up his confidence again. She's a playwright and writes literal propaganda to retell history where Solas is the singular greatest Byronic hero of all time. She tells him that what he did was right and good. Does she actually believe that? Doesn't matter! And not really? Look, they need to live. Here's what she does start to believe: Some people just matter more to world history, you know? 😉 And her turn to villainy is complete without ever, even once, having a god damn point. She just wants her love. I might write a part 3 where we see Eilan at her happiest. She and Solas are married, have kids, and the ugly past feels distant. In that story they learn that actions have consequences and the misdeeds of the past catch up to them both.

[devitalise]

💗 IMO 💗 in addition to the usual reading round-up + next month's itinerary, would you also care to share your Succession thoughts as a longtime/big time fan witnessing it come to an end🎤

oh this is sooo perfectly timed i just watched episode 6, but first let's get into the

april book wrap up

let it come down by paul bowles

this kick started a themed reading moment of exploring Tangier through several different books, namely during and post the formation and dissolution of the International Zone. this reminded me of the man who watched the trains go by by georges simenon, the slow unravelling of a persons psyche as they grow more and more paranoid. i found some of the perspectives a bit lacking, sentences a touch too long to lose momentum, but i will pick up another book by Bowles. also discovered this book from reading checkout 19 in january (that book is rife with recommendations the author and the main character are obsessed with reading (and i like looking into books that are mentioned in others))

links in march wrap up

in tangier by mohamed choukri

i think my goodreads review still stands up on how i feel about this book. really glad that my research led me to this book, and Choukri as an invidual. teaching yourself how to read and write in your 20s and then getting to meet and befriend authors you revere could only really happen in the late 60s. the writing landscape felt so small and interconnected in this book, and the juicy gossip like nature was so frank and i think lended a real humanity to people who can sometimes just be names now that everyone involved is dead. similar to let it come down, Tangier is a main character in its own right, and i appreciated Choukri discussing his struggles with the white men around him yearning for a time that's long gone instead of appreciating what the city offered at what was present day. super engaging read.

music: in tangier

naked lunch by william burroughs

was expecting this to round out and also complete my Tangier setting reading. first dnf of the year! i was so, so confused, to the point i thought i'd picked up sci-fi that wasn't going to build the world at all. now that i'm reading older books, it's so interesting to see the threads of what has inspired authors that came after. has brett easton ellis read this book? i can't be entirely sure, but the disjointed, surreal and out of this world ramblings of heroin hallucinations is something i can see influencing the prose of american psycho. only made it around 60 pages in, put down purely because there's no overarching plot, and all the sexual violence was gory for the sake of it i felt. william burroughs as an individual is interesting (mentioned in in tangier, though briefly)

music: naked lunch soundtrack (i might watch the movie, though!)

good intentions by kasim ali

this book inspired an 8 minute voicenote to jaye. sometimes disliking a book can feel so freeing to me personally, i love loving books but getting jolted back to something that i don't like can definitely bring out more eloquent thoughts or critiques of the book for myself i've found. went into this in the best faith, and wasn't rewarded at all. such a missed opportunity for the book to just to refuse to acknowledge antiblack racism amongst nonblack communities, and i'm sure it's done in a way to mirror the naivety of the main character, but to be so close to making a point and then continue to circle around it is lazy. the big aha! moment of this is the love interest having to admit that her being a Black woman is actually a problem and the reason the relationship isn't working. just disappointing, really. interesting threads on faith and Islam, and conforming to parental expectations, but still quite surface level. trying to be too many things, not good in any of them.

music: groovy mix (man, the niche mixes on spotify are good)

may reading

i'm currently reading in cold blood by truman capote. he was mentioned quite a bit in In Tangier, and after reading swan song by kelleigh greenburg-jephcott in 2021, he came to the forefront of my mind. after that i'll probably pick up the third in elena ferrante's neapolitan quartet: those who leave and those who stay.

now... succession thoughts

i'm really enjoying the season so far. i think we're seeing all of the kids at the rise before the fall, and maybe (kendall and rome, especially) are just about to start falling. still unsure how i feel about shiv pregnancy i think if it wasn't leading to tomshiv resolution i'd be able to appreciate it more for what it represents to shiv as someone who has rejected motherhood and other ideas expected of her as a woman. but i hate tom, so i just think it's a bit lazy. greg has outstayed his welcome to me, he serves absolutely no purpose

kendall roy is still my babygirl :)

[81scorp]

My top 8 movies of 2023

Hey folks! Its that time again! 2023... the year that I finally went back to the cinema again after having been away from it since 2020.* It was also the first time that I got sick after having been healthy and sickness free for four years (thanks to good hand hygiene and social distancing). It was only a matter of time I suppose. But now you dont have to wait to the end of 2024 for my list of movies I saw in 2023 thats ranked according to my own personal taste and bias! Why 8? Because Im not a professional filmcritic who has time to see most of the movies that came out this year and sometimes other duties got in the way. So I only had time to see 8 movies in the cinema**.

(*Unless you count that time I saw No time to die, which was in 2021.) **Actually, I only had time to see 7. One of these films was on Netflix. I was gonna make it a top 7 list but I decided to put it on my list since: A: the film came out 2023. and B: I technically saw it in its intended format since it never had a theatrical release. So its not like I missed an opportunity to see it in theaters.

But anyway, with all the technicalities of the way, here are the movies…

8: Antman and the wasp: Quantumania Scott Lang, his daughter Cassie, Hope Van Dyne, Dr. Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne are all sucked into the Quantum realm. When trying to get back to their own world they run into an evil man named Kang, hijinx ensue. It did not exceed my expectations but it didn`t go below them either. I expected the usual MCU quality from this and was not dissapointed. Safe and familiar. Not great, not bad, just OK.

7: The Marvels Carol Danvers teams up with her old friends daughter Monica and Kamala Khan, a big admirer of her, thanks to the power of an ancient, alien bling to fight an angry Kree woman who wants to fix her home planet at the cost of other planets, Hijinx ensue. Like Quantumania I didnt expect this to be better than the average MCU movie and was not disappointed. Its higher on the list than Quantumania because Iman Vellani is fun and I like the musical scene. Its OK.

6: Wish Reminds me of Bryan Singers Superman Returns, in that it is a love letter and homage to something that came before it, but other than that it is not much else. I wanted this movie to do better at the box office, but I also wanted it to be better. People are disappointed in this because this was supposed to be a milestone, the movie made to celebrate that the Disney animation studio has been around for 100 years! It just couldnt live up to the hype. But if you take all the hype out of the equation and just view as its own thing its… OK. I liked it more than Pocahontas. The script could have been polished a little and the songs could have been better (especially "This is the thanks I get"). Like I said, it`s OK. Worth a watch.

5: The Super Mario Bros. Movie At first I had some reservations about Chris Pratts voice coming out of Marios mouth, but it quickly grew on me. Wasnt too crazy about Fred Armisens as Cranky Kong though, but he didnt have much screentime. It may be a movie about Super Mario, but it is also made by Illumination, and there were times where I could feel their fingerprints on the movie. Of course, Why shouldnt there be? They made it after all. Yes, but remember, Illumination made Minions, the cinematical equivalent of entertaining a one year old by dangling your car keys in front of them. There was one scene where they used used Ahas "Take on me" that had me scratching my head and wonder if that really was the best song for that scene. Good despite being an Illumination movie. Id tell you to go see it, but judging from its box office theres probably a chance that you already have.

4: M3gan After her parents die in a car accident, eight year old Cady is sent to live with her aunt Gemma who works as a roboticist at a high-tech toy company. Gemma has built a humanoid child-sized doll powered by artificial intelligence called M3gan. M3gan becomes Cadys companion, babysitter and does things that Gemma doesnt have time to do, like play with her and reminding her to flush the toilet. Then after a while, things go sideways and M3gan starts to become overprotective of Cady. This movie reminds a little about the Nighmare on Elmstreet sequels in that it isnt afraid to be silly. Right from the start it tells us with a commercial for a silly toy that it is a comedy and a satire. In that way its similar to Paul Verhoeven`s Robocop. It has comments about parenting, the use of A.I. in todays society and it makes you ask questions, like: Would M3gan have stayed good if Cady had remembered to flush that damn toilet?

3: The boy and the heron Mahito, a young boy who lost his mother in a hospital fire during World War 2 moves into a new home in a rural area to live with his father and his new wife, Natsuko. One day Natsuko disappears and when Mahito looks for her he meets a peculiar grey heron who at first tries to mislead him but then helps him in his search for Natsuko. It takes a while for the plot to get moving and some of the characters feel a little underwritten. That little criticism aside, its an interesting, visually beautiful and very surreal movie. A welcome alternation from the other animated big studio movies that Ive seen so much of lately. The kind that is aimed at such a broad, general audience that you can really feel how focused grouped it was. It is very unapologetically a Miyazaki movie.

2: Nimona In a futuristic medieval kingdom surrounded by a great wall, Ballister Boldheart, the first commoner to become a knight, is framed for the murder of the Queen. When trying to clear his name and prove his innocence he runs into Nimona, a chaotic shapeshifter who helps him in his endeavour. Ballister learns a few things about his sidekick but also about the kingdom he had sworn to protect. It gets a better spot than The boy and the heron because it feels more accessible, like it wanted to reach a wide audience but at the same time still keep some artistic integrity. If I have any criticism its aimed at the character Todd. He feels like a character from an Illumination movie that accidentally wandered on to the set and no one had the heart to tell him that he was in the wrong place, so they just let him be in the movie. It does the "3D that looks 2D" a little better than Wish, is fun and has some sincere, heartfelt moments. Its message is important, not just in this time but had it come out earlier it would still have been just as important. It dares to do a little more than most animated movies that has come out lately and the fact that it was made and released at all with it`s troubled production history is itself pretty damn impressive.

And now… My number one pick…. will be revealed after an honorable mention!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Its the story that you have heard before: Four turtles and a rat get mutated to a more humanoid shape and size thanks to some goo, they live in the sewers and fight bad guys using ninjitsu. But here is a little new take on that old story: This time the four turtles are curious about and want to be part of the surface world but their mentor and father figure forbids them because he is prejudiced against humans. So its basically "TMNT meets The little mermaid". The Turtles feel more like teenagers in this one than they have in any of the previous movies. It has an anarchic, juvenile charm, deliberately misshapen design on some characters and beneath the immature humor there is also alot of sincerity. Its familiar, different, its funny. Give it a watch.

Why is this an Honorable Mention? Because like Nimona I didnt see it in the cinema but unlike Nimona it did have a theatrical release and in these lists I make Im very much about the movies Ive seen in the cinema, which is the best place to see a movie. Because of that I was hesitant to put it on this list but decided to include it since it came out 2023. Also, I didnt know where to put it on my list. I think I`d place it higher than Wish.

And now… Drumroll please. My number one pick for 2023 iiis…

1: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 If I had a nickel for everytime a movie made in 2023 that had Chris Pratt in the lead role had “No sleep 'til Brooklyn” in its soundtrack Id have two nickels. Which isnt much, but its weird that it happened twice. It has jokes and funny moments but they dont cut off the moments that are sincere and heartfelt, it gives them room to breathe, (take notes Marvel). It feels like the end, not of a book, but of a chapter (because, lets be real, this is Marvel). A chapter has ended and James Gunn made sure to put a lot of work and love into telling a story that would feel right for the characters and their journey. In this day and age where many movies, atleast the Disney ones, have to have badguys with sympathetic backstories, or last minute redemptions, Chukwudi Iwujis High Evolutionary is a welcome change of pace. A modern day Dr Mengele so obsessed with creating a perfect society with the perfect race that he doesnt care who or how many dies in the process. In the end you are really rooting for this guy to get his ass handed to him. Even if it`s made clear in the post credit scenes that this is not the end and that we will see more of the Guardians, this movie gives a feeling of conclusion. You did good, Gunn. You did good. Also, congrats on having the first F-bomb in the MCU!

And those are the movies I saw in 2023.

Movies I wanted to see in 2023 but didnt get the chance to because of time or other duties: Oppenheimer, Barbie, Indiana Jones and the dial of destiny, Elemental and Cocaine bear.

Movies Im looking forward to in 2024 are: Dune 2, Deadpool 3, Inside out 2 and Furiosa: A Mad Max saga.

I hope that 2024 is, if not a good year for movies, then atleast not a bad one.

Written stuff: 53

Started writing this: 2023-12-24

I`m a little late with this one, but better late than never as they say.

Atleast I got it out before february, I consider that a win.

And as usual: English is not my first language, so if my writing doesn`t seem to flow naturally, you know why.

[randynova]

♡𝓜𝔂 𝓦𝓸𝓶𝓪𝓷♡

𝓖𝓾𝓷 𝔁 𝓡𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓻

𝑆𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑦: 𝐴𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝐺𝑢𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝐺𝑜𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒.

✦✦✦ ✦✦✦

𝑊𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔(𝑠):𝐹𝑒𝑚!𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟, 𝐹𝑙𝑢𝑓𝑓, 𝑠𝑜𝑓𝑡(𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝)! 𝐺𝑢𝑛

✦✦✦ ✦✦✦

“Why couldn’t this have waited until another day?” Gun muttered, unbuttoning his shirt, letting it slide off his taut frame, and neatly folding it, placing it onto the roof of his car. He was glad he hadn't put his jacket on, having left it in his passenger seat. “I can’t dirty my clothes again, [Name] will be mad if I get blood on it.” He rolled his broad shoulders until they released a satisfying crack, his thick muscles bulging as he stretched his arms across his scarred chest. Gun peered at a nearby store, the digital clock displaying in big white numbers, ‘7:45 PM’. He groaned, his lips curling into a scowl whilst his arms fell to his side. He didn’t have enough time to deal with this.

“Hmm, and it’s almost time for our date. Fuck.” Gun whispered to himself. He clenched his fists, narrowing his eyes at the man across from him. He removed his shades and revealed his dark gaze, placing his favorite accessory to his side as well. “I’ll make this quick, Goo. I have more important places to be.”

Goo laughed, grinning in his spot as he balanced a pole in his hands. He rolled his eyes, arching a brow at his partner. “Tsk, tsk, tsk, Gun, maybe if you didn’t spend all your time by [Name]’s side, we could have dealt with this matter much earlier. That girl has you wrapped around her pretty little finger, huh?”

“Shut it,” Gun said, already racing towards the blonde and thrusting his fist, knuckles colliding with metal. Upon the cold sensation meeting his skin, he wanted to absolutely kill Goo and rip him to shreds. This would take longer than he wanted, wasting his already precious, short time. He backed off, having a considerable distance between the two, stretching his fingers a few times before clenching them again. He growled, spitting venomously,  “You just like picking fights.” 

“You did too. Before you met her, y’know,” Goo tutted, waving his finger in the air. He scoffed, voice low, “Who would’ve thought? Gun going soft for a girl. Psh, pathetic. Never thought I’d live to see the day...” The blonde trailed off, his face becoming stoic, his mind wandering. You truly had to be someone exceptional if you managed to have a guy like Gun to fall for you. He always wondered who you were, how you looked like, what you did, but Gun had kept you a secret from the world of crime. He hid almost every known trace abou you and tied every loose end that implicated you existed. No one knew who you were and no one could find you — unless Gun allowed them to. 

Goo found it so irritating how he was unable to know the girl who made such a notorious gangster go soft. 

He only met you once and that was by pure sheer luck; dropping by unexpectedly at one of Gun's apartments, only to be met with the sight of you. Seeing how Gun reacted, he knew you were supposed to be kept hush-hush. But boy, did he have a field day the next time he saw the man.

Goo had to meet you again. Or at least, know you more.

Only when Gun’s fist connected with Goo’s face did the man snap out of his thoughts, the impact of such force throwing him a few feet backwards. He dug his feet into the floor, a high-pitched screech coming from his shoes as the rubber burned against the pavement. With his sleeve, Goo wiped his cheek, seeing a speck of blood staining his clothes. Goo chuckled, standing up straight with a grin, “If I can remember right, you told me you got Eli Jang in trouble for basically the same thing. What was her name again? Heather?”

Goo blocked the upcoming attack, his pole raised and crossed above his face. He pushed Gun back with an effortless swing of the pole. He tilted his head and scratched the back of his head with his free hand. “How is [Name] any different from Heather? What does she have on you?”

Gun twisted his neck gently until he heard a crack, looking back at Goo as he hissed with venom, “Nothing.”

“Let me think, let me think….” Goo hummed, racking his mind for any possibility that someone like Gun would stay with a woman longer than one night. His face lit up and he broke out into a wide grin, pointing a finger at Gun. “Aha! You got the poor girl knocked up, right?! See, I always tell you to wear protection! Just couldn’t keep it in your pants, hm? Shaaame.” 

“Ugh, fuck no. I don’t want kids and neither does she. We made that clear at the beginning," Gun said with a sneer, annoyed beyond comprehension at Goo's antics. 

“Awe, I really thought she held something over you. How about this: I’ll stop fighting you if you tell me why you’re still with such a pretty girl like [Name]? Deal?" Goo offered, slinging the pole onto his shoulder. His eyes darkened as he spat maliciously, knowing each word would wind and rile Gun's emotions. "She deserves better than a perverted gangster, you both know that.”

Gun stayed silent, the corners of his lips tugging down into a frown. Goo’s last words struck a chord in him, sending a pang through his heart upon hearing an insecurity he’ll never admit to. Of course. Everyone told you to stay away from a man like Gun. People kept telling you you will only get hurt in the end, that a better man will come along and sweep you off your feet if you just waited, or you could always do better than him. But you never listened. You stayed by his side, even when the whole world looked down on you two. Even for months, he tried convincing himself he felt nothing for you, but after a while, he finally accepted that someone managed to tear down his walls and enter his hollow, cold heart — you. 

You were just a different kind of girl - no- a different kind of woman. A special woman he had the pleasure of meeting. One he wouldn’t dare let go of now that he has the privilege of calling you ‘mine’. And by any god out there, he won’t be a stupid fool to lose you.

Gun sighed. “I tell you and you’ll put this stupid fight behind us, right?”

Goo placed a hand over his chest, replying shortly, “You have my word.~”

“[Name] is just that special person you meet once in your life. One you know you can’t let go of because there isn’t another like her. Simple as that.”

“What?! Ugh, don’t be boring! Tell me more!”

“You asked why I  stayed with her and I told you.”

“Yeah, but I expected a story, not some sad attempt at an old man’s wise words.”

A low guttural sound rumbled in Gun’s throat, his eye twitching. “Maybe when I’m in a better mood I’ll tell you, but if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with my woman.”

Goo groaned and tossed his pole to the side, rolling his eyes and grumbling, "Fiiine, but you owe me a story. "

"Whatever—damnit," Gun looked at the clock once again and his face contorted into one of pure irate. "I'm late."

'8:12 PM'

✦✦✦ ✦✦✦

Your head rested on your hand, balancing a glass of wine between your fingers, twirling the cup as the liquid swished around. Your eyes were looking down on the glory of Gangdong, the shimmering, blinding lights of the city mesmerizing you. The city always looked beautiful at this time of night. You just wished you could enjoy it with the person you cherished. A sigh leaves your lips and you look away, eyes trailing to the other tables over the balcony. 

The lingering eyes of many strange men didn't faze you anymore, the two burly boys surrounding your table always making them avert their gaze as fast as it landed. A courtesy of your boyfriend, who was at least thirteen minutes late, who insisted on you needing to be guarded at all times. You knew if he were here, no one would dare to even breathe in your direction, let alone glance. 

The cool air pricked your skin and a shiver passed through your body, reminding you of where you were. For a man as smart as him, Gun tended to neglect keeping the season in mind when planning your dates. Nonetheless, you were happy he went out of his way to take you out on such a busy schedule. 

You jumped in your seat, snapping out of your thoughts. A jacket was wrapped around your frame, warmth immediately enveloping you as the fabric made contact with your bare skin. You looked up and smiled. 

Gun stood behind you, towering over your sitting form as he made sure you were nice and covered. His coat basically swallowed you whole. A small stuffed animal was tucked under his arm, it’s fluffy fur peeking out. He walked over to take his seat, pulling the chair out, and wasting no time to slip in. He waved to the guards and they nodded, beginning to clear the scene of people.

“Sorry I’m late, [Name],” Gun started, taking the stuffie out from underneath his arm and presenting it to you. Oh, how adorable. "I brought you a gift as an apology."

A small brown otter sat in his palms, barely taking up Gun's hands. It’s beady, plastic eyes looked straight at you, a little smile stitched onto its snout. A snort left you. The sight of such a well-dressed, intimidating man carrying such an adorable toy was  amusing. "Really now? Just a cute toy, Gun?"

Gun sighed and sat up a bit from his chair, leaning over the table, and cupping your face as he planted a gentle kiss on your cheek. As quick as it started, Gun's lips left and he was seated once again. You pout. "Don't give me that look, [Name]. We can do more at home if you want but not here."

"It's not wrong to be disappointed in no kiss on the mouth after not seeing your boyfriend for such a long time. Don't you think I deserve it?"

Gun smirked, placing his shades on the table and taking your hand, intertwining your fingers together. He gave a light squeeze and you didn't miss a beat as you squeezed his coarse hand back. The way you pursed your lips and looked at him with such glossy, innocent eyes made his heart swell. With such a pretty, cute face, it was hard to say no to you. "Hmm, maybe. But Olly told me you crossed paths with Hostel A." Gun spoke, slipping his hands from yours and picking up his dinnerware, quickly cutting the savory meat into pieces. He didn't hesitate to put a piece up to your mouth, a hand underneath so as to not have the juice leak. "I was told you nearly broke the Uncles' bones and Big Daddy himself."

Your face scrunched up and you scoffed, shaking your head. You placed the stuffed animal to the side, petting it. "Figured those assholes wouldn’t tell you everything. The ‘uncles’ wouldn’t leave me alone and I thought Olly was another one of those bastards,” you snap, sitting back in your seat with a scowl. “How was I supposed to know he was trying to help when he dresses like that? I thought he was trying to assault me for God’s sake!”

Gun placed down his fork on his plate and his face twisted into one of fury, eyes turning cold and rigid as all the warmth disappeared whilst his lips curled back into a nasty frown. You almost thought his infamous scowl was directed towards you, but you knew better. You dear boyfriend wouldn't dare lay a single finger on you if it didn't bring you pleasure. "They what?" 

You smiled softly, placing your hand over his as it clenched into a fist. With your small attempt at trying to soothe him by rubbing small circles, you spoke with a bit of hesitation, "Ah, yeah. They kept trying to get my number and wouldn't let me leave the booth I was in. I had no other choice than to use the training you taught me. Since I never met Olly, I really thought he was just another one of them and I reacted before thinking, making me attack him too."

Gun scoffed, shaking his head as he listened to your explanation with disbelief, every word fueling his rage of someone daring to hit on his woman. Every fiber in Gun's body screamed, wanting to feel their skin underneath his fists as he pounded them into oblivion. But the only thing stopping him was his date with you. For now, he'll put his anger aside to be with you and keep you happy. Who knows how long he'll be gone and when he'll see you again. The man has to make every second count. 

Yet, he couldn’t let this go unpunished.

"Fuck." Gun leans closer to you and sits on the edge of his chair. Placing his hand over yours, he slips his fingers to grasp your palm, and lifts your hand to his lips, pressing tender kisses against your knuckles. His thumb grazing softly across your fingers and his eyes flutter shut. You couldn't help but stare in awe, never quite seeing him like this.

So careful with you, so gentle, you were surprised he wasn't seething in his seat and threatening to break their heads open. Gun opens his eyes and looks up at you, shaking in his seat. “I promise I’ll have those fuckers begging on their knees for your forgiveness. They should know better than to treat a woman with such rudeness and disrespect. Shit, I’ll go right now. I’ll beat them till-”

Your sweet laugh reaches his ears, cutting him off from his little speech. You lean in and pull in his hand to your lips, pressing a tender peck to his coarse knuckles. Gun felt his heart race and skip a beat at the sight, shock crossing his features. You look up, looking at your boyfriend with mirthful eyes. “As much fun as that sounds, I'd rather you stay here. Please? I want to spend as much time with you before you go back to work.”

The man stayed silent for a few seconds, taking in your words. He looked away, clicking his tongue before he broke out into a small smile, a blush blooming across his cheeks and the tip of his ears burning a bright red. “Of course, [Name]. Though, you could’ve just said you like spending time with me.”

Giggling, you lower your hands and shake your head. “Gun, of course I like spending time with you. You’re my favorite person and I love you after all.” Your voice said those three words with such fondness, it’s as if the man was in a dream. 

If your words from before didn’t send Gun over the edge, your proclamation of love surely did now. He looked down, grinning like an idiot, showing a soft, bashful side he’s never revealed to anyone before. He swore his heart would jump out of his throat from how fast it was pounding against his ribcage. Gun grasped your hand tightly and sighed blissfully, Gently, he spoke, gazing at you with loving eyes, “I love you too.”

You smiled.

The tension in the air grew to be too much and both of you found it unbearable, wanting to do what both of you have been waiting for for weeks.

Both of you sat up and leaned over the table, closing the gap between you two as your lips interlocked, slipping together like if you were made for eachother. The kiss sparked and fed the fire both of you held in your hearts, burning brighter with every moment you spent at one another’s side. Gun couldn’t help but smile against your mouth.

As much as he hated being apart from you for so long, moments like these made the long hours worth it. If working so much meant he could provide for you, then he wouldn't mind doing it for the rest of his life if you had a roof over your head and a nice, warm meal at night.

Afterall, you were his woman.

And he loved you.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

©𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚢𝚗��𝚟𝚊 || 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚍 || 𝚗𝚘 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜, 𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚜, 𝚌𝚘𝚙𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚎𝚝𝚌. 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚌𝚒𝚛𝚌𝚞𝚖𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜 .

✦✦✦✦✦✦

[helpimhyperfixating]

Mother’s Day - Jotaro x Reader

Is it mother’s day? Absolutely not, but people are nice to me so here is a cute fic

Word Count: 1844

Stretching softly in your barely awake state, you softly reached your hand to your right, only to sleepily open one eye. Your husband wasn't sleeping there where he usually would be.

Shrugging it off, you just rolled onto your right side and curled a little in on yourself, missing the warmth he usually gave you. Did you steal his warmth every day and bully him by putting your freezing cold feet and hands on him? Yes. Did you regret it? No. Did you wish he was here now so you could put your freezing feet under his shirt and on his stomach or back? Absolutely yes.

While musing about your cold feet however, you already slowly drifted off to sleep again. It was Sunday, there was no reason to get up.

- - - -

Tapping on your nose and cheek suddenly brought you out of dreamland, making you groan softly.

"C'mon, Jojo. Wake mommy." You heard that being whispered in the familiar voice of your husband, followed by an attempted hushed giggle. Your cheeks were then grabbed and squished together into a fish face, making you groan once more as you rolled onto your back.

Slowly opening your eyes, you were met with the adorable sight of Jotaro holding Jolyne, his hands on her torso as he held her hovering over you while she held the biggest of smiles, having her hands on your cheeks as she kept smushing them together repeatedly.

A distorted chuckle left your lips and Jolyne was set onto your stomach, making her let go of your cheeks. "Morning." You sleepily drawled. You never really were a morning person.

Jolyne's bubble seemed to be unable to hold and, as she practically vibrated of excitement while she sat on your stomach, it burst. The little girl flung herself forward, practically knocking the wind out of you while wrapping her arms around your neck and burying her head into the pillows behind you, screaming, "Happy Mama Day!"

Shocked, you automatically put your arms back around the girl, hearing Jotaro softly chuckle from besides the bed. "'Mother's Day' Jolyne, it's Mother's Day."

"Oh." Jolyne sat up, now sitting on your chest as she looked down at you. "Happy Mother's Day!" She shouted, shooting her hands high up into the air as if in a 'tadaa and surprise!'

Your eyebrows shot up in surprise and you looked to the left to see Jotaro with a rare soft smile on his face, now holding a tray. Honestly, you had no clue that Mother's Day was even coming, so to say you were surprised was an understatement.

"What's all this?" You asked, the disbelief audible in your voice, making both Jolyne and Jotaro grin a little wider.

"Surprise." Jotaro spoke softly before leaning down and pressing a kiss to your forehead.

Trying to copy her dad, Jolyne put her hands on your windpipe, leaning her full weight on it and cutting off your air supply briefly as she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to your head too before sitting back up, shuffling her butt a bit to sit comfortably on your chest while beaming a smile.

Despite the brief loss of air, you couldn't help the giant grin that spread on your face.

You opened your mouth to speak something when Jolyne suddenly gasped loudly, putting both of her little hands over your mouth, crossed over one another.

"Daddy! We forgot 'it'!" She whispered loudly while looking at her father; as if the hands over your mouth were supposed to keep you from hearing her speak.

"Go get it then." He encouraged and Jolyne immediately jumped into action, lifting her hands from your face before getting off of your chest as if dismounting a horse, carefully sliding and hanging off the bed until she got onto the floor, immediately taking off and disappearing from the bedroom, leaving you and Jotaro.

Shaking his head, Jotaro got closer and you sat up in response, resting against the headboard so that he could place the tray on your lap.

Once it was situated and he was sure the tea wouldn't spill, he gently took your chin between his forefinger and thumb and tilted your head towards him, pressing a soft and loving kiss on your lips.

"Good morning." He mumbled softly after pulling away a bit, looking into your eyes.

"Morning." You replied, the smile returning to your face.

"You had no idea it was today, did you?" Jotaro spoke, his face still so close to yours.

"Absolutely no clue." You admitted. "But it adds to the surprise!"

"Mommy!" Jolyne shouted as she came sprinting back inside, nearly dive-bombing onto your bed if it wasn't for Jotaro's quick reaction who grabbed her mid-air.

Not even caring that she was grabbed and now hanging in the air, Jolyne was giggling, firmly holding onto a piece of paper and waving it in front of your face, not giving you the opportunity to properly look at it.

"I made this for you!" She called out and you took the drawing from her. As you moved it back from your face a bit so you could properly look at it, Jotaro pulled Jolyne back and just carried her rugby style as he walked to the other side of the bed, putting Jolyne down on the foot of it while he himself lifted the covers and slid back under.

Immediately, Jolyne crawled over to you both, worming her way in between before Jotaro could slide up against you and starting to try and get under the covers with you both.

You giggled softly at her while Jotaro good-naturedly rolled his eyes, helping her lift the covers in the end. Once she was situated, he let the blanket go again, the three of you now sitting underneath it, leaning up against the pillows and headboard of the bed.

"This is already really well made, Jolyne!" You suddenly spoke up and she looked up at you, a large and happy smile on her face. "Can you tell me what I am looking at here, I would love to hear the artists thoughts." You spoke as if you were a reporter, leaning down slightly and tilting the drawing so that all three of you could look at it.

There was a good reason you had subtly asked Jolyne to explain. Because, while the drawing itself was very much appreciated by you, you couldn't exactly make out what your daughter had tried to draw.

"That's you. You're a mermaid." She pointed to the figure with a tail on the middle. That was indeed the one thing you had been able to decipher. "That is me." She then pointed to a red blob with several branch-like lines coming out of it.

"And what are you?"

"I'm an omctopus!" She cheered happily, still unable to pronounce the word correctly, or just flat out refusing to now, despite how often Jotaro had tried to correct her. "Cause I can now be sneaky and grab so many things at once with all my arms!" She smirked evilly, rubbing her hands together as if concocting an evil scheme right then and there.

"Ah, that makes sense." You chuckled a little nervously. "And... this?" You hovered your finger over the last figure on the drawing. You already knew it had to be Jotaro, not only because of process of elimination, but mainly because of the white hat that sat atop the brown crayon mass.

"That's daddy. He's a walrus 'cause he's so big and always warm."

Jolyne held such a cute and innocent look and you couldn't help but just burst out laughing at her statement, absolutely losing at and nearly knocking over the tray with breakfast on your lap as you howled.

Luckily for you, Jotaro was not offended and had the brain to lift the tray away from you, allowing you to move as you wished as you laughed, clutching your stomach.

"You don't like it?" Jolyne asked when you calmed down a little and you immediately turned to her, gently grasping her face while still giggling.

"No, Jolyne, I love it. This is the best Mother's Day gift." You smiled and kissed her nose, making her scrunch it up before happily beaming at you, quickly turning to her dad when you let go of her face.

"Aha! My gift was better!" She boasted, pointing at him.

"Well, I can't compete with a walrus and an octopus now, can I?" Jotaro spoke while holding the most deadpan expression, making you try so hard to stifle your giggling again. Jotaro then huffed a bit in amusement and set the tray back down, one half of it now on your leg and the other half on his own, making it hover over Jolyne's lap - to which she happily took hold as if she was the one to keep it steady and in place. "Here is my inferior gift. Even though it is from both Jolyne and me." Jotaro said as he reached his hand over Jolyne and to you, passing you a small box.

Gently taking the box from his fingers, you sent him a grateful smile. "Thank you." You softly said. This was already way more than you ever could have expected. Hell, you didn't even know it was coming.

Grasping the small box with both hands now, you slowly lifted the top to reveal plush padding. On top, sat a beautiful bracelet; the silver chord holding an intricate pattern while the focal point of the jewellery was undoubtedly the three beads in the centre. All of them see through, two of the beads were a little larger; an aquamarine one and a silver one, the both of them encasing a smaller green bead that sat snuggly between the others.

Your little family.

A soft 'awe' escaped you and you looked up at Jotaro, your eyes a bit glossy. "Thank you." You softly spoke and Jotaro leaned over Jolyne to press a soft kiss to your lips, shielding her eyes with his large hand so she wouldn't see. Once he pulled away and leaned back, removing his hand from Jolyne's eyes, the little girl was pouting grumpily at her father. "I love this so much." You started, eyeing your daughter to see her deflate a bit, the pout turning less angry and more disappointed. "But nothing can compete with me as a mermaid." You spoke and Jolyne lit up again at your words.

"Queen of the mermaids!" She then called out and you raised your brows up.

"Queen even?"

"Mhm!" Jolyne nodded in confirmation. "I made you the queen!"

"Oh, well then definitely nothing can compete with that." You giggled, smirking a little as you glanced at Jotaro who just held a tiny soft smile as he looked at the scene in front of him.

He then noticed your stare and snapped out of it, clearing his throat. "How about breakfast?"

"Oh, well, maybe that can compete with it."

"Nooooo! Mommy!"

[ynscrazylife]

Hey !! i love ur writing style <3 i wanted to ask you if you could write a loki x reader where the reader and loki have been best friends for a long time now and after he faked his death in tdw he knocks on their door and the reader and loki have an argument and then they kiss?? maybe like the scene in crimson peak “you lied to me” “i did” “you told me you loved me” “i do” smth similar? :)

The Greatest Deception | loki angst fluff fic

Summary: After Loki reveals himself to be alive, Y/N has some choice words to say. Loki has a question.

Authors Note: Thanks for requesting! Also, I want to say that I fully support and acknowledge that Loki is genderfluid. Seeing as this fic was requested with Loki having he/him pronouns, I will use those pronouns. (Also, I didn’t know which pronouns you wanted me to write since you mentioned they for the reader but typically I use she/her, so lemme know if you want that edited)

Request to be on a taglist (or multiple) here! (Taglists are at the end of the fic)

MCU Masterlist #1 | MCU Masterlist #2 |  Main Masterlist 

PSA: Do NOT copy, steal, translate, plagiarize, republish, etc any of my works on Tumblr or any other platform. Also, do NOT claim any of my works as your own. All of these works are either requests I’ve gotten that people have wanted me to write or original ideas I’ve had for works. If you happen to take inspiration from anything I’ve written and want to write something inspired by that, please a) ask me first and b) IF I say yes, credit me as inspo in your post by tagging me and link whatever work of mine that inspired you. Thanks.

header c @/someiconsx

“Lady Y/N?”

The voice was muffled through the door and the one in question rolled from her side and onto her stomach as she laid in her bed. A low groan emitted from the creature whose limbs were tangled in the blanket and sheets.

. . .

“Lady Y/N?”

A short knock-knock accompanied the repeating words, and Y/N had a feeling of that the lovely woman who she’d love to talk to at any other time wouldn’t stop until she replied.

She pulled herself into a sitting position, smoothed over her unruly hair, and finally pulled the covers up so her pajamas wouldn’t be seen and called out, “Come in!”

The woman opened the door and sent her a sheepish smile. “The All-Father has requested your present, ma’am,” she informed her.

Y/N furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “Do you know the reason as to why?” She quizzed.

The woman spared a quick, darting glance at Y/N’s window. “Well, the All-Father has requested all of the palace’s royals and higher-ups to gather in the courtyard. He is gathering local citizens for a, ah, play, and more would like, in this words, his ‘most esteemed confidants to enjoy,’,” she answered, subtly bouncing her weight from one foot to the other.

Y/N thought for a moment. This was the first time she was hearing that the King was holding a play — not to mention, the fact that the last play (if you could even call it that, because by Heimdall’s recounting it was horrific) was held before any of the children of Odin were born.

Just thinking about that caused a twinge to hit her stomach and for it to twist up. Loki. Odin’s youngest child and the one that had most recently left her, as he sacrificed herself to save his vaillant brother, Prince Thor. It had been weeks, maybe even a month, since Y/N had heard the news and had been resorted to a lonely, saddened version of herself. Loki was her best friend, the person she trusted more than anything and—no, no, who was she kidding? He’s more than that, and he deserves to be remembered as more than that by her.

He’s also the one that she loves, and has loved for at least the past year when she realized it.

Nonetheless, she had taken many steps to get through the grief of Loki’s dead — as had his father — and she wasn’t going to let all her hard work crumble down on one, singular thought.

“Very well, then. Please inform the All-Father that I will be there shortly, thank you,” she said.

The woman nodded and bowed her head before exiting.

Once the door had been fully shut and she could hear footsteps no more, Y/N crossed over to her window and drew back the curtains, not having missed the look at said window.

The sunlight poured into her room but the stage was indeed sent. Rows of fine chairs sat with rows of fine people in them. In front, Odin stood with a red curtain drawn closed behind him. His arms were gesturing wildly and he had a big grin on his face as he gave his speech.

Despite the curiosity that itched into Y/N’s face, she pushed it aside. She had never seen the King conduct himself in such ways, but alas, everyone grieved differently. So, she closed the curtains and got dressed for the day ahead.

— — — — — — — — — — — — —

The moment Y/N stepped outside, she could’ve sworn that there was already long beads of sweat trailing down her skin. She let out a huff but journeyed on towards the courtyard, as this formal royal wear was necessary and she had no intention of pissing off Sir Snotty-Dickhead — as she called him (he had some fancy and long name she couldn’t remember, in her defense) — who was Odin’s right hand man.

By the time she got there, Odin was still rambling on with his speech, but his sudden notice of Y/N saved the guests from boredom.

“Aha, the guest of honor! Lady Y/N, herself,” Odin announced, bringing his hands together in a clap and gesturing for her to come toward him.

She betrayed herself and her cheeks involuntarily reddened as all eyes laid on her. She approached Odin and curtsied out of respect, but her mind was full of wonderings of why she, of all, would be singled out.

“I’m sure you all know who Lady Y/N is, yes?” He began, briefly pausing before continuing. “If you sadly do not, let me tell you. Lady Y/N had been a friend of the royal family, specifically my child, Loki’s—” the name caused her to suck in a sharp breath, “—and she was granted the title of Lady to uphold the image of the palace and to complete very important Asgardian duties.”

Once he stopped talking and the crowd clapped politely, Y/N took the opportunity she was presented before it’s door could close and quickly went and sat in her seat, the only seat not occupied yet, in the front row.

Odin then began speaking against whilst he walked to the side, “Speaking of my dear child Loki, this play that has been put together is one designed to honor him and his heroic sacrifice. Without further ado . . . ” He let his words trail off, and the red curtain pulled open.

Y/N’s face contorted into surprise at the words, not expecting this to take place. Again, she reminded herself, everyone grieved differently, so she decided to give it a chance. However, as the play went on, she was quick to realize that honoring Loki wasn’t the intention here. The horrid acting could be excused but Odin himself allowing this mockery of how Loki died? Of how he sacrificed himself? Well, with every second that passed, her face heated more and more — and not due to the sweat — and she grit her teeth, just barely refraining from yelling.

The worst part for her came though when the actor who played Loki did a dramatic reenactment of his sacrificed and the actor who played Thor did the worst fake crying ever. Y/N turned to the others, expecting them to be just as enraged as she was, but was floored to find that no—they were laughing. And not just that, but Odin was having himself a chuckle as well!

Her fingers tightly gripped the edges of her chair and she forced herself to look straight ahead, just about able to hold in her tears until the play was over and the actors bowed.

— — — — — — — — — — — — —

Afterwards, while everyone was standing and giving Odin rounds and rounds of praises, Y/N stayed rooted in her seat. She couldn’t just let this go by as if it were nothing, but she was struggling to compose herself to confront him.

After a couple minutes of going back-and-forth, she decided, screw composure. She didn’t have to be composed. She was allowed to be angry.

So, she stood up and marched straight for him.

“All-Father,” Y/N said through grit teeth, forcing herself to curtesy, “I request your company in private, if I may.”

It took Odin a moment to tear himself away from accepting his latest comment, but the way he quickly glanced over at Y/N, she knew that he had not noticed — or perhaps he did not care — the state she was in.

“My apologies, Lady Y/N, but should I depart now, I fear I shall upset my comrades!” Odin said, ending his comment in a boastful joy, which resulted in laughter and cheers.

He didn’t wait for her response before engaging in another conversation, and Y/N’s lips remained tightly shut until she decided to just go forth and let her stuffed-up emotions out.

“Fine. I will say it in front of everyone, then!” She said, firmly and loudly, gaining everyone’s attention. “That was a pathetic excuse to remember Loki . . . It was an insult! You mocked him, your own child! How could you even— I . . . I just don’t understand . . . He sacrificed himself for your son and for Asgard and this is how you repay him? God. I expected much, much more from you for him because I . . . Let’s just say that we both love Loki, in our own ways, and I-I . . . I am very disappointed.”

Wanting to flee from the tears that were now streaming down her face and from the silence that was pounding, she turned around and she walked away, the realization that she had just confessed her love in front of everyone hitting her.

“Lady Y/N!”

Odin’s words stopped her in her tracks, but she did not turn around. Just stood. Waited.

“He told Thor, before he passed, that he, uh . . . He loved you, too.”

Y/N stared straight ahead, her hand jutting out to grab the pillar next to her to steady herself.

Loki loved her?

She didn’t stop the tears from coming this time. She let them, and the sobs, overwhelm her.

— — — — — — — — — — — — —

“Lady Y/N?”

The voice and the knock were much more stiff than they were this morning.

“Come in.”

Her response was devoid of emotion, much more curt than it was this morning.

The same woman turned the door’s knob and opened it, sending Y/N, who was curled up on her bed, head nestled into her knees, a wary look. “The All-Father has requested your presence at his quarters,” she said.

Y/N let out a small huff, in no mood to talk to the King after what had happened. She forced her head up and gazed boredom at the woman. “Is it an emergency?” She deadpanned.

The woman looked around the room and by her lack of response, Y/N knew that either she didn’t know or didn’t want to say.

She sighed. “I will be there shortly,” she said.

The woman nodded and wordlessly left.

After she did, Y/N stood up and went in front of her mirror, taking in her appearance. Her once brushed hair was now frizzy and in knots and her eyes were puffy and red. Angrily, she practically tore the hairbrush through her hair and dabbed at her eyes with makeup until the red could be seen no more. She had no intention of letting him see her this way.

— — — — — — — — — — — — —

Screw formalities, Y/N thought, as she walked straight into Odin’s quarters which composed of a small living room, a bedroom down the hall, an office, and a bathroom. She didn’t bother to curtsy or announce her presence.

When he finally and gradually turned around from whatever he was doing, a slight look of shock crossed his features, before he replaced it with a warm smile. “Y/N!” He said, but quickly corrected himself, “Lady Y/N.”

Y/N frowned and crossed her arms. “I hope that you have called me here to apologize,” she said, an icy edge to her voice.

Odin nonetheless looked at her kindly. “In a way, yes,” he vaguely said, before a magical transformation underwent before her.

His wrinkles disappeared, his beard disappeared, his grey hair turned jet black, and his clothes transformed into his usual wear.

No longer was the All-Father standing in front of her, but her best friend. The one she loved.

Taken by utter shock, Y/N instinctively stumbled back, her jaw dropping and her eyes widening. “What the hell is this?” She gasped out, not wanting to believe it at first. It was a cruel trick — it must be! There was no way.

“It’s me,” the mischievous deity said, a rare softness to his voice and in his eyes. He took a step forward, but then stopped himself. “I never died, I only impersonated my father.”

Y/N stared at him, angry tears coming to her eyes once more. “How?” She forced out, thinking that maybe she was dreaming. “Why?”

Loki looked around, slightly dumbfounded, as if he hadn’t expected anyone to question him. “I wanted the throne,” he answered, as if it were obvious and a perfectly acceptable reason.

Y/N stared at him as if he had grown two heads. To her, he might as well have.

“Oh, really? So you take over your father, trick everyone - me, your brother - into believing that you’re dead, you banish Sif . . . All because you wanted the goddamn throne?” She cried.

The cluelessness left his eyes and replaced itself with guilt, regret pooling inside him. He looked down, shoulders falling with a sigh.

“I’ve felt guilty tricking you ever since it had all went down. I wanted to tell you but, honestly, a part of me didn’t think you’d be that upset over my death. But you were really, so upset and I . . . I was lost. I didn’t know what to do. All I wanted to do was hug you and tell you that it was fine, that I was here, but I thought I’d screw up your emotions and hurt you even more,” he admitted.

Y/N just looked at him, her frown growing deeper. “That’s an awful excuse,” she hissed out, words laced with venom.

Loki immediately snapped his head up to look at her and his gaze held desperateness. “It’s not an excuse,” he said quickly. “It shouldn’t be. I’m . . . I’m so sorry. The last thing I ever wanted to was to trick you, and . . . I did. But today was the final straw. I couldn’t continue like that.”

Y/N took a step forward, having an inner battle in herself on whether or not to forgive him. “You lied to me,” she reiterated bluntly.

Loki nodded guiltily. “I did,” he agreed in a small voice.

She took a pause, taking in a deep breath. “You told me you loved me,” she added.

There was a brief moment of silence before Loki said, in the same small way but a little more firm now, “I do.”

Y/N kept walking, not even fully sure or convinced of what she was doing, but knowing that she needed to do it, until she was standing just inches away from him. They looked at each other for a couple moments, neither saying anything, until Y/N wrapped her arms around Loki. He returned the embrace.

“Never do that to me again!” She yelled through the tears that were now coming. God, was she tired of crying. Especially today.

Loki hugged her tighter, his own tears falling. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered, and repeated that over, and over, and over again. “I’m an idiot.”

Y/N leaned back and cupped his face with her hands. The love she had for him overwhelmed her pain, and more than anything she needed him now. Besides, she could see his guilt. She could see the truth shining in his eyes. He wouldn’t do anything like this again, because he loved her. And she loved him.

“At least you’re self-aware,” she whispered through a sniff, taking a page out of his book with her joking remark. Before he could quip back (and she was sure he’d have an excellent one), she leaned forward and captured his lips in his a kiss. Loki smiled against her lips and wrapped his arms around her waist.

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[jadewing-realms]

zevwarden week 2022 - day 1

i only just learned this is a thing, so i have nothing prepared, but i figured i’d attempt some flash fiction anyway. i’ve never written for dragon age before, much less written zevran, so... here goes. be kind to me jfklsfjds

Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins

Title: ZevWarden Week, Day 1 - Culture

Pairing: Zevran x male!Warden; Zevran Arainai x Salem Surana (x Leliana, poly!Warden inferred)

Word Count: 1,493

Zevran has a difficult relationship with the memories of his old home and the culture surrounding it. The Warden never got the chance to have a home, a culture, which tends to lead him to pry into others’, especially Zev’s. Finding some sort of balance between these vastly differing histories is a complicated affair. 

_______________

It had been a long time since Zevran fully denounced anything that reminded him of Antiva. As much as he often told boastful stories of the hardships that land held for all who called it home, relishing in the way it made more fortunate people incredibly uncomfortable to consider, he never liked recalling those darker corners of his mind. They were the parts of him that haunted his worst nightmares. He didn’t know what to do with them. So he made light of them, brushed them off as inconsequential campfire stories and little more. Beyond that, he was content to ignore the memories.

So when his dear Grey Warden began asking probing questions about the Antivan observation of Satinalia, he dismissed it at first. Mentioned the usual, the drinking, the dancing, the Crow meetings, the feasting and tomfoolery, everything the average tourist would expect to hear, and he didn’t bother elaborating. He’d come to realize later that he’d neglected to notice the subtle furrow of disappointment in Salem’s pallid brow.

In his defense, Salem had many furrows in his face. The blood magic had not been kind to his elven features. Zevran was used to finding him sitting beneath a tree, legs and arms crossed, back to the trunk and a ponderous expression twisting that pale, scar-worn face. He’d ask what he was thinking about, and Salem always had an interesting answer.

As the Ferelden autumn waned, Salem kept coming to him, little questions about Satinalia on his lips. It reached a point of incessance, and Zevran let his temper get the better of him at one point.

“Stop! I do not know what this is, why you seem so insistent about a culture that is not yours, but I am not a guidebook. This is not a pleasant thing for me to remember! Do you understand?” His voice had been sharp, defensive. “Question after question. Please - let it lie.”

No, Satinalia - as infectious as the lively holiday air was every year, as enjoyable as the festivities and the masks and the food was - was a fancy coat hanging on the emaciated shoulders of all his greatest regrets. Greatest fears. A life in which such occasions were only temporary respites from despair. 

Salem had heeded him, left the subject alone after that. Later, when his royal majesty, Alistair, came to Zevran with similar questions, he just about told the Ferelden off for doing Salem’s dirty work for him. Alistair had been confused, in that silly, rather endearing way he always was.

“What are you talking about? He has nothing to do with - well, not nothing...”

“Aha!” Zev had been so terribly confident. “I knew it! I told him, I do not want to think about it, and now, I am telling you the same.” He’d folded his arms, pointedly averting his gaze, like a petulant child. He didn’t even care that much, but he’d made his stand and was digging in his heels.

“Oh, well, I mean...” Alistair had shrugged. “I guess... That makes some sense. But uh. If you change your mind... we’re all sort of... conspiring? What I mean is, we - Leliana, Oghren, Teagan - were hoping to throw a sort of... our own celebration, just for Surana. Just a little private matter. Bring a little something from all our homelands, since... you know... the Tower and everything.”

The Tower. Something had clicked, then. Zevran wanted to ignore the culture of his homeland, leave it behind, never look upon it again. Salem... had nothing. No culture, no history to speak of, fondly or not. He’d spoken of it in passing, always fleeting and shallow, the same way Zevran spoke of his own history - a young city elf, just a boy, taken from his home. Locked in a fortress. Knowing of only what traditions the Circle deemed fit for him to know.

That experience was what gave Salem the bone-deep curiosity Zevran found so enticing, after all. 

Still, it seemed a hollow gift if Zevran were to simply concede, knowing all the possible reminders of Antiva he may have to face should traditions make their way into this little celebration. He’d get lost in them.

"Then rewrite them,” Leliana had said one night, as the two lay in bed, waiting up for a Warden who’d been caught up in writing a number of diplomatic missives.

“How do you mean, exactly?” Zev hadn’t hidden his bewilderment from her.

“Well,” she said, patient, “it is not Satinalia itself that has caused you pain, is it?”

“Well, no.”

“It is the memories around it, yes?”

“I suppose.”

“Then perhaps it is worth attempting to replace those old and painful memories... with happier ones. Like covering an old painting with something new, better.” She’d smiled, reaching to pat his cheek. “Past hurts so easily become the gateway to future pain. If there is a way to leave them behind... try.”

It was easy to say. Not so easy to do. But... perhaps it could be worth it, he thought. Salem was certainly worth the effort of an attempt, at least once. The more he thought about it, the more he became determined to stare those memories in the face as he blatantly replaced them; it seemed a fitting end to them. Perhaps it was then pure spite motivating him... but he was more than willing to take it.

So Zevran helped the others out, and when the holiday at last arrived, his contribution was simple but noticeable - aside from the 10-course meal, he’d told them all to bring masks of their own making. He made two; one for himself, and one for Salem. His, he kept simple, just a black mask with a little beak, asymmetrical in design, a black plume rippling from the same side as his tattoo. 

For Salem, something stranger, macabre. A deer’s skull he found in the wilds, cleaned to perfection, iron melted into the cracks and polished, the inside hollowed enough to sit comfortably on a sultry, scarred face.

The grin that split Salem’s lips when he saw it made the whole endeavor immediately worth it. 

The night was one of revelry, fresh wine, lively music, hearty food, and even better company - so similar but so different from the Satinalias past that Zevran remembered. He had a few moments where something would strike deep and give him pause, leave him needing to recollect himself for but a moment. But each time, he found his dear Warden in the small crowd, met his eyes through the skull’s sockets, and Salem would beckon with a hand. It was enough.

After they all trailed home for the night, drunk and in very high spirits, Leliana told them not to wait for her. Salem didn’t question it; Zevran caught her glance and silently thanked her for the night to themselves. He’d repay her later.

Later, lying thoroughly exhausted against his Warden’s pale chest, he felt Salem’s voice vibrate against his ear. “It wasn’t too much, I hope... tonight.”

“Too much?”

“The reminders.”

“Oh... no. It... well, it was a little much. But nothing I cannot deal with.”

“Zev.”

“Yes, my love?”

A kiss graced his hair. “Don’t pretend. Not for me.”

He shifted, folded his arms under his chin so he could look up at Salem’s face from his belly. “Okay, okay. Maybe there were a few moments when I wanted nothing more than to leave that hall. But... I do not want to give those old memories the satisfaction of ruining my fun any longer. My present is not my past - thanks to you.”

Salem laughed, and Zevran swallowed down the flock of butterflies that swarmed his stomach. “Well, who could resist this charm?” Slender hand caressed his cheek, the side without the tattoo, and Zevran’s eyes fluttered shut. “Truly, though... I am sorry I asked so much. I was just-”

“Curious.” At last, Zevran smiled. Not smugly, but warmly. “I know. I think... we both know so little of life outside the ones we escaped. It is good to ask questions. To learn of all the wonders we were once deprived... at the same time, doing our best to honor the little joys that kept us from drowning before. So that they may add to the joys we get to share now.”

“The joys, huh? Well... Just so you know, there is no joy from distant lands that will ever mean more to me than... you. Your happiness. If I can help put your darkest moments to rest, I will do everything in my power.” Salem smiled back, those crooked lips so very gentled off the battlefield, behind closed doors. “And I don’t mean to brag, but... we both know that’s a lot of power. So really, those bad dreams should be running scared. They don’t stand a chance.”

Ah. There it was. In that moment, Zevran forgot Antiva entirely, and thought only of how he would remember this Satinalia for that smile alone.

[skiyoosmi]

to the stars above | z.

featuring. zhongli (genshin impact)

genre. fluff, angst, smut, ancient-liyue!au

word count. 5.4k

marga's notes. aAAAa look look, it's my first commission!! school has kept me really occupied for like the past month but after pulling a few all-nighters, i've finally finished my responsibilities along with this little baby! once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to my bubs @ramannnn for trusting me with this one <33

Nobody knows when the world began, how it came to be and why it continues to be. Even I, whose mind is filled with nothing but wonder for it, have no idea. One thing I am quite sure of... is how mine did.

It all started with him— a man of many titles, different identities yet at the end of the day, all these monikers are the same; it's all him. He adored Liyue more than anything else, knew it like the back of his hand. He went where the winds lead him, stayed where the moon shines upon him, stood where the golden sun kissed his skin. He found serenity in the walks he travels as he goes about his day, the sceneries his eyes take in and the calm sounds the nature resonates for him. And as if it was fate decided upon by the Celestia, it led him to me. Suddenly, my little world that used to be nothing became everything... quickly and all at once.

An exasperated sigh escapes from my lips, frustration and disappointment filling my whole being as I stare at the blank parchment paper I held in my hands. Another day was again wasted with no progress, I thought, mentally beating myself up for not being productive enough. Before I could further drown myself into such pessimistic ideas, I snap out of it and let my eyes cherish the view that lies ahead of me. Though I feel a little guilty for taking Vermeer's place, I can only whisper an apology with little to no sincerity. Because truly, nothing can beat the picturesque landscape of Luhua Pool— the crystal clear waters that would most probably reflect my face like a mirror if I were to ever look at it, the ruins that ignited the spark of curiosity within me, wondering about the pasts it holds and the stillness and feeling of peace it gives me as I sit in this cliff. Feeling somewhat a bit better, I place my things on top of the old bag I bring no matter where I go. There's always a better day for writing, I tell myself as a form of consolation, bringing my slim arms up to begin stretching. I've been sitting on this log for quite a long time now, after all.

"It seems like you are in a bit of a dilemma," a deep voice comments from behind me. Out of surprise, I lightly jump and turn my head towards the stranger. Right at that moment, it felt as if all the air circulating inside my body had been depleted. Captivating was an understatement as to how he appeared before me. With the sunlight striking his face and accenting his unique features further, he stood with his hands behind him, head tilted as he looked at me with interest, all while keeping his dignified posture.

"Oh, hello. I am afraid so, yes," I respond, or rather, mutter under my breath since I was not really used to having sudden encounters with other people, nor am I fond of it. I tend to keep to myself, finding it much more peaceful than having to tend to others' overbearing expectations and demands which is partly the reason why I chose to live in the outskirts, far from the center of Liyue that contrasts my comfortable abode, "I apologize. I failed to realize that somebody other than Vermeer liked to stay here," I told him, arching my eyebrows a little when he let out a breathy chuckle.

"Oh, you have no need for such formal apologies. I do not always go here, at least probably not as often as the man you call Vermeer. I was simply taking a walk and I think I got carried away by Liyue's view and eventually, my feet led me here," he explains, a hint of sheepishness present in his tone, "and I guess I'll have to thank my feet for that."

Because it led me to you, interesting one. For many years, it will remain unspoken, kept by the strange man to himself and unveiled once his heart gives up from the resistance he upholds.

For the following hours of lounging around Luhua Pool, I learned a lot about the stranger— he calls himself "Morax," and like the god of Liyue, he enjoyed history and is extremely knowledgeable about it, aspiring to know and understand everything of the world, he often brews tea, even going as far as inviting me once I am free from any form of work. Just as he shared facts about himself, I did too.

"So, Cheng, you said you have a bit of a dilemma?" he inquires, slightly angling his head towards the direction of the side I'm sitting on. I nod my head up and down, mouth forming into a small pout of disappointment as I remember that today has not been that progressive.

"Yes. I am trying to write a novel, you see. Something that will leave an impact on this world so that even if I may pass, I will still live on the memories of people," I tell him, an ambitious expression present on my face. He hums, eyes going over the terraces that make up the current view we have and the two huge statues standing by the ruins, "Why so?"

I pause for a moment to think of a reply, "I guess I just do not want to let someone alone in this cold world. Wouldn't that be too cruel and sad, to just leave them with nothing?"

If I'm able to write words that will provide comfort to my readers, then maybe... just maybe the world will be less lonely... even for just a little bit. At least, that's what I thought as silence consumed us, the sun setting as if to remind us that finally, another day is nearing its end. Now, what will tomorrow bring?

"Well then, I do hope I will be able to read at least some of your works at least once," he speaks as he stands up, lightly dusting away his clothes, "It certainly has been a pleasure to be your company, Cheng."

As he walks down the slope of the hill, his somewhat broad back facing me, I call out, "Will you be back?"

He stops and turns, a soft smile is plastered on his face as he responds, "Only time will tell."

But time was no friend of mine. At least that's what I have come to realize as many days passed without him returning to this place. Though maybe it's only because it almost felt as if time slowed down and I was only eager to see him again, something I have scolded myself to— what a fragile heart do I have to already seek a stranger's presence? That is what others call love at first sight, a devilish portion of my mind whispered cheekily within me and I gasped in disbelief, "Absolutely not," I lightly slap both of my cheeks, "I'm just too coped up in my own world. I probably need to go see more people."

That thought remains a simple yearning though because once again, I find myself lounging around the same spot in Luhua, a quiet hope ignited within me, fulfilled when I hear the familiar voice he adorns as he speaks, "You're here."

I release a sound that is between a giggle and a breathy chuckle, "And I see your feet had led you here once more?"

"They were curious, or should I say... I was," he explains as he takes a seat beside me, his posture remaining solid despite the uncomfortable position.

"Of what?" I ask.

"Of you," he simply replies, unaware of the sudden yet unsurprising effect it had on my heart that was already beating rapidly with just his mere presence. I try not to be so showy of it though, too embarrassed to even think of how fast I became fond of him.

But it was no wonder. After all, he himself was an interesting one; from the way he carries himself, the way he speaks, and the way he's just him... all and every action hold so much dignity that it just leaves me almost breathless and in awe every single time my eyes finds their way to his figure— and to think that this was just our second meeting? My mother would most probably let out the most shameless giggle as I tell her these thoughts, pushing me and teasing me like a normal person in their teens would. I shake my head to get out of these thoughts, listening to Morax as he tells another wonderful tale, almost making me think that he lived it himself with how he knew it, going over even with the smallest details.

"You know, Morax, you have such a good memory to remember all of those things despite simply hearing about it," I suddenly speak up in the midst of the silence that engulfed us while he tries to think of the next story to tell, "I hope I can stay in them too... in your memories, I mean. I know I am far from being the most interesting person but for some reason, I wish for that."

He pauses, eyes trailing slowly towards me, beyond my knowledge, before he lets out a somber smile. You already are, is another one of him that becomes an afterthought.

I heaved out a sigh before shaking my head again, "Ah! Why do I keep having such lonely thoughts? Forget about that. Please do not mind me, alright? I think I really need to stop being stuck in the mountains."

I pick up my small bag and shuffle inside it, letting out a quiet sound of 'aha!' as a sort of celebration when I successfully got a small book out, "Here."

He blinked his eyes in confusion, wondering what it was I handed to him so I spoke in delight, "You told me you wanted to read at least one of my works so, here. I am warning you though, it is not like the ones that sell best in the bookstores. It might bore you, or weird you out like what others say."

"What others say?"

"They say it's too unrealistic, too impossible... but I believe otherwise. We live in a world where gods and adepti watch over us. What makes my story impossible then?" I ponder, him still being confused.

"What is it about anyway?" He asks, having no idea of what the context my book had.

"It's about an archon who began living as a simple man in Liyue."

Our meetings became more frequent after that and eventually, we got comfortable with even just the presence of each other, having no need for long talks and such, but just peace. Today, like any other day, Morax was just reading the book I gave him, while I was thinking of what my next story would be about. Occasionally, he looks at me with an odd expression that is almost equivalent to astonishment, as if I have done something so great that it made him look at me that way.

"What made you think of this plot?" he asks all of a sudden, not forgetting to put a piece of paper that served as a bookmark on the page where he stopped just in case he accidentally closed it.

I hum, thinking about my answer to his question, "Hmm. Truth to be told, it was just a mere wonder for me. Archons and the adepti, although not entirely immortal, live so much longer than an average human does, watching over us as we go about our daily lives, waiting for sudden wars to break out and then fight the enemies that attack us. Growing up, those were the things that all the people around me told me. So I began to wonder, do they ever get tired? Is it not too taxing to keep on doing that? What if... they just lived with us, among the crowds? Because I think it is too lonely wherever they are. Would it not be better if they were with us, rather than above us, so they could at least have memories to live by?"

Morax does not give a response, or rather, he finds it difficult to find one. Still, it does not stop the affection that spreads within him. He does not say it out loud, but for someone who prefers to be alone, Cheng was full of empathy. And somehow, that did wonders to Morax's heart.

"Now that I think about it, I kind of actually want to address my books to them now," I hum once more, "It would be like a message for them: Do not be too lonely even if we pass. Because of your help, through these stories, we can show you that we lived a good life."

I huff as soon as I finish my sentence, "Although one of those who read it said that was impossible, because according to them, why would archons give up their power to live a life where there is only simplicity?"

Morax let out a sound that made it look as if he got offended himself, "Archons can do that, can they not?"

"I know! That was what I was saying to them. Anyway, I am not forcing them to like what I wrote. It's just a story, after all. It can do no harm," I shrug, beginning to fix my belongings as the sun began to set, "I should go now, Morax. It is still quite a long walk to my home."

"I want to live a good life too," he suddenly tells me, making me halt and turn to him in confusion, "With you. The good life and memories you shall tell in your stories, can I be part of them too?"

The universe does not stop for anyone, nor does time— science will consistently proclaim this fact matter what timeline we shall live in. No matter how much someone begs to the Celestia to grant their wish of controlling, or stopping time, no one will be able to do such things. But somehow, it seems like when it comes to him, everything is possible as I feel my world stop at his words, just like the way it also began when I met him. And as if planets were colliding with each other, I suddenly felt my heart crash upon him and as if out of instinct, I let go of the truth.

"Of course. It would be the greatest thing to have you."

Life was strange in its own way. That is what I have come to realize in this simple life of mine.

Despite the fact that the "me" of the previous year has never even thought about putting my whole being on my sleeve, it is pleasingly odd how right now, I find myself in this kind of situation with the man who swept me right under my feet and claimed my heart as his.

“You're cold," I whisper amidst the silence of the night in my abode, my index tracing the ears of the man who had me sitting right on his lap, the shorter strands of his silky hair tucked behind them. So, so alluring.

He takes hold of my wrist, planting a soft kiss on its side, all while maintaining eye contact as he quietly drawls, "Then I suppose you can keep me warm tonight. Will you?"

As if in a trance, I nod my head, letting him take the lead as he laid me down, back against the soft mattress, him following on top with his arms supporting his build. With arising confidence, I circle my arms around him and pull him down, bringing our lips together, a sigh of relief escaping both of our mouths as if to say, "Finally."

I wonder if he thinks the same way as I do— that this was Celestia in its own way. I felt like I could do anything as long as it was with him. The kiss felt like the power we once suppressed from each other became a supernova that changed our world's course all of a sudden. But despite the tension and heat we both emitted at the moment, there is a warmth that engulfs me the same time he fully wraps his arms around me.

I am here. I will always be here.

No noise disturbs the peace we have created, only the quiet sound of crickets reach our ears but even that fails to distract him from what he's doing. He gently tugs on the sash that keeps my coat tied. Nimble fingers explore the remains of my clothing, loosening all until I am set free from them.

His eyes raked over my body, an expression of awe plastered on his face for so long that it made me somewhat conscious. Because as he unravels his to me, I am enlightened by the fact that my figure is nothing worth comparing to his — not even close. A hint of sweat glints from his skin due to the moonlight, making him look even more ethereal. But who was I to complain?

So instead, I look down, fiddling a little with my fingers as I feel my cheeks heat up. How is it that I only realize now what kind of situation we are currently in? Before I further drown in such shameless thoughts, he lifts my head up by the chin, an amused look on his usually-gentle face, "Are you feeling shy, beloved?"

I meekly nodded, to which he lets out a soft laugh and whispers, "Don't be. You are the epitome of beauty itself. If you don't believe me, allow me to show you nothing but truth tonight, I swear under the moon and all these stars."

He dips down and captures my lips in a kiss once again with more passion, if it was still even possible.

"You are made for me, as I'm made for you," he proclaims as he thrusts inside me after minutes of preparation, soft pants and groans following his statements. I can only whimper in response, pain evident in my tone at first with my hands lightly clawing at his back. I pray to the heavens above that they don't leave awful marks after this.

He halts and utters an apology, thumb caressing the bone of my cheeks while he waits for me to adjust. He scans my face after a few seconds, relief flashing in his eyes when I nod for him to continue.

"I... b..." I try to speak out but the pleasure overwrites any sensical thought that goes through my mind. He slows down a little, looking over my face and smiles, urging me to talk.

"Stay with me, beloved. We still have all night," he tells me, encouraging me to voice what has been on my mind.

"I... I belong to you, always have and always will..." I manage to croak out, voice quite hoarse due to the sounds that I let out previously. Perhaps pleased with what I have proclaimed, he begins going even deeper and at the same moment, I begin falling deeper.

"Yes, yes, you do," he repeats like a mantra, his voice sounding more and more desperate to reach his high. I cry out with him, creating a harmony that even the best bards shall be ashamed.

It was a long night— the longest yet most beautiful night I have ever had in this simple life of mine. And in that moment, as we reach the stars together, I knew right there and then that this man is someone who will be etched in my heart for as long as I live, deep into its roots— for him, it shall beat and it shall love.

You, who are reading this, most probably have had enough of these teeth-rotting praises I kept on writing. But what can I do except to apologize? These words are the only ones that can flow out of my mind and mouth to show how magnificent it was to be loved by him.

Well, nothing significant really changed. He was still the same gentleman I met, if anything, more gentle. Just like in the beginning, he made my heart flutter every chance he gets, no matter how many years have already passed.

We built a dynasty together.

But maybe I should have known that ours were also bound to crumble like the ones that have long existed even way before us.

Days, months and years went on, I realized that he was actually the opposite of me— unlike me who was clearly not parallel with time, he held it right on the palms of his hand. I was not blind, nor was I a fool, I can clearly see how he looks like he has not aged a day, all while I was here, maturing more and more each second that passed by, the amount of signs of me aging increasing significantly.

Morax. Knowledgeable of history as if he lived it himself. Time. All these thoughts eventually congest my mind as realization dawns upon me. He was not merely a man named after the god himself— Morax was him, he was Morax.

"How appalling," I mutter with a hint of sadness and dismay in my tone. I stood in front of the mirror, fingers hovering over my face, wrinkles appearing as I scrunch it. A pair of firm arms snake its way around my lean waist, chin resting on one of my shoulders as he hums his words, "What has got your beautiful mind occupied, my beloved?"

Taking hold of his arms, I turn my body around to face him, a somewhat melancholic smile etched on my face as I look up at his much taller frame, "You are a sight to behold, even to this day." He arches one eyebrow out of amusement and curiosity, wondering why I suddenly started pouring him compliments. After all, my shyness prevents me from consistently doing so. Nonetheless, I continue speaking, "I wish... I could be with you even when everything changes into a whole new world."

I lifted a hand up to cup his cheeks and began rubbing it lovingly, a lone tear finally dropping from my eye as soon as I closed it, "but I cannot, I do not have the ability to do so... I am but a mere mortal, after all."

His eyes widen as he finally discerns my actions and concerns, immediately opening his mouth in hopes of consoling me but I beat him into speaking, "It's alright, Morax. I have been putting the pieces together for a while now. I am in no way angry. I just..." I pause, gulping hard before my lips start to quiver, "... I cannot imagine how lonely it must have been. And now... I think about it and I... I do not want to leave you alone again."

My cries eventually start becoming louder, something that is very new to the both of us, seeing as I have always been composed. Love can change a person into a whole new being. I remember a book I have read once and at the moment, I can only agree. Maybe it was the way my heart clenches at the mere thought of him walking alone, or the way I can imagine us taking our last breaths together yet I know that will never happen— but either way, it was painful.

He whispers sweet nothings to my ears, placing light kisses on my temple as he leads us to the bedroom to rest once my tears have finally ceased and I have calmed down. His hold on me gets tighter every time I let out a small hiccup due to crying, almost as if he was telling me that he was feeling the same pain as I was.

Hours pass by as we lay in silence. My tears have long dried up but we remain coped up in each other's arms.

"Would it not be interesting if you bear the name Zhongli?" I ask him in a somewhat croaky voice.

He peers down and tilts his head, "Now where did that thought come from?"

I shrug, or at least try to, and look up at the ceiling as we shift our positions to lay on our back, hands finding one another and intertwining, "Hmm... nowhere. Just a name I wanted to give you in case that you are needing a new one."

"Oh? How come it would be interesting then?"

I look at him with a comforting yet sad smile.

"Because it means it's time to leave, to go somewhere far away... and unfortunately, I will have to leave soon."

He furrowed his eyebrows together, "Do not say that. Who knows? Maybe you will be able to live a hundred years by my side. Besides, I think it sounds lonely. I do not think I would want to get reminded of the fact that you are not here with me."

I hum, "But if you bear the name I gave you, wouldn't it feel like I never went away? That no matter where your feet take you, no matter how far you go, I am and will always be with you, just as I have vowed."

The wooden door leading to my writing room slowly slides open and Morax's head peers in, an adorable smile plastered on his face, "You have been quite busy these days, beloved. I do not wish to disturb you but I am starting to long for your presence."

I let out a shameless giggle, "Alright, alright. Just let me write down a few more words while I still have ideas to input."

He peeks on the parchment paper out of curiosity, taken aback when he finds his name on it, "You are writing about us?"

I nod proudly, "My last piece."

"... But why?"

I smile and approach him, taking his hand and placing my forehead against his after he lowers his head down to my level, "I told you, did I not? I do not wish to leave the person I love with nothing. So that you will not be lonely, my words will be with you. I will be with you, always..."

"... and to tell the gods... to tell you, that I loved every second of my life with you— that it was, indeed, a good life."

"Who are you, young man? Are you my son?" I speak with a very hoarse voice, squinting my eyes at the figure in front of me, as if my poor vision will allow me to do that.

I hear a melancholic yet gentle sigh come from him before he takes my rough hands and looks afar, "Don't mind me. I'm just someone who vowed to be with you for as long as time lets us."

"Oh.... really? That’s quite endearing," I hum, "Well, may I know your name?"

"This… I think I may just have an idea to whom this book is for," Paimon trails off, looking over at the traveler who was in the same trance as her, "Paimon thinks we should let the strange person we saw a while ago give this directly to Zhongli!"

Lumine nods, turning around and starting to run towards the direction they were at previously, recalling the person named Cheng who gave them the novel they just finished reading. They were unique, dressed in layers of robes and it was almost as if they lived in the old times of Liyue. Even the way they talked and moved screamed ancient.

Just as they turned the corner, a woman near the Liuli Pavilion called them over, "Traveler! Here!" As they approach, Lumine cranes her neck to look around the area but to no avail, the strange person was long gone.

"Are you two alright?" the woman asks, much to their confusion, "I saw you talking to literal air awhile ago and I was worried you have eaten something strange."

The pair looks at each other in surprise before Paimon replies, "You didn't see anyone? Like a person dressed in the strangest attire? They dressed really anciently!"

The door of the Liuli Pavilion opens and there goes Zhongli, a calm expression morphing to an awkward one when he realizes he barged into an ongoing conversation. He apologizes for the disturbance and despite the curiosity he had upon overhearing bits of Paimon's statements, he starts his walk back to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. At least not until he hears Paimon call his name, "Zhongli! Wait! A person named Cheng. Do you know them?"

He abruptly stops and turns to the two, eyes wide for a second before it returns to his usual demeanor, "How... how do you know of them?"

"We met them," Paimon says, as if it was the simplest thing to do, "Well, honestly, we don't know because we were apparently speaking to nothing but air! It's so odd!"

He stays still, honestly having no idea of what response he should give them because he himself found it hard to believe.

"Well anyway, they asked us to give you this nov— wait, where is it? It was just in your hands a while ago, Traveler!"

In the midst of the loud chaos made by the two in the middle of Liyue, he thinks he knows what to do and where to go now.

It was the day of the Rite of Parting, an event where he's supposed to be taking part of, even just a part of the audience. But he finds himself hanging around the Wanwen Bookhouse, eyes scanning the shelves until it stops at a familiar name engraved on the cover of a book.

"Oh! Greetings, Mr. Zhongli! I see you took a liking to a very great and romantic novel," Jifang comments as she sees the book in his hands.

He looks at her, "Is it really great?"

She gasps in delight, "Yes, indeed! Almost all of the Liyue folks have enjoyed this story! You can say it is a classic, especially for readers! Cheng definitely outdid themselves with this one! Such a mysterious person yet equally amazing. Imagine? Being able to make such a beautiful love story with Morax? They don’t mention the present name they gave Morax though, such a shame. Maybe it was due to old age, they wrote it until the last moments of their life after all. Anyway, I have to get back to work but enjoy reading that masterpiece!"

He feels his heart swell in pride upon knowing his lover had his wish come true. His nimble fingers carefully open the pages of the book and hours later, as he sat inside the Funeral Parlor after taking the novel home, he finds himself absorbing each and every word Cheng have written, the loneliness sitting idly inside him subsiding little by little.

I found solace in the countless cups of tea you brew whenever I encounter distress with my works, the endless stories you tell with a smile so beautiful that not even the most heavenly scenery can vanquish, but most of them all, the feeling of your hand intertwining with mine, providing me with serenity no one else has ever done before. Under the moonlit night of Liyue, I remember your wistful amber eyes, staring deep into my soul as you proclaim your love and desire for me. How foolish was it of me to think that I could live this life without even experiencing such warmth and intimacy?

It is a banality, really — how I wish to become a well-known writer with unique tales and yet the story I am telling is something so common to folks that they have most probably heard similar ones before. But I guess this is what it means to love and to be loved. Everything is like a cycle that just keeps on being repeated, yet we never get tired of it, of the feelings it brings. So, thank you, Morax. Words will never be sufficient to show how grateful I am to you for showing me a whole new world but I suppose this is still a way for me to give back to you.

With this little book of mine, I hope my heart reaches yours regardless of how many eras may have passed before and after us. So, my beloved, do not be too lonely without me. Even if you find yourself longing for my presence, just open this and my heart shall be with you.

This belongs to you, it always will.

And I do, as well.

[jisungsmochi]

i’ve got this friend - mark lee

i’ve got this friend - mark lee 

based on the (unreleased) song by 5SOS 

neighbour & friend! mark + a very oblivious y/n (female)

word count: 1.7k 

summary: after a rumour stirs that you have a secret admirer, your neighbour and friend, mark lee begins to drop some, not so subtle, clues on who it might be. will his mission be a success?

//

mark hated lee haechan more than anything in the world right now. the little menace decided to spread the rumour that you had a secret admirer. mark was in panic mode, wanting nothing more than to roll up in a ball and cry.

“what the hell, man? what if she finds out?” mark groaned, holding the bridge of his nose, as haechan continued to giggle.

“would that be so bad? you’ve been pining over her since you became neighbours. isn’t it time for you to finally tell her how you feel?”

“what if she’s disappointed?” haechan immediately stopped laughing, furrowing his eyebrows at his glum faced friend.

“but what if she’s over the moon? you always look for the bad in these situations. you’re confessing to her, you have to” mark knew inside that he was partially right. it had been almost two years since he developed a friendship with you. although you weren’t attached to the hip, you were both friendly towards eachother and spent a fair amount of time together. haechan claimed he had a fool proof plan to ‘get the girl’ so let the games begin...

“hey! y/n, wait up” mark caught up with you as you exited your house.

“oh goodmorning mark” you smiled as you walked over to him, continuing to walk alongside him on your way to school.

“i gotta tell you something” he looks away from you, eyes drawn to the ground. you silently urge him to continue,

“i heard that someone likes you”

you immediately stop in your tracks, your face contorting into confusion yet also, excitement.

“really? do you know who it is?” you trailed slowly behind him, he didn’t even notice you had stopped briefly.

“uh yeah, i’ve got this friend, he doesn’t really want me to tell you who he is yet” you felt your heart sink, is this all some sick prank?

“mark, you don’t have to feed into these rumours-“

“no i’m being serious, you have an admirer” he softly smiled, making you feel slightly more at ease. mark had never lied to you before, why would he start now? you decided not to pry him anymore, wanting to keep this to yourself for the time being. of course you were curious as to who it was, but maybe keeping their identity hidden is giving them the courage to contact you eventually. you were hopeful, and so was mark. he wanted nothing more than for you to make your way to him.

“so is there anything else you wanna tell me about said admirer? is he tall? do i know him?” you begin to become impatient as you sat across from mark at your usual lunch table.

“um he’s kinda my size? i guess. you might know him, he does go to our school” you begin to turn around, scanning your eyes over the courtyard.

“don’t look now! he might be looking” mark hurriedly spoke, not thinking about his words.

“oh so he’s close to where we are?” you grew even more curious than before. you were going to get mark lee to crack, it was the only way.

‘oh fuck’ he thought to himself. what is he going to do now?

//

“mark, it’s honestly killing me! you really can’t tell me who he is? is he really that shy? or am i just intimidating?” you frown as you sit on mark’s couch in his basement. he invited you over sometimes whenever he was bored and needed someone to go over some of his song ideas with. mark was in a band with some of his close friends, they didn’t really have a proper name yet, and had barely played infront of people.

“you’re not intimidating at all! you’re one of the kindest people i know” he quickly jumps to your defence. he hesitates for a moment before continuing,

“well he plays the bass guitar, and oh! he thinks you would like him better if he had a car, kinda feels like a loser for not having one” your mind begins to wind, who do you know that can play bass and has no car...

well jeno was the official bassist of their band...and you remember him complaining at one of their practices that he was late because he had to take the bus. but really? did lee jeno have a crush on you? that seemed unrealistic. you barely had any interactions with him, only greeting him nicely whenever you tuned in to their practices. was mark trying to set you guys up or something?

“is it someone from your band?” mark froze, not expecting you to catch on so quickly. (not like he was being so discrete either)

“uh maybe, maybe not. i don’t know” he begins to ramble.

“i’m beginning to think you’re playing some weird prank on me, mark lee. i hope whoever this guy is, comes to me soon. the suspense is killing me!” and with that, mark knew he needed to speed up the plan.

//

“you gotta tell her soon, your stupid clues are probably making her stressed. and why the hell do you wanna make her stressed?!” haechan gave the older boy a hard smack on the back of the head.

“look, we need a new plan, asap”

“no shit, you’re lucky i’m the damage control” haechan huffed, putting on his figurative thinking cap.

“aha! you’re going to write her a song” mark raised an eyebrow at the younger boy as if he was insane, he can’t write a song in a day, not even a week sometimes.

“not an actual song! just a little snippet of a song describing your feelings, since you can’t seem to say it to her straight out. it’s a brilliant idea and you should thank me” mark understood where he was coming from. maybe if he sat you down, with his guitar and sang to you, it wouldn’t be as awkward or pressuring. lee haechan was in fact a genius.

//

“mark? it’s like 1am, what do you need me for?” you groan from your side of the phone call.

“i need to get something off my chest, meet me at the park in 10” part of you wanted to hang up and fall back asleep, but another part of you was curious as to why mark lee needed you so late in the night. you dressed yourself in a warm puffer jacket before making your way to the playground across from your and mark’s houses.

you saw him sitting on one of the swings, his guitar tucked close to him, his fingers strumming to a random tune.

“this better be good” you sigh, taking a seat on the swing next to him.

“the reason i asked you to come out here is because i haven’t been completely honest with you. i don’t want you to say anything until the song is done, it would really save me the embarrassment” he warned, making you slightly nervous. he took a deep breath, eyes focused on the strings of the guitar, before he began to play.

[ *cue ‘i’ve got this friend’ by 5sos hehe]

“I've got this friend who's crazy about you

I've got this friend who can't be without you

I've got this friend and I wish I could see

See what you'd say if I told you it was me

I want to tell you to see what you'd say

Before I jump in and I ask for that date

I've been that friend

I've been that friend and I wish I could see

How this would end if you knew it was me?”

your heart melted at each lyric. mark lee had been that ��friend’ all along. the mark that always waited for you to walk to school together. the mark that always brought you home bubble tea when you were feeling down. the mark that always invited you over just because he enjoyed the company. it was him. it was always him.

you felt tears begin to fill your eyes, causing mark to place his guitar down and stand across from you, holding your shoulders gently.

“d-did i say something wrong? did i mess things up? i’m so sorry, y/n. i should have come clean so-“

“no mark, i’m not mad or sad! i’m just really overwhelmed. here i was thinking that this was all some silly joke when the whole time, you were my admirer” you slightly sniffled at the last part, making mark’s heart swoon. he wiped a tear that fell from your eye, as you leant into his warm palm.

“i don’t need you to say you like me back or anything, i just couldn’t go on with life without you knowing”

“i understand. and trust me, i’ve always seen you as my cute next door neighbour. and honestly, i’d be lying if i said that i haven’t thought about dating you” you felt heat rise to your cheeks, hoping he wouldn’t notice due to the cold.

“but all those clues! it must have been so entertaining to watch me struggle with piecing it all together! everything makes sense now, except for the bass guitar one. i thought you were just the lead guitarist?” you furrowed your eyebrows as mark began to chuckle.

“i kinda slipped up there, i can play both guitar and bass. i was actually the initial bassist of the band until we found jeno” mark explained, making you feel even more stupid.

“gosh, there i was thinking that jeno was my admirer” you saw mark begin to frown, causing you to stand and face him.

“but don’t worry about him, all my attention and focus will be on you now!” you smiled with glee, watching as mark copied your expression. he leaned down close to you, placing a small peck to your cheek, his breath slowly fanning your cheeks.

“so what do you say? go on a date with me?”

“of course, tell your little ‘friend’ he finally got the girl” you pulled him into a warm embrace, feeling him melt in your arms.

it was safe to say that you and mark didn’t remain friends for much longer.

[peachycheol]

| reliable |

© banner credit: thank you to the love of my life @suhdreams​ for making this banner for me 🥺💘 ➸ summary: when people say ‘not all men’, they’re actually right. kim mingyu, your best friend, would never disappoint you. especially not in the bedroom.  ➸ genre: pwp 😌 ➸ pairing: best friend!mingyu x reader  ➸ warning: dirty talk, slight dumbification, heavy petting, unprotected sex (pls use protection irl), cream pie, oral (fem. receiving), cum eating, overstimulation, multiple orgasms, yn is really horny? ➸ w.c: 3.2k ➸ tags: you can all thank @risquewonu​ for this <333  

➸ author’s note: ahh, i’m sorry this took me so long! i didn’t mean to write this much, but what the smuth wants, the smuth gets. also, i want to thank you all for 100 followers! i’ll make a separate post to properly thank you all, but i am!!! baffled!!! i really appreciate the support ;u; love you guys! 

If there are two things in this world that you are absolutely certain of, they are: 1) Men ain’t shit, and 2) with the exception of Kim Mingyu. Knowing this information doesn’t really benefit you in any way. You still go out on Tinder dates that leave you high and dry 15 minutes after taking you home. And Kim Mingyu is still your very platonic best friend, who seems to be reliable in every single way except perhaps in the one way you need most desperately. 

But for all you know, he could be just like every other male in bed. He couldn’t be unbelievably handsome, the most thoughtful, caring person you know, and a sex god; it just wouldn’t be fair! No, it is much easier to convince yourself that Mingyu’s perfection only extended to being a best friend, if only for your peace of mind. Otherwise, you’d have to live with the possibility that the only person who can give you sweet release is the only one you’re technically not supposed to fuck. 

For reasons that seem to become annoyingly hazy every time you lie down next to him on his bed, just as you are at this moment. 

The two of you often end nights out like this, scrolling through one another’s TikTok’s until the wee hours of the morning, laughing loudly until his neighbors threaten to file a noise complaint. As someone who has claimed him as your best friend for three years, you know you’re supposed to be used to the smell of the musky cologne that clings onto his sheets and the feeling of his warm body as he leans closer to show you his For You Page. But lately, it seems harder and harder to fight off the warmth that pulses straight to your core whenever he does anything as simple as laugh, making you shiver when his breath tickles the side of your neck. 

God, you just really need to get laid properly. You lick your dry lips and try to remind yourself that you have no idea if Mingyu would even be able to satisfy you. Though you do have to admit you couldn’t imagine any situation where the boy isn’t overly generous and eager to please-- No! Just watch the damn TikToks! 

“Hey, you good?” Mingyu suddenly asks, nudging your side. “Why aren’t you laughing? ‘His package needs to come in the fe-mail’! That one’s gold!”

You let out a snort. Leave it to Mingyu to bring you back to reality with one line. Even when you don’t say a word, he knows exactly what you need in a moment, which in this case is a reminder that he’s your very dorky friend. “Shut up, that’s so stupid,” you say, but you can’t help but laugh along with him when it replays.

“Aha, you laughed though.” Satisfied with your response he scrolls down to a video of a girl smiling suggestively into the camera. She points to the caption that says ‘If all the boys that made me cum were in my room with me right now, I would…’ Suddenly, the camera pans and she looks at the screen tiredly. The caption now read as ‘Be alone. Men are trash’.

At this, you bust out with a howl of laughter, clutching at your stomach. It was kind of sad, but it was good to know you weren’t alone in this world. All the while, Mingyu stares at you with an eyebrow raised. Once you calm down, you meet his amused gaze. “What are you looking at?”

“You thought it was that funny, huh? It’s not even that accurate,” he says teasingly. 

You roll your eyes. “Um, yeah it is. I’ve never met a man who could make me cum, and clearly many other people can relate. This video has 1.4k likes!”

Mingyu quickly puts his phone down and pouts. “Nu uh! Not all guys are that incompetent!” 

“Men are such babies,” you sigh. “They are that incompetent! You know how many dates I went to last semester, right? Not one of them made me cum!”

“Okay, I told you before you even went on those dates that those guys weren’t worth your time.” Mingyu waves his hand dismissively. “For your information, I have made sure that all the ladies that I’ve taken to the bedroom had at least one orgasm. At least!”

“Mingyu, sweetie,” you coo, patting his cheek as if to comfort him. “They were all faking it, because they didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”  Right? They all had to have faked it. You try to tell yourself this, try to reign in the last bit of sanity you have before your mind wanders off to anywhere inappropriate.

Your best friend now props himself up so that you could properly see the smirk plastered across his annoyingly chiseled features. “You’re so sure, huh? I bet I could make you cum multiple times. Easily.” 

Your mouth falls open in shock. It isn’t uncommon for the two of you to taunt each other like this, but you have also never been in such a vulnerable mood. It’s the type of mood that has your heart racing impossibly fast, the type of mood that has your panties pathetically damp from just one sentence. You blink, trying to regain as much composure as you can. You know it’s too late, though; your imagination is already flashing through scenes of your deepest desires, all being fulfilled by the man in front of you. But Mingyu is only joking, so you do what you can to continue playing along and pretend like you don’t want him to just fuck you into the mattress until you were drooling into his sheets. 

“I-I seriously doubt that!” you say, but there is no conviction in your voice. Clearing your throat, you try adding, “Dude, I’ve literally seen you fall down a flight of stairs when you were sober. And we were going up. Kinda hard to imagine that you’ll know how to fuck me to an orgasm when you can’t even walk right.” 

Now you’re just lying through your teeth, but you want to hold off the inevitable moment that Mingyu discovers your apparent arousal for as long as possible. The last thing you need right now is for him to laugh in your face.

Mingyu chuckles, then suddenly shifts so that his arms are placed on either side of your head, trapping you underneath him. To his surprise, you do nothing to push him off like you usually do at this point. Still, he doesn’t plan on being the first to back off, so he continues his little game, intent on winning. “See, this is why you can’t find a guy who can satisfy you. You clearly don’t know what to look for.” He leans down until the tip of his nose grazes yours. For good measure, he drops his voice an octave and says, “You’ll be the one who can’t walk right when I’m done with you.” 

Perplexingly, his shameless flirting doesn’t make you move as he predicted. Nor does it make you look annoyed. Instead, you look up at him with eyes that are unmistakably glazed over with something he didn’t quite expect to see: pure lust. It immediately sends a rush of blood down to his cock. He blinks. Oh. So this is where the night is going. He only falters for a moment, but he soon flashes a breathtaking smile down at you, his eyes glinting mischievously. 

 It isn’t like he’s never thought about it before; he had just assumed that once you started calling him your best friend, you were also lowkey telling him that sex was off the table. And it wasn’t like he minded, because he definitely liked being by your side knowing it was fully okay to be himself since you were obligated to love him regardless. Plus there was just something about you that made him want to take care of you and if being your best friend was the only way he could do it, then that had been fine by him. But now that he knows that he can take care of you in another way, in the way that he sometimes found himself yearning for on lonely nights, he is all too eager to break free of the unspoken boundaries between the two of you. 

“And what am I looking for?” you whisper. 

“It seems like you’re looking for me, baby,” he responds softly, before pressing a kiss where your jaw meets your neck. He slowly drags his lips down the side of your neck, and revels in how it already has you pressing your legs together. “Damn, you weren’t kidding when you said those guys didn’t make you cum, huh? Is that why you’re already so fucking worked up? You want to cum that badly?”

You nod wordlessly, not quite ready for Mingyu to hear the desperate whine that would surely leave your lips as he continues pressing wet kisses along your skin. You opt to simply thread your fingers in his hair and tug hard enough to show your impatience. It seems to trigger something in him; all in an instant, your best friend’s soft lips clash against your own, his tongue easily sliding into your mouth, all the while while his hand reaches down to grab one of your thighs. He squeezes it teasingly before pushing it outwards, which causes the mini skirt you’re wearing to bunch up around your waist, revealing your panties and how they cling to your pussy like a second skin. 

“M-mingyu!” you squeak into his lips when you feel his fingers tentatively rub small circles into the wet spot. He nips at your lip harshly as he starts to rub more deliberately, the flimsy fabric of your underwear creating a delicious friction against your clit. “H-hah! Yes, o-oh my god!” 

“Fuck, you’re already so wet for me, baby girl,” he chuckles, but he knows he isn’t one to talk while his cock is half hard just from hearing the way you moan his name. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you. You’re not leaving this room until your little pussy cums nice and hard on my cock.” 

“Ngh!-- yes p-please! Please, Mingyu,” you beg mindlessly. Your eyebrows are scrunched together in concentration. Despite your best friend’s promises, you are still hesitant to hold out any hope for anything more than what you’re accustomed to, so you try to take as much as you can while it lasts. However, in your lustful daze, you had forgotten that if Kim Mingyu is anything, he is a man of his word. 

 You let out a high-pitched moan when his fingers suddenly grind harsh circles into your clit, more surprised than anything else that he even knew where to find it. “But first,” he says, licking his lips, “you’re going to be a good girl and cum just like this. Right into your filthy little panties. Can you do that for me, baby?” 

He takes your drawn out whine as a response, and continues to rub relentlessly over your hardened clit until your legs begin to shake. That’s when he shoves the soaked material of your underwear to the side and pinches the bud. Hard. 

He rolls your clit between the pads of his fingertips over and over, sending jolts of electric pleasure all the way to your toes. It causes them to curl, all the while you feel the heat simmering in your lower abdomen finally coil tighter and tighter. “Fuckfuckfuck,” you chant, the words coming out slurred like you’re a teenager who’s gotten drunk from one sip of champagne. “M-mingyu-- mmh! I t-think I’m going to--!” 

A loud cry leaves your lips the moment the coil snaps, and you nearly tear up from how much better it feels to finally cum on someone else’s fingers, especially Mingyu’s long, thick digits.  He soothingly slides them through your drenched folds, mesmerized by how much wetness now covered his hand. “That’s it, baby,” he encourages. Once your body slumps back into the mattress, he brings his fingers up to see how they glisten in the light. “We’ve barely even started and look at what the mess you’ve already made. You must have been waiting so long for me to fuck you, huh?” 

Not even your post-orgasm buzz can keep you from getting irked by Mingyu’s cockiness, which is why you reach your own hand down to squeeze his cock through his jeans. “Seems like I’m not the only one who’s been waiting for this,” you say with a sly grin of your own. He watches you, jaw clenched, as you swiftly pop the button of his pants open and slip your fingers past the waistband of his underwear to take hold of his fully hardened member. 

It feels warm and heavy in your palm, which can barely wrap around the girth. You bite your lip, your pussy greedily clenching around nothing at the thought of how good it would stretch you out.

“I should have known you’d be a fucking tease,” Mingyu rasps. His hips buck into your hand involuntarily, and his smile returns when he notices how the movement makes you whimper in anticipation. 

There is a beat of silence when you and Mingyu meet eyes before the both of you begin undressing each other as fast as you can, haphazardly tugging off both your shirts, his pants, and your pesky undergarments. Once he’s tossed aside your soiled panties, he immediately presses your thighs apart to get a full view of your sopping cunt. “So pretty,” he mumbles to himself, spreading the lips apart with his fingers. His member throbs at the sight, the tip leaking precum when he sees how your pussy clenches in anticipation. “I bet it’s going to look even prettier when it’s taking my fat cock, don’t you think?”

The two of you watch in awe as Mingyu starts to sink into your entrance, a garbled moan leaving your lips when the tip alone already has you feeling so full. “Mingyu, h-how is-- ooh!-- your d-dick soo-- f-fucking big? A-Ah!” It takes a good while for you to finish your sentence as each of Mingyu’s shallow thrusts leave you gasping for air. By the time he bottoms out, the both of you are panting hard, both engrossed by how snugly his cock fits in your walls. 

“Shit, if I had known you’d be this tight, I would have fucked you sooner,” Mingyu groans. He slowly drags his member out of you, letting you feel every inch of him before he surges forward into a feverish pace that already has his bed frame creaking loudly. He is definitely getting a noise complaint from his grumpy neighbors tonight. But seeing you underneath him like this, lips parted and legs spread, definitely makes it difficult to care about anything other than the desire to hear more of your needy cries. “Does it feel good, baby girl? Do you like how my cock fills your little pussy?”

“It fuh--!--ngh, feels s-soo good,” Having already came once, your sensitivity is on overload, and each rough thrust of Mingyu’s hips, each crude slap of his skin against yours, is enough to drive you closer and closer to delirium. “Mmh-- please, Mingyu! F-fuck me so deep!”

“Anything for my little cockslut.” He moves quickly to kneel between your legs, hooking his arms underneath your knees to keep them open as he continues to pound into you. The new position instantly makes you keen loudly, eyes rolling to the back of your head when you feel his member brush against your cervix. 

“Fuuuuck,” you sob and clutch at the sheets. His grip on your legs tightens and he angles his hips so that he hits that spot every time, rendering you completely incoherent. You want to beg him to fuck you like this forever, to tell him you’d do anything to feel his cock fuck you open every night, but you can only babble, unable to comprehend anything that isn’t the insatiable thirst burning within you.

“Damn baby, did I fuck you stupid?” Seeing you so drunk on his cock, he wonders how anyone could ever fuck you without wanting to see you cum over and over again. His hair falls over his eyes as he fucks up into you with renewed vigor, his hot skin covered in a light sheen of sweat. He grits his teeth when he feels how tightly your walls grip onto him.“Shit-- you must want me to make you cum again, baby girl. Your little pussy just keeps sucking me in.”

“H-hah, y-yes! Yes, please god, Mingyu, I want to c-cum again. P-please let me cum,” you beg, practically writhing as you pathetically attempt to meet his thrusts. Without any hesitation, Mingyu brings down his thumb and presses it into your swollen clit, causing your body to seize up suddenly. “A-Aah Mingyu! I’m--!” The intensity of your orgasm has your back arching off the mattress, head thrown back in a silent scream. Wave after wave of pleasure continuously washes over you, seemingly unending, unlike any orgasm you ever thought possible. 

“That’s right baby girl, get my cock nice and wet,” Mingyu growls. He fucks you through your release as he sloppily chases his own, not too far behind with how your walls are pulsing around him. He makes sure his cock is deep inside you and stills his hips when fills you with his hot cum. “Fuck, this pussy was fucking made for me.”

Just as you think you’ve finally come down from your high, he pulls out of you and he shifts to lower himself to place his mouth on your spent pussy. “M-mingyu!” 

You squirm and half-heartedly try to shove his head away, far too sensitive to have his tongue licking into your leaking entrance, but Mingyu is persistent. He pushes your legs to your chest to keep you from squeezing them close, and hums when he tastes the hot mixture of your and his own cum on his lips. The way he slurps and sucks at your folds is absolutely sinful as he eats you out like you’re the most delectable treat. It almost hurts to feel so much ecstasy at once, but it still leaves you mewling for more, unable to get enough of the boy.

Your third orgasm ripples over you when he suddenly scrapes his teeth over your abused clit, and you feel a tear slide down your cheek as you weakly shake against his mouth. 

Mingyu is smiling when he pulls away, looking slightly ridiculous with how his lips still glisten with cum. You tiredly slump back into his pillows, eyes already drooping close. “What is it?”

“I told you I could do it~” he says proudly. He goes to grab some tissues from the bedside table so that he could start cleaning you up, giggling all the while. It really is unfair how he could look so cute moments after railing you into another dimension. 

You groan. You’re never going to hear the end of this.

[corysmiles]

Little streamer AU prompts!

-Thinking they were all humans, either Wil or Phil bought tickets for them all to go to an amusement park....but Tommy’s too short to ride. Where does it go from there? Does Wilbur feel bad and sob out apologies? Does Tommy say it’s fine and that they can go without him, only to get kidnapped/lost? Does Tommy say f*ck it and try to sneak on with Tubbo? Your choice :)

-The bois at the arcade during the meetup. They try to cheat the games by having Tommy roll skeeballs into the best slot, or go inside machines to fix the game in their favor

-While Tubbo has Lani, and Phil has probably had like a borrower coworker or something, this is Wil’s first time heavily interacting with someone so small, and constantly watches the others and stays up at night googling how to best handle a borrower. Some of the suggestions he gets from online are way too formal and Tommy is confused as heck at where he’s getting these ideas. Like Wil you don’t have to wash your hands before picking me up if we’re RUNNING LATE C’MON LETS GO

-(the angst prompt) Tommy was so excited to meet others his size and during the meet up he doesn’t feel included or something, and he ahas a mental breakdown. Maybe he hides in a small space so the others can’t find/reach him

-If you don’t have plans for techno yet, maybe he’s also a tiny and thought he was the only one of any of his online friends, but the group FaceTimes him and he sees Tommy is small too but doesn’t make a big deal out of it, just a mentions it in the conversation at some point. Tommy feels instantly better. “Technoblade’s a bigger bad ass than any of you talk freaks!” “Techno was already the coolest, but none of you have a chance now.”

-Tommy wrestles with everyone’s hands

If you can’t tell I love this idea so much lol

-🦎anon

omg I love your ideas so much thank you and I’m so so sorry this post is so long I was gonna split it up but then I was motivated and got really excited (also pls forgive me for any spelling errors this is long and I didnt want to go back and edit it) :]

Little streamer au drabbles

—————————————————————

When Phil and Kristen had originally been planning out all the things they could do at the meet up they didn’t take into account the possibility that any of their friends might be well...tiny. So when the day came for the group to go to the amusement park and they were stopped by security at the first ride Phil knew the day wasn’t going to end well.

“Sorry sir,” the man said to Wilbur who currently had Tommy in his front pocket, “Tinies can’t go on the rides here, it’s too much liability for the park.”

Wilbur just stared at the man in mild confusion, “What if I hold him though, there’s no way anything could happen.”

The man just shrugged, “I don’t know it’s the park’s rules not mine so you can either stay out here with him or pass on rides for today.”

Wilbur looked down at the small teen in his pocket and could tell he was getting upset by the confrontation. Tommy’s shoulders drooped and he kept his eyes down as if to not show the others his disappointment.

“Its alright big man, go on I can stay down here,” Tommy whispered and patted Wilbur’s chest reassuringly. The attempt at comfort just made Wilbur’s frown grow.

“Hey it’s alright Will I’ll stay down here with Tommy,” Tubbo said, “I’m not the biggest fan of heights anyways.”

Wilbur reluctantly agreed and handed over the tiny to the other teen who walked over to one of the benches to wait for the others.

When Wilbur and Phil got off the roller coaster they panicked when they couldn’t find the two teens until they found Tubbo riding on a carousel horse with Tommy hanging off the pole.

Safe to say Wilbur didn’t let Tubbo take Tommy the rest of the day. (Sorry i didnt do angst for this one)

(More under the cut)

—————————————————————

Tommy was so excited to go to the arcade with his friends. When they got there though and Tommy saw all the prizes he could win he started to form a plan.

Tubbo of course would be the one to help him out though since he was the only one that was willing to let Tommy cause any chaos.

It started with small things like having him help them cheat on skeeball or hit targets with his hands on shooting games until they started to look for more ways to cheat.

For the final plan, Tubbo watched as Tommy climbed through the slot of a crane machine and tried to push a large bear toy into the hole.

When he saw the bear he thought Wilbur would like it and while Tubbo was usually opposed to crane games since it’s just a “waste of fucking money” he wasn’t necessarily opposed to helping Tommy get into the machine.

Everything was going fine until a woman with a child came over to the machine to play for themselves; immediately Tommy ducked down beneath the plushies so they wouldn’t get caught and Tubbo began to panic when he lost sight of the tiny.

It was at that moment that the rest of the group came over to Tubbo and asked where Tommy was.

“Uhhh hes in the bathroom,” Tubbo said nervously.

Phil tilted his head at the boy, “Uhuh...where is he Tubbo?”

“Ummmm so about that big man we uh-“

However, Tubbo was interrupted by his phone dinging and his face went pale as he read the text from Tommy.

-Pls get me out of here big man I can’t get this shit off me anymore-

“Uhhhh...oh fuck,” Tubbo muttered, “Um I have not the best news for you.”

“And what’s that?” Wilbur asked.

“Ummm do you have any coins on you?”

Phil looked at Tubbo with confusion, “Yeah, why do you ask mate?”

Tubbo turned back to the crane where the mother and daughter had left and laughed nervously, “well....ummm so by bathroom I kinda meant uh the crane machine? Yeah, Tommy’s in there.”

The adults immediately freaked out at the situation because what the fuck were the kids thinking. And when Tubbo told Wilbur they were just trying to get the teddybear for him cause Tommy thought he’d like it, he felt even more dread.

After almost an hour of Wilbur and Phil putting in money into the claw machine they finally got enough toys out of the way to see the tiny.

With one more try Tommy was able to grab onto the claw and let himself fall out of the machine. Wilbur immediately scooped him up to scold him for being a dumbass but when he saw that Tommy’s face was red and swollen he decided instead to just slip Tommy into his pocket to rest.

With the extra cheated tickets though they were able to buy Tommy a tiny plastic nerf gun from the arcade before they left.—————————————————————

Wilbur was surprised at how quickly Phil and Tubbo were okay with Tommy’s size. While Tubbo apparently had a tiny sister and Phil had had tiny friends before, Wilbur couldn’t recall ever actually interacting with someone so small expect for in passing.

He really cared about Tommy as both a friend and as a brother and he was so afraid of messing up with the teen. He didn’t want to hurt or offend Tommy in any way so of course he went to the best place to figure out what to do: wikihow.

The articles were strange for sure but anything to make Tommy feel more comfortable with him would be worth it.

So the next day when Tommy was supposed to be eating breakfast at Wilbur’s house and Wilbur wouldn’t pick him up to put him on the table he thought the taller man was just being a dick.

Then when Tommy asked him if he would pick him up Wilbur walked away from him to go to the bathroom instead of helping him.

After a minute the brunette man walked back and reached a hand down to lay besides Tommy. Tommy stepped onto his palm and expected him to pull him up towards him but when he didn’t he started to get really annoyed.

“Hey you can move what the fucks up witb you right now you’re being all weird and shit man,” Tommy grumbled.

“Huh? Oh I just...I was looking up some stuff about uh tinies and I thought maybe it would make you more comfortable?” Wilbur whispered with embarrassment.

“What?” Tommy laughed, “Why the fuck would you do that you were fine before I would tell you if I wasn’t comfortable big man you don’t have to worry about that.”

Wilbur felt his heart swell at the comfort and slowly lifted Tommy up to the table for them to eat together. It was still strange having someone so small around but Wilbur would get used to it for Tommy.—————————————————————

Tommy usually didn’t have any problems with having bigger people around. All his friends at home and his family were all humans so he knew he was overreacting about none of his online friends being tinies. But when they went out to dinner together and Phil, Tubbo, and Wilbur were all talking together while Tommy sat next to Wilbur’s cup something broke inside him.

The reason he loved streaming so much was that he thought he finally had met other people like him, but he guessed it was his own fault for never really checking.

As the three laughed loudly Tommy felt himself becoming more and more overwhelmed by the chaos in the restaurant. He couldn’t cry now though his friends were having fun, it would be a dick move for him to ruin the meet up for them just because he expected them to be tinies.

Throughout the meal and on the way home Tommy was mostly silent, he sat in Wilbur’s pocket as they arrived at the man’s apartment. Wilbur waved goodbye to Phil and Tubbo as he took Tommy inside.

Wilbur sat Tommy down on the counter as he changed and Tommy finally felt a few tears fall from his eyes. He heard the sound of a door opening and quickly hid behind a tea box so Wilbur wouldn’t see him in this state.

He started to shake as the tears kept coming while he heard Wilbur searching around for him.

“Tommy?” Wilbur called out but Tommy couldn’t even get a solid breath much less respond.

After a few moments Tommy felt the tea box he was hiding near shift as a large hand wrapped him up gently.

“Oh jeez Tommy are you okay?” Wilbur asked as he lifted Tommy to his eyes.

Tommy wiped his eyes and slowly nodded to Wilbur who looked heartbroken by the tears.

Wilbur sighed, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Tommy shook his head no and Wilbur gave the boy a sad smile.

“I’m sorry Tommy, we’ll talk about this later okay,” he whispered as he tucked Tommy up against his chest. He held the tiny until he heard soft snores replace the sobs and promised himself that whatever made him this sad would never happen again.—————————————————————

Techno had been tweeting at the rest of the sleepy boys since the start of the meetup. The American wished he had gotten to meet up with his friends but sadly because of covid there was no way to safely visit the UK, so instead they settled for FaceTiming one night so that Techno wouldn’t feel as left out.

Techno grabbed his specially made phone and anxiously waited for the call. When Phil’s contact showed up Techno opened it immediately and was greeted by the familiar blonde human’s face along with Tubbo in the corner.

“Hey Techno!” Phil smiled as Tubbo waved aggressively.

Techno smiled and waved back, “Hullo.”

After a little bit of shuffling Wilbur appeared on the screen with something cupped in his hands.

“What you got there Will?” Techno asked with an amused expression.

“It’s me bitch! Ayyy Techno,” a loud and annoying but familiar voice yelled form the taller man’s hands.

“Oh hey Tommy,” Techno laughed, but besides that there was almost no reaction to Tommy’s height.

“That’s it? No big ‘wow you’re small’ or like ‘poggers’ or anything?” Tommy asked.

Techno hummed in response, “Nah why would I care your nothing special cause you’re small.”

Tommy huffed and crossed his arms at Techno, “I’m not special bitch? I’m the only tiny here I’m amazing!”

A small chuckle left Techno as he realized the situation.

“And why are you so sure you’re the only one huh?”

Tommy blinked wide eyed at Techno before a wide grin spread across his face.

“Wait you’re small too?” Phil asked.

Techno nodded to his friends who all had different ranges of shock on their faces.

“Oh fuck yeah!” Tommy screeched causing everyone to laugh.

“See I knew this is why you were so much cooler than these bitches were alpha men you see,” Tommy laughed.

“Yeah,” Techno smiled, “I’m sure that’s why.”

The rest of the call was calmer however Tommy continued to insist that Techno and him were much cooler than the rest of the them. —————————————————————

The first time Tommy had been grabbed to try to get him to calm down or stay still it had been by Phil when he was trying to cook breakfast and Tommy kept getting too close to the stove top. Phil placed his hand over Tommy to keep him still when he felt the kid latch onto his pointer finger and try to pull it away.

“Ay what are you doing mate?” Phil laughed as the tiny continued to struggle with his finger.

“I’m wrestling you big man can’t you tell, and I’m fucking winning!” Tommy grinned.

Phil chuckled at the kid before flipping him over with his thumb.

“Yup you’re winning sure,” he said slyly.

When Wilbur and Tubbo walked in to Phil trying to pin down Tommy with his fingers while the small boy laughed and pushed them away as much as he could they had no fucking clue what was going on.

[flowercrown-bard]

35 for Geraskier? :3

thank you so much for the prompt! And also, I would like to apologise. I had the most cursed thought about how to end this and I wasn't going to actually write that, but you know sometimes you have an idea so bad that you just know you would forever regret it if you didn't do it

prompt: Bets/teasing with increasing physical stakes makes character confront their feelings

word count: 5k

kind of inspired by the song "anything you can do I can do better"

content warning: brief mention of injury (no detailed description)

Anything you can do, I can do better

“You know you could help me, right?” Jaskier’s tongue peeked through his lips in concentration. “All you need is a little magic-“ he wiggled his fingers through the air uselessly, letting the sticks he had been holding before fall to the forest floor. “-and we would have a fire. Easy as that. So why, oh, why do you insist on torturing me thus?”

Geralt had to bite back his grin when Jaskier turned his big pleading eyes on him. “I thought you said you were ‘perfectly fit to travel through the wilderness’.”

Jaskier abandoned his fruitless attempt at making a fire for good and his puppy eyes turned into a glare. “I am! Just because you decided to be a prick about it, doesn’t mean I’m useless.”

“You almost stepped into the snare I had set up to hunt our dinner.”

Jaskier crossed his arms in front of his chest and lifted his chin in defiance. “Your point?”

“My point is that you wouldn’t survive a day without me out here.”

“Well, good thing I don’t want –“ Jaskier broke off and his eyes narrowed. “Wait. Are you…” he came closer to Geralt, who barely could keep his shoulders from shaking. “Are you laughing at me? Geralt, how dare you!”

A snorting laugh slipped past Geralt’s lips and he no longer fought back the grin. “I would never dare do such a thing.”

“Oh, no. That’s it.” Jaskier jabbed a finger at Geralt’s chest in outrage. “I am going to prove to you that I am just as good as you are at surviving out here. No, I am better.”

For a long moment Geralt only stared at him. “I am a witcher. I am enhanced and trained specifically to survive out in the wild. You are a bard.”

“And I am stubborn and pissed off. And I know that I can do anything better than you.”

Geralt threw a pointed look at the sad attempt at making a camp fire. Jaskier cringed and shrugged his shoulders. “Magic doesn’t count.”

“Alright then,” Geralt sighed, but his lips twitched up when Jaskier’s eyes lit up with determination. “How about you prove how good you are by setting up the tent?”

“Psh, that’s easy.” When Geralt sceptically lifted a brow, Jaskier added, “I am a travelling bard. Do have some trust in me.”

Geralt watched in amusement as Jaskier strode off to go about his task. At least for the time being the bard would be distracted. Geralt knew there wasn’t a chance that Jaskier would actually succeed in setting up the tent, but it was strangely endearing to watch him bite back frustrated curses as he got tangled up in the fabric. And maybe, just maybe Geralt was preparing his ‘I told you so’ for when Jaskier finally admitted defeat and asked Geralt for help.

Except, that didn’t happen. Against all expectations, Jaskier managed to build the tent and it didn’t even take him too long.

Geralt stared at him, taken aback. Clearly Jaskier noticed Geralt’s surprise, for the smug grin he wore only got wider and he put one hand on his hips, gesturing towards the tent with the other.

“There you have it. I dare you to tell me again that I’m not as good as you are.”

“You are not,” Geralt said, more to watch Jaskier splutter in indignation than anything else.

He wasn’t disappointed.

“I am able to prepare us dinner,” Geralt said, taking out his knife.

“Oh please, now you’re just being ridiculous.” Jaskier rolled his eyes with a huff. “We both know that before I came along, you only used salt and pepper to spice your food. If even that much.”

Geralt shrugged. “I never said it tasted good. I just said I was able to prepare it.”

Jaskier’s eyes crinkled as his grin became triumphant. “Aha! So you admit it. I am better at cooking than you.”

“If you think so, then I’m sure you’ll have no problem preparing these.” Geralt did his best to keep his expression carefully neutral as he held the rabbit he had caught out to Jaskier.

Jaskier blanched at the sight. A hint of guilt battled with the satisfaction of seeing Jaskier give up on his stubbornness and he was just about to take the rabbit back and skin it himself, when Jaskier took it away from him, though he held it in the same way a lordling might hold a wet frog.

--

Over the next days, Geralt started having more and more fun with this. No matter what he told Jaskier to do, he jumped at the opportunity to prove himself. At this point, Geralt wasn’t really sure anymore what exactly Jaskier was trying to prove.

It was obvious that Geralt’s increasingly ridiculous bets were nothing that would prove anything to Geralt other than that Jaskier was a stubborn idiot who would rather attempt to chop down a small tree than give up, though he had done that particular task while throwing glares at Geralt every other second. It had been fun to watch Jaskier grit his teeth and try to succeed in this utterly useless task.

It had become slightly less fun when Jaskier had become so exhausted that he had to shrug off his chemise, revealing his skin that glistened with sweat.

Seeing Jaskier like this – seeing the muscles in his shoulders and arms flex as he swung the axe – was strange. It felt wrong. At least that was the only explanation Geralt had for the strange twist in his guts as he watched his friend. And the only reason why his mouth went dry when he later massaged Jaskier’s sore back to get the tension he was responsible for, was because he felt guilty.

He should have stopped then.

He didn’t. Not when they were making camp and not now that Jaskier was walking beside Roach, humming the same melody for the umpteenth time.

Just to see Jaskier’s reaction, Geralt now said, “I bet you can’t stay silent for longer than I can.”

He threw a glance at Jaskier out of the corner of his eye. Jaskier had stopped walking and was opening his mouth to protest. Geralt lifted his brows and cocked his head to the side, the corners of his lips twitching.

Jaskier narrowed his eyes, but no sound left him. Instead, he mouthed something at Geralt that he was sure must be some sort of insult, before hurrying after Geralt.

It became clear quickly that this might just be the hardest task for Jaskier. Chopping wood and skinning rabbits was one thing. Evidently, Jaskier’s stubbornness gave him extra strength and the ability to swallow his disgust. But staying quiet? He looked as if he was ready to through the towel right then and there, and not even a full minute had passed.

Geralt was almost fully convinced that the only reason Jaskier remained silent was that every time his fidgeting got worse and he looked like he was about to open his mouth to say something, he caught Geralt’s eyes. Within a heartbeat that determination was back in his eyes and he snapped his mouth shut.

Geralt was almost impressed. He should have known that Jaskier would play dirty.

He started to poke Geralt’s legs, pull at his boots and open their straps.

Any glare of Geralt’s was only answered with a shit eating grin and a shrug that screamed ‘You said nothing about me getting you to talk first.’

Too bad that Jaskier wasn’t the only stubborn one between the two of them.

Geralt remained stoic, no matter what Jaskier tried to grate on his nerves. He was content to ignore him. After all, Geralt had plenty of practice tuning out Jaskier’s singing, he would have no problem ignoring the way Jaskier –

Eyes wide and mouth opened into a silent cry, Jaskier stumbled. He fell forward, his arms flailing to protect his lute.

Without needing to think about what he was doing, Geralt reached down and grabbed Jaskier by the scruff of the neck, steadying him.

“Careful,” he growled.

And Jaskier…Jaskier turned to him with the most self-satisfied expression Geralt had ever seen on him.

“Told you,” Jaskier said cheerily. “I anything you can do-“

“Jaskier,” Geralt warned, but he failed to keep the amusement out of his voice. There was too much joy in Jaskier’s eyes to dampen his mood with Geralt’s broodiness.

“Which makes me think,” Jaskier tilted his head in contemplation. “Not that we’ve determined that I can keep quiet for longer –“

“Because you cheated.”

“Because I can keep quiet for longer,” Jaskier repeated, emphatically ignoring Geralt’s protest, “We should see if you can talk for longer than me.”

“No we shouldn’t.”

Jaskier skipped a couple of steps ahead, until he was walking right before Roach, turning around so he was walking still facing Geralt as he walked. “Whyever not?”

“Because this thing we’re doing isn’t about me,” Geralt replied with a huff. “And talking is no valuable life skill.”

The gasp Jaskier let out could put any actor delivering their final monologue to shame in how theatrical it was. Jaskier clutched a hand over his chest and pointed an accusatory finger at Geralt.

“The audacity!” Jaskier gave Roach a long-suffering look, as if she would understand his woe and agree with him. “Geralt. My dearest friend. You can be such a smart man, but what you said just now? That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Ever heard yourself talking?”

“Don’t try to distract me with insults. I have lived at court, trading insults is a battle you won’t win. Speaking of which, talking might not be important in the woods, but it sure is invaluable when you want rich people to pay you, which – oh! Wait. That is exactly what you want.”

Geralt grunted. “Your point?”

Jaskier’s lips stretched into a grin. He lowered his voice into a very bad imitation of Geralt’s growl, when he said, “My point is that you wouldn’t survive at court without me out here.” His voice jumped back to its normal pitch. “In other words, you need me.”

Geralt scoffed, though for some reason he liked the certainty with which Jaskier said those words.

“I really don’t.”

“Prove it then.”

“What?”

Jaskier stopped, forcing Roach to come to a halt as well.

“I said prove it. I don’t see why I’m the only one that needs to prove that I’m a worthy travel companion – “

“It was your idea,” Geralt grumbled.

“-so, how about this: I continue to do everything you think I need to be able to do out here and you prove to me that you could survive at court.”

“I don’t want to survive at court. And I don’t have to prove anything.”

Jaskier’s brows rose and he lifted his chin in a challenge. “Sounds to me like you’re scared.”

Geralt glowered at Jaskier. He could just guide Roach to walk around Jaskier. He could just ignore that stupid challenge.

But Jaskier had that look on his face. It was infuriating. Geralt never stood a chance against that look.

He jumped off Roach and walked over to Jaskier, trying to make himself look as menacing as possible, until they stood almost chest to chest.

He could see Jaskier’s throat bob as he swallowed. Geralt leaned in until their noses were almost touching.

“You’re on,” he growled, before he turned away from Jaskier and made to get onto Roach.

He was stopped by Jaskier clearing his throat.

“Actually,” Jaskier drawled. “At court it’s considered very impolite to ride on a horse while your companion is walking.”

Geralt’s brows drew together. “I’m not letting you ride Roach.”

Jaskier let out a short laugh. “Oh, don’t you worry, I am out of practice anyway.” He stepped to the side to make space for Geralt to walk next to him while leading Roach. “But I bet you can’t walk for hours as you make me do.”

--

It became clear quite quickly that Geralt had underestimated Jaskier’s ability to be petty. Obviously most of what Jaskier made him do now was revenge for the ridiculous tasks Geralt had given Jaskier.

Well, two could play this game. And oh, how they did. For weeks they went back and forth, Geralt giving Jaskier a task that he performed with gritted teeth and Jaskier enacting his revenge by making Geralt do all sorts of ridiculous things. One would think that sooner or later one of them would run out of ideas, but Geralt had been walking the Path long enough to know that there were never enough skills to have and whatever could be said about Jaskier, no one could deny that he was creative.

And of course neither one of them was willing to back down from a challenge.

Which was the reason why Geralt disguised his obligatory protest at Jaskier’s newest demand as a clever explanation for why he can’t possibly do what Jaskier dared him to.

“How on earth am I supposed to ‘dress appropriately for court’ when I don’t have any fancy clothes with me.”

Jaskier put his hands on his hips. “You would have, if you had listened to me when I had asked you to come to the tailor with me.”

Geralt pinched the bridge of his nose. “That was back in Touissant. Months ago.” He gestured to the trees surrounding them. “I don’t think there’s a tailor anywhere close.”

Jaskier opened his mouth before letting it snap shut again.

“What?” Geralt demanded.

A blush crept across Jaskier’s cheeks and he averted his eyes. “Nothing it’s just…There are courtly clothes here. Myclothes.”

Geralt’s mouth went dry. “You want…” His eyes drifted to the doublet Jaskier was wearing. Without wanting to, he imagined Jaskier opening the buttons one by one and giving Geralt his own doublet.

When Geralt didn’t resume talking, Jaskier’s eyes darted back to him. For a moment he looked confused before his expression morphed into one of panic. “Oh, gods, no, that’s not what I – no. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t make you…” Jaskier cut himself off and went over to his bags, rummaging through them for long enough that Geralt began to wonder if maybe he was just trying to avoid looking at Geralt. Finally, Jaskier came back with a triumphant sound that didn’t bode well for Geralt and a deep purple doublet.

“No,” Geralt said firmly, as he eyed the garment in distaste. “I am not wearing that.”

“So are you saying that you give up?”

Geralt held Jaskier’s gaze for a tense moment, before snatching the doublet out of his hands.

“Fine,” he growled. “Don’t complain if it tears. This was your idea.”

Geralt felt awkward as he shrugged off his own shirt and donned the doublet. The fabric felt nice enough against his skin, but for some reason, the knowledge that Geralt was wearing Jaskier’s clothes set his chest ablaze. The sensation was so distracting that he fumbled with the buttons, unable to close them on his own.

“Here, let me,” Jaskier offered and suddenly he was right in Geralt’s space. His head was lowered so that he could see what he was doing as he buttoned up the doublet with practiced movements.

Without meaning to, Geralt leaned forward, just a bit. Just enough to catch more of the lavender-scent that clung to Jaskier’s hair.

“There, all done,” Jaskier said and looked back up. His eyes widened when he saw just how close he was to Geralt who sucked in a sharp breath. Their faces were only inches apart and Jaskier’s hands that had come to rest on Geralt’s chest were burning his skin through the fabric.

“Jaskier…” He didn’t know why he said it, why suddenly this name was all he could think about.

His skin was burning and the doublet felt too tight, too hot.

Geralt squirmed and as if he had been shook out of a stupor, Jaskier took a step back. Geralt pretended not to notice the way the loss of the touch left him strangely cold.

“Yeah, no, you were right,” Jaskier blurted, his face burning in a furious red. “That’s not your colour. At all. Just-“ he gestured to all of Geralt, his eyes lingering on the buttons threatening to pop over Geralt’s chest and the way the fabric stretched over his arms, “that looks just utterly unacceptable. You need to get that off right now.”

Geralt barely had the chance to nod, before Jaskier was on him again, practically tearing the doublet off of him.

He turned back as soon as Geralt was free of the garment again. Geralt should have been relieved to be rid of the atrocious thing, but as he watched Jaskier stuff it into the bottom of his pack as if he wanted to never see it again - as if the sight of Geralt wearing it had been so terrible that he wanted to ban it from memory forever - he felt a strange pang in his chest.

--

After that, Geralt wasn’t sure how to proceed. Usually, he wouldn’t have waited a day to give Jaskier the next challenge, but ever since the incidence, as Geralt had come to think of it, Jaskier had been strangely tense.

Geralt wracked his brain, trying to figure out what he had done wrong. Maybe the doublet had ripped after all without Geralt noticing. And who could blame him? It had been distracting having Jaskier so close, touching him.

Then again, nothing had happened. It didn’t even deserve to be called an incident. Still, Geralt couldn’t shake the feeling that something had changed that day, that they had come dangerously close to having something happen.

Whatever it had been, it couldn’t happen again.

And so Geralt refrained from challenging Jaskier.

At least he did, until Jaskier looked at him a couple of days later with an unreadable expression on his face.

“I am sorry,” Jaskier said quietly.

Geralt’s brows furrowed as he searched Jaskier’s face. “What are you sorry for?”

Jaskier shrugged and turned his face away. “You are cross with me. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

Geralt’s throat grew tight at the way Jaskier’s voice wavered. “You didn’t. And I’m not.”

“No?” Jaskier looked so hopeful, so relieved. “I just thought…you didn’t give me a new challenge and I was worried I had ruined it.”

Geralt’s chest clenched uncomfortably. “So eager to get your ass kicked?” He said as carefree as he could and nudged Jaskier in the ribs with his elbow. “I just needed time to come up with a good challenge.”

“Did you find one?”

“Hmm.” Geralt looked around camp as subtly as possible, frantically trying to find something he could make into a new challenge. As always, his eyes landed back on Jaskier. More specifically on his exposed forearms, where he had rolled up his sleeves.

“Arms,” he blurted out. When Jaskier gave him a confused look, he cleared his throat and gestured between himself and Jaskier. “We should do arm wrestling. As a test of strength.”

Jaskier get out an incredulous laugh. “You want me to test my strength against a witcher?”

Geralt shrugged, a pointless attempt to hide his sheepishness. “You are the one who said you could do anything better than me.”

Jaskier’s arms drifted down to Geralt’s arms, assessing. Eventually he nodded.

“Alright.” Jaskier’s voice was uncharacteristically hoarse. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

And oh, how he did. He stood no chance, of course, even as Geralt held back. Jaskier put all of his strength into it. He used both hands. He stood up and tried to use his body weight.

He let out a noise of frustration and his face scrunched up in an expression that could only be described as adorable.

Geralt didn’t even realise how lost he had gotten looking at Jaskier until he heard a low thud and Jaskier’s face twisted in disappointment.

Geralt forced himself to look away from Jaskier’s face and saw the obvious. He had Jaskier’s hand pinned down.

“I guess you won,” Jaskier said and made a face. “You have found something I can’t do.”

Geralt hesitated. This would have been the perfect moment to gloat, to declare this silly game over. What left his mouth instead was, “We’re even now. I couldn’t wear the clothes and you can’t beat me. I’d say that means we still don’t know which one of us is better.”

Though Geralt knew. When Jaskier’s eyes lit up at Geralt’s words, he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jaskier was better – he might even be the best man Geralt knew.

--

After that, the fight was fully on again. Jaskier didn’t hold back. Not an hour later, when the moon had just begun to creep across the sky, Jaskier stood up and offered Geralt his hand.

“I bet you can’t dance.”

He was right, of course, but not once did he mention how Geralt kept stepping on his feet or how his posture was all wrong.

Geralt wouldn’t have cared if he had. He didn’t think his defeat would have even registered. He was too occupied fighting and failing to keep his heartbeat slow as Jaskier pulled him ever closer and let him through the motions of the dance while humming a soft melody.

In this moment, he couldn’t have cared less if he lost a bet or not.

And it appeared that Jaskier cared just as little about winning the bet, just this once.

Neither of them said a word about it and when they finally let go of each other, Jaskier just looked at him with that same unreadable expression he had shown more and more often lately.

“Your turn to make a move,” was the only thing he said, before disappearing inside the tent.

--

Geralt was hurt. It wasn’t a deep or particularly painful wound. Not that one would be able to tell from the way Jaskier fussed over him with worry etched into his face.

“I bet,” Geralt pressed through his teeth, “that you don’t know how to clean a wound.”

Jaskier stared at him in disbelieve. “You’re absolutely right I don’t.”

“Don’t you want to try?”

Jaskier’s brows drew together like storm clouds and his voice was thunder. “Really, Geralt? You’re bleeding. Do you really think this is the right time for this? If I mess this up-“

“Jaskier,” Geralt interrupted him and put his hand soothingly on Jaskier’s wrist. He could feel his pulse pump beneath his fingers and he rubbed a small circle into his soft skin. “You won’t hurt me. This is just a scratch. The drowner barely got me.”

“It wouldn’t have gotten you at all if I hadn’t been in the way,” Jaskier said bitterly.

Geralt’s chest clenched and he squeezes Jaskier’s arm gently, making him look at him. “That doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you didn’t get hurt. And that you know what to do if you ever do get hurt.”

There were implications in Geralt’s words that he didn’t want to think too hard about. He didn’t get the chance to anyway. Jaskier looked at him with wide eyes, before he nodded and set to work.

His hands were gentle and he hummed soothing melodies as he cleaned and stitched Geralt’s wound under his instructions. Geralt wouldn’t have been able to think of anything but Jaskier’s closeness if he had wanted to.

--

“Why on earth would I need to know how to do that?” Geralt said scowling, to the utter annoyance of Jaskier how groaned in exasperation.

“No, no no, don’t do that! That’s the exact opposite of what I told you to do. You should be smiling.”

“But why? Who cares if I smile?”

“I do. I-I mean, people at court do. You need to look pleasant and approachable if you want to charm anyone.”

“I don’t want to charm anyone.”

“Too late for that,” Jaskier muttered, quietly enough that Geralt was certain the words hadn’t been meant for him.

Still, Geralt scowled even harder, just to spite Jaskier and maybe, just maybe to make his own frown turn into a laugh.

“Geralt! Stop that this instant! Truly, sometimes I think you enjoy riling me up.” He threw his hands up in defeat. “This is it. You are a hopeless student. I’d have better luck teaching Roach how to behave at court. She definitely is more charming.”

Geralt couldn’t help it. His lips twitched up. “You’d have to bribe her.”

Jaskier snorted. “I’m already working on it. One day I’ll get her to eat that dreadful old cloak you insist on keeping.”

Jaskier looked dead serious and a by now familiar warmth spread through Geralt’s chest at Jaskier’s unconvincing scowl.

A snort of laughter left his mouth and in the blink of an eye Jaskier’s face softened.

“There it is,” he said in a tone Geralt couldn’t place. If he dared to let himself imagine, he would have called it fond. “You may never again say that you aren’t charming.”

--

“What on earth does this prove?” Jaskier panted as he tried to dodge yet another swing of Geralt’s fist aimed at his face.

“It should prove that you’d be able to defend yourself against bandits or at least hold your own in a bar fight.”

“Why would I -“ Jaskier ducked under a ridiculously slow punch that would have been truly embarrassing to get hit by, “need to do that?” He jumped backwards. “I can always talk myself out of trouble or – careful Geralt! – or you’d be there to save me. I don’t know why –“ his rant ended in a sharp cry as he stumbled over his own feet.

He let out an exaggerated grown when he hit the ground. Geralt was on him within a second, pinning his hands to the ground.

Jaskier huffed, his breath ghosting over Geralt’s face. He went still.

Geralt’s brows furrowed. “At least try to get out of my hold,” Geralt growled. “You need to be able to protect yourself. What if I’m not around?”

“Why wouldn’t you be?” Jaskier’s voice was strangely breathless. “Why would I go anywhere without you?”

Geralt froze.

For the first time it hit him just how close they were, with Geralt’s body practically pressing Jaskier’s into the ground. At some point, Geralt’s hair band had loosened and some strands of his hair had come free, framing his face and tickling Jaskier’s cheeks.

“Geralt?”

Geralt’s eyes followed the movement of Jaskier’s lips. The was so close. It would be so easy to just lean down and brush his lips against Jaskier’s. The feel of Jaskier’s body pressing up against him wasn’t enough anymore. Geralt’s heart was pounding in his chest and he wanted, he needed–

He had no time to think. No time to voice what he couldn’t even comprehend.

Because before he had the chance to do any of that, Jaskier leaned forward and breached the gap between them. He let out a soft noise that sounded almost like a sigh when they lips finally met.

Jaskier’s lips were soft and eager and they moved against Geralt’s as if he had been waiting to do this for a long time.

It took Geralt a moment to respond, but once the shock left him, he returned the kiss with just as much fervour. A low growl rose in his chest as he pressed impossibly closer against Jaskier.

His hands let go of Jaskier’s wrists, instead finding his hands and intertwining them.

Gently, Geralt bit into the softness of Jaskier’s lips, eliciting the sweetest sound from him. He felt Jaskier tug his hands free and Geralt let him, eager to feel Jaskier bury his fingers in his hair.

Instead, they pushed against him. Geralt let out a strangled groan when Jaskier broke the kiss and used Geralt’s surprise to throw his leg over Geralt and switch their positions.

Now he was leaning above Geralt, caging him in with his arms and giving him the biggest and smuggest look Geralt could imagine.

“Why…Jaskier, what…” He was unable to finish the sentence, wasn’t even sure what exactly it was that he wanted to ask. All he knew is that he needed to know. He needed this to not have been only a distraction.

“This, my dearest witcher,” Jaskier announced, leaning in close to Geralt; close enough that their breaths mingled and Jaskier’s fringe brushed Geralt’s skin. “Is a technique I am sure wasn’t taught in Kaer Morhen. The one type of battle you won’t be able to win against me.”

Geralt swallowed thickly. “What kind of battle?”

“Why, it’s called battling for dominance. With our tongues.”

“What?”

Jaskier rolled his eyes. “Kissing, Geralt. I’m obviously talking about kissing.”

“For a bard you have a terrible way of describing that.”

Jaskier huffed and Geralt could almost feel his smile against his lips. “Are you saying you’d be a better poet than me? Want to prove it to me?”

Geralt shook his head, his throat tight. One of his hands wandered up to Jaskier’s face, caressing his cheek. “I am much more interested which one of our tongues has won the battle.”

“Mine, obviously.” Jaskier grinned. “I have you pinned down, don’t I?”

“Hmm.” A smile stretched across Geralt’s face and he tilted his head just enough that his lips brushed against Jaskier’s with his next words. “Any yet I feel like I have won.”

Jaskier’s breath hitched. “I guess we’ll have to do it some more then. To determine which one is the winner.”

“Yeah,” Geralt agreed, his voice but a breath. “We should.”

As Geralt captured Jaskier’s lips with his own once more, he knew with a fierce certainty that neither of them would be proven a loser in this.