#and this coming from someone who also talks forever and interrupts and doesn't notice when the conversation has moved on

[izzyspussy]

tbh I think people who are annoyed by adhders/autists who talk forever and interrupt or don't notice when the conversation has moved on are weak as fuck. i can count the number of times i didn't find that endearing and cute on one hand and not run out of fingers. don't you feel joy? don't you like people?

[leah-lover]

Two hearts one timeline. Alexia putellas x reader.

Part 2. Part 1

When you woke up the only thing you could feel was the soreness between your legs. Your consciousness took a minute to come to you. You started to slowly become aware of your surroundings. The pillow beneath you didn't feel like yours. You were on your side and a set of arms were holding you. You were being spooned by someone. Alexia was spooning you. Your eyes popped open as you started to remember what happened last night. You confronted Alexia. She confessed that she had feelings for you and you two slept together. Your jaw dropped when the details came to you. She threw you on her bed. You two made out. She Ate you out, and fucked you with her strap multiple times. She was dominant, rough, and demanding, but she kept praising you and telling how good you were for her, she praised you into taking her big strap, and edged you. She didn't let you come easily, you had to beg her for it time and time again. You also remembered that you returned the favor to her. You went down on her and she grabbed your hair while doing so. You felt proud when you remembered that you made her feel so good.

You couldn't help but move when the events of last night were flooding your memory which woke Alexia.

“Buen día.” She whispered in your ears. You then smile and turn your back. “buen día.” You reply. “ Sorry I woke you.” You whisper still.

“cómo te sientes?” She asked.

“ Well I can't feel my legs. Other than that I feel fine.” You say jokingly which she chuckled as a response.

“you are gonna force me to speak English aren't you?”

“ We can speak both.” You respond.

You two lay there in the dark, comfortable in the silence and in each other's touch.

Suddenly, you felt her hand trace along your stomach and chest, her hand was gentle she almost doesn't touch your skin.

“ Why didn't you tell me earlier?” You ask.

“ I didn't want to take advantage of you. I wanted to protect you from pressure and what people would say.”

“ Capitana, people are my last thought. I would trade everything to stay here with you forever.”

“ Are you sure?” She asks with worry in her voice. As a response you turn around to face her. Your hand cups her cheek, and kiss her in a short and sweet way. “ Yes I am.” You say as soon as you pull out. She attaches her lips to yours again this time pulling your body closer to hers. You make out for a little while longer only for your alarm to interrupt your sweet moment. You pull out from the kiss and touch her nose with yours. You stay like that for a moment before pulling out hold to shut your alarm.

You two then get up. You shower while she prepares your coffee. Once you were in the shower you notice the dark spots all over your neck, chest, and thighs. You smile and make a mental note to cover them up once you are in your car.

“ Seems like you had fun with my neck last night.” You say to her when you get out of the shower. She smiles at you and says “ I can do whatever with what's mine. “

“ So my body is yours then.”

“ Your the one who said that while begging me to come last night.” She responds.

“ Let's not bring that up or else I would want a rematch.”

You two leave her apartment and head towards the practice facility.

Upon arriving you two didn't look at each other or talk to one other. You joined your usual group and spent the day separately.

“te ves diferente” said Claudia after you left the gym to go to the pitch.

“no dormí mucho.” You respond.

“no, no es eso. Apenas escondes una gran sonrisa. Qué paso anoche” added Jena.

“nada. Déjalo en paz.” You respond before you run to the pitch leaving your friends behind.

While you were training you kept feeling Alexia’s eyes burn through your skin. As a result you were more alert to your surroundings. You kept making good shots, never missing the back of the net. You aced all your drills and tried your best to impress Alexia.

“Lo hiciste muy bien hoy americana.” Said aitana after you were done training.

“Me siento muy feliz hoy, supongo que eso ayudó.” You respond to her loud enough for Alexia to hear.

You went through the rest of your day at the facility normally. You did some recovery, you showered, got ready and left for your car all while not saying a word to Alexia.

When you arrived at your car you found her waiting by it.

“ Let drive to my house.” She says as soon as you two are face to face.

“ No.” You respond.

“ What do you mean no. Did I do anything wrong?” She says nervously.

“ I am not going home with you again.”

“ por qué¿”

“ I am not a whore for you to sleep with whenever you want. If you want to sleep with me again you have to ask me out on a date, charm me with your presence, and convince me to go home with you.”

“ will you go on a date with me?,”

“ No. “ You say before getting in your car.

“ This won't be easy Capitana.” You say before driving away.

[the-genius-az]

Azula with Tuberculosis Au.

After Agni Kai, Azula locked herself in her room, not wanting to come out, and the only people who entered her room were Zuko and Katara.

She didn't know why, couldn't they just leave her alone? She lost everything, she has nothing to offer or give.

Azula was trying to sleep, after vomiting blood again, Katara said to call her when that happened, but she didn't have the strength to do it, besides, how could she? She couldn't even walk two steps without falling because she was so weak.

She stopped her thoughts when she heard footsteps stopping behind her door and sighed irritably, because she knew who it was.

Slowly Zuko opened the door, peeked his head in, and noticed that Azula was collapsed on her bed, something that was normal nowadays.

"I brought you your food," he murmured, as he entered Azula's room.

Azula didn't know exactly why her brother became nice to her, did he feel sorry for her? She doesn't believe it, Zuko is an idiot, even more so with Azula- the sick.

Zuko waited for Azula to sit on the bed so he could eat, but she didn't. He looked at her as he waited, but she still didn't move, he let out a sigh and put the food on the nightstand.

"Katara says... Katara says you could die," Zuko waited for a response, but it never came.

Minutes passed, until she turned around and looked at her brother.

"Do you think they would miss me if I died?" she asked, staring at him.

Zuko knew who she was talking about, he knew of the strange and complex relationship his sister had with her former friends.

"I...I really don't know, Azula," he let out a sigh and looked away from her. "They're mad at you...and me too."

Azula looked down and slowly sat up on her bed.

"With you?" she asked, in a soft whisper that he couldn't have heard if there were no sound in the room.

"They're furious that I betrayed them, and the Nation... also because I'm the fire lord and not you," he murmured, completely uncomfortable with telling her that.

"Mad at you...even Mai is?" she asked, wanting to know if Mai was still with Zuko.

Zuko clenched his fists unconsciously, but he answered her.

"Yes, she doesn't want to be with me again until you recover," they both knew that won't happen now because of Karara's new diagnosis.

She couldn't help but smile slightly and lowered her head, until Zuko interrupted her thoughts.

"Leave them some letters before you die," he offered, though they both knew that wasn't what he really meant.

"For what? What do you want me to tell them?" She scoffed, wishing he would say it directly.

Zuko let out a very upset sigh, he didn't want to look like an idiot in front of his dying sister, but she could never give him what he wanted.

"I want you to write to Mai so she can date me when you die," he ordered involuntarily, then regretted his words.

"Mai deserves someone to spend her life with," he tried as he looked at the ground, embarrassed by his own words but not wanting to stop.

Azula grabbed the sheets with her hands.

She didn't want to be selfish, but when both siblings were in the same room they both always let out their worst sides.

"I don't want that... I don't want Mai to be with you or anyone else! I don't want Ty Lee with anyone else either!" she yelled angrily at him, as tears fell down her cheeks.

"I want to be with them forever! Even after my death, I want them to love me for at least ten more years!" she cried intensely, finally breaking down.

Zuko looked at her perplexed, and slowly began to cry as well.

Everything was so intense for both of them, Azula was going to die and Zuko was going to lose someone else.

But there was something on both of their minds, and it was that they had never looked alike in their entire lives until now.

[misstrashchan]

"This must be really hard on her too"

That line... has been forever stuck on a loop in my head ever since I first heard it. That it's the last thing they say, that they take away about Ruby as a person in that scene. Especially while watching V9, and just how much everything has been weighing down on Ruby, and her tendency to repress her negative emotions and refuse to take time to let herself feel them and reflect is now being unpacked and examined much closer as the Ever After functions in such a way that she will literally get nowhere unless she looks inside herself, this scene has again been swimming to the surface of my mind, and it's just something I feel like revisiting.

(also it's rg white day today so, I'm legally allowed to be insufferable about Them, though this is in part relevant to V9 in regards to Ruby)

Most other people who have met and know Ruby just kind of accept that she is who she is, or very quickly come to. She's The Hero. The Leader. The Spark Of Hope Everyone is Inspired By. We rarely see her talk about her personal feelings and motivations, and it's never really called into question besides being touched upon briefly in her first meeting with Ozpin and Blake in the first volume about why she wants to be a huntress:

Ozpin: And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?

Ruby: Well... I want to be a Huntress.

Ozpin: You want to slay monsters?

Ruby: Yeah! I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply to Beacon! You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, Hey, I might as well make a career out of it!

(1x01)

Ruby: I love books. Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters... They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress!

Blake: And why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?

Ruby: Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!

Blake: That's... very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale.

Ruby: Well, that's why we're here! To make it better.

(1x03)

...With further insight from Yang at times:

Yang: I'm not like Ruby, she's always wanted to be a Huntress. It's like she said, ever since she was a kid, she'd dreamt about being the heroes in the books. Helping people and saving the day, and never asking for anything else in return.

(2x10)

But rarely do we see Ruby open up about herself as an individual and her struggles, and even rarer still is the occasion someone prompts her too.

And so it's always stuck out to me that in 5x05 she gets asked the questions that... no one else has really asked her before.

"How do you handle all of this?"

"How can you be so confident?"

"How are you okay with any of this?"

In the Dojo scene (5x05) when we see Oscar pick up on Ruby trying to hide how sad she is (after being reminded of Penny's death) while trying to encourage Oscar, we see her recompose herself, interrupt Oscar when he starts to ask a question after noticing her sullen expression, and then she tries to leave, excusing herself awkwardly.

"Well, see you upstairs"

(very subtle Ruby) but before she can do so, Oscar finds he has to ask:

"How do you handle all of this?"

A question she initially doesn't... actually answer. She very deliberately avoids talking about herself, her own feelings, and how she's been handling all this. Instead she focuses on reassuring Oscar at first, saying what she thinks will make him feel better after hearing him elaborate, confiding in her about how afraid and overwhelmed he is by his current situation.

"I'm... scared. I'm more scared than I've ever been in my life, than I ever thought was possible. I always knew that I wanted to be more than a farmhand, but this?"

"...Who would ask for this?"

Oscar didn't really have a choice in being pulled into the war with Salem and becoming a huntsman, he was reluctantly pulled into it by Ozpin. WBY and JNR decide to join the fight because they're inspired by Ruby and following her as a leader.

...So why does Ruby willingly ask and choose to be a huntress? Why did she freely leave home? Why would she choose to risk her life in this fight against Salem and to take on the responsibility of saving the world? (It certainly doesn't feel like a coincidence that these questions are being revisited in one way or another in V9)

Ruby gives him a very generalised answer in response to his question at first that talks about everyone as a group, and leaves out talking about herself as an individual specifically:

"We all went to Beacon because we wanted to help people"

"None of us chose this either"

"We just have to press on"

And you can see Oscar's expression growing more frustrated as he's facing away from Ruby, because that's not an answer to the question he actually asked. Because he asked about how Ruby as an individual is handling all of this. Ruby genuinely wants to reassure Oscar, but to him it comes across as insincere, like she's putting up a facade, especially since he saw only a moment ago that she was on the verge of tears and clearly upset about something, so he knows she's not being honest about how she's feeling when Oscar asks her how she's handling all of this.

And so he snaps and pushes back:

"How can you be so confident? People have tried to kill you, the world's about to go to war all over again, how are you okay with any of this?!"

(*glances at the v8 finale and v9* boi howdy those words sure do have a different weight to them now huh)

And while realising he may have been too harsh or blunt and later apologizes, it actually does succeed in getting Ruby to reflect a little and confide in him what she'd been through at the FoB and her losing Pyrrha and Penny, her own doubts and fears about the fight with Salem, and how it had shaped her resolve moving forward.

"When Beacon fell, I lost two of my friends: Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos. I didn't know them for very long, but that doesn't change the fact that they were two of the most kind-hearted people I have ever met. But that didn't save them. Pyrrha thought that if there was even the smallest chance of helping someone, then it was a chance worth taking. And because of that, she died fighting a battle she knew she couldn't win. And Penny... was killed... just to make a statement."

"I am scared! But not just for me. What happened at Beacon shows that Salem doesn't care if you're standing against her or not. She'll kill anybody. And that, scares me most of all. Pyrrha... Penny... I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt. That I didn't think about them everyday since I lost them. That I didn't wish I had spent more time with them. If it had been me instead, I know they would have kept fighting too. No matter how dangerous it was. So that's what I choose to do. To keep moving forward."

And again, what stands out to me is that the last thing Oscar takes away from his conversation with Ruby in the Dojo isn't... how inspiring she is or his admiration and respect for her (though he very clearly has that too, "she must've been one of the best huntresses at beacon!"). The last thing he says in this scene, the last thing he takes away is instead this:

"This must be really hard on her too."

The more time that passes through the series and seeing Ruby slowly put under more and more pressure, and stretching herself thinner over time, (like her semblance evolves so she can break herself down to carry others in V8, and in V9 her friends have been shrunk down and she is the one responsible for carrying her team on her shoulders) to help others and save everyone and yet still fail and lose those close to her, and having to just keep trying, keep moving forward no matter what, never stopping or slowing down even if there is no clear end she can see is heartbreaking and exhausting.

And it just makes rewatching the Dojo scene hit even harder. Because yes Oscar! It really is hard on her too! And it was so damn satisfying to have someone see and acknowledge that as well as admiring her and being inspired by her. Being moved by both her strength of character AND her vulnerability. And so it's noteworthy that Oscar is the one who does this, and who pushed her to open up, even just a little, about her grief over the FoB and fears about the fight with Salem.

Especially considering the visual framing of Ruby opening up to Oscar about what she's been through while standing in an open door frame exposed to the outside cementing that as the purpose of the scene: (she is literally opening up to him)

And the fact that Oscar has a kind of a different response from when we've usually seen Ruby comfort, reassure and inspire someone before. Usually it causes them to reflect on themselves and their own struggles, (like with Blake, Jaune, Penny and Qrow) not also on hers as well.

Even with those she has a mutual sense of understanding and solidarity with, like Blake (because of their ideals) and Jaune (because of both of them sharing the responsibility of being leaders) the way they comfort and uplift her in turn when they see her doubting herself is often a double edged sword.

Jaune: You didn't drag us out here. You gave us the courage to follow you.

(4x10)

Blake: I know you don't always know what to do, but that's never stopped you from doing something. I've always looked up to you Ruby.

(8x08)

Yang and Qrow also do this, and it comes with the additional punch of comparing Ruby to Summer as an ideal she strives to be:

Yang: Mom took a risk the day she left, and I don’t think. I don’t think it went the way she wanted it to. But she’s still my hero.

(8x11)

(Summer was Yang's hero, and now Ruby is too, so she has to try to live up to that)

Ruby: This says I'm a Huntress now. But I don't feel like I know much more than I did at Beacon.

Qrow: That feeling never goes away. Your mom, Summer, would be proud of you.

Ruby: What do you think she would've done if she learned the truth about Salem? That she can't be destroyed.

Qrow: Pressed on, I think. Like you. She was always the best of us.

(7x04)

(if Summer would've pressed on, then Ruby has to keep doing that too. If she was the best, then Ruby has to be the best.)

Because, and I want to make this clear, I think Ruby appreciates and is greatful for how much they believe in her and look up to her, and it absolutely does inspire her to keep moving forward, to stand up and fight even when she's doubting herself. But it also... unintentionally places more pressure on her to try and live up to those expectations, and it deprives her of an equal, of someone to relate to and help share her burden instead of upholding her on a pedestal and having unwavering faith in her as the smaller soul everyone looks to. To bottle up her negative feelings because well, everyone believes in her as this optimistic leader who is this endless source of hope and inspiration to everyone around her, and everyone needs her to Keep Being That, and that's more important, right? She can't let them down, right?

"It's up to you to make things better, isn't it? Everything all depends on you! Your sister needs you, your friends need you. The whole world needs you to keep fighting forever and ever against an invincible monster that took your mother!"

(9x04)

Ironically, this (in part) comes back to the person who reinforced this flawed mentality in Ruby in the first place. Ozpin.

"But if you aren't always performing at your best, what reason do you give others to follow you?"

(1x10)

This was genuinely good advice for Ruby's situation at the time in V1 after her conflict with Weiss, to take her role as leader more seriously, and well intentioned I'm sure. But in the long run? Ruby has been basing her self worth on how much she can give or do for others. On being that perfect leader.

Ruby feels like she constantly needs to be a pillar of strength and support for everyone around her as a the ever-cheerful and inspiring leader, that she has to prioritize them over herself, and if she lets herself admit how much she's hurting or how scared she is, she'd be afraid of those around her losing faith. What reason would they have to follow her if she failed them like that? Thus as a result, she struggles allowing herself to open up about her own feelings and to rely on others for emotional support. And as we've starting seeing recently, bottles it up until she reaches breaking point.

Another element to consider, and there might be an earlier or more obvious indication of this, but I started to notice it in V2 when she's visibly the most depressed and worried about Blake's behaviour as she's spiralling and overworking herself, saying the party is pointless if they can't get Blake to go.

"Date or no date, none of this will matter if we can't get Blake to go."

(2x05)

Yang and Weiss are also both concerned for Blake's wellbeing, but they're also excited about the dance for themselves, (Yang talking about what dress she's going to wear, Weiss about her date, what decorations they should have, etc.) which we see when they're planning the party. For Ruby, the only point of the dance is to cheer Blake up, to get her to relax.

"What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?"

(2x06)

But then Yang convinces Blake she needs to take time for herself and relax, and when Blake shows up at the party, afterwards Ruby is... then completely stumped when she no longer has someone to worry over, and ironically struggles to relax or enjoy herself at the party like everyone else.

Blake neglected her physical needs to push herself, while Ruby appears to neglect her own emotional needs. She focuses on other people's problems and struggles, concerns herself with their wellbeing and happiness, and we don't really see her think about her own. It's admirable how much she's dedicated to being a huntress, but unlike the rest of her team, she doesn't really have anything outside of that that she wants for herself. Her entire sense of self completely revolves around being a huntress.

Ozpin: Well, you can't spend your whole life on the battlefield, even if you may want to.

Ruby: (crossing her arms, looking annoyed) Yeah, that lesson's been floating around a lot lately.

Ozpin: (staring out at the dancing couples) If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't so different. Two partners interlocked, although one wrong move on the ballroom merely leads to a swollen foot.

(2x07)

This is said while looking out on the dancing couples and comparing dancing to fighting, aka, romantic foreshadowing, which I've talked about in more detail here

(also hey thanks Oz for giving Ruby some good advice to follow the piece you gave her about being a leader in the previous volume)

It's also interesting how this is in the same volume Oobleck questions Weiss, Blake and Yang's motives for being huntresses, and later on during the campfire scene we see them each open up about their own doubts and affirming their resolve to one another, but Ruby is completely excluded from this. Instead we are given insight about Ruby from Yang's perspective, but not from Ruby herself. Because everyone assumes, even her sister, that she is the simple soul, the pure hearted hero, and therefore has no doubts or deeper reason for what she does. When in actual fact, both are true, as we start to see in the Dojo scene.

And when she allows herself to confide in Oscar about her own experiences and losses, to admit that she is scared, it actually helps in this situation. Opening up is what allows her to relate to Oscar's own fears and let her words reach him. To reflect on what she'd been through and reaffirm her own resolve. And a mutual sense of understanding in each other and their fears is established. And this makes sense, after all, allowing yourself to be vulnerable and being more honest about your more negative emotions (being sad/afraid/frustrated) leads to empathising with others and understanding them better. And Oscar goes on to do this in future volumes in trying to empathize and be vulnerable and honest with others, which for better (in Emerald, Hazel and Ozpin's case) or worse (in Ironwood's case) is always worth trying to do, because if you don't then no one can understand and reach out to each other, and nothing will truly change. Which I firmly believe is something Ruby needs to learn more in regards to her Silver Eyes and how she uses them.

Ruby has pushed Oscar to be braver and more confident in himself, (like Ruby) while Oscar has pushed Ruby to be more introspective and honest about her own feelings (like Oscar). Which is the part of both character's struggles, Oscar in overcoming his fears and Ruby in dealing with her own feelings.

There's even a callback to this scene in the V7 finale when the song "Until the End" which is a Ruby song, is playing. As Yang is asking JNR where Oscar is, the exact lyrics that play when Oscar is mentioned are:

"The tears that you've shed,

May find a tree to water,

But only when you're stronger"

Literally the words "tree" and "Oscar" overlap here.

During the Dojo scene when Ruby opens up about the hardships and losses she's endured, and the fears she still has, but also her resolve to keep moving forward, we see her wiping away her tears and reassuring Oscar, whose surname is Pine, a type of tree, like the one being referred to in Ruby's song, a tree that she's watered and helped "grow" metaphorically speaking, as a person, who is moved by her both her strength and her vulnerability. (yes yes I know it's Extremely Corny but the symbolism is Still There)

This could also mean in context of V9 and the Ever After tree that once Ruby is able to properly break down and cry, to grieve and embrace her pain, to be a rose that blooms in the rain that opens up to her team and herself, that she will be able to move forward to the tree and find her way back home.

It's also playing into her allusion as the Rose from the Little Prince as well, as she tries to face away from Oscar and quickly wipes away her tears:

“She did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower…”

And it doesn't just stop there either.

In V6, after telling JNR about Jinn, Oz and Salem, we see how angry and disheartened they all are:

Jaune: "Everything we did was for nothing!"

Blake: "That's not true..."

Nora: "Really? Cos' it sure does sound like it!"

Blake: "I... um..."

Ren: "If Salem can't be killed, then how are we supposed to win this?"

Jaune: "Wow... Great plan, everyone."

After Jaune's outburst, we see Oscar look up over to Ruby, as if he's expecting her to say something uplifting or encouraging, because that's usually what Ruby does at times like this, right? But then he sees her downcast expression, and all of a sudden you see Oscar look back down as he realises that Ruby isn't going to speak up, because she's taking Jaune's critiscism the hardest out of all of them. And it settles in for him how much this is weighing down on her, because she's the leader, because she's always the one expected to have a plan or to know what to say, because she feels like she has a responsibility to live up to that image for all of them.

That this must be really hard on her too.

And we know this to be true when we later hear her confide in Maria:

"What am I supposed to tell Jaune and his team when we don't even have a plan?"

"I feel like I'm letting everyone down"

Before, Oz was considered the "Leader" of their whole group. But Oscar's trust in Ruby outweighed Oz's fear, which was why he fought for control against Oz and told Ruby how to use Jinn, because he believed and trusted in her more as a leader. And by entrusting her with that knowledge, gave her the means to make her own choice of what was right, and ultimately challenge and remove Oz from a position of leadership. And in v6 as Ruby has that role instead, she feels more responsible for their group, for their mission, than ever before, and in turn, in this scene here, Oscar feels responsible for Ruby and the burden they share.

(it's almost like Ruby and Oscar both share Oz as a foil and they're supposed to be better than him and learn from his mistakes which in turn inspires him to be better.)

"There is a rose... and I believe she has tamed me..."

“But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose...”

(the Little Prince)

And that's the reason why Oscar chooses to try to speak up in this moment to try and direct the attention on to himself instead, trying to defuse the tension of the situation after seeing how Ruby is struggling. Interesting is how he isn't moved to action by seeking inspiration and strength from Ruby alone as others are, but also finds the courage in himself to overcome his own fear and hesitation in a need to support her, in an attempt to alleviate the burden he sees weighing down on her.

Because she shouldn't have to always be seen and believed as the one who bears it. Not alone. Because no one should.

Gosh, it's not like one of Oscar's allusions is the Little Prince who learnt that the Rose was his responsibility to go back and take care of right?

*gestures at how Oscar ran away after his confrontation with Jaune and just so happened to come back wearing combat gear that is a very obvious nod to the Little Prince, as well as taking inspiration from Ruby's Mistral outfit and incorporating her red as his secondary colour, focused on Ruby's reaction, and how Ruby is literally referred to as "the Rose" by Tyrian in v4 and has a semblance that has her burst into rose petals*

Or the boy from the Warrior in the Woods who felt that someone should take care of the Warrior for a change, the way she had for everyone else for so long?

“You’ve spent all these years looking after us. I thought maybe it would be nice if someone looked after you for a change. Because that’s what I can do. Because no one else will"

(The Warrior in the Wood, Fairytales of Remnant)

No no, of course not, that's totally crazy.

[swiftsdelucaa]

 Hi, can you do a meredith grey x reader where meredith can’t decide who to pick between reader and Derek. Then she makes her decision once she sees her come into the hospital after she gets injured? Please?

❛ 𝑰 𝒄𝒉����𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 ❜

𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜: Meredith Grey x f!reader ♡

𝘼/𝙣: Sorry for the wait 🙏This was a good idea anyway anon, I hope you'll enjoy this!!

Even though your relationship didn't last long, this girl could make you feel so damn good. Meredith Gray is one of those people you never wanted to lose.

Everything seemed to be fine, but then... he came along. Derek Shepherd, one of the world's most famous neurosurgeons who would come to work in the same hospital as you. Well that's great. But beyond that he was also Meredith's ex-boyfriend, and since he'd arrived she'd gotten weird.

She had begun to behave differently with you, and when you found out why you immediately felt like a useless object. Did she still love him?

Herself had declared that she didn't know. She said that it had been one of her most important relationships to her, and that ending it had been so hard. And she was probably retrying everything right now. You didn't even know if still believe her when she told you to care about you.

Sometimes meetings between you, Meredith and Derek happened so embarrassing that you would want to disappear from the whole world. More you got to know him, more he just seemed like an asshole, you had no idea how could Meredith fell for someone like that.

Since she didn't intend to do anything to change the situation you decided to walk away from her. She seemed to have noticed it, so when she saw you she often tended to follow you to try to talk to you, and you couldn't take it anymore.

"Y/n, please, wait!" you heard her voice coming from behind you as you went down the stairs.

"What do you still want to me?" you addressed her in a rather annoyed tone.

"Y/n, I really care about you, you must believe me, but-"

"But what?" you interrupted her. "Meredith, I'm the last person in the world who's going to tell you what to do and stop you from being happy. If being with Derek is what you want, go. I'm not going to stay here and wait forever for a person who doesn't even know what wants and playing with other people's feelings. I knew what I wanted, and it was just to be with you, but sadly it doesn't always go as hoped..." you could see the tears in her eyes before you could walk away. As difficult as it's been, it was the only solution, but it hurt you badly.

From that moment the only thing you waited for was the end of the day to go home. You would have sat on the sofa and started drinking to forget all this crap.

You left the hospital, went to your car and you've gone. You were just calmly continuing on your way, the sun was bothering your eyesight, so you reached over to get to your bag and get your sunglasses, but you just dropped everything. You huffed and turned for a moment to gather everything up, sorted yourself out, and immediately you saw the car in front of you stopped. You pressed your foot quickly on the brake, but since you would never be able to stop in time you swerved sharply. You couldn't even see where you had crashed as you hit your head for the impact, and after that you didn't remember anything.

When you woke up you were so confused, everyone was around your stretcher. You wanted to try to say something, but you felt like you didn't quite have the strength.

You were hearing them talk about a possible concussion, when all of a sudden you started getting severe pain in your abdomen, and everyone leaned over having heard you moan.

"Possible internal bleeding, let's take her to the operating room, right now!" they began to take you away, while you still looked around and the pain took over. Then you saw her, Meredith. She seemed to freeze completely at the sight of you like this. But it was certainly not the right time to think about this.

The surgery had gone well fortunately, now you were alone in a depressing room to say the least. You felt your head pounding, but at least the rest of the pain was under control.

"Y/n" you turned to see Meredith near the edge of the door. "Can I enter please?" there was nothing you could do to stop her being stuck in a hospital bed, so you just nodded.

"How are you?" she sat next to you.

"I've been better..."

"I'm so sorry" her gaze was sad.

"Well it's my fault, I got distracted for a second..."

A strange atmosphere had formed in the room, accompanied by an awkward silence.

"Y/n, I- I've never been really good with new experiences..."

"Meredith, we don't have to talk about it now-"

"No, please listen to me. I've never been good with it, and for me with Derek it's been very important. But there's nothing between us anymore, and knowing you it's been one of the best thing until now. I want you with me, I chose you, and I'll always choose you" these words lit up your face and your mind, almost making you feel better. You flashed her a big smile and she shook your hand.

"If I knew it would take an accident to make you say it, then I would have done it long ago" you both laughed.

"Shut up!" she looked at you smiling and gave you a little kiss on your forehead.

[cottoncandy-cult]

Babification Pomefiore

Vil (Ft Rook)

It had been about a week since (Y/n) was brought to him, he initially cleared out 2-3 days in his calendar to stay home and watch over his little sweet potato but on day 4 he realized it may take longer than expected. So, he decided to rip the Band-Aid off, rather than risk his fans spreading rumors that he had a secret child he laid out the circumstances on magicam. He explained that the girlfriend they saw in his pictures at times had been turned into an infant due to a class accident, and so he has decided to take care of her until she can be returned to normal. The male had almost expected some sort of outlash, some fans seemed to expect him to be single forever just for the sake of their personal fantasies. Instead, he was met with a large amount of support, many fans finding his dedication to his girlfriend beyond romantic as some celebrities would have hidden the accident and had someone else to take care of their significant other. After that day Vil went about his usual appointments, though everywhere he went he took the little girl. He never let anyone else hold her, but that proved problematic as sometimes the little girl became uncomfortable with all the attention she got. Often hiding her little face in his chest, she'd cling to him and occasionally whimper when she felt crowded. Vil would often excuse himself, wanting to do his job but not willing to sacrifice the girl's comfort especially given the situation she was in. It was because of this that Rook began accompanying him, the blonde male being one of the few he'd let hold and handle the little girl. Anytime the girl felt overwhelmed, or if he needed to film, he'd hand her off to Rook who would then take her to get a snack. She was around 3 and was quite shy, hiding her face in the hunter's shoulder anytime someone approached her. He'd often take her to a quiet corner where she could still see Vil but would be more comfortable and willing to come out of hiding.

For those times Rook would dig out her coloring book and crayons from the baby bag he proudly wore over his shoulder, it was these moments that he became aware of the fact that her older self is still in there. She seems aware but unable to really do much to control herself, often trying really hard to color within the lines of her pictures while also trying not to break the crayon. That was why Rook didn't baby talk her, it felt rude since he was aware of the fact that she still had that more mature thought process even if she couldn't properly express herself. Currently the popular trio had been at one of Vil's photoshoots, today had been a calm day but the little girl had been especially needy for attention. She did her best to sit quietly, but she couldn't help pausing her coloring in order to check for Vil's location and occasionally pouted. Of course, Rook had noticed, he hadn't done anything yet because he didn't want to interrupt Vil but also found her pout the cutest thing in life. He fawned over her more than ever now, she was his favorite little marshmallow bunny. Proven by the pastel bunny onesie they'd put her in before bed.

Vil had been adjusting his pose and had turned his head towards the pair, noticing how (Y/n) stared at him with a soft pout. Sometimes he wished she'd just cry out already whenever she wanted something, gives him an excuse to take a break anyways and he doesn't mind. The photographer noticed Vil was distracted and followed the blonde's gaze to the little girl, being a father, the older man knew what the little one wanted. "You know Mr. Schoenheit; we do have a new kids line we plan to advertise soon. If you'd like to look at the clothes and bring the little one up you can, we'll give you a bonus of course since the little lady would be the one wearing them." The older man smiled kindly to Vil when the blonde looked at him, Vil thought for a moment and glanced back at the girl who went back to coloring but still wore such a cute pout. "I don't see why not; she might have some fun getting to dress up." Vil chuckled a little, following the older man to a nearby wrack of kids clothing to look for a few outfits he thinks would look cute on the little girl and would match well with his outfits. Of course, the duo had noticed when the 2 males moved to and stand by the wrack, Rook could hear their conversation of course so he couldn't help but chuckle as he moved over to kneel next to her. "What do you say we clean up and go see what Vil's up to, ok mon petit trickster?"

The tall blonde gazed down at the little girl, watching her quickly nod her head as she began putting her crayon back where she got it. She was particular in how she used them, only getting one out at a time and putting them back as she went. Something Rook felt only supported his theory that she was still conscious within herself, or at the very least she was an oddly orderly toddler. Rook held the bag open for her, letting the girl place the two items back within its confines herself before she reached out for him and made grabby hands. A gesture that never failed to make the blonde male melt, he was quick but gentle as he scooped her up and cradled her safely to his chest. Afterall his dear Vil had made his desire to see her safe quite clear when he originally ranted about the idiots that caused this problem, not that Rook would do her harm anyways she was much too cute for him to even raise his voice at much less neglect her care and safety. Vil had noticed the two when they approached, chuckling at how the little girl smiled and reached for him. "Hey there sweet potato, I need you to help me with something alright." Gentle hands swapped her between male's chests, Vil cradling her tiny body as she snuggled into him immediately. "Oh? Is our wee trickster getting a taste of the limelight?" Rook smiled curiously, looking at the small pile of outfits that the photographer held on one arm. "Mhm, I saw her pouting at me anyways." The pomefiore prince kissed the little girl's cheek, listening to her happily giggle when he'd occasionally gently blow into her soft little cheeks. "Why don't you go ahead and get both of yourselves changed, I'll adjust the lights, so we don't sweat the poor thing out or blind her." The older male passed the clothes to Vil, going to get things ready for a photoshoot Vil was actually excited about. It was the first time in a while since he's had a reason to look forward to a particular shoot, but how could he not be at least a little excited to take pictures with his baby sweet potato.

-

-

-

The first outfit Vil tried was a dark grey button up, black dress pants and a loose-fitting red tie. Meanwhile (Y/n) was dressed in a black long-sleeved romper that hung off the tops of her shoulders for freer movement, it was decorated with a cute red floral pattern on the front with matching leg warmers. Her soft baby hair was brushed back, a red hairband with an attached flower sat cutely on her head. The two were matching despite the different designs, Vil's favorite part was the little flower headband that complimented her complexion and gave her a more doll like look. The blonde was planning to save the money from the bonus for trying on the kids' clothes for her, that way when she was back to normal his sweet potato would be able to afford some good food and fix up the bedroom back at her dorm. He wanted to fix up the whole place a while back, but (Y/n) wouldn't let him spend that much money on an entire dorm meant for 2. Vil's second outfit looked similar to his dorm leader uniform, though rather than being a long robe it had been a silk long-sleeved shirt with looser sleeves that fell to around the middle of his hands. The collar was V-shaped and dipped past his collar bone, corset style strings tied neatly in the front at the bottom of the V. Meanwhile he had put the little girl in a cute violet sundress, the sleeves matched his own and beneath she wore some black lace legging and a cute pair of purple strap shoes. A wide cut gold ribbon wrapped around her waist and tied in the back; a red apple charm was sewn into the center of the ribbon on her waist. It was an outfit Vil wanted to get for her in a more adult size, despite not being part of Pomefiore he'd love to match clothes with her for the next social event or school dance.

The photoshoot lasted for a while, Vil had chosen several outfits and they needed multiple pictures with each. By the time it was done her little tummy had started to growl, making her pout up at the male when he started giggling at her little noises. "Just a few more minutes and we'll be done. Why don't you sip on this, you can have some blueberries to hold you over until we get home." Vil handed the little girl a snow-white sippy cup that had some of the apple juice from Epel's family farm, the blonde knew how much she liked it as she would drink it in the mornings when she'd visit Pomefiore before classes as she would talk to the first year while he did his morning routine when Vil was busy helping some of the other dorm members do their own. Her cute little pout dissolving at the taste of the juice, her body relaxing against his chest as she'd occasionally reach a tiny hand into the little bag of blueberries he held while Vil discussed which pictures he'd like to post on his magicam to help with publicity. Rook smiled from the side, having snapped several of his own pictures during the shoot for the little album he had been making for (Y/n) and Vil. He had been confident from the start they'd marry one day, so he had started this album to fill with as many memories as he could for them. He was gonna be the greatest best man, and his gift of years' worth of pictures compiled into one beautiful album would be his proof.

Rook

"Wow, is that really (Y/n)?" Kalim looked at the little girl in Rook's arms in amazement, there had been a meeting for dorm leaders and their vice dorm leaders. The main portion of the meeting was already over, the little girl having napped comfortably during most of it thanks to the sleep schedule Vil helped the blonde male set up. The meeting had fallen into her usual nap time for the week, but Rook could feel his internal clock counting down as he knew she'd start to rouse soon. "Indeed, Roi d'Ore, she is quite the jolie petite fille no?" Rook chuckled softly; the sleeping infant was nestled in the crook of one of his arms unaware of the little crowd that was drawn to observe. Of course, the dorm leaders had been made aware of the situation, being reminded to drive into their underlings about not messing around in class. "She's definitely cute, her little cheeks are so red." Trey chuckled from Rook's right, several pairs of eyes looking at the little girl as they saw her stretch and yawn. "Heh, she looks just like Leona in the mornings." Ruggie snickered, he and Leona standing to directly across from Rook. Leona's ears twitched as he shot the male beside him a glare. "What was that runt?" He was softly growling his words; everyone had kept their voices down now that she was awake in fear of startling her. The blonde smiled and resituated her, holding her up some so that she was sitting up a bit more and was better able to look around. The group watched her tiny (E/c) orbs flutter over the faces before, cutely cocking her head. To some people she'd giggle, making Kalim fawn over her.

"Rook we should head back soon, (Y/n) needs to eat and its gonna get cold soon." Vil walked over, ever the mother hen. His voice made the little girl light up, her hand patting Rook's chest as if to get his attention. Making the large male chuckle, as if already knowing what she was trying to convey. "Yes, I know, our dearest Roi du Poison is here isn't he." He gently bounced the little girl, kissing the top of her head as she giggled some more. For once there was no tension in the group, an energy filled with both curiosity and fondness had started to form. "A few more minutes would be ok, wouldn't it? Our petit trickster has only just woken up." His green eyes locked on Vil, watching his house warden look back and forth between the two before sighing softly. "I suppose, proper socialization is necessary for a growing child." Vil sighed but gave a reserved smile, coming to stand by Rook as one of the little girl's tiny hands reached out to him. Vil was casual in letting the little girl hold onto one of his fingers, something the confused some people. "So, it's been a week since she turned, correct? How have you guys been handling it?" Riddle stepped beside Leona, trying to get a better look at his friend turned infant. "It's been quite easy, when you know what a baby needs it certainly helps but (Y/n) hasn't been fussy really. She cries sometimes, but it's never loud shrieking. More like quiet whimpers really, honestly it's heartbreaking." Vil smiled a bit at the thought, the first night they tried to put her to sleep in the pitch black and halfway through the night Rook woke to hear quiet whimpers from the bassinet nearby.

Luckily it had been a full moon, so all he had to do was open his curtains to let the light in. He felt so guilty, not knowing how long she laid in the dark and softly crying to herself before he woke up. He wanted to believe his sense of hearing was keen enough that he caught her at the start since they made sure she was sleeping before they shut out the light and that she had just woke up and got scared when he woke up. But the idea that it could have been literal hours made him feel so bad, first thing in the morning he told Vil that he needed to get a nightlight before recounting the events to him. 2 days later Vil was watching her for Rook while the blonde went to science club, since some of the demos had to do with potion making, he didn't want to risk another accident. Vil had placed her in a little buckle seat, having Epel gently bounce it to keep her occupied while Vil fixed her a sippy cup with some fresh juice in it. While he was in the dorm kitchen, he heard a commotion from the common room, he was quick to get there as he was the dorm leader after all but most importantly because that was where he left little (Y/n) and Epel. When he arrived, he found a couple students on the far right flat on their backs, it seemed while working on an alchemy project a mistake had been made and caused a small explosion. There was minimal mess, just a little goo here and there, it was more noise than anything. After lecturing the group on their mistake and reminding them to take such things outside he told them to clean everything up and take their project to the garden. It wasn't til he approached Epel, watching him clumsily try to soothe the whimpering child that Vil realized she had been disturbed since she hadn't started screaming as most infants would. Vil understood Rook's description now, her soft cries were somehow worse than the ear-splitting cries someone often thinks of when remembering an infant's cries. "Here, I'll take her to the kitchen with me. You go and do any homework you have."

There hadn't been any incidents since that had made her cry again, it was something they were actively avoiding, it was such a miserable little cry they'd hate for anyone else to hear. "Well, I suppose as long as she aint screamin' the herbivore aint to bad for a baby." Leona leaned forward, hand on his hip as he watched the little girl tilt her head some to get a better look at him. What nobody expected was for her tiny hand to teach out, lightly poking his nose with a soft "Bawah" sound. Ruggie had dropped to the ground near immediately in laughter, his dorm leader just got booped by a baby. Some of the others snickered, but soon everyone was laughing at her giggling shriek while she pulled her hand back when he playfully nipped at her chubby little fingers that had been in his face. Rook couldn't help but chuckle, if she was still aware in there then she was certainly taking advantage of the situation. Oh, his little trickster, no matter what form she is in she would never truly change would she?

The group had continued talking for a bit, only stopping once Vil reminded everyone they needed to get back to their dorms and get ready for curfew in a few hours. Once everyone had gone through the mirrors to their own dorms things had settled down, the little girl in Rook's arms took to playing with his hair as he walked. Both he and Vil discussing how he'd handle her during flight class the following day, Rook was confident he could handle flying with her in his arms, he just needed a suitable outfit to fend off the cold while flying that he could change her out of without problem so she wouldn't overheat. Vil had recommended a cute long-sleeved top with a bright skirt, some leggings and light beige fleece sweater that had cute bunny face buttons on the front. The two had went shopping together, wanting to make sure she would be comfortable while in this vulnerable state and to spoil the poor girl since it was the first break she had in a while since she was always working or doing something for money to live off of. He wished she'd let him help more, but she didn't like the idea of him bank rolling her because she felt that she should earn at least some of it.

They ended up settling on letting him pay for her meals and occasionally help with any big necessary repairs to her dorm, and she'd focus on paying for the rest. Granted the hunter still wanted to do more, and so he'd get her gifts that could be useful. He even got Vil to help design a new ramshackle dorm uniform so that they had an excuse to replace the scrappy one she was wearing, after all it was unfair that the other dorms received new uniform designs at the start of the year, but she had to wear an outdated uniform barely patched together. At least that was the argument they used against Crowley to get his pass on the new uniform, convincing him it was a good chance for him to show his benevolence and make up for how little he can assist her monetarily. "Roo…" Her little voice called up to him during a lull in the conversation, she had yet to speak, and they almost thought she couldn't, so it quickly drew their attention. Emerald eyes looked down at the little one's curious face, a smile crossing his own when she started giggling and gently tugged his hair. "Don't worry Mon petit trickster, we're almost back to the dorm. You wanna play with your toys for a bit before your bubble bath?" Rook tilted his head, kissing at her palm gently as her tiny fingers patted at his cheek. Her only response was a giggle before she pulled her hands to her chest and nuzzled into his shoulder, rubbing her face against the fabric of his dorm uniform as both male's chuckled at her cute antics.

[francis-writes]

SFW & NSFW Dating HCs

including: Denethor II and Lord Voldemort

SFW

Denethor II

He's a bit reluctant to oficially say that you're courting. Not that he doesn't love you - he does, he does very much - but he's not sure of his sons' reactions. And also what would people of Gondor say? After his wife died, Denethor thought he's gonna stay alone forever, he didn't plan to remarry. That was sure until he met you. But he can't stop wondering... isn't he too old for wedding?

Despite his doubts, he wants to treat you properly and always asks you to eat dinner with his family. He doesn't introduce you as his lover but his sons aren't stupid and they quickly guess what's between you two. You have good contact with them, they already accepted you as part of the family even though they don't understand what you see in their father.

You often try to convince Denethor to be nicer for Faramir. Steward doesn't like when people order him (You are quite subtle but he still counts it as telling him what to do) but he has a soft spot for you and most of the times, he quits his maliciousness.

Denethor isn't really romantic person, but he's still a gentleman, if I can use this word. He tries to show you how much affection he has for you even if he isn't best at it.

After he decides to finally propose to you, wedding happens pretty quickly. It's big and lavish - just like Steward's wedding should be, in opinion of Denethor. There's a great feast for people so they can celebrate with their ruler.

Even after wedding, Denethor isn't big on PDA. I would say his love languages are acts of service and giving gifts. Maybe more giving gifts, because he doesn't help you personally and rather asks servants when he thinks that you need help. But in terms of gifts, Denethor absolutely spoils you, whatever you dream of, he will get it for you.

He is a jealous person. He wouldn't admit it, but Denethor is a bit self conscious and he worries that you may find someone younger and more handsome than him. While he doesn't talk about his doubts, Denethor doesn't hide his jealousy. When he notices you talking to other men, he either interrupts your conversation or waits until your alone to discuss his suspicions.

Lord Voldemort

Like Denethor, he's a man in position of power but in contrast to the ruler of Gondor, he don't hesitate to make your relationship clear for all Death Eaters. After all, he's their leader and one of the most powerful wizards in history. He does what he wants and doesn't care if somebody criticizes his decision (I mean, if somebody does, they probably won't live long)

Some people dream about marriage and family life, Voldemort dreams about ruling the world with you by his side. You would be the most powerful couple in history. Everyone is gonna bow to you or suffer tortures and death.

You always accompany him during council with his followers or during fights. Voldemort isn't afraid that you can get hurt, first of all, because he knows you're a skillfull magician, and second - even if you had some trouble, he would be there to help you.

You're probably the only person Dark Lord treats as equal to him.

NSFW

Denethor II

Despite his old age, that man has still some vitality in his body, especially when he sees you. Especially naked.

Despite his stern cold demeanor, he's a very delicate and affectionate lover. He likes to go slow, take his time with you, caressing and kissing your body.

When it comes to positions, I guess he would like missionary best, or simply any position which let him be close to you and look at your face (and also doesn't requires much strength and flexibility from him, after all, he has his age).

Lord Voldemort

Surprisingly, he's a switch. Sure, he likes to control the situation but when you decide to dominate him, it's a new exciting experience. He just loves a person who doesn't fear him and who shares his hunger for power.

I think it's not a surprise that you often engage in BDSM practices especially focusing on pain and control.

He's not loud in the bedroom, actually it's hard to hear any noise from him. Despite enjoying the act, Voldemort would rather hear you moan and whimper.

Lord Voldemort isn't a prude but he prefers to keep your private life to yourself. He's a bit traditional... and he has a reputation to uphold.

[amarantine-amirite]

The Frustration Trap

It started when we had to buy a new oven. We did our research before we purchased the range we wanted. At least, we thought we bought the range that we wanted.

I was 17 and my parents were away on business when they delivered the unit. We did not receive an oven. The local hardware store instead delivered what I maintain is the most useless cooktop in existence instead of the range we wanted.

Most importantly, there was no oven. We can't make do with just the stovetop. Some argue otherwise, but there are some foods you need to put in the oven. For example, sous-vide chicken wings just don't taste right.

I swung by the furniture store where we bought the range. I waited forever to talk to someone because the place was crawling with personal shoppers who soaked up the cashier's time and attention. I've never seen personal shoppers in a housewares store other than for people in wheelchairs, not even in a fancy housewares store.

Finally, someone came over to help. "Hi, can I help you?" said a sales associate with a bushy hairdo, mustache, and a name tag that read "Doug."

"Yes," I said, "we bought a range here and you delivered a totally useless cooktop"

Doug tilted his head to one side. "What was wrong with it?"

I pulled out the picture I took of the cooktop on my phone. "The piece of shit that called itself a cooktop had no dials and was made of window glass painted to look like quartz glass."

Doug had difficulty believing what I just said. He tipped his head to one side. "How would you work a cooktop with no dials?" he asked.

"By using the app that goes with it, which is also total shit," I huffed. It pisses me off that the manufacturer forces you to download a crappy app to restore functionality you expect to come standard.

"Oh, this?" Doug said as he pointed to the app on my phone, "Yeah, their app is super easy to use."

"Ya think?"

Doug began his bullshit-laden spiel. "well, it's free and -"

"No, it's not." I interrupted, "The app wasn't free and the subscription fee cost almost twice as much as our rent!"

"Well," Doug stammered, "you can control the cooktop from anywhere - "

I blinked at him. "Doesn't matter. This stupid app made you give it your social security number to set up two-factor authentication and your bank account to verify payment information. I have no idea how stupid people would be to use it," i said, "Worse, none of the materials online mentioned you'd need this to install the app."

"Why is it stupid?" Doug asked.

"I'm positive that this app harvests your data and sells it on the black market."

Doug still didn't get it. "What's your point?"

"My point is you didn't deliver the product you wanted and what you did deliver is useless." I said tensely.

Doug shrugged. "How is this my problem? I'm not responsible for what we sell."

"Yes, you are" I nodded, "You are a salesman. You are responsible for assisting the customer when the product fails to meet expectations." I can't believe I had to tell him his job.

Doug raised his hands. "Hey, it's not my fault your frustration tolerance is so bad," he said defensively. He did the human equivalent of a lazy pony that trots really fast when you ask him to canter and hopes you don't notice.

I started to lose my patience. I felt myself tense up and go up on my tiptoes. "I do not have bad frustration tolerance," I said. I struggled not to yell at him. "The same things that frustrate you also frustrate me. I'm just more vocal about what's bugging me than other people."

"Yes, but let me repeat myself here," Doug said to me, "I am not responsible for the manufacturer telling the truth, nor am I responsible for managing the customer expectations. My mandate is that I only get the thing out of the store."

"No," I corrected, "that's only half your mandate."

Doug nervously turned around. "I'm going to get my manager."

"Yes," I nodded, "please do, because you're clearly too stupid to handle this on your own."

The manager arrived but did nothing to help. "Is there a problem here?" she asked with a facial expression that suggested I pulled her away from playing League of Legends on company time.

I noticed her name tag read "Anna". "Yes, I bought a range and they delivered a cooktop that leaves loads to be desired and the salesman has done nothing to help me rectify why I've received a subpar product," I said.

Anna shrugged her shoulders. "Why should I deal with your frustration?"

"Because it's a question of customer service," I huffed. I tried not to yell at her because people who work in stores have shit jobs and it isn't fair to yell at people who are trying to help even though their pay and work environment is crap.

Anna shook her head and said, "No, you just can't cope with frustrations."

I could feel myself losing control. My mouth dried up and I started shaking and pointing indiscriminately. "I do not have any more of a problem coping with frustrations than the next person," I said unbelievably quickly, "What I have trouble coping with is Doug's inability to do his job!"

Anna leaned forward and talked down to me, "No, he does his job just fine, you're just a bitch with the frustration tolerance of a four-year-old."

There was no way I could get myself back down. I couldn't even leave the store. I just froze. While I stood there unable to calm myself down, she proceeded to record me on her phone

It slowly occurred to me that she egged me on in hopes she could get a good Karen video to post online and license the rights to the highest bidder. I tried to walk away before I could further humiliate myself, but my legs just wouldn't move. I know because I fell over just turning around.

In hindsight, I don't think it would have helped. "I'm putting that on YouTube!" Anna exclaimed triumphantly.

The video went viral. It spread like wildfire across social media platforms. It captured the attention of thousands, including my parents.

They came home from their business trip early so they could deal with me. Dad brought the suitcase in from the car. I took a deep breath and steeled myself for what would come.

"We need to talk," Dad began as he slammed his large suitcase on the stairs.

"Lay it on me," I sighed as I sat down on the couch.

Dad walked into the living room, sat in front of me, and pulled up the video on his phone. "I saw this video of you giving the manager of the Karl Farbman Store a hard time about the range we bought," he sighed heavily in frustrated disappointment.

I didn't hesitate to defend myself. "Because it wasn't right, and they weren't doing their job," I firmly retorted.

Dad pinched the bridge of his nose, a sign of mounting frustration. "Harriet, this is why you need to check before you accept the order," he reasoned, trying to get his point across.

"It's not my fault they brought it while you were away," I responded with a touch of exasperation, "They said they were bringing it the week before you left."

Dad looked at me incredulously. His frustration broke through. "Then whose fault is it? Charles DeGaulle's?!" he exclaimed sarcastically.

My eyes widened in disbelief. "You weren't there!" I shouted, "Those morons were the exact opposite of helpful!"

Dad waves his hands horizontally. "It doesn't matter, Harriet," he grimaced, "The problem isn't the customer service at Farbman, the problem is you wear your frustrations on your sleeve, and that attracts the wrong attention."

I crossed my arms. "Not all the time," I protested.

Dad shook his head. "Harriet, when you deal with people, they see you express what's bugging you, and unfortunately, they take advantage of you so they can get a Karen video that they hope will go viral," he explained, "They set a trap, and you walked right into it."

My eyes narrowed. "Well, then, avoid those people," I shot back.

Dad shook his head. "You're going to be avoiding everybody if you do that," he retorted. "Retail workers make next to nothing, so what would you do if you saw someone who was upset, and you knew that you'd make ten times your yearly salary from the video of their meltdown?"

"Start looking for a better job?" I asked. I wasn't wrong.

"No. You'd egg them on and hope you got something explosive enough that you could license it to a content aggregator," Dad shouted like this was something that I should know, "Anyone who works in retail will natter at customers until they explode, but for most people, it doesn't post a problem because they don't express frustration as visibly as you do."

I hesitated before I said anything. Nattering at people until they blow up so you can make money off the footage of their tantrums didn't seem normal, but maybe I had just gotten lucky. "So, you're saying it's my fault that someone tricked me into misbehaving?" I questioned. How can the actions of someone else be my fault?

"No, Harriet," Dad said sharply, "it's your fault for taking the bait."

I mentally checked out. Nothing Dad said made any sense, so I picked up the Rubik's cube and tried to solve it.

Grandpa gave me the Rubik's cube just before he died. He asked me to solve this ordinary-looking but very special cube. I received no instructions on how to solve it, only a note that read: There are two kinds of people in the world - people who can solve Rubik's cubes, and people who just move the stickers around to make it look like you solved it. The latter are cheaters.

It's been a month. I'm nowhere near solving it. The mechanism would jam if I turned in a certain way. Unfortunately, turning it that way seemed to be a requirement to solve the puzzle. I tried so many other ways to avoid turning at the way where it got jammed, but nothing worked. It'd feel like I got somewhere but then I'd make an even bigger mess and have to start over.

Dad caught me struggling to turn the Rubik's cube. "You see? You're doing it again, Harriet."

"No, I'm not!" I grunted as I turned it as hard as I could.

To everybody's shock, the Rubik's cube broke apart after I turned it. If you turned it past the point where it jammed, the cube itself would open up to reveal the mechanism inside. I looked at the mechanism and saw it contained an SD card. I picked it up and put it in the pocket of my jeans.

I haven't been able to sleep that night. At about 1 a.m. the next day, I got up and plugged the SD card into the computer. I noticed only one item: a wave file titled November-3-2002-Broadcast.

I clicked on the link, intrigued by the mysterious recording that awaited me. As the audio began to play, I realized it was a recording of an alien anthropologist calling into a podcast. The familiar voices of the podcast hosts greeted the extraterrestrial guest.

"Welcome to the show," the host chimed in. "What's up? You've reached our podcast."

The caller gave the people on the podcast the surprise of their lives. "Uh, yeah, my name is Jethré. I'm one of the many aliens studying your species, and I'm calling to lodge a complaint."

The host sat there with a confused look on his face, looking confused. "OK?" he responded casually. He thought it was a joke - people prank call podcasts all the time, especially in the fall.

Jethré quickly explained, "Your species needs to stop calling yourselves Homo sapiens. The term sapient means something specific: a sentient species. Many species of sentient aliens, ours included, do not consider humans sentient."

The host's disbelief turned into curiosity. "Why is that?" he asked. He seemed genuinely intrigued by the alien's perspective.

"Because you humans are unable to keeneetaa," Jethré responded.

While the host muttered "What the hell is keeneetaa?"; his co-host chimed in with a suggestion. "Is it the ability to evolve intelligence without destroying our environment?"

Jethré promptly dismissed the notion. "Nope, it's not that," xe replied.

The co-host's determination persisted. "How about the ability to power our big brains on a plant-only diet?"

I don't think any of those are right. It sounds like someone projecting their wishful thinking onto something they don't understand. It's more likely that keeneetaa is either a universal language understood by all members of a species, a connection to some psionic web of understanding, or some wacky dance with little kicks and thumbs.

Jethré finally told us what keeneetaa was supposed to be. "It's neither. Keeneetaa is the sound of something colliding with nothing." xe said.

It took me a while to figure out what something colliding with nothing was supposed to mean. "No Earth language has a word for the instantaneous realization that something magnificent doesn't exist."

The alien was right. No language on Earth has a word for that, not even German, and German has a word for everything. We do, however; have a story for it: the story of The Emperor's New Clothes.

I thought back to my debacle with the stove we bought from the Karl Farbman store. The salespeople went on and on about how fantastic the smart cooktop was, but I was the only one who saw it for what it was: nothing but garbage. I saw something everyone said was magnificent was really nothing.

Does this mean I am the only sentient human because I can keeneetaa? Only time will tell.

@sstrangeprompts

[hacked-by-jake]

Hbj, first of all I hope you have a great day. The theories about Jake using the character, it's making me crack my head, I've always been suspicious of the fact that he has such a quick love interest in MC, I don't see the point in him trusting and liking lovingly so fast in someone he doesn't know, whenever things get tough, he loves to say sweet things to calm down.

I love Jake, but of all the questions he can ask a stranger he decides to ask if MC has a boyfriend? It's like he wants to make sure he can use this method and after episode 8 when we decided to tell how we felt about what happened with Richy, I found him so cold in his responses, trying to treat the situation as unimportant and that bad things happen and when he saw that he was not convinced, he started to say beautiful things, I found it strange that he thought about giving up his sister for a complete stranger, because that's what we are, we don't know Jake and neither does he know us.

Despite all the theories, I know that when I talk to Jake again I'm going to trust him completely, after all they are theories, but the signs are there.

(If Jake is manipulating MC I will cry for days)

Hey, dear Anon! <3

Thank you very much! I also hope that you have a nice day/evening/night. <3

Well, first of all, even though the topic hurts a little, just like with you, but I love talking about it.

And I apologize in advance that the answer has become so long. I didn't expect that myself. xD

I fully understand your thoughts about this, and I’m also afraid that Jake is just taking advantage of us. I try to be as neutral as possible, so as not to be completely biased.

Okay, so I can say for myself, and for many others, that we’re actually the same on that point with Jake. We also trust him incredibly fast although he is anything but trustworthy at the beginning.

You know, I think the relationship between MC and Jake is a little bit based on soul mates. That it’s not a coincidence that we get to know him and that we get along so quickly.

We write more with Jake than with the other characters with whom we can enter into a closer relationship. For example, Richy, even when you flirt with Richy, it goes very fast to the point where you can get closer to him.

I think in some ways this "everything goes fast" is also simply because of the way the game works. I mean, we can’t take so much time to get to know everybody.

We immediately talk to all the characters, and directly a lot. If it would take longer in the game, it would be strange firstly because of Hannah, because she would be kidnapped much longer, and secondly, there would be a lot of tension missing. At least I think so.

You know, I think he’s asking MC if we have a boyfriend, actually, is more of a sign that he’s really interested. I don’t consider Jake to be someone who gets closer to someone when the person is already in a relationship. I think he really wanted to know. Because if he did all this just to make us trust him, he might not care if MC is in a relationship or not.

As we can notice, Jake has a hard time getting social contacts, having a hard time with things like smalltalk, etc. he tells us (we can ask him that, but I think only in the premium version) that he is and always was alone. (I can’t remember his exact wording.) And later he tells us that Hannah and Lilly are the only family he has left.

I think MC has just been the first person to really care about him for a long time, asking him more private questions. Directly during our second conversation with him, we can talk to him about the desert island, and ask him, for example, which programs he uses to hack.

I think, as he says himself, we immediately had a good relationship with each other. And if he’s been alone for a long time, and then someone like MC comes and pays attention to his personality, and not just superficially, he enjoys it.

We have not been deterred by him and his performances, and have treated him as a normal person. Not, for example, like the government that sees him as a criminal, but we know he’s a hacker, but we don’t let that put us off.

In episode 8, when Lilly criticizes us for really trusting him, we can say that we had no choice. We had to trust him, to help Hannah.

And so it was for him with MC. He was just trying to save his sister who was kidnapped in front of him. And all of a sudden, our number comes from Hannah. He had as few options as we had. He’s just trying to find his sister, so he has to trust the person whose number seems to have something to do with it.

Moreover, we are all in a dark time. A kidnapper and murderer who kidnapped one person, murdered one person, and maybe even a second one, Richy.

Everything is always under stress and we are working hard to find and save Hannah. Stress, grief and worry. When two people like MC and Jake meet and have to work so closely together, then a little distraction is really good. Or being drawn closer to someone when you’re desperate.

And then he writes a pretty agitated message, I don’t know if you ever chose this option, I can recommend it to you.

I think we can see how Jake really is when we talk to him about that Hannah might have done something to herself.

Jake says, "But if you think she might have done something to herself, that’s out of the question."

We can then say it’s okay, and we’ll continue to talk to him. However, we can continue to talk about it and tell him, for example, that we should not exclude anything. He’s still stubborn, and we can tell him, "Why are you so stubborn?"

(well, unfortunately I can’t find the screenshot of this place and I can’t remember his exact wording)

However, he sounds so desperate and worried and it also sounds a bit like a reproach, so that he even apologizes afterwards and says that he did not want us to feel bad about him.

(Maybe there is someone here who has selected it and has a screenshot of it)

Yes, unfortunately Jake, in episode 8 when we talk about Richy, sounds and is very cold and emotionless. I think it’s just hard for him to understand how it felt. And "unfortunately" he is more focused on finding Hannah that is one of the only things that interest him.

I think Jake is also kind of blaming himself for not being able to help Hannah faster.

As we also know from episode 8, Hannah had sent him an email. However, this address was no longer active, and he only saw it when it was actually too late. He called her right away, but if he’d seen the message sooner, that might never have happened. Of course, it’s not his fault, but that’s how we humans are. And I think it’s the same with him.

If he feels guilty, I can understand that he wants to help so badly. He probably blames himself for breaking off contact with her at the time. That he didn’t dare tell his sister he is her brother.

Maybe then everything would have been different, and Hannah wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.

I think he was thinking of giving up on Hannah and running away with MC because it was stressful for him, too. He also suffers from the situation, but does not admit it to himself.

As he says himself, he tries to look at everything as objectively as possible, so he ignores what happened to Jessy and Richy. Because I think he’s also hiding his own feelings.

And in between, we can see him from the emotional side. Only rarely, but sometimes it happens.

And right now he realizes that for some time it would be easier to disappear with MC and turn your back on everything. Since the situation also burdens him, it is quite normal to think about choosing the easier way, which would also make him feel better.

But, as he also says, this would bring nothing. The responsibility would catch up with us and we would live forever with the guilt of just letting Hannah down.

And last but not least: the topic of manipulation.

And yes, that’s exactly what Jake is doing with us, manipulating us by using our feelings for him, and calming us down by telling us nice things.

Best we see this in episode 7. After his pursuers tried to hack us. Although he used this method before, manipulated us, but in episode 7 it is the most extreme to see.

However, I have to say that we are doing the same thing with him. We’re doing the same thing.

And best we see that, in episode 8.

When we tell him that the others want to see what we have for clues, etc., and the others want him to come into the group.

We know for a fact that Jake isn’t thrilled. But we get him to decide against it by saying, "I can’t do this without you."

And that’s actually also a point that shows me that Jake really likes us, he gives in and accepts the situation after we tell him that.

And that’s exactly what happens when we ask him to write the letter to Ted with Lilly, where we can tell him that we’d like him to be there. And from that moment, Jake says yes.

If he really didn’t want it, or he didn’t care that we told him we couldn’t do it without us, he wouldn’t give in.

He would just keep saying that he doesn’t want to and he doesn’t want to talk to us about it.

We wouldn’t even have time to contradict him, or just tell the others everything, since he could have erased any evidence from our phone.

He lets us manipulate him as much as he manipulate us.

And he writes when he joins the group chat that he wants to change his mind to tell the others everything, because of us.

And even the others realize that Jake likes us.

Lilly, for example, says (when we talk to her in episode 6) that he interrupted the vote, that his reaction wasn’t normal just because he cared about the subject. He’s very biased, not just because we’re important to him to save Hannah. It’s because we were treated unfairly by Lilly and the others.

Jessy says to Phil that there’s someone who likes us, but she doesn’t know if we’re reciprocating his feelings.

I don’t think I need to say anything about Dan, do I?

Jake and MC are not as inconspicuous together as the two think themselves.

I think I’ve addressed the most important things now, so I want to say an end conclusion: I really believe that Jake likes us and not just manipulates us. I really think he wants to get closer to us.

I’m not a psychologist or anything, of course, but I think Jake has some psychological problems that he might even know himself. Many things are difficult for him and I can often identify with him on this point.

His actions and manner are not always the right ways, sometimes he does not know how to behave and what is okay and what is not. We can see it with Jessy and Richy.

With us, he tries to show empathy and support us, which is why he wants us to rest a little afterwards.

Jake doesn’t seem to have had an easy life, and of course that leaves its mark. I don’t think he’s that cold sometimes because he means it badly.

I know we haven’t known him for long, but this whole situation is so special that it’s not surprising that MC and Jake get along so well and get closer.

Of course I can’t say exactly, maybe it’s really all just played by him, that we will only see at the end, but I don’t think that everything is fake.

--

And of course, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and theories with us. As you can see, I had a lot to say and really enjoyed answering that, and I hope I could help you a little bit.

So, I hope that I have not forgotten anything important now and that I have taken up everything I wanted to and can say. 😅

As I said, I don’t know everything myself, and this is just my opinion. I hope I’ve managed not to be so biased.

Take care of yourself and stay healthy, lovely Anon!💚🎭🌹

[rose-colored-amy]

So, this is a continuation to my extremely short one-shot Last Moments, Last Regrets, but it can be read as a stand-alone. Regardless, I'll leave the link of that one in here:

Also, thanks to @coeurhh for suggesting I write a second part. You're a sweetheart 🥰

She made a lovely fanart/gif, which I'm also sharing, of course:

Prompt: AU. Sakura's death goes unnoticed to everyone but the squad she protected with her life and Tsunade. Team Kakashi doesn't find out until the very end, when Naruto and Sasuke have already had their fight, and there's nothing to do about it but mourn the absence.

Warning: Mild Sasusaku and lots of angst. Team 7 sort-of-fluff (?)

—Blue Bird, Let Go—

"Hey, bastard... I know they really let us down, the village, I mean."

"Aa... "

"But I really think it's not all that bad. When we were I team, I knew you understood. It felt like having a brother, believe it."

They were watching their lives go by, shadows of unknown faces passing by them, not noticing their pain, or not caring whatsoever. Their backs were touching, but it was all cold and bleak; a bad memory. A clan slaughtered, a demon sealed. Two lonely boys wallowing in their own sadness.

"Well, even if I don't make it, I'm glad it was you, bastard—"

"Shut up, idiot." His voice sounded strained, even for his standards, but Sasuke was so tired he couldn't even bring himself to care.

"We're really dying, ah? Wanna say something? I do have things to say, 'cause there's no way I'm dying—"

"In silence?" Sasuke interrupted, but Naruto payed him no mind.

"Without telling you how much of an asshole you've been! I couldn't even keep my promise to Sakura-chan! She's gonna be so damn mad when she finds out, I'm sure she'll drag me back to life just to cave my face in—" He was rambling at that point, but it was just so comforting and normal to Sasuke that he didn't even acknowledge it anymore.

"Hn. Sakura... She..."

"She still loves you, asshole. I don't have any idea how it can be possible but—"

"I'm sorry..." It sounded rushed, but Naruto heard it perfectly, and in the darkness of their shared consciousness, Sasuke heard a resigned sigh.

"Well, it's not that bad. I cannot imagine dying beside anyone but you, bastard."

"Idiot..." He made a pause. "Me neither."

"You're both a pair of idiots!"

Suddenly, the unreadable mass of unrecognizable faces around them cleared, and one figure stood in front of them, pink eyebrows frowned in annoyance. Though this version of Sakura looked familiar, it was one none of the boys had seen in a long time. Genin, long-haired, Sakura was glaring at them, arms crossed.

"Sakura-chan! What are you doing in here?!"

Her eyes softened. "What, so I'm supposed to let you two die, after everything? No way in hell!"

"Sakura..."

"You!" She pointed at Sasuke, who flinched slightly at her rudeness. "I don't know what the hell happened, but I don't care. Lighten up and start being your moody self. We love you just like that! Don't act so repented and shit! If you're sorry stop looking like a lost puppy and start doing something about it, you asshole!" Her voice was raising with madness and it was slightly off putting to see what used to be a stuttering lovestruck preteen talking to him like that.

Naruto snorted at that, obviously delighted for not being at the receiving end of her wrath for once. It was short-lived, however.

"And you!" She pointed at the blonde; then crossed her arms. He jumped back in fright. "What is this? How dare you even consider dying after you promised to be the best goddamned Hokage in history?! Here I am, rooting for you, while you lay around like a lazy pig with your edgy bro there. You should be ashamed of yourself!" She scoffed.

Naruto's mouth was so wide open he could have caught a fly. "Lazy pig? Are you kidding?!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, half amused, half annoyed. "Edgy?"

Suddenly, the edges of their vision began to blurr, like a genjutsu being unravelled. "Ah, someone came to help you at last." Sakura seemed relieved. Strangely so.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! You know what? You're right. I'll be the best damn Hokage ever, believe it! Just you watch!" He threw a punch to the air.

Seemingly placated and pleased with his answer, she nodded. "I know so." Then, she turned to her other teammate, who was concentrating solely on her face, mismatched eyes softened as they'll ever be. "And you'll make sure he doesn't mess up, right?"

They shared a long silence. There was something strange about Sakura aside her appearance. He could tell. "Hn. I will..."

"Hey! I don't need him watching over—"

"Sure you don't." He countered sarcastically.

"Also..." They turned to her again. "I'm sorry."

"Wha—" Naruto stuttered. "What the hell would you be sorry for, Sakura-chan?! If anything, it's the bastard here who should be apologizing to you!"

"Sakura..." Sasuke seemed to be searching for the right words, but she couldn't let them go without them listening to her. To what she needed them to know. There wasn't much time left after all.

"I'm sorry, because I wasn't what you needed..." She closed her eyes, her pretty minty orbs. Her appearance suddenly shifted, before then now standing her true self, still dressed in the standard shinobi uniform of the alliance. Her forehead protector lost to whoever knows where. "And thank you. You both made me stronger. You made me appreciate what I had. And I'll always, always love you. Our moments together like team seven... I'll treasure them for all eternity."

"Sakura-chan..."

"I know Konoha wasn't the best to you both, but don't forget the good... The wholesome moments. It's all that matters in the end... Our bonds, the bonds you managed to forge with sweat and blood... The world we live in, the world that gave me the chance to meet you. To me, that's to be cherished. Forever."

The white light started overwhelming the rest. Even Sakura's features started dissapearing.

"Live. Just live." For that, she specifically stared at Sasuke, a soft smile playing on her lips. "And thank you."

Sasuke started racing towards her, hand stretched, a forebonding understanding shaking his bones. "Sakura!"

And then, they both lost consciousness.

When they woke up, aside from feeling like shit, the first thing that crossed their minds what the finality of Sakura's words. Tsunade was beside them, patching them up, with Kakashi beside her, silently watching over them.

"About time, brats! What were you think—"

"Baa-san." Naruto interrupted her, his voice the most serious she had heard him until then.

"Where's Sakura?" Sasuke finished for him, his eyes icy and detached, trying to keep his worry at bay.

But she didn't need to answer. Her chakra flow hesitated, spiking with sorrow. Her eyes glistening with unbearable loss. Kakashi, at her side, stared, eyes widened in comprehension.

She was gone by a long shot.

And they were just finding out.

...

Everybody had different ways of dealing with loss. Naruto helped rebuild the village along with everyone else, but he skipped his usual meals, his ramen left forgotten in his kitchen counter. His movements when sparring were sloppy at best, not just because of the new prosthetic limb, but also because his mind was clearly somewhere else. Usually, Shikamaru would drag him out his makeship house, like he had done when Jiraija was gone for good. Sometimes, he would bring Ino with him, who was suspiciously skinny and messier than normal. No makeup covering the dark circles under her eyes.

Kakashi spent more than usual at the memorial stone every day, tracing the newly marked name of the girl who once remained him of Rin but that had come to claim a place for herself in his heart. Also, he took more missions than it was allowed in a month, going so far as to pick up his ANBU mask again, which caused an altercation with Tsunade, who hadn't been sober in a long time and had been hoping to hand the Hokage seat to him.

Sai avoided the color pink for a long time.

Sasuke... Well, he dealed with loss the same as everyone else... Longing for the missing person to be there, itching to have the opportunity to say what he couldn't at the time. Wanting to be alone whenever they would reach for him... And he built a tomb for her in hopes to find some closure. Not that official, because there wasn't a body to bury, and it had no name, but it was enough for him. He would bring with him camellias every day, buying them at the Yamanaka's, where Ino would always glance at him in silent understanding.

One morning, on his way to her tomb, he spotted a young shinobi leaving a white lilly for her. When he came by, the child spoke without a care, like they were acquaintances. "This is Sakura-san's, right?"

"Hn." It wasn't really an answer, but the child seemed to understand anyway.

"You know? Mama and big sister are also buried in these grounds... I always talk to them and tell them about my day and stuff I want them to know!" He turned to the Uchiha, a smirk on his cherubic face. "I'm sure she would appreciate it as well." And just like that, he left without another word.

Sasuke sat on the ground, just in front of the stone, mismatched eyes half lidded. Sensing no one in the vicinity, he exaled a shaky breath, and his dam opened up, the words longing to be said broke the silence he had been wrapping around himself since he knew of her death:

"I miss you... I've been missing you since I first left."

[echoghost1]

Ectober Day 05 - Ouija Board

Summary: Danny had just finished up a ghost patrol with his friends when he hears a voice calling out to him. A voice that his friends can't hear. A voice that he doesn't want to ignore.

Word count: 1,600

No trigger warnings for this one because it's also fluffy! It just starts off a little spooky.

You can also read it down below the cut!

Danny capped the thermos on the ghost of the day’s threat of vengeance and landed next to his friends.

“Glad that’s over,” Tucker commented as he tapped something on his trusted PDA. “And hey, we’ve still got some time if you wanted to do a quick study session at my place?”

“Do we have a test tomorrow?” Danny asked alarmed not remembering anything about that.

“No, it’s just a short quiz over the latest unit in Biology. You missed the announcement because of that ghost fight before lunch.” Sam explained.

Danny let out a sigh of relief, “Ok, sure a study session sounds-”

“Hello is anyone there?” a small voice echoed in interruption.

Danny turned toward the sounds finding nothing but the empty park and a distant streetlamp buzzing. “Did you guys hear that?”

“Other than you cutting yourself off in the middle of a sentence? No.” Tucker answered.

“Why? What did you hear?” Sam asked elbowing Tucker for his rudeness.

“I thought I heard-”

“Hello? If you’re there please let me know.” The voice spoke again. Now he could place it as a young female voice, but not one he’d ever heard before tonight.

“That.” He gestured in the general direction, which to his friends must have seemed like empty air.

They exchanged glances then shook their heads.

“I’m just going to check it out then. I’ll meet you at your place, Tuck.” Danny explained as he floated off to investigate.

“Danny, wait!” his friends called, but he ignored them.

It was probably nothing anyway.

He flew away from the park towards the older side of town, which was around where he lived actually.

He remembered his parents had mentioned that older houses were more susceptible to hauntings than newer ones.

“If anyone is there please just answer.” She asked again.

Although he could feel he was closer, the voice wasn’t getting much louder. Clearer yes, but it stayed a whisper.

No, it was more like she was talking right into his ear than from across a large empty room.

He flew past a small two-story home and noticed the soft flicker of candlelight coming from the attic. As he got closer he realized this was the source he’d been looking for.

In amongst a halo of candles was a young girl, maybe about 10 at the oldest. The dramatic shadows caused by the candles made it difficult to truly tell.

She sat cross-legged and hunched over. He had to move all the way up to the window to see what she was focusing on. He turned invisible on his approach to keep from startling her and noticed that she was using a Ouija board.

“I’ll ask you one more time tonight, okay? If anyone is there, please let me know.”

It took a moment for it to connect in Danny’s clueless head, that as a Halfa, he counted as the ‘anyone’ she was looking for.

Without being able to come up with a reason why not, he slipped through the wall invisibly and sat opposite her, mimicking her cross-legged position.

She looked up when the candles flickered with the breeze of his unseen movement.

He gently moved the planchette to spell out ‘Hi’.

Her eyes shot wide open, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” she looked around frantically, took a breath, then asked, “What’s your name?”

He waited for a beat and then spelled out ‘Phantom’.

She didn’t lift her eyes from the board, “Phantom?” she breathed, “As in the Ghost Boy hero, Phantom?”

‘Yes,’ he had the board indicate.

“Oh geez, I didn’t think I’d get you! You’re like, a celebrity!”

He chuckled and spelled out ‘thanks’.

She tensed when she heard his echoed laugh, then leaned forward, “Are you in the room with me?”

He moved the piece to “yes”

She stared at the board, her expression hidden by her auburn hair and darkness. “Would you rather talk out loud?”

Turning visible, he moved the piece to ‘yes’ while saying, “Sure.”

She bolted upright, eyes wide, and looked on the verge of screaming.

“Oh no, no, no! I didn’t mean to scare you!” he felt so bad, he’d appeared like that in front of Sam and Tucker all the time and they never seemed to mind. He had forgotten that most people wouldn’t be so used to his powers.

It confused him to no end when she started laughing.

“Seems kind of odd that a ghost didn’t want to scare me, right?”

They both got a kick out of the irony.

“So you know my name, but I don’t think I ever got yours?” Danny asked leaning back, using his arms to support himself.

She let out a small squeak of surprise. “Oh, right! I’m Charity. Sorry, I always forget that part.” She looked away hugging herself in insecurity.

“That’s ok, I’m not that good with people either.” He admitted.

She looked up at him through the strands of her long dark hair, “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. But you know what? I bet there’s something you are good at.” He thought he could see a faint blush in the dim light, he couldn’t tell for sure so he just kept talking. She reminded him a lot of himself and figured if that was true, she could use a pick me up. “Like me for example, I could tell you anything you could ever want to know about space or NASA, but I’m failing Math... and Bio.... most of my classes actually....” he rubbed the back of his neck feeling awkward about sharing how much he sucked at school.

She blinked a few times before she spoke, “Ghosts go to school?”

“Yes?”

Crud, now he was going to spill his whole secret identity to a little girl? Well, no time like the present to work on his lying skills.

“If we want to. Which I do. And I usually sit in the back so no one really notices me.” He shrugged, trying to hide how he was mildly impressed with himself.

She swept her hair behind one ear and looked at him with deep concern, “Don’t you ever get lonely?”

“Sometimes.” He smiled half-heartedly, “I used to want to fit in with the popular kids, but it dawned on me one day that it just wasn’t going to work. That I just didn’t want to waste any more time on people who hated me. People that would only accept me if I were to change myself completely. I mean sometimes I still wouldn’t mind if they at least could be somewhat nice to me, so I try being nice to them, but then I get nervous and my powers act up. Or I just say really stupid things that I regret as I’m saying them.”

“Right! And then you just want to pretend that it never happened, but that’s the one time they were actually paying attention to you and then they use it against you forever!”

In unison, they sighed and agreed, “People suck.”

They locked eyes and laughed again, both pleased that they found someone who knows how hard it can be to not fit in.

“But wait,” she started, “Don’t you rescue your classmates all the time? I heard the high school is the worst place for ghost attacks.”

Without thinking it through he answered truthfully, “Yes! When I’m in hero mode, they can’t get enough of me, but bam!” he clapped his hands together so they slide against one another, his right hand going forward while his left shot back, “Back to class, and it’s ‘out of the way nerd’!”

She cocked a brow and straighten her posture, “You look different when you go to school?”

Double crud, this kid was a lot smarter than he was expecting, “You can keep a secret right?”

“Even if I had anyone to tell, they wouldn’t believe me anyway.” She answered frankly.

He frowned when he heard that, “Firstly, I’m sorry to hear that, but yes. Some ghosts can appear human. And I’m sorry I can’t show you what it looks like, gotta keep the secret identity a secret.”

She looked only somewhat disappointed, like she expected as much, and nodded, “Yeah, I get it.”

They talked more and more until the candles slowly burned themselves out. Danny didn’t even notice how much time had passed until he realized that that was the fifteenth time he saw her yawn. He looked to the window to see the early morning blue filling up the sky.

Alarmed he popped to his feet, not noticing when his legs fused into a ghostly tail, “Oh my gosh! I kept you up all night! On a school night! What time is it even?” He pulled out his phone, cringing at the sight of all the missed texts and calls. “6:15?! You have to get ready for school! I have to get home! My parents are gonna kill me! I have a test!! I didn’t even- ugh!”

He realized he’d been pacing through his whole rant and turned back to Charity who stared at him with confused and bleary eyes. “I’m gonna go now.” He gestured his thumb over his shoulder to the window, “Feel free to call again, but maybe next time save it for the weekend? Can’t have me messing up both our GPAs.”

“Ok, Dad.” She teased.

He felt his face grow red, or green rather, “I’d come up with some witty retort, but I’m running late.” And with that, he flew off hoping he wouldn’t be in too much trouble when he made it home.

[lavendersugarplum]

☂︎ZEROᵗʰᵉ ʳᵉᵈ ᵘᵐᵇʳᵉˡˡᵃ

(The Umbrella Academy x Sibling! Adolescent! Reader)

sᴏɴs ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴀᴜɢʜᴛᴇʀs

─━━━━━━⊱☂︎⊰━━━━━━─

ZERO WAS OBSERVING HERSELF in the mirror imagining what her day would be like this morning. The change in the weather already had her feeling gloom, but she didn't really expect much from today. It was probably just going to be just like every morning, or so she thought.

Seconds later, Pogo came in, gently, through the door. "Miss Y/n, Luther, and the rest of your siblings are here." As soon as those words fell out of the chimp's mouth she froze as if she didn't know how to process what he just said. She couldn't believe it. Zero didn't think that they would even attend. After how so Sir Reginald treated them, this must be some kind of joke. Once Zero fully processed what was happening, she positions herself around and raised an eyebrow. "Why hadn't you told me they were coming before?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise." Pogo smiled gently at her before walking up to fix the tie on her uniform. Once he was done tying it, he looked at her with his big brown eyes. "You'll do fine. Just talk to them." Zero nodded in understanding, eyes furrowed. "I see....... and Pogo?

"Yes?""You don't have to call me Miss. I'm not quite grown up, as you can see."

"Well, I think you've grown to be a mature young lady," Pogo said smiling.

"Too bad Mr. Hargreeves didn't think so." Zero thought as she walked out of the room.

~☂︎~

TO SAY THAT SHE WAS nervous was an understatement. It had been forever since she had seen any of her siblings at all, including Luther. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Zero's head in anxiousness. Within every step she took getting closer to the living room, the feeling of her throat closing up came with it.

When Zero arrived in the living room, the first person she saw was her bulky brother Luther along with Diego, Allison, Klaus, and Vanya. They had all looked so grown up. It almost made Zero envy for how mature they had gotten.

"Zero has arrived." Pogo announced causing the five to have their eyes zapped straight to Zero. Vanya was the first to walk up to her with welcoming arms. "Zero." Vanya went over to hug her, causing Zero to back away trying to contain her abilities from being triggered. "I'm sorry." Vanya apologized as she backed away.

"You came back." Zero said, putting what had just happened aside. She was just overjoyed and slightly overwhelmed to see her family again.

"I told you I would come back." Vanya shyly smiled, running a hand through her dark brunette hair. The next person to the conversation was Klaus.

"Oh my, Zero! Well I'd say you don't look a day over..... Since I last saw you!" Klaus said acting surprised but was just really being a tease."Some family reunion, huh?" Zero slightly rolled her eyes at him. "Go on, M-I mean Zero. Go sit by Luther." Pogo held his hand out in the direction of the couch. As Zero made her way over to the couch, she tried to avoid eye contact with her siblings in pure shyness.

"So do you come out of your room now or is it just for stupid occasions like these?" Diego asked, clearly annoyed.

"Diego." Allison warned.

"It's fine." Zero said quietly, voice barely above a whisper. As soon as she said that Klaus's eyes widened.

"Wait. She can talk now?"

Klaus asked, but everyone just ignored it as a question.

"Why am I always the last to know about stuff?" Klaus groans as he fixes himself a drink.

A pensive silence starts to enclose over the room. Zero understood it was kinda awkward because none of them saw each other in such a long time.

Zero observed her siblings as they had their moments of silence. She looked to Luther who looked the same just as when he had left. With the chimpanzee DNA he took, he had gotten taller. She remembers when they were younger, with him being the leader. She knows Luther tried his best, but Reginald didn't think that was enough. Luther was always the leader, and she could feel how much it always got on Diego's nerves. Those two were always getting into rivalries.

Sh started to feel bad that he's going to realize he went to the moon for no reason. Reginald didn't read his reports at all; and she knew that.

Even though Luther was raised to be the best and most useful, Zero couldn't deny that he went through some trauma. They all did. He was raised to believe he was the best and a leader. Another example of Reginald's bad parenting. And as a result, his ego is still here, as Zero noticed. He's the only one that still cares for his father, while Zero just doesn't know how to feel after all the things he did to her. They say it's always better to forgive, but Zero just doesn't know.

Luther loved being hero more than anything, she had to  just hope that he wouldn't put that over himself and his family.

Her pupils bored over to Diego. He may be brash, but deep down Zero senses that he's insecure and still wants to prove himself. Still trying to measure up to Luther, even though Diego has become very skilled in Zero's eyes. She still remembers the time when they had first interacted.

~☂︎~

ZERO WAS WALKING DOWN the hall with Reginald's reports in her hand; taking them to him. A thud into her shoulder made every last one of the reports fall out of her hand, but like magic, she reached her hands and the reports defied gravity to arrive back into her possession.

"Sorry"

Zero was about to walk away but Diego stopped her.

"W-wait. I heard you in my mind. What kind of ridiculous trick are you playing on?"

"...... I can read minds and feel emotions."

"Well don't do that on me. I-i don't need a weird girl like you looking through my mind." With that Diego walked away, keeping a guard on his mind.

~☂︎~

ZERO THEN PEERS AT ALLISON. She had grown up to be a very pretty girl, as so Zero thought. Allison was always nice towards everyone in the Umbrella Academy. She never once talked bad about anyone behind their backs, which is quite admirable to Zero. How much Allison craved for attention is what she didn't notice.

Then there's Klaus. Still the same rebellious person he is. Zero admires how he can just move on and not dwell on the past too much. Sweet and vulnerable as a boy, and also her other close friend thanks to Ben. Besides herself, Klaus got experimented on by Sir Reginald the most. Through the years he has become not all himself, which awakens her concern for his well-being.

Finally, there's Vanya. Zero learned that she became a writer. She remembers when she sent her book to Reginald, but he never read it. Zero finds herself wondering how her music career was doing. Though in the past she seemed aloof, not want to have anything to do with her siblings, Zero had always watched them from afar, knowing their feelings and insecurities.

But sometimes it would be too much feelings and insecurities.

Zero's thought process was interrupted when Luther began the gathering speech.

"I guess we should get this started. So, I figured we could have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words, just at dad's favorite spot."

"Dad had a favorite spot?" Allison asked, astonished, an expression of surprise crossing her face along with the others.

"You know, under an oak tree. We used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever did that?" Luther asked, like it was a usual thing.

Not all of us were his Number One, is what Zero thought.

"Will there be any refreshments? TV? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner." Klaus asked as he nonchalantly popped a joint, joining his siblings in the living room, drink in hand. Luther's face scrunched up at Klaus.

"What? No. And put that out. Dad didn't allow smoking in here."

"Is that my skirt?" Allison says in tone, referring to the skirt Klaus was wearing. "What? Oh, yeah, this. I found it in your room. It's a little dated, I know. But it's very breathy on the." Klaus motions his hands. ".... Bits."

"Listen up. Still, some important things that we need to discuss, all right?" Luther proceeds.

"Like what?" Diego asked dryly and uninterested.

"Like the way he died."

"And here we go." Diego rolled his eyes, uninterested.

"I don't understand." Vanya mumbles. I thought they said it was a heart attack."

"Yeah, according to the coroner."

"Well, wouldn't they know?"

"Theoretically," Luther explained.

"Theoretically?" Allison asked.

"I'm just saying, at the very least, something happened. the last time I talked to Dad, he sounded strange."

"Oh, Quelle surprise!" Klaus exclaimed gurgling his drink.

"Strange how?" Allison asked.

"He sounded on edge. Told me I should be careful who to trust. Hearing these things made Zero look up from her lap, at Luther.

"Luther, he was a paranoid, bitter old man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles," Diego said walking over to him.

"No. He must have known something was going to happen. Zero, you must know something. Did he say anything out of the usual to you?" Luther said kneeling to Zero.

".........No." Zero replied, looking back down.

Luther sighed and got back up. "Look, I know you don't like to do it, but I need you to talk to Dad," Luther said referring to Klaus, causing Allison to scoff.

"I can't just call Dad in the afterlife and be like, "Dad, could you just...stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?"

"Since when? That's your thing," Luther encourages.

"I'm just not in the right frame of mind," Klaus replied.

"You're high?" Allison exclaims.

"Yeah! Yeah! I mean, how are you not listening to this nonsense?"

"Well, sober up, this is important. Then there's the issue of the missing monocle." Luther said.

"Who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?" Diego said.

"Exactly. It's worthless. So whoever took it, I think it was personal. Someone close to him. Someone with a grudge."

"Where are you going with this?" Klaus asked.

"Oh, is it obvious, Klaus? He thinks one of us killed dad." Diego said, eyes trained on Luther.

"You do?" Klaus said in awe.

"And I already know exactly who is the main suspect is. He thinks Zero did it." As soon as Diego said that everyone's eyes went wide and Zero tensed up.

"No, Zero. That's not-" Luther reached out for Zero, but she backed away.

"Why......do you lie?" That was the last thing she said before walking out of the room, heading for her bedroom.

"How could you think she would do that," Vanya said in disbelief.

"She's a kid, Luther," Diego said.

"You're crazy, man. You're crazy. Crazy."

Klaus, Vanya, and Diego started to storm at the room not wanting to continue with the conversation anymore.

Allison started to walk away too with a disappointed look on her face.

"That went well," Luther said sarcastically. He sighs and settles down on one the couches and rubs his head in exhaustion.

"Master Luther."

Luther's thoughts were halted by Pogo, who walked in; wooden walking stick glued to his paw. Luther had called him in to ask him about Sir Reginald's Monocle which turned to be missing.

"I'm trying to locate Dad's monocle. Have you perhaps seen it?"

Pogo simply shakes his head.

"No, unfortunately I haven't, but I would assume it would be one of his personal findings."

"It's not there... I've already checked." Luther goes silent almost about to give up.

~☂︎~

ZERO WAS IN HER BEDROOM reading the book Ben gave her. She already read it a thousand times, but this book is the only thing she has of Ben. She soon started to hear the music play in the house. She shook her head and kept reading. Zero' started to think about what Luther had said about their father seeming off. It wasn't just him, she also noticed he was a out of character months before he passed. Reginald started telling her more about the world beyond the Academy. Of course they would have their usual sessions, like playing chest or eating breakfast together. Sometimes they would just sit by the fireplace in silence. No lectures, no teachings, just silence.

Zero's thought process was diminished by a Thunder clap and sound clouding her ears, along with bright blue shadowing over her room. Zero decided she would stay in a room since there is no way she was going outside. A blue glint casted her eyes as she just stared in awe at the illuminating glow. It was some sort of a wormhole forming in mid-air. She saw her siblings going out to look at it as well.

"And just what do they think they're doing?"

She saw Klaus coming out with a fire extinguisher throwing it in. She then saw Luther directing them to back away from it. All the Hargreeves just stared at it with the wind ferociously blowing. The unbelievable happened. A small figure fell from the whole. As soon as the person hit the ground, the wormhole instantly closed up.

The siblings started to inch closer to the figure, along with Zero who examined the person with curious eyes, eyes widening at what it was.

It was her missing brother.

Five Hargreeeves

[wings-of-a-storm]

Alrighty lovely peeps, here is the final part of my thoughts on Victor’s infamous ‘love-triangle’ journey in episodes 9-10 (and why the undercurrent is full of Benji).

MOURNING A LIFE WITH A LOVER ALMOST LOST: HURT AND ANGER

Our first understanding of how Victor is holding up in episode ten is through the visual of the wedding invitation he is holding. It’s a very strong visual with so many connotations -- weddings are romantic, full of love and celebration, and most importantly a lifelong commitment to a loved one. That is Victor’s dream too and one he was working hard on (not necessarily a marriage but certainly a life-long commitment). But the person he wants to work on that commitment with isn’t talking to him and quite likely easing them into a separation.

What is even more of a mockery is the envelope -- Victor and Benji’s names are printed together in gorgeous cursive, like they are a team, a unit, a done deal. It’s almost like how their own wedding invitation might look, if they ever wanted to have one. But it is a dream that only exists on a piece of paper right now.

It is clear in this scene that Victor is feeling a mix of three things: sad, hurt, and anger. The anger is quite clear when he puts the invitation aside with the shake of his head. He’s angry that Benji ditched the wedding commitment last minute, yes, but no doubt a lot of that anger is born from how hurt he is that Benji is seemingly giving up on them. A glance at his unanswered message to Simon where he says something similar confirms it.

This anger is channeled into a practical matter -- the etiquette faux pas of being a last-minute wedding guest now messing up catering. Victor needs to find a substitute plus one (which to be honest feels like a plot device but shh). Enter Rahim, sans Pilal. Once again, Rahim is a welcome friend that Victor knows he will have fun with, be comfortable around, and more importantly experience a nice distraction with again.

Fast-forward to the next key scene, for me: Victor’s fascinating response to hearing Harold’s and Veronica’s wedding vows. Which brings me to:

VICTOR’S DESPERATION FOR SOMEONE TO LOVE HIM ENOUGH TO FIGHT / BUILDING A SAFETY NET P2

Guess what themes happen to be in the wedding vows Victor hears? A) Fighting for a relationship you love. B) Not giving up on someone in the tough moments.

“I know there will be tough days but it's on those days that I vow to love you the hardest” / “I vow to always remember that we are worth fighting for. Forever. No matter what.”

Gee, what an extraordinary coincidence!

And what does Victor do in response to hearing a loving couple voice his own feelings and goals? He looks at Rahim. Or rather, to Rahim. He knows Rahim is a romantic (like himself and Benji are), so he knows Rahim would share those goals too. And Rahim certainly is transfixed by the vows, very much feeling their sentiments too.

Rahim just ticked a box Victor is currently desperate for: someone who looks like they value fighting to beat the odds for the person they love, unlike what Benji is seemingly doing. Victor can project that onto Rahim. In reality, there is no way of knowing what Rahim would actually do in a relationship, but he feels safe right now.

It rather feels like VIctor was trying to distance himself from Benji in that moment and find a sanctuary with someone else who would give him the love and commitment he really needs right now. Like a protective, defense mechanism. He is so terrified that Benji has reached his limit of fight; that this time their argument and Victor’s breach of trust pushed Benji too far and Victor will end up severed from him and alone. With each hour Victor is closer to processing the end of that relationship and is now trying to put up a shield to block the impending tsunami of pain that he really doesn’t want to be hit by.

BENJI MAKES HIS OWN VOW

Victor doesn’t know it yet but we, the audience, get a hint of good news: the romantic vow exchange cuts to Benji staring at a picture of Victor on instagram, clearly missing him. From that piece of storytelling timing, we know what that probably means… (Flashback please to Benji’s declaration of “I don’t think I could give up on you. Even if I wanted to.”)

Benji is fighting. Or trying to.

What seals the deal is the beautiful conversation Isabel has with him -- her promise that Victor adores him and that Victor did actually stand up for Benji to the point of impressing her with his moxy. For a lot of the season, that is so much of what Benji needed -- to know he was worth standing up for, fighting for. Gee, what a familiar theme…

The next time we see Benji, he has come to the wedding reception, after his shift, as Victor’s belated plus one. His appearance symbolizes a promise, a vow of his own that is yet to be said out loud: that he is committed to fighting for their relationship to work.

I found that a really nice piece of storytelling -- that Benji is linked to the wedding vows at Brasstown and then fulfils them (or at least will try to make the sentiment a reality as best he can).

VICTOR’S CROSSROAD

Unfortunately for Benji, Victor does feel a connection with Rahim. New friendship is exciting and thrilling on its own let alone having the opportunity to suddenly slow dance with that person. Lines can get blurred. Plus the atmosphere is completely romantic and Victor has never had the opportunity to experience this particular romantic act before.

Victor and Rahim spend quite some time staring deep into each other’s eyes without even saying a word to interrupt the Moment. Because it is a legitimate moment of intimacy between the two. Which is exactly why Victor doesn’t stop immediately and run straight to Benji as soon as he notices Benji has come to see him. His head is still half in the Moment and it is tricky to extricate himself from Rahim.

That Moment is also why Victor doesn’t keep chasing Benji through the yard after Benji sasses him with his ‘Sure, Jan’ energy after Victor insists Rahim is just a friend.

Consciously Victor thinks he is telling the truth, but his “That was crazy, I’m not allowed to have a friend?” defense had the same energy as S1 Benji’s “I know I didn’t do anything wrong when you kissed me!” before scuttling his ass out of Brasstown with all of his belongings. Hello guilt.

The question is how much is Rahim a friend-cum-something-more. Which is the crossroad Victor finds himself at when Rahim confesses his feelings and kisses him.

We have Rahim who confessed so sweetly and endearingly, who at this moment is comfort and warmth and safety because Rahim isn't going to break up with Victor any time soon. And whom Victor does feel a connection with.

And we have Victor’s relationship with Benji which feels like a dying ember, especially now that Benji is even more furious at Victor and it will be a very hard battle to win him back around again. It won't be a romantic running into each other's arms moment if they were to reunite…

So Victor has a dilemma to figure out now in Mia’s room: does he fight a very hard uphill battle with Benji to win him over (a fight filled with inevitable painful emotions being unleashed), or does he just let it go since that appears to be the trajectory for them... Or does he try exploring things with Rahim where there is a 100% success rate guaranteed in the short-term if he accepts Rahim’s declaration…

If the big theme of this episode is vowing to love someone on their tough days and committing yourself to a relationship worth fighting for (something Victor had been obsessing over even before he heard the wedding vows), it would feel like a strange conclusion for Victor to choose Rahim over the partner who proved he was mutually willing to fight for their relationship against the odds, especially when they have already been tested through tough times and found their way through. (And of course Felix’s visualisation exercise would have reminded Victor of all the qualities he loves about Benji...)

THE WINK OF VICTOR’S PARENTS’ PARALLEL

And finally we have the culmination of an underlying parallel: Victor's parents’ relationship, which also slips into the theme of those wedding vows.

Isabel and Armando, the high school sweethearts who were stuck in a cycle of fighting, fore-sake choosing a new partner with less baggage and instead make the choice to get back together. This doesn’t influence Victor’s decision because he doesn't know about his parents’ progress yet but we, the audience, do know. We can see the underlying parallel there. They are making it work, so so too can Victor and Benji if they keep putting the work in to understand each other better and learn how to communicate.

But that’s just my take on ep 10.

[toujoursmiraculous]

Thoughts and Reaction to ROCKETEAR!

It's a long post, but when are these ever really short? xD Seeing Carapace first made me so excited. I've been sad we haven't had much of him in the show. And then I saw that it seemed like Ladynoir was doing pretty good as they only had Carapace helping them this time. More S2 & S3 like. So I was like cool, cool, this is great. But what the heck scientist WHY ARE YOU BRINGING TYRANNOSAURUS REX'S BACK! Obviously she's going to be something big later on, she's too nicely animated not to be back. Not to mention Bob Roth's plans. Anyone else both intrigued but also scared at what that could do later? Big upcoming plot point, I think.

I screamed awwww because this is everything. I've wanted a LB/Carapace and Marinette/Nino friendship bond in this show since season 1. This scene made me incredibly happy! I'm a huge Nino fan, for those that don't know, so you can imagine how much I love this episode. Even though sad Nino.

"Alya, everyone has to believe that you will never use the Miraculous again!" End of episode: So anyway... So what I'm seeing here is, Alya's not fond of the idea of being just a spy, not being in on the action. Even though it's Ladybug's plan. Chat Noir isn't fond of what's going on right now either, where he thinks what's going on is all Ladybug's plans. Alya makes the decision to not do what Ladybug wants and tells Nino she's still Rena Rouge. So what's Chat Noir going to do to go against her? Because that's coming up on the horizon. Despite everything being easier for Marinette since everything's not just on her shoulders now, she's still been unable to play video games with her dad, and we know how much she loves doing that. :c That's really sad she doesn't even have time for her family anymore. DJWifi over here being all adorable. "You don't love me anymore!" Me: *Chat Blanc flashbacks* Alya suggests her new content could be Chat Noir edits and Marinette's like YES DO THOSE. Then those edits helped push Nino into thinking she was into Chat. Big oops. Not gonna lie, the rewind freaked me out for a moment. Last time I saw that was Chat Blanc so I thought something big was up. But nope, it's just like that scene in Puppeteer 2. Ugh poor Nino! He knows something's bothering Alya, but she won't say what it is and her behavior's too off from how she normally is. Poor guy. x.x Grumpy Nino that Carapace doesn't get attention and then they wrote his girlfriend with Chat Noir. I remember when Alya was grumpy for a bit about Rena Rouge not getting a party to celebrate her. Movie Ladybug telling Movie Chat Noir that he's better with Movie Rena Rouge. Is this a reference to the episode in Avatar, The Ember Island Players? Getting strong vibes when Play Aang and Play Katara were like, we're just friends nothing more and it's great! Play Katara was extremely into Play Zuko. I can see why Ladybug dismissed the movie (or was it the previous one since it's been awhile? Maybe?) because Rena Rouge and Chat Noir???? The writers (of the movie) just wanted to be different because everyone can see Ladynoir, unless they're blind. Alya and Nino are Andre's favorite couple. YES THANK YOU. I mean they're not my favorite because Love Square. BUT they're my second favorite next to them. Those kids are super adorable but definitely that kid playing Chat wasn't doing Nino any favors. First picture Alya shows. Chat with a heart tail. Yeah that's not doing her any favors lol. Nino: UGH CHAT NOIR'S COMING IN BETWEEN ME AND MY GIRLFRIEND. I KNOW, I'LL CALL MY BEST FRIEND TO VENT TO ABOUT IT. Best Friend Chat Noir: Best Friend Chat Noir: Welp maybe I should see what's up. Maybe I went a little to hard on the cat charm and she's fallen in love with me. Me: Oh oof here we go. Also can I ask, if anyone knows, who animated this episode? The fluidity is great and it looks really pretty. But it doesn't quite look like SAMG's work either. Whoever did it, I love it. S2 Chat Noir: You're not replacing me with a turtle, are you? :c S4 Nino: Who would want a reckless turtle as a partner? BOYS STOP. But yeah this whole scene had me laughing so hard XD Very dramatic and I love it. Nino's hilarious even when he's worried and sad! I would've absolutely loved to have heard this in English with the old English voice of Nino, but the new one worries me on whether or not he'll do a good job sounding like Nino and less high-pitched and whiny. :/ New York Nino was great but S4 Nino....x.x THE TRANSITION BETWEEN HIS INNER MONOLOGUE AND SPEAKING REGULARLY AGAIN 😂😂😂😂 Brilliant! It doesn't really feel like Miraculous Ladybug this episode, and I love it. Not that I don't love the show as usual but wow this is great. Okay, I want to point out that Chat Noir

probably was more worried about it than he would've been otherwise because of what happened with Marinette in Weredad. It probably made him more cautious about this sort of thing.

LOL Chat's sulking because Alya's laughing at the idea of being interested in him. 😂😂 I know that's a blow to one's ego and all, and he's dealt with this kind of thing a lot so I do feel bad for him, but that is his best friend's girlfriend and he definitely doesn't want her to like him. Alya: With him it's not just ❤️it's *makes massive hand gesture indicating she loves him deeply* SO SO SO CUTE OKAY ALL THIS DJWIFI 😭 Alya: And I don't even know your secret identity! I would never fall in love with someone I don't know. Chat Noir, literally fell in love with Ladybug, whose identity he doesn't know. Well Alya, I wonder if you saying that matters for later somehow.... o.O Nino running away crying is honestly one of the things that hurts me most in the entire show. Ugh. Adrien over here being all, I'm having a good day. I'm happy and smiling and it's great. And then it wasn't. Adrien, if Nino let him and didn't interrupt, would've told him about how Alya really doesn't love Chat Noir, and that would've seriously led up to his identity being exposed since Nino was watching and filmed them. o.o Did you notice how he was going to tell him about it? S4, the basement is where it's at. Adrien: Uhh, when did you arrange all this? Nino: *pounds fist on desk* I ASK THE QUESTIONS! 😂 So like. Why is Nino interrogating Adrien when he's after Chat Noir? He doesn't know they're the same person. XD He's looking at him like Adrien has info he's keeping or something omg.

Also again this animation is so nice. Adrien, feeling uncomfortable and so turns the music off. Nino, wanting his dramatic music on while he interrogates Adrien, turns it back on. Adrien, feeling even more irritated and uncomfortable, wants the music OFF and turns it off. Nino, turns the music back on. This may be a reference to something, I don't know, but lolol it's so funny. This episode is both super hilarious and super angsty! Honestly they've done such a good job in my opinion. Nino: I'm talking about something that I shouldn't tell you! ...but I'm going to tell you anyway! Alya's Rena Rouge and I'm Carapace! Okay but the way Adrien went from shock to utter anger, knocked his chair back and grabbed Nino's shoulders like "Tell me the truth. You two know about each other?" Aw man, my poor sunshine boy. A lot of the stuff bothering Adrien is all circumstantial, none of it is to purposefully keep him in the dark. And yet from his perspective, that's how it looks. "I thought secret identities must be protected at all times! If that was the truth, you would never tell me this!" Alright so three things. If he's referring to him saying that Nino and Alya know about each other, that was situational and important info for him to know now that this is out. It wasn't important to know before this. The time it happened was dire and was really no time to get around it. If he's talking about Nino telling him the secrets, well yeah that's not supposed to happen and Nino broke that trust. But also, I get the feeling pretty strongly at this point Adrien's going to be breaking some rules too and one of which is he's going to tell Nino who he is. Adrien's being too emotional in this scene to not be involved in it all, I'm wondering if that's going to be questioned later by Nino. He's acting like he knows too much to be a random viewer of the heroes like the rest of Paris. Also Adrien's best friend just totally dissed Chat Noir and went off about how he throws himself at Ladybug whenever he sees her with roses and love confessions. 😂😂😂 This is just too funny! "But he's always rejected because Ladybug finds him annoying! And she's completely right!" Omg Nino, that's not the reason anymore, shush! "And then Rena Rouge appears and he goes *tickles under Adrien's chin* hey pretty lady! You look elegant and you have great perfume." OMG does Chat Noir actually say and do stuff like that to Rena Rouge or is he just exaggerating here XD "If I could I would shut his mouth forever!" Yeah Nino, say what you really think about your best friend in the entire world. Yikes poor Adrien though. I never imagined he'd hear all these bad things about himself from his best friend directly like that. :/ That's a major misunderstanding of him. Which kind of pushes me more towards the "he's going to tell Nino" theory. Sad Adrien transformation DDDX Alya: *explained everything about why Chat Noir went over to her house in the middle of the night* Marinette *facepalm* Ugh that Chat Noir... Well at least there will be no misunderstandings there! xD "Chat Noir, you stole Alya from me! I will steal your life from you." Good lord man calm down. You can't just kill a man! Fanon: Chat Noir gets attacked by a guy over Marinette. Canon: Chat Noir gets attacked by a guy over Alya. Time to go back to the basement! lol Nino's music's still playing xD And the video is left with it paused on Chat Noir hugging Alya. Marinette looked a bit sad, but it was probably more about the situation being a mess rather than being sad he'd hug her. Meanwhile, Chat Noir's fighting Nino and would rather get beaten up by him than fight. x.x "I can't believe that I doubted you." "I can't believe I chose to do anything but be with you!" She wiped away akumatized Nino's tear just like how Ladybug wiped away akumatized Chat Noir's. ALL THE PARALLELS 😭😭😭 But that hug is so sweet!! Nino broke off the akumatization just like Alya did :o Dang, I wonder if that means something later too. "Love and secrets do not go well together, Ladybug. And I'm sure you have a lot of

them!" Secrets = from Chat Noir. Love = for Chat Noir. Yeah even Shadow Moth knows at this point. xP Thanks for that foreshadowing. Nino's charm is my favorite charm so far! It's my favorite shade of blue. Chat Noir: Everybody has doubts sometimes...even me." Ladybug: Is everything okay, Chat Noir? Chat: Oh yes...pound it!

So um. The placemet of Adrien's poster in between Chat Noir, Ladybug, and just with this entire situation feels very strange. Very intentional. But no clue exactly what that could mean..... Nino and Alya are happy over there watching those two, like they're waiting for them to figure things out or something. But really, Adrien should've talked to Ladybug when he could still do so calmly and be reasonable. I doubt that's going to be the case later on. And honestly Ladybug doesn't even know what's going on. Every episode we've seen really either has them working together or she's unable to be Ladybug when he's unable to be Chat Noir most of the time. I've said it before but these two really need to communicate. Nino and Alya are like a less adorably romantic version of what they'd be. "But they're a couple and they know their secret identities, so why does that rule exist for us but they can know?" Very simple. Because they were temporary holders and the Miraculous they had, Hawk Moth hasn't made it his life's mission to obtain, unlike them, who are permanent holders and Hawk Moth's been after them fiercely to make a Wish that could destroy everything. But. The fact he's asking this, and Marinette's Chat Blanc nightmare, really points in the direction that he's going to eventually find out that while she's thought about telling him all along, Chat Blanc's kept her from doing so.

Okay, so while it looks like he's staring up at the moon, if you notice, it really is just one of the pink bubbles.

Now, they could be making it seem like it's the moon though to give it a double meaning. But poor Kitty, he's feeling so awful right now over in that dark corner Dx Nino felt bad for only two episodes? and it got resolved, so hopefully this all won't last too much longer for him! Marinette had a few shaky episodes so hopefully he'll have a few before it gets resolved. But somehow I think that may be wishful thinking. This episode was so amazing, honestly. Wonderful writing, made me laugh a lot, aw a lot, and hurt a lot. It focused on the core 4 characters which I've wanted more of for a long time. The animation was beautiful. And it just felt so different in such a good way. Chat Noir's having a hard time right now, and I know there's a lot of anger and hate about it going around. But please, think of this as him hitting a rough spot in the road to a much better and brighter future. He's going to end up okay, he'll understand it all someday. And that day's honestly not that far for him if you think about it.

[orbitvenus]

this post is inspired by this reblog of mine <33 check it if you want to!!

Pairing: timeskip!Tendou x fem!Reader

Genre: fluff and drabble

Warning: grammar errors, its uhhh cheesy ig, bland dialogues because I suck at them, ooc??? and maybe some swearing

I hope this won't plop😭 also someone help me how to describe other gestures besides the forehead kisses,knuckle kisses and hugs that I always include in my writings

You and Tendou have been together for a long time. When he asked you to join and live with him in Paris, you immediately said yes knowing you'll be fine with him even though you have to leave your home country behind. Moving to another country is pretty tough at first, but slowly the two of you began to adjust and create a routine.

Now, you and tendou are about to celebrate your anniversary. He asked you to dress up prettily. You asked why he just smiled and said this anniversary is much special so its important. You raised your eyebrows as if every anniversary you had with him wasn't special. To you all the anniversaries you had were always special, each one is unique filled with happy memories and for this year you still look forward to what he had prepared.

He told you he will be picking you up later while he will be doing some business. He pulled you close to him and nuzzled his head to your neck like a cat which made you chuckle.

'Keep safe okay.'

'Yes yes no worries babe.' He spoke, muffled because he's still nuzzled on your neck.

He pulled away and looked at you lovingly before leaving. You stood there dumbfounded until the door is shut. He always looks at you with adoration that you never fail to send back at him but you noticed that his behavior today is....quiet weird. You decided to shrug it off.

You took a shower and stepped out to go to your bedroom. In your bed is a box with a note that came none other than from Satori.

'wear this for me.'

-satori♡

You smiled and opened the lid of the box. You pulled out the dress and admired it. Realizing it was the dress you mentioned to him that you've been dying to get. You felt fuzzy and warm with your heart fluttering in your chest realizing he remembered it and got it for you. You made a mental note for yourself to repay him. Snapping out of your daze, you hurriedly dressed up yourself as you saw the clock nearing to the time where Satori promised you to pick you up.

You were still trying to wear your shoes when you heard knocks behind your apartment's door. After finally wearing your shoes, you turned the doorknob and met your boyfriend all dressed up as you.

'There's my baby, I knew it would look perfect on you.'

His words always make you blush even though you two are no longer teenagers.

'Thanks you too.'

You walked near him and fixed his collar, inhaling his perfume as you come closer. You rested your hands on his chest. Taking a look at his form, he looks handsome as ever.

'Babe if you kept staring at me I will definitely melt.'

He teasingly commented. You playfully rolled your eyes at him and grabbed his hand to leave even if you don't have any idea where he will take you.

'Lets go now, don't want us to be late yeah?'

You were met with the breeze coming from the sea while walking, hands in hands with Tendou. Looking around the place is quiet with only the two of you walking towards a boat. The boat is decorated with flowers and battery operated candles we don't want any incidents to happen don't we. Tendou was first to step inside the small boat and held out his hand.

'Hop in my lady~'

He said it while looking at your eyes and grinning. You took it and stepped in with him while he's keeping the boat steady.

'Careful..careful okay there'

You got in and he gestured you to sit down. You sat opposite of your boyfriend and beside you is a picnic basket with wine and two wine glasses along with some food inside. Satori pushed the boat so it will move further to the sea and began rowing. While he was rowing you took the time to admire everything including him. He's still pretty muscular even if he already quitted volleyball but he continued to maintain his physique by exercising from time to time. The sun is beginning to set, casting the skies a beautiful orange glow.

Satori stopped rowing the boat and looked at you. Seeing that awe struck expression in your face, he knew he succeeded again. You felt his eyes on you and faced your body towards him.

'So....where did you learn how to row?'

'One of the locals who rents boats taught me how, to be honest I thought it was gonna be easy but I was wrong.'

You laughed lightly and continued to chat with him. While talking you two also started to drink the wine and eat the food that was prepared on a small table he brought out.

The amount of happiness you felt at this moment will never compare when you celebrated your first anniversary together. You continued laughing with Tendou when a latern caught your attention. You stopped and observed. Satori also kept quiet to observe you to see how you will react to his surprise.

It already got dark, luckily the candles and the street lamps are kept the place illuminated. That later changed when the laterns began to come out and light up the sky. Your eyes followed the laterns. At that moment it was so beautiful, you don't know if its a coincidence or part of your boyfriends plan.

You felt as if you were in the scene from Tangled. You were far too amazed to even notice your boyfriend. While you were excitedly admiring what he prepared, he took his time to prepare himself on the question he's been dying to tell you.

He knew it's about time for you to know when he was sleeping beside you one night.

He was just staring at the ceiling and he can't sleep while you were peacefully sleeping on top of him. He looked at you and realized after all you two have been through you still stuck with him. He remembered how you listened and comforted him from his insecurities. How you greeted him with a hug everytime he returns home from work. He even remembered how you kept practicing to cook for him. He remembered how he met you and how you got together with him. Everything, you're always there with him. He doesn't want to let you go and felt that he needs to confirm that you and him will be with each other forever.

He looked at the calendar besides him and saw your anniversary date. He thought about it and realized he had enough money to buy you the ring you wanted. Funny how it seems the universe is inclined with his intentions. He will have to start planning to propose to you but first he needs his sleep while keeping his arms around you.

'Y/n...'

'Hmmm?'

You responded but still enraptured by floating lanterns. He coughed and caught your attention.

'I know it was a big decision when I asked you back then to come with me here in Paris. I was prepared to hear your rejection back then but your excited yes shocked me a little.......'

He continued to say what he had always wanted to say to you. You started to tear up feeling overwhelmed by his confession. Somehow this scenario feels oddly similar to his first confession to you and hit you with nostalgia.

'Now I wanted to ask you to um...'

He felt flustered and his heart beating. He sighed before continuing and brought out a small box out of his pocket. He placed it on his palm and slowly opened it. Now is the time to ask the big question.

'Y/n L/n will you marry-'

'Yes!'

You happily interrupted him and threw your arms around him, burying your face to his neck to avoid seeing you in tears. Tendou is shocked and happy at the same time now that you said yes, you still have to wear the ring which you haven't done yet. He was about to take your hands and slid it on your finger when you hugged him.

He patted your back and smiled also starting to feel his tears build up when he realized you were crying.

'Hey- come on now I don't want to see you crying.'

He shushed you softly. You calmed down and backed off. You were still wiping your tears off you cheeks with your other hand when he slid the ring on your finger. You kept rubbing until you peeked your eyes open and saw the ring.

The tears began to build up again and you cried. Thinking what you did to deserve such man like him, he surprised you too much today you can't help but feel overflowing joy and love. You try to form words but the hiccups are preventing you and trying your best to wipe off the endless tears from your eyes.

Your attempt to dry them off fail until you felt Satori your now fiancé, use his handkerchief to help you. You finally looked at him through blurry eyes and saw how he was also crying while looking at you. Your hand reached out to his face to dry his tears.

He held your hand on his face and brought it near his lips to kiss your ring. His gesture made you cry harder.

'Damn it Satori! Stop making me cry you dummy.'

You finally spoke again. You made him laugh and stop his tears. Tendou tried to help you clear the tears from your cheeks again until its gone.

When you two both calmed down, he pressed his forehead against yours and connected his lips to yours while both of his hands are cupping each sides of your face. The kiss made you feel like fireworks soaring in the sky. He stopped and murmured against your lips.

'I love you so so much, thank you for being with me and loving me I promise to cherish you for eternity my paradise.'

'I love you so much too Satori...more than you would ever know.'

He let out laugh from your words. His laugh made you feel giddy. His yours and you are his officially.

'You know babe our setting really reminds me of that scene from Tangled.'

'Well...where did you think I got the inspiration from?'

Notes:duck im tired im also on low battery bye now- I have to rush the ending because I was at like....5% 😭😭😭 anyway thank you for reading!! Feel free to like and reblog if you like it <33

content by @dreamingkita pls do not repost or plagiarize or else I will hunt you❗

[aio-rya]

"Give me a sign" — Leona x reader

One shot requested by: Anon

『Btw anon, I'm sorry I didn't have the Anon mode on until like two days ago.』

Days kept going on as [y/n] started being fond of everyone they met at NRC, specially the Braincell Squad along Epel, Jack and yeah, Sebek, who sometimes joined them too. Most of the time, when they were not causing trouble at their dorms, they gathered at Ramshackle for "studying". Though there was one day a week [y/n] used to sneak out, following Epel around to his Magift practice.

The last time they saw a game was when they were hit conveniently by the disc thanks to Grimm's movements, but [y/n] was not really interested on the game, oh no —those getaways were to see someone. Indeed, the same person why they lurked around Savanaclaw with Jack by the end of the day. And everything was fine until...

"What the hell are you doing here, herbivore?" the lion man asked behind them. [Y/n] froze right there, crouched behind one of the seats of the bleachers.

Did I forget telling that [Y/n] felt Leona doesn't like them? Well, now you know.

"I... Epel" they answered nervously and without context, putting a strand of their [h/c] hair behind their ear. "He forgot his water bottle and..."

"Tsk. Whatever you are doing here, do it fast and go away" he interrupted, rolling his eyes and passing by them as if that never happened.

And this was the day to day of [y/n] and Leona whenever they got to see each other. The matter was that he, Leona Kingscholar himself, felt sort of intimidated by the little human —why? He didn't know. It was sort of an allergic reaction or something, he felt his heart beat harder, his cheeks burning hot like feber, sort of a knot on his stomach and words flew away from his head.

"Hey, Kingscholar! I... Brought you these" [y/n] said as they extended him two special meat sandwiches from the cafeteria.

Leona turned around on his napping spot, looking at the human, then at the food and then, he turned around again, giving his back to the little one, who still held the sandwiches towards him.

"I Don't need them..." the lion said, and dismissed them with a movement of his hand, "Ruggie has already brought me something".

"I... I See" the human said, withdrawing his hand. "Then... You're gone. Again" they sighed while realising Leona's breath got a slower pace, he was asleep. There was nothing to do but leave; said and done.

Lucky was the big cat that they've already left when his ears twitched on signal that he was not sleeping, his eyes slightly opened, listening to the human voice with a trace of worry left behind. "It couldn't be sadness, or is it?" he told himself, turning to face the glass ceiling of the Botanical Garden with his hands behind his head.

"You really dismissed [y/n]'s food? They even fought with me for that since there were only three of those things left, ya'now?" Ruggie's voice snapped him out of his trance as the hyena threw a packed meat sandwich over his stomach. Then he heard a wrapper being opened as he sat down, looking at his friend at the moment he bite a sandwich —exactly the same like the one he threw at him a few seconds ago.

Ruggie realized about that and stopped, "What?" he asked towards Leona, still munching a piece of sandwich, when the lazy lion lifted a finger pointing directly to the food. "I'm not giving it to you" he stated in a possesive tone, holdingh tighter his food.

"It's not that” the dorm leader growled, “But... You said there were only three left..." Leona mumbled, unwrapping his food and starting to bite it too.

"Oh yeah, [y/n] gave it to me when I passed them back on the front gate of the Garden. They only needed one for his raccoon friend, even though, they got the other one for you” he continued munching while explaining the ruckus they caused on the cafeteria for those limited dishes. "Hey Leona!" Ruggie snapped his fingers in front of him "Are you okay? It's not like you to space out that obviously."

"I think I'm sick" he reflected out loud while making a pitch of his empty wrapper to the rubbish.

"I think you're lazy~ shishishishi"

"Don't go too smart" Leona shot him a wry look and sighed. "I think I'm allergic to that herbivore or something like that."

"What? C'mon, you're not serious" Ruggie sneered. Leona grunted, "Okay then, why do you think that?"

"Because..." He turned away, aware of his blush. "When [y/Ln] is near, my chest aches and I feel as I wanted to cough; also my stomach feels strange, as if I were hungry but also anxious? And there is this thing on my face... I run a fever every time that herbivore is near...."

"Buuuut~"

"But I like its smell. Or its presence" he finished with nothing more than a whisper.

"I see!" the hyena almost shouted, starting the lion, "You love them."

"Another joke like that and you're gone" he stared at Bucchi, angry but ashamed.

"Oh man... I'm just being honest" the blonde shrugged starting to walk away, "do as you wish but be careful. I don't how for how long [y/n] is going to bear you."

"Maybe he was tired", Deuce tried, quietly.

"Told you", Ace seconded him. "He's just like that, you cannot change him and... Have you thought that maybe he just doesn't like you? I mean like... Around him as he do with anyone else?"

"He was nice once" [y/n] tried to bring as an excuse, "After the Blot thing, he was someway nice. But... I did something wrong?"

Jack shook his head, "You should forget him. He's not the one, and I'm sorry about this but Ace is right..."

"Can I record that?" Trappola laughed, trying to open the camera of his phone.

"Shut up" Howl snapped, joining the laugh while hugging the little non-magic human between them.

"I think I can handle it. I mean... Nothing lasts forever and this little scratches heal with time" they tried to smile, eyes teary.

"Hey, we're here!" Epel cheered, "if you need to cry, to talk or you just want to mess around a little, call us!"

"That's why I call you my friends" and finally, the genuine smile appeared, "I'll sleep on it, I swear".

And both of them did: Kingscholar and [y/Ln]. Unfortunately, they reached two very opposite conclusions.

The little herbivore began to let go of their feelings, now they were no longer around Savanaclaw or the Magift training or even on the third years classrooms, they were free. Of course it still hurted whenever someone mentioned Leona, or at the Dorm Leader meetings or even when he was lurking around the cafeteria. Specially the last one was odd of the lion, and everyone around him noticed —even Vil started asking around what in hell happened to him.

"Ah, Ruggie-san" he said with velvety voice.

"Prefect Schoenheit" blonde hyena answered.

"Is Leona okay? He has been... Nicer than usual"

"Ah, you too. In fact, he's not really fine. His heart is about to break" Ruggie said, a bit worried as Vil gasped, not as an act but in genuine surprise, "his herbivore grew tired of him..."

Well, you see... Since [y/n] started getting rid of their unrequited love, Leona accepted it. And now it hurted so bad every time he got to see his herbivore: there was no "H-hey Leona..." or "Hello Kingscholar!" or any kind of cheerful greetings, everything tuned into a cold "Good morning/afternoon, Prefect Kingscholar", "Excuse me, Prefect Kingscholar" —they even stopped bumping into him, no more visits to his napping spot at the Botanical Garden and even when they got to Magift practice, Epel will always arrive alone. The knot in his stomach and the fever on his cheeks turned into a harsh pain on his throat and a burning heat on his eyes.

Meanwhile, Braincell Squad and first years club was proud, their little human finally was free and not depressed by the mistreatment of the Prince.

A couple of months passed until one evening, after clases, [y/n] made their way back to Ramshackle when heard someone sobbing, that scared them since Epel was having a hard time. By following the noise, they bumped into Leona and immediately tried to avoid him, but the lazy lion was not that slow; he walked quickly and grabbed their shoulders.

"Please, stop avoiding me" he said, not bothering on hiding the trembling of his voice.

"I... I am not" they said slowly, "Pref--"

"Don't" he grunted painfully, "Come back to call me Leona with that lively loud voice. Wake me up from my naps again, stare at me in the hallway so I can stare at you when you look away..." He sobbed again, weakening his grip, about to let his arms fall, "I... I am sorry."

"Why... Why are you apologising?" they asked, turning around to face him.

"Because I treated you so bad, and I... Thought I had an allergic reaction... To you" Leona whispered, [y/n] giggled.

"As far as I know, you cannot be allergic to a human" then they caressed one of Leona's braids, he stared at their [e/c] eyes, a pale gleam reflected on them. "It's fine, don't worry. We can still be friends".

He shook his head and caught them between his arms.

"I have denied it for too long. You deserve more, I was so mean, but I don't want to be just a friend" he explained tenderly, burying his nose on their hair, aspiring its sweet perfume.

"Leona, I'm not sure--"

"Just give me a sign..."

Silence. They just stayed like that, holding each other, [y/n] biting his bottom lip as Leona rubbed their back. When he finally was ready, understanding the situation and letting go of them, he got interrupted by a hold on his collar.

Then, a soft, sweet and warm pair of lips slammed against his.

It was a kiss full of fear and sadness that slowly turned into a gentle one. Full of untold feelings that tangled and finally were silently confessed.

"Is this enough?" the human asked, caressing his lover's cheek.

"It is more than enough... My loved herbivore".

—・ Φ・—

I melted with Leona's soft side, I don't know where I got the inspiration but I felt this took too long. Hope you like it too!

«Please do not repost or translate without permission»