#also he starts at silver and then goes good and rose gold on his second and third encounters

[not-that-mustang]

I decided to revisit a 95% complete 3D World save I had forgotten about and came to clearing the boss rush with all characters and got through the first five and went ‘so now it’s just prince bully left’ but was met with an arena I didn’t recognize. Then I saw this guy and and I blanked on his name and just went

‘Oh shit it’s Jevil’s cousin’

[rewritingcanon]

ok here are some of the one part melbourne hpcc play highlights (part one only because i need to make two seperate posts… they’re too long together) in an attempted chronological order:

part one

first off, why so many dilfs? like not to be like this person about a family friendly play but seriously harry? draco? RON? RON RON RON OH MY GOD 🧎‍♀️ michael whalley please one chance

ron’s voice was very… mhmm. it was good.

harry got more attractive as he got more depressed too..

and also draco’s buttons and cuffs were sparkling and he had many silver rings on his fingers. ill leave it at that

anyways if we were to talk about actual content: the first train carriage scene was so gold omg. right before it started - karl sat down in scorpius’s carriage, seemed to realise who he was sitting with and then immediately this look of horror crossed over his face and he BOLTED away 😭😭 he ended up sitting with james sirius and craig loll

yann and polly were in a carriage together the cuties

also polly was in bicycle shorts the whole time. it was like a cloak and then just black bicycle shorts fr. idk if the actress just didnt have her pants or sum because i found out later that she was a cover (which is CRAZY because she played myrtle and polly so extremely well, she literally sounded exactly like myrtle im not kidding, aisha aidara has so much talent fr)

rose hostile side eye at scorpius when him and albus are talking for the first time i swearrrr shes so funny she was literally like this the entire time

rose looked so pleased with herself when she said “the rumour is that hes voldemort’s son! ☺️☺️” then she realises that both scorp and al are extremely uncomfortable and goes “😧😧😧well its not like its true! 😰 you clearly have a nose 😝” shes so funny bro

when albus was sorted into slytherin craig seemed to be the only one (besides scorpius) excited about it but then composed himself when he saw everyone else’s reactions

in wand dance (which is still the funkiest song of the whole score)— albus’s movement with his cloak wasnt as graceful as everyone else’s transitions in the dance, like he was messing up even that. he was more flinging it then twirling it around and his expression was one of a constant state of annoyance, like he’s aware he’s always messing up but he can’t change it because he doesn’t know how to. its why im grateful for sitting so close to the stage because i don’t think i would’ve recognised this (and other later acting i’ll talk about)

in between the first and second year with draco and harry mirroring each other was not gone unnoticed but was funny asf still.

like here’s harry trying to talk to his kid when karl runs up with his whole belly out wanting an autograph

and then you have draco who yann walks by once and he’s immediately glaring this boy down. like yann literally started ZOOMING AWAY 🏃‍♂️💨 bc draco’s intimidation tactics are so intense

scorpius sniffs rose twice whilst trying to flirt with her. w rizz.

the scene with amos, harry and albus was just ungh *chef’s kiss*

you can literally see the plan forming in albus’s head as he listens to them and his anger at his dad as he’s listening to them, harry’s discomfort at lying to amos whilst also being put to blame for cedric’s death yet again and amos’ bumbling confused pain. like idk george henare plays amos so well it was literally painful to watch

delphi’s eye makeup was so slay. tbh everything about her character was amazing

idk why i just noticed it but delphi literally acts like scorpius when her and albus first meet. awkward, unassuming, clumsy and nonthreatening and seemingly very sweet and funny. hmm.

if you take into account that she was in the background during the 9 3/4 scenes and have the opinion that she was planning on meeting albus for years, and observing him and his family the entire time, then she probably also purposefully tried to mimic the only person albus was known for getting along with, which was scorpius. HMMMM.

when delphi first meets harry she was smiling at him and looking at him with these wide eyes that can be mistaken for awe but as soon as she and amos were out of his line of sight and were leaving the stage she stopped smiling immediately but continued to look at him. the focus lights were off her and the scene was already changing but I NOTICED and it was fucking ominous

i could see how some of the effects worked when sitting up close. for instance i know that the incendio flames and the consequent fire were from tubes that were set into the pillars of st jeromes church. i could see some of the strings when things were flying around. bane’s two-body centaur was more noticeable and less smooth. when ron got kissed by the dementor i thought he was kissing back because he was discreetly holding the dementor by the waist 😭😭 then i realised he was hooking himself onto the dementor to be carried off

BUT there were some tricks that even i literally couldn’t explain and the one that comes to mind is when harry and ginny appeared in the bed during the post-nightmare bedroom scene. like how tf did that happen?? how????? i literally cannot think of anything besides the the actor and actress hiding in the mattress and then emerging BECAUSE LITERALLY HOW ELSE

ginny and harry slandering dumbledore in the bedroom scene 🫶🫶

draco looking at the audience like he’s ryan in the office every time harry says something. especially during the scene in the ministry meeting where harry says his scar is hurting. bro was so done with him.

when albus and scorpius were escaping the hogwarts express scorpius attempted to climb out onto the train’s roof first and he was sticking his leg out and pulling back in, and then sticking his leg out and pulling back in and then he turns to albus like 😧🫴 “i have never done this before bro” look on his face so albus pushes him away and just yanks himself out 💀

“my son is missing” “SO IS MINE” so good, the line delivery was perf

you know i’ve heard lots of people go on and on about how nyx calder plays the perfect scorpius and i totally get the hype now. even the way he stands is accurate to how i envision scorpius. and he’s always fidgeting with his hands, giving this impression of a cute little dorky german boy. his posture is always super straight and his hands are usually clasped which makes him look proper but awkward and very sweet, i love him, very superb acting through body language

speaking of which when amos was roasting the shit out of albus, scorpius looked so terrified. he was gripping albus’s robes and trying to pull him away 😭

“go to your room” being the first thing out of scorpius’s mouth to albus as soon as he’s polyjuiced as harry 💀

ron/albus tried to hide with scorp and delphi when hermione and harry were coming and they pushed him out of the office forcibly 😭😭

albus/ron was the number one instigator that whole scene was fucking funny and it was the first time i could watch it without cringing

when ron blocked the door from hermione he squatted and started t-posing in front of the door and went “im 🕺not🕺blocking🕺anything.” this whole scene was probably the funniest part of the play especially the “I WANT ANOTHER BABY OR A HOLIDAY AND I WILL INSIST ON IT”

also the line where hermione is like “there better not be another stink pellet in there” to ron/albus is replaced by “there better not be another romantic firework display in there” i love them sm

when ron/albus said to hermione that she married ron because of his “puckish sense of fun,” he was saying it a little flatly with this big awkward smile on his face and he was double thumbs-upping her. it looked so fourteen year old core lmfaooo

scorpius started hyperventilating on the ground when delphi and albus got swallowed by the book case and literally started crawling on all fours like *pat pat pat* cmon scorpius *pat* think!! *pat pat*

scorpius standing in between both albus and delphi talking… farther off in the forbidden forest as they were laughing. he looked so defensive like his hands were clenched and his whole body was tense, and when delphi said “wizzo” it seemed to snap scorpius out of whatever he was thinking and he went up to them and said (very sharply, mind you) “what’s wizzo?” like that’s HIS catchphrase. bro was jealoussssss heheeehehe

and when albus quizzed delphi instead of scorpius like usual, scorpius looked like he had been slapped

then when delphi said “im flattered but do you honestly think i can pass as a student” to albus scorpius started shaking his head aggressively and not so inconspicuously doing the cut-it-out hand gesture to albus 😭😭

when delphi kissed albus, scorpius flinched… and then slowly put his own cheek out and delphi literally was like “mmm no” 😭

scorpius said “you look sweaty and red” to albus after the kiss, it didnt sound light-hearted like the other times it did when i saw the play, but accusatory. hmm. interesting.

scorpius also said “sweaty and red” instead of “pale and red” like the script and i might be biased and reading too much into it, but i was thinking about why they might change something so minuscule. maybe because “sweaty” gives a grosser connotation then “pale,” and i genuinely think in this revised version of the play albus isn’t supposed to have a crush on delphi

when scorpius and albus are alone together looking at the school, and talking about how beautiful it is and how they each view their lives at present, scorpius was looking out at the view the whole time but halfway through the scene albus stops looking at the view and starts looking at scorpius instead!!! um!!! with this very soft look on his face as well, until they’re interrupted by hearing their parents come. guys. im not kidding. its so gay usually but up close the play is even worse my jaw was dropping.

albus’s “ZORRY HERZMIONE I ZINK HE HAZ GOZZEN YOU MIZZED WIZZ ZUMUN ELZZZE” in bad german accents and scorpius’s very manly, very loud “YEZZZZ 👹💪” 

when albus and scorpius got caught by harry and co. albus went “hi dad 😙” and his voice was so high, bro was scared 😭😭

i have to think about whether i miss gryffindor albus or not. maybe. i think i kinda do bc it shows how albus being a loser isn’t dependent on his house (and neither is his connection to scorpius). but yeah that whole plotline was scrapped and albus just remained in slytherin in this timeline.

when harry told albus to stay away from scorpius, harry tried to leave it at that and leave but albus started to chase harry out of the hospital because bro was that desperate. his feet were literally bare (im pretty sure this is in the script too but seeing it live is so… god.)

the seperate scene where ron and hermione meet each other in private at the top of the staircase is merged with the scene where albus meets the new not-funny ron. and they both meet on top of the staircase with the light spotlighting them, and its very clear that they are in love with each other

hermione is about to walk off when ron calls her back and she immediately turns around and goes right back to him, her face is so happy 😭

and its so sad because this whole scene mirrors scorpius and albus so exactly in the staircase ballet. like if not in love, why mirroring ron and hermione throughout the play? (even in dark world, which i’ll get into later…)

anyways, staircase ballet: scorpius and albus stare at each other total of three times. and when i mean stare, i mean the light reflects off of them and they are frozen in prolonged silence (longing). once when the staircases meet, another when albus is on the ground and scorpius is at the top of the staircase, unreachable from him. last time is when the staircases stop at a cross section, and they’re standing, looking at each other. and from my angle i could see albus’s face the best, and i feel like it could be interpreted by either seeming apologetic or desperate, either way there was this very pleading look on his face.

they both froze when the saw each other and still look on the verge of moving to one another and then the staircases move off as soon as scorpius starts walking towards him.

albus looks so disappointed because HE WANTED SCORP TO MAKE THE FIRST MOVE because he’s too scared to do it himself. he ends up just sitting on the staircase and dropping his bag beside him in defeat, and looking away. scorpius still stands and watches albus go off. yah its as queer as i remember it. glad this wasnt cut.

draco was fixing and adjusting the furniture whilst duelling harry. idk if the furniture just wasnt on the mark on stage but it was fucking adorable. he kept fixing the chairs up and then patting it nervously ☹️ idc if it wasn’t intentional it seemed in character to me for him to just be a total busybody even in the midst of a duel

ginny’s micro-expressions at draco when he talks about how lonely he felt at school were amazing. harry looked a little uncomfortable when he was speaking but ginny looked really sympathetic to him, and draco notices this and thats why he speaks on “i know you must feel the same ginny” and shes like “i do” which immediately changes harry’s discomfort to shock, then i feel like he starts taking draco seriously

seen the play three times and during the fight scene with scorpius and albus, scorpius has acted differently each time. first time, scorpius was literally sobbing when talking to him, second time he was literally screaming at him in anger, third time he was just disappointed asf in him. i think this time was the best for his characterisation but god it hurt each time

mcgonagall’s “if i didn’t see you, then i didn’t see you” and she does this big over-exaggerated shrug and starts creeping away like a cartoon character to insinuate to albus and scorpius that shes leaving. i love her 😭

also when albus and scorpius were talking about their next plan i realised their bags are so different: albus has this raggedy big ass brown messenger bag and scorpius has this shiny, small, flashy, zesty little pouch. there are two types of gays.

myrtle was literally hitting on scorpius lmfao scorpius was just like 😨 the entire time

and of course myrtle’s “hello draco 😏 heloooooo harryyy 😻” nah because i get her

craig is such a fucking busy body he was trying to manage harry, ginny, draco AND mcgonagall and only stopped when draco pushed him away and death glared him 😭

erm why was umbridge hot asf. idfk the dark world looks really good on her guys

here’s part two

[dreamcatcherrs]

what catches their eyes/attracts them?; mcyt x reader

+ this is in no way factual information, only my very weird and specific opinions :)

dream:

free-spirited people

someone who isn't afraid to speak their mind

confidence, to a certain extent

someone he can be loud with

someone who will wake up in the middle of the night with him to go on a car drive to nowhere

the colour blue (dnf👀)

clean and fresh-looking clothes

satin fabric

big height difference

the smell of citrus fruits

large smiles

silver jewellery

small hands

smart people who aren't afraid to show it

george:

calm, laid back people

someone quiet, but still able to have a laugh

very friendly vibes - even when first meeting them

the colour blue (literally the only interesting colour he's able to see lol)

bright eyes

lip gloss

flower print

slightly shy people who are actually easy to interact with once you start a conversation with them

pastel-coloured nails, not too long

pink-tinted lips

ponytails

the smell of vanilla

puppy eyes

sapnap:

energetic people

someone who can hype up their friends no matter the situation

the colour red

like, a bloody red

soft skin

full lips

loose shirts over skin-tight tops

when shoelaces have a different colour on each shoe

corsets

a very subtle scent of perfume

thigh highs

someone who just wants to enjoy life with the people they're surrounded by

badboyhalo:

large, bright smiles that spread up to your eyes

freckles

button noses

rose-gold jewellery

french manicures

bangs

slightly shy people

genuinely sweet people

not the fake type that talks shit about people behind their backs and then will compliment them a few seconds after

someone who when they enter a room feels like a breath of fresh air to everyone else

someone completely selfless

the smell of lavender

shiny hair

technoblade:

people who aren't afraid to take the lead

glasses

intellectual people

like, for example people who know a lot of random stuff from a bunch of different things that they're interested in

or also just book smart people

slightly clumsy people (finds it cute)

gold jewellery

someone with some mystery to them

refreshing scents, like clean laundry or shampoo

cat eyes (eyeliner)

wilbur soot:

long legs

chokers

shy people

someone who gets flustered easily

glasses + thin bangs

the colours brown and beige together

baggy, comfy clothes

the smell of newly baked cookies

beanies

the kind of person that makes him feel like he can always talk to them - someone he can feel safe with

birth marks

accents

jschlatt:

smart people

the way they speak is just so clean without even noticing

fox eyes

people who aren't afraid to wear sweatpants in public

generally just someone who isn't afraid to do, say and wear whatever they want

someone who stands for what they think and have the balls to say it when needed

nose rings

simple yet flattering pieces of jewellery

long nails

someone who he can stay up all night with and never get tired of them

high heels

hip dips

corpse husband:

fishnets, of course

someone who give 0 fucks about what everyone else thinks of them

unique people

wether that be physical features or straight up the personality, it draws him in

chokers

chunky, black sneakers or boots

someone who can make him happy without even trying

a positive aura for the most part

as in he doesn't want to be surrounded by someone who’s negative or dragging everyone else down with them

the colour yellow

rings - lots of them

karl jacobs:

a walking ray of sunshine, basically

tbh, karl has a couple of things in common with what corpse is attracted to;

positive energy, uniqueness and rings

a palette filled with bright colours

like, almost rave style colours

that could be clothes, makeup, hair, nails, accessories

chunky, white shoes

selfless people

someone who as each day goes by becomes more charming to him

he likes the smell of candles from bath and body works, as we all know

the colour purple

skeppy:

big eyes

someone who’s able to make him laugh without even trying

tooth gaps

someone who has very playful, innocent vibes to them

and someone who can take jokes and pranks

people who walk confidently

the smell of strawberries

long eyelashes

someone who collects things others usually wouldn’t

someone who is very respectful to others

a mix between really comfy clothes and really feminine clothes

fundy:

someone who comes across as “different” than others

and don't you dare think of ✨I’m not like other girls✨ (I know you did -_-)

he just thinks people who think and act very different than others are very interesting

beauty marks

nicely shaped eyebrows

someone who finds mystical things interesting

fox eyeliner (yes, I put this in here because: furry)

someone who has unusual, yet surprisingly good taste in music

people who are constantly warm

red lips

the colour light brown, almost beige-like

quackity:

someone who gets his humour

someone like him, but more quiet and slightly shy

especially when on screen in front of an audience

sliver necklaces

the smell of flowers

dark, extreme eyeliner

loose clothes

freckles

piercings

someone who teases others and who can handle to be teased by others

the colour dark blue

punz:

the colour grey

a fresh fashion sense

yet still very comfortable fits

messy buns

someone who he just knows will be a cool person before he even talks to them

someone who just has that kinda vibe, y’know?

glossy lips

independent people

someone responsible and caring to others

tattoos

navel piercings

awesamdude:

cropped jackets

the colour neon green

hair put up in a bun

someone with a free nature

someone who is a complete wild card

like, someone who will jump over a fence just to get closer to a bunny they think they saw on the other side of it

loose strands of hair

clear nail polish

cargo pants

the smell of chocolate

slimecicle:

people who have comfort items

someone who knows random facts that no one else usually knows

people who have a unique way of thinking

passionate people

and when they talk about what they’re passionate about, they talk for hours

shorter hair

sweet and nutty scents

natural beauty

fluffy hair

honest people

but not brutally honest

the smell of coconut

eret:

eye glitter/shimmer

silky clothes that shine in the moonlight

platform boots/heels

long, flowy dresses

someone who does whatever they want

and who doesn't like being told what to do by others

the colours pink and dark purple

the smell of the ocean

someone who already knows how to live their life

stretch marks

foolish:

low-cut jeans

someone very silly who knows how to have a good laugh

someone very supportive of their friends

curtain bangs

long-sleeved sweatshirts

someone who loves food

puppy eyes

straight, white teeth

someone who is willing to help others in need

someone who doesn't talk badly about others behind their back

someone who knows what they want

jack manifold:

confidence

white, wide-legged pants

the colour light blue or just pure white

people who are very easy-going and fun to be around

someone who can fit into and understand anyones humour

an open-minded person who likes to hear from other people’s point of views when they have a different opinion than them

butterfly patterns

crop tops

oversized t-shirts

hair beads

tommy:

people who are just as loud as him

and at the same time knows when to be serious

the colours yellow and grey

people who are kind to everyone

creative eyeliner

fluffy hair

people who can get so lost in their own world, they almost forget about their surroundings

colourful accessories

someone who isn't afraid to be who they are

someone who has many passions and loves to talk about them

oversized hoodies

tubbo:

hoodies layered over skirts or dresses

frilly socks

people who are very adventurous, and wants to make their life as interesting as possible!

someone who can help him overcome some of his fears

charm bracelets

cute habits

the colours yellow and orange

dimples

the smell of almond milk and honey

people who twirl their hair unknowingly when bored or unfocused

ranboo:

someone who looks intimidating at first (he thinks people like that are cool as fuck)

but then is, like, the sweetest person he’s ever met

loves someone who can speak fluent sarcasm, just like him

he likes sass

glassy skin

fingerless gloves

people who act cocky for the fun of it

but actually don’t care about winning or losing or proving anything

simplistic earring placements

people who have hidden talents, and the more you get to know them, the more talents are revealed

people who don't gossip

____________________________________

tag list✰

@zayenz @terribletoothbat @0t0n1n @0125cm @yukiuheh @shinee-is-5-forever @regularnoceur @b01nk-b0w@christhebish@nutritious-emo-crackkk@bookishreid@giavanna-707 @reddiesmcdonalds@cosmins@vixxzial@autumnpleaves@paradigmax@meaganjm@shiningsunrises@moralofwalls@username1212131@gxldentaestuff@innitdream @televisionpresent38 @bubblyanis@zurami @highoffhockey @popinjaytaylor@196os@livsbaby@doubts-of-gold@bunlina@retrav @mcyt-is-my-life@aleaisntcreative @my-shitpost-of-writing @my-shitpost-of-writing @clownsdrowning @pissbabywastaken@shiningsunrises @tie-dyed-dumbass @death-by-rats@simpfordraco @bippity-boppity-boopa@neongreendaydreams  @vibin-by-myself@littlepotatos0w0@christhebish @pipp-poppz@btsiguess-kpop@prettysmallfries@hiyoko-kos@kenmxskitten@fudrudy@weepingartanimespy@rhino-zucchini@goldenstarofthunderclan@melonmarz@ubeicecreamisthebest@polaroidinurroom @ady-yoo@isimpforeveryone@edenhollandd@ineedtogetoutofhere@glitter-night @hamilsandersfam@mothheart-witch @wrong-exit@trashcanfullofdork  @hellfirepheonixx @marshmallow-babe@isimpforeveryone @ky50621 @randomcloud@wormie4k@dinonuggies50  @p4rty-t4ttoos@aspenthegremlin@book-of-anarchy @jeyacore @thetattooink@gogywasfound@millavalntyne@junob1ade@ubeicecreamisthebest@karida @i-have-paws-love@drvgonraja@eatasslikegrass@creamofweep@venusomega@lunarfedora@rowe-n @wreny24 @vincent-stargogh @floatingplanets​ @vernon-dursley​ @childhoodgrunge​ @fivxss @hexagonclash​ @crazyjuls12​ @littlebabysandboxburritos @shifted-dreams@lenamarie666 @reinyrei @sozvuchiy @weaslvy-mxlfoy​ @aiofheavenandhell​ @honeyglaazed @carisle-mikealson​ @ineedtogetoutofhere​ @twist3dtinkerbell@cracraforfandoms@angel-dazey @leia-starly @smiithys​ @squiddyyyy​ @c0wc0ww​ @animeweeb019284​ @m00-bl00m-k0le @stqrs-thoughts @jenlouvre @uhhhguiltypleasures​ @trappedchest​ @punzrights​ @trashgremlin36​ @cyberrsoot​ @elebeleb​ @k3nn3dis-crap​ @karlshoodies​ @rascal-in-banishment​ @heartbroken-writer​ @bartok-the-magnificent​ @ihavenoideashelp​ @goldiefox1​ @bethybop​ @helluhru​ @venuzblr​ @pha5ed5tar50 @cscooop​  @bethybop @lunareclipse-13 @http-strawberryy​ @mahitophobic​ @ahmya-4​ @dracoscumwh0re @darkdaria1 @jiminifiess​ @orchardangel​ @shyorchider​ @cupcake54492​ @natsueyama​ @honeyconnie​ @notacardigan​ @maybeshroom​

[eleanorbloom]

Marry My Lover (Bryce x Eleanor Proposal Headcanon)

A/N: Well, I thought I wouldn't do it because I was too invested with this fic, but I've been thinking adult life is so fucking hard that maybe I'll never find the time and inspo to finish this fic, so... well, why not realease it to the world as headcanon/very-poorly-written-fic. If later I find the inspo, maybe I'll write it, maybe not, but I think posting this will lift a heavy weight off me.

Please forgive me my grammar mistakes and poor english, I mean, I know it's not poor, but I went really basic here, other way I would've never finished writing this lol

Tagging my WYR readers, in case you're interested in reading this @curiousconch @romereadingshop @utterlyinevitable @lahellacute @chocopeppermintcake

Also this is sumbission for @openheartfanfics Weekly Trope Challenge, week 2: Weddings & Proposals (@openheartheadcanons)

Marry My Lover

Bryce had wanted to propose to Eleanor for a while, considering both spontaneous and prepared ways to do it.

One of the first ideas was proposing on a visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, as it was the place of their first date. But none of their shifts let them assist for a couple of weeks, so he decided to look for something less complicated.

As he saw their annual meeting with the gang was coming, he decided he would propose on that occasion. Surrounded by friends, the people who helped them get together and supported them in the most difficult times both personally and as a couple.

So he would propose at Donahue’s. With a song, no less. Marry Me by Bruno Mars. A cheerful song, Eleanor loved Bruno Mars and simply matched with the tone he wanted to have on the proposal. Happy and spectacular. He wanted to make her feel the luckiest, most loved woman on earth.

So when he decided what he would do, he shared the news with Sienna so she could help him orchestrate the event. He would arrive a bit later than Eleanor, Sienna would keep her distracted, and then whoop, Bryce would appear at the center of the bar singing the song.

On the day of the meeting, Bryce was in the locker room when he received a text from Sienna: “All set, B! We’re waiting for you”. He breathed deeply, excited and a bit nervous at the same time.

They had talked about marriage, about a life together thousands of times, but it was different just taking the step and doing it, of proposing marriage. Marriage. Damn.

But at the same time, it was just a confirmation of the love they had for each other. Their love that had grown exponentially, to unknown highs and depths in the three years they had been together, and he was sure that their love would keep growing and getting stronger with each day.

After getting ready, he texted Keiki: “Hey Keiks, are you there already?” “Oh, yeah, hidden in the parking lot, super spy.” “Awesome, I’m coming out of the locker room I’ll be there in five” “Okay”

Bryce didn’t want her to miss it for the world. Keiki would kill him if he let that happen. Luckily for both Bryce and Keiki, she was studying close to home, more than close. Cambridge. BS in Physics at MIT, so as she was living just a few minutes away from Boston, they saw each other pretty regularly, once a week or once every two weeks depending on how busy the three were.

Keiki was excited about it, but there was just this strange smirk on her. Bryce thought it was just the fact that her brother would propose to Eleanor at last.

Once at the bar, he greeted their friends, Elijah, coming from Chicago, Jackie, from Baltimore, and Sienna coming from New York. Aurora was the only one living in Boston, working at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as attending and part of the new Diagnostic Team there.

Everyone was happy but at the same time with this strange smirk, like they were hiding something.

“And Elle?” he asked.

A few moments after the question was made, a guitar started to play. He looked at the center of the bar, and found Eleanor, on a yellow dress, and matched hatband playing guitar and singing: We could leave the Christmas lights up 'til January And this is our place, we make the rules And there's a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you, dear Have I known you twenty seconds or twenty years?

Bryce couldn’t believe his eyes. His ears. His skin. How a shiver ran down his spine, making tingle every inch of him; how his stomach fluttered at the sight of her there, beautiful and singing and… Surprising him.

It was Lover by Taylor Swift, because, how not, his girlfriend was a Swiftie since High School, so once a Swiftie, always a Swiftie.

Bryce knew almost every song of the last two albums she had released in the last couple of years because they had blasted the speakers of their home for weeks. Can I go where you go? Can we always be this close? Forever and ever, ah Take me out, and take me home You're my, my, my, my lover

After singing the chorus, Eleanor handed the guitar to Rafael, who continued with the melody, and took the mic in one hand, singing the second verse as she started walking slowly towards him. We could let our friends crash in the living room This is our place, we make the call She took his hand on hers and softly pulled him to the center of the bar

And when Eleanor sang “And I'm highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you”, both chuckled knowingly, because they knew how true that was, wherever he goes, he enchants.

I've loved you three summers now, honey, but I want 'em all

It had been three summers indeed and nor he or she couldn’t imagine a summer without each other.

Eleanor kept singing, every word with meaning, it was like the song was written for them, especially “I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover” Because who else on this planet was a magnetic force but him?

Bryce was beaming the whole song, smiling, laughing, biting his lip, showing how happy, flattered, incredulous and in love he was.

He couldn’t believe his luck. To this day, after more than three years, sometimes he still couldn’t believe he had the chance to love so much and be so loved. So happy, so free, so understood. And he would probably live this luck, this love, forever and ever with her.

When the song ended, Eleanor took out something from the pocket of her yellow dress. A velvet box. When she opened it, a silver ring with a diamond at the center shined under the multicolor lights of the bar. Eleanor took his hand in hers and kissed his knuckles softly before asking: “Bryce Lahela, mi amor, we both know we want to spend the rest of our lives together. In these three years you have made me nothing but happy. The happiest luckiest woman alive. I want that for the rest of our lives. Would you marry me?”

“Yes,” he said, eyes sparkling, shining so bright with emotions, with love, with adoration, with happiness, “Yes, babe, yes! The only thing I want is to spend the rest of my life with you!”

Everyone cheered, Sienna was crying, Kyra too, and even Keiki had shed a tear.

Eleanor put a ring on his finger and both kissed sweetly in the middle of the bar.

After a few moments, Bryce kissed her hand and chuckled, “Well, now it’s my turn.”

Eleanor stared confused at him, and when she heard him shouting “Música maestro!” she understood.

Eleanor couldn't believe it either. When the notes of Marry Me by Bruno Mars started playing, she covered her mouth with her hands just like Cecilia Bolocco when she won Miss Universe in 1986. “No way, love!” she squealed.

After a few verses, Bryce took her hand and turned her to the wall, where a video was playing. Videos of colleagues, nurses, even patients, with thumbs up singing along “Don't say no, no, no, no, no, Just say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah” Then, her parents showed up in the video, beaming as they sang along too. Even her grandparents from Chile, Ricardo and Ofelia, appeared in the video asking the same.” “Oh my god,” Eleanor couldn't hold it anymore and simply let the tears fall. Tears of joy, of happiness.

Then Bryce started to walk around the bar, singing with a persuasive tone, asking the patrons to join him in his singing, as if he had to convince her to marry him. Friendly patrons would nod and show their thumbs up and sing along for a couple of seconds.

Once the song ended, Bryce bend on one knee and took the velvet box out of the pocket of his pants, where a beautiful rose gold ring was there, with a round diamond at the center and smaller at the sides. “Well, you won me. This was my idea too, but you were faster, or maybe you had friends who took your side and decided to help you instead of me.” Everyone chuckled. “Or maybe she just asked before you did,” Jackie teased. “Either way, I’m honored and flattered, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to propose to you. I mean, I’ve dreamed about this day practically since I met you.” “Awww, mi amor.” “I want all summers with you and all winters, especially winters so you can keep me warm on snowy nights.” Eleanor giggled, her eyes full of tenderness, “Of course, my love. Summer, fall, winter, spring, all of the seasons and all of the years I have left on this planet.” “Good. And you, Eleanor Andrea Bloom, would you marry me?” “Yes, my love, mi amor, sí, sí, yes!” Bryce put the ring on her finger, and again, people cheered and clapped. Keiki and Jackie whistled.

When Bryce and Eleanor got off the stage, the gang approached them, filling them with congratulations and hugs, and just love for the happy, recently-engaged couple. they disclosed how everything had happened -Eleanor indeed had asked help first, she had been practicing guitar for more than a month with the help of Rafael.

After a while, Bryce took Eleanor’s hand and led her to a quiet place so they could have a moment for themselves. They smiled and laughed without saying anything, still processing what had happened and trying to understand the happiness they were feeling. their hearts were simply overflowing with happiness and love. “You know? I can say people, mostly women, have asked me a lot of things in my life, some of them shocking, some of them rather cute, but never had a woman proposing to me, so this is a first. You're definitely a keeper.” “Oh, that's why you're agreeing to marry me?” she asked, feigning offense. “One of the four hundred million reasons, babe.” Eleanor smiled pensively, earnest, “You deserve everything, my love, everything. And that includes being proposed, because, damn, we’re too far from gender stereotypes and toxic masculinity.” “I agree.” “And because I really wanted you to know that I wanna marry you, and spend the rest of my life with you, just as much as you do.”

Completely spellbound by the sincerity of her love, now and always, Bryce simply bit his lip and leaned to plant a sweet kiss on her lips.

There was nothing else to do but be happy.

____

Ps: Here pics of Bryce and Eleanor engagement rings. I had the idea of a collage, but it would've also taken me a day to finish it, lol sorry

Thank you for reading! ❤

[waitingfortheendtocome]

Deceiving Love

This was a request idea send so all credits for the idea goes to @me-goro Thank you for the request and I promise I’ll try my best :)

Request: Enemy to Lovers where Lou meets y/n for the first time while Lou’s trying to be sneaky because she wants to get information o but Y/N is unknowingly in the way of her getting it. 

This is probably not going to be that many chapters maybe a few chapters, more or less fast pace. I tried to get it in a one shot but it would’ve been too long. 

I’m so sorry is so long I couldn’t find a stopping point and wanted to get as much info out there as well as introduction for the first chapter. I promise I’ll try not to make them too long in the future lol. I’m bad at finding good ending spots as well as writing characters hating on each other LOL. Fair warning I went for the crashing into each other cliché to create a bad start between them LOL

I haven’t edited it completely so there might be grammatic error and for that I apologize. 

Also this is my first Ocean’s 8 Lou Miller story so I’m sorry if this turns out bad ��

Warnings: None yet except Cursing here and there. bad first impressions if you count that (is that under angst????)

Chapter One

~Lou~

Lou parked in front of the warehouse they had rented out for the job. They made sure to rent it out under a false name to avoid backtracking in case somewhere where to go wrong. They all took a flight to France for a job Debbie insisted they should do. She claimed it a really good job and the pay was good. Personally Lou didn’t needed the extra cash and rejected the job a few times over the course of a week before finally caving in due to Debbie’s persistence. Despite her agreeing she wasn’t happy and had been slightly grouchy she wanted to focus on running her club, upgrading it here and there to make it better and maybe open another club so she was very busy. 

If she did this job she had to put all the plans on hold for a while which she was upset about. She had to hire a temporary manager to run her club while she was gone, hell even Tammy tried to tell Debbie to leave Lou be but according to Debbie they’ll get caught if Lou wasn’t there. Lou had been in a bad mood that day and saying a few things that would have hurt Debbie’s feelings if Debbie had been within hearing range only Tammy heard her and the two had a lengthy conversation which made Lou wish she had a strong drink which wasn’t wise thankfully Tammy made her feel better already sensing Lou’s sudden stress. Safe to say after talking to Tammy she agreed on the job better her helping Debbie than having all seven of her friends get caught and arrested. Debbie was more than happy at Lou agreeing to do this job something Lou noticed and had to admit made her happy.

They all walked in the warehouse and looked around except for Lou who walked confidently to a chair and sat down her long legs spread out in front of her. She had already came here a week ago to get the place set up for the team she even set up a spot for nine balls with the equipment the woman needed for the heist so she didn’t needed to explore or look around. Debbie grinned at Lou proud that Lou had set the place up already Lou looked up from her phone giving Debbie a smug smirk before she finished texting her temporary club manager. She put her phone away and looked up knowing the team had gathered and Debbie took the floor.

“So, what are we stealing? You guys haven’t told us.” Amita wondered

Lou lounged back shrugging, “Don’t look at me not even I know.”

“Yo, are they diamonds?” Nine Balls wondered

“Woah, wait you haven’t told Lou?” Constance wondered shocked

“I didn’t wanted her to try and back out if I told her.” Debbie informed them earning a snort from the blonde in question who shoved a piece of gum in her mouth

“Oh now we really wanna know, spill girl what is it?” Nine stated closing the lid of her laptop

Smiling satisfied that she got everyone's attention she turned on the screen projector stating, “Hear me out first.”

The screened turned on and an drawing of three jewels popped up and beside it another image of two crowns popped up. Lou studied the items quickly wondering what was so special about them besides the lack of photograph.

The necklace collar is large and is made out of pure gold hallmarked with roses and harps made out of diamonds put to gatherer alternately. They where tied together with knots made out of pure gold and topaz diamonds. The roses where made out of diamonds and rubies. In the center of the collar was an imperial Jeweled Crown crest surmounting a harp of gold and diamonds. There was a small writing that says they're suppose to be two of them one had the imperial badge crown and the other did not other than that both necklace collars where the exact same.

The second jewel was a Grand Master diamond badge. The badge looked like it was similar to the one hanging off one of the necklaces. the badge is made out of silver containing trefoil in emerald on a ruby cross surrounded by sky blue enamel with rose diamonds writing. The crowned harp was made out of Diamonds and Brazilian stones.

The third Jewel was a simple large star made of gold diamonds and brilliants. it consisting of eight points with four lesser issuing Centre enclosing a cross of ruby and a trefoil of emeralds surrounding a sky blue enamel circle with writing in rose diamonds. The crowns was made out of pure gold, diamonds among with other jewels spread out creating a rather elegant and luxurious pattern.

Lou looked at them than at Debbie and sighed shaking her head looking incredulous. The jewels in the first image where known as the crowned jewels and the crowns where royal crowns from who knows how long ago both of which were stolen at different times ages ago. Lou was very confused as to what Debbie was planning unless Debbie decided to change her profession to treasure hunter.

“Debbie what are those jewels?” Tammy wondered confused

“Yo, what’s with the lack of photo are we downgrading or something?” Nine pointed out

“No we are not downgrading these-,” Debbie began before she was interrupted by Lou

“Those are the Crown jewels that went missing in 1906. The crowns on he right where missing in 1799 both where never seen again.” Lou explained

Debbie nodded slightly surprised Lou knows about them, “Yes, you know what they are?”

“Duh! So Indiana Jones how the fuck are we looking for said jewels are we pulling a Lara Croft or something.” Lou stated sarcastically

“If you would have let me finish Lou instead of interrupting I would have said that there was rumors that the said jewels are no longer missing they supposedly are here in this city in their most popular museum. Unfortunately we need information in order to get it that one one has but probably one person without said information there’s no way we can find them.” Debbie explained

Rose became confused and spoke up shyly, “What are they worth, don’t we usually start off by saying how much the seven of us earn?”

Debbie grinned mischievously and looked at the group proudly, “Today, four-hundred million dollars in today’s money minimum we might easily be able to up the prices due to the simple fact that the they where all stolen long ago and thought to no longer exist.”

“You’re not telling us something.” Lou pointed out casually

Debbie pressed the button on the remote and three pictures popped up, two of them where of two men one older than the other and the third of a woman Lou had to admit was the most beautiful woman she had ever laid eye’s on. She honestly could care less about the pictures of the men she was focused on the woman. Lou noticed you smiled proudly, you eyes shinning with happiness. You where wearing an outfit that was business casual, your hair styled to suit your professional style you where going for. Lou’s eyes flickered to Debbie to find her staring at her smirking smug and Lou cursed softly at being caught she knew that look anywhere. Debbie smug looked at the group and stated casually.

“These three are the ones in charge the younger man is the owner and director his name is Richard Davis, the older man’s name is Liam Moore he is the Curator, and the woman’s name is Y/F/N Y/LN she is the registrar. One or two of them have all the information we need and we need to get it out of them to find it. It’ll be too risky getting it out of Richard Davis and even Liam Moore. Our biggest chances is Y/F/N, she is in charge of what goes in and out of that place. Her job is to literally keep track of all the object, records, authenticity and borrowings so if these jewels are heading to their museum they’ll be passing through her and it'll be her job along with Liam to put them away either on display and hide them.” Debbie explained

“Don’t forget that if she has good relation with the director he’ll be giving her special tasks involving Jewels.” Tammy added earning a nod from Debbie

“So, how do we get this information out of her?” Amita wondered

Debbie grinned eying Lou again earning a sharp glare from Lou which in turn caused Debbie to laugh and look at the confused group who was looking back and forth between them wondering what they missed.

“Well Lou will be getting close to the woman and try to get information out of her she has Lou’s type written all over.” Debbie told them smug

“Like she’ll tell me the information. ‘Hey Miss. Y/L/N where the fuck are you keeping the jewels my team wants to steal them’.” Lou hissed her tone dripping sarcasm

“Please, we need the information.” Constance pleaded pouting Lou narrowed her eyes only causing Constance to pout further finally earning a sigh in defeat from Lou who all but caved she can’t resist Constance pout and she knows it she has a soft spot for the girl.

“Alright, I’ll do it. That was a cheap shot kid,” Lou pointed out getting up earning a beaming smile in return. “How hard can getting information out of her be aren’t people working in museum are boring or uptight as fuck.”

Lou without a word left the building deciding to pay the place a visit she kind of hoped one of the other’s would go in and do that after all Lou’s job was to gather anyone working for them, stealing the objects, making sure everything is going according to plan and have backup plans in case something goes wrong among other things bribing information out of someone wasn’t one of them. Granted a very attractive someone but she wasn’t going to admit that to anyone. Lou sighed realizing is been too long since she’s gotten anyone in her bed and it was starting to show. Lou climbed on a car and drove off following the GPS directions.

~You~

You rushed into the building of your workplace cursing at yourself for forgetting to set up the alarm. You moved to France from your home after finally landing a job that you actually loved for a change. You’ve always been a fan art and Historical artifacts so you began working at a big historical museum in Paris.

You walked into the building passed security and across the huge building waving hi to the security guard. You walked straight to your office that's located towards the back of the building. You barely made it in when your boss who’s also the director and owner of the museum jogged up to you looking like a kid in Christmas and you know something must have happened to get him this excited. The two of you had been friends since you started working there, you where originally the tour guide to the place before he promoted you to the official Registrar of the museum.

"Y/N right on time, we need to talk about something important that just happened." He told you barely able to contain his excitement. You honestly wonder how this man is an adult and owns this place. He is like a child sometimes.

You quirked an eyebrow at him confused, "Sure, what is it?"

He pointed to your office door, "let's go to your office to talk privately. I don't want anyone to overhear.”

Nodding more confused, you opened the door and walked in with him behind you. He closes and locks the door, tugging you into the room making you more confused if possible. The both of you sat across from each other, you barely had the chance to ask again why he was so excited when he handed you two folded piece of paper. Looking confused you opened�� the first one and stared at it to find an old drawing of a three jewels. You looked confused when you saw it since it looked like a drawing of the jewels rather than an actual photo.

You looked up at your boss after you studied the two pages and the descriptions of the jewels along with what was used to create them. You remember hearing about these things going missing during a conversation you had with your coworker who was a guide here in the museum. When discussing missing jewelry or historical artifacts he had mentioned several different ancient royal jewels that had gone missing and mentioned these but you weren’t sure what this had to do with anything.

“Richard, do I want to know why you’re showing me these? These aren’t even in our museum I would know is my job to memorize anything and anyone that goes in or out of this place.” You wondered confused

He grinned excitedly, “Yes, They went missing centuries ago and we recently found them again and just so happens that they are secretly on their way here we wont put them on display of course.” 

Your eyes widen in shock, “Really? How the hell did you find them?"

He shrugged grinning, "I honestly don't have a clue how they where found the important thing is I got my hands on them before anyone else did. The jewels where stolen and sold in the 1900s someone must have found them recently the crowns where destroyed but turns out they where stolen and hidden. That's as far as I know."

You nodded processing the information for a moment, "okay that makes sense sort of but wouldn’t they be prone to thieves though?”

He chuckled, “Yes, which is why I have a plan which is foul proof. I did not wanted us to suffer the same fate as the Toussaint so I’m going to change a few things here and there around this place but more importantly only you and I will have all the information and location.”

You shook your head at that. Being the only one with specific information only added more stress on you especially if you’re going to be put in charge of it which you knew you where based on the look you where given.

“I’m listening. What’s this infamous information.” you told him slightly sarcastic earning a chuckle

He looked satisfied with your reply and sat back explaining the importance of having the word not get out that those jewels where discovered. He went into greater details on how they where going to get them in the museum, how they where going to be hidden, secured and how they where going to up the security and his crazy idea of adding a few decoys in other locations when you asked why the decoy he looked at you sheepish and said he took the idea from the Met when it was discovered Klugger was wearing a fake so he was borrowing the idea just in case. After he was done explaining which took up an hour or so you looked baffled.

“This better not backfire on us.” you sighed and got up getting ready for work to distract yourself leaving a smug owner in your office.

************

Most of the morning was uneventful and slightly dreadful. There was a tour by a Primary school which was stressful given how some of the kids wanted to run off on their own when their teacher and tour guide was not looking. At one point one of them almost knocked something over since they went past the security point forcing you to run and steady the item and pointing out to the teacher to keep a better eye on her students. You where of curse polite and respectful about it despite your patience being tested.

It wasn’t until the afternoon where everything started to go south. It was a lot busier an old lady freaked out believing that one of the old priceless painting was hers and tried to steal it not to mention she had a cane and smacked you with it a few times until she was escorted away from the area. You where pretty sure you where going to bruise a little. You could not help but wonder how does an old lady able to swing the cane that forcefully. So is safe to say you where in a really bad mood. You walked past the Egyptian wing and paused when you heard a childlike giggle. You walked over just in time to see yet another child trying to get past the safety line and getting inside the security glass. You ran over and stopped him before something tragic happened and fixed the glass. You couldn’t help but glare at the kid. The kid backed up but you grabbed his arm.

“Where are your parents?” You asked in a serious tone he didn’t say anything only pointed to the other side of the Egyptian wing. You walked him over to them to find them both on their phone you tapped their shoulder interrupting the careless parents.

“Yes?” the arrogant mother asked

“Is this your kid?” You asked trying to not sound rude and snap after earning a nod from both you spoke up before they can say anything, “Please keep your kid close to you I just found him nearly knocking over an artifact.”

The father took the kid and narrowed his eyes scolding his son for walking out of their side and misbehaving deciding to punish the kid by taking him home earning a temper tantrum.

“Bill don’t be harsh he didn’t mean it I’m sure we could have paid for the damages.” The mother scolded her husband

You rolled your eyes at that and said, “Yeah, ma’am keep him close and for the record neither of us can afford that thing. Instead of being on your phone how about showing your kid a good time if you payed attention to him he wont have any need to destroy the place. This is the third time I had to stop him.” you turned around and walked off not even bother with civility anymore.

You turned around and stormed off to keep an eye on the rest of the of the museum hoping nothing more will happen. You where in a bad mood and ready to go home. You walked around the corner only to collide with someone causing you to tumble back at that same moment you felt something cold splash all over you. Looking down you realized it was just water.

“Fuck. Watch where you’re walking.” the woman snapped

You glared up at her to find a pair of light blue eyes glaring right back you belonging to a tall platinum blonde woman. You looked down to find her shirt was also wet and she was holding a half empty cup.

“First of all watch where YOU’RE walking, second of all no cellphones and third off I wasn’t the one walking with a cup filled with what ever that was you’re not allowed to have liquids in this section only the lobby’s lounge area blonde.” You snapped right back

“What the fuck I was walking here you’re the one who crashed into me and be glad it was water and I’m allowed to take pictures what kind of fucking museum is this.” the woman snapped

You rolled your eyes, “That’s what bottles of water are for genius.”

That only pissed off the blonde even more, “First of all this use to be soda before I finished it and emptied my water in here second of all fuck you, you’re rude as fuck.”

Both of you glared daggers at each other clearly pissed off. Any other circumstance you would have admired how attractive and how her closed hugged her body just right but not right now. Right now you where actively glaring daggers' at her for being a rude bitch. Why the hell are the hot ones always rude and obnoxious. You wondered

You saw her unlocked phone and narrowed your eyes pointing to a sign, “You can’t take pictures in this section new rule only certain areas are allowed to have pictures taken put that phone away”

“What the fuck. First of all none of the other staffs have said shit the only uptight complaining is you second of all I only took some pictures.” The woman snapped

“I need to check your phone.” You told her. it wasn’t that you where out to get her but it was a rule and this particular area no one was allowed to take pictures ever since last year most museums and locations holding expensive items became more strict

“NO.” The woman all but growled

 “I need to see it.” You said beginning to loose your patients you said hell with professionalism and snatched it looking through the pictures she took earning a protest trying to snatch it back and you stopped her with a sharp glare and grabbing her free hand. You found a few pictures of statues that are pretty heavy. You looked suspiciously at the glaring woman and handed her the phone back.

“We don’t allow phones anymore miss. Put that away.” you told her for the second time sharply

Lou glared at you not appreciating the bad treatment, “Why not the other museums allow it and I don’t appreciate having my phone snatched from me.”

“Not anymore. Blame the moron who decided team up with Klugger and steal that Toussaint necklace. Lucky them the insurance agent is dumb as fuck. No one allows phone anymore let along pictures being taken. Now either chug that drink or I’m snatching it with your phone and not returning them.” you warned and stormed off to try and clean up your top leaving a very pissed off blonde behind.

What the fuck is wrong with her? Fucking rude. You thought pissed off. You spoke sharply through your walky-talky’s earpiece to have someone clean up the spill and stormed off to your office deciding it was better do paperwork than to deal with guests.

~Lou~

It wasn’t until you stormed away when Lou realized you where the woman Debbie mentioned that had all the information and cursed at that.

Great, Getting information from someone like her will be nearly impossible. Lou thought glaring at the spot you where just in.

Lou stormed out of the building determined to get something out of you but knew it will be impossible since she knew you will probably keeping a close eye on her after that horrible interaction. Lou got even more angry when she remembered you boldly snatching her phone and probably erasing some of the pictures she had taken from the interesting objects there.

“Fucking rude uptight b.” Lou complained angrily while driving only to be interrupted by her phone. Lou drove towards the warehouse clearly pissed off evident in her feature, her posture was tense, her jawline clenched and she was gripping her steering wheel tightly. She chose to ignore the phone to annoyed to bother with answering.

[dani-luminae]

Dani’s Fic List

As promised for my 300 followers celebration, a list of all my active fics on Quotev! I think this is comprehensive. If there’s a fic that’s left off, that’s by accident. All of these are on my “published” list on Quotev.

For this story list, I’ll start with ones that already have links posted on here, then move to other lesser-known ones (below the cut). These are listed in no particular order at all.

@auradon-bore-a-don Since you asked to be tagged, here it is! Like 95% of this is all Descendants-related. It’s been my hyperfixation since the first book came out back in early summer 2015 and it’s stuck... 

Behold, a bunch of nonsense that comes from an overactive imagination and no social life!

-

 Title + link: Sophronia

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: Sequel “A” to Good to be Bad: A Disney Descendants Twisted Tale, this story focuses on Ben and Audrey’s adopted daughter, Sophie. When the terrible Horned King escapes the Isle of the Lost, Sophie sets out to protect her kingdom from any evil, no matter who it is.

Title + link: Nightshade Rose

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: Sequel “B” and a sort of “What if?” take on Good to be Bad: A Disney Descendants Twisted Tale, this story is focused on Princess Nightshade, a Princess of Auradon who lives unaware that her parents are the Rulers of Evil who threaten her land.

Title + link: Never Enough

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: The sequel to Rewrite the Stars; Ben follows Lia to her home planet of Solasar as Lia prepares to marry her fiancé and become Queen. However, there’s more happening on Solaar than they could ever expect.

Title + link: The True Defender

Fandoms: Disney’s Descendants (mostly), Treasure Planet

Basic plot: A D2- and D3-based AU featuring Lia. Will also go on to cover an AU of Good to be Bad: A Disney Descendants Twisted Tale.

Title + link: Love from the Stars

Fandoms: Disney Descendants; contains elements from the world of Treasure Planet

Basic plot: Ben and Mal’s wedding is derailed by the arrival of space pirates who abduct Ben, but he’s rescued by an Etherial, one of the most powerful creatures in the galaxies.

Title + link: A Wondrous Place

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: Essentially an AU of Descendants, just with BenJay as the endgame instead of Bal.

Title + link: Come Alive

Fandoms: Disney ZOMBIES

Basic plot: Zeraphina is a Zombrid – half-human and half-Zombie – forced to hide her hair color and fit in. But now that Zombies are welcome at Seabrook High, she’s hoping to start on a new chapter of her life, one where she doesn’t have to hide who she is.

Title + link: Darkness Falling

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: Book 2 (of 3) in my Dark Haven series; Bianca, Princess of Dark Haven and daughter of the Rulers of All Evil, returns to the kingdom of Auradon to help Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos destroy the talismans (from Rise of the Isle of the Lost.) But there’s a more dangerous threat that none of them know of… (This fic is completed and this link currently acts as a placeholder for this series, until the sequel is published.)

Title + link: Fate and Fairy Tales

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: Carly is looking forward to a happily-ever-after with her fiancé Chad Charming, as Carlos looks forward to a future without their mother around. But the sudden and unexpected arrival of their father, the malevolent king of a magical race, complicates everything. (This fic is dedicated to Cameron Boyce, who passed shortly before its publishing.)

Title + link: Blue Fire

Fandoms: Sky High and Disney’s Descendants (crossover)

Basic plot: Haley is just your average, everyday super-powered teenager attending Sky High. It just so happens that her hair turns into blue fire and she has no idea where she comes from, or who her father really is. 

Title + link: The Crown and the Sea

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: a crossover between me and my girlfriend @megamultifandomtrashposts featuring our characters Bianca and Sophia. Bianca is with Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos as they return to the Isle of the Lost (from May Evil Reign), but the reign of Ursula’s daughter, Sophia, over the Isle complicates things...

Title + link: An Untold Story: Tales of Auradon

Fandoms: Once Upon a Time and Disney’s Descendants (crossover)

Basic plot: The second of three books in my An Untold Story crossover between OUaT and Descendants, this book takes place between Season 3A and Season 3B of OUaT. Instead of going to the Land Without Magic, Emma and Henry come to Auradon to stay with King Adam, Rose, and the rest of their adoptive family. This book includes an adaptation of Rise of the Isle of the Lost and the first Descendants movie.

Title + link: Heroes and Villains

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: This four-part story encompasses the first Isle of the Lost book, the first Descendants movie, and the Return to the Isle of the Lost book, before departing into an OG fourth part. This is the story of Royal, Mal’s half-sister, in a version of Auradon where the Isle of the Lost wasn’t the first solution for working with the villains and history is a bit different.

Title + link: Spells Were Made to be Broken

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: Basically a crossover between Heroes and Villains and the world of Descendants 3 post-D3, Royal, Chloe, and Skalja, the Princess Trio, are tasked to save the kingdom from an unexpected enemy.

Title + link: The Return

Fandoms: Disney Descendants and MCU (crossover, kinda?)

Basic plot: An adaptation of Return to the Isle of the Lost, featuring my OCs Lily and Balthazar, the children of Loki (from the MCU.) This isn’t an active story exactly, but it is the latest in the series while I’m planning out the next and final book.

Title + link: More than Flesh and Bone

Fandoms: Disney Descendants and Disney ZOMBIES (crossover)

Basic plot: Gwyn, a cheerleader in Seabrook, has mysterious ties to a certain Werewolf pack, ties that originate from her mother on the faraway Isle of the Lost.

Title + link: The Dragon That Cannot Fly

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: In the third and final book of her series, Nara, the adopted daughter of Queen Narissa, must team up with Naros, her brother from an alternate and almost-identical world, in order to put a permanent end to Queen Narissa’s evil.

Title + link: The Believers

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: In an OUAT-inspired story that combines OCs from various different stories, Ben awakens from a coma and discovers that his memories of Auradon were nothing but dreams. However, he soon learns that the world he’s in, Auradon City, is really his kingdom placed under a curse and controlled by Maleficent.

Title + link: Not All Treasure is Silver and Gold

Fandoms: Disney Descendants and Pirates of the Caribbean series (crossover, sorta)

Basic plot: Jackie is the daughter of Captain Jack Sparrow and Angelica. When she goes to Auradon, she finds a little adventure and a little romance with an old friend and a new one. (No love triangle, just polyamory.)

Title + link: Fathoms Below

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: In the final book of Selina’s series, Selina must confront and defeat Morveren, the first evil Sea Witch and the originator of her lineage, in order to protect her family and her kingdom. With fewer allies than ever before, this is quite a daunting task.

Title + link: The Unusual Kingdom Keeper

Fandoms: Disney Descendants and the Kingdom Keepers book series

Basic plot: Aria, the twin sister of Audrey, unexpectedly finds herself in the Magic Kingdom. In this world, Disney Characters are made real through the power of children’s belief in them, heroes and villains alike. And the villains are just as evil as ever.

Title + link: The Thieves in the Shadows

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: The second book featuring Jay and Aza, the two of them try to track down a mysterious rash of thefts throughout Agrabah. Unfortunately, they uncover a plot launched by Jay’s mother, the sorceress Azirah, to take over all the lands.

Title + link: The Rebel Descendant

Fandoms: Disney Descendants and Ever After High

Basic plot: Reign is Raven Queen’s adopted sister, and a Rebel to the core. But there’s more to Reign’s story than just a Rebel. She comes from somewhere else, somewhere that doesn’t need a Storybook of Legends.

Title + link: Maddie Baylor and the Second Titanomachy

Fandoms: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Basic plot: Maddie is a friend of Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon, and she’s no stranger to the world of gods and monsters; after all, she’s a daughter of Dionysus, herself. When it becomes clear that the Titans plan to rise again and defeat the Olympians once and for all, she’ll fight by Percy’s side in quest after quest to save the world.

Title + link: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Fandoms: Disney in general, I guess?

Basic plot: Belladonna Valaise is an apprentice studying in Sorcerer’s Town in a hidden, magical dimension. When an unusually mouse-like apprentice from another place arrives, seeking help to recover his master’s Animating Pen, Belladonna decides to seek out a little adventure and help.

Title + link: Bringer of Spring

Fandoms: Dreamworks’ Rise of the Guardians

Basic plot: Embla Springbringer has a very important job: each year, on Groundhogs Day, she battles the Frost Giant Rasgol to end winter and allow spring to come to her small Norwegian fjord. Embla has been doing this job even since the Man in the Moon called on her to do so. Now, the Man in the Moon has a very different job for her: becoming a Guardian to help defend the world’s children against Pitch Black.

Title + link: The Heroes of Tomorrow: The Next Trickster

Fandoms: Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow

Basic plot: An AU and then some of the movie Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow featuring my OC, Lokabrenna, daughter of Loki.

Title + link: Frost and Flame

Fandoms: Sky High and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Basic plot: When Muspels, the Flame Giant enemies of Frost Giants, begin to come after Cassia for her half-Jotun heritage, Cassia is forced to turn to the last people she would like to help her: the Avengers.

 ~

Shared stories! These stories are shared/co-authored/inspired by @thetimelordbatgirl and her stories. 

Title + link: The Daughters of the Trickster

Fandoms: Disney Descendants, MCU, and Marvel’s Descendants

Basic plot: In our very first crossover, our OCs Lily and Locket meet for the first time and have to navigate the realization of alternate worlds and alternate families while battling Mariana, Lily’s mother.

Title + link: The Trickster’s Daughters Return

Fandoms:  Disney Descendants, MCU, and Marvel’s Descendants

Basic plot: In the second team-up, Lily and Locket return to join forces. They must face Mariana again, but this time the stakes are higher, with the impending freedom of the demonic Chernabogs.

Title + link: Sisters of Fire

Fandoms: Disney Descendants, Sky High, and Marvel’s Descendants (crossover)

Basic plot: An AU of Haley’s story, Blue Fire. Haley is not the only inexplicably fire-powered child at Whitefield Foster House. She has a foster-sister named Jayla, a powerful girl with golden eyes who can transform into a magnificent and fearsome dragon.

Title + link: Devil’s Due

Fandoms: Disney Descendants and Marvel’s Descendants

Basic plot: An AU of the above story. What if Haley was never kidnapped? What if she stayed on the Isle with her father? And what if Jayla had still found her way to this family? They’re quite the unexpected family, that’s for sure.

Title + link: Ties to Evil

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: A future AU on Heroes and Villains, inspired by the Family Business series. The second in the series featuring my OCs such as Adam (son of Royal) and Beryl (daughter of Beast and Belle.)

Title + link: The Dragon’s Son

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: A future AU on Nara’s series, inspired by the Family Business series. In which Fairen is the son of both Evie and Nara, he reluctantly leaves his mothers behind on the Isle when Prince Alexander chooses him to come to Auradon in his proclamation. While in Auradon, Fairen learns of Nara’s unlikely connection to Auradon, and the kidnapped Princess Roseleta.

Title + link: Heirs of Agrabah

Fandoms: Disney Descendants

Basic plot: A future AU on Aza’s story, inspired by the Family Business series. Ben’s proclamation never happened, but now his son Alexander chooses some children to leave the Isle of the Lost. One of these children is Jayra, daughter of Jay, who makes a unique and unexpected connection to Aza.

Congrats! You’ve reached the end of my list of masterpieces and nonsense.

[king-finnigan]

5 times Geralt tried to propose to Jaskier and 1 time he didn’t

The last part of my 500 followers celebration! Once again, thank you guys so much! Masterlist!

I don’t know if modern AU deserves a content warning. But consider this a CW: Modern AU, I guess.

***

I.

He’s nervous. Really nervous. Wiping-sweaty-palms-on-your-shirt-nervous. Cannot-eat-anything-nervous. About-to-propose-to-your-boyfriend-of-four-years-nervous.

He bought the ring about a month ago, and spent the weeks after that planning this entire thing meticulously. They would go to the park where they had their first date, he would buy Jaskier ice cream, just like he did the first time, and he would propose at the bench next to the lake, where they had their first kiss. It would be perfect.

Of course, Geralt isn’t really one for big proposals and romantic gestures, but he knows Jaskier likes it, so he guesses he can bear doing it this once. And maybe every day after that, as long as it makes his love happy. But of course, first things first – the proposal.

The day goes swimmingly, and he can tell Jaskier’s having a good time. Of course, his love doesn’t really hide his emotions – not in the way Geralt tended to do, before he met Jaskier – so it’s not that hard to tell how happy Jaskier is.

And, when they finally reach the lake, he reaches into his pocket, ready to get down on one knee while Jaskier stares out over the water. This is it, this is the moment he’s been waiting for, the moment he’s been preparing for weeks, the moment he’ll show the entire world how much he loves Jaskier and that he’ll always love him.

His fingers dig into his pocket. And find empty air.

He frowns, trying again, digging deeper. Huh. He tries his other pocket, which is also empty, save for his phone. Shit. His back pockets are empty, too, and he tries them all again, just to be sure. Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshit.

Jaskier looks at him weirdly. “You alright, love? Looking for something?”

He digs into his empty pockets one last time, before limply letting his hands fall by his side. “No, it’s alright. Just thought I’d lost my phone.”

Jaskier smiles, takes his hand softly, and starts pulling Geralt away from the lake. “Come on, let’s go home, it’s getting late.”

And suddenly this perfect day isn’t so perfect anymore.

He finds the ring in the pocket of his leather jacket, at home.

 II.

So the first time he tried to propose didn’t end well. That’s alright. It happens. Jaskier is still very unaware of Geralt’s plans, so he still has time to fix his mistake. So, he decides to take Jaskier on a shopping trip – because Jaskier loves shopping – and bring him to the Starbucks Jaskier used to work at as a barista, where they first met. Sure, it’s not exactly the most romantic spot, but he figures that maybe he can get their drinks for them, and slip the ring over the straw or something like that.

And the day goes well. Jaskier has a good time buying some knickknacks for their home and some decorative pillows because all respectable adults have decorative pillows, Geralt, and they’ll make a great Instagram post. When he insists on buying Geralt a forest-green sweater, Geralt rolls his eyes but lets Jaskier, anyways.

He’s nervous again, when they walk to the Starbucks, even though it’s the second time he’s trying to propose, and he’s sure Jaskier will say yes. Of course, his love notices his fidgeting, and asks him what’s wrong. Geralt just shakes his head, the knot in his throat preventing him from speaking.

And then they find out the Starbucks has been replaced with a McDonald’s. Fucking brilliant.

He’s not going to propose in a fastfood restaurant, thank you very much. The idea of it happening in a Starbucks was already pushing it, but no way is he gonna do it in a McDonald’s of all places.

So, they walk back to the car, Jaskier telling him it’s alright, and there’s no need to be disappointed, there are plenty of other Starbucks’ elsewhere, as the ring burns a hole in Geralt’s pocket.

 III.

He gives up on romantic gestures. Instead, he buys a bouquet of blue roses on his way home from work – Jaskier loves blue roses, he knows.

But when he opens the door to their apartment, he finds their home empty and dark. He frowns, turning on the light as he walks into the kitchen, seeing a sticky note on the fridge door.

Girls night with Yen. Be back before sunrise, it says, and Geralt lets out a sigh. He had forgotten about the fact that Jaskier and Yen would be going to a party today. And when those two go out together, bad things happen. Not bad bad things, of course, but he’s sure that Jaskier won’t be home before 7, will either still be drunk or already hungover, and will also probably bring back another traffic sign that Geralt will have to dispose of someway, somehow. Probably by taking it straight to the dump, like he did last time Jaskier came home with a stop sign. And the time before that. And the time before that.

Let’s hope he doesn’t come home with another stray cat, though, like he did two years ago. And a year ago. And about six months ago. And last week. Geralt’s tired of bringing animals to the shelter and having to leave them behind. Of course, it doesn’t help that he kept the first cat Jaskier brought home and named it Roach – now his love feels encouraged to take animals with him when he’s drunk.

He sighs, scratching the brown cat between her ears, before he lays the bouquet on the living room table and heads to bed.

Jaskier, in a bizarre move, brings home a goat the next morning, and – still very drunk �� refuses to tell Geralt where the fuck he got it from.

 IV.

Alright, fine, so there’s no way he can plan it beforehand. So, he decides on a whim, to take the ring out of his pocket when they’re doing the dishes one day, after he’s pulled the plug out of the drain. Except his hands are soapy, and the ring slips out of his fingers, carried into the drain by the last bit of dish water.

He can’t help the loud ‘fuck!’ that falls from his mouth. Jaskier looks at him weirdly. “Everything alright, love? You look a bit pale.”

Geralt blinks, then nods, hurrying to get the tools from the storage closet in the hall. “Yeah, but I think the drain is clogged. Gonna have to open it up.”

Jaskier shrugs, walking into the living room, turning on the tv. “You need any help with that?” he asks, despite already scrolling through Netflix, as Roach settles into his lap.

Geralt shakes his head as he hurries back to the kitchen. “Nope, I can handle this!” he calls out, before slamming the door behind him.

He manages to get the ring from the pipes under the sink, luckily, but gets drenched in dirty water in the process.

 V.

Today is the day, he decides, as he makes his way up the stairs to their apartment. Today is the day he proposes. He’s gonna go inside, get down on one knee immediately, and ask Jaskier to marry him. There is no way it can go wrong this time. Today. Is. The. Day.

In his absentmindedness, he doesn’t notice the small puddle of rain water on one of the steps, and slips, hitting his head on the concrete. He curses, manoeuvring himself so he’s sitting down on the steps, clutching his painful forehead.

When he pulls his hand away, there’s blood sticking to his fingers. Well, fuck. He gets up again, making his way up to their apartment, letting himself in. As soon as he steps into the living room, Jaskier is pressing against him, looking at his forehead. “What the hell happened?”

“I slipped on the stairs.”

Jaskier tuts, shirt sleeve wiping away some of the blood that’s dripping down the side of Geralt’s face. “That’s gonna need stitches, love.”

Bloody brilliant.

They spent the rest of their evening in the ER, Jaskier grasping Geralt’s hand in both of his, Geralt pressing an old rag against the cut on his forehead.

 + I

A week later, he can’t say no when Jaskier begs him to take him to that nice restaurant a few blocks away. He decides not to propose, that evening,  because firstly, proposing in a fancy restaurant is incredibly cliché, and the last thing he wants is for it to be cliché. A weird proposal? Yes. An unromantic proposal? Sure. But a cliché proposal? Absolutely not.

Secondly, he decides not to propose because there are a million and one things that could go wrong. And, with the way his past attempts have been going, the lower the risk, the better. He’s fairly certain that, by now, if he were to try to propose tonight, the restaurant would likely catch on fire or something.

So, he just has a nice, lovely dinner with Jaskier. And it’s great, it’s a great evening, it’s a great restaurant, and he’s having great fun. Until dessert, when things go wrong.

Because of fucking course things go wrong.

Jaskier orders a moelleux for dessert, and Geralt notes in the back of his mind that the lady at the table next to them orders the same thing, but he pays no mind to it. After a while, the desserts arrive, almost simultaneously, and Jaskier crunches his nose in disgust when he sees a few mint leaves on his moelleux – he hates mint. Geralt laughs at his expression, though it falls when Jaskier takes away the mint leaves, revealing a ring underneath.

Firstly, he notices that the ring isn’t the one he bought for Jaskier, now several months ago. His is silver, with a light blue diamond that matches Jaskier’s eyes. The one on the moelleux is… hideous, in his opinion. It’s gold, with a large disc on it, full of little diamonds that sparkle obnoxiously in the low light of the restaurant, so bright it almost hurts his eyes.

Secondly, he notices that Jaskier’s expression turns from confused, to slightly disappointed, to a fake exhilarated. He can tell his love doesn’t like the ring, either. Which, under any other circumstances, would be a good thing – something to make fun of when they get back home. Except Jaskier understandably thinks this is the ring Geralt bought for him. After all, why else would it be on his dessert?

Thirdly, he notices the clatter of a fork falling on the ground at the table next to them. He looks to his side, and sees the guy staring at the moelleux in horror and confusion, while his girlfriend looks at it with jealousy. Ah. He understands the mix-up, now.

He sighs, plucking the ring – which weighs quite a lot, really – from the moelleux, handing it to the guy next to him. “I believe this is yours.”

The man takes it, mouth slightly agape, before shutting it with a snap, nodding frantically, before turning to his girlfriend. He and Jaskier watch as she takes the ring, practically screams her ‘yes, I will marry you’, and the guy slips the ring on her finger.

Jaskier smiles at him. “For a second there, I thought you were going to propose to me with that ring,” he whispers to Geralt.

Geralt scoffs, rolls his eyes. “Yeah, no, I would never. That was definitely not my ring.”

Jaskier cocks his head, frowns. “That was definitely not your ring?”

Well, shit. He fucked up. Again.

He presses his lips together, fishes the ring with the blue diamond from his pocket, and slides it across the table towards Jaskier.

The whole restaurant stares at them when Jaskier starts laughing like a maniac. Geralt waits until his love is done laughing, until Jaskier has his forehead on the table, hiccupping out small giggles. “What’s so funny?”

He pales when Jaskier takes a ring out of his own pocket, handing it to Geralt. It’s silver, with a yellow diamond in the middle that matches his eyes. Almost an exact copy of the ring he got for Jaskier. He barks out a laugh, as well, laying his forehead against his palm. “God, what a mess.”

“So,” Jaskier whispers to him. “Will you marry me?”

Geralt can’t help but smile. “Will you?”

Jaskier snorts, taking the ring from Geralt again, slipping it on his finger. “I assume that’s a yes. And yes, I will marry you too.”

Geralt, in turn, takes the ring he bought for Jaskier, slipping it on his love’s finger. “Good, cause I’m tired of trying to propose to you.”

[scarecrow-supremacy]

Arranged Love | Pt 2

Thank you to Mrs. Hatake for requesting this prompt to me!

In which: f!reader is interested in being in a fwb like relationship, but is forced into an arranged marriage with the one and only, Hatake Kakashi. Both (y/n) and Kakashi only agree to marry for the sake of convivence. (y/n) with her needs, and Kakashi with his wish to revive his clan.

My first date, eh?

This ought to go terribly-

What did I do to deserve this?

I must be in hell because it'll feel like repenting for my sins.

You anxiously paced your room as your best friends, Yuhi Kurenai and Mitarashi Anko sat at the foot of your bed. "Why'd ya call us so urgently, (y/n)?" Kurenai asked, playing with a lock of her beautiful black hair.

You let out an exasperated sigh as you flopped face-first into your plush mattress, "Date..." was all you could muster up.

"YOU'RE GOIN' ON A DATE!" Anko cheered quite loudly, "Etto, sorry..." She realized her volume, "What I meant was, congrats!"

"Honestly, it's not something to congratulate me on..." Your face fell, "It's not my choice..."

Kurenai cupped your face, "Arranged?" She asked, to which you nodded, "Who'd your parents choose?"

"That silver-haired prick, Hatake." You grumbled, tightly hugging your lavender body-sized pillow. Reluctantly, you gave in to the girl's request for more information.

"Listen, (y/n)," Kurenai tried to reassure you with her calming words, "He's not as bad he used to be. Kakashi's became quite relaxed nowadays." To which, Anko nodded in agreement.

"Sure," You shrugged, "But I think he still hates me..."

Anko poked your cheek, "Just give him a good impression tonight. Things might change, ya know."

"I highly doubt that," You muttered, "Plus, I'm terrible at all things guy-related!"

"We'll help you get ready, just trust us on this," Kurenai told you, her tone telling you that she was serious. Even as a 25-year-old, your friends had a tendency to baby you. Sure, they were older than you, but it tended to be quite troublesome.

"Alright..."

Ding dong, the doorbell to your apartment chimed. At least he's only 25 minutes late... Your inner self grumbled as you went to greet Kakashi at the door. "Kon'nichiwa," You nodded at him with minimal enthusiasm.

"Kon'nichiwa, (l/n)," Kakashi replied in an equally unhappy tone. His eyes flitted up and down your form as the two of you walked out into town.

"What is it, Hatake?" You demanded, arching your eyebrow, "My eyes are up here." For once, you were unhappy with the fact that you were, let's just say, well endowed.

Kakashi shook his head, "Nothing, nothing at all, (l/n)." Incoherently, you muttered all sorts of colorful insults under your breath. So much trying to be in a good mood...

"So, where are we going?" You attempted to lighten up the rocky mood. "Try to start a casual conversation. That not too easy to mess up," Kurenai had told you.

"My house." Kakashi didn't even spare you even the quickest glance. What's up with him! I tried to be friendly. Stuck-up idiot! "We're just having dinner, alright. No more questions." With a soft sigh, you nodded, walking the rest of the way in silence. "Here," Kakashi took your fall jacket, shoving it into the coat closet along with his own. "I'll go warm up the food. You can just have a seat over there." He pointed at a little dining table near a window, "The restroom is over there, in case you need to wash up."

"Itadakimasu," both of you whispered to yourselves, digging into your aromatic dinner of (f/f). The two of you ate the meal in almost complete silence, not sparing the other a glance. To you, the food was simply too good to divert your attention from. You made a mental note to ask Kakashi where he had gotten it from.

Halfway through the meal, Kakashi sighed, placing down his chopsticks, "Why are you here?" He asked, but then rephrased, "As in, what about us are you in for?"

You put down your chopsticks, "I'm not here bec-" You looked up, but were caught off guard by a little something. His face...your mind said in awe at the beauty. Your gaze studied his unmasked face, yet still unable to see his legendary Sharingan eye, which was covered by his hitai-ate. Kakashi's elegant nose, the scar that ran across his left eye, his sharp jawline, and then to the beauty mark that graced a spot close to his ever so slightly chapped lips.

"What? My face?" Kakashi chuckled, "We're going to get married, you better eat used to it." He looked at you happily for just a split-second. Yet the very next moment, he reverted to his original stoic state, "As I was saying, what in this for you?"

You had to take a moment to recover from seeing Kakashi's face, "I-I u-uh..!" You mentally scolded yourself, telling yourself to get your act together. "I'm not here because I want to. It's all arranged by my parents. Hell, I didn't know that you were coming until I came home myself. This is all against my will."

"Hm," Kakashi studied your expression, "That's not exactly how your parents described your situation, but alright."

"What did they tell you?" You asked, your tone drier than the sands of Sunakagure no Sato.

A smirk formed on Kakashi's features, "They said that your love life is quite non-existent. Also, they just wanted to help give you a nudge in that department."

Your eyes widened as a flush adorned your cheeks, either caused by the sake you drank, or out of embarrassment. "N-no! It's not like that! I-it's just not the right time for me. I love my job, and I don't want to settle down just yet. Plus, I haven't found my Mr. Right just yet!" You tried to reason with Kakashi, who was flashing you an amused look. He was probably thriving off of how uncomfortable you felt.

"Actually..." He scratched his cheek, "That makes some sense..."

"So you’re backing out?!" Your eyes glittered with hope.

"Nope," Kakashi shook his head much to your dismay, "Trust me, I like this just as much as you do."

"Then why are we trying to make things work?! Neither of us likes this case, so why give it a chance?" You demanded in despair.

"You have a point," Kakashi pointed out, "But you see, it'll be beneficial for both sides if we work."

You pouted, "How so?"

"For you, your parents will stop nagging you." Kakashi stated, "And I'll get to revive my clan. And also, seeing that you and your parents are the last of your clan, you kekkei genkai May end up being a trademark for the Hatake's."

You rolled your eyes and mumbled, "So you just want to impregnate me, and relabel metal release as a Hatake thing?"

"You make it sound like I'm some kind of bad guy..." Kakashi raised his uncovered eyebrow.

"Well, you definitely aren't under a good light in my mind." You groaned angrily.

Kakashi face-palmed, "I was trying to be nice, and ask about how you were feeling about all of this."

"Well, I'm simply doing this for the sake of connivance." You finished, brushing a lock of your (h/c) hair out of your (e/c) eyes. In full honesty, you were somewhat surprised that Kakashi at least thought about how you felt about the predicament. It definitely wasn't something that you liked. But you had no way out...There goes my freedom...

"Your father told me to give you this..." Kakashi trailed off, sticking his hand into his pocket, fishing an object out of it. You sucked in your breath when you saw it...a ring. Your family's heirloom to be exact. It was beautiful, without a doubt. You had even adored polishing it as a young girl, dreaming about the day you would get to wear it. This was not how you imagined the day go. Tough luck. Life's a bitch, it ain't always cute, you told yourself.

"Well?" Kakashi looked at you expectantly.

With incredible amounts of regret and remorse, you gave him your right hand, "I hate you, Anata," you told him as he slid the beautiful rose gold ring up your ring finger. You had channeled as much sarcasm into the affectionate term, anata. You had spat it out like poison.

"And I loath you, Koishii." Kakashi told you, saying darling just the same way as you had called him dear.

There you were, engaged to your hater. The man who was to marry you for sheer convenience. No love, no respect. Nothing. It was arranged love.

[candy-and-writing]

What A Triple Lutz Can Do

Dark! Bucky x Ice Skater! Reader x Dark! Steve

Summary: Steve and Bucky have found each other again, after everything they've been through. When Steve meets you at the Winter Olympics, he decides you're the perfect little doll for their plan.

Warnings: non con/dub con, stalking, drugging, kidnapping, male masturbation, pet names—kitten, oral sex (female and male), fingering, poly relationship (m/m/f), somnophilia, light bondage, more to be added as the story goes on

A/N: This is loosely based off @henchry​ post about Chris Evans dating an ice skater. I read it and instantly had this idea, I’ve just never posted it. I think I unintentionally used bunny by @buckybarney​ as inspiration in making final edits. They also helped me figure out how to make this moodboard, so thank you! Please let me know if you enjoyed this, I had a lot of fun writing this!

I am NOT responsible for your media content consumption. This work is not intended for those under the age of 18 due to explicit sexual content and/or dark themes. By reading this work you agree that you are at least 18 years of age. I do not consent to have my work posted on any third party app or website; if you are seeing this work anywhere other than tumblr and archiveofourown, it has been reposted without my permission.

Before the war, before Bucky had fallen off the train and Steve crashed into the ice, before the Avengers and before and the world made Steve Rogers harder—colder—he liked to call himself a hopeless romantic. He wanted to meet eyes with someone across a diner and feel the fireworks explode in his chest. He wanted to buy a girl flowers, he wanted to walk down the streets of Brooklyn while it was snowing with her hand warming his. He wanted to buy his girl a ring, he wanted to get married, have a family.

He thought he would get that with Peggy, but he missed his chance. When he woke up in another century, he thought for sure he would never get his happily ever after. The women today were so. . . brash. A lady was supposed to be kind, polite, and dutiful. He understood that times were different, but that shouldn't excuse the ungrateful attitudes.

Then he found Bucky again, and the crazy world he had been forced into didn't seem so hopeless anymore. 

Tony had received a call from the International Olympics Committee, formally inviting the Avengers to the Winter Olympics. They were in Italy this year, Milan and Cortina. It was the first Olympic Games to be held in two cities, according to Bruce.

The committee had asked Steve to conduct the medal presentations for ice skating and hockey. They wanted Thor to carry the torch for the opening ceremony, but he was off-world and unavailable.

So here Steve was, sitting in the Mediolanum Forum venue next to Sam so he could watch the ice skating events. He figured if he was going to be giving the winners their medals, he should see why they won.

The committee had given the team access to front row seating, and that's where he was when you came out.

You were the third skater, and the first American representative, to take the ice. Your hair was pulled into a braided braid low on the side of your head with a blue flower pinned above the bun. The little dress you wore was modest—the same shade of blue that matched your flower and a sleeveless neckline that connected to a sheer fabric for sleeves and a higher neck, the little flowy skirt stopping in the middle of your thigh. Lines of little jewels dipped along your bust, beads varying in size. You had makeup on, like all the previous girls, but yours was light and glittery—save for the ruby red lipstick, but even that looked classical on you. It reminded Steve of the makeup women would wear back in the thirties.

He was so focused on you that Sam had to elbow him in the ribs to get his attention. He shut his jaw then, listening to the way your name rolled off the commentator's tongue, the syllables lining and matching each other perfectly.

You were twenty-one, and this was your first time competing in the Olympics. You've competed in other national and international tournaments, and you've done good in them if he was understanding correctly. It made an odd sense of pride swell in his chest. You were skating to Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

You moved to the middle of the rink as the announcer informed the stadium who conducted and performed your piece. You had four quads set in your routine, two in the first half and two in the second. It got quiet in the arena as you raised your arm over your head and arched your back like a ballerina. Steve counted five seconds before the music started and you spun around slowly. You started to move your body and—

Oh. Oh.

Steve was sure his jaw had dropped to the floor. The way you moved was bewitching, beautifully languid yet articulate. It was like the music moved through you, coursing through your veins as you made it entirely your own, bringing something so utterly delicate and ethereal out of the melody. You made it show in your body, in your movements.

The first of your quads were coming up, something called a quadruple lutz. Steve didn't know what it was, but when you threw your leg back and jumped, spinning in the air before landing and the crowd erupted into applause, he figured you did it correctly.

Your feet glided across the ice as you skated backward, your muscles tensing—you were preparing for your next quad. You kicked your leg back and used it as momentum to jump, spinning and landing what the commentator called a quadruple flip. The crowd cheered again.

Your expression—the raw focus and determination hiding behind your eyes—was gorgeous. Your crimson lips were parted slightly, eyelids hooded as you brought your head up. The delicate expression, the way your shoulders tensed as you jumped and spun in the air once, twice, three times before you landed gracefully on your toes had the breath leaving his lungs.

It was art. You were a work of art. So beautiful he wanted to lock you behind a glass cage and put you on display. You commanded the ice as if you controlled it, with such a degree of intricacy that Steve thought if you jumped high enough or spun fast enough you would grow wings and fly away.

You were in your element. You kicked your foot back before bringing it forward, using it to start your jump. You spun in the air and landed on one foot, your other leg spread out and leading the twirl you used to end the jump. The stadium cheered, Sam said something about a triple axel.

Steve wished the song lasted forever, wished he could watch you forever, but soon there was a flute trilling and you slowed, circling back to the center of the rink and just like that—your performance was over. The crowd exploded into cheers, throwing flowers, stuffed toys, anything they had in their pockets.

You broke into a smile, your plump lips parting and bringing out your dimples. Steve swooned as you waved to the crowd, bending to pick up a rose. Your gaze met his, and he swore he felt fireworks erupt in his chest. You smiled at him before skating off the ice, hugging a man sporting a red lightweight jacket with the USA logo embroidered on the sleeve, his dark hair slicked back. Steve watched as you smiled at him, not missing the way he stared at your ass as you turned away.

Then, suddenly, you were in first place. Your eyes went wide and you jumped up, hugging the man in the red jacket—Steve assumed he was your coach. He heard your squeal above the rest of the cheers.

Even from where he was sitting, your eyes were bright, brighter than your smile. Steve was proud of you, pride swelled in his chest as he watched you speak with a reporter. His eyes stayed glued to you as you shook hands with the reporter, your coach walking you to the locker rooms. He watched you until he couldn't anymore.

A strange desire pulled at his heart as he pulled his Stark Pad out, looking you in F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s database.

--

After watching your performance every other skater seemed dull, incomparable, to you. The judges must have thought so, too. You stayed in first place, winning the competition.

According to F.R.I.D.A.Y, you grew up in Chicago, but you moved to Manhattan for college. You got a new coach, Adrian Tucker, who was a gold and silver medalist back in the nineties. You're a junior at NYU, majoring in Art History. You have an Instagram, some sort of social media Peter had been trying to convince him to get, and Steve created an account immediately just to follow you. You had pictures of yourself, of friends, of the rink, even a pair of ballet shoes.

So you did ballet, good to know.

The award ceremony couldn't come soon enough. The idea of being closer to you sent butterflies fluttering through his stomach. Ever since he had gotten him back, Steve and Bucky have been talking about settling down—creating a life with a girl and starting a family. But they haven't found the right partner, but maybe. . . ?

When he stood in front of you, he swore he almost stopped breathing. You were gorgeous. Your hair had been taken out of the bun, cascading down your shoulders in loose waves. Your makeup was still done the same, but he noticed light freckles dotting along the bridge of your nose. Your eyes sparkled up at him—good God, you barely stood past his chest—your painted lips parted in a smile as you took him in. He placed the gold medal around your neck, congratulating you. You whispered a small, "thank you, Captain," and Steve felt a spark of electricity jolt down his groin.

Your voice was light, melodic, quiet. You were respectful, something he valued in people, in women. He could almost imagine you posed as the perfect housewife. With the perfect husband—or husbands—with the white picket fence, the kids. He could imagine your belly swollen, the little children running around calling you 'mama'. You were young, right at that age where women would start becoming wives and mothers back in his day. The thought only made his cock harder as he watched you on the platform, waving to the audience with the biggest smile on your face.

As he sat back down next to Sam, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He pulled up Bucky's contact and sent him a picture from your Instagram.

'I think I found her,' he typed.

--

Bucky remembered the first time he realized he was in love with Steve—he was sixteen. He had danced around with plenty of girls already but none of them ever really seemed to stick. He had saved up enough money to spend Steve's birthday at Coney Island, that was the day he made Steve ride the Cyclone, back when he was still skinny. He had bought Steve a hotdog, which a pelican attacked him over. Bucky was crying from laughter, face red and stomach aching, when he looked over at Steve. Something just clicked then.

The past couple of months, Steve and Bucky had been making plans to add a third partner into life. After all this time, fighting Nazis and being mind-controlled and saving the universe time and time again, they both agreed they deserved it—that they deserved a family. They had both been selfless for so long, was it so wrong to want someone to be selfless for them? To want someone soft that could share their love?

Steve and Bucky were great together—the love of each other's lives, in fact—but they shared an overwhelming need to dominate, to control. On and off the field. When they fucked they were ruthless, full of scraping nails and biting teeth. Fingertips that left bruises that lasted for days. They needed someone else, someone they could focus that control on, someone who could take them so gently and lovingly, a way they rarely took each other.

Then he got Steve's text. You were young, and it wasn't hard to find out almost everything he needed to know about you. Steve helped him use F.R.I.D.A.Y to figure out where you live—a small apartment that was close to your college campus. You could walk to class if the weather permitted it. It also wasn't too far from the ice rink you trained at. It was easy for Bucky to find a building across from your suite where they could watch you. You liked to keep your window open, let the sunlight in.

They took turns sitting on the roof of the neighboring building, looking through a pair of binoculars. They would watch you for hours—watch you do simple things like reading. That was Bucky's favorite, the way your lips moved ever so slightly as you read the words on the page. You enjoyed reading horror novels—Steven King, Mary Downing Hahn, an author named Chuck Palahnuik. A worn copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein sat on your bookshelf. At first glance, Bucky never would have pegged you as a horror kind of girl, you were too sweet and too timid. As he continued to watch you through the cameras Steve had him install, though, he saw that you very much liked psychological thrillers. You would watch a show on YouTube about true crime and haunted locations, a couple of amateurs who didn't quite know what they were doing. They were funny, though. Steve and Bucky would watch you laugh as you stared at your phone, smiling to yourself.

You trained at a ballet studio in lower Manhattan, worked out at a gym a block away from that. They were quick to memorize your routine once they started. You'd wake up at five-thirty every morning and make yourself some breakfast. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday's you hit the gym and the studio; you'd go to whatever classes you had that day, grab a coffee at the campus cafe, then head to the skating rink for two hours. Two and a half hours max. You went home, studied, and then you were left to your own devices. Sometimes you read, sometimes you baked and God, Bucky almost couldn't stop drooling at the thought of tasting your cooking. You'd watch television in your small living room and be in bed no later than eleven o'clock every night to start your day again.

One Monday morning, Steve and had followed you to the gym. They'd been doing that the last few weeks. At first, Steve reasoned it was so they could watch over you, in case you got into some trouble. Some mornings they planned on running into you on the sidewalk, pretending it was an accident—there was a flower cart along your route you liked to stop and admire, sometimes buying a bouquet of daisies for your little bachelor pad—but the timing never seemed right. Steve was never wearing the right shirt, or Bucky's hair was always a mess from the wind.

You took a cab, which Steve followed a couple of cars behind on his motorcycle. The air was brisk, the first signs of spring coming into the city. Some of the trees had started growing their leaves again, vibrant greens against the grey winter sky. He parked his bike underneath a plotted tree that had just started to turn, the tips of the leaves a bright green as blossoms began to bloom, pastel pinks against vibrant greens with petals blowing in the wind. He bought a newspaper from a vendor a couple of stores down and sat on a nearby bench, catching up with the world as he counted down the minutes. You would be in there for an hour and fifteen minutes almost exactly.

Steve almost couldn't sit still. He was itching to get his hands on you, to feel you. He and Bucky have been watching you for a long time now, waiting for the right moment to get their hands on you. Steve was growing impatient.

At forty-five minutes, his eyes began to flick up at the building every few minutes. He knew it wasn't time yet, but there was always a chance you got done early.

At an hour, his gaze hovered just above the paper. Ten more minutes, he told himself.

At an hour and twelve minutes, you emerged. Steve watched as you hugged your coat to your chest and began walking. The studio you danced at was only a block away, so you wouldn't have to be out in the cold for long. Still, Steve couldn't help but chastise you for not wearing something warmer. All you had on were a pair of thin leggings—that hugged your ass beautifully, he might add—and a compression tank top under your lightweight sweater.

Steve rushed to his bike, folding the newspaper in his hand and revving up the engine. He drove down the block, parking in front of a cafe across from the ballet studio. He watched you enter the studio and sat at a table, ordering a cup of coffee. He saw you through the floor-to-ceiling windows, your let stretched up over your head. He reached for his sketchbook and pencil, laying it out on the table before him.

The night of the Olympics, the first time after Steve had seen you, he stayed up all night drawing you. He found a video of your performance on the internet, watching it on repeat as he drew you in different positions. The first sketch he did was of you with your arm over your head, just before you started skating. He found he loved drawing the shape of your lips, so the next sketch was a portrait of your face. Your long lashes were hooded, eyes downcast and your lips parted slightly as the pencil scratched against the paper, your plump lips etched in charcoal. The expression Steve caught you in was oddly ethereal, the kind of innocence that Steve found absolutely breathtaking.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. Steve sighed, pulling the device out of his jeans. Cursing, he reread the message Sam sent, looking back up across the street. You were still in front of the window, leg propped up on a bar with your upper body reaching for your foot. He sighed, closing his sketchbook as he stomped toward his bike.

--

Steve and Bucky trudged back into the Compound, exhausted and irritated. Not only have they been unable to see you for a week and a half, forced to watch you through the cameras hidden throughout your apartment, but the mission had been a complete bust. They had been sent away to Northern Peru, where Fury had given them intel about a group of HYDRA smugglers shipping illegal weapons into the country. Unfortunately, Steve and Bucky spent twelve days in a cramped, boiling building across from the target's warehouse and managed to find nothing before Fury called them back.

Steve was sweaty, Bucky hadn't taken a shower in a week, and they missed you. Bucky wanted to touch you, he wanted to kiss you until you were breathless. He watched you on his phone when he could, often opting to watch the camera feed than to sleep.

Once they were in their suite, Steve stripped his uniform off, leaving it in a heap on the floor to pick up later. Right now he just wanted to feel clean. He turned the shower on and peeled his boxers off as Bucky undressed, Steve stepping below the showerhead. The warm water felt nice against his taut muscles, his shoulders relaxing under the water pressure. He watched the dirt and grime from the mission get washed away, down the drain in muddy-grey color.

As he massaged shampoo through his hair, his thoughts wandered back to you, fingers itching to run against your skin. The way your lips always looked so soft, how utterly delicious you would look with them wrapped around his cock. The sweet little noises you would make as he forced himself down your throat—you were so small, it wouldn't take much to make you choke on him.

Steve groaned as his fist wrapped around his length. Almost two weeks without imagining you on your knees, imagining your mouth on him and he was oh so sensitive. He cursed, running his thumb over his slit. He pictured your tongue dragging against his girth, your wrecked expression as you struggled to take him deeper, as Bucky struggled to fit himself in behind you. He fisted himself faster, gasping out your name.

"Yeah, baby," he mumbled to himself. "Just like that. Fuck."

He could only imagine how beautiful you would look when you came. Your skin sweaty, hips bucking, your innocent little eyes rolling to the back of your head as you squealed. Oh, you were definitely a squealer. They would make you cum over and over and—

He bit back a moan as he came, hot white spurts coating his stomach as he slowed his movements, nerves on fire. He sighed, rinsing himself off before he turned the water off. He was still hard, he wasn't sure he'd be able to get himself off.

The tips of his fingers buzzed as he redressed himself and Bucky hopped in the shower. Steve didn't know if it was the stress of the mission or the adrenaline you gave him, but he couldn't wait anymore. He didn't have the patience to wait anymore.

He was watching the camera feeds in your apartment when Bucky came out of the bathroom. All it took was one look from Steve—they already had it all planned out, they just had to put it into motion.

--

You struggled to unlock your door, twisting the key in the lock a few times, cursing as you pushed your shoulder against the door, stumbling as the door swung open. You managed to catch yourself before knocking over your vase of daisies, straightening as you waited for your world to stop spinning.

You knew it had been a bad idea when you agreed to go out tonight. You're such a lightweight and after just three shots and half a glass of wine, you're going to have a killer hangover in the morning. God, and it's three a.m. But Annie had begged you to come with them. You haven't hung out with her in so long, you were desperate to see her again. You just wished she hadn't dragged you out to a bar.

You dropped your handbag on your little dining room table, opening the refrigerator to pour yourself a glass of orange juice. You drank half the glass in a couple of gulps, letting out a sigh as you set the glass down. As you moved to pull your phone out of your purse, you heard the floorboards creak, like someone was taking a step.

You froze, looking down the hall. The boards in your bedroom creak like that when you step down on a certain spot, but you've been in the apartment long enough to learn where it is exactly and step around it.

As quietly as you could, you made your way down the hall, checking the bathroom. You've seen enough horror movies in your life to know never to close the shower curtain when you weren't using it, so with a quick glance you knew the room was empty.

Your bedroom was at the end of the hall, the door cracked open. You walked in, carefully looking around. Your closet door was open, the windows were closed, you turned and looked towards your dresser mirror and—

You saw the figure behind you before you could react. Your eyes went wide, their hand coming up to cover your mouth before you could muster a scream. Your hands flew up to the hand, legs kicking out as the intruder dragged you out of your bedroom. You screamed into the hand, thrashing as you felt a sharp prick in your neck.

"It's alright," they cooed. "Shhh, it's okay, doll. You're just gonna go to sleep for a little while, okay?"

You shook your head frantically, tears streaming down your face as you felt your body getting tired. You blinked furiously, trying to fight the sleepy feeling. Your muscles felt like dead weight, you stopped kicking your feet as your grip on the man's cold hand went slack.

"That's a good girl," he crooned. "Just relax, kitten. I'm not gonna hurt you."

Your tongue felt heavy in your mouth. Your vision blurred, and then everything went black.

[thebibliomancer]

Tides of the Dark Crystal liveblog pt 25

Tides of the Dark Crystal by J.M. Lee because some fire just proclaimed Tavra the true All-Maudra, the Vapra have joined the loosely affiliated resistance, and skekSa has our heroes back against a cliff. Two chapters left, tensions high!

Last times on book: Amri and co are on a quest to unify the Gelfling clans against the Skeksis. They’ve succeeded with the Sifa, the Dousan, and now the Vapra. But they’re cornered by skekSa the Mariner who is feeling a bit sore about the Sifa ditching her and wants to take Naia to use as political capital with the other Skeksis.

Chapter 25

Amri and the others fight to escape the clutches of skekSa, they don’t get out unscathed

skekSa stared, wide-eye, rage saturating her dark eyes and making her look more Skeksis than ever. Amri tried not to let it frighten him. Not now that they’d had their victory lighting the Vapra flame. All that was left was to escape the Mariner’s clutches. Survive, like Tavra had said.

Win condition: get the heck away.

Similar to the first book conclusion, having to escape the Hunter. Different from the second book where they planned to trap the Satirist to keep knowledge of the resistance secret longer.

Beating skekSa in a fight, not even a viable outcome.

For one, her sword is longer than Amri is tall. That’s a bit of a discouraging thing.

skekSa tries being ‘reasonable’ one last time, offering Naia a chance to surrender for the safety of the others but Naia refuses.

[skekSa] charged at Tae, swinging her sword. Even if its edge were not sharp, the sheer power and weight of it would crush a Gelfling if it struck. Tae leaped, wings taking her up so her toes touched the gleaming metal of the blade. She ran along the sword, leaping again and slashing with her dagger.

That’s some more choreography that I’d love to see in puppets.

It’d look silly if not execute well but maybe good silly.

There’s only so many ways you can portray a small individual fighting a much larger one and its not like Yoda’s method of jumping around everywhere like a grasshopper doesn’t look silly if you’re not in the moment.

Naia runs to help Tae hold off the Mariner and Amri runs to take care of Kylan.

Kylan being Kylan, his first concern is to stop skekSa from destroying any more trees after the trees helped send the message but Tavra chides him they have to save themselves first.

Problem being they’re backed up against the cliff, they don’t see Onica’s lantern down in the ocean, and all the fliers are trying to knife fight a behemoth.

skekSa doesn’t give them space to think about it either, she dashes in and tries to split Amri in half. He tries to block with Tavra’s sword but the Skeksis wrenches it from his hand with the hook on her sword.

Not ideal.

Naia and Tae attack her again and do some damage but she just jumps away from Tae and throws Naia off of her. Fighting Skeksis is hard.

Tae tells Tavra to protect the others and keep lighting the fires no matter what happens and then dives against skekSa from the air.

Tae’s dagger bit. skekSa’s sword flipped into the air, and Amri caught his heart in his teeth when he saw that the Skeksis’ severed hand still clutched the hilt as it flew.

skekSa screamed. She grasped the stump where her hand had been.

“How dare you!” she cried, over and over. “HOW DARE YOU!”

Well, uh, plus side is that now she can get a hook hand to add to her piratey aesthetic?

Minus side is the Swimmer just lost a hand too.

Other minus side, Skeksis have four arms. Two usually vestigial but like the Hunter, the Mariner engages in vigorous exercise in the brisk outdoors and hasn’t had arm atrophy.

Amri tries to warn Tae when he sees the movement but is too late.

One of skekSa’s smaller arms slipped out from the Skeksis’ coat. Something flashed, and a BOOM rang through the mountain air. A cloud of smoke exploded from skekSa’s hip, blasting Tae off her feet. She crashed into one of the Waystar trees, leaving a red mark on its glowing white bark where she struck. Then she fell into the snow and did not rise.

The smoke cleared. skekSa coughed and reached into the depths of her coat again, drawing out a leathery, egg-shaped device and holding it in her tiny palm. Her breath rasped in anger and pain, her blood still falling on the white snow. She stumbled to one knee.

“I can’t believe this,” she panted. “Can’t believe it one bit.”

Holy crap! Guns exist? Skeksis have guns??

This is even weirder than the Emperor doing force lightning.

Guns!

And here I was joking about her improving her piratey aesthetic when she had a gun up her sleeve!

A weird, egg-shaped gun.

The tech level of this world sure is unusual.

-rereading- Oh! Its a grenade!

Yeah, that’s more in keeping with what we have/will see. But geez, she hit Tae with a grenade. Poor Tae.

Also, sure she got blown up for it, but props to Tae for taking off an entire hand in one go.

Down below in the bay, Onica’s lantern has finally arrived and Naia says that their best chance is to fly down. Except now they’re down one flier and have two non fliers to convey.

skekSa throws another egg-shaped grenade, which Amri blocks by throwing a branch in its path. The explosion still knocks him on his ass because that’s what explosions DO.

And by the time he recovers, skekSa reaches them.

She had found her sword, held it in the hand that was intact, carelessly bleeding from the other as if it meant nothing.

“I don’t want to do this,” she said slowly, her blade tasting the snow at her feet. Her voice turned hard at the end, wicked as her sword. “I told you we had a deal -- you ungrateful fool.”

Huh.

I can almost believe she means it.

The Mariner takes a swing but she’s blocked by someone with a Vapra sword and then has her sword knocked off the cliff.

skekSa is having a really bad day.

[Amri’s] eyes were still hazy, trying desperately to focus. But even so, he could see how stood between them and skekSa: a Sifa with hair gold as the sun, holding Tavra’s sword. Shining on her neck was a crystal spider, silver and blue as the moon.

The ringing dulled enough that Amri could hear Tavra’s words, stern and commanding in Tae’s voice.

“Get out of here, to the cliff,” she said. “Run! Fly!”

!!

Tavra spidered Tae!

I guess Tae is alive from being exploded? If her body is still capable of being spidered and fighting?

skekSa tries to lunge past TavraTae to get Naia but without weapons and against someone with a sword who knows how to use it, she’s stymied.

The Mariner even grabs a tree branch and tries to use that to swat TavraTae, without success.

Naia follows TavraTae’s advice and grabs Kylan and jumps off the cliff.

And after breaking from the fight with superior mobility, TavraTae grabs Amri and jumps too.

Amri having a lot of trouble reconciling in his mind Tavra and Tae because its Tavra but looks like Tae and plus he might have a concussion.

Naia still is the Drenchen whose wings have only just come in and haven’t been strenuously tested much so she’s having trouble doing more than slowing down her and Kylan’s fall. Its a nice touch that that’s remembered two books later.

But TavraTae glides close so Amri can take Naia’s hand and they can all glide down together.

As soon as they land on the boat, Tae crumples, probably Tavra abandoning controlling her as soon as its not a life or death situation. Because of ethics. And because moving her around when she’s been exploded can’t be good for her explosion wound.

Naia immediately starts trying to heal her, only pausing so they can all move inside the cabin where its warm.

In the end, the glowing eased and Naia put her hand on Tae’s forehead.

“I’ve healed her body,” she said, brow creased with pain. “But she was deeply injured by that explosion. Even though I’ve mended her cuts and broken bones, her mind still sleeps. I cannot even sense her dreams. I don’t know when she will wake... if ever.”

It was hard to imagine. The Sifa merely looked as if she were sleeping.

“I didn’t mean to...,” Tavra began. She rested on Tae’s cheek, glistening like a tiny moon in a cloud of sun-gold hair. Amri sighed and shook his head. The moon had eclipsed the sun during a storm in Ha’rar, after all.

What a weird prophecy.

In the end, it turns out it wasn’t a prophecy of a sweet, sweet romance. But a premonition that Tae would eventually be body-jacked by a spider that was really a cool Vapra.

Goes to show, prophecies aren’t straightforward. Unless they’re incredibly straightforward. Like the one from the movie.

But sometimes they’re poetic because fate doesn’t like you screwing with it.

Amri tells Tavra that this isn’t her fault because she did all the right things and saved the group which is what Tae would have wanted and which she’ll definitely confirm when she wakes up.

Buuuuuut, the plot hasn’t stopped happening just because there’s like four pages left in the book.

You’d think it would and we’d be winding down and figuring out what to do next. But no.

A familiar metallic whistle shrills through the air. A whistle that Amri knows exactly what it foretells.

Amri ran out onto the deck, followed by the others. The ship trembled as the sea shook. He grabbed hold of the rigging on the ship as waves rolled out from the ocean and crashed across the back of an enormous black shell. A deafening moan trembled through the water and echoed against the steep cliff. Terror shot through Amri’s body as a behemoth mouth rose from the depths, water gushing from its enormous hooked-beaked maw.

It gaped, spreading its jaws. The ocean churned, sucked into the black abyss of the creature’s throat. Onica’s ship was caught in a vortex of inescapable currents, and Amri watched the slowly brightening sky disappear as the monster ship closed its jaws, swallowing them into a sea of darkness.

COME ON!

This is where the denouement is supposed to go! And you go and release the kraken on them?

You’re persistent, skekSa! You’re very persistent!

[theoriginalladya]

WIP Wednesday - tag team edition

Okay, so @swaps55 tagged me for WIP Wednesday (thank you, my dear!!!!), and I do have something else I can share, though this is Dragon Age rather than Mass Effect. (yes, I can still write Dragon Age! ROFL)

Some weeks ago, @shadoedseptmbr and I got into a discussion about Dragon Age and I told her a bit about my Serafina. I know @hunnybadgerv is also a fan, so I will tag her, too. This is just a bit of her story, a small part that I started to rewrite after shadoedseptembr and I spoke. It may take me a while before I actually start posting, but it feels GOOD to work on it again! This is my Serafina MacKinnon. She and her twin, Sean, both go to Highever to train, and at this point she is a squire.

Setting: Orlais, roughly five years before the Blight/Highever falls; Serafina is 17, Fergus is roughly 22-ish? (my estimation)

~~~

A warm evening breeze blows in off the Waking Sea, drifting lazily through open windows. The billowing curtains flutter gently, soft white clouds of biddable fabric. Stepping away from the mirror, her fingers trailing along the stained wooden dresser and snagging the simple mask waiting near the edge, Serafina MacKinnon slips out of her room.

“Ah, there you are, Fina.”

A smile, slightly tilted with just a hint of coyness, curves her lips. Eyes blue as the night sky and sparkling with stars that hint at mischief meet her companion’s. “And where else would I be, my lord?”

Fergus Cousland, dressed in his newest Orlesian finest, chuckles softly with the warmth of years of friendship. Extending a hand, he takes hers and nods at the picture she presents, the one she wants him and others to see this night. “So, this is where that coin went?”

His arm rises and she twirls slowly to give him the full picture. A froth of plain blue silk with edging in silver and black framing the lower edges of a full skirt then shoots up through the folds to meet at her waist where they weave a simple yet delicate pattern across the bodice. Sleeves, slightly off her shoulder, stop just above her elbows with the same black and silver pattern tracing the lower edge. Around her neck, a silver chain with a simple yet elegant pendant in the shape of a rose. Ebony curls twist atop her head in an elegant yet simple fashion which partly frames the mask she holds. The mask itself, a blue so dark it’s nearly black edged with silver, sets her apart as an outsider. To those who don full-faced masks decorated with elaborate embroidery and a froth of jewels or gems, she will fight for acknowledgement. Just a hint of color on her lips, a bit more across pale cheeks, while her eyes flash hints of autumn lining them to bring out cerulean eyes; gold bleeds into orange, then russet, and eventually dark brown.

Lifting her mask to her face, she flutters her lashes through the eye spaces. “Are you not pleased with the result, my lord?”

Fergus chuckles. “Pleased? That is not my decision to make, Fina, as you well know.”

Relenting, her smile widening, Serafina sets her mask on the table nearby and turns back to him. With sure hands, she straightens his collar and smooths out the material. “We can’t have Oriana thinking you aren’t presentable, now, can we?”

With a quick roll of his eyes, he remains still, allowing her actions. “You are an insufferable tease, do you know that?”

Her smile curves into a knowing smirk. “A tease, is it? And here I thought you were trying to impress the lady Oriana?”

Not a full second goes past before they both burst into laughter. As Serafina lowers her hands and steps back, Fergus grabs one, squeezing it gently. “You always watch out for me.”

Her head tilts slightly, he isn’t that much taller than she is, a ready smile on her lips now. “As I should. Is that not why I am to be your second?”

“In battle? Always.”

“And are we not going into battle this evening?” She gestures at his finery while reaching for her mask. “Not all battlefields involve blades and corpses. Tonight, our armor is our finery and our weapons, words.”

“And this is why my father insisted you be trained,” he tells her softly, admiration brightening his eyes. “You have a far better understanding of The Game than any other in Ferelden.”

Outwardly, a soft smile curves at her lips as she drops her gaze and her cheeks pinken just a bit. Inside, however, a flutter of panic bubbles. If you only knew, my friend. If you only knew. She glances across the room as the door opens and Sir Daniel, also dressed in finery but looking ill at ease in it, enters the suite. Fergus offers Serafina his arm. “Shall we? Wouldn’t do to be late.”

Laughing lightly, she responds, “But, isn’t that what they expect of us?”

“I’d like to think we’ve proven ourselves more reliable than that during our ten-month stay.”

[luninosity]

It’s @whumptober2020 time again! For prompt 10 – “they look so pretty when they bleed,” specific prompts: blood loss/trail of blood; AND prompt 15 – “into the unknown,” specifically magical healing!

 Time for some more Evanstan with witch!Seb! This story takes place in the same universe as “every inch of north and south.” Warnings for...blood & magically inflicted injuries? I promise he’s going to be fine though! It’s magical healing, after all!

#

Chris steps in through the side door of Sebastian’s magician’s consultation rooms, where the wards know him as Seb’s boyfriend; he’s tired but cheerful, because it’s been a productive day of meetings about the directorial project he’s taking on for fun, the film about rescue dogs, and also he’s brought coffee for Seb from that new place down the street they’ve been meaning to try.

 He’s expecting the familiar tickle of Seb’s magic, and he smiles, the way Seb’s wards generally smile back, all warm and smoky and glittery as opals.

 The magic is familiar. It recognizes him. But it’s also wrong. Frantic. Scurrying. Spiking. Singing and shouting, sounds Chris doesn’t quite physically hear but feels—

 He’s not a witch the way Sebastian is. But he is magic-sensitive, kind of adjacent to it and aware of it if it’s happening, and he’s Seb’s boyfriend. Sebastian’s magic knows that.

 The hairs at the nape of his neck stand up. His skin prickles.

 He takes another step. “Seb? Sebastian?”

 No answer. But Sebastian’s protective magic’s shrieking now, a cacophony of clashing melodies and scents and textures—burning scarlet and blinding gold and copper on Chris’s tongue and whistles in his ears—and it wraps coils around his wrists and ankles and begs for his help—

 He runs. Shoving coffee onto Seb’s table next to the silver scrying bowl. Heart twisting in his chest at the sight of neatly labeled herb-bottles and jars on the shelf, at Seb’s black leather jacket tossed over a chair, as if Sebastian’d expected to be right back—

 “Sebastian? You in here?” Something nags at his brain; his eyes catch up after a second.

 A space on the wall rack. A missing knife. The silver one, the moon-knife.

 Sebastian’s protected against most ordinary blades, but magicians sometimes need to offer drops of blood. Seb’s got a few specific knives for that purpose, which means a few weaknesses. Chris tries to breathe. To think.

 Sebastian doesn’t have any specific enemies, not that he knows about; magicians can be envious and prickly and wary, but Sebastian’s generous and happy and clever and kind, and good at warding-spells, also.

 But Seb had said—something, that morning—something about being asked to consult on a local case, a missing child, and of course he’d said yes, and Chris had nodded because that was a good thing, of course…but Sebastian hadn’t said it’d be anything difficult…

 Or had he? By not saying so, by smiling, by kissing Chris as a distraction?

 Sebastian’s a good witch but—in his own words—not anywhere near the sorcerers of legend. Gifted at cures and summonings and counter-curses, not at leveling mountains or flattening enemy armies. And he and Chris have only been a them for three months—maybe Seb hadn’t wanted him to worry…

 Chris is worried now. Chris is fucking terrified now. “Seb! If you’re here, if you can hear me—say something, come on—”

 Magic pulls at his arm, insistent. Wind howls past his ears, though nothing in the main consultation room physically stirs.

 He spins in the direction of the tugging. Of the two doors plus small staircase, one leads to Seb’s distillery and store-room; the other’s the private workroom, for anything that can’t be handled out in the sunny front space. The staircase goes up to Sebastian’s bedroom-slash-library, with the books on astronomy and the low cozy bed with the decadent satin sheets, where they’ve spent a lot of enjoyable time.

 The door to the private workroom has a small trickle of red underneath it, seeping out.

 Chris stares at it for a second. Then throws himself that way.

 The knob, heavy and bronze, doesn’t turn. Chris slams a hand against thick wood. “Sebastian!”

 No sound.

 “Sebastian, please! Can you—you gotta open the door, Seb—just that, you can do that—let me in, please, Seb, just try—”

 No word from Sebastian; but a click echoes through horrified silence. This time the knob turns.

 The red’s blood and the blood’s so much, a vicious trail that stretches crimson from the door to a puddle over tidy chalk lines and up to—to—

 Chris’s lips say Sebastian, without noise, even as he’s flinging himself across the room. A sizzle scratches down his spine, a hint of burning singes his arm-hair, as he crosses chalk marks; but it’s weak. He doesn’t care.

 Sebastian, lying on his back, blinks and tries to focus as Chris bends over him. He’s clearly just collapsed in place, knocking over equipment along the way. The knife lies silver and deadly amid broken ceramic bits of what looks like a coffee-mug; Sebastian can do scrying-work with anything, Chris knows, and is actually best with an object he uses daily, a coffee-cup friend, a connection. The big silver bowl in the consultation room’s mostly for effect.

 Sebastian’s bleeding from—from everywhere, all over, red soaking his shirt and jeans, Chris’s jeans where he’s kneeling in the puddle, Sebastian’s hair—red streaks Seb’s face, his nose and mouth, his ears, his bared and laid-bare arms, which Chris almost can’t look at because of the raw—

 He clamps hands over the closest wrist. Sebastian’s blood’s hot. Sticky. “Seb—oh god—”

 Sebastian coughs. Starts to talk, coughs again, then manages, “Oh, hey…love you…”

 “Jesus fucking Christ. Seb—I love you, of course I—what, how, what can I—no, no, oh god, Seb—”

 “Not…as bad…as it looks…”

 “It looks like you’re fucking dying!”

 “Well…not quite…that was his plan…but it’s not all me…the water…”

 Chris looks more closely. It’s true: it’s not all Sebastian’s blood. The water from the coffee mug’s thinned it and spread it out and contributed to the pool.

 Contributed to. Not all of. He’s keeping hands over Sebastian’s left arm, holding edges together. The right arm’s just as bad; Seb’s still horribly injured, blood pulsing under Chris’s fingers, making them slippery. “What can I do?”

 “I’m…trying to…heal it.” Sebastian’s face is white. His eyes stand out against the lack of color: that silvery grey-blue Chris loves so much, now etched with pain. “We found her…the girl…it wasn’t that hard, I’m good at talking to the earth…and to water…I just…wasn’t expecting to fight an amateur warlock for her…I won, obviously…”

 “Obviously…”

 “He’s not dead, don’t worry…I don’t do that…just in custody…sort of very not conscious, I think. Him, not me.”

 “Let me help,” Chris pleads, hands wet, jeans wet, workroom wet with hideous ruby splashes. “Please. Anything.”

 “I can’t…” Seb coughs again. Then shuts his eyes. When he opens them his voice is noticeably weaker. “I can’t ask you to…”

 “You’re not. I’m offering. I love you, Seb. I said fucking anything. Do it. I’m here.”

 “It’ll hurt.” Sebastian’s trying hard to sound more all right, and failing. “Chris…”

 “Don’t you fucking dare ask me if I’m sure.”

 “No…I know you are.” A ghost of a smile hovers at the corner of Seb’s mouth: bittersweet, evanescent, affectionate. “Okay. I can stop it…I think…but I could use an anchor…more strength…getting kind of tired, here…but you’re good at awareness, at being present…”

 “I am.” He presses harder. Some of the cuts are healing—he can see them—but not enough. “I can do that. What do you need me to do?”

 “Look at me,” Sebastian whispers. “Look at me, think about me…about who I am, who you think of…when you think of me…and just relax, be open, let me in…”

 Chris draws a wobbly breath. Lets it out. Keeps his hands over the deepest slash. Focuses on Sebastian’s face, Sebastian’s eyes.

 Sebastian, he thinks. Bright and beautiful, ridiculous and generous. Made of stories and magic, a smile through a coffee-scented drift of steam, a love of pizza and outer space and other people. Pure joy in running around the woods on a hike, by turns jumping out at Chris from behind trees or just talking to said trees, running a hand over them, starting conversations.

 Sebastian’s eyes are cool and sweet, shimmering like mist and starlight. Chris finds himself distantly aware of the rest of the world—his hands trying to hold Seb together, the way his jeans stick to his legs, the hardness of the workroom floor—but it’s all going dimmer now, far away.

 More, if Seb needs that. More intimate, more personal. In bed, under him, laughing and fearless. Sebastian sprawled out half atop him, cat-napping, both of them naked and contented in sunshine. The smoothness of Seb’s skin, the dip where his back curves into his ass, the soft little sound he makes when Chris caresses him just right.

 Sebastian doesn’t say anything aloud, but Chris feels something like a yes, rose-pink and amber-laced and dancing like eighties rock music because Seb likes Bon Jovi: Sebastian’s magic, worn thin but glinting and prismatic, reaches out. It draws him in.

 He’s always thought Sebastian’s magic felt and tasted like light, so many kinds of light: wry cool moonbeams and lazy honeyed sun-thrumming and mischievous star-twinkles and quiet shafts of shyly happy radiance unexpectedly hiding in deep green pools. The burst of airiness from a cloud-like meringue. Whipped cream and edible gold dust. The kiss of sun through water in a lake. The hushed glowing of candles, lit with a thought, pooling liquid along entwined bodies.

 Right now the light’s present—Chris can feel it, can taste it—but very ragged, scarlet-tinged. It asks without words, wistful; Sebastian’s giving him one last chance to duck out, he understands. Sebastian isn’t sure that Chris should have to do this, maybe because it’s only been three quick months, maybe because Seb himself wants this so badly—Chris can feel that the same way he can feel how much Seb loves him; no lying here in this place—and Seb is consequently afraid it can’t be true.

 Fuck that, he thinks: you saved me once already, you save me every day I get to kiss you, you make my life more full of magic; let me save you; I love you.

 And Sebastian laughs: stunned, grateful, overwhelmed. And accepts.

 Pain hits first. White-hot and searing. Chris can’t even scream. Can’t think. Can’t process the sensations. If that’s what Seb’s been feeling—how is he even talking, how is he alive, how—

 Sebastian does something else, some tug at a thread in the embroidery of shades of light around them. The pain ebbs: not gone, but covered over by clean wintergreen and mint. The sense this time’s vaguely apologetic, though distracted: Seb’s having to juggle a lot of those threads, with no energy to spare.

 Chris shakes his head. Tries to project don’t worry about me, I can take it that direction. Sebastian does a sort of mental headshake right back at him, and then—

 It’s the strangest feeling. Not bad, not exactly—but dizzying. Stomach-flipping. Vertiginous. The light’s laced itself into his head, his gut, his chest—and it pulls gently and tugs and draws something out of him, taking it in, leaving him lightheaded as it drains.

 His heart thumps faster. He’s off-balance, shaken. And it’s something like a release as well, not orgasmic but close, something like Sebastian stroking him or sucking him until the climax rushes up and out involuntarily, nothing he can do to hold it back, as he shudders and cries out at the flood of release, emptying himself into Seb’s mouth or hand or body.

 The world still tastes like mint, and a little like pain, hot and copper and iron-sharp, but Seb’s shielding him from the worst of it, he’s aware.

 He can feel Sebastian’s magician’s fingertips skillfully taking each strand, each bit of Chris’s energy, and patiently painstakingly reweaving pieces of self: closing wounds, connecting tendons, knitting veins back together. Chris stays very quiet, holding more pieces of Sebastian in his mind as an anchor, and watches him work.

 He doesn’t know how long it takes. Time doesn’t matter, not here.

 He knows he’s growing more tired, more hollowed out; he can feel that. Giving himself, and gladly—but even as he thinks that, the draining eases, and recedes, and backs away.

 Sebastian’s breathing more easily. Sebastian’s arm’s whole, under his hands; Chris blinks, discovers that he has hands, that he can see and feel a world that isn’t diaphanous and timeless and made of light. He’s sticky with drying watery blood, his jeans are ruined, and he’s starving; Sebastian, still lying in the same spot on the floor, opens both eyes. His skin’s less white, and the blood on his face is dried, not new.

 Chris holds his hand, his arm; runs fingertips over bright pink tender flesh, new-made skin. Gazes at Seb, amazed, in awe, thankful.

 “So,” Sebastian says, visibly exhausted but with sparkling eyes, “candles? And…whipped cream?”

 “It’s how you feel.” He touches Seb’s arm again. “Light. You’re not…it’s not finished. All the way.” It’s not: he can see the lines, the tracks. Closed over, safe and not spilling life anymore, but not gone.

 “It’s enough for now.” Seb pushes himself up on an elbow, gingerly; he makes a face as his sleeve lands in a puddle. His shirt’s tattered and slashed open as well; so are his jeans. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

 “I’m not—”

 “If I took much more I would. Trust me.” His eyes meet Chris’s again, less magically hypnotic this time; then flinch, glancing away from the admission of potential harm. “It’s kind of my job. Knowing how far to go. As a professional. And I can do the rest, just more slowly. Are you—”

 “I’m fine!” Drained and wobbly, like he’s just run two back-to-back marathons, and his stomach’s growling. But Seb’s alive. “Should you be sitting up? What else can I do?”

 Sebastian’s expression goes through several emotions, and then he just says, “Chris,” a sigh, a giving in; and he reaches out, and Chris puts both arms around him right there on the messy workroom floor, holding on.

 “I love you,” Seb murmurs after a moment, head resting on Chris’s chest. “I wanted—I might’ve been okay, I was trying hard, I wanted to be—but I wasn’t sure. I was scared. I kept thinking about you, and wanting to see you, and then you were here…”

 “I’m here.” He squeezes more tightly. “Brought you coffee. I had been kinda thinking we could order pizza and stay in, y’know, kind of a long day for both of us…”

 “And then you walked in and found me.” Sebastian tips his head to look up at Chris more. “Sorry.”

 “Hey, you were saving a kid.” He runs a hand over Seb’s hair. They both need a shower. Maybe like three showers. “My hero.”

 “And you saved me. It’ll rebuild—the energy I borrowed, I mean—over a day or so, I think. How’re you feeling?”

 “Hungry,” Chris says truthfully.

 Sebastian stares at him, and then dissolves into giggles: loopy, tired, relieved, and above all real. “Of course…of course, yes, always, after a major working…so am I…oh, Chris. My Chris. Yes.”

 “Yours,” Chris agrees, equally truthful and wholehearted. “What can I do, though? For you? You’ll need to rest, right?”

 Sebastian scrunches up his nose. “Shower? And…yes. We both should, really.”

 “Shower,” Chris concurs firmly, and carefully gets him up off the bloodstained floor.

 He holds onto Sebastian in the shower. He holds Sebastian while red slides away down the drain. He tenderly cleans Sebastian’s skin, trying hard to keep touches weightless over recent and sensitive repairs. He kneads shampoo through Sebastian’s hair.

 The scent of apples and soap rises around them, light and bracing. Sebastian tips his head back, eyes closed, water sliding down his face. He’s beautiful and tired and trusting, letting Chris keep him on his feet. Chris’s heart flutters.

 The world grows easier, steadier, cleansed.

 He tucks Sebastian into bed, gently, after. The workroom will handle its own clean-up—Sebastian’s got a spell in place for that, and it’s automatic—but their clothes’re probably a lost cause; Chris attempts a quick rinse and then just leaves the whole disaster in the shower for later. He can deal with it if Sebastian needs to recover.

 Seb’s half-asleep and drifting, a long-legged enervated kitten, but stretches out a clumsy hand to find Chris’s. “You should rest too.”

 “I will. I’m ordering pizza. Pepperoni okay?” He is, poking his phone, salvaged from a pocket; he plays with Seb’s fingers in his, sitting on the side of the bed. They’re more slender than his own, but long and graceful and talented in so many ways. Magical. “Shower, food, rest. What else?”

 Seb yawns. Pink and red streak his arms and his chest, a reminder; Chris can’t not glance at the marks, unable to help it. “Well…if you wouldn’t mind…there’s a jar on the third shelf, downstairs…yarrow and lemon balm…”

 “Got it.” He hops up. Throws on sweatpants. Returns with the requested jar and some trail mix and some orange juice, and eases himself into bed beside Sebastian, who smiles tiredly at him.

 Chris feeds Sebastian some trail mix, gives him some sips of juice; has some himself. He’s not a witch but he does know about exertion and depletion, and this’ll help. The pizza—from their favorite local place—will be here in twenty minutes, too.

 The food does seem to help. Sebastian sits up more, with pillows and Chris’s arm; Chris’s stomach feels better. Low lamplight paints the room in jeweled color, because Sebastian’s bedside lamp is set with tiny lapidary bits of glass. It’s soft and warm and rich, tracing light-patterns over the bed, the blankets, Sebastian’s hair.

 Chris dips fingers into spell-infused balm, and begins to stroke it across Seb’s arm. The night takes a breath, scented with healing herbs and protective lemon, and unwinds. Tension ebbs, dwindles, fades: not wholly gone but ameliorated. Sebastian’s ward-spells are quiet and pleased.

 He’d thought he’d gotten used to dating a magician. He mostly has: he’s purely delighted when he gets to watch Seb help people, find lost puppies, talk to raindrops. He adores Sebastian’s genius and Seb’s playful sense of humor and Seb’s cheerful way of getting the strings of the universe to play along.

 He’d forgotten, or maybe just not thought about, the fact that his boyfriend’s one of the most genuinely powerful white witches currently practicing. Someone the authorities ask when they need assistance. Someone who can fight a warlock at a distance and win.

 Seb says he’s not that powerful and laughs about it, but he’s comparing himself to centuries-old stories: no one’s that strong, not these days. Sebastian’s better than he admits to being, though. Good enough that other people come to him for advice. That includes other white witches; Chris knows Sebastian’s done some consultations with colleagues before.

 Chris Evans is a director, an actor, a producer of movie-magic stories. Good at empathy, moderately famous these days, and power-sensitive, a little. It’s not nothing, but it’s not the same.

 He keeps his touch cautious, not wanting to put any pressure on newly made skin. “How’s this?”

 “Good.” Seb yawns again, sleepy. “It’ll help…healing, renewing…’s an old classical recipe, this one…stored power, infused in it, kind of…it shouldn’t even scar, with this.”

 “So it won’t cost you anything, like, in terms of power, right now.” He touches Seb’s chest, spreads balm across a thin angry line. “Tell me if I’m hurting you.”

 “You’re not.” Sebastian gazes up at him: gorgeous as ever, brilliant as ever, powerful as ever, and right now vulnerable and somehow younger, framed by a navy satin pillowcase and the familiarity of them both mostly naked in this bed. “Thank you.”

 “Don’t,” Chris says, heart aching with the word, with too many complicated emotions, with love. “You don’t have to say it.”

 “But—”

 “You’d do it for me.”

 “If you ever for some reason had to fight a warlock, I would. You said you had a long day too…?”

 “Long, but good.” His hand over Sebastian’s tanned skin, his fingertips bringing healing. Sebastian’s chest lifting and falling, vital and present. “Getting things moving on the heroic rescue dogs movie. Lots of the boring stuff today—logistics, budget, all that—but it’s stuff that has to happen first, so it’s kinda fun, y’know?”

 Sebastian just looks at him for a second; the smile warms every atom of those opal oceans, and makes the small joyous lines around them crinkle.

 Chris has to laugh, half-embarrassed, paying some closer attention to healing balm and a darker less-knitted red line. “Okay, what?”

 “I love you.” Seb reaches up to touch his wrist. “I just…I’m really glad you’re here.”

 “Me too? Um. About you.”

 “Not just tonight, I mean.”

 “Hey,” Chris says, heart in his throat, in his words, in his eyes as he looks at Sebastian, “I’m glad I was here tonight. I want to be here, Seb, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”

 Sebastian’s cheeks are pinker now, but he nods. “I’m here too.”

 “I know you are.”

 “Tell me about your meetings,” Seb requests drowsily, “and all about your movie, again, and the dogs,” and Chris laughs a little, scrubs a hand over his treacherously damp eyes, and does, while gently treating Sebastian’s battle scars in between nibbles of food and traded kisses.

[alolanrain]

Not sure if this was mentioned but how did everyone react to Ash being pregnant? Also how was the actual pregnancy itself? Did he have typical cravings, mood swings & all that jazz?

Did I info dumped? Hells yes. Do I really care? No because it’s about my fan kids and their family dammit!

There was a lot of... mixed reactions. Generally the more common one was joy and happiness! Most of Ash’s friends were excited when he gave them the news and swarmed both him and Raihan any chance they can get. The girls are the first children to be born in their large group surprisingly.

Celest, Raihan’s mother, didn’t really congratulate her son and Ash. More just... acknowledged? I would say. She was much more interested in Raihans every changing progress of being hammerlocks gym leader. Though Raihan and Ash are surprised when she still wants to keep tabs on Ash’s pregnancy. They both chalk it up to having to watch her daughters go through multiple miscarriages and her one grandchild born severely early. They take what warmth they can get and Ash is usually the one explaining things since Raihan gets Squeamish in hospital rooms and prefers to stay outside in the waiting room, that doesn’t stop him from constantly cupping Ash’s belly or laying kisses to it before they both go to sleep. She’s a lot more involved in the triplets pregnancy. Helping out a lot more and keeping in close contact with Ash to see if he needs anything.

Raihans two sisters, Minx and Venix who were twins as well, were down right jealous of Raihan. They each had more then one pregnancy lost and only Minx was able to have a baby boy who is just a few months old and still in the NICU because he was born at 7 and a half months old. Everyone is just surprised that he’s alive. When they found out that Ash is having twins they despised Ash even more. They wanted the life Ash was currently living. Sweet adoring husband, twins on the way, a steady career, a large group of friends who don’t try and leech from Ash’s bank account. Ash had it all in their eyes.

Though this doesn’t stop Ash from trying to bring the twins into anything baby related. Raihan had explained after the initial sudden backlash from the twins. it was usually kept in the dark because his family is well known and very rich, this could potentially ruin both of the girls reputation if people found out. Especially since they were basically infertile at this point in life. Ash had started asking simple things; what color would look good in this room? I like this theme but this one is also pretty nice? would you like to help pick out some books? Raihan once again had to pull him aside and explain that what he’s doing is sweet, and even Celest acknowledges Ash’s actual goal, but it’s hurting the twins because they feel like this is some backhanded way of Ash gloating.

Ash denied venomously, which Raihan quickly dispelled, that he would never do such a harmful thing. He just wanted to see if the twins wanted to be apart at all. Since Minx is still a mom to a few month old baby and she hasn’t even set up her nursery still. Raihan agrees again that what Ash is doing is good in thought but not in practice. He’s still peeved but he leave’s he girls alone and goes so far to apologize through Raihan in fear of mixing the pot even more.

Forest, Raihans older twin, is much more involved in the pregnancy. Usually helping Raihan move furniture around and help set up the big nursery. He isn’t very warm, anyone but Raihan in his family isn’t warm, but again Forest is much more involved. Especially since he has his own twin’s, a daughter and a son, and he and Raihan jokes that twins just seemingly run in the family. He brings the little ones around for Ash to “get a feel” for kids, Ash snickered because their about the same age Max and Bonnie were, but smiled at the kind gesture. Even though Raihan jabbed at him that he was just looking for free babysitting while he’s here.

Rose doesn’t even know Ash is pregnant. Ignoring Raihans calls that are not on chairmen tk gym leader level and any card he gets goes straight to the mail without him even knowing. Know Oleana on the other hand knows and since she has to keep Rose’s best interest, and knowing that the older twins and Celest don’t really care for Ash, she decides that it’s best to sabotage the pregnancy. Rose finds out after getting an angry call from Venix laminated that Raihan, her younger brother, has a successful marriage and now two new born twin girls before she did. It takes Rose into complete shock before he immediately leaves his desk and books it to Hammerlocke... where he’s barred from entering and or seeing the couple and their babies. 

Rose is furious and calls up Celest to demand what the hell is going on. It isn’t until then what he learned what Oleana has been trying to do and how Raihan had tried to get Rose involved but ultimately Rose never answered Raihan which was enough for Raihan to go very low contact unless it’s for league reasons. Rose is silenced and dejected. He really Had done all those things, it’s only right thag Raihan doesn’t even want him to see the babies. After getting back to his office in the same day, and cutting down Oleana’s pay by a good chunk, he keeps to the sidelines.

It isn’t until Ash is pregnant with the triplets does he personally visits Rose in the office to ask if Rose is still willing to be in their little families life. They still need their grandpa after all. Rose immediately jumps at the chance and soon becomes the biggest help besides Delia again. Making sure that Raihans workload is cut slacked and even asking a few gym leaders closer to him to be a little stronger so Raihan doesn’t have to face to many challengers since it’s mid season and will be near the end when the triplets are born.

Delia is very involved with Ash. Coming so far to rent a month in a AirBnb just so Ash can stay off his feet and Raihan isn’t to stressed between Ash and his gym. Celest actually takes time from being a very important CEO of her company and to come help Delia help with Ash. Though she’s more into lecturing and talking with Ash then actually doing stuff around the house.

Red calls daily, Green and Blue usually heard in the background with their joint kids Tracey and Mackenzie, at least twice a week. It’s short calls, just a check up on how he’s feeling and if he’s craving anything Red can Champion Express Mail over from Kanto to him.

Silver usually just texts, he loves his brothers but they can be talkative in their own way, but he constantly assures Ash that the moment they get the notice that he’s in labor almost everyone is flying out to Galar. Gold agrees through actual call’s with Ritchie by his side, his new top elite four, and that they already have shit ready and packed.

Giovanni is envolved but in the distance. He originally planned on pacing up the process of taking over the world but half of his spies, gown to spy on Ash and Raihan, had come back nearly mauled. Soon almost all of his grunts and even higher up goons were being dragged into HQ’s around the world, bloody and beatened. It took some time to figure out that it was Ash’s Pokémon doing most of the damage, in Galar and Kanto, while the rest were from legendaries. The only team that can get on by is Jessie, James, and Meowth. Though they seem to immediately get the memo to stay at a distance from Ash at all times, never to enter personal property, and to keep all scheming on the down low and out of rang where Ash can’t be stubborn and get up to go help. So Gio has to be content to just sit and quietly wait as he watches Ash give birth to his second set of grandkids. He gets to watch Delia when she comes around so that’s nice, Gio actually misses her dearly.

The pregnancy itself gave them a few scares. The biggest being that Ash is actually pregnant. which takes a lot of arguments about Ash having to be more careful and even forcing them a month apart without talking, this is and still is their biggest argument yet in their relationship. The second biggest scare was Oleana actively trying to spike Ash’s nonalcoholic drinks with alcohol, certain drugs, and other means they haven’t found the answer to.

Since Ash is technically the physical link between Pokémon and humans, what every thinks and also how he has all these abilities, certain human drugs make his body shut down and reject anything. Putting him in life threatening condition immediately to the point where the twins are unable to be saved.

Ash wasn’t expecting how big his stomach would grow. He originally thought that the baby, yes one baby at the time, would take his size. Unlucky in that department both girls have taken near Raihans size, though Cadenza is closer to Ash’s height still, and that also means big babies and equally streatched stomachs. There was a lot of sleepless nights and crying sessions. Ash was abnormally lazy and tired for himself, though expected, and the only cravings he’s gotten was curly fries and vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

[1derspark]

Hi! I adore your TOG fics. If you’re taking any prompts, I’d love to read one about Nicky’s err fascination with Joe’s rings and fingers. Do with that what you will 😳✌🏼

Hi anon! Thank you for the love and the prompt. Sorry, this is a few days late, but I hope you enjoy <3

(Also if you want to read the fic on ao3 check out this link!)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26983318#main

They didn’t have wedding rings. Not exactly.

Nicky and Joe were more married than most married people are. Though Nicky wouldn’t define them as such. It was hard to confine what they were to one another into something that goes sour more often than not. Nile joked often that he and Joe had reached the “ultimate form of husbands”, but Nicky had seen the American divorce rates. That was not what he aimed to be.

So, no wedding rings. But Joe still had plenty of individual rings of his own.

He had always been fond of them. Joe had an eye for all the art forms, jewelry making included. Nicky could not count the times in his life he’s had to drag Joe away from the jeweler's stall in a market in one of the many corners of the world, eyeing some pretty silver rings he didn’t need.

(Of course, Nicky always managed to scrounge up some money later if Joe really loved it. One of the best things in his life was watching Joe unwrap a ring Nicky’s bought, eyes shining when he slid the gift on his finger, then tackling Nicky to the nearest flat surface a second after to show his gratitude.)

Nicky admitted that his purchases for Joe are sometimes a little self-indulgent. The bigger gaudier rings, big brassy things wrought into the curled shape of a dragon with an emerald eye, a chunky pair of silver circlets pressed into the shape of a hundred little flowers. He bought rings he knew would stand out on Joe’s fingers. He traced them in the night with Joe’s hands curled over his stomach. He’d tangle their hands together against the bed when Joe had him pinned, gasping for air, with only the cool kiss of the metal on Joe’s fingers to keep him grounded. 

It was a thing. Joe knew it. He knew exactly how to rile Nicky up. He was sneaky about it too.

Nicky woke up for once while the room was awash with noon-time yellows, a good well-fucked ache in his ass, his thighs, zinging down to the tips of his toes when he stretched. 

It took a lot for him or Joe to achieve that feeling. The marks they make on each other in passion are often lost in the next couple seconds of time. Joe has said he regretted never having made-love to Nicky in a time where he could see the proof on his skin afterward. The blooming lovebites of youngsters, the phantom bruise of a gripped hand to the thigh, were things they’ve never experienced in their lives together. It was a sad compensation for an eternity together, but one they were willing to pay.

But on nights like the last, where all they do is fuck and bite and kiss until dawn where they collapse into the bedsheets, their skin tingling with lingering sensation, Nicky got a hint of what that feeling may be like. 

Nicky was satisfied. He smiled into the pillow he’d wrapped himself around and peeked an eye out from the nest they’ve made of the sheets. He spotted Joe, sitting at the corner table in their bedroom in nothing but some unbuttoned pants, sketching, just as he expected. 

And because they are in sync, as they always seemed to be, Joe looked up when Nicky did. Their eyes meeting in a hello heralded by the satisfaction of sated lovers. 

“What is your subject this morning Yusuf?” Nicky asked though he and anyone else who’d seen any of Joe’s art ever could probably guess.

Joe turned his sketchbook around to display Nicky’s face detailed in a close-up. He’d focused on the curve of Nicky’s cheek just by his mouth with his beauty mark. There were smudges around the edges as if Joe had gone back and erased.

“I have spent all our eternity drawing you and I can still not capture all your beauty,” Joe said gazing forlornly at the drawing.

Nicky had half a mind to jump from the bed into Joe’s lap and lecture him on just how well he felt captured. All the ways in which Nicky felt as he has been seen more so by anyone else in the world.

But Joe was smiling his way and Nicky could see that he knew anyway. 

Joe rose from the chair, and sauntered over, all grace and predatory hunger, preening up his shoulders just because he knew Nicky liked to watch. He stood by the bed, still but for how he raised his arm, running the back of his hand up the bare plane of Nicky’s back. 

Nicky twitched with a full-body shiver, those hot loving hands, and the bright pinpricks of coolness from the metal of his rings. He smothered a small gasp into his pillow.

“Oh?” Joe said rumbling and deep in a way that sent heat curling in Nicky’s stomach.

“Yusuf,” he said hand clenched into the sheets. He will not admit how pleading it sounded, he was begging and Joe knew it. “Please.”

“Anything,” Joe breathed, placing a kiss at the base of Nicky’s neck, down to the top of his spine, running his pointer finger with that damn ring down the long exposed plane of his back with every new kiss. It was one Nicky bought him recently, a year or so ago from a silversmith Booker bought necklaces from. It was shaped in the shape of intertwined vines, slim but for the tiger’s eye stamped at the head, a small bauble of gaudiness. Nicky was covered in goosebumps. 

Joe brought a knee up onto the bed so that he leaned half over Nicky, one foot on the floor keeping him steady. He dragged his hand, heavy up Nicky’s back until it reached his neck where Joe squeezed lightly just to hear Nicky moan.

“You shower me in silver and gold, my love. Each ring is more beautiful, more thoughtful than the last,” Joe said with a nip to the ear. He’s brought himself fully onto the bed, one long line of heat up Nicky’s back. “But I think they are more gifts for you hmm?” 

Nicky turned in the cage of Joe’s arms so that he could see him better. He had to look at him. Joe had a hard grasp on his hip, brushing the edge of the ring in a gentle but pointed caress on the inner part of his thigh, just a few scant inches from his cock which was growing harder against his belly.

“They look good on you,” Nicky settled with. Nicky didn’t have to tell him this. Joe looked good and he knew it. Joe looked good in anything really, though Nicky preferred him bare, golden, and rapturous in his bed with nothing but the glint of expensive metal on his fingers.

“You have excellent taste,” Joe said and kissed him hard. With one hand he brought Nicky’s leg hooked over his hip and kept the other, with the ring, tight on Nicky’s jaw holding his mouth open while he licked inside. 

“Fuck, fuck, please” Nicky breathed into Joe’s mouth between kisses, his hands gripped tight in Joe’s hair. He felt as if he was being branded. Joe’s ring on his cheek akin to a cold tear he couldn’t blink away, it lingered, he pushed into it. Joe, of course, noticed.

He leaned away, just enough to bring up his hand to Nicky’s mouth, the ring on his hand like a beacon, a matte-metal reckoning on his finger. Joe didn’t even have to say anything. Nicky leaned forward to nip at the pads of Joe’s fingers, licking up and up and up until he reached the ring. Joe was moaning long and low, pressing his hardness down between Nicky’s thighs.

Nicky took his fingers in his mouth, sucking them, and squeezing his legs together for Joe who had started up a slow, rutting grind.

“Nicolo,” Joe said his mouth latched onto Nicky’s jaw, mouthing endearments into his skin. “You’re so good for me Nicolo. You’re mouth—” Nicky moaned around Joe’s fingers to edge him on. Joe swore, the hand he held on Nicky’s hip drawing Nicky in even closer. There was little finesse in it anymore, he thrust hard into the heat of Nicky’s thighs. Words had escaped them both. Nicky was seeing stars, his jaw thrumming in a desirable ache, his cock leaking pre-come against the hardness of Joe’s stomach.

And Joe, bless him, could tell when he was on the edge and took his fingers out of Nicky’s mouth down to his cock. Joe rubbed the gemmed edge of his ring against the head, smearing over the tip, until Nicky came groaning, his head thrown back against the pillows.

Nicky told himself to breathe, but he could barely see straight. In his haze, he watched Joe as he moved in mindless thrusts before spilling all over Nicky’s thighs and ass, then falling onto Nicky’s chest.

Joe raised his head up once he’d caught his breath, smiling, and leaned in for a kiss. Light and sweet, lacking all the heat of the minutes before but loved by Nicky all the same. 

Without a word, he took his hand and tangled it with Nicky’s. They dozed in the afternoon light, the ring a bright point and a tether. 

[stratuscloudsurfer]

Hunger Games AU

(This is an excerpt from my namelessshipping hunger games AU which I may or may not ever finish. Plot is basically that Red and Blue are tributes in the hunger games from different districts. In this Leaf is the other tribute from District 12 along with Blue and Lyra is the other tribute from District 11 and Red’s little sister. 

Blue is basically the “Katniss Everdeen” of this AU. He’s a skilled archer and has been hunting outside of the fences around district 12 since he was old enough to hold a bow. Leaf is his hunting partner. He’s good at shooting, she’s good at setting traps. They are best friends and work together to feed each other’s families. Blue’s confident and conspiratorial attitude in interviews makes him the face of the resistance against the capitol, and every other tribute’s number one target. 

Red and Lyra are from the agriculture district. Red is strong and muscular from years of working in the fields. Lyra is much slimmer and smaller, but she is known for being able to climb to the tops of the trees in the orchards to pick the fruit there, and also for signalling to the rest of the workers when the workday is over by singing a distinctive tune which all of the Chatot in the woods copy. Red is quiet and goes out of his way to abide by the rules, but would do anything to protect his little sister. 

Red starts falling for Blue the moment they meet each other before the opening ceremony. Because he knows they are doomed to never be together, he denies his feelings and tries to avoid him altogether. He’s in enough danger already, anyway, without being associated with Blue. But when they are drawn together in the arena, he is forced to face them.

The scene below is the Opening Ceremony.) 

“How do I look?” Asked Lyra softly, picking up her shimmery pastel green skirt, which almost exactly matched the color of his suit, with her fingers. She gave him a tentative smile, searching his eyes.

The large, pink flower that rose around her neck almost matched the one attached to his back, peeking out over his shoulders, but not quite. His petals were squared off, while hers were more frilly and rimmed with white. According to his stylist, she was supposed to resemble the pokemon Magenium, and him a Venusaur. He had to admit— he’d done a good job with the design. He’d only ever seen a Venusaur once, when he was a little kid and had gotten lost in the orchards, and had apparently stumbled on the territory of a herd of Bulbasaur and their very angry mother. He didn’t remember much of what happened after his father had intervened, but the image of the giant flower on its back burned in his mind, and the memory was immediately drug from the depths of his brain when he saw himself in the mirror after Burgh was done with him.

He wasn’t sure about how striking the resemblance was of Lyra’s outfit to a Meganium, but he was sure of one thing—“You look great,” he told her, placing a hand on her shoulder like he used to do every first day of school when she looked up at him with that same anxious look in her brown eyes that she did now. He smiled at her, warmly, in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. He felt the tension release from her shoulders as she let out her breath in an airy little giggle.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “You look good, too.”

Well, he would hope so, anyway, what with all the torture he had endured at the hands of Burgh and the rest of his assistants. He had no idea how many products they had used on his hair on his skin, but both still faintly tingled.

He was about to steer her towards their waiting carriage, drawn by two very patient looking Mudsdale, when a voice called out, “Hey!”

Red, startled, turned around to see the boy and girl tributes from District 12. Both were wearing one-piece outfits made from some sort of silky, flowing material, hers red, his nearly a golden shade of orange that matched his hair. The boy, evidently the one that had spoken, raised his hand in a wave, a grin pasted on his lips. Red was baffled by how completely relaxed the pair of them seemed—especially considering what district they came from, and, of course, the fact that they were about to enter a parade to kick off the coordinated massacre that would ultimately result in their deaths.

“Cool outfits,” he continued. “Too bad we’re about to completely upstage you.”

Red felt his eyes narrow and his teeth grind into his jaw. “In that?” He asked incredulously, pointing to their fairly plain outfits, which he now realized resembled pajamas. Other than the dark black eyeliner that rimmed both of their eyes with points so sharp they could cut through someone’s skin and the faint smear of eye shadow above each of their eyes, they were both altogether lackluster.

The girl shook her head in exasperation and stepped forward. “I apologize for my friend,” she said. “We just wanted to introduce ourselves. My name is Leaf, and this is Blue.”

She bravely extended her hand to him. After several seconds of hesitation, Red decided he might as well take it. “Charmed,” he muttered.

“Psst,” Blue interrupted in a stage whisper. “This is the part where you tell us who you are.”

Red’s face scrunched up in annoyance, and he turned a glare his way. He had no intention at all of answering, but Lyra, apparently, did.

“I’m Lyra,” she said. “This is Red.”

Blue’s face suddenly became serious, the smile disappearing. “Hey, um… Are you… related?” He asked. “I thought I remembered you having the same last name.”

“Yeah,” Lyra answered. “He’s my brother.”

Blue’s eyes flashed with some painful emotion, and Leaf winced in sympathy. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, and sounded as if she meant it.

Red’s chest ached with pain, tightened by the look of sorrow on both of their faces. “Well, there’s nothing to be done about it, now.”

“Still,” Blue said, “I wish we lived in a world where things like this couldn’t happen.”

Red opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the arrival of his stylist from behind. Burgh urgently grabbed onto his and Lyra’s shoulders, quickly escorting the two of them to their chariot with a painfully broad smile and a voice that sounded so cheerful it was painful to listen to. Red impulsively glanced back, just in time to see Leaf and Blue much more gently being herded towards theirs, as well.

He resisted the urge to turn back again once he climbed inside the chariot after Lyra, not wanting to show Blue how badly he wanted to respond to his last comment. So he stood stock still inside, facing the opening of the large, dark tunnel that would take them out into the plaza where the opening ceremony would take place and the ten other carts ahead of them. A hush fell over the area, carrying a chill with it. He shivered, realizing suddenly that his heart was pounding in his chest in anticipation and fear. It was Lyra’s warm fingers brushing against his that brought him back to the present moment.

“Red,” she said, “Will you hold my hand?”

Not trusting himself to reply, he nodded, clutching her fingers into his palm as they abruptly jerked into motion.

The Mudsdale trotted slowly until the 10 other districts in front of them gave way, and they found themselves at the mouth of the tunnel leading into a sunset that burned in the sky and the deafening roar of crowds that surrounded them on either side. After that, they picked up speed, and the crowd volume, and they were whisked ahead involuntarily to the bowl-like plaza, which at its center stood a softly smiling President Rose, dressed as usual in his sharp gray tux. He was nearly engulfed by the masses of screaming Capitol residents, all funky hair and gaudy clothing, flashing teeth and grotesque smiles.

These were the people they were trying to win over, Red tried to remind himself. The least he could do was try to look happy to see them. He forced his lips up into a smile that felt painful on his cheeks, and glanced over to Lyra to see that she was doing the same. At the same time, though, she tightened her grip on his fingers, making them tingle with the pain of oncoming numbness.

The already overwhelming volume of the cheers seemed to rise to a dramatically greater height as they continued into the plaza. Red didn’t understand it--until Lyra gasped, her eyes widening in something that looked like wonder.

“Oh my god. Look!” she half-screamed, jabbing a finger at the massive TV screen above the President’s head.

Red’s eyes landed on the screen. Just in time to see Blue and Leaf’s wings unfurl in a flash of brilliant color, hers red, white, and green and his a metallic gold rimmed with silver and deep orange. Sparkles flew away from them, glanced off the silky feathers, and then the ends of them burst into flame, traveling from the bottom to the top before flaring at the tips.

Their costumes hadn’t made much sense to him at first, but now the realization hit. 

Ho-oh. The legendary Phoenix pokemon, the one that had risen from the ashes. It was an astoundingly clever design for the district known for its coal.

For a brief second, Blue’s eyes, which he now realized were a fiery, flickering hazel, met his through the screen, and although he knew he wasn’t actually looking directly at him, he felt a breath hitch in his chest and his heart grind to a stunned halt. His mind couldn’t form a single thought, not one intelligent notion. Because the only word he could think of when he looked at him was breathtaking. The flames that surrounded him bathed him in a sort of ethereal, godly, powerful beauty, one that sent a sense of danger running through him, although he wasn’t exactly sure why.

A slow, confident grin spread over Blue’s lips, and at once he took Leaf’s hand, and together they raised their clasped fingers to the sky as the crowd went wild.

[trickstermiraculous]

Our Past Mistakes Teach Us Lessons On How To Improve In The Future

Summary: Alya regrets what she and the class did when they were still in high school due to Lila's lies. Hopefully, at this reunion they can set things straight again.

Author’s Note: I wanted to take a crack at a reunion fic

Alya had it tough when she graduated high school. She went straight to Uni learning more on journalism but during a lesson on fact-checking, her teacher used her own blog as an example. Alya was still friends with Lila at this point along with most of the class except for Adrien, Chloe (of course), Marinette and Kitty Section so when she had her own work ripped to pieces by her professor, she quickly went to the group chat, demanding answers from Lila and explaining to the rest of the class what just happened to her.

Their friend group dropped Lila quickly and spent the next few months feeling guilty when realizing all the relationships they had ruined thanks to Lila. Marinette was no longer Alya’s friend but even then Alya tried to apologies to her only to find out her number was blocked and Marinette’s parents wouldn’t tell her where she lived now but luckily did agree to pass on her apologies which she never got a response, something she had expected.

Alya and the class didn’t bother with Adrien since they knew that he most likely had Nathalie block them from talking to him in any way. Kitty Section actually answered but it was the sharp response of ‘we are glad you finally came to your senses but we do not forgive you for what you did to Marinette or the rest of us’, it made sense and the class understood that they weren’t going to change their minds.

After Lila had gone from Alya’s life, she focused on getting her credibility back by pulling Lila’s interviews, publicly apologising to the many celebrities that Lila had lied about and focused her attention on going back through her blog making sure that every single one had the evidence to back her up. Some of her best articles had to go since there were no facts to back her up.

Slowly, Alya was getting her credibility back and luckily by the time she graduated her University, she was working at TVi News under Nadja Chamack. Focusing her articles on Akumas and the heroes as that’s where her experience of being a reporter came from and considering the many lies about celebrities she posted on her blog, no one at TVi News wanted to risk her angering more celebrities.

Alya was glad that her life was back in order so that she could come to this reunion head held high. Alya and her husband Nino who was a professional Radio DJ was catching up with Max who was working as an engineer for the government and Kim who was set to be on the French Olympic Swim Team this year when three members Kitty Section walked through the door.

Ivan was wearing a plain black suit with a red tie and two silver studs on the sleeves. Rose was dressed in pastel pink skater dress, black boot heels that had pink ribbons as laces, a silver stud earring paired with a dangling feather earring, a silver ring that had a purple jewel and her hair had now gotten long enough to be put up in a simple low bun. Juleka was dressed in a dark purple halter dress that was floor-length, black heels, the same earrings as Rose but the feather was purple, the same silver ring but had a pink jewel, a lace scarf that was purple and her long hair was plaited.

“Rose, Juleka” exclaimed Alya as the walked closer to her group, “it’s a pleasure to see you again”,

“We could say the same thing Alya” respond Juleka dryly,

“It’s good to see you are all doing well” continued Rose with a more cheerful tone,

“Yeah, I heard Kitty Section was going one tour, right?” question Nino,

“Yep, we going to collab with Jagged on this one” answered Rose.

The conversation confined like this for the next twenty minutes with other classmates joining them, in that time we found out that Rose and Juleka were married to each other and Kitty Section had gone on several tours since graduation. Apparently, their dresses had been made by one of the top designers in the fashion industry, MDC who was a close friend of theirs.

The doors to the hall opened again this time revealing Chloe who looked like a model which was expected of her, being the Mayor’s daughter, she was all about looks. She was dressed in a gold slit dress that had a black honeycomb pattern at the bottom of the dress, a black clutch bag that had a gold lock, a gold bee bracelet and her hair was loose with a small plait at the back.

Next to her was Adrien who still looked like model. He was dressed in a black suit with a dark green tie that had a single paw print at the bottom, dark green shoes, the same silver ring he uses to wear in school and his hair was now spiked side part.

Then the last one of the trio was Marinette who looked like a model and didn’t look a day over 20. She was dressed in a red and black empire waist dress, black tights, red heals, a red-black clutch bag and she had a pixie cut along with the same stud earrings that were from her high school day.

They quietly chatted while making their way over. “Marinette” exclaimed Rose hugging the girl tightly,

“If it isn’t the royal trio” stated Ivan,

“Good to see you again Ivan” laughed Adrien,

“Hello to you all as well,” said Chloe looking people up and down,

“It’s nice to see you again dudes” spoke Nino,

“Yes, it is” continued Alya hoping to break the awkward tension.

“Oh Alya, I got the message you gave my parents” respond Marinette, “I would have responded but work got in the way”,

“Oh it’s alright, I would have understood if you didn’t want to reply” replied Alya rubbing the back of her neck,

“Well ok, then but my response is that I forgive you and I would like us to start on a new leaf, that goes for all of you” stated Marinette with a smile.

That response alone caused most of the class’s jaws to drop and Alix choked on her drink. “You want to…” started Alya but Marinette cut her off, “forgive you, yes as I’m not one to hold a grudge and we were teenagers, teenagers that make mistakes”,

“Don’t mistake Mari forgiveness for allowing you all to treat like you did before that lier, you have to work on this forgiveness” snapped Chloe picking at her nails,

“Chloe” sighed Adrien,

“What it’s true Adrikins” respond Chloe.

The class watched the two bicker like siblings, not noticing someone else arriving. “Marinette, what a surprise! I didn’t expect you to come to the reunion” spoked a girl who Alya recognised as Lila, walking towards the group.

Lila had unfairly aged as she looked like a model and was dressed in a one-shoulder amber dress, beige tights, amber heels, a beige scarf and gold ring with a giant diamond in the middle. Lila had luckily changed her sausage hairstyle to a bob cut but she was wearing too much makeup for an event like this.

“Rossi, I could say the same to you” respond Marinette, the tone in her voice made the room temperature turn ice cold in seconds,

“Well why wouldn’t I come back to the school that gave me so many good memories” replied Lila causing Adrien to growled along with Kitty Section giving her dirty looks,

“Good memories, you mean memories of you ruining this class” snapped Sabrina, the girl had become bolder after Lila’s lies being revealed and had expressed her plans to ruin the women if she ever shows her face around the class again.

“It’s not my fault that you all were to lazy to fact check, I would expect it from a class with a famous reporter and a teenager who built a working AI something most adults struggle to do” stated Lila with a sneer, “by the way how is your career going? Alya”,

“Good actually considering I have a job working for TVi as one of the Akuma reporters” Alya snapped as Nino placed his hand on her shoulder to stop his wife from wringing the lier’s neck.

“How lucky but are you sure it wasn’t from Marinette’s connection with their head reporter?” questioned Lila,

“Rossi, I would like to remind you that just because I didn’t sue you for your previous lies does not mean I wouldn’t do it now” replied Marinette,

“My fiancee doesn’t interfere with anyone’s job opportunities other than a recommendation and considering her and Alya haven’t spoken since graduation, Marinette had no responsibility in the fact she was hired” snapped Adrien clearly done with Lila’s bullshit,

“Oh right, of course, Adrien I didn’t mean to offend” respond Lila backing away from the blond.

“Right” sneered Chloe, “how’s your husband by the way?”

“We’re doing great thanks for asking” answered Lila with a fake smile,

“Really because that’s not what the press has been saying” replied Chloe,

“Well the press lies, I thought you would know that considering what happened with Lady Blog” respond Lila,

“You caused that Lila so quite frankly leave our classmates out of the argument” retorted Chloe, making the class gasp in surprise since Chloe never once showed she cares for the class when they were teens so it was surprising for her to do it now.

“Chloe I hoped you would know better than to argue at the school reunion,” a woman said in that sounded as fake as it did when she taught the class. Time was not kind to Miss Bustier with her greying hair, dark shadows under her eyes and having quite a few wrinkles.

“Buzz off Miss Bustier” snapped Chloe, the women glared at the blonde and looked over at Marinette for help.

“Don’t look at me Miss Bustier, I don’t control Chloe” said Marinette raising an eyebrow,

“I thought you and Chloe would have a better attitude by this point and not attack Lila” respond Miss Bustier clearly not listening to what Marinette had said,

“First, Rossi verbally attacked us first so we were just defending our fellow classmates and second, considering how cutthroat the fashion industry is, we take it seriously when interacting with someone known for their lies” snapped Adrien.

“Fashion industry?” questioned Nino,

“Well yeah, Adrien still works as a model with MDC but also works as a photographer, Chloe does the business side of MDC label and I’m MDC” stated Marinette giving Miss Bustier a sharp look,

“so yes we work in the fashion industry and this is not the first time Lila try to get people we know into trouble since she managed to get quite a few models from the Gabriel brand fired or at least that’s what people say” continued Chloe smirking at Lila who was clenching her teeth in anger.

“Well rumours are rarely ever true” stuttered Miss Bustier,

“If it involves Lila I doubt it” muttered Rose which surprised Miss Bustier,

“Rose-” she was cut off by Sabrina quickly as the girl glared at her old teacher,

“We all research her lies after graduation and none of them was true so I doubt any of us are really going to trust Lila especially with how often she made up rumours about Marinette” the girl snapped,

“Researched?” questioned Miss Bustier,

“Yeah, the thing you and Mr Damocles should have done from the start instead of taking sides of the rich students” replied Adrien,

“I don’t take the sides of students just because their rich” retorted Miss Bustier,

“Chloe who was the daughter of the mayor and Lila daughter of a diplomate, you took there side in every argument they were in and punished the victim which just so happened to be Marinette” Adrien stated with a blank stare.

“I...I…” Miss Bustier trailed off not knowing how to respond,

“Anyway we haven’t come to argue with our past enemies, we came to reconnect,” said Marinette with a smile,

“Good point, who wants to meet up again at a later date,” asked Adrien holding his phone, several members said yes and we began exchanging phone numbers ignoring Miss Bustier who quickly scurried over to the other teachers and Lila who quickly got annoyed with people not paying any attention to her even when she snapped angrily at us. She eventually stomped her foot which caused her heel to brake and luckily Marinette caught her before she hit the floor but Lila shoved her away and stormed out the hall.

We spent the rest of the evening chattering about our jobs and lives like we used to before Lila came even Chloe was acting kind. Eventually, the night came to an end and we all went home but luckily everyone kept their promise of meeting up again.

Soon enough our friendship returned to how it once was and was stronger than before.

Author’s Note: This story was a pain to finish since I wrote most of it on a whim but I wanted to finish it soon as I knew it would bug me to no end if I didn't finish before anything else. Also, I haven't written in a while due to writer's block and me watching the entirety of Katekyo Hitman Reborn in four day which by the way is a really good anime that more people should watch. Hopefully, since this is finished I can write more for my other stories soon.

AO3     Wattpad