#aya always ends up loving the books i get her. my mother too

[radioprune]

i am actually so good at giving gifts i was in denial about that being my love language for a long time but i'm ready to accept it now

[dawneternal]

The Benevolent | Eris x Healer OC | Five

☁︎ notes: I am sick and my brain is so foggy I'm sorry if I missed anything while editing

☁︎ warnings: injuries, blood, talk of physical abuse and abusive parents

☁︎ word count: 2.7k

☁︎ AO3 Link / Masterlist

☁︎ tags: @cauldronblssd @teddyhoneybear @tele86 @mybestfriendmademe @imma-too-many-fandoms @allyjoe755 @milswrites @shadowdaddies @zenkindoflove @landofpetrichor

Throughout the next handful of calls, Eris found himself trying to collect more information about Aya. It was odd, this inexplicable and slightly overwhelming desire to learn more about her. None of the knowledge he gained did anything to supress his hunger for more. She had him captivated, even if he wasn't ready to put a name to what he was feeling. 

Getting her to open up proved to be a difficult task when his mother was present. The nature of Aya's recruitment had left its mark, like a splinter under her skin instead of the gold ring on her finger. Edana may have dug her own grave, but Eris hadn't, yet. He tried to make himself seem trustworthy. He would be an open book if it meant Aya gave a little of herself in return. 

There were plenty of reasons for this growing attachment to scare him. If he would even admit to it being an attachment. She had done something to him he couldn't explain. Her smile made him want to smile. Her softness made him want to be soft. It bothered him that she never spoke very highly of herself, a strange contrast to her confidence while working. Her hands never faltered, always precise yet gentle. She never struggled, no matter what manner of healing challenged her. Something in her mind clouded her ability to see her as he did - as something remarkable. Something unique and lovely, meant to be cherished.

And with that, there was a growing fear that Aya's heart was already taken. He thought of it every time his gaze caught on her talisman, every time he remembered Thesan's order of protection. It would seem from his perspective that the High Lord of Dawn was smitten with the healer. Thesan was likely waiting until Aya finished her training to propose. It stoked flames of jealousy within him, stirring up an ugly possessiveness that he did not like.

It was always at this point in his pondering that Eris stopped himself. None of it mattered. It did not matter how Aya felt about him, if her heart was promised to someone else. He had promised himself long ago that he would not pursue anyone while his father lived. He had too many other things to think about and his focus was already faltering because of this foolish crush. He had slipped up too often recently and had the scars to prove it. 

He ran through this list often in an attempt to reason with himself. To put an end to the current of emotions he felt when she walked into the room. But nothing seemed to stop it. The jealousy and the wondering and the golden glow he felt in her presence. He knew in his heart that he could not be the one to cherish her, but it did not keep him from envying the one who would.

⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ 

The gilded crowd seemed to move as one, a swirl of delight and gaiety. Aya stood in its center, dizzy and far too sober despite the glass of champagne in her hand. Supposedly, her appearance was mandatory. But as usual,  no one from her class of healers had spoken to her. No one from any circle had spoken to her. 

The glow of her ring caught her attention and she did a double take. Maybe it was the fae lights or wishful thinking. No, the ring really glowed, a band of warmth around her finger. She handed her glass to the nearest server, conjured her bag of supplies, and tried not to be too grateful for an excuse to leave the party. 

Eris stood in the garden near the winnow spot, his hand clutched to his chest. He didn’t seem to care that blood stained his beautifully embroidered jacket. Aya greeted him with a smile, but he took in her outfit and frowned. 

“Did I pull you away from a party?” He asked. 

Aya blushed, remembering what she wore. An iridescent gown that was almost sheer, cut low in the back to accommodate her wings. The neckline draped and fluttered, revealing a fair amount of her chest. It was likely a little scandalous compared to the modest fashion of the Autumn Court. She really should have grabbed a coat. 

“Oh, no,” She stammered, “I mean yes, I was at a party, but it's okay.” 

“We can work here in the garden and then you can winnow back,” He said, so calm even with the blood dripping down his arm, “You’re all dressed up, I’d hate to ruin that for you. I would think a dress like that is meant to be seen.”

The corners of his lips twitched up into a smile as he said it, eyes burning into her.

“No, really, it’s okay,” Her cheeks burned and she turned her gaze toward the stone garden path, “I was kind of looking for a reason to leave.” 

Eris’s eyebrows lifted and he looked like he wanted to ask her why, but he said nothing. Only gave her a nod and led the way to his room. Aya’s golden heels clicked softly in the hallway, jewelry jingling with every step. 

In Eris’s room, she kicked off her shoes and tossed her bag aside with an ease that made him smile. She’d grown comfortable here. He sat on the edge of the bed and waited as she got water from the washroom, hand still held tight to his chest. 

“What happened this time?” She asked, returning with a pitcher and a stack of rags. 

He held out his hand for her to see, but she brushed past him and crawled onto the bed, tucking her legs underneath her. The feathers of her wings brushed his shoulder as she moved, her scent of pomegranate and honey wrapping around him. He blinked at her for a moment, frozen by the image of her in his bed, her gorgeous dress and smeared makeup. It was not a daydream he’d ever had before, but one that would haunt him often, now. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” She started to slide off the bed, “That’s not appropriate, is it?” 

She forgot sometimes how much more casual the Dawn Court could be. 

“No, no,” Eris said quickly, “It’s okay.” 

She studied his expression for any hint of disapproval and found none. So she stayed put and began taking off her jewelry, tucking the chains and bracelets into a pocket in her satchel. She left her golden nose ring, adorned with a tiny sunstone. 

“Thank you,” She murmured, “My feet are killing me.” 

“Too much dancing?” He smiled and tried not to look too jealous. 

“Not exactly,” Aya sighed and motioned for his hand, “More like too much standing around, waiting to be asked to dance.” 

Eris tilted his head to the side, eyes sparkling with curiosity. She busied herself with unfurling his stiff fingers as gently as she could. 

“I’m not exactly popular with my peers,” She said, examining the deep gashes in his palm and fingers. She grimaced at the sight, but Eris showed no signs of pain. 

“Why ever not?” He asked. For a moment, she thought he was being sarcastic. But she looked up at him and saw that he was earnest. 

“My power,” She hesitated, “Doesn’t manifest the way healing powers typically do. It makes others suspicious of me. Not to mention they suspect nepotism because Thesan is my cousin.” 

He probably should have felt ashamed of the wild rush of relief, at that. His lovely mother had failed to mention that Aya was related to Thesan. There would be no betrothal after all, then. Unless the Dawn Court shared habits with the Ilyrians. He was about to do a little more prying, but she beat him to it. 

“You never answered my question,” She said softly, beginning to dab away blood with a rag, “What happened to your hand?” 

“Beron,” He grumbled, wincing for the first time, “He told me that if I was to act like a child, then he would punish me like a schoolboy. So he struck my hand with a ruler.” 

Aya paused and looked up at him, lip curled in disgust. Eris nodded in confirmation.

“He broke two rulers before he was finished,” He sighed, like this had been some mild inconvenience. Just another one of Beron’s antics. 

“I’d like to break two of his fingers,” Aya spat, earning a grin from the prince, “How long did you wait to call me?” 

“A few hours. I was waiting for him to leave the Forest House.” 

She leaned over to grab a fresh rag from the side table, and Eris’s gaze caught on her bare back. Aya almost froze, realizing what she had exposed to him, but she forced herself to move normally. He said nothing, but she could feel the weight of his gaze, could see his pursed lips in her peripheral vision. 

She may as well even things out between them. She knew the story of a good handful of his scars. Some were her own creation. He could know the story of hers. It wasn’t exactly a secret, anyways. Dawn Court clothes often had low cut backs to accommodate wings, and so her scars were often on display.

“The Illyrians aren’t the only ones who practice wing clipping,” She said into the silence, aware of how tight her voice sounded, “It mostly died out a long time ago, but there will always be extremists. My mother was one of them.” 

She paused, swallowing hard under the intensity of his stare. 

“Really, I think she was unhappy that I had inherited something so obvious from my father. She tried to clip me using magic, but I stopped her with my own powers. I saved my wings but I couldn’t prevent the scars. And something in her magic collided with mine and went wrong. I felt it in my bones. Ever since then I have had pains in my back. I’ve tried everything I could, saw dozens of other healers, but nothing gets rid of it.”

Eris was sure she already saw the irony of it. Her being a healer and not being able to heal her own chronic pain. He supposed they were very similar in that way, desperate to fix everything or everyone around them. All the while unable to fix themselves.

“I’m sorry,” He said. 

There was plenty he wanted to say, but nothing that would actually make a difference. That image would stay with him, the scars interrupting the smooth brown skin of her back, jagged like rivers on a map. He stared at her wings with a new appreciation, filled with desire to see them spread in flight as the sun filtered through her golden feathers.

He had a sudden urge to feel them. To reach out and stroke the feathers and find out if they were as soft as they looked. But he remembered all of the strange customs around Illyrian wings and kept his hands to himself. His blood heated as he recalled other rumors about those Night Court wings.

“What’s done is done,” Was her response. Her voice was a little far away now, either in memory or in focus. He could feel the tingling of his hand beginning to heal, and the warmth of shame over his thoughts of wing sensitivity. 

A silence settled as she worked and he swore he could almost hear a humming. Like her healing was an unheard song and his bones sang in answer. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, but he also couldn’t tear his gaze away from her distant eyes and the golden sparks that glowed from her hand. 

He wondered if she knew what her eyes looked like while she was healing, pupils and irises filled with golden light. Like suns, casting a glow on everything in their path. It had alarmed him at first and then drew him in like a moth to a flame. She must know. It must be one of the reasons the other healers were wary of her, afraid of that golden fire. He realized that she never kept her eyes open if anyone else was around. 

She was like a beacon of light in the darkness of his room, golden and warm and shining. The list of things he admired about her was seemingly never ending. As was the list of things she made him feel every time they interacted. There was a lump in his throat, as he stared at her. So small and quiet, and yet something strong and lovely. 

His hand was almost healed. 

“You are so kind,” He said, just above a whisper. He was emboldened by her confessions, by the things that it meant for her to keep her eyes open around him. 

Her eyes returned to their normal misty color and she tilted her head at him. 

“In spite of all that’s been done to you,” He explained, all too conscious of the vulnerability he was showing. Was there any use in shielding his heart at all?

“I keep no ledger,” She said, looking down at his hand. It was healed, no trace of his wounds left. But she held on. “Against the world, against anyone. I’ve made kindness my fight instead of revenge. I have no reason to be cruel just because others were cruel to me. And if I am kind, it is one less thing that they have taken from me.” 

Tonight held the most words she had ever spoken to him. He savored them like he did every other fact she’d given him and committed them to memory. Everything she had to say was lovely. Everything said in her voice was lovely. He wanted to tell her that he admired her and that he wished he’d heard those words a long time ago. Maybe then, he could have dedicated himself to the cause of kindness instead of choosing cruelty as his shield. Or at least something besides malice. It was probably too late, now. Cruelty had settled into the very grooves of his being.  It was a habit so deeply ingrained that he was not sure he had the strength to claw his way out of it. 

When he lifted his eyes, he found that she was watching him like he had done moments ago. His gaze startled her out whatever she had been pondering, and she released his hand. Reluctantly, he pulled it back into his own lap, already missing her warmth. The smooth feel of her skin. 

“What will you do?” She asked, worry etching in her features, “About Beron? Surely, you won’t let things continue this way.” 

“There are things in motion,” He said slowly, calculating what he could and shouldn’t say to ensure her safety, “But of course, just those words alone could spark his suspicion. Right now, we are all playing a waiting game.” 

He did not know exactly what they were waiting for. All that he knew is that he’d know it when he saw it. He would not admit that to anyone, however. He would continue to play the part of a clever, cunning leader. He had been able to take advantage of the Night Court’s compromising position in the Spring Court, and now he had Rhysand’s support. More opportunities would present themselves, he knew. 

“Of course I’ll say nothing,” Her brows knit together even tighter, “And of course, I’ll be here. Until the last wound he ever inflicts.”

And after that, if you’d like. 

She slid off the bed and looked up at him. Something passed between them, metallic and shimmering like the golden light of her healing. Eris’s lips parted but no words came out. The way he looked at her made Aya wonder if he somehow knew what she had almost said, his eyes filled with a fire that danced like a candle flame. They said nothing more, but the change in the world was palpable. Each breath felt different than before.

After he’d walked her to the garden and returned to his bed, he found a single golden feather on his comforter. He picked it up gingerly, running a fingertip across its silky texture. Then he tucked it into his nightstand, wards snapping as the drawer shut. 

He had seen it in her face, the dangling invitation. Or maybe it was a request. Let me stay, her eyes had pleaded. It was a pain he had never known before, watching her winnow away. Knowing that he could not afford to dream of keeping her. To give her what she asked would be handing over her ruination. He would not let himself destroy such a perfect thing.

[scentedsstuff]

We Free the Stars

By Hafsah Faizal

Rating: 2.5/5⭐️

The sequel to ‘We Hunt the Flame,’ a book which I have raved over and easily rated 5 stars was always going to have a lot to live up to, and the sequel, whilst enjoyable simply couldn’t do that.

Spoiler alert for any readers who have yet to read this and are meaning to, I will be discussing specific scenes and details within the books so beware.

Quick Plot Summary:

The Zumra have made it out of Sharr but the battle is far from over. Though Altair has been captured, time is of the essence and so Zafira, Nasir and Kifah must make their way to Sultan's keep if they wish to save not only their friend but their people.

With the stakes so high and an inevitable confrontation with the Lion looming near, Zafira and Nasir have to deal with far more than just personal trials and trepidations.

Thoughts:

Yes, we have our main band of characters whom I adore, and we've got a mission that has since expanded since the first book, but along the way it all became too much.

What I mean specifically is that there was so much happening in the book at the same time that I felt the plot was lost at times. The author dwelt on certain parts of the book more than needed and this was done multiple times which made it feel as though the book was dragging on, especially in the first half of the book.

All the drama and overall commotion seemed to overshadow certain revelations and plot twists. At some point I stopped caring and was just watching it all unfold. I still cared about the main band of characters, Zafira, Nasir, Kifah and Altair and side characters such as Yasmeen and Lana, but best believe when other names, characters and situations were being introduced I was not trying to retain any of that information anymore.

The romance: do I still enjoy the pair? yes, yes I do. My annoyance with them was the fact that it seemed like their problems were so repetitive and being dragged on for much longer than it needed to be (in my opinion). The book is already lengthy, and had so much going on, adding this onto it didn't help.

Another part of the book I just couldn't get into for some reason: Altair and his temporary villain streak. I don't know, I just couldn't buy into it, the whole time I was like 'ok do what you gotta do I guess, but he's probably going to go back to the Zumra by the end of this so....." Even with the whole "plot twist" of Aya betraying the gang, especially with her being Benyamin's wife and all, we had just met her in this second book so I honestly didn't care. In my mind all I'm thinking is 'man I feel kinda bad for Benyamin.' I didn't care that she did this due to her own personal pain, or that she still loved Altair or that Altair still loved her, there was not a single fiber of my being that cared for this plotline.

Nasir and Zafira are at odds for a good portion of the book whether its jealousy or unresolved feelings or fears. I would've cared more but again, so much was already going on. There is more time given to Lana (Zafira's younger sister) and her understanding of her gifts and talents and where she finds herself in the world. Through Altair's time with the Lion (who he's since found out is his father) we get a glimpse into his past, backstory and overall driving motivations. We get a glimpse into Altair and Aya (Benyamin's wife) and their whole situation/doomed lover's tale. The sultan (Nasir's father) is a reoccurring character and has moments where he is so petty (which at times entertained me because he was stirring up drama) but this ultimately sets up future reveals. Nasir's mother pops up again. Kifah's former troop makes an appearance and gets her thinking about her past and how that affects where she'll go from here. And so much more which I've probably failed to mention.

But it's all so much, and this is only the final book in this duology. To each their own, but overall, I was disappointed with this book. The concluding chapters were very sweet and there were moments found within the book that I genuinely enjoyed but not enough to warrant anything above 2.5 stars.

[miwtze]

bathroom floor (matsukawa issei x reader)

cw: eating disorders, purging, its not angsty 

wc: 5.6k

dunno why this is so long but no beta i die like a man

matsukawa could count on one hand the names of his classmates that he could personally remember. even then it was only the class president and the student council secretary seeing as they were the only two people that ever really interacted with him when he was there. on his breaks he was with hanamaki, in class his head was down, after school he was at volleyball practice; he didn’t really have a reason to remember anyone else. it’s not to say he didn’t try, people were just standoffish due to his large structure or wanted to mingle with toru through him. he simply believed it was a bother. that was probably until his first term of his third year when he was seated next you.

“matsukawa-san.”

“matsukawa-san.”

“matsuk-” matsukawa groans, shifting his head to the left in hopes of identifying the offending voice. he cracks open an eyelid, shifting his head to figure out who’s the one pulling him out of his nap; it wasn’t his mom or his younger brother. as his eyelids adjust to the rays of light engulfing the room he comes to the realization that he is in fact not in his bed, but rather sprawled across his desk and staring down at his desk mate’s tights-covered legs. “are you okay?” he whips his head up at your voice, wide eyed and rubbing the side of his mouth with the back of his palms as he scowls at you. not with any bad intentions but he’s willing to run the risk of looking like a dick if it saves him from the embarrassment of being caught sleeping in class.

“what is it?” you cock your eyebrows at him fingers to your chin, deep in thought. what did he say that was so interesting, he doesn’t know but he sinks into himself, wishing you would just outright laugh in his face. you don’t laugh. instead you turn around and dig through your bag pulling out a can of coffee and an energy bar, gingerly playing them on his desk.

“we’re both on class duty this week and the chemistry kits need to be brought down to class by the time lunch ends. we need it for our next class.” he stares at his wrist watch. he would rather use the last fifteen minutes of his lunch break to nap but he really didn’t want to forfeit the coffee or energy drink. not that you looked like you wanted it back. “i tried to wake you up earlier but you were kind of like a dead man walking. saying things like ‘five more minutes mom’ and ‘i’ll get up in a bit’.” matsukawa can feel the back of his neck heat up, rising to follow you out of the classroom and towards the science building. “figured you must’ve had a long night or something.”

“there’s absolutely no way you caught me fucking calling out to my mom. you should’ve just woken me up before everyone heard me telling me mom to let me sleep in,” he sighs, matching the pace of your step to walk next to you. “like, dude, that is so embarrassing.”

you turn your head and smile at him, he thinks it’s a little teasing but thankfully filled with no condescend. “actually for the most part the classroom was empty during lunch today, it was just me and secretary-san. everyone else went to go eat outside since the weather was nice.” you stated reassuringly, brushing hair behind your ears. matsukawa removes the hand he placed on his forehead with a sigh of relief. two people hearing him call out to his mother is significantly better than the whole class hearing it. “i don’t even think secretary-san heard you since she was on the other side of the room, but she most definitely saw you hung over your desk sleeping.”

“you shouldn’t call people secretary-san that’s, like, super impolite. also, if everyone else went outside to eat why’d you stay back? did you wanna watch me sleep or something,” he states matter-of-factly. turning his heel into the chemistry classroom making a beeline for the chemistry kits. he could still feel his neck burning, but he knows it’s because you’re digging holes into his back with your eyes. “or do you just, like, not have any friends.” you snicker behind him.

“you have to check the kits before you grab them; we need twenty four of them. also i’m not sure what the secretary’s name is. i was in a different class last year,” you say beginning to look through the kits separating the usable from the unusable ones. “and my friends got detention together and left me behind. some traitors they are.” you feign offense with the back of your hand to your forward and head tossed back. he notices a small beaded bracelet adorning your wrist, right under a thin gold one. you laugh at his raised eyebrows as finish separating the kits. he’s surprised to say the least, everyone in class one was the book nerd type who spoke harsh words behind whispers. at least to his knowledge anyways. he definitely didn’t think you would be this cheeky or friendly, especially not to the six feet tall monstrosity he was.

“why didn’t you just get detention with them. it seems more fun than eating by yourself, i think. i like to eat with my friends but apparently my dumbass fell asleep. i’ll probably get my ear chewed out during practice for it.”

“the most fun about doing things you’re not supposed to is getting away with it. plus i had to catch up on some other things so it didn’t make sense to leave and do something stupid just to get caught,” you say with a sly smile, struggling to mange the twelve kits you had split evenly between the two of you. he grabs your twelve including his silently, he wasn’t an athlete at a powerhouse school for nothing. “oh i see you are nice.”

“did you think i was some megawatt asshole or something?”

“maybe not megawatt, but, like, a twenty four watt asshole?” he snickers at that, following you into the classroom. “due to your kind act of charity, i’ll take it upon myself to take the notebooks to the teachers after school so you can head to practice early to get your ear chewed out, how does that sound?”

“absolutely fucking terrible, but much appreciated,” he says, sliding into his seat and cracking open the can of coffee you gave him. “thanks for this too, i’ll get you bread tomorrow during lunch to make up for it.”

“nah don’t worry about it,” you say, turning your head to greet two girls bouncing into the classroom stopping at your desk to complain about detention. 

true to your word, you diligently collect and return the class notebooks that day after school. in fact you’re so dedicated to the task that you do it everyday for the rest of the week, never once asking matsukawa or complaining to him. matsukawa thinks you do it as to not bother him. he’s not entirely sure that’s the reason though, seeing as you’re pushing your desk next to his to share his literature textbook with him for the third time this week.

“sorry matsukawa-san, i forgot my literature textbook again. please do some charity work,” you whisper leaning over to look at the pages. you frown at his notes.

“you don’t sound like you forgot, also don’t judge someone else’s notes when they’re helping you,” he teases, looking down at you redoing his notes in a more orderly manner. small neat writing surrounds his messy illegible ones, highlighting what to look out for on the next exam. you’re wearing a gold ring with a jewel the same color of your beaded bracelet, small and dainty stilling on an even smaller middle finger. he sighs but he knows your notes have been helping him.

“between you and me? i definitely didn’t forget, i just hate carrying that heavy thing around.” you pause to look up from the notes, to his face and then back down. “maybe i’ll have you do it for me since you’re all big and tough, or whatever gender stereotype will benefit me.”

“you shouldn’t openly boast about being sexist.”

“what, you going to tell on me or something?”

“no but what’s the point in having me carry the damn book around if you have to walk home with it.” he’d rather you just not bring it seeing as no one else in his class talked to him and the most you talked to him was when you both were sharing his textbook.

“i do believe that is exactly why i don’t bring it, matsukawa-san,” you say dryly, returning to your task.

when the lunch bell rings you push your desk back and say your words of thanks, turning your heels to skip to your friends. he watches as the light hits your legs and the tights you always wear stretch around your thighs.

dirty bastard.

he turns and flees to takahiro, who makes fun of the blush creeping up matsukawas neck.

on friday afternoon, before issei leaves for practice he places two packaged rice balls and green tea on your desk. you open your mouth to say something but your friend beats you to it.

“oh? what’s this? a confession of love?” your friend pokes your cheek with a baby blue painted finger and shoots a smirk through her long eyelashes. she reminds issei of someone.

your other friend, one with dyed roots and glossed lips, pulls her back giggling saying, “hey c’mon now! you can’t scare him away, but it is an interesting approaching seeing as most people would just give a letter or something.” you sigh, shooting him a withering look of apology.

“na-chan, aya-chan, you can’t say things like that about people. it makes them uncomfortable. sorry matsukawa-san, what’s this for?”

“doin’ charity work i suppose.” you roll your eyes. “you should show gratitude when offered something, ya know?”

“oh? so this isn’t for the snacks i gave you the day i caught you slee-” he cuts you off by pulling up a chair to your desk. practice can wait.

“you are absolutely the fucking worst.”

“since you’re sitting here, share it with me i don’t like rice balls much.”

“i have practice.”

“you’re the one who sat down.” he blinks. your friends have already ran off yelling things about a part time job or something. you open both the rice balls and place one in front of him. “i don’t think you’ll get beaten if you’re a couple minutes late, at least i hope not. i think that’s illegal.”

“you’re just full of requests, huh? i might as well become make-a-wish with the amount of things i do for you,” he says mouth full of rice, towering over you even after sitting down. you sigh between small bites of the snack. “what? you don’t like umeboshi or something? why are ya looking at it like it’s defiling your throat.”

“not to sound ungrateful or anything, but i unfortunately am rather picky when it comes to food. but since the great matsukawa-san has blessed me with a rice ball i will thankfully finish it.”

“you’re so fucking annoying.”

“oh but i’m just  too cute for you to let that bother you, isn’t that right?” you grin picking up your trash and grabbing your bag. “bye! i’ll see you tomorrow.” you leave before he has the chance to reply.

he leaves a couple minutes after you, heading to the third gym. he notices a pair of all too familiar tights-covered legs ducking in between the third and fourth gym. against his better judgement he follows.

dude, what the fuck. first you’re eyeing up your friend’s legs and now you’re following a girl behind the gym? get laid, he berates himself.

he watches the girl turn behind the fourth gym and he recognizes you by the charm hanging on the side of your bag. now he’s really curious. he silently leans against the wall getting close to the edge, but remaining out of sight. maybe it’s a really weird confession. he wouldn’t want to impose.

minutes pass before he actually hears anything but it wasn’t the confession he wasn’t expecting. sounds of you’re gagging fill the air. he has to stop himself from turning the corner and asking you if you’re okay, only being able to turn his head to look at you. fingers down your throat and tears down your face.

knot of uneasiness ties at the pit of his stomach as he turns and flees, knowing he saw something he shouldn’t have. the butterflies in his chest burden him knowing that he’s festering a crush on someone who hasn’t shared any part of herself to him other than her kindness. issei doesn’t like that.

after practice that day he stays continuing to abuse the gym floors hitting one volleyball after the other, trying to focus on the burns on his palms instead of anything else. oikawa and iwaizumi head out before him leaving him alone with the gym keys to lock up when he’s done. he doesn’t finish for another two hours and he only stops then because his body is about to give out on him.

matsukawa begrudgingly makes his way to the teachers room when he sees you fumble around, barely able to walk straight. his eyes widen when he sees you drop your bag and fall into the wall. 

“fucking dumbass.” you hiss and pick up your bag.

“hey man, you good?”  your entire body freezes, almost as if someone hit pause on you. he calls your name, panic creeping into his voice. “do you want me to carry your bag? i can walk you home.” when he goes to step towards you you swing your head back to face him.

“i’m fine matsukawa-san. have a good evening.”

he watches as your small figure, drowning in a big cardigan, stumble away quickly, never once turning back. he returns the keys to wall excusing himself, thinking about the chilling tone of your voice as he walks home.

he has no idea how to approach you after that, as the weeks pass by he avoids mentioning it, questions piling up in his mind. he knows you can tell that he’s antsy (there’s no way you don’t) around you, but you still keep polite conversation and share his literature textbook with him. sometimes you leave snacks on his desk, he always accepts them. matsukawas latest hobby has been lying face down on his desk during lunch to eavesdrop on your conversations. he tries to reason that he’s just tired but he’s so far deep he knows he’s lying to himself.

“do you think guys like clips?”

“i don’t think they care enough to pay attention to stuff like that.”

“really? i can't speak for dudes since i don’t have a dick-“ matsukawa almost blows his cover by laughing at your words “but i think they would appreciate a cute hair clip. especially on a girl he’s into.”

“i feel like guys should get into clips. i think they’d look good in them.” all three of them hum.

“wanna see if they do?” you say standing up, he can feel you hover around his desk. your friends giggle already connecting the dots, even he connected them. “matsukawa-san, hey matsukawa-san. are you sleeping? psst” you whisper close enough to where he can feel your breath on his ears. he stays silent. he watches your feet turn around, he’s almost disappointed.

“dude, he’s sleeping. you sure he won’t beat you up when he wakes up?”

“that’s a bridge i’ll cross when i get there.” you turn back around, thin fingers grabbing tufts of his hair gently as to not wake him up and pins them down. one. two. three. four. there’s two on each side of his forehead, he can feel them. “so aya-chan? na-chan? what’s the verdict.”

“his head is down we can’t tell.” your friend says, he assumes is the blunt one in your friend group probably the one you call aya-chan. he sits up. “looks like you’ve crossed that bridge though.”

“good luck, but i was right guys do look good with clips,” your other friend laugh, but before you can turn around to face mastukawa he grabs you by your waist and pulls you down. you end up on his lap and if he wasn’t too busy tickling you, he would question the promiscuity of his actions.

“you know it’s super impolite to mess around with people when they’re sleeping. it’s probably considered bullying.”

“ah! mastukawa-san! i can't breathe, i’m sorry! i’m sorry!” you can barely get your words out, getting get off between loud laughs. people look over.

“are you sorry?”

“yes yes now stop please.” he stops tickling you but still holds an arm around your waist, you make no movement to get off his lap either instead turning and grabbing his face to do a one over. “oh my god, na-chan you were right!” letting go to turn your friends, who shoot him looks of apology. “guys look super cute with clips on! hey matsukawa-san if you wanna seem less scary you should wear clips, not that i think you’re scary.”

“i’m always right, i religiously study fashion magazines. that’s why you two always look so hot.”

“ah thank you for your diligence. maybe if you studied your math textbook we’d be able to hang out this summer but someone has to do summer classes.” you giggle at your friends banter reaching over to grab your phone.

“hey matsukawa-san, smile!” pulling and arm around him you bring the phone up. he smiles and throws up a peace sign and take a couple pictures. “you’re being oddly agreeable with this. give me your line ID i’ll send these to you.” you hop off and face him.

“you just want his line ID.” of course you do, matsukawa issei is a complete stud and you want him.

“and? he’s going to give it me regardless of my intentions.” you pass your phone to him and he takes it from your hand watching the cardigan slip through your arm revealing bruises trailing under your gold bracelet. he catches you staring and quickly you pull up your sleeves to you palms. “look! sweater paws.”

“you’re stupid, here.”

“she’s not that stupid. she’s top of our grade, you know?”

“why are you bragging when you have to do remedial courses,” matsukawa deadpans, trying to figure out what to call them since he didn’t know their names and he wasn’t about to call her na-chan.

“oh, this is natsume and that’s ayasaki.” you say catching his frown as you remove the clips. he nods. “do you want me to get you clips you looked really cute with them. we can match.”

“should we get him sparkly ones? like blue ones,” ayasaki questions.

“oh! and some white ones? so it matches his volleyball uniforms?” you add on.

“absolutely not, i only did it because she’s cute.” pulling you back down, you melt into him. i feel so small next to him, maybe it’s because his huge. i like it. a lot.

“no means no. hanamaki would not let me live it down.”

“well would you look at this matsukawa went and got him a girlfriend!” it was as if he was cursed, turning to see the shit eating grin plastered over hanamaki’s face as he steps into his classroom. oikawa and iwaizumi behind, following him inside. “and you let her put clips in your hair? what a simp.”

“im not a fucking simp, i was asleep and she’s not my girlfriend.”

“she’s on your lap.”

“it’s a punishment for messing with someone that was sleeping,” matsukawa states matter-of-factly. he hopes hanamaki will drop it, but of course he won’t. it’s hanamaki.

“so who is this girlfriend-chan? is she cute?” oikawa asks circling around his desk to get a good look at you. he bursts into a grin and he says your name, your first name. hanamaki repeats it.

“oh dude you scored. good for you.” hanamaki pats his back, turning to engage in conversation with you. “do you remember me? i was in your first year class. we never talked though.”

“ah yes i recall you almost got held back because of your math scores,” you say looking up from your phone, matsukawa’s phone rings in his pocket. iwaizumi laughs.

“it’s good to see you again! we haven’t talked since, like, middle school. hi natsume-chan! ayasaki-chan! you three still together?” they both look up from the magazine natsume was pointing at.

“oh but of course. you and iwaizumi still married?”

“absolutely not i would never-“

“yes! we’re going on a honeymoon soon.” iwaizumi smacks him.

“it’s good to see the three of you, though. i didn’t know you went here,” iwaizumi says smiling.

“well that’s because your head only thinks about oikawa and volleyball, no?” ayasaki raises her eyebrows, you and natsume hum in agreement.

“oh my how romantic,” you coon. “are we invited to the baby shower?” matsukawa laughs into your shoulder pulling you closer. he feels you’re small frame, the bulky cardigan doing nothing to hide the bones he can feel brush against him.

“you know for a punishment you both seem to oddly enjoy yourselves,” hanamaki points out. “but, dude, you were super cute before but you’re so pretty now! what’d you do? cocaine?”

“not all of us have debaucherous hobbies hanamaki-san.”

it only gets louder between the banter of his friend group and yours, but he can’t focus thoughts piling up on after the other. when the lunch bell rings, matsukawa has a headache and it’s not from the noise.

“first of all? fuck coach for making us do two practice games in a row, like, i get it we have inter-highs when we get back in the winter, but this is fucking brutal.” hanamaki proclaims, feet dragging. “second of all, he’s making us practice tomorrow too. i might as well jump off the tokyo tower.”

“do a flip on your way down,” matsukawa says pulling his phone out to check his line. he texted you about his practice matches  and hasn’t been able to reply since then.

“you said it yourself hanamaki, we have inter-highs coming up. we want to go to finals and to do that we have to practice,” iwaizumi reasons, but even his voice is drowned in exhaustion. oikawa whines and begins to complain about ushijima at finals and matsukawa tunes out, having already heard this seven times today.

[you, 12:13 pm] good luck at your matches today, hope u win straight sets so u can go home fast. -w-

[matsukawa, 5:11 pm] only won one of the matches but both went into a third set im so fucken tired.

you reply immediately.

[you, 5:11 pm] bruh that’s terrible make sure to grab something to eat. idk what nutritionists would say but i’m sure they would agree with me  

“do you guys wanna grab something to eat?” matsukawa interjecting oikawa’s vent, raising his eyebrows.

“oh my god mattsun, you’re absolutely genius,” matsukawa shoots him a shit eating grin. “let’s get ramen?” oikawa finishes. iwaizumi and hanamaki nod in agreement, the three of them dragging themselves towards the ramen shop on the main street.

[matsukawa, 5:14 pm] you should eat too, have you had dinner?

[you, 5:15 pm] no but ayachan and nachan want to grab food before we head home. we went to a cat cafe today look. (one image attached) cute right >///<

before he gets the chance to reply he hears loud laughing coming from the street crossing on to the one the four of them were on down. maybe the day wasn’t so bad because you walk out laughing at something ayasaki said. he’s stunned. bewildered. whatever the fuck kind of emotion he’s feeling he knows it’s because you’re just so pretty. he’s a lot for words as he gapes at you, eyes wide like saucers.

“look who it is! hi guys!” natsume shouts, dragging you and ayasaki with her, your arms are all linked. he can’t move.

“wow, it’s you three again! you’re always together,” oikawa teases, jabbing an elbow into mastukawas ribs. “there’s your little girlfriend,” he whispers, matsukawa can’t even respond, he’s just so flustered.

“whatcha guys up too, anyways?” hanamaki asks when the three of you arrive in front of them.

“oh we were hanging out and we wanted to grab some food before we head home, you guys just get out of practice? you look so fucking dead,” you ask shooting them looks of pity. oikawa sighs, about to respond when mastukawa reaches and brushed your hair behind your ear.

“you cut your hair.” and it looks good.

“in fact i did.” a blush covers your cheeks almost hidden behind the glow of the setting sun. maybe i’m talking to an angel, matsukawa thinks. “thoughts?”

“you look gorgeous.” matsukawa can’t even stop himself. when he catches what he says he coughs and turns away flustered. howling shouts come from hanamaki, iwaizumi and ayasaki.

“he’s right though, you look delightful. we’re going to get ramen do you guys want to join us?” iwaizumi asks, shooting a smirk to matsukawa. he doesn’t even have time to be panicking about the situation because ayasaki, of course, agrees.

when all of you are seated along the L-shaped bar in front of the cooks, you lean in to speak to matsukawa. you both are seated at the corner next to each other which was done intentionally by hanamaki and ayasaki. “why are you guys slaving away at practice anyways during summer break anyways? does the coach have a bounty on you or something?” you’re playing with your fingers, watching the server place your meal down in front of you.

“honestly dude,” he stops to let out the heaviest sigh you’ve ever heard. “i think at this point, irihata and oikawa teamed up to put us through hell and back.”

“homie you completely ignored my question, why?”

“oh shit my bad. we’re trying to get to get to finals, you know? inter highs start up right after summer break and oikawa has a bone to pick with the shiratorizawa captain.”

“so you guys are feeling the fruits of his planned revenge?” matsukawa nods, resting his face in the palm of his hand. you shoot him a look of pity, reaching over to pat his head, his hair is so soft. “don’t worry i’m sure you’ll get your revenge, if not you can call out for your mom again” matsukawa’s face flushes and he grabs your wrists pulling you in.

“you. i thought we agreed to never mention that again,” he hissed under his breath, looking around to see if any of the other third years were eavesdropping. they weren’t. “i thought we had an agreement. i thought we were comrades. i thought-”

“matsukawa-san, matsukawa-san shhh! i’m sorry it’s fun to tease you. i promise i’ll make it so only i can make fun of you for that.” you giggle. “since we’re comrades and all.”

“i don’t wanna be your comrade anymore.”

“here take my gyoza and stop pouting, you’re cuter when you’re smiling.” you reach over and place all your gyoza into his bowl shooting him a blinding grin. “but that’s not to say you’re not cute when you’re pouting.”

“if i’m cute, what are you?” you frown, is he calling me ugly. he waves his hand through the air as if to will away your thoughts. “not like that. you’re pretty, pretty fucking cute.”

“you know, you sound like you’re trying to convince yourself.” you watch him eat as you poke at your own meal. he eats well, you smile. as the seven of you finish up your meals, you excuse yourself to the restroom. matsukawa thinks it’s suspect considering most of your bowl is full, so he follows you.

you know man your reputation for a full on creep is just expanding.

as he steps into the bathroom he seeks you hunched over, cursing spilling past your lips along with the food you forced down. you freeze, turning to look at him as he locks the door.

“i’m almost positive breaking into a bathroom is some kind of crime,” you state as if matsukawa didn’t just see you force yourself to throw up.

“i’m fully aware i’m not supposed to be in here, but i got worried, sue me.” you raise your eyebrows as him resting your arms on the toilet seat. he grimaces realizing you’re sitting on the bathroom floors. in a public bathroom. “also if you’re going to go to the bathroom as least lock the door.”

“it sounds like matsukwa issei already knew about this.”

“stop talking about it like it’s a joke.” matsukawa says grabbing tissues to wet them and pass to you. ”at least get defensive or something. i had my suspicions, saw things i shouldn’t have. i’m sorry about that.”

“don’t apologize you didn’t do anything wrong. i’m sorry for worrying you, but i don’t see this as anything of your concern.” you reach over to take the napkins from him, but he instead cleans your face for you. wiping away the spit and tears gently.

“wash your hands.” his voice left no room for argument, so you wobbled your way over to the sink and finished cleaning yourself. when you finish and turn to face him he lifts you on to the sink, trapping you in between his arms. “it’s not my concern but i’m going to concern myself with it. you’re hurting yourself.”

“so what, i’d rather hurt myself then have other people hurt me because of the way i look.” you're eyes are glassed over avoiding his and your voice is shaking, the raw emotions spilling out in contrast to your deadpan face. you guess that’s why you’re attracted to matsukawa, you’re both hide behind laid back personalities storing away a barricade of feelings gently stirring and building up. “don’t involve yourself with me anymore. i know it’s just going to be another weight on your shoulders. you’re too caring to pretend like you didn’t see it.”

“you don’t deserve that, there’s nothing that warrants this and you know that.” matsukawa sounds desperate, you know that he probably is. “i won’t let other people hurt you, i’ll protect you i promise. so please don’t push me away.”

“you’ll protect me huh.” you lean back against the mirror to look up at him. “what does that even mean.” he blinks.

“well actually i don’t know yet, but i want to figure it out with you. i want to support you and help you because i don’t want you to be alone in this, you know?” matsukawa was fumbling his words, he was nervous he couldn’t make you stay but he hoped to every god that you wouldn’t walk away. “like, i know i don’t know what to do, but i’m willing to try and figure it out. i know it’s gotta be lonely especially when your friends are bent over backwards for magazine models, and like, dude, i like you so much and i just-”

“matsukawa-san”

“yes”

“are you confessing to me in the bathroom of a ramen restaurant?” matsukawa nods, shamelessly. you think this is the most matsukawa confession to exist, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. the boy you pined over since first year found out about your dirty little secret and didn’t turn you way. he offered his and and wore his heart on his sleeve for you, who are you to turn him away. “i don’t know where we would go from here either, but i’d like it if we figured it out together.” matsukawa leans in closer to you, grabbing you by the back of your neck gently and pulling your face into his before you can object. when you break away your frown deepens, “you just kissed me with vomit breath.”

“it’s okay you’re the person i’ll kiss with vomit breath since we‘re comrades.”

“you shouldn’t call your girlfriend comrade, it doesn’t give me butterflies.”

“oh? so you’re my girlfriend now?”

“what, you don’t wanna date me?”

“oh absolutely i do. i’m honored to have the pleasure of being your boyfriend.” matsukawa teases as he pulls you down. your reply gets shut down by a wave of texts that blows up matsukawa’s phone.

[hanamaki, 6:03 pm] ayo casanova wya dude ???? are you getting your dick sucked in the bathroom that’s dirty she’s too cute for that anyways we paid and we’re heading out >.< stay safe muah

[iwaizumi, 6:05 pm] we left but you’re going to have to explain yourself tomorrow.

[oikawa, 6:06 pm] mattsun!! tell us about your salacious bathroom endeavors tomorrow at practice <333

you follow him out of the restrooms, leaning over to look at his messages and laugh, point to your phone which shows a string of messages of similar nature from ayasaki and natsume.

as you and matsukawa walk hand in hand down the streets of miyagi you can’t help but notice the butterflies blossom from the pits of your stomach exploding towards your beating heart.

“i’m thankful you’re the one who found out i don’t think i would want it be anyone else.”

“i wouldn’t want it to be anyone else either.”

as the twinkling street lights cheered you on, you stepped forward towards the future knowing you had matsukawa to lean on.

[nightingaletrash]

Hey! Can I ask you Doggo, Brother and Sweetheart from the Fable 3 ask? Thank you! I really love these :)

Thank you!! I answered Doggo and Brother already, so I’ll copy-paste those below the cut so you don’t have to dig for them ^^

--

In my personal canon, Elliot and Elise both exist and are twins. They were orphaned at a young age and taken on by Aya as wards, and so they were raised alongside Lorna as her closest friends. And both their lives were on the line in the throne room.

As they were her best friends, Lorna just couldn’t bring herself to sentence them both to death. Logan literally reached ‘one’ in his countdown when she panicked and made the split second decision for the protesters to be executed, a choice that has haunted her ever since. It’s what motivates her to be better, to live up to her ideals of what a Hero should be, and to never be so weak again.

After they managed to escape the castle themselves, the twins ended up in Bowerstone Industrial, trying to find some absolution for having survived the throne room and they began to work with Lazlo at the shelter. Elliot ended up falling for him, thanks to his now very complicated feelings towards Lorna, and they ended up engaged. So when Lorna showed up to rescue them from Ferret, nearly a year after the events of the throne room, it was a little awkward.

Ultimately Lorna and Elliot didn’t rekindle their relationship - they’d both changed too much, they’d moved on with their lives, and Lazlo was simply a better match in the end. It wouldn’t be fair to come between them, so Lorna wished them well.

But Elise wasn’t quite so ready to move on with her life. She’d always been the more fiery of the pair, despite playing the part of the gentle, delicate lady, and she wanted to help stop Logan however she could. As far as she was concerned, he was the one responsible for what happened in the throne room, not Lorna. She all but begged to be allowed to be part of the revolution, so Lorna brought her to the Bowerstone Resistance. She coordinated with Page, providing everything she knew about Albion’s nobles and the castle’s secret passageways that she, her brother and Lorna had discovered as children. Anything that could give the revolution an edge in the battles to come.

Elliot and Lazlo focused on keeping the people of Bowerstone alive and cared for, while Elise and Page focused on giving them a future to believe in.

--

Logan and Lorna were super close growing up despite the eight year age gap. Wherever Logan went, Lorna wasn’t usually far behind, and he was always willing to indulge his little sister when she wanted to play with him. If she had a bad dream or something spooked her, he was the first port of call and he always did his best to be there for her.

Things changed when Sparrow passed away and Logan became King, because he was so busy running Albion, and Lorna found herself having to rely on other people over her big brother. He did try to make time for his sister, but it was hard, bless him. The work-life balance didn’t come to him as easily as it did Sparrow, and he didn’t always have the energy to keep up with his sister.

When he planned to go to Aurora, Lorna was furious and spent her time either trying to convince him to stay or just giving him the cold shoulder. So to try and make it up to her, and to give her a companion she could always count on being there without fail, Logan started making some inquiries into getting her a puppy so that she might feel less lonely.

When he returned there was a very stark shift in their relationship. While he tried to keep up appearances and tried to be the same big brother he’d always been, he just couldn’t. He needed to protect his sister no matter what, and so he eventually began to hold her at arm’s length, kept her safely cloistered in the castle and worked tirelessly to try and prepare Albion for the Crawler. For a long time, Lorna made excuses for him and his behaviour. Walter told her just enough about what he knew to have happened - that he’d lost every soldier who had accompanied him - and that he was responding to that trauma, so she tried not to take things too personally. But the first time he lost his temper with her marked their relationship and she realised that maybe he’d changed forever.

She genuinely believed she could talk to him though, on the day of the protest. She thought she could get through to him and see that what he was doing was wrong. It was a huge shock when she realised that she didn’t know him anymore, and she knew she had to do something about it. She couldn’t ignore what he’d become anymore.

And then she goes to Aurora, fights through the Darkness, nearly loses herself and Walter to it, only to survive and learn that Logan had gone through the same thing, except he’d emerged from the experience alone. He’d lost everyone. And she realises then why he’d changed, because she feels changed herself. The question she still has is why he’d made the choices he had, and why he’d done such awful things to their own people. And she decides she’s doing to get that answer, one way or another.

Ultimately she did spare Logan. In part because of his own experience as king and with the Darkness - he’s fought and survived it, they’re going to need him - but because he’s her brother. She had always known there was a real possibility that she might have to order his execution, she even spent a long time trying not to think of him as her brother so that she’d be able to do just that, but in the end she can’t do it. And she knows it’s wrong. Because no matter how justified his execution his might be, it just sets her to walk the same path as him. If she executes him, she could one day justify the executions of civilians just as he had.

So she spares him, adds him to her war council, and appoints him as an Advisor because she needs his insight and experience. It’s a few months before they’re able to move beyond professionalism, but as they finally begin to open up about the things in their heads and the things they’ve been through, they begin to mend their bridges and the wounds begin to heal. After Walter’s death, Logan is appointed to the position of Royal Advisor, and they work together to try and restore Albion as their mother would have wished to see it.

–

As mentioned above, Lorna’s dog was a gift from Logan before he departed for Aurora. He’d reached out to several breeders in Albion - he looked for border collies specifically because he believed they’d have the energy to keep up with Lorna - and found one in Brightwall who had a new litter of puppies that were looking for homes once they were old enough.

He was able to procure Lorna the pick of the litter, and when the pups were ready to leave their mother, he took her to Brightwall under the pretense of having a surprise for her. She was still sulking about him going away and thought that he was just making a trip to the Academy so she could pick out some books or something, so you can imagine the sheer delight when she was introduced to the litter and told that she could pick whichever puppy she liked.

She named her puppy Lexel after a character in a book she’d been reading, and they became the very best of friends. Jasper did try to have a ‘no dogs on furniture’ rule, but found himself swiftly overruled because of course he was, and Lorna brought Lexel with her everywhere. She learned to train him herself using some books from the library and with a bit of help from Walter, and she was able to teach him to search for buried things like her mother’s dog. Combat training came along a little later, which Walter insisted on as a precaution.

All in all, Lexel is a very good boy.

[fizziefizzco]

A to Z of LynnCove: G is for Growing Family

SOme snippets of Lynn and Cove’s first child together. This is long but it wasn’t as perfect as it could have been. I still really enjoy it either way.

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

They weren’t even sure if it was going to work. The two of them had always wanted to have kids together, even now after Lynn had top surgery to feel more comfortable in their own body. Though there was some hint of … doubt , in their mind that told them it would never work for them. Though Lynn hadn’t been feeling the best recently, throwing up and the like - but they had mentioned that a bug was going around the aquarium staff , so anything was both on and off the table. Still… they had decided to take the test and see. 

Cove waited outside of the bathroom anxiously. His back pressed against the wall, he tried counting the boards in their hallway floor to pass the time. When Lynn left the bathroom, he looked up at them, only to find their eyes full of tears. He jumped to his feet instantly, arms reaching to rub his spouse’s shoulders. 

“Hey, Hey. It’s okay Lynn, there’s always another-” He spoke, but he was cut off by the soft, but tear filled chuckle of his spouse. 

“Look at the test, silly. I’m not sad at all.” Lynn pressed the little piece of plastic into his chest, taking a step back so they could watch their husband’s expression. Cove looked down at it as though he was looking for the meaning of life on this little thing. When he saw it he gasped involuntarily, and looked up to meet the eyes of Lynn. 

“So we..?” He asked, eyes beginning to brim with tears.

“Yeah.” Lynn beamed at him, nodding in response. “We’re going to be parents.” 

Cove dropped the test and went to hug Lynn, the two of them crying many, happy tears. Though it was just their first try, it was still a large feat for them and the two of them were beyond elated. There was going to be so much to do. 

[Rest under the cut] 

------

Telling Cove’s mom happened to be first, as she wasn’t in the area and thus they had to call her to tell her. Cove had dialed his mother’s number, his heart rate picking up as he waited for her voice to come over the other end. 

“Heyy babyy!” Kyra chimed out as she connected the call, “What is my son up to?” 

“Hey Mom. I have some big news for you.” Cove’s voice was shaky, as he was a mix of nerves and excitement as waited for his mom to ask what. 

“Ooh okay. Let me guess. Good news or bad news? You sound nervous.” Kyra could always tell her son’s tone over the phone, and on her end it was more obvious that he was nervous about something. She didn’t have any idea what his news could be. 

“Good news, mom. Very good news.” Cove had done some breathing and calmed down a little, though he was still quite nervous. The pieces fell together in Kyra’s brain. He wouldn’t call like this for something like a promotion… and since it wasn’t bad news it had to be -

“Oh my god! Lynn is pregnant, aren’t they?!” She shouted on her end of the phone, Cove having to pull his phone away from his ear for a second. His face heated up with a blush. 

“Yeah, mom. Lynn and I are going to be parents soon. Lynn is very excited, and so am I.” Cove smiled, and he felt that his mother knew he was happy too. 

“So how did your dad and Lynn’s moms take it?” Ah. There was the question. Kyra assumed that she was the last to get the news, not the first. 

“We were going to tell them over dinner. Aya too, and Lizzie.” There was a pause on the other end of the phone, and Cove contemplated calling out to his mother before she answered.

“I hope that dinner goes well then. Sorry, I had to step out before the people at the office though I was crazy for yelling with excitement.” Kyra smiled as she heard her son’s laughter on the other end. 

“I want more updates, and I expect the two of you to visit me soon. Haru wants to meet the two of you and I know you said you wanted to meet him as well.” Cove hummed in response. 

“We’ll make time to come out before it gets too hard for them.” Cove answered. 

“Knowing Lynn, they’ll kick your ass if they hear you say that. Alright baby, I have to get back to work. Call me soon. I love you.” 

“I love you too, Mom.” 

---------

Dinner with the family was going to be an especially fun affair this time. The group usually all had something to share with each other as it had been a month or so since they’d all last seen each other. This time it was going to be big, especially since it had been around five months since the group had last met. Everyone had been rather busy lately. Shiloh was starting his new book, Lizzie had her store to run, and their kid was ever the little bugger. Aya and Mr.Holden were both hard at work, and Ma and Mom were doing their own things. Lynn too, besides the big news, was doing some good things at work. She’d been doing great at the show she ran occasionally, and they’d gotten a new fish in. Though, Cove was dead sure that no one would be able to top their big news

Lynn wore a nice pair of black slacks and a white long-sleeved shirt that they left a little unbuttoned, braiding their hair to the side. Cove wore a similarly nice outfit for the evening and shook his head at his spouse with a smile at their outfit. 

“One of us is going to have to change.” He spoke, moving forward to take their hand. 

“Well it’s not going to be me. I won’t have many chances to wear nice clothes like this in a while.” Lynn chuckled softly and pulled their husband closer, Cove settling his hands on their waist and kissing them sweetly. 

“You’ll look amazing no matter what. You always look amazing.” Cove spoke though pressing kisses all over their face, with Lynn giggling softly. 

“Alright you sap. Let's get going.” They stepped away from their husband and waved goodbye to Fleche as they headed off to where they’d be having dinner at.

The restaurant was a fairly fancy place, somewhere that the group had only been a few times for various different family meals. It was a nice place for the two of them to tell their big announcement… though they knew that their family was prone to making scenes. Even Aya was a fun character, a loud and very warm woman who loved to bear-hug her stepson and step-child-in-law. Lynn and Cove walked into the restaurant and were directed over to where the family was. Lynn’s side was all there, except for Bernie, Lizzie and Shiloh’s kid. 

“Hey you two!” Lizzie called out to her little sibling and their husband. Mom and Ma got up to give the two of them hugs. 

“Hey.” Cove spoke still shyly, Lynn meanwhile giving both of their moms a hug. 

“Its been a while since we all met like this. I can’t wait to hear the hot news.” Lynn smiled and spoke as they sat down, with Cove taking a seat next to them. What big news indeed. There was some small chatter until Aya and Mr. Holden arrived. 

“I hope you didn’t start the party without us.” Mr. Holden spoke with a smile. Cove got up to hug his father, Aya too, pulled him into a warm hug as well. The group all sat down for their meal and ordered their drinks. Lynn was never one for drinking, even though they used to smoke as a teenager, and thus when they ordered an iced peach tea it wasn’t anything to bat an eye at. No, the real fun came when they were all getting their food handed to them. Now, announcing big news in the middle of eating wasn’t the smartest idea, but it was what they’d planned on doing, as sharing news while eating was the norm for the family. Lynn loved the vegan meals that this place had to offer, especially so was the vegan fettuccine alfredo their favorite. So they ordered it, and it came out, but when it was placed in front of them… 

“Oh god I think I’m going to be sick.” Lynn stood up from the table quickly, and without a moment to spare - darted off to the bathroom. Cove looked from where his spouse had been sitting, to where they’d run off to, the waiter also looking equally as confused. 

“I’m terribly sorry for my partner. They’ve been feeling sick lately. Could you take it back and we’ll order something else?” He’d taken it like a real champ, and the waiter nodded and took the dish back to the kitchen. When Lynn returned all eyes were on them. They’d undone their braid when they’d thrown up in the bathroom, and it was now in a rather messy looking bun.

“I suspect you have questions.” Lynn spoke as they sat back down. 

“Of course.” Mom responded, “But I’m more concerned with wether or not you’re doing okay? That’s not like you.” She looked at her child with the concerning eyes of a mother. Lynn let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of their neck. Cove looked at them, and Lynn met his eyes for a moment for Cove to nod, taking their hand in his. 

“I’m pregnant.” Lynn spoke after taking a deep sigh. Mr. Holden nearly spit out his drink, instead choking it down roughly while the rest of the party looked on in surprise. 

“Oh my goodness Lynn!” Ma was the first one to react, with a wide smile on her face as she reached across the table to her child. Lynn took their ma’s hand, finally letting themselves smile. “I’m so proud of the two of you.” 

Cove caught his dad’s expression out of the corner of his eye, turning to see the old man wiping tears away. 

“Dad.” Cove spoke with a teasing, yet loving tone. Mr. Holden let out a laugh with some tears. 

“I’m happy for the two of you, kid. To think, it feels like just yesterday that we moved to Sunset Bird and the two of you met. Now you’re married, successful adults who are going to have a child. I think past Cove would be surprised.” Mr. Holden offered a thumbs-up to his son. Lynn chuckled a little, though a warm blush appeared on their face. 

“Past Lynn always had a crush on Cove. I think she would be a bit shocked to find who I’ve become.” Lynn looked down at their lap with a warm smile. 

“Nonsense!” Lizzie spoke. “We’re all proud of you becoming who you are, and I think past you would be as well. I can’t wait to see what kind of kid you’ll have.”  

The rest of the dinner went along rather smoothly, Lynn though, was a bit sad that they had to order something different for dinner, since their favorite wasn’t agreeing with them. The family was all rather supportive… though they did exchange betting money, having placed the bets a long time ago. Ma won, by the way. After going home and returning to their fur baby,  Lynn and Cove relaxed again .

---------

Lynn hated this. They were ready for this child any day now at this point, their whole body ached and it was hard for them to do much of anything. The aquarium had given them maternity leave, though their coworkers had jokingly called it lynn-ternity leave since Lynn wasn’t male or female. It had been a rather easy go at it at this point though, besides all the usual pain. Lynn was thankful that they weren’t as big as they were right now during the summer, as all they’d been wearing for the past month or so were leggings and sweaters. 

Cove was being as ever-helpful as always, the two of them going to some local classes for expecting parents like them, and were both learning a lot. They’d lay together at night and joke about things like naming their kid after a fish, or wondering how long until they could teach their baby how to surf… that kind of thing. It seemed to excite the little one, who seemed to move around and cause Lynn some discomfort whenever they mentioned the ocean.

Cove had taken off work as well, and his job had sent some gifts home with him from the people he helped. It was all sweet, really. They’d spend their days working on the nursery, which was in the extra room that they had in their house. They had their bedroom, a study-slash sunroom, and then this room.. Which was now their son’s room. Son. 

It had been months since they found out what the sex their child would be was. A part of Lynn remained unsure, a bit worried that it would turn out like they had when they were born… being intersex wasn’t a bad thing, and the two of them promised that if their child was born that way… they’d not force them to change anything unless it would cause significant medical harm. Otherwise, what sex or gender their baby turned out to be was of no issue to them - they were just excited to meet the little one. Or in lynn’s case… they were impatient. 

Lynn groaned softly as they stood up from the couch in the study/sunroom. They were deeply bored and was wondering where their husband had run off to. If he’d left he’d tell them, either personally or with a text … but if Lynn was honest, Cove hardly ever wanted to leave Lynn alone these past few weeks. It was a bit suffocating at times, but he gave them space - even if they were just in different rooms of the same house. 

Lynn didn’t have to go far, he wasn’t in their son’s nursery, but he was in the bedroom. Cove was laid out on the bed, a book in his hand and glasses on his face … but he was asleep. Lynn chuckled softly to themselves as they went to go lay down next to them...  they could do with a small nap or so. The moment that they’d laid down though, was when Cove felt the dip of the bed next to him and opened his eyes. 

“Hey.” Cove hummed, setting his book down on the end table, “Come to nap with me?” Lynn hummed in response, moving closer to their husband. 

“I was just thinking about names before I fell asleep.” Cove sheepishly spoke up again as he wrapped an arm around Lynn’s shoulders. 

“We’re naming him after the ocean, right? I mean we gotta.” They chuckled softly, though only shook his head with a smile. His long, green hair tied to the side in a loose ponytail.

“We don’t have to, you know. There’s no rule.” 

“I know love, but I think it would be cute. Like your name.” Cove heated up at Lynn’s words 

“There aren’t that many unique names like mine.” He mumbled softly, though one look from Lynn and his mouth shut just as quickly.

“You’ve met my friends. Pen, Hero, and come on.. Jersey! People seem to want to pick whatever they want for a name, why can’t we have a little fun?” Lynn laced their fingers with Cove’s, whose other hand went to rub Lynn’s bump. 

“Don’t listen to Lynn, sweet baby. I’ll be there to make sure they don’t choose something completely awful.”  Lynn gasped at the remake their husband made. 

The two of them ended up not napping at all, and laid there side by side running off names to eachother. At one point Cove had grabbed his tablet from the sunroom and brought it in so that they could look at some websites to give them ideas. There were just so many options. In the end, they had a small list of names that both of them could agree on. Ones that were unique, or normal, and some that were undoubtedly inspired by the ocean.

--------

When it was all over, and their son was placed into their arms, It was a brilliant feeling. Lynn was sweaty and a mess, but they’d never felt more alive in that moment when their eyes first fell on their son. 

“Hello little one.” Lynn cooed at the newborn. “I’m your noni.” Lynn hummed, the term feeling good in their mouth. Lynn and Cove had wondered what their son would call them. Cove was Dad, or Papa, or Daddy…. But Lynn… Lynn had settled on a few before it was time, and Noni was the one that just felt… good, in that moment. They looked up and their eyes met Cove’s, and with a large smile, they beckoned him to come closer.

“Would you like to hold him?” Lynn asked and Cove blushed, his face a bright red. 

“I-I’d love to!” Cove moved to stand right next to his partner’s bedside, and peered over at the small bundle that laid in their arms. The little one seemed to have a bit of hair on them, that same green hair that matched his father’s, they wouldn’t know the eye color for a little while, but the face reminded him of Lynn’s only with his nose. Lynn showed him how to hold their son, and watched their husband take the small bundle from their arms. 

Cove marveled at this small thing. It took so much work to get him here, and the joy he felt in his chest was nothing short of overwhelming. Cove took his free hand to gently rub the baby’s cheek, the biggest of smiles on his face. 

“What are the two of you naming him?” The nurse asked, curious for curiosity’s sake. Lynn met Cove’s eyes and he nodded at them, with Lynn turning back to the nurse. 

“His name is Triton.”

[7deadlycinderellas]

If the summer of our lives could just come again, ch 38 (Final)

Holy shit I made it

AO3 link

 Oldtown

The air outside Oldtown is humid and warm. There are so many flowers that the whole town smells perfumed. Shireen almost squeals in delight, and Jojen’s never seen anything like it. Gilly and little Sam are delighted too, even the tiny handful of Baratheon men her mother had assigned to accompany and protect them seem enamored of the sunshine. It’s lovely enough that Shireen almost wishes that Brienne hadn’t left them to return briefly to Storm’s End, then perhaps to Tarth, or to Casterly Rock. She deserved it though, Shireen thought, she had more than upheld her vows and done her duty, both to Uncle Renly and herself.

“I never knew the sun could be this warm,” Sam whispers, turning his face to the glowing orb in the sky.

Jojen stares over the horizon, his face rendered almost blank by wonder.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this far from home, even when we went north.”

Gilly had smiled and nodded. When they reach the edge of the city, they park their horses outside an inn who says they have space for a small group of travelers. Shireen retrieves the pack with her writing, it’s bulging at it’s seams, and suddenly Gilly takes the lead.

“How do you know where you’re going?” Shireen asks, barely able to keep up.

“I just do,” Gilly insists. Shireen shrugs at Jojen, then takes his hand and tries to catch up.

They had stopped in Dragonstone, for just a few moons, to see her mother. Shireen couldn’t quite put to words where their relationship truly sat now, but she was grateful that her mother no longer looked at her as though she was a monster for existing. Maybe they would never be close, but now she would not be the one who told her how to follow her dream, to live the life she wanted.

And with the impending responsibility of Storm’s End in her future, Shireen is perfectly at ease with taking this time for herself.

The city sprouts up on both sides of the honeywine, winding cobblestone streets under their feet. And then, it appears in front of them. The collection of domes and towers that made up the Citadel.

Gilly’s steps stay fast, stay certain, and Shireen suspects that she knows exactly where they are going. Past the green sphinxes was easy enough, but Gilly seemed to know each and every turn to find the library.

The library does it’s best to take Shireen’s breath away. She gazes up at the tall stacks and the high ceiling. She feels Jojen go still beside her, and realizes he must be as enraptured at her. She overhears some of the acolytes in their robes talking, something about the seasons, and tires to listen.

One of the acolytes looks up and opens his mouth as if to tell them that they can’t be in here. Gilly doesn’t give him the chance, but walks briskly past, pulling little Sam by the hand, to the acolyte at the fourth table in line, a portly young man who hasn’t even raised his head at the noise yet.

“Spring lasted only a little more than a year, and the stars say everything’s still in motion and if this keeps changing….”

He looks up. Gilly smiles. The young man knocks over his ink well.

Shireen feels a smile on her face too, though she’s not quite sure why.

 Winterfell

Ned tries to wipe the sweat from his face when his daughter enters his room. It’s too hard for him to move very much anymore, but he tries not to let her see. Wolkan, the new young maester sent from the Citadel, tells him it won’t be long. And while the days he has are getting harder and harder, he keeps finding himself wishing for just a few more.

Arya’s spending her evening sitting with him, on his left side. All of his children have spent the time they can by his side, but even though he would never admit it, Catelyn had always been right; Arya was always the child he was closest to.

“Tell me of Winterfell, daughter, “ Ned asks, and Arya puts down her book.

She smiles.

“Meera taught Arra to hold her bow this morning. Her hands are too chubby the draw the string yet though. Last I saw, Gendry was giving her a piggyback ride around the courtyard while the others were training.”

She smiles wider, briefly, at the thought of Gendry swinging the little girl around, making her laugh and squeal. She teased him horribly about how he was so grouchy around everyone, except, it seemed, for mouthy girls.

“The guards are training again, now that we have enough of them and enough laborers. They even let me join without complaint now.”

Ned coughs.

“I do wish I got to admire you in action with that blade again.”

Arya pats her thigh, where Dark Sister still has it’s place in her holster.

“Sansa’s working on her cloak, she’s embroidering it with a red wolf. Ygritte’s still working with Val to finalize their plans. “

Ned smiles at her stories.

“And what of Winterfell itself? Is it still healing well?”

Arya’s face is wistful.

“It’s going on. The crew sent from King’s Landing have been doing their labor as ordered, though the chains make it difficult. We’re not sure how to make it safe without it though. Summer’s come in like a cart racing downhill. It’s been warm and sunny nearly every day, not even any summer snows yet. All of the flowers and the strawberries too are in bloom, even that peach tree that Maester Wolkan rooted in the glass garden has fruited.”

Ned’s face is starting to look wane and tired, so Arya slows. He coughs once, and tells her,

“Keep going. I’ll listen as long as I can.”

“The word from the Citadel,” Arya continues. “Is that these seasons are pasing unusually fast. Word might be if the speed keeps up, a future season might not even last a year…”

Arya keeps talking and Ned falls asleep. She stays with him in the quiet, before standing to leave.

That night, with the images of a fruitful summer drifting in and out of his mind, Ned passes away into the night.

The memorial is held, Winterfell grieves, and another Lord Stark joins the hall of his ancestors in the crypt.

And in the summer afterwards, is when the departures begin.

Meera and Bran are the first. Arra can sit upright in a saddle by herself now, but Bran still rides behind her to save the use of a pony.

“It’s going to be so strange being here without you three,” Arya says, helping Arra put her hands on the front of the saddle and hold on correctly while her father takes the reins.

“It was going to happen sometime,” Meera admits, mounting her own horse. “It almost feels like I’ve been putting off my own responsibilities. I shouldn’t do it anymore.”

“And you’ll always be able to find us,” Bran tells his sister, tilting his head towards the summer sky, where his ravens fly free above Winterfell, ready to depart. “May be a bit of a trial keeping them from getting shot at first, but I think I can handle it.”

Summer is waiting patiently beside the road for the others. When Meera’s horse steps close, he raises himself up on his hind legs with enough gentleness that her horse doesn’t spook. She rubs his snout and his tail wags, eager to be back in the wild. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to live as close as he did in Winterfell, but perhaps a single wolf could find a home in a swamp. And even if he ended up fleeing for the forests near Moat Caillin, he would still be close enough. Bran would always be close enough.

“Wait,” Arya says, stepping forward to Meera. She removes a wrapped item from her pack.

Meera’s eyes go wide.

“You’re giving us the catspaw’s dagger?”

Arya nods. She gestures at herself, Dark Sister on her hip, and back to Jon, who’s standing back a bit and explaining to younger man in an overlarge guard’s uniform about Longclaw.

“There’s no reason for us to hog all the Valyrian steel left in the north, and we know you’ll keep it safe.  Besides,” she twists and looks where Bran and Arra have pulled up on their horse beside them, “Your House played a role in the war, even if it’s not one most people will remember from history. You deserve an heirloom to commemorate.”

And also, she thinks, this dagger nearly killed Bran once. It makes sense for him to help keep watch over it.

Arra reaches out for her aunt’s hand, calling out “aya,” the closest approximation her baby voice can manage. Arya squeezes her chubby hand and kisses it, before standing back up beside her husband and the other Winterfell men to watch them go.

Catelyn had bid farewell to her second youngest son earlier that day, for it was time too to prepare to leave Winterfell with her daughter, and for them to depart for Casterly Rock.

“I almost feel like I’m superfluous to you,” Catelyn admits as Sansa finishes the stitching on her gown, “You’ve got everything so well handled.”

“Nonsense, Mother,” Sansa admonishes, “I had to get married twice without you. I may not be able to do it with my whole family- but I’d like at least you to be there. Besides, if you’re planning to return to Riverrun, this will cut your travel time in half. “

That had been a surprise to all of them, that after Ned’s passing and Robb being officially recognized as Lord Stark, that Catelyn had expressed desire to return to her childhood home.

“My brother is lord now, my father gone. My uncle has earned some rest in his older years, and I would like to ensure that my home will prosper. I think I’ve gone a good job here, and I’ve loved raising every last one of you, but I am not truly a Stark, and without Ned, I do not feel like I truly belong here.”

And to all of the Starks, it’s actually Jon who she admits this to first, a consequence of the strange sort of ceasefire their relationship has become. He did his best to be understanding, though he does tell her that he spent much of his life feeling the same way.

“Even if you continue feeling that way, I feel like the Starks will always welcome you.”

The day Sansa and Catelyn leave Winterfell is the sunniest of any of the summer days so far.

“Hail one of Bran’s ravens if you need us. Especially me, if I need to filet your husband. I didn’t get to the last one, so I want first dibs.”

Sansa snorts wildly while embracing Arya. She’s dressed in a practical traveling gown, her bow once again strapped to her back. At her feet, Lady sits, waiting.

Arya pats her shoulder, and adjusts her quiver.

“Remember to keep your string well waxed. Meera always told us that was the most important part of maintaining your bow. And don’t get rusty. Just because you’re going to be a Lady of a great house now is no reason to let your skill degrade.”

Arya’s taking her chance to lecture Sansa on propriety. Sansa already feels like crying so she lets her.

When the party departs, Catelyn doesn’t look back, but Sansa does. Lady yips beside the party, running along the green grass in great bounds. She leaves her childhood home with one eye in the past, but her whole mind turned to the future.

In the coming moons, Val and Ygritte work out the numbers.

“The farmers have begun to work upon the New Gift,” Ygritte tells Jon that night in his chambers, “But the sheep and goat herders prefer the land north of where the wall stood. The animals have adapted to the land there, the cold and wind, it’s necessary for their coats and appetites. And the hunting clans, they’re always going to prefer living in the wild land where the beasts they hunt aren’t in as much competition with men.”

And Jon knows that Ygritte too, would always prefer the wild land.

“We’ll help them then,” he tells her, “We’ll lead them and help them resettle. With Rowan and the trees, we won’t have to be as divided as we once were. All of this land can truly be the north.”

Ygritte nods, and cuddles into his chest, and that night, they both dream of snow and caves.

The plan has been set for a while, and some of the Free Folk have already left to stake out their futures. Robb had wanted to stop them, to do the resettling in a more orderly manner, but Val had shaken her head. While most of the Free Folk were willing to obey laws, they were not willing to wait for lords to tell them how and when to live.

Rickon had been among the first to forge his path north, along with Roland, the young warrior who had stolen him away.

The night before the next departure, Jon finds Arya with Gendry during supper.

“You two can still back out if you want,” he tells them, “I wouldn’t put the both of to hardship again, especially if you’re thinking of starting a family.”

Arya shakes her head, but it’s Gendry who answers.

“Come on Jon, you know the two of us aren’t meant to live our lives in a castle giving orders or being ordered around.”

“And if you’re so concerned about this mission being dangerous when it comes to our futures and starting a family, have you talked to Ygritte about it?” Arya interjects. “Wildlings have been having families in the wilds over the wall for centuries, and I’m sure she’ll have opinions.”

Jon looks abashed, and tells the both of them that they will be ready to leave at sunup.

It does become a topic conversation in Arya’s quarters that night.

“We haven’t really talked about it, since the battle,” Gendry admits, slipping into bed and curling behind her. “Is children something you want? And if you do, are you alright with raising them on the road or in a northern village instead of in a comfortable castle?”

Arya grins, and pushes back against him, nestling further into his arms.

“Considering the number of times we ended up like this after the battle, without my access to my tea...I’m surprised it’s not a question that we’ve been forced to deal with already. I...I always thought the instant we slipped up, I’d have one on me.”

Part of her wonders how Ygritte had avoided it too. Perhaps she knew the herbs, but Jon’s stories didn’t suggest a lifestyle conducive to regular brewing of tea.

“That is always what I thought too,” Gendry admits, playing with her hair “You get it pushed into your mind that it can happen any single time...and then you start to think you want it, and it doesn’t.”

Arya smiles, thinking of seeing Gendry with Arra, thinks of how happy she was with her as well. She feels her eyes falling closed at her husband’s touch, but forces herself to answer.

“I’d be perfectly happy to have a whole pack with you in the wilds of the north, live in a little village, teach them to hunt and make weapons and tend sheep...but we’d play it by ear. If they needed to grow up in a castle, we could always come back, find a place here willing to harbor an upjumped bastard and a wild, improper lady.”

They both laugh, because they know that neither of them are those people anymore.

“We could come back to Winterfell, or visit Shireen when she ends up in Storm’s End, or go finally meet Davos’s wife and sons…” Gendry mumbles as they drift off to sleep. Arya watches his face briefly, childlike in the ease of sleep, and wonders again how she got so lucky to find him again.

In the light of the sunrise, Jon gathers the party to leave Winterfell. Ygritte gathers the people they are guiding, and is preparing them while Jon bids Robb and Val farewell. Val moves to speak to the Free Folk with Ygritte when Robb tells Jon.

“You may think you have no place here Jon, but you will always be welcome.”

Robb embraces him as well as she can with his one arm, before pulling back.

“And-” he tilts his head towards where Arya and Gendry wait, “If there are any new Stark cubs… from either of you, you better bring them to Winterfell, at least to show them where they came from.”

Jon sniffs a bit when they separate. Robb had always treated him as a brother, and Jon feels like he might as well be sixteen again, leaving for the Night’s Watch.

“Rule as Father would have wanted you to,” Jon tells him, before turning to join the others.

There’s one more person who’s supposed to join them, but Jon’s not sure how she will. He enters the Godswood, looking about. It’s easy enough, Rowan has made herself a nest underneath one of the old oak trees, and right now is sitting, face serene in the summer sun.

“Are you still joining us Rowan?” he asks her. She nods without words at first.

“In time, I want to feel the sun a bit longer.”

When they cross through the gates, Ygritte admits to Jon,

“It was fine to get to see a castle...but I’m glad to be returning north.”

Arya upon her horse, turns at one point to her left. Her ear still bothers her, but out in the wild, it’s different. It’s both quieter, the buzzing especially isn’t as bad out here, and so much of the world here is alive. She remembers Bran talking about reaching out with his ravens in the Neck for the first time, how everything seemed to breathe and to speak. The unbalance feels different in the wild, with creeks babbling and birds chirping instead of people chattering. But she turns towards the buzzing, and one bit of her silent spot becomes a flash of gray.

Nymeria, guarding her human’s vulnerable side. Arya smiles, and in the distance, spots the flash of white fur showing Ghost also running alongside. They both stop in their tracks and turn to howl. And far behind them, Arya can just make out a howl in response. Their brother, calling out farewell from behind the castle walls.

The road is gentle at first. When they reach the land of the Gift, they pass a few small settlements that have begun to farm, and there is little conflict. With everything in bloom for summer, foraging and hunting is easy enough for the group, and at night, the sky is clear enough that all the stars can be seen with ease.

Some nights, Rowan comes through the camp and whispers with Ygritte all the secrets of the stars that the children of the forest held. For even while she had had her fill of the south, Ygritte was still prone to gazing at where man had never gone.

Jon tries not to ask too much of the weirwoods, as abundant as they are here in the north, because they’ve done so much for man already. But sometimes the whispers still speak to him, warn of danger, though they often don’t see it as much. When he tries again to thank them, they almost seem to laugh.

The wall still stands, though it is clearly weeping. Jon has no idea if it will ever truly fall, has no idea what would even happen if it did. Would it slowly shrink and disappear, or would it be diminished, piece by piece, until the whole structure collapsed under itself?

Castle Black is empty, a relic of only a few years. Arya leads scouts through the remains, Dark Sister at her side, to clear it out and find any survivors, or squatters as it may be. They find none, but they do find fallen. Thankfully, the residents of the north are well used to building funeral pyres now, and saying words for people they don't know.

Soon the structure become a quality shelter before it becomes time to move past the Wall. The old barracks are opened up, but in summer, most choose to sleep in the outbuildings and battlements, in the open air.

“This would be a good location for a trading post,” Ygritte comments, “Even an inn, if there’s an enterprising sort among us.”

“Eastwatch used to trade with wildlings, even though it was forbidden,” Jon tells her. Ygritte’s idea is a good one, he thinks. There’s structures already in place, it’s central and easy to find from both sides, and already built to be defended.

The crowd is in one of the training yards, and both Arya and Gendry are in the middle being dogged by children. There’s a pack among them, young children who were hidden away on Bear Island and who’s mothers want to raise them in the land they came from. Children who only saw a bit of the action, and are desperate for stories.

They both look oddly comfortable, Jon thinks, being surrounded by young ones. He’ll have to mention Ygritte’s suggestion to them if their adventuring ever needs to take a slower pace.

That night, the sky is initially clear, but eventually takes a dark turn and a summer snow dusts the structures of Castle Black while the traveler’s sleep. In the morning, they might regret not taking the black brother’s barracks, with their large hearths, but before the snow, they had wanted the freedom of sleeping in the summer night.

Jon is jostled awake in his bedroll once the sky changes by Ygritte returning from her night-time stargazing with Rowan. Snowflakes dust her fiery hair.

“It’s snowing,” she comments. Jon chuckles, turning on one side to face the open window, “I could tell,” he responds.

She’s curls up behind him, and Jon can practically feel her eyes on him, even though he can already feel the pull of sleep beckoning back to him.

“Rowan said something to me,” she admits, “about humans and our names.”

“What was that?” Jon asks, one eye open.

“How the have a way of coming to suit us-”

Jon lets out a long snore and Ygritte realizes she’s lost him. She rolls onto her back, staring at the ceiling, blocking where the stars would be. The snow is so light, it will probably be gone by morning. Though she is alone, she continues her last thought.

“Jon, of the snow,” she whispers.

[quicksilverlightning]

The All Might Fan Forum Discussion Board

 ALL MIGHT FAN FORUM

General Discussion All Might Battles Meeting All Might     Rescued by All Might     All Might Encounters     >Small Might Encounters (New!) Fanart and Fanfiction

CaptainCelb09 So, I've met All Might before. I just didn't know it was him.

It wasn't a big deal or anything - I tripped walking home one day and this really tall skinny guy stopped to make sure I was okay. I was embarrassed someone saw me and brushed him off, practically ran away. Now I'm sitting here with my face on fire cause I tripped in front of ALL MIGHT and he tried to help me up and akslhsdfouashefgoawu I cannot fucking believe this I should have taken his hand

070809 Pudding Cups

Time - 6:53 PM

Scene - Shofu Park

Your Narrator - crying on a bench

My girlfriend had just broken up with me. Through text. Like, ouch, right? Anyway.

I'm just kinda staring at my phone, blurry eyed, kicking at maple leaves, wishing I could text her back cause she just blocked my number when this tall blond guy shuffles up and takes a seat at the other end of the bench. Doesn't say anything, just sits, placing his grocery bag beside him. It's a public park, whatever right?

I'm wiping my eyes, putting my phone back in my pocket and suddenly there's this white thing in front of me - blond guy is offering me a napkin, Still doesn't say anything, just smiles a little. I take it and wipe my eyes, blow my nose, try to get it together cause apparently I look bad enough that this complete stranger is worried about me. I'm stuffing the napkin in a pocket when he holds something else out - a chocolate pudding cup, one of those with the little spoons in the lid.

I'm kinda like wha? but take it anyway and he takes another one out of his bag, he's got a six pack of them in there, and he tears off the lid and starts snacking and I do the same cause fuck it, right? I eat the whole thing and he gives me another one, like we're old friends or something and I'm halfway through it when he finally speaks.

"Bad day?"

And I can't help but laugh. It's so dumb. I'm single and heartbroken and eating pudding cups with this stranger on a public park bench as it gets dark and I don't know what to feel anymore. I tell him what happened and we eat the whole six pack together, shootin' the shit until the street lights come on. He calls me "young man" and claps me on the shoulder and it's so dumb but it cheered me up. He puts all the trash back into the bag and tosses it in the bin and tells me he needs to get going and hell, I do too.

I didn't even get his name. I thought about that encounter a lot though. I have a new girlfriend and she's great. We were together when All Might's last battle happened, watching everything go down on the TV at a bar and we're all losing our shit and I lose it even harder when the smoke clears cause that's the guy I ate pudding cups with what the hell

The last three years, any time I'm having a bad day, I go to the store and get some chocolate pudding cups. Whenever the world was just a shitty place, I'd think about that blond guy, shuffling through the park and making things better as he went along.

And I guess it figures that man would turn out to be All Might, cause that's what All Might has always done - moved forward and made things better.

spite-and-aesthetic my dumbass cat

small might plucked my stupid cat out of a tree wtf kinda cliche is this guy

AM_FAN0112 i cannot BELIEVE

TWO YEARS. TWO FUCKING YEARS ALL MIGHT HAS BEEN COMING INTO MY SHOP ARE YOU SERIOUS WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL TOSHINORI

I'M DEADASS SERIOUS HE COMES IN EVERY FEW WEEKS AND BUYS A BOOK AND SOMETIMES WE CHAT ABOUT MANGA AND HE ALWAYS ASKS HOW SCHOOL IS GOING AND HELPS WITH MY ENGLISH HES SO NICE AND TOLD ME TO CALL HIM TOSHINORI IS THAT HIS REAL NAME?? A CODENAME?

I GOT HIM HOOKED ON SUGAR SUGAR CAT CAFE ITS THE DUMBEST SYRUPY SHOUJO ROMANCE AND WEVE BEEN READING IT TOGETHER FOR OVER A YEAR WHAT IS MY LIFE

Sexi-tery Long post is long

Lemme set the scene; it's raining buckets, and I'm on my way to a job interview in the ritzier part of town. I've got my best clothes on - nice, crisp suit jacket, smart-looking skirt, a decent-but-could-be-shinier pair of heels. I've just left lunch with a friend and I've got an hour before the most important interview of my life.

That's when a bus rolls by and drenches me in the greasy puddle-water of downtown Tokyo.

Y'all, I was trying not to hyperventilate. I don't have time to go home and change. Even if I did, these were my best clothes. I'm screwed, no one is going to hire me looking like a sopping mess, *I* wouldn't hire me looking like this whatdoIdo

Someone picks up my umbrella. I didn't even realize I'd dropped it. I'm still freaking out. Someone is pulling me, I'm not even on this planet right now, someone is talking to me, I have an interview, where are my anxiety meds?

There's this blond guy hunched over, trying to bring me back down, telling me to breathe, calm down, you'll be okay. He's breathing with me and it's working and I think I might be crying but my face is so wet I can't tell.

He gets the story out of me once I'm back on planet Earth, and gets this determined look on his face. Drags me across the street into a clothing store. A really, really nice clothing store. Outta-my-budget, outta-my-lifetime sort of clothing store. Pushes me to the racks, tells me to pick out whatever I want.

I don't even question it - I may be back on Earth, but I'm still in the upper atmosphere somewhere. I grab a few things to take to the dressing room and fit myself into an extremely nice pantsuit. An attendant comes in to help, gets the tags off so I can wear the clothes out, bags my soaking wet puddle of fabric and blond guy pays for it all without even blinking.

He leads me back out, hails a cab, and I'm like, what now? And we pull up to a salon and he gets my hair dried and done, I KNOW he must have tipped the hairdresser a crazy amount to get me in and out that quickly, and the cab is idling outside the whole time, waiting to take me to my interview when we're done. All the while, blond guy is smiling, cracking jokes, and just being all-around charming. I'm wondering what I'm going to owe for this, what he wants, maybe he's some sort of creeper? But he seems so nice?

And when we're done, he prods me over to the cab, but doesn't get in. Doesn't ask for anything, just wishes me good luck. Like, who even is this guy? Who does all that for a total stranger?

All Might, that's who. Holy crap you guys, All Might got me to my interview on time and it's the best job I've ever had. I'd still be pushing pencils in a miserable office if he hadn't been there that day.

 Kirasagwa74

A train ride

I remember a time before All Might. I remember when the Yakuza worked out in the open and villains took what they wanted without fear.

I'm old, is what I'm saying. These bones ache and creak every time the weather even thinks about changing. I don't complain too much; I'm used to it. I'm used to being out of the loop and lost in the shuffle. It's alright - I have my routines and I stick to 'em.

One of them is riding the train to a favorite cafe. They have an excellent coffee blend. I've seen All Might on that train many times, though I never knew it was him until a little while ago. He's a good man with kind eyes. If it was crowded, he would let me have his seat. Chat about the good ol' days, heroes from another generation. I haven't seen him on the train in a while. I miss him.

SingleSuperMom31 Carried Home

This was pretty recent - just a few months ago. Long post up ahead.

Context: I'm a single mom. My ex didn't want kids, so I've raised Aya by myself. It's been a little difficult lately thanks to a broken arm, but I've managed.

Anyway, I took Aya to a local park a few months ago. It's a few minutes walk from the apartment, and I wanted to grab some things from the store anyway, so I took her out to let her burn off some energy. Her Quirk is Photosynthesis, so she has a lot of it!

When we get there, the first thing Aya wants to do is get on the swings. She's almost three and my arm is broken - I don't want to put her in a regular swing in case she falls, so I'm trying to maneuver her into one of the strapped swings with one arm. Aya isn't heavy, but I'm still struggling to manage when a thin man with blond hair walks up.

"Ma'am? Would you like some help?"

He's tall, super super tall, and gaunt, but he has a kind smile. Aya likes him right away and helps her into the swing and pushes her a little while she screams to go higher.

He was so, so nice to my little girl. He let her call him Toshi and played with her for over an hour, lifting her on the monkey bars and holding her hands on the balance beam since I couldn't manage it at the moment. He sits with me when some other children come to play, and we talk a while, about Aya, about how my arm got broken (it's quite a story), about being a single parent.

It's hard, you know? I love my kid, I'd die for her, but it's still hard, and it's even harder with this arm. He was just so nice - he had this presence, like you could tell him anything and I did. I told him about my ex, that he left, that he didn't want to be a part of Aya's life. You could tell he was really listening, not just being polite. I've gotten a little teared up, and he just smiles and pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket. He's quiet for a little bit, watching the kids play. Then he turns back to me, and I know I'll remember this for the rest of my life, word for word -

"I don't have any family of my own, so perhaps it doesn't mean much coming from me," he looks a little awkward. "But for what's it's worth, I think you're doing a fine job. One day, Aya will be old enough to appreciate what a strong, lovely mother she has."

Aya sees me crying and comes rushing over, hugging my knees and I'm a mess and maybe a little bit in love. He's just so kind and Aya has crawled into my lap and hugs my neck. It's sunset, so her Quirk is finally slowing down and she falls asleep while I'm still reeling over the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

I'm apologizing, it's late, I still haven't gone to the store, Aya is asleep on my lap and I'm trying to figure out how I'm gonna get her home with this broken arm and he offers to walk us home. He lifts Aya up and puts her head on his shoulder and I know she's drooling a bit, but it doesn't seem to bother him. He radiates this goodness and warmth and safety; I don't even hesitate to invite him in for a cup of tea. He comes in long enough to put Aya on the couch, but doesn't stay. He wished us both well, and that was it. I took Aya to the park every day that week, hoping to see him again, but I didn't.

Until two weeks ago - I was making dinner and Aya was watching cartoons. I thought it was cartoons anway, when she yells -

"Mommy! That's the man who carried me home!"

And that's definitely him, there's no mistaking it. I shouldn't be letting a three year old watch this, but I can't look away either. All Might played with my Aya. All Might told me I was a good mother. All Might carried my daughter home. All Might is fighting for his life on my television right now.

I didn't know what love was until I held Aya in my arms. I didn't know what heroism was either, not until that night. Not until I connected two people together and realized they were the same person. I didn't know what a hero was until I realized that "hero" wasn't a title All Might put on and took off, it's something he IS, 24/7, on and off the clock. I'd live the rest of my life with a broken arm if I could have half of the strength and kindness that exists in this man, if I could be even a fraction of the person he is.

I think about him every day. I got an All Might keychain, so I'd always have something close by to remind me that heroism isn't always about punching villains and holding up buildings; sometimes, heroism is about talking to a stranger. Sometimes, heroism is about pushing a swing.

Sometimes, heroism is about carrying a little girl home.

[world-without-authors]

15th anniversary of our madness!

Yes, you read that right. Today, April 13th 2021, marks the 15th anniversary of when I was crazy enough to bring out the idea of a crazy roundrobin crossover on the Moony Witcher Forum.

When on that day, April 13th 2006, I made a post with the general idea for Mai Dire Fine I never thought I would be starting a saga that would be still ongoing 15 years later.

But here we are, with me and Aelit still working on its latest sequel of sorts, The World without Authors. Compared to back then, our writing skills improved a lot (Mai Dire Fine was not a good story) and, while there’s always more we can still learn, we are proud of our improvement.

So, where are we? We published recently the 10th chapter of The World without Authors, which is currently around 69.000 words – we’re already closing in towards Blank Sprite‘s length (77.000) and that’s just part of the first arc, Scattered Shards. Adding in the previous stories, we’re past 320.000 already.

Even with The World without Authors‘s “all-stars” cast, we still only have a total of five characters from Mai Dire Fine, only three of which (Sergio, Nikki and Kathleen) were part of the main cast as the other two (Faith and Virgilia) were introduced towards the end… well, technically there’s a sixth character, the mysterious “Professor”, but his identity is spoilers as of now. I believe there might be enough hints between The World without Authors and my older behind the scenes post for you to be able to guess his identity already, but the reveal is meant to be a nasty surprise that will set up the second and third arcs, Venezia Immortale and The Dove and the Crow. Yes, we’re planning (well… sort of planning) that far!

But enough of that, let’s head to the celebration specials!

Unfortunately, the Q&A session was a complete failure. We didn’t receive any question by the deadline, but the mailbox is still open! Feel free to ask us anything, we’ll make a Q&A post as soon as the question come in, and we’ll keep it updated every time new questions arrive.

We still have a few more goodies, though. The first is a bit of an experiment on my part, I took one of my early PPC missions, A Very Awkward Exorcism, alongside a couple scenes from the interlude set chronologically just before it, Planes, Guns, Clones and other usual PPC Stuff, and gave them a complete makeover into a comic. Yes, I made what I believe might be the first full PPC mission in comic form! You can download it in PDF format (Trigger warning for rape, contains some partial nudity) here. I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Another thing I made is a special anniversary illustration, in which our characters, and a few we borrowed, from all over our works enjoy some partying. With all the things happening due to the Unravel they deserve some off time, don’t  you think?

Let’s start with the back row, left to right.

First one is Ai Minase, from Koikatu. She has the distinction of being the “adopted canon character” of The World Without Authors – while we have other canons working with Strike Dove, she’s the only one who became part of the main cast on a deep level. While Hayate Yagami, her crew, the Razgriz and Long Caster also work with my main cast, they’re more of external allies. Her dress looks a bit like a tablecloth, but that’s a canon-ish outfit of hers: while she never wears it in her route, it is in her character card in the slot that gets used during dates in normal gameplay.

Next to her we have Keiko Caterina Turbo, Sergio and Nikki’s daughter with her own PPC spinoff, Wings of Canon: Second Strike. She is also the only survivor of the Second Strike cast, having lost Shiro and Saki in the Unravel, and as such the role of representative of her series is all on her. She also doesn’t like skirts, at all, why do you ask?

Then we have Hajime Irene Turbo, Keiko’s half sister/alternate incarnation from the timeline in which Sergio got together with Ami instead. She’s an original The World without Authors character, but still related to characters from my previous works. Fun fact: Keiko and Hajome’s birthday, April 13, in indeed based on the day and month we began Mai Dire Fine. If we consider HQ Standard Time (the PPC’s timeline) to coincide with the real world, they turned two years old today.

Next is Hajime’s mother, Ami Tanegashima. Mentioned first in I don’t like luxury cars to pave her way for her posthumous role in Blank Sprite, we can consider her the representative of my Blank Sprite original characters here. She’s now stuck with the absurdity of not only having a daughter she never thought she could have, but also of said daughter being currently only four years younger than her. Considering Ami’s small frame, there will likely be plenty of times in which she’s mistaken for Hajime’s younger sister… also, now that she’s 20 years old and of drinking age in Japan, she discovered she actually likes alcohol. And can deal with it surprisingly well despite her light build (as opposed to Sergio and Nikki who both can’t hold their liquor)… yes, she had more than a few glasses here. Luckily, she doesn’t drink very often.

Toasting with her is Aya Kibokami, the “fragment” that split off Madoka Kaname at the end of Blank Sprite. As such, she’s here as a representative of canon characters of Blank Sprite. Due to a certain scene of Madoka Magica, in which Madoka expresses a desire to go out drinking with her mother (who really enjoys drinking) once old enough, there is fanon of her eventually developing the same taste for liquor. While we’ll likely never know if the canon Madoka would, Aya is the other heavy drinker of my cast and here is depicted finally having a toast (or two… or a few…) with Ami to celebrate the success of their “Save Sergio and Homura from their spirals of self-destruction by making them defeat Vera and save Madoka together” master plan.

And, of course, fussing over Aya’s excessive drinking we have Kuroko Tenshimi, AKA the “split fragment” of Homura Akemi retaining the memories of the Blank Sprite Incident. While her and Aya haven’t featured yet, they did make it to the Unraveled World. However, I don’t plan on making them part of the main cast yet (in fact, I’m planning to reduce the amount of characters we’re following as the cast is getting too big), and I’m actually considering having them star in their own The World without Authors spinoff, but nothing set in stone yet. Oh, and fun fact about them, they did already have a bit of starring of their own as they were the hosts of the Third PPC HQ Hunger Games. How Nutmeg TV managed to get hold of them for that will forever remain a mistery.

Next, a character very few of you are likely to be familiar with. Nina De Nobili, the title character of the Nina, the child of the Sixth Moon book series. Acting as a representative of the Mai Dire Fine canon characters here, she’s been chosen since, as I said in the past, we started Mai Dire Fine on her author’s forum, and even received encouragement from her to keep writing at one point… despite the fact we were basically butchering her work. However, everyone has to begin somewhere, and Moony Witcher (real name Roberta Rizzo) knew that, so I’m glad she didn’t shoot down our hopes – I might not be here now with a 300.000+ words saga under my belt otherwise. Nina is not planned to reappear in the Unraveled Worlds, as she’s from a series intended for children that wouldn’t mesh well with our current plots.

The little guy sitting over the counter doing karaoke is Conan Edogawa from Detective Conan (anyone insisting on calling the series Case Closed can leave now). He’s again a canon character featured in Mai Dire Fine, but there are plans to involve him and some other characters of his series in the third arc. Also, as you can guess by Nina’s reaction, he’s a terrible, terrible singer.

Leaning on the couch we have Hiro Shirogane, our Gundam pilot. He’s a fully original character created for The World without Authors whose original concept was made by Aelit, although I was the one developing his backstory and relationship with Miksa. I admit that for a while we weren’t too sure about what to do with him, but I hope his current subplot will be enjoyable.

And now, the front row. Leftmost is Hanami, Nikki’s alternate from Kathleen’s alternate timeline (and as such a The World without Authors original). She’s been adopted by the Kinomotos (as she’s also an alternate of Sakura) and is now living with them. Something that debuted in this illustration are the glasses: those are her timeline’s Sergio, and she doesn’t actually have a need for eyesight correction. She had the lenses replaced with fake ones, and wears them due to them being one of the few things she has left of him, though they’re also a good way to differentiate herself from her “sisters”.

Then we have Sakura Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura herself. If we go by name only, her first appearance in my works would be Mai Dire Fine, but that particular Sakura ended up becoming Nikki so it is safe to assume her first appearance was actually in the first mission of Wings of Canon, my main PPC spinoff, titled Don’t Forget The Canon, and she has been confirmed alive in the Unraveled World, in which she is now legally Nikki and Hanami’s younger sister. As in the comic I posted above, her hair is actually lighter than Nikki or Hanami’s as most CCS media have her with a light shade, but Nikki and Hanami both derive from the 1998 anime that had a darker brown as Sakura’s hair color.

Next to Sakura is Syaoran Li from the same series, who instead did appear as himself in Mai Dire Fine. He was badly OOC though, and if the The World without Authors incarnation of him does remember Sergio, things might a bit tense between them at first… though, hopefully, just until he gets explained that no, the “Sakura” Sergio was in love with was actualy Nikki and there’s no need to be jealous.

Then we get to Kathleen Leone. She is not the Mai Dire Fine incarnation of the character, but an alternate made for The World without Authors. Despite that, she started considering the main timeline Sergio as her own brother even before he had to kill her timeline’s, due to the latter’s descent into madness. We haven’t been able to give her much space until now, due to the action being mostly in the air, but that will change soon. I won’t spoiler anything, but Chapter 11 will be a big turning point in the story.

Of course, holding arms with her is Faith Leone, Everything I said about Kathleen applies about her too, as they’ve arrived in the Unraveled World together. We haven’t shown much on our plans to develop her so far, but trust us: we’re going to both fill in more of her bakcstory, and give her chances to shine soon.

Cutting the cake together we have Sergio Turbo and Nikki Cherryflower, both of which made their first appearances in Mai Dire Fine and appeared in all sequel works. For as much grief the Unraveled World is bringing them, it is arguable they’ve gained more than they have lost, as they’ve both got their families back thanks to it. Fun fact: their outfits are loosely based on the ones they wore during Chapter 7 of Blank Sprite.

Last but not least, Corolla. Introduced in Don’t Forget The Canon, she’s my most successful character. Defined by Aelit “Kathleen, but written well” way before we started working on The World without Authors, it isn’t a suprise they synergize so well together… much to Sergio and Nikki’s dismay. Here, is she more excited for the cake, or because they are cutting it together like it was a wedding cake? Probably both.

And that’s it, 15 years of writing, condensed in one image. We hope you’ll keep following us in the future!

[jloves-pp]

Little Book of Magic-chapter 6

Chapter 6

Woo-hoo! Best. Day. Ever! Rapunzel cried at the top of her lungs.

Jack, Rapunzel, Merida, Hiccup and Toothless were flying toward the sky.

The winter Sprite had to admit it. That he was having fun flying with his new friends. He smiled as Rapunzel giggled as she let her hand stretch up towards the clouds.

Merida had her head back and her arms out, enjoying the wind blowing on her skin and through her wild hair. Hiccup glanced over to the redhead, it was clear that Merida was loving this.

"Oh there it is", they heard Rapunzel call out and point below. They looked down to see the seaside town, instantly as they flew they began to descend, landing in a car park that was next to the beach.

"So, how was your first flight?" Jack asked Rapunzel after she let go, she started jumping up and down on the pavement.

"Oh, it was so much fun, I can't believe I did it", Rapunzel replied gleefully before she turned and gasped ", Oh look over there!"

"Hey, hey, slow down!" Jack said in surprise as Rapunzel grabbed his arm and pulled him along with her,

Hiccup and Toothless watched them leave before seeing that Merida was standing next to railings, looking down to the sea.

"So..how was it? Your first time flying I mean!" Hiccup asked when he joined her. She sighed and held her head up.

"It was amazing" Merida said smiling, holding on to the bars, swinging slowly from side to side.

"Yeah, it's a great feeling. No matter how many times I'm up there, it never gets old," Hiccup said. He then glance over to Merida and saw the wind blowing her curly hair, he thought to himself how lovely she was and that her hair was fantastic. Hiccup stopped himself by shaking his head and looking at the ocean. The two them stood and watched the sea for awhile until Hiccup broke the silence.

"You know, looking at the sea reminds me of home."

"Me too, it just like home" Merida sighed softly, "I think Angus would love to run across this beach."

"Who's Angus?" Hiccup asked, he really was interested in getting to know her more.

"My horse" Merida answered "he and I would go riding when we can"

"Yeah that's sounds like what Toothless and I do" Hiccup said smiling.

"You know, I've always wondered what it is like to fly, up among the clouds, soaring with birds, touching the sky" she said dreamily. "Sometimes when me and Angus are riding, I pretend I'm flying across the sky, on a dragon is better than what I've ever imagined"

"Yeah, I can't imagine life without Toothless now, he's my best friend" Hiccup said as he looked over to his dragon who was busy chasing seagulls. Both teens laughed at the Night Fury's antics.

"I think my brothers would love messing with Toothless" Merida then commented.

"You have brothers?"

"Triplets, Harris, Hubert and Hamish"

"It was just me and my dad and you could say we didn't have a great relationship"

"Really?" Merida then said. She was curious about this boy. Not only about him and his dragon but about him as a person.

"Yes but after I met Toothless, me and my dad ended up working things out, even though he was angry, he used Toothless to find the dragon's nest and nearly got killed by the Red Death. We're good now" Hiccup explained, he could see how shocked Merida looked."you probably wouldn't understand..."

"No I do, it's actually similar with me and my mum" Merida quickly said.

"Oh w..what happened?" Hiccup asked

Merida took a deep breath before she began "Well me and my mum never saw eye to eye and after one terrible argument, I ended up turning her into a bear and it nearly ended up destroying my family, but my mum change back and the kingdom was saved. Even now mum still has her queenly moments, are relationship is great, I'm even teaching her archery, she's not the best but she trying"

"Wait...Queen! Your mother is a queen" Merida heard Hiccup exclaim and turned to see a gob smacked Hiccup, even Toothless looked gob smacked.

"Ur...Aya Merida said awkwardly. She didn't want to tell them about being a Royal because people instantly treated her differently and she hated it.

"So that makes...oh I'm sorry your highness" Hiccup instantly said and began bowing,"If I knew I...I..I would have.."

"Please stop. You don't have do that" She quickly said shaking her hands.

Hiccup stopped and looked up "oh sorry Mer, I just didn't know" he apologised as he stood up, rubbing his neck sheepishly.

Hearing what he called her, Merida couldn't help but smile at him. She never had a nickname before and she thought it was sweet of him "It's ok...Hic, "

He wasn't sure what to say when she called him Hic. No one had given him a nickname so it warmed his heart to hear this.

Meanwhile, Rapunzel gazed in wonder around the seaside town. amazed by all the people, all the shops and everything else that she could see. Jack tried to keep up with the golden hair girl even though she was dragging him along. She finally stopped at a bakery and looked at the cakes and cupcakes.

The winter Sprite was relieved when Rapunzel stopped and let go of him, he could finally catch his breath. Baby Tooth fluttered up to Jack, checking on him. Jack smiled to his fairy friend, showing her he was alright, a bit tired but ok.

"Pascel, look how pretty these are" Rapunzel said to the chameleon who was on her shoulder then she noticed the shop next door, she instantly went over to a flower shop and smell the Sweet Peas. "I wish I had my paints and papers, so I can remember this place"

"Well maybe you can ask Maria or Sally if they can give you a notebook or drawing pad. I'm sure they won't mind" Jack suggested.

"Yeah I'll ask them" Rapunzel said smiling at Jack and he returned the smile. "So Jack, what's your world like?, what do you do?" Rapunzel asked him, she wanted to get to know Jack.

Jack laughed a bit before saying "Well..where to start?, first of all, my world is the same as here, the only diiffere is that, there I'm a guardian.

"Guardian of what?" Rapunzel asked

"A guardian of childhood" the winter Sprite could see the confusion on Rapunzel's face and on Pascal too. Jack looked over to the fairy who gesture to tell them, he breathed before he began "Have you ever heard of Santa Clause,the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy or Sandman" Rapunzel nodded and Jack continued "They're guardians also and it's our job to pretoct children. At first I didn't want to be part of them, they were all hard work and deadlines and I'm..."

"Snowballs and fun times" Rapunzel suddenly said.

Jack couldn't help but smile at this "Yeah exactly, but after helping them, I found out where I belong"

Rapunzel was about to respond when they heard two boys yelling and they ran past them, a girl chasing them trying to catch up with them. What happened next not only shocked Rapunzel but Jack as well. The girl ran right toward Rapunzel like she wasn't here.

"Wh...what happened" was all that she said. The winter Sprite knew what she was feeling. He was invisible to mortals until they believed in him, for most of his life, he lived without being seen. So seeing the golden haired girl confused and scared, his heart went out to her.

"Hey, it's ok, you're going to be ok" Jack said softly, Rapunzel ran to him and hugged him as she sobbed. Jack was taken back but he wrapped his arms around her, comforting her.

"Jack,Rapunzel" Jack lifted his head and turned to see Sally, Maria, Charlie and Ollie rushing up to them with their bikes.

"Are you guys alright, where's Merida, Hiccup and Toothless" Maria asked them when the kids reached Jack and Rapunzel.

"We're fine but something just happened" Jack told them.

"What happened? Charlie asked

"Someone..came towards me" Rapunzel murmured weakly still shaking.

"What?" Maria said then she felt her arm being tugged. She found out who was pulling at her arm.

"Maria haven't you noticed" Sally said.

"Noticed what?" Maria asked.

"Just look" Sally answered. Maria looked up and then realised what her sister meant. No one was looking at Rapunzel or Jack. Both of them would had drawn a huge crowd by now but all of the people would do there usually stuff.

"We'd better move, we can't talk here with other people around" Charlie spoke up after he figured out what Sally said.

"You're right, we need to go somewhere quiet" Maria agreed.

So they led Jack and Rapunzel away until they reached a small park. They also found Merida, Hiccup and Toothless looking at a monument of a long boat.

"I'm not surprised to find you guys here" Maria said when they reach them.

"What, a Viking ship?" Jack asked

"Oh it's a lovely boat" Rapunzel commented looking it.

"Years ago, Vikings landed here and it's said that some stayed and married some local people" Sally told them about the town's history.

"Well back where I am from, we have lot of ship's like this. Although there're a bit bigger and the heads of are more scared" Hiccup admitted and Toothless nodded in agreement.

"Wait a second, are you a Viking, Hiccup?" Jack asked. Hiccup felt the colours leave his face, not sure to tell them but thinking about it. The Collins kids knew already and Merida did tell him about her being a princess.

Hiccup shut his eyes and said reluctantly "yes, unfortunately I am one" he opened his eyes and to find all of them were looking at Jack who was smirking and was trying to hold in his laughter.

"Jack, it's nothing to laugh about" Rapunzel scolded him.

"Sorry but I thought Vikings were big and hairy and thirsty for blood" Jack said jokingly but the last part made Rapunzel tense.

"Most of the good Vikings are at home, minding their own business" Charlie then said

"Yeah and we would be too busy to think of raiding anywhere" Hiccup added

"With what?" Rapunzel asked and she saw the dragon's face. She understood why now.

At that moment, they all heard the town clock strike. Maria checked her phone, it said 11.00.

"Well maybe we'll get lunch then we can brainstorm on how to get you guys home" Maria announced

"Oh I wanted to ask, do you mind lending me a notebook or a drawing pad?" Rapunzel asked the girls.

"Well we'd love to but we don't have one right now" Sally said then added "but there's a shop that sell them in town"

As the group set off back to town, Merida, Hiccup and Toothless held back. Remembering what he told her.

"Are you sure you're a Viking?" Merida asked going close to him.

"Y..yes, why are you asking" Hiccup questioned blushing.

"Well you have manners and tenderness and you have no beard" she said as she gently touched his chin which caused Hiccup to blush more.

"I...I'm working on that" Hiccup laughed nervously.

Merida let go of his chin before saying "You know I've always wanted to meet a Viking"

"Really?" he asked in surprise.

She nodded before saying "Er, yeah and I know what it's like when someone is telling you to change but know you can't" The Redhead felt sorry for the Viking boy and found they had a lot in common. Hiccup couldn't help but smile to Merida and she smiled back " Well we'd better catch up with the others, come on you two" Merida said, seeing Jack, Rapunzel and the kids were far away. As she ran ahead, she thought that Hiccup had a cute smile.

Hiccup watched the redheaded and thought about her kind words but he then noticed Toothless was giving him a knowing smile.

"Toothless, I've just met her. Don't get the wrong idea" Hiccup said playfully shoving his dragon. The Night fury simply shrugged the two friends rushed after the others.

The Collins children led the teens toward the town until they reach the bakery, they got some pasties and sandwiches for lunch, Sally asked if her new friends wanted anything to eat. Jack of course said no but both Hiccup and Merida were confused by all the different food on the shelves and Rapunzel was delighted by the cupcakes.

They found a shop that sold fish, the dragon licked his lips when he saw the biggest fish in there, so the kids bought it but told Toothless that he can have it later.

They passed a stationary shop to buy a note book and some coloured pencils, Rapunzel picked a pretty pink book with a glittering rainbow on the cover, Sally pay for them.

The others waited outside and as soon as Sally and Rapunzel joined them they found a quiet place to talk. Sally, Maria, Charlie and Ollie were munching their lunch. Rapunzel was trying to get Jack to eat a cupcake, although Jack said no she didn't stop trying. Merida and Hiccup were trying ham sandwiches with tomato and lettuce.

"Where's Toothless?" Just as he said that, there heard a car alarm wailing. Then all at once they realised where the Night Fury was. Wasting no time, The Collins headed straight to the sound with the Big Four behind them. The kids knew the carpark was near by and when they reached it, they found the dragon roaring and pushing at a car with his front legs.

"Oh no what is he doing?" Sally said in shock putting a hand on her head. She and the other feared that the car would be destroyed and they'll be in real trouble but the carpark was empty except for one woman who was about to get into her car. The woman didn't see the dragon attack a car, she just saw the car shaking with its and the alarm sounding off noisily.

"Toothless, down boy" Hiccup said to the dragon and managed to pull him away.

"Maybe we should head back to the Nan's house before anything else happens" Maria suggested, no one was against it. So they started the journey back up to the house, hoping there wouldn't be anymore trouble.

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 8/6/19

Dr. STONE, Vol. 6 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – So it turns out that the current non-turned-to-stone population are all descended from Senku’s dad and the rest of the crew of the space shuttle, which is honestly more about Byakuya’s faith in his son to eventually save the day even if it takes hundreds of years. Back in the present, Tsukasa and the followers that he’s amassed are planning to invade the village and destroy what Senku has accomplished, but little do they know that Senku has the power of RIDICULOUS SHONEN SCIENCE on his side. The best thing about this volume is that we’re starting to see the non-Senku cast actually come up with inventions—the water wheel revelation was great, and Senku knows it. Dumb fun, masquerading as smart fun. – Sean Gaffney

Farewell, My Dear Cramer, Vol. 1 | By Naoshi Arakawa | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Midori Soshizaki and Sumire Suo played girls’ soccer for different teams in middle school, but Soshizaki is so taken with Suo’s play that she volunteers to go to whichever high school Suo chooses. Suo, accustomed to being the only one really trying on her team, feels kinship with another girl on a lousy team, and so she and Soshizaki both end up at Warabi Seinan, whereupon a couple of other talented players show up along with a new coach, since the current one sees no future in girls’ soccer and isn’t interested in doing his job. This was a pleasant start to a series, but the soccer action isn’t as easy to follow as in other titles I’ve read, and it quickly veers away from the two leads to focus on another teammate. I’ll definitely keep reading, though! – Michelle Smith

Love in Focus, Vol. 3 | By Yoko Nogiri | Kodansha Comics – I had forgotten that this was a series that ended in three volumes, but I would have remembered anyway given the rapidity with which Kei and Mako get together and just as quickly break up. “Let’s date first and fall in love later” rarely works in shoujo manga, especially when you’re the blond, who almost always loses out to the brunet. That happens here as well, as dating Kei does help Mako realize her feelings—for Mitsuru. That said, though the plot beats were very predictable, I thought Mako and Mitsuru’s dialogue was sweet and pure in a shoujo sort of way, and I also liked how the “stalker” plot was resolved. As with the author’s previous series, this was decent but not good enough for long-term. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 20 | By Kohei Horikoshi | VIZ Media – I’m sorry to say that I just can’t muster up much interest for Gentle Criminal and La Brava, the villain and his acolyte who get in Midoriya’s way when he’s trying to get back to campus in time for class 1A’s performance at the school festival. Once their fight is finally over, though, it’s time for the feels. The focus on Jiro here is pretty brief, but oh so welcome, and that two-page spread of her smiling so radiantly while performing is incredible. And then, just a few pages later, there’s Mirio who is suddenly moved to tears because Eri, the girl he sacrificed so much to save, is having the time of her life. I love Mirio and Eri together, and I also love Aizawa rushing to be with Todoroki when his dad, now the number-one hero, is injured on live TV. Plus, there’s Hawks! This volume has much goodness. – Michelle Smith

My Hero Academia: Smash!!, Vol. 1 | By Kohei Horikoshi and Hirofumi Neda | VIZ Media – I’m not really a gag manga sort of person, so I didn’t expect much from My Hero Academia: Smash!!. But despite the warning from creator (and Horikoshi assistant) Hirofumi Neda that it was going to be crude, I actually thought it was quite fun! It follows along with the early events of the main story, up until the first attack by the League of Villains. Often, familiar scenes are subverted in some way, like All Might’s “you can be a hero” moment turning into a sales pitch for vitamins, but sometimes they’re expounded upon in genuinely intriguing ways, like showing how Yaoyorozu used her quirk in the fitness tests Aizawa devised. (I also liked that her classmates now prefer Yaoyorozu brand erasers.) Also, I think one panel features a tiny puking Jesus. To my surprise, I’m looking forward to volume two! – Michelle Smith

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 5 | By Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court | Viz Media – This volume definitely felt like the fifth book in a four-book series, a constant danger when something gets really popular. Knuckleduster’s plot is resolved, and so he very pointedly, with one or two exceptions, withdraws from the series. Instead we see Pop Step and the Crawler trying to be vigilantes on their own and rapidly coming to a realization, which is underscored by licensed heroes yelling at them—they’re not powerful enough to do much more than get in the way. That said, I did enjoy seeing Midnight in her “casual” clothes, and the kid singers were very cute. A series that has turned a corner but not yet hit the next long straightaway. – Sean Gaffney

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 1 | By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka | Seven Seas – The manga adaptation of one of my favorite recent light novels didn’t have to go very far to impress me, just adapt the novel as well as it could. There’s obviously stuff that’s cut to fit (Katarina’s parents’ relationship gets a one-panel explanation), but it handles introducing the main cast well, and cuts the “alternate POV” parts which would have made the manga repetitive. Best of all is the prose short story at the end, seeing Katarina having a nightmare about the villainess her otome game self is supposed to be, and the bad choices that she makes which our Katarina can’t stop her from despite yelling inside her head. Definitely get this if you like the novels. – Sean Gaffney

The Quintessential Quintuplets, Vol. 4 | By Negi Haruba | Kodansha Comics – This is moving at a galloping pace for a romantic comedy, especially one with quintuplet heroines. There’s the bad—Ichika pursuing her dream would mean leaving school, which would mean Futaro losing tutoring money—and there’s the worse—various people getting bad, bad colds due to the weather and circumstance, which leads to a mass search for Itsuki and a bedside vigil for Futaro, whose cold of course turns out to be the worst of all. We also get another flash forward reminding us that he does eventually marry one of them, but continuing to not tell us who. Don’t expect that to be resolved till the final page of the series. For fans of harem comedy/dramas. – Sean Gaffney

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 6 | By Yu Tomofuji | Yen Press – Anubis has finally given in and allowed a trial period for Sariphi to be Queen Consort. Unfortunately, we then see the problems that this causes, which is that the majority of the populace still isn’t ready for a human girl as the Queen. Fortunately, Sariphi is made of pretty stern stuff, and even when she’s down there are folks who can cheer her up. This allows her to resolve the fractured relationship between a mother and daughter, as well as give Amit the courage to give a token to her beloved Jor, even though as a soldier he may not be able to return that love. Honestly, this does continue to remind me a lot of Fruits Basket, but that’s not especially a bad thing. – Sean Gaffney

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 1 | By Honda | Yen Press – My first exposure to Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san was through its anime adaptation. I’ve not actually watched the show, but I’ve seen enough screencaps of the titular skeleton dramatically reacting to a wide range of customer service exchanges to reasonably expect that I would love the original series. And, after reading the first volume of the manga, I can definitively say that I absolutely do. To a large extent the manga is autobiographical, based on Honda’s experiences as a clerk in the manga department of a large Tokyo bookstore. It provides entertaining insights into the life of a bookseller, showing the challenges presented by customers, publishing schedules, corporate management, and just trying to keep the shelves appropriately stocked. This could be rather dry as a subject, but in Honda’s hands the portrayal of bookselling is delightfully humorous, intense, and over-the-top in a way that is both engaging and still incredibly honest. – Ash Brown

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 1 | By Honda | Yen Press – I’ve seen the first few episodes of the Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san anime and this is going to be one of those rare occasions where I have to admit that I kind of like the anime more than the manga. Certainly, Honda-sensei depicts the bookstore (specifically its manga department) as a place way more hectic than I ever anticipated, but that frenetic energy (and the kookiness of his often-foreign customers) just translates better to the animated medium, I think. That said, this volume has a lot to recommend it, particularly if you want a glimpse of what Japanese booksellers think of the global readership manga has obtained. Read it, but maybe watch it, too. – Michelle Smith

Waiting for Spring, Vol. 11 | By Anashin | Kodansha Comics – I’d long been wanting more basketball in Waiting for Spring, and I finally got my wish in this volume. The latest tournament has begun, and if the Seiryo boys want to repeal the no-dating rule, they have to win. They make to the finals league, where they’re up against Aya’s team, Hojo, and though Seiryo ends up losing, there’s still hope due to the structure of the tournament. Aya realizes his kind of love expected Mitsuki to never grow or change whereas her love for Asakura inspires her to try new things and set goals for herself, so he seemingly steps aside though he does talk about returning (he’s apparently moving back to American) once she’s grown up. Anyway, this is a cute series that I like a lot and though I don’t expect many surprises from its final two volumes, I nonetheless look forward to reading them. – Michelle Smith

By: Ash Brown

[forever-rogue]

When Will the Stork Come?

Request: Could u do a Seb x reader where their daughter really wants a baby sister like she keeps on begging seb to give her one and seb then goes to the reader asking but the reader isn’t to sure thank you.         

A/N: I love this request, I think it’s so cute! I hope you guys all enjoy it! Let me know if you’d like to be added to my Permanent Taglist! Requests are open :) xx

Word Count: 2.3k

Pairing: Sebastian Stan x Reader

Warnings: None

PART II | MASTERLIST

“Daddy?”

“Yes, darling?” Sebastian glanced in the rear view mirror and looked at his daughter happily sitting in the backseat. He had just picked her up from kindergarten, and she was still buzzing with energy from being surrounded by a horde of other five-year-olds.

“Do you know what a stork is?” she asked as she stared at him intently, a serious question clearly on her young mind. Sebastian was intrigued by her strange inquiry but he could see the spark in her bright blue eyes, which mimicked his almost perfectly.

“Yes, I do. It’s a big white bird with long skinny legs,” he chuckled softly as he started their drive home. She had her little face pressed to the window watching the scenery go by, “why do you ask?”

“We were talking about animals in class today and there was a picture of a stork in our books,” she suddenly had a mischievous grin on her little face, “but, daddy, do you know what storks do?”

He paused for a moment, not quite sure how to answer her question, or where exactly she was going with her line of questioning, “no, Aya, what do they do?”

“Someone said that they bring babies!”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah!” she gave him her full attention, her little body trembling with excitement, “does that mean the stork brought me too?”

“If the stork brings babies then he must have, right? How else would mommy and I have gotten you?” he laughed at her excitement, hoping he was handling the situation right. He hadn’t exactly been prepared to have this conversation quite yet.

“Can I ask you something?” her voice was smaller now and she appeared a little more nervous. He raised his eyebrow at her.

“Of course, baby, anything,” he reached back and squeezed her little hand, which caused her to immediately cheer up.

“Can you and mommy ask the stork to come?”

“What?” he paused for a moment trying to comprehend her words. He was a little surprised at her sudden request.

“Lots of other kids in school have little brothers and sisters, because the stork came. I think it’d be nice to have a little sister! Don’t you and mommy just have to the call the stork and ask?” Aya beamed at him as she eagerly waited for his response. He was both amused by her request and touched that she wanted another little one to be a big sister to.

“Well, Aya, I think it’s nice that you want a little sister,” he smiled at her in the mirror, to see her bob her little head of brown curls, “but there are a lot of things to do and think about before we could do that. But, I promise you, I will talk to mommy about it, okay?”

“Yes! I think mommy will be excited,” she clapped her hands.

Sebastian pulled up in their driveway and put the car in park, an amused expression still on his face. He got out and grabbed out Aya, and she eagerly ran into the house ahead of him.

As he walked in the door, all he heard was Aya happily shouting, “mommy, the stork is gonna come!” So much for subtlety he thought to himself as he went to look for Y/N.

Y/N  walked back into their bedroom after putting Aya to bed. She had a serene expression on her face as she took in Sebastian, lying on the bed, face buried in his book. Nothing made her happier than her husband and daughter. She always swore she had gotten way too lucky with him, while he was sure he was the lucky one.

“Seb?” she asked as she joined him in bed and pulled the covers over her. He bookmarked his page and set the book down on his nightstand. He turned his attention to her and pulled her into his side, as she rested her head on his chest.

“Yes, my love?” he kissed the top of her head as he inhaled her familiar scent - his favorite scent.

“What was Aya going on about earlier? About the stork coming?” she raised her eyebrow a little bit as she felt his chest vibrating with laughter.

“Oh! She said that they were learning about different animals in class, and they talked about the stork and how the stork was the one who brought babies,” he paused for a moment to try and gauge her reaction. She remained silent, so he continued on, “she was asking if we could call the stork. Aya wants a little sister.”

“She said she wants us to call the stork?” Y/N giggled a little bit, imagining Sebastian’s reaction to their ever curious daughter, “that’s so cute. She’s such a little dreamer.”

“Yeah, she’s definitely something,” he agreed, “she gets it from her mother!”

“Oh, Mr. Stan, I don’t think so. That girl is 100% her father, looks and personality,” she playfully slapped his arm as he started gently running his hand up and down her arm.

“Well, Mrs. Stan, I like to think I’m pretty cool,”

“I mean, I guess, you did convince me to marry you after all,”  she leaned up and give him a quick kiss.

“I told Aya I’d talk to you about it,” he admitted sheepishly. He had never really thought about it before, but he was not opposed to having more children. It was never something he and Y/N had a determinate number on, but they had always said that they would see how it feels and how things good. They were well in their life; consistent schedules and plenty of time to be together and they weren’t exactly short on resources. But once Aya had brought it up, and he gave it some thought, he realized he did want another child, they were ready for another one.

“Oh? And is this something you’ve thought about?” she hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to respond. She hadn’t really thought about having another child, not that she was necessarily opposed. Y/N just wasn’t sure if she could handle having another one.

“I mean, not really terribly much. Just since Aya brought it up,” he shrugged his shoulders lightly, “but I’m not opposed to the idea.”

“You’d really want to another one?”

“I think so, yeah. I think we’re ready, and I think Aya would be a great sister. How do you feel about it?”

“I don’t know, Seb,” she said quietly, she didn’t want to crush his spirits but was still somewhat unsure, “I don’t know if I could handle that.”

“We’ve done a great job already, I think we could handle another one,” he said confidently as he waited for her response with baited breath.

“Another baby would be a lot of responsibility. And a lot of work. What if I end up being a bad mother?”

“You would not be a bad mother, my love. You are the greatest wife and the greatest mother,”

“Sebastian, the idea just makes me so scared. Everything went so great with Aya, but what if this time it’s the opposite,” she sighed as she moved to look in his eyes. All she saw was love and sincerity.

“I think everything will go great,” he smiled at her and kissed her lips gently, “you have me every step of the way. I know that together we can do this. Plus, this time we’ll have a little helper.”

“Fair point, she’d make a good sister,” she agreed, “do you really think we’re ready?”

“I do,” he sounded so confident, it placed more confidence in Y/N, “but if you’re  not ready, then we will wait. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. And if we decide to only have Aya, then that’s fine too.”

“You’re a great man,” she grinned as she propped herself up on her elbows. Y/N leaned over gave him a peck, “a great husband and a great father.”

“I love you so much, Y/N,” he grinned at her, just as stunned by her beauty as he was the day he let her all those years ago.

“I love you, Seb,” she snuggled back into his side, “there’s no else I’d ever want as the father of my children.”

“Children?” he paused for a moment.

“That is if you’d do me the honor,” she started laughing at his stunned reaction.

“I’d love too,” he grinned as he started tickling her sides, “does that mean we can start trying for another?”

She giggled at she tried to push his hands away; he knew she was way too ticklish, “whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m ready,” he smirked as he propped himself up so he was leaning over her. He smiled down at her and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. He observed her for a minute before leaning down and placing a sweet kiss on her soft lips, “I love you.”

Y/N was making breakfast the following morning, as Aya bounded down the stairs and ran to give her a big hug.

“Mommy!” she grinned as wrapped her little arms around Y/N’s legs and clung on tight to her.

“Hello my little love,” Y/N stopped what she was doing and bent down and picked her up, peppering her cheeks with kisses. Aya giggled and held on tightly to her, “did you sleep well?”

“Yes! I had a good dream,” she nodded her little head as Y/N set her back down. She skipped over to the table and sat down in her accustomed spot, eager for breakfast.

“Oh, what was it about?”

“I can’t tell you,” she giggled and hid her little face behind her hands.

“You cheeky little thing,” Y/N stuck her tongue at Aya, which cause her to giggle harder. She fixed a plate for her and brought it over to Aya, who started wolfing it down, “slow down there, partner.”

“Sorry,” her smile was sheepish, “did you talk to daddy?”

“About the stork?”

“Mhmm,” she hummed though a mouthful of waffle.

“I did talk to daddy,” she admitted as she put her arm around Aya’s chair, “do you think you’re ready to be a big sister?“

“Yes!”

“Well, daddy and I decided that we’re going to call the stork and see if he can bring a little sister or brother. Daddy said you wanted a little sister, but sometimes the stork decides, and we get a surprise. Does that sound okay?”

“So I could have a brother or sister?” she put her fork down and focused her attention on Y/N, her little eyes wide.

“Yes,”

“Okay!” she agreed with a smile and went back to eating, “but when will the stork come?”

“Well, once we call him, he takes a while to come. Sometimes it feels like a long time, but we just have to wait patiently,” she leaned down and kissed the top of her head. In that moment, she knew she was ready for other child. That child would have the greatest sister and father in the world.

“Is it because he’s busy and all the other people call him too?” she got an intense look on her face as she tried to process what a long time would be.

“Exactly,” Y/N agreed, “so what do you think? Does that sound like plan?”

“Will you tell me when you call him?”

“Of course, Aya. You’ll be the first person we tell,”

“Yay! I’m so excited, I can’t wait to tell everyone!” she stuffed the last bite in her mouth and jumped up. Before running back to her room to get her things for school, she stopped and gave Y/N another hug, “I love you, mommy!”

“I love you too, Aya,” she replied to her retreating back, “don’t run!”

Sebastian stepped into the kitchen from the hallway where he had been watching his two favorite girls. He walked up behind Y/N and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“She seemed way too excited,” he chuckled softly in her ear, “I’m glad she’s so happy.”

“I know, getting to her to wait patiently will be the hardest,” she turned around so she was facing him.

“Same for me,” he agreed as he rested his forehead against hers, “last night was the fun part.

“Wow, Seb,” she laughed as she smacked him softly.

“Like you didn’t enjoy it,” he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

“Oh I did, but we might have to try again, who knows?”

“I will not be opposed, trust me,” he gave her peck before pulling back as Aya emerged holding her backpack, ready to go to school.

“Cheeky bastard,” she whispered softly in his ear, just so Aya couldn’t hear, “have a great day at school, my love!”

“Thank you mommy,” she grinned as she grabbed Sebastian’s hand and started pulling him towards the door, “don’t forget to the call the stork!”

Sebastian burst out laughing as he followed his daughter out the door, leaving Y/N shaking her head, with a smile on her face. She hoped whether they added another daughter or son to their little family they would have the spirit of her Aya and Sebastian. The two people who made her the happiest in the world.

  Permanent Taglist: @ruinerofcheese @supernatural508 @courtneychicken @nerissa98 @ssweet-empowerment @santa-crew @mannatgalhotra @wearegoldeninthenight 

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Idolish7 17 | Hinamatsuri 8 | Boueibu HK 8 | BnHA 46 | MSO 9 | Rokuhoudou 8 | Code:Realise 13

Idolish7 17 (FINAL)

The culture clash here is hilarious! It’s pretty obvious this unknown guy is Douglas, though.

I can’t believe they’re doing these songs! I’ve known about these songs for a while, since they made waves a few years back – I think Memories Melodies’s music video was animated by Studio Bones and Leopard Eyes by NAZ.

Come to think of it, they never really show idol shows from the fans’ perspective, so this girl’s shots (Aya’s?) are a new thing for the entire genre…

Huh? Wait…this is the real Aya! Oh my gosh!

Well, that’s the end of another show. See you around.

Hinamatsuri 8

Where is “home” for Hina, though?

Geesh, the continuity on this show…what they’re saying right now means the opening of the episode was in medias res, dangit. Stop being so confusing.

I don’t really care about Ikaruga, I care about the “Standing Sushi Bar” in the back more…sorry, Ikaruga.

A few episodes, Hina really was homeless…hmm, continuity’s back in action here.

“Hurray for Psychic Powers” – I was reminded of a book that once appeared in Kado. Unfortunately, that book’s name is Ningen Manzai with all kanji, so it’s not a very close reference if it’s intended to be one…

“Ma Monthly” – Well, wouldn’t you know it? Boueibu collabs mean something here! See, this magazine is a parody of Monthly Mu, which (for some arbitrary reason) decided to team up with Boueibu back in 2016. Hinamatsuri even parodies the magazine’s logo properly! Amazing!

More namahage gags. C’mon, they wouldn’t escape me. They’ve been appearing for a while now, those.

Last time an anime character had a master the same age…*thinks back* That would be Ore Monogatari, with Saijou! Man, that was a while ago. If you don’t count the “same age” bit though, you have OPM and BnHA, which are a lot more fresh.

Jojothan’s (sic)? Is that a Jojo reference, a Johnath…aww, it doesn’t seem to exist. Dangit.

Hitomi’s going to take the dog in, isn’t she?

Even Hina’s shirt says “byebye”…geez, this is kinda saddening already.

Now Hina’s shirt says “sayonara”…why did they poke a hose through her nose, anyway? It made me laugh, sure, but…it’s stupid anyway.

What does Hinamatsuri do without “Hina”, anyway?

Oh, so that’s the significance of that part (post-credits sequence, ep 1)! I didn’t like that part, so I wished to never see it again, but now that it has some significance…it can stay.

I don’t think I’ve seen that image of Nitta with the hand to his head, with the vases on the side before…it must be new.

Normally Hina’s in the seat next to Nitta, right? Oh dear. Also, Utako’s missing and you can see Nitta’s sister in the bar shot as well. The rock singers who wanted to go to the Budokan with Hina are in the back, too, although there may be some people I don’t recognise in the bar shot as well…

Jinsei wa Survival = Life is Survival, not Life is About Survival…

Boueibu HK 8

Summer episode! At least it doesn’t sound as bad a fanservice episode than episode 7 did…(for Astral’s sake)

Karurusu brought back En’s old “What did you say?!”, but now there’s a rakugo background! (small LOL)

I can’t believe Manza tried to push his glasses up in the bath (LOL). Is this what glasses-wearers have to go through?

These seem a little too specific…and to Wakura’s sadistic taste for that last one…to be anything Kyoutarou thought up on his own. (i.e. They probably actually happened.)

Huhhhhhh…I think we finally had an actual woman appear on this show…amazing! (The Osomatsus’ mother, she has a name but I forgot what her name is.) Must be Osomatsu-kun from the ‘60s or ‘80s though, because that sure as heck ain’t the “gets episode 1 pulled from Crunchyroll” Osomatsu-san. I watched the entire season one of that thing, remember?

That dot point looks like a shell for some reason. It’s just two circles put together though. My brain must be in a summer mood from the episode, eh?

I know there’s one jellyfish where you have to cure the sting by peeing on it…oh sorry. I’m falling into Mahou Shoujo Ore’s “crass jokes” trap…

Dougo…likes natto? Weird. Plain weird.

I almost thought they were going to go camping just to fulfil the gap left by YuruCamp, but I guess the audience for YuruCamp and Boueibu doesn’t really cross over. I’m such an anomaly in that case, huh? I still want to know Pinecone-chan’s VA, come to think of it…

Like, c’mon! I can’t even break down that joke (Rashio Taison), it’s too obvious from looking at his name in furigana!

So Rashio is like the snowman from season 2…and the volleyball guy from season 2…maybe Kurotori? I don’t remember his school circumstances anymore…

They used CGI on the plane…? If they did, I barely noticed it until I played the scene again.

Oh wait, that’s a Studio Comet plane…ahaha…(look at Studio Comet’s logo for the joke explanation)

*crashes head on wall* Martha Shirahone…*eyes blank*…Martha Shirahone…Martha’s a girl’s name!!! Does that mean Astral wins?! My pride and the Boueibu status quo have both been wrecked if Martha (sic) really is on the non-binary spectrum…and it’s not some weird Engrish typo…Poor boy though, he spent 4 years depriving himself of one of his favourite things to prevent himself from being teased. (Okay, this “Martha” spelling’s going to annoy me for a while, so I’m going to revert back to “Maasa”…)

Interestingly, Maasa seems to be using a standard vinyl umbrella and not a “student-council-worthy” one. Update: Nope, this one’s sanctioned by the British Royal Family.

Eh? What’s with this monster’s face? He doesn’t have one, does he? I know what the kanji on his face is, but…I think this might be a first. A monster without a face whatsoever.

Is it just me, or did they get CGI for those clouds as well…?

Wait, so even Karurusu is against the idea of fighting this monster? Mr Enthusiastic’s kinda selfish, eh?

Kyoutarou’s still wearing his school swimsuit. But this definitely reminds me of Dark Aurite with the lip coloration...

Wakura so obviously followed Ryoma’s voice instead. It’s pretty much what Astral termed a “nutshot” for MSO ep 8, only it’s…meant to be kinky (I’m not feeling it, y’know?). I’m just vaguely miffed right here that they could be trying to put a cheap joke in Boueibu.

Ooh, nagashi somen with its bamboo…thingy…looks cool. Oh, but Ibusuki…no wonder Ata likes this kind of noodles.

Karurusu’s flag says “summer” on it.

It’s a bit blurry, but the bus says “campground” as its destination.

I wonder if that “spirit of fear” thing was a joke? I’ll come back and find it later. Update: There’s no joke there in Japanese…the word for “spirit of fun” sounds like kyuuki and then “spirit of fear” is just dokidokishiteru (which is just a word for the heart pounding, suggesting nervousness in this case).

Hey, someone (Ryoma) noticed Taishi’s angry outbursts for once!

What, the monster has a mouth, so he does kind of have a face…? (I’m confused…what constitutes “face” with this guy anyway?)

Karurusu…he dab! (…Kind of.)

Full transformation sequence again…*sigh*

Noticeably, you can only see Ryoma nodding when the Rajio Taiso monster asks if you can do rajio taiso outside of summer. I’d assume this is because Ryoma’s the one with the grandpa who does it all year round, but it might just be a space constraint. You never know with these things.

There’s another pun I need to go back to – “I feel radio calis-cleansed”. That can’t have worked in Japanese…Update: Uh, there was actually one here. It seems to be a pun on taiso.

Aw, Rashio’s so happy. Even if I think the staff have reached a new low with the “petty” on the monsters this time around, just seeing that smile lights up my face too.

Why do I feel a Madoka moment coming on right here with Karurusu’s promise?

It’s a Kagerou Project-style time loop, but for August 31st! Yikes! This is going to get confusing…

Yeah, it’s better not to think about time loops, Kyoutarou. You’re right.

Is “firework” a verb? Or is that wasei-eigo? Or slang? Or both? More things to not think about there…methinks. Update: Dougo says “hanabi taikai shimashou!” (literally “let’s do a fireworks tournament!”), so it’s not wasei-eigo, nor is it a verb. It’s just an unconventional subber’s choice.

They censored a big sign in the preview! But Crunchyroll doesn’t have episode 9 yet because of the French Open! Dangit!

I love how the blue bars randomly go “La la la laaaaa!”…LOL. But it also says “they find party dice in the clubroom…” (because it’s bushitsu kara dete kita no wa party saikoro).

BnHA 46

“Those acts are the same as those of villains.” – Actually, that would be the acts of vigilantes…*thinks about the Vigilantes manga*

Because Kouta’s letter was in hiragana, I could understand most of it…eh, my skills are pretty shabby after all. I couldn’t even understand the last line much.

“like a pair of tight jeans” – LOL, Best Jeanist seems to love a good jeans pun, eh?

Come to think of it, Gran Torino doesn’t have a number to his hero status, right? He’s just an ol’ fart after all, even if he’s mighty skilled.

We haven’t seen Mt. Lady or Shinrin Kamui (“Forest Kamui” would probably be his English name, but it’s in katakana…and it sounds stupid, to boot) in a while, come to think of it.

I didn’t think Iida was going to go with them! Wow, what a twist!

I always thought having two Kirishimas in the same season was funny enough (Ryoma from Boueibu and Eijirou).

Kamino? Because the subbers spelt it with a C, that seems like it should be a reference for some reason…Update: Yep, it is!

What’s up with the roses around Todoroki? Are you trying to make the fangirls squeal like this is some shoujo manga? Yeah, right! (laughs in the background anyway)

Aizawa looks really different in a suit…hmm, I normally like men in suits but I’m kinda iffy on suit!Aizawa. *ponders for a second* I prefer his old style more, actually.

MSO 9

Noticeably, Michiru uses koitsu (“this guy”) to refer to Ore. It does tell you something about how Michiru views her enemies.

What’s up with Mohiro in a dress? Princess Peach parody?

Even Saki’s ahoge goes “Oh!”, LOL!

A heart shake for the yuri fans…and stupid glasses for my entertainment. (Thank goodness you’re still catering towards me, show…)

That joke about murdering Hyoue completely went over my head…I get what it was trying to do, but…not funny, man. Not funny.

Michiru uses the –ssu ending that Dougo and Yumoto use, too…

Oh…dear. I think we have more than enough of the word “Happy” with Happy Kiss…now this mascot, too???

I thought Hyoue’s surname was “Kuroda”? Or is that just my imagination? Update: It seems I made it up…

U-Uh, hey…so this was their real intention with those eyecatches, huh? Another “draw me like one of your French girls” memes is in order! Wait, but Ruka’s magical girl form isn’t doing the right pose…aww.

It seems Ruka isn’t into the Magical Girls (it’s implied she’s into Michiru instead), but Michiru’s into Ore…just as Astral guessed.

If that sentence didn’t make sense, it wasn’t meant to! It was just a bunch of long English words thrown together…although “jihad” certainly isn’t English. I wonder if any religious people will get angry at that word being used so casually, though? (I didn’t expect to laugh so hard at these guys. Konami’s my favourite character – of course he is, considering the karaoke episode - but I think I have an appreciation for these guys now.)

LOL, me and Astral like to complain about how thinking up new attack names takes an hour or so…so we totally know your feel, Michiru.

If you look at the scene where PRISMA are shown to attack, it says bokasuka, which apparently means “lots of hits and punches in succession”. It’s basically like subbing it “fistfight!”, “kapow!” or something.

Happy-chan doesn’t even have a body in tiny form!!! What??? (LOL)

Can we please stop with the montages?! A show is better when people bother to animate stuff, alright?!

Happy-chan went “doukashira?” (-kashira is a female sentence ending) which made me laugh because it’s a contrast to that head of his.

Happy-chan doesn’t even have hands…I’m not sure how he’s meant to live like that, y’know?

That catchphrase has less impact the second time around, it seems.

Hmm…so it was actually foreshadowing for Michiru’s love, huh? I thought it was pandering to tsundere stereotypes…

As much as I laughed at the ol’ kick to the face, are Happy and Kokoro really brothers? Or is this just filler after all?

Oh, this new ED is “We’re Not Magical Girls” by the Mahou Shoujo unit (Saki/Sakuyo)!

You can spot a tiny magical girl figurine with pigtails on Yamo’s desk if you watch at the right time.

PRISMA’s song is called “Love/Attack!”

They actually got a next episode preview narrated by demons?! (LOL) This is a new level of weirdness, and I’m actually glad to have heard it with my own ears (because I’m trembling with laughter right now because of it). But…they talk at the end! They can speak?! Whatttttttt?!

Rokuhoudou 8

Gure’s got stud earrings. Don’t think I’ve noticed them before…

It appears to be a florentine and not a “florentin” like the subs say. It is just missing an “e” though…

Happy, happy! I think Karurusu got me into the spirit of being happy all the time…or at least happier than I used to be, anyway.

Seriously, this middle school kid acts like a Boueibu monster, it’s hard not to make a comparison.

Gure’s so goofy, I’m laughing as much as I normally do for Boueibu or MSO…Rokuhoudou isn’t normally like this, that’s all.

“good way to sober up” – It sure doesn’t seem that way for Tsubaki, though…poor soul.

That style with the lips…it’s so un-Rokuhoudou, and yet it still works! I can’t think of what it reminds me of, though, because it seems to remind me of another anime or manga and I can’t put my finger on it. Update: Maybe MSO? That’s the closest thing I can think of that matches right now.

Hey, come to think of it, doesn’t this guy look like Shishigami from Inuyashiki? Their outlook on life is mostly the same, too! (from what little I know about Shishigami in passing)

Uh…Gure? Didn’t anyone teach You about stranger danger?!

The delinquents…are in the duck boating club?! Well, that was a surprise…

This pretty much became my favourite episode, even though Tokitaka’s still my fave Rokuhoudou boy, LOL.

Code:Realise 13

Since I don’t know whether to denote this as the final episode or not, I won’t note it as anything…

Isn’t Cardia Lupin’s girl? Hands off, Impey!

The newspaper Herlock’s holding has an ad for animators…wuh? In the Code:Realise Victorian era? No way, Jose!

[tarysande]

Since you've mentioned how Cal has a hard time reciprocating feelings due to her upbringing, what if she was in a scenario where she feels down about something and Jaal, being the nice angara that he is, decides to comfort Cal with a hug? What would her reaction be to that hug.

Cal wasn’t hiding so much as she was… avoiding being seen. That she was doing this while activating her tactical cloak, waiting for the load time to refresh, and activating the cloak again was beside the point.

It was all just… a lot. She’d messed everything up with her brother the moment she got a chance to ‘talk’ to him, babbling the truth when what he probably needed was a little gentle hand-holding. Of course, she always figured this out after the verbal diarrhea. Never before. She’d basically given him a seizure. Dr. Carlyle didn’t say as much, but she was pretty sure she’d set Percy’s recovery time back weeks. Months, maybe.  

Not to mention she’d had about three point five seconds to recover from her father’s death–sacrifice–before the drop-kick straight into a deep end she had absolutely not prepared for and even more absolutely did not want.

She’d come to Andromeda to explore. On a team. To study. Not to lead.

Instead, she had a gun in her hand far more frequently than she had datapads and books; she had the Nexus leadership and the angaran leadership and every single person desperate to find a livable habitat watching her every move; she had SAM, whom she liked, but who made her doubt whether discoveries, thoughts, inventions were even hers anymore.

“Don’t answer that,” she said aloud. SAM didn’t answer. Probably knew before she said it that she didn’t want to hear from him.

And what was it all for, anyway? The dream of a better life? As soon as shit hit the fan, people ran off and recreated not the Citadel, not Thessia, not even Earth, but the drug-running, murderous, ugly hellpit of Omega.

She hated Kadara port. She hated it.

Leaving her tactical cloak alone, she leaned on the railing, looking down at the bustling port traffic. She heard Vetra laugh and brush off some human who’d obviously pushed her for something she didn’t want to give—or who’d offered a price way below asking. 

“You are unhappy.”

Cal shrieked, hand immediately dropping for her pistol before she realized it was Jaal who’d crept up so silently beside her, who’d spoken so softly.

With her adrenaline cranked up to eleven and her heart thudding in her chest to wake the dead, Cal put a hand to her forehead. “Jaal. You can’t do that. Sneak up on someone. You’ll get yourself shot.”

He tilted his head, and instead of looking worried only smiled. “Forgive me. I thought you heard me. I believed that was why you ceased hiding beneath your tech. I will not disturb you if you want to be alone.”

She grimaced. “I don’t, really. It’s just–I don’t know. I have lot on my mind. Turns out I’m not doing real well processing it all.”

“Do you want to discuss it?”

“Not really. I’ll probably only put both feet in my mouth and mess something else up.”

He chuckled. “Ryder, I do not think your feet will fit in your mouth.”

This stole a genuine laugh from her. “It’s another idiom. Means I’ll say something embarrassing or stupid or tactless. Probably hurt someone’s feelings.”

“My feelings are not so easily hurt.” He opened his hand, gesturing toward the empty railing, the quiet balcony. “It will not hurt my feelings if you ask me to leave.”

Because she’d been not-quite-hiding, it surprised her when her lips parted and “I don’t want you to go,” fell out. It earned another smile from him. She sighed. “Besides, you hate it here as much as I do. That counts for a lot.”

“Can we not leave?”

She rolled her eyes. “I wish. As soon as I finish up a few more things.  Maybe then we’ll have a few days on Eos or the Nexus or even Aya, to wash the taste of this place out of my mouth.”

He moved to stand beside her, shoulder to shoulder. Where his shoulder was considerably higher than hers, of course. “First feet, now washing tastes out. You have a busy mouth.”

The funny thing was, he didn’t say it to be provocative; she could tell. Coming from someone like Reyes or even Peebee, the words would have carried a completely different message. She bumped her shoulder against his arm companionably. He looked down at the narrow space between them as if he were trying to solve a puzzle. This close, she could smell the scent of the lotion half the crew was raving about. It reminded her of home, strangely, and the softness of her mother’s hands as she pushed hair back from Cal’s fevered brow as a child.

“If you were angaran–” he began, before swallowing whatever words he was about to say so quickly she practically heard the gulp.

“If I were angaran?”

He did not answer right away. She liked that about Jaal; he thought about his words before he spoke them. She envied it, even. “You are troubled. Unhappy. If you were angaran, I would give you a… hug.”

A hug. She blinked at him. “Humans hug.”

“Some do,” he agreed. “You do not.”

“I–” But she couldn’t finish the protest. Because he wasn’t wrong. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d just hugged someone. Probably Percy, before they all went to sleep back in the Milky Way. Before she woke up and everything went from bad to worse in ever-escalating increments. She’d hugged Becky Li goodbye and they’d both pretended it wasn’t a forever thing. She didn’t remember the last time she’d hugged her dad. He’d put his own helmet on her to save her, and she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d hugged him. “Jaal?”

“Yes, Ryder?”

“Can we–if it’s okay, can we pretend? That I’m angaran?”

Someone else might have made a joke at her expense. Much as she loved him, her brother probably would have. Jaal only opened his big arms and let her step close before enclosing her in the circle of them. He was warm, and strong, and he smelled good. She half-imagined Lexi giving her a lecture on skin hunger and touch starvation.

Jaal’s hug was like a banquet set before a starving woman. She closed her arms around his back and pressed the side of her face into the silken fabric of his cloak, hoping he wouldn’t notice the dampness her unexpected tears left behind. One large hand stroked her back, gentle, soothing without asking for anything in return.

She had no idea how long they stood that way, him standing as a buffer between her and the galaxy that wanted so, so much from her, but when she finally stepped away, she felt like she’d been on shore leave for eight months. “Thank you,” she said.

He waved this off. “No thanks are necessary. You are my friend, Ryder. The Tempest crew, they are my family. We angara do not like to see our families suffer. Not when we may help.”

She reached out and squeezed his hand, quickly, before her own lifetime of neuroses could stop her. “Then I hope I can help you too, Jaal.”

“You do,” he said, and side by side they watched the Kadaran twilight fall.

[nikky-the-writer]

Before I go (Bucky x Reader)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Masterlist

A/N: I’m sorry for not being active, I’ll try to post more, but I still have some things to do for college for four more weeks….

Summary: After years of fighting with illness, Reader decides to take her life into her own hands.

Warnings: Swearing, talking about death, illness and suicide

Pietro’s POV

Empty. He felt empty. A part of him died and he couldn’t continue to live. His sister, an anchor that kept him sane. She was the optimistic one, she was the dreamer and he always saw himself as her protector. Now, she was gone and there was nobody to protect. He did care about you, but seeing you without his sister felt the same as someone stabbing him in the heart.

He wanted her back, he wanted to hear her laugh and see her smile, she was his light, his baby sister. Now, he had nothing only an empty room full of memories of her short life. She deserved better, she deserved more, he knew that. He used to stay awake at night praying to God to take him instead of his sister, but God didn’t listen, or he just didn’t care. His mother told him that God missed Wanda and that’s why he took her back, but Pietro knew better. He stopped praying after her death, he stopped believing and he started to fall apart. Piece by piece, second at the time. He tried to go back to school, but it felt like he wasn’t even there. He would walk through hallways alone, without her by his side. He would hear girls laughing and he would instantly run away, knowing that he would never see her again. His parents didn’t even notice, or they just tried to look away. He was still there their son, but their own grieve consumed them, not noticing that their child was dying inside. He thought about it from the moment she died. He thought about taking his own life, but he wanted to be strong for his parents. After weeks of trying to be strong, he broke down. He took the pills from his mother’s cabinet. He sipped them all in his palm and he needed only one second of being brave enough to take them and he did. He swallowed the pills laying on Wanda’s bed. He wanted her face to be the last thing that he will see on this side. He closed his eyes with a small smile on his face hoping to see his sister on the other side.

A few years later

Pietro sat with his head low waiting for the meeting to start. He joined the support group after he left boarding school, it wasn’t a large group around six people. He didn’t have anyone to talk to. His parents were like strangers to him and he didn’t want to bother you to reopen the old wounds. He hoped that you were getting better. His parents told him that you were still the same, but that you are thinking about surgery in a year or two when your body will be stronger. ˝Pietro?˝ He looked up seeing all eyes on himself. ˝Would you like to start today?˝ Daisy spoke. She was a nice person with big heart, she always tried to make everyone comfortable, before asking them to open about what happened. She lost her mother a few years ago and she understood the pain of everyone that was there. Pietro took a deep breath before speaking. ˝It’s been years since she died, but the feeling is still the same, my heart…it’s just…˝ Pietro stopped for a moment lowering his head. His hands were shaking and he didn’t know what to do. At least he spoke more than the last time. ˝It’s alright, just take it slow.˝ Daisy said. ˝She was your twin sister, Wanda right?˝ Pietro nodded and sniffled. ˝Who was older?˝ Daisy asked trying to get him to talk about her as she was there. ˝I was..˝ He whispered. ˝What was your favorite memory from when you were kids?˝ Daisy asked smiling when Pietro finally lifted his head. ˝When we were eleven. I remember sitting next to Wanda while she was at hospital for chemo threatmant….she…˝He licked his dry lips, exhaling loudly. ˝She would get anxious and scared and I never knew what to do. I would bring her toys, book, but nothing worked. One day her best friend walked in the room with the big smile on her face. Wanda and I were just staring at her as she giggled like crazy. We didn’t know what was happening, but then I saw that something was moving inside her sweater and then she unzipped it. She held a puppy in her arms. When I turned to Wanda she had the biggest smile that I’ve ever seen. That’s one of the best days she had.˝ ˝Did you stayed in touch with her friend? It would be easier for…˝ Pietro cut her off quickly. ˝No, she is also sick. Her parents thought that she will die before her twelfth birthday, but she is stronger than she looks.˝ ˝Why don’t you talk with her?˝ Daisy was persistent she thought that it would help him to talk with someone to whom his sister meant as much as to him. She knew that his parents were distant, so that girl was probably the only person who could really understand him. ˝Because she will die!˝ Pietro lost it and he quickly headed for the door, he could hear Daisy apologizing, but he didn’t stop until he was outside. He sat on the stairs and lightened up a cigaret, taking a long drag. ˝Are you okay?˝ Pietro looked up hearing an unknown voice. He saw a guy around his age with short brown hair looking at him. ˝Yeah…maybe˝  The guy sat next to Pietro in silence. ˝Who did you lost?˝ Pietro asked. He could see the sadness in the blue eyes of a stranger. ˝My baby sister.˝

Normal POV

˝How are you doing Y/N/N?˝ Pietro asked sitting next to you on the wooden fence just outside the house. ˝Alright.˝ You said simply looking at the sand under your feet. ˝Alright? Like you are not sick anymore, or like you just want this conversation to end ?˝ You forced yourself to look up. His blue eyes were staring at you and you reached towards his hair, gently moving your finger through it. ˝It would make her smile to see that you still have the same color.˝ ˝Y/N….˝His voice was soft and he put his finger under your chin so that you would look him in the eyes. ˝How are you?˝ You didn’t know what to say. He was your friend and now you were thinking about lying to him. You didn’t even notice the tears that were falling down your cheeks until he wiped them with his thumb. ˝A year?˝ You knew what he was asking so you stayed silent. ˝Six months?˝ You just stared in his eyes. He was too scared to ask again, but he did ˝Five months?˝ ˝Eleven weeks˝ You whispered and he swallowed the lump in his throat. ˝Does he know?˝ ˝No. I just met him when I got here. He’ll be alright, won’t even notice when I’m gone.˝ You stood up grabbing your shoes and walking away. You stopped when you felt Pietro’s hand on your upper arm. ˝What?˝ Pietro was taken aback with the harsh tone of your voice. ˝You left Pete. You think that I didn’t care for her as you did? You didn’t have any right in fighting with others just because you were grieving?˝ ˝What are you talking about?˝ Pietro stared at you confused. ˝Your fights in school, the reason that your parents sent you away. I needed you.˝ You turned around to walk away, but you stopped again hearing his voice, barely a whisper. ˝I tried to kill myself.˝

It’s sad what happens to those who grieve. It’s painful and ugly, but you barely hear about it. You never hear that somebody killed themselves because they wanted to reunite whit their loved ones or because the part of them was dead. Mostly you heard that they killed them self because they were too weak or that they were just seeking for the attention. But it doesn’t matter the reason, they still did it.

The person who you saw as the strongest one was standing in front of you with his heart in his hands that was barely beating. You planned everything that you’ll do when the symptoms come back, you thought about who you were leaving behind, but you never thought in what state will your death leave them.

Will they stay alive grieving for you or will they follow to be with you?

A/N: Tell me if you want to be added to the tag list

Tag list:   @whatthehellisacastiel, @hardboiledegg21, @aboveaverage-fangirl, @mitra-k-w, @crownie-sr, @tremilyteapot, @barnesnoble13, @aya-fay, @raisaioana71, @aquabrie, @sebstanwassup, @melconnor2007, @littlenerdgirl16, @psychicwitchphilosopher

[thefinalcinderella]

DIVE!! Book 2 Chapter 7-ONLY TWO

Full list of translations here

Previously on DIVE!!: Shibuki gets booty-called back to Tsugaru.

Tsugaru’s night was quiet, and he could hear the roar of the sea all the way from Kyouko’s house on a hilltop away from the sea. On this windy day, the sound of the waves overlapped the noisy rustling of the Japanese beeches, playing a duet with something wriggling in the abyss of night. The boundaries between night and day, light and shadow, were dazzling like the horizon on a sunny day. In that vivid contrast, he knew that Tokyo wasn’t a place for people to live in, but the difficulties of living in the countryside were soaked into Shibuki’s bones.

Since returning to Tsugaru, Shibuki spent the majority of his days viewing the ocean on the rocks. He didn’t think he’d wanted to meet anyone besides Kyouko, and he knew that even if he did he would just get tired of being met with sympathetic eyes, and being asked this-and-that.

In this village where there were fewer and fewer children year after year, the reason why only Shibuki’s classmates had a large number, and why most of them were born in August was because of the fall of 18 years ago, where there was a power outage that hit the village for twenty days. When he learned that, he had the feeling like resignation that “this village really is small,” but still, there was already displeasure in the eyes of the distrustful people with way too much free time about his homecoming.

In that respect, the sea was good. It didn’t try to interrogate him or read too much into him, and left Shibuki alone as much as he liked.

“Today I now understand why you don’t get tired of watching the ocean. Even though waves approach the shore regularly, at a certain point they suddenly make irregular movements. They slip away from the fixed movements, twist themselves up high, and scatter. That moment is captivating.”

At night, he listened to Kyouko, who rambled on and on about those kinds of things.

“But, aren’t those irregular moments actually happening regularly? Waves are formed and scattered after many rounds of swells. And waves that were formed too faraway would disappear before even hitting the shore.”

“If that’s the case, then the sea’s like a graveyard for those waves who never reached the shore.”

When he talked with Kyouko like this, Shibuki’s mind felt peaceful, and quietly satisfied. That feeling stayed as they proceeded onto the futon, and when their bodies heaved against each other beneath the dim light of the miniature light bulb, and Shibuki’s body felt satisfied as well. He didn’t believe that devoting himself to having sex day after day was healthy, but only devoting himself to diving day after day wasn’t necessarily healthy either. The important thing was balance, Shibuki thought. It was what I lacked the most.

In Tokyo, if he thought about the fact that he hardly called her, he’d fall down just like a seesaw with a bang, and suddenly sink into himself. Kyouko, who was two years older than him, received him generously. She seemed to be just simply happy that she was able to see him again so soon, three months after he had made up his mind to go to Tokyo.

Kyouko, who graduated from high school this year, was working at a supermarket on the coast while living with her grandmother, Aya-san. It had always just been the two of them ever since she could remember, and although the villagers swapped various rumors about her parents, whose whereabouts were unknown, she herself didn’t seem to have much interest in it. Because she behaved like that at least, Shibuki didn’t dare try to touch on it. In terms of amount of rumors, the Okitsu family was by no means inferior to Kyouko’s.

If someone saw Shibuki’s and Kyouko’s relationship, would they see it as something like “Minor’s disturbed nature! Half-cohabitation for three years?” Of course, that was just an exaggeration, and everything came about somehow, but since he started going out with Kyouko three years ago, it was true that Shibuki almost never returned home. It was because he didn’t want to see his mother fussing over his uncle, who had taken over the position of head fisherman.

After the deaths of his father and grandfather, his mother stopped Shibuki, who was willing to work instead of going to high school, and persuaded him that they would be able to make do with the insurance money and their savings. But in truth, it was obvious that their lives consisted of the assistance from his uncle, who lived in the same village. Shibuki could not make himself like that uncle no matter what, as he had declared Shiraha an embarrassment for the family for ending without returning to his hometown in glory.

“I took a little summer break.”

Even when Shibuki said that the other day as he suddenly came home, his mother welcomed him with an “Okay” without asking anything, but when he thought about the sarcastic things that his uncle would be saying behind his back (“See, I told you so”, “It’s the old man all over again”, etc.) he couldn’t settle into his family home, and ran away after only one day.

Aya-san cursed at that uncle, saying “He calls me by my name or ‘old woman’. Just a vulgar man (1).” Shibuki was very fortunate that she was his friend. Although she wasn’t such a radical thinker as to approve the free love between young people, but because she had painted an era where women married young, she didn’t say that Shibuki’s and Kyouko’s relationship was too early. Kyouko, who since middle school had brought many boys to her house, and repeatedly took up love affairs like throwing away fish she just caught without even tasting them, stopped doing all of that immediately once she met Shibuki, and treated him like she acknowledged that he got the better of her.

He woke up at the house on the hill, ate the toast and eggs that Aya-san made, and while Kyouko was standing at the register at the supermarket, he breathed in the scent of the seashore on the nearby rocks until he felt like he had to burp. As Shibuki did so, he felt like he was increasing the “fueru wakame (2)” as he went back to the person he was before going to Tokyo. Oh, I’m living here like this, and I believe I’ll continue to live like this in the future, he thought, as though it was someone else’s business.

Kayoko’s appearance was, so to speak, an unexpected incident. Just as his father and grandfather were swallowed by the stormy sea, Shibuki was also swallowed up by the waves of fate.

Will he dive into those waves again?

Even though he knew that the answer to that must be given by the new semester, Shibuki continued to put it off.

“Have sex with Kyouko every night, do fishing after graduating from high school, get married and officially live here, make babies, buy my own ship one day, make the tastiest fish I caught that day a souvenir for my family, everyone noisily eats it…I guess that kind of life is the best kind that I’ll never get tired of.”

When Shibuki sometimes spoke about his dream, Kyouko interrupted him with a question while smiling. “What about diving? Is it not going to appear in your future?”

“If I want to dive, the sea’s right there. I don’t want to spend all my life diving like Gramps.”

“If diving was your Gramps’ everything, then what are you here for? He went to Tokyo, devoted himself to diving, and after that fell in love and got married, had kids, and raised his grandson. But I think that he had the full course of life.”

“But he lost at the most critical moment. Even if it was because of the war, if he failed at that moment then he’d be the loser for all his life forever. At least, that’s what the people here think.”

Kyouko’s toes, which had been quickly progressing through the breakwater (3), stopped beneath a thunderhead (3) that resembled a splash blown up by a giant. It wasn’t a new thing that this kind of complaint came out of Shibuki’s mouth now. However, it was especially frequent during his recent homecoming, and Kyouko, who had ignored him placidly at first, couldn’t stand it any longer after two weeks.

“Hey, Shibuki.” Kyouko beat him to it before he could start on the story of the Ninomiya Kinjirou statue. “You always talk like Gramps is the victim. He left the village, because he was tempted by the scout from Tokyo. He ended without any awards to show for it, because of the war. But is that actually true? Are you seriously thinking like that? Aren’t you just putting some kind of blame on everything else by doing that?”

The salty sea breeze blew gently against the sea’s surface, causing Kyouko’s light purple camisole to flap. When Shibuki had first met Kyouko, who was the most sophisticated person in the village, on this beach, he had wondered if she was an actress on location for a shoot. However, if one saw the city which overflowed with well-dressed women, she and others looked simple in comparison, and he fell in love all over again with that inartificial beauty.

Even now when she revealed her anger, her face was truly lovely.

Shibuki spoke while being charmed by her. “Well then, whose fault was it? To this day people are still making noise about whether Gramps is a genius or something, and he finished his athletic career without leaving anything behind. What on earth is there to blame?”

“Yes, about that. I’ve been thinking about that a lot…” Kyouko said, like she’d been waiting for this moment. “It’s his back.”

“Back?”

“Gramps dived into this sea just like you when he was a child. You hurt your back, and maybe it’s not just you who had hurt their back.”

The waves that had been repeating regular undulations turned irregular suddenly beneath the eyes of the two.

Shibuki wanted to get swept away by those waves.

“That’s…impossible.”

“If so, then that means that Gramps isn’t a victim of the war like you said. He did only what he could do, until he couldn’t do it anymore, and stopped on his own. That’s why he trained you so carefully so that you wouldn’t make the same mistake. Don’t you think that’s possible?”

“Wait.”

Hey, wait a minute. Shibuki desperately tried to calm his confused head.

Okitsu Shiraha was not a victim of the war, and stopped himself because of his injured back. If what Kyouko said was true, then the foundation of what he had believed until now had been overturned.

“Hey, let’s find out.”

Kyouko had already turned on her heel.

“We can find out about Gramps’ athlete career.”

Kyouko didn’t have to tell him, since Shibuki had also tried to investigate Shiraha’s past once. What kind of athlete was Okitsu Shiraha? How did he dive, how did he live, and what did he think in faraway Tokyo? He badly wanted to know, and searched all over his house for clues. A picture was fine. A letter was fine. A diary was even better. But his grandfather had buried his glorious past. He completely erased all traces of himself as a competitive diver and died.

That’s why it’s useless to go search, but no matter how many times he told her that, she didn’t listen, and forcibly put Shibuki on the back of her motorcycle. They rushed along the bumpy hill road, heading for Shibuki’s house.

It was only the house of former head fisherman, and although it was old, Shibuki’s house was spacious. Immediately after he returned home for the first time in more than a week, without caring about the suspicious eyes of his mother at seeing her son suddenly vandalizing the house, Kyouko desperately hunted for Shiraha’s traces. Under the eaves. In the attic. Behind the butsudan (4). The cellar that had now been turned into a storage room. They were especially thorough with the room that Shiraha used, carefully searching from the bottom of the chest of drawers to the inside of the container that held his certificate of merit.

However, nothing turned up from the house that Shibuki had once spent many hours searching through.

“That’s why I told you. I’ve searched in all the likely places a long time ago.”

“But it never occurred to you to strip off the tatami mats afterwards, and to tear up the floorboards…”

“If we go that far and nothing’s there, even Mom would go berserk. And it will also develop problems between you as a daughter-in-law and her in the future.”

Kyouko, hit in a painful place, despondently turned back from the road that she came down reluctantly, although it looked like she still hadn’t given up on the inside yet.

The next morning Shibuki was forcibly put onto the back of her motorcycle again.

“What are we doing today?”

“We’re continuing from yesterday.”

“So, nothing?”

“Today we’re going to Urai-san’s place.”

“Urai-san?”

“He’s that old man who always picks up trash on the beach. When he was young, he was a good friend of Gramps. Aya-san said that he seemed to have watched Gramps’ competition in Tokyo. So, if that’s the case, Gramps might have left something with him, don’t you think?”

However, that hope was in vain. When the two of the visited the Urai house, although the old man admitted that he had went to see Shiraha’s competition, his memory was too unreliable. He clearly got it confused with a swimming race when he recounted excitedly how Shiraha was so wonderful, moving up steadily from the third course and reached the finish line faster than anyone else in the second half. Shibuki and Kyouko went along with the long story for a while, and then left the house in low spirits.

Even so, Kyouko still didn’t give up.

She, who did not speak a word after leaving Urai’s house, said “Hey” as she pulled on Shibuki’s arm after she parked her motorcycle in the garden of the hilltop home.

“Isn’t there an association that keeps all kinds of material about swimming and diving?”

“The JASF?”

“Yeah, wouldn’t they keep documents about Gramps there? Hey, let’s call and find out.”

“There’s no point.”

“Why?”

“I already called a long time ago.”

“…”

As expected, Kyouko’s eyes lost their strength as she was exhausted.

“It was around 1936 that Gramps went Tokyo and entered the diving world. The Japanese diving world seemed to have been at its peak at that time, but the records of that time were stored in Hachiouji and were burned up by US military air raids. Even though the JASF’s headquarters were located in the Marunouchi Building, the office workers back then were afraid of wartime damages and locked them up in the storehouses of their own homes, which backfired on them instead. It seems that the only thing that was found in the ruins of the fire was a Longines stopwatch.”

“What about the records after that?”

“After the war, Gramps was at the first Nationals in Hyougo in 1946, but he didn’t even leave a picture there. That was probably Gramps’ last official meet.”

Kyouko frustratingly chewed on her lip. When her heightened emotions reached their boiling point, she would always go on a rampage. She put on the helmet that she had just taken off, and while revving up the engine loudly, she started her motorcycle up, and all night long they did not return to where they had travelled for the whole day.

Although he was worrying endlessly about when they were going to go home, Shibuki fell asleep before he knew it. In the morning, when he woke and noticed Kyouko lying next to him as usual, he spontaneously hugged her shoulders with relief and repentance (I didn’t fall asleep. I…).

She wore a tank top and short shorts instead of pajamas when she crawled into the futon. But yesterday, perhaps because she was too tired, she was wearing nothing but her underwear, and the delicate skin of her chest peeked out from the towel blanket. Three years ago, when he had first touched that smooth skin, Shibuki had marvelled that there was such an attractive creature outside of the sea. That impression was still the same now. That’s why he confided everything to Kyouko. He even talked to her about his back problem that he never told anyone else about.

However, he had only hidden one thing from her.

“What is it?” She whispered to him with half-closed eyes, as he stroked her red hair.

“I was thinking.”

“About what?”

“About why you’re going so far to find out about Gramps.”

Kyouko pulled the milk-colored towel-blanket over her nose. Not to hide her skin, but to hide her inflamed eyes.

“I want to free you from your weird curse.”

“Curse?”

“You treat Gramps like a victim, and so you’re always tied to that pent-up grudge…I don’t want to see you like that. If you stay like this, I feel like you seem to be blaming your own issues, your back problems, and not going to Beijing, all on that one thing. Gramps’ life was no one’s fault, and he was the one who chose to live like that. I want to let you to admit that. That way…”

“That way?”

“You will be more invigorated, and would want to go back to Tokyo.”

The towel-blanket covered up to Kyouko’s forehead. It was to hide her tears.

When Shibuki decided to go to Tokyo to join the MDC, Kyouko had only cried a little bit once. This was the first time he saw her crying like this since then.

He got up, gently pushed away the towel-blanket, and kissed away her tears.

They were saltier than seawater.

“They said that all of the past records were burned up in the air raids, but…” Shibuki said, making up his mind. “Actually, it wasn’t all of them. Even the JASF doesn’t know this, but there’s a man who privately saved a 16mm footage of Gramps in his athlete years.”

Kyouko stopped crying.

“Who?”

“Mizuki Shinnosuke. The former president of Mizuki who established the MDC. He was also one of the divers that represented the Japanese diving world in the 1930s.”

“…”

“The day that his granddaughter, Asaki Kayoko, came to see me, she told me she found the 16mm film among the things Mizuki Shinnosuke left behind after his death. If…”

If you win the right to represent at next year’s Olympics, I will also show you what your grandfather left behind.

It was the 16mm film that projected his grandfather in his younger days. For anyone else it would be nothing, but for Shibuki it was the keepsake of a miracle. His grandfather was made much of in Tokyo as a child prodigy, and talked about behind his back in the village, so the truth with just his grandfather was there in that film. Shibuki wanted to know. What his grandfather thought when he went to Tokyo, what he thought when he went back home, and what he thought when he taught him, his grandson, to dive. He believed that something that was not told from the mouths of others dwelled in that film.

Okay, I’ll go to the Olympics. And in exchange, you will give me the 16mm when that time comes.

That was the contract between Shibuki and Kayoko—

“But, now that I think about it, me going to Tokyo like that was probably the fastest way to know about Gramps’ feelings. It was only for four months, but when I actually tried diving in a competition, I felt like I understood a little about Gramps. At least he wasn’t doing something boring. It’s annoying for those village bastards who don’t know anything to say all sorts of things, but maybe it’s good if I’m the only one who knows the truth.”

“Shibuki…”

“Because I understood that, I don’t need the 16mm anymore. My contract with Asaki Kayoko has expired anyways. It’s impossible for me to go to next year’s Olympics as I am now. I’m confident about that much.”

Shibuki’s confidence made Kyouko’s chest ache. The stubborn, competitive, unstoppable-once-he-gets-started Shibuki said it was impossible. It probably was impossible. Even before Kyouko came up with the idea to search, the thing that Shibuki had been pursuing for was indeed there since a long time ago.

“But, I really do want to see that 16mm film. Isn’t there any other way that it can be shown to us?”

“By lowering my head to Asaki Kayoko? I have my pride.”

“Is your pride really okay right now?”

“If it’s going to done well, then it won’t be me.”

“Well then, would you like me to do it? I don’t have pride.”

“This is between me and Asaki Kayoko.”

“So stubborn.”

Despite saying so, Kyouko hugged Shibuki’s hair in order to show her affection for that stubbornness, slowly lowering her hand to his nape to stroke it. Sex seemed to be quickest way to manage these feelings of mutual downheartedness, but when she thought about it, she felt bad for his back, and did not know what to do about her hand that had now descended to Shibuki’s stomach.

If they thought about it, ever since Shibuki came home, it felt like the two of them always didn’t know what to do with the time while embracing each other.

In this long summer, it was just the two of them.

From this night on, Kyouko stopped mentioning Shiraha’s name. The 16mm never came up, the two of them slept in each other’s embrace as before, ate the breakfast Aya-san made when morning came, Kyouko went out to the supermarket, and Shibuki inhaled the fragrance of the seashore until he choked on it as he wandered around the rocks until the sun went down. In the meantime, time passed, and people started to greet each other with statements like “the sun is setting earlier” and “it’s gotten a lot more comfortable,” but Shibuki didn’t feel any change in the seasons, and he felt like just Kyouko and him were still left in the humid shadow of summer.

This cocoon was pure white. He recalled those strange bugs that they were forced to raise in elementary school. They wrapped up their bodies in white silk and slept, and that moment, when they woke up and were rewarded with wings on their backs. However, there were also some who never woke up, and dried up completely inside of their cocoons.

He felt like he and Kyouko were quietly dying inside of the silk that they wrapped around themselves.

While he was aware that that cocoon was his own problem, and that Kyouko was only someone along with him for the ride, he needed her, and could not let her go.

At the end of summer, when rare, unexpected visitors suddenly arrived at the Okitsu house where Shibuki was absent, the two were already completely motionless.

Translation Notes

1. Kanji translates to “vulgar man” but furigana reads “udade” which means “unpleasant, disgusting” in Tsugaru dialect.

2. A type of edible dried brown seaweed. You can buy it online

3. A breakwater are structures that protect coasts. A thunderhead is a type of cloud seen during a thunderstorm.

Next time on DIVE!!: Gee I wonder who those visitors are