#at the same time though she's distanced from the secret name thing so it doesn't hold the same weight for her as it does for him

[sovonight]

ust natha | xan/radri, bg2

—✧—

—

Radri: Xan… are you alright?

Xan: "Am I alright"? How can you find the words to ask such a question, given where we are?

Xan: Being trapped beneath the ocean was terrible enough, but we have escaped that confinement only to be doomed in the Underdark. We are surrounded by drow who may discover and kill us at any moment. I have not seen the sky in far too many days.

Xan: No. No, I am not "alright".

Radri, tentative: Perhaps, there is still a way…

She offers him her hand, thinking there's at least one thing she can do for him—but Xan turns away from her.

Xan: I cannot, Radri. Not while my reflection is not my own… not while I will wake only to see the Underdark's ceiling above us, a barrier from the sun and the stars.

She tells herself this makes sense, but that can't stop a sharp spike of rejection from piercing her heart. Xan doesn't even flinch; he can't feel her, anymore. That, more than his lack of reaction, plunges her heart further into pain.

Radri: …Okay.

Radri: I'm sorry, Xan. I'll get us out of here, soon. I promise.

Xan, tired, empty: Save your promise, Estel'amin. There is no point.

—

She is still awake when Xan slips, at last, into reverie. Xan is curled up on the bed beside her, his back to the wall, his face partially concealed by the uneven barrier of his bent arms, the whole of him arranged to escape notice. It takes her a moment to dissect the sense of unease she feels at seeing this, and realizes that eerily, she thinks this is how she found him in Mulahey's lair.

It has been a long time since she has felt so helpless to comfort him. Seeing him, yet not being able to feel him, makes her feel like she's back in the past, when they were tentative lovers, and before that friends, and before that strangers. Perhaps their connection was always meant to be brief; perhaps she will never feel him again.

She turns her face to the side, letting her tears soak into her pillow. No, she can't get lost in those thoughts—when one is tired, one no longer thinks clearly, and when she wakes in the morning, everything will surely feel better. Trying to ignore the terrifying, heavy weight that she has carried into the Underdark, she closes her eyes and tries her hardest to focus on brighter times.

—

When she wakes, she half expects to see the inn's wooden ceiling above her, and a pit forms in her stomach when she sees the dark, spidery architecture of Ust Natha spread out above her instead. Her hand is empty, as is the room; a familiar ache fills her heart, but there is no one there to feel it.

She jumps at the sound of the door opening, ready to school her expression into something—well—meaner, but it is only Xan.

Radri: Oh—You surprised me.

She wonders if he catches the disappointed lilt in her voice—and wonders if she wants to hide it. Xan does not react.

Xan: The others are prepared to leave.

Radri: …And you?

Xan: Little else is more torturous than lingering in this place, waiting to be discovered. I am eager to leave, as well. If you are ready…

She isn't. But she doesn't need to be an enchanter to read the mood: everyone is antsy, uncomfortable, discontent, like Xan. As terrified as she is of playing the role of Veldrin, she must.

Radri: Just give me a moment.

She delivers the words with a reflexive smile, which Xan only stares at for a moment, before he steps forward and brushes a thumb down the corner of her lips, guiding her smile back into nothingness.

Xan, quietly, reminding: A false smile of this kind has no purpose here.

Despite knowing that it's only to ensure their safety, she can't help but feel relief that he's still willing to touch her.

Radri: Any more advice for my new role?

Xan: (sigh) This may be the only moment in which I think, "if only Viconia were here."

Xan: All I can suggest is to follow their orders, stay out of their notice, and speak only as needed.

Radri, joking, self-deprecating: Ah, my specialty.

Xan gives her a sadder look.

Xan: It is only temporary, Estel'amin...

Radri, quiet: Yes... everything is.

—

(The memory she visits in reverie is this one. Xan had shown her the stars in reverie when they were blocked in the waking world, and she had hoped to do the same.)

[miss-oranje-disco-dancer]

tainted love

pairing: javier peña x steve murphy

cws/tags: only one bed, when you gotta jerk off ur partner bc he can't sleep but it's just a platonic thing dw #totallynotgay, use of f-slur, frottage, watching porn together briefly, mutual masturbation, technically infidelity ig but what connie doesn't know can't hurt her

summary: steve can't sleep and he's keeping javi up, so they have to jerk off ???

a/n: homosexual activities return to my blog

thank you to @almostempty for your help w this ! i could not have done this w/o you

wc: 3k

It’s not the first time Javi’s ended up with Steve’s name on his lips and his own hand wrapped around his cock. It’s not an everyday occurrence – Javi has tons of masturbation-worthy images in his collection of sacred memories. He’s got dalliances with hookers, something more and simultaneously less with that one communist girl, even Lorraine, back when she was something other than a blurry, ever-present mistake in his periphery. But, these thoughts are finite. In desperation, he’ll search for more. 

Sometimes more is his partner, partner in work, not in sex, not really, not yet. It comes down to the way Steve looks when he’s pissed off, the way anger forces him into physical contact despite the fact that he’s not a touchy-feely guy. It’s the time he had Javi pressed up against the wall in the hallway of the DEA office in Medellin – it felt like deja vu, he’d seen that moment on an x-rated videotape that no one would ever know he rented. Fuck government secrets, it’d take a harsh interrogation to get Javi to reveal the fact that he watched gay porn by his own volition. More than once. 

It’s a sleepless night like any other except Javi’s not in his own bed or anyone else’s, he’s in a hotel room he’s sharing with Murphy. It’s not the worst thing that could’ve happened – he could’ve gotten stuck with Stechner, but Messina decided to pair up with him for a reason Javi doesn’t want to hear about. 

There’s alcohol somewhere, but not in his overnight bag – maybe in the minibar, but that’s on the far side of the room and whether it comes out of his pocket or not, the prices make him feel sicker than a hangover would.  

Though he and Steve are facing away from each other, he can tell that he’s not sleeping either. It needles at him in the dark. Steve’s wakefulness bleeding onto Javi’s side of the bed, his body heat threatening to burn through the ever present wall of masculinity that keeps him at a distance. 

Murphy tosses and turns to the point where Javi wonders if he’s doing it for attention – he’s doing a great job if so. Javi rolls over to tell him to cool it. 

“Would you cut that shit out?”

“I can’t sleep.”

“Neither can I. Because of you.”

Steve shrugs as best one can in his position. 

“What do you want? A bedtime story?”

“Might be kinda nice.”

“Alright,” Javi says, like he’s really committed to the idea. “One night, there was a DEA agent who killed his partner–”

“Okay. I get it.”

“How the fuck does Connie sleep in the same bed as you?”

“I guess I don’t really toss and turn when I’m with her.” He pauses.

“She usually holds me – or I hold her. Not like a baby or anything, but you know…”

“You need to be cuddled to sleep? Seriously?”

He really seems to think about it. “No.”

“‘Cause the only way I’m holding you is in a headlock.”

“How do women sleep with you, huh? You’re wide awake and pissy about it.”

“When I said women sleep with me, I didn’t mean it literally.”

“So, you kick ‘em out of bed? Sounds about right,” Murphy says it with a smirk, like he’s gotten one over on Javi, but he hasn’t. 

“No, they know to leave. Or, I do. It’s bedroom etiquette. You wouldn’t know.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I’ve got something better – a wife. She sleeps with me for free.”

“God knows why.”

“She loves me. I’m loveable, Javi.”

That one strikes a nerve, but Javi doesn’t dare let it show.

“Maybe by her standards.”

“You saying she has low standards?”

“She could do better. She’s a very nice woman.”

“What does that mean?”

“Relax, man. I’m not trying to fuck your wife. I’m not that much of a scumbag.”

“Good. Not that I think she’d be into you anyway.”

“Plus, I can get laid without traveling to Miami.”

Steve huffs. It was a low blow, Javi’s willing to admit that.

“Okay, listen. We gotta be up in the morning, so let’s get practical here. You with me, Murphy?”

“Aye aye, cap,” he says with the least enthusiasm. 

“So, she’s been gone for a while, and I don’t see you coming to work looking like complete shit – at least, not any worse than you used to — so how are you getting to sleep?”

“I mean, I usually, you know…”

When Javi gestures to say go on, though he’s pretty sure he knows, Steve says much quieter, “Jerk off.”

“Was it that hard to say it?”

“I mean, it’s a little awkward.”

“What are you? 12? Everyone jerks off.”

“So, what? You want me to just jerk off?”

“Not here,” he says incredulously at the notion despite the fact that it does excite him. “In the shower if you have to.”

“I don’t usually do it in the shower.”

“You get to try something new then.”

“If I have to get up, then dry off, get dressed again, I think it’ll just start the whole process over.”

“So what? You want me to go stand outside and wait for you to finish?”

“The idea doesn’t sound unappealing…”

“No way am I doing that.”

Pissed off and admittedly aroused by the thought, he suggests, “You know what? Fuck it – put up a pillow barrier between us, and go ahead. Find something on pay-per-view so I don’t have to hear anything from you.”

“You serious?”

“If it’ll help you sleep.”

They fight over pillows and that’s only half the battle.

“Do you think they’ll know we’re buying–”

“Yes, so get something normal, will you? I don’t want anything weird showing up on the bill.”

“Relax. What’d you think I was gonna pick?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really think about your porn habits.”

“Well, what do you like?”

“What?”

“What do you like, Javi? We should find something we agree on.”

“So, now I’m a part of this?”

“I was trying to be nice.”

Javi stays silent while Steve rattles off possibilities. “We’ve got lesbians, mature women, threesomes…”

Javi gives him an unenthusiastic ‘sure’ to each option. 

“Oh, here’s the gay section,” Murphy says with a laugh.

And to avoid an awkward silence, Javi jokes - or tries to, “Don’t knock it till you try it.”

And Steve’s head turns around faster than you’d think was possible. “Oh, so you’ve tried it?”

“I was making a joke.”

“That’s not a no.”

“Why do you even care? Just stop stalling and pick something.”

Though he’s clearly still considering prying, he settles on whatever the most basic shit is – some blonde girl getting railed by some dude with a cock big enough to distract from his lackluster face. 

It’s about a minute of fake moaning that somehow makes things worse before Steve asks, “Do you think if we change the channel, they won’t charge us since we barely watched it?”

“Might as well try. Turn on PBS or something. That shit’s always free.”

It’s free but it’s a science documentary. Slimy jellyfish and the old men who know a concerning amount about them flood the screen. 

“Just turn off the TV,” Javi says, unable to hide his disgust.

Murphy spits into his hand, takes his cock out, and Javi is listening intently to it all. It makes him uncomfortably hard. He won’t sleep if he doesn’t get off, and at this point there’s no real shame in it. 

They breathe in tandem, each strangled sound egging the other one on, until Steve dares to ask, “So, you said you’ve watched gay porn before?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“But you didn’t say you haven’t.”

“Fine. Yes, I have. Can we go back to not talking right now?”

“But I’m curious.”

“Keep your curiosity to yourself.”

“Have you ever done anything with a guy?”

“Why? Do you want me to tell you a story about me getting a handjob from some guy outside a bar when I was hammered? You really wanna get off to that?”

“Maybe. If you can jazz it up a little.”

“I barely even remember it.”

That’s not entirely true. 

Sure, the memory’s faded a little over time, but he wasn’t blackout drunk like he wants Steve to believe. He was young, and a little bit desperate due to a recent breakup. It was hard to put on a face that said ‘I’m approachable and you’d have a good time if I took you home,” so the only attention he got that night was from a guy only a bit older than him, he’d guess. It was the kind of thing where he should’ve known it wasn’t friendly banter from the beginning, and maybe he did – he just didn’t want to believe that he was letting this happen, that he was engaging in it, that he was enjoying it. 

It got a little touchy-feely in a way real Texan men aren’t supposed to, unless they’re faggots. The word rings in Javi’s ear, and it’s the only thing louder than Murphy’s heavy breathing, which is far closer in time and space. 

The guy – whose name he’ll likely never know – led him outside and whatever ‘it’ was went down in an alley.

“Did you like it?”

“I liked it enough.”

Enough to cum from a handjob alone, and enough to try to give one back, and the only reason he didn’t really get to was because his hands shook, and it was summertime. 

‘You’re not used to this are you?’.

‘No, I’ve never…’

‘It’s okay,’ he said, removing Javi’s hand, gingerly, almost apologetic.

The goodbye kiss was anything but – it was tongue and teeth, indulgent. You could say it was self-indulgent on the other guys’ part, but you’d be wrong. It felt like it lasted longer than the handjob, and maybe it did, but god, that’d be too embarrassing to admit even in his own mind. It was the kind of kiss that dared Javi’s cock to spring back to life and he fought it desperately. 

‘See you around.’

But the pair never did. Javi convinced himself it never happened and during drinking games or friendly teasing he insisted that he’d never touched another man, just like every other friend of his. 

So, why would he tell Steve?

Before Murphy can ask another goddamn question, he turns it on the fucker, “Why don’t you tell me about your sex life?”

“I mean, besides Connie, there hasn’t been anyone since I was, fuck, I don’t know…”

“Is Connie any good?”

“Of course she’s good.”

Javi waits for the ‘but’ with a raised eyebrow, and it comes. 

“It just gets boring, alright? I love her, though.”

And Javi knows he does. He knows he does because Murphy can’t sleep without her in bed beside him. 

It doesn’t miss Javi that Steve’s breath falters more when Javi’s name leaves his mouth. 

“Javi…” He’s been stroking himself the entire time, but he’s not close, it’s not a plea to cum. It’s a hesitant question. 

“Yes, Murphy?”

“Why do you always call me by my last name?”

“I don’t know, Steve.”

It’s just to get a reaction out of him, which it does, subtle enough that another person might not catch on, but Javi’s waiting for it. 

And the reason is probably somewhere between the fact that he calls everyone by last name - and, come to think of it, it’s actually kinda weird that Murphy calls him by his first name - and because he feels like exchanging first names equals real friendship and somehow, that’s too intimate for Javi.

“Is that better?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Steve…”

“Yeah?”

“You want this, right?”

“If you do.”

“You gotta tell me. ‘Cause I’m not doing anything if you’re not into it.”

The distance between them dissipates. It doesn’t matter who closes the gap – if one didn’t, the other would. 

Javi looks back and forth between Steve’s cock and his mouth and tries to decide what’s right. Because he wants both, he has to find another metric to measure, to make his choices for him. 

Dive right in and take Steve’s cock in his hand to avoid the intimacy that locking lips requires? Kiss him to quiet everything including his own mind? 

He’s dumbfounded for a moment and you’d think he’s the one who’s never touched a man before if you didn’t know any better. The thing is: Javi can jerk another man off, even give a likely mediocre drunken blowjob. The difference is, this is Steve, naked in bed beside him. The difference is, he’s thought about this. The decision to do this shouldn’t be this easy when he’s sober. But his inhibitions are dangerously low because he’s dreamed about this. 

He’s played out fantasies before that he knows wouldn’t - shouldn’t – become reality. There are countless reasons not to do this - Steve is married, this could ruin both of their careers, this could compromise the most important case in DEA history. 

There is only one reason this should happen: desire.

Javi leads with his heart not his head (admittedly, his dick has influenced this specific decision to a significant degree).

His contemplation is cut off by Murphy’s lips pressed to his. The kiss is hesitant only until Javi reciprocates. Then it leans more towards animalistic than sweet but it’s needier than anything. Between the two of them desperation has only ever led to tension that boils over into fighting, but somehow insomnia is all it took to get them here. 

His brain has one thought playing on loop - the simple fact that he is actively kissing Steve Murphy. Until his mind is free of thoughts. Sex usually works like that for him, particularly with women ‘cause he doesn’t have to worry about the persistent guilt and fear of getting caught in the back of his mind, but his stress rarely fades at just kissing. Maybe they’re not just kissing. It feels like something more. Javi can’t think, but he sure as hell can feel, and he’ll feel this for days, weeks, months, maybe years if he’s really unlucky and there’s no feeling strong enough to replace this one.

The pillows that stood between them are now strewn across the floor as are the pretences. This isn’t one coworker tolerating another’s nighttime routine – at the very least, this is a friend helping a friend in a time of need. But that sounds too innocuous – too generous, even sacrificial. What they’re doing is fumbling around in the dark (even though Javi aches to turn on the lamp, to see, to savor) trying to find out how to get this over with the quickest, what will make the other cum first while learning how to drag this out, how to tease, how to get the other to the edge and no further. How to do this together. 

It starts with the kiss, with Javi lazily stroking his own cock until he dares to place his hand on Steve’s inner thigh. It’s a hesitant question and a final warning, and in response Steve’s breath hitches. They lock eyes for a moment before Javi removes Steve’s hand from his cock and replaces it with his own. There is no protest, only a low groan before he takes Javi’s cock in his hand with a firm grip that makes it feel more like retaliation than returned favor. It also feels way too fucking good. Javi takes it as an invitation for competition, his right hand is more dedicated and focused, moving faster while his left grabs Steve’s jaw and brings him into a kiss fueled by a passion that feels closer to rage than love. 

Javi takes Steve’s bottom lip between his teeth and tugs on it slightly, as if a gentle pull in the right direction would bring Steve into Javi’s lap. It elicits a startled jump in his ragged breath - and they were long overdue to pull back for a breath - Javi takes the opportune moment to tell Steve to come closer in a voice that one uses to discipline an unruly soldier. 

Javi has to maintain a certain amount of control through aggression lest he let the mask slip and reveal his own nervousness, his curiosity, how little he really knows about how this is supposed to go, and how much he wants to press Steve flat on the mattress and take this slow. 

He finds himself moving hastily to shift himself and his partner - now in work and in sex - into a position where he can jerk them both off simultaneously, cocks loosely held together in his fist. Javi’s thrusts lead and Steve’s follow. 

Neither of them last very long. 

There’s a collective initial sigh of physical relief and a subsequent realization of what had just occurred between the two of them. 

What is he supposed to say? ‘Thanks’? ‘Sleep tight’? Is he supposed to say anything at all?

Murphy gets out of bed disturbing the relative peace in the air. 

“What the fuck are you doing?” Javi asks.

“Shower,” Murphy says, leaning in the doorway of the bathroom. “Ever heard of one?”

“Thought you didn’t wanna take a shower ‘cause it would make it harder to sleep.”

And that’s how we ended up here. 

“I’m not going to bed like this,” he says, gesturing to the mess he and Javi had both left on his stomach. 

“I don’t wanna go to bed like this either, but it’s four in the goddamn morning.” They’re back to whisper yelling and somehow it feels nice to have that sense of normalcy. 

Murphy stands there waiting for a better argument, but instead he gets Javi storming out of bed straight towards him and dragging him into the shower. 

It’s not romantic, not in the slightest - they argue over the water temperature and who’s taking up too much room. They don’t wash each other’s hair or look at each other with stars in their eyes. But, they leave their clothes on the floor and slip into bed naked, not holding each other, but not wincing when their shoulders touch. 

“Did that really happen last night?” Murphy asks with a yawn, forcing Javi to confront reality after he’s pressed snooze more than once. 

“I don’t know,” he says. “You tell me.”

“Yeah, yeah, I think so.” He sounds more confident with every word. 

“Okay. Then, I think so too.” 

[your-nanas-house]

Would you be willing to do a dark NSFW Tom Riddle oneshot?

I'd really be interested in seeing super possessive, super jealous, super protective Tom. Like maybe the reader and Tom were friends with benefits, however the reader realizes they has feelings. So, they randomly distance themselves from him and secretly start seeing one of his followers until they decide to go public. He tries to manipulate her back to being with him by saying things like "he doesn't make you feel the way I make you, does he darling?" (maybe more provocative and intense) I lowkey imagine him sneaking in the readers dorm and they were preparing for an outing with whichever follower they are dating when Tom comes out of the shadows, standing behind them and he kisses down their neck which saying manipulative things. Before the reader pushes him back and says "no, I love (followers name)" even though that isn't the case. That is when the follower the reader is with, walks in and eyes Tom wearily before the reader says "(followers name), can we go? Please, I want to go." because the reader knew that they'd cave to Tom. Tom only gets more persistent, trying to be patient, but his mindset is that the reader will come crawling back to him because this isn't the first time this has happened. However, this is the longest time the reader has been away from him and it is then that he realizes that he does have feelings which frightens him. He comes to terms with having one weakness, the reader. Ultimately, he gets impatient and does things his way to get the reader back. Sorry if this is a lot!

Hello! Ofc 🥰 sorry if it took me so much, I tried to find a way to put everything you wanted in a oneshot. Dw, I loved this idea so much!!!

Just an affair (?)

◇ Pairing: Tom Riddle X fem!Reader, Abraxas Malfoy X fem!Reader

◇ Warnings: SMUT, harassment, Tom Riddle, fluff, angst and dark themes (Slytherin!Reader but can be seen as any other house if you want to 🥰)

◇ Summary: You try to move on but Tom doesn't want that.

◇ Note: Sorry for the mistakes and the English.

Your gaze was blank and empty, focused on nothing in particular since you were too lost in your thoughts to be aware of your surroundings.

Too many things were going on in your head, especially since you managed to stop your little affair with your classmate, Tom Riddle, a pleasurable, lovable and rough affair that you kind of missed.

You really missed the warmth of his body, his teeth against your sensitive skin, his cold touch followed by the rough and needy kisses, his scent that invaded your senses— this awful sensation kept coming back every time you saw him behind the walls of your magic school ‘Hogwarts’.

You saw him that day too, after exiting the women’s bathroom with your friend and classmate, Walburga Black; you two were just heading back to your dorms when you nearly crashed against Tom Riddle's chest, the man that you tried to ignore and avoid since a while now.

You nearly shivered when his dark eyes met yours but you managed to hide it, nodding as a greeting as Walburga squealed an awkward 'hello, my lord" while she followed you quickly.

It was a Saturday so you didn't have any classes but since you had managed to join the Slugclub, you had to visit professor Slughorn to get an invitation to the club's fifth dinner of the year— then after that you would have been finally free to enjoy your day of rest and get ready for the date with your new boyfriend.

A hot, pale, blond, classmate of yours, belonging to the same house as you and to a rich and prestigious family in the pureblood's view.

Yes, boyfriend.

After you stopped to meet Tom Riddle in secret and decided to move on, you started to see one of his followers and fellow Slytherin— Abraxas Malfoy.

Your feet were a little tired from so much walking in your last few days and because you had started practicing walking in heels to make a good impression on the blond on your date— you had also bought, with Walburga, a new dress only for that occasion.

That's where you were heading at that moment, straight to your dorm room to fix your appearance before Abrasax could bring you to Hogsmeade for the day; you nearly rushed inside of your room, closing the door before heading to your mirror to start apply the makeup of the day— you already did that that morning but you wanted to be fresh and prettier than ever.

That's when a cold touch made your body freeze, exactly when your gaze was focused on the new dress.

It didn't take long for your makeup, you didn't overdo it usually, only the hair was your big problem— you spent minutes and minutes trying to find the most suitable hairstyle and then ended up pulling it up into a simple yet sophisticated hairstyle as you dropped the robe that covered your body.

"Little Dove, my little Dove" his voice echoed in your mind as your eyes moved slowly up to meet Tom's dark and empty gaze— he had an ironing grip on your bare hips and his soft pink lips were brushing against your skin.

Luckily you managed to put quickly the dress on to cover yourself a bit in front of Tom.

His white teeth grazed against the spot that made your knees weak and that he knew way too well

"You're playing a dangerous game, my dear— trying to get me by pretending to be interested in someone else" he growled sodtly, pressing himself against your back to make you feel his hardening cock as his hand grabbed your throat.

For the first time you were afraid but still pretty horny, like everytime you could smell his delicious masculine scent— but you needed to stop him this time; you could already feel that ticklish feeling crawling back in your lower belly, exploding in you like thousand of butterflies.

'No, not this time and not anymore' you told yourself more and more scared of the feelings that became slowly love.

You tried to move from his grip, your breath becoming heavier

"Tom, n-no— you must stop" you tried, earning just a threating growl causing his hands to hold you stiller, his hips grinding against your butt, managing that way to press his now rock-hard erection between your ass cheeks

"You know you want it too, Y/n—" Tom murmured against the shell of your ear, licking it slowly before continuing to talk, using now a more sensual and low voice the same one he always used during one of your heated and passionate sessions of sex

"Stop pretending or resisting, we both know that you will crawl back to me— as soon as you will realize how childish your behavior is right now".

His hand slowly moved from your hip to your front, stroking slowly your lower back before playing with your panties and move his pale hand inside of them to touch your wet pussy— like he wanted since the day you started to ignore him.

Usually this would lead to Tom having his long fingers buried inside your wet folds— his fingers would then be replaced by his cock which filled you up to your cervix, preventing you from thinking straight as he ruined you wherever he wanted, not this time though.

Sure enough, someone knocked on the dorm door taking you both by surprise— thus allowing you to move Tom's hand away from your panties before Abraxas couldn't see as he entered the room.

His clear gaze was fixed on you two and he started to frown slightly, since he wasn't really expecting to see Tom Riddle himself there— he couldn't ask any questions, though, or think much about why he was there as your voice stopped his thoughts

"Can we please go, Brax?— Please" you begged for a second time, taking his hand before following him quickly out of the Slytherin's common room, leaving Tom alone.

.

On the evening of the same day of your date and when Tom had finally managed to find a moment when you were all alone— right that day, the wizard found himself in his bed in his dormitory, on top of his cold sheets with his gaze fixed on the ceiling and his head full of thoughts of you.

His hand wrapped around his hard-rock cock, the thin fabric of your panties brushing against his balls every time his hand moved up and down.

As the thought of you with another man his pace got faster, he inhaled deeply from his nostrils while his jaw clenched

"F-Fucking slut" he murmured between clenched teeth as he thought about you, his back arched in a lovingly way as he approached his climax slowly.

A soft groan left his lips before he bit his bottom lip, purring your name before coming all over his hand and your dark green stolen panties.

He wanted you back, no he needed you back, you were his and only his— Noone else's.

Taglist:

@gabile18 , @mrsfullbuster500 , @rex-ray , @elizamalfoyy, @eovjjj , @wife-of-magic-monkeys , @jeremiah-va1eska , @gothamchic16, @rabbiteggz , @dieg0brandos-wife , @rottenecstasy , @lazyexcuse , @teh-vampire-bunny , @lobotomy-lover , @slasher-smasher , @sleepycreativewriter

[mizuki-foreshadowing]

Mizuki likes idols!

Mizuki isn't the only character who follows idol news and fantasizes about getting to meet Haruka Kiritani, but she may be the biggest idol fangirl outside of our own Minori Hanasato. As a trans girl, Mizuki's specific relationship with idols is very important. Not all idol fans are girls, but it very much is an interest that interacts with gender.

In What's On Your Mind - Exciting Picnic, Ena confides her Mizuki troubles to her friend Airi and her own friend Shizuku, and the two offer to help Ena by spending a day with Mizuki, to figure out what's been troubling Mizuki and causing Ena so much distress. But to get there, Ena needs to get Mizuki on board first and Mizuki's been avoiding hangouts and outings ever since her visceral reaction to discovering she longs for lifelong friends, during Secret Distance.

While it is true by this point that Ena has more than one idol friend, that's only because Shizuku makes friends easily. Ena mentions later in this same scene that she met Shizuku for the first time the other day. Ena has only one idol friend that she talked to Mizuki about before. She's playing up that she has idol friends as a way to bait Mizuki, which does work.

Mizuki doesn't know Ena really only has one idol friend; Mizuki got everyone on the Mystery Tour in the first place because she knows there's so much the members of N25 don't actually know about each other.

She takes Ena at face value here that she has idol friends, and gets excited. As for how Ena knows Mizuki would be receptive to this pitch, she has told Mizuki about Airi and likely got some excitement from her about her being an idol.

Ena mentions the name of Airi's friend and gets the reaction she wants. Mizuki is clearly a huge fan of Cheerful*Days's beautiful Center. While we didn't get to see Mizuki's reaction to first hearing that Ena knows Airi Momoi, it doesn't seem like something that affects her nearly as strongly as hearing Shizuku's name right now, both being heard in a context where Mizuki might really meet them.

Mizuki will have an even stronger reaction to meeting Haruka Kiritani at the Fan Festival. This may be relative to the idols' fame as idols. Airi had a great deal of fame but only as a variety show star, which Airi resents as being nothing like being an idol.

Ena knows she's got Mizuki hooked and reels her in. But Mizuki has personal problems a little stronger than her idol fangirl side. I want to draw some attention though, to what the flashback Mizuki gets hit by is. The flashback itself, is a paraphrased recap of Mizuki on the train ride in Secret Distance.

Mizuki agrees to go to a picnic with the Shizuku Hinomori and with Airi Momoi (and Ena), and this is what stops her in her tracks. Mizuki not wanting to get close with the members of N25 and wanting to shake Ena off her trail, are these reasons to refuse a celebrity picnic? Celebrities, especially idols, are characterized by wanting viewers to feel like they have a relationship with them. In the Fan Festival, Mizuki skips right to calling Haruka Haruka-chan, much like Minori does in the MMJ main story, and Mizuki greets Airi and Shizuku similarly familiarly.

Mizuki's flashback is about being unable to truly be someone's friend if they can't know she's trans. Her flashback is that she can't be friends with someone, but this is a celebrity picnic. I think Mizuki feels sick from the idea that her secret means she can't actually be Shizuku's and Airi's friend.

Important to note, Mizuki jumps to a very familiar address here. In the Japanese, she says Momoi Airi-chan, and Hinomori Shizuku-chan; Mizuki considering the possibility (and being denied it) of becoming their friend isn't a far reading.

This is, also, like kind of a wild thing to say to a real person's face; Mizuki is hopelessly fangirling right now.

She even wore her favorite outfit. She's exclaiming to Ena that this is really happening and how excited she is. Ena is not at all starstruck, and is very embarrassed.

Very importantly, is there was no prior context that put Mizuki's sprite in that expression. This is Mizuki's reaction to having attention drawn toward familiarity (and over-familiarity) and to what name to use for (a trans girl like) herself.

But, whatever worrying place Mizuki was expecting the topic to go, it didn't go there, and she's ecstatic to give and be given permission to call Airi and Shizuku by first name.

Mizuki is fangirling so hard that, and I cannot stress this enough, she thanks Ena sincerely. Not wanting to ruin this moment for her, Ena simply accepts the thanks.

Airi brought everyone an (allegedly) home-cooked meal and Mizuki thanks her for it. It looks like Mizuki already knows the name MORE MORE JUMP! but it doesn't look like she's watched any of their streams. (They started from zero and spent their first few weeks just trying to land an agency, so even knowing the name by this point means Mizuki is very deep into idol news.)

Airi hasn't been an idol proper in a long time. She hasn't even been a variety show star in more than half a year. Mizuki's thanks comes off as her not wanting to compliment Airi on something she may not actually be doing a lot of, but instead to compliment her more broadly. But this may just be me.

Here we catch a glimpse at what idols mean to Mizuki. She was kind of blindsided by Shizuku's comment. Unlike for Minori, idols aren't a source for hope that tomorrow will always be a better day; that isn't how Mizuki conceptualizes idols.

Later on at the Fan Festival, we get to see Mizuki meeting Haruka Kiritani. Mafuyu arrives late because Shizuku had rushed over to chat with her friend, Airi and Haruka walking with her.

Mizuki and Ena are both very familiar with Airi and Shizuku by this point, but neither of them have met Haruka in person yet. Mizuki recognizes Haruka Kiritani in an instant, and calls her Haruka-chan, much like Minori does during her own first meeting.

Very gratuitously, here is Mizuki's reaction to being hit by Haruka's idol smile. The sparkles linger on her as she's overcome by Haruka's idol aura. Ena is also stunned, but it's despite herself.

Kanade knows nothing of idols or idol music, and doesn't know who these people are. Ena introduces her friends Airi and Shizuku,

and Mizuki introduces Haruka.

Mizuki realizes it'd be torture for Mafuyu to stay wearing her good-girl mask at an event Mizuki already had to beg her to even attend, and she bails her out by refusing Shizuku's gracious offer to see the festival as a group. (after very painful, verbal deliberation)

Here, we see that Mizuki liking idols is, at least partially, part of Mizuki loving cute things. We also get to see how invested she gets in idols, treasuring this celebrity encounter. While the hope idols try to inspire isn't the central part of it to Mizuki, the closeness they want each of their fans to feel, that personal relationship that makes people call them by familiar address before ever actually meeting them, is a big part of it for her. And this makes sense; Mizuki is lonely. She considers herself as having no friends and being unable to truly think about the members of N25 as being her friends in any real way. Idols, then, are powerfully cute celebrities happily giving to Mizuki a closeness she feels deprived of in other parts of her life.

Minori made her debut here, at the Fan Festival, and Mizuki reveals that she hasn't been watching MORE MORE JUMP!'s streams, perhaps keeping up with more polished or curated idol content. But Mizuki gets a choice seeing Minori after her solo show. She could encourage Minori as Mizuki's idol friends' friend, the way she might cheer someone up in N25, or she could treat Minori like she's an idol.

Minori's debut solo performance gets her someone fangirling over her as an idol.

After the Fan Festival, in Kanade: The World Shown Through Music; Part 1, we see how Mizuki talks about idols as an idol fan.

Mizuki describes Minori with very feminine terms, but also says she shined and that she's powerful. In addition to idols being tied to Mizuki's love of cute things, I think this also ties idols to Mizuki's ideals of femininity and female empowerment. Tying back into Mizuki diving into the (consensually) parasocial aspect of idols, idols seem to be girls Mizuki wants to see herself as and feel associated with.

Mizuki casually tosses around the idea of N25 making an idol song, which would seem strange considering that she doesn't think about idols as being people who grant hope to their fans, if it were part of Mizuki's initial pitch. Mizuki suggesting that idol music might also save somebody, comes off as being her usual lighthearted excuses. Kanade, however, considers it seriously, but ultimately can't figure it out, which is where the side story goes. But, even if Mizuki doesn't think of idol music as something meant to save people, it does sound as though it at least played some part in saving her.

Mizuki eventually comes to view Shizuku and Airi closer to friends than to celebrities, but in Shizuku: Completion Report!; Part 1, (which happens a bit later), we get to see a little more of Mizuki's love of idols. Shizuku is showing off MORE MORE JUMP!'s new fanmade outfits and Mizuki gets a little emotional.

Shizuku talks about the event story and finding someone to write a MORE MORE JUMP! original song, and we learn that Mizuki really does keep up with their streams now.

Mizuki already knows by this point that Kanade doesn't feel like she's able to compose an idol song, and also that Mafuyu feels nothing from idol music, but she just can't help but think of what might have been.

[invisibleraven]

“Yes, it’s a mess but it’s our mess. We’re the only ones who can fix it.”

Let's open femslash february with sapphic ship of your choice?

Julie never meant for it to happen, falling in love with the enemy. Heck, she hadn't known Carrie was the enemy when they first met. It was an innocent meet cute at a coffee shop-brushed fingers as they reached for their orders, a blush and frantic grabbing of napkins to clean the minor spill, an offer to talk to turned into a day sent together.

It was only later, after she had put her number into Carrie's phone, a dreamy smile on her face that Flynn found her, and told her the truth-Carrie was the heir to the Wilson fortune-the same family that had persecuted and destroyed her own.

Julie wished she could say that this hardened her heart, but it only made it ache. Carrie had been so real with her, talking about wanting to be her own person, to step out from the shadows of expectations, without giving her identity away. Who listened when Julie talked about being lost and unsure for so long after losing her mother, without dragging Trevor's ame into the reason why Rose was lost.

Could Carrie really be as evil as those surrounding her?

So the next time they ran into each other, each stopped as their eyes met. "We-we should talk," Carrie said, her voice low.

"Not here," Julie replied, guiding them to a side street, the worn couch outside a club that her band mates used to frequent back in their day. "So talk."

"I didn't know who you were," Carrie revealed, "But even if I did-I think I still would have liked it to have played out the same way."

"Me too," Julie confessed, her voice quiet, almost drowned by the traffic off in the distance. "We can't do this though."

"Why not?" Carrie asked. "I'm not my father-I don't want to destroy or take. I want to create."

"I know that, but I've spent my whole life hating him, what he represents. It would almost feel like...a betrayal to those beliefs to be with you, no matter how much I would like to."

"Doesn't seem very fair to either of us, to be denied happiness because of a grudge," Carrie remarked. "Too Shakespearean. I never did like Shakespeare."

"Much Ado isn't bad," Julie remarked, causing the two of them to snort and then collapse into laughter, even though it wasn't remotely funny.

"Well let's try for comedy over tragedy then," Carrie said, taking Julie's hand once they had regained their breath. "I really like you Julie. You're the first person outside my closest friend that I've felt like me with in a long time. I don't want to let that go."

"Me either," Julie replied. "You made everything else melt away-all the uncertainty, the bitterness. I was just-Julie with you."

"So be just Julie, and I'll just be Carrie. No other names, we're still us."

"You're verging into Romeo & Juliet again," Julie said with a smile--one that didn't fade, even as Carrie silenced her with a kiss.

They kept meeting; secret rendezvous away from prying eyes, away from those who would judge without understanding. To talk, and sing, and kiss. To confess secrets and fears and feelings in their own little world where they could just be.

But outside that bubble, tensions grew high. Resistance versus corporation, family versus family, with violence and threats rising by the hour. Soon curfews would be enacted, martial law put in place. Then Julie was sure she would never see Carrie again.

"I don't want to lose you," she confessed, clinging tight to her, tears running down both their faces.

"You won't," Carrie tried to assure her. But in her heart, she wasn't sure. This was complicated more than either of them thought it would be. "This whole thing is a mess."

Julie gave a shuddering breath, then straightened up, looking Carrie in the eye. “Yes, it’s a mess but it’s our mess. We’re the only ones who can fix it.”

"How?"

"We talk to those in charge, find a way to broker peace, or reach a ceasefire, whatever we have to do," Julie said, resolved.

"We could always run away," Carrie suggested, though there was no spark behind her words. "Start a new life somewhere else, far away from all of this."

Julie worried her bottom lip-the thought was so tempting. Finding a place all their own, where they wouldn't need to hide, where they could truly be just Julie and Carrie together without a care. Yet she shook her head. "I couldn't leave everyone like that, and you know deep down, neither could you. We have to at least try to stop all this, to save what's left."

"You're right," Carrie conceded. "I hate when you're right."

"But I always am," Julie smirked, laughing when Carrie pulled her down for a kiss with a shake of her head.

Maybe their words, their love would do nothing-perhaps even make things worse. But they had to try-because Julie wanted to finally be the person she was meant to be, and Carrie needed a life out of the shadows. Together was the only was through.

So hand in hand, they left their little bubble-hope in their hearts, and swore, no matter what, their story would not end up a tragedy-no matter what the stories said, they had to believe they could defy the stars, and change the world-or at the very least, the minds of their fathers.

But above all else, no matter the outcome, they promised, they would do it together-and always would.

[paragonrobits]

thinking a lot about the angst and hurt/comfort potential in Finn, as he gets older and starts going into the same depressive spirals he canonically has pretty often (see: the fruit witch incident and him being pretty quick to start sadly musing on whether Jake, Marceline and Bubblegum even ARE his friends or care about him at all in What Was Missing, or his recurring tendency to just shut down all his sad feelings and aggressively put any bad memory into a Vault so he never has to think about anything bad) and following Jake's death, without Jake to serve as a lightening presence in his life, Finn starts to quietly spiral inward in a way that has him...

not DISTANCING himself from Bubblegum and Marceline (canonically his closest friends in the world, and he is arguably the closest person TO them, and the person that can moderate their respective view points when the two of them start having issues Getting each other), but he starts having doubts about himself and their friendship, so he very quietly is smiling and nodding and in the inside screaming about how of COURSE they don't REALLY need him or want him in their lives, why would they

its a quiet kind of spiraling. He doesn't say things out loud, and that's his problem. He doesn't tell them much, and increasingly starts showing up less and less; Jake would have noticed him starting to have one of his moments and curtailed it right away, but PB and Marceline, as much as they love him, need to be in proximity to him to notice when something is amiss, and its hard to do that when he is going out of his way to conceal his feelings.

He starts doubting himself, and with that concludes that either he's not as close to them as he thought he was, or starts wondering if they just used him and are now discarding him like a broken sword that can't do its job anymore, or otherwise goes into a mentality of 'I don't deserve to be around them because I'm a fuckup and a failure'

In this state of mind, he doesn't think about the good he's done. He doesn't think about all the times he stopped the Lich, or how he dragged Ice King back into a mental space where he could form genuine connections. He doesn't think about how his name is a by-word for heroism, or that PB doesn't trust ANYONE and she trusts him with her life and family. He got Marceline to dare to trust in people even though its so much scarier than keeping a deliberate distance, because he wanted to be her friend and didn't care how dangerous or scary she was-

But he can't see this now. All he sees are the failures. He couldn't save Jake. He couldn't save Billy. And he still feels like he could have done more to help Simon with... everything. Maybe if he'd done it better Jake would still be alive, Betty wouldn't have to fuse with Golb, maybe maybe maybe he's just no good at anything.

PB and Marceline care about him; likely more than they care about anyone else. They trust him with their secrets, their lives, and their goals. They believe in him and the sincere uncomplicated good and desire to help people that they admire but can't entirely bear to do for themselves. But the thing is about it that they're busy besides, and not very demonstrative people at the best of times, and he's not good at noticing the small details.

Maybe he thinks he just doesn't belong anywhere, and most especially not with them; not people as accomplished and cool and just plain good as PB and Marceline. And more and more, the more he's around them, he starts interpreting PB's poor communication skills as lack of interest or even contempt, or Marceline's veiled ways of expressing herself as genuine indifference. They care about him, but he can't see it. He thinks, why WOULD they care about me?

Maye he starts thinking he really is just a joke or a knight to them; a tool that's breaking down and long past its utility point, a tired gimmick that isn't fun anymore so they're moving on to more interesting things.

It's not something he's angry about, or lashes out towards them. He thinks they're objectively right, in his little mental assumptions; he can't help but think of himself as ugly. Misshapen, brutish. He feels shameful and awkward around him, and he withdraws away, a bit at a time.

So the question is raised: what happens when PB and Marceline work this out, or have it directly confronted by some kind of situation that highlights it for them? When something happens so that Finn can't do anything but admit how ugly he feels around them, that all he can think about are his personal failures, or that they just don't want him around anymore.

Or perhaps they come to realize that Finn thinks maybe he should just fade away, be forgotten by a world that doesn't need or want something like him anymore.

[elstreem]

(Spoilers for FGO LB6)

Something that has been bouncing around my head for a while now is how interesting it is to compare Bedivere and Oberon's actions and roles in their respective chapters.

...I'm pretty sure I can never put this neatly or concisely enough so ok rambling time!

Which means, this is a warning for a very long post. Seriously.

I have read discussion on similarities between the Faerie Knights and the Knights they were named after, as well as Morgan and Goddess Rhongomyiad, and of course the game itself compares and contrasts Artoria and Castoria. It wasn't until I read that Chapter 6 Habetrot mirrors Bedivere's journey that I realized that our cat-loving fairy is actually Bedi's counterpart in Lostbelt 6 lol, but it is obvious in retrospect (they bond closely with Mash and help her work out her issues, they're both close friends to a queen figure who they now must work against, they're carrying a secret weapon that has to be returned to someone).

So why compare and contrast Bedivere and Oberon? Because I feel like it and also I just think about Bedivere a lot :b A little disclaimer though, I don't actually have Oberon on my account so I might be off base about my understanding of his character...basically, these are just my musings!

But yeah, I think it's interesting they're very alike characters in a lot of ways: they appear to help Ritsuka and co., but secretly had their own agendas waiting to be fulfilled at the end of said chapter. They both even have important bonds to the iteration of Artoria that appeared in their chapters, and interestingly, both of them do mention outright having used Ritsuka for their own purposes and express a sentiment about being fake (Bedivere's wording is "counterfeit" while Oberon is, well, a Pretender).

At the same time, Bedivere and Oberon are very much each others' opposites, too - and I think the key difference here is Bedivere is truly himself, and Oberon...basically can't do that. "Staying true" is an impossibility for Oberon because his very existence is being something he's not.

Going scene by scene, the contrast between the two shows as early as their respective meetings with Ritsuka:

Bedivere tried to keep his distance from the Chaldea crew, even giving a false name and bluntly stating he can be considered an enemy. (key word here being "tried," he sure caved in quickly later on lol) He even says the meeting was just coincidence, and you know, in retrospect it's a crazy stroke of fortune for both Bedivere and Ritsuka to meet like this in Camelot.

By contrast, when Ritsuka finally meets Oberon face to face, he's immediately friendly and personable, even stating he's destined to help them. However, this meeting is definitely not coincidental, as Oberon has been making sure to keep Ritsuka and Castoria on a specific track of actions.

Following the story, Bedivere doesn't actually join Chaldea until he shows himself against Gawain during the night of Selection. And even then, he sort of admits it was an impulsive decision on his part -

And he even confesses to Mash that what happened afterward wasn't totally for Ritsuka's and Mash's sake, he was also just taking advantage of the Chaldea crew.

While he is a genuinely good person, it's true Bedivere had his own personal agenda throughout Chapter 6 which he kept secret until the confrontation with Goddess Rhongomyniad. It just so happened that goal aligned with what our heroes were after, too, so it all works out.

Meanwhile, Oberon does a lot of things to help Ritsuka from the get-go, and he makes plenty of suggestions as to what to do next - but as it turns out, it's all part of his plan to lay the groundwork for him to appear as Vortigern. Castoria even calls him out on this when she confronts Oberon about how he deliberately kept it secret from Ritsuka he knew where Mash was.

Speaking of which, this is another major difference between Bedivere and Oberon -

Part 1 is mostly Mash's story, and as with all of Arc 1's companions, Bedivere mostly guides her.

I know I have terrible BediGuda brainrot hours all day every day lol, but I do admit as far as the actual game goes, Bedivere is shown being very close to Mash. The film switches it up by giving the conversation before the final battle between Fujimaru and Bedivere, but in game, it's Mash who reassures Bedivere there is meaning to his journey, and it's Bedivere who tells Mash how to fully utilize Lord Camelot. Mash even reacts to the news of Bedivere being a summonable Servant by saying she has another Senpai to look up to (which, tbh I'm kinda sad the game never really followed up on, I think it would have been cute to see more of Bedi being Mash's supportive senior at the Round Table).

By contrast, Oberon very much focuses on Ritsuka, and there's a couple of scenes where he talks extensively with Ritsuka about personal matters.

It goes both ways in Lostbelt 6 really, if you think about it, Oberon goes out of his way to have Ritsuka tell him about the Lostbelt and how they've felt so far, but in turn, Ritsuka actually does learn enough about Oberon to be suspicious of him at various story beats. (Although, one thing I'm not completely sure of is, does the Oberon who appear in the Garden of Lost Will the actual Oberon or is it just a representation of Ritsuka's doubts?)

In any case, while they have a different focus in relationships, Bedivere is still clearly shown caring for Ritsuka as Chapter 6 goes on, and at the very end, when he comes clean of everything, he does so with an apology.

So while Bedivere hid a secret all this time, his end goal worked well with Chaldea's goal of eliminating the Singularity, so no harm was ultimately done by his keeping his secret, even if his aberrant action was the root cause for Goddess Rhongomyniad being who she is.

And by contrast, Oberon does address Ritsuka and Castoria's anxieties, and makes sure they are doing what needs to be done, but while doing so he is also making sure he can be Vortigern again. Needless to say, his end goal of destroying the world is something Chaldea needed to stop. Though, my understanding of Oberon is, he does care for Ritsuka and Castoria, but his way of affection and concern is all twisted up because of who he is, so he can't really be honest with them even if he wanted to, because admitting it would turn it into another lie.

Their relationships to the Artoria they knew are also interesting to look at, because both Bedivere and Oberon in part made them who they are. Bedivere meant well when he didn't return the sword, only to find it led to Artoria turning into the Lion King, and he sought her for a long time to fix his mistake. Even then, when they met again, she didn't recognize him until he could reveal Excalibur for what it really was. And before that, Bedivere knew Artoria as a king to be looked up to - he loved her and served under her, so while there are strong emotions of respect and concern, it's still a formal sort of relationship, the king and the knight. Meanwhile, Oberon practically raised Castoria while he could. The way they interact is very much devoid of formalities, since they argue and fight a lot, but deep down they understood each other for what they were.

There's probably also something to be said about how both characters did find closure at the end of their journeys, but while Bedivere got it after fulfilling his goal despite all the hardship, Oberon got it even after he was thwarted at the very end.

I think I can put a few more comparisons in but I'm gonna be repeating my points and just stating what's already in the dialogues.

So to sum them up - one is a horrible liar and the other is a natural liar :b

Sorry, I just had to put in how terrible Bedi is at lying, it's pretty funny.

Gosh, I don't even know how to tl;dr this, it's so scattered and long. I think it took me over two hours to write this and this probably still reads more like ramblings...and man, I hate having to look for screenshots only to find I'm missing the one I'm thinking of and I don't want to be bothered to re-check the game :')

But yeah. Anyway. Bug boy got them issues, while Bedi resolved most of his (good for him).

[starryeyedjanai]

Find the Word Tag Game!

tagged by @spicysix and @sidekick-hero💜 rule of the game is to search for the words given to you in your WIP(s), post the snippet with the word, and then, if you want to, tag other people and give them new words to play along

from lui: brink, repeat, initial, admiring, interesting

and from sandy: breath, hair, smile, fingers, blue, love

repeat (from a secret gift fic)

“Hot,” he says, because apparently all he can do is repeat what Steve’s saying. He still isn’t one hundred percent sure he’s not dreaming right now—maybe he fell off the stage and hit his head and is laying concussed on the floor right now, dreaming this all up or something.

initial (from my RBB)

Before she knows it, the sky outside is starting to get dark. Somehow, they’ve been talking for hours, even after they were done with the joint a long time ago, even though she’s felt less of the initial high for a while now.

interesting (from chronance vampires chapter 2)

She was expecting to go home with someone else. She was expecting to find some guy or girl who looked even half as interesting as Nancy and Robin and let them feed from her, let them put their hands on her body. But there they were, sitting in the same booth as last time. Chrissy flushed when she met Nancy’s eyes like she’d been caught out.

the rest are under the cut!

breath (from wing!fic)

He hears Steve walk further inside, covering the short distance to Eddie's room quickly. Steve peers inside through the cracked door and his breath catches. “Please don't freak out. I really need your help,” Eddie says. Steve opens and closes his mouth a few times like he can't seem to find the words.

hair (from a secret gift fic)

Steve sits there next to him and plays with his hair and steals sips of his beer because he’s not 21 yet and he doesn't act like there’s this big thing hanging between them—the depth of Eddie's feelings somehow not driving a wedge between them.

smile (from bad tinder date)

Steve can't really muster up a smile at the pity, so he says, “Well, whatever the case, he was my ride home, so I think I need to call a Lyft. Can you box the food up and bring me the check?” At least he’ll have lunch for tomorrow, which doesn't feel like an adequate consolation prize for how shitty he feels right now.

fingers (from a sub!eddie week fic)

Steve brings his hand up to Eddie's mouth, fingers pressing at his jaw to get him to open up.

blue (from famous/not famous au)

He turns his phone around and shows him a text exchange between him and someone named Dustin. The blue text from Dustin is a mile long, excitedly talking about his band. It’s weirdly endearing to see someone praising his band like this, probably because Dustin was just gushing to a friend about Eddie and his band—it's not something Eddie was ever really meant to see.

love (from famous/not famous au)

He’s cold and more than a little miserable tonight and misery loves company, so he ducks into the first bar he comes across.

tagging: @figthefruitfaeth @pearynice @penny00dreadful @matchingbatbites @lexirosewrites @emchant3d and anyone else who wants to do it!

your words are: agree, present, need, wall, start

[wispisstillverybored67]

Stainless Blooms

Kagami yo kagami kotaechatte Who's the best? I'm the best! Oh yeah Namami no mama ikeru toko made To the next, to the ichiban ue

"Good Morning, Amazake."

"Mornin', Fluff-chan." Exchanges like these are common in these days. 

Would you believe me if I tell you that I'm living in a library? It’s technically in the basement, but yeah. It's a town... populated entirely by food. They aren't actually food, but they're all so convinced that they are. The lady I'm stayin' with is named Marshmallow Fluff, MaFlu for short for some. Her hair looks just like her namesake, which she said was what happened the year she came here. But as I investigated last night, it sure as hell doesn't have the exact texture of marshmallow paste. I thought she would be someone with a good head on her shoulders, but no. She's just as delusional as the others...!! It certainly grew FAST. And as I stayed, I learned about the insane yet intricate rituals the people do, so damn deep in their delusions. It was neck-length when I arrived, and as I found out, it was because of the fact that a neighbor, Candy, is wholly addicted to, well, candy and sweets. So, in exchange for her life (a cannibal??? wow~), whenever her hair reaches past the floor, she'll cut it off and give it to her. Maybe I'll try some later. I mean, probably just hair, doesn't taste like marshmallow. Certainly enough to warrant a teenager that apparently ate whoever thought of themself as a sweet in this town to enjoy all the same, so that's that. 

I'm just here for some field research. When I displayed an interest in this world, Wild drilled me on the context based on the game she played. Then, she demanded I slip into a "cycle" without many troubles, whatever that means. I've kept my 5 don'ts that've served me well, and I think that it's due time for some in-depth field research. Let's go over it to start... Fluff-chan's currently getting ready for some event with the other residents. 

#1: Don't make assumptions about them on the first day.

This should be obvious. This helps make sure there aren't any unneeded fights right off the bat, nor no sour feelings onward. Because you know how hard it is to work with someone that you hate, or hates you. As I figured out in earlier, there's greater risk of throwing the task away if someone hates someone. And, just in case someone's hatred is actually beneficial to me, I can just drug them with an FFoid. Here's to hoping the Law is on MY side that time...!

It's November, but as I've seen, the weather is somehow perfect every time. It had rain, and snow from what I heard from my host. When I first arrived, I think they drugged my food. Wild told me about that. Of course, I gave my eyes a re-do to keep up a certain level of polish that would come IF I was able to be effected by it. 

In any case, I'll keep the people at arms length as I compile everything about them. Depending on her mood, she might ask me to go.

#2: Don't make assumptions about them on the first day.

This is also self-explanatory. In this line of work, you have to first learn everything about your host, until you springboard off of that to the others. At least one thing remains for sure: MaFlu just wants to live quietly. She works at a library in the Sweets District, and no one has the balls to ignore her if she shushes them. I guess she really is more reasonable compared to the others, but... Why would a perfectly reasonable person live life thinking you're food? Makes no sense to me... Ah, but I guess I'll figure out that secret later, hmm?! This is gonna be good! Hahaha, yeah! I'll squeeze the secrets out! Today, Fluff-chan... TOMORROW THE WORLD!!! 

I can just interact with the outside world through the library just fine. It's surprisingly a little busy. But typically, I just observe from a distance. There's one resident that I haven't seen, though. She's been talked about occasionally, and her name is apparently Chili. Wonder what's her deal? I ought to investigate that later on. And she handles it with her top-notch maturity. Ya don't hear that often. I'm sure when she hears my research plans, she'll be fine with it. It's been a work week, so I think I'll be fine now. Marshmallow Fluff just wants to live a quiet life. 

#3: Don't hurt anyone unprovoked.

Partially spring-boarding off the first one, but this should be obvious as well. Bitterness never helped anyone, and judging from what Wild told me, the people are surprisingly bitter, aha~ They might do anything to be able to spin me as the one in the wrong, so just to be safe, IF needed, we take them to the woods, knock them down for an opening for another attack, and call all my underlings to beat the shit out of them, and wipe their mind of most of the event. ...Hypothetically, of course. Honestly, I have nothing else to say about this. It's a boring rule, but a practical one. 

"Hey, Ms. Amazake... I'm sorry for not telling you this sooner, but today is the anniversary of Food Town's founding, and we'll all be celebrating later tonight at the Last Supper over at the Fruits District. Do you want to come along also?"

Oho? A party? That would make a damn good opportunity for field research. 

#4: Don't trust them if they don't know your name.

I think this speaks for itself. It's just common knowledge. When cutting deals with others, it's for the best. They don't know the first thing about you, what makes you think you can trust them on handling potentially dangerous work? Of course, a fake name should suffice if needed, but I do hate lying, so let's see. 

For a party, you'll be mingling with others, so your name would be tossed around a lot. But the "Last Supper"... I never heard of something like that. Was there even a restaurant with that name before? How odd. ANYWAYS... Think of all the deals you could cut with others! Mingling with such nice, easygoing, pliable people... Ain't it fun? To fantasize about the possibilities? No? Oh, YOU'LL understand soon enough... I can collect aaaaaannnnyyyyything I want on them, and they can't do shit about it! Let's hope to God they aren't boring. 

Fluff-chan is chatty despite appearances, so most know my name already.

#5: Don't abandon your friends. No matter what.

I'm alone, so...

"Yeah sure, why not." I finally responded. A good joint requires 3 things: Men, meat, and myself. I've seen men, nothing that would catch my eye, but men are men, and I'll take it. It's a restaurant, so it would realistically have meat, but we'll see for sure. I'm going, so that's all 3 on the list, it's a good joint.

She seemed relieved a little when I said that. Heading back to her room, she came back with a bow. It matches the one she wears, but the white stripe is red. I am NOT gonna wear that up, but...

I yanked it from her hands, and wore it like a tie. Shrugging, she then picked up her telephone.

"Hey, Passion Fruit. I'll be bringing another guest with me, so plan accordingly... Yes, thank you. Goodbye."

Wait... Who the hell is Passion Fruit?! Another variable... but this won't be a fatal error. Just a variable.

[stagnantmako]

spiderwebs. turk au.

name: nero valentine age: 15 (crisis core), 20 (og), 22 (AC) species: ??? occupation: turk family: gris (mother, deceased), vincent valentine (father), weiss (half-brother), weapon of choice: handguns personality: much the same, though significantly better socialized.

history: a world where vincent valentine "suvived" and returned to shinra after his "accident".

instead of becoming hojo’s favorite test subject, after being shot vincent is resuscitated by lucrecia. the process is far quicker, far cleaner, and lucrecia impresses upon him that he was hit, not shot. not ended by it. and his prolonged coma and injuries were the byproduct of the chemicals he stumbled into.

she requests that he returns back to shinra, stating that his presence was becoming disruptive and the stress was dangerous for the baby. vincent doesn’t realize what happened to him, but despite knowing she's lying, he obliges - allowing them both to settle into the lie that it was nothing but a misunderstanding.

and then, of course, sephiroth is born. and lucrecia disappears.

vincent begins to doubt the company. but he knows shinra, knows its secrets, and knows that leaving is not an option. leaving would also mean abandoning sephiroth to his father, and that is not an option that vincent is comfortable with... even if his influence is only exerted at a distance.

nearly a decade later, gris, nero's mother, aspires to recreate project s in the hopes of creating more an artificial ancients. without the host body sample, which has long gone missing, she opts to use forces from the planet. the idea comes from when her first child is born with snow white hair and the ability to perform SND, which she believes is due to her pregnancy being spent in proximity to the pure mako of reactor 0.

she doesn't use herself as a test subject for the stagnant mako project. not at first. it killed professor grimoire, after all, and deepground had no shortage of test subjects. unfortunately all else failed. thousands of attempts were unsuccessful. this leads her to search for an immunity to the stagnant mako, believing the issue to be the cells being unable to survive exposure. she finds hojo's notes about what lucrecia had done - for he'd watched every second of it - and she makes a decision.

she has no choice but to use herself and a superior specimen.

vincent is nothing more than a one night stand. she doesn't intend to tell him about the baby, believing him to be like every other turk. but he's not. when he meets her in the elevator - her on the way to deepground, him on the way to his office - he knows well before she's showing.

and he insists upon doing the right thing. and gris allows him to, planning on simply taking both nero and her son back to deepground with her and claiming them as dead once the boy is born.

vincent insisted on being present for the birth, so when nero is born - not in a lab, but in a small hospital in her hometown at icicle inn - despite the immediate death of his mother, someone is there to hold him and soothe his cries. that is unfortunately the confirmation that something must be wrong with him - not just because he hasn't aged nearly as much as veld does, but because when the child's darkness touches his skin he sees it bleach white like bone.

vincent assumes custody of her other child, the now four year old weiss. this is something hojo allows, as he'd already written weiss off as a failure and assumes nero would be much the same. just ordinary boys that weren't worth the effort to retrieve.

it helped that vincent, as a turk, was aware of what shinra looked for when recruiting. and as more and more targets failed to resurface once being brought to the building, vincent began telling his sons to downplay their abilities.

the brothers are raised at a distance. most of their time is spent in icicle inn while vincent spends his days at midgar. he intends to leave them there, letting them grow up as far from shinra as they possibly can - but then the kalm bombing happens. and he realizes the danger of leaving his children where they could be bombed into oblivion and have it covered up is far too great. if he pisses shinra off, then he knows what they're capable of.

( he naively assumes they'd never destroy their own city )

when nero has grown old enough to control his abilities, vincent moves them to midgar and has them attend school. they grow up on the plate, close to the sun. their lives should be mundane and boring but they're both entirely too strong. they're head and shoulders above their peers in most things, though both brothers report - some issues.

muffled voices, nero calls them once. the brothers do not hear the same ones. nero's always seem to speak of death and impending doom. weiss can't make it out, it's static - but it seems more vibrant than what his brother proports.

nero passes out the first time he's brought to a reactor. and? well, he only seems to grow stronger the more exposure he has. his eyes take on the mako-glow without ever needing a shot, as if he's ambiently absorbing it.

weiss wants to be a SOLDIER. and eventually, at the age of eligibility despite vincent's protests, he enlists.

and nero - though less emotionally dependent on his brother than he would be in a world where weiss was his whole world - is quick to follow after when he's of age. by that point, weiss is already a second with an impressive record.

nero is immediately fast-tracked on the turk track. vincent had not wanted him to do this, but nero is his father's son and he'd taught him well.

amongst the turks, nero is not particularly notable. he works fairly hard not to stand out. his missions are done quickly, quietly, and efficiently.

notes:

verdot...... definitely helped raise them as he's been vincent's partner for decades, and the brothers most likely view him as a second parent. so double nepo baby.

is generally better adjusted than his deepground counterpart. he’s significantly less codependent with weiss but he still has very few friends.

if nero likes you enough to keep you around, you're probably not the best person. this is in sharp contrast to weiss, who is notably one of the most honorable soldiers and is pushed as a second generation sephiroth.

he keeps people at arms length emotionally, but does take sexual partners for stress relief like any self-respecting turk who is afraid of emotional intimacy but seeks a warm body to make up for all the death he causes. nero drops them when they start to get clingy or expect more than he’s willing to offer.

nero himself can be kind of clingy but because people end up feeling…. revulsion around him he tries to keep back.

if he likes you he shows it through small gestures he doesn’t expect to be reciprocated. nero most often ends up involved with his mission partners, and most will note that nero on a mission is very different from nero in the office. he comes alive in a terrible, bloodthirsty way.

he is second to none at torture.

he’s called the black widow because he fucked two of his partners and they died shortly after ( this is not entirely his fault prolonged physical contact with him seems to weaken people and they work a dangerous job - nero warns them to take a day off and they ignore him ) they died on a mission he was not apart of so it's not... totally his fault. but the name sticks. this somehow does not detour others from trying.

he does not understand his powers very well. vincent taught him repress, don't feel, so he's got some elsa-isms going on. but he understands how to use them to get what he wants, meaning that they most often come out when torturing people for information.

nero has significantly more control than he does in canon. he relies less on using the void for mass killings, and more on the stealth abilities it offers.

nero wears fake materia to make it look like his magic comes from an external source.

nero is never assigned aerith-sitting duty. he doesn’t understand why but is grateful to not have to do such a dull job.

nero and vincent have had frequent passive-aggressive fights in the office.

he ends up in a coma when zirconaide rises. just kind of fucking, hits the ground because his body is not as intune with his WEAPON instincts and they overwhelm him.

[pro-penlicker]

taking a break from thinking about the hamster to bring you this.

siblings help return a prince to his homeland but the brother and prince fall in love along the way

names (their temp) prince - Saffron brother - Camille sister - Heather

Early Days

Saffron was found in the forest by the siblings' aunt. The aunt was confused and concerned about how a small child ended up in the woods all alone. She quickly took the child in, intending on dropping him off at her sister's place since the aunt had no clue on how to raise a child.

it took two years for her to reunite with her sister, dropping the child off and leaving as quickly as she arrived.

The siblings' mother found it difficult to introduce Saffron to her kids, while her daughter, Heather, was shy, her youngest son was even shyer. Heather quickly took to the new kid though, instantly befriending him. It took Camille a long time to warm up to Saffron though. Their mother often had to watch where she was stepping, afraid of tripping over her quiet son.

not to come out of the more writing type of rambling, idk how to explain this next part in a neat and tidy way hehe Camille was slow with warming to Saffron, like couldn't be in the same room as him alone type of slow. Camille didn't like Saffron at all

which in my opinion is hilarious cause of their future dynamics hehe

i think the aunt and mother knew that Saffron was a noble of some kind, or at least not from their region. how did they know he was royalty..? eh??

tbf it'd be a bit too crazy for them to know his actual origins, all they knew is that someone threw the poor kid into the forest and left.

As the kids grew older, so did she, and eventually it was time for her to pass on. It was difficult for the mother to leave her two kids alone but she knew that they would be safe, Saffron deemed himself worthy. Though not worthy enough to bare the family's curse. No... That responsibility belonged to her youngest.

after their mother's death, the siblings decide it's time to follow the path (oohhhh spooky loreeee) and enjoy being independent adults! Saffron comes with them because well, he doesn't have anywhere else to go lmao

The trio eventually find their way out of the woods and enter a abandoned village. Camille doesn't have a good feeling about it.

C: "Maybe we shouldn't enter the rotting buildings?"

H: "You're overreacting Cami, it's perfectly safe! Look some birds are nesting on there"

C: "That's because they weigh nothing"

Sibling banter aside, Camille's worry is validated as Saffron notices something in the distance. He pulls the siblings aside when those somethings, people? approach the village.

Saffron isn't sure if they are actually people or something else but whatever the case. They have to escape, as quickly and quietly as possible. Which is easy when your two best friends are half the size of you.

Oh... There's plot in this rot

i'm really jinxing myself with that tag huh

So Heather's a very light-hearted and often cheerful person. She tries to find the best in everything and everyone even if it means coming off as a little bit... light in the head. I like characters who are goofy lil idiots but will beat shit up if they have the chance... uhhh there's a proper term for that trope, i can't think of it rn.

If Camille's the brain, then Heather is the brawn. and Saffron is there to be sexy.

but yeah, those people-looking things aren't people and are actually manifestations of the corruption, which is the big bad sadge of this story.

the corruption is related to the family curse i mentioned earlier. the curse is currently infecting Camille's left arm and is slowly creeping up his neck. He keeps his left arm bandaged up and often keeps it covered by his cloak. Attempting to keep it a secret from his sister and friend. Though Heather is aware of the family's curse and the fact that her brother is carrying on it's legacy. She isn't aware of how bad it's gotten yet.

Saffron isn't aware of the curse at all. He just knows that Camille is carrying on something precious to the family.

this is the part where i mention that the siblings aren't entirely human.

not really sure of Saffron realizes that he's royalty and more specifically the lost prince of a distant land. probably a tangled moment where he connects all the dots and it's just oh that missing kid he's me

Saffron's homeland is probably in a dire situation. probably infected by the corruption, slowly being consumed by the darkness.

whatever the case Saffron realizes that he needs to go home and help his people.

He considers asking the siblings for help but realizes that by doing that, they'll nolonger follow the path. and he remembers their mother telling them what happens if they don't follow it.

Heather eventually pieces together what's happening as well and decides to help Saffron go home. It doesn't matter if she doesn't follow the path, helping Saffron save his people is more important. and maybe along the way they can find a way to destroy the corruption.

Saffron is happy that Heather is willing to help but he's unsure as to what Camille thinks. Ever since his mother's death, Camille had been acting different. While he still acts the same around Heather, being a worrywart about his older sister, Saffron can tell that there's some kind of barrier keeping him from getting closer to the other man.

why have a normal friendship between guys when you can have childhood friends to whatever the fuck is happening between Saffron and Camille.

i should probably go eat and do my chores, ty for reading this ramble and if you have any questions, your welcome to ask :) i'm gonna jinx myself hard

[starlitships-moved]

Facts about my Gravity Falls S/I:

🦇🐈‍⬛ She has many different nicknames - Echo, Squeak/Squeaks/Squeaky, Wings, Fangs, etc. (Mostly given to them by Stan XD) 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ Her real name is actually Eden Aspen. She doesn't like people to know her real name... feels too personal in a way... So they just go with whatever nickname people give them! 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ She was drawn to Gravity Falls a few years ago, since she has always been really interested in the unknown, cryptids, anomalies, you name it! 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ One day, while she was out exploring the forests of Gravity Falls, she got kinda lost... and night fell. She was bitten by a werecat AND one of those vampire/fruit bats... IN THE SAME NIGHT. 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ They started working at the Mystery Shack a little bit before Dipper and Mabel visited for the summer. 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ Is friends with both Soos and Wendy! Even Stan has a soft spot for them! 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ To hide her bat wings, cat ears and tail, she wears hats, hoodies etc. And hides the tail in her pants! The wings, though... You know the episode "The Love God"? How he hides his little cherub wings in his backpack? That's what she does! Just cut little holes in a backpack and puts her wings through it to look like a bat wing backpack! XD 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ The only time she can really be herself is when halloween and summerween come around... She just tells everyone that her ears, wings and tail are a costume! 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ In fact, Stan started calling her all of those little bat nicknames because of her little bat wing "backpack".... But honestly? He KNOWS she's some sort of anomaly. He isn't stupid! XD 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ He just doesn't see her as dangerous/a threat, so he lets her work at the shack! (Plus he needs the extra help... it's so hard to find folks who actually WANT to work there!) 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ The twins eventually find out her little secret as well! But instead of fear, they just think she's so cool! Mabel loves her "kitty" ears, and Dipper asks a billion questions about her condition... XD 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ They actually have a symbol on the Cipher Wheel: a pair of bat wings! Because of this, Bill refers to them as Wings a lot. 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ Speaking of Bill... She accidentally summoned him the same way Ford did years ago: by reading that incantation in the cave! However, she didn't make any deals with him. (She actually just thinks he's something her brain dreamt up - that he isn't a real creature!) She kind of becomes friends with him since he keeps visiting her dreams... (he was trying to get her to make a deal, but she didn't know that XD) He's been visiting her regularly for several years, and she just thinks he's her imaginary dream friend! X'D 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ However, once Ford shows his picture to the kids, she is SHOOK. She tries not to let Ford know that SHE knows him though... it's kinda complicated - Like a mixture of embarrassment and being afraid he'll think she's working with bill... 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ That night when Bill inevitably visits her dreams, she tries to distance herself from him... Which he doesn't seem to like very much! :o ( tbh I think Bill actually started getting attached to this weird little human XD Platonic, romantic, idk but he's definitely attached :o ) 🦇🐈‍⬛

🦇🐈‍⬛ After she kinda broke off the friendship/relationship thing with Bill, the events of several episodes and eventually weirdmageddon happened! ( I don't have concrete details yet on some of these things though. Maybe later! ) 🦇🐈‍⬛

[legends-of-time]

The Journey of Living at Downton

Chapter 2: September to October 1912

Masterlist

As the season turned to autumn, they all waited in anticipation for the new heir, this Mathew Crawley, a middle class lawyer and son to a middle class doctor, to arrive with his mother. There were those that were displeased and those looking forward to it. Emma personally doesn't really care about his social position but obviously some do. Lord Grantham had been the only one that had met him so far in London while the rest of them wait in anticipation for the big event.

Naturally, it came up in discussion on the day of their arrival. They are staying in Crawley house in the Village.

"So, what do you think we'll make of them?" Thomas speaks as many of them are gathered in the Servants' Hall.

"I shouldn't think much. She hasn't even got a lady's maid." Miss O'Brien says with disdain but what's new?

"It's not a capital offence," Anna says kindly.

Mr Bates also defends the newcomers. "She's got a maid; her name's Ellen. She came a day early."

"She's not a lady's maid. She's just a housemaid that fastens hooks and buttons when she has to. There's more to it than that, you know." Miss O'Brien adds snippily. Funny how servants are snobbish as well as their employers.

Mrs Patmore shouts in the distance. "Daisy!" Though Daisy does not move.

"You will have to give us every bit of detail after dinner," Emma says, addressing William and Thomas.

"Are we to treat him as the heir?" William asks innocently.

"Are we heck as like? A doctor's son from Manchester? He'll be lucky if he gets a civil word out of me." Miss O'Brien declares irritably.

"We're all lucky if we get a civil word out of you." Anna remarks and Emma stifles a laugh so that Miss O'Brien does not turn her ire onto her.

Mr Carson enters with a package and they stand. "Gwen, parcel for you. Came by the evening post."

"Thank you, Mr Carson." She takes the parcel and sits back down very quickly. Emma squints her eyes at her, she had been terribly secretive lately.

Carson motions for the servants to sit which they do.

"William?" Mr Carson speaks.

Thomas then interrupts, "Have you seen them yet, Mr Carson?"

"By "them", I assume you mean the new family, in which case, no. I have that pleasure to look forward to this evening."

Mrs Patmore enters. "Daisy, did you hear me call, or have you gone selectively deaf?!" Emma smiles to herself, Mrs Patmore is always good with quick quips.

"No, Mrs Patmore."

"Then might I remind you we are preparing dinner for your future employer, and if it goes wrong, I'll be telling them why!" Daisy rushes after Mrs Patmore.

——

It is time for the big arrival and Emma is prepared for a great deal of second hand embarrassment; she is somewhat glad she doesn't have to be there during their dinner.

Lord Grantham goes to greet them and leads them, with William and Thomas walking behind, into the Great Hall where the house staff are lined up as Lady Grantham, the Dowager, and the girls enter from the other side and line up opposite.

"Welcome to Downton." Lady Grantham says. Emma couldn't help but stare at the newbies from the corner of her eye and can see the others do the same thing.

"Thank you. You've been so kind." Mrs Crawley responds. She seems to be quite able to adapt to the new circumstances.

"What a reception committee!" The son on the other hand. Though to be honest Emma would have been the exact same if when she arrived, she saw everybody lined up like this.

The family is surprised and amused by his comment. Mrs Crawley senses the awkwardness of his comment and tries to recover. "Yes, thank you."

Lord Grantham gives the impression of being in agreement with moving past the faux pas. "This is Carson. We'd all be lost without him." The man somehow puffs up his chest even more. "Mama, may I present Matthew Crawley and Mrs Crawley, my mother, Lady Grantham."

Mrs Crawley steps forward and holds out her hand. "What should we call each other?"

The Dowager Countess of Grantham looks at her oddly. "Well, we could always start with Mrs Crawley and Lady Grantham." Well, that's a bit rude.

Lady Grantham steps forward to guide Mrs Crawley. "Come into the Drawing room and we can make all the proper introductions."

The Dowager looks at Mr Carson, who tries to contain his amused smirk. The family moves into the next room, Lady Mary and Mr Crawley appear to be conveniently placed next to one another though Lady Mary looks less than pleased.

——

"Why shouldn't he be a lawyer?" Daisy asks in the Kitchen during the family's dinner. Turns out that the new heir has gotten a job and wants to continue working as a lawyer, which has set everybody off.

"Gentlemen don't work, silly. Not real gentlemen." Miss O'Brien remarks. Yes, and live off everybody else's hard work.

"Don't listen to her, Daisy," Anna says from her place next to Mr Bates where they were having a quiet conversation with each other.

"No, listen to me!" Mrs Patmore snaps. "And take those kidneys up to the server room before I knock you down and serve your brains as fritters!"

"Yes, Mrs Patmore!" Daisy leaves with the food on a tray as William and Thomas arrive with theirs.

"I wonder what Mr Molesley thinks of them." Emma wonders. Mr Molesley is the man who had taken the position of Valet and Butler for the new Crawleys. If they had turned up without someone already in that position, she keeps thinking how they are probably already finding the man hovering around awkward.

"Poor old Molesley. I pity the man who's taken that job." Thomas says snidely.

"Then why did you apply for it?" Mr Bates quips. Emma chews her lip anxiously; it is always uncomfortable when these two interact with one another.

"I thought it might help me to get away from you, Mr Bates," Thomas says, looking right at Mr Bates.

"Thomas..." Emma gives him a look. He seems to soften slightly but not much at her disapproval.

——

After cleaning the Dining room, Thomas and Emma are talking about Mrs Crawley and the Dowager.

"She a feisty one then?" She asks.

"I should say so. She's a match for the old lady. She wasn't going to give in." Emma smiles at that.

Just as they are about to turn into the Servants' Hall, Mr Carson appears. "What old lady are you referring to, Thomas? You cannot mean Her Ladyship the Dowager Countess. Not if you wish to remain in this house."

"No, Mr Carson," Thomas answers sourly. Emma looks down when Mr Carson glances at her.

Mr Carson passes them to enter the Servants' Hall where William is playing the piano as the others are placed around different areas of the room.

They stand as Mr Carson enters. "William? Are you aware the seam at your shoulder is coming apart?"

"I-I felt it go a bit earlier. I'll mend it when we turn in." William stammers.

"You will mend it now and you will never again appear in public in a similar state of undress." Mr Carson snaps.

"No, Mr Carson," William answers quietly.

"To progress in your chosen career, William, you must remember that a good servant at all times retains a sense of pride and dignity that reflects the pride and dignity of the family he serves. And never make me remind you of it again." And with that Mr Carson leaves. They all turn to glance at William.

"I'll do it." Daisy pipes up helping William remove his coat. "And cheer up. We've all had a smack from Mr Carson."

Anna also tries to reassure him. "You'll be the butler yourself one day. Then you'll do the smacking." Really can't imagine William being one bit like Mr Carson.

"I could never be like him. I bet he comes from a line of butlers that goes back to the conqueror." William replies gloomily.

"He learned his business and so will you. Even Mr Carson wasn't born standing to attention." Mr Bates tells him.

"I hope not for his mother's sake." Thomas remarks with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Emma pulls a face at the sight of it. Him and Miss O'Brien always seemed to be smoking out the back when they could, likely plotting. It made her concerned for their health, even Miss O'Brien's. Sadly, the science wasn't there to tell them that they were at high risk of getting cancer or any other illnesses.

"Can you imagine if Mr Carson was in the circus in his past and he's trying to keep it secret so not to ruin his image?" Emma jokes. Some laugh at her remark and it brings a slight smile to William's face.

——

The next day, Mr Bates and Emma are walking through the Village when they see Mr Carson hurrying into The Dog and Duck, checking that no one sees him entering, but missing them as they walk past the Hospital. She glances at Mr Bates and she can see he looks as confused as she is.

They reach their destination, the Crawley house and meet with Mr Molesley who takes them up to Mr Crawley's room telling them all about Mr Crawley.

"He chooses his clothes himself. He puts them out at night and hangs the ones he's worn. I get to take the linen down to the laundry, but that's about all." Mr Molesley tells them.

"That's all?" Mr Bates asks in surprise.

""I'll do this," he says. "I'll take the other. I'll tie that." I'm just stood there like a chump, watching a man get dressed. To be honest, Mr Bates, Emma, I don't see the point of it." Emma frowns at the lack of validity Mr Molesley seems to be getting.

"Cheer up." She speaks. "I'm sure he's just getting used to it all. He's never had someone there to help him before. Maybe it will change."

Mr Molesley does not look hopeful.

——

That night Emma walks into the room she shares with Gemma to see her settling into bed placing some letters to the side. Emma walks over to blow out the candles on the dresser.

"It is funny, you know," Gemma says.

"What?"

"How when you arrived it was like you were unused to lighting candles. It seemed like you did not do it often before you came here." Gemma remarks.

Emma shifts uncomfortably. Little does Gemma know that she's more used to electricity lighting up rooms and not candles.

Emma quickly changes the subject. "You will never guess what Thomas heard in the Library today." She tells Gemma as she walks over to her bed and gets under the covers.

"What?" Gemma asks with a small smile on her face.

"He heard the Dowager when she was coming in from the garden with Lord Grantham. Seems they want to get her with Mr Crawley. Lady Mary is going to love that." Emma smirks at the thought.

"Well, they don't want to give it all to a stranger. And she was going to marry Mr Patrick to keep it." Gemma muses.

"Would she? She never seemed interested in him. Only liked the idea of being countess and having one over Lady Edith." Emma turns away to blow out the last candle before lying down to sleep.

——

"I'm sorry, but I have standards." Miss O'Brien declares as Anna enters and sits down next to Mr Bates who is on Emma's right.

"I've just seen something ever so odd," Anna whispers so that only the three of them hear.

"What?" Mr Bates whispers back.

Before she can answer, Miss O'Brien's rant increases in volume. "And if anyone thinks I'm going to pull my forelock and curtsy to this..." Emma sees over her shoulder Lady Grantham appears. "...Mr Nobody from Nowhere—"

"O'Brien." Lady Grantham interrupts, causing the rant to stop and all of them to stand.

"Were you discussing Mr Crawley?" Lady Grantham asks.

"Yes, Milady." Miss O'Brien says quieter than before but not backing down.

"Is it your place to do so?"

"I've got my opinions, Milady, same as anybody." Miss O'Brien defends.

Mrs Hughes enters. "Can I help Your Ladyship?"

"This is the button we're missing from my new evening coat, I found it lying on the gravel," she gives it to Mrs Hughes, "but I was shocked at the talk I heard as I came in. Mr Crawley is His Lordship's cousin and heir. You will, therefore, please accord him the respect he's entitled to."

"But you don't like him yourself, Milady. You never wanted him to—" Miss O'Brien tries.

The Countess of Grantham is not listening. "You're sailing perilously close to the wind, O'Brien. If we're to be friends, you will not speak in that way again about the Crawleys or any member of Lord Grantham's family. Now, I'm going up to rest. Wake me at the dressing gong." She leaves and they sit back down.

"I don't think that's fair. Not here in the Servants' Hall." Thomas says from the bottom of the table.

"I agree. If she was a real lady, she wouldn't have come down here. She'd have rung for me and given me the button, that's all." Miss O'Brien utters.

"You are just annoyed she caught you," Emma says. Miss O'Brien gives her a look.

Thomas continues. "This isn't their territory; we can say what we like down here."

"Who says?" Mrs Hughes sternly questions.

"The law. And parliament. There is such a thing as free speech." Heard enough of those last two words back in her own time from idiots.

"Not when I'm in charge! Don't push your luck, Thomas. Now, tea's over. Back to work. You'd better take this." Mrs Hughes hands Miss O'Brien Lady Grantham's coat button. Everyone begins tidying away what they were doing and getting up to get back to work.

""Friends." Who does she think she's fooling? We're not friends." Miss O'Brien mutters.

"No?" Anna questions.

"No. And neither you nor Emma are friends with the girls, either. We're servants, you and me," Miss O'Brien stands, "and they pay us to do as we're told, that's all."

——

Anna and Emma often take turns doing the different activities to help the girls get dressed for dinner. Tonight, Anna is tidying away their things and Emma does Lady Mary's hair as she is once again the last one to be finished.

"Why are you so against him?" Lady Sybil asks, standing next to them fiddling with her gloves as Emma puts the finishing touches to her sister's hair. Emma is quite proud of herself for how good it looked. Learning how to do these specific styles was difficult when she first turned up here and led to a lot of fiddling with Anna and Gemma's own hair for practice.

"Aside from the fact he's planning to steal our inheritance?" Lady Mary alleges.

"Your inheritance." Lady Edith points out from her seat on the bed. "It makes no difference to Sybil and me. We won't inherit, whatever happens."

"He isn't one of us." Lady Mary declares. She was clearly trying to find any excuse why the man is not fit to inherit plus she's a snob.

"Cousin Freddy's studying for the bar, and so is Vivian McDonald." Lady Sybil says as she moves to sit down in a chair.

"At Lincoln's Inn. Not sitting at a dirty little desk in Ripon. Besides, his father was a doctor." Lady Mary says with disdain. Emma moves away from Lady Mary and joins Anna in picking up the last of the things around the room.

"There's nothing wrong with doctors. We all need doctors." Lady Sybil tells her. Emma spots Lady Edith going through letters that were likely to Lady Mary.

"We all need crossing sweepers and draymen, too, it doesn't mean we have to dine with them." Lady Sybil huffs in disbelief at that as Anna opens the door to reveal Lady Grantham.

"Whom don't we have to dine with?" She chirps. Anna and Emma step out of the room.

They hear Lady Edith's remark of "Mary doesn't care for Cousin Matthew", as they close the door.

As they walk to the servants' door on the floor, Emma turns when hearing the door open again and sees Ladies Edith and Sybil leaving the room.

She nudges Anna's side. "Looks like Lady Mary is getting her surprise then. Her Ladyship seems to have managed to get her on her own."

"She won't be happy with it," Anna replies. Poor Mr Crawley he's in for a grumpy Lady Mary tonight.

——

Later that evening a bunch of them were shockingly sitting in the Servants' Hall. Emma sits with Gemma and another maid, Anne, sewing this and that. The Hall is full of music as William plays the piano.

"I wish I could dance like that." Daisy wonders from her seat next to Thomas.

"Like what?" He asks.

Daisy holds up a book with, Emma could only guess, some dance steps mapped out.

"Don't you know the grizzly bear?" Thomas asks as Daisy moves it for the rest of them to see.

Mr Bates chuckles. "The grizzly bear. As if you do." Anna has a wide smile on her face and by this point, William has stopped playing.

"Certainly, I do. Miss O'Brien, shall we show them?" Thomas asks stubbing out his cigarette in the tray and getting up.

"Not likely." Miss O'Brien remarks from the corner. Anna and Mr Bates laugh while Gemma and Emma look at each other quietly chuckling.

"William, give us a tune. Come on, Daisy." Thomas says, grabbing the girl's hand and dragging her up.

"Go on," Anna encourages.

"Hands up." Thomas puts his hands up into claws and growls and the rest of them laugh and clap as he begins to pull Daisy around. Even Miss O'Brien has a small smile on her face.

After a short while, Mrs Patmore comes in, wiping her brow. "Daisy. Daisy!" The music and merriment stop. "Stop that silly nonsense before you put your joints out. See to the range and go to bed."

Daisy turns to Thomas in awe. "Thank you, that was beautiful." They clap and Thomas bows as Daisy leaves.

Emma hopes no one would notice her smile dipping.

——

Not long after she slips away to her room hoping it was unnoticed. Emma needs to be on her own for a moment. All that happiness and togetherness reminds her of her family, the times she would spend with her siblings when they were kids. And now knowing she will never see them again.

Emma's sniffles begin to turn into snobs when she hears a knock at the door. She stands and goes to the door thinking it is probably Gwen, Gemma or Anna, maybe even Mrs Hughes. It is none of them on the other side but Thomas. Emma simply blinks at him and she can tell that he can see that she's been crying.

"Um..." He shifts a bit looking back into the corridor. "Can I come in? I'm not exactly supposed to be on this side remember?"

That snapped Emma out of her surprise and she lets him into the room.

"I noticed you were upset. What happened?"

"What was going on downstairs reminded me of my family. We used to dance about in our Kitchen, you know." She tells him sniffling.

"Thought you did not remember anything." He says smirking. Thomas is the only one who knows about her remembering her family, but she's never told him about her coming from the future to just simply avoid lots of questions. He accepts that she doesn't want to tell him everything.

"Ssh." She says smiling more now as she shoves his shoulder. "I take it that dinner was a match made in hell?"

He laughs. "I don't think there will be any match between Lady Mary and Mr Crawley happening any time soon by how she treated him at dinner."

Emma laughs. "Not surprised considering the way she talked about him before dinner then what her mother likely said to her about maybe marrying him."

They quietened then. "Thank you, Thomas. You should probably go though. Don't want to face Mrs Hughes' wrath too soon after the last time."

He nods patting her arm before slipping through the door.

——

Listen to her thinking the only exciting thing next would be some travelling salesman setting up at the pub for an afternoon when actually the more exciting bit was seeing the Dowager being put in her place. Mrs Crawley has been placed by Lord Grantham as chairman of the Hospital Board after fighting for a new treatment that saved the life of one of Lord Grantham's tenants despite the Dowager's fight to stop it. This new role meant that the president of said board, the Dowager, will have to listen to her and she'll no longer have absolute rule. So, suffice to say some of us were gleeful.

Pretty much all of them from downstairs are going to the ceremony at the Hospital. Really Emma just wants to, in Mrs Hughes' words, see the old bat's face when they announce it.

When the ceremony arrived, everyone, who was sitting down in the audience, all rise when Dr Clarkson entered with the Dowager and Mrs Crawley, then sit when the ladies do.

Dr Clarkson speaks, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this happy event: the investiture of our first chairwoman, Mrs Reginald Crawley, who has graciously agreed to share the duties of our beloved president, the Dowager Countess of Grantham." The Dowager is clearly not pleased by the power play. "Our little Hospital must surely grow and thrive with two such doughty champions united as they are by the strongest ties of all, family and friendship."

Everyone in the room could feel the heavy irony.

——

A/N: Thank you to @Glassesgirl24 on Wattpad for inspiration for the Thomas and Emma scene as well as your lovely comments.

Please leave comments on how you're enjoying this story and what you think.

[viladlind]

to trust balduran had been the first task he had given her, and the most difficult one. learning to fight was one thing, using her music to weave it into spells more suitable to a battlefield. figuring out how to position herself, learning the advantages and disadvantages of each of her companions. fiyero had no place or people to call her own for the better part of a decade and she turned into a formidable leader, capable of taking on the absolute and all its followers.

   and yet, however helpful he tried to be, there was always distance between them. secrets untold, history brushed aside. balduran had not even told her his name until their last conversation, revealing himself to be ilithid in almost the same breath. it had taken their unwilling journey to this island for him to start revealing more of himself. the powerful adventurer with her fiancé's face turned into somebody else. and still, she didn't know if she could trust him.

   to look past the tales even she was told from a very young age, of the doom that a mindflayer's presence spells out, is perhaps the second most difficult task balduran has ever given her.

   it's hard not to think about it, even in the midst of battle. balduran speaks to the dragonborn with lightning on his fingertips and there's a familiarity between them that is undeniable. this is not a stranger wanting to strike down a random mindflayer. there is affection here, there is love here. there is pain here, from losing all that love.

   (she thinks about asking lae'zel to kill her, should she ever fully turn into a mindflayer, and how her friend accepting that task filled her with more fondness than it perhaps should have.

   so is this not love, too? offering balduran a merciful death? not when he's still here, somebody says. not when he's still him.)

   she casts bane the second before another attack hits. this time, she can feel her magic sticking, can see the hint of pink dragging his hands down as the dragonborn tries to raise them. there's not much more time to look, not when balduran has an arm around her waist and tugs her close. as lightning descends upon them, he turns his back to the dragonborn and pulls fiyero to his chest.

i will be your shield.

   she still feels it. of course she does, it's lightning, and fiyero is wearing armour lined with metal. but balduran takes the brunt of the damage, blessedly less than it could have been, the effect of bane leaving them both better off. she's wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, head tucked against his collarbone, as if trying to push past a horrible storm. her illusionary wings, incorporeal, wrap around the both of them protectively.

   perhaps it really is a storm, rain starting to platter down on them. this is the first time she's held onto him as desperately as this. it feels like it was bound to happen eventually— now that she's here, she doesn't want to let go.

   but she has to. they're still in danger. and it hurts, everything hurts, lightning stuttering through her veins painfully. fiyero whimpers against balduran, pushes off. her hand finds his cheek by instinct alone, gaze still too blurry to really see. her control over bane fades entirely when another belated jolt goes through the tiefling.

   ' i n-need your help. ' blatantly so, something fiyero would usually not be ashamed of. if it wasn't balduran. if he hadn't asked for her help. ' anything to— we can get away. ' her gaze finally sharpening, fiyero gets her first proper look at the veins spreading across his sickly skin, breath caught in her throat. the song she hums is slower, gentler, as though time had stopped between the two of them for the moment. she heals balduran again, strokes a thumb over his cheek.

   ' i can make it dark. please. '

Somehow, Fiyero has come to his side- although he should've expected that. She was going to follow the path she believed was right, and evidently that path was healing him. Her touch is warm- like the first time she held him. If only they could go back to easier times ⎛ and to think he saw that as easier- but compared to this, anything would be! ⎠ , or if only she'd held him a little longer. Maybe he would've told her, even though he had been so very afraid.

He'd watched her put her boot through the skull of a dying illithid soon after the nautiloid had crashed. He'd decided to keep that part of himself locked away, because how could he tell her? But as they journeyed together, he found himself bending to her will again and again- when he asked her to use the tadpole's power, she said no. He'd grown to see his ceremorphosis as some sort of evolution- something that had bettered him- but when he looked at her, he could imagine her as nothing other than Fiyero. So he turned to other subjects.

She sought out the druid Halsin, and when the Archdruid's power was unable to do anything for her, he gently tried again, and again she refused. ⎛ He'd try one last time, he remembers standing before her with no defenses, as an illithid. He offered her the astral tadpole, and once again she said no. He'd say nothing more on the matter, then. ⎠

Love, she calls him, and he knows it's more than that. Love through devotion- he's learned infernal by heart from wandering in her memories. And he loves her too- so much that it oftern overwhelmed him. So much so that he would lay down his life for her. ⎛ He did, in a time she doesn't know of. He can't tell her what it felt like to hold the triune Netherstone. He can't tell her that he loved her so much that he cast aside the Grand Design- he could've continued it, because it was in an illithid's nature to do so. But it was in Balduran's nature to pick freedom. So he picked freedom for her and for her friends. He chose his own destruction, although he didn't say that. He simply said he would miss her. That he wouldn't come to the party that Gale proposed ... because he would be rather busy with something else. ⎠Love; he felt love deeply, just as he felt pain deeply. His own and others-

She loves him. She will not leave him.

Ansur loved him, too. Balduran could see the conflict in the dragon's eyes- still glowing, because Ansur was so very stubborn. Ansur didn't fly away when Balduran had begged him to- Ansur succumbed to sorrow and madness and ... maybe this time it would be different.

Don't you love him?

Ansur was still on guard- of course, because who could let their guard down around an illithid? But ... the illithid with the tiefling still wore Balduran's face, it spoke with Balduran's voice, and Ansur remembered flying to Moonrise Towers, diving down into the depths, finding the illithids and knowing ... knowing immediately which one had been Balduran. "Of course I love him! But, illithids don't-" He stopped me from turning, says the tiefling, he stops me, still-

❝ Ansur, I ... I have never stopped loving you- how could I? ❞ Balduran had always dreamed of flying free- for a time he had, with Ansur at his side. Even when he was far from home, he had never forgotten that feeling. Ansur was freedom, the freedom before Fiyero.

"Don't-" There's something about how the dragon's voice cracks, and deep down, Balduran knows that this isn't really Ansur. How could it be? His Ansur was so stubborn, so desperate to do the impossible. His Ansur would never ... but how he'd dreamed of it. ⎛ How he'd wished that Ansur would simply stay with him- even if the dragon had to settle for an illithid as a partner- he would've given everything to have that. Ansur's love for the rest of his days. ⎠ ❝ I'm still me- I never stopped loving you, I will love you until the day I die, and even beyond- ❞

"ENOUGH!" Ansur cries, and it sounds like thunder- Balduran thinks that it might rain. Maybe the lightning will strike again, but if it does ... will he survive? Will Fiyero survive? Oh, he'll certainly have explaining to do if they make it through- about the truth of his past. About what really happened between him and Ansur. About his illithid nature ... But first ...

Balduran knows Fiyero isn't suited for this sort of combat. He knows no person who could really fight a dragon- when he'd fought Ansur, it had been late at night- and they were both weakened by broken hearts. Now, things were different. He thinks that maybe he'll be able to hold Ansur off a little longer- but he lacks the desire to land a killing blow. He's left with few options. Still, he pulls Fiyero close ⎛ she's still so warm, and he imagines the Astral Plane ⎠ and hopes that maybe this would be a human-enough display for Ansur, and if not- he could still use his body to shield Fiyero. He will not leave her, but he can't run from his past forever.

[nightlychaotic]

Cuffed Together

Dick blinked as he watched someone slink into the museum. He paused, watching the windows, waiting for a light to flick on or the beam of a flashlight to cut across. Nothing.

He frowned, quickly cutting across the street and ducking in, pausing for a moment to study the large pane of glass missing from the door. No sign of it being shattered, just some ash on the ground.

He took note, continuing forward until he found the figure searching through cases towards the back. He could barely make them out in the dark, going more off the slight clink of the glass cases and shifting of darkness.

"Can I help you?" he asked, flicking the light on as he leaned against the door frame.

He stared at the woman in front of him as she whipped around, her long braid continuing to move, wrapping itself around her body. He might have mistaken her for Catwoman from a distance were it not for the braid and toxic green accents on her catsuit. The low slung belt and leather ears perched in her hair, further differentiated the two.

"I could ask the same of you. Museum's closed to the public. Might want to get a move on before something unlucky happens."

"I think I'll take my chances."

"Suit yoursel-" she cut herself off as several things happened.

The ears on top of her head twitched as Dick caught a glimpse of movement in the shadows behind her. The lights abruptly shut off, a hand wrapped around his wrist, sharp claws digging in as the alarm went off deeper in the museum. Dick gave a small nod to the shadows as she glanced behind, seemingly satisfied that the sudden arrival was moving to investigate.

Dick took advantage of her slight distraction, clicking handcuffs around their wrists. She turned around hissing slightly.

"Do you make it a habit to handcuff yourself to strange women?"

"Only when they're breaking the law."

"Funny, I didn't take you for the police type at first," she murmured as she swung him around, pulling him in as if she were going to dip him. She was stronger than she looked Dick noted as she held him close, bringing her other hand to rest against his throat, the sharp claws pricking at his skin.

"Don't move," she said softly. "I'd hate to have to slice your pretty neck open."

"Aw. You think I'm pretty."

She didn't answer as she moved back, pulling him with her. The rush of cold air was the only warning he got that they were heading out the back door.

"Hold on tight, Pretty Boy," she warned before he felt her hand leave his throat a moment before their feet left the ground.

She was on the move as soon as their feet hit the roof, pulling him along for a few feet before they went airborne once more, her staff carrying them over several roofs before landing. Repeating this a few times before coming to a stop.

"Care to take these handcuffs off of us?"

"No, I think I'll keep them on. Thanks."

She let out a sharp breath. "It's been a long day. I'm sure we both have other things we'd rather be doing tonight, that is unless you'd like to spend the night with me."

"I don't tend to spend the night with people I don't know the name of."

"How rude of me. Lady Noire at your service…"

"Dick. Nice to meet you. Now, doesn't a clever thief such as yourself know how to pick locks? Surely you don't need me to unlock these."

"I hate to break it to you but my strengths lie elsewhere."

"So how'd you get into the museum then?"

"Sorry, a magician never reveals their secrets," she replied with a wink.

"So you're a magician."

"Nothing so simple. I am much more than a measly magician."

"Then prove it."

"I have nothing to prove to you."

Dick shrugged. “Then I suppose you’re a cheap magician.”

“A cheap- WHy- Hmmph- think what you will. I don’t care.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Dick gave a soft chuckle as she glared at him. He raised a brow as she yawned, quickly turning away from him.

“Tired?”

“I have a life outside of this, you know. It catches up with you sometimes. Though I can’t imagine you know what that’s like.”

Dick plopped down on the ground, pulling her down with him, catching her off guard as she landed on top of him, her cheeks quickly turning red as she looked away. He grinned.

“Then let’s take a rest shall we? As it doesn’t look like we’re going anywhere as long as we have these cuffs on and you certainly don’t seem like you’re going to pick the lock anytime soon.”

Dick sat down pulling Lady Noire down with him. She huffed, shaking her head a little bit, the ears on top of her head twitching.

He lightly closed his eyes, resting his head on her shoulder with a small smirk. Laughing a little bit at the soft vibrations.

“Are you purring?”

“Shut up and sleep.”

Dick laughed, gently closing his eyes, not planning to sleep, but unconsciousness pulled him under regardless.

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

Dick woke up to the feeling of cold metal digging into his back.

"C'mon, Pigtails. You can't seriously be thinking about bringing him inside."

"I'm not thinking, I'm doing."

"Leave him on the roof. Even better, leave him on top of that ugly skyscraper. The rich guy's one. Wayne or whatever his name is."

"He'll freeze to death, Plagg. Besides, it's my fault he's here."

"And if he sees you? Or worse yet, one of us?"

"Then you'll get to say you told me so and revel in the chaos of that happening. Will you please unlock the window? It's been a long day, we didn't get the grimoire copy and I have three commissions to get through in the next three days. So please let me into my apartment so I can take care of Dick and get some work done."

"Wouldn't have to take care of handsome here if you left him on a roo-"

"NO PLAGG!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you, Pigtails."

She sighed as she slid the window open and slung Dick over her shoulder and into the warmth of the apartment. Setting him down gently and laying a blanket over him, he kept his eyes closed as he heard her walking away.

“All of you get going. We have a guest for a few hours. Nothing unusual please,” she hissed, closing a door, her footsteps coming back into the room he was in. The soft creak of a chair indicates her sitting.

Dick lay there for a few minutes before the sound of a loud crash in the room next to him. He startled sitting up, making eye contact with, presumably Lady Noire, though now lacking the green eyes and long hair. There’s no way she could have changed that fast, could she?

“Merde,” she cursed under her breath before fully turning to face him. “Morning Sleeping Beauty.”

“Where am I?”

“My apartment. Lady Noire dropped you off outside while you were asleep.”

“She did. Asked me to make sure you were taken care of and let on your way.”

“Well thank you…”

“Marinette,” she gave a small smile. “My name’s Marinette. And you are?”

“Dick. So how do you know Lady Noire?”

“I’ve patched her up on occasion. People with unusual nightlives aren’t strangers to my fire escape.”

Dick opened his mouth to ask another question as a second loud bang was heard in the next room.

“Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine. Just a little chaotic, but I expect it will sort itself out. I’ll be right back,” she said before rushing into the other room.

Dick looked around at the small apartment, littered with fabric and sketches. A few pictures laid around here and there, was that an autographed concert picture of Jagged Stone? With her and a boy with blue tips and guitar playing with Jagged? She had connections.

He was pulled from his small exploration of the room as the wall in front of him crumbled into ash. Lady Noire- Marinette- froze anger blazing in her eyes as several small floating things hid. All except one.

The black floating bug-cat looking thing, turned away from her and grinned as it looked at him, it’s neon green eyes, the same unnatural color of Lady Noire’s, locked with his as he shrugged. “Oops. I told you it was a bad idea, Pigtails.”

“We both know you did this on purpose.”

“I can’t control it. Remember the dinosaurs? Atlantis? Just be glad it was a singular wall.”

She narrowed her eyes at it before letting out a frustrated breath. “We will be having a more in-depth discussion later.”

“So you can tell me thank you? I look forward to it. Don’t blow this pretty boy,” the thing told him before cackling as it hid, narrowly avoiding being snatched out of the air by Marinette as she turned bright red, looking at him.

“Sit. We need to talk.”

Dick took a seat on the couch as she sat on the chair facing opposite of him.

“So what have you gathered?” she asked him, arms crossed.

“You’re Lady Noire, a thief that keeps somehow managing to evade police and Bats alike. I’m assuming with some sort of magic ability based off those flying bug-creatures-”

“Kwamii.”

He blinked as she interrupted him with the term for the bug-creatures, before she gestured at him to go on.

“Based off of those kwamii, especially since one just destroyed your wall as easily as breathing and are powerful as it claimed to have something to do with the dinosaurs and Atlantis.”

She nodded as he said that. “That was Plagg. He represents Bad Luck and a being of destruction. He is the reason the dinosaurs are extinct and Atlantis now resides at the bottom of the ocean.”

Dick stared at her. Oh Bruce and Aquaman would have a field day with Plagg if they ever met him.

“That little thing caused all that.”

“That little thing is a god who’s been around since creation.”

“And you just live together.”

“I guard him and the rest.”

“The rest?”

“There are others. The specifics aren’t for you to know. But the reason I am a thief is the same reason I was a hero. I keep the Miraculi, the jewelry that tether the miniature gods to this realm and allow them to gift users with their powers from those who would abuse their powers and keep them from being used needlessly and protect them. Along with the texts that go with them. Every now and again I find a piece in someone’s home or a museum, so I reclaim them. Make sure everything is safe and tucked away and the balance secure.”

“So the museum had a Miraculi?”

“Miraculous. Singular. And no. A grimoire. Now, I hope you realize you can’t tell anyone about this and that if you do I will reign chaos down around you?”

“Yes.”

She smiled, leaning back in her chair. “Great. Any questions?”

“Just one. What did Plagg mean when he said ‘don’t blow this pretty boy’?” he asked. He couldn’t help the small grin as Marinette blushed, turning away, cursing the god under her breath with far more confidence than Dick ever could.

“Using a Miraculous connects you in a certain way to your kwamii,” was all she said, refusing to look at him.

He laughed slightly as it all clicked into place.

“Would you like to get coffee some time?”

“What?”

“Would you like to grab coffee some time? With me?”

She raised a brow. “I essentially kidnapped you and you’re asking me on a date?”

“You could have left me to freeze to death like Plagg originally wanted.”

“You heard that?”

“I did,'' he admitted. She shook her head before giving him a small smile.

“Might as well. I’d love to get coffee with you.”

Dick grinned, asking for a piece of paper and pen before scribbling his number down. “Let me know when or feel free to back out, no pressure.”

She laughed, tucking it away, as she led him to her door. “You’re taking this all in stride.”

“Believe me. Is not the weirdest or worst I’ve dealt with.”

She tilted her head as he said that, clearly curious. “Well we’ll clearly have some interesting discussions on our date. I’ll see you soon.”

She gave him a small wink as she closed the door, locking it behind him. Dick had barely taken two steps when he heard Plagg’s cackle and Marinette’s small outburst of ‘You Meddling Cat!’

“Thank you, Plagg,” he said under his breath with a smile as he left.

[mari-lair]

What do you think of an au where Akane is the one who dies instead of Aoi (the severance doesn t happen he is just dead) and she doesn't remember him at all since she is not connected to supernaturals

She just knows something is missing but can't tell what. Her anxiety is really high because of this too

And Akane is still watching over her in his supernatural form but can't do much, he is way calmer now too because he knew it was the best option but is sad to see none of his friends remembering him (and he is too proud to show how sad he is)

We don't have enough au with Aoiaoi angst (or Akane angst) sorry for my english is there is mistake

I think is an amazing AU, Anon! I got inspired.

Aoi has many moments where she’ll feel like her memory is faulty, like she is merely a ghost of herself: She’ll stare blanky at her neighbor's balcony, feeling like the lights will be turned on ‘any time now’ even though she knows that room is just an old guest room. She slept in that guest room before after all, slept there so many times she know the number of cracks in the ceiling and stains on the carpet. She can’t quite remember why she is so familiar with that room, or her neighbor's garden, or even the old wood stairs, with their creaky steps. She hasn’t seen the couple that lives beside her in ages after all, how can she be so familiar with a stranger's house?

There is a lump in her throat when going to school, she fights back the urge to say “good morning~” every time she opens her front gate, knowing she will be facing the same empty street as always, but still, constantly, getting this sense that this was wrong, that she should wait. She doesn’t know what she is waiting for, but even when she does try to wait, it never comes, it just increases the weight in her chest every time she goes to school alone.

She’ll watch boys trip over themselves to confess their love for her with an odd resentment, turning them down with a cute smile but thinking ‘0 points!’ to all of them. She’ll feel an unnatural hatred towards Fuji, not sure why him being the class president made her feel so wrong, Fuji may be awful, but is not like she ever cared that much about class honor.

Usually, her bullies can’t affect her, but she’ll startle when someone calls her ‘Akane’. She shouldn’t, it’s just her surname, who cares if they didn’t add an honorific? but it feels like the name doesn’t belong to her. A lot of things in her life feel stolen. Or stolen from her. She isn’t sure what exactly, her memories are muddy when she thinks too hard, but she knows something is wrong.

…It scares her.

She likes school, she gets the vague feeling she’s being watched there, but for some reason, it feels reassuring instead of scary, almost… familiar? Her hand gets unnaturally cold on school grounds, usually only one of her hands, but the chill occasionally spread, enveloping her like a hug when she’s sad. She is freaked out by it, but also comforted by it.

She doesn’t tell anyone about it, not even Nene.

Sometimes there will be raspberry candy on her bag, or a pencil she swore she heard falling off her desk would be in the same place as she had left, she’ll even find flowers in her hair she never put there. She would have assumed she really went mad, but Nene could see these gifts as well, claiming in delight that she must have a secret admirer! (For some reason the idea of ‘secret’ didn’t go well with the gifts), the lack of letters also didn’t give her much hope.

She did tests, purposely “losing” a lacy hairclip and getting the inexplicable urge to cry when she found the same hairclip in her bag an hour later.

She tried very hard to find this secret admirer, but she couldn’t. She felt completely and utterly lost, not nearly as smart as she considered herself to be. Looking into this mystery makes her heartbroken too, she gets scared of her reality, which makes her reluntant to look into whatever was missing in her life. She starts to drown in ghost stories to get some distance from her own life but all these scary stories, while serving as a wonderful distraction, only increase her anxiety.

Akane died a few months after his contract with the clock keepers, he didn’t get nearly enough contact with Teru to be his friend and Nene hasn’t made a deal with Hanako yet, so she cannot see/touch him either. Akane is completely alone. 

Akane changed after his death: Becoming a supernatural requires the sacrifice of at least part of your humanity, but he is still recognizable as ‘Akane Aoi’. He is calmer and more selfish, sad that Aoi’s smile never reaches her eyes but not regretting his decision to sacrifice himself for her. He does want her to be happy, but he's secretly glad he left such a big mark in her life, that even without memories, he is missed. Cause it had broken a part of him to see how easily his class changed their president, how easily Lemon and Nene adapted to him not existing. How easily all his efforts, all his life, ceased to matter.

He'll stay by Aoi's side but still feel painfully distant. His loneliness tear him at the seams but he pretends it doesn't exist.

After two weeks of this solitude, he'll occasionally slip, let cracks of his desperation. He'll try to get a hold of Aoi before she crosses the school exit, growing overwhelmed by the way his hands go right through her and his screams for her to come back are completely ignored. He'll try to write to communicate with her, failing because it’s very hard to move solid objects, he spends all his energy moving small trinkets to brighten her day but no matter how hard he tries, he can't write, it's always became an unreadable mess.

He is so tired (it's almost funny, how heavy he feels when he doesn't even have a body to drag him down... Almost.) but he keeps his head high and tries to adapt, training himself to rest easy with the knowledge he did the right thing, using this excuse as much as possible,  eventually allowing the cold feeling of detachment to make his situation bearable.

Akane is still proud to be her protector, he stops the time of anyone that scares Aoi, he can’t swing a bat but he learned how to cast curses, messing with the present, making it so ‘time’ felt as if it moved far slower to those that are mean to Aoi, 5 minutes in class feeling like 1 hour.

When Aoi's graduation approaches, Akane snaps. He can't accept it, all his calm disappears and he go as far as to try to bargain with Kako to turn back time just so she could stay for longer. He'll do anything to keep her in his afterlife. It comes to the point the clock keepers lock him in his boundary, lest he hurt a student. Or hurt Aoi.