#brief sunshine

[weepingfoxfury]

The Saturday man on the radio had himself a very algorithmic first hour before letting Pat Benatar hit the airwaves with Love is a Battlefield. Weatherwise there was sunshine ... yep ... for about an hour that mysterious glowing orb was up there. Now the rain is setting in and 'the umbrella' is in demand.

The new 'time machine' finally made its way into this realm and has taken its place in the kitchen. Not the same somehow without the concrete mixer sounds the old one had ... but this one lets me open the door on the first go, makes only moderately loud beeping noises and has 'glory lights' inside that illiminate your now hot beverage in such a way you'd think the Pope himself was blessing every drop of coffee.

My one euro wind twirler has been hanging in Cathweegia a good couple of years now, and has definitely taken on many lives. I love how its changed from the pristine wood colour to having all matter of organisms setting up residence. Moss, spiders, aphids, leaves, seed heads. Can't help but wonder if the many legged critters get dizzy as it spins in the wind.

Sometimes I forget it's there. Low hanging as it is, I've lost count of how many times my head and the twirler have collided unexpectedly. Lost count of the spiders that have ended up on my hat from the close encounter. Always amusing to find little legs splayed out Mission Impossible style in front of your eyeballs as you sip coffee.

Mmmmmm coffee ... my cup looks suspiciously close to being empty ... looks like me, my cup and the time machine are about to go for another spin ...

[gwendolynnderolo]

teen wolf memes part 27: chaotic murderous bisexuals + scott

this post is like 50% thiam but i don’t care tbh they’re iconic. @burnthatbridgewhenwecometoit love ya 🩷

teen wolf memes part 27

[evelynpr]

FINISHED WATCHING MHA MOVIE 2: HEROES RISING!!! SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVENT WATCHED IT

OH MY FUCKING GOD THIS WAS SO GOOD YO HOLY FUCK I LOVE IT AAAAAAAAAAAAA

This was truly My Bakudeku Academia. Watching that final battle felt like a religious experience- as if I was watching the birth of Christ. Holy fuck if that really was the original ending, with Deku passing OFA to Kacchan, and the whole "Oh it actually stayed with Deku and Bkg got amnesia" didn't happen, this would have been a dramatically different story moving forward.

Horikoshi really loves Bakugou- like absolutely no question. The story following this kind of ending would be about him continuing OFA's legacy with the guilt of a thousand suns on his shoulders for "taking away" Izuku's dream. Izuku would have continued the hero course as an actual quirkless student. I would love to see aus of this being canon and continuing their story from there.

I'm guessing Nine here was supposed to be AFO, and he would basically be gone too. Katsuma is perfectly set up to be the next protagonist (I can already imagine him using Cell Regeneration as Super Regeneration- he could become invincible while also healing others. Incredibly amazing quirk).

NUMBER ONE COMPLAINT I HAD WAS ADDRESSED. THE REST OF THE CLASS ACTUALLY DO FEEL STRONG AND USEFUL AND EVERYTHING AS SHIT I LOVE IT AAAAAAAA

YES MY GIRL OCHAKO FINALLY HAS HER BIG MOMENT FLOATING SO MUCH DEBRIS!!! I'M SO HAPPY- EVEN JIRO, AOYAMA, SHOJI, TOKOYAMI AND MORE HAD LEGIT GOOD SCENES AND FIGHTS I'M SO FUCKING HAPPY YEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH THEY ARE SOOO COOLLLLL THEY GENUINELY GAVE IT THEIR ALL FUCK YEAHHHHH

(note. THAT WOLF GUY CALLED SHOJI UGLY- A FELLOW HETEROMORPH, CUS HE WAS PROJECTING HIS "MONSTER" ISSUES ON HIM HOW FUCKING DARE YOUUUUU)

THEY ALSO MAKE IT ACTUALLY MAKE MORE SENSE HOW THE WHOLE CLASS IS SEPARATED ON AN ISLAND TOGETHER AS A WHOLE CLASS THIS TIME TOO (and not just half like last movie). They even managed to tie it in to AFO, the LoV, and Hero Society. Like it actually feels more grounded and reasonable why the class would be here alone with supervision.

They even add hints of Touya Todoroki with him having a short battle with Endeavor, Hawks spying in the LoV, the HSPC head cameo, and other little things too. Man I loved this fucking movie I would watch it 10 more times right now.

[tequiilasunriise]

I am so in love with this volume because I am so in love with the way Blake Belladonna is finally allowing herself to love Yang, you feel me?

Blake has always had this love fer Yang, we all watched their slowburn unfold over several volumes, but she kept this love close to her heart and only let that affection slip through cracks of her walls and/or during dire life or death situations. The simple, domestic, everyday ways to express love? Holding hands just because and softer words spoken freely and casually? Blake couldn’t do it because she was still afraid.

Afraid to hurt Yang and scare her away with her affections, because she had hurt Yang so much already and couldn’t bear to risk burdening her even more. She had left, she had abandoned the one person who she trusted most, and she had to prove she was staying for good this time. They still had to repair their friendship first and foremost.

Afraid to be the one hurting for exposing herself, because love had burned her once so throughly before. She trusts Yang with her life, but that haunting nightmare that is Adam makes it hard fer her to trust the brightest thing in her life with her heart. Blake had to overcome the bullish knife hanging over her head before she could be in another relationship.

And then when these issues were slowly getting resolved, Blake still held back. Sure, there were more tender moments between them, but they were more brief and far between. Blake was still holding back because this slowburn slowdance was all she knew when it came to Yang. They had to focus on the threat of Salem, of Atlas falling, of all that. It was better to play it safe, now was still not the right time.

But then? But then Blake watched Yang die, and suddenly all those cautious moments of ‘playing it safe’ racked up to an indescribable amount of missed opportunities and regret. Suddenly waiting all this time for the ‘right’ time didnt matter at all anymore because Blake completely ran out of any time.

Blake isn’t going to hold back anymore, she’s finally comfortable enough to be who she always was deep down under those trauma walls, this openly affectionate silly goofy little book nerd who just wants to make her beloved smile, and she’s going to absolutely s h o w e r Yang with flirty tones and dumb jokes and longing touches and be such a dorky romantic because she doesn’t want to waste anymore time. As Weiss spoke fer all of us, it’s, “About time”. The ‘right’ time is right the fuck now screw that ‘not concerned with sands of time’ bullshit she wants to kiss this stupid pretty face and she WILL let Yang know. I think about Blake this volume and I’m just SO PROUD OF HER. Nothing like a little taste of death to push a slowburn along, huh? Seriously though, witnessing Blake’s arc come full circle to open up and be the person she once was before Adam crushed her into taking up as little space as possible, before she deemed herself as nothing but a coward and a fool, seeing her laugh and smile openly and shoot every damn shot she can- it’s so, so damn good.

Anyways, I am also in love with Yang Xiao Long having no idea how to handle Blake being incredibly openly in love with her. 10/10 watching experience, truly.

[candyqueensugar]

[pastafossa]

Update.

Mom made another little bit of improvement today. She's still on the ventilator, but now if I understood it right, she's basically breathing on her own again and they've lowered her sedation to practically nothing, allowing her to slowly come up. If - and the doctor was very firm that this is an if - if she continues to come up and stays stable, she might be off the ventilator tomorrow! He said they want her fairly alert before taking her off, but if all goes well, when I see my mom again tomorrow, she'll be off the ventilator. She also reacted a lot to me and sis today when we saw her, so that's something.

I feel like I've been floating in a haze since they put her under on Monday. Time is... weird, passing too fast or weirdly slow. I feel like I blink in the afternoon and suddenly it's time for bed, or a 30 min wait for an update takes hours. And I've wound up spending a lot of time between hospital visits just feeling... stuck. Unsure of what to do, of what's ok, of what I should be doing. Thanks to some encouragement from friends here - comments, messages, late night chats even when I'm out of it or drop out halfway through to cry or fall asleep - I at least felt a little less guilty about not having much I could do, and I've gotten regular reminders to eat and drink. We've also started putting up the tree so it'll there when mom comes home, which has helped. But god, if mom woke up tomorrow, if I knew she would be ok, I could handle things.

One more night for mama on the ventilator. Just one more. Then I can give her a hug, and cry some happy tears. Fingers crossed.

[onlyseokmins]

friend im desperate for golden retriever dk with black cat reader. like maybe in aesthetic or maybe shes super protective of him, but its very clear how much they love each other yknow?

!! typically i have issues with this trope ONLY bc some authors make the reader a total bitch that like stomps all over his feelings for some sick pleasure so i like how you pointed out the aesthetics/protectiveness/clarity on how much they love one another!! like yuhhh, you get me!!

i'm always soft for puppy!kyeom who just follows reader around like one and is a ball of sunshine, lighting up whatever room he's in vs a more aloof, sticks in the corner kind of reader who has very few select friends she actually likes. ig in a way it's like extrovert vs introvert. but yeah, she really softens and melts around kyeom and it's super duper cute.

but in the rare cases where someone's annoyed by seok's happy-go-lucky attitude and/or seok is just sensitive about smth, that's when her claws come out. you do not mess with her man.

ugh i'm torn between a uni setting or office setting... woe is the life of a working grad girly

[tfc-gal-pal]

So we’ve all been talking about the “you like men” “more exclusively than you do” scene but there’s one thing I wanted to mention. At no point do we see Jean actively perusing Jeremy in a way that might make us think he likes him. Obviously he’s at the very least attracted to him (staring at Jeremy’s back after he gets out of the shower is not very subtle, Jean), but he doesn’t show any indication of liking Jeremy romantically. Yes, there is always the possibility that he doesn’t yet, but I have another theory.

Jean is not allowed to be in a relationship. Not by his situation, not by himself. Having a crush is one thing, dating them is out of the question. Because for Jean, liking someone is dangerous. It’s will you teach me when he’s not watching and rainbow hair spilling over his crumpled body. A relationship is dangerous beyond belief. Riko would hurt them if he knew.

And Jeremy? With his freckled skin and dyed blonde hair with visible roots, his arsenal of positive affirmations, his blue eyes that lock onto Jean when the memories and panic overwhelm him. Jeremy is no less off limits. He’s not safe. Riko would— Grayson would kill him if he knew.

And what can Jean do, when the best way to protect Jeremy is to not let him — anyone — know?

[aheckinmess]

Sleigh Ride

(Part 21 of The Snowball Effect)

Read on AO3.

Tags: Enji Todoroki, Endeavor, Female Reader, Reader Has an Ice Quirk, Pregnant Reader, Endeavor x Reader, Enji Todoroki x Reader, MHA Christmas Special, Going on a Cafe Date, Natsuo Thinks Girls Have Cooties, He's Nine, What Do You Expect, Shoto is a Little Ball of Sunshine, Enji is Okay in This One, Quite Frankly Because You Put Your Foot Down, Toshinori Makes Brief Appearance, As Does His Wife OC

Word Count: 842 words

Summary: Enji has been doting on you nonstop since you've shared the news of your pregnancy. You decide to celebrate the following day with a date in the coffee shop.

Playlist: The Snowball Effect

December 21

The news about another little Todoroki being on the way shakes the household! Toya and Fuyumi voice their shock with great fanfare, honest about their doubt about Enji wanting more kids since he’s already got Shoto, the perfect balance between hot and cold.

Tenko and Natsuo are not surprised, especially not with all the public displays of affection between their parents.

“I’m surprised Mom hasn’t had another baby before now.” Tenko scoffs, a smile on his face that he tries to hide by turning back to his computer.

Shoto is the most surprised of every kid in the house.

“Mommy, you’re having another baby?” He gasps. “But why?”

“What do you mean, why?” You laugh, setting up your nativity set on the mantle now that you’ve finally found it. “I’ve always wanted a big family.”

“But doesn’t Father only want kids to make a suitable hero to beat All Might?” 

“That is one reason he’s tried having kids, but your father still loves all of his children, regardless of whether or not they’ll be heroes to surpass All Might.” You explain. “He also likes having a big family just like me.”

“Oh.” Shoto pauses. “Will it be a boy or a girl?”

“We’re not sure yet. The doctors won’t be able to tell for a few more weeks, Shoto.” You explain, rubbing your belly with a tender, buzzing heart despite the fact that you’re not even showing yet. “What are you hoping for? Do you want a little brother or a little sister?”

“I have enough brothers. I think we need another girl.” Shoto smiles.

“Ew, no way! Girls are icky and gross!” Natsuo pipes up from the hallway.

“Who said girls were icky and gross?!” Sayuri’s voice echoes through the entryway as she and Toshinori step inside.

“Aunt Sayuri!” Toya shrieks, tearing through the house to give her a hug – she’s the only one deemed lucky enough to still receive physical affection from the moody teen. “Did you and Uncle Toshi bring me something cool?”

“Well, let us get in the house first, young Toya!” Toshinori chuckles, ducking to walk in the house with a large bag thrown over his shoulder.

“Thank you so much for watching them, Sacchan.” You squeeze your bestie tight as a gaggle of Todoroki children flock to their favorite aunt and uncle. “We won’t be long.”

“Nonsense, take as long as you need!” She waves you off.

. . . . .

“I can’t believe we’re having another baby.” Enji utters for the fiftieth time as you both find a seat in the coffee shop. “Todoroki number six…I’m so happy. Are you hoping for a boy or a girl, my flame?”

“It would be nice to have another girl to give Fuyumi company.” You giggle, stretching your hand across the table to squeeze his hands. “But I won’t mind if it’s a boy, either.”

More fantasies float through your mind, fantasies of a little girl hopping through puddles on a rainy day with Fuyumi. Or maybe a little boy trying to climb the Pagoda tree with Shoto and Natsuo. Perhaps – dare you think it? – you might even have multiples! You’ve always wanted twins.

None of these hopes never leave your lips, because the moment you open your mouth to voice them you realize Enji’s eyes have turned dark and brooding. 

He hasn’t touched his coffee.

“Enchan? Is something wrong?” You blow on your hot chocolate and take a sip to give him time to think.

“What if I screw it up?” He whispers.

You blink a few times, swallowing your beverage and ignoring its burn on the way down. 

“What do you mean, Enji?”

“What if I screw up this kid like I almost did to Shoto?” He starts, brows furrowing as guilt paints his expression and worry haloes him in the dim light of the cafe. “What if I end up getting obsessive again? Even now I still fall into controlling habits when training Shoto or trying to maintain his diet. What if I end up ruining him and this next child, too? What if I end up ruining all of them?”

His concern touches your heart and prompts you to move over onto the booth where he sits to hug his arm and lean on his shoulder. With a heavy sigh, you hold onto the optimism that’s plagued you since you were born.

“Enji, you won’t ruin them, and do you know how I know?”

“Hm?”

“Because I’m right here beside you to make sure you don’t. And I know you’re here to help me with the same. It’s a partnership and a mutual love, we’ll work through this together. You’ve been making good progress with Shoto and the others; Toya’s been the happiest I’ve seen him now that he trains with the new support gear.” You pause for a moment to let this sink in before smirking. “You want to know another reason I know you won’t screw it up?”

“How else?”

“Because if you get crazy obsessive like you used to with Shoto, I’ll beat your ass.”

Day 22

Credit to @saradika-graphics for the holiday banner! Thank you so much!

[outsidersheadcanons]

found an old edit

[f1oatingaway]

bayer yapping which means new daniel smiling happy content soon :) dw dirlies ive seen the script

[nep2unee]

Welcome back the ship of all time

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Don't Go Blindly Into the Dark

Summary:

To hide that he can't read, Jan Van Eck has been forcing his son to pretend he's blind since he was eight years old. Wylan is now attending Ketterdam University, and meeting Jesper Fahey may very well be about to change his life. But is he safe to tell Jesper the truth? And what will Jesper say if he does?

Jesper is struggling to weigh up his life in the Barrel and his life at the University of Ketterdam, and there's a good chance that his growing debt is about to make the decision for him. He hasn't attended class consecutively for months, but maybe that will change when his newest project includes partnering up with Wylan Van Eck. But can he really leave the Barrel behind him? And how long can he keep up the pretence of who he thinks Wylan wants him to be?

Tags: @justalunaticfangirl @lunarthecorvus

If anyone else would like to be tagged let me know :)

Content warnings for this chapter: ptsd, loss of a parent, implied child abuse references

AO3 link

Chapter 8 - Jesper

“Hey, merchling. It’s Jesper,”

Wylan looked up.

“You don’t have to announce yourself every time, you know. I know it’s you,”

“Really?” asked Jesper, in spite of himself.

“Well for starter’s no-one else calls me merchling,” Wylan would have been glaring at him if his focus wasn’t ever so slightly too far to the left, “But also I can recognise your voice,”

“Wow, you can already recognise my voice? You must be smitten,”

Wylan’s cheeks heated, and Jesper grinned.

“I recognise everyone’s voices,” he snapped, defensively.

“Relax, I’m teasing. Anyway, can I sit with you?”

Wylan blinked. For a brief moment no-one said anything, and then Wylan quickly nodded and shuffled slightly further along the otherwise empty bench so Jesper could take a seat. It was a new phenomena for Jesper to arrive at a lecture on time; to decide where he wanted to sit instead of hastily perching on the end of anywhere where a space was free. And he’d come to the recent realisation that, other than Helena Dente and a couple of others, rowdy groups he’d been to the Barrel with or pretty almost strangers he probably shouldn’t just sit back down next to without explanation of awkward conversations, Wylan was pretty much the only person round here he knew. He hadn’t hung around long enough to make any real friends. Somehow though, he trusted Wylan. Maybe that was stupid of him - how good was his track record with trust? Then again, how much of that was his own fault?

The lecture began and droned on for what felt like an awful lot longer than the hour that actually passed. Jesper fidgeted, twisting his rings and drumming his fingers against the desk. When the class finally drew to a close and people began to file out, he turned back to Wylan.

“Okay I’m not insane right, we’ve been in here for like five years?”

Wylan smiled, laughing softly.

“It wasn’t… the most interesting lecture we’ve ever had,”

Jesper laughed in agreement, like he’d know. 

“We’re both free the rest of the day, right? Do you wanna go to the library to work on the-?”

“I can’t,” Wylan breathed, almost nervously, his smile dropping “Sorry. I have to get home,”

“Fancy dinner party?” teased Jesper, “Journeying to a royal wedding, perhaps?”

Wylan didn’t laugh.

“I just… I’m not supposed to stay out too long,”

Jesper raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything.

They walked out into the corridor together, and Jesper found himself watching the end of Wylan’s cane tapping from side to side against the glossy wooden boards so distractedly that he almost walked straight into a wall. He spent the evening on a job with Kaz - nothing big, intercepting some shipment of jurda so Kaz could sell it on; they’d repackage it, line the boxes with coffee grounds to hide the scent, and move it out in their own illegal shipments, but that would be someone else’s job - and the night solidly losing at Three Man Bramble and buying drinks he couldn’t afford. He missed his whatever-subject-it-was-supposed-to-be lecture the next morning, but managed to run back to the University District in time to meet Wylan.

“So come one then,” Jesper said, at some point, tapping the end of his fountain pen against the table, “You had to take the business class, but what do you actually want to do?”

Wylan shrugged.

“I’m good at chemistry,”

“But do you like chemistry?”

“What does it matter?” asked Wylan, shaking his head, “Just doing something I like won’t get me anywhere,”

“You don’t need to get anywhere,” Jesper couldn’t help but reply, “You could sit around your fancy house doing nothing for the rest of time, if you wanted to. So why are you here?”

Wylan flushed.

“I wanted to learn,”

“Learn what?”

“Anything. Everything,”

He looked almost earnest in it. Almost.

“Come on, there has to be something specific you want to do,”

“Well why are you here?” asked Wylan, “You said you hate economics, but it’s the only subject we’ve ever talked about. What else do you study?”

Jesper wasn’t actually even sure.

“I’m in the midst of switching around my classes,” he admitted, remembering suddenly that he was supposed to meet the dean tomorrow with his new ideas, “Everything I’ve ever tried wasn’t for me - on the farm, at a gunsmith. I was supposed to come to Kerch to find my direction,”

Wylan nodded, slowly.

“And… have you?”

“Saints, no. I don’t know what I want to do - what else do you study?”

“Chemistry, mathematics, biology,”

Jesper sighed.

“Well they all sound boring as hell. I have to volunteer some ideas of what to study by tomorrow, and at this rate it’s gonna be absolutely nothing,”

When Jesper did show up to his meeting - ten minutes late, but at least that was a considerable improvement on last time - he didn’t actually know what he was planning to say until it came out of his mouth. But then the next morning there he was, sitting next to Wylan at the back of a biology classroom. 

“What happened to this being boring as hell?”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it will be,” said Jesper, lightly, “But you’re smart, and I’m sitting next to you,”

Wylan shuffled and Jesper was trying to figure out if he’d said something wrong, when the figure of Nina Zenik appeared in the doorway. He grinned as she waved and sauntered over. He hadn’t noticed that Wylan had all but completely frozen. 

“Hey gorgeous,” he moved along a little so she could sit down, “Where’s Inej?”

“Doesn’t take bio,” said Nina, at the same time that Wylan said:

“You know Inej?”

Jesper used the second he needed to process that question to introduce Wylan and Nina to each other. Uncomfortable wasn’t a strong enough word to describe how Wylan looked, but Jesper couldn’t tell why. 

“Nina and Inej just moved here from Ravka,” said Jesper, smoothly, “We met the other day. But you know Inej?”

“She’s in my chemistry class,”

Wylan fidgeted with his sleeve whilst Jesper gave Nina a furious, questioning look that she pointedly ignored. What were they doing honing in on Wylan? Jesper definitely didn’t trust that Kaz had any kind of good intentions, and he didn’t want them to get the kid mixed up in whatever scheme he’d concocted this time. 

It also turned out to be pretty annoying to sit in between Wylan and Nina during a biology class, because they both cared. The professor was apparently a big fan of making everyone discuss the topic with each other and they seemed to have to do it every ten minutes, which meant that every ten minutes Jesper had to sit there trying to wrap his head around the size differences between DNA and genes and alleles and chromosomes he was also stuck listening to them both going on about the action of RNA polymerase in the process of transcription. Eventually, he murmured to Wylan:

“I don’t get it; what does the enzyme do?”

“Enzymes are like natural catalysts,” Wylan replied, “The DNA helicase enzyme catalyses a reaction that unwinds the two strands of DNA, and the DNA polymerase enzyme catalyses a reaction that forms a new phosphodiester bond to make a new strand. That one’s like welding; the two pieces of metal you want to connect are the bases, the backbone is what you’re going to use to form the link, and the enzyme is the torch,”

It was like he knew exactly how to explain it in a way Jesper understood. He didn’t know how he did that. Jesper smiled.

“Okay, so when they make the protein it's like welding again, right? Just between amino acids, instead of bases,”

Wylan nodded.

“With peptide bonds, instead of phosphodiester,”

“Well, that’s kind of interesting,” said Jesper, in spite of himself, “It’s just like metalwork. And if you unwound it all without damaging it - that’s what the helicase does, right? - you’d be able to know what all the bases were. So it’s like a code, you could figure out any protein the DNA can make just by reading the bases,”

“Yeah,” Wylan smiled, “That’s the proteome,”

Jesper did his best to listen to the rest of the lecture, trying to follow along with the descriptions of mutations in the order of the bases and what they could lead to. It was an overview, the professor told them, of what they’d be studying in a lot more detail over the coming weeks. As the lecture drew to a close and the students began to file out, he called:

“Do we have a Miss Zenik, in here? Might I have a word?”

Nina glanced back towards Jesper and Wylan, frustrated, but then smiled her way to the front of the room. Jesper looked at Wylan.

“Do you, er… do you think that maybe we could meet up some time to talk about some of the biology stuff from earlier this year? 

“Yeah,” Wylan smiled a little nervously, “Yeah, we could do that. Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow. I guess in the morning again?”

There was a pause, and then Wylan ventured:

“I guess it couldn’t hurt to be late home one night, right? We could go to the library after lunch,”

Jesper grinned.

“Sounds like a plan,”

His good mood lasted him all the way to the door. He waited alone in the corridor for Nina to leave the lecture hall, and soon as her foot was over the doorstep he pounced.

“What the hell are you doing with Wylan?”

“My job, Jesper,” she said lightly, tossing her hair over her shoulder as they began to walk down the hallway together, “And anyway what do you care?”

“Don’t turn this around on me. We both know there’s no good intentions behind this, and I’m telling you to leave him alone,”

“Well if you want to take it up with Kaz then be my guest,” she replied, “But I think we all know how that conversation would go,”

*

Jesper didn’t realise how long he and Wylan had been in the library until they left and discovered the sunset was waiting for them. They’d sat downstairs on some of the comfortable sofas beneath the towering bookshelves in a far corner, opposite each other, Jesper cross-legged with a notebook open in his lap. Wylan started by describing mitosis, which Jesper already vaguely knew was how cells replicated. He didn’t stop Wylan though, even when he was going through topics that Jesper already understood. There was something wonderful about watching him explain it.

“The entire world is a puzzle,” Wylan said, “And sometimes you get to learn one bit of it, you solve one piece or one equation, and it’s like it’s clicked into place. Like you won something, by figuring out this tiny piece of the puzzle. I feel like I’ll never know enough about anything, there’s always something new,”

Jesper smiled slowly, watching him, the sunlight warm through the window and drifting over them. 

“Like when I went to the Ice Court,” Wylan was still saying, “All I could think about was the Ice Moat.It’s just a layer of ice over water, but the court is on top of a hill and there’s no aqueduct - where does the moat come from?”

“You went to the Ice Court and that’s what you were thinking about?” Jesper shook his head, “What were you even doing there?”

“I went to an embassy dinner,” Wylan’s voice drifted a little, like he regretted bringing it up in the first place, “When I was a kid,”

Jesper didn’t know why he asked, but his curiosity was piqued so he continued:

“You travel a lot?”

“I used to. Before…” he gestured vaguely towards his eyes, and Jesper found himself wondering again about the little scar above his cheekbone.

“Where did you go?”

“Lots of places; my father used to take me everywhere with him. We went to the Shu oil fields, Elling, the jurda fields near Shrifport,”

“They’re beautiful,” Jesper murmured, thinking of the orange fields at home and forgetting what a stupid thing that was to say, “I mean - sorry,”

“It’s okay. And anyway, that was before the accident. They were beautiful. I’m glad I got to see them. But we don’t really go anywhere anymore, not anywhere that isn’t in Kerch anyway,”

“Why not?”

“This, mostly,” he shrugged, gesturing to his eyes again. Jesper wasn’t sure why that should stop them, “But we lost my mother not long before the accident, and I guess… I guess my father just felt like he was losing us both,”

Jesper wanted to say that was stupid; he hadn’t lost Wylan, Wylan was sitting right there and maybe if his father didn’t suddenly start treating him differently than he used to then l it wouldn’t feel like they’d lost anything at all. But all he said was:

“I’m sorry. I…” he breathed, “I lost my mother too, when I was a kid,”

For a strange, stupid moment Jesper reached out and tried to take Wylan’s hand. He didn’t even really know why. But as soon as they touched Wylan flinched near on violently and Jesper drew away.

“Sorry,”

“No - sorry, I -” Wylan fidgeted with his sleeve, “I can’t see it coming; you took me by surprise,”

There was a pause.

“Biology?”

“Biology,”

“Right,” Wylan smiled, “So, erm, meiosis has two specific mechanisms that add more to the daughter cells not being identical. The first is where the homologous pairs cross over each other…”

And on he went. 

Jesper could hardly believe how late it was when they stepped outside, the sky above turned a thousand shades of pink and orange as the sun began to sink over the horizon.

“Gorgeous sunset,” he said, eyes focused above him as he hopped down the last few steps.

He turned back and realised Wylan was still a short way behind him, with one hand on the railing and the other keeping up the rhythmic beat of his cane as he searched for the edge of each step. Jesper was slightly glad he could see him blushing as he bit his tongue and said:

“Oh. Sorry,”

There was a long silence, even after Wylan had reached the the base of the stairs and stood for a moment beside Jesper, before he murmured:

“What does it look like?”

“I don’t…”

Jesper swallowed.

“Okay here, can-” he hesitated, thinking of Wylan flinching away in the library, “Can I take your hand?”

A brief moment passed before Wylan nodded. Jesper closed his hand slowly over Wylan’s, giving the merchling time to pull away if he wanted to. He didn’t. Jesper lifted his arm and pulled Wylan’s gently with him, and pointed out to the horizon.

“Right here, this is soft pink - like spring and cherry blossom, when you can kind of feel it in the air. Then this bit,” he moved their hands slowly, “This is like the jurda fields, and over here it’s a kind of gentle warmth, like late summer evening sitting outside. When the air starts to cool but it’s still comfortable and light. But then here - this is like sitting in front of the fireplace in winter. It’s warm, and you need it to be warm, and it makes you feel…” Jesper looked down at Wylan, and realised that if Wylan could have been staring straight up at him he would have been, pale lashes caught in the light and curls glowing ever so softly. His voice had somehow become a whisper when he finished: “safe,”

Jesper’s breath caught in his throat. He studied Wylan for a moment; those eyes that should have been a slightly brighter shade of blue but were dazzling even as they were, the freckles scattered across his cheeks like lost stars, the curls still shimmering in what was left of the sunlight. It took him a long moment to realise that they were still holding hands.

“Safe?” Wylan whispered, tilting his chin up slightly.

Jesper let his hand trace slowly higher up Wylan’s arm, ready to move away if he stopped him. But he didn’t stop him. Jesper breathed slowly, leaning in, his free hand moving to push one of Wylan’s curls away from his face.

“It’s a pity you don’t know how beautiful your eyes are,”

Wylan blushed as Jesper ran a hand over his cheek and gently tilted his hace up towards his own. He leaned forwards, reading to close the space between them, but Wylan squirmed and Jesper tensed as he pulled his hands away. 

“And me, of course,” he added, letting his voice take on a teasing lilt to brush past the moment, “It’s a shame you don’t know how gorgeous I am,”

Wylan almost smiled, but he had stepped away.

“I - erm,” he brushed his fingers through the lock of hair Jesper had moved and cleared his throat, “Excuse me,”

And then he was gone, and Jesper was standing alone at the bottom of the stone steps, the sunset above his head continuing on impassively.

Dammit, Jesper. What have you done this time?

[hyuuukais]

me when i. me when i remember sunshine and strawberries is ending probably within the next 2 weeks.

[mo-ok]

[eggbagelz]

clownsonas. or something [sunval uses he/she and bram uses they/them]