#and who would latch onto something like glee as an adult

[greaseonmymouth]

I don’t really want to wade into this discourse but I do want to point out that Josh and Tommy are vey very different people. I can very readily believe that because of who Josh is as a person Glee was more meaningful to him than Will & Grace - he probably wishes he’d had Glee as teenager, but he didn’t - he does get to have it now, though! He might even have obsessed about it, wishing for a better high school experience for himself! Assuming Josh and I are of similar age, Will & Grace and Queer Eye and Ellen were all on TV when he was a kid and Glee wasn’t a thing until he was already an adult in his twenties. Plus, Josh is trying to help Buck with something based on his own experiences because that’s what he’s got. He doesn’t know Tommy? He’s just extrapolating.

The show hasn’t tried to claim that before/after Glee is something that makes a difference for Tommy - that’s only something I’ve seen fandom wank about, and I do mean in general and not just this post - this post just happened to cross my dash at the right time for this addition. It made a difference for Josh. Benchmarks can be different for different people (as has been pointed out both here and elsewhere) and I wouldn’t dare try to claim that one is better than the other. For a show that oscillates between shallow and deep but is ultimately still just a pool…I would even dare say the Josh speech is spot on for his character and gives him more depth. We can infer a lot about Josh from it, and nothing about Tommy.

i do think “tommy was a legal adult when it became legal for gay people to have sex in the privacy of their own homes in all fifty states via supreme court decision which can be over turned at any time” would have been a better benchmark for the josh speech than glee but what do i know i’m just a person who isn’t interested in sucking ryan murphy’s dick

[eggiesins]

Sandrock Bachelorettes Being Drunk

Mild NSFW so minors DNI!

So many notes on my Bachelors headcanon post! Thank you guys so much!  Anyways, as (one) kind soul requested, here are the bachelorettes!  I did my best to capture their unique traits, but unfortunately, the dateable women in Sandrock are written more subtly (flat) than the men.  Without such extreme personalities (Elsie and Catori notwithstanding) it was much more difficult to think of unique scenarios the ladies would shine in.

Amirah

To date, no one in Sandrock has ever actually seen Amirah get drunk, and most would speculate that it’s simply something she’s never done.  Being the parentified older sibling to Arvio, she places a strong emphasis on personal responsibility.  That being said, someone get this girl a drink, please!  Of all the bachelorettes, she could probably use one the most.

But once she does decide to let loose - maybe a Fleeting Youth Tea Society meeting got out of hand - boy does she relax.  Sober Amirah scolds Arvio, Drunk Amirah goes on an hour long rant with Pablo taking notes in the background giggling with glee.  Did she mean anything she said?  Of course not, but a girl needs to vent sometimes.  She’s a very flip-flop kind of drunk, though.  Once the tipsy euphoria hits, you can bet she’s dancing around the saloon with reckless abandon, laughing at anything and everything.  Her usually reserved personality gives way to a sloppy wholesomeness and she’ll spend the night latched onto Heidi and the Builder just laughing and hugging and reminding them all just how much she loves them.

She’s gonna be extra harsh with Arvio the next day, so be prepared for him to show up at the workshop asking why his sister hates him now.

Catori

I know a lot of fans aren’t huge on Catori because of how messy she comes across.  But a struggling businesswoman, divorced with a kid, whose idea of rebuilding Sandrock means installing roller coasters in a monster-infested canyon.  That’s it.  I just love messy characters who pour their heart and soul into their dreams.

Anyway, Catori is no stranger to partying by any means.  Again, she has a kid.  She’s not exactly naive or reserved, so when she drinks, it’s really just her natural personality getting amped up a bit.  She’s pitching her latest drunken business idea to anyone and everyone in the saloon because you never know which tourist might secretly be a bazillionaire in disguise.

“Oh Builder, it’s you!  I was just looking for you!  I’ve come up with a great show idea for Catori World.  We’ll have a separate building set up with all kinds of games just for adults.  There’ll be dice and card games, and customers can put their own money on the line for a chance to win big from the house!  How exhilarating!”  “...Catori that’s a casino.  You want to build a casino.  I don’t know how well the Church would respond to something like that in Sandrock.”  “Oh Fuck the Church.  They’ll be on board as soon as they see how much profit it’ll bring in for the whole town!”  “Catori, no”

Elsie

Elsie wants to get drunk.  No one else in Sandrock wants Elsie to get drunk.  She’s already a serial prankster and a furry when sober.  Who knows how far she’ll go with no inhibitions?  She’s definitely getting drunk by sneaking into Cooper’s premium Yakmel milk supply before she knocks on Mi-an’s door at 3am dressed in a full homemade catsuit.  She’ll spend the next hour trying to make herself purr and climbing all over Mi-an’s furniture before bolting out the door to try and scare Owen as he walks home from the saloon.

Seriously, it’s like she develops super ADHD when she drinks, never focusing on anything for more than 5 seconds before something shiny catches her attention and she’s pouncing on it.  Light help her when she decides to go for a night-time horseback ride across the desert.  She’s 100% gonna wake up near Gecko station surrounded by concerned Penskies, but Logan or Larry will find her soon enough and take her home to an annoyed and frightened Cooper.  He’s been preparing her lecture for the better part of four hours.

Grace

She makes the best drinks in Sandrock, hell, in probably all of the Free Cities.  But she never seems to get drunk, ever.  Years of training and building up resistances to different poisons and intoxicants while working for the Alliance make it very difficult for her.

If the builder is dating her, though?  She’ll feel comfortable enough to let her walls down and drink plenty.  Even Grace doesn’t know what to expect from herself when she starts drinking, so strap in.  She’ll only drink heavily at home with the builder, and once she is drunk, she’s nonstop cuddling with all the pets.  Once the builder starts feeling left out and tries to join the cuddle pile, her attitude shifts drastically.

“Hey Builder?” she’ll ask, standing up to look over the builder before just grabbing the collar of their shirt and staring them dead in the eye.  

“Yeah Grace?”

“I’m gonna take your virginity now.”

“...huh?!  Grace, I’m not a virgin.  You know this.”

“I don’t care; your virginity is mine and I’m taking it.  Right now.”

Hold on for dear life, Builder.  You’re in the Light’s hands now

Heidi

Drunk Heidi is a Smash-or-Pass/Would-You-Rather/Never-Have-I-Ever goddess.  She’s quick with the prompt, and her Would You Rather questions are always the most morally or philosophically devastating you’ve ever heard.

“Builder, if me and your mom somehow switched bodies and you had to sleep with one of us to switch things back, would you rather choose your mom in my body or me in your mom’s body?”  Cue distraught Builder noises ‘cause what the fuck, man.

She is, in a word, relentless when drunk, chasing Qi around the saloon trying to get him to finally admit out loud that he’s obsessed with Gungam, making (welcomed) passes at the builder any chance she gets, and man oh man, does she have some choice words for Master Verna.  

I definitely see her as the type to get ridiculously flirty and handsy with the builder for the whole walk back to the workshop, only to immediately pass out on the couch when they get there.  

Jane

Tomorrow is gonna be a “watch a movie” day at school for the kids, Jane already knows.  She’s 6 Yakmel daiquiris deep and showing no signs of stopping.  Why does she drink like a monster?  Who knows?  Knowing why wouldn’t change the fact that she’s doing it anyway.  

She’s definitely making the Blue Moon stage hers for the night, spouting endless play renditions, sometimes switching into her regular teaching lectures, and re-enacting Old World historical events.  She’ll sit at a booth with Ernest for a while hammering out ideas for new plays and novels, maybe even how to incorporate Ernest’s novels into a creative writing lesson.

(Jane, I’m sorry your entry is short.  We don’t get to know much about you other than that you’re a teacher and an actress.)

Mi-an

Mi-an is a very nervous and kind character, so I could see her being hesitant about drinking, and especially getting drunk…at first.  As soon as the buzz and tipsiness start to kick in, it’s a whole new side to her.  She’s singing on the blue moon stage with Jane (making out with Nia in a corner), helping out Elsie with pranks, and generally indulging in shenanigans she might overthink when sober. 

I think Mi-an would actually like being drunk once she’s done it once or twice, like any gifted student as soon as they get to college.  It’s an easy way to turn off her everyday anxieties and just live in the moment.  She’s definitely still trying to fix everything around town, though.  Sober or not, this woman is determined to work herself to death.  Owen has to kick her out one night after she starts a one-woman builder cruise inside the saloon at 1am.

“Go to sleep Mi-an.”  “Owen, you don’t understand, I can fix all your wobbly tables and the sinking booth AND the shelf behind the bar in like, 5 minutes flat.  I even have the materials right here!”  “Yes, I saw you drag in a pile of scrap wood earlier when I told you no.  And what do you mean wobbly tables????”

Nia

Ah Nia, recent college graduate Nia.  She’s a party girl, through and through, but in the most wholesome way possible.  She’s the mom friend who may be just as plastered as everyone around her, but will still be handing out snacks and water bottles for everyone else.  Elsie passed out and needs to be carried home?  Who knows when Nia started hitting the gym like Pen, but she’s on it.  She may be drunk too, but she knows what she’s doing and how to work around it.  We see in the game that she’s more than capable of handling herself, from scaring Yan so badly he flat out begged the builder to keep her away from him, to dungeon diving with the likes of Logan and the builder as well.  Sure, she’s incredibly sweet and bubbly, but there’s a lot of depth to Nia that doesn’t get explored anywhere near enough.  If the builder isn’t romancing her, she’s definitely making out with Mi-an in a corner.  Girl’s got builder fever, something FIERCE.

Venti

Strongest babygirl vibes of any character in the game, and she’s got the least amount of content of any romanceable townie, tragic.  Tragedy is really the name of the game when it comes to Venti, well, for literally everyone BUT Venti.  Her relentless optimism is only gonna get amplified when she starts drinking.  She made it to Sandrock, she’s got a steady job with people she likes, the town is recovering and Venti is alive.  And she’s gonna enjoy being alive to the fullest she can.  Sober Venti tends to fade into the background, but Drunk Venti?  Try and find a way to not think about how amazing she is, I dare you.

She’s dancing, absolutely stoked over getting all the “fancy” drinks and foods at the saloon, and if she’s dating the builder, she’s gushing about how happy she is with them.  Be careful, though.  Venti may seem the impossible optimist through and through, but that may be more an issue with her simply never acknowledging her trauma rather than having processed it healthily and come out happier.  If she drinks too much, be ready for that happy drunk mask to drop and reveal someone who has buried their sadness so deeply they have no idea how to handle it should it come bubbling to the surface.  So, just focus on having her drink lots of water & get to bed early, then find a good therapist in the morning.

Thanks so much again guys!  Let me know if you have any headcanon ideas you’d like me to write on.  My ask is always open!

[spaceorphan18]

Honestly, I agree that this attitude started with Twilight. Those books actually did glorify some really fucked up behavior, but that's not why a lot of people didn't like them. But they pretended it was so that their hate looked noble rather than petty (or problematic, for those who only hated it because teen girls liked it). Then that carried over to other fandoms, and any ship someone disliked became "abusive," regardless of whether or not it actually was. It's too bad, because it (cont)

(cont) makes real discussions of abusive behavior in fiction more difficult to have, since people are going to assume that the all criticisms are baseless hate. What people miss in these discussions is that real abuse involves a power dynamic that is just missing in all the Glee ships. Plus Klaine is a bad choice for people complaining about problematic depictions of romance, because all their unhealthy behaviors were treated as unhealthy within the text

Okay, wow, there's kind of a lot to unpack here. I'm not even sure where to start.

I don't know how much I want to get into Twilight discourse, but those books are both trash and relevant. As someone who was an adult when they came out and have no emotional ties to them, and as someone who works in the book industry, I can say that they are poorly written books with, yes, a lot of problematic elements within them.

I do also know that those books were well read and adored by a lot of young women. Yes - I do think that there may be a few of them who may have unrealistic expectations of relationships or will endure unhealthy relationship habits in an attempt to aspire to be like the couple in Twilight. But - I kind of wonder if, more so, the one thing Twilight does do pretty well is capture what it's like to be a young, angsty teenage girl. And many times I have to wonder if that's what people latch onto more so than the questionable romance?

That all aside, which probably deserves a much longer conversation, there's a problem with internet culture in that things are often broken down into black or white - right or wrong. And are you standing on the correct line of these discussions. The problem is real people, the people making the art, are flawed, and inherently, no matter how fantastical, art is flawed, too. And that's okay?

I mean - fiction would be rather boring if everyone is perfect within the pages. Fiction and art isn't about being on the correct end of a discussion about about exploring such complicated situations and not looking at a situation that is black or white.

Now - there are things that end up at one end or the other of a spectrum. If you have a story - that is well constructed - but is vehemently racist and misogynistic, etc, yeah, it's important to call that out. If you have something that's terrible written but upholds every 'correct' value - then it's fine to call it boring or bad art. The thing is - most things end up in the gray area in the middle. And that's where discussion and conversation can really begin.

The problem begins, though, when it's less about the art and more about ships becoming like sports team. If I'm on the blue team and my opponent is on the red team - what can I do to discredit the red team's values, etc, etc. And unfortunately internet discourse often strays into this kind of thinking - which instead of having a nuanced conversation descends into a glorified pissing match of who was right.

Anyway, this is such a big topic that it probably deserves, like, books of study written to it - so this is all I'm going to say for today. But as always - guys, feel free to keep the conversations going! :)

[casspurrjoybell-27]

Moving Forward - Chapter 44

*Warning Adult Content*

Gloating

It wasn't just Max's family here.

There were other werewolves from the Rivers pack and more he didn't recognise, faces and scents he'd never memorised but how were Lara and Gillespie here?

"Finally made it huh?" Lara sneered.

Max met her eyes, so filled with malice that he almost had to take a step back.

Instead, he strode further into the room, placing himself between his family and the pair of psychos on the dais.

"How long..." Max cut off the question with a sharp snarl, focusing on Lara's brother.

"I thought I killed you already."

Gillespie's mouth twisted in smug pity.

"Magic is a wonderful tool, don't you think?"

How was Max supposed to answer that?

Smile and agree and pretend like this wasn't the bastard who killed Kyle?

Glancing between him and Lara, there was a marked difference in their manner.

Lara wasn't happy, the frown creasing her brows, the darkness in her eyes, all the hate aimed directly at Max.

Glee lit Gillespie's face, he was like a child in a sweet shop, everything was within reach for him now and Max latched onto the word 'finally'.

They'd been expecting him.

For fuck's sake, they'd been waiting for him, knowing he would go through that hell and end up here and... Lara.

"You were never insane, were you?" Max asked, though he didn't really need to.

She shrugged.

"It was kinda stupid of you ta believe that a little grief would send me over the edge."

Gillespie smirked.

"Did you enjoy the journey? I had Lara tailor it to create as much discomfort for you in the time we had available."

He sat himself down on the edge of the dais.

"This world, you see, is Lara's dimension. A little pocket of an alternate universe that only Lara can give access to and we needed a little time to set up before we could let you in this specific part."

"All of that... was a distraction?"

Max wanted to ask how.

Wanted to know what the point of tormenting him even more was, why they felt that giving Mad a glimpse of his dead boyfriend was a good idea but knowing what he did of Gillespie, it was only to throw Max through a loop and so far, to Max's chagrin, it had worked.

"Why? What is all this for? You killed Kyle already, took the Alpha position."

"This? This is would all have been redundant if that plan had worked," Gillespie waved a hand, as if trying to dismiss the failure.

"I've got to say, plan B's are always good to have."

Behind Gillespie, Lara started moving, muttering words under her breath and drawing something on the stage in chalk.

The noise grated against Max's teeth.

"You killed Kyle for a plan that didn't even work?" Max growled, taking a step forward.

Gillespie held out a hand.

"Now now, the only reason it didn't work is because Kyle isn't Alpha, now is he? Carter is but I have no use for that now. I can be more powerful than Alpha."

A monologue?

Was Gillespie seriously monologuing?

While he was chatting shit Max could... unlike last time, Max found his limbs actually immobilised.

At some point, Lara has cast her nuisance of a spell and it had worked.

The same spell that kept Finn or Kyle from fighting against them.

Frustration coiled in Max's gut, bubbling as a growl in his chest.

"Yes, isn't my sister clever?" Gillespie grinned.

"She knows I love a good show and tell."

"Anyway," Gillespie waved that off, too.

"The basic gist of the new plan is that I kill both you and Kyle, together in a ritual sacrifice and the power of the bond will reside in me, giving me more power than even becoming Alpha would."

He grinned, excitement practically steaming off him.

"This wouldn't just be the power to preside over a strong pack, this is the power of the mate bond."

"Kill both Kyle and myself together?" Max frowned, trying to get his limbs moving.

"But Kyle's already dead."

"Oh..." Gillespie hopped off the stage to put his face only centimetres from Max's.

"Not quite."

Not... not quite... not quite dead.

Meaning Kyle wasn't in a good state but he wasn't dead.

Max knew he shouldn't hope.

Gillespie could be lying or misleading Max into believing that Kyle could be saved but Max had also believed that he'd killed Gillespie.

That Lara had gone insane.

That he wasn't useful to Gillespie or Lara so coming down here instead of Carter was the better idea but as he watched, Lara pulled a stretched from behind the chairs on the stage.

On it was the form of a man.

It was Kyle, definitely Kyle.

He was pale and covered in blood and still unconscious but as Max watched, the chest rose with a gentle inhalation.

Quickly seeing he was at a disadvantage, Max switched tracks.

"So you have us. All the ingredients for your little spell."

If Max could move, he would've gestured to the others in the room, waiting with blank stares.

Instead, he huffed at his inability to do so.

"Let them go. You don't need them."

"Now you're just guessing," Gillespie sighed, and grabbed Max to fireman carry him onto the stage.

"We do need them. Well, their blood in any case."

The words Lara chanted were no longer quiet murmurs but commandments.

She spoke loud and clear, with a force that Max had only experienced when she was his friend.

Hurricane Lara. Here, however, she wasn't just being pushy.

She was out to destroy Max's world and put Gillespie in power.

Once Gillespie had dumped him on the stage, Max realised he wasn't the only new addition to the cast of this psychotic play.

He was followed up here by those who'd been staring into space only moments ago.

Above Max, Blake held his chin up with blank expression, Andy next to him, Amelia swaying rhythmically on the other side of him.

They all encircled Max, locking him inside the ring with Kyle, Lara and Gillespie.

Continuing to chant, Lara produced a knife, gently took Andy's hand, and slit her wrist.

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Bonus Chapter 7

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 20,116

Chapter Rating: PG-13...ish! Me being the very easily flustered writer that I am, I can tell you right now that no OVERLY graphic sexy things happen and there is a fade to black at the end, so it is all still fairly tame. But still, there is a lotta sexy innuendo and talk of sexy, ahem… ITEMS. Just wanted to drop a heads up since the rest of my story up to this point has been fairly PG for the most part, so didn’t want to blind side anyone!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

"Baby, all I want for Christmas is you."

Rayne stumbled a bit as she pushed the double stroller along, blowing out an amused little pft through her teeth. "Please, please tell me he did not actually say that!"

I sighed, hanging my head as I kept stride next to her, "He did. When I asked him for gift ideas, those were his exact words."

Anna erupted into laughter beside me, gripping my arm for support. "Dear lord, have I ever mentioned what a friggin' cliché, cheesy cornball your man is?"

"Not to mention no help at all," I grumbled, crossing my arms. "This is like Lea's birthday all over again. I mean, I know the stuff he likes, but honestly... what do you get for the man that buys everything and anything he wants for himself the second he sees it?"

"Don't worry, pumpkin," Rayne reached over to pat a comforting hand to my shoulder. "We wander around here long enough, something's sure to jump out at us eventually!"

"I hope so," I grimaced, not feeling so confident myself as we pressed onward through the crowded mall. I'd just gotten off my morning shift at the Ice Palace not too long ago and was still in my uniform minus the hat. It seemed I wasn't the only one who had to do some last minute holiday shopping, for that was the exact reason my sister and best friend had met up with me here as soon as I'd clocked out. With Christmas only a week away however, Dusk Town Center was understandably packed nearly to bursting. Merchandise was all but flying off the shelves in every store. Even if by some miracle I did manage to find the perfect gift here today, with my luck it'd probably be completely out of stock and backordered for months.

Gah, I shouldn't have kept putting this off for so long! But I had been racking my brain for weeks now for what to get him and had come up with zilch. Still had zilch. Ugh…

Last-minute-panicked-impulse-shopping don't fail me now!

Anna suddenly gasped and stopped walking. I took a few more steps before I slowed as well, glancing back at her with one eyebrow quirked. Her eyes weren't focused on me however as a slow grin spread across her face. "...what if we took Lea's words literally?"

Rayne and I exchanged a quick look. She shrugged, seemingly just as in the dark as I was. As mall traffic kept flowing unperturbed around us, my gaze settled on Anna once more and I snorted with a shake of my head, "What, you mean just put me under the tree gift-wrapped with a bow for Christmas morning?"

"Something like that, Sis," she giggled, suddenly latching on to my arm once more but now with a surprisingly strong grip.

Uh-oh… that impish gleam in her eye was making me nervous...

"Oh-ho, I see where she's going with this," Rayne sniggered before shifting the stroller over to be in front of me instead. "Here, take this." I blinked, my fingers automatically closing around the handlebar. Then she had seized hold of my other arm.

Oh gosh, her devilish little smirk was making me really, really nervous…

The ladies nodded at each other in unison in some unspoken agreement then without warning took off sprinting. I gasped and tripped over my own two feet, but managed to stay up right as I was dragged along with them. The sea of people parted for the stroller bearing two laughing infants like they were a friggin' pair of tiny Moses and we had zero trouble getting through, making a beeline straight for-

My eyes widened, "Oh no."

"Oh yes!" Anna cackled, tightening her hold on my arm.

I futilely dug my heels in, trying to put on the brakes. "No, no, no!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Rayne answered in glee.

There was no use fighting it. This was happening. Like it or not, I had no choice but to charge headlong into a little shop known as…

...Esmeralda's Secrets.

I had just been forcibly manhandled into literal Underwear Hell. Everywhere as far as the eye could see, things were lacy… things were silky…

...things were fluffy.

Egads, the horror. The fluffy, fluffy, neon pink, leopard-printed utter horror.

I squeaked, squeezing my eyes closed and burying my face into my hands. I was almost surprised my palms didn't burn from how badly my cheeks were roasting.

I heard a chuckle from Rayne as I felt her trying to gently pry my fingers away from my eyes. "Don't play coy, sweetie, we're all grown-ups here! You act like you've never been in an adult happy fun-time store to buy some lingerie before!"

"Maybe because I haven't!" I dropped my hands to fix her with a hard stare. Instead, the recipient of my said stare turned out to be a mannequin in something skimpy, leathery and with far too many buckles. "Oh dear," I muttered, somehow managing to blush even harder as I looked away and held a hand up to block my line of sight to it.

"Really, Sis? You've never been in one of these places? Not ever, not even once?" Anna snerked, shaking her head. The sheer disbelief coloring her voice led me to believe that she had been in this type of store before. This was not a realization I was comfortable with. "But you're so…" she whistled, winking one eye shut as her hands traced an hour-glass figure in the air before me. "...and Lea's so…" now she trilled her tongue against the roof of her mouth, eyebrows bouncing as she mimed pouncing with curled, wriggling fingers. "...ya know what I mean?"

...was it sad that I did in fact know exactly what she meant?

Scrunching my eyes shut as I pressed my fingers between my eyebrows, I puffed out a low sigh. Then, rather awkwardly (scratch that... very, very awkwardly), I explained, "...while it's… true that we're quite, er… active in that, hrm… department… we, uh… r-rather, that is to say, lingerie is a particular… bedroom... adventure we've yet to have as of, um… as of yet."

I couldn't believe this was actually a conversation I was having with my baby sister.

She brightened. "Well then thank your lucky stars cuz I've just handed you the perfect Christmas present on a silver platter! You're welcome!"

I tipped my head to one side with a dubious frown. "...really?" Plucking a hanger bearing an intricate, ruffled bra from a nearby rack, I wrinkled my nose at it before putting it back. "Doesn't seem like it'd be the most meaningful, heartfelt gift…"

"Please!" Rayne batted a hand through the air with a snort. "It's not like it's an anniversary or anything, it's Christmas - a consumer holiday glorified by the big corporations to weasel as much munny as they can outta us! Not every gift has to be thoughtful and profound, you're allowed to just have a lil fun with it sometimes!"

"Still… I don't know…" I said slowly as my gaze wandered against my will towards a nearby case filled with… ah, hm… shall we say, recreational items? I quickly averted my eyes.

"How 'bout we just peruse a bit, 'kay? No harm in that!" Rayne grinned as she steered the stroller further into the store.

"Yeah, Sis, just let us peruse!" Anna beamed as she linked her arm in mine once more and tugged me into a stumbling walk.

I pressed my lips together into a thin line and said nothing as I let her guide me along. I mean, did I even have a choice? Really? Maybe the sooner I stopped arguing, the sooner we could get this whole embarrassing ordeal over with and leave.

As I let my eyes idly drift from one frilly garment to the next, I did have to begrudgingly concede that Anna and Rayne might actually be onto something here with the lingerie idea. Don't get me wrong, Lea had never made me feel pressured to, er… "dress up" for the occasion or anything like that. It was never even really a conversation we'd ever had, so honestly it wasn't something I'd particularly given much thought to before this very moment. That said, I could hardly see him being exactly opposed to the idea either. Far from it, in fact…

Thus why it might just make the perfect Christmas surprise.

Anna abruptly pulled us to an unexpected stop in front of another customer, drooping her eyelids at the individual as she informed him, "You know that'd be more of a Christmas gift for you than for her, right?"

The gentleman in question paled, choking back a startled, "Huh?" and looking rather guilty as he stood there with the sheer, sparkly spaghetti-strapped thong dangling from his fingers that'd he'd been mulling over.

Rayne stepped up beside us, parking her stroller with it aimed directly at the guy as she deadpanned, "For shame! My babies judge you!"

He blinked, glancing down at the infants. Cayde and Aria squealed and burbled back. Turning bright red and dropping the underwear, he made a hasty retreat out of the shop.

"Haha, yes! That was too fun, Ray-Ray!" Anna snickered, giving her a high five. As I pinched the bridge of my nose with a tiny shake of my head, Anna asked, "What?"

I grumbled, "Being in a lingerie store by myself would be mortifying enough, but it's just now dawning on me how utterly ridiculous it is that I'm in here with my sister and a mom who brought her two babies."

"Psh, they're fine with it," Rayne brushed off, redirecting her gaze to someone nearby who seemed to work here. "Excuse me, Miss, you're fine with my tots being here, right?"

The woman turned to face us with a warm smile. She had long, wavy raven hair, eyes as green and sparkly as emeralds, and the kind of figure that would probably be pictured in a dictionary next to the word "voluptuous." In short, exactly the kind person any boss who ran a lingerie store would be positively thrilled to hire as an employee. She hummed a soft laugh as she waved a finger in greeting to the twins, "Of course! I actually have a kid of my own back home… Djali looks to be just about their age, maybe a few months older. Anyway, I completely understand and have no problem at all with you bringing them in here."

"Told ya," Rayne smugly razzed her tongue in victory at me.

And this prime example of maturity was a parent, folks.

Rolling my eyes but fighting a grin, I then glimpsed the worker's name tag and furrowed my brow. "Wait… you're Esmeralda?" I blinked a couple times. "...that's not just a fancy name they put on the store sign?"

"Nope! I own and operate this lil business," the woman smiled proudly now.

"Well then, Esmeralda, I hafta ask…" one corner of Anna's lips turned up as she leaned to whisper conspiratorially, "What's your secret?"

A little snort escaped her nose before she gestured back towards the front of the store, "Not letting creeps like that get to me."

Looking out the shop windows back into the mall proper, we now all spotted a rather sinister-looking old man standing out there who seemed to be… protesting? He was holding up a sign aimed directly at this little boutique bearing in big, bold letters the words (and I kid you not): SINNERS, REPENT. Other mall shoppers were giving the man a wide berth as he just stood there a few feet away from the entrance into here, glaring. Gosh, how had we not seen him on our way in? Maybe he'd arrived after us.

"Ugh," Rayne scrunched up her nose in distaste at the sight of the man. "What's ol' Skeezy McSkeezerson's problem?"

"He's just some religious nutjob who thinks my little," up came her fingers to provide air quotes, "den of iniquity here is ruining the wholesome, family friendliness of the mall. Ignore Frollo, he's harmless."

Anna raised an eyebrow, "You're chummy enough with that gnarly bag of bones to know his name?"

Chuckling, Esmeralda shrugged, "Kind of hard not to know it, what with him harassing me every morning when I come to open shop and every night when I lock up. Luckily, he's not brave enough to follow me inside, probably too afraid he'll fall victim all this sin and debauchery hanging on the racks. This place is my sanctuary," she glanced around with a contented sigh. Then she clapped her hands together once, flashing her best customer service smile now. "But that's enough talk about that! Is there anything I can help you lovely ladies out with today?"

"Perhaps you can assist my beautiful bestie here by helping her pick out some sexy underwear for her to show off to her man," Rayne beamed, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "You'll hafta forgive her, she's a tad clueless cuz she's a bit of a lingerie virgin."

"Hmmmmm," Esmeralda slowly circled me as she tapped a curled finger to chin. I felt a heat rising to my face once again under such scrutiny and I began fidgeting with my braid. "...yes, I can already picture a few of my items that could suit you perfectly. But first, tell me a little about your beau - do you think he could handle being subjected to some of our more…" she paused, a sly little gleam flitting across her eyes now as she smirked, "...risqué outfits?"

Forget him, I don't think I could handle being subjected to some of their more risqué outfits!

Before I could respond however, Anna chimed in with, "Oh don't worry, Lea can handle them! Trust me, he's as red blooded and virile as they come!"

"Anna!" I gasped, horrified as I strangled my braid harder.

She gave my shoulder a light, playful shove, "C'mon, Sis, you think I can't friggin' hear you two going at it whenever I spend the night on your living room couch?"

I nearly tore my braid straight out of my scalp.

Face? What face? No, I no longer had one and in its place now was nothing but a raging inferno.

"I- He- We- Tha-" I spluttered and stammered, unable to complete a coherent thought, much less sentence.

"Aw, I think you broke her," Rayne cooed with a little giggle, patting me on the head.

Esmeralda had already set to work, drifting from one rack to the next, seemingly knowing exactly where to find each thing she was looking for as she quickly and efficiently riffled through the garments, plucking up hangers here and there to toss over her arm before moving to the next one. Before long, she'd returned to stand in front of me with an assortment of delicates neatly stacked in the crook of her elbow. "I've picked out a few options for you for starters, just let me know if you see any you'd like to try on." With that, she held up the first one.

...I did not understand what I was even looking at here. Like, at all. Was she holding it upside down?

Though I made no comment, my expression must have told her everything. "Alright, not your cup of tea. Moving along," she smiled good-humoredly as she set that one aside and lifted up another one for me to look at.

Good lord, was that supposed to be lingerie or a net? The thing was more holes than fabric. Just how many limbs did they think I had?

Tucking that one away as well, she laughed, "Take it that one's a no too. Don't worry, I have a good feeling about this next one." She showed it to me and…

...actually? It wasn't too distressing.

No, it was actually a rather classy and tasteful kind of sexy, with its silk and its hint of lace and its overbust corset in a deep, rich blue.

I hesitated with a thoughtful frown before reaching a hand out to gingerly take it from her. Cheeks still simmering away, I pursed my lips to one side as I considered it for a few seconds longer, then mumbled, "You said something about being able to try them on?"

Esmeralda smiled brightly. "Follow me, I'll take you to a fitting room."

As she started leading me towards the back, I was suddenly halted in my tracks when I heard, "Sis! Sis!" My eyebrows knit together as I turned my head towards Anna's voice. I spotted her over by one of the wall shelves, holding something up high over her head and waving it about with an almost manic glee as Rayne smothered snickers into her hand beside her. "You should get this for Lea too!"

It took me a second to realize what it was she had in her hand, but when I did, every last drop of blood in my body came hurtling up into my face.

"No!" I shouted across the store. "No way! I am not buying that!"

I bought it.

But only because Anna wouldn't stop pestering me about the stupid thing until I did.

I hadn't been able to bring myself to gift-wrap it with the lingerie that I'd also ended up purchasing. Heck, I'd barely been able to bring myself to wrap the lingerie itself, but what exactly else could I have done? Surprised him with it by just walking into the bedroom wearing it? Please, as if I could ever be so bold - I'd practically burst into flames from all the blushing I'd been doing just wrapping the dang thing. As for the other thing, I'd just panicked and hid it away wedged between the bedframe and underside of our mattress for the time being until I could figure out something else to do with it.

Thankfully, I'd also managed to come up with a second gift to give Lea. In a sudden surge of inspiration out of the blue, I'd gotten the idea to get him a vintage movie reel projector. I could just picture him getting all excited about collecting all of his cheesy classics he loved so much in their original format so we could watch them "the way they were meant to be watched" or something like that. Finding one used online hadn't been all that difficult or expensive, not to mention thank goodness for overnight shipping! The device itself was big but not all that heavy, almost shockingly so - I'd easily been able to lug it around myself for getting it all wrapped and whatnot.

So there my two presents sat in the living room as Christmas Eve dawned, beneath a tiny yet festively decorated tree that we had to constantly keep Marshmallow from trying to eat. It was hard to blame the giant fuzzball though really - now almost fully grown, Marshmallow was bigger than the dinky little pine so was it any real wonder that he seemed to consider it his new favorite chew toy?

In any case, me getting Lea more than one gift seemed to have worked out for the best as it hadn't slipped my notice that he'd also gotten me a couple things that were currently nestled there at the base of that tree. Our small cluster of presents were really only there for the sake of appearances at the moment. We weren't going to be here on Christmas day itself. We were in fact just a few minutes away from hitting the road to spend the holidays in my family's sizable cabin tucked away up in the snowy mountains surrounding Arendelle. Luckily, the only actual relatives that would be there were Anna and Saïx, with the rest of the guest rooms being filled out by a handful of our friends we'd invited to join us for the holidays. In any case, all we had left to do before we departed was finish getting dressed, wrap up packing with a few last minute supplies, toss the presents into the car trunk, wrangle Marshmallow into the backseat and then we'd be off.

Thus my mild surprise when just as I'd finish rinsing my dish from breakfast, I felt Lea wrapping his arms around my waist to hug me from behind as he nuzzled my neck and whispered, "Hey, how 'bout we each open up one of our presents a day early? It'll be fun, whaddya say?"

I glanced over my shoulder at him and he flashed me a cheeky little grin. I blinked a couple times, then peeked over towards our teeny tree in the living room. More specifically, at the gifts beneath it. At one gift in particular.

You know… that gift.

I hastily averted my gaze, feeling my cheeks warm.

Drat, had he noticed which one my eyes had zeroed in on?

Clearing my throat as I set the dish in the drying rack, I asked casually, "Do we really have the time? We're already running a bit behind, we should've been on the highway ten minutes ago."

"We're already late, what's a few extra measly minutes?"

I tried again, "But today? Right now? ...it's not even Christmas yet."

"Pfft, what, like the holiday police are gonna bust us for bending the rules a lil?" he chuckled low as he gave my ear a playful nip before pulling away, spinning me around to face him. "Misbehave, live a lil! Being bad never felt so good! 'Sides, I'm just dying to know whatcha got me. C'mon, it's just one present each, we'll still have others to rip open on jolly ol' Saint Nick's Day tomorrow."

I had to resist the urge to look at that gift again.

Damn it, girl, be cool.

Instead, I smiled and relented with a small sigh, "Alright, fine. Only one though, got it?"

"Course!" he beamed, before gesturing a hand towards the living room with a slight bow of his head. "Ladies first."

I walked past him, exiting the kitchen and approaching where our tree stood guard over its little horde of presents. I considered them for a few seconds before picking out a bright red, flat-ish one decorated in nutcracker soldier printed gift wrap. Then I moved to the couch, making room by easing Marshmallow over a bit where he laid conked out in a deep sleep (on his back and with his tongue lolled out) before I took a seat on the middle cushion.

As I watched Lea approach the pile of gifts now to pick one out for himself, I couldn't help a small twitch as I suddenly began to regret every poor life choice I'd made that'd led up to me buying that stupid lingerie. I mean, seriously, what had I been thinking when I'd let Rayne and Anna talk me into getting that silly thing? What would I even possibly say when Lea unwrapped it? How would I- no, shush, relax, Elsa, it'll all be fine. Lea probably wasn't even going to pick that one. He was probably more curious about whatever the bigger, flashier-looking one could be - it was probably the whole reason he'd even suggested opening a couple right now. Yeah, that had to be it! There was no way he could be interested the measly, smaller, less fancy looking pres-

Fudge, he'd picked the lingerie.

Jerk probably had caught me staring at it.

"Are you sure that's the one you want to open now?" I blurted out before my mind could catch up. Noting the slight tremor to my voice, I cleared my throat and gave a tiny nervous laugh, my fingers absently picking at the tape on my own present. "The other one's bigger. Clunkier, you might even say. Could be a lot of work hauling it all the way up to the cabin, then hauling it all the way back. Maybe it'd be better if you just opened that one here instead."

"Nah, I don't mind lugging it back and forth," he laughed as he plopped down onto the sofa on my other side opposite of Marshmallow, settling the abomination that was my gift into his lap. "I could use the workout anyhow! This glorious physique don't just happen on its own, ya know!" he grinned, flexing one arm and kissing his bicep.

I gave a soft snort. "True, I suppose you have to burn off all that ice cream you consume by the gallon somehow," I poked a gentle fingertip to his belly.

"Hey now, maybe I wouldn't eat so much o' the crap if the girl working at the Ice Palace weren't such a cutie," he leaned towards me with a wink.

"Oh-ho, no," I waggled a finger in his face. "You were a sugar junkie long before I got a job there, so don't even try to blame your sweet tooth on me."

He smirked. "Who said I was talking 'bout you?"

I smacked him in the face with one of the couch's throw pillows.

"I mean, obviously I was talking 'bout you, babe!" He reached over to tweak my nose, "You're the cutest chick who works there, no contest! ...literally, cuz you're the only chick who works there, so that's not even really saying mu-"

I whacked him with the pillow again.

"I kid, I kid, c'mon, you know I think you're the most gorgeous creature in all of creation! Gimme that thing before you fluffily bludgeon me to death," he snerked, confiscating the cushion from me and tucking it away between the armrest and his hip before nudging my shoulder with his. "Now go on, open up my present to ya already!"

With a tiny shake of my head at him, I redirected my focus to the nicely wrapped gift in my lap and began carefully removing the tape. Once I'd made enough of an opening, I liberated a thin box from within. Raising an eyebrow, I lifted the lid off to discover two long, green slips of sturdy paper inside decorated with a logo on one half and lots of teeny printed text filling the rest of it. I picked them up with a little frown, squinting as I read them, then gasped and shot up to my feet, the box tumbling out of my lap down to the carpet. "How?! How did you manage to get tickets?! This musical has been sold out for months!"

"I have my ways," he sighed smugly, slouching down more comfortably into the sofa cushion. "We should be able to squeeze it in before the end of winter break, so figured we could take in the show, spend a few days in the big apple, make a whole trip outta it, ya know?"

"That… that sounds amazing, that-" I cut myself off, suddenly at a loss for words. Broadway was currently running my favorite musical - the one that song was from that I'd chosen to audition with for our community theater's Wicked tryouts. I'd been dying to go and Lea knew that, but tickets had been impossible to get. Not so for him, it seemed. I hastily sat back down, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and yanking him over to me to kiss him thoroughly. Smiling against his lips, I then drew back just enough to whisper, "Thank you… this means a lot to me."

"Don't mention it," he murmured back, gaze hooded as he nudged the tip of my nose with his. Then he pulled away, eyes lighting up a bit as he eagerly rubbed his hands together over his own present now. "Alright, my turn!"

I paled, heart all but flatlining in my chest. Crud, I'd completely forgotten. Here Lea had picked out something super sweet and thoughtful for me, and what had I gotten him in return?

Underwear.

Nay, not just underwear.

Friggin' frilly underwear.

"No!" I yelped, lunging for it just as he'd ripped some of the wrapping paper off one corner. Managing to snatch it out of his hands, I scrambled to stand and get it away from him. He stared blankly at me, one eyebrow quirked. Eyes darting wildly about, I said, "No, this… you don't want to open this one! This one's, er…" I hid it behind my back, biting my bottom lip, "...it's nothing really, it's- you know what? Let's get you the other one! Yes, that's the one you want, and this one you can open, er… never? Yeah, let's say never! In fact, let's just completely forget this one ever existed and I'll go get you the other-"

Just as I'd turned to make my way back over to the tree, Lea snaked one arm out and snagged the gift back with a chipper little, "Yoink!"

"Hey!" I tried to steal it back from him, but he'd stood up to his full height, holding it high above his head where it was easily out of my reach.

Curse him, his stupid tall self and his stupid, stupid long arms!

He chuckled as he pressed a quick peck to my forehead, "Now I know this is for sure the one I wanna open. With you getting all flustered over it, whatever it is has gotta be good!"

"But-"

"Ah-ah!" his finger booped me on the nose before he plonked back down into his seat on the couch. "Ya know it only makes me wanna open it more the harder you fight it, right? Just let it go, El, it's happening."

My lips pinched sourly before I huffed and sat down as well. I grabbed another throw pillow and hugged it tightly to my chest, burying my face in it just enough for me to peek out anxiously over the top.

Alright, fine. Let's get this impending trainwreck over with.

But I swear, this is the last time I listen to any advice Anna and Rayne give me ever again.

I tried not to flinch with each little tear he made in the gift wrap, the cartoony frolicking reindeers and elves printed on it seeming so deceptively innocent now when you considered what scandalous secrets lay hidden beneath them. All too soon, he was balling up the tattered remains and tossing them over his shoulder before opening the box, shifting the neatly folded tissue paper within aside and-

His whole body went still. Then he blinked once. Then twice. "Huh," was all he said at first. Then with a bemused little upward curve to one corner of his lips, he was delicately lifting the lingerie up out of the box in all its salacious glory. "...babe, I'm flattered, but blue's not really my color."

...oh god, the big clueless dope thought I'd given it to him as a joke for him to wear. He didn't realize-

Fudge, now I had to spell it out for him.

Having to wonder how my brain was not melting straight out of my ears at this point what with how badly my face was broiling, I set the pillow aside, folded my hands in my lap, sat up a little straighter and opened my mouth. Then swiftly snapped it back shut, cheeks cranking up the heat even further.

How… do I even put this?

Taking a deep breath, I tried again, "But it is… my color..."

He dropped the garment, eyes growing round and expression slack. "Oh." A pause. Then, "Oh, so you'd be the one who'd- oh." Picking it up again, a huge, lopsided grin spread across his suddenly rather flushed face as he eyed it in a whole new light now. "...oh, I see."

Fingers strangling the life out of each other in my lap, I looked away as I went on, "I know it's not as nice or as… sincere as your gift to me was, but I promise my other present is much better and-"

"No, no, none of that now, it's- I- this is-" Apparently struggling to find the right words to do justice to what he wanted to say, he instead settled for schooling his expression to be almost comically stoic as he gave big, emphatic nods with a thumbs up that then shifted into forming an O with his thumb and forefinger, signaling his approval.

I perked up a little uncertainly. "...you mean you like it? Really?"

"Oh yeah, trust me, I like it… really, really like it." Lea then cleared his throat, knee bouncing up and down as his fingers idly traced back and forth over the lace embroidered into the silky fabric. "Sooooo, heh… when do we take this baby out for its first test spin? ...now? Or say, I dunno, uh…" he shrugged, clearly trying (and failing) not to sound too eager as he repeated, "now?"

Down, boy.

I bit back a tiny smile. "No, now we should be on the road and making our way towards the cabin," I said as I rose to my feet to head towards the bedroom, snatching the lingerie from his grasp as I moved past him.

"Hey!" He vaulted himself over the backrest of the couch in the flash, hot on my heels. "That's mine!"

Crossing my arms as I spun around to face him, I said, "Yes, but I'm simply taking it to pack it with my things so we have it for the trip."

"Oh." Lea was grinning so big again now, it crinkled his guyliner. "I'll allow this."

"How very magnanimous of you," I snorted, turning to continue my journey to the bedroom once more. "I'm going to go finish packing and getting dressed, while you-" Just as I'd stepped through the door, I glanced back to discover he'd followed me in here. "...just where do you think you're going?"

He hunched down to my eye level, eyebrows bouncing over his half-lidded gaze. "To help ya get dressed, of course."

"Uh-uh. No," I planted a hand firmly to his chest, forcing him to walk in reverse and back out of the room. "I know that look. We don't have time for that look, we're late enough as it is. You stay out here, clean up the trashed wrapping paper, and get the rest of the gifts and Marshmallow out to the car."

"Aw c'mon, El, ya gotta lemme in there so I can help you," he insisted.

I gave him a flat look. "...do I? Do I really? Enlighten me then, please… why do I 'gotta' let you in here?"

"Er… cuz I'm a charming, lovable scamp with devilish good looks that you just can't say no to?"

I drooped my eyelids at him. Then I shut the door in his face, locking it for good measure.

Charm your way through that, scamp.

My cheeks puffed as I blew out a long breath, taking a second to fan my still very heated face with my hands. I then crossed the room, tossing Lea's gift next to where my almost fully packed suitcase laid open atop the bed. I set to work grabbing whatever else I needed - things like my charger and whatnot - and stuffed them into my travel case.

I then paused in a brief moment of indecision before sighing, rolling my eyes, and sticking my hand under the mattress to retrieve the other thing that Anna had made me buy from Esmeralda's Secrets. I frowned at it, then turned and held it up as I asked, "What do you think? Should I take it along?"

Bruni blinked back at me from inside his terrarium, cocking his head. Then can you guess what the little salamander did next? Go on, take a wild guess.

If your answer involved his tongue, his eyeball, and/or the swiping of said tongue over said eyeball, then you'd be correct.

I snorted. "You know, we really need to get you some new talking points as I feel you've pretty much said all you can say with that one at this point," I told him as I double checked he had enough food in there with him to keep him amply fed while we were gone. Then I gave the thing in my grip one final glance with a tiny shake of my head before tucking it away inside my luggage, burying it deep beneath several layers of clothing. Chances were good it'd never see the light of day, but why not bring it just in case? I mean, the lingerie had been such a hit and we hadn't even gotten to the fun part with it yet. I could imagine this thing would probably be met with equally rave reviews from Lea as well, should I muster up the courage to actually bring it out.

Now all I needed to do was pack the lingerie, get dressed, and go. I picked it up, dangling it before me as I considered it for a moment. My lips pursed to one side.

...an idea was beginning to take form in my mind.

A little wicked one.

A supremely stupid one.

One that was only asking for trouble.

Honestly, I don't know what possessed me to do it.

But I did it anyway.

"Everyone else is there already. I can't believe we're actually going to be the last ones to arrive," I muttered, narrowing my eyes at the text message from Anna on my phone.

"Bah, don't sweat it," Lea chuckled as he sped his car down the highway. We'd been on it for about twenty minutes now. He glanced over at me, tipping his aviators down just enough to wink over the rim, "Just means they'll have our hot cocoa ready and waiting for us in a couple o' steaming mugs by the time we get there."

My throat gave a small, noncommittal hmph. "Just be glad Anna's insisting on saving the master bedroom for us instead of calling dibs on it for her and Kristoff," I told him, pocketing my phone once more. Then I said, "I still think it was silly of Saïx to drive out ahead of us on his own instead of carpooling with us. He would've been able to sleep on the ride over."

He flicked on his blinker as our lane began to merge with the next one over. "Think he plans to bail on our lil holiday bonanza a day or two earlier than the rest of us. 'Sides, pretty sure he wasn't too keen on the idea of being the overstuffed fleabag's snuggle buddy on the whole drive over," he sniggered as he stretched a hand behind him into the backseat without looking to give Marshmallow a couple of affectionate pats to the head. "Hey!" he quickly snatched the hand back when his love was reciprocated with tooth hugs.

"Well then, his loss." I grinned as I twisted around in my seat to give the dog scritches under the chin, cooing, "Isn't that right, Marshmallow?"

Did that sound like an invitation to come sit in my lap? Because apparently to Marshmallow, it did. In the blink of an eye, he'd excitedly squeezed his way through the space between our two front seats to crush me under the mountain of white fluff that was him, tail thumping away at a mile a minute against the dash. Quite a feat considering there was barely enough space in the car seat to accommodate the colossal canine alone, much less the both of us. To this day, I'm still not quite sure how Marshmallow had managed to wedge himself up here with me.

After much cackling from Lea and wheezed coaxing from me, Marshmallow was finally persuaded a few minutes later to clamber back into the backseat once more, though not without a healthy dose of whining and puppy-dog pouting. Able to breathe again, I inhaled deeply as I began to straighten myself back out - the assault of doggy cuddles had left me in a bit of a disarray. I swept the few stray pale tendrils of my hair that had escaped back into my bun, smoothed the rumples out of my off the shoulder button-up blouse, and-

"Holy shit, is that... Under your clothes, you're already wearing it?!" Lea fumbled with his shades, perching them atop his head as his suddenly wide-eyed stare was now in a tug-of-war between my leg and watching the road.

With a start, I glanced down to discover that Marshmallow's little snuggle ambush had caused my knee-length skirt with a side-slit to ride up a bit, revealing the lacy garter (complete with a little blue bow) wrapped around my thigh that was holding up my black sheer stockings. Blushing furiously, I hastily jerked the hem of my skirt back down to hide it again and awkwardly avoided his gaze as I crossed my legs, mumbling, "...maybe."

Yes.

I was already wearing it.

"It" being the lingerie.

Which, by the way if you hadn't guessed by now, was the supremely stupid thing I'd decided to do.

Lea said nothing, just continued to gawk at me.

Gosh, if my cheeks burned any brighter, Santa would be asking me to guide his sleigh tonight instead of Rudolph.

Talk. I needed to talk. To fill this silence that was making me fidget restlessly under his gaze. Go on, mouth, just move and make with the words already. Any words. "...it's... actually rather comfortable." ...okay? "The lingerie, that is." Oh good. Thanks for clarifying the obvious. "Wouldn't think it would be. Would've thought it'd be more designed in favor of being, ah… aesthetically pleasing at the expense of comfort." Oh dear, where was I going with this? "I mean, I tried it on before buying it. Of course I did, it'd be silly not to at least make sure it- but, you know, I only had it on for a grand total of a minute in the fitting room, not really long enough to tell if- but now that I've had it on for an, er… extended period, I can say that it's, uh… it's quite comfortable. The silk is real nice, real… smooth against the skin." I take it back. Stop talking. Stop talking this instant. "Fits like a glove, as the saying goes, not… tight or restricting at all like I'd imagined it might be. The whole thing's really quite flexible with a plenty of give, actually…" Your license to speak has been revoked, mouth, you hear me? Zip it! "I shouldn't have any problems bending or twisting into any sort of posi-"

The car beside us suddenly blared its horn - apparently Lea had been a little too preoccupied by my line of discussion and in his distraction had begun to accidentally drift into the next lane over. "Fuck," he hissed, swerving us back into our proper lane. Clearing his throat as he shot the other vehicle a quick, apologetic wave, he told me, "Love, I'm dying to hear the end of that sentence, trust me, I'm highly invested at this point, but we're gonna hafta put a pin in it and circle back round to it later cuz this is a dangerous conversation to be having with a man while he's driving."

You heard the man, mouth. Friggin' cram it.

Pressing my lips firmly together, I tugged at the hem of my skirt again and gave a single curt nod, making no further comment.

We drove in silence for a minute as the trees of the forest around us blurred past our windows. Lea's eyes kept flicking to me out of the corner of his peripheral. He coughed into his fist and vigorously ruffled his fingers through his hair before returning his grip to the wheel. His knee began to jiggle up and down. Then, "Hey, uh… how 'bout we make a pit stop somewhere?"

I glanced towards him, my head tipping to one side. "A pit stop?"

"Yeah, so we can, ya know... stretch our legs… and other things," he wickedly smirked as he reached over the center console for my hand and brought it up to his lips, bouncing his eyebrows at me over my knuckles as he pressed a kiss to them.

A noise that was half laugh, half scoff escaped me. "There's not another rest stop for miles."

He shrugged. "I'm not picky. I'm sure a nice thicket could do in a pinch."

I gave him a flat look. "...a thicket? Really?"

"What? I'll make sure it's a romantic one! A classy one!"

"And how, pray tell, do you make a thicket classy?" I crossed my arms under my chest, arching an eyebrow at him.

"By keeping our pinkies raised the whole time!" Lea beamed, holding one hand up and wiggling his little finger.

Snorting, I shook my head. "No stops until we get there, understood?"

A harsh little huff emitted from his throat, "Fine." Then his foot pressed down harder on the gas and the engine thrummed louder as we started passing the other cars more quickly.

I hummed a soft laugh, "Oh sure, now you're in a hurry to get there."

"Well yeah! Ya said it yourself: we're late. Just trynta make up for lost time!" One corner of his lips quirked up as he added, "'Sides, the sooner we get there, the sooner I can unwrap my present."

"You know you're not allowed to open the other one until tomorrow morning," I tutted.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," he not so subtly eyed me up and down, leaving zero doubt as to exactly what he meant.

Suppressing the urge to squirm, my hands swiped the nonexistent wrinkles out of my skirt as I dropped a casual, "Goodness, all this fuss and you haven't even seen part two of your gift yet."

He shot me a double-take. "Jesus Christ, there's a part two?!"

I'm with him, there's a part two?! Mouth, what are you even-

...oh dear, I was talking about the thing tucked away in my luggage between my dresses and my nightgown, wasn't I?

Damn Anna to the bloody ninth circle of hell for ever making me buy that infernal thing!

Alright, mouth, we can still get out of this. Remember the three B's: backtrack, backtrack, backtrack! Just go on and work your magic.

"Guess you'll just have to wait until later tonight to find out."

...mouth, you're fired.

Lea gave a low whistle and grinned big. "Somebody musta told Santa that I've been a very good boy this year," he murmured, his gaze drifting towards me again. Then traveling downward. Searching. As if he could somehow catch a glimpse of the lingerie hidden beneath through sheer force of will alone.

"Hey now, eyes on the road, mister," I chided.

He pouted, but did as he was told.

I snorted, "What's with the face? It's not like you can see anything anyway, you don't have x-ray vision."

"And I curse my goddamn maker every day for such a heinous oversight," he grumbled under his breath as he slipped his aviators back down onto his face.

We ended up making it to the cabin in record time. It wasn't currently snowing, but a thick glittering blanket of white had coated everything around us, from the ground to the trees to the cabin itself. Lea parked us next to the other cars and as he shut off the engine and the heat with it, I shrugged into my long heavy coat. I probably didn't really need it, the walk to the door would take less than ten seconds and I'd never been one to freeze easily, but it would be one less thing to carry.

Marshmallow was making it abundantly clear he was ready to no longer be trapped inside the car as he pawed at the back door and whimpered. Chuckling and telling him to hang on, I reached back to clip on his leash before exiting the vehicle myself, my knee high boots sinking into the snow as I let him out. He nearly ripped my arm out of my socket when he tried to bolt to investigate his new strange surroundings with all its new strange scents, but I managed to keep him in check if only just barely. Lea, having wrapped a black and red checkered scarf around his neck and donned his own thick jacket, took it upon himself to grab our suitcases seeing as how I pretty much had my hands full maintaining control of Marshmallow.

"We're here!" I called out as I opened the front door and let Marshmallow pull me inside, Lea following us and kicking the door shut behind him before dumping our things on the floor. As I knelt down to remove the leash once more, Marshmallow's nostrils suddenly flared with a big sniff before his ears perked and he went very still, his eyes intently focused on the hallway that led to the main sitting room. Oh-ho, I knew who he smelled. The second the leash was unclipped, the big wall of fur excitedly charged off deeper into the house.

I shook my head with a tiny grin as I slipped out of my coat and folded it over the banister next to the entrance. Before I could follow in my dog's tracks however, I felt Lea's hand closing around mine. He gently tugged me back and spun me around to face him, backing me up against the banister as he planted his hands on top of it to either side of me, trapping me between it and his body. Then he was leaning in real close, eyes hooded as his nose brushed alongside mine, his breath tickling my lips as he purred, "Ya know what I was thinking?"

I gave a low hum, reaching up to straighten his collar before resting my hands against his chest, absently smoothing out any creases in the fabric as I asked softly, "What were you thinking?"

His eyes crinkled slightly as he dipped his head, nosing the sensitive skin just beneath my ear and making me shiver. "Was thinkin' you should help me take the luggage to our room."

Translation: he was eager to "unwrap his gift."

A smile tugged at one corner of my mouth. "I see. Well, here's what I'm thinking…"

"Mm-hm," he prompted distractedly, straightening up just enough to try and go in for a kiss.

He probably thought he could seduce me to our bedroom with the power of his lips alone. And you know, he might have been right. He was a really good kisser.

Which is why I clamped my hand over his mouth at the last second, grinned sweetly up at him and said, "I'm thinking I know how much you love being a gentleman and I would simply hate to rob you of this ideal moment of chivalry by offering any sort of help with our suitcases. You're welcome." I lightly patted him on the cheek before trying to slip free of his arms. I didn't make it far however before he'd snagged me around the waist, pulling me up against him. I sighed, "Come on, Lea, the others are waiting for us."

"And they can wait a lil bit longer while we…" that wicked curve to his lips resurfaced, "settle in. It'll be fine, we'll see them later tonight." A thoughtful pause before he waggled his eyebrows, hooking a finger under my chin as he began to lean in once more, murmuring, "Make that tomorrow."

"There you two are!" Anna suddenly came bursting into the room with her signature bubbly laugh. "Was beginning to think you got friggin' lost!"

Whew! Saved by the baby sister!

Don't get me wrong, Lea was making a tempting offer. More than tempting. It's just that we hadn't made the trip all the way up to this cabin only to just lock ourselves in a room together for god knew how long. No, I'd come here to spend time with my friends and family. It was rather rare that I actually chose to spend time with a large group of people, but something about the holidays brought that out in me I suppose. There would be plenty of time for that other stuff later after everyone had turned in for the night. Lea would just have to wait his turn.

His shoulders slumped and he sulked a bit at being interrupted, but Anna hardly noticed as she snagged my arm, "C'mon, everyone's in the living room!"

"Hold it!" Lea hadn't let go of my hand yet. "El's gotta, uh… help me find our room first!"

"Oh! Up the stairs, first one on the left, you can't miss it!" Anna happily chirped, not wasting another second to drag me off.

He reluctantly let my fingers slip free of his this time as he released a low, grumbling huff. I glanced back at him as I let myself be towed along, crinkling my nose in amusement. He crinkled his back, though his was oozing snark. Could a nose crinkle even be snarky? Because if it could, his was decidedly so. With that, I lost sight of him as I was yanked around the corner and down the hall.

I could hear the rumble of chatter and laughter growing louder as we drew near before we stepped into the large family room. Everyone was seated cozily around the large roaring fireplace. Sora had little Cayde (or at least, I thought it was Cayde… I was still getting the hang of telling them apart) settled in his lap while both he and Kairi laughed and made goofy faces for the baby. Riku was nearby, keeping his watchful dad eye on them while holding a conversation with Kristoff at the same time. Rayne and Aria were nowhere to be seen, but I suspected the latter had probably been in need of a change and so had been taken into another room to have that dealt with.

Marshmallow was exactly where I expected him to be - sprawled across Saïx's lap, whether Saïx liked it or not. It looked like there might have been a bit of a kerfuffle for Saïx seemed slightly ruffled, but in the end he'd apparently just accepted his fate and currently had his laptop settled on Marshmallow's back as he typed away at it, a mildly miffed expression twisting his face behind his glasses. Roxas and Xion were seated in armchairs close to him, snickering and shoving each other's shoulders over something.

"Look who I found!" Anna announced as she brought me further into the room. They all looked up and I was met with a round of boisterous greetings. Giving my arm one final squeeze before releasing it, Anna said, "Have a seat! I'll go bring in the snacks now that we're all here!"

I began, "Oh, I'd be happy to help with-"

"No, that's fine! I really only require the assistance of one big, handsome, strapping gentleman and I have just the perfect one in mind..." As she spoke those words, Kristoff perked up and turned his head towards her with a huge smile. "...Sora!"

"Huh, wha?" Sora froze mid-squishing his cheeks together for Cayde at the sound of his own name, blinking a couple times. Kristoff looked positively crestfallen.

Anna snerked. "Kidding! Of course I was talking about you, you big dummy," she planted a quick peck to Kristoff's chin, which seemed to mollify him. Then she gathered both his hands in hers with a chipper, "Now c'mon!" before tugging him off towards the kitchen.

I grinned after them before glancing around for a place to sit. Saïx and Marshmallow were the only ones on their couch and though my beloved four-legged friend did admittedly take up a lot of space, the two of them were on the far side of it and it was a long couch so there was still plenty of room left. I eased myself down on the opposite end from them beside where the "kiddos" had seemingly picked up their conversation right where it'd left off.

"'Lemme copy your homework, Xion. Do all the work on the group project, Xion,'" she was reciting in a voice that I believe was a mock imitation of Roxas's. Then she gave a scoff, albeit in good-humor, "I swear, Rox, I'm nothing more than just a puppet for you to boss around."

"That's right, dance on my strings, puppet!" Roxas cackled back, waggling his fingers in the air above his head as if to manipulate said imaginary strings and earning himself yet another shove to his shoulder.

I listened with half an ear, momentarily distracted as my eyes scanned the room. Where was it? I knew it just had to be here somew-

Ah-ha! There! Dangling from the archway Anna and I had just come through a moment before.

Mistletoe.

I silently filed away its location for later. It'd be useful. Trust me.

"Just be grateful winter break arrived in the nick of time to save your punk ass because I was this close to throttling you," Xion sighed, rolling her eyes before flashing me a long-suffering smile. "I tell ya, Elsa, one of these days this doof will no longer have me around to cover for him and he'll be a total wreck without me!"

He looked aghast, clutching his chest. "No! Xion, you could never abandon me!" A beat. "...who else will I have ice cream with?"

"What am I, chopped liver?" Lea's voice suddenly piped up, drawing our attention. Apparently all done toting our luggage up to our room, he now came striding in, mussing up both Xion's and Roxas's hair by way of hello as he passed them, "Look who got here early."

Roxas swatted his hand away, "No, you're just late."

Lea placed a palm on the back of the couch, catapulting himself over it to land heavily in the spot between me and Marshmallow. Slipping an arm around my shoulders, he declared, "The life of the party is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."

"I'm sorry, why are you talking about Sora now?" Xion slyly teased.

"Yeah, he actually showed up on time unlike your late ass," Roxas sniggered before releasing a tiny, hissed "ow" when Lea delivered a swift kick to his shin.

Rolling his eyes, Lea sighed, "So what were you squirts talking about before I got here?"

Xion smirked over at her blond friend, "About how lost Rox would be if he didn't have me around to carry his lazy butt all the time. And we're talking completely lost. Bet he wouldn't even know who he was anymore."

He shrugged, "Psh, what are you talking about? I am me, nobody else."

"You're a chimp is what you are," she poked him in the cheek. "You're lucky you even know your own name, much less how to spell it. If it weren't for me, you'd of flunked outta college ages ago."

"Ooo, we're talking about college?" Anna chimed into the conversation as she came bustling back into the room precariously managing four mugs of hot cocoa, two in each hand. Kristoff was right behind her bearing a couple trays of Christmas cookies and pastries. One of the cocoas was sweetly delivered to me before the others were distributed and Anna sent Kristoff back to the kitchen to continue ferrying in more after he'd left the snacks on a coffee table. Happily flopping down into a nearby armchair, she popped one of the sweets into her mouth before continuing, "I can't believe I have less than a year before I graduate! Unlike some people…" Her eyes smugly drifted to Lea.

"Hey now, rude! Shit, why the drive-by? I'm working through my credits as fast as I can," he grumbled as he accepted one of the cocoas Kristoff had returned with and blew on it. Then one side of his mouth quirked up at he told Kristoff, "My my, she's got ya trained good, huh?"

His only response was a hand gesture that was less than PG. Lea just snorted at that.

"What are your plans after college? I don't think you've told me yet," I asked my sister, hazarding a slow careful sip. Mmmm, chocolate! I cradled it close in both hands, enjoying the warmth seeping into my fingers.

Anna grabbed a handful of holiday truffles, tossing one up in the air and catching it in her mouth with a huge grin before answering. "Thinking of going to work with dad at the company!"

I choked on the second sip I'd just been taking, coughing a bit. "R-really?"

I could picture Anna doing a lot of things. Some stuffy corporate politics job? Not so much.

"Don't act so surprised!" she laughed. "You know I've worked there every summer practically all my life! I like it, and I'm actually pretty good at it too! I think maybe I could run that place one day!"

"Ah, so good to see that the archaic practice of nepotism is still alive and well," Saïx dryly drawled, not looking up from his screen nor pausing in his typing.

My sister huffed, narrowing her eyes at him. "Shush, you! It wasn't handed to me, I've worked my sweet friggin' little butt off for this! Am still working my butt off, thank you very much! And I'll have you know one day when I'm handed the keys to the kingdom, there's going to be some changes around there! I think I could do some real good in the world once I'm in charge! So you can kindly shove it," she razzed her tongue at him before slipping three more sugary treats into her mouth with as much lofty dignity as anyone could do such a thing. It was actually rather impressive.

Saïx merely gave a low hmph at that, fingers still tapping away. Lea drooped his eyelids at him before shifting his leg over to nudge his brother's shoe with his Converse. "Oi. You seriously working right now, dude? C'mon, man, it's Christmas! Quit being such a scrooge, have a heart and let loose a lil!" As he spoke, I could feel his thumb idly tracing light circles in the hollow of my bare shoulder, probably missing having my braid to fiddle with.

"If I had a heart, this would be where I die of laughter," Saïx muttered, squinting at his screen with a thoughtful frown before pressing the backspace a couple times.

"Don't be silly, course you have a heart!" Roxas beamed and shrugged. "Small and shriveled, yes, but it's there!"

Xion rose, moving to instead take a seat on the armrest next to Saïx. "Yeah, you're not a scrooge, you're a grinch! We just need to give you some hugs and eggnog and that heart'll grow three sizes, you'll see!" she giggled, throwing her arms around his shoulders and squeezing hard.

"Ugh, will the intrusions never end?" Saïx huffed, trying to pry himself free of her vice-like embrace but to no avail.

"Shh, you know you love it!"

I had a growing suspicion Lea's interest in the current conversation had waned, for I could sense his intent gaze on me now as I bent forward to put my half drunk cocoa down on the coffee table and reach for the nearest snack tray. As I settled back more comfortably into my seat, he brought up a hand to tuck a stray wisp of my hair that had gotten free back behind my ear before ducking his head to trail feather light kisses down the slope of my neck that left little tingles in their wake. I turned my head to look at him through lowered lashes and he grinned, moving to close the distance between our lips and-

-I crammed a christmas cookie in his mouth.

Nice try, bucko, but you're not going to trick me up to the bedroom that easily.

"Ah! You two made it! Finally!" Rayne came into the room just then, toting Aria on her hip. "Yeesh, took ya long enough!" she smiled as I stood up and we hugged each other. Then she was offering me the baby with an abrupt, "Here, hold this."

I tensed, blinking a couple times, my hands twitching but making no other movements to accept the burbling infant from her. "I… er…"

"Here, I'll take her," Lea muffled out around the mouthful of cookie he was still choking down thanks to me, reaching up to pluck Aria from Rayne's hands and sitting her down in his lap.

I released a silent sigh of relief. Could you believe it had been weeks since the twins had been born and I had still yet to actually hold either one of them? Some godmother I was turning out to be. But dammit, babies were just so squishy and fragile! What if I accidentally broke one of them?

Uh-uh. No. Not on my watch.

Just keep the babies away from me and my klutzy hands. Really, it'd be in everyone's best interest.

"So, uh… have you finished getting their nursery all set up at long last?" I asked as I settled into my seat on the couch once more.

"Yes, finally!" Rayne grinned as she squeezed into Anna's armchair with her and my sister rested her head on her shoulder. "Since Cayde was an unexpected surprise, hadta do a lot of scrambling getting a second crib and other such things for him. Plus it took goddamn ages scrubbing and bleaching every last inch of your old room."

"Bleaching?" Lea echoed curiously, bouncing a laughing Aria on his knee. I couldn't help but notice however that his gaze had drifted to where the mistletoe hung, seemingly just now having noticed it. I could all but see the wheels turning behind those crafty green eyes of his.

My ex-roommate gave him a flat look. "Red, please. You used to spend the night over. A lot. No tykes of mine are gonna be playing somewhere you two used to do the frick-frack constantly without it being properly and thoroughly disinfected and sanitized first."

"Ah," was the only response he made to that. As Rayne then got momentarily distracted by her husband coming over to give her surprise smooches, Lea leaned closer to me, muttering low out of the corner of his mouth so only I could hear, "Take it we're not gonna tell her 'bout their living room couch then?"

Feeling heat creeping up the back of my neck, I cleared my throat and shook my head, answering a quick but just as quiet, "No."

"Or the kitchen countertops? Or that one time on the dining table? Or-"

"No. No, none of it," I hissed, face full on roasting now.

What can I say? Lea could be very, ahem… persuasive when it came to having his way.

"Oh!" Anna suddenly straightened up in her seat excitedly as it seemed she'd just remember something. "You auditioned for the Spring musical, right? Have they announced who got what parts yet?"

Grateful for the subject change, I eagerly nodded, "Yes, actually, they just posted the cast sheet yesterday afternoon." A surge of giddiness filled my chest as I bit back a grin. "...I got the lead."

"Wha- Seriously?! Oh my friggin' god! Sis! Congratulations! And you're only now telling me? You should have said something sooner, this is a big deal!"

Lea glanced up from blowing air raspberries for a happily squealing Aria to say, "That's what I kept trynta tell her."

"I'd hardly call community theater a big deal," I self-consciously brushed off, the pleased smile I was fighting growing wider despite myself. "...I am really excited about it though."

"And you should be, sweetpea!" Rayne reached for my hands in my lap, covering them with her own. "Community theater it may be, but the people there still know their shit! They've recognized your talent and are trusting you with more responsibility! Your first official lead! That's huge!"

"Today, community theater… tomorrow, Broadway… the day after that, the world," Lea intoned in a dramatic whisper.

I rolled my eyes with a small grin, "That's not exactly how it w-"

"Too late. Already said it. It's happening."

As I shook my head at him, Anna hopped up to her feet, struck a finger up in the air and declared, "This calls for celebration! Be right back with something to spike the cocoa with!" With that, she blurred out of the room back towards the kitchen.

I shyly accepted a few more congrats from everyone else before conversation gradually turned to other topics and I just contentedly listened for a bit. The chit chat began to fade into the background however as I glanced towards Lea.

Gosh, he was so good with Aria. How did he make it look so easy? Not to mention there was something so pure and comically endearing about seeing this absolute behemoth of a man with his mess of untamed red hair, guyliner, and black nail polish being so gentle as he played peek-a-boo with the tiny baby. I know I'd already thought he'd make an amazing father one day, but thinking it and actually seeing him in action were two completely different things. Watching the two of them right now-

Oh dear, it was doing things to me.

You know. Stomach butterflies, knees going weak, insides turning into mush kind of things.

Things that must have been as plain as day to read on my face for Lea happened to look over at me, blink a couple times, then quirk an eyebrow as his gaze flicked back and forth between me and Aria while he put two and two together. Then he smirked. Turning the infant to face me now, he took on a high-pitch, munchkin-like voice as he began guiding Aria's arms into flourishing gestures as if she were the one talking instead of him, "Come, m'dear, and let awesome, suave, studly Unkie Lea whisk you away to the bedroom to ravage you and introduce you to whole new worlds of pleasure."

I gave him a blank stare. "...are you seriously trying to seduce me with a baby right now?"

His grin turned toothy. "Depends. Is it working?"

Kind of.

Sort of.

Yes.

"No."

Liar.

Pretty sure he knew it too, what with the way he was squinting at me with that crooked little half-grin of his. His lips parted, but before he could utter another word, Anna practically bounced back into the room.

"We got Crème De Menthe," she held up a long, skinny green bottle in one hand, "we got Kahlúa," her other hand waggled a smaller brown bottle, "we got it all, take your pick! But first, I took a look out the window while I was in the kitchen and now I have a very important question for you." She set the booze down on the table, stood in front of me with both hands firmly planted on her hips and gave me her most serious expression as she stared down her nose at me. Abruptly, she broke out into an ear-to-ear smile, "Do you wanna build a snowman?"

"Hell yeah I do!" Sora finally tore his attention away from Cayde to enthusiastically shout across the room, causing Kairi to smother a snicker behind her hand.

"I'm in," Roxas was already on his feet and making his way towards where his warmer outerwear had been carelessly tossed onto some of the other furniture.

Xion was not too far behind him with a, "Me too! Bet my snowman will totally kick your snowman's frozen powdered ass!"

"Oh, it's on!"

Humming a small laugh, I nodded at Anna, "I'd love to."

Before I could rise from my seat however, I felt Lea's hand grabbing mine. "You sure about that, babe? You're not really, ya know…" his eyes briefly flicked down to indicate my clothes. More specifically, what was concealed beneath my clothes. "...dressed for cold weather and ya might catch a chill. So whaddya say we get you upstairs and-"

"Ah-ah," I pressed a fingertip to his lips, silencing him. "I'll be fine. You know the cold never bothered me anyway. I just need to snag a pair of gloves and go grab my coat from the foyer." I pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before standing.

I'd barely managed to take a step however before Lea'd hastily dumped Aria into Saïx's unsuspecting hands and charged past me to stand in my path, right smack dab beneath the-

"Hold it!" he held his palm up in my face, then smirked, propped one shoulder against the inside of the archway he occupied now and pointed up with a smug, "Mistletoe."

I narrowed my eyes at the little sprig above his head, then crossed my arms as my eyelids drooped. "And I suppose you're expecting a kiss now?"

"Tradition demands it and who are we to scoff in the face of tradition? 'Sides, you wanna get your coat, you'll have to get through me first. So pucker up, schmoopsie-poo, cuz these lips aren't gonna kiss themselves!" He stretched a hand towards me, adding a low, "C'mere."

I considered his awaiting hand for a moment. Then I met his gaze, one corner of my mouth quirking up before I snagged the nearest thing - or rather, nearest person, which just so happened to be Roxas as he was running by. "You heard the man: those lips aren't going to kiss themselves!" I winked at the blond before giving him a little push towards Lea.

"You ready, big guy, because here comes some sweet, sweet sugar!" Roxas cackled as he latched onto him and made kissy noises.

"Get off, ya twerp!" Lea growled, planting a hand on Roxas's face and trying to wriggle free of his stranglehold.

"But, dude!" he muffled back against his palm. "Tradition demands it and who are we to scoff in the face of tradition?"

"I believe it's now someone else's turn to hold the infant," I suddenly heard Saïx dryly announce and I glanced back towards him to see him looking quite unamused as he held Aria upside down by one ankle at arms length. She giggled in delight as she reached for Marshmallow, who obliged her with a curious snuffle of her fingers. As Rayne gasped and rushed to take her from him, I shook my head with a grin and quickly slipped past Lea while he was still busy trying to extract himself from Roxas's grapple and thus was unable to stop me.

And to think… the holiday shenanigans had only just begun.

"Welp, that's game!" Lea declared with a clap. Rising from the couch, he pulled me up with him and tried to drag me off as he hastily added, "Was fun guys, but we're gonna call it an early night. C'mon, El."

"What?" I laughed softly, digging my heels in and bringing us both to a lurching stop. "That was just the first round. We haven't even scored yet," I chided as I started leading him back towards the sofa.

He let me, huffing out a low sigh as he grumpily plopped back down into his seat and muttered under his breath, "Whaddya think I've been trying to do this whole time…"

I narrowed my eyes at him, pinching his arm for the comment.

"Oo, the foreplay's starting early, huh?" he waggled his eyebrows at me.

I pinched him harder.

"Babe, ya know you're only encouraging me at this point, right?"

I snorted, shifting tactics and shoving the notepad and pencil into his hands, "Just figure out the points please?"

"Fiiiiiine," he made an exaggerated show of rolling his eyes before scratching the pencil across the paper, tongue licking one corner of his lips as he worked. I shot the rest of the group a tiny apologetic smile.

It seemed Lea was getting a bit antsy for his gift.

I suppose he had been being rather patient for a while now. We had all spent several hours out in the snow - for the record, Xion's snowman had indeed kicked Roxas's snowman's frozen powdered butt. Lea had tried to corner me once or twice out there for some, hrm… snogging, but a well-timed handful of snow to his face did wonders for cooling that fiery passion of his down if only for a moment. Several snow angels and snowball fights later and we'd all finally had our fill and come back inside to warm ourselves by the fireplace once more. We were well past lunchtime now, but we still had plenty of snacks to tide us over until dinner. In the meantime, we'd decided to get a game of charades going at Anna's request.

At least, that's what we were attempting to do…

Of course, it'd help if the scorekeeper was actually doing his job correctly.

Or, you know… at all.

"Alright, lessee here…" Lea mumbled, pencil still furiously scribbling away. "You, my love, have four points, I have negative seventeen, and looks like Riku's won with… hm, carry the one… one million points. Now that's game! Shucks, too bad, so sad, let's go, El." Dropping the pad and pencil to the couch cushions, he snagged my hand and hopped up to his feet once more.

"Sit," came my simple yet firm command as I yanked him back down next to me. Pushing the pencil and notepad squarely into his chest, I told him, "Do it right."

As Lea released a sigh through his nose, Riku snorted from where he sat in another couch snuggled up close with his wife. "Do you even know the score? Have you been paying attention at all?"

"Course I know it! Got it memorized up here in the ol' noggin," he poked the pencil's eraser to his temple with a grin. However it quickly faded into a frown as he squinted down at the paper, tapping his writing utensil against it a couple times. "...but, I mean… if anyone else'd wanna compare notes and tell me what they think the point totals are, I'd only be too happy to let 'em know if they're right or wrong."

"But I thought you already knew the score, Mr Got-It-Memorized," Kairi sniggered, mockingly tapping a fingertip to the side of her forehead.

"I do. That was a test, and one ya just failed, princess. Minus fifty points for Kairi," Lea razzed his tongue at her as he wrote that down.

Sora groaned, "I want a new scorekeeper!"

"And that's minus one hundred points for you, bucko!"

Oh dear. We'd given the doofus way too much power.

"I'll take over keeping track of points," Rayne volunteered as she smiled and shook her head at my boyfriend's antics.

"Treason! Minus one thousand points for Raindrop for the villainy, attempted mutiny, and-"

I snatched the notepad from his fingers and smacked his shoulder with it before tossing it to Rayne who chirped a little "thank you!" at me as she caught it. I tried to confiscate the pencil as well, but he held it up high and away from me. As I stretched across him to reach for it, he took advantage of my new close proximity to plant a small peck to the tip of my nose.

I drooped my eyelids up at him.

Fine then. Keep the pencil, you big dork.

Anna piped up now, "Alright, we'll just call that first round a warm-up! Points start now!" She glanced over her shoulder and called out, "You're missing out on all the fun, Saïx, you sure you don't wanna join us?"

He'd moved some time ago to a table on the other side of the room far away from the rest of us, still hard at work on his laptop with Marshmallow curled up at his feet. "There's nothing I'd hate more," came his flat reply.

"So sayeth Mr Holly-Jolly himself," Lea muttered, staring up at the ceiling now as he balanced the pencil on his nose. I tried to swipe it, but he was faster in grabbing it off himself and once again keeping it out of my reach.

"Since we're starting off fresh, how about some new teams? Gals versus guys?" Xion suggested. She then bumped her shoulder into Roxas's with a goading smirk, "Unless, ya know, you're too scared of getting your asses handed to you by a buncha girls."

He snerked, bumping her back harder. "Bring it!"

As the others began weighing in as well on the new arrangement for the teams, I felt it. This tiny tickle against my thigh. I glanced down to discover Lea trying to use the eraser end of the pencil to covertly lift the side slit of my skirt for another discreet peek at the garter.

I lightly slapped his hand away and stood up, quickly saying, "You know, girls against boys sounds like an excellent idea. I think I'll go sit with my new teammates over here." I squeezed into the other couch between Anna and the armrest, edging Riku out from the opposite end and forcing him to find another seat. Across from Lea now, I shot him a pointed look with one eyebrow arched and a small smirk.

He just sulkily slumped further down into his own seat, knee jiggling up and down as he began gnawing on the pencil.

Oh yeah. Definitely antsy.

But no need to pout there, buddy, you and I both know you secretly love the torture of being forced to wait.

...was it wrong of me to actually be kind of enjoying this newfound power over him so much?

"Alright! Now that that's all settled, let the games begin!" Anna beamed before her blue gaze settled on me. "Sis, why don't you start us off?"

I stiffened. "Wha- me?" I bit down on my lower lip, eyes darting to the left as my hands began to fidget with each other in my lap. "...are you sure? Maybe it'd be better if someone else-"

"Elsa," she interrupted me, placing both hands on my shoulders. "Sis. I love you. You know I do. But you royally suck at charades."

"Hey!" I narrowed my eyes at her.

She shrugged, "Don't you 'hey' me, it's true!"

My face pinched sourly. "...okay, fair. But still… cheap shot."

An unapologetic grin pulled at her lips. "So now that we've got that established, don't you think getting the absolute travesty that will be your turn out of the way first so the rest of the team can help us finish strong might be the best call?"

I fixed her with a dull stare. "Gee, thanks for sugar coating it."

"No prob!" she giggled before her eyes turned expectant. "Sooo…?"

"Fine, just give me my word and let's get this over with," I relented with a sigh and held my hand out. Anna's face lit up and she offered me the basket full of tiny folded bits of paper. I plucked one up without much consideration and rose, stomping a few steps away.

We all remember what a "fan" of charades I am, right?

Not.

Ugh, the things I do for my sister.

Was it too late to be dragged off by Lea so he could have his manly way with me instead?

Releasing another sigh as I took my spot, I turned to face the others with a steely look of determination now. I'd show Anna. Time to put all those acting classes I'd been taking to good use! My team was going to guess my word so fast, they wouldn't even know what hit them. I was going to own this word. I was going to charade the hell out of this word! But first… alright, you stupid word, let's find out what you are. I opened the little slip of paper and squinted down at it.

…ice?

…

What the frick was I supposed to do with ice?!

"All set?" came the sound of Kristoff's voice and my head shot up, eyes wide and skin drained of color. Does this look like the face of someone who's 'all set'?! "Good! Timer starts in three…"

Wait.

"...two…"

No.

"...one…"

Stop!

"...GO!"

Fudge.

He flipped over the small plastic hourglass and I…

...just stood there like a deer caught in the headlights.

"You got this, Elsa!" Anna called out to me. Oh sure, thanks for the vote of confidence now. Too little, too late, Sis. "...any time." No really? And here I was just standing around doing nothing on purpose because I figured that's how you win. "Just… just do it with your body!" Gah, I'm trying!

Okay, think, Elsa, think! Ice… how do I get them to say ice… Ice, ice, ice… ice...berg? ...Icicle? ...ice, ice, baby? Oh come on, Elsa, stop being silly and focus! Ice…

...cube!

Ice cube! Yes, I think I could work with that!

I suddenly snapped into action, my hands blocking out a large shape in the air.

"Oh, oh, square!" Anna said excitedly.

Rayne tipped her head to one side, asking, "A rectangle?"

Kairi chimed in with, "A box!"

I twirled my index finger sideways, indicating for them to keep going before I began outlining the same shape again.

"Television box!"

"Lunch box!"

"Juke box!"

Gah, move on from the infernal word box already, people!

Xion squinted and gave a doubtful, "...microwave?"

"Crate!"

"Toaster!"

"Croaster!" Anna shouted, bouncing up and down in her seat before freezing with a frown. "Wait… that's not a word…"

Despairing and not knowing what else to do, I kept miming the same shape in the air, just more frantically now.

As if doing it faster would somehow help the situation.

"Cube!"

Oh wow, it actually had!

I clapped and nodded vigorously, hopping on the balls of my feet. Alright, onto phase two, which…

...there was no phase two.

Crud.

I had zero idea how to get them from cube to ice cube.

I did not think this through.

Alright. Forget cube. Cube was stupid. Cube is out the window. New plan!

...got it! Okay, no, this was good. They were going to get it for sure this time. It was so obvious, I should've thought of it sooner. When you think of ice, you think of…

...ice skating.

Smiling and sure of myself now, I spread my arms out wide to either side of me and balanced on one foot, like a skater gliding on one blade across a frozen pond.

"Oh, ah… ballerina!"

"Tightrope walker!"

"Er… a tree? Maybe?"

A tree? I looked down at myself. How was this a friggin' tree?!

I locked gazes with Anna and stretched my pose out further for emphasis. Her face was scrunched up in deep thought. Come on, Sis, help me out here. You've seen me ice skate before, you know what it looks like. You got this. Two sisters, one mind. Suddenly her face brightened and she jumped up to her feet. Ha, there it is! I knew she'd get i-

"Michael Jordan!" she yelled, stabbing a finger in my direction.

...nevermind.

Kairi abruptly rocketed up beside her, "Gandalf!"

Anna shook her head, "Pffft, like Gandalf Cube is a thing!"

"And what, like Michael Jordan Cube is?"

Oof, I really shot myself in the foot with that whole cube thing earlier, huh?

As the girls began to bicker amongst themselves while I continued to wobble and sway on one foot, I glanced over towards the boys who were all quietly snickering at our expense. Well, almost all of them. Lea instead seemed rather fascinated by the way I'd stretched and arched my body into its current pose, his eyes half-lidded as they travelled down my curves, his head slightly tilted and teeth still idly gnawing that pencil.

I smirked, a new idea forming inside my head. The girls needed more clues, after all. Planting both feet back on the ground, I bowed at the waist as if reaching down to tie the laces on my imaginary ice skates. As I bent forward, I made sure Lea got just enough of a glimpse down the front of my blouse to give him a hint of something lacy.

He bit the pencil in half with a loud crack!

Okay, I really was enjoying teasing him way too much now.

I think all this power was going straight to my head!

The all-corrupting power of the lingerie...

A gasp suddenly tore out of Anna and she started pointing back and forth between Lea and me, "I saw that! You two secretly communicated! You're working together! Double agent! Cheater!"

My head rocked back and I stammered, "Wha-?! I- How would that even- I am most certainly not-"

"Ahhnnnt!" Kristoff loudly and obnoxiously made a buzzer sound.

"Oh come on, I can't be out of time already!" I told him, crossing my arms.

"You talked, and there's no talking in charades, so consider yourself disqualified," he chuckled, then added, "PS: you actually ran out of time ages ago, we just let you keep going because watching you epically fail so hard was too funny."

Blowing out a tiny huff through my nostrils, I returned to my seat where the rest of the ladies gave me pats on the back and shoulder squeezes to console me. As Anna side-hugged me with one arm, she said, "There, there, Sis, I'm sure the word you got just sucked. Lemme see it," she took the little scrap of paper from me and unfurled it, read it, then blinked. "Ice?!" she snapped incredulously. "You couldn't get ice?!"

I sunk further down into my seat with a groan, pinching the bridge of my nose and making no further comment.

Surprisingly, the game ended in a draw. What I lacked in being able to communicate a concept without the use of words, I more than made up for in my ability to guess what my teammates were acting out. And while I may have been my team's handicap, turns out Lea was theirs. Normally he'd have been one of their stronger players, but it seemed his head just wasn't in the game. Not if the way his eyes kept distractedly drifting over to me while the rest of the boys had to constantly yell at him to focus was any sort of clue.

A couple hours and several rounds later brought us to a point where more than a few stomachs were suddenly loudly grumbling. We decided it was high time to break for dinner, seeing as how cookies and candy canes just weren't cutting it anymore. As everyone else started making their way towards the dining room, I excused myself so I could go freshen up real quick.

As I finished up in the bathroom, I turned the faucet off and flicked my hands a few times to shake away the water before reaching for the towel. Fingers now dried, I took a moment to eye myself in the mirror before straightening my bun and smoothing out my skirt. With a little satisfied nod, I turned, opened the door and-

-came to a screeching stop, looking up and blinking a couple times. "...can I help you?"

Lea smirked back down at me from where he stood in the threshold blocking my exit. Without uttering a word, he just smugly pointed up. My gaze followed his finger and-

Fudge.

Guess what we were both now under?

That's right. He'd moved the mistletoe.

My eyelids drooped at him. "Well now, that's just cheati- mmph!"

His warm lips were suddenly on mine as he grabbed my face in both hands. Unconsciously, my body leaned into his, my hands grasping at his shirt and wrinkling the material as he kissed me long and slow and we just stayed in the doorway there for a few heartbeats, his thumbs tenderly grazing along my cheekbones. Then there was a shift. His breathing turned ragged, his lips more urgent and demanding as a low growl emitted from his throat and Lea started backing me into the bathroom once more, kicking the door shut after him. Without breaking the kiss, he fumbled a hand behind him to lock it then was pushing me up against the sink counter. Lea wasted no time lifting me to sit on top of it, situating his hips between my knees as he hooked his hands beneath them and pulled me up against him roughly. He then wrapped my legs around his waist, fingertips caressing along the stockings, up my thighs and hiking my skirt a bit.

At last he broke the kiss, redirecting his attention to nibble down the side of my throat. Breathless and face hot, I whispered, "Lea, maybe we shouldn't-"

My neck suddenly seared in intense pleasure as his teeth bit down hard at just the right spot and I gasped.

...okay, maybe we should.

He huskily chuckled against my skin, lightly kissing it now as he murmured, "You were saying, Love?"

Desperately trying and failing to unscramble my brain, I began, "I… I was…"

"Mm-hm," he prompted absently as his lips and tongue continued to trail a path down my neck while his fingers pushed the hem of my skirt up a tad further.

"...was saying that… that we, uh…"

"Mm-hm," Lea hummed again, pulling back slightly now with a sly gleam in his crinkled eyes as he reached a hand back over his shoulder, grabbed the back of his tee, and-

Oh wow, there goes the shirt. On the floor. Just like that.

Should.

Lea had just made an extremely compelling argument for should.

I'd mentioned how persuasive he could be, right?

I dazedly watched as he took my hands in his, pressing my palms to his bare chest now as he leaned in to hungrily kiss me again. My fingers took on minds of their own as they began to drift and roam, slowly tracing down the lines and contours of his leanly muscled torso. I shivered as I felt his fingertips skim over the hollow of my shoulder and along my collarbone before settling on the top button of my blouse, tugging to undo it and moving down to the next-

"Elsa!" Several loud, frantic bangs against the door abruptly startled us apart. It took me a second to recognize Sora's voice coming from the other side as he whined, "Hurry up in there, I really, really gotta go!"

"Occupied!" Lea shouted over his shoulder before grinning as he hooked a finger under my chin and bent forward, his lips brushing mine once more.

"...Elsa? Why does your voice sound funny?" Sora asked uncertainly, causing me to snort against Lea's lips. His shoulders slumped and he hung his head, cursing under his breath. The spell had been broken. We both knew it.

I gently pushed him away, scooting myself down off the countertop and snatching his shirt up off the ground to hand to him. Then I took a second to fan myself in a futile effort to cool my face before opening the door and immediately saying, "This isn't what it looks like."

Sora blinked at me. Then his gaze darted to where Lea stood behind me, eyeing Sora sourly as he pulled his tee back on.

...okay, it was exactly what it looked like.

But Sora didn't need to know that!

He blinked again, "Um…"

Deciding to save him from having to come up with a more sophisticated response than that, I simply took Lea's hand in mine and left the bathroom towing him along after me, his dark scowl never leaving Sora as we pushed passed him and headed towards the dining room.

On the way there, we bumped into Rayne in the hallway who was bouncing Cayde in her arms in what seemed to be an attempt to get him to settle down. She arched an eyebrow at me as we drew near. "I thought you were freshening up."

My brow furrowed at her. "...I did."

She eyed me up and down, then snerked. "Sure ya did," was her only remark as she wiggled her eyebrows, shifted the baby to rest against her shoulder and disappeared through the door to join the others for dinner.

I tipped my head to one side, then glanced in a decorative mirror that was hanging on the wall to my left. To say I'd been disheveled would have been the understatement of the century. My skirt was rumpled, my blouse skewed, and I was still bright red from practically head to toe. To top it all off, my hair was free of its bun and positively wild.

"When did you do that?" I narrowed my eyes accusingly at Lea as I did my best to gather and throw it back up into a haphazard bun.

Alright fine, I knew exactly when he did it. I just hadn't even realized he'd done it.

He pursed his lips to one side, shoved his hands into his pockets and gave a tiny shrug as I finished righting my clothes. I then noticed his eyes flick down, suddenly seeming highly fascinated by something. I followed his gaze to spot my top button of my blouse still undone and flashing a scandalous little sneak preview of the lingerie. Blushing harder (the exact opposite of what I wanted to be doing right now, dammit, cheeks!), I hastily re-fastened the button while Lea grinned wolfishly. I pinched his arm, wiping the smirk off his face before taking his hand in mine once more and leading him into the room.

Everyone was seated at the long wooden dining table already and were all too busy laughing and talking over each other to pay much mind to our entrance. As I quietly took a seat, I noticed most of the dishes of piping hot food had already been brought out to the table. Kristoff was bringing out the last of them with my sister's help.

"I'm so happy my man knows how to cook," Anna delightedly chirped as she set down a bowl of yams before giggling and pressing a smooch to Kristoff's cheek. "That way, I don't have to!"

I smiled at the two of them while Lea plonked down into the chair beside me. He laced our fingers together, his thumb idly rubbing along my knuckles as he settled his other elbow onto the table, heavily propped his chin in his palm and heaved a long, drawn out sigh through his nose. His eyes narrowed on Sora as he returned from the restroom and happily crossed the room to take a seat between Riku and Kairi, totally oblivious to the daggers my boyfriend was glaring at him the whole way. Lea then looked away, petulantly huffing out a second grumbly sigh.

It seemed somebody was still a bit pouty over our little interlude in the bathroom being interrupted.

We couldn't have that now, could we? Not on Christmas! Let's see what we can do to perk his spirits a bit.

I shifted ever so slightly in my seat, casually bumping my knee into his as if it were by accident. Lea glanced over at me, quirking an eyebrow. One corner of my lips turned up as I took our still intertwined hands and moved them under the table, releasing his so it could settle on my knee instead. He sat up a little straighter in his chair, his other eyebrow rising to join the first. I grinned coyly, averted my gaze and said nothing, merely waiting for him to take the hint as I reached for the cup of hot cider already waiting for me next to my plate.

Slowly, tentatively, his hand started to slide up my leg, brushing my skirt up with it as he went until he reached the garter. There he paused, his fingertips exploring, grazing over its soft delicate embroidery and toying with it. I could see Lea's face heating as he brought his other hand up to bite down on the knuckle of his curled finger. I just sipped my drink and smiled politely at the conversation the others were carrying on around us. The perfect picture of prim and properness. As if nothing even remotely untoward were happening under the table in the slightest.

Eventually, his hand began tracing the garter down to my inner thigh, discovering where one of the straps connected to it. His fingertips trailed circles over the clasp a couple times before then attempting to follow the strap further up between my legs.

That's when I snagged his wrist, stopping it dead in its tracks and shooting him a flat look.

Sorry, bucko, but that's as far as this little adventure at the dinner table goes.

His muscles were tense. His left eye twitched. But then Lea closed his eyes, released a low, shaky breath and his posture relaxed somewhat as with what appeared to be a considerable amount of visible effort, he willed himself to take his hand back.

"So hey!" Kairi suddenly piped up over everyone else, causing the chatter to die down a bit as all eyes turned towards her. "I brought a buncha Christmas movies with me! You know, all the classics. I was thinking maybe it could be fun for all of us to watch a couple after we finish eating. How does that sound?"

Lea cleared his throat, raking his fingers through his hair as he began, "Actually, El and I had other-"

"What a wonderful idea!" I chimed in brightly before turning to plant a swift peck to the corner of Lea's jawline. "We'd love to, isn't that right, Lea? Since we all know what a fan of the classics you are."

He pressed his lips together into a thin line and simply fixed me with a dull stare.

Oh yes.

No doubt about it.

I was definitely having way, way too much fun teasing him.

It was late. Little Ralphie Parker's father had just thrown aside fistfuls upon fistfuls of packing to liberate the infamous leg lamp from its crate in the movie. A quick glance around the dim room, lit only by the soft glow from the TV screen, revealed everyone to be cozied up together in one way or another as they enjoyed the film.

Rayne was curled up with Riku under a blanket, him turning his head to press an affectionate kiss to the top of her head. Sora was using Kairi's lap as a makeshift pillow, their hands joined and resting atop his chest as they watched. Anna was occupying an armchair with Kristoff seated on the floor before her, using her knees as a backrest while her nimble fingers plaited hundreds of thin, tiny braids into his short blonde hair. Roxas and Xion were taking their turn for some snuggle time with the twins who, even though it was now well past their bedtimes, were being quite obstinate about going to sleep.

Even Saïx had a cuddle buddy, although he was too busy snoring to realize it. It seemed being up during the daylight hours to power through getting all his work done had finally caught up to and taken its toll on him. Back on the couch once more, his laptop lay forgotten on his lap with the screensaver running while he'd conked out nestled into Marshmallow's plush fur beside him. Marshmallow's tail thumped quietly against the couch cushions as he too began to drift off into dreams.

Grinning, I returned my gaze to the movie and settled more comfortably into Lea's side as I laid my head against his chest once again and my arms hugged more tightly around his waist. I could feel him fiddling with a stray lock of my bangs that'd gotten loose, looping and twiddling it between his fingers. Then his hand diverted its attention to instead trail lightly along my bare shoulder, his fingertips drawing invisible patterns there against my skin. It tickled and I involuntarily squirmed against him a bit.

I heard him suck in a soft hiss of breath, shifting in his seat as he hastily removed his hand, fingers splaying and flexing before closing into a fist that he planted firmly on the sofa backrest behind my head now. His knee started furiously jerking up and down. I turned my head to look up at him. His whole body was rigid and his jaw set tight, the very fires of determination seemingly burning in his eyes currently as he focused hard on the movie (perhaps a little too hard), though his gaze kept flicking to the clock hanging on the wall every few seconds.

Frowning, I brought a hand up, brushing my knuckles tenderly over his cheek. Lea stiffened, his whole body suddenly going very still. I altered course to stroke his hair, gently running my fingers through it. His breath hitched as his eyes slowly closed and I could feel him quivering slightly. Then he abruptly snatched my hand, disentangling it from his mess of untamed hair.

I blinked at him.

He pressed a lingering kiss to the back of my hand before settling it on his knee as he ducked his head, bringing his lips right next to my ear as he half whispered, half growled, "Love, it's taking every last ounce of restraint I have not to just throw you on the coffee table and take you in a primal cavemanly fashion, so unless you want to give our friends a bit of a show, I suggest you stop."

...oh dear.

It seemed I'd made him wait a little too long and he was dangerously close to his breaking point.

Thus I decided to finally and at long last take pity on him.

It was time.

Time to let him unwrap his gift.

I stood up, spinning on my heel to face Lea. He stared up at my quizzically, probably leery of getting his hopes up at this point. Smiling sweetly, I reached down, taking his hands in mine and pulling him up to his feet as well as I announced to the rest of the room, "If you'll excuse us, Lea's not feeling too hot, so we're going to head to bed now." His hand still in mine, I led him out of the room and towards the stairs as the others called out a chorus of feel-betters and goodnights after us.

Reaching the second floor, I stepped through our door ahead of him and cast a brief glance about as I stood in the center of the bedroom, taking it in. The traditional rustic wooden walls decorated with a couple small pieces of hanging art here and there. The pair of plump armchairs in one corner next to a homey little fireplace, currently unlit and cold but with plenty of logs just waiting for a spark. The antique wardrobe and dresser off to one side, the door off to another leading into the adjoining private bathroom. The king-sized bed stacked high with blankets and quilts for fighting off the chill later on in the dead of night.

The muted click of Lea shutting the door behind us caught my attention, but I didn't turn to look at him, merely waited. There was a pause. One that was so long and quiet, I almost began to wonder if he'd left for some reason. But then I could all but feel him standing behind me, feel the warmth practically radiating off his body just a few short inches away from mine, sending a tiny chill up my spine and a small flutter through my chest.

His hands found their way to my hair, a simple tug pulling the bun free once more and sending my platinum locks cascading down my back. I shook it out a little more, resisting the urge to shiver at the pleasant tingling sensation brought on by him slowly, almost reverently combing his fingers through the strands. Then his fingertips were trailing along my shoulders and ghosting lightly down my arms where they came to settle comfortably on my hips. I could feel him nestling his face into my hair, pressing a kiss into it as he inhaled deeply, humming low in pleasure as his grip on my hips tightened and his body pressed more firmly up against my back.

At the gentle insistence of his hands, I turned and faced him now. Gosh, he was so tall. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I wasn't. It was moments like these - moments where no words were spoken and there was so little space between us - that reminded me just how tall he truly was. Not to mention how handsome he was or painfully gorgeous those startlingly green eyes of his were, especially while they were hooded and swirling as darkly as they were now. My pulse couldn't help but pick up the tempo beneath his heated gaze.

The air felt charged between us, nearly unbearably so. I was almost surprised Lea hadn't simply pounced the second we were alone. The slight tremble to his hand as he brought it up to stroke my cheek suggested that might be exactly what he wanted to do but was holding himself back. Perhaps he was going slow because he was wary of this moment being snatched away from him yet again like they all had been so far today. Perhaps he simply wanted to take his time and savor this. Whatever the case may be, as his fingers tangled themselves in my hair and he leaned in now, there was no doubt in my mind all that was about to change. I knew the second his lips met mine, all bets would be off. That last shred of restraint he was barely clinging on to would snap and all that pent up frustration he'd been keeping in check all day would be unleashed and given free rein. My face burned and my heart hammered as he closed the distance, so near now that I could feel his breath warming my lips as he murmured my name and-

"TOOTHPASTE!" I suddenly blurted out loudly.

He jerked back, eyes wide and both eyebrows skyrocketing as if to ask, Um… sorry, who what now?

Which honestly? Couldn't blame him.

So, mouth? Care to explain yourself?

I stammered nonsensically for a bit, wringing my hands together before finally pointing a thumb over my shoulder towards the restroom and managing to get out, "For brush teeth… make m-mint fresh in mouth."

Ah yes, clear as mud now. Thanks, mouth. Your gift for gab never ceases to amaze and astound.

My oh so eloquent words hung in the air between us as we just stared at each other for a few seconds. Then I bolted into the bathroom, slamming the door shut and locking it behind me. Pressing my back to it, I buried my face in my hands and slid down to sit on the floor.

Smooth going there, little Miss Casanova. Just really know how to set the mood, huh?

I groaned and banged the back of my head against the door.

Oh god, Lea was going to think I freaked out because of him. That I didn't want to, hrm… be intimate with him. But I did! I loved being intimate with him! It was something he was very good at! Very, very good! Amazing, in fact! But what did I go and do the second I had a chance to do exactly that with him?

I'd panicked and choked, that's what!

Because this time was different.

This time, lingerie was involved.

Putting it on and teasing him with it was one thing. But lingerie had implications. It set expectations. You were supposed to, I don't know… act sexy… be sexy… you know, that whole feminine wiles things! And my feminine wiles? Still a work in progress. Sure, it was something I'd gotten better at since Lea and I had started dating, but trust me, I still had a long way to go. And yet here I'd gone, riling him up all day and now that the moment had finally arrived where I had to deliver the goods, I'd…

I'd gotten a bit of stage fright, okay?! So sue me!

...maybe I was just being silly. Overthinking all of this. Putting too much pressure on myself for no reason. This was Lea we were talking about here, after all. I could go out there and do the least attractive impression of a sloth in a negligee doing the chicken dance while yodeling and he'd still probably find it sexy. (...dear lord, the fool honestly might. Not even joking anymore.) The point was that he loved me and I loved him, so this shouldn't be such a big deal. One teeny bit of silky, lacy fabric shouldn't be a big deal. Yeah, this was supposed to be fun.

So, missy, you march your little hiney back out there and have fun, dammit!

Nostrils flaring, I pressed a hand to the door behind me and pushed myself up onto my feet once more, turning to look at myself in the mirror. My reflection had fists balled at her hips, her shoulders squared, her head held high, and a look of ironclad resolve flashing in her blue eyes. I leaned forward, planting one hand on the sink countertop and using the other to jab a finger up against the mirror surface as I hissed, "Now listen up and listen good, me! You're going to go out there and… and… knock his friggin' socks off!"

She blinked back at me, visibly gulping with a tiny frown.

My shoulders sagged. "...I think."

Atta girl, that's the fire and can-do attitude we like to hear!

Face hardening once more, I gave myself a firm nod, straightened up and gingerly began unbuttoning my blouse. Once I'd shed it and tossed it to the floor, I slipped out of my skirt as well. Then I stood in front of the mirror inspecting myself, cheeks surely roasting hotter than the fires of Mount Doom. My lips pursed to one side. I awkwardly settled a hand against my right hip. Then I swept my hair forward over one shoulder. Only to brush it back again a second later.

Couldn't decide which way had a more 'come hither' look to it.

Narrowing my eyes, I whisked it forward again.

Then back.

Forward.

Back.

Fo-

Ugh, forget it and move on already!

Just then, I remembered something. Hesitantly, I turned my head, my eyes drifting almost unbidden towards our suitcases cluttered together in one corner of the spacious bathroom. Not really sure why Lea had put them in here when he'd dropped them off earlier. Maybe I'd asked him to and it'd simply slipped my mind. Maybe he'd just been looking for a place to stow them where they'd be out of our way in anticipation of tonight's activities.

Whatever the case may be, they were in here with me now. And that meant…

Inhaling and exhaling slowly, I approached them, locating mine and unzipping it. Flipping the lid open, I stared inside and paused in a moment of indecision. Then I grit my teeth and plunged my hand in, digging down deep past my clothes in search of the thing.

You know.

That thing.

The one Anna had made me buy.

I felt my fingers bump into it and I closed them around it, holding my breath before pulling it out. Then I stared down at what I now held in my hand.

A riding crop.

You read that right.

A friggin' riding crop.

Did I have the first clue what to do with it?

Not really, no.

Was I going to bring it out with me anyway?

...sure, why not?

I mean, I was already a bit of a nervous wreck over this whole ordeal, so it was hard to imagine this could make it any worse.

Go big or go home, as they say.

Heart pounding in my ears and insides twisting into a billion, quadrillion knots, I turned to face the door, chin hitched and back straight.

Slinky lingerie? Check. Riding crop? Check… apparently.

Operation Sexy Time was a go.

Let's do this.

I bravely charged forth.

And by that, I mean I opened the door just enough to cautiously poke my head out for a peek.

But I bravely poked my head out cautiously, dammit!

I spotted Lea dejectedly lying on the bed now, sprawled out on his back and smothering his face with a pillow. Heh… off to a good start here. Opening the door wider, I quietly crept a few steps into the room. With how high my blush had cranked up to at this point, it was a wonder I hadn't burnt to a crisp already. My empty hand stiffly found its way to my hip once more. I swept my hair forward again. Then grimaced, pushing it back. Then forw-

Gah, quit fussing, you stupid hands, and just get on with it already!

As Lea still seemed unaware of my presence and with me at a loss for how else to get his attention, I anxiously cleared my throat.

He didn't budge, just groaned into the pillow and muffled out, "What new way have you come to torment me with now, devil woman?"

Such a drama queen. Shaking my head, I began, "Lea-"

"Is there even really lingerie under there or is that just more of your cruel, twisted mind games to string me along and torture me?"

I rolled my eyes with a tiny huff of a snort and tried again, "Lea."

Face still under the pillow, he struck a defiant finger up high into the air, "Well not this guy! Nu-uh, no siree bob! I am done dancing to your sadistic whims! Begone, devious succubus, and tempt me no more with your-"

"Lea!" I snapped exasperatedly, unconsciously smacking my crop against my leg.

Oof, that'd stung a bit.

But it seemed to be what finally caught his attention. He hooked a thumb beneath his pillow now, lazily hoisting it up just enough for him to lift his head and look at me. Then he bolted up into a sitting position, back ramrod straight and eyes all but popping out of his head as the pillow tumbled to the mattress behind him. His wide-eyed gaze met mine. Then darted down to the lingerie. Over to the riding crop in my hand. Then he was madly scrambling to the foot of the bed, sitting on his knees there with his hands gripping the edge of the bedframe hard enough to turn his knuckles white as he heavily and rapidly breathed through his nose.

I just stood there, flushing more furiously and resisting the urge to self-consciously shift my weight from one foot to the other.

OhgodwhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdowhatdoIdowhatdoI-

In a state of mild panic, I abruptly thrust the crop towards him and blurted out, "Shirt. Off."

...sure, that works.

Not missing a beat and faster than should have been humanly possible, Lea yanked his top up over his head and chucked it across the room. Then his eyes fastened on me once more, seemingly eagerly awaiting my next instruction.

Uh…

Nowwhatnowwhatnowwhatnowwhatnowwhatnow-

"Knees," I pointed at a spot on the floor in front of me, "Now."

In his haste to comply, he stumbled and fell out of the bed, crashing into the floor but was quick to recover and prop himself up on his knees before me.

Fudgewhatnextwhatnextwhatnextwhat-

Swat your thigh with the thingie again!

...I'm sorry, brain, do what now?

Well, I mean… it seemed to be highly well received just a second ago, so…

Pulse racing, I hesitated for a split second before piercing the air with another sharp thwack of the riding crop hitting my skin. His muscles visibly grew taut and tense, but he stayed put, his throat emitting an impatient whimper.

...was it really this easy?

...this actually was kind of fun…

Feeling some of the nervous tension start to ebb from my body, I slowly began to circle him now, lightly tapping the lash of the crop into the palm of my other hand as I murmured, "Now… what, oh what am I going to do with you?"

Lea released a deep, throaty chuckle. "...I might be able to think of a thing or two…"

Coming to a stop in front of him once again, I bowed down to his eye level, using the riding crop to lift his chin as I grinned at him. "I'm listening."

For the record, zero sleep was had that Christmas night.

The lingerie did not survive Lea's ravenous onslaught.

We may have also slightly broken that antique dresser.

Oops. Guess they just don't make those things as sturdy as they used to.

Author's Note: HAPPY NEW YEAR! And based on this chapter, have another (belated) merry Christmas xD Figures that my longest chapter to date had to be the friggin' lingerie chapter xD I am almost ashamed of myself… BUT NOT REALLY! No regrets, yolo! Lol, I hope you all had as much fun reading this as I had fun writing it :D

Fun Fact: This was actually the first bonus chapter idea I came up with for this story. It came to me about a year ago while I was still working on chapter… 17 I think? I wanted to immediately start writing it, but I restrained myself, wanting to finish the main story first. But having a whole year with this one-shot in the back of my mind is probably why it ended up being so long, cuz I kept coming up with more little ideas to squeeze into it xD Then of course, I started coming up with the ideas for the other bonus chapters that came before it, forcing myself to wait even longer to write it but aaahhhhhh, yay, I finally got to this one! And did I include Esmeralda's Secrets all the way back in chapter 19 specifically with this bonus chapter in mind? Yes, yes I did x'D Of course, I knew this whole time Esmeralda herself was gonna be making an appearance, but Frollo turned out to be a last minute addition that came to me as I was writing the chapter. But including him made me realize I had a missed opportunity: on one of Lea's and Elsa's many visits to the mall's clock tower which has BELLS, they should've bumped into a certain hunchback who's in charge of maintaining said bells xD Ah well, even tho they never saw him in the story, I've made it canon now: that is officially Quasimodo's job in this AU xD And he's always embarrassed about his adoptive father protesting with his picket signs outside the store of the cute girl he has a crush on xD Poor guy!

So many lines I snagged from the video games and the movies as references this chapter, I wonder if you guys were able to catch every single little one I slipped in? xD And obviously Elsa's fave musical that's playing at Broadway is Frozen 2 (since that's where Show Yourself that she sang back in auditions was from) but I didn't want to CALL it that in the story, but had zero ideas for a clever replacement title, so it didn't get a name xD And while I gave a few details here and there, for the most part I left the lingerie Elsa purchased vague on purpose - I figure some things are just best left to the imagination ;P Lea doesn't usually have such a one track mind as he did this chapter… or maybe he does and he's just usually more tactful about concealing it xD Either way, Lea ALSO isn't usually presented with the possibility of his very hot girlfriend dressing up in sexy lingerie for him, so can ya really blame the guy for being a bit of a horndog this chapter? I think not xP Worry not however, he'll be back to his normal, (slightly) more classy self next chapter xD You can bet tho that now that he knows Elsa has been to the dirty store in the mall, that he has since dragged her back there on more than one occasion now so they could make a few purchases as a couple, hehehe :3 But like I said all the way back at the very beginning, despite the main subject of the chapter, it was still all fairly tame, right? I haven't yet crossed THAT particular line… I may come right up to the line, dance wildly and with reckless abandon on top of the line, but not cross it xD I dunno if I'll ever be brave enough to write a full-on lemon, but maybe one day…. Hehehehe…

Anyhoo, tis with a sad and heavy heart that I must announce that this will probably be my last update for a while. Don't worry, there's more to come! I still have at least 3 more bonus chapters for this story planned! However, I've been working on almost nothing but this story for over a year now and I've finally hit a point where I need a break xD I think I'm gonna take a few weeks and have a breather from writing in general, but trust me, that won't last for long before the itch takes hold of me once again and I'll NEED to scratch it! When that happens, I'm not sure what I'm gonna work on next - it'll be Axelsa, without question, that's just my brand yo, it has bewitched my very SOUL xD But WHICH Axelsa story is the question! Will I update one of my older incomplete stories over on FFN/AO3 or will I get back to work on that new story I have the first 3 chapters written of that I've yet to share with you all? Guess we'll seeeeeeeeeeee xD I might eventually start posting some of my older stories here on tumblr too - they’re all incomplete currently tho and I was hoping to finish them before I started sharing them here, but I might not be able to resist in the end. I have commissioned a couple artists recently, so hopefully you’ll be seeing those soon! I’ll have more of my own personal fanart to share too in the hopefully near future, I just need to wait for my hand to recover as I sprained it being the irresponsible dope that I am and have had to put my doodling on hold while it recuperates xD All of that is to say, you’ll be hearing from me and my Axelsa obsession again in some form or another in the near future, you can count on it!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

[saventhhaven]

Musically Inclined

Pairing; Sam Winchester x reader

Tags: implied smut, flustered!reader, flustered!Sam, Supernatural the Musical, confused!Dean

Word Count: 1,720

A/N: Based on S10, E5

(Gif not mine)

The two Winchesters got out of the front seats of the car in unrehearsed and unplanned unison, causing you to roll your eyes. It's like they were trying to be the unrealistic FBI agents from hoaky television shows. By the time you made it out of the car, they were already making their way up to the school. Damn them and their long legs.

"Hey!" you called after them irritably. "Are you guys gonna wait for me, or what?"

"Nah," Dean responded. Had you not been trying to keep up the professional façade, you may or may not have punched him in the arm.

"So," Sam started his signature run-down, "the last place Mrs. Chandler was seen by anyone was in the auditorium. Turns out, she's the drama teacher." Dean let out an exasperated sigh as you walked, his face more than enough for you to be able to tell that he already didn't like where this case was going.

"Theater kids. Great," he mumbled sarcastically.

"I was a theater kid," Sam said defensively. A wide grin broke out across your face, and you looked up at the tall Winchester with glee.

"No shit? I've got to hear this." Sam's lips turned almost nonexistent as he pressed them into a tight line. "No, wait, don't tell me. I can see it now: Sam Winchester himself on a stage under a spotlight, reciting Shakespearian verses in iambic pentameter."

"That ain't too far off from what he does now," Dean said under his breath as he leaned toward you conspiratorially. You snorted loudly, and Sam came to an immediate stop. Had you not been paying attention, you probably would've rammed right into him.

"You done?" he asked. Dean clapped his brother on the shoulder.

"Oh, come on, Sam, give us a line!" He only shook his head in response as the two of you continued to poke fun at him.

"Shut up."

"That's a shame," you piped up. "He would've made a great Hamlet." As the younger Winchester turned away, you thought you caught him fighting a smile. When the three of you entered the auditorium, Dean shook his head with slight disgust.

"Okay, seriously, what could possibly-"

"Idjits!" The three of you turned in surprise. It had been a long time since you had heard that. The only person who ever called the boys that was... Bobby? A teenage girl turned around, dressed in a khaki fisherman's vest, a plaid button-up t-shirt, and a worn baseball hat. She even had on a fake beard to match Bobby's appearance. "You are idjits!" she continued. You turned to the boys with a question on your lips, but before you could say anything-

"Hey, assbutt!" Another girl further away held a fake molotov cocktail with sparkly angel wings, a trenchcoat, and an unmistakable blue tie.

"Do-" You were cut off once again as an urgent piano chorus began to play throughout the auditorium, effectively causing you and the boys to jolt in surprise.

"John and Mary, husband and wife. Bringing home a brand-new life.” Your attention was diverted to the stage, where what you were assuming what was supposed to be Sam and Dean's parents carried in a fake baby, placing it in a crib.

"No way," you breathed as you latched onto Sam's arm for support. You were in total shock as the musical number continued to go on. "Th-that's you!" you stammered, fighting the urge to point. Sam nodded tightly.

"I know," he replied.

"On the road so far. They met a woman on the way-” The teenage actress version of you came onto the stage with an impressive-looking fake shotgun. The weapon recoiled in her hands, and the fake werewolf collapsed to the ground. 

“And that’s me!” You remembered meeting the boys like it was yesterday, but seeing it acted out in front of you with such accuracy was surreal.

“When the boys were toast, she saved the day. Birds of a feather, now they hunt together. Teaming up to save the world.”

"Cut!" Suddenly, the music came to a stop, and a girl with a beret leaped to her feet in the front row.

"What in the h-holy..." Dean breathed.

"There is a case," Sam put in. "Probably has something to do with all this." How he was able to keep such a level head right now, you had no clue. You could barely think straight.

"You think?" Dean sassed. The girl with the beret came rushing up to the three of you with another girl at her side, and all traces of your conversation died.

"Are you guys from the publisher?" she asked excitedly. She didn't even wait to take a breath before continuing. "I'm Marie, the writer/director, this is Maeve, my stage manager, and..." Marie trailed off as you fished through your blazer pocket for your FBI badge. Before you could get it out, though, Sam placed an urgent hand on your arm, causing you to look up at the stage. No way. The three girls playing Sam, Dean, and you were all holding up fake badges to their counterparts.

"I'm Special Agent Smith," Sam introduced somewhat breathlessly. "These are my partners, Special Agent-"

"Jones," you filled in.

"Smith," Dean said. Two Smiths? You would have to remember to thank Dean for overcomplicating things later.

"No relation," Sam was quick to explain. "We're here to look into the appearance-"

"There's no singing in Supernatural!" Dean exclaimed. Biting back a sigh, you and Sam both shot Dean a look. So much for subtlety.

"Well, this is Marie's interpretation," Maeve said with a frown. Dean let out a sound that was a mixture of a strangled laugh and a groan.

"They're entitled to their creative vision," you justified before he could say anything else. "Just because you don't like that they made Supernatural into a musical doesn't mean that you have to-"

"Dean cannot find out about this." The words instantly clicked in your brain, and you totally lost track of what you had been saying. On the stage behind Marie and Maeve, the two actresses playing Sam and yourself were running lines. "He would never let us live it down." Sam's actress took your actress's hand, and you felt a blush rise to your cheeks.

"If Dean finds out, he can deal with it. We're all adults here. Besides, it's not like he's never slept with someone before." The teenage actress version of you shook her head.

"Yeah, Sam, but it's different this time! We're not just talking about sex between two random people. This is you and me that we're talking about here."

"Oh, God," was all you were able to say. That had happened a few years ago when you were still blissfully unaware that Chuck was writing and selling books about your life with the Winchesters. That moment, in particular, was supposed to be private. Sam caught your eye with an expression of horror that was incredibly similar to your own. Holy shit. Dean spluttered for a moment before he was finally able to get comprehensible words out. He looked at you with disbelief.

"You-" Thankfully, you were able to give him a discreet shake of your head before he totally blew your cover. "Y/N and Sam," he corrected himself, "are... together?"

"They're not together," you and Sam chimed in at the same time. The skin between Marie's eyebrows crinkled as she stared at you.

"What are you talking about?" she asked incredulously. "Y/N and Sam have been hooking up since book two. That's canon."

"Oh my God," you repeated miserably. You barely heard a word the boys said as they did the standard case questioning with Marie and Maeve. Meanwhile, you were more focused on how many of your intimate moments with Sam were going to be on stage.

"So, how 'bout you give the two of us a behind-the-scenes tour-" You tuned in just as Sam was gesturing between him and yourself. "-while your director shows my partner Mrs. Chandler's office. Deal?" The two girls nodded wordlessly. "Great. Give us a moment, please."

"Okay," Marie agreed. As the two of them made their way back down to the stage, you continued to stand there in stunned silence.

"I'm gonna throw up," Dean said. You nodded numbly.

"Seconded."

"Yeah, by the way, were you two ever gonna tell me about that?" he asked.

"No."

"Absolutely not." Both your and Sam's words came out in a jumble, and you glanced at the tall man sheepishly.

"Well, you heard the girl!" Dean said, throwing his hands up in the air. "It's 'canon!' So, is it still going on, or what?" You made a face at his question.

"Dean!" Sam scolded. Your entire lives were on display in musical form for the rest of the world to see, and he wanted to know if you were still sleeping with his brother?

"That can't seriously be what you're most concerned about right now," you huffed as you crossed your arms over your chest. Dean's eyes only got wider as he ignored your comment.

"Well?" he pressed on. "Is it?" You and the younger Winchester exchanged another wary glance. He clearly wasn't going to let it go until he got his answer.

"No!" you exclaimed. Dean arched an eyebrow disbelievingly. "I'm serious, Dean. Sam and I haven't hooked up in a long time." The oldest Winchester looked to his brother for verification.

"It's true," Sam confirmed. Dean shook his head somewhat manically.

"I can't believe this. Friggin' musicals," he started to mutter as he shuffled away. "Andrew Floyd Webber crap."

"Andrew Lloyd," Sam corrected. Dean turned around, making a face.

"What?" When you shook your head at him, he rolled his eyes and headed for the stage. When he was finally out of earshot, you let out a breath of relief.

"I think we're in the clear," you whispered. Sam watched his brother, who seemed to be coaching "Cas" on how to throw his molotov cocktail. What a dweeb. The younger Winchester's hand found its way to the small of your back.

"You really think he bought that?" he leaned down to murmur in your ear. You shrugged.

"I don't know," you admitted. "But maybe we should knock it off for a while just to be safe." Sam nodded.

"Agreed."

Thank you so much for reading!

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Sam Darlings:

@calaofnoldor​

[cadcnce-archived]

It’s been a good time. Not that you’d ever doubted it would be; as poor of a salesman as Emké may be, you knew if they spoke highly of something, it was no small compliment— and beyond whatever groaning the adherent may have made over the fuss and pageantry, they’d had warm words for the closing celebrations. Good food, good music. She’d promised plainly, and sure enough, the plaza is full with the intoxicating scents of fresh local delicacies, woks sizzling hot over open flames, their crackles and pops marrying with the melody off guitars, marimba, brass instruments and voices; all brought together in joyful noise. Groups gather around the fringes, chatting gleefully, pausing for quick prayers at little hand-made shrines, accompanied by the typical offerings and occasional incense burner, children wave sparklers about, but the main crop of the square is left open, of course, for dancing.

A mix of pre-designed performances and cultural dances that anyone and everyone can join in on, you catch the end of a solo performer’s stint just as the song she’d choreographed draws to a close— a pretty thing with long dark hair neatly pinned into a fancy set of buns, the large rings on her arms clinking as she bows, the scarves which hang off them swaying as she skims the crowd with her eyes and spares a little wink; possibly at you, but just as likely at any other on-looker at your sides and back. A good showing, she deserved the applause she’d received, but did not bask in it long. She clears out as the next thread of rhythm begins, and many voices quiet, distracted glances turning to follow the figure which moves through to the center.

You’ve always thought the adherent didn’t look quite at home without her armor; her vambraces and greaves as much a part of her as the sandy, windswept hair and mismatched eyes; but at least she looks more comfortable now than she had mid-parade, swaddled in heavy ceremonial robes and half-forcing a smile. By comparison, their mild expression now is a hundred fold more genuine, even if they roll their eyes when your gazes meet, (you’re sure they might’ve shrugged a bit, too: yeah, yeah, I know).  But they’re all soft smile and grace as one arm outstretches to invite their partner from the sidelines, an unfamiliar Beralan stepping up to the vestal’s side (looking a touch too excited; you’ll remember to tease them about that later), before they both face each other, and bow.

Then, the dance begins.

The music jumps to life with all the merriness which had stirred moments ago, and the pair finds the rhythm with ease, carefully timed twists, high knees, and kicks, with claps on the beat between turns. It is joyous; and it’s the kind of thing which you could scarcely wear any less than a bright smile in the midst of— hence the unusual brightness in Emké’s features as she maneuvers ‘round her partner, before they both fan out their arms and step back, inviting the immediate onslaught of dancers looking to join; everyone linking hands into a broad circle which side-steps and kicks around the open plaza. It’s a gambol from the very heart of their region; a routine everyone would be taught from whence they were children, to be repeated at festivals, balls, and all manner of celebrations to come. Not so different, you think, than those native to your own homeland, but with a Qasmean flair that could not be overlooked. 

You could not know all the steps, all the intricate details; especially as the circle separates again into partners, and everyone moves with such confidence. This was not your home, these were not your people. You could watch with excitement and mirth, applauding your companion and basking in the revelry of the moment, but it would all be unfamiliar to you. It should be.

But you find your body does know.

It is all new to you, but it isn’t. You find yourself following the motions with the unmistakable taste of nostalgia at the back of your tongue, you know where their feet will fall before they land, you anticipate the next change of partner moments before it arrives, and seemingly cannot stop yourself from falling into the mix— full of the giddiness of joyful memories when you should have none to claim. 

You move as if it were the most natural cycle for your limbs to travel. With all the practiced ease of the native Beralans who’d danced this dance since they were able to balance on two feet, with such divine clarity, as if the overwhelming cacophony on the senses— the aromas, the sounds, the heat of bodies and the breeze— they may as well not have been there at all, spinning through the circuit of partners and back into the circle, you dance and laugh, overwhelmed with delight you’re growing sure is not your own.

  Confirmed, of course, when the next change of partners comes, and you find your partner quirking their brow at you, clearly surprised at how effortlessly you fell in with their festivities, but not missing a single beat as they raise their hand to yours and move through the motions— momentary bewilderment quickly melting back into the glee they’d worn before. That look was the whole point; and you can feel a smile burning deep in your chest leagues brighter than the one on your own features. 

Forgive me, you think she’s said, though the voice at the edge of your mind is anything but repentant. But I could never just stand by and miss a chance to dance with her.

---------------------------------

You knew from the start it was going to be a good time, no, better than that. From the moment the adherent invited you, you knew you’d find yourself all the trouble and enjoyment you desired. Celebrations and festivities are something you latch onto. They’re usually alien and unfamiliar to someone of your ilk, sure, but there’s an ability to forget who you are and what you were during times like this. To shed the burden of your history and embrace that exact present. That precise moment. The people around you find ways to do the same and to celebrate abundance and existence. The taste and smell of it is absolutely intoxicating. The merriment is magnetic. This isn’t your home, but it feels like a place you could call one.

You’ve enjoyed several days worth of happiness and laughter during a single day of festivity. New foods and new people, bonding moments that yes, may be fleeting but you will remember fondly in the future and ponder some what ifs as a treat on warmer nights. You’ve challenged yourself to games you had no inkling of how to play, embraced the many failures just as hard as your first victory against the children teaching you to play while the other adults watch on. Your chest is full of life. Your heart is just a little less cracked among these families.

They welcome you almost as enthusiastically as they welcome your partner. But perhaps it is unfair to compare? The one you know and the one they do aren’t so different after all.

Time isn’t real. It’s something you often think about during your life. Used as a detraction from your choices as a child just as much as a way to embrace your possibilities in the future. Everything is what you make of it. Alas, as much as you want to spend another compressed week of time in these moments the day does drag on. The sun is as real as the moon and the stars. The crackling of fires to illuminate the closing festivities wishing it could bring the amount of warmth that the performers could to everyone’s hearts.

You do watch from the sidelines as you make your way to the center of the festival, this being one of the events you just knew you had to witness for yourself. Dancing is something you picked up as part of etiquette when you trained as a paladin. But as a trait it’s something you evolved into its own unique thing, sampling and taking from your life experiences and everything you cross paths with adding another thought and step. Today could be a dance all on its own.

It would be nice if that young lady’s wink had been directed at you, wouldn’t it? Your foreign appearance and rugged looks are something you believe should be well fancied. Already you welcomed many a flirtation only to fleet away like the devious spirit you are during these festivities. There was far too much to see. Far too much to experience. Just as you can’t fight with just one person in a bar brawl, who would you be to settle with just a single maiden?

Everything about the way Emkè makes her entrance is enough to make you smile three times over. The grace with which she moves, the garb that she wears, the way she takes in the presence she commands. It’s so unnatural from the person that you’ve come to know so well over these years. And yet natural. You’ll embrace these surprises just as you’ll embrace whatever future being around her brings. But you will absolutely not let her live down the sheer excitement her first partner gives on the invitation.

And a familiar smile in the depths of your being seems to have a similar thought. You’ve felt this before, little peeks and glances of a fluttering as you wandered and traveled the offerings of the festival through the day. But now the butterfly has landed, and just as you watch the dance unfold so too does the spirit.

You’d wanted to join in the moment it started, your eyes watch and your ears listen to the sights and sounds as you pull up the rhythm. Your arms and legs, however, act before you know you’re anywhere near ready. An exuberant partner taken by your hand. You move automatically and feel automatically. Any sense of fear over what is transpiring is more than easily masked by the shared exhilaration of the dance. The warmth of this spirit is a familiar one, and one that you know you can trust just as deep as your partner’s.

The sense of anticipation finally breaks as your hands eagerly take the adherent as your next dance partner, and you wish you could stop smiling long enough to show Emkè that you’re just about as surprised about all this as she is. You’re caught in a wave, however, and this tide was carrying you through to whatever end came. It’d make a funny campfire story, if you opted to tell her. But something about the moments you share with her feel like something to be kept to yourself. 

The warmth that fills you as you gaze at Emkè during the flurry of steps is just as unnatural yet embraced as these other sensations. There’s an appreciation for who you’re looking at that goes deeper than anything you’d felt for her before. The spirit within you sees the same powerful woman, a castle of fortitude and strength and compassion. Yet nobody notices the details like she does. You both see a wall, but she loves the moss. She loves the cracks and the life that blooms within each crevice of the stonework. She loves the grass and the soil that comforts its foundation. She loves the wind that cools and gently blows the flowers in the gardens. She loves. She loves. She loves. And for that moment, while you share your body with the spirit, you love too. Unconditionally.

As the next change of partners comes and you release the adherent’s hand you flash a smile much more characteristic of yourself, a toothy grin and a playful flourish of your hand equally uncharacteristic of the dance.

“It was all my pleasure.” You say. To Emkè, to Breala, to this city, and to yourself.

[akaluan]

*snicker* Also, in the Zanpaktou Rebellion arc - Blood Pain manifesting, and being. Utterly Unlike Anything anyone expected. Jade subsequently defeats his zanpaktou by grabbing it by the ear, dragging it into an ally - and then the /sounds/ start. (Yes, I am deliberately referencing that scene in the anime.)

Swoosh, super later (aaaayyyy curse work and rl~) but~

Honestly with a name like “Blood Pain” a lot of people kinda assume that his Zanpakutou is like... creepy and obviously monstrous and so on? Like... a lot of the time, the zanpakutou we see are pretty indicative of their names. So a name like “Blood Pain” fits more into the theme generated by Engetsu/Zangetsu? it’s not a Creature Name, it’s an Action Name, but what an action name it is.

And then Muramasa drags Blood Pain out of Jade’s soul and...

The resulting spirit isn’t terrifying? Or monstrous? Or anything like that?

(Except it is. Blood Pain is many things, but above all it is part of Jade. And while Jade has learned and grown and gained an appreciation for lives-not-his-own and for what should and shouldn’t be done... there’s still that part of him that doesn’t hold that view, that looks out at the world and thinks ‘why do they matter? think of all the things i could do if no one was holding me back’)

(That this part of him has gleefully latched onto military efficiency and ruthlessness is just another thing to make it terrifying.)

Blood Pain is slender and fit, shorter than Jade and Mostly Human in appearance, with sun-yellow eyes and pitch black hair. Contrary to expectations, it has perfectly manicured -- and very short! -- nails, unpainted and blunt. It does not strike from short range, even as a weapon; Blood Pain is a spear in all its incarnations, used to aid in mana channeling.

(Jade used to wander the forests alone as a child, mercilessly striking down any monster that got in his way. He used spells too hard for many adults and thought nothing of it.)

(Why would he? No one else mattered.)

Blood Pain is neat and put together, with a sharp smile and a habit of cackling like Dist whenever it gets its way. It doesn’t walk anywhere, it floats, midnight hair fanning out around it and arms moving in sweeping, grand gestures. It cares for nothing, for no one... except for Jade.

(And maybe those that Jade claims, but it will never admit that.)

(But the only person allowed to kill those that Jade claims is Blood Pain. Anyone else will be destroyed with ruthless glee.)

It maybe has a habit of monologuing and boasting, but it deserves it. Look how powerful it is, look at all that it can do! It cannot be beaten! It cannot be tamed!

(Jade wonders wtf he did to deserve his inner ‘self’ being like a slighty-less-annoying Dist.)

(He refuses to admit that he expected Dist to continue crawling out of the woodwork time and time again, even after the Planet Storm was ended. That sometimes out on a mission he scans the horizon and waits for the pest to return, nattering on about his glory, about how he’ll succeed where Jade failed.)

(And every time Dist doesn’t show, Jade refuses to acknowledge the way something in him aches.)

(He doesn’t miss the pest. He doesn’t.)

(He misses being challenged. He misses one of the only people who could keep up with his mind, who nattered and pestered and annoyed him as if his reputation was nothing.)

(It’s so hard to find intelligent conversation these days.)

[sarah-writes-stories]

Chapter 5: Bleeding Love

A Post-Canon Inuyasha Romance/Adventure Epic

Find it on: Fanfiction.net / AO3 / Wattpad

Words: 3,248

Full Chapter List & Description is here.

Prologue  •  Chapter 1  •  Chapter 2  •  Chapter 3  •  Chapter 4  •  Chapter 5  •  Chapter 6  •  Chapter 7  •  Chapter 8  •  Chapter 9  •  Chapter 10  •  Chapter 11  •  Chapter 12  •  Chapter 13

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As they'd approached the village, Inuyasha and Kagome were noticed by several villagers who'd all bowed and called out joyful greetings to Lady Kagome and Lord Inuyasha as the two had walked by.

"Whelp, that's it," grumbled Inuyasha, "I bet by morning the entire village will be buzzin' with the news that you've returned. I betcha the Headman himself will come looking for you before you're even done breakfast." The thought made Inuyasha miserable. Just more people he had to share Kagome with. Keh!

"Why would the Headman come looking for me?" Kagome wondered aloud.

"Because you're a walkin', talkin' legend, that's why!"

"Excuse me?!"

Inuyasha explained, "Damned Shippō and Miroku couldn't keep their traps shut after Naraku had been defeated. They'd tell anyone and everyone who'd listen all about our final battle. As though it was anybody else's business!" He was getting worked up all over again at the memory.

"Everyone… and I mean everyone… knows who you are now, Kagome. I've been stopped at least once in every town we've ever gone to for an extermination, just so that someone or another could ask me if I was THE Lord InuYasha and where they could find the great and powerful Shikon Miko!" Inuyasha was practically fuming.

"You've got to be kidding me?!" As he'd spoke, Kagome's face had taken on a progressively more flabbergasted look.

"Afraid not." He grumbled some more.

"But why do they keep calling you Lord Inuyasha?" She questioned.

"It's the bastard's fault." He growled out the words. "Everyone knows who bloody Lord Sesshōmaru is. Lord of the fuckin' Western Lands." He rolled his eyes at that before continuing, "Kaede must have cornered him and convinced him to leave Rin here in the village after the final battle, but he still visits her every couple months or so… And well, people started putting two and two together that we were related…" He said the word with a gag. "And the next thing I know everybody's whisperin' about how Lord Inuyasha is the second son of the Inu No Taishō! Not like I can't hear their damned whispers." He pointed gruffly at the ears that stood at attention atop his white-haired head.

"I can't believe that Sesshōmaru would leave Rin here!" Kagome said with surprise, latching onto the most shocking part of his diatribe. "Those two always seemed so… close."

"I think Kaede said something about it being in Rin's best interest to grow up with her own kind. There's an understatement for ya! I think they're figuring that when she gets older she'll be able to make up her own mind about whether or not she wants to stay here or go back with him. Either way, Miroku's been enjoying the situation way too much – that baka – because no matter how many times I tell everybody to stop callin' me that, they just keep on doin' it anyway!" He flung his arms up in the air in a helpless gesture at his last words.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I know your… relationship… with Sesshōmaru is a sore spot for you." She half-smiled, half-frowned at him in commiseration.

"Let's just stop talking about it, already." He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Of course." Kagome was contrite, having obviously hit a nerve. Inuyasha could see the regret on her face and immediately his foul mood was replaced with a desire to ease her burden.

He put his arm around her shoulders, giving her a light, reassuring squeeze before releasing her. "It's okay, Kagome. I've learned to just ignore it."

Kagome smiled up at him, but before she could say anything else her stomach let out an embarrassingly loud growl. She reddened in embarrassment immediately. "Err… Um…. This walking, talking legend may have missed lunch." She smiled up at Inuyasha weakly.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Well then, whatcha waitin' for, wench? Let's go get you some dinner."

And in the fading light, the two of them continued on toward Sango and Miroku's home.

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Kaede had held back her tears when she'd finally laid eyes on Kagome's face.

In the midst of treating a sprained ankle earlier that day, Shippō had barged into her hut and squealed at the top of his Kitsune lungs that Kagome was back.

And as astonished as she'd been to be proven wrong – that the well had, indeed, opened up again – she was even more relieved and overjoyed for Inuyasha. Perhaps more than most, Kaede knew how much the hanyou had suffered without Kagome by his side.

Kaede smiled at the young girl from where she sat around the fire in Sango and Miroku's home. She cared deeply for Kagome – as one would a daughter – no less because she was the reincarnation of her beloved sister… But as the evening's celebrations wore on, she began to watch the young Miko carefully.

There was something… different… about the child. Kaede could tell that Miroku sensed it as well. She'd caught the monk giving Kagome assessing looks from over the rim of his rice bowl. Still, it hadn't stopped the Houshi from teasingly asking what exactly she and Inuyasha had been up to all afternoon.

Kagome took it all in stride. "Wouldn't you like to know." She winked, and Miroku wasn't sure what to do with this newly mature, unflappable Kagome.

Kaede smiled again. The sheer joy of their reunion celebration was undeniable, and though she may still have a twinge of concerned curiosity in the back of her mind, she did not let it show on her face.

The rest of dinner was spent in happy conversation, each adult taking turns to either feed, cuddle or play with the younger children. Rin, however, had been slowly inching towards Kagome with a guarded look in her eye. Kagome could tell that the girl wanted to ask her something, and she waited patiently for Rin to be ready to speak.

"Kagome-sama, this Rin hopes it's all right… But since you've been gone she's has been using your strange yellow bag sometimes." She bowed then. "I'm very sorry!"

"You mean my backpack is still here?!" Kagome was genuinely surprised by this.

Inuyasha piped up then, "Don't ya remember? You left it in the village when the final battle with Naraku began. Somehow, it survived all the destruction. Your bow is here too, you know." He added as an afterthought, "I found it at the bottom of the well after I…" He trailed off, not willing to finish his sentence out loud.

‘After I'd been ripped away from you without even the chance to say goodbye,’ he thought to himself morosely.

Rin seemed oblivious to the depressing turn of Inuyasha's thoughts, instead continuing with her apology. "Hai. This Rin hasn't been using your bow, but she has been using your bag, sometimes when she goes out to tend Lady Kaede's fields and gardens, and sometimes when Lord Sesshomaru comes for a visit and we go for a walk or a short trip." The child bowed her head again. "Gomen-nasai, Kagome-sama!"

"Oh, Rin! Please, there's no need to apologize. You're welcome to use my backpack any time you need it. And please, call me Kagome-chan. I'd like us to be friends, if that's all right with you…" She smiled warmly at the young girl whose entire face lit up with a wide grin and a strong nod in return.

"This Rin would like that very much, Kagome-sa—" She gulped sheepishly at her immediate mistake before continuing. "Kagome-chan, I mean."

"Honestly, I can't even remember what it was I left behind in that bag…" She trailed off, not really expecting an answer to her musings.

"A comb. Some books. Some of those matches you were always using to light fires. Extra clothes, that strange brush you cleaned your teeth with, the tiny looking glass – thought that got cracked – and a tube of that gooey ointment you'd always put on cuts and things." Inuyasha listed the items off without hesitation, as though he'd memorized them.

He had obviously. They'd been all he'd had left of Kagome after she'd gone.

Sometimes – when he'd known that both Kaede and Rin were away from their hut – he would sneak in and go to the chest that Kaede used to store all of Kagome's things. Reverently, he'd open the lid, looking at each of the items in turn, before picking up the shirt of her old school uniform, the extra one she'd always kept in her bag. He'd inhale her scent deeply. It was the last connection he had to her, the last thing that proved that she'd once been real. But her scent had finally begun to fully fade from the items in the chest in recent months and it was like he'd had to mourn her loss all over again.

But now, she was back! She was back and– He glanced up at her only to find that she was staring at him with a strange look in her eye, one he couldn't quite decipher.

"What?" He asked, suddenly deeply embarrassed. "So I know what you left behind, so what?" He tried to play it off casually.

It was Miroku who took pity on his friend, changing the subject quickly. "Well now, my friends, it is not truly a celebration without a celebratory drink! Sango, my dear, do you remember where I put that fine jug of sake I received as payment for the extermination of that tsukumogami a few months back?"

Sango looked up from where she sat nursing Ichiro to sleep, "I think it's up on the top shelf in the kitchen."

"Wonderful! Now, who would like a drink?"

⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯

The sake had flowed and the conversation had relaxed, though Kaede had declined the offered drink.

Inuyasha sat sipping slowly on his first dish – sake had never been his favourite – but the other adults were at the bottom of their second sakazukis when the conversation had turned back to Kagome's time in the future world and what she'd been doing over the past three years.

"…and Ayumi even convinced me to join the English-language Glee Club during our last year of school." Kagome finished.

"Glee Club?" asked Sango, getting up to take a sleeping Ichiro into the other room.

"Yeah, it was a club, a… group of students. We'd get together during the lunch hour twice a week to sing popular English songs. Ayumi convinced me to join with her. She thought it'd be a good way for us to improve our English language skills before grades had to be submitted for our University applications."

"So it was a… singing group?" Asked Miroku. "What did you sing?"

"Well, mostly popular English songs. Things you'd hear on English radio stations 'n stuff."

Miroku could tell that Kagome was feeling the effects of her sake with the way her cheeks were flushed and her words were slightly slurred. A wicked glint came into his eye then. Here was his chance! If she wouldn't rise to the bait before… He wondered how far he could tease her with this.

"Well, Kagome. If you can sing as you say, then you simply must sing for us!"

"Whaaaatttt?"

"But of course! Sing one of these English songs of yours. We have lived all these years in such a humble village, after all. Few singers or musicians ever pass through. I insist. You must sing us a song. Consider it my boon for hosting tonight's festivities."

Kagome grumbled under her breath then – something about having to 'sing for her supper' – but she considered his request.

The songs she'd sung in Glee Club had mostly been ballads and love songs. Sometimes while singing, she'd let her mind wander, imagining she was singing the lyrics to Inuyasha. And now, suddenly, she had the chance to do just that. Surely it wouldn't hurt to sing him a love song. None of them understood English, after all. It wasn't as though they would understand the words she was singing.

Her slightly inebriated mind latched onto the idea with all the bravery that the sake had provided. "Okaaaay…. But it'll be in English. Those were the songs we sang. It's not like you'll be able to understand what I'm singing about."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Miroku assured her. "I'm sure hearing your lovely voice will be more than enough for us to enjoy." He couldn't wait to tease her mercilessly about this in the morning.

Sango returned from putting Ichiro down then. Settling back down beside Miroku, she asked, "What's going on?"

"Kagome has just agreed to sing us a song, my dear!" His smile was filled with amusement and mischief.

"Miroku! Did you trick Kagome into singing? Kagome, you do not have to do that if you don't want to!"

But now, suddenly, the idea of being able to sing a love song to Inuyasha seemed too good to resist. She spoke up quickly. "No, I'll do it. I'll do it. But, like I told the others, it'll be in a different language."

Sango gave her friend a side-eye. She, too, could tell that Kagome was slightly inebriated. "Okay, Kagome, if that's what you really want."

Kagome sat for a moment, gathering her courage, willing herself to hear the notes of the invisible music she would sing along to inside her head. Slowly, she began…

Closed off from love, I didn't need the pain. Once or twice was enough, but it was all in vain.

As she sang, her voice grew in strength and sureness.

Time starts to pass, before you know it, you're frozen.

Everyone watched Kagome as she sang, her words laced with emotion, though none could understand what she was saying.

But something happened, for the very first time with you. My heart melts into the ground, found something true.

Then, slowly, the air around the Miko seemed to gain in density and weight, and as the group listened, it was almost as though they could hear the slight sound of instruments accompanying Kagome's voice.

And everyone's looking round, thinking I'm going crazy.

Sango looked at Miroku, curious to know if what she thought she was hearing was just a trick of her imagination, but the look on his face told her it wasn't. Kaede sat silently, studying Kagome as well.

But I don't care what they say, I'm in love with you. They try to pull me away, but they don't know the truth. My heart's crippled by the vein, that I keep on closing.

As they all watched, a faint pink glow began emanating from Kagome, becoming brighter and stronger the longer she sang. It seemed to pulse with the beat of her words.

Shippō, who was sitting in Rin's lap, gasped. Both children exchanged a look with jaws gaping open. Even Aki and Yuki had stopped to listen and watch from the corner of the room where they'd been quietly playing.

You cut me open and I keep bleeding. Keep, keep bleeding love. I keep bleeding. I keep, keep bleeding love. Keep bleeding. Keep, keep bleeding love You cut me open

As she reached the chorus, the power seemed to flow out from Kagome in waves that filled the room with a pink haze. None of them could speak, shocked into silence at what the were witnessing.

Trying hard not to hear, but they talk so loud. Their piercing sounds fill my ears, try to fill me with doubt. Yet I know that the goal is to keep me from falling.

As the pink haze swirled around them, the music that accompanied Kagome's words became louder. It seemed to fill the air, pulsing in time with the vibration of power that flowed out of her seated form.

But nothing's greater, than the rush that comes with your embrace. And in this world of loneliness, I see your face. Yet everyone around me thinks that I'm going crazy, Maybe, maybe.

Inuyasha sat bolt upright. 'I- I- I understood that!' He thought in shock. It was as though a translation of the foreign words his ears were hearing was echoing around inside his skull.

But I don't care what they say. I'm in love with you. They try to pull me away, but they don't know the truth. My heart's crippled by the vein that I keep on closing.

It felt as though the music was penetrating his skin, settling right down deep into his soul, into a place where words weren't really necessary but meaning was always understood. Inuyasha looked around the room. The matching shocked looks on the faces of the others in the room confirmed that they were hearing the same thing that he was.

Kagome was mindless to what was going on around her. She'd kept her eyes closed after she'd begun to sing and had yet to open them, not wanting to falter with embarrassment under their stares. Instead, she'd focused solely on the words, on how she felt about Inuyasha, and on how the words made her feel. She sang as though it was just for him, with all the confidence of knowing that he'd never understand her passionate lyrical confession.

And if she hadn't known better, she'd have almost thought that she could hear the music she was singing along to inside her head. Almost.

You cut me open and I Keep bleeding, Keep, keep bleeding love I keep bleeding, I keep, keep bleeding love Keep bleeding, Keep, keep bleeding love

The music swirled around them, pulsing with its foreign, future rhythm, the echoed meaning of her words settling into everyone's minds.

Inuyasha's heart clenched tightly in his chest, the powerful meaning of the words she was singing was not lost on him. He felt like he couldn't move, couldn't breathe, as Kagome's body swayed in time with the beat of the song that came pouring out of her very soul. Her hands moving expressively, punctuating the lyrics of the song.

You cut me open and I Keep bleeding. Keep, keep bleeding love…

She held the note of the last word of the song for a long time, and as she did, the music seemed to fade away, as the rolling waves of power that had filled the room retreat back into her small body.

Kagome finally opened her eyes then, blinking a bit after having held them so tightly closed for so long.

When she finally focused on the faces of her friends around the room she was not prepared for the looks of utter shock that were etched across each of their faces.

Kagome blushed furiously, looking down at her lap. "What? It wasn't that bad, was it?" ⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯ A/N: I do not own Inuyasha nor any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi.

I LOVE it when readers leave me a comment and let me know what they think! ❤︎

[wiccamoody]

on fandoms, deppy, glee & my life changing through media

sometimes i think i must be silly or too obsessed or too attached when i think about how much dan and phil, and being in this community, have changed my life. 

people laugh when people talk about celebrities and fandoms changing their lives, and maybe one day they will be that realization that the celebrities and the fandom didn’t really change anything, that they were just a catalyst to the change you went through. maybe i’ll figure that out in 20 years or something, but right now the change is distinctly tied to these things, these people, these fandoms. 

i’ve been in fandom (and by fandom i mean internet fandom) for just over 10 years now. i remember being around 9 or 10 and wanting more from harry potter than just the books and just the 5 movies that were out and just the pc games we had. i did some googling and found fansites and forums and fanfiction and i was probably too young to be reading and looking at a lot of what i was looking at but i was sucked in and completely gone (and harry potter still remains the one constant fandom in my life. despite all the bullshit, it’s my one fandom for life, at least right now). i’ve been in many a fandom ever since this, and while i’d say harry potter and twilight (which i got into around the same time new moon came out) had the largest influence on me as formative fandoms, glee came into my life sometime in 2010 and that changed everything. 

i was 11 when i started watching glee. probably too young, but the awful jokes they made mostly flew over my head which is probably a good thing. glee was…my life. harry potter was too, and then twilight, but glee had this impact on me in such a different way than those two. harry potter was my escape in my childhood, something i could easily turn to, like a comfort blanket. twilight was my bridge into the young adult lit world, and into the emo, goth, monster loving phase i haven’t quite left yet. but glee…glee shaped my whole world for me. 

i recognize that this is quite problematic; the whole show is problematic. it complicated my relationship with myself, with others, how i valued my self worth, and ultimately in really formative years of my life (11-14 was my prime glee phase, also my prime puberty phase, and i started high school at 13) left a lasting impression that i carried with me. i wish i had been past those years when the show was airing, i wish i knew how to critically consume media but i was a literal child. 

it was great though. despite having to go through my late teens unlearning things, glee was so fucking great. fandom was great. fic was great, feeling seen was great. but now i’m just haunted by it and i love to hate it. and i know it changed my life. for the first time watching it i felt this…feeling of comfort, in an odd sense. glee was supposed to be (key words here: supposed to be) a show about the misfits, for the misfits, and comedic. it was all of those thing for me because i was a kid and i was lost and confused and stuck and i didn’t know how to critically consume media. i used to have episodes on to help me fall asleep. i spent all my birthday and christmas money on music and boxed sets. i read fic and i wrote some in my head because i was too chicken to post anything and i spent hours combing through twitter. it consumed me and i let it because it was a safe space for me. again, very problematic looking back, but it was that first space for me to feel comfortable. 

i grew up in a very accepting household, but my mum’s old school in that she relies heavily on “gaydar” and always said she would know if i were gay and she knew that i wasn’t. and mum’s always right, right? a few other things happened in my life tangentially to that, and i just never had the space to think about my sexuality as anything other than straight. i didn’t question…anything about myself because i was a walking conglomeration of self-hatred and glee character personalities, and my mum knows best, right? but i latched onto glee and what it was supposed to mean, and i latched onto klaine and everything it meant to me, and when i was constantly asked “why are your favourite characters always the gay ones?” i never had an answer besides i liked them and they’re just…my favourites, when deep down they resonated with me in a way i hadn’t experienced before so i kept them close to my heart. 

the glee got progressively shittier and my interest was waning and i turned to other things. my best friend got into these dan and phil guys some time in october 2014 and begged me for months and months to watch them until she sat me down in december 2014 and forced me to watch a dan video because “you’ll like it and you’re a lot like him!”. and i immediately felt both of those things. 

i fell so fucking hard for them. i spent my entire winter break that year watching everything with them in it that i could get my hands on, consistently watching the sunrise as vyou after vyou played and i scrolled endlessly on tumblr, taking in everything i could. 

i was so lost, 15 going on 16 and depressed without knowing it, feeling like everything was going to fall apart when i touched it, like my existence was the end of the world because i am also very dramatic. but watching them was (and still is, really) an escape. from reality, from my feelings, from everything. 

to make a long story short (because this is already so very long) despite everything happening in the phandom, i found so much solace in it. it was this space that fostered so much openness about sexuality and shit in our lives because a lot of people were my age. i was older and i knew how to critically consume media and i wanted to challenge the adults in my life so i took a lot of comfort in what this community was, and still is. 

i don’t know if i would know i’m a lesbian (which i still have trouble typing out; words have power and stigma, and this one has been used against me in many ways) at this point in my life, or earlier, or at all, if it weren’t for this space. there are a lot of things i wouldn’t have known about myself without this space, far too many to list. i don’t even know if i would have gone to get help again, to get an actual diagnosis instead of shrinking away from help because the first “professional” i reached out to told me my mental health was just a minor issue in my life, that just breathing and willing away the thoughts will help. i don’t know if i would be on the recovery journey i’m on right now if dan hadn’t made that video about his depression. the list goes on, in this personal sense. 

and i wouldn’t have the people i have in my life now if it weren’t for this community. if i hadn’t said fuck it and decided to write and post and then taken the leap to join a word war chat and get angry to the point of joining idb and ceasing my position as a lurker and have everything spiral into what it is now, i would probably still be who i was just under 2 years ago, and that person was so sad. the friends i’ve made in this community have truly enriched my life and i’m so happy to have them in my life and to be able to call them friends, more than i can say. 

there are so many things in my life that wouldn’t have happened without fandom. i could be here for hours and hours listing and explaining, but i’ll save anyone reading this far still. 

people still laugh when i talk about fandom, especially when i say it’s changed my life. people who don’t get it will never get it, and i’m trying to brush that off and unlearn the shame i’ve instilled in myself over the years because people are mean. i’m not sure why i typed all that out. it’s been on my mind, though, and i wanted to put it somewhere. media changes people. the media we consume is important, whether you’re a fan of the media or not. it’s important to society and important to individuals. fandom’s been there for me in too many ways to say, but i wanted to get some of that off my chest. i’m ~feeling things and i wanted to say something. even if no one reads this i’m happy to have gotten it out and sent it into the void. i’m obsessed, yes. silly for sure. but i’m not silly for knowing that things have changed my life, and to continue to say that they have. i still have a lot to unlearn in the way of shame, and i know owning it is part of that. so maybe my conclusion to this massive wall of text is this is me owning it right now, owning the thing that people like to laugh at. it’s a step in the right direction, at least. 

[luckycheesefoodie321]

I’m about to unleash a LONG review of HTTYD3: The Hidden World RIDDLED with spoilers sooooo... (this is probably trash, it’s been several days since i started this so idk the flow and my thought process was a mess but i better post this now before i forget)

Spoiler free review: 9/10, I did cry, personally felt it was on par with HTTYD2 butttt I like it in a different way to HTTYD2... the animation? ferguckin’ gorgeous, there are fracking LEVELS to the beauty of the Hidden World (the actual place and the movie)...and Astrid’s hair??? mmmm yeah goals

OK SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT (and it looooong yall)

Ok so time to explain the 1/10:

the flow wasn’t as smooth?? as it could have been... it all made sense why things happened and where the motivations came from but...the transitions from sequence to sequence seemed...a little disjointed??? there were parts (maybe it was because i had a kid with me so I got distracted in like two parts) where I was like “oh wait something is happening?? oh wait no yeah I get it sure...so it took me second to realise how one scene got to the other (but again that might’ve been because i was distracted.)...and as a result of the slightly jarred flow, the pace seemed a little disrupted??? maybe it’s just me wanting more, but it felt like things could’ve been a bit...meatier??

also, this was a very Hiccup and Toothless film (I mean obviously, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I intend to discuss how great it is later), and so it sorta left little fulfilment or finality for the side characters...they all had their moments sure, and somewhat of an end, but i feel like just a minute here and there more to give them a more satisfying character ending would’ve been nice...

NOW ONTO THE 9/10, and since we’re here already, let’s talk side characters

OUR DRAGON SQUAD

Tuffnut finally got a chance to shine for more than a second of screentime, and while he remained the comedic relief he’s always been (in the films, haven’t seen the shows or short films), it was fun to see him branch out and engage with Hiccup directly...the continuous through-line of him and his beard and trying to impart wisdom on Hiccup was great... Ruffnut also got some solid screentime and she finally made her choice of man (when really she didn’t have any for reasons I will explain later) and “accepted” Fishlegs...but idk didn’t care about that, her scene when she was “captured” by Grimmel was fantastic...Kristen Wiig delivered perfectly from intonation to comedic timing, loved her work! 

Snotlout...I literally had to pause a few seconds just now after typing his name bc *sigh*...we all know Snotlout’s has mild braggadocio...he spitting words with no follow through...annnd that doesn’t much change??? He’s still trying to front and compete with Hiccup and then Eret, and that was originally his charm point...but I would’ve liked to see him find validation in himself rather than an intentional compliment from Valka...and speaking of Valka??? Snotlout just latching onto the closest woman likkkkeeee Snotlout calm down you’re like 40 years younger than her??? maybe not 40 but point is Valka is a badass dragon momma who really isn’t going your way...I just wanted Snotlout to have his moment... 

Fishlegs...yeah he was all dragon daddy carrying his baby Gronkle around and also enjoying his baby Gronkle and that big dragon’s friendship...also Ruffnut has claimed him...bc Snotlout is chasing Valka...so there’s no real option for her (she moved on from Eret and her self-confidence is kinda dope)

HOMIE ADULTS

Eret, son of Eret...I wanted more of him...he just hanging around making passing comments and being the knowledgeable other about Grimmel...and then he had a little something something implied with Gobber??? they had some scenes that had me side-eyeing hardcore... Gobber basically has the same relationship he had with Stoick, but with Hiccup...general calling him out, questioning his lack of planning...just sorta done with everything...true sassy queen...and also yeah him and Eret??? suss

Valka, my queen, my dragon wizard lord who floats through the clouds... maintains her badassery and voice of wisdom role but again steps back to make way for Hiccup and Toothless...and she encouraged Snotlout, for which I am not down...like sure support him but ugh you know he’s into you so just...just...no

MAIN CHARACTERS

Grimmel...definitely a more fleshed out villain than the Red Death and Drago...not necessarily a complex villain, but he was a lot smarter and impacted Hiccup in a way the other two didn’t...rather than using blood and fire to cut to Hiccup’s core, he lured Toothless away and forced Hiccup into a sobering reality that he and Toothless can’t always be together...that said, his “death” was kinda lame...could’ve had more of a bang than probably drowning

The Light Fury was used in an interesting way...she’d already been captured and was used as bait, not just stumbled upon in the wilderness as I had assumed from the trailers...I enjoyed how she was so clearly a wild dragon...from the way she responded to Toothless and his attempts at flirting, spurred him to tap into his true potential and abilities that Valka had alluded to in HTTYD2, to how she always trying to get him to come away into the sky and away from the humans...that said I love how she gradually warmed up to Hiccup...not in the way Toothless did, but in a way where you knew she acknowledged that Hiccup was someone who was important to Toothless, and had no desire to harm her or other dragons and the fact she was the one who saved both Toothless and Hiccup at the end was great...

Astrid, once again, is the only one (aside from Valka, and apparently Eret) with any real sense, both common and fighting...she’s kept to her roots as a skilled fighter in her own right, as opposed to the others relying heavily on their dragons...her chemistry with Hiccup continued to be adorable and flirtatious and pure and wholesome and with all the mad banter...her being so firm against being married so quickly bouncing off Hiccup’s clearly apparent willingness to tie the knot was an adorable under-plot...her character was probably the most consistent of all the characters imo...and she got a fulfilling ending...plus once again, her hair, ESPECIALLY IN THE WEDDING SCENE WAS SO FRIGGEN GORGEOUS AND BEATS ALL ANIMATED HAIR EVER

And now the boys of the hour, Hiccup and Toothless

This was a Hiccup and Toothless film. No side story about his mom and dad, no arbitrary villain just there to cause conflict. This was a film about two best friends in an increasingly complicated world realising that in order to tackle that world? They’d have to separate. It’s the same feeling as realising that the people you grew up with or the friends you made in school won’t be able to stay by your side anymore. You each have a path to take and it’s not one that can be shared...maybe run parallel at times but not the whole way. This is what our boys had to face. 

I love love LOVED that there were sooo many parallels to the first movie...ugh to have that footage so I can count and display all the moments that just brought you back to all the charm and things you fell in love with in the first movie, but with more meaning, more stories to tell...it’s like when I saw Miley Cyrus sing The Climb again many many years after the Hannah Montana movie...there was suddenly more depth to her performance...this was the vibe I got..and it was obviously intentional in bringing so many parallels to the first movie...bringing the story full circle and all that, and of course it culminated in the most perfect moment, the moment that started us all on this journey...

BUT IN THE MOTHERFRACKING REVERSE!!! this was the moment that let those tears slip...I had gone in expecting to cry, but had far and away found myself having more fun and slowly accepting that maybe...maybe I wouldn’t cry in this movie...we got to the big goodbye, and I embodied my inner Jake Peralta and was like cool cool cool no tears yet, I can make it through and then BAM! they did the reverse hand touch and tears were spilled, and my friends were just watching me with unbridled glee in the dark as I got emotional...I’d been watching with increasing suspicion as moment after moment echoed the first movie, but somehow I didn’t realise they would do the reverse hand thing...maybe it’s because the hand thing had been embedded in every moment that Hiccup and the dragon riders encountered new dragons that I did not expect he would ever have to do it to Toothless again?? but in reverse???? because he was letting GO?!?!?!?!?! god it hit me hard...

But then a downside: they started to overuse it in the prologue-y sorta bit with the kids and meeting Toothless again...liiikkkeeee we already had that major impactful, emotional moment...why overuse it??? i would’ve much rathered they just gazed at each other for a bit before Toothless suddenly gives his signature toothless grin...or he swoops in and grabs Hiccup by the pegleg into the air, freaks everyone out, only to do the upside down grin thing- that would’ve been great...I mean they had that moment with the Light Fury but I wouldn’t have minded if they used that one again...

my mind is wandering and this probs doesn’t make any sense at this point sooo: the separation thing! good they established the over-reliance on the dragons and Hiccup’s thinking he can’t do well without Toothless, and Astrid, my QUEEN, coming in and telling him what’s what...and also not marrying him until he was more certain of himself because she knew if he wasn’t ready to face the world alone, he wasn’t ready to face the world with her (at least that’s my interpretation and again idk where I’m going with this thought process)...also love that Hiccup was lowkey jealous of the Light Fury...also also glad she never got a name...keeps her wild, as she should be...

I think this was definitely an incredible ending to an incredible trilogy of films...maybe not Toy Story perfect, but it was full of heart and emotion and continuously brought you back to all the wonder of the first film. Literally, there were so many parallels to the first film it was insane...while I talked about disjointed flow earlier, this incorporation of these callbacks was so well embedded, becoming just a natural proceeding of events... 

I’m coming back to this review after several days so idk where I was going with this soooo just gonna wrap this up:

ASTRID’S WEDDING HAIR WAS GOALS. THE END.

[reptilewranglers]

Chats 2/?

@nyodrite: I am spending my lunch watching Jurassic World

Nyodrite: Which is good for details like - closest airport is Juan Santamaria Airport, Costa Rica

Nyodrite: There were 8 major species to start at opening the park

Nyodrite: The I.Rex got loose and now I am thinking of an au of an au where Charlie's first visit to JW is when the movie takes place

Nyodrite: Don't know if he'd meet Owen beforehand(like he's there for a week) or while Owen's at control after the I.Rex is free/before Claire asks him to look for her nephews

Nyodrite: Also, would he smuggle bb!dragon into the park?

Nyodrite: Are there magical creatures on the island do you think?

Nyodrite: The Mitchell bros are adorable, I don't know why I haven't watched ths movie recently

Nyodrite: Ha! Owen just punched Hoskins.

Nyodrite: I won't be able to finish the movie tho, my lunch is almost done.

@owlgirl1998: That is a brilliant idea! He probably wouldn't bring in a baby dragon, unless it was like really attached w/separation issues or really young and couldn't be left alone. Why didn't I think of that? There probably are. *scribbles down all of these*

Owlgirl: Here are my ideas: That's no dinosaur=part dragon? Grey is Claire's kid that Karen adopted. DEMI ARO OWEN. I wasn't taking all that many notes.

Nyodrite: maybe one that imprinted on him?

Nyodrite: I'm thinking a leviathan (the Dementor relatives that lives in s.america?)

Nyodrite: OR WHAT IF CHARLIE HAS A PGMY DRAGON

Nyodrite: LIKE WHEN THEY PULLED TINY DRAGONS FROM A BAG IN THE 4TH BOOK. CHARLIE HAS A FLOCK OF THOSE WHO SLEEP IN VARIOUS POCKETS OF HIS

Nyodrite: (they teeny dragons used for the dragon choosing of the champions were actually Charlie's. he fussed over them afterwards, apologizing for their treatment of being shoved into a sack and strange people grabbing them)

Nyodrite: Gray? Huh. I've read a story where Zach is secretly Claire's child (I think because he's older so it was more of a teen mom giving her baby to her married, older sister to raise)

Nyodrite: Ooh, "that's no dinosaur" how did I miss this???

Nyodrite: Maybe! there's a breed of small dragons living in the restricted area and the scientists got their hands on a corpse? and are just Well, Lets See What This Does.

Nyodrite: AND! if it's part dragon what if Charlie manages to calm it down???

Nyodrite: (Also, Charlie cooing at the IRex as it purls in response, puffing small little ash/smoke clouds out from it's under-developed fire-sacs {like venom sacs??}.

Charlie is indignant over the Irex treatment because for one, her fire-sacs are under-developed and malformed which is a clear sign of neglect/abuse in dragons

And the enclosure is far too small for any creature such a size! And don't you now that dragons NEED a large body of water to cool off due to their fire-sacs naturally rising their temperature?!)

Nyodrite: Basically Charlie saves the day, adopts a kid, scolds everyone for their treatment of his baby and makes Owen crush on him due to it

Owlgirl: YES OMG. I need it

Owlgirl: Everyone is running around screaming and shooting her and Charlie walks up and is like "oh sweetie, you are beautiful. What hurts? Oh, you poor thing."

Owlgirl: I just completely made up a new dragon type

Owlgirl: The Costa Rica Chameleon, a highly varied and adaptable species, named for their ability to perfectly mimic their surroundings. They are found through the tropics, though they were first discovered on the island of Costa Rica.

Though they range from lizard like in appearance, to plumage reminiscent of a tropical bird, studies and charms have show they are all part of one large ranging family. They are clutch orientated, needing socialization early on through their entire lives.

Nyodrite: Ooh, tell me more. Are they nesters, burrowers, nocturnal, live in family groups or larger clan-like groups?

Owlgirl: My brain latched onto Gray because he honestly looks more like her and to me Clair just doesn't seem like the type to want kids. She likes them but has this problem where she treats them like tiny adults and she knows she can't raise a kid properly like that.

Nyodrite: Maybe that can be a reason why she doesn't know much about them? She started bonding with bb!gray and felt guilty about it - both giving him up and 'stealing' her sister's son?- and kind of cut as much contact as she could

Nyodrite: Also, since I'm seeing this pairing as a triad - Claire/Owen/Charlie - where only Calire/Owen ever becomes sexual AND that Zach and Gray are kind of adopted...

Nyodrite: ...because Charlie is hella fond of kids after so many younger siblings/their friends/niblings and decides they're now his (now I want another AU of Charlie just sticking with/looking after the Mitchells during the IRex incident)....

Owlgirl: They live in large clan like groups, though small families have been found they're rare. They nest high up in trees and spend most of their time up in trees. They're about the size of a house cat fully grown and eat mostly birds, small vertebrae and fish. They climb more than they fly, and their wings are reminiscent of a flying squirrel, a stretch of skin under strong front arms, used for gliding between trees or to the ground. They are most active at dawn and dusk.

Nyodrite: ...plus their Claire's relatives and the boys kind of latched onto Owen so it's just "oops we haven't really talked about it but I guess we have two kids?"...

Nyodrite: ...AND WHERE I WAS TAKING THIS WAS: Charlie introducing everyone to his family and Molly is beside herself with glee over Charlie having human kids (knitting sweaters fir dragons is very challenging).

Owlgirl: They send out Christmas cards, with a picture of the four of them and the dragons and the first. They get 600 howlers demanding to know when they got married. Half of them are from Molly

Nyodrite: ...when Charlie visits, a clan of them invade his hotel room and make it their nest and he feeds them and keeps in a giant cuddle pile and nothing you say can convince me otherwise

Owlgirl: WHY WOULD I WANT TO CONVINCE YOU OTHERWISE OMG THAT'S ADORABLE

Owlgirl: There are spats over who gets to sleep in Charlie's hair

Nyodrite: Half of that half is because sometimes it's Claire taking the picture and sometimes it's Owen and Molly is just! WHICH ONE DID YOU MARRY CHARLIE!? ARE THEY THE ONES MARRIED!? EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT IS GOING ON???!?

Nyodrite: The alpha drapes itself over Charlie's neck, both as a sign of trust and protectiveness as anything going for Charlie's throat has to go through IT first

Nyodrite: Charlie spends one of his days during his visit chasing a group of younglings who decided to explore the park during the day - shenanigans as he attempts to hid the fact that there are WILD MAGICAL animals running around

Owlgirl: WHICH ONE DID YOU MARRY? ARE /THEY/ MARRIED? DID YOU MARRY THEM BOTH? CHARLES WEASLY I DID NOT RAISE YOU TO BE A HOMEWREAKER! not that I think you would darling you all look wonderfully happy in those photos. DID YOU MARRY BOTH OF THEM? ARE THEY SAME PERSON? I'm dreadfully sorry if you're a metamorphmagus darling, terribly sorry for this misunderstanding. CHARLIE WEASLY YOU GAVE ME GRANDCHILDREN AND DIDN'T TELL ME!

CHARLIE PLEASE WRITE MOM IS VERY CONFUSED. PS CONGRATS -BILL

Owlgirl: Shenanigans

Nyodrite: That first howler though, if that is the first, would be amazing to imagine because what if the others are there when it starts yelling at Charlie

Nyodrite: And he's just sitting there, used to it after Hogwarts (its an unspoken tradition between his siblings to get at least one howler during their time at Hogwarts), listening to it but the others are just

Nyodrite: WHAT IS THIS WHO IS THAT WHY ARE THEY YELLING AND CALLING YOU A HOMEWREAKER

Nyodrite: And Charlie just tells them, "That's my mom, I sent her a picture."

Nyodrite: (Zach can't help muttering to Owen, "Dragon mother-in-law.")

Owlgirl: But then she adopts them all by proxy and she becomes dragon grandma

Nyodrite: Charlie mentions Animagus off-handedly and then Gray (*cough*plus Zach and Owen*cough*) thinks that Molly can transform into a dragon

.

Nyodrite: Charlie is adopting Gray

Owlgirl: *unintelligible noises* I have no idea why but I LIKE IT

Owlgirl: I feel like Charlie and Owen are that obnoxiously lovely couple

Owlgirl: Like they're not Obnoxious and they aren't big on PDA but they just are SO HAPPY together and are SO SUPPORTIVE of eachother and just so SWEET. like, you look at them and you KNOW they're in love and so happy with their reptile children

Nyodrite: I feel like the most meanigful gifts they ever gave each other was something like Owen giving a baby raptor claw that Blue out grew and Charlie giving the eggtooth of the first dragon he helped raise

Owlgirl: YES

[evilrevan]

Sinner

@professorwillynilly thank you, darling, for this wonderful song. I decided to write about Reyvanna fleshing out bits of her conflicting feelings about Tunon a bit more. I mean, the song can be taken two ways- violently or sexually. Or both!  

Might come back to this song at a later date because it suits Reyva/Tunon.

*pardon any errors. Literally just wrote this before work and can’t edit it right away*

A bloody bruised child stood in the middle of the court of the court, heavy iron chains almost too big for the pitiful malnourished creature's wrists, ankles, and neck which lacked any fat or muscle after long undergoing extreme levels of stress and starvation. And yet, despite the blood dripping from the cuts along the dirty child's wrists or the black and blue bruises blossoming around the left side of her face; hatred and fire flickered from within the nameless' child's defiant brown eyes.

Like a lioness, the child had fought. Growling with such intensity and power many courtiers believed the child to be half beastfolk. An abomination.

In an instant, the child became a whirlwind of gnashing teeth, sharpened canines flashing as the little girl barely ten years old, lunged towards the nearest noble. A terrifying snarl rippled through the air. The disfavored soldier cursing as the chains slipped from her gloved fingers- incompetence ruling the woman for she believed the savage child incapable of trying to break away. Not after weeks of starvation and daily beatings. Jagged dirt encrusted fingernails brushed the surface of the nobleman's finery shortly before the disfavored soldier scrambled to grab a hold of the chaotic child's 'leash'. With a forceful tug, the skeletal child's body flew backward. Hallow brown eyes flickered darkly at the armored soldier. Eyeing the adult as if trying to decide how to rip apart the heavy iron armor encasing their body in a protective layer. It didn't matter if the child knew she wouldn't live through the encounter. Anger fueled the tiny body. Kept it alive. Revenge raging like a wildfire underneath earthen brown skin speckled with darker freckles all over her exposed skin.

A thunderous reverb of power crackled in the air, the floor shaking as something collided with the ground- harsh and commanding as a voice rose above the commotion.

Mutely the tiny girl listened a male's voice cascaded through the air, slicing through the tension and drawing all eyes upwards. Instead of feeling awe at the sight of a masked figure hovering in a cloud of red black smoke, the nameless child glowered. Within the walls of painted blood and death, the masked 'thing' ruled. The name Archon-of-Justice bouncing around the uncomfortably twisted false jungle.

Crazed voices whispered bloodied suggestions. Fed the bloodthirsty nature of the child as the thought of tearing apart the smokey creature's throat to shreds, feasting on iron rich blood and flesh- bits of sinew and bone poking from the bite wound tempt the primal nature of the little girl. Failure was an afterthought. The possibility of dying sweet and heavy like honey on her tongue.

Elongated warped fingers twitched. Brown eyes leering wryly at the odd humanoid talking to the purple thing of metal of things which weren't familiar to her. The name Tunon, Your honor, Kyros, Fatebinder... and other foreign words her mother had never taught her floated in the stagnant air of sweat and disgustingly fake floral scents.

With a sharp abrupt yank, the girl was dragged out from the center of the twisted jungle. But not through the same entrance dirt and feces smeared feet traversed. Deeper they traveled. Into the very belly of the beast.

Fatebinder. Reyvanna. A title and a new name. A third one. Bitterly she accepted both. Cursed the court and the Adjudicator as lessons were taught to her, questions answered as her narrow view of the world burst wide open.

Still, she seethed. Lashed out. Fought. For the longest time, the diminutive child wished the very Archon responsible for imprisoning her within the confines of the court, depriving her of the thrill of the wilds, death. Painfully and bloodily tearing every single organ which pulsed with life within his chest, saving the heart for last before sinking sharpened teeth into the beating muscle, blood dribbling down her chin as she savored her victory.

The gap in power between both of them rendered such ideas as nothing more than pipe dreams. Fits of fantasy.

Age tempered Reyvanna's edges. Hatred and loathing replaced with begrudging respect. It had been easy to hate. Easy to ignore how easily the Archon controlled every conflict brewing within his walls. The frigid detached emotional response ghosting along every word spoken with increasingly forceful intensity.

Shedding her former life, Reyvanna formerly Silent-Stepper of the Bounding Viper tribe, cursed her new sweetly dangling new challenges and occurrences her tribe had never dealt with before. It had been thrilling. The knowledge enlightening. Drowning in the blood of those who went against the wishes of the court, humming in glee as battle finally found her after so long.

In time the court was nothing more than a jungle of concrete filled with predators and prey constantly trying to outdo the others. Reyvanna found it easier to appear the predator she was. Flashing sharp teeth at her enemies, unnerving them as their facades cracked under her feral animalistic gaze.

Being in the court soon became... uncomfortable. Distracting.

Standing beside her fellow fatebinders just under the Adjudicator during a trial, conflicting thoughts and feelings burst forth like a poorly kept dam. The Archon of Justice's baritone voice sparked a flame of sexual fantasies. All of which Reyvanna denied. Filed away under sexual frustration just as the thoughts of what he sounded like under the sheets, caught lingering on the cusp of ecstasy drifted precariously in her mind.

Her kith claimed who they pleased. Rutted and mated in plain sight without a care. Modesty was of human design. Shame as well.

Erring on the side of caution Reyvanna squashed the arousing scenarios flickering behind brown eyes. The Adjudicator's voice driving the young woman insane during every trial. The sight of gray eyes peeking out from the dark holes in his mask sent shivers trailing along Reyvanna's spine. Leaving her to wonder if perhaps those were his true eye color or some spell to hide them away from curious eyes.

Admiration and respect melted away in a matter of months. Sexual frustration at the hands of the Archon of Justice toying with her insides, leaving her undergarments soaked in arousal and the all-consuming need to finish what he started. There were a few bodies willing to help. Other times she pleasured herself. Both situations left her unsatisfied. Still aching. Still needy.

A child's lust for blood became a lust for sex. Instead of the taste of blood on the tongue, Reyvanna wished for the taste of salt and sweat. Instead of eating chunks of flesh she wanted to bruise skin. Leave a mark. To claim a body shrouded in cloth and a face hidden behind a stark white mask. Reyvanna laughed. The irony crashing down like a lead weight.

The one thing she hated had become the one thing she wanted so desperately. Hatred gave way to another cardinal sin: lust. Just as he could have been the death of her physically two decades ago- he would be the death of her mentally. The crackle of power leaking from his voice, the subtle dips in his voice as he struggled to reign in his anger.... it threatened the fatebinder's mentality.

Nothing could fix it. Nothing short of shoving the towering archon against the nearest wall, a hungry greedy mouth latched onto his throat like a leech, her sharp teeth shredding apart bits of black fabric to reach the skin Reyvanna wished to taste, to touch, to bite.... to mark. Death, something she would have welcomed in the past, stayed her hands. Stilled her.

Torturous as it was, she suffered in silence. And when she could no longer bear it any longer, Reyvanna was the first one to offer to join Kyros' conquest in the name of the court. Distance would help..... she prayed.

[halcyonkrp]

WHO’S THAT TRAINER ?

coming from montauk, new york, usa and settling into the haeundae district here in busan as the owner of utopia cafe, he’s not participating in the league! but don’t underestimate him, can you guess who he is?

                                                                                 IT’S JUNG NILE !

ADDITIONAL POKEMON

spheal, piplup, mudkip

POKEDEX ENTRY

i. he wakes up to the sight of mother in her beautiful dress as she tends to the gorgeous milotic of her’s, and of father in his silk suit petting his gorgeous cresselia. he’s surrounded by grand views like so, used to the magnificence of it all. he appreciates it—but the splendor of it all slowly dwindles away as it became too much of a normalcy.

but he still learns the art of appeal, making his actions have much more of an allure or how to make one’s pokemon fit to join in the glamour of contests. it became boring to him—just like all the other countless activities of his—but it’s more dull to not study and he wondered why it was like so. after all, his parents were coordinators and as their child he should have a sort of liking to it right? but it just wasn’t there.

he thinks he, himself, was rather strange for that. so he decided to not think too much about it and went with the flow, shrugging off the complexities as if it were merely a very light drizzle of rain. he sticked to a basic mindset and continued his training, awaiting the day day he will receive his pokemon.

the day arrived much earlier than any of his family expected and it was most definitely not the pokemon that his parents had been thinking of giving him.

ii. the injured oshawott he found near the rather empty beach within montauk was taken in and treated in the closest pokemon center he and his parents could get into. he was worried for the small thing, always been the sort to drop everything if he saw someone—pokemon or not—injured.

short legs swung in the air as he impatiently waited for the nurse to come and tell them what happened to the oshawott. fortunately, when she did come to them—she had good news and that the oshawott was not harmed too badly. despite that, he wanted to stay and check on the oshawott.

he’s seven when he gets attached to the pokemon he saved, and it seemed that said saved pokemon did not mind it at all—in fact the oshawott latched onto him as it recognized him as his savior. admittedly, his parents spoiled him greatly and couldn’t say no to him when he was looking at them with wide, doe eyes and pouty lips to let him have the oshawott.

he finds out the oshawott’s a boy and decided to name him sage.

a month later, his parents gifted him and sage with a new friend in the form of a popplio—he named her reina.

iii. his aunt comes to visit a year later. she also had a might samurott by her side who was being greatly idolized by him and sage. his aunt wasn’t like his parents who were articulate in their words and so very photogenic—she was rather buff and got a few scars here and there, so very tough but he knew she was nice because she gave him, sage and reina cookies and poffins.

the moment she spotted his pokemon, she asked if he had wanted to become a trainer like her. it’s a simple question, but it spurred scenarios and ideas within his mind. did he want to become a trainer? perhaps that was why he wasn’t all that excited to become a coordinator? he decided on a whim that the answer was yes so he nodded to answer her question.

his parents had been shocked by his sudden want to be a trainer, but didn’t stop him. they loved their child dearly and wanted him to be happy doing whatever he wished. this led to his aunt teaching him tricks and helping him, sage and reina to become a trainer.

there’s an excitement as he and sage trained with his aunt, a certain joy as they succeed to land a hit on his aunt’s pokemon. perhaps, this was what he had been destined to be.

iv. he grows along with his pokemon, watching as both sage and reina evolve as their bonds grew tighter. not only that, but his team grew alongside them, and funnily enough he got himself a team of water-types. it’s not that much of a surprise considering the location he stayed in was infested with water-types. and honestly? water-type pokemon were his favorite.

his aunt pointed out that with his lineup, he could apply for montauk’s gym leader position. still very much a boy, the child’s eyes gleam in excitement at claiming such an important sounding title and promptly added it to his goals.

when school’s not a problem, he would want to travel farther away to train his pokemon and battle with other trainers. when he’s in school, he trained his pokemon against each other. when his aunt came along, then she was like the final boss he knew he must defeat in order to be deemed as worthy enough to try and apply as a gym leader ( well, her and that bachelor’s degree—and she may not be necessarily gym leader level but she’s still strong ).

then it all became a routine, a constant repetition of training that revived the feelings of boredom from when he was younger. he faltered a bit when those feelings grew, for how could he be bored of the heat of battle and the excited rush from any sort of victories?

he couldn’t answer to that—but it’s something he knows to do and he didn’t want to give up just yet. maybe, once he became a gym leader everything will be fun again?

yeah, that had to be it. he just got to be a gym leader and rid off the boredom.

v. when he finally won against his aunt, he instantly went in the next league season to get his badges. he didn’t get all of it the first season he was in, or the next one either—but he did get all his badges eventually and with it came amazing progress and development to both him and his team as trainer and pokemon. the most fun he had was going against gyms, and the fact that each one was designed differently really made each uniquely fun.

the remaining process to become a gym leader was so tedious, if he wasn’t as motivated as he was—well, he would have flunked it from sheer lack of will due to the complexity of it. but he had the determination, so here he was now—montauk’s newest gym leader at age twenty-three.

he triumphed greatly, celebrating his new status with glee. his family’s proud of him and his pokemon were eager to battle. it eased him, the elation coming from his victory and achieving his goal.

he would proceed to design his gym in such a way that made it extremely random and with a message of just thinking over it simply and going with the flow of it all. it always made him laugh when he knew young children could bypass the initial trials with so much ease whilst adults rack their brains in order to solve the seemingly complex obstacles.

then there were those that challenged him to gain a badge from him. admittedly, he’s pouty when they do win against him and a bit too childishly ecstatic over a win. he didn’t care how he seemed to others, all he was doing was being honest with his reactions after all.

initially, it seemed like it was fine. that it was as exhilarating as he hoped it’s be. that he wouldn’t become uninterested by the thrill of it all.

unfortunately, he’s wrong.

vi. it’s the second year only when he became bored again. he couldn’t understand why but—once the routine settled in, that’s when he wanted to break free and enter a new cycle.

he couldn’t understand how people could be so enamored by something to the point that it would never become horribly dull. he’s honestly rather envious of those that do, for being excited over something no matter what was truly a dream come true in his eyes. he sighed, for he knew that this position as gym leader could no longer satisfy him anymore.

it’s during one of his breaks and the rare moment he did let himself contemplate more complicated topics that he came to the cafe which would change his life.

it’s not all that much really, but the feel of the cafe was so very comforting and homey. it’s rather new and admittedly he didn’t go to too many cafes. but that day, he had time and felt a certain pull form the place. so he entered, and the charm of the cafe enticed him greatly.

he would then meet the owner of the cafe—a lady hailing from busan, south korea. she was kind and fun with her jokes filled to the brim with puns and whimsical allure. not only that, but she was patient with his rather childish demeanor and even taught him the art of making coffee. there was something about her beverages that filled him with curiosity of how it was created, the constant shock he gets from how good it always was, and of course—the seeds of joy and a new hobby replanting itself inside him.

he didn’t think he’d be so happy in such a calm atmosphere, or to be so enamored by the art of brewing coffee. but as he helped the woman out, he’s much more entranced and there’s just a sort of charm to it all that sets itself away from what he’s used to—yet it had been what he needed along.

vii. it didn’t take long for him to have a new goal in mind—handing over his position as a gym leader so easily as he did with the chance of being a coordinator from long ago. the woman’s tales of busan, the fact he originally did hail from south korea, and want for a change of scenery, had made him want to open up his cafe there. well, once he got used to the place and really planned out what he wished to do with his shop.

he’s twenty-six when he settled in haeundae, busan, south korea. twenty-seven when his cafe opened up. and the years after was just another cycle—yet this was one he enjoyed and couldn’t be bored off. and that was what mattered.