#anyways they’re too big and I couldn’t get them through my ears

[good-night-space-kid]

Just “re-pierced” (read: spent 30 minutes trying to painfully shove a dull earring through my ears) and I finally got a pair of earrings in and. Ouch 🥲

[caramelkoo]

be still my heart — jjk [one]

the one in which you get a sex dream about the grouchy hockey player you work for.

genre : childhood best friends to frenemies to lovers, physical therapist!reader x hockey player!jungkook, slow burn, smut, fluff, angst

word count : 5.2k

chapter warnings : strong language, mature, slight smut (because im a tease), reader’s name is Destiny, jungkook is a bit grumpy towards her (she makes him nervous leave my boy alone), fat shaming (not by any of the main characters), oc had daddy issues, mentions of allergy. that’s about it, please let me know if i missed something.

a/n : here it isssssss drumrolls please because im so excited for this. jungkook as a hockey player??? *deep breaths* enjoy my lovely people. you’re so so loved. asks, reblogs and likes are much appreciated. kisses <3

read part two here

˚୨୧⋆｡˚

“Babe, you know you're not going to win right? Don't be wasting your breath.” Bella challenges.

You’re sitting on the chair in your office going through the personnel file of the players. Verifying their names with their contact numbers and photographs which, you’re not going to lie, look like mugshots. Jeez, does smiling a little bit cost them? Anyways, once you’re done you close the file and look up at your assistant bickering with her boyfriend. Phone pressed against her ear. 

You mime hanging up the call and she lifts her index finger, indicating for you to wait. She throws in words like hmmm, yeah, you don’t know what you’re saying, yeah i love you too. Once she’s done, she drops the phone on the glass table in front of you and leans back in her chair. 

“He thinks I will let him get away with anything just because I love him”  

You chuckle, “What’s going on?” 

“You know, I’ve been wanting a cat for so long I even made a pinterest board for that. Last Sunday he surprised me with one and when I told him that I lowkey manifested it, he was not having it. I even showed him the mood board and I NEVER show it to anyone. Evil eye is real.” she all but cries out. 

That’s Bella for you. Highly spiritual and a firm believer of the universe. She claims that everything happens for a reason. She’s like a little ball of sunshine. Ever since you joined the Ice Dominators’ hockey team as a physical therapist, she’s been assisting you and you couldn’t be more thankful seeing the lack of female workers here. Seriously, there's no other female worker here except yourself and Bella which is so diabolical to you.

And it’s not like the men on the hockey team are a bunch of misogynist jerks. On the contrary, they act like they’ve known you for years. It didn't take you long to feel like home here. They are obedient, friendly and pretty nice. Few of them are married with kids while the rest of them remain single. They’re not like a bunch of teenagers, they know what they’re doing.

Except one, what’s his name? Jeon Jungkook. You would describe that man as crude and closed off to a pathological degree. You still remember when you asked him to come to your office so you can look at any possible previous injuries, he lied to your fucking face. Claiming he doesn’t have any when you could clearly see him hobbling sometimes just a tiny bit when he walked away. Years and years of dedication towards your studies have made you capable enough to catch that it is an old injury.

Despite your better judgment, you blamed it on the fact that his team lost the game that day. Poor guy was having a bad day and took it out on you. Big deal. 

“Earth to Destiny” Bella waves a hand close to your face and you shake your head as you look at her.

“Leave the poor man alone” You plead and then ask, “Any details about the new player? I’ll have to add it in the file” 

“Not yet, as far as I know they’re still contemplating the guy named Park Jimin or something”

That gets you real quick. Park Jimin. The name feels like acid on your tongue .The last game being unsatisfactorily resulted in the federation trading one of the players. It was cruel but was done for the better. Bound to happen sooner or later. You had expected it but what you had not expected was you both sharing a same room, sharing the same air.

“Alright then. We’ll cross that bridge when it’s—”

Knock, knock

“Miss Kim, sorry to interrupt but the manager is asking for you” Taehyung’s head pokes through the door.

You stand, picking up the file and sliding it into the tableside drawer, running a free hand over your scrubs. Bella does the same as she plucks her phone from the table and puts it inside her back pocket.

You look at him. “Sure Tae, thank you for informing”

He flashes you a quick, pretty smile before leaving. Bella turns to you with a worried look on her face.

“What do you think it is for?”

You bite your lip. “I have no idea. I wanna say it's about the new player but who knows?”

You hope it is and as unfortunate as it is for you to discuss him, you will have to hold your own. You know better than to be invited into the manager’s office. Though, judging by the temperament of him you would not predict anything. Last time when he called you, it was about Jeon Jerk, asking you to be more serious about your job as if it was your fault the man spared you the necessary details.

The asshole asked YOU to do your job better by virtue of HIS player not being sweet enough to listen. Maybe, there is indeed a misogynistic asshole going around and it’s the manager. No wonder women don’t volunteer to work for him.

Since, You love your job —god knows you wanna keep doing it— you kept quiet and took every jab he threw at you.

“Wait, Do I have time to pray? Should I pray?” she’s clearly panicking and you pat her on the shoulder.

“Just hope my job is still intact” you say, warily reaching for your purse. You both head out.

˚୨୧⋆｡˚

“Miss Kim, have a seat” James nods at the chair before him.

Once you’re settled, he continues, “I asked for you to join me here regarding the upcoming game. Care to fill in about the status of injury assessment?"

You clear your throat, “Absolutely, I was planning on getting on that today” 

“Well, I would love for you to do it soon as you know we have a new player in the team with us now”

You jerk, leaning forward. “We do?”

“Yes, and if you can please hurry with the assessment I would be grateful. You can do that right? Not too much of a work for you, eh?” 

Someone give him a medal from the way he's trying to hide the venom in his voice.

“Sure I can” you give him a firm nod. 

James Adams is an entitled, self centered asshole who thinks he’s above everyone else just because of his position. You reckon he does anything for the team besides talking bullshit. He kind of reminds you of your dad who also has the nasty habit of thinking the world of himself.

You’re all about self love but when that self love turns into chronically demeaning everybody in their close proximity, it boils your blood. This man in front of you is no better than your father. What's that saying? Out of the frying pan into the fire.

So you say nothing further and excuse yourself. You would have barfed in his face if you stayed there a second longer. Actually that's not a very bad idea. Bella is standing outside waiting for you as you close the door behind yourself.

“What did he say?” 

You bark, “Bunch of horseshit” 

“Typical” 

˚୨୧⋆｡˚

Jungkook 

There is a buzzing noise somewhere around Jungkook. Fuck, his head hurts. He frantically searches for his phone, still not opening his eyes. When he finds it, he slides his thumb on the screen and picks up the call. 

“Dude, how big do you want your coffin to be?” He loves his best friend but right now he would rather be sleeping than listen to him bark in his own ear. 

He finally squints his eyes open, “What the fuck are you talking about?” 

“Have you looked at the time?” says Taehyung.

“What time- FUCK!!!” he shrieks as he looks at the clock.

Somebody kill him right now. No wait, he’s gonna die either way so why bother. If he didn’t scream loud enough before, he does now. He all but jumps off the bed when he sees the blondie on the other side sleeping like she fucking owns it, wearing nothing but a thong. She must have heard him malfunctioning because soon she stirs, groaning as she slowly wakes up like a Disney princess. Who the heck is she and how did she get in here? Then it comes to him.

“Please Jungkook just take me to your room and fuck me. Show me what those hockey hands are capable of.” 

He wants to swallow a fistful of iron nails. Speaking straight from his shoulders, he has made plenty of bad decisions throughout his career and this is not his first time bringing a puck bunny up to his room but it has never come to this. Missing his hockey practice because he was too exhausted to get his sweet ass up and run to the academy. 

Taehyung screams from the other side of the line, “Are you there? Hello?” 

Shit, he forgot he was on a call. 

“I’ll be there soon. Cover for me until then.” With that he presses the red circular button and ends the call with him muttering some curses.

He glances back at the blondie, “Why are you not gone yet?” 

She’s looking at him with those fuck me eyes she had last night but right now when he’s well aware of the fact that he’s in hot water, they don’t do shit to him. Coach will have his head on a platter today for sure. Honestly, they wouldn’t have done shit to him if it was not for the great deal of alcohol last night.

“I thought of you as a morning sex person” she twirls a strand of hair with her finger, sitting up now. Her tits hang free and he can see his hickeys decorating her chest.

He wants to laugh. She’s not even close to his type. His type is the woman in blue scrubs with her brunette hair slicked back in a ponytail. His type is the woman who looks like she could be watching grass grow rather than to look at him. His type is the woman who walks into a room and lights it up. His type is the woman who is too bright for him and his mundane personality, who has a face worth millions. His type is Kim Destiny. 

“No need to waste your precious time thinking about me. You can go” 

He places his phone back on the table and saunters over to the bathroom, not bothering looking back at her. He has boundaries and he intends to keep it that way.

He quickly goes through his routine of taking a shower, making a cup of coffee, sliding into a pair of sweatpants and the Ice Dominator’s jersey with his name on the back. Not in that order, of course.

The girl is thankfully gone by the time he finishes. Once he’s done with his coffee he picks up the car keys and a protein bar from the kitchen counter and heads to the academy hoping his limbs remain intact by the time he’s home.

The Academy is bustling as usual with players keeping themselves busy with hockey and their gym sessions. He heads straight for the rink not even bothering to change into the uniform. He needs to see for himself that everybody is still on the ice. Everything comes after that.

Surprisingly, he sees not a single guy when he reaches there. His heartbeat stops.

“Hey Pixie, where are the boys? Did they already leave?” he asks the brunette kid who looks like he just saw a ghost. Or it’s just Jungkook who he saw.

He shakes his head, “They’re all in the gym. The doc called them earlier, said she had something important to get done with them” 

Jungkook gives him a quick thanks and walks towards the gym. What could be so important that she had to call the boys mid practice? Is someone hurt? Is she hurt? His heart leaps in hid throat as he runs. Fuck, please let him be wrong.

The first thing that he sees as he enters the room full of equipment are his teammates. Taehyung and Yoongi are in the corner lifting weights, Namjoon is using the treadmill as he runs on it. The rest of the boys are all scattered around doing their own thing. He still can’t find Destiny anywhere but her assistant, Bella, is talking to Namjoon while holding a file so he lets out a sigh, relieved that nobody is in fact hurt and in need of help. 

“Do you wanna get a tattoo on the peni— oh look who’s here. Jeon Jungkook as I live and breathe.”

Taehyung drops the weight on the ground before walking up to him. He’s dressed in a black tee and sports shorts. The man looks good in everything. Bet he’d look in a sack too. 

“Whoa!! Why do you look like you wanna kill somebody or wanna get killed? Is everything okay?” 

Jungkook lets his face relax, focusing more on the eyebrows which had gone tensed due to his unnecessary anxiety. “Yeah, all’s good. The practice ended early?” 

“The practice ended just on time. It’s you who’s late” he pats my shoulder. 

He runs his fingers through his hair and walks towards the bench, dropping his bag on it. Taehyung follows him ignoring Yoongi who’s calling him back for the weightlifting. 

“Doc wanted to assess our injuries for the last time before our game if you’re curious which, I know you are. You’re always curious about her” 

He winks at Jungkook and he punches him on the chest. Taehyung laughs as he rubs the spot.

“Keep your voice down, will you?” 

Bella’s voice echoes across the room, “Jeon, you’re up next” 

He takes out his water bottle, takes a swig and stands. A wince leaves him as he gets a flashback of the last time he had to face her. It didn’t go very well and he’s sure she hates him now. He would too. After all, he not only talked to her rudely but also lied through his teeth about his injury. It’s pretty old so he had not felt the need to mention it. 

He sees a guy coming out of the office just before he’s about to enter. He has brown hair long enough to reach the nape of his neck. Even from where Jungkook’s standing, he can say the man doesn’t reach above his shoulders. Who the fuck is he? Oh wait, he must be the new player that got traded down here. The guy must have sensed him making a hole through his head by the way he’s staring because he’s begins walking towards him with a bright grin.

“Hey man, you must be Jeon Jungkook? Heard a lot about you. I’m Park Jimin” He holds out his hand, asking Jungkook to shake it and he gives it a firm handshake. Word to the wise : never give someone a weak handshake. His grandfather has been asking him to do that ever since he was 15, said it doesn’t leave a strong impression and he’s be lying if he says he was wrong.

He offers Jimin a nod, “Nice to meet you. Excited to get on the rink with you.” 

He takes his hand back. “Oh the feeling is mutual but—”

“Jungkook, please join me inside” 

Destiny’s voice cuts him off as she looks over to both of them with an eerie expression on her face. Her eyes bounce between them, resting a second longer on Jimin. Does she know him? Do they have a history? Wait, are they a thing? Even if they are, why does it bother him? Jungkook couldn’t care less about the pretty physical therapist who wears her blue scrubs like armor and white crocs with strawberries on them.

He gives Jimin another nod and follows her into the office. Although, he’s not sure if a massage table and a stool resting beside it counts as an office. The room which she works in is much better. This one is just for examinations and massage therapy so he guesses it doesn’t need that much of an upgrade.

She gestures towards the table, “Please sit”

He says nothing and settles himself up, clearing his throat.

“Look I know we got off on the wrong foot last time and it could have gone so much better, but we can still start over right?”

Destiny takes a deep breath, filling her chest with air. She’s wearing her hair in a bun today. It sits at the top of her head and some strands are set loose cascading down her face. God, she’s pretty.

He looks down and back up at her. “Sure”

Her face shows her annoyance with the one word response. He doesn't blame her. He'd be pissed too.

She’s quiet for a moment, “Why don’t you tell me about your knee injury to start with?”

“What are you talking about?”

She sighs, “You know what I’m talking about Jungkook. Please don’t make me work for it. It’s my job to know about your past and present injuries, if any. The manager has already given me crap about it”

He freezes. His hackles rising and his relaxed face long gone.

“What did he say?”

“Nothing”

He levels her with a stern face, “What.did.he.say?”

She’s not obligated to answer him. Hell, she could just slap him in the face and leave but he needs to know what went down with that son of a bitch. When and if she decides to let him in the details and it turns out something wicked, he’s gonna hunt that man down and make his life miserable.

Much to his surprise, she takes a step back and starts talking. "He called me in his office today and," she halts,

"Well let's just say there were some words thrown around which clearly meant he thinks of me as a feather brained bitch"

He might look unbothered from outside but the indignation inside him could just about burn the whole city down. He tries to keep calm and pries some more.

His jaw clenches. "What else?"

Destiny shakes her head, shuffling on her feet. “Jungkook it’s really not that seriou—”

“It is serious. You work for us, you tolerate our asses and in return if we fail to give you the respect which, you deserve by the way cause it’s the bare minimum, we might as well save everyone’s time and money by giving all of this up.”

“Why do you care?” she shakes her head.

He takes a step forward, “Because you— Because you work for us, Destiny. You look out for our bodies, our injuries, our fuckups. Is that not enough?”

She barely reaches his shoulders. It’s cute how she has to crane her neck up in order to look him in the eye. She keeps looking at him for a long minute, searching his face.

“You think I don’t know that? Do you really think I don’t have what it takes to ask for my own dignity?”

He takes a long step back. This conversation was as unforeseen as they come. The room gets filled with heavy silence and he can hear Destiny’s heavy breath. He can tell she’s trying to calm herself as if his words have blindsided her.

Needless to say she’s a tad bit taken aback. Jungkook would be too if someone who never bothered to speak a word to him and when he did, there was nothing pleasant about his tone suddenly started to care.

But that’s where she’s wrong, nothing about his care or concern for her is sudden. He still remembers the day she accidentally drank the almond smoothie Bella brought not knowing the fact that she’s allergic to it. She’d started choking the second it went down her throat. He also remembers how Yoongi injected the epipen against her thigh as she came back to life.

Meanwhile, he stood behind shaking in his goddamn boots. Too scared to let her out of his sight and too pathetic to hold her close. Yeah, he’s not proud of that.

He sighs, “You know that’s not what I meant—”

Namjoon walks inside with a hand towel around his neck “Doc, you about done? The boys are being incorrigible over there. If you don’t hurry, one of them is gonna call a tattoo artist and get their dick tattooed. Right here”

The room falls silent.

“Jesus” she looks over to where the guys are bickering about something, propping her hands on her hips. “Yeah, give me a minute.”

“Sure” and with that he walks away.

She picks up a blue file from the stool, not looking at him. Why is she not looking at him?

“If you don’t want to tell me about your injury right now, that’s fine. Since, I know it’s pretty old and It’s unlikely that you’re gonna get affected by it in the upcoming games, there’s no need to worry. However, I would still suggest you be careful. Anything can happen out there and your knee is in a vulnerable position. Don’t pick unnecessary fights, don’t let the opponent know your weak link.”

She glances at him, dropping the file back to where it was.

“You can go”

Without a preamble, he heads outside, passing Taehyung. He hears him cracking a joke about penis tattoos and piercings with his girlfriend’s name on it. Destiny cracks up and Jungkook wonders if she would have done the same, had he been the one cracking the joke. Only, he doesn’t crack jokes. Not around her at least. It’s not like he's some grumpy bastard who wants nothing to do with anybody around him and thinks of him as omniscient.

There’s just something about Destiny which puts him at loss of words. Knotting his tongue it in such a way where he can’t get an expression out. Only look at her and god, does he look at her. He's not stupid. He knows it’s a crush but she’s like a mirage to him. She’s unreachable, forbidden and so fucking beautiful.

Does he want to make her his? Yes, Is he going to risk his career and hers over it? Absolutely not. So, he makes use of the only right nobody can take away from him. Not even her. Admire her from afar. Fantasize more about tasting her, licking her slender neck and worshipping the ground that she walks on and one day if she lets him, Jungkook will do anything to turn all of that into reality.

He finds Yoongi seated on of the benches, scrolling on his phone.

Facing him, Jungkook speaks in a low voice. "Do you have any idea where James is?"

˚୨୧⋆｡˚

Destiny

Never have you ever wanted to run away as much as you did when you saw Jimin in front of yourself, standing all tall and proud. You had wished it to be a dream, wished you just had a nightmare about him joining the same team you happen to work with but reality is a goddamn bitch and it bites hard when it does. He had grown out his hair longer but he still has the same smile, same eyes and the same charm he used on you back then. Park Jimin is a man people don’t ever forget once they see him. He has an aura which traps everyone so hard they can never escape. How do you know? You have been a victim yourself.

You meticulously go through the consequences and eventualities of being in the same room as him again. You seeing him everyday and him reminding you of every single detail you have tried so hard forgetting about, the boys finding out about you both and putting you through the wringer or worse, him. The possibilities are endless and you feel the sudden urge to square everything with him.

Contrary to what you had thought, he reacted pretty normally when he saw you as if somebody had already told him about you. You had expected him to get shocked or at the very least pretend to be shocked.

Having said that, he just gave you a single nod as if you're someone he passes by every morning at the park. Are you this forgettable? Are you someone people just brush aside like that? Your father’s words echo in your ears like loud drums,

“You know, nobody will love you if you keep looking like this. Eat less”

“Girl, do you ever stop eating? Every time I see you, you're stuffing something in that mouth of yours!!”

“Don’t come running back at me when no guy gives a shit about you”

You were 10 and he was an asshole. He still is.

Thanks to him, you now have a tendency to cook when you're stressed over anything. It brings you comfort and diverts your mind from the excessive overthinking. You would go bald if it puts the voices into silent mode.

After already wasting half of your life speculating what to eat, counting calories and whatnot, you came to the terms that you can’t actually operate that way and began eating whatever the fuck you wanted. Yet still, you need to go a long way in order to fully love yourself and your body. It's a journey and you're moving ahead step by step. One day at a time.

One would even say you're hot. You have received compliments from several people over the course of time except you don’t have a thigh gap, your arms jiggle and you also happen to have a love handle. You would have adored them if it wasn’t for your dad making you feel shitty about having them.

A knock on your door stops you midway as you're kneading the dough. Biscuit runs over to you, jumping on the counter.

“Coming”

The knock comes back again, this time slightly louder.

“Oh my god wait I’m coming”

The door swings open and you gasp. “Mina?”

She passes by you, dragging her suitcase along with her.

“Hey bestie”

You close the door and follow her further into the hall. “What’s going on? What’s with the suitcase?”

Your best friend’s sudden arrival must have caught you by slight surprise but your cat is rather pleased to see her. Traitor. She starts clawing at her feet excitedly.

“What a good girl you are? Yes, you are” Mina coos at her and then glances up at you from where she has biscuit nestled in her lap,

“I need a place to live for a few days because my shitty boss kept rejecting all my articles and I really wanna bring her something worth the front page. Apparently, writing about the famous coffee shop around the corner and their secret ingredient being maple syrup wasn’t good enough.”

You round the counter and continue kneading the dough for your strawberry pie. It’s not unlikely for Mina to show up unannounced. In fact, she has done that plenty of times but the suitcase was never involved. This one is new.

“So you decided to barge in here without even asking?” You tease.

She flashes you a dramatic look. “Look at us, Destiny. Aren’t we the same girls who giggled about living together after college? With matching slippers and movie marathons?”

“Okay okay you dramatic bitch. How long are you here for?”

Biscuit runs to do her business and she gets up, setting her suitcase to the side.

She sighs, “Not sure. As long as it takes me to come up with a new topic to write about–HEY— why don’t I just write on the hockey team you work with? What are they called? Ice…ice”

“Ice Dominators” you fill in for her.

She slaps her thigh. “That’s the one”

You shrug, “I mean you can, but you’ll have to call in on the coach first. He operates everything inside and outside the team”

Coach Ian is too nice to turn her request down. He’s one of the most genuine people in the federation. Maybe this is why the team is so strong and united. He respects every single boy and receives it tenfold. It's a mutual thing.

“Shit, How come I didn’t think about that” she bites her lip, her enthusiasm replaced by nervousness.

“Don’t worry. He won’t make you work for it. Ian is as nice as they come” you assure.

She takes a deep breath and lets it out. As you watch, she opens your fridge, taking out the box of frozen blueberries and pops one into her mouth.

“Do you want me to give you a hand?” she mumbles while chewing.

You point towards the bathroom, “Go and take a shower, right now. You stinky”

You duck the blueberry she throws your way, laughing as you do. Giving your cheek one last kiss, she excuses herself.

˚୨୧⋆｡˚

Warm hands roam over your thigh, squeezing them. You muffle your moan with your palm and take every thrust. 

“Yeah, you like that? You like how I’m pounding into this ass right now?” 

You gasp. 

“Such a good girl” he praises.

The man behind you presses a kiss to your naked shoulder as he rasps in your ears, “Were you walking around all day dripping for me?” 

He pulls his cock out and thrusts again. You meet him with equal passion and hunger. 

“Tell me” 

You nod. 

“I need your words, Destiny” 

You cry out, “Yes Oh god, Yes. I wanted you in me so bad” 

He cups your pussy and rubs your clit with his palm until you're rolling your eyes to the back of your head and squirming. Thrust after thrust he brings you to your sweet release while talking dirty things in your ear. You're about to melt into a puddle of goo. He’s got you totally at his mercy. 

“So beautiful like this. Taking my cock so well huh?” 

“Ahh it feels so good, right there. Just right there, don’t stop” 

He bites down your shoulder, “Come for me and let everyone outside hear the name you’re screaming, you dirty whore” 

Your heartbeat picks up as you squeeze him with the tight ring of muscle, orgasm crashing over. 

“FUCK. Oh my god Jungkook!!”

Your eyes fling open and you sit up so fast your head starts spinning. Everything around you is pitch black. Wait, where am you? 

Mina is at your side in an instant, “Destiny, are you okay babe?”

You look around and release a sigh of relief. You run your fingers through your hair, ruffling them. 

“Yeah um… I’m fine. It was just a bad dream. Go back to sleep.” 

Except it wasn’t. It was one hell of a dream where you were getting fucked into oblivion by your player. You're not even going to lie and say that you didn’t like it. C’mon you're a woman of needs, it’s just that, him fulfilling those needs was not on the cards for you even if it wasn't real.

You check the time on your phone and wince at the bright light flashing up at you. It’s 2:45 am and you just had a back breaking sex dream about a man who you want nothing to do with. Who, as beautiful as he is, annoys the hell out of you with those one word replies and grumpy face. An edgy feeling threatens to rise.

Oh god it’s going to be awkward now. It’s only normal to walk on eggshells around someone people have these sort of dreams about. You have read your fair share of books where the female character gets a sex dream about a man and then they don’t talk to each other for the rest of their lives. Okay, that's a bit of a stretch but it might as well not be.

Yeah, you admit you guys don’t talk to each other a lot as it is, or are longtime best friends tiptoeing around their feelings, but you're afraid you're gonna have to ignore him forever for the sake of your own sanity. 

I’m so fucked. You think.

tags - @httpjeonlicious @lovingkoalaface @rpwprpwprpwprw

[betterthana-six]

| MUSIC TO MY EARS - [ABBY ANDERSON] - CHAPTER ONE |

PAIRINGS: stoic!rugby player abby x fem!reader

SUMMARY: you and your new(ish) roommate, Abby Anderson, have gotten into an argument. about what? unclear at the moment. but it's got Abby in a fit of shame. until late one night she hears you outside with someone whose voice she doesn't recognize and listens in.

WARNINGS: this is my first story ive ever published here. please be kind! i am fragile lol. this is definitely a slow burn, but lots of pining, yearning, and, yes, smut to come. TRUST. so, mdni. there are a lot of flashbacks between now and when they met so we get the full story eventually. this is more of a light hearted story but it does deal with coming to terms with sexuality (and who best to help you along that journey but rugby playing and stoic Abby Anderson?). anyways, i hope that the five people who might read this like it. I've proofread but, like, nobody's perfect. if people like this and want it as a series, ill make a more personalized playlist for it.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Music To My Ears: Chapter 1

Abby is in your dorm room stretched out in bed with a book in her hands when she hears voices coming from outside. She watches the shadows dance in the light that extends under the door and into the room. It’s late. Abby hasn’t seen you all day. 

She tries to go back to reading, but her eyes glaze over the words almost immediately. Someone is leaning on the door, off and on making the hinge jingle in a way that is most times ignorable. Drunk students came through all the time, lingering in the hallways and leaning on the doors. But it isn’t ignorable now, not for Abby. 

The voices are muffled. They sound like they’re… giggling. One giggle is definitely yours. Abby could spot it from a mile away. The other’s is unfamiliar. Abby’s been reading the same passage over and over again and doesn’t even realize it.

It goes quiet outside and this time Abby closes the book, suddenly over-aware of her surroundings. She looks up at the reading light hanging from the headboard and instinctively switches it off. But she doesn’t want it to look like she turned it off because of them? She turns it on again without thinking and turns it off again, quickly entertaining the idea of faking sleep and listening in. With her hand on the switch Abby stops, realizing that they might start noticing the light going on and off and think she’s trying to signal something. She shakes her head at herself with embarrassment. She covers her face with both her hands. So stupid… she says under her breath. 

It’s been quiet for so long out there. But the shadows are still there. Abby lays down in bed and forfeits to her desire to eavesdrop. As icky as it makes her feel.

Your voice comes through finally. 

“What?” You ask, innocently.

“Don’t look at me like that.” An unfamiliar voice chimes in. It’s a woman’s voice. Abby couldn’t tell if she was feigning some sort of annoyance with you or if it was genuine.

“Like what?” 

A silence passes.

You sigh loudly. “Well, what’d you think of what I sent you? That wasn’t a cheap effort, you know. Full body mirror in the ladies’ locker room. Not too shabby.”

“You have to stop…” The other voice says, with a playful twinge that makes Abby’s curiosity perk up like dog ears. 

“Stop what? I can’t send you photos?” Your voice tells Abby you were in some daze, in the same way she could sometimes hear singers smile through their lyrics. Just thinking about you out there in the hall hanging onto the door and onto each of her words, shining your big green eyes at her. It sends a shiver down Abby’s spine.

“Not anymore,” the stranger says casually. “It was really good seeing you tonight but I have a boyfriend, remember? And I’ve told him about…us. High school. He knows… is the thing. He thinks I’m studying for midterms right now.” 

You laugh at that. In a sweet way, though. “Right,” you say and you sigh, seemingly unaffected by the reminder. “Jeremy?”

“Jeremiah,” the woman corrects.

“God, that’s even worse.” 

Abby snorts, basically smashing her lips shut with her hand, and then rages at herself silently in the dark for fear they may have heard her.

 “Did you… even look at them?” you ask. God, are you drunk? Abby has now given up on the book entirely, laying up on one elbow to stare at the door, imagining the conversation visually. 

A laugh from the woman. Mumbling now, feigning sheepishness, “Yeah.”

“And?”

“And…I think…about them, about you. Of course.” Abby’s hands are clasped together, tightening around one another at this.

“Yeah…?” you draw out the stranger’s words seductively with your own. Abby imagines you in the long, maroon dress you typically wear for special occasions. Was this a special occasion? She nearly has the impulse to check your closet just to be sure, but that’s crazy and much more invasive that what she was already doing. Her knuckles are turning white.

“And I think in another universe, maybe. Not this one. I can’t. You know why,” the stranger says sheepishly. “You’re so sweet.” And, in Abby’s imagination, there’s a dainty, gloved hand reaching out to caress your face condescendingly. The illusion entrances her to near paralysis.

A long pause from you. Abby listens hard, completely unable to stop herself from paying close attention now. In the near silence, Abby could sense your breath faltering through the door. Despite how the two of you left things, she didn’t want to see you hurting like that. Say something… Abby thinks.

When Abby hears you speak again, the sweetness in your voice has vanished. She nearly doesn’t recognize the sound. 

“Fuck…” There’s a lump in your throat, Abby could tell just from your voice when you were smiling and, just as easily, she could hear when you were about to burst into tears. “Why… why did you invite me out tonight then?” 

No answer.

“You have a boyfriend…” you continue in a matter-of-factly tone, raising your voice a bit, to Abby’s surprise. “Jeremy…yeah, so you’ve explained. Great guy, great future. So, you have the boyfriend, the good job lined up, you’re almost done with college. Man, you’re doing fucking great.” Abby’s mouth was left agape, her heart cheering with unwarranted pride for you, urging you on to read this stranger to filth. “Why start texting me again?” You ask.

“You’re here,” the woman clarifies indignantly, like it should be obvious. “I wanted to see you. I didn’t know you transf-”

 “That’s not what I’m ask- why’d you ask me out tonight?” You cut her off. “Purely to fuck with me?”

“No…”

“No, what? I’m just- I’ve always just been here at your disposal. Ever since we were teens. Chasing my tail around like a dumb dog, waiting for her master to one day be unashamed to be seen with me.” Abby’s hand travels to her mouth now in delight. She’s smirking like a clown, fully impressed with you. But, you were in tears at this point. Abby knew by now that, only drunk, would you show your tears like that. “Abby was right,” you mutter. Abby almost didn’t hear you.

“I’m gonna go,” the woman said. “It was good seeing you tonight.” It sounded like more of a question than a genuine statement. And then the sound of footsteps, a shadow moving away and then out of sight.

“Yeah. Go, for fuck’s…” You say messily. You were definitely not sober. And then Abby hears your body thud against the door one last time and senses you sliding down to the floor. She hears the tears. Abby instinctively began to get up, feeling the need to see you, talk to you, hold you. 

But she stopped herself. You wouldn’t even talk to her a few hours ago, why would you want her comfort now?

***

At that point in time, you and Abby were seasoned roommates. Well, not seasoned. You guys were in that awkward in-between stage of knowing each other where you’d half-memorized each other's schedules but there wasn’t any synchronicity to your dynamic yet. Changing clothes in the same room was still very touch-and-go.

However, when you first met there was immediate tension. It was winter then, and transferring colleges midway through sophomore year meant knowing absolutely no one. At least, you thought, you would have a roommate. But, when you first met, Abby was so much… harder. And, she was stoic and casual in a way that threw you off entirely.

“Are you looking through my shit?”

“No!” You said stiffly, whipping your head around to catch sight of the figure in the door. But, there you were. You stood fixed on her side of the room, where you just had your eyes deeply focused on the engraved rugby medals hanging on the shelf, her shelf. You were caught red handed and the lie came out of your mouth readily and in a panic. Abby was already smirking. 

“Yes,” you corrected yourself. “Sorry. I don’t know why I lied. But I’m just looking. I’m not going through it, per say, I promise.” 

Abby laughed and rolled her eyes. “Calm down. It’s fine.”

You smile and take five awkward steps over to your side where your bed was just a bare, blue mattress and your luggage rested waiting to be unpacked. It was a stark comparison between our sides of the room even still. Her bed was military neat, with perfectly tucked in covers and a single pillow centered at the head. The medals were all lined up but in a way that didn’t look too showy. Some polaroids were tucked into the creases between her window and the sill. Your suitcases were patterned and scuffed badly on the corners. Littered across them all were stickers you had found from anywhere you could find them. Your clothes made you look avant garde compared to Abby and you had a sudden knot in your stomach that told you to feel self-conscious. 

“They didn’t tell you who was moving in here, did they?” you asked.

“Ah. Typical administration shit. I didn’t even know someone was moving in today,” she explained, throwing her gym bag down onto her bed and then turning to you with an open hand to shake. “Abby.”

You shook her hand, returning her name with yours. You noticed the way Abby looked deeply into your eyes for a long second, too long for a first introduction. And the way she smirked at you while she did it confounded you; it was the same way someone held out their hand to a stray cat. To be fair, that was an accurate analogy. You were clad in winter jackets with a flushed face whereas she was radiating heat, skin almost steaming under her gym clothes. Her hands were rugged, you noticed.

“Well,” Abby said, turning to her bed and unzipping her gym bag. “I’ve been told I’m a good roommate. By no one actually. You’re the first roommate I’ve had since the first half of my freshman year. Uh…I keep to myself. I need quiet most nights because I get up early, so no boyfriends over on weekdays.”

You nodded along when she turned to you and sat on the edge of her bed wearing a slight grimace at that last idea. “But if you do, do me a favor and just text me beforehand. Don’t want to be walking in on any man butt.” You laughed a bit loudly at that. You just shook your head.

“No. That won’t be a problem,” you said. Abby caught your eye suspiciously and cracked a small and crooked smile.

“Okay,” Abby said. She turned back around, grabbed a towel from her drawers, and threw it on the bed. Then, she casually lifted her sweaty wife beater up over her head and it’s only then that you look at Abby long enough to notice her size and shape. She was severe, and you’d been so caught up in meeting her, you didn’t necessarily take in her physical appearance. But now that she faced away you could see the sheer definition of her body, starting at the dimples on her lower back trailing up to her massive shoulders. All of it glistening with a polished coat of sweat.  And the rest… it would take a few more interactions to even comprehend all of her.

She must have sensed the eyes on her back because she turned around. You looked away quickly, trying busy yourself with the things around you, but there was nothing. 

“Sorry,” your cheeks flushed red. But Abby was full frontal, positioned now with her messy hair unbraided, sprawled around her shoulders, grinning at you. She paused for a moment, maintaining eye contact, with only a towel around her waist.

But then she just shrugged, grabbed her toiletries, and said, “Later.”

You watched her leave. Watched her with wide eyes as she opened the door with one hand and used the other one to lazily cover her chest as she headed towards the showers. You even heard her say “sup” to someone on her way.

Alone, you felt the rush of the moment channel directly to your stomach and burst like flames across your face. 

***

That was just the beginning. Abby thinks of it now.

Now, face up on her bed, contemplating her next move, Abby recalls you as you were. She was immediately taken with you, that first day. Your wide eyes and timidity around her. Abby's own stupid, casual arrogance. Obviously, as Abby quickly learned later, that first impression of you was not at all fully representative of the truth. 

Maybe if she had stopped then, stopped the teasing, stopped what she intended to be light, meaningless flirting, Abby wouldn’t be hesitating to open the door. Perhaps she would be opening the door to find you in tears, take your face in her hands and tell you everything she’d been aching to say for three months now.

Abby gets up off her bed and walks to the door. She squeezes the handle, takes a breath, and then turns it slowly.

Comment if you want to be on this story's taglist!

Chapter 2

[balletfilmss]

can i request luke x fem reader where they’re both counselors and have a secret relationship where they sneak out tg a lot, then the camp finds out. thank u!

CLANDESTINE MEETINGS

✸ pairing: luke castellan x fem!reader

✸ synopsis: during one of your many secret meetups, you and luke get busted by your friends

✸ warnings: like one cuss word, kissing, established relationship, clarrise + chris my beloveds <3

✸ a/n: i’m sorry this took so long, classes just started back & i wanted to die. anyways. also literally what is chris & clarisse’s ship name? 😭

hermes was the god of messengers, the god of travelers, the god of thieves. his children were welcoming to most, for anybody who appeared at camp half-blood had been funneled through cabin eleven at one point, and new campers would continue to be.

his children were mischievous and they were smart. and above all of that, they were sly, sneaky, and secretive.

so had you really been surprised when one of these children proposed keeping your relationship a secret?

it wasn’t like luke was ashamed of you and your relationship or anything, don’t get it wrong. no, he wished more than anything that he could stand on top of a table in the dining pavilion and scream to everyone that you were his. but he couldn’t.

the two of you had decided that with all the new rules regarding camper relations (which totally weren’t passed thanks to chris and clarisse or your friends from the aphrodite cabin) and the strictly good example you two were to set as head counselors, it was best that it stayed between you and him.

that was why about four months ago, the sneaking around had begun.

meetings behind the boathouse, in the woods and in every secluded area of camp that you two could find. secret smiles and looks that only the two of you could see. holding hands under the table at counselor meetings and whispering in each other’s ears during a capture the flag matches.

it was thrilling, really. like the two of you shared a secret that nobody else had a clue about, something that was seen only by the sun and the moon.

you had been keeping it up for four months unsuspected until one particularly cool night in july.

you hadn’t seen luke all day, you were exhausted from a day of extra long training and losing a capture the flag match, so you were feeling extra clingy when you met him behind the big house. not your greatest hiding place, but you missed him so much that you couldn’t make yourself care.

nobody would notice you two missing with the campfire going on to distract them anyways.

“hey, sweet girl,” he greeted you with a smile that was reserved for your eyes only. “how was your day? i feel like i haven’t seen you at all.”

“because you haven’t.” you groaned in reply, taking his hands in yours because it had been too long since you had done so. his hands were warm and enveloped yours perfectly and you never wanted to let go. “today was exhausting.”

“oh yeah? too tired to see me?” he asked with that sly little smirk of his.

obviously you weren’t, because if you were, you would’ve been sleeping away in your cabin instead of out here in the dark with him.

“clearly not.” you responded with an eye roll that gestured about to your surroundings.

“never too tired for me, huh?”

“shut up.”

and he did, because within less than five minutes, your mouth was on his and his back was pressed up against the building behind.

now, luke prided himself on many things, such as his self-control and diligence, his keen spatial awareness and sneakily ability to keep a secret. but when it came to you, all of those things were gone.

he melted at the mere sight of your eyes meeting his, and your touch was like the blissful fire of a thousand suns.

you weren’t much better when it came to him, with his pretty eyes and the sweet names he gave you.

when he held you in his arms it felt as though the gods had made a mistake of separating your body from his so that you had to endure seventeen groveling years apart before you found one another again.

you were so caught up in one another that you never heard the footsteps coming.

“i knew it!”

you nearly jumped out of your skin when chris’s voice met your ears.

you pried yourself away from luke and the two of you were met with clarisse and chris staring at you, mouths wide open. you were caught.

“um . .” luke mumbled. real smooth.

“we can explain—“

“there’s nothing to explain.” clarisse cut you off, a knowing little smirk on the corner of her mouth as her boyfriend still stared at you with wide eyes. “this is a terrible hiding place by the way.”

“i knew i should’ve taken connor’s bet that they were dating.” chris said.

okay, they had to be exaggerating. you and luke weren’t that obvious, were you?

“oh come on, connor doesn’t know anything.” luke said with a nervous laugh, as if there were a way to cover up what had just been discovered. with the way his hands were still on your waist and fingers hooked through your belt loops, that wasn’t very plausible.

“dude, half the camp knows.” clarisse snorted.

“they do not!” you protested.

clearly, there was no saving your secrets now.

“you guys literally hold hands under the table at counselor meetings.” chris pointed out.

“how would you know? you’re not even a counselor.” you argue with him, but the little smile on luke’s face wasn’t helping your case.

“i have friends.” chris crossed his arms. “they tell me things.”

“he’s lying, silena told him.” clarisse shrugged.

“hey!”

you couldn’t help but laugh at that. accepting your fate, you looked at luke, who sucked air in through his teeth and said, “guess we’re busted.”

“yeah you are. now come back to the campfire and help me with these kids before they kill me.” chris said to his brother.

succumbing to counselor duties, you and your boyfriend emerged from your hiding spot and walked back to the campfire hand-in-hand, the secret out.

when the two of you took your seats in front of the fire and luke pressed a sweet kiss to your cheek, chris twisted his face up in mock disgust from luke’s other side.

“you know what, go back to hiding. i don’t wanna see that shit.”

[fictionalmenxyn]

HII so I have a request for sturniolo triplets x sister!reader like the one u did with the stream can u pls do one we’re she in a car vid (u don’t have u) IM IN LOVE WITH UR WRITING!!

GLAD U LIKE MY WRITING!! Of course I can!!!

———

⁂𝐂𝐚𝐫 𝐕𝐢𝐝⁂

Pairing: sturniolo triplets x sister!reader

Warnings: language and fighting (PLAYING)

AN: hey sos for shorter post tonight. Got a big project for art in college I was working on most of today! Hope you’re all doing well! Uh read are still open as usual! I’m getting round to them as quick as possible! I promise! Love y’all! Have a good day/night!

⁂⁂⁂

“Hey guys welcome back to another car video!” Nick introduced.

You were in the lasted car video, sat next to Nick in your seated position. Where you’d usually sit in the car anyways. Matt spoke “this time we have a guest too!” He looks at you through the rear view mirror. You smiled and waved “it’s me bitch, the basest in town” you playfully flick your hair “Y/n”. Nick clapped “yesss!!”

Chris asked the first question “Y/n, what’s it like being the only girl in the quadruplets?” You smiled “ohh it’s so much fun, I mean my gender don’t gotta do anything with it. But it’s so much fun! Like I don’t know what I’d do without these idiots, really.” Matt smiled “aw that’s cute, y/n/n.”

You then held the phone, “ok, real question, man or bear??” You held up a fist “me bitch! I’d beat em both!!” You are a fry from Chris’s box. “Hey that’s mine!” You giggle “not anymore, loser!” He playfully glared at you.

Nick asked “ok! Question here asks if Y/n has a room at the LA house? The answer is yes.” You smiled “yeah I do, it’s next door to Chris cause we like to have sleepovers cause neither of us can sleep on our own.” You smile and tilt your head. Chris spoke “Y/n is a blanket hog though, so if you ever have a-” you smacked him playfully across the head “no I don’t that’s you!!” Chris reached back and playfully smacked you to. He never hit as hard as we did with Matt or Nick, but he still did it. You laugh, whacking him again, he climbed into the back. You squeal out of surprise and finding this hilarious.

Nick looks to the camera and speaks “you see what Matt and I gotta deal with on the daily? You think Chris and I are bad for this shit?? Think again, these two are worse!” Matt nodded and agreed with Nick.

You and Chris were through if hits, the. Nick intervened “alright you pair! Chris get back in your fucking seat!” Chris used his two fingers and did the ‘I’m watching you’ gesture. You did the same back to him. “Kiss it, Topher!” He couldn’t hide the smile on his face when he climbed back into the chair.

Matt spoke “right, back to the video!” Matt held Nick’s phone and asked “so if ya’ll do another tour, will Y/n come on the next one.” You side eyed the camera and playfully tucked your hair behind your ear. “Maybe, JUST! Maybe, you pookies can catch me at the next tour…” they all laughed. “My colour would be red!! And my animal is definitely a red panda… definitely!” Nick said “oh yeah, Y/n has a red panda obsession!” You shrugged “not my fault they’re cutie pituties!”

You rested your head on Nick’s shoulder as Chris asked “hey, besides the questions, I got one that doesn’t relate at all…” Nick spoke “speak your mind.” Chris asked “who drank my half empty Pepsi can earlier today?” You proudly raised your hand and shouted “me!” Chris shouted “WHAT?!” You laughed “karmas a bitch, Topher! Your fault for eating my donuts bitch!” Chris was going to lunge back into the back seats again. But Matt pulled his belt and tugged him back into his seat. Nick laughed “ooo Matt the ref is out everyone!” Matt nodded “cause I don’t want these two idiots to mess up the car.” Chris playfully crossed his arms and pouted. You held up your pointer finger “I win, I win!” Chris gasped “nuh uh! I’m so getting you when we get home, watch your back, Y/n/n!”

You gasped “oh my god! I forgot to put our cupcakes in the fridge!” You giggled as the guys gasped. Nick shouted “what?! The frosting is probably all over the fucking counter!” You all laughed “my bad! I forgot! Chris was rushing me!” “What?! You blaming me?!?” “Yeah I am, dumbass, you kept calling me and telling me to hurry my ass up!!”

You grabbed the Pepsi from the console, opening the lid and taking a few sips. You then looked at the logo colour, it was blue. You spoke “whoops, my bad.” Chris turned to look at you “did you just drink, MY drink?!” You defended “I didn’t know!! I just saw the logo and drank it!” Chris laughed “dude!! Yours is literally by Nick how can you get confused??” You shrugged “my bad…” you put the drink back in the console. Then drinking your own Pepsi.

You finally got back on track of the video’s actual content. You held Nick’s phone and asked “what’s it like living with Y/n?” Nick spoke first “the best, honestly, like she’s an all in one, ya know? Friend, sister, partner in crime, legit, everything you can think of, Y/n can do.” You smiled.

Chris replied “she’s the best sister we could all ever ask for, she legit grounds us, so much. Also the best person to talk to, like on the down, she’s your wing woman, for real.” Matt nods “agreed, like you can go to her for anything and she can help you, also she’s great at adjusting to people social interaction, like she’s a ‘go with the flow’ type of person. Like if you’re quiet, she’ll be quiet. If you’re loud, she’ll match your entry to a tee.” You smiled “awww you cuties, thanks! Love ya guys!” They all say in almost synch “love you too!”

⁂⁂⁂

[lovebugism]

Oooooo how abt shy reader & Steve at the movie theater? 🥰

thanks so much for your request, angel! i hope you enjoy!! steve takes shy!reader to the movies to make up for a bad date, featuring a wee love-bomb (1.6k)

bug's summer fic fest ♡

Even though it’s your fifth date, you’re nervous like it’s your first.

It’s been a few months since then. Four of them, to be exact. 

Steve took you to a drive-in on your first date. He confessed some weeks ago that he thought it’d be easier for you — doing something that wouldn’t require a whole lot of talking outright. By the end of the movie, a reshowing of Rocky Horror, you felt more comfortable with him and less like the buzzing ball of anxiety you’d been when he picked you up earlier that evening.

The second date was dinner, the third was mini-golf, and the fourth was a picnic.

The fourth date did not go well.

Steve picked the hottest day of the year to eat outside. He hadn’t meant to, of course, but he certainly hadn’t packed enough water to combat the heat. And being that he also forwent the sunscreen, the two of you were sweaty, miserable, and sunburnt by the time he brought you back home. 

There was a world of bugs, too. The butterflies you hadn’t minded, but the wasps were a different story.

“I swear they’re antagonizing me,” you joked as you cowered into Steve’s side.

He was scared of them too, but he protected you anyway. “Well, what did you do to them?” he laughed with a pretty grin that made the heat and distant fear worth it.

“Nothing!” you giggled. “I’ve never done anything wrong in my life!”

Steve smiled down at you, sandwich crumbs stuck to the corners of his mouth. “I know that’s a joke, but I totally believe you.”

And as if the day wasn’t already going horribly wrong, a couple of asshole kids kicked a soccer ball in your direction and smacked you against the ear. 

They were in kindergarten, practically babies, and their moms were very apologetic. And you, being too nice for your own good, promised them that it was okay — that it was an accident and that it barely even hurt.

That wasn’t totally true. Your ear was red and ringing then, and hadn’t lessened when Steve took you home. He got you into bed and nursed you back to health with a bag of frozen peas pressed to your ear and a million kisses.

“I’m sorry,” he’d whispered against the crown of your head as he held you to his chest. “I feel like I fucked everything up…”

“You’re not the one that whacked me in the face with a soccer ball,” you laughed.

“Yeah, but… It was really hot. And the bugs wouldn’t leave you alone…”

“They had a vendetta against me, I think.”

“Totally,” Steve chuckled.

Your jaw rubbed against the fabric of his t-shirt as you turned to look up at him. His scruffy chin jutted downward as he peered down at you. “You protected me, though.”

“Did I?”

“Yeah,” you smiled. “So thank you.”

He scoffed. “Don’t thank me. You’re hurt.”

“’S not your fault.”

“Yeah, but I’m the idiot who wanted to picnic in a hundred-degree heat.”

“You couldn’t have known,” you retorted softly. 

Steve grew sheepish. With the hand not holding the frozen pack to your ear, his fingers brushed the length of your arm “So… you didn’t have the worst time in the world?”

“No, it was pretty bad,” you confessed, smiling when you felt his laugh rumble through his chest. “And I don’t know if I’ll ever go on a picnic again, but… I’m glad I got to be miserable with you and not someone else.”

You meant it. 

As overwhelming as the afternoon had gotten, Steve made it a lot less agonizing. He was your focal point, your teddy bear, your soft place to land. The big bouts of anxiety felt less significant with him holding you. Besides, you don’t think anyone else would clutch you to their chest and hold a bag of frozen vegetables to your throbbing ear. 

It wouldn’t feel as good with anyone else, either.

Steve’s smile curls against your forehead before he presses a kiss there. “I’m glad you get to be miserable with me, too, babe…”

The fifth date, though simple, had been carefully planned out.

He didn’t want a redo of the fourth one, lest you decide never to go out with him again. 

So he asks you to wait a few weeks before seeing Labyrinth despite your enthusiasm for the new film. He promises to take you, but that he’d rather wait until everyone else has already seen it so it could just be him and you in the theater.

And you, having never been a fan of huge crowds anyway, accepted without question.

He only asks that you wear the same pretty dress you wore to the picnic. The white sundress with the puffy sleeves and the flowy skirt that stopped just above your knee. Since, you know, neither of you got to enjoy it last time.

Steve leads you hand in hand into the cinema two weeks later. Everyone else was too busy crowding into the theater to watch the new Karate Kid sequel, which left the entire auditorium to yourselves. 

Well, mostly. There’s an older couple sitting in the middle off to the exit side. Steve jokes that they must’ve just heard that Labyrinth came out, and in two more weeks they’ll learn about Karate Kid. You giggle into your Slurpee.

The two of you settle in the very back of the theater in the center of the row. The theater isn’t dark, but it’s still dim — yellow in the faint lamps and the smell of buttery popcorn.

“Guess the means we can’t fool around in here, huh?” Steve quips, his shoulder nudging yours when he leans in to whisper to you.

Your eyes go wide, and your cheeks burn like a stove eye. “Steve!” you scold, much louder than you meant to. You shove him away with your shoulder, though you don’t really want him off you.

He reads you like a book and wraps an arm around you to press you closer to him. His musky cologne covers you like a warm blanket. Even in the dim light, his eyes twinkle when he grins down at you. “I’m kidding,” he promises.

“I was just about to thank you before you got all pervy,” you grouse lightheartedly.

“Thank me for what?” the boy scoffs. “For not taking you on the worst date of all time?”

“No. For… For buying my ticket and… for getting me snacks and everything…”

Steve shrugs. “That’s what a date is, babe. You let me do those things for you.”

“Yeah, but… You don’t have to do them, you know? But you do. So, thank you.”

You go sheepish, looking at him so shyly you’re practically peering at him from the corner of your eye. 

You do that a lot — not get all shy (even though you do that pretty often, too), but thank him for being your boyfriend. He doesn’t know if that sort of excessive politeness has been conditioned into you or if you had an ex that never did anything worth thanking them for. 

He doesn’t press the subject because he doesn’t want to stir up old ghosts. He remains curious about it nonetheless.

Steve squeezes your shoulder with one hand and digs his other into the container of popcorn in your lap. “Thank you for not dumping me after our last date.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” you promise, giggling.

“Yeah, ‘cause it was terrible!” he retorts dramatically. “I was scared you were gonna break up with me after that wasp started swarming you. And when you got whacked with that soccer ball, I was sure you were never gonna wanna see me again.”

It makes your heart hurt to think that he’d ever think something like that — that he’d been stewing over the whole thing long after you’d gotten over it.

“Honestly, I think it might’ve been a test,” you confess quietly.

“A test?” Steve snorts.

“Yeah, like… the world was trying to see if I liked you enough to suffer through second-degree sunburns, and bugs, and getting hit in the face, and… everything.”

The boy tilts his head to his shoulder. “And what did the world decide then, huh?”

“That I like you,” you admit, all quiet like it’s the first time you’ve ever said the words. Steve lost count around the millionth time they left his mouth. “Enough to do it all over again.”

“You like me?” Steve teases, as if your schoolgirl crush on him doesn’t give him schoolboy butterflies.

You nod and try not to smile too wide. “I really like you. And I’m scared to say the stronger word, so I won’t, but…”

“Stronger word?” the boy repeats with a laugh. His eyes go wide in realization a second later. “…Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh,” you mock with your own laugh, a lot more awkward than his had been. 

You turn your gaze to the popcorn in your lap. Steve analyzes your profile for any hint that you might be kidding. He knows you’re way too kind to joke around with his feelings like that — or yours, for that matter.

“Well, you know what?” he lilts.

You smile to yourself but don’t humor him enough to look at him with it. “What?”

“I’m not scared to say the stronger word.”

Your eyes sparkle in the dim light when they finally flit up to him. “No?”

“Mm-mm,” he hums with the shake of his head. “Actually, I’m pretty brave, as it turns out.”

“The bravest.”

Steve beams. “Exactly. And I love the shit outta you.”

You smile so big your cheeks hurt. “I love you too, Steve Harrington.”

He kisses you when the room goes dark.

He’s not a teenager, so it isn’t obscene, but the peck is languid and full of the words he’d just said to you. He spends the next two hours whispering them into your ear. I love you, I love you, I love you.

[betweenlands]

[[Psst! Hey you! If you are here without context, go vote for the Well in the MCYT Prisons Contest!]] (and also for the Ghost's Vault, too)

“You tubed which Lying!?” Avid’s patron sputters.

Avid winces at the loud feedback screech accompanying their outburst, resisting the urge to clap his hands over his ears – instead, he looks directly over towards the most recently occupied tube, giving its new resident a quick once-over for identifying features. Fox ears, kind of runny mascara (the tube isn’t doing it any favors), raven wings, big floppy hat with a wide brim and a pointy tip.

He snaps his fingers. “Witch Lying! Yeah, that’s the one.”

“You,” the Nameless King says, and then mutters something completely unintelligible. “Avid. You have priorities. You are supposed to stop people from falling into the Void. This sort of diversion is–”

“I thought of that, actually!” Avid says brightly, leaning back against the stasis chamber. “Actually, they were like, a pretty high priority target once I realized I had access to other worlds through this whole… prison bracket… thingy.”

“I’m still not sure how that works, to be honest,” the Nameless King sighs.

“It’s really not that complicated! See, the other Avid is busy being possessed by some weird dark entity called the Old One or whatever, who I assume is like a rival of yours so I’m not going to linger on that because I certainly wouldn’t want to be asked about my exes, but anyway – he’s busy, I’m not –”

“–You have a job–”

“– and so I figured, what the heck, might as well just kinda sneak in there and see if there’s anyone that’s being particularly unsafe! And hoo boy, buddy, you are gonna be glad I did that.”

A pause, then more discontented grumbling from the other side of the line. “You had better have a good reason for taking your eyes off our biggest issues. Marmalade’s still at large, and that Fool could be–”

Avid snickers, rapping his knuckles against the tube despite the sign he’d put up next to it clearly reading DO NOT TAP ON GLASS. “Okay, so here’s the deal. It turns out this sucker right here, the Witch, they’re like – immortal immortal.”

“Most people are somewhat immortal. Respawn exists.”

“Yeah, I don’t think they’ve taken a respawn in a couple centuries,” Avid says, stretching and moving over to the readout of the tubed figure’s genetics chart. “From an old modded generation – they’ve got some sort of immortality machine somewhere. Couldn’t figure out how to disable that but I did my research and, oh boy, you are gonna be glad to hear about this one.”

“Again. This had better be good.”

“Man, you are tetchy today.” Avid sighs. “I’ll make it quick. Immortality machine runs on death protection poppets. Death protection poppets block void damage. Void deals void damage. People go into Limbo if the Void can’t kill ‘em. You want people not in Limbo. Ergo, pickled Witch in the Woods.”

A long silence.

“Did I oversimplify?”

“No.” They sigh deeply. “Frankly, I’m stunned that you managed to create and follow a totally logical train of thought to completion. If what you’re saying is true, you actually have saved us both a great deal of hassle.”

“Aw. That’s sweet of you.” Avid leans back against the tube again, grinning.

“Don’t get used to it. But… well done.”

Avid grins widely, almost to the point where he has to cover his own face to hide how much he’s smiling. He’s done a good job! He did it! He’s getting a good grade in tubing people, something both normal to want and possible to achieve!

“I asked you a question, Avid,” the Nameless King says. Oops.

“Yep! Definitely heard you the first time, but, could you maybe just… rephrase that in full for a reason that is totally unrelated to me not hearing you?”

A long-suffering sigh. “I asked how you got them in the first place. Didn’t you lose the last round?”

“Eheh.” Avid’s grin turns almost uncharacteristically nasty. “See, that’s the thing. I did. I’ve been picking off the losers for the most part, so everyone’s been worrying about little ol’ me. I mean, who would even bother going after the immortal that won this round? If anything, they’re a suspect.” He waves one hand. “It’ll take people a little while to realize anything’s up – in fact, I can probably pick off a few more people in the quarterfinals before anyone figures out that the Witch is missing.”

“Make your pitch,” Avid’s patron says. “Quickly.”

“You got it.” Avid rummages in his inventory and pulls out a hand-drawn map of the upcoming tournament and a ballpoint pen that was probably Trog’s before they got tubed. He clicks it a few times, tapping it against his chin. “So, this round the Well looks like it might get bodied. Last round got something like a thousand votes – really close call, this place called the Desert versus these things called ‘where is’ blogs.”

“Please tell me you didn’t take out Ross,” the Nameless King says. “I don’t have the time or resources to deal with the Red Sun, and neither do you.”

“I may be dumb,” Avid says, “but I’m not stupid. I didn’t mess with that round. It was too high-profile, and keeping the Desert guys at large means they’re another prime suspect for the disappearances. Which brings me to the winners of that round.”

“Which was…?”

“The where is blogs. Apparently they put people in situations and it’s very popular. But, if they win, I’m thinking I could call in a little request for their next location.”

“Hm.” Avid gets the distinct sensation that the Nameless King is tapping their fingers against something. “Yes, that could work. If they let their guard down after winning like the Witch did, you could sweep in and get a lot of people at the same time – define where they are, as it were.”

Avid twirls the pen around his fingers a couple times before scribbling something down in the margins of his notes. “See, this is why we make such a good team! That is exactly what I was thinking we could do.”

“Excellent. Then make sure they win the next round – and don’t let me down.”

Avid nods, and then realizes that his patron can’t see him doing that, and then decides that he doesn’t really have anything to add. Awkward silence fills the air for several seconds.

“One more thing,” the Nameless King finally says. “You said you were picking off the losers, didn’t you?” Their voice is dryly annoyed again – so much for being happy with Avid’s job performance. “I would love to hear who else you’ve wasted our time on.”

“Not a waste of time!” Avid says brightly, hopping over the top floor railing and down to a lower floor. “So, there’s this really cute version of Viking that I would, just, love to talk with over drinks sometime, seems like a really fun dude, has this beautiful vault –”

“Avid. Focus.”

“Uh. Right. Probably won’t be able to talk to him face-to-face unless he gets into the finals, so I’m gonna have to work really hard to see if I can–”

“Avid.”

“Sorry, sorry!” Avid waves a hand as he checks over the occupant of the next tube. “Anyway, the guy he beat was really distracted and kind of stormed off muttering about how people should’ve had new perspectives or something? He was alone, so I bopped him over the head and tossed him in a stasis chamber.”

Avid looks over the catboy in the tube appraisingly. He’s wearing all-black with green and yellow highlights – he kind of looks like an emo version of Viking, if Viking actually wore hoodies. And had brown hair. And didn’t really look like Viking other than the heterochromia. “I don’t know his name, but apparently he’s Canadian? Whatever that means, I don’t think Canada canonically exists in–”

“You’re not serious.”

“I am! We cannot confirm Canada to be like, a canonically existing thing, that’ll break suspension of disbelief! Or at least that’s probably what Anathra would say.”

“I don’t care about the relative canonicity of Canada. You’re telling me you captured Kenadian? The person known for breaking into and out of places faster than anyone else? The prison escapist?”

“Ohhh,” Avid says. “He’s not Canadian, his name’s Kenadian. You know what, that makes so much more sense.”

[eepyuii]

frostbite — pt. 13

pairing ; childe x gender neutral!reader

content ; childhood friends to “rivals” to lovers, slowburn

cw ; none

notes ; april fools prank where i actually post a new chapter!!! (i actually just speedran finishing this one bc i couldn’t sleep. it’s 2:30 am :3)

anyway, more of these pining idiots (france edition)

previous | next | masterlist

“…fontaine?”

at this point, you’ve forgotten why you were even crying. your heart is still hammering in your ears from childe’s words towards you— recalling his exact wording almost makes you want to sob again, but your head is already thrumming with ache too much for that. childe explains further his reasons for wanting to go to fontaine but you can’t bring yourself to focus, still replaying what happened previously in your mind.

“i’ve been having these strange dreams and mood swings… i think they’re related to the abyss.”

now that gets your attention. the mere mention of the abyss seems to create a flash of everything in your mind, from the day he disappeared to the day he came back, to when you saw foul legacy for the first time, to when he told you about the abyss— it hits you so abruptly that you physically flinch.

“w-wait what..? why?” you ask meekly, pit forming in your stomach at what this could possibly entail.

“well… you remember the sword master i told you about, right? the one that taught me all i know— skirk was her name. at one point while i was learning under her, i asked her why she took me in at all.. and her answer was extremely cryptic. she something along the lines of ‘because i awakened it’ and that i was ‘connected’ to it.”

“…’it’?”

“hah, she never told me what it was, that enigmatic lady.” childe tries to laugh it off and lighten the sober mood, but you can still gauge that it’s really a vexing matter to him.

“but i’ve got a hunch— i think it’s a whale.”

the vivid image of his whale attack blinds you momentarily, like you can still feel the chilling breeze of its waving water anatomy as it launched upward and slammed down on the floors of the golden house. no wonder childe used it while in his foul legacy form.

“a whale… is that why it’s one of your moves?”

“perhaps, that was never my intention though. my hunch isn’t due to that attack specifically either— it’s more about what i see in my dreams. within them, i find myself in the deepest depths of the sea, not a trace of anything except seawater, and then… there it is, a colossally big whale.”

“and- and the mood swings, how do you feel?”

“i don’t know— lately there’s just these moments where my mood completely flips around and i just feel… bad, like there’s something pulling at my throat. and then the next second it goes away.”

almost as if childe’s own description affects you, as a pit forms in your stomach and a clawed grip pulls at the back of your throat. besides the glaring bad news of anything abyss related, you have a feeling that… something might genuinely go wrong. like this is a bad idea.

“a-and you’re sure you want to go to fontaine to investigate that?”

“yep, positive.”

all of this feels entirely off and you’re not willing to take any chances anymore. you’re not losing this idiot to the abyss again, even if it means jumping down there to pull him back up yourself.

“then i’ll come with you.”

the way childe’s face entirely lights up at that makes it seem as though it’s all he’s ever wanted to hear in his life. for a moment you even think you spot a reflection of the inazuman street lamps in his irises, making him seem utterly starry-eyed. as he’s about to exclaim something about how glad he is, he pauses pensively for a moment and hesitates.

“wait— we’d have to go through sumeru again… are you sure you’re okay with that?”

you nod with full certainty. “i’ll be okay, because this time i’ll be with you.”

the two of you simultaneously turn away from each other discreetly the rest of the way to the hotel, as both try to suppress the grins that creep onto your faces and the heat that rises to your cheeks.

—

the trip to fontaine is arduous and tiring.

by the time you’re on land again, you and childe bee-line for your new hotel. after a long night’s sleep, you finally get to take in the breathtaking architecture, the unimaginable technological advancements and the extravagant lifestyles of the hydro nation. it’s almost overwhelming how much there is to see. childe, simultaneously, furthers his investigation in how to battle the champion duelists— spars with some of them even. and the more he does, the more you’re confident he’s signing up to get his ass kicked if he’s looking to go for tougher champions.

today, you’re whiskered away and into a fancy café in an impromptu invitation by the knave before you can even think of choosing where to go next. once lead into a private conversation room in the café, you’re met by the sight of the knave herself and… three teenagers? childe doesn’t seem to be as taken aback by their presence as you are, perhaps he’s known of them prior to the meeting— either way he doesn’t even spare the three a glance, being far too busy trying to contain the tension in his posture upon seeing arlecchino.

you don’t blame him for that either, as the fourth harbinger is someone you’ve only heard poorly of. she was never much present in zapolyarny palace, in fact you can only recall hearing of her staying in snezhnaya at all for the fair lady’s funeral. other than that, it’s only snarls and shuddered comments from childe saying that he does not like her entirely.

alas, all conflict represents a failure in diplomacy. and she doesn’t seem like someone fun to fight.

“childe… and— sargeant y/n, is it? be very welcome to fontaine, i’m glad to see you’ve accepted my invitation for this chat. be assured this meeting is solely meant for cordial conversation, so, please, relax.”

the knave gestures for you both to sit on the loveseat facing hers— assorted sweets, steaming tea atop a table between them and a collected smile on her face. her eyes seem to hold more than just… cordiality in them, in fact her gaze has a predatory hint to it. you feel so utterly scrutinized under her stare that you almost forget the three teenagers still standing at a corner of the room.

“as you might’ve noticed, i’ve brought three of my children from the house of the hearth— lyney, lynette and freminet. i’ve brought them here in the spirit of… first contact, they’ve never met one of my fellow harbingers before.”

oh that’s right, the house of the hearth. for a moment you feel bad for those three kids, having to stand nearly unregarded at the corner like actual children at an awkward family gathering, merely because the orphanage that took them in happened to be associated with the fatui. you wonder if they’re well treated in the house— rather you hope they are, being under the wing of someone you’ve only heard be described as psychopathic.

arlecchino and childe engage in small talk, she asks about his recent comings and goings, family, work and such while he responds with cautious answers. you can tell childe is as on guard as he can be, before someone who is unpredictable even to him. meanwhile you only stare boredly into your teacup, tracing its intricate painted patterns with your fingers.

your eyes trail over to the three kids almost involuntarily and you see that they haven’t moved an inch since you’ve arrived, merely watching carefully with unreadable expressions. well, at least the tallest one of them does, you think you’ve seen his face in flamboyantly decorated posters around the city, perhaps for a spectacle in true fontainian fashion. same goes for the girl, who seems to be a cat hybrid, bears an even more unamused expression than yourself and she seems to be much more entertained in watching her own tail sway back and forth lazily. finally, the other boy is crouched down over a rounded device as he tinkers with it with a screwdriver in his hand, you can’t discern exactly what it is though.

finally, you notice that besides what you, childe and arlecchino have nibbled on, the rest of the food on the coffee table remains untouched. you don’t know what it is, but a small voice in your head tells you to walk over to them.

a few silent steps, unacknowledged by the two still chatting, and you’re standing in front of the three teens. their shoulders immediately tense at your looming stature and it’s then that you’re reminded that you’re fatui— much more fatui than any of these orphans will ever be.

“hey, uh, aren’t you guys hungry?” you whisper awkwardly.

the taller boy seems to be taken aback by the question and his previously guarded expression melts into relieved amusement.

“ah— don’t worry about us, sargeant, we’ve eaten.” he chuckles politely.

you nod, feeling a tinge of embarrassment creep at your fingertips at how simple and foolish your question seemed. your eyes scatter as you search for something else to bring up in conversation.

“o-oh um… this may seem silly to ask but— are you two part of any show? i think i’ve seen these posters on the streets with two people a lot like you.”

“why yes, i am known as the great magician lyney and my sister lynette is my assistant.” lyney presents proudly, giving you a humorous bow— a complete 180 of his demeanor before, while lynette remains stoic and merely nods to you.

you’re intrigued by the reveal. you’ve seen street ‘magicians’ both in snezhnaya and liyue, mere entertainers fooling the naked eye for petty change, but to be titled a great magician in a nation as grandiose as fontaine, it must say something about lyney.

“magician, huh? i’ll be sure to catch one of your shows sometime.” you grin.

the other boy, who through your supernatural investigative skills you determine is named freminet, remains unbothered and undistracted from his activity. you quietly crouch down to his level and watch with intrigue as he works on his device, either unaware of your presence or uncaring of it.

“hi,” you whisper in a gentle tone, grabbing the boy’s attention as he raises his head to show so, even if he doesn’t fully face you. “freminet, right? can i ask what is it that you’re working on?”

“a-ah uhm… i-it’s nothing too intricate, just fixing up my diving helmet.” freminet fidgets with the edge of his helmet— still not once making eye contact with you, rather his eyes scatter back and forth toward the ground, much in the same way you were before.

“woah, a diving helmet? i would’ve never been able to guess that’s what it was. it’s so cool looking… can you see well in it?” you gasp with wonder.

as soon as you ask, it’s once again as if the teen’s entire mood shifts, his posture becomes more relaxed and his eye light up as they finally meet your own. freminet visibly attempts to hold himself back from getting too excited.

“yes! i-i can’t see very well with the visor but… it’s the best i can get for a helmet meant to sustain such high levels of water pressure!”

“oh sweet— i’ve heard that fontaine’s waters have so much to explore… how deep can you go with it?”

“i’d say about thirty five meters. the maximum safe depth for humans is sixty, though.”

“that’s already so far! what do you usually encou-“

“y/n? we should get going.”

childe calls out faintly as he stands by the door, fond smile on his face. you say goodbye to the three, who return it parting smiles, even lynette flashes you the most microscopic grin though you didn’t directly speak to her. scurrying to formally say goodbye to arlecchino, you join childe outside the café. in such a hurry, you don’t even catch the intrigued stare of the knave towards you.

as the two of you return to touring the streets of the city, you notice childe chuckle and grin to himself as he looks away aimlessly, any of his attempts to hide it fail completely.

“what’s gotten you so giggly?” you ask amusedly.

childe has always reddened easily, perhaps it’s a trait of his redheadedness or a trait of his shy nature as a kid— just like then, his ears immediately give away his embarrassment and he can’t hope to evade explanation.

“ah well, it’s just…” he trails off, hand coming up to scratch his nape sheepishly. “i find rather amusing how good you are with kids.”

the answer surprises you and your step halts momentarily.

“w-what do you mean?”

“oh c’mon, y/n… look at how you were talking to those kids. they were so hostile and serious before and then when i looked again, there you were chatting with them and making them feel comfortable. i was surprised anyone could even be that comfortable in a room with that lunatic…” childe grimaces briefly.

“and it’s not the first time this happens. my siblings all adore you, especially teucer and tonia. she always asks about you in our letters.”

as if karmic, heat rises to your own cheeks— you’d say it’s due to the vulnerability that childe brings out with his words, but the back of your head focuses the mere fact that childe paid attention to that at all to the point where he’d smile at the thought and summons pesky butterflies to your stomach.

you’ve found that lately, most times you think about childe those butterflies are there again. you’re not an idiot, you’ve read fairy tale books, but now was the least appropriate time to indulge any further— your best friend has heard callings from the abyss again and it’s affected his well-being, get your head in the fucking game, y/n.

“s-sure but you know that’s not always been the case! don’t you remember when tonia was born? she always cried whenever i was around…” you retaliate in an attempt to dismiss your embarrassment.

childe opens his mouth to reply but his attention is caught by something else. following his gaze you spot a gathering of people and it seems to be rather more confrontational than merely social. looking further, you recognize one of the men as a representative of conferie of cabriere, a shady organization with even unclearer relations to the northland bank branch of fontaine city. while you haven’t bothered to visit the branch, childe has passingly spoken of his findings there about said organization.

you also spot an all too familiar head of blonde hair— the traveler and paimon. before you can ask anything, childe steps briskly ahead, though he does not disturb the conversation just yet and watches from the sideline.

“…that you won’t go running off by the end of this month? i want fifty percent. today. no— seventy percent.” you hear part of what the man says.

“huh?! you…” the woman in front of him exclaims incredulously.

“hey, hold on! before you go trying to collect payments, why don’t you settle your own debts first?” intervenes childe in a taunting tone.

“if confrerie of cabriere wants to poach clients from northland bank, that’s fine, but i’m afraid you still owe the bank a hefty sum of mora. so why don’t we work things out between us first before you get back to your little conversation here?”

the man visibly cowers slightly, chuckling nervously.

“ah, you’re from northland bank? but we said we’ll pay you everything we owe next month. why are you hounding me now?”

in the midst of that, paimon waves from where she and the traveler stand and it catches childe’s attention. he immediately saunters over to them with delighted surprise in his face, as if completely brushing his prior interaction off, and you take that as your que to join him.

“oh, traveler! paimon! didn’t think i’d run into you here in fontaine. what are the chances?”

“we’re surprised to see you too! what are you doing here in fontaine? didn’t want to stay in snezhnaya?”

this time you answer. “ah, we were actually in inazuma before this for a little… leisurely trip.”

at that, the traveler eyes you suspiciously and it’s very clear that both of you catch onto her meaning, as childe chuckles nervously and you fidget with your fingertips. as discreetly as you can, you shake your head at the traveler, who drops her glare with slight disappointment.

“haha! yeah, long story short, we’ve been in fontaine for some time now. and honestly— things here have been pretty mundane. but it seems that fate has brought our paths together today!”

childe throws you a delighted look as his chest puffs up proudly. his demeanor has completely changed from its mellower nature from before, like spotting a conflict to participate in has lightened his mood exponentially— painfully in-character for him. he shows to be as excited as a little kid on their birthday, in such a manner that it almost takes away the weight of the fact that he’s excited to beat the shit out of someone. you won’t anote that verbally though, you know very well he’s been craving a fight ever since you landed in fontainian grounds.

“not only will i have more good friends here now, but ones who always seem to find trouble. either way you look at it, it seems things are going to get a lot more interesting now.”

dear tsaritsa, you know him so well.

paimon chuckles nervously. “pretty sure we’d want to avoid anything you’d find interesting… besides, our trip here has gone pretty well so far, right traveler?”

the traveler shrugs. “i don’t mind a little excitement every once in a while.”

you almost reprimand her for encouraging childe’s tendencies, but instead the sound of someone clearing their throat is heard behind you.

“ahem, uh… hey you, northland bank boy. aren’t ya forgettin’ somethin’?”

“don’t interrupt— it’s not often we’re all reunited like this. why don’t you wait for me over there for a while?”

“hah, you kiddin’?! aren’t ya the one lookin’ for us? you really expect us to sit and twiddle our thumbs while you catch up with your friends?! listen to me, boy. if you want your mora, fine— why don’t you come and take it?”

oh well. rest in peace whoever this asshole was.

“hey! i said not to interrupt. oh! by the way, traveler, y/n i forgot to tell you this one too… the last time i took tonia and teucer ice fishing, teucer said—“

“HEY! that’s way over the line! alright boys, let’s see who has to pay up now!”

“ugh, can you at least let me finish one sentence? fine, though the bank told me not to get rough with our clients…”

you’re not exactly worried about the outcome of this fight, so you just continue the topic childe was interrupted from.

“you still take them ice fishing?” you ask him fondly, warm smile on your face.

childe is rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms as prep, but he still turns his head to throw you a playful wink. “‘course i do. i’ll tell you all about it after i take care of these guys.”

“alright, want me to hold your earring?” you ask teasingly.

“hah hah..” childe feigns a laugh, rather very obviously fake than convincing.

you may fake it all you want in front of other people, but there was no point in lying to yourself and saying you didn’t feel your heart stutter at that wink, it makes you like a silly teenager. the traveler and paimon almost instinctively expect you to try and hold childe back from getting himself into trouble— but when you don’t move an inch to stop him, perhaps too distracted thinking about how heavily your heart strums against your chest, they both give you a judgemental glare.

“what happened to your common sense?” paimon deadpans and you can’t bring yourself to respond.

as expected, childe single-handedly takes down the confrerie’s gaggle of goons without even breaking a sweat. soon enough, only the leader remains standing, already panting heavily and stumbling on his steps.

“what’s your deal brat..? how are you so strong if you’re just a staffer from snezhnaya’s northland bank?! …wait, don’t tell me you’re a—“

“ohoh, now you notice— s’ a little late, don’t you think? just make sure you understand that you don’t mess with northland bank, got it?”

to finish off, childe summons his dual elemental blades… or rather he tries to.

the water swirls into the silhouette of the blades, but when it means to solidify in shape— the water vanishes. you frown in bewilderment almost immediately, did he just change his mind? no, you look towards childe’s expression and see that he’s just as taken aback as you, looking down to the hydro vision at his waist that sits inactive. his opponent takes the distraction as an opportunity to strike, but much to his dismay it takes childe only a punch to knock him out instead.

seeing that all of the men have been taken down definitively, you rush over to childe’s side— you instinctively give him a once over to check for injuries or anything off. the traveler and paimon join you soon after.

“huh, that was weird…” he mutters.

“yeah… safe to say that wasn’t intentional. you okay?”

“what happened?” adds the traveler.

“i’m not… sure. it’s as if i lost control of my hydro powers when i needed them. maybe there’s something wrong with my vision?”

“strange. how could that happen? first time paimon’s ever heard of someone losing control of their vision.”

childe shakes his head dismissively and sighs. “nevermind, it doesn’t matter. if i wanna stay sharp, i shouldn’t be relying too much on my vision anyway. besides, i always have my delusion in case i need it.”

you throw him a glare. “hey, we know better than anyone that a delusion isn’t the remedy for a vision.”

“so what’re you guys actually doing in fontaine? and don’t say it’s work for northland bank…” paimon asks, in hope of changing the subject.

“well… i guess it’s because i’ve been having these bad moods lately.”

“huh? what kinda reason is that? wait, since when do you feel down about anything?”

“haha… i dunno, maybe i still have a lot to learn about myself. but recently, there seems to be some sort of restless power stirring inside of me— and i don’t know why but every now and then, i feel like i’m a in terrible mood.”

at a realization, that familiar anxious feeling returns to your chest, claws at it. it was only just recently that you felt free from it, yet your mind replays the moment where childe’s vision failed him against your will and causes that old weight on shoulders to return.

“what if… that’s why your vision did that? because of ‘it’?” you suggest meekly and childe nods thoughtfully in consideration of the possibility.

“‘it?’” paimon questions.

childe explains his story with the abyss and his swordmaster, almost verbatim to the way he told you. perhaps partially due to deja vu, you can’t bring yourself to listen intently— your mind is far too addled with fleeting and overwhelming whispers of what could happen to childe after this new development. you instinctively start to fidget with your fingers anxiously, as your eyes stare off into nothing while you’re deep in thought. your time for relaxation was dismantled so fast… like the worried thoughts were stalking you from a distance like patient predators— waiting to pounce and overtake all of your neural functions.

there’s a light tap on your shoulder.

coming to, you realize that the traveler and paimon are no longer standing in front of you and your eyes scatter to find them already taking off into the streets, waving goodbye absentmindedly. secondly, you turn to see childe looking down at you with a somber air in his eyes.

“y/n? seems like you spaced out a bit there… you alright?”

you scoff, though the scoff feels more demeaning at yourself than childe. “your powers are malfunctioning and you’re worried about me?”

he laughs. “yeah well… guess i picked that up from someone. listen— it’s fine, maybe it was just a random hiccup, we don’t know anything yet. i was going to tell you that i’ve got to go keep my appointment with the champion duelist but… speaking of my vision, here.”

a palm opens up in front of you, sapphire-esk gem neatly sitting on it.

“…you’re giving me your vision? why?” you frown.

“heh, i know i just said it could’ve been a hiccup but… it’s still not reliable, i’d hate for it to get in the way of my duel.”

as if childe senses your wholehearted reluctancy, he holds up both of your hands, puts his vision in them and closes them beneath his own.

“besides, there’s nobody in this world i’d trust more to keep it safe for me.”

he holds both of your hands there for a moment, a moment in which you realize how warm his hands are and how cold yours are. it’d be easy to say it’s due to his gloves— but he’s always been like this. you still recall how ajax would complain about your ‘subzero temperature hands’ whenever you tried to tickle him. and the irony is even funnier, for you to have received a vision that summons powers of ice and for childe to have received a vision with control over the waters… essentially the warmer version of your powers. perhaps it’s a coincidence, or perhaps a silly little play put on by the gods.

with all the time you’ve had to ponder over all of this, you realize that the two of you are still holding hands— not a falter or pull from either of you. as you’d been looking down aimlessly once again, when you look up to face childe, your gaze is already met by his. like he’d been looking at you the entire time.

at that, your arms start to tremble, seemingly causing childe to realize the reality of the situation himself. he brings a gloved hand up to cover his cheeks, pretending as if he’s scratching something on his face.

finally, he mumbles something about wishing him luck in his duel and takes off briskly.

his vision feels heavier in your hands now that his aren’t there to hold it with you.

taglist ; @kentply @osaemu @rain-and-a-nice-nap @koichirana

[gtbutterfly]

Quincy and the forest giant part 10

hey, I got this one out a lot sooner than expected! I might try to work on a new story or maybe some one offs between this chapter and the next one. Anyways, this part is a bit more in depth than the last one. Hope you enjoy it! Critism is appreciated! (Sorry I forgot to say that last time)

previous part:

______________________________________________________________

I’ve never understood why in movies and cartoons, whenever one character was tiny and another character was big, they had the smaller character sitting on the bigger one's shoulder. I always thought that it would be too easy for the smaller person  to fall off from there. When people have parrots and other birds on their shoulders, it makes sense, because the bird is holding on with its talons. But with a person, they’re not really hanging onto anything, they're just balancing, and they somehow don’t fall off. If they had to hang onto something, it would probably be the ear, which would be painful for the bigger character. I never realized why those shows always did that until Ella took me for a walk that day. She had me cupped in her hand while she was walking through the forest. Her elbows were bent so I was upright in her hands. After a while, she started carrying me in one hand against her chest while she put her other hand down, and she switched hands a few times, which was a bit disorienting for me. I figured out her arms were getting tired in that position, so I decided to say something when she switched again,

“Um…hey, Ella?” I said,

“Hmm?” The giant looked down at me, “oh, sorry kid, I know changing my hands can be a bit much,” 

“Uh…it's fine…hey, do you want to, like, hold me in a different way?” I asked.

“What other way?” she asked, “this is the most comfortable way I can hold you without you dropping 40 feet,”

“Well…it doesn’t seem too comfortable…” I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Comfortable for you I mean,” Ella said. “Would you rather I have you in a fist around your neck again?”

“Um…no,” I said, “uh…how about…I dunno, your shoulder?” I suggested.

“You’d fall in seconds.” Ella said dryly.

“Um…your pocket?” I asked,

“You wouldn’t be able to seeQuincy. That would defeat the whole purpose of going on a hike.” Ella said. “My pockets are too deep for you to see over…do you want to know what's in my pockets?”

“Um, No?” I said, in a mixture of scared and genuinely confused.

“Good.” Ella said, continuing to walk. 

“Um…do you have any ideas?” I asked.

“Hmm…” she sighed, “your too small to walk beside me, obviously,” she said, “maybe…sigh no,”

“Um…what?” I asked,

“Nothing..” she said, starting to murmur something to herself about “me being too young.”, I couldn’t fully make it out. She sighed again. “Maybe we should rest for a second, how does that sound?” 

“Yeah…that sounds fine,” I said. Ella looked around, before slowly lowering herself to the ground, which was covered in leaves and plants, some flattened by giant footprints, supposedly from Ella stepping on them before. She sat with one leg outwards and the other bent towards it. She placed me on the ground on her right side, next to the bent leg, and leaned back with both her arms behind her. I looked around at the forest we were in. The trees were even larger than the 60 foot giant looming over me, their leaves were massive and completely blocked out the sun. The floor of the woods was covered in bushes and shrubs and flowers that took whatever light did seep through the leaves of the trees. Next to me was a foot print the size of a small car where the plant life was completely flattened. It was Ellas footprint, but it wasn’t somewhere she stepped before. I looked up at her.

“Um…do you come to this part of the forest often?” I asked.

“Yeah…part of my job,” the giant said.

“Oh yeah….your job…” I said, looking down. “Um….is it ok if I…ask now….um, what your job is?” 

“I told you, I’ll tell you when I’m ready to,” Ella said,

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I rubbed the back of my head, “um…but….I’m just wondering if you can, uh, just tell me what you do,”

“What do I do?” Ella asked.

“Yeah…uh, you don’t have to tell me how your a giant or anything about the company, or Derrick, or anything like that…I just want to know what you do, that's all..,”

“Hmm…alright then,” the giant sighed, “I’m only telling you because they apparently want me to adopt you, or whatever,” she closed her eyes and sighed again, before looking forward and away from me. “I walk around the forest…and make sure everything is…” she waved her hand in the air as if trying to think of what to say, “normal” she finally said, with air quotes.

“N-normal?” I asked.

“Not normal like, normal, normal like, the way things are supposed to be,” Ella said.

“Um….ok…um, like what?” I asked, tilting my head. She looked down at me.

“That's harder to explain without getting into…y’know,” Ella sighed again, changing her legs to be crisscrossed. She then held out her hand to me. I looked at it for a moment, confused as if we were going to continue walking or not, before climbing onto her palm. Ella stayed on the ground, lifting me upwards to a tree. My gut felt weird being lifted like that, I thought that I would be used to it by now.

“Do you see these trees?” Ella asked. I looked at the tree in front of me. It was thick and wide, much more dense than a normal tree, but not as much as say a red wood. The trunk was brown, and the leaves were much bigger, they seemed like normal leaves, but they were almost a foot long. 

“Y-yeah…what about it…?” I asked.

“These are oak trees, Quincy.” the giant holding me said. “They're the kind of tree your townspeople chop down.” 

“But…they're so big…” I said, “...trees from centuries ago don’t get this big…at least as far as I know,” 

“That's the work of the company.” Ella said. “Its experimental, these are the only trees in the world being grown like this. Since its experimental, there are some worries from the company about these modified trees affecting the animals, or their existence being found out to the public and other companies try doing the same thing,” 

“So…you make sure those things don’t happen?” I asked.

“If an animal mutates or whatever, which never happens, I’m supposed to give it to the company for testing, and if a human is found out here, I’m supposed to take them so that no one finds out about what the company’s doing.” Ella said. “So, yeah, I just walk around and make sure those things…don’t happen,” she shrugged.

“So, you're their security?” I asked,

“That's a way of putting it,” she said dryly. She looked down at herself for a moment, almost seeming sad about something. I looked up at her and patted hand a bit, I don’t know if she felt it or not, she didn’t have a reaction. I looked down for a moment, before backing up and looking up at her.

“So, uh, they were worried about the big trees making…big animals?” I asked,

“Yeah…they never did though, at least as far as I can tell,” Ella said.

“Did they make you big…in the same way?” I asked sheepishly, looking down slightly. Ella turned her head towards me and sighed. She was silent for a moment.

“It's a bit more complicated than that…” she said, before she got on her knees. I could tell she didn’t want to talk about this anymore. She looked forward. “Come on, let's start heading back, I should start making lunch for us,” the giant said, still holding me as she stood up.

“Yeah….um…how does…uh, venison…taste anyways?” I asked. 

“You’ll see,” Ella said, her footsteps vibrating the ground as she walked with me in her hands. She was looking straight forward as she walked. I looked up at her face. She seemed like she was thinking of something, something that was bothering her. She was passively sad, looking forward with her mouth frowned and her eyes a bit droopy and tired looking. I patted her thumb again.

“Hey…um, are you ok?” I asked, looking up at her. Her eyes widened a bit as she glanced down at me.

“...what do you mean?” she asked, seeming genuinely confused.

“Um…you seem..down about something,” I said, rubbing the back of my head. Ella’s eyes shifted to her side for a moment. They flickered slightly in thought. 

“Um…yeah, it's just sort of…been a lot happening lately,” the giant said, “usually things are a lot more..uneventful out here,”

“um…I know what you mean,” I said, “but I meant…well…you seem…sad….”

“It's nothing,” Ella sighed.

“Um..it's ok…” I said sheepishly, “if you're sad…I just…if you want to talk about it ... .or anything…” Ella sighed again, interrupting me. She let out a slight smile, that was clearly just meant to make me feel better.

“It's fine, Quincy. You don’t have to feel bad for me,” She said, rubbing my back a bit with her finger, “honestly…I probably deserve this, anyways,” 

“Ella…don’t say that…” Said, touching her thumb again.

“Its alright Quincy, you don’t know…” she said, sighing again. “I’ll tell you everything soon…tonight…I’ll tell you everything tonight…make sure to hold me by that, ok?” she said, tilting her head. I paused for a moment.

“...ok,” I said, looking down, “...you really don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to…”

“It's fine Quincy,” she said, rubbing my back again, “you should know…you deserve to know…”

And then she kept walking.  

[banana-pancake5]

Can you tell me about Amelia??

Ye :D

Under the cut bc I feel like it’ll get really long

Amelia was my first ever OC and was apart of my first ever AU, TOF (the odd family [of mutants and Yokai])! I still have the MasterPost linked which has a good bit of info on all the involved characters (although that story is discontinued bc of LFMFS and SADA)

Amelia was a failed experiment of Draxum’s that was accidentally created when the lab exploded (the same time the turtles were mutated). Draxum pushed her way too far with her training and never held back his thoughts (that she was pathetic, a failure, etc) and eventually he became too busy to care for her, so he gave he made a deal with Big Mama. The deal was that Big Mama would care for, raise, and train Amelia until she was 14 or 15 (cant remember which), but when Amelia came to the age Big Mama grew fond of her. Because of this, Big Mama manipulated Amelia’s first ever battle nexus fight (which she was SO excited for). Big Mama switched her opponent from Graham, my other oc in the story, to a much bigger, more threatening opponent. That fight ended when Big Mama thought her plan succeeded, when Amelia was horribly injured, missing a horn, and unconscious.

After that fight Amelia felt ashamed of her broken horn, a constant reminder of what she knew her whole life, she was failed experiment… a failure. So, she covered it up. She did what she does best and made a small fashionable hat to cover it up. She practically spent every second of her days inside her room working for Big Mama (she sowed outfits for clients, warriors, and champions). Until her sister Kiki, a friend’s oc who isn’t on tumblr anymore, coaxed her into sneaking out into the city. That first night outside the city she became obsessed. She and Kiki began to sneak out more and more until eventually she had the confidence to sneak out on her own (which Kiki did NOT know about).

On one of her trips with Kiki she found a cat. The cat had a bit of its ear missing just like Amelia had her horn missing. That cat immediately bonded with Amelia, but Kiki in the other hand… they didn’t get along for awhile. Amelia couldn’t bring the cat home, but she could visit it every time they went out (part of the reason she started sneaking out on her own).

On one of these solo trips to hangout with Myla, the cat, she bumped into a strange who was already playing with Myla. She immediately froze up, she wasn’t supposed to interact with anyone in the city. Mikey, the stranger, stammered and apology, but when Amelia saw he wasn’t a human she came back to her senses (somewhat) and accused Mikey of stealing her cat. Mikey explained and apologized again then left.

This happened many times, but instead of yelling and shooing him away, Amelia began to just sit in silence as he played with Myla. Mikey would ask questions, talk about his day, and just talk to her while she sat without a word of acknowledgement. But eventually on one of these trips Amelia’s curiosity got the best of her and she blurted out a bunch of questions at Mikey, who was understandably shocked, but he answered them anyway. After that they started to talk more and more, becoming really good friends in only a few hangouts.

One day when Amelia was out, she saw Mikey being “attacked” by three other people. She immediately jumped in to help her new friend without a second thought. A little fight broke out, lucky for her she was the only one who attacked before Mikey explained the situation. Those people were his brothers, they weren’t attacking they were just goofing off.

Eventually through all of that, she truly meets the Hamato’s, discovers they’re are HER brothers, Kiki plot ensues, then Graham plot ensues.

Okay, I realize I just explained her whole arc and part of the AU… well I hope this counts as “more about Amelia” :D

Any questions about anything I shall answer!

[exielimon]

I don’t believe I’m making one of these ever again, I just needed to get it out of my head, I’m not a writer. Anyways LU first and probably last fic.

This one is called-

Thought it was normal

I am really sorry if there are mistakes along the text, my native language is not english.

——

“hey bro…?”

“hm?”

“I can’t find my earphones, do you have something I can borrow?”

“Uhhh… yeah, you see, that box on the table beside the front door? there should be my earphones, but I advise you, they sound quite low.”

“Okay thank you!”

I have always had an imaginative mind, I was always imagining myself into non-physically-posible situations, always distracting me from my reality and getting me out of the pain of boredom. I was doing that too, in the moment I heard a thud behind me through the music in my brother’s black earphones. I could always hear that type of weird noises in my house, it was not haunted, I am sure of that because my parents built it, so I was not worried, I was even used to it. I looked over my shoulder, glancing around the kitchen and as expected, not finding anything, again, I could always hear those type of sounds, specially around that hour, around one in the morning I mean, but this was normal, never happens anything.

I turned around to see the dishes again, my music still playing.

There was a window in front of me, a big window actually. It was in the very front of my house, facing the street of my neighborhood, I couldn’t see through it because of the lack of light outside, so in that pitch black, I could only see reflection from inside my house and some lights from outside.

This reflection confused me when I saw two little red dots glowing in the cristal of the window, it was not a car outside, since they were beside one another and not one on top of the other, they were too small anyway… and they didn’t shine, they were only… there… glowing slightly… growing closer… wait- closer?!

The reflection still confused me when I turned around with a slight gasp leaving my lips and I didn’t find anything of such fire-like color. Wait… I never got scared of things like this… what’s happening…? the feeling of being watched was always present, it was normal too… it was present here too… but this was different from other times… it was never more that the beginning 'thud'… what the heck?

I tried to ignore it again… never happens anything anyway… I turned to see the window once more, the glowing dots were still there… but didn’t move anymore… now they…- it… was closer… almost could feel it’s breath in my right ear through the still playing music… or… wait… I can feel it’s breath… what was that dark thing in the corner of my eye?! what-

I turned my head, stepping quickly to the opposite way, there was nothing…

“what the…-“

The window had a pitch black again, nothing of another color… I ignored it again… it was over, I was just tired, or at least that’s what I wanted to believe, it was almost two in the morning, when had an hour passed…?

I finished the dishes and took my stuff, my phone, the box of my brother’s wireless earphones and drank a cup of water.

Going to the stairs and glancing back to the window of the kitchen is the last thing I remember of my home. Those red glowing dots were mocking at me again through the reflection. I felt my foot slip from a step, then my vision was void-black.

I am now lying in who-knows-where, I can see a blue sky and a few leaves producing shade over my eyes, is sounds peaceful, I feel a little dizzy actually… my vision is blurring again… I think my head hurts, I don’t know, I don’t believe I’m thinking straight, the slurred sounds of someone screaming in the distance are proving so… it’s silly…

Uh…

Blue sky…? a tree…? was I not inside my house…? Why do I feel grass beneath my body…? I’m sure I was going to sleep…

who’s screaming…?

I glance to my left, I can’t exactly see, my vision is growing more blurred by every second, I can spot a few people, a few of them look like they’re searching something frenetically through… what is that… their bags I guess…?

heh, this is how my friend who never wears her glasses sees?? that’s fucked up…

Oh right… back to where I am…

Where am I??

My arm looks a little… hurt… that rock over there looks sharp… that would explain the numb in my arm, I wonder if I got more hurt… why do those people look so panicked…? why is my vision fading again…?

My eyes fall shut, I don’t think they noticed I opened them anyway. Uh, whatever, I’ll wake up in the morning and I’ll be depressed because it was a dream and nothing interesting or out of the usual actually happened…

Or that’s what I thought…

“Ugh…”

That is the only thing that left my mouth while waking up, I had a terrible headache, I felt dizzy again, my eyes felt like they were spinning in their spot under my eyelids, I lay on the blanket that was on the floor, I don’t remember sleeping on the floor, but I always do it, so it’s normal, I’ll ignore it.

My hand went to cover my eyes, even if I didn’t feel any light, just want to rub the sleep away, but it’s only making it worse. I open my eyes under my hand and it hurts, why do I feel like I’m going to dismantle…? what hap…-

Oh… I tripped…

I push myself to a sitting position and realize… I’m not in my room… I can’t see straight, as if I did stand up too quickly… I only sat up god damn, but I can’t feel my room… the first thing I see after the black in my eyes finishes fading is a camp in the middle of what looks like a forest… what the heck… I look around there’s a blonde person beside me… they seem asleep, but I can’t tell with my blurred vision, c’mon I need to see! they wear a red clothing and a blue cap… weird combination but doesn’t look bad, huh…

After a few seconds I rub my eyes again, I’m still not thinking straight… why am I not getting worried over the fact that I’m not in my house? who’s this… guy…? I honestly can’t tell with my vision like this.

I scan myself, I’m patched up for some reason, every sore spot in my body seems to be treated, I’m wearing different clothes, I’m on a bedroll on the veil of dry fallen leaves from the trees above my head, it’s reasonable, but doesn’t answer the main question forming inside my head while consciousness returns to my mind:

“What the fuck is happening…?”

The person beside me seems to wake up, seems like my question caught him off guard because how he reacted.

“I’M ALERT!!” he jumped to a seated position.

It’s a little funny how I’m staring at them, but they are looking at me the same way, so I guess they won’t get mad, I’m just looking confused anyway.

“Uh- you’re awake!” he leans closer to me as if inspecting my… wounds… “how are you feeling? do you feel dizzy? do you need another potion?”

“Wh- calm down, I can’t think straight-“

My voice is hoarse, just like I always wake up. “I… feel dizzy, yeah, it’s fading tho… and… wait- did you just say 'potion'?!”

“yeah- what, are you allergic or something?!” the blonde looks kinda confused now… a little worried.

“No- I just… uh… what the heck…? why do you look so much like…” my vision came back!! finally!! the person in front of me looks freaky alike the Veteran from that amazing comic named Linked Universe I just started following weeks ago… but why…? can this be a cosplayer? what a cool background, it’s so realistic, but when did I end up with this guy in his study?

“Like…?” the guy got tired of looking at me dazing off

“Uh… where am I? who are you? what the heck is happening? I have a lot of questions actually” one of them is: why am I not freaking out…?

“Uh… of those questions I can only answer one actually…- I have no Idea where we are actually, me and my group are lost as well, you see, we’re not from here and since you are the only person we’ve found in like seven hours, we thought you could tell us…” He explains, looks like we’re both screwed up. “I have no idea what is happening to you and… the name’s Veteran or Legend

I prefer Vet tho, all are nicknames since, you’ll see, me and my friends all have the same name”

“Uh- what the- yo for real…? is this not a cosplay…? because if it is I really am not a part of the role, I’m actually really confused.” what the heck does this guy mean…? sure he looks exactly like the guy from the comic, and that is worrying me.

“yeah uh… cos-… what?” oh lord… “you sure hit your head hard huh?” he chuckled.

“Oh for fuck’s sake… is this even real?” Well there it is, I’m starting to freak out.

“Uh- what a language, I guess you’re in your right this must a lot to process after waking up of such a hit-“ He paused for a moment and returned to the process of making sure I didn’t loose my mental state. “do you remember what were you fighting or what caused you that?”

“Uh- cause me what?” My freaking out did not fade, but my mind focused more on my confusion.

“Look at you, you look like your body is going to snap like a bunch of sticks”

“Huh?” I remembered my aching body “Uh, that… I- listen, if you’re not a cosplayer then just don’t ask how I know this, but I am not from 'around here' either, I am from another world… not a timeline, a whole different world, a world where… actually you shouldn’t exist-… doesn’t matter- the point is… I need to get back, if I am where I think I am, then I shouldn’t be here, I’ll die with the first monster!“

“Woah woah- calm down, first I am definitely going to ask how you know that- but later. And second, if you know that- then you should know that I don’t know how to get back either.”

“Oh… right, why the fuck am I so calm now…? I’m in a fucking different world and…-“ I pause thinking again about the last moment I saw my home, I was holding something… what was it? My hand goes to touch my ear and seek for something that I wish wasn’t there, but it was… my brother’s earphones. “Did I… have something on my hands when you found me?”

“Uhm… Oh yes!” he took a hand to his pocket and started looking for something, taking out two things: my phone and the little black box of the earphones. “you were clutching at it really hard, we thought it was important, even if we didn’t know what it is…” he stretched out his hand for me to grab the devices.

“Oh thanks!” I opened the case and put the wireless earphones inside. “So… where are the others?” I glance at the ashes of the campfire, it still has fathoms, as if it hasn’t been too long since it was extinguished.

“my group? some went to-“

“We’re back! at least us, heh” someone interrupted stepping inside the clearing. A person with blonde hair, blue eyes, scar all over the left side of their face and a sky blue shirt with the design of a sword pointing down. I recognize this guy.

Before one of them reacted, three more people walk behind him: A brunette taller guy with a white… cape? no, I recognize him too, that’s a sailcloth, sky’s sailcloth. Another guy also brown hair and a green tunic, as simple as that, I recognize them too. And for the last, a small guy, his blonde hair reaches his shoulders, wears a green band on the forehead and his tunic splits on four different colors, heheh, if these guys knew what that means.

One of them notices the stranger waken up, me. Sends a kind smile at me and sets the things he had in his hands where the shorter blonde guy asks him to.

“I see you’re awake” He comes close and sits down in front of me, oh lord I hate eye contact.

“You think?” What the hell was that answer? it is a joke but I’m not sure if they’ll get it, what if they think I’m rude-

A chuckle. They got the joke fine. Oh thanks lord.

“Oh-kay why do you say that, you still dizzy?”

“Uh- no… yes… shit I still can’t think straight”

“oh well- language, young one”

“uh- sorry” I rub my eyes again.

“Oh good! they woke up! everything okay?” A voice can be heard from behind the brunette in front of me, I think it’s from the shorter blonde, I can’t tell. “they didn’t freak out?”

“oh yeah, I forgot I had to freak out” honestly it’s surprising that I’m so calm, the fact that I am in a totally different world probably infested with unknown monsters and creatures, infinite different ways of me dying alone and that I’m with the reincarnations of what’s probably a god of courage… yeah, I should probably freak out now… somehow I feel happiness instead…

“Please don’t, you’re doing well ‘til now”

the blonde besides me speaks once again. now that I realize, his pink streaks are very faded, but I can see them clear. I was wondering why I couldn’t see them while my vision was blurred, but I can understand why now.

“Ok fine…”

“So, do you recognize this place?” the brunette started again “I’m sorry to be asking you when you just woke up… we don’t actually-“

“I don’t know either”

“huh?”

“I’m not from this world either… last thing I remember is tripping over a step on the stairs of my house, after that… everything is unknown…” I explained, it’s weird… I’m not good with words… I can’t actually remember a single time when I spoke so fluidly to a person, I’m a god damn introvert. “except for you…” I whispered under my breath, fortunately, they didn’t catch it.

“A-and how do you know we’re…” the brunette- Sky is stuttering, maybe I should’ve just said that I hit my head too hard and lost my memory. Oh well.

“I… I know a lot of things… long story short, I’ve… seen you…? as an omniscient-being…?” I think I’m gonna break him “now I am the one asking you not to freak out”

The silence feels awkward now, the boy in front of me looks confused and horrified at the same time, and I can feel the glare, that the pink streaked beside me is shooting to my neck as if it’s burning my skin with the same expression, the other three behind Sky are staring too, I think I’ve said too much, oh fucking god… I screwed up and I don’t know how to fix such bullshit. “I… I’m not your enemy tho…” as if that’s gonna calm them down.

The taller blonde- Wild starts to approach, he seems wary, almost as if he’s approaching some wind aggressive animal, that’s rude.

“Uhm… s-should we… suspect?” The blonde approaching asks slowly to his mate, the skyloftian.

“I’m right here y’know?” I huff offended, yep, that was rude. I decide to rub my eyes again while they rebuild themselves and then take the same hand through my head, how long have I been sweating?

The movement of my hair lets the pink streaked- Veteran see my right ear with a golden (and dirty because of the use) earring.

“Guys…? I know I’m the least likely to trust people and I’m the most paranoid of this group, but I think they say the truth…” the Veteran suggests, looking at my earring as I let my hair fall again.

I turn my gaze to the guy next to me, he’s not looking at my eyes, he’s looking at my ear… “huh…? oh- that.”

“What do you mean…?” The skyward boy asks still with a wary voice, which I just take as they do want an explanation to trust me, yet is still not sure if he should.

This is my opportunity to prove them that I’m not lying “Look, I only know about your adventures, don’t go thinking I’m a weird stalker” I take a bit of my hair behind my ears each side, letting see my the different ears. ”Also I wasn’t expecting this to be relevant”

“Woah…” the Wild hero seems convinced now.

“Well, if you think about it…”Legend starts explaining, which is weird because I always thought he would be the most difficult to convince. “it shouldn’t be relevant… but it does prove you’re not from a Hyrule…” well that’s true “I don’t believe the Yigas are so smart for something like this” He turns his gaze to his wild brother, which the other answers with a shrug, yet somehow looking with agreement.

“The old man and the Captain will know what to do” Sky states “They will decide if we should trust them”

“Again, I’m right here.” well that’s annoying.

“Oh- sorry, didn’t mean to”

———

The rest of the heroes arrived, they were haunting and some hoard of monsters caught them off guard, or at least that’s what they look like, some scratches, bruises and the open minor slashes they had all over their clothes.

Time, Twilight, Warrior and Wind. The minor part of the group, but the ones that enjoy spending energy on active stuff, or simply, they like causing trouble like the gremlins they actually are.

But I did not have much time to think abut that and mock in my head over the topic; for now, while the others are chatting around a campfire, I find myself separated, with four beings that emanate authority: A war god, a divine blue-eyed beast, a captain of the royal knights and the murderer of an evil god and creator of the most powerful weapon against darkness. Without mentioning again that I’m with a bunch (now nine) of reincarnations of the spirit of courage himself.

Time, Twilight, Warrior and Sky are sitting in front of me and the only thing I can think about is “Why are you looking at me like that…?” I am feeling threatened…

Time, with his stoic face and the markings of the fierce deity on his face. His only ocean blue eye looking deep into my soul. He’s resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his intertwined hands.

The Captain Warrior next to him, one of his ankles resting on the opposite knee, resting his elbow on the other knee and covering his mouth with two fingers of the same resting arm. Why does he have to scan me like that???

Twilight is sitting straight, arms crossed and knees just in a sitting position.

The Skyloftian just seems tired, he’s resting his face on his hand, elbow on his knee.

“seen us?” the rancher starts “how?”

Don’t think I can just tell them they’re mere characters from a franchise. “Y-you’re really famous around my word…” how am I even planing to justify the timelines then?! “my… my world is really advanced on technology… we… discovered the…the branches of the timelines… now you have a place in history” that’s an excuse, but not exactly the truth, will they believe?

“That far in the future…?” the warrior is impressed.

The timeless hero doesn’t. He glares at me like he can sense my hidden truth.

“It is impressive… but doesn’t exactly answer the ‘seen us’ part.” that emotionless eye is burning my skin.

“Uhm… history books… representations… even TV shows…” I chuckle quite nervously, I hope they didn’t notice that, which is most likely that they did.

“What is a ‘TV show’?”

“Uh… it’s a… show displayed on a screen… or most likely a device that… well, emits light different colors forming an image with movement… plays those type of shows for a general public that has that same type of device… named ‘television’… ‘Tv’ for short… I’m not good with technical explanations”

“oh, something like Wild’s slate… but with different meanings??”

“yeah… entertainment and emission of news…” Okay this is getting better.

“well that is an advanced future… with such advanced knowledge on technology, and to use it to mere entertainment… would be easy to discover a lot of things” the old man states, but why does he sill seem wary? his eye doesn’t show a bit of softening. “but” oh god. “how did you get here then? you don’t look like an adventurer or a time traveler, sure you wouldn’t just enter a portal because you saw it”

oh, shit I thought he was gonna throw a question that would tear me apart. “Uh, I’m not actually sure, I was in my house, the last thing I remember is tripping over a step on the stairs… I was just going to sleep”

“Anything weird before that? some presence…? a shadow?” this Old man is getting to the point, good.

“uh actually… yes, now that I think about it, there was a presence, but that type of things always happens at my home, so I don’t think it’s relevant” At least I can say this more relaxed.

“Maybe it was taking advance of that situation to be near. We’ve been dealing with a shadow version of us and we believe you could be involved.” the ranch-hand just wants to finish this, he seems tired. “did you not see something? perhaps with red eyes?”

“Uh… red eyes…?” the image of the glowing dots on the window return to my mind. The simple thought of it is making me shiver and returns the cold feeling of being watched. “I…”

I’m shaking, that thing was behind me and playing with my mind. It was right over my shoulder. I couldn’t see it, it could be here right this instant, it could be reaching its hand or claw at me right in this moment. A cold breeze runs through my back, I’m afraid to look back, the anxiety is running through my body and I am staring at…- what am I staring at? I can’t register, my mind is only waiting for the moment when that thing clenches my shoulder and shoves me into a black-pitch void.

A hand on my shoulder makes my head snap in that direction, a gasp leaving my lips and realize that is nothing else than the hand of a rancher, trying to make me breath steadily. Since when did I stop breathing-?

“hey- you with us?” The blue-eyed beast asks.

Aww he so gentle! I wanna hug him!! wait- back to the present. “y-yeah… I think… I think I did saw a thing with red eyes… on a reflection that was already black…” the mere memory of it is got me shivering, god damn that thing even touched me-

“Then you must be meant to come with us… you definitely have something to do with all of this… and if you have so much information about us, we sure cannot leave you at your mercy exposed to that thing… no offense, but you don’t look like a fighter either.” Sky mid-woke up, poor baby is eepy.

Wht- it’s weird now that they are real people- grown mans even, I can’t go thinking that!

They invite me to have dinner among the rest around the campfire, they are talking low, but they enjoy themselves, and I enjoy this meal, goddamn they fanfics do not lie, Wild cooks delicious.

“so… now that you’ll be coming with us…”The question makes my head snap out of my thoughts, redirecting my gaze towards Four who has the only position that seems to be directed at me. “You said you’re not a fighter, that means you’re not a Link, so… What’s your name?”

The rest of the group stare at me, expecting an answer. Oh satan, I hate so much eyes on me… what do I tell them? My real name? it’s in Spanish and long, may be difficult for them to pronounce it. The nickname I chose for myself? well, maybe, but it sounds kinda weird, may be the best option but still. ‘Player’? I can’t go explaining why that name. Am I taking too long to answer?!

“Uhm… w-why don’t you make a nickname for me?”

“Sounds great! we can have fun while making a new nickname!” Wind states in his childish excitement, I swear he’s adorable and did not deserve anything of what he’s been through.

I take a look around me as the others start thinking my new nickname, I realize now why I didn’t freak out… I feel safe around them… their heroic aura is so strong that their mere presence is calming… Besides, the happiness may be because this is actually happening and not just another of those dreams which I wake up from and instantly get bored. Or at least I hope so…

[slippinmickeys]

The Mesas of Deuteronilus Mensae (28/31)

Mulder took a step toward her anyway.

“What’s the experiment?” he asked.

Scully looked at him, shoulders up around her ears with tension. The noise of the dust storm outside had become a steady static of sound, of particles being blown into metal. A constant smatter of dissonance.

Finally she sighed. “The bacterium I came into contact with on your suit,” she started, “normally exists at extreme temperatures. The pit had an average temperature of -125 degrees Fahrenheit. Yet they’re functioning just fine on the rover.”

“The surface temperature of Mars can hit 70 degrees in the summer,” Mulder pointed out.

“True,” she admitted. “But it got me thinking that if it could survive at 73 degrees,” she said, referring to the base temperature of the Rover, “why couldn’t it survive at 98.6?”

Mulder could see how the dots had connected in her head, but correlation did not equal causation.

“This is a creature that feeds off of sulfur and ammonia, Scully,” he said gently. “It doesn’t need you.”

“But I’m sick, Mulder. I am.” He opened his mouth to try to calm her, but she plowed on. “I don’t feel well. And the effects of gravitational biology—zero G changes our biology on a fundamental level, Mulder. It changes our DNA. It makes bacteria more potent, more dangerous. You know this. What if this bacterium came into contact with another bacterium that hitched a ride from Earth and changed in space? What if it created a hybrid microbe? It’s been proven that bacterial cells from different species can combine into unique hybrid cells by fusing their cell walls and membranes and sharing cellular contents,including proteins and ribonucleic acid.hose are the molecules that regulate gene expression and control cell metabolism, Mulder. What if this alien bacteria is… What if it’s now feeding on me?”

“Scully,” he said, stepping forward and keeping his voice low. “You’re panicking.”

“I’m sick.”

“And we will figure it out.” He got a little closer to her. If he could touch her, he could calm her down and reassure her, he was certain. She didn’t back away. Finally, he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. Her skin did feel warm, even through her jumpsuit. He wasn’t certain it was a fever, but it was concerning.

“Mulder, you should be in full PPE,” she said. Her voice had lost the desperate edge to it.

“If this is some kind of contagion, I’ve already been exposed. Come here.” And he pulled her into his body. She sagged into his touch.

“Tell me about your experiment,” he said after a moment.

“I’ve exposed an isolated population of the Martian bacterium to a host of bacteria that we’ve carried with us,” she started.

He thought of her quick jaunt to the lav. “I don’t think I want to know how,” he said, and he felt her small huff of a laugh.

“You don’t,” she said. “I want to see how they react to each other. It shouldn’t take long. We’ll know what’s possible in a few hours. If I need to be worried.”

“Pardon me if I’m pointing out the obvious, Scully, but you already seem to be worried.”

Her breath into his jumpsuit was humid and warm.

“I have a quicker idea,” Mulder spoke again, pulling back so he could get a look in her eyes.

They were big and blue and wet, and he wanted so badly to fall into them and drown in her. If she was sick, he wasn’t sure what he’d do, how he’d cope. But he was determined to be strong right now, because she was not.

“How does the phlebotomy queen feel about a self-stick?”

“A blood sample?” she asked.

He nodded. She pulled back, running the back of her hand under her nose. “I thought of that,” she said, sniffling. “But I didn’t want to get ahead of myself.”

They both chuckled at that.

“I think I’m too shaky to do a self-draw,” she finally said.

“I’ll do it,” Mulder said gently. “As long as you don’t judge my technique.”

XxXxXxXxXxX

She had somehow let herself get completely worked up and overwrought, the excitement of her discovery, the off-ness of not feeling well, the grip of exhaustion and the stress of the storm, and their isolation all aggregating until she was a jumble of pathos and hysteria.

What was the matter with her?

Mulder’s solution was simple and direct. If she was concerned about contagion, she should test herself. They’d know one way or the other. One step at a time.

He’d done the blood draw beautifully, had been gentle and deferential, asking her advice on the best way to do this or that, and she didn’t realize until he was done that he’d drawn her focus away from her fear and managed to calm her down without her catching on to his tactics.

They’d taken three vials worth of blood; one to run under the microscope, one to run through The Machine (a piece of NASA medical equipment that ran multiple simple diagnostic analyses), and one for further testing and experimentation, if necessary.

Mulder held up the first vial.

“Do you want me to do it?” he asked.

She felt calm now, and silly for having gotten so worked up. She was embarrassed and needed a distraction. “I’ll do it,” she said, and she took the vial from him and readied a slide, putting it into the Glove Box for a closer look.

Her nerves were tightly wound, but she moved with confidence, in her element, determined to do the science right. She clicked the light on the microscope and changed out the lens. One deep breath, and she looked into the eyepiece.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Mulder was on the edge of his seat, his nerves worn raw with concern, but unwilling to let Scully catch on to any of his internal disquiet. She needed confidence and calm and a partner to shore her up. He would wait, quietly and calmly, for Scully to do her work and tell him what she saw.

Blood thrumming, he watched as she adjusted the slide, swapped lenses, adjusted again, swapped again. And just when he was about to burst out of his skin, Scully pulled back from the microscope and gripped the lab table hard, her knuckles turning white. She inhaled and exhaled once and then turned to Mulder.

“There’s no evidence of contagion,” she said with a shaky voice. “My blood is clean.”

Mulder was up before he could tell his legs to move, and he wrapped Scully in a tight hug. She clung to him just as fiercely and he could feel her sag in relief.

“You had me worried,” he said into the silk of her hair.

“I had myself worried,” she said, her voice muffled from where her face was pressed into his chest. “But Mulder,” and with this he pulled back a little, looked down at her. “Something is going on with me, and we need to figure out what it is.”

He nodded and ran hands over her hair, tucking it behind both ears at the same time. “And we will. We’ll start right now.”

“You know how to load the sample into The Machine?” she asked him. The next course of action would be to run the second vial of blood through the small diagnostic computer, which would give them an idea of where to start depending on the results of the various analyses it ran.

“I’ve been told it’s so simple even a psychologist can do it.”

She smiled at him tiredly. “Can you load it, then? It’ll take a few hours to run. We should get some sleep.”

He nodded and leaned down to press a quick kiss to the tip of her nose. “Go get ready for bed,” he said, and took the second sample over to the lab’s computer interface.

When he was done loading it and the machine was up and running, he turned to find Scully standing in front of the larger cot on the edge of the lab, dropping her jumpsuit to pool on the floor at her feet. She stood before him in a white tank top and a pair of panties and she looked thinner than she had the last time they’d been together. Outside, a low throb of thunder rumbled.

“Take me to bed, Mulder,” she said. “Take me away from here for a little while.”

He swallowed hard and his face went hot. He stepped up to her, ran a finger slowly up the side of her bare arm. “Anywhere,” he whispered.

Later, when he lifted his head from her lap, the foggy moisture of her center plied to his chin like rich river mud, in texture, in taste, he realized where they’d gone. Back to grassy hills and expansive water. Back to the heat of the desert, to the brackish shore of the Chesapeake. She was all the flavors of home, of the Earth, her hands like a starfish in his hair, her very essence of the sea.

They’d gone back. At least for a little while.

Xx

When he awoke hours later, she was riffling through a supply cabinet with an unnerving air of hysteria, her jumpsuit pulled back over her shoulders, but the front unzipped and gaping and showing the pendulous curve of her perfect breasts.

He tried to blink the sleep out of his eyes and glanced over at The Machine, the screen of which was showing a readout that he couldn’t make out from where he lay on the cot across the room.

“Scully?” he called over to her, his voice sounding groggy and frog-like, still choked with sleep. “Is The Machine done? What does it say?

She didn’t answer, just continued to paw through the contents of one of the medical lockers. Concerned, Mulder sat up, thinking maybe she was searching for a drug, something to fix whatever it was that was wrong.

“Scully?” he said again, and then, not bothering to dress, he walked over to The Machine and rove his eyes over the results of Scully’s blood analysis. Some of the results he was familiar with, some he was not. From his base-level understanding, everything appeared to be in order.

He ran his finger down the screen and stopped near the bottom, at a line that had been highlighted with the cursor.

Quantitative (beta) human chorionic gonadotropin level: 153,767 mIU/mL, it read.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He turned slowly to Scully, who had risen from the cabinet, holding several small bottles in her hand.

“Scully,” he said once more, and she slowly turned to him. He pointed to the screen. “What does this mean?”

Her nostrils flared and she looked him dead in the eye.

“I’m pregnant,” she said.

[mauannacreates]

Hi this is the June edition of flufftober by @flufftober. I did a mix of both the pride and normal bingo and I also tried to incorporate every single one of those bingo pieces in, even though I may not of?

Anyways, this month, I decided to do it a bit differently. And it's not just for the long word count that I did. It's because of it being based in a different environment than I'm used to with these characters. I think they call it alternate universes? Well, I'm basically doing my characters based on a school environment, which is not how it usually goes, so I'm not going to ramble on about this any longer, let's get started.

___

Wow, it’s finally June. And this month is special… And, it’s not just Pride month. It is a cool month, and I placed the rainbow badge on my white shirt after my mum dropped me off at school and when she wasn’t looking. Cause the last time I wore a rainbow… well, let’s say she wasn’t that pleased. Walking on the pavement through the gates, with a big present tied into a green bow on my hand, my heart flutters as the thoughts of the person I wanted to give it to comes through my mind. Could I perhaps try to find them before class, or maybe hide the soft present in my locker before recess where I can bring it out later to look for them…?

“Lulu…!” I jerk behind me, and they had came. The scent of aroma flows past as I twists towards the pink fox standing taller, and the fact that I could only reach up to their muzzle. Their ears bounces as their neat pink fur shows through their flowy green hair, reaching to their shoulders. And they’re… Jules gives a smile, that it made my heart skip a beat, And their eyes, staring from my face to down across my body. The leaves flowing through the cold breeze, they glimpse back up towards my face. “Nice badge.” My face heats up, jerking my head away from them. 

“Thanks…” I mumble. “I just put it on… I didn’t want to put it on beforehand, in case…” My throat crunches shut. I can’t just say to them how bad my mother is. But, their mouth curves slightly. 

“So, they’re not as accepting?” I gives the smallest bob, that feels like bricks I can’t even shake to. But Jules gives a small smile, with their mouth curving slightly. “That’s understandable.” 

“I mean, my mum’s strong on her opinions! But… Uhh… I’ve got to show my support somehow.”       

“I’m proud of the support Lulu.” My heart, oh gosh… They didn’t mind it…? Uhhh… 

“Here,” I say, extending the present I held towards Jules. “Since it’s your birthday soon, I got you a gift.” 

“A gift…!” Jules say, laughing. “No, it’s ok Lucie, you don’t need to get me anything-”

“It’s ok Jules.” I reply back, and their smile falls, their eyes glance at her, still looking as they grasp the present and flickers down towards it. They twist towards the table nearby and sit on the table. I sit across from them. Jules tears the paper with a quizzical look. But when there is a sign of black fabric, their mouth twitches to a tight curve. And throw their head towards the table as they laugh.

“Oh my god!?” They glimpse back at me. “A dress…?” Oh… Did I choose something wrong? But with how the corner of Jules’ mouth perks up and the touch of their hand on my arm makes my fur stand on its ends. “It’s ok Lulu. I love it.” They actually do…? And with their eyes crinkling up to their teeth showing… She couldn’t help but look down. 

“Thanks…”

“You welcome.” I lay my head low for a while longer. Paper shuffles as the fabric comes off the table… But, they mustn’t be looking. So, I flicker up, and they had held the black dress towards them,  with a slight smile on their face. She couldn’t help but smile back at how happy they look, until they flip the dress through their head and it went through them… The flaps of the dress goes down their knees in spikes, with fabric overlaying each other. And there is a bit of a gap between their body… Jules’ smile withers.” It seems a bit too big…” But then their muzzle flings towards with a weird smile creeping up their lips, and their eyes glimmering. “I got an idea. Follow me Lulu.” 

They fling the dress on their arm as they picked up the scrunched up paper and throw it in the bin. Then they start walking. I start to follow, going through the pavement floors and up the stairs into a room, when a ringing sound goes throughout the school. I twist to Jules, my brows. “The bell…! We might have to-” 

“Lucie, it’s ok. Let me assure you, you’ll be fine.” And their arm wraps around me, and my tail couldn’t help but shift as they glance down towards me. “Sometimes, the teachers they’re… Not that helpful, there wouldn’t be much point in taking a lesson from them.” 

I twist back… Maybe my mother might… then I shake my head. No, even if she did, there wouldn’t be any point in going to those lessons. Either being yelled at by the teacher or falling to sleep because of their lessons. There’s no point, and maybe… My mum wouldn’t know either. I shake my head as I allow them to lead me deeper into the school rooms. 

It has been a while since Jules opened the door to a classroom -- the textile room to be precise. There’s a table of sewing machines on the side of the room. Then in the center, there’s some mannequin wearing a white dress. Lucie couldn’t help but stare at it as Jules goes and sits down on the sewing machine and slides the thread into the needle. And now, they have the dress placed into it, and they are sewing the dress up. They said they were tightening the dress, and they even offered me to do it a bit. I did try, but… Uh, let’s just say that they squealed as they said I was doing it the wrong way. Part of me felt bothered, but Jules was laughing as they said it was ok to me. It somehow helped. 

They unpicked some of the hemmings off and twist towards Lucie. 

“There’s a certain way and a certain space to go and sew the dress.” Jules says, clipping the footer back onto the sewing machine. Then the needle starts to move, gliding up and down as the dress shifts more towards them. It’s captivating to see how focused Jules is as they look at the dress coming towards them. And their hands laying flat on the fabric. That is… Until the door’s knob starts to twist! I swift my head towards the ajar door as someone orange comes in. 

“Jules, I get you love your sewing but shouldn’t you be in…” The orange bear trails off, his cerulean eyes narrows towards me, I couldn’t help but tense up at how his ear twitches slightly as the needle throbs continues… “Of all the people you could bring to ditch class with you, it had to be Lucie?”  But then it slows down to a stop. 

The room tremors to a jittery vibe as Jules shifts their muzzle towards the well-putted bear’s direction, and the corner of Jules’ mouth twitches. “Yeah. You jealous?” 

“No,” He scoffs. “I am not-” 

“Then why would Mister School Councilor Braedon want to pry here of all places, hmm?” Their feet taps on the ground as they take a quick glimpse at Lucie. “Are you, perhaps…” They pause, their eyes turning towards Braedon, but with the subtle big smile on their face… What are they planning…!?  “Interested in seeing more of my sewing skills like you usually do?” 

“What…!? No!” Braedon says, but his face starts to tint red. “I usually crochet here too, Jules. It has nothing to do with your sewing skills.” 

“Sure.” They say. I would think that they’d go and continue sewing, but instead, they’d interlace their fingers together as they stare at Braedon. 

“So… What are you doing here Braedon?” I ask. 

“Trying to get Jules out of trouble.” he gives a smirk back and looks a bit too amused. Considering that Jules jerks off the chair to a stand. 

“No Mister Councilor…! I am not in any trouble!” Jules says, giving a slight laugh. “And what about you? How’s your cause of trouble?” Braedon’s brow perks up, “You’re not wearing any rainbow today.”

“And?” 

“Why not?” 

“Because. I can always celebrate Pride month without the festivities of the rainbow.” Braedon says.  

“Yeah, true true…” They say with a slight smile on their face. But wait… I could have always celebrated Pride month without the hassle of putting the badge? But then, the hassle was kinda worth it, right…? “Oh wait! I have an idea!” Jules says as they had gotten the black dress and ran towards Braedon, interlocking their hands around his body to see how it’d fit. “Let’s make our own fashion parade! You can wear this dress and-” Braedon breaks the hold around Jules and they fling their arms back with the black dress and groans.

“No Jules, you can wear that dress.” Braedon says as he twists his muzzle towards me, “Luce did give you the dress afterall.” My face started to heat up. How did he know? But Braedon takes a few steps towards Jules. “And besides, the only thing I will do, is to make sure that you will get flung towards the ocean, and make sure that you’d look stunning there.” But Jules lets out a gasp. 

"No! You wouldn’t…!” 

“Try me.” He says with a smirk going across his muzzle. He actually couldn’t be serious…! I quickly bring my legs towards Braedon. 

“Wait…! You’re not going to actually throw them, are you…!?” I say, and Braedon gives a slight laugh. 

“No. They’re too cute for that.”

“Hey…! I am not cute!” Jules’s fur puffs out slightly and he snorts. 

“Yes you are Jojo.” Braedon looks a bit too pleased, even with Jules tightening their mouth to a smile with their ears twitching and eyes narrowing. “I am proud of the cheeky little gremlin you’ve become. Especially with involving Lucie with your love affairs.” 

“What…!?” I couldn’t believe what he was saying either. Love affairs!? “Brae Brae, I like people watching me with what I do, and with Lulu…” Their eyes barely glimpses at her… Her face bubbles like a kettle with the way they almost seemed… Shy. “She gave me a gift and… I really wanted to show her that I liked it…” They finish quietly and I couldn’t believe it… Was that why they wanted me to follow them? My stomach flutters like a huge gust of wind storms around my stomach. I didn’t think Jules would like the dress that much. But with a small smile tracing their lips… 

Gosh. My throat tightens. I didn’t know what to say… Or if I should say anything. 

“How nice of you.” Braedon says. “I am sure Lucie gladly appreciates that comment.” Am I really that obvious…!? But before I could say anything else, he twists towards the door. “Anyway, I’ll let you two do whatever you were doing… Admiring each other's company or something.” 

“You’re not going to stay?” Jules says, and Braedon barks a laugh.

“As Councillor, I can’t always shift duties like you two.” And his laugh quietens and Braedon flickers between Jules and I. And what’s with the jittery air? Was there something wrong…? That is until a smile stretches across Braedon’s muzzle. “Seriously, have fun. I’m not going to tell anyone.” 

“Will do.” Jules says putting their thumbs up. 

“Mhm.” I reply and Braedon gives a wave before he turns and closes the door behind him. 

And now, it is just me… and Jules. They turn, and my heart starts to churn. What is making me feel like this…!? To the way they scan from my head to my toes. But they stutter back with Jules’ eyes widening. 

“Aah, sorry Lulu. I just…” Jules bites their lips to their ears flopping down. “Let’s just…”  They stare at her for a bit longer before they suddenly twist away. “Forgive me. Let’s continue.” Jules goes towards the sewing machine and sits onto it with the dress on hand and starts to put the dress on the sewing machine and the needle weaves in and out. But… Do I even go near them…? Their brow curves as they continue to use the machine… Their tense mouth wavers a bit as they focus on the dress. The machine stops moving the needle. And the pink fox turns towards her. “You coming Lulu…? I’m not going to bite y’know.” Their lips curve as their eyes scan around my face. I give a slow nod. Taking my time to walk towards them, and their eyes seem to be glimmering… It made my legs want to freeze in place and my heart beats as if they… Admire me. That is, until Jules jerk their face away when I am close enough. A laugh wanted to come out of my lips, but I tried holding it in as I sat on the chair next to them… But the way their eyes tenses as they glance at me from the side, and with their fur tinting… Ahh, they must have noticed it.

“Sorry.” I mumbled.

“Lucie… It’s ok.” Jules gives a small smile. “Everything’s ok.”  

And a sense of calmness flows through me as I couldn’t help but smile back. Jules had continued sewing the dress. The dress shifts with Jules sitting, their body relaxed and their tail twitching.  That is until a smile spreads across their face as they shift the machine forward and back a few times before lifting the needle up and snipping it off. They take the dress and they opened the zipper from the back, and taking their old leather jacket off and flopping it onto the table. Then they ride the dress towards their shoulders and try to zip it up… Their face starts to blossom like roses. 

“So… How do I look?” Jules asks. The way their dress hangs throughout their legs to the way they stare at me with their brows curving down. I couldn’t help but wrap my arms around them as their floral scent captivates me. Jules lets out a gasp, along with my heart humming to their heart beats. I glance up at them, and couldn’t help but smile as I felt myself want to come closer to them. I shift my hand to their face as I went and place a kiss on their cheek. 

“You look nice and beautiful…” I pause…  “Or should I say handsome?” Their mouth twisted. Did they actually not like that compliment? But they give a smile, a crinkled one. 

“It’s ok Lulu.” Jules says, their ebony eyes stares at me before their soft hands places on my sides! My fur starts to prick out when I could feel their lips brushes on my forehead. And with the smile that spreads throughout their muzzle, “Thanks.” Nothing wanted to come out of my throat. Not even a peep! All I could do is give a slow bob. Then a bell went. Loud and clear. We are still looking at each other… Their eyes dark enough they would probably suck me inside a hole I could barely escape in. 

“Shall we go?” Jules asks. 

“Yeah.” I say. We turned as I opened the door, and there were other people walking outside. Some are familiar, others not. I turn to Jules. “You ok?” Jules gives a nod. 

“I’m ok.” They said, just low enough that I could hear. We started walking. And as I searched around, people seem to be waving at us. I couldn’t help but smile. And then my fur starts to fluff up at the touch of someones -- Jules’ -- hands wrapped onto mine. 

And somehow, despite all the worries of giving the present to her tail quivering as Jules is walking next to her… Somehow. Everything seems to be ok. 

[one-way-dream]

Strawberry Daifuku (Commission)

Rating: General

Words: 3500+

Media: Danganronpa, Super Danganronpa 2, New Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

Characters/Pairings: Chiaki Nanami, Kaede Akamatsu, Maki Harukawa, Chiaki Nanami/Kaede Akamatsu/Maki Harukawa, Nagito Komaeda (mentioned), Hajime Hinata (mentioned)

Tags: Alternate Universe (Modern, No Killing Game), Polyamory/Polyamorous Relationship, Fluff, Comfort No Hurt, Cooking Together, Cuddling, Lots of Kisses, Established Relationship

Warnings: N/A

Chapter: 1/1

Link to the original work

AO3 Summary/Except:

Kaede, Chiaki, and Maki have a rather lousy night out at a workplace party, but Kaede is determined to make it up to them tenfold.

Commission for Cherry (@cakesplice on Twitter and Tumblr)! ❤ :] Thank you so much again!

The first one to stumble through the front door was a barely conscious Chiaki, followed by Kaede in a similar state, who was being carried by the scruff of her shirt collar by an undeterred Maki. The latter of the three was usually the one cleaning up after her girlfriends, and sometimes that meant dragging them out of a boring party at eleven in the night.

‘Party’ was probably too generous of a word, actually.

Kaede’s colleagues were nice; they were always friendly to Kaede, and in turn, Kaede spoke of nothing but good about them. But maybe they were a bit too nice, as they’d invited the three of them out for a work-related event that they so lovingly called a party.

Maki couldn’t really wipe the grin off her face when Chiaki whispered into her ear that it was more like a glorified funeral. Unexpectedly morbid coming from her, but it kept her mood from souring anyway. But alas, after hours of standing around in toe-pinching heels and staving off the boredom through eating snacks that Kaede is sure she’s seen at a local Lawson’s, the three of them made a half-assed excuse to get away from the boring colleagues and their slightly creepy boyfriends trying to get touchy.

Still, there was probably a better excuse out there besides “Chiaki needs more sleep, so we gotta hit the road” – but Maki’s still grateful for it anyway, even if it isn’t one of Kaede’s better ones. It did the trick well enough, with her co-workers tailing along until the door with a hundred ‘goodbyes’ and ‘be safes’ until they finally scurried out the front door, heaving a heavy sigh in the cool night air.

“We,” Maki starts, jabbing a finger in Kaede’s direction as soon as they make it to their living room, “Are never doing anything like that again.”

Kaede puts her hands up in mock surrender, laughing sheepishly while looking to Chiaki for help. Unfortunately, she finds the girl splayed out over the brown leather couch not unlike a starfish, softly snoring away. It seems a little too suspicious for her to pass out so conveniently, but Kaede draws her lips into a straight line and looks back at Maki, looking like she was about to chew her out big time.

“I didn’t… really expect that it’d turn out like that, y’know?” Kaede nervously defends herself, hands still in the air, “And I especially didn’t expect my co-workers would bring their asshole, judgmental partners along. I didn’t even know they had partners like that given that they’re really good people and all.”

Maki sighs softly, giving up the act of staring daggers into Kaede and instead trudging over to Chiaki, plopping down beside her with resignation. “You can give up the act now, Chiaki, I’m not mad.”

Kaede squints at Chiaki in betrayal, watching as the girl eases into a smile with her eyes still shut and leans on Maki’s shoulder. The latter hesitates for half a moment before giving into the touch and laying her head on top of Chiaki’s.

“…Come here.” Maki finally whispers, scooting Chiaki over to make room for Kaede on the other side. She almost immediately crosses the room and nearly crashes into the sleeping girl from excitement, earning a small glare from Maki. Kaede smiles at the other instead, albeit with a touch of residual guilt from the party, looking between her and Chiaki’s sleeping face before pressing a kiss to the latter’s temple. She doesn’t miss the way the corner of her mouth quirks upwards a little.

The air settles between them, calm and peaceful. Kaede will never tire of coming home to these two; she’ll never tire of the way they slot together so well, even though they all have their flaws. Their home smells like black cherry candles and it always feels comfortably warm, just the way they all like it.

The overhead lights are dim, and it’s enough to lull the last two awake to sleep.

But somehow, Kaede doesn’t want that. Somehow, she’s itching for something more – something to make up for everything before the guilt gnaws away at her.

She quickly glances at the silver clock on the wall, seeing that it was only a quarter past twelve. Kaede scrunches her eyebrows together, sitting upright and steeling her resolve. She just couldn’t let their night end on a crappy note like this, and she’s sure the other two would agree if she could persuade them just right.

Thankfully and surprisingly, she was rather good at getting them to go along with her nonsense ideas most of the time.

“Hey,” she whispers with a mischievous smile, nudging both of them out of their drowsy state, “Do you guys wanna do something fun?”

-x-

Chiaki was still wiping the bleariness out of her eyes as she and Maki walked back from the Lawson’s down the street, three bags of ingredients in hand. Or rather, Chiaki carrying the lightest bag, singular, while Maki insisted on carrying the other two after squabbling with Chiaki over it.

“Hey, Chiaki…” Maki broke through the comfortable silence between them, “Do you have any idea what she’s planning?”

She holds a contemplative hum for a few seconds, playfully bumping shoulders with Maki, the latter only giving her a small smile in return. “Not sure. But I think that whatever she’s thinking, it’ll be fun!”

Maki stays quiet, looking out into the distance to catch a glimpse of the ocean, even though it’d likely be obscured by the white streetlights. Chiaki’s gaze follows, realizing that the other is seeking comfort.

“You’re not… actually upset at Kaede for the party, are you?”

“Wh—? No, of course not, I just… don’t feel comfortable at parties in general, and those guys were… you know.” She sighed, shoulders slouching a little uncharacteristically, “It’s because of Kaede that you and I were able to socialize a bit more and I don’t want to say that this set me back a ways, but… maybe it’ll take a little while to adjust again.”

Chiaki stays silent for a moment, before quickly nabbing the grocery bag Maki was carrying in her right hand and swiftly shifting it to her own, now carrying two bags with one hand. The other looks back at her in surprise, ready to protest until Chiaki grabs her hand, lacing their fingers together.

“It’ll be fine, Maki – you’ll always have us, after all. We’ll get through it together like we always do.”

Maki barely hears Chiaki’s soothing words over the sound of her own heartbeat, even though they’ve been together for years. She clears her throat, willing her voice to steady while trying to shift her attention away from the fact that Chiaki’s hands are so warm. So warm and soft – unlike her own.

“…Is this your idea of romance?” She huffs lightly with a smile, only to have it returned tenfold by the other girl leaning into her as they make their way back home.

“Doesn’t get more romantic than this, I think.”

As the two of them make back and forth conversation, they see their house in the distance and pick up their pace to cover the distance a little quicker.

Chiaki squints under the bright lights as they grow nearer, catching Kaede waving to them from the front porch with enthusiasm like it wasn’t almost one ‘o’ clock in the morning. Still, Chiaki waves back at her with as much enthusiasm as she really feels, knowing Kaede was a little sensitive to that kind of thing.

Kaede rushes off the porch to give the two a smothering group hug, which neither of them struggled out of much to Kaede’s own surprise. “How are my two favourite-est girlfriends in the world?”

“We’re your only girlfriends…?” Maki mumbles confusedly, face slightly flushed.

A breezy laugh slips from Kaede as she leans back slightly to bump noses with her, causing her to blush up to her ears. “I know. I was just missing you both a lot. The house doesn’t feel as nice when it’s empty, y’know?”

Maki’s ears burn as she feels the other’s breath on her face. She swears that she’ll never get used to this, but honestly, she’s not sure if she minds it.

Chiaki gives them both a slight squeeze and pulls away, “Come on now, we won’t get to do anything if we just stay here all night.”

With a quick nod, Kaede relieves her partners of their grocery bags and hauls them into the kitchen, carefully setting them on the granite countertop. One by one she pulls snacks and snack-making ingredients out of the bags, stuffing the three small empty bags inside the stupidly large plastic grocery bag they keep under the sink.

The other two followed her into the kitchen, question marks hovering over their heads because despite their educated guesses, they still couldn’t make out what exactly Kaede wanted to do.

They didn’t need to wait long however, because as soon as she finished sorting out the ingredients into groups across the countertop, the connection was quickly made.

“So how do we feel about strawberry daifuku?” Kaede puffed out her chest, crossing her arms as she waited with bated breath for the other two to answer.

Maki and Chiaki share a momentary glance, Chiaki being the first to break out into a smile and nod along to the idea. The other also gives in rather easily, fiddling with the ends of her twintails, “Sure, I guess it’d be nice to make it for once instead of buying it.”

Kaede beams, positively over the moon as she starts unwrapping all the ingredients. Maki immediately rushes over to her, arms outstretched to keep her from causing an accident as she rushes back and forth between the fridge, pantry, and countertop. The sight of those two fumbling over each other was enough to make Chiaki laugh, only to earn a short scolding from Maki for sitting around instead of helping.

She shuffles off the barstool, but not without a huff, as she reaches into the depths of the countertop cupboard for a mixing bowl, tray, and plastic wrap. Once she sets them on the countertop, the three of them take turns washing their hands at the sink, but not before Kaede pulls up the recipe on her phone.

Maki shoots her a questioning glance, to which Kaede only puffs her cheek and ignores her as she continues poking around for the right recipe. “Look, I want to be accurate, okay?”

“…Uh-huh.”

“I’m serious! Do you want another baking disaster like last time? Because I’m pretty sure you were the one that added baking soda instead of baking powder.”

“I—” Maki opens her mouth, then shuts it, and then opens it again, “That… was my fault, yeah, but baking is different than making mochi.” She argues, lips pressed into a thin line, “I thought this’d be more straightforward.’

“Mm, I’m sure it is but it doesn’t hurt to have a recipe out, does it?” Chiaki supplied, setting the anko aside in a small bowl, “I know that Hajime and Nagito still have trouble making kusamochi, and that’s Hajime’s favourite snack of all time. Unless you make it pretty often, it’s kinda hard to have the measurements memorized.”

“Well, Hinata is a bit of a perfectionist and Komaeda is… Komaeda , but I guess I can understand needing a reference.”

Kaede gives Chiaki a grateful smile as she pulls up her favourite recipe, setting her phone on the pastel pink holder so the three of them could see it properly as they worked. She lets out a satisfied huff as she surveils the countertop, keeping track of everything they’d need to get to work.

“Alright, then!” Kaede slams her palms down on the countertop with a hard slap, startling Chiaki out of a daze in the process and making Maki jolt ramrod straight. Suddenly the room was charged with energy from that simple action; it felt like the lights were brighter, their minds clearer, and their spirits much livelier than they’d been all evening. Sometimes the other two would swear that their partner had magical powers of some sort.

“I’ll look over everything and handle the strawberries, but Chiaki, you’ll handle the anko,” She points at the sorry-looking bag of azuki beans before redirecting herself to Maki, wide grin on her face “And you will handle the shiratamako and you will make it into the best mochi in the world.”

“Yeah?” Maki smirks back at her, crossing her arms and leaning against the counter, “And why is that?”

“Because I have full faith in your perfectionist tendencies, and I have even more faith in your feelings for me!” She declares with blazing confidence.

The smirk slides right off of Maki’s face, leaving an unreadable expression which she wore for no longer than a few seconds before she sighs and rolls up her sleeves. “You are actually impossible.”

“But you love her!” Chiaki chips in with a sing-song voice.

She scoffs, ignoring the way her mouth feels a little dry as she pours out the rice flour and gets to work on the mochi, which she will by no means put all her effort into for Kaede’s sake. Not at all.

“ Maybe .”

The three of them got to work, going back and forth in perfect harmony, as they each did their part, only needing one break in between for some coffee-boosted hot chocolate. Chiaki looked over the other two, feeling pride swell in her chest as she watched them work side by side.

The kitchen light overhead was artificial but golden nonetheless, making them glow in a way only she could see and comprehend. Standing there at some ungodly hour of the night making an easily-bought store snack with her two girlfriends wasn’t part of her weekend plan, but really, she would rather give up every console she’s ever owned than give up this moment – even her limited-edition Sonic the Hedgehog Dreamcast.

Which is why she’s conflicted to bring up the next question.

“…Kaede, why are you doing all this anyway?”

The girl in question freezes, anko spread over the forefingers of one hand and a half-coated strawberry in the other. She chews her bottom lip, gaze stuck between the bright red fruit and the glare of the kitchen light reflecting off the countertop, until she finally puts the strawberry down and relents.

“I just… felt bad for putting you two through that.” She confesses, unable to look either of them in the eye as the suffocating pressure sets in bit by bit, “I mean, I swear I never knew it’d turn out so bad given that my colleagues are sweet and it’s usually less… frustrating when we meet up with the guys from high school.”

Maki opens her mouth to say something but stops, realizing that Kaede was swimming in her own thoughts, and that she wouldn’t be able to come out until she got everything off her chest.

“I mean, we could’ve just ignored it and stayed home from the beginning and I just… I didn’t know that the party would be such a drag or that it’d have creepy men making comments about us, b-but I can’t apologize enough for it.”

Chiaki hums in understanding, turning towards Kaede, before cupping her jaw and placing a feather light kiss while on her tip-toes. “It’s alright, there’s no way you would’ve known.”

And just like that, the tension is broken. On the other side, Maki slips her hand into Kaede’s silently, intertwining their fingers together and squeezing lightly, uncaring about the bit of anko she feels on her fingertips, “I think you’re being too sentimental about this, but… she’s right. Besides, we’re home now, aren’t we?”

Kaede sniffles, blinking away the mistiness in her eyes as she squeezes back with a small smile, “You’re right, you’re right – we are home…”

“Then… let’s wrap this up then, shall we?”

The two of them nod at Maki’s words, although they barely manage to hide their surprise at her taking the lead. Kaede starts up again, elbows deep into digging right back into the rice dough with furrowed eyebrows and rigid movements. Chiaki hums for a moment with a thoughtful look on her face, lightly nudging her girlfriend to a stop with her elbow.

“Hey, please be nicer to the mochi from here on out; don’t work bad feelings into your food or it won’t taste as good.”

Maki and Kaede laugh lightly at that, but Kaede’s hands still for a moment anyway, “Who told you that?”

“No one. It’s just a hunch.” Chiaki answered simply, looking back up at them with nothing short of pure adoration, “I just don’t want either of you to have bad memories of our time together, that’s all.”

-x-

Besides the first two daifuku coming out a little stickier than the rest, the dessert was a major success.

Kaede split the first one, insistent on the other two getting the first taste, but instead of giving it to them right then and there, she had one last surprise up her sleeve apparently.

They take the plate of twelve strawberry daifuku along with the other convenience store snacks and drinks in additional carry bags – making it easier to throw trash out without it getting spread all over… wherever Kaede was leading them.

Once they make it to the hallway, she pushes the door open to the master bedroom, where several plush pillows, comforters, stuffed toys, and blankets were laid out on the floor in front of the TV, right by the foot of their king-sized bed. Small fairy lights were strung from corner to corner, giving the room a warm and ambient glow besides the light of the television’s screensaver. A shimmery sheer cloth was draped overhead, catching the golden-white light within its pearly threads, the corners held up by some careful string work and a prayer, probably. But it did the trick nonetheless; the whole scene felt magical, like it was straight out of a lonely child’s sleepover fantasy.

Truth be told, it was probably the case for the three of them.

“You… did all this?”

Kaede nods her head gleefully.

“For us…?”

She nods her head again, twice as fast, and full of joy.

Maki is the first to start tripping over her words, always tongue-tied when it came to expressing the depths of her gratitude, but Chiaki knew her just as well as she knew herself, pulling the three of them into a tight hug – giving Maki a quick nudge in Kaede’s direction, before she quickly picked up the hint that this was her best chance, and placed a kiss between the taller girl’s lilac eyes.

“Oh,” Chiaki murmured as she pulled away from the both of them, “Who’s sitting in the middle?”

Kaede and Maki share a knowing look behind her, a grin forming on their faces.

“I think that you deserve the honours tonight, Chiaki!” Kaede declared, gently pushing the both of them towards the makeshift bed, picking up the bags of snacks and plate of mochi from the table so the other girls could have their hands free as they settled in.

Chiaki let out a muffled yelp as she was soon pulled down into the mess of blankets, although the feeling was more like being on a cloud than anything. She adjusted herself, tucking her legs under the comforter directly under her as the other two shuffled as close as possible, but not before Kaede grabbed three PlayStation 2 DualShock controllers and set them in front of everyone.

She looked at Kaede and then at Maki, who sat wordlessly with a small smile on her face, “So… can I ask why I’m in the middle today?”

“Nope!” An immediate sure-fire answer from Kaede.

Maki shuffles closer, looping an arm around Chiaki’s and nuzzling up to her warm, plush, body – not unlike a cat seeking warmth, “Maybe not everything needs an explanation. Sometimes it’s just nice to… love you, I suppose. You’re easy to love.”

“Mhmm!” Kaede agreed from the other side of Chiaki, cuddling up in a similar fashion, “You did a lot today and you worked hard. We’ll all get a turn in the middle, but today it’s just you. It’s you, always supporting us from the sidelines, always being the first to join our hands together.”

Chiaki blushed up to her ears and felt something bloom in her chest, cheeks burning warm enough that she was sure the other two could feel the heat radiating off of her, “Well, when you put it that way…” She mumbles bashfully.

She never does finish her sentence, and she never quite gets to hear why she was really put in the middle after all.

But as she finally sets her controller in her lap and reaches for a freshly made strawberry daifuku, Chiaki supposes that at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter; there were three hundred and sixty-six days in a year, and more than enough time to share her love with them both.

She takes a bite – a delicate balance of mellow sweetness and tart coating her tastebuds, and unrestrained affection overwhelming all her other senses.

[awolfgeeksclothing]

Introducing... Amari & Sven for @madebycoffee

Amari Oates (29, Straight?) has dreams of making it big in music and dance. He’s smooth, confident, friendly and always looking for his next adventure. He has so much energy he nicknames himself the energizer bunny (and I’ll let you interpret that how you want 😏), however this comes with a drawback. He’s often restless and this includes socially where he may want to move too quickly. He keeps himself in great condition through dance, calisthenics and yoga. He lost his hearing in one ear due to a childhood illness but this didn’t stop him leaning to spin the decks. He’s entering the challenge with eyes for Xiomara, and maybe to sneakily gain some fame too👀 . Originally from Oasis Springs, Amari moved to San Myshuno to achieve his dream of being a professional dancer (Bailey Kay hit him up pls🥹) Only it hasn’t quite worked out. But he’s never worried! His slightly better than average DJ skills have kept him living comfortably in San Myshuno. Right??

Wrong. The increase in living costs has hit the sims world hard. And with these living costs, Amari has had to get a roommate. Which brings us to:

Sven Lingaard (31, Bisexual). An upbeat, very handy, but incredibly messy gentleman. Sven comes from a large family originally from Widenburg. They moved to Henford on Bagley, purchased a 50x40 plot of land and built a farm. Sven is not shy of hard work, and anything that broken he can fix. Now, despite Sven coming from a big family (five brothers and sisters), he can be reserved and almost naïve at times. He hasn’t had many experiences and in fact has only had one partner in life (his high school sweetheart called ?????) He prefers a slow burn type of romance. He’s decided to try new things from moving to San My, to entering the bachelor/ette hopefully winning the heart of either Xiomara or Taine.

Roommate dynamic and other points:

These two have only known each other for a short while. They’re sort of friends, but can clash at times. Amari isn’t a exactly tidy himself but he has a really hard time with Sven’s untidiness (think constantly muddy boots, dirty clothing and plates across the apartment). 

Sven works the morning shift as a fisherman but Amari’s late night dance rehearsals or mixing means a lack of sleep at least three times a week. 

Sven would love a big family one day (soon). He has a very good relationship with his family and couldn’t dream of having anything less than five kids. Amari is neutral on this topic but perhaps someone can change his mind...

Because Amari doesn’t worry about things, he can fail to realise the importance of some situations. This is why he hasn’t gotten a steady job.

Sven likes to craft beer...or juice 😏. He currently only does this for personal use. Even if Amari is often “borrowing” a bottle or two (pre-drinks amirite?)

Amari’s confidence means he likes to show off. A lot. He can come across as arrogant. But just give him a reality check and he’ll pack it in.

Anyway, I hope you, Xiomara and Taine like them both! 

[theblackestnight-ffxiv]

[ffxivwrite2023] prompt 2: bark

Blue and white, blue and white, as far as her eyes could see it was blue and white. The sky, heaped with pillowy bright clouds. The sea, deeper and darker with wind catching foam off the waves. The exposed cliffs of the seaside, chalky and gleaming in the sun. The slicing blades of gulls’ wings as they mewed and laughed in the wind. And the sails, spanned wide from their masts, carrying the ships to and from the port of Limsa Lominsa.

D’zinhla had been to the city before, and its sights were not new ones. Yet she couldn’t help but crane her neck around to stare. After all, it was just her and Mom Viri this time, and she didn’t have to pack in like sardines with her siblings in the back of the wagon, she got to sit up front with Mom Viri, and she got to see a whole lot more this time. The wagon squeaked and rattled as its wheels went from dirt road to pavingstones. A particularly rough jostle set her off-balance, and she grabbed the edge of her seat. “Don’t fall, now,” Mom Viri admonished her, a slight frown on her face as she regarded her daughter.

“I know, I know,” she said with a tiny scowl. She wasn’t a baby! She proved it this week, learning all her letters and doing all her chores right, to earn this chance to go into the city with Mom Viri for supplies. The opportunity had come with orders for her behavior, to listen to Mom Viri and stay close to her always, and to be careful, and to not misbehave. She was being careful! It wasn’t her fault the wagon bounced like this. She leaned back against the bench, determined to prove just how responsible she was.

It lasted all of a few minutes before she was leaning to the side again, peering at the great ships that slid through the waters of the harbor, and she could feel her fascination building. She lifted her hand to point. “Mom Viri, what’s that one called?” “It’s a ship,” Mom Viri said without more than a glance at the direction she was pointing, and D’zinhla scowled, because her voice had that sound like she wasn’t quite laughing but she thought the question was silly and obvious.

“Noooo, I know that!” she protested. “I mean what kind of ship is it?”

This time Mom Viri looked over for longer. “Hmm. Which one? That one?” “Yeah that one!” D’zinhla felt a surge of excitement that Mom Viri was paying attention to her this much.

“That one’s called a herring buss. They’re fishing from that one.”

D’zinhla brightened. She liked herring! She pointed at another ship. “What’s that one?”

“That’s a brigantine. It’s a fast ship.”

“And that one?”

“Which- oh, the big one? That’s a bark. That’s a Lominsan naval ship.”

The big bark was leaving the harbor for the open Rhotano, and D’zinhla fell silent to watch its progress. It moved effortlessly, like a big seabird, and she could imagine the other ships getting out of its way to let it through. She took it in thoughtfully, until its progress took it too far for her to watch without wrenching her neck awkwardly. Sitting back against the wagon bench, she looked at Mom Viri. “Do you think I can go on a ship someday?”

Mom Viri was very quiet, but there was something about how her ears angled back just a tiny bit that made D’zinhla stay patient. She didn’t think she’d said anything that would get her in trouble anyway, so maybe Mom Viri just had to think about it a lot. After maybe a dozen heartbeats, Mom Viri looked at her, with a soft smile that seemed maybe a little sad. “Depends on the ship, my love.” “Why’s that?” She tilted her head.

“Well,” and Mom Viri sighed, and started to run her fingers over the braided reins she was holding. That was okay since their draught chocobos were really good birds and didn’t need anyone to be really careful driving them, and even D’zinhla could ride them as long as there was an adult watching. D’zinhla watched the motion, then looked back to her mom’s face, again feeling it was important to be patient. She was rewarded with a soft smile when Mom Viri looked back at her. “It’d be fun to go fishing, right? On a fishing boat?”

“Yeah!” Her ears perked up. She got to go fishing in the creek as long as an adult was around to make sure she didn’t fall in, and that was fun but it was probably a lot more fun to fish off a boat.

“But it’d be less fun to be on the other kinds, unless you’re just riding it somewhere.”

“Why’s that?” It was one of her most often used phrases.

“Because a lot of people stay on those ships for a very long time. Or they can’t leave them for long before they have to go back. The people who go on those ships… Well! I wouldn’t want to go that long without seeing my girl!” Mom Viri looped an arm around her and hugged her really really close.

It was a really tight hug, and D’zinhla didn’t protest because she felt like there was something kind of fragile in it. “What if it was just a ride on a ship though?” she asked, her voice muffled against Mom Viri’s side.

Her mom laughed and she felt it as much as she heard it. “Where would you want to go?”

“Lots of places!” she said excitedly, as her mom’s hold loosened and she was able to sit up again. “Like, like to see the really big trees in the Twelveswood! Or, the city in the desert, I could go there and see that city and that would be neat! Or up in the mountains, except I promise I’d be careful about the dragons if I went there. And like, like, where the spices you like so much come from, I could go there and bring some back for you!”

Mom Viri was still laughing. “You sound like you’ve got some wanderlust in your heart, Zinhla my love. But I’m glad you remember so much geography from your reading, but we might have to work on the names that you’re not remembering! The city in the desert is called Ul’dah, and the desert is called Thanalan. The city in the mountains is Ishgard. And those spices I like so much are from-”

“Radzahan, I remember” 

“Close! Radz-at-Han!”

D’zinhla scowled, it was close enough! But then she grinned at her mom. “I wanna see those places sometime! And then I’d have to get on a ship to get there from here, you know! So do you think I could go on a ship and then go see those places?”

“Zinhla, my love,” and Mom Viri gave her another hug with one arm, but not as hard as last time. Her voice sounded like a laugh, and it made her feel as warm as the hug itself. “I think you can do so much, so much more than any of us know, and I think whatever happens and wherever you go, you’ll surprise us all.”