#and then of course: the fear i do finally develop a crush in 3-5 months at which point theyre annoyed i didnt like them as much in

[mejomonster]

Realized im now afraid of dating

[ynisamenace]

Headcanons for Tamaki, Bakugou and Eraserhead being in a relationship with dom! black reader

a/n: hi guys, I’m so happy and so grateful for all the follows and notes you guys have given me over the past few days💜. I’m working on a part 2 of ‘Party for One’ but here’s some headcannons I made for the meantime.

Amajiki Tamaki

Tamaki has always been more submissive in general. He tended to be a pushover at times which makes it easier for people to mess with him, which makes his anxiousness skyrocket at times. 

That was until he met you. You became friends with him after he graduated high school, fresh faced and promoted at his hero agency. You caught his eye the first day he came to work at his new office and stuck with him finding his shyness adorable but also helping him improve in his confidence.

He was entranced by your beauty, the way your tiny afro smelled like (favourite scent) when you walked by him, your lovely voice greeting him every morning, the way your vibrant melanin-filled skin contrasts with his paleness; your constant presence made him develop a crush on you but he never had the confidence to tell you to your face.

You of course weren’t aware of his little crush and his jumpiness and nervousness with you because you thought it was just his normal anxiety. It wasn’t until you overheard him talking to his friend and co-worker, Fatgum that you realized what it really was.

After that you actively sought out Tamaki just to see him be so flustered by your presence 😏 but after a while you had pity on the poor boy and asked him out for coffee and it all went uphill from there.

Loves buying you flowers and dropping them at your desk before you come into work every morning. Seeing your face light up as you read the little notes he leaves you makes the butterflies in his stomach flutter. He just loves seeing you smile in general this man is so whipped😩

He asked you to move in together after the first 4 months of dating and although you disagreed at the time, after your 6 months anniversary and him basically pleading about it every 5 mins, you finally gave in cause how could you say no to that face🥺

NSFW below

As soon as you officially moved in with him, Tamaki before more affectionate... way more affectionate. Cuddles, kisses, squeezes; everything he could to show you how physically attracted he was to you.

The topic of sex comes up one day when you’re both on the couch, you on his lap and him trailing kisses down your neck. You’ve never gone past steamy make out sessions with eachother but it was clear that you both were very much ready to take the next step

Despite his shy demeanor, Tamaki is way more confident as well as loud in the bedroom. Loud whimpers as you trail your nails down his abs which turn into loud moans as you free his cock from his briefs giving him the best handjobs he’s ever gotten.

Tamaki sometimes does feel insecure about your relationship and about you having to have asked him out first, so he tends to overcompensate in the bedroom. This man is a huge power top. He loves making you feel good, he loves you telling him what to do and will do anything you ask with no hesitation.

Could eat you out for breakfast everyday if he could and definitely incorporates his quirk into it👀. Loves when you trap his head between your thighs it makes him feel warm. He loves when you tie him to the bed and edge him for hours on end while kissing his pretty tears away. He gets off on being vulnerable with you like that and has the most mind blowing orgasms once you decide to take pity on him.

Loves when you sit in his lap and let him suckle on your nipples while caressing his hair. Soft moments like that are what make him fall in love with you even more. Pegging also makes him fall in love with you even more, but more in a sexual manner. Looks at you like a goddess whenever you have his legs spread out, driving your strap-on into him so hard it makes his eyes cross.

Aftercare is so soft and private with you two. Untying his limbs from the bed, putting ointment and kisses on his bruises, cleaning him up with a wet rag and finally laying next to him on the bed, his face in your chest as you whisper praises and sweet nothings into his hair. God he was going to marry you one day.

Bakugou Katsuki

 Bakugou met you while in U.A High but didn’t start dating you until almost 3 years after graduation You had never interacted that much in high school as you always saw him as the immature, rash and not considerate of others feelings

  He gave off an air of someone commanding and who would never submit and you had never really cared for such men; the macho ‘call-me-daddy’ type men he actually did jokingly tell you to once when you guys were arguing which just made you steer clear of him more, angering him further.

 After graduating, Bakugou became more mature, choosing to develop himself into a better person than he was in high school, and became the no 2 hero of Japan, creating his own hero agency. You started working at his agency 2 years after graduation, you also steadily climbing the ranks of the hero world landing in the top ten heroes list. He began harbouring a crush on you soon after, looking for ways to finally confess to you but were still adamant on avoiding him, still believing him to be the same immature boy that he was in highschool.

  One day, Bakugou couldn’t take it anymore and cornered you in a hallway, confessing quickly while a light blush was dusted on his cheeks. He also apologized for the way he acted in highschool and basically pleaded to go on a date with you although he’ll never admit it lol

   After his confession, you both started hanging out more both at work and outside of work. He officially asked you to be his girlfriend after the third date when he came to your apartment to cook your favourite dish for you after a grueling day at work and you happily agreed as long as he promised to continue cooking for you which led to you two moving in together a year later.

  Dating the number 2 hero in Japan was not easy to say the least. Late night and early mornings plagued both of your lives, sometimes not being able to catch eachother at home at the same time for weeks on end. This led to arguments that turned into silent treatments until you both came to your senses and apologized to one another. He hates fighting with you, fearing you’ll leave him due to his occasional outbursts.

  When you guys do fight, he apologizes through gift giving and cuddles, since he’s not very good with words. Loves buying you brightly coloured clothes and jewelry that matches your skin tone because you look ethereal to him in them. Sometimes steals glances at you just to admire your skin and whatever protective style you’re wearing.

NSFW below

   You and Bakugou had a long talk before you both started getting intimate. Although he was more mature, he still didn’t want to be submissive in the bedroom as he thought it would make him less ‘masculine’. He kept refusing until you managed to wear him down one day, him grumbling about how stupid it would be.

  Oh how wrong he was because this man thrives off of your dominance now. A bratty power bottom, he loves making you put him in his place, which is always under you. Something about you having the confidence to ‘dominate’ the number 2 hero in Japan makes him melt. Is very much into cock and ball torture and just humiliation and degradation in general. Loves seeing you in leather cause it gives you that dominatrix look that makes him whimper

  Very teary eyed when getting pegged and loves when you grab his hair to pull him back and lick his tears away. But at the same time, loves when you mercilessly keep pounding into him despite his tears, choking back a sob as he orgasms for the umpteenth time.

  Is the type of sub that looks like a dom out in public but has a vibrating buttplug inside him during meetings as he glances to you as you smirk and turn up the intensity every few seconds.

  The biggest brat ever omg he will rile you up on purpose just so that you can punish him by locking him in a chastisy cage and riding his favourite strap on you put on him, all while denying him the pleasure of touching you. That’s when he begs the most, mind dumb and babbling nonsense until you finally let his pretty little cock out.

  Aftercare is in equal parts for both of you as sometimes you get dom drop after long sessions. He knows that it can make you feel guilty o sometimes regretful and makes sure to tell you how much he loves you after every session. You also reassure him that he is more than enough for you, limbs tangled together in bed as you doze off next to him.

   His lips curl into a little smile as he falls asleep as well, thinking of you and the engagement ring he’s yet to give you in his bedside drawer.

Shota Aizawa

 Aizawa had never actively looked for people to date. He felt like he had too much on his plate already with class 1-A and didn’t think anyone would be willing to date someone whose life was so hectic. So when you joined U.A as a new teacher in class in class 1-B, he didn’t bat an eye only glancing at you at times as you pass the hallway.

 Glances turned into stares which turned into thinking about you and how your mini twists framed your face so perfectly and how soft your skin looked and how your darks eyes drew him in and-

 Fuck

  Ok so maybe he did have space on his plate for dating cause duh look at you.  He asked you out by whispering in your ear during homeroom one day as he dropped off a stack of papers on your desk. You were taken aback by his boldness but accepted nonetheless. You didn’t know it, but Aizawa had fallen for you long before he got the balls to ask you out😏

 You dated for 3 years and lived together after 2 until you walked into the kitchen one morning and saw him on one knee, flowers petals everywhere and a small smile as he asks “Marry me?” You didn’t know whether to laugh or cry oh to be proposed to by Shota Aizawa😭

 He loves referring to you as his wife and loves when you come to 1-A to give him his bento box, even though he acts like he hates it. Let’s you in his sleeping bag for a nap in the break room, even though Present Mic comes in to annoy both of you most of the time.

 Melts when he sees you interacting with the kids in 1-A, even heard Deku slip up and call you mom once when you came to his class to greet him.

 Nsfw below

 Speaking of kids guess who has a big fat breeding kink. Even though you both know you’re not exactly prepared to have kids at the moment, the risk that comes with him making love to you raw turns him on. You definitely exploit his kink by telling degrading him, saying how he doesn’t deserve to cum inside you with his useless cock and that just makes him want to prove you wrong, rutting into you faster as he whimpers about making you feel good.

  Loves when you take him from behind and bend him on a surface and fucking him like a little whore, scarf stuffed into his mouth as a make-shift gag when he gets too loud. Especially when you do it on one of the desks in his classroom after hours, the embarrassment of a seeing a student sitting on it the next day making his brain fog and his cum leak out, painting the floor and the desk white as he spasms in your hold, tongue lolling out as you press him to the floor to clean up his mess.

  Is into somnophilia and has woken up many times to you bouncing on his cock, refusing to let him cum until you’re satisfied with the amount of orgasms he’s given you.

 Has definitely sniffed your panties before, even pocketing them into his dress pants and taking them to work with him, all so he can use them to fist his cock in the staff restrooms, panting like a dog in heat as sobs your name into his hand, secretly wanting to get caught by you.

 He loves your aftercare so much. Running baths for both of you, kissing the hickeys and scratches you left on him and letting him lay in your arms when his body gives out. Genuinely loves pushing past his limits with you because he knows he trusts you.

  Definitely the best husband and the best lover ever 10/10 would recommend.

Tags: @itzgabz22

[sneezefiction]

of night owls & early birds

Kuroo x Reader

desc: Kuroo, your roommate and longtime best friend, likes you but he really dislikes your sleep schedule. alternatively, your crush gets up way too early and you “suffer the consequences.”

a/n: the irony of working on this fic at 5 am doesn’t escape me… but it also hasn’t assuaged my awful sleep patterns. i hope you enjoy!!

warnings: school/general anxiety, crass/offbeat humor (jokes about planning your own funeral), idk if you’re scared of love don’t read this - it’s very fluffy.

wc: 3.6k

--- You’re screwed, you think, as a light flickers on just outside of your room. It illuminates the carpet underneath your doorway with a warm orange tint.

And though it shouldn’t make your heart jump into your throat, it does.

You’d promised, swore to Kuroo, that you’d be asleep by 2 am - and to him, even that was a stretch. But he should count himself lucky that you’d even agreed to his demands at all. 

After all, he is well-versed in the world of night owls.

Kenma, though maybe not your kindred spirit, shares at least a couple of qualities with you. Kuroo likes refer to these “qualities” as crimes.

One of these crimes (and quite possibly Kuroo’s least favorite) is your god-awful sleep schedule. And you’re a repeated offender.

There was only so much nagging and bickering you could take before you’d cracked and told exactly him what he wanted to hear. In a flurry of words, you’d agreed to turn off your laptop, close up your textbooks and actually put your head to a pillow.

You also may have been bribed.

To sweeten this deal, Kuroo had promised to buy you pizza this upcoming Friday, given that you actually did get some rest.

But as you reluctantly lift your phone, the glass screen glowing a little too brightly, you realize that it’s already 5:30 am.

You grimace.

It’s Tuesday morning. Meaning that the repetitive beeping across the hall is Kuroo’s alarm.

Your lips press into a firm line. Most birds don’t even get up at such a godless hour.

You can’t help but wonder what it’s like to have a functional morning routine. Or a morning routine at all.

Leaning back in your plastic desk chair, you squeeze your eyes shut. 

It stings.

You probably got so caught up staring at the blob-like words on your computer screen that, somewhere in the process, your body had forgotten how to blink.

And while the tension in your neck and shoulders is painful, it’s nothing in comparison to the festering guilt of not listening to your longtime best friend and now roommate (a suspiciously well-intentioned college boy who had somehow managed to win your heart over the course of this fall semester.)

Thinking back, working on your final English assignment at midnight wasn’t the brightest of ideas. It wasn’t even due for another week. But as due dates loomed, the impending fear of a bad grade had begun to burrow deeply within you.

If you could just pump the brakes on deadline anxiety, you wouldn’t feel so pressured to type incoherent sentences at odd and empty hours of the night.

And maybe Kuroo wouldn’t feel the need to coerce you into a firmer sleep schedule. Though you do find this caring habit of his to be inexplicably endearing. 

Thus, the prickling feeling continues to infiltrate your restless mind and the brewing concoction of anxiety and guilt in your tummy makes you feel uneasy.

But before you can sneak into bed and tuck yourself inconspicuously under the covers, you hear a floorboard creak. 

As if on instinct, you hold in a breath.

Kuroo isn’t one to forget about little promises. Of course, he’d want to know if you’d made good on your side of the deal. 

Gently, you close your laptop and swivel your chair to face the door. You still your movements, keeping your body taut against the back of your chair.

More soft steps fall just outside of your room.

Your eyes can’t pick a place to land, so they choose to wander. And with a quick scan of your room, it doesn’t take you long to realize that your bedside lamp had been left on - an instant giveaway.

You begin planning for your funeral. 

However, if it were up to you, you wouldn’t go out this way. You prepare yourself for death by interrogation or shame-induced coma.

Regrettably, neither options seem very interesting to you. If you ask politely, maybe your friends will engrave a portion of an epic poem into your gravestone just to make your passing seem more sophisticated. Yeah, that sounds nice and pretentious.

Okay, you might be overdramatizing things - Kuroo would never send you to your grave. But that doesn’t change the fact that your psyche likes to play tricks on you in the wee hours of the morning and that the eerie quality of the atmosphere somehow reminds you of a cemetery.

As you sort through who-gets-what on your will, there’s a not so sudden knock on your door. The soft tap makes your heart skip for two reasons:

The first being that you still haven’t gotten used to the fluttering in your chest from him being present all the time. Developing a crush on him (and suspecting feeling on his side) had made you a little jumpier over the past few months.

And the second had to do with the fact that you were actually going to have to talk to him about this. To apologize for being a bold-faced liar. It wasn’t clear to you whether you’d be teased or reprimanded. And honestly? You’re not sure which option would feel worse.

So you take a breath and steel yourself.

“Y/n?” A gravelly voice sounds from outside your room.

It’s tainted with sleep. You shiver.

There’s a preemptive sigh, “C’mon y/n, your light is on. I know you’re awake.”

You’ve been caught, so there’s no point in prolonging it.

“...You can come in.” You reply meekly, clenching and unclenching your fists.

The door cracks open.

That soft orange hall light floods into your room and directly into your eyes. With a squint, you try to fully visualize Kuroo. He’s positioned himself so that he’s leaning in your doorway with his arms crossed.

Before coming to grips with the situation, you scan the boy up and down. Amusingly, you realize that he has to duck his head just to fit underneath the door header - he really is tall. You have to wonder if he’ll ever stop growing.

Aside from his intensified bedhead (which doesn’t shock you) and the sleepiness in his eyes, he looks normal. But you must look positively spooked, because the moment he sees you, there’s a flicker of humor in his golden eyes… and an almost invisible smirk.

At least he isn’t angry. That fact alone allows you to let out the breath you’ve been holding in. Anger isn’t really a trait you’d ascribe to him anyway.

“It’s funny…” He wonders aloud, “I thought we’d agreed to something yesterday.” Kuroo brings a mocking hand to his chin in a thinking motion.

Your body naturally begins to shrink into your seat. You want to sigh, protest, explain yourself… anything to keep him from lecturing you. But, technically, you deserve this. 

“I’m pretty sure you promised me you’d be in bed, asleep,” He emphasizes “by 2 am…”

“And” he adds, motioning evenly to your set up, “I highly doubt you’re up early just to get work done.”

You bite your lip while gripping and releasing the fabric of your sweatpants.

Kuroo isn’t a mind reader by any extent, but the body has a language of its own. Right now, your actions are murmuring signs of discomfort. And exhaustion, according to your dark circles.

Kuroo heaves out something between a sigh and a yawn before he takes another couple of steps into your room. 

The sound of mattress springs and rustled bed sheets gets you to turn your head toward him, though you hesitate to meet his gaze.

He makes himself comfortable.

This is a familiar scene, Kuroo invading your space. Well, it’s less of an invasion and more of an unspoken agreement that the both of you can ‘come and go as you please’ in regards to bedrooms, granted that the “invader” knocks first.

Essentially, if Kuroo wanted company, he would find his way to you and plop himself on the edge of your bed. You would do likewise. The interaction could last 5 minutes or 3 hours depending on your mental stamina that day.

In a way, it mimicked your childhood - going over to Kenma’s and knocking relentlessly on his bedroom door until he finally let you and Kuroo tumble through the doorway together. The only difference now is in the way that you spend time together. Conversations become deeper a lot faster. Belly-laughs after a miserable day of classes are considered sacred. Study sessions are done shoulder to shoulder and with a myriad of disgusted faces when frustrated with a particularly tricky problem.

But this is different from your usual conversations. It’s sickeningly early, you haven’t slept a wink, and a tidal wave of stress from this entire semester is finally crashing into you.

“I’m sorry,” You start softly, fiddling with your fingers, “I just… I couldn’t stop thinking about this expository essay I’ve been working on and my mind is totally numb. I’m so stressed out by all of these-”

“-Classes.” He finishes for you.

You swallow, bobbing your head softly in confirmation.

 “I get it.”

And just by looking at him, you know he understands. For someone so laid back and put together, Kuroo’s eyes could speak a novel’s worth of emotion and information at any given moment.

“But you’ve already spent more than enough time on it.”

Have I really? Have I actually done enough? Because it feels like I’m failing. Like I can’t seem to finish what I’ve started. I can’t even complete this paper.

But at least Kuroo sounds resolute. 

He’s stating a fact, not an opinion.

And he’s not trying to be unempathetic. He does get it, he really does.

But Kuroo also sees how hard you work already. And he knows all too well that there’s only so much work you can get done in one night. You’ve got enough on your plate even without your classes, so having the extra academic pressure is just the cherry on top.

“Mm,” you hum, “yeah, I guess you of all people would know.” You hunch over and rest your elbows on your thighs, using your hands to prop your head up.

He’d been there at your most and least productive moments. On days when you were cranking out a few thousand words and nights when you could only jot down a few sentences. Hell, Kuroo had even volunteered to help you edit and format it when the time came. What kind of person offers to do that before they’ve even been asked to?

It’s just another feature of his charm, you suppose.

But you still feel stuck. Like you’re a boat stranded in the middle of the ocean and you just can’t seem the muster up the strength to pull up the anchor. The anxiety lingers.

“...It just doesn’t feel like it’s ever enough, y’know?” You breathe out.

There it is. Finally out in the open.

And Kuroo hums thoughtfully to himself.

He’s been there.

Not knowing if the effort he put into his work was having any actual effect. Being unsure as to when he should stop taking responsibility for something. Putting work, classes, and people before himself.

It’s draining; a swirling spin-cycle of exhaustion.

But he’s also been learning that “enough” is subjective. So he decides to say just that.

“Enough is a pretty vague word, don’t you think?”

You blink. 

Yeah, you suppose it is. 

Hopefully this isn’t another one of his bizarre epiphanies - the kind that makes you think your brain is going to implode. Sometimes Kuroo could be a little too philosophical for his and your own good. But you humor him anyway.

Shifting in your seat, you give him a stiff nod.

Satisfied with your understanding, he proceeds with his thought.

“What I mean is that we probably have totally different definitions of enough...” he drawls on, “... and different standards too.”

“Okay...”

“What I mean is that-” He sighs, running a hand through his hair, “-what’s ‘enough’ to you may not be ‘enough’ to me. And vice versa.”

Kuroo tilts his head back, brows furrowing in thought. He’s grasping for the right way to put it.

“Y/n, I think you’ve done enough. You’ve worked hard,” he points out, “and I don’t think I know anyone who deserves a break more than you do.”

That makes you pause. You lift your head up to catch his gaze - his eyes are already studying your expression. Something inside of you stops functioning because never have you seen such raw sincerity. Or maybe you have, but you’re only just now noticing it.

He gives you a gentle smile. It makes your chest ache.

“You mean it?” You half-whisper.

“I wouldn’t lie to you.”

You’ve known this for years now, but Kuroo truly has a way with words. They had the ability to pierce like a harpoon or stick sweetly to you like warm honey. Even with a few (thousand) shitty jokes littered throughout your conversations, it’s only natural to be awestruck by him. By his ability to make even the most awkward of situations a little more bearable. How he subliminally knows how to soothe and temper you. You think he would make a really great businessman - he’s quite persuasive; a real salesperson.

One part of you wants to apologize to him again. Another part wants to jump up and kiss him. To tear up and cry in his arms with relief. You chalk these potential reactions up to exhaustion and hormones… but you don’t write them off entirely.

Because suddenly being 3 feet apart feels like miles. And your bed is looking terribly comfortable.

“Mind if I join you?” You ask, but you’re already moving from your seat.

He gives you an indifferent shrug - though he feels anything but.

“It’s your bed.” 

Oh, you’re well aware of that fact. You can already feel heat rising to your face.

You stand up slowly, raising your arms to the ceiling in one final attempt to stretch. Then softly, you place a knee to the mattress and wedge yourself on the rest of the way until you’re sitting crisscrossed in front of him. He shifts his torso so that it’s facing you.

And now that you’re finally eye to eye, you can breathe.

He may be your crush, but you feel strangely comfortable in his presence. You always have. It’s part of what makes Kuroo... well, Kuroo. He embodies security while still pushing you out of your comfort zone. And for that, you’re grateful.

You break the silence.

“I really am sorry,” you echo your earlier apology.

You undoubtedly are. And you’re not sure why it feels like such a heavy thing to say over something as menial as a good night’s sleep.

“Hey, hey,” He soothes, reaching a hand over to ruffle your hair, “it’s no big deal, alright?”

You send him a half-hearted glare but it immediately breaks into a soft smile. His hand lingers for a moment longer than it should before he draws it away. You miss the teasing touch.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to maintain eye-contact, but even as you look away, you note that his eyes remain concentrated on you. You can’t tell if it’s you who has moved closer or if he has. Either way, those few inches of distance have narrowed by a decent margin.

“I honestly just wanted you to get some rest. You’ve had it rough and by the looks of it-” He scans your face like he’s trying to diagnose you with something.

“Hey, watch it-” You warn, narrowing your eyes.

You already know you look tired. Kuroo loves reminding you of that in his own little way.

He smirks playfully, continuing anyway.

“-You could really use the sleep.” Kuroo’s raspy voice trails off.

“But apparently even pizza isn’t a convincing enough strategy.” He gives you a lopsided grin.

You shake your head, “Oh no, no, the pizza was very convincing.”

He scoffs, “Was it, now?” Raising his eyebrows in mock surprise, “Because you seem very awake to me.”

“Can’t we just blame this on the paper, please?” You sigh.

He furrows his brows in contemplation, “Hmm, no. I don’t think so. This is partially your fault.” A rather underwhelming response.

“A small part.”

“I’d say it's fifty-fifty.” He reasons with a raised eyebrow.

Rolling your eyes, you respond, “Okay, you can quit whatever-” You gesture to his expression, “this is.” He always managed to pull the strangest faces and you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of making you laugh.

He snorts, “Oh? I thought you liked-” Kuroo gestures to his own face, “whatever this is.”

His voice has a curious edge to it. Some might even call it flirtatious.

And you go quiet. 

You can’t help but stare at him. His messy hair, his barely parted lips. The fact that Kuroo just woken up and somehow still looks this attractive to you is so annoying. So frustrating.

And words are failing you.

It was an innocent comment. He’s just messing with you like he usually does. Maybe this has all gone a little bit too far. You should probably just say good night (or good morning) and rest your eyes.

Yet you can’t shake the feeling that this could be the perfect segway into addressing your relationship.

At literally any other time of day, you might be more rational. You could reason with yourself that this is quite literally the weirdest time to bring up your feelings for him. But something in you needs to close the literal and figurative gap between you two. And, for some indecipherable reason, it has to happen right now.

Whatever the outcome, you trust that Kuroo will always be your safe place.

So you throw caution to the wind.

“Actually, Kuroo…” You begin, staring at your hands which are placed neatly on your lap. “I really do.”

His eyes snap to yours.

This time it’s Kuroo’s turn to go silent in contemplation. Taking in a steady breath becomes an act of labor.

“You… really do what?” He asks slowly, grasping for your intended meaning.

Your heart pounds.

“I really like you.” You clarify.

It isn’t at all eloquent, but it’s sincere. You’d once heard that honesty came easier late at night, but you had no idea that it applied to early mornings as well.

But you finally make sense of the words that just escaped your lips. Panic arises. In an attempt to hide, you bury your face in your hands. You wish you could put the words right back into your mouth.

“I-” You take a deep breath, “I think I spoke without thinking.” Is all you allow yourself to mumble.

You no longer trust yourself with words. 

Your face, your whole body really, feels like it’s on fire. Humiliation begins to wash over you in red hot waves… but you startle when a pair of hands meet your wrists.

You lift your head.

His fingertips are warm and worn. Still decorated with calluses from his years of volleyball back in high school. You want to question why the world has withheld this touch from you for so long.

He lures your hands away from your face, grasping both of them gently. For a sensation so new, it was somehow strikingly familiar. A thumb is meditatively tracing small, slow circles in the middle of your palm.

You gawk in disbelief… and as you scan his face, you catch a hint of pink on his cheeks. You can’t say anything though - your own face feels like it’s just become 1000 degrees warmer.

“I kinda figured you might,” Kuroo breaks the tension rather… bluntly.

Of course he did, wait what?

“But the thing is…”

Is this some sort of rejection? Is he just letting you down gently? Is that why he’s holding your hands like they’re as fragile as fine china? Then why is he looking at you so sweetly, so tenderly-

“I wanted to be the one to say it first.”

You start planning your own funeral again. 

However, this time, emotional whiplash will be your stated cause of death. At least it’s a more unconventional way to go out.

“I- uh,” you swallow, “w- what did you just say?” It comes out as a stammer. 

You’re squeezing his hands a little too tightly. When you recognize your modest death grip around his fingers you loosen your hold.

Kuroo smiles, his eyes crinkling slightly.

It’s nothing like that cunning smirk that you find annoying, yet so adorable. It’s also not one of his full-scale grins. It’s far too simple and reassuring. You almost don’t trust it.

“Well, in short, I like you too,” He re-explains, searching your face for a reaction, “but... I’d hoped to tell you that over pizza on Friday.” Kuroo looks away.

If you weren’t already gaping over his personal confession, you would probably be laughing at this new side of Kuroo. He looks unmistakably bashful.

It takes you a second to recover, but you finally open your mouth to respond...

But you’re cut off by Kuroo, once again. His softened expression is long gone. And, much to your dismay, he’s suddenly shifting himself off of your bed.

“It’s just too bad you didn’t keep up your end of the bargain. I guess that means there’ll be no pizza… no movie… no me.” He slowly releases your hands, knitting his brows together to feign sorrow - it looks hilariously forced, but you’re too worried about the warmth leaving your fingertips to care.

He’s teasing you like you’re his best friend.

And that’s because you are.

So then why does it feel like something’s changed? Like he’s daring you to make the next move?

Before he can pull away and leave, you tug at his hand which draws his whole body toward you.

Your heartrate spikes through the roof. When’s the last time you’ve been this close to someone? To a guy? A guy who’s shown actual living, breathing interest in you.

And he’s in your face.

Close enough that his scent, his cologne, is drowning your senses. Close enough that his breath is fanning faintly against your cheek. Close enough that you know there’s only one thing left for you to do.

Before you can think to hesitate, your lips are brushing up against his.

Intuitively, he brings his hands to your face, closing any extra distance. 

Kuroo’s thumb feathers over your cheekbone, stroking it tenderly. His lips apply very little pressure and it’s unbearably delicate, but it fills you with an indescribable warmth. His lips linger just long enough for you to detect the mint from his toothpaste - he can probably taste the cinnamon tea you’ve been sipping on over the past hour. As far as kisses go, it’s reserved, but perfect for this distinct moment.

Plus, you figure, this is just the first of many longer, more eager kisses - though you can’t imagine being more breathless than you already are right now.

But you can hardly get another taste of him before those warm hands on your cheeks are prying you away. He stares. You stare back. His eyes are brimming with something warm and full. You immediately choose to label it, “affection.”

And in a much lower voice, Kuroo murmurs, “Let’s save this for later.” 

You scan his face, wondering if he’s actually serious. He gradually makes his way off of the bed and onto his feet and before you can protest, Kuroo is speaking again.

“You-” 

He leans down and gingerly lifts your chin with his fingers. The gentleness of his touch almost makes you flinch, but you somehow manage to hold it in the road. Though now you’re really at a loss for words.

“-need to get some good rest.”

He places a chaste kiss on your forehead.

You still feel it after he pulls away. After he closes the door. After you’ve laid you head down on your pillow in shock.

How does he expect you to fall asleep after all of that?

---

extra: this is dedicated to Izzy - our sleep schedules may be jacked up, but i’m pretty sure it’s a blessing in disguise if we’re taking our time zones into consideration. thanks for making me laugh & for not stealing my quarter of the braincell.

and to my precious friends and followers - thank you for being patient with me. it’s hard to post or even write at the moment, but i’m steadily pushing myself toward a better mindset. i appreciate your comments, likes, and the fact that y'all even bother to check out my works in the first place. i’m working on it.

also happy birthday, Tetsu. you’re a real star.

[cotncandyboifics]

A Lovely Night: Chapter 1

AO3 Link

Masterpost

Chapter 2 ~ Chapter 3 ~ Chapter 4 ~ Chapter 5 ~ Chapter 6

Pairing(s): pre-established roceit & prinxiety, anaroceit, eventual anaroloceit, eventual intruality

Word count: ~900

Story summary: Roman's boyfriends had had a rivalry since before either of them had actually met Roman. Running a bit late to a date night, Roman accidentally gets them to start dating too.

General CW: non-detailed description of an anxiety attack, non-detailed description of physical pain, food, kissing, potentially triggering descriptions of physical bodies, swearing, caps lock, school settings, s-xual innuendos, slight description of gore(imagery), vague descriptions of anxiety, Implications of an eating disorder, fatigue, dissociation, suppression of stimming, implied heavy restriction (ED), inner monologue-style anxiety description, eating,(will be added to as I write more)

Chapter CW: non-detailed description of an anxiety attack, non-detailed description of physical pain, very brief food mention, vague school setting, (let me know if i missed anything please!)

Author notes: this chapter is basically serving simply as exposition/backstory. The contents of Chapter 2 are what I originally got the idea for.

...

Roman's boyfriends had had a rivalry since before either of them had actually met Roman. The two had met in middle school, and had competed against each other passionately in the oddest and strangest ways ever since. They often got into hissing matches (or as Janus' brother Patton called them, hissy fits) with each other when either of them got ruffled up enough. But despite the fact that their relationship was entirely competitive, Janus and Virgil never meant any ill will towards each other.

Once, in his chunky black platforms, Virgil accidentally stomped directly on Janus' foot. Janus had sucked in a breath through his teeth, immediately recoiling his foot. Virgil just watched for a moment as Janus sat, cradling his foot and wincing, before opening his lunch pack and fishing around rather feverishly. He chucked an ice pack next to where Janus sat on a stair, and quickly turned to pace off to his next class. He didn't want to see Janus' reaction; that was too scary, but he felt bad for stepping on his friend's foot.

A year later, Janus happened upon Virgil having an anxiety attack.

He had his arms wrapped around his ribcage, squeezing out each of his huffing breaths, as he sat cowering against the wall of the main school building. Janus knew enough about anxiety attacks - his brother Patton got them too - so he quickly changed his course to approach Virgil cautiously. Virgil was huffing sobs at this point, and Janus knew he needed to act fast.

He sat beside Virgil and brought an arm around him. When Virgil didn't react, Janus scooped him up entirely and sat him in his lap, wrapping his arms around him protectively and beginning to whisper sweet nothings to him in a very low and calming voice.

"You're safe, Virgil, you're safe. I've got you."

After about twenty minutes, three attempts at a grounding exercise, and a struggle to copy Janus' breathing, Virgil was okay again.

He made to ask Janus how he'd known what to do, but Janus just scooped Virgil back out of his lap, handed him a large bottle of water and an apple from a concealed pocket in his jacket, and turned to leave without a word. Virgil'd take the secret to his grave that he'd genuinely smiled while drinking the water and eating the apple, steeling himself for his next class.

Freshman year, Virgil and Janus met their soon-to-be boyfriend Roman for the first time. He'd come from a different middle school, and he was immediately drawn to Janus and Virgil as much as they were drawn to him.

Virgil and Janus had never before spent time together outside of school or recess or waiting for their parents to pick them up, (which on one rainy day resulted in two completely and utterly soaked teenagers continually daring each other to make "snow" angels in large puddles) but as they both grew closer to Roman, Roman began inviting them both out and to his house to "hang out".

It took just a few months for Roman to confess his feelings for the two of them in an extremely dramatic fashion, involving him supplying lots of flowers and lots of tears. He confessed to both Virgil and Janus together, and to Roman's great confusion, Virgil and Janus claimed stubbornly to have zero romantic feelings for each other. Regardless, they all agreed to a polyamorous relationship, so that Roman and Virgil could be with each other, Janus and Roman could be with each other, and Virgil and Janus could maintain their odd friendship.

Things bloomed from there, and Janus and Virgil began spending even more unusually significant amounts of time with each other, since Roman usually took them both out on dates simultaneously. On rare occasions, they'd go out individually, but the three of them spending time together created an energy that was always undeniably fun. By the time they reached their Junior year, it began to go without saying that any date Janus or Virgil planned to take Roman on would also include Roman's other boyfriend.

This was all going rather lovely, in both Janus and Virgil's opinion. Except for one tiny problem.

Completely and utterly unbeknownst to each other, they'd both developed a massive crush on the other over the years. And one would think that this would be a simple resolution, since they and their boyfriend were polyamorous and Roman had, in fact, expected them to each be in love with the other when they'd first started dating him (and Roman had mentioned amply that if they were to "finally admit" their feelings, that he'd be more than ecstatic for his boyfriends to get together with each other). However, they would both bet their mother's entire right arm that the other didn't reciprocate these feelings. And both were, in full honesty, quite fearful that any sort of admission of their feelings would shatter the dynamic the three had. Hurting Roman or each other was the last thing either of them wanted to do.

And so, they both hopelessly pined. Blissful, almost-perfect months filled with romantic antics passed.

But one day, by an imperfectly-perfect quick change of plans, everything flipped like a pancake.

[katherinewilliams221b]

For A Greater Good 14/18

not my gif just the text. Some Things Are Meant To Stay Hidden

Summary: Kate Williams, young healer and member of the Order, joins Durmstrang’s staff at Dumbledore’s request. Her mission? Find a   Death Eater and survive long enough to tell the story. Set in 1996.

Pairing: Charlie Weasley x ofc/mc

Masterlist

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5]

[Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10]

[Part 11] [Part 12] [Part 13]

-

5 months ago,

“You must stop at once.”

“Where is it, Karkarov?” The former headmaster looked around before returning to the conversation. 

“I don’t think you understand what you’re getting yourself into…”

“You dragged me into this ten years ago! Finish what you started.”

“I had the time to meditate about it, and now I implore you to do the same if you don’t want to end up dead.”

“He is looking for you, you know? And He’ll find you, eventually. You’re nothing but a coward. I bet the British Ministry of Magic would appreciate knowing where you are. It will take just one owl to inform my contact there.”

“Don’t try to pretend you haven’t sent someone to find me. You thought I would be so stupid to hide in the castle?”

“Tell me how to find Grindelwald’s room and you can slither back to your secret spot.”

“What do you expect to find there?”

“Something He might want.”

Karkarov scoffed.  

“What did he promise you? The resurrection stone, it’s not real. You won’t find it there and He doesn’t have it.” 

“They exist!” Agitated, the teacher approached Karkarov. “They exist and they are in that room.”

“You have no idea what you are doing.” Contemplating if he should give away his secret, he decided to put some fear in the teacher’s eyes. “Do you know how I left that abominable place they call Azkaban?”

“I know. You sang like a bird.”

“None of the names were useful to them… but perhaps the new ones will. If you behave, I won’t mention yours.”

The teacher grabbed Karkarov’s arm and exposed his mark.

“You don’t deserve this.”

“And you will never get it.”

Both of them drew out their wands as a warning.

“Who ‘s that?” Asked Karkarov.

The teacher turned and frowned at the image of Flavia Hodges leaving her classroom.

“You told me everyone was at the quidditch match.” Hodges turned and when she saw them, she was left frozen in place.

“Her sight is not her best ability but…”

“Take care of it.”

--

After helping Cassandra and Leron leave the classroom unseen, Kate wandered the corridors of the castle instead of going to prepare the activities for her class the following week.

Nor did she go to see Corentin, knowing that they had a project pending that they could not delay any longer.

She wanted to go home. She had had enough of the whole thing, and the possibility of not being able to return in a near future scared her. How much longer was the nightmare going to last?

A pair of eyes were on her, she sensed it, and tried to appear as unbothered as she could. The attempt at discovering who was watching her through legilimency failed, so she turned around to check her back. There was nothing out of the ordinary, just students coming and going.

As she turned to continue on her way, she came face to face with Kent Jorgensen, who only glanced at her before looking around.

“I’d like to talk to you. Not here. There are too many prying ears.”

Kate knew that Cassandra would tell Jorgensen that someone else knew the secret that they had managed to keep hidden, but she didn’t expect it to be so soon. She followed him to the front door, and they went outside. “A walk?”

“To the greenhouse.” The phrase came out as a command rather than the suggestion she had in mind.

“To the greenhouse, then.”

They walked silently the short way to Kate’s workplace and when she closed the door behind her, Jorgensen finally spoke.

“So you know.”

“Yes.” She put on some gloves to protect herself from the bite of the fanged geraniums and started placing the pots on the central table, side by side, unconsciously creating a barrier between the two. She grabbed a spray and casually started to take care of her plants.

“I think I owe you an apology.” Jorgensen commented, looking around. “You have made a very interesting place out of that old building. Where did you get the umbrella flowers?”

Kate stopped spraying the geraniums and looked him straight in the eye. “Why do you owe me an apology?” Jorgensen lowered his head.

“I misjudged you. I thought you were here for him. When... what are you doing?”

“Yesterday I gave them gumbumbles to eat. If I don’t clean their teeth, the treacle can wilt them.” While Jorgensen was talking Kate had opened a drawer and pulled out some forceps she put in the mouth of one of the geraniums so she could sprinkle a greyish substance inside.

“Leron is not conscious when he is under the influence of the Billywig. When I heard that Flavia had suffered these ‘accidents’ I thought... I was afraid for him.” Jorgensen frowned as he saw Kate put her hand into the geranium’s mouth.

“The tongue must also be cleaned,” she simply said. When she finished with that plant, she left her gadgets on the table. The time for evasion was over.

“I apologise to you too.” Jorgensen looked surprised. “I thought you were behind Flavia’s accidents.”

“And why would you think such a thing?”

“Well... you must admit that you didn’t look innocent when you talked about it.”

The professor put his hands behind his back, “So Rhode really didn’t bring you here to take him away?” Kate shook her head, hoping he would believe her.

“I’ve already told Steiner. Rhode doesn’t know anything, and if she finds out, it won’t be because of me.”

Kate continued her routine, taking care of each of the geraniums while Jorgensen eyed at her.

“He’s always been like that, you know? His wife’s death only made it worse.”

“Steiner told me you don’t want to send him to a hospital.”

“She doesn’t want to. I’ve been flirting with the idea since the day he hit Micael.” He paused, and Kate looked up as she sensed a deep sadness. “He’s my friend though, nobody knows him better than us.”

“I understand what you mean.”

“Losing the people you love is a heavy pain. As if a rock bigger than you were crushing your chest. It’s our responsibility to learn to get rid of the weight that keeps us from moving forward and go on our way with a little bit of dirt in our pockets, to remind us of what we have experienced.”

As Kate put the pots back and cleaned the soil off the table while taking glances at him. Jorgensen was left pensive for a moment and continued to speak, perhaps to himself, in a monologue he wished would help him clear his head.

“Leron took refuge in a familiar place, a dark place where he could neither see nor feel. A decision that is taking its toll on him.”

Kate sat down on one of the benches, the table still keeping the distance between them. Better that way, she thought, despite the situation with Jorgensen had taken quite a turn, she didn’t trust anyone in that school.

“Is there anything else you want to ask me?” He questioned.

“I know he’s meeting someone in the woods.” Jorgensen’s eyebrow shot to his hairline, “With whom?”

“With his supplier, of course. The Billywigs are not native to this area. That man is very elusive. Every day I fly over the forest to find him, but by the time I get down he’s gone. I have never managed to catch Leron with billywigs in his hand because he used to hide them here before entering the castle”.

Kate pondered this new information for a long time. She couldn’t imagine how she would feel if any of her friends were going through a similar situation, and she couldn’t find anything to tell Jorgensen that would help him in the least.

“It must be very difficult,” she finally said. The professor nodded and rolled up his sleeves, revealing some red scratches.

“Cassandra told me you saw one of his light episodes. But if he’s got over three billywigs in him... things get a little twisted.”

“Do you think he will get over it?”

“I’m hoping he will.”

--

“As we have already discussed, obtaining hybrids comprises two phases; we have already made enough crosses and we have a pure line of umbrella flowers. The next step will be to cross them again, this time with fanged geraniums”.

Kate tapped her fingers against her thigh, waiting impatiently for the class to finish. She placed a pot on the greenhouse table, with a seemingly calm geranium.

She gave several instructions on how to treat it, pointing to the teeth and thorns as points to watch for, and let them experiment on their own.

She put her hand to her chest, following the dragon-shaped silhouette of her necklace through the clothes. In a short time it would all be over.

The thought grieved her too. Over the months she had developed a special affection for these children and not only because she feared they would run around in the same hallways with a loose Death Eater, but because she genuinely liked them.

And Corentin. Oh, what would she have done without him these months? He was being of great help in her mission; both investigating and being the only thing that prevented her from collapsing completely.

“After transferring the pollen, don’t forget to cover the geranium pots.” She said almost shouting, so she could be heard among the voices of the children.

When they heard the castle bell, Kate practically pushed them out of the greenhouse, closed the door and shot out to the castle, throwing a  “See you on Friday!” Over her shoulder.

It was the day. The day Corentin and Kate agreed to start the trip to Grindelwald‘s room. Kate was a walking ball of nerves; not only for the excitement of investigating secret parts of a magnificent castle, but she would also be alone and probably in the dark.

“Here you go.” Corentin whispered, handing her the complete map.

The week prior, Kate and Corentin had done their best to find a way through Nerida’s painting. They racked their brains thinking about it until the only solution left was to find another way.

It didn’t take long for them to follow the path that led to the room and discover, to their great surprise and a touch of concern, that the starting point was a well-known place.

The library.

Now all that was needed was to find the how.

Behind the wall guarded by the librarian’s desk, Kate and Corentin were hiding in the dark.

Corentin looked at the stairs that led to the first floor of the tower where section C of the library was located. “It’s impossible for you to go up. The path ends here.”

Kate inspected the opposite wall, noticing nothing out of the ordinary. “Do you think it will have a Muggle mechanism like the painting?”

Corentin hummed, but did not answer the question.

With steady hands, Kate began to probe the stone in search of something; she did not know what, but something.

She gasped when a strange sensation ran through her body. In one corner, the wall had stopped being material to the touch and her fingertips disappeared.

She quickly reached out and looked at Corentin. “I have seen this spell before. There is... there is a door in a tower that cannot be opened. I went through it to go to a teachers’ meeting.”

She tested the wall again, this time inserting her arm up to her elbow, and took it out again, confirming her theory.

“I felt air on the other side.”

“Good luck, then.”

Kate wielded her wand a little harder than usual and with a long sigh after nodding to Corentin, ventured deep into the building.

It was not completely dark. A light could be seen in the distance. She made her way with the light emanating from her wand to the first torch. The path had narrowed in her wake without her noticing, and the space she had to manoeuvre had become limited.

The map had not yet blurred, but she didn’t risk losing it completely, so she approached it delicately towards the fire.

There was at an intersection with two possible directions and she took the one on the right as indicated on the map. The one on the left led to some stairs that went up to the first floor.

The passage became even narrower, forcing her to turn sideways and walk facing the wall. As she moved forward, she heard voices near her. They were not obvious; the sound was lost in the stone, but she could tell that she was just behind the advanced duelling classroom.

A sound of an explosion startled her, and there, pressed against two walls, she held her breath, thinking, irrationally, that the entire structure would collapse, leaving her buried and forgotten forever.

Her rational part of her brain understood that it was just a spell that had bounced off the wall, confirming that Libor Marek was on the other side.

Without wasting any more time, she kept going, as she could, the long way until it widened.

She took a deep breath and stopped.

The map was almost gone, but the last lines indicated that she had to go down the stairs right in front of her. Kate began to descend with little enthusiasm and soon reached the last step. It was on the same level as the castle kitchens.

Her footsteps echoed around her, and she wondered if anyone could hear her.

Suddenly, something else reverberated on the walls of the passage. A metallic, dry and very short sound almost imperceptible were it not for the fact that she was walking very slowly.

She stood still and waited.

She waved her light back and forth, but there was no one with her. As she moved one foot to begin her expedition again, she heard it once more, this time recognising the sound as something she should have avoided.

Behind her, part of the wall began to fall out of place; a seemingly endless stone wall closed off her path, and when she thought she could only go forward, she realised that she had been hopelessly trapped; another wall closed off the passage.

She folded the now-empty map as best she could and kept it up her sleeve so she could approach the wall freely. She cursed when she heard the noise again.

The walls began to move towards her. Kate frantically searched for something to help her escape the fate that awaited her in a few minutes. With her wand between her teeth, she groped the wall that was pushing her back and with wide eyes watched as the second one was getting closer and closer to her back.

She tried to stop them with a repelling spell, but the space was getting smaller and smaller with every second. In desperation she continued to touch the stone that was oppressing her and for a second her hand sank.

As fast as she could, she went through the rock the same way she entered the tunnel system in the library, and appeared on the other side. Several torches lit up part of the way.

Behind her, the two walls met, raising a cloud of dust that made her cough. Now there was no turning back.

She lost track of time as she walked. The corridor was long as it crossed the castle from side to side. Luckily for her, she didn’t need to have her wand lit. With several torches at her disposal, she turned right, where a flight of steps would bring her closer to her goal. When she reached the top, she was left in the dark again.

The feeling was strange. She was not on the main floor, but neither was she in the depths from which she had come.

With a last glance at the paper, she turned left, venturing out on the last stretch of the journey.

The tunnels drawn on the map were disappearing, but Kate had already reached her destination. She stopped at the crossroads and lit up the area with her wand.

To her left was the long awaited gate and to her right, stairs to the first floor that reached a dead end. With the map erased and no torches nearby, she sensed that that was the space where Nerida’s painting was.

With a deep breath to calm herself down, she took the metal mop and pulled, discovering that the door was open. Thinking that the last stretch to her goal had been suspiciously easy, she ventured into the room.

She immediately covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve; decades of dampness and pestilence had accumulated in the room, and the fact that the only point of ventilation was the door she entered would not help the situation.

She felt around the nearest walls and found a candlestick. Waving her wand very delicately so as not to overdo the size of the flames, she pronounced, “Incendio”.

She was startled when all the candles in the room lit up in an electric blue, revealing several disturbing elements.

She took two steps back, closing the door with her back in the process.

Recovering her temper, she approached the first thing that caught her attention: a large glass cylinder that almost reached the ceiling, filled with a green liquid that was most likely stagnant water.

A skeleton of a creature which could perfectly well have been a snake or some type of sea serpent, rested on the bottom surrounded by smaller bones. She wrinkled her nose and looked away to the rest of the room.

Just to the right of the tube was a desk filled with sketches and writings. It was not the only place where there were scrolls, though; the walls were practically wallpapered with drawings and notes. The Deathly Hallows symbol was obsessively drawn all over the place.

At the door, Kate recognised the map of Nerida recreated with several pieces of paper.

She focused on the desk where there were more documents. She frowned at the particularly dark drawings of creatures that were not exactly human, but Kate could not recognise what they were.

On one sheet of paper the word ‘Inferi’ was written.

Above the desk and completely covered by scrolls was a world map, with some pins in certain places. A small piece of paper was written on it: ‘Peverell?’

She surrounded the chair that stood in her way and came to a shelf full of jars; some empty and others with ingredients for potions.

She touched something with her foot and almost jumped up to the ceiling.

A crystal ball rested on a complex system of tubes and wires that she could not identify. With the hit, the ball vibrated for a few moments and Kate held her breath.

Relieved when the ball was finally in place, she bent down to read the label attached to it: ‘Erik Aaberg.’

“No...” She sighed. She had found the place where he had captured the obscurus.

On the ground there were more drawings, this time of several children with detailed descriptions.

In the silence, she heard her own saliva coming down her throat as she imagined how Grindelwald chose his victim.

Beyond the system that once contained an obscurus, she glimpsed the feet of a black lectern she had never seen before.

She conjured up lumos again so she could see better and stood up to read the scroll that rested there.

Curious.

It looked new, and the layer of dust was not as evident as in the other objects. She unrolled it and began to read.

Alecto Carrow

Amycus Carrow

Walden Macnair

Lucius Malfoy

Narcisa Malfoy

Isidora Gonore

Thorfinn Rowle

Antonin Dolohov

Cyprus Raynott

Malina Hadwise

Corban Yaxley

Gaspar Avery

The list stopped there, but the trembling of her jaw did not. She recognised several names: Corban Yaxley had become friends with her grandfather many years ago, after he had dealt with a plague of acromantulas in the mansion where she lived as a child; Lucius Malfoy, a man from the Ministry who would not leave Mr Weasley alone, his son was studying with Charlie’s brother; Cyprus Raynott! Her father’s workmate, and the person who had come to Durmstrang to find Igor Karkarov.

She recognised Dolohov’s name from the newspapers; he was imprisoned in Azkaban for being... a Death Eater.

Would... would it be possible that... all of them...

But she couldn’t warn anyone. Not Mr. Weasley, not her father, not anyone from the Ministry. As safe as the Durmstrang post was, such a letter would be easily intercepted, and even more so if someone was waiting for it. Because that list was unequivocally what the school’s Death Eater wanted to find at all costs.

She could try to communicate via her patronus, but she had refused to learn that spell from Dumbledore, not only because she had only managed to cast her patronus once in her life but because she considered it a dangerous way to send messages.

She read the list again, but none of the teachers appeared on the paper.

An unknown sound left her frozen in place. It wasn’t footsteps or voices, but like a crackling sound around her. No, it was as if someone was writing beside her; it was a sound of a quill on paper.

She instinctively took the scroll to her ear, and the noise became more evident.

She waited for a few seconds and out of nowhere, just below Gaspar Avery, a new name appeared that made her blood run cold.

Severus Snape.

Her breath was laboured, and a heavy sensation pressed against her chest. She looked around frantically, wondering what her next step might be. She did not want to leave the room behind, but she could not stay there long either.

She rolled up the scroll again and tucked it up her sleeve in a hurry. With one last look at Grindelwald’s belongings, she headed for one of the candlesticks to extinguish the flames. As she blew, all the lights went out.

She closed the door behind her and cast some protective incantations to make it at least more difficult to enter. She checked the doorknob twice and slipped through the shadows into the dead-end corridor.

The wall was cold to the touch, there was only stone, but there had to be a way out that did not go through the hapless maze that she had come from. She murmured ‘lumos’ and bent down to look for the mechanism that had opened the painting, but this time she was on the other side of the wall, so she had little hope.

She felt a buzz as she ran her hand along the bottom of the wall which intensified as she reached the third from the right.

Practically lying on the floor, she looked for a way to operate some mechanism that would open the door. By applying a little pressure, she could feel the ‘click’.

She thought she saw the wall light up suddenly, with a blue glow that disappeared in the second, but when she got up the wand had come near her face so she didn’t give it much importance.

Nothing.

What had made that sound?

When she touched the wall again, she thought it had been a fatal mistake: she felt a pull in her stomach and a force that pushed her forward. Her hands went through the wall first and touched something solid again, the painting, which as she continued to be consumed by the castle, opened up as she pushed it.

In less than a couple of seconds Nerida Vulchanova had spat her out of the bowels of her fortress and from the ground, relieved that she had not hit her head, she saw the waves that had been created on the stone as she passed solidify again. The painting closed and Nerida watched her from the heights.

“Thanks... I guess.” She said to the painting.

She crawled a little until she was leaning against the wall and massaged her arm. The hidden object burned against her skin. She had to go to her room immediately and hide it; or take it with her at all times; or say ‘thank you very much’ to Rhode and leave in the first carriage to London.

To her left was an armchair which promised to be much nicer than the floor, and she mustered the courage to get up to it.

Just when she had caught her breath, someone came through the door. The shelves prevented her from seeing who had entered, but she did see the figure standing at a display case.

Effectively putting her own feelings aside, Kate sensed contradictory feelings in the stranger; a deep sadness, helplessness, confidence, arrogance.

She stood up, alerting the intruder. The teacher’s long earrings swayed as she bowed her head.

“Miss Williams, what brings you here?” Yankelevich commented casually. Kate approached the teacher, not to engage in conversation, but to find out what she was looking at so gloomily.

“I like to come here. It’s a quiet place.” She glanced at the display case and read the plaque of the largest trophy there was. Lena Yankelevich.

“My sister. Magnificent seeker.”

Libor Marek came through the door creating a great din, and both witches turned around. Kate took advantage of that to go to the door and say goodbye quickly, without stopping to wonder why there were so many people in that room and with the name of her former potions teacher hammering into her brain.

--

[Part 15]

A/N: you have no idea how hard it was to write this chapter lmao.

Tag List: @am-i-space​ @eldritchscreech​ @cazreadsstuff​ @meteora-fc​ @the-navistar-carol​

[peaches-writes]

super random prompts for today bc im feeling nostalgic~

tw // death

at 1100 years of you fulfilling your punishment as a human turned grim reaper, no one could blame you when you confess that you don’t really know yourself now if the promise you swore to chan before he died by your sword in his first life is still serious or holds meaning to you. it was a long long time ago, already muddled in your failing memories, when you swore to the joseon era prince that you would ‘find and torture him in every life he gets’ because he invaded your village and branded you as a criminal (which ultimately led to you doing the things that got you landed with your current spiritual punishment). at present, having already met different versions of him in his subsequent lives and delivering him to the afterlife each time without fail, you’re not sure anymore if you can still hold onto this promise and cause him trouble. after all, every version of him that pops up on your radar throughout the centuries never remembers what he did in his first life, let alone remember you. plus, the only time he sees you now as a grim reaper is on his death bed, when you come to fetch him and confess to causing some of the misfortunes he’s experienced in the life that he’s lived. 

so imagine your surprise when the gods inform you that chan only has one reincarnation left to spend and that he’ll spend it in the 21st century seoul, right where everything started. you’re then furthermore petrified when this version you meet not only has the ability to see and interact with ghosts by his 3rd eye but also finds the journal you unknowingly drop at his neighbor’s funeral: filled with notes on him and his previous lives as well as the confusing feelings you’ve unconsciously developed over the years. the final nail in the coffin, however, is that he’s not smug about it when he eventually finds you at the local graveyard, unlike how you expected of the chan from the joseon era. instead, he asks you all about his past lives, your punishment, and what he should expect in his next life if he has any. this time, with no means of escaping from his 3rd eye and his dangerously fast biking skills, you’re forced to confront the soul of the person you once called your enemy. 

more of the kids under the cut!

minho receives a google form link from you at the strike of midnight on your 1st anniversary as a couple, initially opening it on the assumption that it’s the survey form you previously coerced him into agreeing to answer for your senior thesis. the computer science major is then thoroughly surprised when the link opens to a red and pink-themed form titled, “y/n’s boyfriend application!” with questions ranging from, “full name so i can flames it with my name” to “rate my annoying habits from ‘i love them dw’ to ‘this is probably going to be one of the future reasons why we’ll break-up.’” he messages you first before anything else, asking you just exactly ‘what the fuck is this application for, babe?’ to which you only reply with a spam of winking emojis. actually, you only reply with winking emojis and actual winks when he decides to videocall you into answering him, leading minho to answer the form while you’re peeking over on a small browser on his laptop screen. your boyfriend mainly answers the questions lightheartedly, even reading his answers aloud to you after (”what number on the fan do i like? four, of course!” “minho, you’re a monster.”). that is until the last question which he only smiles at before spending the last five minutes of your videocall typing continuously then ending the call after submitting, preventing you from interrogating him and his sudden change in behavior. 

it’s only after the call that you see his answer to the last question (”why do you love me”), an entire eight paragraphs of him just mindlessly rambling about whatever comes at the top of his head to answer the question: ranging from his favourite and least favourite memories of you together, the things he loves about you coupled with the things he claims to not like about you (before shyly admitting towards the end that he still finds things to love about them), and an “overall there’s a lot of reasons why i love you: some i’ve mentioned, some i haven’t, some i’ve discovered, and some i will find out about in the future when we celebrate our 2nd year anniversary, 3rd, 4th, and the ones we’ll eventually forget what number they’re supposed to be because we’ll probably be married and busy with a lot of other things ;) there’s just no one definitive answer to this question, to be honest, but this is what comes at the top of my head. happy one year, baby <3″ 

when the fabric of reality that blankets seoul is reported to have been ripped at the seams, you start mysteriously losing some of your personal belongings to the parallel dimension’s version of your apartment. at first you blame it on your public enemy no. 1 and roommate, changbin, who does have a habit of borrowing things without permission and forgetting to return them. when you find a blue-haired and heavily tattooed changbin using your hair dryer in the bathroom one day (clearly looking very different from the roommate you’ve been living with for 6 months who has blonde hair and piercings only), however, only then do you realize that it’s been your roommate’s parallel version who’s been unknowingly receiving your things. what’s more surprising is him getting visibly confused at you initially throwing a fit at him when you mistook him as your real roommate, explaining to you later on that he and your parallel version are dating. you purposely avoid parallel dimension changbin for a few days in embarrassment from the latter, that is until he sits you down in the living room a week later (while your dimension’s changbin is out at his part-time job) and asks you, “so, what’s your problem with my parallel self? maybe i can help!”  

only parallel dimension changbin proves himself to be unhelpful when all he comments on your subsequent ramblings is a cheesy grin and, “your roommate’s probably in love with you. god, i can’t believe that even in your reality i’m stupid.” 

in a world where the person who doesn’t reciprocate an individual’s strong feelings instead of the other way around, hyunjin’s had his own fair share of sick days and pharmacy runs to suppress the flowers that bloom in him from admirers who fall way too deep into his charms. he’s slightly grown desensitized to it, having already memorized what to do and what to say to the people who are forced to confront and apologize to him each and every time. when it’s you who’s suddenly confessing your sudden feelings to him, promising that you’ll get over it in a month and even stay away for a while for his sake, only then does he feel a strange mix of dread, worry, and fear at the pit of his stomach. he doesn’t want you, his best friend, to ever leave his side but at the same time he can’t find it in himself to reciprocate your feelings for you to stay. for the first time, he doesn’t know what to do nor what to say to you, the daffodils suddenly feeling heavier in his lungs the more you try and distance yourself and see new people.

 jisung, unlike how the cliche trope goes, always bets everything on him missing his shot at your subdivision’s basketball court. he always says something along the lines of, “if i miss this shot, let’s go the movies!” or “if the ball falls off the rim after 5 seconds, you’ll go to the beach party with me!” despite being the star player of your high school basketball team himself. he always purposely misses for fun and gets his reward, of course, even when you remind him to shoot properly through flustered expressions and feigned huffs. this has then caused you your entire summer time and allowance, all spent glued to jisung’s hip and buying him all sorts of things from ice cream, extended time to borrow surf boards at the beach, and even a ride ticket to the travelling carnival’s ferris wheel (where he stole a kiss from you at the top like the cheesy little shit that he is). 

whenever you ask him why he bets in reverse each and every time, however, only then does his confident smirk disappears into his blush and he turns his entire face away from you; too shy to admit that you make him a little too nervous whenever it’s just you watching him shoot hoops. give him a rest, he just wants more full assurance that he’ll get to spend more time with you, as boyish as that sounds. 

you probably should’ve known better than to provoke chenle and wooyoung when you told them over the student council meeting that a marriage booth probably wouldn’t give you a lot of revenue since your school festival this year doesn’t fall on valentine’s day week. you probably should’ve expected that the first thing they’d do after the student assembly, when the festival is formally opened, is to drag you into said marriage booth—your english classroom decorated from top to bottom in cheap white cloth, plastic flowers, and an edit of your senior alumni bang chan as jesus—and put you into one of the flower crown veils they probably got at someone’s baptism, explaining that they need someone to kickstart the booth and attract more customers. but most of all, you probably should’ve expected that these two troublemaking vice president and secretary of yours wouldn’t hesitate to take this opportunity to torment you even further because suddenly you’re getting fake married to felix, your chem lab partner and long-time crush, who also has his own ‘sins’ to atone to chenle and wooyoung (something about ditching them at a party because he saw an injured cat stuck up on a tree on the way to the venue). the two of you stand in front of the “bang chan altar” for 10 minutes with han jisung in a questionable pope costume, the two of you attracting passersby who are mostly your classmates murmuring “oh my god, y/n and felix?” or “i knew it! those two are so cute together!” as the two of you are forced into exchanging cereal box rings and saying impromptu vows. 

what you didn’t expect from this experience, however, is felix suddenly confessing in his vows, clearing his throat awkwardly while sliding the purple plastic ring on your ring finger and saying, “this isn’t how i imagined it to go but we’re both here, all of our classmates are here, and you’re looking really pretty today so, uh...y/n, i just want to say that i’ve really liked you for a long time.” 

your grandmother shows you her first look of disapproval over your weaved fabrics when you start creating pieces that seem to resemble the aura of a boy. as much as you don’t want to see her disappointed, tradition still stands that you have to design your fabrics according to how you would interpret your dreams and since you turned 18, all you’ve been dreaming about is your potential soulmate. of all 7 billion in the world, you just have to be one of the rare ones with the ability to interpret your dreams on textile and have these said dreams be your soulmate bond to someone else as well. instead of arbitrary colors or shapes resembling nature like your grandmother and everyone else, you’re trying to recreate the face of a boy your age with the kindest smile you’ve ever seen and the prettiest brown eyes; instead of putting the sounds of the ocean or the chirping of birds as they would be usually heard in dreams onto colorful fabric, you’re trying to mix red, orange, and yellow dyes on threads just to try and capture seungmin’s golden voice whenever he would sing to you in your dreams. your soulmate becomes your muse, the lasting impressions he makes on you in the 3 real-time seconds of dreaming that you spend with him embedding themselves into the blanket you’ve been tasked to make for the winter. 

seungmin is more than flattered of course, finding genuine fascination in what you do and excitement to see you in person once university allows him. it’s only at the end of the year, however, right on christmas day, when he finally sees you on vacation in your town with his family—finding you at the beach party his new friend hyunjin invites him to where you dance around the bonfire with your own friends, wrapped in the blanket made of warm colors that just scream his very soul and aura. your eyes meet almost as soon as he arrives because of your soulmate pull, causing you to become flustered at realizing that you’re wearing the blanket design that’s been inspired by him, and before he knows it, kim seungmin is running to you and grabbing your arm. “hi.” he pants breathlessly, his relieved smile shining brightly against the orange glow of the fire to your side. “finally. it’s you!” 

jeongin stares at his laptop for a solid 5 minutes in complete and utter confusion before his roommate seungmin pokes him on the side of his head and asks if he passed his dream university, snapping him out of reality. it’s not that he didn’t pass the entrance exam, definitely not because he’s still feeling confident from answering it from almost 6 months ago. rather, it’s that the acceptance e-mail sent to him by the university is for a completely different name, your name out of all applicants out there—that one person he sat next to at cram school and turned down at the end of the summer. logging into his social media accounts, he sees people voicing out their concerns for similar incidents, that they’re getting acceptance or rejection e-mails of other applicants instead of their own, and posts that aim to track down who’s gotten who to remedy this. when seungmin hears this, he simply shrugs and urges jeongin to simply message you and get over it since the two of you are connected on social media anyway. but still, jeongin takes another hour to message you with a simple, “hi, i got your e-mail. should i forward it to you?” even closing his laptop in a hurry and running back into the comfort of his blanket as soon as he hears the dreadful ping of the messenger app. he knows he shouldn’t be flustered to message you, especially with something as important as your acceptance letter, but he can’t help but feel weak in the knees at the thought of having to talk to you again after almost a year because all he can think about is that he really shouldn’t have rejected you in that offer to go to the movies in the first place. 

what’s worse is that, since he sent the message over online, his thoughts can’t help but overthink your simple “really? here’s my e-mail” reply that comes not even a second after he sends his message—even more your follow-up reply of “i got yours too btw! i’ll forward it to you when you forward mine” when he doesn’t reply immediately. jeongin’s fingers uncontrollably shake as he musters up the courage to reply, face blushing red the entire time as he e-mails you your acceptance letter. all this time, considering how the two of you haven’t talked in a long time, he only thinks about one ambitious thought: “is it a bad time? to bring up that movie offer again?” 

[nyctolovian]

this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore

This was written for @tma-safehouse-fest day 3-5 prompt (pining). But its sorta a dedication to the way the romance is written cos jon and martin legit try so hard to make things work :’ Please enjoy it!!

Summary: A study of Jon's love for Martin and why he kept it. (set in S4)

link to AO3

Jon knew exactly what this was—pining. Very useless and painful pining.

He was surprised by how quickly he recognised it. Less emotionally constipated people have taken longer to notice their romantic feelings for another. It was all rather strange and hilarious, if you asked him. (But he’d heard plenty of people criticise his sense of humour so he suggested you take this opinion with a pinch of salt.)

During the first few months in the hospital, despite his coma, he heard Martin—sensed him even. He noticed Martin not in words, though Jon knew he was being spoken to, but in presence and genuineness. And he came often, and would always be exuding tender care. Then, his presence began to dwindle with each passing visit, before it dropped off altogether.

Jon didn't (or couldn't, given his unconscious state) think much of it. Then, while asking Basira about what happened in the Unknowing, he was abruptly reminded of him—Martin, where was he? How was he?

Then, came the first thing he would Know after becoming an Avatar. Jon was overwhelmed with the somehow already deep-seated knowledge that he had feelings for Martin, something that had apparently been left brewing like wine in his chest during his Not-Death.

Almost immediately after he came to this realisation however, he was also struck with the fact that he hadn't been visiting lately. Not within the last month. Suddenly, cold dread that Martin didn't care about Jon anymore thrummed in his chest. Had their affections missed each other? Like two fleeting trains on opposite sides glancing off one another?

No, Jon was to learn that it was much worse. Martin was working for the Lonely.

Jon's chest tightened with worry at the thought. What was he doing? Didn't he know working for any of the Fears was bad news? Jon didn't want Martin to be put in danger like this. He didn't want Martin to become… like him, whatever that meant—not human, trying hard to be not-monster…

The dread expanded in his chest when he finally saw Martin. The sheer relief he had felt when he first set his eyes upon Martin could easily set him afloat. He had lost a little weight and grown slightly pale, but he was still alive and well nonetheless, cupping a mug of tea and wearing his usual large faded sweaters.

Jon, on the other hand, must have looked awful with his coma-induced haggardness and messy bun.

When Jon called out to Martin, a look of shock passed over his face at the sight of the man. His eyes darted down to Jon's outfit.

Self-consciously, Jon fiddled with the sides of his ankle-length skirt. His usual clothes had been more or less destroyed by his numerous kidnappings and near-deaths so he had to get new ones. He had made the decision to ditch professionalism entirely and gone for 100% comfort as a petty rebellion against the institution he was trapped within. Unfortunately, his outfits of choice resembled that of a little old Grandma, he belatedly realised.

When he glanced back up nervously, Martin's initial shock was already plastered over with composure. Cheekily, however, the Eye had let Jon Know that Martin's glances were rather appreciative ones and that sent his heart fluttering uselessly.

This short interaction replayed in Jon's mind for days and days, and he found himself drenching in mortification. Every interaction after that too. He would find himself thinking back to it and regretting his every word and twitch. (Not seeking Martin though. He never regretted seeking him.) And after the first sting of embarrassment subsided, he was left with the gentle aftertaste of his pining. To be frank, it was a bitter thing, as expected of something left brewing as long as it had.

He often found himself lying in bed, bolster held tightly against his chest, imagining Martin in his arms. And he'd feel a pang of pain. One that could only be relieved by the warmth of another.

Pining was not something Jon was familiar with. He was not the type to develop crushes to begin with. On the off chance he did, however, he had always been quick to stamp out the first flames of affection, with Georgie as the only other exception. Thus, the pain of yearning for someone you could only watch and think about from afar was incredibly foreign to Jon.

It was pathetic. It was embarrassing. It was unbearable.

But he cradled it in his palms, gently cherishing, refusing to let drop. Anyone who so much as implied that this feeling was something he couldn’t help would be dead wrong.

Jon chose Martin.

He had decided for himself—vowed it to whatever sick god that was watching him—that he was going to love Martin. He found the nascent affection growing in his chest and chose to keep it, let it bloom, chose to foster it even. He saw the red string of fate on his pinky and stubbornly wound it around his wrist, twice, thrice, over and over, tethering himself to this stupid love against all rationality.

He wasn't letting go.

He wasn't letting go of Martin.

Because everyone seemed to think he was gone, lost to doing the Lonely’s bidding. Not Jon. When Martin reassured him that he was doing everything for their sake, to protect them, Jon wholeheartedly believed those words. Martin wouldn’t do anything to hurt them. He didn’t just Know this; Jon trusted him.

But if Martin kept giving and giving, what would be left of him by the end? Surely somebody had to give something back. Jon couldn’t just watch him wither away into nothingness under the aegis of the Lonely.

Who was going to pull Martin out of the Lonely when it's time for him to return? (Surely he would come back. He'd come back when this was all over. He had to.)

Jon knew it had to be himself. Because Jon loved Martin, and loving him was the most natural thing to do. And, by god, Jon was fighting tooth and nail till his body fell apart to protect this.

If he had to die to keep his love, he would.

***

“Uh,” Martin muttered. “Jon, I, uh, I appreciate this but um…”

Jon looked down at their interlocked hands, not quite registering.

“I have to open the door.”

“Oh.” Jon’s face heated. “Oh. Yes, of course.” Reluctantly, he released Martin’s right hand, shivering as he did so. This was the first brush of cool air against his now-sweaty palms in hours.

He hadn’t noticed how long they had their hands linked like this. They must have been holding hands since their reunion inside the Lonely’s realm. He had been so petrified of losing Martin again that he had clasped his hand in an almost-death grip while he navigated through the mists and fogs.

Yet, Jon found himself missing the contact already. It hadn’t even been three seconds and already Jon was longing for Martin’s touch like a needy child. His fingers were growing cold and his heart was palpitating with the ferocious urge to just grasp Martin’s hand and superglue it to his. Never in his life had he ever felt this possessive but he really couldn’t be blamed after losing so much.

As soon as Martin got his front door to open though, he turned to look at Jon with the most tender smile, and held his left hand towards him. “How about we switch hands? My other one’s gotten quite moist.”

The warmth that swelled in Jon’s chest was a ridiculous thing but he quickly snatched up that offered hand anyway.

It was stupid, trying to pack clothes into a suitcase with two hands of two different people, but they somehow made it work. And when it was Jon’s turn to pack his bag, they allowed the same silly process to repeat itself. And if they shared a hug in the middle of the living room, no one would ever know.

Jon wasn’t letting go.

And Martin wasn’t letting go either.

[dianapana]

SasuHina Month 2020 - Day 5

Prompt –Collage AU

Long Distance- Part 3

Hinata POV

Sasuke drives like a pro; whenever I’m in the car with Ino I fear for my life, Neji drives really smoothly but he always goes really really and I mean really fast so, I find myself griping the side of my seat a lot. But with Sasuke the speed is good I don’t feel like we’re about to pierce to the vail of time and his movements are confident and easy; he seems to be at ease. We’ve been on the road for about 45 minutes and we haven’t really spoken much but the silence is pleasant and it doesn’t bother me.

“So, you’re from Konoha and about my age how come we never met in school?” Sasuke is the one to break the silence.

“I was homeschooled until 10th grade. And after that I went to Suna Academy for girls. I am what you would call ‘sheltered’. My mom told my dad I should attend public school before university but he just about had a heart attack. He didn’t really want me going to University either” I didn’t mind being homeschooled I’m more of an introvert and I know that; it’s not because I didn’t go to public school it’s just how I am and I’m ok with that. But I did want to go to university so I fought for that as well and when mom came to my aid too dad didn’t stand a chance. I’m happy with my decision; I’ve made a few really good friends and enjoyed the experience so far. I also loved the freedom of doing whatever I wanted without asking for permission. I’m not a party person but I did discover I enjoy certain things that mom or dad would never allow.

“Ah makes sense. My older brother was homeschooled for about 2 years but neither mom nor dad really liked that so when I started school, they sent me to public school from the get go”

“Are you going to be a senior this year?” he looks older and more mature than I do, or at least than I feel.

“Yep, what about you?” I look from the corner of my eyes at the way his muscles move in his arm when he changes the gear. He’s not built like most guys in my classes.

“I’m also going to be a senior. What’s your major?”

“I only declared my major last semester so despite it being my last year I’ll have a lot of courses to take. I’m majoring in education. I was accepted on athletic scholarship and have been a starter on the hokey team since the second semester of my freshman year so I plan to either go pro or coach. What about you?”

“I major in creative writing and minor in photography or as my dad says, I’m paying money to become a starving artist. I’ve never seen a hockey game; my sister likes it and played a little in middle school but I was away in Suna so I never went to any of her games.”

We talk a little more about collage, I find out that he lives with one of his teammates who is also his best friend and another friend that’s a tattoo artist and is majoring in fine arts at KU. I also applied there but the creative writing program is better at the UoA. I did hear that the graphic design department from KU has some of the pest teachers in the country. I told him about Ino who I met at orientation but, we also share the same minor; her major though is flower arts, surprisingly she has a lot of business-oriented courses to pretty much teach her how to run her own shop. We’re about 15 minutes away from KU and once again I feel guilty; he’s been on the road for 4 hours even though under normal circumstances he’d just now hit the road. After passing KU we finally hit the highway and Sasuke speeds up but it’s still comfortable.  

We talk a little more for the following few hours and I’m surprised by how easy it is to talk to him. He even explains hockey to me as briefly as possible and says he’ll invite me to a game when the season starts. The implication that we will talk after the end of this pleases me. We’re about half the way to Konoha when we stop so Sasuke can fill the tank and so we can go to the bathroom, maybe drink another coffee since we drank the extra ones I packed as well already and eat something. Thankfully the gas station has a McDonalds next to it.

Sasuke POV

Once we hit the road again after eating the only noise is the radio but we don’t talk. The silence isn’t unwelcomed and awkward. After a couple more minutes I peek at Hinata and see she has fallen asleep. I dim the music a little and continue driving. We have about 5 more hours to go.

About 4 hours later I make another stop at the gas station; I need to go to the bathroom. Hinata hasn’t woken up yet. I’m debating whether to wake her up or not when her phone starts ringing loudly and waking her up anyway. She wakes up and answers in a hurry while rubbing the sleep away from her eyes.

“Hey mom. Yea we’re about…” she looks towards me and I mouth ‘1 hour away’ “1 hour away. We just stopped at a gas station. I’ll see you soon ok? I want to go to the bathroom. Bye” she hangs up not really waiting for a reply.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry I fell asleep for like 4 hours.” Her cheeks are red and I can tell she feel guilty and embarrassed but I shrug.

“No big deal” It looks like she wants to apologize again so I get out of the car. Each of us goes to the bathroom and then Hinata buys some snacks and I get myself a Pepsi and we get back on the road.

Hinata rips open the packet of candy she bought and eats a few. “Do you want some?” she asks. Usually I’m not a huge fan of sweets but I do want some sugar to get energy so I nod. I can’t take my hand that instant off the wheel so I make a small pause with full intention to extend it in a few moments but before I can do that Hinata leans over and pops a candy in my mouth. I am shocked and I look at her from the corner of my eye and she is frozen in place, her face red as a beat.

“I…umm I am sorry” her voice is barely a whisper and she leans back in her seat. “I did that without thinking sorry. I do that whenever Ino drives. In the beginning she would take her hand pff the wheel mid turn and it would freak me out so I developed this habit of feeding her rather than her letting go of the wheel. I am so so so sorry” she talks really fast and her hands are over her cheeks.

“It’s ok. You just surprised me” I say. Hinata I realize is very socially awkward. She blushes easily and apologizes a lot about everything. Despite me trying to reassure her she doesn’t talk much for the rest of the road.

Hinata POV

The candy incident happened almost 20 minutes ago but my heart still beats way too fast. I did that on instinct and the moment my fingertips touched his lips I was gone. I am way too aware of him now to be able to talk to him normally. Even if I don’t want to I notice everything about him. From his muscles that shift whenever he moves the slightest bit, to his beautiful profile, to his dark and shiny hair.

I keep my hands joined in my lap because I’m scared, I’ll do something embarrassing again. I want to touch him. I want to take pictures of him. He would be a great subject for a photoshoot. Images of him in a studio dim lighted and a bit destroyed fill my brain. He would suite something grunge or maybe something with neon lights to give him an eerie atmosphere. That is his attitude, if we were to talk about his looks, he is handsome and beautiful; he would look good surrounded by white, that would make him look like an angel. The angel analogy starts to run while when I imagine him naked with only a silk sheet over his lap. I feel my cheeks growing redder again.

I shake my head and look out the window. The familiar scenery tells me we’re only about 15 minutes away from my house, after waking up I gave him my address to put into the GPS. I curse myself for sleeping half of the ride. There’s no use lying to myself. I like Sasuke, he’s easy to talk and cool. His good looks only aid this predicament.

“We’re almost home” I say.

“You don’t sound that happy. You did say you didn’t want to return. Why is that?” He answers, eyes still focused on the road, his voice even. He really does not think about the candy incident. The knowledge hurts a little. I kind of wanted him to be as shook as I am.

“I liked the freedom I have at University. I’ve never really been the one in charge before” Mom and Hanabi are the only ones home which means we will be doing a lot of shopping. They’ll make me try on things I don’t particularly like. Most of my closet consisted of thing mom and Hanabi think look good on me but that I don’t like to wear so when I got to University I started selling them.

“I get that, I feel the same. That was also my reason for not coming back home” He admits and it shocks me a little, Sasuke doesn’t seem like someone that would let himself be controlled by someone else. This makes me relate to him, admire him for admitting something like that, Neji is very prideful and he would never say something like this.

When the car pulls to a stop in front of my house, I have to admit I am glad. I like spending time with him but I feel myself developing a crush on him that can only lead to my own demise. I look to the front door half expecting mother to come running outside but she doesn’t. Sasuke gets out of the car as well and helps me with the suitcases. I go to open the door but it is locked. I unlock it and the house is silent. Sasuke asks me where to take the suitcases and I abuse his kindness and tell him to follow me to my room. In the mean time I call mother.

“Hey mom I got home…but where are you?”

“Hinata baby I’m over at Mikoto’s come with Sasuke. She wants to meet you and we can all have a nice late lunch or early dinner” Her voice is chipper and light, is…is mom drunk?

“O….k?”

“See you soon baby” She says and hangs up on. I look at my phone and then to Sasuke.

“Um…she’s at your house” I say and he laughs.

“Of course, she is. How did we not see this coming?” Sasuke asks rhetorically as we walk back to the car. I top to lock the door. “I mean they are best friends so of course they are together.”

The drive to his home takes about another 10 minutes and this time when the car stops mom and another woman, I assume Sasuke’s mother wait for us on the front porch and they each have a wine glass in their hands. Mom is smiling wide and chats with Mikoto lively.

“Are they drunk?” I say out loud. Sasuke narrows his eyes.

“I don’t know about your mother but my mom is a lightweight. If she drank a glass of wine, she is not only drunk but wasted.”

“Mom can’t hold her alcohol very well either” I admit, we both turn to look at them still chatting away, obvious to the fact that we have arrived. We turn to look at each other and chuckle a little.

“Come o let’s go join them, drink a glass of wine too. Why should they be the only ones to have fun?” He says and gets out of the car. My heart is beating faster once again. I can’t move for a moment. Sasuke opens my door and extends his hand to me, I look at it and take it. His skin is warm and rough but I feel sparks going up my arm. I look up at him and he’s smirking at me. The sun is just now setting behind Sasuke and it gives him a golden glow. That is the moment when I realize that I already like him, this boy I met today. He lets go of my hand to go get his own bags but I can still feel his touch. I close my eyes and take a deep breath in. When I open them he’s next to me and nods towards out mothers, I nod back and we start walking up the driveway. The two of them finally see us, put their wine glasses down and come towards us for hugs. Mom kisses my cheek and tells me how much she missed me; than she hugs Sasuke and thanks him for bringing me while Mikoto hugs me and tells me how nice it is to meet me.

Looking at this scene with them so happy makes me realize that I don’t regret coming home. I’m glad I could make mom happy. I’m glad to see her having fun with a new friend. I peer from the corner of my eye towards Sasuke. I’m glad I came because I met him. I’m still looking at him when he turns his eyes to me as well and smirks. I wonder what he’s thinking. I wonder if he feels even remotely like I do. Even if he doesn’t, I hope he will still be my friend because Sasuke Uchiha is pretty cool and I’d love to have him in my life. If his mother is anything like him, I can’t blame mom for calling Mikoto her best friend already.  

Part 1 (This happens after the 2nd and 3rd part)

Part 2

[mellarkablegirl]

THE TIME OF MY LIFE

I promised a new chapter every Thursday and I intend to keep my promise. All your feedback and likes are so so appreciated.

CHAPTER1

The descent into Sydney International seemed to be taking forever and after a 22-hour long journey, I was in no mood for patience. My jittering and bouncing knee annoyed the distinguished looking man in the seat next to me , he’d introduced himself as Seneca at the beginning of the journey and one look at his sleazy smile told me , that the next 18 hours of my life were going to be an endeavor to ignore my seat mate. And If my disinterested looks and earphones weren’t enough to tell him off, I was sure my famous cold brushoffs would be quite enough. At least that’s what Gale always told me. Ahh, Gale, my stereotypically male best friend that I was sure I was hallway in love with. Gale was my first crush, on the first day of uni we got paired up for an icebreaker session. I hurt his ego by saying he was too skinny to play hulk and he shot right back by calling me Catnip. I expected for it to go all downhill from there, but weirdly enough we bonded instead. I developed a gigantic crush that just refuses to go away and he dated other girls (lots and lots of other girls) before he found his “one”, Madge Undersee.  That was off course until she stomped all over his heart and chose to move on pretty quickly. These days Gale spent most of his time moping around and being super clingy.

Pondering on my life so far seemed to be taking my mind of the creep sitting less than a foot away from me and the nervousness of what the next 6 months hold in store for me, so that’s exactly what I did. I quickly rehashed my inner monologue looking out over the blue ocean just off the Sydney coast. I was so glad that last window seat for empty and up for grabs! Anyway, here’s what I said(mentally):

“My name is Katniss Everdeen, I’m almost 21 years old, I’m from Panem , I study at the Polytechnic college with a major in Product Design , I’m doing a semester abroad program in Sydney Australia for the next 6 months , I’m going to miss my family , I love my family? I’m excited to get this ball rolling, I’m also a little nervous. “The sudden jerk of turbulence brings me out of my reverie, and with only minutes left to land I decide that this, this is going to be the time of my life and I am going to seize it.

The people here seemed so much friendlier and welcoming than back home, and their accents were adorable, the hospitality was pulling me in and I had to shake myself. Its barely been an hour since you’re here and you’re already getting soft, get a grip K! I wheeled my bags out and looked up the concourse calculating how I’d get to my new home, when a loud “Katniss!” echoed behind me. I whipped around, that voice I’d know anywhere. A little way up the concourse stood Cinna, or uncle Cinna as my mother would insist, he used to be my favorite relative before he up and moved to the other side of the world. He now beamed at me with arms open, it had been too long since I saw him and all of the emotions bubbled up and I ran into his arms, a little sob escaping here and there. An appearance of a familiar person suddenly quelled my fears, I wasn’t completely alone and this whole endeavor was going to be a walk in the park. That’s when I saw his wife standing behind, smiling encouragingly with a bundled-up baby in her arms. The cold out here was biting and Portia coming to the airport with baby Rue made me feel oh so special, especially in this weather.

“Come on squirt time to get you indoors and settled in “and with that we were off, on the car ride home we reacquainted ourselves with each other’s lives. Cinna now ran a full-fledged salon in the city and the small family lived in a cute suburban house just a few miles out of the CBD. Portia was a celebrity stylist and her flexible hours allowed her to spend more time with baby Rue who turned 1 this fall. Since the university residences wouldn’t open until next week, my first week in Sydney would be spent with Cinna and his family at their home. I settled in pretty quickly, Cinna and Portia were oh so welcoming but tiny little Rue had stolen my heart. I doubted I’d ever felt so connected and protective of a baby, save for when Prim was born.

Oh Prim! I almost forgot; it was almost time for our video call. Before I left, I promised my baby sister that I’d update her almost everyday on what I had been up to. But video calls were saved for weekends and special events. Looking at the clock I calculated the 5 and half hour time difference and decided it was too early to call home. So, I wandered into the living room, looking for something to entertain myself with. In the week that had passed I had spent most of my time outdoors, discovering the new city, going on lunch dates with Portia and stocking up of all the essentials I’d need once I moved into the dorms.

I was excited, I had been living alone for a few years as I attended Polytechnic but the whole vibe of this city was fascinating to me. The cultural diversity, the fast-paced life and the whole place in general made it seem like some kind of Hollywood production. Moving in day, dawned and it was cold. No one had warned me that Australia in June was as freezing as a tundra. But with the help of Cinna and a cute RA, that introduced himself as Darius, I was all set.  After a round of hugs and take care of your self’s I was finally left alone, not before I promised to keep Portia updated and drop in for dinner one of the days. As I plonked myself on the mattress, I let out a long sigh, here goes 6 months of new experiences I thought. Gathering up my stuff for the kitchen , I walked out only to run smack dab into a tall girl with a pixie cut and a sneer on her face , “Oh so you’re in number 8 “, she said “ Clove Richardson , the room across yours is mine and my friend Glim lives in number 1 , we’re both from the UK” she said extending her hand for a greeting. I was taken aback by the abruptness of her behavior but introduced myself nonetheless, she asked for my social media and swiftly added me to the group chat with all the girls that stayed in the apartment. I had moved into an 8-bedroom apartment in the student village right across from my campus. As she walked away, she announced that since I was finally here, we’d have a house meeting this evening.

Nodding my head, I started placing my bowls and utensils into a shelf when a quiet voice behind me startled me,” Oh I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you, I just wanted to get my groceries in. “I turned around and in front of me stood a waif like girl, she had a head full of curly auburn hair and the kindest pair of green eyes I’d seen ever, something about her seemed familiar but I couldn’t put my finger down on what.” I’m Annie Cresta and you must be Katniss? “she said with an enquiring look, I merely nodded. “Wait Annie Cresta? Do you happen to know a Finnick? Finnick Odair?” I asked suddenly remembering where I knew her from, “Why yes, how do you know Finn?” she asked a perplexed look taking over her face. I started laughing at what a small world this was, explain to her how Finn and I were good friends back in school and that he had mentioned his girlfriend ‘Annie’ multiple times during their conversations. Annie smiled, a tiny hint of mischief in her eyes and asked me how I’d settled in. I rehashed my run in with Clove and that I knew Darius. She invited me to the open barbeque later this week and all I could do was nod unsurely. I may have been hell bent on getting new experiences, but I sure wasn’t an out going person to start off with. For a matter of fact, I hated parties and large gatherings, but telling sweet Annie that there was no way I’d be found dead at that barbeque was just plain mean .I holed myself up in my room until a soft knock and Annie’s voice told me everyone had gathered out in the living room .

As I looked around the room, I noticed Clove taking to a beautiful looking girl with platinum blonde locks and expensive looking clothes, that I concluded to be the Glim she had mentioned before. Annie was speaking to a girl in mechanic overalls with her hair up in a high ponytail. I smiled at Celina the exchange student from Japan, who’d introduced herself to me during student orientation. The last two girls looked like twins but with completely opposing personas. “Listen up bitches! Let’s call this meeting to order and let’s get acquainted yeah? “the one in the overalls called out. “I’m Johanna Mason. I live in room 7 and I’m a forestry major” she nodded as if to prod the rest to follow her lead. Glim turned out to be Glimmer Roberts a data analytics major, Clove was in room 2 and a Business major. The twins were in room 3 and 5 and introduced themselves as Maria and Eva Leeg. Room 4 was Annie and room 6 was Celina and room 7 seemed to be empty so far. The girl assigned to it hadn’t turned up so far. A chore roster sheet was hung up and storage shelves divided up among the residents pretty quickly and efficiently. And rule sheets were quickly passed around. Just as I was turning around Annie called to me,” Hey Kat! Sorry can I call you Kat?” I nodded and chose to let her have her way, “Finn is coming down from Melbourne this weekend, and he wanted to know if you’d like to catch up “she asked. I nodded a little overenthusiastically, I was feeling a little left out and meeting with an old friend from home seemed to be a great idea. “I’d love too, I’ll text him and let him know, Thanks Annie! “I called as I retreated to my room.

After I texted Finn to let him know he asked if it was alright to invite another friend of his that lived in the area, I understood he had little time and agreed to it. I spent a bunch of time scrolling through Instagram, looking at what everyone back home had got up to in the last week. I wasn’t big on social media but Instagram and Tumblr had always been my weakness. Getting bored of it after a while I looked up at the clock on my study table, it flashed 8:30. Still too early to go to bed, I spent a while switching from the rather useless apps on my phone before I came up on Tinder.  I had all but sworn off the app after my last disastrous date back home, but decided there was no harm in checking out what Sydney had to offer. I swiped left on multiple Chris Hemsworth lookalikes with shitty bios before I stumbled upon the account of Darius, he was cute and had seemed to flirt with me when He helped me yesterday, so I swiped right on his goofy grin and besides he had a really smart bio too. I kept swiping for a bit before another one caught my eye. His name said Peeta, and his only picture was a shot of his eyes hidden behind a thick bound book. The quirked-up eyebrow and black framed glasses added to the adorableness of this picture. His bio said “Hummus where the Peeta is” and I genuinely cracked up I swiped right just as a notification for a match came in. For a second, I thought I had matched with cute bread guy. But the notification said Darius. An unknown feeling bubbled up inside as I deleted Tinder on an impulse. I threw my phone across the bed and pulled a novel from the nearby shelf, snuggling in to read myself to sleep. But I could barely concentrate, my mind kept wandering to bread guy. I berated myself, this is what you get for opening Tinder when you’ve sworn of it Katniss! Giving up hop on getting anything done tonight, I shut the night light and burrowed under the quilts and pillows on my bed. Willing myself not to dream of fresh baked bread and comfortable arms to snuggle into.

[darkpoisonouslove]

Disaster trio + Hollywood AU

So this got angsty and long again. Less shenanigans and more crushing reality (even when it’s fake) but the bond is still there. I hope this doesn’t deviate too much from anything you had in mind with this AU.

1. Griffin acts like her life depends on it. Because it does. Her roles are the only thing that allows her to pay for her mother’s treatment and she can’t allow herself to stop no matter how much she hates the whole lifestyle, the way she has to do it over and over again, put her entire emotional range on display for people’s enjoyment and be a fake every time she smiles at one of her costars she can’t stand but has to kiss for months anyway. She can’t lose her mother, too, after her father’s death crushed them both. It will be the end of her. Even when the roles are all that’s left of her and she clings insistently to them because at least they have lives. They have problems that get resolved in the end or they die. Either way, they have a better fate than the one she has to suffer and she plunges herself into them, researching and wearing the face of her characters like it is her own because she can’t stand looking at the mirror when the only thing she sees is a hollow where there used to be a smile.

2. Ediltrude is by her side, stepping in front of her the moment a storm approaches in the form of a pretentious director or a supporting actress that wants to tear her long hair out so maybe she’ll be cast in the leading role instead. She protects her from everyone that’s trying to make her horrible life worse and Griffin is more than grateful. It means so much. Not any less than when Ediltrude will do her nails and makeup, and her hair, and won’t let anyone come near her and touch her when they’re already taking her life’s energy. And she’ll make her laugh with her teases that can be downright offensive but are still a breath of fresh air when she knows they’re real. The only real thing among the flood of pretense around her. Just like Ediltrude’s aggression is when someone upsets her and the measures she takes to lift her spirits can be called violent in the literal sense since she’s gotten into a fight with a stylist or a production assistant on several occasions, some of them on a physical level. But strangely, bailing her out of the arrest is less of a headache than listening to people droning on and on about things she’s perfectly capable of pretending to care about - she’s one of the best actresses after all - but she simply doesn’t want to. She much prefers driving after a police cruiser to get her friend out of jail before heading home where Ediltrude has a few bottles of expensive alcohol stashed away so that they can celebrate bursting the bubble of whatever asshole has been giving them trouble that day.

3. From a professional point of view Zarathustra’s role in her career is unclear. She knows to get Griffin tea when she gets coffee for herself and her sister - and still huffs when she sees Ediltrude spicing her own drink with some liquor even though Griffin is more than used to the sight now and she only met them in college - and manages to order takeout that even Griffin finds not simply acceptable but delicious even if she would still prefer one of the home cooked meals her mother taught her how to prepare. And to be fair, Zarathustra would prefer them, too, but they spend about 16 hours at work every day and there is rarely time for her to cook, nor can she find the energy. But besides that, Zara is the person having her back. She is her emotional anchor in a way Ediltrude can’t allow herself to be because she’s afraid she’ll fall apart instead of help keep Griffin whole and Griffin can’t help but understand that. The twins lost their own mother when they were quite young - and that strained their relationship with their father - so talking about Emalyn and her condition will only bring up memories that Ediltrude prefers to keep buried under lots of makeup and a glass of whiskey in her hand that’s stuck there as often as the fake smile is on her face. But Zara is there for her, as tired and restless as she’s always been, but she listens when the burden threatens to shatter Griffin to pieces and she hugs her, the two of them soaking up the silent comfort they can exchange while Ediltrude’s laughter is heard somewhere in the distance, her fear of the silence echoing loudly in it but neither of them minds because they understand and besides, Ediltrude is their only reason to laugh truly nowadays. So they let her have her pretense when they now she hasn’t lost herself under the layers and layers of fakeness. Hollywood’s a place for escape fantasies anyway and they all went there willingly.

4. Griffin watches the twins fighting over the last pizza slice like they always do on a Saturday night when they manage to get home before midnight. Finally, they both concede and leave the piece to her and she takes it even if she’s not hungry anymore. She can’t remember when was the last time she had appetite just like she can’t remember when was the last time she felt the desire to get out of bed and didn’t have to force herself to do so and get ready for yet another day of her life that she’ll hate. It makes it hard not to hate the entirety of her life or at least the emptiness that is left in the place of what once made her bubbling with curiosity to explore what a new morning could bring her. She used to wake up way before dawn, impatient to get everything the world could offer. She still wakes up at dark but it’s because the alarm clock won’t leave her to sleep in no matter how much she’ll curse it in her mind or out loud, or even if she’ll break it by hurling it at the wall across from her. There’ll be another ring from an assistant when she’s late and then from a director when they threaten to fire her and she needs to get herself out of bed in some way, the picture of her mother on her nightstand the only thing helping her do it and not choose to lay under the blankets until she rots away while the picture of herself that appears on TV caught by some paparazzi makes her want to throw up what little of the breakfast Zara got for them she’s managed to choke down that morning. Yes, she hates mornings now. But she still stays up at night. She’ll be tired anyway but the magic of Hollywood is right there to help hide the fact that she’s half dead and she’ll make it through another day of being the ghost of a fictional character that has more life in her than her real life persona. So she takes her time at night and goes out on the roof of that big empty mansion she has that she can’t hope to ever fill when she’s so hollow herself but at least she gets a nice view of the stars. They keep shining even when she can no longer do that and she settles for housing the little happiness she can get from the sight of them before she heads back inside to get at least a little sleep so that she can scratch another day off her calendar and not make it stretch into an eternity that threatens to swallow her. Even Zara’s fallen asleep by the time she comes back in but their schedule is capable of causing even that despite Zara having a record in pulling consecutive all-nighters back when they were students with only coffee and food to get her through them. And Griffin knows it is time to go to bed and let the tiredness set in when it becomes clear even sleep can’t chase it away.

5. She can’t tell if the days when she gets to sleep longer are better or worse. She hates the idea of getting her “beauty sleep” when she has to look good for a premiere and she hates the fact that even more sleep can’t make her feel at least a bit better but at least she doesn’t have to deal with the world quite so early. That’s something. She supposes. And she gets to spend the rest of the day with Ediltrude and Zarathustra. Getting ready for the big event in question, of course. As if that isn’t a redundant phrasing when there are no small events in her life anymore, nothing to remind her she’s a person, just her job and the lack of personality she’s developed to keep her career floating when no one wants a beautiful woman with opinions and strength of character. Luckily, she doesn’t have any of that anymore. Just a few remains of the spirit that she once had tucked away where no one can reach them, not even she herself. But they come out sometimes, most unexpectedly, to brighten her night when she can’t see the stars from all the spotlights and there are flashlights blinding her as they capture the lack of light in her once bright golden eyes. Even when her sight has been hurt by someone’s selfishness as they thought they had the right to take a photo of her just because she was put on display like she’d never wanted to be, her heart can keep beating, even accelerate to keep up with the excited screams that come from the crowd, and specifically from the young girls that follow the social media accounts she never wanted. And it makes her grateful for that of all things because she can see they’re real. The excitement in their eyes, and the loud screeching as she does her best to give them a genuine smile. They’re buying the hoax she’s made to sell but at the same time they’re not. Not with how unapologetically authentic they are in their joy even if it is over the glamorous cover of the hellhole she’s stuck in. It’s still something genuine and she can only hope they won’t let their spirit die crushed by the frightening empire running on falsity that Hollywood is. She can only hope they’ll be her stars that refuse to flicker out and die no matter how much darkness their light draws to them. She can only hope that they’ll keep her own hope alive when she’s not strong enough to do that any longer.

[wildflowerhigh]

Second Time Around (c.h.)|Part 1

Read part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8

Summary: An old friend comes back into Calum’s life.

Word count: 2.2K

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“I really need some coffee, dude,” Ashton piped up. Calum looked up from tuning his bass. The cool air in the studio sent shivers up his spine.

“Yeah, I’m running on 2 hours of sleep, I could use some coffee,” Luke said, and Calum rolled his eyes.

“If you got only 2 hours of sleep, then get sleep, not coffee,” Calum remarked.

“But I need to finish this song!” Luke said, earning him a smack on the head from Michael. Calum got on his feet to join an already-standing Ashton, his joints cracking as he moved. He listened to the orders of the people in the room, already forgetting what they had said and shuffled out of the carpeted room with Ashton into the LA sun. The hot sunshine immediately caused a layer of sweat to form on his skin.

They had been hard at work on the new album for a few months now, and Calum was close to running dry of ideas. The other three had distractions- their girlfriends, that also seemed to serve as inspiration to them, but Calum was alone. All he had was his music, and his dog.

The two friends strolled down the LA street, and entered the nearest café, casually talking about the latest song they were working on. Calum waited patiently to the side while Ashton ordered.. He glanced around the shop, and his eyes fell on a familiar-faced girl.

She was seated at one of the tables, head slightly down as she looked at something, presumably her phone, hidden under the table. Her shoulder length raven black hair covered her ears, which seemed to be holding earphones. She took a sip from a cup in front of her and glanced around the shop every now and then, her eyes not resting on anyone for more than a second. Calum realized why she looked so familiar when he suddenly figured out who she was.

“Ashton. Ashton,” he loudly whispered, elbowing his friend, not taking his eyes off her. “Isn’t that Harper from high school?”

Ashton looked at the girl skeptically, but was shocked to find that Calum was right. “Shit,” he whispered. “It is actually her.”

At that exact moment, the girl they thought was Harper glanced up, eyes falling on the two men staring at her. Ashton warily waved at her; she looked at them confused (and with a little fear of the two strange men waving at her), before she lit up with recognition, and waved back.

Ashton took this as an opportunity to walk over to her, and she pulled the earphones from her ears. Calum swallowed the sudden nerves he had developed and followed his friend. “Harper?” Ashton asked.

“Ashton and Calum?” she asked back, grinning, and Ashton nodded, smiling. Calum smiled at her as she stood up to hug them. The top of her head just came up to Calum’s jaw, and when she hugged him, he could smell her vanilla-scented shampoo. Ashton and her started talking, unaware of Calum’s racing heart.

“It’s been forever! How have you guys been?” she asked.

“We’ve been great, I mean, obviously, the band took off,” Ashton replied, gesturing, and she giggled. The soft sound somehow made him feel like a teenager again. “How are you? What are you doing here?”

“Well, I thought I’d get a coffee-”

“No, I mean in LA!” Ashton replied. She laughed out loud, tucking away a strand of hair already behind her ear.

“I moved here for work,” she said, and Ashton nodded knowingly.

Calum stood quietly, observing his high school crush as she animatedly conversed with his best friend for the next few minutes. He wasn’t exactly listening to their conversation- his knees went weak every time she glanced at him, a smirk on her face, and he could barely recover before she smiled at him again. He presumed he looked like an idiot, just standing there smiling sheepishly at her.

“For Ashton!” the barista finally called from behind the counter, and Ashton and Calum looked back. Their order was ready.

“Looks like we have to get going, but it was so great seeing you again!” Ashton pulled her into a hug again, and then she hugged Calum. If he didn’t have any butterflies in his stomach before, he definitely had them now.

“We should hang out, I wanna see Luke and Michael,” she said, and Ashton nodded knowingly.

“They’ll be really excited to see you, yeah. Here, give me your number,” Ashton responded, handing her his phone. Calum watched on silently, the prospect of seeing her again increasing the intensity of the butterflies in his stomach.

She gave Ashton’s phone back to him, and they bid their goodbyes. “Bye, Calum,” she said before they left, smiling one last time at him, and Calum shyly whispered goodbye to her as well.

The two bandmates picked up the drinks, and the minute they stepped out of the shop, Calum heaved a sigh of relief.

“Why were you so silent, dude?” Ashton inquired, and Calum merely shook his head, and avoided looking at his friend. Ashton would eventually figure it out, and Calum was just trying to put off the relentless teasing that would come with it. “You’re acting weird,” Ashton commented. He gazed at the silent Calum walking next to him, when it suddenly hit him.

“You used to have a crush on her in high school!” he declared, prompting a groan from Calum. “Do you still like her?”

“What, no, leave me alone,” Calum huffed unconvincingly, rolling his eyes. He ignored Ashton as he continued to tease him, till they finally entered the studio again. Their bandmates looked up at them as they entered, and Ashton announced-

“Guys, you’ll never believe who we just met.”

---

Calum lay awake that night, remembering the first time he ever saw her. She was new to their school, after moving there from Melbourne with her parents. On her first day, he had forgotten to do the homework for some class, but she helped him, a complete stranger, to finish it anyway.

Since then, they ran into each other everywhere. She would smile at him when she passed him in the corridors, and would wave at him if they ever saw each other outside school. During free periods, she would sit in at football games, studying or reading a book. She never looked at him, but when she was there, Calum couldn’t ever focus on the game.

Then she was assigned to tutor Michael, because he was failing most of his classes. Michael realized that she was actually really cool, and they became good friends. And one day, he brought her to band practice.

When she walked in behind Michael, Calum almost fell off the couch. He definitely hadn’t been expecting to see the pretty girl who he had been crushing on for months to come in. He messed up all the chords that day.

But soon, he managed to become friends with her. His heart fluttered every time she talked or laughed, but he hadn’t dared to ask her out. He knew her parents were against her dating, and after seeing her savagely shut down another boy who had asked her out, he decided to remain content with being her friend.

And she had been an incredible friend, and he had made so many good memories with her. He remembered how, having an Indian mother and an Australian father (both brilliant cooks), she would bring the most amazing lunches everyday. He remembered trying to teach her to play the bass, but her giving up almost immediately; they had spent the rest of the day binging on How I Met Your Mother.

When the band started playing gigs, she always came to their shows to support them, making signs to hold up during the performance. She was never the most talkative, but she always hyped them up. It was with a sad heart that they left her behind for London for bigger opportunities; they barely saw her again after that, until they eventually lost contact.

When he had seen her in that café after so many years, he had felt like a 14 year old boy again. When she had smiled warmly at him, and waved goodbye at him, he could swear that his heart had jumped out of his chest.

The thought of seeing her again made his heart race. His dreams that night were filled with pleasant old memories of her from high school.

The next morning, mind still fresh with the dreams, he remembered the café encounter, and his heart thumped, a smile growing on his face. Calum immediately smacked himself on the head and composed himself- he was a grown 23 year old man, he was too old to be having crushes.

With that mentality, he went into the studio and absorbed himself in the music he loved making, and he more or less forgot about having met Harper again.

---

Calum breathed in deeply as a gust of fresh air blew past him, ruffling his blonde hair. Duke, his dog, pawed with a leaf in front of him as Calum sat on a bench, looking around. He had brought Duke to the park for a walk, and they had walked for some 10 minutes before Duke decided that he didn’t want to anymore. So Calum had settled himself on a bench, not wanting to leave the fresh air in the park so soon.

He turned to the side, not expecting to see Harper walk down the park path, hands stuffed into the pockets of her long coat. She smiled warmly at him, the smile that made his heart flutter like a hummingbird. “Hey, Calum, fancy seeing you here,” she said.

He bounced to his feet. “Yeah, I- uh, I was just walking my dog,” he replied, slightly flustered, and gestured to Duke. Duke padded over to her, poking her leg with his nose, and she immediately bent down to pet him. She played with him for a few minutes, while Calum stood and watched awkwardly.

“Do you not remember me or something?” she asked, after a few minutes of playing with Duke. When Calum just stared at her, dumbfounded by her question, she stood up to face him after petting Duke one last time. “No, like, you didn’t talk to me at all that day at the café, and now you’re just being really awkward.” Calum vigorously shook his head in denial, but she continued. “Seriously, if you don’t remember me, that’s okay, I’m not gonna judge you-”

“Of course I remember you!” he interrupted. He hadn’t realized that his awkwardness was so obvious. “I’m not that bad.”

“Then why?” she asked, amusement hidden behind her almond brown eyes.

“I just…” He paused, stalling for time. How could he tell her that he was being awkward around her because he had had a crush on her 8 years ago and now clearly had some weird leftover feelings to sort through? “I guess I didn’t know how to start talking to you,” he finished.

She giggled and walked past him, towards the bench. “Well, no pressure, then,” she said, sitting down. “I’ll start the talking.” He smiled, and joined her on the bench.

And so, they started talking. She told him what she had done in the past few years (she did university in Melbourne, went to London for 2 years, and then finally came to LA for work) and he told her what he had done in the past few years (the band became a hit, toured all around the world, released 3 albums- she even attended a concert of theirs years ago, but couldn’t meet them). They talked about a range of topics, from their pets (Calum’s dog and Harper’s old kitten which had gotten her into a lot of trouble), to the Met Gala (which she loved following every year). As they talked, Calum felt the awkwardness dissipate into thin air. Talking to her came naturally to him.

He noticed that her accent was ambiguous, and when he commented on it, she said, “Yeah, I have this weird thing where my accent changes based on who I am talking to, and now it’s just become this vague accent.” They laughed over it, but Calum realized that he could still hear a slight Australian accent behind it.

By the time Duke nudged Calum’s leg, whining to go home, he realized he had spent almost an hour talking to Harper. It had felt like no time at all. Looking up, he realized that the sky was getting darker with clouds, and she indicated that she should be getting home. Calum dropped her off at her house, realizing it was only a few minutes away from his own.

“Do you wanna come in?” she asked at her doorstep, and he shook his head.

“I really should be getting home, Duke doesn’t do well in rain.” He didn’t want to leave, but he had to. He didn’t notice Harper’s face fall slightly.

“I’ll be seeing you around then,” she said, tapping her number into his phone before he left, then bade him goodbye. Calum and Duke made it back home just as the rain was starting to fall, causing Duke to whimper as the large cold drops damped his fur.

Calum set out food for Duke, and when he collapsed on to his sofa, munching a cookie, Calum smiled softly to himself at the thought of his evening.

---

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[allocate-aloe]

Wtf is wrong with Aloe?

Good question!

i   h a v e   n o   i d e a

I quit my job in September, exactly two years of working there, in order to go to school full time. It was a soul sucking data entry job for USPS, where the managers would hen peck you for being a couple minutes over your “5 minutes”. I was treated like a do-nothing child, constantly. So, I had this insane idea that I would finally get back into my creative headspaces when I got back to University for a Bachelor’s degree in English/Writing, and reconnect with my artwork. In reality, I was dropped into a neo-liberal university filled with kids straight out of high school and a chip on their shoulder. I felt so out of place that I would go sit in my car after class and just cry. I missed drawing, writing, CREATING so much, but after this semester I am just drained and devoid of just about everything.

Since my divorce in 2016-2017, I’ve felt like a completely broken person. My ex-husband tried to forcefully sleep with me the last day I saw him, even though he was living with another woman already behind my back. Then, tragically enough, a week after I found a picture of him /licking her face/ on social media, my trainer at work started to seriously stalk me, feeling up my back and following me everywhere throughout the building. All of this trauma kind of rolled itself into a bullet that just shattered me. I was taking so much xanax to just prevent myself from crying at my desk all day, I was so insanely paranoid (to which has lingered, though not nearly as strong) and after two years I developed a serious dependency.

It took me around 4 months to detox off of xanax, and it was the most painful, confusing, and emotionally taxing experience I never could have imagined. Everything was so incredibly bright and LOUD, my emotions were just.. everywhere. I would hysterically start sobbing, and then go to the gym to try sweating out through the detox. My resting heart rate hovered at 130 beats per minute on average. I would just be sitting there, at my desk or watching tv, and it felt like my heart was going to pound itself out of my ribcage and up through my throat at the same time.

One of the classes I’m enrolled in, is sort of like an internship for publications. There is a national literary magazine run by the students, and part of my Bachelor’s degree is taking this course for a year with the possibility of staying on as a staff member. One of the stories we were critiquing and considering for publication (the staff presents the class with these, I didn’t get to choose this) was a horrifically stereotypical “druggie” girl, where the author just listed a bunch of medications and quite offensively used it to be “edgy” instead of giving anything to the story itself. (complete with attempted suicide, and explaining that they popped 6 “oxys” to deal with the pain of a little name tattoo on the foot. Yeah, it was .. inappropriate to say the least.)

I pointed this out to the class, albeit a bit aggressively as we had just put down our dog two days prior, and instead of agreements or understanding, I had half of the class jump down my throat. Fresh out of high school, bushy tailed individuals who have since then started a feud against me in any other course I have. It is almost non-stop. I have had my own ideas re-explained to me, to the point where an outsider jumped in to defend me. Even one of my own professors, who has watched this discontent between me and one other student, asked me if I was going to be all right in a group with this person. To which I just smiled and said it was fine. Which it is, you won’t get along with everyone in the world, life doesn’t work like that. But it didn’t stop this individual, who shares my name, from suggesting I wear “awful makeup” for a little latin play we will be conducting. When I say “little” I mean a total of 8 lines, entirety. (The professor decided to do this instead of a final exam.)

HOWEVER, it has made my depression very, very bad. The environment is highly contentious, and everyone is afraid to speak for fear of being another target of this gross behavior.

The end of this semester is coming up on the 13th of December, and I am finally feeling some relief from this absolutely chaotic and crushing experience. I plan on dabbling in as much work as I can before all motivation leaves me again next semester. My novel is at a crawl, I have yet to outline the last chapter of LWAL, and I draw maybe once every 6 weeks. That has slowly began to improve as my work load drastically lessens.

I hope that I can provide you guys with some new, clearly wanted content. I miss chatting with you all, making jokes, and just generally being in an environment that is so encouraging and positive. I can say confidently, that being active in my stories, and on tumblr, was one of the most enlightening times of my life so far and I’d like to give back. <3

[multimetaverse]

Andi Mack 3x13 Review

Mount Rushmore or Less was a gut punch of an ep. Let’s dig in!

Positives: 

The Tyrus scenes in the beginning were very nice. Great callback to the somersault scene and it was nice to see them be so open flirty with each other. That ‘Cyrus my man’ line was pretty telling. It’s clear that TJ isn’t ashamed of his feelings for Cyrus but is afraid of being outed as his crush on Cyrus is becoming obvious enough for someone like Kira to pick up on (and Andi and Buffy on the texts)

I do wonder if matching outfits for Cyrus and a boy is a red line for Disney; they never did let Cyrus wear his Space Otters jersey after all

Some really strong performances tonight. Luke did an excellent job showing TJ’s weariness and sorrow in his last scene. Josh was another mvp tonight

First time TJ has said sorry

The one nice thing I’ll say about Kira is that she really jumped to the top of the Andi Mack villains list. She pretty clearly wanted to get back at Buffy by messing with Cyrus and TJ and is desperate to play on a team again. She picked up on TJ’s crush pretty quickly and knew just the right buttons to press to scare TJ. Now I don’t think the show will actually delve into homophobia and she’ll ultimately be redeemed but it’s going to be very hard to do so in the 3 eps she has remaining especially since Raquel was only on set for one day each in 3x15 and 3x21

I believe that this is the first time we’ve ever seen a secondary character have scenes with a tertiary character without a main character present. It was necessary to give us a peak into TJ’s head but it might also set the stage for Kira to redeem herself by turning into an ally for TJ which is horrifying that TJ might have to rely on her but it may be the only way to redeem Kira

Kira really is an evil Buffy; just the complete opposite of how Buffy has supported Cyrus this whole time in regards to his sexuality

If the show can actually explore TJ’s fear of being outed it would be an amazing story line but I am deeply skeptical that the show will be allowed to do so

Marty is finally back for good. I really liked his re-introduction; they did an excellent job of reintegrating him into Buffy’s life and the show as a whole very quickly, it makes total sense that he’ll be at the wedding. The writers were wise to not ruin Muffy this ep too; they’ll have their ups and downs of course but their dynamic really helped lighten this ep. Glad they mentioned he had a girlfriend upfront but it’s not like Buffy or Marty are letting that stop them

Marty seems written more like Garren now than he was in S1 and S2 with that ‘Yoo’ bit

The contrast between Marty and Buffy having fun in the costume and Andi and Cyrus looking distraught was darkly funny

This ep showcased once again that Buffy is the glue holding the Good Hair Crew together. She was the go between for Cyrus and Andi and got Marty to join as a replacement

Andi and Amber’s friendship wasn’t ruined this ep which is nice

Glad that Buffy understood why Cyrus wanted to match with TJ but I really wish we weren’t still stuck in subtext

I liked the shazam and shrek references tonight

Jonah was very on brand when he didn’t acknowledge Marty being back in the group at all; just like the gun drama it has no bearing on him

I’m glad that Bex and Bowie were upfront with Andi. It’s delusional to think that not getting married won’t have serious long term effects on their family but it’s in character for them

We got a Jandi and Tyrus parallel tonight with both Jonah and TJ disappointing Andi and Cyrus

Glad that they clarified that Jibby is sunk

Negatives:

The show has barely been able to tell Cyrus’ sexuality story line and I really doubt they’ll be able to do TJ’s any justice especially when he has just 3 appearances left. They really need to let TJ look back in ep 15 because the audience needs to know he’s actually gay for this to have any impact. A lot of his arc is going to be off screen and the rest is likely to be very very coded and will probably look more like a peer pressure story line to the kids than anything else

And shouldn’t Cyrus be getting a story line like this? He’s out to his 3 closest friends but not to his parents or the world and we’ve never even caught glimpses of how he feels about that

It’s so funny how they can do anything else with TJ but have him get together with Cyrus. At this point he’s had way more character development than Jonah

Presumably Kira will eventually help Tyrus get together if she’s to be redeemed but what a waste of Tyrus’ story line to have her inserted into it for no real reason; they could easily have kept Tyrus from canoning until the finale by other means

Jonah sucked this episode. His refusing to do the costume came out of nowhere and really just made him look like a bad friend to Andi. He’s like a goldfish, he just keeps making the same mistakes in his various relationships and never learns any lessons

Not a fan of Marty blaming Buffy for him icing her out and her not calling him out. I get that the show doesn’t have time to waste with these two but it’s sloppy. Also not a fan of us never getting actual confirmation that Wuffy is over

Looking Ahead:

I’m sure this ep will age much better once we get the remaining 8 eps but this was an awful ep to enter a hiatus on. The hype for most of the ships and story lines was destroyed tonight and having that angsty shot of Cyrus and Andi looking so sad be the last we’ll see for a while is not going to bring the audience back for 3c

Well now we know why Josh began publicly doubting the endgame after filming ep 13; he never would have doubted that the endgame was TJ but there’s no way they’d get together before the finale after the events of this ep

Buffy fainting next week looks dramatic; we’ll see what comes of it

Raquel confirmed that she’s in 5 eps this season and we already knew about 15 and 21 so there must be a third where she didn’t post from set like she usually did. If she’s going to be shadowing TJ the whole rest of the season she’d show up in ep 19 but if she’s meant to have scenes with Buffy again or even Cyrus she could show up in 16 or 17 as well

It’s a sign of how little we’re going to get of Cyrus and TJ’s story that TJ and Kira only have 3 eps left while Amber has 6 and Marty has at least 4 but possibly 5 with these new reshoots. Ep 15 is likely to be a wash unless we get a look back or Kira realizing the hurt she’s caused but hopefully ep 19 has some good moments

This ep is probably a pretty good template of what the finale will look like in terms of juggling characters and story lines except that it will be even more crowded as Bex and Bowie will have more screentime and Celia likely has some screen time as well (the writers really do seem to act like they’re writing for an hour long show with the 5 or 6 plot lines they juggle each ep)

That Marty never interacted with TJ this ep and given that TJ hasn’t met Amber and they don’t share eps until the finale it’s likely that the Tyrus confession scene is in the last 10 minutes of 3x21 as the party is winding down and with only Buffy and Andi and Jonah knowing that they get together when they return from the backyard into a now empty house (though Kira may have learned off screen that TJ is gay by this point). It seems unlikely that the show will allow TJ and Cyrus to get together and then immediately be out to Marty and Amber and possibly Bex and Bowie when they haven’t had even brief scenes together this season

Well hopefully we don’t have to wait longer than a couple of months for 3c to air and hopefully the re-shoots go smoothly. Pretty wild that we only have 8 eps left; we’re in the home stretch now Ladies and Gentlemen

[talesofafangirlwithadvr]

Endgame of Thrones (April Picks)

Does it even matter what else I watched earlier this month because THIS WEEKEND! If every weekend was like this one I don’t know how I could function. Thankfully Game of Thrones’ Battle of Winterfell and Avengers Endgame were on two different days so my body had some time to process it all. But even preparation couldn’t get me ready for all of the action that occurred. Here come the spoilers!

Spoilers.....

Spoilers....

Spoilers...

I’m serious here they come!

GAME OF THRONES 8x03

After last week’s episode I was FEARFUL for what would come at the Battle of Winterfell. The impending battle that was foreshadowed since the beginning was inevitable and with several (if not all) of the characters reaching a full character development I grew even more worried for their safety. 8x02 had to be one of my favorite episodes of GOT so far because we had some many characters reuniting and under the same roof with these full circles being made. The top moment for me had to be when Brienne of Tarth became Ser Brienne. Then I immediately started hoping she would survive the next episode. (Thanks writers for making us not be able to just enjoy anything anymore.) 

So, last night as 8x03 began I got ready for the worst, unsure if anyone would survive and after watching I have to say that I am shocked at how many people lived through it. (Which once again makes me very fearful for what lies ahead in the rest of the show. There’s no way all of them will make it, right?) Our main focus has been on the Night King and his oncoming dark night that I was SHOCKED when Arya killed him! I thought we would have to fight him for multiple episodes. Okay, I actually thought he wouldn’t have even been at Winterfell. I believed the theory he was going straight for Kings Landing which actually would have probably been the smarter move. After he was killed I sat there for a moment like: What are the next 3 episodes going to be about? Completely forgetting that Cersei exists. 

But that kill! WOW ARYA! I did not see that coming. I thought Jon would have been more of a contributing factor in the Night King’s death due to him being the product of Fire and Ice, but other than getting lost on his dragon Jon basically spent the episode on the sidelines. I was so happy that Arya got to kill the Night King with one of her oldest tricks. Which of course now makes me upset for her safety. Another full character arc? 

I just wish Bran looked more thankful. But then again he only wears one face now-a-days. As I’ve heard several people mention, I really do hope we learn why the Night King was so obsessed with Bran (who btw I was expecting to have more of a role in the fighting).

There’s so much I want to discuss about this episode but let’s take a moment to remember the fallen: Edd, I knew someone would die protecting Sam and it made sense to be him. Your watch has ended. Lyanna Mormont, I was so worried about her and this crushed me, but she went out like she lived: a badass. Beric Dondarrion, so many times I was like how is he still alive? But it was all for a reason as Melisandre predicted he would help Arya survive. Theon Greyjoy, the complete character arc worried me, but I didn’t think we would lose him this soon. He went out protecting Bran, in the place that was his true home and Bran said he was a good man. What is dead may never die. Jorah Mormont, earlier in the episode as he was one of the first ones on the front lines to charge I didn’t feel confident and was all the more impressed as he made it back time after time. But it all made sense as he had to protect Dany one last time. [Man, as I’m writing all of these out they are starting to become realer and I don’t think I can handle it.] And last but not least, Melisandre, who I was pretty shocked to see at the start of this episode. She came in clutch and the living would not have been able to win without her. Valar Morghulis. 

As everyone predicted the crypts were not the “safest place in Winterfell” as once the Night King emerged the dead started to rise. Once again, I was pretty shocked that we didn’t have more major character deaths down here. I loved the touching scene between Tryion and Sansa as we transitioned between the battlefield and the crypt with no audio except for the music track. Very impactful. 

There is so much more I can say, but these were definitely my first thoughts on the episode. I can’t believe the battle has come and gone and now we have to venture back to Kings Landing. Be safe my friends!

AVENGERS ENDGAME

Over 10 years in the making and 22 films later Avengers Endgame closed a chapter in Marvel history. Walking into the theater I was not emotionally, mentally or physically (3 hours/no bathroom break) prepared. The night before I had re-watched Infinity Wars (and just like with Game of Thrones) prayed for the safety of these heroes. 

I know it was said before but SPOILERS ARE COMING!

My first thought for defeating Thanos seemed to rely on time travel, but I was surprised to see that it took 5 years in the world after the snap before traveling back to get the infinity stones. I LOVED how much of a role Antman aka Scott Lang played in this role. (Thanks to that rat for hitting the right buttons after 5 years.) This character gave us some more insight into what had been going on for that amount of time and of course brought more humor to the film. (I mean he does deliver one of the best lines that gets repeated by Cap later: “That’s America’s butt.”

Opening with the Hawkeye flashback as he has a typical afternoon with his family and then the snap happens where he loses everyone was so tragic. I was not expecting the movie to start that soon as we usually see the classic Marvel opening. The transformation in his character made so much sense and was really interesting to explore. I liked how we got to see both Hawkeye and Antman included where they were missing for the previous film. 

This movie reminded me why I enjoy the MCU so much with all the references to previous films. The site of the first Avengers film: New York City 2012, brought back so many great memories and made me want to rewatch all of them. I loved how we got some exact flashbacks from the movies and then some added scenes showing more of a transition from one movie to the other. (Example: The Avengers to Winter Soldier and Captain America’s “Hail Hydra” moment in the elevator. Of course, I also enjoyed seeing Loki again as it seems that we did truly lose him.) Also seeing clips of old movies from a different angle was cool, like with Starlord singing at the start of Guardians of the Galaxy. Other time events we had never actually been to before, but were still a great trip with Steve seeing Peggy again and Tony his dad. I personally loved seeing Jarvis. 

One of the biggest moments for me was when Captain America held Thor’s hammer during the final battle. It had been predicted in earlier films (particularly Age of Ultron) that he would be worthy enough to wield Mjölnir and they were right. There’s times where he’s using the hammer and the shield and then he alternates with Thor. So good! 

Just as with the Night King in GOT, Thanos is defeated in this film, but it is not without loss on our side. It starts with Black Widow sacrificing herself for the soul stone. I was really hoping there was some sort of loop hole that would bring her back because of all the time travel stuff and was really shocked when Bruce Banner/Hulk said he tried but wasn’t able to get her back. I had heard rumors of Scarlett Johanssen getting her own Black Widow movie so I am a bit confused unless it is a prequel story. Either way I hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of this hero. Tony Stark’s death was one that I thought might happen going into the movie, but it did not prepare me for it actually happening. As I was talking about before with the full circle character development, Tony experienced this. He was also the kick off to the MCU, so it made even more sense for this ending. His final sentence: “I am Ironman” still gives me chills. While Captain America didn’t technically “die” and lived out his life with Peggy as he always wanted, it was also a goodbye to his character. It was great to see him pass the shield over to Sam but it will still feel a bit strange to not see Steve next film. 

There’s so much more that I can continue to talk about and I know as soon as I publish this article I will probably think of something else to say, but as you can see I definitely enjoyed this movie and can’t wait to see it again in theaters.

So, I survived the weekend! I hope you did too. Let me know how you feel about all of this! 

[voxcomentumultis]

Half-Celestial Cody Timeline

2004-2005 (Cody’s age: not yet born)

Ego, irritated by Yondu’s refusal to hand over Peter, decides to break his own promise to himself. The Expansion is more important than his feelings for Meredith. 

He meets a woman named Andrea Morgan. She is a sweet and quiet woman with a fondness for butterflies. She is the only child of an older couple that have both passed at this point.

Andrea falls pregnant and tells Ego, and over the course of the next month, he shows and tells her all about what their child will be able to do.

Ego eventually tells her that he must return to his planet for the time being so he does not lose his powers, but he will return. He tells her he is unsure exactly when, but sometime in the next few years. This is a lie that she believes. Just before leaving, he plants a tumor in her pancreas.

2006-2007 Cody’s age: 0-1

Andrea gives birth to Cody.

Excited by what Ego had previously told her, she encourages the powers Ego told her Cody would have, and within months of his birth he begins exhibiting these powers. 

His celestial powers begin as amorphous balls of colored light but over time they begin to take shape, specifically of the butterflies his mother adores.

For his first birthday, she gives Cody a big blue butterfly toy made out of soft teething-friendly material.

2008-2009 Cody’s age: 2-3

Events of Iron Man.

Andrea falls ill and is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Despite best efforts, it takes her fairly quickly. She writes about being sick in the last few pages of her journal, and quits writing when she admits herself to the hospital for around the clock care.

During Cody’s final visit, Andrea tells her son “I am always with you.” He is disturbed by how different she looks, but is able to recognize her. He falls asleep with his head against her shoulder, and she passes while running her fingers through his hair.

At 3 years old, with an unknown father and no other family, Cody is placed in foster care.

2010-2011 Cody’s age: 4-5

Events of Iron Man 2, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk. Steve Rogers is unfrozen.

Cody begins having nightmares about his mother’s death. His powers made stronger by the intense emotion of a four-year-old, he frequently creates impressions of how she looked the last time he saw her that change gradually over time.

Cody begins telling people that “canker” at his mother when asked about her. Eventually he forgets exactly how she died.

Cody is given new foster parents, Katie and Whelan Young. They foster him for 15 months.

2012 Cody’s age: 6

Events of The Avengers.

Cody has gone from telling people that “canker” ate his mother to saying, “The Canker Man ate my mommy,” thus creating the Canker Man. His skeletal appearance is a warped version of how he remembers his mother. His screeches were originally her raspy breath. His eyes glow yellow like the color of her sclera the last time he saw her. He functions similarly to an immune system, indiscriminately destroying anything that causes Cody extreme emotional distress.

Katie falls ill with a bad flu, and it scares Cody, though he’s not entirely sure why.

The Canker Man “eats” Katie by absorbing her entire body. Whelan, previously asleep next to her, screams and searches beneath the blankets for his missing wife in complete denial.

Cody develops his fear of accidentally harming others.

Whelan begins desperately showing Cody pictures of her in an attempt to get him to bring her back. 6 years old at this point, Cody does not remember her right. He brings her back very off to the point she’s barely Katie at all. He cannot sustain her for long either. Whelan can’t help but hate him for this.

Whelan watches news reports of Loki’s attack on New York. He sees the destruction the Avengers cause in their attempts to stop the attack and it only adds fuel to his hatred of Cody, who he sees as being like them.

Whelan comes into Cody’s room one night and aims a gun at the sleeping boy, but instead turns to pull the trigger on a Canker Man in the hallway, waking up Cody and causing it to disappear. With Cody now awake, Whelan can’t go through with his plan to murder Cody to spare others of his pain. He calls the police on himself and Cody is taken away.

As a result of Whelan’s failed murder attempt, Cody develops his fear of retaliation as well as his trust issues and severe insomnia.

2013 Cody’s age: 7

Events of Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World.

Cody is fostered by Peter and Doris Clemens.

Through unknown circumstances, the Canker Man kills both of Cody’s foster parents.

Cody spends almost a month alone in the Clemens’ apartment. He goes door to door once he completely runs out of food. A neighbor calls CPS.

2014 Cody’s age: 8

Events of Before I Wake, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 1, and Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2.

Cody is fostered by Mark and Jessie Hobson, who previously lost their young son Sean when he accidentally drowned in the upstairs bathtub. Mark is ready to move on, while Jessie only thinks she is.

When Jessie learns of Cody’s powers she, like Whelan, attempts to get him to bring back a lost loved one. The difference here is that Cody did not know Sean at all, and Jessie does not even admit to herself that that is what she is doing.

Eventually Jessie realizes her mistake and attempts to make up for it, but by then it is too late. Mark is killed by the Canker Man. Not long after, Jessie is as well.

Bounty hunters who are very clearly not from Earth break into the house one night to find him alone. Cody is allowed to pack a small bag before he’s dragged onto a spaceship. He fills his backpack with his old butterfly toy, his mother’s journal, a viceroy in a mason jar, and a spare change of clothes.

Unlike with Yondu’s faction of ravagers, their desire to eat a terran is not a joke. Cody is kept alive and relatively healthy because they’ve been paid half a million units to bring him to his father. Cody kills 3 of them on different occasions that have him completely freaked out.

Cody arrives on Ego’s planet. The bounty hunters tell Ego about what Cody can do.

Ego explains to both of them what their powers are and the fact that they’re immortal. He walks them both through his explanation of the expansion. He taps both of their foreheads to let them see eternity.

Ego admits to killing both of their mothers in nearly the same way. Peter is quick to react violently, while Cody is frozen with shock. Cody finally attacks when Ego crushes the Walkman. In retaliation, Ego impales Cody on the tendrils of lights as well and smashes his mason jar containing the viceroy.

The Guardians crash through the ceiling and obliterate Ego’s form, freeing both half-brothers. Cody climbs onto the pod and has a meltdown over how strange and terrifying everything suddenly is.

Terrified of Ego, Cody does not help Peter fight their father. Instead, he aids the other Guardians in their plan to blow him up and their battle against the Sovereign.

When Mantis’s hold on Ego breaks, he traps everyone with mounds of rock or tendrils of light. What he does to Peter, he also does to Cody, though his main focus is Peter.

Peter attacks Ego, freeing everyone. Cody escapes on the ship with the others as the core of the planet explodes.

Cody did not know Yondu, but seeing everyone else around him cry makes him cry.

Now aware that he actually has family, Cody asks his newfound half-brother if he can stay with them. He is relieved when he’s told that he can.

2015-2017 Cody’s age: 9-11

Events of Avengers: Age of Ultron to Thor: Ragnarok.

Cody travels with the Guardians, helping out on less dangerous missions and slowly working to control his powers.

Initially intimidated and frightened by those around him, he slowly grows comfortable around them. Perhaps it is the fact that Peter is his half-brother, but for once in his life he does not feel like he doesn’t belong.

2018 Cody’s age: 12

Events of Ant-Man and the Wasp and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as the beginning of Avengers: Endgame.

The Guardians come across the Asgardian wreckage and bring a stranger with one eye onto their ship. Cody does not recognize him as Thor, despite being a fan of the Avengers prior to being taken by the bounty hunters. Once Thor tells them who he is, Cody is immediately excited and the room is filled with a short-lived swarm of butterflies in Thor’s colors.

Cody goes with Peter to Knowhere. Thanos turns him into something resembling a bunny. He turns back when Thanos leaves with Gamora.

Cody uses his black butterflies to help in the attack against Tony, Strange, and Parker on Titan before they all realize they’re on the same side. 

When discussing their plan to take down Thanos, Cody asks if he can help, but Tony shuts him down, explaining he’s already furious that Parker is with them at all and he’s not about to let a twelve-year-old fight as well. Cody tells them that he can see through the eyes of his creations if he tries hard enough and is told he can fight only on the condition that he stays hidden and well away from the actual battle.

Cody hides among the ruins and fights while seeing through the eyes of a butterfly, leading a swarm of his creation against the titan. He creates a duplicate of himself to help pull off the gauntlet.

Peter attacks Thanos upon hearing he killed Gamora. Thanos wakes up and throws everyone off of him, destroying Cody’s duplicate in the process. Duplicates, especially ones he uses to see through, are draining to him, and Cody is unable to continue fighting. He remains hidden among the ruins.

Cody comes out of hiding once Thanos is gone, exhausted. He makes his way towards his brother, wanting to comfort him for what happened to Gamora, but before he can get to him, Mantis fades in Peter’s arms. Then Drax turns to dust.

Cody doesn’t register at first that Peter is dead, and doesn’t really know at one point he starts screaming. The next thing he knows he’s trying to piece together a pile of dust on the ground. Someone pulls him away and he’s not sure who, but a tornado of black butterflies erupts from the ground and from them come a Canker Man who begins searching for a long-gone Thanos.

Already exhausted prior to his outburst, his creations disappear and Cody passes out in the arms of the person holding him. He wakes up on his brother’s ship and finds that Tony and Nebula are the only other survivors. He’s inconsolable the entire time they’re stuck in space.

Cody is in as bad a shape as Tony is when Carol returns them to earth. Cody tells Rocket that Peter, Mantis, Gamora, and Drax are dead. Rocket and Nebula comfort each other while Cody is given much needed medical attention.

2019-2022 Cody’s age: 13-16

Events of the time skip.

Cody spends a year at the compound. He grows fond of Nat and asks Tony if he can use his lab for his own small project. Using his powers to aid him, he creates his own version of Peter’s helmet, one with a blue face and green eyes. During this time, he has also been perfecting his control of his powers, and can now fully control the Canker Man.

He asks Rocket and Nebula to return to earth because he wishes to join them. He sews a big black butterfly to the back of a spare ravager trench coat and tells them he’s going by Star-Fly now. He says he’s not quite Star-Lord and never will be him, but that the world needs someone to fill in his shoes, and who better than his half-brother? Cody uses his powers to intimidate wrongdoers into surrender to avoid needless bloodshed.

Frequently, Cody uses his powers in his sleep and temporarily creates copies of those they lost or scenes from his own memory. On at least one occasion, Rocket finds “Peter” flying the ship even though it’s currently on autopilot, then turns his head to see Cody asleep in the other chair.

2023 Cody’s age: 17

Events of the rest of Avengers: Endgame.

Cody is not a part of the time travel. There aren’t enough particles for him and he is the only minor in the room. He does however question Rhodey about Peter upon his return.

Cody is caught beneath rubble when the compound is destroyed. He creates the Canker Man to help free him.

He goes all out in the battle against Thanos. His enormous swarm of butterflies towers over the battlefield and tears apart members of the titan’s army like frenzied piranhas. Multiple Canker Mans appear and devour enemies as well.

When the battle is over, Cody is finally able to see Peter again. Both of them are wearing their helmets. They tap the buttons to reveal their faces, and Cody collapses against his half-brother with exhaustion and weeps into his chest. He’s missed him so much, and he can hardly believe that Peter is real.

Cody becomes an official member of the Guardians. No longer will he be left behind on missions. He happily welcomes Thor as part of the team.

[writerunsolved]

The Drunken Mistake - Ch. 5

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: F/M

Fandom: Real Person Fiction

Relationship: Tom Hiddleston/Reader

Genres: Fluff and Humor

Language: English

Chapters: 5/?

Summary:  You're a young up-and-coming singer based in London who has just released her first album.

After a wild night at the VMAs and some heavy partying and drinking at the afterparty, you write and publish a drunken tweet about a certain celebrity and one of their friends. You only realise what you've done the next day when a slew of texts and calls wakes you up to a dreadful but expected hangover. You immediately delete the tweet, but you're left to deal with the consequences. A public apology would probably be enough to make everything go away if you hadn't been invited to a movie premiere where said celebrity is most certainly going to be.

You decide that the best course of action will be to try and avoid them, but your plans almost never go the way you want them to.

Author’s Note: First of all, I want to thank you all for your patience. The holiday season has been quite busy and stressful, which is the reason why it took me longer than usual to update. Either way, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Ch. 1 - Ch. 2 - Ch. 3 - Ch. 4

Chapter Five - Food For Anxiety

-

A couple of days later, you found yourself at the canteen again. You were having a short lunch break with Linda before recording for a BuzzFeed interview, Nina would be meeting the both of you there later as she was already otherwise occupied for lunch. It was finally the Friday of a really busy week, and you were already looking forward to the unusual free weekend you would be getting starting the next day.

You’d contacted your sister the day before, letting her know that you would be free that Saturday for lunch. It was rare for you not to have any commitments on a weekend, but not for her. Her nine-to-five job left most of her Saturdays and Sundays open, so it was usually up to you to carve out a couple of hours from your schedule to meet her and catch up on what was going on in your personal lives.

“It feels like I haven’t had a free weekend in months,” started Linda around a bite of her salad, “I can’t wait for this day to be over so I can go home and sleep for fifteen hours straight.”

“Yeah, me too,” you agreed, “I’ve been dying to watch this new movie that came out, but I’ve been getting home late almost every day.”

“What movie?” she asked, all the while decisively stabbing into a cherry tomato that burst all over her lettuce leaves. Sometimes watching Linda eat was like a nature documentary: she was driven in every aspect of life, and her eating habits weren’t any different. She used sharp and calculated movements and every bite was almost the exact same size as the one before.

“I can’t remember the exact title.” You were mesmerised watching her for a few seconds, so you didn’t immediately answer, “It’s along the lines of ‘Over My Body’ or something like that,” you shook your head trying to remember more accurately but failed, “It’s an Italian documentary, actually.”

She hummed in response and kept chewing on her lunch; you were about to dig back into your own plate when your phone, which had been sitting by your napkin, vibrated with a text alert.

Linda looked over in curiosity, you also glanced at the screen where Tom’s name and the first line of the text could be seen clearly. You looked to her to gauge her reaction and she was still staring at the phone, a sly smile on her lips. She finally looked up at you and said, “Sorry, didn’t mean to pry,” but you could tell she wasn’t chastised at all because her smile didn’t falter as she went back to her salad.

You put down your fork and picked up the device to open the text, which read, “Hi! I’ll be finishing the recording for my voice acting project later today and I know this is sudden, but I’m free tomorrow night and I’m not sure when again after that so I was thinking we could meet? It’s totally fine if you’re busy, but I thought I might ask.”

You quickly typed in “Hey! I’m actually free tomorrow, so I’m totally game… I have an interview in a bit, but let’s talk again later and settle on time and place?” and sent your answer.

“Oh wow, you must be crushing pretty bad,” Linda spoke again.

You put the phone screen-down on the table and picked up your fork, responding only with an inquisitive sound.

“Honey, you’re texting and smiling,” she explained, “That means trouble.”

You hadn’t even noticed yourself smiling, but now that she’d pointed it out it was undeniable. You tried to command your mouth to stop, morphing it into a weird half-grimace and quickly denied, “No, I’m not!” But she wasn’t looking at you anymore, and she didn’t need to to know that she was right.

She hummed knowingly, chewing carefully and slowly on another bite of salad. Then she lifted her eyes to you and resolutely said, “Yes, you were.” before looking back to her salad. Finally, she asked you, “How long have you been texting him?”

You used your fork to push the little that was left of your lunch around your plate with intent, unwilling to look into her eyes for fear of being too easily read, and attempted a casual answer, “A little more than a couple of weeks, I guess.”

Linda swallowed the last of her lunch and grabbed the water bottle in front of her, sitting back on her chair and idly playing with the cap without opening it. Unfazed by your vagueness and clearly aware of what you were trying to do, she replied, “So since you first met him at the premiere.”

Still desperately clinging to your coolness, you finally left your plate alone and looked up at her. Then you shrugged and nodded, “Yeah, I reckon that’s more or less it.”

She raised an incredulous eyebrow and finally unscrewed the cap off the bottle. Then, she took a sip, her fixed gaze into your eyes not faltering for even one second. When she was done, she closed the lid and put the bottle back on the table.

Her undivided attention and silence finally got to you and you gave up the façade. “Fine!” you huffed, throwing up your hands, “Yes, we’ve been texting since the day after the premiere, and I even met him in person once if you must know!” You rolled your eyes in fake exasperation and leaned back into your chair.

That elicited a small incredulous laugh from her and a “What? When?”

“Yeah, I met him by chance a couple of days ago after work,” you explained, “We bumped into each other and grabbed a coffee.”

She was gaping at you, excitement in her eyes. When you didn’t continue, she asked, “And then?”

“And then nothing,” you replied, “We only stayed for a bit, he got a call and had to go back to work.” You shrugged again and took a sip of the cappuccino you’d ordered with your lunch.

“Then,” she started, “what was that about just now?”

You hesitated. You weren’t sure you wanted to delve into details. You knew that ever since you’d met Tom at the premiere and you’d arranged to go to dinner together, everyone was expecting something romantic to develop, but you firmly believed that was not the type of interest Tom had for you and you weren’t sure of your own feelings either. Your past love life was anything but shiny or even reciprocated at times, and you didn’t want your hope to grow only to end up hurting all on your own over situations you’d been one-sidedly reading too much into. The feeling that you might end up surrounded by cats and living an eternal single life was neither new nor far-fetched to you.

You reached your fingertips over the edge of the table absentmindedly, mostly to have something to do with your hands while you decided on how much to disclose. Rather than look at Linda, you inspected your nails and avoided eye contact when you finally answered, “Just making good on that plan of having dinner.”

She hummed a small sound of agreement and at the same time speculation. She didn’t say more at first, so you looked at her, but she was looking down pensively. She seemed to be considering her words very carefully, and you could almost pinpoint the moment she decided to drop part of her answer because she lifted her shoulders just slightly and finally returned your gaze. “When’s that going to be?”

You were momentarily puzzled by the absence of any comment on your answer, and the fleeting wonder of what exactly you were projecting at that moment to make her decide against what she wanted to say crossed your mind, but you set it aside and answered instead “Uhm... tomorrow night, actually.”

“Good!” She declared, then continued, matter-of-fact, “I’ll be over at six o’clock.”

You frowned. “In… the morning?” you asked her, confused.

“Of course not,” she explained, “I’m coming over before your date to do your makeup.”

“What?!” You laughed, thinking she was joking, “Nice one, Linda. Besides, it’s not a date.”

“I’m not joking.” She rebutted quickly, “I am coming over and doing your makeup because it is a date.”

You spluttered and shook your head, completely at loss. You moved your mouth to speak several times but nothing came out as you weren’t sure what you wanted to say. Finally, you responded, “There is absolutely no need for that, come on.” You looked at her inquisitively, still waiting for the punchline. When it didn’t come you continued, standing your ground, “It’s just a friendly dinner,” you enunciated slowly as if explaining a very simple concept to a toddler, “and even if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t need a professional makeup artist for a single night out.” You took a deep breath and firmly concluded, “You are not doing my makeup.”

“Ugh, fine!” She rolled her eyes and huffed out an irritated breath, “You never let me have fun!” she whined.

You chuckled, she spoke again, “I am still coming over, though.” she announced pointing her index finger at you.

You fell back in your chair with a sigh, this time it was your turn to roll your eyes. “Why?”

“Because,” she elongated the word, “You’ll definitely be freaking out, and I wanna veto your outfit.”

You crossed your arms in fake disdain, “I guess I just can’t win, can I.” You rolled your eyes again for effect and finally announced, “I give up, you can come.” She just smirked.

-

The next morning you were woken up by two things, one pleasant, the other a bit less so.

While lunch with your sister Amelia had eventually gone swimmingly, she’d gotten to your house a bit earlier than you’d been expecting her and she had found you still half-asleep and wearing pyjamas. You’d ended up finishing quite late the night before and had hoped that your lunch date could mean a few more hours of shut-eye, but that hadn’t been the case.

She had turned out to be a blessing, though, because she’d helped you do some errands around the house while you cooked for the two of you and the extra time together hadn’t been unwelcome either. Your schedules rarely managed to align, so having the time to catch up was a pleasant respite from running around from the label to the various interview locations and events. You were grateful for the success that had been granted to you, but sometimes family was the pause you needed to recalibrate your anxiety.

The second thing that had been expecting you when you awakened had been a text from Tom. He had sent it to confirm your date that same night, and he’d suggested you meet at a fairly new Thai restaurant that had been recommended to him by a friend. When he’d told you the address, you’d been surprised to discover that the place was just a few minutes from your house so you had agreed on meeting there around 7:30 PM.

Even though you’d ended up spending several hours together, and she’d seen you text Tom back, you’d managed to avoid the dinner date conversation with your sister and Tom hadn’t come up even once.

It had actually surprised you that she hadn’t mentioned him, you were pretty sure she was going to pester you about meeting him at the premiere - especially after your tweet - but she hadn’t at all. She’d been extremely engrossed complaining about her job and how her boss was expecting her to put in extra hours for no pay and you’d barely managed to get two words in. You hadn’t minded, though, your time together had been enjoyable and felt too brief, and not having to contribute much to the conversation wasn’t exactly a huge problem. It just meant more time to just listen and relax for you.

Amelia left around five in the afternoon after a call from Ben with the promise of keeping in contact more often - as she always promised - and a hug. You took advantage of the short hour that was left before Linda would be coming over to shower and choose an outfit for the night. You looked up the restaurant, called Mama Thai, and decided on casual clothing. You wanted to choose what to wear before Linda could make a hostile takeover of that too, and it didn’t take you very long to settle on a pair of charcoal grey pegged trousers and a soft black turtleneck. Finally, seen as the weather in London had gotten chilly all at once, you would definitely be topping the clothes with your trusted tan wool coat.

With that out of the way, you were still left with a half-hour window of time before Linda would be coming over. You decided to spend it just chilling on the sofa, fresh pyjamas on - it was still too early to get dressed - and some low music in the background.

The short break of time allowed you enough quiet to start thinking - maybe overthinking - about the night to come, and a small orb of anxiety started to form behind your sternum. You wondered about how it would go, you and Tom didn’t know each other all that well despite the numerous texts you had shared so far, and you were afraid that talking with each other face to face would prove too much of a challenge. What if no words came out of your mouth? You imagined an awkward dinner of two people who have nothing in common and that all that could pass between the two of you would be an incessant silence broken only by the grating noise of chewing.

All things considered, that could turn out to be the most positive outcome out of the worst ones. You could always end up fighting over a disagreement of views and start throwing plates at each other, getting thrown out of the restaurant and ultimately ending up on a gossip magazine.

Or you could get food poisoning and throw up all over his shoes before the end of the night, or… or… or…

Or maybe you simply needed to calm down and stop making up disastrous movie scenarios. You could have many insecurities, but your politeness was not something you often called into question and you were sure that if you either made a fool of yourself or he turned out to be the worst possible person - of which you were highly doubtful - the night would merely end with a polite goodbye and no promise of a future encounter.

And just as you’d managed to subdue the part of your mind that liked giving you unnecessary worries, your brain immediately conjured conspiracies of you being the only one who enjoyed the night and developing delusions of it being reciprocated. Right then, you really wished you’d learned to take things one step at a time at some point in your life.

Just as your imagination started making up Netflix romcom worthy plots, the intercom sounded. Thankful for the respite, you let out a sigh of relief and got up to let Linda in.

In the time it took her to get to your floor with the elevator, you turned down the music to a background tune and picked up a couple of throw pillows that had fallen from the couch to the floor. Then, you went to the kitchen and switched on the electric kettle filled with water, already knowing that Linda would enjoy a cup of tea. You had an entire cupboard just for tea, both bagged and loose, and most of the reason for that was Linda. You certainly enjoyed the beverage yourself, but ever since Linda had started coming to your house as a friend and not just a colleague, your collection had steadily grown into the impressive assortment it now was.

Soon enough, Linda ringed the doorbell. You went to open and she greeted you with a brief hug and an enthusiastic “Hi!”

You kissed her cheek and directed her to the small kitchen off the entrance, she placed her bag on the kitchenette island and divested herself of her coat, folding it across her arm.

“How are you doing, Lin?” you asked her, extending a hand so she could hand you the coat to hang in the closet next to the kitchen.

“I am so rested!” her voice followed you along the corridor, “I slept for almost ten hours non-stop.” You could hear the sound of a cupboard opening and of porcelain mugs softly hitting the countertop. Sure enough, when you got back you found her pouring the now heated water from the kettle to the mugs. She’d already chosen a tea for you, as she often did. She slid one of the mugs toward you and handed you a teaspoon.

“Ugh, lucky!” you groaned in response, “Amelia got here so early and had me doing chores right away. That woman is unstoppable.” She hummed in response, gently blowing on her tea, and took a sip. She let out a contented moan.

You tried your tea, she’d chosen a mint mix and you couldn’t help but ask her, “Oh, nice. Why’d you choose this one?”

“Because mint is a relaxant,” she explained briefly, “and I already know you’ve been overthinking this date.”

You harrumphed in disdain and lied, “No, I haven’t!”

She gave you an incredulous look and turned around, setting the mug down behind her. “Honey, honestly,” she started, opening her hands broadly in a placating motion, “I know you well enough by now, and I also know that you’re lying.”

You didn’t answer, preferring to hide what you could of your face behind your cup of tea and burning your tongue as a result. Linda had turned around again and was scooping up the tea bag out of her mug and placing it in a small dish you hadn’t noticed she’d gotten out.

When she faced you again, mug back in hand, you asked her, “Did you meet Paul earlier today?”

“Yes,” she replied, “He brought me coffee and croissants this morning.” She had a dreamy look in her eyes.

You smiled and looked into your tea, letting it swirl around the mug slightly. “He’s too sweet,” you told her.

“Don’t worry,” she answered quickly, “After the date tonight, I’m sure it won’t take you long to also score a boyfriend who brings you breakfast in the morning.” She smirked and sent you a wink. She downed the last of her tea and set the mug down behind her again, then clapped her hands resolutely and asked in quick succession, “So, what time are you meeting? Where are you going? And what are you wearing?”

You also finished your tea and walked to the sink, lowering your mug into it. You turned to Linda and gestured for her mug, she handed it to you with a “Thanks,” and you left it next to yours, reaching for the small dish with the teabag next and started, “Well,” you turned towards Linda again and leaned back onto the edge of the sink, answering, “We’re meeting around half past seven, at a small Thai restaurant not too far from here, and the clothes I’ve chosen are laid on the bed in my room.”

“Aw,” she whined, “You’re no fun, I wanted to help you choose!”

“Yes, I know,” you laughed, “That’s why I already did that.”

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in fake offence. Then, too curious to keep up the façade she said, “Alright, then, let’s see them.” And walked ahead of you towards your bedroom.

She eyed the clothes on the bedspread with careful consideration and picked up the sweater, flipping it back and forth and putting it down gingerly. “Are you wearing your tan coat over this?” she finally asked.

“Yep, but I’m open to disagreement,” you answered.

“No, no. This is nice,” she deliberated. “We absolutely need to get you into makeup now,” she announced, “It’s almost six thirty and I don’t wanna rush.”

You rolled your eyes and didn’t move. “I thought we’d agreed on no makeup, Lin.” You looked at your hands for a second, then to Linda, and hesitantly asked her “And anyway, are you sure about this?” She seemed confused so you continued, “It’s just a casual meeting, I don’t want you to go overboard, and maybe it would be better to go with no makeup at all, you know.” You paused, “I mean, I don’t want him to think I have ulterior motives and I don’t want to be overdressed, or I guess over-prepared in this case because what if-”

“I’ll go easy,” she stopped you before you could start rambling, “Just a soft, no makeup, makeup look. I promise.”

You nodded, still not entirely convinced but resigned to your fate, and inquired, “Where do you want me?”

“Living room,” she answered with no hesitation, “it’s got the best light. I just need to grab my bag from the kitchen, I brought all I need.”

You both moved to the living room; while she continued to the kitchen, you pulled out a small foldable chair you kept in the coat closet for when Nadia and Linda came over to prepare you for events. You opened it in front of the low coffee table where you knew the light would reach you best, but not directly, and sat down. It was almost routine, Linda had done that same action so many times before that you’d memorised the position too.

She reached you and propped her open bag on the coffee table. She then picked out a pair of small bottles and a foldable pouch that you knew contained her makeup brushes. Finally, she turned towards you, observing you for just a second, and got started.

You relaxed back into the chair, enjoying the delicate touch of the brushes on your skin and Linda’s soft humming of a foreign rhythm.

Relaxed as you were, you didn’t notice the time passing at all, so when Linda declared, “Perfect!” you jumped slightly, getting dragged out of your daze. You opened your eyes, she was offering you a compact mirror. You thanked her and took it, opening it up to observe the result of her work.

She had kept the promise of a soft makeup and to an inexpert eye it just seemed like you had flawless skin and enviably full eyebrows, but you could spot every difference from your bare face and you were truly impressed. It was a far cry from the looks you usually displayed at events, but no less impressive.

You handed the mirror back to Linda and thanked her again, “This is wonderful, Linda. Thank you so much for coming over.”

“Don’t mention it,” she brushed it off with a small wave of her hand, but you continued.

“I really mean it,” you insisted, “You were right, I was freaking out, and having you here really helped. So thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” she replied, “Now, you need to get ready and go out there and have an amazing night, okay?”

You nodded and stood up, walking back to your bedroom with Linda in tow. Undressing in front of her had stopped bothering you a long time ago, seen as how often it happened, so you didn’t ask her to leave and quickly divested yourself. When you went to take out a brassière from your bedside table, you noticed it was almost 7:10 and the anxiety that had seemed to dwindle with Linda’s arrival came rushing back.

You took a deep breath and put the feeling aside, determined to get to the restaurant on time. Walking there would only take around ten minutes, so you still had enough time, but you got dressed quickly and picked out a bag, filling it with your wallet, keys, and phone. You would take your coat on the way out, as it was still in the coat closet with Linda’s.

You turned to her, ready to leave. She gave you a once-over and said, “You look wonderful! But not like you’re trying, put together but casual.” And then she nodded solemnly.

You chuckled, “Thanks, Linda, that’s what I was going for,” you grabbed your purse, then asked her, “Ready to go?”

“Yep,” she answered, and followed you to the entrance, picking up her bag from the coffee table in the living room while you got out both your coats, handing her hers and shouldering yours.

As soon as you exited the apartment, you fished your keys out of your bag and closed the door. You took the elevator down together and finally said your goodbyes.

Linda hugged you briefly and softly told you, “Good luck. Please, don’t freak out too much.”

“I’ll try,” you replied. You separated and she smiled at you. You smiled back, then you both turned away from each other and walked off in different directions, just as a cold wind started blowing, slightly messing up your hair. You hugged your coat closed tighter around you and picked up your pace, trying to keep unfortunate thoughts out of your mind.

Chapter 6

@honeybournehippy @namelesslosers @unlikelytigerqueen @effielumiere @theoneanna 

@huntersvibe: Tumblr won’t let me tag you, the reason for this might be that your blog is hidden from searches. You can switch it off in your blog settings, if you do and want me to try again, let me know!