#and neither of us finished our fics LMAO

[what-even-is-sleep]

Remembering the time a Secret Santa fic swap had me dm’ing the only other Jewish participant, realizing we went to the same temple in the same city, had seen each other irl AND were just 1 year apart…

[uhohbestie]

TAMN Outline

Since we're so close to the end of TAMN, I just wanted to share what Lock and my outline looks like, especially because neither of us ever used outlines for writing fic before this LOL

The only reason we have one for TAMN is because we were determined to finish this thing within a year of starting it and really wanted to post a chapter a week. Realistically, between work and irl and different timezones, there was no WAY we'd be able to keep up with a weekly posting schedule OR our self-imposed deadline if we were writing on the fly, so an outline was a good way to keep us on track.

(Details under the cut 'cause this got long af lmao)

SO FIRST OF ALL. We have quick chapter markers to refer to just to keep track of where we're at. The obvious ones are as follows:

🐈 Scar POV Chapters 🦜 Grian POV Chapters 🧟‍♂️ Some sort of significant zombie encounter that chapter 💦 Smut

I took this screenshot a WHILE back so Chapter 12 was actually split into 2 chapters, as was Chapter 14. So while the two emojis in Chapter 14 were meant to signify both Scar and Grian's POVs in that chapter, we ultimately just split it into a separate Scar chapter and a separate Grian chapter.

As for the other markers, this is what they mean at a glance:

✔️ Chapter is written ✔️✔️ Chapter has been edited by one person ✅ Chapter edited by both of us; Ready to Post 💯 Chapter has been posted to AO3

The last one isn't in the screenshot above, but is another one we use. And, ofc, if it doesn't have any of those markers beside it, it means the chapter hasn't been written yet.

Other than that, every chapter heading has not only the chapter number, but a reminder of where Scarian are, the time of day that chapter starts at, and how long of a walk/drive to their next destination remains. Plus, the very first point is always the current date and the weather (in Celsius 🍁) for the day. It looks something like this:

For a short chapter like Ch. 6 where not too much happens, the outline is just a handful of points. Also, we put a strike through things we skipped as we wrote when we felt they no longer fit the mood we were going for. (Basically, the outline is here as a guide and we adjust as needed for full creative freedom.)

Now the LINKS at the bottom lead to ANOTHER document where Lock and I's original conversations are sorted, in case we need to reference back to something we don't remember. That looks like something like this:

So when you click the link, there's a pop up that will take you directly to the original conversation about it located in another doc.

Basically, Lock and I had talked about TAMN for months before every writing it, so when I suggested making an outline, Lock was like "yeah, we basically have a skeleton already with how much we've talked about it". So what we did was, I copy-pasted EVERY conversation we had about TAMN into a Google Doc, and then Lock went through and SUMMARISED EVERYTHING in each conversation into The Main Points. After that, I went and put them into chronological order in a new doc which then became the outline we use today! 💫

Thus, when you click on a link from the outline, you get taken to the conversation summary, and if you scroll down past the summary you get to the actual conversation itself, minus our usernames/formatting/timestamps to make it easier to read at a glance:

And then, ofc, the further along we got in the fic, the more complicated the plot and the chapters got. So instead of short and sweet outlines with a link or two to old conversations, we had to come up with a lot of in between events that still somehow added to the plot and moved the story along to the main points we wanted to hit.

This was actually what took me the longest during outlining, and poor Lock kept going "JUST LEAVE IT BLANK, WE'LL FIGURE IT OUT AS WE GO" but I really wanted to have SOMETHING down just to give us a springboard to launch off of, because we had no idea if we'd have time WHILE writing to come up with anything.

(This continues on for more pages since we combined two chapters into one here, but this is the gist of what the outlines turned into per chapter as we got later and later in the fic LOL)

Turned out to be the right call, because it's saved our asses more than once when on a time-crunch! That said, there were a couple chapters where we DID in fact go "idk about what's in the outline, what if we do this instead?" and then do that because it Felt Right. So again, the outline was super helpful but not a hard and fast rule. (Though Lock and I had our fair share of "WHY DIDN'T YOU WRITE WHAT WAS IN THE OUTLINE"/"I FORGOR" moments that have been fun every step of the way 😂)

AAAND, I THINK THAT'S IT! THAT'S OUR OUTLINE! 🎉

Just wanted to make a post for it to document because it was such a novel experience, hahaha! Like I said earlier, neither Lock nor I ever used outlines before, even when writing fics together for other fandoms :')

I've got two completed longfics under my belt from before TAMN in my last fandom and I wrote those completely on the fly as well. Worked out just fine, but like. It took me 2-4 YEARS to finish the fics, and they were both MUCH shorter than TAMN is. 😅 Nothing wrong with that obviously, but it was a lot of fun to try something new and it felt incredible to be able to have a new chapter ready to go each week! ;w; 💜

We're almost done writing the fic and honestly idk what we're gonna do with all this free time once we've wrapped it up... time to come up with a new longfic ig LMAO

IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR, HOORAY! 🎊

Here's a little bonus for you--

From the time I went to a gun range and shot both a rifle (near the head) and a shotgun (the spray by the stomach) and took notes so that we could use it in our fic JHGFDSKJHDF THE CRAZY RESEARCH WE'VE BOTH DONE FOR TAMN I STG 😂😂😂😂😂

[bananaactivity]

Scene Draw + Excerpt

Kai didn’t even flinch as Marcus continued to stare, as though he knew what was going on inside Marcus’ head. He simply let him look, neither enjoying nor rejecting it, just... observing, in his typical cool and collected way. Marcus couldn’t quite figure out if he was making Kai uncomfortable or if Kai was just playing with him, letting him stew in the silence.

Finally, Kai broke the stillness, his voice cutting through the air like smooth silk. “You gonna say something, or are you gonna keep staring?” The words were dry, matter-of-fact, almost as if he was bored by Marcus’ lack of response.

Before he could find his voice, Kai smoothly glided over to his record player, pulling it out of its corner with practiced ease. He sifted through the stack of vinyl records, his fingers pausing, as though considering each one carefully before selecting a particular record. He looked up at Marcus, holding the album up in a way that didn’t quite demand attention but certainly got it.

“You look like a Radiohead... In Rainbows?” Kai asked, his tone nonchalant, but there was a slight edge of amusement in his voice.

Marcus blinked, completely caught off guard. He hadn't remembered sharing his taste in music with Kai, and yet, there he was, reading him like an open book. Marcus’ heart skipped a beat as he tried to gather his thoughts. He nodded slowly, still stunned that Kai had pegged him so easily. “Yeah... yeah, that’s right,” Marcus stammered, then tried to regain some composure, muttering, “In Rainbows is... yeah. It’s a good album. I- It's my favorite album” Marcus remembered the times spent in his dads old evil lair. Those few moments he used to crave back then; when he would spend time with Marcus outside of planning his stupid plots. “Coke Baby” vibrating in the background. They'd sit with their guitars and his dad would pretentiously claim that he'd known Radiohead before the Creepers; strumming on his out of tune on his guitar. Marcus didn't care one way or the other, their music was just as good no matter how popular it was. And when he was alone he’d play “Creep“ right along with “ 15 Step” and his personal favorite “Reckoner”. When he first infiltrated the Davenports he'd gotten them into it as well. Chase rattled off every fact possible about Thom Yorke like he had lived in his walls and Leo continued a long stream of jokes at Marcus expense about the hell of Radiohead fans' pretentiousness and distinct lack of bitches. Adam ate the walls. Their Dad ,Davenport, sat and watched them quietly whenever they played those tunes. Usually he tuned them out but he always came around if he caught wind of the band, and once had requested a playing of “Coke Baby” before excusing himself swiftly. Bree ignored them all when they played preferring One Direction over everything. Marcus' hard drive had stored all these memories in a file marked Music. It was his most precious file and it was like this guy had sifted through it and found just the right thing.

Kai’s lips curved into the faintest smirk, a dry purr escaping him as he lowered the record to the turntable. “Someone has good taste,” he murmured, as though it was an observation he’d made a thousand times before. It was an offhand comment, but it felt loaded especially with all the thoughts Marcus was now spinning.

LMAOO technically the first eleven chapters of my fic have been posted but it’s basically the quality of a first draft. (One person was really into tho lmao) I’m still working on the final 12 chapters while also reworking the ones I already have posted. I even have a sequel in the works and I STILL haven’t finished the original work. Lmao this ship is like the only ship that Ive ever been this invested in my whole life. If your interested in reading the first draft of the eleven available chapters it’s right here:

[torao-chan]

First post won't be connected with the other, which'll be a long chain, but here's the sketches that led up to me buying a new, proper notebook for sketching in.

This series of pages took place over, like, three or four (five? time's weird) months, until the frequency increased to the point where we felt our creativity was really beginning to find it's footing again.

This first batch was all built off of inspiration given to us by fanaticsnail's sub Kid fics asdlkjkgldjsfkg We never ended up finishing them might still finish the top kid on the second page though because none of them Hit The Right Vibe we were going for alkdsjlkgjkdf We were still fighting Perfectionism off at that point

Some specific notes:

Shoes are still a weak point of ours. Like a lotta human related things. We just gotta keep practicing until we get there 😿

We wanted to try and figure out drawing Bepo cause!! He's so cute alksdjlkgfdg Still trying to hit the middle ground between Oda's style and our furry art style asdgfdshf >w>;;

We did a lot of body and expression studies and I have a spare page that has since gone missing of more of these no idea where that went

Hands my beloved-beloathed. Love drawing them, suck at it.

Along with trying to nail the Kid that stuck in our head from this fic, we also tried to nail the Killer that came from discussions around this fic. Both we're not happy with, but neither we've given up on yet (　｀д´)9 they haunt us in our waking moments. lurking the back of our mind. we'll nail it eventually

These pages are when we started going 'but... what if we made keychains'. Still may end up using some of these sketches for keychains and/or stickers or something.

Some specific notes:

We wanna turn the rook-rook on the first page into a bookmark for Lil' Red >w>;; may not get it done in time for their birthday though

Also want to make a dangle Hot Cross Bun keychain so he may make a reappearance too!

Really, really still love the LuLaw-SunMoon dangle charm concept. That IS going to become something eventually.

Tobiuo on the second page is fanaticsnail's OC >w> we wanna make a something for her still asdlkjgflkd just still trying to find something that Hits Right

Really wanna make a NYEP Luffy sticker. Haven't given up on that concept yet either laksdjklgfdg

If you've seen one of those base sketches fully developed, no you haven't 😏 I'll come back and link it after a certain date lmao.

Also some base sketches for gift ideas for residual. I will find something that clicks (　｀д´)9 I swear ittttt

A mixture of maybe sticker? Designs? And some general furry warm ups alongside my dreams of a Friendly Flower Pal reversible keychain set, which still needs to be seen accomplished. Also also; Guard Point Chopper - Marimo Zoro - Puffle!Luffy as a sticker set is still Prevalent in my mind.

The base concept sketch for this reversible keychain which just needs to be printed out now! Along with the complete brainrot for this post that slapped me across the face that One Morning. And also. Booty short concept Lil' Red and I came up with after discussing my Birthday Cake that week lmao.

Last sketch before the new sketchbook was bought, which was the attempted drafts for this art born of the fanfic brainrot Minniaa gave me asdlkjglkfdj. Sexy and happy poses, apparently, I struggle with greatly. But angst? Can nail that in a heartbeat; an old friend, if you would aldskjglkfdg

[kentopedia]

selfship hcs 🤲

CARINA I PROMISED I ANSWERED YOU TODAY THERE WERE 25 MINS LEFT IN THE DAY FOR ME WHEN I STARTED WRITING SO I DIDN'T LIE <3

ok since you didn't specify i'll just go with dazai hehe. it's been a while since i've answered any selfship questions so bare with me bc i am sooo bad about developing lore. :,) and a lot of my fics are just ... x rylie not x reader LOLL

for the canon timeline, it's a little coworkers to lovers situation :3 i work at the ada but i start out like a foreign ambassador before transferring full-time to the ada! kunikida is one of my closest friends there, so he ofc is like stay away from dazai SHFHS. there's lost of mutual pining bc i don't think he's really into me, which leads to a very grand confession after i get hurt on a mission hehe. this all happens before atsushi joins <3 i had a fic where i'm out of the country and when atsushi joins he misunderstands and thinks kunikida and i are dating and then gets very confused when dazai starts talking about me like he's in love with me HFSHHF (did not make the kentopedia cut (it was also never finished)). and random but the first thing dazai ever got me was a little gold heart necklace, which is how everyoneee found out we were (finally) together. they were all sick of the pining

the pm boss au is a little more fleshed out bc i've written more in that universe (awk). but it's a childhood friends -> friends w benefits -> lovers situation. mostly fwb bc neither of us want to admit how we feel even though we both knew we were in love with each other >< in this one i work in the mafia as an assassin and gradually make my way up the ranks, but don't really do any more assassin work after i get w dazai and he's the boss. i'm saur bad at coming up w special abilities but mine is like being able to kill people by kissing them (?) along those lines. which i kind of hinted at in the night club fic <3 which works out since his ability is nullifying so it's like... a good way for him to convince me we're supposed to be together LMAO. ooh also for our home, i do almost all the interior decorating except for in dazai's office. he keeps it fairly empty since it's just his work space, and if he needs a place to get away, but it has a painting i got him for his birthday and a picture of me on his desk :3.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Your new song/header text thing (idk what that area is called lowk) was fr actually just me this past week or two

Pause this is not in our convo but EXCUSE ME KARASU SERIES??? I SEE THAT HEADER GAME TOO HELLO WHAF IS THAT I need to hear the inspiration behind that idea….

Omfg it’s not even near Halloween anymore ok but puss in boots Karasu would be so hot….losing my mind reading this is making me realize how long it’s been wtf glad you didn’t get piled with work on halloweekend though!! I guess on the flip side this means 2-3 weeks away from winter hibernation era LOL

Been so long I barely remember what happened in the episode but now that I think yes I do mad we didn’t get a full day before the match interaction compilation BUT ANALYST KARASU LOOKED SOOOOO GOOD barousagi rivalry on top though they’re dynamic is so much more uhh what’s the word enriching…? That’s not the one I was looking for but growth promoting I can’t find the synonym I need right now wait speaking of the itoshi brother beef being one sided is actually insane I’m ngl it makes rin seem so pathetic LMFAOOOO

LMAAOA it feels like it’s been a millennia since I’ve seen the acronym oaeu forced tumblr cleanse was not on my bucket list but omg that’s right can’t wait to see wingman chigiri too!!

LMAOA our chemical reaction actually cannot be topped Isagi get out of the way we’re the new egoists here (this lowk sounds kinda cringe but whatever)

OK BUT AT LEAST YOU FINISHED PI!! Like you let the quality work marinate and stew and then you cooked by finishing it ofc no hate to writers who cliffhanger stories because I’m sure they don’t mean to and things happen but you came back stronger than ever fr

But FRRRR the tags are always filled with those short blurb mass character things that we talked about ykw is actually hilarious though I was about to be like wait there’s some for nagi and peregrine came to mind and I was like lmao wait you wrote that nvm Kaiser and sae dominating the tags actually my villain origin story I still can’t believe people like sae that much considering we also don’t really see him THAT much like

The name inheritance has such aura omg wait the nature vs nurture idea for the fic is so cool though like having that as an underlying theme goes hard…also if Tullia got with Karasu id end up swerving still lowk but anyways current pursuit with Nagi >>>>>

FRRRR ITS ABOUT TO BE SIX KINDA SOON TOO?? Actually insane can’t imagine the past several months without our convos!!! LMAO THE VELOCITY EDIT COMPARISON so true though id rather have less things but with more substance

Ok merging into a mega post because I don’t want to scroll all the way again oops

Spontaneous late night hangouts are the best that’s where all the good convos happen LMAOO

Sadly have yet to locate the ds I definitely did not throw it but lowk might be buried within storage somewhere from my last big cleanup session so maybe that’s a winter clean out activity…

LAMAOAO ME the last resort option fr when there was nothing left honestly the concept of the platform was pretty good though it just got ruined by the recent paywalls/premium etc and then well. The people. LMAO

OMG YEAH wait i remember i read part of it but got distracted by pursuit and oaeu and bfb im pretty certain i got to the part where she runs across the ocean?? Definitely got past the point where her whole ct is explained and whatnot though that’s actually such a cool concept though another Mira big brain idea

Your brain is actually too big I fear wait also the whole innuendo of them wanting to fight each other for them being in love is actually genius like I need more words for the word genius I also love the way you did it so like eloquently in a way that it doesn’t feel weird or awkward too??? Like also considering (iirc) neither of us are really into the freaky (imagine this in the really bold real italic goofy ass font) side of things I think this was executed so well honestly maybe a writing side hustle is something you should consider LOL

Oaeu so canon at this point it’s hilarious we need an oaeu moment in additional time fr also YEAH USGHS I CANT believe they skipped over that and so many scenes generally no wonder I was like this third selection arc felt REALLY short yeah now we know why UGHHH CHIPMUNK KARASU YOU WILL MEVER BE FORGOTTEN

Wait speaking of your recent nagi drawing with that meme LMAO SO TRUE he also looks so cute i love his hair in your style but yeahhhh given how dubs also sound really stiff generally i figured the southern accent dubs weren’t much better….lmao……

Shidou Karasu dynamic so true I totally forgot to mention in pwc they have some interactions too and Shidous always like “Karasu chan!!” he really thinks Karasu is his bestie so I guess we know why they teamed up within PxG???

APSHDISS YEAH ok maybe it’s a specific demographic subsection of blue lock fans but yeahhh ok wait also the recent ep also did him even dirtier LMFAOA if ykwim that one panel/scene where his face is kinda fucked up SHSHSHSH

NOOO UGH where are the karasus and yukis of society surely fiction has to be based on some truth…right…..

I literally pull out that argument everytime I talk to a Kaiser fan (which granted is very very occasional) but literally like he got psychology books to read to learn to manipulate people wtaf….Kaiser fans have no rights slandering other favs like you like THE opp BFFR

TABIEITA EDIT MY LOVES also omg I remember when this song had a chokehold on everyone it’s giving me flashbacks

Also IVE SEEN THAT ARTIST BEFORE KARASU HAIR DOWN PSLSLSLSLSL SHIDOU COME SAVE US

Ok now more general catch up I guess LOL HOWVE YOU BEEN???? Hope your midterms all went well!!!

- Karasu anon

HELPPP LMAOAOA not me syncing up w you subconsciously…black out days (by phantogram) was fr the soundtrack of my 2021 fall life i listened to it sooo much i heard it the other day and was like forcibly thrown back to that period of my life KSDJHF i felt like it fit with the theme though…because like the background is black…so it’s like black out days…haha…also it’s just like an aesthetic title (?? i think that’s the official name for that particular bit of text ?? no idea though) and i didn’t feel like digging for another song so this is what it is for this theme HAHA

ISN’T THE HEADER FIREEEEE UGHHHHHH sighing dreamily i think that’s one of the prettiest headers i’ve made like ever…so visually pleasing…so thematically appropriate (not that crows really have anything to do with the story but yk. karasu) KSJHFS okay so ngl it’s the header for my vague thoughts about repurposing my megumi royal au (which i already took down jic) where he’s the royal guard but for karasu LMAOO i know we discussed yukimiya for it hence my post about karasu or yukimiya but a) i will always pick karasu and b) look at these lines from the very first version of the royal au (technically the version i took down was the second version because i attempted a rewrite but the first version is what people remember most fondly) and tell me megumi doesn’t give HEAVY karasu vibes in them…like he actually feels more like karasu than himself KSJDHFHK (also these are in no particular order in terms of chronology LMAOO i just took random screenshots…there’s way more karasu-esque moments but image limit + trying to give you less to read so i picked a few highlights that show why karasu is actually lowkey the perf option) unfortunately royal aus are hard for me to stay motivated for so i was like “okay i’ll be responsible and not do this to myself” however i AM rewatching reign rn (kind of…one episode a week pace sadly) so that might get me in the headspace to work on it?? idk

PUSS IN BOOTS KARASU SIGHHHH ugh he’s so handsome in literally everything but yeah him with the hat and the sword and everything LKDFJHW omg i need him…YES WE ARE APPROACHING THE END OF THE FALL SLUMP (hopefully) i am literally counting down the days i miss being motivated i literally haven’t posted any writing since the kaiser request i wrote a MONTH ago it’s disgusting

KARASU LOOKED SO GOOD LAST EP they’ve really been putting in the WORK to make him gorgeous they know what we the people want fr and we love them for it!! HELP i know what you mean the barousagi rivalry helps them grow and learn and whatnot ngl i don’t remember what the right word would be there either but it’s fine i got the concept FHKJSDLHK and yeah omg the itoshi bros continue to be unserious like i can definitely see why rin would be hurt in the moment because sae was admittedly very brutal but also like that’s the first time they’ve ever fought?? idk obviously you can’t expect a lot of emotional maturity out of kids but you’d think he’d at least think to himself “wow i wonder why my visibly unhealthy and traumatized looking brother is saying mean things to me after being alone in a foreign country for months” if not at that moment than at least later on since he’s constantly reflecting on that moment??? like again i acknowledge that sae was saying some CRAZY stuff and jokes aside i wouldn’t be THAT mean to my younger brother but at the same time rin had like 0 empathy for sae when he got back and my interpretation of sae in that moment is that rin basically kept poking at an obviously sore spot until sae snapped if that makes sense 🧐 but also blue lock insults are generally insane so idek if what sae was saying was actually that insane but anyways rin hanging onto it for years upon years and deciding he needs to crush and destroy sae is like next level hilarious to me BROOO it was not that deep ok but ngl this might be smth like how i don’t gaf abt the whole nagireo break up thing like i’ve said before the angst in bllk is just nonexistent to me except very select cases (cough snuffy cough) so i’m just like ok whatever about all of it

OAEUUU HELP I HAVEN’T THOUGHT ABT IT IN SO LONG i miss them…seeing aiku and niko on screen but never togehter is making my oaeu stan heart hurt #aikuniko(platonic)forever no because i always liked niko but oaeu has made me love him sm which is great because he’s really getting some moments in s2 and now i can rlly appreciate them

omg let’s replace all of the core four OPPS while we’re at it…no more itoshi bros + isagi + kaiser the only chemical reaction egoists we need are us two!!

LMAOAOA I DID FINISH!! i think part of it too was just me realizing i needed to give up on gege and accept that i had to come up with my own ending because honestly i finished around when shinjuku started becoming that weird repetitive cycle of fights and that gave me the courage to stop waiting for him to give me a satisfying ending and just become canon divergent…i can’t write a story if i don’t know the end beforehand which is why part 1 of pi was super quick for me — the “end” was planned in terms of the end of vol0 and her bringing yuta back to life!! but then i didn’t know where part 2 and everything with tullia that i set up was going to go until i had the vision of her dying to kill sukuna (also fun fact the way the title connects at the end with the blood like pomegranates was not in fact foreshadowed it just came to me as i was writing the epilogue…i don’t even remember where i got the idea for the title for atp but it was well before i even had the idea for the blood pact and all of that LMAOAO pi was one of those stories that genuinely wrote itself and came together perfectly as i went which made me seem like a foreshadowing genius but in fact it was just happy coincidence)

PLS omg i forget i wrote peregrine too sometimes so dw…i saw a screenshot on my camera roll of my peregrine era and i felt so nostalgic omg things were simpler back then i had like 300 followers or smth when i started it 😭 but yeah nagi really doesn’t have as much as you’d expect tbh!! and since this is such a long ask that likely no one will read i’ll admit that i think most people write him super ooc 😓 i can only stand MY version of nagi no one else has gotten that right balance of nagi vibes that make me like him in the first place so i end up lowkey annoyed because either he’s acting like an infant, a jackass, or a player and he really just is neither of those things…my complex is that i’m convinced no one understands my favs like i do but ESPECIALLY nagi like i think karasu is pretty well characterized for the most part?? people will make him more outgoing and flirty than i’d like but there’s some canon basis for it so i won’t complain but NAGIIII UGH nobody knows or loves him the way i know and love him #real #canon

INHERITANCE KINDA EATS RIGHT?? it gives a bit more horror movie vibes though (i think there’s actually a horror movie called inheritance maybe that’s why) but yeah tullia with karasu would’ve made me emo like wdym she gets my perfect handsome amazing man as a bf and i get shrek ninja 😭💔 okay wait speaking of tullia i was on tik tok earlier and i saw an edit of some anime idek the name but it’s like something something yamada level 9999 idfk (edit: my love story with yamada-lun at lv999…okay i was lowkey close) anyways i was like RIN AND TULLIA??????? it kinda opened my third eye because wait…not in pursuit but in another story why could i lowkey see it…

I MISS EDITS BEING MAJESTIC luckily i think people are starting to really put their souls into editing again which is really exciting OMG YES IT ALMOST IS SIX MONTHS THAT’S CRAZY we have had our ups and downs (aka grass touching and chronically online moments) in turn but truly there is no one i would yap more with and i do always miss you when one of us must vanish from the tumblr-verse briefly HAHA

SDKLJFHSD I’M SORRY THIS IS A VERY LONG RESPONSE TO YOUR ASK YOU WILL BE SCROLLING AND READING FOR SO LONG consider it like all of my thoughts for the past while that you were gone or smth idk I’M SORRY IN ADVANCE LMAOAO I’LL TRY NOT TO RAMBLE AS MUCH (we all know that’s like never happening though i am nothing if not a rambler)

i think my ds is in my armoire somewhere i’d have to look too HKSJFH but yes late night hangouts >>>

yeahhh ads and paywalls and monetization and whatnot really were the death of wattpad as well as the audience it inadvertently attracted 😩 being on wp is def a core memory but i will never go back (although i do miss the nice comments i used to get but it’s not worth it tbh)

I LOVE H / H READER’S TECHNIQUE i mean yk how it is in the miraverse with bird symbolism…h / h reader and karasu need to do a bird theme character meetup or smth (wait side note idk if you saw but apparently kaiser’s is supposed to be based on a tropical bird BRO STFU he doesn’t deserve the bird theme designation!!) HAHA but also YESSS THAT’S LIKE MY FAVORITE THING like the words i love you are never said in that story but it’s so so obvious because every single time they’re like “i want to kill you” “i want you to kill me” yeah…they’re obsessed!! and yeah you’re right i don’t really like writing smut or reading it that much nothing against people who do it’s just not my preferred genre!! but i LOVE writing metaphors for sex idk if that makes sense but like in hurricanes / hummingbirds with the whole dreams of fighting = sex dreams thing idk something about it feels so much more intimate than just outright saying she dreamt of getting railed especially given the dynamic between the two characters where it’s meant to be more figurative…like am i implying something more here or is she literally just dreaming of actually fighting him?? HAHAH something about writing romance in a non physical way will always do it for me when i was younger (think early high school) i read this random bit of writing advice that if your characters need to kiss to prove to the audience that they’re in love then you failed at writing two characters that are in love with each other and i INTERNALIZED that SKLFJHS like look at h / h there are 0 kiss scenes but they’re so clearly in love?? or even either version of bfb there’s one kiss in karasu’s version and i’m p sure none in otoya’s…same with the first part of fwtkac…and all of cherry tree/the sequel…as well as the kaiser request i just posted…also probably all of my work i just don’t really like writing love physically imo love in metaphors >>>>

actually fun fact i do want to be an author!! maybe some day LMAOOO rn i’m on my fanfic grind though but if i ever write a book or smth i’ll let you know

okay this is so unrelated but angry chipmunk karasu is just making me think and like…tabieitaken + alvin and the chipmunks trio costume LMAOOOOOO yuki is obviously simon otoya is theodore (because green) and ig karasu is alvin?? actually i think i’ve seen a fan art on here of karasu shidou and tokimitsu as alvin and the chipmunks with shidou as alvin karasu as simon and toki as theodore but i like the tabieitaken version better because idrc abt tokimitsu (although admittedly karasu in glasses is a beautiful sight)

HAHAHA OMG MY SILLY NAGI SKETCH one of my mutuals had posted one of yuta and was like “i encourage everyone to make shitty drawings of their favs” and i was like wait now i have to do one of nagi LMAOAOA also the way you phrased “your style” is cracking me up fsr it sounds like i’m an official fanartist with an actual style and shit…nagi’s hair is kinda annoying to draw ngl but it’s also fun at the same time?? he’s so silly i love him sm (if you couldn’t tell by now)

LMAOO I KNEW ITTTT shidou and karasu are real to ME and also IN CANON no because idk if you saw my post about them but i am so convinced that shidou thinks they are THE bestie duo of all time meanwhile karasu is like ugh this freak again but he secretly thinks shidou is kinda funny so he’s just like wtvr and lets the guy hang around with him 😭 rn i’m being overwhelmed by this intense love for nagi and rin as a duo actually like it’s genuinely driving me insane how perfectly they go together and NOBODY recognizes that somehow??? like first of all look at their visuals they’re literally gorgeous in a very opposite way but also let’s talk about how rin is very emotional whereas nagi is very detached. how rin exclusively likes horror and nagi likes lighthearted children’s cartoons and dramas and romcoms. rin who seems like he’ll be mean but is nice in his own rude little way and nagi who looks like a sweetheart but consistently says the most foul things with his expression like 🙂. rin who is SO LOVED by his family (specifically sae because we don’t know much abt his parents) but is furious over his perceived abandonment and nagi who was ACTUALLY abandoned but doesn’t even care and thinks it’s normal and that his parents do treat him well. the dark slimy destroyer aura that rin has and the shimmery mystical light death aura that nagi has. the way rin is called a monster and nagi is called a god. how rin is associated with saliva and blood and nagi is associated with bones and graves. how rin wants to be a genius and is always trying to live up to someone else’s expectations and how nagi never wanted to be a genius and is actively trying to escape everyone’s expectations. LKSDFHSLDKF JBSDLFKHBLDKJF LIKE SHUT UPPPPP WHY WOULD I CARE ABOUT NAGIREO AND RINSAGI WHEN THE MOST INSANE PARALLELS ARE STARING ME IN THE FACE???? not that i ship them or anything yk i don’t ship but I NEED a nagi + rin duo or something in the future or else i’m going to have to start another nagi series and make tullia end up with rin just so i can use it as an excuse to write about this further because i could literally go on about it for many more paragraphs and i see NO posts about it?? anyways this is like my fifth rant in this response omg this is going to take you so long to read i’m sorry 😩

bro idk what the animation team is cooking with aiku but honestly idrc about him so i’m happy LMAOOO like they’re doing karasu JUSTICE yukimiya JUSTICE barou JUSTICE nagi KIND OF JUSTICE (he looks better in the manga at this point but he’s also not had his best moments yet so i think we’ll be good also they’re making him rlly cute in the additional times so i can forgive the occasionally weird proportions)

WE WILL FIND THE IRL KARASUS AND YUKIS SOON #TRUST they definitely exist but (at least in my case) they’re not exactly the type of people you meet while wandering the streets at 2am on halloween ykwim 😭

okay but honestly i wouldn’t even mind them liking kaiser because okay go off problematic fav it’s whatever i liked mahito at one point so i get it but they are ALWAYS the ones with the weirdest most ridiculous morality police-type takes it’s CRAZY like bro your own favorite character would probably hate you!! also he is literally the epitome of everything you claim to hate in a character who doesn’t even have those characteristics?? like i can only speak to the nagi hate i see because i don’t really see karasu or barou hate (everyone loves them because they’re perfect) and idrc if people slander characters who aren’t my favs (otoya does get slander but it’s lowkey deserved and yuki gets slander from dude bros but they’re kinda right sometimes so i can’t be too mad like yeah yuki DID kinda fall off in the nel 😭) but it’s ALWAYS the kaiser fans having the most insane out of pocket literally incorrect takes and being proud of them and then being like “yeah kaiser is my fav” MICHAEL KAISER???? YOU HATE NAGI FOR BEING “MANIPULATIVE” AND SAE FOR BEING “UNEMOTIONAL” AND YOUR BLOG THEME IS MICHAEL KAISER??? actually idc abt sae slander that’s #funny but it’s the principle yk…enemy of my enemy is friend and whatnot…anyways it’s rough being a nagi stan nowadays sometimes it feels like i’m the only one 😩 i predict he’ll have a brief resurgence in fans depending on how well his goal is animated but it’ll be forgotten within like a week or two because then rin will score and THEN shidou will come on field and everyone will be talking about sae and shidou leaving nagi to only be relevant in my heart 💔

I WILL KEEP THIS SHORT GIVEN HOW MUCH I’VE BEEN CHATTING buttttt i’ve been pretty good!! just relaxing mostly HAHA my midterms went well thankfully!! i was sick when i took them and hardly studied but still slayed #nagicore now i have like a week and a half until thanksgiving break and then another week or two before my long ass winter break so i will be even more chronically online than i already am after the first week or two of december is over!! that’s about when i locked in with pi last year so maybe something will have a comeback or i’ll start something new or something who knows…hmm i feel like that’s about everything i’ve been up to OH actually i did drive to meet with one of my tumblr mutuals irl because they only live like an hour away from me?? that was fun we hung out for a bit and went out for food together it was kinda funny to meet them irl…we had been insta mutuals for a while as well so it wasn’t like we didn’t know each other whatsoever like they knew my govt name and what i looked like and vice versa before i pulled up so it wasn’t like a jump scare or anything but it was still like omg…you’re a real person…LMAOOOO but yeah other than that i’ve been spending my free time sleeping, occasionally watching tv or reading a book, and trying to write but failing miserably 😓 what about you??? besides the obvious tumblr struggles 😭

[dazais-guardian-angel]

my friend who I’ve been playing the Layton games with, during UF: “I need a very specific fic of Clive actually coming around while serving jail time or something and trying to reconcile with Layton down the line. I don't even know if the game will make him survive or make him the least bit sympathetic in his attitude at the end but the redemption arc potential dang it.”

me, remembering that Professor Layton and the Rewound Repercussions exists: :)

[uwuwriting]

Zoom meetings with the kids w/ Kuroo, Akaashi and Sakusa

Request: I have been stuck inside the house with my three year old brother for the last three weeks and he keeps coming inside my room and entering the zoom call with me. So that had me thinking. How would our favorite Haikyuu dads Kuroo, Akaashi, maybe Kenma or Sakusa react to their toddlers coming into their room and joining their meeting. - anonymous. 

Awww I love haikyuu dads!!!! I have begun making the smau and I’m already like 3 chapters in but I won’t start posting until I’ve finished it or I’m about to finish it. I wanna be sure that I’ll have a trustworthy upload schedule lmao bc my midterms are coming up next week and I’m dying. Love ya. 💖💖💖

masterlist

rules

warning: fluff

Kuroo Tetsuro

-He was in a meeting with the firm for the past three hours. 

-He was absolutely exhausted and the only thing he wanted was to take a nap with his two year old daughter. 

-You were still at the hospital, your shift finishing in about two hours so he was basically alone.

-Your daughter was playing with her toys in his office, being as quiet as she could but exhaustion started to win her over little by little. 

-Yawn after yawn left her lips but since the sound was so small and barely above a whisper, Kuroo hadn’t realized that his little princess was tired. 

-Standing up with wobbly legs she grabbed her cat blankie and rubbed her eyes as she slowly made her way to her father. 

-With one arm hugging her blankie and the other wrapping around Kuroo’s leg, she rested her head on his leg and slowly sank down to the floor, not tugging at his pyjama leg as he expected. 

-Looking down at her he didn’t think twice before bending over and bringing her into his lap. 

-She let out a small sigh before she clutched his shirt in her small fists and was off to dreamland in record time. 

- “Kuroo-san what do you think?” 

- “Sorry my daughter distracted me.”

-And with that he went back to his meeting. 

-Throughout the rest of the meeting Kuroo rested a hand on her back, cupping her little head lightly rubbing soothing circles on her skull, staring down at her every now and then a smile adorning his features every time he saw her nuzzling into his chest.

-She was a female version of him now that he thinks of it.

-She had his crazy raven hair and stunning amber eyes while her face structure reminded him of both you and him. 

-Her personality though was all you. 

-He knew she was very young but she reminded him of you when you two first met more and more each day.

-Right at that moment she let out a small yawn again, her eyes opening slightly as she repositioned herself on his lap and went back to sleep. 

-He couldn’t love her more, at least that’s what he believed. 

-Each day she proved him wrong. 

-Saying goodbye to his coworkers he shut off his computer and went to the living room couch, laying down with his little girl in his arms. 

-Giving her one last kiss he fell asleep, a smile still present on his features. 

Akaashi Keiji 

- “The author said that those new chapters need to be edited by the end of the month. He will send you the rest when you are done with these.” 

-His eyes were bloodshot from the endless hours he had been staring at his screen. 

-Rubbing his eyes he answered every single question that was thrown at him, wishing that this one would be the last one. 

-But the universe wouldn’t have it that way for poor Akaashi making him stay up late again. 

-Thunder rumbled from outside and he wondered whether or not you had taken your son to bed with you. 

-The four year old boy was terrified of storms from a young age, always looking for comfort in either you or Akaashi. 

-But ever since his sister was born he pulled away from you two, he didn’t ask for help anymore even when he needed it and he didn’t wake you up during the night when he had a nightmare.

-Akaashi was amazed to say the least. 

-Neither of you had said anything to him about how your attention would mostly be on the baby and you guys had never dismissed his needs because of your little girl. 

-It worried him how fast his son closed in on himself. 

-He was already a shy and quiet kid but now you barely heard his voice and it broke both of your hearts. 

-Akaashi was determined to help him get out of this phase and be by his side but this assignment took up more of his time than he would’ve liked. 

-Light danced across the room as the door slightly opened but no one stepped in. 

-Keiji was about to stand up when he heard little sniffles and the light pitter patter of feet on the carpet of his office. 

-And soon enough his son rounded the corner of his desk, one arm wiping away tears as the other clutched the stuffed owl his uncle Bokuto had bought him. 

-Without losing a beat Keiji pushed his chair back and brought him in his lap, giving a small apology to his boss before momentarily turning off both camera and mic. 

- “I’m sowwy.” 

- “Shh I’m here, nothing’s gonna hurt you.” 

-Giving him a kiss on each cheek Akaashi let him snuggle in his chest, a strong arm supporting the toddler while simultaneously making him feel safe and protected. 

- “Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt but could we end it here? My son had a nightmare and I want to calm him down.” 

- “Of course Akaashi-san, give my regards to the little man. Goodnight.” 

-And with that the meeting was over and Akaashi was left with a crying child in his arms. 

- “Hey hey, I told you that nothing’s going to hurt you while I’m here. Why don’t we go sleep with mommy hm?” 

- “I’m sowwy…”

-Akaashi kissed his head again bringing him into a tight hug as he got up from his seat. 

- “There is nothing to be sorry for now come on, mommy would want cuddles.” 

 Sakusa Kiyoomi

- “If we use the new quick that Atsumu and Hinata have been practicing then we would have the upper hand momentarily.”

-Kiyoomi let out a sigh as the meeting he had with the team would not seem to end. 

-They had been discussing tactics for the last hour and a half while the rest of the time they had been informed of the new managers they had been assigned. 

-Kiyoomi never expected to be in a zoom call while being an athlete.

-He thought that it would be useless. 

-What were they even gonna do while in the meeting? Practice? 

-But he was proven wrong once the coach called the first meeting and now Sakusa was ready to pull his hair out. 

-Thankfully he was just laying in bed so at least he was comfortable. 

-You had gone out for some much needed grocery shopping leaving Kiyoomi with his son, not wanting to take your child outside with the virus contaminating people left and right. 

-Sakusa loved spending time with his son. 

-He was a low maintenance child, just like he was when he was young, adopting the same hygiene patterns as his father even at the early age of two. 

-He had just started talking and you wouldn't stop having conversations with him, the baby only uttering a simply “dada” or “momma” or even maybe a “yes” or “no” if you were lucky. 

-It made you happy though, seeing your son slowly becoming more independent. 

-Sakusa was also happy but he was also reminded that he wouldn’t stay this young forever; before he knew it his son would be off to high school or college and he wouldn’t fit in his arms anymore. 

-Lost in thought Kiyoomi hadn’t seen the toddler make his way into the room until he felt the covers being pulled as he attempted to get on the bed *and failed bc he’s just too short*

-Letting out a chuckle Sakusa pushed his laptop to the side and leaned down to grab his son, who was now pouting an expression that was a little too similar to yours. 

- “Is that mini Sakusa I see?” 

-Kiyoomi ignored Atsumu as he settled his son on his lap letting the baby wave at the camera as his “uncles” waved back. 

- “Do you mind if he joins?” 

- “Of course not, every Sakusa is welcome.”

-Giving his son one last kiss on his head, Kiyoomi went back to listening to the boring tactics letting his son play with his fingers in the process. 

-Okay maybe it wasn’t that bad now 

TAG TEAM AY:

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[elliesguitarstrings]

Just Friends

Masterlist

Pairing: Tom Holland x Actress!Reader

Summary: You and Tom haven’t seen each other since filming Uncharted, and you decide to surprise him at his Jimmy Kimmel interview. Although you’ve always been “just friends,” you can’t help but think there’s something more.

A/N: Hey y’all sorry it’s been a few days since I last posted, I’ve just been super stressed with school and stuff, but I actually really like this fic and I hope you guys like it too!

Warnings: Language, fluff, angst if you squint

WC: 2.4k

~~~~~~~~

It’s been months since you and Tom last saw each other in person.

While filming Uncharted, the two of you had become extremely close, hanging out in each other’s trailers and spending all of your free time together. In such a short period, you had become best friends, but neither of you could deny the spark of something more. Unfortunately, the two of you never got to explore that spark because of the short time limit. After wrapping, you and Tom went your separate ways, him to Atlanta to film Spiderman 3, and you back to your hometown for a well-deserved break.

That doesn’t mean you two haven’t stayed in contact though. You and Tom have texted and facetimed almost every day since you parted ways, or as much as his busy filming schedule allows. Throughout this time, however, you never seemed to discuss the obvious love connection between you two. Without actually speaking about it, you both seemed to agree that that conversation would be better to have in person.

This bring us to today, where Tom is backstage at Jimmy Kimmel, anxiously waiting for his interview segment of the show. He picks up his phone and decides to text you before he goes on to settle his nerves, wishing you were here to comfort him in person.

T: Are you watching the show yet?

Y: yep I already have my tv turned to abc! are you going on soon?

T: Yeah, I’m so nervous though

Y: why? you’ve been on the show before and you’re like amazing at interviews

T: Idk, Jimmy just said “be ready for a surprise” and he looked really suspicious so I’m scared

T: I just hope they don’t bring like Jennifer Aniston out or something because I would totally freeze and make a fool out of myself

Y: lmao that would be kinda funny tho, but I’m sure you have nothing to worry about

T: Okay we’ll see haha

T: Gtg I’m on in 10, I’ll facetime you after I’m done!

Y: kk, good luck tommy :)

T: Ahh thank you!!

What Tom doesn’t know is that you are ten times more nervous than him. While he’s under the impression that you’re sitting on your living room couch watching the show, you are actually in the dressing room down the hall from him.

Last month, when Tom told you he was going to be on Jimmy Kimmel to promote Cherry, you had the idea to surprise him. You emailed Jimmy not expecting a response, but to your surprise, he actually emailed you back and loved your idea.

So, here you are, waiting backstage and shaking with anticipation to surprise Tom. To be completely honest, you’re even more nervous now that you know Tom is expecting some big star like Jennifer Aniston, who you know has always been his biggest celebrity crush. But nonetheless, you shake off the nerves as best as you can, just hoping everything goes well.

“Please welcome our first guest… Tom Holland everyone!” you hear Jimmy’s voice over the speaker in your dressing room.

Now that Tom is on stage, you can safely leave the room without him seeing you, and you head to the side stage, waiting for your cue.

Tom and Jimmy talk about Cherry for a few minutes, and you can’t help but admire him. His voice, his face, his outfit, everything about him is just perfect. And even better, he’s here in person, closer than he’s been to you in a long time. It takes every ounce of self-control in you to stop yourself from running onstage and hugging him now. ‘Only a minute longer,’ you tell yourself.

“So, other than Cherry, what other upcoming projects are you working on?” Jimmy inquires onstage.

Almost there…

“Well, as most of you know,” Tom addresses the audience, “I’m filming Spiderman 3 right now, which has been going brilliantly. It’s definitely going to be the best one of all the Spiderman movies I’ve done. And I just wrapped on a film called Uncharted a few months ago in Berlin, which was so much fun.”

“Ooh, Uncharted, tell us more about that!"

“Yeah, well it’s based on the video game, and I play the main character, Nathan Drake, who’s on a quest throughout the film. It’s a lot like Spiderman in a way, with all the stunts and stuff, and I think it’s going to turn out great, I can’t wait to see it finished.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun! And if I’m not mistaken, you seem to have met a certain Y/N Y/L/N while filming?”

“Oh, Y/N, yeah, she’s great,” he starts to gush, and you immediately smile, “we became friends super fast, and I miss her so much. I wish she could be here right now, but she’s watching from home actually, so hey Y/N!” he looks directly at the camera and waves, as if he’s waving to you through the screen.

That’s your cue. You tiptoe onstage behind Tom, trying your best to shush the immediate gasps from the audience.

“Well Tom,” Jimmy smiles, “I think your wish may have come true.”

“Huh?” Tom looks around, confused, until his eyes land on you, and he completely freezes.

“Hey Tom,” you smile.

“Y/N! Holy shit! You’re here, you’re actually here!” he exclaims, not caring that he just cursed on live TV.

Tom immediately springs off the couch and sprints to you, arms outstretched. As soon as he reaches you, he picks you up in a tight hug and spins you around, both of you laughing. He sets you down, but still keeps you in a tight embrace, not pulling away until neither of you can breathe. He steps backwards to take you in, still trying to fathom that you’re actually here, with him, after all this time.

“Y/N, wha-, how? I thought you were at your house!” Tom can barely form a sentence, smiling wider than ever and completely out of breath.

“Eh, my house was boring. I thought it would be more fun here with you,” you smile.

He pulls you in again, whispering, “I missed you so fucking much.”

“You have no idea,” you whisper back, resting your forehead on his.

The two of you lock eyes, and for a moment, it’s like you are the only two people in the world. You both start to lean in, lips almost touching, when Jimmy interjects.

“Alright, you two, while that was very sweet, we do still have the rest of the show to get through, so why don’t you come sit down,” Jimmy laughs, bringing you and Tom back to reality.

“Right, of course,” Tom responds, trying his best to keep cool in front of the audience.

Tom ushers you to the couch, keeping one hand on the small of your back as he follows you. He keeps his arm around you when you sit, staying as close to you as possible without raising any more suspicions from the audience.

“So, you two, huh?” Jimmy smirks.

“What? Oh, no, Jimmy, we- we’re just friends,” you laugh trying your best to hide the obvious blush on your cheeks.

“I don’t know, that seemed like a little more than just friend behavior to me over there,”

“What do you expect, I haven’t seen her in half a year!” Tom exclaims, saving you from more embarrassment.

“Okay, okay, fine. Just friends,” he turns to the camera and winks, earning laughs from the audience.

“Anyways Y/N, we already talked about Tom, so tell us about you! How was your experience filming Uncharted?” thankfully, Jimmy moves on.

“Well, up until this point I had only really done small indie films, so it was definitely a major change. But Tom was so nice in helping me and it actually turned out to be such an amazing experience, probably the most fun I’ve ever had filming a movie…”

You go on for a few more minutes, talking to Jimmy about your role in Uncharted and your career in general, exchanging small glances with Tom, who just sat back and listened, completely entranced by you.

“Alright, well thank you so much for coming Y/N, it was great to have you! I’m afraid I have to keep Tom for a few more minutes for our next segment, but you’ll have him all to yourself soon enough,” Jimmy smiles.

You laugh, “Thank you so much for having me Jimmy, it was such a pleasure!”

You stand up and hug both Jimmy and Tom, giving Tom a small peck on the cheek before you walk offstage, waving to the audience as you leave.

You smile all the way back to your dressing room, completely overjoyed that you were successful in surprising Tom. As soon as you sat down on the small couch, not even two minutes after you walked offstage, your phone starts blowing up with notifications.

You see that your best friend texted you, so you check that first.

BFF: so you and tom huh? girl why didn’t you tell me?????

Y: what no???

Y: we’re just friends!!

BFF: that’s not what literally all of twitter thinks

Y: wdym? they don’t know anything

BFF: go check rn, i’m telling you they’re going batshit crazy over you two

You check Twitter and immediately see the fans already going crazy over you and Tom.

“just friends”????? bullshit did y’all see the way they almost KISSED?????

TOM AND Y/N I SHIP I SHIP I SHIP

did y’all see the way tom looked at y/n? he’s totally in love omg

UGH I’M SO JEALOUS AKSDHJSAHDSHD I WANT TO BE Y/N SO BAD

they’re so cute help omg

THE WAY Y/N FLEW OUT TO CALIFORNIA JUST TO SURPRISE TOM??? JUST FRIENDS MY ASS

Were you really being that obvious? You quickly call your friend, looking for some advice on what to do, and she picks up right away.

“Okay you were right, they’re going absolutely insane,” you start.

“I mean what do you expect y’all almost kissed on live tv!”

“Shut up.”

“Come onnnnn Y/N, I know you like him and he obviously likes you too so just talk to him! You already know that you two would be the cutest fucking couple ever. Plus you already have the approval of twitter what more could you need?”

You laugh, but you’re still hesitant.

“I don’t know, what if he doesn’t like me back?

“HE. ALMOST. KISSED. YOU. ON. LIVE. FUCKING. TELEVISON. I THINK HE LIKES YOU BACK BITCH!”

“Okay first of all we didn’t almost kiss, and second of all I don’t want to ruin our friendship. Plus how would I even tell him?”

“Okay YES YOU DID ALMOST KISS! And this isn’t middle school! Just tell him how you feel.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Think about what?”

You whip around and see Tom standing at your dressing room door.

“Fuck I gotta call you back,” you whisper, quickly hanging up the phone.

You turn back to Tom, still standing in the doorway.

“How much of that did you hear?” you ask, blushing profusely.

“Um, all of it I think,” Tom looks down and you immediately start to freak out.

Tom, however, looks back up at you and smirks.

“So you like me huh?”

You stay silent for a moment, a billion thoughts running through your head. You contemplate denying it and staying just friends with Tom. But then you think back to what your best friend told you just a second ago.

“Just tell him how you feel.”

“Yeah Tom. I like you. And not as a friend. This isn’t really the way I intended on telling you, and I get if you don’t feel the same way, but the way I feel about you isn’t just platonic. There’s a connection between us that I felt since the day we met and I can’t help but think that you feel it too. And then today it just got, like, ten times stronger and I-“

Tom promptly cuts you off by cupping your jaw and placing his lips on yours, sending a rush throughout your entire body. His lips feel like heaven, moving ever so gently against yours, and again, it feels like you two are the only people on Earth. The kiss is warm and loving, and although it doesn’t last long, the moment has already been engraved in your mind for eternity.

He pulls back, looking into your eyes, making sure he hasn’t made a mistake, but you only stare back at him ten times more lovingly.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.” he whispers.

“Me too,” you whisper back.

He takes your hands in his, “Y/N, I do feel that connection, and I want us to be more than just friends. I always have.”

As much as you are relieved that Tom feels the same way, you can’t help but worry.

“What about the distance? Are you sure we can handle that?”

“Of course we can,” Tom assures you, “I don’t care how far away we are from each other, I love you, and I’m never letting any amount of distance take that away.”

“But these past few months have been so hard without you, and we haven’t even been dating, I just- I don’t want to be apart from you anymore.”

“Then move in with me. Come to London and live with me!”

“Okay,” you grin.

“Wait, really?” Tom questions, taken aback.

“Yeah, why not? I mean, obviously we won’t be able to be together all the time because of our jobs, but it’ll be the closest thing.”

“Are you sure? That’s a big commitment to move that far.”

“I’m positive Tom. You’re my best friend, and now, I guess you’re my boyfriend,” you giggle, “I love you too, and I want to be with you, even if that means moving thousands of miles to London.”

Tom smiles, “You called me your boyfriend.”

“Shut up you dork, come here.”

You pull him in for another kiss, still feeling like you’re floating. Your lips once again move perfectly together, as if they’re made for each other. You’re completely consumed in him, and him in you, and in this moment, you know that he is the only one for you. In this moment, you know that you want to spend the rest of your life with him, and only him, and it’s the best feeling in the world.

~~~~~~~~

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[aelaer]

Hey dear, do you still play the ask game? If you don’t mind, here’s 🎁💡💘? Thank you so much for your answer!!!

From this post.

This one actually reminded me that it existed and I finally had a couple hours of energy to answer them yayyyy.

💘 Is it easier to write angst or fluff? I can write both, so long as neither is romantic in nature ahahahah. I don't know if either is easier or harder in nature--it more depends on my mood? I think it's harder to write a contained plot with fluff that isn't wildly OOC with the characters I write. It's definitely possible, and done quite well by some authors, but I think it can be harder. There's more angsty situations presented in canon and by the nature of their personalities.

💡How many WIPs do you currently have? Oh boy. So I am *not* counting the ones in the LOTR fandom that have remained untouched for like, a decade, haha. RIP LOTR. With the MCU... *sigh*

Ones that have a lot of content for them (one-shots are over 50% done, multi-chaptered fics have at least 20k written): 4 pieces

One-shots that have a scene written for them that I'm still planning to finish and publish: 2 pieces

Multi-chaptered fics that are unlikely to ever be finished/published due to being crossovers that I was way too ambitious about: 2 pieces

One-shots that have outlines that I still plan on completing: 3 pieces (these are all prompt fics requested in 2019 and 2020... I'm so sorry... the asker likely isn't even in the fandom anymore, lmao)

One-shots that are remaining prompt asks that have nothing planned yet: 2 pieces (including the new 2022 one from blossom, I'm so sorry, lord know when I'll get to it with this current schedule)

Floating snippets that are just ideas with no set plot to them, and thus may never be published beyond this blog: 3 pieces. Snippets really.

So 6-16 depending on what you count as a WIP.

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share? I posted two of the snippets in the other asks. Here's one from a one-shot that's like 90% done, I just need to figure out how I want to end it (which is harder than I'd like -- endings can be rough for me. Will probably need to ask my beta for her ideas because it hasn't gone anywhere for 2 years >.<)

.....

It was during one passing group, just as he was about to give his excuses, that Wong learned that the kid had super-hearing. A rather unfortunate time to discover such a fact.

And once Peter learned the news, it was just a matter of a few texts before every Avenger knew.

"We'd like to help out," Tony said, being the first to call Wong. Wong had given his number to a couple Avengers on the off-chance Stephen was wounded while working with them. He hadn't expected his number to be used in this fashion.

"Us sorcerers handle our own affairs," was Wong's gruff reply. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be retired?"

"Special occasion."

Wong said, "We're fine," and hung up before Tony could retort, then sighed. Stephen would be displeased if Iron Man ended up dying after all the work he did to save him in the multiple future fiasco. He was just happy Stephen managed to get to 16 million (and severely lower the amount of time it took to get everyone who left back), but that was another topic altogether.

Then Tony gave out Wong's number to the others.

"It really would be no trouble," Steve said. "We consider all of you our allies after Thanos."

"You're supposed to be retired, too," was Wong's exasperated retort.

A pause. "Well, I did pass on the mantle of Captain America to Sam, sure, but that doesn't mean I don't go out in the field here and there. Just less public."

Wong hung up on him, too.

"We really would like to see him safe," was Bruce's call.

Bruce was a little harder to hang up on; he had been visiting the New York Sanctum frequently for meditation purposes, to better understand and work with the other side of his personality and come to some sort of balance with it. According to Stephen, Bruce had achieved something like this on his own in other futures, but he was certain the resources at Kamar-Taj could help him achieve this faster and with potentially better results.

Still, Bruce Banner was not a sorcerer. "I appreciate the offer, Doctor Banner, but this is a matter for our order," he told him, then hung up before the other could retort.

"It's pretty slow right now; you'd be doing everyone a favor in letting us help," Natasha admitted when she called.

Wong pulled the phone away from his face to sigh; if it weren't for the very slim chance of Stephen potentially calling him, he would have turned off the damn thing. "Weren't you supposed to retire from field work, too?"

"People like me never retire," she answered. "Think on it, Wong."

He grimaced and hung up.

"You have to let us help!" was Peter's plea. Peter had been barred from the Sanctum until the issue was settled—Wong knew that Stephen wouldn't want the kid involved—but apparently Tony Stark was more than happy to give Peter Parker his phone number, as well.

"Stephen would want you to stay out of this," he told the kid without ceremony, and hung up on him, too, though he felt a little bad doing it.

This was getting ridiculous. The other Masters had decided the Avengers shouldn't be involved, but if they had to endure what Wong was enduring, maybe they'd change their minds. Besides, the extra eyes wouldn't be a bad thing to have, at least in Wong's opinion. 

By the time a sixth call from an Avenger in under an hour occurred, Wong was ready. He positioned himself in the Masters' strategy room as they discussed leads and next steps, then let the phone ring beside the others.

They caved in less than two hours.

[drabbles-mc]

Like Father, Like Son

Neron ‘Creeper’ Vargas x F!Reader

Request by Anon: Could you do a fic with someone (idc they could all be my baby daddy lol) being a boy dad. Like helping him fix his bike, temporary tattoos to look like their mini me and just being lovey and protective over their mom like their dad

Warnings: talk of pregnancy, a whole lot of family fluff

Word Count: 1.7k

A/N: I would die for soft Creeper Vargas. Me and @garbinge had a mini idea-bouncing sesh about him as a family man and I have a feeling this will not be my last fic about Dad!Creeper lmao. Hope you enjoy!

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You heard the familiar rumble of his bike as he pulled into the driveway. Smiling to yourself, you slowly made your way towards the front door. You opened it as he walked up the steps to greet you with a hand on your ever-growing stomach and a light kiss on your lips.

“How are you two ladies today?” he asked as he gently ran his hand over your stomach.

You chuckled, “We’re alright. The rest of your pack, however, is up to no good.”

He smiled, “Oh so they’re my pack now?”

Trying to contain your smirk, you nodded, “Go out back and see what they’ve been up to. You’ll definitely agree that they’re yours today.”

You listened to the sound of his heavy, booted footsteps as he made his way through the house to get to the back yard. You followed a little ways behind, and sure enough moments after you heard the deck door slide shut, you heard the sound of your husband’s laughter filling the air. By the time you made it to the door, Creeper was already crouched down, taking stock of the entire scene in front of him.

“What’s goin’ on out here, lil man?” he asked as he sat down next to his son, who was very seriously looking over all the markers that were spread out in front of him.

“We’re gonna look like you!” your son had the proudest smile on his face as he waved his marker around in the air.

You watched as Creeper took in the sight of his three kids all actually sitting and getting along together. Your son was outnumbered by his little twin sisters, and the three of them bickered constantly the way that young siblings do. But the rare moments when they all really liked each other and got along made the rest of it worth it. You subconsciously rested your hand on your stomach—truthfully neither of you knew the sex of the baby, but Creeper was certain it was another girl. He was practically willing it into existence. You were both going to be thrilled no matter what, but as you stood back and watched Creeper picking out what color to use for his son’s next ‘tattoo’ you couldn’t help but to hope that you’d have another boy running around soon to even out the ranks.

“Who came up with this idea, huh?” Creeper asked the three of them as he carefully started doodling on the back of his son’s hand with a magic marker. The twins simultaneously pointed to their brother and Creeper couldn’t help but to laugh, “I should’ve known.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard them so quiet,” you spoke up as you watched the four of them, “I thought I might’ve lost them for a minute—that’s how quiet the house was.”

“You three? Quiet?” he looked back and forth amongst them, “I don’t believe it,” he put the cap back on the marker and motioned for the girls to come closer, “Lemme see your ink, lil mamas.”

Creeper smiled as he looked at all the designs and doodles that covered his children’s arms. All things being considered, it wasn’t the messiest thing the little crew had ever gotten into. He loved everything about being a father, but moments like this really made his entire heart swell. All three of them had their arms covered in stars and smiley faces, and his son had a very scribbly skull drawn on his knee.

“I like this one,” Creeper tapped his son’s knee lightly, “You do that?” He nodded proudly and Creeper pulled him against his side, “You’ll have to give me one later.”

“Girls?” you shifted your weight from one foot to the other, “Now that Dad’s home we can take the dogs out. Still wanna go?”

They leapt up, cheering happily with all the energy that six-year-olds usually had, as they ran inside to grab their socks and shoes. You laughed as you listened to the clamor they caused. Looking back at Creeper and your son, you couldn’t help but to smile.

“You’re more than welcome to come with us,” you rested your arms on top of your new baby bump, “But I figured you two might like some boy time.”

Creeper looked up at you from the floor, “You shouldn’t be doing all that, baby. You should be resting. I’ll take are of it.”

You shook your head, “Walking is good for me, Neron. And for the baby. We’ll be fine.”

“You’re sure?”

You nodded as you walked over and placed a kiss on the top of your husband’s head, “Positive. You two have fun. I love you both.”

“Love you,” they both called after you in unison as you walked away. You smiled to yourself as you made your way through the house to catch up with your daughters, who were already being half-dragged out of the house by the dogs they managed to clip the leashes onto.

“Well,” Creeper slowly rose to his feet, holding his hands out to help his son to do the same, “Now that your tattoos are all dry, wanna help me with the bike?”

“Really?” his eyes lit up as he set his hands into his father’s.

“Yea,” he pulled him up and instantly tucked the boy against his side, “C’mon, it’s been a while since we worked on it.”

The two of them walked through the house and made their way out the front door so thye could get to the garage. Creeper stood back, allowing his son to lift and push the garage door up as high as he could before his dad had to take over and open it the rest of the way. Running in, the boy went right over to the light switch and flipped it on. Creeper chuckled as he walked in, making his way over to the large sheet that was draped over his latest project that he’d been tackling little by little with his son.

With a flourish, he removed the fabric, and his son’s eyes instantly lit up. Creeper had always been a bit of a fixer—he liked having projects to plug away at to help him unwind. The bike had been brought to the scrapyard by someone who, “Clearly doesn’t know a fucking thing about motorcycles,” according to Creeper, because there was plenty of potential left for it. The bones were still decent, it just needed a lot of TLC. Creeper called dibs on it and no one was going to fight him on it. So bringing it back to life had been his latest task.

For as much as he enjoyed his solitude a lot of the time, having your son as a built-in assistant to help him with the bike had been a great experience for the both of them. For as young as he was, he was very interested in everything that his father could tell him about the bike, the parts, and the tools used to fix it all. The two of them made a good pair, your son sifting through the tool chest to get whatever his father needed, and Creeper showing him little tricks of taking things apart and putting them back together.

“Y’know,” he cranked the wrench as his son sat next to him, watching intently, “when we’re all done with this, you can choose the color for it if you want.”

His eyes were bright, eyebrows raised in excitement, “Yea?”

He nodded, “Yea. You’ve been doing a lot of work on this—it’s only fair,” he paused for a moment, “It can be your bike, when you’re old enough.”

“Mine?” his eyes were filled with wonder as he thought about what his father had just told him.

“Yea. Just,” he chuckled, “Don’t tell your mom that I said that. It’ll be our little surprise for her.”

“Don’t tell me what?” you were leaning against the garage doorframe, a soft smile on your face as you watched the two of them working together.

Creeper turned around quickly, clearly searching your face to see how much of the conversation you’d heard, “Nothin’, mama. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

You chuckled, not convinced, “Mhm. I’m sure,” you absentmindedly ran your hands over your stomach, “Just came out to let you boys know to start wrapping up—dinner’ll be ready in ten.”

You made your way back to the house to finish getting dinner ready and you could hear your two favorite men in the world behind you as they started to clean up their project for the night. It brought a smile to your face and put a warmth in your chest as you walked inside and listened to the loud laughter of your two daughters getting into some kind of trouble in their bedroom.

When they finally made their way inside, you sent them both to wash their hands and get ready for dinner. You could see the disappointment on your son’s face at the thought of washing all of his tattoos away and you had to chuckled quietly to yourself.

“I love you,” Creeper said quietly with a soft smile as he pressed a kiss to your cheek in passing while he made his way to the kitchen sink to wash up.

“I love you too,” you smiled over at him for a second before getting plates and cups down out of the cupboard above your head.

You were getting ready to lift the stack of plates when your son came sliding into the kitchen, skidding skillfully on the hardwood floor in his socks. He lifted the plates instead, beating you to it. You tried to take them back from him, not wanting him to drop the entire stack of plates and have them break, but he insisted.

“I got it, Mom,” he reassured with a nod.

“Honey, I don’t want you to—”

“Dad said you need to rest,” he turned and started walking towards the dining room table, “I got it.”

You chuckled as you glanced over at your husband, “Between the two of you, I’m never going to get to do anything anymore, am I?”

He laughed and kissed you lightly on the lips, “Maybe not. But it’s because we love you.”

You gently cupped his cheek and ran your thumb along his cheekbone, “I love you too.”

[damienthepious]

ah beans. i finished it??

still need your teeth around my organs (chapter 11)

[ch 1] [ch 2] [ch 3] [ch 4] [ch 5] [ch 6] [ch 7] [ch 8] [ch 9] [ch 10] [ao3] [epilogue?]

Fandom: The Penumbra Podcast

Relationship: Lord Arum/Sir Damien, Lord Arum/Sir Damien/Rilla, Sir Damien/Rilla

Characters: Lord Arum, Sir Damien, Rilla

Additional Tags: Second Citadel, Lizard Kissin’ Tuesday, Enemies to Lovers, Rivals to Lovers, Dueling, Sexual Tension, (because they’re IDIOTS), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Mutual Pining, mutual IDIOTS, canon typical Arum ignoring feelings, Polyamory, (eventually lmao), Polyamory Negotiations

Fic Summary: Damien won yesterday, Arum won today, and now all that’s left is to break the tie. The only issue, however, is that neither of them are willing to do so, not until they are both satisfied that they have fought fairly, and honorably, and one of them has truly won.

Chapter Summary: Put down your sword and crown / Come lay with me on the ground

Chapter Notes: Warning for yet another passive suicide attempt from Lord Arum. Terribly sorry this keeps happening, Arum's only coping mechanism is Guess I'll Die and I really, really don't have any control over it. Honestly. The rest of it.... the rest of it might make up for the hurt, though. I hope. Chapter summary from the song Moth's Wings, by Passion Pit, which i love. There... MIGHT be an epilogue chapter, i think, likely next week. I just don't have the spoons for it today, but... i want it. maybe it'll happen.

~

Sir Damien arrives precisely on time for their final duel, the bells of his Saint distantly announcing his approach, his face pale but determined.

(Arum had been afraid, in some nebulous way, that Amaryllis would come with the knight. Would have followed Damien. Would have insisted, in her stubborn-bright way, and Arum does not know if he could have withstood-)

(He is disappointed, in another way, that he will not be allowed the chance to see her again, before this ends.)

Arum says nothing, if only because his throat aches enough that he knows it will rasp obvious in his voice if he tries. He nods, a safer acknowledgment of his rival's punctuality, and Sir Damien frowns more deeply.

"Arum," he says, in that familiar, soft, compelling tone he would use in the safety of Amaryllis' hut, and Arum bares his teeth even as his stomach twists.

"Don't," he manages, his growl low enough that it does not shake.

"But- please, Arum. Just-"

"We are not putting this off a single moment longer," he hisses. "No more dreaming, no more games, no more pretending this is anything but what it is."

Damien inhales, exhales, stares at Arum with his pale brown eyes sorrowful and pained.

"And... what do you believe it is, then?" he asks, muted.

"A duel, you little fool. To the death, and today we finally make good on the promise of our very first meeting."

"I would like to do that, at least," Damien says under his breath, quiet enough that Arum thinks he was not meant to hear it, but Damien raises his face and his voice before Arum can decide whether or not to comment. "If- if that is what you truly want to do, Arum, then... then duel we shall. But- please, Arum. Please, will you please- please listen? Just for a moment, will you let me- let me speak my heart. Please. If this is the last- the last time, the last chance- please. Please, allow me this."

Arum growls, glares, flicks his tail, does not want to give Damien the chance to twist this knife in his ribs-

He sighs through his teeth after a long moment.

"Fine," he says, sounding bitter even to his own ears. "Quickly. Speak."

Damien inhales, exhales, and lifts his chin. He looks so dignified, stiff-backed and staring Arum down, and he feels his own spine straighten in response.

"I do not want to kill you," Damien says.

Arum blinks.

"I don't," he repeats, his voice bright and certain, his lip curling into an odd little smile. "I don't want to kill you, I don't want to hurt you, I can only bear our duels because I know I won't harm you and I am certain that you wouldn't harm me, not anymore. You were right, Arum, when you said- we cannot keep doing this. My heart cannot endure forever, because I care too deeply for you to withstand even the pretense of trying to slay you."

"Nonsense," Arum hisses, his eyes flicking away as his heart thrums with something like panic. "Knight. Don't be a fool. Your Citadel-"

"Cannot aim me like a weapon and expect me not to follow my own heart, my own morals, when they cry out in protest of my actions. More the fool would I be if I could look in your violet eyes and still pretend that I wished to slay you and your kind. More the fool would I be if I continued to pretend that there is anything noble in this war. Any war, perhaps. Arum-"

"Enough," Arum rasps, slashing a hand through the air as if to cut the words aside. He cannot- he cannot listen to his own name in Damien's voice, not that softly, not that-

"But-"

"You spoke your- piece," he spits. "You said what needed saying, no matter how absurd it was, and I've heard you."

"You aren't listening-"

"I am. It simply doesn't matter." He lowers his head, glares down his snout at the knight, tries to keep his expression steady, furious. "It does not matter what we want."

"What we want?" Damien tries, his voice small, now, and Arum scowls more deeply.

"Don't. It doesn't matter. Make peace with your sullied conscience on your own time, because tonight, right now, you are a knight and I am a monster, and our duel will end. Now draw your bow, and fight me."

Damien's eyebrows dip, his jaw tightening for a moment, and then he meets Arum's eyes again.

"No."

"No? You- idiot, you can't pretend this away, you- I am going to kill you, knight, takatakataka. Draw your bow."

Arum steps closer, infuriated by the quiet poise in Damien's stance, the flash of something like pity in his honey-brown eyes.

"No," Damien says again, simple and calm.

Arum draws one blade, stalking closer, and then another. "I will kill you either way. At least pretend that you care about whether or not you go home to your doctor, Sir Damien."

A twitch, at that. A flicker. More fondness than fear in his eyes, still, though, and Arum bares his teeth and draws a third blade.

"I will not raise a hand against you."

"Then you will die," Arum growls, slipping his last blade from its sheath, the metal singing grimly in the night air as he draws closer to Sir Damien, clawed step by clawed step. "In perhaps the most foolish way possible."

"I will not," Damien says, his hands loose at his sides.

"Perhaps," Arum agrees, "if you fight."

"I will not die tonight," Damien repeats. "You will not kill me. I will not kill you. No more blood between us, Arum. I will not have it."

"You do not have a choice," Arum snaps, startling himself when his voice comes out halfway to a roar. "A thousand pretty little words cannot change what we are, honeysuckle, and they will not save us. I've told you over and over and over again- your knighthood, your Saint, your purpose! Your flower. Slay the monster and save yourself, you idiot, you-"

Arum lifts a hand, half intending to reach behind Damien himself, to pull the bow from his back and put it into the knight's hands whether he wants it or not, and his eyes dart- flick back to Damien's face- past him again-

"You-" he pauses, toes digging into the muddy ground. "Damien. Your-"

"I didn't bring it." He shrugs, almost feckless, and Arum really could kill him, for a moment, his vision blurring with fury and bafflement and- he doesn't even know what. "I'm surprised you noticed that before my lack of armor. I have no intentions of-"

"Any other monster could have- careless! Idiot creature! Any other threat-"

"If someone else slipped from the trees at this very moment, intending me harm," Damien muses, tilting his head just so, his curls shining in the moonlight, "what would you do? Would you turn those beautiful blades of yours against them?"

This has careened so far outside of Arum's control that he nearly, nearly laughs. He only stops himself because he thinks that if he allows the barest breath to leave him, he might not be able to stop himself from devolving entirely to hysterics. He lifts a blade.

Damien only blinks, when Arum presses the hilt into his palm.

"Fight me," he hisses, too close but it hardly matters, now, because-

Damien flexes his hand, drops the blade to the ground, his nose wrinkling.

"If you mean to kill me," he says quietly, "if you truly mean to, you will do so without struggle or complaint. I will say it as many times as I need to. I will never willingly hurt you again, Arum. I won't."

"This is not what we agreed to, takatakataka," Arum keens, heart fluttering, desperate now. "The arrangement- the duel- the rematch! All this time, all this- this history, and you mean to let it flutter and die without a fight? Where is the honor in that, Sir Damien? This isn't what I w-"

He freezes, nearly bites his tongue.

"What you want?" Damien tries, very gently. "My dearest rival, I thought you said that it didn't matter what we wanted. If you mean to kill me, it will be like this."

He lifts a hand, takes Arum's wrist, and the monster is so- confused, stunned, lost, he doesn't even resist as the poet draws Arum's hand, draws the blade close against his own neck.

"You've told me over and over and over, Lord Arum." Damien smiles, breathtaking as an unexpected dawn in the low light. "My life would be your prize. Go on, then. Take what you would take."

Arum can barely, barely hear the thud of Damien's heart over the dizzying hummingbird stutter of his own. They are close enough that he can nearly see the buzz of his mammal heat, close enough to feel his hushed breath, close enough to-

He flexes his hand. He tries-

Blade cold and obscene against the dark column of Damien's throat. He-

Pulls the knife back. He can't-

(Of course he can't. He's known that it is Damien that's meant to win this duel for ages, now.)

Instinct, he thinks dully. Perhaps instinct will- the knight cannot ignore his training, surely, he can't-

He presses another blade into Damien's hand, scowling, snarling, and then he flicks his own hand forward, towards Damien's face, quick like a scorpion-sting but he's seen Damien react faster than that.

A fraction of a fraction of a second.

Damien doesn't drop his eyes. He does drop the blade, again, his fingers not even twitching to close around it. He does not flinch. And Arum-

Snarls, and lurches to the side just quickly enough to plunge the blade into the tree at Damien's back rather than into his- his cheek. He feels sick to his innards, like a parasitic vine curling down his throat to squeeze at his lungs, too close, too close-

Too much. Arum feels the thin brittle shell of his anger crack through, inconsequential dust in the space of a breath, and- there's nothing left to hold him up, then. No strength in his bones. He hangs upright by the single point of his hand around the hilt, his knife embedded in thick bark. He releases his grip - exhausting, hanging on, isn't it? - and sinks down, on his knees before the knight, and he realizes with a bitter little flash of humor that Sir Damien triumphed without moving a single muscle.

"You win," he says, his voice snagging oddly, his eyes on the ground, and he realizes that his three empty hands are clutching at the front of Damien's shirt, now. No reason to let go, he supposes. It doesn't matter. "You win. You've proven your- I can't, I would rather die than hurt you so you might as well get on with it-"

"Oh- Arum," Damien breathes above his head, and one of his hands skims carefully over Arum's shoulder. "Get on with it?"

Arum reaches up, takes Damien's wrist, pulls it down. He presses the hilt of his last blade into Damien's palm, curls his own fingers around Damien's, and lifts the knife to his own neck.

"You should-" Arum shudders out a breath, and he cannot bear Damien's gaze just now. He closes his eyes tight, ignores the heat, the prick of tears at the corners, and hisses his next words between his teeth. "Go on. Go on and do it, Sir Damien. I would rather die than hurt you so I may as well. Do your- your duty and slay the monster and- and-"

"Are you still-? No, Arum. No."

"You've won, Sir Damien, you've broken me, you've won and it is over and we cannot continue to pretend that this will be forever, that we might be allowed to continue on. You have defeated- you've ruined me, I cannot lift a finger against you and you are not a traitor, so you must slay me. You- you-"

"If, my rival, I have won," Damien tries, soft and keening, and Arum slits one eye open, glancing up at the knight. "I... I would like, very dearly, to take my prize."

"Take it, then," he rasps, and before he can close his eyes again-

Damien grips him by the cape, leans down, and presses his mouth over Arum's in a kiss. Slow, tender, fierce, and Damien sinks down as well as the kiss draws long, and Arum's mind struggles to comprehend-

Damien.

On his knees as well, eye to eye properly for once and the poet breaks the kiss with a gasping little oh, as if he is precisely as surprised as Arum, but then he sucks in a desperate sort of breath and lifts his hands (the tumble of the last knife to the ground a whispering thud at the edges of Arum's perception, entirely unimportant) to cup Arum's face, to pull him into another kiss. And another. And again, his warm thumbs brushing the tears from Arum's cheeks.

"If your life is my prize then I wish to protect it," Damien whispers when he next pulls away to breathe, the warmth of his lips against Arum's scales. "If your life is my prize then I will bend myself towards its care. I would offer-" he ducks his head, a shyness slipping across his face. "There is a hollow in my heart in your shape, Arum, and- and I would offer it to you as haven. If our duel has ended then I wish to finally, at last, be somewhere you need not fight."

Damien's palms caress his cheeks, warmer than sunlight, and it catches in Arum's throat, it can't- he can't-

(His body thrums against Damien's. He wants, he wants, unspeakably so, he is so tired and he wants-)

"Damien-"

Only half a breath, helpless and choked, and Damien makes a soothing, hushing noise as he draws one of his thumbs along the line of Arum's mouth, startling another electric gasp from his lips.

"I wish I could make you understand," the poet keens. "I would pull my heart from my chest if I could only show you how it glows for your presence, I would go to my knees for you like this again and again, I would-"

Arum doesn't know- couldn't say- another kiss, lick of sunlight against his mouth, and Arum couldn't possibly say which of them leaned in first.

Damien cradles his face in his hands, so gentle that Arum feels it like a stone caught in his throat, and his own hands- drifted without his intent, two brushing hesitantly at Damien's waist, one curling around his back, the last touching just the tips of his claws to the soft skin of Damien's throat, thudding hard with his pulse. Damien gasps against his mouth, kisses him again, gentle, again, again...

Strike of a thought, and Arum-

Pulls his hands back as if burned. Pulls his head back as Damien blinks at him, stunned.

"Amaryllis," he hisses, pain like a crack in his ribs as he shakes his head. "Amaryllis, honeysuckle, what- you cannot- she deserves- worlds better than-" he pauses to grit his teeth, closing his eyes because it doesn't matter how this hurts, because- "Amaryllis is beautiful and patient and compassionate and breathtakingly brilliant and you love each other and you cannot- you can't do this to her, Damien, she deserves-"

Another kiss. Feather-soft. Arum wrinkles his snout, opening his eyes again to glare because Damien is clearly not listening.

The poet only smiles, though, a little sheepishly, and he draws his thumbs over Arum's cheeks.

"To be quite honest, my dear, Rilla was often more confident in my romantic pursuit of you than I myself was. She always believed... I cannot say I would have been strong enough to endure this uncertainty were it not for her steady hand at my back. She- cares about you as well, and she encouraged me to try, to reach out for you, to speak my heart. Rather stridently, in fact."

Arum stares at him, marveling at the sensation of little bits of his brain drifting away like the seedheads of dandelions, hazy and aimless.

"I don't..." he stares harder, as if the embarrassed, pleased expression on Damien's face might offer some further clue. It doesn't.

(Too distracting, the urge to lean just the smallest bit closer, to chase that warmth, to-)

"I am beginning to wonder if anything will ever make sense again," Arum muses, his voice distant to his own ears, and Damien barks a laugh, sharp and surprised. The poet shakes his head, moving to stand, and Arum buries the stab of disappointment for a moment before Damien reaches back down, offering a hand.

Arum takes it, and remembers-

The first time Damien reached for him, to help him to his feet after a duel. His frill twitches, flaring with the stunned recognition- that little pit of desire, confused formless want, curling in his stomach since- since before even that touch, palm to palm and utterly clueless.

But Sir Damien's cheeks darken too, and he does not release Arum's hand when they are both on their feet again, and Arum knows, with a strange sort of certainty, that the knight's mind is lingering on precisely the same memory.

"Honeysuckle," he says, and nothing else follows. The word was simply on his tongue, sweet and bright, and the only place for it to go was into the air between them.

Damien smiles again, and squeezes his hand, as if he understands. As if he understands far, far better than Arum. Which - Arum twitches a smile in return - the poet likely does.

"Come home with me," Damien offers. "Rilla can speak for herself, and- we can talk. About what this will mean, what this will change, what we all want, for... for us. Please."

Little fool, Arum thinks, and even his thoughts come in a gentle hush. Little fool. To think that Arum might say no.

~

The walk is like a dream, dazed and slow, fixed together at the hand and each glancing to check the other's eyes every few steps, awestruck and silent as if afraid to break some spell.

Amaryllis' garden, shimmering with moonlight, dancing with a thousand fireflies, flickering light painting Damien's gentle gaze even more beautiful, and the sight of the warm golden glow from Amaryllis' window strikes Arum dead center, stuttering his heart, drying his mouth with undeniable desire.

Damien must feel him shiver, feel him stiffen, palm to palm like hatchlings and focused on Arum's uncertainty even as his eyes linger on the home in front of them. He pauses, so terribly close to the door, and turns to face Arum again, taking another hand and squeezing.

"Are you alright?" he asks, careful and sweet, and Arum feels his own mouth twist.

"I- I don't... none of this- it doesn't make sense," he admits, wincing even as Damien makes a small noise of sympathy and sways closer. "I missed-" he pauses, shakes his head. "I am unused to getting what I truly want and I keep expecting- wondering when I will- wake up, when this will either end, dissolve beneath me, disappear or- or begin to feel real, and-"

Damien kisses him, before the sharpness of his breath twists into something more painful, more panicked.

"This is real," Damien whispers, wrapping his arms around Arum's back, and-

Arum chases his mouth, kisses him back. Like this- warmth and sweetness, each kiss followed by another, Damien's murmured breaths against his lips, it feels- he feels-

(the creak of the step beneath them, barely entering his mind, flash of embarrassed memory of eavesdropping weeks ago, so ridiculous)

Another kiss. Another, and if he only-

Each kiss is like a fissure of sparks, pressed together and clinging, and he thinks that perhaps one more, one more will clear the cloud of confusion, just one more and maybe it will start to make sense-

Bathed in amber light, startling and sudden and they blink apart, gasping hard before Amaryllis' shadow hangs over them, her frame in the doorway bouncing on her heels as she looks down at them, tangled just a step below her, and-

"Oh thank fuck. Yes," she says, crowing triumphant like a morning bird, grin flashing white and sharp.

Arum stiffens regardless at the attention, leaning as much away from Damien as he can on the small step, and-

Amaryllis falls - launches - forward out the door, into half of Arum's panicked arms, and she-

Kisses him.

Amaryllis kisses him even through her smile, an arm slung around his shoulder and her other hand cupping his face and her body fully leaning into the support of his grasp, and-

Oh.

Arum understands. Finally, finally he understands, like a lock clicking into place.

They, and he, and a single word he is not yet brave enough to say.

Damien presses his face into his shoulder as Arum starts kissing back, two arms around each of them, and the combined warmth, their hands on him, the undeniable reality, the thud of his own heart, almost indistinguishable from theirs, it makes him dizzy-

Their combined weight overbalances on the narrow step, and Arum feels a different panic flare at his center for one awkward moment as at least two of them yelp, but he manages to clutch the humans even closer, and he shifts his footing and swings his tail to counter their teetering, just enough to steady them before they fall.

Amaryllis gasps, clinging to Arum's shoulders, bites her lip. She meets Damien's eye for half a moment, and then they upturn their faces towards him, both smiling, both breathless, and Arum thinks-

No. No, I didn't stop any of us from falling, did I?

Ridiculous thought. His snout twitches with the urge to laugh, and they must see it, because- Amaryllis bites her lip again, stifling a giggle, shaking lightly in Arum's grasp, and Damien presses a hand over his mouth to bury the size of his smile. Amaryllis leans back enough that they don't risk overbalancing again, but when he loosens his grip to allow her some space, she only draws her hands down his arms (his scales shiver, his breath catches) and takes two of his hands in her own, grinning again, and she starts to tug him inside, with Damien nudged along, trapped between them.

The door closed safely behind them, and Damien finally seems to sag, his careful confident energy all used up now that he may sigh into Amaryllis' arms, grinning so softly and so happily as Amaryllis bullies all three of them to settle at her table, close enough to touch, and then closer still, curled together and warm, and Arum-

Realizes just how long and how fiercely he has wanted this, precisely this.

Amaryllis grins, her hand lifting to his neck, gentle at his frill, her eyes flashing with obvious fascination even as she presses the lightest, sweetest kiss to the scales of his cheek before she leans back to check his expression.

"So," she says, a little sly despite the clear giddiness on her face, glancing between he and Damien. "Who won, then?"

Arum looks to Damien, who meets his eye with a slow, slow smile, and it fizzes between them, the warmth and that crackle of electricity, and how- how had Arum not known?

"I did," he and Damien say, in nearly a single voice, and Amaryllis bursts into laughter.

[iamanartichoke]

Fic prompt: If you feel like doing another hurt/comfort with Mobius, I would love a version of that end scene where Loki's freaking out but it actually is our Mobius. So Mobius listens to everything Loki has to say, and then they just kind of...take a breath, I suppose, before whatever they're going to do to fight Kang - perhaps Loki gets some tea, and/or an actual meal, a little sleep maybe (has he eaten since that cake on the train or slept since that brief nap in ep 2??), or whatever comfort-y stuff you want - I just need that sweet fic healing lmao.

@scintillatingshortgirl19 Thank you for the prompt and I hope you like it! <3

Summary: Takes place at the end of episode 6, where instead of saying "Who are you?" Mobius knows Loki and they pick up from where they left off in the void. Word Count: 1956 Author’s notes: I'm not feeling super confident with these prompts, so please don't judge me bear with me as I dust off my little writer-brain gears and try to find my footing with these new characters and characterizations.

Completed prompts.

*

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Mobius is saying, holding his hands up, but Loki can’t stop talking. The words are spilling from him; he’s tripping over them, and from the look on Mobius’s face Loki knows he’s not making sense, but still, he can’t stop.

“He’s set on war,” Loki babbles. “We need to prepare, Mobius.”

“Hang on.” When Loki pauses to take a breath, Mobius reaches out and places his hands on Loki’s shoulders. It’s almost comical, the way he needs to reach, as Loki towers over him. Yet Loki feels very small, too, and doesn’t protest the contact. “You’re speaking faster than my brain can process words. Breathe, okay? Start at the beginning.”

Loki doesn’t know when the beginning was. It could have been the moment he’d leapt up and grabbed Sylvie’s arm before she could land a fatal blow to their enemy; it could have been all those days (or months, or hours, Loki has no idea; time, for him, has completely ceased to exist) ago that he’d landed in a Midgardian desert and the TVA immediately swarmed upon him.

“You’re not understanding me.” Frustration colors Loki’s tone. “There’s no time to stop; he’s - they’re - coming.”

“You’re right, I’m not understanding you.” Mobius lets go of Loki’s shoulders and rubs the back of his neck. “I want to, but you gotta slow down and fill me in, okay?”

“Maybe we should take him somewhere,” says B-15. Loki had barely noticed her but now he steps back, his gaze flicking from her to Mobius, taking in the confusion on both of their faces.

“You don’t look so good,” B-15 adds, taking in Loki’s appearance. He must be a sight, he realizes; his hair is matted and tangled and he feels grimy, his skin caked with so much dirt and blood from injuries he doesn’t remember getting.

But, what difference does it make? Loki turns back to Mobius, desperate. “Mobius, listen to me. Sylvie and I -”

“Come on.” Mobius cuts him off. He moves in, taking one of Loki’s arms. “You can tell me everything, okay, Loki? I just need you to calm down and to come with me, preferably before you pass out. Hauling around a five hundred pound demigod wasn’t on my to-do list today.”

Loki bites back a sharp retort. He’s vaguely aware of B-15 taking his other arm, and it’s only once Loki’s shoulders slump and he allows himself to be led away from the shelves that the exhaustion hits him. He’s been running high on adrenaline for hours, and now that he’s moving slowly, supported on either side, all of that energy seems to drain from him at once. His knees buckle.

“Careful,” Mobius says. Were it not for him and B-15 holding him up, Loki is certain he would have collapsed. He squeezes his eyes shut and focuses on placing one foot in front of the other, not caring where they’re going. The archives, the time theater, one place is the same as another.

They move through halls that are bustling with activity, minutemen running and disembodied voices crackling over speakers. They don’t know it’s pointless, no amount of hunters in the field will matter or make a difference.

He thinks he says so, or perhaps he just imagines he does. Neither Mobius nor B-15 acknowledge him, at any rate; they only keep moving and after awhile, they arrive at the dormitories, where Loki has not been since the first day Mobius brought him here as an official TVA employee.

“Why are we here?” Loki asks, confused.

“So you can get a shower and a change of clothes,” Mobius says simply, “and then we can have some coffee and you can tell me what happened after the void.”

Loki sighs, and then nods, resisting the urge to insist that everything else could wait (until when?), because Mobius isn’t understanding the precariousness of the situation, but he knows it won’t do any good.

“Fine,” he says instead, giving up. The sooner he does what Mobius asks, the sooner Mobius will listen.

He’d not realized just how badly he needed that shower and change of clothes until he’s scrubbed the dirt and blood from his skin and allowed the hot water to beat over his sore muscles and rapidly-forming bruises. For lack of anything else to wear, he puts on a clean suit, fastening the cuffs firmly around his wrists and buttoning the collar up to his neck.

He’s sick of this outfit; he never wants to see it again but, without his magic, he has no other choice.

In the dormitory kitchen, Mobius is brewing a pot of coffee. He looks up when Loki walks in, and his mouth quirks in a half smile. “Better,” he says, “but you could still probably use some sleep and a meal.”

“Stop fussing,” Loki snaps, irritated with Mobius’s sudden desire to hover over him like a governess hovering over a petulant child who won’t eat his peas. “I hate coffee, by the way.”

“You’ve never had my coffee,” Mobius retorts, sounding unbothered. “Just sit down, okay? You still look like hell, is my point. When’s the last time anyone fussed over you, anyway?”

Loki makes a scoffing noise as he drops down into a chair at one of the small kitchen tables. “I’m sure my mother did at some point, I don’t remember.” Actually, he remembers very well that it was always his mother who looked after him when he was sick or tired or lonely, until he’d grown too old to allow himself to seek her out for comfort.

But he doesn’t want to think of his mother, who is lost to him and perhaps lost to the real Loki as well, the sacred timeline’s Loki, if enough time has progressed and Malekith has indeed run her through with a sword and left her bleeding out on the palace floor.

Loki shudders as he thinks of it, remembering the sight of his mother’s lifeless body projected onto a screen. He’d been helpless to stop it, utterly powerless, just as ultimately he’d been powerless to stop Sylvie.

His mother, dead. Sylvie, lost to him. The timeline destroyed - the end of everything. The weight of it all crashes over him; had he not already been sitting, the sheer despair of it would have brought him to his knees.

Loki drops his head into his hands instead, thinking back to Mobius’s words that first day: you were born to cause pain and suffering and death.

In retrospect, Loki knows that Mobius was merely fighting dirty, using whatever words necessary to break Loki down - the ends justify the means, and all that - but he wasn’t goddamn wrong.

How could Loki have ever believed, even for a second, that he could possibly change?

We write our own destinies now, he’d told that creepy little clock hologram, and she’d smirked, seen right through the words because they were rubbish and they both knew it.

Good luck with that.

Loki doesn’t realize he’s crying until Mobius sets down a steaming mug of coffee in front of him. He lifts his head and rubs tiredly at his tear-stained cheeks, unable to meet Mobius’s gaze as Mobius sits down across from him with his own mug.

“Here,” Mobius adds, reaching into his inside blazer pocket. He pulls out a slim, red candy stick wrapped in plastic and hands that to Loki as well.

Loki stares at it. “What is this?”

“Something better than grapes or nuts,” Mobius says dryly. “It’s a Twizzler. Popular Earth candy. I’d say don’t tell anyone I’ve stashed a bunch, but …” He trails off and shrugs, glancing around at the kitchen with forced amusement. “Doesn’t really matter anymore, does it?”

He pulls out a second Twizzler and unwraps the plastic, then bites into the candy. Loki watches him for a moment, and then imitates him. “Gross,” he says, after he’s taken a bite. It’s a very bland candy, with texture not unlike rubber. “Think I prefer grapes.”

“Well, maybe Twizzlers are an acquired taste,” says Mobius.

Loki finishes the Twizzler anyway, and then takes a sip of coffee. He does usually dislike coffee, but either he’s hungrier than he’d realized or Mobius has a gift, because this cup is actually quite good.

“Okay, now let’s go back to the beginning,” Mobius prompts, after a silence. He drums his fingertips against the table. “What happened? I’m assuming you were able to enchant the murder cloud?”

All of the words that had been spilling from Loki’s lips before, so desperate to be released, now get stuck somewhere in his throat. He wraps his hands around his mug and takes another sip of coffee, wondering idly how long it had been since he’d actually had something warm to drink. Or eat, for that matter. The train on Lamentis, perhaps. A moment ago, a lifetime ago.

“We did,” he finally says. Despite the coffee, a chill breaks out over his skin and he sets the mug down, choosing to fold his arms as if to fold into himself for warmth. “We made it past Alioth and found him - the one who’s responsible for all of this.”

Just like that, the words are no longer stuck. Loki pours out the entire story, starting from when he and Sylvie had crossed the threshold into the citadel and ending with his own tumble back through the tempad’s portal into the TVA.

But he omits the kiss, only mentioning that Sylvie had distracted him to get the upper hand. He’ll never speak of it - either that Sylvie had used his feelings for her in order to betray him, or that he’d fallen for it (of course he’d fallen for it; for a few seconds there, he’d let himself believe - but, it doesn’t matter, it wasn’t real, and there are bigger problems now).

“She closed the portal before I could get back through it,” Loki says. He notices that he’s twisting his fingers together so tightly that his knuckles are turning white. He forces himself to stop. “I can only imagine she finished the job after that because, well.” He barks a laugh that sounds, even to his own ears, broken and pathetic. He used to be so good at maintaining a cool, calm facade but it, like so many other things, had been steadily breaking apart, piece by piece. There is very little left to guard the scared little ice runt who trembles at the core.

“Look at the timeline,” he adds; he laughs again and rubs his eyes against a fresh wave of tears.

For a long time, neither of them say anything. Loki finishes his coffee and Mobius eats two more Twizzlers before another word is spoken.

“So we lost.” Mobius’s voice is hollow. “We lost before we could begin to fight.”

“I’m sorry.”

Mobius shrugs. He runs a hand over his short, gray hair before letting out a laugh of his own. “He Who Remains,” he repeats, more to himself than to Loki.

Loki allows a beat to pass. “We have to try to fix it, Mobius.” The only way to ease the weight of his guilt, Loki knows, is if he goes back and tries to make it right - or to die trying.

“How are we supposed to do that?” It’s Mobius’s turn to rub his eyes. His shoulders slump and for a moment, he looks very tired. Older. Loki studies him and wonders, fleetingly, if the real Mobius is someone’s father. “I don’t even know where to begin, Loki.”

“I might.” Loki straightens. Deep down, beneath the anguish, a seed of determination has taken hold and he focuses on that; a lifeline. “But you’ll need to trust me.”

[nycorix]

Consequences [2/11]

[fic post] |part 1|

Here’s part 2!! Feat. these idiots sharing junk food that they will absolutely regret later lmao 

___________

2. The two Stellaxis operatives stand there without consequence, in the open in enemy territory, quiet and watchful, as the square around them fills and fills some more. Neither of them has ever been in a crowd this big before, and the exhilaration and anticipation wafting through the air is intoxicating.

06 drinks up the sights, sounds, and smells like water, practically vibrating with the excitement of it all. Beside her, 22 stands impassive, every inch of him on high alert. Every once in a while, something will surface in his eyes, then get squashed down again, reduced to the barest hint of a frown in the corner of his mouth. 06 knows he wants to be here—or, at least, that he’d sooner skewer himself with his own sword than let her go alone—but she can’t tell how the evening is actually affecting him until she hears his stomach growl, low and insistent beneath the ruckus of the crowd.

“Hey!” she exclaims, nudging him so enthusiastically that he actually winces. “Why didn’t you say you were hungry?” She rests a hand on her own stomach, which is grumbling its complaints along with his—they’ve been gone long enough now that they’ve missed their scheduled protein bars, not to mention dinner, and their hyperefficient metabolisms are already suffering. “C’mon, let’s find something good to eat!”

She grabs his wrist before he can object, tugging him gently along and weaving them both through the throng of strangers until they reach the edge of the square, where a line of food stands stretches the whole length of the street behind it.

“Oh, it all looks fucking amazing!” she gushes, eyes flitting from one tantalizing menu screen to the next. “What do you wanna get?” She surges forward without waiting for an answer—only to have her arm half-yanked out of her socket when he plants his feet. 

She groans, turning to face him. “What?” she starts, mouth twisting into something approaching a pout; but the troubled set of his jaw gives her pause.

“How are you going to pay for it?” he murmurs, glancing up at the vendors and the long lines of customer-citizens blinking over their payments one by one. “If we use our company accounts, the drones will be here faster than we can get out of here in this crowd. And this is a Greenleaf sector, in case you’ve forgotten—if the drones engage with us here, then all these people will—”

“You worry too much,” 06 interrupts smoothly, producing two wilted bills from a coat pocket and waving them in his face. “I’m way ahead of you.” She grins as his expression shifts from concerned to bemused to vaguely irritated, grins harder when he huffs a sigh and looks away. “Now, seriously: what do you want to eat?”

They end up with a large bag of popcorn and a soda to share, two tiny sausage-things tucked into bread rolls and smothered in onions and sauce each (“what exactly is in a ‘hot dog’?” 22 asks the vendor scathingly before 06 elbows him directly in the sternum and tosses down a bill), and some kind of pastry called “fried dough”, which looks to be just that: a giant piece of dough fried up until the outside is crispy and golden, copiously dusted in more sugar than she and 22 collectively consume in a week.

Loot acquired, they make their way back into the plaza, finally settling on a few feet of space behind a flimsy plastic barricade. They stand close enough to brush their knees against it, the flattened top functioning as a makeshift table they can set their treats on. 06 balances the popcorn and the soda between them, unwraps a hot dog, and digs in.

They eat in silence, 06 reveling in the explosion of flavors that are unlike anything the chef bots at HQ could ever dream of whipping up—the forbidden salts, fats, preservatives, flavor enhancers, and carbs positively dance on her tongue. 22 doesn’t say anything, but she knows he feels the same by the way he finishes his even before she does, looking almost regretfully at the empty paper wrappers before he crushes them up into a compact little ball and slips it carefully into a pocket.

They eat the popcorn and the pastry much slower, the initial twisting emptiness of their stomachs appeased, quickly traded sips of soda between them. The ecstasy of consumptive experience continues with the snacks—the perfect ratio of salted butter to the fluffy crunch of the popcorn, the weird ticklish fizz of carbonation, the way the fried dough melts in their mouths and the cinnamon-sugar sings over their taste buds, gets all over their faces and hands. 06 laughs delightedly at a smudge of sugar on 22’s nose, brushing it off with the pad of her thumb as he glares at her, biting the inside of his cheek to hide a smile.

It’s perfect, all of it. The sugar-fueled adrenaline rush pumping through her veins insists this, helps her ignore the fact that eventually it will all end, that they’ll be returning to HQ to face the consequences before tomorrow comes.

For now, though, she shares food and body heat with her partner (her best friend; her only friend, and the only person she wants to experience this with), shivering deliciously in the cold as they wait for the event of the evening to start.

|part 3|

[storiesforallfandoms]

oh no, i think i’m catching feelings ~ harry styles x louis tomlinson

 word count: 1254

request?: yes!

“Hey, this is kind of a weirdly specific request and I've been looking for something like this for so long but I don't think it exists. 😭

I want a fic where the mc is aromantic but not asexual! And the other mc falls in love with them. They could have a fwb thing. It would have to be a bad ending as they wouldn't end up together. I just want the angst lmao.

I don't really care about the character or the genders. But maybe you could do Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson? With Louis as the aromantic character.”

description: in which one of them catches feelings for the other, but the other has no desire for a romantic relationship with anyone

pairing: harry styles x louis tomlinson

warnings: swearing, mentions of smut, angst

masterlist (one, two)

Louis was up before Harry had even finished riding out his high. The younger man was breathing heavily and running a hand through his sweaty curls, still seeing stars from his hard orgasm.

Louis was grabbing a wet cloth for the two of them to clean up with. Harry gazed up at him, taking in his beautiful, sweat glistened body. He hoped his heart wasn’t beating so loud that Louis could hear it and give him away.

He snapped out of his daze when he felt a wet cloth hitting his face. Louis was snickering to himself.

“How kind of you,” Harry said, sarcastically.

“Be lucky I’m giving you a cloth to clean at all,” Louis responded, a smirk playing on his lips.

Harry cleaned himself off and sat up. Louis was pulling on his clothes already.

“Why don’t you stay a while?” Harry asked him, hoping he didn’t sound desperate.

“What did you have in mind?” Louis asked.

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know. We could just hang out in bed. You could spend the night.”

Louis sighed. “H, you know that’s not how this works.”

“That’s not a relationship thing, Lou,” Harry argued. “I don’t understand why you can’t spend the night, just once.”

“You know why, Harry.”

Louis had tried to be in a relationship so many times, with men and women. He always thought he just had trouble finding “the one”, until he realized he just didn’t have any romantic feelings for anyone, period. He was aromantic.

But he wasn’t asexual. Actually, he still had a strong sexual desire and sex drive. Unsurprisingly, it was nearly impossible to find someone who wanted a sexual relationship but not a romantic one.

And then, there was Harry.

They were bandmates, but more importantly, they were best friends. They saw each other every day. They talked constantly about just about everything. They had a close bond, which meant it was no surprise when they hooked up one night and decided to make it a regular thing; a no strings attached relationship that they kept on the downlow.

But Harry was far from aromantic. He was something of a hopeless romantic, having also gone on plenty of dates with men and women in hopes of finding someone he truly loved. Unfortunately for him, this meant that the strings became attached for him, no matter how hard he tried to make sure they didn’t.

“I just want you to stay,” Harry said, the desperation finally seeping into his voice. “We used to stay in each other’s rooms all the time.”

“This is different.”

“No it’s not!” Harry’s frustration was starting to bubble over and he couldn’t hold it back anymore. “You keep saying that, but the only thing that’s changed is that we’re having sex. That doesn’t inherently mean everything that we used to do is suddenly romantic.”

Louis sighed. He started for the door and Harry quickly got up from the bed.

“Lou? Lou, I’m sorry. I just want things to be how they used to be with us.”

Louis paused to look back at Harry. His heart ached for the younger man stood before him; stark naked and desperation etched on his face.

Louis put a hand on Harry’s shoulder, a sympathetic look on his face. “H, you deserve someone who can actually have romantic feelings for you. I know this will hurt, but I didn’t want this to happen and I don’t want to take it any further and have you get more hurt.”

“Wait, Lou, no,” Harry begged. “I don’t have feelings, I swear. Please.”

Louis left, trying to block out Harry’s begging as he slipped through the door. Once it was just him, Harry fell to his knees and began to sob into his hands.

~~~~~~

Weeks passed and there was a noticeable tension between Harry and Louis. Their joking and playful tendencies had become ridged and serious. Fans pointed out the drastic switch, but neither men were about to reveal the truth to the public.

Harry tried too hard to seem like he was okay. Louis could see right through his façade, but Harry was too stubborn to break. He didn’t want to give Louis the satisfaction to know that his concerns regarding their friends with benefits situation were right.

A month after their “break up”, Harry arrived to a band party with a girl on his arm. All four of his bandmates, Louis included, were shocked at the sight.

“Lads,” he said as he approached them, “meet Tessa. She and I have been seeing each other for a while, and I figured it was time she met my best mates.”

“I feel like I’m in a dream or something,” Tessa said. “I can’t believe I’m meeting the One Direction!”

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Tessa,” Liam said. “Anyone who puts a smile on Harry’s face is definitely a friend of ours.”

Louis plastered a smile on his face as he shook Tessa’s hand.”

The two supposed lovebirds stuck to each other’s side basically the entire night. Harry would have his arm around Tessa’s waist or she’d have her arms around his neck and her body pressed as closely to his as she could physically get. Anyone within viewing distance of them could see her beaming with pride at being Harry Styles’ arm candy. The only time Louis had a moment to talk to Harry was when the latter managed to pry himself away from Tessa in order to get them both refills on their drinks.

“If you’re using this poor girl as an attempt to get over me, or an even more useless attempt to make me jealous, you should stop. That’s not fair to her.”

“You think awfully high of yourself, Lou,” Harry muttered. “Not that I need to prove or defend myself to you, but I genuinely like Tessa. We have a great time together! I think she may be that person you said I deserved.”

“Then why do you refuse to kiss her?”

Harry hesitated, the bottle he was holding to pour his drink frozen in midair. Louis raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for a response.

“I’ve kissed her,” he finally said, unconvincingly.

“Really? Because every time she tries to kiss you, you turn your head so she kisses your cheek and not your lips. You even moved so she’d kiss your chin at one point. And you don’t try to initiate a kiss with her, either. It’s always her initiating them with you.”

Harry pot down both glasses and turned to Louis, his annoyance rising.

“It’s none of your business, Lou. You’re the one who ended things with me, remember?”

Louis scoffed. “You really don’t get it, do you? I’m not jealous, Harry. I don’t have romantic feelings for you. I don’t feel romantic feelings for anyone. This isn’t a personal vendetta against you or some bullshit. I just don’t want this girl getting hurt because of your unrequited crush.”

His words cut Harry deeper than he wanted. Tears were welling up in his eyes that he couldn’t stop. Louis felt bad. He didn’t mean to be so harsh. He loved Harry like a brother, but he knew this was what Harry needed to hear, whether he liked it or not.

Harry finally dared to look at Louis, hissing a low “Fuck you” before walking away.

Louis watched as harry took Tessa’s arm and led her out of the party. Louis sighed, raising his drink to his lips before going back to the party.

[aitarose]

OUR LAST SUMMER (A.MIYA) —❥ pairing: miya atsumu x fem!reader

synopsis: one summer was all the time you had together—all the time you had to bask in the sun-kissed rays and sand-filled beaches, share soft butterfly kisses and feel the comfort of being wrapped in his arms—until his boat sailed off into the sea, forever. 

word count: 3.0k

genre: mamma mia inspired, summer fling, somewhat stuck together, angst, fluff, casual/formal writing, second person

warnings: commitment issues, mentions of suggestive content, minor cursing, heartbreak?

notes: this was an impulse blurb because i haven’t posted any actual fics in nearly a month so here you go lol asdfjl IT’S A LITTLE ROUGH BUT I HOPE IT’S LEGIBLE LMAO AND ITS SHORT AS HELL SORRY JALSD MY BRAIN D!ED

—❥ DIRECTORY

You remembered the first time you’d seen him.

He was a stranger, a man that you’d never once met before—standing smack-dab in the middle of your dock, the place you’d always come to clear your thoughts after hours upon hours of work, though you didn’t technically own it. It was just tradition, an accustom that you’d grown so used to that it seemed like everyone’s daily—well, everyone but his.

There were few people you didn’t know on the island, having been a member of the local family business of hotels and inns. Your little paradise, the chains of suites and saunas that you liked to think were a hidden wonder of the world—hidden to only you and the reoccurring tourists that would stay on your infamous Greek Elysium. 

The usual familiarity was scarce at the sight of his bright blonde hair and sun-kissed skin, light freckles peppered across the swells of his cheeks—no doubt caused by countless hours at sea as he stood beside a large sailboat. He appeared to be a free spirit, much different to all of the others that would find stay on the shores. 

It was a common getaway, an escape from the reality of life and the troubles that came with emotional attachments and labor. Every personality was alike, each one masking the pain of all that tied them down—wishing that they’d ever have to board that boat back to the mainland, and just stay in a world without worries and never-ending surf. 

But the way he was standing with his body language in reaction to the sea, made you think that perhaps he wasn’t like all of the other’s who came and went. That perhaps he was a free spirit entirely on his own, one that didn’t force the necessities of comfort and relaxation on his mind—it just came naturally.

“You lost?” Your voice called out, the sound ringing with the wind chimes against his sails—diverting his attention from the white peaked waves to your melodious sound. He gave you his full attention, immediately focusing on your approaching frame—a look of relief arising on his face. 

He reached behind his neck, scratching the roots of his hair whilst a sheepish smile gleamed in the light. “Thank god, you found me!” He chuckled, the browns in his eyes sparkled with golds and copper, complimenting his overall look perfectly—in all honesty, you didn’t think you’d ever seen such a handsome man. “I docked around a half-an-hour ago, just didn’t know where I was supposed to head next.”

“Would a beautiful girl like yourself happen to have the time to help a poor sailor out?”

Shaking your head, you grinned, scoffing slightly at the obvious flirtation, before walking towards him. Your feet moved in small steps, thoughts dancing around the idea of a summer fling—after all, it wouldn’t be the first time something like this had happened. You, an eccentric woman, one with the island, always seeming to attract men of all natures with not a care in the world.

Maybe he would be your new conquest, your newest mark in the endless journey of love that you never wanted to conclude. Another man who’s mood would turn from complete adoration to disgust when you’d reject his love and send him off to sea—never to be met again. Simply a memory you’d look back on when your past ran wild and smile in nostalgia. 

You plopped down on the end of the dock, head thrown back as your feet touched the water—a refreshing feeling taking over your entire body. The man watched in amusement at your obvious compatibility with the ocean currents and approached you as you patted the place beside you—an open seat reserved for him.

“So, sailor.” You mocked, swinging your jaw to face him with a sing-song tone. “Tell, me. What brings you to my island?”

He raised his eyebrows, creases appearing near his forehead with youthful wrinkles at their wits—not hiding how enamored he was at your playful tone. “Your island?” There was a matched mood in the both of your speech, potential feelings rising in the pits of your stomachs. “I’m sorry, gorgeous. Last I checked, you didn’t own all of Greece.” 

You scoffed, kicking your feet up to splash his ankles—cold sprays of salt water hitting the skin of your shins up to your thighs. “Well, last I checked lonely sailors didn’t talk back to pretty women—or are you just an enigma Mr...”

“Miya.” He replied, concluding the sentence that you hadn’t been able to finish with ease—identity revealed to the girl he’d already festered a crush on, despite it only having been a mere twenty minutes since you’d first begun to speak. “Miya Atsumu.”

‘Y/N L/N.” You held out a hand with a shit-eating grin as he gripped it firmly, shaking your palm enthusiastically whilst your eyes held his—a silent stare down in the midst, the morning sunrise changing to one of noon, reminding you of the ticking time. “And how long did you say you’ll be staying here?”

“Well, I’m here for my brother’s wedding.” Atsumu shrugged, nudging your shoulder with his and gazing out to the countless other sailboats in the bay. “Technically, I’m only meant to be here for a few weeks...”

“...but I’m sure I’ll find something here to keep me longer.”

And that he did. 

He’d managed to find a countless number of reasons to keep himself busy. Infinite excuses not to set his sail at sea—excuses that had nothing to do with the start of Osamu’s wedding festivities, or with the waning fear of his workplace calling him back to play, or even the worry of his heavy pockets running dry of cash.

Perhaps it had something to do with how his heart pounded whenever you were around. The artery nearly jumping out of his chest in the times you’d grab his hand and pull him along the stone-studded paths throughout the tropical trees,  giving him tours of your favorite spots—laying picnic blankets under the shade and sharing piña coladas with pink straws. 

Or the constant days at the beach. How you’d share an umbrella only for it to fly away in the wind—leaving the two of you out in the open rays of the sun, vulnerable to burns that Atsumu always managed to obtain. You later having to help him wash off in a cool shower—concern furrowing at your brows with every wince and whine he’d muster. 

Treating him as your own personal island dweller, you’d become attached at the hip. Neither one of you wanting to be without the other for longer than a day—knowing that your time was limited, but ignoring it all the same. The summer was one of new opportunities and experiences, things that you had already set your mind to—only now having his name next to those goals.

Your first impressions had been correct, he was undoubtedly different from all of the other flings you’d had in the past—and you’d come to realize this on the day he’d asked you to be his date to his brother’s wedding. The brother that had no idea you existed, whom you hadn’t ever planned on meeting was inevitably getting an unexpected guest.

That unexpected guest being you, of course, arriving with Atsumu on your arm and wearing a beautiful shade of baby blue. Osamu and his bride had welcomed you with open arms, no suspicions at all when they’d noticed the genuine look of happiness in the blonde’s eyes—a look that they hadn’t seen come out of him in a very very long time.

“Was it everything you dreamed it would be?” He whispered, lips pressed against your hair—arms holding you close as the gentle orchestrals echoed in the night night breeze. The shadows of candle lit jars and paper lanterns covering your face in defined shades of grey—making you look all the more gorgeous.

You sighed into his chest, taking in his sweet scent, that of fresh oranges and salt—the smell of the ocean never truly washing away from his aura. “I loved it, actually.” An earnest tone spoke out from your mouth, sincere admissions flowing like waves, reaching his ears and giving him little dreams of the future—your future.

“It was one of the most beautiful ceremonies we’ve hosted, and I truly mean that.” Your voice was soft, quiet as to not disturb the calm mood in the moonlight—the stars shining down on every pair on the dance floor, even the young children blowing kisses in each other’s direction, not knowing the true feelings of love, yet wishing for them in their hearts. 

Atsumu took a step back, holding your hand in his and spinning you beneath the stringed bulbs—smiling warmly as you let out an uncontrollable giggle—complaining how he was making you dizzy with glee. He didn’t think he’d ever felt so utterly full of admiration for a single person in the entirety of his life.

With a smirk at the corners of his cheeks he pulled you in, twirling you back around and into the safety of his tanned arms—the physical contact was nothing new to you, yet there was something in the way his palms held yours that made you feel like there were ulterior motives to his antics. 

“Steady there, sailor.” You whispered, slightly out of breath—not only from the tireless dancing you’d endured all evening, but from the minimized distance between your bodies. His lips were a mere centimeters away from yours, so close and also so far. “Wouldn’t want you doing something you might regret.”

He shook his head, leaning in to commit to the thing he wanted most in the world—his fingers reaching up to guide your chin to his, the calloused skin of his thumbs tickling your sensitive nerves and setting free all of the festering butterflies in your chest. 

“Trust me, gorgeous, when I say that I don’t have regrets.”

His words were quickly muffled as you pressed your lips against his, smothering any quips that could possibly arise and drowning them in an ocean of pure desire and infatuation. It felt like you were on ecstasy, the uncontrollable yearning for his intimacy finally being yours to have and to hold—all coming together in one innocent kiss in the middle of an almost empty wedding reception. 

Your palms held his jawline, pulling him as close as possible whilst doing your best to convey your display of passion as small and intimate—not wanting to steal the celebrations of the day from the bride and groom—who’d in all honesty, disappeared themselves hours before, no one having seen them since then.

A quiet gasp rose from your throat as he bit your bottom lip, wanting more even though he knew that it wasn’t the time you could grant his wish—anticipation for the night to come, when you’d leave the party hand-in-hand, rushing from the back of his brain to the frontal lobe as he pulled away.

“’Tsumu.” You breathed out, eyes locked on his with giddiness underlying the tiredness in your voice. His expression matched yours, one of completion and success—patting himself on the back in imagination with the knowledge that he’d won your attention. “What was that?”

He stepped aside, still holding your hand in his, leading you off of the stone platform and into the gallery of cloth-lined tables with scattered guests—drunk in happiness and alcohol, blind to any real-world worries. The moment felt like a fever dream, an event that only occurred in film and television—nothing that you’d ever expected to experience yourself.

But with Atsumu, anything seemed to be possible. The slim probabilities becoming a zero percent error whenever he set his mind to a goal, bringing you along with him every step of the way. His calls out to you raspy from ahead, scratchy from the amount of hollering and applause he’d performed for his twin during speeches and vows.

“That,” he began, glancing back at you as you ran together towards his little villa, “that was only the beginning of the rest of our endless summer.”

And he was right, it certainly was the beginning of something. Something special and real—something that you’d never once felt in your life, right in your arms, right in front of you. He was your perfect match, you were tired of denying it—but there was one thing that the two of you had forgotten in the blissful montage of stolen kisses and sleepless nights.

Every beginning has an end. 

All stories have a final chapter, one that no reader wanted to page through—but couldn’t resist knowing the final outcome of their two favorite characters, what could possibly happen to their relationship, their future, their unspoken and unequivocal love for one another that had manifested on the ink blotched pages. 

Some had happy endings, epilogues in which the main love interests proceeded to get married, have a few kids that’d run around their fenced backyard with the sprinkler system running on overdrive. That was the dream, the dream that seemed so idealistic to most, the ideal life to live—to grow old holding hands against the oak wood of your rocking chairs as the sun set over the horizon. 

But that wasn’t your ideal life, and neither was it Atsumu’s. 

So, your story wasn’t one of those lucky fairy tales that had a happily ever after. It wasn’t a bedtime story that you’d read to your grandchildren or younger relatives, nor was it a time you’d try to forget as it ended right where it had initially begun—on the public docks of your inn house, in front of his weary sailboat.

The only differences being the setting sun rather than the rising dawn and the twinkling stars appearing in the dark sky in contrast to their disappearance in relation to the morning clouds. Perhaps it was the universe telling you that it was all coming to an end, shooting off into the darkness with the explosions of nebulas and constellations. 

“So, this is it.” Atsumu spoke aloud, possibly to you or the emptiness of the sea. The usual warmth in his tone sounding robotic and unkept, unfamiliar to your heart, unfamiliar from the man you’d come to hold such strong feelings for in a mere three months. “This is our last night, our last minutes.”

He turned to face you, hands holding the limp ropes whilst pulling them tight and wrapping them in their holsters, billowing the sails in the strong night breezes—there was said to be a storm brewing, and it was ever so timely to have happened the same night a hurricane was forming in your blackened and broken heart. 

You’d never seen such a sorrowful expression on his face, used to the typical dumbstruck happiness and easygoing nature that was void and lost, that absence setting in the reality of your relationship’s oblivion. He let go of his secured ties, elbows leaning against the railing and towards you as you stood at the edge of the doc. 

“It doesn’t have to end here, you know.” He suggested, his voice shaky and unsure—not knowing what your response would be—not knowing that you loved him, too. “You could come with me, see a world that isn’t an isolated island—we could travel together, see all the other wonders—we could be happy, forever.”

Your breath hitched, chest airtight, all of the oxygen in your lungs at max capacity—catching in your lungs with no chance of getting out. His words had somehow managed to itch the hidden and sensitive regions of your heart—the ones that had always been guarded from others, the places that he’d been able to weasel his way into. 

At the look on your face, he already knew your answer. An unspoken rejection standing stale in the humid air between you, the still distance growing further and further despite your motionless stances. Two broken hearts longing for one another with no resolution to be met. 

He bit his lip, holding back tears in the nightly shadows and nodding his head—believing that he’d been right all along. That his presumptions about you had actually been correct, that he hadn’t been different, that he hadn’t been your person amidst the countless other personalities you’d fallen for over the summers—that he’d simply been another paradisiac fling that you’d thrown away. 

But he’d never been so wrong. 

You did love him, you loved him with your entire soul—your entire existence. There was no dream you wanted more than to be with him forever, to spend every single moment in his company of laughter and contagious smiles. To pepper him in kisses and take morning dips in the ocean as the sun rose over the horizon. 

He was your soulmate, the other half that you never thought you would find—an egocentric and boastful man unlike any other you’d met before. Atsumu was your salvation, but with the fear of commitment and settled life at the back of your brain, you had no choice but to watch as his love faded into remorse. As his undying love was pulled beneath your currents of self-doubt. 

“Thank you.” He spoke, words dull yet also meaningful—full of every last confessional emotion he had to make, full of all the lost ‘I love you’s’ and goodnight wishes in the past seventy-two days of being in each other’s arms. “Thank you for letting me love you.”

And with those words, your heart sailed into the vast horizon—through the swift currents and past the submerged rocks, peaking in the rising and falling black waves. The bright white sail of his stern shading into grey as he became nothing but a speck in the night—lost to the endless sea and unknown future, a future without you. 

A future that you’d never know anything of, communication gone, forgotten between you and stripped away by the receding tides. The tides that had come just as fast as they’d gone—a physical representation of the whirlwind love story that you’d lived during the most memorable summer of your life. As you’d never be able to forget him. 

You’d never be able to forget the first man you’d ever loved. 

taglist of bestie boos <3:

@bokoutoebutmain​ @boba-duckie​ @ryuomen​ @sexy-bee-juice​ @nekomabvc​ @cambodianprincess6

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