#also this isn't even all the ideas I had tumbling in my head

[theunderthecover]

(hi its the anon from earlier, now clearly not an anon. im sending this before I fold into myself. <3)

Scar has been tempted to fold the towel for the past half hour, no matter how safe and lucrative this scheme is. 

Doing anything in front of a crowd for 5 hours nonstop is a tiring task by itself, but singing on top of that could make the most experienced performer want to keel over.

But, a group of powerful and wealthy adventurers entered the tavern 30 minutes ago, and Grian's eyes narrowed in their direction. It's a look the Aarakocra only has when a bigger fish (a bigger prize) unexpectedly appears on the job. It's a look that leads to some of their biggest catches. So, Scar will sing and entertain the party til they're blackout drunk and his throat dies so Grian can snatch whatever caught his eye. 

The energy in the tavern has long since died down, as most rowdy tavern goers are either off to bed or too tired to be loud anymore. The only thing that fills the room now is quiet chatter, the barkeep's everlasting service, Scar's continued performance. He concludes yet another song and basks in another round of faint applause. 

From the corner of his eye, he can see a faint bird-like footprint appear in a small puddle of cheap alcohol near the extremely drunk targets.

With Grian so close, Scar needs to have an iron grip on the room's attention again despite the itch in his throat and the room's energy being at an all-time low. There are too many drifting eyes that could see something being stolen. 

After staring at the puddle for a moment too long, he gets an idea. 

"You've been a delight tonight, kind folks! It'll be just one more song to wrap up the night." Scar declares to the whole tavern from his stage, "Though I'll be sure to leave you all filled with wonder and awe! As a treat, for being such an Amazin' audience tonight." He finishes the segway with an exaggerated wink, causing some patrons to giggle. 

He casts minor illusions with a flourish, making the sound of soft instruments echo around the room. As a viol begins to play, the quiet conversation amongst patrons lulls as every eye--curious, confused, excited--turns to the stage once more.

Scar's eyes close, and he relaxes as he takes in the music the magic creates. He thinks of the song with intent, pulls upon vivid memories to inspire emotion, and lets the feeling consume every movement. He takes one more breath, then, at the cue, begins to sing with a slightly rough voice.

"In a perfect world… one we’ve never known…” 

The tone is jarringly different from the previous songs of the night.

"We would never need to face the world alone…."

The instrument choice, low soothing energy, a soft romantic sway, and the bard's renewed life- all combined- make a near-perfect hook for everyone within the tavern. 

"They can have the world…" 

All Scar has to do is follow through with the catch and reel in the hook enough to let Grian catch the fish before anyone in the pond suspects a thing.

"We'll create our own."

He opens his eyes slightly, half-lidded to obscure where he looks but wide enough to see one of the wealthy adventurer's satchels be swiped off the table and quickly replaced by an identical copy. A bit of panic wells up inside him at the precarious move, but he swallows and trusts his partner knows what he's doing.

"I may not be brave, strong, or smart, but somewhere in my secret heart-" His voice slightly cracks at the rise, but he breathes through it and tries not to let it go completely off-pitch. Scar looks at the ceiling and tries to force his movements make it look intentional, stretching out the ache in his throat. 

"I know, love will find a way… anywhere I go…" Scar lowers his head in time to catch a now visible Grian acting like he just walked in the room, "I'm home if you are there beside me…"

He lets the music breathe, in a tune he knows by heart, as he watches his partner-in-crime casually head for the exit.  

Grian turns around and leans against the wall by the door, a stolen bag tucked under a wing. He signals to leave. They make eye contact.

The warm tavern lights again, and Aarakocra's red tones make Grian look like a painted sunrise. Scar, despite knowing he should be focused on finishing this scheme, doesn't look away. Doesn't stop to think about causing glorious chaos in their victorious exit.

Scar continues to sing, holding Grian's eyes within his own all the while. 

"Like dark, turning into day…"

Grian subtly pauses, confused but suddenly seeming as spellbound as the partner-in-crime in the metaphorical spotlight.

Still, their eyes hold.

 "… somehow we'll come through…"

Grian's incredulously mouthed words, which he fondly knows are along the lines of 'Scar, what are you doing?!'

Still, their eyes hold. 

"… now that I've found you..."

Scar's posture slightly sags with the exhaustion of this performance. He feels the cantrip near its minute end, but the violins swell into an off-script crescendo anyway.

Their eyes still hold.

"… love will find a way..."

The music cuts off abruptly as the spell ends.

He sees Grian suddenly look rather lost, but Scar is not sure why.

The whole tavern is bathed in silence.

He feels compelled to make the song at least sound finished. So…

"Now that I've found you..."

… he repeats himself, even with nothing else to support the song. 

(Scar doesn't admit that, at that moment, as he and his partner swim in each other's eyes, he didn't only repeat it for the performance.)

"… love will find a way."

The room roars into one of the loudest applause at night despite the smaller number of people.

And their eyes still hold.

bard scar singing a little love song at the crastle tavern and making direct eye contact with warlock grian

i think i just got murdered by my own thought what the fuck

[howtofightwrite]

Most traditional boxing instructors will tell you that if the opponent is taller than you, has longer arms than you, or is heavier than you, you're fucked and you need to stay extremely aware and work really hard to compensate for all the advantage he has over you.

In a recent forensic survey, it was determined that most traditional boxing instructors who get into real world altercations die when they're shot in the head.

This is the problem with a lot of these kinds of arguments. No one practices traditional boxing. At least, no one does so publicly. How do I know this? Because traditionally boxers fought in the nude. Yeah, we're not seeing that, are we? Now, maybe they meant bare knuckle boxing, but really no one does that either, these days. Boxing without safety equipment is not a particularly good idea, for fairly obvious reasons.

The only reason the word, “traditional,” is in the ask is to lend their statement unearned credibility. It's an attempt to make their statement sound more authoritative, without offering any evidence to support the statement.

Who said that?

“Traditional people did.”

Okay, but, 'traditionally,' people cleaned shit off their ass with a stick. So, maybe appealing to Hellenic sports isn't the best gauge of how a fight will play out.

Also, I know I just said it, but, who are these authoritative sports guys? Because they're not named. We're simply told, “most,” of them agree. Which starts to sound a lot like “four out of five dentists agree.” Who are these instructors? What do they teach? Why are the currently in prison for indecent exposure? And how much did you pay them to get their uninformed opinion? Salient questions which may need to be answered, if the original question wasn't invalid on its face.

Why do I say it's invalid?

Because boxing isn't fighting.

Boxing is a sport.

Boxing has rules.

Kick your opponent in the groin, or shin, and you're punished.

Step on their foot, push them, and watch them tumble to the ground before you start stomping on them, and you'll be punished.

Throwing your opponent will be punished.

And of course, as mentioned at the top, pulling out a gun and expanding your opponent's mental horizons is extremely frowned upon.

These are all things that can happen in a real fight.

These are all things that do not benefit from increased height or reach.

There is one genuinely accurate statement. In a fight, you do need to be very aware of what's going on around you. Everything else is the product of someone who's been punched in the head repeatedly until the CTEs got them thinking that boxing is analogous to a real fight in any way. (And, statistically, will probably end their career sitting in a jail cell over an aggravated assault charge, because their emotional self-control was completely destroyed by those same head injuries.)

The rules that boxers need to follow are designed to (somewhat) protect the participants. It reduces the dangers of a boxer being killed in the ring. In an observation that I would hope to be self-evident, those rules don't exist in actual combat.

It's also amusing, because the original Asker had to go so far as to single out an ill-defined, “traditional” boxing, because no other martial art they checked gave them the soundbite they wanted.

And, of course, women box. Historically, you could say, “traditionally,” there were even boxing matches between men and women. It wasn't until the 1880s that women were excluded from competitive boxing in the UK. (I'm not sure of the exact date when women were banned from boxing in the US, though that prohibition lasted for less than a century, before the modern return of women to the sport.)

So, either these “traditional instructors�� don't know the history of their own sport... which doesn't sound particularly “traditional” to me, or they're full of shit.

My advice to everyone would be, maybe, don't take the advice of a sports coach about how he's secretly an absolute badass in all the delusional fantasies he's cooked up about how he'd like to inflict violence on others because they wouldn't date him.

-Starke

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[yuujispinkhair]

Separation Anxiety (Chapter 15 - Epilogue)

Put your lips on my scars and teach me to love

When a ritual separates Sukuna from Yuuji, Sukuna is delighted to find that besides having his own body, there is also another gift handed to him: The brat has lost all his memories and is now the perfect little plaything to take home and manipulate. At least, that's the plan. But the King of Curses isn't prepared for the feelings that come along with being human again. And another complication is how cute the brat is when he has no idea who Sukuna is and, instead of hating him, treats him with genuine love and affection. So, without realizing it, Sukuna suddenly finds himself on a journey of learning how to be loved and how to love.

++ Masterpost ++

Pairing: Sukuna x Yuuji Genre: Memory Loss AU, fluff, smut, light angst Word Count: 2.8k Playlist: Separation Anxiety Warnings: 18+, smut, mentions of violence, dub-con (Yuuji has lost his memories, and Sukuna lies to him about being boyfriends). All characters are of age. This story is 18+. Minors don't interact.

Chapter 15 - Epilogue

We can meet in the middle, bodies and souls collide. Dance in the moonlight when all the stars align for you and I. (You and I - Stripped by PVRIS)

Sukuna's hand is clutched tightly in Yuuji's as they enter the small park in front of their apartment. Not for their daily morning run this time but for a stroll in the evening. Yuuji wants to see the fairy lights and LED decorations that have been put up all over the park for Christmas. And, of course, Sukuna can't say no to him, and so he lets Yuuji pull him excitedly along.

Yuuji is marveling at the pretty lights, and Sukuna has to admit that it looks pretty the way all those colorful lights turn the park into a magical-looking winter wonderland. Though Sukuna's gaze, more often than not, strays from the decorations along the path to the young man beside him.

He smiles softly as he watches Yuuji and sees the childlike happiness on his face as Yuuji takes in all the decorations. No matter how many terrible things have happened to Yuuji over the years, he is still able to find genuine joy in these simple things. An admirable trait, Sukuna thinks. Something he used to see as naivety, but now he knows it is part of the immense strength that Yuuji has.

Yuuji catches Sukuna staring at him and grins broadly, giving Sukuna's hand a squeeze as he jerks his chin towards the decorated park,

"Do you like it? It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. Just like you, my love."

Sukuna smiles at Yuuji, and Yuuji throws his head back, laughing that delighted laughter that lights up his whole face, before he bumps into Sukuna's side and presses a firm kiss onto Sukuna's cheek,

"Aww baby, you are making me blush!"

He keeps peppering little kisses all over Sukuna's cheek, making Sukuna laugh and call him a huge brat affectionately, gently pushing at Yuuji's shoulders until the boy stops and smiles at him, big golden eyes gazing pensively at Sukuna as Yuuji adds in a much softer voice,

"I am so happy to be here with you. I'm so happy we are together."

He is still standing so close to Sukuna, and his golden eyes gaze deeply into Sukuna's, holding absolute sincerity and that unwavering conviction that only Itadori Yuuji has.

Sukuna's breath catches in his throat. A few weeks ago, he thought he had lost Yuuji and everything that had been between them. He thought he didn't deserve Yuuji's kindness and love. And yet, now they are here together again, and no words could ever be powerful enough to convey how grateful Sukuna is for that. But he tries anyway,

"Yuuji?"

"Yes?"

Those golden eyes look at him with so much love, and Sukuna feels himself falling even deeper into the warmth and safety that Itadori Yuuji has become to him. All the people around them disappear. There is only Yuuji standing in front of Sukuna in the middle of their park, the place they have made so many memories in, and the words tumble so easily from Sukuna's mouth all of a sudden, so honest, so raw but unafraid because he knows Yuuji will always be gentle with Sukuna's heart.

"Thank you for wanting to stay by my side even after you discovered the truth. Thank you for giving me a chance to learn how beautiful it can be just to exist as a human being. For a thousand years, I thought the moment I would be reincarnated, I would bring a reign of terror over humanity and gradually destroy this world. But now I don't want that anymore. How could I destroy this world when you live in it and when I can find so much happiness in it with you? You taught me love and how to enjoy all these little human things, like this Christmas garden with those fairy lights.

There is a red string of fate tying us together. I didn't realize it initially, but it was always meant to be. You were made for me. And I was meant to find you in this life. Even when I forcibly separated us, I couldn't walk away from you because something bound me to you. Do you know that I felt a phantom pain in my chest because we weren't sharing a body anymore? I needed you near me to make it stop.

My first life wasn't a good one. But I am one of the few blessed ones who got a second chance, and I want to do it better this time. I want to walk a different path, and I think with you by my side, I can do it. Will you stay with me, Yuuji? Will you walk on this new path with me? Will you help me live a better life? Will you help me be a human man instead of a monster?"

Sukuna's breath comes out as little foggy clouds in the freezing night air, adding to the magical atmosphere the park has tonight. And Yuuji is smiling at him while tears glitter in his beautiful eyes.

"Of course I will. I will always stay with you. And as I said before, you aren't a monster to me, Sukuna. Let's try our best to live a happy life and be as human as possible."

A pair of strong arms wraps around Sukuna's waist, comforting him, anchoring him to this world, to this life.

Sukuna wraps his arms around Yuuji, too, holding him while he tells him,

"I used to think the only things that mattered were power and strength. But you showed me other things. These things that I have with you... going to the park, watching movies, cooking together, and all those other small things that bring so much joy and peace. I want this. I want what we have. I want this quiet, happy life with you."

Sukuna cups Yuuji's cheek, caressing it gently with his thumb. And he adds after a moment, with a soft voice full of tenderness,

"I want this until my last dying breath. You and me. Yuuji and Sukuna. I want us to be together in this life and every other life that comes after it."

He knows it will happen because he knows their souls will always find each other again in every life in every alternate universe. Their connection has been woven into what holds this universe together. There is no doubt about it.

And Yuuji seems to know it, too, with the way he beams at Sukuna and smiles that sweet, happy smile. He leans into Sukuna's touch and reaches out to mimic Sukuna's gesture, cupping Sukuna's cheek with his hand and cradling Sukuna's face gently in his palm,

"I want that, too. You and I, that's how it's supposed to be. You're my home, and I am yours. Forever. I promise you, Kuna."

Sukuna smiles softly. The phantom pain in his chest is gone completely, replaced by a comforting warmth. He closes the remaining distance between them by pressing his lips to Yuuji's in a slow, tender kiss.

Sukuna doesn't know how long they stand there in the park in front of their shrine, just kissing and holding each other while the world moves on around them. But Sukuna becomes aware of a cold sensation on his forehead, and at the same moment, Yuuji pulls slightly away to look up at the sky and exclaim loudly,

"It's snowing! Look how pretty!"

Of course, Sukuna is used to snow. There was a lot more of it back in Heian times than there is nowadays. Back then, it was a nuisance. Too cold, too wet, turning the paths that lead to Sukuna's temple into mud that stuck uncomfortably to his feet. But right now, here with Yuuji, Sukuna can appreciate the beauty of the thick white snowflakes that slowly fall down around them, as if time has slowed down and everything happens in slow motion. It's peaceful. Beautiful.

Yuuji laughs and takes a step back, grabbing Sukuna's hands and giving them a squeeze as his eyes sparkle happily,

"Come on, dance with me in the snow! I always wanted to do that!"

Sukuna huffs and laughs, but he reaches out immediately when Yuuji slips on some snow-covered leaves on the ground, catching him before he can fall, and it only makes Yuuji laugh louder.

One of Sukuna's arms is wrapped around Yuuji's waist, holding him, and their eyes lock. For a long moment, they just look at each other, two people lost in each other's eyes. Two people who are each other's world. And suddenly, Sukuna knows that, yes, he will dance with Yuuji in the snow. Because why not? In this life, he can have all those little joys. The boy he loves wants to dance in the snow with him, and Sukuna would be a fool to say no.

He grins at Yuuji and tightens his arm around Yuuji's waist, pulling him closer. Sukuna is leading the dance, steering Yuuji in the right direction, spinning him slowly around while the snowflakes fall down around them, joining in on Sukuna's and Yuuji's slow dance.

Yuuji is laughing unrestrainedly, loud and happy while Sukuna tries to keep an aloof expression, but he fails and instead begins laughing too, as he continues to spin Yuuji around, careful not to let him fall, a strong arm wrapped safely around Yuuji's waist, the fingers of his other hand gently interlaced with Yuuji's. Sukuna dips Yuuji down, causing Yuuji to laugh even louder as the snowflakes tumble down around him and land on his pink hair like a crown. Sukuna can't stop staring at him, mesmerized by Yuuji's beauty, not just by the beauty of his face but also by the beauty of his soul.

5 years later

Sukuna wakes up to the feeling of a warm, heavy body lying half on top of him and soft hair lightly tickling his chin. The feeling of Yuuji wrapped around him like a lazy cat. And Sukuna smiles softly to himself as he runs a large hand through the soft pink hair, caressing it in a gesture so tender it still manages to surprise him even so many years later.

Yuuji never got his memories back, but he told Sukuna he doesn't mind. We are creating new memories every day, and that's all that counts. That's what Yuuji said to Sukuna, smiling that sweet sunshine smile at him, a typical display of his optimistic nature. And Sukuna smiled back and kissed him.

Yes, that is all they need. Yuuji is happy with his life, with the here and now and the future that lies ahead of them. And Sukuna plans to make it a bright future for them both. Another thing Yuuji taught him. Seeking happiness and peace instead of war. Creating a life that is beautiful because of its ordinary nature, a peaceful life filled with little joys like eating your favorite dinner, watching a movie or reading a book you enjoy, taking a walk in the park with the man you love by your side, or making love to him on your shared bed while you look deeply into each other's eyes.

Sukuna hums softly in the depths of his chest as Yuuji stirs lightly, but only to cuddle even closer to Sukuna.

"I know you are awake, darling."

Sukuna says, his low voice full of affection. Yuuji whines and hugs him tighter, mumbling sleepily against Sukuna's chest,

"Just a few more minutes, baby."

And, of course, Sukuna gives him those few more minutes. They still have all day to celebrate their anniversary. Five years of being married to each other. Sukuna booked a table at their favorite restaurant, and hidden in his nightstand is another gift. A poem. Just like people used to write them in Heian times to court their beloved. Sukuna had been an enjoyer of poetry back then but never wrote a poem on his own. The themes of those poems, love and beauty, had seemed too far away from him. Unreachable for a monster like him.

Now, Sukuna can't seem to stop the words flowing from his pen anytime he sits down to write. Poems about golden eyes and warm smiles. Poems about the person who became his home. Poems about true love.

Love.

It used to be something Sukuna thought he'd never be able to feel. Something he didn't even want to feel because it terrified him. But things have changed. Sukuna has changed. But he knows that he would have never been able to learn love by himself. He needed Yuuji to teach him. Sukuna needed the man who is the other half of his soul.

That's why Sukuna was never able to love before. Because no one else was Yuuji.

- The end -

OMGGGG THIS WAS IT 😭 Thank you so much for staying until the end!

Separation Anxiety was my biggest project. I started writing it in 2021. But at that time, I knew I couldn't do this idea justice because it was a very complex story to write, and I feared I wasn't skilled enough to write about the gradually changing emotions in a convincing way. So I kept it in the drafts and occasionally added something to the story. And then, as I grew as a writer, I finally decided it was time to start editing and posting this fic.

I had wanted to finish it for months but never got into the right headspace to put the finishing touches to the final chapter. And then Gege dropped those amazing epilogues and that beautiful art of Sukuna and Yuuji dancing in the snow, and it gave me the motivation to finally finish this story!

I have been crying for days over the new content Gege gave us 😭😭 I wrote the first draft of the final chapter after going to a Christmas Garden three years ago, and now everything has come full circle after Gege finished JJK with an epilogue about snow and that picture of Sukuna and Yuuji dancing in the snow. It just feels so right. The ending for Separation Anxiety was always planned to happen during Christmas time. And now I decided to also add the dancing scene after Gege blessed us with that picture 💗

I hope you enjoyed the ending. Separation Anxiety is a work of love, and I hope you can feel this love when you read it. No other characters have ever touched me as much as Yuuji and Sukuna, and I am so happy that I could explore them and their relationship in this story.

Thank you again for sticking with this story until the end and for all the sweet comments and patience. I am so sorry that I wasn't able to respond to all of your comments, but I read all of them, and I cried so many happy tears about them. I will always be grateful for all your love and support!

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU WHO WENT ON THIS JOURNEY WITH SUKUNA, YUUJI AND ME 😭😭💗

[just-my-latest-hyperfixation]

Baby, it's cold outside

Written for the @steddieholidaydrabbles, day 27

Prompt: Coffee shop/bookstore/tattoo studio AU

Rated: M

CW: Alcohol; Implied sex

Tags: Coffee shop owner Steve; Tattoo studio owner Eddie; Christmas fluff; Flirting; Sexual tension; Getting together

Notes: Continued from my December microfic, but can also stand alone

Eddie swivels morosely in his desk chair, stretches until something in his lower back pops. He glances out the window and immediately regrets it. If anything, the snow has gotten worse, the dark street outside near invisible behind the curtain of flakes that's been falling for hours. 

The blizzard hit just in time for Christmas, grinding all air traffic and most of the roads to a standstill. Eddie called Wayne to break the news, groaning and grumbling all the way, only to be gruffly told off.

“Ain't nothing to be done about it, kiddo. You be safe and I'll see ya when it clears.” 

He was right, of course, the old shit. Eddie is a sensible adult who knows this. And so he holed up at the tattoo studio for some long overdue paperwork. A perfectly reasonable, adult thing to do on a lonely holiday.

Except it's boring as fuck and his back hurts and the cold is creeping in from outside and now he's feeling like a little boy who's had Christmas stolen by the fucking Grinch. 

To top things off, he isn't even sure he'll make it back to his apartment with how things are looking outside.

He's just resigning himself to a night on the foldout in his office when there's a sharp rap against the front door. Eddie almost falls out of his chair. 

“Jesus fuck-” he mutters, bridging the distance and fumbling to unlock the door. “What the hell are you doing?” 

Steve stomps inside, shaking off snow as he goes. Even though it isn't more than a few steps from his door to Eddie’s, he's positively covered in the stuff, hair weighed down and uncharacteristically droopy. Cradled against the chest of his cable-knit sweater is a tray. Eddie spots cookies and two mugs overflowing with copious amounts of whipped cream. 

He watches how Steve sets the tray down on the table in his waiting area and runs his hands through his hair to get the residue snowflakes out. It leaves him looking deliciously disheveled, all mussed-up strands, golden skin flushed pink from the cold. Eddie finds his mouth watering for reasons not exclusively related to the scents wafting off the tray.

Steve is looking at him, like he's waiting for an answer, and shit, he said something, didn't he?

“Sorry, what?” Eddie asks. 

“I said,” Steve shakes his head, but there's no malice behind it. “Dig in, it's not getting any warmer.” 

Eddie crumples down onto the couch, hides his face behind one of the mugs … and blinks in surprise.

“Alcohol?” 

“Grand Marnier,” Steve says, settling down beside him and taking the other mug. Eddie has no idea what the fuck that means. Somehow though, the way the words tumble off Steve’s tongue, low and rumbly and distinctly French, really does it for him, so he doesn't complain. 

“Cheers,” he says and clanks their mugs together before taking a tentative sip. A firework of flavors bursts across his tongue - bitter coffee and thick, sweet cream and something heady and boozy and orange-flavored? 

“Good?”

“So fucking good, dude!” 

Behind his own mug, Steve's mouth tugs into a smile. Eddie isn’t quite sure if the heady rush that floods him is entirely due to the coffee. 

*

“Soooo,” Eddie slurs. The boozy coffee is long gone, as is the second helping Steve got from his shop. He's brought the entire bottle of the fancy French, orangey stuff though, pretty little genius that he is. Eddie giggles and takes another swig. “How c’me you're even here, huh? No family to visit, no girls to kiss under mistletoes?” 

“Have you looked outside?” Steve snorts, swaying into his space to snatch the bottle back. God he is pretty - cheeks flushed from the alcohol, cookie crumbs at the corners of his mouth. All Eddie would need to do is twist his fingers into that preppy sweater of his, yank him closer. Lick them off. 

“-not exactly on visiting terms with my folks,” Steve is saying and Eddie jerks back to attention. “Or speaking terms. My best friend was gonna visit, but I think she'd end me if I so much as brought a mistletoe near her. Anyhow, she can't come, what with the blizzard and all…” 

“So what?” Eddie grins, tongue loosened by alcohol and sugar and the way the light brings out the gold in Steve’s hair and eyes. “You decided to drop by out of the goodness of your heart and save my holiday like some perfect little Christmas angel?” 

Steve blinks. Averts his eyes. Flushes a whole new shade of pink. It blooms on top of the blush that has settled over his nose and cheekbones, like a fresh layer of color on a painting. Eddie thinks of all the other parts of Steve’s body he'd like to paint like this.

“Whatever,” Steve mumbles, “Just thought we'd both feel less alone, if- … It's getting late, I'd better-” 

“Go?” Eddie catches the sleeve of his sweater just as he's about to stand. Steve falls back into the couch. “Where? You're not gonna trudge home through that weather, are you?” 

Steve licks his lips, pink and glossy. Eddie wonders if they still taste like coffee and cream and oranges. His fingers find the soft skin of Steve's wrist under the hem of the sweater. 

“Just stay. You're right, I don't feel like being alone tonight.” 

“Stop it,” Steve's eyes are impossibly bright in the low light. “Please, I … I'll put up with your teasing any other day of the year, but not today.” 

“Steve …” Eddie rumbles. The heartbeat under his fingers flutters. “Stay … and I'll show you how serious I am.” 

He leans in, breathes his next words against the shell of a pink ear. “If you wanna, I'll even call you angel again.” 

They do end up using the foldout, the cold quickly forgotten.

All my holiday drabbles

[30somethingautisticteacher]

Embracing a Different Future

Buck had always dreamed of getting married. He knew he wanted the white picket fence lifestyle, or at least some version of it. In those imagined scenarios, he always loved the idea of being a husband. But he never imagined having a husband - it was never on his radar.

Buck loved being with Tommy. It had taken a while to feel comfortable introducing Tommy as his boyfriend, but now it was one of his favorite things. The pride he felt saying "my boyfriend" still made his heart skip a beat.

So why, when Tommy started dropping hints about marriage, did the weight of the word "husband" feel so suffocating?

He wanted forever with Tommy - that wasn't even a question. But something about changing "boyfriend" to "husband" made his chest tight. Maybe it was because all his previous dreams of marriage had included a wife, or maybe it was because "husband" made it all feel so much more real, more permanent, more... visible.

He needed to talk to Maddie about it - Maddie, who never judged him. Well, at least not harshly.

"Hey Mads, are you free? Can we meet for coffee?" Buck said, his voice shaky.

"Of course, Buck. Is everything okay?" Maddie's concern was evident even through the phone.

"Fine, I just need my big sister."

"Coffee shop or my place?"

"Yours."

"Okay, you pick up the coffee and head over here," Maddie said.

Buck hung up, grateful for his sister's immediate availability and her ability to sense when something was weighing on him. The word "husband" echoed in his mind as he drove to get their coffee, his thoughts a jumbled mess.

Buck took a deep breath as he exited the Jeep. He knocked on Maddie's door once before just walking in. "Maddie?"

"Kitchen!"

Buck walked into the kitchen, handed Maddie her coffee, and flopped onto a bar stool.

"So, what's up?" Maddie asked, studying her brother's face.

"So," Buck said, taking a deep breath. "Tommy's been dropping some hints about marriage lately."

"That's great!" Maddie exclaimed before seeing the look on Buck's face. Her smile faltered. "Isn't it? I thought you wanted to get married."

"I do. I really do," Buck said, staring at his coffee cup. "It's just... having a husband. It just feels so different from everything I had ever imagined."

"Different how?" Maddie asked gently.

"I imagined having a wife, Mads. I am so happy with Tommy and he's my forever but I'm not gay. It wasn't on my radar. I didn't know I even liked guys until 18 months ago," Buck said, the words tumbling out in a rush of emotion.

"Those are valid feelings, Buck," Maddie said softly.

Buck ran his hand through his hair, frustration evident in his gesture. "And it also feels like I'm going to be coming out to people constantly. Which Tommy says is a big part of being queer, but it hasn't really been to me." He paused, trying to find the right words. "Committing to having a husband just feels like a lot. Like, right now people just see us as Buck and Tommy, and it's great. But a husband? That's... that's different."

His voice cracked as he continued, "But I want it, Mads. I want it so badly," he said, almost in tears. "I want every part of a marriage to Tommy. Why am I like this?"

Maddie wrapped him in a hug. "You're not like anything, Evan. You've got big emotions over something that is huge."

"I feel like an idiot," Buck mumbled into his sister's shoulder.

"Oh sweetie, you're not an idiot, but I think you need to talk to Tommy."

"Maddie, I can't," Buck said, tears falling freely now. "He'll think I'm rejecting him. That I don't want the future with him, and I do. It's all I want," his voice broke on the last words.

"Don't you think Tommy will understand?" Maddie asked gently.

"I'm scared, Maddie." Buck's voice was barely above a whisper. "Why am I scared? Am I... am I homophobic?" The last word came out choked, full of self-doubt and fear.

"You've been dating a man for over a year," Maddie said flatly, giving her brother her best 'are you serious' look.

"So why am I doing this?" Buck asked, his voice small and confused, searching his sister's face for answers.

"Buck, you basically speed-ran your bi awakening. You went from realizing you liked guys to being in a serious relationship in what felt like minutes. There are bound to be things you never considered, feelings you never processed."

She paused, studying his face carefully. "Do you think you're mourning the idea of having a wife?"

"No!" Buck said immediately. "Definitely not mourning, just... adjusting to how different my future looks from what I imagined. I want this future more than I ever wanted that one, but it's still an adjustment."

"That makes perfect sense, Evan," Maddie said softly. "And Tommy will understand that too."

Buck sat silently for a moment, Maddie's comforting arm around his shoulder as he processed his emotions.

"You're right, Maddie. He deserves to know what I'm feeling, even if I'm not sure I fully understand it myself."

Maddie gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "I think that's a really brave decision, Buck. Tommy loves you , and I know he'll want to support you through this."

Buck took a steadying breath as he stood up from the barstool. "Alright, I'm going to head home. I need to talk to Tommy about this before I lose my nerve."

Maddie gave him an encouraging smile. "I really think being honest with him is the best thing you can do. He'll want to understand what you're going through."

"Wish me luck?"

"Good luck," Maddie said, pulling him into a tight hug. "Remember, I'm here for you, no matter what."

Buck nodded gratefully and made his way to the front door. As he drove back to their house, a mix of worry and confidence swirled within him. He knew this conversation with Tommy wouldn't be easy, but deep down, he felt certain that everything was going to be okay.

Or read on Ao3

[jpitha]

Between the Black and Gray 26

First / Previous / Next

"Shit!" Fen dove to the ground and slid into the legs of the first guard, knocking him over, and he tumbled into a pile with a grunt. The second saw that and skidded to a stop, putting the momentum from his run into swinging his rifle like a club.

"That's odd" Fen thought as she ducked under the rifle butt and reached up to twist his weapon out of his hands. "Why isn't he shooting?" She used the momentum imparted on the rifle by its previous owner to swing around and clock him in the skull, knocking him down.

Northern stood there, mouth agape.

Fen cycled the action on the rifle and checked it. It was loaded with armor piercing rounds. That was also odd. Who were they expecting to fight? She looked back towards Northern and picked up the luggage. "Well? Come on then. Grab that rifle, no sense in wasting it."

"Yes ma'am!" Northern grinned as she picked up the rifle and ran after her.

The original guard that had let Fen in was not at his post, his door sliding up and down as it hit an obstruction. Fen looked down only to see a booted foot blocking the door, preventing it from closing. The guard from earlier was face down just outside the doorway, with a pool of blood around his head.

"Northern... do you know a different way out?"

Northern peered around Fen. "I see what you mean. Seems like someone came in before us."

"Come now Fenchurch, surely I'm more than just 'someone'?"

Fen turned behind her, and saw Nal, standing there in the uniform of the Discoverers, flanked by two more guards.

"Nalenni? What are you doing?"

"Me? I'm just cleaning up a source of contraband. Tell me though, what are you doing? First they keep you aboard Dreams longer than me; that's fine, I figure they're trying to recruit you. Then, I hear that Dreams and her two escorts were obliterated when it blew itself up and the only witness was a human in a brand new Frigate with a ton of money and crates of weapons who has 'no idea' what happened." She put her hands on her hips. "I have to say Fen, I am impressed. If you did it, I have no idea how. If you didn't I have no idea how you escaped."

Northern looked down at Fen. "What's all this?"

Fen looked back at Northern. "Tell you all about it once we get out. You have my word I didn't do anything bad." She thought a moment. "Well, nothing I thought was bad at the time."

Nal looked at them both. "A new friend already Fen? My, but you tend to burn through them." She snapped her fingers and the two guards brought their rifles to bear. "Now ladies, let's not be stupid. Cooperate and I'm sure you'll both survive the day."

Northern locked eyes with Nal and mumbled out of the corner of her mouth "How bad do you want to get out of here?"

Fen tried to not react. "Uh, pretty badly? My ship is in the public docs if it hasn't been impounded. We can get there and go. I have no... real ties here." It wasn't exactly true, and it wasn't exactly a lie.

"When it happens, duck and run out of the door."

"When what ha-" was all she could manage before Northern reached behind her and whipped something at Nal and the guards faster than any human could. The K'laxi didn't have any chance of reacting as the concussion grenade blinded and deafened them.

K'laxi have larger eyes and ears than humans. It makes sense as they evolved in the large forests of their home. They were originally crepuscular animals, best suited to early morning and evening. Their sight - while not quite having the same contrast or color dept as humans - was excellent in low light.

The concussion grenade must have hurt like hell. All three of them screamed and dropped whatever they were holding to cover their eyes. Their ears flat on their head and they nearly collapsed onto the ground.

Fen dove through the door, with Northern following close behind. She used the rifle to slide the dead K'laxi's leg out from the door, and it slammed shut. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Fen, what the hell was that?" Northern's voice rising with each name she intoned.

"Can it wait?" Fen looked around the beige hall. She came from that direction, but it only led her to the bar. She was sure she didn't want to bring this heat on Ullen.

"No Fen, it can't wait. What. Is. Going. On." Northern put her hands on her hips and stood there, her face stony.

"Dreams had a shackled AI and I freed it using the code that Gord showed me, and she was quite... upset at being shackled for a few hundred years, killed everyone, gave me their money and the frigate, helped me leave and then blew themselves and their escorts up!" Fen blurted her story out in one breath, as fast as she could.

"That's... a lot, Fen."

"I know."

Nothern raised her eyebrow. "Why do I believe you?"

"It's true?"

She sighed again. "Yeah, it probably is. You know the unlock code for the AI shackles?"

Fen nodded "Yeah, it's 0001."

Northern's laugh was harsh. "Of course it is."

"Northern? Do you happen to know of an exit from here? I came from that way-" She pointed "-but I don't want to bring this heat down on the guy who let me in. He's...a friend"

Northern looked around, her eyes flashing blue for just a moment. "This way. If we go down here, we can take a freight lift closer to the docks."

Northern lead them down a hall, then jogged left and right as they walked through the endless beige. She made a few more turns and Fen decided to stop trying to keep track. The identical hallways were making her thoroughly lost. Northern didn't seem to mind though. She walked on at a regular pace, head high. Occasionally, she'd stop and appear to think for a moment before continuing on.

After what felt like Fen to be an endless series of halls, her feet were getting sore, and she was flagging. "Northern, are we close? I need a break."

Northern turned back and smiled. "We're close now Fen. Gotta keep going if you want to get to your ship. We've walked all the way across Minaren and up about thirty levels. In fact..." She stopped at a doorway, and touched a panel on the side. It slid open with a little vibration brought about from age. "Here we are!"

Fen peeked inside. It was no larger than a closet, and along the far wall was a ladder. "How far do we have to climb?"

Northern looked up. "Not too far. Couple dozen meters probably. Here-" She reached down to the cart that Fen was pulling and pressed a button. Straps flowed out of the bottom and the wheels tucked up inside. "It's a little heavy, but it's got good balance. Strong girl like you should be able to carry it no problem." She winked, and pressed a button on her carts, and they configured similarly. She wore one on her front and one on her back.

Fen struggled to wear the converted backpack. She got it on, but Northern was not lying about the weight. Northern seemed to have no problem with the weight. She started climbing, and Fen followed close behind.

True to her word, it was only a dozen meters or so until Northern stopped. Fen looked up and then blushed. Northern was wearing a skirt. "Northern, why did you stop?"

"One moment Fen, I have to open this hatch." Fen heard keys being punched in on a pad, and a grunt of effort, and then she felt her ears pop with an equalizing of pressure.

Northern scurried up out of the hatch, and Fen followed behind. They were on the dock in front of...

"Fen? Why the name of our blessed Ancestors did you come out of the floor? And who is that with you?"

"Zhe! You came!" Fen was surprised at her own relief at seeing the former K'laxi Discoverer.

Zhe's tail swished. "I did. I thought about what you said, and well, life on Minaren is pretty stable, but it's boring! I'm young. I want to see the galaxy, maybe make a name for myself. If nothing else do something other than lead people in for questioning." Zhe looked up, and up at Northern. "Who is your friend?"

Northern grinned wickedly. "I'm Northern Lights. Nice to meetcha. So that's three of us? Sounds like a crew to me, Fen. Let's boogie."

"Let's what?" Fen couldn't tell if Northern was using strange slang out of habit, or to be annoying.

She gestured towards the ship. "This is yours right? Let's jet. Let's abscond. Let us leave this place."

Fen looked around. Other than Zhe, nobody seemed to notice them. There didn't seem to be extra guards or anyone shouting for them to surrender immediately. Did they get away clean? "Zhe, did you hear anything about Nalenni running a raid on the Basement?"

Zhe's ears swiveled forward and her eyes widened. "How do you know about Senior Discoverer Nalenni?"

"Senior Discoverer? Huh." Northern made a face at Fen. "Uh, She was my last job with Gord. We were contracted to bring her here, actually. When we linked in Gord and Spyglass saw the Supers, dumped her and me into a pod and left."

Northern stared for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, that does sound like Gord actually. He was always a cautious one. I have to say Fen, you have a knack for being around important people at odd times." Northern turned to Zhe. "You still didn't answer the question though. Did you hear about Nalenni running a raid?"

Northern was just asking a question, but she must have intimidated Zhe something fierce. Zhe squeaked and nearly jumped at the question. "S-sorry Miss Northern, I haven't heard anything. I'm pretty low in the organization anyway, nobody tells me anything."

Northern grinned again "Miss Northern? I like you, friend. You can just call me Northern though, it's all right." She turned to Fen. "Shall we?"

Fen walked over to the airlock and laid a hand on it. It opened without protest. Huh. Maybe they really would get away clean. She waved them in.

"Come on. Let's get out of here, and see if we can find some more crew."

[narcosmx]

Hey, I'm so happy you're back I missed reading your works.I was wondering if you'll still do the requests that you mentioned there because they were all great ideas : https://www.tumblr.com/narcosmx/669340063334842368/request-list-here-is-a-list-of-the-request-that

being enedina's best friend and falling for benjamin arellano-felix would include:

a/n: okay so this made mee think about the enedina's bff falling for benjamin thing and i got going, so yes i'll be going back to some of these hehe

okayokay hear me out rich boss babes together

WHICH LEAD ME TO THINK LIKE WHAT IF ENEDINA'S BFF WAS AMADO'S YOUNGER SISTER

so like amado is the kind of older brother where like... you call me and ofc i'll come solve your problems for you but can you like....maybe handle what you can on your own

kinda just gives her a wad of cash, la bendicion and be like go live your life kid at least one of us should enjoy the money i'm making lol

"vaya con dios mijita" also get the vibes that he def taught you how to fly too

so i imagine you being a little bit more rough and tumble than enedina

but like you bring out the boss bitch in her, reminds her she is capable of breaking away from this idea of "being a woman" was

being bffs with dina gives me like, you practically live at her place vibes you know

like you have a toothbrush, and clothes and your favorite soaps in the goddamn shower

you go home only to like swap out the roation of outfits you have or getting a new pair of shoes or something

otherwise you were essentially living at the arellano-felix house, shit even their mom jokes about her liking you more than your own kids

and the girls fucking love having you around, and lowkey probably ramon too because you're never one to shoot down his crazy ass ideas

pancha is like "don't you like, ever get tired of being here" and you're like "don't you ever get tired of being the ugliest member of this family?"

and benjamin oh benjamin at first he tries to pay you no mind, but you're not one he can easily ignore

so he resigns himself to nodding at you and huffing with laughter when he sees how comfortably you lounge around his fucking house because no matter what you do like he cannot get mad at you

you do something and he smiles and someone else does that same exact thing he'd rip them several new assholes.

okay listen i don't know why i get the vibes that like you're an expert at breaking into anything that isn't welded shut

you know, like you grew up around criminals you were bound to pick something up

not that you had to break into dina's place, you had a key but sometimes it's just fun to freak the other's out

i just imagine, like benjamin coming home a day after having like fortified security and he just looks into the backyard and you're chilling poolside

he walks out and it like "w-we changed the locks yesterday after a security issue... how the fuck did you? dina is out making your key right now??"

you nearly giggling as you take a sip of your drink "you make me laugh, benji"

YOU CALLING HIM BENJI I CANNOT \

him opening his mouth to say something and him being like yeah nope nevermind and turning on his heel and walking inside

hehe having to turn on his heels so fast because he can't help but smile at you and your antics

dina walking out and being like "hey bebe, i left your key in your bag" but side eyeing her brother because she knows she knows something is up

because no one makes her wet blanket of a brother smile like that

you and dina going to fancy dinners together can you imagine, going to the hottest spots in all of baja

you two getting all dolled up in her room together, they can hear you laughing from down the street lol

unabashedly singing at the top of your lungs lol

but i also have this one moment of scene stuck in my head

you and dina are in a rush getting ready to go somewhere and like dina is showering and you're like

well i'm def not showering in any of the other boys fucking rooms because NOPE

and i dunno but benjamin gives you vibes that his bathroom would be clean and so you...go for it

you couldnt have shame if they paid you so you're just out here causally breaking into fucking tijuana's biggest drug dealer's room

going in to take a shower, showering you know and then as you come out with like a robe wrapped around yourself and drying yout hair, benjamin is entering the room

and there's just this moment where benjamin is looking at you like with like a what the fuck but like amused face

and you're like "look, where else did you want me to go? i'm def not fucking showering in ramon's shower"

and benjamin is like "hm i don't know maybe???? the freaking guest bathroom"

and you laughing him off the face of the planet

and okay imagine he has like documents laying around his room because he wakes up in the middle of the night and worries about bus iness stuff because that's him

anyways you saw it and you idk just have this knack for business or math and you just walk up past him brushing against him and kiss his cheek and are like "thanks for sharing the bathroom with me, and if you raise the tax 1.5 percent over 6 months you'll cover that cost" you note motioning your head towards the document and walking away AHHH

[pagodazz]

do you have any habit and Evan analysis to drop cause I never see people talk about them and their bond.. in my eyes habit and Evan are like a wolf and a rabbit in the way that habit has so much power, but also I feel like Evan could almost tame him.. I don’t know how to explain it and I think tumble has a limit for asks. Hope you understand what I mean.

DUDE IM SO FUCKING GLAD YOU ASKED. I have theories. I have MANY theories and thoughts about these two it makes me absolutely insane. Just like pretty much anyone else in this fandom, Evan and habit are the ones who introduced me into this series, and they were just so intriguing to me that I had to know more. Ofc my interests got stolen by a certain film student but. Evan and habit are JUST AS SPECIAL TO ME.

(The cover isn't working I'm so sorry idk what's going on 😭😭)

Now I wanna start off with what you said about Habit being a wolf and Evan being a rabbit, and I think you're VERY correct, yet I do have one thing I would like to add to this however I think it would take a VERRYY long time for Evan to "tame" habit, Habit is not something that WANTS to be tamed, he doesn't really want to be treated with gentleness. And Evan doesn't exactly want to treat habit with any gentleness or tame him at all.

The one thing about Evan is that he's the perfect toy for habit, he's the perfect one for him, his perfect fit, their souls or their lives are intertwined even if they both don't want to be.

I see their relationship more like a dog and it's favorite chew toy, the dog will bite and tug and pull, but It'll never rip it apart, and if it does, the dog will feel regret and it'll will go get it stitched back up just to go back to playing.

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

Habit will however take care of this vessel, to those who think he treats it like shit???? you clearly don't understand habit at all. He needs this vessel, he wants it pristine, perfect, powerful. He will clean this body, he'll feed the body, he'll keep it in the best shape he can, all while he rots it from the inside, because no matter what, habit is a parasite taking absolutely everything from Evan.

I feel like Evan himself is alot more likely to ignore his own needs thinking it'll have some kind of damaging affect on habit, but habit will get into his head, he'll whisper in his ear about Evan needs to take care of himself, Evan needs to be strong for everyone and everything. He can't be weak, he'll be of no use to ANYONE if he's weak. Habit will tell him he'd be of no use to Vinnie if he isn't taking care of himself, and that will always get Evan going enough to do SOMETHING.

Although I think food is something that might be ruined for Evan, especially meat. He can't bite into it without being brought to tears at the idea of his teeth sinking down into human flesh again and he'll have to spit it out and scrub the taste and the blood out of his mouth. So when habit is in control, that's when he has to do the eating, habit has to be the one to nurture this body like it's his own.

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

Evan is practically convinced him and habit are one, he thinks that habit is just a manifestation of his deep inner impulses the ones he'd never dream of doing but that replay in his mind over and over again. And he thinks Habit is there to force him to act on these impulses as punishment for the want he experience.

Habit however knows him and Evan aren't one and he makes sure that people know that. he could give less of a shit about the way Evan actually FEELS he just wants his body in good condition. When you're being possessed by habit, you're no longer yourself, there's NOTHING of your personality left, you are PURELY Habit. He'll change your clothes, he'll change your hair, he'll do whatever HE wants because your body is HIS. And that's exactly how it is with Evan. He owns him, Evan is BUILT for him. it's not the other way around.

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

Habit will in fact feed Evan fake memories and trap him in horrific nightmares on repeat, leaving his mind weak and easy to keep in control. The more disoriented Evan is, the easier it is to take over and use his body the way he wants to.

That being said though, Habit isn't all THAT cruel to Evan, atleast earlier on the series. Earlier on he's trying to "help" him in ways. He's protective, he'll scratch at Evans brain screaming to be let out the MOMENT Evan is in danger, only to purr with delight when Evan gives in.

I take them switching in their head as like habit taking the lead in a dance, Evan is still participating, but it's not really all up to him, he's just following habits lead, taking the advice he's given. Because that's one thing Evan is REALLY good at. He's the BEST at doing what he's told. and for something like habit??? that's just how he likes it.

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

I hope you enjoy these anon. I don't really view their relationship as very soft in many ways, they're nothing like Michael and Patrick, if anything habit would be offended at the assumption that he's ANYTHING like Patrick Habit is NOTHING close to human, he still doesn't feel the way Patrick does which I think makes it impossible to have true control over Evans body, because he refuses to WORK with him. Habit wants to be in full power and not share, but in order to achieve full power bro needs to share HELP.

[agirlwholovesrockstars]

accidentally in love

☆ EDDIE MUNSON'S MASTERLIST ☆

❣ AGATHA'S MAIN PAGE ❣

Summary : so, she said "what's the problem, baby?" what's the problem? I don't know- maybe I'm in love"

Word Count : I called it "mini fics" for a reason hehe

Warnings : 18+ Eddie Munson x FEM!athletic!reader, language, reader and Eddie are both (20), Eddie being a dork (im gonna squeeze him), bullying (defending Eddie isn't enough anymore, I need a gun), Jason Carver appearance( A big "ew" I know-), public humiliation, no use of y/n

What to Expect : FLUFFLY FLUFF‼️‼️Childhood!Bestfriends, friends to lovers

Note To Reader : yup- I had another idea, what if Eddie got accidentally hit by a ball and reader gets to help him and while aiding him, he gets all dramatic and reader gets worried and then realizes Eddie is just playing with her- AHHH YOU GET ME?!? also I'm not an athletic, my apologies if it isn't accurate here but I just wanted to have a scene that involves a sport in it

Author Note : I WORSHIP SHREK HERE ON MY PAGE!!!! I DON'T TOLERATE THE HATE TOWARDS IT 😤😤😤😤

Eddie hates P.E classes

Not that he's lazy to participate in tasks like exercises

He doesn't like to get all sweaty and feel tired more than ever after it

He changed into P.E uniform in the boy's locker room

He took a deep breath to stretch his body and warm up for the activity

He's on the bench with his knee jumping up and down while he shuts his eyes as wishes that his teacher won't pick him

"Mr.Munson? Get in the middle of the court, please"

"Damn" he mutters as he begrudgingly gets up from his seat as he walks through his way into the middle

"Alright, Mr.Elrod, take the serve- on this first round"

His classmate takes the volleyball, he is so seriously so focused when he knew the ball would come right at him, he is ready to spike it until he didn't knew behind from his back someone or purposely hit him with another ball that made the upcoming ball falls right from his face making him tumbled down on the floor

Even though volleyballs are softer than basketballs, it isn't supposed to hurt much but the impact from the both balls are really strong

He groans from the pain that he's feeling behind the back of his head and his elbows

"What a show! Munson!" Jason shouts through the gymnasium his voice echoes while he cackles as the other students laughed with him

Eddie grimaces as he tries to sit up slowly avoiding any part of his body that is hurting

"Oh, go to hell! Jason!" A familiar voice coming from his behind, he can hear the sneakers squeaking on the floor, he was to turn his head around to look up who it is-

"I'll help you get up"

A hand was hanging across from his face as he raises his head to the girl who is bending down slightly, standing next to him

A sweet smile sitting on your face, offering him a hand

He stares at you suddenly all of the needling pain has gone out of the window

Your smile never left your face while you gesture to your hand

He feels like he knew you, but he might be wrong

He blinks and shyly takes your hand, the moment he finally gets to stand on his own feet, you help him to balance himself

He rips his hand off from you as if it's a crime to held hands with a outcast like him

You noticed it, of course, you understood why, he did it

A part of you, slightly disappointed that he couldn't remember you?

You saw his elbow had a fresh cut from the fall and his head needed to put an ice bag on it because you can tell that he winces deep inside

"Mr.Barlowe, I'll take Eddie at the nurse's office"

Eddie raises both of his eyebrows in surprise, he isn't used to having kindness towards him

"Okay, you both can be excused, you can do the activity tomorrow"

You walked with him on the way to the nurse's office

He take chances to glance at you, the moment he recognizes you

You looked at him, the color from his face are all gone looking pale as ever

"Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm good" he clears his throat, avoiding your eyes

You stare at him for awhile as you turned around to open the nurse's office

He gets even more nervous that you and him are both alone in the room

"Hey, uh- listen- you don't have to do this"

He watches you as you get the first aid kit and other things that you needed

He's waiting for your response, you sat down on the chair, pulled one for him and placed your things on the small table

"I want to help you because I want to" you gesture at the chair

He hesitates for a second, he closes the door behind him and he sats down

You grab the ice bag, holding out for him as you say

"Put this where it hurts" you say as you wash and sanitize your hands

"T-Thanks" he murmurs as he swallowed nervously

"Let me see"

You perk up at eyebrow at him pointing to his elbow as he show it to you

You click your tongue "That asshole, Jason" you shook your head, your face is scrunched up in annoyance

His eyes softens the way you took care of him, your eyebrows knitted together for concentration as you dab the cotton balls with alcohol on the wounded area

"How you're feeling? Any improvements?" You ask while tearing a new band-aid

He's leaning on the table, his head is tilted a little as he watches you work, he blinks when he finally registered that you're talking to him

"The ice helps" he blurted out

You smirked

"Eddie, you don't have to be nervous around me, you're acting like we don't know each other!" you chuckled as you placed the band-aid on his cut

He tenses and his cheeks blooms red

"y-you remember that?" he leans closer to you as he removes the ice bag from his head

"Duh!- no- don't take that off!" You giggled from his suddenly cheerful voice as you help him to put the ice bag back from his head

He smiles and his eyes became even more sweeter while he gazes on you

"you're like one of the best partners that I ever had in music class like I'm so lucky that you're my partner on the project that we worked on back in elementary!" You happily reminisce the memory, your eyes gilmmers with such joy and he loves seeing that

"We we're neighbors! and oh- my god- don't tell me that you completely forgotten about that I was also the one who-

"take care of me when I scraped my knee while trying to learn how to ride a bike!"

Eddie finishes your sentence and you widely grinned at him

"and here we are back at it again"

"aaaaaand I'm such a fool for not recognizing you earlier"

"no, it's okay-" you look down fast, you missed the way he always exaggerates his words

"it just that you looked different" he gestures to your face and your clothes

You looked at yourself in the mirror and you shrugged "Yeah- I get that a lot"

You continue to talk as you cleaned up as you discarded the wipes, cottons, wrapper from the table

"I may look different but I won't forget the people who were very dear to me"

He watches your every move, how come he didn't remember- the girl who has always been in his heart since day one

"Especially, the ones who are nice to me" you flick back your hair as you fixed your jogging pants rolling up the hems on the bottom

"Eddie, you don't have to be nervous around me, you're acting like we don't know each other!"

Your voice keep replaying inside of his head as he lights up an idea

He wants to take the risk if somehow and he hopes that you still harboring feelings for him just the way like he do for years

"Ah! It hurts!" He exclaims as he fell down from his seat while holding his elbow as he pretends that it hurt really bad

Well, technically, yes- it's still excruciating painful but it's not as bad as it was earlier

You gasped and your eyes turn into worry

Your knees are on the floor consoling him

"Oh- my god! Eddie- is there anything that I could do?" You rambled as your eyes roam over at the wounds that you took care for-

Eddie is fighting his smirk for this silly plan to go short-lived, so, he continues to act

"I don't feel so good, I think- I'm gonna die" he dramatically stated as he passes out

"No- N-No -No!" Your voiced cracked as you panicked

You keep nudging him and keep shaking him

"Eddie!"

Still no response

Your mind is scrambled, you lean down to listen to his heartbeat

He peeked his one eye open as he smirks slightly down on your action

As soon as you got back up, he is still unresponsive and his eyes are closed

He didn't knew this little evil plan would work and he is laughing deep inside and he really just wants to burst it out anytime sooner

You're just kneeling there and try to look everywhere to help him wake up but you can't moved easily because you're so frantic that it might get even more worse, so-

There is only one thing to wake up him like fast

Somehow, Eddie's acting made you believe that he is unconscious

Your breathing is getting more ragged and your hands are now clammy

Your eyes are misty because this is not just some random person, you know this person

He's your childhood bestfriend

Your path in life and your socialization, maybe different but your bond you shared together?

It will never drift and won't ever fade away

You wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world

Even, you don't hang out that much often, you still and will always cared for him

If only he knew

You pull him close to your body as you carefully hold his head, cradling into your arms

If only he could see the way your eyes sparks speaks the unspoken words that you really wanted to say after all these years

You went with it, both of your lips touched, you lean down and kiss him

Your eyes widen, the second you kissed him, he kisses you back

His eyes flutter open slowly

You can see that he is surprised too but the moment is over when you saw the mischievous glint on his eyes

And oh my fucking god, that smirk, that you always knew

The humiliation and the recognition crosses your beautiful features

As Eddie's grin grows more bigger that his dimples show, you always loved his dimples

Your cheeks are hot on fire, you swallowed shyly as he tries to get up still limping a little bit

You duck your head down as you sat back on the chair

The moment you heard him snickered, you frown at him

You glare your eyes on him as he throws his head back in laughter

You playfully push his chest as he laughs even more harder

"You! Infuriating devious monster!" You angrily whisper-shouted at him- that you almost went out with your full voice as you remembered that you're in school

He chuckles at your state- his devilishly charming smirk sitting on his face as you rolled your eyes at him

As you moved yourself away from him, he catches your hands pulling you closer to him as you blushed at his action

Your heart stuttered and you blinked rapidly

"I just wanted to ask you out on a date-"

You scoffed at him ignoring the way you feel all fuzzy at his announcement

"Are you serious? You pulled that stunt to just ask me out on a date?" You ripped your hands off of him as you step behind back

He shyly admits "Yeah" as he flashes you a cute smile and those doe eyes again

"You liked it, don't you?" He says as he tilts his head at you with a smug smile

You shake your head as you avoid his eyes, the nerve of this man

"Liked what?" You snarky replied back as you raised an eyebrow

You know what he's referring to but you're too embarrassed to admit since

It's confirmed, that you also do like him and that shocks you that you thought after all this time, you're the only one who is falling for him

It turns out that you both did since day one, you and him are just caught up with all of the life that's been going on

You both didn't get the chance to catch up until now

He teases you about the way you fight to not to look at his eyes

Your lips curled into a smile, he points it out

"Oh! See! I knew it! I got a smile, so- that means, Yes" he proudly nods as he dust off shoulder as you giggled

"You're still not forgiven though"

"Aww, you know what- maybe- I should got into another accident so I could get another-" he makes a kissy face at you as you laughed

"Or you could-" you pretend to think for a second

"I could make an exception"

"Ooh? How? Do tell" you sparked interest at him

He walks closer to you, it all seems too much and it couldn't get any easier of your overwhelming feelings at the same time

Your heart hops into so much happiness

"I could do better"

"Do better at what?"

He kisses you once again as you squealed that he caught you off guarded, you kissed him back as you closed your eyes as he sighs in content, his heart soars the way you pulled his shirt much more closer to you as he deepens the kiss

A sudden knock at the door, you pulled away from each other as the room filled with silly giggles from the both of you

"Hello? If you're both still in there, you should get on with your next class, young lady" your P.E teacher spoked outside as you tried to cover your mouth to stop giggling so bad

Eddie tries to mimick the teacher mannerisms as you hold your stomach, you must resist not to cackle while your teacher is still there

"Or it's detention for the both of you"

"I'll choose that anytime" he jokingly whispers as you poke his sides with your elbow

As soon you heard the receding footsteps, you looked at each other and that's where it all let out the suppressed laughter

"you think you can continue to attend classes now?" Your laughter died down as you try to catch up with your breath

"Yeah, I do, thanks to you" he winks at you

You became flustered as you roll your eyes at him again as you tuck your hair behind your ear

You grab your stuff and set everything aside from the nurse's office

As you both went outside of the room, he hugs you from the behind as you melt with it, a fond smile is on your lips

"I love you"

Your heart skyrocketed to his admission as he pulled back as he also couldn't believe of what he just did

"I love you, too, so much" your words are so soft spoken that it almost like it's only for him to hear

His gaze became even more lovingly as he cheesily smiles as raises his fist up in victory as you chuckled to his antics

"Sundaes and French Fries?" He says as he offers his forearm for you to hold as you gladly accept

"Just like the good old days"

You both went straight to your classes sharing the same looks and smiles across both of your faces

:))

[supperrplexx]

Maze Runner Fanfiction Recomendations

Here are some Maze runner (Mostly Newtmas) fic recs!!!

Sweet Tooth - dontbeeshy

Words: 14,805  Chapters: 4/?

The heart is blueberry cheesecake, perfectly scooped, and gracefully surrounded by a few petals of raspberry sorbet, all of it wrapped in another layer of petals - chocolate this time, that is already dripping down the cone.

If he had been more careful, maybe he would have noticed that Newt didn’t scoop the ice cream in proper balls, but instead in petals, that he carefully pieced together to create this, a rose-shaped ice cream, standing proudly on its cone like a real flower on its stem.

- in which Newt works at an ice cream parlour, and Thomas is the regular customer who falls for the cute boy behind the counter

I may enjoy faking it - newtmasdoesthedo

Words: 15,002  Chapters: 3/3

“Yeah, okay, so our friends have been betting on when we’re getting together. And we decided to trick them. Well, Thomas decided to trick them. We had Chuck place a bet, we’re gonna pretend to be in a relationship.”

The choked sound his sister made had him wincing. He was sort of glad, sort of disappointed that she agreed with him that this was a terrible idea. She went into a longer rant about him getting his heart broken and her having to come home and pick him up off the floor when their parents failed, and he laughed softly. “I know, okay? I know it’s a terrible idea, but I can’t say no to him. The thing is, I need to know what to wear tonight.”

Naya groaned on the line, and he totally got her. He was being an idiot and he knew it. “I’m sorry okay! I’m bloody sorry, but I need the bloody buggers to believe that I’m trying to impress him.”

Naya snorted again. “Which you’re clearly not.”

“Exactly.” Another groan. “Okay maybe a little.”

Strings - lokidiabolus

Words: 88,235  Chapters: 45/45

Thomas is a faithful, reliable guy. Maybe also too predictable, but his life always made sense, all lined up. That all changes when his friends think the best birthday gift is a meeting with a stranger for a one night stand. After that everything Thomas knew until now shatters to pieces.

Staying Up (series) - lokidiabolus

Words: 60,115  Chapters: 26/26

Newt is a professional. He always takes his work seriously, mainly because the fact he really enjoys reading and being, even a little, part of the creation. Apart from his deadly honesty occasionally clashing with people around him he also prefers staying alone. It all changes when a random stranger offers him a scarf on the street, and the domino effect threatens to take him along with the tumble.

-

The entire series is really good, and so is the author so be sure to check them out!!!

Stay With Me - scriobh

Words: 5,847  Chapters: 1/1

Prompt: Newt is splashed with a powerful love potion and for the next 24 hours, everyone is attracted to him.

Hold your hands in the holes of my sweater - scriobh

Words: 813  Chapters: 1/1

The clothes that the Gladers arrive in give them a vague sense of security, but Thomas is interested in being close to Newt more so than his past.

(Prompt from newt-astic: Write about Newt wearing Thomas' shirt)

Bind Your Love - newtntommy

Words: 982  Chapters: 1/1

My head canon is that all the gladers probably had their first crushes on Newt because humans generally are drawn to the people who show compassion and care for them and Newt kinda fits that being the glade mommy.

Reason - Animeshipper_22

Words: 7,167  Chapters: 1/1

"Are you going to see him anytime soon," he asked.

Newt shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe not. It's hard."

Or; This is Newts journey after the last city crumbles. He struggles to find himself and to except himself. But luckily he’s surrounded by plenty of people to help him figure it out.

Art Isn't Easy (But Nothing Is) - palindrome

Words: 4,176  Chapters: 1/1

Newt is the fantastic artist that sits next to him in class and Thomas only kind of resents him for it.

Ivy growing downwards - singtome

Words: 65,562  Chapters: 4/4

Flowershop au

“You can go if you want to,” Thomas says, squinting against the sun and leaning toward Newt. The light pales the colour of his eyes, reminding Newt of uncut jewels; sharp and striking and beautiful in their raw imperfection. His heart stutters, a dreadful pull of longing he hasn’t felt for a very long time.

(Or: No one ever tells you that when the world is ending, it happens in slow motion.)

Meet in the middle - Fairylights4672

Words: 56,555  Chapters: 40/40

Newt remembers it. He remembers the sleek metal of the knife easily sliding into his flesh. He remembers the sickly black views running up his arms, making him crazed and delirious. He remembers dying. Which only makes him confused when he wakes up, cured and healed. What's even more confusing is when he wakes up, only to see dead people staring back at him.

Thomas still feels the hilt in his hand. He feels the weight as Newt sank to the ground underneath him. He feels the last soft breath Newt let out. He remembers Newt dying. But he can't sit still. Not when danger is calling him. Thomas has never been able to resist the pull of danger.

Secrets - tattered_dreams

Words: 3,696  Chapters: 1/1

In which the kids of Maze University play Spin the Bottle at one of Minho's parties.

You are my dirty little secret- amatus_jj

Words: 3,879  Chapters: 1/1

“He probably thinks now that something is up,” the dark haired boy muttered unhappily. “He definitely will suspect something.”

“Oh please,” Newt chuckled, “it’s Minho we are talking about. He’ll forget everything the moment he sees Teresa.”

“But what if he’ll not?” Thomas asked stubbornly.

“So what? Nothing’s really gonna change, you know,” Newt exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

“Yeah, you won’t be the one Minho will kill,” the other boy muttered, frowning. “No, we both know how he’s overprotective over you. It doesn’t matter that you aren’t brothers by blood, he still thinks about you as his younger brother. What do you think he would think when he found out that his best friend was-,” there was a little pause as Thomas tried to pick the right word, “- banging his little brother behind his back?”

Or: Thomas and Newt are in relationships no one knows about.

We live through scars now - lumoon33

Words: 26,621  Chapters: 1/1

Thomas was so focused on trying to keep on breathing without Newt, that he's never wondered why it was so difficult to breathe without him in the first place.

A smitten disease - freckleddragon

Words: 3,153  Chapters: 1/1

The walls were moving, he was sure of it. He was running, or stumbling, through the maze, seeing not only the walls but also the floors moving up and down, from side to side. What was happening?

In where Thomas is sick in more than one way.

Housemates - Sandersonsister 

Words: 34,524  Chapters: 17/17

Thomas shouldn't have let Teresa talk him into moving into a house with a bunch of people he didn't know. Of course there's someone he's attracted to living here. Because that's the way his life works. He shouldn't have listened to Teresa.

Campfire choices - tattered_dreams

Words: 4,103  Chapters: 1/1

Just a little bit of casual intimacy while the boys struggle through the Scorch. Canon compliant.

On my wrist - miaghost

Words: 80,079  Chapters: 54/?

Your Soulmate's name appears on your wrist and you keep it secret while you search for them. Newt's had to move to America because of his dad's new position and he joins the School Band who are playing for the Drama Department's latest Show. Thomas is one of the actors, and immediately captivates both Newt's attention and affections. The two strike up a swift, intense friendship and Newt falls hard and fast. Too bad the name on his wrist isn't quite Thomas.

When you find me - scriobh 

Words: 4,241  Chapters: 1/1

In which Newt and Thomas are oblivious and their friends are impatient.

[pokeexehasstoppedworking]

Applin Of My Eye Ch1 The Apple Shaped Heart Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree (plus story summary)

Part 5 of the Galar Soulmate Series spin off of Love Doesn't Do Encores/A Champion Time For The Heart and side parody of Dragon's Treasure/Diamond In The Rough (This story will be much shorter than the others but I didn't want to leave out the last guy. This will also be the final installment of the Galar Soulmate Series.) Everything was fine now. Eternatus was defeated. The bad guys caught. No more things to worry about...Or at least for Y/n. A small encounter with a certain farmer has made him realize that he never apologized for bowling her over with a wooloo. So when the woman who helped save Galar shows up on his doorstep with an injured wooloo he may realize that maybe he had some secret feelings he never expressed to her in the beginning.

(Before we begin keep in mind that I do not know the actual name of Milo's little brother so his name is only cannon for this story, and his backstory is also not cannon and just for the story.)

It was a funny thing how crushes often worked you see.

You couldn't really control when cupid would shoot you with his arsenal of arrows through your heart and piercing your brain with that fuzzy feeling that made you all warm inside. However he felt as if he might've been hit with a whole sledgehammer. He still remembered the first time he saw her there. Last year pretty early in the year too actually. It was when he was getting his wooloo ready for the Gym Challenge but unfortunately one of the little rascals had slipped out and started running all over the gym with him chasing right after. Eventually it was able to escape right out of the gym and rolled faster than a tumble weed in a tornado out of his gym and right up the dirt road leading right out of town. Well he went chasing right after it one hand holding his sun hat. To his horror the pokemon was heading right towards two women walking their way down the dirt road chatting oblivious to the danger. Unfortunately speed was never his strong point, he was more of a strength guy himself.

Gloria smiled and pointed to it as the two of you walked down hill on the path. "Look! See? I told ya it was a good idea to take the short cut."

You looked down at her deadpanned, the baaing becoming louder the farther you two walked. "Uh huh. And those people chasing us in the beginning was part of the 'good idea'?"

You two didn't see the thing coming towards you from down the path or the man giving chase to it. "Oh come on! It wasn't that bad. We got here faster and now we can rest up and see 'bout that gym.

"Oh yes. And battling someone inside a mine is a good idea too-"

"Nonono! Miss! Watch out-''

Something hard rammed into your legs and they went flying back, sending your front shooting forward and in an instant you faceplanted the dirt road hard. A resounding 'THUMP!' sound echoing out as whatever rammed into you just as suddenly disappeared. It was like a your legs were pins and you just got ran over by a bowling ball. Stunned your body just sat there face first on the ground with your sobble thrown from your shoulder a couple feet away. You didn't move even as a gasp reached your ears, along with baaing and running footsteps. Your sobble chirping in annoyance upon being flung sat itself up and shook itself off, but scurried away and burried itself under your limp noodle of an arm when someone bigger nearly ran it over. Still you laid there stunned.

"OH NO! OH NO!!" A man's worried voice reached your ears just as your brain finally started to register you had been knocked over. "I AM SO SORRY!! MISS!? ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?"

"Y/N!!" Gloria shouted and you felt her shake you frantically. "NO! This can't be how you die! Bowled over by a wooloo isn't a good way to die so please get up!!"

....You coughed. And groaned. Your vision blurry as your now dirty face slowly lifted itself from the ground and looked up. Blinking at the two faces before you. Gloria who was obviously concerned, but the other was a man one hand clutching a hat on his head as he looked you over with worry. "What was-"

"I am SO sorry, Ma'am!" The man you assumed kneeled down letting you get a better look at his freckled face. "My...Are you ok!? You took that tackle head on!"

"What happened?," you mumbled and your answer was being easily lifted by the man by strong hands grabbing your shoulders.

"One of my wooloo! I'm so very, very sorry! She keeps running away everytime someone leaves a door open and I need her for the gym so I keep having to chase her down and bring her back!," the man quickly stated holding you up on wobbly legs as you shook your head as your poor sobble refused to let go of your arm. Hanging onto it like a koala bear would. Hands dusted you off. "Oh no. You're all a mess because of me. I hope you're not hurt, Ma'am."

You waved him off. "It's fine. Wouldn't be the first time I had to deal with troublesome wooloo," you grumbled remembering the Slumbering Weild incident. "I feel fine. Just a few dirt stains aren't gonna hurt."

The man sighed in relief. "Oh thank goodness. I was really worried when you fell so suddenly." His face quickly snapped with a frown to the wooloo who baaed at him. "And you! What did I tell you about running off like that!? This time you did hurt someone!" It baaed louder at him. "Don't you talk back to me! You're in big trouble young lady!......Hm?" He looked to Gloria who was currently staring at him in surprise before he suddenly smiled at her. "Oh. You must be one of the Gym Challengers, right?"

"I- W-Who me!?" She sputtered before nodding quickly. "Y-Yes, Sir! I am!"

"Ah! I thought so." His polite smile widened. "I saw you at the Opening Ceremony earlier this week! My name's Milo. It's nice to meet you."

"I know! AH! I mean!" Gloria sputtered holding up her hands. "I s-saw you too with everyone else! I'm so sorry!"

held up his hands. "Oh no. If anything I should be the one apologizing to you and your friend here for the trouble I put you through."

"Milo?," you asked confused gaining his attention.

He nodded. "I'm a Gym leader here and partial to Grass Type pokemon. And if I'm not mistaken your friend here is one of the ones Leon keeps going on about. I've been itching to see just how good the Champion endorsed Gym Challengers are..." he sighed moving his hands to his hips. "But I'm afraid you might have to wait your turn."

"Huh?" Gloria blinked.

"I know usually my gym's the first one trainers pass by on their trip, but I didn't expect so so many to come here right after the ceremony. I've been completely swamped and I still have three trainers waiting for their turns with me right now. And it doesn't help this one keeps running off the first chance she gets."

You mean I gotta wait until you have more time off just to fight me?" She groaned with a pout. "Maybe we should've taken the train to get here faster after all."

"Hey. The man's busy" You patted her back with a frown. "And obviously he's having a hard time right now. You said we had what?....A whole year until those finals come up? It hasn't even been a whole week yet. We can wait a lil bit longer and let Mr. Milo here sort himself out."

Milo gave you a surprised look and Gloria sighed before nodding. "You're right. We're here and that's the most important thing! I can wait a few more days if I have too."

You smiled. "That's the spirit!"

Even Milo eventually smiled. "Well then. Let me find out at the Gym Stadium when you're ready." He pointed behind him. "Just head on down this route and you'll run right into my stadium. See you there!" He then turned to the wooloo. "Come on now. Back to the stadium with you too. We can't keep the Gym Challengers waiting." It baaed at him in protest but didn't give too much of a fight when it started to follow him as he turned and gave one wave back to you two. "Again sorry for the trouble! Hope to see you soon!"

With a sigh you brought your arm up and your sobble blinked at you...before grabbing your cheek with a questioning chirp. "I'm fine. Just a little sore."

He thought that would've been it. You see he wasn't expecting to see her again. He thought he saw her the next day when he battled her friend in the stadium, but that was that. He lost, congratulated the young girl who looked about the same age as his little brother and off she went. He thought that would be it until he saw the next challenger. But he was surprised when night fell and he stepped out for a few moments to himself.

The night was peaceful. The night was quiet. It was one of the times he could actually get a bit of breathing room to himself and he always gave one last look around anyways. The wooloo were all snug back in their barn. The gym was cleaned up and closed. And most of the farm's chores were already done. All that was left was to do one last look around before bed. The night was pretty. The sun had just started going down over the horizon leaving sn assortment of yellows and oranges and pinks to be chased away by a dark blanket of black filled with millions of tiny stars. It was beautiful among the silent fields. Although he was never expecting to run into another person. Quite literally. He was just walking around the side of his barn when he almost ran face first into a woman. A woman with a sobble clinging to her shoulder. The sudden face to face encounter had her jumping back with a yelp jumping back and the sobble terrified ducking behind her head with a chirp. He himself took a step or two back from the sight as the two of them just...blinked at one another for a good second. Who was-

"Milo?," The woman asked with a blink. "What are you doing out here?"

He blinked. Why did she look familiar? "I...I own this farm? And who are you?"

"I'm Y/n." He still stared. "Your wooloo bowled me over the other day."

It all clicked in an instant. "Oh! You're that woman!" He remembered now. "What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?"

"Camping." She gestured behind her towards the back fields and when looked over her, he noticed there was two tents set up right in the middle of one of his fields. "My friends and I are camping out here before we leave tomorrow morning, but we had no idea this place belonged to you. I heard someone walking around out here so I came to check it out." It was then she held up her hands and apologized. "But we don't want to cause any trouble. If it's a bother, I'll have them move our tents somewhere else. I'm sorry."

"Oh no. It's no trouble at all," he insisted with a smile. "As long as you all don't litter, I don't mind at all. "

"Oh. That's actually really nice of you. Thank you so much. That battle you had with Gloria today was great!"

He paused all of a sudden caught off guard by what she had said. "Pardon me?"

She smiled at him. "I said your battle with Gloria was really fun to watch. You put up a good fight out there today. No wonder you're a gym leader!"

And in that moment he paused. She was complimenting him? HIM?! He had to look around real quick to make sure that there wasn't anyone else there for her to speak too even though he knew there really. He then looked back to her with that perplexed took. By now the small sobble had timidly poked his head from behind hers.

He pointed at himself. "You mean me?"

"Of course I mean you! You're the only gym leader in Turrffield. Who else would I be talking to?" She rose a brow.

"Oh. I-I meant no offense, Ma'am. It's just...well I'm not used to compliments actually." A hand reached up as an embarrassed smile graced his features. "I don't get a whole lot of them outside my friends and little brother."

"Really? I'm surprised. You put up such a good fight against Gloria." Ah. That must be her friend's name. The young girl who he battled today in fact. "You're also the first official gym leader I've met so far."

He blinked in surprise. "Really?"

She nodded. "You see. I'm uh... Visiting Galar. It's my first time ever being in this region. So today was my first time ever seeing a live gym battle and you're the first ever gym leader I've spoken too....Ever actually."

"Huh? You mean you've literally never met another gym leader before me? Like ever?" 

"Nope! First time ever today. Or night as it happens to be now." ...She smiled again. "But I'm glad it was you. You're really kind, I could tell by how you treated your Pokemon during the battle." She then turned and waved a hand good bye. "Well it was nice meeting you Mr. Milo. Sorry again for the trespassing. Have a good night."

"Uh...Good night."

That was it. He didn't see the strange woman again when he went to inspect the fields the next morning. The tents and people were gone, if he didn't find the small holes in the ground from the tent spikes, he would've believed he'd just dreamt up the whole thing. Oh well. She was kind though! It made him happy to be complimented for once but he soon forgotten about the whole thing when he just got on with his life. A lot of wool was harvested from him wooloo and so many crops were harvested from the fields this year! In fact this might've been the most plentiful harvest Turrffield has ever had. 

His little brother was making his way through the gym challenge as well! He was so proud of him! He really grew from a bud to a giant blossom this year. He was so proud watching Felix battle his way through the gym leaders one after another and make his way through the gym challenge. He always knew Felix was a much more stronger and capable trainer than he ever was. He'd grown so much than he'd ever could, one day when he was older he'd make an even better gym leader! If Ma and Pa could see him now, they'd think the same thing he was sure of it! So it came to no surprise when months passed and he saw Felix again sometime in August. The biggest smile on his face when he busted through the door of their home, almost scaring Milo into dropping the giant sake of potatoes he was handling,  and with a confident smile presented his full badge circle with all eight badges. 

"Milo! I'm competing in the semifinals this year!"

He  was then given the biggest hug and welcome Milo could ever give. His own little brother was going to be in the semifinals this December.  And it was then that he saw her again. When he and his brother traveled down to Wyndon city near Christmas time. Felix was getting ready to battle the other three finalists and he was patiently waiting for it all to start from the V.I.P lounge with most of the other gym leaders. But they couldn't until Leon showed back up, which was sooner than he expected when the door opened and the smiling Champion came walking in-

With one mighty push, Leon pushed the door open and walked right in. "Hey, Everyone." He called back into the room. "Sorry I'm late!"

"Leon. Don't tell me you got lost again! I thought one of us were gonna have to rescue you like last time.," came a woman's voice that sounded familiar from the inside, "I swear sometimes you're more confusing than a spinda."

You both slowly shuffled in as Leon chuckled a bit embarrassed. "C'mon, Nessa. That's a bit harsh." Shaking his head he smiled behind him as you brought up the rear. "I got a bit distracted on the way here and invited some friends over."

You stepped in and blinked at what you saw. The room you were all in was almost as big as Gloria's hotel room but less fancy. Warm thankfully, with some couches, a table with a few chairs, a big flat screen TV, and over in one corner was some kitchen stuff. By kitchen stuff there was a counter with a few cabinets, a sink, full sized fridge, microwave, and a coffee maker. And within the room around you was all ten gym leaders!! Ms. Opal was sitting at the table with a cup of presumed tea with Kabu who seemed to be meditating or asleep by the way he was just sitting there eyes closed and arms crossed. Gordie had been standing by the fridge leaning against the wall, but looked up from his drink when the door opened. Melony standing with him. Nessa sitting on the couch next to Bea, and across from them on the other couch was Raihan glancing at you with a surprised look with Alister sitting next to him on the opposite side of the couch. Milo was the closest one standing to you all looking to have been in the middle of eating some kind of doughnut in his hand when you walked in, and last but not least there was Piers. He had been the only one visibly standing and looking out the window as the stadium was filling up with people, but had side glanced over his shoulder just seeing Leon before turning back to the window before he could see you walk in behind him. Disinterested in whoever Leon brought with him. Oh if only he knew. And...HEY! It was the three trainers of Raihans. Sebastian, Camilla, and Aria. The triplets were encircled around the fridge most likely getting something to eat also.

Good morning," Victor greeted politely and a bit more confidently than you as he waved. "It's really nice to meet all of you."

You were going to say hi as well. Most probably to Nessa since you've spoken to her before or maybe Ms. Opal and ask how Bede was doing. Or....maybe Raihan if you were feeling a bit more brave. But it was one soft voice that interrupted all thoughts.

"Y-Y/n."

A lot of everyone around you (you included-) looked surprised as ALLISTER of all people spoke out and you watched in surprise as he slowly scooted himself off the couch until his feet hit the floor. With a turn of his head towards you he slowly walked towards you...and you smiled. 'y/n. Milo instantly paused, His emerald green eyes going wide all of sudden, and the doughnut he was holding nearly dropped. And his brows instantly shot up upon seeing YOU of all people standing there next to Leon.....YOU!? HERE!? WHAT WERE YOU DOING BACK HERE?! WITH LEON!? HUH-

"Hey, Allister." You greeted and to everyone's surprise you instantly lowered yourself to sit on your knees finally placing Silver down to your side to be eye to eye with Allister. This seemed to make him more comfortable to talk with you as he slowly walked up to you now being closer to his height. "Wow. You look great! Did you grow taller from the last time I saw you?"

He instantly nodded his hands into fists in front of his chest. "Uh huh. L-Leon s-s-said I grew three inches this year!"

You gave a small gasp. "No! That's so cool! You're growing up fast. Soon you're going to be even taller than him."

"Y-You think so?"

You nodded again smiling wide. "Oh yeah. A big strong person like you? I bet you'll be the tallest person I know!"

That seemed to make him happy as he smiled from behind his mask at you before reaching around to his pokeballs. You watched patiently as he fumbled before holding up a pokeball. "I-I made a new f-f-f-friend! W-Would you like to meet him?"

Still smiling you nodded. "I would love to meet your friend, Allister." You gestured to Silver next to you who chirped when you acknowledged him. "I want you to meet my friend too. Allister this is Silver. He's been with me for a while now. Say hello, Sil."

In response Silver have off some kind of noise towards Allister who stared for a moment. "H-Hello..." Before turning back excitedly to you. "H-Here! Y-You're gonna really like him!" You knew that you would either way. Everyone was now staring at you two in surprise. Even Kabu had opened his eyes to peer over at what was going on. A flash of bright light from Allister gave way to something white, floating, and very pretty. And you smiled wider realizing what exactly what it was. Floating there by Allister in all it's white glory, was a Froslass. "I m-m-met him w-w-when it snowed by the stadium. He really likes playing hide and s-seek with us."

"Ooh. He's absolutely beautiful." You turned to the pokemon, and as if he was another human, you greeted him. "How do you do? It's very nice to meet you, Sir."

The pokemon blinked at you seeming to be taken a back a bit but made some noises while smiling proudly at itself. Allister slowly pointed at him. "H-He s-says you're v-very polite and i-it's n-nice to see s-s-someone recognize h-h-his looks."

You chuckled. "Well thank you! I'm glad he thinks so." Slowly you stood back up to stretch your legs still smiling. "I'm glad to see you're making new friends to play with. Are you here to watch the semifinals too?"

Allister nodded again before pointing over to the couch. "B-Bea's going to take me to the h-h-haunted houses in the c-c-city for Christmas."

You glanced from him to her and smiled. "Well doesn't that sound great!" You waved to her. "Hi. I don't think we've met. Or seen each other really."

Bea seemed to still be staring at you totally bewildered but it was nessa who spoke up next. "Oh yeah. I remember you." More surprised glances were sent between her and you as she gestured towards you. "You were Sonia's friend with the sobble! Er.." She glanced between you and Silver who shook off snowflakes. "Well, it looks like he's not too much of a sobble anymore."

You gave couple laughs before reaching over to pat Silver's head. "Nope. My lil guy's practically all grown up now. Takes a lot of love and care and food, but Silver's worth it." You waved a hand to her. "But it's good to see you too Nessa. Hope things been well. My friend showed me your new line in the ads." You added remembering Gloria showing you a magazine with an article of her. "I really like the 'Sea Emerald Delight' dress."

She smiled your way before turning her gaze to Raihan who blinked at her. "I told you. Green dresses will look good on anyone all year round." the Dragon Gym leader rolled his eyes in response and stood up.

You also shook your head...but paused feelings eyes on you. And it wasn't just the others around the room. Your head turned over towards the windows and you paused seeing Milo staring right back at you cheeks stuffed with a doughnut , brows raised at you. You both stared at one another for a moment before you went back to smiling, crossed your arms, and rose a brow back.

"Hello there Milo! It's nice to see you again too!" Finally a familiar friendly face besides Lee. "You're here to cheer on your brother right? I believe he's going to be competing against my friends."

He still stared at you as you smiled back patiently before swallowing down the food in his mouth and forcing a smile. "Y-Yeah! Felix is going to be fighting out there an-and I don't want to miss it when it happens."

Ah." You nodded. "I'd expect nothing less from you all. It's real sweet of you to be here to support him!" You smiled wider. That just makes you a good big brother! I knew you were sweet !"

He nearly choked on his doughnut as his face blossomed a bright pink.

You chuckled and you would've said something back if a voice didn't startle you. "Nice to see you too.~" You jumped with a yelp and backed away from the taller guy that walked up to you two. Raihan smiled that fanged grin of his as you blinked at him. "You didn't even say hi to me.~ I'm wounded.~" His gaze shifted from Milo to you as you blinked. "Hey there, Sassy.~ Wasn't expecting you to come rolling up here with Lee! You have a knack for hanging out with famous people?"

You blinked a moment before raising a brow. "Not really. Leon just offered to be nice and I didn't want my water type out in the freezing weather."

"Aw. And here I thought you came all the way to see me.~" He faked sadness making you roll your eyes. Milo glancing between you both. "Y'know if you're free sometime that dinner date's still up for the taking!"

"No thanks."

You never really gave it a thought? Really?" Raihan asked blinking surprised for a moment as you shook your head no before he smiled and leaned down closer to you making you lean back. "Well that's a first I've heard. Usually I'm something people can't get off their minds.~ You've certainly been on my mind for a while.~"

.......You reached for a nearby magazine. "Uh huh. I'm ....flattered I guess but dude. You might as well be flirting with a rock."

Behind you all Nessa gave a small snort which Bea slapped her shoulder. "Aw. I guess you're right. But you are cute.~" He gave that smirk that could've made anyone swoon. You raised your magazine. "You're like a short cute firecracker making my heart explo-HMPH!?"

Milo yelped when you all of a sudden you grabbed his arm and pulled him in front of you. With you now half hiding behind him now, you brandished your rolled up magazine like a sword....A harmless sword but something to ward him off non the less. Raiham blinked having been bonked harmlessly by you. You scowled using your Milo-Shield and Magazine-Sword to swing at him a couple times. Piers blinked wide eyed at you not sure what was going on. The doughnut all but forgotten about, what was left of the poor food dropping to the floor as his face blossomed an even thicker red.

"Bad Gym Leader! Down!,'' you firmly said scowling swinging at him, "Go to h0rny jail!"

"Wha- Jail??" He asked but held up his arms from your harmless magazine attack. "H-Hey! I was joking, Sassy! Seize fire there!"

"Silver help!!"

Raihan's eyes suddenly went wide before snapping his head when he heard a loud chirp and stumbled back when Silver eye narrowed starting walking towards you. "Hold it hold it hold it!!" Raihan held up his hands to Silver and ended up having to literally jump over the couch he was previously sitting on and stood in front of the lady gym leaders to avoid Silver who now stood between you and Milo and the couch. He narrowed his eyes at Raihan and gave a loud chirp. "Geez. You weren't kidding when you said he was protective."

Piers ended up giving a loud bout of rare laughter at the sight of the display and Leon was able to pry her off of him to let him recover from the sudden jolt. If he wasn't so flustered by the sudden action. Oh well. They parted ways and he soon forgot about it when the semifinals actually started. Felix sadly lost first round but that was ok. He was proud of him and he came farther than so many other people in the gym challenge. He didn't really think he'd see her again after that but again he was sadly mistaken when Christmas came around. It was that wonderful time of year when the spirits were high and the laughter was everywhere. And after all what better way to spend time with his little brother on Christmas than to take him to the Festival? Milo wasn't expecting to see her yet again but here he was, just waiting for his little brother to get off a ride when she just walked right up to him.

The park was actually beautiful this time of year. A slightly frosty patch mostly cleared went through the quiet parts of the park lit up by the faint lights of the festival and a perfect full moon above you. It was starting to snow again now, not too much, only enough for it to look really pretty and fluffy falling from the otherwise clear skies. The smells of the parks pine trees filled the air with the faint scents of foods from the festival, giving it a balanced mixture of nature and dinner time. The snow on the ground shined reflecting the moon light from the darkened sky making it look like a forest of glitter against the cold. 

He shivered from the cold, rubbing his hands together from the cold and sinking further into his coat. It was always chilly out this season. He'd be glad when he was able to get back to their hotel room. It would just be after the parade after all. The gym leader was so wrapped up in his own worlds he didn't notice the woman walk up to him or the footsteps crunching through the snow until they were right next to him.

"Hey."

"Gah!" He practically jumped out of his skin and whirled around to the woman next to him who blinked and held a few objects in her hands. "Wha-...Oh. I -Its you. *Sigh* Please don't do that."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you...Again. That's just another thing I need to apologize to you for while I'm here."

"Huh?"

Her answer was to just hold up the objects in her hands. Which was two small bags and a cardboard cup holder holding two cups of hot chocolate, he could tell from how they smelt. "Seeing you the other day made me realize that I didn't apologize for all the inconveniences I gave you. So I'm sorry we trespassed on your farm. And I'm sorry for scaring you..Twice. And I'm sorry for using you to get away from Raihan. And I'm also sorry for making you drop your food. Here." You held out the food at him. "I got you and your little brother some replacement food as an apology gift." He opened stared at her, before looking at the food, then back to her, then opening his mouth- "Take it. My drizzlie would only eat it if I took it with me. And I have no place for it anyways."

....He slowly took the objects handed over to him with an unsure expression on his face...before giving a small smile. "I-...Thank you. Wow. Doughnuts and hot coco. Heh. Not a bad Christmas gift."

"Oh. That reminds me. I do have something for you." He again looked surprised when she dug into her coat pocket and pulled out two small metal keychains shaped like wooloo. They shined in the light as she held them out with a smile. "Here. Merry Christmas."

He could only stare at them. "A...gift? For me?"

"And your little brother. I got all my friends some and I figured you'd guys like one too."

...He took a moment longer to stare at them more before shifting the food into one arm to reach a free hand over to take them from her. A... Christmas gift? For him? But...he never got any Christmas gifts except from his few friends and little brother. He certainly didn't have that many fans so all the unexpected kindness was...So sudden. But...not unpleasant. In fact..the gesture struck something in his which made his heart pick up a beat and his face turned a darker pink than his hair.

"Well I'll see you later. Good luck in the Champion Cup tomorrow,  Milo. Merry Christmas."

And then she turned and left, leaving him to look on after her red faced as her eyes glittered in the Christmas lights, the snow gathering prettily on her f/c hair, and the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen on her face.

BU-BUMP!!

He nearly crushed the cups of coco as he felt his heart place a beat and his face burnt.

"O-O sweet wooloo knitted sweaters."

[eternalera]

So like yeah I know you just said requests are chill and all but I just wanna double check before I really ask just cause :p

But yeah I do have a few ideas for eoe fics that I've had but I've gotten no time to write cause of life T-T

(plus I just love ur writing)

((tho if u don't want requests or don't like my ideas then you obvs don't gotta do it just like ignore me cause otherwise it would be a bit embarrassing T-T))

But yeah like I've had a few ideas for this one idea just thinking of the best way for it to go and like just a fic where Lucy and Blu see Acedia and like see that Mole knows Acedia n whatnot

Maybe angst where they think it's betrayal?

Maybe Mole gives himself up to save the others?

Maybe they have to save him and comfort him?

Maybe something else?

Who knows cause I definitely don't lolol :P

Just a loose thought I've had tumbling round my head for a few days but didn't exactly know what to do with cause its a bit more speculative then I normally write

Anyways even if ya don't do it I just wanted to drop by and say have a nice day (!)

- 💫

OMG I HAVE NOT HAD TIME TO ANSWER THIS ANON IM SO SORRY-

here's a short little fic about your idea!!! nothing too major as im a bit burnt out rn but i hope this works and once again im so sorry-

He doesn't want to talk about it. Talk about what you ask? Nothing, that's the whole point he's not talking about it, not talking about anything because it's nothing. There's a chill throughout his entire body and a soft but thundering pounding in his head, slowly pushing in and digging into... something because something's there.

Without a doubt there's something there.

Ignore it.

It'll go away soon.

It'll fade away...

fade huh?

...

"Where's Mole?" Lucy followed behind Blu, although there was no response from him and she knows that he heard her this time because he straightened up a little at her voice. But he seemed focused on ignoring her instead of just answering her question.

She didn't get why it was such a hard thing to answer.

"Blu where did Mole go?" She asked a little louder this time.

"Oh, somewhere, he'll be back soon. Don't worry," Blu said with a wave of his hand before pointing to CG. "You and CG should go get some firewood, it's gettin' late don't you think?" he asked.

Lucy looked up at the sky, despite not having a sun it wasn't like night and day suddenly disappeared, night came a lot sooner. Without the sun actually in tact there wasn't as much light.

She looked past their sun and to the other stars, they were suns too. Her mom taught her that, she wondered for a moment if they also would crack one day.

"Yeah... come on CG,"

She didn't pry into it, instead she held her tongue and picked up CG taking him with her as she picked up a few dry sticks. She must've been out longer than usual as Blu came looking for her with Mole still gone.

"He's not back," she remarked, she looked over to Blu who nodded, he glanced around before looking back at Lucy.

"Yeah- uh, I'm gonna go look for him. You," he pointed to her, "wait here,"

"What?" She hissed, she was already moving towards him. "Why do I have to wait? I'm worried too! And besides isn't it safer if we go together? That's what you always say," she hissed pointing back at him.

"Well- uh-" Blu paused for a moment before looking back at her and sighing. "Fine, but stay behind me,"

She walked in front of him.

She heard an audible sigh behind her but giggled instead pushing forward and soon enough Blu fell by her side as they turned down a corner.

"He was over here last time I checked..." Blu trailed off and there was clearly no Mole there, just dust and wind.

"Why isn't he there?" Lucy blurted out.

"Well he obviously moved-"

"Yeah I can see that,"

"Then why did you just ask?"

"IT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION!" She hissed loudly, glaring at Blu. Mole was officially missing great, the day couldn't get any better-

There was a soft crash and Blu was the first one to react dragging Lucy with him as they turned another corner, this time seeing Mole leaning against the side of the building.

Lucy could see something next to him. It almost reminded her of a moth, but there were thousands of eyes along its body and it took her out of the experience. But the same moment it was there it was gone and suddenly Mole seemed passed out.

"Is he okay?" Lucy asked.

Blu didn't answer.

Instead he walked over and kneeled down beside Mole shaking him a little causing him to blink his eyes open. For a moment Lucy thought they were purple.

"Hey, you feeling good?" Blu asked softly. Mole nodded and moved to get up but quickly stumbled with Blu catching him. "Easy there, come on let's get back now,"

The walk back was quiet to say the least, well at least to Lucy. Every now and then she could hear Blu whisper a question to Mole and Mole answering with an 'I don't know' or an 'I'm sorry' to which Blu would say he didn't need to be sorry and it's fine.

They sat down by the fire and Blu had Mole lean against him and soon enough Mole was asleep.

"Blu..."

"Yeah?"

"What was that?"

"... I don't know,"

[anonomouswriter-blr]

Bad Idea's [Souma/Sohma Kyou X Reader]

This is a story I wrote a long time ago, so it's not my current writing style, but I figured I'd post it here anyway because why not? As I reread it, I realize I can write it better so if I do, I will also post that here.

Forewarning, it's a little cringe.

Story starts under the cut.

     You couldn't believe what you had just done. You had sent a letter to Kyou about your mixed-up feelings about him. Last. Night.

     "GUYS DON'T WANT TO READ THAT STUFF! I DON'T EVEN LIKE WRITING THAT STUFF!! This is why we don't do thing while overthinking, because then we do impulsive things!" You yelled at yourself.  while pacing and pulling your hair. "Someones most likely read it by now!"

You began to hyperventilate. You were having a panic attack. You were overheating and gasping and tears were puddling down your face. You tore off your shirt and flung off your socks. You needed to cool down. You ran out of your room and through the apartment building. You didn't care if people were staring or judging you for running around in nothing but a sports bra and sweat pants. When you finally got outside, you flopped in the snow, back facing down.

Your heaving began to slow down as the cold slapped you into reality. You let out a short determined sigh with finality.

     "There's still time. I can stop him from reading that letter,"

You got up fast and bolted towards Shigure's house. You were barefoot and running on ice and trough the snow. It was freezing, people were staring, and you were, most likely, slowly getting hypothermia, but you didn't care. You needed to prevent your terrible mistake.

~At Shigure's house~

     Shigure was sitting at the table, reading the paper and drinking a morning cup of something. (most likely mixed with alcohol)

     "Good morning Shigure-San," Tohru greeted.

     "Good morning Tohru-chan. Breakfast?" Shigure asked. Yuki, who came out of nowhere, smacked the back of Shigure's head.

     "Idiot. Is that all you think about? She isn't your servant awaiting your command," Yuki scolded.

     "But that's what Aya-kun does!"Shigure fake whined.

     "He's an even bigger fool,"

     "You're up early Sohma-kun!" Tohru stated cheerfully.

     "I'm not quite sure why, but today my sleep pattern isn't the same as usual,"

     "That's strange, did you do something different than usual?" Then there was a knock on the door. Shigure sighed.

     "Yuuuukiiii~ Tohru's busy with breakfast and I'm tired and old. Could you get that please~?" He waved Yuki to the door.

     "Lazy mutt," Yuki mumbled.

     "Someone's grumpy, yes?" When Yuki came back in, he held a small stack of mail. He shuffled through it lightly. "Anything for me?"

     "Just a letter from your editor... again,"

     "Ah, Mei!~ such a sweet girl,"

     "Crue,l" Then Yuki saw a strange letter and made an expression of confusion.

     "What is it Sohma-Kun?" Tohru asked.

     "It's a letter from F/n-san,"

     "For who?"

     "The cat,"

     "Strange. Couldn't she just come over?" Shigure asked.

     "Stupid Cat! Come get the mail! There's a letter for you!" Yuki shouted up the stairs. Kyou hustled down the stairs, snatching the letter when he got to Yuki.

     "What've I told you about calling me stupid?!!"

     "What have I told you about acting stupid?"

     "You wanna go, Girly?"

     "Not this early, Cat. Just read the letter,"

     "Who from?" Kyou asked while opening the letter.

     "F/n-san,"

     "Weird. She's here all the time. Couldn't she just talk to me next time she came over?" He skimmed the letter. "Huh?"

~Back with you~

     You were going so fast you were stumbling over the air. As you ran through the forest, getting scraped by the branches and cut by the stones, Shigure's house slowly began coming into your view.

You didn't bother finishing the trail. You hopped off without stopping and tumbled onto the ground, a little ways away from your target. You got up light speed and broke out into a 500% sprint; the wet from the cold and snow sticking to your frame. As you broke through the doors, you used your eyes to search for Kyou. Then you saw him, letter in hand.

     "Kyou don't read that letter!" You shouted and jumped on his back. You reached out at the letter like a child to a Christmas gift, but Kyou's eyes were still glued to the page. Shigure, Tohru, and Yuki were staring at you, all 3 of them horrified and confused. Shigure a little entertained. "Gimme the letter darn it! Gimme the letter. Gimme the letter! Gimme the-- HA!"

You finally snatched the letter. Success! You did it! You really did it. You got the letter back, your friendship was safe and sound, and he would never EVER find out about your feelings or--

     "Y-you love me?" Kyou asked in astonishment; his eyes absently looking in the direction of the floor. The other three looked shocked.

     All of the colour left your being and your nose started to get that weird feeling when you were about to cry. "Oh no...."

You slowly slid down his back and gripped his shirt, burring your face between his shoulder blades so he couldn't turn around to look at you. You felt so defeated. Tears started to pool around your waterline.

     "What... whadda ya mean you love me? Like-- li-like, 'Hey, theres my best friend Kyou I love him' or.. you love... love me...?"

     "Oh no," you quietly whimpered. A while back, during the Kyoko visit, a girl confessed to Kyou. It didn't go well. He didn't reciprocate her feelings and it ruined her whole trip. She ran crying. You were scared to experience his rejection of you.

     "F/n-chan? F/n-chan... look at me." You shook your head against his back, refusing to let him see your pathetic crying face. "F/n-chan.. let go of my back," You shook your head again. "Now, F/n-chan," You shook your head once more. Trembling. He roughly shook you off his back and you stumbled back, whimpering. Immediately you dug the heels of your palms into your eyes. It hurt, but you couldn't bear the thought of Kyou seeing you in this ugly state.

"F/n-chan... please look at me," You shook your head again. And again. and again and again. You REFUSED to let him see you like this. He soon grew tired of this too and walked up close to you. He strongly gripped your wrists and tore your hands from your face. You wanted to move your head and neck so your bangs and hair would cover your face, but he stepped closer to you so your forehead was against his chest instead.

"Don't ignore me," He put his hands under your jaw, holding your head, and forced you to look at him. He had a stern look on his face. "What was that letter all about?"

That's it. You couldn't hold it anymore. You didn't want him to hear your weak voice but you couldn't handle this painful silence. You tried to be as loud as you could.

     "I'm so sorry Kyou-kun! It was an accident! I swear! I didn't mean it! I-I-I was out of it! And feeling down! And-and I- I don't know but I'm just so so sorry!" Kyou noticed the other 3 staring at the both of you and pulled you out of the house and a little ways into the woods. As he pulled you you tried to reason with him. "I never meant for you to find out but I'm sure this whole thing will blow over. I'll realize that what I thought were feelings were actually just hormones and they'll pass! I-"

     "YOU'RE NOT ANSWERING MY QUESTION!!" He shouted. You shrunk back. You wanted to run. You wanted to hide. Like a cowardus child. And you hated it. But it was too late for that now. He had grabbed onto your wrists again and was seemingly starting to increase his strength. You slowly looked up at him from under your eyelashes. "Do you love me...?"

Your bottom lip quivered as you slowly nodded your head keeping eye-contact. His eyes widened. "Say it."

     "Wh-what??"

     "I need to hear you say it,"

     "Kyou-kun please don't make me say i-"

     "SAY IT!!"

    "I LOVE YOU!!"

    "I-I'm sorry... but I do." You looked wayward. "Look... I'll.. I'll leave if you want. Skip town. Go back to America even! You'll never have to see my face. I can forget all about you, and you can-- MM!"

     A hard pain went through your spine as you were slammed against the trunk of a tree. The bark scraping and scratching your bare skin, the cold finally making it'self known to you. There was pain on your inner lips from being pressed against your teeth but what was causing it? Against the skin of your lips was something soft being pressed against them. Then realization struck. Kyou's lips.

'Kyou is kissing me!!' 

He pulled away and gulped down giant breaths. You both searched each other's faces, both expressions shocked. Then you both kissed again, wrapping your arms around each other's bodies.

1518 words

[pixxiepink]

Pixxie Prompt! - 1

Do not know why I chose this for my first prompt, but here we are. Tried to make something sweet out of it, but it just became an exploration of my Ace identity a little.

My short little mess of a snippet is below.

"How do you know you are in love?"

I glance down at the kid, big brown eyes staring up at me, intense as if only he looked harder he would find all the answers.

"Don't know," I admit with a shrug, turning my attention back to the boring soccer game I was drug to.

"But you're a grown up," the random boy protests. "Grown-ups know everything!"

"Not everything," I counter, glancing down at him once more, "why do you want to know anyway?"

His young faces twists into a scowl, "cause Mary keeps saying it, but I don't get it."

I have no idea who Mary is, I don't even know who this kid is. But I humor him all the same, small talk is better than watching sports. (slightly only very slightly).

"So, your friend Mary get a boyfriend or something?"

the boy frowns harder, giving me a glare, "She's not my friend! She's mean!" he protests, crossing his arms and making a show of turning away from me, "and she got a girlfriend."

'Progressive elementary kids,' I note with a faint chuckle. But still...

"And why dose that bother you?"

He turns back around to look at me, anger forgotten, "cause everyone keeps saying-,"

He clams up, expression disgusted and... ashamed.

Ohhhh, so that's what this is about.

"And you don't want to love that way, right?"

He looks up in shock, clearly not expecting me to hit the nail on the head. "That's... that's a bad thing, right?" he asks hesitantly, hands fisting into his oversized jacket, "I'm supposed to want it. Like everyone says."

I hum, gut twisting, trying to force down the complicated tangle of my own emotions that violently surface with that question. I had wondered the same thing all my life, still wonder it in the dead of night.

"I don't know what to tell you kid," I admit with more honestly than I intended, "but I do know in all my grown up wisdom, that love isn't something someone else can give you an answer for. You have to figure that out for yourself."

His face pulls down into a frown, clearly that was not the clean-cut answer that he wanted, "No-No one can tell you?"

I feel my face soften at his hesitant tone; seems this has been weighing on the kid for a while. It's not really my place but, if this kid is like me. 'Wouldn't I have wanted someone to tell me it was okay?'

I speak slowly words carefully falling from lips, "No one can define love for you, but that also means you get to decide how your love works. And not everyone will love like your not-friend Mary, not everyone will want to love someone else in a romantic way. and that's-," my breath catches for a moment, but I force my lungs to work, embarrassed this innocent conversation is tugging at my heart so, "and it's okay. Love how you want, or don't love at all, no one can make you."

And it's like the rainbow after a thunderstorm, the kid lights up, beaming up at me, "thank you!" he says rushing at my legs for a fumbled hug that's more of a tackle.

"Woah easy there-," but before I can even finish, he's racing off, wide grin on his face.

"Ahh well," I sigh to myself, glancing back at the sport's game I came to watch, I think we scored a point? "at least that ended well."

I look back over to the kid, where he's still smiling brightly, tugging on the arm of a girl to go play. Not a hint of the confusion or unease on his face, childhood at its finest.

Glancing up at the cloudy fall sky I let the question tumble through my head once more. "How do you know you are in love?" was what he said, but he really meant was, "Do I have to love like them?"

And that was a question I could answer.

No.

Hopefully he would remember the random stranger and their words for a long time, long enough for him to take it as fact, that it's okay to love however you want, including not loving at all.

[moefling]

Thoughts after reading Carry On. I will be rereading Wayward Son next (and AWTWB after). I'm making this list after finishing the book so some of these thoughts were in my head the entire reread and some are from annotations on my Kindle was I went. (Also this is my second read the first time I read it on audiobook)

I forgot that Simon was defiantly a troublemaker and pretty ruff and tumble even before he found out about The World of Mages

F*CK THE MAGE, but also he does have a good point about allowing other creatures and low power mages into Watford

Miss Possibelf is "not exactly human" (page 95)

Lucy was defiantly in an abusive relationship and she was still defending Davy after death. i also don't really think Davy loved her :/ at least not like she wanted

i don't think that Simon every really thought he had a future. like he kinda figured between the Humdrum and the old families we wouldn't live to have a future and before the World of Mages he was a kid in care who was always getting into trouble

its pretty sad that the Kids where very aware they were gonna have to fight to the death and they really didn't want it and none of the Adults were willing to comment on it (i think Matali makes a quick comment later in ATWB)

Simons wand didn't not work because it wasn't blood related to him

Fiona had a normal job lined up before Natasha died (pg 173)

i have a half baked idea that the reason Simon can share his magic with Baz is because he is a Vampire, like the Humdrum can "give" magic to creatures so Simon can too

i was figuring out the age gap between the two adult groups (Lucy vs Ebb) and had it narrowed down to basically the same age when Martin straight up said he was a few years older than them...

Lucy was in the cottage with Davy for around 2 years ish before she got pregnant

"It was just flirting, it's not like I tried to feed her to a chimera." (page 277)

Baz sucks his fangs when he's thinking (page 330)

"I can't believe you're asking me this, Snow. You, who can't walk away from half a sandwich." (page 429)

"I can't believe there's a part of your body that grows when you need it." (page 391) i'm pretty sure this was supposed to sound spicy but i laughed either way

when Baz tells Simon to run after the Humdrum comes to the Pitch estate i think i cried, reading it the second time i know Baz isn't really blaming Simon but i remember the first time i read it i though Baz really though Simon did it

"Maybe it's not a spell, Maybe he transformed" (pg 426) i think that this is saying more than we give it credit for - another half baked idea that Simon is like half imp/ demon/ elemental (i think we all like the dragon idea but i'm realizing CO really wonders about the tail and how it isn't a dragon tail)

when Simon kills the mage previously i though it was because the mage couldn't stop physically hurting Simon but i think it probably had more to do with the emotional damage (i'm sure some of it was physical but...)

when reading fanfic i also realized that CO doesn't actually say Lucy's brothers name (Jamie) or most of Baz's siblings names

[fridayth13]

Hiya! I saw that ur requests are open, if that's not too specific, may I ask for Solomon, mammon and Barbatos x Brazilian! Reader (Separate)? Thank you, love your blog! ☺️

I think Solomon's part would be cute, since "Sol" means sun in portuguese

—eu te amo

↳ mammon, barbatos, and solomon × brazilian!gn!reader (separately)

↳ genre: fluff | wordcount: 400+ | warnings: solomon slander (affectionate)

↳ notes: i myself am not brazilian nor do i know any brazilian people personally so i hope i managed to portray everything accurately 🙏 thank you for the request, anon! i'm glad you've liked my blog so far hdsdgjhfsfgjj

—mammon

first of all. i hc mammon speaks a decent amount of spanish

so i think it'd be pretty funny if the two of you tried having a conversation with him speaking spanish and you speaking portuguese. as an experiment hdsgjdfhshj

two latin languages trying to communicate tends to be a fun stupid thing to do when you have nothing better to do

seriously though mammon likes you so so so much!! no matter what relationship you guys have!

so i'm very sure he would be very eager to get into stuff about your culture that you're willing to share with him

but i think he would be particularly fond of samba dancing

he's not a slow dance type of guy, typically (not to say he isn't good at it) but there's a reason he prefers a club to a ballroom

mammon loves the fast paced swinging and twirling you around to the music and he absolutely adores the giggles tumbling past your lips when he manages to catch you by the waist before you fall

better than any of the music you could play for your impromptu dance practices

—barbatos

teaching him about brazilian cuisine!!

the domesticity!!!! the cozy atmosphere of the kitchen!!!

if you enjoy cooking, he can actually take a step back for once and let you teach him

but even if you prefer to take the backseat, he is so determined to make the best dish you've ever tasted

but just to make sure, he'll ask you to come help him taste test to make sure the food comes out to your liking

i had feijoada in mind when i got this idea, as it is the national brazilian dish

but i think he'd like to make whatever kind of homey dish for you when/if ever you're homesick :') even if it might just be rice and beans or smth

i also think that he's traversed around brazilian lands before his butler days. but of course, i doubt it was called brazil yet hdshkddjdh

the landscape's definitely changed a lot. the people and traditions too (depending on the era he visited)

maybe he'd tell you about it if you asked nicely enough? 🤔

—solomon

whenever you talk with it, he's going to seem like he has No Damn Clue what you're saying

you are so right portuguese is going to be very fun with the two of you

(well, depending on who you ask)

make no mistake, he absolutely knows. he's not the witty sorcerer for nothing ofc. he knows his way around humanity, and that includes linguistics

but he finds some amusement in having you translate your own words for him (like "you like me enough to do that?? 🥺 awweee,,mcc,,,,,,,,," he's so silly)

he's not too surprised if you decide to call him "sol"

it's pretty simple. like how you'd say "asmo" or "beel"

but if you explain to him that you call him that because it means sun? congrats! he's done for!

melting! absolutely whipped man!

his head is going to be in the clouds so damn much thinking about how you've essentially been calling him "sunshine" all this time

divider from @clutteredfun