#both in the 'kid who learned about the thing and must repeat the thing to everyone in earshot' way

[thedreamparadox]

NiGHTS is my favorite little guy of all time... do you think they have favorite visitors? (Aside from the canon kids, ofc)

They definitely have a pool of a rotating size of their favorite humans to go and visit, but not an outright favorite favorite outside of the canon kids. NiGHTS tries to help as many humans as possible, but some humans either need some extra help and they're okay with that (recurring nightmare sufferers and/or really stubborn Seconds, generally) or they're fun to hang out with and NiGHTS goes "I am totally not attached" said while actively holding some six year old who has done nothing but talk their ear off about what their favorite dinosaur is or something.

NiGHTS thinks all humans are cool. (Meanwhile Jackle hangs out with theater kids, costume designers, and musicians (and occasionally spooking people who are into demonology because they think it's funny), and Reala hisses at everybody.)

[luveline]

jade baby I was wondering if you could do a hurt/comfort with Steve, but the reader comforting steve while he deals with his hearing loss after all the times he got beat up and stuff? Maybe he’s frustrated and she makes him feel better:’)

ty for requesting <3 fem, 1k

Steve’s eardrum was weakened after multiple traumas to the side of his head, but it’s the strangulation of vines in the Creel house that finally gives him permanent hearing loss in his left ear. Matter of time, the doctor said. 

He pretends it doesn’t bother him. He doesn’t wear the hearing aid he’s fitted for, he doesn’t go for his follow up appointments. Steve acts like he got better just like everybody else did (sort of). He doesn’t care about taking his shirt off at the pool, ‘cos you all have scars from your time in the upside down, but he doesn’t talk about his ear. 

“Woah, that kid can make a wave,” he says, squinting against the sunshine, his legs still wet from swimming. 

In the pool, Dustin and his friends play an aggressive game of Marco Polo. Max sits on the side with her feet in the water shouting Polo’s that only serve to confuse him, Lucas beside her laughing and trying to curve his own shouting with his hand. Dustin throws his arm out at them and soaks their swim shorts in retribution. 

“He’d be winning if they stopped messing with him,” you say, sitting on the lounger next to him and passing him one of the drinks from your bag. It’s still cold. “When’s Robin getting here?” 

“Uh, she’s with Nance.” 

“Oh, gotcha. When is she coming?” you ask, a little louder. 

He must have missed a couple of words and assumed you asked where she was. He frowns, turning the can of original coke you’ve given him over in his hand. 

“Steve?” 

He looks up, turning himself to you more squarely. “Yeah?” 

“Do you know when Robin’s gonna be here?” 

He presses a finger to his ear. “You just asked me that, huh?” 

“It’s okay. I’m just wondering.” 

“Uh.” He ruffles his hair, face angled down to the floor. “I don’t know. Half an hour?” 

Steve isn’t easy, he’s not promiscuous (anymore) (and who cares if he is?) but he loves flirty attention, and he’s a friend in need. Also, you have a huge awful crush on him even if you won’t admit to it. 

You put your hand on his knee. “Half an hour for you to kiss me stupid, then.” 

He lifts his head. “You wish.” He smiles at you all smug as he covers your hand with his. “Half an hour? I could rock your world.” 

You both laugh and move your hands back to your sides. Your skin feels warm where he’d held it, you can’t help smiling, but it’s obvious it hasn’t really taken his mind off of the problem. Your ruse ran out of steam too quickly. 

Steve looks down at his chest. “I’m sorry. It must be annoying, repeating what you’re saying all the time.” 

“It’s not.” 

“Come on, I know it’s the worst.” 

“Steve, it doesn’t bother me. You need me to repeat what I said, or you need me to talk louder sometimes, so I’ll do it. It doesn’t matter.” 

“It does,” he says, “I should just wear the– the hearing aid,” —his voice goes low with embarrassment— “and stop inconveniencing everybody.” 

“You’re not an inconvenience, Steve.” You tilt your head gently toward your shoulder, palm up on the chair between you. “Steve, I think everybody would agree with me when I say that we don’t mind. It’s up to you. If Max doesn’t wanna use her cane, you don’t care, do you? You just let her use your arm. It’s the same thing. Or, it feels like the same thing for us when you don’t use your hearing aid.” 

He winces. 

You really don’t like the look of it, unsure if you’ve said the wrong thing. “Well, I could learn sign,” you say. 

“What?” 

“Sign language? We could learn how to sign, and then you don’t have to wear the hearing aid, n’ you don’t have to worry I’m repeating myself.” 

“You’d do that?” 

“Yeah,” you say, smiling in bemusement. “Of course I would. And it would help anyways in places like this.” You gesture to the tens of kids shouting and splashing in the pool. “There’s so much noise. I can barely hear myself sometimes. And imagine the shit we could talk at the movies–”

“Thank you,” Steve says, surprising you with his arms suddenly reaching out. He kisses your cheek as he pulls you in, and he rubs your back gently, his face pressed to your hair. You hug him back and his arms tighten around you. 

“You’re welcome,” you say. You haven’t even done anything. 

“Seriously,” he says, giving your back a good scrunch with his hand. 

It’s worth it for the scrunch alone, but you really mean it. Of course you’d learn to sign for him, you’ll do anything he needs you to do if it’ll make him more comfortable with coping with this new change. You smile into his naked shoulder, the smell of sunscreen under your nose, his hair tickling your ear. 

“Oh, god, are you guys serious?” Robin asks. “When’s the wedding?” 

“Should’ve started with the joke,” Steve says, putting his chin atop your head rather than pulling away. You turn just enough to see Robin from the corner of your eye. 

She raises her eyebrows. “What’s going on?” 

“Nothing, just swapping out best friends for the better model.” 

“I resent that, Steve, but I choose to forgive you because I’m in a good mood and Nancy made sandwiches.” 

“My mom made them,” Nancy says from behind Robin's shoulder, looking down at the brown paper bag she’s carrying. 

They turn away from you to call the kids in for lunch. “What did she…” Steve says. 

“Her mom made sandwiches. I’ll get you a PB and J before Mike claims them all,” you promise. 

He smiles a line, nodding at you appreciatively. When you turn away, he brings a hand to his ear, and he doesn’t hate himself for something he can’t help. 

[sexydoffyman]

Hello 👋, could I request some cod characters (perhaps Ghost, Price or Graves) defending a male military reader from a bunch of guys that are being homophobic to him?

DEFENDING YOU FROM HOMOPHOBES

navigation

genre: fluff

characters: Simon Riley, John Price, Phillip Graves

A/N: Sick of writing for kinktober. Mby that's why I can't write fucking properly. So let's look at some fluff.

SIMON GHOST RILEY

Ghost is a fairly scary man. He's known for being cold and serious. No one expected you to hang around him. He had six inches on you (15cm). Some people joked about you being the love birds in your TF. They could never guess how correct they were.

You weren't dating or anything, but you both held some kind of mutual respect, trust and maybe even attraction. You both had some qualities of a couple. He was a little possessive of you. You were a little clingy with him.

Although you had some kind of a relationship, that didn't really matter. The thing that mattered was you having each other's backs.

He was like a predator, making sure no one hurts his weaker companion. But when he wasn't around, you were left vulnerable. Not physically, no. You held great strength. What was left to hurt if people cant hurt your body? Your mind.

They mocked you ever since you met at boot camp. Any time they saw your face, they felt the need to embarrass you. You could handle it. You were a soldier, after all. But that didn't stop you from feeling hurt.

This time, you just sat there and took it. They yelled. They impersonated. Of course, that commotion would attract some people's attention.

The one that had showed up was Ghost. You couldn't even register him when you saw a 6'4 dude punch one of them. The others tried running, but none of them could get far enough to escape him. Their jaws broken. Ribs shattered.

You could hear him laughing under his mask. He then glanced at you "Coffee?" He asked.

CAPTAIN JOHN PRICE

All I can say is father energy.

He has been your captain for a few years now. You have gone through shit with him, and you both trusted each other. You viewed him as a kind of father that you never had. And he viewed you as his new child.

He is not possessive, but he is protective. He wouldn't let anyone fuck with you. His rank helped him with scaring people off. He never really had a problem with disobeying soldiers to begin with, so he never actually used his rank, but now. He has to stick up for you.

You really do resemble a kid he would have had. You have similar hair colour and eye colour. Your postures don't have a difference, and you find yourselves finishing up each other's sentences.

These assholes who have been making fun of you were your superiors. What that meant was that you could do nothing to stop them. They could say anything they wanted, and they'd get away with it.

"Thirty laps now!" Your eyes averted to the sudden voice coming from the hall. He heard them. They slowly realised they fucked up. It was raining cats and dogs outside. Everything was muddy and slippery. Running thirty laps would be torture.

"Do I have to repeat myself?" Price grunted with a more aggressive tone. They stormed off to the exit to run their laps. He yelled at them before they got out. "Being on good terms with your fellow soldiers is a must. I will have your ranks stripped away from you until you learn that!"

As soon as they left, Price let out a small chuckle. He was proud of himself. Cheeky bastard.

PHILLIP GRAVES

I love this son of a bitch.

Now, this man is always with you. It's not an obsession. It's just the fact that everyone else wants to be either alone or already has someone to be with. He just doesn't want to be alone.

You felt like you were the chosen one. He was still your superior, after all. After some time together, you got used to it. He always apologised for being such a bother. You got free snacks, which you didn't mind at all.

You were fucking around the base, chilling. You would've never thought you'd be sharing stories with him, but there you were. You didn't know what kind of relationship it was. Were you friends, or were you together just because of the situation? You never figure it out.

The dudes who embarrassed you were your rank. But they fuck with both of you since they didn't know Graves's position. A big mistake. He never really said anything to them. One day, they were just gone.

When you looked deeper into it, you found out that two were dead, and three lost their jobs.

Graves is such a gentleman.

[oxymorayuri]

HI YURII, i absolutely adore the way you write and i wanted to request some hc’s or a small fic abt law reaction to reader’s pregnancy, likeee how’d he react after telling him and how those 9 months would affect law’s personality and relationship w reader

but only if u want too ofc! thx and have a wonderful dayy <3

A/N: Hi there, my darling ♡

How can I refuse such a lovely request? I feel very honored every time you guys tell me that you enjoy my stories. My heart fills with pride when I read your kind comments.

OneShot or HC? Why not both? Two are better than one!

Here are the headcanons [Law|Ace|Kid|Doffy]

Okay, let's go! Have fun with the OneShot!

✦ Pairing: Trafalgar D. Water Law x Reader ✦ Content: idk, not much, i guess? I'm pretty bad at this lol. bit angst, a little jealousy and endless fluff ✦ Spoiler: none ✦ Description: You're pregnant and Law's reaction is everything you could wish for *-* This OneShot doesn't completely fit the request, hence the HC, hope that's okay :3

Wordcount: 6383

❝𝑌𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠!❞

It's quite unusual for you to wake up in the middle of the night, but you woke up with an overwhelming craving for something sweet. Falling straight back to sleep is hopeless, so you're forced to stare around the room until perhaps drowsiness sets in.

Aside from the ticking of the clock, it's absolutely silent but you feel as if the ticking is becoming progressively louder 'til you have satisfied your ravenous appetite.

You picture it, the mousse that Ikkaku made… You have no clue how she makes it. You've tried to make it yourself, even following her recipe, but it's just not the same. However, when Ikkaku makes it, it tastes heavenly.

You can feel the foamy dessert melting on your tongue and the subtle hint of dark chocolate spreads through your mouth. Your saliva starts to gather in your mouth... That's enough! You need to eat dessert. Immediately!

The chance of waking Law is high, yet you would kill for a little midnight snack! The only thing is; you have to get out of Law's arms first...

You look at the dark haired man as he sleeps with a peaceful face. One arm around your waist, face to face.

On days like this, when you two haven't had much of each other, you'll at least have your little moments in your shared bed. With your faces turned towards each other, you talk about your busy day… Until one of you falls asleep and that one is usually you.

It's mostly you who talks about your day and Law hangs on your every word while you talk enthusiastically about all sorts of things.

Law is usually a bit reserved, because in his opinion he always does the same thing anyway and you must be getting bored of that. But that's not the case. You love the sparkle in his eyes when he talks about the things he has learned from his book, or when he has got hold of a rare coin.. He always lights up like a little boy who's been at school for the first day.

[throwback]

“…And did you know that an adult's entire intestine is 5 to 7 meters long? Imagine that.” You raise your eyebrow in disbelief.

“Five to seven meters?! No way, how is that supposed to fit?” You stroke your stomach while Law laughs at your bewilderment. Of course you believe him, you believe anything he says. He could tell you every lie and you would believe it immediately, but luckily Law doesn't lie to you. He is sometimes very secretive towards you and keeps a lot to himself like a loner, but he is by no means a liar.

“No joke, you can believe me… I could show you if you like.” Law speaks with a confident self assurance that makes you snort.

His confused eyes look at you insistently and he repeats that he could show you while raising his hand.

“Room!” You immediately realize what he's up to and you reach out with both hands to stop him. He really is planning to show you his intestines. Ah, no thanks.

You shake your head, still chuckling.

“I always believe you, my love… It's just kind of hard to imagine…” - “Yes, I know... I could hardly believe it either. That's why I took my intestine out straight away and measured it.”

You can't take any more. Law speaks with a nonchalance that brings tears to your eyes. You love him for his strangeness, that's what makes him so human.

“Anything for science.” you whisper quietly to him.

No longer interested in how long the human intestine is, you lean over and give him a little kiss. Being with Law is always a learning experience, the special thing is what you learn about Law along the way. About his heart and mind, while he talks about all the things that fascinate him.

Gosh, you adore him so much.

[throwback end]

Law's slight movement snaps you out of your reverie and for a moment you have the chance to slip out of his arms.

Silent as a ninja, you sneak out of your room and scurry into the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, you can't wait another second and spoon up the dessert right in front of the fridge.

Whilst you let each scoop melt in your mouth, you hear footsteps coming closer to the kitchen. You try to hide, but it's too late because Bepo, who also wanted to sneak into the kitchen, enters.

You look at him like a frozen deer and he gives you a similar look. With your eyes still staring at the polar bear, you slowly bring the spoon to your mouth and devour the chocolate mousse. Without your eyes parting for even a second.

“What are you doing?” You leave the spoon in your mouth and look at him with a tilted head.

“Err, what does it look like…?” Your voice a little muffled, as if you were brushing your teeth. It's obvious what you're doing? With the bowl in your hand, you sit down at the table and wave the Mink over to you.

“Come on, get over here before the mousse is gone.” A little taken aback, he blinks a few times and joins you at the table.

Of course he wants some of the chocolate wonder, so he hurries to you.

You take turns spooning from your bowl and after each bite you hold your hand to your flushed cheek. It tastes simply divine.

However, you barely exchange a word, because it goes without saying that this meeting will remain a secret. You only hear a pleasurable moan and a soft mumble in between.

A few days have passed since then and a few other unusual things have happened. Your cravings have become a little weirder, your sense of smell has increased and fish suddenly no longer tastes good to you! As soon as you smelled sushi, you felt sick to your stomach. Unusual, you thought, but it could have been something else. You didn't think anything else of it and went about your everyday duties, quickly forgetting about the oddities anyway.

Until you got up one morning and ran straight to the toilet. You felt nauseous and it came out faster than you would have liked, so you left the door open and it gushed out of you straight into the toilet.

Your dinosaur like noises woke up the grouchy Law who rubbed his eyes in a drowsy state.

Who or what is that? And why is it so loud?

Law is definitely not a morning person. Talk to him before his coffee and you will see… Well, nothing will happen except that he ignores you and turns around. He won't even talk to you before he takes a sip, but no problem. Isn't it always like this; that a bright person is together with a grumpy one?

Tired, the black haired man sits up and runs his fingers through his tangled hair while still sitting on the edge of the bed with his eyes closed.

The noise is unusually loud and seems as if it is directly in the next room… In the next room… And finally it clicks in his head. You are making that noise.

Law snaps his eyes open, being fully awake now, and hurried to the open bathroom. There he looked down at you with your head almost IN the bowl, unable to stop vomiting.

At first he stood in the doorway, looking somewhat at a loss, until he finally remembered that he was a doctor.

You weren't responsive right now anyway… So Law prepared a few things for you when you finally finished throwing up…

Concerned, he stands behind you with a glass of water in his hand. It seems to be reaaally bad. He doesn't like seeing you like this, your health is important to him, probably more important than his own.

You've noticed for a while that Law is standing behind you and you appreciate him not saying anything. You're not embarrassed, not in front of Law, he's taken care of you before when you've drunk yourself into a coma so the sight shouldn't be that strange. You had to smile a little when you noticed how he tied your hair in a ponytail, so it wouldn't fall in front of your face, while you emptied out your stomach.

“Oh god. There shouldn't be *bleurggh* anything left in my *bleurggh* stomach…” A little out of breath, you lean against the wall next to the toilet.

You're not quite sure if it's the end, but it feels all right.

“I assume it's a little better now?” Tired from throwing up, you look up at him while he hands you the glass of water with a scrutinizing look.

You can't do more than nod half heartedly.

Law walked over to the toilet and flushed the contents, which looked like two days' worth of stomach contents.

He squatted down to you and began to clean your face with a lukewarm cloth. You don't look sick. Your eyelids don't droop and your skin doesn't look too pale. You just look a little worn out, which is no wonder. After all, you've given the toilet the biggest serenade of your life.

“I should take you to the infirmary and run some tests.” His hands reach for yours. With his thumb, he gently strokes the back of your hand and pulls lightly to help you to your feet. A little wobbly on your feet, you hold on to him and smile weakly at him.

“…I'm fine, thank you my love.” A little cold water on your face should be enough, so you go over to the sink to freshen up.

“Don't argue y/n, as your captain and doctor, I'm telling you that I'll give you a check up.” You look at him through the mirror as you run your wet hands through your face and roll your eyes.

“Uh huh, as captain and doctor…”

he groans a little and takes you in his arms from behind

“And as your partner too, of course.”

He kisses you on the cheek and you lean into his embrace with a little chuckle. For just a moment, you can savor your embrace, but the very next second, you find yourself in the same position with him in the infirmary.

That whole shambling around doesn't do you any good at all, you were already feeling sick anyway and you always feel a bit dizzy when he teleports with you. You put your hand over your mouth but it's too late. You quickly rush to a garbage can and fill it with your vomit.

“Hah… Law, that wasn't so clever…” You lean on the bin with both hands as you kneel in front of it.

“Ah…uh…sorry, force of habit…” His words seem a little flustered and as you look over your shoulder you see him sheepishly stroke his beard.

Yep, force of habit… It's definitely not the first time he's teleported you somewhere. Whether he wanted to kidnap you in your busy routine or wanted to steal you away from annoying guys.

He can be a bit jealous sometimes, even if he doesn't say anything, you can see right through him. Honestly, you have to admit to yourself that you enjoy it perhaps a little too much. Law usually reacts rather passively, but at some point things start to get over his limit and he reacts, somewhat flashily…

[throwback]

It's a lovely afternoon on the Sunny, and before you went your separate ways, the Heart Pirates and the Straw Hats wanted to throw a nice party to celebrate your victory.

You had a good time together and formed strong friendships, it makes you a little sad that you won't see each other for a while… but you are sure that your paths will cross again soon.

You keep glancing back to where Law is drinking some sake with Zoro, while Usopp and Luffy were doing all sorts of silly things. You can't help giggling at the sight. Their conversations are also rather short, but somehow they both seem quite relaxed and enjoy the silence between them. Your sweet introvert…

You turn back to the ladies at the table and get into a conversation full of girl stuff and laughter. Right by your side, there's Bepo napping on the floor and while your chin rests in one hand, listening to Nami, you pat Bepo's head with the other.

At your service is none other than Sanji and he serves you with the most distinguished manners. You like Sanji, he is charming and knows how to talk to women and sometimes you allow yourself to have fun and go for it… You don't flirt back, no way! You're crazy about Law and everyone knows it, but you like to have a bit of fun.

“Here my beautiful ladies, I've allowed myself to prepare your favorite drinks.” With grace and style, he holds the tray in his hand and serves you some fresh drinks. He pushes a beautifully decorated cocktail glass in front of you, one with a light blue liquid, topped with whipped cream and blue glitter sprinkles.

You know exactly what kind of drink is in front of you and happily thank the Blondie. How thoughtful he is… he's made you your favorite drink; swimming pool!

You gleefully nip at the straw and let the refreshing drink run down your tongue. As you spoon down some of the cream, you notice that Sanji has used coconut milk ice cubes instead of water ice cubes. How creative! This way the drink doesn't get watered down and only gets creamier and that's exactly how you love your swimming pool - creamy!

“Aww Sanji, you're always so thoughtful and good to us!” With your eyes closed, you enjoy your drink. It's so well prepared that you can barely taste the alcohol; how dangerous.

With your hand on your cheek, you praise the cocktail. Nami gushes with you and sighs contentedly that this is her everyday life... and Sanji loves doing it! That's the best part.

“We're really lucky to have Sanji, aren't we?” Robin giggles, as Sanji loses his temper in a dramatic way. It's as if all the attention is making his heart leap through his chest, and on one knee he babbles something about how it's not just an honor to serve you, but his greatest joy.

He may be a little pushy but isn't he also a little funny? Your girl gang bursts out into laughter, oh dear, if you only knew how Law watches the spectacle from behind with an annoyed expression…

With his chin in his hand, Law taps his cheek a little impatiently with one finger. He can hit on whoever he wants, but does he always have to get so close to you? He's got Nami and Robin to ogle, but you're his!

He knows he doesn't have to be jealous. You're only being friendly to him, as you are to everyone, but the reaction of others is what annoys him. The fact that some people think you're flirting with them, when you're just very kind and approachable (yea guess who's not.) literally pisses Law off.

He is quite sure that no one but himself has a chance with you, in fact he knows that you can become quite different if someone crosses your line… If Law's line hasn't been crossed before… It's pretty different sometimes…

Like today for example, today Law doesn't have that much patience and since Sanji moves in your inner circle, his limits are crossed quite quickly. And maybe all that sake is also to blame.

Because of your lively conversation, you realize far too late, how Law has formed his blue dome over you and just as Nami remarks it, you find yourself already on Law's lap.

Bewildered, you look up at him while his gaze is somewhat serious on Sanji. When he felt your gaze on him, he looked you in the eye with his typical grin and spoke with an absolute calmness that made your heart flutter.

“You all right?” You widen your eyes a little and raise both eyebrows. Is he serious? As if it's such a normal thing to just teleport me onto his lap out of nowhere, like it's the most normal thing in the world.

You know exactly why he did it. You saw the look he gave Sanji, but okay, you just play along. Let's see what happens.

“Yes, of course. Do you need something, love?”

He comes a little closer to you, his gaze melts the ice in your drink because you're getting so hot, but you try not to show it and smile at him innocently.

Before he reaches for the straw, he looks provocatively over to Sanji and drinks from your cocktail.

“You talked so highly of it, I really wanted to try it too, you know?” - “Sure…” like hypnotized you watch him sip from your drink while his eyes rest on your lips.

“You've got some whipped cream on your lip…” you want to quickly wipe the cream away with your hand but Law holds it tight and speaks in a low mellow voice "no, let me..."

Barely a second later, his lips are already on yours and he licks the cream off your lips in a luscious kiss.

You didn't even realize what was happening to you as you sat frozen on his lap. You can only vaguely make out the annoyed murmur of Zoro telling you to get a room or Nami cheering joyfully. You slowly come back to your senses and lean close to his ear, to whisper a few sweet words…

“I love sweet kisses… how 'bout we continue on the Polar Tang?”

Honestly, you love the way Law steals you away. He doesn't do it in an aggressive way, but in a way that makes it clear who you belong to. He never confronts the others, he just shows how in love you are with each other.

If that's not territory marking then you don't know BUT you love it.

His reaction is as expected. You know that look all too well. There's something overwhelming about the way Law's beautiful eyes run over your face as you innocently bite your lip. You could swear his eyes darken and he runs his tongue over his lower lip with a grin.

His grip tightens and his laugh deepens so that you can feel the vibration of his voice.

“Good idea.” He places a small kiss on your cheek before saying goodbye to the others. The question marks are written all over your face. You really just wanted to tease him, but you could have guessed what is about to happen.

You barely managed to wave goodbye before you found yourself back in your room on the Polar Tang. And well, you know it's obvious what will happens next… ;)

[throwback end]

“All right, so far so good. Now just a small blood check and then we'll be on the safe side.” His words bring you out of your memory and you look at his back. At a small table, he prepares a syringe to take some of your blood.

With concentration, he turns around and traces along your arm to locate a suitable vein.

“Could you make a fist?” You do as he says and he nods in response. When he had found a suitable spot, you were allowed to relax your hand and he smoothly drew the blood into the tube.

You watch him in complete devotion as he looks attentively at the syringe. Your eyes meet for a moment before he quickly returns to his task and presses a band aid onto the needle mark.

“That's it.” Again, he turns away from you to dispose the materials properly. A little disappointed, you slide down with your butt from the stretcher. You wish you could have watched him a little longer. He always looks so handsome when he's fully concentrated on his work.

“When will the results be ready?” you ask curiously as you look over his shoulder. By now you're feeling much better, you're sure it's nothing serious.

“Give me a few hours and I should have something out.” - “Hardworking as ever.” You gently stroke his shoulder as you went to turn around and Law quickly reached for your hand.

He gently pulls you close to give you a kiss on the back of your hand, his eyes always have a powerful effect on you and your cheeks turn a soft pink.

“We should go for breakfast, you should regain your energy. Go ahead, I'll clean up and come straight away.” Your heart softens at his care.

“I'll make us some coffee then.” Satisfied, he nods at you and lets go. In a good mood, you walk along the corridors of the cold Polar Tang, humming a bright melody.

The day went on as usual, the work on the Polar Tang was pure routine. A few small repairs here and inspections there. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just as you were about to leave the engine room to write your report, you bump into your friend.

“Heyyy y/n, already done with work?” You look up from your notes and have a chat with Ikkaku. After an waaay too short talk, you part ways as her beeper has gone off and she quickly went back to work. Apparently she has a lot to do... Your eyes go back to your list. You need to talk to Law, because you're slowly running out of materials for the maintenance of your submarine.

You've been underwater for quite a while now and you should be ascending soon. Ikkaku could probably use some materials too, maybe you should do a general inventory and make a supply list with Law. Just as you were about to turn around to go to Ikkaku to start with her, your beeper sounds.

A quick glance at your black device tells you that Law wants to talk to you, so you turn around again.

So, then you'll start the list tomorrow. After all, you'll be traveling for a few more days before you reach the next island...

You can't quite believe your ears and you stand in front of Law with your mouth open, completely frozen. Your pretty brain has to process this information first. You actually want to say something but don't quite know how to start the sentence.

“Y-you say I'm pregnant?!!!” You automatically reach for your belly.

“How could this happen?!” you look up at Law, unsure of how you should feel. To be honest, you're a little overwhelmed, but it's not actually a bad thing. You're actually at the age where it's appropriate, aren't you?

Law, who is leaning against his table in front of you, takes a breath to explain to you HOW this could have happened, in a physical and medical sense.

With knitted eyebrows, you shake your hand in front of Law in order to stop him. You know how, but somehow you're surprised. You often hear that the birth control failed here and there and the woman got pregnant, but somehow you think it would never happen to you and now it's happened to you.

Surprise, surprise.

You drop into a chair and look a little defeated.

“Shit…” you mutter. Law takes the results of your blood report and tries to change the subject.

“But hey, judging by your results, you're perfectly healthy and have the best possible condition for the baby." He turns the page to check a few more things.

“We should probably just get some more sun and fresh air for your wellbeing. Your vitamin D levels are a little low… No wonder down here…” In his head, he makes a mental note to talk to Bepo and Hakugan about surfacing today.

That sounds as if…

“Do you want me to keep the child?” You look up at him, a little surprised. A pleasant excitement spreads through your chest at the thought that Law will be the father of your child.

His eyes peek over the edge of the paper, looking down at you. He examines your glazed eyes, places the papers on the table and crouches down in front of you to be closer to you.

“Do you want to keep the child, y/n?” he notices that you're a little unsure, but that's okay. That's normal... but he will follow your final decision. No matter what you decide, he will stand by you and make sure you are both safe and happy.

Somehow it all feels surreal. You and Law are having a baby. That will change everything now, but you're longing to find out what it's like. You shrug your shoulders a little sheepishly.

“Uh-huh… kind of, yea.” Somewhat embarrassed, you smile at him. For you, getting together with Law has always been like hitting the jackpot, but you'd never thought about you two becoming parents.

But dear, if you only knew how Law sees you… He'd be lying if he said he wasn't happy about becoming a dad, but right now you're coming first, since you're feeling 'a little under the water'. [sorry but I couldn't help myself, lol]

“Well, I guess we have something to celebrate, don't we?“

Law's grin makes you smile. Somehow he always pushes the right buttons with you. With his charming looks, his cunning manner and clever little head, he always manages to mess with your feelings. You've never felt this way about anyone before and you weren't exactly a virgin before… Now that you're becoming parents, you feel like you're starting to really mature with Law.

“How are we going to tell them?” Parties are not his thing, you know that, but as soon as the others find out, they want to throw a party anyway.

He seems to be thinking deeply as he plays with your fingers.

“Maybe we'll just throw a party…” you look down at him in surprise, but he explains why.

“I know for a fact that we won't be able to avoid it…” a small giggle slips out of your mouth and you gently squeeze his hand, but Law breaks your eye contact.

“Well, I won't be able to get around it…” You're never against a fun party, but after an hour Law's social battery is usually drained and he disappears into his study.

“Not a bad idea, actually. If we plan the party, we can be sure that it won't be too chaotic. Let's keep it simple.” Law is pleased that you share the same thought. Well, it's probably because you can't party as hard as usual, but it doesn't make you sad. Somehow the joy slowly sets in.

Law gets up and pulls you up with him while you both hold hands. Without saying a word, he takes you in his arms and you breathe in his calming scent. At this very moment you just feel so good, even though you were so scattered until a few moments ago, you are sure that everything will work out with Law by your side.

You're kind of excited. The crew thinks you're throwing a party because you're resurfacing today and they believe that cheap lie, but what pirate crew needs a reason to throw a party? They probably don't give it a second thought and are happy to have food and booze under the sun.

In a good mood, you hum a little tune in the kitchen while you prepare a few treats in the kitchen. At some point, Shachi comes by and you tell him that he shouldn't be snacking, but he just laughs cheekily at you and stuffs a filled onigiri into your mouth. You hum contentedly as you taste the tuna cream.

“You're getting better and better y/n, the shape is a real triangle this time too!” you smack him on the back of the head and huff in offense.

He's used to it and your blows don't even really hurt so he just laughs as he rubs his head.

“I'm sure Law will be more than pleased.” Without a care in the world, he picks another treat from the little buffet you've set up and disappears into the corridor.

Your gaze rests on your bitten onigiri. You are secretly thrilled that he thinks Law will be happy. You wonder if he is looking forward to your current situation in general.

After you surfaced with the Polar Tang, Law and a few others set up the deck. Tables and benches were set up and you and Ikkaku hung up some hanging garlands to make it look more festive. After putting the finishing details on the final appearance, you put your hands on your hips in satisfaction while Law stepped to your side.

“They really don't suspect anything…” he whispers in your ear.

You just smile to yourself. After all, it just seems like you're having a party as usual. The buffet, the decorations, the festive lights and a small bar on the deck are just the same as usual.

Law doesn't know it, but you couldn't help yourself and had to tell Ikkaku about it immediately. After all, she's your best friend. You can definitely trust her not to spill the beans and it shouldn't be too difficult because you're throwing the party today anyway. She even offered to prepare a few desserts. With hearts in your eyes, you accepted her offer, of course.

All in all, it was an evening like any other with your crew. There was laughter, some dancing, a lot of goofing around and singing. Avoiding the alcohol was quite difficult, but luckily Ikkaku was your knight in shining armor. She always swapped your cup with hers, with only water inside, in an discreet fashion.

As the sunset glowed over your submarine and the atmosphere on deck calmed down allowing everyone to enjoy the last rays of sunshine, Law decided that now was the perfect time to spread the news.

He raised his glass and tapped it lightly with his fork so that everyone's attention was drawn to him by the clinking sound.

A few of the pirates look up at him in surprise. It's not that unusual for Law to make a speech from time to time, but there shouldn't be any special reason for him to make one today. Or maybe there is?

Glances go round among themselves. You smile knowingly to yourself as you watch the confusion on their faces.

“Sometimes there are unexpected twists and turns on our travels and sometimes it's the best thing that could have happened to us. In the end, everything always turned out well and that's only because we trusted and helped each other. We may be pirates, but we are also…” - “A FAMILY” Penguin and Sachi cry and shout in unison.

Law's words are unexpectedly touching. His words are always wise and uplifting… but this time he not only speaks from the heart, but with it and everyone is moved to the core.

You could cry because you know why he uses such beautiful words. With a satisfied grin, he agrees with the men.

“Exactly. We are a family and today y/n and I want to announce something to you.” Little by little, questioning glances wander to you and Law nods to you with an encouraging expression on his face. He now leaves you the honor of continuing.

“I'm pregnant!” you blurt out in a squeaky voice.

The looks go back and forth between you two in a rather funny way while the surprise is written all over everyone's face.

All of a sudden, the group erupts into a joyful roar and congratulations are given to you. Ikkaku can finally take you in her arms, her eyes overflowing with tears. A few of the men are shaking hands with Law while Bepo rushes up to Law and almost crushes him in a hug.

Your heart bursts as you watch the cheering crowd and stroke Ikkaku's back in a soothing manner as she utters some incomprehensible words of joy…

In the chaotic happiness, your and Law's eyes met. He seems as happy as you feel.

The atmosphere were already great before, but now it's just amazing.

They raise a toast to both of you and your little one, while Penguin and Shachi fight over which of them gets to listen and feel your belly first. You have to laugh at their goofiness, because there's not much of the typical pregnancy belly to be seen yet.

Bepo comes running towards you with cute beady eyes and gives you a warm embrace. He snuggles up to your head and you brush against his soft fur…

You hear his soft sniffle and in a low voice he whispers to you how happy he is for you guys.

“You're going to be great parents!” You wipe a small tear of joy from his face and pull yourself together so that you don't burst into tears yourself, but you're just too emotional. Your walls collapse and the tears roll down your cheeks.

The rest of the gang decides to come up to you and engages even Law in a huge group hug. It touches you more than anything how happy your friends are for you.

You can hardly wait to tell your friends the Straw Hats. You wonder how they will react. You secretly hope that it will be the reason you'll see each other sooner than you thought.

You really want to go shopping with Ikkaku, Robin and Nami for the baby!

You let the evening fade away together until at some point it was just you and Law.

The evening got a bit chilly and before you could even get cold, Law put his coat around you. Thanking him with a quiet smile, you can still see the joy on his face… And you? You can still hardly believe it. You're going to be parents… but you're still thinking about how Law really feels. He's obviously happy but you wish you could hear what he's thinking.

“Law, tell me, how do you feel?” Your eyes are fixed on the sea. You watch the glittering reflection of the moon in the water, while his gaze rests on you.

“I don't know. I kind of feel everything. Excitement, joy but also some fear.” Your gaze quickly goes up to him, but his eyes are now on the open sea.

The fact that he feels the same as you is somehow reassuring. You're a bit jealous of him for always keeping such a cool head, because unlike you, he seemed so calm and confident the whole time.

“You know y/n, when I went through the results today I could hardly believe my eyes when I realized why you were feeling bad.” With his arms leaning against the railing, he smiled down at you.

“I thought my heart stopped working and when it started beating again, a new feeling was born...” The glimmer in his eyes is as calming as a fire, that is about to fade out.

You are not used to so many touching words and your heart starts beating quicker with each word. The way he says everything is saved in your brain like a video and you dare not to speak a word.

He turns his upper body towards you and moves a little closer to gently brush a strand of hair out of your face. A little hesitantly, he begins to speak again, as if searching for the right words in your eyes.

“A feeling... that I thought I had long lost… The feeling of having a family.”

Okay y/n don't cry. Don't cry!

Law kisses your forehead as he wipes a tear from your face. The feeling of his warm lips disappears faster than you'd like, though, and Law takes a step back to get down on one knee.

With his gaze fixed on your eyes, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small box. You know what this means but you fail to move or say anything. Wide eyed, you follow Law's movements.

“I wanted to do this much earlier… but somehow I didn't find the right time… or maybe I was just waiting for this very moment?” Law isn't quite sure himself where he gets these words from, but so much has changed after today. He opens the box and your gaze falls on the sparkling ring.

“Y/n will you marry me?”

With quivering lips, you nod at him while tears flow like a waterfall and you throw yourself onto him, wrapping your arms around his neck.

You usually have a lot to say, but this time Law has left you completely speechless.

You could have said yes a thousand times but it would never be enough to make it clear how much you want to be his wife.

Masterlist

A/N: Oh well… Law. I bet you'd be great as a dad.

I hope you enjoyed it ♡

[balkanradfem]

So my roommate flopped. She moved her things in, and then I haven't seen her for a week. She didn't contact me either. I figured something went wrong, and that she's probably not going to live here, and then she called me, telling me she's moving out. Turns out that day after she moved in, she got fired, because she was an extra to the company, and she has to move back home with her parents.

I wasn't too upset because I did not enjoy her company at all, but, I did have to go back to searching for a roommate. The plant lady helped me this time, and she found a woman who needed to house an immigrant worker who worked for her – a woman from Nepal. I immediately said yes to this, because that is too cool, I would get to talk to her in english! And I would learn something about a foreign culture, I love that. Her employer came to see the place, and did not give me a good vibe. She asked if heating could be turned off to save on bills. I shut that down quickly, our heating is charged by the square meter. She told me very sternly to save as much as possible on utilities, which I already do, but then to also tell her employee to save up too. I didn't like that.

She came to move in the next day, and I was nervous. But then I saw her and she is so sweet! She struggles to speak english, but could understand what I was saying very well. So while she knew exactly what I was saying, I had to ask her to repeat things to me multiple times, sometimes missing the meaning because I couldn't grasp her accent. She asked me if I could teach her Croatian, and I said yes.

I took her to her workplace to show her the quickest route, and she told me that she has a working husband and two children, so she's working in here and sending her salary back home. Her mother is taking care of the kids because they're both working. She kept asking me if I'm married, or have a boyfriend, or children, and why not, and I could not put any nuance in my explanations, so I just said I liked freedom.

Then she asked me what age I was, and I already knew that we're the same age, because her employer told me she's 34 as well, but she didn't know my age, and was shocked when I said 34! She thought... she thought I was 17 T_T. It must be cultural differences because I do not look like a teen, I swear. I was wearing a silly hat, I think that must have done it.

I was showing her how to use everything in the kitchen and bathroom, and realized it's almost time for winter decorations; so I asked her what winter holidays she celebrated. She didn't know how to answer that, so I asked her if she celebrated hindu holidays, because I had read that 80% of Nepali people practiced hinduism. And she goes 'No, I'm Christian', and I'm like WHAT. What were the odds of that? So then I had to explain to her that I am the one out of two of us who doesn't celebrate Christmas, which is so funny, and ironic, but it's where we are. I'll put up a little tree anyway, I'll just say it's for the Winter Solstice.

I'm pleased with my new roommate. I made sure to learn to say her real name – she uses a simple made-up name because most Croats struggle to pronounce the real one. I'm constantly worrying she doesn't have all she needs so I am giving her gloves and clothing and letting her use my stuff until she has her own, but it's also fun for me to be able to interact with someone who came from so far away. All my experiences with foreign women are so nice! 

[hypers-omniac]

Dragon!Reader came to me in a dream I’m not even kidding. Maybe it’s my subconscious telling me I need to post smth LOL.

It's been stuck in drafts for a couple days, but im posting in a self-celebration of one of my favorite creators ever following me !!

Anyways here’s wonderwall.

CW: maybe a little suggestive at the end, a tad of angst. BUT NOT MUCH I PROMISE (maybe later)

Can’t stop thinking about dragon!reader- mean and covered in scales, something the forest itself seems to fear as the leaves quiver in the trees. Huffing smoke through your nostrils like the grumpy thing you are, hunted for a reward by many who’ve failed. The waxy glare of the sunlight bouncing off the trees and onto your scales as you sunbathe- gathering the warmth you need and taking a moment to yourself.

You’re legend. A bedtime story parents tell their kin about in bedtime stories to stray them away from the forest. Your crudely drawn face posted to the walls of nearby taverns, waiting for the next fool who might take up the challenge and never return. Your claws bear blood, both metaphorical and literal, in a way that haunts you at night during private hours.

It’s your first instinct to be defensive, to be mean and harsh to all that enter your forest it’s all you’ve ever been taught, all you’ve ever known is violence and hatred for what you are. It’s not any different when a rather.. boisterous knight steps into your domain, the crackling of dead and dried leaves alerting you to his presence. You’re all bared teeth and slit eyes- smoke puffing out of your nose at the Invader, readying yourself emotionally to have to spill his blood.

But.. he never attacks. A rookie knight, certainly, with how amazed he seems. You must be the first thing he was sent out to hunt. His blue eyes follow your defensive movements and curled tail, even when you snap your teeth at him. He wears a stupid mohawk that only comes from men his age. Your growls do not deter him, but you can’t bring yourself to attack first when his weapon is not even drawn, the steel not a threat to your scales, just yet.

So you huff once more, the smoke making him cough and splutter, his eyes burning and tearing up. And then you walk away indignantly. Careful to never turn your back as you go about your daily task. Much to your chagrin, he follows you around, asking you questions you refuse to answer- “It’s rather rude to ask a lady her age, knight.”- he’s like a puppy, tail wagging as he follows you around.

Johnny, you learn his name soon enough. Because he comes back the next day, repeating the process. It’s annoying, having a fly buzzing around your ears constantly. But it’s hard to be mad at the little thing when he’s just curious- “No, Knight. I do not lay eggs.”- even if his curiosity wanders occasionally. He called you bonnie, and you can’t bring yourself to reject the title. It’s endearing.

Still, you can’t bring yourself to let your guard down around the man. With every huffing laugh he manages to squeeze from you, your eyes are always drawn back to his sheathed sword attached to his belt. A constant aching reminder of what you can never have, and exactly why. Your tail curls around yourself protectively at the thoughts, the same way it always does around him. It’s so exhausting having to worry about your safety all the time, but what can you do?

Johnny? Oh, he’s just happy to be around a Bonnie lass like you. Trying to be as charming as possible. He just wants you to use them, reader. Pin him down and take what you need until the two of you can get along. Maybe you’ll stop being so grumpy towards him if you take his frustration out on him? A man can dream.

Bloody hell, he’s not even a real knight. But they won’t let anyone into the forest unless they’re authorized. Johnny is just lucky one of his friends is a knight, letting him borrow the armor after a short ramble from the Scot about your picture- the damn drunkard having seen it at his favorite tavern. “Bonnie lass, Kyle. Gotta lemme see her, yeah? Jus’ gotta try- jus’ for a bit, jus’ so they’ll let me in?” Mans WHIPPED.

(He never even brings his sword. It’s an empty sheath and a fake handle, just so he can keep going into the forest in search for you without blowing his cover. What a guy)

[onskepa]

Can you do a reader who has an accent with the sully family + spider?

Hello darling! So I dont know what accent you wanted, so I am going with a Mexican accent. Since it is easier for me. I also take it you wanted a human reader so that is what we are going with! This might be short, idk, I type as I go! Hope you enjoy!

Italics means na'vi talk

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

Flor

Another day in the thriving planet of pandora. Meaning, another day with their good friend flor! A nice, loving human that the sully kids love to see as their teacher and friend. Spider enjoys spending time with flor as she gives him some insight of what planet earth was like many years ago. Spider loved flor, she was like a mother figure to him. The closes thing he has to a parent.

To the sully kids, she was the best. Teaches them some English but other languages that she knows. Of course in secret as to not let neytiri know her children are learning other demon languages.

What makes flor more outstanding compared to the other humans was because of her accent. Sounded very odd yet very interesting. As young as the kids remember, Flor would try her best to speak in na'vi rather than english, according to flor, "na'vi is easier to speak than english because of the dialects". Whenever flor would speak in English, its comes out....a bit funny. Of course the kids wouldn't point it out as means to be nice and respectful but it was so odd how english comes out of her mouth compared to neytiri or other na'vi.

Spider woke up feeling excited for a new day. Getting 'dressed', he waits in the main area of the lab for flor. And as always on the clock, Flor walks to the main room exactly at 7:00 am. On the dot.

"good morning flor!" spider says with a wide happy grin. Flor smiles and hugs in, giving him a soft kiss on the head. "Good morning araña" flor replies with a kind smile.

Putting on their masks and doing the needed procedure, they both left the lab and into the world of pandora. Making their way to the village, spider cant help but spike a conversation with flor.

"ok ok, so how about, 'I went to get some water'?" spider asks. Flor took a moment and replies "I whuent to get some whater". Spider grins, its not like he is making fun of her and should flor feel uncomfortable he will stop.

That is a game they play, spider or any of the sully kids say a sentence, flor would repeat it but with her heavy accent.

Arriving at the village, the sully kids were quick to see flor and spider and ran to greet the two. Tuk, abusing her cuteness power, jumps into the arms of flor, snuggling into her embrace and just enjoy to be with flor again.

"good morning flor!" tuk says cheerfully. Flor chuckles and boops tuk's nose, "good morning mi niña pequeña". Tuk doesn't 100% know the meaning but from how flor is saying it, it must be a good thing.

"move tuk! I wanna hug her too!" lo'ak tries to nudge tuk but the little one has a good grip on flor. "ok ok, you two, plrease colm down. Lo'ak, you are a beeg boy" flor says in english. Most of the time she does it on purpose since the children like to hear her accent.

Lo'ak pouted cutely, his tail swinging low and ears pinned down. Reminds her of a toddler not getting what he wants. "lo'ak, its ok, we can hug later as much as you want" flor says kindly. Lo'ak liked the idea and returned to smiling happily again.

Kiri looked a bit imaptient, ready to have the full day with flor and her siblings. "can we go now?" she asks. Flor laughs inwardly.

"now we cahn go. Be shur to be close and together pleez. Neteyam, you can leed the way tooday" flor says, which neteyam happily complies.

There, spider and the sully kids surround flor as they go on another day full of adventure and learning new words.

Credit goes to my mom since she has a heavy accent so I took some words from her. I hope this is what you asked, I don't mind re-writing it! Tell me what ya'll think! until next time! see ya!

These are some spanish words!

Araña = spider

mi niña pequeña = My little girl

Flor = flower

[okartnerd]

Fic based on a rp me and friends did, Character analysis of Quackeret

@the-quackity-competition

By this point, Eret and Quackity were living with each other. Sure, they each had their own house, but Leo’s stuff was strewn between the two houses and each of them had a room in the other’s house. Quackity had already made a few off handed jokes about the fact they were practically raising the kids together, and he wasn’t wrong. They made a decent team, Leo was one of the better behaved eggs of the server, and Quackity had them both chasing around five awful toddlers. There was a reason Bitchass was named Bitchass. Still, all things considered, they did a good job of raising them so far. Even if Quackity was and forever would be a bitch. 

The one good thing about living with Quackity was that he was, of all things, predictable. Whenever an argument started, or Quackity decided to start moping again, you were walking in a labyrinth, not a maze. After about five rounds of dealing with him, you knew the path was leading right to the center and you had to get out of the other side. 

It wasn’t a dance, or anything rhythmic like that, he would come up with new ways to weasel around a topic or put himself in the right, even in repeat circumstances, but it was predictable when the conversation would end and exactly where everyone would stand at the end of it. Eret started to be able to participate in the conversation without hearing the other side.

Quackity had started pacing and moving, throwing his hands around in frustration. He had scrolled back up in the group chat again, to see again *exactly* what Sneeg and Slime and El Quackity wanted to do with his dead body. It fucked him up like this every time, but trying to pry him away from looking at it was like prying a kid from candy. Eret had given up a long time ago and just waited for Quackity to get so upset about it that he stops, like he would one day.

Today was not that day.

“They want fucking *pictures* of my body. *Pictures*. They’re gloating about killing a man!” Quackity started pulling on his own hair.

Eret was disturbed the first about three times she heard this, still worried about it, but it had gotten to the point of just plain annoying to hear Quackity talk about it. Eret let out a noise of disgust, then adjusted her hair, turning off her hearing aids on the way. 

Maybe they’d feel a little guilty about ignoring Quackity, if it weren’t for the same conversation over and over. It was probably traumatizing, yeah, but Quackity was forcing himself to look at it, it was his own issue. 

And maybe Eret would care a bit more if he knew Quackity wasn’t lying to his face. 

Quackity made a habit of lying with such ferocity that even Leo was starting to pick up on it. Even with the stupidest lies imaginable, like Quackity’s broken arm, which he still refused to see a doctor about. To be fair, Quackity said every doctor on the server had threatened his life, but who’s to tell if that’s a lie as well. Eret wanted to know how Quackity broke his arm, with how strongly he was clinging to that lie, the truth must have been something vile. Maybe someone Quackity cared about broke it, maybe he did it doing something he really shouldn’t have. Any way it went, Eret had learned that Labrynth wasn’t as easy to find the exit of as others. He’d need a back door to get that answer. 

After about five more minutes of just sitting and waiting, making a couple of agreeing noises when Quackity panted to gather his angry breath. Eret noticed Quackity calm down and met Quackity’s eyes. She scooted over, making room for him on the couch. “Sit. You’re tired.” She mumbled and looked his face over. Just keep hugging right and you’ll get to the end of the labyrinth from here.

Quackity stilled from his argument with the cold air, then slowly moved to sit next to Eret. Quackity leaned back against the arm of the couch and hissed, mumbling something that was about how tired he was of Sneeg and all of them. Eret didn’t need to turn on her hearing aids to know.

Eret reassured Quackity that he would keep him safe, then nudged Quackity’s leg. “No one’s hurting you or the kids again. They’ll have to go through me.”

Quackity shifted to lay on his side and stare forward for a few minutes, just sitting in the silence. At the end of the labyrinth. 

Eret turned on his hearing aids, listening for how this conversation always ended. She smiled at the idea of going out for a drink with Quackity and drunkenly stumbling home again, as was their usual. 

Quackity sat up on the couch, looking at Eret with eyes wetter than they usually were at the end of this conversation. Sure, he’d tear up when he was angry, but he had had long enough to wipe them. Quackity wiped his own tears and pulled at his hair again, then got up. “Do you want something to eat?” He mumbled, already stumbling to the fridge.

Eret tilted his head, considering they had already had dinner not too long ago. They got up from the couch, stretching out their wings a bit. “I’m not hungry.” 

Quackity started making food anyway, getting out steaks for Eret and noodles for himself. Creature of habit, Quackity barely ate anything besides noodles. Eret rolled her eyes and sat back down while Quackity cooked. Quackity returned to Eret’s side and put down the steak in front of her, his own food nowhere to be seen. Maybe he ate while he was cooking, noodles to take less time to cook than steak, it probably wasn’t anything to worry about. Hopefully.

Quackity sat down on the couch again, glancing at the food every so often. 

Eret laughed and stood up, taking the steak to the fridge, “I think you’re the one who needs his hearing checked.” She teased, opening the fridge to find the noodles, still warm, just sitting there. Odd.

She turned around to ask Quackity when Quackity cut her off. “You need a drink.” Quackity stretched his wings out, then went over to the cabinet by the fridge and pulled out the wine. 

And now they were back on script. Quackity suggests the night club, they go drink the most vile thing they can find, then giggle and laugh on the couches downstairs before stumbling up the ladder and collapsing at home. Routine, simple, couldn’t fuck it up. 

Having the alcohol already in the house was a change of setting, but Eret could improv. She smiled and took the cherry wine Quackity got specifically for her, then retrieved some wine glasses from the cabinet. Eret poured half the damn bottle in each one, then passed the glass to Quackity.

Quackity gave Eret a look he wasn’t used to, then wrapped an arm around her and took her to the couch. Weird, with how much they had pounded bottles of wine before, even standing, but fine. She could get up to refill their glasses, if Quackity was feeling that lazy. She started sipping her wine, but Quackity set his to the side, not even touching it.

This was all not right, an unease that made Eret almost angry at that confusion. “What’s wrong?” She set her own drink down, looking Quackity up and down for why he was being so miserable.

Quackity met her eyes through her sunglasses, slowly laying down so he could look up at the ceiling. He shrugged and wrapped both his arms around himself as best as he could. “I haven’t been wanting to drink lately.”

Eret laughed at that. It was comical really, to hear. Quackity downed twelve bottles of wine not too long ago, and now he wasn’t in the mood for even one. “Quackity, you’ve been getting drunk almost daily. You’re practically an alcoholic, what do you mean?”  

Quackity laughed, “I don’t- I don’t even-“ he shivered from head to toe, then sat up fully and looked at them directly, “look. Just-“ he got up and started pacing again. Maybe this would become a new labrynth to traverse, but currently neither of them knew the passages to this one, so here they were, Eret listening while Quackity rambled.

Quackity pulled on his hair while he talked, “I don’t want to drink and it’s freaking me the fuck out. I don’t- I’m not tempted to go over there in the morning and just pass out.” He gestured to the nightclub, “it’s weird, for me. It’s-“ Quackity laughed humorlessly and covered his face, curling in on himself. He mumbled something into his hands.

“Come again?” Eret called out.

“I think dying cured me of being a drunk.”

Eret snorted at that concept and got up, stepping in front of a still pacing Quackity. “You’re tired, let’s lay down.”

Quackity tried to stiffen his body to be harder to move, giving Eret sad eyes between his fingers, but Eret picked him up with complete ease. 

Quackity went down shockingly quietly to bed. He stayed in the bed, just staring at the ceiling.

He was swimming in a ocean of whatever his brain was dragging to his thoughts and tonight was not going to be a good night. He wasn’t sleeping. He wasn’t going to rest. He couldn’t, he was stuck exactly where he was, remembering how sick he was a few days ago.

Quackity wouldn’t have minded if Eret or Leo dropped dead.

The nausea he felt from the memory dug into his stomach, strong enough that he rolled over and hid himself into a pillow. He got up and grabbed a fistful of diamonds, then stepped out of the room. 

Eret grabbed him by the shoulder, having waited by the door. Still predictable as ever.

“You’re going to bed.” She said with finality.

“I’m not sleeping.” 

“Too bad.” Eret grabbed him and carried him back inside, “I can do this all night.”

Quackity grunted when he hit the bed, “you need to sleep at some point.”

Eret chuckled and laid down next to him, “fine.” 

Quackity glanced at him, then grumbled something and rolled over to lay on his stomach, stuffing his face into a pillow.

[foggyfanfic]

Fixations

Summary: Once upon a time, all over the world, nobody knew how brains worked. We knew they were there, we knew if you take the brain out of a person the person stops working, but we didn't know all the ways a brain could be sick or disordered. Once upon a time, people weren't autistic, they were quirky, or eccentric, or creepy, or weird.

Or: I play around with what being mentally ill in an isolated, magic village is like, while also exploring how the Madrigals might come off to the rest of the villagers.

Adelaide

It wasn’t like she had expected school to be uniquely horrible, on the contrary she had expected school to be exactly as horrible as most things were. She had expected people to tell her she was too quiet, too serious, a little creepy. She had expected people not to get her jokes, not to care about the book she’d last read, not to sit with her and allow her to just be there without contributing to the conversation. She had expected school to be more of the same.

But it wasn’t. And she knew exactly why.

The first day of school had started out pretty much as she expected. The other children were off put by her lack of smiles, by her overly precise words, by her even tone. Somebody, she wasn’t sure who, decided that she must be a doll brought to life.

On a side note, this was how Adelaide learned that she was something called “pretty”. It was not a word she’d ever heard in her home life and at six years old she had only read nonfiction books that described things with much more precision than the other children were capable of. But she was duly informed that she was very pretty and very expressionless, and very short, and that made them think she was some sort of creepy living doll. She would later look up “pretty” in the dictionary and be a little flattered. None of the adults who had called her too serious or creepy had ever tacked on a compliment as well.

But other than being called pretty, the day started exactly the way she expected it to based off of her limited experiences. The other children did not like her, and they avoided her other than to inform her they did not like her.

The children did like the Madrigals, both of them, although Adelaide noted they were liked in different ways.

Mirabel was friendly and had something nice to say about everybody. She was happy to help however she could and was fun to sit next to in arts and crafts because she would hand you a crayon and tell you the color would look perfect next to that cute little caterpillar you’d just drawn. Mirabel didn’t tell the funniest jokes, but she laughed at other people’s jokes; she didn’t have the absolute coolest stories, but she listened avidly when others wanted to tell a story, and even remembered it well enough she could tell you to repeat it for another kid to hear; she didn’t have a magic gift, but she did spend the snack breaks showing everybody how to make friendship bracelets. Some people were jerks about the no-gift thing, but they were quickly shut up when Mirabel said her Má told her to only share the cookies she’d brought for lunch with nice kids.

Then there was Camilo. Camilo did tell the funniest jokes, he did tell the coolest stories, and he did have a magic gift. 

The other kids sat next to Mirabel when they wanted to talk about their favorite animals, but they sat next to Camilo when they wanted to be amazed. They would ask Mirabel about the simple, crooked, butterfly she had sewn onto her school bag, they would ask Camilo to shapeshift into the teacher and make fart noises. People wanted to play tag with Mirabel, people wanted to watch Camilo put on a show.

Being six years old, Adelaide wondered which was better, whether Camilo or Mirabel was more popular. Now at fourteen she understood that Camilo was more popular, but Mirabel had more friends.

“Hey, uh Adelaide,” Camilo called out and she felt her cheeks warm up automatically. She knew she was hardly the only girl at school to have a crush on Camilo, which honestly just made the way her heart pitter pattered in her chest when he said her name all that more annoying.

She was different in almost every other way, didn't fit quite right with any of the other girls, even the ones who liked her and called her a friend. But this! This stupid, embarrassing crush! This was the one thing she shared in common with other girls. What? Because he had probably saved her from a lifetime of bullying? Ridiculous.

Adelaide turned to look at him and he jogged up to her with a friendly grin. He looked directly at her, not through or past her like some people did, but his smile was the same smile he gave his favorite teachers. It was not the smile he greeted Mirabel, or his two actual friends with. She wondered if underneath it all he was actually like her, but able to hide it because he knew how to act.

Maybe that was why, on the first day of school, when the other kids asked him to act out the story the teacher had read right before lunch he had asked Adelaide to narrate for him. Maybe that was why he kept asking Adelaide to narrate for him. Maybe he knew exactly how much he had helped her, how much it affected the way people saw her, by making her his designated narrator.

“La Señora Florez asked me to do story time for the seven year olds, I need a narrator. You free? I’d let La Señora Florez do it but between you and me, her pacing is always off.”

Or maybe he simply thought she was a good narrator.

“I am,” she said, with a tiny nod.

“Great,” he almost yelled, clapping his hands together once, “let’s go.”

He led her back to the school, at their age they only attended school in the mornings and were sent out in the afternoons to get their work done or so they could do chores for their parents. Adelaide had been half way to the library, but this was better.

“How is your day going,” Adelaide asked, because it was one of the five questions she knew to ask in social situations.

“Pretty good,” he said, “how about you?”

She hesitated, this part was tricky, she was apparently only supposed to say pleasant things but to be honest her day had been pretty boring. Was she supposed to lie? She must have hesitated too long because Camilo turned his head to look at her.

“I… am glad you asked me to do this, it’s always fun.”

Camilo’s face did something that Adelaide did not understand, his eyebrows twitched through a few expressions, his lips pursed, then almost frowned; it was not the face people made when she did the people thing correctly. But then his usual grin came back, he more than anyone else, more than even Mirabel made an effort not to make her feel as awkward as she was. Or maybe Mirabel was making an effort but this was another way that Camilo’s talents as an actor shined through. Mirabel herself could be a bit awkward at times, Josephine said it just made her more likable though, “She’s the relatable sort of awkward” she had explained. Adelaide idly decided that yes, Mirabel probably did try to make Adelaide feel not-awkward just as much or maybe even more than Camilo did, but Camilo was just better at it.

“Were you not having a fun day before?” Camilo eventually asked, in a prompting sort of voice, making her realize she was probably supposed to say more.

She didn’t let herself hesitate too long this time, if she kept pausing to think her answers through people usually assumed that meant something was wrong, instead she gave a shrug just big enough to be noticed and told him, “I thought the history lesson was boring. I always think the history lesson is boring… I think I might not like history lessons.”

Camilo laughed, and she wasn’t sure if he was laughing because what she said was funny, or because he thought she was funny. Despite a love of mischief, he was generally well meaning, so she decided to believe it was the first one.

“Sí, me too,” Camilo said, then looked around at the other passerby, he must have been checking to see if anyone was listening because he dropped his voice before continuing, “don’t tell the other guys I said this but I just don’t give a shit about wars. At all. I want to learn more about inventors and stuff.”

“I can tell you everything you could ever want to know about how telescopes were invented and developed throughout history,” she blurted.

He grinned, and it may have been wishful thinking on her part, but it seemed a lot closer to the smiles he gave his friends than the smiles he gave everybody else. He started to say something, but then somebody called his name. A boy from Juan’s class, the class above them. Camilo turned and greeted him with a shout and brief clasping of their hands. He didn’t pause, but instead twisted as he walked to explain why he couldn’t stop and tell the other boy he’d “catch you later”.

When he turned back around he said, “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be,” she all but whispered, “I know it’s what you do.”

“What do you mean?”

“You act like you’re hosting a party, even when you’re just walking through town. It’s what people expect.”

“Is that so wrong?” He frowned at her, eyes narrowing. It was the face people made when she said something that bordered on rude but wasn’t completely offensive.

She shook her head, “I do what people expect too. It’s easier.”

He didn’t respond, disrupting the natural rhythm of the conversation, she looked at him but couldn’t read him. Had she said something wrong? Something too serious? Too familiar?

They were almost back at the school.

“What do people expect from you?” Camilo asked.

“They expect me to ask ‘how is your day’ and answer with something positive when I am asked the same, even if my day was boring,” Adelaide said, she stopped walking and turned so she could stare up at him when he stopped too, “they expect you to do stuff like that, only they expect you to be perfect at it and exciting about it. It is admirable that you succeed.”

Maybe the honest compliment would fix whatever she was doing wrong.

He opened his mouth to say something, then didn’t say anything. He just stared at her. Some day he would tell her how startling it always was that she seemed to see through him so easily.

She glanced at the school, then looked back at him and took a chance, “Camilo? How was your day?”

He laughed a little breathlessly, then said, “Honestly, I didn’t get a chance to grab breakfast so I’m really hungry.”

She nodded once, then took off her school bag and dug around in it until she found her lunch sack. Without a word she offered it to him.

“Aw geez, I can’t take your food,” Camilo said, shaking his head.

“When story time is over I can quietly slip away and get myself more food. You will probably be expected to do something else for somebody.” She took a half step towards him so her lunch bag was now pressed against his stomach.

He nodded a little sideways, then regarded her with his lip between his teeth before asking in a quiet voice, “You sure?”

She nodded.

“Absolutely positive?”

Another nod and she swung the bag so it gently whacked his stomach.

“Gracias,” he suddenly burst, diving forward and briefly hugging her, “you’re a lifesaver! You have no idea!”

Her face burned and it felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest, but she just nodded and relinquished her bag to him. As they finished the journey back to the school he scarfed down all of the food with impressive speed. Adelaide glanced at him then tapped the corner of her mouth. He thanked her, wiped the errant sauce into his mouth, then thanked her again. He led her to the classroom the seven year olds usually shared with the six year olds, except the six year olds were visible out the window, learning about plants in the school’s garden. 

Adelaide envied them a little, the lessons on how to grow food had been her favorite once upon a time, but had morphed into lessons on food storage and such as she grew older. Much less fun.

The younger children perked up when they saw Camilo and Adelaide waiting by the door, he grinned at the few who stared, then winked and tapped a finger to his lips before pointing at Señora Florez. Most of the children did their best to pay attention, despite their clear mounting excitement.

“-and I think most of you have guessed what we’re doing next,” Señora Florez eventually said, when she was done explaining the different accent marks, “everybody, write the accent marks on your slate and hold it up for me to see when you’ve done so. …Bien! Muy bien! Now, Señorita Adelaide, and Señor Camilo are going to tell you a story, and I want you to try to keep track of how many times you hear each accent mark.”

Señora Florez handed her a book, which Adelaide immediately showed to Camilo. He flipped through the illustrations and briefly turned into each of the characters that had a speaking role. Then handed the book back to her. He fetched her a stool to sit on, front and center of the classroom, and she could feel him hovering at the ready right behind her.

The minute she started reading he warped himself into the shape of the book’s main character, he buzzed around her as she read, bringing the character’s actions to life as she described them. Once in a while she had to pause so he had time to fully act out this page or that. When they came to a bit of dialogue, she held the book up for him and he read the dialogue himself. He still wasn’t great at changing his voice when shape shifting, so he just did voices for the characters the same way their non-magical teachers did during story time. Then when he was done with the dialogue she kept reading on.

As she read, she did her best to emphasize the accent marks, to make it easier for the kids to catch them. Camilo did the same, but was hampered by the funny voices he was doing.

When the story was done the children clapped for Camilo as he bowed left and right with many a flourish. He stepped aside and gestured grandly at her, inspiring another wave of applause, she stood and gave a slight curtsy. Camilo laughed a little, just a breathless little laugh.

Some day he would ask her “The thing with your face, it’s not on purpose, is it?”

And she would say, “No, it is not. I don’t know why I don’t know how to have facial expressions, I know it comes naturally to everyone else, I know I’m supposed to know, instinctually, when to smile or frown. I know I'm supposed to know what each facial expression means. But I don’t and I don’t know why.”

It would become immediately obvious to her that he hadn’t meant to start a serious conversation, because he would look startled, so incredibly startled that even she of all people could read it in his eyes. On that day, many years into their future, she would be suddenly convinced that she was too awkward, too serious, too not quite right, to ever be loved by somebody like Camilo. For a split second she would wonder how she ever thought that this fairy tale would have a happy ending. She would draw in a shaky breath, to apologize for being everything that she was, but never get the chance to do so.

Because Camilo would hug her and tell her she didn’t need to know when to smile or frown, that her monotone delivery made her jokes funnier anyways, and that he just wanted to know if it was ok that he thought it was cute. When prompted, he would shrug and admit he’d always thought watching her do normal stuff with such a serious expression was cute. He’d just wanted to make sure he was laughing with her, not at her, so to speak.

And that would be the day Adelaide truly trusted Camilo, it would be the day her fixation with Camilo, her admiration for him, would finally become love.

But for now, she spent the rest of the day wondering what that little laugh meant. Was she not supposed to curtsy? She always curtsied when she read for him. Or did she do it wrong? Maybe she had been holding the book in a weird way when she did it. Or maybe it wasn’t a laugh at all, maybe it had simply been an exhale that had stuttered on the way out. Maybe the world was kinder than she thought, maybe the world wasn’t completely horrible, and it had been the sort of laugh that Josephine had said people do when they are simply happy or comfortable or fond of whoever they are looking at.

Lying in bed, almost scowling over the fact that this single laugh was keeping her awake, she would acknowledge that the laugh might not have anything to do with her at all and instead it could have been born of Camilo remembering a funny joke.

But despite admitting that, she would stay up all night, thinking about Camilo and how naturally he moved through life, wondering if he secretly thought she was weird, or too serious; or worse, if he thought nothing of her at all. She would stay up all night haunted by all possible versions of Camilo, versions that were kind, versions that were cruel, and versions that were simply apathetic. Then in the morning when she was struggling to stay awake at her desk, the version of Camilo that was real would plop some coffee down in front of her, alongside her empty lunch bag.

“Thanks for the save yesterday,” he said, not bothering to be quiet, not caring that all eyes were on him, that the whole class listened to his every word in hopes it would be said to them next, “you were right, I didn’t get another chance to eat until dinner.”

“De nada,” she said, for once happy her face didn’t automatically respond to her emotions like a normal person’s. With the entire class paying attention to them, she was glad that her blush was hidden, that her breathless joy was invisible to all but Josephine. Camilo nodded at her one more time then his eyes went past her, to Josephine, hopefully he couldn't tell that she was grinning slyly at Adelaide.

“Hey Jo! Real quick, before Mirabel gets here, what’s a good sewing thing to get for her birthday?”

“I’ll see if I can find out what she’s working on,” Josephine said, “embroidery thread’s always a safe bet for her.”

“What about your birthday?” Adelaide interjected, “It’s next, isn’t it? What do you want?”

It seemed the entire class leaned in, and Camilo’s face did something strange, his eyes flicking around to everyone around them. Then he put on that big showy grin of his, the one that wasn’t genuine.

“What I want is to just this one give Mirabel a better gift than she gets me,” Camilo laughed the question away, with a shake of his head and a shrug, “she always knocks it out of the park, leaves me looking like a total jerk in comparison.”

A few people rushed to contradict him, tell him how nice he was. Adelaide cocked her head and considered what she knew about him.

“A book about inventors?” She asked it quietly, taking advantage of her naturally low voice to turn the conversation private in the middle of the crowd. A look of surprise flickered across Camilo’s face, he opened his mouth then froze. He glanced around. 

The problem with always being the center of attention was that people were always paying attention to you.

So it wasn’t subtle at all when he leaned in and told her as quietly as he could, “Yeah, or a working model I could fiddle with.”

She nodded, mind already racing with ideas.

Then he stood up with a grin, “Just don’t tell Mirabel I said that, the last thing she needs is help beating me.”

“Beating you at what?” Mirabel asked, walking through the door with Katrina.

“Did you know you and Camilo are competing over who can get the other a better birthday gift?” Josephine said.

“We are not,” Mirabel rolled her eyes, then smirked at Camilo, “that would imply Camilo has a chance at winning.”

A few people oohed while others laughed.

“Oh ho! Thems some fighting words,” Camilo crowed, “just you wait Mirabel, I’ll kick some gift giving ass this year, I’m going to give you something so great it’ll make you cry.”

“Oh really?”

“Sí! Really,” Camilo gestured grandly at Josephine, “because this year I have a secret weapon.”

“I don’t think ‘buy her string’ is the winning advice you think it is,” Adelaide pointed out, meaning to be genuinely helpful, but people laughed as if it was a joke.

Some day Adelaide would admit to Camilo that she didn’t learn how to tell jokes until she was seventeen, and didn’t master it until she was twenty-one, any time she was funny before that was by accident. He would admit to her that he’d always been a little jealous of her mastery of the deadpan delivery, and the things she said became even funnier now that he knew she meant them.

In the here and now, Camilo gasped and theatrically put a hand to his chest, “Oh! The betrayal! I thought you were on my side.”

“I am, and I am also correct,” Adelaide said with a shrug.

“She is sorta correct,” Mirabel said, giving Josephine an apologetic smile, “I love that people keep giving me embroidery floss but if you’re going for some sort of wow factor…”

“Alright, fair enough,” Camilo shrugged it off as easily as he shrugged off most things, then he grinned at Adelaide, “coming in for the save again, I guess.”

“I try,” she all but whispered.

“Well cut it out, I can’t go buying you coffee every day,” Camilo’s words were harsh but his tone and smile were friendly, she was pretty sure he was joking.

“I also accept payment in candle lit dinners,” is what Adelaide would have said if she was a few years older and way bolder. “I also accept payment in chocolate,” is what she would have said if she thought of it in time. “We’ll call this one a freebie” is what she actually said, which wasn’t bad as far as replies went, but she only thought of it so quickly because it was a line from the book she had read for him the day before.

He smiled then, and it was a smile that Adelaide didn’t recognize. A smile that would someday become familiar to her, that she would someday know to be the way he smiled when he was in on an inside joke. It was not a complicated smile, or one that denoted anything groundbreaking.

Which just made it all the more frustrating to her that her next sleepless night was spent fixating on it.

A/N: I know I've mentioned that I created Adelaide to be the reason Camilo ends up with very autistic kids, but when I actually started rotating her in my head I liked the idea of her being very calm and understated in contrast of his showy personality, and that became her being somebody that struggles to mask. I think we've all been in that place where we know we're not wearing the right facial expression for the situation, and I assume a lot of people have found themselves over thinking what their face is doing. That is Adelaide, every second of every day. She's observant and intelligent, but god damn it, was she supposed to laugh at that or look sympathetic? Therefore she spends her youth absolutely fascinated by Camilo's ability to mask (because even if you don't see him as neurodivergent I still subscribe to the theory that he has identity issues he's hiding from everybody). Combine that with the fact that he almost single-handedly saved her from a life time of being the creepy kid when he decided she would be his designated narrator and she ends up with a crush that really pisses her off. (Something else I assume everybody else experiences.)

[aloneinthehellfire]

In Love And Grief

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Summary: El Hopper was unsure to her older sister’s behaviour. After the fall of Hawkins, you had been avoiding everyone, and they knew it was because of Eddie. His death had shaken your core. But El never truly understood until she caught a glimpse of how powerful grief really is.

request for @omgyoufoundnemostuff (who literally created this whole idea and it’s amazing)

Warnings: grief, mentions of death, pain and tears my loves

Word count: 5k (I got emotionally invested)

[A/N: this is pure sadness i apologise and i also apologise if it's bad cause i couldn't physically see what i was writing through my tears]

IN LOVE AND GRIEF

“Why are you so sad?”

El had been open to new experiences ever since leaving the lab, realising more and more of how it felt to truly be human. She was learning of things she would never understand locked in a bare room.

But one thing she truly couldn’t understand, was the power of grief.

She felt sad, of course. Max was in a coma, one El wasn’t sure she could pull her out of. But it wasn’t grief necessarily.

She had felt it when Hopper was claimed dead, something chipped at her heart, but she had always been open about her feelings. Joyce, Jonathan, and Will had all been there for her, listening and offering advice. So when she got him back, she was more than ecstatic to say the least.

But then there was you.

When Hopper had died, she had seen your sadness. She had been with you through it, caring for eachother as you both lost a father.

But when he came back, surprising you both at the cabin, that sadness never left your heart. And El couldn’t bear to see you like that. So, she started asking questions.

“Why is Y/n so sad?” El asks, looking to her boyfriend as he slips on his shoes, ready to return home after a long day with her in the cabin.

“Huh?” He whips his head up, frowning.

“Y/n.” She repeats, biting her bottom lip. “She doesn’t speak to me.”

“She’s…” Mike tries to find the right words, standing. “She’s just grieving, I guess. Eddie was her boyfriend. Look, I really need to get home before my mom freaks out but if you need me, just call, okay?”

He gives her a quick peck on her forehead before rushing out the door and leaving her sat in her own confusion.

Grieving. That’s what Mike had said. But surely you would be feeling better? After all, it had been months since Eddie’s death.

So many questions blurred through her mind, leaving a gnawing feeling in her stomach. She hated that you were hurting. And she wanted to understand, so that you didn’t feel alone anymore.

Once the front door closed, El quickly rushed out to greet Hopper, accepting the bags of groceries and helping him carry them to the kitchen.

“Thanks, kid.” Hopper smiles, setting out the food on the counter. He grabbed some plates out and couldn’t risk glancing at the door opposite the kitchen space, something unreadable in his expression. “Your sister been out of her room today?”

“No.” El shakes her head, frowning, “Why doesn’t she join us anymore?”

Hopper sighs, setting aside one of the plates. It was something he did regularly now, dishing out your food and bringing it to your room instead of having you sit at the table with the rest of them.

When he doesn’t answer, El prompts him more. “Is it because of Eddie? Because… because she lost him?”

Setting down the cutlery in his hand, he turns back to her and offers a thin smile. “She’ll be fine, okay? Nothing a little space won’t take care of.”

“But-”

“It’s better to stay out of it, kid.” He dismisses, pulling out something from the bag, “Hey, look. I got Eggos.”

El simply smiles before he turns his back, her eyes drifting to your bedroom door. Hopper told her to leave it alone, and usually she would listen. But you were her sister. And if you’ve taught her anything, it’s that sisters stick together.

“Why are you so sad?”

You sit up in your bed, slipping the headphones from your ears and resting them around your neck. El must have knocked, but you were too busy drowning out your thoughts to hear her.

“What do you mean?” You ask softly as she joins you on the bed, a worried frown on her face.

“Is it because of Eddie?”

Once his name left her lips, you felt your mouth go dry, and it all came rushing back. The laughs, the grins. The tears… the death.

“Yes.” You finally reply with a whisper, bringing your knees to your chest and willing the tears to stay away.

“Hopper said that you’ll be fine.” El relays, resting a hand on your shoulder and you let out a breathy laugh.

“That’s because Hopper doesn’t understand.” You sigh, attempting a brief smile at your sister.

“Why not?” She questions and you shrug.

“Because he didn’t know him like I did.”

Hopper made it very clear that he didn’t like Eddie Munson.

From the very first day of Freshman year, you had come home rambling about a new friend you made. You were over-excited to say the least, expressing how you found someone who liked the same music and was just as weird as you were. And Hopper rejoiced in that, knowing you struggled to make friends. Until he found out it was a boy.

Now, he tried his best to be patient, only being as involved as you would let him. But not after a few good rants to Joyce where she ultimately put him in his place and gave advice he would be dumb not to take. Joyce was always right.

It wasn’t until he learned of who this friend was that Hopper started to really have a problem.

Munson was a family name that he wasn’t exactly fond of. There were always reports of criminal activity marked around that name, stemming from robbery to possible suspects in murder. He knew Wayne Munson, a brother to said criminal, and found the man really just kept to himself. But he couldn’t help having low expectations of the younger boy.

The first time you had invited Eddie around was the first time you had seen your dad act strange. Eddie didn’t live too far from the trailer you lived in at the time, practically a five minute walk between homes, so the idea of having him for dinner wasn’t out of place.

Your dad had been cold and quiet, insisting on your door being open at least three inches when you and Eddie were doing homework. He made sure to always just be there, and when you questioned it, he simply glared and walked away. You were surprised Eddie even stayed your friend after that.

By your Senior year, you and Eddie were closer than ever. You and he formed the Hellfire Club, bringing out your combined joy of DnD and reaching out to kids that didn’t fit in. It meant Eddie visited more often, having to come to your cabin since moving out of the trailer.

And Hopper didn’t like that one bit. Maybe it was because El had just joined your small family, and Hopper was adamant on keeping her a secret. You knew about everything that had happened in Hawkins, the demogorgons and alternate dimensions. None of which you ever told Eddie. In reality, you just wanted to pretend like it never happened. You and Hopper had fought frequently that year.

“Why can’t you just leave us alone?” You ask, exasperated. Your dad had thrown Eddie out after ‘sitting too close’ with him on your bed and you were bound to be angry at him. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I trust you!” Hopper yelled, but you didn’t flinch. “It’s him I don’t trust!”

“Eddie is a good guy!” You insisted and he scoffed, moving away to grab a beer from the fridge. “You just won’t give him a chance!”

“Trust me, I know boys like that.” He laughs coldly, leaning against the counter after taking a long sip. “They want one thing and one thing only. Don’t think I’m stupid, I know exactly what you two have been doing.”

You scrunch your face before letting out a harsh breath. “It’s not like that. And you’re not stopping me from seeing him. He...”

“Hm?” Hopper raises his eyebrows, crossing his arms and tilting his head at you.

“He’s my boyfriend.” You say, raising your chin and looking your dad in the eye.

You expected him to shout, to send you to your room and ban you from ever contacting Eddie again. Instead, to your surprise, he just laughed.

“Yeah, right.” Hopper grabbed his beer and walked to his chair.

“I’m not lying.” You frown, following him and stepping in front of the TV, making him groan.

“Come on, can you-” He starts, but you just fold your arms and stare at him. “Look, kid, I don’t care what he said or what you think he said. I’ve been through the high school sweetheart thing before and let me tell you this… you might think it’s forever, but you’re really just fooling around and he will be on to the next girl after graduation.”

Your eyes fill with tears and Hopper’s face drops.

“Shit.” He mutters, setting down his drink.

Before he can say anything else, you’re already storming off, slamming your bedroom door shut and he sighs, rubbing his face. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees El pop her head around her door and widen her eyes in confusion. Hopper knew he hadn’t handled the situation well, but he just wanted to protect you.

After that, Hopper was still convinced you and Eddie were nothing more than a fling. And when Eddie ended up not graduating with you that year, he had figured you’d grow out of him and move on with your life.

But your dad severely underestimated your feelings for Eddie Munson.

“You loved him?” El asks and you quickly nod, wiping a stray tear that fell down.

“I still do.” You shrug, and she thinks for a moment before bringing her head up to meet your eyes.

“Can I… see?”

“What?” You frown and she reaches out to hold your hand.

“I can go through memories, see the Eddie you knew.” She explains and your breath hitches.

“I don’t know…”

“Please.” El squeezes your hand and you sigh.

“Okay.” Finally agreeing, El shuffles to sit in front of you, crossing her legs.

She points to the radio on your bedside table and you hesitantly reach over to find an empty station, turning up the static until your sister nodded. Her eyes drifted around your room and you follow her gaze, watching as it landed on something that made your heart wrench. You lean across and pluck it from the table, handing it to her without another thought.

As she looks down at the black and white bandana, she takes a breath and looks back up.

“This will be kind of weird.” She says and you raise an eyebrow. “I have to go into your mind.”

“Of course you do.” You breathe out, watching as she ties the bandana around her eyes.

“Think of him.” She instructs quietly.

Her hands reach out and you catch them in yours. After a moment, you close your eyes and feel your mind start to drift to thoughts of Eddie. His hair, his rings, his smile.

And then, as you sit there with those memories, El finds them. And it was like she brought him to life again.

1981

You sat down in your last class of the day, fiddling with your jacket as the other Freshman students piled into their seats. You had chosen a spot at the very back, adamant on keeping to yourself. High school so far was as you expected; lonely.

Maybe it was because you were the daughter to the chief of police. Or maybe you just didn’t have the correct people skills. But everyone else here seemed to know exactly who they were friends with, and you hadn’t talked to another person since arriving.

The class was starting just as the door to the room swung open, the teacher rolling their eyes and ushering them inside. You kept your head down, doodling on the front page of your notebook. It started off as a flower but slowly grew into a hell-bent demon breathing fire. You had no clue why, either.

As the teacher started to drone about atoms, you hear a small cough next to you and you lift your head up to meet a pair of big brown eyes.

“Hey, do you have a pencil I can borrow?” He asks and for a moment, you don’t register what he’s saying. “And, uh… paper?”

“Sure.” You say hesitantly, ripping a page from your notebook and sliding it over with a sharpened pencil.

“Thank you.” The boy said breathlessly.

For the next few minutes, you couldn’t really focus on the class. Because you felt your eyes drifting to the boy next to you. The brunette had curly hair, falling just below his ears which implied he was growing it out. He wore a ring on his left hand that glinted against the fluorescent lights anytime he shifted in his seat. His ripped jeans and worn out long sleeved tee almost reflected your own dark outfit and you couldn’t help but think that if you were to make any friends in this place, you’d want it to be him.

So, as another minute ticked by, you made your move.

“I like your shirt.” You say quietly, eyes on the teacher to avoid being caught.

“Hm?” The boy looks at you with wide eyes, clearly surprised as to why you were speaking to him.

“Your shirt.” You repeat, risking a glance at him with a small smile. “Black Sabbath? So cool.”

You could see his wide grin from the corner of your eye as you continued shading in your sketch, the lesson long forgotten now. The teacher didn’t seem overly bothered about their students paying attention anyway since a group of boys in front of you hadn’t stopped talking since the lesson began.

“You know Black Sabbath?” He questions and you nod into your hand, elbow rested on the table.

“Yeah.” You shrug, “Last year, their lead singer bit a bat’s head off on stage. It was so-”

“Metal.” He finishes and you stop your sketch, looking at him. His eyes were searching yours, looking for answers, trying to figure you out.

“Definitely.” You grinned.

That day had been the day you met your best friend, your soulmate. You never spent time apart, not really. And as the years progressed, you only became closer.

1983

After everything that had happened at the beginning of the month, the only thing you had yearned for was normality. Demogorgons, superpowers, alternate dimensions. All of it was swarming around in your mind, poisoning your nightmares. You just wanted to forget any of it happened. To feel safe.

“Hey, look what I found.”

Eddie pulls something from under his bed, holding it up in victory before popping his head back into view, grinning.

“Wow.” You respond, slowly nodding. “It’s… wow.”

Eddie sends you a glare before jumping back onto the bed, the springs of the mattress reacting and causing you to jostle a bit. He slipped the found ring onto his finger, the silver joining his other ring as a pair and you tilt your head.

“See? They’re a set.” He smiles and you shake your head in amusement. “Okay, so, there’s meant to be three but two will do. I mean, I could...”

As Eddie rambles on about the rings he bought when he was a kid, your mind kept drifting back to the demogorgon you had fought in Jonathan Byers’ house. In the end, fire had been the only thing to take it. You couldn’t stop replaying the image in your mind, the flames dancing along pale grey skin.

“Earth to Y/n?” Eddie’s hand waves in front of your face and you snap back into the present, raising your head.

“Huh?”

Your best friend shuffled closer to you, dipping his head to meet your eyes. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah.” You attempt a smile, shrugging it off, “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Hm, yeah, don’t believe that for a second.” He narrows his eyes before suddenly grabbing your face, causing you to widen your eyes in surprise as he pulls you closer so your foreheads rested against eachother. “Tell me all your secrets.”

You couldn’t help the giggle that slipped from your mouth, causing his cheeks to dimple at the sound.

“Okay, okay!” You swat his hands away, still smiling. “God, you’re so weird.”

“Please, we wouldn’t be friends if I was normal.” He retorted and you laugh, nodding. “Seriously, whatever’s going on… you can tell me.”

“I…” You sigh, fingers fiddling with a loose piece of thread on his jeans, “I guess I’ve just been feeling a little overwhelmed, lately.”

“Everything okay at home?” Eddie frowns, taking your hand in his and you quickly nod.

“Yeah, yeah, of course. It’s just…” You tighten your lips. You couldn’t tell him what really happened. He didn’t deserve to be dragged into that mess. “School, you know? I-I’m pretty sure I’m falling behind.”

It wasn’t a lie. Since Will’s disappearance, you had been all over the place trying to help your friends that you hadn’t been focusing on school work. Your usual A’s and B’s had plummeted dramatically.

“Well that won’t do.” Eddie says, straightening and leaning over the edge of the bed to pull back up a few books laying on the floor. “We better get started.”

“What?” You let out a breathy laugh as he opens a textbook, looking up at you.

“We’re gonna study. Together.” He smiles, shrugging as if it didn’t bother him at all.

You watch as he picks up the pencil marking the page like a bookmark, slipping it behind one ear as he searched for the unit you were studying. A smile tugged at your lips.

Eddie always stuck by your side and never once complained about it. Every part of you adored this boy. You wouldn’t admit it before, but those butterflies in your stomach meant more than just gratitude. And that feeling in your chest would hold one of your favourite memories to come.

Because, as you stared at the boy in front of you, you knew this night was different.

That was the night you realised you were falling in love.

1984

The Winter Formal wasn’t an occasion you had looked forward to.

After volunteering at the middle school, you came to realise that these dances didn’t take your fancy. From the decorations to the music, you didn’t ever expect to have fun.

Standing at the side with Nancy, you took a sip of your drink and watched as your friend continued staring at a boy in a suit not far from you and you giggled.

“What?” She asks with a small smile.

“Just ask him to dance.” You say knowingly. And, with a sigh, she sends you a grateful smirk and walks over to him.

The smile didn’t leave your lips when you watched Nancy and Jonathan swaying to the music amongst all the other couples. They deserved it after the roller-coaster of a term you had.

It wasn’t until you felt a pat on your shoulder that your night improved miraculously. Because, stood in front of you in a suit that surely shouldn’t look that incredible on him, was Eddie Munson.

“Eddie?” You laugh as he shrugs shyly, soon adopting a grin as he leans on the table.

“Couldn’t let you deal with this torture by yourself, now, could I?” He says nonchalantly and you shake your head.

“Well, I’m really glad you’re here.” You smile. You didn’t miss the way he took in your appearance, eyes scanning over you. But not in the way most boys did. It was like he was taking in every little detail of your outfit, a shine in his eyes.

“You look amazing.” He says breathlessly and you couldn’t help the blush that crept onto your cheeks.

It had been a little over a year since you realised you were in love with your best friend. But, in that time, you’ve had to deal with the Upside Down and every little thing that came with it. You didn’t want to ruin what you and he had, especially since Eddie was the only thing in your life that made you feel safe.

“Not so bad yourself.” You reply, bumping his shoulder playfully and he straightens, pretending to adjust his tie.

“Oh, this old thing?” He jokes and you smile as he leans into you. “Wayne let me borrow it so please don’t let me spill anything.”

“I got you.” You assure and he toasts an imaginary drink to you.

For the majority of the night, you both stand by the table chatting for what seems like hours in the best kind of way. The music changed, people moving around you, but it didn’t matter.

“So…” Eddie pouts, resting his hand on his chin as he looks up at you from the table. You raise an amused brow and his eyes drift to the dance floor behind you. “Wanna dance?”

You struggle with words and just stare at him. Never did you imagine that Eddie would be willingly asking you to dance with him.

“I… what?” You say, dumbfounded and he chuckles, stepping towards you.

Making it as dramatic as he could, he graciously bows before extending his hand that no held three rings, looking up with a grin. “May I have this honour?”

You look at him with a purse of your lips, trying to hide the smile pushing its way to the surface. “You’re most definitely a weirdo, Eddie Munson.”

He laughs at your comment but is pleasantly surprised when you take his hand and start pulling him to the dance floor.

“But you’re my weirdo.” You say, and you had never seen Eddie’s face light up as much as it did in that moment.

As you held onto eachother, gently swaying to the music, you felt safe in his arms once again, like it was only you two in the room. Your heart beat faster with every touch until you gently pull away and look up at him.

His eyes searched yours one hand letting go of your waist and gently cupping your cheek. No words were needed to be spoken, no second thoughts. Everything you needed to know was in the way you both slowly leant in to eachother, barely daring to breathe.

It was a kiss you’d never forget. Not when it was meant to be.

1985

The Battle of Starcourt had been the worst day of your life.

Coming out of the burning building to find Joyce and El crying into eachother’s arms, you immediately knew what had happened. Even after his promise, your dad had died saving the lives of this town.

For the rest of the summer, you and El had been mourning. And you had to admit, having a little sister was one of the best things to happen to you. And after losing Hopper, you needed that little piece of family to survive.

It was Joyce that first suggested you move with them to California. She had taken you and El into her care, welcoming you to the Byers family, for which you were entirely grateful. Initially, the idea of moving was the worst idea in your mind. You didn’t want to leave your friends, the kids. You didn’t want to leave Eddie.

In fact, you only left Hawkins because Eddie convinced you to.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Eddie smiled at you, fingers brushing away a loose strand of hair covering your face. “It’s okay, remember?”

“I hate this.” You mutter, resting your forehead against his.

Around you, the others were loading the last of the boxes into the van and starting their goodbyes. You were leaving with the Byers to go live in California. And now you had to say goodbye.

“We’ll call as much as you want.” Eddie soothes and you wrap your arms around his neck to pull him closer. “This doesn’t have to be goodbye.”

“It’s not.” You say, pulling back to look at his doe-like eyes. “But I don’t know when I’ll be back. I mean…”

Your eyes drifted to the envelope still grasped tightly in your hand and Eddie nods, sighing.

Hopper had left you and El letters before he died. You weren’t sure when he had written them. El’s letter held words of what he wanted to say to her when Mike started hanging around more. But yours… yours seem to have been written a long time ago.

He had talked about your mom, how she died when you were young. Then about Sarah, the sister you lost. And with all that grief you both shared, he talked about how, when you were of age, he wanted you to live your own life. He wanted you to go further than he ever had, to take the leap, to get into the college of your dreams. And you did that.

Which meant that California was the first stop in living out Hopper’s dreams for you.

“I’ll come visit.” Eddie suddenly announces and you furrow your brows.

“Eds…” You knew he didn’t have the money. Hell, to even afford a plan ticket, he’d have to be working more hours than he should.

“I know.” He mumbles into your hair, placing a kiss.

“Sweetie?” Joyce’s voice makes you turn your head to where she stood, sympathetically smiling, “We’re leaving in five minutes.”

“I’ll be right there.” You promise and she nods, sending a brief smile to your boyfriend before walking over and joining the goodbyes.

“You did it.” Eddie grins and you raise an eyebrow. “You’re getting the hell out of Hawkins.”

“Yeah.” You breathe, stepping back. You shove the letter into your back pocket and feel your hand brush against something. You widen your eyes. “Oh, right!”

Eddie sends an amused frown your way as you grab the object and hold out your hand.

“I got this for you.” You say just as you uncurl your hand, Eddie’s eyes widening as he tenderly picks up the blue ring from your palm. “So you don’t forget me. Plus, your other hand was looking a little bare so I thought I’d start the collection off.”

He slips the ring onto his right hand before grinning that smile that made your heart flutter. He pulls you in for a deep kiss, hand cupping your cheek, another on your waist. You wished you could just stay like this.

“How could I ever forget you when you’re the best thing in my life?” Eddie says once your lips are free, stroking your cheek. “You’re my forever.”

You let out a breathy laugh, tears threatening your eyes just as Joyce calls out for you.

Rather than speak, you give him one last kiss, a squeeze of your hand, before pulling away and walking towards the car, Jonathan already waiting with a sad smile.

The last thing you saw as you pulled away was Eddie’s smile, his precious wave, as you disappeared into the distance, heart aching.

You couldn’t wait to see him again.

1986

Sat in the back of the van, you all fell into a sort of silence once you passed the Hawkins sign.

Your home town was covered in a thick cloud of smoke, families packing up and leaving. The vines wrapped across the buildings made your breath hitch.

You had been shot at and chased, desperately trying to find your sister after she had been taken away. And ever since then, you’ve had to deal with the Upside Down even after you thought you had heard the last of it.

After all you had been through, you just wanted to be home again. But this didn’t feel like your home.

Clutching El’s hand, you see the Wheeler house roll into view, sharing smiles with Mike and Will. Argyle parked up and once the van doors slid open, you were greeted with smiles you thought you’d never see again.

It was a mess of hugs, your path leading you towards Robin and Steve as you all rejoiced. The three of you had been inseparable last year after being condemned to slinging ice creams for the summer.

Pulling away, you look at all the happy faces, a smile on your face. Your eyes glanced over to the boy standing not far from the group, hugging his torso. Your smile faded.

When Dustin raised his head and met your eyes, you frown.

Walking over, you shake your head. “Are you okay?”

Dustin swallows some form of guilt, shifting. You notice the silence that waved across the group, some sharing equal looks of confusion, others of sadness. Why?

Then, with a weight on your chest, you looked around once again, hoping to find that familiar grin. You had been told the party had joined the Hellfire Club. Surely they would have told him you were coming back?

“Where’s Eddie?” You ask with a small voice, your eyes looking back at Dustin. And when his face drops, so does your stomach.

He had been gently about it, pulling you aside and explaining everything that happened. From Chrissy all the way to the bats. It didn’t take long for the tears to stream down your cheeks, Dustin sharing in your hurt.

“He wanted you to have this.” Dustin sniffled, reaching into his pocket and revealing something in his palm. A choked sob left your lips.

You take the blue ring, gently stroking the surface of it and squeezing your eyes shut.

It felt like your heart had been shattered to a million little pieces.

The memories come to an end and you open your eyes, noticing your sister’s face bore matching tear stained cheeks.

Her grip on your hand was tight, her breathing heavy. You find a tissue by the side of your bed and gently wipe away the blood on her upper lip.

“You’re my forever.”

You freeze, heart pounding.

El pulls away the bandana, setting it down on the bed, as she looks up at you.

“How did you…” You shake your head. Those words…

She carefully reaches out and taps the blue ring on your right hand, smiling as she clutches her chest. El felt your pain; she had just lived it through your memories. She knew know.

“He’s still here.” El nods quietly, placing her hand over your heart as tears spill from your eyes. “And here.”

She gently taps your forehead before you pull her into a hug, squeezing your eyes shut. Once you hear the door open, however, you pull away.

“Everything alright in here?” Hopper asks, walking into the room and immediately noticing how you were desperately trying to wipe away the warm tears from your face. “Honey, what’s going on?”

He quickly crosses the room and sits beside you, pulling you into a hug. You softly cry into his shirt and he just holds you there, kissing the top of your head. When you don’t reply, his eyes drift to the girl in front of him.

“El? What happened?”

“Love.” El says quietly, stroking the fabric of the black and white bandana in her hands.

Hopper frowns. “Love?”

“She loved him.” El explains with a shaky breath. “Her heart was full of love. But he’s gone. And it’s broken now.”

Hopper glances between you and El, eyes drifting to the blood soaked tissue as he connects the pieces. He quickly pulls El into the hug, holding you both with a soft frown. He never knew how wrong he was about you and Eddie until it was too late.

El understood that grief now, the pure agony you felt knowing that the one you loved was gone forever.

And now, knowing how it felt, she swore to help you through it. In love and grief.

[outeremissary]

🎸🚨🌹🍷for balthazar perhaps?

Sorry this is coming so late!!! My brain stopped working for a little while. Thank you for the ask and for your patience. :') Under a cut for length...

[prompt list]

🎸 (electric guitar) - What’s your character’s music taste like? Do they have one or two artists they play on repeat or do they have a varied and eclectic collection of music? Do they like mainstream artists or prefer underground musicians? What genres do they enjoy?

I'm going to be completely honest, I almost never feel confident what a modern AU version of one of my fantasy characters would be into and I somehow lost track of the only thing that ever made me think "yeah Balthazar would fuck with this." I will spend the next five months attempting to answer this question if I don't cut myself off at a point so. 😭 Sorry to say that I just don't know where his tastes would fall- I've had ideas really and truly all over the map over the years, from mostly into older industrial and kind of an asshole about it to someone who listens mostly to contemporary club dancepop. There must be some truth between these that's eluding me. Maybe the trouble is that to me it feels like he must be in some way or other a Music Guy but yours truly isn't a Music Guy, more just a guy who listens to music...

Idk. I'm sure he's heard Charli XCX. Whatever that means. Maybe I just think it would be kinda funny if he listened to what's on his own playlist. Don't sleep don't eat, just do it on repeat. Or whatever.

(Right before posting I DID remember I recently answered a similar question for Golarion- compensation?)

🚨 (siren) - What’s your character’s relationship with the law? Have they ever been arrested? What for? What are their opinions on law enforcement?

Balthazar's relationship with the law has been changed by becoming the law, but not as much as you might expect. Laws have always been more like "suggestions for other people to follow" to him- laws keep people in check, and taking advantage of people following them is what anyone smart would do. Besides, he understands only too well the ways that keeping people in check keeps the lowly down, and he desperately wants to keep himself from ending up at the bottom. As a ruler he's happy to make laws he doesn't intend to follow meant to shape the behavior of others and make it easier to impose his will on them with the pretext of enforcement- though to some degree he's also ambivalent about a lot of mundane rulemaking and content to allow advisors with more expertise figure out the policy for him to approve. And if it eventually inconveniences him, he'll find a way to go around it, causing more principled advisors and companions no end of despair (when and if they learn). It's a philosophy he shares with Jaethal, who he trusts to help him thread the needle to keep it all from appearing as the flagrant violation it is. His selfish caprice is also one of the places he does see eye to eye with Lander- perhaps disrespect for one's own established rules is the only solid foundation of their advisor relationship.

Balthazar has never been arrested himself, but he's had a lot of close encounters both while traveling and in his home city of Absalom. He grew up poor and spent a lot of time out in the city without his father, frequently occupied by work, around. Being a scruffy, unattended kid gets you a lot of questions from the corner guards when you linger a little too long in certain places or look too hard at something you're not able to buy. He was always good enough at playing meek and innocent to dodge real trouble- even when he had been a bit light fingered. Being an aasimar helped. Being an aasimar always helps at least a little. And that kind of sets the tone for his whole relationship with law enforcement up until the barony: he doesn't trust law enforcement, he doesn't expect it to be on his side, and he's always ready to wriggle out by finding a way to be a bystander or victim when unwelcome attention is on him. He's also happy to let others take the fall for him.

Of course, when it's his laws being enforced to his ends it's just another tool in his kit. He's a class traitor like that- although also acutely aware that it looks bad to be overzealous using it.

🌹 (rose) - What does your oc find attractive in other people? Are these traits found in their friends and/or romantic partners? Are they found in themselves?

(Disclaimer: I am asexual and attraction, especially to physical traits, is sometimes a challenge to imagine)

Physically, Balthazar enjoys toned, strong physiques on any gender. Someone who's well dressed and well spoken also stands out to him, although brazen confidence isn't necessarily compelling- he prefers a partner who's easily flustered and can be pushed around a bit. That's a lot of fun to do. Being pushed back on or talked over is generally a lot less enjoyable, although he's certainly put up with a lot of it in his life. He also does have something of thing for inexperienced partners. Something about the idea of innocence is catnip to him, and he loves playing the part of the worldly lover.

Very little of his preferences reflect aspects of himself; he likes people who are physically unlike him who are far more willing to be dominated than he is. At the same time, I think that perhaps he has an appreciation for people who challenge him that he hasn't fully acknowledged himself, and a certain fondness for steadfast characters who are passionate about what they believe in. An extension of liking people unlike himself, maybe. The emotional extension he's not willing to see.

It's not hard to see how a lot of his preferences map onto recent lovers he's had. Regongar is his type in many ways, although they have incompatible personalities and Balthazar found him far too high maintenance despite being a good time in bed. Tristian is clearly compelling from some angles (naive, inexperienced, easy to tease), but from others might be more challenging- they do push back on Balthazar quite a bit, demand an emotional earnesty from him that he usually isn't comfortable giving a partner, he's not especially comfortable with certain kinds of religiosity, and for a long time they were at frequently at odds and didn't really get along. (And in terms of Vio AU, Vio is physically attractive but really doesn't take being pushed around lying down. Challenging the idea that Balthazar is put off by being challenged...)

🍷 (wine) - Does your oc drink? What kind of alcohol do they enjoy? What are their drinking habits? What kind of drunk are they?

Balthazar drinks! Not as often or as hard as when he was younger and still spending time with people he is firmly no longer in contact with (some of whom died. unrelated, probably.), but the social drinking habit never left him. He likes going out for drinks with friends and acquaintances, or just having a glass of something with dinner. The Stolen Lands are slowly shaping up to not be the worst place to be out in, at least, even if some part of him badly misses the bars and clubs of Absalom he was once up all night in. He tries to avoid being drunk, but the fact is that he's a lightweight and he easily spills into tipsiness if he's not on his guard.

He enjoys fruity things and mixed drinks with interesting flavor profiles, but gravitates towards hard liquor. Brandy is his preference and comes with a sense of class in his mind that he enjoys, but he has a lingering near-nostalgia for the kind of cheap half a step from rubbing alcohol shit he used to do shots of with the other broke apprentices in the neighborhood. Overall, he's not as picky drinking as you might expect and there's a lot he can get down (even if it might not always stay down). He's drunk the goblin liquor with the poison toad in it. It's not even the worst thing he's had. Unfortunately.

When drunk, Balthazar is loud, flirty, confident, and far more honest than he ordinarily is. The "hold my drink and watch this" kind of confident. He's not really proud of it, but a lot of people find drunk Balthazar a lot of fun.

[persephoneprice]

#festus creed timeloop disaster au…

lily!! lily!!! you can’t just drop that and not elaborate!!

what does festus do???

speak out against the games? break out all the tributes? slander the president? arson? blow up gaul’s lab?? confess feelings to both felix and persephone at once??? (does it work?)

what made it so disastrous? 👀👀

wait why do i feel like he did literally ALL of this. oh my god. the possibilities!

the first time festus gets sent back to the beginning of senior year he gives it his best shot. he cares too much about persephone and coral but he won’t admit it to not try to get as many kids out of the arena as possible. but it’s festus, so he’s a lot more relaxed about the time loop than someone like felix would be. if the universe gives him one second chance, whose to say he can’t have a thousand until he gets it right?

so that’s the mindset he goes into it with. the first time he fails, coral actually ends up killing persephone in a very brandy-arachne-esque way. he makes a mental note to not bring any sharp objects to the zoo and not to bring up the fact that persephone is a cannibal (seriously, what was he thinking?)

he’s so freaked out by pippa getting hurt, that he decides to take a step back and see what other changes he could potentially make in his life. he loses focus on the games, and gains more focus on how he could actually make things right with persephone. the guilt of using her as a backup plan has really been getting to him since watching coral shove that knife in her throat.

so, festus decides to do something crazy the next time he wakes up at the beginning of senior year. he sits both felix and persephone down and confesses to them both- he loves them both deeply and wants a chance to have them both. neither of them take that well and he’s left with no one. he can’t get over felix’s sobs and declarations that festus is the only person who has ever truly cared about him. felix rants that he would do anything to keep festus- even go against his awful uncle- but he can’t share him.

then, festus is inspired by felix’s rant about his terrible great uncle and decides to target max ravinstill directly. he tells everyone the truth about what kind of man the president really is and how badly he treats felix. well, that doesn’t even well either. felix essentially ends up locked up in the presidential palace and banned from interacting with most people. festus is shunned by most of the elite society.

okay, well what if he targets the source of max’s cruel side- dr. gaul. he has a solid theory that gaul is the one who planted those bombs, so what if festus gives her a taste of her own medicine? it’s easy enough to get into her lab- using felix as an excuse because no one tells felix ravinstill no- but it’s harder to actually plant the explosives that he obtain from pluribus bell (seriously, that guy can really get you anything!). the bombs go off but they fail at hurting gaul- but they do hurt her precious snakes. maybe that will at least save mizzen and coral (spoiler: it doesn’t.)

by this point, he’s frustrated. he doesn’t want another time loop or half-baked plan so he goes with the easy route- just burn down the academy. actually, why stop there! he starts fires at all the important capitol buildings. he learns the hard way that not having a tongue really makes communication difficult and that he’s not meant for servitude.

he’s grateful when he wakes up again and immediately goes to feel his tongue (it’s back!) and decides to maybe keep a low profile this go around. no funny business, no stupid schemes. nothing. well, until he watches the peacekeeper pull persephone away from the bars where she’s talking to mizzen. the anger that builds up inside of him must be a combination of all his frustrations but it leads to him doing something extra stupid. if it’s bound to end in him repeating calculus again either way- he might as well just arm the tributes and unleash them into the capitol streets.

he wakes up the next day expecting to repeat the first day of senior year for the umpteenth time but instead he’s faced with absolute chaos.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG (MIRACULOUS LADYBUG) (CW: Racism)

1.) First, her creator has it as a hard Canon rule that every single episode she has to be wrong about something, even if it doesn't make sense for her to be. She got to be with a boy who liked who she was and not the fact that she was a hero, who is much better suited for her as a partner than the one she is constantly shoved with. Her superhero partner constantly pushes past her romantic boundaries and is actively encouraged by everyone else in canon around him, even when she states multiple times that she doesn't want to date him and they are not a couple. He's always trying to take away from the fight, and several times when he is turned down he will take it out on her. The creator of the show describes him as flawless. Her suits are awful, they're literally just decorative spandex on her body, giving her no structure or support.

2.) victim of both the crew's misogyny and racism the show literally cannot be normal about her i submitted her to the character massacre poll so im gonna repeat some of the stuff i said from there shes a 14 year old girl n a rule of the show's bible is that marinette must always be the one to learn a lesson so shes always wrong according to the narrative even when she actually isnt in the wrong one of her main character traits is that she has a crush on adrien and cause shes a teenage girl shes of course portrayed as obsessive and stalkerish for… having pictures of her fashion model crush in her room n knowing his schedule even though hes super busy n it would be reasonable for her to keep track of his schedule so she n his other friends could actually hang out with him despite being half chinese and (from what i remember) her mom being a first generation immigrant she has no actual connection to it for all intents and purposes her being half chinese is almost irrelevant for her character unless the show feels like being weird about it such as having her white crush be more knowledgeable about chinese culture than her n her parents being based off of the creator and an ex girlfriend of his (his tweet about that is still up btw) which leads into the next thing of marinette is weirdly sexualized by the show she has the most blatantly body paint suit of the girls (cause all of them have body suits seriously pretty much all of the women n girls in this show could be submitted which is bad considering its a girl power show for kids) the camera frequently frames itself on the lower half of her body in one of the comics after she detransforms shes left naked (an issue entirely invented for this comic) and has to wear a box as clothes n there was a scandal about a member of the crew drawing her naked which the show's creator defended (remember this guy said marinette was like his virtual child) shes not winning in her love life either so both marinette and adrien are superheroes with secrect identities n neither of them know who the other person is under the mask marinette likes adrien who is chat noir's civilian identity and adrien likes ladybug who is marinette's superhero identity hes not into marinette n marinette's not into chat noir however chat noir constantly flirts with ladybug (usually instead of actually helping her) ignores her rejections of his romantic advances n throws a hissy fit whenever she doesnt priortize him (such as not helping her defeat the baddie thats frozen all of paris cause last night she didnt show up for a date he set up when she told him she couldnt go on a date cause she already had plans with friends threatening to quit when most of paris was underwater due to a different villain cause marinette got trusted with an important secret n he didnt and attempting to use cataclysm (his ability to destory anything) on marinette's best friend when marinette had her use the ladybug miraculous in her stead) while her own pursuit of adrien only ever ends in her own humiliation cause the crew just thinks its so funny for a teenage girl to get repeatedly humiliated for the crime of wanting to ask her crush out n then yank her back when she tries to move on with a guy who openly has a crush on her respects her n is very supportive of her which is something they literally wrote her to do n pressured by pretty much everyone to ask out adrien (as a civilian) n date chat noir (as a hero) cause the show doesnt know how to properly develop a romance for their main couple beyond having everyone say theyre meant to be and then also this is more of like the show's general misogyny and double standards but when girls crush on the same guy theyre all catty bitches to eachother (n then also two of them are irredeemably evil cause the show hates teenage girls n thinks the show's main villain (who only isnt a child abuser if you dont considering neglect n emotional abuse real abuse) is more redeemable than two cartoony mean teen girls) while guys crushing on the same girl are chill n buddies with eachother

3.) We’ve seen time and time again she’s capable and smart and creative and can really do anything she puts her mind to-but canon forces her to fall for a guy after he halfass apologizes (never actually says sorry and lies about never having friends when in the same episode he keeps saying he’s this persons friend) about a misunderstanding because ooh white boy go hard I guess and thus for multiple seasons have her go stupid around and simply because of this boy. This same boy but now hero form she’s doesn’t know, gets to trying and flirt with her over and over even after she tells him very nicely that she doesn’t like him like that, thought they were just bantering, and that she likes someone else. The narrative punishes her when she does anything that the boy doesn’t like, either by him not helping her as a hero in fights or scolding her in both forms. Additionally, her character is through the ringer when ever it comes to him because “she’s boy crazy” like teaming up with her bully to ruin this girls dress because she is attending an event with him- which goes way off base for her character- and this happens only whenever he’s involved. They have her be weird around him like sniffed his pillow once and took a hair from what she thought was a statue of him and also have her never function normally around him-which fine that can be true to life cause she’s 13-but when she falls for this other boy who makes her relaxed and helps her to be who she is happily-the narrative pulls a 180 once they date showing she can’t forget about the first boy and putting her pictures she took of the first boy back in her room when they were previously removed. Last thing because I think this is getting way too long sorry, but they sexualize the hell out of the female hero: from their poses and shots focusing on their chest, butts, or movements of them, but also the male heros costumes are way more intricate and detailed where as the main character for three plus seasons only had a red bodysuit with black neck and black spots while the male hero had a black suit detailed with a golden bell, leather belt as a tail, black ears, green cat eyes, and more. I just can’t with this show doing girls dirty and then claiming “girl power”

THRONÉ ANGUIS (OCTOPATH TRAVELER 2) (CW: Incest)

1.) so her story is about her trying to get out of the mafia she was recruited by at like age six because they specifically prey on orphans with no better options, the mafia has a very familial structure and their leaders are called mother and father, the two parents hold the keys to the collar all the snakes get stuck with which will inject them with poison if they try to remove them without the key. so already the game is setting up a bunch of cool not-technically-incest to force throné into but just you fucking wait. because at the eleventh hour of a story that has been mostly good with obvious potential hamstrung by the fact that throné has very little agency in what's supposed to be her first time deciding what she wants to do for herself instead of being beholden to her parents, but then the monkey's paw curls and again ONE CHAPTER BEFORE THE END OF THE GAME it suddenly stops DEAD for her father to explain that actually he knew her biological mother and they were in love but the kid isn't his because he and actually all of the blacksnakes including her and her mother are the biological children of this one dude who's immortal and obsessed with impregnating women and he's done it so much that he has enough kids to just fill an entire mafia so also fuck all that story about how organizations like this prey on desperate people it's just the weirdest season of 19 kids and counting you've ever seen and also yes all of that is describe in EXCRUCIATING detail so you really understand the degree to which throné is a victim of incest. her biological father gets to monologue for like actually two minutes about all the women he's impregnated to the woman who is still processing that she's apparently the victim of like three different kinds of incest from this guy she just met in addition to anything she suffered at the hands of the parents and then he spends the entire boss fight being profoundly horny and then the story just ends when she kills him and gets her collar off and that's it that's fucking it they're just like alright well story over. and all of this is presented in an extremely voyeuristic way and throné herself gets fucking eviscerated by Sexygirl Femmefatale design and her own story barely cares what she thinks or feels about all of this which is probably why they don't even bother to set up what happens after she you know finishes the climax of the fucking story????? and then ALSO the catholic inquisitor character gets paired with her and he's very condescending to her and treats her as his sidekick and the agonies are eternal. could we not have given this girl a fucking break from being treated like a toy by self obsessed loser dudes for three seconds. there are fun protagonists in this game. she could have been hanging out with a silly italian cowboy.

[compacflt]

Your thoughts about Ice and Mav and their sexualities and how their environment has shaped them is soo interesting I am chewing it... just thinking about how Ice particularly would handle that conflict arising in his subordinates - Maverick isn't in as much a position to be the person kicking guys out of the Navy for whatever reason, but Ice certainly is. The conflict of public vs private in how he handles minorities under his command, not only women but also non-white people and of course the big one: other queer men... In the Slider oneshot Ice confesses that he's gotten guys kicked out of the Navy for both less and more than what he's done with Maverick - did you have any other thoughts about the inevitable conflict of scandals that he would have had to deal with re: people who were outed in one way or another, and how that would weigh on him as someone who self admittedly is aware of how what he wants to be (4 star admiral) and who he is (a man attracted to at the very least, one other man) are not compatible with each other?

hmm. Hadn’t thought about it. Admittedly i know very little about the intricacies & vagaries of DADT or its enforcement (and i am answering this ask quite hungover & not in the mood to research) but—based on what I said last week/the week before that, that ice has no philosophical qualms with DADT because he agrees that sexuality should be hidden/private & “why are you talking about your personal identity when you could be doing your job better,” i think—yeah. he would enforce it. He would stand by its enforcement. If a little hesitant/disappointed, and if only as insurance to the brass above him, yes, i do still know what the rules are, and also, man these stupid kids these days have no idea how to keep it a secret… like, independent of him personally identifying as gay or not, he looks down (in a paternalistic “come ON be smarter than that” way) upon people/personnel who can’t keep it a secret, who refuse to live closeted for the sake of the Navy… post TGM rooster prolly lights into him for it later. But Ice is commander of the pacific fleet, like that is an extremely public & POLITICAL position, like it or not. Like there’s a lot of sneakiness/sleazy political scheming that has to go on there by necessity because it’s a political appointment. by now ice must have learned that silent underground subterfuge/rebellion (in this context, frosting his tips, being w/maverick, or being totally fine with gays in the navy as long as they’re quiet about it [a very mainstream leadership position—the navy is historically gay as fuck]) is a more effective and self-preserving strategy than open insubordination. Keep it secret. Don’t ask and don’t tell.

And this should not be surprising. Dude, his whole fucking character in the original top gun is “I am successful because i refuse to be a revolutionary.” Like i feel like i repeat myself so often on this blog, but ice’s anti-open-revolutionaryness is literally his whole THING. it’s his whole character canonically. it’s what sets him apart from maverick—it’s what makes him mavericks narrative foil. ice’s anti-open-revolutionaryness is what gives him a fucking purpose to exist in the franchise. As an archetype, he exists as “the guy who does things by the book no matter what.” It is literally integral to his character. And in-universe-wise it’s a political lifestyle im personally plus-minus on, but it’s a very understandable political lifestyle for someone in his position to have.

[canirove]

The Princess & the Football Player | Chapter 28

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Masterlist

"Good morning, sweetheart."

"Hi."

"I've brought you some breakfast" my mum says, leaving a tray with food on the bedside table and sitting on the bed.

"I'm not hungry."

"You must eat something."

"I'm not hungry" I repeat.

"Eleanor, please. I'm sure he wouldn't like to see you getting sick."

"Why did you have to mention him?" I say, covering my head with the duvet and starting to cry.

"I'm sorry. I just... Drink the juice at least. You will dihydrate if you keep crying like that."

"I don't care!"

"Eleanor..."

"Leave me alone!"

"I'm your mother, I'm not going anywhere." 

And so far, she hasn't. Since the moment she found me crying on the floor after Declan left, she has been by my side. She has spent the whole night with me, taking care of me, comforting me. When she left to pick up my breakfast, it probably is the longest she has been gone for.

"Eleanor... Ellie..." she says after taking a deep breath. "Do you know why at first I opposed to you dating Declan?"

"Because you are a snob with a stick up your ass."

"No, Eleanor" she sighs. "I opposed to it because I knew this would happen. Because I knew he'll end up breaking your heart, and I didn't want to see you suffer like this."

"Because he isn't like us."

"Exactly."

"See? You are a snob!"

"I am not a snob. But I better than anyone know how it feels to fall in love with a royal when you aren't part of that world. What it entails, all the sacrifices you must make, how much you must fight. And it isn't easy, Eleanor. You don't know how many times I had my phone on my hand ready to call your dad and tell him it was over, that I couldn't deal with the press, with everything I had to learn if I wanted to be queen one day. It was so tough. Not just for me, but for everyone around me."

"But you never did it. You never gave up like he has done."

"Because unlike Declan, I had nothing to lose. If things between Philip and I hadn't worked out, if we had broken up... Yes, we both would be heartbroken. Especially me. But that was it. I had my studies and I could start again. Maybe not in England, but definitely somewhere else. Declan doesn't have that luxury."

"What do you mean?" I ask, uncovering my head.

"He has his career. His dream. Everything he and his family have worked for since he was a kid. They've sacrificed many things for it, and he couldn't lose that."

"So instead, he chose to lose me."

"Yes. But not because you weren't worth it, because he doesn't love you, or because it was the easier choice. He did it because he knows it is something that can be fixed."

"What?"

"When I found out you were seeing someone who wasn't Charles, I thought it was just something fleeting. Then I noticed how happy you were, that you actually had feelings for whoever that boy was. And despite suspecting that he probably was one of Mason's friends and that you had met him through Roberta, I said to myself… well, maybe it will work out. Just look at her, at how she is glowing. Then you told us who he was and I knew it was a mistake, that you would end up hurting each other. But you both still kept fighting. And then, again, I thought… maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they'll work through this, maybe the fact that he has had to deal with huge pressure before at such a young age will help them."

"But you were wrong."

"Yes and no. I was wrong because he clearly hasn't been able to deal with everything that has happened since the press found out about you two and with everything else going on on the pitch. But Eleanor... The way you and Declan love each other... You don't get to see that every day. It is true love. Right now you probably feel like the world is ending, like it is over. But it isn't. This just wasn't your moment to be together. You'll have a second chance, I'm sure of it."

"What... What do you mean?"

"I..." she says, taking a deep breath. "I think that one day, both of you will be strong enough to fight against anything and everything, and you will be ready to get back together. I don't know when that will happen, but..."

"It isn't a goodbye, it's a see you soon" I say, remembering what Declan said before he left.

"That's it, yes."

"If one day that happens... If we get back together… Will you support us? Will you be by our side?"

"I will. I promise you I will" she says, caressing my cheek.

"It would have been easier if you had told me all this before, you know? Everyone kept telling me that you were just trying to protect me, but if you had explained it to me..."

"I know. I just… I didn't know how to do it, so I took the harsh way. But I love you, Eleanor. You know I do, don't you?"

"I do" I say, sitting up.

"I'm sorry I didn't do things right. That I hurt you so much. Both you and Declan."

"It's ok" I whisper.

"I know things are gonna be very difficult. That right now you are heartbroken and feel like nothing makes sense anymore. But I'm here for you, and I will help you with everything. Now and always" she says, taking my hand on hers. 

"Thank you, mum" I cry.

"Oh, come here" she says, hugging me.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Eleanor."

[lustrous-dawn]

He awoke to a gentle nudge, small hands careful not to jostle his clothes further. Zhen rubbed at his dreary eyes to see Arashi peering up at him. “What's up, kid?” His voice was thick with sleep, the man repeating blinking through the haze of slumber. How long was he sleeping? He ran a hand through his tousled hair, a slight frown at the strands tumbling from his eyes. With a small glance toward the window, he could see light spilling through the slight cracks. 

It was daytime. He looked around to see Tora nowhere in sight. “Where’s your sister?”

“Outside. Playing.” His voice was quiet, his smile small. Arashi snuggled inside a big and fuzzy blanket beside him, comfy.

Course the little scamp was out the moment the sun rose over the horizon. He knew Nakhti had to be watching over her. But he remembered her words. “I would keep her tied up inside my pouch if I could. Both of them. But that would damage her and him. I must let them go and allow them to spread their wings and learn on their own.”

He understood then, knowing she was right. But always either one would be observing their actions, making sure neither got into trouble. 

Arashi was the quieter one of the pair. Right now he watched Zhen with a steady gaze. A better listener than most. 

“Will you be ok?” 

Zhen made sure to keep his face clear as he spoke. He bore a casual smile, hand ruffling the small wind’s spirit hair, “Course. What made you think otherwise?” Arashi seemed to like it, his head leaning into the touch, feeling comforted. 

“They were asking you things. A-And… you were mad.” Arashi puffed out his cheeks. “Tora was-” He stopped himself, looking away as he sank deeper into the blanket. He knew better than to tell a lie. He didn't want to disappoint the one Pokemon who meant so much in his life. A tinge of red formed on his cheeks. “I don’t like them,” he muttered. “They made you mad.”

Zhen had to blink at his words. Rarely Arashi was outspoken but he heard the firmness in his voice, the glint in his eyes. 

Scratching the back of his head, Zhen let loose a weak laugh. “You already made up your mind, huh?” 

“I…” Arashi struggled with the word, a tint of red to his cheeks. “Bound-tree. They crossed, right?” 

Again he was astonished by his learning. Zhen appeared sheepish. “Yeah… they did. Where did you learn that?” 

“Nakhti told me to set a bound-tree with Tora. Tora gets… too much sometimes.” He could tell Arashi was reluctant to say too much, as if it was a secret he wanted to keep to himself. But he could trust in Zhen, even now as he kept his eyes carefully averted. He always loved his sister but he didn't share the same energy she seemed to have. “It helped. She gets it and we play better now.” 

Zhen smiled. “I’m glad that helped you guys better.” A sigh. “They crossed some boundaries with me but I’ll be okay, tyke. It’s called being polite.”

“Paw-paw-” 

“Polite,” Zhen completed for him. “Polite is for pretending. I'm sure Nahkti told you all about it.” A show of brilliant teeth, a smile. “Being nice to strangers.”

“Why be nice when they were mean towards you?” Arashi grumbled. “Tora always bites those being mean to us. Maybe you should bite them too.” 

Zhen got a laugh out of that. Tora was all tooth and claw, even in play. “Maybe I should give them a good old bite too,” he teased, leaning with the snap of teeth. The sound incited a squeal from the spirit, the joys of laughter breaking through. He could forget about the evening like this. “You needn’t worry your little brain about it. It's a grown-up thing and you're still a kid. I can handle it.”

Arashi ducked his head. “Nahkti says I'm a big boy now. She shows me lots of things like” -he wiggled free of the blanket to clamper close to the kotatsu- “this!” He pointed out the small shrine. “Tora helped but I did most of the work!” 

The excitement of Arashi was that of a bird flapping its wings. He hovered carefully around his creation. Fingers covered with red blotches of paint, Arashi was careful not to touch the small shrine, fearful he might break it. But his eyes sparkled as he looked upon Zhen with expectation. He was holding his breath, hoping it was perfect, hoping Zhen would give him praise for his good work.

It was the look that undone the Ho-oh, Zhen placing his palm on the small spirit’s head. “You have done well, Arashi.”