#and a very cute tea shop I had the fortune of coming across

[alonelycandleflame]

I know this is not my usual form of content (mostly art, French Revolution, donations for 🍉, and miscellanea) but I just wanted to share some travel photos from my trip to China in June and July! (Since I've been extremely lacking in terms of original content, I apologize for that) I will post some bits of original art in the coming days, so stay tuned! 🤗💖

[landofzero-archive]

Ibara Saegusa - Private Room Chapter 6

Writer: Nishioka Maiko

Season: Autumn

(Location: Starmony Dorms Courtyard (Evening))

Aira: We did it! It’s been safely completed~♪

You’re amazing, Saegusa-senpai! It looks even cuter and nicer than before it was broken, it even looks brand new! Takamine-senpai would be so happy with this.

Ibara: My my, it’s fortunate that we somehow managed to do it with materials we could find in the dorm.

Aira: All things considered, Saegusa-senpai is so handy. You made this in no time, too. Do you like DIY?

Ibara: It’s not like I like DIY in particular. I spent a long period of time in a place with no entertainment or shops, so I just ended up being able to do it out of necessity.

Aira: Oh. Is that so, that sounds kind of awful…

Ibara: Come on, all we need to do is give it to Takamine-shi back in the dorm room. Let’s go back.

(Location: Starmony Dorm Room (Ibara, Mitsuru, Midori, Tsumugi's Room))

Midori: I’m back……

Mitsuru: I’m back~!

Aira: Ah, Takamine-senpai, Tenma-senpai. Welcome back—

Also…… Takamine-senpai, I’m sorry!

Midori: Eh. W-what? Getting apologised to when I just got back is too scary……!

Aira: The truth is, I borrowed Takamine-senpai’s stepping stool and broke it……

Midori: Stepping stool? The one with the mascot character on it? Why again?

Ibara: It seems that he used it since it was right next to him when he was trying to reach for the tea leaves.

Aira: That’s right. After that, Saegusa-senpai and I rebuilt it while preserving the parts that were left of the mascot character…… This is it.

Midori: Uwaaaaa……♪ It’s great! Even though it was so worn-out before, it looks spick and span! You’ve even painted cute colours over the parts that were peeling off! 

Mitsuru: You’re both incredible~! It looks brand new!

Aira: But the fact that I borrowed without asking and broke it still stands, so I’m sorry……!

Midori: No, I really don’t mind that you broke it.

Rather, to think that it can be this pretty when it was so worn-out before. Shiratori-kun, Saegusa-senpai, thank you very much……♪

Mitsuru: Then, you two made this today?

Ibara: Yes. We were fixing it up till around dusk.

Mitsuru: That sounds hard~. You’ve had a hard day, haven't you, Ai-chan?

Aira: Mm…… That may seem like it was the case, but the truth is it really wasn’t.

Mitsuru: Eh?

Aira: Because this whole day today I was able to see a lot of  Saegusa-senpai’s surprising sides! It was a beautiful sight for an idol otaku!

(Location: CosPro Conference Area)

(The next day)

Ibara: ………

…… Right. I’ve sent off replies for all the agenda that came in during my day off.

So, what next?

Ah, come to think of it, the prints sent around to be checked got back to me. I need to send a reply to the other party too.

Mm? My personal tablet is ringing. I guess that means it’s telling me about the stock prices changing again.

(…… I’m getting a sense of deja-vu. The last time I checked the market situation at a time like this, the stock price plummeted suddenly.)

Good grief…… Is it going to drop further? I’d really like for it to give me a break. Even a big loss would be considered good—

Hm? What on earth is this……? Since it’s the same situation as the other day, I thought the stock price would plummet again today. Rather, it’s suddenly rising.

(The price has almost returned to what it was before the sudden crash. At this rate, there is a possibility that the stock price will rise even more than before the sharp downward trend.

Furthermore, it looks like the other stocks I own are showing signs of upward movement across the board.)

I wonder what happened……It’s not as if a huge incident has occurred.

That reminds me……

(Flashback to Chapter 1)

Natsume: Maybe you could turn your luck around by reclaiming something familIAR.

(Back to present time)

Ibara: (Could it be because I fixed the stepping stool with Shiratori-shi……?)

………

Hah, that’s ridiculous. If fortune-telling can predict stock price fluctuations, then society will collapse.

It’s probably just that my luck has turned around lately.

Now then. I can focus my efforts on working wholeheartedly.

Even though there was an accident yesterday, contrary to my expectations, it ended up being a good break.

Seems like there’s going to be good progress with today’s work……♪

Previous | Directory

[captain-lessship]

Tea Time! Pt. One

A/n: I just thought this would be cute.

Spoiler warning: Content is dated after The Paranormal Liberation War Arc of MHA/ BNHA and contains spoilers/spoiler related content. Read if you are caught up on the series/ are okay with spoilers.

He thought he’d hate it more. He desired freedom, yes, but he found himself thinking of what he did with his wings. They weren’t to blame. They were just a part of as much as his arm and his leg are. It was just what other people saw in them that ruined them. He told this to his therapist while sitting on their rather uncomfortable couch.

They had told him to write all of his feelings down in a journal. That categorized thoughts are easier to look at and explain, even if it was just to him. Not all of it had to be about his wings: it could be about anything and everything.

That’s what brought him to this small store that he wasn’t even sure even sold empty notebooks.

Wind chimes that hung above the door clanged as he entered, he immediately liked the atmosphere. It was warm, not temperature wise but emotionally. It smelled nice, which he concluded came from the ceramic incense dish, like a mix of jasmine and a citrus fruit.

He saw shelves with trinkets and shelves of books. From what he could tell, there was three or four small tables in the back, where he assumed people could sit and read the books while also being served tea.

“Hello!” A voice rang out in the silence that the wind chimes left. He looked at where the voice came from to see a small old man.

There was no way this man was younger than seventy yet, there was something in his green eyes that shown that he was more ‘there’ than most half his assumed age. He was short and had an almost cartoony white mustache.

“Hi, I wa-“

“Ah, yes yes, I remember now, my granddaughter put an ad in the paper for a server. That must be you. Come, I will show you where the aprons are.”

Hawks hadn’t the heart to tell the truth.

As you walked quickly down the street, you passed many of your neighbors store fronts.

“Hey! Tell your grandfather thank you again for getting people to fix our stairs.” One called.

“I will!” You said, waving as you walked.

Another saw you, “Ah! Is your grandfather doing alright? Heard that he took it upon himself to fix the Ikehara’s roof?”

“He did and I swear, if I don’t keep an eye on him, he acts like he’ll still twenty of thirty.”

Your grandfather was well known in this area to say the very least. He used to be a professional hero and was known for his selflessness and commitment to his fellow man. Given his portal quirk, it was easy for him to do things but that didn’t stop you from worrying about him because if he used it to much, it made him nauseous and gave him terrible headaches.

You had hoped he hadn’t got up to much while you were at your job, you sighed when you looked in the shop window and saw him still inside, you opened the door, “Grandpa! I brou-“

You stopped. He stopped. Your grandfather kept going.

“When serving tea- Oh! Hi dear!”

You looked at the sight before you: Hawks, former number two pro hero was standing in your family’s shop. No, not just standing; wearing the red apron you hand embroidered with the family name across the top, holding a tray with all necessary items to have tea.

He looked at the sight before him: Beauty incarnate. Your grandfather told him about you but he thought he was being a typical grandpa when he did. You were as beautiful as he said you were.

“Grandpa?”

“Yes?”

“Why are you teaching Hawks how to pour tea?” You asked, never thinking that you would ever ask such a thing.

“Well, look at that,” your grandfather clicked his split glasses together and looked at the man, “I guess it is him. You’re a fan, aren’t-“

“Grandpa!” You quipped, a tiny of red tinting your face. The old man knew all along but he had been thanked for the roof repair with a small fortune reading.

He grinned, “Aw dear, I’m sure he doesn’t mind, now,” he turned back to Hawks, “Young man, I assume that you are not actually here for the job, are you?”

“No,” Hawks relented, “I was actually wondering if you guys sold notebooks?”

“Of course we do!” He snickered, “They are on the second shelf, far left.”

Hawks stole one more look at you as he walked past: If love at first sight existed, it was right there.

If not, the other times he came throughout the weeks would make it love.

He came every Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday to look at that the books and drink tea as he read his books. You had begun to expect him so you already had a tea set on his table because he got there. No matter what, he would always find ways to talk to you and you wouldn’t lie, you enjoyed it!

Then came the question.

“Hey!” He said, seeing you carefully retouching the gold paint on a vase, your eyes cut up to him.

“Yes? Can I get you something?”

“A date with you.”

Had you not had a tight grip on the vase, you would’ve dropped it.

“Me? A date?”

He felt his cheeks warm, “I mean, yeah. You don’t have, ya know, a boyfriend? Do you?”

You shook your head no, “I don’t have one. I just… am surprised you don’t have a girlfriend.”

He smiled, “The position is open.”

Eavesdropping around the corner was a smiling old man, who would definitely be perfectly alright fixing many rooftops if it meant that he could be nosy in the foreseeable future.

[laurensjapanadventure]

May 28- Asakusa

It's crazy to believe that this was one of the best days of my life and it is only the first day in Japan. This morning I woke up (an hour too early on accident) and ate a Japanese-style breakfast. The food was really good, especially the miso soup. I was surprised how much I liked it considering I'm a very picky eater. We had a brief orientation and received our Suica cards for the train. We visited Asakusa and it was so beautiful. There were so many shops/vendor stands nearby. I purchased strawberry and chocolate mochi at one. The strawberries here are so fresh. I purchased a fortune (like I had seen on YouTube) and mine was labeled "medium" but it was pretty negative. It told me I wouldn't get a job, won't find what I'm looking for, won't find love and that I shouldn't travel. If that's "medium" I don't even want to know what bad would be. I bought two talismans (one for academic success and the other for my wishes to come true) to combat my negative fortune. I washed my hands with the fountain, gave 10 yen as an offering, and prayed to the temple. After this, Bianca, Emily, Brian and I went to get lunch. We went to the Farm Cafe, a vegan restaurant I had seen online. It was really small so we had to wait a long time to be seated. Once we did eat, it was really good. On the way there I got the best black tea strawberry smoothie.

We met up with the rest of the group after to head to the Edo museum. The Edo museum was really cool with loads of photo opportunities. They also had a cute cat mascot that had posters leading us all across the subway. Emily and I didn't realize that the cat was the mascot for the Edo museum and joked about how we were seeing it everywhere. Once I got there, I had to purchase a little keychain of the cat to commemorate it. The museum was really informative but brief. I really enjoyed the recreation of the Edo houses and got some great photos.

After the Edo Museum, Ana, Emily and I headed to the Tokyo Skytree. We were left behind by the group we wanted to go with, but it actually worked out perfectly because we found things we wouldn't have found otherwise. Once there, we realized it was like a huge shopping center. Ana and I spent all day shopping and visiting all the stores. I was so ecstatic to see the Studio Ghibli store and put loads of exclusive merchandise. After checking out, I was amazed how cheap everything was (especially considering what I had been paying online for similar merchandise). We ordered takeout at the Kirby cafe (I got pizza) and continued to shop. I bought a kuromi mofusand plush at the Sanrio store for way cheaper than I saw it online (it was also the last one). I went to the Shonen Jump store, it was nice to look at but none of the merchandise was super appealing. I got some small blind bag prints (I got Megumi, Gojo and Nobara so I was very happy). It was really cool to be in these spaces with other people who loved anime. I ran into the Ultraman store and bought my dad a few gifts and trinkets. I also finally got to use a gacha machine like I had seen online in order to get him a mini figure. I got another strawberry treat to finish the day with ice cream and a tart for later. Ana and I tried to head home but got lost on the train and ended up in Aoto but we found our way back. It was stressful but I was grateful to get home after an amazing day.

[shadamytrash777]

Black Tea

Picrew

AO3 link

Chapter Three

Amy would say it takes a lot to surprise her, she has thrown quite a fair share of birthday parties to know what signs to look for. However, Shadow showed up on a slow Tuesday afternoon with a step stool, a bucket of glue, and paint supplies. That was surprising. More surprising than any birthday she has seen. At first she thought maybe he was passing through just to get his afternoon tea, maybe he had a home demo planned. That wasn't the case as he started to set up inside the store before getting his order. 

When Shadow thought of this great plan to cheer up the pink haired barista, he unfortunately, didn't think of what to say. This left him speechless when he walked in, arms full of supplies. He only made awkward eye contact with Amy, she smiled and tilted her head in confusion. He did research endlessly on how to wallpaper, the proper way to tile your own backslash and the seasons ‘in’ colors, maybe just, maybe he should have researched how to ask for permission first...

 It is quite unusual to come into a business and start an unrequested makeover. Doubt began to bubble up in Shadow’s gut, maybe this was too bold of him, he barely knew the girl. She was even vulnerable and he was taking advantage of it and shoving himself into her life unwarranted. Before these negative feelings consumed his confidence Shadow thought of how Amy looked talking to him about the café and her newfound parenthood. She looked in need of a friend, in the same way he felt he needed a friend in the past. Her tear stained face burning in the back of his head left him frozen. How many days did he wish someone saw his pain and did something about it?

Fortunately for him, Amy started the conversation. "Whatcha' up too?" 

"I know this may be quite forward of me but, I took it upon myself to think of ways to — brighten up the place." Shadow nervously said. 

Amy's face twisted in confusion, she was definitely lost, but it made her happy in ways she couldn't explain. A large grin spread across her face. "And how are you going to do that?" 

Shadow straightened up and explained his thought process. After watching a few too many DIY shows with Rouge, he came across a way to create a memorial textured art wall. Amy was extremely impressed, he had a floor to ceiling design plan. His idea was to use local newspapers and all the flyers she refused to get rid of. A mod podge of community and art, a way to keep the memories while moving into the future.  

Amy pondered the idea for a few moments, she rubbed her chin while observing the wall in question. It was a good idea. It was a really good idea. It made her nervous. It would be the first change she has made to the shop since Vanilla's passing. Would it bother Cream? Would it bother her? Amy had to admit taking any big step in a new direction gave her a crushing anxiety. 

She pushed down the bubbling insecurities and placed her hands on her hips. "I think we will go for it!" 

The pair spent the next two hours carefully pulling down the rest of the paper flyers making sure they didn't rip as they went. As they would sort through the pile each would take turns showing the other an interesting or noteworthy poster to make conversation. Amy would show Shadow every single lost dog poster she found, she commented on how cute the picture was and how she hoped they were home safe now. 

"Awe, lookie at his little bow tie!" Amy squealed as she shoved the poster in Shadow's face standing on her tippy toes to do so. 

Shadow glanced down from on top of the step stool. Once again he twisted his face in confusion, sure sometimes dogs were practical on field jobs. Cute? He didn't understand that. He politely smiled and replied. "He is a dapper gentleman." 

Amy snorted looking back down at the picture. "Very dapper indeed!" 

Shadow thought to himself that Amy was cute. Cuter than a dog. He caught himself thinking these strange things and stumbled on the stool, he luckily caught himself on the wall before she could notice. The ultimate life form doesn't stumble on a stool two feet off the ground because of some pretty girl, if Rouge saw him right now he would die of embarrassment on the spot.  

It took the rest of the afternoon to plan the wallpapers layout. Amy chimed up with the idea to take a break. Shadow's stomach growled in response for him before he got the chance to speak.

Amy laughed hard, she felt really happy for the first time in a long time. How long had it been since she had a big belly laugh like that? Her gloomy companion certainly made it easy to smile. She more than enjoyed his company and that thought made her cheeks warm. Amy cast aside that idea, she had nothing but bad luck when it came to dating and she didn't need any more bad luck in her life.   

Amy made both of them sandwiches and of course, some tea. Shadow tried to pay for their food but Amy refused. 

“You’ve done so much work today! No way!” She wrinkled her nose and continuously shook her head.

Shadow smiled at her childish refusal. “Fine, but you have to pay me in sandwiches from now on. I will never accept money.”

Amy was mid-bite when he said that in a completely deadpan and serious tone she had to stifle a laugh otherwise she might have choked. “Deal!” She smiled and held out her hand. 

He shook her hand and repeated. "Deal." He couldn't help but notice how small and soft her hands were, he quickly let go and found something 'interesting' to look at on the wall. 

The pair finished lunch and went straight back to work, luckily they had knocked out the majority of the wall. Amy was climbing the step stool when the shopkeeper's bell rang throughout the store. Taking both Amy and Shadow by surprise. Amy immediately began fumbling with the papers she had in her hands. 

A tall lanky blue haired man walked in with a cheerful smile, he had a similar brightness to Amy thought Shadow. "Hey Ames, whoa this place is a wreck!" 

Shadow flicked his eyes between the pair, nicknames meant they had a history, perhaps friends. 

The short female quickly made her way behind the counter. "Hey! And yeah it is." Amy kept her hands behind her back, Shadow noticed her tapping her thumb on the back of her other hand, a nervous habit. "The usual today?" 

"Oh yeah sure and an oat milk latte," The man reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. "I actually came by to give you this," he paused, handing it to Amy. "It's to save the date." 

"Save the date?" Amy repeated in a confused tone. She tore open the envelope and pulled out a wedding invitation. She read it with a blank look on her face, void of all emotion. It made Shadow uneasy. "Wow, that's," Amy gulped and took in a sharp breath. "So soon." 

"Yea, I know. Something about royals having short engagements. It was up to her parents. Plus we didn't want to wait any longer!" He said with a big cheesy grin. "I gave you a ‘plus two’. One for Cream and one for yourself to bring a date! It'll be nice to see you out and normal again." Sonic said with a hopeful tone, Amy cringed. 'Normal'. 

"Ahaha yeah." She agreed weakly. "Aren't you guys a little young to be trying the knot?" Amy questioned. 

Sonic chuckled. "Ames, are you losing track of time? I'm twenty seven, that's definitely not too young." 

"Oh right," Amy shook her head, that was a perfectly normal age to get married at. Yet it was just another reminder Amy was far from normal. 

"Ever since you quit the Emerald Forces it hasn't been the same. I know you want to keep the shop for Cream's sake but wouldn't it just be easier to sell it?" Sonic rubbed the back of his neck. "You really haven't been the same, so busy and stuff." 

"Sonic I-," Amy paused fighting the emotion growing in her chest as she looked down at the invitation again. They've had this talk numerous times, he never understood how important this shop was. To both Cream and Amy. Of course it would be easier but that wasn't the point. "Sally and Sonic Acorn, taking her last name?" Changing the subject would be better than continuing this fruitless conversation. 

Shadow could feel the tension grow in the room, he could cut it with a dull knife it was so thick.

"Oh yeah, family name. It was more important to her than to me. Plus y'know I've never been very traditional." Sonic said with an awkward smile he too had noticed her avoiding his question. "I just want you to be ‘you’ again. Back to normal. That's what everyone wants, we all miss you." There was worry in his tone. 

"Well, being normal isn't what I want. My life will never be normal again. Why can't you understand that? I have more responsibilities now, I owe that to Cream." Amy could stop the hostility in her voice. 

"Well, I think-" 

"I couldn't keep the house!" Amy blurted out. "Okay? I couldn't keep the house for Cream." Amy dropped her head in shame. "It was too expensive. Getting rid of both the house and the café, I thought would be too much for Cream." 

"What?" Sonic's eyes were wide with shock. "The house? When did you move? Why didn't you ask for help, the team could've-" 

Before Sonic could finish Amy's eyes flicked over to Shadow, a sudden reminder that someone else was here made Amy want this conversation to be over. "Can we talk about this later?" She pleated. 

Sonic looked over to where Amy's eyes gestured. "Uh, yeah. Sorry Ames. So did ya hire some help to spruce up the place?" He turned himself to look at Shadow. "Hi, I'm Sonic." 

"No, no. He's a friend who is helping me out." Amy smiled. "This is Shadow, this was all his idea. To revamp the place."

Sonic held out his hand but Shadow didn't make a move to shake it. Leaving an even more awkward feeling in the room. Shadow was so overcome with emotion based on the tasteless displace this 'Sonic' was showing. Perhaps he was a complete idiot. Thought Shadow. 

"Nice to meet you." Shadow said monotone. 

"You as well." Sonic picked up the two coffees Amy had just finished. "I'll leave you two to get back to work! Good luck Ames!" He shot her a smile and Amy gave a half hearted smile. 

"Tell Sally I said hi." Amy waved the blue haired man out of the door. 

As soon as the door shut Amy clasped a hand over her mouth, tears already spilling from her eyes. The word normal swarming her mind stabbing her brain as it did. She even snapped at her friend, guilt ripped her apart. Shadow immediately noticed and became anxious. He wasn't very good at comforting people, especially not crying girls. He crossed over to where the tearful pink haired girl was standing and gently pulled her into a close by seat. Then he sat down beside her.  

"Are you okay?" He asked in a calm low voice.

"I'm fine." She sobbed even harder, confirming to Shadow she was not fine at all. "It's just he can be such an idiot sometimes. Why can't he just understand, this is just a reminder my life will never ever be normal again! I've had to stop doing everything I loved and put it on hold to become a guardian."

While Amy paused to catch her breath Shadow took her hand into his and gave her a gentle squeeze encouraging her to continue.

"The worst part is the guilt. I feel so guilty…" she said barely above a whisper. "Cream lost her mother a-and I'm crying? I lost someone too, but I'm supposed to be strong. It's so hard. Worst of all, I desperately don't want her to feel like a burden." 

Amy's shoulders shook and her voice broke, she closed the distance between them and pulled Shadow into a hug, her fists clutching onto his shirt. Shadow closed his arms around the crying girl resting his chin on top of her head, he rubbed small circles into her back until the sobbing softened and breathing slowed. He didn't move to let go until she pulled away to dry her wet face, her nose and eyes red from the emotion.

"You shouldn't feel guilty for how you feel." Shadow said barely above a whisper, there was a sinking pit in his stomach seeing how miserable Amy looked. 

"I know," She muttered. "I know, I'm allowed to feel this way." 

"Your life doesn't have to be normal to be good," Shadow took her hand in his again, giving another squeeze. "I'm not really good at these kinds of things, I apologize if this isn't helping at all." 

Amy gave him a real and soft smile. "It's helping, thank you. Finally telling someone how I feel is helping more than you know." She sighed, it was a little weight off her shoulders. 

"I'm glad." Shadow bashfully looked down, feeling relieved. 

It was dark out when Shadow left the café, cold wind nibbled at his nose. Usually he prefers night time, suffering and encouraging insomnia may have made his preference. However, today…today he wished the sun would never set. Shadow promised Amelia that he would be back next Tuesday to help her do some more decorating. When she happily encouraged him to come back and hang out whenever he wanted, it made him feel like he was walking on air. 

*

Once he made it back to his apartment Rouge was on the couch waiting for him to return, she turned around resting her arms on the back cushion.

"Where have you been?" She paused looking at the messy state of her roommate. "And what have you been doing? You look like a disaster." 

Shadow rolled his eyes, her words had no effect on him. "I was at that café, helping the owner...uh, remodel the place." It was embarrassing to say out loud. Shadow dropped his keys into a bowl in the foyer and then made his way to the open concept kitchen able to still feel Rouge's eyes following him. 

"Was that an innuendo for something else or are you being serious?." She tucked a piece of platinum hair behind her ear with a growing smirk. 

"No!" Shadow glared at her, removing his shoes at the door.

"Is that why you were watching HGTV with me?" She started to giggle furiously. "You sly dog!" 

Rouge turned around on the couch going back to the mindless drama when she started to ponder, and that led to more interesting questions. 

“Is she why you have been in such a happier mood at work? Wait, is she the reason why you brought bagels to work for everyone in the office last week?” Shadow shot her a sheepish look. “They were HER bagels?!” Rouge gasped dramatically. 

His blush indicated he did not like this teasing. "Do you want me to make dinner or do you want to starve?" The gloomy man threatened. His usual displeased frown planted firmly on his face, his roommate couldn't help but notice the slight uptick of the corner of his mouth. 

Rouge quickly shook her head. "No, no, I'm sorry. Please feed me! I will die without nutrients!" His roommate dramatically flung herself down on the couch ending their conversation. 

*

Tuesday morning was pretty uneventful so far, the cold weather kept many inside. Amy was washing down the tables when Shadow — her new favorite customer, entered her shop. He held a swatch book and furniture catalog. Another thing to note was that he looked a bit disheveled, as if he had been up all night for some reason. 

"Good morning Shadow!" Amy's bubbly voice shook the man to his core. 

He gave a polite smile and bowed his head. "Good morning Amelia, how are you this morning?" 

"Honestly I've just been waiting for you, see? Ta-da!" Amy smiled as she set an already prepared tea on the counter in front of the sleep deprived man. 

With wide and grateful eyes he set down his supplies to take the mug into his hands. "Thank you, much appreciated." He said before taking a long sip, sighing happily. Perfect. 

The pink haired barista giggled and shook her head. "You seem like you needed that more than I thought you would, did you have a long night?" 

"Yes, very long," He said, taking a seat at their usual table near the window. "Work has been particularly busy lately." 

"Ah, what exactly do you do?"

"I work for G.U.N. As an engineer and designer." Shadow decided to leave out he was also a field agent, he wasn't sure if she would still like him knowing that. 

"Oh wow! Y'know I have done a few missions with them before. It's funny that our paths haven't crossed in the past." 

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop before, I did hear you were part of the Emerald Forces." Shadow took another sip of his tea. He wanted to ask more but felt uncomfortable pushing the conversation after how last week went with the blue idiot. 

"Ah yeah, sorry about that. I-" She sighed, taking a seat. "I obviously have a complicated past. And thank you, for always being so nice to me, especially at that moment." 

"Don't mention it." Shadow nodded understanding the weight of having a difficult history. 

"I did field work, by the way, If you were wondering about Emerald Forces." She smiled looking proud. "I'm a lot tougher than I look!" 

Shadow’s eyes got big and wide, his eyebrows shot up. Amy laughed at his reaction. 

"Ahaha, you weren't expecting that!" She held up her right arm and flexed, showing off her muscles. "Small but mighty!" 

Shadow felt a blush creeping on his cheeks. "I was not expecting that." 

Amy hummed and nodded with a proud attitude. “I see you’ve brought things for me to look at.” She pointed to the magazines.

Shadow nodded and without a word handed her the swatch book. He was still a little shocked that his favorite barista was much stronger than she looked. He also couldn’t get the image of her flexing out of his head, for some inexplicable reason. 

Previous chapter/Next chapter

Authors Note: Extra long chapter for yall, hope you’ve enjoyed! if you’ve enjoyed let me know reply or reblog or whatever u want <3 also....thirsting for buff amy??? shadow aint the only one respectfully looking....

[harrypotter-imaginess]

Commission info for Love Letters from your favorite character here!

- Honestly, your probably meet him through his Dad or all people

- You meet Arthur at the store, you’re probably at a department store or the grocery store

- Maybe you work here, maybe you just come there weekly to run errands

- But you’re probably a personal shopper

- And you’re looking for something in particular, but every time you go to that section, there’s this lanky middle aged man just standing there

- And you really don’t want to get involved

- But your over active imagination gets the best of you

- What’s if he’s a widower? And he’s just not used to shopping because his partner did all of that

- Or what if he’s trying to get a gift for his new love interest and he’s just trying to get back out there

- And well, if he is a widower, and he just needs some help- shouldn’t you help him?

- Isn’t that just the right thing to do?

- So even though you don’t want to get involved, you very hesitantly approach this red haired man

- “Um, excuse me sir- but is there something I can help you with?”

- He lights up when you approach him

- Looks like the poor thing is a widower

- “Would you explain the purpose to me of this item?”

- He’s holding up a bath kit, one that comes with a bath bomb, some bath salts, and bubble bath soap

- “Um well it’s a bath kit sir”

- He looks at the package for several ing moments before pointing to the circular bath bomb

- “Is this a sweet? Is it a treat you eat when you’re in the bath tub?”

- You practically fall over yourself rushing to tell him that no, it is in fact not a treat

- “It’s like a bubble bath type of thing, you drop it into the water and it turns the bath a certain color, this ones a fortune type so after it’s done fizzing out you get a little fortune.”

- “Well isn’t that fascinating, you Muggles are quite remarkable”

- You don’t think it’s that amazing, just some baking soda and aromatics

- Also what’s a muggle? Is that some middle age slang for young people?

- You help him to the register, and you think that’ll be it, you’ll probably never see him

- So imagine your surprise when you see him again next week, this time in front of a completely different section with the same expression

- “Well hello again, can you help me with this?”

- It’s sort of a fast friendship, you learn a little more about him with each visit

- He is in fact, not, a widower

- He has 8, no 7 children

- And he works for the government

- “A glorified paper pusher really” he says, but you get the feeling he’s being humble

- “How old are you, if you don’t mine me asking?”

- You tell him and he smiles

- “That’s how old my Son is, you two would be a good match.”

- “Which one? Don’t you have seven?”

- He smiles, because you still count Fred as his child even though he’s gone, just like him

- “Take your pick, I’ve got a whole volleyball teams for you to pick from”

- You laugh

- He’s a nice guy, the exact image of what a dad is, you think

- You like him

- Arthur likes you too, he thinks you would be a good match for Percy, maybe George

- He wants to give Percy a fighting chance, he’s a good boy-

- But he’s got his nose stuck in a book most days, Arthur considers it lucky if he ever gets married

- So it’s in early winter that he drags Percy with him to the department store hoping he’ll run into you

- “Why do I have to come along again?”Percy asks grumbling as he walks beside his father

- “Because I’m buying gifts for my department-“

- “You never buy us any gifts” Charlie teases from his other side

- Arthur also brought Charlie, to seem a little less obvious about his intentions of setting you up with one of his children

- He figures Charlie is the most harmless, if you see Bill... well that would be disappointing for you

- considering he’s married and all

- And the scars might raise more questions than he’s willing to answer

- And then Ron was busy at the ministry today, an emergency or something.

- He’s already decided as he walks through the store that if this doesn’t work out, he’s bringing George next week-

- And if that doesn’t work out, well-

- Maybe Ginny would be more your type

- how solid are Harry and Ginny really

- He’s so caught up in his own mental gymnastics that he doesn’t realize one of his sons isn’t following him until he’s well inside the store

- “Where’s Percy?”

- “Oh, he left like 15 minutes ago to take a phone call for work, but I bet he snuck off to that bookstore across the street.” Charlie says casually eyeing a brightly colored display

- Arthur sighs, well he does need to get some gifts for the kids, almost Christmas and all

- “Hello Arthur, what are you dissecting today?” You ask when you see him

- “Just picking up gifts with my son-“

- A small frown lilts onto your face, his son?

- It’s only a little shift of your head and you see him

- Well isn’t he just gorgeous

- He’s got a firm build, toned arms littered with dozens of scars and burns

- His face is chiseled, with a light dusting of red hair, matching vivid hair is long and pulled into a bun

- And the deepest brown eyes you’ve ever seen

- Damn what a hottie

- Arthur should have told told you his son was a total smokeshow

- And he’s got 6 of them?!? Are they all this gorgeous?

- Arthur doesn’t miss the way you look at Charlie

- And one glance at Charlie is all He needs to know that the feeling is mutual

- Why didn’t he think of Charlie?

- Well- actually he had started to think that maybe Charlie just didn’t feel that way about people.

- And so, to be supportive, he wasn’t going to push him into any romantic relationship

- But well since he seems to find you pleasing-

- “This is my son Charlie-“ he says putting both his hands on Charlie’s shoulders and jerking him closer to you

- A light red begins to dust Charlie’s cheeks, wether it’s from embarrassment or attraction he’s not sure

- You fidget in front of him feeling oddly self conscious

- “Nice to meet you, I’m (Y/N)”

- He takes you hand in his with a firm squeeze and you feel a little lightheaded

- His hands are surprisingly soft

- On closer inspection he’s got a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose

- Adorable really

- “So how do you know my dad?” He asks when Arthur is busy /giving you two time to get to know each other looking through the candle selection

- “Oh um I don’t know I guess we just became friends talking about how stuff works?”

- It’s a little weird to think about it, Arthur is your dads age, but he’s like your friend?

- It’s kinda weird tbh

- You wonder how Charlie’s digesting it but he just grins

- “Yeah that sounds like Dad.”

- It’s cute, the way he looks at his Dad

- You remember hearing about Charlie, that he works far away and that Arthur and his wife worry about him. And that he likes animals

- It’s kind of like meeting a celebrity, you know all about him

- except for the fact that he’s a wizard of course

- Well, it was nice meeting one of Arthur’s famous son’s, you suppose he’ll go back to Romania soon and -

- “I was wondering-“ he leans down, his voice low “if you might do me a small favor?”

- Your eyebrows thread together and your head tilts to the side a bit

- “It depends on what it is”

- Charlie only grins

- And so you find yourself standing in front of King’s Cross Station on your next free day, wearing a nice outfit that seems neither too causal, or like you’re trying too hard

- Your fingers fiddle with the hem of your shirt until you see Charlie round the corner

- Well doesn’t he look absolutely delicious

- He’s wearing a crisp white collard shirt and a sweater over it, with a pair of khaki trousers

- Very dark academia

- “Sorry have you been waiting long?”

- You shake your head

- “No only a few minutes, have you thought about what you might want to get him?” You ask and he flashes a little and shakes his head

- “The best I could think of was a gadget of some kind?”

- You nod, you can work with that

- The favor Charlie wanted was pretty simple

- He needed help picking out a Christmas gift for his Dad

- Oddly wholesome in its own way

- You take him to a large department store

- “Maybe this pasta maker?”

- “No, Mum’s already got one”

- He should know, his dad enchanted it to make pasta on its own

- “Than maybe this waffle maker?”

- He shakes his head again, they had one and it did not end well

- You go to several stores throughout the day, but there’s nothing quite right at any of them

- Eventually you both slump down on chairs, untouched mugs of tea in front of you, both of you utterly exhausted

- “This is so much harder than I thought” you mumble, Arthur seems like such an easy to please person

- “I’m sorry” Charlie says, honestly the reason neither of you can pick something is because he can’t be honest with you

- Yeah his Dad loves muggle gadgets, but he loves them because he wants to take them apart, to see how it works

- And then he wants to enchant certain parts to make the contraption even better

- But he can’t tell you all that now can he?

- Not when you’re a muggle

- He sighs leaning back in his chair

- Maybe he shouldn’t have asked you for help, he saw how close you and his Dad were, like you were already family-

- But it’s unfair to you to monopolize all your free time like this-

- “It’s no problem really, this is actually really fun”

- You’re not lying, hanging out with Charlie is really fun.

- Usually spending time with people you’ve only just met exhausts you

- But being with him makes you feel comfortable, the two of you falling into a comfortable rhythm

- Guess he’s kinda like his Dad in that way

- You feel your mouth quirk into a small smile at the thought.

- He kinda looks like his dad too on closer inspection, around the jaw and-

- “Are your ears pierced?” You ask, and Charlie immediately flushes. A hand nervously fluttering to his ear

- “U-um yes, I did it when I was younger-“ he lets out a nervous laugh

- You raise an eyebrow

- “What did some girl break your heart?”

- He sputters at that

- “N-no of course not”

- You feel a wicked grin curling on your face, he’s awfully fun to tease

- “Boyfriend then?”

- He’s burning so bright red that you think steam might actually start coming out of his ears

- “N-no it was nothing like that,” his eyes are looking into his mug, fingers still twiddling with his earlobe.

- “My brother and I got them at the same time with our other friend. It was really their thing, wanting to get the piercing that is, I just joined to be apart of it”

- You can certainly see it, Charlie getting swept up in his friends things.

- “Besides this sort of thing... it doesn’t really suit me” he lets out a nervous laugh and you feel your heart swell

- “I think it would look great on you” The words leave your mouth without even thinking and you feel your face grow hot when they do.

- What are you saying!?!

- You’re embarrassed, but Charlie’s flattered.

- He’s never been the favorite sibling, he’s not as brave as Bill, or as funny as George, Percy’s the smart one, Ron’s the charismatic one, and Ginny’s the athletic one

- He hasn’t got anything to compete with honestly-

- All he can do is try to emulate his siblings, he guesses he’s still trying to figure out who he is

- Which is a little pathetic at his age- at least that’s how he feels

- But hearing you say it would look good on him- well it makes his heart flutter

- Meanwhile you’re completely ignorant to the fact that you’re making his heart race

- Completely caught up in your own embarrassment

- Geez you’re just blurting stuff out like a kid

- A lightbulb goes over your head

- “Hey I think I might have an idea of what your Dad might like!”

- You practically tug him into the the next shop, his face contorted in confusion until you show him what you thought of

- “Oh Merlin, it’s perfect”

- You’re both standing in the toy section of a department store

- Charlie’s watching the bubble machine like it’s the best thing he’s ever saw

- His dad is going to love enchanting it

- While Charlie’s asking the clerk about gift wrapping and other things you wander around the store

- Stopping when you see a rack of candles

- They’re the ‘homesick’ candles, with a scent that’s a place

- And then you see something else glint from the corner of your eye

- “Thank you so much for your help today-“

- You’re both standing in front of king’s cross again, you’re about to go home

- Charlie takes a deep gulp, if he was brave like Bill he might ask you on a date- a real day

- But he’s not

- So he’ll just thank you for your time, and ask for a business card so he can send you a tasteful gift with maybe a card asking to spend time again with you

- But before he can get the words out you thrust something out to him

- It’s a neat folded striped pink and green bag

- He takes it carefully on his hands, leading inside

- “Candles?”

- You nod

- “They’re those homesick candles, they have a scent for places, I got you London and then another one that says English country- it’s amber, honeysuckle and moss, I thought you might like it” you’re blabbering-

- There really wasn’t a need to do anything like this for him

- But well- you know he probably feels so homesick, not to mention his rowdy siblings

- So maybe this will offer him some comfort

- But he’s not looking at the candles he’s looking at something else that’s glinting beside them

- Thick fingers gently pinch the end of the thick paper square

- It’s a pair of earrings

- They’re Dragon Earrings

- “Oh that.” You look at the item with a wide expression “it’s really like a gag gift, I know you work with animals and you’ve got the piercing so-”

- Charlie’s grinning

- “You didn’t have to do all this.”

- “O-oh no, it was no big deal at all, I um- I wanted to.” You give him a shy smile and he feels butterflies erupt in his stomach

- He’s never going to be as brave as Bill, or as Smart as Percy, as funny as George or loyal as Ron.

- But he wants to be kind

- As kind as you, if not more

- “No, I couldn’t possibly let you do something like this for me, especially not after all your help today”

- You feel yourself deflate, ah you were overstepping weren’t you?

- It’s just- you’ve heard so much about him and you work so well together,

- You had started to think of him as a friend

- But clearly it was too much -

- “Let me take you out to dinner sometime,” your eyes snap to his face, which is dusted with pink, deep brown eyes staring into your own

- “To repay you for all the kindness you’ve shown me today”

- You feel a smile spread across your face, arching into a goofy grin

- He’s looking at you hopefully, pieces ears burning red. A matching hopeful smile curled onto his face

- “I would love to”

[heyitsyn]

Manager!Seijoh Part 5

a/n: we ltr going at 5 parts and i have another part written out and im just drowning in love with these seijoh asks

for more seijoh content, check this masterlist out!

anon request:

Can i ask for cute moments between manager and the boys outside of school, like how she and kyoutani probably bump into each to go feed strays etc??

yes anon!!!!!! these moments made me so soft™

IM CACKLING LIKE BLS THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS OF THE ENTIRE STAGE PLAY BC HE PLAYS OIKS SO WELL AND IWA IS JUST SO IWA AND I LIVED FOR OIKS’ ‘IWA-CHAN!’ AND IWA’S ‘RAAAAA!’ AND THIS GIF JUST SHOWS SEIJOH BEING SEIJOH AND HOW THEY WOULD REALLY ACT IF THEY WERE REAL LIKE UGH THEY DID SUCH A GOOD JOB W THE CASTING

these are the cute little moments and get ready to die of the cuteness

be warned, this isnt a straight plot or no main focus but just bits and pieces of fluff 

keeping up with seijoh episode 3467328937

as mentioned before, they dont really get to hang out a lot w you outside of practice 

youre either too busy taking care of your schoolwork, catsitting for the aizawa’s, or having you time since youve been busy w the boys all week

but there are times where you do have available time to go hang out with the boys

and they know about your schedule so they try to make memories either during practice or after practice

fortunately, kyo lives at the same street as the aizawa’s so he walks you to their house when you have a job 

but sometimes when you are just walking home, you both stop by the convenience store first and find some cat food cans and dog food cans and water 

it was a complete accident when you both found each other standing at the same aisle, holding the same things, with the same intentions, for the same animals

the alleyway where you first met is basically your second home bc thats where your babies live

since you cant exactly take in 5 dogs and 6 cats in your house, you and kyo are taking care of them in that alleyway where you feed them and build them a little shelter with blankets and stuff

this will be explained more in the next manager!seijoh part

after practice, particularly after a really productive one, the guys like to go to the ramen shop near the school to treat themselves after their hardwork

by now, the old lady who owns the shop knows their order by heart and has it ready when you all enter

yall get settled in but you go over to yahaba and snap his wooden chopsticks for him bc he never snaps them properly and ends up breaking them

meanwhile,,

you gather as much napkins as you can and place them beside kindaichi bc he makes such a mess while he eats and you have stand-by wipes for him

you make a special request to add tofu into iwa’s ramen bc the mans loves tofu so much and he still doesnt understand how the lady seems to know this despite him never telling her

your seat is usually next to mattsun bc he doesnt eat all the side dishes up like the others and you can eat some of it too

kyo sit across you and demands you eat at least 2 bowls bc you never seem to eat enough and he gets secretly concerned so he aggressively cares for you

‘kyo-san,,,, im full though’

he ‘glares’ at you

‘what you mean youre full. you didnt even finish the bowl. eat the rest and have another or youre not leaving this table’

pls what

fun fact, oikawa actually has two pairs of glasses and he gave you one in case he forgets to wear his main one and leaves it at home

so he gets to school and he just realizes he forgot his glasses and his contacts were still being shipped so he freaks out and texts you about it

but you always have the case safely tucked in your bag so you wander up to the third year floor and knock on his class door

iwa, who is in the same class as him, glares at the students who stare at you and nudges oikawa who was looking out the window

‘oi, your glasses’

his head snapped to the side and sees your smiling face and the familiar brown box being held out to him

his face scrunches and he launches up his seat and takes you in his arms

‘Y/N-CHAN IS SO RESPONSIBLE! SO NICE! OIKAWA-SENPAI REALLY APPRECIATES YOU!’

‘oikawa-san, please let me go’

you mumbled, embarrassed at his behavior in front of the whole class

once iwa has you safely on the ground, you excuse yourself and go back to class

the class still stared at the door you passed through and iwa had to bark at them to go back to their business

youre like the seijoh and younger version of goddess kiyoko

before kyo got back to the team, you usually walked home by yourself but makki actually accompanies you when he doesnt have errands to run

‘makki-san, i heard theres a sale going on for puffs’

you would mention as you walked and you would look to see his eyes light up and walk faster towards the bakery

‘cmon, y/n-chan. makki-senpai is treating you today!’

he turns into a child, a contrast to his chaotic energy in school, and he runs over to the glass where indeed, there was a sale going on for his puffs

while he was staring at what flavor he wanted, youd go to the cashier and give her your card

‘when that guy with the light brown hair with the blue and white jacket comes up to pay for his cream puffs, charge it to my card, please. whatever you do, dont take his and use mine immediately, please. ill come by later and pick it back up’

the old cashier lady felt true hope and happiness for humanity at your actions and it increased when she saw the shocked look on the boy’s face when she immediately swiped the card when he finished ordering

‘what? i havent paid-’

‘the young lady that came with you already did, young lad. shes a keeper’

he turned red

‘ahaha, no, shes our team manager’

once he finished paying and went outside, he took out his phone and dialed your number to call you

you smiled from the aisle in the convenience store down the street bc you were expecting him to call you

‘hewwo, makki-san’

he shut his eyes at how cute you sounded

‘y/n-chan, senpai wanted to treat you today!’

he whined but you bit your lip, leaving the store after purchasing a drink with the remaining cash you had

‘hmm, but i did too. you just werent too fast, senpaiiii~’

you teased and he let out a breathy laugh

‘next time i’ll be faster! mark my words!’

‘then im looking forward to it, senpai~!’

did anyone notice that he is the first one she called senpai?

to our baby yahaba

we know how he literally tried to go after yachi in that one episode so you know how flirty he is

but youve made it clear that you reject his advances and he pouts and finally accepts it so he stops it, instead actually just caring for you

ya know how he cares for the others and cheers them on?

he does the same to you

our babie notices that you are so busy taking care of the others that you forget to take care of yourself

like that time they lost to shiratorizawa, you made bentos for them all week to cheer them up

but he saw you not even eating and realizes that you were busy making the food that they like, each different to accomodate to their taste, that you had no time to make your own

he went down to your class and noticed you missing and he asks kindaichi and kunimi and they said that you said you wanted to get fresh air

since he pays attention to you, he knows you like to go to the roof to breathe

he ventures up the stairs and when he opens the door, he notices you just staring up at the sky, sitting down on the floor

‘being in an empty place like the roof doesnt compare to how lonely Pluto must feel to be outcasted in the solar system’

your comment catches him off-guard but he regains composure and makes his way to you before sitting down next to your form

‘hmm, oikawa-senpai talked to me about space one time. he mentioned the vast possibilities that stays hidden in the shadows’

you and him turn your head at the same time and share a gentle smile

‘but its up to us to find those secrets and abilities’

you finished

he nodded and went back to look at the clouds that looked like they were slowly moving but it was really the earth turning

‘i want to be a sports instructor. i want to be able to help others,,, i want to help them find those abilities and perfect them so they could fully love playing’

a chuckle escaped you and you tightened your arms around your knees, following his gaze to the blob of white that was painted on to the blue canvas

‘let other people be your universe, baba-senpai. dont let them be like Pluto. take time to find out who they are so they dont feel so lonely, okay?’

yall im tearing up right now though

as mentioned at the first part of this series, you go to the gym very early to set up for morning practice

sometimes, the four third years arrive at the same time but sometimes, only iwa comes

you noticed him put his bag down and help you with the nets before pushing the cart to finish the task for the morning

‘thank you, iwa-san!’

you thanked and he ruffled your hair

‘can you actually help me with my workout?’

you nodded and you knew his routine by now

as he got in position for a push up, you gently sat down on his back so he could start pushing up

you sat cross-legged and you counted every push up and held a timer so he could beat his previous record of 100 push ups in under 5 minutes

IWA IS LITERALLY ON ANOTHER LEVEL

once he hit 100, he collapsed on the floor and you stopped the timer at 4 minutes and 48 seconds

‘good job, iwa-san! new record!’

you cheered and he grumbled on the floor

you gently turned him over so he could lay on his back

he closed his eyes from the bright light of the gym and he raised his arms as his hands made a grabbing motion

‘hug. i want hug’

he whined and you fake gasped at this

‘iwa-san, i didnt know you could be so whiny’

‘huuggg~’

in my series, its canon that iwa is actually a whiny little babie despite that tough exterior and hes much more whinier than oikawa

you laughed before surrending, mumbling ‘yes, yes’

this wasnt the first time this happened since he asked you to do this before bc hes a touch starved babie and as a manager, you must give your team love

you climbed on him and laid your head on his chest while he mumbles happily with his arms going around you

‘just five minutes’

you offered and he said ‘mhm’

well, you both fell asleep and were woken up by scandalized and jealous yells from oikawa

to our baby libero watari

watari is actually the only player who has been to your house before

you made an off-handed comment of making bentos for the team again and he offered to come and help you make them

so here he was, standing in your kitchen, as you were cooking with him

you were chopping up vegetables and he was waiting for the eggs to boil so he was just stirring it slightly

‘wata-san, can you give me a bowl from the cabinet above you?’

he nodded and gave it to you so you could place the chopped carrots and onions in it

once the timer was done, he scooped out the eggs and placed them into an ice bowl so he could peel them later

you knew his favorite food was boiled eggs so you wanted to boil some so he could snack on them

‘can you peel one and see if theyre perfectly cooked, wata-san?’

his fingers skillfully rolled the egg on the table before peeling it effortlessly

he hummed as he chewed on the food

‘delicious?’

you asked and he turned to you, cheeks still full but he raised a thumbs up

you grinned and went back to chopping the scallions

‘actually, i didnt need any eggs for the dishes. i wanted you to snack on your favorites as i cook. its like payment for keeping me company’

his eyes shone and he hurriedly went to hug you tightly

‘i really appreciate everything youve done for us, for me. but i just want you to keep smiling okay? i know we’re a handful and we can get out of hand sometimes but you always keep us together. you must be stressed and there must be times you get angry with us and must’ve cried because of us but i hope you’ll still stay with us even through all that’

WATARI YOU MAKING ME C R Y 

lmao kindaichi’s made me laugh

so basically, we all know his famous haircut, right

but what if that was actually just a style hes had since he was young but he has naturally down hair?

the stuff he puts in it like this brand of gel is just so tough and sturdy that two washes of hair is the only thing that can get rid of it

even during practice when hes sweating the atlantic ocean, it somehow stays up

he puts gel on it and stuff after he showers to make it stick up and BOOM turnip head

but one morning, he,,,, wasnt turnip head

the boy woke up late and he didnt have time to perfect the sticking up so he went to school with his hair down and everything

you were already there since morning practice has started and kunimi told you that kindaichi texted him he would be late so you were just patiently waiting by the door for your classmate

but some guy just walked in

your eyes widened and you pulled their arm

‘um, this is for seijoh volley-’

then the words died in your mouth

‘yuu-kun,,,’

you stuttered and he placed his hands on his face to hide away

‘dont look y/n-chan!’

his shout attracted the others and then silence before the laughing and howling started

‘THESE FIRST YEARS I SWEAR!’

makki was on the floor, punching it as he laughed

kindaichi turned red and he was about to run out but you held on to him

‘i can fix it for you, yuu-kun. come with me?’

he nodded immediately and hurried away towards the back where the sun was just starting to rise

you rummaged through your gym bag and found the specific gel brand he uses 

kindaichi was SHOOK bc why the hell did you have it?

you noticed his shocked and confused look

‘i knew this would happen. we’ve facetimed before, remember? just in case this would happen, i brought backup’

his eyes glistened with tears of gratitude but you waved it away and started attempting to fix his hair

tbh you dont know why he did this hairstyle because his hair was really soft and nice and he still looked attractive either way

moving on to kunimi babie

lets face it, he probably doesnt sleep at all at night and he suffers from insomnia

and when he cant sleep, he bothers his friends

but he doesnt bother you though

which makes you sad bc you thought you made it clear that he could come to you if he was in need of something

you only found out after kindaichi accidentally blurted out during morning practice of how tired he is bc kunimi wouldnt stop talking to him at 2 in the morning

‘aki,,, you could’ve called me’

you gently said and kunimi scrunched his nose at how sad you sounded

‘you need your sleep, y/n’

‘but i want you to sleep too’

‘kindaichi’s been my contact since i was like 5 so-’

‘so you dont need me?’

your eyes watered and kunimi jumped, frantically fussing over you

‘okay, okay, y/n, okay. ill call you’

then as if they were never there, you cheered up and bounced happily

‘i’m expecting it, aki-kun!’

but at 1:43 in the morning, his finger hovered over the call button on your contact since he really didnt want to bother you

but he could already hear your whines in the morning

‘aki?’

he cursed when he heard your groggy voice

‘sorry y/n, ill hang up-’

‘no!’

you sat up, forcing to wake up

‘stay’

you mumbled and he made a sound of agreement

‘not tired?’

you asked

‘no. well, like im tired but i cant sleep, yknow?’

you laid on your bed with your cheeks puffed out, trying to think how to put him to sleep

‘we can just talk, aki’

‘about what?’

‘anything. just,,, talk to me. i want to know your favorite color, your favorite food, everything about you’

:( morning calls really hit different

last one is our mattsun babie

so like, mattsun is a TREE

im like 5′3 and hes like 6′2 so we a whole dwarf next to him

you are always dwarfed whenever you stand next to him and this little shite takes advantage of that and puts his elbow on top of your head

he likes to poke fun at you but you just pout bc you know hes all fun and games

‘hows the weather down there’

‘so mean, mattsun-san’

but his height did give him a special memory with you though

you were both left in the gym to clean up bc everyone had something to do like oiks had to go home bc takeru got sick and iwa also got sick and you just volunteered to clean up and mattsun stayed behind

you were sweeping the floor and you unconsciously started humming as you swept and started swaying a little

mattsun heard you as he pushed the carts and watched as you just swayed and twirled around and he found himself smiling at you

you noticed him stop in front of you and he bowed down, holding out a hand

‘may i take this dance, m’lady’

you laughed

‘what? whats going on?’

he softly held your hand and pulled you to him

‘you were dancing and i wanted to join you’

you nodded and looked up at him, eyes half-lidded

‘stand on my feet, chibi-chan. i can lead while you sing’

it was a random song you heard from the radio earlier but you complied while he moved with your feet on his

you giggled when he would lean down to softly kiss your forehead and shriek when he would unexpectedly dip you down

either way, at 8:34 PM, you and mattsun danced under the gym lights with no witness except you and him

ughh i really want seijoh now

you and the team share individual memories that are more special than the ones with the others bc its where you could actually be upfront with each other

its just a shame that there are 4 third years in the team that would eventually graduate and go their own separate ways after high school, leaving behind their underclassmen

they could just hope that those memories and special moments would remind them of who you were and how special you were to them since at the prime of their youth, you were their first true love

a/n: ngl i didnt expect to finish this so quick but im just in a really soft mood right now and this is to makeup for the fact that my update schedule could start becoming erratic due to my school so i hope you enjoyed this blurb!! and depending on my asks, there could only be one last part to this series unless someone requests for another specific scenario with the manager!!

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

someone behind me was tracing my steps / maybe you’re better off this way

Fandom: Kamen Rider Ryuki

Characters: Asakura Takeshi, Kido Shinji

Songs: "After the Fall," October Project & "Passive," A Perfect Circle (playlist here)

Takeshi’s sitting against the wall, bleeding out, and the mirror guy—Kanzaki, right—is standing over him, mouth twisted in something he vaguely recognizes as dismay. “I can’t use this, there’s barely any energy left,” he says, not to Takeshi, and there sure as hell isn’t anyone else in the room. “I’ll have to reset.”

“Hang on a second.” Takeshi coughs and feels his mouth fill up with the taste of copper, which isn’t such a bad flavor when you get down to it. “What about my wish?”

Kanzaki doesn’t even look at him, already fucking around with the mirror. “You don’t want anything, there’s no point.”

“Sure I want something.”

“…what on Earth could you want at this point? It’s all going to be reset anyway.”

Takeshi grins up at him, knowing that it’s sure to be an unnerving sight with his teeth all over blood. “Lemme remember.”

“Out of the question. Giving one participant unnecessary foreknowledge would interfere with the procedure.”

“Nah, nah, I’m not gonna interfere with shit. It was just a hell of a time.” Takeshi looks up just as Kanzaki is looking down and grins his bloody grin a little wider. “I like to remember times when I had fun. Looking forward to doing it over again. Let me remember.”

---

It’s not until he graduates university that Shinji realizes that he’s missing something.

Slightly after, really. He graduates, he works some shitty part-time gigs, he does some freelancing, and then Ookubo gets in touch and offers him a job at Ore Journal. That’s all fine, but when he steps through the door of the Ore offices he’s hit with a wave of déjà vu so powerful that he nearly trips and falls face-first into Reiko’s desk. Fortunately he catches himself before anyone notices. It had been bad enough trying to explain to his mother about the girl who lived in his mirror when he was thirteen; he can’t imagine how the people here would react to, “I remember walking into this room for the first time at least eight times over.”

He gets a grip on himself, but the feeling of loss stays. He’s missing something, and he doesn’t know what. Sometimes he’ll get a glimpse of it, he’ll pass someone on the street or overhear a snatch of conversation and a fragment of memory will overwhelm him, but he never gets everything.

From the bits that he sees, he’s not sure that he wants to get everything. It might be better to be missing something than to remember.

---

Takeshi’s known that he’s missing something for a long time now, and whatever it is, he wants it back.

He’s not exactly an educated guy, but he knows himself pretty well, and the idea that there’s a big chunk of him missing is galling. He can feel its absence. He can’t tell what it is, it hasn’t got any kind of useful shape, no edges that he can detect, but it’s his. And since he wouldn’t just go carving out part of himself, that means he’s been robbed.

He doesn’t take kindly to being robbed.

Mostly, though, he can ignore it, the way you ignore a hole in the wall that you don’t feel like repairing yet. He does what he likes, gets what he wants, eats when there’s food, and doesn’t think about it unless he reaches for something in his mind and finds that it isn’t there.

And then he sees the journalist.

Some sweet-faced kid, he is, showing up at a bar that Takeshi likes and bugging the regulars about a local ghost story that Takeshi knows for a fact is bullshit. He doesn’t try coming over to Takeshi’s corner, because the bartender visibly warns him off, but he’s talking to everyone else. That suits Takeshi fine. He can just sit with his drink and watch and remember, in shards and splinters, tantalizing and incomplete.

Kido Shinji is what’s printed on the business card he swipes from the bartender once the journalist leaves, with the address of a tea shop written on the back in pen.

Now there’s a name that rings a bell.

He stares down at the card for a moment, not sure whether he’s pleased or furious, and then heads out. Guy couldn’t have gone far.

---

Shinji gets through the door and is immediately handed an apron and a bandana for his hair. “Dishes.”

“What—Ren, I just got here.”

“Yeah, and there are dirty dishes. I don’t have time to deal with them, there are customers.” Ren squints at him for a moment, frowning. “What’s wrong with you, anyway?”

Shinji pauses in the middle of tying back his hair, uneasy. “I’ll tell you once there aren’t customers. Where’s Miyu—he’s still working, ok.”

Ren rolls his eyes. “Apparently that middle schooler who was here last week told all of her friends about him, he’s been busy all day.”

There are a lot of dishes piled up, and it keeps Shinji busy until Ren’s shooing out the last customers of the day. Atori’s different without the old lady, but it’s not a bad different; hopefully she’s happy in whatever warm place she moved to after she sold the shop to Ren. She’d certainly never seemed happy here.

He’s happy here. In a stable place, with a little bit of stable work apart from Ore, with people who inexplicably love him for reasons that none of them quite remember clearly.

When the last customer is out the door, Ren leans back against the counter, arms folded across his chest, and says, “So something’s bothering you, spit it out.”

Shinji frowns down into the dishwater. “I think someone was following me again today.”

“What, again? How long’s this been going on now, two weeks?”

“Three and a half. Ever since that thing I was looking into about the ghost, do you remember that one?” One saucer in the dish rack, start washing the next piece. “Maybe I pissed off the ghost.”

“You said there wasn’t a ghost.”

“Well, yeah, but what if there was and now it’s following me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you’re not being chased by a ghost.”

Shinji glances nervously over his shoulder, as if he’ll see his ghost reflected in the tea shop window. “How can we be sure, though?” He picks up another dirty cup and starts to wash it. “Some of the things I remember…”

Ren’s arms wrap around him from behind, chin resting on his shoulder. “They aren’t here,” more softly and gently than he usually speaks. “No ghosts. Just you, me, and Miyuki.”

“No ghosts.” Shinji takes a deep breath. “You’re right. No ghosts.”

---

The place isn’t tough to break into. Decent locks, but nothing Takeshi can’t get past with a crowbar. He lets himself in and looks around the vaguely-familiar tea shop with interest before heading past the counter and to the back. Stairs lead up to the apartment above, and sure, they creak a little, but that’s nothing to worry about. After all, he’s still got the crowbar if he really needs it.

Upstairs, the place is chaotic in sort of a cute way, decorated as it is by three people with clearly pretty different sensibilities, fragments of three very different lives on display. It smells faintly of frying oil, too. Someone made something good for dinner tonight. On a whim, he checks the fridge, finds a container of leftover gyoza, and eats them absently as he contemplates the shopping list stuck to the freezer door. Eggs, rice, sliced pork belly, in neat handwriting that definitely isn’t Kido’s.

He finishes the gyoza and the tail-end of a carton of milk, leaving the empty containers behind on the counter and picking up his crowbar again as he heads toward the back of the apartment.

There are three bedrooms, and none of them are marked, doors closed against the darkened hallway. Checking each one would be a hassle, and might lead to more trouble than Takeshi feels like getting in right now. Instead he just remembers how jumpy Kido seemed even before Takeshi started following him and lets intuition lead him to the room closest to the fire escape.

The door swings open, and the first thing he sees is a cloth square on the wall. A covered mirror.

There we go.

Kido’s asleep, sprawled across the bed with his head tossed back and his hair spread out on his pillow, throat pale and exposed. Alone, which makes things a little easier. There’s a computer desk set up in the corner of the room; Takeshi grabs the chair from it, drags it over next to the bed, and sits, resting the end of the crowbar on the floor as he’s saying, softly and cheerfully, “Hey, Kido. Wake up.”

A shift, an irritated mumble, “Not time to—” and then one eye opening halfway and the jolt, Kido scrambling upright in the bed, one hand flung out to the side reaching for something that isn’t there.

What isn’t there?

Splinters reform into another regained memory: a deck of cards in an elaborate case, gleaming purple metal smooth and cool in Takeshi’s hands. There’s a name that goes with it, or maybe more than one, faint and still lost but centimeters from the tip of his tongue.

Kido’s gone white as a pan of milk, hand still empty because they’re in a world with no decks, now, no monsters that Takeshi suddenly remembers with fondness, not nearly as much fun, and Takeshi leans forward on his crowbar and smiles, friendly, like, and says, “Come on, Kido, I remember you being more interesting.”

---

Shinji can hear his heart beating over the ringing in his ears. There’s a bit of light coming in from between the mostly-closed curtains, just enough to see by, and with his hand coming up empty and his unwelcome guest illuminated so that only golden hair and white teeth are visible, he is assailed by memory.

He knows this man.

From the corner of the bar where he’d been looking into that ghost story, sure, the one the bartender had told him not to bother, but also from before, from ten befores or more. A killer, vicious and cheerfully so, dangerous to be around, but beneath the adrenaline thrum Shinji can feel another pulse, pity, pity, pity, perhaps misplaced but still there.

He fights to get his breathing under control and says, “Asakura. What are you doing here?”

“You took something of mine.” Asakura’s head tilts slowly to the side, semi-friendly grin still visibly. “I came to get it back.”

“I don’t have anything of yours.”

“Never said you did. I said you took it. Didn’t say I thought you had it.”

“That…you know that doesn’t make sense, right?”

“None of this makes sense, Kido. We live in a world that revolves around a guy like you.” Asakura leans forward, one hand darting out to grab Shinji’s chin, ragged nails digging into his skin. In the dim light his eyes are flat and dark and predatory as their gazes lock, only taking on any gleam as he drinks in…something, whatever he’s getting from looking at Shinji like this. Shinji nearly asks, in fact, but he can’t quite speak, and anyway Asakura’s talking again, still as cheery and conversational as he has been. “Used to be, I got the deck in my hands and I’d remember all of it. That was the deal. Don’t know how the mirror guy finally bit it, but whatever happened, you’re the key to everything now.”

Shinji’s considering shouting for Ren, because even if he did have a dragon at his beck and call, the mirror is covered. Then, of course, he notices the crowbar. And Asakura continues to look at him, searching for something that Shinji is apparently giving him.

“Pathetic.” Abruptly, Asakura lets go again. “You used to be fun, Kido.” He stands, shouldering the crowbar like a baseball bat, and heads for the open bedroom door, only pausing briefly to say, “Call me if you ever decide to get the band back together, yeah?”

Shinji remains frozen for what seems like a long time after he’s gone, dizzy with memory and his heartbeat noisy in his own ears.

He doesn’t remember the end of things. None of the ends of things, actually, and he’s not sure if the others know that it happened more than once, how many times they were put through the same wringer. Whatever it was, though, whatever he or they finally did, it was permanent.

He never would have expected someone to resent him for it.

Finally he finds the focus to move, raising a hand to rub at the sore spots on his jaw before getting out of bed.

Miyuki’s bed is disturbed by unoccupied, and this fills him with a banked and indistinct dread until he comes to Ren’s room and finds them both there, Miyuki sprawled as inelegantly as always and snoring lightly at Ren’s side. Ren is awake, barely. “Bad dreams all around tonight, I guess,” he slurs as Shinji closes the door, and moves over to make space. “Wha’ was yours about?”

Shinji curls up beside him and says, softly, “Just ghosts.”

---

Takeshi strolls down the middle of the empty street, crowbar on his shoulder, in such a good mood now that he’s very nearly whistling. It’s a damp night; the streetlights make shadows in the fog that look like old friends he now remembers, any number of enormous beasts stalking him as he walks. Which makes him want to laugh, and so he laughs, and the sound bounces off the buildings and the fog in an echo that could go on forever.

“Goddamn,” he says to a fog-reflection that shifts and changes with every step he takes, now a vast snake, now a rhino, now a stingray. “That was a good time, wasn’t it.”

The fog makes no reply, but the shadow continues to follow him down the street as the echoes of his laughter die away, and after a moment, feeling almost jaunty, he starts to whistle.

[crashingmeteorz]

it’s the ba sing se bimbos, back again (jinjetsongko). here’s some stupid stunts these ridiculous kids would pull:

mixing the dangerous herbs and serums song and her mother have. they all get accidentally high one day. fortunately they do it at zuko’s apartment, so when iroh comes home and finds them tripping he just gives them calming tea and amuses himself by asking them philosophical questions.

“what is the meaning of life?” iroh asks them. “fruit pies,” song says very seriously. “FREEDOM!!” jet roars. “being the sexiest person in the room at all times,” jin says. zuko says nothing, because he’s too busy crying and hugging iroh and telling him he loves him.

“what do you think the meaning of life is, mushi?” song asks. “life is what you make of it,” iroh tells them. “personally, i find meaning in doing what i love, and spending time with the people i love. this evening, for example, is very meaningful to me.”

of course, since none of them have fathers, they all join zuko in crying and telling iroh they love him.

at some point, jin adopts a wild injured pygmy puma, who she calls sho, and is furious that he takes an immediate liking to zuko over her.

sho becomes their mascot, and also a fat lazy house cat since they all pamper him endlessly, but one day he goes missing.

they track him down to a butcher shop (similar to the one momo almost got chopped up in), release all the live animals, and somehow manage to set a fire in the process. song and jet assume between the grease and the heat and the commotion, it was bound to happen. but jin caught zuko’s look of rage when he saw sho crying in a cage. she knows who started the fire.

she’s not a snitch, though, and obviously she’s glad to have her pet back, so jin just keeps up the whole grease fire thing. plus, zuko’s such an awkward dweeb that she figures he really needs his some kind of deep dark secret to stay even A Little Bit Cool, so she lets him have it.

they don’t really stir the attention of the dai li since they mostly cause (and sometimes solve) problems in the lower ring, and while zuko and song are happy to fly under the radar, this just infuriates jet and jin. they want attention, damn it!

so they end up planning increasingly ridiculous heists in the upper ring. jewelry store underpaying their laborers? robbed and tagged as a scam. fancy government official is selling secrets to the fire nation? so sad, too bad, the guy goes missing but he leaves a chopped-off finger behind. children are being stolen and sold to wealthy buyers in the upper ring, eager to show off their “rescued” babies? the whole thing is exposed and kids are reunited with their families.

somehow, they still only barely get the dai li’s attention (probably because they’re too busy keeping tabs on the avatar). zuko has a talk with jet about thinking things through. this is the only thing that gets jin and jet to chill out because ZUKO using words like “irrational” and “risky” seriously is the wake-up call of the century.

(at this point, i could see the story going one of two ways: 1. life continues as normal for the friends, and jet learns his lesson, or 2. jin backs off but jet continues to go bigger and more extreme until he gets kidnapped by the dai li. he thinks he has a plan, until he gets brainwashed.)

(song, zuko, and jin notice primarily because he disappears for a bit. this isn’t unheard of, but as the days creep into a week they get worried. when he comes back, he’s just...weird. it’s definitely worth investigating. song and her mother use some herbal medicine to clear jet’s mind, and discover just how sinister the dai li is. obviously, they have to get revenge and figure out what’s going on. maybe they even run across a certain lost bison on their trip to lake laogai.)

other (happier) shenigans include: visiting the zoo and all of them being soft for the animals, accidentally starting a self-defense club for kids in the lower ring, and separately meeting different members of the gaang.

song meets katara while they’re both out at the market, and, in proper teenage girl fashion, they compliment each other’s outfits. they chat by the fruit for a while, song mentions how dealing with teenage boys can be annoying and katara’s just like tell me about it! then katara mentions she’s a healer, and obviously she and song geek out over techniques and medicines they can both use to supplement their efforts in the future. it’s a very wholesome encounter.

jin meets sokka and flirts her butt off. he’s funny and cute and a little awkward, but he tells her he’s got a thing with another girl. jin tells him she’s very lucky, and he says “actually, i’m the lucky one, she’s the leader of the kyoshi warriors!” and jin just flips out. the kyoshi warriors are her heroes. she used to want to run away and join them. holy shit dude DO YOU KNOW HOW COOL YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS??? and sokka’s just like i know! she’s amazing! and they spend half an hour talking about suki.

zuko meets toph, who vaguely recognizes his voice, but never really got an explanation about who he was, and since his uncle’s really cool, she doesn’t really care about the incident in the ghost town. zuko was so distraught over iroh at the time that he had barely even noticed toph (plus, even if she does look kind of familiar, that extremely powerful earthbender couldn’t have been a 12-year-old blind girl, right? right??) she compliment iroh’s tea-making ability, but admits she doesn’t really get the art herself.

“thank you!” zuko says, because someone else gets it - it’s just tea! then he blushes a little at his outburst and gets back to work. she chats with iroh some more before thanking him for the tea and leaving, and zuko lowkey thinks she’s really funny, and as she leaves she says “it was nice to see you again, mushi! well. hear you. i can’t see anything.” and zuko cracks up in spite of himself. (once zuko joins team avatar, their disaster-rich-kid-solidarity comes out in full force).

jet meets aang (again) but it’s via the graffiti he paints on the walls of the upper ring. it says stuff like “division is oppression” and “mr. earth king, tear down this wall!” and aang replies whole-heartedly, with something like “that’s what i’ve been saying! also this place is weird. have you lived here long? i’m aang bumi. i am called bumi. after the famous king. not the earth king. the other one. most importantly, i am not related to the avatar at all.”

i imagine sokka helped him write it, and since we all know they go into Stupid Mode when they’re together there’s a lot of crossed-out lines and rewrites.

jet responds by talking at length about the “resistance”, and aang’s just like “oh cool! power to the people! but also peace and love!” and jet thinks it’s dorky but he also is like “oh my god this kid is so stupid. when i find this idiot child i am going to teach him to about the revolution and then i’m going to protect him with my life.”

i like to think they all join team avatar, eventually, but the first meeting is just:

katara: song! why are you with zuko?

song: zuko? no, this is jet.

sokka: no, that’s jet! THATS zuko! he’s the prince of the fire nation!

jin, knowing full well zuko’s a firebender and suddenly panicking: he’s the what

jet: you think LEE is the prince of the fire nation? he couldn’t even lead this friend group.

toph: are we talking about mushi’s nephew?

aang: who the heck is mushi???

song: excuse me, all due respect, because you’re the avatar and it’s an honor, but please don’t talk about mushi in that tone.

sokka: oh it’s an hONOR IS IT????

zuko: (banging his head against a wall)

credit for this au as always to the awesome @azenkii

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[jasmine-tea-latte]

(Some of) My Favorite Zutara fics

Warning, looong post ahead!

Zutara Fanworks Appreciation Week snuck up on me, so sadly I haven’t had time to properly contribute anything. I’d love to participate next year or maybe even before then (I play by my own rules, folks!)

Still, though. I wanted to at the very least pay tribute to some of my all-time favorite Zutara fanfics that I’ve enjoyed and have inspired me over the years.

(Click here for my post on Self-Love Saturday, where I shamelessly promote my series The Phoenix and the Dragon and share a bit of backstory behind how it came to be in the first place.)

I’ve shipped Zutara ever since Fall 2006, and I have been fortunate to read so many excellent fanfics since then.

Some have made me laugh, others made me sob, others straight up made my heart burn like it was shot full of lightning:

So in honor of @zkfanworkweek​, below are 13 of my favorite Zutara fanfics, in no particular order:

~*~*~

Rated G(eneral)/T(een)

Engulfed by Luaburachid

Zuko finds himself engulfed by love.

A sweet one-shot of our favorite firebender discovering how deep his feelings are for a certain waterbender. It’s just pure fluff and always brings a smile to my face.

 we hold our hearts in silence by psychedelic_aya

Seventy years later, Korra tries to figure out Zuko and Katara.

Oh, this one is so bittersweet but oh so good. It alternates between flashbacks and Korra’s POV watching an older Zuko and Katara interact. Just… ugh. My heart.

 Day 6: Found by SooperSara

When Sokka comes up with an idea to get rid of Joo Dee, Katara finds herself in the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se with a tea server she did not expect to meet.

I love a good Jasmine Dragon AU where Katara / the Gaang actually interacts with Zuko while he’s undercover as Lee from the tea shop instead of what happened in “The Guru.” This is so much fun to read, and my only complaint is that it’s not longer.

 Celestial by SooperSara

An unexpected dip into the koi pond at the North Pole brings Zuko in contact with the spirits and grants him insight to his destiny. A destiny he isn’t sure he wants.

Another by the talented SooperSara! Actually, you should check out all of her stuff. It’s all so good, and I absolutely adore this one. It’s pretty canon-compliant and the ending… oh, the ending makes me tearbend. Ma’am, I’m still weepy.

 this little fuse we lit made something in you by SecondStarOnTheLeft

There's a secret door in the wall of Katara's room. Things go a little further than planned, once she opens it.

What happens when Katara discovers a secret tunnel (secret, secret, secret tunnel, yeah!) that leads directly to the Fire Lord’s bedroom? Reading this fic is like settling down to drink a hot cup of Iroh’s tea – it’s soothing, sweet, and thoroughly warms the soul.  

 Dancing in the Dark by damagectrl

Post-Season 2 AU: While in Ba Sing Se, Katara and Toph hear a rumor about two tea servers in the lower tiers of Ba Sing Se and sneak away go to investigate only to have their suspicions confirmed. On her personal time, Katara tries to teach herself to dance and fails so badly, a masked man takes pity on her to try to help.

This is one most OGs will probably remember. It’s also one of the first ZK fics I ever read, back when I was a wee lil bb Zutarian! It was originally posted in Oct. 2006 and takes place between “Appa’s Lost Days” and “Lake Laogai.” One of my all-time favorite Bluetara AND Jasmine Dragon AUs. Heck, all of damagectrl’s works are fantastic reads, for that matter. I highly recommend checking them out, especially this classic.

 such selfish prayers by andromeda3116

Katara's ambition, so long set aside for the good of others, breaks free and sets fire to her soul. Or, Katara has a vision of her canon future, casts it aside, and becomes a world-changing politician instead.

There’s a reason why this fic is one of the highest rated on AO3, if not THE highest. It does right by Katara and gives her the ending she deserves. 10/10 would recommend.

 better than things dreamed of in the forest by catie_writes_things (SERIES)

As a child, Bumi knew: his mother was a waterbender, his father was an airbender, and he was a firebender. Something about these facts did not add up, but it would take him a long time to understand.

Hands down, one of the most heartbreaking fics / series I’ve ever read. The author describes this as the adultery fic for people who hate adultery fics, and it certainly packs an emotional punch in the gut. Personally, I’m not one for the “Zuko and Katara have an affair while she’s with Aang” fics in general, but this one examines the fallout caused by a single night of passion and all of the consequences that stem from it, especially how the ripple effect of their choices impacts everyone. Even though it breaks my heart all over again every time I reread it, I can’t recommend it highly enough. 

  ~*~*~

(More fics, several with high ratings, are listed below the cut)

Rated M(ature)/E(xplicit)

Moonlight and Sunshadow by GrapefruitTwostep

The dragon offered Katara a deal: protection for her family and tribe if she lived with it for a year and a day. And she said yes. Because what other way was there to save her people? But there was more to the dragon than Katara bargained for. An "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" retelling.

A fairy tale AU in which Zuko is cursed to live as a dragon and Katara is certainly no damsel in distress. You’ve probably heard some version of the original fairy tale before that this fic is inspired by, and it’s such a delight to read.

 The Blackfish and the Dragon by ama

Katara grew up in the Southern Water Tribe under the tutelage of Hama, the only waterbender ever to have escaped Fire Nation captivity. When Zuko arrives at the South Pole, seeking the Avatar, they are more than ready to defend him. Then one day, the Southern Water Tribe receives a petition for peace, and a proposal of marriage.

One of the best arranged marriage AUs I’ve come across. Iroh is crowned Fire Lord after defeating Ozai, and Katara must find some way to peacefully coexist with her hotheaded new husband as she also finds a place for herself in the Fire Nation.

 Confused by thispieceofwork

Zuko stood. "You told Aang you were confused. Are you confused because of me?" Katara was silent, arms crossed in front of her. "Don't make me answer that."

Starts during “The Ember Island Players” where Zuko overhears Aang and Katara’s private conversation on the balcony. This is another fic that will shatter your heart into a million pieces but it’s oh so worth it in the end.

 A Heated Exchange by Smediterranea (SERIES)

Katara had not considered herself to be someone who would have earth-shattering sex with a guy whose name she didn’t even know. But here she was, certain that she had never made a better decision in her life.

An AU two-part series of Katara getting familiar with a certain handsome guy who lives down the hall in her college dorm. It’s funny, cute, and cuddling while watching Planet Earth has never been hotter.

 Bonus day: Tea Shop by cincilin

"Hello and welcome to the Jasmine Dragon. Today's special is—" he cut himself of with a sharp intake of breath, at the same moment that Katara placed the voice and looked up.

'He has hair.' was her first thought. Then the rest of her brain caught up with her and she started to get up, sending Momo scrambling to hide under the table. Season 2 AU, during "The Guru."

I told y’all, I *LOVE* a good Jasmine Dragon AU fic, and this one-shot checks all the boxes: heart-to-heart conversations? Witty dialogue and banter? Bending match that turns into a makeout and something steamier? It’s got it all.

~*~*~

This was only going to be a list of maybe 5-7fic recs, but well… oops. I also kept the above list to completed works only, just because this post is already long enough.

Several of my other favorites that get honorable mention include:

Thinking Out Loud (WIP)

The Summit (WIP)

Sparrowkeet (Series)

Purr

The Nature of the Blue Spirit

Rhythm of the Rain

Fault Lines

Clarity

Seriously, there are just SO MANY good Zutara fics out there. I had to cut myself off from adding even more, because I could go on and on and on. Much like Admiral Zhao, I have no. self. control. 

I love you all, my fellow Zutarians ❤️💙💜 Mwah! Happy ZFAW! 

[tittty-bitty]

Nemuri struts from store to store like an empress gracing her presence on her citizens. Really it was businesses being graced with one of her clients limitless creditcards and her impulse shopping. Who ever invented financial domination was a mastermind.

“Come along darling! Just a few more shops then we can be done!”

“You know Miss Midnight, when you said you needed help with extra curriculars, I didnt think it would make me a pack mule for your personal spending habits.”

“Your still a pillar of peace! It’s just now you have a metal hook for me to hang my shopping bags on.”

She looked over her shoulder to see Yagi struggling with the shopping bags. Yagi isn’t weak by any means, even with out his quirk. She’s seen him spar with Shota plenty of times. Which is totally just two coworkers sparring for exercise Shota claimed, with no sexual tension at all thank you very much. But any one would struggle with that many bags, especially a man with only one lung.

They manage to make it into Gucci with out any lungs popping. Yagi sprawls on one of the ottomans with a poof and start to rub his wrists. She starts to look at the purses and leather belts. Not even glancing at the price tag before adding them to her haul. When she goes back to the waiting section she glances at Yagi. Who is scrolling away on his smartphone. Despite losing over 200 pounds of muscle, he was still an attractive man. Sharp cheek bones, piercing eyes, and such a sweet smile. His handsome features multipled when he gained more confidence in this form. Everyone could see after the truth was out about Allmight that he wasn’t comfortable in his true form. Scared to talk to other adults, skiddish and horrifically terrified of making mistakes. Not including how he obviously avoided reflections and wore only baggy outfits. But a year after his retirement and him making friendships with his colleges at UA, he finally started accepting himself and it’s amazing on the amount of progress he’s had. She’s so proud of her coworkers, especially her boys to make Allmight’s retirement less lonely. Even if one is especially passionate with the task but wants to be an edgy teenager about it.

Despite the progress the man made, he still didn’t know how to dress himself for shit. He may of got himself a few outfits that arnt 5X but he still loves to drown in his clothing. If she has to be assaulted with that damn yellow suit one more year she’s going to ask young Todoroki to set it on fire for extra credit.

If only he would wear clothes that actually fit him. Show off his long neck, his collar bones, long legs narrow waist, she could go on and on about why Yagi needs a new wardrobe. She needed to show the world how Yagi is still a fine ass man. She has checked him out countless times to be confident with that claim. There was one day where he had to actually put on pants that fit him way too well after a coffee spill and had to borrow some pants from mic. She doesn’t understand how a man so skinny could still have an ass. Nothing to go over the moon about but it was so cute, so perky for a man his age. It almost distracted her from the front, his buldge which is probably the one thing that stayed the same from his Allmight form. It was extremely hard to maintain eye contact with him that day. Not that she was complaining about the eye candy, the yellow sleeping bag that pretended to sleep on the floor didn’t seem to mind either.

While thinking about the potential of jokes about Yagi’s pillar of peace to bring up in front of Shota later, Nemuri comes across a sweater. The sweater was a high quality wool, cream colored with some green trim on the collar that goes down to a v. It would be perfect for his form, a little snug but still covered everything to start him off slow. The arms a little long for the average person but perfect for his long arms. The bottom might come up a little short though. Showing off his midriff when he reached up. Potentially showing a nice v of his hips, maybe even a nice little trail of blond that dips into his pants. Oh the thought of sweet little Yagi in a crop top is intoxicating. But baby steps. She needed him to trust her with fashion first before she tries anything to scandalous.

He was still reading on his phone when Nemuri grabs the tall man by the wrist and yanks him out of his seat. With a cute little yelp he is brought up to his feet and shoved into a changing room with the sweater being thrown at him.

“Your not coming out till you put this on.” Nemuri says as she chucks over some black jeans to go with it.

After watching awkward arms reach above the door and listening to the general struggle of a man menuvering in a changing room that doesn’t accommodate him, he steps out. His black blue eyes shine in contrast with the creme color of the sweater. Giving off a sweet older man who waters flowers in the community garden than his usual look of a man who got lost in a deflated blimp.

“Oh my god honey you look so sweet.”

He checks himself in a mirror and twists to see the back. She could see his ribs poking through the fabric wile it rides up his toned stomach not as much as she hoped unfortunately. But the fitting pants made up for it. Although they don’t show off his front for the sake of the students and people who actually want to get work done in the teachers lounge, it still shows off that cute little ass of his, and that’s all she can ask for.

Yagi actually holds his attention to his reflection of the mirror. Giving the look an actual chance. From the relaxed look in his eyes, he might actually like it.

“I never thought I would wear a wool sweater like this again. I forgot how warm and comforting they are.”

Nemuri comes up in front of him and adjusts the collar for him, opening it up a bit so his collar bones peek out a little. “I can’t imagine the amount of sheep needed to make a sweater for Allmight.”

He chuckles at the comment and how her nails tickle his chest, now used to her touchy nature. “It was in high school. My mentor forced them on me when she found out that my foster home didn’t try too hard to find winter clothes that fit me.”

He rubs the end of the sleeve to feel the texture, smiling slightly, reminiscing the memories he had with her when wearing the sweaters. It was always interesting to hear about his life when he was young. He was usually guarded when it came to anything about himself before his hero days, so to hear any little tidbit about him was to be met with a neutral yet encouraging reaction.

“Well I’ll be sure to make her proud by making sure that your fabric needs are taken care of.” Nemuri says while coming around behind him and placing her hands on his shoulders, admiring his smile in the mirror. “And I can make sure she rests peacefully by getting rid of that ugly yellow suit.”

He looks up from his sleeve. “Hey! I love that yellow suit!”

“You look like the noodle balloons that are outside of a car dealership. Im no longer letting my dear friend to walk around looking like a mustard bottle.”

Yagi takes the light roast with little grace with a small groan. He looks down at his wrist to look at the tag. He reads it with a puzzled look.

“I think we need to call an associate. I think they’re missing a decimal on the price-“

“Alright! Time to head out! I’ll meet you outside the store!” She shoves the bags in his hands, rip the tags off his wrist and waist and hurries to the counter.

“Ah. I can pay for my own clothes-“

“Nope! This is my treat! You can pay me back by meeting me at the car!”

Yagi looks at the minimum of 20 bags in his hands and accepts his fate. Trudging his way back to the car with the mini fortune in toll.

———

“Alright come on this is our last shop.”

“Ya no. I think I’ll wait in the car.”

“Dont worry, this place is very professional and no one will mention you being here. They are very strict about privacy. Also it will stop random men from asking me out.”

Yagi goes over the definition of professional in his head as he walks into a sex shop named “The Bimbo’s Boneyard”. It was suprisingly sleek inside despite the name. Defiantly one of the more higher end sex stores he’s been to. It was similar to a tech store with all the LED lights and plexiglass display boxes. It would be less weird if some of them didn’t have sex dolls that were determined to stare him down.

He decided to walk away from the display, trying to find something to look at with out actually looking at anything. His eyes catch a box with a cute little cat on it. He smirks a little. It reminds him of the stray cat that lives in the brush that’s on the way to campus from the dorms. He would give it pets every morning and eventually leave cans of food every morning. One morning he found a hunched black blob taking a nap on the grass. He was about to ask the obvious homeless man if he wanted his bento when he realized it was his coworker Aizawa. Sleeping on the cold ground at 5:30 in the morning with a cat that, while a sweet heart, was probably ridden with fleas.

“Excuse me sir, the food bank is on the other side of town.”

“I know but they were offering a cash prize for who ever found the dementia patient that ran away from his nursing home. Looks like I just found him.”

He chuckled at the memory. When their odd friendship really started to bloom. Not only with Aizawa, who while he was probably the closest too, took the longest compared to his other coworkers. He loved talking to Mic about classic American rock and fighting with him on how Nikki is so much better than Cardi. He loved trading tea with Thirteen as they go on about a new show Yagi has no clue what their talking about, but loves the passion. And Nemuri, who took pity on him the first day and decided to spoil him with attention and gifts that mostly ranged from sugar free candys and cute pens. It makes him feel like a toddler more than anything, but he thinks it’s sweet. He just never expected to have so many friends after Allmight was gone. He half thought if Nighteyes prediction didn’t kill him, then his loneliness will.

“My my my, I must say I’m surprised.”

Toshinori shook out of his self reflection and looked at his friend.

“I had my theories but I must say I never expected pet play from you. To think I thought you were just a vanilla cradle robber.”

He flushed with shock in confusion. Only to find that the box with the cat he was staring at for the past 2 minutes was for a bundle for a cat headband, a leash, mouth gag, and plug tail.

Absolutely horrified Yagi stammers to regain his reputation of role model rather than creepy old man. “Shit! No! No! I was just looking at the cute cat!”

“There’s no need to be ashamed, I am a professional after all. If you ever want to talk about that kind of stuff with me, I’m always open for questions.” She assured him calmly. “I’m gonna go to the check out if you want to look at the other options. I will say that you would look a lot better with the black ears.” She struts off with a few leather tools and some weird egg looking balls.

“There’s nothing for me to fucking look at because I’m not interested in that! Wait.. WHAT DO YOU MEAN CRADLE ROBBER?” He stomps off to catch up with her.

————

The staff Christmas party is filled with decorations, overworked teachers and spiked eggnog. Coworkers chatting and playing games as the snow falls outside. Yagi is chatting with Aizawa about how much Nezu is going to lose in poker after he demands people play with him. He takes a sip of his sugar free hot cocoa, very glad that his friends get a well deserved break.

“Merry Christmas Yagi!” Thirteen shouted as they shove a fancy bag in his face.

“Oh thank you Thirteen! I hope you didn’t spend too much on me.

“Oh no it wasn’t me!” Thirteen corrected. “Midnight was your secret Santa. She said she’s a little too tipsy to walk in her heels right now and asked me to give it to you.”

He looks past the smaller teacher and sees Nemuri in a tight red dress and tall stilettos. Giving him a wink when she notices him receiving her present.

He smiles and waves back at her. He pulls out the first item from the bag. An expensive looking cologne. He brings it up to his nose and gets notes of Cuban cigars and vannila. He sees a little tag attached to the bottle. With lovely cursive script it read “Garenteed to even get the angriest cats purr~”

He reads the tag as he hands the cologne to Aizawa. Shota sniffs the bottle and his eyes roll back a little bit. Obviously enjoying the scent.

“Wow she picked out something that matches your pretentious persona.”

“Maybe you can ask her to pick out some bar soap that you desperately need.” Yagi rebuttles without even looking up. Still trying to figure out what the tag ment.

“Is there something else in there? If not that’s a heavy bottle.” Thirteen comments before being passed the cologne to take a sniff.

Oh ya, maybe look at the rest of the gift before over analyzing the card. He opens the bag wider and is smacked in the face with realization on what the message ment. His blush going to his ears as he looked at the “Kinky Kat Play” bundle that he repressed from his memory. He looks up at Nemuri with shock as he finds her staring at him. Raising her glass with a smirk as she turns back to her pile of chips and angry, losing boss.

He shuts the bag quickly before Thirteen and Aizawa gets a chance to peek. “Ahhh ah. It’s a very personal gift that I don’t want everyone to know about.”

“Alright I understand.” Shota replies. He turns to Thirteen. “Thirteen get your hand vacuum ready.” The nosy prick demands as he lunges for the bag. Thank god for these stupidly long arms as he gets the bag out of Shota’s reach.

“It’s none of your fucking buisness you asshole!” Yagi cries as he goes on his toes as Shota climes him like a tree. Thirteen is giggling at their weird friendship while not helping anyone. Yagi would rather die than have the present be shown to his coworkers and worst of all Shota, who would NEVER let this go.

While he hates to do it, he’s desperate, and it has to be done.

The sickly man expands his diaphragm in such a way where when he coughs, he gets enough blood out of his mouth to put on a show. He makes a display of coughing and catching his breath. Blood covering his hand and dripping out of his mouth. He goes a little too far by making his hand shake but he needed extra sympathy points.

It seems to do the job as Thirteen rushes to his side to support him. “Shota you know you can’t be to rough with him.”

Aizawa stares at both of them in disbelief, then back at Yagi. “You are not seriously trying to play the sick old man card right now.”

Thirteen loops Yagi’s arm around their shoulders.“Shota you were to rough on him. The man has no stomach and only one lung. You should know better as a professional.”

“A professional knows when someone is faking when said person has no problem taking and dealing punches while sparring, but suddenly can’t handle a few grabs.” He cannot believe Yagi is trying to make an escape route by making Aizawa look like the asshole that beats up sick old men.

“You don’t need to defend me Thirteen.” Yagi says, adding a little tremble to his voice. “He just can’t handle losing to an old man. Could we go to the office? My nebulizer is in there.” The asshole making sure to add some pity coughs at the end.

“Of course Yagi.”

Shota stares openly in shock on what happening in front of him. Not only at Yagi’s pathetic stunt over something stupid, but Thirteens naiveté.

“A nebulizer treats asthma! Not bleeding lung asshole!” Shota shouts like an absolute child.

As he watches the duo walk, no sorry, LIMP to the office, he sees Yagi readjust his arm. To give an undeniable middle finger to Shota behind Thirteens head. The shameless bastard smiling back at him.

[soldouthaz]

hii! I'm not having the best night and I felt like compiling a list of my favorite fics that never fail to make me smile when I'm down or have provided me a beautifully worded escape for a while :) 

disclaimer: I will list the specifics for those interested, but there is a mix of bl / bh so be aware of that please. these are the fics that make ME happy and I want to spread some positivity for the talented authors that have gotten me through some rough times, so please leave any negativity out of it and stick to your own preferences. 

thank you and happy reading! ♡

✰ enter the rose garden (GA, 10k, imp. b!L) by @angelichl

Soft heats make omega Louis clingy. Enter alpha Harry. 

✰ before we knew (E, 40k, b!L) by @risthebrave / falsegoodnight 

Louis has been skeptical of soulmates for years so it seems like fate when he finally bumps into the owner of the obnoxiously large signature printed into his skin since age sixteen: Harry Styles, a human rights attorney who is firmly against soulmates.

✰ baby we could be enough (I'll make this feel like home) (E, 57k, b!H) 

“Did you clean the table?” Harry asks Louis once Rose is done speaking, now occupied with trying to see if she can reach over and touch Harry’s hair from where she’s sat. At Louis’ nod, Harry frowns. “You didn’t have to do that. You’re my guests here, I could’ve dealt with it later.”

Louis just smiles easily, though, adjusting Rose on his lap so that she’s facing Harry better. She manages to tug on a loose wave of hair, and she makes a noise of triumph that both Louis and Harry smile at.

“I don’t mind,” Louis murmurs to Harry, even though he’s looking at Rose. “This one here seemed very excited to talk to you.”

And, okay. Harry can’t help but think of how domestic this feels, all of a sudden.

[harry is a photographer who's trying to find his place. louis is a single father with a smile that feels like home.]

✰ when you touch me, paint me like a van gogh (E, 4k, b!L) by TurismoEmocional 

(Harry has been away for a month. He comes home to Louis in the middle of the night - dramatics and smut ensue.) 

✰ undone, undress (E, 134k, b!H) by @angelichl

Louis' new roommate is shy, skittish, and flinches at the slightest sounds. He's an art major who gets drunk on cherry wine, wears lacy lingerie, and shows up late at night covered in bruises that blossom across his skin like flowers.

Obviously something is wrong. Louis just doesn't know what it is.

personal note: this fic is amazing and has been very validating for me, but please make sure to check the tags and author’s note for any possible triggers before reading and make the best choice for yourself! 

✰ ours are the moments I play in the dark (E, 30k, b!L) by @holdingthornsandroses / edensrose

Jane Austen's Persuasion AU. Nine years ago Louis Tomlinson was persuaded to break off his engagement to Harry Styles, a poor sailor. Since then Louis has come to regret being so easily convinced to give up his one chance of happiness. Now Louis' family is in debt and his childhood home is being sold. In a complete reversal of fortune, Harry has returned to England a wealthy bachelor looking to settle down. Events conspire to bring them together once more though Louis is- must surely be- the last man on earth that Captain Styles would think of now.

✰ hot and heavy, pumpkin pie (E, 10k, b!L) by @sunflowerstyles

Louis and Harry get separated at a Green Bay Packers game. Harry finds him and helps his baby relax by buying Louis things that get him to smile and making love to him for quite a while. 

✰ laundry room (E, 10k, not specified/no penetrative sex) by @thelovejandles / beautlouis

[Louis and Harry are both students living in the same apartment complex. They end up having the same laundry night and time. Louis can't stop staring at Harry and he can't figure out why Harry consistently points out Louis’ inside-out shirts, and his untied shoes, and messy hair. Enter slow burn-ish flirting, banter, awkwardness, and a lot of laundry.] 

✰ everywhere and nowhere (E, 16k, b!L) by @2tiedships2 

Niall took a seat and said, "Apparently Louis' downstairs neighbor is a fan of giving Louis creepy gifts. Maybe I should go introduce myself and tell him that Louis actually prefers food."

"What has he given you?" Liam asked.

Louis shrugged as it were no big deal. "There was a rabbit's foot keychain on the door a little after he left from introducing himself and there was a small teddy bear sitting by my door tonight. Obviously I can't prove it's from him, but they seem to have his scent. I could be wrong though."

"Wow," Liam said, looking deep in thought. "That's old school."

"What's old school?" Niall asked. "Giving creepy gifts?"

"I've never known an alpha to do it, to be honest, but he's courting you."

Louis couldn't contain his look of disbelief directed at Liam. "He's courting me. Like some sort of romantic shit they'd do in the 1800s or something?"

✰ thinking about the t-shirt you sleep in (E, 52k, b!L) by @absoloutenonsense / nonsensedarling

Harry's alpha fraternity donates to a local thrift shop (because of Liam's latent crush on a cute beta in his lecture). Louis' financial situation (and confusing omega instincts) lead him to make some interesting fashion purchases. Lots of pizza, feelings, and not-really-lying.

✰ the case of the (definitely not haunted) styles mansion (E, 40k, b!H) by @briannamarguerite / briamaria

The Nancy Drew AU where Marcel is a man of logic, Louis is a private detective who believes in ghosts, and the Styles Mansion is definitely, absolutely, positively *not* haunted.

✰ building castles in the sky (GA, 22k, no smut) by @whileatwiltshire

"D-dad? You think I c-can do it? Y-you think i c-can..." Evan trailed off looking down at his chest. And Louis' heart melted.

"I think you can do everything, love. Everything." Louis said while pulling his boy closer. "Because you, my little dandelion, are very brave! And so strong and wonderful and so very bright! You will go up on that stage, and you will blow everyone away. I just know it."

They laid there on their porch while they hugged each other tightly. His little boy was so brave. Louis didn't need to see him on a stage to be proud. He was proud of him already.

"You know,” Evan mumbled aloud again. “Mr. S-Styles says the same t-thing. He s-says I c-can do e-everything too.”

And Louis couldn't help but smile.

or,

Where, Louis had a four year old with a stuttering problem. Harry was always there to help.

✰ a trail of honey through it all (E, 27k, b!L) by faeriestyles 

the TPH* fic we’ve all been waiting for. 

* (trailer park harry)

✰ we should open up (before it’s all too much) (E, 43k, b!H) by @disgruntledkittenface

Struggling with grieving and depression since his dad died, Harry has never felt so alone. It’s too much to cope with on his own, but he feels like a burden when he tries to open up with people.

Then he meets Louis.

personal note: I cannot stress enough how much this fic means to me and it is very close to my heart, but I strongly suggest checking the tags for any possible triggers before reading!! 

✰ my love’s not simple (it’s fragile) (E, 27k, b!L) by @risthebrave / falsegoodnight 

Harry's new job is threatened by his impending rut. Desperate for a solution, he allows Niall to introduce him to Louis, an omega whose heat begins the same day. They click.

✰ swept me off my feet (took my heart and took me down) (E, 25k, b!L) by jennifer_kaid

When Louis had decided to reopen his mother's bakery, he never thought a charming alpha would walk in through the door, let alone fall in love with him over tea, dessert and music.

✰ knock knock, I love you (E, 86k, b!H) by @thelovejandles / beautlouis

[Harry and Louis get kicked out of a statistics exam for passing a knock knock joke note, and subsequently fall in love. Harry's a virgin, there's a cat, a hot cocoa date, a lot of sex, even more knock knock jokes, and everything is lovely and happy.] 

✰ enjoy the ride (E, 11k, imp. b!L) by @2tiedships2

the one where Louis, an omega more than tired of being treated as lesser than alphas, is forced on a road trip by his beta besties only to meet Harry who might just be the alpha he never knew he wanted.

✰ fading (E, 202k, b!L) by tothemoonmydear

Louis knows about beauty; the combination of qualities that pleases the aesthetic senses. He creates that combination every day in the garments he designs while studying fashion at uni. The cut of the design, the color of the fabric, the intricacy of the stitching; it all comes together to create something beautiful. When the science student with the long legs and dimpled smile agrees to model for him, Louis decides he’s found beauty personified. Harry just thinks Louis needs someone to show him how beautiful he is.

personal note: another wonderful and realistic story but please check the tags for triggers before reading! 

all of these fics and authors mean a lot to me and have unknowingly made me incredibly happy during some dark times. if you visit these fics, please make sure to leave a kudos or a comment to spread some positivity, or feel free to let the authors that have made your life better know! :) 

(as always, please let me know if I tagged or linked anything incorrectly! happy reading!) 

[dawniebb]

Closure pt. 4

I already want to get rid of this so...yeah. This is the last chapter, and it’s about Honey; for those who don’t know, this is a little series about grief, from the canon divergence I share with @healing-winston-pratt. This is the last chapter in the collection :)

You can use this post as a masterlist; you will also find the link to the canon divergence explanation there: https://dawniebb.tumblr.com/post/627798366140694528/closure-pt-3

Tag list: @novadreamer95438 @idkimbadwithusernamesandstuff @novas-tunnel-of-anxiety @obsidianfr3sk

-.-

Honey

Whispers

You said it was a wasted promise I thought it was a waste of time You said it was the perfect crime

Nova turned the car’s engine off and leaned her back against the backrest, turning her gaze up towards the ceiling. A few seconds after that, she closed her eyes.  

She then tried to enter into a full silence zone, until the outside noises started coming through the closed windows, letting her know that it was time; so, straightening her posture, Nova reached for the brown paper bag she was carrying in the backseat, before proceeding to take the bouquet of flowers that was driving with her in the passenger’s seat, leave the car and start heading out.

She hadn’t been in Gatlon’s cemetery many times, but given that she had a pretty good sense of location, she trusted she wouldn’t see herself in the need to go back to the entrance and ask the gatekeeper for directions; besides, it wasn’t like getting lost were that easy, taking into account what was it that she was looking for. After all, the zone she was heading to seemed to shine under the light of a spotlight.

They were called the Fallen Ones. Renegades and, ever since a couple of years ago, Anarchists; Renegades and Anarchists whose lives had been taking during battle; martyrs; Cragmoor inmates who had been proven to be innocent when it was already too late; civilians who hadn’t survived the Second Battle for Gatlon…all of those people that Nova had lend her voice to, once she convinced the Council everyone had the same right to speak as them.

Even those who were already gone.

If she hadn’t spoken up, maybe these people would still be in the “regular” area of the cemetery, or in the common pit.

The second gate, which led to the Aisle of the Fallen, was always open to the public, for those who had a loved one who rested there or the…curious ones who enjoyed necroturism.

When Nova stepped into the stone pathway, she not only felt she was entering a different cemetery, but a completely different world instead; like an alternative universe where death was considered a very long, well-deserved nap and a temporary goodbye, instead of a reason to cry and mourn.

Despite being overshadowed by the mausoleum Georgia Rawles and Evander Wade shared, the rest of the headstones managed to catch Nova’s eye, with their vivid colors and their pure aura, materialized in white marble; others were rather austere and modest…but there were some others, like the ones who belonged to Renegades who were no longer among the living, that even got to the point to have statues (Genissa Clark’s, for example), and were surrounded by fresh and healthy-looking flowers, helium balloons, letters and even significant objects, like plushies, books or other stuff.

With a sudden bittersweet taste in her mouth, Nova kept walking through that trail that, more than looking like a cemetery, it looked like Walk of Fame.

A gust of wind brought the overwhelming and cloying odor of flowers, and Nova couldn’t decide whether she was nauseous or just dizzy, so she elected to ignore that sensation and found some comfort in the sound of her soles hitting against the crushed stone.

After a while, she moved into the back of the Aisle of the Fallen, where the newest graves were being displayed. The spot around Georgia and Evander’s mausoleum.

For the first time, she managed to confirm that what she was feeling was nausea; although, a different type of nausea from the one she had been feeling the last couple of weeks; it was easy for her to discern that, this time, she was intoxicated by insanely high levels of adrenaline, as she felt, from one moment to another, how nothing about seemed fitting or adequate for this situations; she wasn’t wearing pretty clothes, she wasn’t wearing any makeup, she wasn’t wearing the right shoes, she hadn’t even brushed her hair; she didn’t look…presentable.

Nevertheless, she was already here, and she refused to leave.

As she got closer, her steps became slower, as if she were driving a car and was trying to avoid a big hole she had spotted in the distance, but fortunately (or unfortunately), she managed to get to her destination, and there she was.

Or at least, what was left of her in the living world (that is, in case another world existed).

Suddenly, the air became scarce and Nova just remained there, looking at her, at the same time her hand was tightening around the bouquet, reminding her why was she there in the first place. Thus, before she fully regretted having come here in the first place, she carefully got on her knees and gulped.

For a moment, Honey Harper’s headstone seemed to be greeting here back when she did, with a small, solemn head motion.

Nova had contributed with the money for that headstone, along with Winston and Leroy; but, unlike them, she had refused to see the finished product until today. More than ten years later.

Given the fact this was the headstone for an Anarchist as important as her, it didn’t get half of the attention the Renegades’ ones got, as Anarchists were generally conceived as something bad and not worth remembering; however, janitors were still requested to clean it and let Leroy or Winston know when it needed some type of reparation. For instance, it was safe to say it was in a good condition.

Taking into account what Honey would have wanted, they chose a bee-shaped stained glass, ornamented with a subtle and small crown by its head; it shone under the sunlight, and Nova, wholeheartedly, hoped that would cover the cold simplicity of the inscription where, written in italic letters, could be read:

Honey Harper. “Queen Bee”.

Anarchist.

That was it.

No emotional message added; no “And when the world needed a Queen, there was you” or “You will be missed”; not even a hypocritical “A great Anarchist, peer and mother”.

Mother?

Was there any possibility Honey would’ve liked that?

Did Honey ever consider herself to be that?

Nova didn’t know. Her therapist hadn’t had the answer for that either. And since she didn’t seem to be able to find it by herself, she had given up…because, in the end, the only person who could actually answer that was a few feet below the ground Nova was kneeling on.

Nervous, she licked her own lips and, consequently, pulled them apart, speaking in a voice that didn’t sound like hers at all. Not even when she heard it in her own head.

“I’m making a comeback…and I brought you roses, because they’re super dramatic like you.” She said, putting the bouquet in front of the headstone as if she were offering a sacred object. “But…they’re in white and yellow…without sunflowers, though…because for some reason I completely forgot sunflowers have your favorite colors in them.”

If she wanted to be honest, she considered it to be a pretty cute bouquet, with the same colors a bee had and everything…

Still, she wasn’t lying when she said she had forgotten about the existence of sunflowers. Bringing sunflowers could’ve been way easier…but, again, she hadn’t had a clue until she left the flower shop and saw a bouquet of sunflowers displayed outside.

“I don’t know.” Nova scratched her own arm. “…maybe you didn’t like sunflowers because they’re funny and sort of…me…yeah.”

She bit her lip.

“You would’ve compared me to a sunflower, now that I think about it.” She told the headstone. “You did call me a cute drone once, so…if you’re a rose then I must be a…equally cute but… more…alternative flower, I guess…”

As the nervous laugh started escaping her mouth, Nova decided it was time to remain in silence for a couple of seconds, until she recovered her will.

She wasn’t good at talking, let alone making monologues…but, in the end, she continued what she had started.

“You used to say I was a rough one.” She said, gulping. “And I never said anything because…you weren’t wrong. But maybe you were too… I mean, you were. Absolutely. You demolished a government and that stuff…But I guess you were too…too you to find other adjectives to describe other people. And, like, you had everything I still have to live without to this day…and after all, that was just you. Not that you …awful…”

She chuckled involuntarily.

“…attitude was fine. But we were used to it.”

Nova started at the headstone, waiting for a signal that, of course, never came. And, after sighing, Nova reached for the paper bag, and took the honey jar from it.

“Lately…” She began, still holding it between her hands, gently. “I’ve been drinking a lot of tea… but when I first started drinking it, I needed honey to sweeten it…but you’re no longer here, so I looked everywhere throughout Gatlon until I came across this…organic store in the downtown market. Turns out the owner runs a honey farm, and that’s where I’ve been getting my honey from. It doesn't taste the same, but it’s a little close...way closer than the one from the supermarket, I must say and I… I don’t know why I brought it here because you didn’t like to share your honey but you went apeshit every time somebody brought honey from the street to the tunnels…but I guess that…I don’t know. That’s just what I’ve been up to.”

After that last sentence, she placed the jar next to flowers, and once she saw both things together, next to each other, she felt like an idiot.

However, she also noticed they didn’t look that bad.

In that moment, she became speechless, as if that scene had been enough to shatter and destroy the willpower she had managed to accumulate, and the sound had abandoned her body. She felt intimidated.

But, once again, she refused to run away.

Nova didn’t run away, because that was what she had been taught, and also what she had been reminding herself through all these years; she stayed there, with her hands still on her lap, observing the glass bee that stood in front of her; the same bee that, for a moment, looked like Honey herself, imitating Nova’s posture like a mirror that reflected everything Nova had been after Ace took everything from her.

Being conscious it was nothing but a fantasy of what she desired to see, Nova fought the urge to touch Honey Harper, who was staring back at her with a neutral expression; her perfect skin; her bouncy, shiny blonde curls; her sharp nails with shimmering nail polish, and the sweet smell emanating from her body.

Honey Harper was gone in a blink, as fast as she had appeared, but Nova’s gaze remained fixated in the spot where she had previously been.

“The trigger…is one of the heaviest things I’ve ever had to pull.” She said in a low, hoarse voice. “And…If I’m being honest, I’ll never be able to understand how you guys did it so…easily. “

So then, before she had time to regret it or reconsider it, Nova held her hand forward, until she was able to touch the bee, forcing the words she had been keeping for herself for years to come out.

“I don’t know where you went, Honey. Or if…you went anywhere at all.” She lowered her gaze, only to lift her head up again a couple of seconds later.

“But I hope you know that you hurt me, and I hurt you…but it’s all forgiven. So I hope you can forgive me too.”

Heart pounding, Nova caressed the inscription.

“You were out of control. Someday you’ll understand.”

Being that said, she tried to shake the dreadful sensation out of her body and got on her feet, taking the dust off her jeans with her palms.

“I l…” Nova closed her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose. “I...I’ll see you later.”

Hoping her broken voice had gone unnoticed, Nova turned around.

She waited until she was far enough from Honey’s headstone, in the privacy of her car, to use her empty arms to hold herself; she had come into terms with the fact she had no more tears to shed from that night at the cathedral, but she still teared up a bit.

Then, as she felt the closure her heart had been pleading to have, she finally managed to smile a little, as the position of her arms changed, moving towards her belly.

Deep down, through the unknown itch and the foreign feeling of freedom, a thought crossed her mind. About how Honey always claimed to be able to know when a woman was expecting just by staring into her eyes.

And for some reason, it seemed funny to her.

Maybe, when her baby bump was a little more noticeable, she would come back to visit and tell her all about it.

[dewonderewereldvanfleur]

Dani x Jamie Secret Santa Fic

Hi there! This is my fic for @damiesecretsanta‘s Secret Santa thing! It’s for @webgeekist but ofcourse for everyone to enjoy! Merry Christmas to everybody who celebrates it, have a good day to everybody else ;)

AUTHOR’S NOTES

Apparently, there’s two Vermonts in the USA? One is a state and one is a city in Illinois? I have no clue which they went to, but people in the Dani x Jamie Tumblr group chat kindly told me that the state gets more snow, so I chose that one. Montpelier is apparently the capital. You learn something new every day!

Am I over Dani and Jamie? Not at all... 

I still have a whole scenario in my head with things following this, but the fic had to end here because that’s how I planned and wanted it and also I don’t want to write NSFW scenes because I am an innocent baby. Maybe I’ll write it in the future, though. 

The title is inspired by the song This must be the place by Sure Sure, a song that I found in Amelia Eve’s JAMIE playlist, which I listened to while writing this fic. Thought it fitted.

Also, this is the first fanfic I have ever written, and it might not be great, but I’m proud of it anyways. Enjoy!

This Must Be The Place  Dani x Jamie - by @dewonderewereldvanfleur

In the first few months after their depart from Bly, Dani and Jamie didn’t plan anything more than one day ahead. Dani wanted to, sure, but she did not dare to dream of a ‘future’, how nearby or faraway this future might be. That’s why, when Jamie asked her about taking the train to Vermont for Christmas, Dani’s heart sank. Not because she didn’t want to go to Vermont, but because she couldn’t bear to think about Christmas yet. And Jamie understood. Jamie always understood.

“One day at a time is what we’ve got.”

And so, they resumed their adventure, one day at a time. However, on Christmas Eve, Dani found herself in a tiny shop at the mall. Jamie was getting them both dinner, as they had agreed to not do anything fancy and just eat some fries. Now was the perfect opportunity for Dani to buy Jamie some more last-minute Christmas presents. As she shoved the presents in her bag, she saw Jamie walking towards her and grabbed something else from her bag. Jamie’s eyes fell on the sparkly red envelope.

“What’s this, Poppins?” She gave Dani her fries and opened the envelope. Inside were two train tickets to Vermont.

“Early Christmas present. It’s the night train, leaves at eleven.” Dani replied. Jamie raised her eyebrows

“Dani, you sure?”

Dani smiled. Nodded. Jamie looked into her eyes, then down at her lips, where they lingered for a bit. She grabbed Dani’s hand instead. They hurried back to their room at the inn, the door barely closed behind them as Jamie put her lips on Dani’s, gently placing her hands on Dani’s lower back. Dani moved even closer to Jamie and together they stumbled backwards, until Jamie’s back was pressed against the wall. Dani put one hand one Jamie’s hip, eagerly directing her towards the bed, the other hand caressing her curls. As they fell onto the mattress, Dani moved her hand to under Jamie’s shirt. Jamie smiled, and smoothly broke away from the kiss.

“We should pack our bags, shouldn’t we?” she said, when she saw Dani’s disappointed face. She took the bag from under the bed and started putting their clothes into it. Dani reluctantly followed her lead.

…

Later that night, Dani and Jamie got on the train and walked down the aisle looking for an empty compartment. Luckily, not many people were traveling on Christmas Eve, so there were plenty left to choose from. Jamie placed the bags in the holder above their heads and passed Dani a blanket they had bought earlier at the station. Suddenly, Jamie was overcome by a sense of endearment for the other woman, who had already sat down and put half of the blanket over her legs. She kissed Dani softly on her forehead and sat down beside her, entangling their hands as soon as she was settled.

“You all right, Poppins?”

“Yeah. You?” Dani squeezed Jamie’s hand.

“Never better.”

“I’m glad. We should try and get some sleep; we’ll be there by morning.”

“Won’t be a problem. I’m knackered.” Jamie rested her head on Dani’s shoulder and closed her eyes. Dani formed the blanket around them and buried her nose in Jamie’s hair. By the rocking of the train, both soon dozed off to sleep.

…

Early the next morning, Dani woke up from the conductor, who was checking tickets a few compartments earlier in the train. She looked at Jamie, who was still soundly asleep, and reached to their tickets as silently as she could. Dani stared at the conductor and put her finger on her lips to shush him before he even opened the door. As he checked their tickets, he whispered:

“Thank you, ma’am. It’s 5:45 am, we’ll be at the Montpelier station in ten minutes. Merry Christmas.” He quietly closed the door behind him. Dani softly nudged her sleeping girlfriend.

“Jamie…” she whispered, “Good morning, Jamie. It’s time to wake up…” She nudged her another time. Jamie mumbled something. “Don’t make me get you train coffee. It’ll be worse than mine.” That got Jamie up. She slowly yawned and rubbed her eyes. Dani smiled at her. “We’re almost there. Five minutes and we’re at the station.”

“We’re there?” Jamie looked outside. Everything looked very green. She furrowed her brow. “Hoped there’d be snow here. Another time, I guess.” Dani planted a kiss on the tip of her nose.

“Come on, let’s get ready.” She untangled their hands under the blanket and got up to put the blanket back in her bag, while Jamie stretched herself and put on an extra jumper. The train stopped and they stepped onto the platform. They sat down on a bench for a bit and took in the view. It was definitely colder than it looked, with the morning sun brightly shining down on them, as if she was delighted they were there. Dani noticed Jamie rubbing her hands together and took the present she bought the day before from her bag.

“I got you another something.”

“Poppins, I thought we said no presents!”

“Yeah, well… I couldn’t help myself. Open it!”

“When we’re settled here somewhere, I’m going to get you some presents too!” Jamie pretended to be grumpy, but very excitedly opened her present. Inside were a pair of knitted gloves and a matching beanie. She grinned. “Exactly what I need right now.” She put them on and stood up. “Let’s get settled, shall we, Poppins?”

…

Already well after noon, Dani and Jamie had found a place where they could stay for at least two weeks. They had already spoken to the owner of the cottage, Dan, after having dug through the Yellow Pages for several hours. They had lunched in Montpelier and done some separate shopping, as they had agreed. Fortunately, there were busses driving in the direction of the cottage, just outside the city, every 30 minutes, and it was only a 10-minute walk after that.

They were greeted by a brown-skinned man. He shook their hand and spoke in a heavy Vermont accent.

“Welcome to Vermon’, ladies! The name’s Dan, I live a couple m-oy-les from here, so just drop by if you need anything! Everything should be in order. I’ll come and see you in a few days anyway, for the payment and everything. For neeow, got any questions?”

“I don’t think so.” Dani looked around her. “It’s beautiful out here. The cottage looks… splendid.”

“Perfectly!” Added Jamie, grinning.

“All right, then!” Sam continued. “Enjoy the moun-ains and Happy Holidays.” He got in his car and drove away. Jamie looked at Dani excitedly.

“This must be the place, then. It really is beautiful here!” She exclaimed, looking at the mountains and the trees surrounding the tiny house. She stepped on the porch and pushed open the front door, followed closely by Dani.

The cottage consisted of roughly four rooms. The first door on the right led to a small kitchen, that just fitted a furnace, a fridge, and a sink. In the windowsill were herbs in colourful pots and spices were on shelves on the wall. Across from the kitchen’s was a cosy living room, that had a dining table, as well as two armchairs in front of a fireplace. In one corner was a basket with several knitted blankets and in another was a cabinet filled with books and boardgames. Above the dining table was a chandelier that looked ancient, but somehow had electrical lights, and next to the door was a cute little Christmas tree decorated with fairy lights and purple ornaments. When Dani returned to the narrow corridor, Jamie quickly put her presents under the tree. The bathroom was nothing special; it had a toilet, a shower, and a mirror. Dani didn’t cover it, as she hadn’t seen Eddie in months. The bedroom, like the kitchen, was quite small, which meant that the king-size bed was as wide as the entire back wall. There was a big window in the wall, and on the sides were dark purple curtains to close at night.

Dani looked at Jamie and felt her heart swell. Jamie’s hair was tied together with a bandana, but one happy curl was dangling in front of her eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes, that had caught Dani’s attention even the first time they had met at Bly Manor. Jamie saw Dani staring at her and raised her eyebrows. Dani’s gaze moved down to her lips, where her eyes lingered, and she felt her cheeks turn pink. Jamie must’ve noticed too, because she leaned in, and Dani could feel her warm breath on her own lips. Dani pulled Jamie closer until their lips met, and a certain warmth filled her chest. Jamie tasted like tea and cinnamon, and the scent of her flowery deodorant filled Dani’s nostrils, until all her senses were captured by Jamie, Jamie, JAMIE. Jamie nibbled Dani’s lip and Dani let out a little gasp, which made Jamie smile. Dani pulled away to take off her jacket, and Jamie quickly resumed their kiss as soon as it hit the ground. Dani, who had her back turned to the bed, fell backwards on the matrass, and pulled Jamie with her, and-

“Ow! Shite!” Jamie cursed, as they bumped their heads together. Jamie rolled over on the bed, next to Dani. “Such a hard-headed woman, you.” She joked. Jamie looked over at her girlfriend, who hadn’t answered. “Dani, you all right?”

“Uhm, well,” Dani sighed, rubbing her forehead, “not, really. This shit freaking hurts.” Jamie pulled away Dani’s hands, and saw that it was already bruising.

“You just stay here; I’ll get you some ice.” Jamie quickly jumped off the bed and got some ice from the freezer, to put on Dani’s head. “Keep it there for a bit, Poppins, or you’ll be black and blue tomorrow. I’ll cook us some dinner.”

…

After dinner, when Dani had recovered a bit, it was time to do the dishes, but Jamie could hardly contain her excitement for Dani opening the presents. She saw the Christmas lights on the porch through the window, and as soon as washing up was done, she grabbed Dani’s hand and pulled her to the living room. Jamie grabbed the basket full of blankets and gave it to Dani. Then she grabbed the presents from under the tree.

“Let’s go sit outside, Poppins.”

“Yeah, okay. It looks cosy.” Dani smiled and they walked outside. They wrapped themselves in blankets and sat down on the steps. Jamie pulled out three presents, and she handed Dani the first one. Dani opened it to find a mug inside; painted on it were the Vermont mountains.

“It’s only for tea that I make, though,” Jamie added grinning as she handed Dani the second present. “you’re still shite at it.” Dani laughed and opened the second one. Inside were the ugliest Christmas socks she had ever seen. She tried to look glad, and Jamie burst out laughing.

“Ugly aren’t they, Poppins?” she said, still smiling widely. “I know, don’t worry. But they’re really soft and warm! I hope you’ll like this one, though.” She handed Dani the last present. It was a small, rectangular package wrapped in dark red paper. She carefully opened the present and turned the book to face the cover. It was an old copy of James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. Jamie looked at Dani and added:

“Was my favourite book as a kid. One of the only books I had, actually. Read it so much it eventually fell apart. Literally.”

“Wow, Jamie…” Dani stammered, “I love it. It means a lot.”

“Well, I just came across it in this bookstore, and I wanted to share it with you.” Jamie chuckled. “It’s silly, but I just couldn’t put it back after finding it.”

“It’s great!” Dani assured her. “Oh! I just remembered, I found something too.” She ran inside and came back with her coat. She pulled out what looked like a couple of branches. “I found this plant on the street, and I thought you could save it…”

“You thought I could save it?” Jamie looked at Dani, and then back at the plant. “Poppins, I’m pretty sure that’s a mistletoe.”

“Are you now?” Dani grinned mischievously and locked eyes with Jamie. She held the mistletoe above her head, and she saw Jamie’s eyes dropping to her lips. Her eyelashes hid the blue of her eyes, so Dani followed the lashes, down to Jamie’s nose, Jamie’s lips, just in time to notice her softly biting her lower lip. Dani felt a shiver move through her body and took a deep, shaky breath. And then they were kissing, Jamie’s soft lips on Dani’s, her hands in Dani’s hair. Dani could hear Jamie breathing deeply and brushed her tongue along her upper lip. She felt Jamie tremble and put her hands on her hips. She grabbed the fabric of Jamie’s sweater and pulled her in even more, moving her hands under it, onto the warm skin of her lower back. Dani gasped and Jamie’s tongue slipped inside her mouth, hot and sweet and gentle and confident. She felt her heart pounding out of her chest, every beat in sync with Jamie’s movements. One of Jamie’s hands drifted from Dani’s hair to her back, drawing a line down along her neck and between her scapulae. Dani felt Jamie smile against her own lips and opened her eyes. Still embracing each other, they locked eyes and sat like that, foreheads still together, both panting heavily, unwilling to let go just yet. Dani felt something cold tingle in her neck and noticed Jamie shifting her eyes away. She followed Jamie’s gaze and saw fluffy, white flakes flurrying to the ground. Jamie smiled and grabbed her hand. As the snowflakes got bigger and the snowfall got heavier, they moved back until they were against the wall, drily under the canopy. They entangled their legs and rewrapped themselves in the blankets. Jamie leaned her head on Dani’s shoulder, and Dani wrapped one arm around her waist. Jamie sighed and quietly whispered.

“Merry Christmas, Poppins”

“Merry Christmas.”

[dlwritings]

Firecracker Soul | Dean Winchester

Chapter 20 - Bonnie and Clyde

pairing - mob!Dean x teacher!ofc

word count - 3,306

warnings - language, alcohol, fist fighting

additional notes at the end

(previous)

The next day, Alice and Christine met up for breakfast, as usual. Even though they were going to see each other in the evening at the party, they wanted to get breakfast anyway since they missed the week before. Plus, Alice wanted to prep Christine for meeting Dean, because even though she told Dean to be on his best behavior, it was Christine she was worried about.

"If I've said it once, I've said it a million times," Alice said, "Dean's really nice, so you have to be nice to him."

"I will, I will," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm just going to grill him on his intentions until he breaks."

"Christine," Alice whined.

"I'm joking, geez," Christine laughed. "I know he means a lot to you. I swear I'll play nice."

"And," Alice added, "don't talk about his job, okay? I'm pretty sure everyone who's there is going to be part of the family, but I don't want to take any chances. Plus, I don't even know if you're supposed to know about it."

"Well, you just eliminated my opening line," she said. "Hey Dean, you kill anyone lately?"

"Hilarious," Alice said.

"Does he have any cute workers?" she asked. "Any who are more around our age?"

"Mm, Jack probably won't be there," she said. "Kevin's kind of cute in like a nerdy-secretly-sexy way."

"I could be into that," she said.

"Is your only goal to get laid?" Alice asked.

Christine shrugged. "Not everyone has hot ass on tap."

After breakfast, Alice headed back home. She only had about an hour before she was going to go shopping with Hannah and Jess. She got a text from Jess that read, Making a Starbucks run. You want anything?

While she had just had coffee at breakfast with Christine, she couldn't turn down Starbucks. She told Jess what she wanted, thanked her, and in about a half hour, Jess texted that they had arrived. Christine headed down to the car, waving at the girls as soon as they could see her.

"Hey girlie," Jess said. "Your venti iced caramel macchiato."

"Thank you, thank you," she said, taking the drink. "So where are we shopping?"

"There's a designer dress shop about an hour away," Hannah explained. "You alright for a bit of a road trip?"

"Sure!" Alice said.

Their ride was filled with crowd pleasing classics -"Born in the USA", "Rocket Man", and the likes- and random chit chat about how everyone was doing. Jess didn't bring up the pregnancy -just as she said she wouldn't- but it was hard for Alice not to talk about it when it was the biggest event of her life at the present time.

When they got to the dress shop, Alice already saw dresses in the window that she liked. She was glad Dean offered to pay for whatever she got. Even though she didn't like him spending excessive amounts of money on her, she loved the idea of being able to dress up in something designer.

"How fancy is this event?" Alice asked, running her fingers over the fabric of the dresses. "Are we talking ball gowns?"

Jess chuckled. "Not that fancy. Maybe a-line? Trumpet? Column?"

"So floor length?" she clarified.

"You could do tea length," she said. "High-low."

"Got it," Alice said with a nod. "So lots of options."

"Exactly," Hannah said. "So let's get to it."

The shop may've been small, but it was chock full of dresses. They were there for at least an hour before they finally were all settled on what they were going to buy. Alice stood in front of the mirror in the dress and stared at her reflection. It was a high-low, asymmetrical dress with long sleeves and floral embroidery all across the torso and arms. She put her hands on her stomach and smoothed down the skirt.

"You look beautiful," Hannah said, her eyes meeting Alice's in the mirror. Jess was at the counter talking to the worker. Alice smiled.

"Thanks," she said. "Don't really feel like myself."

Hannah chuckled. "I didn't either the first time I got to dress like this."

"How long before you got used to it?" she asked.

"I'm still not sure I am," she said. Alice chuckled, then looked at her reflection again. "It suits you though," she added. Alice turned to face her.

"What does?" she asked.

"This life," Hannah said. "You take it all in stride. It's admirable. A lot of people can't handle it."

"How do you?" she asked. "Handle it, I mean."

While she loved talking to Jess, and she knew she once had experience as a mobster's wife, Hannah was in it then. Hannah thought for a moment. "It was hard for a while," she admitted, "mostly because of my job. I was already a councilwoman when I met Castiel. I felt like I was betraying everything I stood for if I was with him."

"But you don't feel that way anymore?"

Hannah shrugged. "I have lines I won't cross for him, and for the most part I just try to stay in the dark with what he does."

"And that works?" Alice asked.

Hannah nodded. "Yeah. We make it work. I decided that who Castiel is was more important to me than what he does for a living."

Alice nodded in understanding, then looked at her reflection one final time. "Yeah," she whispered. "I get that too."

-

Alice and Christine got ready for the party together at Alice's apartment. She told Dean she'd meet him there so that she could ride separately with Christine. Christine was going to the party dressed as a fortune teller. Her make-up and costume were both perfect and very much fit her aesthetic. Alice and Dean were going as Bonnie and Clyde, so Alice pretty much raided every thrift store in a 30 mile radius before she found all the right pieces.

Christine insisted on pregaming a bit before heading to the party, and Alice didn't care one way or another. She was posing as DD for the night, so she didn't need to come up with some bogus reason why she wasn't drinking. Christine was two jager shots in when she was finally ready to go. She was the perfect amount of tipsy to let go of her inhibitions for the start of the party.

When they got to Sam and Jess', it looked like everyone was already there from the amount of cars in the driveway. Alice was really excited. Halloween was a fun holiday, and any excuse to finally introduce Christine to Dean, she was game. She may've been nervous, but more than anything, she was ready. It was high time her boyfriend met her best friend.

Music was playing throughout the house when they walked inside, and Jess had really gone all out with decorations. "Alice!" She turned when she heard Jess' voice, then smiled as the girl jogged over to her. She was wearing black pants, a white button-up, a black bralette, and a jet-black, pixie cut wig. The trickle of fake blood on her nose made it clear that she was Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction. She could only assume Sam was somewhere dressed as Vincent.

"Hey," Alice said, accepting the hug Jess was offering her. "Jess, this is my best friend, Christine."

"It's great to meet you," Christine said. Jess smiled and pulled her in for a hug too.

"You too," she said. "Your costume is great."

"Thanks," Christine said.

"Well, come on in," she said. "Alice, Dean is in the kitchen."

"Duh," she said. "Wherever the drinks are, Dean's not too far away."

The three of them walked through the house, and Alice could see Dean had her back to her -she'd recognize that perky butt anywhere- and she smiled to herself. She snuck up behind him and put her hands over his eyes. "There's no escaping now, Clyde," she said to him. Dean laughed and turned, holding Alice at arm's length.

"Well, don't you look beautiful, Bonnie," he said back. She stood on her tiptoes and placed a kiss to his lips. When they parted, Alice turned and looked at Christine again.

"Christine, this is Dean," she said. "Dean, this is Christine." Dean stuck his hand out to her.

"It's great to meet you," he said. "Alice has told me a lot about you."

"Same here," Christine said, taking his hand and shaking it. When they both dropped their hands, Dean wrapped his arm around Alice's waist. She leaned into him, resting her hand on his stomach.

"Where're Cas and Hannah?" she asked. "And Sam?"

"They're all around here somewhere," Dean said. "Might be playing games in the other room."

"You've got games?" Alice asked Jess.

"Duh," she said. "Grab your drinks, and I'll show you."

They had beer pong going outside on the patio, some people playing cards in the kitchen, and they even had a karaoke machine set up. Bobby and Rufus were singing a very drunken rendition of "The Gambler."

It looked like everyone -save Jack- from Dean's family was there, plus some people that must've worked with Jess and Sam that she didn't recognize. When Alice talked to Claire and Jody, she introduced her to her other adopted daughter-

"Alex?" Christine said with wide eyes.

"Oh my god," Alex said with a laugh. "Hey!"

"You guys know each other?" Jody asked.

"We work at the hospital together," Christine explained. Alice was thrilled that Christine knew -and clearly got along with- someone at the party, because it relieved some of the tension she had, worrying that Christine wouldn't have a good time or would need Alice to babysit her the whole night. Then again, Christine could make fun anywhere. Even if she hadn't known anyone, she would've made a friend eventually.

When Christine met Kevin, things seemed to actually spark between the two of them. Alice didn't know if he was her mister right or her mister right now, but regardless, Christine seemed happy, and that was all she wanted for her friend that night.

The party was a blast. Dean was the master at beer pong, though Alice stopped being his partner when she realized all she did was bring him down. With Sam, the duo was unstoppable. While it was fun to watch them, she did get sick of standing by and being his cheerleader. She walked over to him and placed a kiss to his cheek before he started another round. "I'm gonna go sit and talk to Charlie for a while," she said. "I'll cheer you on from over there."

"Okay," Dean said, flashing her a smile. He kissed her forehead, and she smiled back and headed over to join Charlie and Dorothy on the couch. Dorothy was -ironically- dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Her great-great-grandfather was actually the author of the book. Charlie was dressed as, she assumed, the brainless scarecrow from the tale.

They talked for a while until Sam and Dean challenged Dorothy and Charlie to a round of beer pong. Alice rolled her eyes but waved them away with a laugh. She made her way to the kitchen to get herself another glass of water. Only one other person was in the kitchen, and she didn't recognize him. He was around Sam's age, and he was dressed in a basketball uniform. "Hey," he said with a smile. "You must be the Bonnie to Dean's Clyde."

"Yeah," she said with a laugh. "That'd be me. I'm Alice."

"Jaden," he said. They shook hands, and he picked up a cup. "Can I make you a drink?"

"Nah, I'm DD," she said. "I'm just grabbing some more water."

"Taking one for the team, yeah?" he said.

"Well, someone's gotta do it." He smiled, and she poured herself some more water. "You work with Sam and Jess?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said with a nod, pouring himself some of the punch that was in the bowl. "They're offering me a spot in their firm so I can get out of the biglaw."

"You gonna take it?" she asked.

"Probably," he said. "Pay won't be as good, but I am pretty sick of these corporate jagoffs." She laughed and leaned her back against the counter. "What do you do?" he asked.

"I'm a first grade teacher," she said. "I actually teach Sam and Jess' daughter."

"Lexi?" he said with a smile.

"Mhm," she hummed.

"She's a sweet kid," he replied.

"Yeah," she agreed. "She's great. Most of my kids are."

"Most?"

"Well," she laughed, "not every kid's an angel."

He laughed and nodded. "You got that right." She cocked her head to the side.

"You have any kids?" she asked.

"Not that I know of."

They both laughed, but Alice's was cut short when someone put their hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw Dean. She could tell by the tenseness in his jaw that he was pissed. "Hey, Dean," she said, giving him a smile in an attempt to get him to relax. It didn't work. What was he so angry about?

"Why don't you go make some friends somewhere else?" Dean said to Jaden.

"Dean," she said, furrowing her eyebrows at him.

"Can't you let your girlfriend speak for herself?" Jaden said, raising his eyebrows in slight amusement. "We were having nice conversations before you-"

"I'm only going to say this one more time," Dean said, his voice low. "Walk. Away."

"Dean," she said again, putting her hand on his arm and squeezing it. He ignored her.

"It's alright, Alice," Jaden said with a smile. "You don't have to act like you have a say in your relationship."

Without a beat, Dean punched Jaden in the jaw. "Dean!" Alice shouted. Dean ignored her as he shoved Jaden against the fridge. A few people who were standing around outside heard the commotion and ran into the house. Christine, Kevin, Bobby, and Jody were among them. Christine grabbed Alice's bicep and pulled her away from Dean as Bobby grabbed Dean and pulled him off of Jaden.

A lump grew in Alice's throat as she turned to look at Christine. "I want to leave," she whispered to her. Without question, Christine nodded and put her arm around Alice's waist, and the two of them pushed through the crowd of people and towards the front door.

"Alice, are you okay?" Christine said as they walked towards the car.

"I just want to leave," Alice said again. Christine nodded and hopped in the passenger side while Alice got behind the wheel. As she started the car, her phone started vibrating in her bra. She pulled it out and saw it was Dean, so she hung up and tossed it in the backseat. "Can we go to your house?" she asked.

"Yeah," Christine said. "Yeah, of course."

Most of the drive was quiet with the exception of Alice's phone vibrating continuously on the backseat. Alice could feel tears pooling in her eyes, but she refused to break. "Alice," Christine said. "Can you tell me what happened?" Alice scoffed as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"He can be so frustrating!" she said. "I was just talking to this guy, and Dean came over and lost it. He's so possessive! I don't understand why he's like that!"

"Did he hit you?" she asked.

"No," she replied quickly. "He would never."

"Then why are we going to my house?" she asked.

"I just don't want to see him," she said. "And I know that he'll come to my house to talk to me." Christine nodded, and the rest of the ride was spent in silence.

-

When Bobby pulled Dean off Jaden, Jody grabbed Jaden and took him into another room. Dean's chest was heaving, and his jaw was still clenched. "What the hell is the matter with you?" Bobby said, giving Dean's shoulders a shake.

That was the thing with Bobby. Dean may've been his boss, but he did help raise the kid, so he was allowed to put him in his place like that.

That didn't mean Dean liked it.

"Get the hell off me!" he shouted, pushing Bobby's chest. He looked past the man, and his shoulders dropped. "Where'd Alice go?"

"Where the hell do you think?" he snapped. "She left, ya idjit."

"And no one stopped her?" he said.

"She's a grown woman, Dean!" Bobby said. "She can do what she wants. It's about time you wake up and realize that before she leaves your ass."

Dean let out a frustrated breath and pushed past Bobby, then ran out to the front of the house. Alice's car was already gone. He called her phone, praying she would pick up. It only rang a few times before she sent him to voicemail. "Dammit!" he shouted. He figured she wouldn't pick up, but he still tried again. And again. And again. When she didn't pick up the final time, he let out a frustrated shout and threw the phone across the yard. He sat on the ground and put his elbows on his knees, hanging his head in frustration.

Fine. If she wasn't going to pick up the phone, he had a car. He'd go right to the source.

He got in his car and drove off to Alice's apartment. It took him about half the time considering how fast he was driving. He wanted to beat her there, and when he arrived, he didn't see her Jeep, so he knew he had. He figured he'd wait in the parking lot for her.

After thirty minutes, he knew she wasn't coming. His next best guess was that she was at Christine's house, but he had no idea where that was. He had plenty of connections that could get him the address -Donna and Jody had legal access to databases, and Charlie could hack them- but he knew none of them would get the information without probable cause, no matter how hard he pushed it. Damn his soldiers for having consciences, and damn himself for not being more of a hardass. Sometimes he wished he was more like Crowley.

Sometimes.

Dean rested his head on his steering wheel and sighed. Alright. How was he going to make this one better? Maybe he needed to give her time and space, like she had given him when he was mad about Lisa. She couldn't be mad at him forever, right?

-

Alice stared at herself in Christine's bathroom mirror as she brushed her hair. Her eyes were blank, and she wasn't really seeing her own reflection. Her hands moved on their own accord as she thought about what happened at the party.

"You don't have to act like you have a say in your relationship."

The anger in Dean's eyes when he punched Jaden had legitimately scared her. She knew Dean could be violent. Hell, practically his entire job revolved around murdering people. She was just sick of him hurting people in her name. How long until he lost control and hurt her too?

The knock at the bathroom door made Alice jump. "You okay in there?" Christine asked. Alice cleared her throat and put the hairbrush down, then opened the door causing Christine to step back.

"I'm fine," Alice told her with a tight smile. "Just tired."

"Do you want to talk-"

"I want to go to bed," she said firmly. Christine pressed her lips into a line and nodded.

"Okay," she whispered.

The girls shared Christine's queen bed, just as they had during every sleepover when they were kids, and Alice pulled the covers over her shoulders. "Goodnight, Alice," Christine whispered.

"Night, Chris," Alice mumbled back.

She turned on her side, facing away from Christine, and allowed some silent tears to fall as she drifted off to sleep.

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

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[spikemelikeavolleyball]

iii : rules ( part two ) ( high low )

high low ; miya atsumu x fem! reader

i. ii. iii. iv. v. [masterlist.]

───── ❝ high low ❞ ─────

[name] [surname] was off limits--

except miya atsumu finds himself

flirting with danger and becoming

rapidly addicted to the sparks between

them.

what osamu doesn’t know won’t

kill him. will it?

───── ❝ high low ❞ ─────

 tags; mafia au, sexual content,

violence, strong  language, blood,

gore.

this chapter: alcohol,

miya atsumu (because he needs his

own warning label), suggestive content,

some violence.

───── ❝ high low ❞ ─────

three ; rules ( part two )

    Your arrival in Japan, unfortunately, did not go unnoticed. While your guard detail--see “glorified babysitters”--had reassured you that the press wouldn’t have a chance to corner you into an interview, there was still some concern over people seeing you and hurting people in order to get close to you. It had happened once, before, the hour predating your first official collaboration with Wisteria. Your guard had gotten a black eye so awful that it had lasted for weeks. He had gotten a very hefty bonus for the trouble, though.

    “I should have worn something more incognito,” you mumbled to yourself. The private jet’s bathroom mirror was floor length, so you had a good idea of how your outfit looked and what kind of presence it would give off. Most of the time, you would wear something cute or flashy to fuel your fan club’s activity--you were a sucker and liked browsing through their twitter feed on a private account--but today you weren’t feeling the energy for it. “I forgot I even had these.”

    After rummaging around in your bags for something that was comfortable, and not sky high heels or chiffon or silk or outrageously expensive t-shirts and jeans, you had come across a pair of Osamu’s old Inarizaki High volleyball sweatpants. You hadn’t even thought twice about throwing them on and rolling the ankles up to suit your height, even though the name printed on one leg and the jersey number on the other would have your fans tracking him down like the bloodhounds they were. You matched them with a black hoodie, socks, and a mask to hide the irritation underneath your nose, but even then you still stood out like a sore thumb.

    It had to be the way you stood, you thought, adjusting your stance to seem more lazy and laid back.

    It didn’t work.

    With a sigh, you exited the bathroom and found that your things had already been unloaded for you by your glorified babysitters. All that was left was your purse, which you snatched up and hooked over your shoulder, and your phone, which you glanced at and shoved into your pocket. It sunk down so far in the sweatpants pocket that you felt it bounce against the side of your thigh as you walked.

    “Nice pants,” one of your guards teased, poking fun at the name printed on the leg. “You sure you don’t want to change them and avoid the media scrutiny?”

    “I’m too tired to go back and find something else,” you hummed. One of the guards--there were three in total, at the request of Ushijima-san herself--held out a hand and helped you down the flight of stairs that were a bit too steep for your jetlagged brain to walk down in confidence. “What are we driving in today, my good men?”

    “Might I suggest the classic Phantom?” one of them joked, falling into formation when you began walking down the flight portal. “Just kidding. We’re taking the Audi today, since you want to be low profile this afternoon.”

    “Good.” You had missed riding around in your trusty Audi; not that a Ferrari or Lamborghini was something to scoff at, but you missed the frugal lifestyle you had when you were in highschool. Once your career took off, you rarely struggled for anything and college had been a breeze. Though, you had no clue what you were going to do with a nuclear engineering degree now that your modeling gig paid more than that ever would. “Make a stop for some cheap drug store coffee and we’re all set.”

    “I’ll add it to the memo.”

    Before you could open your mouth once more and ask if you could stop by a nearby pastry shop and stuff yourself full of crepes and cake, you entered the main terminal and were immediately bombarded by cameras flashing and people yelling.

    “[Name]-sama! We love you!”

    “I LOVE YOU!”

    “What do you have to say about Wisteria’s latest lingerie line? Do you think these styles should be changed to reflect Japanese standards?”

    “[Name]! What are your thoughts on the funding cuts to the women’s centers all around the world?”

    That last one caught your attention. You continued to smile behind your mask and wave, shoving a pair of sunglasses over your eyes, and mimed blowing kisses to the adorable teenage girls holding posters that had ‘you’re my idol’ scrawled over the front. You spotted Kuroo and Sayaka standing somewhere near the back, mostly due to Kuroo’s giant rooster hair, and blew double handed kisses to them as well, although the fanboys in the front thought it was for them and nearly fainted on the spot.

    You watched them sway with a chuckle, then watched Sayaka grab the kisses and press them to her heart with a goofy wink.

    “Hey, Julio?” You didn’t look at the guard as you made your way to the revolving doors in front, watching Kuroo and Sayaka make their way outside to where your car had been parked out of view. “Remind me to send a donation to that women's wayhouse charity by the end of today.”

    “Isn’t that a job for your assistant?”

    “Nope. I fired her.” You shrugged when the guard fixed you with a bewildered look. “What? She stole my nice Louboutins. And had a gangbang in my house in Calabasas, but we don’t talk about that incident.”

    The cleaning crew you had send to bleach down that place had cost you a pretty penny--but Daishou had been kind enough to text you the number of his go-to cleaners (you didn’t ask why, nor did you want to know, but you had an inkling) and had requested that you send him the number of one of your cute co-workers as payment. Needless to say, you had, and that girl had come to work brighter than a lightbulb on Christmas, unusually chirpy and walking just a little bit funny. Your text to Daishou later that day had been along the lines of,’Dear God, Daishou, what did you do, break the poor girl’s hips?’

    His reply had been typical of him. ‘It wasn’t anything she didn’t ask for ;)’

    Your face of disgust had been timed perfectly. You had been sitting outside, eating a parfait--vegan, of course, due to your diet that you planned to ignore in favor of eating all of the meat you could get your hands on (pun might not be intended)--right in front of someone taking candid shots of you for a drama magazine. Your face had been plastered all over Twitter, with some people going as far as to send hate to the nice place you had gotten your dessert from. You had nipped that little situation in the bud, clarifying it was a text that made you make that face and not the dessert, although you didn’t help things when you had been forced to eat a green tea flavored one to prove that you weren’t lying.

    The forced smile you had made to the starstruck owners had been enough to sear it into your memory for eternity.

    “[Name]!” Sayaka’s high pitched exclamation knocked you out of your fantasies of parfaits and coffee. She nearly knocked you down with a hug strong enough to make your spine pop. “I missed you so much! You have to tell me how Moscow was! Did you have a good time? And oh my gosh, you  just have to see Osamu’s shop, it looks amazing!”

    You smiled guiltily at her at that last part, but didn’t say a word. Osamu had asked you to pick out the tiling and countertops, unwilling to trust his own sense of color theory--it was really just awful--and even the tables, which you discreetly paid for and blew off as an anonymous donation. He knew it was you, of course, because who had enough money to pay for genuine marble tables, but he had been kind enough not to say it to your face. Yet.

    “One thing at a time, Sayaka,” you laughed, returning her hug with gusto. You then moved on to Kuroo, who wrapped an arm around your neck and scrubbed his knuckles into your once perfectly curled hair. “Damn it, Kuroo! What was that for? I just wanted a hug!”

    The former Nekoma captain fixed you with a mischievous grin. “That was for dropping twenty thousand dollars into our account without asking for permission.”

    Ah--another one of your random acts of generosity at three in the morning while slightly tipsy. You had Kuroo and Sayaka’s banking passwords and they had yours in case anything happened to them or you, especially with the connections the former Yakuza member had and still kept to this day. You had written them into your will, as well as Osamu, and your fortune would be split between the three of them if you died or wound up missing. Even the contract all of you signed was legally binding.

    “What can I say?” You shrugged when Sayaka looped an arm around your waist, tugging you to your Audi. “I saw that you’d been getting a little low and your college bills were running high. I decided to chip in, like the good friend I am. And no, you can’t give it back.”

    “You know I don’t like taking your money,” Sayaka whined. “I can make my own just fine.”

    You sent an accusing glance her way, followed by a glance to her stomach when Kuroo shook hands with one of your guards. She had the sense to look ashamed at not telling you, at least. “A waitress gig won’t take care of that. And while I’m sure Kuroo makes enough for both of you, I’d like to be a responsible woman and at least pay for your wedding.”

    From behind you, Kuroo laughed. “Who said we’re getting married?”

    “Yeah,” Sayaka said, her tone slightly dimmer than before. You patted her back in comfort and turned your head around to glare at Kuroo, who was only mildly taken aback by the ferocity--he only realized what he had said as you were collapsing into the backseat of your car, squeezing into the opposite window seat as your two friends followed.

    When neither of them opted to break the silence that had developed, you unlocked your phone and shot Osamu a quick text.

'Osamuuuu, what are you doing?'

    When he showed no sign of replying, you sighed and locked your phone again, turning your gaze to the couple sitting awkwardly beside you.

    “Hey, driver, can we stop by McDonalds?” You waved your hand towards the giant yellow ‘M’ down the street--which was also, coincidentally, packed with people. “I want something to eat.”

    “Yes ma’am,” he replied, switching lanes and jerking Sayaka into Kuroo. You grinned at him through the mirror and he did it again; you loved it when your guards pitched in on your plans. “Drive-thru?”

    “No, I think I’ll eat inside,” you winked, and his turn into the parking lot was rough enough to jostle all three of you. “Coffee and hot fudge sundaes, here I come!”

    By the time the guards signaled you that they were done arguing maybe an hour and a half later, you had--admittedly--stuffed yourself far too much on ice cream and piping hot syrup. It would require a harsh workout to get all of the calories off, which you knew Wakkun wouldn’t mind helping you out with since he had a game soon, but you couldn’t bring yourself to regret it as you popped a french fry into your mouth on the way out.

    “Are we done?” You asked, grinning at Kuroo and Sakura from between your guards. You could practically feel the stares from two men sitting at the outside tables, one of them on your legs and the other right on your face. “Then let’s get going. I need a nap before I can do anything else.”

    As you gave Sayaka and Kuroo their food--both of them grinning at you and nudging you playfully--you locked eyes with one of the men sitting at the table.

    And, unknowingly, you had just broken one of Osamu’s most important rules.

    You just didn’t know it yet.