#anyway. my askbox is open. for like minds. and unlike minds actually

[bluebells-and-dragonflies]

God, the intimacy of Astarion feeding from you.

Astarion drinking from your neck as he pulls your body closer to his in bed, his chest up against your back, his arms wrapped around your waist. It's a casual thing, now, his whispered can I? and your answering nod, as much a part of your bedtime routine as your bath or his curl care. You sigh as his fangs pierce your skin and his fingers flex against your stomach. His breath hitches when the taste of you hits his tongue, and that's familiar too, the physicality of it, the noises he makes low in his throat as he drinks, the way he grows warmer against you as your blood begins to flow through his veins. Nothing else makes you feel so heady, so intoxicated- so comforted.

Astarion drinking from your wrist when he’s starving for it and can’t wait to get you more comfortable. Pulling him into an alleyway one night on the way home from the Elfsong because you can see how badly he's craving in the way he can't keep his eyes off of the pulse point in your neck. He seizes your arm with both hands (can I? Yes-), bringing the soft skin on the inside of your wrist to his lips. He has just enough presence of mind to kiss the heel of your hand distractedly before he bites, fangs sliding through your skin and into the vein. The sound he makes can only be described as a growl, something feral and possessive (and you'll never tell him that it turns you on, since he would be insufferable about it- a promise to yourself that lasts exactly as long as the space between the moment and the next time you're tipsy and want him).

(NSFW Below!)

Astarion drinking from your inner thigh, one hand holding your leg steady and the other cupping your cunt. You groan, eyes shut in pleasure, as his thumb comes to rub your clit. The pain of the bite is barely pain this way- it collides with the pleasure in your belly and sends you almost out of your mind, overwhelmed with sensation and heat. He takes you all the way there, takes just enough from you to have you relaxed and pliant and soaring somewhere above your own body, plays you like an instrument with all the knowledge of you he's gathered over the months, the years. He knows when you're close, knows to crook his fingers inside you just so, knows the reaction he's going to get when he pulls away from your thigh for just a moment and looks up at you with dark eyes and tells you to come for him, he wants to see it, you fall apart so beautifully and it's all for him, isn't it, tell him how good he makes you feel and when you climax with his voice in your ear and the scent of blood on the air he has the audacity to laugh at how well he understands you, your body.

He's soft, after, softer than he'll ever be with anyone who isn't you. He licks you clean before he takes you to the bath, carrying you with the strength your lifeblood gives him. It's the least he can do for you, with everything you've given him: not just your body, but your trust, your closeness, and he will never stop being grateful.

[the-fab-fox]

Lmao. Okay so this Twst!AU with @mellosdrawings is so fucking fun and lovely. (Y'all will probably see it some day but Mello is doing so much art—all the art with this and other au's and all da best shit posts—so no idea when the AU will get posted but...

Originally this lil guy, (art by @mellosdrawings)

[Quick OC Intro: Finley "Finn" Tod, 2nd Year Scarabia student, FTM Trans, he/him, fox beastman (cause I'm a fox furry so naturally I had to make him a fox beastman). Actually ray of sunshine who sometimes has cloudy days and is far too self-conscious and needs more confidence because he's actually super amazing and compassionate but to him he's just... him and not anything special unlike his bestie Yuu and their friends. Would give the shirt off his back if someone needed it and always has a kind word for everyone—except Crowley, though he does try to give him the benefit of the doubt but unfortunately the man proves time and time again to be highly incompetent so it's really hard. Plus he's so demanding of Yuu and that makes Finn very upset on Yuu's behalf. But that's a rant for later.]

Was only going to get one boyfriend during the AU. (It's Trey cause he's so in love with Trey it hurts. And Trey loves him back but they are so dumb with love the both of them.)

But anyway. So Mello made a list of all the other ships in the AU and I realized that all of them are ot3's and I was like.

Aww. Finn deserves another boyf too. But who...

Only one character came to mind. XD

Jade. Haha.

Poor Finn. (But also lucky Finn.)

Jade is the one who helps push them together (along with Yuu and the others) because once they are together he just manages to somehow merge his way into their relationship and it's so gradual and slow even Trey doesn't realize it's happened until they are all suddenly dating each other. XD [this is subject to change because Mello has my confidence and free creative liberty on how they get together, so the way Trey/Finn/Jade happens might change.]

Gah I love my OC so much and I love their relationship so much. So fun. But don't let Finn tell you otherwise. He definitely deserves two loving and attentive partners who do everything in their power to make certain Finn knows he's deserving of their love and affections.

Also he's got dark purple hair but his ears and tail are that of a red/orange fox. And ocean blue eyes like me. :D

Similar to my Twitch mascot:

He loves head pats. Especially from his partners, his bestie, and those he looks up to (i.e. Leona, Vil, Jamil if he was willing, Idia if he was willing, Rook, and Riddle. Malleus too.) If you give him head pats this will be him:

Anyway all this to say if you wanna ask me any questions about my OC or their relationship or anything, feel free to shoot me an ask. I'll be confering with Mello on some of them to not give away plot and such but will be so happy to answer what I can.

And if you wanna send in headpats for him, he'll be so pleased. Lol.

If anyone is interested in a full character bio/info sheet of him id be happy to get one written and posted. Just let me know.

But yes, please! My askbox is open! Send in everything you've got! (Pretty please? Don't make me beg. I'll cry.)

[historixally-accurate]

forward rolls into your inbox :3

good evening.....morning.....teehee....(i am assuming you are seeing this at 9am, which in case....hope you are enjoying your breakfast! and also. wow, that is a healthy sleep schedule for an SG student newly lavishing in the freedom of the holidays.) im rewlly happy you dont mind me rolling into your inbox every day. i love doing it. seriously. like you said, it feels like using Singpost and writing letters. its part of why i love tumblr and its askboxes.

saying that youre struggling with MOE past year papers/different school papers is so damn relatable. i'm just grateful im not in pri sch anymore where teachers woukd be dispensing that shit like water at the water cooler. LMAO

youre a kazuha liker huh? my friend is too. so as a birthday present, i drew kazuha with weed on the class whiteboard once for their birthday. i knew next to nothing about his lore but their expression of utter despair was worth it.

YOU MADE YOUR PLD LOCKSCREEN TALKINGMIME?!?!?!?!? thats kinda genius too. i woukd scream and panic if i saw this in public btw. and flounder in panic and joy like a pathetic fish. blub

Im still pretty new to mcsr in general, but i actually followed an unusual pipeline into it: unlike most people being introduced via couri or feinberg, i actually entered via 21mustard.... more specufically the vid about his online friend trying to find him again. i like 21mustard and zylenox :3 and emerald (ithink), fein, mr lewis fulham, poundcake, fyroah and ofc mr mime. im still exploring though. im charmed by k4's mic peaks. it took me ages to strart putting names to faces and then voices...

as for my own speedrunning, i unfortunately do not play any noteworthy speedrunning games. however, i am currently trying to speedrun Minesweeper! its going pretty well.

as always, i hope youre doing well, whenever youre reading this. - sgmcsr anon

GOOD MORNING.. I'm replying to this a little too late (it's 12pm), but IDGAF LETS ROLL!!

I love opening inbox and answering asks, it's like. you get a silly letter every single day to answer and. i get why the people in the past really fucked w this... it's really awesome. anyway.

about MOE and exams, ohh thank god I'm not in primary school anymore, that PSLE grind was HORRIBLE. having to do like. what, 20 page papers for math (paper 1 or 2 alone!!) and all of them being really difficult questions really fucked w my brain... at least papers now are semi tolerable and I can do them 🤷 I remember in primary school my science teacher handed us like.. 5 past year papers to do over June holidays, and I was COOKED. anyway

about genshin, LMAOOOO FUCK THATS HILARIOUS... I'd be terrified too if I saw kazuha smoking a blunt for my birthday like. the aura that exudes. holy schmoly

about talkingmime, YEAH.. my PLD lock screen is actually that one silly art piece of everyone who played pico park, and on my home screen is a small talkingmime doodle... I am normal, totally! I must be normal! fun fact, my phone lock screen is silverrruns. Hehe. this photo specifically

yeah. Hehe. and my home screen is a really pretty nEmerald drawing... :3

about speedrunners THOSE ARE A BUNCHA GOOD PICKS... k4's mic peaks are legendary.. yay. NEMERALD AND FYROAH.. ohh. I love them very muchie. I even drew them. they're so skibidi to me.

about speedrunning, minesweeper speedrunning is verg cool. I've always wanted to learn how to play minesweeper... but it's always so scarrryyy... I should learn how to play it one day, on skibidi..

IM FINISHING THIS AT 1 34 PM. IM STUCK IN MATH TUITION RN. I love your singposts , thank u sg anon have a skibidi day

[adhd-merlin]

okay unfortunately i am back in your askbox bc you asked whether anyone ships morgana with someone other than gwen. the answer is yes! multiple people, e.g. merlin. however, i specifically want to pitch: morgana and lancelot...

OKAY PLEASE DO NOT JUDGE ME. i have always side-eyed people who ship something based solely on its so-called 'potential' when they never actually interact. there's nothing wrong with it, but it's always baffled me. however. i need you to listen very closely and with an open mind. the witch whose bitterness and spite turned her into a power-hungry murderer, and the bravest and most noble of them all, who wishes only to serve. a woman whose heart was corrupted and a man whose heart is unfailingly pure. an aspirant queen and a perfect servant. he could save her. tbh. he could fix her. ok i'm kidding but DO YOU SEE WHERE I'M COMING FROM??? not to mention lancelot's cage fighting days when he got desperate. as honourable as he is, he knows what it is to be reduced by circumstance to something you hardly recognise. he knows what it is to become depressed, to see life through a dark tint. they can RELATE TO EACH OTHER. the most unlikely people from entirely different backgrounds can RELATE. they know the same people, as well, and lancelot's idea of them hasn't become embittered like morgana's has. they can talk to each other about these people.

we got ONE (1) scene in canon where they actually interacted, and it wasn't even actually lancelot, and yet it's SUCH A SERVE. lancelot serving under morgana is a CONCEPT. the things she says to him... she's literally so power-hungry and bitter by the time she summons him in 4x09 and yet she says, and i quote, "I thought it would please me, molding his mind. Instead, I feel curiously sad. He was once so mighty, and now he's nothing but a shade. I should be sorry to see him go." i know she was at least partially mocking him when she said, "For you are Lancelot, the noble, the brave, the honourable. You're everything the Knight's Code stands for," but. like. even fucking MORGANA, at this stage in the game, feels sad using lancelot as a tool. c'mon.

basically i'm just bitter over how the morgana arc played out and utterly obsessed with lancelot and want to explore every possible dynamic of his, whether or not they've actually interacted. i CAN and WILL gobble up my gwaincelot crumbs of lance shaking his head when gwaine chomps an apple and scares everyone in 4x01. i will do the same with morgana x lancelot. good day.

I AM DUMB. HOW COULD I FORGET ABOUT MERGANA. I HAVE A TAG AND EVERYTHING.

But anyway no, I think I get what you mean about that Morgana & shade-Lancelot scene! And that quote!! It stood out to me as well!

the witch whose bitterness and spite turned her into a power-hungry murderer, and the bravest and most noble of them all, who wishes only to serve. a woman whose heart was corrupted and a man whose heart is unfailingly pure. an aspirant queen and a perfect servant. he could save her. tbh. he could fix her.

[liminalweirdo]

I love this comic, but I wanted to add that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) does not always work well as an OCD treatment for people who have Autism, ymmv but since OCD and Autism are often comorbid, it might be good to do some research yourself or communicate with your therapist/caregiver etc. before you undertake something intensive like CBT for your OCD symptoms. That way you can decide whether or not CBT is right for you.

This does not mean that there are no effective treatment methods for OCD in Autistic people, so it's important to talk to someone who can help if you're seeking treatment. Some psychologists are working on adapting CBT to work better for Autistic people which is encouraging.

Re: OCD and self-diagnosis. I strongly advocate for self-diagnosis with appropriate research and consideration, but if you're not sure about whether or not you might have OCD, I have some advice:

OCD is a disability that falls into the categories of both mental illness and neurological disability. If you're wondering whether or not you have OCD, a pretty good sign in regards to self-diagnosis (if you cannot access professional diagnosis for any reason) is whether or not it causes you distresses.

(Also remember that you can have obsessive OCD only which means you do not perform compulsions and the intrusive thoughts do not result in physical compulsions (i.e. washing your hands, knocking, turning lights on and off.) but may have multiple mental compulsions (i.e. praying, counting in your head, etc.) This is sometimes known as pure O OCD)

Anyway, if your symptoms such as prayer, cleaning, ritualistic chanting or praying, handwashing, organization, checking the stove is off etc. are not causing you distress/taking up upsetting amounts of your time, it's fairly unlikely that you have OCD, and your preoccupation with organization etc. may be rooted in something else. If you're struggling and can't access an assessment, speak with more people in the OCD community (my askbox is open), listen to what people with actual OCD have to say and see if it lines up with your experiences). Keep doing research if that helps you.

But also please remember that using a real disability to describe perfectly normal impulses to color-coordinate, organize, or otherwise live your life is impacting real people who do have OCD. Like the comic says, saying things like "I'm so OCD, lol" or using it synonymously with meticulousness, tidiness, or perfectionism is damaging to people with OCD and results in people not taking the disorder seriously. This makes it a lot harder for people with OCD to access help and find resources, so please keep that in mind.

Greetings bugs and worms!

This comic is a little different than what I usually do but I worked real hard on it—Maybe I'll make more infographic stuff in the future this ended up being fun. Hope you learned something new :)

If you are still curious and want to learn more about OCD, you can visit the International OCD Foundation's website. I also recommend this amazing TED ED video "Starving The Monster", which was my first introduction to the disorder and this video by John Green about his own experience with OCD.

The IOCDF's website can also help you find support groups, therapy, and has lots of online guides and resources as well if you or a loved one is struggling with the disorder. It is very comprehensive!

Reblog to teach your followers about OCD

(But also not reblogging doesn't make you evil, silly goose)

[xu-ren]

Stargazing

Genre: Fluff

Pairing: Dick Grayson x reader / Nightwing x reader

Wordcount: 700+

My requests and askbox are open, so pretty please don’t be shy.

*~*~*

After the mission, you had refused to leave, citing that you and Dick deserved a break. Besides, the stars were clear here, unlike at Gotham where light pollution had all but completely erased the stars from the sky. So here you were, siting at a meadow with Dick’s head on your lap and your left hand buried in his soft curls.

“That is Taurus, the Bull,” you stated softly, tracing the stars that make up Taurus’ horn until its feet.

“Nope, don’t see it,” huffed Dick after a minute, making you giggle.

“Here, darling, let me help,” you pressed a kiss to his furrowed brow before taking his wrist gently, guiding his finger to map out the stars that make up Taurus.

“How is that a bull? That’s just a Y?” he queries, looking at you with confusion swimming in his blue orbs.

“See, the top of the Y makes up the horns while the bottom of the Y makes up left hind leg of the bull,” you explained patiently.

“Nope, still don’t see it,” Dick huffed, pulling himself up only to flop back on your lap to further his point.

“Dramatic fool,” you muttered lowly, although you are sure that Dick can still hear you.

“Hey!” he said indignantly, proving you correct.

“Anyways……..,” you ploughed on determinedly, even as your lips twitched, “that’s Orion, the Hunter. His story is one of my favourite. He was the lover of Artemis, the Greek virgin goddess of the hunt and twin sister to Apollo, the Greek god of the sun. Apollo, jealous that his sister’s attention was split, challenged Artemis into shooting competition. He challenged her to shoot a specific spot, where from afar seemed like a rock, but was actually Orion’s head. Artemis shot and killed Orion and was overcame with grief. She put Orion into the stars, so that they may forever be together.”

“Hey, darling? I would totally immortalise you if you died,” he flirted, throwing in a wink and ruffling his hair for good measure.

“How about you just work on not shooting me, ya?” you shot back as your cheeks burned. Dick always had a way with words, seemingly pulling out words from thin air that made you blush.

“Works for me, bows aren’t my thing anyways,” he smirked, clearly enjoying the effect his words had on you.

“And that’s Sagittarius, the Archer,” you shared, pointing out the next constellation, trying to move the conversation along before Dick got it into his mind to see how hard he could make you blush.  

“My zodiac,” Dick breathed, looking at you with soft eyes and now it was his cheeks that were pink.

“Your zodiac,” you agreed gently as you brushed some stray hairs from his forehead before pressing a kiss there. You took his wrist gently, guiding his finger to map out the stars that made up Sagittarius.

“That’s a teapot,” Dick stated, his eyes narrowed adorably, startling you into letting out peals of laughter, which Dick easily joined in, your sounds of joy mingling in the air.

“Should I call you teapot then?” you asked teasingly, waggling your eyebrows for good measure. You are sure the image is spoilt by the fact that your voice is still breathless from your earlier bout of laughter.

“Don’t you dare,” Dick warned even as his lips twitched, voice similarly breathless.

“Teapot!” you taunted just as Dick dug his fingers into your sides, tickling your sides in revenge.

“Stop, stop,” you squealed, trying to get away from his fingers.

“Not until you apologise,” he retorted, wearing a grin brighter than the all the stars above you.

You are stubborn but he is even more so therefore you admitted defeat in the end. You are sure that there are grass stains on your clothes and your hair is tangled beyond imagination by the time you admitted defeat though. Dick leaned down to press a searing kiss to your lips, stealing whatever air was left in your lungs after your laughing fit before maneuvering you so that you were lying on top of him, your head on his chest and his chin on the top of your head. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head and wrapped his arms around you. You reciprocated by wrapping your arms and pressing a kiss to his chin. The both of you lied there, soaking in the comfortable silence and each other’s presence. 

*~*~*

This honestly doesn’t work in real life because Sagittarius is a summer constellation while Orion is a winter constellation but I wrote this story cause I wanted to use the flirting line from Orion and Sagittarius is Dick’s zodiac according to his Young Justice birthday. 

[dannypuro]

because you asked for stuff that isn't music theory in response to that other ask you totally didn't upload like to minutes ago: Do you think any of the amis can play an instrument (or more) and if so, which (I think Grantaire can play two songs on the guitar and they are Never Gonna Give You Up and Wonderwall). P.s. I, too, am from that one Discord server, please don't think that's weird. And this is music practice, not theory

UGH you understand me. of course i have thought about this. of course i have. thank you i love you. (Something Telling verse: modern au with canon-era, time-zapped enjolras)

FIRST AND FOREMOST: the early 19th century was a time when the piano was an extremely important tool for social interaction in mid-to-high society. everybody who was anybody got a piano. it was really, really normal family entertainment, and when you went to call on another household, it was normal to play a little tune for them. so of course dear françois-marie enjolras was expected to learn to play the piano, the darling little baby of the family that he was.

HOWEVER.

this does not mean that he is any good at the piano. of course not. he is horrible and always has been, to the despair of his mother. she paid for lessons for him for ten years and STILL it is just.... painful to listen to. he should not play. he just... doesn’t really get music and it shows. his fingers are for writing, not piano-ing. one time he was invited over to a classmate’s apartment when he first got to paris and they asked him to play something and instead of facing the mortification that would come of it he simply left and never returned and never talked to them again. 

but jehan has a piano in their apartment, of course, for the vibes. and enjolras mentions the fact that he had piano lessons as a kid, just in passing, and ferre’s like “!!!!! hey!!!!! jehan has a piano!!!!!!! you should get up and play us something!!!!!!!!! play us a tune!!!!!!” and enjolras just “😞😖😬😟🙃😰p l e a s e do not ask me to do so😦😥😔😣😶😞” and is reduced to a shameful lump on the sofa until ferre lays off him. let him rest. give him peace. he is 213 years old leave him alone.

but in other news..... 

jehan plays the flute. this is actually just canon i don’t make the rules. they’re actually really good but mostly just play incomprehensible modern pieces, and also bach. this choice is not up to the listener. you get what you get and you don’t get upset. enjoy your spectralist 40-minute solo flute monstrosity quietly or leave.

i think that musichetta can play the accordion. i think that bossuet can play the banjo. i think that joly can play the clarinet. i think that together they have a stupid little bluegrass/klezmer trio that sounds questionable in concept but in reality is genuinely really good. they don’t perform anywhere, it’s just for fun. sometimes they play on the balcony or with the windows open, to mixed reviews. (the world is not ready for them yet 😔)

cosette can play the cello. cmon. of course she can. her cello vibes are through the roof. marius thinks it’s hot. he’s correct.

i think that courfeyrac actually can kind of play the piano, unlike CERTAIN people. like, he doesn’t play a lot now, but he had lessons growing up and can still play decently well. marius thinks that this is also hot. he’s correct. (RIP to marius’s little pea-brain, fried by musical talent. if courf and cosette ever played a sweet little duet he would simply perish.)

grantaire can’t really play the guitar, but he sometimes does anyways. HOWEVER, he’s actually got a decent voice.... which is a secret, except for when joly and bossuet and musichetta make him join their band for the evening and sing for a few songs. they hold his wine captive to make him stay, but that’s mostly for show--grantaire doesn’t really mind, so long as it’s a private affair and nobody records it. (courf has a recording, anyways--he shows enjolras and enjolras is..... 👁👄👁)

feuilly has the vibes of somebody who should be able to play the guitar, but he can’t. this is confusing to everybody. he does not care. he will not learn. it’s his business and he doesn’t want to. it’s not his problem.

anyways, my askbox is OPEN to questions/prompts/headcanons/etc. send me many i would like to procrastinate extra hard. xoxoxo

[blackbutler-readerinsertsandjunk]

Oh! I had no idea asks were open. On the header it says closed. I hope you don't mind if I spam you questions and asks lol. I mean, I'll do it in moderation of course! For this one, I'd like to know what your house, patronus and factor like favourite character/s is! And may I also known your hcs for the school aged BB characters' houses? Thank ya! Muah!

I should really fix that; anytime the askbox isn’t closed, asks are open! Gonna see if I can change up my header so it’s less confusing :)

Also, anytime it’s open, you can ALWAYS spam me with asks!!! :D

I hope I’m understanding the question right here! SO, I think my house would definitely be Hufflepuff! The quiz I took says my Patronus would be a swan! And does this mean my favorite Harry Potter character? Because that would absolutely be Snape!

And here’s some headcanons for ya, I can’t believe these got so long!!

I didn’t do all the school age characters because I felt that’d be a LOT for one post, so I ended up doing Cheslock, Ciel, Clayton, Edward, Joanne, Lizzie, and Soma! Feel free to request more if you wanna see others, once the askbox is open again!

This was really fun and thought-provoking, it took me a while to get done but I loved it! I was really into Harry Potter as a kid so revisiting the world in a new perspective was so great!!

Cheslock

Gryffindor for sure! Although he’s undeniably bold, and can certainly be brave, Cheslock tends to be an example of the other side of the Gryffindor coin; he’s reckless and impulsive, and often pulls pranks on other houses. ― And sometimes on the people he doesn’t like in his own house.

He’s a half-blood, with his genes being split, unusually, about 50/50. His father is a high-ranking individual with a perfectly pureblood lineage, and his mother is a muggle with no wizard heritage whatsoever.

While he’s generally good at heart, there are many other Gryffindors who can’t stand him because he’s forever costing the house five points here, ten points there… he’s also brilliant at bending the rules, toeing the line between an upstanding student and a rebellious troublemaker.

He doesn’t really excel in any of his core classes, but he gets good enough grades that he’s never flunked out of any of them. When he gets into second year, he joins the Quidditch team as a beater, and as soon as he’s able to add it in, his extracurricular of choice is, of course, music. He still loves the violin more than anything.

Legend has it he once got transfigured something on a teacher’s desk (it could have been a pen, it could have been an apple, could have been a wand, whatever suits the story better) into a flask of whiskey. Without getting caught!

Ciel

Slytherin, natch, if only because he’s very shrewd and, if necessary, will do anything he needs to. Though his personality isn’t popular with a lot of the other students, even in his own house, everyone acknowledges that he’s actually a very good leader.

He’s definitely a pureblood, or at least he has so little muggle blood in his heritage that most people consider him so. Both of his parents were wizards, but there is some muggle blood a few generations back on his father’s side.

Curiously, he doesn’t care much about social standing or competitions or the like. That said, he still manages to earn Slytherin a lot of house points just by doing the things he’s good at and scoring exceptional marks on tests.

In his first year especially, he struggles with flying quite a bit, and he never really grows to be that skilled on a broom despite doing well enough to pass the class. What he lacks there, he makes up for in charms, and later, the study of ancient runes. He often needs a tutor in his other classes in the first year or two; in his later years, though, he becomes a tutor to younger students, especially for charm spells.

His housemates will vouch for the fact that he seems to get an awful lot of mail from his household back home. Some of it is letters. A lot of it is just candy… which he doesn’t even share!!

Clayton

This boy is a Ravenclaw through and through! He places a high value on intelligence and is here to learn as much as possible. The Sorting Hat seemed to mull over for a while whether he ought to go in Ravenclaw or Slytherin. He’s surprisingly popular with his housemates, probably for his great intellect and his cool, focused demeanor.

He’s a half-blood, though with more wizard heritage than muggle. His mother is a near-pureblood, with most of her ancestors being pureblood wizards, and his father is a half-blood, with most of his parents also being half-bloods.

A good percentage of Ravenclaw’s points come from him. He performs well on exams, is an excellent tutor to the first- and second-years, and, though he can certainly be sadistic, typically doesn’t act on it or do anything that might cost them points.

He starts out being one of the best students in potions ― and in his later years, graduates to being among the top three in alchemy. As he matures in his classes, he also elects to take magical theory, which goes on to eventually be his chosen area of study during his wizarding career.

There was a year wherein he dated every single one of Prefect Lawrence Bluewer’s sisters in succession. Depending on who you hear the story from, Lawrence either is still pissed, or gave Clayton his blessing. Either way, awkward.

Edward

Absolutely Gryffindor, as if there was ever any doubt! He was sorted in record time, and he’s the other side of Cheslock’s coin ― a gentleman who always does the right thing, who aims to serve, a courageous young man with the heart of a lion. (That said, however, he and Cheslock are very much close friends, so he often gets swept up in his housemate’s nonsense.)

He’s very close to being considered a pureblood, if most don’t already think of him that way. His mother is a pureblood, and his father is a half-blood who’s more wizard than muggle.

Is constantly trying to make up points that getting involved in Cheslock’s aforementioned shenanigans has cost Gryffindor. At the very least, Edward usually manages to break even, so it’s as if said tomfoolery never happened. Ah, he gets sick of it, but he keeps letting himself get dragged along!

He’s an absolute wiz at flying, (pun very much intended), and starting in his second year, he eventually becomes Gryffindor’s star chaser in Quidditch. He could well make a living doing that in professional leagues. Instead, he also focuses on academia; excelling in charms and defense against the dark arts. Reportedly he’s one of the very, very few who also enjoys the lectures on the history of magic.

The younger students say they’ve seen it for themselves that his wand is outfitted with a sort of false bottom that hides a plain knife. They all wonder why that kind of wand would have chosen a fellow like Edward, or indeed why it exists in the first place!

Joanne

He’s a Hufflepuff, and proud to be! Similarly to Edward, it didn’t take very long at all for him to be sorted. He’s on the shy side, especially for his first few years, but once he starts coming out of his shell, he makes a lot of friends… even in other houses! He still feels most comfortable around other Hufflepuffs, though. They just get him!

One of the handful of rare students who’s a full pureblood with very little, if any, discernible muggle blood in his heritage. Both of his parents are purebloods, which seems to surprise people, because despite his gentility, Joanne seems to struggle with the more intensive magical concepts.

He’s not all that concerned with points, because he’s pretty much just interested in his coursework. However, like Ciel, he tends to earn house points for Hufflepuff anyway simply due to the fact that he tests well, he’s always there to help someone if they need it, and he follows the rules.

It, er… takes him a while to get the hang of flying during his first year, and even then, he tends to stay off a broom if he can help it. His favorite of his core classes is herbology, and during later years, he absolutely blossoms when he starts studying the care of magical creatures. He’s just got such a soft spot for taking care of things. He’s also fond of arithmancy, which boggles people’s minds ― they think a difficult class like that would stress him out!

Whenever he can’t sleep, he often hangs out with the Friar. The two of them (along with possibly another Hufflepuff ghost or two) will just sit in one of the common rooms while Joanne reads, and sometimes the Friar will stay even after Joanne falls asleep in a chair.

Lizzie

Nobody better have anything bad to say about Hufflepuffs where she can hear it!! Unlike her brother, the Sorting Hat took a little bit with her, waffling between whether she would be a better fit for Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. Her undying loyalty, sweetness, and strength eventually got the choice made. Other houses might think them strange, but Lizzie is a very bubbly young lady and has made wonderful friends with nearly all her housemates!

Her similarities with Edward lie in their heritage. Most people think of her as just one step down from a full pureblood.

Although she doesn’t take competition too terribly seriously, she still wants to earn as many points as she can for her house. She’s very like Joanne in that she earns points by being very kind to everyone and helping where she can, and putting as much effort into her exams as possible.

Don’t let her petite stature and sweetness fool you ― she is a beast of a seeker once she works her way up there! Quidditch is just her hobby, though, as she much prefers charms and is shockingly very adept at potions. She also takes apparition lessons in her sixth year, and dabbles for a short time in divination. She also at least considers joining Joanne in the care of magical creatures, even if she might not end up doing it.

The fact that she’s dating Ciel, a Slytherin who is seemingly her opposite, is just incomprehensible to most people. There are those who say he must have slipped her a love potion or done some other spell on her. These rumors, however, are untrue. She simply adores Ciel, and that is all there is to it.

Soma

Many of his classmates are stumped as to why a prince was sorted into Hufflepuff! Then… they meet him, and it all makes sense. He’s made of sunshine and is astonishingly devoted to anyone he decides is his friend. And, well, he sort of attaches himself like that to everybody. Strange, everybody thinks? Maybe… but these are his people!!

He’s a half-blood, with a bit more wizard blood than muggle. His father is actually not pureblood; instead, his father is a muggle whose parents were both half-bloods, and it’s Soma’s mother who is a near-pureblood, a witch whose parents are a half-blood and a pureblood.

He’s rather unconcerned with the house points, preferring to concentrate on everything he can learn in his classes. There’s so much he doesn’t know! He often costs Hufflepuff points with some oblivious behavior, as well as his exam scores not being the best, but he also often earns just as many points with kind behavior toward other students.

He enjoys his astronomy class in particular, and seems to do very well in herbology even though it’s not his favorite. He joins Edward in being thoroughly fascinated by the history of magic. He also loves transfiguration, consistently getting the highest marks in that class. It might surprise everyone that he takes muggle studies as an elective ― that interests him too, okay! In later years he’ll probably need a lot of counseling to figure out what he wants to focus his attention on.

His friend and protector Agni literally kind of followed him to school because their bond is so strong. Agni’s a half-blood who works in the kitchen at Hogwarts, and lives on the grounds, so whenever Soma needs him, he’s there. Soma loves this! All his friends in one place!

[sunnychoir]

SUNNYCHOIR’S RP PLOTTING CHEAT-SHEET

Want new-and-exciting plots for your character? Long to reach out to more of your followers, but don’t know where to start? Fear not! Fill out this form and give your RP partners both present and future all the of juicy jumping off points they need to help you get your characters acquainted.

Be sure to tag the players whose characters YOU want more cues to interact with, and repost, don’t reblog! Feel free to add or remove sections as you see fit. Template here.

Mun name: Andy OOC Contact: Tumblr IM’s, askbox, or discord!

Who the heck is my muse anyway:

Miriam Price. Evil southern belle, psychic witch, roller derby champ, big meanie, wild child, former golden child of the Price family, and the polar opposite of a mom friend

Points of interest:

bioluminescent eyes (like this, but bright turquoise)

all kinds of magic. Hexes, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, a touch of hypnotism (see here for how that works), mediumship,

heavy accent, unlike her brother who went through speech therapy to make it all but disappear 

Huge sweet tooth

Can and will butt in and make rude ass comments, has no respect for anyone who doesn’t stick up for themselves 

What they’ve been up to recently:

roller skating 

staying out all night, and spending the next day hungover, rinse and repeat

pretending that she doesn’t miss Marion now that he’s keeping his distance (as per her request, btw)

Friday Night Majohng with the coven

Just driving around in her pickup truck to pass the time

Where to find them:

roller rink

clubs/bars/especially ones specifically lgbt+ or just for wlw

really anywhere out and about, Miriam rarely spends time at home

Current plan:

to leave town forever, but for now she’s content to keep doing what she’s always done: complain about things are and expect everything else to change instead

Desired interactions:

FRIENDSHIP (Miriam is..picky though, so good luck)

or really any relationship where Miriam gets called out on her bullshit

i’m actually a picky shipper but...i would not mind some gals being pals 

FOUND FAMILY

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY...ENEMIES 

Offered interactions:

flawed relationships, Miriam is...not the ideal date

gimme ur lady muses, Miriam is extroverted, very chatty when she feels like it, and while she’s a real nasty bully she’ll still look out for her fellow ladies

^^^ which means ur lady muse being harassed? Don’t mind if she steps in

pasted this from Marion’s version of this post but horror/supernatural themes? Got you covered. Your muse a paranormal investigator? Enthusiast? The twins are pretty well-known in the southeast, so feel free to have your muse know who they are!!

Current open post/s:

literally any post tagged #on stage ❤ | ic can count as an open if you’d like, so long as it’s not clearly for a specific muse. (i.e: closed starter,Miriam is specifically talking to a muse) Go wild, my friends.

Seriously idc that we’ve never interacted before slap urself right on my ic posts

Anything else?:

feel free to make dashcom on stuff, I love it

even if i followed you ages ago, i’ll definitely still take a greeter if you do them!

I do both online and face-to-face roleplay on this blog, if you only do one or the other I’m still game either way.

I can struggle with plotting rp’s out, THEN actually rp-ing it. I do like discussing how it goes, and then using that as a backdrop for current interaction!

one-liners/asks usually will get answered to way faster than para threads

my time zone is eastern time! I live in Ohio

discord is open for mutuals!

[psicomma-s-very-secret-lab]

#ask.1 : Shaun and Tony

(For some reason the askbox on this blog doesn't work so I guess if you've got asks about the characters you can just DM me your question and I'll do a screenshot and answer in a regular post)

@ramblingpolkadots sent me that and I gotta say it's a very interesting topic to me since the relationship between Tony and Shaun is very decisive during Blindsight.

First of all, that friendship is the most incongruous thing given the circumstances where Tony and Shaun met.

Tony is the son of Gene Nocenti, one of Chester's enemies. Blindsight begins shortly after Shaun and Ani get attacked by some guys affiliated to the Nocenti clan during a night out. Both of them manage to get out alive; Shaun got beaten, and Ani got shot in the leg, but all their opponents winded up dead or severely injured. It was the case of Silver Nocenti, Gene's youngest son and Tony's dear baby brother. He wasn't supposed to be here that night- Silver was stabbed in the face by Ani and died after a few days at the hospital.

Of course, the vendetta was de rigueur for the Nocentis, but Tony is the one to be truly upset about Silver's passing. His death ravaged him; Silver was the only good soul in that family of rascals and he most definitely did not deserve to go first. That's why avenging him becomes a personal business for Tony.

While the rest of the clan was busy pressuring Chester aka. Pluto to get him to deliver the whore that committed the offense, Tony investigated on his own and ended up finding Ani's phone, that she had lost during the infamous night of the attack.

He manages to track them down and finds the apartment where Shaun and Ani were hiding and attacks them at the moment when they least expect it. While Tony was clever enough to find Shaun and Ani on his own, he didn't have the presence of mind to tell anyone what he was up to and going solo was definitely not a good idea since the attack failed and he ends up being captured and held hostage by Shaun.

At that point, things get weird, and uncomfortable as fuck. Ani can't look at Tony in the eye because the guilt is killing her; she never meant to kill a man, she never thought she could do such a thing, it was an accident. And of course Tony can't look at Ani either because even though the sorrow and the rage are eating him from inside, he knows the moment he lays his eyes on her that yes, she's telling the truth, she didn't mean to do that, and yes, it was an accident. That girl is harmless. Worse than that; she's actually a good person, offering to take care of his wounds, bringing him food and everything. It would've been so much easier if she had been crazy, unstable, violent... But he couldn't put the blame on her. Ani's kindness even reminded Tony of Silver and he knew that killing her to avenge him would not only make him feel worse but also would be the dumbest thing to do ever.

Shaun believes that the capture of Tony will make the Nocentis change their mind and that they'd finally be willing to give up on Ani. What Shaun didn't expect is that Tony is the black sheep of the clan; as an illegitimate son of the big boss, he has a lot less value than his brothers. The negotiations go on for a few days and that's when Shaun and Tony get to know each other and realize they actually have a lot in common.

Shaun and Tony more or less have the same job. They both got blood on their hands, and they both follow the orders of a fatherly figure. They're not professionals; they're naturals- in the way that they grew up in violence, and both their families had been involved in criminal activities for generations before they were born, so they're that kind of guys who never really got the choice. They're both driven by rage, (Tony's rage is contingent though, unlike Shaun's rage which is pathological and chronic) and feel guilty for the unspeakable things they've done in the past. Also, neither of them condone violence against women.

Last thing they've got in common is boxing. Shaun started boxing when he was 13, and Tony started boxing and wrestling at 8 (the only thing that ever made his dad proud of him tbh) and believe it or not, even if he's one inch or two shorter than Shaun, and a few pounds lighter, Tony is a much better fighter than him, and by far. Which is kind of a big deal, cause Shaun is pretty much of a killing machine.

They started to bond when Tony was in the living room, handcuffed. Shaun was punching a bag in "the white room" (an empty bedroom in the apartment that Shaun more or less rearranged into an exercise room- also the place where he locks himself up when he feels the rage kicking in) the door was half open and Tony could see Shaun's reflection in the mirror so he observed him and his shadow for a while before saying something like "Your legs are slow" loud enough so that Shaun could hear. Shaun slammed the door as an answer and that was the end of the first exchange.

But yeah as time goes by and they end up having no choice but to spend time with each other (cause someone's got to keep an eye on Tony who is, after all, a hostage). Tony understands that Shaun is his brother's puppet and that he didn't even want to be involved in the conflict he had with the Nocentis in the first place. Shaun understands that Tony isn't like the rest of his family and didn't approve of the way they retaliate in general.

At some point, Tony, worn out by the captivity, begs Shaun for a cigarette. He agrees to give him a cig, Tony takes a drag, nervously.

"So what is she to you exactly, huh?"

"What?"

"Ani. She's not your girl. Or at least not really am I wrong?"

"Not your goddamn business."

"I've seen you two arguing, bantering, making out, and I've heard you fucking like cats in heat for the past four days. I'm so involved I feel violated. I think we've crossed the “not-your-goddamn-business” line honestly."

"Why do you wanna know that anyway?"

"I don't know. You do nasty things for your brother, I do nasty things for my dad. Guys like us generally aren't allowed to care that much about someone."

"You cared enough about your brother to risk your life by coming here."

"It's not the same."

"It's exactly the same."

*There's a silence, Tony finishes his cigarette*

"Silver always thought of me as a role model. I always wanted him to have a good life, cause, well, he was good. Guess I fucked up. You wanted to keep Ani away from all your shit and you fucked up too. We're both shitty at protecting people we love."

Shaun left after a minute without saying anything. He went back an hour later throwing a blanket at Tony's face and going back to the bedroom.

I've got some more ideas for them during Blindsight: like I'm pretty sure at some point, Shaun will cut Tony loose for a sparring session and Tony's gonna beat his ass and Shaun will be like 'wtf?? I'm 20 pounds heavier than you!' - also Tony learns about Shaun being bisexual and he goes like 'oh. okay. good for you, man' and it's actually the first time Shaun saw a straight guy reacting like that after learning about his bisexuality. And it's thanks to that incongruous friendship Ani doesn't end up savagely murdered at the end of Blindsight. (I'm not elaborating on that cuz I don't wanna spoil! I still hope I'll be able to finish this story one day and that it will be available for you to read! ;__;)

Tony and Shaun are probably gonna meet again after Blindsight cause, well, I like these two together. And I like to imagine Ani being falsely jealous of Tony like "Huuuh you're going to see your boyfriend! :D"

[taestfully]

They cheat on you

Request: Can you do a BTS reaction to them cheating on you? very angsty please thank you x  //   BTS reaction to them cheating on you? incredibly angsty please

A/N: So this was in my askbox twice idk if it’s the same person or not but anyway. Angst has been requested and angst shall be given please go easy on me my heart is too soft I cant write angst well.  I also made this a scenario since it’s really coming from the reader’s perspective.

Don't be shy! Send in a request!

Seokjin

Untrue, unfaithful, liar...all words you would have never used to describe Jin...at least not up until that moment.

Now, you were standing before him, those three words swirling around in your head like a strong storm. Now those were the only words you’d use to describe him. 

You didn’t move, your legs seemingly had forgotten how to function. All you could do was stare at Jin through tear-filled eyes in disbelief. Somewhere in your broken heart you hoped this was all just a nightmare; that your boyfriend of three years hadn’t actually cheated on you. But the pain in your chest was too real.

“(Y/n),” Jin spoke and the sound of your name falling out of his mouth made you stiffen. He noticed, sighing. He was at a loss of what to say. What could he say? He had cheated on you. There wasn’t a good explanation he could offer you. But he felt horrible, so disgusted with himself. He wanted you to know that, at least. “I’m sorry,” he said, a few tears trailing down his cheek. “I know that doesn’t mean anything now, but I am. Cheating on you was the worst decision of my life.” And he had meant that, but you didn’t care.

“You’re right, Jin. Sorry doesn’t mean anything.” You watched the way his features crumbled and the way his lip trembled as he cried. Your heart constricted in pain at the sight of him, knowing deep down he was sorry. However, after what he had done, no amount of apologies would ever be enough.

Yoongi

Yoongi was a busy man. A hardworking man. He was always touring, writing/producing music, and practicing. In fact his career as an idol took up most of his time, only allowing you the scraps of whatever time he had left. But you had accepted that fact, knowing full well that Yoongi could never be fully yours. And you had thought that his career was the only thing you had to share him with. You had never expected that there was another person he was spending his very limited time with.

In hindsight, you should’ve noticed it. You should’ve thought more about why his free time began to dwindle and why he always wanted to cut your time together short. You always assumed he was just tired since he never really had proper sleeping habits. You always would be understanding when he said he needed to go home early, sending him home with wishes for a good night’s sleep.

Now, your brain was screaming at you for missing all the red flags. You felt incredibly stupid, amongst all the other raging emotions you were feeling at that moment. You felt insignificant, betrayed, angry, and sad. All the emotions surged through you so strongly you felt as if you could faint. Yoongi reached for you, his hand grasping your elbow to steady you. You jerked your arm away as if he burned you. “Don’t fucking touch me,” you spat. “I don’t want you touching me with your hands knowing they’ve touched someone else.”

Yoongi sighed. All he wanted to do at that moment was touch you, hoping his touch could ease away the pain he had caused. But Yoongi wasn’t that naïve. He’d fucked up and there was nothing in the world that could fix that.

Hoseok

Hoseok was always happy. You actually liked to call him sunshine, thinking the nickname fit him perfectly. So when he came to you with tears in his eyes, you knew something was wrong. 

You reached for him, your hands clutching at his elbows gently as you brought him close. “Hobi, what’s wrong?” You began rubbing your hands up and down his arms to soothe him, but it seemed as if your touch was doing just the opposite.

“(Y/n),” he spoke, his voice laced with emotion. “I have to tell you something. I made a huge mistake and I can’t keep it in anymore.” He began to cry harder and you instantly took him in your arms, trying to ignore the way he stiffened. Whatever mistake he had made, you were willing to let him confess it. Until he told you what the mistake was. “I - I cheated on you.”

In one respect, you were glad he had confessed it to you while on the other hand you wished he never said anything at all. You respected honesty, but ironically in that moment you hated it. Why couldn’t he have just let you live in the blissful ignorance? You would’ve been none the wiser. And that’s why the heart-shattering news of his unfaithfulness shook you to your core. You pulled away from him to look into his eyes, hoping that he wasn’t telling the truth. The tears in his eyes, however, brought the hope crashing down.

You really didn’t know what to say. Your entire relationship had just crashed and burned before your very eyes within moments. You felt overwhelmed and suddenly you couldn’t breathe. You only offered Hoseok a small glare before you walked away.

Needless to say, you never forgave him...even if he had been honest with you.

Namjoon

It was one of those moments where your emotions were overwhelming you. It was a moment where you couldn’t think properly and you needed Namjoon to be your voice of reason. It was a moment you needed him to calm you down with his thoughtfulness and rationality. 

But this moment was unlike the others. Namjoon, the man you found stability in, was the sole cause of the spike of horrible emotions within you. 

“Baby, let me explain,” he said, reaching out a hand towards you. You stepped out of his reach. It was just like him to try and explain something, even when said something was unexplainable. He could say what he wanted, give you reason after reason to forgive you, but you wouldn’t listen. There was no explanation for unfaithfulness; cheating on someone had no excuse.

“Explain what, Namjoon?” You asked bitterly, crossing your arms as you looked at him. “You cheated on me. You’ve made it very clear that I am not good enough for you.” You felt like another knife had been plunged through your heart at the words you spoke. That was the strongest feeling in your chest, the feeling of insignificance. You had thought you were the most important person to Namjoon, but apparently you weren’t. 

“You know that’s the farthest fucking thing from the truth, (y/n)!” Namjoon yelled. It was a rare sight to see him so worked up. He had always been so levelheaded. “You mean more to me than anyone.” You could see tears in his eyes.

“No I don’t, Namjoon. if I did, you wouldn’t have done this to me.”

Jimin

“You’re a fucking liar!” You yelled, your hands balled in tight fists at your sides. “All those times you told me you loved me, they were all lies!”

Jimin shook his head, tears streaming down his face like rivers. “No, I do love you!” He countered back, stepping closer to you with hands out to touch you. “You’ve got to believe me!”

You scoffed. “You love me, but you’re not in love with me,” you said, feeling your eyes burn with fresh hot tears. “If you were, you wouldn’t have cheated, Jimin.”

Jimin fell silent, having nothing to say back to that. His silence was deafening, speaking the real truth. “Baby,” he breathed as helplessness filled his heart.

You allowed your tears to fall freely. You heart was broken beyond repair. None of Jimin’s sweet words could make you feel better. And nothing could make you take him back. “I just want to know why. Why aren’t you in love with me anymore? Why couldn’t you have just broken up with me instead of stabbing me in the back?”

And the answer Jimin didn’t have. He was stupid. He messed up the wonderful relationship he had with you and he’d have to live with that forever.

Taehyung

You trusted Taehyung. You weren’t the type of lover to breathe down his neck every time he was texting and you didn’t ask where he was every five seconds. Your trust for him allowed him his freedom and you felt secure in your relationship.

So when Taehyung got up from the couch to head to the kitchen, leaving his phone, you blamed pure curiosity when you took a peek at his phone when it lit up with a text. In the text was an attached image of what looked like a girl. Curiosity got the best of you and you opened the message, your heart plummeting into your stomach at the sight of a topless girl with the text ‘I miss you Tae! Come see me please!!<3′. 

The urge to give this girl a piece of your mind was strong, but instead you directed your anger at the true culprit: your boyfriend.

Taehyung came back into the living room only to be met by the sight of you with his phone in your hand and tears in your eyes. The smile he had been wearing vanished. He gulped. “(Y/n)...”

You glared at him, not bothering to wipe your tears. “You know Taehyung, if you don’t want to get caught, you should be a lot more careful.” You could’ve screamed. You wanted to throw his phone straight at his head. You wanted to know why he had fooled you to believe you could trust him. You gave Taehyung his phone back. “You should leave. Looks like someone misses you.”

Taehyung winced at the malice in your voice as he took back his phone. “No, I don’t want to go see her. I’m going to stay here. I’ll make this up to you.”

You didn’t give him that chance. Instead, you kicked him out with a warning to never come back.

Jungkook

“(Y/n)! Please, open up!” Jungkook tried to twist the doorknob, but to no avail. “Baby, please just let me explain.”

You sat at the other side of the door, sobbing with your knees pulled towards your chest. “Fuck you, Jungkook! Go away!”

Jungkook sighed in aggravation. “Babe, she’s nothing! You know I love you.“

You shook your head though you knew he couldn’t see it. “That picture told a whole other story, Jungkook. Don’t fucking lie to me.”

Jungkook began to grow helpless. He wanted to knock the door down and hold you close while telling you that you meant the world to him. But why would you believe him after you had seen that picture of him with another girl? He cursed himself for being so stupid. He loved you and he screwed it all up in a moment of attraction. “Please,” he rested his forehead against the door. “I’m so fucking sorry. It won’t happen again, I promise.“

“That’s what they all say, Jungkook. Now please just do me a favor and go away. I can’t stand you being here anymore!” You sobbed harder after saying that, knowing that once he left he’d never come back. You never wanted to see him again, but your heart weeped over the loss of him. You had loved him.

Jungkook only sat against the wall next to the doorway, tears falling freely. He knew it was over between you. All he wanted was to rewind time and fix his mistake.

(you would not believe how impossible it is to find gifs of bts crying ugh)

[sunnybimbo]

*sneaks inside askbox* Shunkeith? the most blofiest ship there is

it occurred to me halfway through writing this that you may have been asking for headcanons,,,, so expect some of those a little later today LMAO featuring hunk and keith trying to be domestic and only failing a little bit

(also, just a warning: this is barely edited! feel free to point out any errors okay love you bye!!!

edit: now on ao3!

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Keith paused midstep, eyes contemplatively glancing to theceiling before he shrugged. “Probably not. But we should try anyway.”

Hunk grunted, turning back to the space sewing machine whileKeith paced around the room, measuring and rolling the twine back into the ballthat the two of them had accidentally unraveled.

You see: Shiro had accidentally ripped his vest. All that hehad left to wear was his black undershirt, and he kept getting the shivers,despite it having been made of a thin material anyway. Keith and Hunk were, ofcourse, upset that their boyfriend was catching the sniffles because of a tinytear, and so decided to band together and fix it with their combined prowess.

As soon as they’d found the strange little sewing machineand got it working, they’d jumped around for joy (mostly Hunk’s doing) andaccidentally upended an entire box of string. It unraveled before either couldcatch it, and a few were subsequently kicked across the room, unrolling themcompletely (mostly Keith’s fault).

And so, Keith was focusing on cleaning the mess while Hunktried to learn the mechanics of the new machine and patch up Shiro’s vest withoutdamaging it beyond repair.

“You know, we definitely could have asked Coran forhelp. Or Allura, even.” Keith pointed out, half an hour into their ordeal.He’d finished two rolls, and was working on untangling a mess of pink.

Hunk paused, and the machine decided to rip out the stitchhe just made. With a muttered curse, he moved it back in place and started allover.

“We could have.” He agrees. “But won’t Shiroappreciate it more if it comes from us? It’s like… a lover’s gift. Orsomething like that.”

Keith shrugged, and Hunk tossed him a smile.

“Aren’t you having fun?”

Keith pulled a face at that, his nose scrunching up, andHunk couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s fair.”

For the better part of an hour, they worked in acompanionable silence. Hunk, despite his troubles with trying to get themachine to actually hold on to the string, it was going along rather well. Thevest was about halfway patched, and they’d be finished before anyone camelooking for them.

Keith had finished his task extremely quickly, as soon ashe’d gotten into the rhythm of it. Faint red marks lined his fingers from wherehe’d pulled too tight, but those were easily soothed by a few of Hunk’s kisses.

Then, just when Hunk was getting confident in his abilitiesusing the space sewing machine (which he’d decided to dub the spewchine.Totally rolled off the tongue.), it decided that enough was enough, andsputtered to a stop. Smoke plumed from the back, throwing the two boys into apanic at the thought of a fire.

It did little more than smoke, though, and once they’dcalmed down, Hunk pried it open to try and fix it.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“I think it’s just a gear that got thrown out ofplace.” Hunk grunted, trying to stuff half of his body in the tiny machineto fix said gear. “I don’t think I’ll be able to fix it unless we takethis to the workshop.”

He pulled his fingers out, and oil dripped from them like aleaky faucet. “Oh, whoops.” He wiped his hands off on his frontbefore he thought about it, and then he had greasy hands and a greasy chest.

He stood frozen where he stood, staring in horror at hisruined shirt, for so long that Keith couldn’t help but snort, smothering hislaugh against a closed fist.

Hunk huffed, his mouth twinging upwards in a small smile.“Oh, you think that’s funny?”

“Nope.” Keith said, deadpan as ever as hesidestepped around the dirty mess that was Hunk, prying Shiro’s vest from theevil spewchine’s clutches. “Maybe we can just finish by hand?”

“Do you think Alteans used sewing needles?”

“Only one way to find out.”

The two of them split up, then. Hunk went to clean off andto make sure Shiro was still occupied. He was, but only because Lance and Pidgewere distracting him in a game of chess. Or, well… Altean chess. Where ruleswere only relevant if you had enough pawns, and gravity was an illusion. OnlyPidge and Shiro seemed to understand the actual mechanics of the game, and Hunkgot so confused the first time they were shown it that he swore himself off thething.

But, yes. He was well distracted. Atleast for another hour.

This gave Keith plenty of time to hunt down the requiredmaterials. And so, he did the most logical course of action.

He asked Coran.

“Needles, you say?” Coran said, juggling the micefrom one hand as he gave them their check-up. “Like these?”

He lifted a needle full of medicine, and the mouse in hishand - Platt, if Keith wasn’t mistaken- screamed so loud that he passed out. Ormaybe he passed out because of the needle?

“Uh… well, kind of. Something like the endpiece.” Keith described. “With a hole at one end. I think they callit an eye? And you put thread through the eye, so you can fix clothing.”

Coran tossed the syringe over his shoulder. “Oh, ofcourse!” Then, with a few inputs into a nearby monitor, a port opened upand supplied them with an assortment of different sized needles. “Willthese do?”

Keith didn’t question where they came from, or why thesyringe didn’t break upon impact with the floor. Instead, he took the offeredneedles with an appreciative nod and left Coran with his veterinarian duties.

He met up with Hunk in his room, catching him just as hepulled a fresh and clean shirt above his head. He let out a startled scream asthe door opened, crossing his arms in front of him for privacy.

“Keith! Knock first.” he said, only mostly teasingas he squeezed his head in the shirt opening.

“Sorry.” Keith mumbled. “I found needles. Doyou want me to do it this time?”

Hunk paused, pulling out Shiro’s half-finished vest andshaking it free of any lint it had collected. “You can sew?”

Keith looked honestly offended at that insinuation. “Ofcourse I can.”

Hunk plopped down on the bed, and, once Keith settled on theother end, spread the vest between them. Keith quickly got to work, feeding thestring through the eye with surprising ease. His tongue stuck out in hisconcentration as he sewed a strong backstitch into the fabric.

He worked in pure silence, not unlike how they sat togetherbefore. Then, Hunk laid longways across the bed, head settling against Keith’soutstretch leg.

“I guess there’s a lot of little stuff we don’t knowabout each other, huh?”

Keith paused, glancing over at him. Then he gently pappedhis palm against Hunk’s forehead, offering him a smile. “We have plenty oftime to learn.”

This is what Shiro walked in on. His head peeked in, and thetwo scrambled to hide the project (without stabbing themselves with needles)before he saw.

“What are you two up to?” He asked, hiding a bemused smileas the vest slipped from their grasp and pooled at their feet. “Is that my…?”

Hunk heaved a dramatic sigh and plopped back on the bed.Keith gathered up the vest and handed it off to Shiro. “We were trying to fixit for you before you were finished playing.”

“But then we got attacked by a sewing machine.”

Shiro looked vaguely alarmed at that, but Keith waved offHunk’s dramatics easily. “If you don’t mind waiting a little longer, I shouldbe able to finish it soon.”

He looked between the two of them, both barely masking theirdisappointment that they couldn’t finish it in time. And so, Shiro slid ontothe bed between them and patted either side of him, motioning them closer. “Ifyou wouldn’t mind… I have a better idea.”

—

Hours later, after the excitement had died down, and Shirohad kissed his boyfriends silly for their hard work and their sweet gesture,found the team winding down with a nice pre-dinner drink. Lance and Shirosipped at their “coffee byproduct”, as Lance so fondly dubbed it, while Pidge,Keith, and Hunk tried a new type of tea Coran had whipped up.

“I’m still mad you beat me.” Pidge griped, swirling the teaaround the dainty little tea cup. Seemed the things were universal, even inspace. “Was it because I tried to bait you with a pawn, or…?”

Shiro shrugged his shoulders, leaning back in his seat. “Amagician never reveals his secrets.”

“If you cheated…” She vaguely threatens. Shiro reaches overto muss up her hair with a grin. “I’ll tell Allura and Coran on you.”

The four of them dramatically gasped, before falling outlaughing at the thought. Hunk polished off his tea in record time, and had justbegun to stand to grab the teapot for seconds when Shiro motioned for him tosit again.

“I’ll get it. I need a refill, anyway.”

He leaned over and pressed a kiss against Hunk’s temple,before turning in the opposite direction to kiss Keith against his cheek. “Beback in a tick.”

Lance was about to tease the young lovebirds, just as Shirostood and turned towards the kitchen. On his back was a large, stitched heart.One half was a vibrant red, and the other was a strong yellow. In the middle,exactly where Shiro had ripped his vest, was a long line of black thatconnected the pieces perfectly.

He shot Keith and Hunk and incredulous look, and they justembarrassedly shoved their faces back into their drinks, despite one having acompletely empty cup.

“Incredible.” He tossed his hands up in the air. Pidgesnorted, plucking his drink from his hands to steal some of his coffee forherself.

This would only be the beginning of their lovey-dovey phase,and the two of them were going to need buckets of it to survive to onslaught,no doubt.

Shiro returned quickly, with an extra cup for Hunk andKeith. He seemed to have forgotten he’d gone for more coffee for himself, butHunk and Keith gave him big kisses all across his face anyway, snuggling up ontheir side of the table.

Behind his back, Keith and Hunk hooked their hands together. With their free hands, they stole his as their own and cuddled him securely between their bodies. Shiro felt the two of them pass their fingers across his heart (that is, the heart on his back), and he melted into the touch. 

“Love you guys.” Her murmured, after stealing a sip from Keith’s cup. 

Hunk caught Keith’s eye, and the two of them shared a pleased grin. 

—

(And after dinner was over and the three decided to retire to their bedrooms together, nobody mentioned the tiny black hearts sewn on the shoulders of both Hunk’s and Keith’s usual outerwear, matching Shiro’s new patch in style.)

[hamilficsfordays]

New Beginning—Chapter Six: Manipulation

Disclaimer: I don’t know Lin, nor do I know any of his friends or family.

Also posted on Ao3

Summary: The plan to have Alexa return is finally put into motion.

Rating: M for language, mentions of cutting/self-harming

Words: 4824

Askbox / Masterlist / Chapter Five / Chapter Seven

Later that same evening, Lin was in his office with a blank document open on his computer.

Vanessa was stood behind him, hands on his shoulders, carefully feeding him instructions.

“You’re going to write a letter expressing your heartfelt thoughts on the situation. But it has to be sad.”

“You want it to be sad?”

She nodded. “It needs to be sadder than an animal adoption commercial. Then you’re going to read it during curtain call one night to the Hamilton audience. Whoever runs social media for the show will film it and put it online. It’ll make people sympathetic. That’s just what we need them to be when we anonymously send those documents to the press. That sympathy will turn into public outcry at the first sight of injustice. Nothing puts self-entitled bitches like Janine on their ass faster than a group of execs forcing her to handle angry donors who are demanding answers.”

“You really think that’ll work?”

“Trust me.” she kissed his cheek. “Put your heart and soul into this and she’ll be back here in no time.”

For a while, Lin hesitated to write anything. He could think of plenty of things that he wanted to write, but nothing seemed to want to come out. Everything was second guessed. Would it be sincere enough? Would it gain sympathy? Most of all: would it get her back?

Eventually, he gave up on trying to appeal to others. He wrote exactly what he was feeling; the pain, the frustration, the heartache.

He printed it out before heading to bed in the hope it would be just enough to get the job done.

-

At curtain call the following night, Lin bowed with his cast before pulling a paper out of his sleeve.

“If I could just have another minute of your time,” he asked of the crowd, applause dying down.

He opened the paper, beginning to read aloud. Behind him, the cast knew of his intentions and was eager to show their support. In the audience, cell phones were pulled out, eagerly awaiting what came next.

“I wanted to take time this evening to talk about how incredibly grateful I am to work alongside a tremendous cast every night. I truly believe that they push me further every day. They’re my family away from home.” he paused for just a moment, looking back at the cast who encouraged him to continue.

“While I’m so grateful for my family here, I know my family at home gets no standing ovation at the end of each night for being who they are, though they totally deserve it.”

The crowd chuckled at the notion.

“My amazing wife works hard day in and day out, pushing herself every day for me and our two kids—truly the best of wives and best of women.”

There was applause.

“My son Sebastian inspires me every day with his views of the world around us. He is truly a reminder that the greatest thing we can honor is the child in all of us.”

More applause.

“My daughter,” his voice cracked as he choked back tears, the audience erupting in applause. “One of the smartest, most incredible people I’ve ever met. Her strength, her passion is above all else. I look to her for ways to better myself each and every day. She has—” he paused, unable to hold back tears. The audience applauded again, Renee stepping in to finish the note for him. She continued.

“She has been and continues to be the most astonishing source of hope since my wife and I brought her into our lives less than a month ago. Recently, she was pulled rather abruptly from our lives for extenuating circumstances, but that doesn’t change how prominently she’s affected me or my family. I only hope that wherever she is at this very moment, she knows how much my wife and I love and miss her.”

Renee was brought to tears this time.

“I would not be standing before you today—that is to say, Hamilton would not exist without my family.”

More applause. The audience was on their feet, Lin smiling through his tears as Renee continued.

“If I could ask you to do anything this evening, it would be to go hug your loved ones, tell them that they’re loved and appreciated. I certainly know I’m going to do the same.”

More applause erupted as the cast headed off-stage. Lin changed out of his costume and prepared to head outside and sign autographs at the stage door. On his way out, he received multiple texts from Vanessa who commended him on his work.

[It’s already all over twitter. I’ve never seen so many crying emojis. You nailed it.]

[If everything goes right, this should be national news by tomorrow morning.]

They were both up early the next morning. Lin was feeding Sebastian in the kitchen while Vanessa was in the living room, dressed for work, changing the channel from one news outlet to the other. Several of them were fixated on last night’s events, just as Vanessa had expected.

“It’s working!” She called out. “I’m almost kind of upset that the public is so easily manipulated! What’s going to happen on election day next year?”

“Did you hear back from Claudia yet?” he prompted changing the concerning subject. “Isn’t that the next step in this plan?”

“She hasn’t gotten ahold of me ye—” As if on command, her phone rang. It was Claudia, likely with news regarding their situation. She moved to Lin’s side, putting the call on speaker so they both could hear.

“Claudia? What happened?”

“¡Ay Dios Mio! I got it!” she exclaimed. “I have a bag full of everything that was in her shredder.”

“Perfect! Bring it here tonight and we can start putting things together.”

As she hung up the phone, she caught the slightest glimpse of a smile on Lin’s face.

“I know you work tonight, but when you get back, you’re gonna have to help us sort through all of that shredded paper.”

“I miss her.” he seemed rather distracted as he wiped the remaining food off of Sebastian’s face.

“It’s only a matter of time before she’s back.” V pointed out. “I’m surprised that you’re not more excited.”

“I wonder what she’s doing right now.”

“She probably heard about your speech and is in tears like everyone else.”

-

“If you take a medication, please line up at the door.”

Hamilton biography in hand, Alexa stood in line by the med clinic and waited to receive her medication. Her usual pediatric dosage of Zoloft typically kept most of her symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD at bay, but lately, it wouldn’t be enough.

When she reached the door, she swiftly hid the pill behind her teeth, swallowing the cup of water that came after. They checked her mouth to confirm it was gone, before moving along to the next person.

Once she was back in the main hall, she pretended to cough, placing the pill in her hand so it could be carefully thrown out when no one was looking.

In hindsight, it wasn’t the brightest idea to not be taking her meds. She’d been voluntarily doing it since her return to the orphanage; though she couldn’t keep any pills down during her stay in the hospital anyway.

She felt more on edge, that was for sure, but at the moment it was the only way she could protest her current situation. She almost hoped to snap, putting the people who had sent her back into the system through hell. That, and losing her mind enough to not remember how badly she missed Lin would be the best case scenario.

She approached an empty table and began quietly trying to read the Hamilton biography. The book was hidden under the table to avoid another page-tearing incident.

The noise from the TV at the end of the hall distracted her, however, as it was especially loud that morning. She got up, headed toward the group huddled around the tv to complain.

“Could you turn that shit down?” she demanded, glancing at the screen. “No want wants to hear your—”

Her sentence was cut short, her words suddenly missing at the sight of Lin, onstage in his final costume, on the screen.

“My daughter…“

His speech was moving, something she had come to expect from Lin. As Renee finished the speech, some of the others surrounding the tv screen turned to look at her. She realized her mouth was hanging open in disbelief.

His words sounded so final. It almost felt like he knew something that she didn’t know.

Like maybe there actually was a chance she would never see him again.

The thought haunted her as she rushed to Claudia’s office upstairs, only to discover that she wasn’t there.

“Alexa… you’re not allowed to be up here.” Instead, she was greeted by Janine, who was stepping out of her office.

“I need to speak to my case manager,” Alexa demanded. “It’s an emergency.”

“Well, she’s not here today.” Janine attempted to move her back toward the stairs.

“Probably desperately trying to find a new job.”

“New job? What new job?”

“That’s none of your concern. Why don’t you head back downstairs?”

“I want to speak to someone about my case with the Miranda family.” the teen stood her ground. She was determined to not be moved until she got answers.

“That case has been nullified.”

“Wait, what? According to Claudia it was still being reviewed—”

“If you’d like, I can have someone discuss your options for aging out. It’s unlikely that another foster family will be looking to take you in at your age.”

“You can’t just tell me the case has been nullified and not explain why! I deserve to know what’s happening—”

“I appreciate your admiration, but I’m afraid it’s irrelevant. The Miranda household has been deemed unfit for foster care children. Now if you’ll just head back downstairs—”

“But you can’t do this! They were the nicest people I’ve ever—”

“Miss Jordan, if you don’t move back downstairs, I’m going to have to call the authorities.”

Being black in America was difficult enough without the police getting involved to make a bad situation worse. Alexa seceded, frustrated, feeling tears well up in her eyes as she headed downstairs. She angrily wiped them away.

In a way, this felt expected, like just another day of the foster care system letting her down. She was supposed to be used to this feeling, but somehow it hurt ten times as bad in this case.

She negated heading back to the large room with everyone else, instead of ducking into a corner at the bottom of the staircase.

Her heart was pounding as she sunk to the floor and tried to catch her breath.

The anxiety attack was coming on faster than she could handle. Her meds typically slowed things down when she got too panicked, but without them, she couldn’t handle what was coming next.

This was it.

She’d never see him again.

She didn’t even really get to say goodbye.

For the first time since her return to the orphanage, she felt alone.

Not just in the system, but in this world.

There was an impulse driving her that she couldn’t control without meds.

It drove her back to her bed, where hidden somewhere in her dresser was a half-full package of plastic shaving razors. She pulled one out, snapping the plastic at the top and pulling a small blade out with ease.

It wasn’t her first time trying this.

The blade was unused, making it easy to cut through her skin.

Both of her forearms were covered in open wounds before the door to the room burst open, a female, middle-aged staff member coming inside.

“You know you’re not allowed to be here during the daytime—What are you doing?!”

Alexa could feel her cheeks turning red, her shame rising as the woman caught sight of all the blood.

-

That night, Claudia, Vanessa, and Lin were sat on the floor of his office going through the thousands of shredded pieces of paper in the hope of finding Alexa’s documents and putting them back together.

They slaved over Chinese takeout, working through the night. As pages started piecing together, Vanessa began to notice a negative pattern.

“Wow… there’s a lot of questionable shit in here.” She pulled some of the half-pages out. “Public funding being put toward hotel stays in Miami, the rent on a penthouse in the financial district… not to mention there are documents shredded from the files of other kids. I honestly wish we were able to sue this woman… there’s enough here to put her away for a long time.”

“Let’s focus on getting what we need.” Lin reminded her. “Alexa is the most important part of this. If we can cost Janine her job after the fact—”

“It’s a bonus.” Vanessa finished.

Hours passed. It was an ungodly hour in the morning before Claudia began to raise concerns.

“Aye, there’s so much here. I’m worried we won’t have everything we need in time.”

“We’re going to need all night at this rate. This is more than I expected.”

“I haven’t found a single document with her name on it.” Whether it be from exhaustion, lack of progress or both, Lin seemed defeated. “What if this was all for nothing?”

“This was not all for nothing.” V took his hand, lacing their fingers together. “We’re gonna fix this, okay? Trust me.”

“You haven’t even entertained the possibility that this won’t work.” he insisted. “It might not.”

“That sounds like a waste of time. Lin, we’ve been together for ten years. Have I ever been wrong about this kind of thing?”

“Not really.”

“Exactly. Please trust me on this.” she kissed him. “I’m confident everything will work out.”

-

By sunrise, they’d put all of the pieces together. They made copies of the once-shredded pages with plans to expose them by the end of the day.

“Shouldn’t we just give it to them now?” Lin questioned as Claudia left that morning. “Most morning shows are on until noon. We could get the news out now and by the end of the day, everyone will know.”

“What, so they can squeeze the story between back-to-school fashion shows and the latest superfood?” Vanessa compiled the copies, stapling each set together and sliding them each into a manila envelope. “No one will take it seriously if it’s morning news. Anyone who watches the morning news is either up at five am on their way to work and too tired to care, or willfully unemployed and watching mid-morning. This needs to be evening news. Then they’ll be all over it. People tend to be annoyed after a long day at work and a frustrating commute home. They’ll be more likely to get angry about something like this.”

“That sounds manipulative.” he pointed out.

“Of course it is. I’m a lawyer. This entire plan works because the public is so easily manipulated. Why do you think I told you to make your speech so emotional?”

Lin was quiet for a moment.

“It’s been a long night. You should get some rest. I can call my mom and ask her to look after Sebastian. I’m going to get ready for work.”

“I should take Tobillo for a walk first.”

“Okay.” She kissed his forehead. “I love you.”

-

At one, Vanessa headed out for a lunch break claiming to be meeting a client. Instead, she took the train up to midtown to deliver a few copies of their records. First to NBC News, then Fox, ABC, CNN and New York 1. At each location, she refused to give a name. She left the documents with a receptionist who would inevitably hand them off to someone else.

By the time she’d returned to the office around four, the news was already beginning to break. There were a few online articles that had gained traction on social media, only scratching the surface of the whole story. By the time she’d gotten home around six, every evening news show had latched on.

“Coming up tonight, potential corruption within the foster care system here in New York City. Why one particular family who recently had a foster child unjustifiably removed from their home has been told to Wait For It in regards to their return, only to find out that the case they were in the middle of had been nullified.”

“I hope you’re ready for an egregious amount of bad puns based on Hamilton lyrics.” she told Lin, who was quietly watching the tv from the loveseat.

The news led to an outcry on social media, where the hashtag #givebacktheirgirl sparked public outrage over the incident. Just as Vanessa had predicted, people were upset by the news and had plans to fight back. Protests began downtown near the orphanage. As the movement gained more traction, some of the organization’s private donors began to express their displeasure with the situation.

When Janine headed into her office the next morning, she was greeted by Jonathan Daley, the owner of the organization.

“Mr. Daley,” she stopped short on the way to her office. “I didn’t expect to see you, sir—”

“Ms. Bryan, we need to speak immediately.” He opened the door to her office for her, stepping inside. “This is not good.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

Jonathan took Janine’s usual seat behind her own desk, leaving Janine to sit on the other side of her desk like a guest in her own office. His suit was worth more than any item of clothing she owned, and he wore that fact rather well.

“We’ve received several calls from benefactors who are furious with the news of our history with the Miranda family. When I attempted to examine the case for more details, I was told the case had been nullified by you. Why is that?”

“I—I don’t—”

“The information released by the media included copies of clearly shredded documents from that girl’s file. What explanation do you have for that?”

“Sir, it was that case manager, Claudia. She shredded the documents to—”

“I don’t care who’s fault it is. You need to fix this.” He stood up, heading towards the door. “So far, this has all been traced back to you which means it’s your responsibility to take care of it. If we lose even a single donor because of this, it’ll be on you.”

“What do you expect me to do?!”

“Keep the public outcry to a minimum. If that means pulling her out of that pediatric psych ward and putting her back with the Miranda family, do it. Honestly, I don’t see why you didn’t do that in the first place.”

“I was trying to save us money by keeping enough children in the system—”

“Saving money?” he stopped just short of leaving, turning back to her. “The money we’ll lose if donors start backing out will be a hundred times what we’re making by keeping one person here. Still think that you’re helping us?”

Janine was silent.

“Fix it. Immediately.”

The door slammed shut behind him.

-

This wasn’t Alexa’s first time in a pediatric psych ward.

As per usual, she was one of the least fucked up people there.

They’d stuck her in a room with a fourteen-year-old white girl who was anorexic, constantly staring at herself in the mirror over the sink. Her blue hospital gown gave the slightest impression that she was bigger than she was, which was not very big.

“You’re like, ninety pounds Alyssa, stop fucking staring at yourself. It’s not gonna make you any thinner.”

The girl turned to glare at her, still in bed in the middle of the day, before refocusing on herself in the mirror.

Alexa sighed, rubbing her eyes. There were bandages wrapped each of her forearms that she always managed to forget about until the skin under the bandages itched and she couldn’t reach it.

A boy that was about their age popped his head into the open door.

“Why is rape illegal?!” he demanded before a nurse pulled him back.

“Oh, that’s nice.” Alexa rolled her eyes. “Just the friendly reminder I needed on top of this shitty situation.”

“Girls, lunch is here. Come eat.” Another nurse peeked her head.

“I can’t eat, I’m like three hundred pounds!” Alyssa insisted.

“Alyssa, do you need to see a doctor?” the nurse reminded her. Defeated, Alyssa headed out of the room and down the hall toward the dining room.

“Can I please not sit next to that kid who set his parents on fire again?” Alexa asked the nurse on her way out. “He always stares at me like I’m his next victim.”

“If he touches you, let one of our nurses know.” she reminded the teen.

She grabbed her tray and sat at the table beside the fire kid. As per usual, he glared at her without a word.

Her discharge couldn’t come fast enough.

-

“I’m so glad you two could meet on such short notice.”

The next day, Janine had managed to get both Vanessa and Lin into her office. They sat beside one another on the other side of her desk, quiet, listening.

“I believe there’s been some kind of misunderstanding here. I think we got off on the wrong foot. There was an accidental nullification of your file that I take complete responsibility for. I’m willing to have Alexa returned to your household. As long as you comply with your case manager and there are no other incidents, you should be able to keep her through the duration of the year and then decide if you’d like to adopt or not. Just a few Hamilton tickets and a promise not to sue and she’s all yours.” Janine put on her best fake smile, hoping she had them convinced.

The looks on their faces, however, said otherwise.

“You and I both know that the higher ups here are putting pressure on you to make this disappear.” Vanessa leaned forward, metaphorically going in for the kill. “Your donors are threatening to back out and that would put you out of a job, Janine. A lawsuit would drag this out for another year or two. How about you give Alexa back, you don’t get any Hamilton tickets, and you pray that I don’t go through with that lawsuit.”

Lin smiled wide for the first time in a long time, fist-bumping his wife for her successful intimidation.

“Fine.”

“Oh, and Claudia keeps her job and stays assigned to this case,” she added. “If you’re not going to get fired, she definitely shouldn’t be.”

“Agreed.” Janine nodded once. “Talk to Claudia, but you should be able to get her back after she’s released from the hospital the day after tomorrow.”

Their smiles faded.

“Wasn’t she released from the hospital like a week ago?” he questioned.

“It’s a minimum three day stay for self-harming behavior. There was an incident two days ago.”

“Which you’ll be disclosing to us in full, of course.” Vanessa clarified.

“That’s not my job. Talk to Claudia. She knows more about this than I do.”

The couple glanced at each other briefly.

“Is she in today?”

-

“I was going to tell you, pending your meeting with Janine went well. I’m assuming it did.”

They had relocated to Claudia’s office shortly afterward.

“She won’t be bothering any of us anymore,” Vanessa confirmed.

“What happened to Alexa?” Lin wasted no time moving back to the topic at hand. “Is she okay?”

“She is now, yes. She’ll have to be held in the hospital until Friday. One of our staff caught her with a blade and her arms had open wounds, so they considered it an act to self-harm and admitted her to a pediatric psych ward.”

Lin felt the breath in his lungs leave all at once.

“Why would she do that? She never did that when she was with us.”

“She has a history of self-harming,” Claudia reminded him. “… but it typically only occurred under abusive care. This was probably part of a reaction to not being around you two anymore—that is, assuming you treated her as well as she claimed.”

Lin instinctively reached out for Vanessa’s hand, squeezing it for support.

“You’ll still be able to see her on Friday,” she assured them. “I would keep a watchful eye on her behavior if you can, though. If she does or says anything that seems out of character to you, let me know. As long as we communicate, something like this should never have to happen again.”

-

By Friday, Alexa’s method of getting rid of her meds (harder at the hospital though not impossible), had proven to be a bad idea. Her anxiety was through the roof, and every time another patient screamed, which happened relatively often, she was rather disturbed by the sound.

At the announcement of her discharge, she had never been more excited to see Claudia and be on the other side.

Claudia greeted her outside the psych ward with a smile.

“How are you feeling?”

“Not saying that I’m looking forward to the orphanage, but anything is better than that.”

“You’re not going back there,” Claudia informed her, gesturing to the bag of Alexa’s things in her hand. “Come with me.”

Curious, Alexa followed her down to the lobby of the mental health center.

In the lobby, Lin was trying to contain his excitement as he waited for Claudia to return. Every time one of the elevator doors opened, he glanced over eagerly only to find someone else.

Finally there she was; Alexa by her side. There were huge bags under her eyes and bandages wrapped around each of her forearms, but he’d never been so happy to see her.

He watched as she caught sight of him, nearly sprinting in his direction.

She practically jumped into his arms. He caught her without hesitation, kissing the top of her head.

“Oh my god, what the fuck?! I thought I would never see you again! What are you doing—” she paused, stepping back. “Please tell me you’re here for me and not someone else.”

He laughed. “Yes, I’m here for you. You’re coming back to the heights with us.”

She hugged him again. “Oh my god… you scared me so much! What was with that speech you made?! It sounded like you knew you’d lost me! It scared the shit out of me!”

“Believe it or not, it actually helped get you back. Sorry for scaring you, though.”

Claudia carefully handed him the bag of her things.

“Take care of her.” she reminded him.

“Okay, first thing’s first, I���m going to take you out for lunch,” Lin announced once they’d left the hospital. “Anywhere you want to go. Vanessa won’t be home until later, and my mom is watching Sebastian, so we’ve got the afternoon to ourselves.”

“We should probably go pick up a prescription first,” she confessed. “There’s a slight chance that I’ve been tossing my meds since I left you guys.”

Lin sighed.

“Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad. I’m glad you told me right away. Meds first, food second. Then when we get home, we should probably give you a new set of bandages.” he directed to her forearms.

“Yeah…” she glanced down at her arms. “Things kind of got fucked up when you left.”

“It’s okay if things get fucked up.” he reminded her. “Just as long as you’re ready to fix them. That starts with taking your meds every day.”

She nodded. “I can agree to that.”