#also my cat nodding off to sleep next to me did not help xD

[anattempttostudyharder-blog]

25/7/23 (Day 94)

Studied emergency medicine, urology, palliative care, and pulmonology

Solved flagged questions of the same

// Studied for 7.5 hours. The weather is so gloomy i just want to curl up with a duvet and a good book. I had to have 2 cups of coffee just to keep myself awake during the day.//

[lys-lilac]

[CN] Victor’s Thaw Date (Eng Translation)

🌸Warning🌸  This post contains detailed spoilers for the date that is yet to be released in the global server! 

🌸 My thoughts will be in [ ] brackets.

🌸 Changed some wordings to make it more appropriate while reading.

🌸 Thanking @perhaps-in-anotherdream​ as she helped a lot with the translations and proofreading!

[Date released on 1st November 2021]

MC: So that’s our proposal.

Victor nods, and flips through the documents a few more times, his face showing no expression.

I hold my breath, waiting quietly for his next “judgement”.

Finally, Victor closes the proposal. But he doesn’t speak for a long time, as though weighing on how to open his mouth.

I very rarely see him like this, and can’t help but swallow nervously.

MC: Why don’t I take this proposal back and improve it...

Victor: MC.

We speak practically at the same time. Victor is slightly startled, a smear of smile escaping the corners of his lips.

Victor: Before you came, didn’t you say that you are very confident in this proposal?

MC: But your expression looks so grave... It’s fine, I am ready. Go ahead!

Victor: Well, congratulations. No need to be nervous, there’s nothing wrong with the proposal this time.

Victor: What I want to tell you is something else.

Victor puts the proposal aside, and gestures for me to draw nearer.

Victor: Do you have plans this afternoon?

MC: If this proposal is approved, then nothing else.

MC: What’s wrong?

Victor: I received a call from an elder this morning. He’s temporarily out of the town occupied with something and can’t come back. He entrusted me to feed and bathe the cat at home.

Victor: If you aren’t doing anything, come with me.

MC: So you finally don't doubt the professionalism of this pet specialist?

[Trivia: MC uses a term ‘铲屎官’ which means  pet owner/someone who's in charge of cleaning up, in other words, people who actually have to clean after their pets. It's a Chinese internet slang ^^’]

Victor: I do.

Victor: This time it's just for some special reason, and it’s not convenient for a single person to look after it.

MC: ...Oh, turns out that I was the last resort left.

I pretended to be disappointed and looked away. After a while, I heard Victor's slightly helpless voice.

Victor: If it would have been the last resort, I could have found a professional caretaker.

Victor: But you may get along better with it.

MC: Are you sure?

MC: But whether it’s Pudding or any other kitten, they prefer to be close to you.

I recalled the scene where Victor was surrounded by kittens in the cat cafe, and was a little puzzled about his subtle look at that moment.

Victor: Didn’t I just say, this cat is quite special.

MC: Why is it special?

Victor did not answer my follow-up question, looked down at the watch, and soon forked off the subject.

Victor: It's almost time. Let's go to have lunch first.

Victor: ‘Go early and return early’, otherwise you won't wake up again tomorrow.

MC: I won’t fall asleep till late!

I followed Victor with great spirits, and couldn't stop being curious about the kitten I was about to face.

Who is this noble anyway who can make things difficult for this "walking catnip"? 

[Trivia: The term MC uses here is ‘猫薄荷’, which directly translates to catnip. It refers to someone who can attract a lot of attention or who can seize your attention very easily. In other words... :’)]

“Kacha---”

Accompanied by a soft echo, Victor pushed open the wooden door, as the sunshine pouring down on the garden filled with greenery broke into our field of view.

In the small courtyard, the pink and white flower trees were in full bloom. There was also a summer sleeping mat arranged under a tree, seemingly being prepared for the kitten to cool off in the shade.

MC: What a romantic yard...the kitten must be very happy to live here.

[MC, you seriously recognise every place as a romantic one when you are with Victor, isn’t it? Well, no one can help it XD]

Victor: But when there is no one at home, it can only stay in the house.

MC: Can you bring it to the yard to play later?

[Tha-that teasing smile...]

Victor: I think you want to play, don't you?

I looked at the obvious smile on Victor's face and curled my lips in an unconvinced manner.

Victor: So?

MC: Even if I don't get any renumeration, you should still give me a reward as the honorary.

Victor looked at me sideways, reached out and pinched my face.

Victor: You've learned to speak on conditions.

Victor: As long as the cat listens to you, tease it as you like.

MC: What about you?

Victor: What, you still need an audience to tease the cat?

MC:  Of course not, I'm inviting you with me.

MC: Come on, let's go meet this kitten soon!

Not giving Victor any oppurtunity to refuse, I pulled him along the bluestone road, towards the cottage.

Vines with blue and purple flowers entwined on both the sides of the white door, looking serene and quiet.

But, when Victor opened the closed door, what appeared in front of us was a picture of ‘disaster site--’

~

In the original elegant and cozy living room, cat litter and cat food were scattered on the floor, the cushions on the sofa were crooked, and pieces of shredded paper were lying everywhere.

What was more conspicuous was the black cat hair floating everywhere. Some had even become 'hair balls’, rolling in the corner with the wind brought in by opening the door.

I watched that, standing still.

MC:  Although the cat has not been seen yet, it has a strong sense of existence...

Victor: This cat is not big, and is probably hiding now.

As if in order to respond to his words, a dark shadow flashed in front of our eyes, bringing the carpet lying on the floor to fly up, and then slowly landing.

The "culprit" had wondered long where to hide.

MC: Are we going to find it out now?

Victor: Wait for it to come out by itself.

Victor: No one had been here for a while. Give it some time to adjust.

Saying that, Victor put down the suit jacket, folded the sleeves of the shirt a few times, and then helped me put up the sleeves.

[Sweeet....]

Victor: Let's clean up this place first.

I looked at the mess all over the floor, and couldn't help but sigh.

MC: I now suspect that you are looking for me to work hard.

Hearing my complaint, Victor's mouth curled up slightly.

Victor: What this cat did is nothing compared to the trouble you and Pudding cause at home.

Victor: It's fair to let you experience my mood at that time.

Victor met my speechless expression and rubbed the top of my head with a little amusement.

Victor: All right, let's get to work.

~

The house cleaning came to an end, and I walked back to Victor with light steps.

MC: Is the kitten out?

Victor: Over there.

Following his gaze I looked over, only to be met with a small, round, black head peeking out of the gap behind the sofa, as though surveying the situation outside.

I recalled with joy that after Pudding got into trouble, he either got into Victor's arms or swiftly got into a corner out of reach.

If it was the latter, Victor would often leave it alone, go into the kitchen and pretend to open the refrigerator.

Hearing the sound of the refrigerator door opening, Pudding would slip out by itself in a short time, and then would be ‘cut off’ by me halfway.

[MC’s saying that she would block Pudding’s path, haha.]

Thinking of this, I looked at Victor with confidence.

MC: That's it, let’s just use your best "food seduction method"! What do you think?

As I said, I took a box of canned food from the shelf on the side and prepared to pour it into the kitten’s food bowl.

Victor suddenly held my hand and took the can from my hand.

Victor: According to the usual division of labor, you go catch the cat.

[Trivia: In ‘Countryside Date’, remember how both of them talked about how it's their unspoken rule that if one of them cooks, the other has to do the cleaning? Here it is... T^T]

MC: But this kitten should know you better. I may scare it.

Victor: No, it wouldn't want to see me.

MC: Eh?

The doubts that had been entangled from the beginning started to reappear. I glanced at Victor suspiciously.

MC: Victor doesn’t have a grudge with this kitten, does he?

Victor: Do you think I with fight the cat?

MC: Then you look too fierce and scare the little one?

Victor: ...No.

The air fell into a strange silence, and Victor quickly pulled the can and poured the food into the bowl.

I looked at the slightly stiff movements of him, seemed to understand something in my heart, and the corners of my mouth couldn't help but lift up into a smile.

MC: I thought someone was born with catnip, but didn't expect to hit a wall sometime.

Victor took a look at my playful expression, and reluctantly sighed.

Victor: It happened a long time ago, and it was the first time I dealt with cats.

Victor: The elders think that children can play with pets, so they let me stay at home with him alone before going out.

Victor:  It kept hiding in a really crammed space and looked a little dangerous. So, I moved aside everything nearby.

MC:  So it was hiding, and you moved everything aside?

Victor: Yes.

Victor couldn't help but draw his eyebrows into a frown. I imagined the scene he was fascinating, and controlled myself from laughing.

MC: Maybe it could have felt that you were chasing him...

[Poor man, pfftt...]

Victor:  It kept meowing, so I thought it was calling for help.

MC:  Alas. In a sense, it might indeed be a meow for help.

The more he said, the more I couldn't help it, and finally I laughed. Victor glanced at me before I covered my mouth.

Victor: Is it that funny?

MC: Pfft... It’s generally funny.

Victor: Laugh once more, and be sure to scare it again.

Listening to him say so, I hurriedly stopped my laughing to look at the gap behind the sofa, and was relieved to see that the kitten's furry ears were still there.

Victor pushed the food bowl toward the sofa, and the kitten immediately hid back into the shadows vigilantly, and didn't fiddle with his head for a long time.

MC: Does it seem like it's still not willing to come over?

Victor: Step back a little and leave it a safe distance.

Victor straightened up, and pulled me back slowly by a few steps.

After a while, the kitten poked her head out cautiously. We pretended not to notice it, so it quickly ran to the food bowl to feast on it.

I looked at it feasting with great relish, and my heart softened momentarily, making me remain rooted to the spot.

MC: Looks like it's starving. How about we wait till it finishes eating and then catch it?

Victor: Is this the tacit understanding between you foodies?

MC: Well, you should be glad there's this understanding between us.

Victor: Then you should exchange more experiences. I’ll go outside and pick up the water first.

[What Victor meant was MC and the cat should share more talks, since they have something in common LOL.]

I stuck out my tongue behind Victor's back, squatted down and watch the kitten eat. Before long, the sound of water came from the yard.

The kitten seemed to be startled by the sound, got up and looked straight into the direction of the yard, and in the next second ran towards the sofa.

MC: Hey, don’t go back!

I chased up and picked up the kitten from behind. It meowed reluctantly and struggled hard with its legs.

I was unable to control it. Being left with no better option, I lifted it up and ran into the courtyard.

~

MC: Victor! Come and help!

Victor heard the sound and walked over quickly, wanting to take the kitten. However, when it saw Victor, it seemed to be even more panicked--

‘Pound!’

We chased over and saw the kitten slip in the puddle, completely covered in mud.

MC: ...Is it afraid of taking a bath? How could he kneel when he heard the sound of water?

Victor: Even if it's afraid, it must be washed now.

Victor leaned down, grabbed the nape of its neck and lifted it up.

Victor: This is the end of your chasing game.

I was worried that the kitten would struggle, but I didn’t expect it to be afraid to such an extent to not even move a bit in Victor’s hands, just like a child after being caught doing bad things.

The picture in front of me was inexplicably humorous. I walked over and tapped the kitten’s head with my fingers.

MC: Sure enough, you still can’t escape the palm of the ‘big devil’ right?

MC: But don’t worry, this ‘Mr. Devil’ won’t hurt you!

Hearing what I meant, Victor did what I did just now, raising his hand and tapping on my forehead with his fingers.

Victor: Childish.

~

Victor held the kitten in his palm, and tried to put it in the water for the third time.

However, the kitten still refused to cooperate, and even forgetting that the person in front of him is the ‘devil’ he was afraid of, clings to his hand.

Victor sighed and opened one of the kitten’s paws with his hand.

Victor: *sighing* Come down.

The kitten clung to him and pampered with him reluctantly, expressing the words ‘ I don’t want to take a bath’ to the extreme.

MC: Haha... If you let it go now, it will definitely ‘freeze the previous suspicion’ of you.

Victor took a look at me and stuffed a soft brush in my hand.

Victor: As long as it is smart, it will know that this is for its good.

Victor: Now you feel pity, but what will you do if it catches a cold and gets sick?

I watched Victor helplessly, carefully grabbed the kitten’s foot, smiled and stretched out a hand to help him.

MC: Sorry kitty, I think the pet specialist is right.

MC: So I am going to play ‘the good cop’!

[The idiom MC uses here, ‘ 唱红脸’ directly translates to ‘playing the good cop’, i.e. to take right decisions, which was cleaning the kitten in this case!]

I coaxed the kitten out of his arm and gently put it into the warm water.

Victor gently held its back of the neck with one hand, and grabbed its two front paws with the other. Taking advantage of current immobility, I quickly started to clean it.

MC: The left hand is washed, good.

Kitten: Meow!

MC: The right hand is well washed, now we can move on to the next step!

[I am sorry my medical mind constantly kept telling me that we are diagnosing this little kitten, aww.]

I shook hands with the kitten, lifted up my head, only to be met with the hesitant eyes of Victor.

Victor: You can entertain yourself bathing a cat?

MC: I just wanted to relax a bit.

Victor: Forget it, I shouldn’t have expected you to ‘play good cop’.

Victor sighed and put the kitten back into the water.

As I watch his proficient, gentle and patient cleaning, I can’t help but continuously think... If only this kitten had met the Victor of now back then....

It'd must have liked him very much.

Victor: Hold it down for me.

MC: ...Got it!

I came back to my senses and held the eager kitten with both hands.

MC: I feel that it becomes much more honest as soon as it gets into your hands.

Victor: It may also be that it is still looking for a chance to escape.

MC: Are you sure? But take a look at-- ah!

Before the words were finished, the cat who was still being praised, suddenly flopped and slipped out of my hand.

The water spray flew up with the cat's movements, catching me off guard, and I fell into the ground with a loud thud.

Victor: MC!

Everything happened too fast. Victor looked back at me, still holding the soft brush in his hand, his expression being a rare one.

His body was almost drenched, the line of his back faintly revealed by the shirt half-attached to his upper body. He didn't care about wiping, and immediately reached out for me.

Victor: You okay?

[The amount of softness his voice has while saying this line T-T]

MC: I am alright, although I didn’t expect it to be so strong...

MC:  But you're right, it was just trying to get away!

I fished back the cat. Victor lifted me up once again and set us down on a wooden bench, both of us dripping wet.

Victor: I think by the time the cat is cleaned up, you would be covered in mud again.

Victor: There is no water basin that can hold you here. It depends on what you will do when the time comes.

Victor took the kitten away and continued to clean it. With a guilty conscience, I patted the petals and grass off my body, and cooperated him to quickly wash the kitten.

~

The chaotic cleaning was finally over, and we sat side by side in the door of the house, covered with towels.

I held the kitten, and Victor held the hair dryer to dry it.

I looked at the person by my side and the kitten finally getting along, and couldn’t help but lift the corners of my mouth.

MC: Victor, let me dry the kitten. Do you want to hold it?

Victor: No, I don’t want to see it run into the mud again.

MC: No, you see how well behaved it is now!

As I said, I placed the kitten in his arm and took the hair dryer from him.

The kitten meowed twice, and didn’t seem to be unsentimental. Victor adjusted his posture unnaturally, and gently strached his chin.

The kitten raised its head cooperatively, and stepped on his hand to let out a comfortable cry.

MC: Sure enough, no kitten can refuse your care.

I leaned forward and dried its hair. Maybe it was too comfortable, it yawned, lowered its head and seemed to want to sleep in Victor’s arms.

I was feeling a little embarassed, when Victor brought a funny cat stick out of nowehere and led the kitten back into the house.

Soon he came out empty handed, took the hair dryer from my hands, and took me by the arm to help me dry off the damp clothes.

MC: Victor, is the kitten asleep?

Victor: Hmm. After tossing about all day long, it should be asleep for a while.

He continued with my words absolutely naturally, while his hand didn’t halt in its movement either, as though helping me in blowdrying my clothes was a very regular activity.

The force of the wind spreading was not too much, and it slightly tickled my body. I froze unnaturally, and wanted to withdraw my hand.

Victor: Don’t move, it hasn’t dried yet.

MC: *blushing* I’ll just do it myself, so you go take a break first!

Victor: It’s just a handy thing to do, and not troublesome.

MC: But your own clothes are still wet.

Victor: Unlike a certain someone, I don’t catch a cold just in a moment of inattentiveness.

Although there was a familiar grudge in his tone, but Victor’s movements were still very attentive.

He lowered his head slightly, the contours of his chiseled jawline being inlaid with the warm gold of the setting sun. 

His body obscured the dazzling afterglow, and the light and temperature landing on me were just right.

I seemed to have been already taken care of by him like this many times, repeatedly. A string in my heart snapped, and let me speak the words deep in me.

MC: Victor, you know... I often can't imagine you being at a loss of knowing what to do.

MC: If it weren’t for you teaching me, I would have to think that being able to take care of someone is also some kind of gift.

Victor: How many good things like that fall directly from the sky? Many things have to be learnt later in life.

MC: But I haven’t seen how you have studied me so much.

Victor checked my clothes one last time, and then turned off the hair dryer.

Victor: You are not a pet. Even though you live in a sloppy way, you are still capable of taking care of yourself.

Victor: It’s just that... since someone loves to giggle, I just want to see her giggling face more often.

Victor: As for adding the flowers to the brocade, I simply follow my instincts.

After Victor finished speaking, the corners of his lips hook up into a smile. As I looked at him while resting my head in my hand, I broke into a smile along with him as well.

MC: CEO Victor truly doesn’t give away any of his know-hows.

Victor: How many more know-hows do you want to know?

Victor: The person I want to take care of is a dummy, who is easily satisfied. That’s already a shortcut.

The evening breeze blew the blooming flowers overhead, leaving the rustling of falling flowers between us.

The flowering season was almost over. But I didn’t need any reasons to believe that the coming mid-summer would be just as tender.

~

[T/N: I seriously felt like peeking into a newly-wed couple’s life >.]

[captain039]

Secrets of mutation PART 3

Logan(wolverine) x reader

Warnings: Age gap, student/teacher, AOB, trauma, swearing, sexual, intimate, a little forceful, heats, smut

Xmen X new mutants

AOB will be referred to second gender xD

Previous chapter

Living with memories seemed strange, knowing who you were, remembering your parents and their death. Your mutation to shape shift like Rahne only another species. You could half shift also, claws and fangs, just not as much body hair as Rahne. You could see in the dark too in human form, your nose was quite strong as was your hearing of you laid attention.

What you couldn’t get out your head though was your parents, those strange men in all black and the memory of someone saying they overdosed you. Dr Reyes knew all this, she had it all on file, never once told you or gave any hint into it. It made you angry, made you want to make her suffer but she was long gone now.

You hated training, hated physical training for that matter. You watched everybody get their ass kicked and kick ass while you hid in the corner.

“Hey” you jumped when Scott called you.

“Mat three now” he said and you sighed going over there.

You looked to the guy and sighed.

“Come on” he grinned.

“I’m- I’m not hitting you” you huffed.

“How are you gonna learn if your not gonna do it?” He asked stepping closer.

“I-“ you sighed.

“Fine” you threw a lazy punch to his arm and he raised an eyebrow.

“Really?” He questioned and you nodded.

“You we’re holding your fist wrong” he said and you sighed.

“I don’t fight” you said.

“You’re a cat” he said.

“A lazy cat” you corrected.

“I like sleep, food and warm beds with-“ you yelped when your feet were taken out from under you. You landed on your back with a groan even though the mat cushioned it.

“Fuck you” you grumbled staying on the ground.

��Come on where’s the feisty kitty cat” he taunted looking over you. You glared not even knowing who this guy was.

“New kid ain’t got balls” he chuckled as people began to look. You felt yourself wanting to shrink as he taunted and went cocky. You growled though claws and fangs out as you grabbed his legs and held you claws to his throat.

“Woah- hey!” You jumped when Logan came over. The boy under you was scared, you could smell his blood also and frowned when you saw scratches on his legs.

“No powers!” Scott scolded.

“Shut up” Logan said kneeling by you.

“I know you wanna claw his throat out but don’t” he said softly and you sighed getting off him. You walked out of the gym and huffed as Logan followed.

“What happened in there?” He asked and you turned to glare.

“Kid” he sighed as you waited for him to catch up.

“I don’t fight” you said.

“Seems like you do” he said.

“He was an asshole” you mumbled crossing your arms.

“I agree but, you did scratch both his legs” he reminded and you sighed.

“Well then maybe I’ll fight you and scratch you to death” you were annoyed, you didn’t want to fight.

“You won’t kill me” he said a slight smirk on his lips.

“You know what I mean” you sighed going to the elevator.

“No come on” he called you and you huffed again.

“You train with me, at least if you scratch I’ll heal” he called and you sighed trudging back to him.

Back in the room you sighed at the looks, the kid was already gone though his blood lingered.

“I don’t fight” you said once again as you stood on the match.

“Humour me” he said and you sighed holding your fists up.

“You’re gonna break your fist if you punch like that” he shook his head walking over to fix it. You stared at him while he did it, his touch less rough than you though and warm.

“Punch my hands” he said as he held them up and you sighed punching them lightly.

“You just took a man down and your punching like this?” He questioned and you sighed.

“I told you-“ he stopped you.

“You don’t like fighting” he finished. You sighed sitting on the ground with your legs crossed.

“I’m only dangerous when I’m a cat” you said as he sat in front of you.

“Even then I’m not, I’m just quick” you shrugged.

“Half shift” he said and you frowned.

“I’ll scratch you-“ you said huffing as he stood.

“I don’t care” you stood and sighed half shifting. The sounds around you became amplified and you twitched at any light noise, your knuckles cracked as you stared at Logan.

“Try and take me down” he said and you made a small hiss noise. Your mind was always half and half, sometimes the feline took control other times it laid dormant.

You tried fighting him, you ended up on your back with him pinning you down easily. You changed back sighing as you let your hands fall to the side.

“Did I scratch you?” you asked and he shook his head. You nodded when a cramp went through your stomach. You froze remembering what it meant. At the program you were always forced to drink some disgusting medicine that kept that nature at bay, but now you haven’t been weaned off it’ll probably hit harder.

“Get off me” you mumbled and he frowned looking to you. You were shaking under his hold and he let go of you, sitting back on his knees. You made a small noise and his nose flared slightly. Others were looking to catching your scent as you whined softly. You stood as quickly as you could stumbling in the process.

“Kid” Logan held you steady and you sighed leaning into him.

“Ah hell” he muttered.

“Come on” he said rather softly to you as he helped you outside the door.

“You should control yourself cat!” Someone called and Logan turned.

“You better control that tongue before you lose it” he snapped before urging you into the elevator.

“I’m sorry” you said in pain as you held your stomach.

“It’s fine kid” he said though it clearly wasn’t fine.

“I can’t go to my room I have a roommate!” You said panicked as the elevator dinged.

“Fuck!” He growled leading you down the opposite end and into a room. He closed the door and you sighed as you laid on the bed before it hit you. His scent hit you and you looked to him. He was scratching his head back turned to you as he sighed.

“Logan” you mumbled.

“Yeah, I know” he growled pacing as a knock came.

“Logan” the Professor called.

“What?!” Logan snapped opening the door.

“Sorry Charles” he muttered going to the other end of the room.

“I’m sorry” you said crying softly.

“It’s alright, you��ve been on some form of suppressant at the facility, we have some here for those who want it, we just needed your body to wear off the other ones I’m afraid” Charles explained and you nodded. Usually mixing two suppressants ended badly, usually in intense heat.

“I know you’ve got a roommate at the moment, I’ll organise a room for you ok?” He added and you nodded.

“Logan?” Charles called and the man practically snarled.

“Come with me and I’ll have Jean come help here” Logan followed Charles out with tense shoulders. The door closed and you sighed hugging his pillow.

Over the last couple of weeks you’ve been sceptical of the man, an attraction to him. He was handsome and an unmated alpha, but he’d probably been with many women, probably had one now, he flirted with Jean a lot though she was with Scott. You knew you two had a large age gap, probably double seeing as he didn’t age like normal. But when you did fight with him or he taught history you were focused on him, his scent. It was stronger thanks to your cat senses, you tried not too, he was just intriguing to you. He always snapped back at anyone that gave you crap too, stood up for you even if you didn’t need it. He was almost protective of you maybe. Now though as you laid there you wanted him back here, holding you, maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much than. You pulled the covers over you and curled up in a ball as you inhaled his scent. It was strong on his bed thankfully, it took a little off the edge.

“Y/n” you grumbled when someone called you.

“We’ve got your room ready” it was Jean. You froze though gripping the pillow between your arms as you began to panic a little. She came over and you looked to her begging.

“I-“ she obviously could read your mind as she stuttered.

“Jean” another voice came and you looked to the door seeing Logan. She walked to him and they muttered by the door while you sighed.

“She’s a student” Jean said and Logan sighed.

“Logan” you mumbled and their talking stopped.

You heard footsteps and frowned before Logan knelt by the bed.

“Kid you gotta go into your own room” he said softly.

“I’m not a kid” you glared rolling over. You heard him sigh as he moved to the other side of the bed and knelt.

“I’m old enough to be your grandfather, you need someone your age ok?” You glared again and he pinched the top of his nose.

“Look you can take my pillow, just, we gotta get you into your own room” you still glared but sat up clutching his pillow. You followed him to the assigned room you got, further down the hall. You looked to the fresh bed and sighed lying on it, your back to Logan and the door. You were shaking slightly as you held onto his pillow. Tears were in your eyes, he was right but right now it just hurt. The door closed and you closed your eyes curling up on the cold bed.

Next chapter ->

[queenxxxsupreme]

Hi Love!

Can I ask for Lambert having soft spot on reader and actually taking care of her but still being asshole around her? And Eskel developing feelings for her, but feeling really bitter about her relation with Lambert. And one day wolves were drinking together and Lambert blurted out that reader may be interested in Eskel because she often talks about him and stares at him from afar.

A/N: This might have turned into a two part-er but I’m not sure, it just depends on how everyone likes/doesn’t like this, but anywho I did change this a bit because I wanted to keep Eskel’s feelings/reactions in character but I hope you like this! Also, I really enjoy making Lambert the reader’s wing man xD

***

You hummed softly as you brushed Scorpion’s coat. You had busied yourself all afternoon with tending to the animals in the stable at Kaer Morhen, wanting to help Eskel out and take some of the responsibility off of him. He was usually the one to tend to the animals after all. He claimed the goats- Lil Bleater especially -and he seemed to have an affinity for the few hens kept in the stable as well as the horses. Even Roach, who rarely let anyone aside from Geralt touch her, preferred Eskel’s company. 

“Hope you’re gonna brush out mine next.” Lambert spoke as he moved into the stable atop Champion, his horse. “Wouldn’t want ole Champ feeling left out, would you?”

“You can brush him while I finish up Scorpion’s mane.” 

“That’s not fair. You’re picking favorites.” He climbed down from Champion. He guided the horse down to the stable on the very end, peeking into Roach’s stable. “Roach didn’t even get brushed down!” 

“That’s because Roach is very picky about who brushes her. If Geralt was here, she’d be okay with me brushing her. But since he isn’t around, she wants nothing to do with me.” You glanced over to Roach’s stall. The mare was peering out of her stall, eyeing you. “She’s only giving me attention now because she knows I have carrot pieces in my pockets.”

“I swear, Geralt keeps picking meaner and meaner horses every time.” Lambert sighed, shaking his head. He approached you, holding his hand out. “Gimme one of those pieces of carrots for Champ.”

“Brush him down.” You said as you placed the chunk of carrot into the witcher’s palm. 

Lambert rolled his eyes. He moved back to Champ, patting the horse’s shoulder. 

“Sorry, boy. Guess it doesn’t surprise me Y/N doesn’t like you much.”

“Lambert.” 

“Her favorite is Scorpion. Big surprise, I know.” He muttered, unbuckling the saddle. 

“I don’t pick favorites!” You exclaimed, placing the brush and picked a different one up for Scorpion’s mane. 

“Sure you do! Why else would you spend all day out here in the stables of all places tending to a bunch of stinking animals and brushing down one horse?”

You glared at Lambert out of the corner of your eye. 

“Don’t worry, pipsqueak. Your secret is safe with me.” Lambert put the saddle over a couple bales of hay and turned to face you, a sly grin coming to his lips. “But oh, the stories these horses could tell if they talked.”

“Shut up, Lambert.”

“All the conversations we’ve had around them.” He snickered, pulling off the saddle blanket and throwing it over the wall to Champion’s stall. Lambert paused to think about the different conversations. He scrunched his nose up. “Like a couple of teenage girls.”

“Lambert!” You groaned.

“I’m just teasing you, kid.” Lamberet chuckled. He picked up the brush you had put down and began to brush off Champion.

“You’re a dick.”

“That’s why you love me.” 

The doors to the stable opened and in walked Eskel. 

“Look what the cat dragged in.” Lambert said. 

“Lambert. Y/N.”

You gave the dark haired witcher a timid smile, nodding your head once in acknowledgement. 

“Y/N here’s spent nearly all day in here with your mangy animals, Eskel.” Lambert told him. 

“They aren’t mangy.” Eskel sighed, moving towards Scorpion. The horse perked his ears up upon seeing Eskel. “Thank you, Y/N. I appreciate it. You’ve saved me quite a bit of work.”

“It was nothing, Eskel.” You shook your head with a smile. “I was already in here brushing my own horse down. Figured I’d help out.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“It was no bother.”

Eskel nodded, a little smile tugging at the scarred corner of his lips. 

“Thank you again.”

You meant to do the polite thing and say you’re welcome or no problem, but all you found yourself doing was smiling stupidly at him and somewhat nodding your head. 

Lambert let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. No wonder you hadn’t gotten anywhere with Eskel. 

“Come on, Y/N.”

You turned your head to watch the young wolf leave the stable. You excused yourself from Eskel and slipped out, following Lambert towards the keep. 

“That was fucking painful.”

“Wh-What was?” You looked over at him, brows furrowed together. 

“That back there. Were you not there? Did you not feel the awkward tension in the air? You stood there like an idiot.”

Your stomach twisted up into knots. You crossed your arms and diverted your gaze to the ground as you walked. 

“M’only telling you this ‘cause I don’t want you to make yourself look like a fool again. Especially not around someone you…. someone you’re interested in.” Lambert pushed the heavy door to the keep open with his shoulder. 

“I-I didn’t think you’d be wanting us to….” You trailed off, following behind him. “He’s your brother.”

“Don’t make this any weirder than it has to be, pipsqueak.”

You put your hand on Lambert’s arm, making him stop. 

“Thank you, Lambert. For everything. For helping me and for-for not letting me make too much of an idiot out of myself.”

He looked down at you, a little grin creeping on to his lips. 

“Don’t worry, kid. You manage to do that by yourself just fine.” He patted your arm. “Come on. I need your help in the kitchen getting dinner ready.”

***

Dinner had long since been over. You went to bed some time ago, favoring a good book underneath a warm blanket rather than staying up and drinking with the wolves. 

The three brothers sat around the dinner table drinking and making conversation. Well, Geralt and Lambert were making conversation. Eskel was too busy gazing at his tankard to join his brothers. 

“You’re being awfully quiet.” Lambert commented, glancing over to Eskel. 

“Just tired.”

“Sure, buddy.” The young wolf rolled his eyes. “You’ve been staring at your drink all night like it might get up and walk away.”

Eskel shifted in his seat, shrugging his broad shoulders. 

“Been thinking, I guess.”

“About what?”

Eskel said nothing.

“What’s he thinking about, Geralt?”

“Why are you asking me?” Geralt swirled the liquor in the bottom of his mug around. 

“‘Cause you can practically read his mind. You two have some sort of weird twin power thing going on.”

“Except we aren’t twins.” Eskel pointed out.

“Right, which makes it even more weird and freakish. So come on. You wanna talk about what’s bothering you or do you want a distraction? I’ve got a good idea for a distraction.”

“About Y/N.” Geralt hiccuped. Lambert furrowed his brow. Eskel stiffened up, sending the White Wolf a glare. “It’s just Lambert, Eskel.”

“What about Y/N?” Lambert asked, slumping his shoulders a little. Were his brothers not as fond of his guest as he thought? It was your first winter at Kaer Morhen so there were bound to be some rocky moments, but he thought you were getting along with everyone just fine. 

“Nothing, Lambert.” Eskel shook his head. He didn’t want to start any sort of conflict, especially so early on in the winter. It would be literal hell to have to go the entire winter fighting with Lambert. 

“Was there a problem with her brushing down the goats and your horse this morning? If there was, I can talk to her about it. I don’t want her stepping on anyone’s toes. I didn’t think it was a big deal but if it was then that was my bad, brother.”

“No, it’s not that.” Eskel shook his head. 

Lambert nodded, dropping his eyes to his drink. 

“Huh.” He thought out loud. If it wasn’t about what you had done earlier that morning, then why were you on his mind? “You know she likes you right?”

Eskel’s head shot up, yellow eyes immediately finding his little brother’s.

“What?”

Lambert thought about what had just happened, the reality of what he had just said setting in. He cursed and rubbed his eyes, pushing his mug of liquor away from himself before he could do anything else that was stupid. 

“Cat’s outta the bad now I guess.” He sighed. “Uh, yeah. She’s, uh, liked you for a bit.”

“Since when?”

“I don’t know. She’s talked about you from time to time since she met you in Cintra last year.”

A little smile tugged at the corners of Eskel’s lips. Beside him, Geralt wore a smug grin. 

“I told you.” The white haired witcher nudged Eskel with his elbow. 

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Lambert told me when he and Y/N first arrived.”

“So you both have known for the last three weeks and you haven’t said anything about it?” Eskel looked between his brothers.

“We wanted to see if you two could work it out yourselves.” Geralt explained. 

“But watching you interact is fucking painful.” Lambert leaned back in his seat, rubbing his face with his hands. “Like a fucking kick to the balls, I swear. Eskel, I thought you had more charm to you than that, brother! I’ve seen you win over plenty of ladies in taverns. Why is Y/n any different than them?”

Eskel held Lambert’s gaze for a few moments before looking back to his tankard. He brushed his thumb over the wood. 

“I…. I thought you and her…. I just assumed that with the way you two always interacted….” Eskel trailed off.

Lambert dry heaved, putting his hand on his chest. 

“Me and Y/N? Oh gods, I’m going to be sick.”

“It wasn’t very far off to think that, Lambert. I mean, I’ve seen her leave your room late at night on more than one occasion and even early in the mornings.” Eskel’s tone became a little more hostile as he spoke. The topic made him upset. He didn’t like to talk about it. 

“Eskel, you’ve got it all wrong.” Lambert shook his head. “Y/N sometimes…. sometimes she has trouble sleeping, so she just comes to my room so I can keep her company. She knows I don’t sleep either and she likes to be an annoying little pain in my ass. But that’s all she is. She’s…. She’s like a sister to me, Eskel. That’s all our relationship is.”

Eskel said nothing for a while. 

“You’re sure she likes me?” He asked quietly. 

“I’d never lie to you about that, brother.”

Taglist: @pressedinthepages @mishafaye @whitewolfandthefox @wolfyland07 @belalugosisdead @persephonehemingway @keira-hulmaster @dinonuggs69 @greatestauthorofmygeneration @shadow-hunters-lover @dancingwith-thesunflowers @tedi-fach-las @thecomfortofoldstorries @raspberrydreamclouds @natkowaa @disasteren @weathervanes-my-oneandlonely @onlyhenrys @wackylurker @criminaly-supernatural @magpie343 @permanently-exhausted-witcher @hina-chans-stuff @the-space-between-heartbeats @havenoffandoms @carriebee1 @ger-bearofrivia @naominami @writingawaymylife @reaganjenelle @theawkwardpedestrian @scarlettwitcher @badassspaceprincess @just-a-sad-donut @summersong69 @an--actual--human--disaster @rubyqueen819 @omgkatinka @c-a-v-a-l-r-y @vonxcon @mazakeen @bravelittlesunflower @thereagles @awkward-turtles-world @menalliha @cotton_mo @maan24 @thefirelordm @monkeymo @krenee1drful @nympha-door-a @unadulteratedtreecrusade @Aquarius-pisces-rose @mentallyscreamingsincebirth @fl0ating @sometimesiwrite @you-fxcking-wish-bish @thanks-bruh-for-nothing @maan2442 @thegaydeath @creatingstuffinpeace @wellthisstinks @andyrazzledazzle @ameliasmistake @winterwolf @caraqas @bluscryn @thefirelordm @y-napotat @henrycavillbesty

[whumpmatsus]

tw // noises , loud noises : osomatsu afraid of an emergency alert system test

I went ahead and made it an actual emergency alert, because rainy days and Mondays and whatnot-

also it's worth noting I did look up Japan's emergency alert system, but I have no idea how J-Alert actually functions, I've just kind of assumed it's similar to the system that's in place where I live XD

Osomatsu, you've got some top-notch little brothers there!!

it's technically Allmatsu but like... big Sokudomatsu vibes tho :D

-

All things considered, a few days of bad weather keeping all the sextuplets cooped up in the house pretty much guarantees that they’re all going to be on edge.

They’re occasionally two seconds away from being at each other’s throats anyway, with all the challenges of being a big family in a small house. When the skies darken and open up with rain, though, it all becomes that much worse.

It means Ichimatsu can’t venture out to feed the stray cats, because being out in the cold rain for so long will probably lead to him getting sick. The comfort and stress relief that Karamatsu finds in playing guitar on the roof is vanished into thin air. Everyone has to keep Jyushimatsu from going outside since he’s half determined to play baseball even when it’s pouring. Choromatsu can’t hit the streets in search of a job or anything; too much chance of getting caught in a torrential downpour far from home. That’s also the reason Totty can’t make any plans with his friends, and counts his blessings that he doesn’t have any work shifts during these days.

All things being equal, Osomatsu is almost certainly the most laidback of their little group. Big brother tries his best to find solutions to keep all of them distracted, such as playing games or helping everyone settle on what TV show they should watch. Even though there are other places he’d rather be right now ― like the races or pachinko or maybe somewhere trying to pick up girls ― he can acknowledge that it’s kind of nice to spend time with his brothers when they can’t go outside.

The rain’s been coming down steadily today, a constant pattering that’s rhythmic and borderline soothing. It’s already put Ichimatsu and Totty to sleep, the two of them curled up under a blanket together. Before they fell asleep, Totty said something about the storm being “free ASMR”, whatever that means, and Ichimatsu mumbled an agreement as they cuddled in against each other.

To be completely honest, the energy in the house in general is pretty low. That might be best for a stormy day. Everyone can chill out and recharge their energy.

For the most part, Osomatsu is playing at being as responsible as he can handle today; gathering snacks, making tea, keeping kerosene in the heater so nobody gets too cold. Now that Totty and Ichimatsu are down for the count, everyone else is starting to get sleepy. Which, of course, means it’s time for a collective nap.

He takes a look around the room as he settles in on the couch himself. There’s Ichimatsu and Totty under their single blanket, seeming to be getting along just fine to share it. Choromatsu and Karamatsu are nuzzled against each other with their legs under the kotatsu, with Choromatsu’s head resting on Karamatsu’s shoulder and Karamatsu’s head resting on top of Choromatsu’s. And Jyushimatsu is… huddled up in a few blankets near the couch. For all intents and purposes, sleep has apparently claimed him, too.

Well, that’s good. Now that he’s made sure all his little brothers are comfortable, Osomatsu can doze off himself.

There’s a leftover blanket folded up at the end of the couch, so he pulls it up around himself and lies down with his head propped against one of the arms of the couch. He’d certainly like to be nestled up with one of the others, but he’s not gonna disturb them for that. They’re all in their own pairs, save for Jyushimatsu, and he’s not going to make the second youngest clamber up onto the couch just because Osomatsu wants some physical contact.

Besides, he can get that later if he wants. It’s going to be chilly and dreary all day, so more snuggles are inevitable. If he gets lucky, everyone will gravitate to one big cuddle puddle after dinner.

So he does his best to relax on the couch. He closes his eyes and tries to slow his breathing down a bit. The rain continues to pound in sheets against the window, and in heavy drops against the roof. There’s the soft rumbling of thunder that’s begun in the background, so low and powerful he can feel it. Somehow, it’s a comfort, something that whispers to him that he can go to sleep now.

Surrounded by his brothers and the lullaby of the storm outside, it’s easy to drift off.

Osomatsu is nearly sunk down into the beginnings of a deep sleep when suddenly, a blaring alarm goes off. And it’s not just one ― it sounds like several firing off in perfect, irritating harmony.

He can’t explain why he has the reaction he does. All he knows is that the abrupt, loud, obnoxious noise cuts through everything else and seems to hit the panic button in his head. A terrified yell rips itself from his throat, and he’s bolt upright. Then he’s on the floor, rolled onto Jyushimatsu and waking his younger brother up.

“HOLY MOLY!” And as soon as Jyushimatsu shouts, it’s enough to wake everyone else up. How anybody could sleep through that siren is beyond Osomatsu, though he’s pretty sure if anyone could, Jyushimatsu could. “Osomatsu-nii-san! You’re on top of me! What the heck is that?! Are we late for school???”

Totty groans as he’s woken up in the rudest way possible. “We’re too old for school, Jyushimatsu-nii-san. We’re adults.” He pulls his phone out, and his other hand reaches to pat Ichimatsu on the head. “Aaahnnmmm… it’s a weather alert.”

“Severe thunderstorm warning,” Choromatsu groans, having turned to glance at the TV. “Looks like it’s only gonna last till like 7 P.M., though.”

Karamatsu yawns and rubs at his eyes. “Should we get supplies together in case the power goes out?”

“The rest of you dumbasses can do that,” Ichimatsu huffs. “I’m not moving. As soon as the alerts stop making that shitty noise, I’m going back to sleep.”

“Well, I guess it falls to the three oldest, then.” Choromatsu stretches, giving a quiet, “Oof” when something in his back pops. “Osomatsu, do you wanna come help us… uh… Osomatsu?”

Strangely enough, the eldest brother is still incapacitated from the unexpected sounds, curled into a ball with his hands pressed over his ears. There might even be tears in his eyes, if one’s looking close enough.

Jyushimatsu runs a gentle hand, (or sleeve, as it were), over his big brother’s head, seeing as he’s the closest one. “I think something’s wrong with Osomatsu-nii-san. He’s all shivery and breathing funny.”

That’s really all it takes for Choromatsu to be over lightning-fast, knelt down next to the eldest. “Osomatsu? Osomatsu-nii-san, are you okay?” He frowns and tentatively tugs one of Osomatsu’s hands away from his ear. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

“Th… the noise…” His hand is trembling in his younger brother’s grip, tears welling up in his eyes. It still feels like his heart is trying to hammer its way out of his chest completely. He can’t really get a good breath in.

Choromatsu’s brow furrows and he looks back toward the TV, which Karamatsu scrambles to turn off in case it’s the prolonged sound causing the problem. “Did you… ahah… it startled you, right? I think it startled all of us…”

Ichimatsu pushes himself up a bit so he can turn his attention to his older brothers. “Looks like it did more than startle him. He’s about to jump out of his skin.”

“Ah…” Choromatsu quickly gathers Osomatsu into his arms, and is surprised with the fervor with which the eldest clings to him. It reminds them both of… being kids. “H-hey, Osomatsu-nii-san… it’s okay, it’s okay. It’s over now. Can you, um, try to follow my pattern of breathing here? That might help you calm down.”

Osomatsu nods and does his best, mirroring the way Choromatsu inhales for four seconds, holds the breath for seven, and exhales for eight. It takes several cycles, a few minutes’ worth of this, before he can feel himself starting to be a little less shaky. His heart is still pounding, but not as fast as it was a moment ago.

Choromatsu holds him carefully, rubbing Osomatsu’s back, until he can feel the tension beginning to fade from his brother’s muscles. That was… weird. It’s not like Osomatsu to get so anxious, especially not to the point that he’s crying. “There… is it better now?”

“Y… yeah…” Osomatsu raises a hand in an attempt to scrub the tears away. Man… how embarrassing. He’s the oldest and he’s over here acting like a baby because of a stupid weather alert. “Sorry… I, uh, don’t know where that came from, haha.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.” Neither of them make any move to get out of the position for a minute, then Choromatsu gradually pulls away once he can’t hear his older brother’s heart beating like a gong. “You… good?”

“Yeah… yeah, I think so.”

Ichimatsu stretches his arms above his head. “Damn. I guess we’re all awake. I hate those alert things… remember that one night when we were kids, and it came on just as we were getting ready for bed?”

Totty laughs, rolling over and propping his face up against one arm. “Yeah, I remember Choromatsu told me they were warning us a big storm was gonna come and wash all the baby brothers out to sea.”

“A-ah…” Choromatsu’s face goes red in an instant. He was such a little bastard as a child. “I’m sorry about that, Totty!”

He waves a hand. “Nah, it’s okay! ‘Cause remember what we did next?”

“Ah… I remember!” Karamatsu grins. “We all said we wouldn’t let the storm get you, and we wrapped you up in blankets and stood guard the whole night.”

“Until we fell asleep,” Jyushimatsu giggles. “I remember panicking when we woke up, but then we all high-fived each other when we saw Totty was still there in the morning!”

“W-we could do that again,” Choromatsu suggests, stealing a peek at their eldest who still appears to be tired. “Except this time…”

Totty’s up in a second. “Ooh, yeah!! Let’s cocoon Osomatsu-nii-san so the big, bad weather alerts can’t hurt him!”

Osomatsu feels like he should be having the hairs on the back of his neck stand up right about now. Instead, he feels sort of warm in a good way when everyone starts to wrap blankets around him. “Geez… you guys don’t need to do all this shit…”

“Well, no, but it’ll be fun.” Choromatsu gives him a smile and nestles in against his older brother’s side. “I’ll take first watch.”

Osomatsu snorts, but lets his head fall on top of Choromatsu’s anyway.

“Man… you guys are lame.”

Thank God for that, though.

[rustybutterknife]

Yo can I get some Beetlejuice headcannon. Just like, some weird shit idk. Anything. I just like reading headcannons xD

Of course!

His eyes glow reflect light (like a raccoon)

So when he goes into Lydia’s room at night (to wake her up to get up to no good) she wakes up and just sees two glowing yellow eyes looking down at her

Needless to say she screamed and punched him straight in the nose

She turns on the light and sees BJ fall straight on his ass, holding his nose as it’s bleeding

It was a fun story to tell at breakfast the next day

Also explains why BJ’s covered in blood

He chews on EVERYTHING to keep his fangs in check

(Also it’s a good stim)

The Deetz’s were tired of finding bite marks on places they weren’t supposed to be (specifically their shoes) so they buy him teething toys that are meant for babies, but he like em.

His favorite one is a necklace with these chunky black silicone pearls

He likes it because after a while of chewing, the pearls become softer

His favorite stims are flapping his hands, this one where he holds his hands and twists his arms and holds it to his face while rocking side to side, and going as fast as he can on a spinny chair. (Charles has one in his office, he’ll let BJ use it when he’s upset or he just has a lot of extra energy he needs to burn off)

He also really likes pressure stims, so he’ll sometimes get the Maitlands or Lydia to sit on his back

They found out you can make him shut up and calm down this way when he was being a chaotic little shit and Lydia told him to stop or else

“Or else what!?”

“Or else… I’ll… I’ll… I’ll sit on you!”

“Oh yeah!? I’d like to see you t-!”

And just like that he’s on the floor and Lydia’s on his back

He goes quiet for a minute while Lydia teases him before she goes

“Did I just find your off switch?”

The Maitlands catch on to it

You’ll sometimes see them having late movie nights and they’re all sitting on top of BJ

They’re all fairly light so he can handle it

He’s a pretty grimy nasty boy and he likes it that way (also it helps with dysphoria)

So when the Maitlands tell him he needs to shower if he wants to join them on the bed

He has a fit

It takes 2 hours before they can come to the agreement that he’ll shower, as long as the Maitlands join in too

Especially since they haven’t showered since they died so it seemed like a good idea

He’s kinda hesitant to undress because he’s self conscious of his top surgery scars and because he’s a little on the chunky side

They coax him into it with praise and kisses

The Deetz’s shower is pretty big thanks to renovations, so they can all fit

The water turns a gross murky greyish-brown when BJ steps in

It takes a good half hour of constantly washing him before he’s fully clean

They used up about half of the Shampoo bottle and ⅔ of the body wash

Sorry Charles

They also borrowed some of Charles’ clothes so BJ could have something to wear

Sorry Charles pt. 2: electric boogaloo

He’s a lot more pink and his hair is a lot softer (head and body)

Suddenly there’s knocking on the door

“Hey, Delia, how much longer are you gonna be in there?”

Ohshit.jpeg

They all quickly wrap up in clean towels and Adam opens the door a crack so only his head is poking out

“Hey Lydia, it’s me, sorry… uh… what do you need?”

“Oh! Sorry, I just needed to grab my hair bru- Is that Bj and Barbra in there?”

Barbra and Adam turn bright red while BJ has a shit eating grin spread across his face.

“You know what, I don’t even wanna know. Can I just get my brush? It’s in the top drawer on the right.”

Barbra nods and shyly passes her the hair brush.

“Shit, Bj, you’re really pink!”

“Please just leave so we can get dressed!”

“Alright, you got it dudes.”

They don’t talk about that incident.

They do keep BJ from being a stinky bastard

He and Charles try to bond

Bj has a hard time remembering his name (Chuckles. Charlie. And once, Gabriel.)

They bond over going to the grocery store together.

The Maitlands can’t go, so it’s just BJ and the Deetz’s.

He’s able to pass off as their chaotic college aged son

He likes to stick his head out the window during car rides

They sometimes have to keep BJ at home if they wanna go to certain stores because he’s gotten himself banned from them

He’s gotten banned from a grocery store because he’s pulled an Eddie Brock and climbed into the lobster tank

The only stores he behaves at are Lydia’s favorite places

La michoacana, the mall, and the corner store

He likes the “breather snacks” at the corner store

He’s pretty old and has a pretty busy schedule of being a bio exorcist so he hasn’t gotten around to trying foods from the 21st century

So one day Lydia buys a whole bunch of snacks she thinks BJ would like and they have a little taste test party

She also snuck a couple of snacks just to see his reaction (warheads, takis, xxtra flamin hot Cheetos)

When he tried warheads, he just went “oh, this is pretty ni-“ then immediately scrunched up his face. Think of the meme with the cat and the banana.

Lydia almost had an asthma attack from laughing so hard.

He will eat anything you give him, no matter what.

Some of the things he’s eaten are a 5 pound gummy bear (in one sitting), a bath bomb, chocolate laxatives, straight up hot sauce, and shaving cream

He’s a slut for lil Debbie snacks

He also really loves hot Cheetos and mazapán

Lydia once bought him a full pack of mazapán and it was gone within 3 days

Also once, while sleep deprived and talking to the Maitlands, she referred to him as “Beechito” (which, for those of you who don’t know, adding -ito to the end of a name is a masculine term of endearment.)

Adam and Barbra quickly catch onto it and Beetlejuice has to ask why the Maitlands keep calling him “beejeetoh” (they have the white accent)

Lydia shyly explains and he’s the embodiment of the ;w; emoji

SORRY THIS WAS SO LONG I HAD A LOT OF FUN-

[stickswrites]

I Literally Hate The Media So Much (Her Shadows Ch. 7)

Pairings: Kirishima x OC

Warnings: Panic attack, implications of abuse, Bakugo being nice lol

I did not mean to take as large of a break as I did but that happened XD Hope whoever reads this enjoys!

I woke up with sore everything. I hadn't had to fight full out like that for a while and it didn't help that Bakugo was extremely strong. I pulled myself out of bed, trying to not disturb the cat that rested in my arms. I stood up and stretched, hearing a satisfying crack from my back. I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake myself up. I glanced over at my clock that told me it was 5:45 am. I groaned as I walked over to my dresser and pulled out a tank top and sweatpants. I got changed and pulled my hair back into a ponytail, pinning my bangs back as well. I grabbed my phone and headphones as I walked out to the kitchen to scrounge for food. Dad sat at the table, drinking his coffee, and looking over his lesson plans.

"Morning, Kiki," he said as he made a note in his planner.

"Morning, Dad," I responded, stifling a yawn.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked.

"Really well," I said as I pulled a granola bar out of the cupboard. "No nightmares, so that's a plus."

Dad hummed in agreement as I tore open the granola bar wrapper and began to eat it. I leaned against the counter as I ate the granola bar and Yuzuki jumped onto the counter and sniffed at my food, hoping to get a bite of it. I pushed his head away and finished my granola bar. I put food in both of the cats’ bowls and put water in the water dishes. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the time. I would have to get going pretty quickly to make sure I was on time. I put my phone back in my pocket and went to my room to put my running shoes on. I tied the laces and stood back up, stretching a bit more. I walked back out to the front of the house.

“Dad, I’m heading out!” I called.

“Alright, be safe! I’ll go grocery shopping while you two are on your run!”

I walked out of the house and waited by the tree between mine and Makoto’s houses. He eventually walked out of his house and came over to me. He had his orange shirt on, which I assumed contributed to his good mood.

“Good morning, Koko!” he said, far too cheerfully for this early.

“Hey, Mako,” I said, swiping through my music to find a good song.

“How are you on this fine morning?” he asked as he put an earbud in.

“Tired and sore,” I responded with a laugh. “Bakugo did a number on me yesterday.”

Makoto hummed in agreement as he looked for a song on his phone. We both found music to listen to and put both earbuds in.

“Short or long route today?” Makoto asked.

“Let’s do the long route,” I said. “It’s earlier than usual so we have time. Besides, I don’t think we’ll be doing anything too strenuous after yesterday’s training.”

“You’re probably right,” Makoto responded. “Long route it is!”

The two of us jogged down the street and went on the long route we had set. It went through the park and ended at the beach. We didn’t live very far from the beach, so a run to it was relatively short but still long enough to exert us. When we reached the beach, we stopped to rest for a few minutes. The sun rose over the ocean and the light reflected off the waves. I sat down in the sand as Makoto handed me his water bottle for me to take a sip out of. I gratefully accepted it and took a few drinks before handing it back to him. He sat down next to me and we took in the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. It was so peaceful, but when the sun rose all the way, we knew we had to head back home. We jogged back home and separated to our own houses to get ready. Dad’s car wasn’t in the driveway, so I assumed that he was still out getting groceries. I opened the front door and the cats innocently looked up at me from where they were standing on the kitchen table. I narrowed my eyes at the knocked over cup on the table with water spilling onto the floor.

“I can’t leave you two alone, can I?” I sighed as I cleaned up the mess.

Once their mess had been cleaned up, I went and took my shower and got ready for school. Being impatient for my hair to dry all the way, I used my hairdryer so that I could finish getting ready. I heard Dad get home at some point and after I put my hair up into a half ponytail and made sure my bangs looked alright I went out to the kitchen to help him put groceries away.

“How was your run?” Dad asked as we put the groceries away.

“It was good,” I responded, putting the cereal away. “We went to the beach and sat for a few minutes to watch the sunrise.”

“That sounds nice,” he said.

We continued with a few sentences here and there, but the majority of the morning was silent. It wasn’t long until we were walking out the door to go to school. Makoto met us in the driveway and we got in the car and drove to school. Dad apparently had to drop us off a block away because he had heard from Hizashi that there were still a bunch of reporters in front of the school. They had been there for the past two days and they were only getting nosier the longer they were denied any interviews. The longer they were there, the more cautious we had to be with mine and Mako’s relations to Dad. None of us wanted the reporters to figure that out, so we agreed to be dropped off a block away with only minimal complaining. Makoto and I grabbed our bags and got out of the car. We started walking down the sidewalk to get to school.

“Why can’t the reporters just leave us alone?” I groaned as we turned the corner and saw all of the reporters.

“I apologize for my fame,” Makoto said sarcastically.

I laughed but he had a point. Since his grandmother had a fortune and was the head of Uneri Co., Makoto was also on the media’s radar. It wasn’t a secret that he stood to inherit the fortune of his grandmother and he had eyes on him. Reporters staring at him like birds of prey waiting for a moment of weakness. Being his best friend meant speculations about the two of us in public. On multiple occasions, the media has mistaken us for a couple. We’ve tried telling them that we’re not, but they still publish that story and we gave up on trying to tell them otherwise.

“Yeah,” I responded with just as much sarcasm. “It’s a real pain in the ass to be your best friend.”

Makoto snorted as we kept walking. The reporters saw us and they immediately started to swarm us.

“You know,” Makoto said. “We’re on school grounds right now.”

I looked up at him and saw the sly smile on his face. I let out a laugh as I nodded and gripped the strap on my bag a little tighter as reporters got closer.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he responded. “You can’t shadow travel with me, but I can carry you right over them.”

“I like the way you think, Mako,” I said with a smile.

Immediately, Makoto picked me up bridal style and used his quirk to step on the gravitational plates and have us be just above the reporters. We avoided all of their questions and, as soon as we were beyond the gates, Makoto stepped down from his plates and onto solid ground. He set me down on the ground and I adjusted my skirt to make sure nothing was showing. Once I made sure everything was fine, I looked up at Makoto with a smile and we walked into school together. We walked straight to the teacher’s lounge and, when we got inside, Hizashi and Dad were there to greet us.

“You survived the wolves,” Dad said with a smirk.

“Mako used his quirk to just carry us right over their heads,” I responded with a chuckle.

“Yeah,” Makoto said. “Because we were technically already on UA’s grounds even though it was the sidewalk. So it was perfectly legal for me to use it.”

“Look at you all grown up and smart, little man!!” Hizashi yelled as he slung an arm over Makoto’s shoulders.

“Thanks, Hizashi,” Makoto said with a soft smile.

The four of us continued talking before class started and eventually Nemuri, or Midnight, came and joined us. At some point, Dad had to go take care of the reporters and the reporters tried to enter the campus, setting off the security system. Dad came back to the teacher’s lounge with a satisfied smile on his face. He always enjoyed it when reporters got denied when they’re being annoyingly persistent. Makoto and I left the teacher’s lounge first to go to the classroom. Most everyone was in there already, talking to their new friends.

“Hey, it’s Keiko and Saeki!” Kirishima said, waving us over to them.

I glanced at Makoto and shrugged before walking over to him, Sero, Ashido, and Kaminari. I set my stuff down at my desk before standing up properly to talk to them.

“Hey, guys!” Makoto said with a wide grin.

I gave a little wave and a tiny smile. Kirishima and Ashido seemed very happy that I even acknowledged them, which took me by surprise. The six of us talked, well I listened while they all talked until it came time for us to all sit down. Dad stood at the front of the class and started talking when we had all got situated in our seats.

“Decent work on yesterday’s combat training, guys,” he said from the podium. “I saw the video feeds and went over each of your teams’ results.” He paused for a second. “Bakugo.” The blond in question looked up at Dad and Midoriya seemed surprised. “You’re talented, so don’t sulk like a child about your losses, okay?”

“Yeah, whatever,” Bakugo grumbled.

“And, Midoriya,” Dad said, singling him out. “I see that the only way you won the match was by messing up your arm again.” There was a pause as Midoriya sunk a little lower in his seat. “Work harder,” Dad told him firmly. “And don’t give me the excuse that you don’t have control over your quirk. That line’s already getting old. You can’t keep breaking your body while training here, but your quirk will be really useful if you can get a handle on it.” From where I was sitting, I saw Midoriya’s head lift up. “So show a little urgency, huh?”

“Right!” Midoriya said confidently.

“Let’s get down to business,” Dad said, addressing everyone. “Our first task will decide your future.” I could almost feel everyone’s nerves as they probably thought it was another quirk test. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous about that too. “You all need to pick a class representative.” The relief everyone felt when we heard it was just a normal school thing was palpable.

Immediately everyone started yelling about how much they wanted to be the class rep. Of course, if you’re the rep that means more agencies are more likely to notice you and want you to join them so it was only natural that everyone was excited. I wasn’t though. There was far too much yelling for my taste. Everyone finally shut up when Iida started talking.

“Silence, everyone! Please!” He yelled. Everyone was quiet as they all looked back at Iida. “The class representative’s duty is to lead others.” Duh. “That’s not something just anyone can do.” He had a point. “You must first have the trust of every student in the classroom.” There goes my shot of being class rep, not that I really cared. “Therefore, the most logical way to fill this position is democratically. We will hold an election to choose our leader.” Not a bad idea.

“It’s pretty obvious you want us to vote for you,” everyone said in unison.

That did seem like what he was trying to do, but I think that he honestly wanted the best for our class, so I didn’t dwell on that too much.

“Is this really the best idea,” Kaminari asked.

“We’ve only known each other a few days,” Asui started. “How do we know who we can trust?”

She had a point as well.

“Besides, everyone will just vote for themselves,” Kirishima stated.

That did seem like the likely scenario.

“You’re right,” I said from my seat. Everyone’s heads snapped toward me, shocked that I spoke up. Honestly, I was a little surprised too. “Most people will vote for themselves. That just means that whoever gets the most votes is truly fit to be class rep if people put their pride aside to vote for them.”

Iida nodded at my statement and started talking again, taking everyone’s attention off of me.

“It’s the best way, right?” Iida asked Dad, who zipped up his sleeping bag so that he could take a nap.

“Do what you want,” Dad told us. “Just decide before my nap’s over.”

He fell onto his side to fall asleep and I knew he’d be out for the rest of the class.

“Thank you for your trust!” Iida said.

About 20 minutes later everyone had cast their votes for class rep and the results were on the board. Unsurprisingly, I got zero votes. I had voted for Midoriya. He was smart and I thought he would be the best for the job. Makoto had one vote, but I doubted that it was from him. At the top of the board, Midoriya and Yaoyorozu had the highest number of votes. Midoriya had four and Yaoyorozu had two.

“How did I get four votes?!” Midoriya asked out loud.

“Okay, you idiots!” Bakugo exclaimed, standing up from his seat. “Who voted for him?!”

“What?” Sero asked. “Did you honestly think anyone was gonna vote for you?”

Bakugo did not like that response and started yelling at him. I groaned and put my head in my arms, looking to follow my dad’s lead and take a nap. Once Bakugo was calmed down, Dad woke up, which was my cue to sit up. Midoriya and Yaoyorozu stood at the front of the class. Midoriya was shaking in his boots while Yaoyorozu looked as calm as ever.

“Alright,” Dad started. “The class rep is Midoriya. Deputy is Yaoyorozu.”

“R-really?” Midoriya asked, still shaking. “It’s not a mistake?”

“How did this happen?” Yaoyorozu asked herself.

I put my head back in my arms as people started chattering about the results. I guess I dozed off because Makoto started shaking my shoulder lightly. I sat up and yawned, glaring at Makoto for disturbing me.

“It’s time for lunch,” he said, pointing his thumb toward the door.

Immediately, I stood up and was out the door after grabbing my wallet. Lunch Rush’s food was definitely something I didn’t mind waking up for. The cafeteria was crowded, which was irritating, but soon enough Makoto and I were able to get our food. Lunch Rush insisted that our food was free again, saying that he liked us more than the other students. This caused a few glares tossed in our direction from other students in line, but Makoto and I laughed it off. We got our food and sat down at a table, away from everyone.

“So,” Makoto started, digging into his food. “Spill. Who did you vote for?”

I swallowed the food that was in my mouth before responding.

“I voted for Midoriya,” I said. “I thought he’d do a good job, but after seeing how nervous he was, I’m not so sure.” Makoto hummed in agreement as he took another bite of his food. “Who did you vote for?”

“I voted for Yaoyorozu,” he said. “She’s smart and I think she’ll do a good job.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you,” I responded. “She really knows what she’s doing.”

The two of us stopped talking to enjoy our food more. It was only a few minutes before the intruder alarm went off.

“Warning: Level Three Security Breach. All students please evacuate the building in an orderly fashion.”

Everyone started to jump out of their seats and run to the halls. Makoto and I both got up and exited with everyone. When we got into the hall, everyone was jostling and it made it impossible to go anywhere.

“Mako!” I shouted as I tried to grip onto his hand.

“Koko!” he shouted back.

Our fingers barely brushed each other before he was ripped away by everyone trying to get out of the building. I was shoved to the ground by the jostling crowd of students and I started to feel a panic attack coming. Flashes of my parents appeared in front of me as people continued to jostle around. My chest tightened and I couldn’t breathe, much less move. I covered my head as I tried to protect myself from everyone in the hallway. Tears started to prick my eyes and the sounds around me became muffled, the only sound I could hear clearly was my pounding heart. I didn’t hear actual words when someone started yelling at everybody and they all calmed down. I was stuck on the ground. My eyes blank and looking forward as tears slowly fell down my face. I was somewhat pulled out of my attack when someone pulled me to my feet and walked me over to the side of the hallway. They tried talking to me, but their voice sounded like it was underwater and I couldn’t focus on it. I still couldn’t breathe even though everyone had left the hallway beside the person in front of me and one other.

“Keiko!”

I finally snapped out of it and saw the person who had helped me. Bakugo was gripping my arms tightly to keep me upright. I stared back at him, my eyes wide and my face looking terrified. I looked over his shoulder and saw Makoto standing behind him, looking worried. I shook my head and stood up all the way, wiping the tears away.

“What was that all about?” Bakugo asked, not harshly just in his usual ‘Bakugo’ way.

“It was a panic attack,” I told him, still shaking a bit and starting to walk back to the cafeteria so that I could finish my food. I was really shaken up, but I also didn’t want to make a big deal out of what happened in case Bakugo decided to make fun of me. “I’m not the greatest with crowds and jostling.”

“You picked a lousy profession for that then,” Bakugo snorted.

I heard Makoto smack Bakugo’s arm in warning, but I started chuckling too. He had a point. What started out as a chuckle turned into an actual laugh.

“Are you okay?” Makoto asked, confused as to why I was laughing. “Did you hit your head or something?”

“I’m fine,” I told him. “Bakugo’s right.” I saw Bakugo smirk on my left as Makoto caught up to us and started walking on my right. “If I wanted to be like most heroes I did pick a pretty lousy profession.”

“What do you mean ‘like most heroes’?” Bakugo asked, genuinely confused.

“I don’t want to be in the public’s eye,” I told him. “It’s not something that appeals to me.”

Bakugo hummed in acknowledgment and we kept walking. I was glad he didn’t ask any further questions about my panic attack, but the fact that he was still walking with us was a surprise. We got our stuff from the cafeteria and finished our food. Bakugo stayed with us the whole time and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy his company. Surprisingly, he was rather quiet with us, the three of us just enjoying some peace and quiet after the big panic. Bakugo and Mako told me that it was Iida that calmed everyone down by telling them that the “dangerous intruder” was just the press.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Bakugo asked me.

I looked up at him, surprised he cared about my wellbeing. Seeing the suppressed worry on his face made me want to reassure him. I gave him a genuine smile.

“I’m really alright, or I will be anyway,” I told him. “Thanks for helping me and for caring.”

“Tch,” he scoffed. “I just don’t want my rival to have anything hindering her to do her best.”

“Rival?” I asked. He scoffed again as if to say ‘duh’ and I smiled again. “Sounds good to me.”

Lunch ended soon after that conversation and we all headed back to the classroom. Everyone was sitting down except for Midoriya and Yaoyorozu, who were standing at the front of the class. I had my chin resting on my folded arms as I tried to stay awake enough to understand what was being said. I hooked my foot around Mako’s as a form of comfort. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still shaken from my panic attack earlier and Mako knew so he kept my foot hooked around his under his chair.

“It’s time, class rep,” Yaoyorozu told Midoriya, who was still shaking in his boots. “Let’s begin!”

“Um, okay,” Midoriya started shakily. “So we need to figure out who the other class officers will be.” There was a pause as he looked down a bit and calmed himself. “But first, there’s something that I wanna say. I’ve thought a lot about this, and I think that Tenya Iida should be our class rep!” I lifted my head at this in surprise. Someone as set on becoming a hero as him throwing away this awesome opportunity? Weird. “He was able to capture everyone’s attention and get us in line. So I believe he should be the one leading our class from now on.”

There was silence in the classroom before Kirishima spoke up.

“Yeah, you know what?” he started. “If Midoriya vouches for him, I’m good. Plus he was a big help. He totally manned up and took charge, right?”

“Yup!” Kaminari agreed. “Oh, and did you notice he looked like the dude on the emergency exit signs when he was on the wall earlier?”

Dad interrupted everyone in his typical fashion.

“This is a waste of time,” he said, sitting up in his sleeping bag. “I don’t care who the rep is, just hurry up.”

He laid back down on his side to go to sleep as Iida stood up to talk. This might actually be a good change.

“If Midoriya is nominating me for this job,” he started. “Then I humbly accept! I pledge to carry out the duties of class rep to the best of my abilities!”

“Sounds good, emergency exit,” Kirishima said, giving him a thumbs up.

“Emergency exit IIda,” Kaminari mused. “Don’t let us down man!”

Poor Yaoyorozu sulked, probably muttering about how she got more votes than him. In all honesty, I thought that she would have made an awesome class rep too, but it seemed everyone was voting for Iida now. The end of the day came quickly and Mako and I didn’t hang around for too long before heading to the teacher’s lounge to meet up with Dad and go home.

“Keiko,” Dad called as soon as we walked into the lounge. He rushed up to me and looked me over to make sure I was alright. He inspected my face, holding it firmly so I couldn’t squirm away. “I heard about what happened, are you okay?”

“Yeah, Dad,” I said, trying to pull my face out of his hands. “Did Mako tell you?”

Dad let go and stood back, satisfied that I wasn’t injured. He shook his head before answering my question.

“No, actually,” he said. “Bakugo came up to me and said he thought he should tell me because I’m the teacher and it’s my job to deal with stuff like that.”

Mako and I looked at each other before turning back to Dad. Bakugo was really that concerned? I could not figure him out for the life of me. I had originally thought that he was just an overconfident asshole who didn’t care about others, but I guess that, deep down, he really does care.

“Oh,” was all I said in response. “I’m fine though. I was just shaken up a bit.”

Dad dropped the conversation and took Mako and I home, the three of us exhausted to varying degrees.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Hello again! Sticks here! Again, I did not mean to take as long of a break as I did, but alas: school. I'm hoping to write some more this week and next to get this story moving along and caught up to what I have planned so far. I'm hoping we'll be done with season one by the middle of February but we'll see what happens with school and such. It's my final semester at community college before transferring to uni so that will come first but I swear I'll update a bit more regularly. I hope that everyone reading this has a wonderful rest of your day, week, and year! See you all next chapter!

-Sticks

Word Count: 4286

[mxliv-oftheendless]

Eyyyy it's Shandi the enabler prompting you with “I love you, but please stop whatever it is that you’re doing?" for your intriguing idea~

Thank yoooou!!! This became kind of long, but I regret nothing XD Happy reading!

Ayesha has passed her Trials; now she just has to deal with her fussing parents. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ayesha loved her parents. They were her heroes. They supported her in her training, and even if Aiutu had been nervous for her they were incredibly proud that she had passed her Trials. 

But they were also mother hens, and after a while it could get irritating. 

She hadn’t noticed until she left the Gods’ Temple, but she had sustained some injury from enduring her Trials. No physical injuries, but her body was left feeling incredibly drained and she’d looked dead on her feet when she reappeared, apparently after being in the Temple for three days. This of course meant one thing: her Aiutu and Baba would be fussing over her like a pair of mother hens. 

And that is exactly what they did. 

“Absolutely not!” 

Ayesha’s shoulders slumped at Aiutu’s response to her question. After her Trials, her parents brought her to her bedroom, after taking her to Dalila to make sure she had no injuries, and she had slept for the rest of the day and all through the next day. All she had asked was if she could come with them to eat breakfast. “Why not?” she asked disappointedly. 

“Because you still look exhausted,” Aiutu replied. 

“But I’m not even tired!” Ayesha protested. “I just woke up!” 

“And you are going to spend the time you are awake in bed,” Aiutu said sternly. “We can bring you your food and scrolls to read, but until you are completely rested you are not to leave your bed.” 

“But Aiutu—”

“No buts. You only passed your Trials two days ago, and even the strongest Warriors take a long time to recover. If anything were to happen to you—”

“Treasure, you’re being paranoid,” Baba interrupted. “Nothing life-threatening is going to happen to Ayesha...” 

Ayesha nodded and gestured to him, looking pointedly at Aiutu. “See?” 

“... as long as she stays in bed.” 

“Oh come on!” 

Now Baba fixed her with a stern look. “Your Aiutu is right, Ayesha. Until you get enough rest, you are not leaving your room.” 

Ayesha crossed her arms and fell back onto her pillows. “Fine,” she sulked. “But I will not like it.” 

Her parents’ looks softened. Aiutu rubbed her shoulder. “Thank you, darling.” He kissed her forehead. 

As they left to get her breakfast, Ayesha thought hopefully to herself that maybe they would relax after a couple more days. She had only left the Temple two days ago. But a few days of bedrest would surely be enough to convince them that she was fine. They couldn’t keep her in bed forever... right?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As it turned out, yes they could. And if they couldn’t, well, they certainly had her believing they could. 

It had been a week and a half now since her Trials, and Ayesha had done nothing but sleep, read, and walk around a little. And she was starting to go stir-crazy. Aiutu and Baba wouldn’t let her leave her bedroom unless she begged hard enough, and even then they or one of her uncles accompanied her to wherever she was going. Going to the training hall was out of the question, something she learned the hard way. She had been sneaking down the hallway, headed for the training hall, when Uncle Bomani turned the corner and spotted her before she could dive out of sight. 

“Ayesha, where are you going?” 

“Er... nowhere?” Bomani crossed his arms and gave her a look. “The training hall...” 

“I don’t think so. Back to your room.” 

They all might as well have been on the lookout for her in case she tried to sneak off on her own, because no matter how stealthy she tried to be, they always caught her and sent her back to her room. 

Ayesha absolutely hated it. What did they think she was, a fragile piece of pottery? She wasn’t going to smash to bits like the vases Uncle Starchild never let Aiutu and Baba forget they had smashed once. She wasn’t going to go into shock from a drained body if she just walked around and ran a little. She was a grown woman! 

“Hey, Yesha,” 

Ayesha froze, then sighed and turned around. Uncle Masika stood behind her, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “Whatcha doin’?” he asked nonchalantly. 

“I’m just going for a walk!” she protested. 

“Where to?” 

“I... I don’t know. Maybe to go feed the cats...” 

“Sorry, kid. You know the rules: it’s either to the library, the dining hall, or the Oasis.” 

Ayesha frowned sulkily. “I can’t do anything!” she complained. “Why don’t they just chain me to my bed if they don’t want me doing anything?” 

Uncle Masika shook his head at her. “They're just worried about you, kiddo.”

“They said they were proud of me,” she muttered moodily. 

“They are proud; we all are. You did great. But I think sometimes they still look at you and see a little girl instead of a grown woman.” 

Ayesha looked up at him at that. “Really?” 

“Oh yeah. No matter how old you get, you’re still their little daughter.” 

Perhaps that was supposed to help... but it didn’t. Ayesha’s shoulders sagged and she looked down at the floor. “But I’m not little,” she mumbled. 

After a moment, Uncle Masika straightened up and went over to put his arm around her shoulders. “C’mon, we can go to my workshop and you can help me build something if you want.” 

“All right...” 

But even though it was a little bit of a win—she was out of her room—Ayesha still wasn’t able to enjoy it. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That night, Ayesha lay in bed fast asleep. All was quiet. Then the room was filled with soft glowing light, emanating from the new tattoos on Ayesha’s body, and the astral figures of two Goddesses appeared on either side of her bed. They looked down at her.

“How long has it been now?” Bastet questioned. 

“In mortal time? Approximately a week,” Hathor answered. 

Bastet scoffed. “Ugh, this is getting ridiculous.” 

“They are her parents, Bastet. They will naturally be worried for her health. And should we as her Patrons not be as well?” 

“Of course we should. But our Vessel is growing tired of their worry. Isis’s Vessel and his husband seem to forget she is not a young child anymore.” 

“Should we intervene?” Hathor asked. “She is our Vessel, after all.”

Bastet sighed. “We ought to... but I am not certain of how.” 

“Perhaps we ought to wait a while longer, to see what our Vessel does.” 

“That is the only thing I can think of to do, that will not make Isis scold us for interfering.”

“True. For now, let her sleep. She will be at her full strength very soon now.” 

The two Goddesses nodded at each other, then slowly vanished. Before they disappeared completely, Bastet laid her hand on Ayesha’s hair. “Trust yourself, my Vessel. You are the only one who truly knows you.” 

And then the room was dark once more. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning, Ayesha woke up feeling refreshed and with new motivation. She was unsure of when, but it had come to her during the night. She would prove to her parents that she was fine, and that she was not going to overexert herself as long as she was careful.

Aiutu and Baba were already in the dining hall for breakfast when she strode in, her head held high and confidence in her step. “Good morning!” she greeted gaily as she sat down. 

“Good morning, darling,” Vinneketh greeted. “How are you feeling?” 

“I feel like going to the training hall today,” 

Aiutu and Baba immediately looked at each other. “Are you certain that is what you want to do, darling?” Aiutu asked. 

“Yes. Why?” 

“Aren’t you... afraid you will overexert yourself?” 

“I will make sure to be careful, so... no. Are you afraid I will overexert myself, Aiutu?” 

“Ooooh, she called you out, Vinneketh!” Uncle Masika laughed from where he, Uncle Bomani, and Uncle Dalila sat. 

Aiutu ignored him. “Well... yes. But...” He turned to Baba. “Beloved?” 

After a moment of thought, Baba turned to Ayesha. “Ayesha,” 

“Yes, Baba?” 

“Is going to the training hall absolutely what you want to do today?” 

“Yes,” 

“Do you promise to be careful, and to stop when you begin to feel tired?” 

“I promise,” 

“And is there anything we can say to stop you?” 

“... Probably not,” 

Baba thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright. You may go to the training hall.” 

Ayesha smiled happily and turned to her Aiutu. He stared at Baba in what seemed like disbelief, then turned his eyes to Ayesha. After a moment, he sighed. “I will not be able to stop you... Very well.” 

Grinning happily, Ayesha nodded triumphantly and returned to her breakfast. Aiutu shook his head at her, and looked at Baba. “I blame you. She has your stubbornness.” 

Baba grinned at him. “Do not be so hard on yourself, Treasure. She has your stamina... just in a different way.” 

Aiutu smiled sarcastically. “Very funny.” 

Not wanting to hear another allusion to what her parents did when she was asleep, Ayesha quickly jumped in again. “You don’t have to worry, Aiutu, I will be fine. I’m not fragile, like the vases Uncle Starchild said you smashed once.” 

Dalila, Bomani, and Masika laughed at that. Demon and Vinneketh simply rolled their eyes. Starchild really was never going to let that go. 

[lokis-lady-death]

Interview with a God Pt 14

Tom Hiddleston/Loki x reader

Prompt: I have always heard  people joke that Tom Hiddleston is actually Loki playing Tom playing Loki. So, let’s write about it XD

Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6 , Part 7, Part 8 , Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13

Interview with a God Part 14 (1 of 3 part finale!)

You woke up the next morning, nude, wrapped in Loki’s arms and a blanket. At your slight stir, he pulled you closer against him, kissing the back of your head even while he was still asleep. You sighed, realizing there was no fighting it. You managed to turn and face him despite his grip.

Smiling to yourself, you were just in awe of how peaceful the god looked in his sleep. His black hair cascading over his porcelain skin, the sharpness of his cheekbones. You couldn’t resist the urge to reach up and touch him. Just to remind yourself that this was real. That he was real.

“Hm…” Loki hummed as turned into your hand. His eyes didn’t open, but his grip loosened enough that you were able to move. But you didn’t want to . You stayed there, petting his face, his hair. Just admiring him. “I can see why cats insist on this,” he said barely above a whisper.

“You’re a god, can’t you just turn into a cat if you’d like?”

Loki let out a laugh at your comment, finally opening those bright green eyes to take you in. “You have a peculiar view of what being a god is. You think we just go around turning into cats?”

“I would. Turn into a cat and sleep all day.” You smiled up at him while he kissed your forehead.

“Cats also don’t have to attend parties.”

Letting out a gasp you remembered Chris’s party. “Oh, I have to find something to wear…”

“We can go shopping after we have something to eat.”

“We could order room service again,” you suggest, looking over at the plates from last night’s dinner.

With a laugh, Loki admitted, “The only reason we did that is because neither of us wanted to get dressed to go out to eat.”

“I don’t believe that feeling has changed.”

He laughed again before picking up the phone. “Alright, darling, room service it is.”

But it turned out to be lunch time. “I had no idea we slept so late!” you exclaimed after you were done eating. “I rarely sleep past nine on the weekends.”

“Well… We were up rather late.” Loki offered you a wink as he sipped his coffee and you felt your face fluster. “Now, about tonight’s dress.”

*****

The sun went down and it was officially time for the party. You sat in the back of the escalade in the dress Tom bought you, shifting slightly, unsure of yourself. “Are you sure it’s not a too much?” You asked several times. The dress was red and classic style, hugging you in just the right ways.

Tom himself was in a black suit, adjusting the collar as he said, “No, I believe you’re absolutely incredible.” He reached to take your hand, pulling you into his lap. “Would you like me to show you how incredible I think you are?” And before you could utter another word of doubt, his mouth was on yours.

Your kiss was cut short when the car came to a stop and Dave opened the door. “You two have your smiles ready, there’s quite the crowd,” he warned.

Immediately leaving the car, you and Tom were bombarded with photographers.

“You look great tonight, Tommy!” you heard one yell, another saying in your direction, “We love your dress!”

Your face lit up and you laughed nervously, feeling just a little less so when Tom’s arm wrapped around your waist and pulled you in.

“Give her another kiss!”

Leading you past them to the hotel doors, Tom asked, “Is this something you could get use to, darling?”

“Pictures? Sure. I’m a girl in the twenty first century, we’re bred for having our pictures taken.”

“It’ll be like this every time they know where we’re going. They’ll be there, waiting for us. Lighting the way with their little cameras…” Tom’s voice softened and he looked down before passing the foyer. “It’s a lot, I know. It’s troublesome. It’s taken some getting used to on my part. But…”

You silenced him with a kiss, feeling the cameras light up on the other side of the glass doors. “I have no problems with us getting our picture taken.” He smiled back at you before taking a deep breath. “Right. Well. Shall we?” and opened the doors for you.

The party was certainly not what you expected. Initially you knew it wouldn’t be that small of a gathering, but it looked like the entire hotel was set up for the event. The massive room had a full size bar, a stage with a band, even an onslaught of staff waiting on the various celebrities. The lights were dimmed, lit simply by candles on the tables and lowlights against the walls. Grand chandeliers of crystals did little more than reflect the light from below.

“Our guests of honor have arrived!” Chris announced from the stage via microphone. Everyone turned to see the two of you and clapped. Now you were a bit embarrassed but Tom’s grip on your side helped. Chris held the freshly printed copy of People Magazine with Tom’s face plastered on the cover. A picture you had chosen. “Let’s hear it for the Sexiest Man Alive!”

The room went into an uproar and a slew of people surrounded you both, mostly asking how long you had known Tom and if you had any hand in picking him for SMA. It was nearly ten straight minutes of questions before you felt your nerves were on edge, but then a hand took yours and pulled you away.

Out of the peripheral of your vision, you saw something that was a bit out of place. A woman, skin as pale as a snow, a black skin tight gown, and a short matching birdcage veil. She looked like the bride of the dead. She locked eyes with you and, though you couldn’t explain it, you had a sudden rush of panic running through your veins.

But Tom’s voice got your attention. “Excuse us, It’s great seeing you all, Yes, thank you, it’s an honor really,” you heard him tell the group as he broke you both away. With a heavy sigh, you saw the relief of a little breathing room wash over his face.

“I’d think you were used to it all by now after your comment about the paparazzi,” you laughed. You heard the band play some classical mix of a modern song you couldn’t quite place.

“It doesn’t matter how often these things happen, it’s hard to get used to.” Tom looked down at you, taking in your smile, the light in your eyes. His hand came up and brushed your hair back before asking, “Would you like to dance, y/n?”

He led you by the hand to the dance floor and wrapped his arms around you. Your head laid on his chest, drowning out the rest of the world as he gently swayed the two of you back and forth to the music. His lips brushed the top of your head and you couldn’t help but look up.

“What are you thinking about?” you asked.

Tom watched you, holding onto your hand while he led you, then twirled you like a ballerina. “I’m thinking about a lot of things, darling,” he admitted through a grin.

“Like what?”

He brought you up against his body, his hand pressing your lower back as he leaned down to your ear. “I’m thinking about how beautiful you look in this dress… and how beautiful you’ll look once I rip it off you.”

Your cheeks flushed just as a hand clasped onto your shoulder.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite celebrity couple!” Chris announced, his tone just a bit slurred. He had obviously been drinking, lost behind his own toothy grinned merriment. “Might I borrow her?”

Tom scrunched his nose. “For what?”

“Company. Besides, you need to go socialize. And I would hate for her to get caught up in the millions of questions everyone has for you.” Before Tom could even offer an argument, Chris was leading you away and a few people were already spotting the opportunity to speak to the Sexiest Man Alive.

It was a bit surprising that Chris had brought you to the bar but you appreciated having a seat. You ordered a coke while Chris ordered a whiskey. You watched him drink but looked away when he caught you staring. He smiled before saying, “It gets less strange for you, you know. Being around gods. That’s what my wife says, anyway.”

“I don’t see how that’s true,” you admitted with an uneasy laugh. But then you thought and asked, “So your wife… Elsa. She knows?”

“Of course. Wouldn’t be a very honest husband if I kept that from her.”

You nodded, sure that must have been an obvious answer. “Is she…”

Chris’s brow quirked and he finished, “A goddess? No. But I don’t know a single one that could light a match next to her.” He smiled fondly thinking of her before adding with a wink, “She’s my oracle, ya know.”

“Oh,” you said dimly before realizing what he meant, “Ooooh!” You bit your lip and let the thought sink in as he chuckled. Taking a deep breath, Chris’s look became a bit more serious.

“Y/n… I was wondering. What all have you and Tom spoken about?”

“A lot of different things…” And the truth about why he wanted you away from Tom was finally coming.

Chris leaned in, the liquer clear on his breath, as he asked, “Has he… Has he told you what happened… to our mother?”

Like a deer in headlights, you felt a jolt run straight to your core as you nearly choke on your drink. You knew he wasn’t as secretive as Tom but you hadn’t expected the bluntness. “He told me…” How did you know what to tell him? Was there any point in lying? “He said Allfather made him leave Asgard because he believed Loki had something to do with it.”

Rather than look at you, Chris tilted the cup. “Did he ever tell you if he...?”

“No. But I don’t think he did.”

He looked at you, pushing, “And what makes you think that?”

“Just that I can tell by the way he talks about your mother that he cared about her. The same way I can tell he cares about you.”

Chris pulled back, his eyes going back to the whiskey in his hand. “Yes, well…. I have always believed he was innocent. I only wish he would at least tell me what happened.”

“What do you think happened?” You knew you might be pushing it, knew that if it was Tom he would have shut you down with only a look, but Chris wasn’t like that. There was a part of him that trusted you with this situation in a way Tom didn’t. You wish you understood why. There was no way to know why until you heard the story itself and who better than Thor.

“What I know for sure: a sister I knew nothing about contacted Loki, claiming to be born of the same mother as him. He invited her to come visit Asgard and before long, she started trying to ease her way into the throne.” He let out a sigh, trying to drink out of his already empty glass. He flagged down the bartender and instantly had a refill. “The next thing I hear is that our mother is dead, Hela was nowhere to be found, and Loki was left wounded.”

“What happened?”

“That, no one knows for sure.  Allfather was away on an expedition while I was here. We were summoned home by the news that Mother was gone.” Chris closed his eyes for a moment. “Stabbed, once, straight through the chest.”

“Did Loki say if Hela attacked him?”

He shook his head. “No. That was what made it so much worse. He had wounds, obviously fighting someone. Mother only had the one mark. But the problem was… it was from one of Loki’s knives.”

“No…”

“I know what you’re thinking. Truth be told I’ve thought the same. But,” and this time he looked at you, “I have known Loki since he was a newborn. We grew up together. We fought battles side by side. You don’t spend your entire life with someone and one day they’re suddenly someone else. I just don’t believe that. I know my brother.”

“So what happened to Hela?”

“She slithered back to whatever dark hole she crawled out of, never to be seen again.”

“But why?”

“Hm?”

“Why would she just leave? Surely she did all of that for a reason.”

Chris took a deep swallow of his drink, sorting out his collected thoughts. “I think she simply hated Loki for being welcomed into Asgard. She grew up wherever she did, not in a palace, not with a loving mother, not with a respected father. I think she was just bitter and believed everything Loki had she deserved. And she was just as happy leaving him to clean up her mess… and our dead mother.”

It was just all so overwhelming. “But why does Allfather blame Loki? It’s clearly Hela’s doing!”

Apprehension covered the god of thunder’s face, wondering if maybe he had gone too far. But what was the harm of one more question? “Because he says he didn’t save mother. Says he didn’t fight hard enough. Even if he is to believe that Loki didn’t drive his own knife through Frigga’s chest, he caused it to happen. And that Hela being there was his fault. Allfather had kept her out of Asgard for a reason…” Chris let out a sigh, setting down his cup. “But Loki had no way of knowing that. Our father had a terrible habit of keeping secrets, expecting them to keep his world in tact. But in the end, as ironic as any story could be, it unraveled his family. His wife is dead, his illegitimate daughter is hiding, I’m spending my life protecting midgard and his only hope for an heir was banished from his kingdom.” This time Chris looked up, his eyes grave, his voice solomon. “Secrets are a terrible habit, one that I’m afraid Loki inherited from our father. For whatever reason, he has, to this day, kept our mother’s death a secret.”

“He told me he couldn’t tell because…” the sudden distinct attention Chris was giving you made you incredibly uncomfortable as you finished, “…he made a promise not to.”

By the flash on Chris’s face you knew this was news to him. You took a sip of your own drink, lost in a haze of thoughts. Just as Chris went to ask a question, someone from the hotel came to ask for his assistance with a guest at the party.  “I’ll be just a moment,” he said. “We will be finishing this conversation, y/n.” Not a threat, but a promise.

You nodded and looked straight, contemplating if you should wait there or  find Tom to possibly warn him that Chris would be wanting to talk to him about this. The thought did not settle your already shook nerves.

“Sweet girl. Sweet, but boring,” you heard a woman say smoothly as she rounded you on the barstool, her hand tracing over your shoulders. “Stay put,” she instructed and you sank back into your seat. “I need to take a good look at you.”

Part 15 is up!

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[food-fantasy-souls]

(Fanfic) Mornings

This is something I’ve been working on for, quite some time, not as long as One Determination I think(I need to check the creation date for the file), yea, not quite a month but would’ve got there if I didn’t post this now X3

Here’s the nickname index, like with One Demermination I use many of the nicknamed food souls my main OC Megan has, so I KNOW you’ll probably need it XD

OC masterlist

Also, a few ships I have hardly mentioned yet, so expect info on those in the future! And also expect a part two, I’ve got more ships to do morning senarios for, I just couldn’t fit all them in here ^^

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

Warmth was what Megan first registered as she woke up, warmth all around her, then the sensation of being held by two different sets of arms and the scent of a cocktail, metal, and fire mixed into one as well as the scent of cocoa and gunpowder mixed together.

Her eyes fluttered open slightly, the light from the windows glaring right into her eyes making her want to snuggle back down into what her face was originally resting against. She was able to see a tan button-up shirt halfway undone to reveal a scarred collarbone and chest-

Oh, upon seeing that her mind reminded her of what happened last night, the words spoke between her and the two men she loved, and she smiled sleepily, happy it wasn't a dream. Brownie made a small noise as he buried his face into her shoulder, tightening his grip on her waist slightly as he held her from behind.

Megan looked up when she felt B-52 move, his arms around her and presumably Brownie's upper back tightening a smidge, and saw him blink his eyes open, beautifully mismatched blue and gold eyes glancing around before drifting to meet her blue hazel orbs.

“Morning.” Megan whispered with a smile, B-52 blinking before he smiled in return and leaned down, gently kissing the corner of her mouth.

“Good morning.” He replied softly as he watched her blush slightly, definitely waking up more than she was before. For several more minutes, they laid there, perfectly content to just be with each other.

“...We have to get up don't we?” Brownie's voice piped up as he shifted and put his chin on Megan's shoulder, hair askew and eyes drooping with drowsiness, normally he wouldn't be so opposed to getting up but he was clearly comfortable and didn't want to move.

A chuckle rumbled in B-52's chest as he shifted, not removing his arms from around the two and instead seemingly settling down. “Indeed my friend, but five more minutes won't hurt.”

Megan giggled as Brownie tightened his grip on her while she snuggled into B-52's chest once more.

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

Strawberry Shortcake's day usually started at night, as she often felt no need to be active during the day due to the Swan form she took during the day so she often slept through the entire day under the cover of a tree.

Though it wasn't very often she awoke in someone's arms. This evening, she found herself in someone's embrace, the sent of something caramel-like being what she smelled when she breathed in and a deep blue shirt being the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes.

“I see you have awoken my dear.” A male voice greeted her and she looked up to see Sake smiling gently down at her, grey eyes warm and kind.

“Sake...” She yawned as she squinted at him, half blue half reddish-brown eyes bleary from just waking. “When did you get here...?”

“Not too long ago, I was coming here and saw you asleep against the tree shivering, so I decided to help keep you warm.” His words made her blush, it was true she did get cold once she turned back and often woke up shivering, but she didn't know what to do about it other than endure it. She must've slept later than usual because she normally awoke before Sake arrived for their nightly visits.

“T...Thank you.” She replied, noting her arms were wrapped around his midsection, her scarf was really loose around her neck and her hat wasn't on her head, meaning it fell off while she was sleeping.

She felt a chill go up her back, and she snuggled into Sake's chest instinctively, blushing once she realizes what she did. “Can....Can we remain like this for a while....?”

Sake chuckled before leaning down, whispering. “Of course my dear.” Before he gently covered her lips with his own, making her blush before she returned the gesture.

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

Onix awoke to find herself firmly trapped in an embrace, her face against a soft white button-up shirt. Something she was fairly used to at this point.

“Sebastian, we have to get up.” She spoke, trying to shove him so she could get up and ready for the day, but he merely tightened his grip on her.

“It's too early Onix.” He mumbled, burying his face in her hair and inhaled, having no intention of moving.

“You say that every morning.” Onix retorted, tilting her head up to meet his red eyes to see him giving her a lazy gaze.

“And it is.” He replied back, leaning down to gently nuzzle Onix's nose with his own, making her turn a pretty shade of pink.

She supposed she should be used to this kind of behavior from Sebastian, he wasn't exactly a morning person at all and didn't exactly like being out in the sunlight.

She blew a piece of hair from her face, narrowing her eyes at Sebastian as his own twinkled mischievously.

She opened her mouth to speak but he swiftly leaned down and kissed her deeply, making her turn a shade of red and let out a noise. After a couple of moments, he gently pulls back, leaving Onix breathless as she rested her head on his chest again.

“Oh, fine.” She mumbled, gripping his shirt in her hand as she sighed. “Five more minutes, any more than that and I'll drop kick you out of bed.”

He laughed and merely tightened his grip on her as he settled down, the two decided to relax as they remained in each other's embrace.

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

The sound of a pond greeted Amy when she awoke, the Tiramisu blinking her eyes open to see the light of dawn in the sky above her, and a warm weight was resting on her chest. Looking down, she saw it was Sierra, the Sweet And Sour Fish was half-way on top of her, her head resting on Amy's chest, her upper torso on her midsection and her lower half with her tail was in the pond still.

Amy had almost forgotten that she was talking with Sierra before she fell asleep, and she noted that Sierra had her arms wrapped around Amy's back while she had her arms loosely around Sierra's upper back.

Sierra shifted after a moment, her tail flicking and smacking the water which made her jolt slight as she blinked open her grey eyes.

Amy leaned down, gently kissing Sierra's forehead, which made her let out a sleepy giggle as she shifted, the Mermaid's tail gently swishing in the water.

“Good morning...” Sierra mumbled sleepily, smiling as she yawned whilst rubbing her eyes.

“Morning.” Amy greeted her, stretching her arms out behind Sierra's back like a cat before resuming a light hold on the mermaid.

“Did you sleep well?” Sierra asked as she took in the surroundings, realizing they were indeed outside. “You should have put me back in the water and gone to your own bed.”

“Hehe, no.” Amy giggled, gently combing her fingers through Sierra's hair. “I wanted to stay with you, so I did.”

Sierra sighed before smiling lovingly up at Amy, gently catching the back of Amy's head before pulling her into a gentle kiss that tasted both sweet and salty.

Amy smiled into the kiss and reciprocated it, holding the young mermaid close as they kissed in the light of dawn.

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

The gentle ringing of an alarm clock woke Jiuniang, blinking her eyes open to see the bunkbed above her as she pulled her blanket close to her chest, yawning with a small squeak.

To her right, a honey-haired head peeked down over the edge of the bunk bed frame to her right, chestnut golden brown eyes peering at her.

“You sounded like an adorable mouse.” Eggette spoke after yawning, rubbing an eye before retracting his hand to hold onto the railing of his bunk.

“C-Careful, you don't want to fall again.” Jiuniang blushed and warned him, earning a little smile in return.

“I know I know.” He laughed quietly before disappearing back into his bunk, soon his feet swung over the edge. With a shove he jumped off the bunk, his book flying from the shelf it was on and opening just in time for him to land on it. He then spun and slammed his hand down on the alarm clock, shutting it up as he smirked victoriously.

Jiuniang sighed with a short giggle before swinging her legs over the edge of her bed, standing within moments. A hand held out her dress to her and she saw Eggette smiling while he had his clothes on one arm.

“I'll go into the bathroom so we can both get changed.” He said as she took her dress, nodding her thanks as he turned and went through the door in their bedroom to the bathroom.

It didn't take long for either one to get dressed, only a few minutes at most, though Jiuniang waited until she was mostly ready for the day, minus her cape, before reaching up for the loose low ponytail her long hair was in, pulling the hairband out before wandering over to the dresser where her brush and comb were.

She heard the door open as she began to work at her bangs with the brush, and soon jolted when she saw Eggette reach pass her and grab the comb, beginning to work at the long back parts of her hair.

She looked over her shoulder to see Eggette, looking mildly sheepish, as he completely focused on her hair, mumbling. “I... I thought you could use a hand.”

Jiuniang blinked before smiling, softly uttering “Thank you.” as she went about brushing and working out her hair, the two children simply enjoying the soft, gentle time they had before their day began.

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

Zero didn't open her eyes upon waking, instead letting her mind wake up at least as she shifted slightly. Next to her, Caviar felt her stir through both the link and through the shifts in the blanket, and shifted to wrap his arms around her midsection as he pulled her closer.

She let out a slight, muffled squeak, but wasn't fully awake enough to properly react, merely shifting to face him, eyes flickering open to peer at him.

“Good morning, Megyn.” He said softly, watching as she blinked before fully rolling over and nestling herself against his chest.

“Morning...” Zero mumbled, voice quiet and groggy from sleep, before she peered up at him through lidded eyes as she registered what he called her. “You called me Megyn....”

“Ah, that I did.” He smiled while flickering his eyes over her features before meeting her eyes once more. “But I don't have to call you Zero when we're not around the others, and by your logic it's fine. Not to mention your name is a very cute one.”

She squinted at him, eventually sighing and burying her face in his chest, mumbling as she ignored her burning cheeks. “I'm so not awake enough to respond to that.”

He chuckled as he moved one of his arms to wrap around her shoulders, earning him a tilted head up and a thankful smile, he could feel through the link she didn't want to get up yet.

“Your right eye...” She reached up and gently touched his right cheek, eyes sparkling with a warmth only he was able to bring out. “It's, really,” He could feel her struggle to find the word before she sighed and smiled as she blushed. “Pretty, that's the only other word I can think of right now...”

He blinked as he felt his face grow warm before he smiled back, replying softly. “Well, you are very cute yourself.”

She groaned before hiding her face in his chest, mumbling in protest. “I'm n't cute..”

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “Yes, you are my darling.”

“Mmmn not!” She mumbled back with a huff, tilting her head up to give him a look which he smiled at. “You're the handsome one here.” She spoke again, rubbing at her eyes to clear them as some sleepies got in her eyes.

He blinked and was fairly certain he was red in the face, but he knew he had to be insistent when it came to complimenting her. “And you are the cute one.”

She groaned and buried her face in his chest, but he could feel her shy happiness through the link, even if she didn't say it.

“..Thank you...” She murmured after a minute, looking up at him with a mix of thankfulness and sheepishnes on her features. He smiled before leaning down and kissing her forehead.

She giggled and he continued to kiss her, on the eyelids, cheeks, nose, and then finally the lips. She shyly kissed back, not quite sure what to do. She still wasn't quite used to any of this, but she was trying her best to understand both her own feelings and Caviar's, the feelings that came from both ends of their link.

Even if it took ages for her to understand, she was willing to keep trying, as she truly loved him, and knew he for a fact truly loved her.

She wouldn't change a thing in her relationship, she was happy with how things were, and knew she loved him as much as he loved her.

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

Silrane woke up to her laying on a very very comfortable bed, under very comfortable blankets, and she was definitely warm.

As well as feeling a weight on her chest, looking down, she saw it was Daniel, the young man was clinging onto her with his arms wrapped around her securely and his head rested on her collarbone above her chest. She blinked rapidly, noting her arms were around him with her hand on the back of his head as the foie gras' face grew unusually warm.

Daniel let out a little murmur as he shifted, tightening his grip on Silrane as he was still very much asleep. Though she felt the urge to give in and sink into the bed and fall back asleep, she knew they had to get up.

“Daniel..” Her voice came out as a weak murmur as she began to shook his shoulder, trying to wake him. “We have to get up, we don't have time to sleep in.”

“Mhmmm..” Daniel groaned, trying to burrow into her neck, making her turn positively red. “Don't wanna get up yet...”

“Daniel.” Her voice came out as a squeak, and she began to push on his shoulders firmly. “We need to get up.”

He merely mumbled something she couldn't make out, and she pushed him enough to roll him onto his back as she pulled the blanket down to the end of the bed, the rush of cooler air making goosebumps appear on her arms.

“Sil...” He yawned, blue eyes blinking at her as she moved to get off the bed, his hand catching her wrist, preventing her from doing much other that swinging her legs over the edge of the bed as he shifted closer to her as he sat up. “C'mon, five more minutes...”

“Daniel...” She sighed as he put his other hand on her cheek, vibrant blue eyes drifting over his disheveled features as she raised a hand and rested it on his, a smile tilting her lips up.  “You know what will happen if I agree to 'five more minutes'.” Her voice had a lit of playful teasing as she spoke. “Five more minutes will turn into seven more hours and then you'll say it again-”

“Aaaah, Sil~!” He covered his face with the hand that was holding her wrist, his face growing red even as he felt strangely happy despite her teasing. “I-d-uhmn!”

Silrane smiled as she restrained a giggle as she shifted, reaching with her free hand to gently tilt his head up, his hand falling from his face to hang on her wrist, before she leaned over and tenderly kissed him.

It lasted a few moments before she pulled back, giving a smile at the dazed look he had before he snapped to his senses as she got up from the bed to walk over to the closet to get changed out of her sleeping gown.

It was a few minutes as she got her clothes out before she heard him groan and get out of bed, deciding that sleeping wasn't worth missing out on time with her which made her smile almost shyly to herself, it wasn't often someone wanted to be around her, considering her normal cold demeanor, so it made her incredibly happy.

[fumikomiyasaki]

I know you haven't been feeling well so wanted to give drabble idea of Damián caring for a sick Carol. He be so concerned he come over during daytime when he should be sleep to come check on her and nap with or nearby her. He be eccentric and try to give some natural remedies he uses on self(plz dont let her drink them so bitter xD) as way to help but its just him being worried. He also bring lil kitten Eva to lift spirits abit too.

Hope you feel better.

Thanks a ton, luckily enough as you send this I wake up and feel much better. ^^

Given she overexhausted herself as usual, Carol was resting up in her dorm a little so she could gain energy, with some small sneezes and coughs coming from her... what she didn't expect was Damián to come by her given she often just came by him at night... given he had no phone she couldn't just text him how she was feeling but seeing how worried he was lightly tugged on her heart for her to get worried for him.

"I am fine really... just a small cold."

"No, you need lots of love and care to remedy, Mi Amor... and I will give you everything you need. "

He put a box down with things as a small kitten raised his head from it. Placing the medicine on the table, Carol lightly smelled it and flinched her face in fear so she put it to the side in hopes he doesn't notice... As he turned back to her he presented the kitten to her.

"This is Eva, she is a sweetheart and be sure to take good care of you when I can't."

"Eva huh!" She looked at the cat and smiled... "You do remind me a little of Eve... hehe" Seeing her smile at it Damiáns smile warmed up. Carol did notice however that his eyes seem tired too... He tried to ask her.

"Would you mind if I nap next to you and take care of you once you are awake?"

"But Damián, what if you get sick too?"

"Its fine, I can take it, I just want you to feel warm and taken care off."

She got red a little. "You know there is not much space, so it won't be that comfy."

He lightly squeezed himself next to her and took her in his arms.

"It will do for one day."

The warmth of him really did calm her a little as her eyes drifted to sleep... her hugging him tighter and Eva sleeping next to them.... slowly night came in and they woke up together.... Damián put his hand on her forehead to check if she had a fever and she managed to make up that she did drink the medicine when she didn't...

"You know... my neck feels a bit better... I think it was enough to see you to heal a little.... if you do get sick yourself though, let me take care of you as well..."

He lightly placed his hand on her head and smiled.

"I know, Mi Amor... you always care a lot about me and I am glad about it."

She nods. "Once I am healthy again, be sure to get showered in kisses..... I love you."

"Love you too... if anything is worse, feel free to send Eva to me."

"I will."

____________________________________________________

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

How bout Anti finds a cat aka the reader, with their paw caught in a small trap meant for weasels and such and sets them free. The reader follows him home and, having a soft spot for cat's, he lets them. That night while he's sleeping he has an odd dream about the reader and when he wakes up he has cat features. Turns out the reader is actually a Cait Sidhe and as thanks for helping them, they used their magic to make him half Cait Sidhe.

Aww sure! That’s a cute idea!! I’m falling in love with Cait Sidhes already (oops this turned out longer than I thought XD)

“Oh? What do we have here?” Anti mused as he walked towards the sound of distressed mewls. It led him into an alleyway where he then saw some kind of large, black cat.

It was almost the size of a large dog, which made him gawk for a moment, although upon closer examination, he became more worried about why it was in so much pain:

Because its paw was caught in a weasel trap, and it was trying to wriggle it out, only to stop and growl in pain. The demon could see the wood and metal start to become stained with blood the more the feline struggled.

No matter how cruel or vile he was, he loved cats and could never turn his back on one that clearly needs help.

“Hey.”

Upon hearing his voice, the cat glanced over, its eyes widening when it saw him crouch down in front of it. He reached a hand out, but it hissed and flattened its ears.

Anti frowned. “I’m not gonna hurtcha. Ya wanna get that outta that thing, don’t ya?”

The cat blinked slowly, glancing back at its ensnared paw, before looking at him once more and nodding.

“Good kitty,” he chuckled, “now hold still.” He reached over and pried opened the trap up with his bare hands, setting the cat free. Then he tossed the trap into a nearby trash bin. “There. Now we don’t have to worry about that anym-”

Feeling something rubbing against his leg, Anti glanced down to see the cat meowing happily and purring at him. The demon sighed and smiled. “Heh, you’re welcome.” He patted its head. “Ya must’ve hit a growth spurt didn’t ya? Well..I got places to be so…take care of yourself, cat.”

As he turned and walked away, though, it wasn’t long before he noticed it was following him down the sidewalk. He quirked an eyebrow. “Oh? Ya wanna come home with me?”

The cat nodded and meowed once more, as though to say “yes”.

“….alright then. Just..don’t let the others see ya ‘cause they’re allergic to cats.”

It nodded in understanding, before eagerly following Anti all the way home. Although he noticed it had a hard time keeping up because of its injured paw. So he sighed and scooped it up into his arms.

”Holy shit you’re heavy,” he grunted, before he decided to glitch back into his room just to save time. “Whew..” 

Then he plopped the cat onto his bed. “Alright..I’ll be right back with some stuff to fix yer paw. Get cozy but stay outta sight, okay?”

It simply nodded in understanding, laying down and allowing its paws to dangle over the edge of the bed as it watched Anti glitch away.……

“Doc. I need some bandages.”

“Anti..” Henrik sighed as he looked up from his paperwork to see Anti standing in front of his desk. “Didn’t you just change-?”

Suddenly a knife slammed down, impaling the wooden surface and causing him to shriek.

“͡D̨o͞ń'͏t m͞ak͠e ͢me͠ ask ̵yo͝u̸ ̕a͜ǵain o͏r̕ I͜'͘ll ̷b͡le̴ed a͠l̨l͢ ̨o̵ve̢r͞ y͡o͜u͟r͠ ̛pre̛c͝i̡ous͟ ̸p͜aper̡s.“͝“͏ Anti spat, his eyes flickering to black as he stared down the doctor.

“..a-alright alright..Jesus..take zhe whole fuckin’ roll if you vant.” Henrik grunted as he tossed a roll of bandages to the demon, who caught it and smirked, his eyes reverting back to blue.

“Thanks, doc~” And with that he glitched away.

“At least he’s polite enough to zhank me….” The doctor shook his head.…….

When you saw the demon who rescued you return, he wasted no time in wrapping up your injured paw. You simply thanked him with another meow and a lick on the cheek.

Soon enough you got to know his name: Anti.

For the rest of the day he stayed in the room with you, only leaving to bring food for you and himself.

Least to say, you were eternally grateful that he had helped you, despite the fact that he did look and act a little…crazy. But he seemed to have a soft spot for cats, so that was a plus.

It wasn’t until later on, though, that you found out a way to repay your debt to him.……

Late that night, you were curled up on the floor while Anti slept in his bed. Although at some point you could hear small whimpers come from his form, so you glanced up to see his tossing and turning a little, indicating that he was having a nightmare.

But, as a Cait Sidhe, you had a special type of magic that could alter the dreams of an individual. Being a Cait Sidhe that was born from a more powerful one, however, gifted you with another unique ability, although first you wanted to comfort the demon.

So you hopped onto his bed, seeing him laying on his stomach and keeping a tight grip on his pillow. Before he could move again you leaned forward and touched his forehead with your nose, your whiskers glowing as your magic did its thing.

After a few moments you moved away and saw him fully relax, his expression becoming peaceful.

You smiled gently and curled up beside him, although you were surprised when you felt him reach over and pet your fur.

Soon enough he stopped and drifted back into dreamland, and you did, too, but not before you decided to use your other “unique” ability on him as another gift of thanks.…….

Anti woke up the next day, yawning and rubbing his eyes tiredly. “Man..what kinda dream did I have last night..?” He then glanced over and saw you curled up beside him, still sound asleep.

It was then he remembered the events of yesterday and smiled, gently rubbing your head. “Oh right..I saved y….”

But he trailed off when he noticed that, instead of fingernails, he had..claws?

“What the..?” Glancing down, he gasped as he saw that he had a black tail, too. “Wait..don’t even tell me..” Then he put his hands on his head, and, sure enough, he could feel two fuzzy cat ears. He gave them a tug, and realized that they were real.

“Oh what the fuck? What the actual FUCK?! Marvin you’re gonna be a dead son of a bi-!!!”

“Easy now..it was me. Don’t freak out.”

Anti blinked in confusion, looking around for the source of the voice, although it was echoing inside of his head. “Who said that?”

“Take a look beside you.”

He did and he saw that you were gazing up at him, awake.

“Y-You did……wait…how am I able to hear ya now?” His eyebrows furrowed.

“Because I made you half-Cait Sidhe,” you explained, standing up on all fours and arching your back to stretch. Then you settled back down and tucked your paws underneath you. “I suppose it’s only fair that I tell you that… I’m a Cait Sidhe..we’re witches that can turn into cats at will..although a few of my kind are actual fairies.”

Anti just stared at you, dumbfounded.

“I…saw that you had a nightmare last night, and with my magic I was able to grant you a more..blissful dream.”

“…y-you were in it,” he mumbled, “tellin’ me that yer name was [y/n] and that ye were a Cait..whatever it is. And that ya couldn’t turn human again ‘cause you’ve transformed nine times or somethin’” 

“Everything I said in your dream is true,” you reassured him. “I’m permanently stuck as a cat but…I’m perfectly fine in this form. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

“Gotcha. So..why did ya turn me into…half of a Cait Sidhe?” He asked, looking down and feeling his soft tail.

“As thanks for rescuing me yesterday,” you simply stated. “Normally people are scared of us because of one, our size, and two, some folks are afraid we’re out for their souls. But…I didn’t sense any soul in you, instead I sensed…your kind heart.”

Anti’s breath hitched slightly at those last two words. He was never one to think that he was ever “kind” nor that he had a “heart”.

“Are…you okay?”

“Y-Yeah..” The demon sniffled a bit, rubbing his eyes as they started to burn and his vision grew blurry. “Just..I-I’m..not exactly the nicest person you’ll ever meet, but-”

“You were nice enough to free me and to let me live with you.” You stood up and nuzzled his cheek, licking away a tear that fell down. “I sense that there’s good inside of you….and that you’re also quite lonesome. I want to stay with you so you won’t feel that way anymore, Anti. All of this…is repayment for your kindness.”

With another sniffle, he moved closer and wrapped his arms around you, burying his face into your soft fur. “Th-Thank ya, [y/n]…I-I swear I’ll take good care of ya. Just..don’t leave me..” He whispered, almost pleadingly.

After standing there in shock for a few moments, you smiled and rubbed the side of your head against his, purring ever so loudly. “I promise I won’t, Anti. I promise.”

[siarven]

WIP Ask Game

I got asked  “11, 13, 16 und 19?” by @madmooninc via message :D Thank you so much! :D

11 - Which character do you have the most in common with?

Hm. I love painting, the way Ava does, and reading, and making up stories (obviously). I also love animals a lot. I had a lot of nightmares when I was young, too, though not necessarily monsters under my bed. Ava really wasn’t supposed to be the way she is like, now, she just kind of became? In the end all of my characters have small pieces of me woven into them, because how else would I write them? But I think Ava might have the most, even if she’s far more chaotic than I am. Or maybe Fiyare? Good question x’D Sadly I was never that close to my brother as they both are/were XD Though I’m very happy that my parents aren’t in any way like Jon and Liz :) 

13. Your characters are stranded on an deserted island. What happens?

(That reminds me of the fact that I still have to do that timetravel tag, ahahha. I’m sorry, that’s at least 3 months old by now...) 

“Well, we can’t drink the sea water, that’s for sure. But there might be a water source somewhere up that mountain.” Ben looks around the island with a quizzical expression, trying desperately to find something -- anything -- that could relieve the situation. The mountain looks very steep. “Why did the stupid boat have to break down anyways?” Ava kicks at a rock. The rock refuses to budge. She huffs in pain, and then kicks at the rock again. This time it goes flying. “It’s only our luck that this island is called Disappointment Island! We should’ve known better!” She laughs a bit helplessly. They have lost most of their posessions, the wreck is probably going to be arriving during the next few days if it didn’t sink, and all the technology they had with them has broken down. Mom and Dad are discussing what to do next -- well, Mom is discussing. Dad is still mostly in shock, even after two hours, and he’s probably not going to be much help after that, either. He has no idea how to survive in the jungle. “Don’t worry”, Kiyera says jovially. “I know a trick or two. We’ll be good in no time.” “We just need to worry about the essentials first”, Iuri adds, nodding approvingly. “Find a place to stay, something to eat, and most of all: Water.” None of them say what they’re all thinking: We can be happy that we’re still alive. That everything went this well, considering how many drowned in shipwrecks. “Too bad they took down the castaway depots”, Ben says thoughtfully. “I read about them in that book that you gave me, Kiyera. About shipwrecks and pirates and the sea trade. A good book.” Now on the ground of the ocean, probably. “We should go check out the island”, Kiyera says. “Find out how big it is, what kinds of animals live here. Maybe they left something behind in that depot. The building should still be standing, right?” The others nod, happy that someone else is giving the instructions. “All right. Move as a group, stay together, be wary of, well... I don’t know. Just be careful and try to step where we do. I’m going to get Liz, then we can continue thinking about this.” Ben smiles thankfully at her. It’s nice to not be in charge for once - something he’s still getting used to, now that they’ve made so many new friends. Now that things are finally going uphill for the Nichols family again. “Don’t leave me, Ben”, Ava says quietly, clutching at his hand. He smiles at her, too. They’re all bruised and cut in places, and Ava is too, but she’s taking it in step, not complaining or crying. “I’ll never leave you”, he tells her, and it’s the truth. As long as they’ve got each other everything is going to be all right. Even if they’ll end up shipwrecked forever. But that’s not likely; he knows that there are endemic birds living here so scientists and ornithologists are bound to wind up here sooner or later. And anyways, he’s always wanted to have an adventure. And who gets a better vacation adventure than him, being stranded on an island with his favourite people in the world?

They find water that same day, and build themselves a shelter out of branches and leaves later that evening, because Kiyera is an expert in survival stuff since she led a Girl-Scout Group for several years. A very hardcore one. They are rescued three days later by a helicopter because they built a huge bonfire and because they had to leave Azrae behind because they didn’t get off from work so Iuri used to call them every night. After not hearing anything for three days straight, Azrae alarmed the coastal guards and a search party was sent out. And so Ben and Ava have the best story to tell when they return to school after the holidays. 

16. What would your characters be for Halloween? 

Good question! Halloween!AU in our universe :D

Ava: She’s a witch, but the nice kind (not the stereotypical evil ones). She helped a bit with the designs. It has a lot of feathers, and is probably a very earthy type of witch, mostly greens and browns. Also the witch might be a princess, too, because she has a tiara over her hat. (She loves disney princesses, after all. Especially Tiana) 

Ben: I’d love to say that he would be more carefree in our world but probably not. But damn it, he loves superhero comics so he’s defintiely going as Superman, because he’s the best. Obviously. 

Fiyare: A black cat, of course! Her costume is going to be really elaborate but she’ll take care to only use faux fur, and despite it’s amazingness it’ll still be rather simplistic. And def not the sexy cat version, she hates those. Fiyare’s also the one who helps the children with their costumes. 

Kiyera: A pirate... hehehe. All the children in the neighbourhood love her, especially because she has a lot of (rescued) parrots sitting all over her. 

Azrae - Azrae is going to be the most dramatic of them all. Nobody is surprised. They literally come as Death, but a far more enigmatic version. They’ll ask Fiyare to help them with the sewing and since she’s always happy to help she’ll teach them. Azrae does everything themselves, of course, not even letting Iuri help. 

Iuri - She’s going to go as a dragon, the (in theory) firebreathing version. With elaborate scales makeup and costume. She and Azrae spent all their free time the weeks before making the most magnificent costumes. Iuri’s has small scales sown on everywhere and her makeup is on point. 

Jon - He wanted to go as a character from the Silmarillion (because he loves Tolkien’s work so much, and making fan art and connection with the fan base has helped him immensely with his depression) but he couldn’t decide which one he loved the most, and because time is fickle he didn’t manage to make anything. So he goes as a vampire with a cheap costume from the store, because vampires sleep during the day, too. 

Liz - She’s EXTREMELY into steampunk so her costume will have a thousand cogs and small pipes everywhere. She’s been working on it for at least half a year. At first she tried to make the rest of her family join but Ava wanted to go as a witch so badly and didn’t like the pipes, so Liz finally stopped talking about it. The end result of her late nights spent in the attic might be too heavy to wear for long, so the next year she’ll have to optimize. But that’s the price you pay. And she’s looking pretty fabulous.

Ohhh, that question was awesome XD

19 Post a pic or gif that describes your WIP. 

Heh. I’ll let you make up your own mind about that. ;) The best thing about this gif is that it works for almost all of them 

Ask me a WIP question! :D

I have no idea if I should tag people for this because it’s all AU but anyways, whatever. :’D

@prismalicht @merigreenleaf @lynnafred @romenna @fynniana @yoojas3d @random-stuff-thrown-into-a-pot 

[alirhi]

Posting for a friend

I will probably take this down later lol. I didn't write it to share - remember my post a few days ago about writing fanfiction as free therapy? That's what this was - but I sent a tiny chunk of this to a friend last night and she seemed to like it, so I figured I'd let her read the whole thing. (Friend shall remain nameless, in case she was just being polite ❤😂)

Anyway, here, if you're bored and feel like reading some awkward and weird Sebastian Stan fanfiction lmao... (and yes, I am aware that it's wildly unrealistic and 90% of what Seb says and does would never actually happen. if I'd been planning on sharing this when I wrote it, I would have put in more effort to make it less stupid XD)

She couldn't believe she was really doing this. What the hell was wrong with her? This was so not going to end well. Heart in her throat, she wandered this city she hated with a burning passion and kept a lookout for familiar landmarks. Stalking. This was officially stalking, and it was creepy and horrible. What the hell was wrong with her?!

There he was. She stopped dead in her tracks, stunned; she'd been trying to find his gym or something, the saner part of her hoping she'd find nothing and could walk away saying she'd tried. She never expected to see him walking down the street, coffee in hand. At least he didn't appear to be on the phone, or with anyone.

Tightening her grip on the object in her hands, she sucked in a deep breath and forced herself to approach him. "E-Excuse me? Mr. Stan?" He stopped, breathtaking blue eyes locked on her, and she flinched. "I'm sorry. I am so sorry to bother you, and I know this is crazy unprofessional. I'm not even in the film business in any way, I just... I'm doing a favor for my sister. She's in film school, to be a director, and she was too scared to approach you."

"You don't sound too thrilled about it, yourself."

His wry smile soothed her nerves ever so slightly and she let out a nervous giggle. "Big fan. Also a big fan of respect and boundaries, so I pretty much hate myself right now. Um. So..."

He nodded to the thing she was unconsciously crumpling in her hands. "That a script?"

"Uh-huh." Shaking violently now, she thrust it out at him and nearly wept when he took it. "I know it's beyond a pipe dream, I just... I promised her I'd try, and... Well, it'd mean the world to us both if you would even bother reading it. The super pipe dream is... is you starring in it. As Ben."

Still smiling awkwardly, Sebastian was flipping absently through the pages. "Contact info in here?"

She nodded. "Hers; it's on the inside of the front cover."

He handed it back, smile widening when she began to quietly panic. "Add yours. I want you to act as her agent; this took guts. I'll let you know what I think, okay?"

"For real?" Quickly scribbling her name and phone number under her sister's information, she stammered, "M-mulțumesc!" Then she caught herself and cringed. "I'm sorry. I probably mangled that, I-"

"You speak Romanian?!"

She stole a glance at his beautiful face and immediately melted at the puppy-dog excitement there. With another nervous laugh, she admitted, "No. I've been trying to learn it, but not much has sunk in yet."

Sebastian chuckled, taking the script back and glancing at the cover. "Well, then I appreciate the effort even more, Ali. Nice to meet you. I'll let you know, okay?"

"I'll only be eagerly staring at my phone like a crazy person."

They both laughed and Ali turned to walk away before she could humiliate herself any further - though, she didn't think there was a new low to reach after driving five hours to stalk a stranger - when Sebastian stopped her with a gentle, "Hey." When she turned back to face him, he smiled, expression somewhere between tender and sly. "Why did you do this? Aside from her being your sister, what's your connection to all this?"

"What, I can't just be a good sister?" She laughed at the look on his face and blushed. "I never do anything. Smart or dumb, safe or risky... I just... I do nothing. I work, and if I'm lucky, I sleep. I guess I just wanted to be able to say I did something, even if it was stupid and crazy and, let's face it, really creepy. And I really am sorry for stalking you and disrupting your day. Thank you for not immediately calling the cops."

"Don't be so hard on yourself." He held up the script, grinning at her. "What started out super creepy turned out to actually be kinda sweet. I hope your sister knows how much you love her."

"She knows how much I love you." She'd muttered it under her breath, or thought she had. Apparently Sebastian had bat ears, because he turned pink and laughed. "...Sorry."

He shook his head. "I love you, too. I love all my fans."

"Wonder boy, you are perfect." That got another laugh out of him, and knowing her luck would run out soon if she didn't quit while she was ahead, she waved, wished him well, and fled.

The fact that she'd just met Sebastian fucking Stan kept her buzzing like a bumblebee in a jar for for the rest of the day. She nearly exploded with joy when he called her the next morning.

She almost ignored it out of habit; she never answered the phone if she didn't recognize the number. Then, kicking herself for her absurd optimism, on the off chance that it was him, she answered.

"Hey, it's Sebastian." As if she didn't know his voice! Her heart stopped, lodged itself in her throat again, and she just barely managed to choke out an awkward grunt by way of greeting. "So, I just finished the script, and I was wondering if you'd be willing to meet up for lunch to discuss it?"

Holy. Shit. She cleared her throat, but it didn't help much. "Uh... when?"

"Does around one or two work?"

"Today?!" Her eyes bugged, and then she realized she'd never told him where she was from and she laughed. "Um. It might have to be a bit later than that. I'm in Massachusetts."

"You drop off work for me and then just take off?" His tone was obviously teasing, and she smiled. "What the hell is that about? You're a crap agent!"

"I live in Massachusetts, dude! I had to go home and feed my cats."

He went from teasing to stunned in a heartbeat. "You mean you drove all the way down to New York to spend five minutes talking to me, and then drove all the way back?"

"Yep. I did mention that I'm a crazy person."

"Apparently!" He chuckled, and the sound warmed her heart. "It seems cruel to make you drive all the way back down here again when you just got home."

"I don't mind," she was quick to assure him. "I just need a little more time to get there, is all. It's a five-hour drive, not..." She glanced at the clock; it was eleven. "...Two."

"Alright, dinner then!" He still sounded somewhat dubious, but they made plans to meet up for dinner around six to give her some extra time in case of traffic, and hung up. Then Ali entered Panic Mode as she scrambled around the room trying to make herself presentable in a hurry.

It took until she was pulling onto the final road for her to realize the address Sebastian had texted to her wasn't in NYC; it wasn't even in New York. He was meeting her at a restaurant in CT. She'd been so distracted by the 'oh holy shit' of it all that she hadn't been paying much attention when she copied it into her phone's GPS.

"I figured you might be more comfortable out here," he explained with a smile when he showed up shortly after she did. When she reached out to shake his hand, he took hers and leaned down, kissing her cheek. "You don't strike me as the big city type."

"Not at all," she agreed with a laugh, trying not to blush as they settled in their seats. The script - now curled and spiked with little tabs and scraps of paper - sat on the table by his hand. Fighting the urge to sink into herself, she forced herself to ask, "So what did you think? Looks like you have some notes."

Sebastian smiled somewhat bashfully. "Oh, no. Well... kind of. My first run through, I marked scenes and lines that stood out to me, so I could pay extra attention when I went back over it. The 'notes' are mostly just my dorky comments."

"...Like...?"

His shy smile turned into a playful grin. "Let's order first. I'm starving!"

She absolutely hated eating in front of people, hot guys especially, but she didn't want to be weird and just watch him eat while she sipped water or something, either. Desperately praying that they'd both be too distracted by talking about work for her to be self-conscious, she scanned the menu for something cheap and simple.

"When's the last time you actually went on a date?" When her head snapped up and she gaped at him, Sebastian laughed. "I'm not saying that's what this is. I'd have been very clear and up front about it if I was asking you out. I just mean, you somehow look even more uncomfortable than you did yesterday, and you're looking at the prices before you even look at what the food actually is. I just figured you're not used to being treated to dinner."

"You never said you were treating," she pointed out with an awkward giggle. "I'm poor, and so is everyone I know. I always look at the prices first." Under no circumstances would she tell this man that she hadn't been on a "proper" date... ever, really.

"I don't even want to think about how much gas you burned through, driving down to New York and back in one day, and then coming down to Connecticut today." He laughed and shrugged. "I figured paying for dinner was the least I could do."

The least you could do? she thought, a little dismayed. Not having your stalker arrested or slapped with a restraining order is already more than most would do!

"Did I lose you somewhere?"

Jolted out of her thoughts, Ali blushed. "No, sorry. I just..." She stared at him, lost in those big blue eyes she loved so much. "You're not fake. Not that I thought you were! I just mean... Gods, you really are just the nicest guy in the world!"

Sebastian laughed. "For buying you food?"

"For giving a shit. You don't know me; I did something unforgivably creepy and invasive yesterday, and I feel like most people would be running full-tilt the other way, but here you are, actually sitting down and talking to me."

"If I can't handle being stopped on the street now and then, I'm in the wrong line of work."

Okay, she had to give him that one; but still... "If you love what you do, you're never in the wrong line of work. I don't believe for a second that you 'signed up' to have your time off disrupted by strangers, or to be constantly surrounded by people all demanding things from you."

With a grin, he teased, "Maybe that's why I want to give you a chance. You didn't demand; you asked, very nicely, and apologized for turning up out of the blue. And you're forgiven, by the way, so can we put that to rest?"

Ali blushed again, staring down at the table. "...Yeah. Of course. Um... Thank you."

"Ali, I like that you're honest; that you know when you've fucked up, you own up to it, and you apologize. That's... that's a good quality. And as for this fuck up..." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him lift the somewhat mangled script and risked a glance up at him. He was grinning. "You've got my attention. The question is, what are you going to do with it?"

Down to business, then. Bracing herself against her own anxiety, she sat back and looked him right in the eye. "That depends largely on you. It's basically a student film written to be a full-length movie. Amelia's still in school; I don't know if she's even been taught how to secure funding yet, and networking isn't her strongest skill. That's why she sent the script to me to try to get things in motion. Believe it or not, my anxious, neurotic ass is the one better with people, at least in a professional capacity."

Sebastian stared at her, wide-eyed. "...Wow. You're...eloquent. Where the hell did this come from?"

Snorting, she flashed him a quick smile. "You got me through the 'oh god I'm such a pest' meltdown. Now it's work time. I've got a fair bit of attachment to this project; her screenplay was based on a comment I made and a few lines of dialogue I sent her-"

"So this was your idea?"

"Both of ours." Ali had no interest in being a screenwriter, so while her ego wanted credit for her contribution, she downplayed it, instead. "Anyway, I'm invested, and not just because I want to support my sister. The thing is, I may be better with people, but I'm nobody; I know nothing about this industry." With a wry smirk, she added, "Except just enough to know that I'm doing this whole thing ass-backwards, but whatever. Now, what did you think of it? Plot, characters, whatever comes to mind."

"The first thing that caught my eye was this little list in the beginning." He flipped the cover open, pointing to where the 'dream cast' the girls had discussed was listed and grinned while Ali blushed all over again. "I've never worked with Avan Jogia, but I wouldn't mind making out with him. His lips look really soft."

She wanted to crack up at that, but settled for a muffled snort, instead. "They do, don't they?"

"So, have you spoken-" He stopped when she shook her head, and he gave her a patient smile. "This is it for progress so far, isn't it? Just having the script at all, and talking to me."

"Which is more than I honestly expected," she admitted with a nod. "I mean, I have faith that if it can somehow get made, it'll be amazing, but right now that's all we've got, is faith."

The grin was back, even as Sebastian dropped his gaze back to the screenplay in his hands. "Faith and a very funny script so full of fandom nods it would never work without exactly who you want in each role."

"...You noticed that, huh?"

It was his turn to snort with amusement. "Kinda hard not to. You dressed Ben as army-Bucky. If we do this wrong, Marvel might sue."

"We?"

The 'duh' look he gave her made her laugh. "What? You thought I dragged you all the way down here to tell you I'm not interested? The Halloween party alone had me laughing until I cried." With another glance at the page, he added, "It helps that I know most of these guys. If you can get me a digital copy of this, I can send it along and see how many of them I can prod into helping. Hopefully my manager can reach out to Avan and Elliot. I can probably get hold of Mark on instagram..."

"That would be amazing." She couldn't believe how well this was going. The more they talked, the more clear it became that Sebastian was really into it, and his excitement made her giddy. They talked for hours; Ali was so distracted by the deep dive they took into the characters and the story that not only did she forget to be self-conscious about eating, but she even forgot to spazz internally about the fact that she was talking to her hero and biggest celebrity crush.

The restaurant had a bar attached, so it was open pretty late. By the time they realized how long they'd been sitting there, it was midnight.

"You are not driving four hours alone, not right now," he insisted as he walked her to her car. "Let me at least get you a room in the city."

Ali smiled, touched by his concern. "I'm fine, I promise. If I get too tired, I can always pull over and take a nap in my car."

"It is insane to me that you're so casual about driving, like, what? Three, four states over? Just to sit here with me for a couple of hours."

"Do you not know who you are?" she half-joked, laughing. "And for the record, I don't give a flying fuck that you're famous. I care that you're kind; you're warm and open and patient in a world that works so hard to crush all of those qualities. You're a hero to me, not because of the spotlight, but because of who you continue to be in spite of it." He looked like he was getting a little misty-eyed and flustered, so to lighten the mood, she added, "When Sebastian fucking Stan invites you to dinner, distance be damned! You go to dinner!"

He still turned adorably red, but he laughed, so she considered that mission accomplished. "At least call me when you get in so I know you're safe?"

"It'll be like four in the morning," she pointed out gently, "and that's if I don't stop for a nap."

"I'll be up, trust me." At her dubious look, he crossed his arms and playfully stared her down. "In about two seconds I'm just gonna take you home with me so I know you won't die on the road."

"I wouldn't say 'no' to that!" The second the words were out of her mouth, she cringed so hard she had to squeeze her eyes shut. Sebastian was laughing again, so that was a small comfort.

"Oh, is that what you've been angling for this whole time?"

She could tell from his tone that he was just kidding, but she was still quick to tell him 'no.' Then her mouth and her weird sense of humor got away from her again. "I mean, you're gorgeous and I want your babies, but that's beside the point."

"Oh god!" He was cracking up now, and she couldn't even tell if he was genuinely amused, or just really uncomfortable.

"Jesus, I really have to get away from you, right now!" Shaking her head, she started digging through her bag for her keys. "We're done with work, which means Fangirl Mode has reactivated, and that's good for no one!"

"No, I think you need to stick around." He smiled softly when she glanced up at him, eyes seeming to see right through her. "You're really always honest, even if the truth humiliates you beyond bearing. That's incredible. Are you just incapable of lying? Did a little kid make a birthday wish about you or something?"

Oh gods, she'd almost forgotten he was a huge Jim Carrey fan. "If they did, it was for a lot longer than a day!" His intense, if oddly tender, scrutiny was starting to make her feel things best left buried and she hastily looked away. "Could you please stop looking at me like that?"

"Like what?"

Tears stinging her eyes, she glanced into his and then quickly away again. "Like I've got a chance. I know that's not-"

He cut her off with a soft kiss, shocking her into silence, and then gave her the saddest little smile she'd ever seen. "Why wouldn't you?"

"Don't do this to me." She shook her head, feeling as though she was shrinking in on herself. "I can't be the thing that fucks this whole thing up for my sister when it all goes to shit between us. I can't!"

"That's a rather bleak outlook on the entire situation. I don't know whether to be more offended by your lack of faith in my ability to be professional, or the fact that we're not even together and you're already seeing a breakup."

"I'm a lot to handle," she pointed out with a pathetic attempt at a smirk. "An unmedicated mess. Nobody likes me for long."

Sebastian scowled, reaching up to wipe her tears off her cheeks. "Least of all you, it sounds like."

"Sebastian, you don't understand." Though all she wanted was to fall into his arms and never move again, she broke away and backed up a few steps. "I have been shit to her, and this movie means too much to me and her career means too much to her, and I can't keep ruining everything for us both!"

"You don't do anything." He grabbed her by her upper arms to hold her in place and keep her from moving any farther away from him. "You told me yesterday that you never do anything. Ali... Ali!" When she wouldn't look at him, he shook her; lightly, but enough to startle her into looking him in the eye. "Do something."

She shook her head, closing her eyes as if that would help; as if his beautiful face wasn't already burned forever in her mind. "I can't. I can't. I know too much about you, it's creepy!"

"Okay, let's make it fair, then." She could actually hear his grin. "Tell me the creepiest thing you know about me, and then match it with something about you."

Ali couldn't help laughing at that. "Actually, the creepiest fact for me to know actually came to me in the least creepy way." Involuntarily, she glanced at his crotch, and then quickly back up just in time to see him blush.

"You've seen Monday."

"And everyone who has knows you're not circumcised," she pointed out with a mostly awkward laugh. "Which honestly didn't surprise me, seeing as how you're from Europe and aren't Jewish, so why would you be? ...I don't really know how to 'match' that one."

"If we weren't standing out in a parking lot I could be a total asshole and say you can strip down and let me see you naked." He laughed when she turned bright red and swatted his chest. "But that seems like a bit much. Um... well, that's sort of a body modification, right? So do you have any risque piercings or tattoos?"

She shook her head, giggling. "No. No tattoos at all yet, and the only piercings so far are my ears. There's a bunch that I want, but I haven't gotten around to it."

"You know what? Gimme your phone." He grinned when she handed it right over, clearly not realizing that it was confusion that prompted the move, more than trust. A few seconds later, her GPS was talking as he handed it back. "I'll meet you there."

"Please tell me you're not-" She glanced down and cringed. "You are. You're making me drive in New York City."

"You could always just ride with me and I can bring you back in the morning for your car."

"Oh hell no! I'll meet you there! ...Wherever 'there' is."

'There' turned out to be a rather classy-looking brick apartment building in Manhattan. Unable to process what that likely meant - there was no way! - Ali squashed the thought down and ignored it, simply focusing on finding a place to park. That alone was a Herculean task.

"I can't believe you made me drive a RAV4 through New York!" she playfully snapped as she got out and approached his little sports car.

Sebastian laughed. "I can't believe you drive a RAV4! You're so tiny!"

"I'm only four inches shorter than you, Tank."

"I'm not a tank..." He glanced down at himself, looking adorably confused. "Am I a tank? I kind of was for Civil War, but that was years ago."

"Mmm..." Feeling bold, she draped her arms over his shoulders, smiling when his hands moved automatically to her waist. "You're lean, but you still look like you could bench me with one hand. I don't like the big, veiny Dwayne Johnson types, anyway. Don't get so bogged down in what Hollywood wants you to be; you're perfect, Sebastian."

"Wow." He grinned, pulling her closer. "You're good for my ego!" With a playful nip to her neck, he started backing her toward the door. "Yep. Definitely sleeping with you. Come on."

Ali laughed as he finally released her waist and took her hand instead, and she followed him inside. "Do I get a say in this, Casanova?"

"I said I was gonna sleep with you," he mock-growled, face buried against her neck again, "not rape you. Get in here."

She giggled when, apparently deciding she was moving too slowly, he yanked her inside and into his arms, kicking the door shut behind her. "Sebastian... Sebastian!" All she wanted was to let him keep being silly and flirty, but she couldn't shake the feeling that they were about to make a mistake. "You are incredibly charming. You are. And my god I want you so bad it hurts!"

"Then what's the problem?"

"The problem..." She framed his face with her hands, letting him kiss her before pushing him back. "The problem is that I'm your fan, and I hunted you down like a crazy person-"

"And I forgave you for that."

"That's sweet, and I appreciate that. And that's not the point. The point is, I did that to work with you."

"No," he pointed out with a smirk, "you did that to get me to work with your sister. I made you stay stuck in the middle because you're really pretty and I'm really lonely and you kinda seem somehow even lonelier than me."

"You're not wrong..."

"Ali, listen. Relax." Mirroring her pose in a weird way, he framed her face with his hands and smiled when she turned her head to kiss his palm without thinking. "Whatever happens, it's not gonna happen tonight. It never was; I was just being goofy. It's late and I'm old; I'm tired."

"You're not old-"

He kissed her quiet. "I'm too old to be fucking a twenty-year-old at one in the morning. I brought you here because we were spending an awkwardly long time in that parking lot, and-what?" He grinned, watching her lose her shit, and she pressed her face against his chest. "Why are you laughing?"

"I love you!" She hugged him, still giggling helplessly. "You really think I'm only twenty?"

"Around there, yeah. Why?"

"Dude, I'm thirty-four!"

"No way." He gaped at her and then grinned, shaking his head. "No way!"

Still giggling helplessly, she nodded. "We're only five years apart, man."

"Got a painting in your attic I should know about?"

"No!" Oh god she couldn't breathe! "Just good genes. And I don't drink or smoke."

"Wow. Wow!" Sebastian laughed, pulling her down with him as he sat on the couch. "I feel so called out right now!"

"Not my intent, Smoogie-OHMYGOD!" She'd been about to cuddle him but the second she realized what she'd said, she launched herself off his lap, red-faced and laughing hysterically.

"What? What was that?" Laughing almost as hard as she was, Sebastian yanked her back down onto the couch. "What did you just call me?" Pinning her in place, he tickled her mercilessly as she screeched and howled with laughter.

"I'm sorry! It slipped!"

"What the hell is a Smoogie?!"

"Nothing!" He finally let up, and she gasped and wheezed, gulping in lungfuls of air like he'd been strangling her. "It... It literally has no meaning," she rasped. "It's just a random made-up word I used once out of nowhere and I guess it kinda stuck in my brain."

Sebastian snorted and helped her sit up. "Like 'winter's children.' Alright, the brain is a weird, weird place. I get that." With a grin, he nudged her and added, "Smoogie."

"Nooo!" Giggling, Ali pushed him back. "You're Smoogie! Come up with your own dumbass nickname." Eyes wide as she thought back to some of the weird shit that she'd heard come out of his mouth in the past, she hastily amended, "Better yet, don't."

"Oh, no." He hugged her tight. "No, no, no. Challenge fucking accepted! I'm gonna give you the single most embarrassing nickname you've ever heard of!"

She groaned, but it quickly turned into laughter. "At least fuck me first, so when I die of embarrassment, I can die somewhat happy!"

"Oh, so now you want it?"

They grinned at each other right before Ali hid her face against his chest. "I always did, I just don't think it'd be smart."

"Tell you what..." He pushed her back a bit, just enough to duck his head and kiss her. "Let's get some sleep, and see how things stand in the morning. That'll also give you time to think about this:" Those warm, soft hands were back on her jaw and she found herself lost in his gorgeous blue eyes. "My interest in that script has nothing to do with my interest in you. Your sister wrote a funny movie, and had it come to me through my manager, I'd still want in. You are beautiful and vibrant and honest, and my god, I'm into you! Completely separate things, and neither has any influence over the other."

"Promise?" Tears blurred her vision, but not enough to hide his soft smile from her. "I mean-"

He kissed her quiet and stood, pulling her with him. "Come to bed. We can talk about it in the morning. I just... I know I shouldn't be this overprotective of a total stranger, but I couldn't deal with the thought of you possibly crashing and dying on the way home tonight. I don't like people driving tired."

"You're so sweet it hurts." She grinned, but it quickly faded as it registered that he was pulling her into his bedroom, and she planted her feet. "I can just crash on the couch."

"What? Don't trust me to be a gentleman?"

It was obvious that he was just teasing her, but she still was quick to assure him, "No, I trust you. I just..." She sighed. "Oh, to hell with it. It's not like there's anywhere to go but up after literal stalking. I don't want to be a one-night-stand or fuck buddies or whatever. I don't want 'something casual'. Maybe some women are fine with just, like, the bragging rights of fucking a celebrity or something, but that's not me. I don't give a rat's ass that you're famous; I really don't."

"Yeah, you said that earlier. So what do you want?" He gave her a wry, tired smile. "And why can't it wait until after sleep?"

"I'm sorry!" Despite her rather bleak mood, Ali giggled a little before hastily getting to the point: "I want to be your girlfriend, but for many reasons, I'm not optimistic about the chances of that happening. And falling asleep in your arms, or even in your bed at all, is just..."

"Ah." With a nod, Sebastian released her hand and stepped back. "I'll get you a blanket."

She couldn't help it; when he came back and tossed a blanket on the end of the couch, she grinned and said, "Anthony's gonna be so jealous."

"Anthony Mackie has never been in my house!" They both laughed, and then Sebastian gave her a sweet kiss on the forehead before disappearing into his bedroom with a soft, "Goodnight, Ali."

"Night, Seb."

The couch was surprisingly comfortable, but Ali still couldn't sleep. On top of the discomfort of being in someone else's home for the first time, she was too busy spiraling over what a fucking idiot she was. If she didn't stop getting in her own way, she was going to end up pushing Sebastian away completely; something told her she didn't have long before he'd get sick of her constantly grasping for excuses to keep some professional distance between them. Would her desperate desire to not ruin things by sleeping with him end up ruining things by annoying the hell out of him?

Eventually she passed out from sheer exhaustion near dawn, and woke sometime later to the soft murmur of a familiar voice. At first she thought she'd left a video going on her laptop or something, but then as she sucked in a deep breath and stretched, the previous night floated back to her along with a lungful of Sebastian's scent and the weird realization that she actually knew what he smelled like now.

As awareness reluctantly returned to her, she realized Sebastian was on the phone in the other room and, blessing the natural softness of his voice, did her best to tune him out. Not her business. Instead she sat up and started playing with her phone, checking messages and jumping into another youtube rabbit hole.

"You know, I'm right here." Startled by the very amused voice right behind her, she whirled around and answered his grin with one of her own. "You don't have to look me up on the internet."

"You were on the phone," she pointed out, even as she dropped hers into her purse, "and you're funny as hell on press tours."

"I was on the phone with your sister." He sank down onto the couch beside her, and without thinking she snuggled up against his side, smiling when his arm dropped over her shoulders. "It took me thirty minutes to convince her I'm really me and it wasn't a prank. Not a very trusting woman, that one."

Ali laughed. "Did she spend the next thirty minutes after that hyperventilating?"

"No, she held it together pretty well after that. Very giggly, but we managed to say what needed to be said." She felt him shift and glanced up to see him staring down at her. "You didn't tell me she was in Florida."

"...Oops." She flashed him a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

"It's fine; doesn't really change things, it was just a surprise. Now..." He shifted, and she took her cue to scoot back a bit so they could look at each other more easily. "Shall we be grownups and talk about last night?"

About half a dozen childish jokes were on the tip of her tongue, but she pushed them all down with a deep sigh and nodded. "I suppose we should."

"Tell me why you think you have no chance." He crossed his arms, staring her down and making her feel about two inches tall. "I don't want to get fifteen minutes into a conversation and feel like you're just grasping at straws to drive me insane. Get it all out."

"Jeez, no pressure or anything," she grumbled, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I don't have a neat, itemized list of everything that's wrong with me. That's not how my brain works. If I miss or forget something and think of it later, and you're just gonna make me feel like a bug for opening my mouth, why don't I just leave now and save us both the headache?"

"I can't tell if you're being frustrating on purpose for some reason, or if you're just the single most insecure person to ever walk the planet."

Oh, so many snarky comebacks were bouncing around in her head, but once again she squashed the impulse to be childish and just shook her head. "I'm sorry. Neither, really, I just... I have this really annoying habit of pushing people away so I'm never vulnerable and I can never get hurt."

"How's that working out for you?"

Ass. She looked away, crossing her arms over her knees and resting her head on them. "We've all got damage. Sue me."

"You're never going to find someone who'll put in the work to fix you. You gotta do that yourself. If you keep pushing people away hoping one will try to take a jackhammer to all these walls you put up, you'll just be constantly disappointed."

"What are you, my shrink now?" She jerked her head up to glare at him, but the intense look on his face stopped her cold.

With a look that reminded her quite a bit of the Winter Soldier, Sebastian demanded quietly, "What do you want, Ali?"

"...I don't know." She looked away again, hiding behind the curtain of her long copper-red hair. "You don't even know how terrifying that is. I always knew! I knew who I was, who and what I wanted to be... Now, I just... I have no idea."

"You should try acting." His tone was only half joking but she still snorted. "What? You get to try on different lives, and maybe you'll find one that suits you. Who knows?" He nudged her, making her smile a little. "Maybe you'll find that you love the work, and it's your new calling. Whaddaya got to lose?"

"People don't start acting in their thirties."

"Well, that's utter bullshit." She glanced up just in time to see his cheeky grin. "And you don't look anywhere near thirty, so I say cash in on that while you can. But! I wasn't actually asking the deep life question when I asked what you want."

"I know," she admitted with a sheepish shrug. "I got sidetracked by existential dread. Sorry."

"Happens to the best of us."

Ali grinned, shaking her head, but her amusement didn't last long. With a sigh, she told him, "The sad fact is, I don't know. I don't know if I want a relationship, or if I just don't want to feel like a whore. The juvenile fangirl in me wants to make you happy; to be in your life no matter what form that connection takes. And I'm lonely and antsy, and definitely attracted to you..."

"This all sounds like a good start," he said with a soft laugh. "And it doesn't sound juvenile to me; it's sweet."

"There is one thing I do know that I want." Hoo boy, this was not going to end well. Damn her psychotic obsession with honesty! "One thought-one desire, I guess - that haunts me." She was afraid to look at him, but she needed to see his reaction. Steeling herself against her own anxiety, she looked him right in the eye and confessed, "More than anything in the world right now, I want to be a mother. It's freaking me out, because I never wanted kids until very recently, but for the last couple of years it's been practically consuming me."

He was analyzing her again; if it was anyone else, it would have pissed her off royally, but all she could think of was 'bionic staring machine' and she had to fight not to laugh. "I wonder why that is."

"Oh, I know exactly why." She finally gave in and snickered a little. "But if I tell you, you're gonna think I'm insane."

"I already know you're insane," he teased, "so just tell me anyway."

"I'm a witch," she told him point-blank. "I sometimes get little glimpses of possible futures. I've seen my future daughters, and they've become so real to me, so vibrant and full of life, that I'm desperate to meet them for real."

Sebastian smiled faintly. "What if you end up having a boy?"

"I've seen that possibility, too," she conceded with a laugh. "He's adorable. These kids... Sebastian, I've seen their faces. I know their names. And every day that goes by that they don't exist is more painful for me than the last. And that's... That's a huge part of why I didn't - still don't - think it would be a good idea to sleep with you. Why I'd feel like a trashy whore if I did."

He slowly nodded, understanding visibly dawning in his eyes. "Because you want too badly to get pregnant. More than you want to be with me; with anyone."

"Yeah. And I have yet to think of a way to go about that without being just... so creepy, or straight-up evil."

"...This." At her look of surprise and confusion, he made a little nod/shrug gesture she couldn't quite describe. "This is the way to not be creepy or evil - being honest, up front. Talking it out. You may not necessarily get what you want, but if you do, this is absolutely the way to do it respectfully."

She smiled and nodded. "Good point."

He ruffled her hair, making her smile again. "You've got a lot going on in that head of yours. Must be exhausting."

"It can be."

"You're an absolute mess, no doubt about that." He nudged her with that boyish, playful grin she loved so much. "But I still like you. Start as friends, see how it goes?"

Heart swelling, she nodded. "I'd love that."

There was a moment of weirdly charged silence, and then Ali blurted, "I do have one question I've been dying to ask you for months, though."

"Oh god." He laughed. "Should I be scared?"

"Maybe," she conceded with a giggle. "I won't be offended or even surprised if you refuse to answer, let me just lead with that. It's personal, I'm just curious."

"Okay, so it's not a request, per se."

She laughed again, shaking her head. "No, not a request. I was just wondering, after seeing Monday-"

"Oh no!" Cracking up, Sebastian backed away. "Any 'personal' question that starts with a reference to Monday can't be good!"

"And the set shots for Pam and Tommy!" She had a feeling she was going to have trouble breathing around this man a lot. He always had her cracking up. "You had so little body hair, but I know it grows! I've seen you with hair on your chest - which was unbelievably sexy, by the way - so, like... is that just a thing you do in recent years? Do you always get that in-depth with your grooming, or is it just when you know you'll be showing a lot of skin in public?"

"Obviously it's just when I know someone's gonna see!" He laughed, shaking his head. "I mean, do you shave your legs when you're not gonna show them off?"

"Yes." Grinning at his look of surprise, she shrugged. "My skin is so stupidly sensitive that body hair makes me unbearably itchy, all the time. I eradicate that shit constantly."

"Oh, okay." He nodded a little. "So for you, it's not an aesthetic choice, it's for a good reason and really is just for yourself. That makes sense." It was his turn to shrug and grin. "I'm just shallow. If I'm gonna be naked on screen, I wanna look good."

"You're gorgeous, you're allowed to be shallow."

"Is that how that works?" They both laughed, and much to Ali's immediate, overwhelming joy, Sebastian tugged her against his side and squeezed in a sort of half-hug. "That seems like an unfair standard. And I'm not sure I still fit that bill at my age."

"Oh, stop!" She swatted his chest, even as she rested her head on his shoulder and cuddled closer.

"By the way..." He kissed her temple, lips still pressed against her flesh as he murmured, "I know you wrote that script."

Flinching, she tried to move away from him; she only wanted to be able to look at him, but he seemed to misinterpret and held her tight against his side.

"Your sister confirmed it, but I figured it out last night. You know way too much about this story and the characters to just be a messenger." She felt him smile as he kissed her head again, and couldn't help smiling with him. "You're brilliant. I hope little sis is half as good a director as you are a writer."

"...Thank you." What the hell else could she say to that? All she could really think about, folded in his arms and feeling so warm and safe, was that he was already an amazing friend. She'd known for a while that he approached friendship in a way more typical to women, with the cuddling and constant complimenting; the sort of wholesome, deep love-without-romance that was exactly how she was as a friend. It was amazing to be on the receiving end of that, and while her hormones would probably always scream to jump his bones, she hoped things stayed exactly as they were between them.

[ainchaseseiker]

Elsword Modern world Au pt. 3

•Dread is an absolute, romantic lil shit. And Roy is a tsundere around him XD

•Like, Royal slapped him once when Dread was only trying to help. Okay, he may have flirted with him. Roy always apologizes afterwards though. Dread doesn’t mind. In fact, he finds Royal blushing adorable. The slaps were worth it.

•One day, Abysser announced that there’s a new employee at the bakery. Ria choked on the cookies. Dread stares at his boss with a face that clearly said “are you shitting me?” Royal nearly dropped the teacup he was holding. Abysser facepalms at their reaction.

•The new employee is Demonio, who’s blind in his left eye. Dread is tense around him, suddenly possesive of Royal whenever Demonio is around. Demonio silently works in the kitchen and leaves just as silently when it’s closing time. He makes no effort to get to know his co-workers.

•But he watches them in a corner, watches them fit together so perfectly like a puzzle. Watches Ria tutor Lili and Blesse, watches Abysser joining them and resting his chin on Ria’s shoulder. Watches Dread give Royal hugs and steal occasional kisses as they sit next to the white haired quartet when there are no customers and baking was done.

•He feels so lonely as he watches them, he really wants to join and talk with them but he’s afraid of destroying the bond they have. So he resorts to being silent when baking, watching them and hugging himself in an attempt to chase away the hollow feeling in his heart when he gets home.

•This goes on for months and durinb that time, nobody notices, believing that demonio is always like this. The group accepted his presence, but doesn’t make a move to interact with him. Dread thinks he’s strange, Ria is busy manning the cashier and Roy feels awkward but actually wants to be friends with Demonio. Abysser is the only one he talks to because he’s his boss. But even Abysser doesn’t know much about his new employee.

•One time, Dread and Roy went out for lunch and Ria was taking a cat nap upstairs, Abysser asked Demonio to look after Lili since he was going to restock in ingredients. Demonio stares for a while before nodding and accepting wordlessly.

•Little Lili was shy around Demonio at first and opted to just draw while munching on cookies but inside, she wants to be friends with him. Demonio meanwhile, secretly found her adorable and had a small smile on his face as he watches her draw.

•Demonio is surprised but hides it well when Lili presents him a paper and doesn’t look at him.(she was actually nervous.) Was he scaring her? But neverthless, he looks at it. It was a drawing of a tall stick figure wearing black ( is that him?) And a smaller, white haired stick figure that looked suspiciously like Lili. There was only one word under the drawing. Friends?

•Demonio’s good eye widened and before he knew it, he was on his knees and hugging a confused Lili and blinking away tears. He never had any other friend except Diabla but that was different. Of course he’ll be her friend, he says, with a teary smile and a choked voice.

•Lili smiles brightly and hugs him back. Ria fell over in shock at Demonio smiling and quickly snaps a picture before going back to the counter like nothing ever happened. She didn’t notice him crying.

•Things have changed drastically, Demonio talks more now because Lili babbles about random things to him as he bakes, more often than not bouncing around him. Demonio doesn’t mind, he listens and comments occasionally. Oh, he also learns more about the others because Lili talks about some events.

•Like Dread’s pitiful, facepalm worthy confession to Royal a few months ago. Or about Papa Abysser’s work. This fueled Demonio’s desire to befriend the others, but still not enough for him to act on it.

•Sometimes, while the two are chatting in the kitchen, you will see Dread and Ria spying on them, with only their heads peeking out of the doorway and into the kitchen. The two nearly had a heartattack when Roy asked what they were doing one time.

•Cue to Ria being dramatic and dropping to the floor on her knees and throwing her hands up in the air.(“ He’s stealing my baby!!!!” She wails, Roy just shaked his head.“ No he isn’t”) Dread shrugs.( “ He might hurt Lili.” He whispers. Roy facepalms.)

•Surprisingly, Roy was the next person Demonio befriended. What was even more surprising was the reason: Blesse. Roy brought Blesse to the bakery during a Saturday because Blaze can’t babysit since she’s busy that time. Demonio unknowingly whispered “cute” when Blesse pouted at Ria. Royal who was beside him, raised an eyebrow in amusement and asked if he liked cute things.

• This was the question that led them to chatting about themselves and found out they have a lot of things in common. Soon, they were talking about cute things, baking, and surprisingly, books. By the end of the day Demonio has another person to talk too and Royal smiling at him.

•During one of their talks, Dread walked over and just lay his head on Roy’s lap with a pout, apparently jealous. This time, Roy notices before things get out of hand and chuckles, teasing Dread and asking if he wanted attention. Dread surprised him by smirking and saying yes before pulling him down by the collar and kissing him.

•Cue to Royal being red in the face, Ria hooting and cackling and Dread getting slapped by yours truly. Demonio surprised everyone by laughing softly and saying “interesting couple you have there.” Meanwhile, you see papa Abysser covering the children’s eyes and smirking at the couple.

•Ria and Abysser are the next. This time it was Demonio who approached and started the conversation. The two easily picked up his intentions and gave comforting smiles, already beating him to hs question.(“You don’t have to be our friend.” Abysser smiles. Ria laughs.“ You’re already part of the family.”)

•The two doesn’t comment when Demonio starts sobbing, Ria hugs him and pats his hair like a mother would sooth a child. After that, Abysser acts fatherly towards him. Demonio feels so happy, so damn happy, to know that there’s one place he could call home and family.

• Dread is the last one to finally talk to him. It happened like this, Dread sighing in frustration and straight up telling Demonio that “ if you want to talk to me then do it, I’m not going hurt you.” Demonio is embarrassed at being caught but Dread just grins and slings an arm around his shoulder. The two spend most of the time talking about the bakery and the thing they have in common: the desire to protect.

• Everyone is beyond shocked when the police come knocking on the bakery door one day and looking for someone called Dianne. Demonio’s eye widened and he immediately bolts for the kitchen. The police doesn’t notice but this doesn’t pass Ria and Roy’s eyes. Abysser and Dread calmly stop the police from going further inside the bakery and asks for an explanation.

•In reality Abysser is fingering the knives in his belt hidden by his jacket (weapon company remember?) and Dread is flexing his wrist and cracking his knuckles. The duo were successful in getting information out of the police and also successful in scaring them away. Dread’s glare is scary af but Abysser’s dark smile was terrifying.

• They find a confused Ria and Roy over a terrified Demonio but Abysser gently confronts Demonio, kneeling down to his eye level as Dread explains the situation to Roy and Ria.

•Turns out Dianne (altar of evil diabla) is someone close to Demonio and isn't mentally right in the head. She used to be fine, demonio says, but Dianne is prone to random bouts of insanity and is currently in the mental hospital. The police doesn't know this, but want to arrest Dianne because she's part of a dangerous gang. Demonio used to be part of the gang ( he did it to protect Dianne) but instead resorted to working at the bakery for money to pay off the hospital bills.

• Abysser barely understood Demonio who's a sobbing, shaking mess in front of him but he understood, everyone in the room managed to understand the man. Demonio begged all of them, Ria, Abysser, Roy and Dread. Begged them not to tell the police, promised to leave and they'll never see him again.

• He was shocked when Ria knelt down and hugged him, whispering comfort and brushing his hair. Roy and Dread joined the two on the floor, the latter rubbing his back and the former promising things will be okay. Abysser hugs all of them in one go with closed eyes. And Demonio just sobs at the show of kindness. He didn't deserve this, he thinks.

•Demonio cries himself to sleep. Abysser carries him upstairs with the help of Dread and settles him in the sofa bed. Abysser closes the bakery early that day, much to the elgang and Erblu's confusion and gathers all of his employee for a meeting.

•Lili is dropped off with Blesse at Roy's apartment under Blaze's care. Abysser tells everyone that he's going to help Demonio and those who won't participate can leave. No one did, which made him gave a lopsided grin and thanking everyone before they started to brew a plan. Royal said he had a friend who knows a psychologist and could maybe help Dianne. Dread says Demonio can stay with him after finding out that Demonio sleeps at Dianne's hospital room. Ria is silent throughout the whole thing, and later pulls Abysser to talk privately after the meeting.

• When Demonio woke up, Abysser asked if they can visit Dianne with them. Demonio is hesitant, but agrees. Dianne raises an eyebrow at seeing them but brightens up when she saw Demonio. Abysser then shoos him away closes the door. Phase one is starting.

• Dianne is suddenly tense after Demonio left her with the two strangers. Ria sits beside her but avoids eye contact as Abysser starts to talk. Dianne laughs bitterly when told the police were looking for her but gets straight to the point and asks what do they want with her. Abysser is surprised but regains his composture quickly and tells her :"We're helping you get better and stop you from getting arrested."

•Dianne cackles in an insane way, slapping a hand to her head before slowly calming down and grinning at the two. She doesn't care, she says because she has nothing to lose anymore. This got her a slap from Ria who's blinking away tears. Dianne holds her cheek in shock. Abysser stares, already knowing the reason behind his employee's actions.

•Ria tells her about Demonio, how he cried and begged them to not say anything, how he joined the gang the protect Dianne, how he immediately gave all the money he had to her hospital bills and asks in a low voice: "And you dare say you have nothing to lose? When someone sacrificed so much for you?" Demonio who quietly sneaked into the room, froze at her words.

•Dianne became quiet, before slowly looking at demonio with a broken expression and asked if its true. Demonio's silence and refusal to meet her gaze was the answer she needed. She looks at Ria and Abysser before sighing and agreeing to be cooperative. Ria smiles and hugs her, apologizing for slapping her.

• Part two of the plan starts quickly after that, the psychologist was actually Erblu who now knows of the situation. Dianne likes him and their sessions, mental health growing better as they stayed with Dread in his apartment.

•When Dianne is finally okay, Demonio tells Abysser he's going to turn himself in. He explained that he did theft crimes to pay for Dianne's hospital bills before he got the job at the bakery. Hours later, Demonio returns defeatedly with Abysser who was grinning,

•Somehow, everything was twisted so that Demonio came out innocent, and that he was forced to do the theft crimes against his will. Royal and Abysser bailed him out and went over a lot of things with the lawyers. They only charged him a small fine for the "theft" which everyone chipped in to pay for behind Demonio's back.

• Everything cooled down afterwards, Dianne got a job at for being Erblu's assistant during his therapy sessions with patients. Demonio kept working in the bakery, feeling in debt of everyone, they assured him he's not. He smiles more now. Dianne got to meet Blesse and Lili and they became fast friends. Roy and Dread's relationship is going strong. Abysser even managed to send Lili to school! Dianne and Demonio are grateful for everyone and try to help them as much as possible.

• After the "Catastrophe" as Abysser and Ria liked to call it, Dread spent a lot of time at Royal's place, sleeping over. Blesse now sleeps over at Lili's because of this. She is traumatized when she walked in on Dread making out with her brother once.

•None of the two complain, Dread even gets to have a little "fun" with Roy every night.

•Dread finds out about Roy's past one time when Roy woke up crying during one of the times he slept over. He and Blesse's parents died in an accident and he was forced with the responsibilty of an adult a young age. His nightmares mostly consist of him not being able to protect Blesse or not being good enough.

• Dread soothes him by hugging him close and pressing kisses to his head. Royal just hugs him tight until he fell asleep, Dread would smile at seeing his sleeping face and cuddles him until he too fell asleep with his arms wrapped around Roy.

================================================================

These headcanons would most likely be book two after the main story of how Dl and RG got together, the third job change of the second path might also be included.

I have no creativity with names so I'll probably just call DM deo and Dianne is taken from Dia btw

[mariestherapeutics]

Short Story: Cry Wolf Finale, starring Junmyeon. Genre: Wolf!AU, Fluff, Romance Word Count: 7,270 A/N: WARNING: Mentions of sex. Here's the last part to Cry Wolf everyone. ;u; I'm glad this became such a popular story, and I hope that you all continue to love and ask for Wolf!Myeon in the future during drabble games and/or requests. :')This part also went in a direction I hadn't planned it to, so it's pretty long. XD

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(♫) 'Cause honey your soul can never grow old, it's evergreen. Baby your smile's forever in my mind and memory.

"So in lamens terms, mating season is when we get super horny and have babies." You deadpan, much to Junmyeon's discomfort.

"You don't have to word it like that..." He murmurs, blushing a deep red and looking away shyly. "It's supposed to be intimate and romantic and unifying, not wild and full of lust." He tells you.

Honestly, you're really glad that someone finally decided to give you the talk, but it wasn't until after Junmeyon's heat receded completely that it happened.

(Two days ago...)

You toss in your bed restlessly, unable to block out the sounds of nature even with your earbuds. Huffing irritably, you decide that you won't be able to fall asleep and get out of bed, wrapping yourself up in your blankets to stay warm. It was nearly mid-April, but the temperature outside was still biting.

There were nights, like tonight, where Junmyeon's dad insisted that you slept over (in a separate room than his son, though, for God's sake) for reasons he wouldn't elaborate on, but you never complained. You liked being near your mate as much as possible, so even sleeping in the same house was enough for you.

As quietly as you can manage to, you tip toe to your bedroom door before realizing the hallway light is on. When you open it, you wonder if someone just forgot to turn it off because the house is dead silent.

Curiously, you wander around the home, peeking your head into the kitchen, bathrooms, living room, and even your boyfriend's bedroom, but find no one. Concluding that you were being pranked, because this kind of thing is something you'd do, you haughtily decide to pack up your things now and just go home. If they thought they could jump scare you then they have another thing coming.

Your clothes are gathered and bundled up in your backpack, and by the time you sneak to the front door, you realize something else. The door is unlocked.

"Maybe they went out?" You wonder aloud, slowly pushing the door ajar. The chilling night air sends shivers down your spine, despite the blanket you still had around your shoulders, but you barely think about it because something catches your attention. "Mr. Kim? What are you doing out here at this hour?"

Junmyeon's dad turns around and looks at you in surprise, like he didn't notice you creeping up on him. It's a first, and it surprises you, too, because all the werewolves you know always smell you beforehand. "Oh, _____, you're up already?" He asks briskly, seeming unfocused. "What time is it?" He inquires, looking up at the sky. Apparently he makes out the time because he wrinkles his nose at you in confusion. "You should be in bed still."

"What's going on? I can't sleep with all the noise." You tell him, not bothering to hide your vexation. You love sleeping, almost as much as you love your boyfriend and family.

"I guess now is as good a time as ever to tell you..." Yesung mumbles, running a hand through his hair messily. When he does that, you see his resemblance to his son, and it makes you miss him a little. Where was your were-mate right now? His dad glances at you the second you think that, and you remember that all wolves can sense emotions, not just soulmates. You look down at your feet in embarrassment. "It's fine," He chuckles, motioning to the porch swing for you to sit. You do, pulling your feet up and under you and wrapping the blanket completely around you as he sits next to you. "I expect you're missing Junmyeon?"

You nod slightly, still avoiding his gaze shyly. "Where is he?" You dare ask.

"The wolves eat tonight." He replies.

You look at him.

He looks at you.

"I don't get it." You admit, unabashed. "You guys eat every night, I'm confused." Your ignorance and purity seems to amuse him, because he starts laughing. "What? Why are you laughing!" You complain, feeling more and more in the dark than usual.

"Obviously we eat every night, like you do," He says, wiping the edges of his eyes humorously. "But every month, us werewolves go into the forest and prey." He explains. "It's our primal instincts that come out when we do, and other than being totally stress relieving, it's a remedy for unending--"

He stops short, eyes widening and gaze turning in the direction of the trees. He sniffs the air once, twice, then sighs and shakes his head disappointingly. "That dumb ass.." You hear him grumble before he stands up. "Junmyeon's coming, but you may want to go inside before he smells you."

"How come..?" You ask unsurely, wanting to see your boyfriend but also wary of why you should leave. "He won't eat me, will he?" You ask dumbly, which makes Yesung laugh again.

"No, he's just... probably not a sight you want to see right now." He tells you. You don't know what that means, but you stubbornly stay seated on the swing and wait until you hear twigs snapping in the distance, before standing up and anticipating Junmyeon's arrival.

And like his father said, what you see is a sight you didn't want to.

You literally drop your jaw in horror.

"_____?" You hear his melodic voice call your name, and though it fills you with warmth, you can't help but step back when he approaches the porch. "I thought I smelled you. Did you wait up to see me?" He grins happily, but stops feet away from you when he sees your expression. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Um..." You stammer, looking for a more obvious answer. "Maybe because you're covered in blood?" You appear to be the only one rattled by this, because he merely looks down at himself and shrugs.

"It's just animal blood." He says, stepping closer. "You've seen it before, haven't you?"

"Doesn't matter," You immediately retreat, pointing at his face. "It's on your mouth, too." He halts his movements, frowning at you as he wipes his lips with his sleeve. Under the porch light, you see something different about him. His pupils are blown wide, almost covering up the brown in it completely. It unsettles you, because despite having seen Junmyeon in his wolf form, he feels more like an animal this way than ever. He looks... savage.

He wrinkles his nose at you because you're sending off some bad vibes, and you immediately feel bad for thinking that about him. You should know by now that Junmyeon will forever be part animal; it's in his blood. There's nothing wrong with him for that.

Sensing your change in attitude, he starts smiling at you again. "I can hug you because it doesn't matter, right?" He asks, taking another step.

“It does on account of you being covered in blood. And wipe that smile off your face. You look like a cat in heat.” You roll your eyes when he begins to tip toe in your direction playfully. You hold your hand out to stop him, and thankfully, he does. "Shower first, hug next." You tell him, and though he pouts, he obeys and heads inside his home.

You didn't notice Yesung smiling at you until he clears his throat. "You handled that better than I thought you would." He admits, and you try to hide the swell of pride that rises in your chest. "I could tell you were conflicted at first, but you came to terms with it." He states, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I'm beginning to like you as his mate."

This catches you off guard, and you blink at him in surprise. "You mean you didn't like me before?" You ask him, and he chuckles at your reaction. Why he thinks everything that comes out of your mouth is a joke is beyond you.

"Of course I didn't," He says, "And before you bombard me with more questions, think about it." He asks of you. "My close friend brings his daughter into my home and suddenly my son is having trouble keeping his hormones in check. The next thing I know, he's telling me that this human girl, who is reckless, selfish, borderline rude, and most of all ignorant to our lifestyle," He ignores the glares you shoot at him and continues on, still smiling, "is his mate."

"Wow, must have been quite a shocker." You say sarcastically.

"Let me add sarcastic to that list of cons," He muses. "I didn't like this girl, to say the least. Yeah, she was polite around me, but she didn't respect my village's customs, and when she finally had some knowledge of what we were, she went and scared my poor son half to death by running away from him after he shifted." He looks away then, probably reliving the memory. "I told him it was too early, but he was so set on getting you to understand." He grumbles. "Anyway, after that, she was decent because she tried to learn more. She was still ignorant to a lot, but she wasn't just some city girl anymore."

As he tells his story, you feel yourself listening intently. You've never heard his  thoughts on your relationship with Junmyeon before and right now you're learning a lot.

"Now I see how much she's grown, how much she cares for my son, and how much she's willing to give up for him," He finishes lightly, the calm smile returning to his face. "Of course, that doesn't mean things won't change, especially in the near future, but as of right now, I like you a little more." He winks.

"What do you mean things might change--"

"I'm done!"

"AHHH!"

You're cut off by your boyfriend jumping on your back from behind and you both nearly fall over at the impact. He wraps his arms around your shoulders and gives your cheek a lingering kiss before laughing at your shocked form. "Got you." He says, eyes wrinkled happily.

"Prey time is over, Myeon." You mumble in embarrassment. His sudden burst of affection completely blew your question for his dad out of your mind. He wasn't normally this energetic! "Now that you pups are done hunting, can I finally get my beauty sleep? I'm so tired." You yawn, wanting to turn the attention away from you and somewhere else.

"Hey, I'm a grown man now, you can't call me a pup." Junmyeon frowns teasingly. At that, Yesung pretends to gag and goes inside, excusing himself ("I don't want to hear any more of this").

"Does it hurt your pride?" You coo, pulling away to face him. He's still frowning, so you poke his nose and laugh. "I can't help it when you act like a puppy, Myeonnie. Maybe act like a man and I'll treat you like one." You don't realize your words would affect him so much, or be taken the wrong way, so when he gasps and stumbles backwards, you widen your eyes in surprise. "Hey, are you okay?" You reach for him but he moves you back gently.

"Not now," He says hastily, red-faced. "Let's go to sleep." Worriedly, you nod and follow him back inside the house. His dad doesn't acknowledge your guys' presence, paying too much attention to the novel he's reading on the couch. When you're both up the stairs, it hits you.

His scent hits you like a train.

"The hell..?" You mumble, stopping and covering your nose. Junmyeon stops, too, glancing at you bashfully. "Is that you?" And the question is all too familiar to him. He's the only pine and rain smell you love. "Why are you..?"

"I'm sorry," He apologizes hastily, shaking his head one too many times. You didn't notice the smell before because of his shower. Whatever shampoo or body wash he was using was masking it, but in the house, without the wind, it fills your body and clogs your senses, making you dizzy. It's stronger than it's ever been before, and you stare at him with wide, confused eyes as he stares back. "The run was supposed to end it, but, I don't know what's happening." You see his eyes grow wet before he says, "I think something's wrong with me," and he runs into his bedroom.

"Junmyeon..!" You say frightfully, heading to his door to follow him, but he closes it on you. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine in the morning! Just sleep." He tells you through it. You really don't think he's okay, but there's nothing you can do if he won't let you, so you go to your room and shut the door, crawling back into bed feeling restless and irritable once more, but for a different reason.

You were fretting over Junmyeon's state of mind so much that you didn't realize how horny you had gotten. What the hell, you think to yourself. How did this happen? What triggered this change in atmosphere?

The rest of the night you spend tossing and turning, standing up and lying down, until finally, around 4:00 AM, Junmyeon's dad knocks on your door with his nose held shut by a clothes pin and suggests that you go home for the night. You don't fight him on it, knowing he'd have more knowledge than you're comfortable with about whatever's going on in your body, and since you had packed your things up earlier, you make a swift leave to the comfort of your house. There, you finally get some sleep.

(Present time...)

"So in lamens terms, mating season is when we get super horny and have babies." You deadpan, much to Junmyeon's discomfort two days later. You finally got to see him, since his dad had strictly banned you anywhere from three yards of their home with no explanation.

"You don't have to word it like that..." He murmurs, blushing a deep red and looking away shyly. "It's supposed to be intimate and romantic and unifying, not wild and full of lust." He tells you.

"It didn't feel very romantic and unifying a few nights ago," You point out. "Everything I felt then felt completely wild and full of lust." You say, using his words in quotations.

"Well, that was because..." He shakes his head, turning red again. "I was in heat. Again, because of you." He confesses, but this confuses you.

"I thought you said you could handle being in heat around me, though?" You quip, tilting your head.

"I thought so, but it was never that intense before." He admits. "I was... a unique case then. My dad said he's never seen it before." That didn't mean much to you, but you know it means a lot to Junmyeon because he looks at you with wide eyes as he continues. "Dad threatened to throw me in the ocean, did you know?" He asks you. "He said it might give me a salty smell and ruin any scent I might make." You begin to laugh, and he looks bashful. "Then I told him that you smell like the ocean, and he just left me by myself after that."

"God, you're cheesy." You cringe, giggling at him. "But I still don't quite understand how you were a unique case?" He sits there quietly for a moment, pondering something, and for a moment you think that this is going to be another thing that the werewolves would leave you out on.

But he asks you, "Remember back in December, when I told you you jump-started mating season?" When you nod, he keeps going. "Thing is, mating season is supposed to last a month, at most. Mine didn't go away in January, though." He shrugs, leaning slowly to the side until he's leaning on the arm rest of his couch. "Or February, or March, or the beginning of April."

"That doesn't sound right." You comment, and he nods.

"That's why I thought something was wrong with me." He confesses, bringing up what he said a while back. "I thought it would never end. I was scared that I'd be forever horny, forever unsatisfied until I got what my body wanted." He tells you honestly, and you appreciate it. Surprisingly, it doesn't make you uncomfortable like you thought it would. "But, my dad brought a werewolf in from another village and she did some spell thing on me. I was asleep the entire time, but whatever she did, it ended it." He concludes, looking at you for a reaction.

You genuinely don't know what to say first, though. Along with the new information about werewolves and mating season, you're also taking in Junmyeon's worries and fears about himself. "So it's over now?" You ask dumbly, and he nods. "You're..." You start, looking down at your hands. "A lot stronger than I am, Junmyeon." You admit to him, and you feel him listening to your every word. It makes you shy, and your face gets hot, but you continue. "I still feel bad for shouting at you in Heechul's car. It was completely uncalled for on my part--"

"I told you to forget about that." He cuts you off. You look up at him. Junmyeon doesn't cut you off unless he's serious about something. "I don't want you feeling bad about something in the past. We've moved past it." He tells you, shifting so that he's leaning against you instead of the armrest.

"I know, but... how can I not when you show so much self control during your heat, and I can barely handle myself when you tease me?" You flush, covering your face, mortified at yourself for saying it out loud.

And Junmyeon laughs at you.

The prick laughs.

"_____, I'm not stronger than you at all." He tells you, grabbing your wrists and shaking you lightly. "Look at me, babe," He says softly, smiling. When you do, his smile broadens. "All those times I pulled away from you, I almost didn't." He says truthfully. "You have a different, maybe meaner, way of going about it," He chuckles, "But I'm just as bad, if you ask me."

"Whatever," You say shyly, rolling your eyes at his mushiness and looking away.

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something related to this." He begins quietly. "I've been wanting to for a while, but I was too nervous about what you'd say." He confesses.

"You still sound nervous." You point out.

"I am." He agrees.

There's a pregnant silence, and then he interlaces your hand in his, before bringing it up and kissing your fingers. "I love you more than anything in this life, _____." He whispers. "And... you just turned eighteen a few weeks ago, but I have to ask now or else I might go crazy with fear." You weren't sure where this conversation was going, but when he says "fear", it makes you nervous. Why would he be scared? What is so pressing that he has to talk about it? "Do you know how old my dad is?" He says out of the blue.

"Um," You stammer, unsure of how this relates. "No, but he looks in his late thirties, early forties." You tell him.

Junmyeon nods, "That's what he's supposed to look like." He says. "But no, my dad is almost two hundred years old." You don't mean to, but your jaw drops before you can stop it.

"What? No way!" You exclaim. "He looks my dad's age!" You utter in amazement. "He needs to show me whatever face cream he uses to look that young." You laugh, and though Junmyeon smiles at your comment, he doesn't get off topic.

"He doesn't use any products," He says, "That's how werewolves age. By the time your dad is my dad's age, if he even gets that old, my dad will probably look in his mid-fifties." And, these words hit you somewhere deep inside, because you finally understand what he's trying to tell you.

"So, in other words, I'll be an old lady one day and you'll still look young." You say quietly. Saying it out loud is more shocking than thinking it, and you feel your throat tighten anxiously as you look him in the eye. "You'll still like me if I'm wrinkly, won't you?" You ask him insecurely, and he chuckles in disbelief, shaking his head at himself and pulling you against him.

"I'll love you until the day I die, and even after I will still think you are the most beautiful woman I've ever layed eyes upon." He romanticizes. "But... there's a way you won't have to worry about our lifespans." He adds unsurely, maintaining eye contact. "A ritual, to be exact."

And, in the few seconds of silence you share, you're suddenly hit with the memory of your dad talking to one of the villagers, in the week you first moved to this place.

"You know, there's a rumor that this village is cursed." They said. "If you wander off on that side of the forest, you'll get stolen by a wolf and be turned into one yourself."

"Heh," You breathe in disbelief. "I-I don't compute, Myeon." You say, thinking he must mean something else. "Surely you don't mean I become a werewolf, do you?"

"Does the idea scare you?" He questions, and you swallow thickly before shaking your head.

"It's just... change." You confess, looking out the window and into the forest. It feels like yesterday that you first entered it to prank your neighbors. "I made fun of the villagers for believing in that, you know?" You ask him, avoiding his gaze.

"Yeah, your dad told my dad, and my dad told me, because he didn't want me associating with a," He bends his fingers into quotation marks, "Reckless, selfish, borderline rude, and most of all ignorant girl."

"Your dad literally told me this the other night." You scoff, remembering the moment. "He was throwing insult after insult at me," You complain.

"But he likes you now." Junmyeon counters.

"He told me that, too." You nod. You hadn't meant to change the subject, so, apologetically, you bring it back on course. "But... how could I possibly become a werewolf?" You ask, unable to imagine a method other than being born one.

"It's like what vampires do," Junmyeon explains. "Except, I don't drink your blood, you drink mine."

"What does all this have to do with you being in heat, again?" You say, since Junmyeon tied it to mating season primarily.

"In order for the ritual to happen, it needs to be during our mating season because... well, we need to consummate." Junmyeon fidgets, getting nervous again and playing with your fingers. "But if you become a werewolf, then we can grow old together, at the same time." He promises, squeezing your hand gently. "I can't imagine anything more perfect than living my entire life with you, _____. Don't you feel the same?"

Junmyeon knows you do, he feels your emotions exuding from your form, and this close, he can smell it, too, mixed in with your ocean and fruit scent. "I do," You breathe in, not believing you're saying this, "When did you want to go through with this?"

"Whenever you're ready, if you ever are." Junmyeon replies, and the way he smiles, you know he means it whole-heartedly. He doesn't want to force you into anything you don't want to do, even though he aches for it. "We can do it next mating season, the one after, or never. It all depends on you."

"Ughhhh," You groan, covering your face again stressfully. "So much to think about, Myeon. Thanks for dropping the bombshell on me." You joke, but you kind of mean it. "When's next mating season?" You ask him, holding your breath.

"Mine is normally in March." He nudges your shoulder with his. "This year's case was weird, though. As long as it doesn't happen again, it should be then." You nod silently, thinking about this hard. Why were you so hesitant? You obviously want this as much as he does, but something is holding you back. Maybe it's because of how you viewed the werewolves initially. Even after Junmyeon shifted for you, it took a while for you to get used to the idea that your boyfriend was half wolf. Your little sister didn't even know about all this, because your dad wanted to keep her ignorance as much as possible. Is that what you were afraid of? That she'd look at you differently if you changed?

"You don't have to decide right now, love," Junmyeon tells you, sensing your chaotic mind. He reaches up with his free hand and moves your hair out of your face carefully, like you were glass. "We have time ahead of us. Take as long as you need to think about it." He says, kissing your temple sweetly.

"I'm sorry," You apologize, wishing you could give him an immediate answer. He understands, though, and he knows you know that, so he doesn't have to say it. "I'll give you an answer tonight."

"Don't force yourself." He warns, but you shake your head at him.

"No, I just need to find something out beforehand. There's only one thing holding me back from doing this with you." You tell him, looking into his beautiful brown eyes.

"Is it your family?" He questions, knowing you too well.

"Yeah." You murmur.

"I already talked to your dad about it." Junmyeon says reassuringly, running his thumb over your knuckles. "He said he's fine with it as long as you are."

"My dad did?" You ask him in disbelief. "I'm shocked."

"I was, too." Junmyeon concurs, smirking a little. "Until I found out my dad talked to him about it before I did."

"Your dad did?" You gape, even more surprised than before. "How come everyone seems to know about things before I do?" You cross your arms, pulling your hand away from his and frowning. "That has to change. I hate being in the dark."

"I didn't know about half this stuff until a few months ago, _____. You're not the only one." When you look at him doubtfully, he elaborates. "The tribe takes its time teaching the younger members, in case they decide to go rogue or disband." Junmyeon explains. "I immediately asked your dad about it after my dad told me it was a thing, only to find out they already had the conversation."

"What about my sister?" You ask, but already suspect the answer is no. "Does she know yet?"

"I don't think so, unless you or your dad told her." Junmyeon muses.

"So, no." You conclude, sighing. "I want to talk to her about it first." You glance up at him, "Is that okay?" Your wolf boy smiles at you before leaning down to give you a short but sweet kiss. Junmyeon didn't expect this conversation to go so well, not even in his wildest dreams. He was practically gushing happy vibes at you, making you grin just as much as he was.

"Of course it is." He replies elatedly.

"Can I come in?" You knock on your little sister's door at home, knowing she was in there because your dad told you so.

"Sure," You hear her call, and you enter, only to stop in the doorway in surprise. A boy sat next to her on the floor, where they were on their phones and what looks like sharing a bag of chips. He looks up at you, looks at your sister, then tells her he should be heading home before excusing himself and awkwardly leaving the room without looking at you again.

"Who was that?" You ask her curiously after shutting the door behind him.

"Speaking of you not talking to me enough since we moved here," She changes the subject, putting down her phone and patting the spot next to her. "Why the sudden attention? Or do you just need to ask me for help with your boyfriend?" She was obviously trying to make you feel guilty, and it was working.

"I'm sorry," You tell her sincerely, leaning against the door instead of going over. You feel like she's right. You have been spending all your free time with Junmyeon, instead of with her. In the city, you at least planned out days where you'd hang out, just the two of you. Nowadays, it's been Junmyeon, Junmyeon, and Junmyeon again. "And you didn't answer my question."

"You didn't answer mine, either." She raises an eyebrow at you testily. After a short, tense silence, she pats the spot next to her again. "Well don't be a stranger." She says. "Sit down already."

"Right." You pad over beside her before taking the spot the boy was sitting in, watching her closely. She looks at you just as intensely, before picking up her phone again.

"His name is Sehun." She says. "He's my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" You reiterate, horrified. She's just a baby in your eyes! How can she possibly have a romantic partner? Then again... you had your first boyfriend around her age. Thank goodness that never worked out. "Since when?" You ask her, trying to be a good, engaged sister.

"Around the same time you started dating yours, a little after, though." She tells you, scrolling through her social media and liking a few posts before continuing. "There are only so many teenagers in this village, we were bound to meet eventually. When we did, we hit it off really well."

"How come I never heard about this?" You laugh, happy for her but surprised as well.

"You didn't tell me when you got a boyfriend." She wrinkles her nose, looking at you in offense. "I found out through dad."

"Oh.." You look away from her eyes, unable to look at her without feeling bad. "About that, I actually did want to talk to you about him..."

"Go ahead, hit me. I'm sure nothing will shock me." She gasps suddenly, "Wait, don't tell me you're already pregnant." Before you can defend yourself and say that's not the case, she starts smacking your arm in disgust. "Nasty!" She exclaims, "Where'd my sister go? Bring her back!" She demands.

"Hey, hey, hey! I'm not pregnant, would you stop?" You grab her wrists, forcing her to stop and listen. Blushing, she pulls her arms back and goes back to her phone like nothing happened.

"I didn't really think so." She tells you. "I just wanted to hit you because I was mad it took you so long to come and talk to me."

"Of course it was that." You sigh, rubbing your shoulder. When did she get so strong?

"So tell me whatever you wanted to, I'm listening for reals this time." She says, and for the first time, you think that maybe this isn't the right idea. Maybe your dad is right in thinking that her innocence should be preserved. But, you need to know how she feels about the topic in order to give Junmyeon your answer.

"My boyfriend is a werewolf." You finally confess.

"Okay." She replies.

"Huh?"

She looks at you when she feels you gawking at her. "I said, 'okay.'" She repeats, looking annoyed that you didn't hear her the first time.

"I know, I mean, that's it?" You ask her. "Where's the 'you're crazy' or 'are you kidding me?'"

"I believe you, though." She says. "My boyfriend's a werewolf, too." This time, she looks at you for a reaction, and you darn well give her one.

"Did I hear you right?" You laugh in disbelief. "That kid who walked by me is a werewolf?" She nods, and you wonder just how many of the villagers here were part of this tribe. "Well, I wanted to know how you felt about having a sibling who was a werewolf." Her eyes light up excitedly at this.

"Are you getting married to Junmyeon? Will he be my brother-in-law?" She wonders, and you flush at her accusation, though her enthusiasm for a future marriage makes you happy.

"I meant, how would you feel if I was a werewolf, too?" This makes her pause.

"Do you mean...?" She mumbles, setting her phone down again. "Are you doing the Conversion Ritual?" Damn, you didn't even know the thing had a name.

"How do you know so much about everything?" You ask her, before remembering she had a werewolf boyfriend of her own. "Has Sehun been telling you about these things?" Then, an idea hits you. "Are you two mates?"

The word makes a deep red creep into her cheeks, and she lets out an embarrassed breath of air before looking at her lap shyly. "We think so." She admits. "But he said his parents never talk about what it's like to have a mate, only that he'd know when he found his." She looks at you with helpless eyes, and you know she's in love with this boy. "He said he thinks it's me."

"How lucky is it that both of our mates were in this village?" You ask her, grinning and hugging her joyously. You're happy that, even though you're really late, you get to talk to your sister openly about this kind of thing with her feeling open to everything. "Does Dad know you're dating him?" You ask, realizing that he still thinks she's clueless to the existence of werewolves.

"No," She shakes her head, looking nervous about it. "I tell him we're just friends."

"Like he believes that." You deadpan. "Dad's not dumb."

"Well, he hasn't called me out on it, then, so I'm safe." She rolls her eyes. "And to answer your question, no, I have no problem with you becoming a werewolf. I don't even know why you felt the need to ask me about it." She tells you honestly. "Sehun said that's what most human mates do to live longer with their partner anyway, and," She pauses, blushing, "That's what I was gonna do when I got older."

"Oh, ew," You pretend to gag, not wanting to imagine your little, pure, supposed-to-be-innocent sister doing inappropriate things with a boy you just learned about. "Okay, that's enough talk about this ritual thing." You say when she laughs, but smile at her anyway. "I'm happy you're fine with it, though." You tell her, leaning your head back on her bed and looking up at the ceiling.

"When are you doing it?" She quips, her eyes filled with curiosity and excitement.

"Next March, probably." You tell her, flushing at the idea of Junmyeon and you getting so intimate. So far, the only things you two have done is cuddle and kiss. The farthest you two have gone together is you accidentally playing with his nipples (another story for another time).

You tilt your head to the side to look at your sister. "Do you know what he told me?" You ask her.

"What?" She scoots closer, a smile growing on her face to match the one on yours.

"He said, 'I can't imagine anything more perfect than living my entire life with you, _____.'" You squeal, being the girliest you've ever been in your life. It makes you both giggle, because you both know it's out of character for you.

"He sounds cringy." Your sister laughs.

"He is sometimes, but I love it." You laugh back.

(10 months later...)

"You know we don't have to do this yet, right?" Junmyeon asks you for the nth time, even though you're already at the river. "We can wait until next mating season, or the next, or maybe a few years down the road if you want--"

"Myeon," You interrupt him, hugging his waist tightly and laying your head on his chest. "I want this today. We've been waiting so long for this."

"I know," He says, hugging you back. "But I want to make sure you're sure--" He had led you through the forest, explaining how you both needed to cross the river and keep going a few miles through the next forest until you reached a clearing, hidden by a canopy of leaves. He said that is where the Conversion Ritual took place, for all the nearby packs, because it's secluded, private, and right in the middle of nature.

"I'm sure." You cut him off again, smiling up at him. And, finally, he lets himself believe you. He leans forward slightly to kiss you, but you move back. "Not yet," You warn him. "If you kiss me now, I won't be able to help myself." This makes him chuckle, but he nods in agreement and you two finish setting up the row boat before climbing into it.

You had left around noon, and by the time you crossed the river to the other side, it was mid-afternoon. You'd gotten a great deal of experience in traveling through trees since you started dating Junmyeon, but this trek was making you tired. Junmyeon promised you two were almost there around 6:00 PM, and you finally arrived half an hour after that.

Junmyeon's hand is in yours as he leads you through a thicket of thrush, and then you enter the prettiest place you've ever seen in your life. When he said "clearing", he didn't explain how wordlessly beautiful it was. The trees indeed were tall enough to make a canopy over the top, giving the area a perfect amount of shade and shelter. There was lush green grass on one side and a pool of water on the other. Junmyeon led you to the rocks beside the water, sitting down and waiting for you to do the same.

"First," He instructs when you're squatting by his side. "We wash our faces, to wash away our pasts and prepare for a new future together." He says, cupping some water into his hand and splashing it onto his face. You do the same, following his every move. "Then, we make an oath, to promise each other that we will faithfully be with one another until the day we die." This entire time, you can feel how Junmyeon feels more strongly than ever before. He's not overwhelming you with joy or excitement, though. He's giving off a steady wave of contentment. He's content being here with you. It's all he's ever wanted.

"How do we do that?" You ask quietly, feeling ignorant and shy all of a sudden.

"We just feel it." He says, and when he does, you do. You feel him feel it, too. "And then you choose a spot where you're most comfortable." He shrugs when he's satisfied with feeling. "I brought some blankets if you want those."

"Please," You laugh, not exactly being a full child of nature yet. On the grassy area, Junmyeon flattens out the cotton sheets and beckons you over. Your heart is racing, thinking this is finally it, but when he takes your hand he simply pulls you in for a hug. You hug him back silently, not saying anything out of confusion, when he chuckles.

"What are you waiting for?" Based on the facial expression he's making, you know he's being serious. Your face heats up because you're ashamed you were only thinking about doing the deed when he was obviously not.

"I just.. I thought we came here to--" You stammer, and Junmyeon starts laughing super hard, barely able to keep his grip on you as he throws his head back. "Myeon..!" You exclaim in embarrassment, burying your face in his shirt to hide your reddening face. He's still chuckling when you feel his hand snake around your waist, pulling you closer against him.

"_____, what kind of guy do you think I am?" He asks you, running his fingers through your locks gently. His hand is so warm and comforting on your head, but your heart still beat erratically. The thought was already in your head, and it wasn't going to leave it any time soon. "_____..." Junmyeon's voice is soft, his breathe fanning over your hair lightly. "I won't do anything until we're ready for this. We can even leave tonight and come back another time if we're not up for it."

For the most part you're content with just being with him like this; existing in a secluded space, entangled in each other's arms... but a small part of you is burning with a fire deep in your core, growing steadily stronger the longer you inhale his scent. "I'm up for it." You tell him surely, but don't need to. He can smell it on you, the lust you're feeling, and it's making his hair stand on end. Finally, you pull your head back to look at him, your eyes half lidded and your lips parted slightly. "Junmyeon..." You murmur, and he smiles softly at you, pecking your forehead sweetly before kissing your lips.

"Okay," He whispers, carefully leaning forwards until you're on your back. The blanket he brought is malleable on the grass, your form sinking into it and imprinting. "Okay," He repeats, his fingers curling around the hem of your shirt. He pauses there, staring at his hands quietly and you blink up at him, waiting.

"Okay?" You ask him, the edge of your mouth twitching upwards in a shy giggle. Junmyeon returns a breathtaking smile, cupping your cheek and leaning down slowly to meet your lips.

"Okay."

"Do you really have to ask me that the moment we wake? It's a mood-breaker." Junmyeon rolls his eyes dramatically, exhaling briskly.

"Sorry!! It just popped in my mind and I'll forever be anxious until I know for sure." You whine, shaking his bare shoulders worriedly.

"Orrrrrr you could wait it out and get your answer that way." He sniggers, his nose scrunching up with his grin.

"No," You complain, smiling despite yourself. His good mood is so contagious. "Please, just tell me if I'll get impregnated or not, I don't want to go home and tell my dad he'll be a grandpa in a year." You say, biting your bottom lip when your mate finally meets your eyes.

"Don't worry," Junmyeon says, lifting his hand to pet your hair. You snuggle up to him under the spare sheet he pulled out last night when the moon was high above the canopies. "It doesn't happen the first time. Pups come later."

"Pups?" Of course, why did the word surprise you? You are a werewolf now, just like your werewolf boyfriend. Junmyeon smiles endearingly at your reaction and makes a wave of warmth spread through your body. "I do want them." You blurt, and Junmyeon waits curiously for you to continue. "I do want pups with you, just not now." You say, not sure if he was worried about it or not.

"Me too." He agrees, puckering his lips cutely. You giggle at it and kiss them, before he suddenly bear hugs you and sits up. "Myeon?!" You yelp, startled by his action.

"I love you." He tells you lightly, kissing you again. "I can never tell you enough." You hate how you were never one to express your emotions like he does (really mushy), but you hope you'll be able to learn how to the longer you spend time together. Since you're part wolf now, time is on your side. At the moment though, you settle on getting flustered and blushing.

"You goof." You mutter, leaning your forehead against his.

(The End.)

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A/N: Thank you guys for supporting this short story so much, I really enjoyed creating a world like this, since it's not a genre I normally write for (werewolf, I mean). I just had to write this (despite me not supposed to be writing because it strains my fracture but heheheh whatever). <3 I hope you enjoyed!