#and so I’ve ended up in this weird position where i don’t have a name at all

[esfordays]

Ignoring my wrapped

THERE ARE CHICKS

THE EGGS HATCHED

We named one of them my dead name (nicknamed ‘gay chicken’) because the bitch hatched six hours earlier than the others, and apparently I could not get out of the womb fast enough 💀

[its-time-to-write]

how about a Jamie x reader fic when they go away to Amsterdam they sit together on bus and they wake up cuddling and then there’s an issue w hotel booking and there’s a one bed trope and they end up waking up cuddled together and then they admit feelings and reader goes to game with a tartt jersey on <3

I’ve been thinking about this forever, and I’m terribly sorry it took so long!! I do enjoy being an adult, but I’m at a point in life where I don’t have much free time and if I do, I use it to sleep😂

I really miss the days when Ted Lasso was still airing and the x reader tags had new content every day. I feel like that one meme of Thanos when he’s like “Fine. I’ll do it myself.” Shoutout to all y’all who are still here and reading my stuff! Love you!!

smile at me

It’s straight-up fucked. It really, really is. But also maybe it’s good, as Keeley pointed out, because not having a boyfriend anymore means you can focus on yourself?

Or something. 

Of course he had to break up with you right before leaving for Amsterdam. Hell, he broke up with you because you were leaving for Amsterdam. 

“I don’t want you going to another country with a bunch of other guys,” he had said. “It’s them or me.”

“It’s literally my job,” you told him. 

Apparently, that didn’t matter. 

But what-fucking-ever, you’re at Keeley’s waiting for a car to take you to the airport, and she’s promised to make sure you don’t think about your stupid ex even once. 

It’s times like these you wish Ted were still here with a spot-on pun and some dad-type advice. All you ever get from Beard is a weird anecdote and a vaguely threatening look. 

Keeley chatters on for the entirety of the ride to the airport, through customs, and all the way to the lounge. 

“You’re gonna get loads of great content for the socials, babe. Candids, action shots, behind-the-scenes. Friendlies are fucking amazing!”

Last time Richmond were in Amsterdam, they had lost horribly. They’re hoping to make up for it this time around. 

The plane is full of Greyhounds, both footballers and coaches alike, with Rebecca at the very front. Keeley plops done in the seat next to her as Dani waves at you from the middle. 

“I saved you a seat!” he calls. You smile as Sam takes your bag to put it in the overhead. “Thanks, Dani. You excited?”

Dani grins. “I think this time I am ready to see a whole field of tulips!”

You laugh as the lads roll their eyes. Jamie leans across the aisle toward you and says, “Oi, what’s the twat doing while you’re away?” 

You press your lips into a thin line. “Not a clue.”

He raises an eyebrow and says, “You break up with him?”

“He broke up with me.”

Jamie twists his face into a scoff. “And you wonder why I call him the fucking twat. Prick. Bet it was so he could finally fuck his coworker.”

You shrug. Jamie’s never liked your boyfriend. It’s not like you were together long, only a few months. And sure, he was a little bit of a twat, but sue you. You had a special place in your heart for pricks with a heart of gold, only he didn’t even have a heart at all. 

“You should date someone better,” Jamie continues. 

You glare at him and retort, “Oh yeah, because it’s just that easy. You got some one in mind?”

Jamie gives you his most angelic look and says, “What about me?” which makes half the plane dissolve into laughter, yourself included. 

“Cheers, Jamie,” you say as you wipe your eyes. “I needed that.”

A strange look crosses his face, but it’s quickly replaced by his usual cocky expression. “Anytime, love,” he replies as you turn to start a conversation with Dani. 

As much as you’d like that, Jamie would never date you. His joke stings a little but you brush it off. Maybe you’ll find another twat in Amsterdam to distract yourself from the fact that you’re half in love with Jamie Tartt.

—

“I’m sorry, we don’t have a booking under you name,” the hotel concierge says.

You tap your nails to your wrist. “Are you positive? I’m with AFC Richmond, they should’ve had one.”

The concierge taps on his computer for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I’m afraid we don’t have anything. And all of our rooms are booked this weekend. Might I recommend the hotel down the road?”

Damn it. There’s no way this is happening. Everyone else has gotten to their rooms without a hitch and here you are, alone in the lobby as you pull out your phone to call Keeley. There’s no way this is fucking happening. 

“Everything alright?” asks a voice behind you, and you jump. 

“They don’t have a room for me, and they’re fully booked,” you explain. 

Jamie looks at the concierge, who shrugs apologetically, then back to you. He asks, “Why don’t you share with me?” and you frown. 

“I thought you were rooming with Declan,” you say. 

Jamie lifts a shoulder. “Yeah, but he switched with Richard because O’Brien fucking snores and he don’t give a shit.”

You say, “So you’re with Richard, then,” and he shakes his head. 

“Nah, Richard’s with Jan.”

“I thought Dani was with Jan,” you say. These fucking footballers. What’s the point in having set rooms if they’re just going to switch it all up.

“Dani is with Jan,” Jamie says patiently, as if this all the most obvious thing in the world. “But Dani’s a cuddler, so he’s probably going to fucking end up with, I don’t know, Isaac or someone. Which means I get a room all to meself.”

“Right,” you say slowly. “Alright, I can do that. As long as you don’t mind.”

Jamie winks. “Sharing a room with a pretty girl for four days? Ain’t a problem, love.”

You laugh and follow him to the elevator.

—

It feels a bit like playing with fire, agreeing to room with Jamie. Especially since you’re freshly single and definitely open to a rebound. But there will be two beds and a lot of space and anyway, you’ll be busy with the match and social media, respectively. 

Except as soon as you walk through the door, you realize there’s a tiny little hitch.

“There’s one bed,” you blurt out, so surprised you’re unable to filter your words. Jamie blushes a little bit as he says, “Yeah, um, Cockburn and I hate sleeping alone, so we asked for one. He grew up sharing a bed with his brothers and I just fucking hate being alone. I can sleep on the couch if you want.”

“No,” you say firmly, “you need good rest. It’s not a problem.”

It’s not a problem. 

Or at least it wouldn’t have been if Isaac had been a shittier captain. 

But as it is he’s great, so he’s got the whole team going out to dinner at a pre-determined location complete with a dress code of no t-shirts and apparently you count as part of the team, so you have to go too. You’re in your massive bathroom trying to curl your disgusting travel hair when Jamie walks in wearing one of those white hotel bathrobes.

He asks, “You mind if I’m in here?” so you shake your head, struck temporarily mute by his bare clavicle. Fucking hell, you feel like a repressed Victorian woman. 

Jamie says, “Mint,” and goes about his alarmingly detailed skincare routine. You’re pretty sure you’re done with your hair so you crane your neck in an attempt to check the back. 

“Missed a spot,” Jamie says. “Want me to get it for you?”

You shoot him a dubious look but hand him the curler. He runs a hand through your hair, picking up the offending strand and it’s all you can do not to shiver. 

“Mum taught me,” he explains and you nod ever so slightly, not wanting him to accidentally burn your neck. Jamie says, “All good,” and runs his whole hand through your hair this time, making the curls bounce. 

You choke out, “Thanks,” and hurriedly put away your things, desperate to leave before Jamie can pick up on the fact that you can barely handle being in the same room as him, and that you have great concerns about what the night will bring. 

—

“You look fucking hot,” is the first thing Rebecca says when you meet her in the lobby. Keeley looks mildly offended that Rebecca took the words out of her mouth, but she just laughs and taps your arm. 

“Gonna break a few hearts tonight, yeah?” she grins.

You’re not sure about that, especially since dinner turns out to be a very domestic affair. It’s loud, sure, but it’s definitely toned down since it’s a pre-match celebration instead of a post-match one. You’re with Sam, Keeley, and Roy with Jamie far, far away. You push all thoughts of him from your brain only for memories of your ex to surface. You frown. 

“The fuck’s wrong with you?” Roy says and for a moment, you think he’s talking to you. But he’s actually talking to Jamie who has moved from his place across the restaurant to right behind your chair. 

“Fuck off grandad,” Jamie says good-naturedly. “Wanted to tell this one that some of the lads are going out dancing after this. Not too late,” he hastily adds at Roy’s burning scowl, “just for two hours and we’re only allowed one drink.”

You’re pretty sure that’s a bit more liberal than Roy likes, but he nods his head slightly so he must be in a good mood.

“So, you coming?” Jamie asks and before you can reply Sam and Keeley chorus, “Yes she is.”

You give Keeley a Look before turning back to Jamie. “Guess I am,” you reply.

The smile Jamie gives you does more to make your head spin than any amount of alcohol you’ve had in your lifetime.

—

Jamie has taken it upon himself to wipe that frown off your face. He might have been watching you over dinner and that might have been why he chose that exact moment to invite you out, but he’ll never fucking admit it to anyone except Sam. And Keeley. And maybe Cockburn when it was the off-season and they were a little tipsy. (But not drunk, never drunk.) 

So yeah, sue him if he’s spinning you around on the crowded dance floor just because it makes you laugh. It’s not his fault that he’s been wildly in love with you since the day Higgins hired you. It’s not his fault that you’re easy to be around and have the most beautiful smile he’s seen in his life. 

And fuck, it certainly isn’t his fault you can’t see in yourself what others do. Why you settled for a piece of shit like your ex, he’ll never know. But he’ll be damned if he doesn’t do his best to show you how special you are. He knows you’ll never feel the same about him, but maybe he can help you level up your standards. Maybe if you’re with someone good, it’ll hurt less that it’s not him. 

So he lets you hold his hand for the entirety of the two hours that the team is out and doesn’t say a word when you don’t let go in the cab back to the hotel. 

You’ve gotten that closed-off look in your eyes again, the one that means you’re thinking about your ex, so Jamie knocks his shoulder into yours and asks why he can’t have the password to the team’s Instagram account, which is a sure fire way to get you to lecture him on irresponsibility and aesthetics and the best way to get your eyes to come back to life.

—

Honestly, it’s easier to fall asleep than you might have expected. It’s a big bed and you’re fucking tired. 

You just didn’t expect to wake up in the middle of the night crying, but it’s always fucking like this when you go through a breakup. You go to sleep fine and wake up sad, so you do your best not to wake up Jamie except you’ve both ended up entangled in each other’s arms, so he can feel you shaking. 

“Hey,” Jamie says in a soft voice, “You’re okay, love.”

You half expect him to push you away once he realizes you’re so close, but he only pulls you closer and presses a kiss to your forehead. Maybe it’s because you’re both half-asleep, but it feels like the most natural thing in the world. 

You sigh and settle into him, drifting off in a matter of moments. 

—

You wake up to a pair of blue eyes watching you. 

“How you feeling?” Jamie asks, voice gravelly with sleep. 

You just blink at him. It’s hard to form coherent sentences within the first ten seconds of waking up, and even harder with the memory of Jamie’s arms around you last night. 

Wait. Not just the memory. The present reality because neither of you have moved. 

Jamie misinterprets your silence and begins to extricate his arms.

“Sorry,” he says, “I’m not to trying to like, cross and fucking boundary or something. Should’ve left you alone.”

You’re still not awake enough to talk so you grab him to stop him from moving away. He gives you a questioning look so you say, “I wouldn’t have agreed to share a bed if I thought you were a creep.”

Jamie grins. “So like, if Jan had offered to share a room you’d’ve said no.”

You wrinkle your nose as you say, “Jan’s not a creep.”

“He’s the fucking worst,” Jamie grumbles, “And anyway, can we not talk about Jan fucking Maas this early in the morning?”

“Sure,” you say, “let’s talk about something else.”

Despite your comment, you both lapse into silence. You’re enraptured by Jamie’s blue eyes. You’ve never been able to study them this close before, and you want to take this opportunity to memorize every fleck of green. 

Jamie seems to have a similar thought, except his gaze flicks to your lips. 

“I have morning breath,” you tell him and he says, “Real men don’t give a shit, babe,” before leaning forward.

It’s softer than you’d expected, sweeter. 

It’s also strange to think that you’re making out with Jamie in bed, and that he’s the one who initiated it.

The thought is so absurd that you giggle, mid-kiss. Jamie breaks away and says, “Oi, there’s no way that was a shit kiss.”

“No,” you say between giggles, “it’s just weird that we’re doing this. Like, how are we supposed to look each other in the eye after?”

Jamie moves so he can look at you better, and you roll from your side to your back. “What do you mean?” he asks.

“Oh come on, we share a room and a bed, we kiss because I have all these sad feelings and you’re feeling a lot of emotions about the match, and then we have to work together after. It’s silly.”

Jamie cocks his head. “That’s what you think is happening?”

“Yes?” you say. None of this is going how it’s supposed to. “What do you think is happening?”

“I like you,” he says, and there is absolutely no mistaking his meaning. 

“Oh,” you reply in a small voice. “Since when?”

“Since before you started dating the twat. When Higgins introduced ya to the team.”

“That’s a fucking long time ago!” you exclaim. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

Jamie rubs his face. “Yeah, ‘cept you showed up to work tellin’ everyone how you started dating the twat. And I ain’t a home wrecker.”

You groan. “Fuuuck. I literally only dated him to try to get over you.”

Jamie shoots up. “What?!”

“Yeah,” you say, “I’ve been like a little bit in love with you ever since you winked at me during that first promo I did.”

Jamie blows out a breath. “Okay. Think that’s enough talking. C’mere. We’re making out proper, like, then we’re going to breakfast.”

You grin as you climb onto his lap. 

[dpimagines]

Hot Date (Blind Date pt. 2)

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for the amazing show of support for Blind Date! I've never received so much support and appreciation for a fic, EVER! Words cannot express how grateful I am.

SYNOPSIS: Your second date with Wade went well, so now it's time for the third. (And what could be considered the fourth.)

WARNINGS: Smut, reader has been cheated on in the past, everything else is standard Deadpool antics.

Your second date went just as well as the first — most of the words you asked for him to provide were swear words, hilariously enough. It’s not that you’ve never heard them before, though. You lose words if you haven’t heard them in a while, not to mention how loudly curses are often said. 

Now, it’s time for date number three, known in popular culture as the make-or-break date: you’ll agree (or disagree) to be exclusive, it’s socially acceptable to start having sex, all that fun (terrifying) stuff. You’ve had some casual coffee and lunch hangouts between your second date and now, but tonight will be your third official date.  

He doesn’t have any expectations, of course. He could tell from what you said on the first date that you’ve been hurt in the past.

 Who could bring themselves to hurt you? Wade thinks as he daydreams about your shy smile, your variety of laughters to offer him, your soft cardigans and sweaters, the silly faces you make at babies in public, and the sharp glares you give strangers when they stare at him for too long (oh, and the ones he gives them when he catches them staring at you.) 

He even finds his thoughts wandering to the way you speak to him — sure, you can’t pick the tones of the words, but your choice of them is all yours. You’re kind, clever, and honest in your words, in everything you do. 

Oh, shit, he realizes, his stomach dropping. I’m in love. 

You’d insisted on planning your date this time around, since he’d planned the previous two. You told him you’d be having a picnic and to make sure he dressed warm since fall is on its way and the nights are growing colder. He assured you that his healing factor made him run hot, but you insisted that he at least bring a jacket. 

He texts you, confirming you’re still on for dinner. You reply positively, but reading your text only has him missing your eclectic voice, or, rather, voices. Over the past few weeks, more and more of your words have been taken from him, but he still loves to hear the random country or British accent, the occasional shout… 

Your suggestive exclamations have completely faded from your vocabulary, interestingly enough. Wade may be softening up a little due to his relationship with you, but his more perverted side can’t help but wonder if it’s because you’ve started to prefer your imagination over what videos on the internet have to offer. Do you think about him? He definitely thinks about you, especially his hypothesis on the way you’d sound. Low, masculine grunts shifting to high-pitched, over the top whines and back, all for him.

Someone smacks him upside the head. 

“You’re daydreaming again. Why don’t you just go see her? She’s just as sickeningly obsessed with you,” Ellie complains, coming around the couch and plunking down on the opposite end. 

“Really?” he wonders. You’re super nice, sure, and you’ve agreed to continue seeing him despite, well, everything about him, but…

She rolls her eyes, smacking her gum. 

“Dude, yes. It’s annoying. She’s working right now, but I bet she’d appreciate the company. You remember where her office is, don’t you?”

Wade nods, getting up and taking off towards it. He has to keep himself from running, he’s so giddy. 

He knocks on your office door. 

“Just a minute,” you reply from inside. 

You open it, smiling once you realize who’s come to visit. 

“Hi, Wade,” you greet him. 

“Who’s that?” he asks. The voice with which you said his name is entirely unfamiliar. 

“Oh, I’ve been experimenting with AI voices,” you explain. “I figured it’d be WEIRD for you to keep hearing Ellie and Yukio say your name when it’s me.”

“A little weird, yeah, but it doesn’t bother me too much.”

You turn a little pink, your smile widening awkwardly. 

“Oh, you meant-! Yeah, no, that’d be kind of uncomfortable. I appreciate the effort. Sorry to bug you like this, I- Well, speaking of Ellie, she caught me daydreaming about you and told me I should just come see you.”

“Remind me to thank her later,” you reply. “It’s nice to see you.”

“It’s nice to see you, too, I mean, of course it is, or I wouldn’t have come, well, um…” He’s gotten better about talking around you, but he still trips all over his words. “Yeah. What are you up to?”

“I’ve actually had some down time today, so I’ve been working on-” You stop, grimacing as your happy blush deepens to an embarrassed one. You’ve lost the words. 

“Wanna show me?” he asks, grateful for the excuse to learn more about what you do. You nod, leading him to your desk. You sit down in the office chair and roll over, leaving him room to stand beside you. He looks back and forth between your monitors – on the one off to the side, a video of one of the Xavier’s School classrooms with subtitles by you; on the center monitor, a document with notes and practice questions. 

“A study guide,” he realizes, reading the title of the document. 

“Yes, a study guide,” you repeat. “Thank you. I noticed a lot of the students struggle when school starts up again, so I thought I’d take the time to put one together for the classes that don’t already have one.”

“That’s so awesome! Seems like you’re pretty busy, though. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Okay,” you agree. 

And later, you do. Wade wanders around the courtyard looking for you, finding you sitting on a blanket with electric tealights spread all over it. The sun is just barely starting to set, but the extra light is nice nonetheless, not to mention how adorably romantic it all is. 

He jogs over to you, sitting next to you and finally taking in what you’ve put together. It has to be every kind of cheese known to mankind, like, eight different kinds of deli meat, and an insane amount of Club crackers, not to mention the strands of juicy green grapes curled in the corners, avocado slices, and even a pomegranate! 

“I’m sorry if it’s a bit much,” you tell him. “I was inspired by our conversation the other day about charcuterie boards and how we wish we could just eat them as meals. I also remembered what you said about your healing factor and how hungry it makes you.”

“No, no, this is perfect,” he breathes. No one’s ever done something so nice for him before. “Uh, there’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.”

Your face goes pale, eyes widening. You’re bracing yourself for something, but what? Oh, no. You think this is going in the exact opposite direction from where it is. 

“No, it’s good, I mean, maybe. I just wanted to know if you were cool with the idea of us being exclusive. Y’know, not seeing other people? Going steady?” His elaborations get weaker as you stare at him, still wide-eyed. You lips part, and you…

You cackle wildly, gasping for air. You try to stifle it, holding onto his shoulder as the laughter completely overtakes you. Is the idea of being with him so humorous to you?

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” you say once your hysterics wind down. “Wade, do you really think I’d be seeing anyone else?”

“Well, you’re very pretty… And nice… And funny…” he explains. “Why wouldn’t you be?”

“Well, one: I really like you. I’ve never felt so strongly about someone before. Two: you are the only one interested in me.”

“I just can’t believe that. Either thing,” he replies. 

“You better believe it, because my answer is yes, Wade, I’ll be your girlfriend.”

“Awesome, that’s… Awesome. Cool,” he stumbles over his words. He wants to say more, but you’re smiling so widely that he’s concerned for your cheek muscles. You’re even more beautiful to him when you’re happy.  It puts a lump in his throat. How can you possibly be interested in him? You’re not just devastatingly beautiful, you’re a good person. He tries to be, but he feels like the scum of the earth next to you. 

“I’m starving, let’s eat!” you playfully scold him, gesturing to the board. He takes in the platter once more, and finds his eyes watering at the amount of thought you must’ve put into this. “Well, you can’t eat with that thing on. Come on, it’s just us, and…” You trail off.

“Need help?” he offers. You shake your head. 

“Just feeling shy,” you admit. 

“No need to be shy around me, I’ve seen and heard it all,” he assures you. 

“I guess that’s part of the reason why. I can’t say the same,” you reply, your cheeks turning a little pink as your smile becomes sheepish. 

Wade finally takes his mask off, figuring it’s an equivalent exchange for your show of vulnerability. You grin, scooping some brie onto a cracker before adding a chunk of turkey and passing it to him. He gratefully accepts it, pulling you closer to him and pressing a kiss to your temple. He leaves his arm around you, and you adjust your posture, getting comfortable in your place by his side. You put together a cracker of your own. 

The two of you go on like that for a while, creating combinations of cheese and meat on crackers, some bordering on sacrilege, before he finally finds his words again. He always seems to be at a loss for words when faced with you. 

“I don’t mind, y’know,” he starts. “I mean, that you haven’t been in a lot of relationships and all that entrails. Sorry, I meant entails. I usually talk more about entrails.”

You giggle. 

“Are you sure? I just don’t want you to be bored,” you reply. “You’ve had a very exciting life so far. I like the simple things… Like picnics at sunset.”

“I’m learning to appreciate them a lot more. Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely going to come a day when I drag you onto a beach vacation, or to an even swankier restaurant than De Luca, or whatever… But I like this, too. I like it a lot.” And I love you, he thinks. It’s way too soon to be saying something like that, isn’t it? “Besides, exciting doesn’t always mean fun. When we’re together, I have fun.”

“Me, too,” you agree bashfully. “What I was wanting to say before was that I think you’re beautiful. I like your face and your hands.”

“Kinda specific,” he remarks, trying to avoid the compliment. 

“They’re all I’ve seen. Well, other than your voice. I like that, too.”

“It sounds better coming from you,” he deflects once more, but you don’t fight him this time, instead blushing. “I like your voice. I know you don’t feel like it’s yours, but it is to me. The way you speak tells part of your story, just like an accent does.” He’s tempted to admit hearing your words in his voice satisfies his possessive streak, but despite how cute you are when you’re nervous, he doesn’t want to frighten you.

When you don’t respond, he’s worried he’s somehow done it anyway. He looks up from the platter to see your hand clamped over your mouth, a tear rolling down your cheek. 

“Fuck, Y/N, I didn’t mean to upset you, I’m so-”

You shake your head fervently. 

“That’s the nicest thing someone’s ever said to me about my voice,” you clarify, sniffling as you awkwardly chuckle, trying to laugh it off. “I’m sorry for getting emotional.”

“Never be sorry for that,” he insists, squeezing you closer to him. “The only thing I dislike about what you just said is that no one’s ever said something so nice to you about one of the things that makes you… You. I love you, so that really bothers me.”

Your mouth falls open, and once he realizes what he said, he wants to stick his foot in his. 

“I’m-”

“I love you, too,” you tell him. It’s all in his voice. 

Wade can’t help but kiss you. When it comes to you, he normally tries to be a gentleman and ask first, but the adoration in your eyes, the red tint to your cheeks, the hint of a smile on your parted lips… It’s all too much. You kiss him back just as eagerly, your lips moving against each other until you’re on your back with him slotted between your legs. You cling to him for dear life, your hands clutching his hoodie like if you let go he’ll float away. 

He can’t believe how good your body feels against his, his hands laced in your hair as your chests press together like your hearts are trying to touch each other. 

The two of you break for air, both with awestruck smiles and flushed faces. 

“Do you… Want some help with that?” you ask, face turning redder. He scrambles to sit up, suddenly aware of his pre-dick-ament. You sit up, too, though much more gracefully.

“Have you ever..? Sorry, I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable. I just want to do right by you.”

“Fair enough… I have, but only once. It didn’t go well. After that, it was just-” You pause, but he doesn’t offer to help this time, not wanting to rush you. You blow air out of your mouth. “Until I gained some self-respect and broke up with him.”

His jaw drops.

“Well, that’s not entirely true. He cheated on me and then I dumped him.” 

“Someone cheated on you?! I guess what they say is true, then – it doesn’t matter how gorgeous you are or what all you do for somebody, if they’re a cheating piece of shit, they’re a cheating piece of shit.”

Your smile is bittersweet as you respond: 

“At least I know I’m good at-” You blow air out of your mouth again. “Even if I don’t have practice with other things.”

“I believe you, but I’m not taking you up on it this time around. First time’s definitely going to be all about you. You deserve it,” Wade informs you. “And, uh, I think I want to wait a little longer before that,” he adds, surprising even himself. “Not that you’re not totally hot – I really like you and Little Wade does, too, but…”

“You don’t have to give me a reason. We should wait until we’re both ready,” you assure him, putting a comforting hand on his knee. He kisses you again, more chastely this time. 

“Thanks,” he says.

“I’d like some advanced notice, anyways, so I can make sure I’m adequately stocked,” you reply– flirtatiously, but in an intentionally goofy way based on the way your eyebrows waggle –tapping on your neck in the general area of your vocal cords. He can’t help but laugh at that, and you join in, making his volume double. 

“Don’t worry about that. I mean, if it’d make you more comfortable, go for it, but… I don’t need you to do that, seriously,” he insists. 

“Well, I’d rather not wail just because you kissed my neck and that’s the closest thing I have to an appropriate sound.” 

“Fair enough,” he concedes. “Now, let’s polish off the rest of this charcuterie board.”

“I can’t eat another bite. Have at it, I’ll just cuddle with you if that’s okay.”

“More than,” he assures you. You lean on his shoulder as he finishes it off. He babbles throughout, but eventually your lack of response becomes concerning. 

Wade turns his head to find that you’ve fallen asleep. He’d sit perfectly still all night just to make sure that you weren’t disturbed, but you had a point earlier. It’s pretty chilly, you could get sick if you slept out here without anything but your jeans and sweater to keep you warm. 

“Y/N,” he hums, stroking your face. You stir, face scrunching in distaste for being awoken. He giggles. “It’s time to head back in, cutie.”

“Fuck, you’re right,” you groggily grumble, though your tone doesn’t reflect that, reaching for the basket as you sit up. 

“I got it,” he says, gently batting your hand away. “Go on up to your room, I’ll meet you there once I’ve got this picked up.”

“Are you sure?” you ask. 

“Yeah, hon, I’ve got it.”

You get up from the blanket, ambling back to the house sleepily. Wade tosses the grape stems to the treeline hoping some bird or something will enjoy it before he pushes the board off of your picnic blanket. He folds said blanket, tucking it into its matching basket. He carries both the board and the basket back to the house, eventually catching up with you due to your slow pace. 

You open your door, and he follows you in. 

“Where do you want them?” he asks, looking around. Your room is cluttered, but not necessarily dirty or messy, just filled with things: pictures, curios, crystals, dried flowers… Pretty things. Fitting, he supposes, because it’s your room. 

“Where ever is fine. I’ll deal with it in the morning,” you answer. “Thank you.”

“Goodnight, Y/N. Thanks for dinner, it was great.”

“You don’t have to go. Just because we’re not sleeping together doesn’t mean we can’t sleep together,” you offer. “It’s late.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude,” he says, kicking himself for giving you an out and appreciating himself for it at the same time. 

“Very sure,” you assure him. “I have some- Some tee shirts a man can wear.”

“Men’s?” he offers. You nod gratefully. 

“It’s what I usually wear to bed,” you explain, tossing him one before pulling another out of your dresser, shucking your pants and taking off your sweater while still turned around. Wade yelps, turning around himself. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before,” you remind him. He swiftly gets into the tee shirt you offered him, feeling the heat in his cheeks. Even your back is pretty, goddamn it. 

“Haven’t seen you,” he says as he turns around, eyes still downcast as he joins you under the covers. 

“I didn’t think it’d be that big of a deal for you, I’m sorry.” 

“Didn’t you hear me earlier when I said I love you?” he half-jokes. 

“Yeah, I did, which is why I’m insisting on cuddling,” you declare. “I love you, too, and I want cuddles in exchange for it.”

“Is that so? I like sleepy you. She’s demanding, I’m into it.”

“Oh!” you squeak. “Not too demanding, I hope.”

“Not even a little,” he assures you, pulling you into his arms. 

It’s the easiest time he’s had falling asleep in a long time. Possibly ever. 

When he wakes, you’re still beside him, but you hover, propped on your arm as you gaze at him with downright eerie fascination. 

“Your scars move,” you say. “I didn’t notice it before, but it’s faster when you’re sleeping.” 

“Yeah, part of the whole cancer constantly fighting itself thing,” he mumbles, sheepish under your scrutiny, no matter how gentle it is. The next thing he’s hyper-aware of is the pain in his groin. 

You follow his gaze. 

“You weren’t exaggerating,” you remark, a smug, pleased look on your face. “Are you sure you don’t want any help with that? It doesn’t have to be a big deal.”

“How about tonight?” he offers. This is the second time you’ve offered yourself to him, so he doesn’t want to turn you down. It’s not that he feels pressured, though. Rather, he’s coming to terms with the fact that you really want him like that – not even just that you’re attracted to him, but you trust him that much despite being hurt so badly before in what was clearly a long-term relationship, maybe even your only one. “Is that enough notice?”

“Plenty. It’s a weekend, so I have all day to listen to-”

“Don’t wear yourself or your vibrator out,” Wade cuts you off, excited to inform you: “I happen to think of those as teammates, not competition.”

You smile, blushing. 

“Understood.”

“Is it alright if I go ahead and head out? I’m supposed to meet Logan and Laura for breakfast.”

“Of course. What time do you want to meet up later?”

“Do you want to get dinner first?”

“Shit. I’m supposed to have dinner with Ellie and Yukio, Yukio’s dads are in town and- Well, I guess that means I don’t have all day. How about seven, to give me time?”

“Sure, but-”

“I know. I want to, it’ll make me feel better.”

“If you insist. See you later, cutie.”

“Later,” you echo. 

Later rolls around and you have your headphones on. 

“Fuck me harder,” the voice actress whines. 

“Fuck me harder,” you echo, biting your lip at how illicit it sounds. Hopefully he likes it. You practice the little moans and gasps you’ve heard, making sure they sound right and aren’t too different from each other. 

There’s a knock at the door. Surely it’s him. You stop the audioporn track, setting your headphones and phone aside. You peek under your skirt at the black lace-trimmed panties you’re wearing. You don’t have much red in your underwear collection, so hopefully he’s happy with the mismatched set you’re wearing, your previously-mentioned black bottoms with a red bralette. 

You answer the door. 

“Wade,” you say, unable to hold back the grin on your face. He’s quickly become your favorite person with his outrageous sense of humor, his constant stream of new words for you to say– one of your favorites is chucklefuck, you even repeat it to yourself when you’re alone just to make sure you don’t lose it –his textured skin, his radiant smile, and… Oh, crap, he’s been talking, hasn’t he?

“I’m sorry, I got lost in thought. What were you saying?” you ask, cringing at yourself. 

“I was just saying that if you’re starting to psych yourself out, we don’t have to do this. Guessing I was right.”

“Not at all. I really want you,” the last bit comes out as a moan, and you remember the exact context in which you heard it. Maybe Brat Begs for Her Master’s Cock wasn’t a good decision, it was especially wordy – you’re probably going to have to sort that out of your vocabulary for the next week. You just wanted to make sure there was enough kink in your repertoire – Wade’s reputation precedes him. 

“Well, if you’re sure… Let’s get to it, I guess.”

“Are you sure?” you ask, concerned. He nods, and you pull him into the room, closing and locking the door behind him. “It’s been a while, how exactly do we get started?”

“Hm, a little something like this,” he hums fondly before pressing his lips to yours. You love the way he kisses, it’s so overpowering that it feels like nothing else exists, just him and you. You melt in his hands, needy little whimpers forcing their way out of you as they caress your jaw before wandering down to your waist, a few teasing, curious touches along the way driving you wild. 

His lips trail down to your neck and you gasp as his tongue swirls against your skin. 

“Not too long,” you warn him, the last word in breathless excitement.  

“Of course,” he assures you. “Can’t have a few hickeys ruining your reputation.”

You nod, and he places his next kiss in the curve between your neck and shoulder. He carefully introduces his teeth to the equation and your knees almost give out as a high-pitched whine leaves your lips. You clutch his back for purchase, and he leads you backwards into the bed, the two of you laying there together like you were yesterday evening. He’s right there between your legs and you can feel his excitement growing as you paw at him, needing to be even closer than you already are. 

He unbuttons one button of your blouse before looking to you for permission to continue. 

“Yes,” you agree, and despite the tone itself being over-the-top, he only smiles as he reveals your body to him. 

“Red,” he murmurs. “Just for me?”

“Just for you,” you concur, only the last word being a moan due to his interference. “You were supposed to let me say that,” you half-heartedly complain. He chuckles. 

“I kinda like it more when it’s in my voice. Reminds me that you’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” you agree. “I’m all yours.”

“You spoil me,” he replies fondly before pressing an open-mouthed kiss to your breast. He takes his time, not even pushing one of the thin cups aside until you’re whining and rocking against him. He flicks his tongue against your nipple and the sensation sends sparks through you. You arch into his mouth with the same high-pitched moan as before. He chuckles, switching to the other. 

You’re already shaking and you have no doubt that you’re embarrassingly wet. Hell, even last night’s makeout session, which hardly qualified as one, left your underwear damp. He urges you up, helping you out of your shirt. He goes to take off your bra, but you stop him. 

“You wanna stop?” he asks, his hand quickly making its way to cup your face comfortingly. 

You shake your head, nudging him off of you so you can take off your skirt. 

“Just for me?” he asks again, looking pleasantly surprised. 

“Just for you,” you repeat. 

“You’re so thoughtful. It’s one of the things I love most about you,” he informs you. 

“You can take it off now. Or them, whatever you choose.”

He snickers. 

“Let’s start with the bra for now,” he decides, reaching behind you for the clasp. He fumbles around, looking for it for a bit until you’re both laughing. You pull the bralette over your head for him. It then hits you then that you’re mostly naked and he’s mostly clothed. You pout, batting your eyelashes as you look him up and down. 

He gets the message and huffs out another laugh, getting off the bed to take off his shirt and jeans. 

Holy fuck, he’s ripped. If you weren’t bright red before, you are now. You should’ve expected it, what with his metabolism and super-strength and all that, but… Wow! 

“That bad, huh? I’ve been trying to tell you.”

“No,” you quickly disagree. “You look amazing.”

“You, too,” he replies, his eyes lighting up at the erotic tone of your last spoken word. 

“Come back,” you urge him. It’s getting to the point where every other word or so is a moan. He doesn’t seem to mind, if anything, he likes it. 

“Say it again. ‘Come.’”

“Come,” you reply, unamused. “You forgot the rules, didn’t you?”

“Oops,” he says with a giggle. “That’s alright. ‘Cause the next time you say that word, it’s gonna be because of me. It being in my voice will only be a reminder of that fact.”

You shudder, leaning back and opening your legs up a little more as a reminder that he should really rejoin you in bed right now. His nose twitches and his eyebrows furrow. 

“Wade?”

“I have… An enhanced sense of smell.”

“Oh, is it… bad? I mean, I took a shower and drank water and all that, but-”

“No, baby, you smell so good, just… Really strong, like...” He presses his hand to your most private place and you can’t help but squeak – between everything he’s said and done, the content you were consuming before his arrival, and how long it’s been… You’re unbelievably sensitive. “Baby, why didn’t you tell me?”

“What?” you ask. 

“You’re so… I like foreplay, sure, and you deserve it, but aren’t you getting frustrated? If you need me, you should tell me.”

Once you get over your breathlessness at the last thing he said, you explain yourself:

“I like what we’re doing. Why would I stop you?”

“Aren’t you aching down here?” he wonders, pressing his hand firmer against you for emphasis. 

“Oh, fuck, yes,” you tell him, a little embarrassed at the variation in your moans. 

He smiles, though, caressing your thighs in a teasingly gentle way.

“Then maybe I should go ahead and show you the real reason they call me the Merc with a Mouth. You’re not the only one who knows how to give a blowy.”

He hooks his fingers in your panties and drags them down your legs with your attempted assistance as you try to move them in helpful ways. He props your legs open before finally rejoining you in bed, this time with his mouth… Oh, his mouth, it’s…

A symphony of pleasured sounds flows out of you, some cheap and overexaggerated and some a little more realistic. 

“Good girl, tell me how much you like it,” he says, before returning his lips and tongue to you just as swiftly as they left. 

“I fucking love it,” you reply, gasping for air. “No one’s ever done this to me before.”

He’s got his face buried between your thighs, moaning and groaning as he tastes you. When your eyes aren’t clenched shut from pleasure, you see him grinding his hips into the comforter for friction. Holy shit, he really likes this, doesn’t he? 

Your legs are trembling uncontrollably as fire courses through your veins and you feel yourself getting higher and higher.

“I’m close, Wade, I’m gonna- Gonna come,” you tell him. He holds onto your thighs, keeping you right in place as you unravel, forcing you to take what he’s giving you. The sounds you’re making are chaos, you think, but you realize as you come down that that’s what he thrives on. 

“It’s too much,” you whine as you start to get overstimulated, when it feels so good it hurts. He hesitantly pulls away, panting a little himself. 

“How was that?” he asks.

“Amazing. Couldn’t- You- Tell?” 

He grins. 

“Wanna keep going?” 

“Fuck me,” you implore him. “Please.”

“Yes, ma’am! Let me see here…” he fishes in the pockets of his discarded jeans, finding a condom. He holds it up, and like a magic trick, the interconnected packets fall down, leaving you both with a whole ribbon of them. After tearing off one, he tosses the others onto the bed beside you. “I doubt we’ll go through all those tonight, but I’d appreciate it if you kept the rest in the nightstand.”

You nod, still catching your breath from the previous round as he rolls it on. 

“I’m gonna use my fingers first,” he informs you. You nod, your breathlessness now in anticipation of what he’ll do next. He gently pushes one inside you. It feels bigger than it really is as he carefully slides it in and out before curling it right against-

He smiles in response to your pleasured exclamation. 

“You sound so pretty, honey,” he hums, “Ready for another?” 

“Yeah,” you agree. He repeats the same motions as before but with a second finger. “Holy fucking shit, so good.” 

“We’re barely getting started,” he reminds you, but he doesn’t seem displeased with your eager sounds as he adds a third finger into the mix. 

“So full,” you moan. “I don’t know if I can take it.”

“You know just what to say, don’t you, baby? I know you can take it, though. You're such a good girl, aren’t you?” 

“I try,” you reply. 

“You succeed,” he confirms. “Do you still want-”

“Yes, please, I’m ready,” you cut him off, starting to get impatient. His fingers feel absolutely incredible, but you want more, you want all of him. You’ve never been so greedy before, but you just can’t help it. Just as you're his, he’s yours. No one’s ever really been yours before and you want to experience it for all that it's worth. 

“Alrighty, then. You should be careful, though — I’m trying to be all nice and gentlemanly and all that, but if you keep looking at me like that I might lose control.”

“Would that really be such a bad thing?” you half-flirt, half-wonder, propping yourself up to look at him once he removes his fingers from you. He’d never hurt you in a way that you didn’t want him to, not intentionally. Would it really be so bad for him to give in to his baser urges and just pound you until you cry and then some? You don’t think so.

“Oh, I get it, you’ve been holding out on me. I guess I should’ve known, the geeky types are always total freaks in the sheets,” he remarks. 

“I wanted to be gentle with you, too,” you explain. “I know you’re just as nervous as I am, just for different reasons.” 

“Not that different,” he admits. “Are you really sure?”

“Mhm,” you hum, trying to meet his downcast eyes. “I want you. Really… I’ve really never felt this way before.”

“Me, either. Don’t wanna fuck it up.”

“Then fuck me instead,” you tease, knowing he doesn’t like to linger on the deeper subjects for too long. 

“Sounds like a plan to me,” he agrees with a smile, lining himself up with your entrance. You’re really glad he used his fingers first, because there’s no way his member would even be close to fitting inside you if he hadn’t. He eases in, checking every inch or so to make sure you’re still comfortable. 

You're still propped up on your hands, your eyes flicking between his face and his dick as it sinks further and further into you. You lift one hand and bring his forehead to yours, your labored breaths intermingling as he enters you. You keep your hand on the back of his neck, stroking him — you’re not sure if the motion is supposed to comfort you or him, but it feels good. 

“Is it okay for me to move?” 

You nod into him, worrying your bottom lip with your teeth. It feels so good to connect with someone like this, to connect with him like this. 

He slides back and forth, it’s mind-boggling to watch something so large disappear into you. 

“You feel so good, baby, fuck,” he groans.

“You feel so good,” you echo, eyes scrunching shut as he picks up the pace. Your other hand rises from the bed and now you’re holding onto him as he thrusts, hitting that amazing place deep inside over and over again. You’re once again making mismatched sounds of ecstasy, his own grunts and groans working their way into your lexicon and making them even more diverse. 

He wraps an arm around you, helping you to stay balanced. 

“Touch yourself for me, sweetheart, I wanna feel you like that, please, please make yourself come all over my cock,” he nearly begs. 

“Yes, sir.” You remove your hand from where it was bracing on his neck, leaving the other draped around his shoulders as you start to stroke your clit. 

“Oh, fuck, shit, you-“ You feel him twitch inside of you. “Just a second, I… Oh, god.”

“You weren’t kidding,” you reply as he carefully pulls out, tying off and disposing of the condom before getting another one ready. 

“Honestly, I was, but- I mean, the refractory period is legit. I am so sorry, seriously, you- You just pushed a button that hasn’t been pushed in a while, goddamn, I- Say it again, please, if- If it’s not too much to-”

“Sir,” you repeat, grateful that he remembered the rules this time so you can elicit the right response from him. 

“There we go. Right as rain,” he says, jostling his re-hardened member in his hand comedically before rolling on a new condom. “Still-”

“Please,” you cut him off. “Please fuck me, Wade.” It’s all in his voice. You love the sound of his voice, but damn him for talking so much after you put all that effort into making sure you had a good catalogue for tonight! 

He cups your face and kisses you once again before entering you once more. You touch yourself as he thrusts in and out of you, no longer able to watch as your eyes clench shut — it’s everything you need and it’s too much. Fuck, it’s too much, you feel like he’s gonna break you, or you’re gonna break yourself. 

“That’s my good girl, you feel even better when you do that, squeezing around me just right,” he pants, continuing his erotic rambling. Every word gets you closer, even the ones you can’t process due to just how good this feels. 

“It’s- I’m- Come, gonna come again, oh, fuck, ah, please, Wade…” Your voice is steadily becoming more from him than what you watched earlier, but that only increases his fervor. 

“Love it when you talk in my voice, love the way you love me,” he replies, just as locked-in. That’s how he sees it? It almost brings you to tears in the best way, you’re so touched.

“Oh, god,” you murmur, just as he did before, but you really wanna scream it as you claw his back, desperate to cling to something physical as you reach the pinnacle of bliss. 

He stills as well, pushed as deep inside of you as he can go as you come down. You fall back into the bed, thoroughly worn out. 

He pulls out once more, repeating the same actions as earlier when taking care of the condom. He takes the unopened packages from beside you and tucks them into your bedside table. 

“Wanna go again?” he offers cheekily. 

“We don’t all have healing factors,” you remind him with a sigh. “Fuck, that was… Amazing.” 

“Was there anything you didn’t like?” he asks.

“No. What about you?”

“Getting overexcited and- Well, y’know.”

“I thought it was sweet,” you reassure him. 

“Anything you liked in particular?”

“What you said about when I talk in your voice,” you admit. “You?”

“I meant it,” he quickly says, like he’s scared you thought it was just pillow talk. “I could list a lot of things that I liked in particular, but I really- I loved it all.”

“Me, too.” you reply. You hold open your arms and he eagerly takes his place there. 

The two of you take a while to fall asleep, giddiness and excitement still buzzing in the air at your newfound love, but eventually you make it there.

[rayshippouuchiha]

Hi! I feel bad for having messaged twice in kinda quick succession, but I have a Bleach AU idea and don’t really have anyone to tell about it, but i hope you’d like to hear about it!

So I’ve only recently been trying to finish reading Bleach (I’ve read earlier chapters multiple times, but never managed to read past the Xcution arc). I’ve still got about 100 odd chapters to go, but I’m in the thousand year war arc finally, (and I’ve read the last few chapters, so I know how it ends, just not all of the details in between).

Anyway, I’ve recently read the bit where Kyoraku (is that his name? Shunsui, the head captain guy) actually goes to the land of the living and visits Ichigo’s friends to warn them that depending on how powerful he is once he’s sorted his issues with his Zanpakuto, he might not be able to come back home and it’s just GOT ME THINKING, because so far it’s not been mentioned again, and it isn’t in the last few chapters either, I don’t think. BUT!! What if it is that Ichigo is so powerful now that going back to the human world on a permanent basis would completely mess with the human world, so he’s forced to stay in the soul society.

So much potential for angst, with him missing his sisters and friends (and Kisuke), BUT also so much potential for absolute highjinks in the SS.

I think this could potentially be a little similar to your Turn Back the Clock AU, but I’m just imagining all of the remaining captains/lieutenants all absolutely beside themselves trying to convince Ichigo to join their teams, Shunsui is already eyeing him up for a captain position in the near future, Kenpachi (who’s still a little lost without his little sidekick (whose name I’ve forgotten, god I feel so bad because I love her)) just itching to get Ichigo to join his squad so that he can have daily fights without the trouble of having to go looking for the guy. Shinji (who without a shadow of a doubt has a soft spot for Ichigo, no matter how much he might enjoy irritating him) who wants to have him in his squad as some kind of “visords-stick-together” kinda deal (and because he knows it’d piss all the others off). Rukia laying claim because HELLO, she’s the one that stabbed him and gave him the powers in the first place, she calls dibs! Hell, I think even Byakuya would want him in his squad, because as much as he might deny it if asked, he’s actually rather fond of the guy, so long as he learns to call him Captain rather than his first name.

And as things are want to do in the SS, where the more power the shinigami, the more insane they seem to be, things get a little out of hand. During one heated discussion, where they’re all giving their updates on how well each of them think they’re doing in convincing Ichigo to join them, someone (I’m thinking a shit-stirrer like Yumichika maybe) gives the idea that hey, this competition seems almost as if you’re trying to court the guy! And so it turns into this weird ass Shinigami-courting situation, with a “whoever manages to (woo) CONVINCE Ichigo to join their squad is OBVIOUSLY the one that Ichigo likes best, so that means that he’s OBVIOUSLY also open to (after)life long commitment in the form of marriage to whichever captain wins” kinda thing going on.

Cue Ichigo not getting a single moments peace, when all he really wants is to be left alone to just PROCESS the fact that he 1) has had to leave everyone and everything he’s ever known in the human world to live with these absolutely crazy people, and 2) just fought in a very big battle and helped kill a thousands-year old crazy Quincy guy.

He’s more than happy spending his time helping clean up and rebuild the SS for now, and he’s happy to worry about what comes next once the SS is back on its feet. (And he’s more than a little oblivious to the weird fighting/flirting/coercing that seems to happen whenever he comes across any familiar face whenever he’s out and about).

It all comes to a head when his friends from home come for a visit to the soul society with those handy dandy tokens that Shunsui gave them, and instantly see what’s happening and have to sit Ichigo down and explain to him that he may or may not (but definitely does) have twenty or so extremely powerful shinigami captains and lieutenants all after his ass(ets), which, know that Ichigo thinks about it, definitely explains a few things that’ve been happening to him lately.

And shortly after his friends go back home, all three realms feel a shift in reiatsu and hear a distant screech from Kisuke, who’s suddenly realised that hey, maybe the human world sucks actually and he should relocate back to the soul society for no reason in particular! None at all! Definitely not jealousy because that would be ridiculous.

If I had the time or energy (and a better track record of finishing fics that I start 😬) I’d love to write this, but I fear it’ll be stuck in my notes forever, lol, so thought I’d share!

No I love this so much!! Especially if it's endgame UraIchi and like all this courting, all this drama, all the shenanigans from all these different high-powered shinigami all trying to get Ichigo's attention and Kisuke just rocks up and gets him within a solid 10 minutes and 5 of those were spent with Ichigo purposefully ignoring him while Kisuke apologized for some dumb petty shit he did before Ichigo ended up in SS

[sanjisboyfie]

๑ keep safe : just a friendly competition...right? (4)

one piece x male reader

tender is the night, 

lying by your side 

tender is the touch, 

of someone that you love too much 

『 prev 』

the night of his arrival, luffy and [name] stayed up practically all night catching up. their chatter was heard through the walls. but to some extent, it did make the crews’ hearts calm down when they heard how enthusiastic and happy their captain was to be reunited with his close friend.

“and then what happened after that?!” luffy excitedly asked, biting into another piece of fruit. a tangerine, to be exact. there was an abundance of them on the tree and [name] made sure not to take too many.

he was set on peeling duty whilst luffy’s stomach was being fed endlessly.

“i just sailed off after, i didn’t want to linger too long on an island that wanted to kill me,” [name] laughed, finding luffy’s eagerness to learn of his adventures adorable. he gently place luffy’s strawhat in his lap, smoothing his hands through his raven hair, “i’ve truly only been waiting for you, luffy! i thought that each island i had stopped at would have remnants of you, but all were disappointments. i’m so glad i got to find you at whiskey peak,”

luffy’s grin only widened even more, “even if that island was weird!”

[name] laughed with him, bringing luffy’s head to crash into his chest for an embrace, “even if it the island was weird, yes!”

luffy stayed in his position, finding comfort that he had missed for the three years [name] was gone. he then pointed at the cloth tied around [name]’s wrist in wonder, “what’s that under there?”

he knew where the cloth came from, how prized it was to [name]’s heart, but the piece of paper peaking out underneath it made him more curious.

“it’s your wanted poster,” [name] said gently, taking out the folded piece of paper and revealing it to luffy, “it was my only way of knowing how you were doing - and by the looks of it, you were doing perfectly fine!”

“would’ve been better if you were there,” luffy whined, seemingly never going to let go of the fact [name] set sail three years before he did.

“pft, doesn’t matter now since we’d found each other, anyway,” [name] said, pushing the paper back onto his wrist. but luffy grabbed his hand and stopped him in his tracks, “huh?”

“throw it away, we won’t ever be separated again now that you’re apart of the crew! you don’t need a stupid poster!” luffy grinned, happily taking the paper into his own wrist and throwing it overboard.

[name] was shocked at the sudden action, but decided that it was perfectly within luffy’s chracter to act so spontaneous. so all he did was bring luffy back into his chest and sigh in content, “promise we won’t be separated?” he teased, knowing there was no way luffy could promise something as serious as that.

but it seemed luffy took the joke as serious as possible, nodding his head in determination, “never again! you’re my favorite thing!”

“really, a thing?” [name] sweatdropped, wondering when luffy was going to have a ways of wording his thoughts better.

“mhm! i treasure you the most,” [name] chuckled, knowing that to be simply untrue. he knew luffy treasured his hat most of all, but it wasn’t offensive to him. it was endearing that luffy was so quick to speak of his loyalties to him, made him feel special.

“i treasure you too, lu,” [name] said, sighing into luffy’s hair.

it seemed there was a lack of response due to how the captain had knocked himself out, snoring soundly into [name]’s chest now. the human pillow brought the strawhat back onto luffy’s head and decided to carry him back inside, where he most definitely wouldn’t catch a cold.

despite their conversation ending on a rather serious note, the first thing the rest of the crowd heard coming from the duo was mindless bickering.

“who’s had more experience on the grand line?! i did, so what i say is going to become true!”

“you’re so annoying!” luffy shouted, gritting his teeth and pressing his forehead strongly against [name]’s.

it looked like two rabid dogs were growling at each other, but never daring to bite the other.

“what are they even arguing about?” vivi asked to no one in particular. sanji, who had just walked out of the kitchen, was the one to answer though, “vivi-sama, don’t stress over the argument of two idiots. it is truly none of our concern,”

“who are you calling an idiot, you piss blonde fucker?!” [name] shouted, earning a snort of laughter from zoro. it seemed that he found the sudden anger from [name] that was directed at their chef amusing. but due to his snicker, it made [name] point at him then, “you! let’s duel! right now!”

within a second’s notice, “come on! let’s go then, you useless pirate!” zoro retaliated, seemingly itching for a fight against [name]. even though he was calm seconds before, the memory of previously losing to [name] was enough to fire him up.

“oi, you can’t use pirate as an insult anymore when you’re a pirate,” usopp sweatdropped.

it seemed zoro’s memory of the loss also made his mindset double back to when he was a bounty hunter and he was aiming for [name]’s head.

“i’d love to beat you again!” [name] cheered happily, getting ready to charge at the green haired swordsman.

“i’d love to see you try!” zoro clashed with him, an angry look on his face.

just as the two were about to charge at one another, nami appeared from the shadows and easily made the two of them stop their antics. that translates into, she punched the both of them on their heads hard enough it made them fall to the ground.

“enough of the shouting! it’s getting tiring to hear it all day long!” she screamed, mimicking a certain vice admiral in the marines that luffy and [name] grew up with.

“oh! nami-chwan, you’re oh-so beautiful even when you are angry!” sanji cheered, swirling around a couple of times with a tray of drinks in his hand (they miraculously didn’t spill at all). “here, take this drink to re-energize yourself, you deserve it! ah, you as well, vivi-sama!”

sanji seemed to bask in aiding the two woman, another action that made [name] snicker in amusement.

the heart eyes in sanji’s eyes almost immediately disappeared, “oi, shit for brains, what’s so funny?!”

“that’s creative,” [name] commented about the "nickname" sanji had adopted for him, taking a drink off of the tray for himself and watching as sanji only got more angry at his nonchalance.

sanji tended to serving everyone else on board as well and soon all the men aboard the ship were sitting in a circle. all past arguments were forgotten, surprisingly, as they carelessly chatted about whatever came to mind.

[name] was sat between usopp and zoro, enjoying his drink with a content smile.

“let’s go fishing, usopp!” luffy cheered, the idea of catching dinner fueling his antics.

“okay, then i’ll make an artistic fishing rod for you!” usopp agreed.

their attention was soon all directed to carue, vivi’s speeding duck, and his journey in discovering the tastiness that was sanji’s drink.

he chirped in glee when he got to properly taste it, making everyone around him laugh in amusement.

“here! finish mine too!” [name] said, pushing his own glass forward to see truly how much he could drink. his actions were welcomed by the duck, who easily finished it within seconds thanks to his straw.

eventually, his stomach was full of the drink that he had no other option but to land on his back in exhaustion. [name] and the rest broke out laughing at the scene, the new crewmate clutching his stomach.

they were all rather relaxed as the refreshments cooled their bodies off.

“look! a dolphin!” sanji said in amazement.

“woah! how cute!” nami chided in from her position on the ship’s deck.

it seemed that the cute dolphin was more so terrifying than anything, though, as the crew soon realized it wasn’t as small as it seemed. it was easily bigger than their ship and the crew was sent into a frenzy on getting away from it.

“i hate dolphins!” [name] said with his teeth grit, working hard in manually fixing the ship’s sails in being prepared for an escape. he then jumped around deck, helping zoro steer clear of the dolphin, grunting in exhaustion, “i really hate dolphins!”

after things finally calmed down, usopp was laying on his back on the wooden deck as he was too tired to even sit up.

“you knew your way around merry,” usopp said, although it sounded more like a question than anything.

“i toured her the other night,” [name] shrugged, “if i’m gonna be apart of the crew, i’d better pull my weight, literally and figuratively,”

usopp swallowed thickly, a million thoughts running through his mind. although [name] was made out to surely be someone terrifying in the newspapers, he seemed nothing but genuine so far.

except for his squabbles with zoro and sanji that morning, he was sure terrifying then. but it seems that when three overzealous individuals get together, there is no way they’d be able to go a minute without arguing.

also, [name] seemed to truly appreciate merry for being a wonderful ship. and he was glad that [name] could see how special she was. usopp himself was deeply attached to the ship, personally impacted by sailing with her. so to see at least an ounce of respect come from [name] regarding her, it made him feel more at ease.

“what are you thinking so hard about, usopp?” [name] asked, poking the tip of usopp’s nose to make it uncomfortably bend back.

“oi! don’t touch my nose like that!” usopp cried out, slapping [name]’s hand away, interuppting any peaceful time he was having.

“i wanted to see if it’d bend!” [name] said in a carefree tone, making usopp only more frustrated.

“of course it bends, it’s not a bone!”

[name] put his hand under his chin, seemingly thinking about. soon his hand turned into a fist and he knocked it against his open palm, “that’s right it’s not a bone!”

“idiot…” nami said under her breath, not believing that such a feared pirate was really an air head just like her captain. as she rubbed her forehead in stress, she looked at her wrist to see in which direction the log pose was pointing.

“which direction, nami?” luffy asked curiously, rocking back and forth where he sat.

she grinned, feeling relief to see that the compass was doing its job, “turn to port, full!” she directed, having luffy, zoro, and [name] follow in her command.

and soon enough, they sailed into the direction of a green looking island. [name] felt wonderment fill his soul, a low hum escaping his throat.

the crew looked at him in surprise at the sudden sound, vivi being the first to speak up, “what’s he making that sound for…?”

“cause he’s an idiot,” zoro said under his breath.

“hmmm,” [name] continued on humming, making a tick mark appear on nami’s forehead.

“what’s so “hmmm”?!” she exclaimed.

“no, i was just thinking…so this is what happens when you actually use a log pose!” [name] said, scratching the back of his head in a sheepish manner.

“huh? what’s that supposed to mean?” usopp asked out loud.

“oh! i never really used a log pose on my journeys!” [name] said proudly, grinning from ear to ear.

this caused everyone on the ship, minus luffy, to almost fall face first onto the planks of their deck in disbelief.

“just how did you survive on the grand line?!” sanji cried out, looking at [name] as if he were an abnormality.

“just let the water take you wherever it wants to take you!” [name] reasoned.

“that’s hardly sane,” zoro said, a part of him impressed for how long [name]’s been alive. if he’d been sailing the past three years like that, then you’ve got to admit it’s at least somewhat impressive he hasn’t died yet.

usopp on the other hand was terrified, “is this the pleasure one gets to indulge in when they’re feared all over the sea? at what point does this carefree attitude become normal?” his vocalized questions only made [name]’s grin widen even more.

after the whole fiasco died down, they eventually reached the actual shores of the island. they sailed through it, taking in the scenary.

“our second island on the Grand Line!” luffy announced in excitement, seemingly barely able to contain himself. he was jumping up and down as he held onto the railing, looking as if he wanted to jump overboard and swim to the island himself.

of course, that was impossible so he had to wait for merry to make her own way to land.

as they were sailing through the deep forest, they realized how tremendous their landscape truly was. trees were towering over them, almost completely shielding the sun from their vision and the greenery that was growing from the ground was sitting at an impressive height as well.

“what about this exactly is little?” zoro said in an unimpressed manner.

“this place doesn’t quite fit its cute name,” nami said, taking in their surroundings with shock painted across her face.

“we have to be careful,” vivi quietly spoke, looking down at carue in worry, “i’m worried about what miss all sunday was saying,”

[name] thought back to the interaction, eyebrows furrowed as he tried hard to think of what was so important about it. no matter how hard he tries to remember, all he could mentally see in his mind were her piercing blue eyes and dark rooted black hair.

he shrugged, thinking it was probably not a big deal to begin with.

“are you saying there may be m-monsters?!” usopp cried out in fear.

[name] grinned mischievously, wondering when the last time it was that he feasted on a monster. usopp took that expression on his face as a different meaning though, sweating even more bullets at the look on the highly wanted pirate’s face.

“oi! quit makin’ that face! it’s super unsettling! oh, why don’t we just move on to the next destination!” usopp cried out, running to the opposite side of the deck to nami, wanting to create distance between him and [name] while also pleading with their navigator.

“but the log can’t be stored so quickly,” she said, upset that they couldn’t skip over such a scary looking island as well.

“also we have to stock up on food, too,” sanji voiced, making [name]’s eyes turn into stars.

“i’m on food catching duty! i’ll bring the best meat home! i’ve got an eye for it!” he said cheerfully, thinking of all the delicious meat that was living in the luscious jungle.

“oi, there’s a river mouth right over there!”

and that was all it took for them to let their anchor sink down into one of the secluded groves of the island. it was off the main water way, but also easy to find due to its connective water route.

almost immediately, luffy was bouncing with energy on exploring the island. it seemed no one was willing in talking him out of it, so it was decided that he and vivi (and carue) would go out adventuring to discover more about the island.

out of nowhere, there was a screech above head of what sounded like a bird. it made such a sudden noies that nami and usopp were yelping and covering their heads in fear.

“ah, how cute,” sanji breathed out, a mellowed look on his face as he looked at nami.

“you talking about me?” usopp joked, turning around with a cutesy look on his face.

“obviously, i’m not!” sanji shot back, immediately getting disgusted at the mere idea of usopp being the cute one he was referring to.

“what was it i just heard?”

“don’t worry, it’s just a bird! it’s a jungle anyway,” despite sanji’s confident tone, it seemed that he truly didn’t understand the sudden danger he was in. [name] quickly pushed sanji’s head down to make him duck from the sharp talons of the bird, making the blonde look up in annoyance.

when he finally caught sight of what was nearly threatening his life, he began to yell curses at it for even trying. then he pointed his one eye at [name] and said, “don’t ever think about doing that again, i don’t need you looking out for me, shit for brains!”

[name] whistled in mock offense, wondering what got sanji so riled up. “no need to be so defensive, blondie,” this only made sanji more aggravated, though.

suddenly a loud eruption sounded off somewhere in the island. [name] flinched at the noise and turned to look form where it came from, with no answer. this island sure was weird. and really big.

he was glad he didn’t come here when he was sailing by himself. he’d surely get lost if he explored the giant terrain. now, he could trust luffy to get himself lost, so the pressure was off his shoulders.

“is that the kind of noise you hear from just any jungle?”

“it sounded like a volcano explosion!” usopp said in fear.

“what if a part of the mountain collapsed because the giant monsters of the island were trying to climb it as a game?!” [name] suggested excitedly. and despite his theory being completely made up, it seemed usopp truly took it to heart.

because now the poor sniper was shaking in his boots. more than he was already before.

out of the shadows of the forest came a tiger. at the sight of the giant feline, nami and usopp ran to the other side of the ship to create distance. they blew past [name] and were basically using him as a cover shield.

“sacrifice the newcomer,” nami said to usopp, thinking she was whispering when [name] heard it really clearly.

“of course, it’s only appropiate that the newest crew member is thrown into the mouth of the hungry tiger,” usopp agreed.

“rest in peace, [name]!” nami said, clasping her hands in front of her as if in a prayer position.

“oi! i’ll feed you to the dolphins!”

“that’s not even threatening!” usopp and nami said at the same time.

after more of a ruckus came from usopp and nami, luffy and vivi were preparing for their adventure on land.

“you sure you don’t wanna come with, [name]?!” luffy asked in excitement, shaking [name] back and forth via his shoulders.

the anchor was thrown down and the ship was now sitting still.

“you’re joking!” nami and usopp cried out together, making [name] laugh at their predicament.

“bento, sanji! bento!”

“bento?”

“a special pirate bento, lots of meat and no veggies!” luffy said excitedly, swinging his arms back and forth, “adventure! adventure! you wanna come, nami? go on an adventure?!”

sparkles were shining around luffy while tears were streaming down nami and usopp’s faces.

and it was finalized, luffy and vivi seemed to be the only ones leaving for an adventure. then, in a couple of minutes, they looked like kids all ready and pampered by their mother (sanji) in preparation for their field trip (they had a backpack full of lunches). even carue had a drink.

the two were running off in a moment and nami turned to [name], crocodile tears still running down her face, “why didn’t you stop that idiot? now we have to sit here waiting for them to return,” she was more so crying out fear, rather than fuming in anger.

“eh? just come with me hunting for some food! it’ll be fun!”

“i-”

“as if!!!” sanji’s loud voice boomed, his foot kicking into [name]’s back hard enough to make the man stumble, “as if…!!!! i’d let you be responsible for nami-chwan’s safety! you wouldn’t be able to properly protect her out there, so don’t even think about!”

“i wasn’t thinking about that,” [name] sweatdropped.

“but you offered, which meant you were thinking about it, which meant-” before sanji could continue on with his tangent, [name] walked away mid sentence. that earned him another earful from the chef, but he truly wasn’t worried about that. he was too busy now thinking of what he would find and catch out in the jungle.

“then, [name] are you ready to go?” zoro’s voice asked, only questioning [name] because he knew that he was also planning on getting off of the ship.

“oh! yes, i’m ready!” [name] cheered, jumping off the side and following zoro’s actions.

“wait! zoro, shit for brains!” both of them stopped to look at sanji, “if you’re both going out, might as well double our food supply. both of you - look for food, anything that seems edible bring it back!”

“alright, alright. i’ll bring back one catch that you both possible couldn’t capture,” zoro said nonchalantly.

[name]’s ears perked up at the notion of a competition. and it seems his instincts were correct as now sanji was jumping at the chance to beat both, [name] and zoro.

“neither of you numbskulls are even comparable in strength to me,” sanji said cockily, leering down at the both of them.

[name] enjoyed this energy! the competitive spirit! and, what he was interpreting as, friendly competition. he was more than happy to participate.

“i could easily catch ten times the amount you guys could, combined,” [name] said easily, looking at the two’s reactions turn bitterfly sour very fast.

it felt as if there were sparks going in between the three way glares.

the three parted ways, shouting on about how they’d bring back the largest prey.

[name] chuckled, licking his lips as he thought of the delicious meal they’d be having later that night. he was definitely feeling competitive, plus the need to prove himself to the crew was so strong. it only fueled him further in finding the best dinner for the night.

_

[ .ᐟ ] the beginning scenes with luffy >>>> + im actualy sucker for luffy + his physical affections. 

[ .ᐟ ] the chapters rn are super short (or too short for my liking) but their lengths will pick up in size soon !!! i swearrrr 

ー

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[hibiscusfairys]

🐞 draco malfoy ; unrequited love, part 5 (hufflepuff fem reader)

♪ a lots gonna change : weyes blood

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

♡ warnings: angst

tagged: @miawastakens @watercolorskyy @pinkynecktie

also to the last person who requested to be tagged, im so sorry but i cant seem to find your blog when i try to tag it :(

by the way a reference to the last chapter, i realised adrian pucey is two years older than harrys year, so for the sake of it not being weird just pretend he was a year older than us

☆

You cried all night.

You didn’t know if whether you had swayed him, or distanced him from you even more. Each passing thought that involved him had only provoked your yearning tears. By the end of the long evening, your pillow was wet with the heartbreak and sadness you wept for him.

You were stupid enough to believe he was for you. The muggleborn girl and the pureblooded boy with a family full of blood supremacists which he was surely influenced from — yeah, right. What a foolish imagination you must have.

Dawn had rolled around, and your quiet sobs had eventually stopped and morphed into your sleep. The bright light of the sun shone through the fogged window, reflecting onto your hair. Your yellow duvet covers were spread everywhere, and the mascara you had worn from the ball before had stained your pillow like watery, black ink.

You rose up from your slumber, increasingly light headed from all the thinking you had been doing all night. It was time to finally get on with your life, and leave this all behind. Your feelings for him would have to disappear, soon enough.

Your ball dress was still on, and was crumpled from the action of tossing and turning restlessly in your bed.

A letter was positioned unknowingly on the windowsill. You noticed that the window door was open, the cold air hitting your face like a vent. You saw that a midnight feathered owl with amber eyes as bright as streetlights perched on the sill, looking at you with its pupils dilating.

Eagerly, you opened the letter, hoping it to be from your parents. They had only just figured out how to use the owl. But the envelope looked too classy, too posh even. Nothing like the basic white envelopes you’d usually see.

It had a certain family emblem on the black seal.

Ripping the top of the envelope, you lifted the mysterious letter from the pocket. You had almost instantly recognised the handwriting, as you had seen it in your potions class not too long ago. It was Malfoy’s.

The words were carefully carved with ink on the parchment, and ink smudges seemed to be far less of a problem for him to prevent than it was for you. Using a quill and proper ink was still something to get used to, even if it had been 4 years. You anxiously let your eyes scan the page, a lump forming in your hoarse throat from all the sobbing. To….

I apologise for my previous behaviour last night

I understand that I may have upset you. This is quite new to me actually. I’m too wrapped up in myself to recognise others problems, if I am being honest.

However, while I still stand by what I said about us not working out, I do want to create a compromise with you. And before you ask, I’ve dealt with Astoria. It was entirely difficult for me to tell her. And to be honest, I am feeling quite down. But I’m still so confused on where my heart is leading and I don’t want to lead her on either. She’s one of the only people I care about. Except for my family and some others which I won’t name.

If you are so desperate, it will have to be a hidden secret between us. If I ever eventually decide to let myself love you, while the guilt might weigh heavily on me, I am not afraid of it. It is quite dismaying knowing that you aren’t a pure-blood like I am, but I want to learn to be more tolerant at least. And I’ll try to be more open. But don’t let a word slip out. I’m sorry if I am asking much. I should really not ask you of anything, but I can’t help it. I’m still adjusting to this. I thought it would be so easy, love. But it’s not. Sometimes we fall in love with the wrong people. But I don’t want to label you as wrong. Rather — unexpected. My family will surely be disappointed, so it’s why I’m so hesitant. But it’s a risk I am willing to take for my heart to finally be at rest. It has been tugging on me for weeks.

Do answer me later. Moreover, maybe I can explain it to you better in person.

Draco Malfoy

You saw your tears melt onto the paper. Different emotions poured through you like a rainfall, you felt excited and happy, but also unnerved. It disappointed you that he couldn’t accept you in the first place.

You found out your quill and a pot of ink.

To Malfoy,

Thank you for your letter. I am glad that you’ve explained to me your feelings. Sometimes writing it down makes everything better.

But please, do accept me as I am. I don’t want to pressure you into doing something you won’t find comfort in. Plus, it would put me in danger too. I don’t know what your family is like, but I don’t want to entrust them just yet.

However, I do feel similarly. Maybe we could try it.

I’d be glad to keep it a secret for you.

From…

You finally signed your name in one swoop of your quill.

“Hopefully..” You say to yourself, handing the addressed envelope to the messenger owl.

☆

thank you all so much for reading this fic, i appreciate all the support youve given me so much and im excited to write more future ones for you soon ♡

also im sorry if the ending seems quite rushed, i had no idea what to do and i didnt want to keep anyone waiting too long :( ill try to improve on this in the future and hopefully, not pressure myself too much with releasing chapters

[serenefreakgeekao3]

Fear of Falling

CHAPTER TWO [Masterlist]

Pairing: Hiccup x ftm!reader

Summary: You and Hiccup have begun to get closer- to something even resembling friendship. What happens, then, when complications get thrown into the mix? Complications namely being Hiccup’s close acquaintances, who seem a little too invested in getting to know you.

Tags: carpenter!reader, awkward!Hiccup, meeting friends, mutual pining

Warnings: slight bullying, mention of transphobia at the end of the chapter, tales of a bad family life (for reader)

Author’s Note: This is when the whole ftm thing comes into play! At the end of the chapter, reader tells Hiccup his life story, essentially, where reader was disowned by his family. If this will hurt you in any way, feel free to not read, or skip the final part after Hiccup receives his gift! Sorry for the sad backstory, but it’s only for a small section! (Also, sorry it took so long for me to post this part, but if you notice its literally like twice as long as my first part. Unintentional, but it felt weird to try to split it up into two chapters. It flows easier this way!)

Words: 12552

“So where’s your dragon?”

The question catches you off guard, startling and turning to look at Hiccup’s curious face. It’s been a month since you claimed this land, and with the help of Hiccup and Skullgar your home is finally standing and all in one piece. You were settling in, moving furniture around until you felt comfortable with the positions and placing your few belongings in their proper places. It was a small hut, one story and one bedroom. A fireplace crackled on one side of the room, half of the building made into a nice living area while the other half almost resembled a shop. You had a long bar with stools, shelves for your tools, and currently sitting on the edge of the bar was the first piece you finished whittling. It wasn’t bad, actually. A little rough around the edges, but a small dragon- not based on any that you’ve seen for yourself, just carved from your imagination- that is big enough to fit in your hand sat there and watched over the whole proceeding.

“What?” You took too long to answer, but you didn’t know exactly what to say. You avoided the topic of the dragons for a long while- impressively, might you add, since dragons are apparently Hiccup’s lifeblood. You didn’t mind talking about them in a general sense, or hearing whatever happened in town. But if he was to ask about you flying, or where your dragon was, you were able to deftly change the subject. Maybe that’s why he decided to catch you off guard. He almost had a smug look about him, the kind of face that made you want to smush his cheeks together until he laughed.

“Your dragon. I sort of assumed that once your home was finished and the rest of the builders moved on- I don’t know, that maybe they’d be willing to settle down? I tried to make a nice nest outside for them, but I wasn’t sure about their size. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen them before.” Hiccup continued as if it’s the most obvious thing ever, to claim a dragon. To have a lifelong companion such as that. As if the thought of not having one was unimaginable.

“I don’t have one,” You mumbled, turning back toward the shelf to unnecessarily fidget with a vase you were given by Gobber. You spun it a few times, then realizing that did nothing you began to push it a tad to the left, then back to the right.

“What?” You have a talent for confusing Hiccup, that tone in his voice is practically familiar to you now. “What do you mean you don’t have one?”

“I mean that I don’t have one.” You nod, turning to look at him, eyebrows raised. “It’s not that uncommon you know.”

“No, but-” Hiccup breaks off, holding out a hand toward you. His confusion began to mix with worry. “What do you mean- but you live all the way out here?” You hadn’t heard anything more about this location being unsafe from Hiccup since that first day, and you had figured he’d just drop it. It’s not like it should matter much to him anyway.

“Yes, I know. I chose the spot.” You tried to laugh, but it came out more as an awkward chuckle. “You were there, y’know.”

“No- I mean, yes I know I was there but-” Hiccup turns frustrated, looking away from you and scanning the air as if it held an answer for him. He runs a hand through his hair, flopping it around on his head before he throws his hand back outward. “You live all the way on the outskirts! If something happened to you, no one in town would be able to know. No one would hear, there wouldn’t be anyone to- to come and-” He huffed again, grabbing his hair roughly. The entire time he speaks he seems almost to be arguing with himself in his head. “I know you can take care of yourself, but against a dragon?” He finally turns his face to you, with almost a look of desperation. “What if they tame a dragon and attack from above? Pick off the people on the outside first, you can’t fight a dragon and their rider by yourself! You can’t outrun a dragon! What would-”

“Hiccup,” You try to interrupt, having moved close enough to reach a hand out to press lightly against his arm. It still, miraculously, works somehow. “I’ll be okay.”

“But you need a dragon,” Hiccup whines out, practically pouting at you. “They- they mean so much-”

“I know you love all of the dragons here, Hiccup,” You begin, your voice quieting, “But not everyone feels so intrinsically tied to dragons like you. Not everyone can bond with them as easily as you.” You shrug, trying for a smile but probably missing the mark, “There hasn’t been one to find me yet.”

“Well, if they can’t find you then we can find them, come on!” He takes your hand and immediately tries to pull you to the door. In the few times he’s taken your hand, you’ve always followed. This is the first time that you hold your ground, unmoving. Hiccup doesn’t pull, or tug. He turns, confused at your reluctance.

“I don’t-” You take a breath, shaking your head, “If I go out looking for one and can’t find one I’ll just be disappointed and heartbroken. I’ve met every single dragon on this island at least once, whether they had a rider or not. None of them have taken to me, Hiccup.” You turn bashful, pulling your hand away and crossing your arms, pulling them close to you. “If there’s a dragon out there for me, they’ll find me.”

“That seems like a fantasy, [y/n]” Hiccup begins, shaking his head and closing the gap once more. “We can try.”

“It’s fine, Hiccup.” You repeat, looking up at him with a sad smile. “I’m used to being alone.”

You turn away after this, missing the complete devastation that crosses Hiccup’s face. He shakes his head, mouth working with nothing to come out. He doesn’t know what to say to that, unable to voice how he feels. He’s never been the best with words, always sketching or trying to express his feelings through flying. At that thought he calms, brain working a mile a minute as his eyes flicker back and forth, unseeing.

“Come flying with me.”

You turn, confused at the sudden outburst. By the time you see his face again, his attention is still focused entirely on you, a wide smile stretching across his face. He bounds the few feet toward you that you had moved away, taking both of your hands with glee. “Hiccup, I-” You begin, shaking your head, but he just interrupts.

“Come flying with me, [y/n]! It’ll be great! I know you don’t have a dragon to fly on, but we can both be on Toothless. It’s so amazing, please, you have to experience it!” You laugh at his enthusiasm, almost blown away by the force of it. With your laugh coloured in disbelief, you begin to shake your head.

“Hiccup, I just said I don’t want to go looking for a dragon-”

“This isn’t about that!” Hiccup tries to convince you, shaking your hands slightly. “Flying is-” His mouth works as he tries to find the words, shaking his head, “You just have to try it, at least once!” You laugh again, shaking your head.

“I did try it once.”

“What?” Hiccup ducks closer, and you feel your brain malfunction for a split second. Why does he have to be so close? Was he always this physical?

“I’ve flown once.” Hiccup looks adorably confused, so you continue your point. “During the move. I told you, I’m not new here, but I was new to the old Berk. I lived there a month before suddenly everyone was packing house and moving on their dragons. I was apprenticing under Skullgar and, once he found out I had no dragon and was planning to just sail away to find somewhere else to live, offered up Grimrar as a ride. His family planned to ride his wife’s dragon and use Grimrar to transport their possessions. There was a bit of room for me to squeeze in.”

Hiccup’s confused face was adorably scrunchy, you decided. “But, wait,” He leans back slightly, shaking his head. “Transporting things and transporting people require completely different saddles. That would’ve been extremely dangerous…” Hiccup trailed off, refusing to believe your story.

“No, that’s true. Grimrar had the transport saddle on his back, I was squeezed between a couple of boxes and kind of held on for dear life. It was the longest day of my life, actually. Felt like it, anyway.” You smile, able to laugh about it now that the soul-crushing fear is no longer gripping your heart.

“That-” Hiccup scoffs, shaking his head. “No, that’s not true flying.”

“Well, I was technically on a dragon, and that dragon was in the air. Very, very high in the air-”

“No, that’s just dangerous- anyone would be scared of that!” Hiccup pulled on your still-connected hands, looking into your eyes earnestly. “Let me take you flying. Toothless will be so gentle-”

“Hiccup,”

“No, listen! It’s fantastic, [y/n]! It’s- it’s indescribable!”

“Hiccup, I’m afraid of it!” You sigh, shaking your head and pulling your hands back.

“Afraid of heights? But-”

“Afraid of falling, mind you.”

“You won’t fall!”

“You can’t promise that.” You turn once again, taking a new block of wood and the whittling knife that Hiccup gave you two months ago. Was it really only two months? You sat down on a stool in a huff, striking the first notch into the wood. Hiccup was quiet again, which honestly rarely happened now. You glance back up to see disappointment across his face, feeling a pang of guilt in your chest at the sight. “I’m sorry, Hiccup.”

“I can promise that if you fall we’ll catch you.” Hiccup’s voice was so serious, meaning every word he said. He took a step closer to you on your stool but maintained a proper distance still. The open window behind him framed him in an almost ethereal sunset-orange light. “Either Toothless, or me. We’ll catch you.” You felt hard-pressed not to believe him.

“That’d still require me to fall. Which is the part I’m scared of.” His shoulders fell at your insistence, glancing away from you and staring off into space. The room is filled with the sounds of your whittling and the fire crackling to the side, a comfortable silence only bellied by the discomfort of having to disappoint the guy you’re falling for. Hiccup turns and leans against the bar next to you, tapping his hands along it. The taps stop and you look up to see him fiddling with something in his hands just out of sight.

“Well,” He begins quietly, and you quickly lower your gaze back to your project. “If you ever change your mind, I’m always here.”

“You really are,” You begin to joke, smirking down at the slowly dwindling wood block in your hand. “Almost like I can’t get rid of you.” Hiccup laughs, thankfully, at your joke, not taking it too seriously.

“Well, just trying to shirk my chiefly duties, as you always say. Hide away from the clamouring.”

“Well, keep it up and they’ll know exactly where to find you. Then your point would be moot.”

“Not if we went flying together. Then they’d never be able to find us.” You feel your smile slipping, lifting your eyes once more to him. He was already staring back at you, determination set in his eyes. You’d only seen that once before, two months ago, and now you have a proper house to thank him for.

“They have tracking dragons,” You try to counter, smirking at him gently, “You trained them yourself, you know.” Hiccup lets the moment settle, half a minute of comforting silence between the two of you before turning away and sighing dramatically, throwing his arms out to the side.

“Woe be me! Forever and always, stuck as Chief and-”

“Hiccup!”

The feminine yell startles you, jumping hard and turning to face your front door. You try to calm your racing heart, turning and placing the sharp knife down before you accidentally hurt yourself. Your door flies open with a slam, Astrid striding into your home with an air of determination and aggravation. She glares at you before stalking around your home, in search of the man who has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from your side. “Where is he?”

“Who?” You play dumb, visibly roaming your eyes around the room. “I assume you’re not asking after me?”

“You know who I’m talking about,” Astrid grumbles, lifting a couch cushion and looking under it as if Hiccup could’ve possibly hidden there. She places it back down, pressing it back into place before moving on. Just as forcefully she yells his name again, causing you to jump once more before sighing loudly.

“Look, I can honestly say I have no clue where Hiccup is.” You raise your hands in defence, raising your eyebrows and shrugging toward her. She turns to you with the full force of her glare, one hand on her cocked hip.

“Uh-huh. And can you ‘honestly say’ you didn’t know where he was ten seconds before I marched into your house?” You hesitate, then shrug at this. “Yeah, thought so.” She starts looking up at the rafters, twisting around in search of him. “Where’s your stairs? Or ladder?”

“It’s one story, Astrid. You see everything-” You are cut off by her throwing open your bedroom door, sighing loudly. You place your elbows against the bar behind you, leaning back and waiting. By the time she comes back, closing the door behind her, she marches directly up to you.

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know, Astrid.” You repeat, sighing. “What’s wrong anyway?”

“Where could he have gone, if he was just here a second ago, hm? He has to be hiding somewhere.” She doesn’t bother to answer your question, looking around once more as if he’d suddenly spring into existence behind the potted plant you were given by Skullgar’s wife.

“I honestly don’t know Astrid, alright? We were talking one second, then you screamed louder than a Thunderdrum and by the time I turned around he was gone.” You huff, motioning toward the window, “If anything he could’ve just dove through the window and been halfway back to New Berk by now.” At this Astrid turns, inspecting the window as if it offended her before she sighs, turning to you with her hands on her hips.

“What do you want with Hiccup?” You raise your eyebrows, glancing around the room in confusion.

“I’m sorry?”

“Why do you keep hanging around Hiccup all the time? I’ve had to come pull him away from you fifty times in the last month! I don’t even think I’ve seen you before in my entire life until I found you with him.” She walks closer, narrowing her eyes. “I swear to Thor if you’re a spy for those damn hunters, I’ll rip your throat out myself.” Your eyebrows continue to raise as she speaks, finally raising your hands up in defence.

“Hey, what? I don’t want anything from him! I just wanted to live my life peacefully, he’s the one who decided to take an interest in me.” She points at your chest, gearing up for another round, but you cut in quickly. “And I’m not a hunter! I swear it, I would never harm a dragon unless it was self-defence. And I never have! Hurt one before, I mean.”

“Then why don’t you have a dragon?”

“Because none of them chose me? I don’t know, ask them!” You huff an angry sigh, crossing your arms. “I’m not trying to go out and force them into liking me! Seems a bit inhumane.” She glares at you for a moment longer before backing up a few steps and crossing her arms in a mimic of you.

“Oh yeah? Then why does no one know who you are? Why hasn’t anyone heard of you before?”

“I don’t know?” You fold in on yourself, shaking your head. “Maybe you’re asking the wrong people? I don’t talk much and I keep to myself, usually. If you asked your little rider buddies, that’d be why none of them know me.” Astrid quietly takes this in, seeming to at least believe your words for the time being. “If you want someone likely to know me then ask any of the other carpenters; Odin willing, even ask Gobber! The man’s known me since my first steps onto the docks of the old Berk.”

“Gobber knows you?”

“Yes, Gobber knows me. He knows my whole story. I tried to apprentice under him, but he said he was full up. Introduced me to Skullgar instead.” Astrid remains quiet, eyeing me up. Eventually, she takes a step forward, threateningly pointing a finger toward you.

“Look, if you hurt him-”

“I’m not gonna’ hurt your boyfriend, Astrid.” You interrupt her, shaking your head as you turn away to grab your knife and whittling project once more, angrily taking a swipe at it. “I’d never do anything against my own Chief.” You miss the look of confusion on Astrid’s face, only hearing it in her reply.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” You glance up toward her with disbelief, taking another angry slice of wood. “Is that what he said?”

“Sorry then, your ‘husband’ I guess. We don’t talk about you. Or any of his Chief stuff. He just comes to me to-” You huff, shaking your head and looking up at her. “I don’t know why he comes here, ok? Ask him. I’m sorry if it pokes a hole in all of your little plans, but-”

“He’s not mine in any way,” Astrid repeats, crossing her arms. “And if he’s given you that impression then that’s another reason to kick his ass.”

“There’s been no impression-giving of any kind, at least not from him.” You look back to your project, swiping again. “I don’t know anything that happens around here, I just hear rumours.”

“Who-” Astrid is interrupted by three sharp knocks on your front door, and you glance up to see Hiccup standing in the still-open doorway, leaning slightly more to one side and giving an awful impression of a smile.

“Wow! Astrid! Didn’t expect to see you here!” He laughs awkwardly, as if forcing the sound out of his mouth is a struggle. “I was just coming to ask [y/n] here a couple of construction questions. For tomorrow’s workload. You know, Chief things.” He does that awkward laugh again, his eyes bouncing to you for a few seconds before forcing himself to look directly at Astrid. She’s now turned toward him with her glare and her crossed arms, unimpressed.

“Uh-huh. And just where were you, then?”

“I was out. Y’know, in Berk. Wandering around. Doing… Chiefly things.” He stumbles over his answer, shifting his weight from foot to foot. You felt your shoulders slowly relaxing with the spotlight no longer being on you.

“Oh, really? So you talked to Gobber then?”

“Oh, yeah! Of course! I totally did that!”

“So what did he need done then, Hiccup?” You look up to see Hiccup’s eyes widen in fright, his mouth working for an answer that his brain wasn’t providing.

“Look,” You call out to them, feeling uneasy with both sets of eyes suddenly turning toward you. “Not that I don’t thoroughly enjoy the company, but if you’re going to argue about things I shouldn’t be privy to know, perhaps you should take this back to Berk?”

“Good idea,” Astrid mumbles, striding forward and roughly taking hold of Hiccup by the bicep, beginning to pull him out. He leaves his attention on you, even as he’s dragged backwards, and he throws a smile your way that shocks the breath out of you. He mouths out the words ‘Thank you’ before bumping his head against the door accidentally. He turns with a yelp of pain, rubbing the back of his head before remembering to grab your door and close it behind the both of them.

It takes a while of sitting on that stool, whittling to your heart's content, before you finally manage to unwind the knot that Astrid had wound up inside of you. You always figured Hiccup’s constant attention on you would lead to some bad news, but you weren’t prepared for his girlfriend- or, rather, his second-in-command to charge into your new home demanding answers you didn’t have. And what was about that? Why was she so adamant that they weren’t together? You thought it was a known thing, something inarguably certain among the Vikings here. Wasn’t Hiccup being pressured to marry before the whole town decided to pack up and move?

You shake your head, trying your best to dispel the thoughts of Astrid and Hiccup from your brain. Surely there’s something here to distract yourself with. You turn toward the bar, reaching to grab your little whittled dragon when you notice instead its disappearance. Checking the floor around the bar, you can't seem to find it. Well, it's gotta be around here somewhere, right?

“You think that’s him?”

You pulled back your hammer, taking in a breath and letting it fly down onto the nail. You were currently helping build the leatherworking shop that Hiccup would most likely take over, nailing boards to the floor. You hadn’t bent a single nail yet this day- a new record! You just hope you can keep it that way.

“Shh, your obnoxious voice is gonna’ give us away!”

“If anyone’s voice is obnoxious it’s yours!”

You could hear some whispered bickering behind you, but you knew it wasn’t aimed toward you. The voices sounded eerily similar, though differing slightly in pitch. You couldn’t quite place them. You pull another nail from the collection hanging between your lips for easy access, holding it in place and taking another swing downward. Another success.

“But how do we know it’s actually him, though?”

“I don’t know, he’s our age and looks handsome enough. That’s what Hiccup said right?”

You almost drop the spare nails, saving yourself from choking on a surprise cough at the mention of Hiccup. Curiosity begins to burn in your stomach, but you can do this. Not everything you do has to be centered around that man. (As if you weren’t currently helping to build his shop- but that didn’t count, you were assigned to be here… Out of the three choices that Skullgar gave you.)

“Is he handsome? I can’t really tell, nothing compares to my beauty.”

“Keep telling yourself that, troll snot.”

“Ow, hey!”

You heard a bit of a scuffle behind you, sucking in a deep breath through your nose and placing the second-to-last nail against the floorboard. Did these people really think they were being quiet? Who were they talking about, saying Hiccup found someone handsome?

“Shhh!” One whisper yelled toward the other, stumbling being heard as one fell to the floor. “You’re going to give away our position!”

“You’re the one who punched me first!”

“We’re on a mission, get it together!”

The last nail is held in place- just hammer this one in and you have the perfect excuse to turn around and peek at whoever is making a ruckus behind you. You lift the hammer, ready to slam it down-

“What was his name again, [y/n]?”

You miss your mark, slamming the hammer down onto the side of your hand instead of the nail, yelping out in pain and dropping the hammer in shock. You shake your hand out, turning immediately to look behind you for the source of your name. Unexpectedly, you spy a couple people around your age that you know to be of the same group of dragon riders that go out on rescue missions with Hiccup sometimes. They look similar- you were mostly sure they were twins- with blonde hair and blue eyes that were set wide and locked directly onto you. The three of you stared at each other for a few beats too long before they both ducked at the same time, trying to hide behind the foundation of the building you were currently kneeling on. You shake your head in confusion, calling out a soft, “Hello? Can I help you?”

“I told you you were too loud-”

“Shut it!”

“Ow-”

“Hey,” You call out again, raising your voice slightly to talk over their bickering, “I can hear you, you know.” You watch as they both slowly raise their heads back up, peaking at you over the floorboards. “You said my name?”

“Well,” The boy began, placing a hand on the floor and hoisting himself up to your level, “We’ve heard a lot about you.” He walks over to where you still knelt down, plopping down next to you and raising an arm to rest against your shoulder. “There’s only so much you can hear about a guy you don’t know before you go mad.”

“Mad with curiosity,” The girl huffed, climbing up onto the floor herself and plopping down in front of you. You lean away from the guy next to you, causing his arm to fall off your shoulder as you look uncertainly between them.

“Someone’s been talking about me?”

“Yeah, Hiccup can’t shut up about you,” The guy insists, and you slowly lower yourself to a sitting position instead of kneeling, getting a bit more comfortable. The girl chimes in, waving her hand around with emphasis.

“Well, technically Astrid brought you up first. She kept asking him about you, then asked us if we knew you-”

“Which we didn’t-”

“But once everyone began to find out that Hiccup’s little hideaway was with you-”

“We thought he kept going out flying with Toothless again-”

“Then he began to get a lot more vocal about you.”

“How skilful you are at carving, how you were homeless and that was just ‘unacceptable’!” The girl snorted a laugh at her brother mimicking Hiccup's voice on the last word, nodding along.

“At least he hadn’t lied about your looks though,” The girl continued, wiggling her eyebrows toward you. Unconsciously you began to lean slightly backward, tilting your head at the two. You finally found your voice, talking slowly and trying to understand the constant back-and-forth.

“I think you have me confused with someone else.”

“Oh?” The guy begins with a grin, leaning close into your space, “Is there another carpenter around here that’s our age and goes by the name [y/n]?” You feel your cheeks begin to heat up, looking between the two.

“I feel like I’m at a disadvantage,” You begin, slowly once again. “You both seem to know so much about me and I don’t even know your names.”

“Tuffnut,” The guy blurted out, finally leaning back away from your personal space, placing his hands behind him to prop himself up.

“Ruffnut,” The girl followed up, pointing at herself. She still had a crazy sort of grin on, and you wondered if that was her attempt at being friendly? Or flirting? Either way, she completely missed the mark as you just grew more and more uncomfortable.

“Right,” You begin, looking uneasily between the two of them. “You are the dragon riders that Hiccup goes out with sometimes, right?”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Tuffnut interjects, pointing a finger at you. “We're security here. We take regular patrols, keep an eye out for the baddies.”

“Everyone keeps an eye out for baddies, Tuffnut,” Ruffnut sighs hopelessly at her brother, then turns her attention back to you with a grin, placing her hands in front of her and scooting herself closer. “We don't have big, strong jobs like yours.” She bats her eyelashes at you, and before you know it you feel yourself scrambling to stand, backing away from them both.

“Alright, well it's been great, but-”

“What? Where are you going so fast?” Ruffnut asks, trying to pout at you. You just shake your head, bending over to grab your hammer and place it in the loop on your apron.

“Work- Uh, carpentry things, y'know.” You take a few steps back, watching Tuffnut stroke his braids like a beard, and Ruffnut huff as if irritated. You throw a hand up, your thumb pointing behind you. “Gotta’ get the… The wood-” Unable to find any words to properly explain your exit, you just give up, turning and walking away from the two.

What in Odin’s name just happened…?

It's certainly peaceful here, you think to yourself. You're walking along the cliff's edge, but far enough away that the drop doesn't send you into a panic. You hear birds chirping, the trills of content dragons, and a low murmuring of people going about their daily lives. You aren't too close to the town, but you could still see it where you stood.

You hadn't seen Hiccup for about a week now, which felt a little weird. It had gotten to a point that he came to visit you daily, so now bereft of his company, you felt a pang of loneliness. It was fine though, you were sure he was doing something important.

You are taking one of your small daily breaks, just taking a peaceful stroll and people-watching. You turn to look at the horizon, water as far as the eye could see.

FIRE

You gasp loudly and stumble back as a ball of fire is suddenly hurtling at top speeds, upward from below the cliff. You fall onto your butt, looking up with wide eyes as the fire begins to hover in the air in front of you. Not a ball of fire- a dragon, coated completely in it. The dragon shakes violently and the fire subsides, leaving the bright red scales and long neck of a Monstrous Nightmare.

Then you notice the man sitting on its back, who suddenly calls down to you.

“You think you're tough, huh?”

You press a hand to your chest, trying to calm your racing heart. You suck in a deep breath, shaking your head at him. You push yourself to stand just as the dragon flies over the cliff, landing down and lowering its head for the man to climb down. You look up- no, down, at this man. He was… kinda short?

“I heard you're a tough guy,” The man continues, taking a few steps forward to poke his finger at your chest. “Well, sucks to be you, ‘cause I'm the toughest guy here.”

“O-kay?” You say, or question, drawing out the vowels. You scrunch your eyebrows together, looking the man up and down. “I'm sorry, do I know you?”

“You should!” He calls out, pressing his fists against his sides. “‘Cause if Hiccup ever fails at being Chief, then I'm going to be the one stepping up to the plate!”

“But,” You hesitate, unsure if you want to argue your point.

“But what?” He shoots back immediately, eyes widened at you. “You think I can't do it?”

“It's not that,” You trail off, tilting your head curiously. “But, wouldn't Astrid step up to be Chief then? Or even Hiccup's mother? I've heard she's around here somewhere.”

“I'll let you know, Valka is actually one hundred percent on board with me being Chief! She loves me!” You purse your lips at this, feeling like it's inaccurate but unable to argue it.

“Alright, well.” You take a small step back, just trying to gain some distance between you and the small man. “It's a good thing I met you then if you'll be Chief someday.” You just play into his antics, hoping his aggression would die down.

“Snotlout!” He yells out, and you flinch at the volume so close to the man.

“Uh, bless you?” You scratch the back of your head, confused.

“No, it's- Ugh, it's my name!” He takes a step forward, closing the distance once again to poke your chest once more. “And you better remember it!” You raise your hands placatingly, nodding your head.

“Of course, yeah, no problem, big guy.” You watch a pleased grin stretch across his face before hearing your name called out behind you. You've never been so grateful for Skullgar than in that moment. “Oh, looks like I'm being called to work. I'll, uh, see you around?” Without waiting for a reply, you spin and start a light jog back to the work area. You hear one last thing from Snotlout, yelling as you gain distance.

“You owe me an arm wrestle!”

You approach slowly, both hands up and in front of you; one holding a sponge frothing with soap, the other a wet washcloth. You take careful steps- this time, anyway, since normal steps apparently didn't work last time- and try to close the distance between the sponge and Grimrar. The dragon eyed you suspiciously, his giant body coated in a purple dust that causes him to sneeze once more.

“Now, just hold still. This will only take a second…” You trail off, taking another step closer before Grimrar’s eyes widen, kicking off the ground and bucking around wildly. You try to dodge an errand wing, windmilling your arms to try to catch yourself before suddenly you fall onto your backside, groaning.

“Why did Skullgar think this was a good idea…?” You complain under your breath, inspecting your arms and wiping some of that purple dust off of you.

“I think you'll have a lot better luck if you approach from the front.” A kind voice startles you, so it takes a few moments for the words to sink in. You turn to see a rather portly Viking, blond-haired and smiling. He was currently leaning forward against Skullgar’s fenceline, looking between you and the dragon.

“Uh, sorry?” You ask, standing and holding the wet sponge and washcloth out, away from your clothes.

“Grimrar, there. If you wanna’ catch him by surprise, it'd be better to approach directly from the front. A blind spot, y'know? Because his eyes are on the side of his head.” The man moves his hands to either side of his head as an indication, and you turn to take a better look at the dragon for yourself.

“Huh,” You huff out, nodding back toward him. “That's really smart- and helpful. Thank you.” You nod toward him, looking back to Grimrar as you try to circle around. Unsurprisingly, he's grown wary and suspicious of you, turning his head to keep you in his eyeline. “Well, that can't be helped I guess.” You huff again, kneeling down into a crouch to take stock of the situation.

“By the way, the name's Fishlegs,” The kind man continues, hopping the fence and beginning to take slow but confident steps toward Grimrar. “I'm one of Hiccup's friends.” I groan, just barely catching myself from facepalming into the sponge in my hand. Huffing, I stand and look toward him warily.

“You're not here to threaten me, are you?” I ask hesitantly, moving back toward the bucket to dip the sponge back in. “Or flirt? One of them did that too.”

“Probably Ruffnut,” Fishlegs guessed accurately, “She's a bit of a wild card. I wouldn't be too worried about her, though, her main focus is on Eret, ‘son of Eret.’” He's now right next to Grimrar, and to your delight, the dragon hasn't bucked once. Fishlegs reaches up, petting the top of its snout before reaching under with the other hand to give scritches to its chin. You're unsure what you've just watched, but Grimrar enjoyed the petting so much that he shook himself down into a puddle on the ground, completely relaxed. “There you go should be good to go.” He dusts his hands of the purple powdered stuff, looking at you with another smile. “And no, not here to threaten. Just trying to help.”

You can't help the pleased smile that crosses your face, moving up next to Fishlegs. Grimrar doesn't move from his splayed-out position, even once you place the sponge against his scales. “Well thank you,” You nod to him with a genuine smile, taking up your task with renewed vigour. “What's with all of you dragon riders wanting to meet me so bad?”

“Oh, no,” Fishlegs tries to correct, raising his hands. “I wasn't trying to follow you around or anything. I live right across from Skullgar down that way,” He makes a gesture, and you take a quick glance before refocusing on the dragon. “I was heading down to the Hall when I saw you struggling, just figured I'd offer some friendly help.”

“Well it's certainly appreciated, thank you.” You smile back at him, moving away to grab your bucket of soapy water, heaving it over closer to the dragon. You dip the sponge, continuing your work on the other side.

“But,” Fishlegs continues, and you glance over with raised eyebrows. “I think the reason you're being hounded with all of us is likely Hiccup's fault.” I blush slightly, turning my attention back toward the dragon, trying to play it off. Fishlegs continues, but you swear you could hear a smile in his voice. “Once Astrid found out where he keeps running off to, Hiccup couldn't stop talking about you. House designs, carpentry ideas- he even gushed about the fact that you knew next to nothing about dragons. This would normally seem like a bad thing to someone as obsessed with dragons as Hiccup, but he enjoyed being able to teach you everything about them. Something about how your ‘curiosity is insatiable,’ and how your ‘eyes light up as bright as dragon’s fire' when you hear about something you like.”

By the end of his long tirade, you felt both embarrassed but strangely pleased. There was so much to unpack about everything you just heard- but not while covered in purple dust.

“That's… Very interesting,” You struggle to find the right words, settling just for that. You finish washing the face of the dragon gently, checking over him to make sure you got every scale. “I think the twins said something similar.”

“Well, that makes sense. They do complain the most when it comes to Hiccup’s raving.” You huff a laugh under your breath, finally dropping the sponge and washcloth into the bucket and taking a look at yourself.

“And as much as I'm enjoying this conversation, I should really go get cleaned up.” You smile toward Fishlegs, giving an awkward wave.

“Sure, see ya’ around!” He does a quick wave in return, turning to continue his way toward the Great Hall. You huff in frustration, looking back down at yourself. ‘This purple pollen is gonna’ take forever to get off of my clothes!’

Hiccup was back! He had been away for close to a month on some sort of scouting mission, according to the rumours. You could’ve just asked to make sure, but you felt hesitant in doing so. They would’ve asked why you wanted to know, and you didn’t have a good answer besides, ‘I miss him,’ so you decided to instead pretend as if everything was fine. And it was fine! You obviously could withstand a month away from your crush.

You only knew Hiccup was back because Toothless had flown right over your home as you were about to enter inside, finished with your day of work. They were a black blur above you, but the call of the Night Fury was unmistakable, and you turned to watch them fly toward the town before vanishing among the trees. You bite your lip, holding back a smile. If he was back, does that mean he would visit? You were excited to see him but didn’t know when that would be. If he was going into town, then it couldn’t hurt to visit him for once? He had always kept inviting you to the Great Hall anyway, what hurt could that do?

You leave your home without even entering it, turning and making your way back to the town. You jogged some of the distance, trying to tell yourself to temper your expectations. He might be busy, unavailable for you to pester. Or, he could be wandering around to tell everyone he was back and would be excited to see you. You pulled in a deep breath at that daydream, trying to push it away. Whatever happens, it’ll be fine. If Hiccup was busy, you could just go to the Great Hall for some dinner.

You finally exit the copse of trees between your house and the town, walking into the darkly lit area. Dragons mulled around in some places, casting large shadows across the ground and staring at you wearily. A few other people were walking through the town, though you expected they were all just trying to make it home themselves. You’re finally closing in on the Great Hall, hearing a ruckus of laughter and cheering from inside. Toothless sat outside the building, grooming himself before glancing up to look directly at you.

You freeze midstep, your eyes growing wider as Toothless stares at you. You’re unsure what to do, having never actually met the dragon before, personally. It was just the two of you out here- the sounds of your fellow Vikings just inside the big door, out of reach- and you felt more vulnerable than most other times in your life. This was one of, if not the, deadliest dragon known to man. And he was staring at you with wide green eyes as if determining your worth for himself. Finally, after a few minutes, Toothless turns away and resumes his previous task.

You couldn’t help the large sigh of relief you let out, slowly inching your way closer to the door. Toothless made no more moves to acknowledge you, and you felt relieved by it. Pushing into the Great Hall, you hadn’t seen everyone so lively in such a long time. Though granted, you hadn’t been here for every other end of the day, when the Vikings were finally able to let off a little steam. Most of the older ones were drinking, but you finally spied a table farther in the back, surrounded by all of Hiccup’s friends you had just recently met. The twins, Snoutlout, Fishlegs, and even Astrid sat in a circle around the table, laughing loudly and talking amongst themselves.

It is when Fishlegs stands, pushing away from the table and walking to a nearby buffet that you see him. Hiccup is sitting between Fishlegs’ empty seat and Astrid, laughing and shaking his head toward the twins as they begin to wrestle around, likely in some sort of disagreement. He is holding a cup out, moving to take a drink from it when his eyes scan the room, settling on you. You can see his eyes widen slightly before he slams his cup onto the table, the liquid inside splashing up and over the rim of the cup. You laugh and begin to approach as you watch him look down with surprise, then begin to stutter an apology toward Astrid, who had unfortunately been caught in the crossfire. That glare you knew so well was back on her face, though it seemed contrasted with a grudging familiarity and acceptance of Hiccup’s antics.

You hear a barely-there, “Excuse me one second,” From Hiccup before he spins and moves to make his way to you. Except, in the time it took him to clean his spill and apologize, you had closed most of the distance already. So, he spins and moves to step forward, then tries to catch himself as he notices you are already right behind him. His arms windmill, and you reach out to grasp his hip to keep him from falling over.

“Hey, there. Going somewhere?” You ask, with a smile, forgetting to remove your hand right away. You could see a blush lighting up his cheeks, but it was likely from the alcohol he was drinking, not anything you were doing. If he even was drinking alcohol.

“No,” Hiccup stutters out, clearing his throat and standing straighter. You realise where your hand is with his movement, and quickly pull it back to your side. He smiles, taking a small step forward to lean into your space. “I saw you come in! You’re finally here, you’re actually taking me up on my offer?”

“To have dinner in the public eating house?” You chuckle, trying to make a joke, and Hiccup shakes his head with his big smile.

“To eat here and share my table. I can introduce you-”

“Oh, he knows us!” You turn at the loud voice, finally noticing that every person at the table- including Fishlegs, who returned with a massive pile of food for the center of the table- was watching both you and Hiccup with varying emotions across their faces. Astrid and Ruffnut looked annoyed, Fishlegs pleased, meanwhile, Tuffnut and Snoutlout looked almost mischievous, with wide smiles. You realize it was Tuffnut who had called out, crossing his arms and leaning back.

“He does?” Hiccup asked slowly, his eyebrows raising, accompanying a look that almost portrayed fear. But why would he be afraid of that?

“Sure does!” Tuffnut answers and Ruffnut stands suddenly, pushing her brother’s head before moving to sit next to Astrid. The two girls lean in close together, whispering. Fishlegs continued to look on with a pleased expression, nodding as he reached for a large hunk of meat.

“Yeah, he met all of us over time while you were gone.” Fishlegs agreed, and you laughed nervously.

“Uh, yeah, actually,” You agree, turning your attention back toward Hiccup. He looks like he doesn’t know what to say, so you proceed to explain. “There was Astrid that day that she was looking for you. But then Ruffnut and Tuffnut found me working a few days later. Snotlout was on the back of his dragon and was flying by when he noticed me.” I smile toward Fishlegs, waving my hand in his direction. “And Fishlegs actually helped out a lot with one of the tasks Skullgar gave me the other day.”

“Oh! That's,” Hiccup hesitates, looking between you and the table before nodding, “Yeah, that’s good.” He doesn’t sound too confident in his words, but you nod along anyway. “I was actually going to introduce them to you! At- uh, at some point.”

“Sure you were, Hiccup,” Tuffnut called out, much too loud in your opinion.

“Wha-” Hiccup hesitates, looking unsure of himself. “Why don’t you take a seat?” Hiccup moves toward the table quickly, pulling out the only chair left- between Fishlegs and Tuffnut. He gestures to it with a smile before hopping delicately over to his seat, on the other side of Fishlegs. You sit down, reaching toward the middle to grab something small you could pretend to eat, just for something to do. Tuffnut immediately leans in close to you, invading your personal space.

“So, tell us about yourself [y/n], we’re all dying to hear.” You hesitate, then look up to the rest of the table staring at you still. Hiccup also scans the table, noticing the same with a wince and a sympathetic look toward you.

“Oh, well,” You hesitate, placing your food down on the table gently. “I just moved to Berk recently- right before the whole town moved actually.”

“Well, we know that,” Snotlout complains, leaning forward over the table. With how much of his chest you could see hanging over the table, you couldn’t help but wonder if he was standing on his chair to appear taller. “Hiccup told us that one already. Tell us something new!”

“Yeah, where are you from, anyway?” Tuffnut asks, still leaning into your space. You look quickly toward Hiccup and Fishlegs, both of whom have their eyebrows pulled together, cringing at their friends’ questions.

“Oh, I’m from, uh,” You hesitate, moving your gaze toward the table and idly playing with your food. “Just, somewhere pretty far away. I rode on a boat- well, a few boats. It took weeks before I finally found somewhere I felt safe enough to call home.” The table around you was quiet, contrasted by the reverberating crowd surrounding the group of you in the Great Hall. Cheers and calls were being thrown around, too loud and too many to distinguish any of the crowd’s words in the background. It was Ruffnut who broke the silence of your table.

“Well, that’s extremely unspecific of you.” She crosses her arms, disappointment clear across her face. You could only shrug, picking your food back up. Astrid’s voice across the table startles you, unaware that she has been listening.

“She’s right. It was. Why don’t you tell us the name of where you’re from?”

“Astrid,” Hiccup interrupts quietly, raising a hand to her arm with an expression that was clearly asking her to stop. She only tugs her arm away from him, standing and placing her hands on the table in front of her, leaning closer to you.

“No, I want to know. Why won’t you tell anyone where you’re from? Got something to hide, [y/n]? Planning something you don’t want us to find out about?” Her glare is back, which really is the only expression you recognize on her now. Her laughter from earlier had seemed awkward to you, but you had preferred that over this. She was questioning you again, but now in front of all of her friends. And Hiccup. He looked horrified up at Astrid, but he wasn’t stopping her.

“I-” You begin before Fishlegs reaches out to press a hand to your arm. You look at him to see a hard expression on his face, looking directly at Astrid.

“Leave him alone,” His voice is so contrasted to what you are used to- that kind and soft voice replaced by something cold and hard. “You’re better than this, Astrid.”

“I’m just asking-” Astrid throws her hands out, changing the target of her glare.

“No, you're interrogating.” Fishlegs removes his hand from you, and you can’t help feeling a pounding in your chest similar to adrenaline. “He lives in Berk, with us. He’s not evil, he’s not plotting anything, and he certainly isn’t causing a scene like you are.” You are surprised at the strength he exhibits, watching him with new eyes. You could see Astrid’s shoulders slumping. It takes her a bit of incoherent stammering, but she eventually rests her eyes on you again.

“I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.” She sits back down slowly, Ruffnut reaching out to rub her back. Your heart was still hammering, but you felt like you had to say something.

“I ran away from home.” Well, that certainly was not something you should’ve said. Every single head turns toward you, everyone but Fishlegs leaning forward over the table to get closer, to hear anything else. “To, uh,” You stutter slightly at the attention, feeling a blush heat up your cheeks. “To answer your question. That’s why I don’t want to say where I’m from.”

The lot of them lean back slowly, realizing they aren’t going to get a story after all. You let out a soft breath as Astrid nods, and you can see her expression opening slightly as if she is beginning to finally trust you. You aren’t sure how you feel about that, but you figure it couldn’t hurt. You finally let your eyes roam back to Hiccup, who once again has a pinched expression and seems antsy, staring between you and the door to the Great Hall. You wondered if he wished the both of you were alone together once again- just like you were wishing for.

“Bet you wished you ran away from home,” Tuffnut called over the table toward his sister, a sinister smirk stretching across his face. Ruffnut groans, calling out her own answer back about how she’d rather he ran away so she could have their dragon for herself, and the rest of them broke into laughter. The conversation naturally progressed, and it was like you had a front-row seat to Hiccup interacting with his friends. It was different, seeing him in a setting that wasn’t just the two of you, or out in town performing as Chief. He was just a guy here, sitting with his friends and enjoying the night. It was nice, to see this side of him.

The common thread of every conversation was the same: dragons. Each one had their own dragon (although the twins shared one with differing names), and each dragon had its own behaviours and personalities that caused clashes with not just each other, but with other dragons and its own rider as well. You thought they all were living happily ever after with their dragon, but it was almost as if every single one of them had an oppressive roommate who treated them like pets instead of the other way around.

Currently, Astrid was going on about her dragon, Stormfly, who had been pouting in her backyard for the last two days, refusing to fly, all because Astrid had forbidden him from eating her next-door neighbour’s lamb. She’s whining, and the table is commiserating, trying to come up with some sort of plan to fix the situation.

“I still think you should just feed him a lamb.”

“Tuffnut!” Astrid called out, reaching over to smack him in the head, “I just said I don’t want to kill my neighbour’s lamb! He just got it, and I want to be a good neighbour!”

“Not his lamb!” Tuffnut argues, jumping up and away from the table, dancing out of reach. “Just any lamb! Buy one and feed her that!”

“No,” Hiccup warns, shaking his head with an amused smile, “That’s setting a dangerous precedent. Soon, all she’ll agree to eat will be lambs. Then the other dragons will get jealous, and before we know it we won’t have any of them left. That’s why I put those feeding rules in place, we have to be careful.” He explains this like it's only natural, the easiest thing in the world, and reaches down for another bite. You shift in your seat slightly, watching him. He seems so… adult. He’s not fumbling his words or awkwardly tripping over; he has a confidence with his friends that makes you almost jealous, but mainly just curious, like you couldn’t help but want to see more.

“Well, then I’m out of ideas!” Tuffnut threw his hands in the air in defeat, and everyone at the table laughed. You glanced around, feeling slightly out of place during these conversations. The only dragon info you really had was what Hiccup had supplied to you. Tuffnut plops back into his seat with a huff, shaking his head. “How do you get a dragon to stop eating lamb?”

“You spike it with something gross?” You throw out, causing both Astrid and Hiccup to whip their gazes onto you.

“What do you mean?” Astrid asks, leaning forward and resting her arms on the table. You shrug, thinking out loud.

“I mean, if I had something I was eating, that suddenly tasted like the grossest thing in the world, then I don’t think I’d end up craving that food anymore.” You hesitate at their stares, shrugging again, “Personally, anyway.”

“Well, how would we even do that, though?” Astrid asks, genuinely curious. Hiccup puts his food down, watching you with intention. You can’t tell what’s running through his head, but you were just hoping not to make a fool of yourself.

“Well, do dragons eat dead things? Or just hunt for living creatures to eat?” You purse your lips in thought, looking up to escape the sight of everyone watching you. Tuffnut begins to laugh but stops once Ruffnut elbows him harshly.

“They eat dead creatures, yeah. We’ve been trying to train them out of hunting, at least while they’re at the village, so they mostly eat things we’ve prepared for them.” Hiccup answers, smiling toward you with encouragement. You nod, then pick up your food, gesturing with it as you speak.

“Well, then, stick an eel inside a sheep.” You take a bite, looking around at the confusion on everyone’s faces. “Like, chop it up and stuff the inside with it?”

“Stick an eel…” Ruffnut begins, with her twin following up,

“In a sheep…”

“That’s a brilliant idea!” Astrid calls out, and you watch in shock as a genuine smile spreads across her face, caused by you. You never thought you’d see the day.

“It really is,” Hiccup whispers breathlessly as he stares at you, so quiet you question whether he had actually said it or not. Fishlegs elbows Hiccup’s ribs, who in turn startles and looks down at the table, his face heating in a blush. You wondered what that was about, but felt pleased as the rest of the table began to congratulate you on your idea. Astrid shortly excused herself, calling out her need to execute this plan immediately.

No one else seemed ready to leave, even after they all finished eating. The Great Hall’s population was dwindling down slowly, but you felt warm, comfortable and safe among your new friends. And you couldn’t help it- you finally, truly believed they were your friends. They joked with you, including you in conversations even when you didn’t know most of the things they were talking about. Snotlout personally was a fan of telling you stories, gesturing largely with his hands and making a show of it. Fishlegs interrupted with corrections to the story or trivia bits, while the twins held responsibility for the comedic one-liners, inserting at points to make the table laugh again and again.

The fires were dying down and everyone seemed to be settling down, having quieter conversations with each other. No longer joining in, but enjoying their company, you pull out your little whittling project and set to work. It was Snotlout who noticed, bringing it up.

“You carving something over there, carpenter?” You look up to see all of them turn to look, Tuffnut leaning close to you to spy why you were holding under the table. You laugh, bringing it up for all of them to see. It was a sitting dragon, fashioned after Grimrar this time (as he was the one dragon you were most familiar with), with his front legs pulled together in front of him and wings spread out halfway. His details weren’t finished yet, but the general shape of the dragon was formed.

“Just a gift.” You smile, shrugging, setting the dragon on the table to test its weight. It took many tries to get it to stay upright and sitting evenly. But now it stood like a tiny idol or doll, staring blankly ahead.

“Oh,” Ruffnut drawls out, leaning her face close to the dragon to inspect it. “Which dragon is this?”

“It’s Grimrar!” Fishlegs calls out before you answer, reaching and snatching it off the table. “The wings are slightly smaller than his wingspan, and his snout is a little thinner, but you definitely have done a great job!” Fishlegs sets the dragon back on the table, looking at it again with a smile. You nod, agreeing that it was, as Fishlegs explains to the rest of them who exactly Grimrar was.

“Oh, you have to carve me one! Hookfang would be a perfect sculpture!” Snotloud called out, leaning across the table in excitement. “How big can you make it? As big as a house?”

“Don’t be unreasonable,” Ruffnut calls out, pushing Snotlout back down into his seat.

“Yeah, I don’t know if I could carve anything bigger than this,” You pick the project back up, waving it in emphasis. “But I’ll see what I can do? I can’t promise anything though.” At this, both of the twins begin scrambling toward you, begging for you to make one for them as well. They begin arguing with each other about the features that the idol should exhibit, both wanting emphasis on either head as the ‘better’ one. You just laugh, shaking your head and tuning them out as you move your attention back to your project. Now that they knew of it, you figured you’d better finish the details quickly and give it to Skullgar before he hears about it from someone else.

The night finally draws to a close as Snotlout begins snoring on the table, the rest of your friends finally standing and moving to the exit. Everyone seems tired, Hiccup especially, and you know you’re going to regret how long you stayed up when it comes to work tomorrow. Although, you were due for a day off at some point. Surely it’d be fine if you slept in tomorrow. Everyone said their goodbyes at the doors to the Great Hall, Toothless sleeping in a ball nearby. Hearing Hiccup’s voice, he begins to stretch and stand, leisurely making his way closer to Hiccup. As you turn to leave, a hand on your arm stops you.

“Hey, why don’t I walk you back?” You turn to see Hiccup’s eyes- a simmering juniper colour in this low lighting. The night was dark, and there was only one torch on the wall nearby. You hesitate, remembering how tired he was.

“I’ll be ok Hiccup, you go get some sleep.” He just shakes his head, taking a step closer.

“Please?” This causes you to pause, watching his eyes and wondering if you’re really reading desperation in them. “It’s a long walk through the forest, I don’t know if I’d be able to sleep without knowing you made it home safely.” Your eyes glance away from him, scanning his retreating friends in the distance.

“But what about the rest of your friends? Not worried about them?”

“They live in town,” Hiccup argues, sounding uninterested in them, “And they have dragons.”

“Sure,” You agree, unwilling to argue with him further. You knew you just craved more of his attention, having not seen him in so long and being surrounded by people when you finally did. As you both begin to walk, you hear Toothless following behind you. Your shoulders become stiff over time, uncomfortable with an unknown dragon so close to your defenceless back.

But nothing happens. It is a quiet walk, and you move to carry a torch but Hiccup took it before you could so he was holding it up between you. The circle of light it gives off was eerie, almost like you both had your own little bubble away from the world. Well- the three of you, as Toothless slunk low to the ground behind you both. It was only when your house was coming into view that Hiccup finally spoke up.

“I’ve been arguing with myself all night, but I have to ask.” You turn to look, your eyebrows raised as he tries to give you an imploring smile. “Will you carve a little Toothless idol for me?” You see Toothless raise his head out of the corner of your eye, looking at you and tilting his head sideways.

“Oh,” You begin, laughing at the unexpected request. “Speaking of, I actually have something for you.” You watch his face get overtaken by surprise, quickly raising your hands. “Uh, not Toothless though. I carved something else. From memory. It’s probably not very good, actually-”

“I’d love to see it,” Hiccup interrupts your rambling, smiling brightly at you. You suddenly become nervous, those nerves growing the closer you get to your house.

“Ok, just,” You huff out a nervous breath, trying to smile for him, “Temper your expectations, I probably got a lot of it wrong.” You push open your door, wandering inside your house. It's a bit more messy than the last time he was here, but in a way that shows it's lived-in now. You move directly toward the shelf beside the bar, picking up the idol you just finished carving the other day. It was supposed to be Stoick the Vast, carved from your memory of that giant statue that had stood on the old Berk island. He was a rather large man, with a long beard, a small bull-horned helmet, and holding the handle of an axe with the head on the ground in front of his feet. You’d added details- curves in his beard, decorated armour, and bulging muscles.

You’d heard a lot about the previous Chief. You never met the man, but still had fierce respect for him. The stories told of him were grand and awe-inspiring. He was the Chief who had protected his town from dragon attacks. He had killed so many and protected so many others, it was no wonder there were so many stories to tell. But just as well, there were stories of him being gentle. Caring for a baby Hiccup and touring him all around Berk. Accepting Hiccup’s love for dragons in the end, and helping implement this new lifestyle, surrounded and loved by dragons until the end.

You hold it out toward Hiccup, avoiding his eyes as you move behind the bar, emptying your pockets onto the counter. Hiccup approaches the bar slowly, staring at the figure in his hand silently. He taps the bar with his other hand, curled into a fist, and you wonder if this was a bad idea. Then you hear a sniff. Hiccup looks up, tears clear in his eyes, and smiles sadly toward you.

“I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

“Oh,” You begin, shaking your head, “You don’t have to. I just hope I remembered it correctly. He was your dad, wasn’t he?” Hiccup nods in response, looking back down to the figure and tracing the curves with his finger. He laughs softly, placing it on the bar upright.

“You should make one for yourself.” You tilt your head curiously, confused by his meaning. He continues, explaining, “You should carve your parents into one of these. So they can watch over you while you’re here.” Your face drops, immediately looking away from Hiccup. You feel restless and start walking around the bar and away from Hiccup.

“No,” You shake your head, moving to start tending to your fireplace. “That’s fine. I’d rather carve the dragons.”

“But,” Hiccup hesitates, looking between you and the gift he received. “I didn’t know how much I needed this until it was in my hand. Maybe you just don’t know-”

“Hiccup,” You interrupt, feeling your heart start to pound in your chest. “I’m so thankful you like the gift, but not everyone had close relations with their family like you did.” It is quiet behind you as Hiccup takes this in, and then you feel a hand touch your shoulder. It startles you since you hadn’t even heard him approach.

“I’m sorry,” He’s apologizing, and it sends a twinge of guilt through your stomach. You finally look away from the fire, up into his eyes. “I didn’t mean to upset you.” You sigh, taking his hand from your shoulder and pulling him toward a bench nearby. You sit down, and Hiccup quickly sits next to you. You could hear some sort of rustling outside, the bobbing head of Toothless out of the window seeming to have found something to entertain himself with.

“Don’t be sorry,” You whisper, pulling your attention away from the window and back to him. “You didn’t know.” He moves to interject, but you touch his hand again and he falls silent. “My relationship with my parents was never close, but,” You take a deep breath, staring into the fire. “They disowned me.”

“What?” You could spy Hiccup shaking his head in confusion out of the corner of your eye, but your attention was stuck to the fire, the image of those days playing out in your head. “Why?”

“Because I wasn’t what they wanted me to be.” You take another deep breath, turning to look into his eyes. “I was born with a girl’s body.” You watch his confusion dip even further, and you feel panic rising in your chest with every word that spills out. “I am a boy, as you and everyone else have noticed. But I grew up with the expectations from my family that I’d be a woman because I was born in this body.” You sigh, shaking your head and looking back toward the flickering flames. “They trained me as they would any of their children, teaching me how to defend myself and fight with a battleaxe. They taught me where to slice a dragon open to kill it with one hit, and how to lay traps that would capture anything that walked over it. They trained me, sure, but they never loved or cared for me.”

Hiccup remains silent, and you don’t even notice as tears begin to spill onto your cheeks as you continue your distant stare into the fire. “When I came out to them,” You began, sucking in a breath and having to steel yourself to continue, “They thought it was a joke at first, laughed. Then they told me no, I couldn’t be a boy. That I wasn’t allowed. I don’t know what they thought, that I could just stop being who I am?” You sniff, finally closing your eyes and dropping your gaze, feeling tears splash down onto your hands in your lap. “I started dressing more masculine, and it just felt right. It didn’t take long for them to have had enough. They gave me an ultimatum. ‘Stop playing dress up, or leave.’” You huffed out a desperate laugh, but it wasn’t funny to you. You didn’t know what else to do. “So I left.”

“[y/n],” Hiccup whispers your name with so much emotion, that you finally raise your gaze back to him. You couldn’t read the mixture of emotions on his face, but he looked pretty. And concerned for you.

“It’s okay Hiccup,” You whisper out, shrugging. “I began binding my chest, packed all the masculine clothes that I owned, and took the next boat out.” Staring into Hiccup’s face, you hear yourself spew out, “I haven’t regretted a second of it.”

“Really?” Hiccup asks with feeling, leaning forward toward you.

“This Berk feels more like home than anywhere else ever has,” You finally admit, able to pull a real smile to the surface. Hiccup raises his hand, gently wiping the tear tracks from your cheeks. After, he lets out a long breath, looking at your fireplace and reaching to throw a log on top.

“So does anyone else know?”

“Well,” You begin, wagging your head from side to side in consideration. “Gobber knows. I don’t know if he told anyone, but I have a suspicion that Skullgar knows as well.” Hiccup’s eyebrows raise to comical heights.

“Gobber? Gobber knew this? For how long?”

“Since the moment I got to Berk.” You softly laugh at his expression, glad to have gotten that off of your chest and not have Hiccup leave you in the cold. You don’t think he realizes your immense gratitude for just accepting your story and not questioning your gender- he hadn’t even made a big deal of it. The only thing that mattered to him was your parents disowning you, like only that thought was unimaginable and not any of the rest. “Maybe not the second I stepped off of the boat, but I began to ask around for handiwork I could help with. Gobber found me, practically drowning in my own tears and fright, and calmed me down. I couldn’t help it, I spewed out my whole story for him to hear. He didn’t judge me or anything, even helped me get my apprenticeship under Skullgar.” You smile softly, tilting your head. “I owe him a lot.”

“Wow,” Hiccup whispers, sinking back onto the bench and looking at you with amazement. “You’ve been through so much just to end up here.”

“It’s okay, really,” You insist, reaching to take his hand with yours, holding it. “I’ve built myself a life here that I actually enjoy. I have friends now, people who actually enjoy my company. I don’t have to kill things on a weekly basis, and no one questions my outfit choices anymore.” You chuckle softly, thinking back. “Honestly, I was sort of suppressed and numb back then. I don’t remember ever feeling happy.”

“But you’re happy here?” Hiccup asks, leaning forward as if this meant the world to him, as if you hadn’t been already trying to convince him of this fact. You laugh, squeezing his hand and nodding.

“Yes, I’m happy here, Hiccup.” He lets out a breath of relief, his shoulders slumping along. You can’t help the smile that crosses your face, surprised about it after having just talked about your past life. “There’s so much more to this world than I could’ve imagined.”

“Well,” Hiccup begins, smirking and shrugging a shoulder, and you pull your hand back lest he think something ridiculous- like how you have a massive crush on him that’s getting harder to suppress. “It’s actually a lot more than even this.” He gestures around your house, but likely indicating the entire town of Berk. He has that smile on that usually means he’s thinking of dragons again. “When you go flying, you really can see how big this world is. Everything seems so small in comparison. Like, it’s not the end of the world if you end up making a mistake, y’know?”

You study his posture, wondering how often he went flying when he got anxious about his chiefly duties and responsibilities. Did he go flying to calm himself down, or did he get energized with the wind in his face? He had mentioned a map he was currently drawing out once before, and your curiosity burned to see how much of the world he has explored, how big the drawing had gotten. You begin to yearn to see him like that, in his element and happy. You wanted to feel that, while also seeing him at his happiest-

“I think I’m ready to go flying with you.”

Hiccup sits straight up, his hands reaching out to take both of yours with an overwhelmingly excited expression. “Wait, really? Seriously?” You laugh at his excitement, nodding your head.

“Yeah. I mean, Toothless doesn’t seem to mind me that much. And,” You shrug, chuckling again, “I have to admit, you’ve got me curious.”

“Yes!” Hiccup cheered, jumping to his feet and pumping his fist in the air. “Yes, definitely! Tomorrow?” You tilt your head, consideringly, then nod.

“Sure. I’m due for a day off. Why not?”

His expression was almost more than you could take, so filled with excitement and hope and love. You wanted to grab him and hug him, wanted to take his face into your hands and press a kiss to those upturned lips, you wanted- You cut yourself off with a shake of your head, standing and facing him. He took your hands once more, staring deep into your eyes. “You won’t regret it.”

Hiccup was going to end up the death of you, you were sure of it.

TAG LIST: @lecoindetobi , @yakosobaboba ,

[harrywavycurly]

Hi Sarah!! Happy New Year!! 🥳

I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your positivity and all of your posts. They’ve gotten me through some not so fun times this year and always put a smile on my face. I feel like I’ve been channeling a bit of Bucket of Sunshine Eddie the last few months, so I’m wondering how those two are doing. Did they enjoy their first New Year’s together?

~🐈‍⬛

Hiii babes!! Happy new year to you as well!!!🥳🥳 I am sooo happy to hear you enjoy my posts that means the world to me!! Ohhh how I do miss my little grumpy Eddie and his little ray of sunshine!! So I hope you enjoy these conversations from their New Year’s Eve together!!💖

-find everything Bucket of Sunshine here✨

“What’s all this shit for?” “It’s rude to-” “Sorry…hello sweetheart.” “Hi Eddie…now was there something you wanted to ask me?” “Yes..what’s all this shit for? We are just going to the lake to watch fireworks.” “Edward James Munson as if I’d ever show up to a party empty handed? It’s not polite.” “Baby it’s not a party it’s us and Steve who is bringing uhm…uh…what’s her name again?” “Her name is Heather…don’t call her Maggie like you did his last date.” “I didn’t mean to! I swear I thought it was Maggie…looked exactly like her…kinda creepy if you ask me…how he dates girls that all look the same.” “Well thank goodness no one did…now can you please put this in the van?” “Did…you…just insult me?” “No? I simply stated a fact? No one asked you if it was weird that Steve dates girls who kinda look the same.” “Sounded like an insult to me sweetheart…” “Then it also sounds like we need to get your hearing checked…now can you please put this in the van?” “Yeah yeah I’ll go put it in the van.”

“What are you wearing? You’re going to be freezing.” “It’s a dress? And won’t you be there to cuddle me?” “Well yeah but still that’s uhm…a lot of leg to show off when it’s cold as fuck outside baby…” “you don’t like it?” “No no…that’s uh not…what I said…” “I’ll be fine…I packed an extra blanket and I still have your jacket so I’ll be nice and warm.” “Stealing people’s clothes isn’t very nice you know that right?” “It’s not people’s clothes it’s just your clothes and you’re my boyfriend so it’s fine.” “Oh right…yeah that makes sense…you look really beautiful by the way.” “Thank you Eddie.”

“Here you go…don’t worry it’s nothing crazy it’s just cheese.” “Will you ever stop trying to feed me?” “No…now take the pizza and say thank you.” “Thank you sweetheart.” “You’re welcome…where is Steve? Have you talked to him since we got here?” “He said he’d be here in a bit but that was…over an hour ago…maybe him and Heather changed their minds and want to party alone.” “That’s rude to not tell the other people in your party that you’re no longer going to be attending…I packed him a snack so he wouldn’t get grumpy waiting till midnight.” “I see he didn’t get blessed with the politeness gene?” “Apparently not.” “Well if I’m being honest I’m glad it ended up being just the two of us…not that I don’t like hanging out with your brother but…you’re my favorite Harrington.” “Awe am I really? That’s so sweet…you’re my favorite Munson.” “Oh Wayne is gonna be so upset when I tell him you said that.” “I’ll tell him you’re lying.” “What? You’d lie to him just to make him happy?…I’m so shocked.” “You’re making fun of me aren’t you?” “Teasing you baby not…making fun of you…that sounds way more harsh.” “You love how nice I am to everyone…just admit it.” “I wish you’d be a little more strict on who you’re so nice to but…yeah…I love you and how nice you are.” “I love you and how hard you try to be an asshole…it’s cute.”

“You’re going to give me an anxiety attack with the way you’re so reckless with that sparkler….just hold it still until it burns out.” “Hold it still? That’s not fun Eddie don’t be lame.” “Me? Lame?…now that’s just downright rude baby.” “Am I really making you nervous?” “You always make me nervous.” “What? Why?” “I’m just always nervous you’re going to snap out of whatever daze you’re in and you’ll see me for who I really am and you’ll…run away like everyone else.” “Eddie…I do see you for who you really are and that’s someone who loves me and would do anything to keep me safe and happy…what else could I want from someone? I’m not going anywhere.” “I do always find myself having to keep you out of harms way…so please can you just…stand still while you have a sparkler in your hand?” “Fine…this better?” “Much…thank you.”

“Ohhh Eddie only thirty seconds till midnight!” “Time flies when you’re having fun doesn’t it sweetheart?” “It really does.” “Happy new year Sunshine…I hope this is just the first of many new years we’ll be spending together.” “Oh don’t worry you’re stuck with me for the foreseeable future…I love you.” “I love you too.”

[heroictoonz]

king I've been putting off a rewatch of s15-17 for ages do u think its worth it

My instinct is so say no save yourself but like jokes aside I think that’s up to you like, I always said that they gave the RvBs a “bad ending” and that they ruined Tucker’s character post Chorus however, that was back when season 16 was literally first coming out

Flash back here but so when s16 was coming out I was just getting more and more upset with the writing of the show especially and honestly almost specifically Tucker. Somewhere near the end of s16 I stopped watching (didn’t even finish the season) and then after a bit I heard that the next season was gonna revolve around whole new characters

Now this, I only recently learned was weird miscommunication. See I’m trash ass shit at keeping up with news of shit even shit that I like so for the longest time I thought the story of this group I’ve been following since I was a teenager ended at s16 which KILLED me inside so I swore off the rest of the show and vowed to never watch it. Instead I mostly just rewatched Chorus or s1-s13 if I wanted to rewatch the “whole” show. Basically just watching till the end of Chorus and stopping. Every time I tried to go rewatch s15 to mmmaybe finish the show I kept remember how bad things got and kept running away

I’m gonna give some vague spoilers from here on out but it’s cause I do genuinely wanna talk about how I feel having literally only a few minutes ago finished s16 and s17 for the first time

I decided to finish RvB LITERALLY last night like no joke and it’s cause I saw spoilers out of context for s19 and I was like fuck it I need to see what the hell that is show is over anyways might as well finish it. So I am doing that now

I rewatched/finished s16 and fucking hated it. The good parts were Wash being cute and silly and my favorite guy ever of all time and forever. There’s also Grif and this character named Huggins they’re like on god one of my new brotps of all time damn RvB writes some good ass season specific supporting cast cause holy shit man. Also! I liked that Kai was in it! I enjoy Kai so so so so so much! I’ve always wanted more of her in the show! UNFORTUNATELY!

Tucker is so hard to watch. It’s so honest to god painful to watch. Maybe that’s what they were going for I don’t know. But, having now seen season 17 I get what they were TRYING to do I just don’t fully like how they did it.

In s17 Tucker admits to himself that the reason why in s16 he was acting so weird and gross and toxic masculinity “I have to have the biggest and most talented dong in the room at all times or I’ll kms” character ever is cause he was trying to be a leader

It’s sounds stupid and personally I think it IS stupid but now that I know what they were TRYING to write it makes these post Chorus seasons more bearable.

Basically, Tucker spent all that time in Chorus forced to be a leader. Once he finally got comfortable in the position of one Chorus no longer needed them. He wanted to keep being a leader keep feeling like a leader and it went to his head. He tried acting cool and tough and macho cause that’s what he thought a leader was and he says this! Out loud he admits all this to himself in s17! And honestly? That’s SUCH a good fucking concept it’s super fucking interesting and I really dig it plus with Tucker FAILING at being the leader it gave Donut well deserved character growth. I’ve always hated how sidelined Donut got compared to the others cause I’ve always liked him but s17 is definitely Donut’s season and to see him finally get screen time and respect and also have genuine moments of connection with the others was honestly really fucking awesome

So, do I like s16? God no. Do I recommend it watching it? Hard to say. You have to watch it if you wanna finish the show. Is finishing the show worth it? Honestly I dunno yet I haven’t seen 18 or 19 so it’s to be seen rn. But s17 where not perfect was definitely better than 16 and gave better insight on what they were trying to do. I don’t like the execution I don’t think it was as done very well but I like the ideas I like what they were attempting

S15 I admittedly do not fucking remember at all cause again it’s not a season I’ve rewatched more than maybe twice cause I kept stopping cause I just did not wanna deal with what I knew was coming. And I know me I know myself I know if I tried rewatching the show from the start or even s15 in an attempt to finish it I’d ever fucking do it so instead I just started from s16 and went forward

I don’t remember out right hating s15 but similar to the above I think there were good ideas and not all of them were perfectly done in writing. Also there’s this like really cool interesting thing that is about Tucker that then ends up being a stupid child support payment joke and that sucks so much it makes me so burningly livid I don’t even have a joke here it just makes me mad

But! It brings in the concept of other reds and blues other soldiers that were left in the rubbles of project freelancer which is super interesting again I think they coulda done more with specific parts of it and the “Tucker doesn’t pay child support for the buncha kids he fucked into existence” joke sucks especially when they CONSTANTLY SHOW HIM AS A VERY DOTING AND LOVING FATHER it’s fine I’m not mad I’m not bitter I promise

But uh yeah honestly if you like the show a lot I say watch it even if it sucks. Some of my biggest special interests are GARBAGE shows with writing so bad it makes me wanna commit actual arson. But, I love the characters I love the settings and I love what could have been maybe that’s why I always keep sticking around in stuff like this lol even if it sucks I like to imagine what could make it better cause I love it! And if I didn’t love it I wouldn’t care to put as much energy into wanting it to be better as I do! That’s the same with RvB! I wish it was better I wish SSOOOO BADLY that it was better but it’s cause I love it so fucking much not out of any sort of hate if that makes sense?

Idk tldr it’s up to you and you might suffer a bit but if you love the show I say go for it

Aaaand it’s 2am and I read ur ask wrong I thought that said “watch” not “rewatch” but? Points still stand I’m the kinda person that will rewatch even the seasons I hate to remember why I like the ones I love (I’m looking at you Ninjago season 3 you hot fucking garbage that I’ve sadly seen more times than I would like)

[milflewis]

Really sorry if this is a dumb question but how did dantteri become a thing? Is there some masterpost out there I could read? Thank you and sorry if this is stupid!

long story short is that dantteri became a thing bc daniel ricciardo is incapable of being normal about valtteri bottas. like. physically unable. the rest is under the cut.

here’s a brief rundown of their history by the great ag tumblr user @andreagrimes themselves. i will wait for you to read it. i will also wait for you to read this masterpiece of modern poetry by lo tumblr user @hungerpunch. both are mandatory reading btw!!!!!!!

they basically came up together and their rivalry when they were younger v much dictated where they ended up in formula one (daniel to redbull and valtteri to merc) but they were never friends! this is not pierresteban or brocedes. these two are Something Else

they just raced against each other. and then they’re in f1 (daniel first. valtteri a year later) and daniel’s career starts off more successful than valtteri’s. starting with him getting a race win first and ending with him jumping v quickly into redbull and beating four time wdc sebastian vettel while valtteri is in a williams (and tbf does quite well but like. it’s still a williams) and then goes into merc with lewis. and. ok. it’s lewis hamilton yk. and so he never beat lewis but i will fight anyone who says that valtteri didn’t do a fucking amazing job while in merc. that just anyone could've been put in the position and seat that he was put in and not only handled it that well but also performed to that high of a level. you don’t need to beat your teammate to have done good! esp when said teammate is lewis fucking seven eight time world champion yeah i have over 100 race wins what about it hamilton who says HIMSELF that valtteri pushed him. that valtteri was faster than him in some races. pls be serious!!!!!!!

and as ag says. while this is all happening daniel makes comments about valtteri’s position in merc and being a second driver. there’s an interview with max when he’s in redbull where he’s asked what was the best race he ever did or smth and he names the fucking formula renault race from 2008 where val dominates all weekend and then daniel overtakes him in the last lap and daniel says: thanks, valtteri, nothing has changed. bc he’s fucking insane. (not the interview but a clip of an article talking about that championship). he then LEAVES redbull bc HE doesn’t want to be a second driver. which. fair. and he goes to renault. gets paid a lot of money. gets a podium. dips. goes to mclaren. gets another podium. (which he shares with WHO???? you guessed it. valtteri bottas.) becomes what is essentially a second driver. that shitshow happens. you know the story.

AND DURING ALL OF THIS. smth seems to like. switch on in daniel? idk if it’s bc he seems to be trying to recreate this rivalry he had with val when they were younger and it’s just not there in f1. bc of their circumstances but also bc val does Not Care lmao. or if it’s bc he’s like. omg he’s like. cool i want him to like me. or if it’s both or smth else entirely but he gets Weird. with a capital w.

a v important detail to know is that shoeys are daniel’s thing in formula one. like. they are daniel ricciardo. it’s like seb and the finger. daniel gets everyone who is on the podium with him to do it. literally everyone. he got lando norris who is one of the most squeamish ppl i’ve ever seen on telly to do it. and yet. valtteri and daniel have shared a podium several times and every single time valtteri has dodged it. here is daniel finding out that valtteri has never done it. it’s pure gold.

(also! i just found out from ag that apparently at the end of 2022 bc of daniel’s defending against seb in abu dhabi alfa romeo were able to win p6 in the constructors and so there were some alfa romeo mechanics doing shoeys in celebration. which. god. the layers there! valtteri refusing to do it even when faced with daniel right there but valtteri’s ppl being more than happy to despite daniel not being there….)

as ag reminded me the other day. april fools. 2022. valtteri said that he was going to be coming out with a wine brand. and then after was like. hahaha jokes! jokes! i would never be so cringe and basic 😌. but as we all know. daniel is the most basic of all basic white girlies (gn) and a few days later came out with his own wine and a shoey decanter. the tackiness levels were high and he was soooo delighted with himself.

at one point daniel did ask valtteri to try his wine which it’s like. just fucking ask him out this is getting tiring. and valtteri was like. it’s ok? and daniel apparently nearly swoons at the mere thought of val tasting it. let alone liking it.

jump scene. cue cut. back to 2021 and daniel guessing valtteri for his secret santa bc he was given a bottle of red wine and “i know he likes his red”. spoiler alert: it was not valtteri. and THEN. like a year later i think. valtteri guesses daniel bc and i quote. “someone with taste of, like, funky things, like…it could be daniel?” FUNKY THINGS . is this a compliment. is it an insult. either way i’m fairly sure daniel was buzzin after he heard.

omg and the bottass. so when dts came out in 2021 and valtteri showed his bare ass and balls on tv but netflix only let us see one of them. cheap cunts. daniel had A Moment on twitter. see below:

and then! when valtteri does that whole poster of his ass out in a river for charity thing in 2022? i think? daniel has another Moment but it’s when he’s asked what is smth unusual he wants to do and HE TALKS ABOUT VALTTERI AND HIS ASS PIC ? 🤨 ??? and to add insult to injury. valtteri never once acknowledges this in public but what he DOES do is make a show out of giving a poster to lewis while staring at him like he shits gold after lewis was asked about the poster in an interview and didn’t even know what they were talking about!!!!!! it is literally painful to watch for so many reasons.

you just know daniel was seething. lewis is a fake fan while daniel is a real one!!!!! daniel nearly half recreated the same photo but he’s not in the river and he’s fully clothed. coward. AND he gushed about the pic unprompted!!!! but lewis! who didn’t even KNOW it existed bc he doesn’t have valtteri’s notifs on 🙄 gets a signed copy???? AND A PERSONAL VISIT???? where he has the nerve to say not that he already doesn’t have stuff to remember vb by. all while valtteri is bright pink in the face. i tip my hat off to daniel for not committing vehicle manslaughter right there and then.

and for all that daniel has talked shit about valtteri in the past and more specifically valtteri in mercedes. he had nothing but praise for him going to alfa romeo??? while ppl were like. it’s a step down! what a waste. daniel is like. valtteri isn’t stupid. he knows what he wants and needs and he’s going for it. which!!!!!!! is what daniel tried to do!!!!!!! but it worked out sm better for valtteri than it did for him. which. actually is a running theme throughout their entire careers 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 i need three to five business days to recover every time i think about it

and NOW. now. he doesn’t know what to do with that fact that valtteri seems to have adopted australia which has adopted him right back and has an australian gf and has a mullet and mustache and wears flip flops and tanks and is sooo australian but still doesn’t seem impressed by daniel who IS australian ????? his poor brain. bless.

he used to get sooo giggly last year whenever he’d put his camera in val’s face and take a snap. it was hard to watch. literally just go onto daniel's jpg instagram account. there's a few v v close up pictures of valtteri's face. daniel actually captions one with fanboying before - in how eye imagined it went - he chickens out and adds a few more pictures of other drivers to the post after the cover picture of val. disgraceful.

like.

wtf. why are you as a man being changed by another man's hairstyle.

i also need it to be known that for years daniel didn't follow valtteri on social media. despite talking about him A LOT (including the bottass tweets from earlier) until valtteri rocked up with a mullet and a 'what's cracking, australia' vibe and then he caved and followed him on insta. valtteri didn't follow him back.

in summary: daniel got a seat both in f1 and later in a top team and a race win before valtteri. tho valtteri ended up with more wins in the end. daniel joined said top team thinking he was going to be top dog and was pushed into second. valtteri always knew he was second driver before all else. daniel jumped from team to team to escape this before ending up in mclaren's shitbox and regulated to second. once again behind a younger driver. that went tits up so badly that he was left without a seat for the 2022 and had to go back to the top team that he left bc he didn't want to be second driver and signed to be their reserve. valtteri left mercedes with ten wins and the longest q3 consecutive streak ever with 103 weekends to join a team that welcomed him with open arms and gave him a multi year contract. they mirror each other as much as they contrast. what if i cried for a hundred years

[stardustprompts]

the cabin in the woods  sentence starters change tenses/pronouns as needed !!  some lines have been edited for clarity / length / ease of roleplaying tw ;   death ,  drugs ,  violence ,  language ,  alcohol mention

‘that’s never been a stable scenario.’ 

‘it’s not the first time it’s come down to that.’ 

‘are you even listening to me?’ 

‘I’m getting insecure about it now.’ 

‘we have a lake, and a keg. no more learning!’

‘I learned it from you, okay? I learned it from watching you!’

‘you have no pants.’ 

‘I’m shutting right up.’ 

‘what are you, stoned?’ 

‘I hope this is the right road. it doesn’t even show up on gps. it is unworthy of global positioning.’ 

‘that’s the whole point. get off the grid, right?’ 

‘society needs to crumble. we’re all just too chickenshit to let it.’ 

‘I’ve missed your rants.’ 

‘you will come to see things my way.’ 

‘you were rude to my friend.’ 

‘I didn’t even like hearing that.’ 

‘am I on speakerphone?’ 

‘come on, (name). life is risk.’

‘hey, what is that? in the lake, right there.’

‘there’s something else in the lake. it’s a gorgeous man!’ 

‘don’t kill the gorgeous man, we’re endangered!’ 

‘more than anything I just want this moment to end.’ 

‘truth or dare?’

‘what the hell was that?’ 

‘uh, that makes what kind of sense?’ 

‘what do you think is down there?’ 

‘I’m not sure it’s awesome to be down here.’ 

‘I’m drawing a line in the fucking sand here. do not read the latin.’ 

‘stop being a fucking baby.’ 

‘can we not talk about people in pieces anymore tonight?’ 

‘I have a theory about all this.’ 

‘you seriously believe nothing weird is going on?’ 

‘you’re not seeing what you don’t wanna see.’ 

‘we are not who we are.’

‘I’m the boss of my own brain, so give it up!’

‘I thought there’d be stars.’ 

‘we are abandoned.’ 

‘I’m not leaving here without (name)!’

‘we gotta play it safe. no matter what happens, we have to stay together.’

‘we should split up. we can cover more ground that way.’ 

‘my parents are gonna think I’m such a burnout.’ 

‘I’ll get help.’

‘I’ll fucking limp for help.’ 

‘I’m coming back here. I’m coming back here with cops, and choppers and large fucking guns and those things are gonna pay.’ 

‘you’re missing the point.’ 

‘please, do not go nuts on me, okay, (name)? you’re all I’ve got now.’ 

‘tequila is my lady!’

‘you figured everything.’ 

‘where else are we gonna go?’ 

‘we chose. they made us choose.’

‘they made us choose how we die.’ 

‘why are you trying to kill us?’ 

‘you shouldn’t be here.’ 

‘what’s happening to you is part of something bigger.’ 

‘you’ve seen horrible things.’

‘it’s our task to placate the ancient ones. as it’s yours to be offered up to them.’

‘kill him.’

‘this is part of a ritual.’ 

‘the sun is coming up in eight minutes. if you live to see it, the world will end.’ 

‘maybe that’s the way it should be. if you’ve gotta kill all my friends to survive, maybe it’s time for a change.’ 

‘you can die with them, or you can die for them.’

‘there is no other way.’ 

‘you have to be strong.’ 

‘I’m so sorry I almost shot you.’

‘I’m sorry I let you get attacked by a werewolf.’

‘I’m sorry I let you get attacked by a werewolf and then ended the world.’

‘I think you were right ... humanity ... it’s time to give someone else a chance.’ 

[anarchyrpbook]

FALLOUT (TV SERIES, 2024): Episode Six Part 1 Feel free to edit the sentences, places, pronouns, etc, as you need. NSFW TW: Mentions of sex, drugs, violence

“Oh, I’m, uh, very familiar with you guys.”

“Those design flaws of yours cost a lot of good men and women their lives.”

“Time is the ultimate weapon.”

“Oh, how ‘bout we clock out?”

“Nothing against these colleges of yours, but what do you say you and me knock back a couple of piña coladas by the pool, listen to the hi-fi.”

“All right, we go for a couple of hours, we shake a few hands -”

“The things I’m willing to do for you, never cease to amaze me.”

“[Name], I’m sorry you can’t come, buddy. I’m heading into enemy territory.”

“Perhaps when you finish your shift, we could head up and party in the hot tub.”

“Well shit, [name], you might be the only one of my invites who actually showed up.”

“Not our usual scene, I’ll give you that.”

“You hear I lost a movie over these ads?”

“They have meetings and everything. It’s a shit show.”

“I mean, I’ve dipped my bits in the same gravy train.”

“The future, my friend, is products. You’re a product, I’m a product. The end of the world is a product.”

“And for those of us who can successfully embrace that, I’d say the future is golden.”

“Well, hello there, boys.”

“Now y’all here for the ice cream social, I’m afraid I got some bad news for you.”

“Let’s get to it, shall we.”

“Destroying a legitimate business, that’s illegal ‘round these parts.”

“Using teeth for ammunition, always finding new ways to kill each other [place], aren’t they?”

“I know you mentioned you’re eager to keep moving, but your friend is going to have to recover here for a couple of days before its safe to travel.”

“You had a rotten human tooth lodged in your shoulder. You’re not fine.”

“We can’t thank you enough for letting us in and taking care of us.”

“You smell good.”

“You want to have sex?”

“You mean, use my cock?”

“I don’t know. Uh, that weird thing could happen.”

“Well, it’s just, for some guys - not me - uh, but for some guys, you know, when they make it move, it gets all big and hard like a big pimple, and then it pops. And they say it can happen to anybody, but it’s still, it’s - it’s gross.”

“You know that’s, uh, that’s actually completely normal. Happens all the time. Every time, ideally.”

“I’m, uh, a [position/title], we’re - we’re not supposed to.”

“We shouldn’t be wasting time down here.”

“I think these people are trying to trap us here.”

“This is a cult. Same as any.”

“It’s not a cult.”

“Everyone’s smiling.”

“This is a safe place, where people take care of each other.”

“We only have one foosball table, so if you want to play, you got to sign up.”

“If there’s no pencil on the sign up sheet, please let me know. I do have pencils.”

“Oh, uh, and if you’re unfamiliar with how the bathrooms work, just ask.”

“Asking is less embarrassing than getting it wrong, trust me.”

“That was weird, right?”

“Lots of people have one eye.”

“Doesn’t get any better than this.”

“You ever… think about working somewhere else?”

“I think about it, quitting [job].”

“You would look very good in a pair of overalls.”

“What’s gotten into you?”

“Oh come on, you’ve - you’ve seen these around.”

“Company’s filled with guys like him.”

“Doesn’t do anyone any good to complain from the sidelines.”

“All I’m saying is we have this one life. Do you really want to spend your nine-to-fives working with these assholes?”

“I need this job.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m doing what I can, okay? Just… Trust me. Please.”

[mephinomaly]

[TL] BIOHAZARD/Chapter 7

[ This post uses Ois~su ♪ ]

Time: A little over an hour later

Location: In the underground livehouse in the shopping district by Yumenosaki

Kaoru: Welcome in~♪

Koga: ...

Kaoru: Oh? It’s a regular.

Back already? You know, I shouldn’t say this as an employee, but if you keep coming to dodgy places like this, your parents will start to worry~.

Well, whatever. It’s your decision, just don’t sue us when something bad happens, ‘kay?

Koga: Shut up, stop talkin’ t’me like we’re friends. You’re just an employee.

Keito: Do you know Hakaze, Oogami?

Koga: Hakaze? No, don’t know him. You two friends or somethin’?

Keito: No, but we are in the same class. He’s a notorious slacker, and everytime I see him I end up lecturing him about the importance of coming to school.

Kaoru: Ugh, glasses guy’s here too.

Keito: That’s not my name.

Kaoru: Sooorryyyy~, I have a policy of not remembering the name of guys since I’m not interested in them ♪

Anyway… I thought you had a unique face but hmm– oh yeah, you guys were on stage the other day.

You’re friends with Sakuma-san. That’s why you were told to come out here, right?

Keito: …I wouldn’t say we’re friends.

Koga: Huh~? We’re friends on paper, ‘cos we’re a part of Deadmanz~♪

Koga: Grraaaa! I’m pissed~!

There’s so much goin’ on but I can’t even open my own mouth t’speak~! I’m gonna lose it!

Kaoru: O-Oiii~ Koga-kun? Hm, you probably can’t hear me, can you?

Koga: ? Was that, is that you Hakaze-senpai? Where are you?

Kaoru: I’m right here in front of you… Wait, Koga-kun, is that your voice?

Koga: Who else would it be.

Kaoru: Fufu. There’s quite a lot of people here, so why don’t we go talk in the back?

This time, the client is me or more like, this livehouse I work in.

Do you think you guys could help me out with something—

Koga: Oi! So you actually can’t hear me? You’re just gonna ignore me ‘n keep talkin’!?

Kaoru: ...Ohhh~, so that’s what’s happening.

Koga-kun, Koga-kun. Calm down. I think I get it now.

Koga: Huh?

Kaoru: I think that maybe… we’re in some ghost-like state.

Koga: We’re ghosts? But I don’t remember dyin’— Ohhh, not like that?

Kaoru: Mhm. You act like a moron that doesn’t think about anything, but you’re surprisingly quick to catch on, Koga-kun.

Koga: ’Cos I’m always surrounded by people I don’t get. I’ve been able t’train my brain to understand ‘em.

Kaoru: I see, that makes sense ♪

Koga: So we’re dreaming like this ‘cos of the experiment.

In my dream, it was about the past. I’ve somehow been able t’stay semi-conscious.

Kaoru: That’s called lucid dreaming. On top of that, it seems we’re able to still talk to each other.

We can’t interfere with these dreams, but we can still talk from the sidelines.

Like I said earlier, we’ve been ‘turned into ghosts’.

Koga: Hn, that’s a pretty easy explanation to understand.

Ghosts ‘n dead people can’t interfere with reality.

We’ve actually become ‘deadmanz’. Ironic, ain’t it?

Kaoru: This is such a weird experience that I’m starting to enjoy myself.

Koga: Damn, you’re bein’ so positive, happy bastard.

Kaoru: You only live once, so I might as well have a little fun ♪

Well, I can’t say for sure if this’ll be any actual fun yet but…

Hey, Koga-kun. Am I misremembering?

At this time I wasn’t really interested in much so I took a step back, so that might be why I don’t remember a lot about this?

Koga: Huuh? Whaddya mean?

Kaoru: We’re supposed to be reminiscing on the past, right?...Unless I’m remembering wrong, I don’t recall anything like this happening.

I mean, this is basically how it went but, there’s things here that didn’t.

Koga: Huh? But this is what happened. I went t’the livehouse with Hasumi-senpai and–

Ah, you’re right. I don’t feel like I met you then.

I found out you was the manager of the livehouse later on–

Kaoru: Uhuh. They're only small, but there’s a lot of disparities.

Hm, I wonder what they’re trying to show us…?

[ ☆ ]

Chapter 6

Chapter 8

[mxlktxa]

Old Days

┊┊❁ཻུ۪۪♡ ͎. ｡˚ 　　°

pairing; (teen!)joel miller x (teen!)reader

summary; reminiscing and dreaming about older memories is always fun. especially when they were ones that paved the way for where someones stands. whether the memories were positive or negative. lively or miserable. as long as they held a special someome they have today.

warning; 18+/suggestive scenarios, language, mentions of abusive behaviors/acts, drug usage, self harm, use of tobacco

word count; 3,127

author note; i wanted to try a little something but im extra nervous about this one… someone pls help me better my writing, i beg

┊┊❁ཻུ۪۪♡ ͎. ｡˚ 　　°

❀ 6

Who the fuck was this child and why on God’s green Earth was he staring at me so hard? With a smile and holding a flower out to me, like a total loser. An adorable loser.

“Hi,” he giggled.

I stared him down, eyes squinted at the flower in his hand. He stepped forward and pushed it out to me, causing me to jerk back, humming softly.

“My name’s Joel and I’m six.”

Fuck you, go away.

“Y/N. I’m six too.”

“Do you want this flower? It matches your shirt.”

Why are you being so nice to me? And how did you fine a yellow flower in this almost completely bland park?

“Okay,” my little hand reached for the miniscule plant, cautiously taking it. The boy named Joel giggled at ran away from me.

“I’ll find you more!”

Why? Don’t do that. Strange boy.

“Okay,” I kinda just stood there, watching him run around the playground for his flower finding mission, “You’re weird, Joel.”

___

❀ 16

“Fuck you, y/n. You’re nothing but a washed up slut. Nobody would even think to love you.”

“He said that to you?”

“Yep. My own father. To his sixteen year old daughter. Crazy, isn’t it?”

“Y/N… We need to get you out of there.”

“Oh, please, Joel. I’ve had worse. Done worse. I’m pretty sure I can make it just a couple more years in that house.”

“Or I could just ask around for you, see if anyone is willing to let you stay with them.”

“Joel. You and Tommy need to chill out. I’m gonna be fine. Swear,” I knew I was lying to these boys. But I couldn’t show them that I was weak.

Joel couldn’t take his eyes off me, staring down at my bruised rib area and cut up legs. Huffing, I swung myself off of the table, kissing Joel’s cheek and heading toward the swingset in front of us.

“Where is Tommy Boy anyways? Home?”

“Yeah. He’s just having a tough day today but he should be fine by tomorrow. We can all go to the movies then too.”

“Oh, fuck yeah. Ugh, so excited! I wonder who’s gonna chicken out for the movie first. I bet you it’s gonna be Tommy.”

“Tommy don’t like scary movies, you know that.”

“He’s gonna have to learn to,” I laughed, running my hands along the cold metal chains that held the swing up, “Come push me, Joey. You’re always so serious.”

___

❀ 17

School. Never liked it. Not one bit. I never really had friends, wasn’t known by anybody. If anyone did know me it was because I was the kid known for skipping class to hide out and smoke in the bathrooms or an abandoned classroom, the girl that sleeps with any guy she wanted, the freak who just looked like she was in a cult so she must be. I only ever had Joel and Tommy. Even if Tommy was younger and wasn’t even on the same grounds as Joel and I.

Well they had one thing right. I skipped class to smoke, that was a fact even teachers would agree to.

“You are so high off your ass right now. Aren’t you?” Joel sounded angry at my current situation, arms crossed and eyes filled with annoyance and rage.

I looked back at the doorway from the corner I popped myself into, giggling and waving to Joel, “Don’t worry, Big J,” I cooed, taking a quick puff and exhaling, “It’s only a cigarette this time. How’d you find me, Boyo?”

Joel snarled in disgust, marching over. I quickly pulled my shades down and tugged down on my sleeves, looking back into the wall.

“I understand that this is some sort of stress reliever for you, Y/N, but do me just one favor and quit it until school ends for the day.”

I looked down at my shoes, ignoring how upset Joel seemed, though it was hard since he was right beside me, tapping his foot on the ground and burning holes into the side of my skull.

“Joel. Now isn’t a good time.”

“No? Because you were just all happy-go-lucky when I found you.”

“Because I didn’t think you’d find me anyways.”

“You choose the same three abandoned rooms, Y/N. It’s not hard,” he huffed, snagging the cigarette from me and putting it out, “Let me see em’,” Joel demanded.

Shit. I’ve known him for too long then. Way too long. Not even Tommy understands that sunglasses and baggy clothes hides the damage done from a day ago. Maybe even hours ago.

“Joel. Please.”

“Please, just let me see.”

Silence. Joe wasn’t even mad anymore just upset and heartbroken. Simply because I didn’t want to hear his quivering voice anymore, I pulled back my sleeves and lifted the sunglasses. Joel immediately huffed and his knees nearly buckled.

“Cigarette burns? More cuts? A bruised, swollen lip? Fuck, Y/N!” Joel held back his crying, gripping my arm and shaking his head.

“Joel, please,” tears pricked my eyes, falling down after I looked away from him, meeting the corners of my lips, hesitant of falling from there, “I know it’s bad, I know. But I have nowhere else to go. My grandparents on either side don’t care to even check if I’m still breathing, I have no friends but you and Tommy, and I have no money and no help to move on my own.”

“I’ll beg my mother to take you in.”

“Joel, your mother will end up in jail for a kidnapping, no.”

“There has to be something!”

“There isn’t! Joel! There’s nothing!” I broke down, shooting up from the chair and pounding on his chest.

Fuck. I’m crying and screaming at him. Maybe I’m not all that strong. Not even a good friend. Sucks to be me, I guess.

One hand landed behind my head, pulling me into his chest, the other on my back, creating small circular motions. Gradually, we ended up on our knees, Joel comforting me and kissing my forehead, plenty of times.

“Let it out, Y/N. It’s okay.”

“Fucking help me, Joel.”

“I will. Me and Tommy will do anything any everything to help you.”

“Please. I’m begging you.”

___

❀ 19

“Joel! Joel, Joel, Joel!” my feet were forcing me to charge over to Joel, jumping on his back and covering his eyes.

“Woah! Y/N, slow it down. What’s going on?” Joel chuckled, carefully pinning me between a wall and him.

“First of all, I haven’t smoked a single cigarette since graduation, so congratulate me.”

“I’m proud of you, sweetheart, good job.”

“Second, I got excepted into college, another congrats, let me hear it!”

“Wait, what? You’re serious right now?“

“Unnecessarily serious.”

“Get off me right now,” Joel got serious so suddenly, it was kinda scary. He stepped forward, letting me drop down, turning to me with a straight face. For a second, he looked at my face then chuckled and pulled me in to kiss my forehead.

I sighed in relief, holding onto his wrists and he was now aggressively smashing his lips on my forehead, eventually pushing me into the wall.

“My baby! Look at y-, you smell like weed,” Joel raised a brow and ceased the kisses, still cupping my face with both hands. I gave a nervous smile, knitting my brows.

“At least it wasn’t a cigarette?” a nervous laugh was thrown in, watching as Joel shrugged and recommenced with the kisses.

“So, does this mean you’ve a dorm now? Or do you still live with them?”

“I have a dorm, don’t worry. I just… Hope my roommate is nice.”

“Me too,” Joel grinned, resting his forehead on mine. My thumbs ran across his wrists, trying to persuade my hands to not run to his waist or ass. Very tempting, truly.

“Fuck, Joel. Maybe… You’re my lucky charm, yeah?”

“Oh, of course. Only because I’m able to help tou get back on the right track every single time,” his words felt like a warm blanket, shielding me from how cruel the world could be. But only for the short period of time.

“Mmm, let me go before I try to fuck you.”

“Yeah, no, we are very much in public and that would definitely screw us over a bit.

“Yes… Okay, let me go,” we laughed, Joel kissing me sweetly before letting me go, “I’ll come again when you get off work.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. Big ol’ baby.”

___

❀ 20

I sat in my dorm bathroom, shaking profusely and rocking back and forth, roommate crying and banging on the door like a police officer.

“Y/N, please, sweetheart, come out! Don’t let him get to you, please. We can file a police report and press charges! I’m begging you, please!” Veronika pleaded, jiggling the handle and sounding like she was close to choking on her words.

Just then, there was pounding on the front foor. Veronika’s breath hitched and her footsteps left the bathroom door. I slowly lied on the floor, ignoring the razors and blood beneath me.

“Where is she?”

Joel?

“She’s in the bathroom. Please get her to come out. I’m scared she’s done something crazy, Joel.”

Joel. God, Joel.

I curled up into myself, squeezing my eyes shut. This wasn’t happening. I didn’t deal with anything crazy today. Totally didn’t. I didn’t have another man I trusted just completely overpower me while I was vulnerable today. Take advantage of me and viciously threaten my life. No. Not at all. It was all just some sick dream my brain wanted me to dream of. Right?

“Y/N. Open the door, sweetheart. Please. It’s me, it’s Joel. Come on out.”

“She hasn’t said anything the entire time she’s been in there.”

“How long has she been trapped in there?”

“Almost three hours.”

Silence. I silently cried on the floor, scared of what was to happen next. Would they leave? Would they discuss what they think is happening? What was next to come?

That’s when there was insane kicks landing on the door. I screamed, sitting up right and staring as they just kept coming down. Eyes hurriedly scanning the small bathroom, I looked at the window and weakly stood to wobble to it.

There was… Laughing? From multiple people. I shook my head, climing over the tub and trying to open the window. This wasn’t happening. No, not again. Never again.

“Leave me alone! Go away! I just wanted help with my work!”

“Come on out, Y/N! We just wanna talk is all,” a distorted voice was cackling behind the door, multiple laughs, multiple voices.

“Come out, gorgeous!”

“Let’s have a little fun, baby!”

“Leave me alone!” my voice nearly cracked and failed to deliver the scentence, the window opening half way. I punched out the screen out, taking the opportunity to crawl out, applying pressure to the fresh slits all over my arms and legs.

“Y/N! No!”

I was yanked from the window, held in a pair of frightfully strong arms that wouldn’t budge. I clawed, kicked, screamed, squirmed, pleaded, did everything to release myself.

“Don’t touch me! Get away! Please leave me alone! Please!”

“Y/N! Hey! It’s me! It’s us!” Veronika, cooed, hands on my face, feeling wet and smelling like metal, “Look, love. It’s me and Joel.”

It took me a minute but her face was morphing, replacing from my abusers to my sweet, scared roommate. I still kept trying to escape but toned it down, keeping my eyes on her.

“Hi, sweetie. It’s okay. It’s us, mama. It’s us. You’re safe.”

I eventually gave up, being lowered to the ground and set up against the wall, still tearing up like crazy just silently.

I looked to the other person, seeing Joel absolutely distraught. My view just wouldn’t stay focused on one person for too long, constantly switching between to two safest people I had with me now.

“I just wanted help with the work. I didn’t want him to do any of it. I was scared. I couldn’t-“

“Shh, shh, shh. It’s okay. We know, baby, we know,” Joel was bawling his eyes out, his hands replacing V’s and his forehead on mine.

“Help me? Please? Can you guys help me?”

“Yes, yes. Of course, sweetheart. What do you need right now? You wanna get all cleaned up? Want some fresh clothes?”

I nodded anxiously, still glancing between the two and shaking like crazy. Veronkia gave me the okay, running to get me clothes while Joel ran the water, checking up on me every two seconds. Literally.

“I’m right here, Y/N. It’s okay.”

What the fuck. Why the fuck? It was gonna take me forever to process any of this.

___

❀ 25

“Y/N? You okay over here?” Tommy questioned, rubbing my back, “You’re staring off into space with wide eyes again.”

“Yeah, I’m cool. Just thinking about some other things right now.”

“Like?”

“Sinking my teeth into a thick ass steak or something,” I laughed, leaning on Tommy. A snort left him as he leaned his head on mine, rubbing my shoulder.

“You’re tellin’ me. I’d kill for a steak right now,” he huffed.

Tommy and I had been sitting at a bench near a park bathroom, waiting for Joel, Maria and Veronika to come back. It had been maybe ten minutes since they all left to use the bathroom.

“Hey, Y/N?”

“Hm?”

“Where do you see yourself in a few years?”

Ah. The infamous question I’ve been getting since middle school. But this time I had a not so depressing answer. My eyes met Tommy, shyly smiling.

“Uhm… Waking up to two crazy kids. Right beside Joel. Laughing and playing in bed with them. Making breakfast for my happy little family. Kissing Joel goodbye for work and taking the kids to school then going to myself.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Yes. Definitely,” I started giggling and chewing at the skin around my nails, “Why?”

“Because he said almost the same thing when I asked him what he wanted.”

Joel actually wanted to marry me? I was just letting my little brain entertain me and allow me to assume Joel still loved me. After everything we’ve been through.

“So… Joel is in love with me? Like? For real?”

“No for fake,” Tommy paused with a blank look, looking away, “Yes for real, dummy!”

I huffed, punching Tommy in his knees, crossing my arms, “You scared me!”

Not really. I just don’t wanna hear what I already thought I knew.

“Okay, sorry, sorry! Look. They’re taking a little bit and I wanna show you something cool. Do you trust me?” Tommy questioned, standing from the bench as his hand reached out to me. I took it and stood in front of him, eyes covered by his hands.

“Hey!”

“Nope! Have to have them covered. Just for a little bit. You’re safe, promise.”

I put my trust in Tommy, holding onto his forearms to keep my balance. Tommy hummed a little tune as he walked me around, carefully guiding me.

Maybe five minutes of walking and Tommy stopped, “Okay. We’re here. Ready?”

“I’m scared but yes.”

“Okay… Look!” Tommy backed away, hands removing and both Maria and Veronika throwing white confetti at me. Startled, I squealed and waved it off, earning a laugh from the three.

“You wanted to show me white confetti?” I giggled, brushing myself off.

“No, silly. We wanted to show you this though,” Maria laughed, both her and Veronika stepped aside, revealing Joel, behind the two girls and on one knee. He held a beautiful bouqet of different flowers with what looked like a box in the middle.

“Joel?”

This wasn’t happening. This was all a dream and my brain was just trying to give me a happy moment.

“I know I said I would get you similar flowers to when we first met. When we were kids. But I got you this instead. Not a single one matches your outfit right now but… It’s still just as beautiful as you.”

“Joel, are you-? You’re serious?”

“Listen, Y/N. I know we’ve had our ups and downs, you hated me plenty of times and I didn’t wanna be around you from time to time either but I’m happy we never gave up on each other.”

“Holy shit, just shut the fuck up, yes!” I giggled, holding back tears and pushing past Veronika and Maria to go kiss and hug Joel for what felt like forever.

Joel chuckled, standing up and sweeping me off the floor the second he wrapped his arms around me. We stayed like that laughing, kissing, crying, hugging, all the good stuff for what felt like an eternity.

“So Tommy was telling the truth. About what you said.”

“What does that mean? What’d I say?”

“That you also wanted me to annoy you for the rest of your life.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“It’s close enough.”

“Not even a five minute walk to being close. Now get down and let me put this damn ring on you.”

___

❀ Present, 30

“Y/N. Wake up,” Joel groaned, lightly shaking me. My eyes shot open, scanning the room and landing on Joel a few times before wandering again to confirm I was home in bed with him.

“What happened? What’s going on? Are-“

“Yes, Y/N, I’m fine. You were flailing around like crazy then you were calm a bit then just huffing. Like you were crying or something.”

“Oh, no, I’m fine. Strange dreams. You know me, Joel. Big J. Joey. J-“

“Alright, alright, I get it,” Joel lied down, pulling me on top of him. We laughed a little bit, lying together and trying to get back to sleep.

“Joel?” he hummed in response, hand meeting mine on his chest, “Thanks.”

“What? For what?”

“Not giving up on me. I don’t know where I would be or what I would be doing. If I would even be alive-“

“Hey, hey, hey.”

“Sometimes, I don’t even think this is real. Like right now. Is it?”

“Yes, baby. It’s real. It’s all real. Don’t start that crying because I can assure you this is all real, you’re right here with me. Right now. We’re happy and healthy,” Joel attempted to look at me, blowing me a kiss and smiling.

“I love you, Joel.”

“I love you too, Y/N. And I would give you the world of I could.”

How and why did I get gifted this fucking guy since I was a kid? I was just super thankful to even lay my eyes on him and spend quite literally my entire life with him. Maybe I’m not entirely upset that that child stared at me with that dumb little flower.

[my-castles-crumbling]

Hi Cas :) was wondering if you would be able to offer any of your wisdom (or really just read my ask, I think I just kind of need to get it out, please don’t feel pressured to reply).

So my issue is that I think I might have a crush on my best friend. We are both nearly 15 and both female, which is where the bulk of the problem arises. I’ve been suspecting for a few years now that I’m probably queer, and probably bi or pan (not really going with a label right now, I’m not out so I see no reason to, but I’ve also just been sort of pushing it to the back of my mind).

Ive known my best friend since we first started school together in our first year of school, and I know she’d be supportive of me if I came out to her. But lately whenever she’s been talking about some guy or wanting to get a boyfriend or whatever I’ve been weirdly jealous, and once or twice I’ve been thinking about what it would be like to kiss her. To put it simply: if she asked me on a date, I probably wouldn’t say no.

I feel really terrible about this and want to tell her, but know it would completely compromise our friendship, and I really don’t want to do that. I also feel like I really shouldn’t like her, like I’m commuting some social crime. I’m like 95% sure she’s straight, so I don’t see any reason to tell her, but i still feel guilty about it for some reason.

And then I feel guilty that I even think I like girls at all, because part of me thinks I just want to be part of the LGBTQ community - I don’t have many good friends and the queer community seem to be one of the few communities that are really accepting, and I wonder if maybe I’m just identifying with them because I’m considered an ‘outsider’ as well.

I’m sorry to dump this all on you and I don’t even fully know what I’m asking. It kind of just feels good to write it out and know there’s a possibility of someone reading it, so, thanks?

Anyway I hope you have the loveliest day :)

Hi!!!

So a few thoughts here, okay?

First of all, it is literally so common for people to think they're like...faking being queer. But the thing is, you're not faking it. You literally took the time to sit here and type out this long message to some stranger on the internet. You're not faking.

Second, you're not breaking any rules or being weird by liking your friend. You can't control who you like, and it's so normal to end up with feelings for a friend. There's no reason to feel guilty at all! Objectively, being liked is a compliment!

As far as telling her your feelings, that's where it could get a bit tricky, because sometimes things can get a bit awkward if feelings aren't returned, no matter what genders people are. If it was me, I'd probably start by coming out to her (you said she's a safe person) and seeing how she reacts. If she starts to act more affectionate, then that could be a sign that she returns feelings, you know?

I hope this helps. Remember, your feelings are so valid and I'm here if you need to talk!

(Also I am naming all the anons who write to me in case they want to write in the future, and I am using a random positive affirmation generator to do so. So I dub thee: admirable anon. Enjoy your free tag!)

[everybody-loves-purdy]

Ooh you think splashtail’s family are directly involved? Tell us all your theories!

Ok so this might end up being a long post so I apologise for that. But basically every suspicious RiverClan cat that we know of has been part of the same extended family, so in recent days my sister and I have been discussing a theory in which this whole conspiracy is a family working together in order to get power.

Right so first things first: the family. Here is a family tree I quickly whipped up (Anyone with an X in their name is dead).

So right off the bat (and this is where things could fall apart if my memory is off) but every single suspicious cat we have been presented with so far is part of this extended family.

We all know how Duskfur, Mallownose, Splashtail, and Curlfeather could be considered suspicious. But also Podlight and Fognose are not in the clear (despite their lack of narrative focus) due to them being on the patrol that Reedwhisker went missing on. And even Brackenpelt was very vocally against Mistystar in the argument that killed her.

I think Petalfur’s parents and siblings are in the clear, she died moons ago and there’s no sign of any of suspicion from that side of the family.

I know it could be coincidence that all these suspicious cats are from the same extended family, but at the same time I find it weird that not a single (that I remember) non-family member has been presented as suspicious. And we know the Erins are looking at Frostpaw’s family tree since Owlnose was cited in-text as her uncle.

Speaking of Owlnose, why exactly did he choose specifically Splashtail as his deputy? I love Owlnose and I don’t want him to be in any way part of this conspiracy but it’s a question that’s kept coming back to me. It’s not even like he hesitated, he immediately named Splashtail as his deputy, but why? If it is a family affair then there is a good chance Owlnose at least knows something and this deputyship wasn’t coincidental.

The cat connecting both these sides of the family is Jayclaw, who has been dead for a while with a suspicious lack of clarity on how he exactly died presented to us. But I feel like he could have been involved somehow, even if someone ended up murdering him I feel like that would be due to him trying to back out or something.

And I don’t think every single cat in the family is knowingly involved either, but a significant number of them are.

My proposal is that this extended family wants to rule RiverClan, the plan was someone from each side of the family (Duskfur’s and Mallownose’s) would have been appointed to a position of power once Mistystar was manipulated into choosing someone as her deputy and then dying. So for example if Duskfur was made deputy she would have then made Mallownose her deputy once Mistystar passed or something. Frostpaw would be how exactly they got their chosen cat deputy in the first place, by giving her a false sign. But obviously Mistystar died unexpectedly and it all went south from there. The cats are aware of nepotism as we’ve seen last arc, ThunderClan has been completely family run for about 15 years now.

As for some of the finer details about this potential family conspiracy? I’m not sure. I think Curlfeather’s death could have been the result of an internal disagreement and Splashtail someone acted alone in killing her. Jayclaw is the cat that connects these two families together but he’s been dead for moons, what was his involvement in all this, how did he die? Was he killed on purpose to make Frostkit’s visions seem more real? But why would he be killed if he was the centrepiece of this family and this conspiracy? Did he get cold feet at the thought of using his daughter as a tool?

At the very least this family theory could explain how exactly Splashtail and Fognose are involved seeing as the process of trying to make Frostkit look like a medicine cat would have begun when they were apprentices.

I’m sorry if this come across as rambly or anything, I hope I’ve gotten this theory across well enough.