#and also will hopefully begin giving clothes away soon (that have been in to give away boxes for years now) to friends and their friends

[sleebyconfy]

..

[writing-sideblog-behind-books]

the first time dazai asks chuuya genuinely for something, not joking, not forcing, but desperately, is after ango - newly revealed goverment spy - leaves after telling oda what he knows of mimick. dazai has chuuya's contacts open and dialing the second oda leaves his sickroom. if he's wrong he'll be endlessly humiliated and relentlessly mocked by chuuya everytime he gives him an order in the future. the risk of what happens should his hunch be correct doesn't allow him to hang up. "shitty mackrel what now. i'm busy." chuuya's annoyed voice greets him and where dazai normally would needle at it and tease chuuya until he relented or exploded he can't afford for chuuya to ignore his request. "i need you to come back. as soon as possible. please." it shuts chuuya up and dazai can almost hear the gears in his brain turning. what he's asking is a lot. maybe too much. chuuya is away to renegotiate something, both as a threat - a look how strong we are we can just send one half of out strongest duo away for weeks at a time - and because chuuya's one of the best - spending a lot of his time around dazai and having been trained by kouyu has that result. he's been ordered there by mori and undoubdetly not finished. leaving now would be clear insubourdination, maybe treason if mori decides the results aren't enough to balance out the needs. it galls him but he doesn't have another card left to play, so he adds "it's important." the silence on the other end is more unnerving than if chuuya had started screaming at him for the audacity. "seven hours." is the only thing chuuya finally says before hanging up. two hours later, oda tells his run in with the leader and it only corroberates what dazai already figured form when akutagawa reported his failure. five hours later dazai learns that mimick killed oda's charity cases and he's failed to get him to turn back. his tracker tells him chuuya still is over the ocean but he sends him the live location of oda's anyway. convincing mori also proves a bust, he had sought this from the very beginning, something dazai had feared but underestimated the possibility of. ("Sakunosuke, you're exquisit!" "I'll accompany you to your end", they are fighting and oda has so much blood on his hands by know but it's still not enough when Flawless sees him, no everyone, dropping to the ground. No way he twists lets him escape the pull of gravity and his bones grind together and his hand is crushed under the weight of his gun. Gide and the rest of mimick aren't fearing better. He doesn't understand how dazai can praise him to be the strongest port-mafia member when he has a god by his side. what good is seeing the future when no matter what you do it's inevitable?) it's been six hours and chuuya's tracker has him entering japan and oda's tracker hasn't moved these past minutes but chuuya loves that dumb hat and oda would never leave that gun behind so he's expecting the worst. finding spots of blood and gore like squashed bugs alliviates the fear and dread sets in. he'll forever be in chuuya's debt now, won't he. oda's gun is next to the dead leader of mimick, only identifiable through his different clothing from the others. his phone rings. he answers without checking who it is. "where the fuck are you, shitty mackrel. hc said you just left and yu aren't at your apartment." "where do you think you are you slimiy slug," he fires back "stay there." of course chuuya needs to be contrary because he answers "fuck off i got to pick something up." still his apartment isn't empty when he enters, but has oda perched atop his couch. seven hours after dazai made his first, and hopefully last, earnest request of chuuya his hat starts moving his way and when he opens his door, chuuya is standing in front of him - ugly hat perched atop his head.

[satureja13]

It was late when Kiyoshi and Jeb came home after the Valentine's Desaster. After they'd met Sai and Jack at the market, they went over to work on their secret project. Jeb's plan had been to leave their home to be out of the way and to not upset Saiwa and Jack with their presence. Their intentions were good, and if Jack and Sai hadn't cought them together, it would even have worked. Kiyoshi is sneaking around the houses to Jack's shop to make some cheese (as Noxee requested). Hopefully no one sees him this time.

Even though it's painful to see how Jack had reacted when he saw him, Kiyoshi can understand him and Saiwa. They had a lot to endure because of him. How is he ever supposed to make it up to them? It's his fault that Saiwa and Jeb avoid each other for days now. All because they wanted to help him. Kiyoshi hopes that Saiwa never finds out that Kiyoshi's mind wasn't as far away as they thought during their fake relationship. He remembers everything...

And as much as he appreciates Vlad and Jeb's help and comraderie - and them being by his side - he can't ask this of them. It only deepens the gorge between all of them. He has to talk to someone and ask if he can leave, so Jack can heal in peace. He will only upset Jack when they stay here together.

What advantages does it have to be a diety if he can't even help his closest friends? All the sacrifices he made to be able to fulfill his duties for the Temple and the Resistance - futile. He messed up his relationship with his fated mate Jack and even had to betray Vlad to the Council. He can't go on like this. Dtui isn't allowed to have any contact to him but he has to talk to someone. How is he supposed to live with this guilt? He's tempted to go back into the Tree but his friends would keep on trying to get him out there again and this would only cause them more and more pain...

Every second they spend here together is painful for all of them. Kiyoshi is also aware of that Jack is avoiding the Temple to let Arturo treat his pain. He's glad that Ji Ho helps him so much (and Kojin) but Ji Ho can only ease Jack's pain. He's not able to heal it. The pain is caused by their breakup. And it's impossible to be cured as long as they are divided...

Kiyoshi also made a label for his cheese. The name of his brand will be 'Moonchild'. He'd seen a lot of full moons during the decades he'd spent in the Tree. These were the hardest times for him because that was when he missed Jack the most. His Moonchild 🐺

'And if you try to save your soul I will torment you, you shall not grow old With every second and passing breath You'll be so alone your soul will bleed to death

Moonchild, hear the mandrake scream Moonchild, open the seventh seal Moonchild, you'll be mine soon child Moonchild, take my hand tonight

For all the sins you will commit You'll beg forgiveness and none I'll give A web of fear shall be your coat To clothe you in the night A lucky escape for you young man But I'll see you damned in endless night'

Moonchild - Iron Maiden (Link above leads to a live performance since there is no official MV. I started to listen to Iron Maiden back in the 80s and they are still pure magic for me.)

From the Beginning  ~  Underwater Love ~  Latest 🛺 'Home happy Home' from the beginning ▶️ here 📚 Previous Chapters: Chapters: 1-6 ~ 7-12 ~ 13-16 ~ 17-22 ~ 23-28

[dragonowl]

Pathcode: Light Through a Broken Lens

The Sky That Doesn't End: Part 2

Masterlist

Genre: EXO AU, Romance, Mystery

Rated: PG

Summery: Exo has scattered. Now in hiding after the Red Force closed in on them and Luhan went missing. Baekhyun finds himself in a small town while he waits until they can reunite again. Guarded after everything that has taken place, he’s not looking for friendship, or anything else, until a light shines through, even as the darkness closes around them.

First, Prev, Next (coming soon). AO3

Chapter 6: Chanyeol: Arizona, U.S.A, 17:11

Chanyeol tried to hurry and finish his meal, fighting back the many emotions that had reared up at the sight of the couple that had been seated across from him. They laughed as they chatted, sharing fries and milkshakes, completely oblivious to the world around them.

He felt stupid and angry for the millionth time as he fought away the self-deprecation creeping into his thoughts. The urge to contact Myeong-suk and explain things reared its head, but the thought of the Red Force finding out his location, or about his attachment to her….

He shook away the thoughts and looked down at the unfinished meal that sat in front of him. It wasn’t the first time he’d lost his appetite and he doubted it would be the last.

–

He wandered aimlessly away from the city and people. The peace of nature gave him solace from the loneliness he had been dealing with around the crowds of people walking the streets. He could also escape the confused stares he received at his too many layers of clothing.

Chanyeol wasn’t sure what was causing it, but he couldn’t seem to stay warm even in the Arizona heat. Their powers had been gradually growing more and more unstable and he hoped the research that Chen was doing would give them some answers. But the chances of being able to find anything among human knowledge in regards to it was slim.

The sun was starting to dim and he looked up at his surroundings, realizing he’d wandered for too long and would need to find his way back soon, otherwise he would have to make his way in the dark.

A fog was beginning to settle around the forest and he fought back a shiver, surprised that there was enough moisture in the air to cause it. The setting sun reflected off of it through the trees tinging it a soft red, a cool breeze stirring it and the brush. He tried pulling on his powers for some warmth as the chill began to set into his limbs and make him drowsy. Energy beginning to wane, he leaned against a tree and then slowly took a seat on the dry brush surrounding it. The cold was sinking into his bones and he pulled harder on his powers.

His hands sparked suddenly, causing him to jump. They sparked several more times and he tried to control it, but instead, his hands ignited completely. He tried shaking them to get the fire to go out, but they only sparked again, embers falling and igniting the ground next to him. He scrambled, struggling to get to his feet without the use of his hands. Attention split between trying to stomp at the growing fire and his hands, he stumbled forward as another wave of drowsiness hit him. 

The fire engulfing his hands finally died out and he stood still, surrounded as the fire he had started slowly spread. Exhaustion was weighing him down and he dropped to his knees in despair as the smoke began to mix with the red fog.

Red.

His vision started to double and he looked up at the now deepening purple and blue sky. There was no longer enough light from the sun and his brain worked slowly to piece everything together.

Chanyeol dropped his head, no longer able to fight whatever had been used to trap him. There was a glimmer of relief as his eyes closed and his body met the forest floor. Relief that the Red Force finding him alone would hopefully keep the others safe for a while longer.

And for the first time, relief that he had left Myeong-Suk. Keeping her off of the enemy’s radar. 

First, Prev, Next (coming soon). AO3

[dreamingsushi]

Till the End of the Moon - Episode 26

I’m back from vacation, so now is a good time to get going with this series. I’m kind of anxious, because it started off so well and the last few episodes, we lost a little bit of that character consistency that made it so good to me in the beginning and it has been very frustrating. Hopefully it’s going to keep steering in the right direction and I won’t be too disappointed by the following 15 episodes.

She starts it up quite strongly. She asks Tantai Jin to marry her and make her his empress. Ye Qingyu disagrees with Tantai Jin agreeing to it. He says she needs to go back home and face what she has done, but Tantai Jin says that he doesn’t want to trouble her before the wedding and that she wants to cut ties with the Ye family, so her name should be erased from the family records. Tantai Jin wants to proceed with the wedding as soon as possible and ends up choosing an inauspicious day for it. Ye Xiwu acts cruelly towards her brothers. Ye Qingyu says she’s changed. And on to the wedding.

Tantai Jin’s coat looks like it’s covered with grass. I think... this is going to be the first costume design that I highly disagree on. The wedding starts. When he reaches out his hand for hers, she doesn’t take it. This sounds bad. We also discover that she got all of the nails when she asked him to marry her (but they’re already married, so I don’t get it). Anyways. It starts snowing. He offers his hand again and this time she takes it. Overall, she’s really off, but I guess he’s too drown in happiness to actually notice that she behaves extremely WEIRD!

While waiting for the husband to come to the bed chamber, she gives herself a pep talk that she did all of this for this day. She notices that Tantai Jin must be very happy. She’s super awkward, I wonder how he does not see anything of it. Or I hope he’s pretending? So she was missing one nail. When she kisses him, it created the ninth one and her eye turns purple. I forget about the jade she took for him. She admits that her goal was to kill him and that’s why she came back. After stabbing him with the first three nails. He says he still loves her, but she tells him she never loved him. Why? What’s the help to your mission in saying that? Especially when like 5 episodes ago before you left to free Xiao Lin you were thinking you could spend your life with him as your lover and prevent him from becoming a demon. But when she’s about to send the last of the three nails, the dragon scale protects him. The nails desintegrate. Nothing protects the evil bone/essence anymore. He asks her why she lied to him, but they both fall down together.

Ye Qingyu finally realized that Ye Xiwu cut ties with her family because she knew all along what she was going to do. He tries to convince his dad to leave, but he won’t abandon his daughter.

Tantai Jin has three years left to live. They can’t remove the six nails from his chest. Nian Baiyu is very sad. He wants Tantai Jin to rest, but the king wants to get changed and go see Ye Xiwu. And he’s wearing his wedding clothes, with the grass. Why? So blabla, you betrayed me all the time, I was still nice to you, loved you blabla. I failed, there’s no point to live, kill me. No, let’s suffer together, since you didn’t want my love, here’s a serving of my hatred. And that’s how she made him become a demon god. She shouldn’t have meddled to begin with. But at some point it’s interesting to see that sometimes, the supposedly “good ones” are actually awful people too.

Ye Qingyu gets the permission to go see Ye Xiwu. However, Ye Bingchang is there already. She reveals how she poisoned the porridge. Ye Xiwu blames her for Xiao Lin’s death. Then Ye Bingchang tries to strangle her. Meanwhile... She thinks of the past. Qingyu and Pianran comes just in time. Pianran tosses away Ye Bingchang while Qingyu tends to Xiwu.

And that’s it. I don’t see how they’re going to manage from now on. I don’t see anything. My mind is totally blank. I’m confused. Did she resent him for the death of her granny and Xiao Lin and that’s why she decided to act finally and stopped hesitating? I don’t know.

[sinnoh-research-and-restoration]

I acknowledge the warning, and will keep that in mind. Thankfully, it seems to have some degree of psychic powers, seemingly unleashing some sort of psychic version of Wing Attack. If it is indeed a psychic type, then Joan’s Dark type and Cantante’s Ghost type will prove useful to ward it off. For now, said Braviary is keeping away from anyone, so I’ll just let it be and keep tabs just in case. The large fellow seems to be unbothered by the cold, so I don’t imagine it’ll be leaving the Crown a tundra soon anyways.

As for Arezu’s situation, given it’s not exactly safe to try and use an already rarely seen and thus available Space-time Distortion to begin with, and making use of the powers of, say, the mythical Celebi or Deity of Time Dialga itself (which would admittedly be fitting for bringing Arezu, a Diamond Clan member who from what I can tell did worship Dialga, back to her original time period) isn’t exactly something you can just “do” on a whim, especially when you can’t exactly find any of them easily at all, I wouldn’t be surprised if Arezu, even if/when she recovers her memories, is still unable to return back to her time. I also can’t help but wonder if she’s also from another timeline on top of that, given alternate realities were proven to exist in things like the Ultra Beast incident of Alola, thus logically slightly different versions of our own world wouldn’t be out of the question, but that’s something we can’t determine easily…

Thankfully, Arezu has been keeping quite calm overall despite the situation, and at this rate it does seem like the distortion will close up soon and we’ll be able to take her to the closest hospital for a more thorough medical examination. She does have a bit of a headache, nothing too severe but noticeable, so she’s been mostly resting, sometimes with Hoshi getting curious enough to cuddle up before being scared off by Arezu subtly shifting. I’d give her headache relief medication, though given the fact that she’s a faller and from the past on top of that, I’m unsure if that’s a good idea at the moment. As such, I’ve opted for just making sure she has easy access to water in case it’s because of dehydration. Hopefully, after a hospital trip that’s all sorted out.

An alternate timeline is indeed possible. It is indeed likely she will not be able to return to when and where she came from, though we can only hope for the best.

It is good that she's calm. You made a smart decision to not give her medicine. It's very likely that she would not have had a positive reaction to it due to her body simply never having been subjected to modern medicine before. We recommend keeping her from highly processed or non-home-grown type foods as well, for similar reasons.

Malakai, the Faller we talked about previously has agreed to give his personal testimony of his experience with being brought through time. We shall include it below for your reference.

< There is an attached video log. Malakai, dressed in his usual clothes, is sitting in front of the camera. He looks slightly uncomfortable, but not horribly so. He begins to talk.

"Suppose I'm doing this. I was found alone and unconscious in the woods when I was eight years old. Already had a few scars, mostly these," he pauses to gesture to the scars apparently slashed across his face, "but also had some fresh ones. Arms and back, mostly.

"The doctors told me they didn't know how long I'd been unconscious when they found me. After they did find me, I, apparently, woke up a couple days later.

"They were.. Concerned. Because of my reactions to the medicines I was given. I'm fine now. I've had seizures since then, but again, don't know if that's necessarily a new thing, or from the medicine at all. They went away for the most part after a couple years, though they've started up again now.

"I couldn't," Malakai pauses again, seeming to collect his thoughts. "I couldn't really eat that well back then, I would just throw whatever I did eat back up. It took a while before that stopped happening, but I still don't like most. Y'know. Junk food, and that sort of stuff. Hurts my stomach.

"The amnesia didn't bother me too. S.R.R.F. here uncovered those photos, and there was me. Me and my family. That was the first time I could really remember anything.

"Arezu, you said this lady's name was? Yeah, she sounds familiar. I.. I can't say I knew her, but she sounds familiar. Part of the Diamond Clan. My mother was too. Yeah."

The video log clicks off after that. >

[glassbubblebooks]

Short Story📖✒️🤍

Hello and welcome to my new Blog Post!

Today I wanted to share a short story I wrote a while ago. I also participated in a writing competition, but sadly I didn’t won :( It means a lot to me, since I wrote it at a time where I felt very caught up in my small home town and just wanted to escape. Do you know that feeling?

(Quick note): I translated it, because I wrote it in German originally

David Bowie in the Old Apartment

She places the last moving box on the reddish-brown laminate floor. The open balcony door lets a warm summer breeze drift into the empty room, bringing with it the sounds of city life and birdsong. In the sunlight, dust floats through the air. She lets her gaze wander around the room. The walls, still white and bare, seem endlessly high. On closer inspection, she notices a couple of small spiders settled into the corners. They’ll soon be swept away with a single motion, and these bare walls, now lifeless, will be barely visible under vibrant colors, pictures, and posters. She’s already imagined it all. “The couch will go here, and the TV over there,” she thinks to herself. She turns to look at the kitchen counter left behind by the previous tenants. Right now, it looks a bit lonely and worn, but soon it, too, will contribute to her new home’s atmosphere.

Here she stands, tired and sweaty but also content and hopeful in her very first apartment. Boxes filled with dishes, books, clothes, decorations, and so many other things are stacked around the room, and IKEA furniture leans against the walls, waiting to be assembled. She feels grander than ever. Everything here can be arranged, organized, and used however she wants. Just her. No one to dictate what she should cook or when the dishes need washing. It’s a wonderful feeling! Carefully, she opens the first box labeled “Plates and Mugs” and starts setting up her own kitchen. The plates, all a matte gray, look brand-new and carefully chosen. She picked them out just last week, and now they’re ready for their first use. What will she eat from them first? Maybe a delicious pasta dish? Or a juicy burger? It doesn’t matter; the important thing is that it’s her choice. Looking at the mugs, she can already imagine autumn evenings when she’ll be curled up in a warm blanket, sipping hot tea. Now, nothing stands in the way of her dreams. Soon she’ll be starting her apprenticeship in a photography studio. She’s longed for this career for so long, and now she’s at the beginning of what will hopefully be an endless roll of film.

“Get a real job!” “Do things differently.” “You have such unrealistic dreams.” “Listen to me.” “You’re not good enough”—all those phrases that echoed in her mind for years now feel like distant whispers, miles away. Bitterness left behind with all the bitter people in her hometown. Now she lives in the big city, far from where opinions are thrown in your face, and everyone judges you openly. Here, you can blend into the crowd, do your own thing, and nothing holds you back. No buses running only four times a day, no shops closing at 6 p.m., no unreliable internet connection. She feels free, unchained from the small-town mindset, ready to reach for everything she’s dreamed of. Uplifted by these thoughts, she turns on some music. The soothing sounds of David Bowie fill the echoing, empty rooms, and as Ziggy Stardust waits for her in space, she fills the kitchen shelves with all sorts of items.

Musically, Bowie is merging with Queen in “Under Pressure,” but for the first time in ages, she doesn’t feel under pressure at all. How long has she waited to finally stand on her own two feet, living life on her terms? She’s always been treated like a child. The youngest of four siblings—the baby of the family. Every relative thought they knew best, whether about school, career, or even love. All they ever did was criticize her. They made her feel so worthless that she often thought about giving in to their negativity and letting her doubts consume her. She almost abandoned her passion for photography to give herself entirely to a gray, performance-driven society. This passion, which had made her an outsider in her old town, was always her source of comfort. The thought that she nearly threw it away for something “safe” sends a shiver down her spine. Discovering Bowie, who also found himself and his creativity in a big city, gave her the courage to leave everything that felt painfully familiar behind. She feels no regret. Only euphoria! Who would have thought a move could trigger such powerful emotions? Only now does she realize how confined she was over the years—by family, by “friends,” by her entire environment. That’s over now, once and for all!

“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring,” Bowie once said, and now she understands. She had the will to dive into unknown waters and trust the wind to carry her. To Berlin, Los Angeles, or even Mars. Bowie’s ability to stay true to himself and pursue his dreams without letting his toxic surroundings get to him has always inspired her. That’s exactly how she wants to live and be an example to others from now on.

Everything inspires her right now. The smell of new furniture, the dust on the windowsill, the bustling streets below. A flyer drifts in through the open balcony door with a gust of wind. She picks it up and reads, “Saturday Night – Big Street Festival! Good vibes, drinks, and music!” Excitement floods her entire body. She missed events like these. No more parties in a grimy village club—she wants something special! To embrace the openness of the city and feel connected to strangers in a way she never did with people she knew.

Hours fly by. The kitchen is completely set up, and the bookshelf, couch, and TV are in their desired spots. The last decorative items are in place, and a few small posters find a place on the wall. The radio plays “Heroes,” and that’s exactly how she feels as she falls onto the sofa, freshly showered with a cold glass of iced tea. She looks out the window, watching the sky turn orange from the setting sun. The colorful light floods the entire room, and she looks around once again. This apartment, still so empty in the morning, now holds so much personality—her personality. Finally, she doesn’t have to hide. No more following her family’s habits or hearing how many pictures on the wall are too many. The freedom to be herself sends a joyful shiver through her. She feels a sense of exhilarating completeness for the first time in her life—the completeness of absolute freedom. She steps onto the balcony, where a chubby pigeon is perched on the railing, watching her. She waves at it cheerfully before it flies off. “Flying must feel even better,” she thinks as she hears the door open. Her best friend and roommate steps in with the last box under his arm. After graduating high school, they finally achieved their dream of living together. “I returned the truck. This last box was still on the passenger seat. Wow, it looks amazing in here!” he says, looking around as he sets down the box. With a deep sigh, he collapses onto the couch. She imagines he must feel just as free. Their dream life is finally beginning!

“I saw an Asian restaurant around the corner on the way back. Let’s go there—I think we should celebrate the move,” he says. She turns to him, grinning, and nods. “That’s a fantastic idea; I’m starving!” The two slip on their shoes and head out the door. “By the way, I already know what we can do on Saturday,” she says as they step outside. She turns to take one last look at the old apartment. Thinking about her newfound freedom, she looks forward.

I really hope, that you like my story and I would love to hear your opinion on my story!

Also, if you want to share your own writings, I would love to share them on this blog (with credits ofc), so feel free to slide in my inbox!

If you liked my post, you’re free to like and follow my blog for exciting posts about books, writing and cozy thoughts!🤍

Also make sure to check out my other socials! You’ll find my linktree in my pinned post 📍

Love, bubble🫧

[emotori7]

i plan to redo some clothes and hairs I noticed some issues in certain ones so I plan to redo them and try to texture them better I thought bout giving my outfits a more realistic look or at least texture them better to look more like clothes then how they look in the show with no real textures and details and all I also found a lot of hairs people had made that looks very close to the way the winx girls hair styles are so I plan to use them in my game but have to put them in blender to use them to model my hair accessories so they will look good in game I plan to go for a more realistic look of how there hairs would look if they was real people but keep the style a fairly close as possible

Bloom's hair is the tricky one cause I can't tell if it's straight, curly or wavy someone told me it's all 3 someone said it's just wavy some say it's curly and some saids it's straight but curls that the end I don't really know I plan to just make it wavy

Her hair gonna be a blast for sure lol but I plan to redo a lot of the outfits that is why I haven't been posting anything and why I haven't uploaded content mostly because of the hairs and all I have the trix's necklace ready to go but their witch outfits is what I am redoing from scratch it's all off I was kinda rushing that day when I made them and only noticed how bad they are 😂 I want to redo Bloom's main outfit too so her pants won't look so "stiff" at the parts where they are split but it's mostly the hairs I am focusing on right now I am literally doing 100 things at once and trying to rush to finish so I can put content out finally I was planning to at the beginning of this year but that didn't happen 😔 lol but I hope to do so soon

I haven't even started on the guys or anyone else I only been focus on the girls because I am trying to get all the outfits ready

I need good bath robe ideas for flora and Aisha and Roxy since they are the only ones we never see in one

I need good ideas for mirta's outfits

I need good fairy versions for the Trix and witch versions for the Winx along with the teachers and all

I been working on my character's alchemy shop still need some good ideas for the layout there is a lot

And a good bathing suit idea for tecna and Roxy for season 1 and 2

A good priestess design for Daphne in the alternate world that I'm working on

there's a lot lol I been trying to focus on one thing at a time

I've also been trying to put all of the props and things like the sirenix boxes the mythix wands (even though I don't really plan on going that far they still existed in the world of winx long before their existence was known some people think I should go further then season 5 but I like to make that a stopping point to work on other things but there is a lot of stuff I do like in the seasons after 5 but I don't like the story or plot and some designs I like world of Winx designs though but I don't really like what rainbow had done after season 5 like changing the pixies and all) but once I finish redoing stuff I'll continue working on making other stuff and hopefully upload stuff as well (and hopefully stop forgetting to too lol I just get so carried away sometimes)

I plan to do a more Tinkerbell inspired world since I am combining every one of the planets in the magical universe of Winx club in one big magical realm where each planet will now be known as a kingdom in it my alternate version world (the world of reality) so lots to do

[jo-jaska]

Jo'jaska's diary: 18th of Last Seed, 3e427

It has been two days since this one made his ill-fated arrival on the shores of Vvardenfell, though this was not by his own choice. Jo'jaska has a friend, S'kasha, who lives in Skyrim, and invited Jo'jaska to visit. Though Jo'jaska would never normally have set paw in such a cold and inhospitable place, he dearly loves his friend and has not spoken to her for many years, and so made preparations to leave at once.

The visit went well, even though Jo'jaska was unable to convince his friend to move away from that icy wasteland, but the return journey was plagued by storms. One blew the ship far off-course, and directly into many sharp rocks. This one was fortunate enough to escape and fend off the slaughterfish long enough get to shore, but the others aboard were not so lucky. Jo'jaska reached the rocky shore alone.

It was pouring rain, and the only shelter Jo'jaska could see was a strange door built into a nearby hill. Inside it he found a dunmer woman who informed him that they were standing in her family's ancestral tomb, and requested Jo'jaska's aid in retrieving an amulet from deep within. Jo'jaska considered refusing the request, but he had little except the clothes on his back and the woman offered to let him take whatever he wished from the tomb.

Thankfully this one has some skill with magic, a bound dagger and summoned spirit making quick work of the tomb's fairly feeble guardians and allowing the dunmer to claim her inheritance-- as well as allowing Jo'jaska his pick of other loot. There was not much of use, but he did take a few potions, an enchanted blade, and some clothing that did not have any holes torn by slaughterfish teeth.

Jo'jaska spent the night in the tomb, and some of the morning as well, waiting for the rains to stop. He did not know where to go, too shaken to have thought to ask the dunmer for directions before she departed, and so chose to follow the coastline. Thankfully he knew a simple water-walking spell to avoid any more encounters with slaughterfish, and was able to kill a few giant rats and crabs for their meat to fill his belly. As night was beginning to fall once again and Jo'jaska thought he would need to sleep under one of the large mushrooms, he spotted a boat in the distance, and a dock with a small path leading up to a monastery.

The monks and pilgrims here are strange, and almost all are dunmer. They do not seem to like Jo'jaska because he is a khajiit, but they offer free beds to travelers and made no exceptions for him. There are also a few merchants, an enchanter and an alchemist, and Jo'jaska was able to use the gold from selling the things he had taken from the tomb in order to purchase a shield with a healing enchantment, as well as the empty book which he is currently at work filling.

Now Jo'jaska lays in a bed in the guest room, sharing a room with a friendly Nord and a Dunmer who keeps giving this one foul looks, as though khajiit will pick his pocket as soon as he gets the chance. Hopefully tomorrow this one will be able to make his way back to civilization.

[apoorsoul]

The rest of the ride passes without incident. When they land, Jimmy reluctantly opens his eyes as orderlies swarm the cabin. They remove the agent first, naturally. She has to be debriefed and examined before she's allowed to return to her section. When she's gone, Jimmy stands, trying to ignore his residual motion sickness. Every eye in the cabin is instantly on him. It should feel good, to be the authority figure for once.

All he can think of is what will happen if he messes this up.

"He's on his third dose," Jimmy announces. Two people take hasty steps back from the stretcher, eyeing the subject with new apprehension. If he was feeling better, Jimmy would roll his eyes in disgust. "So hurry," he says sharply, and everyone turns back to their tasks.

Jimmy mentally shakes his head and turns to go report in.

🧬

He gives his report quickly, and he actually makes it to the isolation room before the subject is placed there. He leans back in the padded chair and watches the live feed of the intake exam. They've freed the subject of his clothing, as is standard protocol, but rather than placing him in a standard-issue hospital gown they seem to have thrown a blanket over the body. Jimmy's mouth turns down, and he checks the notes to see why.

They're worried about the subject waking before they can complete the exam, and so they cut off the clothing the subject came in wearing unusually quickly and didn't even try to put him in a gown.

Jimmy's scowl deepens. He hasn't even met the subject yet, and he's already been denied the first tool to gain cooperation. Hopefully the clothing held no sentimental meaning.

He turns his attention to the real-time notes from the exam. Musculature seems to be above human-normal, but not extraordinarily so. Horns, wings and a tail are only immediately observable gross physical abnormalities. They're postponing the normal internal imaging, so venom glands remain a possibility. Blood draws show abnormal ranges, but nothing inherently alarming in composition.

Dr. Frill seems to think that the healing processes are sped up, which she points out would correlate to the increased drug resistance observed. Dr. Cooper, unsurprisingly, disagrees, pointing to a possible increased metabolism as an alternate mechanism, pointing to the normal bruising patterns from the restraints as proof. That doesn't mean much, though. Dr. Frill and Dr. Cooper would disagree on whether water is wet.

By the time Jimmy's done reading the notes and taking his own on paper, the exam is complete. The stretcher is wheeled out of the room covered by the camera. Jimmy can hear someone in the hall, now, approaching the isolation room with the gurney.

As Katai begins to stir again, he's aware that something is new again. Again. How many times have they drugged him now? Two? Three times? And who are they anyway? What do they want with him? Does this have something to do with what happened a couple weeks back?

As he wakes, Katai doesn't open his eyes right away, opting to figure out what the hell is going on for a moment first. From the last couple of times, he can only assume he'll be drugged again as soon as he opens his eyes. He's... on some type of stretcher or gurney or something. He can feel that it's being rolled over the ground.

What else can he gather... He doesn't have a gag in his mouth anymore. That's... good, but also bad. On the one hand, he can talk now. On the other hand... it probably means there's no one around to hear him who cares. He's also not restrained as fully as before. He can feel cuffs on his wrists and on one of his legs... There's still a collar or something around his neck, too. He can probably sit up, though. And he can kick with his one free leg.

The last thing he notices is that he's cold. Something is missing. He's not wearing any clothes. Someone has taken them off of him.

Feeling like he's taken enough time and figured out pretty much everything he can, Katai opens his eyes and tries to sit up, trying to figure out where he is.

There's a tug on his neck as he reaches the end of a short chain. "Fuck." He swears under his breath, immediately switching back over to struggling, pulling against the cuffs.

He's being wheeled down a hallway. There are bright lights in the ceiling. He's only covered by a blanket. Almost like he's a damn corpse being wheeled to the morgue.

"Where are my clothes??" He demands, tugging hard against his restraints, trying to find any weak links to break.

[the-firebird69]

Watch "Audioslave - I Am The Highway Live" on YouTube

This song is about a few things one of them is about the super highway the South Dallas 50 it's a new road name and they're changing it now weather repairing it and upgrading it and fixing it and turn it to a toll road so people will use it and they're making regular Lanes and you exit off the other side off the fast Lanes that's how it's designed and it is a maniacal invention of our sons everybody in this country and world are absolutely fascinated by it it's way too fast it goes It goes in their mind and stays there I have to go there I have to go to the Autobahn both of them are his idea and it was for us and there's a few reasons and he's a genius and I am too and my wife is in his wife is we all are an Olympus but this is one of the most fascinating things he's done with it and he's using our stuff he says and I know it and he loves it and once again he has to top it and be the biggest says he wants to go to the top of the thing and put the flag up he said no but I'll do that for you and he says I have a character but I'd like you to do it because it is your style and it is where I got it from and you're also American so I'm going to do that with pleasure I like it it is a steel job because we have to put in members and all all over the place. What he said is it going to start the project now get approval get the plans approved start the excavation put in the footers no he says you want to make all the pieces for it and you want to set them far enough away they won't get washed out they want to make the pieces for the bridge far away too not really far but within like 30 miles maybe and we want to make all the pieces for the abutment and we want to treat them all and we want to get them all ready to go so we're going to pour a huge concrete slabs and I'm going to do it properly and we know what he's saying the guy may have gone back in time and ruined himself. So we're going to build the bridge and they're telling us to do it immediately and we said well we got all these parts to do in parts to get I'm going to bring over the trusses and set them down laying down so you don't blow over and cause an earthquake it'd be a huge catastrophic earthquake and they would ruin your cities and we're going to treat it and spray it and clean it and prep it and it takes a lot of work by the time we're done two holes will probably clear or three and the place will be refilling already and we'll see how it works and by the time we're ready with all of it yeah if we just plop it in and prep it in place by the time we're ready for with all of it the whole thing should have dropped and it's a good time to do it so that kind of giving us to go ahead for the largest bridge ever constructed on Earth or anywhere that they know of and and dja is wearing his American thing is clothing and he says it's not too big from space damn it but from San Francisco it is.

We've been given the lay down area and shown where and also several parts of the highway to repair well no they want to do it it's theirs we're going to begin the bridge fairly soon Wednesday I do the design review and lots of like it it's a huge bridge and hopefully the this will drop by then if not we're pretty sure we have to wait we don't want to and they said we wanted up before he goes to Utah so I'll be like a milestone in a marker for them. Several companies working on it not just Kewitt and yeah there are companies when we have a bunch of Macs bunch of us and we're building it now I'm going to start now and there's several ships we can take it from and we're going to get the design review going but we're going to start laying it down and we're going to start getting the pieces that are needed because there's a lot of pieces that are needed there's a lot of work to be done and the lay down area has to be prepped so we're going on the assumption and design is close enough and we're going to build to lay down area now we have to we can add to it quite easily and yeah the concrete is going to be damn thick he doesn't even know how thick so he doesn't want to say anything it's going to be miles he says so imagine that the foundation will be huge the foundation is probably going to be 20 by 30 miles plus 15 mi deep and only two or three miles at the edge but all the way to bedrock and then there's a huge apartment and it's coated with steel it's going to be the weirdest thing you've ever seen because it is going to be massive it is a massive bridge the stanchions on the end this thing is going to be the largest structure in history you said the base might even be a little wider that's true it's going to be massive okay and it's going to be in books and stuff and nobody will be able to keep it out and it's going to be on every phone that anyone who goes over it will have the ticket as a souvenir and a picture and you have to have a huge sightseeing area and we'll put the songs there too it will have the bands play there and pictures of the band statues of them when they were playing

And we're going to plan it all we require a huge teams and we need volunteers for this project and we need hours to sign on

And right now they're preparing for the design review we have completed the design

Thor Freya

We're going to do a real full review and you have you do the engineering it's the same math and the calculations it's just a lot more weight and we have will and bill to help consult we have studies on the geology and we're going to get going on it it is a massive structure massive you've never seen anything like this in your life on Earth it is so damned huge I don't know if anybody can survive going up 40,000 ft plus it's going to be way up there and he said that the pressure change is not much it's not even when atmosphere of 33 ft and people can move their miles and it's just like a plane flying at high altitude but the cabin is slightly pressurized but when you go in there it's going to be flowing air and it's going to be pressurizing it a little bit and they said it will be and you need fresh air and it's going to be constantly flowing and the pressure won't change that much in the oxygen content the gravity will lessen but only by about 10 lb for each person 20 lb if you're heavier so it's not really going to be too noticeable and it will take like an hour to go across with the car and is a steady climb and cars that are older and and not in good shape we are not going to allow to go up at and we will use paving and other things to insulate versus EMP type shocks static I will use static dissapative material underneath. And we are designing it because we have a purpose for it and it's a parallel and it's dangerous and it's not a guarantee of anything except passage back and forth and some kind of burden there's really nothing else that would work you need to structure and anything less than this would sway.

We have designed it and we are sitting down and meeting today at noon and John remillard is getting fired from several companies

*Morrison Knutson he is getting fired and bja the rest are bowing out and their men are staying in and women

This is a gigantic company it's like that towel but they do commercial work too and they do a lot of earthwork and tunneling a lot more than Bechtel they do tunnel work lots of them and he said you can tunnel 20 miles down and we thought about it and our son said and I said you never drive up it

*and there's another company Bechtel corporation it was his granddaddy's company and he's coming back home he says but really it's coming home home and it's going to be our stock stock and barrel and we're retaining a lot of employees releasing some and it's going to be a nightmare here probably and he said he'd run it then he said he didn't want to keeping people who are confident because a lot of people don't know how to do anything. Once again this is a huge company and has equipment and we're taking all of it today I said it once and set the whole thing in motion and everybody fight over it and we gained it and it's ours by the time they do the design review we'll have all these companies straightened out and have equipment ships to lift stuff and the calm Air lift ships and one of them is big enough to move the trust no you have to sub it out and we know a few people Mac has some big ships he's got one that can do it and he needs to get close to the Earth but okay

*obiashi we're taking that company over to Lock stock and barrel John remillard and bja and their races have opted to be fired and we approve that we don't have to give them any money or stuff a lot of Macs are staying on and some of them are opting out with some stuff and money but this company is gigantic and it is the largest waterborne company on Earth that does tons of projects at sea and we are going to use the company and our father Poseidon and goddess wife wife and Hera's side. And many more from Japan and they are terrific this kind of thing especially with The Rock to concrete to steal it's something they've done for a long long time and there are some Chinese and our son is correct they've done a lot more of it up there but the Japanese were there consulting with the Chinese and knew their stuff inside now so we need to talk to them because the stone is not exactly always intact. They think us and welcome the opportunity and will be there when they're needed and we said we need you in design and such now so they're moving out and Hera and Zeus requested and we're following it up now and they think us again

*Morrison Knutson and it's related and is spelled with a d not t but they do a lot of water work too but only by boat not underwater and not so much tumbling but they do a lot of commercial work commercial buildings and their gigantic and we're going to fire John and company today they choose to be fired others are opting out Tommy to be fired too

*floor Daniels we are firing John remillard & company and Tommy f some opting out some acts are up to be fired and lots of mustang it's a giant company it's a commercial company and Jesus Christ these people at home little f****** assholes on the screen after attacking all these people and killing them he's complaining and s*** to us it's a f****** loser let's do a missile striker out there alone we don't have to but so it's a giant company and they build tons of commercial buildings and we have that coming up too once some events occur you have to let them pass when the diamonds removed

*perini it's a giant building contractor you very huge construction projects a lot of it is commercial and office some retail someone said that the largest retail builder and they're not and do huge complexes for apartments and we're going to be building them and they hold about $500 billion people they are gigantic they're cities

*Turner construction we're firing John remillard and company from the above and this company and a lot of Max want to be fired until then that's fine and you know I just say some reason in this plenty of in writing and others want to stay and they say it's not our fault in harm and you kind of says I understand though the whole thing but they didn't have to do what they did outside of the company we get hard to turn her and people look into it and find out it's huge like Bechtel but granddaddy did that does he feel bad for me and it caused a problem because of John remillard other people could have stepped up the plate and should regret that part of it so he started getting mad and said this actually true. And he's joining mack in the cause because of the conversation. It's a huge company and does tons of retail it is a huge huge company okay it's the largest commercial retail construction company out there and pretty does more industrial but they are catching up and there are other companies that do massive industrial projects like Floyd Daniels Bechtel smaller factories I'm going to be a building many of them shortly

*bar and bar today we fire John remillard and company all of them in a few Max most of them want to stay on and retain the name and reputation and we do need them to stay on they know stuff about construction we know and it's a pain in the ass being the only ones to know cuz that's all you end up doing all day very reputable firm they do a lot of historical stuff for the projects coming up

*Peabody construction and this is another firm that does similar work but no they do a lot of commercial and it's mostly low-rise stuff and it's large stuff and it's stuff in historical areas we're going to need a lot of this company and we're going to need all the employees and we're going to add to it more Max and more people theirs and ours will be added it's going to be a huge company in Massachusetts I'm going to start a big effort there once this Oblivion thing rolls over and it will decon the whole area to a degree much more and better than we could

*Suffolk construction we are approaching them to purchase the company many of them don't want to John remillard and company want to and they want to sell no they want to leave so Suffolk told them to leave and they won't and it's begun the process

*cemex we are firing John remillard and company today and minimax are leaving lots of them believe it or not that sounds surprised cuz they need to control the materials somehow and they said they're just order it but okay have the company of Max is leaving and all of the retards and that's three quarters of the company and we're retaining those who wish to remain ing company it's global there's really nothing bigger when it comes to cement, but of all types

Atlas and named after one of us and yes he's a god and his wife is a Goddess they're beautiful people and very big they're bigger than me and their zigzags size and my grand nephew I call my son because I grew him up and he calls me Father all the time he knows why and I was his mentor he says and still in and that's true although he's going to be pretty big and I'm curious to see how big start drinking milk and orange juice he knows that one a lot of people are thinking of doing it for a science and more but this company is gigantic. And Atlas is speaking now. It's a huge company there's so many employees I didn't know what to do with them I decided something when I get rid of these retarded people and they're fighting the Max on their own but I had to get in there and help make sure the place is safe the dust in the fumes of most of the products are not dangerous except if you inhale them and they're doing that to each other so I have to make sure that we were out of the way. And there was tons of it they were making clouds of it and they're a bunch of assholes and a whole bunch of them died so we went in there and pulled them all out by the end of the day yesterday most of them were dead and they kept filling it up and said it's ridiculous so I made a line and said don't come here if you just come here to die they just kept coming 5000 octillion an area, it's a good portion of each area it's maybe a 10th and they kept pouring in and pouring in finally they're gone and that's all your concrete guys bunch of idiots because we got stupid from breathing it in it messes your lungs up and it's acidic. They wouldn't use the gear. And the retards wouldn't let them. I left it a whole bunch of things no I went in there to make sure it was fine and we tested and we did dispose of them properly and we did not have to get the Portland cement out of their bloodstream LOL in a few pounds because they're big and they're not supposed to be big but they were and we ripped all of them out and now it's our company and I'm proud of it and we're going to need it in this huge project and all over the world. And we didn't send Dan the Portland cement because he's a stinker and because his father was running it still sort of and others but I don't see why we should send it to you at all you're a big huge a****** you'll probably steal it from people and it's going to be around and they'll figure it out and they'll go after you. Atlas and Goddess Wife say. It's a huge huge deal for us that you're such an a****** then you expect stuff you're stupid Dan but we think Atlas for speaking and he is running the company and he's proud of it it's a giant company it's global it is huge there's so much stuff it's not even funny and our son and wife are goddess wife are running the cemex company want to know he's hiring and he wants people who want back at them for what they're doing in the experts in cementing things. And tons of signing on and he wants Atlas and got his wife to consult with him and they say they will and they'll fix the verbage he appreciates it huge companies they were firing these people from and taking over

There are several more

*huge earthwork companies, we're beginning the process on several one is Ackerman drilling and it is also an earthworks company in Earth moving company but they do specialize in drilling. There are many mining and earthworks companies were taking over and the list still have to publish cuz he doesn't remember them Webster engineering is one of them and cashman they're both not really huge but they are big in New England and we do mean all the way down to South Carolina and they'll be ours this afternoon

Thor Freya

Wow this is fast went ahead and just toaster ourselves cuz we're a bunch of bums it's very depressing

Mac daddy

Holy s*** how are you going to make it I've got my dime I'm just going to sit here bothering him and I get stuff no it doesn't work it's been telling me too now Jason is up over the city so I get it so I'm going off to my ships to do something

Trump

Yeah get that I'm going to be moving in and I have to and it's because of Jason so probably fight now and it's going to be over

Tommy f

You started it

Trump

And I'm going to finish it

Tommy f

I hope you're not going to I got really big shifts versus yours

Trump

Am I a smaller but well built and have better armament in a faster

Tommy f

Goodwe fight

Trump

[witchbinchstories]

Should’ve Shown You Sooner

Pairing: Eddie Munson x gn!Reader (Stranger Things)

Summary: You and Eddie Munson have been friends for four years, yet you've never seen all of his tattoos. On a night you impulsively pierce Eddie's ear, you decide to ask about his tattoos.

Words: ~2.7k

Contains: underage drinking, cursing, the act of piercing an ear at home, fluff, no spoilers

A/N: I hope you enjoy this and I hope I did Eddie justice! Please enjoy :)

—————————————————————————

As soon as you return home from school and your extracurriculars for the day, you toss your bag just inside the door of your trailer and ignore your homework in favor of going directly to your best friend, Eddie Munson’s, trailer just across the road. You hang out with him almost every day, so when you arrive at the door, you don’t even bother knocking. At this point, both Eddie and his uncle expect it.

“Y/n, you’re late today,” a voice startles you briefly when you open the door and Wayne is standing directly on the other side of it.

“Oh! Yeah, I joined the art club recently just to try it out and today was the first day I stayed after school for it,” you answer with a smile. “Are you headed out for work?”

Wayne nods in response. “Always working. You kids stay out of trouble,” he says before sliding past you and heading to his car.

“We’ll try!” You call out before going inside.

After making sure the door closes behind you, you skip your way to your friend’s room, swinging the door open quite vigorously. “I’m here!”

“Took you long enough, I thought I was gonna have to eat all of your favorite snacks all by myself,” Eddie says, sitting up from his slouched position on his bed and hanging the guitar he had been plucking at back on the wall in its usual spot.

“Oh shut up, you know I would’ve killed you,” you say with a laugh and an eye roll and then belly flop onto Eddie’s bed.

“Hey, get your shoes off of my bed!” Eddie shoves your feet off the edge.

“Like your bed hasn’t experienced worse than my shoes? I’m pretty sure they’re the cleanest things on here right now.”

He stares at you pointedly. “Fair.”

Eddie’s response makes you laugh. A nice, genuine laugh that makes you feel bubbly. Something only Eddie is capable of causing in you. With a grin still on your face, you take your shoes off and toss them onto the floor and turn back around to face Eddie, your head resting on your hand as you look up at him.

“So. Are you still letting me pierce your ear?” you ask.

“Hell yeah, I’m gonna look great.”

“And all thanks to me,” you say with a proud smile.

“Well don’t say that yet, you might fuck it up.”

“I’m not going to fuck it up!”

The two of you gather all of the things you need to pierce Eddie’s ear: some rubbing alcohol, some drinking alcohol, ice, a needle, an earring Eddie picked out, and a cloth (plus your snacks to the side for when you’re done). The two of you situate back on his bed, with you sitting between Eddie’s legs to easily be able to do the piercing.

“Are you ready?” you ask as you dunk some rubbing alcohol onto the cloth and use it to clean the needle. You eye Eddie as he takes a swig from some bottle of whiskey his uncle had over the fridge.

“Yes,” he answers, taking a deep breath. You set the clean needle to the side and clean Eddie’s earlobe off as well, hopefully making sure he doesn’t get an infection from this. You also hand him the ice to numb his ear while you take your own swig from the bottle.

“Just don’t… hurt me,” he adds.

“It does not hurt that bad, you big baby.”

“See the thing is, I don’t really believe you.”

You give him a look. “Would I ever lie to you, Eds?”

“Yes, I think you would.”

“You better shut up or I’m going to make it hurt.” You gently move his hand away from his ear and pick up the needle to begin.

“Wait!” Eddie leans back away from you, grabbing the whiskey bottle and once again taking a drink. “Okay I’m ready now.”

“Oh my god,” you laugh. “I’m piercing your ear, not cutting your leg off, it’s not going to hurt that bad.”

“I still don’t believe you, you’re just a freak who likes the pain of ear piercings.”

You roll your eyes. “Look, I’d let you squeeze my hand, since it seems like you need that, but I need both of them to do this.”

“Shut up and do it,” he says.

“Alright.” You bring the needle close to his ear and count down from three, stabbing the needle through his ear once you get to one. Eddie lets out a string of curses, causing you to crack a small smile. You set the needle down on the cloth and put the clean earring in his ear.

“There, it’s all done and you look great, as promised. Go look in the mirror.”

Eddie nods silently and gets up to go to the bathroom and look at his brand new piercing. By the time he comes back, you’ve cleaned the materials off of his bed and are eating some cheetos.

“Do you like it?” you ask, voice muffled from the multiple cheetos in your mouth.

“Yeah, you actually did pretty good. Thank you,” he says.

“Told you.”

The two of you spend an hour or two chatting about random stuff, eating snacks, and Eddie even shows you a bit of a song he’s writing. He doesn’t sing any lyrics, he never does before they’re finished, but he shows you the chord progression on his guitar and a very cool riff. Eventually you begin discussing Eddie’s new piercing and then a new tattoo he’s thinking about. 

“I think I want to get another tattoo, I was thinking of getting it on my side,” Eddie tells you, moving his hand that isn’t still holding his ear to feel along where his shirt covers his side. His hair messily falls in his face, somehow making him look cuter than usual. You have to pause to take it in.

“Yeah?” You ask, breaking the silence with a crunch of stuffing another cheeto in your mouth. “What do you think you’ll get?”

A grin appears on Eddie’s face and you can’t help but think it fits nicely there. “Well, I was thinking about getting a snake or something, but I’m not sure.”

“Hm…”

“What?”

“I think you should get a little flower,” you smirk.

“A flower?”

“Yeah, or my face,” you tease, getting close to his face before laying back down flat, still grinning up at him.

“You want me,” he pauses, “to get a flower tattooed on my body?”

You nod and he laughs a short laugh, amused by your antics.

“Permanently? You know that wouldn’t match with the rest of my tattoos, right? You’re smart enough to realize that?” Eddie looks at you teasingly.

“Yes!” You laugh through your words. “You know technically… we have been friends for four years and I have never actually seen all of your tattoos. So really, how would I know if a flower didn’t match?”

He furrows his brows. “No. Thaaat’s not right. You’ve definitely seen them, I would know.”

“I have not, you shithead!”

“Shithead? You’re the shithead!” Eddie grabs both of your hands and starts trying to wrestle you off the bed. However, you’re laughing so hard that you can’t really fight back at this point.

“Eddie! Eddie, stop!” You attempt to push at his chest and when that doesn’t work, you switch tactics, trying to just keep your knees in front of you. When you practically can’t breathe anymore and the top half of your body is almost hanging off the side, Eddie finally stops and pulls you back up to a sitting position.

Eddie sits back against the wall, pushing up his sleeves above his elbows, and looks away to the side as if trying to rack his mind, and he looks back over at you asking: “Have you really not seen them?”

“No! I’m not a liar, idiot.” Your eyes find their way to the tattoos along Eddie’s forearms. You’ve always liked his grunge-y tattoos and the gothic rings he wears. He may not be the most fashionable person, but he definitely has a consistent style that just… matches him. It’s something that’s always drawn you to him. Both the mysterious quality of it and the way he doesn’t care what others think about him, he’s going to express himself how he wants.

You must’ve been staring at his arms for a while, because Eddie clears his throat and looks at you with raised eyebrows.

“Do you… want to see them?” he asks tentatively.

“I— well, I mean I’ve always been curious as to what they are but you don’t… have to show me,” you swallow hard, suddenly nervous.

Eddie shrugs, briefly glancing away from you, one of his hands playing with the hem of his shirt. “It doesn’t really matter to me, I don’t mind.”

“Okay… sure.”

“Yeah?”

You nod as a final response and Eddie mutters a quiet “okay” and begins tugging his shirt off, lightly tossing it to the end of his bed once he’s managed to get it off. You try not to stare at his body too much, but you’re also way too flustered to make prolonged eye contact with him. You’ve thought about Eddie Munson shirtless way too often to feel fully comfortable looking him in the eye right now.

You hesitantly reach out to touch his left arm, but you stop just before you make contact, your fingers barely ghosting his now bare skin.

“Can I…?” you ask, trailing off before completing your sentence.

Eddie clears his throat once again. “Yeah, go ahead.”

You let your hand touch his arm, lightly guiding him to turn it outwards so you can see the knife tattooed on his inner bicep.

“A knife? Very cool, Eddie,” you quietly tease, trying to lighten the tension, and glance up at his face, briefly making eye contact before you turn your attention back to his arm.

He laughs. “Yeah, I, uh… that was the first tattoo I got back when I thought I was tough shit for getting some guy to tattoo me even though I was fourteen, but looking back I’m pretty sure he did not care that I was underage.”

You smile at the story. That definitely sounds like Eddie. With some of the awkwardness subsiding, you scooch a little closer to him and your eye catches sight of an electric guitar on his right shoulder.

“Of course you have a guitar tattoo,” you say, touching the tattoo when you point it out. Eddie turns a little so you have a better view.

“Oh yeah, that one I kinda regret.”

“Why?” you ask, raising a brow. He loves guitar and the tattoo itself looks good, so you don’t understand why he would regret it.

“Well I got it when I just started playing, so I didn’t have my Sweetheart yet,” Eddie looks over his shoulder at the guitar on his wall. “I would’ve gotten her rather than some random guitar. But oh well, I still like it. Annnd I can always get another one.”

“I think it would be very fitting to have a tattoo of your guitar.”

“Oh, I also have this one on my back,” he twists to face behind him as best as he can to show you the d20 he has tattooed on his right shoulder blade.

“That is… so very you. And incredibly nerdy,” you admit.

Eddie turns back around to look you in the eye. “Hey, I am not a nerd.”

“You totally are, you can’t deny it.”

He playfully rolls his eyes and the two of you return to silence as you continue scanning over the tattoos. Your attention becomes focused on the tattoos that Eddie has on his chest and stomach. You trail your hand across his arm and to his upper chest, tracing the designs of the ink there. Eddie’s skin is surprisingly soft under your fingertips. You pause with your hand on his chest, feeling the rise and fall of it as he breathes. You wonder if you would feel a sped up heart rate if your hand was on the other side of his chest, if it would match the speed of yours.

Your gaze travels up from the tattoo on his chest to the guitar-pick-necklace he always wears resting in the hollow space between his collar bones. Your eyes follow the curve of his neck up to his lips. They’re slightly chapped, but they still look like they would be soft and sweet against yours. Your own lips part slightly as you take a deep breath before finally looking up into those soft brown eyes of Eddie’s, which you find to be seemingly focused on your mouth.

“Eddie?” you whisper, breaking him out of his trance and he returns your gaze.

“Yeah?” he whispers back.

“Can I… can I kiss you?” you ask, feeling your hand shaking slightly against his chest.

Eddie slowly nods, glancing down at your lips then back up at your eyes. “Yeah… yeah, you can.”

You lean in and close your eyes, Eddie meeting you halfway and pressing his lips to yours. His lips are soft and they seem to fit perfectly against yours. He seems to hesitate for a moment, but soon deepens the kiss by carefully wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you closer. You press your hand more firmly to his bare chest, stabilizing yourself, and trail your other hand up his left arm to rest on his bicep as you kiss him more passionately.

From Eddie’s edgy and harsh appearance, you’d expect him to be rough and heated, but he’s not. He’s gentle and slow, cherishing the contact with you, cherishing the moment he’s been waiting for the past four years. He should’ve shown you his tattoos sooner if this is what it was always bound to lead to.

You can’t help but get lost in the kiss and the way it feels to finally be having this moment with Eddie. You befriended Eddie your freshman year, and fell for him shortly after. And it was just years of stolen glances and vague flirting after. He’s never been popular by any means, but you’ve always thought that he’s a genuinely interesting person and someone who’s fun to be around. Someone who makes you happy and makes you feel more comfortable in your own skin. You owe a lot of who you are today to Eddie and you think that might go both ways. So now that you’re finally here, kissing someone you’ve always had a thing for and always admired, you think your chest could practically rip open at any second, or your brain could just stop functioning and you could faint in his arms. And when it ends, the kiss simultaneously feels like it lasts a lifetime, but also like it’s way too short.

A harsh knock sounds on the outside of the trailer, startling the two of you apart. A voice calls your name and you soon realize that it’s your mom.

“You need to come make dinner! I’ve got my hands full with the neighbor’s kid!” she yells. Right. You forgot that one of your neighbors has been taking extra shifts at work this week and your mom has been watching her toddler in the evenings.

“Coming!” you yell back. You let out a sigh, not particularly wanting to leave Eddie’s after what just happened between you two, but knowing you’ll get yelled at if you don’t leave at this point. You turn back to him as you get up from his bed. You awkwardly scratch at the back of your neck, not really knowing what to say now.

“I guess I’ll… see you tomorrow?” you say, and it comes out as more of a question.

Eddie nods, fiddling with his rings. “Yeah… see you tomorrow.”

You turn to leave, taking a few steps towards his bedroom door, but pause for a moment. You turn and walk back to Eddie, pressing a short, sweet kiss to his lips and pulling away with a big grin, which he mirrors on his own face.

“Bye,” you whisper.

“Bye,” Eddie whispers back.

You finally actually make your way to leave and as soon as you exit the front door, you jump up in the air and try not to scream your excitement. Then you promptly walk to your own home with a big, dumb grin on your face.

—————————————————————————

Here is a little bonus chapter I decided to write if you’d like to read that as well :) Hope you enjoyed!

[tellerluna-stories]

a long, long time.

PAIRING: zhongli x adeptus! reader

GENRE: hopelessly sappy, oxygen-fighting air boxing kinda fluff!! happy reunions <3

OTHER NOTES: it isn't required but I recommend reading living treasure first! this fic is set in the same timeline after the epilogue of living treasure... or is it

TW/CW: n/a.

A/N: eyOOO it’s the first fic of the year and zhongli rerun banner numero tres, meaning it’s time to go beat a dead horse and write some more stuff with adeptus reader x zhongli!! i wrote this for my friends who (still) haven’t gotten geo grandpa yet, so hopefully this third zhongli fic helps bring the senior citizen home.

on another note, i’d like to announce that i now have a ko-fi! if you enjoy my stories and would like to support the author, please consider leaving a tip~~

Longing.

It was a strange, almost incomprehensible feeling; sometimes one could almost forget it was there, if you distracted yourself from it enough. But that would be only a temporary solution, for as soon as you let your guard down, if you let your composure slip for even just a moment- it would return ten times stronger, feeding on your heart like a ravenous butterfly.

You sit under a large tree, its peach-blossoms drifting in the air about you like large snowflakes. In your lap was a porcelain tea-cup, now empty of its contents, and your hands fidgeted restlessly at a ring that you were wearing. The sun had fulfilled its duties for the day and was now in the middle of bidding good-night to the world, its golden rays painting the sky in soft hues of pink, orange and purple.

Days, months, years, centuries— you had lost count of how long you had been waiting. You were no longer sure if the time that had passed was long or short, for adepti did not keep track of time the way mortals did; but at the very least, you knew who you were waiting for.

He promised to return, you tell yourself silently. He was many things— old-fashioned, sometimes a bit dense, clueless when budgeting mora… but he was a man of his word.

Longing fluttered its iridescent wings, perching on the flowering cusp of your heart to take a sip of sweet nectar; you winced, your heart aching viciously as it drank deep of love. One might say that such a beautiful creature should not bring pain, but as with everything in creation, there is a reason for things being the way they are. For blossoms and butterflies depend on the other in order to exist, and it only makes sense that love and longing would do the same. Temporary partings make reunions only sweeter, and just as the old saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Standing up, you brushed off your clothes with a sigh and peer toward the horizon, though you already knew that it was futile. Everyday you would wait outside, searching for a familiar silhouette to appear once more, and everyday you would see nothing. Today would be no different…

Your heart leapt into your throat suddenly, excitement and panic taking rein over your instincts. In the distance, you could make out a faint smudge of a silhouette— it was too far away to tell, but…

“Zhongli!” You cupped your hands around your mouth and shouted, the wind carrying your voice away. The figure straightened up at the sound of his name, his tall stature and upright carriage giving his identity away. Your lips curve upwards into a breathless smile— you could still recognize him every single time.

Dropping the tea-cup into a soft cushion of flowers, your legs start running before you even realise it. He also begins to run to you, striding and bounding across the ground like a nimble deer.

All sorts of questions crop up in your frenzied mind as you run— what took him so long? Where had he gone? Did he eat well and sleep early? Did he miss you? But there was no time to answer all of that now; those questions could wait.

With one mighty push, you abandon your fear and doubt, leaping into his outspread arms instead.

His hands catching you by your waist, Zhongli whisks you close to him and spins around till sunset hues and pink peach-blossoms blend into one ethereal, abstract painting that any mortal would stop to stare at. But you were no mortal, and there was only one masterpiece that you could focus on in this moment; the warm amber of Zhongli’s eyes that gazed at you with such adoration, the rosy cheeks and lips that flushed with a joy that could only come from seeing you once again. In your long, long lifetime together with him, you had never seen a work of art that had ever moved you to the point of falling to your knees and weeping— till today, that is.

A seat in Celestia is nothing compared to this, you think. As long as this world had him in it, there was no better place to be than here.

“Why do you weep, dearest?”

His voice is soothing, although you’d have been an idiot not to hear the faintest trace of laughter in it. Zhongli lowers you to the ground and gently cups your face in his hands, brushing away any stray tears with his thumb.

“I can hear you holding in your laughter, you know.”

“I know full well that you can. But…” He catches a falling peach-blossom and tucks it behind your ear, a soft smile on his face. “I would much prefer not to sleep outside tonight, so therefore I will try to hold it in till you’re in a better mood.”

You snorted, shaking your head at his craftiness. “So it seems that six thousand years of living has given you some sense after all, Zhongli.”

“To be precise, it was six thousand years of living with you.”

“Remember your dignity, my love.”

“I always do, dearest.”

The two of you share a giddy smile at the nicknames, knowing full well that you’d probably be too embarassed to use them later. But for now, shame and embarassment had no hold over you— sometimes it was better to take the leap and cringe at your mistakes later, rather than to hold back and regret that you never did it at all.

“I missed you,” You buried your face into his shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of glaze lilies on his coat.

A slight chuckle rumbles through his entire frame as his hands tighten their hold around your waist; though Zhongli doesn’t say anything aloud, you already know that he missed you, too. You linger for just a little while longer, basking in the joy of finally being reunited with him once more.

[4joonkookie]

27 Candles

💜 Pairing: Namjoon x Reader

💜 Words: 3.5K

💜 Summary:

A 12 hour diary of Namjoon’s 27th birthday.

💜 Tags/Warnings:

Smut, angst, breakup, DaddyJoon, Dom/sub, Daddykink, collars, Daddy/Babygirl, birthday sex, breakup sex, makeup sex, blindfolded sex, butt play, rough sex, spanking, riding, grinding, dirty talk, back scratching, fluff, Happy Birthday to the only man I’d call Daddy, not beta read, wish I had more time.

2:30 PM

After spending hours agonizing over your approach, you call Namjoon to wish him a happy birthday. It’s been a while since you’ve heard his voice. The low rumble sends vibrations through your body.

“We should celebrate,” you insist, exposing your ulterior motive.

“What do you want to do?” he muses.

You're quiet for a while, then take a deep breath.

“It's your birthday. I want you to tell me.”

The request is bold, but subtle enough. He lets out a low laugh, a knowing one, and clears his throat.

“Yeah?” his voice lowers, probably in an area with others. “You wanna be my good girl? Be good to me?”

“Yes,” you reply, just as low though, no one is around you. “I want you to have what you want for your birthday.”

Arousal pools in your belly while you fidget with your nervous hands.

“I like that idea,” he hums. “So I'll come by the apartment when I'm done?”

“No,” you assert, disrupting your compliance. “Can I see your new place?”.

He’s had his own place for over a month now but the place you shared is still “the apartment”.

“Sure, there’s not much there. It’s basically empty,” he replies.

You assure him that's just fine. Adjusting to living in “the” apartment without him has been hard enough. A new, less familiar place might make it easier. A place not-so-lived-in.

A place he can’t leave you again.

He’s quiet for a long time again before speaking.

“Is this a good idea?” he asks, in the exhale of a heavy sigh. His tone has changed, reality settling in.

“No,” you confirm, shaking your head although you’re alone.

The line is hushed, again. The silence is heavy with all of the unspoken “I miss you”, “I need you”, “something is missing without you”.

You both know where this goes, neither having the strength to step away.

3:37 PM

When the elevators open to his apartment corridor, there is a young woman kneeling at the door. Heart pounding, you walk slowly, keeping your head down and avoid eye contact altogether when she stands and begins to walk toward you. You quickly turn your head and breathe a sigh of relief to see her disappear behind the elevator doors.

A decorative basket sits at the front doorstep. You snatch it up, enter the lock code quickly and shut the door behind you.

The basket holds a bottle of champagne on dry ice. Also, a pair of lace panties. Two fixture items, surrounded by decorative flowers, candies and a notecard.

The note is a handwritten message about missing Namjoon on his birthday and a promise of wearing the panties “next time”; a drawn heart and scribbled name.

You open the champagne, chug from the bottle and toss the rest to the trash, attempting to discard the jealousy panging in your gut.

The breakup was two months ago. You hadn’t exactly agreed to “be friends”, it just happened. Though, you haven’t seen each other in person since he moved his things out.

You take in the view of the place. It’s enormously empty. The refrigerator and cabinets are empty, a layer of dust covering the bottom of the inside. A laptop and recording equipment are the only things set up in the living room alongside a couch. The Bedroom has no walls and sits on a raised platform in the living room, a total bachelor pad. Condom wrappers lay on the bedside table near the unmade bed. The bathroom counter, cluttered with his products and potions. You pick up the bottles one by one, searching for what’s new about him. Finally, the closet. You choose a shirt and to put on and discard everything else.

Your phone buzzes, Namjoon saying he’ll be there in about an hour. It’s sooner than you thought but you order groceries anyway. It always takes longer for him to get home than he says.

“Home.” You think. This isn’t home.

4:58 PM

Surprisingly on time, he arrives carrying handfuls of delivered bags.

“You bought groceries?” He uses his foot to close the door behind him.

“Yes,” you reply, removing bags from his hands. “Why don’t you have groceries? Just hire someone to do it.”

“Why hire someone when you’re willing to do it for me?”

“I didn’t,” you banter. “I hired someone to do it.” You shrug.

You close the refrigerator behind you. His phone starts to ring, he silences it.

“Where did you get champagne?” He questions.

When you casually mention the name of the woman who signed the card, he stiffens. Checks his phone, frantic.

“You talked to her?” He remains calm, but you can tell he’s uneasy.

“Yeah, I ran into her dropping this off on my way in. She’s sweet,” you string him along, feeling a little bratty “She said she wishes she could’ve seen you on your birthday.”

He gives you a long look and you hold his gaze.

“Liar!” he laughs, approaching you. His demeanor is calming, his smile relieves something in that “something is missing” category.

“How do you know her name?” He asks curiously.

You stall, not wanting to admit your resentful gesture.

“Oh there was a note, I must’ve misplaced it,” you say, appearing (hopefully-to-be) absent-minded.

He reaches a hand to peek in the trash can. Before he can, his phone rings again. He silences it immediately.

“Is that her?” You ask, casual, distracting.

He shifts uncomfortably but is honest. “We were going to meet up today. I cancelled.”

You tilt your head. “You said you didn’t have plans.”

“I didn’t,” he says plainly.

You hide a shy smile, briefly ducking your head. “And if I hadn’t invited myself over?” you tease.

“I’d be wishing you had.” He gets closer and a familiar electricity buzzes through you. He rests his hands too comfortably on your back, pulling you in, hugging you too tight, smelling your hair.

“I missed you,” He nuzzles his cheek to yours, brushing against you. The moves are slow, requainting.

His lips press against yours and you feel yourself slipping back into him. You try to shake off the feeling, remembering what you discussed on the phone.

“So, what do you want?”

He follows along, seemingly eager to take the edge off of these heavy feelings for a while too. He guides you back to the wall.

You can feel the undertones changing. His gaze darkens, your body being enclosed in his arms.

A hand moves to your bare neck, strokes the soft skin. Your heartbeat quickens. After some back and forth, you ultimately decided not to wear the collar. Not his to claim anymore, anyway. He silently acknowledges the absence of it and moves to your waist.

“It was very rude of you to throw away my things just because you’re jealous.”

“Not jealous,” you pout, and his lips drag against your neck. He bites down at your words causing you to gasp. He pins your hands above your head, against the wall while continuing work on your neck.

“Say it,” he chides. “Tell me how jealous you are that someone else can be good for me.”

Your blood boils, thinking of the woman at the door, condoms on the nightstand.

“And how many good girls do you have?” You query, calmly.

He squeezes your wrists above you. “Say it. And I'll tell you.”

You sigh heavily and give in. “Ok, I’m jealous, you admit.

He giggles between kisses on your skin. “I know.”

“So? How many?” Not giving in to his touch yet, still wanting to know.

He shrinks the grip on your wrists to one hand and uses the other to brush a finger against your lip.

“There are many girls who are good to me but I have only one good girl.”

He releases your wrists and your lips crash together, tongues passing sloppily. You drink each other in after months apart.

“Don’t move,” he instructs, and pulls away. You stand still, watching him disappear into the bedroom. He quickly reemerges with hands behind his back.

“Turn around,” he says, before he can make it all the way back to you.

Without hesitation, you turn and place both hands on the wall, bracing yourself. You feel his presence behind you and it all goes black. A silky fabric drapes over your eyes, a knot being tied just behind your head.

You reach behind yourself to grab at him. “What are you doing?!” The sudden darkness is startling, shocking.

He wraps arms tight around your body to still you.

“Shhh….,” he soothes. This is what I want.” A hand slides beneath the hem of your panties, circling fingers at your wet center, free arm holding you tight to his chest.

He raises his fingers to your lips, offering a taste of yourself.

When you release his fingers, he loosens his grasp on your body and grips a hand at the back of your neck. You straighten up on two feet.

“Walk,” he demands.

After walking a ways, your back hits the mattress.

You can’t see him but his hands are hot on your skin, traveling in unseen paths. You can hear your breath, loud. The quiet in the room is loud.

It’s dark, but the fear begins to fade. All other senses are heightened.

There is a sense of right with his hands on your skin again, lips on yours again, his scent filling your nostrils again, feeling his weight above you again.

He drags his tongue slowly down the center of your body, between your breasts, over your navel and fastens his mouth to your center making you squirm as he sucks below, arms hooked around your thighs.

He licks lovingly, skillfully, and pulls away too soon. He pulls you up by your arms and guides you to sit up.

“Show me what a good girl you are?” he whispers above you. The whisper is crystal clear, echoing in your ears.

You nod into the darkness and hear him removing clothes. Cock free, he pushes the tip to your lips and pushes in slow, to the back of your throat, holding himself there.

“No hands,” he warns. He slides out just as slowly and you do your best to control your gags.

He pushes in again, too quickly and deep. You pull away, coughing and trapping his shaft with your hand.

“No.” he pushes your hand away. He grabs your chin, prying your jaw open and pushes in again. Drool spills and tears moisten the fabric over your eyes. He grabs the back of your head and pushes it flush against his pelvis, no room for grabby hands.

You choke and back off of it, using both hands this time to remove it. You cough when he pulls out, a string of saliva still connecting you.

It’s been a while since you've done this but somehow, it’s more difficult because you can’t see.

“Bend Over,” he growls.

You turn over and feel the familiar caress over your cheek before he moves, muscle memory. He lays a hard smack and you moan, spine lighting up. You smile gleefully to yourself. A familiar warmth overtakes you.

“You’re out of practice,” he taunts, “Need to remember how to behave.”

Another hit, and you cry out again. Spanks, all the more exciting and titillating behind a blindfold.

“You want to give Daddy what he wants, you said?” you hear his voice from behind you.

You nod, zoned in on your lack of vision.

You don’t sense the next hit coming, it’s so much more intense. You’ve been punished for not using words. Without hesitation, they come spilling out.

“Yes, Daddy.”

This.

This was definitely missing. Not so much that you need to be punished but that you want to be tamed.

And no one does it like him.

He slides two fingers into you from behind. You moan and buck back, bouncing on his fingers.

He leans down to lap you, licking up from your pussy and his fingers up to your ass, prodding his tongue inside the tight muscle.

He moves away and you hear the click of a bottle. Cold lube spills over your exposed skin.

Two fingers still in your pussy, He gruffly pushes a third to your bum, pouring more lube with a free hand. He pushes to the webbing of his hand and holds it, giving you time to adjust.

“Good girl loves being filled up, huh?”

You nod before catching yourself. “Yes, Daddy.”

He adds a second finger inside, two in each opening now, scissoring and stretching you open.

You sob, everything feeling that much more intense and full in the dark.

He pulls his fingers out of your body with a lewd pop.

“Are you ready to try again?.”

“Yes.” Something clicks in your mind and has your body assuming the previous position.

The shock of the sensory change and overwhelming emotion before had you too frantic, unable to focus.

Now, bridled in just the right way, he pushes into your throat with no objections from your body, only eager acceptance.

He begins thrusting at the back of your throat. You relax your jaw and control your gags. The darkness isn’t so startling anymore. It helps you focus on controlling your muscles, a meditation almost. You grip the sheets to keep your hands away.

He pulls out and you try to even your desperate breath, swallowing pooled saliva.

He tests your compliance, pushing to the back again, using two hands to hold your head down, letting your face slide off silently.

“There she is,” he strokes your hair as you wipe your mouth. “There’s my good girl.”

The praise fuels you, feeling pleased and settled.

He turns you over again and slides inside right away, slapping hips against you. You whimper and move your body with his.

You nearly ascend when he pushes his index finger into your stretched ass while still thrusting inside.

His cock thrusts against your g spot and presses against his finger behind your walls.The repeated pressure on both sides makes your knees shake. The sound you make is almost primal, body falling limp, spiraling through an orgasm.

He frees his hands and pushes your shoulders flat to the bed to slam inside. You lay, boneless as he grunts and growls through his own orgasm.

Falling beside you, he removes the blindfold and gestures for you to lay on his chest.

He pets and strokes the places he’s left marks. He slides his thumb along your worked jaw.

You didn’t realize how badly you’ve missed this feeling of safe, being claimed again.

8:09 PM

Limbs draped together laying on the bed, Namjoon carries on about his most recent lyric-writing.

Words, spilling out a mile a minute, eyes focused outward, trying to find a lyrical solution by talking aloud.

You study him, just as you always had. The same ,familiar motions and conversation but a different background.

It’s unmistakable.

It’s not any particular location that’s “lived-in”. This place echoes with empty and still smells of fresh paint.

It’s the relationship, the vibes. You and Namjoon are lived-in.

His voice, his touch. You know it’s everything you need but know it won’t last. You broke up for a reason, a dark cloud lingering over your temporary reconnection.

You try not to think of it, letting this temporary elation carry you both to the point where you must eventually take stock of what’s happening and acknowledge that you’re worse together, no matter how good it feels right now.

Despite your silent spiral, he continues talking, unbothered. You watch him, endeared, absorbing every morsel of himself he has to offer before you part again.

Eventually, he catches himself. “Sorry, should I stop?”

You climb on top of him and snag the nearby blindfold. You playfully spread it over his mouth and a giggle erupts from underneath. You slide it up to his eyes, mimicking your position from earlier. He inhales sharply and smiles.

You take his earlobe into your mouth and suck marks to his collarbone, not caring of the consequences. He doesn’t stop you, hissing and grabbing at your hair.

You relish In taking him like this, the breakup, giving you freedom to reciprocate this notion and him, the freedom to surrender to it.

You lean down and graze your teeth over his nipples, a secret sensitive spot.

He gasps and lets out a whimper. It was beautiful. You chase it again, sucking and blowing cold air over them.

Still naked, you grasp the shaft and wrap your pussy over him, eyes rolling back at the pleasing friction.

You slide up and down, chasing the high.

He’s moaning in a way you’ve never heard, the intensity of not having vision.

Still above him, you plant a foot on the ground and slide his length inside of yourself.

Your hips move above him, slowly at first. You watch him, every pant and bead of sweat dripping. You get to see him in a way you couldn’t if he could see you back.

Soon, it feels too good, dick rocking right on your spot, fast and deep. He moves his hips faster below you, a signal to speed up.

You rock back and forth, squirming and squelching on his cock, feeling a little freer that he can’t see you, but only feel you so intensely.

He sinks and drags fingernails down your back with a hiss and a moan. He keeps his nails buried in your skin and holds your hips down.

“Fuck,” he pants as you pull the blindfold loose to see him come.

His hands grab yours and you use your laced hands to brace yourself, squeezing fingers tight when you both come.

It feels like an official reuniting, coming together again. Having more even ground this time, just experiencing this together.

Now, all is right again. Doubt, drowned just a bit longer.

11:51 PM

You’re in a marathon of a conversation, catching up on the last few months.

You laugh and talk and joke, just like old times. He grabs you by the waist.

He kisses you. Long and full of expectation.

“Just remind me why.” He exhales and pushes his forehead to yours.

“No, Joonie, we can’t do this_” You feel thorns grow on your skin and try to push away.

He doesn’t remember yet. This is a beaten path. As much as you missed the four walls you shared, by the end of it all, it was suffocating. Walls, closing in.

“Please,” he pleads. “Because i’m looking at you and we’re here talking and kissing and fucking, perfect as it always was and I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why we’re not together.”

You shake your head as tears burn at your eyelids.

“No, Namjoon, we cannot have this fight again…” you try to free yourself again. There’s so much more to it all than sex and conversation.

“Who’s fighting?”

“You know why we’re not together,” you argue. It was bad for a long time. We fought and fought_…”

“Maybe we didn’t try hard enough,” he interrupts.

You look at him, shake your head.

“I did.” Tears falling freely now. “We can’t see each other anymore. It’s not fair. Not to either one of us.

You laugh to yourself. “We both knew it was a bad idea. We knew we’d end up right back here.”

“And where is that?” he asks, soft tears spilling from his sharp eyes.

You don’t answer. Just offer a weak smile as you quickly dress.

“Happy Birthday.”

And just like that, it’s all over, 2 strokes to midnight.

12:13 AM

You turn on the lights to “the” empty apartment and intentionally don’t look around. Any progress you had made at making the place feel like just yours are back at square one.

Your body is heavy with regret, can’t believe you let yourself drown in him again.

You crawl under the covers and wait for it to be just not so hard, back turned away from the side of the bed that feels so devastatingly empty.

2:30 AM

You stir awake from a noise at the door. The knock sounds again, waking you completely.

You sleepily drag yourself to the door.

There he stands, eyes swollen, looking lost and vulnerable.

You stare at each other in the doorway, unable to tell if there are a million unsaid things being spoken or just emotions spilling sloppily around with no rhyme or reason.

The same electricity fires inside. Even though you can’t remember what you said when you left.

The only thing you can remember right now is how right it is that he’s here. And how wrong it was when he was gone, and how empty his side of the bed is.

You extend your hand out, inviting him in. He looks for a long time and finally accepts. You shut the door behind him, locking you both back into those four walls.

[watchyourbluesturngolden]

howard stern

I'M BACK BESTIES!!!!! i'm not totally back to my normal writing, but I finally got through a whole piece! anyways I really liked this and i hope you do too :)

warnings: howard stern being a bitch, talk of weight & body image

word count: 2.1k

"Hello Harry, how are you doing today?"

"I'm well, thank you," Harry answered with a smile. He was on the Howard Stern Show, his first interview since Stevie had been born. He hadn't really wanted to; Howard was kind of a prick. Everyone knew this, but Jeff was convinced this was the right move. He said it would be good for Harry to get back into the swing of things, and no one else was available on short notice. In the end, Harry only agreed because you had pushed him to, reminding him it wouldn't be a very long interview and then he wouldn't have to interact with the abrasive man again for a long time.

"That's good to hear," Howard said. "How have you been these past couple months? Have you been getting anything done?"

"Not much that's music related, honestly," Harry laughed. "I've been busy with family things."

"Yeah, you've kind of been hiding away from the world for a while here, what's that about?"

"Well, as I'm sure you already know, my wonderful wife had a baby recently, so I've been pretty busy... just navigating the world of fatherhood." A smile crept onto his face at the mention of Stevie.

"That's a lot, isn't it? Babies are awful at that age," Howard chuckled.

"Uh- I wouldn't say awful," Harry's smile dropped a little and he sighed internally. He already knew how the rest of this interview would go: thinly veiled insults, questions that were way too personal, and having to pretend he didn't want to get up and walk out of the room. But he knew that wouldn't be a very good look for him, so he gritted his teeth and tried to think of happy things. Specifically, the fact that he would get to go home to his wife and baby in less than two hours. "She's a very sweet baby, we're completely in love with her."

"Yeah, sometimes they're cute, but mostly they just cry and wake you up in the night, don't they?" Howard asked smugly, as if he knew Harry's baby better than Harry did.

"Well, of course she wakes up in the night sometimes. She's hungry, can't blame her for wanting food, can I?" Harry asked, trying to speak lightly and with a smile, but he could feel his patience slipping. He was ready to go home and he was not in the mood to pretend to be happy when this man was clearly insulting his child.

"Sure, I just wish babies could be a bit less annoying when they want something."

Harry nodded, plastering a smile that hopefully looked real on his face.

"So, besides the annoying baby, how's the family? Everybody healthy over there?"

Harry nodded. "Everybody's happy and healthy. A little sleep deprived, of course, but we're managing well, i think. And by we, I mean Y/N. She's truly... just amazing. I have no idea how she does it- she's the one keeping everything together. There's no way I could do any of this without her."

"Yeah, she seems pretty great! I remember though, at first we were all a little uncertain about her. She's not exactly like the other women you have a history with, is she?"

"She's-" Harry started talking, but Howard cut him off.

"I just mean, we were used to seeing you with models and actresses and the like, so it was a bit of a shock to see you with one of us commoners, you know?"

Harry huffed a small laugh, still trying to sound polite. "When you love someone, that's all that matters."

"Right, of course, but don't you get bored sometimes? You stopped going out so much when you got with her, almost like she was keeping you captive or something," He laughed.

"Are you asking me if my wife forced me to stop hanging out with my friends?" Harry squinted at the man.

"No, of course not, but..." He leaned closer with a malicious gleam in his eye, like he was about to hear some big secret. "Did she?"

"No," Harry said firmly. "She did not."

"Okay, okay, if you say so," Howard put his hands up, but then he leaned in again and spoke in an exaggerated whisper. "Blink twice if you need help."

Harry played it off with a laugh, crossing his arms over his chest.

"He's good," Howard laughed loudly. "Anyways, let's move on. Since you two are supposedly so happy-" He paused again, as if he expected Harry to cut it and give some dramatic confession about how terrible his relationship was behind closed doors. Harry only raised his eyebrows, signaling him to continue talking. "Tell us about that. When did you two get married again?"

"Almost 2 years ago," Harry said with a smile. "Our anniversary is coming up, actually, it's in 3 weeks."

"Oh wow, you guys moved fast with the whole kid thing, huh?"

Harry nodded. "We both knew we wanted kids and were ready to have them, so... yeah."

"Yeah, no point wasting time, right? How was Y/N after having the baby- Stevie, right?"

"Yeah, her name is Stevie," Harry smiled. "She was good. Again, she's amazing for going through that. She's- i'm just so lucky to have her."

"Did she bounce back right away?"

"I'm sorry?" Harry's brow furrowed.

"You know, did she get her figure back fast? I know that's a big issue for some women," He laughed again.

"Are you-" All traces of Harry's smile were gone now.

"I just mean, I hope she's working to get rid of the baby weight," Howard said casually, as if his words weren't extremely rude. "Just to make sure she can fit into her old clothes!"

Harry cleared his throat. He knew he had to speak very carefully, since this was something you had been very self conscious about. "Well, the two of us are concerned with the new life she brought into the world, not some old clothes, but she looks as beautiful as ever. The amount of pressure women face to live up to certain standards is disgusting to me, and it's especially bad for new mothers. My wife just went through an incredible process, she grew an entire human being in 9 months, then went through labor and the delivery, and she's being told to worry about her figure? That's wrong."

"Right, right, of course," Howard smiled, but Harry could tell he was annoyed at how he couldn't be tricked into speaking badly about his wife.

"I'm really over the whole thing, honestly," Harry said. "And I'm not even the one going through it."

Howard laughed nervously, seeming to finally take the hint that Harry was uncomfortable and annoyed with the topic. "Let's talk about your latest movie, why don't we?"

Harry was closed off through the rest of the interview; anyone could see that. He laughed less, his arms stayed crossed, and his answers were short. He was professional, but it went no farther than that. There was no more playful joking or easy conversation, just Harry trying to get through the interview as fast as he could. When it finally came to a close after his final song, Harry couldn't pack up fast enough. He made sure to say a polite thanks and goodbye before he hurried out to his car.

He sighed deeply before picking up his phone to call you.

"Hi baby!" your happy voice came from the other end. That was good, he assumed that meant you hadn't listened to the interview yet.

"Hi love," he smiled, his mood already improving just from hearing your voice. "Did you listen to the interview?"

"I have been- I couldn't right at the beginning, Stevie was crying, but I caught the end. Why?"

"Why was she crying?" Harry ignored your question, instantly worrying about his baby.

"Sometimes babies cry for no reason, Harry. She's okay, I promise. Anyways, what's up with the interview?"

Harry sighed. "Just the normal for a Howard Stern interview- he asked some very personal and rude questions. Just prepare for that."

"What else is new?" You laughed. "Are you coming right home?"

"Yeah, unless you need anything?"

"Nope, I think I'm good. See you soon!"

"Love you, bye," Harry said, ending the call and starting the car to begin the drive home.

-----

"I'm home," Harry called, removing his coat as he walked in the door.

"We're in here," you responded, not moving from your spot on the couch where you were nursing Stevie.

Harry walked in, a small smile on his face as he looked at the two of you.

"Hi," He sighed, plopping down on the couch next to you.

"That bad, huh?" You asked, taking in his dejected tone.

He hummed in response, leaning his head on your shoulder. "Those interviews are... always something."

"Yeah, I only caught the end, but you sounded pretty upset. What did he say?"

"He just..." Harry shook his head. "I don't think you should listen to it."

You turned your head to look at him. "Why not?"

"He's just very rude and pushy, as always."

"Yeah, i figured, but I wanted to hear your songs," you argued with a small frown. "Did he say something really bad, or...?"

"He just makes some very impolite comments about you and our family."

"Oh," You nodded lightly. "I think I'll be okay, baby. I appreciate you trying to protect my feelings, but I'm used to it at this point, and I really couldn't care less about his opinion of me."

"Alright," he sighed. "If you're sure." He pulled out his phone, checking his email and going through some messages while you started the interview from the beginning. You could hear him grumbling under his breath and huffing every time Howard said something rude, but you ignored it, just laying a hand on his leg to calm him down.

By the time it was over, Harry was clearly not too happy. "I can't believe I went back on that show," he shook his head. "I'm never doing that again. I'm so sorry about what he said about you, I honestly should have just left-"

"It's okay," you cut him off with a smile. "Also, it was kind of hot to hear you get mad at him."

"Yeah?" He smiled back. "I thought I was very tame, actually. I wanted to say some other things, but I figured that wouldn't be a very good look for me."

"Right, but the way you attacked him but stayed professional... very hot," you laughed, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," He smiled, turning his head to kiss your cheek in return. "Is she done? I really need to hold her after the day I've had," He sighed dramatically, throwing his head back.

"I'm sure," you laughed, handing Stevie over to him and pulling your shirt back into place. "She's all yours."

"Hi baby," he cooed, holding her close to his chest. "I missed you so much."

Stevie yawned in response, cuddling into him.

"Oh, you missed me too?" He grinned. "See that? She missed me."

"She did," You agreed. "She was looking around when she heard your voice on the interview, she wanted to know where you were."

"I'm sorry," he pouted down at her. "I'll never go away again, and I'll never let the bad man be mean to you again."

"I don't think she's too upset about it, Harry," you laughed. "She is only 3 months old. She didn't exactly understand anything that went on."

"Excuse me," he said, looking very offended. "She may only be 3 months old, but she's very smart."

"Right, she's a genius baby, how could I forget?"

"I don't know," Harry shook his head at Stevie. "How could she forget how smart you are, hmm?"

Stevie yawned again, stretching her arms above her head.

"She's ready to take a nap," you said.

"Can I just hold her? I know it's not a good habit, to let her be held to sleep, but I don't want to put her down yet," Harry said, looking up with such pleading eyes, you couldn't possibly say no. Not like you would have said no anyways, but he didn't need to know that.

"Of course you can," you stood up, kissing his forehead before you turned away. "I'm gonna do the dishes, then we can watch something if you want."

"No, let me do those," he immediately protested.

"Harry, it's okay, I haven't done anything around the house since she was born-"

"And I'm not about to let you start now," he cut you off. "Come back here, please? Let's start that new show we were looking at the other night."

"Fine, but later I'm going to help you with the dishes."

"Fine," he smiled, agreeing with your compromise, even though you both knew he would argue later. "Now come back here."

[husbandohunter]

Your Stardew Impact has given me a serious brainrot and I couldn’t sleep on it so here

Imagine the boys getting Isekai to Stardew and meeting their (soon-to-be) s/o a.k.a the farmer who found them in the mines and dragged them out.

It’s basically the same as the original but the reader lives in Stardew universe from the beginning.

The Outlanders who trespassed the Stars [Stardew Valley + Genshin Impact]

Synopsis: You were a simple farmer who lived a simple life before crossing paths with these outlanders. A tale of greetings and farewells tells a story that loving someone was like looking at the stars in the sky; a sense of warmth amidst darkness, where the dots connect no matter what distance it was. But just like stars, they were meant to be unobtainable.

(Basically what happens if the boys get Isekai'd)

Genre: fluff, angst (faceapalm didn't mean to)

Characters: Childe, Xiao, Zhongli

(A/n): Hi anon, haha I didn't think the Stardew Impact series would be this enjoyable. Allow me to serve your brainrot. But just for future references there is a character limit! Also it long, a pro tip to use ctrl+F and type in the name :>

======================

~Childe's Story~

The day you met Childe was perhaps during the most fortunate yet unfortunate hour of your life.

Winter comes by, your fields were left dry, what else was there to do other than mining? You were aiming to build a new Barnhouse before summer comes, fishing only made average income thus you decided to take your pickaxe and hope to run into some diamonds, gold or even better: prismatic shards. However, expensive items could only be found in the deepest parts of the mountains, where dangerous monsters lurk by.

When peeking over the abandoned minecart you so carefully shielded yourself with, you began contemplating whether you've just dug yourself a grave instead. The whole area became infested, you weren't in the best condition and on top of all that, you were out of food.

You decided to make a run for it, with the treasures and goodies at hand, you couldn't give up. However, things only got worse when purple mist began taking over your vision, signaling a lava bat wave drawing nigh. It was thanks to your greed that you ended in such a predicament but it was also your greed that brought you to him.

"W-Woah!!"

You tripped with your toe pointing downwards into a pile of wooden crates. The bats swarmed in shortly after, daunting around the area above but you couldn't afford to look. Your face was down to the ground and you could only rely on your ears regarding their whereabouts. As if Yoba heard your prayers, the lava bats could not seem to find you, confusing them to think you've escaped. And so, they flew away.

"I'm never doing that again," The sudden impact was excruciating, you were sure that your lip bled due to biting too hard. At least the floor felt somewhat soft, cotton-like and warm enough to be comforting. Yet, for some reason it was also a little…bony?

"…Mn…."

Your body jerks up like a springboard when you felt something shifting. A man, no older than his twenties, no older than you, lays sprawled out under your form. He was beginning to stir and you panicked when a pair of blue cerulean eyes pointed into your seemingly shocked ones within the close parameter.

Too close.

The man gives a cheerfully wry chuckle, you could practically feel his breath almost, "Well this is quite unexpected, didn't think I'd end up in this position," he jests, soon his expression began to tighten into a grimace, "Mind getting off me though? With all due respect miss, you're a little-…heavy."

You scrambled to the side while still kneeling, "What the hell, who are you?!"

"Hm," The man didn't answer, instead he pushed himself upright and turned his attention to examine the surroundings, "Where are we?" He paused when he noticed how the ceiling was made of rocks, "Wait, is this a cave?"

"Ninety two floors deep and surrounded by monsters," you sighed in frustration while rubbing your head with your palm, "Seriously, whoever you are you shouldn't be here, especially if you're not even carrying the necessary supplies."

"Hey, I just got here. I'm just as confused as you," he puts his hands up in a defensive gesture, "But how strange," he mutters to himself, lowering his arms ever so slightly before pinching his chin in deep thought, "I swear it was the right portal…or maybe it was the other one? Hmmm, could it be the effect of the hidden seal?"

I have so many questions. You sweatdropped nervously. Here you were, hours spent to get to the deepest parts of the earth and looking like a cavewoman while his clothes were practically untouched, nor did they seem to be a recognizable fashion. You've seen many odd events within Stardew Valley but not to this extent, "Alright you know what, let's forget about it for now. We need to get out of here before those lava bats come back for us again. Otherwise we're toast," you gestured to the lava pool, "Literally."

He gave another one of his gleeful smiles, you wondered if he was afraid at all, "Sounds like a solid plan to me. Judging by the equipment you're wearing, you seem to have been here for a while. You know your way around?"

Figures that he doesn't know, you thought, "I'll lead."

"Glad we're on the same page. Though, we've only just met and yet you're still willing to help a stranger like me," he mentions in an off-handed manner, perhaps he wasn't used to generosity ever since being recruited as a harbinger, "But not that I'm complaining. You have my thanks, comrade."

"(Y/n)," you tell him, "That's my name. I'm a farmer that resides in this town."

"I see. A town it is then," he inquires, "Call me Childe, as where I'm from, not sure how to answer that anymore."

"What do you-"

But before you were able to question him further, a hoard of lava crabs were spotted crawling it's way towards where Childe sat. He shot you a confused look and turned to the direction, amusement sparks in his eyes,

"Lava crabs? You've got to be kidding me," your arms have already grown tired long ago, at this rate, you figured it may be best to pay a visit to Harvey's doctor office and check up for any muscle strains that have occured during the process. You most likely have considered how heavy your items felt now. Partaking in another battle would only make it worse.

"Ah an opponent, to think this place wouldn't have a set of new monsters to fight. I was growing tired of beating up hilichurls all the time."

His casual reaction caused you to scrunch up your nose in disbelief, "We're being ganged up on and your first response was that???"

Childe paid no mind, instead he propelled himself back to his feet using his trained reflexes and swaggered towards the crowd, "Relax girlie," Stopping just after a few steps, he turns his head ajar over his shoulder with a floppy smirk spreading his lips, "I've got this."

You held in your breath, wondering if you could trust this man. For now all you could do was sit back and hopefully regain some of your strength while observing by the stacks of crates that were abandoned years ago. The lava crabs formed a straight line in front of him, they were smart creatures, cornering their prey in a very well strategized form so that trespassing was out of the question. Childe wasn't intimidated in the slightest, he merely looked down at them with hooded eyes, flexing his fingers for preparation.

"Lava crab…in other words you're of the pyro element," the harbinger holds out his hand in front of him, trying to cultivate the shape of his bow, "A shame. This fight would end much shorter than I anticipated."

However, when he expected his element to manifest, nothing came out. Childe was left dumbfounded.

"Don't just stand there," you screeched, "Do something!!!"

"Wait," he halts you and tries to summon his bow again. Once, twice, as the crabs grew closer still there was nothing, "My powers…they're gone?!"

"Take this," left without a choice, you pushed yourself towards him and shoved Neptune's glaive into his grasp. He examines it with curiosity, but you knew this was also your own well-being you were entrusting him, "It's really easy to use, just-"

When a crab leapt forward, you ran back to create some manageable space for Childe to move in. He delivers a powerful slice using one arm, hitting the crab's weak spot while tossing it toward the side until a dent was formed in the wall. Your mouth parts, fast, he was fast, you didn't even have the time to blink. It was as if he knew the glaive more than you did. Though, the assumption wasn't that far from the truth. Childe was well adept with swordsmanship as he was an expert with many other melee weapons. Which is precisely the reason why he chose the bow as his main, a ranged device, the challenge to keep him on his toes. Just like he was now.

"He wasn't lying when he said he could fight," you watched in mesmerization, each single blow he delivered deemed equivalent to three hits on your part. Childe was both powerful and swift. He was formidable. The way he effortlessly deflected his opponents despite not having an enchantment ring made you forget how much of an idiot he was earlier before. Soon, the lava crabs began to lessen, leaving what remained of their dusted corpse while some retreated back into the depths of the cave.

"Not bad, it was kind of fun!" Childe laughs exasperatedly, glancing at his blue reflection upon the marred blade, "It's been a while since I last used a sword, and still haven't gone rusty either," he hands you the hilt, "Thanks for letting me use it by the way. You seriously got yourself a sick weapon."

"Keep using it for now, I think I'm a little too worn out to handle it," you say regretfully and pointed your nose towards the ceiling, "The mist hasn't disappeared so there's probably gonna be more monsters we'll encounter soon."

Childe looks up as well, "Huh I was wondering what that meant."

"By the way I've never seen anyone fight like that. Exactly what kind of place are you from?" You finally ask, "You somehow ended up in a cave, without anything to defend yourself with and it's not like you know your way out either. Are you...from another world?"

"Huh didn't think you'd draw that conclusion so quick," he comments jokingly, "Guess there's no reason to hide it anymore. Indeed I am from another world, at least, that's what I can tell so far. I've never encountered these types of monsters either."

You couldn't help but be taken aback by his honesty, "That was strangely easier than I thought...."

After escaping the cave, you introduced Childe to the wizard who lived in Cindersap forest, M. Rasmodius. He was extremely intrigued by the concept of an outlander and seemed happy to be of assistance. Since helping others was the culture of Pelican Town, you commissioned Robin to build a small cabin for him to live in temporarily. In return, Childe must accompany you back to the caves and make up for your losses. It was a mutual benefit since he had the opportunity to fight as well.

Childe befriended the townsfolk rather easily. On friday nights where everyone goes to the Saloon to enjoy their time, he would be found in the other room playing pool with the gang (Sam, Abigail and Sebastian)-- you as well when he managed to drag you along with him.

Crashes at your place when you were busy with the farm. You can bet that he would pop up suddenly midday through your window, “Can you use the door like a normal person???” But despite how much you get irritated by this habit, all bygones are bygones the moment he starts a conversation.

He sticks around as you carry your hay batches, sharing his stories. How the organization he worked in was a powerful militaristic force that had authority over many countries. But you didn't see him as a brute since he only joined for the sake of his parents, for the sake of his siblings and their dreams.

You thought of your grandfather who also once told you to pursue your dreams: live a peaceful life away from urban society. However, as long as the harbinger was with you, there wasn't much option for 'peace'.

"Tell me again why you dragged me out here? You know thatI still have a lot of work to finish back in the farm," you trekked your feet through the thick icy sheets with one hand clutching the zipper near your collarbone. It was incredibly windy in Cindersap forest and Childe happened to have convinced you to leave the comfort of your home for 'a surprise favour'. He purposely made a vague statement to draw in your curiosity but if you had refused-- well, that would have led to constant nagging on his part.

"You'll see," is what he said, it was what he told you through this whole ordeal. He lifted his chin to feel the frosty air against his face, "There's this one activity I wanted to try out. Back in Snezhnaya, I used to bring my brother to go skating out on the lakes. It's deadly freezing there so the ice is pretty thick to work on. Haven't done any of that since I joined the Fatui."

You shot him a deadpan glare, "That's why you brought me out here? Why didn't you just go by yourself?"

"Now that's cold (Y/n),” you rolled your eyes at the pun, “Can't you loosen up instead of throwing yourself in a pile of work all day?"

"It's not that I don't want to...I'm just very busy with the farm since it's the last day of the month. At least I want to do as much as I can before Spring comes."

"Haha you're right but you only live once y'know?" Childe noted happily despite your protest, "And like I said before, seize the opportunity when you see it. You never know when it will be your last."

You cocked your head to the side, "What do you mean?"

"Now let's get started shall we?" As you both reach the edge of the frozen lake, Childe takes a step forward ahead of you, "Have you ever gone ice skating before?"

"Yeah but..." You glanced at the glassy surface with skepticism, suddenly struck by hesitance. The thought of drowning made you retreat your steps right away, "I don't know Childe, it doesn't seem that safe."

"That's true if you're not careful enough," he pointed out, "Luckily you have me to help you with that."

"How does that work?"

He placed one foot onto the hardened lake and parts his mouth into a grin, "Watch."

In contrast to your cautious personality, Childe was considered to be more of a wildcard if anything. He loved adventure, just like you except his side often included bloodshed and the thrill that danger carries. You weren't sure if it was worth putting up with his antics or entertaining his idea of skating on thin ice, but you complied regardless. He had a way of delivering his words through that cheery voice you couldn't deny.

Prior to meeting him, life was boring. The corporate world was boring. You moved into your grandfather's farm in order to search for some form of fulfillment that Zuzu city couldn't give and you thought you did now that you had your very own farm, but slowly you began to pile more responsibilities than you could even count.

Everything you did, you did alone.

If it weren't for Childe, you wouldn't have learned the art of surfing on ocean waters. You never would have known the taste of mixing three different ice-cream flavours together despite what strange names they all had. Or what it felt like to mingle with the townspeople rather than mingling for the sake of business. Suddenly, everything became...fun.

Childe wanted to go far and wide. He was always running, so far ahead, somewhere beyond the stars as he could conquer the world to the point you might no longer reach him.

No longer reach him, huh. Curling your fingers into your palm, you renewed your courage and took a step onto the ice.

At the sound of boots tapping behind him, Childe spins around to see you wobble in your stance, nearly tipping over. He slid across to where you were and grasped your arm before you fell.

"Gotcha."

"Thanks," You sighed in relief, "Jeez, this is harder than I thought."

"Guess this is your first time then," he commented with a bit of jest, "Don't stress yourself over it too much, you'll be okay. I got you."

He carefully led you to the center, staying close in case you were to fall sideways again. You awkwardly tried to keep your legs straight, balancing on your own yet the fact that there was still water underneath struck fear into your nerve. It caused you to tremble and eventually skittered backwards.

"Haha ice skating isn't your forte isn't it?"

"I'm just getting started!"

He takes your hand in his before you could even protest, it was one of his many aspects that you found endearing-- the fact his impulse stems from genuine intentions, feelings, not giving them a second thought. The two of you glide using the soles of your shoes, he speeds up ever so slightly and the adrenaline begins to increase until there comes a rush of excitement, freedom. The stress you once had already forgotten once taking flight upon the ice.

"Look Childe! I'm actually doing it!" You couldn't help mentioning with a bit of youthful playfulness in your voice, "It's so smooth and fast! Almost like I'm flying!"

He smiles quietly from a distance, “See? I told you that you'll be fine.”

It was clear to many that the two of you were much closer than what meets the eye.

Childe began to notice the change in your aura. You were happier and much more soulful. Before you were always on the edge, cautious in contrast to his sanguine approach, he couldn't help but be caught off guard whenever you teased him. Or the sudden honesty that causes him to be flustered. By your side, he was no longer a Fatui Harbinger rather more of a puppy, adorable almost.

But when he saw that the reason you changed was because of him, it brought fear into his bones. Why? How did things get to this point? You were lost in a wonderland, ignorant to the blossom that had sprung inside of your chest.

Maybe it was better to be ignorant. Just live in the moment while it can still last.

"You're leaving?"

Standing at the gateway between the mountain cliffside and the starry sky, you call out to the man you've known in a way that carries more than what words could say. Because he left a mark in your years that could never be erased and here he was, trying to erase his existence completely.

Childe lets out a bitter chuckle, he didn't dare to face you, "I didn't expect you to catch up so quickly. You're quick-witted, comrade."

"It's (Y/n)," you corrected, trying to steady your voice so that he couldn't tell the expression you were making, "Why didn't you say anything? What makes you think that I'll just stay silent and let you go on your own way? This isn't a joke Childe! Don't act as if none of it matters to you because it sure as hell did to me."

His lips that held his usual smirk flattens into a straight line, "Even if I did, would it make a difference?"

The world stills. You knew the answer, he knew the answer, you just refused to admit it. One by one, the stars begin to collect themselves until a bridge was formed in front of him, on another day he would be enjoying the scenery alongside you. But today they would be for you alone to witness. The man who you spent your time with had slowly, regretfully, inevitably became a stranger. He was right. It wouldn't make a difference. You were already aware since the day you met him that he belonged to another world and you willingly offered to help him find a way home.

"You know, you could come with me."

Your eyes jolt open. His voice was so free of care. As if he was commenting on something so minor on a casual Sunday afternoon while accompanying you to the beach. But when you came face to face with the harbinger, his expression lackluster, you knew that he meant every word.

"Just you and me, we can travel across the world to our heart's content. I always thought you were an adventurer just like me and you know what, the farm life just doesn't suit you," Childe slowly extends his hand as an offer, for you it was a temptation, "So what do you think? Care to join me?

Your lip quivers. What he said sounded like a sweet dream that you so desperately wanted to take a bite out of. But even so, you thought about the townsfolk, your farm, your grandfather. Their images flashed in as if holding you back, chaining you to the ground, "I can't."

The answer pained you more than it did to him.

"Figures, this is your home after all," he huffs out, " Now do you understand? I can't leave my home either. If I did, heh, I think my siblings would despise me until the very end and I just don't want that. So no hard feelings, okay?"

You didn't reply.

"Don't worry. I won't pressure you if you don't want to," Childe turns back to the bridge, it was almost time, "Do what you have to do (Y/n), hate me if it makes you feel any better. You can even forget about me," he paused, renewing his resolve, "But I know I won't."

"Childe-"

You ran to grab his scarf only to have it ghost through your hands. He was relieved that he couldn't hear your voice, as he returned to Teyvat, Childe wonders what kind of expression did you have before he left? He'll never know.

---

~Xiao's Story~

The day you met Xiao...well, you weren't in the best of the best positions.

This was probably your sixth attempt trying to make it through all levels of the cave and reach the last floor. The quest had been sitting in your drawer for months.

Of course you didn't expect things to be easy, the fortune teller channel you watched every morning had yet to inform you with any good fortune and you would often bump into obstacles that would halt your progress.

But to be fair, sometimes the colourful ore would attract your attention and before you knew it, it was time to go.

So close yet so far. You dragged your feet tiredly against the ground. What time was it? Who knows. Judging by your state, you assumed it had already struck past 12 a.m.

However, today luck seems to have taken pity on you, just...slightly.

You puffed air into your cupped hands for the nth time, huddling deeper into the touch of your coat while trudging into the cave's cold climate. A little longer, any time soon, you kept telling yourself over and over but as if time was frozen, the wait felt like an eternity. Ah how much you wish to be in the comfort of your soft, fluffy bed right now. Though, merely visualizing the image only reminded how achingly freezing it was so you decided it was best to spare yourself from the details.

"I can't do this anymore..." leaning your head against the ice covered cavern, you whimpered, "I should have stayed home."

As you were about to shut your eyelids, something flashed by your peripheral vision. You darted towards the direction it came from, the light was a bright green hue against blue, could it be, "Warmth!"

It seems you jumped to conclusions too quickly. With impatience, you swung around the corner, expecting to find a heat source, only to meet something much more horrifying.

"KYAH!"

They stared straight into your eyes, those demonic eyes tainted by black and fangs that stuck out of the mouth like tusks on an elephant.

However, when the light evaporated you were able to have a better sense of sight, slowly revealing the monster's true form and the body of a human boy. He fell onto his back with a thud and you used this chance to calm yourself from the frightful encounter.

"He's...unconscious?"

You meekly crawled to where he lay and examined closely. Aside from the mask, there were various distinct features that stood out in his attire, his tattoo being one of them, imprinted in what looked like an eagle. You then realized how unsuitable his clothes were in this current situation. At least there were no injuries so far. But was that a good thing? This man practically came out of thin air as if some sorcery had been committed. Witches never left a good impression ever since they cursed your chicken coop. You were hesitant whether to help a stranger who could potentially be one of them or a creation they cultivated. What other explanation could there be?

"I can't leave him here, it's too cold."

Your gaze suddenly falls upon his covered face. The design, although intimidating at first, upon closer look was very alluring in it’s own way. You haven't stumbled upon anything like what the merchants had to offer in Pelican Town and the mask almost looked too foreign. Was he from the east? Curiosity eventually takes over and you gingerly reach for the mask, sliding it off his face.

"Eh...?" You gasp, taken aback by his striking appearance. A part of it made you feel this was no ordinary boy but that didn't mean he should be abandoned in this environment. It would be immoral to let him die in a place like this.

Before you could even make a noise, his eyes bursted awake, grabbing your wrist in a harsh grip. He used his other hand to push against your shoulder until you were instantly pinned on your back with no opening to escape. You choked a sharp sound as you stared with wide eyes. The man was akin to a beast, he had the expression to match it, like the glaring sharp gaze of wolves that roam at the mountain cliffside near Zuzu city and the ferocity of the demonic mask he once wore. You were breath taken but in a more fearful way as he continued to grip onto you tighter with the possible intent to harm.

"Speak!” He demanded, “What have you done to my powers and where have you brought me?"

In Xiao’s case, he was thrown into another world under the circumstances of fighting against one of Liyue’s unknown beasts. He was on high alert, thinking the fight was still ongoing.

You may look human but you could still be a threat. Xiao is the type to act upon instinct in the moment when something feels out of place. Like the spear he wields, he was trained to behave like one: to strike, strike down his foes without hesitation. Don't leave an opening for them to take the advantage. Xiao is a weapon and violence was what he knew best. He couldn't afford to lower his guard even for a minute.

You could say he left a pretty strong first impression to the point you were paralyzed. As he looked at your face, petrified and tense, he wavered and began to reevaluate things. Large doe-like eyes stare into his feline ones. They didn't seem to hold any sort of malice, was it possible for you to be the one who cursed him?

"Eeeeeek! I-I have no idea what you're talking about, let me go let me go!" you cried, "Please don't hurt me!"

Perhaps he shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.

Xiao feels your struggle and eventually gets off to give you some space. Your reaction was understandable, he was used to it anyways. Xiao scoffed to himself, why are mortals so weak? Their strength, if compared to the adepti, was separated by a large gap (Like it always should be). Xiao kept his gaze averted to the side as you rubbed your wrist, focusing his attention elsewhere. He glanced at the vastness of the cave in front of him.

Why was he sent here? For what reason did it serve? Ever since he sealed the contract with Rex Lapis, the guardian Yaksha had never entertained the thought of leaving his country nor did he act upon it; he was far too loyal to his god to do so. But here he was, against his own will yet free from his karmic binds, stripped of his divine powers in the return of endless questions about this new found mortal-like form.

What should I do now?

Choosing not to dwell in any longer, Xiao rises to his feet and proceeds to walk the other way.

"Ah u-uhm sir, where are you going?"

If the universe wanted to test him then he'll find his own answers.

"Wait! Please wait up!"

"Tch."

Although he intended to keep going, Xiao heard you running to his direction and slowed to a halt, some mortals surely do not know their boundaries, "Hmph there's nothing timid about you. Leave me be," he demands without turning around, "Don't forget what I'm capable of."

Stay away.

"I-I know that," you retaliate weakly. Just by hearing his tone made you want to melt away and become one with the ice. He was a scary man indeed, the same one who attacked you earlier. But even so, "That doesn't mean I want you dead! If you go that way, you might freeze to death. Aren't you cold? You don't even have a coat on."

"..." Upon the mention of his predicament, his senses started to kick in. As a yaksha, Xiao wasn't able to be affected by temperature but now he felt his hands beginning to sting, trembling from it’s impact. Ah, so this is what it feels like to be cold. Still Xiao was stubborn and continued to push you away, "What happens to me has nothing to do with you. Now leave, or else."

"I-I can't do that!"

Xiao clicks his tongue in frustration. How annoying. This is why he dislikes meddling with meddlesome humans. But quite frankly, he wasn't sure how to handle your type of forwardness since most tend to back away. And so, Xiao does what he usually does, he ignores you and continues walking, eventually you'll give up on him anyway. However he hears a loud thump and whips around to see your body laying in the snow. The hours of travelling in the cave have seemed to caught up that you inevitably collapsed from exhaustion.

Knitting his evergreen brows together, Xiao lets out an irritable sigh.

...

You wake up to find the sky above your head and your coat draped over your shoulders like a blanket. Dawn was slowly rising above the distance valley, you figured it was around 4a.m in the morning. Rubbing your eyes, you eventually noticed a figure sitting across, admiring the sunrise.

"Ah it's you!"

Xiao jolts ever so slightly, peeking over his bare shoulders until you could see the sun's light casted against his golden irises. Did he stay here while you were asleep? Then, that would also mean he was also the one who carried you all the way up from sixty floors below.

“You're awake,” he noted flatly, “If that's the case, then I have no reason to stay here."

Of course, that wouldn't be the last time you saw him.

You were a tenacious human being, always so insistent in dragging him away from his lonesome personality. He resides in the forest and camps there for the time being (similar to Linus since they’re both homeless lol). But you’d always run in, DAILY and sometimes for the most stupid and mundane reasons. It could either be giving him the snacks you snatched off the table since Xiao refused to participate in parties, or fancy seashells you found on the beach. You didn’t want him to miss out on all those things of course! Although he responds with irritation, it was as if his words went through your ear and then out the other. His efforts were futile (however, he was slowly warming up without realizing).

He learns how easily his body reacts in the presence of food purely because he was hungry. You bring an extra set of blankets and pillows to his campsite when the ones you gave him wore out (he didn’t ask by the way). Xiao needed help whether he liked it or not since he no longer has his powers, hence he couldn't run away. He somehow ends up moving in to live on the small islands near your farm.

Xiao doesn't understand humans very much. Just as he was unable to understand how human emotions work. He was the almighty yaksha, Adeptus Xiao and a formidable beast that killed thousands in thousands of years, at least that's what he used to be. Even now he still has yet to figure out what he was or who he was exactly without a weapon to define his existence. He was made for battle but nowadays, he found himself watering plants, chopping down trees and throwing seeds to the chickens living in your coop. How did everything escalate to this? It baffles him, how much his life changed so drastically.

Haha, you’re Xiao of course! The greatest farming assistant I could ever have.

But above all else, the one thing Xiao couldn't understand among those universal questions, is you.

"Why are you doing all this?" Finally he asked. The urging thought had been persisting at the back of his mind ever since.

You stopped on your tracks and turned to look at him, tilting your head with a complexion made curious, "What do you mean? Ah, did I do something to bother you?"

"I didn't say that," Xiao interrupts abruptly, he folded his arms across his chest and shot you a deep contemplating gaze, " You're...incomprehensible. All I did was drag you out of that cave yet why are you so kind to me? Don't you think you're extending yourself too much just because of one little deed?"

Because to him, saving a life was the norm. He does it unconditionally just like you helped him with those same intentions. Except, Xiao had been pursuing corrupted souls behind the scenes all this time and expected nothing in return. Experiencing someone's gratitude was rather new.

You shook your head, "It wasn't small to me," a satisfactory smile melting onto your face, "I'm here at this very moment, feeling the wind against my skin and smelling the scent that nature carries, these are just the few things I cherish. It's thanks to you that I can still watch over grandpa's farm, that's why I don't feel like I'm overextending myself in any way," suddenly you beam at him, "At first I thought you were a scary person. Haha. Time flies so fast, it's amazing how much can happen in between."

"Hn, you're a simpleton. But that's not a bad thing..." he points out curtly yet softly, "Do as you wish, I won't stop you so feel free to call my name whenever you need my help. I'll be there."

Xiao also finds you to be very clumsy. He couldn't leave your side even for a minute. But that was a lie. He just grew very attached to you.

When you tell him that you've been going into the mines for a quest, he tells you that you're far from capable. So he teaches you how to wield a weapon properly. Xiao was a strict teacher and he intends to keep it that way, he wouldn’t even allow you to set foot in the mines until he finds you capable enough.

You were a meek yet optimistic person, yet you were also strong-willed.

For a place that wasn't his home, he felt it was. And he found that it was all in your presence. Those peaceful hours hiding inside the barn while a storm rages outside, you sit beside him while hugging a sheep close to your chest. Xiao learns how to feed some of them, he even brings seeds for your hen house too. If you were ever short on materials, Xiao would travel to the enchanted forest behind the wizard's tower and get them for you, no matter how late it was. Though if you went by yourself, he'd deliberately go with you despite your protest.

The minute Xiao realized how much he was attached to you, it was devastating. As if the claws of his karmic debt had come back, pulling him into the shadows once more. He was an adeptus with a contract and bound by his duty, he must choose between his god who saved him from a nightmare and you, the girl he fell for, showed him that the world was indeed a beautiful place, he was stuck in an equilibrium and he felt that the binds may even tear him apart if he kept resisting.

But when did he ever have a choice?

"Where are you going Xiao?"

When he heard your voice calling his name, the yaksha willingly pulled himself to a halt. His sunset eyes narrowing from guilt before it shuts with a trembling sigh out of his mouth. Why is it that you always appear during the moments where he desperately needs to get away from you? He planned to sneak out the door, making sure his footsteps were unheard while you slept. And by the time you woke up, he didn't have to face you, he wouldn't have to say goodbye. He won't. Even if what he was currently doing said otherwise. He will never hear himself say those words.

"Xiao?"

Yet, he cannot refuse you. Not now, not ever. You were breathtaken to see a type of expression that you never thought was possible for him to make. The creases that once formed between his slender brows, the heaviness he always carried in his expression was replaced by a sense of sentimentality. Before you could register what was happening, Xiao took his step towards the porch of your house, not once did he tear away from your attention. He slides his hand beneath your jaw and affectionately against your cheek, the fondness evident in his gaze that you almost felt imprisoned by it.

"You never fail to appear in the most inconvenient of times," He gives a weak smile, a smile that makes your heart swell. Despite how much you could drown in his honesty, you couldn’t help but feel there was something wrong, “No matter how many times I’ve tried to push you away.”

You don't know him. You don't know his history and what things he committed in the past. But as if you've known this whole time, Xiao couldn't picture you leaving him for those reasons.

“You’re gentle but you don’t let others put you down. You’re kind but you don’t allow it to be your weakness. I sometimes wonder how it is possible for anyone to be so forgiving?”

"I-I don’t understand why you’re this Xiao. Is something happening?”

He won’t tell you. He doesn’t see the reason why you need to know.

You wince when something poked the side of your neck and you realized it was a tranquilizer. You looked at Xiao with dismay, his face becoming hazier until your vision darkened and could no longer hold your own weight. Xiao caught you around the waist with one arm as you fell unconscious.

"How can you be so stupid...?"

But he speaks as if those words were meant for him.

Pulling your body closer to him, Xiao chains you down into a desperate embrace. A silent scream of desperation. His forehead pressed against the bent of your shoulder and the other arm rested his hand at the center of your back. He will relish in the shape of your body, memorizing every curve both perfections and flaws. The way you fit into his arms and the pleasant smell of nature that you taught him to love, this was the only remnant he was allowed to take. Every detail, he will remember it as if clinging to the last moments of his whole world.

If he was allowed to have a desire, let him meet you again. He prayed to a god, any god-- even if it meant damaging his oath, he will accept his punishment. He prayed to each star in the sky and if he must he'll pray to the devil himself, whatever it is, he will do it for you.

As he painfully lets go, Xiao lets his hand slide off your body until the last thing he felt was the very tips of your fingers. He settles you down gently into your bed. You belong here in this peaceful world, not the one riddled with monsters.

---

~Zhongli's Story~

The Skull Cavern was considered to be the most dangerous mine of Stardew Valley. It wasn't your intention to run into any trouble, all you wanted was to test your cool new galaxy sword on some easy monsters and then be on your merry way. At first.

Just one more floor. You say, before catching an arm sticking out a pile of rocks.

"I-Is that a person?!!!"

You dug as fast as you could, any time soon the mummies would wake up and start attacking. Quick quick! Moving the last rock, you saw the face of a young man, he was asleep but alive! and undeniably attractive oh wow *lip bite*. But despite your attempts of shaking him awake, it was fruitless and the monsters weren't waiting.

Taking out two warp totems, you raised it to the ceiling and chanted a teleportation spell.

It wasn't everyday that you brought a man to your house.

But when you did, he wouldn't be from a cave, six floors down and buried in a place filled with monsters.

"And this small black device you say is some form of communicator? That certainly is intriguing, never in my years have I heard of something so advanced."

However you were beginning to think otherwise. That this man would have been from the prehistoric ages who you managed to unbury after his thousand year slumber. Zhongli sits on the couch across from you while examining your smartphone, a term he claimed had been completely foreign. You were contemplating whether you should bother Harvey despite being past his work hour and book an emergency appointment to see if this man had a special case of amnesia.

You brushed the idea away. There was so much going on and nothing made sense, for now, you decided to settle this on your own.

"Uhm Zhongli is it?" you asked nervously, "Maybe you can try giving the name of a relative or someone you know. I can use the phonebook to see if I can find their number."

“Number?” He parroted.

You blinked a few times, making sure if you heard him correctly, “Yes, number. You know? To communicate?”

"I appreciate your kind gesture," Zhongli acknowledges in a polite manner, "But that won't be necessary. This device doesn’t seem to be at a level where it can communicate with the people from my homeland."

If he was travelling then how the hell did he end up in THE Skull Cavern is what I wanna know!

“T-Then if you don't mind me asking, where are you from?"

Zhongli takes this moment to think of an answer, aware that if he blurted something out it would not have translated in the way he wanted. But you so kindly invited him to your humble household that he felt it would only be proper to owe you an explanation, "I suppose a land from afar."

You sweatdropped, "Suppose?"

"Yes. Although I won't spare you the details since this is not your burden to bear, it’s quite difficult for me to try and remember exactly what happened," Zhongli took his chin into his hand, fingers almost covering his mouth, "Perhaps I would need search for clues in order to refresh my memory."

Oh no he really does have amnesia!!

"A-Actually why don't I just call the local doctor, I'm sure he wouldn't mind giving you a hand," you say while taking your iPhone.

"A doctor? There's no need," dismissed Zhongli, "My condition is only a minor one and I do not think I'm in a position to afford medical assistance. Besides, you have done more than enough. May you find great fortune in your years Miss (Y/n), I shall be on my way."

He pushes himself up from the couch and you watch him cross towards the door. But just when he was about to reach the space of your carpet, Zhongli pulled to an abrupt stop.

"Ah yes,” He began as if remembering something, “ Do you happen to know where the nearest Inn is located? I would need to find a place to shelter for the time being."

"..."

This was how the former god ended up being your roommate. Like Xiao, Zhongli also takes upon a human form. He needed to eat, drink and a place to sleep. He insisted that he would take the couch as well as help you with any tasks that needed to be completed during the day.

You question if Zhongli was even aware of what situation he was currently in. Answer: HE WASN'T because Zhongli is an extremely dense man. To feel embarrassed was not part of his dictionary when living with a woman.

The type to take long showers. You always find the bathroom steaming because he doesn't turn on the fan to get rid of it (but maybe you should've taught him). So when it was your turn to use the shower, the water was either lukewarm or worst case scenario, cold.

Also he somehow finds your old kettle (that your grandfather used) to brew tea even though you told him you already had a water boiler. He stated that he liked doing things the old-fashioned way, it brings him a sense of nostalgia. You couldn't understand what he meant (unless you considered that he was older than he seemed....no that can’t be it!)

Despite it all, Zhongli was incredibly polite and considerate. Tending the farm was not an easy job and you often came home with sore muscles, fatigued from running so many errands. He's knowledgeable in terms of making the best herbal mix for a soothing remedy.

You would see a warm cup, every morning before going to work and every time you come home, it was sitting on the kitchen table (if his drink had potion effects, they would be regeneration).

Gentle he was but it wasn't good for your heart.

Ever since Zhongli moved in, it became difficult to live in your own house.

There were many situations where he caused trouble despite not intending to cause disruption to your daily routine. And when he did, the repairs came out of your own pocket. One time you opened your microwave to find thick ash and burnt cinders stuck upon the walls.The entire space was a hazard and needed to be dispensed immediately since Zhongli thought that plastic-wrapped items were allowed to be microwaved. Another incident, as bizarre as it sounded, was when your vacuum cleaner zoomed out of your house...and never came back. You remembered the awkward cough he gave when you shot him a deathly glare, hence why Zhongli was not allowed to touch your high-tech devices (if you considered them high-tech) without your permission.

Even so, you couldn’t bring yourself to hate him. It was the opposite in fact. One day, all the flaws you counted suddenly became his charms. You came to find them endearing almost.

Zhongli was a handsome man. He carried himself with a distinct aura that could only be found in the rarest geodes; revealing orestones mined from the depths of a forgotten cave, sometimes in the shape of exquisite artifacts-- a type of ancient charm. Perhaps that was why people were willing to obey his every command without hesitation. Whenever Zhongli spoke, it was full of firmness and authority yet somehow deprived of arrogance. He was polite to all and does not indulge in conflict despite how tempting gossip can be in modern society. Always patient during your temperamental moments and considerate to the point you wonder if he even had any desires. He was so kind that soon enough, you couldn't help but be flustered by his presence. Forget about having a conversation, maintaining his leveled gaze was already enough of a challenge. Like staring into the sun after the morning dew. So gentle and so very comforting. But the more you linger onto the sun, it's rays will continue to set ablaze, eventually bringing you pain.

And you feared that you have grown addicted to those feelings.

Why can't he understand?

Stopping at the center of the bridge, you kept your head low while letting the anger take form into your tightened fists. The town was empty with only the sound of water flowing beneath your feet, filling the heavy air. They rippled and swayed, peaceful amongst your inner turmoil. The fact that such a miniscule attribute was able to make your blood rise was hilariously pitiful. How did you stoop to a point that even nature, the very being you've tended for a living, could bring you bitterness? Were your feelings this uncontrollable? The answer was obvious. It spiraled, violently and mercilessly as if commanded by another. There was a wave of emotions filling your heart and you could almost feel yourself drowning from the inside. If only they were as tranquil as the ones you stood upon.

"I thought I would find you here."

The voice you dreaded calls from across and you fight to keep yourself from gasping. Oblivious to it all, Zhongli proceeds to close the distance until he towered over you, looking down to your bowed head, "When you hadn't returned home without a notice, I was getting worried if something had happened. But I'm glad that wasn't the case."

Your whole face clenches.

"Is something bothering you? If you would like, we can discuss it after eating dinner. Come, I have already prepared our meal while you were gone as well as turning off the rice cooker once finished. I hope it can ease your stress since I know it can be difficult maintaining a farm like this."

"Zhongli."

He blinks hard when the sound of his name falls out of your lips. Zhongli was an experienced observer and listener, he was able to catch the glimpse of frustration that dripped from the tone you used. Relaxing his poised shoulders, Zhongli carefully asked in a reserved manner, "Have I...done something to make you upset?"

A trembled breath escaped when you breathed out. Dense. He was so dense that sometimes it made you want to crack him open.

"Tell me..." you began, "Are you also like this with other women?"

The former god sets a brief sharp pause, "I beg your pardon?"

"I'm talking about the way you act, they're...giving me all these mixed signals. We've been living together for months, we even share meals together! And sometimes you would help me with the farm and when I didn't ask, you still insisted on tending to my needs when I felt sick. I just…” you trailed off, trembling ever so slightly, "It's all perfectly normal. You’re nice to everyone. I know that. I know that!"

"(Y/n)," Zhongli whispered. They sounded like a thousand needles to your heart.

"I doubt you have the intention to put me in this situation. You're a really great person Zhongli but I sometimes can't help feeling this isn't just some roommate thing you know?" closing your eyes, you thought of your past relationships, how they started and ended, "Do any of your actions mean anything to you? Do you know how it makes me feel? Or am I just overthinking this, that it was all one-sided this whole time?"

Alas the truth spills and the air stills, bringing the waves to a halt. Peace, tranquility, nothingness. That was all you wanted. That was all you heard. It was deafening.

"I see, so that's why," Zhongli mutters to himself with eyes narrowed, "There's...something I need to confess."

After several months, he tells you everything. How his memories returned, some of them were already intact. He told you about his homeland and his true identity, that he was a god that once ruled over Liyue for six centuries before giving away the gnosis.

The reason why he hadn't said anything until now was because there will be a day where Zhongli must depart and return to Teyvat. He was a god with a contract, the circumstance didn't matter, he must stay with it until the very end of time.

Through his years, Zhongli learned to cherish his finite moments. He didn't want to taint them with troubles to come. Thinking too far ahead into the future would only bring strain.

But what he didn't tell you was his true feelings. You were a sweet woman, tender and enthusiastic about agriculture, the way your feelings extend to the earth with grace whereas many others chose to trample over without hesitation, he fell deeply in love with that side of yours. You taught him many things and showed him many sides of humanity that he had never seen before. He even discovered an aspect of himself. Like breaking a geode, revealing the beauties held inside.

Zhongli couldn't look you in the eye when your expression was covered in disbelief. He thought he hid his feelings well but it seemed that he was expressing his love in subtle and subconscious ways that eventually drove you to fall for him as well. You didn't stop him when he left the bridge. He wasn't even in your house. He chose this, he chose to set you free from his heavy presence.

And as the weight started to lift from your shoulder, you sank to your knees and wept. It was cruel of him. To give you these emotions yet he could not bring himself to stay by your side. But your heart would not allow you to hate the man you love.

Things couldn't end this way. You had to say goodbye to him, see him one last time because if you didn't, these burdens will haunt you forever.

When Zhongli looked up to the sky he saw his ending drawing near.

Three days had passed since he last spoke with you and he had no plans in seeing you again. Soon, the former god will return to his rightful place. Even though he had already given his gnosis to the Cryo Archon as Liyue already began to enter a new era, it seems that his decisions weren't his to make as he was born in a world where stars ruled above the archons. Fate-- they won't allow it. He does not belong here. If there was one thing Zhongli regretted during his time in your world, it was that he couldn't leave you a good memory before taking his departure. The sight of your large glassy eyes and quivering lips when he crushed you with the truth, he sincerely believed that they would haunt him much more than it probably did to you. But perhaps things would be easier if you despised him. Because if he had stayed and you came to forgive him, he would no longer have the strength to let go.

Despite it all love was indeed a selfish creature. He couldn't help but feel resentment towards the stars for bringing you into his life in such a mockingly sweet manner. They tied him with a contract, made him vow to his own beliefs and tested them by using you-- a bystander struck between the crossfire, eventually bringing you down into the depths of his battlefield and he thought that maybe...maybe there was hope that he could bring you with him as well.

How disgraceful for a god to let the devil tempt him so.

Zhongli was thankful that you weren't beside him. Otherwise he would dance with the ugly hope of a slim chance for you to come along. This was the best choice. It was for his-- your own good.

"Zhongli!"

The arch of his lined eyes shot upwards. As if fate had decided to give him one final test, he felt your small figure crash into him from behind and your arms coming to hug around his waist, tightly and fearfully that he felt like you would be the one who would slip away instead.

"I...I made it time," you panted, burying your nose into his clothed back, "I’m so glad...I'm so glad you're still here…!"

Your cry of relief was a thunder to his ears, a reminder that he was the main cause. Zhongli, casted by solemn smile, lifts his hand to cover over yours and grasped onto them, I'm here, he wishes to say. Yet he knew they were only temporary promises, "To come all this way despite everything that has happened. You foolish girl..."

"It's your fault Zhongli, I'm a fool because I love you! It's all your fault that I have to say goodbye," You grit your teeth as the tears fell down your face until it blended into his clothes, "Take me with you. Please. Don't leave me all alone…!"

The words he wanted to say melted into a silent gasp through parted lips. Zhongli merely clenched them back together and his hand on your hand, even tighter. He won't lie to you. At the very least, let his actions speak for him where he himself could not.

Take me with you.

Don't leave me alone.

Goodbye.

If it is fated Morax...we will meet again.

"I see," letting his thoughts echo in his mind from the distant memories, the former god begins to take a new perspective upon his wisdom, "For many years, I have experienced countless farewells from the people I've come to known," Zhongli reminisced, tilting his head back with his golden eyes against night, as if searching for some sort of answer, "And yet I never thought what it must have felt like being in their position."

"Zhongli…" you trailed off, "Then don't! I may not know everything about you but it doesn't have to be this way. At least, just answer me this, will I ever see you again?"

"I'm sorry (Y/n)," he apologized and you knew the answer. He gently pries your arms off him, turning around so he could swipe the corner of your eyes dry. There was a glowing reverence in his countenance, one that he reserved for you and only you, it was the only way for him to express the feelings that run deep in his heart, "I cannot thank you enough for coming into my life. If there will be a day when I erode from your memories, I truly hope that you will find someone more suitable than I."

"That's ridiculous," defiantly, refusedly, you protest, "No one can replace you."

Zhongli laughs sadly as the white halo outlines his whole figure, signaling that there wasn't much time left. He wonders if there was anything he could do in his last moments, a small token, something, it could even be as small as a single star in the sky, "If it is fated...we will meet again."

You watch him turn transparent until he slipped from your grasp. No longer was the man, only the dust being one with the sky. They shone brilliantly but you were left in the darkness.